Thank you for the Reviews and for checking out my story! Second chapter, right down there.
Disclaimer: There once was a stealer and he couldn't be meaner! He stole the others' credit, but he soon learned to regret it! What is the lesson? Don't be messin'!
Inspirational Song: "Believe in Love" - Hello Hollywood
. . . . .
Alice Kingsleigh was swinging back and forth in the moonlight, her arm dangling over the edge of her favorite resting place. Not too far from the Tea Party stood a massive flower with red petals the exact size of hammocks. It didn't mind Alice laying there, so whenever it saw the Champion walk near, it straightened itself out in order to make her resting all the more comfortable. There was a single gap opening up to the sky that the surrounding trees had made for her. The moon resided there, suspending itself in midair. Alice gazed at it dreamily, recalling her past month, the best month of her entire life, to herself.
Since Time didn't have to slow things down for anyone anymore, they only had Tea Parties at three o'clock in the afternoon. That is, of course, unless the March Hare spontaneously called for another, which he had absolutely done quite a few times. None of them minded. Hatter had said it himself: "You would think," he had mentioned on an exceptionally sunny day, "that I'd tire of tea parties after all these years of being at an ever-constant one! But no, no, I suppose I'm just too fond of tea!"
Alice had giggled at him then, earning his famous gap-toothed grin.
They'd even repainted the March Hare's house, it being Alice's idea. It had definitely seen better days and she thought Thackery deserved himself the most extraordinary-looking abode. They'd all agreed heartedly and wanted to paint it the very day she brought it up. Hatter, being the whimsical hatter he was, of course, had all the paint they needed at his own house. Alice had been delighted to finally see it and was purely in awe at its stature. The house itself was shaped like a hat and was made of a dark, rich wood. The inside was engorged with articles of cloth for hats and clothing. Seemingly random knick knacks stood all about the place. Alice had predicted correctly that the kitchen would be most bare, after all those years only drinking tea and eating cakes at the Tea Party.
Painting the house itself was perhaps the funniest thing Alice had ever experienced. They got half the paint on themselves and not because they weren't careful enough. It had been the Part Two to their cake fight they'd had over a month ago. As a joke, everyone had thrown the blue paint at Alice. Of course, she couldn't let them get away clean from that, now could she?
In the end, the March Hare's house was transformed into a magnificent, multi-color home with slightly blue-painted bushes. (Alice had been kneeling in front of the bushes at the time of impact.)
She could see the red windmills over the tops of the trees from where she was laying now and laughed to herself, remembering how Hatter had climbed up to paint them. He'd plainly told Alice with the most serious expression on his face that if he didn't make it back down, she could have his hat. He then bestowed the hat itself to her. She struggled to stifle a laugh as he turned back around and jumped on the windowsill.
Hatter was definitely proving to be the best of. . . Well, he was definitely more than a friend. . . So. . . Erm. . .
Alice's brow furrowed. What was she to call the Hatter? He hadn't exactly asked to court her, yet they were acting exactly so. And Mally and Thack, sometimes Chess, seemed to always be around, so Alice and Hatter couldn't talk it over. In fact, Alice realized, they hadn't been doing too much on their own, at all. Nothing. . . more-than-friend-like, that is.
Could it be his love for her was only a delusion? Alice didn't even have to question the feelings she had for him, but what of his for hers? Perhaps Hatter had only obliged to Alice's wants because they had only just gotten out of a life-death situation. She knew from experience that any extreme situation could certainly make one quite flighty, but they had gotten together after their battle against the Red Queen. Alice sighed. And men thought women were confusing?
As for the Red Queen, well, none too many cared for her, so they were quite fine with her death. She couldn't say the same for her sister, Mirana the White Queen. Something had changed within her the day she watched her sister die. The last words she had spoken to her sister were those of banishment. Alice secretly thought it was a mystery itself that Stayne hadn't killed her in the Outlands.
And Stayne was still out there. She wasn't sure if he had given up all efforts (which she found unlikely) or if he was plotting something again, even more sinister than before. If he was, Alice couldn't even imagine what that'd be. And that was saying something.
Alice heard a twig snap.
She remained utterly still, ready to jump up at any given moment. What if, speak of the Devil, Stayne was already and right-
"So this is where you wandered off to."
Alice gasped and sat up quickly at the deep voice, only to see Hatter walking up to her from behind a buttonberry bush. He carried his famous hat in his hands, revealing his fiery orange hair, and strode forward with poise. He smiled at her, his eyes a soft green. "Did I scare you?"
Alice shook her head. "Of course not."
