Note: Sadly, this is not exactly and update. And this does not mean that I'm back just yet. I just wanted to put this down since it's been in my head for a while, and I figure you guys at least deserve whatever few answers you get from this. Hope you enjoy this little interlude in "Nothing Sacred"!

Interlude: Alice

The boy walked through the forest, his head turning side to side; searching for the girl who he knew resided in there. She was most likely in the Red Queen's castle, having a good round of croquet, or at least the version she played best. He certainly didn't agree to using animals such as flamingos and porcupines as "toys", but he didn't dare say it.

Not only for her sake, but for his own.

You would have to be a fool to displease Alice, especially in the world she had created, the imaginary place justly deemed Wonderland.

A leaf rustled from his side, behind a wall of forest. The dark haired boy paused and his blue eyes narrowed.

"Who's there?" he called out. "Show yourself."

He didn't get an answer from the forest. In fact, the whole forest had gone silent. Neither a flower nor a horn bird made any sound, not even a hint of a song. The boy felt a cold, paranoid feeling settle in his stomach. He didn't like it when Wonderland got quiet. It was never a good thing.

Though nothing had jumped out at him, the boy clenched one of his hands, where a hatchet instantly appeared. He grasped the tiny axe tightly as his blue eyes scanned the area, his body on full alert.

You might think it odd for his paranoia, and you might be right.

Then again, you didn't know Alice as well as he did.

"Ooh, back again, Pinocchio?"

Though the smooth voice behind him was familiar, Pinocchio still jumped and gasped in shock. He immediately turned and directed his gaze to a tree branch, where the source of the voice was, and then he scowled.

"Cheshire Cat," he greeted dryly. "What a surprise."

The fat purple cat grinned widely, revealing two rows of sharp white teeth. It walked into the sunlight, to the edge of the tree branch, and locked its glowing yellow eyes on Pinocchio, who glared back at him. Pinocchio never liked this creature of Alice's, and he will never understand why she kept it in this little world she had created. It was the only one that wasn't under her complete control. It was as if the Cat wasn't part of Wonderland at all, and that was enough to cause Pinocchio to distrust it.

"She is not pleased with your visit," the Cat said.

Pinocchio rolled his eyes.

"Really? I didn't notice."

The creature chuckled darkly. "Don't take it out on me, boy. You are the one who often brings bad news."

The boy lowered his head guiltily.

"…It's not like I mean to."

The Cat jumped from its position on the branch to strut around Pinocchio on the ground. His grin and eyes widened with something akin to sadistic glee. Pinocchio wasn't really sure though. No one could ever read the Cheshire Cat's mug all that well, not even Alice.

"My dear, dear boy," it said with mock comfort. "I know that. And she knows that, also." It smirked, adding, "That's why she hasn't ordered the Red Queen to chop off your head yet."

Pinocchio smirked acidly back at it.

"And I am so thankful for that. Just take me to her, Cat."

"Tut, tut, so impatient. I'd think that being wandering ghost for a decade would cause you to develop those."

Despite its admonishment, the Cat turned around and walked off into a direction, nodding to Pinocchio. The boy waited until there was a comfortable distance between the two of them before following.

It was a couple of minutes before the scent of sweet cakes and tea reached Pinocchio's nostrils. As he listened closely, he summated that Alice had been joining in a daily tea party with the Hatter, another resident of Wonderland. Pinocchio never knew what to think of him, except for the fact that the Hatter had a slight negative influence over Alice. He supposed he wouldn't like any of the residents of Wonderland—except the caterpillar, of course. He seemed to be the calmest thing there.

The Cat grinned over its haunches, jumped on the stone wall that covered the Hatter's property, and then nodded at the open gate.

Then it disappeared in thin air, its wide, haunting grin being the last thing Pinocchio saw before it faded also.

The ghost boy shuddered slightly. He could swear he still heard the Cat's laugh echoing throughout all of Wonderland, an outright premonition of whatever storm was going to come.

