AN: Whoo! Posting on my birthday! Fun! So sorry for the late update. As I mentioned before, my old laptop has just been giving me so much trouble and I didn't feel comfortable enough doing any serious writing while using it in fear of losing material because of unexpected shut downs. I got a new laptop though, so everything's good now.
This chapter should be the last filler chapter of Winter Wonderland, focusing mainly on dredging out more of Jack and Alice's relationship with some bonding time. The rest should be fast-paced and eventful.
Disclaimer: I don't Rise of the Guardians, or Alice: Madness Returns.
I shot for the sky
I'm stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I'm gonna fall down
I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?
Never know why it's coming down, down, down.
Down ~ Jason Walker
"I don't care what that stupid sign said," Jack mumbled grouchily to himself. "That was not a bridge!"
The Winter spirit let out another heaving grunt as he shifted Alice's weight in his tired arms for the umpteenth time and steadily jumped his way down the stone slide at the end of the "Cardbridge".
As fun as sliding down the ice slide had been in Tundraful, Jack was in no mood to do it again with an unconscious spirit laying in his lap. He didn't have enough faith in himself to not fall off the edges and plummet to his death when holding Alice made steering so much more difficult. So, he cheated. He jumped down the slide in epic leaps instead of sliding down like Wonderland expected him to.
It wasn't like there was anyone there to penalize him for it other than his two lady friends, but one was still unconscious and the other was only three inches tall, so Jack was feeling pretty confident that he could get away with it and skipping the slide had certainly been worth it. The Red Kingdom had been right at the other end.
He really had no idea how they had gotten up so high in the first place. When Jack had finally reached the end of Teapot Canyons, he stepped on another one of those springy, blue mushroom tops. It had the same effect as last time. It launched him high into the air and blinded him with another white light. When it died down, he found himself falling through a wide, endless expanse of blue sky. He panicked for a moment and tightened his grip on Alice, nearly dropping her in his shock, until a platform of large playing cards appeared below them.
If he were to think positively, he would begrudgingly admit that the Cardbridge hadn't been that bad. If he wasn't tasked with carrying around an unconscious Alice, then Jack might've even enjoyed it. Like the Vale of Tears, the Cardbridge was one of the few places Jack visited that could actually pass as something Carroll would include in his books. Of course, they were much more complex than anything he has written, but the atmosphere seemed innocent enough.
The new area was gorgeous. It gave a much more surreal feel to it than the other places he's been. Their little trio was in the very heart of the endless blue sky. Playing cards blew all around them in synchronized clusters with fluffy white clouds everywhere, spotting the blue and littering the space below like fresh snow. And not so bottomless this time, Jack could see pockets of green far down below, underneath all the clouds.
True to its name, the Cardbridge was entirely made up of playing cards with precarious looking card castles and walkways, but it wasn't technically a bridge in Jack's opinion. Yes, cards appeared where he needed them, along with a series of springs and air vents, but he still wouldn't consider it a bridge. A bridge was usually constructed of steady, infallible material with a straight path which a traveler could walk comfortably without suffering from vertigo. The cluster of flying playing cards had too many unfunny fake-outs to meet those qualifications.
It had to be better than traveling along the ground though, Jack reasoned with himself. It seemed faster and there were no enemies to fight up there. Some of the cards even looked suspiciously like Alice, which didn't come as much of a surprise at that point, but even the king cards looked like her. She had a funny mustache in them and Jack took a moment to giggle childishly at that before moving on.
At the end, there was another mushroom top, and another blinding light, and just to keep things difficult, another slide! Which Jack barely made it off without dropping Alice.
He now stood at the base of another broken up bridge, craning his head back to look at the towering castle ruins in front of him.
Once upon a time, Jack quickly inferred, the unsettling kingdom must've been a proud, looming structure that incited fear and panic in all Wonderland inhabitants. Now it was just a broken cluster of stone walls and tall towers, all held together by some strange, bone-dry crust that would easily crumbled into clouds of gray dust if touched.
