AN: Alright, in this chapter, I completely erased the true history behind Alice in Wonderland and the real Alice Liddell. But I think that's okay because that's basically what American McGee did when he created his twisted adaptation. I am well aware of the real history behind the Alice in Wonderland books, but since McGee's adaptation of Alice Liddell is vastly different from the original, I obviously had to make some stuff up on my own.

RECENTLY RE-EDITED (11/4/16)

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


We grew up way too fast
And now there's nothing to believe
And reruns all become our history
A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio
And I won't tell no one your name

Name ~ Goo Goo Dolls

~O~

Instead of taking his usual method of transportation, Jack used one of North's snow globes to travel to the sleepy town of Burgess, Pennsylvania.

Normally he would enjoy riding the winds back to his hometown, but he wasn't really in the mood to do any long distance traveling. It took energy that he didn't feel he had in him, to fly all that way. He also did most of his thinking when he was in the air, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. Thinking would undoubtedly lead to thoughts of that horrible woman and Jack just wanted to get as far away from Alice Liddell as possible. He needed to get those piercing green eyes and unimpressed scowl out of his head.

Hopefully, a nice long visit with his small gang of prepubescent minions could help him forget his troubles. That usually did the trick when the company of his own spiritual kind became too overwhelming.

Jack cared very deeply about the other guardians, but sometimes they could be too much for him. They were overprotective of their youngest guardian, which was something he could understand, if only they didn't try to suffocate him with affection all the time, like with North's new habit of urging Jack to eat more. The Russian thought that the winter spirit was far too skinny for his own good. It wasn't a fact that Jack wasn't already well aware of. He knew he came off as alarmingly scrawny to the others, but there wasn't much he could do about it, he was pretty sure he was permanently stuck that way. No matter how much food he ate, he never gained a single pound.

The guardians also had a tendency of freaking out whenever Jack disappeared for too long. If a few weeks went by and none one has heard or seen any traces of their wayward spirit, out came the search parties. Most of the time, he found this unrelenting attention annoying, but other times Jack secretly enjoyed the attention. After three hundred years of being ignored and unseen, it was nice to know that there was finally a group people out there who would actually look for Jack if he dropped off the radar for too long. They cared whether Jack was happy and healthy, and for that he valued their friendship deeply.

But still, sometimes, they could be a little too much for him.

Jack really hoped that Alice would become a guardian, but not for the reasons that he knew he should. If Alice became a guardian, the others could baby her instead.

And they totally would, if given the chance.

The guardians would spoil Alice rotten if she let them. The only reason they weren't that way with Jack was because he wouldn't let them. He didn't really like being fussed over and doted on all the time, but he couldn't blame them for wanting to. The guardians had big hearts and they enjoyed having someone new to teach and love, especially when that someone looked as young as Jack and Alice. It was like bringing a new puppy into the home. Everyone wanted to love it to death.

North would want to take Alice for rides in his sleigh and teach her how to fight with swords once he found out she fought with a blade. Sandy would enjoy probing Alice's so-called, fantastic imagination for new ideas for his dreams, and Jack didn't doubt that Tooth would be ecstatic about not being the only female guardian anymore. Now she had someone to talk about boys with and do makeovers on (or whatever the heck girls did in their spare time). And of course, Alice already had Bunny wrapped around her little finger, for reasons that Jack was starting to believe he would never understand.

The swirling portal transported Jack to the roof of Jamie Bennett's two-story house. Once his senses evened themselves out again, after being scrambled by the portal, he straightened up and took in the postcard worthy view of the suburban town laid out in front of him.

Autumn was in full swing. The trees were almost bare with their leaves scattered all over the ground, just waiting for someone to rake them up into cushy piles. The weather wasn't as cold as Jack would've wanted, but it had a nice chill to it that kept him comfortable. He inhaled a deep breath of crisp air while taking in the noises of barking dogs and laughing children. It all left him feeling a bit giddy inside because he knew Winter was just around the corner.

The ice spirit walked to the edge of the roof and jumped down on to Jamie's outstretched windowsill, quick and nimble. He peered through the glass plane and spotted Jamie sitting at his desk. The boy was busy typing away on his laptop and hadn't noticed the Winter spirit outside his window yet.

Jack knew practically nothing about computers except how to turn them on. Jamie was very good with them, and not in that annoying, social networking type of way that made mortals stare into their phones like zombies. The boy was always talking about how he installed some new thingy that would help him get around the firewall whatchamacallit on his school's whatever system while Jack would just nod and pretend he was following, but when really he was lost and feeling twenty IQ points stupider.

Jamie once tried to show Jack how to use the internet, in case there was an emergency and he needed to use it, which Jack seriously doubted such a situation would ever arise, but the spirit found it difficult to pay attention. So instead, he decided to let the boy handle the technology department alone. He didn't have much use for it anyways other than watching virtual fish swim across the monitor when the idle screen came up.

Jamie's older friend, Cupcake, was also in the room. She was sitting on the floor with her back leaning against Jamie's bed. In front of her were sheets of notebook paper and an open textbook. Homework, probably. The very thought made Jack want to stick his tongue out. Homework wasn't fun, especially when there was a lot of it.

