Disclaimer: I don't own Heart no Kuni no Alice (aka Alice in the Country of Heart) or any of the characters. I just felt like messing around with Alice and Blood a little today.

"It took one look and now we're not the same."

~Avril Lavigne~

A Change in Perspective

She still couldn't believe that he had come back for her. His appearance in her reality – her world – was a shock because, well, she had dreamt him up right? But no, apparently that was not the case because there he had stood in front of her. Yet, surprisingly, it didn't frighten her. It relieved her if she were to be honest with herself. She had been worrying that she was a delusional person – to be capable of creating that kind of world in her mind; to put herself through the good and the bad experiences.

She put the book down that she was attempting to read and let her head fall against the back of the couch she often used at her reading spot. There was no point in pretending to be enveloped in a book – she hadn't actually read a single sentence for the past half an hour. Her mind was too full of thoughts and memories. She needed to do something to occupy herself.

"Alice," she heard the baritone of the familiar voice belonging to Blood Dupre.

Alice let her head lull to the left, her way of showing him that he had her attention. He raised an eyebrow and smirked in response to her actions and then spoke again, "if you are not going to read than we can find other ways to keep you entertained while in my room."

Her blue eyes widened in response and her cheeks instantly became red at his implication before she choked out, "Th-that really won't be necessary. I've been here awhile so I should – uhm – probably be getting back to the Clock Tower now. Julius might worry if I'm gone too much longer."

After hearing her response Blood scowled at her and bit out venomously, "Even after I showed my affections for you, you still leave my presence as quickly as possible. Tell me, do you still see you ex lover when you look at my face."

Alice was stunned by his reaction, his words, but mostly by the realization that his question brought her – because the answer was, "No I don't Blood. You are not him – you don't even look like him. You two are similar in appearance but it's not an exact match. Your eyes hold a little more warmth towards me than his ever did and can cloud over with other emotions faster. Your jaw is slightly sharper and your lips are a bit fuller and much softer…" she trailed off, refusing to meet his eyes. She had probably said too much.

A shadow fell over her form and she looked up in surprise. Blood had moved without her noticing and he was now standing before her with an unreadable expression upon his face – and then he was kissing her, but it was different from the last time. When he had come to retrieve her; his kiss had simply been to force feed her the potion, as Peter White had before. Even when she had pulled him in for another kiss – not even showing indignation about the manner of receiving the potion as she had with Peter – it had been different than this one. This time it felt almost like an unspoken emotion, like something that he would never be able to say aloud – neither would she for that matter. It felt like love.

Alice closed her eyes and returned the kiss with just as much feeling. Yes, he definitely was not her ex lover. He was Blood Dupre; and that was so much better.