Special update because it was asked of me in the comments by my first reviewer to update more! Enjoy!
"This is the battle Alice…"
All around us were various townsfolk, all in the center of the town. Buzzing about in small groups, talking loudly about what was to take place.
"What do you-?" As I was about to ask what she meant by "the battle", one of the townspeople walked through me. Needless to say, I was shocked. "H-How?"
"We are here…In memory!" She tapped the side of her head and smiled. "This is the way I…remember things. Like a moving picture book." She stopped speaking and pointed across the way. "Here they come." I turned to look where she was pointing.
"Oh my…" There arrived the Unicorn wearing a full suit of armor, shining and spectacular. And coming from the other end, was the Lion, clad in heavy red leather, ready to fight what looked like the battle of the century.
"They look rather intimidating don't they?" Bunny said. "Come on, let's get a closer look." She walked to were the both of them stood one in front of the other, growling and threatening each other. She looked back at me as she walked and gestured with an arm. "Come on! You can't see from all the way back there!" She planted her feet in-between the two imposing figures and waited for me to join her.
"Coming!" She nodded and made busied herself looking at the small details of their uniforms. As I got closer and smiled and me and pointed to a small insignia on the right arm of the Lion's uniform.
"Look. See? The same as Hatta's! The only difference being this on has more of a crest look to it, and all of the red soldiers just have a lion's head." She turned and pointed towards the Unicorn. "The same for his. All white soldiers have the Unicorn head on their armor."
"Now, are we to stand here all day, or are we to fight?!" Said the Unicorn, with his horn shining brightly in the noon-day sun.
"I think it would be best if we moved out of the way." Bunny nodded towards the Unicorn and took a few steps back. I mimicked her and did the same.
"Ah! Then let us fight!" From a hidden sheath beneath his jacket, he drew out a short sword.
"A sword?!" I was astonished. "He didn't use a sword before!" And the Lion swung with his sword, denting the Unicorn's armor.
"Mind you don't get run into!" Bunny appeared behind me and pulled me out of the way of the Unicorn's thrust with his horn. "We might not be here really, but too many bumps will send us back for sure!" She watched as the two continued to trade hits with each other. "This was the first time anyone had seen with armor and weapons, but I would not be the last."
"Does anyone know they came from?" She nodded, and then shook her head, and then shrugged her shoulders.
"Yes and no." She looked to me and then quickly back to the fight. "The original armor and weapons simply appeared, or that's how the Unicorn says it anyhow. Neither of their stories have been confirmed to be true." She grimaced as the Lion landed a strike, catching the underside of the other's armor. "The newest of the White Army's weapons and armor have been supplied by the White Queen and King, the King and Queen of Diamonds, and the King and Queen of Hearts."
"Did you say the King and Queen of Hearts?" She nodded and looked at me again.
"But I've told you this already." She shook her head quickly, as if shaking off a bad memory. "The fact of the-."
"But you mean they're active participants in the war? I thought you meant in from a…p-political standpoint!" For lack of a better phrase. She shook her head solemnly.
"No. But perhaps Hatta can explain it better than I can." She began to walk into the forest away from the battle.
"Bunny!" I shouted after her.
"Yes Alice?!" She stopped and looked at me cheerfully, giving me the opportunity to catch up with her.
"May I ask you a question?" She nodded smiling brightly.
"Of course! No need to ask! Let's just sit a minute while I put this little door together." We walked for a few moments before finding two tree stumps in the middle of a clearing in the forest. "Here we are!" She sat herself down and from her little pouch, drew two small vials, and a small wooden plank. I sat down across from her and watched her as she fiddled with her things.
"Bunny…where did you come from?" She hesitated in her movements for a moment before looking up shyly.
"Alice…I…I-if I told you about where I came from…You might think…" She hesitated, grimacing slightly after a sigh and shrug of her shoulders. "You might think a little bit less of me."
"Less of you? What do you mean less of you?" She looked down at her hands as mixed together the two vials.
"Well… You… You seem to be a well-to-do young woman. Brought up well and proper…" She looked up and sniffed. "I can't say the same for myself…" She paused for a moment, before standing up from the stump. "I was…well, in no uncertain terms, homeless. Poor… Quite a wretch actually." She spoke about it as if she were telling me the time of day.
"A wretch! I can't believe that!" She turned and looked at me smiling.
"Well, I'm afraid you must. You see… I was a jack of all trades, I suppose you might say. Did what I had to survive."
"And that makes you a wretch?" I asked confused. "I don't understand."
"You will in a while." At that moment, she leaned the wooden board against the stump. "I can only say this for right now…I will do anything to get my way…" She turned to look at me with hidden emotion. "And I do mean anything…" She handed me the vial. "Drink up, please!" Slightly taken aback from the previous statement, I looked at the vial with some hesitation. "Don't worry, I haven't poisoned it or anything." I took a small sip. "That isn't my job." I nearly choked. Smiling sweetly, she patted my back. "Go on now, we don't want you losing any parts on the way back!"
