AN: Whoo! Sorry for the delay! I signed up for a creative writing class this semester and my professor has just been throwing writing exercises and workshops at us non-stop. He's not much of a FanFiction supporter, so it all has to be original work. No fair :p
I'm glad I'm getting this out now though. I'm starting to come down with a cold so it'll be good to know I'm not late on an update while I'm hacking up a lung.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Alice: Madness Returns.
This is his love
Such selfish prayers and I can't get enough
I'm not here looking for absolution
Because I found myself an old solution
Bedroom Hymns ~ Florence and the Machine
As expected, when the guardians entered the underground lair of Pitch Black, they were met with a fight.
However, remarkably, it was a fight only fueled by the Boogeyman's original Nightmares. It was off-putting, how easy it was for them to infiltrate the shadowed lair. It made them distrustful and suspicious and entirely on edge because of how easy it was. With a manipulative soul like Pitch, nothing could ever be that easy, but with no other way to go except forward, they had to push aside their misgivings. There was no chance they were leaving that hovel without their Easter Bunny, even if it meant staring danger and death straight in the eye. There was no turning back when one of their own was missing. There was just too much at stake.
The guardians were already starting to feel the effects of the children's fear in them.
They were still full at power, for the time being, but it all made them feel so tainted. Like cheating to win a competition. They had the power and the recognition, but it came only at the cost of other's pain and misfortune - the children's pain and misfortune. It wouldn't be an unreasonable assumption to believe this was how Pitch felt all the time, being the spirit of fear and nightmares that he was. It made them wonder how he was able to live off it - crave it even. The despair and unknowing was mentally draining for all of them, even at full strength.
With the exception of Alice, of course; since she wasn't a full-fledged guardian, but she had more than enough problems of her own.
They took small comfort in that though, knowing that if worse came to worse and the guardians faded out of existence, Alice would still be around to fight for them. But again, that was just a worse case scenario. They were all roaring and ready to give their enemies hell now, and they fully intended to do just that. So it was almost a disappointment when they easily dispatched Pitch's defenses near the tunnel entrance and found the Boogeyman waiting for them in the center of his domain.
He stood there, tall and looming with his hands held behind his back and his head held high. There was the usual cocky smirk on his ashen face, but it didn't quite portray the confidence it always did when he found himself with the upper hand against his mortal enemies. One might chalk the hitch up to the fact that he had five, royally pissed off, powerful spirits cornering him like a rat in his own home, but Alice already had an inkling that the self-doubt in his pale eyes wasn't because of them. Perhaps, under different circumstances, she might've called him out on it.
However, under these circumstances, she didn't give damn.
"Well, if it isn't my dear friends, the guardians," Pitch greeted them with mock enthusiasm as they approached him. "I'd say this was a pleasant surprise, but then we would all know I'd be lying through my teeth."
Alice answered him with a harsh sucker punch to the face.
The Boogeyman stumbled back, stunned and growling in pain, holding his nose while Alice swiftly followed the hit up with another punch to his stomach. The other guardians stood by and watched as the vindictive young woman let out her pain and rage on an unfortunate nightmare spirit. She gripped the sides of Pitch's head while he bent over, holding his stomach in pain, and mercilessly slammed his face down on her raised knee, splattering red blood from his already broken nose on to her striped stockings, before shoving him to the ground.
"Now was that really necessary?" Pitch wheezed, his tone laced with pain as he pulled himself into a sitting position and holding a hand against his stomach.
Alice barely resisted the urge to drive the tip of her boot into the dark spirit's ribcage.
He shot a look past the glaring woman towards the leader of the guardians. "Do you condone this behavior, Nicholas? I didn't even take the stupid rabbit. My plan was much more clever than that."
"Maybe not, but you might as well have," Alice hissed, stepping back into his line of vision, forcing him to look at her. "You gave him free reign over our world."
"I might've brought him back, but he's still your creation, my dear," He threw back, wiping the blood from his upper lip with the back of his hand. "Whatever he's done, or will do - that's all on you."
"Yes, I did create him, but at least I had control over him. Buried beneath the ruins of his workshop, he was no threat to anybody except myself. He's too dangerous in this world, but I'm sure you've already realized that."
"Well, hindsight," He remarked dryly. "I just work with what little is given to me. You probably understand that better than anyone, I'd imagine."
Alice and the guardians watched as Pitch pulled himself to his feet and wiped his hands on his black cloak before swiping back his hair. Then, out of nowhere with unreal speed, he shot a blast of nightmare sand at the spirits. The guardians quickly moved to the side to avoid the sudden attack, but Alice already saw it coming. She ducked down low to the ground instead before launching herself forward. Blue smoke curled around her hands as her white Hobby Horse materialized out of thin air. Throwing her entire body into the movement, she pulled back the heavy weapon before swinging it forward and hitting the Nightmare King on his exposed side. The force of the counterattack sent him crashing against the cracked and broken walls of his abandoned sanctum, his breath escaping him with an agonized wheeze.
