Hello dear reader, this was written a few years ago that was based off of the manga series.
It was a nice morning, or was it midnight. Maybe it was noon, but time was as fluid as she was used to. Who was this girl, well it was Alice of course and she was trying to get away from Peter White once again. Alice had been invited to the castle of hearts for tea with Vivaldi when as soon as she had entered the castle grounds Peter attacked her.
"Alice you came to visit me! I knew you loved me just as much as I loved you" he said as he hugged her
"Peter let go I'm here to see Vivaldi" Alice said
"Well you can see me beforehand right." He asked just as the day changed once again to midnight.
"She can't as she is late and now I don't even want tea" a voice said behind Peter
"Hi Vivaldi, sorry I didn't make it on time." Alice said after Peter let her go
"Peter didn't we give you a very important job to do" Vivaldi asked
"Finished just as Alice arrived actually" Peter said. Just then a couple of soldiers came up to Peter and said something as it got Peter to leave Alice with Vivaldi in the gardens.
"Well now that he is gone we can finally have the tea I invited you to." Vivaldi said
"I thought you said you weren't in the mood for tea now that it wasn't afternoon?" Alice said
"I just decided that I liked Midnight better than afternoon to drink tea. It's quieter and the air is softer. It's either that or I just wanted to see you" Vivaldi said as she pulled Alice towards a table with Tea and Cakes. "So how is it living at the amusement park?" Vivaldi asked
"I actually moved into the Clock tower with Julius as I got tired of the music that Gowland played with his violin." Alice said she took some cakes and a cup of tea.
"Really, I must insist that you move here instead of that gloomy clock tower." Vivaldi said
"Vivaldi, I must decline as I just moved in and I would prefer to stay away from peter as I still have a score to settle with him for bringing me here against my wishes"
"Well whenever you want to move again you're free to come here anytime you wish as it's a standing invite"
Vivaldi and Alice spent the next few hours enjoying each other's company. When the two women had their fill of cakes and tea Alice left to return to the Clock tower after saying goodbye. On Her way back to the tower the Time changed again to Noon and Alice made a slight detour to pick up some things in the village for Julius.
"SO did you enjoy your time with the Queen?" Julius asked without even looking up from the clock he was working on
"Yes I did unfortunately though I did run into Peter again just as I entered the grounds of the castle. I swear that he had a tracker on me and knows when I am close to the castle." Alice said as she put her bags down on a table
"Hum…"
"You are sure that there wasn't anything else in the bottle that Peter forced me to drink when I first arrived?"
"Hum..." Julius said as he put down the finished clock and started on another one.
"Oh I picked up some supplies for you, mostly the usual screws and springs. I also got some new coffee flavors to try." Alice said as she handed the materials to Julius.
"Thanks. Were there anything at the door when you got back?" He asked
"Nope, no clocks but then again this time of year are usually quiet."
"The cat from the Amusement Park came by while you were away. He was looking for you. I told him I would send you when you got back" Julius said as he cleaned a part of the clock he was working on
"But I just got back. I should help you for a little bit." Alice said as she finished putting things away
"Alice, go and enjoy. I have a few clocks left for today and then I myself will take a rest which will be well deserved. You can make up for it when my work gets backed up again" Julius said as he took off his glasses
"Alright then I will go. Will you need anything for when I come back?"
"Nope I just need some quiet and hopefully I can get it." Julius smiled and went back to work.
Many time changes happened without any problems and were very quiet. Alice spent time between the territories of the castle, Amusement Park, Clock Tower and the Hatters Mansion. She had long forgotten her old world and had come to call this strange world home. Alice felt really at home when she was at the Clock tower and Julius showed her how to fix clocks. Though she wasn't as good as Julius, she did have a knack at it which helped Julius.
Alice also helped out where ever she could in the other territories. She would help out with tickets sales and guiding people at the Amusement Park or with court cases at Vivaldi's Castle. She loved to play with the Twins and Boris the cat in the gardens of the Hatter Mansion the most. It made her feel like she was playing with siblings and that she was a part of this world without being an outsider.
It was during one of these days that she had been invited to tea with Blood and Vivaldi in a secret rose garden. It was rare for these Tea parties because Blood and Vivaldi were supposed to be enemies instead of siblings.
"Alice you haven't been to my castle in a while, I hope you haven't forgotten me have you?" Vivaldi asked as she served the tea
"Jealous sister, that Alice may be spending more time with me and not you?" Blood said
"I'm Sorry Vivaldi; I will visit more as long as you send Peter away beforehand. I may have forgiven him about bringing me here but I can't stand that he attacks me with hugs each and every time I come to visit you." Alice said as she had some of her tea.