Feeling the strong need to go inside and greet his munchkins, Jack reached out and tapped on the window with his staff. Jamie's head snapped up at the noise and he was out of his chair before Jack even had the chance to smile.

"Jack!"

Jamie ran over to his bedroom window and threw the lock. Once he heard that inviting click, Jack pushed open the window and slipped inside. He barely had both feet on the ground before Jamie crashed into him and wrapped his arms around Jack's narrow waist. Purely on instinct, Jack tensed up and flinched against the contact, but relaxed seconds later and returned the embrace. Jamie was still short, barely pushing past Jack's stomach, but his thirteenth birthday was approaching soon and it was only a matter of time before the growth spurts kicked in.

"Hey, Kiddo!" Jack greeted. "How's it going?"

"Great now that you're here!"

"Aw, I'm flattered."

Jamie laughed and looked up at his friend. Jack looked the same as ever, not that Jamie expected anything different. He always looked the same whenever he came to visit during the cold seasons. Jamie rarely saw Jack during the summer unless it was a special occasion, so it had been a couple of months since he had last dropped by. A lot happened to Jamie in those few months and he couldn't wait to tell Jack about it, like his first day of school, the new video game his dad bought him, the new litter of puppies Pippa's dog just had and the hilarious thing Claude did with his milk at lunch yesterday...

"Hey, Jack," Cupcake greeted more calmly than Jamie as she pulled herself up from the floor and walked over to give him a hug. "How come it isn't snowing yet? I have a paper due Friday and I could use a miracle."

Jack let go of the pink-cladded girl and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, Cups. It's still too early in the year. I don't want to ruin Halloween for you guys by making it too cold for Trick-or-treating. Hein would kill me."

"Who?"

"Nevermind," Jack waved his hand dismissively before sitting down on Jamie's bed. He reached over and picked up the textbook that Cupcake left on the floor. His eyes scanned the complicated math formulas that coated the page and groaned. He hated math. The numbers never seemed to add up right when he tried. He was much better at English. He could easily help Jamie with his English homework anytime, but math? Not so much.

"Wait, shouldn't you two be in school?"

"Sophie had a fever this morning, but mom couldn't miss work to watch her, so I had to stay home instead," Jamie said, flopping down next to Jack. "And Cupcake is a grade higher than me and the others. Middle school gets out half an hour earlier than elementary." Jamie looked at Cupcake and gave her a playful sneer. "Lucky!"

The older girl snorted. "As if. I might get out of school earlier than you guys, but I also have to go into school earlier. And not mention, more homework!"

"Yeah, but what about-"

"Hey now," Jack cut in. "Let's all just agree that school is boring. Alright?"

"Alright," Jamie laughed. "So, how's it going at North's Workshop? Christmas is coming up fast, I bet it's getting crazy hectic."

"A little bit, but North has this thing down to a science," Jack said before leaning in closer to the two kids as if he were about to share a secret. "And I was able to sneak a peek at the Nice list this year, and guess who's going to have an awesome Christmas."

Jamie let out a whoop of excitement and fist pumped the air. Cupcake looked surprisingly uninterested in her placement on North's Christmas lists. The stout girl rolled her eyes at Jamie and gently shoved the smaller boy before sitting back down on the ground.

Jamie launched into a story about everything that Jack had missed since his last visit. Jack listened to Jamie's ramblings about his new video game and how he was in the same class with all his friends, minus Cupcake, of course, while also keeping one eye on the girl. Cupcake remained quiet as she rearranged her plum purple tutu so she could sit with her legs crisscrossed.

A couple of times Jack caught Cupcake looking at him and he could see that she had something to say, judging by the excited gleam in her brown eyes, but whatever it was she kept it to herself until there was a break in Jamie's one-sided conversation.

"So," she drawled. She placed her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands. "What's she like?"

Jack's brow furrowed in confusion. "Who is what like?"

"Alice!" Cupcake exclaimed with a big smile, her excitement finally boiling over. "Alice from Alice in Wonderland! What's she like! Please, tell me, tell me!"

Thrown off-guard, Jack's jaw almost dropped opened. Jamie looked in between the two, confused as to why his usually, calm and sarcastic friend was practically falling over with bubbly glee. The last time Jamie saw Cupcake act that excited was when she saw a movie trailer for some unicorn movie she wanted to go see. The headstrong girl practically dragged all of her friends to the theater when it came out. It had been sickeningly cute and horribly cheesy (much like a lot of stuff involving unicorns), but none of them could say that out loud unless they wanted to suffer the wrath of Cupcake.

"H-how did you know about Alice?" Jack stammered.

Cupcake smiled brighter. "So she is real! I knew it! I always wanted to ask you if Alice was real, just like the Tooth Fairy and Santa, but I always forget whenever you visit."

"Hang on, how did you know about Alice?" Jack demanded, giving her a scrutinizing look. "You're not secretly psychic, are you?"

