Hey all! Decided to write this before making the 'Matryoshka' sequel.

I do not own Hetaila!

Warnings: UsUk, Fem!UK, Human names used, horses, etc.

Review and tell me if you like it! Also tell me if you see any spelling/grammar errors!

Alice simply couldn't ever think of a time when she wasn't near a horse. It isn't that she wanted to get away from them, quite the contrary actually. She loved horses, beyond anything else in her life. Even school and it was a close second. Everywhere you go there is always going to be that one person who is obsessed with horses. Alice wasn't that person. She didn't babble about them nonstop, no, she was anything but talkative. She didn't pay attention much though, staring out the window at the green forests. She just wanted to go home.

School was boring, especially if you didn't know how to react to or talk to other people. She didn't like company at all: to her, people were annoying. No friends were there for her to hang out with, she was quite the outcast. This didn't bother her though; she knew that when she got home she could certainly be with her friends. At the thought of her father's show horse she smiled and hummed happily. He was a strong elegant horse who was very gentle and kind to her, like all the others. She always spent her day working with the horses, or just reading under a tree in the pasture.

Alice sighed and opened her locker, its clean almost empty appearance. She placed a book in her satchel then closed it. The frown on her face was content; it was there when she was relatively pleased with something. Of course she would be pleased right now; it was only a few more days of sitting around this building full of monkeys until summer began. She'd been doing her best to stay in tip top shape and to make her father pleased because she really wanted a horse of her own this time. She'd been in dressage competitions, jumping, even cross country. Each time winning more and more approval from her father, but she never really got what she wanted. She wanted a horse of her own.

She'd brought it up before, in which her father simply became silent and would sigh. Then he'd tell her that there were plenty of horses in his collection she could have. She shook her head, annoyed with the idea of him telling her that again. She wanted a horse that she could train. Alice wanted to start from scratch so that when she inherited the ranch she'd be able to say they weren't all just her father's horses. No though, her father wanted her to go to a college, and honestly she wasn't completely against that; but still. Being a veterinarian sounded like something she could use against her father, and she had a lot of credits so it isn't like she'd have to rely on her father to pay her way into college.

Alice walked out of the school building and stepped onto the sidewalk. She turned and walked over to the closest bus stop, thoughts of today's plan rolling out in her mind. She sat on the bench quietly, sadly though, her silence was disturbed. As expected Francis arrived 4 minutes after her. He sat on the opposite end of the bench, a big smile on his disgusting French face.

"I'm not in the mood for your games today Francis," Alice growled unhappily. She heard him chuckle at her, which only made her even more irritated by his presents.

"But madam! Don't you know the buses are not coming today?" He said cheekily, Alice glared at him.

"Why not?"

"The streets are closed for the parade in 2 hours. I hope you will stay and see it, no? There will be really nice horses in the parade."

Alice narrowed her eyes. She regretted ever trying to befriend someone in kindergarten, because when she managed to it was this bastard. He was ok at first but then he turned into a pervert. He broke her heart a long time ago and she wouldn't dare let him back in. Yes, it was sad to admit, Alice had once fallen for the French boy. She regretted every moment of it to, because he was disgusting and to open; also very flirty and intimate with other girls.

"It costs unneeded money to be able to watch the parade. I especially won't go if you're there," she snarled.

"Surely you don't plan on walking home Alice. Your home is literally miles away." Francis said, seeming a bit more sullen. Alice smiled to herself, glad she'd upset him.

"I fully intend on walking home, Francis. It's much better than sitting here with you." She turned away from him, a victorious smile on her face when she heard no response. Of course it was short lived though.

"Look Alice, you know I've said sorry more than a thousand times. I don't ever expect you to forgive me, but I still want you to be my friend…"

"In your dreams Francis." She huffed, rolling her eyes. She stalked off quickly.

