I know I have several other stories to work on. I promise that I finally am doing so now that I don't have a slave driving employer anymore. In the meantime, I wanted to get out this one shot that has been sitting out in the far corners of my mind ever since I heard the song that inspired it. Stay tuned for more from me in the near future. :) Thanks, all!

Current song: Gravity by Papa Roach featuring Maria Brink

And we die to love another day
And rise again and lose our gravity

His skin was tingling. Not the pins and needles after an extremity goes numb kind of tingle, but the static charge before a hair-raising shock kind of tingle. He wasn't entirely sure where was, but the night sky was brilliant with lights: blue, orange, and red. Stars sure looked different in the oyster world.

How much tea had he drank? And what mixture? No concoction of the Queen's scientist had ever left him so disengaged. This couldn't be tea. Perhaps a drug from the oyster world? No, he had been sure to stay away from those mayhems.

Oh, a person. A small face hovering above his own. A child? No more than five or six, and she was crying. He hated seeing children cry. Watching children be drained had been the worst. It had been the final straw that drove him to deal tea in secret and avoid the Hart's Casino. Regardless, perhaps she could explain his predicament.

"Mommy!"

Perhaps not.

"Mommy, mommy!" The little one wailed and disappeared from his view. While he was momentarily curious, he could not be arsed to turn his head and follow her. In fact, he could not remember what he had wanted to ask her in the first place. He was too mesmerized by the fog his breath was creating when it met the cold air. When he was a child, he would pretend he was a fire-breathing jabberwock. A heartbeat longer and then the fog ceased…

He suddenly found himself on his feet, the transition leaving him swaying unsteadily. After a moment to adjust, he glanced around. So many people, shouts and sirens he hadn't heard until now. He took a moment to wonder what had happened before his eyes found the little girl once again, this time with her tiny face buried in her mother's abdomen.

He made to step toward her when a commotion to his right caught his attention. Four men, in dark jumpsuits came from the back of a large vehicle with orange and red lights blaring. So, those weren't stars, after all… Anyway, he knew who these men were. They were from the hospital. He watched with silent curiosity as two knelt next to a prone figure, one sorting through supplies and equipment while the other attempted to gain a response.

Wait.

He knew those shoes. He had a pair just like them, himself. His had been crafted in Wonderland just for him. Curiouser and curiouser.

"Is he going to be alright?"

He looked back to the mother. She was speaking to a gentleman in a uniform similar to the others. He knew this one as well. Law enforcement.

The other two paramedics worked with a man on the other side of the street while several officers hovered. That man had definitely been up to no good.

"We're losing him!"

Back to the medical workers. The one that had been talking before was now doing compressions. Hey, he had a shirt just like that one. He tilted his head and walked forward, even more intrigued. He briefly worried about getting in the way, but quickly dismissed the apprehension. The moment he caught a glimpse, another transition.

He was above everyone now. Flying? No. More like floating. Floating upward and looking down at his own face. The second paramedic squeezed the bag that was apparently breathing for him. His eyes were open and glazed, face pale. A circle of red soaked the right lower side of his shirt, more red collecting in an ever-growing puddle just below him.

Why was he not panicking? Wasn't this a moment that would generally result in panic?

His mind raced to catch up and his eyes darted to each scene unfolding. The girl seeking comfort from her mother. The other man's face disappearing behind a zipper on a black bag. An officer placing a handgun into a bag labeled "evidence." It all came back in a vivid rush of scenery and emotion.

He yawned and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms. It was a quarter after 9 on a Friday, the dojo's late night. He had already been inside, done the cleaning, and put away the equipment. Now, he was just waiting for…

"Mommy, what's happening?!"

He straightened and strained to listen.

"Ssssh, hush, baby. Please, sir, this is everything I have. Just let us go!"

"Shut up!"

His feet moved unbidden, bringing him to the corner leading into an eerie ally less than a block away. He flattened himself against the bricks and peeked around. There were three figures, one obviously a child. A mugging?

"Mommy!"

"Please, put down the gun! You're scaring her!"

"I said shut up!"

Gun? No way. He had to act fast.

"Please, just let us go!"

"You just can't listen, can you?"

He was already sprinting toward the trio when he saw the man's arm move. He was aiming. "HEY!" Although it was dark, he knew the moment the man had turned toward him. Good, he had diverted the attention away from the mother and child. The gun went off, the briefest of flashes illuminating the alleyway. His body connected with the mugger, the momentum taking them both off their feet.

