Present Day...

Madison Hatter fiddled with the brim of his hat as he waited in the garden. He watched as Shiro Rabbit checked his pocket watch once more, tapping his foot nervously, glancing at Hatter. 

"Just another moment I'm sure, sir," he squeaked.

"If she's not here in the next five minutes, I'm leaving," Mad replied pleasantly.

"Oh no, sir! You couldn't possibly. I mean, how impolite. She is the Queen, sir! She would have your head removed!" Shiro quailed at the look Mad gave him.

"At least that would be interesting. Besides," Mad added brightly, "she couldn't because then you wouldn't have anywhere to put this magnificent hat!"

To demonstrate, Mad flipped the rather more elegant top hat that was currently taking the place of his usual fedora onto his head. He ran a finger along the brim, satisfied with the look he got from Shiro. It said Shiro thought him, well... mad. It was all part of the carefully crafted image he had conjured up over all these long years since Wonderland had taken him.

And it had taken him. He had been stolen from his life.

Mad had been in his home and passed by a mirror. He had stopped to straighten his tie when he had been ripped from Real World into Wonderland. He couldn't get back to the place he had been no matter what he tried.

Wonderland held onto him with cruel claws, keeping Mad prisoner. Eventually he had come to accept that. What he could not accept, however, was this.

Trumpets blared and Her Royal Highness, Queen Mavros Heart made her way into the garden. Next to him, Shiro knelt, as did the other guards and servants present.

Mad did not. He merely inclined his head, touching a finger to the brim of his hat. The Queen sniffed, "One of these days, Madison, your impertinence will kill you."

He grinned. "I thought it was the ax that would kill me?"

"Perhaps it will be me?" she asked.

Mad's eyes hardened. "No," he said slowly. "No, it won't be you."

The Queen flounced into a chair, propping her chin on her hands. "Watch him speak with such confidence! Sit, Hatter," she said imperiously. 

Mad hesitated momentarily, then sat lightly in the only other chair next to the Queen. He made certain that she saw when he pulled the chair farther from her though. It brought him a great deal of satisfaction, these small mutinies. 

Her sinister scarlet eyes narrowed and she asked, "What gives you such confidence, I wonder?"

Mad sipped at the tea prepared for him. "Mm. You do, Highness."

"Mavros," she corrected.

"Mavros." Mad grimaced slightly, hiding it with another sip of tea, which was overly sweet as always.

"Me?" she demurred.

"Yes. You see, if I die, you don't win your prize. And you want your prize." As he said the words, the Queen's eyes roved hungrily over him.

"I like to win," she responded simply, her words matter of fact and completely shameless. 

"I know," Mad replied, his tone dry. Once, the Queen's bluntness might have amused him, but he had been here for too long to find much entertainment within the walls of Heart Castle anymore. 

"Which," he added, simply because he could not leave it alone, "incidentally, is why my head is here. Not up there." 

He gestured to where severed heads sat on pikes atop the pale walls that surrounded the gardens. Mad wrinkled his nose when a soft breeze came toward them. It didn't matter that they were sitting in the middle of thousands of roses, the flowers could not quite mask the stink of rot. 

The English style gardens of the Queen, with its rose bushes and tea tables, were almost a mockery of the horror Mavros displayed so proudly upon the wall.

The Queen smiled and said, "Well Madison, if you would just accept my offer..."

"No," Mad responded flatly, his voice lowered ever so slightly to a more menacing tone. 

The Queen's red lips pressed into a thin line. He met her gaze over the rim of his teacup, wondering if he could get away with just turning his back on her and leaving. After a moment, he decided all that would get him was a bullet in the back.

She stood, her blood colored dress clinging to her curves. "You know, Hatter, one day that pretty face and silver tongue of yours won't be enough to save you."

Mad stood as well and swept her a real bow. "I look forward to it, Queen." 

He grinned at her. She only stood and stared at him.

He knew what she saw, even if he hadn't stepped in front of a mirror in seven years. A face of sharp lines. A strong jaw, straight nose and hooded, brooding eyes that made expressions like bored or menacing very easy, natural even.

These eyes were a startling shade of golden green. Like leaves with the sun shining through. His hair was a deep, glossy black, his mouth expressive.

He was tall but well built through his shoulders and chest, his torso tapering down to a slim, fit waist. A shoulder holster hung empty under his coat where two guns usually sat. Mad had been asked to remove them before being presented to the Queen.

