The Lost One in Alice's Garden
ARC 02 Clover Forest
Chapter 13 A Little Treat Before A Disaster
"Hello there, Bandersnatch~" a mirthful voice reached the ears of someone that breathing very quickly and deeply, hand gripping his chest.
White turns in every direction but can't find the source until a gust of wind hits him and almost flattens him and the garden. The mismatched eyes follow the winged knight as he slowly descends to the field with a disturbing smile.
"Good day, Bandersnatch," the knight repeats his greeting, this time in front of the lad. "My Queen sent me here to warn you about the big catastrophe that will come to your doorstep."
Kneeling on the dirt, White looks at the other with anxiety written all over his face. "You..."
A smirk plays on the knight's face; such a disturbing smile and aura are sent to the lad, making him tremble. "Three people will come here and will destroy this place." White's eyes widen. "My Queen said you must do everything, anything to protect your home. Simply put... kill them."
"Why should I do that? I... I... I don't want to kill anyone!"
"But if you don't, then they will surely, definitely destroy your place," the knight's voice is calm and collected. "You don't want that, do you?"
"First of all, why will they destroy my place? I didn't do anything to—"
"No—you did." A memory of a tiger devouring a man flashes in front of his eyes; but he didn't do it on purpose! He didn't even remember why he did that!
'No... no... no... please spare me!'
"No one will…" White snaps back into reality after hearing that menacing voice, sounds like coming from hell, poisoning his head. "... except the Queen of the Red Empire!"
"The... Red... Qu—een?"
"Yes! The Majesty has spared your life many times, remember? She even gave you this land so you could live in peace! And that very same Queen is ord—warning you about the catastrophe!"
"The Red... Queen..."
"It's alright! You will be fine; after all, you are a... man-eating tiger."
Inside White's cabin, which is too cute for comfort, the nameless girl, Hatter, Cheshire, and the owner of the place were sitting on the stools that circled around a small round table, each with a cup of hot tea and various delicious-looking cookies.
'The tea's delicious and smells so good...' Cheshire praises quietly, mesmerized the aroma.
'Where did these cookies come from?' She wonders, glaring at the cookie in her hand curiously.
'Fuck! Why is everything here so darn cute?!'
'So unfit for a man-eating tiger…' they all trance.
The Alice inhales first before turning to White. They have just finished listening to White's story about the warning he received from someone known as the winged knight.
"When did that happen? When did you meet that winged knight?"
"Just right after I left you."
"Why did you believe him that easily?"
"Who wouldn't?" White murmured. She sighed.
"The Alice is known as the destroyer of the world. She's a bad omen. You are a bad omen," Cheshire informs the girl.
"You don't have to emphasize that."
"But according to White, that knight never mentioned who will come; he never said that it is an Alice. Meaning—" The trio stares at White. "He—White assumes on your own, that the catastrophe is me," she said, sighing disappointedly. "We have been together all the way back at the borders of Black Country; we even met Elise together..." Another sigh escapes her lips as she finds herself unable to continue whatever she wants to say. Besides, no matter what comes out of her mouth, it will just sound like gaslighting him.
"I—I CAN'T HELP IT!"
"Yeah, yeah, you can't help it..." Hatter boredly drops the protest.
"There's a reason why I think Bandersnatch, or at least every single person in this world, will believe the knight's words." The nameless person entitled as the Alice looks at the cat man. "Everyone believes that the knight will never lie."
The Alice narrows her eyes. "How can you be certain?"
"The knight always carries the Red Queen's words; he won't lie about it."
"Then it is the Queen that would lie?"
They all went quiet, pondering the possibility that the Queen would be lying; but unlike the natives of this world, the Alice's thoughts are entirely different.
She's questioning the sudden odd feeling rising inside her chest after she deduces about the Red Queen. Such an odd feeling that it feels like something is wrong, like they are thinking things wrong, but what?
