AN: So, so sorry that this update took so long. I meant to update earlier, but I fell behind on some things. Thanks to the few of you who reviewed. I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Alice: Madness Returns.

It was late in the morning by the time Alice pulled herself from her loaned bed in Bunny's apartment. Through the constant tossing and turning, vivid nightmares, and the occasional car alarm sounding off somewhere outside, she was able to get in about three hours of rest before waking up and deciding that was the best she was going to get.

Ever the gentleman, Bunny offered to take the couch in the living room while Alice took his bed. She declined his offer at first, still not comfortable with accepting kindness from others, even Bunny, but she had been running on fumes for days and was in no condition to put up a decent argument. With little resistance, the man was able to coax her into agreeing with a half-hearted grunt and a gentle nudge forward.

After a late breakfast, the pair set out for a brief tour of Burgess before driving out to the outskirts where Alice's new home was located. Upon their arrival, they were greeted stiffly by the falsely enthusiastic Realtor that sold Bunny the house. They were immediately given the grand tour of the old three-story, Victorian home.

"Other than the furniture, everything is exactly as it was last left."

Bunny watched stoically from the large doorway he was leaning on with crossed arms as their assigned realtor, a woman by the name of Bridget Lange, ushered the home's new owner into the front foyer where she proceeded to unload every piece of information she had on the house in one, extremely long monologue.

"There have been a few touch-ups done to the foundation since the upkeep of the house has been poor these past few years, and some windows have been replaced due to weather damage, and/or children with a penchant for throwing stones, but for the most part, this house has aged relatively well, all things considered," Bridget spoke fluidly while gesturing in several different directions.

Personally, Bunny didn't like Ms. Lange very much. Without a doubt, she was very good at her job, very professional, but on more than one occasion, he has caught her treating the people working for her (or under her as she often liked to put it) like complete garbage, which Bunny didn't appreciate. She was the type of high-end business people who saw painters, carpenters, gardeners, and various other home improvement professionals, as nothing but blue-collar help because their jobs involved more physical labor. That kind of attitude just rubbed him the wrong way, especially since Bunny made most of his living doing those same jobs.

However, despite all that, Bunny had to admit, the woman knew her stuff. There was no shortage of information on the Victorian home.

Although, whether Alice was actually listening to said information, was a complete mystery to him. As the realtor continued to speak almost non-stop, Alice slowly strolled about the different rooms on the first floor while her green eyes trailed along the freshly painted walls and softly creaking floorboards. All the while, being silent as a graveyard.

"It's not quite as old as some of the houses in this area since Burgess was founded more than three centuries ago, but it does have an interesting enough history. Owned by the Hawthorne family, which so happens to be one of the town's founding families. Along with other family names such as Burgess, Holloway, Shepherd, Bennett, and Overland."

"All those families still live here?" Bunny asked from the doorway, speaking for the first time since arriving at the house.

Mrs. Lange turned to him with a look on her face that suggested she had forgotten he was there, but she quickly covered it up with a blinding smile. "Oh yes, they're all still here. This is the type of town were nobody ever truly leaves. It's a tight-knit community. Everyone was quite upset when the Hawthorne family name was finally put to rest."

"You mean when the previous owner died," Alice spoke in a flat tone as she slid her fingertips over the dusty surface of the staircase banister. It wasn't a question.

The realtor's bright, somewhat forced smile faltered a fraction at Alice's blank statement and dry attitude, but she soon collected herself again. "Yes...I meant when the owner died."

"I understand the need for euphemisms when it comes to such topics, but don't waste my time with platitudes," Alice said bluntly as she rubbed her dust-covered fingers together in bored observation. "I've never met the woman who owned this house, therefore I would have no cause to be upset if you were to be straightforward about it. You're only being unnecessarily wordy and that annoys me."

And so it begins.

Bunny inwardly groaned as he brought up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"O-oh, right. I'm sorry," Mrs. Lange apologized briskly, momentarily stumbling over her words. "I'll try to avoid doing that again."

Irregardless of his own personal opinion of her, Bunny couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the woman, especially since he knew Alice wasn't finished with her yet. The girl could be pretty cold and cutting when she wanted to be.