Mad watched her stare at him, his features sliding to boredom. He was used to looks of admiration from women, both here in Wonderland and back in Real World. But there was something unnerving about the way the Queen looked at him.

The Queen was beautiful he admitted, even with her scarlet eyes. Her beauty didn't make her attention any less uncomfortable or any more acceptable.

Her hair was a rich red, bright as autumn leaves against her pale, heart-shaped face. Her mouth puckered into a perfect bow. She was slim and lovely, but Mad couldn't care less.

Mavros was the reason he was here. She said she had seen him through the Looking Glass and wanted him. She had stolen him, literally, then expected his love. Or, at the very least, she had expected him to want her and the throne she promised.

But Mad had always been good at reading people. He had seen the harsh cruelty in those unnerving eyes, the possessiveness. He had known immediately that all she promised was a leash, and he chafed at collars.

So, much to the alarm of everyone at the Court of Hearts, Mad had rejected her and fled. She had found him though, like she always did, and he was forced into this potentially deadly game.

Part of him wondered how long this game could last. The other part said goodbye to the Queen and had him stride from the gardens, his coat flaring around him. Mad stopped to snatch his guns from a startled Shiro and left. He broke into a run when he was out of sight, his long legs eating up the distance until he was safely in the Dark Forest.

Mad had stopped to catch his breath when a voice said, "One day she really is going to chop off that pretty head of yours."

He whirled, palming his right gun. Remarkably, the firearms in Wonderland looked like and worked like Real World guns. He carried the Wonderland equivalent of two 1911's and a .38 on his person at all times. Something that only succeeded in making him feel marginally safer. 

He sighed when he found himself aiming at Cheshire Cat. 

Chesh had adopted Mad as his human five years ago. He had also made a habit of sneaking up on him, in spite of Mad's many warnings and threats. Chesh grinned at him, flashing pointed canines. 

"One of these days I really will shoot you, Chesh." Mad frowned at his friend.

"Uh-uh," Chesh said, raising his arms over his head in a lengthy stretch. He walked toward Mad and tapped a clawed finger against his cheek. "You couldn't possibly. It would break your heart into a thousand tiny little pieces."

"You mean you hope it would," Mad said dryly, returning his gun to its holster.

"Oh no!" Chesh said, green eyes wide enough for Mad to see that the pupils were slit the way a cat's did when hunting. "Hearts are terribly hard to put back together. I would never wish that on you!"

Chesh brushed up against his back, a purr sounding in his throat as he ran a clawed hand down his arm. Mad reminded himself again that it was just like a house cat demanding attention from its owner. Chesh didn't mean anything by his actions and he wasn't trying to make him uncomfortable. 

He was just a cat in a human suit.

Still, Mad wasn't very fond of much physical contact. He suffered Chesh better than others, though at the beginning, he had shied away from all physical contact. This, however, just made Cheshire more determined. Eventually Mad had given in, forcing himself to deal with it. Now it didn't really bother him all that much.

Right now though, he was still shaky from his time with the Queen. She was calling him more and more often and he would never admit this to anyone except Chesh, but he was pretty sure his luck was running out. 

He would either change his answer, or she would kill him.

"You're right, though," he sighed. Chesh pushed his head against Mad's shoulder. He reached a hand up absently, ruffling Chesh's tabby colored hair, making him purr delightedly. "I'm going to have to do something eventually."

Chesh rested his chin on Mad's shoulder. 

"What can you do that won't get you killed?" he asked, a bit of worry creeping into his voice. Regardless of how flippant he had sounded earlier, Cheshire knew Mad's precarious situation better than anyone. Maybe even better than Mad himself.

"I don't know. Something." He turned to start the long walk home when Chesh stopped him. "What?" Mad asked, irritated.

"Sh!" Chesh was staring hard into the darkness at the base of the trees. His odd pointed ears with their velvety tips pricked forward, listening. They stood like that for a moment until Mad, rapidly losing patience,  strode deeper into the forest. Chesh made an unhappy sound at the back of his throat, but followed.

He walked forward a few yards but didn't see anyone. He was about to say so to Chesh when someone burst through the underbrush and ran smack into Mad, knocking the breath from him.

That someone almost fell over, but Mad grabbed them and was shocked to find himself looking at a girl of about sixteen or seventeen with big blue eyes and soft blonde hair.

He was even more shocked when he realized that she was like him.

She was a Real Worlder.

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For anyone who's interested:

Shiro is Japanese for White

Mavros is Greek for Black