Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 7 Hatter

I don't know how long I've been sleeping, but it must have been a few days at least. I've been dreaming of Alice. My Alice. My claimed half, if she'd have me, but I remember seeing her as a little girl and I've been seeing her as a teen then as an adult in these dreams. I must be seeing into her future. Having her here once must have left more of an impact on my magic than I thought. This dream is different though. It almost feels real, like if I could concentrate hard enough I could reach out to her and feel her under my fingertips.
I look around trying to figure out where we are and I see Alice looking down sadly at a book as she draws a picture of Dormouse. She's never been sad in my dreams before. I look at her confused. Why was she sad? My dreams of her were usually at my tea table with Hare or Cheshire. We always had fun in our dream tea time. She was always smiling and telling jokes. I didn't recognize where she was now, but I know she's surrounded by books, so maybe a library in her world?
"It's time to give this fantasy up." I hear her murmur. Give up? What is she giving up? I see tears in her eyes as she turns to a different page of her book and I see a drawing of me. She runs her hand down the page as she says.
"Time to let go of the fantasies. Time to find someone real. No more dreaming of a man who doesn't even exist." I watch her tears start to fall and I try to wipe the tears from her cheeks but I can't seem to reach her.
"I wish you were real, Hatter, but I need to let those dreams go. It's time." She's letting me go? No! She can't let me go! I refuse to let her give up when we haven't even had a chance to find eachother again. I couldn't let her give up on me in her future. I needed to wake up! I needed Cheshire to wake up as well. I had to find her, Wonderland be damned. Screw what would happen to the magic if I left. The world could keep going without me for a few days.  I needed to get to her before she grew up and gave up hope.
I can feel myself being pulled away from her. I try to reach out to her one more time before I jerk awake to see the Guardians at my table. They all look at me still groggy like they just woke up as well.
"Hello Hatter. Nice to see you awake" Griffin offers me a cup of tea and I look at him confused.
"Why are you all here? I should have only been asleep for a few days at most. That's not too unusual. What's going on?" Dormouse is the one who pipes up to answer me.
"20 years. She's dreamed of tea for 20 years. We slept and she wept. Losing hope for love. She woke me with a start. I heard her breaking heart. Dreaming, dreaming, her dreams are almost done." I sip my tea before I look at Griffin.
"What does he mean 20 years? That's not long to her side at all. I'm confused." He starts to spread out papers that seem to show the rise and fall of magic in Wonderland.
"Not 20 years our time. It's been 20 years her time. Wonderlands time had stopped until today. She woke Dormouse somehow and then he woke us and now everyone else is finally starting to wake." I feel my blood run cold as I realize what he means. She's been stuck on her side without me. Without Cheshire to help her realize who she is exactly. With her unable to come back, she must have thought her visit here was just a dream. Only a fantasy. I get up from my seat and start walking.
"I'm going to her. How do I travel by portal?" Griffin quickly rises from his chair and grabs me, his talons gently digging in my arm.
"I know you want to help fix this, but we don't know where she is anymore. She could be far away from where she was last. How do you plan to find her in a completely foreign world? Yes Cheshire has told stories, but her world moves so fast we don't know what changed. First things first, go see if Cheshire is awake. Bring him here and we will come up with a plan. Don't be rash, Hatter. We will find your claimed half, but we need time." He looks at me sternly and I nod. I run off to Cheshires home with the memories of the dreams running through my mind.