They were contorted into dry curls, some perturbing up from the bottomless abyss below, surrounding the kingdom, while others came from within the kingdom walls, wrapped snugly around most of the non-collapsed towers. The highest tower, standing tall within the very heart of the kingdom, was predictably in the shape of a large heart.
It was bright out in the kingdom, sunny with a sunless sky. There was also a heavy breeze that swept over the two spirits, ruffling their clothes and tussling their hair. Jack tossed his snow-white bangs out of his eyes with a shake of his head as his eyes focused in on the large, heart-shaped red door at the base of the kingdom walls. He noted with an amused smirk that even the real Red Kingdom had the classic red heart motif, just like all the modern Alice in Wonderland adaptations.
The front door was shut tight and yield to no attempts of Jack trying to kick it open, so with a heavy groan, the Winter spirit traveled along the outer wall and over more spotty platforms to get around back where he caught sight of a gigantic hedge maze.
From there, things only got weirder.
Jack didn't even realized it had happened. Yes, he obviously noticed the strange wave of heat that blew over him as soon as he crash landed outside the extravagant rose garden, but he had chalked it up to the invisible sun that seemed to shine beyond the heavily cloudy, cream-colored sky above him. It wasn't until Baby Tooth chirped loudly and tugged on his hood that he realized something had changed.
His clothes were different.
Completely different.
When Jack looked down at himself, he no longer saw the familiar colors of his blue and brown ensemble that had been adorning his scrawny hide for several decades now. Instead, his gaze was greeted with an array of crimson red, obsidian black, fine gold, and stunning silver of an old age, military-like uniform that now clung snugly to his pale form without explanation.
He stared wide-eyed at the strange sight before scanning his surroundings for a place to set Alice down. When he spotted a nice stone bench nearby, he shifted his grip on Alice again and quickly moved over to it. As gently as he could, he lowered Alice's body to lay across the bench. Her head lolled limply to the side as he set her down, causing a few strands of dark hair to fall in front of her slumbering face. Jack, instinctively, pulled his arm out from behind Alice's knees and brushed the strands back behind her ears, his thumb accidentally skimming the tip of the girl's nose. Though the hairline contact wasn't intentional, Jack couldn't help but feel another pang of worry when Alice's nose didn't pinch up from the ghosting brush of Jack's uncomfortably cold skin.
Still no response.
He let out another heavy sigh as he pulled his other arm free and gently placed Alice's hands across her stomach.
"Try and stay in one place for me, 'kay honeybun?" Jack asked Alice's unconscious form almost cheerfully. Of course she didn't answer back, but Jack still smiled brightly as if she did and firmly patted her hands a couple times before turning away. "I'll be right back."
It took some careful searching within the garden, but Jack eventually found a castle window clear enough to give off a decent reflection of himself. He stared wide-eyed and utterly awestruck as his azure eyes slowly trailed along the new clothing on his body.
Somehow, without him even realizing it, Jack's favorite blue hoodie had morphed itself into a double-breasted coat made of fine, woolen cloth of a brilliant crimson color with black sleeves and gold trimming. It fell all the way down his torso and hips. The fine material was flawless and unbelievably soft to the touch. It all somewhat reminded the Winter spirit of old portraits of princes and high-ranking military figures back in old days, but nowhere near as expertly stitched, crafted, and even slightly catered to Jack's original hoodie. There was a black and red hood hanging from the metallic, spade-shaped epaulettes on his shoulders.
Jack let his wandering fingers move along the front of the coat, reveling in the fine feel of the material. He watched as his fingertips snagged and roamed over the black and gold, diamond-shaped buttons that decorated the front along with the black and gold checkered waist belt wrapped firmly around his narrow middle.
Jack had never been a spirit with a high sense of personal fashion. Practical, comfortable, and convenient were usually the only concepts that influenced what he wore, hence the baggy, easy to move in hoodie and brown trousers similar to the ones he was reborn in, but even he couldn't deny how good he looked in the strange uniform. The dominantly crimson and black color scheme complimented his insanely pale skin and made his silver-white hair stand out in a way he could hardly believe. Usually, black was too morbid for him and red just made him look like a candy cane, but together right now, they did wonders.
