Hallo! Sorry about the spaces between updating! Been a bit since i could sit down and properly type! Here's a smaller in between chapter for you all!
As she shut the door, she let out a slow sigh of relief. Talking about any kind of relation, personal or otherwise, with anyone, made her uncomfortable, and this one was no different. She let her eyes shut a moment and took a few deep breaths preparing to walk back into the kitchen, probably come face to face with Hatta and talk about the current situation.
On the other side of the door, Alice was preoccupied with her own thoughts.
Today has been a day… It's a long time since so many things happened at once… Of course this would only happen after I arrived back here once again… And I still don't know how that happened… Maybe this is all a dream… Queer dream…
Bunny walked into the kitchen to find Hatta rinsing out the cups and kettle, not washing them, but just letting the water run over them so they would be easier to clean in the morning. He didn't hear her come in so he continued to rise the dishes until they were all set up for washing the next day. She watched him as he did so, noticing how every once in a while he would stare into empty space for a while, his hands would pause mid movement, and he'd sigh through his nose until he would shake himself out of it and continue on with the next dish.
If it were a dream, then I should have seen Bunny before… But I hardly remember meeting anyone like her before… And if it were a dream, Hatta would not have changed so much… Or would he?
Minutes, that seemed like hours, passed as he set up the last of the dishes. And with the last cup, he sighed, knowing that the moment of peace would pass and be replaced with something far more dangerous than a slippery butter knife. He shook his head once to himself before turning around to see Bunny sitting at the table watching him intently. "Hello Bunny… Been here long?"
He used to be so much more…playful. Now it seems he hardly laughs at all… Some of his laugh lines are missing, though he looks years and years older…
She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "No idea, probably not as long as you have. I only started watching you a few moments ago." He nodded.
Of course, maybe I just didn't notice when I was young… One could hardly imagine looking at his temples without noticing the change in color… And he seems much more…tired now…
"Ah… Am I entertaining?" He raised an eyebrow in anticipation. She smiled and nodded, not offering a verbal answer.
And perhaps more… grown-up? That doesn't feel like the right phrase to use…
He looked down to his shoes before looking back up to her. "Did you…" He sighed through his nose again. "Did you explain?" She shook her head.
"Not really. I feel as if too much has gone on today as is. No need to add something else to the heap…"
Sadder maybe… Sadder is a better word... That's what he looked like leaning up against that tree…
He took a seat at the table next to her and placed his head upon it as he looked up at her. "It is a very large heap. It takes a very long time to climb." She nods in agreement.
This can't be a dream… he'd never be so sad in any dream of mine… Not the ridiculous Mad Hatter with his too-bright smile and his terrible riddles…
"And it hurts when you fall trying to get to the top." She looked down to his head on the table and ran her fingers through his hair. His curls were dark and unruly, and she nearly spent more time untangling his knots rather than running her fingers through the large mop.
Terrible…that's a word to use. Terrible… that's what today has been... It describes the hall of doors… The battle in town…
"And she's going to have to climb all the way to the top…" Hatta closed his eyes and sighed once more, relaxing under her touch.
"But why is she here?" Bunny asked worriedly. "How did she get here? She didn't mention anything about knowing to travel back and forth…"
Hatta's wound… Poor Hatta… For his sake I wish it were a dream... And if it were I would know how I came to be here again…
He took his head up from the table and placed her hand in his. "Well… The first question I can answer. She is here to stop whatever is going on from going on…" He looked down to their hands intertwined. "The second one… I'm afraid I have no such answer for." Hatta looked back up into her eyes.
Maybe Hatta can help me… Bunny too… It seems like she does her best to take care of him. Even though she is a bit… Well… "odd" here is something different that "odd" where I'm from… In that case… she's just as normal as any other woman I've ever met…
"You're tired." He said simply as he smiled. "Go get some rest. I believe you go to work for your Highnesses tomorrow." She nodded and began to stand, but as she started to walk away, he tugged her back. "Go sleep in my room… I'll sleep in the sitting room." As she opened her mouth to speak, he replicated her movement from earlier and cupped a hand over her mouth, and just as he did, she gave him a pointed glare.
In any case, I really will have to find out where the source of all this trouble came from… And maybe in the process…find a way home. And with that thought she turned over on top of the covers and fell into a dreamless sleep, hoping that the next day would with it bring answers and more importantly, a way home.
"I want no argument from you on the subject either." He said as he removed his hand. She shook her head.
"Hatta, in any other case, I wouldn't mind letting you take the settee, but your wounds today have been multitudinous and nearly fatal…" She stood up from the table and prepared to walk to the living room as she was interrupted by a former hatter clearing his throat. She turned to look as him and he stood up and walked up to her, his face held an impossible amount of emotion as he took her by both hands and kissed her knuckles softly.
"I'm alright Bunny… Really…" He took one of her hands and rested it on his chest and took a deep breath and released, giving her full opportunity to feel his heart beating just as it always did. Strong and steady, she felt the rhythm under her fingers. She looked up at him, unshed tears in her eyes and shook her head, moving quickly to envelope him in a tight hug. "Shhh… It's alright…" He hushed her as small wet tears made their way down his shirt and quiet sobs vibrated the body of the arms wrapped around him. He bent slightly as he picked her up under the knees and carried her to him room. He carried her gently, and moved the sheets of the bed before placing her on it. He helped her to remove her shoes and most outer articles of clothing before laying her head down on the pillow. Her soft breathing told him that she had fallen asleep and he quietly made his way out of the room after placing the comforter over her, turning out the light on the way out.
It's alright… He thought to himself… What rubbish… Nothing is going to be alright… Yet we all still continue to tell ourselves this. He walked slowly to the sitting room, grabbing a sheet or two from the linen closet on the way, talking to himself about the events of the day.
And of course I know the answers to all the important questions… Why is she here? He shook his head. What good can she even do here anymore? He slowly sat himself down on the settee with a groan and let his head fall against the back of it with his eyes closed. He let his hands rest on his chest as he took a few slow, deep breaths, and slowly began to move them to his sides, over the wounds of the day.
Wounds of the day… He chuckled to himself. Now there's a fun set of words to describe it… though because it happens so often there probably is no other way to describe it… His hand made its way to where he had gotten a deep gash earlier in the day. He frowned.
That was a deep one alright… If Alice hadn't been there-. His eyes shot open wide at the thought. He moved his hands away from it and got off the settee to make a bed for himself. "None of that now, you'll find yourself losing what you have left of the brilliant mind Hatta, sir." As he continued to talk to himself, he spread a single sheet onto the settee and then one more on top of that to act as a top coat. HE sat back down and began to remove his shoes.
"Ooh…" As he bent over, he felt and heard a kind of creaking in his back. "Tough luck old man…" He said to himself as he un-did his laces. "Even talking off your own shoes is becoming a bit of a strain." After removing both shoes, he turned his body long ways against the settee and stretched his legs up and over the far arm of the makeshift bed. Draping the thin sheet over him, he let his arm lay across his eyes in a fashion was sure to make his shoulder sore in the morning.
Not that you aren't sore already, for I'm quite sure you are… He heaved one more heavy sigh before letting himself drift off into a, hopefully, dreamless sleep. For if real life is this terrible, then your dreams are either going to be worse, or they're going to be better… And at this point in time, I don't think you want to take the chance of finding out which they're going to be.