Cheshire

I woke up with a start. Swearing I heard Alice calling out my name. I start slowly stretching out my body when I hear a furious pounding at my door. Odd. Normally no one bothers me when they know I'm hibernating. I slowly walk to my front door. When I open it I see Hatter there looking like he just woke up as well. I yawn and stretch again as I say.
"How can I help you, Hatter? If you're looking for answers about your vision then you'll need to wait. I just woke up and I need to go check on Alice. I'm sure it's been a few weeks to her already, maybe even a few months. I do need to check on her first before I do anything here." He looks at me bewildered and he shakes his head.
"Cheshire. We all just woke up. You and the other Guardians did something or the magic did something. Wonderland has been asleep as well as the Guardians. Griffin said everything stopped over here. Dormouse said it's been 20 years on Alice's side. He said her magic finally woke him up. She's giving up hope that I'm her claimed half or that we're even real." He looks half crazed as he speaks. It couldn't have been that long. No. He's got to be mistaken.
"You're wrong. That's impossible no one has hibernated with the Guardians before! Let alone all of Wonderland. Where are the other guardians?!" Before he can even give me an answer I'm running in a random direction.
"They're at my table." He calls out to me as I change my direction to his table. A whirlwind of emotions is ripping through me. Fear. Horror. Disbelief. And anger. I was away for 20 years?! 20. Fucking. Years. How could I have slept for so long? I run faster as the realization starts to sink into me more. Hatter said she was starting to believe we were all a dream. How could I make her believe we're real again? How was I going to find her?
I quickly made it to Hatter's table and I saw the other Guardian's groggily sipping tea. Even Dormouse is awake and seated with the others.
They all turn to me when I jump the fence and quickly join them at the table. I address the only two of us who know all of our histories and our possible futures.
"Griffin. Dormouse. You two are the only ones who could explain what happened. What happened to all of us?" They look at me with unreadable faces.
"You tell us. Cheshire. Your little Alice Hart did this to us. Her magic wove a sleeping spell across the lands. How was her magic so powerful when she's never tried to tap into it?" Griffin rubs his eyes and looks at Mock Turtle. He'd have the record of whose magic cast the spell, but he spoke so slowly only Griffin had the patience to hold a conversation with him. Mock turtle slowly taps a piece of paper showing the rise of her magic in our world from the day we all fell asleep. It also showed that one of us guardians broke the spell and released us all. We turn to Dormouse. The Guardian of knowledge would have the answers we all sought. Alice was never guided through how to tap into her magic so there were very few ways that her magic could have been awakened.
"Blood was offered. Magic accepted. No one knew how hard she believed and bled. Hunting for her friends she fell and bumped her head. 20 years. 20 stitches. 20 springs dreaming of teas and tarts. We all dreamt along with our lost line. She woke me with a start. Told her the future. She's our lost Heart." He yawns sleepily and sips at his tea. That was the clearest he's spoken in ages. Wait, she woke Dormouse? How'd she wake him? Almost no one could wake a Guardian out of hibernation unless they were from their line. Unless, I look back at Hatter who's seated at the middle of the table and currently looking through the papers that Mock Turtle has spread over the table.
"Did you have dreams of her Hatter? While you slept did she call out to you?" He looks up at me and I can see in his eyes that I'm right.
"Of course I did. I saw her as a teenager and now as an adult. The dreams were mostly the same until today."
"What do you mean, did they change? How did the dream change?" He pours himself a cup of tea before he says.
"Usually we're having tea or something else at the table. Today though I saw her surrounded by books and she was drawing Dormouse. It felt real though. Like if I concentrated hard enough I could reach her." I see his slight blush as he mentions the dreams. I guess they were getting closer together in the dreams now that she's grown up.
"A pair of claimed half's often have certain kinds of dreams when apart. Nothing to be ashamed of." Griffin interjects as he pats Hatter's shoulder. I'm guessing to try and ease some of the tension. I smile at them.
"If Guardians could have a claimed half I guarantee we'd dream of them. Trust us nothing to be ashamed of Hatter." He just looks closer at the pages trying to hide his fidgeting.
"If you saw her in her world then her magic must be doing its best to reach you." I stare at the pages unable to make sense of what I was seeing. None of it made sense. It was like once Alice left the magic went mad and put everyone to sleep. Griffin's voice breaks me out of my thoughts.
"I think you should try reaching out to her Cheshire. Before you leave and go hunting, try to sense her magic. Might make the trip easier. Especially since you know who to look for this time." I nod at him before I close my eyes and try to concentrate on Alice. After a few moments I give up, I can only picture her as a little girl. I know one person who has seen her recently. I look at Hatter.
"I need your help. I only remember her as a little girl. I need you to concentrate on the last time you saw her." He quickly gulps down his tea before he sits in front of me. He places his hands on both sides of my face and looks deep into my eyes. I can feel his magic swelling and mixing in with mine.
After only a moment we can see her world. We're looking down a street and see two people, a man and a woman who look to be in their mid to late 20s. The man is standing there laughing as the woman comes out of a bush. I don't recognize either of them and I'm about to break the connection when I hear Hatter whisper.
"That's her. That's Alice." I look closer at the woman and finally see the resemblance to the young girl I once knew. I watch as she brushes herself off and see that her palm is bleeding. She finally looks up as she braces herself against a tree and I see the recognition in her eyes as she sees us.
Another blink of an eye and we're back to Hatter's table.
"I can't believe we saw her." Hatter reaches for the plate of cookies looking amused.
"Of course we saw her. Now, the real hunt begins." They all look at me as I lay out my plan.