"Oh come on, Jack," Cupcake rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. Jamie told me that you asked him to look up information on the Alice in Wonderland books, so I figured that you must've met her or something. I mean otherwise, why would you just randomly ask him to do that?"

"Huh, good point."

Jamie finally caught up and looked at Jack. "Whoa, no way! Alice is real too? How come you didn't tell me this before?"

"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess that's out of the question now," Jack said, giving the offending girl a pointed look.

Cupcake bunched up her shoulders and gave Jack a guilty smile.

"Oops, sorry Jack. I didn't know it was supposed to be a surprise."

"It's alright," he assured her, ruffling her short hair and accidentally knocking her pink headband out of place. Cupcake protested with a laugh and reached up to fix it. "I'm actually a little disappointed that Jamie wasn't the one who figured it out."

"Hey, give me a break! I thought you just wanted to know because you were going to give Sophie an Alice themed birthday gift this year or something."

"I am going to give her an Alice themed gift," Jack boasted with a smile. "I'm going to bring the real Alice here so Sophie could meet her in person."

Jack found their reactions hilarious. Jamie's jaw dropped while Cupcake squealed in joy. They made him feel proud of himself for his brilliant idea. Sophie absolutely loved Alice in Wonderland and he honestly couldn't think of a greater present to give the little girl than bringing Alice to Burgess. And even though Alice didn't exactly look or act the same way she does in the books, Jack knew Sophie wouldn't care otherwise. It truly was a great gift idea on Jack's part and he would love to see anybody else try to top it.

However, Jack's pride left as quickly as it came when he remembered what happened between him and the English harpy in North's kitchens. The back of his snow-white head stung annoyingly as his recalled the unpleasant confrontation. The spirit visibly deflated and he let out a sigh, flopping back down on Jamie's bed. The two friends looked at each other, confused by Jack's sudden drop in mood.

"Well, I was going to bring Alice to meet Sophie, but I'm not so sure that's going to happen now," Jack mumbled.

Cupcake frowned. "Why not? Did she say no when you asked her?"

If Jack had been a spiteful person like Alice, he would have gladly launched into a long rant about how nasty and mean that shrew of a woman was since Alice wasn't there to retaliate against him for it, but he just shook his head.

"No, I asked and she said she would do it, but then we kinda had this fight and well...she didn't really like me to begin with. In fact, at this point I think it's safe to say that Alice hates me."

"Really?" Jamie asked. Who could possibly hate Jack Frost? He was the nicest and funniest person he knew. "What happened?"

"Long story short, I accidentally said something that offended her and she threw a plate at my head."

"What?" Jamie gasped. "A plate?"

"Yeah, a hard plate."

"Whoa," Cupcake murmured, slightly in awe. "That's hardcore."

"Hey!"

"What? It is. Admit it."

Jack mumbled under his breath and ignored the urge to stick his tongue out at the girl sitting on the floor. Cupcake may look sweet with all the pink she wore on a daily basis, but Jamie and his friends didn't used to be afraid of her for nothing. The girl had a mean streak. Nothing too horrible, but mean enough to warrant a spot on North's naughty list a couple times. That was before she made friends with Jamie and the other neighborhood kids, though. She was much better now that she finally had some friends.

From the first minute he saw her, Jack knew Cupcake wasn't nearly as horrible as everybody thought she was, and he was glad that the kids finally realized that she wasn't mean and scary, just misunderstood.

At that thought, something clicked in Jack's head and he almost groaned when Alice's face flashed through his mind.

'MiM, please tell me this isn't going to be a 'practice what you preach' type of situation,' Jack thought miserably, already knowing the answer. Of course he knew that he would eventually have to go back to the North Pole and face Alice again. He could only hope that she would still allow him to take her to Burgess and meet Sophie. Unless their little spat totally shot it to hell.

Surely she would still do it, wouldn't she? After all, the favor he had asked of her wasn't for Jack's benefit. This favor was for Sophie, not him. Alice would still do it to make a little girl happy, right? That was what guardians were supposed to do; make children happy. But then again, Alice seemed adamant that the Man in the Moon had been mistaken when he chose her to be the new guardian, and after all that has happened between him and Alice so far, Jack was starting to believe it, too.

"Did you win the fight at least?" Cupcake asked, her respect for the ice spirit dwindling by the second.

Jack let out a humorless laugh while his hand reached up to rub the back of his head. "I thought I did, you know, towards the end, but there's nothing quite like using a piece of porcelain to help get your point across."

The girl laughed before she stood up and placed her hands on her hips as if she finally came to some important decision. "Well from what I know about Alice so far, she sounds awesome, so you have to bring her here cuz' I wanna meet her too."

"Oh alright, Miss Bossy," Jack laughed, holding his hands up in mock compliance. "If Alice isn't still ticked off when I get back to the Pole, I'll ask her. But I'm warning you now, kids, Alice is totally different from the little blonde girl in the books and old Disney movie."

"How about Tim Burton's movie?"

"Nope, still different."