"Alice what was your family like back in your old world?" Blood asked
"Yes Alice tells us about where you grew up before you came to be with us" Vivaldi said
"Well I grew up with my father, mother and sisters. My Older sister Lorina was my father's favorite daughter and I had to help raise my younger sister after my mother passed away. They were nice to me but I didn't feel like we were family. My Mother rarely talked with us and I don't remember her ever caring for me. Thinking back on it, my nurse maid was more of a mother than my own mother." Alice said
"Do you think you will return to your world?" Vivaldi asked
"I don't know, I mean what will happen to them if I stayed here. Is it me or does this tea have a different taste than what we drank last time?" Alice asked
"It shouldn't, it's my personal blend." Blood said as he took a sip from Alice's cup, "I don't taste anything different. Could it have been in a cake that you ate?"
"I haven't eaten anything but the crackers that have no flavor at all" Alice said before yawning "Maybe I'm just tired. I played with the twins earlier and you know how those two like to play"
"Well hope you have sweet dreams" Vivaldi said as Alice got up from the table.
Alice returned to the Clock tower and went to bed. Luckily for Alice, she had her own bed in a small corner of the main room of tower. She also was lucky that Nightmare didn't show up in her dreams as well which allowed her to have a very restful night.
Meanwhile, Julius had returned to the tower to find that it was quiet and there was no smell of coffee. He was use to Alice putting a pot on when she had returned to the tower. He entered the room and he looked to Alice's bed and found her asleep. How long had she been back and did she have coffee ready to make? He went to the pot to see that it was empty and the inside was dry. Julius went over to Alice's bed and saw that she was asleep and breathing heavily.
Julius worked for a couple hours and every once in a while would look to Alice and to see if she was alright. After a time zone change and no interruption from Ace, Julius knew something was wrong with Alice as she hadn't moved. Julius was concerned once he looked at Alice's face and the color in her face wasn't its rosy color it should be but a sickly white. This color he knew well with Nightmare. He quickly called for a doctor who along the way collected Boris and the Twins.
"What's wrong with Alice?" Boris asked
"Not sure. I arrived home and she was already in bed. It wasn't until I notice that she didn't move when Ace stopped by that I knew something was wrong." Julius explained
"We will go tell boss about it. She was to be with him for tea during the last private tea party he had." Dum said as he and Dee ran out the door. Some time passed before the doctor had anything to say.
"Julius Sir, the girl has been poisoned and luckily her body is slightly different than our so it's fighting it then actually killing. I have given her an antidote but it's up to her now" the doctor said and followed after the twins.
"I will go tell the old man as well. He might know about something that might…on second thought I am going to stay and watch Alice. She needs quiet to heal not his so called music" Boris said as he sat on Alice's bed and moved some hair off her face.
"Let me know if there is a change to her" Julius said as he went back to work but couldn't put his focus full on it until he knew that Alice was healthy.
The twins ran all the way to the mansion, killing as few faceless as they could to. They ran right through the gate and found just the men they wanted to see and then some. Blood was sitting at a table with Elliot, Gowland and Vivaldi. When they reached the table they fell to the ground out of breath. Blood and Elliot rush to the twin's side and asked what the matter was.
"Alice…she isn't…well" Tweetle dee said
"Yeah…she is… sick" Tweetle Dum continued
"What do you mean she's sick?" Vivaldi asked
"We were chasing Boris when we saw a doctor rush to the clock tower and followed" Dee said
"We got there and the clock maker pointed to Alice who hadn't moved in a while and the doctor examined her" Dun said
"Do we know how what she has?" Blood asked as he helped Dee off the ground and handed him a cup of water
"Nope we are only telling what we know, we left before the doctor had finished his examination" Dum said
"I think our meeting has ended we need to get to clock tower" Gowland said
"Agreed maybe by now they have a diagnosis." Elliot said after tending to Dum.
No one said a thing to each other as the six members made it to the clock tower. They knocked on the door and Julius answered it. The Twins pushed pass the others and went over to Alice's bed to see that Boris had put an ice pack on Alice's forehead as it looked like she was sweating from a high fever. Boris looked to them and motioned for them to be silent. The twins nodded and hopped on to the end of the bed to watch their older sister as she fought what had entered her body.
