× intoxicant .T E A ‹‹ ‹

roxalice

…

It was simply the outcome of a stumble, a loss of balance, a wrong step at the wrong time—he hadn't seen the hole at all! But he found himself falling through ebony air, his strained outcries pleading for help obviously gone unheard. The shouts that ran through his mouth echoed all the way down like a dying bell, every inch, every foot, every yard. He'd seen random flashes of polychrome hues, though other than that he was just a falling blonde boy.

"Oof!"

Roxas fell face-first into what appeared to be a bed of tufted viridian grass decorated with every possible flower he could think of, plus ones he'd never thought even existed. He pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed his forehead, spirited royal blue eyes scrutinizing the place he had ended up in: a bizarre forest that seemed nothing like the one in Twilight Town. Multiple trees seemed deranged and lopsided, while oversized mushrooms sprung up from the turf in absurd directions.

He gulped.

"Oh, my! You came down awfully, awfully hard."

"Wh-what?" Roxas blurted out, voice cracking as he searched for the one who had spoken. The tone seemed to have a light English accent… it was really cute, actually, but Roxas hurriedly swatted the ridiculous thought away from his flustered mind.

His eyes finally came in contact with an equally blue gaze, only these eyes were bordered with lovely, long dark lashes. A young blonde girl stood curiously before him, appearing approximately two years younger than himself, three at the most. Under those charming eyes were a shapely nose and cherry-red, pouty lips. A simplistic black headband held back her flowing champagne-blonde hair in one orderly place, falling over the slightly puffed sleeves of her periwinkle dress. She donned a miniature, sugar-white apron on top of the dress, and Roxas could make out a large ribbon tied to the back of her waist behind her. She wore snow stockings and jet-black dress shoes, which shined as she took several steps towards him.

"Are you well?" she questioned, voice still as soft as it had been earlier.

"Yeah."

The girl offered to help him up, and Roxas accepted. Afterwards, she quickly dusted the petals and blades of grass off of him before turning around and beginning to sprint away—at least, running in some sort of lady-like way, with poise and whatnot.

"Hey, wait!" Roxas called out, hesitating as he considered following her, yet he stayed in one place, crushing the flowers. "Where are you going?"

"I'm late!" was her high-pitched reply, before she disappeared behind a cluster of red-and-white mushrooms. "Late, late, late—for a very important…"

Her voice faded off into the distance, and Roxas frowned to himself. He hadn't even gotten her name, but worst of all, he was all alone in this stupidly abnormal forest. How was he supposed to get home now?

"If you really want to know where she's headed…"

Roxas whirled around at the new voice, one that dripped with a smooth sense of twisted quandary. He blinked twice, turning this way, stepping that way. He looked up but saw nothing except a canopy of multi-colored leaves. He wandered over to a plump mushroom that stood askew, peering underneath the head of it. Sighing when he failed to find the owner of the voice, he began to straighten his posture—only to end up face-to-face with something that sat atop the mushroom, a purple and pink colored cat.

At least, its head.

"Aah…!" Roxas choked on his voice, stumbling back. He rubbed his eyes.

The rest of the chubby feline's body appeared, along with a growing smile that stretched farther than any grin Roxas had ever seen. He raised a furry paw in the direction of the large, spotted mushrooms the blonde girl had disappeared behind.

"She went that way, and two turns to the right."

"Wait," Roxas raised an eyebrow, "who did?"

"Alice."

"She did?"

"She did what?"

"Went that way," Roxas pointed towards the mushrooms.

"Who did?"

"Alice…"

"Alice who?"

"You were just telling me… oh, never mind already." Roxas stomped his charcoaled shoe on the ground, frustrated. He glared at the grinning cat—which began to stand on its head and fade away—before heading behind the disproportional mushrooms and taking two turns to the right, just as the creepy cat had informed him. He found himself in a circle-shaped clearing, surrounded by life-size flowers and towering mushrooms. In the middle sat a table with a pastel-colored tea set and tasty shortbread cookies centered with jelly.

In front of the table sat the girl who happened to be named Alice.

She was in tears.

Roxas hesitated again, before slowly approaching the blonde. "Are you… okay?"

"Oh, no, no," Alice sobbed out, dabbing at her eyes with the edge of the tablecloth. "The Mad Hatter and I were supposed to have tea today, b-but I'm afraid he's… he's…"

"… Not here?" Roxas tried finishing for her.

Alice's crying immediately intensified, her tears practically flying into the air. Roxas quickly took a step back, surprised, only to inch forward and sympathetically pat Alice on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry your boyfriend ditched the date."