Powerful or not, a direct hit from Alice's Hobby Horse was more then enough to knock anyone off their feet.
The Boogeyman slid to the ground with a deep grimace, but it was quickly wiped from his face when Alice hit him in the temple with the butt of her Hobby Horse, knocking him out cold. Her strikes were hard, cold, and deliberate. She had absolutely no self-restraint at this point. The dark-haired spirit knew it probably would've been easier, and much more humane, to have the Sandman use his dreamsand to knock Pitch unconscious, but again, she didn't give a damn. And the others didn't seem to care much either. Sandy didn't even bother conjuring up a ball of dreamsand, knowing that Alice was going to let her rage out any way she could.
Once she was sure the nightmare king was completely out, she kneeled down next to his motionless form with a grim expression before briefly glancing back at North. The Russian took this as a sign for them to leave Alice in peace so she could concentrate. He ordered the others to start ransacking Pitch's lair, looking for anything useful they could use, or anything that might tell them where Bunny and the Dollmaker were. The elder guardians all broke off in separate directions, determined to be useful, but Jack stayed behind.
Alice could sense that he was still there, standing somewhere behind her, watching as she tried to focus on her task. She didn't acknowledge him though, not yet.
Understandably, she was nervous for what she was about to do. She hadn't done her trick in decades, not since retreating back into her Wonderland in 1885. And even more so, she had never done it on a spirit before. She had only ever entered the minds of normal, mortal inventors and writers. It was going to take a lot of power to enter Pitch's imagination, and possibly even more to come back. She was worried about resurfacing and whether or not she would be able to do it. There was a strong possibility, with his sudden surge in power, that Pitch could overcome her and trap her inside his head. Perhaps not forever, she would eventually break free, but long enough to keep her from saving Bunny and the children. Not to mention it might cause permanent damage to herself for staying under too long - in both body and mind. There were so many ways things could go wrong.
She didn't tell that to the rest of the guardians though, but she had an inkling that Jack was suspicious. When his doubt towards her previously unmentioned ability finally wore off, the dubious, mysterious nature of that ability took its place. All through the quiet sleigh ride to Pitch's lair, Alice could feel him shooting glances at her from the corner of his eye. She had to admire him for his perceptiveness.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" He finally asked. His hands wrung nervously around his staff.
"It has to," She replied.
Another silence gathered as Alice shifted closer to the unconscious Boogeyman and reached up to gently place her fingertips on the dark spirit's temples.
"Will your face be the first thing I see when I wake up?" Alice asked suddenly, perfectly aware of how utterly romantic that sounded, but not caring enough to try and rephrase it.
She needed something to keep her anchored to the real world, and somehow the thought of rescuing Bunny wasn't enough. If she knew someone was waiting just beyond the veil of consciousness for her return, ready to pull her through if she staggered, then she knew she could pull this off. Jack was loyal - far loyal than he should be to her after everything she put him and his family through. She knew he would wait by her side if she needed him to, and she did, and she knew he realized it.
"Will you wake up?" Jack replied without missing a beat.
Alice smirked freely, knowing he wouldn't be able to see it with her back turned to him. With her fingertips still placed against Pitch's temples, she nodded.
"Then yes. I'll be here."
Her smirk turned into a soft smile as she allowed her eyes to slide close. She blocked out everything around her, focusing just on the task at hand. Everything left her mind. The empty, hollow atmosphere of Pitch's lair. The creaking sound of the steel cages above them swinging back and forth. The faint sound of Tooth's wings in the far distance and the soft chiming of the Sandman that followed closely behind it. The sound of North's heavy boots against the stone floor as he searched diligently for signs of his pooka friend. And the sensation of Jack's ice blue eyes as they bore intensely into her back. She let it all slip away.
She held her position next to Pitch until she felt a familiar tug somewhere deep in her skull, and the sensation of floating. She felt herself drifting higher and higher into dark oblivion until she hit an invisible wall and plummeted downwards into Pitch's subconscious, becoming dead to the world.
Jack quickly stepped forward when Alice's hands flashed a brilliant blue and her body suddenly went limp and she slumped forward. He reached out and caught hold of her shoulders just as she was about to fall into the Nightmare King's lap. He carefully dragged her away towards the center of the room and gently laid her down on her back with her hands resting on her stomach. He then brushed the dark strands of hair hanging in her face back behind her eyes out of instinct before sitting back on his hunches. There was a thick silence as he looked in between Alice laying on the floor and Pitch slumped against the wall, wondering what sort of things were transpiring between their linked minds.
With a small, frustrated huff, Jack twisted his legs around so he was sitting crisscrossed and shimmied as close to Alice as he could. He gently set aside his staff before propping one elbow on top of his bent knee with his chin resting in his hand while the other picked absently at the small pebbles on the ground. He stared almost unblinking at Alice's peaceful face until his eyes stung. A million questions flashed inside his head. He wondered what kind of dark, evil things plagued Pitch's mind, and how much of it Alice would be exposed to. He knew he should show a little more faith in the English beauty, since taming twisted minds and exploring imaginations seemed to be her forte, but it was almost unreal how protective he had become of her, and without a single, decent warning. It had barely been five minutes and already he wondered grimly to himself how long he should wait until they needed to start thinking of a new plan.
