Chapter 3: Hats, and Fangirls, and Rabbits! Oh, my!

Oh, the glory of that purple hat! Jack felt it calling out to him. He moved, almost possessed, to his dressing table and snatched it up. He attempted to place in on his head, but he simply had too much hair.

"Oh, bugger!" he growled, "Couldn't ye grow just a little for me, o Purple Hat?"

Merlin's hat remained silent, much to Jack's frustration. He was used to inanimate objects talking to him, and never considered that it was most likely a side effect of all the rum. He tried to shove the hat onto his head, but it refused to stretch. Jack finally gave up with a huff of anger and tossed the hat back onto his dresser.

"Blast!" he growled, "Could it be that ye will fit no one but that batty old wizard?"

If it had the power, the hat would have smirked. But the hat had other powers. Little did Jack know what would become of him once he was taken over by them.
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Meanwhile, Hatter was attempting to escape the angry Jack fangirls. But the fangirls would not budge and Hatter found himself surrounded.

"WE WANT JACK!" the girls shouted in horrifying unison, "WE WANT JACK!"

"But Jack left! Am I not good enough for you?" Hatter squeaked, becoming more frightened by the mob with every passing moment.

There was a great, horrible shout and someone grabbed Hatter's detective hat and hurled it towards the Teacups. Hatter gave a shriek and attempted to escape the fangirls' wrath.

"Merlin!" he cried desperately, "Heeeeeeeellllppp!"

Merlin rolled his eyes and raised his wand. The fangirls gasped and ran away, dissapearing through the Castle. Hatter sighed with relief then ran off to retrieve his detective hat. Merlin hurried after him. Once the hat had been recovered, he approached Hatter.

"Hatter, it's very kind of you to help me like this," he began, "but really, I can take it from here."

"But... that ant! I know he had something to do with this!" Hatter said.
Merlin sighed.

"Hatter, that ant had nothing to do with it. It's impossible."

"No, it's not! You have no idea how ferocious ants are! Didn't you ever see that old Donald Duck cartoon?"

Merlin rolled his eyes. This was going nowhere. He shook his head and marched off toward Small World to investigate there (because, having been so very old for so long, he had decided that children could not be trusted). Sherlock Hatter ran after him, determined to prove himself.

Neither of them saw the ant back at the Stone watch them leave with relief. Flick hadn't meant to get mixed up in the whole thing. He hadn't mean to be Jack's partner in crime. But when the pirate had offered him all the grain he and his colony could ever want, he had given in and spied on Merlin, waiting for the opportune moment when Jack could steal the wizard's hat. And that moment had come last night when Merlin was fast asleep.
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On Main Street, Cruella was plotting an evil plan. She had spoken to Hatter a few days ago that was quite horrible. Their conversation had gone something like this:

"So... tell me about this white rabbit."

Here, Hatter had blinked. Cruella had grinned, sure that the White Rabbit would make a lovely addition to her collection of furs.

"No? What about the Cheshire Cat? Have you seen him recently?"

The Hatter had left, rather frightened of Cruella's plans. Today, Cruella had decided to find the White Rabbit and make him her own.

And she was sure that no one could stop her.


- Wisher