Whoo! Two chapters in a row! XD Hooray! I'm getting my ass back in gear! *shot* lmao I know, I should be updating the others...B-But, I wanna update this one D8 *headshot* lolz I'll see what I can do about the others. I know where I'm going with them, I'm just stuck at a part XD Anyways, I'll try and update them, specially 'A Dream is a Wish.' In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chap! I made it a bit longer for your liking. 'w' And thanks to Fate Pwns You for helping me with the personalities! X3 Luv ya!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Kuni No Alice series.


Alice sighed as she entered into Julius's room, holding a tray with a cup of coffee on it. Julius looked up from his work to look at Alice.

"Something wrong, Alice?" he asked. Alice shook her head and placed the cup of coffee on Julius's table.

"No, not really…Just the usual is all" Alice sighed. She watched Julius take a sip of the coffee.

"Hmmm…75 points"

"Again? That's three times in a row, Julius…"

"I keep telling you, you grind the beans too much" Alice sighed. Julius put the cup of coffee down.

"And I assume by the usual, you mean Peter White clinging onto you"

"Well, yeah, there's that…And I went with Boris and Pierce to get something to eat…And I talked with the Jokers…" At the last part, Julius's eyes slightly narrowed.

"Nothing bad happened Julius! We just talked that's all…Oh, and I bought a crystal sun that had sand in it"

"Really?"

"Yeah, but it broke on accident…Pierce hugged me from behind and it fell out of my sleeves…"

"I see…"

It went silent again as Julius resumed his work, his experienced hands fixing the gears in the clock. Alice watched him work, still admiring how Julius's hands were still magical, fixing so many clocks without stopping. She soon felt her eyes getting a bit heavy.

"You should go to sleep, Alice. It's late" Julius said without looking up.

"Alright…But please get some rest yourself, ok Julius?" Julius just 'hmed.' Alice sighed, knowing that Julius wouldn't take a break.

"Goodnight, Julius"

"Goodnight"

Alice closed the door and headed to her room. Once she was inside, she shut the door and changed into her nightgown. She took off her bow and placed it on the desk that was next to her bed. She got under the warm covers of her bed and snuggled into her fluffy pillow. Her thoughts once again roamed back to the crystal sun. She shook her head. Why was she still thinking about it? It wasn't important and it was broken already. There wasn't anything she could do about it. She shut her eyes.

'What's done is done…It can't be helped…' were her last thoughts before she fell into a deep slumber.


Morning came the next day…time…The sun's rays shone through the transparent curtains of Alice's room onto the sleeping foreigner on the bed. Alice groaned before turning away from the light and going back to sleep. She snuggled into the warmth of her bed and kept sleeping peacefully. She slept so peacefully that she didn't hear the door to her room open. She would have never expected that this would be one heck of a morning to wake her up and start her day in Wonderland.

"Alice, Alice! Come on, Alice, wake up already!"

The foreigner groaned, her peaceful slumber disturbed by a somehow familiar voice. She tried to ignore the voice and go back to sleep but apparently the voice had different plans.

"How long are you gonna stay in bed? Get up, Alice!"

"Mmmm…Just a few more minutes…" she mumbled, snuggling into her pillow. She faintly heard the voice sigh.

"Fine, if you're not gonna get up, then I guess I'll wake you up myself then."

Alice was content when the voice left her alone. However, she soon felt her bed dip downward as if there was another heavy weight on the bed.

'What the…' she dimly thought before she felt something cover her lips. Her eyes immediately snapped open when she felt someone kissing her. She automatically did the first thing that came into her mind: she punched the person who was kissing her.

"Wh-What the hell? !" she sputtered. She brought her knees to her chest and covered herself with her blanket. Her eyes were closed shut as she wiped her mouth. "My god, what the hell was that? !"

'I swear if it was Peter, I'll…'

"You woke up! But you didn't have to punch me, Alice! It really hurt!"

Alice blinked and froze in her spot. Now that she was wide awake, she fully recognized this voice but something was different…

'This voice…It couldn't be…' She slowly turned her head to see who was in her room. She was met with the clock fixer, his eyes that held affection fixed onto her face and a smile on his face that shouldn't really be there.

"J-Julius? !" The said man smiled at her, surprising the foreigner since she knew that Julius rarely ever smiled.

"Hahaha! Of course, Alice! Who did you expect it to be?" Alice, by this time, was completely stumped. Was this really Julius? The Julius she knew was never this happy, or ever actually. Alice blinked twice.

"Julius…?"

"Hm?"

"…Are you really Julius?"

"Hahahaha! Of course I am, Alice! Who else would I be? Why do you ask that silly question?" Alice blinked and rubbed her eyes to make sure it was really Julius she was seeing. She gave him a concerned look.

