Possible Side Effects, Ch. 15

[wanderamaranth]

AiW Fic. WiP.

Chapter 15: Chessur Reveals Much

Disclaimer: Do not own/not affliated with Disney, Tim Burton, etc., et al.

Rating: PG13

"Just a dream." she said, knowing it wasn't strictly true as she said it. "A dream, nothing more." She smiled without feeling it, and the Knave returned her smile, though his was more true. "Onward to Marmoreal?" she asked.

"Indeed." the Knave confirmed.

"But only after you are better rested, Your Majesty. I won't have it be said that the Knave brought Queen Alice back below, fought off wild natives in the Outlands, and swore an oath to uphold her interests only to have her collapse of exhaustion a day and a half's ride outside of Marmoreal!"

A smile twisted the corner of Alice's mouth. "No, you wouldn't want that said of you, would you?" A faraway look came to her eyes, and her hand went to her knapsack in an unconscious gesture. "I simply wish to be there as swiftly as possible."

The Knave watched her stroke her knapsack as though she were petting a favored cat, and frowned mightily. She had not left the Box unattended since her discovery of it; he very much wished to get it out of her possession, as it would not suit his purposes whatsoever if the Hatter were to receive it, much less from Alice herself. If she would just sleep deeply enough, he could remove the box from her pack (which she used as a pillow during her slumbers) and burn it before she was even aware it was gone.

So far that had not happened, and the Knave was feeling quite put out.

"Will we reach Marmoreal soon? Two days, you said before?"

"Even sooner, if you would but rest, Your Majesty." Stayne insisted, walking over to Alice and commodiously lowering her to the ground. (This made Alice a bit uncomfortable, but she said nothing, as Stayne had sworn to protect her, and she assumed that he himself could not cause her physical harm. Stayne just enjoyed the sensation of feeling the warmth of her shoulder through the fabric of her duster.)

"I'll sleep for now. We will ride as soon as light breaks?" Alice pressed.

"Of course. Whatever you desire." Stayne replied, and he could not help the smirk that crossed his lips when Alice settled back down, and drifted off to sleep once more.

---

"I said I shall return, and here I am!"

Chessur's proud declaration was met with silence and apathy. Sauntering into the room like its occupant had begun to cheer regardless, the Cat evaporated as though swimming through the air until he landed on the foot of the Hatter's bed. Still no response. The mad man simply sat there, fingers tracing the same small square of bedding. What could a Cat say to rouse one determined to be catatonic? Looking about, he could find no trace of the Dormouse in sight.

"I know something you don't know." he tried, the taunt clear in his voice. The fingers upon the bed twitched, but then resumed their circuit.

"It's about Alice."

The Hatter's head jerked around so quickly Chessur couldn't swear, if pressed, that it didn't do a full rotation upon his shoulders, the way it did when he Futterwackened. Deep amber eyes regarded him intensely.

"That's right. I know something you don't know, and it's about Alice." Smug did not begin to describe the Cat at that moment.

"Shut it, cheese head." the Hatter said menacingly. Secretly delighted, Chessur feigned injury. "There's no need to get personal, Tarrant." he said, batting his eyes. "If you don't want to hear what I have to say, I'll simply be on my way." He turned to leave, and a satisfied grin found its place upon his features when the Hatter said, in tones of extreme reluctance, "I shall refrain from personal remarks, Chessur. Please, tell me what you know of the Alice."

"What if I told you that I am the one who has charioted both yourself and Alice to Somewhere Else?" The Cat propped his paws under his chin, and waited.

"I'd say, that despite sound reasoning that nothing is impossible, that it is indeed so. I'd call you a liar as well as a coward, Cheshire Cat. How could one such as you ever accomplish such a task? And to what end?"

The Cat did not like being called a liar, as he was many, many things, (and yes, a coward was amoung those things) but a liar…that he was not.

"I don't have to tell you anything at all, Tarrant! I can simply cease directing you to the Bridge and you will know the truth of my words." Chessur snapped.

"That will not do at all, Chessur. I have told Alice to stop going Somewhere Else." Voice quieting, he said, "As much as I may wish to see her, even in such a dream-state, I will not have her risking her life so I may have the pleasure of her company. So should such a thing even be true, her not going to that place will hardly verify your words."