"Furthermore, to suggest that the townspeople were more upset about something so meaningless as a family name being laid to rest, rather than the actual living, breathing person who possessed said family name - doesn't exactly paint a very flattering picture of this town and I would suggest not doing that again in the future, lest you lose customers. It comes off as apathetic, and just plain soulless, even by my standards, which is quite impressive."

"You make it sound like that's somethin' she should feel proud of," Bridget heard Mr. Bunnymund scoff and mumble from behind her, making the Realtor feel a little boxed in as Ms. Liddell turned around to look at her companion. She felt even more boxed in when the two appeared to be exchanging some unspoken conversation from across the room.

An uneasy silence then fell over the three as Alice stepped into the house's impressive library. Most of the former owner's book collection still ran along the dark wood shelves that lined the walls, but there was plenty of space for Alice to work with if she ever decided to build up her own collection.

Despite its slightly downtrodden and tarnished appearance on the outside from years of being empty, it was a rather spectacular house inside. Though there was obvious damage from Mother Nature and Father Time acquired over the years, it was clear from the tall, beautiful mosaic windows that shined within the library and the overall craftsmanship of the structure, the house had once been taken great care of. It clearly had been very important to someone at one time.

"Please tell me, Mrs. Lange, how did the former owner die again?" Alice asked curiously as she brushed a thick layer of dust off one of the artful windows, causing sunlight to stream in and illuminate the floor with reds and blues. The window depicted a picture of blue butterflies resting on top of a cluster of red roses. It matched the large, mosaic swirls that decorated the floor in the foyer of the house.

"Alice. Don't."

The realtor's gaze flickered between Mr. Bunnymund and the young woman standing across the room from her. The girl was...unsettling to say the very least. She couldn't have been much older than eighteen or nineteen, but she spoke unlike any teenager Bridget had ever encountered. Her green gaze was calculating and sharp like broken glass.

Bridget had been in contact with Aster Bunnymund for several weeks now, ever since he expressed interest in purchasing the old Hawthorne's home, but it threw her for a loop to learn that the man only acted as an advocate for the true buyer of the property.

She really didn't know what to make of the two standing with her in the foyer. She didn't think they were together in a romantic relationship. They didn't act like any of the young couples she came into contact with on a weekly basis - deeply in love and giddy about the prospect of buying a new home and beginning a new chapter of their life together. If anything, the two acted more like siblings than anything else, but she wasn't too sure about that either. They spoke with two, completely different accents with different surnames. Not to mention they didn't look related. Adoptive siblings perhaps? Lifelong friends? Lovers with very conservative views on public displays of affection? Bridget could only guess.

However, regardless of the unusual vibes she picked up from the bizarre pair, she was relieved to have finally sold the Hawthorne house. She had been trying to sell the property for years. Children around town loved to pretend the house was haunted. Old Lady Hawthorne became a bit of a paranormal celebrity in Burgess after she died. Of course, there wasn't any real reason to believe the house was haunted other than its appearance, but because the former owner had died inside the home, many prospective buyers have been put-off many times by the fact. It was a real deal-breaker apparently. Bridget only ever mentioned it if they asked, but thanks to the house's well-known reputation, they always asked.

Fortunately, Mr. Bunnymund and the girl didn't seem to care about the house's history - much to Bridget's relief.

The girl - Ms. Liddell (Bridget reminded herself) was looking expectantly at her now, her piercing gaze never wavering even at the call from her...whatever Mr. Bunnymund was to her. The girl was making her uncomfortable and it seemed the older of the pair recognized this, if the mild warning in his accented voice was anything to go by.

"I bel-" She cleared her suddenly dry throat. "I believe it was cancer."

Alice's face twisted up slightly at her response. "Cancer. What a horrible illness."

At a long-since loss of words, Bridget could only nod in agreement as she slowly inched back towards the front door, obviously trying to look casual while doing it, but failing horribly. Both Alice and Bunny were highly perceptive people. Bunny could tell the woman was using all of her willpower to resist bolting from the house. When the moving trunk pulled up outside the front gates, she all but sobbed with relief.

