The Time Has Come (ch.2)
Title:The Time Has Come
Chapter Title: Tonight is the Night
Author: greeneyes0911
Pairing: Alice/Hatter, Jack/Duchess
Characters: Charlie, Hatter, Jack, Duchess, Alice, and OC
Rating: r-ish (for later chapters)
Length: 6,100+
Warnings/Spoilers: Part 2 of the miniseries
A/N: I got this idea this morning, I'd like to see where it heads but if no one likes it I'll drop it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Alice, Hatter, March Hare, any of 'em....but damn would I be rich if I did!
Duchess awakes one morning to find things terribly
amiss, her world turned upside down. Her family is
missing. She knows of only one who can help them,
and so she sets out to get her old rival to help. Alice
finds herself being drug back through the looking
glass to a wonderland very different from the
one she left behind.
Alice and Hatter had been back in Alice's world for a year now, only a mere year (in their time). Everything was going so well. Almost too well, it worried Alice. It weighed heavily on her. How could it be going this well? Hatter was adjusting slowly but surely. He'd gotten a real job. They'd moved in together, and it seemed like they were well on the road to happily ever after. That worried Alice. She wasn't used to things going this well. Nothing had ever gone this well. She was just waiting for it all to come tumbling down around her like a house of cards. Ironic, that saying was now. It still fit nevertheless. She was waiting for her world to crumble about her ears as it always had before. But everything seemed to be going perfect. Too perfect, she kept reminding herself. She had to keep reminding herself that it call could come crashing down around her ears like a house of cards. If she didn't she wouldn't be prepared when it did. Of course Hatter didn't much care for this slightly dismal outlook on life. He thought she was just being a pessimist. He thought she should look on the bright side. Of course that would be what Hatter thought, he'd always thought that way. It was easy to be optimistic when it was most advantageous to you. After all, who would buy tea from a man who didn't have any faith in himself? No one, that's who, and even if no one was a person in Wonderland that man wasn't here, and so the saying made much more sense. Alice's mind was drifting, drifting far and fast as she watched her students grapple with each other. It had been a year, a whole year, and the only reason she knew Wonderland wasn't all just a very morbid, very bad dream was that she woke up next to Hatter every morning. Lovely, lovely Hatter, who made every day a challenge and a struggle. Not that that was a bad thing mind you. Alice wouldn't have it any other way. She really wouldn't. She absolutely adored their bickering, and the struggle that came with their life. It was perfect in a perfectly imperfect kind of way.
“Sen-say,” one of her students asked, and Alice's eyes widened when she realized she hadn't been paying attention and the time had passed for them to leave. The girl's name was Savannah, but she insisted everyone just call her Savy. Alice didn't know very much about her home life, but she knew plenty about the girl herself. She was a troubled sixteen year old who had been forced kicking and screaming into Karate to try to quail her anger problems. From what Alice understood Savy had spent more than a few nights in jail because of those anger problems, and an uncontrollable nose for trouble. To be honest the girl reminded Alice a little of Hatter, in a more raw way. Savy was controlled in a way Alice knew Hatter couldn't be. The girl seemed so closed off, and if Alice didn't know better she'd swear Savy had come to more than one Karate class a little drunk. “Are you alright?”
“Oh yes, fine Savy, just thinking is all. So are you coming to dinner with Hatter and I tonight?” The girl spent almost every night with them at the apartment, even school nights. It made Alice seriously wonder what her home life was like. It obviously wasn't good seeing as her parents didn't worry about her, nor did they care enough to wonder where she was all the time. Alice had caught herself asking Savy once, and the girl had just shut down completely getting a closed off look that only Alice would recognize as a wall.
“Well where bloody else would I be,” Savy asked with a smirk. The girl had a mouth on her that rivaled a sailor, bloody was mild compared to her usual language. Alice had been trying to fix that as well, but it took work. Hatter kept telling Alice that he felt like they'd adopted a sixteen year old, especially with the things the girl had in common with them. She seemed to resemble them both in her own way. Alice tried to shrug him off when he said it because she knew he was just trying to get into a talk about children. He'd been trying for the past six months to get her to talk about having a family. She wasn't ready for that yet, this all still felt so new. She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. She didn't want to be pregnant when it did.
“Good, Hatter will be happy to see you. He said he missed you yesterday.” Alice smirked in return as they headed for the locker rooms. When Savy started coming home with her she'd notice how Alice called “David” Hatter, and asked why. Alice had laughed and made up some story about how he reminded her of the mad hatter, and seeing as she was Alice it made sense just to call him Hatter as a pet name. Savy had shrugged it off, she'd obviously heard stranger things in her life. Which also made Alice wonder. Savy was a little mystery, a little conundrum, just as much as Hatter was. Alice knew so little about their own respective pasts, but she knew by the way they both clung to her like a lifeline that their pasts were bad, probably worse than her own. “By the way where were you last night?”
“Oh you know, just out and about. I figured you two needed some damn time alone,” Savy smirked brushing the question aside as she slipped out of her karate pants. She never told Alice where she was when she wasn't with them. To tell the truth she didn't really want them to know. She didn't have much of a home life to speak of, mostly because she was an orphan, and she didn't want them to pity her. She didn't need anyone's fucking pity. Hell, she didn't even think she needed friends, mentors, or whatever the hell Alice and Hatter were, until she'd met them. The truth was when she wasn't with them she was out bar hopping, or doing something else destructive to her volatile youth. It was only with Alice and Hatter that she didn't feel the need to go out drinking, or light a cigarette. Only with them that she felt herself, as she had been before she lost her parents. “Speaking of, are you sure you want me coming out with you both tonight? I heard where Hatter's taking you, it's mighty fancy. I may just ruin the mood.”
“Nonsense,” Alice brushed it aside as they headed out of the building and down the crowded streets.
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Tonight was the night, Hatter had decided. He'd propose to her. He'd make a woman out of her, if the old term stood true. And by Alfred she'd like it. Even if she didn't, she would. He knew she was still iffy about this whole thing, but she had to know he was in it for the long haul. And maybe this would show her. If he made it official maybe she'd stop worrying all the time. She worried too much. Hatter could see worry constantly etched in her pale blue eyes as if she was constantly waiting for the world to burst into flames. She needed to be reassured, she needed to know that even if the world did burst into flames, the walls did crumble down around their noses, or whatever horrid thing she was waiting on, he'd be there for her. Through thick and bloody thin. Just as he'd been in Wonderland. He'd never leave her side so long as he had any say about it. Jingle twisted his way through Hatter's legs as the man sat at the kitchen table drumming his fingers nervously on the lacquered wood. What if she said no? What if he couldn't get the question to come out at all? Mindlessly Hatter stroked the little yellow colored kitten's back, as he watched the minutes tick by on the clock on the wall. Time had never meant much to him before, never much at all, but it seemed like the time spent waiting for his Alice was the most important time he'd ever spent in his life. It was precious, and real....and taking so bloody long! He heard a key in the lock, and felt Jingle look up at the door. In walked a disheveled Alice and Savy. Savy?! Oh dear, he'd forgotten he'd told Alice to have her come over. How could he have forgotten?! The most important night in his life, and he'd forgotten to tell Savy. Savy, the girl he'd taken to thinking of as their daughter (in a weird mixed up way). Damn! Damn! Damn!
