Chapter 3-

The forest slowly faded into the prison, just like the circus did. Standing in front of Alice were Black and White, both had their arms folded across their chests. "You're back," White mumbled to Alice.

"F****** knight! Why didn't you f****** hurt the w****?" Black snarled.

Ace spun around, causing Alice to face the opposite way and giving her a slight headache. Why can't he just put me down? she thought in irritation.

"Haha! I didn't think you'd want me to do that!" Ace laughed cheerfully.

Black muttered something under his breath and White said, "You can go now Ace. Put Alice down."

The knight did as he was told, softly placing the girl on her feet, and leaving. Not before winking at her, though. Alice shuddered, knowing he meant something like I'll be back soon.

"Now, I think it's about time we get to work with your act." White grabbed Alice's hand and started to pull her away.

"What about me?" Black asked, annoyed.

White turned to face his counterpart. "First the role holders need to know that she's ours." With that the two left the prison guard behind.

At the Circus

Two jester children stared up in horror. Never, ever, had this happened before.

Besides them White Joker looked up too. A smug smile was planted on his face. Clapping his hands together he yelled, "Way to go Alice! You're almost to the end!"

Alice, who was balancing on the tightrope and was the center of attention, looked down. The ground below her seemed so far out of reach, and the people walking about seemed like ants. She gulped and took a deep breath. "I can do this, I can do this," she muttered to herself.

Looking back ahead of her, she took another wobbly step, then another, then another. "Yes!" she yelled as she found the platform two walks away from her.

Clapping was heard down below and Alice knew it was White. "When you reach the platform, climb down! I want to show you something!" he yelled up at her.

The foreigner nodded and prepared to take another step.

Just then there was a loud cry. It wasn't human, but it sure was loud. Loud enough to cause Alice to flinch and drop her balancing stick.

"No!" she screamed. Not thinking she reached to grab it. Of course, she couldn't, and this caused her to loose her balance. "Ahhh!" Alice was falling, and stupid White never had a net beneath the tightrope. Desperate, she reached her arms up. "Ugh!" she shouted as she was yanked slightly. A sigh escaped the girl's lips when she realized she had caught the rope in her hand.

"Alice!" White exclaimed. "Stay there!" Then to the jester children. "Get a net and set it up. Quickly!"

The brunette looked down to see the children run off. Now, more so than before, the height she was at scared her. A few whimpers escaped from her lips and her eyes began to water. Why did White have to have me do this? Couldn't he have me do something less dangerous? Now I'm stuck- on no! Her panicked thoughts were interrupted as she felt another yank. Looking back up at the rope she found it escaping her grasp.

White realized this and aligned himself so he was right under her. "Try to hang on! If you fall I'll catch you!" he yelled.

Alice thought this through. If she fell from this height, and he were to catch her, he'd be hurt. She'd never hear the end of it, and he might actually try to kill her. Again, she began to cry.

A sound of disgust was heard beneath her. "Stop crying!" White demanded. "You're getting me wet!"

That did it. "I'm up here, holding on for dear life, and you have the nerve to tell me to stop crying? Just because you're getting a bit wet? You're the whole reason this happened! If you'd just- ahhhh!"

"Oh no…" White whispered. He hadn't thought she'd actually fall. Stretching his arms out he felt her hit him, and hit him hard. The impact knocked him onto his back. "Owww," he whimpered.

Alice, who's eyes were squeezed shut tight, opened them and looked around. She was on the ground. How strange. Has the ground always been this soft? She looked down and jumped up with a yelp. "I'm so sorry White! Are you ok?"

White Joker gave her an icy stare. "Does it look like I'm ok?" Standing up he whipped the dirt off his back. "Just for that, you're going to have to do the trapeze at the show."

The girl gulped.

Just then the two little jester ran in, carrying a rope. They stopped when they saw Alice on her feet. "How… but… you… up there…" they said together.

"You're late! Get out of my sight!" White shouted at them and turned around, walking out of the tent.

The children looked at each other. "Do you think we should've told him the elephant escaped?" the girl asked.

The boy looked frightened. "I think so," he mumbled.

Alice asked, "Is that what made that noise?"

Both nodded.

"What the-!" someone shouted, just outside the tent.

The children and Alice sighed. "It seems he found out," the foreigner said.

Once more, the jesters nodded.

*sigh* I feel I got White's character wrong.

*evil laughter* Yes, Alice is now going to do the trapeze. Yay for character torture!