"I will not allow you to be alone with Lady Alice!"
"I only want to talk to her in private."
"I am sworn to protect her and you are most certainly not safe to be around."
Alice sighed. Madelyn had been trying to convince Charlie to let her bring Alice for a walk so they could talk all morning. It was strange that he refused to let her go though, if Alice had ever shown interest in doing something Charlie would usually let her go. But not this time, and this time Alice was very interested.
The night before Madelyn had promised to fill in all the blanks Hatter had left behind. What mostly interested Alice was that talking to Madelyn would give her a glimpse of Hatter's past, which he rarely talked about.
"Charlie, I promise I'll be fine. I can rake care of myself."
"Yeah, but you don't know what Maddie can be hiding." Hatter chimed in from somewhere behind the small group. Ever since he was sure Madelyn would be all right his attitude towards her turned unusually cool.
Alice had had enough. Even though the men seemed wary Madelyn Alice got a feeling that she was someone she could trust, and she didn't trust people easily. So finally she got up grabbed the smaller woman's arm and pulled her towards the trails.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why they don't trust you."
"Don't worry about it, you'll know once I'm done talking to you." The serious look on her face didn't match the smile in her voice.
The pair wandered into the woods in silence and Alice started to wonder if she should prompt Madelyn by asking some questions or something. She kept quiet however figuring the wonderlander was trying to pick a place to start.
They walked to the far side of the ruins and sat on the broken stone nest to each other.
"So what do you know about me?" Her inquisitive green eyes looked right at Alice.
"The only thing Hatter told me was that you were his baby sister." A soft chuckle came from the smaller woman as she rolled her eyes.
"Of course he would." She gave Alice a sad smile before she continued. "I'm only a year younger than him but it always finds- found it necessary to protect me like I was a little girl."
Alice couldn't hide the confusion in her eyes at that fact. Madelyn looked about seventeen or eighteen, a good five or six years younger than Hatter.
"I'll explain why I look so young soon enough.
"Hatter and I were very close when we were younger. We really never fought, I personally think because we were all each other had and we were afraid to loose each other.
"I was seven when my parents disappeared and Hatter took care of me. It didn't take long before we ran out of food and we had to go out in the streets to look for something to support us.
"He didn't like the idea of me having to work so he said he would take care of me as long as I followed some rules he made. His rules were: don't complain, stay hidden while he was working, don't ask questions and blood is always thicker than water.
"I listened to his rules for the most part, but while he was working I followed him. I was always hidden like he told me to be but I watched everything and learned everything he did.
"When I was fifteen he started working with March. March was just another street kid then and he helped Hatter steal food and clothes. I heard him ask Hatter why he needed girl's clothes all the time but Hatter never told him about me.
"One day him and March almost got caught. Two really big guys chased after them. March knocked one off the sidewalk and the other went after Hatter. It was that day Hatter found out about his special ability. He punched the second guy in the face and kept hitting him because he didn't think he could kill a guy in one punch.
"I ran back to where he expected to find me and when he did he had another rule for me. Standing in front of me covered in the man's blood he told me never get in fights and if I ever found out that I could do something special not to tell anyone. Of course I couldn't ask questions because that was against the rules so he never told me about his right punch.
"I stopped following him after that day, I didn't want to see anything like that ever again." Madelyn's eyes were filled with fear as if she were watching Hatter kill that man over and over again. Suddenly she snapped out of it and gave Alice a wide smile that showed off her dimple.
"When I was sixteen I met Mad March. He came to get Hatter because he was late to work and ran into me. We talked and he was so nice and kind I couldn't imagine why Hatter never wanted me to meet him.
"When Hatter found out about mine and March's meeting he was furious. He told me never to talk to him again and added that to his list of rules. But for some reason this rule I couldn't even pretend to follow and always found ways to see March.
"It was around this time that March gave Hatter a job that Hatter couldn't do. March told him to follow this man, and when the time was right kill him. Hatter refused, March told him if he didn't do it then he would be put on March's hit list.
"What was I supposed to do? My boyfriend and brother wanted to kill each other, I had to choose one of them there was no middle road. According to Hatter's rules I should have sided with him because he was family.
"I choose March if you couldn't tell. There was no turning back, Hatter was no longer my family, March was. I would do anything for him, like avenge his first death, even if that meant killing Hatter.
"When I found out Hatter killed March I was torn, I wanted to kill him for taking the love of my life away from me, but I hated the thought of hurting him.
"I went back to him and convinced him I was trustworthy." She paused for a minute to try and hold back her tears and took a deep breath before she continued. "That I was truly sorry for going against him, that I realized March was a bad man long ago but he wouldn't let me leave.
"Hatter was the first thing I punched with my left hand. The sound alone made me sick to my stomach, then seeing him there, motionless on the ground with blood pooling around him." She choked on her tears again. "I truly thought he was dead and I couldn't stand to touch him and make sure so I just ran."
Alice was realizing what Hatter was talking about before she left her camp. She was also second guessing her decision to be alone with Madelyn, Hatter didn't trust to easily once betrayed and if Madelyn could have convinced him. No she pushed the thought out of her mind and continued to listen to Madelyn's heartfelt words.
"I thought about working for the Queen but decided against it, I didn't want to have to answer to someone. So I stayed in the city and got hooked on emotion tea. My favorite was pure child innocence because it let me forget my life. Sadly the side effect was keeping me in a youthful state, I was seventeen for four years.
"When I found out they had revived March I went back to him. I didn't tell him about what had happened to between me and Hatter or what I found out about my left punch, he still doesn't know.
"It was after you took down the Queen and everyone was talking about it when I found out Hatter didn't die. Part of me wanted to find him and explain what happened, I never got the chance though.
"When I found out he was gone I went to the Tea Shoppe and took over. I still did anything and everything for March and he trusted me. But I couldn't watch him kill Hatter so when I found out he was after him I went through the Looking Glass to find Hatter and warn him."
Alice sat silently next to Madelyn. Part of her realized how sincere Madelyn was and told her to trust the small woman, but she couldn't shake the growing feeling that being alone with Madelyn wasn't safe.
"You see, Hatter never mentioned me because I broke his most important rule, family comes first. He did everything for me and I tried to kill him over some guy. Hatter doesn't think of me as his sister but a manipulative bitch who will stop at nothing to get what she wants"
The anger that filled her voice when she said those last words completely disappeared and turned into a calm but serious tone.
"And you know what the worst part is? Hatter's right, everything he thinks about me is right. I hate what I turned into because of March but I don't know how to stop it so I continue listening to every word March tells me.
"I'm sorry I have to do this Alice, but believe me everything I told you was the truth."
Quickly before Alice had time to react Madelyn punched her in the head and everything for Alice went black.