I'm thinking of ending this in like a couple chapters… Eh… I'm not sure yet ^^;
Million thanks to StrawberryRemedies! She supplied the idea of the little 'event' Alice does! :D
-.-.-.-
Let the Games Begin
"So you'll be funambulating again for the show later, Ali." White Joker informed the girl with a smile right as the two of them entered the large circus tent.
In the audience, the seats were all visibly empty unlike the last time she had been center stage to do the brief introduction to the show; however the floor seemed busier than ever. All around the faceless workers were scrambling about in preparation for the upcoming show. Certain posts were hoisted up and the team in charge of the lights was now going up to their positions. Distantly, the little girl was able to spot some young kids her age giggling and running off together with a clown on stilts.
However, when she heard Joker repeating her name again curiously she found her eyes blinking before she returned her attention to him with a hand to her mouth.
"Did you hear what I said?" The redhead questioned with a small laugh that made the girl gaze off, "Ah, no! Sorry!" Her eyes landed on the elephants toward the farther end of the tent and she felt her irises widen at the sight.
"Maybe if you stopped turning your head around like you're some kind of stupid owl, you'd hear what he's trying to tell you." The mask that was at the Ring Master's waist snidely remarked, immediately gaining Alice's absolute attention.
Already knowing it was the Joker still within the prison she made a face, "I said sorry." She pouted with a look at the grey mask.
Before the two of them could engage in some sort of argument, the Ring Master present interjected, "It's fine, don't worry! I can understand that you're overwhelmed!" He gave a considerate nod her way and Alice brightened up.
Stopping his steps, the redhead's hands went behind his back, "As I was saying before, you'll be doing the tightrope walking performance once more, so I hope you're ready."
Grinning, Alice eagerly nodded her head, "I'm more than ready! I can't wait!" She balled her hands into fists and began waving them around in excitement.
Joker chuckled at her enthusiasm with a fist to his mouth as though to catch his laughs, "You seemed to be doing it pretty well in the prison. After that, I can only expect the best from you." Immediately after his words, the grey mask that hung at his side gave a roar of laughter, "You think she did pretty well!? I'd agree if the objective of it was to fall off the rope like fat seal!"
"It was Black-chan's fault! He made me mess up!" Alice stuck her tongue out at the mask with a pout,
"You were goingto get messed up if it wasn't for me, so shut up, you little ingrate." He retorted and Alice could only blow a raspberry in response.
Shaking his head at their banter, Joker weakly laughed once more, "Well either way, I think you did great, especially since it was your first time."
The little girl blushed at his compliment with a smile while her eyes fleeted to her feet modestly and the mask gave a snort.
Clearly amused by her change in demeanor, Joker placed a hand on her head gently, "You're as cute as ever. The audience is going to love you even more than last time."
"Ah! You think so!?"
"I know so! I bet some people are only going to care about your performance actually." He genuinely informed her with a nod to his head. His red eye then averted over to a group of unicyclists that appeared to be having issues near the back of the tent. Arching his brow he watched them exit the tent with a skeptical expression to his features, "Hm… I have to go see how everything else for the show is going along now. Don't leave the tent, Ali." He sweetly told her before walking off in the direction of his workers.
"If you do, I'll chop all your hair off when you come back to the prison." The mask threatened while the man began to make his leave.
Alice's lips pursed at his words though she said nothing in reply.
When she watched Joker disappear out of the tent, the foreigner then turned and looked up and around at the numerous workers that were still laboring over their duties. "So cool…" She mumbled out amazed as she watched the animals get escorted in and out and several jester children play amongst themselves while carrying supplies about.
Seeing several acrobats moving with a giant net immediately caught her attention as she allowed her feet to strut over to them,
Curiously, she peeked over at them with her upper body leaning toward them with a wave, "Hii!"
