14. Mask Unveiled

The trek back to the circus was a long and silent one. Neither Alice nor Joker spoke, not that they would be able to hear each other anyways over the rupturing storm. Water sloshed down in harsh beads against their backs, and Joker slightly hunched over the foreigner for her protection. Despite the environment's heated violence, there was a still tension between the duo. Alice silently thought back to their departure from the tower, White's face as she and Nightmare emerged from the stairway still haunting her.

"Thank you, Nightmare." Alice spoke genuinely as she followed the now more sophisticatedly dressed incubus down the hall. "I really appreciate your advice."

Nightmare grinned back, patting her back comfortingly. "Anything for Alice. But you need to visit us more! Please! Don't leave me alone!" He was clinging to her leg now, begging. She could only imagine the torture Gray had really put on his man.

"There, there…" Alice sighed, patting his head. She helped him to his feet, pausing at the stairs. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but this wasn't it.

Joker stood at the entryway- rather, he was forced to stand by the chains bolting him to the floor. She wasn't sure exactly where those chains came from- in a bright pink Lolita dress. Ribbons and stickers and something that resembled strawberries covered him from head to toe. The man struggled against the chains, his skirt flopping about in its petticoat as he moved. If he wasn't being held against his will, Alice would have laughed.

Actually, no. She did laugh. Loudly.

White's head snapped up to her attention. His struggles stopped, but it wasn't at all comforting. Her laughter quickly died out, and the foreigner froze solid. White glared, but not at her. It was the incubus his gaze was set upon in a chillingly displeasing manner. He knew that she knew now. Her heart caught in her throat. The only thing keeping her from running was Nightmare's gentle stroking of her hand. She glanced at him, but he stared straight on, his face serious as ever as he watched the ring leader.

"Can I be removed from these chains so we can leave?" His voice was polite, but there was no denying White's icy undertone.

Alice nodded quickly, fumbling down the stairs, not really sure of how she couldn't get him out of his current predicament. Nightmare watched briefly from above, but eventually floated down to assist.

"Alice. We're here."

The foreigner's soaked head bobbed up, the prison clearly in view around her. Liquid dripped from the ends of her plastic clothing, smacking in little ploops against the stone floors. She unsteadily removed her hat, clutching the plastic in her freezing hands. White, already changed, stood with his back to her, staring out into the empty prison hall. It seemed excruciatingly quiet between them. The atmosphere fell heavy on the outsider, her shoulders suddenly dropping as though she were carrying some burdening weight.

White did not speak. He simply stood ahead, his hands stuffed into the little pockets of his skirt, staring far off. Alice watched him, unsure of how to approach the subject. Surely he already knew what she was going to say.

Gathering her courage, Alice broke the silence.

"You have the key." Her voice came out all wrong. It was too high, too nervous. She cleared it quickly, a light pink brushing against her cheeks in embarrassment.

Joker did not turn. "Is that what he told you?"

"So you do have it."

"Have I ever told you how much I hate this world, Alice?" White's voice was low and difficult to hear. His head lowered, wine hair falling across his face. Alice stepped closer, unable to hear clearly. "It's really unfair, isn't it?"

"What is?" the foreigner asked quietly. There was an iciness in his voice, piercing slowly and lightly into her skin, digging towards her emotions. She stood up straight. She wanted to be brave. She couldn't be scared and threatened by this man every time they spoke to each other. Yet, this didn't feel safe. There was something about his avoidance of eye contact, the way his body shifted to the side, when his shoulders slumped down in defeat. This was a side of White she was not used to. This was a side she couldn't remember seeing. It was a side of Joker she feared. It was his most honest state.