In Alice's mind people were different from her. She was different, and was fully aware of this. Yeah, she didn't know why, just that she was. Spending time with people wasn't something she enjoyed, because really people only ended up being unreasonable. She walked down the tree surrounded road; hardly any cars drove by. Yet the road was still cracked and falling apart. It was too far up in the hills to really be fixed though. Alice found this place much calmer than the road the bus lugged her on.

Alice slowly stepped off of the road and touched the tree closest to her, feeling the rough bark. That is when she spotted it. In the dark of the trees stood a tall horse with green eyes, like that of the trees around it. She froze as it stared at her, its coat a dark red color. It seemed to sigh, but slowly it came closer and closer to her. Alice gripped the tree and took a step back onto the road. Still the horse continued, looking unfazed by her. She gulped and tightened her arms around herself.

When the horse was right in front of her, she opened her eyes to stare at it. Taking a deep breath she once again backed away. This was a wild horse, something you shouldn't bother with. Her father always made that clear to her, and she always made sure to understand it. Wild horses weren't trained or taken care of, they didn't know how to react around humans and honestly they didn't need to know.

Alice observed the horse, and laughed a little at seeing the large black spots over its eyes; almost like her fuzzy eyebrows. The horse's ears perked up and it seemed to tilt its head a little. She pointed to her eyebrows. Still the horse was curious of her, she sighed from her little laugh and opened her satchel and pulled out her lunchbox.

"You have fuzzy eyebrows, like me." She said, opening the metal box and taking out a small bag of baby carrots. She put the box back in her satchel and opened the bag of carrots. She put one in her mouth then dumped the rest on the ground in front of the wild horse.

Instantly the horse bent down and ate the carrots. Alice stepped further back, placing the plastic bag into her satchel. She smiled at the horse, who looked up when it was done. The horse shook its main wildly, before turning around quickly and darting back into the depth of the forest. Alice stared at the darkness of the trees a while longer, before turning and continuing down the road.

Alice sighed heavily as she pulled her father's Miyako horse(*1) around in a circle. The horse, a rare breed, was one of her father's jewels. His name was Kiku, which meant some kind of flower. She stopped and petted him; in return he rested his head in her arms gently. Alice smiled and rested her own head on his. He was such a kind horse. Alice remembered when she was little he'd always be the one foal among the other ones who just stood around. Alice always found closure with his silence and need to be alone. He quickly became accustomed to her and followed her around.

He was her very first best friend. She always took care of him, doing the jobs the stable boy really should be doing. Really that guy seemed to not work at all but still get paid. He'd shown her how to do the things, but eventually simply started sitting around in the barn doing the things Alice really didn't like to do. Kiku pulled his head out of her arms and nudged her, asking her to walk.

Alice chuckled and walked forwards, when she got an idea. She smiled big and unclipped Kiku from the hot walker(*2), gently taking off his bridle. Kiku stared at her with dull brown eyes, the eyes she was so fond of. She giggles and motions for him to follow her. He willingly does, and when they get to the pasture she breaks out in a sprint across the tall grass. Kiku huffs before quickly running after her.

Alice laughed loudly, giving herself a head start didn't help. Kiku still caught up with her within seconds. She looked over at him with a smile; he wasn't running at full speed but obviously was going to stay at her pace. She liked making the horses happy, too much work and no play made life boring. Kiku looked like he was smiling, which is something only she really noticed. Alice could tell when her father's horses were happy.

Were they really his horses though? He never came down to spend time with them, where Alice at times would spend the night in the barn. She felt so much closer to them than he was. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her father's Jielin horse(*3), Yao, run past happily. Kiku always got frustrated with this horse, so he decided to speed up. Both horses were used simply for horse riding, a way her father earned money for the ranch; seeing them race simply made Alice laugh.

Alice stopped running and took in deep gulps of air before sitting down under a nearby tree. She hummed, watching Yao and Kiku run around. Then out of the blue Yong Soo seemed to fly out of nowhere, planning to join the fun. Alice guessed that despite the denial of the others Yong Soo still stayed. Yong Soo is a Yilignol horse(*4); or Yili horse. Not rare horse, like Kiku, but he was still exciting to be around because of his joyful attitude. Kiku seemed to huff in anger and Yoa bucked unhappily. Yong Soo ignored them.

