Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a lovely evening in Wonderland. All around the little town the stores were closing for the night along with the Wonderland book shop where co-owners Alice and Belle were at the moment. As the dynamic duo started closing up, suddenly they noticed that someone needed to reorganize the murder mystery section of the shop. Luckily, Alice graciously volunteered to do so letting Belle go home for the night.
“Now are you sure you want to do this, Alice?” Belle asked. “Those are an awful lot of books!”

“Don’t worry, Belle!” Alice conformed. “You know I’m fast when it comes to organizing books! It’ll only be a stack stack here and a shelf shelf there along with a couple of tra la las!”

“Well,” Belle said thoughtfully “If you think you can handle it.”
Soon Belle got out the ring of keys from her white apron’s pocket that connected to the register, alarm and the door then threw it to Alice before leaving out the door.

“Make sure to lock up when you’re done.” Belle said.
“I will!” Alice confirmed.

Belle soon left out the door and into the streets where she was met by lights of the street lanterns that began to lit her way back to her castle.

Meanwhile, Alice climbed the tall step ladder began to stack the books onto the bookshelf and placed them back into their rightful places. As she stacked, she began to whistle a little tune to help the work go faster. After all, it’s fun to whistle while you worked. She kept at her pace for quite a while until the bell at the front door began to jingle.
Alice soon stopped at what she was doing and stood still.
“Who could be here at this hour?” She wondered. Suddenly, an annoying but accurate assumption came into mind.

“Reginald!”She said frustrated.

Reginald has often came to the book shop during the day to talk to her and annoy her to go out with him or at least take a walk with him. Yet, he never dared to come in at night.

Alice soon got down off the step ladder and began to go to the front desk in frustration.

“Oh I’m going to give that hatter a piece of my mind!” She huffed to herself.

Yet, when she got there she was not met by the jolly big hatted buck tooth weirdo, but instead she was met with a odd looking tall, strong figure.
He looked part man and part beagle which was nothing strange in Wonderland since all animals talked. Yet he wore a Ruby red sweater, army green cap, black pants along with shoes, and he even had a black mask over his eyes. He then began to approach her
And as Alice stood frozen in place, it wasn’t until he pulled the lead gun and loaded it in his hands that she saw the burlap sack in his other hand.

“Freeze!” He commanded causing Alice to put her hands in the air. “This is a stick up! Get all the money from the cash register and no one gets hurt!”

Alice was shocked! She could not move nor could she breath at the moment. She had never face such a frightening situation before.

“Didn’t you hear me, toots!?” The Beagle man said in anger. “I said get moving!” Then he shot a bullet into one of the shelves. Causing one of the books to be torn a sunder and Alice to scream in fright.

At that moment Alice began to move to the cash register still holding her hands up. Though she tried to think of every way to escape the horrible man, however, she knew escaping would mean risking her own life and maybe even far worse. With no choice and a shaky palm, she opened the register with the key that Belle gave her.
“Hurry it up!” He shouted in anger.
“I’m hurrying!Im hurrying!” Alice said flustered. As trued to unlock the register suddenly a gun shot went off, causing Alice to scream once more.
“I said hurry it up you lazy sack!”the robber said
Until it finally opened.
The savage soon was behind Alice as he looked inside the register.

“Now, put all the money in here, sweet cheeks!” The brute demanded putting the gun to her head and threw the burlap sack onto the counter.

Alice ,still shaky, did as she was told and put it all in the dirty sack. Once she was done, the crook snatched it out of her hand and tied the bag up.

“Now,” he said “turn around, sit down, close your eyes, put your hands over your ears and start counting to 200!”

Still shaking Alice did as she was told.
As she started to count, the criminal tipped over a display of books and yelled to Alice “Louder, toots!” Causing Alice to scream out the numbers and cry at the same time until finally he left out the door.

Later that same evening, a familiar man in the same large goofy green hat, orange overcoat,green pants and green shoes came walking down the street after locking up his hat shop. He was twirling the key ring on his gloved finger until the whole thing flew to his left side causing the Hatter to bend over and pick it up. Little did he know a strange shady character would be running his way.