Cupcake gave him a shrug. "Eh, I didn't much like that movie anyways. And I don't really care if she isn't like the blonde Alice, I just want to meet her."

She reached down and snatched her forgotten textbook from the ground, mumbling under her breath about having to finish her homework. Jamie handed her the pencil he found next to his foot and stood up from his bed, giving her room to work.

"That reminds me, I looked up information on Alice just like you asked me to Jack."

Jack's head perked up a little. He had forgotten all about that!

With a bounce in his step, Jack tightened his grip on his staff and walked over to stand behind Jamie as the boy sat back down in his computer chair.

"What'cha got for me?"

"Well, at first I asked Cupcake what she knew about the books because she really likes them too, and she said the author used a pen name when the books were published. The guy's real name was Charles Dodgson, not Lewis Carroll," Jamie explained as he brought up a few pictures of Dodgson.

"Uh huh," Jack mumbled, not caring much about the author of the books. "What about Alice? What did you find out about her?"

"Nothing much except that people assume the books were based off old London folklore and fairytales," Jamie said, scrolling down the Wikipedia page with his mouse. "Dodgson once mentioned in an interview that he had gotten some of the inspiration from an old cautionary tale he overheard an old woman telling a group of orphans when he was taking a walk through the streets of London one day. The tale had been about a girl named Alice who spent so much time in her "Wonderland", that she lost her mind to it and was never able to grow up because she was forever stuck with a mind of a child. The myth was supposed to scare children into acting their age and take life more seriously, or something like that. There's a lot of different versions, but they all involve the same girl; Alice.

There were other Alice fairy tales too, though. Ones that were told to children for entertainment. I found a couple of websites that said the more pleasant Alice tales were told in orphanages for some reason, they really liked hearing about Alice and her Wonderland. So Dodgson overheard one of these tales one day and I guess he decided to write a book based off of them," Jamie finished while shrugging his shoulders. "And I guess that's it. I couldn't find anything else about Alice. Just more information on the author."

Jack looked away from the screen and down at Jamie with wide eyes. "That's it? That's all there is on Alice? It doesn't saying anything about the girl the books and fairy tales were based off?"

"No, nothing like that," Jamie shook his head. "And I looked at a lot of websites too. They all say pretty much the same thing. They just talk about the book character."

"That can't be all there is. There had to be real girl; a real girl named Alice," Jack said, reaching over and placing his hand on the mouse. He scrolled through the different pages and documents that Jamie had displayed on the screen, but just like the boy said, the Winter spirit couldn't find anything about Alice except for the book character; the blonde Alice.

Jack cursed under his breath and bit his lip in frustration. He thought for sure that the almighty internet would be able to give him at least a little insight into Alice's backstory. After all, Alice was only a little over a century and a half years old. It shouldn't be that difficult to find some information on any given computer, especially when modern technology allowed people to find and read documents written during the middle ages.

Jamie noticed Jack's frustration. He didn't like seeing his white-haired friend look so stressed and upset. He was the Guardian of Fun. He should be laughing and causing mischief, not glaring at a computer screen as if it had just insulted his mother.

"I'm sorry I couldn't find anything more helpful, Jack," Jamie apologized.

Jack looked at the boy, giving him a small smile. "It's alright, Kiddo. It's not your fault. I'm sure there's something on here. We just need to look a little harder, that's all."

"Still, I wish I could've been more help," Jamie murmured.

Feeling a bit guilty for projecting his bitter mood on to his young friend, Jack forced a more convincing smile on his face and reached down to ruffle the boy's hair, making him duck away and laugh.

Jack stood up to his full height and crossed his arms.

"I just don't get it," he mumbled more to himself than the two kids in the room. "Why is this so hard?"

"Can't you ask North or Bunny about her?"

"Already have, but they're being fortune cookie vague about it all," Jack replied, leaning down to look at the laptop screen again. "Man, this is so weird. Why isn't there anything about the real Alice on here?"

Jack was afraid something like this would happen. Time must have helped the Alice in Wonderland books bury the original history behind Alice Liddell. He was hoping that wouldn't happen since the books were published barely a century ago, but time could warp the true history and appearances behind spirits like the guardians. Bunny and North were prime examples of that, especially in the appearance department.

Jamie pursed his lips in thought and tapped his fingers against the desk. "Hmm, I don't know. Are you sure Alice was a real person before becoming a spirit?"

"Yeah, what else would she have been?"

"I was just thinking, since we can't find any evidence of there ever being a real Alice, that maybe she was born from the books?" Jamie suggested, only to receive a funny look from Jack. "Well you know, once children read the books and started believing in Alice and her Wonderland, maybe that belief brought her to life, or something. Like when the Sandman came back to life once Cupcake and the others started believing in him again."

Jack thought about Jamie's idea for a second, impressed, before shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure Alice was human before becoming a spirit, but I give you points for the idea. Way to think outside of the box, kid. No, she was human. Bunnymund used to know her as a child."

"He did?"

"Yep, and they're really close."

"How close?"

"Bunny insists they're just really good friends, but Tooth said they're father-daughter close."

