Panacea for Her Questions

She is ashamed of her birthplace but retreat is not an option.

Prologue:

She was rather abstract. A total enigma that burned in the seams of the unusually sane. For what she lacked in negative colors, she made up for it in vivid white skin and vast blues. A curious notion, something innocent and childlike upon the brain, and it only dubbed so when she'd stare with her endless ocean complex. Nothing had to make sense to her, for she was the very bases of dreams and all dreams came to an end; all holders' abandoned their illusions in the end. He certainly despised this. The meaning and diversity of abandonment – a fickle idea indeed.

"You are a vile creature." And let it be known that Sidney Black truly felt like that; he spoke these words so purely that he could taste a sour note that spun its existence upon his tongue. Dual eyes staring plainly into matching sea-mist eyes. "How – unpleasant." The Black Rabbit nodded off and instead of acknowledging Alice's bewildering stare, she simply stared down, pondered, then silently went back to her duties of organization; stacking papers among papers.

Delicate fingers skimmed over the stacks of papers. Alice categorized written documents into darker-toned folders, carefully arranging the legalized papers; she'd frown for the longest time, keeping a level head before she flew off the handle over his petty comments. Alice kept her lips pressed thin into paled lines, her blue hues narrowed into her work, and she couldn't help but to pray for something auditable like working under Peter White again; at least the fruit didn't dabble in making yawning, horrible remarks; only admiration and overbearing love.

"And you're not going to respond? How very – bold." There was something hinted in his wicked wordplay, and all Alice could do was to keep her mind plastered in her work. He was certainly testing her. "Though I'm finding your work ethic more admirable lately. I guess you can lead a horse to water after all."

"I wouldn't say horse," there'd be a pregnant pause before Alice continued, "I'd say teaching a man to fish would be a more desirable idiom. Wouldn't you say? You've certainly taught me a lot." Alice didn't fully pay attention to his wondering, spiteful eyes. Heterochromatic eyes studying her and turning like waterwheels in his mind. He could tell his certain blemish baffled her, and for that he continued to hate her a little more.

"You can say that. But teaching a man to fish and making the horse drink from the water are entirely two different things. Now, now, what an idiot notion for you to conjure; your work ethic is beginning to fade and I find myself growing annoyed by your idiot analogies. Stack the papers again. You are slacking." The Prime Minister of Diamonds would lean back into his chair, the chain reaction to movement caused the chair to creak out from his weight. Alice shot him a glare and he supplied her with the same glare of crimson and raven; but his lips played a different story and seemed almost – humored by the exchange. "Too much talking does that to a person."

"Yet you complain when I talk less. Shall I endure your mockery, or shall I save my breath and get my work done right the first time?" Alice placed the folder down harder than she realized upon his desk. She bit her lip for the moment, scanning for a rise of a reaction from the adjacent end of the office desk.

Sidney gave a low chuckle, taunting in every aspect. "I've never discouraged you from using your speech. Speak, but shut your mouth when you have nothing logical to discuss. It's honestly simple, Alice."

Even if she sprouts the same language as he, he still couldn't place her fable foreign tongue; she was definably an obedient stranger, but it is the colors she wears, her sweet scent that truly troubles him and gets underneath his skin. "Perhaps – you need a break. Perhaps you need to get lost in the gardens." More like a maze; Alice stumbles like the child Ace. The world around them in vast detail was oddly bleak in her mindset – she just have not figured out time, and time alone.

Sidney erects his posture, thumbing through the folders that she so rudely thrown down in one of her fits, strangely Sydney feels extremely proud to poke fun at the stranger. And even if the color of red repulses him, he finds the fine shade of velvet that kisses her cheeks more than desirable – secretly of course. He covers the doubts by belittling her.

"I figure you're only trying to get rid of me?" Alice only concludes and with such accusation, she simply frowns harder.

"Me? Certainly not. The assumption only came to mind after figuring that eight hours of straight work deserves a bit of indulging in simple pleasures such as fresh air –" Sidney drifts off for the moment, something very unlike him, watching the weariness Alice decorates herself in. "Not if you object to the offer." He nods off on habit, keeping his deformity steady on her fixation, a frown placed against the solid grain.

"Roses plucked from empty lots and empty minds. I dare say, my dear Alice, you are a peculiar case called a sickness. And a sickness must be extracted, purged to cleanse. Roses die, clocks still tick, and you – you will go on. Wander forever. You are just as mad as the rest of us, possibly madder."

A/N: And the Prologue comes to an end. And let the longer chapters come! Actually, I'm struggling with finding a proper route for Sydney. I know he's bit of an ass to Alice, and so I detailed it as such. I needed a break from Mass Effect Fanfiction – and you know how hard it is not to write about a woman not tearing heads off men? Very. (I'll also be working on a Joker one-shot.)

-If you have any leads to a proper route for Sydney and Alice…that would save me a lot of time and to finish this tidy little fic I have going on. Just private message me, etc. You know the drill. Or find me on tumblr: eatingsheep

- I am not an English Major. There will be mistakes. I repeat. Mistakes will be promised.

-This fiction's rating will jump from Teen to Mature audience. In which I will inform.

Reasons to writing this: I was sort of sick not finding a proper Sydney fanfiction…where he's all nice and easy to manipulate. Sure, he could be, but I figure he'll lighten up a bit once you budge him. Even then, after he falls for Alice, he still has trust issue along with abandonment. I'm going from a perspective of a broken man.