Savy saw the look on his face, but bit her tongue. She'd have to confront him about it once Alice was in the shower, and out of earshot. “Alice,” Hatter said too excitedly, and Savy could have smacked him. He was obviously up to something, and he was giving himself away. Alice had to know him better than Savy did, and so it would be perfectly clear to her that her long-term boyfriend was up to something. However, Savy kept her hand firmly rooted in her pocket, and her lips firmly shut.
“I know we're running a bit late. I got distracted. I'm so sorry,” Alice kissed his cheek, and rushed off to the back bedroom. She was too caught up in her own thoughts to even notice Hatter's forced excitement. Her thoughts about what would happen to them, and to Savy. More importantly what would happen to Savy if something happened to them. She thought about these things. Almost as if she were the girl's mother, or older sister. She worried about Savy as much as she worried about Hatter. They both had a nose for trouble that stretched a mile long, and she really didn't know what to do with either of them. She sighed loudly as she grabbed her clothes and went into the hallway bathroom, turning the shower all the way to hot and hoping the water would soothe her aching muscles as well as her confused mind.
Savy let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding when she heard the shower start. “What the hell are you up to Hatter?” Her voice was calm and cool as she picked up Jingle, and dropped her bag onto the floor by the door. Hatter gaped at her, and wondered how she knew. How could she possibly know he was up to something? But before he could ask the girl cut him off, “You're so obvious. You need to just calm the fuck down and keep your head on straight man.”
Hatter would have been taken off guard by Savy's bluntness if he hadn't already known her for a few months. She was the kind of girl who if she had something she needed to say, she'd bloody well say it, likely with a few added curse words and glares while she was at it. Of course that hadn't thrown him off the first time he met her. There was something in the child's vibrant green eyes that told him that she wasn't as cold and cruel as she made herself sound. He'd learned he was right quite quickly, she was in fact a very warm person who cared for those around her. She just had a wall, a wall that reminded him harshly of Alice. “Well, it's jus',” he didn't know how to put it in to words so he pulled the little velvet box from his pants pocket and handed it to her.
Savy quirked a brow as she opened the box with a creak of the hing, and suddenly a full out grin was on her face. Hatter was certain he'd never seen the girl grin a real grin before, her expressions were always something between a smirk and a calculating smile. She was guarded. “Well it certainly is beautiful. I can't believe you picked it out all on your own. But then I have always thought you had good taste, after all you did pick Alice. So it was supposed to be tonight then, and I've showed up and ruined it.” Hatter nodded as she handed the box back, even though he didn't think ruin was the right word. He wouldn't mind Savy being there, it's just the reservations were for two. “It's fine I think I feel a stomach ache coming on anyways.”
“Oh dear, do I need ta ge' tha' piptobisdal stuff Alice is always-,” he stopped when he saw the playful smirk and wink, and felt very silly. “Oh, well then. Ya know tha bes' thin' fer a stomach ache is a good book, and a cup-a tea. As we 'appen ta 'ave those things 'ere ya should stick around 'ere while we're gone.” Savy smirked widely, and was pleased he'd caught on. Sometimes the man really was a bit of a nuisance with his inability to catch on to things. He was a little slow, but she didn't mind him in the least, at least he wasn't mean to Alice. In fact she'd never even seen him scream at Alice, like she so often saw men do with their women in bars. It was actually reassuring to know that there were still real men out there, somewhere. “In fac' why don' ya go change inta yar pajamas, and ge' settled in.” He offered the grin on his face growing quickly, and the light in his eyes glowing to something that nearly hurt Savy's eyes to look at.
“Good plan my friend. I'll get right to that.” She said nodding, retrieving her bag from it's place, dropping the cat, and heading for the spare room which they had sort of let her take over. It still had Alice's computer, and many of their books in it, but the bulletin board on the wall had been taken over by pictures, and clippings from Savy. And Alice had even brought out an old comforter, from when she'd been Savy's age, to put on the futon. Of course she had to give up the futon when Hatter's uncle Charlie came in to town, but Savy didn't really mind the couch either. She changed into a pair of striped pajamas, and grabbed one of the books off the shelf that she'd been reading last week and had yet to finish. It was an old and battered copy of Tristan and Iseult, that Alice had bought during college. As she came back out from the spare room, slippered feet scuffing softly on the hardwood, she smells chamomile. Ah, that Hatter and his tea. When Alice had first told her of the similarities between Hatter and the Mad Hatter, Savy had thought the woman mad herself. The longer she knew the couple, though, the more she saw it herself. “Is that for me?” She asked walking into the kitchen with a grin. “My Hatter, do something with that hair of your's. You can't go to a nice place with it looking all straggly as it does.” Savy stepped back to examine him. He was in a dark colored suit, looked like possibly navy blue or royal purple but she couldn't really tell in this light, his tie was tied a little too tight (probably from nerves) and his hair was a rotten mess as though he'd run his fingers through it a million times in the course of an hour.
“What the devil is wrong with me 'air,” he asked turning to her quirking a brow and looking frustrated at her. Was this little girl trying to push him over the edge tonight? Savy had to know how stressful this whole thing was, and yet there she was criticizing his hair.
“Go have a look for yourself if you don't believe me. You should run a comb through it again. And don't catch that shitty tone with me, I'm only trying to help.” She turned up her nose and shoved him towards the bathroom as she took his place to watch the tea. Hatter grumbled, but walked into the steamy bathroom anyways, and looked at his hair in the mirror. Alice didn't even notice him, but he supposed she was just enjoying her shower. Well by Gregory the little girl was right! His hair was in a state. Even more so than when Alice had met him in Wonderland. Well something must be done about this immediately! He pulled out a comb and ran it under the faucet, and began the epic battle with his hair. It took him a good ten minutes, and by the time he was done Alice was out of the shower and glaring at him to get out of her mirror space so she could finish getting ready herself.
“Better,” He asked returning to Savy who was now stretched across their couch, a book perched against her bent legs, and the cup of tea sitting on the table beside her. She looked right at home in their oddly wonderland like apartment. And for a moment Hatter imagined she'd look just as at home in Wonderland as Alice herself did.
Savy put up a finger to indicate for him to wait for her, most likely to finish the paragraph of text she was on. When she did look up her large green eyes glittered with laughter. “Much better Hatter. You look like quite the catch now.” Then her little red head returned to her book, and Hatter took up his perch at the kitchen table again, drumming his fingers on the lacquered wood. “Calm down, you'll be fine. She can't turn you down,” came the voice of the girl stretched across his couch, and he almost felt a little calmer just hearing the young girl reassure him. “And for fuck's sake don't fuck up your hair again.” Hatter rolled his eyes, and there was that mouth again. Upon first seeing Savy as she was on the couch you'd think her a perfectly respectable girl, but then she'd open that bloody mouth and you'd realize what a sharp tongue she had.