"Holy moon," Jack laughed to himself as he did a once-over to see his reflection at all angles. "Check me out, Baby Tooth!" He posed dramatically with his staff for the little fairy. "Snazzy enough to have a few ladies fall at my feet, am I right?"
Baby Tooth chirped and nodded her tiny head in agreement before pretending to swoon and faint, falling down a few feet and catching herself again.
"Not too ecstatic about the boots though," Jack commented offhandedly as he checked out his new black pants and the leather boots that covered his usually bare feet. He winced slightly when he tried wiggling his toes within their new prison. He couldn't even remember the last time he wore something on his feet. It felt a little unnatural. "I have no idea what'll happen if I try and take them off...best not find out though."
Baby Tooth nodded her head again with an anxious look in her eyes. She hovered over to Jack and perched herself on the shoulder, but immediately jumped back in surprise when she felt the soft material under her feet suddenly grow cold.
It seemed as if the new outfit had fully molded with Jack's freezing form. His low body temperature began to affect the clothing, which apparently wasn't as immune to the coldness as the water in Wonderland. Jack watched with a new-found fascination as frost slowly coated the jacket. He had seen it done a million times in his long lifetime whenever he snagged himself a new shirt or coat, but the stark contrast of the silvery glow of his ice powers against such dark coloring as it blossomed and spread across several places on his coat - it all seemed uniquely new and stunning.
"What are you doing?"
Jack started at the sound voice behind him and clumsily whirled around on his booted heals to see Alice several feet behind him. She stood slightly hunched over with her weight shifted heavily on her uninjured leg while one of her newly gloved hands rubbed tenderly against the side of her head.
"Where are we?" She asked almost sleepily. Her squinted eyes traveled along their surroundings, her brow knotting tightly together until they focused on Jack again. She gave him a confused once-over before raising her other hand to point at him. "Why are you wearing such a thing? You look so silly."
The clearly disoriented woman moved to take a step towards him, but her fogged mind shifted her weight wrong and she staggered backwards.
Jack was at her side in an instant, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to steady her as he gently guided her body towards the ground. She sat with her wounded leg sprawled out in front of her and the other bent at the knee with Jack continuing to support her with his arm.
"Whoa there, Wobbles," He chuckled softly when Alice brought up her hand to rub at her head again, groaning her discomfort. "Take it easy."
"I'm fine," She assured, clumsily waving her hand dismissively in his face, almost poking him in the eye. "I'm just a bit tiddly, is all. Give me a moment to collect my bearings."
"Take all the time you need. I don't have anywhere else to be," He mumbled as Alice slowly shut her eyes and leaned her head back in the air with a slightly pained look on her face. He felt greatly compelled to ask her if she was going to vomit. She was starting to look a little green around the gills and he wanted to know if he should remove himself from the splash zone. He respectfully remained silent though, giving her the chance to settle herself in peace while his eyes trailed down at her new dress.
Jack had briefly taken notice before, when he set Alice down on the bench, that the girl's blue dress and white apron had morphed into a red dress with a similar style and coloring as his own, but she didn't seem at all marveled by it. Whether that was because it was a regular occurrence for her, or her head was just spinning too much for her to take notice, he could only guess.
It was a very pretty dress, beautiful even, with its dark coloring and regal appearance. It lended itself to his own new clothing and complimented it rather well. He wondered what they would look like standing side by side.
Several minutes passed as Jack waited patiently while observing the stunning garden around them and occasionally looking in on a meddling Baby Tooth. It wasn't until he felt a slight shift in Alice's steady breathing that he looked down at her again and saw that her eyes were wide open and focused on him.
"What?"
Alice stared at him for a good amount of time before she spoke. It slightly unnerved him.
"You."
"Me?"
"You...are very pretty."
"Uhh, okay..."
"Not in the same regards as being handsome, which is what I know males prefer to be called because of their easily bruised sense of masculinity, but I meant it more like iridescent and ethereal, like a white blossom tree, or a swan."
Jack laughed at that. "Okay, thanks. Nobody's ever called me a swan before."
"It's just the combination of your hair and skin," She said almost wistfully as she gestured towards his color-lacking features, once again almost poking him in the eye with her finger.
