Right now I am cheering. Why? Because I am finally starting the series that I have been discussing with Sleeping Moon for a while. And speaking of Sleeping Moon, I have to give her A LOT of credit in regards for this story. Both for helping with the initial stages, for keeping me inspired, and for looking over this huge chunk of text and doing a lot of edits that needed to be done.

So Sleeping Moon... thanks!

I sincerely hope that you and the readers enjoy this! BTW, this takes place in the same universe as 'My Sister's Keeper'.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Diamond/Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice series and franchise. If I did, I would tweak Alice's character quite a bit. I also do not own Erin Oswald. She belongs to Sleeping Moon.

Prologue

Julius Monrey pinched the bridge of his nose and bit back the urge to groan loudly.

He told Ace to leave quietly. Not jump out of the window of his office on the second floor and cause a commotion on the way out with a stupid grin plastered on his face. The navy-haired doctor had a feeling he would have some explaining to do towards the staff later this afternoon, though it was his fault for losing track of time and kicking the fool out on such short notice when he heard the approaching foot falls.

Swiftly putting on the glasses that he set aside his desk earlier, he swiveled his chair in the direction of the door just as the knob turned. The door was pushed open slightly to reveal a woman in her early twenties with bright green eyes peering into the room shyly. Seeing Julius staring at her, she let out a soft squeak and pulled herself back into the hallway.

Julius let out a sigh at the brunette's antics. No matter how much he had reassured her that he would not harm her, she still seemed wary of him. "Just in time for your scheduled appointment, Miss Oswald. Don't forget to close the door this time."

There was a pause where Julius could practically hear the gears turning in her head before the door opened wider and his patient finally stepped into the room. She avoided his gaze, instead choosing to look down at the floor as she scuttled to her assigned seat. Her soft, wavy bangs shielded her eyes from sight as she continued to stare hard at the cold, linoleum floor in an effort to avoid looking at him directly.

A few minutes passed before the young woman coiled pale arms around her frame in a half-hearted embrace. It was almost as if she was bracing herself for what she knew he was about to say.

An awkward silence settled in before Julius leaned back in his seat and lifted the file that had been sitting on top of his desk. The document containing confidential data on Erin Oswald. He pretended to scan through it, though he already knew what was written inside. He already memorized the information within it by heart, but flipped through it anyways to try and lessen the terse atmosphere that had settled into the room. Finally, he set down the file again and sat up straighter in his seat.

He decided to get right to the point and kick out the giant elephant in the room. "I heard about yesterday."

Julius winced at just how bluntly that came out. And the way his patient flinched, he might as well have slapped her across the face. Her startled green eyes flew up and met his own intense gaze before she looked away again.

"I..." The woman bit her lip hard as she clutched herself even tighter. "I thought you might have heard about that."

Of course Julius had been told about the incident the day before. How could he not know? The guards and nurses on site had made it their top priority to tell him. His only patient, after all, had just tackled and punched another person in the face yesterday before being pulled off and sent to her room.

"I did." Julius said curtly. "Why?"

"Eh?" Erin looked up at him. This time she did not look away from him.

"You assaulted another person! Even worse, a visitor!" Julius could not keep the frustration out of his voice when he said that and he slammed a fist over his desk to emphasize it.

Her little stunt no doubt had a negative impact on her psychological evaluation. Erin was already on thin ice with the staff because her track record depicted frequent violent mood swings; at the rate things were going, the frozen sheet would eventually crack and plunge her into the frigid waters. Or rather, she was going to be forced to stay in this place whether she liked it or not.

Julius pinched the bridge of his nose again, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to calm down. He grabbed the clipboard and pen, flipping through his notes and pausing at the page that he stopped recording their session in the previous week.

"Sorry." He exhaled. "I have a lot of things on my mind today. I shouldn't take my frustrations out on you like that."

It wasn't her fault that Ace decided to make an ass out of himself. Again.

He made a "go on" gesture with his hand before beginning to record today's psychiatric session.

Erin stared at Julius hard before quickly looking to the side with tears threatening to spill from glowing green orbs. "I know." She said in a small voice. "I shouldn't have assaulted that girl. But hearing her words made me so angry that I was already throwing a punch at her before I could stop myself!"

And the aforementioned young lady, being caught completely off guard by the unprovoked fight, instinctively reacted and retaliated with even more force. Had the orderlies not separated the two of them in time, Erin would have been confined to her own bed and been treated for more than the mental issues that landed her here in the first place.

Apparently his patient picked a fight with someone who had formal training in martial arts.

