#Thought I made riddle too short in my silly doodle and then found out I didn’t make him short enough

[honeynclove]

wittle azurid doodle

[andthoselongeyes]

Sad Alice Thing

This is a continuation to my Alfred fic. If that made you cry, buckle up, kids. Shit’s about to get WILD. The first part takes place the night before the sad alfred thing, and the second takes place the day of, a few hours later. You don’t have to read the sad alfred thing for this to make sense, but it gives more context as to why what happens happens

It was nearing midnight, and Alice couldn’t keep her eyes closed. This, as always, led to her snooping through the house. Not out of suspicion or wanting to keep a lack of privacy, no. Just out of sheer curiosity. She rarely remembered the contents she found in the morning anyway, so it rarely held any harm.

Alice looked down at her dearest White Rabbit, curled around her and softly snoozing. He was pale, and shook as though he was freezing, but his skin was hot to the touch. He had been suffering a cold for a few weeks, and she had taken it upon herself to care for him until he was back in tip top shape. As to not wake him up, Alice gently lifted his arms from her waist and put a pillow between him. She slowly, slowly stood up, making sure to not let the bed make a single creak or squeak. She didn’t want to disturb Alfred’s most peaceful sleep.

Looking for something to dig through, her eyes first landed on one of her old bags, filled to the top with different notebooks of her half written ‘Untold Stories of Wonderland’, as she deemed them. She grabbed the bag, opening the first notebook she saw. A smile spread across her lips as she flipped through the pages, all of them covered in messy, cursive writing and elaborate doodles of Wonderland. Different stories she kept just for herself, though, most commonly, she wrote of the day Alice and the White Rabbit finally found the key and shared their golden afternoon in the garden, where the rabbit finally let go of his ticking time watch for just a few hours and stood still with her. She found herself rewriting that story in any possible way she could, even now. Whether it be with more bright, vivid descriptions, or happier, more romantic dialogues shared between the two.

She spent hours reading through the old books, only to be taken out of her trance by hoarse coughing from the other side of the room. Alice was fast to get on her feet, and was at Alfred’s side within seconds. The coughing was loud, and there were even a few spots of blood.

“Hey, Alfie,” Alice whispered, pulling him close. “It’s alright, you’re okay. Tomorrow, we’re gonna get you some antibiotics, and you’ll be feeling better in a few days. I promise.” She brushed his hair out of his face, rubbing his shoulder as he hacked and coughed. It only lasted for a few minutes more, and once he had fully stopped, Alfred pressed himself into Alice’s chest, relaxing against her. They sat there in silence as her bunny tried to even out his breathing until his soft snores were heard ever so faintly. She laid him back down, tracing patterns on his arm until she was sure he wouldn’t wake back up.

It was nearing 4am, and Alice was still wide awake. She wasn’t sure what had her so antsy, but she couldn’t force herself to lay down. Alfred’s messenger bag was draped over their bedroom door, and Alice looked over at it. There wasn’t anything specific she wanted to know, or really cared about, but she was curious as to what her playful bunny carried with him on a day to day basis. She walked over, pulling it down from it’s resting place. She slowly pulled the items out one by one, noticing a little note pad, his stopwatch, and various other little trinkets. At the very bottom was a small, navy blue velvet box. She took it out of the bag carefully, her eyes going wide. She wasn’t supposed to see this, was she? That didn’t stop her from pushing the box open, only to be met with a gorgeous turquoise and silver ring. On the bottom, it was engraved with a short little love note, which was signed “Your Dearest White Rabbit” at the end. At this point, Alice could feel her heart beating out of her chest. This meant Alfred was proposing. The boy she had dreamed of for years wanted to marry her. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Alfred Hallam wanted to make her Mrs. Alice Hallam, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t absolutely thrilled at the idea.

After almost a full half hour of staring at the ring and imagining different proposal and wedding scenarios, Alice tucked the ring back into the box, putting everything back to where it was. She tried to make it look exactly how it was beforehand. She couldn’t let Alfred know she found the box. He would use his little pout and his sad eyes if she wasn’t surprised. Once the bag looked back to normal, Alice went and laid back down. She wrapped her arms around Alfred, tucking her face into his messy hair. She could hear how light his breathing was, so she made sure to keep her hold on him gentle. She would never dream of hurting her precious White Rabbit.

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It was roughly 3pm when Alice finally forced herself out of bed. She didn’t have work, so she used this as an opportunity to sleep in. Her only activity for the day was to buy Alfred a new watch as a surprise. His had broken a few days ago and she knew she could easily get one at the pawn shop nearby. Maybe she could find some new trinkets for their house while she was there too. She quickly showered and dressed herself and was ready to leave within 30 minutes.

As she walked through the town, Alice tried to stop by Alfred’s bookstore, but was surprised with a closed sign. This caused slight worry in Alice, but she brushed it off quickly. He most likely just forgot about getting lunch until now. He had a bad habit of forgetting things like food and hygiene, and she constantly found herself having to remind him, so it wasn’t a very unlikely scenario. She shrugged slightly and moved on. She would see him later anyway.

Alice soon arrived at the pawn shop, opening the door and shooting a pair of finger guns at the man running the cash register. She was only met with an eye roll as she started to walk through the store. Her first destination was a random little trinket area where she picked out a few new pins for herself and Alfred, as well as a miniature statue for their garden. Her next section of the store was the jewellery section for his watch and maybe a new pair of earrings for herself. She quickly picked out a silver watch with a simple brown band. It was perfect for her boy’s style. He was going to love it. As she was on her way to where the earrings were, something caught her eye. A beautiful turquoise ring. With a silver band.

The exact ring that was in Alfred’s bag just the night before

“No, it can’t be,” She whispered to herself. Alice shook her head, not wanting to believe it. Though, it was an undeniable fact once she examined the box a little closer. The same engraving in silver cursive was written on the inside of the box. Her hand flew to her mouth as she came to realize what this meant. Did Alfred change his mind? Did she do something wrong? Did her dearest White Rabbit not want to spend his life with her? She thought back to everytime she had annoyed him or woken him up in the middle of the night with a silly thought. What was the dealbreaker? What did she do wrong?

Alice felt tears well up in her eyes. She stared at the ring for what must’ve been about five minutes before she wiped her eyes and walked to the counter. She quickly paid for her items without a word exchanged other than the cashier telling her the total of her purchase. She hurried out of the store, sitting down on the nearest bench she could find. Her tears finally began to fall. She shouldn’t have assumed or gotten her hopes up. She shouldn’t have snooped. Then maybe this wouldn’t hurt so bad. Somehow, this felt like a rejection, but worse. Alice had him hooked at first, she must have, or he wouldn’t even have had the ring in the first place. He loved her. Loved. And she screwed it up, and she didn’t even know how. How was she supposed to fix something without knowing what it was she had to fix? Had she truly just become no more than a random girl- a random Maryanne to him? It felt like her own Mad Hatter running rampant in her head, yelling millions of different questions and riddles, but not one had an answer. Not one.

After her tears had finally stopped, Alice picked herself up and started to head home. It was almost dinner time by now, which meant Alfred should be home or almost home. Even if he maybe didn’t want to see her, she found him intoxicating. Anytime she was with him, her chest bubbled up with such love and affection for the time consumed boy. Maybe when she saw him, he would come bearing bad news, maybe he wanted to break up, but Alice tried to shake that thought from her head. Regardless, she still had to see her dearest White Rabbit. She kept her hopes high, though she knew what could be coming. She may have to say goodbye to Alfred. For good.