Alice's father had a large collection of horses from around the world. The three before her were all from Asia, and were not the only ones. There were two more he had who really stood out. Kaoru, who was a very dark brown debao pony(*5); ok not a horse, but they are relatives. He was actually a bit closer to being black, and was used for smaller kids to ride. Alice remembered how hard it was for her father to get Kaoru because the debao ponies are very protected by the government in China. Kaoru is really spoiled too, you can tell. Then there was Mei, a light bay colored Yanqi mare(*6). She was very kind and often only relaxed in the fields, or made sure Kaoru was behaving.

"Alice," she heard her father say as he approached her. Behind him stood Ivan a 19 hands(*7) high pitch black Anglo-Kabarda. It was his absolute most prized horse. The horses purple eyes were hard, an intimating contrast from his kind appearance. Alice knew he wasn't a nice horse though…

"Yes?" she said looking back at her father, as to not anger the Russian horse. Her father smiled and patted the horses head before unclipping him. Quickly the horse ran over to Yao, the smaller horse jumped and stepped away from him.

"Come, it is time to eat. Ivan ran today and won, I have guests." He said, before waving his hand for her to follow. Alice stood and willingly did.

Alice didn't look a lot like her father. He was tall and slender, dark brown hair with simply brown eyes. She had a deep respect for him though, considering he'd done everything for her. Gotten her into a proper school, fed her, and taught her everything. Alice took her helmet off as she followed her father up to the house. A large estate building where he held many parties, but don't all rich men hold parties; she supposed it was a natural thing.

Alice stood in front of her mirror, admiring the blue dress she'd been given for dinner. She sighed and let her hair down from the two ponytails that held it up, brushing her long blonde hair gently. She stared at her reflection then walked over to her vanity. Alice sighed looking at her ever unkempt eyebrows. From the drawer she pulled out the eyebrow care kit and began to shape them appropriately.

Once done Alice smiled at her reflection. She grabbed her clear lip gloss and spread it across her lips. She did enjoy dressing up, but it was actually sad she really had no one to do it for anymore. She guessed in a way she was dressing for her father, but that is kind of weird to think about. With a sigh she pulled the light blue head band from the vanity and placed it delicately onto her head. She decided she looked rather good, so she stood up and walked out of her room.

Downstairs her father was sharing glasses with others. She knew her father's friends and company companions well. They knew her as well and kept a decent distance. She preferred it like that, but she did make sure they liked her. She would need the connections to stay once she owned this place. That was her dream, to own this place. To own this place and have a big family that would carry on the dream.

Truthfully her father told her once he'd never expected to have a family or heir. Her mother, before she passed on, always told her to make sure the place was in top condition. Alice did, just as she had promised her. She sighed and slowly sat on a stool, she asked the bartender to give her something nonalcoholic. She heard loud laughter while she waited and scanned the room at all the familiar faces. That's when she noticed a new face.

This man was tall, a big smile on his face as he patted a very angry boys back. Her father was speaking with him; she felt she needed to know who this was. Once her drink came she stood up and slowly made her way over, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She noticed the boy and sighed. So this is why her father wanted her to wear the blue dress. When she stood beside of her father she smiled at the man.

The boy was the same age as her, and his displeasure disappeared when he noticed he wasn't only surrounded by old men. It was kind of refreshing to Alice too, considering there weren't ever a lot of people her age walking in. Her father laughed and put an arm around her shoulder, patting it lightly.

"This is my daughter Alice Johanna Kirkland," her father said, "Alice this is Mr. Jones, and his son Alfred Franklin Jones."

Alice nodded with a smile to both of them as her and her father continued the conversation. Alice laughed a few times too, putting in a point here and there. Her father was quite well with words, but it was obvious that he needed to speak to this man about something more. Alice ignored his want to speak with the new man privately and continued. She noticed that Alfred was staring at her intently. She ignored him, but when her father spoke up she silenced immediately.