"So what did the Doctor say about what's wrong with her?" Vivaldi asked
"Poisoned with a deadly toxin that was made for us, luckily her body is fighting it." Julius said
"Do you know how she was poisoned?" Elliot asked
"I would ask you Blood that as she was at your mansion the last I knew before she came home and went to bed." Julius replied
"She was with me a couple Time zones ago when I had a tea party but it wasn't anything unusual about that" Blood replied
"Blood, the tea she had. She said that it tasted funny and it was your own personal blend at that" Vivaldi replied
"And how would you know about what tea was served at the Hatters Tea party?" Gowland asked
"We had business before hand and once Alice arrived to have tea with me Vivaldi staid" Blood said as he lied about the true reason about the tea party.
"I will go back to the Mansion and talk with the servants about who served the tea and how the poison might have entered into said tea." Elliot said. Blood nodded and Elliot left.
"Is there anything we can do to help her right now?" Gowland asked
"The doctor gave her an antidote but it's up to her now" Julius said as he took his seat at his desk to put his mind into something other than Alice.
"We will stay here and help tend to her. Even if it means working with people we don't like" Vivaldi said as she pulled a seat up to the side of the bed.
Gowland and Blood took a seat across the room in the only other chairs and silently watched over Alice. It was so quiet that you could hear every little tick and tock of the clocks on the wall and the sounds of clocks being repaired. Alice made a few sounds as she fought what was in her system. Somehow word got back to Heart castle that Alice was sick which brought Ace and Peter running. When they arrived Elliot was making his report to Blood that a new maid had poisoned the tea intending for Blood to drink it. The maid was also an assassin from a rival mafia group hoping to take Blood out. Elliot also mentioned that he had taken care of the maid and had some men go and attack the rival group.
Everyone took turns making Alice as comfortable as they could. They would change the ice pack if she was still hot and put warm water bottles under her blankets if she was cold. Everyone moved around the room quietly without disturbing Alice or Julius. No one knew what to say to break the silence. The Doctor came by to check on Alice and prescribed a few broths that might help her body fight the poison.
Alice partially awoke after one of the doctors' visits though she was too weak to even move. She couldn't hear anyone around her so she fell back asleep but this time Nightmare was there. He asked how she was feeling and if he could help her with getting a message to the ones she loved. Alice started to say something but paused to think.
"So Alice, have you thought of anything?" Nightmare asked after Alice sat silently.
"What do you mean? They are all probably just going about their business to remember about me. For all I know I could be on the verge of death and they wouldn't care." She said
"Really now, then you haven't opened your eyes to the truth right before you." Night mare said as a small star fell into his hands which turned into a picture of clock tower. "You have everyone worried that you might not make it back to them"
"How do I know this is true and not something of my dying mind is making to calm me before I pass on?"
"Well to start it's in the rules. Role holders aren't supposed to be around each other for very long unless they are discussing land. The amount of time you have been unconscious has been seven time changes and no one has talked about land or fought while at clock tower. The second is in you. You may not have wanted to be here in the beginning but now you have made a deep impact in their lives that they would die than be without you." Nightmare said as Alice started crying. The realm nightmare created started to change to a memory of Alice's. It was a time she was sick in bed and no one visited her.
"I am use to this being what I am use to when I'm sick. No one was there to comfort me or worry that I wasn't getting better quick enough, no one thought to bring me a warm bowl of soup. I was alone when I was sick yet when my father or sisters were I was always there." Tears streamed down Alice's face like mini waterfalls as she continued telling Nightmare what she had lived.
"You still have the ability to return home. But knowing that there are people here that are killing themselves to see you come back to them is that truly what you want?" Nightmare asked
"What role would I have if I did stay? I am not part of this world meaning I have a heart instead of a clock in my chest. I hate the violence that everyone is forced to partake in every day. I…"Alice said
"Silly girl, you just need to be yourself." Night mare said as the realm began to fade.
Alice awoke to two warm things on either side of her. She turned to one side to see Boris's lying next to her then on the other side was Peter in his rabbit form. She looked around the room to find Vivaldi snuggled into Julius's bed, Blood and Eliot slouched in chairs with the twins sitting back to back at their feet. Gowland sat beside the door while Julius was sleeping at his desk. The only person Alice didn't see was Ace but he was mysterious and disappeared quite often. Alice noticed that everyone was asleep and gently moved Peter out of the way so she could get up.