As he bent down and got the keys, suddenly a large figure tripped over his back and fell next to him.

“Oh dear!” Reginald exclaimed as he picked up the gentleman.”Are you alright, sir?”

“Get back, you clown!” The man said as he pushed Reginald away. He soon grabbed his hat, burlap bag and mask then ran off into the night.

“Huh?” The Hatter thought “How peculiar?”
Without any further thought, Reginald once again went back to walking his merry way.

Then he saw in the distance the oh so lovely book shop sign and noticed that the lights were still on.

“Huh, now that’s really peculiar?” He once again thought. He then looked at his watch to see that it was now 8:00 P.M.

“How curious?” He said to himself. “The book shop should have been closed by now?”
Reginald soon walked down the long curved street until he had reached his destination.
There he looked through the window and saw that the place was in a disastrous state yet, neither Belle nor his cricket was anywhere in sight.

He then quickly opened the door and began to investigate the room. What he saw next was even worse then what was through the window. Apparently, someone torn down the book displays, shot through at least two books and bookshelves, and even broke a vase in the process.

Then he heard a faint sound coming behind the register and there he found his cricket curled up in her knees, eyes closed, hands over her ears and crying while counting to almost 200.

He leans down to her level and gets closer.
“Cricket?” He says concerned but as he puts a hand on her back suddenly she screams and starts to push Reginald away hard.
Reginald then grabbed a hold of her arms and said repeatedly “Alice Alice Alice! It’s me! It’s me!”

Alice soon opened her eyes and saw that it truly was Reginald only instead of one of his goofy looks that he had on his face, he had a look of scared and concern for her.

“Alice,” he said “what happened?!”

Without any further hesitation, Alice explained but then started to become erratic in her speech as she started to once again cry in fear.

“Alice, Alice slow down!” He says concerned. Suddenly, without a warning Alice flings to him and holds him in her arms.

“Oh Reginald!” She says in between tears “I was so frightened and and I didn’t know what to do and and..” Once again she begins to sob erratically.

Then Reginald holds her close in his arms and cradles her in them. All the while comforting her by rocking her, holding her and whispering to her “It’s going to be ok,Alice! I’m here!”

They were in this position for about another hour or so until finally Alice was calm enough to stand on her own two feet and for Reginald could be free to phone the police to come to the books shop. Yet, even while doing so, he kept a watch of Alice as she sat in a nearby chair holding herself and staring at the floor.

“And please hurry as soon as possible!” He said before finally hanging up the phone. He then went over to Alice and placed his jacket over her shoulders. She soon looks up with tears still dwelling in her eyes and hugs Reginald once more.

The End.

Chapter Text

When robbery meets insanity part two

It had been 3 weeks since the robbery at the bookshop. The police had finally captured the robber after arresting every beagle boy in the area , which luckily there were only four known beagles. Still they captured all four of them and placed them in a jail cell. Now, all they needed to do was have the victim identify the suspect and bring them to justice! Yet, with no signs of Alice, they were afraid if she did not come identify the robber soon, they may have to release all four of beagles and never get the answers they needed. Yet, they weren’t the only ones worried about Alice.

Since, “the incident” Reginald, Ears, and everyone else had not seen high or low of Alice in those three weeks. They didn’t see her in the bookshop, the March hare’s place for tea, or even at the market place. They all were baffled by where she could be. Though Reginald wanted to give Alice space from the trauma she went through, yet, he over everyone else worried the most about her.

“A leave of what now?” Reginald questioned to Belle who was busy stacking books behind the counter.

“A leave of absence!” She explained “It’s when someone needs to leave from work for either family matters, health matters or in this case, trauma they may have endured.”

“Well.. will she be ok?” Ears asked in sincerity.

“Well a leave of absence is only for a month so, Alice has at least another week to come back to work but, to be honest the way she looks right now, I think it would be best that she might be on sabbatical.”

“Sabbatical??!!!!” Reginald exclaimed.

“Yes, Mr. Theophilus the third, it’s when..” Belle tried to explain.

