Yay! Next chapter! This one's fairly long, don't 'cha think?

Before I forget, the names of all three of my foreigners and the locations of their schools are all ideas by Space Whales. Pretty cool ideas, right? *hint to read her stories* Seriously. I would have never thought of those awesome names.

Warning: I changed Peter's clothing a little bit. I might do that again, so don't think too much about it.

In case you're too lazy to put all of this together, my three foreigners all go to different specialized campuses of the same chain of private schools. The schools are primarily located in Europe, though they can be found all over the world.

If you like this story, which I hope you do, please also read my story "Lorina in Wonderland", which is a collaborative fanfic with Space Whales (mentioned above).

Also, questions, comments, and suggestions are all welcomed and appreciated.

Victim # 2: McKenzie

"Good job, Ken!"

"Nice game!"

"Those serves were perfect!"

"Bump it, set it, spike it; that's the way we like it!"

"Hey, Kenny – nice win!"

"You rule the v-ball court!"

"Championships, here we come!"

The students cheered for McKenzie Caroline as the volleyball game ended. Though the St. Sabastian School of Sports had a stellar volleyball team every year, it was exceedingly exceptional this year, even by St Sebastian's standards. Leading the team was McKenzie Caroline as team captain as the team's trump player. She was a rare athlete, not only for her amazing talent, but for the fact that she had been captain for the girl's volleyball, boy's baseball, boy's soccer, and boy's basketball teams simultaneously, as St. Sebastian's had only one sports season for non-winter sports: the entire school year. She was also in track, but there weren't any positions on the track team as there were for the other sports. The fact that she had served as captain on three boy's teams earned McKenzie the nicknames 'Ken' and 'Kenny'. She was a campus-wide superstar already, though only at the beginning of her softmore year of high school.

McKenzie's school was one of many specialized schools spread across the world.

"Good job, Caroline. I expect to see you at practice tomorrow," her coach, Coach Ree, told her.

"I'll be there," McKenzie told him. She wouldn't dare skip practice - not so close to the championships.

McKenzie fought her way through the crowd. Being the team captain made her the center of attention, especially with her reputation. However, she somehow managed to slip through to the equipment storage room. Once inside, she let the door close behind her, blocking out the noise from outside. She sighed. The volleyball games themselves didn't take nearly as much energy out of her as the crowd did. She breathed a sigh of relief. She grabbed the practice volleyball with her name on it and returned to the gym/battlefield. McKenzie quickly slipped out of the side door, thankfully not noticed by many.

Once McKenzie slipped out the door, she was greeted by the bitterly cold wind. Even though it was only autumn at that time, St. Sebastian's location currently felt like how winters felt back at her home. The cold was both a pro and a con of attending a private school in Switzerland. On the bright side, so much snow and ice made for the perfect conditions for winter sports such as ice skating, ice hokey, skiing, snowboarding, et cetera. The winter sports were split up into sports seasons throughout the school year. The season was currently figure skating, so McKenzie was waiting for ice hockey. However, McKenzie wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to the cold of Switzerland.

The volleyball under her left arm, McKenzie began purposefully striding towards the outside volleyball nets by the basketball courts. In her opinion, the best place to practice was outside. This was because most of the other students preferred to practice in the newer indoor gyms. Yes, plural. After all, you'd have to be crazy to create an elite private school for young athletes and only have one gym.

Shortly before reaching the volleyball nets, McKenzie took a detour to the drinking fountains. As she bent down to drink, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the shining metal. Wow, she thought, I look way more worn out than I feel. Her blonde hair was falling out of its ponytail, though the rubber band wasn't lose. Must have fallen out during the game. Her usual blue-green eyes had a dull gray shine to them, the light in them slightly dimmer than usual.

After drinking from the water fountain, McKenzie bumped the volleyball off her forearms as she walked towards the net. As the amount of volleyball practice that is possible as a solo activity is strictly limited, McKenzie decided to practice her serves. Which would help her practice running, anyway; she'd kill two birds with one stone. Not to mention, her volleyball uniform was a tank top with the school's name in fancy lettering and short shorts to allow comfortable movement around the hot gym. The uniform was designed by one of St. Sebastian's counterpart schools – St. Luke's, the France campus dedicated to artists. Apparently, fashion fit into the school's genre, and therefore, students from St. Luke's designed any kind of uniform used in any of the schools. There were about five of them, though McKenzie didn't know what they all were. The volleyball uniforms that year were made by a freshman at St. Luke's, which McKenzie found impressive. Her name was Tara Kennedy or something like that. But the tags on the uniform only had the creator's designer name on them, so they said "Plum" in fancy writing. No matter who designed her uniform, it was not exactly efficient clothing for that weather, even despite her tolerance to the cold.

