Long one, hard to write. Sorry it took so long. Enjoy.

CRASH!

Lacey Kingsley awoke with start to a noise from downstairs. She sighed. Though she was still very young, she had been acting caretaker of a man known as 'The Mad Hatter' for the past nine months. Now, a twelve year old girl-woman with the patience of a saint still took care of Tarrant Hightopp faithfully. How a mouse and a cat had done this for so long was beyond her comprehension, as was the reason she even bothered with the man. Some said that she would be better off just going into an orphanage than staying with him. Lacey Kingsley, however, stayed.

And now to check on her elder, whom she assumed had just knocked over another of his famous tea sets downstairs in the kitchen. Realizing she had dawdled enough, she rushed herself down the crocked staircase, being careful not to fall as she had done so many times before. With a small skip, she landed safely past the last step. Well, she was still a child, after all.

Preparing herself for the worst (as she did so often in this time of dark), she peeked slowly into the kitchen, and there he was. He held his hand gingerly, apparently having cut himself in the process of trying to pick up the pieces before she got there. Lacey Kingsley sighed, and Teapot giggled. Silly man. She crossed the room carefully, being sure not to step on the broken porcelain pieces and cut her foot. He was somewhat surprised at her appearance before him, as she took his hand to assess the wound.

"I, umm, just was getting some tea..."

He muttered, the Mad Hatter being lost for words at the sight of his caretaker. He peeked nervously down at the broken pieces, the pieces of a tea set that he knew was her favorite. He admonished himself for being so clumsy and breaking something so precious. How could he? He was such an idiot. He had to make up for this someway...

"Shush. It's okay. No need to make up for anything."

Her kind words brought the Hatter out of his strange trance. Had he been speaking out loud? He looked down again, embarrassed now, as she wrapped his hand. Everything would be all right. No us crying over spilled tea. Teapot smiled sweetly at him as they both sat at the table in the kitchen and drank cold tea, keeping each other up with their ramblings.

It was a beautiful night.

The scene changed quickly, to another night much like that one that would come a few days later. A man would break into their house. This man, the captain of the Mamoreal guard, would inform them of the warrants placed on both of them by the King. It was that night that everything would again change for Teapot.

5 years later...

CRASH!

Teapot awoke with a start at the sound of a loud crash outside her tent at a very late hour of the night. The seventeen year old girl groaned as she rose from her cot. Being one of the only women in the camp, she was allowed a certain amount of privacy over the boys in the camp. And she had grown up. Her body, once much like a twig, had filled out into an attractive form. Her hair had grown redder, almost orange. The short sleeves of her sleeping gown reveal a vine like tattoo covering her left arm. Dawdling again, she thought to herself as she exited her small tent and ventured into the rebel camp center, where, waiting for her, was a blue caterpillar.

"Hello Absalom."

Teapot greeted the caterpillar as an old friend. Absalom had made a habit of visiting her once or twice a year, always with the same question.

"Hello, girl."

He answered back as the space around them filled with blue smoke. Teapot was not in the bit phased by this routine. The smoke separated them from the rest of the camp, many of the inhabitants now venturing out to see what the crash was.

"Well, Absalom, why are you here?"

"Who are you?"

"Teapot, Lacey, ect cetera. I don't see why it matters, caterpillar. You ask the same question every time I see you, and I always give the same answer. Don't you have any other questions, like 'How are you' or 'How do you feel about going to the ball tomorrow'?"

"It will matter soon, very soon."

The blue caterpillar blew a puff of smoke in her face casually as he disappeared and she fell back, landing with a strong thud on the ground. Her hair splayed across the ground as she began having the strangest visions in her head and people closed around her to ensure she was okay. One of the most prominent was an older looking Tarrant Hightopp, who looked at her with wide eyes.

She woke slowly, blinking as she became aware of the crowd of people amassed around her body.

"Sheesh, can't a girl sleep in peace?"

She muttered, turning over on her side. The sun rising began to illuminate the cave that the camp was set up in. She closed eyes, wishing the people away. The sounds of feet shuffling away to begin the day, grumbles about caterpillars and Oraculums and such. A nudge from Tarrant.

"Come on, Teapot. Come on. Time to get ready for the day."

He prodded her gently, knowing how dangerous the girl had become since she was brought to the rebel camp. They had taken no time to turn her into a weapon against the Black King, even before his true nature was revealed.

"I dun wanna."

She groaned back at him. Teapot hated when he played the father figure. It always made her feel bad, like she actually had to do something. She groaned as he prodded her side again.

"Come on. You can't stay here. You'll get run over, trampled on by people, or even worse! If you do that, you might get hurt, and then you'll have to get better, I'll probably take care of you myself, but still, getting hurt isn't fun, I should know..."

"Fiiine..."

She said, interrupting his quickly spiraling rant as she sat up to look him directly in his face. His eyes, filled with a strange emotion that crossed worry and somehow, love, glowed a greenish blue and stared directly into hers. She sighed at him.

"You have really got to give up on some of those emotions. They won't get you anywhere but trouble."

She said coldly at him as she got up, and brushed off her nightgown. She walked away from him, not looking back. But he watched her go. The little girl who had taken care of him at his worst had grown up to be cold, callous, and calculating. It was as if she had given all of her emotions to him.

It was as if she had no more muchness to give.

And she would have to give so much more.

"Right, so you know your mission..."

"Yeah, yeah. Kill the King, woo the Prince, blah, blah. Be nice until the last moment. You'll have your guys ready for me, right?"

"Right. So, you ready?"

"I hate parties."

"That's a yes. You sure you don't want to say goodbye to Hatter? He is kind of torn up about this morning still."

"He's a big boy. He'll be fine."

"He is your best friend."

"I don't have friends, Locke."

"...Right. Anyways, off you go."

She stepped into the carriage that had been prepared for her. Locke closed the door behind her. They both knew this may be her last mission with the rebels. Maybe that's why she was suddenly so cold. Maybe it was just lurking there all the time. But Locke knew better.

She had so much more to give.