REVISITED
Based on the TV Miniseries "Alice"

Old Man Time never comes around anymore. He hasn't for ages and ages. Oh to be sure, the Queen of Hearts summoned him a time or two and King Jack makes a show of public invitation, but the old man still refuses to visit. He used to give the Queen excuses, some of them possibly true. There were crumbs in his watch one day. On another, someone pulled out all the workings and replaced them with butter and jam. Everything ran too slow THAT day. He doesn't even bother giving an excuse to Jack. He just sits and watches the Sea.

Hatter flew down the stairwell as fast as his feet could carry him. He barely broke stride even when he tripped on the final concrete steps, scooting sideways across the sidewalk to maintain his balance. Turning left, he ran down the alley towards the building housing the Looking Glass.

He hadn't exactly been lying when he told the EMTs he was a construction worker. True, he had never actually worked on constructing the building, but he had worked for those who commissioned its creation. All things being relative, it was as close to the truth as he could come up with.

Before Jack had managed to sneak the Stone of Wonderland out from underneath his mother's nose, the Hearts had been putting a plan in motion to draw more oysters into the Casino. The mirror had been circulated around the Oyster's world several times before finally being brought to San Francisco. Here, it was not only possible to find large captures of oysters, but the access to the water and the population as a whole permitted the taking of ones no one would miss, the immigrants and the outcasts. Here, the Hearts commissioned an apartment building to be constructed for use as both a guard tower and a lure. The building size could be used to isolate the mirror from the city's nosy inhabitants, while the cheap rent would attract possible renters whose disappearance might usually go unquestioned. Likewise in might have provided a home base for those under the Heart's employ to infiltrate the Oyster's world and invite Oyster's to the Looking Glass.

With Jack in power, however, only the first half of the plan was enacted. The "apartment complex" had become converted into "rented office space" already rented out. Hatter had been placed as subsequent "guardian" of the mirror on the Oyster's side. It was a dull responsibility since no one in Wonderland wanted to travel the border and most Oysters seemed smart enough no to go bumbling into buildings they had no right to be in. On the other hand, though, it gave him the chance to be with Alice.

Unlocking the glass door to the building, Hatter ran towards the back stairwell. The heels of his shoes clacked against the black linoleum, echoing ominously into the darkness. He didn't bother turning on the lights, having memorized the path. His right hand balled into a fist.

At the bottom of the stairs was a hall. This time he paused, feeling along the cold black brick wall until he felt a switch. Flipping it up, the room became bathed in white light. The long hall extended out about thirty feet, black walls lining a concrete floor. Parallel fluorescent rods hung along the sides of the wall in increments of five feet, extending all the way down to a plain wood door. Putting a hand to his neck, Hatter fiddled a moment with the chain around it. Fishing the length of the chain out from beneath his shirt, he pulled out a slender bronze key.

With the redesign of the building, Jack had ordered the area around the Looking Glass to be sectioned off from the rest. A special chamber was constructed around it, containing only one door for which only two keys existed. The first belonged to Jack, the other to Hatter. It was a design meant to ensure no fugitive might flee Wonderland nor another Oyster accidentally fall into it. Walking to the door, Hatter fitted the key into the lock. Turning it slowly, he felt his breath halt as the catch released. Grasping the brass handle in an iron grip, he pulled the heavy door open.

The room looked very much the same as it had when he found Alice. No finery or furniture had been used to decorate the space or make it the least enticing. It remained very much a left over construction site. The only difference was the shattered glass along the floor.

Hatter stared at the damage, his body frozen. The golden ornate frame remained leaning against the back wall, empty. In front of it, the ground lay covered in a ribbon of varying silver shards. Some were rather large, extending either the full length or width of the mirror, while other were simply powder. Carefully, Hatter inched his way along the front edge of the room, his back pressed against the wall. Even through his jacket, the cold pricked against his back like needles. Coming to a stop a few inches from the door, he learned to breathe again. An overwhelming, coppery stench filled the air so thickly he could taste it. Pressing further back against the wall, he resisted the urge run. He dared not risk anything but gentle movements, afraid to damage the pieces of the already destroyed mirror. Looking at the shards and breathing quickly through his mouth, his eyes fell on the center of the ribbon. There, among the finely powdered bits of glass, he could make out a brown stain.

Alice rubbed the upper half of her arms in a half-hearted attempt to stay warm. Leaning back in the chair she had dragged beside the couch, she glanced over at Jack's sleeping frame. The man had fallen asleep practically the minute Hatter left, most likely passing out from the pain, and leaving her unable to question him in private. She frowned, bringing her cupped hands up to her lips to blow on them. She had begun to fill chilly right after Hatter disappeared and had turned the thermostat up to eighty. It hadn't helped and not even her plum jacket (the one Hatter had rescue from Wonderland along with his hat) could keep her warm. She had checked Jack, afraid to put a blanket on him and aggravate his wounds unless needed, but found him comfortably warm.

Rubbing her palms together, she stood up. Glancing over at her mother's wall length mirror, she studied her reflection. A light blue tank-top beneath a thin white blouse poked out from beneath the plum jacket over a pair of form-fitting black jeans. A pair of red tennis shoes poked out from beneath the black material, matching the small ruby hanging on a gold chain at her neck. It had been a gift from Hatter on their three month anniversary, taken from the northern mines of Wonderland. Fingering the smooth stone, she walked over to the thermostat. With an irritated sigh, she turned the heat to ninety. Silently looking to the door, she wished Hatter would hurry up.

"He sits by the Sea and watches with the waves," said the woman standing at the edge of the white beach. She seemed young, particularly in respect to her companion, but her dark eyes were old and sharp. She wore a simple robe, checkered in red and white, with a plain golden belt around her waist. Her hair pooled down her back in waves of crimson, a few strands blowing freely like scratch along her pale face. She glanced up at her companion, "His time is almost done and the King is nowhere to be found."

"He'll return," her companion replied, reaching up to tug on his beard, "He'll return with help."

The young woman looked up, her mulberry red lips narrowing in a frown.

"I hope you're right," she said softly.

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