Rating: T+

Pairings: Jack x Alice (Jalice/Ice-Tea/The Real OTP, the ship that needs a comeback), onesided!Black Ruins x Aster, Arwyn x Rowan

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, inconsistent updates that happen during winter, implied sexual content, rantings of a mad author, OCs, OOC characters, confusing plot, bouts of insanity for characters, no beta, etc.

Dedication: To the people who are still around despite how long the updates take. To Hood, as usual. And to foxchick1, who asked me when I would come back. I came back.

Author's (Shitty) Excuses: Spring semester of junior year with English 1301. Vacation~! Fall semester of senior year that involved: Forensics, English 1302, homecoming (representing my club), becoming a club president (responsibility and me, huh?), applying for scholarships, creating a FAFSA, preparing for the world of university.

Anime: The year where I stop procastinating and finish my holiday fanfics! Holy year 2018, let's do it! I will finish Frozen Butterfly Wings by New Year's!

Aster: You keep saying that ever since 2015.

Anime: I managed to finish the 32-chapter MIAB in New Year's Eve and Trick and Treat this Halloween so I want to finish FBW! Here's to hoping! I will become a greater writer that actually finishes her stories!

Aster: Riiiight. Anyways, go to the end of the chapter for a playlist for this chapter. It's the first time a chapter has so many songs to listen to. Well, to the chapter!

"One day,

I wrote a long, long letter to the moon.

It would not be brighter than you

But I lit a small candle."

- V (4 O'Clock)

~~Because the dawn right before the sun rises is the darkest~~

10: The Frozen Butterfly

"What took you so long to figure it out, dear Alice?" Black Ruins – Bumby – asked, gesturing at the room, "I would have thought you would have realized it sooner, the moment you saw me again. However, I did not look like I did then, do I." He placed a hand on his face and grinned unnaturally wide as if in imitation of the Cheshire Cat, "Do you think that Aster would prefer my original face?"

"You're sick." Arwyn panted, getting up to stand over Aster protectively, his scythe covering Aster's resting body, "I know all about this sick man. You told me stories about him, Alice."

At Alice's raised eyebrow, Arywn blushed slightly, "I mean the you of this timeline. That you told me about him." He shook his head and regained his composure, "What is it with your twisted fascination with the Liddell family?"

"The Liddell family are beings capable of driving people mad." Black Ruins replied, "Elizabeth Liddell was a tease yet she was a beautiful person. Alice Liddell was mad yet a rare beauty. Aster put both of you to shame."

The man turned to look at Aster with a look that frightened all of the ones gathered with the exceptions of those that were out of commission, "He was the moon, beautiful and graceful with only a hint of madness that compliments my own. Why do you think I want him so desperately? He's my other half, the only one who I can say can complete me. Aster belongs to me."

"Don't delude yourself, Bumby." Alice replied. This insane man that had ruined her life when she was a human was back in the form of an insane spirit that had ruined her son's life. She looked at the sleeping form of her child and memories of her past flooded her mind. Alice looked up to glare at Bumby, "You've already hurt my child the way you did to me. That is a crime I will not permit."

"You think you can kill me again?" Black Ruins, Bumby, laughed, his voice distorting between his old English voice and his new accentless voice, "I already killed you in this timeline and, to the victor, goes the spoils. Aster rightfully belongs to me."

"Keep dreaming." Alice answered. Next to her, Jack glanced down at their child in worry. He didn't know of the past relationship between Alice and Bumby but he knew there was no way that Aster was going to that monster. Not only that, there was no way in hell that he was letting this man hurt Alice.

"This new body of mine might have more suprises than you anticipated, Alice." Black Ruins growled out before vanishing. There was the sound of metal hitting something and they all saw Alice blocking one of Black's tentacles with her Vorpal Blade. The other five tentacles went on to attack the Guardians and Arwyn. Jack didn't dare to move from his position near Aster, using his staff to block the tentacles that tried to reach for his son.

"Protect Aster!" Arwyn yelled, even though they already knew what they were going to do. Aster groaned lightly, his eyes opening slightly before closing again. Jack kneeled down and stood up with Aster secured in his arms.

"Let him go!" Bumby's jarbled voice hissed at Jack and tar shot out from his hands. Jack glanced at the tar that was coming towards him and they immediately turned into ice. Bumby looked shocked before rushing towards Jack.

"Watch out!" Arwyn yelled.

