Painting the Roses Blue (wonderland au)

Chapter 6

Russel had already requested this night off. He requested every Friday night off, and his request was always approved. That was the best perk of being friends with Murdoc, he could just leave the kingdom on a whim, little to no questions asked. He was quite proud of the trust that they built, especially in such a short amount of time. A few months ago, Russel was horrified of Murdoc and the possibility of beheading. However, now, he couldn't fear Murdoc if he tried. He saw right through the satanist. Murdoc put up a scary front, that was for sure, but he was lonely. He needed companionship more than anything, but before Russel, he pushed away everyone. Even with Russel's friendship, he pushed away a bunch of other people, staff and citizens. Yet, over the past few days, when Stuart just showed up, the King's demeanor had changed. It was somewhat refreshing, this change of pace. Murdoc was a harsh ruler, but he was fair, and all the staff in the kingdom respected him, even when he snapped at them. They weren't scared of him as they were Paula.

Over the past five days, Murdoc had been seen smiling three times, which is more than he had smiled in the past two weeks. All of these times had been viewed by Russel, while he assumed that Murdoc thought he was alone. Or, well, alone with Stuart. He had been beside Stuart as many times a day possible, when he took breaks from sitting in his throne room, listening to the pleas of the townspeople. Conveniently, Stuart had been asleep for all the times Murdoc watched him. Murdoc always made sure that Russel had checked in before to make sure the bunny was asleep. He still didn't want to be too trusting to Stuart, he had only just met the kid, but he couldn't help it. Stuart was cute, and his blue hair and ears, they complimented the red hues of his kingdom beautifully, he couldn't ever believe that white bitch would try to keep this man all to herself. Paula was so selfish, Murdoc felt it right to disclose to everyone in his kingdom how truly awful she was. Most anyone living in the red kingdom would fight for the dethroning of Paula, however, it hadn't yet come to a war. They hoped it won't come to that.

Murdoc was currently in his room, where Stuart was residing once more. The King had decided to stay in the guest room that Stuart had once slept in. He was completely fine with it, the sheets were slightly worse quality, but they smelled like butterscotch and flowers, which he figured was Stuart. He didn't mind that combination, it was homey.

Russel quickly poked his head into the room, knocking on the door three times. He made sure that no one else was in the room before speaking. "Hey Muds, I'm going out tonight. I'll be back tomorrow morning." He already knew it was okay with Murdoc, but he liked telling him specifics. It comforted him, and he felt that it comforted Murdoc as well.

Murdoc looked up at the soldier, nodding. "Alright." He paused, glancing back down at Stuart before staring at Russel. "Where do you go every week?"

Russel bit his lip and sighed. He knew the question was coming eventually, but he didn't yet formulate a response. It was a solid few minutes before he spoke once again. "I'll tell you soon. I promise."

The King frowned, looking for any hints of betrayal in his friend's face. When he couldn't find any signs of mutiny, he gritted his teeth. "Okay. You better tell me soon. And come back before this thing wakes up." He smiled a little bit and went back to frowning, petting Stuart's hair softly. Russel took that as a hint to leave, closing the door and quickly leaving the castle. He previously bribed the nightguard to let him leave through the garden, so he took his time, strolling through the garden before making it to the gate. He left the garden, trusting that the guard would lock the gate back up. After finally leaving the grounds of the Red Kingdom, Russel picked up his pace, taking the nonexistent path he had made in his mind to the place he knew of so well.

Ace stared at the two girls. He was told that no one inhabited the forest except for woodland animals and a strange cat. It was fairly plausible that these two could just be wondering the forest in the middle of the day, but how did they drag a table and tea set out into the middle of the woods? Their clothing didn't even match any of the surrounding kingdoms. The youngest girl was wearing some baggy pants and a long pink shirt. Her hair covered her eyes, but he could still make out two dark brown eyes on her face. The older was more presentable, holding a teacup. She was sipping from it, although he couldn't tell what was in there, or how she got it. She wore a button up and skirt, while both girls didn't have shoes. She stopped her sipping and set the cup down, glaring at the man.

"Excuse me, I asked if you were lost?" She moved closer to the younger.

Ace opened his mouth. "I- thought that no one lived here." His usual energetic demeanor was replaced by confusion. The girls laughed and jumped off the table, walking around him. The eldest spoke once more.

"We live here! Or, I do. This little girl is moving soon, but I don't blame her. We were trying to put together a tea party, but we haven't quite yet found the right people." She stuck her hand out for him to shake, before pulling her hand away. "You can call me March Hare, and this right here is Noodle!" She patted the girl's head, stopping and sitting back on the table. "You look like you could use a fun time, yeah?"

The man coughed, staring at the woman. "Excuse me?" He blinked at her. "Miss March Hare, I don't think-"

"Oh, you prude! I'm just kidding! I wanted to see your reaction! You're fun to mess with. All those people from the White Kingdom are." He raised his brows. "In fact, we messed with this little guy a few days ago. It was night, and he was freaking out. Now that I think about it, I feel kinda bad." She pouted before shrugging. "Oh well! Hey, you wanna come to our tea party? We still need a host, I even have a hat!" March Hare reached under the table and pulled out a big top hat, showing it off. "What d'ya say, mister?"

He looked down at the hat. "Well, my name's Ace an- wait- you saw Stuart?"

She tilted her head. "Well, he was blue and really nervous. We were just trying to ask him to join our party. He was screaming and running like we were gonna kill him!" She picked the cup back up. "Whatever. Anyways, Ace, would you like to join our tea party?"

Ace sighed. There was that one phrase. What was it? If you can't beat them, join them? Fuck it, he figured, why should he have a stick up his ass? He was just freed from the White Kingdom, he should be living his life! So why the fuck not? Ace slowly grinned, taking the hat and putting it on. "Why not? I'm not going anywhere." Noodle clapped quickly, sitting at the table. March Hare grabbed his arm, making him sit beside her.

"You can call me March if you want. I know March Hare is a mouthful." She smiled nicely at him, before pouring out a dark brown liquid from a pot into everyone's cups, humming happily. She was so glad that Ace agreed to have a party with them, no one ever had done that. March looked at Ace, noticing him stare at his teacup. "Relax, it's just some black tea." He relaxed and quickly knocked back the tea, his body desperately needed rehydration from running so fast away from the kingdom.

They all talked for hours, well, March Hare and Ace spoke, Noodle didn't say anything. March explained that she only spoke with one man, but it was easy to understand what the girl meant to say without actually speaking. It wasn't too hard, actually, she utilized body language the majority of the time, and when Ace didn't know what she wanted, March Hare translated what she wanted. The day sped by as they all conversed, laughing and feeling merry as the sun went down.

As the day turned to night, March Hare grabbed Ace by the arm and pulled him behind a tree. Before he had time to question exactly what was happening, she slapped a hand over his mouth. Whispering quickly, she explained. "Noodle's father comes every week to be with her, he's from the red kingdom. He's going to take her there soon, permanently." She put her hand down, holding the hat to Ace's head. She didn't want him to leave just yet.

Russel walked down to the girl, having brought a bag full of food and clothes, and a toy for her. Noodle ran up to him, hugging Russel tightly. He grinned and hugged back tightly, setting the bag down on the table, as he began his night with his daughter.