Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to any characters from Heart no Kuni no Alice/Alice in the Country of Hearts.

Confessions of Cruelty
Chapter 1

"Elliott?" the petite girl exclaimed worriedly as the not-rabbit ran by. The man in question looked positively green when he passed her, his hand over his mouth, and his ears laid back tightly to his head.

"Stupid newbie-hare," Dum began.

"Dumb sissy-chickie rabbit," Dee added.

"No carrots for him!" they both jeered in unison.

"And why is that?" Alice asked, raising her eyebrow in suspicion towards the twins who were following, albeit at a slower pace.

"Isn't there a gate in need of guarding?" Blood growled before either boy could answer. The tone in his voice told them now was not the time to argue and they both turned and ran for the gate without even saying their usual good-bye to Alice.

Alice looked up at the man, eyes questioning. Blood merely smiled reassuringly. "Would you like to join me for a walk, my lady?" His tone much calmer as he took the girl's hand and pulled it to rest in the crook of his arm.

"Umm.. Sure." It wasn't as if he had actually given her a choice, though she would have gone anyway if not for the image of Elliott running by. "But shouldn't we check on Elliott first?"

"He'll be fine. He just needs a bit of time to himself."

Blood led the foreigner out of the mansion and headed towards his secret rose garden. The day was bright and sunny, but not overly warm. Just the kind of day that Alice preferred. As they walked in companionable silence, she couldn't help but sigh happily as they entered the garden, her senses overwhelmed by the smell of roses. The hatter smiled down on his lover snuggling into his arm as he placed his free hand over hers.

"Alice, why do you think they call me the 'Mad Hatter'?" Blood finally asked, surprising the young brunette.

"What?"

"Do you think I'm insane?" he patiently rephrased.

"No, not really," Alice answered cautiously. At one time she had thought all of Wonderland was insane. After getting used to the culture, that belief had faded to only Blood being crazy. As she got to know him, though, he didn't seem any crazier than anyone else, just a lot more temperamental and violent than everyone else.

Blood could feel her tense at his question, which didn't surprise him. Though he had tamed his temper quite a bit around her, it was obvious that she still feared he would revert back. He knew that the topic had been completely unexpected, but it was something that he knew he needed to talk to her about if she was going to stay in the mafia's territory much longer. Elliott had simply, and unknowingly, pushed his timeline up a bit.

"What does the word 'mad' mean?"

Alice would have thought he was being rhetorical if it wasn't for the fact that he had stopped walking and was now looking intently at her.

"Well, uh.. Angry, obviously. Insane, which in turn can mean over the top or extreme…" For some reason, Alice felt she was treading on dangerous ground even though Blood brought it up. She wasn't about to mention the idea of insane being related to a mental disorder.

Blood chuckled, earning an endearing blush from the girl. "Ah yes, I can see it now. Instead of the 'Mad Hatter' I could have been the 'Extreme Hatter'. Somehow that just doesn't have the same ring to it."

"Then how did you get the name?" Alice felt much more at ease with the topic now that she had heard Blood laugh. It didn't hurt that his eyes didn't show any of the glint that would tie her stomach into knots when she had first arrived in Wonderland.

"Do you know how hats are made?" Alice shook her head in dissent as Blood led her toward a pair of benches. In her time staying with Blood she had gotten used to his switching topics to things seemingly unrelated and then tying them all back together. "Ah, then lets start there, shall we?" He graced her with his trademark smirk as he indicated she should sit then sat on the other bench so he could easily watch her.

"Once upon a time, hats were made of felt which was made with mercury. Hatters, those who made hats, would often go quite insane from the exposure."

"But you don't make hats…"

"Tsk. How rude, I'm not finished," he teased, pretending to be insulted. "In early versions of the game, there was no mafia and the role holder was a hatter. Before you ask, I have no idea why a role holder would be a hatter. He could have had some other role and making hats was a hobby for all I know. Being a hatter became a part of the role, and inevitably the role holder would go mad from the mercury. Thus the origin of the 'Mad Hatter'."

Alice sat in rapt attention during the Hatter's explanation. Never had Blood simply explained something to her like this. Usually he would tease her with bits and pieces and try to make her tie it together. Then tease her for having to explain it to her. Frankly, she was somewhat surprised that he would even know the origins of his role since every other role holder she had asked had simply shrugged and claimed to not have any idea.

"The mafia came into being some time later under one of these 'mad hatters'. The role mutated slightly again to include being the leader of the mafia. Since the role holder was both a hatter and the leader of the mafia, the mafia was often called the 'Hatters' or some such thing. Eventually, the mafia became powerful enough that there simply wasn't time to be a hatter and the mafia leader, so the role holder stopped being a hatter. They kept the title of 'Mad Hatter', though. They were no longer going insane from the mercury, but it was still an appropriate moniker."