"What did the girl say?" Julius prompted. He already knew the whole story, but he wanted to hear what Erin had to say in her own defense.

"She..." Erin bit her lip before taking a deep breath and speaking in a flat tone. "She was talking to her... brother. I cannot quote her exact words, but she said something along the lines of being lucky. Lucky that he had it easy since his care and food were easily provided and that he did not have to lift a finger since the staff who worked here did everything for him."

She lifted up her arm rubbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. Julius remained impassive as she paused in her story. He didn't miss the bitterness in her voice once she continued.

"The way she said that," Erin said hotly, "it implied that he and the people who also stay here had everything they needed! Does she honestly think that we want to be here?! To be constantly reminded that we have lost our independence and need to rely on others for help?!"

Julius waited a few minutes for his patient to recollect her thoughts before speaking. This method proved to be useful and there were less interruptions during these sessions.

"Your frustration is understandable." He said. "And I spoke to the girl myself. She was ignorant; not spiteful. She never meant to be condescending in the first place." He paused to glance at the sticky note attached on his desk and spoke again. "She wanted to apologize to you in person, but was barred by the other doctors. But she asked if I could pass on an apology on her behalf."

"Oh." The young woman shrunk in her seat with an ashamed expression.

Honestly, Julius didn't know whether Erin was lucky or not considering the person she had picked to assault yesterday. At the very least, she and her relative would not be charged with a lawsuit. But it also did not dispel the seriousness of the matter. Julius was absolutely certain that it had made things even worse. And he let his patient know just how much trouble she gotten herself into as the man addressed Erin in a stern voice.

"Erin, you can't just up and attack another person. Assault is grounds for a civil law suit and a bad evaluation of your mental health. Institutions and psychiatrists CAN keep you here against your will and the incident has pretty much shattered any chances of living again with your uncle again. Do you understand?"

The brunette flinched and nodded weakly with her eyes downcast in shame.

Julius sighed. He didn't mean to intimidate her, but he needed to get the point across. He didn't tell her yet, but the people evaluating her case were all for Erin being permanently institutionalized. Both for her safety and the safety of the people around her.

'For her own good,' The words were incredibly chilling, even within the confines of his own head.

Seeing Erin so somber, Julius abruptly changed the subject. As negative and cynical as he was, bringing Erin to that level of misery was simply unacceptable. Especially with the way life had battered and treated her so far.

"With the exception of yesterday, how have you been feeling this week?"

"I-I'm fine." Erin stammered. Though judging by the look on her face, she was just as relieved by the subject change as he was.

"Erin." The woman in question jolted at Julius' flat tone of voice. "I didn't come here to hear you lie. The nurses and orderlies told me that you often have good days, but have a lot of bad days as well. And I doubt yesterday's events have completely left your mind either."

Erin looked like a deer caught in headlights. After a few minutes of silence where she looked down, her emerald green eyes shielded behind her bangs, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a letter. She gave it to Julius who took it from her and examined it closely after he ceased scribbling some notes inside the manilla file.

"What is this?" He demanded.

"It's a letter to Uncle Sal. I know the orderlies have not let me send letters back home...but if he ever comes here again...please tell him to not come back."

Julius peered at her over the edge of his glasses as he placed the pen down from writing down some notes. Erin fidgeted under his stare, but avoided looking at him as she played with the sleeves of her sweater. Her glass green eyes were wet, and the man could instantly tell that she was trying her hardest not to break down.

"I'll give the letter to him," Julius pocketed the letter. "But I will not guarantee he will listen. Especially since you are his only family."

Erin nodded. "He is all that I have left...but he shouldn't have to continue seeing me like this. I've brought him shame and unhappiness ever since I came under his roof. I love my Uncle Sal...I love him enough to let go of him and let that man find some peace of mind."

Julius leaned back in his seat, feeling the familiar anger building up again. To an outsider, the brunette's words would have come out as beautiful and self-sacrificing. But Julius could not see the beauty in her words. What he saw instead was the emotional pain that she planned on subjecting herself to.

"If your uncle didn't care about you, he would have instantly brought you here and never visited you again." Julius said in a low tone. "Instead he did his best to look out for you at home and reluctantly gave you up here when he could no longer look after your well-being."

Trying to look after Erin during the initial stages of her declining mentality and the reluctance to give her up in the face of being unable to care for her himself spoke volumes about how much the man had loved his niece. Why did she not see that her actions would do more harm than good?