“I know what that is! I mean I’ve had plenty of Sabbatical days! I’m mad after all! But, I know my cricket, and she does not need this! She needs to be with her friends to help her!!!”

“Reginald calm yourself!” Ears said pulling Reginald’s orange tail coat.

Reginald sighed and rubbed his eyes then sat down in a chair near him. There he took of his overly sized green forest hat.

“I’m sorry, Belle!” He said calmingly.” It’s just, I’m worried about her and I’ve tried to contact her but, she won’t answer my calls, letters or even open the door. I’m worried she left for good and went back to England.”

Belle and Ears looked at Reginald for a moment. To their amazement, they saw how sincere he was and how much he seems to really want to know where Alice is. Ears looked at Belle and nodded his head in confirmation. Belle then went over to him ,patted his back, and knelt to the ground to his level. There she saw tears rolling down his cheeks each one slowly falling to the wooden floor as he wept.

“Reginald, I...” Belle started to say when suddenly, a couple of policemen came through the door.

“May I help you, sirs?” Belle asked as she stood up to greet him.

“Is this the employment of Miss Alice Liddell?” He asked.

“Yes, but, I’m afraid she isn’t here.” Belle explained. “She took a leave of absence.”

“Well..” the other policeman said “that is a pity. Well if you can give her this message then that would be lovely!”

“Yes of course! Let me just get a pad and paper!” Belles says. Soon she searches through the draws of her desk until she finally finds a pen and paper for the message.

“Tell Miss Liddell that we apprehended the suspect along with their immediate family of criminals!”

“Why that’s wonderful!” Ears exclaims and looks to Reginald “Alice will be so pleased about this Reggie!”

“But..” the policeman said

“But?” Reginald asks.

“But, we still need her to come down to the station to identify the robber so we may charge the right fellow and charge the other ones with the other charges as well.”

“Are you kidding me!” Reginald exclaimed. “Can’t you coppers just do your jobs and book them!”
“Reg, you’re being rude!” Ears scolded.
“I don’t care! Hasn’t Alice already been through enough! And how these clowns want her to face her attacker!”

“Sir, we know it’s a delicate situation but, we plan to protect her at all costs!”

“Really? Well, that’s reassuring since it took you this long to capture the fiend!” Reg said sarcastically. “ I mean while a poor woman has been traumatized you COPS have been stuffing your faces with donuts all day!!”

“Sir, if you don’t refrain yourself, I will arrest you on the spot immensely for harassing an officer!” The cop stated.

“REGINALD THATS ENOUGH!” Ears yells and Reginald then closes his mouth but still looking at the cops in an angry expression.

“I’m sorry about my associate here,gentlemen!” Ears explained gently “You see he hasn’t had his morning tea! So he isn’t his usual self today!”

Before Reginald knew it, Ears was dragging him to back of the book shop saying all the way,

“REGINALD, do us all a favor and go to back, drink some bloody tea and get your crap together! Get it all together old man! Put it in a bag,carry it to the crap store, I don’t care! Just get it together!”

Reginald then went into the back and Ears closed the door with a sigh of relief.

“Again gentlemen, I’m sorry about him. He worries a lot about..”

“That’s ok!” One of the officers said “It’s good for a husband to be concerned about his wife!”

Ears blushes at the comment “Oh no they aren’t married.”

“Oh well, then.” The officer responded “ I guess it’s good that a boyfriend can be concerned for his girlfriend then?”

“Not dating.” Ears explained.

“Then what are they?”

“Frankly,” Ears said as he thought “I don’t rightly know?”

“Well, still we understand his concern but do keep him under control, please.”

“Thank you officers, it won’t happen again.”

“Now we have to go but,again if you two see Miss Liddell anywhere, let us know so she can identify the purp!” The other officer said.

“We will, sir!” Belle said.

The two officers soon left out the door and Ears quickly hopped to the back to scold Reginald like the little toddler that he is. He soon sees Reginald at the table with a cup of tea in hand,hanging his head low with his hat off no less.

“Ears of your going to scold me,” he says “do so, because I don’t care at this point!”