Jamie blinked, trying to imagine what a fatherly figure Easter Bunny would look like. "Wow, that's kinda weird."

"I know, right?" Jack laughed. "He's always fussing over her and stuff. Kind of like Tooth whenever one of her fairies is sick or hurt, just not as motherly. And Alice has got him whipped too! It's pretty funny to watch her scold him like a little kid, especially since he's twice her height."

"She sounds pretty cool," Jamie smiled. "Well, other than the plate throwing thing. Why do you want to know so much about her anyways. Do you have, like, a crush on her or something?"

A blush erupted across Jack's pale cheeks and he let out an indignant huff. Him? Actually liking that vindictive, cutthroat girl? He couldn't think of anything more ridiculous even if he tried!

At the very thought, Jack twisted his face up in disgust and threw his hands up in front of him as if he was trying to physically push the comment away. "Blegh! No way! As if I would ever like Alice Liddell!"

From her spot on Jamie's floor, Cupcake's head perked up from her math problem and her attention was instantly on the other two in the room.

Did he say Alice Liddell?

Jamie laughed at Jack's reaction. It was like watching a little boy freak out because he still believed girls had cooties. "Okay, calm down. It was just a question, Jack. I just want to know why."

Jack turned away from the laptop screen after sobering up. "If I do bring Alice here, I just want to make sure you guys are going to be...safe around her."

"Safe?" The boy echoed. "Is she dangerous?"

"No," Jack claimed at first, but uncertainty crept in when he added a second thought. "At least, not entirely. She doesn't look like she could be dangerous, but whenever I'm around her...I don't know, she just gives off these bad juju vibes."

That was a bit of an understatement on his part. The bad vibes that Jack picked up on when he was around that woman went way beyond anything he would expect from an unassuming spirit like Alice. There was a true sense of darkness surrounding her, like an angry storm cloud hanging over someone's head. It went deeper than her glaring eyes and mocking smirk and Jack couldn't decide whether he should be afraid of her, or not. He didn't know if the other guardians were aware of the darkness, but he had a nagging suspicion that they were. That was why everybody walked on eggshells around her.

Perhaps that was another reason why Jack wanted to find out everything he could about Alice. If that darkness ever decided to explicitly show itself, Jack wouldn't be caught unawares.

Of course though, he couldn't say any of that out loud to Jamie and Cupcake. He didn't want them to be scared of Alice just because his nerves were being rattled by the woman's off-putting personality.

"What do you mean?" Jamie asked.

"Nothing," Jack dismissed with a shake of his head. "It doesn't matter. I was hoping that the internet could give me some answers since I'm clearly not going to get any from North and the others, but of course, things can never be that easy for me."

Silence fell over the bedroom as Jack's disappointment and frustration finally caught up with him. Suddenly feeling stuffy inside the tiny space of Jamie's room, Jack moved away from the boy's desk and walked towards the window to let in the cool breeze from outside. The chill helped calm his racing mind a little, but not enough to make him feel any better.

"Jack?"

He turned around and looked at the girl still sitting on Jamie's floor. She wasn't looking at him, though. She was looking at the floor with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Yeah?"

"What did you say Alice's last name was?"

Jack blinked at Cupcake's, seemingly random question and cocked his head to the side. "What?"

"What's Alice's last name? You just said it. When Jamie asked you if you had a crush on her."

"Oh! Yeah, sorry," he said before answering. "It's Liddell."

"Is that Liddell with two D's and two L's at that end?"

"Probably..." Jack drawled before giving her a suspicious glare. "Why?"

Instead of answering, Cupcake looked over at Jamie. "Show Jack that one website we found earlier."

"What website?"

Jamie gave Cupcake an exasperated look before shaking his head. "Oh come on, Cupcake. You know nothing on those types of websites is true. They're just stories made up by crazy internet people."

"Maybe it'll turn out to be what he's looking for. It couldn't hurt to show him."

"Then you do it," Jamie said, getting up from his chair. "I have to go wake up Sophie from her nap and make her lunch."

"Tell her I said hi!" Jack called as Jamie left the room. The boy didn't respond, but he waved a hand over his shoulder as he left. When his bedroom door closed shut, Jack turned to Cupcake with new apprehension. "Now, what were you saying about a website?"

Cupcake rolled her eyes at Jack's overly excited nature. She unceremoniously kicked aside her abandoned homework and textbook (she would finish it at home later) before motioning for Jack to follow her back towards Jamie's laptop. The computer chair squeaked and sank under the new weight as Cupcake sat down and reached for the keyboard. Jack followed close behind and leaned against the back wall, waiting for Cupcake to show him whatever it was she wanted to show.

Cupcake's fingers traveled swiftly over the laptop keys as she typed something into the machine. Once she entered in her search words, Cupcake scanned the screen in search of the website that her and Jamie found earlier that day. When she finally did, she let out an "Aha!", and clicked the link. Jack watched as the screen drew up articles and pictures.

"Take a look at this," Cupcake said with a smirk fighting its way on to her freckled face.

Jack leaned in and squinted his eyes. "And what exactly am I looking at, Cups?"

