Hallo. I've recently come to the realization that this is one of my most popular stories, so I figured I'd update it. R&R!
-Static
/*\
Alice was asleep. Her wound had been cleaned and dressed, but Boris didn't feel any better. Not in the slightest.
When Ace had been dealt with Julius had scooped the girl up into his arms. He'd taken her to his office and set her down on the table, leaving her to sleepily clutch at the table, the books, anything she could get her hands on. While he dug out the first aid kit, it had been Boris's job to make sure she didn't pass out.
"Alice." He would say, loud and clear. Her eyes would open up just a fraction more and he would smile at her. It was straining and not in the least sincere, but she was too out of it to know the difference. Each time he said her name her eyelids would flutter open for a fraction of a second. A faceless servant had brought items from the kitchen, and so each time she looked at him, he would ask her to eat or drink something. She'd take a tiny sip or nibble, and then her eyes would close again. Then they stopped opening. His panic made his voice tense and urgent.
"Alice," he repeated, trying to stay calm, "you're going to be fine. Julius is getting the stuff to fix you right now." This had actually managed to gain a response.
"Ace stabbed me." She mumbled indignantly. Boris's face darkened.
"I know. Don't worry, he's not going to come back for you." She stared at him unfeelingly.
"Is he dead?" She inquired. For a moment Boris hesitated. He was deciding how to answer when she spoke again. "I don't want him to be dead. He might have been awful today, but he doesn't deserve to die." Before the cat had a chance to respond Julius had taken over. He'd set down a roll of gauze and alcohol. Nothing too alarming.
Then came the needle and suture. Alice picked at the bundle of thread and stared nervously at the metal as the Clock Master picked it up.
"What are you going to do with that?" She asked uneasily. Julius stared at her a long moment. He set the needle down and took her face in his hands and looked her straight in the eye.
"Alice," he said, his voice as soft and gentle as the cat ever heard him speak, "this is going to hurt. I'm going to need you to be strong."
As Julius prepped the needle and Boris disinfected the wound, she whimpered.
There had been no time to give her any painkillers, she would have died before they were able to take effect. The sounds of her stifled screams and sobs as he kept her still continued to echo in his ears. That was not a sound he would soon forget.
He would have stayed by her side forever, but there was still an issue that demanded attention. Shuddering, Boris turned to the Clock Maker.
"Can I handle this, or should you?"
/*\
Julius had felt awful for the whole thing. He never wanted to be the one to cause Alice physical pain, but it had been his only option. Cause her pain or let her die.
He didn't regret his choice, not at all. He would have saved her again and again, even if it meant listening to her rant about how much she hated him for hurting her. Even if it meant she would be so upset with him that she left and never returned. No, that wasn't where the regret burrowed itself.
He shouldn't have fallen asleep. He had known that Ace would be there soon, and he knew how Ace was.
The young man was very broken, in more ways than one, and he'd gotten the idea that Alice could somehow fix him. Julius could vaguely remember Ace talking about it.
It was nighttime. The stars shone brightly and the crickets hummed. Ace had just delivered another bag of clocks. He decided to stick around for a while and he'd watched Julius work in silence. An unusual occurrence, but not unwelcome. After some time had passed, his lips started to move. His voice was soft, almost mumbling. He clearly didn't realize he was speaking aloud.
"I wonder if she could." The Executioner had mused. His eyes gazed into a broken clock, hazy and unseeing. Normally Julius would let it slip. He wasn't one for conversation, so it wasn't unheard of for Ace to talk to himself. That said, Alice was the only 'she' that Ace ever spoke about, and if he wanted someone to do something it usually did not end well for his unfortunate accomplice.
"Could what?" The Clock Master asked, twisting in another screw. In his peripheral vision Julius saw Ace jump, his head whipping around and his expression was almost shocked and somewhat guilty. It was the same look a child might have if his mother found him trying to sneak into the cookie jar.