Julius opened his mouth to give the woman just what he thought about that when he saw Erin's expression. His eyes widened slightly upon seeing the tears trickling down her face before Erin covered them with her bandaged hands. "I know...I know that he did his best to look after me when I became like this but I just...I just don't want to see or hear him cry anymore! He had stopped smiling when his wife died. My actions can't bring Edith back to us, but whenever I try to make him happy with cooking Sunday Dinner together or watch 'Doctor Who' on the telly...it is never enough. He hasn't smiled since that night...how can I face Aunt Edith when I've failed my promise to support him if something happened to her?!"

Erin's loud sobbing filled the room. Julius' chest ached at hearing the woman breakdown completely, but he kept silent and stewed in the awkwardness of the situation. He did not say anything and just allowed her to cry. When the weeping died down and Erin regained a semblance of her composure, the man spoke again in a gentler tone, afraid that speaking any louder would set her off again.

"No one can replace another person. Your Uncle Sal mourns his deceased wife, but ultimately it is up to him to overcome his grief. And I am sure that your Aunt understands you did your best. What happened to you was not your fault."

Bright green orbs looked up at him with a heartbroken expression. "Then why does it feel like this is all my fault? If I hadn't gone on that trip...I wouldn't be here. I'd be looking for a job, trying to help Uncle Sal."

Yes.

The decline of Erin's mental stability had happened shortly after she returned from her college's exchange program in Italy. Her roommate Gabrielle had been the first to notice and had done her best to look after her. Unfortunately, because Erin started becoming volatile, it had been only a matter of time before the neighbours became aware that something was up and decided to check on the two college students.

It only went downhill from there.

"You don't know that." Julius removed his glasses and set them down on the desk. Following his spectacles was Erin's patient file and the clipboard he was using to take notes. "We have fifteen minutes left, but I think it would be best to end here today. This hasn't been an easy week, so I'll schedule an appointment tomorrow and we can continue where we left off."

Erin opened her mouth as if to say something before closing it again and merely nodding at his decision. She stood up and gave Julius a short bow before leaving his office for the day.

Julius leaned back into the chair, closing his eyes and listening to Erin's footfalls before they faded completely from his hearing range. The disguised vampiric nobleman from the House of Monrey sighed as he allowed his exhaustion overtake him. He did not tell her, but it was highly unlikely Erin would ever be released. He overheard the other doctors and nurses talking about his patient and the likelihood of her being able to leave the institution when they were not theorizing about Erin's "unique" condition.

It was hard seeing Erin the way she was now, but he put his own discomfort aside. If it was difficult for him, it was nowhere near how both Erin and Gabrielle felt about, as the current Commander of the Hunters put it, "this clusterfuck of a mess".

It wasn't her fault and no one in their right mind had pointed any fingers in her direction, but Erin blamed herself for the string of misfortunes that befell her. Once an independent young woman who attended post-secondary for the sake of continuing her education and then getting a job afterwards, she suddenly found herself deeply reliant on the people around her. She was no longer able to do the most mundane tasks and even the easiest chore became a monumental job.

The loss of her independence and the forced reliance on others was a source of shame and humiliation for Erin and it showed through her anguish and tears during their appointments.

And her former roommate Gabrielle, who also happened to be a Hunter, upped and vanished without a trace one day. Probably out of guilt as the Commander had told Julius that she blamed herself for Erin's current state before her sudden and abrupt resignation from the Hunters Association.

Speaking of Gabrielle...

Julius reached into the pocket of his coat and brought out a book with a dark blue leather cover. Printed on the front were cursive golden letters that spelled out a single name: Gabrielle. It was a journal that Gabrielle had been writing in when she and Erin had been staying in Italy, recording her every waking moment. The woman had been surprising descriptive with her entries and Julius grudgingly admitted that she had been truthful with the events that occurred despite each entry being coloured with her sarcasm and her unnecessary opinions on the people she met.

Apparently it had been found in Gabrielle's room when it was discovered she left the Hunters' without telling anyone. He did not know whether it was on purpose or if she simply forgot, but the Italian Baron could not overlook the good fortune. It was highly unlikely, the journal could contain clues as to where its owner was. Or at least predict where she would show up next.

After looking over the book themselves, the Commander allowed Julius to borrow it. Either because she did not see the harm in giving it to him or because he might have better luck than the Hunters in finding within them.

Or both.

Opening the book, Julius turned the page and began to read.

Whoo! Done!

What did you think of Erin Oswald's appearance in this? And it's not just going to be a cameo either; she is going to be one of the three main characters in the story.

Hope you enjoyed this! And if you want to show me (and Sleeping Moon) your appreciation, you can do so by leaving glowing reviews as well as placing this story in your favorites and alert list!