Disclaimer: Anything that is recognizable outside of this story belongs to someone else.

As Abby and Griffin drew close to the throne room they could hear raised voices. Abby glanced at Griffin and saw a worried expression on his face. Both of them rushed forward and made their way into the throne room. Samantha was sitting on the throne. Samuel, Cillian, and Hatter were to her right. Jack Diamond and someone Abby hadn't seen before were on her left.

"You cannot hold a member of the Royal family in the dungeons." The unknown man shouted.

"He kidnapped and starved a girl nearly to death." Cillian shouted back.

Samantha was the only one who seemed to notice that Abby and Griffin had arrived and she cleared her throat. "It would be nice if everyone would calm themselves. Now, we can't let you go unpunished for your crime regardless of your status…" Samantha started, but was interrupted by the unknown man holding up a piece of paper and shouting again.

"He is royalty. You cannot hold him." The man said.

"Well then, maybe I should execute him?" Samantha asked as Abby stepped forward to see the color drain from the man's face as he lowered the piece of paper. "Now, I'm not going to do that, but I do appreciate the peace and quiet. As I was going to say, we can't let you go unpunished for your crime. You will be imprisoned for a year and then you will be exiled from Wonderland." Samantha said.

"You can't do that." Jack said.

"I can and I just did." Samantha replied.

"You don't want to do that." He said.

"Oh, I'm sure that I do. You see, that girl has helped me a lot more than most people in Wonderland. And I'm rather upset that you treated her like you did. You should be happy to be escaping with your life. Others have lost theirs for far less." The ruler said calmly. "Now, if someone could kindly escort Mr. Diamond to the dungeons I have other matters to attend to." Samantha said, looking toward a couple of her suits who nodded and lead Jack from the room. Samantha then stood from her throne.

"I won't stand for this." The unknown man said.

"You don't have to stand for it. It's done regardless of how you feel about it." Samantha said.

"The other Diamonds won't stand for it either." He said.

"They'll just have to understand that this is what happens when someone does something like this." Samantha replied. The man's eyes narrowed before he stormed from the room. Samantha shook her head slightly before walking up to Abby. "How are you feeling?" she asked, gently.

"I'm fine. I've eaten and now I just want to know what all is going on." She said.

"We're going to wait until you are back to your old self before sending you back home." Samantha said as she put a hand on Abby's shoulder. "You need to rest." She said.

"But Jack…he said…" Abby started.

"It doesn't matter what he said. Go upstairs to your room and rest for a while. I'll station suits outside your door to make sure you're safe." The queen said.

"Was it true?" Abby asked.

"Was what true?" Samantha asked, but Abby wasn't looking at her anymore. She was looking past Samantha to Hatter.

"Is Jack really Hatter's son?" Abby asked, her gaze drifting back to Samantha who had clearly not been expecting that question.

"What? Is Jack…what?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at Hatter. "Jack is a suit…a royal. How could he possibly be Hatter's…" she started, but Hatter interrupted.

"If what he told me is true, then he is. Or at least it's possible." Hatter said. Samantha's eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"You sure got around." She muttered. She then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Look, Griffin, your father is here. I don't believe he's in his room, though." She said. She then glanced over her shoulder. "Could one of you escort Abby to her room so that she can rest?" she asked.

"I'll do it." Griffin said.

"I'm sure that you have a lot to catch up on with your father." Samantha said and Abby nodded.

"I'll be fine." Abby said. She saw a grim look on Griffin's face. He clearly didn't accept her statement. "I could actually go up by myself. I don't need an escort." She said.

"I don't want you going out off on your own, Abby. Bad things seem to happen to you a lot." Samantha said.

"I'll do it." Cillian said quickly. Samantha nodded.

"Keep an eye on her and make sure there are suits nearby." Samantha said before dismissing them.

The two exited the throne room and Abby immediately headed toward the elevator. She had gotten used to the layout of a few of the floors of the castle from her time there. "So, what did he do to you?" Cillian asked hesitantly. Abby had noticed him looking worryingly over at her a few times before he spoke, but she had hoped that he wouldn't ask.

"Nothing. He didn't do anything. Come to find out that he wanted me to escape so it's really my fault for staying there so long." She said.

"You're skin and bone, though." Cillian said.

"Yeah, he didn't feed me too often." Abby said as she hit the button to call the elevator.

Cillian just stood and shook his head until the elevator arrived with a ding. Once they were inside and the doors closed, he finally spoke up. "Sometimes, I wish we hadn't taken the sword away from Samantha. Wonderland would be a better place without him." He said angrily.

"Well, we did take the sword. But I don't think killing him would be the best option. He obviously has some issues to deal with." Abby said.

"Yeah, issues like dealing with the repercussions of starving you." He replied.

"That's not what I meant, Cillian. He grew up thinking his dad abandoned him. He's got some rage to deal with, but that's not something to kill him for." Abby said. She felt genuinely bad for Jack. She also felt a bit more of a connection to him now that she knew his story was true. They were both Hatter's children and had both grown up without a father assuming they'd been abandoned. Had she had a different personality she would have been just as bitter as he was.

"That's no excuse for hurting you." Cillian said as the elevator reached Abby's floor.

"I think I can make it to my room from here." Abby said, but Cillian ignored her hint and followed her off of the elevator.

"You really don't think that what he did was wrong?" Cillian asked.

"Look, he's not well. I think that we owe it to him to at least try to see things from his perspective." Abby said.

"He's a lunatic, Abby. I don't see why you're defending him." Cillian said.

"I just think there's more to his story than any of us knows." Abby said as they reached her door. There were already about four suits posted near it. Abby reached for the door handle, but then turned to face Cillian. "I know that you're angry at him, but I really wish that you would go easy on him if you happen to see him." She said. Cillian was about to reply when she cut him off. "I'm tired, so I'm going to go to sleep now. But I'll find you when I wake up and we can talk more about this." She said. Cillian closed his mouth tightly and nodded.

"Sweet dreams." He said as she entered her room and closed the door behind her.

Abby leaned against the door and stared at her room. She still wasn't used to the modern feeling of it. After a few minutes, she decided that it would be wise to do as she was asked and to rest for a while, but she didn't know if she would be able to sleep.

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter and that I've been gone for so long. I did want to make this chapter longer, but I didn't want for you guys to have to wait anymore than you already had. I wish I had a good excuse for not writing for so long, but really it's that my attention has been diverted to another project of mine, an original story that I'm writing with a couple of friends and hope to eventually have published. So far, we've gotten 7 chapters completed and are working on the 8th. The book is, as of right now, 74 pages long and a little over 35k words. I know that's not much consolation to you, but just know that I haven't completely dropped off the map. Also, I've entered the first 18 chapters of this story into a writing contest on inkitt thanks to a suggestion earlier on today from a reader. The url for the story there is stories/43342 and I would appreciate it if you could go and vote for it.