That was another reason why Jack hated using computers; bright screens and tiny print.

She let out a sigh before pointing at the top of the screen. "Look at the title, you walking ice pop!"

Jack leaned in closer and read the bold lettering Cupcake was pointing at.

Alice Pleasance Liddell

He snorted when the words fully registered and his first thought popped into his head.

Pleasance? Alice's middle name was Pleasance? How unbelievably ironic.

"Jamie thinks that this is one of those false conspiracy websites where crazy people blog about weird historical cover-ups, but I think it sounds legit," Cupcake claimed. "Especially since you say that Alice Liddell was an actual person. This website talks about a girl they believe the Alice in Wonderland books were based off of, but I don't think they're a hundred percent sure."

"Why not?"

"Because she disappeared years before the books were published."

"Disappeared?"

She nodded her head, eyes roaming across the screen. "Alice was an orphan living in the trashy side London, England. When she was nineteen, she disappeared one day without a trace and nobody ever heard from her again."

Jack's heart pounded in his chest at Cupcake's words.

This could be it. This could be the information he was looking for! Nineteen was about the age Alice was, and Bunny said she lived in London before becoming a spirit. And disappearing without a trace? That must have been when Alice became a spirit. She didn't disappear, she just became invisible to everybody who didn't believe.

"Here's a picture of her," Cupcake's voice broke through his thoughts. She clicked on a small, sepia-colored square in the corner of the screen. The square grew in size to reveal an old fashioned picture. Jack's eyes widened.

It was her! It was Alice!

The picture on the screen was dull with an extremely faded tint to it, but the figure standing within it was recognizable.

Alice was standing in front of a tall, looming building with a black, uninviting steel gate bordering the front. From the angle of the picture, it looked as if it was taken from a distance and without Alice's knowledge, for the woman was sweeping away with the broom in her hands as if she hadn't noticed anyone taking a photograph of her.

Jack couldn't tell if it was just a trick of the old style quality of the hundred year old photograph, or if Alice truly did look as sickly and downtrodden as the picture portrayed her as. Either way, as mean as it might sound, Alice's appearance in the picture wasn't flattering at all. She looked small and unhealthy in the photo. Her body was stick thin, on the verge of emaciation, with ragged clothes and short, choppy black hair that barely reached her bony shoulders. There were dark circles underneath her eyes, and an almost defeated expression plagued her usually prideful face.

The Alice in the picture was a dull, lifeless husk compared to the woman Jack first met two days ago, but somehow, even when she looked so sick and colorless, Jack still thought she had a sad, stunning beauty about her. Like a broken marionette doll, left cracked and her strings cut.

Something inside Jack told him to not go any further than Alice's picture. A foreboding feeling moved through his body, telling him that it would a bad idea to read anything else on the website. He wasn't going to like anything he found on it, but his nagging sense of curiosity and need to know the secrets surrounding the guardians' new, potential teammate drove him forward.

"What else is on here?"

Cupcake sucked in a breath through her teeth and let it out with a puff of her cheeks. "Not a lot. A couple of one-page, newspaper articles, but that's pretty much it."

"Can I see them?"

The girl gnawed on her bottom lip with uncertainty for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders.

"Sure, I'll show you them, but I'm warning you now, they're kinda sad."

~O~

As it turned out, "kinda sad" was the biggest understatement of the year. "Horribly depressing" would've been more accurate.

Jack only had to read the headline of the first newspaper article to realize that nothing about Alice's past was going to be even remotely pleasant. And like Cupcake had said, the website didn't have much, but what little it did have, left Jack feeling lower than dirt.

After reading the scarce information the website provided, Jack found Jamie's bedroom too claustrophobic. His limbs twitched and his stomach twisted as he realized he needed to go somewhere quiet so he could think.

Ignoring Cupcake's concerned questions about whether he was okay, Jack only shook his head and asked her if she could print him out a copy of the articles. She wanted to protest, but after seeing the light green hue in Jack's pale complexion, she decided against it and did what he asked. Once the last sheet of paper slipped out of Jamie's bulky printer, the winter spirit snatched the papers from the tray and made his way to the window.

Before leaving, Jack asked the girl if she could be keep everything to herself and have Jamie do the same, and of course she said she would. Then the pale spirit slipped through the window and propelled himself off the house, towards the direction of his pond.

Despite it being the very pond he had drowned in over three hundred years ago, Jack never felt more at home when he was at his pond. Whether he was lounging in the ancient oak tree near the base of the water, or creating ice patterns on the walls of the small cave he found nearby almost two centuries ago, it all felt familiar to him. He felt the most comfortable when he was sitting balanced on the crook of his shepherd's staff in the middle of the frozen pond, like he was doing at that very moment. He didn't even care if it was considered "out of season" for him to freeze the pond when there wasn't even any snow on the ground.

No matter how familiar and comfortable the atmosphere of Jack's pond was, he couldn't shake the feelings of guilt and gloom that were brought on by his most recent discovery. Not even the welcoming feel of the wind blowing through his silvery white hair could lift his spirits.