"Oh thank God, the movers are here," She let out an alleviated laugh before quickly correcting herself when she saw the looks her clients were giving her. She straightened her back and cleared her throat again, valiantly fighting back a blush before striding over to the open front door. "I'll just go open the gates for them."

"Thanks darlin'," Bunny gave her a small, appreciative nod while stepping out of her way as she practically fled the house. He watched her go with a frown before turning back to Alice who was innocently checking her eye makeup for streaks in a dusty mirror hanging on a nearby wall. "Did you hafta do that?"

"Do what?" She asked indifferently as she combed some of her hair back with her fingers, still watching her reflection.

"Don't play coy with me. I saw what you were doin'. You were doin' that thing where you creep people out and make them think you're some demented demon child straight out of The Omen."

"Oh but mother," Alice whined, giving him a fake pout. "I was just having a spot of fun with the nice lady."

Bunny rolled his eyes and rubbed one of his temples as Alice snickered softly at her own antics while watching her reflection do the same.

"Be serious," He said.

"Fine," She replied flippantly. "I don't enjoy being in the company of someone who thinks they're better than someone else because of their title, or how much income they take. It's rude."

Ah, so she did notice.

"Still though," Bunny said, not even bothering to hide his smirk. "Cutthroat much?"

"Hopefully now she'll have some inkling of how she makes other people feel when she mistreats them so mercilessly," Alice huffed as she joined Bunny by the front door to watch the movers start unloading their truck. "Did you hear how rudely she spoke to her assistant when we first arrived this morning? All the poor thing could do was just stand there and take it."

"Yeah well, that's their business, not ours."

Alice rolled her eyes at the classic Bunnymund response. "You didn't like her either. I could tell."

"You're right, I didn't like her," He agreed. "But she's been decent to us professional-wise, so that needs to be taken into consideration."

"Oh please," Alice scoffed as she crossed her arms under her chest after brushing some dust off her dark blue cardigan. "If you weren't one of her clients, she'd be treating you with the same respect she's treating those movers over there."

Bunny looked in the direction Alice was pointing and frowned when he saw the Realtor harping nastily at a couple of movers unloading boxes. He rolled his eyes again and sighed.

"Realtor aside, how do you like the house?"

"It's alright," She replied noncommittally.

The movers were bringing up boxes towards the house now so the two friends moved further down the front porch to give them full access to the front door.

Silence fell over them as they watched the world around them idly. Bunny leaned against the porch railing and crossed his arms while Alice pulled herself up to sit on the wooden surface with one leg crossed over the other. It was still late Summer that year, but Burgess has always been known to start Autumn early and end Winter late. A slightly chilled breeze swept over the pair, causing Alice to pull her top layer tighter around herself. Not that it would do much good. She was wearing just a white camisole underneath her dark blue cardigan with only a skirt and black tights to protect her legs. Bunny suspected she did it more for security than comfort considering that London did a fantastic job of building up a person's tolerance for cold weather.

Alice watched with a blank face as men in grey jumpsuits brought in boxes filled with stuff that wasn't really hers. She had brought very little with her when she fled London. Only one suitcase consisting of a few changes of clean clothes, some toiletries, a book or two, her letters from Bunny, and a few sentimental objects. Certainly not enough to fill up such a big house. Most of the former owner's possessions were still inside, like furniture and kitchenware, but it was still pretty empty. So she had Bunny order some miscellaneous housewares to help personalize her new home. She didn't really care what he purchased for her, just as long as she could tolerate looking at it everyday, but her thoughtful friend went the extra mile and made sure to pick out stuff he knew was Alice's "style", which happened to be old-fashioned, just like her wardrobe and vocabulary.

The two friends sat in comfortable silence for quite sometime before a high-pitched, and rather chipper sounding, ringing noise shattered it.

Bunny jumped slightly at the sudden sound before quickly (at little too quickly in Alice's opinion) reaching into his pocket and pulling out an old cellphone, immediately drawing a curious look from Alice. She would've never pegged Bunny for someone who owned a cellphone, even if it was more convenient these days to own one.

Predictably, it was an old, junk store model with a top that flipped up and, what looked like, a piece of duct tape holding the back closed, but at least it functioned properly. Bunny wasn't motivated enough to buy one of the newer models. As long as he could send and receive phone calls, he didn't care whether or not he could play Angry Birds on it, or access the Facebook page he never planned to create.