"I don't know what you're blathering on about. I was the one assisting her travel; I accepted the cost as such. If I desired it, she would be going there every time she slumbered, never mind her protestations."

Thinking back onto what the Hatter had just said further, the Cat added, "That is not what was making Alice ill, if that's to what you're referring. The Travel, I mean. Her illness rests solely on the shoulders of my brother, may he rot eternally."

The ploy to regain the Hatter's focus worked; his eyes sharpened upon the Cat mentioning there was a actual person to punish for Alice's plight (rather than himself), and he demanded, "Yer brother?"

"Och, aye." Chessur said, playfully mocking the Hatter's sudden Scottish accent. "The Jabberwocky. Did you not know that we were kin?"

A dead silence met this announcement. Both males stared each other into the eyes. Shock had caused the bags under Hatter's eyes to spiral back out of their growing blackness and into a pale yellow. He looked bruised. Mouth opening and closing for a few moments without any sound coming out, he was finally able to manage to say, "Yer brother? Ye claim the Jabberwock as yer kin?" He looked away from Chessur's sincere eyes and stared hard at the doorway for a moment, half expecting Thackery and Mallymkun to burst into the room and give away the joke. A tasteless, horrid joke it would be, but a joke would be better than the alternative, the alternative being the Cat was speaking Truth, and all of its implications.

Mally and Thackery did not burst into the room.

Still, Hatter tried to find a more palatable explanation. Looking back to the Cat, he stared square into his eyes and said, "Have ye been drinking Thackery's specially blended Tea again?"

The Cat sighed, knowing that Tarrant was close to accepting what he told him. "Would that were the case, old friend. Do you think I like having to claim that slobbering menace as family?" The echo of an old shame crossed his face, making his nose wrinkle. "There was more to my running that day than mere cowardice, Tarrant, although I will admit that was a large part of it as well. I did not want to add Kin-Slayer to either one of our list of Names." Lips pursed, he said, "Perhaps a great many things would have been easier if I had."

"None of this tells me how or why you would take us there, to Somewhere Else, and back again, nor yet how the Jabberwocky…your b-brother…" Hatter stumbled over the word, "is the one currently causing Alice's strife, what with him being so dead and all." He winced, belatedly recalling that the death of one's family was seldom a happy event, and added, "Sorry."

Waving it away, the Cat scoffed. "No need to apologize, Tarrant. Ours was not a…shall we say…pleasant relationship. His death brought me no grief."

"As for the other questions…I shall address the how and why of my involvement in your personal lives, hmm?" Paw waving briefly, it evaporated, leaving the Cheshire Cat to wave around what appeared to be a stump. "If I am able to have such control as to evaporate a single appendage of my body, why not my conciousness? It is even more flexible than flesh. All things must go somewhere when they disappear, Hatter, even Cat limbs. I discovered years ago--well before you were born, I might add--where exactly it was that the pieces of my body went to when I evaporated them. It had simply never occurred to me before that to wonder at their location. Then one day I did! So I followed it."

The paw reappeared in its proper place, simply backwards instead of forwards. He allowed it to half-evaporate, in order to set it to rights, and watched it as it swiveled to the correct position. "Once I was able to follow it once, I was able to do so again, and again. I discovered that it was an in-between place, a spot that was neither reality nor dream."

"Once I was there, I came upon some Birds that also made that nebulous space their home. They told me that my first and best love would always be myself, and as such, I would be welcome in their space whenever I wished. And no--" Chessur paused in his narrative, shooting the Hatter a sharp look at the question obviously on his lips. "You and Alice's best loves being yourselves is not the Cause of you being Allowed there. Stop pestering me and just let me get all of this out before we're interrupted."

Hatter slumped back into his bedding, and waved his hand in a get-on-with-it manner.

"So gracious." the Cat muttered. Speaking in his normal voice, he continued. "That place where I was welcomed by the Birds they called several things: Somewhere Else, Neither Here Nor There, Over the Rainbow…" Paws twisting in front of him, Chessur incorporeal ized his claws, and traced a picture in the air with the smoke that appeared there. "Most commonly, however, they called it the Bridge. They like it to be used for clandestine meetings. They will choose two persons they feel as worthy of the Bridge's use, two that are separated by Time or Distance or any of those other Unforgiving Personages and allow them to meet once per year in that Bridge's span."