Out of nervous impulse, Jack reached out and picked up one of Alice's hands, wordlessly turning it over before using the tip of his finger to delicately trace the lines in her palm with glowing frost. He repeated it over and over, hoping to incite some sort of outside beacon Alice could follow back if she got lost.
~O~
It was cold.
Twin pools of emerald blinked open with a grimace as a soft groan of pain escaped pink lips. Slowly, Alice eased her aching body into a sitting position, long black hair spilling like ink over her shoulders as she moved to stand.
She would never get used to that.
Every time she stepped into a new Wonderland, it was always a startling experience. No matter how much she prepared herself before delving into the minds of others, she never fully knew what to expect, and that always left her faintly disoriented. It was times like these that she dearly missed her colorful rabbit holes. The dark tunnel she remembered falling through on her unpleasant trip into Pitch's subconscious, had been like falling through a black hole that led into hopeless oblivion. The trip definitely left her yearning for her dazzling Wonderland portals.
Pitch's mind appeared to have deposited her just inside of what appeared to be a broken wall. Black stones that glittered like broken glass laid shattered at her feet, having appeared to have crumbled in the face of her forced, mental entry. Narrowing her eyes warily, Alice cautiously stepped forward, black boots delicately stepping around the shadowed rubble as she stepped up to the hole to see what was beyond the wall.
Below the darkened overlook that Alice stood on, was a dark forest that stretched endlessly across the land like the majestic forests of Tibet. The blackwood trees stood tall and looming with bare, jagged branches as their shadows danced almost deviously along the barren ground. The wind was harsh and thin, sweeping over the trees and making their limbs sing an eerie melody while their dead leaves scrapped against the ground. A thick fog coated the forest, weaving through the tree trunks and clinging heavily to every empty space it drifted over, making it impossible to see beyond a few feet ahead on ground level. Deadened trees creaked ominously in a silent wind, whispering warnings to the unwanted intruder.
Inside the behemoth structure (the only structure in sight), an ancient castle stood against the cloudy twilight while a full moon shined simultaneously from above, projecting strong shadows across the land. The gothic castle stood tall on a high cliff, with dead plant life circling its base and a ring of fog that curled around its narrow middle. Crumbling spires towered over broken battlements as the darkness seemed to cling to every surface. Much like its owner, this Wonderland was the embodiment of fear, darkness, and everything that went bump in the night. It was something straight out of a Bram Stoker novel and most definitely one of the more disturbing Wonderlands Alice has been in.
Wasting no time, the determined spirit shook the remaining spots in her vision and quickly recollected herself. Her mind immediately grew alert as she quickly conjured up a game plan.
"I suppose my best option would be to search through Pitch's recent memories," She mused aloud as she tapped her chin in thought. "Now where would that be?"
She looked up towards the highest tower of the castle to see a silver light shining from the highest window. Not everyone's imaginations were like hers. They were like fingerprints - with you before birth and entirely unique to each individual. They were influenced by just about every aspect of a person's life, making it impossible for one "Wonderland" to be even remotely identical to another. However, there were some shared trifles Alice had come to notice after her mad stint through the great minds of the Victorian era - such as memories. Memory fragments always glowed. They didn't always take the same form or shape, but they always glowed.
Following her instincts, Alice pushed past the threshold of the castle and headed in the direction of the tower. She kept up a steady pace as she ran through the gothic castle that made up a majority of Pitch's personified imagination.
Perhaps if her mission wasn't so dire, she might've stopped to admire the structure. In general, the Boogeyman's Wonderland was rather similar to his domain; plain and monochromatic, relying heavily on thick shadows and fear of the unknown to fuel it, but the castle was quite an impressive piece of architecture. She wondered briefly how much of it was a personal interpretation of how Pitch saw the world, and how much of it was influenced by significant places and moments in his long life.
Alice's brisk footsteps clicked and echoed loudly through the empty halls of the towering castle as her green eyes darted along the shadows, daring anything to jump out and attack her. She didn't trust the fact that nothing had stepped up to challenge or stop her from trespassing, not even subconscious shifts in the castle's layout. She knew entering Pitch's mind while he was knocked out would leave his imagination most vulnerable for probing, where he was unable to hinder her consciously, but she expected some sort of fight. If not from his beloved nightmares, then surely from the Nightmare King himself.
She decided not to press her luck as she swiftly moved from dark chamber to dark chamber. Her borderline marathon only stopped when she ran into an exceedingly larger chamber, not unlike the main area of Pitch's real world domain, and she heard a familiar voice call her name.
"Alice!"
