Another familiar bit. I still don't own.
"The knave," Mally said quietly after gasping as the March Hare scrambled onto the table to hide.
"Good-bye," Cheshire grinned before vanishing.
The Hare gasped and scrambled back to his seat as the hatter forced a drink down Eileen's throat. He quickly gathered her up as she shrunk further and pushed her gently into a teapot and closed the lid on her. Eileen rammed on the lid, demanding to be let out, and heard a man's foot meet the ground as he dismounted.
"Well, if it's not my favorite trio," Stayne, the Knave of hearts, grinned, "Of Lunatics."
"Would you like to join us?" Mally asked sincerely.
"You're all late for tea!" the hare yelled as he threw a cup of tea at Stayne, who dodged and sauntered forward with a warning glare. The cup instead hit a card soldier and the Hare and the Dormouse burst into laughter.
"We're looking for the girl," Stayne said, "Called, ah, Eileen."
"Speaking of the Queen, here's a little song we used to sing in her honor," the hatter said before beginning to lead his companions in a song.
"If you're hiding her, you'll lose your heads," Stayne threatened with a dark chuckle as he wrapped his arm around the hatter's throat.
"Already lost them," the hatter choked out before Stayne released him in shock as Mally and the Hare burst into laughter. "Altogether now!"
The trio began singing, and a bloodhound began sniffing under the table. He sniffed the teapot, and immediately knew that this was someone Hatter was protecting – he could see it in how the hatter held his hand on top of the teapot.
"Would you like some tea?" the March Hare offered, holding out a cup to Stayne, who'd been walking around the table. Stayne rolled his eyes as he accepted the tea and the bloodhound began barking as he ran off in a different direction.
"Follow the bloodhound," he ordered as he brought the cup to his lips, and the cards ran off.
"Sugar?" Mally offered.
"Yes, please," the hare accepted, and she launched a sugar cube into his empty cup with a spoon. "Well, that's lovely."
"You're all mad," he spat.
"Thanks very much," the hare saluted, and Stayne threw down his cup, having had more than enough of the trio's lunacy, which Eileen was beginning to enjoy and admire somewhat.
"Pardon," the hatter whispered as he opened the lid to reveal Eileen glaring up at him, and he put the lid back on and leaving just enough room for his fingers to fish around for some lace. "One moment."
He pulled out some lace, layered it, flattened it out, and quickly set to work. Within seconds, he had a new dress for Eileen, and he smiled.
"Yes, try this on for size," he smiled as he put the tiny dress back into the teapot. A few minutes later, Eileen knocked on the lid and he opened it. he picked her up, eyeing her outfit, and set her on the table gently. "Mmm… I like it!"
"Good thing the blood hound is one of us, or you'd be," Mally said and made a decapitated motion and noise.
"What do they want me for? If I have to I can hex them sixty ways to Sunday," Eileen laughed.
"Your carriage, milady," the hatter said as he put it next to her on the table.
"The hat?" Eileen laughed.
"Anyone can go by horse or rail, but the absolute best way to travel, is by hat," he beamed, and pondered it for a second. "Have I made a rhyme?"
"I love going by hat!" Mally said going forwards.
"Eileen only, Mally," the hatter scolded, "But some other time."
"What about by broomstick?" Eileen asked, and the hatter laughed maniacally.
"I've always wanted to try that!" he admitted. "Mother would tell stories of how I was destined to be able to use magic somehow, but I wonder if she was already mad when she had said that. I do miss her terribly sometimes. I haven't had the heart to go back home since everything was destroyed."
"I'll show you sometime," Eileen beamed. "How can you kill a spider who can't catch anybody?"
"I'll have to think of that," he said thoughtfully as he left the table and ducked as Thackery threw a cup at him.
They went down to the lake, and were astonished to find that it was now black. Eileen stared at it before realizing what it was. She stared at it, beginning to let her mind whirl, and soon burst into a grin that rivaled both the Hatter's and Cheshire's.
"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe All mimsy were the borogoves And the mome raths outgrabe," he said darkly.
"Sorry, what was that?" Eileen asked confused as she dropped from his hat to his shoulder.
"What was what?" he shot back darkly. "The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame Jaws that bite and claws that catch! Beware the Jabberwock, my son! And the frumious Bandersnatch! He took his Vorpal Sword in hand The Vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. It's all about you, you know."
"I don't slay, so put it out of your mind. I couldn't even if I wanted to – except on my father," she said dejectedly.
"Mind," he said as putting her down on a large stump and then turned to walk away.
"Wait! You can't leave me here!" she called out.
"Ya don't slay," he snarled, "Do you have any idea what the Red Queen has done? You don't slay."
"Well, if I had a reason to, I might," she reasoned. "Why? What's the Red Queen done? Surely Leis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass weren't just stories if I'm here. Tell me what I'm not knowing."
"Alice," he murmured. "Alice was from a very, very long time ago. I was named after my great-great-great grandfather, Tarrant Hightopp, who was the Mad Hatter of the time. Alice never returned to Underland like everyone thought she would. No, she remained above, even though her only current child remained here, with my namesake."
"So, how do I fit in all this?" Eileen asked confused.
"Your papa was her descendant," he said simply. "Through Tom Riddle the elder. He was a descendant of about two thousand years of the original Alice. It's where your father and you get your madness you know."
"So, we're both mad, I'm a witch, you're a hatter, you're the Mad Hatter of my time, and now I'm the Mad Witch of my time. Joys," Eileen summed up. "Sounds fun. But Hatter, why is my father the bad kind of mad while we're the good kind of mad?"
"Because," he said simply, "It was because he also grew up in the orphanage you did. You grew up alone, feeding on darkness and fear of your own, while he grew up feeding on darkness and fear of others. He thought his mother's lineage made him special. You think of it as a… weapon to be used to fight for the right reasons. Love, family, a home."
"Things my father are all incapable of understanding," Eileen said darkly. "Now tell me Hatter, if my father doesn't understand them, then can I understand them, or am I just as ignorant as he is?"
"I don't know," he murmured. "You were much more muchier. You've lost your muchness."
"My muchness?" she asked.
"In there," he said, pointing to her heart with his finger. "Something's missing."
"Tell me what Red Queen has done," she insisted.
"It was here," he began. "I was hatter to the white Queen at the time. Hightopp clan have always been employed at court…"
Well, if you've watched the movie, you know what happened. If not… you're out of luck. I'm not repeating the whole thing by script. Sorry, but that's not how I work. Only some of the time.
Reviews! They make me happier than the Mad Hatter!