Not able to help himself, the Hatter blurted out, "Yet Alice and I have met there several times, all well within the confines of a year!"

Clearing his throat (in as genteel of a manner as it could be accomplished--it sounded more like a 'tut tut tut' than an actual, hearty 'grrhmph') Chessur fixed Hatter with a wider smile and a gimlet stare. "Are you or are you not on Terrible Terms with Time?"

Hatter's eyebrows drooped at such a reminder. "Yes, yes I am. But the Clocks started ticking again, once She came back into Underland!"

"And whatever made you think that was for your benefit?" the Cat burbled. "The Killing of himself is not something time easily Forgives, old chap. Time ticked your Watch because Alice Needed it to. Have you even bothered to check it once since she left?"

Biting his lip, the Hatter replied (in a bit of a muffled manner, as his lip was still being held by his teeth) "I've hardly had reason to."

"So you see? If a year can not be formed for one of those going to the Bridge, then they may go there as often as possible. Yet only if one such as myself ferries them across."

"Shall I just call you Charon, then?"

"So morose!" the Cat chortled. "I am much more pleasing to the eyes than that old fellow, let me assure you. And I have never had much use for Dead Man's Coins. I hear Mirana is on good terms with him, though, if you're interested in a gondola ride down the Styx sometime. Then again, she is on good terms with nearly Everyone."

"Yet nearly is not completely." Hatter replied, his features turning a peculiar shade of green upon mention of his Queen.

"Just so!" Chessur agreed. "Which brings us to the point of it all, doesn't it? On why I would facilitate such activities, what with the bustling of yourself and Alice to and fro, etc?" The Cat briefly pursed his lips before grinning once more. "As I said, it is all my brother's fault. Him and his damnable Blood."

"It's always about the Blood, you see. We discovered, when we first came into consciousness, that he and I were inextricably linked. I always knew where he was, and he I. We discovered that when Jabber's blood was spilt by a conquering Champion--" the Cat twitched his ears at Tarrant's sudden curiosity, and said, "That is a long and mostly boring tale involving a Knight named George and an Above princess. Suffice it to say, that incarnation of Jabber was slain, the Knight drank of his Blood, and I felt Bound to answer the Call of the Wish. Meaning, very simply, that when someone drinks Jabber's Blood, I have to answer the one Wish in their Hearts that is strongest."

"As Time went on, Jabber came back. He told me that he was able to discuss his Untimely End with the Guardians, and they granted him use of a Nearly Dead creature. He and it formed a symbiotic relationship, where they each were given the chance to live, where neither would have survived before. Each time he came back, though, he was Slain for some nefarious activity or another; and inevitably, the Slayer of Jabber would ingest some of his life's fluids, and I would be forced to carry out their Wish. Some gathered the Blood, hoping to be able to use it over and over again. After seven days, however, when they attempted to use the Blood again, they either burned right where they stood, or their wishes became hopelessly muddled."

"Meaning?" the Hatter asked, feeling much like a child at story time. (In fact, when he was a child, Chessur used to tell him stories of Early Underland, but young Tarrant had always assumed they were just that, playful stories told for a child. He didn't know they were the recounting of first hand experiences!)

Smiling as if he too remembered was remembering Hatter as a young child eager for bizarre tales, Chessur said, "Meaning, old fellow, that I could not hear their Wish clearly. If I was unable to hear it clearly, when I went to fulfill it, some aspects of the Wish became…twisted, from the Wisher's true desire."

"How this pertains to you and Alice is something else altogether. It was simple enough when Alice Wished to go back Above. I simply faded us both out and popped her back up the hole, and was done. Then the Queen had to go and give you a Vial. I should have known when she did so that she intended to distribute them, but I was caught up in the celebratory mood of the moment, and gave it hardly a thought. Later that evening, after the feasting and dancing had wound down for the night, Mirana drank a Vial of Blood, and I was called to her."