He caught her lazily flailing hand and placed it back down in her lap. "I think you might have a concussion."
"Possibly," She mumbled. Her clover eyes trailed away from his face and down towards her body until she let out a surprised sound at the sight of her injured leg. Her eyes widened at the shard of porcelain still embedded in her thigh. "How did that happen?"
"You must've gotten it when you fell."
"Well I suppose that explains why my leg hurts so much."
"Yeah, probably. We should really do something about that."
"I have something inside the castle that'll help."
"Alright then," Jack pulled himself back on to his feet. He reached out to help Alice up, but she remained fixated on her wounded leg, gently prodding at it with her fingertips and hissing softly. "Be careful. You don't want to make it worse-"
She cut him off with a stifled cry as she suddenly grabbed the shard of porcelain and yanked it out of her leg.
Jack cringed at the sight before gaping in shock at the woman on the ground as she gasped at the bolt of pain that shot up her leg. "Why would you do that? You could've torn an artery or something!"
"It was bothering me. We would be walking at a snail's pace if I left it in," She replied almost flippantly once she took a few deep breaths. She carelessly tossed the shard aside. "And don't be ridiculous, it wasn't anywhere near my artery."
He watched her rip off a long strip of fabric from the bottom of her white apron and tie it tightly around her thigh, stemming the new blood flow. "I know, but-"
"Help me up." She held out her gloved hands for him to take. He obeyed with a roll of his eyes and pulled her to her shaky feet. "How did we get here anyways?"
"I carried you."
She blinked at him. "You what?"
"I had to carry you here. You were out cold," He replied, suddenly feeling bashful about it for some reason. "I couldn't just leave you there."
Alice didn't say anything as she regarded him closely with a hard look in her eyes. She didn't speak or do anything for several moments before she blinked and shook her head, seemingly breaking herself out of an intense string of thought.
"This way," She directed curtly, walking gingerly towards the main entrance of the rose garden.
~O~
The more Alice moved around, the more lucid she became.
When they first entered the ruined castle, she walked with an obvious limp, but as they traveled further into the castle, the pain in her leg must've numbed enough for her to move confidently and run, which made Jack come to an odd observation about her.
She had a really cute run.
He knew it was a really weird thing to think because how could a run be cute, but he couldn't help it. He just found it adorable for some reason, especially during those rare times he decided to scout ahead and watch her from the high castle ceilings as she moved along the ground.
It was also funny to watch her pull on levers, the way she had to throw her whole body into it because the chain was heavy and she was so light in comparison. Jack doubted he could do any better though considering they were both slender individuals with similar weights, but it was still hilarious to see, like watching a little kitten try and bat around a ball of yawn three times its own size.
He kept the thought to himself though, for obvious reasons. He focused his comments and observations more on his new change of scenery.
The kingdom seemed to be in a state of transition in regards to the grisly decor. The further they traveled inward, the more Jack noticed the blood-red drapes, carpets, and banners were replaced with brilliant blue ones, obviously showing signs of Alice's extended influence within the castle.
There wasn't much to say about the castle. It was extravagant and breathtaking of course, even in its depleted state of ruin, but it still had a basic structure of any castle, albeit a behemoth deathtrap filled with endless drops, a morbid atmosphere, and that crusty, grey gunk that seemed to hold the entire castle together like glue.
However, with the less-than-scenic tour of the Red Kingdom's interior, Jack came to realize the castle wasn't entirely as empty as he originally assumed.
From the moment they stepped foot in the castle, Jack had that overwhelming sensation of being watched bearing down on him from all angles. It wasn't until they moved into the West Wing of the kingdom that he encountered Alice's deck of Red Kingdom security. The skeletal card guards.
He jumped at the first sight of them, lurking about the main foyer floor with jerky movements and soulless expressions on their skinless faces as Alice strolled past them without a second glance. They immediately parted from their queen's path with their decrepit joints popping sickeningly with each step, but when they caught sight of Jack trailing behind her, it seemed like they couldn't focus their eerie stares on anything else. Their heads turned slowly to watch his every movement as he walked past them.
