DISCLAIMER: QUINROSE OFFICALLY OWNS HEART NO KUNI NO ALICE

Chapter Eight: Confusing thoughts

"Alice? ….Alice?"

"...mhm?"

"Your tea is getting cold my dear"

"Oh…"

Alice lifted her cup of tea and sipped the lukewarm liquid to calm her nerves. It was evening in Wonderland which meant the Queen of Hearts and the young foreigner where outside in the rose garden. An uneasy silence filled the air around the two during the tea party. However, Alice couldn't help it. Her mind kept wandering back to Peter and his past. She never knew about Peter's past and his father's betrayal. It didn't even occur to her that the reason why Peter was cold and heartless to everyone was because of his childhood. Well…until he met Alice. Even though he still acts hostile around others, he becomes a different person due to his 'love' for the young foreigner. Or so says everyone in Wonderland.

Turquoise eyes darted towards the Queen's side to see Peter was not there as usual. He always stood by Vivaldi's side during teatime to get a long look at his lovely Alice. Yet, the absence of the white rabbit made Alice's heart skip a beat in pain.

I can't believe I miss him clinging onto me by now…I guess he doesn't want to be around me…after all, it must have been painful to remember something like that around the person you l-lov-…

"Is something troubling you, Alice?" asked Vivaldi as she set the teacup on the table.

"…..What makes you say that Vivaldi?" spoke Alice with a monotone voice.

"You keep on sighing and having a blank expression on your face. Are you not feeling well?"

Alice's gaze drifted towards Vivaldi to see the concern look upon the Queen's face. Alice set her cup back on its saucer and fiddled with the hem of her dress. Vivaldi noticed this sudden change in Alice's attitude since she never acted so shy and nervous that a small smile formed upon Vivaldi's face.

"Alice…did something happen in town between you and Peter?"

Alice snapped her head up at the sound of Peter's name. "N-no. Nothing happened…"

"Then why isn't Peter here like he usually is during our teatime? ….And where are the chocolates we requested for?" asked Vivaldi with an evil smirk on her face as she tilted her head.

"Ugh! I blame Peter for this!"

Alice angrily stomped back to the village to retrieve more chocolates for Vivaldi after a 'little incident' of the Queen teasing Alice. Desperate to get out of the situation, Alice stood up and left to avoid the teasing from Vivaldi to buy a new batch of chocolates in town.

Halfway thru the maze to leave the castle grounds Alice realized she still didn't explain what happened to the first batch of chocolates. Instead of being eaten, the first batch of chocolates had an unexpected end result. After Peter told Alice his past, an unnerving silence filled between the two as they stood in front of each other. As Alice processed the information she heard Peter load his gun and pointed it at her.

"P-peter?"

At the sound of his name, Peter shot the basket of chocolates that were beside Alice. When Alice realized that she was almost shot, Peter declared it had to be destroyed since it was contaminated with that man's germs and to prevent his lovely Alice from getting infected. In the end, Peter gained a massive punch to the head as Alice left him unconscious on the road as she walked back to the castle.

As that memory was replaying thru her mind the foreigner's anger was rising. With her thoughts filled on how embarrassed she got by Vivaldi due to Peter's actions she clenched her fists as if she was ready to punch the white rabbit again if he stood in front of her.

I swear the next time I see that rabbit I'm going to-

OOF!

"Hey! Watch where you're...Alice?"

Looking up to see a pair of golden eyes staring back at her turquoise ones in a curious appeal, Alice noticed she had bumped into Wonderland's Cheshire Cat, Boris Airay. He stared at Alice for a few seconds surprised and then changed into a smirking expression. As swiftly as seeing the dormouse, Pierce, Boris lunged himself as he hugged Alice causing them to tip over and fall to the ground.

"Alice! I missed you! You don't visit the amusement park as often anymore to play with me" whined Boris. Alice simply shook her head as her lips curved into a small smile at Boris' childish complaints. She returned his hug and patted his head which caused the cat to purr.

"Sorry Boris. I've just been busy with so much stuff lately I haven't had time to visit everyone as much as I did before."

Boris' tail started to wag in a happy motion towards Alice's simple affection as they stayed like that for a while. However, that happiness was short-lived when Alice realized that the townsfolk were giving the two a weird look. As she wondered what they were looking at, it dawned upon Alice when she realized what they might have looked in their perspective that she pulled on Boris' ears. As she did this, a yowl of pain came from the Cheshire cat as he back away from Alice falling on his butt as he rubbed his ears.

"What was that for Alice?! I'm not like Peter or Elliot!"