"What?" He asked. "Sorry, I was just thinking aloud." He laughed, chagrined. To this Julius looked up from the clock. That was new. Ace was never shy about expressing his thoughts, no matter how disgusting or inappropriate they may be. He was only ever careful about things having to do with Alice. Before Julius had the chance to respond, Ace bid him goodnight and vanished.
As he stepped down the many stairs of his home, Julius couldn't stop these thoughts from running through his mind. He had suspected that Ace wanted Alice for something, but he never would have anticipated this.
As he neared the bottom steps, he concealed his reloaded pistol.
/*\
Boris had made himself comfortable.
"No! Stop! Please! It hurts!" She'd wailed. She had been in no condition to keep her emotions under wraps. Her wounds had simply rendered her incapable of staying alert. Once everything was ready she'd been in no state to process a word that Julius had said to her. All she knew was that she was in pain and that somebody was hurting her.
The Clock Master had worked as quickly as possible. They'd needed to cut away a square of Alice's nightgown to see the extent of the damage, and it had sent the girl into a panic. She screeched and screamed and called out for help, but it only made things harder.
She wouldn't stop moving. Her writhing hadn't helped in the slightest, but Boris had been tasked with the duty of holding her down. He hadn't been able to do much – her legs still thrashed wildly – but he'd been able to prevent her from scratching out Julius's eyes as he worked. All the same, they had still needed to bind her legs and tie them down. As weak as she was, the adrenaline had kicked in and she was losing more blood that much faster. If she were to move the wrong way at the wrong moment, it could make things so much worse.
Boris had done his best to calm her down. He'd spoken to her gently, trying to tell her that everything would be okay. They weren't trying to hurt her. They were repairing the worst of the damage that had been done. None of it worked, and though she had weakened considerably, she was still fighting, sweat dampening her forehead and terror gleaming in her eyes.
When Julius had finally finished he'd needed help getting her to sit up. Alice had absolutely exhausted herself, and after a moment or two of relief she had fallen asleep. Boris had propped her up, and Julius had little trouble wrapping the gauze around her waist. Neither party was interested in trying to get her into an undamaged nightgown, so Julius ordered one of the sparse servants to find her fresh clothes.
Once she was decent, he went in to attend her. He made sure she was comfortable, carefully rearranging pillows and pulling the blankets over her shoulders. He moved to leave when her fingers grasped his sleeve. The man chastised her for straining herself, but knelt down anyways. He bent his face towards her to hear what she had to say, and she spoke so softly that the cat couldn't hear a single syllable.
Boris was ashamed of himself for letting the jealousy well up in his chest.
As he sat in the chair, monitoring her breathing and placing cool towels on her forehead, he couldn't stop himself from staring. Her eyebrows were scrunched together and occasionally she would shift, trying to get comfortable, and wince in her sleep.
This wasn't supposed to happen. All he'd wanted was for her to smile at him, with no reservations.
/*\
Ace could hear Julius walking down the stairs. Though he'd been badly wounded it didn't mean his senses were shot. The wound in his stomach had been light. There had been blood but the claw marks were shallow. It was flashy, but it wouldn't keep him down.
No it was the gunshot wound in his shoulder that he was worried about. Blood leaked from it at an alarming pace, and the knight was having difficulty keeping his eyes open.
Good thing my uniform is black and red. He idly thought. At least the stains won't be noticeable. I'll just need to commission a repair. It'll be good as new.
He heard Julius pause, and then continue. When the steps reached the bottom of the stairs they changed. The rhythm had morphed, and Ace turned his head.
Julius was still angry. That was to be expected. That's just how he was. When he decided to place someone under his protection, he took the duty seriously. Alice had been fatally wounded, on his territory, by someone he trusted.
To be completely honest, Ace was surprised that the Clack Master had allowed him to live.