Recognizing the voice immediately, Alice let out a gasp and skidded to a sudden halt, almost tripping over her own feet in the process. She looked around the chamber and along the floor, unsure of where the voice originated from until she looked up at the steel cages hanging from the high ceiling.
"Bunny?" Alice continued to look around the dark room. "Where are you?"
Her eyes searched the ominous cages overhead, but they all appeared to be empty.
"Over here!" Bunny's voice called out. "In the cage by the door!"
She turned to look at the large, wooden doors that led into the next room of the castle. When she spotted the mentioned cage, her brow furrowed in confusion. In appearance, the cage looked identical from the ones hanging near the ceiling, but only much, much smaller in size. Way too small to contain a six-foot-one, mythical rabbit creature. However, Alice could hear Bunny's voice still calling out to her from within it. The mere sound made her want to immediately run over to the cage, but the suspiciousness of it kept her at bay. She slowly made her way towards the door, taking even steps while keeping her eyes on her surroundings.
The small cage hung next to one of the gigantic doors with a small wooden stool set on the ground underneath it, almost like a guard station. When Alice reached the cage, she used the stool to stand on so she could reach up and unlatch the cage door.
Standing on the very tip of her toes, Alice grabbed the rim of the cage door and peered inside.
Her face twisted up in a rather comical display of shock and confusion when she reached into the cage and pulled out a little, gray and white rabbit so small, it sat perfectly in the palms of her conjoined hands. The little creature looked up at her with familiar, forest green eyes and a little pink nose that twitched ever so slightly when he raised it to sniff at her.
"Bunny?" Alice asked in an uncertain tone.
"Oh thank God!" The little rabbit sighed in relief. "You have no idea how long I've been stuck in that cage! You're one amazin' sight for sore eyes, Half-pint!"
Alice looked him over with a saddened frown when she realized what he was and silently cursed for allowing herself to get her hopes up like that. Of course she wasn't going to find the real Easter Bunny here. She was in Pitch's head. This little plush toy sitting in her hands was just Pitch's personal interpretation of Bunnymund. The Boogeyman must've planted the baby bunny here as some form of mockery to her, in place of any sort of defense mechanisms - for whatever bizarre reason. And now that she thought about it, the wooden stool, unlocked door and overall convenient placement of the cage itself, did seem rather deliberate.
Thankfully though, it seemed Pitch had only taken Bunny's bite, and not his bark. It was the extra push Alice knew she needed right now. She desperately wished it was the real Mr. Bunnymund talking to her, but for now, Lil' Bunny would just have to do. And he was an adequate substitute, she had to admit. As far as she could tell, he still possessed everything that made up the real Bunnymund's cantankerous attitude and personality, which was probably Pitch's intentions. It probably gave him a giddy thrill to have a tiny, helpless version of his pooka enemy (who still fancied himself as tall and mighty), reduced to being stuck in a cage solely for the Boogeyman's amusement.
"I don't mean to split hairs, my darling, but I believe you're more half-pint than I am right now," She pointed out with her friend still sitting in her palms.
Lil' Bunny looked down at himself with a frown. "Yeah, I see your point, but don't go expectin' me to change over a century of habit just 'cause you're feelin' technical. We've got bigger problems right now! We've gotta find those memories!"
"How do you-"
"Oh please," Bunny rolled his eyes, cutting her off. "I know you haven't been around him long, but you must've noticed by now that Pitch loves to gloat and monologue. Even if I am just a small fragment of his imagination, that blighter will talk my ear off! I'm up to speed with most of the going-ons around 'ere. We don't have time for chit-chat!"
And with that, Lil' Bunny turned around and jumped out of Alice's hands. He took off in a swift dash towards the wooden door and started pushing on it determinedly with all his mini might while Alice watched with an exasperated frown. In regards to scale, the door would've towered considerably over someone like North, but over the baby pooka...well, he barely reached mid-shin on Alice. She appreciated the sentiment of him still trying to help her even though he was, technically, more of an extension of Pitch Black than he was of Bunnymund, but for the sake of time, she only stepped forward and helped push open the heavy door just enough for them to be able to slip through into a large courtyard with dead, dried up plant life.
Alice let out a frustrated huff when she saw the broken staircase at the other end of the courtyard, dampening her saving grace. "Looks like we'll have to climb. And of course when I say we, I mean me, naturally."
There was a circuit of dead rose vines crawling up a nearby wall with jagged breaks in the stone, giving Alice a perfect spot to climb up the wall separating her from the tallest tower.
"Don't get all pissy. At least your arms an' legs are long enough to climb with," He grumbled dryly as Alice placed him over her shoulder and he grabbed on to the back of her boomerang holster with his tiny paws. "This is humiliatin', so don't complain."
Gathering her nerve, Alice stepped up to the wall and began to climb.
"Not that I'm complainin' now, or anythin', but what exactly is your plan here? Doesn't seem to be anybody rushin' to stop you. Knowin' Pitch, I can't decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"It's an intentional thing," She replied.