Reaching the faded line marking the end of the volleyball court, McKenzie raised her volleyball in front of her, brought back her serving arm, and hit a clean serve right to the back left corner of the court - a perfect liner. The volleyball bounced away. McKenzie was about to start running after it, but she noticed it bounced off of a shoe. A gloved hand picked up the volleyball. McKenzie looked up from the ball to see who had stumbled upon her practice session.

Whoever he was, he had the strangest appearance. First of all, he was wearing a long red coat over a black shirt and pants, the shirt's collar poking out from the coat. His coat looked very heavy-duty, and even just heavy, with all of the buckles on it. He had light brown hair, and his face made him look like he was one of those people who weren't ever frowning. Just to prove that point, when he looked up and saw McKenzie, he grinned at her.

"Hello," the man called out to her cordially. He began to walk towards McKenzie. She took a step back. He was probably only a visitor, but for some reason, he gave off this creepy aura that made McKenzie wary of him.

"Hello," she replied, "are you visiting a daughter or son or sibling here?"

"Kind of, though I sure hope that nobody as young as me already has a child in high school. I'm not too much older than that myself."

"Oh. Sorry, I couldn't tell."

"It's okay. So, do you like this school – you know, with the extra programs and all?" He tossed the volleyball back to her.

McKenzie caught it. "The sports? Yeah."

"Sports?" he muttered to himself, his voice barely audible. "I could have sworn Nightmare said it was an art school. Oh well. I must have gotten lost again! Hehe, I think I know what it was. I thought I shouldn't have taken a right turn so soon at Germany!"

"Something the matter, sir?"

"No, no, it's nothing. I guess you'll do!"

"Hold on – what?"

The man ran up to her, and before she knew what was happening, picked her up bridal-style. "I said, 'I guess you'll do!' By the way, I'm Ace!" He told her, grinning as if he wasn't kidnapping a teenage girl. He began to walk somewhere.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she screamed at him.

"Geez, I'm right here. You don't have to yell."

"I'm aware of where you are, seeing as you are forcefully taking me somewhere!" she screamed at him again.

"Well, you're not going to do any good by yelling. We're almost there anyway. You know, Nightmare was very nice. He told me that I wouldn't have to try to find the hole, 'cause I'd get lost. So the hole is going to come to us so we can fall!"

"What the freak?" As the words were leaving the girl's mouth, she immediately felt herself drop. The crazy guy was right when he said that they'd fall down a hole. She wasn't so sure about the rest, though. She braced herself for the landing and shut her eyes.

But for some reason, it didn't come. They didn't land. McKenzie opened her eyes. They weren't falling down any normal hole. The walls of the hole were lined with shelves, books, cards, chess games, guns, and cups of tea. Sometimes she saw the occasional teapot as well. McKenzie was beginning to doubt her own sanity. Then she saw the light. It didn't make her feel any less insane, though. But it did make her doubt her chances of survival.

The light blinded her. It was a really bright light. For some reason - though it probably wasn't possible - the light was multi-colored. McKenzie and the crazy dude who called himself Ace only fell through the multi-colored light for a few seconds, though. Before McKenzie knew it, she was sitting down in the middle of a large room.

"What?" McKenzie asked no one in particular. She was confused. How did she get to sitting down? Why wasn't she hurt, especially after falling longer than should be possible in a hole on the ground? Nobody could blame her for being bewildered in her situation.

The room McKenzie was in was huge, to say the least. It had a definite heart theme, as the walls and pillars were adorned in various heart designs. Even the tiled floor on which she was sitting had tiny hearts. Despite the room's size, the room was fairly empty. Even though the place was covered in a million tiny little hearts, something about the décor and general atmosphere in the room made it feel very official, even somewhat regal. Looking up, McKenzie saw a large staircase leading up to a platform. On the platform was a large red throne, also designed with the heart theme in mind. However, the throne wasn't what grabbed McKenzie's attention. It was who was sitting in the throne.