"Any parts?" I drank slowly from the vial, hoping that it wouldn't cause my death.
"People have been known to loose fingers and toes while walking through." And in the blink of an eye, the wooden board grew to the size of a large door and it swung open to reveal a long dark hall.
"While walking-?" I wasted no time in finishing my thought and tossed back what was left in the bottle.
"Well when I say walking…" She took a coin from a pocket and then flicked it in the direction of the door. Said door…sucked in up, causing said coin to disappear. "I mean being sucked into a vortex. But you know, same difference. One is just a bit faster. Ready to go?" She took hold of my arm and leaped head first into the hall.
All at once it felt I was being folded, stretched, crumpled, rolled, boxed, and twisted through a small hole. All the while being burned, drowned, and ironed out. And then-!
"Alice? Alice, you can open your eyes now!" The voice came from above my head and echoed a bit. "Alice?" A pair of soft hands slowly moved my hands from my eyes.
"She must be a bit dizzy! I know I was after the first time we came back!" Hatta?
"Hatta!" I opened my eyes widely at the man, now standing before her. Or rather, the men, standing before her. Then again, it might have been the fact that she was very dizzy.
"Hullo! No need to shout, I'm not but a few paces in front of you!" He chuckled, grinning widely at the expression on my face no doubt. I must have looked rather like a fish, eyes wide and mouth gaping as I looked up at him in surprise. "Well Alice? Aren't you going to greet me properly? I dare say we haven't gotten the chance!" He stood up straight, arms open wide. "Well?" And without a moment's thought, I leapt up off the ground and into the waiting arms of the Mad Hatter. And for that singular moment, it felt as if I were a child again. It felt like there wasn't a thing wrong in the world, and everything was the way it should be. His arms were strong and warm and welcoming. A pleasant change from the current surroundings. He sighed. "And know that we've done that…" He let go of me and held me at arm's length to look me in the eyes. "There are somethings, I think, that you really must know."
"Oh? And…what would that be?" At this moment, I learned three very important things.
"Our world, Alice, is in a state of war unlike any other in Wonderland's or Looking Glass Land's history." One.
"Time is running backwards, forwards, sideways, longways, and all ways, and he is no one's friend." Two.
"And I will..." He paused and looked to Bunny, and then looked back to me. "I will soon be…" He paused and sighed heavily.
"Hatta, what… What is it?"
"I… I will not survive the final battle." Three.
"You…you what?" He sighed heavily. "What are you talking about Hatter?"
"I, my… There's a prophecy and it states…or…" He ran a shaky hand through his hair, I'm just now noticing slightly grey at the temples. "I will not…survive the final battle." The looked at me solemnly and turned away. "For some reason, Time decided to let on a part of my future which he deemed helpful. Or, at least I think that's why he told me." He turned back around, grimacing slightly. "The details of my death, however, are still quite unknown-."
"So then…You're going to…die." I felt a chill travel down my spine at the word. "And you have no say in the matter? None at all?" He shook his head sadly and took both my hands.
"Now Alice, you must understand why I told you this-."
"So that I can change it of course!" I said more than a bit upset. He shook his head furiously.
"No! No, Alice! That's precisely why I told you! There is nothing you can do. There is nothing to do…" He ran his hand through his hair and sighed again. It was becoming a repeated motion… "What's said has been said, and there is no way that I can be changed."
"That isn't true." Bunny spoke from behind me. "Tell her Hatta."
"Bunny, that was different. It didn't change anything. It just-."
"What are you talking about?!" Bunny shook her head and sighed frustrated.
"He was supposed to have died his very first battle-"
"Bunny!" He left his position in front of me and went to go stand in front of Bunny. "Please…" She looked up at him and continued to speak.
"The first battle began not to long after my arrival to Wonderland… Time said that his first battle would be his last. He's a Hatter of course, as a knight there would be some things that he would not know how to do… Sword fighting for example. That was of course true… The second he picked up a sword, he was taken down by the White Queen's personal knight." She looked at me. "You might have seen him earlier. Hatta usually ends up battling him more than any other knight." She looked back to him. "Shall I continue?" He stared at he for a moment and then turned away, slowly moving back towards the main room to the couch where he lay bleeding only a little while ago. Or perhaps it had been longer, for the moon was clear and bright as it shined in the middle of the window leading back to the sitting room.
"No way I can persuade you to stop talking?" It was more a statement than it was a question.
"Of course not." He waved in our direction as an answer and sighed, holding his head in his hands. "Me falling into Wonderland changed his fate Alice."
"So…it can change!"
"With a price!" He shouted as he stood up from his seat. "With…a price… A steep one at that…"
"What price?" I looked at the both of them carefully. "Bunny?"
"Well…Bunny… Aren't you going to tell her?" Hatta came to stand beside me as he spoke.
"Tell me what?" She looked down to the ground and cleared her throat before continuing to speak.
"I… I can never go home Alice."
"What?"
"…I can never go home."
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