Alice couldn't see the baby pooka's face, but she knew he was giving her a dubious look. "Why would Pitch intentionally let you come 'ere?"
"Something tells me that Pitch knows he's in way over his head," Alice said with a grunt as she hoisted herself higher and higher. "He knows he's overestimated just how despicable and dangerous the Dollmaker is. I don't know if it's the idea of having to share the fear, or just bad chemistry, or possibly even remorse for the suffering he's causing, but whatever it is, Pitch is doubting whether or not he still wants a role in what's happening. In what he and Bumby have set into motion."
"And if you're right? What does that mean for you?"
"I think I can reason with him. Get him to tell me where to find Bunny and the Dollmaker. He won't actively turn against the Dollmaker, not after seeing how much influence they share when it comes to the Night Ruins, which I assume is about split-even, but perhaps I can get him to, at least, point us in the right direction and stay out of our way."
Pitch was more than aware Alice was inside his head and had more than enough power to confront her, she knew this, but he didn't, and that was a huge tell for her. She knew she was right about Pitch's doubt. If there was one thing a lifetime of blending into the shadows could teach a person, that would be how to tell when one should stay and play their hand of cards, or cut their losses and back out while they still had a chance. And Alice was counting on Pitch doing the latter. Sure, he talked a big game for appearances sake, but now that they were behind closed doors, he was blatantly allowing Alice to infiltrate his mind. There was a small chance she could be wrong, that Pitch was just patiently waiting for the right time to spring a trap on her, but she didn't believe that. She couldn't believe that.
Alice shook the bubbling, toxic thoughts from her head and forced herself to focus on climbing. It was only when she felt a strange sensation in the palm of her right hand that she paused again. Making sure to hold on tight with her left, Alice brought down her right hand and uncurled her fingers to see a small flower of silver frost blossoming in the center of her palm with blue vines running along the lines of her skin. The silver spot glowed ever so slightly like a flickering candle flame. She stared down at the peculiar sight with confusion until she smiled in realization.
Jack Frost
"Somethin' wrong, darlin?" Bunny's voice right next to her ear pulled her from her thoughts.
"Can I say something?" She asked in a small voice as she slowly closed her hand and started climbing again. "I need you to know a few things, Bunny."
"You can say whatever you want, but I'm not the real Bunny, Sheila."
"Could you just humor me then?" Alice snapped almost desperately as she blinked away unshed tears. "What I said to you back at the pole...you have no idea how much it hurts to know that those might be my last words to you. I can't-" She cursed silently when her voice cracked with emotion. "I can't even begin to figure out what I'll do if something happens to you. I'll break all over again, just like when my family died, but I don't think I'll ever be able to come back. Not even with the guardians there. Not even...not even with Ja-"
A startled gasp ripped from her lips when the piece of unstable stone she was hanging on to with one hand suddenly gave way and she slid down the wall a few feet before grabbing the rose vines and finding purchase again. Alice could feel Lil' Bunny tightening his grip on real Bunny's boomerang holster as she took a second to gather her bearings. The dead thorns of the vines bit painfully into her palms, but she didn't let up her death grip around them.
"You knew this day was comin', Sheila," Lil' Bunny suddenly said, almost sagely. "You just didn't want to think about it."
Alice didn't respond as she started climbing again.
He wasn't wrong. She always thought her greatest fear was failure. She feared waking up in an alternate universe where she hadn't succeeded in killing Dr. Bumby that day at the train station. An alternate universe where the Dollmaker won and took over Wonderland. The kind of pain and torture that man was capable of, and entirely willing to inflict on her for trying to kill him - disturbed her greatly. She couldn't think about the total hopelessness she would feel when she realized that no one would help her, or would even care if such a thing happened. She would be forever trapped with the man who murdered her family in cold blood. It terrified her to the point where she couldn't even talk about it without breaking down completely.
But now, she realized her greatest fear was losing Bunny, permanently. Even more so if the last time she saw him involved her screaming in his furry face about how he wasn't her father and how she didn't need him anymore. She did need him, so very much, and he was her father, so much so the only thing separating them was blood. Nobody on earth loved and cared more about her than him.
"I'm sure he knows that you didn't mean it. He knows you better than anyone, after all," Lil' Bunny said, seemingly reading her mind. "He knows you're comin' for him and that you'll go through hell and high water to bring him home."
'I pray that he does,' Alice thought to herself as she started climbing again.
When she finally reached the top, the dark-haired spirit swung one leg over the side and sat down on, straddling the wall, so she could catch her breath. Lil' Bunny climbed over her shoulder and jumped down on to the wall before turning around and looking up at her. Alice gazed down at him and smiled warmly, reaching out to poke the rabbit's pink, little nose.
"You are too good to me, even under another's influence. I don't deserve you."
"Yeah well, you ain't half bad either," Lil' Bunny replied, swatting Alice's finger away irritably.