"Alice, why don't you go show Mr. Jones' son the horses. We were talking about his great interest in them a while ago. I'm sure you will have an interest Alfred." Said her father, Alfred nodded silently in return before looking at Alice again.

"Fine, fine," Alice sighed. When her father and Mr. Jones walked away she motioned for Alfred to follow her.

The two teens walked out of the hall and towards a back door. She looked behind her at Alfred, who looked a bit happier at being outside. She smiled at him slightly, before taking her shoes off and pointing in the distance to the barn. He looked at her confused for a moment before walking up to her. He frowned at her shoes and then to her. Alice huffed and shook her head.

"You really are very stuck up you know. I'll race you to the barn." Alice grumbled before hopping over the fence and breaking out into a sprint. She looked behind her at Alfred who quickly did the same.

Alfred suddenly broke out into a huge smile and quickly caught up with her. Alice smirked and leaned forwards, going ahead of the other blonde. She giggled as she suddenly sped up, going really fast. She blinked as he got a very stern face. In his eyes she saw the determination of winning. This wasn't right though, this wasn't a human expression at all. Alice followed and blinked at him, surprised by his speed and endurance. He stopped when he reached the barn, and when Alice finally got there she tried catching her breath. Alfred seemed like he was completely unfazed by the run at all.

"I won," he said flatly. Alice looked up at him and frowned.

"It wasn't a competition, idiot. Follow me I'll show you my favorite horses." Alice grumbled and led him into the barn. Alfred followed silently. Alice walked up to Ivan's stable and opened it. She slowly went in and petted the black horse. Despite being woken up he nudged her gently and she lead him out, "This is Ivan, my father's race horse."

"Whoa…" Alfred said, it was the first time he'd really spoken. His blue eyes got huge and he hesitantly stepped forwards. Ivan instantly jerked his head away from the boy and grunted unhappily. Alfred pulled his hand away, "How many hands?"

"19," Alice said proudly, "He's really fast too."

"I bet…" Alfred said as Alice put Ivan back into his stable after showing Alfred his walk.

Alice looked at the boy, watching him closely. He walked over to many of the stables and looked at all the horses. He then walked up to an empty one. Alice went over, frowning at his tired face. He seemed very upset or angry; honestly she couldn't tell what it was. He looked over at her with his azure colored eyes that she really hadn't noticed before. She blinked at him, then sighed and stared into the empty stall.

"I always keep this one clean, in hopes my father will get me my own horse." She said quietly as she unlocked the door and walked in, "If I had a horse I'd treat it so kindly… like all the others. Sometimes I sleep in here when my father is too busy to notice. He never spends time with the horses, so they really only know me. Well, with the exception of Ivan. Man if I had a horse in here I wouldn't leave this stable until they were in LOVE with me."

"What if they really hated you instead?"

"Then I would keep trying," she said immediately. Alice looked at Alfred, her green eyes full of determination, "I would find their favorite snack, favorite game, favorite everything. Not only that I'd try to make them happy, make them feel safe, and I'd put my heart into it! If that doesn't work, I'll just try harder."

Alfred smiled slightly before nodding, "Alright… Well lets head back… I've seen all the horses. This really is a nice collection."

Alice stared out of the window in her Greek Mythology class. Her teacher was a bit of an eccentric person though, babbling more about all mythical creatures than just Greek creatures. Today he was talking about forest fairies and so forth. Alice turned away from the window and skimmed through her textbook in a way that just screamed out how bored she was. Today was her birthday, and of course her dad knowing she didn't have many friends decided to invite every student in her grade. She knew everyone would come, because who wouldn't come to an elaborate rich party?

No one would miss the party, honestly Alice didn't care who came. She knew Francis would be there too, it is just like him to not miss an elaborate party. Like on her 16th birthday, everyone came; they would all return too. It was typical for all these monkeys in her school to return to something they really don't deserve to go to; considering they were all idiotic jerks.