“Yes ma'm,” he grumbled in return. He watched Jingle trot over to the couch, and hop up to lay beside Savy's legs, purring loudly. Hatter could only hope his and Alice's children would be as at home in this place as Savy seemed to be. He liked to imagine that since he was from Wonderland himself, they'd have a piece of the place in them and they'd be right at home with it. But who knew. What if they weren't? What if they wanted a normal home? What if they wanted normal parents? What if they didn't want to visit Uncle Charlie in wonderland? What if they didn't like the way he and Alice had decorated? What if he was a bad father?
“I said calm down,” Savy said never looking up from her book, but feeling the way the air thickened with uncomfortable nervousness as Hatter started tapping his foot loudly on the floor. “And for God's sake stop fidgeting, I'm trying to read.”
“Righ', I'm jus' ya know,” he faded off for a long moment deep in thought. “Nervous,” he finished.
“Well I'd assume that's natural, not like I've ever been in your position, but trust me when I say everything will be fine, perfectly fine. You're getting yourself all in a frazzle for nothing.” She shrugged, and closing her book with a loud sigh. “I won't get any reading done while you're here, may as well keep you company.” with that she rose from the couch and came to sit with him at the table.
Alice came from the bathroom, and waved at Savy to come to her from behind Hatter's back. “Well I'll keep you company in a second, right now it looks like Alice needs help.” She hopped up and ran after Alice who disappeared in the back bedroom before Hatter could see her.
“Is it too much,” Alice asked spinning to show the form fitting blue dress that brought out her eyes perfectly. It had a sweetheart neckline, and she had pinned her hair up to show of her creamy pale shoulders.
Savy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I swear between the two of you it's a wonder I have any self confidence with the example you set. All you need is,” the girl drifted off as she started hunting through Alice jewelry box. “Aha,” the little red head exclaimed as her head shot up, and her ponytail swung in soft curls. “This is all you need, and some liner and blush and you're set.” She clasped the necklace behind the slightly taller woman's neck. “Now, I will go back to reassuring your Mad Hatter.”
Alice started to ask what Savy meant by that, but the girl was already gone back down the hall. Alice watched the red ponytail bob as the girl's slippers shuffled and sighed. Savy might not have much, but she had them. And they had her, and that seemed like plenty to Alice. Alice finished getting ready, following Savy's instructions to the letter because the girl seemed to know what she was talking about, and then emerged from the back bedroom to a very nervous Hatter, and a slightly annoyed Savy. “Well I think I'm ready.”
Hatter looked up to see Alice, from his hands where he'd been staring while Savy talked him into this, and what he saw took his breath away. She looked more beautiful than ever, and he couldn't believe he was about to ask this beautifully strong woman to marry him. Nor could he believe that she was going to say yes, well according to Savy there was no chance in hell that she wouldn't. “Wow,” was all he could muster, and Alice blushed.
“Right well you two kids ha-” there was a loud rushed, urgent knock at the door that cut Savy off. Who the hell is that, they all thought. They all knew that no one was expected right now, Carol was off doing her thing these days dating and the like, Uncle Charlie was back where he'd come from (which Savy had no idea where he came from), and Savy, Hatter, and Alice were all right there at the kitchen table. They all looked at each other in utter confusion until the person outside knocked again, harder, louder, more urgent. “I'll get it,” Savy volunteered finally, and hopped up from her seat at the table. She rushed to the door, slippers scuffing quickly in her wake. The door creaked eerily in the silent room as Savy pulled it open, only to reveal a tall blond woman, so tall in fact she could be a model.
“I need to see Alice, and Hatter immediately. This is where they live isn't it? It's of dire importance. Please little girl,” the blond haired woman pleaded, and Savy almost growled at her. Little girl, who was this woman calling little girl?!
“Duchess,” Alice asked coming up behind Savy, and putting her hand on the annoyed girl's shoulder. She knew the way Savy tensed that the girl was about to do something rash, and she also knew that she was probably the only one who could stop her.
Duchess rushed passed them, completely uninvited into the house (Savy'd like to add begrudgingly), and shut the door behind her quickly as if she were being chased by something sinister. “They've taken Jack, and Harper, my son. Oh Alice they've taken my son! I don't know what to do, I need your help. You're the only one who can help. Please say you'll help. Please say you'll come back to Wonderland and put things to rights. I need your help. You know I wouldn't ask for it if I didn't really need it.” It all came out in a rush, but the woman was so desperate. Her bright blue eyes were slightly watery, and her hands were shaky. She knew pleading her case would shatter her pride, but it had to be done. This had to be done. She had to have Alice and Hatter help her save Jack and Harper. They were her life now, and without them she'd simply die.
Savy was so confused, Wonderland? What the hell? And who the fuck were Jack and Harper? And why was this woman named Duchess? What a weird fucking name. Her head spun, but she watched on and waited for someone to take charge. This woman had come for Alice, and Hatter, and it was clearly none of her business. None of her business at all. In fact she felt like she was intruding as Alice hugged the taller woman, allowing her dress to wrinkle from the contact. “Hatter,” Savy whispered to the still shocked man at the kitchen table. “What the fuck is going on?”
Alice pulled Duchess to the seat Savy had just vacated and rushed to get her some water and tissues. Hatter just shrugged as Savy, but glared a little at Duchess. Of course he was angry she was here. She was here and begging for help for Jack. Like he gave a Fairy's ass about Jack! Jack who had hurt his Alice, and almost gotten her killed on so many occasions he'd lo. And now here was Duchess pleading with them to go head long into danger and help Jack again. Not to mention she'd said something about a son. A son for Alfred's sake! He'd yet to get to marry Alice, and they'd already started a family! A familiar feeling welled up in the pit of his stomach, making bile rise into his throat. He was jealous once more at what Jack had, that he didn't have. And he was so utterly infuriated by this entire thing. Alice sat beside Duchess and patted her shoulder as the woman whipped her eyes, and got her thoughts in order. Alice had never particularly cared for Duchess, but she'd assume Duchess would do the same for her if she were in such a state. Or she'd like to think so anyway.
“Start from the beginning, slowly,” Hatter demanded. Savy sat at the seat across from Alice, but didn't say anything. She didn't want to be the one to burden them with explanations.
“I woke up this morning, and found Jack gone,” Duchess hiccuped and took a deep breath. When the breath was exhaled her shaking had quit, and her hiccups had quieted, making Savy and Hatter think it was all an act to play on Alice's sympathy. “At first I didn't think a thing of it, but I had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, like something was wrong, very wrong.” I know that feeling, I feel it right now, Hatter thought irritably. “So I went in to check on Harper, our son. He's four and a half you know. We had him soon after you left. Well Harper was gone, and his room was completely ransacked.”
