AN: Sorry that this chapter turned out so short. I've been a little preoccupied with some of my other projects. At least, I updated on Christmas though! That must count for something, right?

Enjoy!

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

Easter Sunday, 1863

Alice stood in the shady forest of Hyde Park, alone.

She threw another cursory glance at the bushes and trees surrounding her, frowning at the shadows and biting her bottom lip anxiously. She held her colorful egg basket tightly in one hand and her toy rabbit in the other as she started walking through the empty forest, looking this way and that while keeping her eyes and ears open to the miscellaneous forest noises and sights around her. She started humming softly to herself as she walked, hoping to stifle her increasing discomfort before it had a chance to escalate into fear at suddenly finding herself so very alone while hiding her cluster of Easter eggs.

The birds chirped away in their nests while little bumblebees lugged their chubby bodies through the air as they traveled from flower to flower, collecting their precious pollen to take back to their queen. Alice watched them with brief curiosity for a few moments. They helped distract her from her current predicament with a short tangent of thought. Though grateful for it, she made sure to mind her distance. Bumblebees may not be as temperamental as grouchy wasps were, but a bee sting was still be a bee sting, and Alice would highly prefer to keep her tiny body free of their painful stingers. If not for her own comfort, than for the bee's. What was even the point of having a stinger for protection when the little bee dies soon after using it anyways? Seemed even more illogical than their impossible body-to-wing ratio.

A blue jay fluttered overhead, drawing Alice's attention away from the bushel of daisies and buzzing bees until another sudden sound drew her attention in another direction. It was the sharp sound of a twig snapping underfoot, coming from somewhere close behind her. Alice felt her heart jump at the startling sound as she whirled around on her heel to face whatever monster might be trying to sneak up behind her. Her eyes were wide in alarm as she expected something utterly terrifying, but her clover eyes were met with nothing but lush, green foliage.

She let out a relieved breath and allowed her shoulders to sag back down for a single moment's reprieve until something moved in the corner of her eye and she felt her shoulders tense up again in alert.

This game definitely wasn't turning out like she planned it would.

There was another flash of movement and the rustling of a bush, making the little girl jump in surprise. Her eyes scanned the area again with frantic intent until a tall shadow fell over her from behind. At the new, towering presence, Alice felt her whole body go rigid. She stared straight ahead of her with wide eyes before slowly turning her head.

"Gotcha!"

There was a firm pressure around her tiny middle and Alice's world was suddenly spinning. She let out a shrill scream as she was pulled back and tucked into fluffy, furred chest just as the towering presence dived into a flawless barrel-roll. Her colorful egg basket went flying out of her hand along with the eggs inside it and her toy rabbit.

The two of them rolled several feet while Alice's startled screams turned into gleeful giggles. When they finally came to a stop, the grey creature who held her captive, flopped down on the patch of fresh grass below them.

"Mr. Bunnymund!" Alice laughed with a slight indignant undertone. She clumsily pulled herself into a sitting position atop the grey pooka's chest as she battled to gain her balance back. Once her vision straightened out, she tugged on the front strap of his boomerang holster. "That's not how the game goes! I'm supposed to find you!"

"I know," The Easter Bunny sniffed with a twitching pink nose as he looked up at her from where he laid sprawled across the ground. "But you were takin' too long."

"But that's not how the game works!" She insisted hotly before crossing her arms across her chest with a pout.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Bunny sneered with a grunt as he lifted Alice by the waist so he could pull himself up into a sitting position. He placed her on the ground in front of him. "How about we play somethin' else besides Hide N' Seek for once, eh? How 'bout peekaboo?"

"Peekaboo is boring," She pouted again. "Just because you put your hands in front of your face, doesn't mean you're not there anymore."

Bunny snorted. "Nobody can pull a fast one on you, can they Half-pint?"

"Of course they can't," She said in a very matter-of-fact tone.

Bunny chuckled and shook his head before pulling himself to his feet. "Alright then, break time's over."

Alice searched the green grass for her toy rabbit.

"Where's my rabbit?"

Bunny looked around and spotted it laying next to a nearby bush. He reached over and picked it up, taking care to wipe some of the dirt off of it. Although, he couldn't see why it would matter. The thing was already worn and faded from Alice dragging it everywhere she went like a third arm. One of its button eyes was even starting to come loose from its threading.