Jack jumped up before Bumby could even get near him. The air around him became colder, causing Bumby to shiver lightly while the others tried to get away from Jack. Aster hummed happily and Jack laughed, "I should have known that you would be fine with the room getting colder."

"I said to let my Aster go!" Bumby yelled, sounding livid. The tentacles he had created went berserk, one of them wrapping themselves around Tooth. The fairy screamed in pain before North slashed the dark tendrils with his swords.

"Jack, get Aster out of here!" Alice yelled before she was hit by one of the wayward tentacles. She gave out a yell of pain before she was flung across the room. She slammed harshly against a wall, breaking it.

"Alice!" North and Jack yelled before they were soon distracted by the berserk attacks of Bumby. Alice sat up, coughing. Her back hurt like hell but she needed to get up. They needed her back so she could fight that thing. They-.

"It's okay. You can rest a while." A child's voice said, startling Alice. She looked to see a familiar-looking child standing right next to her, giving off a slight glow. it had been the same little girl that had called herself a possibility, the one she had seen in dream. She smiled down at Alice, "You don't need to kill yourself just to get rid of him."

"I cannot relax." Alice shot back.

The little girl hummed as she swayed forward and backwards, Alice getting on her feet, "No rest for the wicked, huh? There's no time limit to this battle, Alice. Take minutes, take years, it won't matter. This dying timeline can either be preserved or destroyed, in the end."

"I need to save Aster from this horrible eyesore that has plagued my family for far too long." Alice answered, glancing at the battlefield from where she had been thrown. Jack had let go of their son to join the fight, placing an ice barrier around Aster and it seemed it was helping, even though they knew it wouldn't last forever.

"Hmm," The possibility swayed from side to side, her hair moving slower than her body did and showing how irregular she was in this world, "Aster isn't your child, Alice. Not yet, at least. This Aster is the responsiblity of the Alice from this timeline, not yours. You can easily leave him, Arwyn, this timeline's Pitch and these Guardians to their own devices and return to your timeline."

"What would it matter? Wouldn't this become our future?" Alice asked, looking at the horrible place that chilled her bones. This place that screamed "wrong" at her was terrifying because this was going to happen.

The possiblity shook her head, her eyes calm and almost devoid of emotion, "Think about a tree. They start out linear but there are branches that jut out from the trunk and those branches have branches. Every decision you make from now on will affect your future.

"Now that you know what will become of this timeline, you can return to yours and alter the future. You can have Aster earlier or later in life. You can kill Black Ruins when he is reborn. You can save yourselves from the horrors of this timeline." She wrapped her small arms around Alice's waist, "Run away. Forget about Aster and this timeline."

The offer wasn't even remotely tempting.

"No." Alice answered without hesitation, seeing the face of her innocent son that had suffered needlessly even from the distance, "I don't care if this Aster isn't my son as you say. In my eyes, he is my son, as well as Jack's. The timeline he comes from does not matter. I will save Aster. I refuse to forget anything again."

The possibility's eyes widened in shock at her declaration, releasing her hold on Alice's waist. She got over it and giggled, "I should've known that you wouldn't abandon your son, even though he isn't your son yet. You'll make such a good mother. To Aster and Elizabeth." With that, the girl vanished without a trace, as if she had never existed.

Alice brandished the Vorpal Blade, seeing herself in the reflection. She stared at her own eyes, the eyes her son had come to inherit. It was the thing that had made her know for certain that Aster was really hers. She looked down at her child and smiled.

She was going to protect her son, no matter what.

~~Please find the me who was innocent . . . please return my smile~~

"Mommy, tell me the stories again!" Aster grinned as he squeezed his way into his parents' bed, sandwiched by a smiling Alice and a ruffled Jack who had clearly been asleep before his son had decided to speak. Aster's normal speaking volume, however, could only be considered yelling.

"Hey, Snowstorm, your mother is busy sleeping." Jack muttered, sitting up in bed while Alice did the same so they could attend to their hyperactive spirit-born child. He yawned and looked down at the five year old who had recently lost his front tooth, a fact that couldn't be hidden when he was smiling so widely that he would compare the kid to Alice's Cheshire Cat, "Besides, didn't we tuck you in already?"

"But Daddy, Mommy didn't get to finish telling me about Wonderland!" Aster shouted, waving his arms around and nearly smacking the faces of two of the strongest Guardians around. His parents caught his flailing hands and Aster looked at his mother with wide, wonder-filled eyes, "Tell me about everything!"