“Did ya 'ave them check the palace,” Hatter asked tiredly as if she were a moron. He was really tired of this royal family. And yes it was a family now, for they had a son. A bloody son! He couldn't even get Alice to talk about having children much less get her to commit to it! And yet Jack had a son! This was so unfair. Alice glared at him openly, and he sighed. “It was a valid question,” he shrugged, and she just frowned deeper, then turned back to Duchess.
“Anyways, when I returned to Jack and I's room I found a note from this woman who claimed to be Aceline Heart, Jack's sister! I didn't even know he had a sister! I don't think anyone thought he had a sister. She said she'd taken them to set things right. She wants the old rule back, how it was under the Queen of Hearts. I think she'd like to be the new Queen of Hearts, and set everything back to how it was before you came to Wonderland Alice. So you see you just have to help me. I wouldn't be asking if it weren't for Harper and Jack. I would deal with it myself if this were about me, or someone else. But you see Alice this is my family, and I can't just let her hurt them. You do see don't you,” her large blue eyes pleaded with Alice.
Savy's head was spinning more now. Queen of hearts? Wonderland? Alice had gone to Wonderland? What the hell? Had they all been dripping acid?! And if they had she wanted some to bloody well sell out on the streets, she'd make a killing on shit that good.
Hatter rolled his eyes. “Alice come on, this isn't our fight anymore. Let the suits deal with this. It's none of our business.”
“We can't just do that,” Alice said finally, it was the first words she'd spoken since Duchess started crying. “Those are your people, and we have to help them. We can't just let everything we risked our lives for rot away.” Alice saw a dark look cross his face, and she knew he was thinking this was about Jack. “It's not about Jack, I swear to you Hatter. But a child? Wouldn't you want them to help us if it was our child? Wouldn't you want them to be there if our family needed them? We have to help.” There was an air of finality to her tone that gave Duchess hope.
Hatter sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. He finally got her talking about family, and children, and it was only in hopes to convince him to help Jack and his family. The little green monster in the pit of his stomach growled angrily. Yet, he had to admit, she had a valid point. He'd want Jack to help them if they needed it. And he knew Jack would help them if they needed it. As much as he hated Jack, the king would do anything to help his people, and those people included he and Alice even if they weren't in his kingdom anymore. So yes, they did have to do something to help him and his family. Especially his son, just the thought of a woman like the old queen having her hands on a child, and trying to “fix” him shut the little green monster up for good. “You're righ',” he offered begrudgingly. “We 'ave ta 'elp. I guess we should change then.” He sighed standing from his seat.
“What the fuck are you all talking about,” Savy asked suddenly, and all their eyes went wide like they'd completely forgotten she was there. Well great, that was just great, now they'd have to explain Wonderland to Savy. Hatter couldn't believe their luck. “Really what are you all tripping on?”
Alice sighed, “Savy, you're going to think we sound crazy, or as you said high, but Wonderland is real. Really real. And apparently-”
“It's gotten itself into another fickle pickle,” Hater cut her off glaring at Duchess as though this were her fault. The woman should take better care of her family. “So we'll have to be off to save it.”
“The girl should come,” Duchess said her eyes showing some strange emotion that none of them were quite sure what it was. It was as if she'd suddenly realized the value of something.
“We can't take Savy with us,” Alice said angrily, Duchess was not dragging another young girl into this. “She'll get killed. You remember how many times I was almost killed don't you?! I won't risk her life.”
Savy rolled her eyes, even if she didn't believe any of this bullshit, she still had this nagging feeling that if Hatter and Alice left there would be no one to take care of her. Even if they were utterly crazy. “I want to go,” Savy said in a determined voice and rose from her seat.
“No,” Hatter said sternly looking down at the little redhead with a look that could only be described as fatherly.
“Sorry Hatter, it's not up to you. It's up to me. I'm old enough to make my own choices. Besides without you two there is no reason for me to really stay here,” Savy shrugged and returned to the spare room, only to reemerge five minutes later in a pair of ripped and patched jeans, flat brown suede boots, and a crème colored tunic style pullover sweatshirt.
Alice glared at the younger girl as she tightened her ponytail. “She's right Hatter, we can't stop her. No point in trying. May as well just let her come along. Besides, we can keep her safe, we kept ourselves alive.”
“Trust me, I'll be fine,” Savy said with a little grin as both Hatter and Alice disappeared into the back bedroom to change out of their nice clothes. “So Duchess,” Savy turned to the woman, “I'm Savy.” She offered the woman her hand, and a guarded smirk. She didn't trust this woman as far as she could throw her, which probably had something to do with the reaction Hatter had given her. Hatter was an excellent judge of character, and if he thought Duchess was full of shit, well Savy did too.
“Are you their daughter,” Duchess asked looking surprised. It couldn't have been that long here. This girl couldn't be any younger than fourteen. It couldn't' have been fourteen years here. It had only been five in Wonderland, it most definitely couldn't have been fourteen here. Yet, she wasn't sure. She'd never been on the other side of the looking glass, and had only been able to find this place due to some very specific instructions given to her by the White Knight.
“Oh hell no,” Savy chuckled. “I was put in Alice's karate class because I got into too many fights in school and in other places, and these two kind of took to me like a fish to fucking water. They're great fucking people.” Savy shrugged a little, but Duchess still looked confused, but Savy didn't feel like explaining. Alice and Hatter didn't even know she was an orphan, so she sure as hell wasn't going to be telling this Duchess woman either. It took Hatter and Alice no time at all to return, and then they were off following Duchess to the “looking glass”. Savy still wasn't sure that she believed them, but she was going along for the ride.
“Holy shit,” Savy stood her mouth agape looking into a very large mirror made of what appeared to be a plasma like surface. So they weren't fucking high then? Or were they? She still wasn't sure.
“Watch your mouth Savy,” Alice scolded lightly, but Hatter only chuckled which didn't support the scolding. To which Alice rolled her eyes, and then glared at him, causing Savy herself to smirk.
“Now make sure ya take a very deep breath, and remember ta breathe as we fall. We'll all be righ' with ya. In fac' I think Alice should 'old yar 'and,” Hatter said looking to Alice who nodded knowingly.
“I'm not a child Hatter, I think I've got this covered,” Savy returned with a frown, but Alice grabbed her hand anyways, stepped on her toe so she had to take a deep breath and pulled her through the plasma surface. Hatter and Duchess were close behind. But Savy nor Alice noticed because they were too busy falling face first, into what they didn't know. They fell and fell and fell. It was like one of those dreams where you feel like your falling, and you just never stop until you wake up. Savy took comfort from Alice's hand grasped so tightly around her own that her fingers were turning blue. Hatter kept his eyes planted firmly on Alice, and Savy, he didn't trust Wonderland with them, not one bit. And down the four fell, deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.
