AN: Curious Genie is freaking adorable, is it not? But I'm so in love with Red Knave. Did you see him in 1x03 when they were talking about her? His face! I just want to lock them in a room until they make up. Ooooh. That's not a bad idea. Anyone else like it? The again, that's probably the basis of 1x4... Crap.
"Alice, what was that back there?"
Alice looked at her genie and against all her wants, clung to him. "I'm scared, no, terrified of it," She whispered to him, holding him as close and tightly as she could. She buried her face into his neck, it making her feel safer than anything else she could think of to do. Memories of it when she was a child were flashing back into her thoughts and invading her mind; she hated it and she hated being afraid of it.
"Of a Bandersnatch?" Cyrus clicked his tongue, "That's an easy fix." He promised her, wrapping one arm around her waist and using the other to rub circles in her back as he tried to calm her down. Feeling Alice's fear through the non stop shaking, he only wanted her to let go of this terror.
Alice pulled back enough so she could see his face, "What do you mean easy fix? It's a Bandersnatch, Cyrus. It's the most horrific thing I've ever seen."
- - - -Curious Genie- - - -The Bandersnatch- - - -Curious Genie- - - -The Bandersnatch- - - -Curious Genie- - - -
Cyrus, being how he was, decided that he was going to teach Alice everything she needed to know about her fear. You always needed to know your enemy, after all, and he was going to teach her that. "Alice. You're going to attack me."
Alice had to wonder if he was joking, because she knew that he wouldn't really think that she would be okay with actually attacking him in defense, "No."
"You have to." Cyrus argued, not wanting her to be unprepared for fighting a Bandersnatch, if she ever had to again. It was easy to see that the beast scared her. In his mind, Alice wasn't ever scared, she was fearless, brave and ultimately curious. Fear had no right to clog her thoughts.
"No, Cyrus! I'm not actually going to try to kill you. Sparing, yes, but this is completely different. You're not going to be reacting as your masterful self. You're going to be attacking like a Bandersnatch." When she saw his face, disagreement covering it, her eyes narrowed as she asked, "Tell me why, then."
"Why?" Cyrus repeated, wondering if his idea was really that unclear. "Because it's the only way you'll know how to defeat the Bandersnatch, obviously. I'm not going to unleash one on you, and I don't think trees can attack back, even though you'll have to practice hitting one. Actually getting a sword into the Bandersnatch takes a lot of strength, which I know you have somewhere hidden inside you."
"So you're going to pretend to be the Bandersnatch?" Alice was still unsure of this idea, the idea of attacking Cyrus like he was an enemy just didn't seem right to her.
"Yes." His reply was simplistic enough to make Alice glad to have him be her teacher in this, but also enough to make Alice actually want to hit him, even just a little.
"If you get hurt..." Alice whispered, figuring that if she let the anger she was feeling then she would unleash it on Cyrus, which would be a lot more than he was expecting.
"I won't." Cyrus promised, even though he knew that he'd let a hit land at least once or twice so if she did have to face a Bandersnatch again, she'd know what to do.
Cyrus lifted a piece of cloth, but it dropped back around his neck as he heard Alice's shrieking, "Are you putting on a blindfold?! No! You will get hurt if you can't see!"
"And so could you!" The Genie shot back at her, "You could be attacked by something that scares you, and if you're scared, you won't be able to truly fight. You have to let me teach you all of this, Alice. It's the only way that I know how to make the nightmares stop."
Alice knew from the concern in his expression that he wasn't going to back down, so she knew that she would just have to put up with his crazy plan and hope that she didn't hurt him too badly when they actually got to the attacking part. For once, she wasn't going to enjoy sparring with Cyrus.
Knowing that he had won the argument, he tied the cloth around his eyes, only one layer so he could kind of see what was going on around him, but not to the point were it was completely clear. He knew that he would have to play dumb, so he filled his thoughts with something distracting: Alice when she was sleeping.
- - - -Curious Genie- - - -The Bandersnatch- - - -Curious Genie- - - -The Bandersnatch- - - -Curious Genie- - - -
"So what did we learn today?" Cyrus asked as Alice wrapped a longer bandage around his arm where she had accidentally hit too deep. She had already tried to apologize seven times, but Cyrus just kept cutting her off before she even got to the second word.
"Always listen to Cyrus." Even though her voice was in monotone, he knew that she was only teasing him since she had been rambling about how he knew everything during the battle. Both of them knew that she was just getting back at him for letting her land five hits that he could have dodged with ease.
"What else did you learn today?" Cyrus pushed even though Alice's personality wouldn't let her give in so quickly.
"You were right about learning how to fight a Bandersnatch." She had to hide her devious smile when she got an idea, "I'm not scared of a Bandersnatch anymore."
Cyrus was actually considering giving up on his task to get this woman to see reason, even if it meant that she wasn't trained, "And?"
"Bandersnatches are stupid and they can't see well. It's easier to trap them rather than go straight for an attack. Use my wit more than my sword." She had a silly smile playing on her lips, since she had known that this was the answer he had been looking for all along. She just wanted to see if he actually had an ego, which her compliments didn't feed anything but a polite smile. "Thank you." Alice told him sincerely with a real joy filled smile.