Painting the Roses Blue (wonderland au)

Chapter 1

CHOP!

 The sound of a sword slicing through the thin neck of a criminal echoed throughout the courtyard. The citizens, few there were, cheered upon seeing the dismembered head fall into the basket. The recently executed man had no family, no family that would support him after his crimes. Multiple charges of murder and rape were hanging over this unnamed man's head, far more than what is needed for execution. In this kingdom, even the slightest mention of a revolution could remove one's head- those executions had far fewer people than this one's. Today's turnout was tens of the townsfolk, all gathered to watch the death of said lawbreaker. His death was truly a work of art, especially so to the families of all those he hurt.

The beloved King of Hearts, cruel as ever, reached into the basket, lifting the head with a gloved hand to present to his crowd. His long tongue hung out of his wide grin, moving the head all directions to show the innards of the neck, contents all spilling out onto his shoes. It disgusted some of the citizens, but the majority were used to the sadistic nature of their king, and welcomed his sadism with open arms. While he was cruel, he wanted the best for his kingdom, he wanted to make sure his kingdom was the best in all of Wonderland. Better than that blasted White Queen, that bitch. She always tried to one-up him, and the King's competitive nature often got the best of him. It wasn't like he had any advisors to disagree with him, as the slightest possibility of a mutiny sent anyone's head flying. His only possible voice of reason was the head of his army, Russel, the man he considered to be his best friend, despite how rude the King was as a person.

His majesty was known as Murdoc Niccals to only his closest- if he had any closest to call his own. He loved to drink and live the royal life, having tens of servants at his beck and call. Any of those to disobey or argue were immediately sent to the executioner, anyone except Russel. Initially, Russel was set to be executed for speaking back to Murdoc, but after a brief lapse in judgement- not relating to the impact of any alcoholic beverage- he had decided to allow Russel to be his voice of reason.

Russel was the closest thing the King had to a friend, and even then they didn't hang out as friends. They only did hang out late at night, behind closed palace doors, when no one else was around and Murdoc could finally let his guard down. He didn't need to be cruel and sadistic to the one man who held his trust and respect. Only then, in the securest of locations, he divulged to his friend things he wouldn't say to anyone else- but even then he didn't show Russel his true feelings. He insisted on covering them up any chance he got, especially vulnerable emotions like sadness or remorse. Despite the King trying to cover up his true feelings, Russel could see right through him. He knew the King felt more than just pride and anger, he didn't want to press the issue and accidentally get his head chopped off.

Due to his friendship and trust with Murdoc, he was one of the only people allowed unaccompanied off the grounds of the kingdom and to near the forests. He often frequented a specific nearby forest, leaving at least twice a week to take care of a little child he found wandering aimlessly. She called herself Noodle, roughly nine years of age, and he had emotionally adopted her since their meeting. He hadn't yet introduced her to the hustle and bustle of the red kingdom, fearing that it would be way too overwhelming for the little girl. Russel had instead decided to slowly start to introduce a few people at a time to the little girl, yet he hadn't found anyone suitable yet to meet his adoptive daughter.

Somewhere Else...

Fluffy blue ears perked up as the loud sound of footsteps slowly approached closer and closer, the owner of the ears opening his eyes as soon as the sound became close enough to become potentially dangerous. His big black eyes scanned the area quickly before landing on the figure in front of him. The blue bunny, known to many as Stuart, sat up quickly in his makeshift-flower bed and stared up at the queen. The White Queen, loved by many in her kingdom, narrowed her eyes and stared down the rabbit.

"Any good explanation as to why you're killing my perfect flowers?" Her voice was sweet, but laced with a dark venom that could pierce his skin and kill him provided he said the wrong thing. He wasn't the brightest rabbit, but knew when to shut his mouth in her presence, quickly nodding his head.

"Well- Well if- if you could see- I- uh, well, I was- I was sleeping, in these flowers. They- They're very soft, my Queen!" He tried to smile up at her, a gap where a tooth was, signifying his true clumsiness. He lost his tooth while knocking his face into a brick wall while running from some guards he managed to piss off. Here in the White Kingdom, he managed to piss everyone off.

The Queen grunted in response, knocking him back onto the flowerbed with her staff. Her brown eyes narrowed. "If you think I'll let you off the hook for that then you have another thing coming, rodent!"

Her name was Paula, and she was beloved by all the citizens of her kingdom. She appeared as fair and caring to all of the townspeople, however to her staff she was nothing more than a whiny toddler with the power to murder every single one of them. It was hard serving under her, but nearly none of the servants could afford to leave. Stuart was one of them. He worked under her as a personal singer, coming out only during parties among nobles to be shown off to neighboring kingdoms- except, of course, the Red Kingdom. The White Queen and Red King had been disagreeing for decades, a feud initiated generations ago, however the mannerisms of the rulers only fueled the fire to the neighboring conflict.

If Stuart could leave, he would. He was scared to venture further outside of the castle itself, due to how he could easily get lost and not found. Despite being a rabbit, he strongly doubted he would be able to survive more than twenty hours all by himself in the forest, and he didn't know what would happen if he were to run into someone from the Red Kingdom. He watched the Queen storm off, sighing and curling in on himself to fall back asleep.