Chapter Text
It's a beautiful day out today. The sun is shining, the air is singing. Perfect weather for a tea party, a mad tea party. A mad hatter tea party if you will. A mad hatter spectacular, certified grandacular tea party for all if you rather. A celebration of no celebration. Tea and cakes and plenty sweet bakes. A necessarily long table with an even longer runner is decorated for us and any other. If you are able, there's always a seat at the table.
"Papa?"
A wild eyed gentleman with strawberry blonde waves draped over the back of his chair, looks to me with a fiendish grin. "Don't tell me. Giving up already?"
My eyes lock on his. I glare as he rests his chin delicately on the arm draped atop his sapphire rich top hat, his hair drifting across the chair until it completes its descent to his back and scoff at the insinuation. "Never. I only mean to ensure your eyes are on me, for when I claim my victory."
Snickers and chickers bustle through the rustle of ever rising tension between daughter and father. The drumroll begins as my pupils scour the surface of the table one last time, coming to a crescendo when a decision has been made. The air grows still as I stretch over to a rouge pot with no plant that sits upside down, definitely disguised as a holder of platters. I yank it up with a spwah. We all watch as the colourful biscuits tumble to the grass alongside the oval tray they were neatly displayed only moments before.
My face falls at the empty space staring back at me. My normally orange hair instantly becomes a melancholy blue. I truly thought the missing teacup and saucer would be under there. Hare couldn't help but burst into laughter, his foot speed thumping the ground so hard it has everyone of us vibrating in our chairs. Poor Nan is hanging on to her rapier for dear life as her tiny mouse body bounces atop her stacked high books. My fathers laugh at the entertaining turn tea has taken. Even though I lost the bet, I still joined the revelry, my hair shifting slowly back to its usual colour. Dad's purple striped strands frolic across his yellow eyes as he gently soothes Hare with a touch into a tempered chuckle. Nan steadies herself before pulling her rapier from the top book's cover and sheathing it again.
Papa props his feet beside his hat, his chair whines as it leans on its hind legs. "Third chance, third fail. Time to pay up, tigger tail."
I hiss at the nickname, but concede. "Fine, fine. But first show us where you hid the missing set. I must know how I lost the bet."
He has us enchanted as he stands from his seat. A playful smirk is sent my way as he lifts his hat and bows with it pressed against his chest like a humble lord; the gems clinking against the buttons on his white lace vest. The inhale of oxygen leaves the party breathless. There it was, the heart shaped, pink teacup sat upside-down on its matching heart stamped pink saucer.
Without hesitation I whip into mist and balance myself upon the arms of my chair, my skirt swirling around my legs with the whirlwind I created and shout with an accusatory tongue. "You sneak. You cheat. That's unfair, uncouth, how dare!"
"Yes, darling, I quite agree. You knew the rules as well as me. Your hat is off limits because it is boundless." Dad mists to my papa's side, plucking the black hat from his hand to inspect it further. When he finds nothing, he lovingly places it atop his husband's head with a sweet kiss to the cheek to match.
A glorious cackle teeters the ambiance as he explains how he indeed played by the rules. "I didn't cheat, I rebuke your feat. I merely made the rules tremble by simply hiding a thimble."
"A thimble?" I gasp.
"A thimble?!" Nan repeats.
Papa points to a tiny silver thimble placed strategically on the base of the cup. "A thimble, indeed." My eyes narrow to fine lines as he continues, "See? A simple thing. I only covered the thimble. It is not my fault the thimble was hiding the set for tea."
Before I can make a rebuttal, a clap of thunder startles us all. In a flash the sky darkens, clouds of grey preparing to pour. The day was going so well. Only occasionally does rain fell. To water the flora and so on, and typically with more time of warning. Something is wrong, something is stirring. A twig of blue startles the clinkering spoon straight out of Hare's paw. Nan's whiskers fray at the all too sudden spawn.
"Oh, Absolem! Come for tea?" The hatter's words are cheerful, but his tone is a flurry of worry.
The blue caterpillar slinks across the runner slow and steady. "No tea for me. It is thy daughter I seek."
My heart sinks into the depths of my feet. Absolem likes the quiet, to visit the Hatters, his news must be important. The clap of thunder only adds to the ominous wonder. A drop of dew graces my lashes; a hint to the oncoming glint.
"What do you need with me?" I ask, though, I know I'm not ready for whatever the answer may be.
With a deep inhale of the tobacco pipe between his fingers, he begins. "The queen of hearts hath been taken." I cling to my dad's citrine velvet clad arm at the disheartening news. Before I can ask anything, his hand covers my mouth. "The son of the wocky hath already claimed the eldest of the twin brains. I hast seen who thine next victim shall be. It is thee, daughter of the cat and the hat. Thou art the final key." My eyes lock on my papa's. He smiles reassuringly, but his fear drowns my own.