Alice smiled softly at Bunny and his "It's-good-enough" lifestyle. She had noticed a lot of his things were like his little cellphone; worn out and secondhand - his apartment being one of the more obvious ones.

The building itself wasn't the most beautiful and well-put-together of places, but it was the first place Bunny had acquired entirely on his own without being forcibly placed there by someone, or having to stealing anything to acquire it, and because of that, Alice knew he was proud of the dingy little hovel.

"Good news?" Alice asked when she saw the tiny smile make its way on to his face when he looked down at the cracked cellphone screen.

Bunny glanced up and saw a look of amused suspicion on Alice's face. He quickly stifled his smile with a cough and snapped his phone closed. "No, not really. Just'a message from a friend."

"A friend?"

"Yes, a friend."

"What kind of friend?" Alice asked curiously as she made a swift grab for his phone.

"The friendly kind," He deadpanned.

The Aussie had seen her move coming from a mile away. He easily dodged it by pulling his arm back so his phone was way out of Alice's reach. She tried once more, but he just blocked her with his other arm before holding up a warning finger at her. "Stop it."

"Don't be difficult."

"Don't be a snoop."

Alice leaned back against the porch railing with a small pout. "Fine then. Keep your mysterious friend to yourself, see if I care."

"Good, I will."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Another silence fell as Alice pretended she wasn't interested when Bunny flipped open his phone again and responded back to the message he received.

"That's a nice house," Alice commented conversationally as her eyes roamed over the area beyond the gates of her new home. She decided to let the evasive man have his privacy, for now.

Bunny looked up from his phone. "Which one?"

"That one," Alice replied, pointing to a two-story, Colonial home with a dark blue roof that lay a little ways down the road from hers.

Bunny looked at the mentioned house and immediately grimaced.

"What?" Alice asked. "You don't agree?"

He shook his head as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "No, no, it's not that. The house is beautiful. Pr'bably one of the best lookin' in town. It's just...I know the kid that lives there."

"Ah, I see," Alice mused. "Another friend of yours?"

Bunny snorted. "Not really. He's a friend of a friend, and a real pain in my ass."

"A mutual friend then."

"Yeah I guess," Bunny mumbled before standing up straight again. "Speakin' of which, I've got a lunch date with a couple of gumbies I need to get to, but I'd hate to leave ya here alone with the witch and movers though."

Alice waved him off like a queen would her court jester. "Go ahead. I'd feel awful if you had to cancel your plans on my behalf."

"Ya sure?" He asked. "You wanna come with me? I'm sure they'll love ya."

"Perhaps some other time. I don't think I'm ready to be out and about the town just yet. There's plenty of unpacking I need to do here first."

Bunny lingered for several more minutes, but eventually Alice was able to convince him to go on without her. He left reluctantly after promising that he would be back within the next hour. She watched his car drive away until it was gone from sight before stepping down from the porch and making her way around the side of the house. Bunny had mentioned the home's main attraction, a sizable rose garden and maze, but Alice had scared off the Realtor before she had a chance to show it to the disquieting girl.

The rose garden wasn't entirely dead. The hedge walls were still up and arranged in the form of a maze. They were unkempt and unruly, definitely in need of a good trimming, but the leaves were not entirely brown and dried up. For the most part, the garden kept itself alive. The roses were completely dead though. If Alice ever decided to restore the garden, she would need to plant new flowers.

She found the entrance of the maze a little ways from the back door of the house and leisurely begun to navigate her way through it.

The house was a bit of a project in progress, but Alice could see herself living there.

AN: Again, so sorry for not updating this story earlier. It kind of just slipped to the back of my mind. Good news though, I've already have the next chapter finished except for my final edit so I should post it within a few days. However, since the rest of the story is still a blur right now, I'm not entirely sure when Alice and Jack will meet. I'll try to make it soon though. On the bright side, next chapter introduces Jack and Tooth!

And just like with my other stories, if you see a mistake in the content, leave me a review letting me know and I'll fix it. Thanks!

Don't forget to review! Reviews let me know that I should continue writing!

~Scorpiofreak~