Rating: T+
Pairings: Jack x Alice (Jalice/Ice-Tea/The Real OTP)
Disclaimer: Whims of Anime does not own Rise of the Guardians or American McGee's Alice. Their characters and plots belong to their respective owners. OCs are all owned by Whims of Anime.
Warnings: Grammatical errors, implied sexual content, rantings of a mad author, OCs, OOC characters, confusing plot, bouts of insanity for characters, no beta, etc.
Anime: Happy New Year's, you guys! As usual, thank you to THE TATTOO ARTIST for his review and for the ideas you gave me. I tried hard to get this chapter up by New Year's for you because of your dedication to this story. So, to the story!
~~~FBW~~~
"Different denotes neither bad nor good, but it certainly means 'not the same'."
Cheshire Cat (Alice: Madness Returns)
~~~FBW~~~
8: Down Another Rabbit Hole
(July 31, 80 years into the future)
The world had turned cold in the absence of the Guardians. The world that had once been home to Aster and the future version of the Guardians was now cursed. Spirits had the choice to either join the insane Black Ruins or be taken by force. Many of them attempted to fight back but they were defeated by the spirits under his control: Nawor and Nedyaz, who used to be the spirits Rowan and Zayden.
The humans didn't understand what was happening, except they were all filled with malicious thoughts. Even the innocent children that believed in spirits had been corrupted. Children that still retained their innocence went missing, being taken into the fortress of Black Ruins. No one knew what happened to them in there, for they were never seen again.
The world was dark and twisted. Hope, fun, dreams, wonder, memories and courage were gone. This world was a bleak future, one that the spirit of possibilities Naenia – or commonly known as Elizabeth Frost – hated to see. Out of all the spirits living amongst this desolate world, only two hadn't lost those qualities the Guardians held. Ironically, these two were the ones closest to Black Ruins.
Aster Frost and Arwyn lived, although there were stories among the surviving spirits that they had gone mad. Arwyn had receded into the depths of his mind, living in a place where everything was fine, a world that had no rules. A place that had been aptly named Wonderland. Aster, on the other hand, was said to have been driven mad with grief. Only Black Ruins was allowed to see the spirit, so only he was aware that Aster had lost the will to live and was slowly dying.
This was the world Alice, Jack, Bunny, Pitch and Aira had landed on when the Moonstone portal was opened. Alice was the first one to look around this new world, her eyes calculating their situation. She had no idea where they had been sent but this place made her feel . . . scared? Was she scared? She didn't remember how fear felt like anymore.
The room they were in was filled with large containers that were covered by what appeared to be dirt so they were unable to see what was inside them. They walked around cautiously, all of them having a weapon at hand: Alice held the Vorpal Blade, Bunny had his boomerangs, Jack had his staff while Pitch had conjured up a bow made out of Nightmare Sand. Aira, on the other hand, was inside a floating cage made out of Jack's ice and Pitch's Nightmare sand.
"What is this place?" Jack asked, walking up to a smoky container that was bigger than he was. He cleared the dirt of the container and immediately took a step back, looking surprised, "Why is there a woman in there?"
"What?" Alice asked before she went towards the nearest container and cleared it. She was surprised when she saw a winged male with black wings sleeping inside, looking drained of power. She looked at all of the containers with something akin to horror, "Spirits. These containers have spirits inside it."
"Black Ruins must have done this." Bunny said, looking into a container that held the Groundhog. He punched the container in his anger, "Why would he do this? What is his goal?"
"To convert them to darkness." They all turned to Aira, who nodded her head at the containers, "He told Nawor and I that he was going to convert every spirit into his servants whether they joined them or not. It seems that we jumped too far into the timeline. I wonder what has happened in my absence."
Jack stabbed the container, breaking it. He grabbed the woman that was asleep and shook her, "They're not dead, are they?"
Alice followed Jack's example, breaking containers left and right. Bunny and Pitch shared a look before following suit. Aira growled and crossed her arms, an annoyed look on her face. On the last container that needed to be broken, Alice stopped, surprised, "Pitch?"
"Yes?" Pitch asked and paused when he saw who was in the last container.
