It took me two days to write this! Hours and hours, but I finally finished it! Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter as well.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Diamond/Joker/Clover/Heart no kuni no Alice franchise. I do, however, own Yulia and the plot of this story.
Chapter Three
"Princess Yulia Charlotte Rivera-Alteria, I assume?" The Mystery Man asked as soon as I managed to force myself up on to my feet and steady myself despite the pain. "You're late."
This was how I always wanted to start a new adventure in an entirely different world. Some scowling man knowing my identity and then accusing me of being late for... I have no idea what. I just got here.
That was sarcasm by the way.
I glared at him for two reasons: 1) In my opinion he was being rude and 2) my head was pounding in a way that told me I had a concussion (or something close to it)- probably because I hit it on the way down.
The Final Resort of Justice knocked me unconscious without me knowing until the last-minute, shoved me into what I assumed was a hole and then to add the cherry on top of what had been a fantastically crappy day, I wake up to this guy accusing me of being late not even five minutes after returning to the land of consciousness. I was in no mood to put up with being blamed for something I haven't done yet first thing.
Normally I would have yelled right back at him, but I wasn't exactly up for reaming him out either. Not when I had a headache threatening to break my skull from the inside out.
Instead I settled for looking around to try and figure out my surroundings. One glance told me that I was outside since overhead was the bright blue of the day sky.
"For what?" I asked."You'll have to forgive my lack of manners, but I just got here. I have no freaking idea who you are and I have no idea where 'here' is either!"
Okay.
At least I didn't manage to yell at him until the end.
I was half expecting the man to yell back at me (they usually do). But instead of raising his voice and telling me how much I sucked, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. His expression was a combination of pain and exasperation and he looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but standing right in front of me.
Patiently, I waited for him to get his thoughts in orders. As awful as first impressions went, he was still the only one around here with answers. And any answer I got was better than no answer at all.
"You are in the territory of the Clock Tower. It is the domain I have jurisdiction over and the one neutral zone within the Country of Hearts." He finally said.
The Country of Hearts? Was that the name of this world?
"Tell me," The Mysterious man said. "Are all Outsiders so rude? You are the second one I've met so far and quite frankly-"
I didn't really hear anything else after he said the word 'Outsider'.
Excuse me?
"What did you just call me?!" I asked- no, more like demanded.
"I..." He looked startled by the sudden aggression I displayed. "You... are an Outsider, are you not?"
I gritted my teeth and glared at him, not exactly trusting myself to not yell at him.
Seeing the puzzled and wary look on his face told me he had no clue. No idea that the term 'Outsider' or 'Foreigner' or any other word relating to it was something I found offensive. I didn't blame him; most people had no idea that those two words and the rest of their extensive family made me want to jump the other person and start strangling them. It was a gross overreaction I was still working on and while I had it under control for the most part... there were times the words still set me off.
"Is that the politically correct term you call people who aren't from... around here?" I asked, taking a deep breath.
If he called me by my royal title, I was going to assume that he knew that I was from an entirely different world together. Or dimension. I still had no idea where Darkbreaker dropped me.
"Politically correct..." He now looked thoughtful. "Yes. Outsider is generally the term the inhabitants of this land use when they refer to people who are not of this world."
Ah.
So he hadn't meant to offend me.
The man whose name was still unknown to me looked uncomfortable; probably unsure of whether it was safe to talk or not. I let out a long sigh and decided to be the adult in the situation for once. It was my fault things went from barely tolerable to extremely awkward, even though he could have been nicer as far as introductions go.
"I find the word 'Outsider' and any of its distant relations extremely offensive. As long as you don't use any of those words around me from now on, I won't have a reason to blow you up with my awesome magical powers."
Telekinesis, actually, but it might as well be the same thing.
The extremely uncomfortable and uncertain look on his face made me smile, though I quickly hid it.
"That will be a difficult request. The inhabitants here will call you 'Outsider' because that is simply what you are here." He sighed.
My eye twitched as my amusement vanished in an instant. Great. So that meant I would have to put up with more people calling me by those abominable terms?
"Then just call me by my name! I won't beat you up if you call me 'Yulia'!" I throw my arms up into the air in exasperation.
Speaking of names...
"Who are you?" I asked him. " I mean, you obviously know who I am. But I have no idea who you are."
It would be nice to put a name to the man I've been talking to for the past ten minutes or so. Maybe more since I don't have a watch to keep track of the time.
Anyways, it would be nice to call him something other than 'that man', 'he' or 'him'.
"My name does not matter as you will not be staying long." He said stiffly as his expression went completely blank before my eyes. "The only reason that I allowed you to come here in the first place is because of something your race did here before my time. You are merely here to clean up their mess."
I rolled my eyes.
Of course.
