Well it took a while. But I'm finally done the first chapter. Took me two days, but I am officially done! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this because it took a lot of effort to write.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Diamond/Joker/Clover/Heart no kuni no Alice franchise. I only own the smartass narrator in this fic.

Chapter One

Anything is possible if you put your mind into it.

Or if you're as stubborn as hell like me.

I should know. Being stubborn is what kept me alive in the clusterfuck of a mess that's been my life for the past six years. Stubbornness was particularly useful when you needed to pursue something or someone and could not allow anything to get in your way, fear and other insecure emotions be damned. It also helped me stay calm in situations that had most people collapsing into a nervous breakdown.

Like sitting in the interrogation room of a police station and being interrogated by the head of the police himself.

Guess what I was doing?

"Was all of that really necessary?" Police Chief Clark (who I called 'The Chief' for short) had finally decided to break the silence when it was obvious that I was not going to break it. He's known me for a year now; I never spoke first when interrogated with the occasional exception. "Any of it?"

He then proceeded to chug down his third cup of coffee since the beginning of our intense staring contest and signaled at the two-way window for one of his officers to deliver another one immediately. The Chief told me that ever since I started making it my life's mission to get caught in some sort of situation every month because I couldn't curb in my inner detective, his coffee intake had tripled. I had a feeling that after this particular conversation, his coffee intake was going to upgrade into the quadruple numbers.

"Yes." I tell him with unshakable conviction. The bitch and her entourage had deserved everything and more. "I couldn't let any of them get away with it. I regret nothing."

And I sincerely meant that. I did not regret any of my actions, no matter how much trouble this was going to bring me litigation wise. There was no doubt in my mind that there would be a lot of lawsuits after this particular incident. Maybe what I did was petty and selfish and would bring a lot of pain all around for those involved. But there was only one thing I cared about at this point.

Justice.

For a former classmate of mine. Not that she was around to enjoy it, which made the ending of such a shocking and disgusting case so bittersweet. While I made sure that all of them would pay for what they did, no one won. Catching her murderers' wasn't going to bring her back; all it would do was bring closure to her friends and family.

And even that wasn't much of a consolation prize.

I guess I should back up a bit. Why don't I introduce myself first?

My name is Yulia Charlotte Alteria-Rivera. My last name is a little weird, I know, but I'll explain why that is later.

It's... quite the story. Don't have time to tell it now, but I promise it will come to light eventually.

Now that we've gotten the introductions over and done with, I guess I should explain why I ended up in the police station in the first place. And why I've become good friends with the Chief of Police himself to the point that he's consuming caffeinated drinks more than ever.

Skipping past how I probably made too many enemies in the span of a year to list since it would take forever to cover every single detail, it all started three weeks ago with the discovery of the mutilated body of a UBC university student in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. It's a park made up of a network of trails; perfect place for a run if you were a jogger or just needed a general break from the stresses of life.

At some point late into the night, where the chances of anyone taking a late night run were slim, they dumped the body in the middle of the trail. The next morning a family half way into their family weekend "fun" run stumbled across the gruesome sight.

No doubt it would be a "fun" and memorable event they'll be remembering for years to come. Gruesome, but memorable all the same.

So what made this case so personal for me? Well it turns out that the murdered student was not only my classmate but my roommate, no matter how short the time was.

Her name had been Tara Benson.

Tara Benson was a shy and quiet girl who mostly kept to herself. A wallflower who tried to blend into the background and become one of the crowd. The type to hang her head and hope that no one notice her. She was on the short side; barely five foot one.

She was the perfect target for anyone hoping to prey on the weak and vulnerable.

Prior to her becoming my roommate, Tara had been staying a couple of rooms down from me with another girl named Natalie Saunders. An obnoxious bitch with no concept of what sharing a roommate meant and who seemed to think that the world revolved around her. While Tara had never talked to me about her former roommate once she moved in, I got the impression that she was a less than stellar person.

How did I come to that conclusion?

Easy. I was walking past their room one day when Tara started screaming in unadulterated terror from inside. I didn't even think about what I did next; I just kicked down the door (broke it right in half) and performed my civic duty. And by civic duty, I meant unleashing my knowledge of extensive martial arts on her would-be-rapist who was also the boyfriend of Tara's evil roommate.