"Wonderland used to be so simple." He reached down, picking up a little stuffed doll from the floor. Alice watched him warily but said nothing. "Warfare and hatred." Though she could not see him, he smiled nostalgically, almost pitifully, spinning the toy in his palm. "That's the Wonderland I remember. Betrayal. Murder. Capture. Boring." White sighed, tearing a little at the seams. "Have I ever told you how much I hate to be bored? I've always needed to be entertained. I've always needed something new, something to capture my attention. That's probably why I was granted this role. A circus leader and a warden. Life can't get boring, can it?" Joker turned to his profile slowly, his single eye set solely on the toy in his hand. He sighed, his lips pointed downward. "But that isn't life, is it? It was so boring. So very boring. Every day became the same, again and again. Have you ever lived like that, Alice? Have you ever lived life the same way again and again and again until it hurt your head and you just want to know why you're still alive? What is the point in living in a boring world? Wouldn't dying be more entertaining? Wouldn't it at least provide some change? But no, we all get replaced. Not even death can be entertaining. We were trapped in an endless cycle, Alice, spinning on and on. A broken record, if you will. We never truly die. Our roles never truly go away. Our lives never really end. The game is eternal. The rules are set in stone." He stopped, lifting his gaze to the foreigner. She jolted back, unprepared to meet his gaze. "Everything was so boring until you came, Alice."

"M-Me?" she squeaked, unable to look away. There was something wrong with his face. He smiled, but it wasn't pure. His eyes screamed insanity and anger. She could hear her heart hammering in a panic in her chest. Her stomach felt too light and her heart too heavy. She had to remind herself to keep breathing properly. His gaze had locked onto hers, and she never truly understood fear until this moment.

"You." He squeezed the toy in his hand, his grinning widening as the seams of its neck began to rip. "Everything changed when you came to us, Alice. You've changed everyone. You've caused quite a stir since your arrival, young miss. I have never been so entertained. I never knew such ecstasy existed." He reached forward, tossing the doll aside and gripping her hands tightly.

"W-White, your hands. They're too tight. It hurts." The brunette protested, trying to pull away. White only pulled her closer.

"You have changed everyone, Alice." He frowned, one hand stroking her cheek lightly. Alice normally would have punched him for that, but fear kept her frozen. "Your influence on this world is remarkable… It's perhaps even better than my circus." He chuckled briefly, only for a moment. Joker stopped, his face falling solemn. "So why is it you have to choose Black? What is so special about a man who only yells and harasses you? I don't understand it, Alice. What is so important about him? Why couldn't you have given me the chance? Why can't you now? What is so wrong about trying?"

"Is that what this is about?" Alice asked, her confidence slowly building up inside of her. "You're jealous?"

"We are both Joker. We are two sides of the same card. You can't have one without the other." White warned. "Why is it you must play favorites?"

"I'm not playing favorites." She looked away. "I can't help who I love. I can't control my emotions!"

"I don't understand you." Joker's face was inches from hers. Alice's face flushed, her teal eyes searching for any escape but his face. She focused on the discarded toy on the floor.

"This isn't about me." she said nervously. "This is about the key. Where is it, White? Why are you hiding it?"

"I want you to love me too, Alice." He pulled one of her hands to his chest. She could feel the ticking inside of him, steady and calm. "I want you to be in love with me, too."

"I can't…" Tears welled up in her eyes. She tried to blink them out, but they simply spilled over onto her cheeks. "I can't. I love Black. I'm in love with Black."

"That's a stupid thought." he whispered into her ear, petting her hair gently. The gesture felt sickening. "Black can't love. He's not capable of that. You're wasting your time."

"I know." she cried, her emotions finally overwhelmed. Alice knew, right from the beginning, all those months ago before Halloween when she'd first met the Jokers. She knew they could not love. Black would never be the man she needed and could rely on. Alice wasn't stupid. Maybe she was. She wasn't sure anymore. The female fell onto her knees, sobbing into her hands, reality hitting her hard and cold across the face. This love was one sided and wasted. Anything she did was in a hopeless dream that maybe he would care about her. Maybe he could love her. It was a ridiculous hope, and a failed dream. "I know. I know. I'm so stupid. I'm so so stupid."

She didn't know when Joker had crouched down to his knees, or when he wrapped his arms tightly around her. She just knew she was suddenly warm, and her sobs were muffled against a comfortable grey coat. "It doesn't have to be this way." White soothed, his voice a distant promise to the heartbroken girl. "I am also Joker. You can love us both. We are one. You just need to tell me you love me."

"But… I can't… I... I love…" Her voice broke off into another set of sobs. She clutched onto his jacket for support, burying her teary face in his shoulder.

