WonderLand

The building looked as if it were defying most of the rules of the universe simply by existing.
It was a twisted, crooked stone monstrosity, that looked like it wanted to be a castle, if castles were about as wide a regular house, yet several stories high. It seemed to be leaning precariously to one side, and it was nothing short of a miracle that it didn't topple over completely. Though it wasn't a particularly large building, it was rather intimidating.

Though, it was the two giant, rabbit ear-shaped chimneys that protruded from the fur-thatched roof of the topmost turret that were probably what threw me off the most, all told.

After dragging my astounded gaze away from the building, I noticed the surrounding yard was kept in meticulous, if unusual, care. The lush lawn was a uniform length, and looked as if a single blade of grass was never allowed to grow faster than it's fellows. The shrubs that were placed at seemingly random but aesthetically pleasing intervals had been carefully shaped into a few recognizable objects; such as a rabbit head, a tea cup, a pocket watch, and a jam jar; but most of the shapes, though distinctly animalian, were otherwise utterly unrecognizable.

The Cat Didn't allow me any time to muse over the curious design of the place, but immediately set off dragging me down the winding, cobblestone path that pointlessly began right where the line of trees of the forest ended.

"Come on now, don't lolly-gag," He said firmly, glancing around at the deserted courtyard.

"If they've waited so long to meet me, they can wait a bit longer," I argued, wanting to explore the landscape more. "What's that?" I pointed to a particularly strangely shaped shrub, that somehow managed to look like a cross between a badger, a lizard, and a corkscrew. That Cat cast it a cursory glance.

"A tove," He said flatly. "And it isn't Hatter and Hare I'm worried about." He frowned down at me sternly. "The Tweedles will be here, and so will Gryphon and M.T., among others."

"You think they'll try something?" I asked, wondering if I should be worried. But the Cat was shaking his head.

"Oh no- just the opposite. They won't lay a finger on you, not with Hatter and Hare watching; so don't worry your pretty little head." He replied reassuringly.

"Don't be so condescending," I said indignantly. As per usual, I was ignored. We drew up to the door of the building and the Cat knocked sharply, three times. I noticed vaguely that hung with delicate care on the wooden door was an elegantly painted copper sign, that read in curly letters, "The Tea Shoppe".
Underneath was tacked a slightly more sloppily painted sign that said, "Closed: Out for Tea".

"I just hate to leave you in such dull, undesirable company." The Cat went on, uninterrupted. I blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean? Are you leaving again?" I asked. But I never received an answer, for at the moment, the door swung inward with sudden force, revealing a very cross looking man whose bald head was more egg-shaped than many of the actual eggs I'd met in my lifetime.

"What do you want?" He asked, rather rudely.

"I've brought Alice." The Cat replied, slipping effortlessly back into the cool, assertive manner I'd noticed he always used when talking to anybody but me.

The egg-man didn't seem impressed.

"That's not what I asked. I said, 'What do you want?'," The man said crossly. The Cast heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I want to see Hatter and Hare." He said with forced calm. "And by 'see', I mean 'hold court with'." He added, hurriedly.

"You ought to say what you mean and mean what you say the first time," The egg-man glowered.

"Alice-"

"Alex!"

"-Alice, meet Humpty-Dumpty." The Cat said wearily, waving a hand at the man.

"Humpty-Dumpty? Like the egg?" My mouth said before my brain caught up with it. Humpty-Dumpty cast me a thoroughly annoyed look.

"It is very provoking," He said, after a long, dense silence, "to be called an egg- very!"

I back-pedaled quickly.

"No, it's just that... I know an egg by that name. And some eggs are very pretty, you know," I gently explained, with the uncomfortable feeling I was just making it worse.

"Some people," Humpty-Dumpty said sourly and turning away, "Have no more sense than a baby."

Since he wasn't even looking at me when he said this, I figured it would do any harm to let the comment slide. There wasn't any point in getting into petty arguments with egg men, after all.

"Come now, Humpty, at least pretend to try to be polite," The Cat said, in a tone that implied he'd fought this battle many times before.

"I am being polite," Humpty snapped, glaring at the Cat fiercely. He cast another baleful look in my direction. "This is her, is it? Alice? The Alice?" He asked.

"Yes. So please try to mind yourself." The Cat warned. Humpty snorted.

"Alice. That's a stupid name. What does it mean?" He grunted.

"I haven't a clue," I replied hotly. "Especially since that isn't my name. My name is Alex." Humpty appraised my for a moment, his gaze piercing, before shrugging and looking away again.

"That's an even stupider name." He muttered.

"Humpty, would you please just bring Alice-"

"Alex!"

"-Alice to Hatter and Hare? And without any of the cute comments, please." The Cat asked, exasperatedly.

"Wait, so you are leaving again?" I asked the Cat accusingly, turning to face him sharply. "Stop doing that! Every time you leave me on my own, something- usually bad -happens!"
The Cat looked down at me with an odd expression on his face. Before I could work out just what it was, it had vanished, to be replaced by his trademark Cheshire Cat grin.

"Sorry, crumpet. I have other business to take care of. Some of us are working men." He said in an offhand manner. My accusatory glare didn't waver. "Oh come on, love. It keeps life interesting!" He said cheerfully, ruffling my hair. I swiped his hand away, glowering.

"My life is already far too interesting if you ask me," I replied shortly. "And stop calling me 'love'." I added. The Cat gave an over-exaggerated sigh.

"Oh all right." He said in defeat. He took his purple hat off his head and plunked it down on mine, pulling the brim over my eyes and further messing up my hair. "Here. You have my hat now- a guarantee I'll be back. A man isn't a man without his hat, so take care of it. I expect it in perfect condition when I come back. Better, even. It had better be in even better condition the next time I see you than it is right now. Got that?" He ordered, crossing his arms over his chest. I pushed the hat up out of my face, tilting it at a rakish angle.

