"Who's there?' demanded Vi, blindly scanning about the tree branches hanging above her, but was unable to see whoever was speaking. She certainly didn't like the sound of it, judging by the crazy voice walking the tight rope between a hiss and a cackle.

Then, upon a twisted branch, like a photo in a red room, faded in a small body followed by a head. It was a brown and fuzzy creature with grayish stripes on his fur. The ears pointed out in a feline fashion, one with a brass earring hanging from the lobe. Its face was that of a Yordle with an extremely stretched grin. It soon clicked: it was that other maniac in Vi's life, the mad bomber that was Ziggs! There was no getting around it. His frame took on more of a cat like shape with a skinny tail and longer and more defined limbs as opposed to the stubby arms and legs that Yordles usually had. He wasn't wearing his normal demolitions suit, in fact he wore nothing at all. (No worries, this stayed in the G rated area. I'm not entirely sure how Yordle anatomy works, but I think it's close to the way most cartoon character are. I mean look at Rumble's rumble in the jungle skin; he's not wearing any pants.)

The grinning cat/Yordle hybrid laid casually on the branch and looked down at Vi.

"Hello there," he purred.

"Zi-," Vi stopped herself, she knew better know. This wasn't the Ziggs she knew.

"Have a case of the stutters, do we?" playfully asked the smiling creature.

"You're not Ziggs." Vi simply said.

"That's Cheshire Ziggs to you, Miss," he corrected.

"Cheshire? The hell does that mean?" The Cheshire Ziggs shrugged at her question.

"I don't know."

There was a prolonged silence…

"…you smell like a seahorse."

"W-what?"

"Now that the ice has been broken, I couldn't help but notice that you just came from the Duchess' home," said the Cheshire Ziggs, completely ignoring his previous statement.

"…You'd be right." Vi was in mental debate on whether or not she should start running again.

"Not bad, I used to live there, you know. She called me 'pet'. Yuck! Can you imagine?"

"No…"

"No, seriously! Imagine having to put your hands together and move them up and down in medium paced intervals over and over in order to get a meal! Sickness! Sickness in its purest form I say!"

"Why didn't you just tell her that you were hungry? I mean you're talking to me pretty well." Vi asked. The Cheshire Ziggs' smiling never went away.

"The Duchess never had an ear for the animal folk. All I had to work with was 'purr', 'meow', 'hiss', and peeing on the rug in an act of rebellion….Oh, how I miss it so! Those were the glory days!"

"Of course…" said Vi after an awkward pause.

"You look lost, Miss." The Cheshire Ziggs said.

"I guess," muttered Vi, "I take it you wouldn't know where Jinx went."

"Jinx?" questioned the cat/Yordle, tilting his head. His grin making it seem like something out of a psychological horror movie.

"White rabbit," rephrased Vi.

"Double chin!" the Piltover enforcer gave him a queer look, "Oh, sorry. I thought we were playing a game of words."

"So, you don't know where I should go?"

"Well, does it matter? Wait…you know what? It does matter! It matters immensely! As the old saying goes, it's not the destination that counts but the journey. But if that's true then why have a destination at all?" The Cheshire Ziggs then vanished from the tree branch for a brief moment before reappearing from literal thin air next to Vi on a much lower limb on the tree. She jumped at bit at the suddenness of it.

"But what would be the destination without the journey?" she asked him, feeling the need to probe a bit deeper into the logic of this world, "Isn't that kind of stupid? Isn't that like making a sandwich without bread?"

"Ah, but what if you don't like bread?" The Cheshire Ziggs countered. Vi let out a defeated sigh.

"I don't need to discuss philosophy with you. I just want to know where to go." The cat/Yordle hybrid chuckled a bit.

"Then you don't know that much about Wonderland," he said.

"I know that it's full of insane people," spat Vi.

"Insane? Ouchie!" the Cheshire Ziggs faked a hurt look, "Miss, we prefer the term 'mad' down here. 'Insane' usually carries a strong negative meaning."

"We? Who do you mean by we?" asked Vi.

"All of us, of course. We're all mad here. I'm mad, they're mad, and I'm pretty sure you're mad. Why else would you be here in the first place?"

"You know, in light of everything that I've been through today…I honestly can say that I can't argue with you," shrugged Vi, "When….if I get out of here, I really don't see myself as the same person who fell down that hole." The Cheshire Ziggs nodded.

"That's a good girl," he purred, "Now, where is it that you want to go?"

"I thought you said it didn't matter."

"Yes and no. It may not matter where you end up, but the ride will be pretty sweet up until that point. I'll know…I'll be watching." Vi shuddered, she didn't doubt it. At least she wouldn't have to see his creepy grin all the time.

"Jinx, the white rabbit. Tell me where I can her," she requested.

"Yes, in order to find the white rabbit you must…" The Cheshire Ziggs paused impressively.

"Yes?"

"….go ask someone else because I haven't the slightest idea." Vi's face fell.

"Ok, great. Who? What kind of totally insane-"

"Mad," the Cheshire Ziggs corrected.

"I don't care," Vi continued unfazed, "totally insane person are you going to have me go to who will probably waste my time rather than actually helping me out? Fire away! I'm ready for anything at this point! I'm here until the fat lady sings!"

"Why would you want to watch a fat lady sing?" asked the Ziggs counterpart.

"It's a figure of speech," face palmed Vi.

"Oh…I like you more and more with each passing second," he chuckled, "As you put it; the totally insane person that I'm going to have you go to who will probably waste your time rather than actually helping you out is the Mad Hatter." Vi wore a look that said 'oh boy' (the sarcastic kind).

"Judging by that name, that's not a play on words is it? This guy really is mad, right?"

"Mad as a hatter," said the Cheshire Ziggs in a sing song voice, "The crème de la crème. Why, he's the maddest hatter that Wonderland has to offer, granted that he is the only hatter in Wonderland."

"I really don't want to be around insane people…" sighed Vi.

"Well then, how have you been spending your day?" the Cheshire Ziggs playfully asked.

"Touché, Ziggs…touché."

"Gesundheit."

The Cheshire Ziggs then slowly began to fade out before Vi's eyes. Before he vanished, his tail lifted up and pointed to the East down the forest road.

"You'll want to go that way…we will meet again," he said before his body systematically began to disappear. First went his tail, then his limbs and body, and finally his head. His toothy grin of pearly whites remained a bit before vanishing all together.

Vi gave a soft exhale in mixed relief as she lifted herself from the tree stump she had been sitting on. She stretched her arms and legs before heading in the direction that had been indicated.

If going to this 'Mad Hatter' guy was the only way she would find answers, then so be it.

Mad Hatter, Mad Hatter, every mental recitation brought her more and more unease, Mad Hatter, Mad Matter, Mad Hatter…

Authors Note: I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to update next week. Just hang tight and updates will resume regularly after the Thanksgiving week.