"Are you ok, Julius? You're not feeling weird or anything, right?"

"Hahaha! What's wrong, Alice? Are you still sleepy? Did I not wake you up enough?" Alice stared blankly at him.

"…Somebody pinch me and tell me I'm dreaming…"

"Haha! Now why would anyone want to do that? I won't pinch you, but I can give you a kiss instead!" Alice's eyes widened as Julius went forward to give her a kiss. She place one of her hands on Julius's mouth before he could reach her lips.

"N-No, Julius! You don't need to do that! I'm perfectly fine so you don't need to worry!" Alice sweated. It was official. There was definitely something wrong with Julius. Julius pouted when Alice stopped him from kissing her.

"Aaaww…Come on, Alice. Just one kiss?" he grinned at her. Alice shook her head, sweating even more.

"No, Julius. Now, can you please get out of my room so I can change?"

"Now why would I want to do that?" Julius smirked at her. Alice blushed. Was Julius being perverted? !

"Just get out, Julius"

"Haha! Ok, ok…" With that, Julius left her room. Alice continued to stare at her door.

'…That did NOT just happen…Maybe Nightmare or Gray would know what's wrong with Julius' she thought as she got dressed. She turned around and did a double take when she saw something that shouldn't have been in her room. It was the crystal sun, glinting in the sunlight. Alice blinked and rubbed her eyes a second time that morning to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Yep, it was really there. The crystal sun looked brand new like when she first bought it and there wasn't a hint of a scratch that implied it was broken. She picked it up and turned it over, making sure that her eyes weren't deceiving her.

'It can't be! It broke when it fell out of my sleeves! I'm sure of it!' But there wasn't a hint that it had shattered before. Alice frowned, completely confused as to why the crystal sun was in her room in mint condition. However, she noticed one thing that was off about the crystal.

'There's no sand inside…' It was true. The cream-colored sand was not in the crystal like when she first bought it. Alice kept turning the sun over and over again. She was completely stumped. She blinked, however, when she noticed there was something small inside the crystal.

'Dark purple sand?' Indeed, there was dark purple sand inside. It was at the very corner of one of the 15 rays of the sun. Alice blinked.

'How can there be dark purple sand in here? And what happened to the sand that was originally in here?' Things just kept getting more confusing for the foreigner. Alice shook her head and placed the crystal back to where she found it. There was no point in wondering about questions that she didn't have answers to. Right now, she needed to focus on what was happening right now, which was what the hell was wrong with Julius. She left her room and went downstairs to the main room of Clover Tower where she would be able to find Gray and Nightmare. Nothing could've prepared her for what she was about to experience next.


"Nightmare, Gray? Are you guys th-" She never finished her sentence as she opened the door. Her eyes immediately widened at the scene before.

"Ah, good morning Alice"

"Alice! You're awake!"

Her jaw dropped at the sight before her and what she just heard from the ex-assassin and the sickly incubus.

"N-Nightmare? Gray? !"

Gray was beaming at her with joy, which was unusual in a way considering that Gray isn't normally cheerful, and Nightmare was actually doing paperwork, which was VERY unusual. Apparently, Julius wasn't the only one that was acting different. Nightmare looked up from his paperwork.

"What's wrong, Alice? You sound surprised…"

"I should think so! Nightmare, are you actually working? !" Nightmare blinked.

"Of course. Does it look like I'm doing anything else?"

"But…You hate doing paperwork, Nightmare!"

"Do I now…?" Alice felt as if Nightmare was being sarcastic now. She saw Nightmare going back to work. Gray went up to her, smiling.

"Haha! Don't worry about Nightmare-sama! He's just pissed cause no one's doing any work!" Alice looked at him incredulously.

"Gray, you're not going to help him?" Gray blinked before laughing, which really surprised the foreigner.

"Why would I want to help Nightmare-sama with work? You know I don't like doing paperwork!"

'Actually, I don't! Quite the contrary, you ALWAYS do Nightmare's work!'

"To be precise, Alice, my damn assistant is right; he hates doing paperwork. And that's why…Gray, get your damn ass over here and do your part of the fucking paperwork!" Nightmare had read Alice's mind and was now glaring daggers at Gray who was laughing. He hid behind Alice.

"Waahhh~! Nightmare-sama is scary! Hahaha!" Alice's eyes widened considerably.

'Holy crap, did Nightmare just curse? !' As far as Alice knew, she had NEVER heard the incubus swear before.

"Yes, I did Alice. It is not something that you're not used to. And Gray, get your fucking ass over here before I make it come over here!"

'Actually, I'm not used to it! And stop reading my mind for Christ's sake!' Nightmare just rolled his eyes.

