Allaying Ennui by SC-Jupe

Disclaimer - I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice, which belongs to QuinRose.

Summary – Vivaldi is the beautiful, daunting female not many dare cross. However, even she does not have everything. Alice, the sweet and odd foreigner, encounters adversity, despite her gracious intentions. In the end, only one woman will get what she wants.

Chapter 1

"How is Her Highness this morning?"

The faint lips of the faceless chambermaid addressed turned down slightly. "Ah, she is her usual self," she answered dispassionately. However, there was a barely detectable note of dismay in her voice.

The first maid who had spoken sighed lightly and carefully handed her stack of neatly folded linen to the second maid's outstretched arms. As she did so, she turned to see out one of the full length windows that lined the wide hallway, mainly to avert her eyes from the near-blinding whiteness of the cloth. "And it's such a lovely day, too," she remarked wistfully.

Indeed, it was. Across the grassy courtyard, the sun had risen almost halfway above the horizon line created by the trees of the forest. The sun itself was a pinkish orange color, but its pink coloring appeared to be slowly bleeding over the pale lavender of the pre-dawn sky. Songbird voices could almost be heard through the Castle of Hearts' broad walls; it was very nearly always springtime in the Castle of Hearts territory.

Lost in a trance of marveling at the colors of the sky, the first maid moved to open the window. The thought crossed her mind that she had not been assigned to hang the laundry out to dry that morning; thus, she might very possibly not hear the birds at all that day. It will only be for the briefest of moments…

"You!" hissed a third maid passing by, her arms overflowing with one of the Queen's dark gowns. The first maid jumped, being so abruptly startled from her trance. The second maid also had a look of surprise on her few features. Apparently she had been watching the sun rise as well, yet the first maid had nearly forgotten her existence. "You know Her Majesty loathes the songbirds," she reminded them knowingly, after finally receiving the full attention of the daydreamers. Her voice remained at the soft volume of all servants' of the castle voices: above a whisper, but lower than a soft speaker's voice, lest a guest of the castle be soft-spoken.

The first two maids gave her quick nods, and scurried back to their work. They were all too familiar with the consequences of idleness.

Ace gave his friendliest smile as he leaned back against one of the castle walls near the entrance, crossing his arms. "You know I'm not good with directions. It's not my fault, really. Anyway, it's about the journey, not the destination."

The man he was addressing furrowed his dark brows in annoyance, glaring at the knight. "This needs to be done by the week's end. I don't have any more time to waste. You've been screwing off enough as it is," he replied through gritted teeth.

The ever-joyful Ace's smile remained plastered across his face, which only served to annoy his companion more so. "Ah, you have nothing to worry about. I'll get right to it."

Realizing that arguing would get him nowhere, the dark-haired man released a deep sigh and looked off in the distance, away from the smiling-idiot's face. "I do hope so," he said despondently. With that, he nodded curtly toward Ace, and turned on his heel toward the forest with his cloak swirling behind him.

Watching the man depart so quickly, Ace couldn't help but laugh. If there was one thing he could always count on, it was that man's misery. He shook his head in pity, then left to finish the job he had promised to complete nearly a week ago. Of course, he wasn't going in the right direction; perhaps he wouldn't find his future victim for several hours, perhaps several days. So long as he got the job done before the week's end, it didn't really matter where he went in the meantime.

Vivaldi stood in the parlor of the Castle of Hearts, idly sipping her black tea and gazing out the large window that took up almost the entire eastern wall of the room. Even though the sun had risen and cast a soft yellow glow in the white room, the day's prospects seemed dim to Vivaldi.

The three territories were in an unsure state of peace, aside from the occasional scuffle between the Hatter's Mansion and the Amusement Park, and had been for some time. This so-called era of peace began with the foreigner Alice's arrival in Wonderland. She had immediately begun changing the people here; they were less inclined to be violent, if only slightly, and she had turned the attentions of the leaders of the territories toward herself, rather than the struggle for power. The power struggle was far from forgotten, but Alice was foremost on the minds of the Roleholders rather than power, nowadays.

For the queen, life had only become slightly more interesting with Alice's arrival. She still had to do her daily duties as the ruler of the castle: direct servants, sign paperwork, retain those shaky relations of friendship with the other territories, order the executions of idle servants, process the new maids and soldiers who came to replace them, and pester Peter and the king to do any other work that was to be found – what she referred to as "dirty work".

But daily duties had rapidly become boring for Vivaldi, and each day she felt more forlorn. She would say forlorn because lonely was so pitiful a word that she could not bear to use it in respect to herself. Nevertheless, if one were to describe the queen frankly, the word lonely would have to be used, for this was how she felt most often. Alice's visits helped somewhat, but Alice could only visit so often, not mentioning the fact that Alice sometimes appeared genuinely frightened of the queen. The fear in the girl's eyes had at first aroused the queen's anger, which was never too far below the surface, but Vivaldi could never be angry with such an adorable girl; she had a soft spot for her.

However, a queen couldn't be seen looking forlorn. That would be undignified. Thus, Vivaldi held her head high and acted her role truly, expressing all the necessary traits: confidence, authority, competence, and intolerance. She ignored the negative feelings the best she could, and did all she could to forget them (this, of course, was impossible).

Unfortunately, there were only two events that the queen could genuinely get some enjoyment from, and one was executions. Seeing others suffer more outwardly than she did inwardly was strangely satisfying. Did this make Vivaldi sadistic? Of course. But then again, the faceless retained almost no value, and replacing them was not difficult. So what did it matter?