Immediately, the faceless all turned their heads her way and returned the wave politely, "Hello, Miss Alice." Each of them sent her a smile that she gave back brightly, "What are you guys doing?" The long haired brunette asked as two of them began going up ladders between two fairly distanced posts with the net in hand.
"We're preparing the tightrope area for your performance." The lead woman answered her with a nod; her fair blonde hair was pulled up into a bun in a way that vaguely reminded Alice of those ballerina stories that her older sister used to read to her back home.
With her answer, Alice looked upward to meet the sight of the fairly thin rope that was positioned high above. She couldn't help the grin that made it to her lips as she thought about how her performance was going to but just as she did, something clicked off in her head that caused her to put a finger to her lip,
"Eh? But why are you putting a net underneath?" Alice questioned curiously.
The faceless acrobat looked at her with a smile, "Joker-sama said that for your funambulism performance you'd need a net."
This answer brought a pout to the brunette's face as she folded her arms over her chest, "Ali does not!" To add emphasis to her statement, she stamped her foot once before she glared up at the elder woman who continued watching at the little girl sweetly, "I see, but Joker-sama said it's for the best."
"But White-kun said it himself that I did great! I don't need the net!" She protested firmly.
Her response clearly took the woman by surprise as her body stiffened in surprise, "Joker-sama said that…?" She questioned mystified.
Alice confirmed it with a furious nod, "Yes! Yes! He just told me himself! I don't need it!" Her attempts sounded incredibly determined that the faceless woman could only look over at her colleagues for some sort of input on the matter though they all shrugged their shoulders unhelpfully.
The acrobat turned back to the young girl and sighed deeply, "Alright, take the net away guys…" She ordered sternly and they all instantly began doing as they were told.
Alice grinned, "Yay! Thank you!" She hugged the elder woman who laughed and patted her on the head. Watching down at her, her smile softened considerably, "Hey, don't you need to get changed? The circus starts pretty soon, Miss Alice."
"Ah! That's right!" Alice put both of her hands on her cheeks, "Thank you for reminding me!" She said with stars in her eyes as she pulled away from the embrace, nothing but optimism pouring from her being, "Ali loves that costume!" Squealing, she went running in the direction of the changing room.
-.-
"Five again… I can't believe this." Peter growled darkly, his red eyes dangerously glared ahead of himself past the glasses he wore and at his side, Ace kept pace with a small laugh, "Haha! I wonder if she's as gullible as the last time she was five!"
The White Rabbit spared a look at the Knight of Hearts for only a brief second before he pushed his gaze back ahead, a new scowl imbedding its way to his face, "What I wonder is why the hell that stupid caterpillar didn't tell me this earlier. I would have gotten her the second I knew."
Vivaldi gave a huff, a noise that brought both of the males' attention onto her, "We doubt that even if you did know earlier, you wouldn't have been able to retrieve, White. If what the incubus said is true then it was best of him not to share his information before he did, so cease your babbling, it's seriously beginning to agitate us." The Queen of Hearts sharply stated with an irritated glare.
"Hmph." Was all Peter responded with, his tone and face clearly showing how much he didn't want to bother with her.
"After the circus how are you going to get her, Mr. Peter?" Ace questioned curiously as they took their seats beneath the tent. Around them, other faceless attendees were beginning to find their own spots and the talk in the air was growing.
"I plan on shooting every last one of that pathetic clown's workers until I get her. I'm pretty sure I'll get her." Peter answered curtly, his eyes trained ahead at the empty and darkened stage in a stoic manner.
Ace nodded with an approving smile, "Good plan! Here I was thinking you'd do something stupid like try to actually kill Joker himself!"
"Are you stupid!?" Boris snarled while he glared hotly at Pierce as the Amusement Park territory found their seats under the circus tent, the purple haired male's anger was clearly untamable at that point in time, "Killing Joker will just make Alice hate you! She's only five!" The Cheshire cat seethed.
Sitting between them with folded arms, Gowland sighed tiredly, "Calm down. You're getting too loud."