"Ye will be hunted; harvested foreth the magic thou holdeth. The Queen's red cards are on the way, thee will be claimed as trade. If he should get what he desires, Wonderland will go up in damning fires. If this cometh true, ye will never know. Thy only chance is to leave this realm and gather a warrior eight. Thou must goeth to the land that should be forgotten and must do so alone." His ring of smoke engulfing my many thoughts. The entire table at terrible unease. "Heed my words, dear one, ye will die if ye stay. This is thy only chance, thy only way." He turns his ear to the road and ominously whispers, "They are coming. They are coming." His final word is followed with a blue puff of smoke as Absolem vacates the table of oak.
"The land that should be forgotten? That dreadful place Queen Alice is from?" I ask the air, as it seems no one is listening. I go on anyways with my confused rant. "8 strangers? I have to find 8 strangers? How am I to know if they are the right 8 strangers? 8 bloody strangers, Papa."
He turns to me, inhaling a sigh. "Yes... I heard you the first 15 times. Breathe, precious kitten. You will know. You are a wondarian." He holds my shoulders and persuades me to follow his own deep inhales and long exhales.
The Cheshire's hair stands on end like it does when he's upset at Papa or myself. "He should have stayed. There's more he needs to explain."
Papa fidgets with his digits. "Hush, my dear kitty." Dad hisses at him, displeased to be shushed. "Listen. Hare, use your ears. What do you hear?"
Hare hops onto the table, knocking almost everything over. His ears twitch left and right. One ear stops at the path to our left, the other at the road just ahead of our home. He's always scattered and jittery, but this was different. Worse. No words were spoken, but they seemed to understand him. Nan stood ready, her toothpick sized rapier in her paw. I heard them before I saw them... The Queen's red cards.
My parents exchange glances and before I could feel hands on my shoulders, I've been misted inside. "Stay down. Stay quiet." My dad begins searching for something on the shelves behind me. "Stay down." He whisper yells when I try to peek through the small oval window on the front door.
I crawl over to the window illuminating our dining table and carefully move the sheer curtain. Hare is holding a broken teapot ready to slice through the deck of soldiers. This is nothing I've ever seen before. Shaky and frigid is his always, but he is perfectly still, terrifyingly unafraid. Nan is on a pile of 5 high cups, balancing unbelievably well. I know she can swing a sword as her's never leaves her side, but other than watching her practice this too is new. The red card commander is towering over Father trying to intimidate him. It's clearly not working as my father can't quit cutting jokes.
With a hard downward swish of the commander's blade, my father's glorious waves float away from his defined shoulders, but he does not budge. "If you do not produce her then we will take you too."
"Produce who? Or is it whom? I can never tell." I realize he's buying time for his husband who is murmuring curses to himself. "I guess when the Queen is away her soldiers will play."
"All he wants is her. This is the King's command! You must obey-"
"Acting king." Nan corrects.
The commander did not like that. He snarls at her, growling when she doesn't shutter. "Acting king or other known, his word is law while he sits upon the throne."
"If sitting is all it takes, then all should bow before your grace." The hatter opens his arms and broadens his shoulders, taunting the commander and his soldiers.
The commander holds his hand high, open and firm. The dozen soldiers behind him swiftly change into a wider, ready for battle stance. Their silver blades held steady to the side of their heart shaped shields, each numbered 2 to jack. The commander's armor is a heart shaped half plate with a large ace pressed into its metal. His crimson blade shines in the rays that manage to peek through the looming dark clouds.
My stomach churns at the sight. I understand Prince Albert wants his mother back, but why trade me? I'm worth nothing. It doesn't even make sense that Jarreth wants me as a trade. He broke up with me. He was the one who said I was a spoiled brat that lived in a cloud of spun sugar and sprinkles and couldn't imagine being with someone like me a moment longer. Now he wants my magic. I wonder what it is that's so important he would need to take me by force instead of just asking for my help...
"Found it." When I turn around to see what it is he found, I'm met with the sight of him in cat form and books scattered across the floor. "Shift and follow me. Quickly."
"I- Okay." I wanted to argue, but a loud crash outside scares me into submission.
I shift into my cat form and slink through the kitchen to my dad waiting impatiently in the corridor. He leads the way past the den and my room to stop in front of his room, hovering a puzzle piece shaped book the whole way. He waves his paw and the door shuts. With a triple tap and double scratch, a fraction of the door begins to glow. The glow changes and contorts before finally settling on a final shape. It's the perfect size for the book he brought with us.