Her smile must've given her away. He chuckled at her and sat in a petal a bit below her, but off to the side a bit so as they could see each other clearly. "Why aren't you sleeping?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
He grinned at the challenge. "I was making a hat when I remembered that I left my best pair of scissors, the red ones, you know, here. So I came back for them," his grin grew, "when I thought I caught a shade of blue peeking at me through the trees." He raised his brow at her blue silk nightdress.
She blushed. "That still doesn't explain why you weren't sleeping," she said quietly.
His grin slowly faded away and his eyes gave her that faraway look she feared so much. "The nightmares, Alice," he whispered. "I don't like them."
Alice reached down and took his hand, finding his eyes again. "I can't imagine you would. I'm sorry." Her eyes hardened. "And it's not your fault, you know that."
There was never really anything more to say on this topic than that. When Hatter had first come to Alice about his nightmares, which were essentially memories of the day his entire clan had died, Alice was close to tears. Of course, she would never question him about the event, but then, what could you say when the topic was brought up? What words of comfort could you say to a man who had lost his whole family?
Alice squeezed his hand and looked back up at the moon. "I come out here each night," she said softly, "to look at the moon. Because I know that the moon is the one thing my family can see with me. That's the one thing our two worlds share." She looked back at Hatter, who was gazing at her curiously. "The moon."
Hatter shook his head. "One of two," he corrected. At Alice's curious expression, he explained. "One of two things we share. The moon and you." He smiled softly.
Alice's eyes shone in the moonlight. "Yes. Me, too."
They both lay there in their hammocks for a moment or two, simply staring at the moon, remembering the families they had both lost. For Hatter it was a matter of death, destruction, and loss. For Alice, it was a matter of never seeing her family again, even when she knew they were walking around right above her head. Alice sighed.
"How long do you think it's been? Up there?"
Hatter looked at the blonde in the next hammock over. She was biting her lip, staring at the moon as if her family were standing upon it.
"I- I really wouldn't know."
Alice nodded and her lower lip quivered. "Do you think. . . they miss me?"
Hatter's eyes widened in alarm. He leaned on one elbow to get a better look at her. "Alice! How could-! What makes you think your family doesn't miss you?"
"Well," she said just as softly, "it felt like I was mostly an inconvenience to my mother if anything. I know Margaret probably misses me, though," she pondered. "Perhaps Lord Ascot. . . ? Yes, he would."
Hatter was mortified. "You have to think. . . over. . . who would miss you. . .?"
Alice nodded, confused at his tone. "They never really accepted who I was, Hatter. I was the black sheep of their whole society. I was practically an outcast. Not too many people would ever try to befriend to me."
"That's frumious!" Hatter's eyes suddenly burned, catching Alice off guard. "Alice, yer the Champion of Underland. Yer ten times bettea than any o' the sticklers up there." He indicated the Otherworld by looking up at the sky. "They'd all bae lucky tea have yea up there."
Alice rolled onto her side and placed one hand on his cheek, tightening the hold of his hand with the other. "Hatter, it's okay! It's okay, it's alright. . ." she cooed. Hatter closed his eyes, still fuming a bit. He took a few deep breaths and began to calm himself.
His mad fits occurred less and less often, but when they did happen, they were a little harder to get rid of. Hatter had noticed it, too, and said it was because the Madness was getting angrier with him and that Madness was growing tired of so much Happiness. Alice didn't like how the mad fits were becoming more troublesome than usual, but Hatter said this was good. He thought they were finally beating Madness with their Happiness and that it was all thanks to Alice. Needless to say, Alice had been as red as a beet.
Hatter finally exhaled and opened his green eyes to smile at her. "Aye love yea."
"Aye love yea, too," she mimicked.
Hatter chuckled and leaned in to kiss her soft lips before falling back on the red hammock with a deep sigh. Containing the Madness was really wearing him out nowadays. Alice would have to tell Chess to take a break from his shenanigans for a bit.
"Tired?" He nodded. "You should probably just spend the rest of the night here, then. Wouldn't want you passing out halfway to your house."
He nodded again. "Night, Alice."
Alice frowned at his sudden and extremely tired tone. "Night, Hatter."
And together, the milliner and the maiden fell asleep.
. . . . .
Rachel: We would like to take the time to mention something.
Insanity: We know a lot of people, after having Alice and Hatter proclaim their love to each other, start calling Hatter 'Tarrant'.
Rachel: We realize this is his name, but almost everyone (Alice included) has always called him Hatter, so we don't see why we should start now.
Insanity: Imagine having being called a nickname all your life, making out with someone, and then being called something different from that point out.
Rachel: Thanks for the visual.