"How was I supposed to know?" Pierce asked meekly while flinching away from Boris' glower that didn't let up. "I've never dealt with a five year old before…"
"There's nothing you need to know about dealing with Alice except knowing that when she wants something ridiculous you just need to stand your ground and she'll be fine." Julius stated coldly, his blank blue eyes stared expressionlessly ahead at the still empty stage, all too prepared to catch sight of anything that may occur.
On Nightmare's other side, Gray blinked his own irises, "She's that easy? But doesn't she throw a tantrum if she doesn't get what she wants like most little kids?"
"No, in fact she's pretty calm about it…" Nightmare sighed with folded arms, his eye showing signs of fatigue, "She doesn't throw a tantrum, she just gets sad… So I guess it's important to know that her crying face makes you feel like you just kicked a million little puppies."
Gray let a small smile appear on his face, "Well… I hope when we get her back I'll be able to see how she is."
"What do you mean when we get her back!? Dumb brats! Don't jinx us!" Elliot irritably told the twins as they all took a seat.
"We're trying to keep a positive mind, Newbie Hare." Dee retorted blandly while he and his sibling shared a look the March Hare's direction, "Yeah, so don't down our mood." Dum finished crossly.
"My mood and patience are both slowly moving downward, so all three of you be quiet now." Blood calmly ordered, instantly gaining silence from his subordinates. It wasn't a second later that he held a hand to his chin, a thoughtful look on his face while his eyes gleamed down at the stage attentively, "And when we get her, I fully plan on teaching the young miss a thing or two about good and wrong." He stated and as flat as his words were spoken, it was still more than enough to gain smiles from Elliot and the twins.
Welcome ladies and gentleman to the circus!
Simultaneously all the role holders turned to the front to put their gaze on Joker who stood under the spotlight with a broad smile on his lips, "I am your humble Ring Master of the evening and I can only hope that the show shall be to your liking this fine day." He said shortly before he took a small bow and turned to return backstage.
-.-
"Argh! I don't care about these foolish pointless acts!" Peter exclaimed impatiently as the acrobats continued their performance within the air. "I think they're pretty cool. Seeing people so flexible and all." Ace smiled which earned him a sharp glare from the White Rabbit. "Nobody asked you. For God's sake, I just want this to end so I can go looking for Alice." He growled right when Ace's eyes suddenly widened,
"Uh… I don't think you have to look for her anymore…" Pierce told Boris lowly as he pointed one of his fingers down at the stage. Boris found his eye watching down in pure shock as Alice entered the tent wearing her previous Ring Mistress outfit with a bright smile etched on her face. "But wait… What's she doing? You said she was Ring Mistress last time, Boris." Gowland skeptically stated as the three watched her make her way to one of the huge posts.
"Why is she climbing that post…?" Elliot asked cautiously as the spotlight went to the little girl who was just about finished making her way to the top. "I have a bad feeling about this…" The twins stated anxiously. Blood's eyes narrowed into slits, "I know she isn't about to do what I think she is."
And now, our very own Alice Liddell shall perform the funambulism performance!
"Are you kidding me!?" Nightmare shouted over the crowds roaring cheer. "Of all the things… Why that?" Gray rhetorically mumbled into his hands with a groan. "The girl has the balance of land whale in water." Julius grunted as they watched her stand up on the post with a small stretch.
Alice flipped her hair over her shoulder as she took a deep breath before stepping onto the tight rope confidently with the wooden pole she had picked up from up top in hand.
"Is she really going to do this!?" The twins gasped out, "I bet those bastards put her up to this! I should have just killed him when I had the chance!" Elliot growled in frustration. Blood chose to remain silent, his eyes critically watching ahead though the tense air the Mafia family felt around them was incredibly thick.