Another wave of his paw and the puzzle piece book slides seamlessly into the puzzle piece shaped hole. The door hums, its glow growing as bright as my ensuing sense of panic. When the glow fades away, a cat sized door appears. Just as my dad gestures for me to go inside I hear the dreaded phrase, "Off with their heads!" and then a loud phwak right before our front door flies into a wall and we hear Papa cry out in agonizing pain. I leap back into my human form before I can even fully process what is happening.
I'm mid-air and suddenly a heavy weight drops me to the floor, forcing the air from my lungs. "No. No, you can't." My dad whispers into my ear as he lays on my back, his hand covering my mouth. "Invisible. Go invisible, now." Even in a hushed tone, the urgency rings clear and I do as he says.
Right on cue, the moment we're invisible, red cards storm into the corridor. They look around the hall, looking for us no doubt. A boom of thunder followed by a strike of lightning, spark up the sky, reflecting in the stained glass windows lining the back wall. He rolls us against the wall, holding me still as the soldiers march past us further into our home. I turn to look at my father, although I know I will only be able to see a hazy, purple outline, I still want to see if he's okay. He is not. A purple lined tear slips to the floor becoming a simple drop of water.
The sound of fabric being ripped apart and rubber squeaking against linoleum, sets our hearts on edge. It's a slow rise to our feet. Dad keeps his hand over my mouth, probably thinking I'll scream if he lets go, and to be honest, I'm not sure I wouldn't. I'm glued to his side as he peers around the corner to check the area. The red card soldiers that came in are ripping my papa's design room apart. They are throwing boxes around, unspooling ribbon, anything they touch is no more. I don't understand. Why? What does that do for anyone?
When they are out of view, Dad very quietly whispers, "Please, don't scream." When he releases my face and I don't scream, he continues, "Change and follow me. Don't look back."
I do as I'm told, following him through the puzzle doorway. I don't know why I thought such an elaborate entry would lead into their chambers, but I was very wrong. The tunnel is so small the walls feel like they're hugging us. I stick close to my dad's heels not wanting to get left behind. The light from our home grows dimmer and dimmer until we are in pitch darkness. He hisses when I bite his tail and keep hold of it, but I can't see and he was getting too far ahead. I'm scared. I just want everything to go back to this morning.
**********
The commander's blade comes down like a mighty hammer, so powerful that it breaks the table in two. The gust of air from the landing blow, sends Nan backwards. She lands on the grass below, her unconscious body rolling under a broken chair. Hare hops back to his feet, having fallen with the shattered contents of the table. The hatter's countenance is no longer that of a man trying to keep the situation under control. His face contorts, his eyes wide with craze. He's about to show the kingsguard why the world calls him mad.
He tips his hat and says with an eerie energy, "You could've left. You could've walked away." His eyes meet the unyielding commander's. "Instead, you chose to follow the orders of a child and harm an innocent anyway. MY innocent." With a roll of his shoulders, he shoves his hand deep into the abyss of his hat. "Allow me to give you red cards a little more colour, make you positively stiller."
The commander closes his fist, signalling his soldiers to attack. The same moment, Hatter pulls 3 metal balls out and tosses them to the sky. Hare immediately takes cover from the oncoming catastrophe. He uses a large silver platter to shield both his friend and himself. Like magic, one ball flashes a blinding light, while the other 2 rain down a storm of razor sharp spikes. The spikes down 4 soldiers and maime 3 so severely they are rendered useless. When the whistling sound of metal piercing air ceases, Hare tosses the spike covered platter away from them.
The commander's rage fills their ears with a shutter. "You'll be hanged for your treachery! Decapitation of the century."
"You are the traitor." Hare hops between his friend and the angry war soldier. "You have no right to come here, to come for his daughter. Queen Alice would not stand for this."
"I serve the crown, not some flittish clown." He bites back. "If you do not produce her-" He turns to speak directly to Hatter. "I'll say the words."
Hatter and Hare know the words he means to say. The dreaded phrase. The 4 words that turn our happy rabbit into a violent rabid. An unstoppable force of murderous assassin. Only 3 words can turn back the clock, but if you don't know them, then it's tick tock. They don't want to believe the queen's head guard would truly do such a thing, but they know better. They can see it in his eyes. He means to abide.
Hatter holds his hands in the air, Hare is quick to follow. "Look, I want to help save Queen Alice too, but you have to know what you're asking me to do."
"I do. And I wish I didn't have to. But I must follow my command." The commander states, a twinge of sorrow in his words before his eyes blaze red and he yells, "Off with their heads!"
