Hare and Hatter

This story is very heavy on the AU, but is the result of a good amount of speculation about Liam. Since details on his background, details on the structure of Pandora, and details about how legal contacts are made are a bit vague too I had to speculate a good deal there too.

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Part One

Chapter One

Liam grew up passed between the Barma and Rainsworth households.

The Barma mansion was where his master lived, where he had lived most of the time; Rufus Barma having taken him in when he was nothing but an orphan. It was a large house, but for the most part it was empty, there were few real servants --most where illusions-- full of dark rooms layered with dust and cobwebs and despair.

The Rainsworth estate was where he stayed when the Lady Cheryl noticed the child was looking particularly lost and frightened. In the Rainsworth household there were no lurking illusions to frighten him and there were real people who smiled at him and spoke to him and where so different from the lifeless simulacrums his master created.

He was not unhappy, so to speak, he more than smart enough to understand how fortunate he, an orphan, was to serve such a powerful household, but Rufus Barma was not the easiest master to serve.

Sometimes the master got very angry --very, very angry.

"The boy,"

"Oh, yes the orphan?"

"He is…"

"He is very bright."

"The boy,"

"Yes, the boy?"

"The boy is…"

"The boy is special."

Liam gained his chain at the tender age of ten.

It was unusual, to say the least, for one so young to attempt to make a contract, but he was clever and quick and his master wanted to see what he could do. So he was sent down into the dark depths of the Barma household to stand at the Door to look into the Abyss for a chain.

He was to call for the Doormouse, Yamane, who was known to be mild of temperament and sleepy in nature and was thought not to be hard for a child to master.

His master Duke Barma waited with Lady Cheryl at the top of the stairs that led to the gate, waiting patiently for the child to reappear. When hours passed and no trace of Liam was seen the two went to search for him, finding him collapsed in front of the Door.

The chain that stood next to him was not Yamane.

It was the March Hare, in its tattered coat, its long ears flopping, its patchwork face stretched wide in a grin that showed broken teeth.

Liam stirred at the gentle touch of Lady Cheryl; he blinked up at the Lady, and saw the chain lurking inside her. He looked over her shoulder and he saw his master, and the thing that hovered around him that he had never been able to see before.

The March Hare laughed with the glee of being free of the Abyss, and Liam fainted.

"Did you hear?"

"Did you hear?"

"Did you hear that the child has made a contact with the March Hare?"

"Oh."

"Oh."

"How tragic,"

"Yes, tragic."

"But there is no Mad Hatter for him."

"Oh."

"Then he is alone."

"Then perhaps,"

"Yes, perhaps,"

"The boy might be saved."

TBC