A/n: Hellosesies all! Squiggles here.

Dang, it felt good to say that. I haven't uploaded anything in forever.

Anyway, I wrote this because Gowland really needs some love on here. Although this was slightly creepy to write, I enjoyed working on it and I hope you all will enjoy reading it.

I guess its time for the disclaimer. I don't own Heart no Kuni no Alice. If I did, Alice would be with Peter right now and Blood would be in a hole somewhere.

Okay, on with the fic!

Quietly, Alice sneaked through the doorway. Hopefully, no one had heard her. She began to survey the room she had ended up in. It looked to be your typical office space including a few filing cabinets lining the walls, a window complete with shutters that did a good job of blocking out the sunlight, and a desk near the back of the room full of paperwork. All seemed pretty normal until Alice spied something sitting alone on a shelf behind the desk.

Alice sighed. Upon taking another peek at the violin, she confirmed it, "Definitely Gowland." Not wanting to intrude upon the misguided musician's space, she headed toward the door, but before she had taken more than a few steps, Gowland had cantered in.

"Why, hello, Alice!" he beamed. "This an unexpected surprise. What do I owe this visit?"

"Oh, nothing," she said. "I was only looking for a place to hide. Boris wants me to go on the roller coaster with him and I'm too scared, but he's insisting that I ride it. I was looking for a place to hide out and I didn't know that this was your office, so I just came in. I'll leave you alone now."

"It's okay," Gowland insisted, "you can stay in here if you like. You never know where that boy is lurking. He could pop up at any moment."

Alice declined. "That's okay. I'll just go somewhere else. I'd hate to be in your way."

"You wouldn't be in my way," Gowland assured. "I just came in here to get some paperwork done. Truth be told, I'd rather have some company. It gets so dull in here with no one around and you and I never really get to see each other, anyway."

Alice couldn't leave now. She would feel too guilty about leaving Gowland by himself and besides, she could still run into Boris. So, she obliged.

"Good," Gowland said. "Now, if you could put the needle on that record player there, I'll see about finding you a place to sit."

Alice did as was told and was surprised at what she was hearing. She squinted and eased herself into the comfy chair that Gowland was holding out for her. ". . . . Is this. . . . The Four Seasons?"

"That it is," he confirmed brightly. "Do you know it?"

"You could say that," Alice admitted hesitantly.

The music was indeed Vivaldi's famous piece, Alice's favorite movement of it, Winter, to be exact, but it sounded a bit strange. The melody that was supposed to be in the strings was instead played by the brass section and it seemed to be played in a different key. Overall, the effect was slightly odd, but pleasing to Alice's ears. "It is played differently in my old world," she mused.

"Is it really?" Gowland asked, his eyes lighting up at the mention of new musical information. "How exactly?"

She voiced her earlier observances.

"Is that so?" he asked, mystified by the new-found knowledge.

The girl nodded. "I really like this arrangement of it, though. It was a little overwhelming, at first, to hear something so familiar played so differently, but after you get used to it, it might even be better then the original. It kinds of reminds me of life in Wonderland."

The amusement park owner looked up at her. "Is that how you feel about living here?"

". . . . . I guess it is," Alice said after thinking about it for a moment. It is true that she missed her family back home terribly and that she wanted to strangle everyone in Heartland sometimes, but it was her home now and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

The song changed and the thoughtful mood lifted to be replaced by one of utter repulsion. "That is all wrong!" Alice exclaimed at hearing their version of Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata." Whatever idiot had conjured up that monstrosity, she wanted to hang them for their actions. The usually quiet and brooding song had been rearranged and was now fast, loud, and terrifying.

"What's wrong with it?" Gowland asked. "I've always liked that piece."

"What's wrong!" Alice nearly shouted. "Its terrible. It's far far far too fast and waaaay too loud. You just DON'T do that to a song like 'Moonlight Sonata!'"

Gowland shrugged. "To each their own, I guess."

"You can't tell me that you like this awful piece of music," she insisted.

"I was always fond of it," he admitted.

"Well, you shouldn't be," Alice persisted.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't see this song any other way. Its perfect the way it is," Gowland contradicted.

"No, its not," she said. "I'll show you what its supposed to sound like. Is there a piano anywhere?"

"There is, but we'll have to leave the room to get to it and aren't you trying to avoid Boris?"

"There are more important matters at hand," Alice told him. "I'd rather ride the roller coaster than have you continue to be so musically ignorant."

"If you insist," Gowland surrendered. "Follow me."

The two of them traveled to the other side of the building and arrived in a room armed with nothing but a gorgeous grand piano and bench. Quickly, Alice plopped down at it and got to work. "Listen to this and tell me that your arrangement is actually better than mine," she commanded while shaking and flexing her fingers to loosen them up.

With Gowland standing over her shoulder, the outsider began to play.

All time seemed to stop in Alice's mind. Nothing existed asides from her finders gliding over the keyboard playing the notes in accordance with the music that was programmed into her brain years ago and that little voice inside of her head giving her a constant stream of reminders. It kept saying things like watch your dynamics here, Alice and be careful at this part; it's a huge stretch on your hands. She had missed that voice and those feelings. She played as if she had never stopped taking lessons.

After she had stricken the final chord, Gowland put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "That was amazing; gorgeous. I had no ideal that you were so gifted with the piano, Alice."

She looked up to see that the terrible musician had a hint of tears in his eyes. "I'm not really any good. I've just had that piece memorized for as long as I can remember, so it comes easily to me."

Gowland accompanied her on the piano bench. "Either way, you have certainly impressed me. I must admit that the version from your world is much better than the one in ours."

"My world? I'm pretty sure that this is my world," Alice said placing a small kiss on his cheek. "Right here with you."

Awww! You've got to love a good fluffy ending.

I hope you enjoyed the story and, as always, if you wish to leave a review, at least make it honest.

Squiggs : )=