"Mommy, mommy!"

"We're in an alley off Franklin, by the dojo and the new tea shop! Please, tell them to hurry!"

He could hear the mother's voice over the sound of his right fist connecting with the stranger's jaw, his knuckles quickly wet with the man's blood as bones fractured and skin tore. He only shared the full fury of his weapon with those who deserved to be on the receiving end. When there was no more resistance from the man beneath him, he stood and approached the mother, who instantly pulled her child closer. He held up his hands in an attempt to show he meant her no harm.

"He can't hurt anyone anymore." He offered a smile even though he was sure she couldn't see it. "Are you okay?" He didn't hear her answer, a weariness overtaking him like nothing he had ever felt before. He could see the lights approaching as the ground rushed toward him, tiny hands pulling at his arms to turn him onto his back.

The pull from above was stronger now. He could go out like this. That mother would tuck in her little girl and read her a story. They would go on after this night. He watched the paramedics continue their efforts and admired their persistence before he closed his eyes.

"HATTER!"

His eyes snapped open and searched for the source of the scream. He knew that voice. He knew it well.

"Ma'am, we'll have to ask you to stay- "

"Get out of my way! That's my boyfriend!"

Alice. All of this time, he'd forgotten about Alice. The reason he was outside the dojo.

"I'll be out in five minutes." She smiled that beautiful smile and patted the matts before turning to walk toward her office. He watched for a moment, walking backwards toward the door.

"Pizza?" He asked with a grin.

"When you said we could do pizza, I didn't know you meant every night!"

He could hear her laughing as he pushed on the door and stepped outside.

How could he have forgotten his Alice? Was he being conned into accepting his fate?

He watched her fall to her knees above his head, hands hovering as if she terrified of that touching him would hurt. "Hatter! Hatter!" Her sobs were tearing at his heart, but it was too late. Try as he might to fight his way back to her, the force pulling at him getting only succeeded in becoming stronger.

"I'm sorry." One paramedic offered, wiping his hand downward to close unseeing eyes.

"No…" Alice began to shake her head, but never looked up.

"He saved that little girl and her mother." The other paramedic informed as he rose to stand, nodding to his partner that they should make sure the mother and daughter had not sustained injuries. Alice was left alone, staring down at him while her tears fell onto his face.

"Why, Hatter?"

He wanted to plead with her to let him go, but not as much as he wanted to stay. He opened his mouth to call her name, but was met with silence. This really was the end. He really was leaving his Alice. He could barely make out her face now as he floated further away. Overcome with a numbing peace, he closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable.

"NO!"

A shock ran through him, so intense that his veins felt as if they would explode under his skin. He felt as if he were being pulled in two, a second force beckoning him back toward the ground. He wrenched open his eyes and tried to focus. Alice had moved and was sitting beside him now, up on her knees, fists clenched.

"This is NOT how this ends, Hatter." She looked so determined, almost angry. "You do NOT get to leave me like this!" He felt another jolt as her fist connected with his sternum. Over and over, she pounded on his chest, all the while begging and pleading with him to open his eyes. To sit up and argue with her. To call her a brat. "Hatter, wake up!"

Another jolt. And another. He watched her lips form his name one last time before there was nothing but darkness.

"I love you."

He raked in a breath that burned his starving lungs. Alice jumped back onto her heels and looked down at the brown eyes, dull and tired, staring back at her.

"Oh my God, Hatter!" She peppered his face with kisses, needing to touch him and feel the heat returning to his skin. "Help! Help him!" She cried, only sparing a glance to the paramedics. "You're going to be okay. You hear me?" She managed to brush her lips against his as she was pulled out of the way.

"I…love you, too." He whispered. He knew she had heard when she titled her head and smiled while fresh tears collected and began to fall.

"I'm right here, Hatter. Okay? I'm right here."

He closed his eyes and focused on the pain in his abdomen. It was a relief to feel and know that he wasn't floating away. He could hear Alice arguing with the paramedic about riding with him to the hospital. He smiled and allowed himself to drift off. There was nothing to worry about now.

He had his Alice. He couldn't float away. She was his gravity.

And we fly into outer-space
I float away but you're my gravity

Fin.