"I feel like throwing up…" Pierce groaned though his eyes didn't waver from watching the girl walk onto the thin line. "I feel like crap…" Boris said with his fists clenched over his lap, his eyes unwilling to deter from the slow moving female ahead. "Alice… Please tell me you have as much balance as you do energy…" Gowland murmured skeptically.
Everyone amongst the Clover Tower territory held their breaths not uttering a word as they watched the performance continue onward.
"She's doing pretty well." Joker smiled gently from his position on looking backstage. He leisurely leaned against one of the poles before he began looking in the audience in the direction of the role holders' seats.
Despite the lack of light, he was able to easily bring his gaze upon each of them and after he did, he couldn't help but release a small laugh.
"Try looking at the White Rabbit's face. He looks like he's about to shit his pants." The mask at his side cackled loudly and Joker chuckled in response once more, "The Clover Tower territory all seem to share that expression… As well as the Amusement Park and Hatter Mafia." As he finished his words, he tilted his head back up to watch at Alice who was still doing perfectly fine and was even making her way to the middle of the rope.
"They're all so close to her… It's actually incredibly fascinating…" He placed a hand to his chin wistfully, "The thought of her dying really invokes that kind of reaction out of them all and it's not the same kind of reaction we'd have after breaking a toy… It's different." The redhead stopped with a small hum, "I want to be able to feel that one day. I wonder what it's like."
As he said this, a sudden noise shattered throughout the formerly silent circus tent as well as a simultaneous gasp from the audience. Curious, he looked down to see the cause and was met with the image of Alice's balancing stick cracked into two on the floor. His red eye then went upward to see how the little girl was fairing and when he came to the sight of Alice standing still and not shaking, a wave of relief came to his stomach.
"Hm… She'll be alright even if she does fall…" He smiled softly remembering how he ordered the faceless to add a net to insure her safety.
It wasn't a second longer that his counterpart's voice rang throughout his head loudly.
"Wait… What the hell happened to the net?" Black Joker's voice asked cautiously.
White Joker felt his eyes widen as his eye darted to the area below the two posts where he thought the net was located, however when his search came up short he could only mentally curse.
Gritting his teeth in the slightest bit of panic as he now came to fully realized the acrobats hadn't followed his directions, he looked back up to Alice who was now struggling and wavering side to side as all of the crowd began rumbling into a fit of murmurs. Though low at first, it was gradually building itself upward into a mass collection of voices.
"Fuck! These fucking morons, she'll only end up losing her balance with all this damn noise!" His grey mask hissed warningly.
Alice moaned in pain as the overwhelming noise began to pang at her head and the light from the spotlight seemed to shine down into her face even more intensely than before. She could feel a headache threatening to manifest on her and in her vision everything slowly became hazy before her world began spinning, "Ah!" She yelped out as she put her hands on her head when it all became too unbearable, however this motion only caused her to tilt to her right with her eyes shut tight.
"Alice!" Her name roared through her head like a freight train from what she was able to perceive as several different voices over the congested murmurs from the crowd that were all screaming while she fell. She continued feeling herself soar down from the rope as some tears slipped out her eyes while she awaited her body's impact to the concrete floor.
To her surprise just as before instead of colliding to the ground, she gave an "Oof!" as she was caught in someone's arms. Still shaken and scared she reluctantly opened one of her eyes and gazed up at Joker who had successfully caught her in his arms bridal style. The silence that once reigned over the tent evaporated immediately and was replaced with nothing but applause and cheers. Joker gave a huge sigh of relief as Black Joker growled, "Idiot girl."
All the role holders gave huge breaths of relief before they allowed themselves to loosen up a bit.
"That was close." Ace commented airily. "Too close for my liking." Peter mumbled, his cold red eyes replacing the worried look he had not more than a few seconds ago as he fixed himself in his seat and glued his attention back to the show intensely.
Gray's eyes softened a bit, "At least she's alright."
Julius gave a grumble, "No, she isn't."
