Alice's darting eyes watched Hatter's face go from one of joy to one of hate in a matter of moments, all while she was talking. She didn't know what she had done wrong. She missed him, she missed wonderland. But he had to understand! She had made a promise, and she always followed through on those. Peter missed his never-land as much as she had missed Wonderland, of that she was very sure. She didn't want his joy to be forgotten because she had an infatuation with a whimsical world and the people there- especially not simply because of her selfish want to be in wonderland and with a loony milliner! But maybe she had gone about it the wrong way- she just needed to make him understand, after all. He could come with her, if he was so inclined, but she hadn't thought it would be a need. Maybe he had changed more than his outfit while she was away.
"My turn," a darker voice than she remembered Hatter having mumbled, and all at once how much of a position Alice had gotten herself into came into stunning focus. Hatter blocked her escape in a few steps, cornering her against the cool wall. Alice's eyes lit with defiance and she stubbornly refused to back down from his gaze, instead meeting him eye-to-eye (though he was taller than her and she had to crane her neck).
""P for promises and L for leaving? You do comprehend how much of an oxymoron that is, correct? You are promising never to leave at the same time as explaining you are leaving. Its not that I don't trust you know where you belong, but do you really think if you leave you will receive another miracle like this?" Hatter said, and she felt like a child again under his stare. She was being scolded! She huffed and blinked her eyes, not understanding his anger. She'd seen his anger before, of course, but never, Never, directed at her. Wonderland was a happy place, and suddenly she didn't feel happy at all. In fact, she was seeing quite red!
"I have spent this entire time searching for a way to bring you here, to travel to your world and bring you back. You under stand how time works between your world and mine better then I, that Wonderlands time passes decades before yours passes a year. I have been searching for a way to bring you home ever since you took the vile and left" Alice couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips at this- he had been searching for her? She had assumed he would be quite busy with all the commotion she had left the second time. Hatter seemed to be making up his mind, and Alice let him. Alice was a wordy girl by nature, but she would let him have his spat. She was confident he would see things her way, if she just explained more clearly. However, she couldn't help but feel a bit off-put by this 'new' hatter. He certainly was more temperamental.
"No, Alice's eyes snapped back to Hatter's own at once. In all her years she had never heard anyone say that with that much vigor. He sounded definite. She let out a breathy squeak that she would never admit was fear (though the lump rising in her throat would beg to differ). As he continued: "I have changed much since he have left and with that came a certain power. You will not be leaving Wonderland. Not now, not ever".
Alice tried to back away, but the Hatter grabbed her wrists and pulled her forward. She hardly had time to let out a small sound of discontent before he had her trapped against the wall, with one had over her mouth. She'd never felt this endangered in her life, not even when she was fighting for her life with a sword in her hand. She struggled and tried to kick, but she couldn't find purchase and instead took to trying to shake him away. She tried to bite at him or claw or anything to combat the rising feeling of dread in her chest. He was much stronger than she remembered, though, and eventually all she could do was just go limp against him and look at him. She tried her best to keep eye contact as he explained something about moving through Wonderland faster than any other creature, her eyes sad and still rimmed with residual anger.
"...Your friends will not be following us, so don't struggle" Hatter said darkly. Like hell! Alice began her fight once again, doing her best to find a way to hurt him without really causing damage. Alice was sure this was not Hatter- not her Hatter at least, not Ramsey. This, whomever this might be, was a monster with the body of her Hatter.
Alice saw the not-Hatter flick his head to the side, sending his hat falling to the ground. And then he let go of her mouth. She barely had time to form a cognitive thought before she was screaming, not really for any one or anything, just out of fear and frustration. She was horribly, horribly scared, if anything. Hatter clamped his hand back over her mouth before her voice could really rise into any loud sound, however, and any hope of getting out of this without leaving the palace faded with it. Whatever the non-hatter had thrown into the hat was glowing bright purple, and although a part of her was quite interested, most of her was feeling like a small child alone at night.
"Take us Home" the not-hatter said, and Alice felt with all her body the need to correct him. They were not an 'us', nor did they share a home. That was a prospect Alice would have fought for with the Real, Correct Hatter, perhaps, but not with this twisted form. Alice was dragged through the purple haze quickly, and it was the most strange feeling for quite some time before the smoke cleared. Alice was dizzy for a second, but became even more so when she regained her sight.
Hatter's hat-shop. Everything was different, but much of it was just as she remembered, and she shook her head minutely at the thought. She realized that this probably wasn't going to be as much of a happy reunion as the blonde wanted- this reunion would be just as happy as this was truly a hat shop. As Alice looked around, knowing they were probably a ways away from any savior, she closed her eyes and looked down. Everything was wrong, even for Wonderland. Hat shops were not hat shops- they were prisons. Hatters were not hatters- they were kidnappers. And Alice, for one, was not okay with it. She squared her jaw and began to look around- for anything that might help her. Oh, what she would give for Wendy now! Wendy knew how to talk her way out of anything. Alice was all action and perhaps a kind word here and there. Alice, in her own eyes, was a child with a sword, stuck in her wonderland even when it wasn't there. She had been childish to think Wonderland would wait on her, wouldn't change while she was gone, and she needed to grow up now. Hatter was no longer a looney companion. This Non-Hatter was dangerous, and Alice wanted her Hatter back, now.