The lack of common sense often associated with the all-powerful Alters strikes once again. And because I'm the only one allowed off-world without a power limiter that would put me at an extreme disadvantage, it was naturally up to me to go and fix the mess.
As usual.
Yippee.
"Okay. Got it." I snorted. "Here to fix the Alters mess again. But would it kill you to give me your bloody name? I'm not going to use it to curse you!"
When the man shot me an incredulous look, I wondered what it was I said. Then I realized that I pretty much implied that I could use his own nameto curse him.
"Seriously, though. What's your name?" I tried again. "I have to call you something and it gets kind of tiring to call a person 'Hey you' all the time."
And then it hit me. If he wasn't going to give me his name, then I should give him one myself. One that would make him willingly tell me his name if just to get me to shut up.
"Though if you don't want to give me your name, I could give you your own personal pseudonym." I said mischievously, hoping he got the hint. "How about Mr. Clock?"
He glared at me.
"Ribbons?" Because he was using a yellow ribbon to tie up his dark navy hair. "Grumpylumps. Mr. Smiley. Sir-talks-a-lot. Clockwork Angel."
I continued listing out names.
The tick underneath his eye told me that I was close to breaking his stoic composure. Just a little more and he was going to crack. Best way to get someone to spill on details you wanted was to annoy them; though you also ran the risk of driving them into an unstoppable rage.
"Yellow? Bluebeard?" Because of his hair colour. "Stoic? Ice-King? Girly-man?"
I was thinking of more annoying names I could call him when his voice interjected into my musings.
"Julius Monrey."
"Huh?" I stop to stare at him. "What did you say?"
"My name." He was just barely gritting his teeth. "My name is Julius Monrey." Stop calling me by those ridiculous names, went the unsaid message between us.
I smiled sweetly at him. About time. I was beginning to run out of the most annoying nicknames I could think of.
"There. That wasn't so bad now, was it?"
He just continued to glare at me.
"Right. You obviously know my name already, but I'll just introduce myself again anyways." I stick out my hand towards him. "My name is Yulia Rivera-Alteria. I am the fourth crown princess of the Alteria lineage. It's a pleasure to meet you, Julius."
Julius had taken a step back when I held my hand out towards him and was now staring at it as if he had no idea what to do.
"You're supposed to shake it." I point out. "Shows that you have good manners."
Pink blossomed across his cheeks. "I-I know that!" He snapped, bringing up his own hand to shake mine for a few seconds before letting go as if the contact had burned him.
Then why did it take you so long to act, I wanted to ask him but decided to leave it alone. The more time I spent chatting with him, the more I realized that Julius' earlier behaviour wasn't so much as being a rude and stuck up jerk. It was more of along the lines of being a really socially awkward person. The way he reacted to the handshake and hadn't yelled at me yet for being annoying only clinched it.
Most people wouldn't be able to tell from such a short amount of time, but I interacted enough with people like him to tell the difference between 'cold-hearted jerk' and 'someone who just really sucks at starting up a conversation'.
Though whether he was a nice person deep inside was up for debate.
"Alright. Now that we've gotten introductions out of the way... sit-rep." I said. "What's the sit-rep?"
"Sit-rep?" He looked confused.
"Situation report. What's going on. Why do you need me here in the first place? The guy who shoved me here told me that he was responsible for my means of travel, so I assume that you're going to be the one to explain what's going on?"
"Which I would have done by now had you not insisted on getting distracted!" He snapped.
"Hey! I was just pointing out that some people would get offended if you called them an 'Outsider'!" Yeesh. Touchy person, wasn't he?
"I simply do not see how the word 'Outsider' is offensive!"
"It just is! Now tell me what you know!"
Julius exhaled deeply, rubbing his forehead as if his head ached. I could almost imagine an anime anger vein throbbing around his head. Honestly, I didn't want to be around him any more that he wanted to be around me, but I needed to know more about my situation! I was not going to wander around this world completely blind. It could be ruled by an evil dictator for all I know and drawing attention to myself was the last thing I wanted to do in that situation!
"Do you have the vial?"
"Huh?" My head shot up at the sound of Julius' voice; I didn't realize I was looking down at the floor until he spoke.
"The vial." There was a hint of impatience in his voice. "You are an Outsider so you should have one on you."
"Think I already spoke to you about calling me an Outsider," I muttered. But I patted myself down anyways just to shut him up.
That was when I realized something.
"Where are my clothes?" Because I was pretty sure that I was not wearing a dress with a blue top and a white skirt last time I checked. Or a white cape draped over my shoulders that went past my knees. Or knee-high brown boots. And how did I not notice that I was wearing silk white gloves that came up to my elbow?
I'm just going to blame my concussion for my lack of notice towards my new outfit. But now that I thought about it, my new fantasy based clothing looked an awful lot like the outfit I had to wear in the Magic Realm.