"Everything?" Alice questioned her son. She ruffled the white mop of hair, Aster giggling excitedly, "I told you I would finish telling you the story tomorrow, snowstorm. Why is it that you don't listen to me? You take too much after your father."

"Alice." Jack pouted, causing Aster to laugh.

"Alright, I'll finish telling you this story for the third time this week, Aster." Alice said, not even looking angry. The last time she had asked Aster why he was so enamoured with her stories of Wonderland, particularly that character, he had just answered that it was the best. It had still amazed her that her child had fallen for a person in her Wonderland that she had feared for so long.

She wrapped her arms around her son and the two laid down, Jack following suit. She smiled at her small child and poked his nose lightly, causing him to laugh. Jack wrapped his arms around his wife and his child, the trio forming an odd sandwich. Aster closed his eyes while his mother began to speak, "Now, let's begin the tale of the Red Queen."

~~I want to try to run, just a little more~~

Aster opened his eyes. He was encased in ice, most likely done by his father, but he couldn't remember what had happened after he was sent flying by Black Ruins. He sat up, gathering the Dream and Nightmare Sand that had managed to disperse.

Why had he remembered that? Why did he suddenly recall the times when he was young and asked his mother to tell him stories about the Red Queen and all the occupations of Wonderland.

The White Rabbit. The March Hare. The Mad Hatter. The Card Guards. The Caterpillar. The Red Queen. They were an essential part of his childhood, just like they had been his mother's.

He remembered that, one day, his father had enchanted the snow in order to bring life to the whimsical characters. Despite the others being so lively, his favorite had, oddly, always been the Red Queen.

He sometimes wondered why that was. Why had the Red Queen always fascinated him? He never had an answer for that. Even as he grew up, he couldn't figure out why the crazy monarch was always been so special to him. Well, he thought he might have figured it out.

The Red Queen was something that had plagued his mother since infancy and was a villain until the Dollmaker and the train had come to destroy Wonderland and his mother. She took the form of a child and helped his mother unravel the mystery of the Dollmaker. She was an insane monarch but she was a symbol of power in Aster's young eyes, a parallel to his mother. It's because a part of his mother lived in the Red Queen, just like all the characters in Wonderland.

Aster looked past the ice and saw the distorted images of the Guardians, Arwyn and his mother fighting. He looked away, knowing that all of this suffering had been his fault. He should've gone with Black Ruins from the beginning. Then his parents would never have died and their past selves would never have been caught up in his mess.

"I've ruined so much. I'm my mother's new Red Queen." He thought, touching the ice.

"So, Aster, what shall you do?"

Aster knew that voice yet didn't recognize it. He turned around to see a small girl almost identical to his mother with the exception of the eyes that were identical to his father's.

"I . . . Who?"

The little girl chuckled, placing a finger over her lips. She winked before speaking again, "What shall you do now? If you're truly the one that caused these actions, how will you right them?"

Aster wondered who the girl was but thought more about what she had asked. How could he right his wrong? He had an idea but it would involve getting rid of his morals in order to execute it. He formed a knife out of ice, making it identical to his mother's Vorpal Blade.

"With my own hands, I will kill Black Ruins."

A possibility was created and the child's eyes widened at the conviction in Aster's eyes. This imagination spirit, once pure of darkness, was staining his hands for the first time. The conviction of this spirit to right his wrong was powerful enough to open a new world of possibilities. This impossible boy, born of two spirits, was incredible.

"Do you think you can do that? Kill someone?" The girl asked, frowning, "You, who cares about life and cherishes it? Will you be able to do it?"

"Yes. With Man in the Moon as my witness, I shall kill Black Ruins."

Aster's eyes turned dark with the exception of his iris that glowed brightly. His skin turned paler and blood tears flowed down his cheeks. He stood, impressing the young girl. This wasn't Hysteria anymore.

"I will end this. For my parents and for you, Elizabeth, who never got to live because of me." Aster said, his voice sounding slightly distorted. He smiled, brandishing his ice blade, "It's time to unleash my power."

~~The feeble you, who received punishment for my crime~~

Outside of the ice barrier Jack had made for Aster, the battle continued. The Guardians, Alice, Pitch and Arwyn were regrouping from the onslaught of attacks they had unleashed on Bumby/Black Ruins. The spirit had created monsters from him sliced tentacles, something that grossed out Arwyn but Alice found suited her old enemy.

"We need to end this now." Alice said, glancing at the ice where her son rested. For a moment, she thought she saw the possibility sitting on top of the barrier but she vanished when the English female blinked.

