AN: Hey everybody! Sorry for the wait (as usual), but like I said before, I don't update late just to piss you guys off. Seriously, it's not my passion. I put a lot of time and effort into each chapter. Not that I'm getting complaints! You guys have been more than awesome!

RECENTLY RE-EDITED (2/9/16)

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


I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
Like a fool at the top of my lungs
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
But it's never enough

Echo ~ Jason Walker

~O~

Alice barely slept two hours.

She woke up from a dreamless sleep and found that her racing mind wouldn't let her go back under. After tossing and turning for about a solid hour, she finally gave up the fight against her insomnia and decided to find something more productive to do instead. She sat cross-legged on her plush bed in nothing but her blue dress and striped stockings. Her white apron rested haphazardly on a nearby armchair and her boots were scattered on the floor where she had kicked them of her feet hours earlier. In one hand, she held the handle of her prized Vorpal Blade while her other hand polished it with a red handkerchief she found in the bedside drawer. Polishing the intricately designed knife seemed a bit pointless since it was already spotless and sharpened to a deadly point, but it gave Alice's restless hands something to focus on.

Truthfully, she hasn't had any real reason to use her Vorpal Blade in a very long time. There was the occasional leftover Ruin that needed to be dispatched in Wonderland, but nothing noteworthy beyond that, and she was pretty sure that the disappointment she felt for the lack of action wasn't healthy. After all, she should be happy that her Wonderland was no longer being corrupted. Sometimes she had to think long and hard about that for reasons she could never fully comprehend. Always in the end though, she decided that she liked a non-corrupted Wonderland much better. A corrupted Wonderland usually meant Alice lost her mind again and of course she didn't want that. Madness was a near black hole that sucked her into oblivion once already. There was no crying ignorance if she allowed it to happen once more.

Still, she couldn't help but think that things had been a lot more interesting in her Wonderland when it was corrupted. Yes, the Dollmaker's siege had been horrible and soul-crushing with the revelations it brought forward, even more so than the Red Queen's time of despotic ruling, but at least she had something to do, something to fight for.

Perhaps it was partly her fault that her routine had become slightly tiresome. During her long reprieve from the outside world, she had only been focused on cleaning up the parts of Wonderland that already existed. She hadn't created anything new in many years, but it made sense that the reconstruction of Wonderland should come first before anything else.

However, she couldn't deny that after one hundred and thirty years of clean-up duty, her daily routine has become a bit tedious.

Alice wanted to create new areas of Wonderland, but she wasn't entirely sure how to. Wonderland was no longer inside her head. It was real, and she didn't know if new additions had to be manually built, or if they would just build themselves as she imagined them in her head, like they did when she was a child. Honestly, she hasn't even tried yet. Wonderland reconstruction was time-consuming and usually required her full attention. Places like the Dollhouse and the Looking Glass Line still needed to be purged of left-over ooze and repaired. The Vale of Tears alone had taken almost a hundred years to repair. Yes, time moved differently in Wonderland, changing sporadically from slow to fast at random intervals like Father Time himself was off his rocker, but that didn't mean it wasn't any less bloody difficult.

Regardless of how she felt about her lack of entertainment in Wonderland, thinking about that certainly did nothing to help calm the current troubling dilemmas that rattled her brain at that very moment.

Why was she even here?

Alice Liddell was not a Guardian. She knew that the second Bunny told her the ridiculous news. No doubt the other Guardians had felt the same way when they were first chosen, but Alice just knew that the Man in the Moon had made a mistake by picking her. Although she wasn't a raving lunatic anymore, she still had way too much emotional baggage on her shoulders. She still had things she needed to figure out and she was just too broken to be a protector of children. Her own childhood had been beyond dysfunctional and her hands weren't the cleanest.

For the love of all things twisted and delightful, Alice had murdered a man! She pushed him in front of an oncoming train! And even though the sick bastard deserved it, that didn't change the fact that it was wrong. She was in no way religious, but even she knew that taking someone else's life was considered the ultimate sin. There just wasn't any way to kill someone and then later go back to the way things originally were, even if the killer felt no remorse, which she didn't.