Chapter Title: Tonight is the Night
Author: greeneyes0911
Pairing: Alice/Hatter, Jack/Duchess
Characters: Charlie, Hatter, Jack, Duchess, Alice, and OC
Rating: r-ish (for later chapters)
Length: 6,100+
Warnings/Spoilers: Part 2 of the miniseries
A/N: I got this idea this morning, I'd like to see where it heads but if no one likes it I'll drop it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Alice, Hatter, March Hare, any of 'em....but damn would I be rich if I did!
Duchess awakes one morning to find things terribly
amiss, her world turned upside down. Her family is
missing. She knows of only one who can help them,
and so she sets out to get her old rival to help. Alice
finds herself being drug back through the looking
glass to a wonderland very different from the
one she left behind.
Alice and Hatter had been back in Alice's world for a year now, only a mere year (in their time). Everything was going so well. Almost too well, it worried Alice. It weighed heavily on her. How could it be going this well? Hatter was adjusting slowly but surely. He'd gotten a real job. They'd moved in together, and it seemed like they were well on the road to happily ever after. That worried Alice. She wasn't used to things going this well. Nothing had ever gone this well. She was just waiting for it all to come tumbling down around her like a house of cards. Ironic, that saying was now. It still fit nevertheless. She was waiting for her world to crumble about her ears as it always had before. But everything seemed to be going perfect. Too perfect, she kept reminding herself. She had to keep reminding herself that it call could come crashing down around her ears like a house of cards. If she didn't she wouldn't be prepared when it did. Of course Hatter didn't much care for this slightly dismal outlook on life. He thought she was just being a pessimist. He thought she should look on the bright side. Of course that would be what Hatter thought, he'd always thought that way. It was easy to be optimistic when it was most advantageous to you. After all, who would buy tea from a man who didn't have any faith in himself? No one, that's who, and even if no one was a person in Wonderland that man wasn't here, and so the saying made much more sense. Alice's mind was drifting, drifting far and fast as she watched her students grapple with each other. It had been a year, a whole year, and the only reason she knew Wonderland wasn't all just a very morbid, very bad dream was that she woke up next to Hatter every morning. Lovely, lovely Hatter, who made every day a challenge and a struggle. Not that that was a bad thing mind you. Alice wouldn't have it any other way. She really wouldn't. She absolutely adored their bickering, and the struggle that came with their life. It was perfect in a perfectly imperfect kind of way.
“Sen-say,” one of her students asked, and Alice's eyes widened when she realized she hadn't been paying attention and the time had passed for them to leave. The girl's name was Savannah, but she insisted everyone just call her Savy. Alice didn't know very much about her home life, but she knew plenty about the girl herself. She was a troubled sixteen year old who had been forced kicking and screaming into Karate to try to quail her anger problems. From what Alice understood Savy had spent more than a few nights in jail because of those anger problems, and an uncontrollable nose for trouble. To be honest the girl reminded Alice a little of Hatter, in a more raw way. Savy was controlled in a way Alice knew Hatter couldn't be. The girl seemed so closed off, and if Alice didn't know better she'd swear Savy had come to more than one Karate class a little drunk. “Are you alright?”
“Oh yes, fine Savy, just thinking is all. So are you coming to dinner with Hatter and I tonight?” The girl spent almost every night with them at the apartment, even school nights. It made Alice seriously wonder what her home life was like. It obviously wasn't good seeing as her parents didn't worry about her, nor did they care enough to wonder where she was all the time. Alice had caught herself asking Savy once, and the girl had just shut down completely getting a closed off look that only Alice would recognize as a wall.
“Well where bloody else would I be,” Savy asked with a smirk. The girl had a mouth on her that rivaled a sailor, bloody was mild compared to her usual language. Alice had been trying to fix that as well, but it took work. Hatter kept telling Alice that he felt like they'd adopted a sixteen year old, especially with the things the girl had in common with them. She seemed to resemble them both in her own way. Alice tried to shrug him off when he said it because she knew he was just trying to get into a talk about children. He'd been trying for the past six months to get her to talk about having a family. She wasn't ready for that yet, this all still felt so new. She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. She didn't want to be pregnant when it did.
“Good, Hatter will be happy to see you. He said he missed you yesterday.” Alice smirked in return as they headed for the locker rooms. When Savy started coming home with her she'd notice how Alice called “David” Hatter, and asked why. Alice had laughed and made up some story about how he reminded her of the mad hatter, and seeing as she was Alice it made sense just to call him Hatter as a pet name. Savy had shrugged it off, she'd obviously heard stranger things in her life. Which also made Alice wonder. Savy was a little mystery, a little conundrum, just as much as Hatter was. Alice knew so little about their own respective pasts, but she knew by the way they both clung to her like a lifeline that their pasts were bad, probably worse than her own. “By the way where were you last night?”
“Oh you know, just out and about. I figured you two needed some damn time alone,” Savy smirked brushing the question aside as she slipped out of her karate pants. She never told Alice where she was when she wasn't with them. To tell the truth she didn't really want them to know. She didn't have much of a home life to speak of, mostly because she was an orphan, and she didn't want them to pity her. She didn't need anyone's fucking pity. Hell, she didn't even think she needed friends, mentors, or whatever the hell Alice and Hatter were, until she'd met them. The truth was when she wasn't with them she was out bar hopping, or doing something else destructive to her volatile youth. It was only with Alice and Hatter that she didn't feel the need to go out drinking, or light a cigarette. Only with them that she felt herself, as she had been before she lost her parents. “Speaking of, are you sure you want me coming out with you both tonight? I heard where Hatter's taking you, it's mighty fancy. I may just ruin the mood.”
“Nonsense,” Alice brushed it aside as they headed out of the building and down the crowded streets.
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Tonight was the night, Hatter had decided. He'd propose to her. He'd make a woman out of her, if the old term stood true. And by Alfred she'd like it. Even if she didn't, she would. He knew she was still iffy about this whole thing, but she had to know he was in it for the long haul. And maybe this would show her. If he made it official maybe she'd stop worrying all the time. She worried too much. Hatter could see worry constantly etched in her pale blue eyes as if she was constantly waiting for the world to burst into flames. She needed to be reassured, she needed to know that even if the world did burst into flames, the walls did crumble down around their noses, or whatever horrid thing she was waiting on, he'd be there for her. Through thick and bloody thin. Just as he'd been in Wonderland. He'd never leave her side so long as he had any say about it. Jingle twisted his way through Hatter's legs as the man sat at the kitchen table drumming his fingers nervously on the lacquered wood. What if she said no? What if he couldn't get the question to come out at all? Mindlessly Hatter stroked the little yellow colored kitten's back, as he watched the minutes tick by on the clock on the wall. Time had never meant much to him before, never much at all, but it seemed like the time spent waiting for his Alice was the most important time he'd ever spent in his life. It was precious, and real....and taking so bloody long! He heard a key in the lock, and felt Jingle look up at the door. In walked a disheveled Alice and Savy. Savy?! Oh dear, he'd forgotten he'd told Alice to have her come over. How could he have forgotten?! The most important night in his life, and he'd forgotten to tell Savy. Savy, the girl he'd taken to thinking of as their daughter (in a weird mixed up way). Damn! Damn! Damn!
