A/N: Thanks to sweetyeevee for reviewing, apologies for the slight OOC-ness of the Queen and I'm glad that the chapter made your morning! Speaking of which, has anyone else played the Are You Alice? PSP game? I've played through it and it was honestly one of the best games I've played despite not fully understanding Japanese but I still can make out some parts of what the characters were saying. The game is kind of different from the manga, sadly March Hare did not appear in the game… Though there are new characters like the Tweedle twins, White Knight and Rose! Overall, it was an enjoyable game even if the ending did sort of break my heart… (It wasn't a totally sad ending, more of a bittersweet ending.) Hopefully the manga will have a happier ending but I guess I can't complain if the manga wants to follow the game. Anyways, enough of my ramblings and on with the story!
WARNING: Same a previous chapters.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own.
Chapter 3: A Mad Tea-party – Where Regrets are invited.
Arthur blinked at the man smoking in front of him. The man was wearing a black suit; the top part of his rather curly raven hair was covered by a hat. "You're the new Alice right?" The blonde nation nodded slowly. Mad Hatter signalled Arthur to follow him as he walked down the stairs, which Arthur soon followed on closely behind. "Try to keep up and be cautious of your surroundings. Its troublesome having the new Alice going missing and being attack on the very first day. Keep your eyes out for Regrets." Arthur stared at the man in front of him, puzzled. What was a Regret anyways? The man hadn't seemed too friendly to Arthur at first, so the blonde had decided to keep the question to himself. The duo squeezed their way through the crowd of people on the streets, with Arthur mumbling numerous 'sorry' as he bumped onto the people while Hatter remained quiet, though none of the citizens who were celebrating and enjoying themselves in the festive occasion seemed to mind.
Unfortunately for Arthur, it was not before long that he realised that he had been separated from Hatter. The English nation looked around, slightly panicking, but all he could see was the crowd of joyous people stretched on for miles and miles. Arthur tried squeezing his way out of the crowd in hoping of finding a higher place where he could search for the Hatter among the sea of people easier. He had ended up in an alley somehow. The blonde sighed softly, resting his head against a wall. There was no way that he was going to squeeze his way back in again. Arthur hoped inwardly that the Hatter had noticed that he went missing and come to look for him. Looking around, Arthur realised that the alley led to a dead end. Posters regarding 'Alice's Fixed Holiday' had been stuck onto the walls, along with advertisements on sales and whatnots. The English nation turned back around to face the sea of people, tiptoeing and hoping that he would catch a glimpse of black somewhere among the crowd. Suddenly, a melodic voice rang out from behind him.
"Might Alice be actually lost now?" Arthur quickly spun around to find himself face to face with a petite blonde girl. Where did she appear from? The girl had sky blue eyes, which remind Arthur of a certain blonde idiot, and long blonde hair that curled a bit towards the end. Her fringe was pulled back by a black headband. Speaking of a certain blonde idiot, Arthur started wondering how long had he been gone and if Alfred had noticed that he was missing. The girl's voice snapped him back to reality. "Perhaps Alice is feeling lonely?" The girl asked again, Arthur gasping in surprise as he was being hugged by the girl from the front. He tried prying the girl off, but it proved to be useless when the girl refuse to even budge one bit. 'How does a petite girl like her even have such strength?!'
The girl looked up and gave Arthur a bitter smile. "Why don't you give me the name and that way, you'll never be alone again." The blonde nation stared questioningly at the girl who was still hugging her. "What do you mean? And I-I'm not lonely!" The girl smiled again, this time her expression a little off. "Give the name 'Alice' to me." Arthur continued to stare, dumbfounded. "What? My name isn't even Alice, it's Arth-" Before Arthur could even finished his sentence, he was being pushed back into the dead end of the alley. "That's fine then. You can die." The girl's smile turned into something twisted as she lunged forward. Arthur, who was still unable to fully comprehend the situation, shut his eyes tight and braced for the impact and pain coming. A sudden gunshot rang in the air accompanied next by a sickening crack and a howl of agony.
Arthur cautiously opened his eyes, wondering what had happened. Hatter was standing at the entrance of the alley with a gun in his hand, smoke still coming out from the barrel of the gun, and the place where the girl had been just now was now just a black smoke that was dissolving in the air. Mad Hatter made the first move and sighed. "I told you to keep close and look out for regrets…" The blonde nation stood up, a little shaky and leaned against the nearby wall. "Sorry about that. There were really a lot of people… And…that was a Regret?" Hatter nodded and kept the gun back into his suit. "I suppose no one told you about it yet. Regrets are those who are the past 'Alice' who died and even after they die, they will still be after the name 'Alice'. It's the only way for them to be free." Arthur shuddered from the thought. He definitely did not want to become like them. "But of course, my job is to protect you from the likes of these."
Arthur nodded, albeit weakly but glad that Hatter had come to save him in the nick of time. "Now come on, I don't want to be late for teatime." The duo then proceeded walking out of the alley, this time with Arthur following closely behind the Hatter. He did not want to encounter those people again. The walk to Hatter's place was a quiet one, with no one starting a conversation and Arthur in a rather deep thought. 'A need to be more careful myself… I wonder if anyone had noticed that I went missing. Surely someone must have noticed now...'
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"Artie! Dude, where are you?" Alfred, or also known as the United States of America, was now currently in Arthur Kirkland's house, due to the fact that he had finished his work early and he had found a spare key under a flower pot in the said nation's garden. The blonde with glasses searched nearly the entire house but found no sign of Arthur. "Did he go out or something?" Alfred decided to head into the kitchen to grab a snack or two, and he noticed that most of the food in the refrigerator was gone. "He must've gone on a picnic or something." Deciding that he would go on an adventure to search for Arthur, Alfred picked out a bag of chips that was in Arthur's kitchen cupboard and set off. Surely Arthur wouldn't mind.
