WonderLand

For a moment, I couldn't speak. The door swung gently shut after the Cat's retreating back. Silence fell upon the yard. Even the breeze seemed to have died, the whispering rustles of the trees set on mute.

"Alice, dear," Hatter said gently, from behind me.

"I... did he... I mean..." I struggled, trying to find the right words for what just happened. Hatter stepped forwards, and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. I spun around and slapped it away, my cheeks blazing. "Tell me everything. Now." I growled.

"Everything?" Hatter repeated, wearily.

"Everything." I snapped, ignoring the hot prickling of my eyes. Hatter sighed, then stuck his hands in his pockets and spun on his heel, and started to shuffle back towards the table. The Doormouse and Hare followed suit.

Hatter slumped into his armchair, and after throwing me a look, motioned me to come over as well. I took a moment to gather myself, and pointedly avoiding looking at the door, shuffled back towards the table. I threw myself into my chair, and fixed Hatter with a glare that could have curdled milk.

"Talk." I demanded.

Hatter sighed again, tilting his hat up slightly and running his hand through his short, dark hair. "I'm not entirely sure where to begin..." He said, slowly.

"The beginning." I shot back coolly, in no mood for stalling. Hatter glanced at me, with a tired grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Ah, yes. That is probably the best place." He acknowledged. He fell silent, evidently thinking hard. "Well," He said after a moment, "I suppose it all began at the end."

"The end of the reign of the Red and White Queens." Hatter added solemnly.

"The Queen of Hearts, who at that time was little more than a scap of a Duchess with nothing more than a title going for her, took over in an unexpected and tremendously powerful coup. She managed to gather half of WonderLand onto her side, promising people power and money and land." Hatter sighed, and suddenly looked very old. "They'd forgotten how bad things were before the Red and White Queen took the throne. They'd forgotten what those lovely woman had done for WonderLand and it's people, and they betrayed them."

"It wasn't a quick victory however, we assure you," Hare cut in hastily. "There were still many loyal citizens fighting for the Red and White Queens, and their own army. It took the Queen's forces weeks to breach the Castle."

"But breach it they did." Hatter said morosely. "And the Queens and their court were slain. We continued to fight, mind you. Their deaths only added fire to our flame. But by then we were tired, loosing fighters left and right, and the Queen of Hearts' army was closing in. The battle had been lost." The Hatter rubbed his face, his eyes closed.

"All right," I said slowly. "But what does this have to do with the Cat?"

"The Cat was fighting for the Red and White Queens at the time." Hare explained. "He was as loyal as the rest of us."

"I think he loved them," Hatter added softly, almost wistfully. "I mean, we all did, but he was a personal favorite of theirs, and he really did adore them. They were lovely women," Hatter smiled sadly at me.

"I wish I could have met them," I said softly. I meant it too.

"Well, after the attack, and after the Queen of Hearts took over," Hatter went on, shaking his head as if to clear it. "She gave the few survivors of the battle a chance to change their side, and support her. They would be granted amnesty. Those that did not, would be executed."

"Nobody said anything. We'd rather die than serve a false Queen." Hare said, with a touch of spite lacing his tone.

"Well, nobody except the Cat." Hatter added, apologetically. "He agreed to join her ranks. Everyone left was utterly shocked. He'd fought alongside the rest of us for the entire battle, until the bitter end. And now he was betraying us."

"But he came back." Hare went on, pensively.

"Yes. After we'd been imprisoned, the Cat came to our cells, the night before the day of our beheading. He set free every single one of us in the dead of the night." Hatter explained. "We begged him to come with us, to come hide in the forest with us. The Queen couldn't take the forest, Lord knows she tried. It wouldn't let her in-- it knew she was no true queen. So that was where we fled. But the cat..."

"He wouldn't come." Hare shrugged. "He said we'd need eyes and ears on the other side. He'd be those eyes and ears, he said. We told him in was suicide. He couldn't fool the Queen forever. He told us he'd be fine. He still had a couple of lives left, he said."

"But things went sort of... funny after a while." Hatter mused, his brows crinkling into a frown. "Cats are notoriously disloyal creatures. After a while, he began to flip-flop sides. Sometimes he'd be working for us, sometimes he'd be working for the Queen. It all depended on what was in it for him."

"He was selfish. Whoever could give him the best deal got his loyalty. Not that he ever made that point known aloud, mind you; he'd have both the Queen and the rebellion on him faster than a mome rath can outgrabe if we could get any evidence to prove it. But he's very sly, the Cat. It became impossible to tell who he was really working for at any given time." Hare said. "When he'd show up, we'd have to guess, to take a chance. Sometimes we'd be wrong, but in the end, he was far too valuable to dispose of."

"So we keep and extra close eye on him, and pray he's working for us." Hatter said, leaning back heavily in his chair. I looked from Hatter to Hare, open mouthed.

"So... he just... does whatever the hell he wants?" I finally managed to stutter.

"Pretty much." Hare shrugged.

"That... that's ridiculous!" I protested.

"His information is too valuable." Hatter argued. "He's saved our asses far more than he's gotten us in trouble."

I thought about this for a long moment. It was hard to wrap my head around it.

"Does the Queen know he's a... a double agent or whatever?" I asked after a moments contemplation.

"Of course she does!" Hare snorted. "He's not terribly subtle about it."

"Isn't she mad?" I asked, more than a little confused.

"Oh,quite. Completely off her rocker." Hatter nodded.

"No, I mean angry." I clarified. "Angry that he works against her sometimes." I added, before either of them could misinterpret me again.

"Terribly so. She's constantly trying to lop his head off." Hare replied.

"How does he survive?" I asked, surprised.

"Oh, the King pardons him, mostly. He understands the Cat's value, despite his... loyalty issues." Hatter explained.