She only smiled again before looking back down at her icy palm. The frost was now glowing brighter in the center of her palm while pulsing vines of blue crawled down her wrist with growing Winter power.
'Outside stimulation effecting the mindscape,' She mused absently to herself as she turned her hand this way and that, examining it. 'Dream incorporation. Interesting.'
It was utterly amazing sometimes, the accomplishments Frost managed to procure entirely by accident. He was either an unrecognized genius, hiding his intelligence behind the guise of a silly teen, or the luckiest fool to ever walk the planet. Alice was now convinced there was no in-between.
He still made her smile though, knowing he had no clue about the tool he was giving her.
"Alice."
Lil' Bunny's stern voice pulled her from her thoughts. She looked down at him to see that he was facing the new courtyard ahead of them.
At the very end of the new area was the entrance to the tallest tower, with the door unlocked and open as if waiting just for her, but there was also two dozen or so Nightmares standing in front of it, lined up dutifully like Knights on a chessboard. Wisps of ebony sand drifted like spilled ink through the air while amber eyes burned fiercely against the shadowed landscape, zeroing in on Alice and her furry companion. They were regarded cruelly as intruders and the Nightmares trotted restlessly in place, waiting for the signal to attack.
Alice blinked vacantly at the courtyard below as she slowly closed her hand again. Her eyes idly took in the numbers standing against her and she gave a small, unimpressed smirk. Her piercing, green irises then shifted towards the tall figure standing by the tower door with his hands behind his back and his head held high.
"You didn't think things were going to be that easy, did you?" Pitch asked with a smirk of his own, showing off his sharp, crooked teeth.
Alice let out a soft chuckle as she swung her left leg over the side of the wall before delicately crossing it over her right. "For a moment there, yes, I sort of did."
"Sorry to disappoint then." The Boogeyman gave a pout, having the nerve to blink up at her with false guilt.
Alice felt her blood boil at the sight. As far as she was concerned, everything was Pitch's fault and she wanted nothing more than to wipe that condescending look off his grey mug. She would make him pay for unleashing the Dollmaker on her friends.
"I'm not like the other guardians, Mr. Black. If you even think about harming them, or the children, I will kill you," The dark-haired spirit threatened as she pulled herself to stand on top of the wall.
"Oh, so you do consider yourself a guardian!" He let out a mocking laugh. "How cute."
Before Alice could respond, Lil' Bunny jumped up into the air and shouted. "Hey! Hey over 'ere ya bloody wombat! Don't go pickin' fights you can't win, Boogey! We'll wipe the goddamn floor with ya!"
Pitch rolled his eyes at the cursing pooka. "Oh Bunny, the whole plush toy routine was adorable the first time around, I'll admit, but it's lost its charm. I'd hate to break it to you, but you're nothing more than a pair of fluffy mittens waiting to happen."
"Come on, Darlin'! We can take these sand bags easy!" Lil' Bunny encouraged Alice as he hopped from one foot to the other determinedly, punching the air with his little fists like a champion readying himself for a big match.
Alice only shook her head as her Vorpal Blade materialized in her hand. "Stay back, Bunny."
Before the baby bunny could protest, Alice jumped into the courtyard below while slipping two exploding Easter eggs from the front of her holster, and throwing them at the first line of Nightmares. The eggs made swift impact, collapsing several Nightmares into shapeless piles of sand and shrouding the courtyard in thick clouds of colorful powder.
Alice's boots hit the ground with a dull thud that resonated off the walls around them. The Nightmares perked their ears up in attention and looked towards her before charging all at once. Alice quickly pulled out one of Bunny's boomerangs and threw it at the closest Nightmare. The angled piece of wood ripped effortlessly through its neck before hooking around and taking out the next three Nightmares running behind it. When the boomerang turned in the air and came sailing back towards Alice, she reached up to catch it, but only to be roughly blindsided by a particularly bold Nightmare. The black horse kicked her hard in the side with its powerful back legs, causing the small woman to collide painfully with the closest wall.
She coughed and gasped for breath as she held on to her aching side. The Nightmare charged her again while she laid there stunned, moving to stomp her skull against the wall, but Alice quickly rolled out of the way despite her screaming ribs and reached up to sink her flaring Vorpal blade into the Nightmare's breast. She listened to its panicked bellowing as it exploded into darkened dust. Another Nightmare tried to attack her while her back was turned, but she swiftly dodged the massive hoof aimed for her spine and landed a well-placed kick to its exposed stomach.
After that, Alice disappeared in a swarm of blue butterflies, maneuvering through and confusing the rushing Nightmares as she headed for the center of the courtyard. As she fought her way there, she sliced and hit anything that came her way while also receiving a few cuts and bruises for her efforts. The Nightmares seemed to be coming from all directions in an endless heap around her. To give herself some leverage, Alice dropped a Clockwork Bomb as she ran by a cluster of Nightmares. The hypnotic, red blinking of the rabbit's eyes drew in the mares like flies to sugar, tricking them into flocking near it before blowing up when the timer reached zero and taking four Nightmares with it.
