With a sigh she looked at the timer. Another five minutes until it was done. She had made pies before but she never felt they took this long. Was she anxious?

"Alice!" yelled a familiar voice. "I love you so much!"

She knew what was going on – Peter's full on assault attack. She tried to move her body out of the way of his hug attack but was to late. His hands pulled her to his chest.
"Peter! Get off of me!" She tried to squirm her way out of his hug but failed.

"No way, Alice! I didn't see you for sooo long! I thought I was going to die!"

"You just seen me only an hour ago."

"It's too long!"

"G-get off."

"Oh dear, am I interrupting something?" asked the knight, leaning against the wall, smiling. "I wanted to come to the kitchen to see Alice, but here I find Alice and Sir Peter."

"A-Ace got to his destination!"they both thought.

Not taking the risk of Ace leaving her, she did the first thing that came to mind. "Ace! Help me! Get him off!"

Ace looked surprised that Alice would ask him for help, but nonetheless he hurriedly went to help the girl, like the knight he was?

"Sorry, Sir Peter, but I think I'll borrow Alice for a bit," he said, grabbing the girl by the arm. "We're going to go on an adventure through the castle, right, Alice?"

The look on her face said she was scared of the adventure; her heart said she was scared of being alone with Peter. "R-right," she said with a look of dread. She regretted it already.

With a smile, as he was always smiling, dragged the girl along by the arm behind him. It was adventure time, adventure time with Alice.

"A-Ace, umm, that's fine now. Thanks for helping me," she said, diverting her eyes from the knight. She knew that if she were to look into his eyes she would fall into his trap.

"Now, Alice, you wouldn't be trying to get out of going on our adventure, would you?" he asked with a smile.

She felt the pressure in the question he was asking. It was like he was saying: You had better come or who knows what I'll do to you. Is that really what a knight would say?
"Alice, why do I feel that you're thinking badly of me?" he asked wearing a somewhat hurt and dejected face.

"O-of course not, Ace. Weren't we going to have that adventure now?"

A shocked smile came to his face. "Yes, let's waste no time! Off we go~!" he said walking on.

No matter how much she came to regret this, she thought she would have regretted it more if she refused his offer. Knowing Ace, as well as she did, she knew that they'd eventually find something life threatening they would have to face. She'd been in this castle before but she never had seen anything that would be "life risking."

Just then something flew past her face at a quick speed. "Ace, what was that?"

The knight looked back at her. "What was what? You mean the thing that just flew by you? That was a poisonous dart," he smiled.

"What?"

"I told you already, didn't I? That there were going to be poisonous darts flying all over the place and to be careful."

"No! You most certainly did not!"

"Oh? I didn't? I could have sworn I did," he scratched his cheek. "Oh well. Be careful, Alice."

She was dumbstruck at how carefree he could be. "Thanks for caring so much, Ace," she mumbled.

She looked around. The walls were damp and musty, the corridor was dark and black. She didn't remember anywhere in the castle that looked like this. Were they lost?
"It's just threw here, Alice," he said, pointing down the hallway.

"What is?" she asked, overwhelmed by her thoughts.

He didn't answer.

"We're lost, aren't we?"

He turned around, thumb sticking up and smiling. "Oh yes!"

She felt like a ticking time bomb ready to explode. She knew he got lost to his room even in here, but she thought that he couldn't get lost going down a corridor! There was only one way to go!
"For heavens sake, Ace, let me lead!" she demanded, grabbing the man's hand. "We won't get lost if I'm leading."

"But, aren't you already lost?" he whispered into her ear.

She cringed at the sound of his voice against her ear.

"Off with his head!" came a distant yell.

She knew that voice! It was Vivaldi! If her voice was coming from ahead then that would meant that they were still in the castle. Alice breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing her voice. At the very least it reassured her, to some extent.

"Ace," she said, "let's go back, shall we? I have a pie in the oven you can eat."

He smirked. "Why should I eat pie when I can have something much sweeter?"

Her body went stiff. "Knights protect, they don't harm."

"I may be a knight, but before that I'm a man, Alice. And a man has things that even he wants."

She sifted her eyes. Strangely enough she wanted him to do something to her. She looked back up at him. He was smiling down at her, as if he said something completely normal.

"Alice, you know, I like you," he said drawing his face close to her's.

"I won't accept you."

"I'll make you accept me, whether you like it or not," he smiled at the girl, hinting at the hidden meaning being tossed about. "You'll come to like me sooner or later. After all, you've only ever looked at me, Alice."

"Should we continue our 'adventure' a little longer?" she asked.

"I think that's a good idea."

Even with Vivaldi's screams of "Off with their heads!" in the distance, nothing could interrupt the two as they silently embraced one another.

-The end-