Sorry about the longer wait, high school truly is murderous, you know? Thank you, as always, to my wonderful Reviewers, especially Night-Alice, for she seems to really like this story! I encourage all of you who do read, but not Review, to do so. I'd like to fix any errors I have. . . And know your opinions, of course!
Disclaimer: I own absolutely positively noting of Alice in Wonderland.
Inspirational Song: "Forget It" - Breaking Benjamin
. . . . .
"What exactly was that plan, by any chance?"
Alice sighed. "For the last time, Hatter, I do not know."
"Now that I think about it," he pondered aloud, "we didn't really have much of a plan in the first place."
Alice leaned against a pole on the corner of the city's main cobblestone road and sighed. Hatter watched her and frowned slightly, before his eyes began racing back and forth along the scenery. Alice knew he was trying to find anything of interest to please her, but it wouldn't help. This world seemed even more incredibly dull to her now than it did before.
The moment Alice had crawled out of the Rabbit Hole she had started making comparisons; she couldn't help it. The sky certainly wasn't as bright, the wild life much too quiet, the animals much too serene, the grass not as earthly, even!
The clothing was drab and expressionless, almost as plastic as the people. But apparently, they were content with their world's culture. Or rather, the lack of it. They wore smiles and were friendly enough to each other, but Alice had to wonder: How would they react to the perfection of her Wonderland?
She assumed it would be as Hamish's was when he had stumbled into Wonderland after her. She could remember his face and exact words as if they had been spoken yesterday.
"Well, this can't possibly be real. Both of us ate something rancor at that party that upset our stomachs so much that we are now ill and having a strange reverie in which we both are present."
Alice couldn't help but smile. He had been so sure of himself then.
A thought launched itself into her mind. Could he have remembered it all?
Alice shook her head. Even so, she didn't have time to find out. Time was precious up here. Who knew how long it'd already been for those in Wonderland?
"Come one," she said to Hatter. "Let's walk around and see if anything relatively interesting shows itself."
Hatter looked at her as if she were sane. "Interesting? Up here?"
She smiled and dragged him by the hand. "You never know," she sing-songed.
Actually, Alice had expected chaos as soon as she stepped foot on the streets. Ilosovic Stayne was up here, after all. But the fires she had been expecting weren't occupying any buildings and the terrified people weren't running down the road screaming. It seemed the Knave decided to be as discreet as they were being. Alice pulled her white hood down unconsciously.
They took a turn and walked down the path of a replica of every other street here. Hatter began humming to himself again, probably developing a new song from boredom. It was flighty and upbeat. Alice giggled, earning Hatter to hum louder and smile at her. It was fairly odd to see his signature grin form on another's face, but she knew he was Hatter inside. Not Chessur, too, but Hatter.
Almost fifteen minutes went by. They must have been on some of the same streets several times, but Alice honestly couldn't tell. It was almost as if she had never lived here. Almost, because every once in a while they would stumble across someone she knew. Alice would always turn her head to the side, but it was sort of sad, not being able to speak to someone who surely thought you were missing. Especially Timothy, the shopkeeper. He had been so nice to her once when she had gotten lost as a little girl. He'd given her some new shoes, free of charge.
Hatter stopped abruptly and pulled Alice to the side. From the corner of her eye, she watched Timothy wiping the window of his store. Perhaps feeling eyes on him, he began to look around. Alice turned to face Hatter.
He frowned at her. "This is hard for you, isn't it?"
Alice shrugged, looking at her feet. She kicked a pebble.
She heard Hatter's intake of breath. "You don't. . .miss it?"
Alice looked up curiously. Hatter's eyes were sad, cautious. Getting his gist, Alice's eyes widened. "No!" She took both his hands. "No, no, of course not," she said more calmly. "It's just odd, is all, seeing the people I haven't talked to in so long and not being able to speak with them again," she admitted.
Hatter glanced at Timothy. "Do they look the same as the last time you saw them?"
She studied a passing woman, Maxine, who had taught her piano throughout her young teens. "They all look about the same age. . . "
"There's a chance it hasn't been that long, then."
Alice nodded, suddenly wanting to get away from all these familiar faces. "Hatter, do you think we could stop to get a drink? It won't take too long."
He studied her and nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem."
They wound up entering Buford's Beverages and settling themselves at a table near the window. It was only a little crowded and had advertised their teas in the window, so Alice thought it the best place to stop for a while and rest.
An unfamiliar young woman with braided, brown hair was their waitress. "Hello, there, Mister and Miss, how may I serve you on this fine, sunny noon?"
Hatter looked at her quizzically, startling the poor girl a bit. She grasped her notepad a bit tighter and stood closer to Alice. "Two teas, please," she said. The waitress nodded once and left.
Hatter let out the mouthful of air he'd been holding. "That was a close one!"
Alice's brow lifted. "Close to what, exactly?"
He opened and then closed his mouth, looking confused.
She smiled. "Don't worry, chances are you won't have to do much talking."
A ding from the bells above the shop's door beckoned for their attention. Alice looked over her shoulder nonchalantly and then gasped, quickly turning back to Hatter. She tried to calm her deep breaths.
Hatter craned his neck to get a good look at who had just came in. "Alice? Is something wrong?"
"Don't look! Quickly, look the other way," she whispered.
But it was too late. She could hear their giggles come closer and closer before their owners finally settled at the table directly to their right. Alice closed her eyes in defeat. She couldn't just get up and leave, could she? No, she and Hatter hadn't even gotten their tea yet. It might attract too much attention to them.
"Are you alright?"
Hatter shouldn't have spoken. Alice opened her eyes to see the Chataway twins sitting next to her, studying Hatter with flirty glances. The two shared an approving look and scooted closer to their table.
