Alice sat in the Clock Tower, silently watching Julius work; she was thinking over that day's events and trying to think of ways to resolve the many problems that had suddenly arose.

Blood had brought her back to the Country of Hearts shortly after she had left; he was now insisting that she would live with him. She wanted to say yes, since she felt very strongly towards him, but felt that Julius needed the company.

On her return, Peter had immediately tried to claim her as his own and when he realised that she loved Blood he went crazy and vanished into the woods, not before vowing to kill Blood and claim her at any lengths necessary.

She had found Boris on her way to the Clock Tower, he was bruised and bleeding from a fight that he had been in. She had quickly patched him up and them had him offering to take her to the circus which was a territory that she had never heard of before.

And then, finally, when she had returned to the Clock Tower, Julius had told her the terrible fact that her sister was dead, and had been for a while.

When she found out, Alice didn't cry. No. She went into a shocked silence; Julius had tried to talk to her but she didn't respond, so he left her to think things through and to watch him work since he knew that she enjoyed it.

Now Julius was, of course, worried about Alice but he had no clue what to do to help. The poor girl would just sit there and stare which eventually made him feel quite uncomfortable; Julius silently rose from his chair and went to make himself a coffee, leaving Alice by herself. The whole time he was making the coffee he was constantly wondering if he should of left her. The poor girl had just found out that her beloved sister was dead and she wouldn't even be able to go to her funeral.

Once he had made the coffee, Julius when back into his work room to see something he hoped he wouldn't. Alice was curled up, crying. He walked over slowly, placed his coffee cup down on his desk and then knelt down in front of her.

"Alice..." he whispered, not sure what else to do. Julius didn't like seeing her cry but it was so much worse now since he had seen what she went like when he told her and that he could hear the heart wrenching pain in her sobs.

Alice leaned forwards, through her arms around Julius' neck and buried her face in his shoulder, muffling the sound of her sobs and soaking his suit. Julius held on the her and stroked her hair, trying to comfort the foreigner the best he could. She clung onto him like a small child would cling on it's mother.

"I-it's – so – unfair!" She muttered between sobs.

"Shhhh, It's okay Alice. I know, I know," Julius said, trying the best he possibly could to say something to make her feel even the slightest bit better.

Alice lifted her head up to look Julius in the eye. Her face was blotchy and covered in tears, her nose would start to run, making her sniffle. The look on the foreigners face made the mortician feel even worse; he had seen her cry before but she had never been this bad.

"W-why?" She suddenly muttered so quietly that it was barely audible.

Julius didn't know what to say, he had no clue how to make her feel better; he hated it when Alice cried and it was so much worse knowing there was nothing he could possibly do.

"I-I don't know... I'm sorry..." He said, looking the foreigner straight in the eyes. The mortician didn't know how she would react to this but he didn't know what else to say. She gave him a look of desperation, tear welling up and then quickly spilling down her face; she buried her face in the mortician's shoulder again, continuing to soak, and possibly stain, his suit.

Julius cradled in his arms, thinking that it was the best he could do in this current period in time. Eventually the sound of Alice's sobs ceased and she slowly sat up. Her face looked worse now, it was still blotching and tear streaked, but now her eyes were all red and puffy too. Alice gave Julius a weird look; she wanted to run to her room, hide, cry and not have to talk to anyone ever again. But at the same time she just wanted someone there to hug her, love her and tell her that everything was going to be alright even if she knew it wouldn't.

Alice took in a deep breath and started to wipe her eyes on her apron. She stared at Julius for a moment, her eyes were filled with sadness and despair; the poor girl had no clue how or why this had happened to her. The two sat in silence for several minutes, neither of them knowing quite what to say.

"I-I'm sorry, Julius. I shouldn't of worried you like that," Alice suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"No, it's okay... It's not your fault Alice, you're grieving and there is nothing wrong with that," Alice gave the faintest hint of a smile before standing up and straightening her dress.

"I am kind of tired, I think I'm going to have a short nap..." She said as she slowly walked out of the room. Julius stood up quickly and gave Alice an understanding nod.

"All right, just tell me if you need anything okay?"

Alice waved her hand to show she understood and then left the room. Julius walked over to his desk and sat down; he then reached his arm out, grabbed his coffee mug and pressed it against his lips, taking in a mouthful of the drink. Julius wrinkled his nose, the drink had gone cold and tasted bitter, making him quickly realise that he had lost his knack for making coffee since Alice had been doing it for him. He should really start doing it himself again.

Alice lay on the bed with her face buried in the pillow; she was tired but unable to sleep, sad but unable to cry. Oh what was she to do? Then the foreigner suddenly remember something; Boris. He was taking her out tomorrow, talking her to some different territory called The Circus. She had no clue what they would be doing there but at least it gave her something to use to take her mind off of her sister. Of course, if anyone could take her mind of things it would defiantly be Boris.

Alice smiled slightly, thinking of all the times that she had been feeling down and Boris had cheered her up again. Tomorrow would defiantly be fun and, hey, even just thinking about it made her smile. Even is he still felt crap the next day, she would make her self smile, just for Boris; just because he was always there for her and always made her smile.

Eventually the foreigner realised just how tired she was; she changed into her night clothes, crawled under her covers, curled up and slowly, but surely, drifted off to sleep.

Julius was tired, he had left his coffee where it was, deciding that the drink was so foul that he would not wish it upon his worst enemy, especially when he found the think, gooey remains at the bottom of the cup. The mortician slowly dragged himself upstairs so he could finally collapse down on his bed and get some rest, but as he trudged down the hallway he suddenly decided he would check on Alice first. Julius had noticed that, since she had gone up to her room, the foreigner had not asked anything of him; this worried him slightly since he knew how bad she had been little while before that.

Julius opened the door to Alice's room slowly and quietly, trying his hardest not to make a peep. He crept into her room and over to her bed; once he was there he swiftly pulled the covers back, away from her face. The girl was curled up with her head resting on her right arm, the left she was using to hug to pillow; Julius let out a small sigh of relief, Alice was asleep and unharmed! He rested the covers back on the girls sleeping form and silently left the room, shutting the door behind him.

The moment the mortician was in his room, he collapsed on his bed without a second though; he was tired to a ridiculous level and wanted nothing more then to sleep for eternity! But as he tossed and turned in his bed, trying to get comfortable he had one though on his mind. Alice. Julius kept wondering how she would be the next day and what he would do if she was any worse; he quickly decided he would do anything for her no matter what the cost was! He decided that he loved her too much to let anything else happen that could hurt her.

Eventually Julius fell into an uneasy sleep, he knew the foreigner would be safe in the Clock Tower but could hep thinking that something very bad was going to happen very soon.