Summery: Hatter hates himself for what he did. How can Alice prove to him that they've forgiven him?

Pairings: AlicexHatter

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice. If I did, Hatter would look a hell of a lot better.

Hatter's Redemption

Chapter 2: Tea Time

Everything was silent at the table. March and Dormy were trying to act like nothing was wrong, but they still kept unusually quiet as they sipped their tea. Alice tried to act normal too, but her eyes kept going up to the young man sitting silently opposite to her.

The Mad Hatter sat the in complete silence, barely touching his tea except for slowly stirring it with a spoon. He knew his presence there was the reason for the quiet. He wished he was back in his room, while the rest of Wonderland enjoyed their lives.

The first one to speak was Dormy. He walked quietly across the table to the depressed hatter.

"Hatter?"

The Hatter looked up at Dormy mournfully.

"Don't be sad," Dormy said softly, "We know you're not evil anymore. We forgive you."

"We do," March spoke up, "you weren't the only one to go crazy, and they've been forgiven. Heck, even the queen was given a second chance. It's not such a hard thing to forgive you too."

Alice smiled warmly as Hatter hugged the Dormouse.

"Thank you," he choked, almost on the verge of tears again.

"See," Alice said kindly, "They forgive you, and you probably did the worst to them."

Hatter's expression turned grim as he pulled out of the hug.

"No," he said sadly, "the worst is what I did to those poor insane children, and there's no way they will forgive."

Alice expression fell as well. There was no way they'd forgive him, mainly because SHE killed them. Still Hatter wasn't going to make all this forgiveness business easy.

"Hatter," Alice spoke softly. Hatter looked up from his cup.

"If it make you feel any better, what I did to those children wasn't any better then what you did," she paused , "I killed them."

Hatter's eyes widened slightly, as if finding it hard to believe that Alice could do something wrong. After a few seconds, his mild surprise vanished.

"You did the right thing," he said, "You freed them from their pain."

A part of Alice wanted to slam her head on the table. This guy just wasn't going to lighten up without a fight. The guy was justifying murder for crying out loud.

Alice sadly looked down at her cup. Hatter thought she killed them out of pity. He was wrong. Alice was only caring for her own survival when she killed them. In a way, what Alice did was no better then what Hatter had done.

"Hatter…"

Before Alice could say anything, the door opened. A card guard, a jack of diamonds, walked in, followed closely by the White Rabbit. All attention turned to the hack as he pulled a parchment out of his pack and opened it.

"Miss Alice Liddell," he read, "The Mad Hatter, The March Hair and The Dormouse. You have all been invited to a grand dinner hosted by the Queen of Hearts to celebrate Wonderland's return to her former glory. Refusal will not be accepted. You are expected to arrive at 8pm tonight. Good day."

And with that, the jack turned and marched out the door. The White Rabbit chuckled.

"We really do look forward to seeing you all tonight," he said before following the jack out the door, closing it behind him.

The four were quiet for a moment before the Dormouse piped up.

"A party! That will be fun won't it guys?"

Alice and March quickly caught the hint and smiled.

"Yes, of course it will," Alice turned to Hatter, "Wont it?"

"I don't know…" Hatter was about to say when Dormy cut him off.

"Oh come on," Dormy smiled, "Everyone will be there."

"Everyone…" Hatter looked gloomily at his cup. Alice rolled her eyes. Enough was enough.

"Hatter," she said as she stood up and walked over to him, "If it'll make you feel better, I'll take you around Wonderland and I'll SHOW you everyone's forgiven you."

"I don't know," Hatter said as he got up, "I think I should just go back to my room."

Alice grabbed his arm to stop him going any further.

"Come on Hatter, it'll be good ot get you out of that room. You'll see."

"I'm not sure."

"Hatter, we're going for a walk and that's final!"

"No!"

Alice sighed.

"A little help?"

March and Dormouse jumped to their feet and dove at Hatter. Before the Mad Hatter could do anything, March had him by the legs, and Dormy was walking under him, holding his torso up.

The Hatter struggled as the three of them carried him over to the door.

"Ok, on the count of three."

"One."

"Two."

"THREE!"

With a yelp, the hatter was thrown out the door. Alice quickly stepped out, closed the door and locked it, to prevent Hatter from trying to get back in.

Alice spun around when the Hatter let out a yelp of pain. She saw Hatter curled up on the ground, his hands covering his eyes. Being in that dark room, he was not used to the bright light yet. A fact Hatter confirmed when he yelled out:

"See! Even the sun hates me!"

Alice felt like stomping the emo out of the Hatter. However, knowing the Hatter, it would only make things worse.

Instead, Alice gently helped him up, linking her arm with his, partially to keep him from running away. Hatter blushed slightly at the gesture.

Alice gave him a small, friendly smile.

"Let's go."

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Next chapter, we meet a few more of the Wonderland residents and see how they turned out.

I'd like to say I'm sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I just lost interest for a brief period.