Back for a third round! Ninja is here to finish the trio of updates before working on Bitter Irony. Hurrah!

I don't own QuinRose. If I did, I would have all the games out in English by now. Not gonna happen... :(

Chapter Three: A Barrel of Fun

After getting a proper explanation from Julius, I decided to begin my wanderings around the Country of Hearts. Immediately I steered away from Hatter territory, not wanting to meet the mafia or its Mafioso anytime soon. The Castle of Hearts isn't exactly appealing either, what with people like Peter roaming about it…

"The Amusement Park it is, then!" I stated with forced enthusiasm. Even though it was meant to be a place of joy, the fact that the marquis of the place battled with the other territories on a daily basis eradicated any joy I might have had about it. Still, better than getting lost and killed…

As I continued on my journey to the land of Mr. Gowland, I ran across another of the Heartland inhabitants… who happened to be a pink cat-person. Why are there so many manimals? Something I'll have to get used to, I guess…

"Excuse me, sir? Could you tell me where the Amusement Park is?"

The boy turned around, his creepy punk gear freaking me out a bit. He smiled softly when he saw my frightened expression. "Oh, you're not from around here? I'll take you there." He grabbed my hand and led me through the forest, though I tried to tell him otherwise.

"You don't have to-"

"I live there anyway, so it's no problem at all. Name's Boris, by the way…"

I smiled, trying to disguise my blush at the contact between us. "Kayla. Nice to meet you, Boris."

Eventually, after a lengthy excursion in the forest, we managed to reach the park with little more than aching feet. I was awed at how huge it was, and turned to Boris in amazement. "I can't believe you live here! That's gotta be fun, getting to ride all these rides and stuff… all the time…"

He smiled, nodding. "It is. And since you're here with me, I'm making you my honorary guest… as soon as I tell Gowland. We don't want him to bust a hip, now do we…" I nodded back, laughing lightly. He's not such a bad guy either… I hope that this Gowland is like Boris too…

The people at the park greeted us with much enthusiasm, and I noticed something wuite odd about them. "Boris… why don't they have faces?"

He just shrugged. "I dunno… They're the Faceless. They don't have roles like us."

"Roles? What are those?"

He laughed at my confusion, causing me to flush slightly. "You really aren't from around here, are you?"

I shrugged, tired of the question and answer session we were having. "Not really… I only just got here yesterday. Don't know much more than the whos and wheres… No whats or whys as of yet. So, consider me clueless."

He laughed, causing me to blush yet again. "Cute. Now where's the old man at…?" As if on cue a dude in a bright yellow suit came towards us, violin in tow. Boris looked mildly frightened when he saw the instrument, causing me to laugh softly. Guess he's not that great at playing… or he just hates music.

"Well who have we here, Boris my man?"

"Gowland, this is Kayla… she just got here and I was giving her a tour of the place." The man with the braid, Gowland, sized me up. After a moment of awkward silence he exclaimed with much enthusiasm, "Boris, is this a lady friend of yours?"

We both froze in place, visibly blushing. "No Mr. Gowland, I'm not… I kind of just met Boris in the forest… He wanted to help me get here safely." Boris nodded vigorously, agreeing fully on my explanation.

Gowland laughed heartedly. "Of course you did! I'm just playing with you, Miss Kayla! I'd be honored to have you as a guest at our Amusement Park!" He walked off to where he came from, waving us off as he did so. "Feel free to explore as much as you want! It's free of charge, so have a great time, you two!"

Boris sighed audibly, and I had to laugh in reply. "So… He's an interesting character, is he not?"

"Yeah, sure… whatever. Just be glad he didn't play that monstrosity of his."

I looked at him, amusement lighting up my eyes as I spoke. "Is he really that bad?" Boris sighed, pulling me away from the scene quickly. "Let's just say that it's the worst thing you've ever heard, only about a thousand times worse."

I laughed. This place isn't so bad after all… Especially now that we can actually ride some of these things here!

Boris took me on many of the fantastic rides there, from the roller coasters to the tea cup rides, all the way around the entire park in the course of a time period or two. For a while, I almost forgot what had happened to me… almost.

Next thing I knew bullets were flying everywhere, and Boris was quick to pull out his own gun as well. "Kayla, stay behind me!"

I nodded, hiding behind my friend without a second thought. After firing many rounds at our unseen foe, familiar voices wafted over our way. "Hey, it's the lady!" "Hey, lady! Why are you here with that cat?"

Tweedle Dee and Dum came our way, and I didn't know whether to be thrilled or terrified. The fact that they had their axes wielded didn't make it any better. "Um… Hey, boys… Nice seeing you here… right?"

