AN: Well, here's chapter one. This is part one of Bunny and Alice's first meeting. Originally, I was going to include their entire first meeting in the chapter, but I kind of like the ending line in this one and I wanted to leave it on that note.

Part two should be coming either tomorrow or the next day. This one-shot series is suppose to be short so it shouldn't take me that long to update and finish it.

RECENTLY RE-EDITED

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

~Easter Sunday, 1861~

Bunnymund stumbled across Alice completely by accident that first Easter.

In fact, Bunny was surprised he had noticed her at all. His mind had been solely focused on his usual Easter Sunday mental checklist. Though he had been the Easter Bunny for a few centuries now, his holiday never ceased to be hectic. No matter how well his annual routine went, there was always a fear of becoming disorganized, and disorganization was always a serious threat for solo-run holidays like Easter. One wrong move, one overlooked mistake, could unravel the whole operation and spell doom for the Easter Bunny, so a spirit like him always had to stay on top of things. While he was busy hiding eggs, he was also busy sorting out different time zones, weather reports, and geographic locations in his head.

Judging by his mental map of the world, Bunny had just arrived in a rather secluded housing area on the outskirts of Oxford, England. There were plenty of homes with children in the general area, but he would only hide eggs in the yards with small toddlers. The rest of eggs were to be hidden around the local park for the Easter egg hunt scheduled later that day for the older children.

Surprisingly enough, Bunny found himself moving ahead of schedule that Easter. Perhaps that was because he had yet to run into the current bane of his existence; Jack Frost. He briefly wondered where the annoying little sprite was, but he decided to just appreciate the lack of unseasonal weather while it lasted. No doubt he would run into Frost when he moved on to the States, the country he suspected the boy hailed from originally.

He had been idly making his way towards the park, enjoying the rare bout peacefulness and the fresh smell of Spring, when a faint sound caught his sensitive rabbit ears, making them twitch in sudden alert. The pooka stopped in his tracks and quickly shifted his ears, trying to catch the sound again. When he finally did, he recognized it instantly.

He had been a legendary guardian for more than enough years to be able to easily distinguish the sound of a sobbing child.

Unsure if the child was hurt or not, Bunny tightened his grip on his egg basket and quickly searched the surrounding area, his desire to keep up with his Easter duties drowned out by instinctual concern. His tall ears shifted and twitched in order to get a better idea of which direction he needed to go. He raised his nose to the sky and took in the scents around him, trying to pinpoint any unusual ones among the smell of newly cut grass and blooming flowers. It didn't take him long to find the source of the crying. His investigation eventually led him to a bench in a more secluded area of the local Park.

On the bench was a small, dark-haired girl, sitting all alone and crying into her tiny hands.

A swift once-over told Bunny that the girl was physically unharmed, but she was covered in what looked like blue finger paint. He was also relieved to know, judging by her clothes and the healthy plumpness in her cheeks, that she wasn't a beggar child. Seeing those children always felt like a punch to the gut for Bunny because he knew there wasn't much he could do for them other than make sure they had the best Easter Sundays ever. To make sure they had enough hope in them to keep them going.

No, this girl was wearing a light green dress with a matching ribbon in her dark hair. The dress looked like it was a hand-me-down, worn and slightly frayed on the ends, but still in relatively good condition...well, except for the paint that stained it. Now it was ruined.

Bunny looked to see if the girl's parents were around, but found nobody. He turned his gaze back to the child and his shoulders slumped a little at the sight of her. Using his many years of guardian expertise, he deduced that she was probably a victim of bullying. Unless the girl somehow managed to get her dress almost completely soaked with paint all by herself, which he seriously doubted. Children could get themselves messy, but not that messy.

'Poor little buggar,' Bunny thought to himself while he fished around in his basket for some of his hand-painted eggs.

The hand painted eggs were always the most beautifully decorated because Bunny tended to be a perfectionist when it came to his work. If he could have his way, all the Easter eggs would be hand painted, but unfortunately, that would take way too much time and eggs were perishable goods. So Bunny's special, hand-painted eggs were in short supply and were given to the children, who he believed, really needed some Spring joy.

