Hello \(T^T)

I'm a very horrible person and I would be surprised if there are people still reading this story.

It's been about 4 months since I updated?

You people who are still reading or is reading this right now are amazing and absolutely deserve all of my love ;-;

To all the people saying it was okay for me to take my time, I want to give you a big virtual hug (>^_^)><(^o^<)

You make my life awesome <3

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"What are you planning to do?" Hunter asked staring questionably at Erik. Erik grinned and shrugged.

"Was there something I was planning to do?" he asked in a confused state. Hunter frowned at him and Erik just smiled pleasantly at us, his hat a little tilted on his head as he observed us closely.

"I just thought that maybe you would, you know, try to kill us since you pretty much confessed to." I said raising an eyebrow at him. He put a fist in his palm and nodded as if he finally solved a riddle.

"That's right!" he said,"I was going to do that." I stared at him and turned to Hunter.

"I don't think he's right in the head." I whispered to him and Erik laughed loudly.

"You're at least right about that." he said still laughing. We stayed silent and I knew that I wouldn't be able to take him seriously anymore. Erik ceased his laughing and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Um..." Hunter said with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"What?" Erik said,"You think I'm gonna go after your heads now? Well think again, children, just because I said so before, doesn't mean I want to now." Hunter and I exchanged glances.

"We'll be going on then..." Hunter said turning around and pulling me a bit closer to his side.

"Now now, there's no need to rush!" Erik said and appeared suddenly behind us with his hands on our shoulders. I jumped a bit and Eclipse hissed,"I believe this may be fate for us to meet. Don't know when we'll have this chance again."

"Please forgive my bluntness, but I believe you're acting quite suspiciously for a person who said that they wouldn't kill us." Eclipse jumped in. Erik looked at Eclipse and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" he said,"Is that so?" Eclipse huffed and looked to the side.

"I'm just stating my opinions." she said. Erik shrugged and grinned.

"Anyway, I must say though, Miss. Alice, I'm quite impressed you've made it this far even though you barely started the game." he complimented and nodded his head,"But with the way things are now, I don't think you're going to make it far." I stared at him.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked him curiously, rather than being angry.

"Over the years that I've been here, I've seen many things. Judging by the way events are, you barely win your fights." he said. I thought about all of my previous fights and shrugged.

"You might say so." I said and looked over at Hunter. I could see he was itching to get out, but was patiently staying by my side.

"I can help you." Erik said with a devious grin. For a split second, I thought I saw a shadow come across his face.

"Don't trust him Alice." Eclipse said,"I don't think he's the true Mad Hatter..."

"What do you mean by that?" I whispered back.

"It's a feeling I have, anyways just get away from him." Eclipse said. I turned my attention back to Erik and his face seemed to soften up. The evil intent I sensed earlier was gone. Then an idea to test my theory popped into my head. I smiled at Erik.

"Says the person who stole the title from another person." I said bluffing. Erik's smile disappeared and his face turned pale.

"What?" he said. I began walking closer, the smile still sweetly pasted on my face.

"You know what I mean..." I said,"You aren't the real mad hatter, are you?"

"How do-" he said but stopped. His seemed paralyzed for a bit, then he shook his head,"Ah, never mind. Just get out of here." He angrily stormed off somewhere and I turned back to Hunter.

"What was that?" Hunter asked.

"I was just trusting Eclipse's words." I said,"I thought that if he wasn't the real mad hatter, then he must have gotten it somehow... meaning he must work under Mirror or something, right?"

"Well, it's true that you can't change titles unless Mirror had something to do with it." Eclipse said.

"What if that wasn't the case?" Hunter asked. I smiled again.

"Sometimes you got to go with your gut." I said and began walking off,"Come on, I'll race you out of here." He gave me one of his rare smiles and nodded.

"Okay, you're on." he said. We dashed off and soon we began getting farther and farther apart, with me actually being in the lead. Eclipse switched off with Hunter since he seemed to be going slow and she didn't want her fur to get messed up when I ran. I had a feeling that Hunter was just letting me win to make me happy, but whatever, I'm competitive when it comes to these kinds of things. I looked back to see if Hunter was there, but I couldn't see him, soon enough I ran into someone.

"Oof." I said as I felt a sudden shock. My body shook and my vision blurred.

***

A blurry figure was standing next to me. I couldn't see who it was or see any revealing features, but I knew it was someone I met before. It felt like someone trusting and close. He had a nostalgic presence as I stood next to him. He smiled at me and held out his hand and I took it without hesitation. I returned the smile and he led me away from the crowds of people behind us.

***

A gasp of air escaped me and I returned to the forest. My head ached and I looked up to see the guy from the match, Matt. He looked a bit angry mixed in with annoyance. He looked around, searching for someone.

"Hey, have you seen a guy called the Mad Hatter around here?" he said frantically. I scratched my head and nodded confusingly.

"Actually, I have." I said pointing backwards,"I just met up with him when his hut burned down." Matt started running full speed in that direction without saying anything, I turned to him and held out my hand to stop him.

"Hey, wait!" I called out, but he gave me the finger. Yeah, the finger. Flipping the bird, the middle finger, yada yada. My eyes widened in shock as I watched him slowly vanish into the trees,"What the hell was that for? I kindly give him directions and he goes and does that." Soon enough, I saw Hunter and Eclipse coming closer and Hunter was jogging at an easy pace.

"Why aren't you at the exit?" he asked with a look of concern,"Did something happen?" I shook my head.

"No, I just bumped into someone." I said walking again,"It took me by surprise though." Hunter caught up to my side.

"Is that so?" he said,"Who was it?" I frowned and we began walking together.

"It was that guy, Matt, from the fight." I said. Hunter paused behind me.

"Did he do something to you?" he asked,"You look kind of pissed."

"He was looking for the Mad Hatter." I answered,"And I told him where he was, but as he ran off, he flipped me off." Hunter stifled a laugh and turned around and looked at him. He was covering his mouth, hiding his smile.

"Is that all?" he said.

"It wasn't nice..." I pouted and he laughed again.

"That's all he did... that's good..." he said under his breath and I looked at him with a clueless, small smile. Eclipse mewed and I came over to Hunter's side to retrieve her. I placed her back on my shoulder and Hunter brushed an out of place hair out of my face. I looked up at him and he stared at me with a serious look on his face,"I think it's best if you stay away from that guy."

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My writing style is so rusty. I don't even know what's life anymore (=_=)

I want to thank @CelestialTurtle for helping me come up with ideas for this chapter. You're the best (>3<)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!

(I apologize for grammatical and spelling errors)