An "I know you are totally screwed, and I'm going to laugh as I watch your misery" kind of laugh, if you will.

"Alice?" Pinocchio walked through the gates. "You there?"

"I'm here, Pinocchio."

The minute you enter the Mad Hatter's house, you see a long table that was fit to be in the royal Great Halls of old. There were only a few chairs, since the Mad Hatter didn't get that many visitors, except the March Hare and that little field mouse that would hide in the teapots. Today, however, the walking and talking animals were absent. When Pinocchio walked in, he only saw Alice sitting at the head of a table, her back straight and her blue eyes cool. She looked almost regal; despite her being in that simple blue dress her mother had made for her when she was alive.

The little blonde girl took a sip from her teacup, her eyes still on Pinocchio, peeking over the rim of the cup.

Pinocchio couldn't help but be aware of the ominous silence of Wonderland. Yet he also felt a thousand eyes on him. It was as if everyone wanted to watch the show.

"I came to see you." He took a seat next to her.

Alice smiled, a cold facial expression settling in. "I know, Pinocchio. But would you please make it quick. I don't think I'm up for broken promises today."

He visibly flinched. "I'm sorry, Alice."

Her eyes flashed dangerously, her irises briefly shifting from that beautiful shade of blue to red, then back to blue again.

" 'Sorry' still hasn't brought him to me with his head on a silver platter, has it Pinocchio?"

When the boy was silent, she practically snapped.

"Has it, Pinocchio?"

He hesitated.

"…No…"

The minute the word came out of his mouth, Pinocchio found himself thrown onto the table, and his eyes squeezed shut at the pain of the impact. When he felt a small body straddling his own, he opened his eyes slowly and was met with a pair of ruby red orbs that gleamed with bloodlust and fury. Alice's lovely face was twisted in rage, her lips drawn back into a snarl that revealed razor sharp fangs for teeth.

She drew back her pale fisted hand and delivered a powerful punch to his face. As she continued hitting him, Alice screamed in his face, relishing in the pleasure of making his nose break and his face bleed a black substance that was akin to human blood.

"Don't go making excuses, you lying bastard! You promised me, Pinocchio! You promised me that you'd get him for me!"

When he looked up at her, he saw that Wonderland's sun had been blocked by a huge, dark cloud.

Pinocchio could have thrown her away from him, yet he didn't. He just lay there and took it, knowing that it wasn't Alice's fault. It was just the ghoulish nature settling in as a result of being so far from the Afterlife after so many years. All of the ghosts were susceptible to it, including him. And Pinocchio understood all the haunts that chose to give in to their madness.

"But I don't want to go among mad people."

There were just times…when madness seemed to be the easiest way out.

"Oh, you can't help that…"

Finally, with one final bash to his head, Pinocchio passed out.

The last thing he heard was crashing thunder and rain.

"We're all mad here…"*

He woke up to the sound of rain, Alice's weeping and feeling a cool cloth on his head. Pinocchio blinked open his eyes and saw that he was lying on the grass, under a giant mushroom. He slowly sat up, grabbing the cloth on his forehead before it fell. He didn't feel any pain. He never did whenever he suffered the abuse from another ghost, because the wounds always healed.

When he sat up, Pinocchio saw Alice's form crouched and hunched a few feet away from him, just a few inches from getting hit by the rain that poured down from the skies. Her body was trembling and Pinocchio could hear her sobbing, even if her face was buried against her knees.

Pinocchio's eyes softened and he crawled over to sit next to the girl. He could tell she sensed his presence because he saw her tense and turn her body slightly, so there was no way she could face him. Pinocchio wasn't deterred though. Instead, he just scooted closer to her and tentatively wrapped a hand around her shoulder. When she tensed even more, he gave her a gentle squeeze and rubbed her shoulders.

Finally, she picked her face up to look at him, her lips trembling.

"W-why are you always so nice to me, Pinocchio? All I do is hurt you, you know."

