Return To Wonderland

Chapter 6: The Nightmare

It started raining harder and there was occasionally some thunder. The whole castle was quiet and everyone seemed to sleep peacefully, well except one.

"No.. let me go.." Alice muttered, sleeping as she tossed and turned in bed, talking to herself.

**In Alice's Dream**

"No, mother you can't make me do this! I won't marry him!" Alice yelled at her mother who grabbed her arm tightly and dragged her inside of the church.

"Alice Kingsleigh, you will marry Victor! I don't want you ending up a lonely spinster like your Aunt Imogene!" Helen yelled back, still dragging her to the altar.

In the front of the altar stood Victor and the priest but this time Victor looked different. His eyes were a deep blood red and when he smiled, his teeth were sharp, he looked like a monster, inside and out.

"No! Let me go!" Alice struggled, trying to free herself from her mother's grasp but it was no use.

Suddenly the doors bust open and everyone turned to see a man with fiery orange hair, mismatched clothes, his eyes were red and he was speaking in what sounded like a Scottish accent.

"Let tha' lass go or else!" The man growled angrily and Alice turned to see Hatter.

"Hatter!" Somehow Alice managed to free herself and ran towards him, she hugged him tightly and his eyes turned back to their green color but not that much.

"Dinnae fret lass, yer' safe." Hatter whispered in her ear in his Outlandish accent then they both felt something pulling them apart.

"Off with their heads!" Alice heard a familiar voice yell and a shadow with a large heart shaped head appeared. Was it who she thought it was?

"Bloody begh hid." Hatter murmured and growled in his accent and his eyes turned red again.

The Red Queen, Iracebeth of Crims, stood in front of them, smirking evilly while her guards kept Alice and Hatter apart, holding them back tightly.

Suddenly the guards that were grabbing Hatter started tying his arms around a pole. That's when Stayne appeared with a whip and stood behind Hatter, raising his arm with the whip.

"No!" Alice yelled, she felt the tears coming. When Stayne finally whipped Hatter, Alice screamed, she started to cry, they were hurting her best friend, the one she cared and trusted, the one she.. loved.

More whips came and Hatter winced in pain, Alice could see blood dripping from his back and the scars that were forming, she wanted to stop this but she couldn't move.

**End of Dream**

"Hatter!!!" Alice screamed as she woke up and sat up quickly, sweat behind her neck and she was panting for air.

The door burst open which startled Alice but saw that it was him, he was alright and alive but also had a worried look.

"Alice, are you alright? I heard you muttering but then you screamed my name and I thought something was wrong." Hatter said and walked slowly towards her then sat on the edge of the bed.

Suddenly Alice pulled Hatter into a tight hug and she let out a deep breath, relieved and scared at the same time. Hatter was a little surprised at first then noticed that she must have been scared about whatever she was dreaming and hugged her back, wanting to protect her and make sure nothing hurt or scared her. 

"I.. I had a nightmare.. it felt so real." Alice whispered, her vision became a bit blurry because of the tears in her eyes. 

"It's alright, it wasn't real, nightmares are terrible but they're not real." Hatter lisped softly. "What was it about?" 

Alice thought for a moment if she should tell him about it. She was still scared about it and wondered how he would react if she told him. Wait but this was her best friend she was talking about! She couldn't keep anything from him because he was the only one she trusted and could tell anything to!

"I was in London with my mother and we were arguing. She wanted me to marry someone or I'd become a spinster but I refused because I didn't love him. She took me inside a church and Victor was at the altar..he looked like a monster, he is one inside.." Alice looked up at Hatter to see his eyes were orange, close to red and she gently placed her hand on his which made his eyes turn yellow but not back to green. 

"Did e' hurt yeh?" Hatter said, his brogue starting to come out when he talked, he only talked like that when he was angry. 

"No, Hatter, I was fine.. " Alice assured him then sighed. "Before I reached the altar, you came to save me and I was happy you were there but.." 

"Alice, it's alrigh'.. " Hatter moved closer to her until he was sitting across from her.

"The red queen came.. her guards tied you up but they held onto me and Stayne whipped you..they were hurting you.." Alice started crying and Hatter gently held her in his arms, trying to comfort her and wiped her tears away.

"Alice..mo gradh ..dinna fret, yer' safe and I'm ere' safe too." Hatter whispered softly, his accent was still there but it calmed her down. 

"Hatter.. will you stay here with me tonight.. just in case I have another nightmare?" Alice looked up at him and how could he deny her? He knew that staying with her in her room without being married first was very non-gentleman like thing but he couldn't leave her here alone after what happened.

"Yes, dear Alice, don't worry, I'll be here." Hatter's lisp came back and Alice closed her eyes, trying to go back to sleep while Hatter whispered soothing words in Outlandish to her and even if she didn't know what he was saying, she thought it was peaceful and went back to sleep, this time with Hatter's arms around her. 

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This is the shortest chapter I've written so far. I'm so sorry! And please don't kill me for what happened in Alice's dream, I promise the next chapter will be longer.