Neither him nor his girlfriend saw it coming.

At least that was what I told the head of the school when he called me into the main office the next day and demanded an explanation about why I broke down a door and why a student was in the hospital with all his limbs broken right in half.

The aftermath was a mess. I volunteered my room instantly to Tara since the broken down door blatantly indicated that she could hardly stay in her room. Plus, I wanted to keep an eye on her since her evil roommate and her equally diabolic got expelled.

To those who haven't picked up on it yet: I failed.

You would think that expelling the two of them would just solve everything, wouldn't you?

HA.

Wrong.

To those naïve enough to think that everything would be fine and dandy after being kicked out of school... consider Natalie Saunder's character. She was selfish, self-absorbed and as I mentioned before, thought the world revolved around her. Now tell me; do you honestly think someone like that was going to let Tara get away for expelling her even though she had no one but herself to blame?

If you answered "no" you get a cookie!

If you said "yes", go online and read some articles on just how bad bullying is to get a head start on a crash course class called Reality Check 101. Word of advice: do this before you eat because some of the things you will read are just plain horrific.

As it turned out, Natalie had friends. Friends who were eager to "avenge" her and her equally touched in the head boyfriend for being expelled for their own stupidity.

They made Tara's life a nightmare, harassing her in any way they could. Tried to do the same to me... but I proved to them I wasn't someone to fuck around with. They backed off when I started defending Tara too once I realized just what they were doing.

It wasn't enough.

Two weeks after the harassment started... Tara ended up dead.

After a lot of badgering, I was finally able to get all the facts from my friends within the police force.

Tara was tortured and at some point, raped. On top of that, her body mutilated by a sharp weapon, most likely a knife. I won't get into any details; just know that it was so fucking awful that there were no words to describe it at all. The only thing I'll say is that the murderer was a knife nut. A really crazy one.

Her face had not been spared either... it was so bloody and beaten and disfigured to the point that the people on the force couldn't identify her. The psychos who had killed her and then desecrated her body had made sure that she couldn't be identified. At least right away.

It wasn't until I filed a missing person's report that they put two and two together... a day after I had. I wasn't an idealist or an optimist. I was a realist. The minute I saw the headlines of the newspaper announcing in bold letters the discovery of an unidentified and mutilated in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park, a place that was pretty close to the university the both of us attended...

I knew it was her.

Call it intuition. It's never failed me before.

I couldn't remember anything after that. As usual, when my emotions (especially anger) ran high, everything just became one big blur. I had vague memories of me running around the university talking to people and gathering as much evidence and proof as I could. Enough proof to throw her murderers in prison for life because Canada didn't believe in executing people any more.

I knew who murdered Tara, or who at least ordered her murdered. I just needed evidence. Evidence that soon revealed that there had been more than one person involved in the gruesome torture and slaying of my roommate.

Turns out it wasn't just Natalie. It was Natalie and her friends who took turns torturing Tara for as long as they could until she eventually died from her injuries. A crime on the same brutality as the Murder Case of Reena Virk.

Everything came to a head when Tara's murderer(s) decided that I knew too much and decided to do something about it.

Too bad for them I was already prepared.

The only thing I needed from them was a confession.

Which had, surprisingly, been easy enough to get. As easy as it was beating up everyone who participated in trying to "teach me a lesson".

You know the saying 'pride always comes before the fall'? The fact that most of them didn't get the memo meant that they were more than willing to part with the information I wanted and more. Because they were so confident that I wouldn't be able to see the light of day, much less tell anyone else about what they said. I was able to obtain information on how they memorized Tara's schedule and picked out the perfect opportunity to jump her and drag her into a secluded area where no one would be able to hear her.

I got all the gory details from them.

Every single one.

It hadn't been easy to listen to any of it, but if I wanted to convict all of them then that was the price I had to pay. The price of hearing them tell me just how much they had enjoyed "teaching Tara a lesson" and then saying that they were going to do the same thing to me.

Seeing the looks on their faces when I told them that I had bugged the area and myself with listening devices and that everyone from the police, other students, teachers and the Headmaster of the university was listening in was... satisfying.