...wait a minute.
This was my formal outfit!
"This wasn't my outfit before I came here." I said before Julius could comment on my OOC tangents as of late. I didn't want him thinking I was a complete scatterbrain. "I don't normally wear these kinds of clothes because they're not my style."
My hand brushed against something and I heard the sound of glass clink against the ground. Bending down I picked up the small, cylinder like object and held it up for Julius to see.
"Is this the vial you're talking about?"
It was a clear object with a heart-shaped stopper that sealed what was inside. And inside was some sort of clear liquid.
Julius nodded. "Yes. If you wish to remain in this world without consequence then you must drink the medicine that is inside and participate in the Game. Otherwise you are in violation of the Rules."
He wanted me to drink some random liquid inside a vial? And what was the 'Game'? Did it have anything to with the annoying statement "you just lost the game!" that people sometimes yelled at each other.
"Okay..." I examined the glass object held between my fingers. "I have to drink this?"
Games.
Rules.
This just kept getting weirder by the minute. Just what exactly have I been dragged into this time?
The concept of drinking some random liquid from something that looked like a test tube made me uneasy because I had no idea what it was. I only had the word of a man I just met that the liquid was some sort of medicine that would allow me to stay here... or kick me out of this world or something if I didn't. Considering that both Darkbreaker and Julius said I had multiverse business to attend to in this place, I was going to have to drink it whether I liked it or not.
Terrific.
"What are you waiting for?" Apparently I must have taken too long to make up my mind on whether to drink questionable liquid inside vials because the sound of Julius' voice brought me back to reality. "Take the medicine so I can continue with my explanation."
Ugh. Fine.
But if I suddenly dropped dead because this liquid turned out to be lethal poison, I was going to haunt a certain Last Resort of Justice for the rest of his immortal life. But not before I went after this guy for telling me to drink it in the first place.
Popping the heart-shaped top off of the vial, I swirled the liquid inside it once before tilting my head back and downing it. Approximately six seconds later, I was coughing and pounding my chest as I tried not to choke on the aftertaste. I also clutched at my throat because it felt like it was on fire.
It was so bitter and hot and just all-around disgusting!
"What is this stuff?! It tastes horrible." I took a deep breath, only to start choking again. "UGH! Are you sure you didn't poison me?!"
Julius looked at me strangely. "What did it taste like?"
My fingers immediately flew to my lips as I tried to remember what the stuff tasted like. "It was hot and it tasted really bitter. Ugh. No. Not even bitter- close to it, but something else too. I would throw in 'scalded-the-inside-of-my-throat' throat too, but that would be impossible since I'm still talking to you!"
It was that nasty.
After wiping my lips with the back of my gloved hand, I turned back towards him.
"Alright. Now that I've drunk the questionable stuff inside and haven't dropped dead as a result of poisoning, can you continue on with the explanation?" I should have been more concerned, but ingesting questionable liquids wasn't the most dangerous thing I've ever done.
At least compared to facing an ancient and power drunk god.
Julius turned away and signaled for me to follow him towards the ledge of the... was it the roof of the tower? I don't know but I could see the sky. Once I was directly behind him, he stepped to the side so that I could see the sight he'd been formerly blocking.
"Woah." I took a step closer towards the edge, but made sure that I wasn't so close that I would fall off. "This is..."
I could see the green of tree tops for miles.
Julius dove right into the next explanation, not bothering to let my mind catch up with what my eyes were seeing. In the distance I saw an amusement park that looked like it would be really, really fun to go to.
"As I've told you before, you are in the Country of Hearts and standing in the domain of the Clocktower. There are four domains here in total."
Country of Hearts. Four domains. Currently in the domain of the Clocktower. Got it.
He pointed in the direction of an elaborate looking castle. "That building on top of the hill is Heart Castle. It is ruled by the Queen of Hearts and the Prime Minister and Knight of Hearts reside there as well. A warning if you ever decide to venture there: all three of them are psychopaths."
Queen of Hearts? Wasn't she a character in the children's story called Alice in Wonderland? I didn't remember a lot about it other than the trademark line of "Off with her head"!
And psychopaths? He was joking, right?
I hope.
I could fight off psychopaths, but I preferred not to deal with them at all.
Julius gestured at another area, oblivious to my apprehension over the fact that one of the domains was ruled over by psychopaths. In that direction I could see a... house? No, it was way too big to be a house. Maybe a mansion. "That elaborate compound over there is Hatter Mansion. It is ruled by a mafia family that is in turn controlled by noted sociopath 'The Hatter'."
What.
So on top of psychopaths, there was a likelihood that I would have to deal with a sociopath?
This just keeps getting better and better.
"The territory adjacent to the Clock Tower is the Amusement Park. It also houses a fair amount of mad citizens."
Are.
You.