Jack eyed their poorly stitched together limps and rotting chests with gaping, suit-shaped holes craved into them as they looked at him with empty eye sockets. "Are they staring at me? I think they're staring at me. I can't really tell though. They don't have any eyeballs."
"I'd imagine they're sizing you up. They've never seen another humanoid outsider before," Alice replied, not even turning to look back at him. "Don't worry. They won't attack unless I tell them to."
"Well that's comforting," He mumbled sardonically as they made their way through the West Wing before moving on to the East.
The dark-haired woman led him to a rather secluded hallway in the castle that housed only one room. As they approached the tall door, Jack looked up at it in slight apprehension. The seclusion of the room and the shadowed walls that flanked it, gave it an ominous feel to it and the Winter spirit wasn't sure whether he should feel curiosity towards the possible contents inside, or dread. When Alice stepped up to the door and unlocked it with a small silver key she fished out of her apron pocket, the reveal wasn't necessarily anti-climax per se, but Jack was definitely expecting something more diabolical than a cluttered treasure room.
"I thought you'd be more comfortable in here. Get a little taste for home."
"Yeah, home from eighty years ago maybe," He snorted while looking around at the old trinkets.
It was a quaint little room, compared to the rest of the castle, with large, mosaic windows and tall bookcases lining the walls. It was a miniature museum of small knick-knacks. It housed an array of old edition books and texts, worn stacks of newspapers, with clusters of porcelain dolls and stuffed toys. There was also a number of precursor inventions like a bulky telephone, an early model scientific telescope, a typewriter, a phonograph, and a variety of different clocks. They were all scattered about the room, littering the shelves and collecting dust behind glass cases.
"What is all this?" He asked, picking up a dusty French music box from one of the tables.
"All of Bunny's little gifts he's given me throughout the past century," Alice replied as she watched Jack fiddle with the music box's turning key.
"You kept everything?"
"Of course," She smiled softly before turning back towards the door. "Have a look around. I'll be back in a moment."
She strolled out of the room then, leaving Jack to glance back towards the doorway. He shrugged his shoulders at her sudden departure and placed the music box back in its place. He moved on to a cluster of China dolls while Baby Tooth explored inside the large, beautifully crafted dollhouse set up behind them. He picked up a doll in a blue dress that looked a little like Alice with dark hair and green eyes. As he looked into the doll's glass eyes, the Winter spirit couldn't help but wonder how he was able to go so many years without ever knowing that Alice and Wonderland actually existed. He felt he had a decent excuse for his first three hundred years since him and Bunnymund were practically rivals after the whole Easter Sunday blizzard of '68 fiasco, but what about afterwards? It was clear by the number of knick-knacks in the room that Bunny did everything he could to remain a big part of Alice's life.
During his together with the pooka, and with the rest of the guardians, how did Alice's name ever go unmentioned? Not even in casual conversations? From the get-go, Jack understood Alice was a taboo subject within the guardian group, just like animal hunting and Sandy's death, but how did they let Alice and Wonderland become ghosts within a community of invisible beings? And what about the rest of the spirit world for that matter? Most of the spirits Jack had come to know throughout his long life were worse than little old ladies when it came to gossip involving the unknown and taboo. It was strange on both ends that Jack had never heard of the real Alice Liddell until recently.
Were Jack and the other guardians really the first spirits to directly interact with Alice ever? It made sense considering the circumstances, but it was still a weird thought to process. Everybody knew everybody in the spirit world. Maybe not very well, but even the most mysterious beings were mentioned occasionally in conversation. Alice was over a century old, but she was still technically new to the spirit world since she's never actually been apart of it yet.
In any case, it was going to be interesting once the news of Alice's potential guardianship hit the rumor mill. He made a note to himself to drop by the Goundhog's den sometime soon and get caught up on it all.
"Damn it's warm," Jack said to himself, pulling from his thoughts and setting the China doll down.