"It would be so nice for this game to end, wouldn't it?" He whispered into her ear. "I can end it for you. We can make this easy." She didn't reply, so he continued, petting her hair ever so gently. "You don't have to do much. Love me. Won't that be easy? You don't even have to recognize it's me. Won't that be nice?" There was bitterness to his voice, disliking his own suggestion. "You can pretend. Isn't that what you like to do, Alice? Live in a fairytale?"

The foreigner lifted her head slowly, scrubbing away at her fallen tears. She spoke shakily, unsurely. "And if I don't agree?"

White smiled, but it did not touch his eyes. "This game will never end. I won't give you the key, or tell you where the box is. It will rain forever and we'll all drowned."

Alice thought on it, staring at him. She didn't have a choice. Defeated, she stared at her lap, her hands clenched into firsts. "...Where is the key?"

"Is that an agreement I hear?" White asked pleasantly.

"...Yes." Regret filled in her chest and Alice looked away, the tears swelling up again. White didn't give her time to sob, though. He kissed her quickly, his lips moving against hers in an odd, unusual motion. It didn't feel the least bit right.

"Right this way, my dear."

Joker paced impatiently through the prison hallways, his whip cracking loudly against the iron bars of empty prison cells. Sometimes it felt this prison stretched on forever, he noticed. The layout was never quite clear to either Joker. It just kept expanding to their pleasure, continuing onward until it would split off to other endless hallways. One could so easily get lost in here. One such as Alice.

"Damn it. Did she get lost again?" Black thought aloud in irritation, his wine eye scanning the halls carefully. He had been expecting her and White back by this afternoon, but the sun had surely set by now- at least that's what his clock said- and despite the insane storm, it should've been dark outside by now. That meant White and Alice should have been home for quite a few hours. Where were they?

The warden turned down another ridiculously stretched hallway, attaching his whip to his belt securely. He was closer to the entrance now, for the third time in his pacing of the prison. He could see the large archway ahead, almost as inviting him to the surely empty room.

"I'm not playing favorites." A familiar voice spoke up from the room. "I can't help who I love. I can't control my emotions!"

Black sped up, quickly recognizing the voice. It was about time the bitch got here! Though he would never admit it, Joker was relieved. The possibility of her dying in the storm seemed like a stupid, impossible thought now.

"I want you to love me too, Alice." It was a new voice. His voice, but it wasn't him. Black stopped outside of the archway, listening in on his counterpart. "I want you to be in love with me, too."

In love with him, too? the warden thought, angry. It figures! Of course Joker would pull a move on the idiot! Still, he wasn't sure what made him angrier; was it that White wanted her to love him, or that she was already in love with someone else?

Stupid! He internally yelled at himself. Of course she would fall in love with someone else. She's a slut. Wonderland is full of guys. Do the math.

"I can't…" He couldn't see anything, but he could hear the strain in her voice. He glared into the room, impatient for her answer. He didn't expect the one he received. "I can't. I love Black. I'm in love with Black."

The warden stood there for a moment, frozen. He wasn't sure what to feel, or what to say. He was stunned, but there was no denying the brief but large smile that managed to smack itself onto his face for only a few seconds. He was so far in shock that he didn't even bother to attempt to hide it. Had she just said his name? In what alternate universe would she suggest even any interest in him?

Black didn't hear the rest of the conversation. He stumbled back, stunned. The situation didn't quite settle in with him yet. He wasn't even sure how he felt about it. Relief? Happiness? Frustration? What was this tightening, but swelling feeling his clock taunted him with? Nothing made sense.

In one moment he was at the archway. In another he was down the hall, lost in thought.

All her hard work was for naught, Alice concluded. Never had she hated her life so much as she did in this one moment. The dull purple key stuck out of the small purple box, placed perfectly in the middle of a checkered nightstand. Among the scattered toys and unusually small bunk beds with brightly colored blankets stood the foreigner and ring leader in the circus children's bedroom.

"You had it in the box the entire time." Alice mumbled, staring blankly ahead. White smiled, nodding.

"Everything was right here." he said proudly. "The children were kind enough to keep the secret."

"Where are they?" she asked. There was some concern to her tone, but it was clear the the children's location was not her first priority.

"Sleeping in another tent. They don't mind." Joker assured.

Alice heaved a heavy sigh. "Then let's get this over with."