"By the way..." The Alice takes their attention after moments of silence, "if an Alice is known as a bad omen, then why the fuck did you guys join me?"
"Sounds interesting!" Hatter responds after some blinking.
"I wanna see what this destroyer is capable of. I want to witness how Alice could destroy the world," Cheshire admits.
These claims build internal panic in White, which can be seen on his face.
"You won't stop the Alice?" she curiously questions.
"Why should I? I simply wanna see the wonders surrounding Alice."
'These guys are twisted to the core!' White is so scared, literally scared.
"You really have loose screws."
"Don't wanna hear it from you, Shortie~"
"This is your world, you know." The Alice tries to drill the fact into Cheshire, but...
"Who cares!" It's useless, ineffective.
'I CARE!' White has the urge to shout.
"I can't help myself for desiring to see it!" Cheshire continues, hugging himself, grinning from ear to ear, enthusiam.
She breathes deeply and sighs silently, then nodded, "You really do have loose screws."
"I am." Cheshire looks delighted, in a second Cheshire went back to normal. "But anyway, so far there's no Alice who has succeeded in destroying even the smallest part of the world."
"It must be because the Queen and her messenger are able to prevent them," Hatter guesses after munching a cookie.
Eyebrow cocks in question, "By ordering a normal citizen to do the job?"
"She considers you normal," Hatter smirks at White, who blushes.
"Maybe~" Cheshire chimes.
Once again she goes silent as several questions arise inside her mind, like...
Why does the Red Queen order the killing of the Alice? As far as she could tell, the Alices were all kept alive and had been living in this world as different people. If the Red Queen believes that Alices are bad omens, then why is she the only one that must be killed?
Moreover, where did the ill rumor come from? Did the Red Queen start it, or is it someone else? She blinks, "Is there a possibility that the Red Queen is actually an Alice?"
"Hey, Bandersnatch—" Cheshire calls.
"Yes...?"
"Is that your first time receiving an order from the Red Queen?"
White nodded timidly.
"Ooh~ you have some guts!"
"He won't fight you anymore, Hatter," the Alice reminds him, trying to stop him from whatever he was thinking.
"I'm painfully aware of that."
"So..." White hesitantly and timidly gets their attention. "What is it that you wanted to talk with me?"
"Ah, right... I'll be straight to the point: do you, by any chance, remember how you became Bandersnatch?"
"Eh...? What do you mean? I've always been Bandersnatch."
"Did you grew up here?"
"I'm used to live in Gold Kingdom, but after an incident... I moved here."
"I mean, in this world."
"Of course!"
"Do you remember your parents?"
"Parents? There's no such thing."
"But you do know its meaning?"
"Just what kind of question are those?"
"Please answer me first."
"But you're asking weird things!"
"Well, sorry about that, but I really need an answer from those."
Silence fell upon them until...
"...I--I don't have memories of my parents, and I've been living in this world for as long as I can remember." White frowned as he answered this strange question.
'Of course, that would be his answer. Even if he is an Alice, if he doesn't have any memories of his past, then it's actually useless and a waste of time to ask these questions. Also, if he really does remember, I doubt that he'll tell me that vital information willingly... but I don't have any way to know except to ask these uncomfortable questions. Hmm?' She suddenly remembers their encounter with the Caterpillar. 'This is... the Caterpillar's method that he used on us...' she realized.
Cheshire leans in, pulling her back into reality by whispering a question in her ear, "Are you suspecting him of being an Alice?"
The Alice only gives him a look before continuing her silence for a moment.
'The Alices must have a reason for staying here. One of them may be that they are people who are escaping reality...'
Static noises slightly hurt her ears, and flashes of images came into her head: camera flashes, reporters interviewing a child, applause from the masses, various smiles of people, and trophies displayed on shelves.
The Alice cocks an eyebrow at those images. 'What the fuck are those?' and how did she come up with such an idea? People escaping reality...?
