Mad Hatter

Alicia wasn't sure what to expect from the Mad Hatter, or Tarrant Hightopp, as she came to know his true name. The man truly fit the description of insanity, but his sad eyes told a different story as he himself tried to keep up with his own riddles.

After running into him on the outskirts of town, Peter and Ali followed him to his little cottage out in the forest. He lived a good couple miles away from the town and Pan was glad to be away from the many strangers. Once they arrived at Tarrant's home, he immediately made them some tea. Alicia shared her sweets with the men before they settled down to rest.

"And so, why are you two here?" Hatter finally questioned. Peter cleared his throat.

"We're looking for Flynn Rider."

"Flynn Rider? The richest man in Wonderland innit," he mumbled, "what kind of business do you have with someone as daft as Rider?"

"This is his long lost sister."

The Hatter's attention shifted to Alicia. After looking her up and down, Tarrant knew they weren't lying. The similarities were too obvious to state otherwise.

"Never knew Flynn has a sister. But then again, the boy was never really revealing in his private life eh," Hatter muttered before he slurped his tea down.

"Well, he'll be in for the shock of his life. He doesn't know he has a sister," Pan informed. Hatter chuckled before shaking his head.

"Truly a wonder, life is."

"Do you know when Rider will be back?" Peter asked. Tarrant nodded before pouring himself more tea and filling up Alicia's cup as well.

"Shan't be long now, he was only going in for some work. It's Oz so he doesn't have a good estimate of time there."

"Is it alright if we wait for him here?" Peter asked.

"Of course! Flynn usually returns to my home anyway. He can't stand the emptiness of his enormous mansion," he said and started to walk out of the room with his teacup still in his hand.

"Peter, take the guest room. The little lady will have to stay with you, I don't have another spare room," he finished before the Hatter waltzed out of the house and to his garden, where Alicia could see a mile-long table cluttered with teacups and teapots.

"Come on. Let's get some rest," Peter mumbled before dragging Alicia away to their temporary room. Ali took notice of the room and her eyes caught sight of a comfy sofa and a bookshelf. She skimmed her fingers over the leather books picking a random one out. She sunk herself onto the couch and began to read.

While the princess was distracted, Peter took it as a chance to strip out of his dirty clothes and into a set of fresh ones. When he slipped on his new shirt and turned back to Alicia, he found her frowning at the pages.

"What are you reading?" He questioned as he neared her and peeked at the words. Alicia frowned.

"I have no idea but this Shakespeare guy has some personal issues for coming up with a play about two teenagers who fall in love, only to die at the end of this book... Someone hurt him, I can tell," Alicia ranted. She slammed the book shut before tossing it to her side and jumping onto the bed.

"You stay on the couch, I stay on the bed," she instructed. Alicia was kind enough to toss Peter a pillow and a blanket before she cuddled into the soft bed, waiting for sleep to consume her.

Peter rolled his eyes but didn't say a word as he made himself comfortable on the couch. He was too tired to fight with Alicia.

Soon the two found themselves in their own dreams, unaware of the Hatter outside having a tea party.

~

Alicia woke to a gaggle of birds singing outside her window. She frowned and turned her back to them and again tried to sleep.

Their singing didn't stop so Alicia had no choice but to open her window and hurl a book at them.

"Pesky creatures," she hissed. She yawned loudly and groaned. Her eyes were still heavy and she needed more rest.

"Ah, I see you are awake and already harassing the wildlife," Peter said as he entered their shared room. Alicia didn't even notice he was missing.

"I only harass when harassment is needed," she snarked back before laying back down. She tried to cover herself in a blanket again but Pan didn't let her. He yanked her blankets off and threw a new dress he had summoned at her face.

"Get dressed. You need to eat breakfast," he said before leaving the room to give her some privacy. Alicia groaned and rolled herself off the bed and onto the hard wooden floor.

After getting ready and dragging her tired self down the stairs. She entered the kitchen and glared at Pan.

"Are you hungry?" He asked. Alicia growled.

"I would rather be sleeping," she muttered. She covered her face with her arms and laid her head down on the table. In seconds, Alicia was already snoring. Peter glanced back at her and snorted. It truly didn't take long for her to fall asleep again.

Peter finished making pancakes and shook the princess awake again.

"You need to eat."

"And you need to bugger off," Alicia snapped back. She was about to continue her bickering but stopped once the lovely aroma of hot pancakes found their way to her. She was also pleased Pan made her a cup of tea.

"I guess you are useful for something," Alicia hummed as she sunk her fork into her food. Pan ignored her insult.

The two ate in comfortable silence.

"What are we going to do today?" Ali asked as she finished her second pancake and wanted a third. Pan served her more food before answering.

"I thought we could go to the White Queen's kingdom today. I'm not her biggest fan but I'm sure she won't notice if we enter her kingdom," Pan said. Alicia nodded and finished her tea.

"When do we leave?"

"Now if you're ready."

"I suppose... Shouldn't we tell Tarrant we're heading out?"

"He already left, love," Peter answered as he tied on his shoes. Alicia grabbed her basket off the table and tied on her cloak.

And the two went off towards what Peter called the White Queen's kingdom. Alicia didn't know much about the White Queen. All she knew was that she had a rivalry with Anastasia as well but it was no surprise to Ali. Everyone who met Anastasia tended to hate her.

At least, that's what Alicia believed.

Peter and Alicia were walking down a forest path when Pan broke the silence they had been stuck in.

"By the way, you have yet to tell me what happened between you and Anastasia. The two of you seemed very... Heated yesterday," Pan said curiously. Alicia scoffed.

"That witch is the most unpleasant person I have ever met. And I've met you," Alicia snapped. She didn't continue her story but Peter knew better than to press.

When the two arrived at the outskirts of the kingdom, Alicia was very excited. Despite the upsetting event the day before, the princess was delighted to explore a town again. She missed the days when she and Henry would sneak out of the castle and cause nothing but chaos in the village until Regina found out and threatened to curse them into frogs next time they snuck out.

Alicia shook Peter's arm as she pointed to a book shop.

Together the two explored what the kingdom had to offer. Ali managed to convince Peter to buy her a new book and more treats. All was well.

Until Peter found out Alicia somehow ate all of the sweets and now had a stomach ache.

She groaned loudly and Peter had to drag the sick princess back to the Hatter's cottage.

"I swear you are like an uneducated child... I left you alone for a minute to get some water and you ate all of the bloody cream puffs!" Pan scolded as he made her a hot cup of tea to try and ease her belly pains. She only burped in response.

"I think I'm going to throw up," Alicia moaned from the table. He handed her the teacup and insisted she drank the nauseousness away.

"Hopefully this will teach you to not eat too many sweets all at once," Pan criticized. After her stomach finally calmed down, and Tarrant had returned from visiting a friend he called the March Hare, he told them stories of him and Flynn and the adventures they had in Wonderland.

"Many a day when Flynn would appear at my doorstep and simply throw a map at my face and say, 'Hey slumphead, get dressed, we are going on an adventure!'" Hatter recalled with a smile, "Next thing I knew, we were in a realm I had never heard of, battling a dragon the size of my old Aunt Tildy! And I tell ya, Aunt Tildy is not small."

Alicia giggled at Hatter's stories. It was nice to hear stories of her supposed brother. Although deep inside her consciousness, she wanted to believe it's true, there was a part nagging at her that it was all a sick trick.

But for the time being, she decided to ignore it all and enjoy the moment before it faded away                  

*unedited*