She do not regret killing Doctor Angus Bumby. Why should she? He had singlehandedly destroyed her entire life in one night. A malignant spark was all it took to burn down her childhood and Bumby had promptly appeared with a match in hand. He robbed her sister of her innocence and then strangled the beautiful life out of her before setting her home ablaze and watching from the shadows as her family burned. And if that wasn't sick enough, he chose to drive the knife even deeper by taking Alice on as one of his patients when she was released from Rutledge. The Doctor sat across from her everyday, listening as she spoke of her precious Wonderland and her real world problems - problems in which he had caused. She remembered him sitting in his plush office chair, writing down notes on his notepad and nodding as if he understood, acting like he was a person she could trust.

And she did.

All the children in the orphanage did, and that only made him even more despicable. The man had been a soulless monster and he needed to be stop. He had ruined so many children's lives, including hers.

'Now leave! I'm expecting your replacement.'

And he was just going to do it again, and again, and again. Men like him never stop on their own.

Alice couldn't let him walk away a free man. She had been so blind to the suffering around her, so wrapped up in her own selfish cloak of self-pity and pain, that it had kept her from seeing the current horrors the other children were going through. She had her own equal slice of blame in their demise because Caterpillar had been right, Alice had witnessed the pain of others, and for years, did nothing to stop it. She was just as horrible as Dr. Bumby.

Bumby may have been a malicious murderer and borderline child pimp, but he had been right about one thing. Who was going to believe insane Alice Liddell over a seemingly respectable man of society? Absolutely no one.

Surprisingly enough, when she discovered the truth about everything, she hadn't sought him out at the train station that day with the intentions of killing him. No, she wasn't stupid, despite what that blasted cat might think. She wasn't about to waste her new found freedom on scum like Bumby. She had only wanted to confront him, hear him admit to his crime. She needed to hear more than anything in the world that it was Bumby's fault that her family was dead, not hers. Afterwards, she fully intended on going to the authorities. She wanted everyone to know the cause of her madness and she wanted the "good doctor" be locked away with his reputation in ruins, just like her Wonderland. Sweet poetic justice.

She knew that Bumby's words rang true about no one believing her, but she also knew that she still had to try to seek justice for all those poor little souls that she had helped Bumby abuse. She at least owed them that much. It hadn't been until she turned away from the monstrous man, having just snatched her sister's bedroom key from his watch, that she had felt it. That familiar surge of strength and power that she had only ever felt when entering her Wonderland.

It ignited in her chest and spread through her veins like wildfire, and this time it felt ten times stronger. It felt like her whole body was suddenly lifted from a cold, dark place and brought into a world of brightness. Invisible chains unlatched from her limbs and she felt light as a feather. Something about her had changed in that brief moment, something so marvelous and terrifying that it almost paralyzed her.

Almost, but not quite.

Alice could still remember the look on Bumby's face when she turned back around to face him one last time, the approaching train's whistle ringing loudly in the distance. He looked amazed, confused and horrified all at once, and that expression was all she could focus on. She hadn't even realized yet that she was in her blue Wonderland dress, nor that Bumby would be the last person to ever see her. The power and euphoric aura surrounding her was otherworldly. She was otherworldly.

If someone were to ask her how it was possible that Dr. Bumby could see her after she became a spirit, she wouldn't be able to answer. She honestly didn't know. There were many aspects to her life as a spirit that Alice still didn't understand, even to this day. She was always too afraid to ask her companion. Afraid that the answers she might receive from him would reveal that she wasn't a normal spirit. That she was something else entirely. No longer a human, but not a spirit either.

So even now, after a century to think about her past decisions, she still didn't feel any remorse for pushing Bumby.

But on related concern, if she didn't feel any guilt over killing someone, then how come she lied to Bunny when he asked about what happened to her family's killer?

That was another question Alice couldn't answer completely. She always figured that it had something to do with the possibility of getting shunned by her oldest friend. The dark-haired spirit knew next to nothing about the pooka's life before becoming the Easter Bunny, but she did know that in his current life, he believed that killing someone was wrong and it was never justifiable.