Savy saw the look on his face, but bit her tongue. She'd have to confront him about it once Alice was in the shower, and out of earshot. “Alice,” Hatter said too excitedly, and Savy could have smacked him. He was obviously up to something, and he was giving himself away. Alice had to know him better than Savy did, and so it would be perfectly clear to her that her long-term boyfriend was up to something. However, Savy kept her hand firmly rooted in her pocket, and her lips firmly shut.
“I know we're running a bit late. I got distracted. I'm so sorry,” Alice kissed his cheek, and rushed off to the back bedroom. She was too caught up in her own thoughts to even notice Hatter's forced excitement. Her thoughts about what would happen to them, and to Savy. More importantly what would happen to Savy if something happened to them. She thought about these things. Almost as if she were the girl's mother, or older sister. She worried about Savy as much as she worried about Hatter. They both had a nose for trouble that stretched a mile long, and she really didn't know what to do with either of them. She sighed loudly as she grabbed her clothes and went into the hallway bathroom, turning the shower all the way to hot and hoping the water would soothe her aching muscles as well as her confused mind.
Savy let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding when she heard the shower start. “What the hell are you up to Hatter?” Her voice was calm and cool as she picked up Jingle, and dropped her bag onto the floor by the door. Hatter gaped at her, and wondered how she knew. How could she possibly know he was up to something? But before he could ask the girl cut him off, “You're so obvious. You need to just calm the fuck down and keep your head on straight man.”
Hatter would have been taken off guard by Savy's bluntness if he hadn't already known her for a few months. She was the kind of girl who if she had something she needed to say, she'd bloody well say it, likely with a few added curse words and glares while she was at it. Of course that hadn't thrown him off the first time he met her. There was something in the child's vibrant green eyes that told him that she wasn't as cold and cruel as she made herself sound. He'd learned he was right quite quickly, she was in fact a very warm person who cared for those around her. She just had a wall, a wall that reminded him harshly of Alice. “Well, it's jus',” he didn't know how to put it in to words so he pulled the little velvet box from his pants pocket and handed it to her.
Savy quirked a brow as she opened the box with a creak of the hing, and suddenly a full out grin was on her face. Hatter was certain he'd never seen the girl grin a real grin before, her expressions were always something between a smirk and a calculating smile. She was guarded. “Well it certainly is beautiful. I can't believe you picked it out all on your own. But then I have always thought you had good taste, after all you did pick Alice. So it was supposed to be tonight then, and I've showed up and ruined it.” Hatter nodded as she handed the box back, even though he didn't think ruin was the right word. He wouldn't mind Savy being there, it's just the reservations were for two. “It's fine I think I feel a stomach ache coming on anyways.”
“Oh dear, do I need ta ge' tha' piptobisdal stuff Alice is always-,” he stopped when he saw the playful smirk and wink, and felt very silly. “Oh, well then. Ya know tha bes' thin' fer a stomach ache is a good book, and a cup-a tea. As we 'appen ta 'ave those things 'ere ya should stick around 'ere while we're gone.” Savy smirked widely, and was pleased he'd caught on. Sometimes the man really was a bit of a nuisance with his inability to catch on to things. He was a little slow, but she didn't mind him in the least, at least he wasn't mean to Alice. In fact she'd never even seen him scream at Alice, like she so often saw men do with their women in bars. It was actually reassuring to know that there were still real men out there, somewhere. “In fac' why don' ya go change inta yar pajamas, and ge' settled in.” He offered the grin on his face growing quickly, and the light in his eyes glowing to something that nearly hurt Savy's eyes to look at.
“Good plan my friend. I'll get right to that.” She said nodding, retrieving her bag from it's place, dropping the cat, and heading for the spare room which they had sort of let her take over. It still had Alice's computer, and many of their books in it, but the bulletin board on the wall had been taken over by pictures, and clippings from Savy. And Alice had even brought out an old comforter, from when she'd been Savy's age, to put on the futon. Of course she had to give up the futon when Hatter's uncle Charlie came in to town, but Savy didn't really mind the couch either. She changed into a pair of striped pajamas, and grabbed one of the books off the shelf that she'd been reading last week and had yet to finish. It was an old and battered copy of Tristan and Iseult, that Alice had bought during college. As she came back out from the spare room, slippered feet scuffing softly on the hardwood, she smells chamomile. Ah, that Hatter and his tea. When Alice had first told her of the similarities between Hatter and the Mad Hatter, Savy had thought the woman mad herself. The longer she knew the couple, though, the more she saw it herself. “Is that for me?” She asked walking into the kitchen with a grin. “My Hatter, do something with that hair of your's. You can't go to a nice place with it looking all straggly as it does.” Savy stepped back to examine him. He was in a dark colored suit, looked like possibly navy blue or royal purple but she couldn't really tell in this light, his tie was tied a little too tight (probably from nerves) and his hair was a rotten mess as though he'd run his fingers through it a million times in the course of an hour.
“What the devil is wrong with me 'air,” he asked turning to her quirking a brow and looking frustrated at her. Was this little girl trying to push him over the edge tonight? Savy had to know how stressful this whole thing was, and yet there she was criticizing his hair.
“Go have a look for yourself if you don't believe me. You should run a comb through it again. And don't catch that shitty tone with me, I'm only trying to help.” She turned up her nose and shoved him towards the bathroom as she took his place to watch the tea. Hatter grumbled, but walked into the steamy bathroom anyways, and looked at his hair in the mirror. Alice didn't even notice him, but he supposed she was just enjoying her shower. Well by Gregory the little girl was right! His hair was in a state. Even more so than when Alice had met him in Wonderland. Well something must be done about this immediately! He pulled out a comb and ran it under the faucet, and began the epic battle with his hair. It took him a good ten minutes, and by the time he was done Alice was out of the shower and glaring at him to get out of her mirror space so she could finish getting ready herself.
“Better,” He asked returning to Savy who was now stretched across their couch, a book perched against her bent legs, and the cup of tea sitting on the table beside her. She looked right at home in their oddly wonderland like apartment. And for a moment Hatter imagined she'd look just as at home in Wonderland as Alice herself did.
Savy put up a finger to indicate for him to wait for her, most likely to finish the paragraph of text she was on. When she did look up her large green eyes glittered with laughter. “Much better Hatter. You look like quite the catch now.” Then her little red head returned to her book, and Hatter took up his perch at the kitchen table again, drumming his fingers on the lacquered wood. “Calm down, you'll be fine. She can't turn you down,” came the voice of the girl stretched across his couch, and he almost felt a little calmer just hearing the young girl reassure him. “And for fuck's sake don't fuck up your hair again.” Hatter rolled his eyes, and there was that mouth again. Upon first seeing Savy as she was on the couch you'd think her a perfectly respectable girl, but then she'd open that bloody mouth and you'd realize what a sharp tongue she had.