"Excuse us, fine sir, but you look frighteningly unfamiliar." Fiona patted her already-perfect hair.
Hatter looked around him, wondering who these two ladies could be talking to. Alice sighed. Oh no.
Faith giggled. "We're talking to you, silly!"
Hatter locked eyes with her. "Oh, erm. . ." Hatter placed his hands in his lap, then put them on the table, before folding them together. "Hello."
The two girls giggled and shared another look. Alice had trouble stifling the urge to roll her eyes.
"My name is Fiona, and this is my sister, Faith. It's a true pleasure to meet you." Her eyes racked him up and down, before finally nodding her consent of his appearance. Alice stirred restlessly in her seat.
"Well, aren't you a handsome young man, though!" Faith said, placing her hand atop his. Alice glared at her dainty fingers and heard Hatter's gulp.
"Yes, please tell us your name?"
Hatter glanced sheepishly at Alice before quickly looking away. "Tarrant," he said quietly.
"Ooh, that's marvelous!"
"Is it foreign?"
"Seems dashing!"
"Speaking of dashing," Alice said through clenched teeth. "We must be going now, Tarrant. Busy, busy." She stood up angrily and made to scoot her chair back in. Damn the tea.
Fiona's head tilted to the side, trying to see past Alice's hood. "Do I know you?" she asked slowly.
Alice's breath caught. "No, of course you don't. You can't. We're travelers." She had always been fine with lying, she used to have to do it so much. Even the Red Queen had believed her lies. The Chataways wouldn't recognize her tone either; she'd lowered it enough, but not forcefully.
Fiona studied her for merely a moment more before shrugging and turning her attention back to Hatter. As if this were better.
"So," Faith said affectionately. "You're traveling, are you? Where from?" She still hadn't removed that hand.
"Erm. . . Umbrage," he said. Alice smiled a bit. She'd told him of the story she'd weaved to fool the Queen, and here he was using it to advantage. Brilliant.
"Oh, that sounds awfully far away," she pouted.
Hatter nodded. "It is. Far south. Very far south."
"Are all from Umbrage as fine as you? You look as though you could be a Lord!" Alice knew how these two worked, but honestly, weren't they laying it on a bit thick today?
Hatter looked down and mumbled some nonsense. The waitress took this time to come by and deposit their drinks on their table. A quite "Thank you" from Alice was all she needed to disappear. Hatter took the opportune moment to distract himself from their current situation. He picked up the delicate tea cup and chugged down half of its contents. He slammed the cup back down with a sour look on his face.
"Bitter?" Faith asked. Hatter nodded curtly. A different waitress was helping a customer nearby and gave Hatter an offended sniff.
"Probably not used to the works here, are you?" Fiona applied.
Hatter shook his head. "No, the tea where I come from is much, much better. You'd love it, considering what you have to drink here!" Alice gave him a stern look, quieting him up immediately.
"You know, Faith, there seem to be quite a few travelers dropping in on our streets today," Fiona pondered aloud.
Alice sat back down. "Excuse me?"
Fiona smiled victoriously, finally capturing Alice's attention. "Why, yes. We have our fine Tarrant here, you, his unsocial companion-"
Hatter interrupted her rudely. "Her name is-oomph!"
Alice didn't think she'd kicked him that hard. "My name is Mirana, and do please continue." She'd picked the White Queen's name out of the blue.
"That's a unique name," Faith gasped. "Are you from the same place as Tarrant?"
"Yes," Alice said shortly. "Now, what were you saying? About the travelers?"
"Curious one, aren't we?" When Alice didn't reply she continued, so as to avoid an awkward pause. "Well, as I was saying, we have the delectable Tarrant, our unsocial Mirana, and this taller gentleman Faith and I came across when coming back from a visit with one of our friends. We didn't catch his name, but that's alright. He was downright odd."
Faith nodded excitedly. "Oh, yes, interested in nothing but his own business. Wearing the most incredible clothing you ever did see, too. He even had an eye patch!" Alice gasped, but Faith took it for one of fashionable wonder. Hatter sat straighter in his chair.
Fiona laughed. "For a moment when we saw him, I thought he was one of the men traveling with Alice Kingsleigh!"
Faith gasped. "Fiona! You really shouldn't be saying that with her missing and all."
Fiona's laughter quickly died in her throat. "Too true. I apologize for that remark," she said.
Alice and Hatter shared an urgent look. "Ladies," Hatter said. They widened their eyes at his suddenly charismatic tone. "Could you please tell us where that man was heading? It's relatively important."
The girls nodded animatedly. "He wanted to know where the Ascots lived, so I asked him if he was interested in their trading business, and he said yes."
"So I suppose he's at the Ascots' manor right now, as we speak!"
Alice paled. This is not good. Not good at all.
Perhaps there's another reason. . . ?
What other reason could there be!
Alice and Hatter stood up suddenly. The Chataways looked upset. Faith clung to Hatter's sleeve with puppy-dog eyes. "You're not leaving, are you?" she pouted.
"I'm afraid we must." He took his arm back and stood closer to Alice.
"One last thing?" Fiona asked flirtatiously. At Hatter's silence, she continued. "You're not courting this woman, by any chance?" She smiled slowly at him.
Before Hatter could respond, Alice dragged him angrily out of the shop towards the Ascot Manor.
. . . . .
Insanity: You must have a soft spot for Hamish or something!
Rachel: Well. . . maybe. But for the Hamish in my story, after his epiphany. I watched the movie the other day, saw him, and oh my dear Lordy. "I wrote him as a leading character?"
Insanity: That is rude!
Rachel: You could see practically all of his gum line!