Alice hummed, happy with her work she'd done with her father. He'd told her that she would be getting a very special gift after the party. She sighed happily thinking of the most perfect horse! Maybe a Gypsy horse? Or and English Thoroughbred! She might even get an exotic one from India or something. She'd made it clear she wanted a show horse, but really she'd accept anything at this point! She sighed, her eyes sparkling with images of fabulous horses simply galloping through her mind!

"ALICE!"

"The Miyako pony is a rare breed of pony originating from Miyako islands, in Japan. They were an endangered species as of the year 2002, there was only 22 of them known to exist," Alice spewed out quickly when she was snapped out of her thoughts by her teacher. He stared at her baffled before raising one of his eyebrows.

"A Miyako pony; Alice please help me understand how that has anything to do with my class…"

"Well you never talk about legends involving horses. I know the original Celts were very fond of them. They saw the sun gods earth form as a horse with a human head right?"

The teacher smiled wide and nodded happily, quickly going off on another rant Alice didn't care about at all. She sighed and looked out the window again, happy she'd saved herself from that situation. She narrowed her eyes as she felt the all too familiar stare of Francis on her back, slowly she turned and glared at his disgusting French face. He gave an innocent smile and waved at her. Alice smiled sweetly back and raised her middle finger to him.

As Alice had expected, everyone came to the party; family and all. She supposed it wasn't so bad after all, honestly people kept to themselves though. Even if she was the reason for the party all the other seniors seemed to only want to indulge themselves. She honestly didn't mind but it was still lonely. She constantly looked out into the pasture at her real friends, but knew she couldn't go out there.

The party was elegant and she sighed, sipping the red drink she'd requested. It was just kool-aid, but put it in a fancy cup and it was elegant. She sat quietly on a stool, but looked up when she was tapped on the shoulder by a boy she'd never seen before. There was an odd sense of familiarity coming from him though. He had dark red hair and thick bushy eyebrows, just like hers. She blinked as he took her hand gently, bowing slightly to her. He stayed silent, dragging her out into the middle of the dance floor.

Alice blushed as this boy danced with her, any other person would probably be dying to dance with him. He looked older than Alice, but not by much. Alice stared at all too familiar green eyes. The boy, no, young man was very emotionless looking. Almost like he was holding in thousands of years of anger that just wasn't willing to come out; it wasn't just anger though. She saw pain in those eyes too. Pain and sorrow that just wanted to come in big blobbed tears. Alice was about to say something until she was passed to another boy.

This boy had brown hair, and a soft smile on his kind face. His eyebrows, just like the last boys, were big and fuzzy. The air of familiarity didn't go away and it only heightened when he opened his eyes to reveal green. Alice supposed the two boys were siblings and as she spun a small smile appeared on her face. This was the most attention she'd gotten all night long. Again she was about to open her mouth, only to be passed on to another boy.

Well two boys, twins. They also had the same eyebrows and eyes which made Alice wonder how many boys were here to dance with her. It was flattering honestly as the two took turns spinning her around. One had darker orange hair, and the other lighter. Both of them had freckles everywhere, which fit their mischievous smiles. They looked as if they constantly had fun together, or apart. Maybe they liked playing tricks? Alice didn't know.

As soon as the dancing started it stopped and all four boys stood before her. Each of their personalities different, but so similar; she couldn't get over the familiarity. She was speechless as they bowed to her, all taking her hand at least once and kissing it. She didn't know what to say exactly to them, so she just fiddled with the dark green of her dress. Her feet felt uncomfortable in her black flats and her hair was tight in the bun. The eldest walked up to her and placed a crown on her head. It was made of leaves and roses, real flowers. She took in a breath…

"Happy birthday…" the red head said. Alice stared at him with wide eyes, he knowingly smiled at her before all of the boys turned and walked away.