She sighs. "By the way, why are you living in this secluded place?" The Alice realizes, as soon as those words leave her mouth, that the answer is practically obvious. He frowns, unamused, and it's understandable. "I was just wondering; you seem like a nice person."
"How can you say that, after I almost killed you?"
"He's right; calling a ferocious tiger that almost ate you a nice person doesn't sound right," Cheshire reminds her.
"You think so? But from what I see in this place, it is clear what kind of person he really is."
"Ahh~ you meant those well-bloomed flowers?"
She nodded, "Shall we start comparing this land to where we reunited?"
"No, thank you!"
White watches this exchange in silence, his eyelashes lowered, hand gripping his pants under the table. He knew. He knew that this nameless maiden wasn't a bad person; after all, she brought him with her despite the danger lurking around him. Even though that kindness wasn't exactly for him, he knew deep down that she's not like what that winged knight is making out of her. She's no monster; in truth, he is more of a monster.
The dual coloured eyes landed on his shortest visitor, remembering what she said about him being nice and normal, which made him blush. That's the first time someone described him like that.
"So? Why did you ask him why he is living here?" Cheshire brought back their topic that was interrupted because of them.
"With the way you think?"
"You bastard! You are the most monstrous of all!"
"I hate hearing from you, Little Fairy!"
"Every single one of them!" The three visitors fall silent as the lad continues, unbothered by their usual antics. "Every TIME! They're thinking highly of themselves and making those weak suffer in their hands!" Hatter frowns, cursing under his breath. Cheshire purses his lips, while the maiden stares at the lad in confusion. "They don't care who they hurt as long as they prove themselves--"
"Wow~ that's some hate!" the trio remarks as White continues his hate rant.
They can clearly see the hatred that the lad bears for those he refers to as 'Everyone.' His eyes are clouded with rage, his face darkened with boiling blood, and his hands are itching to claw at anything close by.
The Alice and Cheshire were kind of thankful that he could control himself so they didn't have to worry about getting hurt. On the other hand, Hatter was waiting for the opposite, clearly looking forward to meeting the lad's beast form again.
"Hey..." The Alice calls White back to them, "Where is your hatred coming from?" White stops and goes quiet, staring blankly at the girl. He looks like someone who woke up after getting splashed with cold water. "Did someone mistreat you?"
"Yes..." He answers nonchalantly.
"Who?"
"The Headmaster..." he responds, almost quietly, making the Alice's eyes focus on him even more.
"Headmaster of what?"
"The Headmaster is the Headmaster—" White suddenly got confused about what he was talking about that he questioned it back to them. "Who is the Headmaster?"
"We're the ones who do the questioning here," Cheshire points out, puzzled by the sudden change.
"Why are you asking us?" Hatter wanted to curse the lad for trying to change the topic. "You're the one who said it!"
"Me? But I don't know about that—"
"Then I'll ask you again," the Alice, with all seriousness, interrupted him. "Where is your rage coming from? Did you experience it? Is that why you're living in this remote place?"
"That's—"
"If so, who is it that caused you so much pain?"
"I— " they waited. He totally stopped and stared into space; his world started to deteriorate.
The Alice narrowed her eyes. Somehow, she had a feeling that White would break at any moment if she pushed those questions further. However, if she didn't and just stopped here, then she wouldn't be able to confirm her theory about him. Yet, is she the kind of person who is willing to sacrifice another's mentality?
Now her conscience is at play.
'Wow~ now of all times.' The Alice finds herself sighing displeasingly. "...weak..." she murmured almost inhearable. Seeing how weak White's mind is and how weak she is with this kind of thing, she stands up gaining their attention. "I'm finished here." she gave up, "I'll leave now."
"Ehhh? We won't stay for the night?"
"He's uncomfortable with us, you think you can stay with someone whose hate your presence? Ah—" an intrusive realisation clicks on her, "Right, you don't care at all."
Cheshire definitely don't care, just consider her relationship with Hatter.
It's actually a miracle that they travelling together right now.