A young woman sat in the throne. She looked so comfortable in it, and in her red and black heart gown, that it was fairly obvious that she was used to such as how she was at that time displayed. She had dark hair that was curled, and on the top of her head was a golden crown. She held a jeweled heart scepter. She was most likely a position of royalty or riches, McKenzie decided. She was probably rich. She was a beautiful person, well suited for the elegance she was positioned in, whatever that position might have been.

A really strange man stood next to the woman. The first thing that McKenzie noticed about him was that he was wearing surpassingly realistic white bunny ears. Crazy much? McKenzie thought. The man wore a red plaid vest under a white shirt and a red tie with a picture of a clock on it. He also had a golden pocket watch coming out of his vest pocket. The man had white hair to match his ears, but his face showed no signs of even being middle aged yet. He probably dyed it, McKenzie decided. Stranger yet, his eyes were red. Does this guy want to be a rabbit that bad? It seemed a little extreme to get color contacts to look like a rabbit, in McKenzie's opinion. He's probably a friend of that Ace weirdo.

Think of the devil, and the devil shall appear, right? Ace was standing right next to McKenzie, grinning like and idiot. And cue the chaos, McKenzie thought. She was getting a bad vibe from her situation.

"We did not call you here, Ace, nor did we ask you to bring anyone with you," the woman said in annoyance. From what McKenzie already knew of Ace, she didn't blame the woman for being short-tempered with the freak.

"Ace! Is that what I think it is?" the man with bunny ears exclaimed pointing at McKenzie.

"Hate to interrupt this moment of confusion," McKenzie began, "but can someone please tell me…" she was ignored, and cut off after she spoke that phrase with very loud arguing between the three others. So, she continued by screaming, "WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE AM I?"

Silence fell throughout the room. McKenzie could have heard a pin drop, and she wished that a pin had fallen, because at least that would have made some noise.

"That confirms it, Ace you brought a foreigner," the man with bunny ears stated sternly. "If you're suggesting that Alice can be replaced, I'm insulted. I'll never love anyone but Alice!" he declared proudly, stubbornly, and quite loudly.

"Our dear Alice is still here, idiot knight," the woman said.

"But won't it be great to have another foreigner as well?" Ace asked. He still hadn't removed that idiot grin from his face. "Think of all the fun we can have!" he exclaimed. "Not to mention, Nightmare let me!"

"We do not approve of you bringing foreigners here – especially without their consent, which we know happened in this case – but she is more than welcome to stay here. We will enjoy her company." The woman told Ace.

The woman's gaze swept across the room, stopping at McKenzie.

"To quickly answer your questions," the woman said, "we are Vivaldi, the queen of the Country of Hearts – that's where you are right now. We have taken a liking to you; therefore, you may refer to us as 'Vivaldi' as opposed to 'your majesty' or something of the sort. The man standing next to us is Peter White, the Prime Minister. We suggest you call him 'Peter'. And this deplorable man standing next to you-"

"Oh, she already knows who I am," Ace said, his grin widening. Then, much to McKenzie's surprise, he frowned in confusion. "I don't think I know her name though…" he said.

"I'm McKenzie," McKenzie said, telling Vivaldi more than anyone else. "You can call me 'Ken' or 'Kenny', though. That's what all of my friends call me."

"Very well then, Kenny," the Vivaldi said. The queen glanced through a heart shaped window to see that it was pitch black outside.

Also noticing this, McKenzie asked, "How is it night already? It was noon back before a certain somebody-" she glanced angrily at Ace, "-kidnapped me!"

"Time does not exist here as it does where you are from. That is all we will say for right now. Seeing as Nightmare is the mastermind behind all this, we will let him explain the rest. You should get some sleep, though. Peter will show you to a guest room. There will be several nightgowns in the closet – you will be able to find one that fits. We will have your clothes washed for you, so just leave them at the foot of your bed. They will be ready in the morning."

With that, Peter showed McKenzie to a room, then left. McKenzie changed, then collapsed into the bed. She was suddenly far more tired than she had felt a minute before. She fell asleep quickly.