Disclaimer:I do not own Heart no Kuni no Alice. I wish I did but the rights belong to the fantastic Quinrose.

Chapter One: She Disappeared, Like a Dream

Her blue eyes sparkled as she danced in the moonlight. I couldn't help but smile as I watched her dance with Blood. She looked so beautiful. If only she'd realize how beautiful she was. Instead, she would always compare herself to that sister of hers. What was so wonderful about her? Since I have no siblings, I suppose I will never understand. I turned to go back to the refreshment table.

There wasn't much of a point in watching her enjoy herself with another man. Jealousy would only grow and cause me to lose control of myself. This is suppose to be a peaceful celebration. Besides, I don't even have my sword on me at the moment. So I'm better off just finding something to eat and perhaps bothering Julius.

"Ace?"

I turned my head slightly to glance back.

There she was...

"Ace?"

I smiled at her. "Yes, Alice?"

If only she knew how much she really meant to me, that I truly loved her now.

My love for her was real.

Her eyes wandered to glance back at Blood.

"Ace, I," she hesitated.

I raised my eyebrow slightly. "You want me to get you some water, cake, tea maybe?"

I bit my tongue to keep from adding wine to the question. Although, it would be fun to see her get angry for that suggestion.

"Ah... yes. That would be nice." She lowered her eyes and shifted uneasily.

I resisted the urge to sigh as I headed to get Alice some water. She must still be scared of me. I suppose I had taken too many chances with her.

But wait, was that I slight blush I saw?

No... it couldn't be. It was the moonlight playing tricks on me.

Alice is in love with Blood.

"Ace?"

I blinked and turned around quickly. "Yes?"

"I... I need to tell you something."

I cocked my head slightly and grinned. "What is it, Alice?"

She bit her lip. "I wanted you to know... You see I-"

"Alice-oneesan!" the twins called out happily as they appeared out of nowhere to glomp her.

"Ah... Dee, Dum."

I pursed my lips slightly. Trust those Bloody Twins to interrupt Alice.

But hey I should be glad, it wasn't Peter White, the disgusting little rabbit.

Alice gave me a small, sad smile as the twins pulled her away from me. "Good-bye, Ace."

Good-bye? I felt my head cocking to the side in bewilderment. Alice never said good-bye...

It was always 'see you later' or 'I'll come back' tomorrow.

So why is she saying 'good-bye' now?

"Alice?" I grabbed her hand from Dee. "Don't-"

Her hand slowly faded inside my hand.

I looked at her in surprise.

She was fading away?

"Alice?"

I looked at the twins, but they didn't even seem to notice that Alice was vanishing right before our eyes.

"Alice!" I tried to reach for her again.

My hands went straight through her. Alice slowly raised her teal-green eyes to meet mine.

The word 'good-bye' formed on her lips one last time before she vanished completely from my sight.

"ALICE!"

Suddenly, I sat up and found myself inside my tent.

It was all just a dream.

I snorted softly to myself.

More like a nightmare.

Tick tock. Tick Tock.

I yawned and stretched as I stared at Julius from across his desk.

He is always hard at work. But there was a time when he wasn't so serious about work. I let out a sigh. Ah ah ah... those memories again. If that nightmare wasn't bad enough!

As I drank Julius' coffee (It wasn't like he was going to drink it anyways. After all, he only drank Alice's coffee.), I let my legs rest on his desk.

"Shouldn't you be at the castle?" Julius asked without looking up from the clock he was fixing.

I yawned again and put my hands behind my head. "I probably should be. But you know I don't care. What's the worse Vivaldi could do to me?"

"Kill you."

I laughed. "You know she wouldn't. I'm too valuable for her to lose."

My clock-heart throbbed.

-"You're too valuable to lose. You all are too important to me. So please, please don't kill each other."-

Ah ah! You've done it again, Alice! I just can't stop thinking about you.

I sighed. "Do you... ever think about her, Julius?"

"Think about who?"

I rolled my eyes. "Alice."

I swear Julius paused his work for a fraction of a second.

"I don't have time to think about her."

I smirked slightly. "You think about her all the time, don't you? We all do, you know. Blood goes on rampage because of her. Peter is depressed all the time. Boris hardly ever plays around. Nightmare is depressed and coughing more than normal. Even Gray is acting weird. Not to mention the twins are always disappearing into thin air."

I snapped my fingers to emphasize my point.

Julius snorted softly. "Does it matter? She's gone... She's not coming back."

My smirk faded. My fun was over... Now for the painful truth.

I sighed again. "She's not coming back... I know."

"So you might as well get back to your work."

"I can't," I stated flatly.

Julius blinked and glanced up at me. "What do you mean?"

I gave him a small goofy grin. "I've lost it."

Julius raised an eyebrow. "Lost what?"

My eyes betrayed no emotion despite my happy grin as I replied, "My will to kill."

Author's Note: Short beginning I know. :P But don't worry! It'll get longer. I've had this idea in my head for a while so I thought I'd finally post it. Hope you guys enjoy it! Oh and just a note, the chapter title was inspired by ShinEE's "Dream Girl."