"Agreed." Arwyn panted, leaning heavily on his scythe. Out of all the ones assembled, he was the only one that looked ready to pass out. The spirit displayed a grand amount of strength, North thought to himself and patted Arwyn's back.

"Alice, let's begin the assault." Jack smiled at her, stretching out his hand for her to take. Alice glanced at it and, with a hint of a smile, took it. The room turned colder while Alice changed herself to Hysteria mode. The two seemed to vanish as they rushed to launch their assault on Black Ruins.

Arwyn stood upright, twirling his scythe around, "Well, you heard Jack. Let's begin." With that, Arwyn, Pitch and the Guardians attacked the monsters Black Ruins had created.

Pitch shot multiple arrows, encasing several of the creatures in Nightmare Sand and changing them to Nightmares. Sandy had manifested golden whips from his Dreamsand and defeated his enemies by sending them to be sliced by either North's swords, Bunnymund's boomerangs or Arwyn's scythes. Tooth flew between the monsters, fighting some of them before they were knocked unconscious and destroyed by the weapons of the others.

Meanwhile, Hysteria Alice and Jack were fighting Black Ruins with all their might. Jack unleashed a blast of cold wind, freezing several tentacles Black Ruins created to protect himself while Alice destroyed them, hacking at Black Ruins as much as she could.

Hysteria couldn't last long, something she and Jack knew from experience. She had to weaken Black Ruins enough so they could finish him off when she returned to her regular form.

"Alice!" Jack yelled in warning as the girl he cared for was hit by a rogue tentacle and sent flying. He felt terror as he noticed that Alice had gotten out of Hysteria, "No!"

"Time for me to get ride of you a second time, Alice." Bumby's voice sounded clearly, no longer sounding like Black Ruins anymore. As Jack rushed to Alice's side and the other spirit stood her ground to face her enemy, Bumby rushed to attack.

There was a loud crack as Jack's barrier shattered, a sound ignored by all those in the battlefield. A swarm of black and red butterflies flew towards Alice, covering the woman. This shocked Black Ruins, allowing the Alice the time to turn into a swarm of black and blue butterflies. The butterflies flew to Jack's side and reformed as Alice and Aster.

"Aster, what-?" Jack asked, taking in Aster's odd form that looked like an incomplete version of Hysteria.

"This is my battle, Dad. I plan to end it." Aster answered, voice distorted as if he was talking underwater. He smiled, grabbing his mother's hand, "This tumor must be dealt with."

Alice squeezed her son's hand before releasing him. Without speaking, all three of them rushed to battle. Jack reached Black Ruins first, blasting the villain with a barrage of ice, reminiscent of the power Jack had first displayed against Pitch.

Alice and Aster both rushed, weapons raised. As Black Ruins tried to shield himself, attempting to recover from Jack's attack, the duo transformed into butterflies, reforming behind him. The two struck but the spirit changed into black smoke, sending Alice flying. After that, the smoke engulfed Aster and Black Ruins reformed, holding Aster from the waist.

"I do not wish to hurt you, Aster. Don't fight." Black Ruins sighed, voice sounding similar to the voice Aster remembered well. Aster's eyes narrowed and the Ice Vorpal Blade grew in length, stabbing Black Ruins in the knee. He yelled in pain and Aster formed another ice blade, stabbing the other spirit in the chest.

"Aster, why are you doing this?" Black Ruins asked, reaching out to hold the other, but Aster floated away. Black Ruins was about grab him but Jack took his son's place, his staff pointed at him and freezing the majority of the other's body. He couldn't even recover before Alice stabbed him from the back, the Vorpal Blade piercing him in the same place Aster had attacked.

This loss of power caused his creatures to vanish, leaving Pitch, the Guardians and the exhausted Arwyn reeling from the battle. They turned to see Aster, Alice and Jack looming over their former enemy.

"Aster." Black Ruins whispered, voice distorted.

"You asked why?" Aster questioned, returning to his normal form, eyes glittering with unshed tears, "You killed various children just because you wanted my attention. You killed my parents and my unborn sister because I rejected you. You corrupted my friends, our friends, to spite me. You corrupted the Guardians, my family and you brought back my parents as horrible abominations. You kidnapped children and other spirits and tortured them. Your words are poison that I was foolish to listen to.

"You pretended to be my friend and I wished you were because it had been so much fun when it was us, Arwyn, Aria, Rowan, Zayden, Sariya and Rayne. I just wanted to be in ignorant bliss, making flower crowns and playing without a care in the world."