"Here," He handed it over to her with a huff. "Can't believe how dirty that thing is already."

"It's my rabbit," She declared, pulling it into her arms. "He goes wherever I go."

Bunny tugged on one of its dusty ears. "Clearly."

"You made me drop all of my eggs."

"Don't worry. I've got plenty more."

The pooka picked up his own discarded basket and gathered up the scattered eggs around it. He then turned towards Alice and ushered her forward with one of his big rabbit feet.

"Come on, slow poke. I don't got all day to spend here. I've got other places to be, ya know."

"It would go much faster if I didn't have to walk everywhere," she replied with an air of implied nonchalance that no, soon-to-be, seven year old should've been able to utilize.

Bunny looked down at the little girl with a knowing smirk. "Oh don't even try to play coy, Half-pint. I ain't lettin' you ride on my shoulders. I've told ya that before."

She let out a little huff and put her hand on her hip. "And why not?"

"Because I'm not some bloody carnival ride. That's why. I've got a reputation to protect here!"

Ha! As if his reputation hadn't already been shot to hell when one of Tooth's fairies caught him having a tea party with Alice and a bunch of her frilly dolls. The next guardian meeting was spent trying not to swallow and choke on his own eggs while North laughed his Russian butt off at the silly, exaggerated tale of Bunny's tea party that Tooth decided to spin that evening. Embarrassingly enough though, the part where Alice conned Bunny into wearing a pink bow tie around his neck as he pretended to sip imaginary tea, wasn't a total fabrication. Although, he heavily denied otherwise.

Indeed, Bunny lost the fight against being labeled a floppy-eared softy a long time ago.

"But it's the only way you'll deliver your eggs in time!" Alice protested, barely resisting the urge to stomp her tiny foot. She didn't see what the big deal was with her hitching a ride on Mr. Bunnymund's shoulders. It wasn't like she was heavy or anything. Plus, she hadn't been lying when she said it would make hiding his Easter eggs much faster. He was always complaining how he never had enough time to do his job because she would hold him up with her ridiculous games. Making a show of how she would the one to ask, even though they both knew it was him who always offered first.

"Don't even try and act like a mini mastermind, 'cuz you're not."

"I'm not!" She pouted. "You're just being inreasonable."

"Unreasonable," He corrected. "And if anybody's being unreasonable here, it's you."

Alice glared up at him with pursed lips as she thought for a moment, trying to think of a way to spin the debate in her favor. She looked towards the sky and waited when she remember something important. There were a few moments of silence before the distant ringing of a church bell rang through the park, making Bunny's ears perk up at the sound. Alice couldn't hold back her smile at the convenient timing.

That was the Oxford Christ Church bell, ringing from its high tower. Alice's family didn't go to church, but that bell has rung everyday at Noon ever since her mother was a little girl. She would know its distinctive sound anywhere.

"It's Noon, Mr. Bunnymund," She pointed out. "The Easter Egg hunt starts soon."

Bunny rolled his eyes and let out a groan. "Yeah, yeah, I heard. Don't look so smug."

He crouched down low to the ground and gestured for Alice to come closer. She stifled an excited noise as she ran over to him and climbed up his arm. Bunny sighed when she almost slipped and fell back on the grassy ground, only catching her balance with a handful of his fur. He really didn't have time for this.

"Hurry up," He snapped, gripping the back of her blue Easter dress and placing her on his shoulders. She rearranged her toy rabbit so it was resting in her lap before reaching out to grab hold of the pooka's ears like a pair of bicycle handlebars. "And watch with the ear pulling!"

Alice only nodded before letting out a happy scream when Bunny broke out into a mad dash through the lush park, causing a maelstrom of colors and sounds to fly past them.

The big slide in Hyde Park had nothing on this.

~O~

Once the bounder followed me into the ladies' room at Waterloo station. I had to call the attendant!

~O~

Bunny groaned in frustration as he pushed his way through Alice's bedroom window while the little girl laid dozing on his back. Knowing that the house was virtually empty, but already running really late, Bunny didn't bother sneaking through the front door. Even if the odds of not being noticed were in his favor, the pooka just knew, the second he stepped across the threshold, Alice's buxom caregiver (and he used that term both highly and lightly) would suddenly come barreling around the corner. No doubt she would've already worked up a decent buzz this late in the afternoon, but she wouldn't be nearly as inebriated enough to ignore Alice floating in midair. So instead, he went straight for the window.