His azure eyes repeatedly read over the printed copy of an old issue of "The Illustrated London News" that Jack held in his shaking hands.

"Three Expire in Domestic Conflagration,

Reports have reached us that Dean & Mrs. Arthur Liddell, and their dear daughter, Elizabeth (eighteen), perished in a raging inferno, which had consumed their gracious Oxford home during the night. Another daughter, the lucky (nay, plucky!) Alice (seven) survived the blaze. While her severe burns are being treated at Littlemore Infirmary, prospects of her recovery are not at all encouraging. No visitors have come and none are expected. We've learned that measurements for her coffin have been taken, and her departed loved ones are stored in an ice locker in the likelihood that the whole family will be expeditiously interred at the same time."

So that was what happened to Alice. Her family died in a house fire.

Only seven years old. Practically a baby, and she lost her entire family in one night.

Jack's eyes moved from the words of the article and looked at the picture of a burning, two-story house, engulfed in roaring flames. He fought hard to swallow the lump in his throat as he tried to imagine what it would be like to be trapped inside a flaming building being burnt alive.

With a trembling hand that threatened to freeze the flimsy material of the articles, Jack flipped the top page behind the bottom and read the next article again, just like he did with the first. The words on the pages wouldn't register enough inside Jack's mind for him to be able to completely understand what he was reading. It was too horrible. All he could do was read the articles over and over again until they became nothing but a blur.

"A Most Reluctant Patient,

Lovely little Alice Liddell, our favorite orphan, the report of whose charred body last appeared in these pages a year ago, has been moved to Rutledge Asylum. Her battered and crispy self was judge sufficiently healed for this removal to Rutledge, which is thought best suited to handle her symptoms. Investigation into the cause of the fire continues, as do the rumours regarding Alice's possible involvement. The doctor says she's suffering "severe and pervasive trauma"- the clinical way of saying her wits have yet to be tethered. According to our source at Rutledge, her behavior is volatile and unpredictable, and she is obviously a danger to herself and others. We wish Dr. H.Q. Wilson, her treating physician, the best of British luck - he may need a suit of armour."

No matter how many times he read them, Jack felt angry towards the two articles. The words that were used, like charred and crispy, sounded way too blunt and cruel. They were speaking about a little girl for Moon's sake! Not some dead animal found on the side of the road. How could they disregard something so tragic, so easily? "No visitors have come and none are expected", did they really have to be so blunt about it? Was such cruel reporting even legal?

Jack didn't know if it was the writer's intent to sound so horribly uncaring about a child losing their family, but the spirit couldn't stop himself from reading it like that. The writer spoke so carefree about the tragedy, like he was discussing the weather, or sharing a new recipe for cherry cake. Did he have any sense of public decency?

And what about Alice?

Severely traumatized by her family's death and sent to mental asylum because of it. A young child, now completely alone in the world, locked behind padded walls and steel doors. Jack didn't even want to imagine what that must have been like. He wasn't an expert on mental institutions during the Victorian era, but he did know that the treatments for mental patients during that time period weren't nearly as humane and effective as they were in modern times. How long was Alice inside the asylum? How much worse did it make her already screwed up childhood? Is that what made her into the person she was today? Bitter and scornful?

Looking at the second article, Jack's eyes roamed across the black and white photograph of a small girl laying on a hospital gurney with her tiny arms and face covered in bandages. Her damaged arms clutched tightly around a ragged toy rabbit with only one button eye. Jack's chest tightened before as he gently traced his fingertips across the heartbreaking picture. Suddenly, it didn't matter to Jack that Alice was always mean and nasty when he was around her. He didn't care that all she did was hurl insults and crockery at him. None of that mattered anymore because Jack was no longer angry about it. He was honestly too depressed to be angry.

"So this is why you're the way you are," Jack whispered to the little girl in the picture while Bunny's words ran through his head again.

'Our world made her that way. She's had it rough her whole life.'

Now he was beginning to understand why Alice chose to lock herself inside her Wonderland for so long. Jack couldn't blame her. Why would she live in a world filled with so much pain, grief and sadness when she could easily just runaway to a world of her own creation?

Jack shook his head as his anger directed itself inward.

He had made a big mistake. He should have just left well enough alone like everybody told him to. Snooping into Alice's past did nothing for him except make him feel depressed and guilty about what he had said to her earlier. Jack called Alice a mean person with no reason, or justification for being that way.

Oh, she definitely had a reason. There was no doubting that anymore.

"Well this sucks," Jack mumbled to himself as he dropped his head into his folded arms, still balanced on the crook of his staff.

So, what now?

He knew he had to apologize to her eventually, that much was obvious, but what if that made Alice suspicious? She would kill Jack if she found out what he had done, invading her privacy like that. She would literally break his neck and feed his corpse to North's elves, or something else as equally painful and terrifying.