"Two Pitch Blacks in one room. This is getting really weird." Jack said while Alice crouched down to shake the future version of Pitch Black in an attempt to wake him up. Pitch walked away from that sight, feeling unnerved upon seeing himself. After a while, Alice got fed up with shaking Future Pitch and began to slap him. Although her methods were a little brusque, it worked as Future Pitch woke up.
He chuckled, "I must be dead. Have you come to take me to wherever we spirits go to when we die, Alice?"
"You're not dead, Pitch. Get up." Alice replied, standing up straight. She helped him up and then gestured at the room, making the Future-Pitch take in the dreaded scenery where some spirits began to regain consciousness while others were trying to wake up, "Would you mind explaining what is going on? Where is Aster?"
"Aster is with Black Ruins in his private chambers." Future-Pitch replied, looking at her and Jack with something that looked like disbelief, "You two are dead. I saw your mangled bodies the day Aster vanished. I buried your bodies so how is it possible that you're alive?"
"They are dead in this timeline." Bunny replied, making the future version of the Nightmare King turn to face him. Bunny ran his paw across his mane, "It sounds odd but Aster traveled back to the past after Alice and Jack were killed. We came from the past that he arrived in and have traveled here to save him when Black Ruins kidnapped him."
"Doesn't sound that odd." Future-Pitch replied before crouching down and shaking a short male with curly red hair and dressed in all green that they recognized as the Leprechaun, "The situation here isn't good. Besides turning Rowan and Zayden into dark forms of themselves, he has also created the Destroyers."
"Destroyers?" Jack asked as he noticed an old man – probably Father Time – start waking up. He helped the spirit get into a sitting position before turning to face Pitch with a serious look, "Those aren't good news."
"Of course they're not." They all turned to see a female with shining fairy-like wings who was leaning on another spirit. She looked down, "They are extremely dangerous. I don't know how Black Ruins managed to corrupt them."
"We've spent too much time here." Alice stated before she nodded her head at Future-Pitch, "Get these spirits outta here. We need to find Black Ruins and save Aster. I have a terrible feeling that he needs our help."
~~~FBW~~~
"How boring." Nawor said as she kicked the motionless body of Arwyn. She sighed, putting a hand on her hip, "It's been months already! When the hell is he waking up? It's no fun to torture when I can't hear him scream." She walked around the empty throne room, Nedyaz staring at her in irritation when she started ranting that it was unfair that he had retreated into his Wonderland.
Nedyaz looked the same way he had when he had been Zayden, except for the swirling darkness that was gathered on his forehead. He was dressed in all black the way the females had been outfitted. If you saw him from a faraway distance, you'd think that he was his usual, light self.
"If you're so bored, go torture someone downstairs." He said, creating a small horse using the darkness that had corrupted him before making it vanish. He smirked, staring at the floor where he knew the prisoners were at, "Don't you enjoy hurting Mother Earth while her father watches helplessly? Or don't you want to hurt Mother Goose?"
"Bo-ring! It was funny the first time but it's tedious to do it now." She nudged Arwyn and grinned when she saw some of his fingers twitch, "Are you gonna wake up now? Heeeeeeey! Wake up!" She looked annoyed that the other spirit didn't react as he had when she had nudged him.
"Shut up or you'll wake Master up. You know how much he likes to sleep, especially when his little toy is around. I wonder when he'll get bored of it. I mean, he did say it's dying already. Why not replace it?"
Nawor snorted, "Obsession and Cupid's arrow, idiot. He's never losing interest in the toy, even if it dies. He'll probably bring it back to life like he did to the two shades." She shuddered, "Creepy things, don't you think?"
Before he could reply, snow appeared out of nowhere and hit him straight in the chest. Nawor narrowed her eyes and summoned her weapon – a fan that suddenly became five feet tall – to shield herself from a barrage of boomerangs thrown in her direction. She glared at the new arrivals, "You're supposed to be dead."
"Surprise." Jack replied, brandishing his staff. Alice stood on his right side while Bunny stood on the left, both of them looking more dangerous than the winter spirit. He pointed at the darkness-driven spirit, "You know where Aster is. Tell us where he is."
"Aster?" Nawor bit her lower lip, looking pensive, "The name sounds familiar. Do you mean Master's pet?" She started laughing, holding her stomach as she did. Jack and Alice shared a look, neither of them seeing what was so funny.