The world felt as if it had slowed. Terror engulfed the mad hatter and every foot soldier besides. The trees themselves appear to lean away in fear. He was frozen, doomed to watch as his dearest friend morphed into the former Queen of heart's favorite assassin, the march hare she called him, her cruellest experiment. With a snap and a point, hare focuses his blood thirsty attention on the first person to ever look past his previous transgressions. He has no choice but to follow the demands of the bearer of the mind mastery ruby, which was conveniently on the commander's pinky.
Hare jumps high, kicking Hatter with a bone breaking thump. Hatter slams into the door. Many of his ribs crack, on the brink of snaps. Through forced, painful inhales, Hatter tries to raise his hands. If only he can put them together. The commander points to him and the march hare jumps again. A hard land and the door flies into the wall in its direct line, a broken hatter attached to it. A blood curdling scream reverberates off the walls as he slumps to the ground in defeat. The world goes black. He didn't stand a chance. The mad hatter proved no match for the march hare, a devastating realization they both hoped never to realize.
A loud thud comes from the corridor to their right. The commander gestures for 3 soldiers to search the house. He snaps at the other 2 and points to Hatter. They drag him out of the house, the soles of his boots squeaking against the tile floor. He'll be the perfect incentive for who they really came for. March hare is ordered to wait and wait he does, impatiently so. The red cards show no shame as they search high and low for something, focusing solely on Hatter's office and belongings.
The commander looks to March hare with a disquiet temperance. "Do you know where they would have taken the girl?" A nod of assurance and the commander asks, "Where's that?"
"A distant tree full of old and useless keepsakes, sir." Hare is sturdy with his salute.
A gesture of his hand toward the doorless doorway. "Lead the way."
**********
The tunnel was long and twisted. Some spots were a lot tighter than others, but we finally made it to the final destination. Hinges that need oiling something fierce, creek as Dad opens a door, only to be met with more darkness. I stand stock still when he tugs his now wet tail from my mouth. A few anxious seconds later a room I've never seen before is illuminated. I watch as my dad's feet rush around the room. I listen as things are being knocked about. A white hat with red cap mushrooms accenting its flat rim rolls across the floor in front of me, I'm curious, but I still refuse to move.
"You can come out now." Dad crouches down to peer at me. "It's safe. I promise." It doesn't feel safe, but my parents have never lied to me, there's no reason they'd start now.
The room is nothing short of mesmerizing. The walls are filled to the brim with demure patterns and encapsulating colours. My fingers are drawn to the different textures of fabric creating a world of outfits and accessories I've never seen before. Why would such beautiful creations be hidden away? I barely touch a black dress to get a better look at its intricate designs and suddenly it's off the hanger and shoved into a bag. Before I can react, I'm choked and then released. I stare at my dad in shock as I feel the velvet ribbon that is now around my neck.
He apologizes as he loops a messenger bag over my shoulder with a securing tug. "Sorry, my dear. I'm just trying to ensure you have everything you could need." He taps the choker necklace pendant. "This is a whatchama-talkit. It will help you understand and communicate every language your father learned on his travels there with Arthur."
"Arthur?" A part of me is bothered that papa was with anyone before my dad, but I guess it would be stranger if he hadn't in his 300 years of life.
"You know them as the white rabbit, love." He forces a drawstring bag onto my back as he continues. "This is full of different currency and clothes. It's mostly formal attire, but it's all that is readily available right now. Dresses and suits the former queen deemed imperfect or offensive for one reason or another. You'll wind up in England, that is where this rabbit hole leads. It is where Alice is from." He waves away the question on my breath. "They speak the same as we, but just in case." He taps the Cheshire smile pendant again.
I grab his shoulders and force him to stop running around the room. "You are scaring me. All the rabbit holes were supposed to be sealed and Dad... You're not speaking Wondarian."
To comfort me, he speaks in rhyme for what will likely be the last time. "My dear, I fear. It is not the time to rhyme." He fakes a smile, removing my hands from his arms. "You will be on my mind everyday, in my heart until the sun turns grey. As long as you're safe, everything will be okay." He raises the hatch cover that concealed the burrow hole, his protective demeanor returning. "This is the only hole left, it is one way and it WILL crumble closed as it was only meant for emergencies." He gestures around the room. "And this is most certainly an emergency. Arthur knows when a hole is used, so stay put when you arrive and they will find you."
"One way? No. I won't go." I didn't catch too much past my pain. Heartache begins to pour down my cheeks. "I refuse. I can't leave you. Papa is hurt. I'm staying."
