Thank you, everyone for the reviews, this is my first posted fanfiction on this site, so it is very appreciated.

Someone asked me why i refer to Maria as a stranger and outsider instead of a foreigner and here is my main reason: I read the online translations as well as the official English versions of the manga, but mostly I play the heart/ Clover/ joker no kuni no alike games and in the translation from the game to English, they call Alice a stranger. In the official English manga they call her an outsider and in the online translations, they call Alice a foreigner. Outsider and stranger are just easier for me to spell. I'm a very bad speller. XD Enjoy.

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Maria sighed to herself as she looked at each path in her road. Finally deciding she knows Ace the best and her aching feet would not take her anywhere, anyway, she turned around to walk back up the path to the castle. She jumped as the sky suddenly changed from the orange sky of evening to a dark blue colored sky of near midnight. Panicked, Maria looked around and noticed the maze of the garden looked too different in the dark to make her way back with confidence. She turned corner after corner in the darkness, only to head further toward the heart of the maze. Hearing a loud BANG nearby, Maria yelled out in surprise.

"Ace?" She called out timidly, growing more and more alarmed. She was far too short to jump up and see over the rose bushes and her eyes still had not fully adjusted to the change in lighting. She heard rustling near where she stood and felt her heart jump in fright. She scrambled away from the sound, not thinking rationally, and backed into a bush. As she tripped into the plant, little cuts scratched their way through her clothes, over her arms and back.

"What are you doing?" A voice asked as the white haired man, Peter, poked his head around the corner where she heard rustling. He stared at the girl with his red orbs behind those big round glasses. The rest of the man appeared and he began walking toward the Maria who was still practically sitting inside the thorny bush. The first thing she noticed as the rest of his body appeared from around the corner was a gun held in his white gloved hand. Maria's blue eyes grew wide in fear again after the very short relief she felt as Peter poked his head around the corner. She tried to push herself away from the bush to run away, but only sank painfully further inside it. "What's wrong?" Peter asked curiously but also slightly annoyed. He held out his free hand out to her when he reached her. Maria's eyes went to his hand then to his face.

"Why do you have a gun?" she asked fearfully without taking the help she was offered. Peter glanced down at his hand realizing his gun was still there. Maria began trying to pull herself out of the thorns again more slowly this time, still ignoring the rabbit's outstretched hand, when a sudden bright light flashed around the firearm and when the light disappeared, the golden pocket watch was laying in his grasp, connected to the gold chain over his shoulder. The teenage girl stared as he looked back at her. "How did you do that!" She asked, finally finding her voice and causing the white eared man to tip his head to the side in confusion.

"Do what?" He asked. Maria began stuttering pieces of words and pointing to his hand as he let the pocket watch drop to his side.

"Y- You turned your gun into your pocket watch! You're a wizard!" She gushed out, still wide eyed and suddenly realizing she was free of the bush. Peter couldn't help but give a small laugh.

"A wizard? No. All the role holders can do that, it's not magic." He explained, before continuing. "The Queen sent me to find and lead you to your room." He finished and Maria nodded as Peter turned his back and she followed him. The shock was fading and the fear was coming back, now. Finally she tried to dismiss her fear by thinking more rationally. 'He said he was looking for me, so he must have fired his gun into the air to get my attention and go toward him or to her me yell and come find me… That must be it, calm down.' She thought to herself and her heart slowed a bit.

"Thank you, Peter. I have so many questions, and this whole… alternate universe thing is hard to get use to… I've been questioning. Peter, what's a role holder?" She prattled on. The man turned his head slightly to her from the corner of his red eye. She just gazed back up at him as she followed the rabbit into the castle.

"Role holders are those who have roles in this world… For example… The soldiers and maids here don't have names or faces because they are not role holders." He explained patiently. Maria's moth formed an O in understanding.

"I think I get it… So… The queen and Ace are role holders, too, right?" She asked. Peter nodded, leading her down hall ways and up a flight or two of stairs. The teen took this time to question the Prime Minister once more. "Since I fell down that hole and landed here in Wonderland, are there other holes like that in my world?" She asked. Peter hesitated, unsure of what to tell the girl for a moment.

"I believe that question would be best answered by Nightmare. He is the man in control of any openings from our world to your own." The young man answered as he turned to face her outside one door among many in the hall. "Here is your room." He said and withdrew one of his gloved hands into his pocket while Maria thanked him again. He took a glass phial out and held it out to her. It was filled with clear water looking liquid and the glass stopper was shaped like a heart. "The Queen instructed me to have you drink this." He said and it suddenly felt like his manner changed slightly. Maria carefully took the phial and scanned it with her blue bespectacled eyes. Looking back up to meet the red orbs watching her, she felt a little suspicious.

"What is it?" She inquired, simply. Peter shifted where he stood.

"It's called The Potion of Heart." He answered as vaguely as possible. This didn't escape her notice; however, she was still trying to convince herself to trust the albino rabbit.

"So, then… It's for my heart, right? What- Do I need this for the shock of coming into this world? Will it calm me down or something?" She asked, still keeping the heart stopper in the bottle, stubbornly. Peter shifted again, this time it seemed like he was becoming impatient.