The Hatter gasped, and Chessur nodded. "Yes. You see, there was something the White Queen wanted that she could not procure for herself. Underland had been whispering to her for several days before the Frabjous Day, from the moment Alice set foot back in Underland, in fact. It told her that she would be Crowned once more, but that she needed to not be satisfied with being the One Queen of Underland. She needed to fill the vacant Crowns, as quickly as possible."

Blushing, the Hatter said, "That is why she conducted herself so boldly towards me? She was attempting to fulfill an edict from Underland?"

"Hold on, I'm getting there." Chessur chuckled. "She spoke her Wish aloud immediately after drinking of the Blood. She said, 'I wish for a Royal Child, or multiple Children, most conveniently the Red Royal Children, to take up the vacant crowns of Underland', but what her Heart said was a bit different. There are few limitations on how I am able to fill the Wishes, but one of them is that I can not force the Heart to go where it won't go. Count yourself lucky in that regard, Hatter, otherwise you and Alice would even now be warming the Queen's bed."

Suspecting your Monarch holds you in a High Regard and being told it in such blunt terms were two separate things, and the Hatter wondered how much Embarrassment it actually took to kill a person. He twisted the thimble upon his middle finger, right hand, and desperately avoided the Cat's knowing eyes.

"The Heart wants what the Heart wants, Tarrant. I have no doubt that if she was able to feel differently, she would choose to do so. Deep down, in her Heart of Hearts, she Wished for a Child born of yourself and Alice, with she as the fourth member of your family. But as I said, I am not able to force Love, and you and Alice do not feel for the Queen as she feels for you." Chessur winked. "I think that may be part of your charm, you know. The only two creatures in Underland, besides myself, whom she is unable to win over with the power of her Charms." Chessur heaved a deep sigh, and wistfully thought of water, as his voice was getting very parched. He hadn't spoken so much at one time altogether since children blanketed Hightopp Hill.

"So that left me with a Wish that I wasn't able to fulfill in a direct-like manner. I went to her and explained the situation. She was quite perplexed, as she herself hadn't even realized her Desires. We spent a long time in discussions, and came to the conclusion that the only thing we could do was try to fulfill her spoken wish, and that was to find the Royal Children of Crims. She was a bit ashamed of herself, you know. Thought it unseemly that she was wanting your offspring more than ones of her own Bloodline. She agreed to give away no more of Jabber's blood, and we were both mostly satisfied with the outcome." Narrowing his eyes, Chessur said, "And then you had to go and drink your Vial, and past its expiration, too!'

Ducking his head and grinning wryly, Hatter said, "Sorry about that."

"No, you're not. Don't lie to me, Tarrant, it's terribly rude." The smile disappeared off of the Hatter's face. "And your wish was for Alice. Simply Alice, to be with you, and to Love you." Ignoring the Hatter's sudden squirming, Chessur elaborated, "As I said before, I couldn't force Love. And Alice herself had wished to be Above, and I couldn't go against her wish just to fulfill yours. She wished to be Above, you wished her Under--in more ways than one, you naughty fellow--" Chessur drawled, and Tarrant obligingly turned crimson.

"So the only thing to do to fill both of your Wishes was to take you Somewhere Else. It was when I took Alice there for the first time that I noticed her predicament."

"Her illness?" Hatter demanded.

"The same. It seems Jabber had curried favor with someone at the Crossroads. They gave him the opportunity to try to take over Alice, as he had taken over various Hosts before, despite her not being half-dead, and unwilling of such a relationship, to boot. There was nothing I could do for her without endangering myself, so for the time, I did nothing."

Suddenly incensed, the Hatter sat bolt upright, and shouted, "Betrayer! Ye would leave Alice to that Fate, only to ensure your own comfort?"

"Why do you say I betray her? I have sworn no oath to she, and you've always known me to be a creature who looks after himself. It's who I am. What I was meant to be."

"People change." Hatter pressed.

"Not me." Chessur purred. "From the beginning as to the end of Underland, I am as I ever will be."

"Trickster!" It was spoken as a curse, yet the Cat did not deny the charge. He simply inclined his head in a regal nod.