"To your left! To your left!" She heard Lil' Bunny calling from the sidelines.
She let out a pained yell when a Nightmare stomped on her shoulders from behind and knocked her roughly to the ground.
"No, your other left, Half-pint!"
Alice let out an indignant huff at her companion's appreciated, but entirely useless, coaching as she squirmed underneath the Nightmare's crushing hooves. Using up more of her dwindling power, the dark-haired spirit once again disappeared into a cloud of butterflies as she dodged the mare's finishing attack and quickly broke away from the suffocating fray. She ran until she had enough space between her and her enemies to conjured up her next attack, intending for it to be a powerful one.
With a wisp of blue smoke, a mucky yellow box with red shapes and symbols painted on each side appeared in her hand. There was a small handle on its side, which Alice grabbed and quickly started to crank. When she wound the Jackbomb in her hand as far as it would go, she tossed the box to the ground in front of her enemies. The courtyard was then briefly filled with a circus-like melody, high-pitched and eerie in nature as the Nightmares continued to charge at Alice.
Then, upon detonation, the lid of the box sprung open and a small toy in the shape of a joker popped out. The little character gave a menacing cackle before it opened its mouth and started spitting a large stream of roaring fire at the black sand creatures around it. The Nightmares bellowed in distress as the Jackbomb's flamethrower attack showered them in bright flames, blowing away their sand bodies into oblivion while Alice slipped past them and ran towards the center of the courtyard. As she ran, she couldn't help but smirk at the chaos around her. It never ceased to amaze her, how destructive such a small box could be.
However, as helpful as the Jackbomb was with evening the odds, Alice still found herself greatly outnumbered.
She was now standing in the center of the courtyard, with Nightmares surrounding her on all sides. They converged in a wide circle around her, fidgeting in place as they waited for an opening to attack her. Alice glared defiantly at all of them before fixing her cold stare on Pitch Black, who stood at the far end of the courtyard with an unreadable look on his face.
An unspoken threat passed between the two of them as a cold bolt of pain radiated up Alice's arm, reminding her of what still laid in the palm of her hand.
Without much forethought, she bent down low to the ground and gathered up what little remained of her strength before jumping as high as she could in the air. She floated almost delicately above the heads of the Nightmares below, suspended like a lone feather in the air, as blue butterflies and snow flurries curled around her glowing form. Then, with her frosted hand held high in the air, Alice brought herself back down and slammed her palm flat against the stone ground, causing a wave of thick snow and piercing frost to shoot out all around her in a blinding display of sheer winter power.
Frost and wind coated everything around her, freezing the Nightmares into solid statues and blowing out the remaining flames from the Jackbomb. The attack spread along the entire courtyard, turning it into a frozen battleground with spiked ridges and a icy ground. The rebound of the wind made both Lil' Bunny and Pitch stumble back where they stood on opposite ends. They had to shield their eyes from the small slivers of frost that rained down on them and the blinding light that shined from where Alice released her powerful ice attack.
When the attack finally subsided, all was silent and small specks of snow started to float down from the sky above them.
Still crouched with her hand against the icy ground, Alice lifted her head and stared hard at the Boogeyman through the dark hair hanging freely in her face. Her blue dress, white apron, and striped stockings hung torn in several places, with one of her sleeves almost completely gone and a large, jagged rip up the middle of her apron. There were runs in her stockings that climbed up the length of her legs with soot and frost staining the white stripes. A long strike of ash covered her left cheek where she had rubbed dark sand from her vision during battle and there were dozens of cuts littering her exposed arms. Alice ignored all of it though, knowing her bruised and aching body wouldn't matter just as long as she got the memory she needed.
Not a word was spoken as the young spirit stood up straight again and fixed Pitch with a mean stare, just daring the Nightmare King to throw more of his minions at her. It didn't matter what stood against her, or what kind of monsters tried to stop her. Something very precious was taken from her and nothing was going to keep her from getting it back. She was a goddamn force of nature and Pitch would have to be a suicidal idiot to get in her way.
They stared each other down for several seconds as Alice stalked forward across the frozen courtyard. They battled it out with their intense glares, acidic green against pale gold, until Pitch eventually exhaled heavily through his nose and finally stepped aside, without breaking eye contact. Alice was the first to look away as she shoved past him and stepped into the tower. The door shut immediately after her, leaving Pitch behind to lurk in the confines of his own mind, either cursing at another failure, or standing stoically as she had left him, thinking over the monstrosity he had unleashed and how it'll affect the spiritual balance of the mortal world. Alice still didn't know if his lack of true effort was a sign of remorse, or something else entirely, but she didn't stop to dwell on it. Let Pitch torture himself with his demons for a change, if he actually had any.
Alice made quick work of the spiraled staircase and made it to the top of the tower with Lil' Bunny running close behind her. When she reached the room at the top of the tower, she stopped in the doorway.