Aster was trembling, trying to hold back tears. Jack was about to reach out for his son but Alice's hand enveloping his own stopped him. He looked at her and nodded, squeezing her hand back.

Black Ruins was silent, watching Aster speak without trying anything. He was enraptured by the son of two spirits, unable to look away.

"I'll never meet my little sister, you know." Aster said. Pitch frowned as he watched snowflakes fall down from the ceiling. He doubted it had anything to do with Jack.

"I'll never hear Sariya or Rayne sing or speak again. I'll never hear my parents again. I can't even remember them without remembering how you desecrated their bodies. I loathe you, you thrice-accursed thief, for everything you've stolen from me."

Arwyn knew something was going to happen the moment Aster's angry and distraught expression shifted. A smile appeared and it looked wrong to see that smile on a face that looked so sad.

"I'll never be able to hear my favorite stories," Aster said, manifesting another ice blade that Alice noted looked like a cross between her Vorpal Blade and Jack's staff.

"I'll never be able to hear the stories about the Queen and her screams of-."

Before any of them could react or understand what was happening, Aster sliced Black Ruins's neck, decapitating him in one swift cut. Arwyn yelled out for his friend, horrified, while Jack stumbled backwards, Alice keeping him upright. Blood splattered on the imagination spirit, his face, hair and clothes covered in blood. The younger version of his mother looked at him sadly, hating Black Ruins - or Bumby or whatever his name really was - for causing her innocent son to lose his father's spirit become like her.

Aster's body began to tremble and Alice wondered if he was going to cry. Instead, a laugh pierced the silent room, all of the spirits assembled shocked at the actions of the boy who had, at one point, claimed all life was precious. Aster laughed and laughed, tears running down his blood-stained cheeks, the sound becoming similar to a cry for help towards the end. Aster stopped to look at his former tormentor and yelled the words Alice remembered so well.

"'Off with your head!'"

~~If only we can all be thankful for the blessed days that grant us life~~

"I collect myself that's shattered beneath the moonlight

I call you moonchild

We are children of the moon

I breathe the cold night air."

-RM (4 O'Clock)

Anime: This chapter was a rollercoaster ride. We see more of the "possibility" Elizabeth, Hysteria!Alice, Madness!Aster, the Frost-Liddell family fighting and the death of Black Ruins at the hands of his "sanity". The next chapter is the last. See ya then!

Notes

**The original title was "The Dollmaker's Rise" before it was turned to "The Frozen Butterfly"

**I rewatched Rise of the Guardians and the gameplay for Alice: Madness Returns to feel more in-tune with the story and its characters.

**BTS's Butterfly, Tomorrow, Blood Sweat and Tears, House of Cards, Save Me, Lost, Spring Day (Also includes the songs Awake by Jin, Stigma by V, Lie by Jimin, Boy Meets Evil by J-Hope, Fools by Jungkook and RM, 4 O'Clock by V and RM); Elise/Silv3rT3ar's covers of Butterfly, Awake, Blood Sweat and Tears, Young Forever, You Never Walk Alone and Spring Day; Rachel Rose Mitchell's Hey Alice; Ruelle's Game of Survival and Live Like Legends; Ludo's The Horror of Our Love; Jayn's cover of Unravel; Halsey's Gasoline; AmaLee's covers of Aoki Tsuki Michite, Again, Crossing Field, Dearly Beloved, Lost in Thoughts All Alone, One Reason, Re_Re, Reluctant Heroes, Unravel; Lizz Robinett's covers of Aqua's Theme, At Dusk, I Will Think of You, Lost in Thoughts All Alone, Ventus's Theme; EXO's Don't Go, El Dorado, MAMA (also For You by EXO-CBX); Sum 41's The Hell Song; Yuya Matsushita's Bird.

**The usual lines that cut between perspectives and places are replaced by lyrics. They are, in order: Tomorrow, Lie, Awake, Stigma and MAMA. These are rough translations of them as the originals are in Korean. These songs are the reason why I updated.

**Aster killing Black Ruins had been in my plans since the beginning. Decapitation became the method because I, like Aster, really like the Red Queen. This, however, has led Aster to becoming mad, becoming more like Alice than Jack.

**As of December 8, 2017, it has snowed for the first time since 2004 in my hometown. This is the first time my younger brother, born in 2005, has seen snow in that quantity. It's the second time I've seen snow but, the first time, I was five. This makes it the first time it has snowed while I was making the winter/snow-related Frozen Butterfly Wings.