"For Kingdoms, for Health--but mostly for my Amusement. It all ends the same, either way. I'm simply a facilitator for Underland's will. If She didn't like my methods, She wouldn't allow me the Use of them, would She?" The Cat licked the bottom of his paw, then used it to smooth down a tuft of fur that had sprung up on top of his head. "And who was I to deny my brother's last request? An attempt (he stressed the word attempt, to show his reasoning--Tarrant didn't think he would actually let it happen, did he?) to take over Alice. I couldn't have known it would lead to all this."

"The Jabberwocky--"

"He was always the high strung one of the family. Going on and on about his nerves or some such nonsense. I believed this to just be his latest drama, and that he would soon give up in favor of a more pliable host. He has been more determined than previously imagined."

"How could you even consider letting him near her in any way?"

"There was nothing I could do about the Favor he called in. And I trusted that Alice would not be some simpering Lady, and just allow her own will to be subjugated."

Hatter accepted this (as he never doubted Alice's muchness, not even for a moment--not even when she herself did. Why should Chessur?) and moved on, in favor of another related subject. "If you care not for Kings and Queens, why assist the White Queen at all? If this is all for your own Amusement?" The darkness had fled the Hatter's eyes, and he simply looked very tired. All of the years that Time had refused him suddenly felt as though they were pressed upon his shoulders, and he peeked at them to see if that was so, but he could not Perceive them.

"Mirana most inconveniently for myself drank Jabber's blood. The Wish calls me and I must Obey."

Despite himself, a smile curled up on the corners of the Hatter's mouth. "I was meaning of before, when the Bloody Big Head still ruled, and ye assisted meself at Salazum Grum, and later, on the Frabjous Day, when ye joined the battle. Why do those things to simply let us go hang later on?"

Chessur shrugged, making the gesture seem oddly elegant. "I really do love that hat. It makes my teeth itch, in the most delightful of ways. And once the Hat was saved, well, it only seemed correct to save the Monarchy which would ensure it's continued survival." A beat of time passed, and he said, "And I never said I was going to actually allow Jabber to come back that way, you know."

Walking forward, the Cat's steps bounced his tail behind him like a buoy at sea. "Against my better judgment, Tarrant, I like you." The Hatter was just managing to look properly insulted when the Cat continued with, "And my judgment also tells me I shouldn't care for Alice, either, but I find myself liking her as well. Those of the races born Above are so short-lived."

He blinked, solemn. "But I think I shall remember her, long after she is gone. I imagine she'd be flattered, if she had any Idea, silly chit. There have been so many that have come, gone, and been Forgotten. But not she." The Cat grinned so as to show all of his teeth. "And not you. Nor yet that beautiful Hat you possess."

Curling up at the Hatter's feet, Chessur blinked in a not-very-convincingly innocent manner. "Because of these things, I'm of a mind to help you both."

"Help us?" the Hatter practically spit. "I'm of the mind that you've helped enough, Chessur. You're the one that's been dragging Alice back and forth from where she properly is to Somewhere Else! The one that has allowed your brother to get a foothold into her body! This internal battle she's waging with the Jabberwocky is killing her!" He forced the Badness back down through sheer will. He needed to stay present, stay aware--this conversation was too important to be lost to the blank abyss of the Badness.

"Pish posh. Soon there will be no need for the dragging back and forth bit. Another day or two, and she'll be here. No need to involve Death at all. Once she gets here we can sort out the Jabber issue."

"That is not good enough, Chessur. I want Alice here. Now. I want you to lead her to Somewhere Else no more, and I want to assist her in all of her struggles. I felt once that if I had simply held her hand, there in Somewhere Else, when we both awoke we would be together. Am I right in assuming that is truly the case?"

"Do you know, you almost sounded like the Red Queen right then? Very impatient-like." The Hatter grabbed at the Cat, and he danced out of his grasp just in time. "To simplify things very much, yes, that is how it would work, with my ample assistance." Squinting one eye, the Cat said doubtfully, "I don't think it's a very good Idea right now, though. Best to just wait."

The Hatter made another lunge for Chessur, and this one caused him to nearly tumble out of the bed. "Oh, very well then." Chessur agreed, looking more amused than anything else. "I'm going to agree before you cause yourself an injury, old fellow. Just know that bringing her to Somewhere Else, and then from there to here, will be much more taxing on her than if she simply travels the way she has been, and she's going to need all of her strength to stave off Jabber, for as I said before, he's proving to be surprisingly resilient this go-round."