He clutched at the wound in his shoulder, applying as much pressure as possible, and glared at his employer carefully. What was he going to do? That was when Julius knelt down and produced a pair of scissors.
"Take your hand off." He commanded. "I'll need to cut the cloth away before I can pull the bullet out."
Ace couldn't help but to smile.
/*\
When Alice awoke, she was confused. Her thoughts were murky and every nerve in her body whined when she tried to move. She hurt, but why?
All she knew was that the throbbing pain in her side would keep her bedridden for several days. What the hell happened?
More importantly, didn't she have some painkillers? Her arm reached out towards the nightstand when a voice sounded.
"Whoa," Boris said from the entryway. He looked as though he'd just arrived, and he was holding two glasses of water. "I wouldn't do that Alice. Here, let me." And he walked over to the nightstand. He opened the drawer and presented a small bottle to her. The painkillers. How did he-?
He plopped down into a chair that had been pulled up to her bedside, and he passed her one of the glasses. His hair gleamed violet in the light of day, and his visible eye gleamed. The pupil had narrowed and a small frown marred the purple triangle on his cheek. Alice had opened her mouth to ask questions but Boris had been quick to intervene.
"Take the pills first." She raised an eyebrow challengingly. "Please?" He asked softly. She hesitated, but the look on his face was plenty to persuade her. She popped the pills into her mouth and took a long drink of water. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was. When she finished, she set the glass down and looked at her companion expectantly. In return he gestured to a tray at the foot of the bed. It had a plate of food and a glass of juice. She was a little confused, but found that she was starving. Boris refused to say a word until she'd eaten.
"Do you remember what happened?" He asked when she finished, his voice soft and serious. The longer this went on the more concerned Alice became. She hadn't seen Boris behave this way, ever. He was forever playing tricks and pulling pranks. He was one of the most unworried people she had ever met. For him to look like this, well, it could mean nothing good.
"Sort of," she answered slowly, "I remember walking down the stairs. I was looking for something. I can't recall what though." She paused, her face scrunching up as she tried to pull the memories forward. "I remember you and Ace were there. You were fighting, but I have no idea what about. You hit Ace and you were going to kill him. Then…." Her face fell. She vaguely recalled being pulled into his lap, and then the earth-shattering pain that exploded in her side.
"Then…?" Boris prompted.
"He – Ace – He hurt me, didn't he?" Slowly the Cheshire Cat nodded.
"He did. We took care of it."
"'We'?" He nodded.
"Julius showed up by the time it was almost over. He threa-convinced Ace to stop. He let us take you back to the office. The Clock Master patched you up and put you to bed." She nodded slowly.
"I remember him fixing my covers." Boris nodded.
"I've been keeping watch."
"In case Ace comes back?"
"To make sure you were okay." Her face fell.
"It was that bad?" His eyes left her face, turning towards the floor as he leaned his chin on his hand.
"You almost died." He answered. For a moment she was silent.
"Do you know why he did it?"
/*\
When Julius had finished, Ace stood up. He was feeling shaky. His shoulder burned, every nerve in his body telling him to stop moving. His vision had blurred and he felt the world tilting back and forth. He kept trying to revise his balance, but it only served to help him fall over.
Julius caught him, grabbing him by his hair and holding him up.
Ow.
"When you feel up to it," Julius started, "get out, and don't come back for a while."
"Not even to deliver clocks?" Ace inquired, unable to stave down the urge to prod an irate Clock Maker. Surprisingly, he didn't rise to the bait.
"Not even to deliver clocks." For a moment all was still, then the knight nodded. Julius left him to lean against the stone walls and disappeared back up the staircase.
Ace hadn't paused to think of the repercussions of his actions. He made Julius angry, and so ended up alienating himself from his only safe haven in Wonderland. He would no longer be welcome in the Clock Tower.
Not for a long time.
As soon as his vision cleared and his feet were steady, Ace left.
/*\
Well, I hoped you liked it! Leave a review! Please?
-Static