This was, oddly, inspired by an event in the twins' route in Dia no Kuni as I was playing the game. I think my mind connected that Alice had, in the previous event, gotten back from helping Sidney search for Crysta with the rose vines that grew as soon as planted. Yes, it's canon that plants grow to full size within moments in Wonderland, despite how badly Alice gets scared when she sees this for the first time in the twins' and Elliot's routes.
Ahhhh I can't help it. This tsuntsun bunbun never fails to make me coo or laugh or blush. Unlike Peter, at least Sidney has a good reason why he's a jerk to people. Kuudere versus tsundere… haha. And when around Alice… those two tsunderes are just so adorable!
Totally BS'ed the end… who cares…
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It wasn't that Alice disliked working in the castle garden- far from it; she rather enjoyed the peaceful, if tedious, work of trimming the bushes, sweeping the paths, and other such chores. She had just grown very accustomed to working as Sidney's assistant and found herself almost lonely, despite the presence of the castle maids.
Alice heaved a sigh and shook her head. She was being silly. Telling herself this, she refocused her attention on her current task of sweeping the path at the entrance of the rose maze, in front of the spectacular castle.
Indeed, the Castle of Diamonds was a beautiful place, with its sharp spires and white stone walls and golden yellow roofs, its expansive gardens of yellow and white roses, its towering walls… In fact, it was as spectacular and imposing as a diamond itself. It had taken Alice a good length of time to grow used to living here, but she was now comfortable in this place.
A ruckus from down the walkway caught her ear; judging by the shouts of "Your Majesty! Where are you?!" it was clear that once again Crysta had slipped off. Alice winced, knowing the myriad of effects this would have, most of them negative. There was no doubt in her mind that Sidney was going to be stressing over this until the young queen was found…
Well. At the very least, this would get Sidney out of his office for a time. If only Nightmare or Crysta had half his dedication to work.
"… Your Majesty! This isn't a game, Your Ma- oh, Alice."
And there he was, the Prime Minister of the Castle of Diamonds. High strung as ever and possibly more so than usual thanks to Crysta's disappearance, he still had his priorities set even with all the work he always had. Then again, Alice had her priorities as well, two of which, interestingly enough, coincided with his.
"Before you ask, I haven't seen Crysta," Alice said as Sidney approached her at a fast walk. Shifting her broom to her other hand, she continued, "I'll be more than happy to help you look, of course."
"Thank you." He sighed, rubbing the side of his head. "Once again she has slipped off in the brief moment that my back is turned…"
The first few times Alice had seen Sidney searching for Crysta, she'd thought he was only concerned because work wasn't getting done. As time passed, however, she'd come to realize that this wasn't true; he really was concerned about Crysta's welfare. It had been Crysta's explanation of why Sidney hated his red eye and why he was working for her that cleared up this matter for the blonde Outsider.
The Black Rabbit who was bitter towards all other rabbits could be gentle, kind even, especially when it came to Crysta and to-
"Are you going to help me or are you going to simply stand there spacing out?" Sidney's voice broke into Alice's wandering thoughts. "You look very foolish indeed when staring into space with your mouth hanging open like that."
… He could also be as bluntly rude as Julius, and that was saying something.
Alice shook herself into awareness and answered mildly, "Everyone always looks foolish to you."
"Then let me phrase it this way: you looked far more foolish than usual."
She sighed. Of course. That was just how he was; to expect any other answer from Sidney would be-
A slithering sound from behind drew her attention, and she was in the middle of turning around when something tickled her right leg. She instinctively reached down to swat or brush away whatever it was, only for a sharp prick of pain to bite her fingers.
"~~ Ow!" she exclaimed as she yanked her hand back to stare down at her fingers in surprise. Three spots of blood were welling up from tiny punctures in the skin. But what on earth had caused them?
"Alice! Get away from there, immediately!" It was Sidney's half panicked shout that roused her from her brief daze. Alice looked up at him, and then down at her leg- and shrieked on seeing several green, thorny vines snaking smoothly up her leg.
"If I move away, they'll cut me!" she yelled in a shrill voice back at Sidney. No sooner had she said this than another vine leaf tickled her other foot, causing her to jerk that foot away without thinking. This only made Alice lose her balance and topple over.
Pain shot through her whole leg now as soon as she landed; the thorns that had previously been just grazing her skin as the vines climbed were forced into her leg by the impact. Alice bit back a cry of pain this time despite that her whole leg burned where the thorns cut into her skin. Blood was already welling up in at least a dozen places and oozing trails down to the grassy ground.
Several gunshots sounded from nearby, and Alice flinched on impulse at the volume. The vines to her surprise stopped growing, for Sidney had severed them from the main plant with those shots. In the next moment Alice was scooped up, carried several meters away, and deposited upon the nearest bench, all before she could mentally sort out what was going on. It wasn't until she smelled the by now familiar fresh scent like clean linen that she gathered that it was Sidney who had picked her up and moved her here.
Her mind just a little hazy from pain, Alice forced herself to focus by listening to his shouts for a soldier or maid to fetch a doctor to treat Alice's injuries, to bring a first aid kit in the meantime. "I don't need a doctor," she insisted, protested rather. "These are just small cuts- all I need is basic first aid."