After a few moments, Bunny pulled out three, powder blue eggs with intricate green swirls on them, the same color as the girl's dress. He hesitated briefly, unsure if the girl would see him, before quietly hopping towards the bench. Bunny planned on just leaving the eggs next to her before retreating back into the bushes, but when he reached over to put the eggs in place, his tall shadow fell over her and the girl immediately noticed the new presence.

When her little head lifted up from her hands, Bunny froze as a set of big, clover green eyes locked on his furry mug.

Oh yeah, she could definitely see him.

For several seconds, they just stared at each other. Bunny seemed to be more surprised than the girl was as he stood there, slack-jawed and speechless like an idiot. The girl's eyes only widened for a split second before they went back to normal and she just looked at him passively like encountering a six-foot bunny rabbit was an everyday occurrence for her. The trance the two seemed to be in, broke when the girl sniffled and reached up a tiny hand to wipe away the tears on her round cheeks. Bunny blinked out of his stupor and closed his mouth. He didn't know why he was so surprised to find out that she could see him. Tons of children in this part of the world believed in the Easter Bunny.

"Uhh, hey there...little...one," Bunny said lamely. Crikey, he was bit rustier than he thought. "Are you alright there?"

The girl didn't respond. She just continued to look up at him with her big, doe eyes. Her expression was blank, but Bunny could detect a tiny glimmer of curiosity, deep within her emerald irises.

At a loss of what to do, Bunny pulled himself back up to his full height. The one paw that wasn't holding his basket flexed anxiously every second he didn't receive a response from the girl. He turned his head and looked around again for the kid's parents.

"Are your mother and father nearby?"

Again, no response.

"It's not a good idea for a little girl to be sittin' here all alone like this," Bunny lightly scolded while his furry face grew stern. "You should really be with your parents, darlin'."

Silence.

The pooka nearly groaned in frustration. As cruel as it might sound, he really didn't have time for this. He needed to move on soon before he fell behind schedule. But of course, Bunny wouldn't - no couldn't leave until he knew the girl would be safe when he did. If only the little wallaby would help make things easier on him and actually answer his questions! What was the matter with this kid? Why was she just staring at him? It was really starting to annoy him. Usually, when a child started talking, it was nearly impossible to shut them up. It figured that Bunny would happen across the one child who did the exact opposite. He could handle talkativeness (he was friends with the Tooth Fairy, after all). He wasn't so patient with silence, unless it came from the Sandman.

"Do you even know who I am, sheila?" He huffed, "I'm the Easter Bunny! Haven't you ever heard of the Easter Bunny before?"

His last question finally caused the girl to do something other than stare, but her response wasn't what Bunny expected and it completely threw him off guard.

She shook her head no. She didn't know who he was.

Bunny's ears perked up to full height at her silent response in surprise before they drooped back down again in confusion. "Wait, you haven't? Then how can you...see me?"

That last part came out almost in a whisper and was said more to himself. Bunny's question about whether or not the girl knew who the Easter Bunny was, had been rhetorical. Of course he automatically assumed she did since she could see him, but apparently, according to her, she had never heard of the Easter Bunny before.

Now that was really strange, but he couldn't let himself dwell on it for too long. If it had been any other normal Sunday, Bunny would've taken the time to figure out how the girl could see him when she didn't believe him, but it wasn't a normal Sunday. It was Easter Sunday. He needed to hide his eggs and move on before he fell too far behind his carefully mapped out schedule. North would never let him live in peace if he screwed up his own holiday. The Russian may be kind and jolly, but he was a wicked teaser, unrelentingly so.

"Nevermind," He shook his head. "Look, girl. Are you alright?"

To his relief, the girl nodded her head. Preferably, Bunny would rather have her physically speak and tell him that she was alright, that way he knew for sure the girl wasn't just nodding yes because that's what she thought he wanted to hear, but he decided not to press his luck with her gestures. She said she was fine, and other than sporting a paint-stained dress, she looked fine too.