Smiling, Pinocchio rolled his eyes playfully. "That's not all you do. Sometimes you force me to ride lily pads down the river, and you know how much I hate that."

Alice giggled, though it came out as a hiccup. She leaned on his shoulder and sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I'm so sorry."

Pinocchio smiled at her softly, stroking her hair comfortingly. "Don't think anything of it, Alice. There's really nothing to forgive. We all lose control sometimes."

She scoffed. "Not you, surely."

"Of course me," he huffed back. "I'm not all innocent under these boyish good looks." He winked, smiling. "You just haven't seen the bad side."

Alice smiled up at him, her tears lessening. There were times she forgot how lucky she was that Pinocchio actually stopped to care for her, even when she was at her worst. But she would always remember, and that was what saved her most of the time.

"So, what was it you wanted to tell me," she asked, after a pause.

Pinocchio smiled nervously, scratching the back of his head. How was he going to put this?

"Well, to start, I've got some good news and some bad news."

Alice frowned, and then sighed. "Fine…but start with the good news first."

"The good news is that we've found a proper medium who can see us as if we were still alive," he said cheerfully.

"And the bad news?"

"There are a couple of those, the first being the obvious one…"

She rolled her eyes. "We can't tell the person who murdered us, because that goes against the rules regarding relations with those in the Living World. Since we are not part of that world, we can't deal with justice our way, so we have to have living humans deliver justice for us, since he is still part of the living.*"

Pinocchio quirked an eyebrow. "I've said that before, haven't I?"

Alice laughed slyly. "Only about a hundred times."

"Right. Anyway, about the second one, she kind of…sort of saw Pete's corpse."

Alice quirked an eyebrow.

"Which means…?"

"She's feeling upset and frustrated, and that might interfere with her decision to help us."

She bit her lip, understanding falling on her. If the medium is distressed then she might not want to help them after all. She would want to get out of Fantasia as fast as she could.

Alice's eyes steeled with determination.

There was no way they were going to let her get away. This medium was the savior they'd been waiting for. They would probably not get this chance until years later, when Monstro finally died. The problem was that Alice felt she couldn't wait years…

…And neither could Pinocchio.

After all, how long would it be before he succumbed to the madness just like her…?

"Send her to me," Alice said coldly. "I'll convince her."

Pinocchio sighed. "Let's not get too hasty here. We should try to convince her without threatening her."

Alice pouted.

"I wasn't going to threaten her. I just want to give her a little…jolt, is all."

"She gets enough of that from her nightmares," he replied wryly.

The blonde girl hummed, frowning, and then she beamed. "What about Christopher Robin? Could you show her him?"

Pinocchio winced, looking pained. "I don't know about that. Chris probably wouldn't want anyone to see him like that…"

She lowered her gaze guiltily, but then she looked at him firmly. "True, but he wouldn't want you to let this one get away. Remember that."

The boy sighed.

Then he slowly nodded. "I'll think about it."

Alice smiled reassuringly at him, and then she stood up, facing forward out at Wonderland.

"The rain's stopped." She looked down at him. "Would you like to have some tea? It's feels like years since the last time we just sat down and talked."

Pinocchio blinked, and then he smiled. He stood up from the ground and then grasped her hand.

"Sounds like a great idea."

Dudes, I think I just hinted at Pinocchio-x-Alice.

Oh, god, that has to be the crackiest of all the crack pairings anyone could create in Disney fan fiction.

Oh well.

*The quote in bold/italics is from Lewis Caroll's novel, Alice and Wonderland. I'm pretty sure you all knew that already, but I still thought it'd be good to put.

*If you've ever seen Corpse Bride, then you know what I mean. The dead people couldn't kill Emily's murderer until he died and became like them. That's basically where I got the concept from. If you haven't seen this movie yet, then I suggest you go to the nearest Blockbuster (or go on NetFlix, whichever), rent it and watch it. It is really good.

Read and review, please! Nice, bad, whichever! Just try not to be rude.