"Judging from the looks of it, Artie didn't drive his car out so he must be somewhere near!" The blonde nation came to a conclusion as he went out to the hills behind Arthur's backyard. Sure enough, when he reached the highest point of the hill, he had found Arthur's picnic basket and book beside a tree, but the owner was nowhere to be seen. "That's weird… Arthur usually won't leave his things unattended like this… Did something happen?" Alfred smacked himself inwardly for thinking something like that. There was no way that something would happen to Arthur. He is a strong nation after all. A rustle in the nearby bushes caught Alfred's attention. He decided to investigate it.
Walking closer to the bush, Alfred saw something poking out of it. It was something black. Out of curiosity, the blonde pulled the black thing. A loud yelp could be heard from behind the bush and out stumbling came a brown hair teen with a rabbit ears hood.
Sky blue eyes met with bright light green eyes.
Two screams could be heard echoing through the air that afternoon.
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Arthur sneezed as the duo came to a stop in front of a building. He wasn't particularly superstitious about things like that, but he had a feeling that someone was talking about him. "We're here. And just in time for tea." Hatter took out his pocket watch and nodded approvingly at it. The building was a hat shop. Just as the name of the owner that suggests it. Arthur chuckled amusingly to himself. The pair entered the building and the blonde studied the inside, finding it to be a rather neat place. A place where he would find it to be peaceful, Arthur added inwardly.
Mad Hatter led Arthur to the room upstairs where Arthur sat on the chair near the dining table while Hatter took off his hat and suit to go prepare tea. 'A peaceful music playing in the background will make the place more soothing to be in.' The blonde thought to himself once more as he continued to look outside the window. A knock from downstairs interrupted his train of thoughts. "I'll go downstairs to check who it is." Arthur suggested helpfully seeing that Hatter was busy preparing his tea and he looked as though he hated to be interrupted at a time like this. "Alright but take this with you." Hatter threw a spare gun to Arthur in which the blonde caught it in mid-air. 'I suppose I could get used to things like these…' The English nation fumbled with the gun in his hands as he walked downstairs. He kept the gun in his suit, in a pocket which was much easier to access, lest the one knocking was another Regret trying to attack him.
Arthur opened the door cautiously and found himself looking at another blonde girl in front of him. The girl had brown eyes and curly blonde hair, a headband adorned on her head, and a small pout was visible on her face. The girl was the one who started speaking first. "Huh, so you're the new temporary Alice? You don't seem like much you know. I don't understand what does the kitty sees in you. I could be a better Alice but that damn cat just had to kill me! And you're not really that charming either. I mean look at those eyebrows. I don't understand why the Queen approves of you…" And she rambles on. Arthur stared disbelievingly at the blonde girl. Wait…did she just insult him…? "Who is it?" Hatter's voice came from behind and his expression darkened upon seeing the visitor.
"Hatter…!" Before the girl could make any advancement, the barrel of a gun was already pointed directly at her face. "I won't hesitate to shoot you." Came the reply from the owner of the gun. The girl held up her hands and stepped a few steps back. "Relax. I'm not here to take Alice's name or anything. Besides, he doesn't really own the name 'Alice' since he's just a temporary Alice… And, I want to personally get the name from the hands of the 89th Alice." An innocent smile was shown but it made Arthur somehow uncomfortable about it. "Also, I'm just here to chat! Being a Regret has its disadvantage, you know. Like being lonely because no one wants to chat with you or even notice you! It's heart-breaking!" The mysterious girl smiled while she exaggerated. Hatter threw a suspicious look at her. "…Fine. But if you dare try anything, I won't hesitate to shoot you." The girl nodded enthusiastically. "I promise!" And with that, the two went back in with a new guest trailing behind them.
"So you're the new Alice right?" Arthur nodded and slowly sipped on his tea, the newcomer sitting opposite him while Hatter sat beside him keeping an eye on the girl. "Hmm… Being Alice is hard work, yes? I mean facing all those dangers around you and having trying to finish the game. Perhaps you should just give the name to me and I'll help you out." The sound of a loading gun could be heard. "Ah, but I'm just kidding though! I prefer taking the name personally from the 89th Alice. I'm the 88th Alice by the way. I hadn't really stayed here long before I was killed by that insufferable kitty. Comparing to the 89th Alice, I feel that you're more tolerable than him. So that's why I'm being friendly to you now!" Arthur felt a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead.
The 88th Alice was a really talkative person… 'Maybe that's why the Cheshire Cat killed her?' The evil side of Arthur's mind supplied helpfully and Arthur immediately smacked the thought away. "Anyways, I really do miss teatime like this… Right, Hatter?" The blonde girl turned to Hatter whereas the said man chose to ignore the question and took out his cigarette pack. "That's mean…" Arthur decided to remain quiet as he observed the scene in front of him. Looks like the 88th Alice and Hatter have some sort of thing going on between them in the past.
Time continues to past as awkward silence thickens in the atmosphere of the room.
A knock on the door broke the silence.
A/N: Alfred appeared at last! And did anyone found out who the mysterious person that Alfred met was? Last part seems to have a little of 88th Alice x Hatter scene… For me, I thought their relationship runs kind of deep since Alice the 88th actually does like Hatter (as can be seen from an extra in the manga) and Alice the 88th does rely on Hatter quite a lot, like on protecting her. It's an overall interesting relationship to me. I've made Alice the 88th the rather talkative person because well, in the extra, it shows her personality on how she's jealous of Alice the 89th being the somehow 'perfect lover' type of person and always stealing Hatter's attention. *chuckles* This chapter ends here and I hope everyone enjoys it! Reviews and suggestions are always welcomed!
Next chapter: A meeting with the Duchess – When troubles began to form.