Hatter could see Alice, tonight, not just in a dream-space, but as real flesh and blood and hair and eyes and hips and--

"How do we begin?"

Muttering something under his breath that suspiciously sounded like the White Queen's name and how he was going to never hear the end of this escapade from her, Chessur shook his head, and only looked up at his old friend when he made a warning sound in the back of his throat.

"You need to fall asleep. I will take it from there. Just remember, when you do see her, immediately grasp a hold of her hand, and do not let it go."

---

The butterfly floated down to the stone wall, resting on a bit of tangled root that protruded from such. He went to knock upon the wall, and remembered that he would not be able to do so in the manner he used to, as he now had large wings to hold himself aloft, as opposed to an ever-useful multitude of legs. Bother, really. The wings did have their advantages, his ability to negotiate between Under and Above among them, but it was times like this that he recalled wistfully his lost limbs.

"Hello the house!" he called instead, and hoped those inside would be able to hear him.

A brief rustling was heard from inside the stone wall, and Absolem the Butterfly (which sounded ever so much less imposing than the Caterpillar, he fussed, then reprimanded himself, as he was beginning to sound as though he regretted the metamorphosis, of which he most heartily did not--Change was not something that should ever be regretted; it should be simply Accepted if one does not feel charitable enough to Embrace it.) flitted about the crack until one of the wall's occupants came forward.

"Ello!" a cheerful worm said, upon exiting the crack in the wall. He inched forward, pausing on a slightly protruded rock just beneath his doorway. "Why, Absolem! You're looking positively de-flight-ful today!" The Worm wore a happy red scarf just as he had the last time Absolem had cause to visit the wall, but now also bore the addition of a jaunty cap, presented to him for a job well done in the not-so-unrecent past. It sat at a rakish angle just over one of his brows. "Come in for a bit of tea w'h the missus, ole chap!"

"No Time, I'm afraid, Worm." Absolem said, with honest regret. The Worm's Wife really did provide some of the best tea to be found in Under. "I've just come back Under, and was stopping to see if any messages were to be delivered to Marmoreal before I make my way there to pay respects to Her Majesty."

"None today, Absolem!" the Worm said, ever cheerful. "Or no, there was one. Hold on a bit then, eh?" He turned and disappeared back into the, necessitating the Butterfly to give up and rest upon the protruded rock perch, as he did not want to exhaust himself with hovering, when he still had a long flight back to Marmoreal. A happy cursing wafted out from the interior of the wall, and Absolem wondered briefly if the Worm was even capable of sounding unpleasant.

He exited a moment later, a letter in his mouth. Absolem took it with the gravest dignity. "Thank you. I'll just be off then."

"Wait there, sir!" the Worm said, and the Butterfly paused in mid-launch. "There was one other message for ye, but not one that was to be delivered to the Queen. Was for you yourself, it was." "Oh? And what was that?" Absolem seldom received word from anyone by the Under's rather slow-moving messaging system (that is, anyone who happened to be wandering by and happened to be going in the direction you needed your missive in would pass it on, or not pass it on, as the case sometimes was), and was thus curious despite himself.

"Sure you don't want to come in and discuss it over tea? Melinda made nectar-cookies today."

"Would that I could." Absolem drooped. Nectar-cookies! "Best to give me the message, then, before you tempt me with consumables further, old friend."

"Oh, alright then. The Magpies were looking for you. Said something about the Bridge being brought back into Use."

"The Bridge?" Absolem said. "But that's not in the Oraculum." he continued, in what he thought was a sotto voice, but the Worm heard him just fine.

"Well, that's why they're wanting to discuss it with you then, isn't it?" he said practically. "If you're not going to be coming in, I'm going to bid you aft'oon, sir. Mustn't keep Melinda waiting."

"No, no. Of course not." Absolem said absently. The Worm crawled back into his home, and the Butterfly took a few precious seconds of Time to consider what, or rather whom, the Bridge could possibly be being used for. "No help for it." he decided. "I'll have to ask the Magpies themselves." (He disliked having much to do with the Birds, as they always found his kind to be Tasty indeed.)