Or perhaps she wasn't giving Bunny enough credit. The pooka always understood and forgave Alice's past mistakes before, including that long period of time when she had stopped believing in him and had abandoned all memory of him. She didn't mean to forget, and she certainly didn't choose to stop believing. Her mind wasn't exactly her own after the fire. Even after pushing Bumby, Alice didn't start remembering Bunny until about ten years later.

Her mind had been so focused on trying to remember the night of the fire that when the truth finally came out, Alice became lost again. Partly because no one could see her anymore, but also because her revenge was complete. Revenge focuses the mind, as she always told herself, but what happens afterwards? She obviously couldn't continue living her life like before. Eventually, after wandering around London in a near trance for about a decade, the rest of Alice's memories gradually started to resurface. It was only a matter of time before she remembered Bunny, and when she did the dark-haired made her way back to Oxford just in time for Easter that year.

And she was forgiven instantly.

So at the very least, if Bunny knew what she had done, he would be immensely disappointed, that she knew for sure, and disappointment was another thing that she couldn't bare to see directed at her by him. Whether it was disappointment caused by her ultimate act of violence, or the fact that she had lied to him about it. As far as Bunny knew, the killer of her family was arrested and locked away for the rest of his miserable life. Alice didn't go into detail about that day. She claimed that she couldn't really remember it, which was another lie because she made it a point to remember everything about that day.

But now, after everything that had happened today, Bunny's horrified expression wasn't the only one that entered her mind when she thought about her big secret. It completely bewildered her that she barely knew the other Guardians more than a single day and already she was starting to actually care about what they thought of her.

Curse those amicable spirits and their welcoming ways! New emotional attachments were definitely not something she needed right now.

So here was the underline question that Alice couldn't make any sense of (not that she had much sense to begin with).

Why?

Why on Earth would the Man in the Moon choose her? Of all the spirits in the world, why did it have to be her? There had to be plenty of other perfectly qualified spirits to choose from. Who in their right mind would choose broken, little Alice Liddell to be a protector of every child on the planet? If this Man in the Moon really existed and truly believed that Alice Liddell was a guardian, then perhaps she had finally found someone who's more insane than her.

She raised her newly shined Vorpal Blade into the air, watching the light from a nearby candle reflect off its gleaming surface. She gave a quick, fleeting glare at the old fashioned nightlight and scoffed at herself. Almost a hundred and sixty years old and she still couldn't sleep comfortably in the dark. Utterly ridiculous.

After looking at her slightly distorted reflection in the blade, Alice let out an exasperated sigh while placing her favorite weapon on the bedside table. She has been sitting on her duff long enough. The young spirit stood from the bed with the intention of going for a short walk to clear her head. She walked over the armchair to retrieve her white apron. Once the cloth was tied securely around her narrow waist, Alice spared a quick glance at her boots before deciding to go in her stripped stockings.

The workshop should be empty by then so Alice didn't have to worry about any heavy yetis stepping on her poor toes.

~O~

Although the workshop was much more peaceful after hours, the atmosphere of the dormant work area seemed almost unnatural. It was utterly chaotic and near impossible to navigate, but by comparison with how quiet it was now, Alice found that she preferred the more lively version of the workshop.

The main lights overhead were off to save electricity, but smaller lights and candles lined the railings and ceiling rafters, bathing the workshop in a dim glow. It was dead silent and all the workshop tables had clusters of temporarily abandoned toy projects on them that would be started up again once the yetis returned first thing in the morning.

The giant world globe in the center of the workshop slowly rotated on its axis. All the little lights across its surface shined brightly despite their small size. Alice leaned over the wooden railing with her arms crossed. Her eyes roamed over the globe, taking in the intricate carvings and symbols etched into its surface. She sighed wistfully as she remembered how once upon time her own belief had been represented by one of those tiny lights. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath of peppermint and cinnamon scented air before slowly exhaling. Opening her eyes again, Alice laid her head down on her folded arms and continued to watch the rhythmic rotation of the Globe of Belief. It became hypnotic after a while and she found herself standing there for almost an hour, lost deep in thought.