He gave a quick glance back at the door before bringing his fingers up to unfastened the buttons that held his jacket closed. He let out a sigh of relief when he shrugged out of the constricting material before draping it over a nearby chair. As amazing as the new garment was and how awesome it made him look, it did almost no favors for his heat intolerance. Underneath the jacket, he wore a simple crimson tunic which he begun to unbutton, revealing his pale chest.
"I see you've made yourself at home," Alice commented offhandedly as she walked gingerly back into the room without warning.
Jack scrambled to cover his chest while a curious blush blossomed across his face.
"Hey! Thanks for the warning!" He snapped indignantly. He held his shirt closed tightly as if he actually had something to cover.
"Bashful, Mr. Frost?" Alice smirked playfully. "There's no cause to be. I've seen shirtless men before."
"...You have?" He asked while eyeing what looked like a large jar of red paint in Alice's hands.
She nodded. "During my time in London, I lived close to a docking port called "Billingsgate". My nanny used to run a bar there and I would occasional manage the bar for a little spending money if she was short on staff." Her tone was neutral as she walked further into the room, but there was a causal breeze to it that Jack didn't often hearing from her.
Not wanting to throw off the sudden mellowness that blanketed the room, Jack remained silent as he sat down in a nearby dusty lounge chair and watched as Alice idly stirred the gooey red contents of the jar with a slim paint brush.
"I was saving up to buy this dress I've had my eye on for a while. It was a bit scandalous in the neckline, far lower than anything I've ever dared to wear before in the real world, but such a gorgeous shade of maroon. Mind you, not many Victorian women could pull off such a rich color, especially the women that lived on my side of town, but I always thought...if I cleaned up a bit and perhaps got a proper haircut, I could've at least looked presentable, if not fetching in it..."
Jack watched silently as a far-off look invaded her emerald eyes, her mind drifting back to a time where poverty and starvation were still prominent threats and where the desire to maintain a thimble of normalcy influenced her practical mind a few seconds everyday as she walked past that certain storefront window. If there had been a human life for her after Bumby and the train station, then purchasing the dress would've been one of the few instances in Alice's real world life that she had ever indulged in some of her more feminine desires. In the state of body and power she was in now, she wanted for not when it came to things such as nice clothing to wear, but she sometimes missed having something so human to look forward to like slipping on a pretty dress.
For the Winter spirit watching her, it was interesting seeing her like that. It was showing her in a different light, almost like seeing a cranky old woman look back on the forgotten joys of her life with rare fondness.
"Anyways," Alice shook herself out of her trance. "What was I saying?"
"Bartending?"
"Oh yes, thank you. I use to cover the bars for her," Alice continued. "Now, before I go any further in this story, Mr. Frost, there's something you should know about my nanny and her bar. My mother and nanny used to be childhood friends, but when my family perished in the fire, my nanny had to resort to some rather...unsavory methods of income in order to provide for herself. You see, she was a...a working woman."
"Uhh, okay," Jack said, not really understanding why she was emphasizing her words. "And?"
Alice rolled her eyes. "She was a woman who provided certain discretionary services."
Still nothing.
"Services to men, Frost."
"Oh...Oh!" Jack's eyes widened when it finally clicked. "Oh, you mean she was a..."
"Yes, she was," Alice nodded. "After my parents died, she found herself unable to find more work as a nanny and unfortunately had to resort to selling the only thing she had worth to sell in order to support herself."
He gave her a sympathetic frown. "That's gotta be rough."
"Indeed it was, but she was a woman with a core of steel. There was very little in this world that could bring her down when she was hellbent on living another day," She assured him. "Anyways, to get to the crux of this little tale, one does not work in a whorehouse without accidentally walking in on their far share of awkward situations."
"Gross."
"Quite. Hairy, greasy sailors and dried up prostitutes don't make the most attractive couples, especially in the bedroom."
"Okay, that's enough of that," Jack cringed at the mental images now flashing inside his head.
"...or lack thereof," She added somewhat impishly, unable to resist.
His cringed worsened as he waved his hand at her. "Ugh, please stop!"
Something akin to a snicker escape her then as the dark-haired spirit directed her attention back on her jar. Jack suppressed another shudder as he banished Alice's disturbing story from his head. He chose to focus on a nearby table clock that looked almost dissected, like someone had opened up the back and started fiddling with its insides to, literally, see what made the clock tick.