"You be quiet," Sidney shot back in that tone he used only when very worked up- Alice had long since learned he scolded when worried, would even insult her, yet only his tone was to be taken seriously. "We still need to get these vines off of you before you get an infe- are you even listening to me!? Hold still and stop trying to kick me, you idiot!"
"I can't help it!" And this was true, because even with the pain from the multitude of cuts, the blood that trickled down her leg and the slightest touch of his fingers tickled.
Trying to hold her leg still, Alice turned her head to the side just a little, her fingers fisting in the front of her skirt as they so often did when she was upset in some way. "Just wait for someone who knows what they're doing," she said. "You're going to get cut from the thorns too!"
He only clicked his tongue. "If you had been paying more attention to your surroundings, I wouldn't have to help you at all." With those words, Sidney pushed her skirt farther up her legs.
Reason number two Alice had her hands in her skirt- she'd expected this, her hands keeping the skirt at mid-thigh. "How was I supposed to know that some rose seed would fall and start growing like that!?" she exclaimed with pink cheeks, embarrassed at his words and not his actions. It was an innocent gesture from a young man whose social interactions didn't reflect his ineptitude in dealing with people one on one. He tried; he was just a different kind of clumsy from Peter.
"You couldn't have. That is why you needed to pay more attention."
Eyelid twitching, Alice shot back, "I'm still not used to how fast the plants in this world grow, nor could I have been paying enough attention to have expected that!"
To this Sidney gave no response, just kept focused on what he was doing; Alice sighed and didn't push him.
As Alice allowed the Black Rabbit to carefully remove the vines the embedded in her leg- he'd adjusted her skirt to reach the top of one vine that had made it to her thigh and that was all- she tried to keep silent, for this hurt more than she wanted to let on. A deep breath in and out was followed by her biting her lip; crying wouldn't do her any good.
"… Shouldn't you be searching for Crysta?" she asked at last, voice quiet.
"The soldiers and maids are continuing to search for Her Majesty," answered Sidney dismissively as he worked free the last vine, the one with the most thorns in Alice's skin.
"One of them could help me."
"You're injured; Her Majesty is not."
"She could well be."
"Then when she is found she shall be treated appropriately." Yet instead of getting up to help search for the truant queen, the Prime Minister continued to kneel in front of the girl who considered herself common and unworthy of any special attention, continued to ever so gently pull free the biting thorns from her leg, ignoring the blood that got on his fingers from this.
It was at this point that Alice noticed that there were several pink scratches running along Sidney's wrists and the backs of his hand; when she looked closer, she could see that there were other scratches and pricks from the rose vine thorns on his fingers and palms as well. "Just a moment!" she exclaimed, raising her voice without meaning to. "How many times have you been pricked by those thorns?!"
"I've lost count," answered Sidney simply. "Does it really matter?"
"Yes! Yes it does!" He hadn't given any sign of pain that she'd noticed, but that didn't mean that he wasn't hurting. Now that she thought about it, the blood on his hands was quite clearly from more than just her injuries. "You shouldn't just allow yourself to get hurt like that!"
And now Sidney paused, looking up at Alice with an almost intense stare. "Why?" was all that he asked.
Yet when Alice tried to respond, she couldn't right away, her mouth instead hanging open. It was such a simple answer, that much she knew, and yet… and yet the words wouldn't come.
Finally she gave up trying to think of an answer and shut her mouth, planted her hands on her hips, and glared down at the Black Rabbit to let the words come naturally. "Because I don't want you to get hurt!"
"Is that really a good argument?" He'd let his eyes drop down again as he fished from his pocket a handkerchief- black, of course- and began to gently dab the blood from her leg where he could.
"Yes it is. Sidney, are you even listening to me? I don't want you to get hurt because you're important to me."
… All right, that was embarrassing. Alice closed her mouth as heat crept up her neck and face, her words belatedly registering in her mind. Glancing at Sidney, she caught his startled expression and the accompanying pink of his cheeks.
Simultaneously, Alice whipped her head away and to the side, while Sidney dropped his head down and cleared his throat. "You don't have to say such things to make me feel better about myself," he told her, "especially when I'm not feeling down in any way."
"I said it because it's true and because I felt like it, not because I was trying to encourage you," huffed Alice. On impulse, she reached out to catch both of his hands in hers, ignoring the drying blood there. This brought Sidney's wide-eyed gaze back to hers, which, despite her red cheeks, she met.
"You don't like it when I get hurt," she said slowly, "and I don't like it when you get hurt. Can you accept that? Let me tend to your cuts when you've finished bandaging mine, all right?"
Sidney was silent, apparently processing this. The next moment he gripped Alice's hands in return and stretched up to press a soft kiss to her lips. "… All right," he conceded. "Just don't make a mess of it. I need to be able to work later."
"Then I hope you take care of my light injuries as well, because I need to get back to work soon too," answered Alice primly.
As a maid approached at a jog with a box of first aid supplies, Alice gave him a quick kiss in return and said, "I want to return to working with you soon, even if you don't need the help."
"I'll make sure you can." There it was; that gentle, almost serene stare reserved for only two people- for Crysta and herself.
Maybe she should let him take care of her more often.