"She's still in his arms." Nightmare bitterly finished with a scowl. "Literally and metaphorically…"
"Currently there is only one thing that can give Boris Airay high blood pressure," Boris dryly stated. Pierce and Gowland looked at him curiously to continue. "Push Alice Liddell off of a high tower only for her to land in the arms of a villainous red head…"
"That's something to add to the top thousand things that can scare me to death… I'm still scared…" Pierce said with a hand to his clock as he continued trying to stop his shaking. "But at least no one has to mop anything up." Gowland sighed with folded arms, his tone incredibly dry.
I hope you all enjoyed the little act we just set up! There was no real danger! The announcer's voice stated, instantly causing a stir throughout the audience of faceless.
"Act my ass." Blood growled in contempt lowly while he sat back in his seat with narrowed eyes. "That's clearly bullshit! I can't believe they're actually falling for that! That was obviously not an act!" Elliot hissed in irritation as he listened to the people behind him chat about how it looked so real. "Big sis almost died!" Dee stated enraged, "How the hell can she still trust him!?" Dum finished angrily.
Joker winked down at Alice reassuringly causing the little girl to gape up at him with sparkly eyes. "Ahh! A second time! First Black-chan now you too, White-kun!" She squealed out as she threw her arms around his neck. The audience toned down in an attempt to hear the conversation as well, "I love you!" Her voice said throughout the tent before she kissed the red head on the cheek.
Still believing it to be an act a huge 'Aw!' enveloped out of the audience right before they began cheering excitedly.
"I'm going to kill him." Peter snarled as he stood to his feet, his hand moved to his side to clutch his large pocket watch, "He's going to die right where he stands."
Before he could transform his weapon, Vivaldi grabbed the back of his shirt and forced him to sit down with nothing but annoyance on her features, "Don't forget where you are, White. Take a seat." She ordered in agitation.
Gray blinked down at the scene, "Wait, did she say a second time?"
Julius gritted his teeth impassively, "This happened before?"
"This cannot be happening…" Nightmare moaned with a palm to his face.
The red head smiled as he began walking off the stage with her still in his arms, her head snuggling into the side of his neck cutely, "Hopefully they all enjoyed the show." He laughed out honestly, "I know the role holders did." Black Joker snickered as they made it backstage. "Black-chan! White-kun! Both are my heroes~" Alice sang out with a giggle, clearly oblivious.
-.-
"I was so scared but you both save me every time!" The five year old hyped as she waved her arms around while she sat on Black Joker's lap in the prison.
"I didn't save you. I just didn't want to be the one who had to clean up your blood and guts off the floor." He stuck his tongue out at her childishly and Alice turned her head around to face him with sad eyes, "Does Black-chan not love me back then?" She asked with tears threatening to come to her eyes.
The darker ring master turned slightly blue in the face as he watched tears cloud her eyes, "Stop! Don't start with that shit again!"
White Joker chuckled while watching Black's feeble attempts to stop the girl's crying to no avail. "Hey, hey Ali I just got an idea!" He intervened, taking mercy on his counterpart's situation. His words allowed the girl to halt her cries for a second. "Huh?" She looked at him questionably.
"Since you've been here these past couple days, you haven't seen the circus outside of the tent, have you?"
Alice shook her head as she got off of Black Joker, "No… Black-chan said if I did he'd cut off my hair, remember?"
"Damn straight." Black Joker rolled his eye, his body rising from the floor before he took a tiny portion of hair in his hand and made a scissor motion toward it with his fingers.
The foreigner whimpered and pulled her hair back from his grasp while White cleared his throat in an attempt to regain her attention, "As I was saying… Would you like to go see it today?" He asked his eye twinkling with a hidden glint that went unnoticed by the little girl. "Ohh! Ali would love that!" She exclaimed happily.
"I thought you would," White smiled as he took her hand and began leading her out the prison. Black could only watch them go with a sigh and a grimace to his face. "But to make sure you don't get bored… I set up a game for you."