What's so funny?" Bunny asked, eyes narrowed.
Nawor stopped laughing and grinned, "It's funny that you still refer to Master's pet as 'Aster'. Since it arrive here, the pet hasn't been the spirit Aster. It's only a possession now. Besides, its mind is too far gone and it's lost the will to live. I'm afraid nothing could help it now."
"Aster's dying?" Jack couldn't believe it. To think that smiling forlorn spirit was going to fade away was something that the winter spirit would never grow to accept. Now, he wasn't going to let Aster die. His son was not going to die. As long as Alice and he were able, they were going to save Aster. Their son was going to live.
Nawor frowned when she felt something behind her and turned around, giving out a small huff of surprise when she saw that her prisoner and favorite torture victim was gone. She turned to look forward and was surprised at the appearance of Pitch Black. She angrily stomped her left foot, "You took my toy!"
Alice was checking Arwyn's wounds and saw that several of them had healed already. He had several of his bones broken some time ago and they hadn't been grown properly. This made her wonder why he wasn't waking up, even if he looked to be healthy. Perhaps there was another problem but what could it be?
"Toy? He's a living being!" Jack replied, creating an ice barrier when Nawor launched herself at them in her anger. This spirit was mad, driven to be so by the darkness that Jack could see was corrupting her.
"He became a toy the instant he went back to his Wonderland!" She replied before she began to engage Bunny in a fight. Alice now understood why this boy wouldn't wake up despite his lack of life-threatening injuries. He had retreated to his Wonderland, probably feeling that there was no way out of this predicament. Now she had to find a way to awaken him.
"Cover me, Jack." She said before placing a hand on the spirit's temple. She didn't make it a habit of entering other people's Wonderland but she had to find a way to bring this spirit back to reality. She knew firsthand how tempting Wonderland could be compared to reality but she stopped running away. This spirit needed to do the same thing.
~~~FBW~~~
"What's going on down there? What in the world is Nawor doing?" Black Ruins asked as he noticed that there was commotion coming from his throne room. He groaned, hoping that it wasn't Nawor throwing another tantrum because Arwyn refused to wake up. He wondered if the part of her that used to be Rowan wanted Arwyn to be awake because she held feelings for him.
He snorted. Nawor was so insane and filled with darkness that she probably had no idea that her feelings of love existed. If anything, she probably mistook her love for Arwyn as an obsession. In that manner, she wasn't very different than him. After all, he had his own object of affection.
He sighed and sat down next to a wheelchair where Aster was sitting on. His head was lowered as if in shame and he didn't even move when Black Ruins sat down next to him. His ankles and wrists were tied to the chair so he wouldn't fall of or get down. Aster was no longer dressed in the attire he had arrived in. Instead, he was dressed in black robes that looked like Black's and he wore his mother's necklace around his neck. His hair was neatly brushed rather than having it wild the way Jack's did. If anyone could comment on Aster's look, they'd say that he looked like a doll.
He ran a hand through the white hair of his captive, humming softly to see if he would react. When he didn't, Black Ruins spoke to him, "Aster, this isn't like you. Why have you decided to die?"
No response, as usual. He had suspected as much, considering that he had succeeded in driving Aster insane. Since the day that he had killed Sariya and Rayne, Aster hadn't spoken a word, no matter how many times he coaxed him to do so. He had even reverted to calling Aster by his name rather than calling him by the many endearments he had given him. Even after all that, Aster still remained dead to the world.
He lifted Aster's chin and was met with emotionless and glassy green eyes. He wondered if Alice would've looked like this if he had succeeded in making her a hollow shell before casting that idea aside. The way he didn't blink or move made Black Ruins wonder for a moment if Aster is dead. He immediately cast the idea aside when he could feel the young male's pulse, even if it was fairly weak.
"Aster, I lied. Arwyn isn't dead. He's in his Wonderland and only you can keep him alive. All you have to do is talk." For a moment, he thought he saw emotion flash in Aster's eyes before it vanished. He gave out an irritated huff, "This isn't a lie, Aster. If you don't talk, I'll get rid of him. He's just a waste of space right now, after all."
