Chapter 27, sorry I disappeared forever, all my work was wiped so I had to rewrite this chapter. Sucky. Enjoy!

"So," Irisa said as the door shut behind her softly, while her hands went to untie her braid. "Did you find him?"

Alice nodded, sitting onto the edge of her bed. "Yes, and he was…." How Alice could put into words how much worse Stayne had gotten. Words flooded to mind but the most haunting were not even hers. He's more magic then man now, Iracebeth had warned. "More of a monster than I remember,"

Irisa nodded in understanding, letting her dark hair fly free. "I can only imagine how much worse he could have gotten." Irisa shuttered, her rainbow eyes afraid. "But," She added in a more cheerful tone, skipping over to the bed and landing down next to Alice, lying on her side to face Alice. "We'll be done with him soon enough, won't we?"

"What do you mean?" Alice's words were hollow.

"Well," Irisa replied, sitting up. "We're going to have to fight him, and I don't think both of you are going to leave the battle field alive." Irisa gazed at Alice solemnly. "I've seen what he can do to people, Alice. He's more ruthless than any other creature I've ever encountered and I can only assume what's changed about him since he's been gone."

Alice nodded, tucking her legs close to her body as she stared off into space as she unpacked her booms that she'd brought with her, her aunts and her own.

"What are those?" Irisa asked curiously, walking over to where Alice was standing.

"This one," Alice pointed to her journal. "Is my book. I put everything about Underland in it, including you." She grinned teasingly. "And this one is my aunt's. She wrote in it when she first came to Underland."

"Wow," Irisa breathed, picking up the red book delicately. "It's beautiful."

Alice nodded. "And old. She wrote in it when she was younger than I was."

Irisa's eyes widened. "Really?"

Alice nodded. "Yes, and I wrote in mine when I first came back." She picked up the worn lather book. "Everyone's in it, even you."

Irisa grinned. "Interesting," She grabbed it from Alice's hands before Alice could even blink and started flipping through the pages, sighing and smiling at the pictures. "These are beautiful."

Alice was about to thank her and tell her that Nicholas had drawn them but before she could or know what she was consciously doing she was asking Irisa. "What's it like to be in love?"

Irisa's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" she stammered quickly.

"Um," Alice asked sheepishly, her eyes gazing down at her bedspread. "When you were engaged to Hatter or and before that. What had it felt like to first be in love? I mean, how did you know?"

"Well," Irisa said awkwardly, and Alice looked up, hoping to meet her friend's rainbow eyes, but they were staring straight down at her lap. "At first we were friends, really. And then something just changed and he became all I could think about. And I just kind of knew, this is what love must feel like." She shrugged and looked up at Alice with a faraway look in her eyes. "I remember once he touched my hand and I just well….shivered I guess."

Alice froze, hoping that her face had kept the shock from her friend's words hidden. That was...well exactly what she felt when she spoke to the Hatter a lot, especially when she came back to Underland in the first place.

"Um," Irisa mumbled and Alice turned to her friend, suddenly realizing that she'd missed about half of what Irisa was saying. "Alice, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Alice replied, putting a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear. "What is it?"

"Well," Irisa said hesitantly, walking over to the vanity and the small table near it. She picked up the small blue teapot that had been living in Alice's room more than Alice herself had and a small white cup. She tipped the pot and blue colored liquid came out of it, steaming as it filed the cup. "Alice, you know that I think of you like my sister, don't you?"

Alice nodded. "Yes?"

"And I hope you've thought of me as a sister too, in light of certain circumstances." Irisa admitted sheepishly

Alice nodded, a bit more carefully. She had always loved Irisa like a sister, she was always there for her even as her status as Mrs. Hightopp. Alice remembered how Irisa had told her she knew that Alice had once cared very deeply for the Hatter, but why was she bringing it up now?

"I feel like I can tell you anything," Irisa continued, blowing on her tea so it was much color. "Like, I could tell you something no one else should know. And that's what I kind of want to tell you." She stopped and took a deep breath. "Alice, I-"

At that exact moment someone screamed from inside the castle and Irisa's wrist jerked, spilling her tea all over the front of her dress.

"Oh," Irisa gasped, dropping the cup as Alice jumped up. The front of Irisa's corset was soaked and so was her skirt. "I should go change,"

"No," Alice said, running to her closet and pulling out a dress at random. "We should go find out who just screamed," she turned to her friend. "Here," She tossed Irisa the green dress she had in her hand. "Change into this."

"Um," Irisa bit her lip, holding her hands in front of her. "That's alright, Alice. I'll just run to my room and get changed; I have to get something anyway." She was already running to the door and had disappeared thorough it before Alice could say anything, wondering why her friend had acted so strangely. They were very close tin size, why should she have wasted time going all the way to her room?

Sort it out later, Alice. Alice thought sternly. You have to go now. Alice nodded to herself and followed the way her friend had gone, she had to go find whoever had screamed and now.

. . .

Alice found the queen in the hallway outside of the throne room.

They hadn't spoken much since she'd returned but now Alice had to speak to her. She looked more worried that Alice had ever seen her. Her dark lips pursed and her hands clasped at her chest and her white hair was slightly more disheveled than it should have been which Alice could see even from her distance at the other end of the corridor.

"Your majesty," Alice called and the queen turned towards her, her eyes widening and filling with relief. "What's going on?"

"Alice," The queen breathed, running towards her much more quickly than Alice had ever seen her run. "We have to hurry. You need to get ready right away."

"Why?" Alice asked. "What's happening?"

"It's Stayne, Alice." Mirana whispered. "He's here, and he's coming very soon."

"What?" Alice whispered. "But I, we just got here. I thought-"

"You have to get ready Alice," The queen said sternly. "It's time for our champion to fight again."

Yay, time for the big battle scene! Review!