Alice's tears halted at once, and the tablecloth fell from her fingers. She stared at Roxas with widening, damp eyes. "I… I believe you're mistaken, the Mad Hatter and I are simply friends." Then, she began to giggle. "The Mad Hatter? My boyfriend?" She burst into a fit of adorable laughter. "Why, that's the most absurd thing I've ever heard!"

Roxas smiled awkwardly, feeling the slightest amount of happiness that he had soothed Alice's tears. When her chuckles died down, Alice handed Roxas a plain white card. "See? All he left was this message. Have a Happy Un-birthday!"

Roxas laughed. "Un-birthday?"

"Yes." Alice sighed dreamily, resting her elbows on top of the table and cradling her chin in her hands. "And to think I was so very looking forward to this day… oh, my. How rude of me. May I ask your name, sir?"

"Roxas."

"Have I… met you before?" Alice asked, standing up and raising her gaze to study his. "I must say, you do look terribly familiar… oh! No matter. Would you like to celebrate my un-birthday with me, Roxas? I'd be quite disappointed to have a tea party all by myself."

"Sure, it's not like I have anything else to do around here." Roxas' reply was accompanied with a shrug of his shoulders. Alice clapped thrice, overjoyed, sitting Roxas and herself down. She began to pour him some tea from the salmon-colored teapot, a thin steamy arch cascading into his tiny teacup. Then she poured herself some tea, smiling when the billows of sweet steam hit against her rosy cheeks.

They drank their tea and nibbled on sugary shortbread cookies for moments on end, exchanging words back and forth across the tea-fragranced air until they felt like they'd known each other their whole lives. The forest seemed to darken, but no matter, for the oddly shaped bulbs of light that were strung around the oversized flowers had flickered on and provided them a warm glow of illumination. Then, a random flower began to warble a little tune in the background.

"Oh, dear." Alice bit her lip, setting the teacup down on its small porcelain plate, averting her gaze from Roxas.

"What is it…?"

Alice slowly began to peer at him out of the corner of her eye. "It's all so frightfully romantic."

"Frightfully?" Roxas echoed. He pouted, feeling a little dazed as he took another sip of tea. "I… frighten you?"

"No, no, no," Alice shook her head, golden locks bouncing as she hiccupped. "Never ever, Roxas. Don't speak of such things." Much to her surprise, she hiccupped again… and again, and again. She blinked to herself and felt for her forehead, squinting marginally. "I say! I feel quite drowsy…" She laughed.

Roxas joined in her short-lived laugh, drinking the rest of his tea. "I was about to say the same thing." He hiccupped. "God, I feel weird…"

Alice giggled again between hiccups, reaching over and raising the teapot. "Would you care for another cup of tea?"

"Hell yeah," Roxas mused, holding out his teacup. "To the rim, Alice!"

They basked in each other's eagerness, and exploded with laughter when Roxas' teacup overflowed with tea. He bent over and gulped the strong liquid down, and when he took a breather he asked, "What's in this tea, anyway?"

"I haven't a clue, Roxas!" Alice replied before a hiccup, radiating flustered happiness. "But it's nothing like I'd had last time!"

"Then that tea must've been crap!" Roxas chuckled, overwhelmed with the humor, his cheeks beginning to hurt as his smile never ceased to weaken. He soon fell off his chair, but not before taking hold of Alice's wrist and bringing him down with him. She landed right on top of him, and he mumbled something about breaking her fall. They laughed together, staring right at each other's glazed eyes. Their hysteria soon lightened, their bright faces softening into more serious expressions. The flaxen, blinking lights around them dimmed darker. Alice leaned her head down, and Roxas' lips met her mouth halfway.

♥ what's in this tea, a n y w a y ? ‹‹

… …

Birds chirped. The forest was bright. Flowers hummed a morning hymn.

Alice had lost her headband, which had tumbled behind a bed of tiny flowers. She also misplaced her white apron, her black dress shoes, her stockings, and… well, her whole outfit in general. There was one other "thing" she'd lost, only it was rather obvious as to what it was—if you took a good look at the young blonde and the current state she was in.

Roxas, on the other hand, was awake and suffering from a hangover, seriously appalled at himself, especially since he'd been learning about abstinence in Health. Then again, it was summer vacation. He couldn't help but smile awkwardly, a rosy tinge rising to his cheeks as he watched the beautiful Alice, sleeping with nothing on but his shirt over the midsection of her slender, fragile body.

Yawning and scratching his head, Roxas stumbled over to the table and picked up a half-empty, half-full teacup. He turned towards the dozing Alice and gestured the cup towards her before saying…

"I hope you had a Happy Un-birthday, Alice."

… …

xx—fin.

Kingdom Hearts © Square-Enix & Disney.