Suddenly, Ears saw the most shocking thing in his life happen that he had never seen before. It was outlandish, unrealistic, the most insane thing Reginald had ever done. For the first time, he saw Reginald actually cry for a girl!

Now, Ears has seen his friend cry over spilt tea or even over a sad puppy commercial but, this was a new level especially for Reg.

Ears took a deep breath and went over to him as he cried then placed his paw on the back of his friends shoulder.

“Ears,” he asks while he sobs “why am I crying? I don’t understand? I...I feel so broken and so...so worried that I can’t think straight! I’m worried about Alice all the time! I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t even make hats! What is wrong with me?! Have I lost my mind?”

“Reg,” Ears says gently “you already are insane so it’s not that. Secondly, what your feeling is normal! You worry about Alice cause you feel her pain and you feel her troubles on you! My word she really has changed you for the better!”
Ears then hands him a hanky to which Reginald uses to blow his nose and dry his tears.

“I just want to know if she’s ok Ears, but, who knows what has happened to her?!” Reginald explains “I mean she could be in England by now and may never comeback or wherever else in world.”

As they talked suddenly, a slight cough came in the room from none other than Belle herself.

“Um..” she says rubbing her arm up and down “I actually may know where Alice is.”

The two friends looked at each other then at Belle in shock and soon would find out where Alice was and why she hasn’t been seen.

The End

Chapter Text

When Robbery Meets insanity Chapter 3
Darkness fell upon the castle and so did the rain. The thunder clashed and roared throughout the land around. In one room, Alice slept and dreamt of the horrible events that lead her to sleeping at the castle.

Alice tossed and turned hearing the harsh voice of her assalent ringing in her mind as the memory played over and over again.

“Put the money in here, sweet cheeks!”

“Hurry it up, you lazy sack!!”

Gun shots could he heard over and over again through out her mind. Even visions of the man smiling viciously kept coming back inside her as he shot the gun.

Alice awoke in a cold sweat and shaky breath. Then she heard a gentle knock at the door.

“Umm come..come in,” she said nervously.

“Hello, dear!” a gentle voice said. In came a kindly old woman with a tray that had a teapot and cup to match it.

“Hello, Mrs. Pots!” she greeted.

“I thought you could use a nice spot of tea after your nap, dear!”

“Oh! Thank you!”

Alice then took the cup and sipped it a little.

“Did you have a pleasant nap, deary?” Mrs. Pots asked.

“Um..not quite,” Alice says.

“The nightmares again, miss?!”

Alice nods as she holds herself together.

“There there dear,” Mrs. Pots says “Why don't you distract your mind with a nice book in the library.”

“Sure.” Alice says. Alice soon got in her robe and slippers then walked down to the library.

As Alice walked through the hall, she felt couldn't help but feel the tension around her. Finally, the door to the library set her at ease.

She looked through the library and came across titles to see if there were anything she could read.

“Let's see.” she thought “ ‘War and Peace.’ No. ‘Crime and Punishment’ Heavens no! ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ Definitely not!”

She sighed and just decided to sit at the bay window and looked out at the rain.

“Oh Alice!” she thought to herself once more. “You can't eat! You can't sleep! You can't even read! What are you going to do? Isn't proper for a lady to be like this. People may think you've gone mad! Have you gone mad?! Are you Mad like Reginald? Huh, Reginald... What must he think of me? Why should I care?! Maybe I have gone mad?”

Suddenly, she heard the door to the library open and jumped.

“Oh, it's just you Belle!” she said in relief. Then she saw behind her was none other than the mad hatter, Reginald Theophilus the Third.

“Reginald!” Alice says surprised “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you, cricket! “ he explained.

Alice looks back to Belle for a moment. Belle knew what she was thinking at the moment but, didn't care. She knew this was better than being isolated from society. Plus, if anyone could possibly talk some sense into her, it was Reginald.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” she says before leaving.

Alice then looks away to the window away from Reginald. Reginald sighs to himself. He soon takes off his hat and then kneels to the ground next to her bay window seat.

“Alice,” he says gently “we’re all worried about you. I'm worried about you.”