"Yea, whatever, not like I can anyways"

"Hahaha! How is Nightmare-sama going to make me come over there?"

"Like THIS!" Nightmare somehow pulled out a knife from nowhere and threw it at Gray's head, who swiftly dodged it, while still smiling, and moved the scared Alice with him.

"Wah~! Nightmare-sama should watch his aim; he could've hurt Alice!" Gray laughed while Nightmare glowered at him. Alice was sweating a whole lot by now.

"Oh, don't worry…I'll make sure the next one hits you and not her…" Nightmare growled, glaring at the still smiling ex-assassin. Julius came in holding a tray with four cups of hot cocoa on it. He smiled brightly when he noticed Alice was present.

"Ah! Alice, you're done! Here, I made some hot cocoa for you! It'll warm you up from the cold" Julius smiled as he handed a cup to Alice, who was still shocked.

"Julius, you know how to make hot cocoa?"

"Yea, Gray taught me how to make some before. Don't you remember?"

"No, I don't actually…" Alice mumbled before taking a sip of the hot chocolate. It filled her with warmth inside.

'It's actually pretty good…' she thought as she set her cup down on a table.

"Yes, if you've forgotten, Julius makes some of the best hot chocolate here in Clover Tower" Nightmare said, still doing paperwork. Alice glared at Nightmare.

'I told you to stop reading my mind!'

"Whatever…" Alice sighed. She heard the door open and she turned to see who it was. It was Ace, snow covering his coat and hair. In his hand was a bag that Alice was sure was filled with clocks. Ace shook the snow off of him, closing the door and walking to where everyone was at.

"Ugh…It's so fucking cold out there…" Ace cursed, wiping the snow off his shoulders. Alice's eyes widened again. Did she just hear Ace curse?

"Ah! Ace!" Julius grinned brightly at the knight of hearts. Apparently, Julius was very happy to see him, which was NOT normal. Ace rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here Julius…No need to get so damn excited about it" Julius just grinned at him.

"Ace?" One of Alice's eyebrows arched. Ace gave her a cold stare.

"What?"

"Is that really you?" Ace looked at her as if she just claimed that straight men were into rabbit ears.

"No shit, what do you think?" Alice's eyes widened again when Ace cursed once more. Julius laughed.

"Come on, Ace. Don't be so mean to Alice!"

"Not my fault she asked a stupid question"

"I think Alice is still a bit sleepy, no?" Alice looked at Julius who was smiling at her.

'Oh no, I'm definitely wide awake…' she thought.

"Alice says she's wide awake" Nightmare informed the others. Alice closed her eyes in frustration.

"Then she must be getting dumber cause apparently she can't tell if we're us" Alice glared at the red knight. Ace walked up to Julius.

"Here…" Ace handed Julius the bag. Julius pouted.

"Eh~? More clocks? I don't wanna take it, Ace! I have too much already!" Julius whined. Alice did a double take. Did Julius just refuse to take the clocks? He's never refused before, let alone complain about his work. Ace rolled his eyes at Julius's antics.

"Well too bad, so stop complaining. Now take it" Julius pouted.

"Ace-kun's so mean!" Alice's jaw dropped. She did NOT see that coming.

"Yea, yea, I'm mean. Get over it" Ace said, not affected by Julius's behavior. He turned to leave Clover Tower. Alice blinked.

"Wait, Ace, you're leaving?" Ace looked back at Alice.

"Of course I am. I don't want to freeze to death"

"But…You're not going to fight Gray?" Ace raised a brow.

"Why the hell would I want to do that?" Alice gaped at him.

"Ace, you always fight with him whenever you see him! You always said that it's training!" Gray laughed.

"Hahaha! I think Alice really is still sleepy! Ace and I never fight! We don't need to. Plus if we did, we'd kill each other and the both of us would die!" Gray said this while smiling at Alice. Somehow, that scared the foreigner for some reason.

"There you go, now I'm leaving" Ace resumed walking and exited Clover Tower. Alice just stared after Ace even after he closed the door.

'Even Ace…' Apparently, the Clover Tower residents weren't the only ones that were acting strange. Even the knight of hearts who resided in the Castle of Hearts was acting differently. Pondering, she had to wonder if every role holders were affected somehow. If it was so, she was going to have to visit the other three territories to see if anything was different. However, if it was every role holder…Then even the Jokers? Alice groaned and held her head in agony. Everything was so confusing! There was only one thought that was clear in her mind.

WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON? !


And there ya have it! Before anyone says anything, yes, I had to do a Gay Hatter joker xD Or try at least lmao *run over* What will happen next? Will Alice ever know what the clock is going on? Hehehe, we shall see... -w- Until next time! xD *shot*