The pain in my left arm was almost unbearable. Defying Cheshire was something that didn't happen without the proper punishment, I had learned that. During all those years, while I waited for Kevin, Cheshire had been looking for him too. One eye wasn't enough for him and the cat probably wouldn't rest before he had both. The only problem for him was that Kevin had escaped long ago.

"I know it was your doing! Where did you sent him to?" Even if I intended to answer him, he knew I couldn't. "I don't exactly know how you managed to help him, you useless sow, but I will find out and when I do, you're in for some good old fashioned torture!"
As I wanted to walk away, one of Cheshire's' claws only scraped my shoulder, but fully hit my arm. Even though I was a ghost-like human, the cat's power could still hurt me. His sharp nails had left deep marks all over my arm, leaving me bleeding. How a memory was able to bleed was still a mystery to me, but that wasn't my main concern. I had to stop this flow of red liquid somehow.

Even though I had roamed around this dimension for a while now, there were still aspects of it I didn't fully understand. Just when I was about to resort to desperate measures to stop the bleeding, it did so on its own. I decided not to think too much about this strange occurrence and sat down against one of the pillars in the main hall.
Tears were silently flowing down my cheeks as I buried my head between my knees. It was a terrible feeling; I hated this uselessness that was taking over my body. Why was I sent here and why wasn't I able to exit through the door Kevin had used? Maybe even more importantly, why wasn't I able to gather some answers?
The feeling of someone's thumb made me look up, scared that Cheshire wasn't done with my punishment. If that was the case, I wouldn't know if I would survive. If, in fact, I could die, which I wasn't sure of. But no, it wasn't Cheshire.
"You shouldn't cry, gorgeous. I can't handle seeing you this sad, what happened?" When I looked up, the few tears turned into a small river which was gushing all over my face. There was a good chance this was the ugliest moment of my life, or what was left of it now that I was a prisoner in Cheshire's house.
Even though I was ready to cry for an eternity, I suddenly stopped. As soon as I noticed the white hair and -now one- red eye, my heart filled itself with a blissful feeling. He was back, Kevin Regnard, the one who I had been thinking about for so long, he had finally returned.
"I told you I'd come back for you, didn't I? I'm very sorry it took so long, but we had some trouble finding the right door that would lead to this dimension, please forgive me." Of course I was going to forgive him, he came back for me after all. I did wonder who 'we' were supposed to be, though.
"Listen carefully, because I have some great news for you. I'm here with two companions of mine, Gilbert and Oz. We have found a way we can get you out of here, but it gets even better, you're going to get your smile back. I'll make that disgusting cat pay, no matter what!"
Even if I would have been able to tell him what I felt, I knew I wouldn't be able to find the right words. Kevin's hand patting my crown gave me the feeling that whatever he had planned, it was going to work out. At least I hoped so. I had to come up with a plan of my own, just in case.

"So after I was sent back to the surface, I found another chain to forge a contract with. With that, I also changed my name to Xerxes Break. Trust me, it's a chain that can take care of Cheshire, I'm sure of it.
Of course, I needed a place to live and the lovely Miss Shelly and her daughter Sharon took me in. Unfortunately, Miss Shelly passed away quite some time ago, but Sharon is still with us and even helping us to create a passageway back as we speak. Am I making sense so far?"

As I nodded, I noticed a tiny smile that seemed to be directed at me, it gave me chills. I hoped that me tapping Break's shoulder would ignite a second explanation. Luckily, it did.
"You probably want to know how I'm able to touch you now, aren't you?" Me nodding exuberantly was all the information Break needed. He stopped in front of me and pointed to his back. "Hop on, I'll explain everything."

He was an illegal contractor, this white haired savior, it all made sense now. Because the contract was illegal, Break became a part of The Mad Hatter, thus being a chain, partially. That made him a part of this dimension, whether he wanted it or not.

"Here we are, we should wait for a few minutes, Gilbert and Oz should arrive soon." As I sat down, while leaning against Break's shoulder, I noticed something purple around his wrist. My eyes got bigger as soon as I got a better look, the purple ribbon I had lost was tied neatly and carefully around his left wrist. He had held onto it for all this time, it made me wonder why.
A sudden flash in front of us made me jump up like a startled cat. The flash turned into some sort of bright passageway in the middle of the room. A blonde kid stepped out of it, followed by a taller guy with dark hair. For a second I was really scared, but as soon as Break calmly walked up to them, I knew they were the two guys he had spoken of, Gilbert and Oz.
"Did you get it?" Break's voice turned so serious, so quickly, I wondered what these guys had been up to. It sounded as if it was very important. The blonde kid, who introduced himself as Oz, took off immediately after he greeted us, saying he had to get back to Sharon. Gilbert threw something Break's way and followed his younger friend.
Right after both of them had left, Break started to mumble something. I wanted to know what he was doing, but I couldn't figure it out. It seemed as if he was performing some kind of magic ritual, but I didn't know for sure.
Break's hair looked as if it was surrounded by a windy storm, it pointed in almost every direction and his clothes did the exact same thing. When the wind reached me, I felt how cold it was and started to shiver. The intruder with the white hair sounded as if he were hypnotized or something. His voice had something enchanting and powerful, but monotone in it.
Finally, after a few minutes of hearing his gibberish, things suddenly turned quiet again, although that silence didn't last long. Within some mere seconds the tranquility of this hall was broken by me and by vocal cords. I screamed for as long as my lung capacity could take it, after which I buried my face in my hands. The pain I felt was indescribable, it was even worse from when Cheshire had performed the opposite ritual. Cheshire Cat... If only I knew a way to kill him for what he'd done, I'd do it.
Instantly. Maybe I could try to make him recall the past. If only that would be enough to defeat him.

'I still don't understand how you managed to pull this off, you really are amazing, Kevin. I mean, Break.' I couldn't help but chuckle a bit over my own voice. It had been so long since I'd heard it, I wasn't even sure if it was mine to begin with.
I was hoping I'd see Gilbert and Oz again; I couldn't wait to thank them for all their help. Break had asked them to retrieve the doll that had my smile, so that I could get it back with a magic ritual. And so it happened, I was once again able to smile. Even though he maybe couldn't have done it without the help of his friends, I owed it all to the white haired warrior, the one whom I had met all that time ago. Without Break, nothing would have changed here, nothing would have happened.
And now he only wanted to do one more thing, fight one more battle. Cheshire wouldn't live long after this, Break and I both knew it. All we had to do was to come up with a cunning plan.
As Break was passing back and forth, trying to find a plan that would work on the sly cat, I suddenly jumped up. 'I've got it!' My enthusiasm was hard to tuck away, but only because I was certain about my idea. 'I'm listening.' Break said smoothly. 'How are we going to make that one eyed fur ball pay?' I smirked. 'With a story from long ago.'