Alice reached out for one of them! Any of them! Only she couldn't move. She gulped. What was it that he knew? Why couldn't she move? She opened and closed her mouth multiple times, only managing to squeak here and there. Who were those boys? Why aren't they staying? Alice watched in panic as they left through the front doors. It was as if she just watched her father sadly walk away from her. When she finally managed to move they were gone.

Alice looked around, then supposed no one else had taken at least a few moments to see them. Alice gulped again, feeling her heart slowdown from racing she hadn't noticed. She then silently went back over to her place on the stool. She reached up and gently caressed the petals. The fragrance from them made her smile happily; it was like she was wearing perfume. She wondered for a while, watching the people dance, at what those boys had been doing here…

The rest of the party seemed to pass by in a huge blur to Alice. She only looked up when some brave soul came to congratulate her. She sighed and let herself smile a bit at how no one was dancing with Francis no matter how many flirty looks he floated towards single girls. Alice giggled, turning and taking in a breath of fresh air. She looked over at her father who began tapping his glass. Everyone turned their attention up to him, and in return he let his bright smile fall over them. He took a sip of his drink before sighing happily and walking down the stairs.

"A toast! To my lovely daughter Alice," He took Alice's hand and smiled kindly and led her over to the front door, "To Alice and this lovely party. With such lovely guests! And food!" He laughed as many of the other guests did too. Alice watched her father open the door and she stared at what was behind it.

In their driveway was a black mustang. No not a horse, a FORD Mustang 1960's convertible(*8). Yes, yes it was an absolutely lovely car and Alice smiled big and happy for her father. She couldn't stop the most upset feeling that filled her either though, making her grimace to herself. It felt as if she was going to choke on tears just to keep them from falling. She gulped unhappily and clenched her fists tightly, before she saw something.

From behind a corner a horse emerged, its fur golden like the sun. Alice suddenly felt her anger disappear and she looked over at her dad, astonished. He blinked, confused before letting out an awkward smile. Alice ran over to the horse, making sure to admire the car and caress it before she took the horses bridle and smiled. Around the horses neck was a red ribbon with a tag. She looked at the tag, it only said Happy Birthday. She smiled wide at her father and hummed happily.

The man smiled back widely and laughed a bit. The guests clapped and Alice led the real mustang around to the front of the car. It looked nervous, so she caressed its head gently before telling her father she'd be right back. Alice led the horse around the house towards the pasture. The horse was stubborn, but she sort of guessed that because it'd been nervous. Multiple times she stopped to allow it to smell the surroundings and such. Eventually she'd start leading again, only to repeat the process.

Alice smiled once they had finally reached the barn. The horse was tense and obviously not very happy at all. Alice frowned and went over to a bucket and pulled out some sugar cubes. Instantly the horse was interested. It looked at Alice directly in the eyes, with hard azure eyes that made Alice still and the cubes dropped from her hand to the floor. The horse didn't go after them; it just continued to stare at her. It dawned on Alice, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Why hadn't she seen those eyes before?

"A… Alfred?" She asked quietly. It came out of her mouth as a squeak and the horse instantly looked away to eat the sugar cubes. Alice gulped and hesitantly went over to the horse, no Alfred, and placed a hand on the long hair of his mane. She petted his neck gently as she inspected his form.

When she first saw him she'd expected him to be a mixed breed mustang(*9) but now it was obvious he wasn't. She frowned deeply seeing the long stripe marks on his side. She gingerly let her hands run across them. Alfred snapped his head in her direction and she stared at him. It all made sense now… Alfred's inhuman face, the determination to win just a simple game; it was an instinct that had been beaten into him with a whip. Alice quickly went over and wrapped her arms around the horse's neck. No horse had those eyes, she was sure!

"Blink twice if it's you, I can't believe this you. They were talking about selling you right in front of you of my god…" Alice stared at him for a long time. His eyes unsure and unmoving, but eventually he did blink twice and look away quickly. "Ok… I… Ok…" Alice lead him over to a stall and when she opened it he immediately walked in, "I won't ride you until you let me know it's ok… Horses who have been beaten during rides often are scared an-and I'm not saying you're scared! It's more I'm scared of upsetting you." She said quickly. Alfred blinked at her and nodded slowly.