Admittedly, Bunny had spent more time in Oxford than he should've; as he had done last year, and the year before that, but he couldn't conjure up enough inhibitions to care. Alice made Easter Sunday so much easier for him like that. That constant worry he had about his egg runs, about making sure everything was perfect, right down to the last, insignificant detail, about never having enough time, about disappointing the children, about losing their belief and fading away into nothing - it just wasn't there when he was with Alice. He felt Alice's belief in him alone, was more than enough to keep him sustained. He didn't need millions of kids to love him, just as long as he had this one. She was more than enough for him.

Once Bunny made it through the window, he gently deposited Alice on her bed and pulled her blanket up over her. He watched the steady rise and fall of her chest as she slumbered away peacefully under her colorful quilt before deciding that it would probably be best if he moved on. He still had a lot of eggs to hide.

He moved towards the open window and pushed aside the curtains, but just as he ducked down to slip through the tiny space, his long ears twitched at the sound of footsteps outside Alice's door, coming up the staircase. He stopped in mid-crouch and listened as a pair of heels clicked frantically past Alice's bedroom, along with a few poorly stifled sobs, before he heard a nearby door open and slam shut.

Despite that little voice inside his head reminding him of his Easter duties, Bunny stood up straight again and moved towards Alice's door with a furrowed brow. That sounded like Elizabeth.

And it was.

Bunny stood somewhat awkwardly in the doorway of the eldest Liddell daughter's room as she laid sprawled across her bed, crying uncontrollably into her pillow. He knew she couldn't see him, but the sound of crying always made him uncomfortable. It tugged deeply on his heart strings as only female tears could. They were his weakness, naturally, as they should be for any sensible male. And Lizzie's cries were heartbreaking. He gave the sobbing girl a sympathetic frown before tentatively reaching out to pat her on the head, but only to pull back when his paw passed right through her, unsurprisingly.

Bunny's views on teenagers have always been shoddy at best. They thought they knew everything about the world, but appreciated nothing in it, uncreatively paving their way directly into am ignorant, narrow-minded adulthood, but he felt Elizabeth was a rare exception. She was one of the few good ones, and he wasn't just saying that because she was Alice's sister.

On an instinctive whim, Bunny reached into his Easter basket and pulled out three, brightly colored eggs. He placed them on the foot of her bed as quietly as he could, making they wouldn't roll off and break on the hardwood floor.

It felt a little embarrassing that he couldn't think of anything else to do for her, anything more useful, like ask her what was wrong and lend a helpful paw. It made him feel as if giving out hard-boiled eggs was his solution for everything, but there really wasn't anymore he could do. Even if she could see him, Bunny doubted he could give her very compelling advice for whatever teenage girl problems she might be struggling with.

Sparkling Easter eggs wouldn't do a thing to solve a teenager's problems; not like they could a simple child's, but what kind of guardian of hope would he be if he didn't at least aim for the sentiment?

If anything, maybe just the mere presence of him could install a little hope in her, like how holding a baby tooth in the palm of your hand when a Tooth Fairy was nearby could make a child recall their fondest memories. He could give her a little hope that whatever was upsetting her now, wouldn't seem so bad tomorrow. She had her whole life ahead of her, didn't she? What was a few bad days in comparison to that?

Things would get better.

AN: Oh God, that last part was painful to write. I don't think anybody in the Liddell household, least of all Bunny, knew the full extent of Lizzie's problems with Bumby. I'm sure they were probably aware of it on some level because Lizzie told her father to never invite Bumby to their house again, which I'd imagine would set off some red flags, but I don't think her parents knew just how bad it was. They probably just thought Lizzie was keeping him away because she didn't want to deal with suitor nonsense.

I mean, the impression I got from Madness Returns was that her parents were next to clueless when it came to Bumby. It was just like everything was perfectly normal one day, business as usual, and then BAM! They wake up one night and their house is on fire. That could just be because the game doesn't provide any quotes/memories of Alice's parents reacting to, or even acknowledging, Bumby's obsession towards their daughter, but it could also just be because Lizzie didn't tell them the whole story (for so and so reasons).

~Scorpiofreak~