"If that's the best I'm going to get-" I began.

"It is," The Cat cut in.

"Then I guess it'll have to do." I resigned.

"All right, we've kept Hatter and Hare waiting long enough. They'll go mad with anticipation if you keep them any longer." The Cat said, his grin drooping a little.

"I thought they were already mad." I pointed out. The Cat rolled his glass green eyes.

"They'll go sane, then. Either way, it won't be pretty." He reached out and, grabbing me by the shoulders, spun me around and gave me a little push through the doorway, past Humpty-Dumpty. "Run along now. Watch her, Humpty. She has a knack of getting into trouble." He winked at me. "Good bye, Alex." He said, with a curiously sincere smile.

"Goodbye, Cat," I said quickly, as Humpty rudely and abruptly slammed the door shut, cutting us off from each other.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Humpty and I appraised each other, like two alley cats, wondering if the fight over a scrap of garbage was worth it.

"Well?" He said at last, bitingly.

"Well what?" I asked, in an equally defensive tone.

"Well, are you going to stand there all day, or do you want to meet with Hatter and Hare?" Humpty snapped.

"Well, that's what everybody has been telling me I want to do." I replied shortly.

"Don't let anybody tell you what you want to do!" Humpty frowned. "You're a big girl, make up your own mind!"

It was a curiously sensible piece of advice- unfortunately, I didn't have much of a choice in the matter anymore, so it wasn't of much use.

"Yes- I do want to meet with them." I said anyways, in a half-hearted attempt to avoid an argument.

"Then why are you standing around like a ninny?" Humpty, obviously not caring much for my attempt at peace-making.

"Because," I shot back, beginning to loose my temper, which I had tried to hard to keep in check until now. "I don't know where they are, do I?"

"Then why didn't you ask?" Humpty asked, accusingly. I closed my eyes and counted to ten.
When that failed to work, I simply tried to suppress the urge to knock his silly egg head off his shoulders. I fully understood the Cat's exasperation with him- if you had to get past Humpty every time you wanted in the Tea Shoppe, it was a wonder they hadn't been run out of business.

"All right then. Would you please take me to meet the Hatter and Hare?" I said with a super-human show of patience.

"Yes, I will," Humpty said simply, turning on his heel and marching pointedly down the long entryway hallway.
After a suspicious second that I spent wondering if that had been all too easy, I trotted along after Humpty Dumpty. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Humpty lead me down the entryway, which was given a slightly oppressive feeling by the cold, grey slab stone walls but was pleasantly furnished with a thick, lavish red carpet.
Then we were through a heavy oak door, and entered some sort of atrium type room, so vastly different from the dungeon-esque hallway that I had a hard time believing I was even in the same building.
The room was huge- bigger than seemed possible judging by the outside dimensions of the place. It was inlaid from top to bottom with veiny white marble, except for the far wall to the left of the door we had entered from, which was an unbroken wall of floor-to-ceiling length windows, letting the bright midday sunlight pour into the room.

I had definitely not seen anything even remotely like this on the outside of the building.

Apart from the window wall, there were several other features of notice in the chamber. One was the vast, elaborate fountain in the dead center of the room.
The first thing I noticed about this was that the water spouting from the top and running over the edges didn't look very watery at all.
For one, it was brown, and seemed to be steaming slightly.

"Don't tell me-" I began hesitantly.

"Yes, it is tea." Humpty answered gruffly. "Hot tea. And they wonder why there is never enough to drink." He added under his breath. "Maybe if they didn't insist on filling the fountains and bathing in and water the gardens with the stuff..." He trailed off darkly.

"...Ah," Was all I could think to say.

Apart from the unusual fountain, the room was lined with dozens of intricately carved marble busts on pedestals. As I looked closer, I saw every single one of them depicted one of the same two faces in alternating sequences.
They were the faces of two young men, both wearing hats- one in a bowler, and the other in a top hat. At first glance, I thought every carving was identical to the last, but as I looked closer, I saw that each face of every bust was wearing a slightly different expression. As the statues progressed down the length of the room, the more and more outlandish their expressions became, until the ones nearing the very end were hardly recognizable at all.

"Oh dear, are those-?" I started reluctantly.

"Yes. Hatter," Humpty waved a hand at the bust with the top hat, "And Hare." He pointed to the one in the bowler hat.

"Of course they are." I sighed heavily. "Well, if they are as mad as these statues are, I don't suppose it's wise to keep them waiting any longer. Lead the way," I said to Humpty.

Grumbling, he led me down past the fountain- whose herby scent became almost unbearable the closer we became- to the side of the room opposite the window wall, where a marble staircase with a wrought iron balustrade led upwards to a landing.

Up the stairs we trekked, with me trying to suppress the mounting feeling of unease growing with every step.

The Cat had said they were good guys- but he'd also said they were crazy. Then again, so was nearly everybody.
At the very least, I'd finally be getting some answers- especially about this "resistance" and "prophecy" business, which I hoped I could get cleared up as soon as possible.

At the top of the staircase was an imposing set of double doors, made out of a sleek, dark wood. A brass knocker in the shape of a rabbit's head loomed from the center, a heavy ring hanging from it's buck-toothed mouth. Humpty Dumpty banged this against the door sharply three times, the sound echoing unnaturally loudly through the empty atrium. Without waiting for an invitation, he pushed the doors open, and rather anticlimactically ushered me inside, to finally meet the infamous Messrs. Hatter and Hare.