"Are your parents around?"

For a moment, the girl's eyes rolled up towards the sky as if she had to think real hard about Bunny's question, but eventually she replied back with another nod.

"Good," Bunny mumbled to himself as he picked up the forgotten Easter eggs that he didn't even realize he had dropped, and held them out for the girl to take. "It looked like you were havin' a bit of a sour day, so I uh, I thought I'd give if you a few of these to help cheer you up. Here, take 'em."

She hesitated at first before looking up at him with a curious glance, but when Bunny gave her a reassuring smile and urged the eggs towards her again, the girl reached out and took them. She had a little difficulty holding all three eggs in her small arms. At one point she nearly dropped one, but she saw the fall coming and quickly gripped the egg before it could slip out of her grasp. Bunny wanted to laugh out loud at the suddenly willful expression that came across the girl's face as she tried to juggle all three eggs. He would even go as far as to think that the little squirt looked kind of cute, with her determined eyes and the tip of her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth in concentration.

"Well aren't you just as cute as a bloody button," Bunny murmured to himself while shaking his head in amusement.

Once all three eggs were properly arranged in her arms, the girl looked back up at Bunny as if to say "what now?".

"Good job, lil' mate. Now why don't you go find your parents and show 'em your eggs. I need to be moseyin' along now. Got a lot of eggs to hide today."

With one last smile, Bunny picked up his egg basket and turned to walk away from the girl. He was acutely aware of her stare on the back of his furry neck, but he brushed it off. He needed to hide his eggs before the Easter egg hunt started. The girl would probably seek out her parents once he was gone.

When he reached the nearby tree line, several yards away from the park bench, Bunny turned back around one last time to see the dark-haired girl still sitting on top of it, blinking at him with a blank expression. The pooka let out a huff before giving the staring girl a farewell salute and disappearing back into the shadows of the thick forest.

When the Easter Bunny was completely out of sight, the little girl looked away from the tree line and down at the beautifully decorated eggs in her arms.

"Alice!"

The girl jumped at the sound of her name, turning her head in the opposite direction the Easter Bunny departed from. Approaching the girl's park bench was another girl, much older than her, with the same dark hair and green eyes as herself. She had an agitated expression on her youthful face and she walked with brisk strides as she spotted the younger girl sitting on the bench.

"Alice, come here this instant," The older girl demanded firmly, pointing to the ground in front of her feet. She didn't seem to be very mad at her, just extremely annoyed.

Heeding her older sister's command, Alice tightened her grip on her eggs and carefully climbed down from the bench. Once both feet were on solid ground again, she slowly walked over to her sister, Elizabeth.

When Alice drew close enough, Lizzie gave her sister a quick once over with her eyes and tsked when she saw the blue paint covering Alice's lovely green party dress. "Mother is going to have such a fit when she gets an eyeful of you, Alice Liddell. Not only did you run off in the middle of your play date with Ms. Cartwright's daughter, you also managed to get paint all over your nice dress! Nanny is not going to enjoy washing that."

Alice almost felt the need to tell her sister that she didn't pour the blue paint on herself. Ms. Cartwright's awful daughter, Penelope, did it because Alice refused to play any of the blonde girl's ridiculous games. She was a boring girl who yelled when she talked and only ever wanted to play hopscotch and skip rope, even though she wasn't any good at doing either. Whenever she made a mistake, she would always blame Alice for not drawing the lines straight enough, or not churning the rope correctly. She was a mean girl who took it a step too far by pouring a cup of paint on Alice when she refused to show the girl her drawings. Penelope wouldn't have understood the Mad Hatter and his tea parties because she wasn't fun enough, so Alice didn't see the point in sharing her drawings with Penelope and then having to explain everything because the other girl didn't follow. Alice thought she was being considerate, which was way more than Penelope Cartwright deserved, but apparently not.

However, instead of tell Lizzie all of this, she decided that it really wasn't worth the trouble. It was going to be Alice's fault either way. Things were always her fault.