"I suppose you could say that… There may not be any path you can take to get back to your world, but that potion may well be the key to getting you back home." Peter said being completely truthful. Maria read the sincerity in his face and finally pulled the stopper out of the bottle. Before she brought the phial to her lips, though, she looked back up at him, noticing how alert his ears were, that whole time, standing straight up and twitching in the direction of any distant sound.

"Why not tell me earlier? You all made me think there was possible way I could get home for a while…" She asked brushing her wavy blond locks behind her shoulders, preparing to drink. Peter thought for a moment, causing her more suspicion.

"That potion doesn't exactly grow on trees. It takes time as well, so the longer you spend questioning me, the longer you will be away from your world." Peter finally said in an almost snap like tone. He was getting more impatient. Maria finally seceded to take a chance and she brought the glass to her mouth and tipped the liquid into her mouth. She couldn't help but to make a bit of a sour face at the taste. It felt warm and a little thicker than water; it reminded Maria of a kind of sweet artificial fruit type medicine she had never had before. After draining the phial, she replaced the stopper and handed it back to Peter who seemed to be much more relaxed. He looked down at her hand, but did not take the item extended to him.

"You should keep the bottle. They way to get back to your world, you need to get to know people around this world. As you do, the potion will automatically refill inside the phial and when the bottle is full again, you will be able to return home." He explained.

"Oh… Okay. Well… Thank you… Again… You helped me a lot today." She said slowly and gave the man a big thankful smile. Peter just nodded in a way that made Maria think he was uncomfortable. She couldn't get over how odd everything felt, he world and the people, too.

"Well… I have paperwork to do. Any questions you might have can be answered by most role holders. A maid will be by shortly to give you a tour." Peter said and with that, he continued walking down the hall. Maria sighed and turned the doorknob to her room. She was exhausted with all these changes and all she could hope was that she could go to sleep and wake up in her own world.

Opening the door, Maria couldn't help but gasp. It was beautiful. A balcony, four poster bed, fireplace. It felt like a small house inside the castle was given to her. She gazed around at the book cases and elegant paintings on the walls. She felt a warm gratitude swell in her chest. She felt bad for taking up so much hospitality, but it touched her to know they were making her as happy and comfortable as possible while she was there.

"Oh… I'll have fun looking about the room in a while… I'm too tired out at the moment." She mumbled to herself and Maria dragged her feet toward the bed and after collapsing onto it, she kicked her boots off with difficulty and didn't bother to move her head to the pillows, or cover up. She fell asleep with her socked feet hanging over the side of the bed and her arms folded under her head over the middle of the thick blanket.

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Peter was still walking a short hallway away, towards his room, when his sensitive sleek ears picked up a tiny noise behind him and he turned his head to see a smiling face.

"What, Ace?" He asked irritably. The knight continued to smile as he leaned against a wall that had been empty moments before. His arms were crossed over his chest and there was a strange look Peter couldn't recognize in those smiling red eyes. Ace's trench coat was dragging on the ground gathering dust and who knows what else on the ground, causing the rabbit to cringe inwardly.

"Sir Peter has already fallen for the foreigner hasn't he?" The playful knight mocked. Peter turned fully to face Ace with a glare on his face. He sighed angrily and tapped his gloved fingers in his impatience.

"You are making no sense again." He growled at the annoyingly happy face.

"I saw you give the potion to Maria. Vivaldi never asked you to give her that… I AM curious, though… Where did you get that?" Ace asked cocking his head to the side. Peter was feeling uncomfortable again. This damn knight was too sneaky for his own good. How he would love to inch his fingers closer to his pocket watch and in the blink of an eye, end the man's life, saving Peter a world of trouble. Finally, Peter took a deep breath and gave Ace the truth.

"I ran into Nightmare a dozen or so time changes ago. He gave it to me. I need to ask him about it as well." He said and made to turn back to his room, until Ace distracted him again.

"You never commented on your feelings toward Maria, though. Admit it, you like the outsider." He coaxed. The rabbit's hands curled into fist. His temper was quite short today.

"Hardly! I merely find her interesting, and none of us want are looking forward to checking her room in the morning to discover her missing, as she would have been, had I not made her drink that potion… I'm amazed that during her time wandering around with you, she never focused on leaving this world hard enough to actually disappear." Peter said and began walking away.

"Maybe Maria likes me." Ace suggested and Peter looked over his shoulder at him.

"She's too sharp to like you." He said softly, though the words lashed out of his mouth. Before Ace could respond, Peter retreated to his room with the intention of finishing his paperwork before going to bed. For some reason a few of the things Ace had said bothered him. Why did Ace think he had fallen for Maria? True, it was said that everyone would inevitably fall for a foreigner, he couldn't change that, but he didn't feel much toward the girl at all. He was more confused by her than anything. Why did Nightmare give him the potion? He must have planned some of this. He can read minds, but not even nightmare could see the future. Lastly, why did Ace's voice keep ringing annoyingly in his long ears?

'Maybe Maria likes me.'

What did he care? He might want Maria to have a good opinion of him, but who cares if she likes Ace? Was it because Ace was always incredibly bothersome to him? His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. He didn't answer. Peter was in a foul mood and if anyone dared open his door a bullet would be through their head before they completely enter. They knocked again.

"Peter! The door to my room won't open again!" Ace yelled and Peter couldn't help but drop his face into his hand.

"Your room is on the floor under this one, you dolt!"