Still nothing. He stood up and grabbed Aster harshly by his chin, "You don't believe me? I'll show you exactly the state Arwyn is in. It'll be up to you whether or not he dies." He released his hold on Aster's chin and started moving the wheelchair. Judging by the commotion on the throne room where he could hear Nawor yelling in anger, he knew that Nedyaz and Nawor were down there with what remained of Arwyn after he had gone into his Wonderland.
~~~FBW~~~
"Arwyn, should I really eat this?" Aster asked, eying the food Rowan had made with something that looked like fear. Arwyn didn't blame him in the slightest. Rowan's food was something only brave people ate.
"I'm not so sure, Aster. Guess we have to grin and bear it." He replied. Just as he was going to take a bite, someone began to shake his shoulders, causing the food to drop. He was so glad for that, even though Rowan looked disappointed and Aster looked jealous that he didn't have to suffer through Rowan's food.
"Arwyn, stop hiding in your Wonderland and wake up." Arwyn turned around to face Alice, much to his surprise. The stern woman had left with Jack earlier so what was she doing here so quickly?
"Mother, what are you talking about?" Alice was still when she was met with grinning face of her son. Aster placed the plate of Rowan's inedible food in front of her, "Here, Mom. Rowan made it just for you!"
"Aster, stop trying to get away from eating my food!" Aster dodged Rowan's attack, showing agility that Alice hadn't seen since the small snowball fight they had had with Jack. Rowan smiled sheepishly at Alice, making the raven-haired spirit recognize her as the female that had called Arwyn her toy.
"I can see why you would like to stay here." Alice said as she saw a group talking far away. Ignoring Aster and Rowan's bickering, she grabbed Arwyn by his shoulders, "However, you must wake up and face reality. Escaping from it will do you no good. You need to leave. Aster needs you."
"Alice, what are you talking about?" Arwyn shook her off and covered his ears, "This is my reality. My reality doesn't consist of my friends torturing me. My reality doesn't consist of a dead Alice and Jack. My reality doesn't consist of a crying and suffering Aster. My reality doesn't consist of an insane Black Ruins. This is my reality . . . This isn't my reality."
Alice finally saw Arwyn's problem. Before Black Ruins acted on his desires, he had been friends with Aster, Arwyn and the others. He must have felt so happy, feeling as if everything in the world was perfect. Arwyn refused to accept the cruel reality that the perfect life he had been living in was gone. He didn't want to live in such a dark world.
Alice understood that. If she had been in his shoes, she probably would've done the same.
"Arwyn, Aster needs you to return. You're not doing anyone any favors by staying here." Arwyn closed his eyes and Alice saw the whole world was shaking. The things floating in the sky fell to the ground, making Alice dodge a random clock that was stuck on 3:06 before time started going faster until it read 7:31. Aster and Rowan dissolved into dust, along with the other occupants of Arwyn's Wonderland.
The beautiful world that Alice had encountered was gone. The sky was now pitch-black while the grass wilted. The flowers surrounding them burst into flames and Alice could see bubbles filled with images being burned by the flames. She caught sight of one bubble that held the image of Aster happily eating with her and Jack before that burned away.
"Alice," Arwyn opened his eyes and she could see that tears had rolled down his eyes. He smiled softly, "if I had been you, I would've never left Wonderland."
~~~FBW~~~
"Whoa!" Jack created another ice barrier to protect Alice and the other male spirit as Nedyaz had tried to attack them. The dark spirit smirked and threw darkness-filled orbs at Jack, who cleverly dodged them all. Nawor was fighting with Bunny while Pitch was preoccupied fighting the darkness beast that the female spirit had conjured up. Jack didn't know how long they could keep at it.
Alice opened her eyes at that moment while Arwyn screamed in pain upon waking up. Alice stood up and took out the Vorpal Blade, intercepting Nedyaz's blasts that had been ready to hit Jack. Jack grinned, "You woke up just in time."
"I can't believe that only two spirits have been beating you all while I was away." She replied with a smirk that made Jack's heart skip a beat – there was no way he was going to admit that – before nodding her head at Arwyn, "Take care of him. I'll fight." Before Jack could even protest, she went into Hysteria mode and attacked the grinning Nedyaz, who seemed to enjoy the idea of a challenge.