"Sorry Boris but everyone was looking at us!"

Boris stood up and offered a hand to Alice to help her up. Once she accepted his hand Alice dusted off her dress as Boris spoke "You know I don't care what others think of me"

"Still I don't want them to spread rumors that would eventually reach to Peter's ears. Who knows how he'll react if-"

"Peter? Since when did you care about what he hears about you?"

Alice tried to retort at Boris' remark but her mind went blank when she thought on the idea of why she involuntary said Peter's name. Racking her brain for answers, Alice didn't notice her cheeks slowly grow warm and tinted with a shade of pink. However, this caught the cat's full attention as he snapped his fingers in front of Alice to awaken her from her daze.

"Wanna tell me, what's going on Alice?"

"Uh….W-what are you talking about Boris?" A nervous chuckle escaped Alice's lips as she tried to calm herself down. Out of all people in Wonderland, Boris would keep persuading Alice until he finally got what he wanted. After all he was a cat and cats usually would do anything to get what they want. However, silence was exchanged between the two as Boris gazed at Alice.

"Riddle"

"A riddle?"

"A riddle to distract your mind from your troubles! Wanna hear it?"

Giving a small smile to the Cheshire cat, Alice nodded her head. With a flick of his tail and a smirk on his face Boris started to say the riddle. "Painful like a rose's thorn but a beautiful sight to look upon that brings joy and relief to the soul yet shackles you to the ground. What am I?"

"Hmm…I never heard that riddle before. Painful like a rose's thorn?"

Watching Alice ponder over the riddle Boris smiled at the sight. But realization struck him when he realized he shouldn't tempt fate any more. The roleholders all decided what had to been done in the game and he promised not to interfere with Nightmare's plan. Slowly slumping his shoulders and looking away from Alice's line of sight Boris spoke in a quiet voice "But a beautiful sight to look upon. Alice…listen. I think this riddle has the answer you been looking for. Something that you been denying and missing out on"

With a tilt of his head Boris gave a sad small towards Alice. Surprised at his sudden change in mood, Alice stood there with her mouth wide open. She couldn't move her lips to say something before the Cheshire cat turned away and started to walk into the crowded streets. "I'll see you around Alice….hopefully" and with a flick of his tail, Boris disappeared into the swarm of faceless people.

"W-wait! Boris!" cried Alice as her words finally caught up to her.

However, Alice lost sight of the punk cat as the crowds thicken with people leaving work. Boris knew he couldn't stay long to chat with the foreigner but he just couldn't leave her to be depressed. As one of her closet friends in Wonderland, Boris wanted nothing more than Alice's happiness. She deserved it after all she went through back in her world. Releasing a deep sigh Boris let out a silent wish hoping that his 'best friend' would forgive them for their secret against Alice.

Alice walked back to Heart castle with the basket of chocolates in her hands. The foreigner's thoughts were puzzled over Boris' riddle and his attitude. She simply couldn't put her finger around it. As she thought of possible answers, Peter suddenly popped into her mind. She imagined Peter smiling at her and saying he loved her. A light blush rose on Alice's cheeks that she suddenly shook her head rigorously.

Wah?! W-why did I start thinking about Peter? NO! Stop it, Alice!

Alice pinched her cheeks for betraying her when she realized that maybe there was a reason of why she thought of Peter. As her mind wondered over everything that had happen the Cheshire cat incident faded away into the back of Alice's mind. There was something strange going on around Alice since she came to stay in Heart Castle.

What's going on around me? Am I overthinking everything and becoming paranoid? Or...maybe because I've been thinking about him after what he told me earlier today. But still…why would he come to mind? …More importantly, why am I even thinking about hi-

"Welcome back Miss Alice!"

"Huh?"

Alice looked up to see she arrived at the entrance of Heart castle where two guards stood on patrol. She gave them a slight wave and brisk by them in a hurry. After hearing Peter's story, it gave Alice a whole new perspective on the soldiers. To believe something so cruel…coming from people who were so nice and friendly to her. Then again, everyone WAS nice to her only because she was a foreigner in Wonderland.

Giving out a tired sigh, she gave the basket of chocolates to a nearby maid and asked her to give them to the Queen on her behalf. After the maid walked off, Alice slowly made her way towards her room for sleep was consuming her. Even though she was tired, her thoughts didn't leave her alone.

Peter was a cruel, cold and harsh person before I came to Wonderland. Everyone says it was a shock to see him smile when I first walked into this place. Why do I have such an effect on him…I'll never know.

