Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 109: Ch107. Handshake

Chapter 109: Ch107. Handshake

Miles barely listened to the Hatter-Miles’ words, panting heavily from the – dream? Nightmare? Illusion? – torture inflicted on him.

The thing in front of him was right, even though Miles was glad that none of it happened in the real world. Gods knew what could have happened if there were other players around, or even worse.

’Yeah... Or even worse...’ The words crossed Miles’ mind when he heard fingers snapping in the distance.

"Are you there? Wonderland to Miles, Wonderland to Miles!" The Hatter-Miles laughed. "Oh boy, and here was I, thinking that you actually had it in you... But anyway, are you with me now?"

Miles nodded, without saying a word.

"Good." He cooed. "I was saying that there’s a place in the heart of The Horizon called The Last Verse, and I need you to go there. Well... You need to get there if you want to leave this shithole, to be fair, but I do need you to get there, because there’s someone in the spire that I want you to meet, if we are to get along, do you feel me, my dear?"

Miles was silent, and at first, it looked like he was mulling over the Hatter-Miles’ words. However, it was none of it.

He did, indeed, have heard the Hatter-Miles’ words, but he was not paying much attention to it.

It took him most of himself to push back the thoughts and memories of what just transpired between him and his forceful guest, but after what felt like an eternity of focusing, using every bit of that strength he had found in himself to resist the torment thrown against him, his breathing finally steadied and his thoughts were finally his own once more.

That something inside him, though, that ember that he blew toward just to stay conscious a while before, it felt bigger this time. Stronger, warmer...

Miles did not understand what it was yet, but he welcomed the feeling almost as much as he welcomed the fragrant, kaleidoscopic tea from the [Ether Teapot].

There was a seed of understanding blooming in his mind. A seed of understanding that concerned everything that had just happened to him, from him having gone to sleep to waking up in this dream-like state.

However, Miles buried that seed deep in his memory.

Miles imagined his mind as a vast, endless sea. He pictured the seed sinking, slipping beneath the currents, hidden in the darkest trench where even the Hatter’s claws could not reach.

"Yes... I feel you." Miles answered, his voice trembling ever so slightly, but there was an edge of calmness in it that just was not there before, and Miles had to force himself to not grin as the sight of the Hatter-Miles tilting his head, when he noticed it too. "What is The Last Verse, though?"

The Hatter-Miles squinted his eyes at Miles as he watched him, resting his chin on his gloved hands before speaking.

"I’ll let your friend Kurt explain that to you." The Hatter-Miles’ tone was strangely devoid of emotion this time, but Miles did not care. "Anyway, there’s someone in there that I need you to take me to, and after that..."

The Hatter-Miles paused, studying Miles with an unreadable expression before adding.

"I need you to let me... Take control for a few minutes. Let’s say ten. How does it sound?"

It was Miles’ turn to rest his chin on his hands, as though mimicking the Hatter-Miles’ actions, making the thing in front of him raise his deformed brow.

"And if I refuse...?" There was an edge to Miles’ words. Not threatening, just...

Defiant.

"Don’t you forget that I’m inside you, and it means that I accompany you wherever you go." The Hatter-Miles chanted. "And you seem eager to go back to Earth, to your young little friend... Diego."

There it was.

Miles’ heart did not beat heavily this time because he knew the threat was coming.

The Hatter knew how to get to him, but there was one thing that he was not accounting for in the whole equation.

It was that Miles was beginning to know the Hatter too.

Ever since the slight change of tone, the swirling storm of emotions hidden underneath the Hatter-Miles’ voice when Miles was on the verge of breaking free from the chains – or die trying.

Even if ever so slightly...

Miles was beginning to feel the Hatter’s emotions.

As if they were his.

"Yeah, I get that." Miles sighed. "You don’t have to keep saying it. But whatever you do, don’t hurt Kurt, or I will personally come here again, and even if it kills me..." He paused, looking dead in the Hatter-Miles’ eyes. "I’m going to kill you."

"Bravo! Bravo! Bravo, my dear Miles!" The Hatter-Miles laughed maniacally, clapping his hands. "Now we’re talking, and yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Just come here, shake my hand, so we can seal the deal, will you?"

Miles walked towards him without saying a word and shook the Hatter-Miles’ gloved hand.

The glove was not soft like he expected. It was stiff, stretched too tight, like leather that had been dried and cracked yet somehow held together. Beneath the fabric, the fingers twitched, pressing just a fraction too long.

Immediately, it felt like the air became heavier, slightly harder to breathe, but Miles endured, focusing on the texture of the glove, and the expression on the Hatter-Miles’ face, even though it was too horrendous and inexplicable for him to understand.

"Good. Now leave. You’re becoming slightly boring to look at." The Hatter-Miles’ voice grew bored as he snapped his fingers, and the world around Miles shifted, twisted and warped.

***

As soon as Miles opened his eyes, he knew he was not dreaming anymore.

The cold floor of the chamber felt almost like heaven, after that never-ending nightmare. The blue fire had already gone out, and the chamber was drowned in darkness, but there were no whispers around Miles, no sensation of movement in the air.

For the first time in weeks, Miles was not hearing the Hatter speaking in his mind. He was not even feeling the guy forcing his way through his thoughts, trying to break free from the shackles of Miles’ soul.

For the first time in what felt like forever... Miles felt at peace.

He smirked in the dark, feeling the weight of the realization and understanding spread through him like fire.

"It won’t be long, now..."

"So, the sleeping beauty is finally awake?" Miles heard Kurt’s voice a few steps away. "I almost thought you were dead, kid."

"Not in your wildest dreams." Miles answered, breathing in deeply. "One week."

"What?" Kurt’s tone was perplexed, and Miles could see him tilting his head in his mind’s eye.

"I need one week." Miles shot back, calm, the smirk still etched on his face. "One week before everything’s said and done."

Miles inhaled deeply, settling his spirit.

Because he knew what was coming for him now.