Blood paused in his history lesson to gauge Alice's reaction. She had been amazingly quiet, for her, so far. He would have normally expected her to have tried asking a few more questions by now. The confusion on her face, explained her silence.

"Did I lose you?" He smirked, remembering the many times when he would talk philosophically with the young woman and she couldn't follow his line of thinking.

"No?" Blood raised his eyebrows at her response. "I don't think I'm lost. I'm just not sure that I understand why being called 'The Mad Hatter' would still be appropriate."

Nodding in understanding, Blood continued. "Do you think that people who belong to a mafia are noted to be particularly nice?"

Alice snickered. Even if they were nice people generally, when it came to work, she would have to answer with a resounding 'no'. She had run across several of the mafia boss' minions during her stay with him and they were always courteous towards her, but she had occasionally heard them talk about what they had done in the name of business. Nice was definitely not a word to describe it.

"So," the girl began, "the leader would have to be meaner or more unpredictable than his subordinates to keep his position. If that was considered 'extreme' then that would explain the word 'mad'… I get it now!" Alice beamed at the man across from her, childishly proud that she had been able to figure it out on her own.

The hatter nodded before continuing much more soberly. "I'm not a nice person, Alice. There is a reason I'm the most feared role holder in the land. By many accounts, I rank up there with some of the most feared hatters ever to play the game."

"Why are you telling me this, Blood?" Her questioning voice had turned almost to a whisper and she had bowed her so that he couldn't see her face. Alice had been living in his mansion long enough that he knew her habits well. She was scared, likely of him at that moment. They may know each other well, but it hadn't been enough time for her to discard the cruel words or actions he had heaped on her when she first arrived.

Blood moved to sit next to Alice, pulling her into his arms, her back against his chest. "You know I've had to learn to be kind to you, don't you?"

"Actually, I kind of thought our relationship had just reached some point where you became nice to me. Kind of like I had finally earned your trust so you quit being mean or something." Blood laughed, a deep rich sound that she loved to hear.

"No. I was honest when I told you I had liked you, even at the beginning. The others weren't lying when they warned you to be careful around me. If I hadn't liked you, I would have killed you within our first meeting or two. I was mean to you, as you say, because I enjoyed your reactions."

"You LIKED being mean to me? Calling me all those horrid names? Implying…"

Blood placed a finger across her lips to silence her before she got too hysterical or realized exactly how manipulative he was. "Yes, Love. I enjoy being cruel to people. It's what makes me the most feared role holder. It's what makes me a successful mafia leader. It's why I laugh at the twins antics when you are turning white from fright and Elliott is about to blow steam out of his ears. It's why Elliott looked so ill when we got back."

"What did you do to him?" Alice asked, her voice still soft but now almost threatening.

Pulling her back to him and wrapping his hands around her waist, Blood put his cheek to the top of her head. "I didn't do anything to him. Let's just say there are days when my actions towards others are too much for him to handle."

"Blood!" Alice tried to turn around to face him, but he held her tight enough that she couldn't. Some things are better said in the dark. Some people need the light when the topic was dark. He would rather have told her this in the dark so he didn't see her reaction but he knew she would need the light to help lighten the impact of his words.

"It was nothing that you need to know about. Nothing that you would want to know of."

"Then WHY are you telling me this?" Alice was becoming fidgety. Blood could easily imagine the worried and confused look that was likely on her face.

"Because, Alice. You have lived with me for 5 months. You have heard things from my men that I would rather you not hear, and they were on their best behavior. You have seen things, whether you realize it or not, that I would rather you not have seen. Living amongst the Hatters is dangerous, but living with me is even more so. I can only hide so much the goings on of the mafia from you.

I love you, Alice. I don't want you to be afraid of me. Of what I do, of what I'm involved in, I expect you to be afraid of some of that, and I promise to try to keep you sheltered from the worst of it. That said, though, I would rather you have an understanding beforehand of the possibilities than have the twins running around looking to kill whomever put you in a state of shock."

"And this is why you wouldn't tell me what was wrong with Elliott?"

"Umm hmm. I would rather have had this talk before you ever saw him come home like that. He has a rather weak constitution for working in the mafia."

"Note to self: If Elliott looks ill, don't ask what happened." Blood snickered behind her.

8 July 2011

A/N: Thoughts and criticisms are always welcome. I haven't tried fanfic for this world before, so I'm unsure how well I got their characters.