The other was watching Ace, that sad, lost knight. At times Vivaldi wondered if he suffered more than she, but always decided that it couldn't be possible. If he did, he would never be able to smile so often. If nothing else, he intrigued her.

But the limited amount of fancy that the queen could find did nothing to cure her loneliness.* Obviously, the cute inanimate objects she collected could only do so much. They were not actual people; they could not comfort her, care for her, love her. And the king was next to nothing as a companion. Vivaldi had pined for his affections as a young woman but that of course had come to nothing. He was much too interested in the faceless women, something Vivaldi could never understand. Now, five – or was it six? - years since she had become queen, the man only deepened the queen's depression. He was a sputtering old fool, and she could never quite remember what she found attractive about him. It certainly wasn't his good looks. Ah, it no longer mattered.

The queen slowly walked across the room and gracefully sat in one of the large white armchairs. By now, she had finished her tea. "Maid!" she called out, her tone demanding and dangerous. A few seconds later, a faceless girl scurried into the room and hastily curtseyed before Vivaldi. The queen handed her the teacup, the girl quickly curtseyed again, and then left.

Vivaldi slouched back in the chair, planning to drift off to sleep just an hour since she had awoken, but saw movement out the window. What was that? She carefully stood and went to the far side of the window to get a better angle at the scene before her. Ah, it was a man. Oh, only Ace; she'd recognize that horrible trench coat anywhere. But, whom was the man he was speaking with? Vivaldi didn't recall his face. Yet, he had a face, so he must have been a Roleholder. He was remarkably handsome; gloomy yes, but his angular features were... yes, a handsome man, nonetheless.

"Maid!"

The girl was in front of the queen in a matter of seconds. "What is it, Milady?" she asked politely, curtseying.

Vivaldi beckoned for the chambermaid to stand next to, her which she quickly did. She pointed one long, manicured finger at the scene unfolding before them. "With whom is Ace speaking?" Vivaldi asked in a tone unusual for her, for it was more inquiring than treacherous.

"Why, I believe that is the man who repairs the clocks, Milady."

"And what would be his name?"

"Julius Monrey, if it pleases Milady."

Vivaldi looked skeptical as the man left, with Ace quickly departing after. "Why have we not seen him before?" she asked, or perhaps, demanded.

"You have, Milady. At balls and other events, I believe," she replied uncertainly.

"Hmm… You are dismissed."

The queen remained standing in the same spot as the anxious girl fled the room, but her eyes drifted off to stare at the horizon. Why do I not remember his face? she pondered.

The rabbit-man commonly known as Peter White walked, or rather shuffled, through the maze of a garden outside the castle, carefully trying to avoid his duties until noontime. Or maybe until three. Heck, he could stall until seven if he wanted. And when Vivaldi asked why he was so late, he'd simply reply that the meeting was at 7 p.m. rather than 7 a.m. Sure, she'd probably be furious, but that was the least of his worries. Perhaps he could sneak off and try to find Alice...

Peter kicked up some dust on the path. His shoes were already coated with the stuff. Hmph, this garden is quite ugly for such a wealthy castle. I think we can afford better gardeners. Maybe if Vivaldi hadn't killed off the last good ones... He sighed under his breath. The garden was very ugly. The bushes were carefully and neatly cropped, but their branches were dry, and the ends of the leaves were browning, whereas they should be green and vibrant. Not to mention the lack of any other kind of shrubbery besides the horrid bushes. That is, unless one included the red-painted roses, which disgusted Peter with their falsity.

He looked up to the sky to see if the sun had reached its peak, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye...something pink. Ah, it was none other than the Cheshire cat of the damned Amusement Park, idly licking his paw atop one of the castle walls. He hadn't noticed the rabbit, who was now stealthily taking out his pocket watch, which rapidly changed into a gun. Peter aimed carefully and... Bang! Bang!

Peter smiled smugly at the sight of the startled cat fleeing, and carefully pocketed the clock again.

"Mr. White!"

A faceless card soldier appeared at the end of the path Peter was walking. The rabbit narrowed his eyes at the annoyance. Apparently his little game had given away his position; in other words, his impulsivity had ruined his hopes for idleness. "What?"

"The queen has an assignment for you. She wants you to invite Julius Monrey to tea with Her Highness tomorrow afternoon."

Peter raised his slender white brows in surprise. That was an odd request. Yes, what would the queen want with that miserable man of the Clock Tower? Ah, it didn't matter. What mattered was that Alice stayed at the Clock Tower. He would get to see Alice.

Peter gave a sly sort of smirk and nodded to the soldier, telling him that he'd see to it immediately. (Not that he did. He only quickly turned another corner of the maze to hide himself from the soldier's sight.) Peter knew Alice all too well. He was sure that every Tuesday morning she went shopping at the market, and wouldn't return until after noon at the earliest. Thus, Peter saw the opportunity to stall for another half hour or so, in order to 'coincidentally' meet Alice at the Clock Tower later on. He continued his journey along the meandering path, a smile slowly spreading across his face in hopeful anticipation. He glanced up at the bright yellow sun, now exactly at its peak, and thought, It's funny how things work out.

Author's Note – I know my view of Vivaldi here is probably different from most people; I tried to look at her from a more sympathetic perspective. Oh, and I've estimated her age to be about twenty-one or twenty-two. Pairings don't come until much later. I can handle flames/concrit, so don't go easy on me. :)

*If you've read Dickens' Hard Times, you know what this means. For those that haven't, and I strongly recommend that you do, 'fancy' is synonymous with 'fun'.

Beta'd by Chaosangel4us
Beta'd by Know it all hermione