Alice smiled and nodded back quickly. She licked her lips in thought, then got another handful of sugar cubes, placing them in front of Alfred to see if he'd take them. He did and she patted his head with a hum. Alice then quickly put food and water in the stall and said goodbye. She headed back to the house with extreme worry and even anger.

Alice stared at her reflection. She'd been very quiet around her father, thanking him again over and over for the car. Yes she definitely had put the car to good use, but it isn't like she had anywhere to go. She stared at herself, at her green eyes and eyebrows. Neither of which her mother or father had. All she could see when she looked at herself were those four boys who'd danced with her. Now that she thought more and more, she compared the eldest to the horse she'd seen in the forest that one day.

Alice gulped and combed her fingers through her long blonde hair. Around her room were old books of family members and photos. None of them had her hair color. She looked at the oldest pictures there were of her and noticed that there were no pictures of her as a baby. The oldest picture taken of her was from when she was three years old. Alice clenched her jaw together tightly, wondering how she'd never noticed something so obvious before…

It'd been months sense the party and she had stopped really talking to her father, but should she even call him that anymore? Alice gulped and pulled her hair up into two ponytails. She put her riding gear on and walked down the steps. She needed to ride Alfred again today, like he'd asked her to. While she made her way down her father confronted her. She stared at him, her respect over powering her anger. Alice looked away quickly.

"Alice, you haven't actually sat down with me in a while," her father said sternly, "you haven't even come down to the parties, what is wrong?" Alice only shook her head.

"I've just been thinking… Look I'm going to go ride Alfred for a while… I'm also contemplating going to the lodge up in the hills for a few days." She said looking at her father, well this man she knew as father. The man tensed up and stared at her for a while before sighing and nodding…

"Ok… the key should be in my office on the desk… Be careful…"

"I will. Thank you," and with that Alice quickly went upstairs to pack her things. She stuffed it all in her bags and ran back down the stairs. Once she'd grabbed the key she sprinted towards the barn.

Alice breathed deeply once she was in the barn. She then whistled loudly, staring into the pasture. She saw Alfred's head shoot up and he quickly ran over happily. Alice saw his worried look form on his face and she stared at him confused, before noticing the wetness of tears on her cheeks. Alice smiled nervously, hearing her voice crack as she broke down into a crying mess. Alfred grunted and gently nudged her with his head. Alice wrapped her arms around the horse's neck and simply cried.

When she finally calmed down she went and picked up a saddle and such, strapping them onto Alfred slowly as to let him get used to it. Alfred watched her hook her luggage to the saddle. Alice patted his neck and climbed on whispering to him gently before clicking, making him go forwards. Alfred was slow at first before he broke out into a slow run. He was obviously worried for Alice. He didn't know where they were going so when she stopped him in front of a forest path he looked at her confused when she got off and opened the gate. Alice smiled as she closed the gate, then turned and petted Alfred head.

"We're going to a lodge up in the hills, I like taking the forest trail… Do you want Kiku to come? I know you and him have become friends…" Alfred looked out into the pasture and shook his head saying a silent no. Alice nodded and climbed back onto Alfred's back. "Alright then, let's get going…"

The path was still there, yes not easy to see because of the weeds, but the cobble stone was still visible. Alice inhaled the deep forest sent and let her thoughts wander as she stared into the trees. The fresh air was good for her and she combed her fingers softly through Alfred's now short mane. She learned quickly about and insufferable little group of hairs that simply would not stay down. She learned to accept it though, supposing it was part of his character.

Alfred trotted slowly, not wanted to go to fast on the unfamiliar trail. He was worried for Alice; she'd made it clear to him she wasn't his owner, she was his friend. He respected her for that. Alfred grunted as he fallowed the path. He wanted to ask Alice if everything was alright, he wanted to make sure she was ok. He couldn't do that like this though, so he accepted her simply reassurances. He knew something was wrong though because of the amount of sadness that was leaking from her skin(*10). Alfred had a definite frown on his face, when they got to this lodge place he would definitely help her.