"Alright then." Jack ran to Arwyn, who was writhing in the floor in pain. Jack crouched down to help him sit up, something he could tell the spirit was glad for. He created an ice barrier when a stray darkness blast almost hit them and then created an ice shield for Alice, who grabbed it immediately.
"Black Ruins . . . where is he?" Arwyn muttered and Jack frowned. The spirit of friendship grabbed Jack's hand, looking panicked, "Jack, get out of here. I can feel that he's coming. Leave me here. You have to get away. You can't die again. You can't leave Alice and Aster alone." Jack had never seen someone look so afraid for his safety. This boy was trembling and Jack knew it wasn't because of the pain that was probably consuming his body.
The whole room trembled and turned dark. Nedyaz and Nawor looked at each other and nodded before they ran to the double doors that stood above the throne-like chair that stood at the far right of the room. They both bowed when the doors opened and that was the second time that Jack saw Black Ruins, even though it was the first time Alice, Bunny and Pitch had seen him.
Alice reverted back to her normal form and hated how horrified she was when she saw Aster again after what seemed like hours. The last time she had seen her son, he had a sad expression on his face that he had tried to cover with a smile. However, at least he held emotion in his face.
The Aster that Alice saw now was not the one she had met. His hair was combed neatly when she had always seen it disheveled because he loved to fly and the wind messed up his hair. He stared at them with eyes that reminded her of the children Bumby sold centuries ago. Those lifeless eyes haunted her and she briefly wondered if those eyes that seemed so similar to hers mirrored the way she had looked during her time in the asylum.
"Aster!" Jack cried out and Arwyn closed his eyes and looked away. He knew that reality was different than his Wonderland but he hadn't expected Aster to be so broken. Yes, things were better in his Wonderland, Arwyn decided and slightly regretted coming out of it.
"Look at that, Aster." Black Ruins looked genuinely surprised at their arrival. Jack flinched when a scythe appeared next to him before realizing that Arwyn had conjured it up, glaring heatedly at the dark spirit. "It seems that Jack, Alice, Bunnymund and Pitch are here," Black Ruins ran a hand through Aster's hair, making Alice grip the Vorpal Blade tighter, "They must have used the Moonstone you left behind to come here. Oh, and Arwyn's awake."
For the first time in what seemed like years, Black Ruins finally saw Aster blink, his eyes filled with what appeared to be happiness. He opened his mouth in surprise and spoke after months of silence, "Mother? Father?" His voice was weak because of the fact that he hadn't used it in months but it was the same voice they all knew.
"The broken toy speaks at last!" Nawor yelled, throwing her hands up in the air, "Oh, joyous day! Here I was thinking that it had forgotten how to speak. This calls for a celebration!"
"No one enjoys your sarcasm." Nedyaz muttered, looking annoyed.
Aster looked around and started trying to break from his bonds. Black Ruins smirked, glad that the young teenager's attitude hadn't changed even though he had been 'broken'. He leaned down and whispered something into Aster's ear, which made him freeze, his face showing something that looked like regret. He patted the teen's head before looking at his unexpected 'guests'.
"Welcome, Guardians," He said, bowing mockingly and smirked, "I'd like to thank you for making my doll return to normal and for waking up Nawor's favorite torture victim. However, you're no longer needed." He placed his hands on Aster's shoulders, ignoring the teen's wide eyes and the glares coming from Jack, Alice and Arwyn. He nodded at Nawor, "Release the shades and the Destroyers."
Nawor bowed and cackled, "With pleasure." She jumped and they all saw six containers hanging as if they were chandeliers. Jack stood up and helped Arwyn get on his feet. The two gripped their weapons, an example which Alice, Bunny and Pitch followed.
Nedyaz chuckled, "The train is coming with its shiny cars. With comfy seats and wheels of stars. So hush my little ones have no fear. The man in the moon is the engineer." None of them had any idea what he meant with that but Jack noticed that Alice went pale at that statement.
As soon as Nedyaz stopped speaking, Nawor dropped the containers and they could see shadows of the occupants that had been in there. Black Ruins laughed, "Time to have some fun."
~~~FBW~~~
Anime: First update of the year ends in a cliffhanger. Hahaha. . . Drop a review? Try