Basking in the misfortune of others was not a very nice quality for a young lady, but who cares?

After that, it was basically a free for all between me and them until the police found the area we were in and surrounded the place. They then proceeded to break out the handcuffs and clasp them on everyone who was there.

Including me.

Jerks.

"You really did it this time. I don't even know where to begin with this." The Chief leaned back in his seat, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly. "It's one hell of a mess that's going to be keeping me up for weeks."

"How about the part where I kicked everyone's asses and brought justice for all?" I smirked. "That sounds like a good place to start."

The Chief snorted and rolled his eyes. I could practically hear the thoughts of 'If it were only that easy' going through his mind. Not that I could blame him; being the head of the police for ten years, he must have witnessed humanity's dark side for a very long time.

But I could tell that this case had been very draining for him.

"How about I start with the part where you essentially drove Natalie Saunders insane instead?" The Chief said sarcastically.

"That works too!" I didn't even bother trying to hide the grin on my face. "That was one of my favorite parts!"

I did say I was pretty vengeful, didn't I?

Actually, it had been the high light of my entire day. But judging by the look that the Chief was giving me at the moment, I don't think he would appreciate me saying that out loud. Ah well. It was his loss.

"Honestly, I didn't even touch her. She was some of the few people who I didn't hit. I beat up everyone else just because they were stupid enough to try to come after me."

You would have thought they'd know better. I did over power a six-foot athletic jock who was still recovering in the hospital, after all.

"And yet the Saunders girl is pretty much insane now. My officers tell me that she's been screaming for your blood and going on about how you and the victim ruined her life." The Chief sighed. "Tell me how that happened?"

I made a face that told him just how much I sympathized with ruining Natalie Saunder's life. Tara was dead and the only thing that her murderer could think about was herself.

She was a murderer, but still...

"I just told her that she was a self-centered bitch right to her face. Except with a lot more expletives." I said. It wasn't anything too complicated and something that really needed to be said to the delusional girl. "And I added that she would die alone with no one to love her because she was a monster in human skin. As a bonus, I also said that she'd rot in prison for the rest of her natural life."

She hadn't been the worst delusional person I had ever confronted, but she disgusted me all the same.

"Right." The Chief nodded. "So you were pretty much just being you."

"Pretty much." I also nodded.

Complete silence filled the room since neither of us had anything to say. Finally, the Chief broke the silence again as he stood up.

"Well, I don't know about you, but it's been a long night." He was rubbing his head; he probably had a migraine. He told me that on top of his multiplying coffee intake, he was also more prone to headaches. The Chief then added underneath his breath. "And I suspect it will be an even longer week."

Then in a louder voice, he said, "Well, I think I pretty much got everything I needed. Go back to your dorm and get some rest, Yulia." He headed for the door and then paused. "And try to stay out of trouble this week, alright? Just stick to volunteering for the multiple organizations you've signed up for; only the Holy Man in the Sky knows how you manage to fit it all into your schedule."

And then he finally walked out of the room.

Even though he could no longer see me, I stuck my tongue out just to mock him.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I walked down the path towards my dorm building. It was all over and I was sure that Tara could now rest in peace. With her murderers caught and facing jail time (for life, I hope), all I wanted to do was get some well deserved sleep. I didn't want to deal with any of the shit storm that was going to result from last night's events until I had gotten at least twelve hours of sleep.

A dark and powerful presence outside of my dorm building made me stop cold in my tracks.

"Princess Yulia." A low and masculine voice said for the sake of announcing himself rather than addressing me. Not that it really did him any good since I had sensed him before he even spoke.

A dark figure that had hidden out of view from any unsuspecting civilian walking by detached itself from said hiding place and walked towards me.

"Great." I could feel a migraine of my own coming around as the man got closer. I guess this was karma for all the grief that I've put The Chief through. "What are you doing here?"

This is only the beginning of Yulia's story. Don't worry; she's going to get dropped into Wonderland soon enough. Also, the inspiration of the gruesome fate of Tara Benson came from the fic 'Round and Round' by Tanglepelt and the real life murder of Reena Virk. If you're interested, go read about either sources or both or none if you're not interested.

Edit: Did a bit of editing around. Hope you enjoy some of the re-writes.