Tucking the letter to Queen Mirana inside his vest pocket (as he'd recently had one commissioned that fit around his wings, that he was exceedingly proud of) he took off, wondering what those infernal Magpies were up to now.

---

As it was, it took the Hatter several more hours before he was able to fall asleep. He was simply so excited at the prospect of seeing Alice again, really seeing Alice, (and worried for her at the same time) that as soon as his eyes drifted shut, they'd spring back open again, and a uncivilized grin would sprout across his face. He'd chastise himself, then try again, only to have his eyes repeat their action. Finally, though, he was able to drift off.

When he became aware again, he was in the swirling mist of Somewhere Else. Alice stood just a little a head of him, confusion on her brow.

"Hatter?" she said, her voice reflecting the expression on her face. "Was Chessur just here? I could almost swear that I saw him, just a moment before…" She let out a startled squeak as the Hatter gathered her up in his arms and buried his head into her shoulder, breathing deeply.

"Alice. Oh, Alice." he said, the dire nature of her illness not being lost on him. He simply held her for a few moments, breathing in her scent, allowing himself to luxuriate in her presence. Then he pulled away, but was careful to keep a hold on one of her hands, per Chessur's instructions.

"I'm very sorry, Hatter. I wasn't going to follow him, really I wasn't, especially when I realized that he was leading me here, to Somewhere Else, but I simply couldn't help myself! He was taunting me so fiercely, and I wanted to see--" she stopped her speech short, and flushed becomingly.

"May I hope that you were to say that you wanted to see me?" Tarrant wasn't sure where that particular bit of muchness came from, but he couldn't be sorry for it, when Alice delivered her reply.

"Yes. I wanted to see you." She smiled gently, and the Hatter felt a pleasant burn begin low in his gut.

"How would you like to see me, in the flesh, tonight?" he asked. "Not just in this Somewhere Else place, but right where you should be, beside me in Marmoreal?"

"I should like that, very much so." Alice admitted in a whisper. "I am almost there, Hatter, just two more days…"

"There is a way that you can come. Tonight." Excitement shot through him as Alice's expression became delighted joy, then plummeted when that joy faded. It lingered still about her mouth, but it was tempered by the shadow of an impish secret, as she imagined his reaction to her handing him the Box found on Hightopp Hill. "It sounds lovely, Hatter, it really does. You've no Idea how I wish that I could, but I haven't any of my possessions with me, and the Knave--"

"Hang the Knave." Hatter murmured, stepping close to her. "And bugger your possessions. I need you, Alice. Tonight." He pressed a soft kiss beside her mouth, a brief fleeting touch. "Say you'll come with me, Alice." More soft kisses traced her features, landing on the end of her nose, her eyelids, the lobe of her ear.

Alice felt she could hardly breathe. The Hatter continued his quietly passionate onslaught, peppering his kisses with pleas and promises of whatever she should desire. "New hats?" he said. "Consider it done." Kiss. "A pretty dress, for taking tea in? I will make it for you." Kiss. "A maid, especially for your hair? I'll find you one." Kiss. "A flower that sings lullabies outside your window? I will fetch it myself. Just say you'll come with me tonight."

Even though he knew the absolute danger she was in, Hatter would never force Alice to come with him. If need be, he would tell her bluntly of what was happening, should she refuse him (please don't let her refuse him!) and she would decide to come with him, he knew. He wanted her to want to come to him, though, and her reactions to his touch were giving him Hope that she was not adverse to the Idea of him.

How Alice wanted to go with the Hatter! He spoke of sweet gifts and pleasant little fripperies, but his touch promised things she had only heard about in passing whispers behind fans and scandalous novels that had plain covers. (All the better to read them in company, without arousing too many suspicions.) There was the matter of the Box she found on the Hill, though, and her reluctance to leave it in Stayne's care, especially when she saw the gleam in his eye upon spying it in her hand--he had looked positively destructive, and that couldn't bode well for the Hatter (as she was very aware of Stayne's distaste for her beloved friend) and--

"Consider this your Formal Invitation, milady." Hatter licked her lower lip, the sudden wetness of his touch causing Alice to open her mouth with a small gasp. Lost in the moment, Hatter released Alice's hand and grasped her hips with both hands, pulling her even closer still to himself. He kissed her deeply, tongue twining about her own in a thrusting give-and-take that mimicked the actions he explicitly wanted to be occurring between them lower down on their bodies.

