WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE GAME.

ONLY READ ON IF YOU DON'T MIND BEING SPOILED FOR THE ENDING OF MADNESS RETURNS (mostly just a spoiler about the final boss).

The two of them sat under one of the vibrantly colored Wonderland trees, Alice playing with a loose thread on her apron, debating to herself how much it would unravel if she tugged at it. Cheshire rested with his eyes closed, his head against his folded arms, tail twitching occasionally.
He opened his eyes as he heard Alice draw her legs up against her chest, no longer playing with the thread.
"Everything okay, Alice?"
She nodded slowly, her nearly-black hair falling in her face.

Chesh shifted to lift an arm up, brushing her hair back, drawing back when she jumped at the contact.

"It's only me, darling. What's the matter?"

She rested her head on her knees, showing a bit of the childish nature she had lost long ago.

"I don't want to talk about it."

He sat up straighter, bumping his forehead lightly against the top of her head, letting her know he wasn't going to let up until he got an answer.

Alice sighed, raising her head again, looking away from him.

"I was just thinking about the Dollmaker...who he really was...how disgusting he was...and when I fought him, how horrifying it was when his giant filthy hands would grab me...squeeze me...It was absolutely sickening..."

She shuddered, drawing back into herself.

Cheshire's nearly-permanent grin faded, and his face was fixed in an angry scowl, remembering the fight, remembering how he couldn't jump in and rip the bastard to shreds, how he couldn't protect her...

He moved over, wrapping his arms snugly around the dark-haired woman, holding her close, trying not to grip her too harshly.

"I'll never let anyone touch you like that ever again, Alice... I'll never let anyone else touch you..."

Her face took on a light flush, and she tried to look at him, but his face was buried in her shoulder, his claws barely digging into the fabric of her dress, stinging slightly.

"Cheshire..."

She slid her arms up, wrapping them around him, not able to hold as tight as he could, but she tried her best, holding him close, never wanting to let go.

He lifted his head from her shoulder, his grin returning, as morbid and welcoming as ever...and then he pushed forward and kissed her firmly, his arms as tight around her as ever.

Alice responded almost immediately, pushing deeply into the kiss he shared with her.

As they finally broke apart, he pecked her quickly and then sat back, hands tracing her arms in slow patterns, absentmindedly mirroring the markings on his own.

"I'll never let anyone touch you ever again...except for me..."

And she gave him a rare smile of her own, pulling him back in for another kiss, letting him push her down onto the soft grass below them, not caring about the smudges that would shortly stain her apron.

A few stains did not matter as long as she had something to distract her from them...and she had the very best of distractions...

Game finished last week, was well worth all the time it took to play!

And that fight was so sickening, my friend had to beat it -could barely watch-, so I share Alice's disgust XD