There was a very faint click from behind Jack and he turned to look at Alice, but immediately turned away again when he got an eyeful of the woman hiking up the skirt of her dress and stripping off one of her stockings, leaving her creamy bare thigh and poorly dressed cut exposed. He felt another blush spread across his cheeks as he let out an awkward cough, causing Alice to look up at him.
"What?"
He had seen girls in a state of undress a few times before. Completely on accident, mind you. It was just one of those things that happened often when one was invisible to nearly every person on Earth. He knew it was ridiculous of him to react like that, especially since it was just her leg, but it was more skin than he usually saw from her and it just made his presence feel intrusive somehow.
"Would it kill you to warn a guy before you just start stripping?" Jack grumbled, his mind drifting back to the conversation they just had.
Alice only rolled her eyes in response as she hoisted herself up on to the table behind her before gingerly crossing her injured leg over the other. She hissed softly at the sharp sting that ran up her thigh at the movement, but she just bit her lip and pulled the bowl of rose paint into her lap.
"Would you like something to eat?" Alice spoke up casually as she stripped off her black gloves and gingerly started applying the rose paint to the cut on her thigh.
"What?"
"We have a kitchen here if you're in the mood to eat something. It's incredibly underused and doesn't produce much other than tea cakes and cherry tarts, but you're welcomed to it. If you desire something else, I'm afraid you'd be better off making it yourself. My Card Guards are excellent gardeners, but positively dreadful cooks."
"Uh no, thanks," Jack replied before going back to exploring the many trinkets in the room. He picked up an old Jack-in-the-Box from on of the tables and started to turn the crank on the side. A little circus tune trickled out of the dented tin box as he continued to crank the handle, but when he finally reached the end of the tune and the handle went as far as it would go, the music stopped and nothing happened. He looked down at the box with a frown before shaking it a little. When nothing happened again, he slapped the side of the box firmly and nearly jumped right out of his pale skin when a little toy clown suddenly popped out of the box with a loud, unsettling crackle and the creepiest grin Jack had ever seen on a toy painted across its ugly mug.
He flinched and cursed at the Jack-in-the-Box when he accidentally backed into the table behind him and a cardboard box resting on top of it fell to the floor.
"Whoops. My bad," He mumbled sheepishly as dozens of sealed envelopes spilled across the floor next to him. "I'll get them."
"Don't hurt yourself," Alice advised lightly with a bit of snark in her tone.
Jack smirked with amusement as he kneeled down and picked up one of the envelopes from the floor. "What are these? Invitations to Hatter's tea parties?"
Alice didn't answer as she continued spreading rose paint on her wound. Jack snickered at his own joke as he looked over the envelope in his hand. It was a basic envelope made of fancy ivory paper with Alice's name written on the back in elegant, cursive lettering. He studied the handwriting for a moment, feeling a sense of familiarity towards it before turning the envelope over to the front and looking at the red seal keeping it closed. It was crimson red with an indentation of the letter "N" and two saber swords crossed behind it.
Jack blinked at the seal. "Hey, wait a minute...I know that insignia. That's North's."
In lieu of a reply, Alice hummed affirmatively as she painted her wound. Jack glanced up at her briefly before looking back down at the envelope and tearing it open without asking, pulling out the crisp parchment paper within and reading the
"These are invitations to his annual Christmas parties," His eyes scanned the elegant invitation in his hand. "North give you these?"
"Indeed he did. One for very year I've been a spirit," Alice nodded. "Delivered via Easter Bunny, of course."
Jack placed the opened invitation to the side and kneeled down to gather up the rest of them still on the floor. "I got a few of these throughout the years myself. Not every though. I'm sure the big guy would've if he could've, I hear he invites just about every spiritual being in the world to his Christmas parties, but it wasn't like I had a PO box or anything for him to send mail to every year. Why didn't you ever go?"