He pulled away from her with a soft wet sound, and Alice regarded him through eyes half-closed, her lips looking thoroughly ravished. A feeling almost like guilt rose within him at seeing her lips so, as he imagined that he may have hurt her in his ardor. Leaning towards her once again to kiss her hurts better, the way his own mother had banished his hurts, he paused just short when he considered that, with the way he felt at that moment, he may not be able to stop at soft healing kisses, and would ravish her again. Then again, if he did that, then he'd have to make it better again, which would lead to yet more ravishing, which in turn…he grinned, forcing himself to stop that particular thought cycle.

"Come with me tonight."

For her part, all thoughts of Stayne, Snellum, and Boxes that should not be left Unattended had fled Alice's mind. She felt limp and nearly boneless, and yet very alive, all at the same time. "Yes, Hatter." she said, in a voice she hardly recognized as her own. "I will come with you."

---

Alice was hacking again. She had just settled back to sleep after bolting upright and announcing she'd just 'had a dream' (which Stayne didn't believe for a moment, as he'd never reacted to something in such a manner that was 'just a dream'.) and her small frame was being shaken by unconscious coughs.

Stayne quietly walked over to her, removing one leather glove with his teeth as he did so. Crouching down, he touched his bare fingertips to her forehead, feeling the fever burning there. When he pulled his hand away he saw the Mouse Snellum, teeth bared in his direction.

"It is amazing to me how Alice can inspire such loyalty from creatures that barely know her." Stayne said, voice low. Snellum got quite into his personal space, stopping just inches away from the Knave's nose.

"Now that she can not hear you, you speak with the familiarity she requests of you in her waking presence! You pledged an Oath to she before Underland herself, Knave. Whom are you to speak to me of surprising loyalties?"

"I had my reasons." Stayne asserted.

"Yes, I'm sure you did." the Mouse sniffed. "Do you forget, Knave, when her Majesty was but a visiting child to our land, in all your varying forms of lust for her?"

"I most certainly have not forgotten. It is when she was first Crowned, but she refuted her Throne."

"Not her second visit, Knave." Snellum continued impertinently, "I refer to her first visit. She defended you at the Trial of the Tarts, when no one else was willing to say a single word in your favor. You owe her your allegiance and respect for that kindness alone."

"Do not speak to me of things long in the past!" Stayne shouted. Alice stirred in her sleep, and both males paused in their argument, breaths held, until she settled once more. "Look what you nearly made me do!" the Knave hissed. "She could have woken up!"

"And why is it you're not wanting Queen Alice to wake, hmm? It wouldn't have anything to do with the Hatter's Box, would it?"

The Mouse was right, of course, but Stayne wasn't about to let him know that.

"She needs her rest, you undersized rodent!" the Knave growled. "I should have ground your bones to paste when I had the chance."

"Try it right now, why don't you, you great big galumphing buffoon! Grind me into flour for your bread, and see what the Queen thinks of you then! Come on, what are you waiting for?" Snellum's voice had risen to a high pitch.

"A challenge I will be pleased to take you up on!" Stayne roared, and dove for the Mouse. Snellum was surprisingly nimble for a rodent who very recently was nearly crushed to Death. The Knave managed to roll himself into the campfire while striving for him, and the Mouse scurried to a nearby tree stump to better taunt him. There confrontation was interrupted, however, by a loud popping sound, like the very air had been sucked inward all about them. It caused a ringing sound in both sets of ears.

Even in his disorientation, however the Knave knew that something was amiss, and pulled his sword. He looked to where Alice should have been slumbering, and saw nothing.

"Alice?" he said in disbelief.

"Where did she go?" Snellum cried. All that was left to mark her presence at the camp that night was a small indentation where she had lay. Not even any of her supplies were left, the blanket she slept upon and the knapsack under her head as missing as the girl herself.

"Alice!" Stayne called, scrabbling up and reaching her resting spot in three great strides. He looked frantically for footprints leading away from their camp, crushed grasses to indicate a struggle of some sort, anything, but found nothing.

"She is gone."


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