Just when she finally decided to return to her room and stare vacantly at the ceiling in a vain attempt to fall asleep, Alice heard something in the distance. Focusing her full attention on her surroundings, she was able to distinguish the sound of someone speaking. The voice was faint, but it sounded like it was coming from the floor above her. Despite her better judgment, she mounted a nearby staircase and followed the voice.

The higher she climbed, the clearer the voice became until she was close enough to distinguish who it belonged to.

It was Frost.

It couldn't have been anyone else. It was unmistakably male and it lacked a deep Russian accent and a familiar Australian one.

Alice's exploration eventually brought her to the top floor of the workshop, near the grand fireplace where she met the Tooth Fairy hours earlier.

"I know it must seem like I'm asking a lot, but you haven't exactly made it easy for me."

She stuck close to the shadows of the workshop and slowly peeked around the corner to see the grand fireplace and control system for the globe. She let go of the wall and walked out into the open area in front of the fireplace, taking care not to make her footsteps heard, which happened to be easy because of her bootless feet. She wasn't sure why she hadn't explicitly made her presence known like she usually would have, instead of doing all this sneaking around, but her curious nature had been piqued.

Frost was sitting on one of the window seats behind the main fireplace. He sat with his legs crossed and his back facing Alice. The odd crooked staff that he always had in his possession rested across his lap as he looked upwards through the glass. From the window, they had a perfect view of the moon. It bathed Frost in its beautiful glow, making his white hair shine silver. An unnatural but beautiful color for someone's hair to be.

"I mean, before the battle with Pitch, I was constantly asking you about my past and my purpose, and now that I know, I'm still asking questions."

Who was he speaking to?

"I've come to accept my role as a guardian, and finally being believed in feels more amazing than anything I could ever imagine but...but somehow, it just isn't enough."

Alice barely held back a scoff when she realized that he was speaking to the Man in the Moon. The skeptic woman shifted her weight on to one foot and crossed her arms, waiting for Frost to finish up his little chat with the floating rock in the sky.

"I need to know what happened after I fell through the ice. Did she blame herself for what happened, or did she just forget? I wouldn't be mad if she did...it was an accident and I wouldn't have wanted her to go through the rest of her life feeling guilty about something that wasn't her fault. If anything, it was my fault. I should have checked the ice better. It was still winter at the time and I didn't think that it would crack like it did..."

The winter spirit reached up and tugged on the roots of his white hair, cursing himself. His death was the last thing he wanted to think about right now. He let out a heavy sigh, releasing the strands of hair twisted between his fingers and moved to grip his knees instead as the memory of freezing cold water and collapsing lungs filled his head.

Slowly, he lifted his gaze back up at the moon, watching for any signs that the mysterious spirit was listening, but like always he received only silence in return. He let out another sigh while running a hand through his white hair gentler this time. In all honesty, he hadn't expected the moon to respond. In fact, if it had said something back, Jack probably would have died again from sheer surprise.

After a couple more minutes of unresponsive silence, he decided to call it a day with the soul-searching and go back to his guest room. The Winter Spirit nearly jumped out of his pale skin when he stood up and turned around to find Alice standing across the room, seemingly lurking halfway in the surrounding shadows of the grand fireplace area.

"Holy snowballs!" he exclaimed while holding a hand over his pounding heart. "When the heck did you get here?"

"Just now," she lied smoothly, trying to hold back an amused smirk at his frightened reaction. According to Cheshire, she already came across as a temperamental shrew. There was no need to add snoop and sadist to the list.

"You scared the crap out of me."

Alice's face curled up at the concept. "Charming."

"I didn't mean that literally," Jack grumbled, fighting back a blush. He felt silly getting caught talking to something that would never answer him back. "You didn't...hear anything I just said, did you?"

"Not particularly, I heard you speaking but I wasn't paying attention to what you were saying," Alice lied again. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to lie. It was another thing that she hadn't done in a while. "Your words didn't seem important."