Fucking.
Serious?!
"So you're telling me-" I could feel my throat constricting from the absurdity of what I was being told. "That practically everyone here is-"
"-insane?" Julius finished for me. "Yes. That is essentially what I am saying: everyone here is insane and are more likely than not to pull a gun on you than not."
Fuck.
"What." I said out loud.
Those two words were not enough to convey how I felt about being dropped into a crazy world where psychopaths, sociopaths, and their cousins reigned supreme. But I figured blowing up in front of Julius would be counterproductive, so I just kept my mouth shut instead.
But I just landed in a world full of bat-shit crazy people.
"Are you insane too?" I asked him warily, inching away from him. "Because that would be really useful to know."
My hand instinctively flew up towards my neck. The familiar touch of my necklace soothed my rattled nerves. Thank god I was still wearing the silver chain jewelry with the small blue crystal ball attached. It may have looked like an ordinary necklace... except it wasn't. I never took it off, much less went outside without it. Otherwise I was completely defenseless if an enemy decided to randomly jump me when I was least expecting it.
For the first time since we've spoken, Julius smiled. It was a small smile, but a smile none the less. I had to do a double-take to make sure that it wasn't the head injury that was making me see things. The man was frowning the entire time we've been talking that I had to wonder if he smiled at all.
"It is a possibility. I am a native of this world, after all."
"Yeah. About that." I said wryly, still holding on to my necklace as a warning to him. "Try anything and I will hack you down with my magical sword."
He didn't strike me as the type to suddenly start brandishing a gun at my head, but you never know. Appearances were very deceiving and I had tons of experience dealing with seemingly nice people who were actually complete nut jobs deep inside. I prefer to nip starting friendships with crazy people in the bud.
Julius continued on as if he didn't hear me. "Right now the country is in turmoil due to the territorial disputes between the other three domains."
"You mean it gets better?" My voice dripped sarcastically on the word 'better'.
Julius said that this was the one neutral zone within the Country of Hearts. So the three territories that are at war with each other had to be the Heart Castle, the people at Hatters Mansion and the Amusement Park.
...
...why was an amusement park at war?
"So it's not safe to leave the Clock Tower?" I sighed.
This was troublesome considering I probably needed to leave the only neutral area in this world to complete my mission.
At least that's what I assume. Considering that this guy just point blank told me that everyone around here was insane. And at war. Which meant there was going to be a lot of fighting and bloodshed.
Madness and war.
What a wonderful, wonderful combination.
"That would normally be the case." Julius agreed. He folded his arms across his chest. "I have been told that you are more than capable of looking after yourself. However, you will find-"
That was when disaster struck. One second I was listening to Julius about to tell me something really important and the next, I was scrambling to grab hold of something as the land underneath my feet started to shake. Being close to the ledge of anything when the ground started to shake was NOT a good thing.
"Damn! Already?!" Julius cursed.
"What's going on?! An earthquake?!" I asked as I tried to keep myself steady and AWAY from the edge.
"No. The lands are shifting because it's the time for The Move!" He snapped. "If you had not distracted me earlier, I would have been able to explain everything by now!"
"EXCUSE ME?!" I snapped back at him. "You were the one who accused me of-"
I wasn't able to finish my sentence.
Because suddenly I found myself falling backwards and plunging towards the ground at high speed. In my indignation towards Julius' snapping at me, I must have let go of what I was originally holding on to. One good shake made me stumble back and since I was so close to the ledge of the tower at the time, I must have fallen right off of it.
Looking up from where I fell, I saw Julius staring down at me in wide-eyed horror as I continued falling.
But before I could think of a way to prevent myself from becoming a red pile of mush once I hit the ground, my back slammed into something hard. The impact of my sudden landing was hard enough to literally knock the breath right out of me and break something if the sudden agony in my side was any indication. Coughing and rolling on my side that didn't hurt, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to concentrate on anything other than the pain.
When the agonizing burn dulled down to tolerable levels, I uncurled myself and tried to push myself up. I felt like one giant aching bruise and I just wanted to flop on the ground and pass out into the oblivion of unconsciousness. But my warrior instincts wouldn't let me, saying that I should keep moving. That staying here was unsafe.
Despite the herculean it effort it took, I managed to push myself up on my knees though I was still bent over and facing the ground.
"Shit...!" I wiped away the tears that sprung into my eyes from the sheer pain of it all. "What is it with me and heights?! I haven't hurt this much since that asshole Orion threw me through four buildings!"
Taking a deep breath, I lifted my head to try to get a good look at my surroundings.
"What the...?" I blinked. "...hell?"
Above me was the night sky.
Hadn't it just been day?
I worked my butt off of this story, so you better have enjoyed it!
What do you think of Yulia's interactions with Julius? Hopefully the Clockmaker was in character.
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