During his endless circle of thoughts, Jack failed to notice when the wind around him picked up as it tried to warn him about the shining streams of golden sand making their way towards his pond. It wasn't until Jack heard the very subtle sound of silver bells, the only sound that could ever be associated with a certain mute spirit, that the winter spirit looked towards the sky. Dread pooled into the pit of his stomach as he spotted the Sandman descending down from high above.

Trying not to panic, Jack rolled up the two sheets of paper and shoved them into the space between his belt and trousers behind his back.

Once the golden spirit drew close enough, he waved happily at Jack with his small hand. Jack, who was trying to act as inconspicuous as possible, forced a smile and waved back.

"H-hey, Sandy," he greeted with false nonchalance. "What's up? You out working?"

Sandy held up his hand and waved it in a so-so gesture before giving Jack an amused smirk and pointing to the back of his head. Understanding his meaning, Jack blushed and let out an uneasy laugh. "Oh, you heard about that, huh?"

The Sandman nodded and a small figure shaped like Alice appeared above his head. The figure had her hands on her hips while her small foot tapped furiously against an invisible ground. Then he pointed to Jack and a dreamsand question mark appeared next to the dreamsand Alice.

Sandy's method of communication was very abstract and resembled a game of charades more than anything else, but Jack was usually able to decipher the Sandman's meaning if he really tried.

"I'm not sure what her problem is," Jack said, which was only half-true. He knew that Alice had problems, he just didn't know what her problem was with him, specifically. "I was just trying to help."

The smile on Sandy's face dropped a few notches and he scratched his head. He regarded Jack for a moment before he said something in sign language. Jack wasn't really surprised when he first found out Sandy knew sign language. Although, he rarely used it to communicate with since only Tooth was fluent enough to understand him. Sometimes when Sandy really needed to say something, but wasn't able to put it into sand symbols, he opted to using sign language instead, but only if Tooth was around to translate for him.

Jack wasn't a master at sign language. Sandy taught him a little bit of it, though. Enough for him to understand the gist of what the Sandman was trying to say.

'Are you alright?'

"Yeah, I'm alright, little man."

'Why are you acting funny?'

Jack blinked at his friend. "What do you mean?"

Sandy gave him a pointed look and nodded his head towards the back of Jack's pants. The young spirit had to fight hard to keep the surprise from his face and continue acting nonchalant.

"Whoa, Sandman," Jack laughed, trying to play everything off with a joke like he usually did. "I didn't know you felt that way about me. I'm truly flattered, but I think we should just stay friends."

Sandy rolled his eyes at Jack before motioning with his hand for the boy to give him whatever it was he was hiding. Jack kept up his front for about ten more seconds before letting out a sigh.

"Nothing gets past you does it, Sandman?" Jack smiled sadly before reaching behind his back and pulling out the articles.

Sandy took the sheets of paper and held them up. Jack almost flinched when Sandy's eyes widened and he looked back at Jack with shock.

"I know! I know!" Jack groaned. "Bad idea! A very bad, stupid idea! But honestly, did you really think that I was just going to sit around clueless while there's a secret floating around that everybody knows except me?"

Sandy held his stern glare before a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

"And besides..." Jack trailed off almost sorrowfully. "I didn't think Alice's backstory would be that horrible."

Sandy shook his head before looking back down at the articles. His golden eyes landed on the photograph of a seven-year old Alice inside Littlemore Infirmary. He let out a silent sigh and handed the papers back to Jack. He didn't need that horrible image in his head again, once was more than enough.

"Should I...tell her that I know?" Jack asked, tentatively.

Sandy gave him a look, 'not if you like where your head is'.

"Then what do you think I should do?"

Sandy shrugged his shoulders before conjuring up a dreamsand figure of Alice and then a dreamsand figure of Jack. The two figures faced each other and shook hands.

Jack ran his hand through his white hair in frustration at the classic Sandman answer. "And how do you suggest I do that? Alice has already made it crystal clear that she doesn't want to be friends with me!"

'Just keep trying and she'll come around eventually,' Sandy signed before telling Jack in sand symbols that he that needed to leave.

He reached out and patted Jack on the shoulder while giving the boy an encouraging smile. He waved goodbye and ascended back into the sky. Jack watched him go with a grim look on his face.

"Keep trying. Great advice." he scoffed to himself as he rolled up his papers again and shoved them into his hoodie pocket. "Easy for you to say, Sandy. Alice doesn't hate you."

After the Sandman left, the winter spirit sulked on his pond for a few more hours. It wasn't until the sun fully disappeared behind the tree line that Jack let out one last sigh and flipped off his staff, and into the air.

He might as well head back to the North Pole now.


AN: Okay wow, this chapter was a pain in the ass to write. I got writer's block several times while I was working on it. And just in case you were wondering, I got the newspaper articles from the Madness Returns interactive storybook. I didn't write them myself!

AND, December 1st is the one year anniversary of this story! On the first, I will be posting a new ROTG/AMR crossover story. It's going to be a prequel story to Winter Wonderland including mainly Bunny and Alice! It'll involve their first meeting, their Easter Sundays together, the night of the fire, and their reunion after Alice becomes a spirit! So keep your eyes open for it!

~Scorpiofreak~