Alice quietly left the room and headed to the balcony to think. As she shut the door to the room she didn't realize that there was one member of the room still awake. She walked out to the edge and looked out over the country of hearts. It was peaceful which helped Alice think about what Nightmare said. Had everyone been worried that she wouldn't make it through to see them again? No she had missed heard and that everyone was at the clock tower for some meeting that the rules of the land decreed every once in a while. Alice looked at the vial that was in her pocket, it was still full meaning she could go home anytime she wanted to.
"Why does everything I do revolve around this little bottle?" Alice said aloud
"It shouldn't have to" A voice said. Alice turned to see Julius standing the door
"Julius, I didn't wake you did I?" Alice asked
"I wasn't really asleep more so just resting my eyes. We all have taken turns with watching over you. How are you feeling?" Julius asked
"Better thank you. What do you mean by "all"?"
"Everyone back in that room, we all took turns making sure that you where warm and had fluids"
"So that's why Boris and Peter were on either side of me when I woke up"
"I wished they hadn't but it kept you warm. So what is on your mind?"
"I am so confused. Part of me wants to go home and part of doesn't because of how everyone has treated me here. Everyone changed for me, I mean they don't shoot as much around me and they listen to my wishes. I know that everyone could have continued on with their lives and ways but they changed for me. They made me feel more a part of this world than making me feel like the outsider that I am."
"DO you really think you are an outsider?" Julius said as he walked up to Alice and put his hand on hers
"You said it yourself when I first arrived. You said I should go back to where I came from."
"You might have started like that but you have filled a missing position in our world. It's a position that we ourselves didn't realizes was empty until you came."
"And what's position is that?" Alice asked
"Our…" Julius started to say before
"ALICE YOUR AWAKE!" Peter said as he entered the balcony
"Peter can you shut your mouth for once and go get the doctor" Julius said. That set Alice's decision. Alice watched as Peter turned tail and ran back inside and then watched as he ran out the tower towards the town.
"Finally some quiet." Julius said
"I think my mind and heart has made a decision." Alice said as she held the vial up in the air
"And what's that?" Julius asked
"The role I play in this world. I am the glue that keeps everyone together."
"What do you mean?" Julius asked knowing she was right
"I have kept the peace between everyone and even though I don't know all the rules here, I am affected by them all the same." Alice said "Well now the only thing left for me to decide is what territory I want to stay in."
"Big decision I take it?"
"Not really but that depends on their answer if they will let me stay in their home"
"And where do you what to stay?"
"Here with you. I have come to realize that I see you as a father as you have been there to guide me since I first came here. I see everyone as a member of a family. I see you as a father, Vivaldi as an older sister, Boris and the twins as brothers. Blood, Elliot and Ace I see as uncles and I see Gowland as grandfather."
"Well then. I guess we will have to make some changes to the tower then" Julius said
"What do you mean?" Alice said
"Well we will need to add another room for you as you can't stay in the main room if you're going to stay here." Julius said as he watched Alice's face light up
"Really I can stay?" Alice asked
"Of course, I wouldn't force you to leave especially since I have grown accustomed to having you here and of your coffee." Julius said.
"Then there is only one thing left to do"
"And what's that?" Julius asked
"This" Alice said as she uncorked the vial. She went to the side of the balcony and turned the vial over, pouring the contents out onto the ground below.
The two then walked back into the tower were everyone was starting to wake up. Peter returned with the Doctor shortly after and the doctor gave Alice a full clean bill of health. By the time that he left everyone was waking up and were happy to see that Alice was back with them. Alice saw how each member of this unique, which was an understatement, family looked at her with joy and happiness. This was something that Alice had seen very rarely in her old home but that was the past all she had to do now was move on with her life and truly forget about the world she had belonged to before.
As time went on Alice truly forgot about her old family as she replaced them with the members of wonderland. She even got over her fear of guns and had a number of shooting battles with people. Always with targets as she had the one thing that kept her from forgetting her old world and that was her heart. She could hear it beating in her ears and feel it in her chest that it was the only thing different about her. There were times when she couldn't sleep and Julius would hold Alice in his arms with her head on his chest. The sounds of ticking coming from within would relax Alice and put her to sleep like a baby.
Alice spent her time between the territories as best she could which reduced tension between everyone to a minimal. Everyone enjoyed her company and were glad that the vial wasn't around to send her back. What really made everyone happy was that Alice was alive and well but only time would tell how long that they would have her in their lives as they were unsure how this world's time would time affected her body. That was until they realized that she wasn't aging and that even though there was some sort of time flowing by the changing of time zones, it was like Alice had been preserved in glass.