"Why didn't you?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Even though I felt starved for companionship from almost the second I was reborn, I guess I believed I didn't really belong with them. You know, all these big deal spirits with these big jobs, living in their big domains with all their faithful minions by their sides. To most of them, I was just this little wayward ice sprite, trying to fit in with the popular kids. The guardians were nice of course, but mostly just Sandy and North. I didn't officially meet Tooth until the Man in the Moon chose me to be a guardian. Everybody seems to like me now that I'm a guardian, which figures. I don't really have to worry about not fitting in anymore. Although, I still cut out early on North's Christmas parties. It can all get a little overwhelming for me sometimes..."
Jack eventually trailed off when he realized he was rambling, even though Alice was still listening to him. She made sure to let him know by occasionally looking up at him and nodding her head, but Jack was starting to get bored of talking about himself. So instead, after he finished cleaning up the envelopes and putting the box back on the table, he sat in a nearby lounge chair and waited patiently for Alice to finish.
When she finished applying the rose paint, she set aside the jar and leaned back as they both watched the pinkish-red gel on her leg glow briefly before slowly absorbing into her skin. Seconds later, the large cut across her thigh suddenly started to stitch itself back together right before their eyes.
"Cool," Jack breathed out in mild wonder while Alice shifted uncomfortably at the annoying itch the wound produced as it healed. "What is that stuff anyways?"
"Rose paint. It's a healing elixir," She replied curtly before hopping down from the table she was sitting on. Her demeanor returning to its usual straightforward mode. "We'll return to Santoff Claussen tomorrow. We should rest here tonight."
"Wait, what?" Jack frowned. "But what about the others?"
"I told you before, time moves differently here. What might seem like days in Wonderland is only a few hours in the North Pole," She said in a flat tone before reluctantly adding, "Stop worrying. Our friends suffered a devastating attack tonight, but they overcame it just as we knew they would and I don't doubt they can manage things themselves just fine until we return. We might as well rest while we have a chance."
Jack blinked up at her from his chair. It took him a few moments to fully realize what Alice was doing. Strangely enough, she was trying to reassure him. Why, he had no idea, but he couldn't deny it was working.
Alice was the most blunt, no-nonsense person he had ever met. She wouldn't have gone out of her way to make a point to Jack just to make him feel better unless she truly believed it herself.
"Our friends?" He echoed with a smile.
"I'll be returning to my room now," She announced, not acknowledging him while gathering up her discarded boot and ruined stocking. "Feel free to explore the kingdom, but I'd advise caution for obvious reasons. If you wish to rest also, a few corridors to our left there should be a hallway of vacant rooms. Take your pick, but make sure to check the room first. You never know what might be crawling about in this wing of the castle.
"But wait-"
On her way out of her treasure room, Alice suddenly stopped by his chair. She brought the tips of her gloved fingers to her lips and kissed them lightly before reaching down and briefly pressing them to the tip of his nose, effectively cutting him off.
"Goodnight."
She strolled confidently out of the room then without limping, leaving Jack to stare after her in bewildered shock.
Did she just indirectly nip him on the nose?
~O~
For a lack of anything better to do, Jack took Alice up on her offer and retired to one of the many, extravagantly decorated rooms offered to him.
The next morning, after a blissfully quiet night in which Jack and Baby Tooth slept like rocks, the Winter spirit woke up to the last sound he ever expected to hear in Wonderland.
It took Jack's sleep-laced mind a few beats to recognize the familiar sound ghosting in through the open balcony windows as he lifted his foggy head from the soft pillows of his lended bed.
It was the sound of laughing children.
AN: First off, Jack's Royal suit, there is a design for it. My friend Sunvenice made it for me. There's a link on my fanfic profile where you can see Jack's royal design AND her sketches for the OTHER Wonderland domains (except for Oriental Grove, she hasn't done that one yet). In my story though, unfortunately, I'll only be mentioning his Royal suit, but feel free to check out her other designs. They're really awesome. The red design is what was used in this chapter. The white design is what he'll where next chapter. Similar to the red one, just in a different color. Next chapter will explain the color change.
Sorry for any mistakes in the text. I kind of rushed the ending of this chapter, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are quite a few in there. If you see one, let me know in a review and I'll fix it!
~Scorpiofreak~