"Ah ah ah." White's hand overlapped Alice's on the key, holding it in place. Alice looked up in confusion, her blue-green eyes wide with confusion and contemplation. "I want you to uphold your end of the deal first?"

Her skin fell pale, almost green. The words came out less than a whisper. "What do you want me to do?"

White grinned. "Kiss me." He said simply.

She reached up and pecked him lightly on the cheek. Joker frowned.

"No, no. Not like that." He pat her hair gently, shaking his head. "Kiss me." White leaned forward, cornering her against the nightstand. Alice cowered back; trapped. "You know how to do it, Alice. You've had plenty of kisses in your lifetime. I want one."

"I don't…" Face flushed she glanced at anything but him. Joker noticed and held her chin still, forcing her to look in his face.

"You love me, don't you?" he whispered. "Tell me, Alice."

"I love you…" she lied, the tears swelling up again. This deal was wrong. It was all sorts of wrong. But so was her love for his counterpart. There was no way she could win. At least this ended in normality of Wonderland.

"Then kiss the one you love."

She reached up, his lips pressing gently against his. It wasn't good enough. White pushed harder, kissed deeper. He forced himself onto her, hips pressed against hers, chest to chest, lips on lips, tongue on tongue. Alice whimpered, but he only traced her mouth deeper.

It wasn't until she had difficulty breathing that he pulled away. His smile was soft; simple. It contrasted entirely with her tearful face. "Don't cry, Alice. It will get better, I promise." The foreigner looked away, scrubbing at her eyes. "Aren't you going to end the game?"

Alice nodded, but her reach for the key was hesitant. White waited patiently at her side, watching her with amusement stricken on his feminine face. She silently apologized as she turned the purple metal demon in her palm, though she wasn't entirely sure who she was apologizing to. There was light clinking, and a flash of white.

Everything changed and stayed still at the same time. The rain seemed to stop instantly. Not a breeze was heard. The man at her side was an actual man now. Wonderland was back to normal, but still she felt nothing had changed. Really, it hadn't. She was still in the same situation as before this ended. She had to pretend to love a man for normality. That was one of her stupider deals, Alice realized. Still, it was too late now. It was too late for a lot of things now.

"That feels much better." White spoke up, laughing lightly. Alice didn't look up from the nightstand, her face hollow and lost. "I had such back pain from that form."

"Uh-huh." she mumbled, not paying attention.

White tilted her chin upwards again, and teal eyes met with red. "Kiss me again, Alice. Tell me you love me." It sounded scarier in his male form. When she didn't reply, he leaned closer, his breath brushing across her lips. "Please?"

Tearing up, her back to the children's door, Alice spoke softly. "I love you."

White pulled her tightly against his chest, much stronger now, his kiss rougher; passionate, excited. As though he was gleeful over the fact he'd won. Perhaps that's what it was. All she was anymore was a weak prize tossed between man again and again in Wonderland.

Maybe Black was right, she thought meekly. I am just a slut.

Her track of mind was interrupted by a light plop and ratting from behind her, followed by a loud crash soon after. Alice pushed against white's chest, whipping her head around to the now missing door. "White, stop. What was that?"

"Don't worry about it." Joker purred against her neck, his teeth nibbling at the skin. Alice pushed him away.

"Stop it." she said, her confidence quickly restored as she walked over to the empty doorway. White's teeth clenched in annoyance.

Alice knelt down at the doorway, her eyes locked on a palm-sized blue box. The cover was felt and soft. She lifted the cover gently, briefly noticing the circus door ripped off its hinges and tossed into boarded pieces down the hall.

"What is it?" Joker asked, standing behind her now.

The foreigner opened it slowly. Her heart almost broke, understanding what had happened now. Jumping to her feet, she ran, leaving the box behind. White picked it up, glaring down at the object inside.

"Oh, isn't that lovely?" he spoke bitterly to the silver necklace inside, glaring at the light blue mask charm dangling on the thin strand.

Aaaand to be continued in the next story! I'm glad I could finally finish The Game of Fools! It took so long to get through, but I finally managed to complete it entirely! Just one more story in the series, guys. I'm really excited. I wanted to thank you all for sticking with me through this, and I'm so happy to be writing for you all again.