“Yes ma'm,” he grumbled in return. He watched Jingle trot over to the couch, and hop up to lay beside Savy's legs, purring loudly. Hatter could only hope his and Alice's children would be as at home in this place as Savy seemed to be. He liked to imagine that since he was from Wonderland himself, they'd have a piece of the place in them and they'd be right at home with it. But who knew. What if they weren't? What if they wanted a normal home? What if they wanted normal parents? What if they didn't want to visit Uncle Charlie in wonderland? What if they didn't like the way he and Alice had decorated? What if he was a bad father?
“I said calm down,” Savy said never looking up from her book, but feeling the way the air thickened with uncomfortable nervousness as Hatter started tapping his foot loudly on the floor. “And for God's sake stop fidgeting, I'm trying to read.”
“Righ', I'm jus' ya know,” he faded off for a long moment deep in thought. “Nervous,” he finished.
“Well I'd assume that's natural, not like I've ever been in your position, but trust me when I say everything will be fine, perfectly fine. You're getting yourself all in a frazzle for nothing.” She shrugged, and closing her book with a loud sigh. “I won't get any reading done while you're here, may as well keep you company.” with that she rose from the couch and came to sit with him at the table.
Alice came from the bathroom, and waved at Savy to come to her from behind Hatter's back. “Well I'll keep you company in a second, right now it looks like Alice needs help.” She hopped up and ran after Alice who disappeared in the back bedroom before Hatter could see her.
“Is it too much,” Alice asked spinning to show the form fitting blue dress that brought out her eyes perfectly. It had a sweetheart neckline, and she had pinned her hair up to show of her creamy pale shoulders.
Savy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I swear between the two of you it's a wonder I have any self confidence with the example you set. All you need is,” the girl drifted off as she started hunting through Alice jewelry box. “Aha,” the little red head exclaimed as her head shot up, and her ponytail swung in soft curls. “This is all you need, and some liner and blush and you're set.” She clasped the necklace behind the slightly taller woman's neck. “Now, I will go back to reassuring your Mad Hatter.”
Alice started to ask what Savy meant by that, but the girl was already gone back down the hall. Alice watched the red ponytail bob as the girl's slippers shuffled and sighed. Savy might not have much, but she had them. And they had her, and that seemed like plenty to Alice. Alice finished getting ready, following Savy's instructions to the letter because the girl seemed to know what she was talking about, and then emerged from the back bedroom to a very nervous Hatter, and a slightly annoyed Savy. “Well I think I'm ready.”
Hatter looked up to see Alice, from his hands where he'd been staring while Savy talked him into this, and what he saw took his breath away. She looked more beautiful than ever, and he couldn't believe he was about to ask this beautifully strong woman to marry him. Nor could he believe that she was going to say yes, well according to Savy there was no chance in hell that she wouldn't. “Wow,” was all he could muster, and Alice blushed.
“Right well you two kids ha-” there was a loud rushed, urgent knock at the door that cut Savy off. Who the hell is that, they all thought. They all knew that no one was expected right now, Carol was off doing her thing these days dating and the like, Uncle Charlie was back where he'd come from (which Savy had no idea where he came from), and Savy, Hatter, and Alice were all right there at the kitchen table. They all looked at each other in utter confusion until the person outside knocked again, harder, louder, more urgent. “I'll get it,” Savy volunteered finally, and hopped up from her seat at the table. She rushed to the door, slippers scuffing quickly in her wake. The door creaked eerily in the silent room as Savy pulled it open, only to reveal a tall blond woman, so tall in fact she could be a model.
“I need to see Alice, and Hatter immediately. This is where they live isn't it? It's of dire importance. Please little girl,” the blond haired woman pleaded, and Savy almost growled at her. Little girl, who was this woman calling little girl?!
“Duchess,” Alice asked coming up behind Savy, and putting her hand on the annoyed girl's shoulder. She knew the way Savy tensed that the girl was about to do something rash, and she also knew that she was probably the only one who could stop her.
Duchess rushed passed them, completely uninvited into the house (Savy'd like to add begrudgingly), and shut the door behind her quickly as if she were being chased by something sinister. “They've taken Jack, and Harper, my son. Oh Alice they've taken my son! I don't know what to do, I need your help. You're the only one who can help. Please say you'll help. Please say you'll come back to Wonderland and put things to rights. I need your help. You know I wouldn't ask for it if I didn't really need it.” It all came out in a rush, but the woman was so desperate. Her bright blue eyes were slightly watery, and her hands were shaky. She knew pleading her case would shatter her pride, but it had to be done. This had to be done. She had to have Alice and Hatter help her save Jack and Harper. They were her life now, and without them she'd simply die.
Savy was so confused, Wonderland? What the hell? And who the fuck were Jack and Harper? And why was this woman named Duchess? What a weird fucking name. Her head spun, but she watched on and waited for someone to take charge. This woman had come for Alice, and Hatter, and it was clearly none of her business. None of her business at all. In fact she felt like she was intruding as Alice hugged the taller woman, allowing her dress to wrinkle from the contact. “Hatter,” Savy whispered to the still shocked man at the kitchen table. “What the fuck is going on?”
Alice pulled Duchess to the seat Savy had just vacated and rushed to get her some water and tissues. Hatter just shrugged as Savy, but glared a little at Duchess. Of course he was angry she was here. She was here and begging for help for Jack. Like he gave a Fairy's ass about Jack! Jack who had hurt his Alice, and almost gotten her killed on so many occasions he'd lo. And now here was Duchess pleading with them to go head long into danger and help Jack again. Not to mention she'd said something about a son. A son for Alfred's sake! He'd yet to get to marry Alice, and they'd already started a family! A familiar feeling welled up in the pit of his stomach, making bile rise into his throat. He was jealous once more at what Jack had, that he didn't have. And he was so utterly infuriated by this entire thing. Alice sat beside Duchess and patted her shoulder as the woman whipped her eyes, and got her thoughts in order. Alice had never particularly cared for Duchess, but she'd assume Duchess would do the same for her if she were in such a state. Or she'd like to think so anyway.
“Start from the beginning, slowly,” Hatter demanded. Savy sat at the seat across from Alice, but didn't say anything. She didn't want to be the one to burden them with explanations.
“I woke up this morning, and found Jack gone,” Duchess hiccuped and took a deep breath. When the breath was exhaled her shaking had quit, and her hiccups had quieted, making Savy and Hatter think it was all an act to play on Alice's sympathy. “At first I didn't think a thing of it, but I had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, like something was wrong, very wrong.” I know that feeling, I feel it right now, Hatter thought irritably. “So I went in to check on Harper, our son. He's four and a half you know. We had him soon after you left. Well Harper was gone, and his room was completely ransacked.”