Lil' Bunny came running up behind her, panting for breath. "What's the matter? Is it here?"
"Yes, it's here," She replied looking at the lone object in the center of the room.
The memory was set within the worn material of a stripped mattress, sitting atop a splintered bed post that looked like it was ready to fall apart. The memory shined from within it, making the rest of the empty room glow with a silvery hue. Alice stared into its center, memorized by the little fragments of events floating inside it. The prized fragment glowed the brightest. It called softly to her, promising the answer she needed to find her beloved Bunnymund. It was within her grasp, but still, she found herself hesitating.
"Well?" Lil' Bunny spoke up. "You didn't go through all that to just stare at it, did ya?"
"No," She said in a whisper, still unable to move forward.
"Then go on," He urged. "Find the real me and fix everythin'."
"What if it's not there?" She asked, finally letting her fears show as she looked down at him with glossy eyes. "What if he's already gone? What if our attempts to save him are worth nothing? The Dollmaker wouldn't keep Bunny alive this long, not when he knows what his death will do to me. I can't-"
"There is nothing you can't do, Alice," The pooka said vehemently, always finding a way to stand tall even in such a small form. "Nothing can stop you unless you let it. Bunny is still alive somewhere and he's waitin' for you to come get 'em. The Dollmaker is makin' the same mistake he made last time. He's underestimating you. There ain't nothing you can't do so long as you believe and imagine you can. Ya hear me?"
Alice only nodded as she brought up a hand to wipe away the few tears that ran down her soot-covered cheeks. "If you say so, Bunny."
Lil' Bunny gave her a determined smirk and nodded back, reaching his tiny arms in the air for Alice to pick him up. "Alright then. Let's do this."
Alice bent over and picked the baby bunny off the ground, cradling him in her arms as she walked over to the glowing bed. Without any hesitation, she laid down along the length of the rickety bed with Lil' Bunny resting on her stomach.
"See ya later, Kiddo," Lil' Bunny smiled down at her with warm, forest green eyes.
Alice smiled back softly before letting her body relax against the mattress. She then closed her eyes, activating the memory.
~O~
Back in Pitch's underground lair, the guardians milled aimlessly about the area, waiting for something they weren't sure was going to happen.
Naturally, the waiting was the worst part. It made them all feel restless. They weren't used to sitting on the sidelines while one of their own spearheaded into danger without them.
North paced back and forth across the chamber, tapping his fingers against the handles of his sheathed swords while mumbling under his breath in Russian. The Christmas spirit was probably feeling the most anxious of them all. He prided himself in being their leader and he hated not being able to stand by Alice's side while she battled Pitch in his mind. He was immensely protective of all his friends, but more so with Jack and Alice. They were the babies of the guardian group and he couldn't stand the thought of them getting hurt, or them getting lost in a place where he was unable to follow. The waiting had him practically scaling the walls.
Sandy was off somewhere in the shadowed distance, no doubt poking around the private quarters of his life-long enemy. He was just as worried about Alice as the rest of them, but he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to spy on Pitch and his belongings. If it had been anyone else, Sandy would've felt bad about invading their privacy, but since Pitch made a career out doing just that, the golden spirit managed to rationalize his guilt as he leafed through some dusty journals he found in Pitch's half-collapsed library.
Tooth sat atop a crumbled staircase, remaining completely still as she stared off into space with a melancholic look in her pink eyes. Next to Alice, she had to be the most affected by Bunny's abduction. She had been there to witness it alone and was unable to stop the Dollmaker from taking her best friend. There was no end to the toxic thoughts that bubbled inside her conflicted mind.
They all remained silent as they waited for Alice to wake up, unsure if the woman's trick even worked. They placed their full faith in their companion and tried to remain calm and confident while looking for ways to keep themselves occupied. Only Jack stayed right by Alice's side the entire time, dutifully watching over her like a loyal hound. He had stopped tracing frost patterns on her palm and had opted to just holding her hand tightly instead. He stared off into nothing, just like Tooth, but he fought a little harder to keep his thoughts positive. He clung to the fact that Alice was stubborn. If she set out to do something, she was going to do it. Even if the odds were against her, she would pull this off.
Jack was jostled out of his vacant trance when the slim fingers in his hand suddenly curled and tightened around his own.
"It's here," Alice said immediately when her eyes snapped open, making the surrounding spirits nearly jump out of their skin. "The door to Dollmaker's new domain is here inside Pitch's lair."
AN: Wow, I actually don't have much to say in this Author's Note. I suppose I can fill some space with thanking TheObsessor11294 for helping me out with the imagery of Pitch's Wonderland and xshattered-reflectionx for beta reading for me. They are just too good to me sometimes.
Oh, and if anybody was wondering what a "Jackbomb" was, it's a weapon Alice uses in the first Alice game. It's essentially a flamethrower-in-a-box.
If there are any mistakes in the content, let me know in a review and I'll fix them! Thanks!
~Scorpiofreak~