Hopeful (My Sequel to Heartless) Unfinished

Chapter 25 - Loving Madness

A/N: Hey guys, so as some of you pointed out, Jest is supposedly in his 40's. Based on how the story is set time wise, you're right. But I'm kind of dumb and forgot to address his age. When writing this, I imagined Hatta to be around 35 ish when the book started, but when Chrystal made Cath and Jest younger, she made Hatta younger too. I never incorporated that because it slipped my mind, but just so you know, in this chapter, he is 25 and Alice is around 19-20ish. Anyway! Thanks for reading!

Since they had arrived at the palace, they had been living in an old wing in the basement while they waited for Penelope's ankle to heal enough that they could move on with their plan.

Jest passed his time by spying on the staff. Apparently, Cath had been gone longer in Heart than they had actually been because of the difference in time progression. What was a couple of days for them, had been a couple of weeks in Hearts. He also heard the obscene things the guards said about her. From what Jest saw, Cath had been one to seek comfort through random men's embrace.

At first, Jest was incredibly hurt, then he was mad, then he was sad. He knew Cath wouldn't have done any of this had she know he was alive. He wanted to scream and take back the last 10 years. He also wanted to strangle Cath's guards.

Diamond and Spade had been the ones to hide them, both of them keeping a wary eye on Jest. He could understand why the kids would be so hesitant and uncomfortable in his presence, he was sure Cath had never told them about him. Not to mention he looked like a threat, for Jest was all lean muscle and one of those people who didn't have to ask for attention, eyes were just naturally drawn to him. Yet he found it so easy to hide.

And he didn't feel so young anymore, life had aged him beyond his years, and he never wanted to perform again, not unless it was on his terms.

So he waited.

Hatta and Alice were in charge of tending to Penelope, but when they were not in her room, they were hiding somewhere, and most of the time both of them would come back with flushed faces and messy hair. He was positive that "caretaking" was code for other things involving lots of lip-locking. He would be annoyed if he weren't happy for his friend. Hatta had only had Haigha and Jest, but Jest couldn't always be there because of his duties to his queen, and Jest had no idea what happened to Haigha, so that left Hatta basically alone. He only hurt more for Hatta when he saw his friend going slowly insane without anyone to help him through it. He didn't know much about Alice, but he knew that she would be good for him.

Jest often spent his time thinking about how to save Cath and stop the war. Cath was becoming queen as they had originally planned, but he now needed to think of a way to end the war so Cath could live the life she wanted. One where he could be in it.

He knew Cath could end this war. She was the strongest person he had ever met, but he wasn't going to risk losing her again either. If he could find a way to get to the Black Kingdom and end it from the inside...

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock. Two small faces peered into the room with large eyes. Jest stopped pacing and felt a bit calmer in their presence.

"Hello, is there something you need?" He asked softly. He gestured for them to come in. Diamond didn't make eye contact as she handed him a key ring with 3 keys on it. Jest furrowed his brow. "What are these for?" He asked a bit confused. Spade turned his hand to look like he was unlocking something before grabbing his sister's hand and pulling her out of the room.

Jest was even more confused then he was before, but he figured he could at least find what the keys unlocked.

They had the Hearts insignia on it, so he guessed it unlocked something within the palace. He decided he would sneak away to see what exactly they opened. The only problem was there were hundreds of rooms in the castle, so he'd better start now and get a head start.

With one more glance at the keys in his hand, he made his way out to the hall and headed toward the first room.

------------------------

Alice loved madness.

There was no such thing as crazy and spontaneous where she came from and only orderly conduct was the way of life there. She wanted to believe that as many as six impossible things before breakfast. She wanted to run in the mud and sail to new worlds and kiss all the men she was never allowed to.

Well, the last one had at least changed a bit, because she had already kissed the man of her dreams.

She never thought that she would end up falling for a guy so similar to her. But still, she was falling falling falling falling falling...

Falling to where there were tiny doors and big Kingdom wars.

The thought made her giggle, it had rhymed.

Hatta smiled at her from where she stood across from Penelope, but it wasn't the crazed smile she had gotten used to before they had altered him, it was one that was meant for her and his love for the right kind of craziness.

For she had traded half her mind to give him half of his.

She figured that at least two halves of a sane mind could form a whole, but either way, she didn't care. She would love him if he were half a cow.

He reached over Penelope's deep sleeping form and took a gloved hand in hers. They both wore gloves when attending to their patient, skin on skin contact with anyone else but each other made them both cringe.

"Well my Madling, we have some time before we have to prepare dinner, shall we read?" He asked in a polite tone. Alice nodded and took a seat on the floor next to the hearth with a bright smile, watching as he grabbed a book of poetry and sat next to her. He frowned before moving her to his lap and flipping the book upside down to read. She giggled a little too loudly and watched as he played their special game.

They both liked to try and read upside down and backward and see who got the funniest words.  Hatta started out strong and had Alice a laughing mess before Hatta's smile began to fade and a dark look crossed his face.

He watched as the words faded out and were replaced with the same name on repeat over and over again.

Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter Mariah Hatter

He didn't know if he was having a bad moment, or if this were real, and by the look on Alice's face, he knew she saw it too.

They glanced at each other before the book lept out of Hatta's fingers and flew away.

Alice shuttered as Hatta's eyes grew darker. He knew that somehow this wasn't a warning, but a threat.

-----------------------

Yo wassup guys! I hope you like this chapter because man oh man I love Hatta and Alice's relationship.

So in the last chapter, I mentioned something about a contest about a character you guys could write and whoever won would get their character featured in the book, so here are the guidelines for entering.

You must tell me if you want your character to be good or bad

You will need to give me a description of the character's physical features.

How you guys imagine your character's role in the story (please keep in mind, I will have to see if it lines up with the plot and then inform you and whether or not it will work)

Some extra little features about your character (Optional)

Their full name and age

and which kingdom they belong to.

In order to enter, you will need to private message me all of these things and tell me your favorite character in this story because I'm truly interested. Also, whoever enters will get a follow from me.

Winner will get a shoutout on this book, a chapter dedicated to them, credit for their character, and an advertisement for their story.

Contest ends on November 6th (Marissa Meyer day!)

I'm excited to see what you give me!

-Neltje