"But even when the King doesn't pardon him and he gets thrown in the dungeons, he always manages to escape one way or another." Hare said.

"Even from a locked cell?" I asked, wondering just how skilled that Cat really was.

"Especially from a locked cell." Hatter said definitely.

"In fact, the best way to lose the Cat is to lock him up in something." Hare added.

"Or maybe it's the worst way." Hatter mused.

"It depends of whether you want to lose him or not." Hare said, pointing his spoon at me sternly.

"If you do, then you should definitely lock him up.

"Shackles and everything."

"What if I don't want to lose him?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"Then tell him to go away," Hatter replied, as if it were obvious.

"Mind you, he might actually do it if you are stern enough, but the odds that he'll stay are marginally better that way." Hare added, wrinkling his nose.

I fell silent again, and stared down at the cracked and dirty dishes that lay on the table before me. Just when I started to think I'd begun to understand what was going on, the world turned itself on it's head and left me exactly where I had started-- alone, confused, and trapped.

The Cat had been working for the Queen the whole time.
But he hadn't been.
But he had.

"So he betrayed me? The Cat, I mean." I finally asked, my voice quiet.

"Eh," Hatter exchanged a look with Hare. "I think so."

"You think so?" I repeated incredulously.

"Like I said, it gets hard to tell sometimes," Hatter replied defensively. "As far as I can tell, when he brought you to us, he was working for the Rebellion. Then he left, and something happened. Now he's the Queen loyal little minion again."

"And now he's gonna come back tomorrow and take me to her, right?" I asked, bitterly.

"Probably," Hatter said slowly. "Unless something happens between now and then that makes him switch sides again, but that's unlikely. So yes. Tomorrow he'll return, probably with back up, and forcibly take you to the Queen of Hearts."

"But I thought you said the Queen couldn't into the forest!" I said, suddenly afraid, looking from Hatter to Hare.

"True. And she can't. Her army usually can't either, or else they'll suffer... repercussions. But the Forest likes the Cat, for some reason. The Queen still won't be able to come in person, not that she would anyways, but as long as the battalion is small enough and as long as they keep close to the Cat, they can make it through for a while. So in that case," Hatter said, pushing back his armchair and rising to his feet. "In that case, we'd better get you out of here as soon as possible."

"A.S.A.P." The Doormouse yawned.

"Get me out of here?" I asked. "What do you mean? You're not throwing me to the dogs, are you?"

"To that Cat." Hare amended. "And no, we're not." He leaned down and shook the Doormouse by his shoulder, stirring him awake. "Go find out best offensive fighter and defensive fighter, and bring them here." He muttered. The Doormouse stood up, wobbling on his feet slightly for a moment, and then shuffled off across the lawn and out the door that led into the Tea Shoppe.

"No, we're going to send you somewhere safe for the time being, accompanied by two body guards, to make sure you stay out of trouble." Hatter explained.

"Send me away? Send me away where?" I asked, worriedly. This was beginning to sound like it was becoming very complicated."

"We'll send you to the Looking Glass house, perhaps," Hatter mused.

"No, that Cat will expect that. Perhaps they'd better just camp out in the forest." Hare argued.

"No no, the Cat knows the Forest far too well; he'll be able to track them in no time."

"The Chess Board then? Even if he does figure out they are there, it'll be nearly impossible for him to catch them if they've had a day's head start."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea! The Chess Board it is then!"

"Wait, wait, I can't just run!" I protested, standing up suddenly as well.

Hatter and Hare both looked at me, surprise masking their faces.

"What do you mean, Alice dear? You have to!" Hatter finally stammered.

"But I can't! What will happen to you when the Cat comes back and I'm not here?" I pointed out. "I won't let something happen to you just to save my own skin."

Hare smiled indulgently at me, as if I were a naive little child. "Alice, you won't just be saving your own skin by running. You'll be saving all of WonderLand. You are the key to the prophecy, remember?"

"But, Mr. Hatter, Mr. Hare, I'm not the key or the chosen one or whatever!" I half pleaded. "I can't save the world, I can't overthrow a tyrant Queen, I can't even make my own bed in the mornings! If you need someone to juggle or walk a tightrope, then give me a call, but I've never been anything more than a girl who lives in a trailer in a Circus."

Hatter smiled at me, a smile full of trust and hope I didn't deserve. "It doesn't matter where you come from, Alice dear, or even who you believe you are. You may only think of yourself as a girl from a circus, but to the rest of WonderLand, you are a beacon of hope in these dark times. You've given us something to believe in, you've given us something to fight for. You are our Lady, our Lady Alice of WonderLand. Do you understand?"

I couldn't find my voice for a long moment. Hatter's speech sounded eerily familiar to the one Griffin had given me, but hearing it come so earnestly from Hatter made me really stop and consider it. It seemed as if I'd become Alice, whether I liked it or not.

"I... I--" I began, trying half heartedly to find a way to argue back, but before I could think of anything to say, the door the Doormouse had exited from suddenly swung open again, and he came back in, with two people trailing behind him.

"Ah, Doormouse, excellent!" Hatter cried cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "And who is it you've brought with you-- ah! Wonderful!"

Like Hatter, I turned my attention to the two newcomers. The first one was a man in perhaps his late thirties, with shaggy hair and a gentle face with large, mild eyes. Interestingly enough, he was dressed in a suit of white armor, which didn't seem to quite fit properly. He carried an oddly shaped helmet under his arm, which on closer inspection turned out to be vaguely shaped like a horse's head.

Tearing my eyes away from the strangely dressed knight, I looked at the other man, and was met by a pair of familiar, golden eyes.

"You!" I gasped, before my mind caught up with my mouth.

"Alice, how lovely it is to see you again," Griffin grinned sleazily.