In her experience, when it came to dealing with her Wonderland creations, Alice had come to realize that being blatantly, and sometimes brutally, honest was always the best method, and trying to sell false rubbish to Bunny always proved to be pointless. Bunny was a fluffy lie detector when it came to the art of lying. Even with the giant lies Alice told him about Bumby's demise, sometimes she wasn't entirely sure if he believed her. If he didn't, he never said anything about it.

"Wow, I feel so much better. You know, you really have a way with words."

"You asked. It's not my fault if you didn't like the answer," Alice said while crossing her arms, pretending that she didn't just say something worthy of coming out of Cheshire's condescending muzzle.

"Yeah, I'll make sure to avoiding doing that again in the future," he murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. 'Jeez, this chick is mean.'

"Who were you speaking to?"

Jack looked back at the window before shrugging his shoulders. "Just Manny."

"Manny?"

"The Man in the Moon. Manny is what North calls him."

This time Alice didn't even try to hold back a scoff. "It even has a nickname. That's just bloody great."

Jack didn't really appreciate how callously the woman acted in regards to the Moon, but he decided not to walk into another argument. Alice looked like a vindictive type of person and he wasn't really in the mood to get his head bit off. From what he gathered from earlier, Alice's bite was probably way worse than her bark and he wasn't anything if he wasn't a fast learner.

"I take it you don't believe in the Man in the Moon?" Jack asked, hoping he wasn't asking a loaded question.

"Not really."

"So, I guess you're not going to become a guardian," he assumed while he sat back down on the window seat with his staff still in his hands.

"I suppose I can't technically say 'No', but I'm not agreeing to it either," Alice said, crossing her arms again. "I honestly mean no disrespect towards you and the other guardians, nor your way of life, but I'm afraid there has been a mistake."

'Been there, done that,' Jack mused nostalgically to himself, remembering how he had once been standing where she was just two short years earlier, insisting that MiM made a giant mistake just as she had. Jack found it funny. He had only been a guardian for a short period and already he found himself almost completely immersed in his new role. He still found being part of a team a bit uncomfortable, especially when it came to physical contact and affection, but hey, one step at a time, right?

"What makes you think he's made a mistake?" Jack has always known his reasons for doubting Manny, but he was interested in hearing Alice's. Although, he doubted she would actually tell him.

"Trust me," Alice urged with her emerald eyes sharp and serious. "He's mistaken."

"Okay, whatever you say," Jack shrugged his shoulders and nearly laughed when Alice let out a frustrated huff.

There he went again, she noted with growing frustration. Not taking her seriously. She didn't need to stand there and take that from such a self-assured, over-grown child. Without another word, Alice turned sharply on her heels and walked away.

"So, I guess we won't be getting a new teammate then, huh?" the winter spirit called out to her.

"I wouldn't hold my breath," Alice called back as she walked away.

"Well that's too bad. I'd be lying if I said a wasn't a little disappointed, but hey, there's no point in crying over split milk, right?"

Alice stopped short at the comment. She knew Frost was playing a game with her and she really wanted to keep walking, but her blasted curiosity prevented her from ignoring him. Knowing that she'll probably regret it, she decided to humor the spirit and looked back over her shoulder.

"Is that so?" she asked before her face twisted into a scowl when she saw Frost lounging lazily across the window seat with one arm rested behind his head while he twirled his staff in the other. "And why would that be?"

She nearly shrieked in frustration when Frost didn't even open his eyes to show that he was listening. He just continued to lay there like she wasn't even in the room. She didn't know what point he was trying to make, if there even was one, but he was getting on her last nerve. She was used to dealing with infuriating people, in both the real world and Wonderland, but that annoying gnat was taking it about ten steps further, and between drunken sailors on the docks of Billingsgate and Hatter's constant tea chatter, that was quite the accomplishment.

Practically stomping over to her potential "teammate", Alice crossed her arms and jutted her hip out in the classic stance of discontent and annoyance.

"Why," She repeated, hoping the edge in her voice would cut through Frost's thick skull and make him answer her.

Jack lazily opened one eye to look up at the angry girl standing over him. He pretended to have no real interest in their conversation while also praying he wouldn't get his teeth kicked in for his efforts.

