Underlands Madness Unlocked [ Alice x Hatter ] B1

All for Alice

"But if your not here to kill me... what are you here for?" Ericiza asks the lot of us. We all look at each other for the third time since we got to the cage. Are we missing something? "Would you all just STOP looking at each other, and tell me what it is your thinking! I just said, I can only hear bits and pieces of ye minds. Your going to actually have to talk to me."

Yup, this is definitely Emiliza's brother. I choose to be the one to try to explain, "Em-" but I stop myself there. I can't even say her name without going mad.

My father turns to me and puts his hand onto my shoulder. I nod him my thanks and he says what I was going to say, "Emiliza-" Bloody black witch, "-Has sent us here to get you. She wants you back for her own reasons. She did not tell us the why or the what, but she does want you back. With you, will be able to get back our champion."

Ericiza scratches his chin in thought. "So this champion you speak of, is she worth letting me go into the hands of my sister?"

Everyone, including my father, turn to me for an answer. I look into Ericiza's eyes and say, "Everything and more."

He nods his head in understanding. "Well!" Ericiza claps his hands and jumps up from his spot on the ground. "Let's get a move on, shall we! Don't want to miss the good old family reunion and all." He's just agreeing? "Yes, I am. Mostly because I'm curious for the what and the why my sister has in that head of hers."

I look to Chessur and he brings out the box Mirana gave to us. He floats over to the edge of Ericiza's cage. Ericiza walks forward until he's at the edge of the cage. He smiles likes he's planning something. Like he should be rubbing his hands together in evil planning.

Something doesn't feel right about this.

But before I have time to voice my opinion out loud, Chessur opens the box. A bright lights comes from the inside of the box. We all shield our eyes to not go blind. I couldn't even see the process of him going into it. The light goes away when Chessur closes the box and seals him inside.

We all look around like something should have happened but nothing did. Chessur floats over to us and points that out, "Well, that was much easier than I thought."

Mallymkun voices her opinion, "Yes, almost to easy."

"Yes, but let's not sit around to find out what the hard version of this is," My father says. He's kinda right, you know?

We all start on our journey home and realize the spiders are long gone. I'm just not so sure if it's for the reasons we want though. As we're entering the needle forest again, I turn to Chessur. "Chess, do you feel like everything is a bit off?"

"What a interesting thing to hear coming from someone who is entirely off himself." I sigh in understanding. "What is wrong Tarrant?"

"Just- Just...."But I couldn't say it.

My father bumps my hip and finishes for me, "It's Alice of course. He can't wait to see her. We all can't wait to see her!"

Mallymkun joins into the conversation now, "Yeah! I can't wait to be able to have tea with her again!"

"Or get my back scratched by her. Those little fingers work wonders in my fur," Chessur adds.

"You know, I've spent very little time with Alice, but I must say she is an amazing character," Everyone nods in agreement to my fathers comment. Even the bandersnatch howls his agreement.

Then I see they looked at me next to add. Of course they would look at me to add, I was the one that created this journey. This journey was all to get her back.

That's when I stopped in my spot. Everyone stopped as well and is now looking at me curiously. I stopped because when I look at my companions I see nothing but trust. Trust in that they want Alice back as much as I do. Trust that they would go on this journey with me all for her.

All for my Alice.

My trust in them has brought me this far, and I haven't even told them why this was so important to me. Of course they know the gist. Alice is my best friend and I would do anything for her, but they don't know how far I would go for her. I decide it's time for me to come clean. Come clean with my feelings for Alice.

I wiggle my nose and look at my feet. I'm nervous with what I'm about to say. I've only admitted it out loud once, and that was when no one was around. That day feels like a lifetime ago. Now I'm here, standing in front of my father and friends, about to admit to something I never thought I would.

And then I just say it, "I love Alice."

I continue staring at the hay ground and wait for someone to say something, but no one does. I peak up under my hat and look at everyone. Everyone, including my father, is just smiling at me. "What?" I ask before I can think about it. 

"Oh, my boy. We already knew," My father says gently.

"You knew!"

"Of course, we knew. You think you can just disappear from the world, and we would not think it's because of the very person that left years before?" Chessur sarcastically asks.

I breath out the breath I didn't even realize I was holding. All this time they knew. All this time I thought they didn't have a clue, but they did have a clue. A very big clue. My father steps up to me, and puts his hand onto my shoulder. "My boy, you should tell her."

I shrug his hand off of me and practically yell, "No!" I stomp my way past them and then I turn around to face them again, "We wouldn't work."

"What wouldn't work? Curious Alice and the Mad Hatter, sounds like a perfect coupling," Chessur says. I'm not sure if that was just another sarcastic remark or not.

My father waves his comment away then steps forward. "My boy, you can't keep this in. She deserves to know."

I wave him off and continue walking the path. I yell back to them while walking, "Forget about it! Let's go, we should camp somewhere soon."

But when I say it, I don't forget about it. I've finally said it out loud. I've finally said the words out loud to someone, or someone's, and they tell me I should tell her. It's taken me this long to admit it to others, and now they want me to admit it to her. Never going to happen... but could it?

It's not an impossible idea especially if Emiliza hasn't shown her anything yet. Maybe telling Alice how I feel will remove the madness. Remove the madness that surrounds her and only her will go away.

But is it to late?