Hatter's Revenge (rewriting - read at own risk)

Ch. 6: Eating Crow

Mad spent two days preparing for his return to Alice, Maris and Cheshire. He used the guise of Sota healing to avoid going any sooner. When he could no longer postpone, he set out with Sota, confident that Maris would take much longer than himself to get very far.

Mad had grown up in the forests of the Rocky Mountains. By comparison, the forests of Wonderland were well groomed gardens, making it very easy for him to move quickly. Sota, however, was another story. The boy had hardly been let outside, much less spent time traipsing about the woods, so he slowed them down a bit.

As they walked, Mad wondered how he was supposed to just come back. Especially after everything he had said to the others. He grimaced and paused to adjust the strap of his bag, which was digging into his good shoulder. Something about facing Alice and Cheshire again made him nervous in a way he'd never been before. He didn't like the feeling and wasn't overly anxious to rejoin them. 

He looked back at Sota and saw that blood was seeping through the bandage over his eye.

Mad sighed and dropped his bags, turning back to help the kid. his eyes widened at what he saw and then he was yanking his gun from its holster. Sota turned to see what had caused this, then gasped as they both looked at Rakta. 

Mad clicked the hammer back and said, "What are you doing here, Rakta?"

The Ace looked at Mad with bored disdain. "Retrieving the Queen's dear brother." Rakta turned to Sota. "Come with me, Sota."

Sota just shook his head, his remaining eye very dark in his now deathly pale face. Rakta sighed, the sound long-suffering. "Don't make this difficult, Sota. I grow weary of constantly dragging you back to Heart Castle."

"You're not taking him anywhere, Diamond. I won't allow it." Mad growled the words, then froze, hardly daring to breath as he felt the cold muzzle of a gun press into the skin just behind his ear. The pressure increased, forcing him to tilt his head forward slightly.

"I suppose we're just out of luck then, Rakta. Maddy's not going to allow it," a voice sing-songed from behind Mad.

Only one person in Wonderland besides Cheshire could sneak up on him like that and, if the Heart's Ace hadn't changed his preference, Mad would be willing to bet the gun currently pressed to his head was a .45 revolver. If the trigger was pulled at this proximity, it would leave quite a mess. 

Among other problems.

He exhaled very slowly, still not moving. Tamsus Heart had a notoriously twitchy trigger finger and Mad wasn't really feeling up to testing if he could get out of the way fast enough. 

"Why don't you just lower that auto, Maddy? Slowly." Tamsus chuckled as Mad complied. "Thank you!" he added brightly.

"If you're here, Tam, we all know you aren't taking the kid back just to be reunited with his bitch sister," Mad said, voice even.

"Language, Maddy." The barrel tapped lightly against Mad's skull. "That's my Queen you're talking about there." 

Then Tamsus laughed. A strange, unhinged sort of sound. It made Mad want to flinch. It hadn't always sounded like that.

"You're right, of course! You always were such a smart one, Maddy. Mavros says I get to have a little fun with the bastard. I suppose that's what I get for being a good boy!" Again that crazed laugh.

Sota's breathing had become very rapid at that, knowing exactly what Tamsus Heart considered fun. Mad felt Tamsus move back slightly and raised his gun again, not thinking about what he was going to do next. If he did think, he'd never be able to manage it. He'd be lucky if Tamsus didn't stop him first.