In lieu of a verbal response, Alice pulled one of her eggs from her arms and held it up for Lizzie to see.

"Alice, where did you get those? The Easter Egg hunt doesn't start until high Noon," Lizzie questioned. She put her hands on her hips and gave her sister a disapproving stare, but before she could scold Alice on taking Easter eggs before the festivities started, the older girl looked more closely at the egg and gasped. "Oh my goodness! That egg is positively gorgeous! I've never seen one like this. Where did you get it, Alice?"

"A rabbit gave it to me," She replied in her usual quiet voice.

Lizzie barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes and fight the smile that threatened to invade her face as she regarded her sister with another shake of her head. Of course Alice couldn't just tell her that she found the eggs on the ground. There always had to be some sort of unusual and fantastical creature involved. Though Lizzie supposed she shouldn't have been very surprise about Alice's claim, what with the famous Easter Bunny being on every child's mind today.

It was somewhat strange, though. Lizzie couldn't recall ever telling Alice about the Easter Bunny. This was the first Easter egg hunt that Alice would be old enough to participate in. Papa was planning on telling her stories about the Easter Bunny at lunch, after her play date. That way the fictional icon would be fresh in his daughter's mind as she hunted for Easter eggs with the other children.

Lizzie gently took the egg from Alice's hand before crouching down closer to the ground. "What kind of rabbit, Alice? Was it the Easter Bunny perhaps?"

Alice nodded her little head.

"Oh, and I suppose he was small and white with a top hat and pocket watch, just like the little white rabbit from your dreams," Lizzie smiled, playing along with Alice's make-believe tales like she always did.

"No," Alice protested immediately. "He was gray and tall and he stood up straight like a regular person, Lizzie. He also talked in a very peculeer way."

"It's pronounced "peculiar", Alice," Lizzie corrected with a light laugh as she hoisted the small girl from the ground and settled her on her hip. "Well, when Papa comes home for lunch, I'm certain you can show him how the Easter Bunny talks and he'll be able to tell you where he is from."

Alice simply nodded her head in response. She liked the sound of that idea very much. Papa always knew such interesting things about the world.

"Is Papa going to be there when we get home?"

"I don't believe so, Alice. He'll be a bit late. He's meeting with some very important men at the university today."

"Is he in trouble?"

"Oh no, he's not in trouble. They're just there to discuss different matters pertaining to the school campus."

"Sounds positively boring."

Lizzie laughed at Alice's deadpanned remark. "I'm sure it is, Alice. Now, let's head home shall we? We need to get you cleaned up as soon as possible, before the egg hunt starts."

Instead of answering, Alice just rested her head on her sister's shoulder and tightened her grip on her eggs. She didn't want to go to the Easter egg hunt. It wasn't going to be any fun for her. The other neighborhood children would be there and they didn't seem to fancy Alice very much. They called her names and whispered things about her behind her back. One boy even pulled her hair sometimes! He said it was the same color as the ugly mud on the ground. She dreaded going to the Easter egg hunt. The children were nasty and no matter how much she tried, she always ended up playing by herself, or with her sister.

She didn't really mind, though. Being alone allowed her to travel to her Wonderland more often and Alice always had fun when she was there.

And besides, why would she need to go on an Easter egg hunt and look for eggs when she just received three of the Easter Bunny's best-painted eggs, straight from his very own basket?

AN: I had to include Lizzie in this chapter. Had to. She doesn't get enough love. And I hope I did alright with little Alice. I hope she was in character!

I like the idea of Alice being able to see Bunny even though she didn't believe. In this chapter, Alice is four years old (soon to be five) and I think children of that age can naturally see things older children and adults can't because they're minds are still fresh and indiscriminately open. And if you pair that with Alice's unprecedented imagination, she could easily see a mystical spirit regardless if she believes or not. Plus, it makes her all the more special and interesting to Bunnymund, which is what keeps him coming back to her in the beginning of their relationship, as you will see in the next chapter.

~Scorpiofreak~