Alice was silent.

“I know you don't want to talk about what happened. Or explain to me why you didn't tell anyone where you were but, can I at least know if you are ok? Because if you tell me you're ok, I'll leave you alone and I won't bother you about this ever again.”

Again Alice was silent. Then suddenly, the emotions came back! All the pain, the trauma, and the helplessness she felt at that moment. Tears started to flood her eyes and her breathing started to hitch.

“That's the thing Reg,” she finally says in shakey breath “I can't!”

Suddenly, she bursts into tears.

“I wake up every morning having the same dream about what happened!” she explains furiously “ I have to look over my shoulder every day and sleep by candlelight every night so I won't get scared! Yet, even then, I hear his voice, I see his face, and hear those gunshots over and over again in my mind! SO IF YOURE GOING TO TELL ME THAT YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL OR EVEN YOU KNOW WHAT IM GOING THROUGH, DONT! BECAUSE YOU DONT! NO ONE DOES!!!”

At that moment, Alice covered her face and wept.

“I FEEL SO HELPLESS, REGINALD AND THERE IS NOTHING I CAN OR ANYONE CAN DO ABOUT IT!” she wept.

“You're right!” he says.

“What?!” Alice says between breaths.

“You're right, I don't know how you feel, Alice! Or even what you went through.” He explains “But, all I know is that you can't run or heal from a situation you can change.”

“What do you mean?”

“The coppers got him and his immediate family but, they need you to identify him so they can charge him.”

“But, Reginald I..”

“I know but, think about it this way, if you do nothing and he is free, this could happen to anyone else including Belle, Snow, or even another blonde like you. Yet, what if that time, it gets worse?”

The room was silent for a moment as Alice thought.

“Reg, I...”

“Now, I'm not trying to say you should just get over what happened and move on, because that kind of thing takes time and I'm not going to pressure you about that at all. But, I am saying, you can start the healing process by showing him that he has no control over you, Alice.

“How?” she asks gently.

“By putting him away for good.”

Alice began to cry once more. She knew he was right in every way but, fear still kept pursuing her mind once more.

“I can't do this alone, Reginald!” she says.

“Then let Ears or Belle come with you to the police station. Let them...Let me help you, Alice!”

It was quiet for a moment or two between the pair. Then Reginald got up and placed his her on his head.

“Just think about it, Alice.” he says.

Reginald then turns around to walk to the door. Until,

“Can you come with me, Reginald?” Alice asked softly.

“ I most certainly can!” he says to her with a genre smile. To his surprise, Alice smiled right back at him. She still may have had tears in her eyes but, she was still smiling at him none then less.

To Alice’s surprise, that was not only the first time she smiled in a long time but, it was the first time she actually felt happy as well.

Chapter Text

Alice knew things would never be the same but, as Reginald said before, these things will take time. Luckily, for her, she had friends to help her through this! With Reginald’s help, she was able to go to the police station and point the criminal out. It was hard and scary, even emotionally challenging at times but, she did what was right for not only herself but for others so they wouldn't go through what she went through.

Of course, that didn't make things magically get better for her. Alice waited at least another two or three weeks until she went back to her own house which Belle was more than happy to help. However, Alice did start to go back to work little by little.

Plus, with her friend Ears, she was able to meet a great therapist who understood trauma and understood the hardships she was facing. She even met other victims who knew what she went through and even shared their stories of what happened to them.

It wasn't an easy process to heal. Alice Had good days, and she had some bad ones as well. There were times she felt better than ever, yet, there were times her anxiety flared up! She would even need to take a few minutes to help her breathe again.

Yet, Alice could honestly say, she was happy now. She had her friends to help her. She had resources to guide her. Above all else, she had someone who loved her enough to show her the way to heal. Maybe Reginald isn't prince charming but, he is someone who she could count on and share her joy and even her sorrows with.

Will ever something come out of this between them? She didn't know, but it doesn't mean there isn't a chance or even a smidge of an idea in her mind. Of course, she would never tell Reginald that! But, either way, she was healing and she had all the help she needed! The End