"Because if you become a Guardian, then I won't be the baby of the group anymore," Jack wistfully said while examining his pale knuckles like they were much more interesting than anything she had to say, which couldn't be farther from the truth. He was almost twitching with excitement at Alice's response.

"I am no child, Mr. Frost," she nearly hissed.

"Compared to them, you are. I'm not exactly ancient myself, but even I'm older than you by a couple hundred years. You can't be much older than the 'Alice in Wonderland' books, so I'm guessing that you're from the Victorian times, right?"

"I suppose? Forgive me Mr. Frost, but I-"

"Oh, no please, call me Jack. Mr. Frost is my pet polar bear back in Antarctica," Jack smirked. Being called Mr. Frost made him feel old. It was almost as bad as being referred to as Father Frost, which only made him feel like he was leading a cult of demented snowmen. "He enjoys long walks on the beach and disemboweling penguins."

Jack chuckled at his own wit, but stopped when he noticed Alice's deadpan expression. She probably wasn't happy about him interrupting her again. This girl seriously needed to relax. He covered his amusement with a cough.

"That was a joke. You do know what a joke is, right?"

"Yes, I just don't find you very amusing."

"You wouldn't be the first," he smiled.

Alice crossed her arms again while looking off to the side at the grand fireplace, wondering why she had to be a magnet for such disagreeable and distasteful characters.

Jack chuckled again. He looked up at her as she spaced out again. He could definitely see why Alice was Bunny's favorite. They both had razor-sharp tempers and got upset over the most ridiculous things. Jack could never understand how people could go through life with such bitter attitudes and why they would even want to in the first place. Life should be spent having fun and not worrying about every single, insignificant detail. And they were immortal, they had more than enough time to get the important stuff done without having to sacrifice the good times. He could understand Bunny because he had a holiday, but what did Alice have? Other than Wonderland.

He watched as Alice fell deeper into thought, the dim lighting from the fireplace almost made her hair look scarlet. Her pink lips were pursed in thought and her green eyes were just as striking as before. They kind of reminded him of Bunny's, but lighter in shade and more acidic. She was beautiful, strikingly so, but Jack couldn't help but sense something almost lethal under it, just by the way she first looked at him back in the workshop. Borderline rage laced those shamrock irises and she seemed to be looking through him, rather than at him. Needless to say, it was extremely unsettling.

Jack was well acquainted with pretty but deadly women (one of his closest friends was the Tooth Fairy after all), but Alice Liddell could probably take that to completely new levels. It made him wonder just how different the real Alice was compared to the storybook one. Hopefully, he wouldn't find out the hard way. So it was probably in his best interest if he started to work on getting off her black list which he was so obviously on.

He let out a sigh before sitting back up and wrapping both of his hands around his staff.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," He flinched again when her eyes snapped back on him. "With the toy plane."

She gave him a scrutinizing look before letting her own smirk show, and somehow, Jack found it way worse than her scowl.

"Which one of them told you to apologize? I would imagine it was North, but it could have been Toothiana."

Jack blushed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "It was Tooth, but that doesn't mean I'm not actually sorry. I hope I didn't hurt you or Bunny, but I'm sure he'll tell me all about it later."

Alice uncrossed her arms and placed them behind her back as her smirk grew almost as poisonous as her eyes. Yep, the smirk was definitely way worse than her scowl.

"Your concern is appreciated but extremely misplaced. It takes more than a child's toy and a thin sheet of ice to harm me."

"Uh, I'll take your word for it," Jack replied, feeling the urge to back up but not having anywhere to go.

"Good, now if that is all, Mr. Frost, I would like to return to my room."

Not even waiting for a response, Alice turned on her heel again and walked away. Jack flinched again at the "Mr. Frost" while trying to erase a mental picture of himself wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase before he called out to the retreating woman again.

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" It was a rhetorical question, Jack knew he would see Alice tomorrow. She agreed to spend the day with North in the workshop and the jolly spirit was going to make Jack help clean up the mess he had made. They were going to run into each other eventually.

