Painting the Roses Blue (wonderland au)

Chapter 4

Stuart's abysmal black voids of eyes slowly opened. Sun was pouring into the room from an uncovered window- a window? He wasn't in a room before, was he? Stuart squinted as the room slowly started to clear, he tried to remember what happened. Last he could recall, he was running from some horrifying noise. He hit his head and then everything went black. Stuart shut his eyes and quickly sit up, suddenly starting to worry. This was not his room in the White Castle. The room was all red, pink, and gray- the White Queen would rather vomit than enter into this room. As he sat up, a sharp pain rang throughout his head.

"Don't sit up like that. You'll hurt yourself even more, dullard." A new, foreign voice rang throughout his ears. Rather than question everything going on in his current situation, he simply whined. The voice split his head in half, making him feel a new type of pain he hadn't yet experienced.

A hand was felt pushing him back down onto the bed, setting his head gently on the pillow. "Did ya hear me? I doubt you're deaf, I've seen those pretty ears of yours before." A blush slowly spread across Stuart, the apples of his cheeks turning as rose as the flowers in the garden outside. A dark chuckle echoed to his left, the man was now sitting at Stuart's side. "Oh I know you heard that." He moved closer, gently pushing some of Stuart's hair away from his eyes.

Murdoc stared down at the blue rabbit lying in his guest bed, sighing. He couldn't treat this bunny as well as he had been. That could get out, his reputation throughout the kingdom would be ruined. He sighed, maybe one day he could trust Stuart enough to be gentle. Despite how his decision to change his demeanor, he wanted to help the bunny so he wouldn't be so scared. "My name is Murdoc Niccals, King of Hearts of the Red Kingdom, and you shall address me as such. My head soldier found you ruining my beautiful garden and brought you in. You seemed like you were in a fight, and from the White Kingdom. Makes sense that that bitch queen would drive you away." He paused to look away, stiffening and standing straight up. "You are going to work under me, this can be your room. You don't have a choice, unless you want to get beheaded. I had some servants change you into good red clothing. I find that it compliments your hair." He gestured to a bell. "This bell goes to my maid. You have access to her for a week until we find you a job in the kingdom. Any questions?"

Stuart opened his eyes fully, staring up at Murdoc. He bit his bottom lip, chewing on it until Murdoc told him to stop. He said it was a bad habit. Stu curled up. "I- I can- I can sing, your majesty," He mumbled, barely audible under his mountain of blankets and pillows.

Murdoc grinned slightly, his teeth crooked and chipped. "You'll have to prove that for yourself, bluebird. When you can walk again. You can't right now, so shut the fuck up and recover, got it?" His voice was stern and commanding, and while Stuart was nervous, he felt different than with Paula. Murdoc could hurt him, definitely, and probably behead him, but he decided right there not to care. The rabbit could only nod in response, burying himself back in the pillows. It was soft and it cancelled out a lot of noise. The king took the nod as an acceptable response, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Four days had passed since Murdoc last spoke to Stuart, when the bunny first woke up. Any other interactions had been with the same two workers, Murdoc's personal maid, and a soldier named Russel, who claimed to have found him. The two quickly learned of Stuart's personal information and backstory, and he was sure that they relayed the information right back to Murdoc. They were both very nice, but they warned Stuart of the things that Murdoc was capable of, and not to become too trusting too quickly. Luckily, or unluckily, Stuart was the most trusting creature in the world. During the time that had passed, he had started walking on his own again. Only a few steps at a time, then Russel or the maid would force him to lay back down. He, however, felt perfectly fine after taking the few steps that he could. Today, he was going to walk out of the room and on his own. He was going to show Murdoc that he could be useful in his kingdom. He wanted to please the king, as it seemed like a good alternative to a beheading. Well, that and he generally wanted to make Murdoc like him. Stuart sat up that morning, grinning. He was going to do this.

The first thing he would have to accomplish was changing into day clothes, provided to him by Murdoc. Russel said that the king picked the clothes out himself, which made Stuart feel special, even though he knew he should know better. He kicked the sheets off his lean frame, swinging his long legs over the side. He slowly put pressure on his feet and stood, his joints popping loudly as he worked his body more. Stuart stood fully up, stretching up to remove his shirt and replace it with a deep rose button up. He was given burgundy pants and shoes. The change of clothes took quite a while, but eventually he got it. He wobbled to the door, stabilizing himself with the door handle for a second. He took a deep breath and opened the door, walking into the hall and standing. The bunny grinned, panting a bit from the adrenaline. He was actually doing this! If only Murdoc could see him now, he would be proud.

Stuart leaned on the wall for support, limping a bit down the corridor, before reaching the top of the stairs. He chewed the bottom of his lip for a second before reminding himself of what Murdoc said. It was bad for his lips, they would get all dry and chapped. He didn't want that.

The stairs seemed tall, taller than any other stairs that were at the White Kingdom. Stuart shook his head quickly. "I can do this.. I can do this."

As it turned out, he couldn't do it. He toppled down the stairs with the very first step, bumping and hitting every sharp corner possible. He hit his head once more, before finally laying on the bottom floor, vision slowly going black. The last thing he remembered before blacking out once more was a greenish man rushing towards him, negative energy flowing out of Murdoc and hitting Stuart at an alarming force. However, along with the negativity, Stuart could've sworn he felt some concern coming from the king, but he didn't want to overanalyze anything more than he already had. As his eyes shut, he heard only a voice coming from Murdoc.

"Oi, rabbit, what the fuck are you doing?!"