This isn't supposed to be my life. The hardest part of my life was supposed to be when I gained enough courage to confront the Cheshire community about their backwards laws. To try to revolutionize a free love between shifters and humans. It's not hard to miss the pain in my dad's eyes when the topic of his family comes up. He misses them dearly and they disowned him for marrying my human father. That is what I am meant to do, not running for my life from an ex boyfriend who wants my magic for something. I hate this. I hate him.
Soft kisses to my wet cheeks settles me out of my thoughts. "This-" Dad holds a top hat into my vision.
I know this hat. It's the famous hat my grandfather made for my father. He wore it for years up until the day the former queen was overthrown. It's a purple top hat with lavender lace covering its surface, a sage green band scrunched around the brim with a 10/6 tag pinned behind the band. I've never seen it in person, only deteriorating posters and a single portrait that hangs in the hall of heroes at heart castle.
"This is how you'll get back to us. It's only missing a peacock feather pin." He pats it on my head. "Remember that... Peacock feather pin, 6 inches in length, gold. Got it?"
I nod and repeat back through broken sobs, "Peacock feather. 6 inches. Gold."
"Good." Multiple quick raps against the far wall startles us. "I feared this might happen."
"Come with me." I try to drag him over to the rabbit hole, but he's much stronger than I and doesn't move an inch. "If we go in at the same time, we'll be fine. Please." I beg of him, groveling for him to follow.
He hugs me tighter than he ever has before. "I cannot. I love you and I'm sorry." Multiple rapid hits again and suddenly I'm falling backwards surrounded by dirt. He yells down the hole, "Stay on the checkered path, do not stray!" The hole did as he claimed and crumbled, trapping me inside.
The dirt eventually came to an end, though the descent became no easier. I have cried so much, I've no more tears left to shed it feels like. This tunnel is ridiculous. I've almost ran into several pianofortes and have hit 2 of them. My murkle blue hair clings to my wet face. I have no idea how long I've been falling and no idea how much longer I will continue to. The black and white checkered tunnel has been a constant for so long I'm starting to hate the pattern of it. Socks and clocks zip past every now and then, knobs and clogs too. It's as if lost things find their way here just to create an annoying obstacle dodge course.
I decide to sit with my legs crossed, if sit is even still the proper word in this situation, and solemnly pull the infamous hat into my lap to examine it. "A gold peacock feather pin, 6 inches long. Where would I put it though?" I turn the hat this way and that, in search of any sign of wear or indication where it might fit. "There's not much light in this 'pillar forsaken place. Honestly a bit surprised there's any light at all."
I was so engulfed in my personal pity party, I didn't see the grandfather clock coming straight at me. It hurls its fat, round face right into my boots with a hard bash. The glass shatters and stabs deep into my thigh leaving a mighty gash. I hug my father's hat to my chest and close my eyes forcing myself to breathe through the pain. Unbeknownst to me that I had accidentally been forced into a different tunnel. It wasn't until I forced my eyes open again, that I noticed red lights instead of white, and the pattern in the tunnel is now swirls instead of checkers. It's prettier, but it's wrong. I messed up. I keep messing up. I'm a mess.
"Oh no. Nonono no no." I pop the hat back on and grasp at the sides to no avail. I continue to descend, my hair phasing to purple as my panic only grows.
I am descending into chaos. Cards with clock hands spin around me. The black and white spirals are making me dizzy, but if I close my eyes I'll hit flying debris again. A piano forte is not fun to smash into. I eventually stopped screaming, my screams were lost to the void anyways. I just keep falling. For a moment everything is black and then suddenly...
"Oof." A hard surface with a horrific gritty texture painfully stops my fall. I inhale a sharp breath at the surge of painful static that rushes through my injured leg. "Where am I?"
I try to blink away the dull throbbing that temporarily blurs my vision. Speckles of brown embedded into a less than appealing colour of grey set into my sight. What is this? I tilt my head up slowly, following the grey speckled texture to a beige wall. A quick glance around and I realize I'm indoors. I sit up on my elbows as I try not to panic that I've just landed myself in some stranger's very placid house. A creak from behind me pulls my attention. A rather stout gentleman in a tight black shirt stares at me for a second before glancing up and then back to me. I turn to where he glanced and see another gentleman, smaller, much smaller with puffy cheeks. The spoon in his hand drips steadily into his bowl. As if I startled him with just a look the bowl drops from his hand clattering to the floor, the reddish liquid splashing everywhere, little white pieces spill out at his feet.
"No no, it cannot be so. Oh dear, I fear, to me, it seems." With a defeated sigh, my body deflates back into the floor; the pain is too much to bear anymore. "I'm fucked."