"Ah! A game!? I won't lose!" She fiercely stated making the red head smirk, "I'm sure you won't… Now let me explain exactly what you have to do. Out there, there are about thirteen people with faces. All of them are bullies who want to beat you at this game."
Alice's eyes widened, "Eh!? Why!?"
"They just do. But the point of the game is to attract their attention and run away from them every chance you get and not to get caught." White nodded.
Alice tilted her head to the side, "Like tag…?"
"I guess… However if they catch you, they plan on taking you away from here…"The red head dreadfully informed, immediately making all the color wash off the brunette's face. "W-what!? No! They can't! Can they…?" She questioned sadly as he nodded, "Only if they catch you."
"… Wait! What does Ali get if she wins the game?" She narrowed her eyes up at him. White Joker leaned down to whisper in her ear; Alice listened with wide eyes before White Joker pulled away. "So do you agree…? Because I'll make sure that's your prize if you win."
"AHH! I'll definitely win now! I have to!" Alice squealed out excitedly making the ringmaster chuckle, "Ah, Ali, there's another thing to the game. Each of these thirteen people have what you could call a special 'quirk' to their personality." He explained with a glint in his eye causing the girl to cock her head to the side.
-.-
"Well, that concludes our show for today everyone. I, as well as the rest of the cast hope you enjoyed it." Joker peacefully stated as everyone began filing out gradually after they delivered a tremendous amount of applause.
The red head allowed a smile to float on his face when he realized the role holders were clearly not making any moves to get up from their seats.
Practically all of them had a heated leer pointed his way and he couldn't help but chuckle when he realized that he probably had a couple of seconds left before he was shot dead.
However, before any weapons could be slung out, he found his head turning backward at the sound of someone entering from backstage loudly.
"White-kun! White-kun!" All the role holders watched with wide eyes as Alice entered the tent while waving her arms around frantically, "White-kun! You never told me when the game starts!" She pouted heavily as she bounded up to him.
"Alice!"
Hearing her name called numerous times she turned her attention to the seats to briefly look at all the men that watched at her with wide eyes before she turned to Joker in confusion.
Ruffling her hair, Joker allowed his eyes to move back to the role holders, "The game starts now." He smirked deviously right before Alice took off through the tent's front entrance quickly, "I'm going to win this game! Catch me if you can!" She screamed out in determination, her speed not slowing.
"Alice, come back!" Peter shouted right as the White Rabbit began jumping over all the seats ahead of him to go taking off for the female that already disappeared amongst the crowd.
"Don't worry! I'll catch her!"
"I'll get her!"
"We will!"
"Damn, she's fast!"
"Too fast!"
"…"
Soon only, Vivaldi, Julius, Nightmare, Gowland, and Blood remained in the tent.
The territory leaders all kept their spots in their seats, their gazes not moving from the standing jester that grinned at that them warmly.
A tense silence fell over them before the Queen of Hearts broke it, her voice strong while she rested her chin into the cup of her hand gracefully, "Is it possible that you have an alternate motive?" She inquired, her lavender eyes dully observed the man below.
The Amusement Park owner gave a noise of agreement, his arms folded over his chest, "What is there to gain from keeping her when she's like that? You should know that as a child, she has neither guilt nor her proper memories. There's no point."
Nightmare, Julius, and Blood simply glowered at his form silently, their gazes analytical, as though they could gain answers from the Ring Master's demeanor only.
Not at all intimidated, the redhead laughed lightly, entirely ignoring their words, "The show is over. You five should get going." The ring master smiled as he turned around and began walking back to the prison, "After all, the game has only just begun."
-.-.-.-
Now let's see who can catch the gal first.
Can I hear a vote? All those who want Ali-chan to stick with the Jokers say "Darker Wonder" those who want her with the role holders say "Childhood Wonder" I'm just a bit curious to see what you guys think!