Without realizing Alice arrived at her door and opened it. Once she closed and locked the door, Alice headed for the bathroom to prepare herself for bed. Throughout everything she was doing, Alice's thoughts continued to roam on Peter.

I guess Peter and I have…I can't believe I'm going to say this but we have some…similarities between us. Both of our mothers died but out of different causes. His mother died for the sake of protecting Peter and my mom…from sickness. My little sister Edith hated me since I didn't cry at mom's funeral and dad buried himself with work to forget mom…

Alice slipped on her nightgown and climbed into bed. She pulled the covers and snuggled up to make herself comfortable. Looking towards the window, Alice could see the moon slightly hidden in a cloudy sky to the world below. The moon held little amounts of light just as Alice' thoughts kept her from seeing her full opinion on Peter and the hope of finding an answer to the confusion surrounding her.

Peter on the other hand, disowned his family and claims to only have a mother... yet he had no one to comfort him while…while…I had my...my..who was my comfort? I-I know I had someone…

As Alice tried to finish her train of thought, her head began to throb and ache in a massive amount. Alice brought her hands up to her head as she quickly stood up to see she wasn't in her room anymore. Light purplish clouds floated around the area as the headache was slowly disappearing just as quickly as it appeared. However, the lingering feeling of pressure was still occurring.

"Well Alice… it's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"What?"

Alice looked up to see Nightmare floating above her. He had a long silver pipe in his mouth and looked down at Alice with a smirk. The smell of smoke could be inhaled from where she stood as the headache came back in light throbbing pulses.

"W-when did I fall asleep?"

"While you were staring at the moon"

Alice looked down in embarrassment of asking such a ridiculous question in the first place. Nightmare saw this as his chance and floated down to Alice's eye level and gaze at her.

"Been thinking a lot lately haven't you, young Alice. If I didn't know any better… Peter has been the center of your attention" said Nightmare with a smirk etched on his face.

Upon hearing Nightmare's remark Alice quickly looked up and glared at Nightmare. "Me?! Think about that pervert! How could you accuse such a thing! That rabbit isn't worth one glance coming from me!"

As Alice yelled her remark, Nightmare quickly moved out of the way before Alice did anything physical to him. Chuckling at the foreigner the incubus shook his head and snapped his fingers. Once he did this he disappeared from the foreigner's sight. Angry at the incubus' remark Alice stomped off in search of a way to wake up.

"You're in my domain Alice. You can't leave until we finish this topic of Peter" echoed a voice.

"There's nothing to talk about Nightmare! Stop messing with my head!"

"….Correction, Peter is messing with your head."

"Finally, something we can agree on"

"So you do agree that you been thinking about Peter!"

Shocked at this, Alice looked to see Nightmare floating in front of her upside down as he appeared out of nowhere. He was smiling as he looked at Alice as she realized the incubus had tricked her.

"Alice…remember I can read your thoughts. You can't deny anything to me cause I know everything"

As Wonderland was in the middle of the night, a pair of ruby eyes had their gaze fixed on the foreigner's face as she was in a peaceful state of her slumber. With the sound of crickets singing and the calls of owls nearby, Peter stood motionless as a statue as Alice began to move around in her sleep.

If only Alice remembered me from that first time….those kind words she said to me. It made my cold 'heart' start to thaw at her touch and words. Alice...I'm not sad that I recalled those painful memories to tell you about my past. What pains me more is that you don't remember what happened afterwards…

As Peter extended his hand out, he gently brushed off a few strands of Alice's hair from her face. A sad smile formed on his lips as he softly whispered "I love you Alice…Please forgive us when you find out the truth."

"Nightmare…I-I I don't know what you're talking about."

Nightmare gave out a heavy sigh and flipped around so he could face the girl directly. "Alice, you need to stop dodging your feelings."

"What?"

"….After Peter told you about his past…did it change the way you think of him?"

I'm back everyone! :D Its been a VERY long time since I updated and on my behalf I am very sorry. As an university student ((especially one who aims for a degree in biology)) it is very hard to keep up. I'm a smart cookie but wow. They don't joke about science majors...the official chapter eight is here & I hope you enjoy this chapter. THANK YOU to the new and old followers that liked and favorited this story! Reading my email to see people enjoy the story even though I haven't updated in soo long touched my heart. And I can't forget the guests that read this story too! You guys are also a support I'm happy in seeing you guys read my story. Hopefully I didn't write Boris too bad & the riddle? Hehehe, I had help from my siblings and friends for making up a riddle so you have to figure it out just like Alice will! As always leave comments/ PM me for questions or anything else, until Chapter Nine where we meet again!