They walked for hours, probably about six, when they finally reached the lodge. It was dark outside and Alfred was very tired. When Alice got off he watched her take her things off of the saddle, and then take the saddle itself off. She gently took the bridle off of his face and petted him. Alfred breathed nervously when she turned to walk away. Alfred shook his head and bucked unhappily. He glared at the ground and let himself focus, growing a victorious smile as he felt his body changing.

"WAIT!" he yelled out, Alice turned around quickly. Instantly a bright red blush covered her face. She squeaked at him unhappily and turned away. Alfred blushed as well before grabbing a horse blanket from a shelf in the stable he was in. "W-wait, let me in too…" Alice turned around again slowly, relieved he was now covered; she nodded.

"My… father has left over clothing here… you can wear them…" Alice said, Alfred nodded quickly as he followed her inside of the lodge. It was freezing in there, but Alice quickly turned the heat on. She turned and smiled at him. "This way…"

She led Alfred to a room further into the house and left him to change his clothing. She sat in the living room quietly, watching the fire burn furiously. It was comforting though, and she wrapped herself up tighter with the blanket. The house was cold from disuse, and it was quite upsetting. Alice had changed into a nightgown, which wasn't the greatest thing to be wearing. She combed her fingers through her soft blonde hair and looked up when Alfred sat beside her. She looked at him, confused as to why her father's clothing fit him so well.

"I found some other clothes… So I decided to wear them…" he said looking happy as he touched the felt pajamas. Alice smiled back but was surprised when Alfred pulled her into a hug. He was warm, so she didn't protest. "I know you're not ok…" he said quietly. She felt him hesitantly start petting her hair. Alice smiled at him…

"I know… I'm just…" she let out a long sigh before resting her head on his chest, "I don't know where I came from…"

"Oh," Alfred retorted, before laughing a bit, "Well… you aren't like the humans… You're… You're actually like me…"

Alice thought for a moment before looking up at Alfred with a small smile, "I'm actually not surprised to hear that… Not with what all has been going on… I sort of pieced everything together earlier today…" she said with a sigh. Alfred rested his head on hers quietly…

They sat like that for a while, just relaxing. She closed her eyes tiredly; pretty sure she would drift off at any moment. She felt Alfred's breathing slowdown from under her; she hummed as she opened her eyes to look at his sleeping face. Alice gently brought her hand up and caressed his face. She smiled and sighed, closing her eyes once more. Sleep eventually overcame her, pulling her into unconsciousness…

*1: A Miyako Horse/Pony is a horse that originated in the Miyako Islands of japan. As of 2002 there were only 22 of them know to exist. Read more at this link...

*2: A hot walker is an item used to walk horses in a circle so that they exercise without running around like a crazy animal. Look at a picture int he following link...

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*3: A Jeilin horse is a chinese bree of horse, read more about them in the following link...

- breeds/jielin/

*4: Yilignol or Yili horse is another type of chinese horse, read more about them int he following link...

- Yilignol breeds/yili/

*5: A Deboa Pony is a type of horse/pony in china which is strictly protected by the government there. There isn't much I actually learned about them but you can look them up on your own to see what you find...

*6: Yanqi is another Asia horse, read more about them in the following link...

- breeds/yanqi/

*7: Hands High is a way to size u a horse, the more hands the bigger. Ivan is a HUGE horse! Usually it is rare to have a 18 hands high horse, but as far as I know really the size only goes up to 20 hands high.

*8: Ford Mustang 1960's Convertible, there's a link to a picture...

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*9: A mustang is an american horse, read more in the following link...

- wiki/Mustang_horse

*10: Animals are empathetic, meaning they an feel other peoples emotions. Hence why they react with their caretakers feelings and so forth.

Please Review!

Should I continue?