My first fan fiction! Review!

Things could not have gotten any worse for Alice. After her first trip to China was a success Alice was eager to go again only to be held back by a cruel storm that delayed her trip for another month under her mothers judging eyes. Ms. Kinsley hadn't taken the news of her daughter's refusal to Hamish well. Constantly Alice was reminded about what she had done and what a fool she made her mother look like.

"I cannot believe you could embarrass me like that. What possessed you to go run off into the woods for an hour like that? Leaving Hamish and the rest of us standing there waiting for you to come back, dress filthy, hair a mess, to tell him no, and then do such a ridiculous dance!" Her mother scolded her.

"Futterwaken" Alice whispered to herself but her mother had kept reprimanding her like Alice hadn't even spoken.

"Well" Alice had wanted to tell her mother "To be perfectly honest, I fell down a rabbit hole into a world called Underland. I've only visited there once before when I was a child. There were tons of fantastic creatures like a disappearing cat who could smile a white rabbit with a pocket watch and a red waist coat, and a blue smoking caterpillar. Oh and did I mention all these animals could talk too? There were people too like the lovely white queen Mirana and her nasty sister the queen of hearts who had a rather large head. I also slayed a monster called a Jabberwocky. And I met the most amazing Hatter. Oh the Hatter." Alice would have broken off to try to locate the right words to describe her Hatter. But how could anyone describe anyone as wonderful as him? How protectively he was over Alice and how he would brighten up the mood in any room by merely entering it.

But of course Alice couldn't tell her mother all of this. She would be considered even madder in her mother's eyes then she already was. "

All the best people are An unforgettable voice whispered in the back of her mind.

"Soon." She had whispered to herself as her mother finally lost it and threw herself into a chair and covered her face with her pale hands.

"Why." She sobbed "Why can't she be a respectable woman? I've raised her just like Margret and yet she's just as bad as her father. God bless his soul."

Alice hated to see her mother like this. Tears streaming down her tired face, whimpering in pain or perhaps disappointment. What was she to do? She wasn't the champion she was in Underland. Unafraid and strong with her friends by her side. No. She was just Alice now. A girl who's muchness disappeared in the world she lived in now.

Alice turned away from her mother and trudged into her room and closed the door as quietly as possible. She ran to her bed and grabbed the book she'd left on her pillow a few hours ago. Flipping through the familiar pages always brightened Alice's mood.

Well almost always.

After Alice's encountered in Underland she had swore to herself she would no forget again. The pages were filled with her drawings, names of her friends, and most importantly directions to the rabbit hole she hadn't been to in over a year.

"I wonder." Alice whispered to herself leaning against the glass. "What they're all up to."

. . .

Tarrant's world could not be in anymore chaos. Even though his queen Mirana had assured him that she would return soon, she still wasn't there with him.

Soon isn't now. Hatter thought bitterly soon is the future and no one really knows the future so who knows when -or if- Alice would return

"Hatter?" Mallyumpkn asked holding a spoon full of sugar.

"Oh yes, Mally?" Hatter returned to the present from his hopeless worrying.

"Sugar?" asked the tiny Dormouse.

"Oh yes please." The Hatter picked up his tea cup and placed it down near the mouse.

"Thinking about her aint'cha." Mally said absent mindedly as she poured the sugar into the tea.

"Thinking about who?" Hatter asked lowly with little interest.

"W-Who do you think he's t-thinking about?" Thackery the March hare interrupted turning his had dramatically towards the two. "Hatter's thinking about Alice. We all know it. Ohhh." He picked up his cup and stared at it, stirring it slowly.

The Hatter gasped "Honestly. You two could not be any more-" His voice caught.

He couldn't lie to his friends. Especially if they both knew it was true. Ever since Alice had disappeared into that poof of smoke he hadn't been himself at all.

"She'll be back soon, Hatter." Mally told him putting her small paw on his hand and patting it reassuringly.

"I know Mally. I know. It's just..." He couldn't bring himself to say it. He loved her, unlike the brotherly way he had loved her when she was a child, but he was in love with her. When she left she had taken a piece of him with her. He missed Alice. No, he missed his Alice.

"You know." Chessur Cat said appearing in an empty chair. "I've heard that things haven't been going well for her, you know." He pointed to the sky. "Up there."

"How could you know that?" Hatter asked impatiently.

Chessur rolled his eyes, "You know you really shouldn't question my way of things, Tarrant. I just know."

"So." The Hatter paused playing with his cup as his eyes turned a light green. "She's coming back soon then?"

"I don't know." Chess replied curtly.

The Hatter had to hold on and not lose himself to one of his mad fits. Chess would deserve it though. He should know that he shouldn't play with Tarrant like that. His eyes turned back to a saddening blue. His good mood had disappeared just as Chessur had. Coward Hatter thought.

"You know she's going to come back." Mally insisted with a small smile on her mouse face. "You just gotta be patient." She had hoped that her smile would lead to at least a tint of green in her friend's eyes.

Instead of screaming about the Chessur cat or at Mally about how it was a waste, or breaking down completely into tears, Hatter smiled back.

But in The Hatters eyes, hidden deeply behind his smiles, was sadness. Something was missing in everything now and he knew it. His parties with Mally and Thackery and even that Chess were different now. Even though he had, had hundreds of tea parties without her, they had lost all their fun. Everyone knew it, not just himself of course. But no one said anything about it. It was one of those facts of life that everyone knew and that they also knew shouldn't be mentioned out loud.

But this would be how it remained until she would return.