"Hopefully not."

Once she was gone from his view, Jack let out a relieved sigh and slumped back against the window seat.

That. was. brutal.

Jack threw a dubious glance up at the moon before he let his head fall back down with a slow shake, white strands of hair falling in front of his eyes.

"I really hope you know what you're doing, Manny."

~O~

Every four hundred years, just like clockwork.

Interesting choice, though, he had to admit. Alice Liddell as the new guardian. The Man in the Moon certainly knew how to keep things fresh.

She walked right past him just like he knew she would. Nobody noticed him unless he wanted them to. Darkness was his ally and fear was his profession, after all. He still had to be careful, though. North wouldn't react too kindly if the Russian discovered an enemy lurking the halls of his beloved domain.

But Pitch just couldn't help himself sometimes.

The Man in the Moon could be so predictable sometimes. It was common knowledge among everyone in the spirit community that a new guardian was always chosen exactly four hundred years after the previous one. It has been the same for centuries, only deviating from that pattern once when Frost was chosen earlier than expected. Which was understandable since Frost's choosing had special circumstances behind it.

A new guardian was always exciting and interesting news, even for someone like Pitch Black.

Well, maybe not exactly exciting since a new guardian meant a new enemy for him, but interesting nonetheless.

She continued down the long hallway, ignoring the shadows that surrounded her. Even when no one else was around, the woman still walked with great poise and confidence as if it were permanently ingrained into her posture. Oh yes, Pitch remembered her. How could he forget this particular little girl? What with her twisted and deliciously wicked imagination? He remembered every single nightmare she ever had before becoming a spirit. Those kind of nightmares were what made Pitch's job worthwhile. True night terrors they were. The way they made her thrash violently in her asylum bed, the restraints around her wrists and ankles only making her nightmares seem all the more claustrophobic.

And the absolute best part of it all was that Pitch never had to lift a finger. The little brat created them all herself, quite impressive for someone so very young at the time. True works of art.

Such potential Alice Liddell held in her hands. Potential that would surely be pacified and eventually wasted if she decided to choose the path of the guardians. There was only so much they could offer a spirit like Alice before she realized that it won't be enough. That all their rules and morals would only hold her back.

The woman finally reached her room, but before she could turn the ornamented doorknob, she stopped and stood completely still.

For a moment nothing happened as Alice raised a pale hand to brush her dark hair behind one ear, as if it would help her better hear whatever it was that grabbed her attention. Then, without warning, her head snapped towards the direction of his hiding place; in the shadows at the other end of the hallway. Her eyes quickly scanned the area, but Pitch knew she wouldn't find anything. He was much more careful than that.

Still, she sensed something was there and that piqued his interest. Usually nobody ever noticed his presence in any way.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously one last time before entering her room and shutting the door firmly behind her. Just like every new spirit he encountered, Pitch planned to do a little research. He needed to know what he might have to deal with in the future. She wasn't planning on going back to sleep, that much he knew, because spirits rarely ever feel tired enough to sleep for more than a couple of hours on a nightly sleep cycle.

But Alice had to sleep sometime. It was only a matter of waiting for her to finally crash and fall into a deep sleep just like every spirit eventually did.

Pitch let out an eerie chuckle before he placed his hands behind his back and leisurely strolled down the dark hallways of Santa's Workshop, letting the shadows swallow him whole.

Such potential indeed.


AN: Oh Pitch, you creeper. I've never tried writing Pitch before, but I really wanted to fully introduce him this time. I originally planned on giving him a very cryptic introduction, but decided against it in the end. I already had Cheshire Cat come in and be frustratingly cryptic, I didn't want to do that to you guys again. I hope I did well!

I think Alice is very, very pretty. One of the many reasons why I like AMR so much is because the makers gave Alice a classy wardrobe. They don't have her running around half-naked through the game. In most games these days (not all, but most), the female characters have such skimpy and provocative costumes. I know that is what helps sells those games, but being a female myself, it gets really annoying. So I admire McGee for making Alice so beautifully stunning, but also still very realistic.

~Scorpiofreak~