Boris looked annoyed, putting his gun away as he spoke. "We were trying to have a good time, but somebody had to come and ruin it… Sorry about that, Kayla."

I shrugged, still afraid. "It's ok. I just hope we don't get killed… Speaking of which," I turned to the twins as I spoke, "why are you two here at the Amusement Park? Shouldn't you be at the Hatter's?"

"Well, we're here to negotiate territory of course. Why else would we be in such a desolate place as this?" The silky voice of Blood Dupre emanated from behind us, causing me to jump in that direction. The smug Mafioso looked pleased to have spooked me, even slightly as he had.

"Elliot, go find Mary and bring him to me." The March Hare almost bowed to his boss, nearly sprinting off to find this 'Mary.' But as he passed by me, he couldn't help but smile in my direction. "Hello again, Kayla!"

I smiled awkwardly, still not over the fact these people almost killed me last time. "Hello…" Blood, annoyed, told him to go immediately. Elliot, flushed, ran even faster in that direction, leaving the rest of us to stare awkwardly at each other.

Blood walked towards me, rubbing the back of his neck nonchalantly. "I apologize for the welcome you had received at our previous meeting, Kayla… I hope you have forgiven the rude behavior of my undertakers."

I smiled nervously at him, trying to smooth things over with the man. "It's ok… Next time I just don't wanna get killed when I go over there." I tried to laugh, hoping he would see it was just a joke. Instead, he proceeded to give me an invitation of sorts, smiling softly.

"On that note, please accept this invitation to a tea party that is to be held during the next night cycle." He bowed deeply. "I look forward to your presence there." And without so much as asking if I were to attend, he left me to stand there alone.

Boris looked questioningly at me, then at Blood, then at the twins. "So, what's going on between..?"

"Dunno, cat."

"Yeah. Dunno."

"Boss just wants to spend time with the lady…"

"Yeah, with the lady! We love the lady!"

The twins proceeded to hug me, making me nearly forget the dangerous brats that they really were for a moment. "And… I love you guys to… As much as one can love people she's just met…"

Boris laughed at that statement, but stopped when Elliot had returned with 'Mary.' When I realized that it was Gowland, I almost laughed out loud. His name is Mary? That's kinda funny, actually…

"What are you doing here, you scum? Can't you see I'm trying to entertain my guests here?" Blood shrugged his shoulders, unconvinced. "I don't know, Mary-go-Round. I think that you already know why I'm here…"

A gun appeared in his hand, while Gowland looked like he was about to explode from rage. "Uh-oh… This just got personal." Boris and the twins were backing away slowly, taking me with them. Elliot didn't seem too afraid, although he shared a worried look with me before the gun show began.

"I'll kill you, you-!"

"Bring it on Mary! Anytime, anywhere!"

After clearing away from the Park, we managed to rest for a while in the forest, catching our breath as quickly as possible. "Well, that got bad pretty quickly…"

"At least we got away before the lady could get hurt."

"Yeah. Lady's too nice to get hurt!"

I smiled at the trio of boys, happy to have them to accompany me. "If you don't mind, I'll be heading home now…"

They seemed saddened, but smiled nonetheless. "Alright, just be careful heading home… See ya, Kayla."

"See ya at the Tea Party, Lady!"

"Yeah. See ya, Lady!"

I waved at them, hoping that with any luck I'd be home before Julius got worried. Luckily, he wasn't worried at all, though I didn't know if that was for better or for worse. "I'm home, Julius."

He sighed, turning away from his worktable. "I'm surprised you're still alive. Had anything transpired on your expedition?"

"Well, let's see… I had fun with Boris at the Amusement Park… until Blood and the mafia came and attacked Gowland. We just ran away from the crossfire…" I slumped down in a nearby chair, letting out a tired sigh.

"That pretty much sums it up…" I began to drag myself into bed, not even considering changing into my pajamas, my exhaustion catching up to me in leaps and bounds. "Oh, yeah… And I have a tea party to go to… at the Hatter's…"

I drifted off to sleep, intent on getting some shut eye before my fated meeting at the Hatters' Mansion once again, leaving a very confused Julius to return to his clockwork, alone once more.

So, what do you think so far? I would love to hear what you guys have to say, so long as no flames arise... The horror!

I will attempt to finish chapter four tomorrow, though my primary mission lies with finishing Bitter Irony. Chapter Sixteen will be completed!

Also, random question, I want to know what kind of series you guys like in terms of fanfic. I have various series already in the making, along with others in my head. Your input will help with my decision making.

Until then, Ninja is out; Peace!