A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews; yes, Time is coming soon, it just depends on how long this chapter turns out to be.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The Chronosphere

Meg wiped her eyes, and said, "Mirana, I think the only way to save the Hatter is if we find his parents. When I talked to him, he seemed so set on finding his parents, and when I told him they died at the Horvendush Day, his eyes turned that same shade of yellow, and he just shut me out!"

Mirana bit her knuckle, and said, "There is a way Meg. But it is extermely dangerous."

Meg turned to her, and said, "What is it?"

Mirana gritted her perfect teeth, and said, "You would go back in time."

Meg frowned, and said, "How would you do that?"

Alice wiped her eyes (which were still a sad shade of sky-blue), and said, "You would have to use the Chronosphere. It holds the power to take the user back in time."

Mirana cut in, saying, "But none of us can use it because all of us are in the past. If you see yourself in the past, it will unravel the very fabric of Time himself."

Meg clasped her hands underneath her chin, and said slowly, "I don't know about this."

But she looked up at Alice, and said, "But my grandmother risked so much for your people, and I would be a fool to not do the same. I'll do it."

Mirana smiled a small smile, and said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Meg nodded.

Mirana smiled again, and said, "Follow me."

Meg followed her out of the garden into the castle, talking to her along the way.

Alice went along as well after she wiped the rest of her tears away.

Mirana said uncertainly, "Meg, do you know exactly what happened when you passed through the looking glass?"

Meg frowned, and said, "No. I mean, there was a lot of flashing light, and I had shrunk a little, but other than that, I have no clue."

Mirana said, "Well, Meg, when you crossed into Wonderland for the second time, this world and Topside merged together, and became one. Your world is now ours, and our world is now yours."

Meg gasped, and dozens of thoughts rushed into her mind.

"That means Mom and Dad will try and find me-"

"They'll think I'm crazy-"

"They'll try and put me back, oh don't let them put me back-"

"They're coming for me-"

But she kept her cool, and said, "Mirana, my family tried to have me sent to an asylum for believing in you."

Alice placed her hand on Meg's shoulder, and said, "Meg, we'll all explain to your family and friends what's going on. We'll tell them everything about this place, and how Kim came the first time and saved us all. Twice! And then we'll tell them about everything you did for us the first time you came! You won't let them hurt you."

Meg smiled, and said, "Thank you."

Mirana smiled her own mysterious smile, and opened a tall door leading to a sinfully dusty room with nothing but a singular grandfather clock in the center.

She gestured to the clock, and said, "Go through the clock, and it will lead you to Time's castle. You must ask him for the Chronosphere."

Meg smiled, and turned to Alice as she said, "I'm sorry I didn't get to see Torin."

Alice smiled, and said, "No problem. Again, thank you so much for doing this for Tarrant!"

Meg gave her friend one last hug before she gathered up her muchness, and stepped through the large front of the clock.

Thankfully, the clock didn't empty out into the sky.

Instead, Meg found herself standing on a rugged landscape facing a large clock face that seemed to be dug into the earth.

The land surrounding her was grey and desolate, like someone had taken a knife and drug it across the surface of the dirt, leaving holes and trenches amd jagged edges.

Meg saw that the only way to get to the dark castle across the chasm was to cross it using the clock's hands.

She gritted her teeth, and walked up to the side of the monstrous clock, waiting for the second hand to swing by.

Soon enough, it came whistling by her, and she lept onto it, holding on for dear life as it approached the minute hand.

She fell down to the minute hand, and grabbed desperately to it as it swung sharply to the next minute.

She stood up, and ran along the thin hand to the motionless hour hand.

Meg ran along the hour hand right up to the entrance to the castle, running inside its cold, dark halls.

Her footfalls slowed, and she looked around at the marvelous size of the hall around her.

From the outside, it looked much smaller than this, but from the inside, it was enormous.

The vaulted ceiling was almost nonexistant, stretching to what seemed like infinity.

The walls were a foreboding black, with thin veins of turquoise running through them.

Suddenly, a loud chittering, mechanical noise filled the halls, making Meg jump a little.

She swung around to face where the noises were coming from; a thick column with a small door at the bottom, with dozens of tiny little clock-work creatures pouring out of it.

One slightly larger tick-tock creature seemed to be herding them somewhere; with a tin mustache and an almost formal metal suit, and a small, sharp voice.

Meg bent down to his level, and said, "Can you please tell me where Time is? I must speak with him about something very important."

The tick-tock pointed an exasparated finger down one of the halls, and said, "Down that hallway, take a right, first door on your left."

Meg nodded a small 'thank you', but the creature was already running off after his little party of smaller creatures.

She followed his instructions, and saw a large doorway marked "Underlings: Living".

She shrugged, and leaned to see into the large room.

There was warm, golden light pouring from every direction, and several shining golden pocket-watches were hanging from long golden chains from some unseeable height.

Coming from the doorway was a thin walkway that stretched in to what seemed to be the middle of the room, and standing on that walkway was who could only be described as Time.

Meg blushed as he turned around at some unheard sound.

He had a tall, straightish face, with blaring blue eyes that Meg could only describe as stunning. Hanging on his shoulders was a heavy black fur cape, with small spots of white fur dashed into the pattern.

Meg thought to herself, "Who expected the living personification of Time to be... cute!"

He snapped his fingers, and an out-of-sight golden pocket-watch extended down into his hand.

He looked deep into the gears, and said in a smooth, deep voice, "Yaxley Higiny, your time is up."

The pocket-watch slowly turned a dull shade of silver, and Time smiled as he unhooked it from its chain.

Meg ducked behind a nearby column as he turned around, and headed towards the room behind her.

She turned around, and saw the door was labeled, "Underlings: Deceased".

He walked into the other room, and Meg could see that this one was darker; instead of the warm golden glow that the other room seemed to have, this room had a dark blue luster, and instead of pocket-watches hanging at random, these were hung in neat rows.

Time walked through the middle of the room, clutching the dead pocket-watch in his gloved hand, reading off the different names to himself.

He murmered, "Higgens... Hightopps, hmm, none there. Ah, Higiny."

He took the chain, and clipped it on top of the dead pocket-watch.

Meg leaned her arms on the door, causing it to close a small fraction, the old hinges letting out a horrifying creak that rung through the whole hallway.

Time turned around, and said, "What is it, Underling?"

Meg swallowed the gigantic lump in her throat, and said shakily, "Um, your highness, um, I need to, um, borrow your Chronosphere to help a close friend of mine."

Time frowned, and said, "Follow me."

A/N: There might be potential pairing between them in future chapters... keep reading for more!