“Did ya 'ave them check the palace,” Hatter asked tiredly as if she were a moron. He was really tired of this royal family. And yes it was a family now, for they had a son. A bloody son! He couldn't even get Alice to talk about having children much less get her to commit to it! And yet Jack had a son! This was so unfair. Alice glared at him openly, and he sighed. “It was a valid question,” he shrugged, and she just frowned deeper, then turned back to Duchess.
“Anyways, when I returned to Jack and I's room I found a note from this woman who claimed to be Aceline Heart, Jack's sister! I didn't even know he had a sister! I don't think anyone thought he had a sister. She said she'd taken them to set things right. She wants the old rule back, how it was under the Queen of Hearts. I think she'd like to be the new Queen of Hearts, and set everything back to how it was before you came to Wonderland Alice. So you see you just have to help me. I wouldn't be asking if it weren't for Harper and Jack. I would deal with it myself if this were about me, or someone else. But you see Alice this is my family, and I can't just let her hurt them. You do see don't you,” her large blue eyes pleaded with Alice.
Savy's head was spinning more now. Queen of hearts? Wonderland? Alice had gone to Wonderland? What the hell? Had they all been dripping acid?! And if they had she wanted some to bloody well sell out on the streets, she'd make a killing on shit that good.
Hatter rolled his eyes. “Alice come on, this isn't our fight anymore. Let the suits deal with this. It's none of our business.”
“We can't just do that,” Alice said finally, it was the first words she'd spoken since Duchess started crying. “Those are your people, and we have to help them. We can't just let everything we risked our lives for rot away.” Alice saw a dark look cross his face, and she knew he was thinking this was about Jack. “It's not about Jack, I swear to you Hatter. But a child? Wouldn't you want them to help us if it was our child? Wouldn't you want them to be there if our family needed them? We have to help.” There was an air of finality to her tone that gave Duchess hope.
Hatter sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. He finally got her talking about family, and children, and it was only in hopes to convince him to help Jack and his family. The little green monster in the pit of his stomach growled angrily. Yet, he had to admit, she had a valid point. He'd want Jack to help them if they needed it. And he knew Jack would help them if they needed it. As much as he hated Jack, the king would do anything to help his people, and those people included he and Alice even if they weren't in his kingdom anymore. So yes, they did have to do something to help him and his family. Especially his son, just the thought of a woman like the old queen having her hands on a child, and trying to “fix” him shut the little green monster up for good. “You're righ',” he offered begrudgingly. “We 'ave ta 'elp. I guess we should change then.” He sighed standing from his seat.
“What the fuck are you all talking about,” Savy asked suddenly, and all their eyes went wide like they'd completely forgotten she was there. Well great, that was just great, now they'd have to explain Wonderland to Savy. Hatter couldn't believe their luck. “Really what are you all tripping on?”
Alice sighed, “Savy, you're going to think we sound crazy, or as you said high, but Wonderland is real. Really real. And apparently-”
“It's gotten itself into another fickle pickle,” Hater cut her off glaring at Duchess as though this were her fault. The woman should take better care of her family. “So we'll have to be off to save it.”
“The girl should come,” Duchess said her eyes showing some strange emotion that none of them were quite sure what it was. It was as if she'd suddenly realized the value of something.
“We can't take Savy with us,” Alice said angrily, Duchess was not dragging another young girl into this. “She'll get killed. You remember how many times I was almost killed don't you?! I won't risk her life.”
Savy rolled her eyes, even if she didn't believe any of this bullshit, she still had this nagging feeling that if Hatter and Alice left there would be no one to take care of her. Even if they were utterly crazy. “I want to go,” Savy said in a determined voice and rose from her seat.
“No,” Hatter said sternly looking down at the little redhead with a look that could only be described as fatherly.
“Sorry Hatter, it's not up to you. It's up to me. I'm old enough to make my own choices. Besides without you two there is no reason for me to really stay here,” Savy shrugged and returned to the spare room, only to reemerge five minutes later in a pair of ripped and patched jeans, flat brown suede boots, and a crème colored tunic style pullover sweatshirt.
Alice glared at the younger girl as she tightened her ponytail. “She's right Hatter, we can't stop her. No point in trying. May as well just let her come along. Besides, we can keep her safe, we kept ourselves alive.”
“Trust me, I'll be fine,” Savy said with a little grin as both Hatter and Alice disappeared into the back bedroom to change out of their nice clothes. “So Duchess,” Savy turned to the woman, “I'm Savy.” She offered the woman her hand, and a guarded smirk. She didn't trust this woman as far as she could throw her, which probably had something to do with the reaction Hatter had given her. Hatter was an excellent judge of character, and if he thought Duchess was full of shit, well Savy did too.
“Are you their daughter,” Duchess asked looking surprised. It couldn't have been that long here. This girl couldn't be any younger than fourteen. It couldn't' have been fourteen years here. It had only been five in Wonderland, it most definitely couldn't have been fourteen here. Yet, she wasn't sure. She'd never been on the other side of the looking glass, and had only been able to find this place due to some very specific instructions given to her by the White Knight.
“Oh hell no,” Savy chuckled. “I was put in Alice's karate class because I got into too many fights in school and in other places, and these two kind of took to me like a fish to fucking water. They're great fucking people.” Savy shrugged a little, but Duchess still looked confused, but Savy didn't feel like explaining. Alice and Hatter didn't even know she was an orphan, so she sure as hell wasn't going to be telling this Duchess woman either. It took Hatter and Alice no time at all to return, and then they were off following Duchess to the “looking glass”. Savy still wasn't sure that she believed them, but she was going along for the ride.
“Holy shit,” Savy stood her mouth agape looking into a very large mirror made of what appeared to be a plasma like surface. So they weren't fucking high then? Or were they? She still wasn't sure.
“Watch your mouth Savy,” Alice scolded lightly, but Hatter only chuckled which didn't support the scolding. To which Alice rolled her eyes, and then glared at him, causing Savy herself to smirk.
“Now make sure ya take a very deep breath, and remember ta breathe as we fall. We'll all be righ' with ya. In fac' I think Alice should 'old yar 'and,” Hatter said looking to Alice who nodded knowingly.
“I'm not a child Hatter, I think I've got this covered,” Savy returned with a frown, but Alice grabbed her hand anyways, stepped on her toe so she had to take a deep breath and pulled her through the plasma surface. Hatter and Duchess were close behind. But Savy nor Alice noticed because they were too busy falling face first, into what they didn't know. They fell and fell and fell. It was like one of those dreams where you feel like your falling, and you just never stop until you wake up. Savy took comfort from Alice's hand grasped so tightly around her own that her fingers were turning blue. Hatter kept his eyes planted firmly on Alice, and Savy, he didn't trust Wonderland with them, not one bit. And down the four fell, deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.