AN: Hello, everyone. Glad to see you back. I apologize for my long absence and I mean long absence. For the past months, I couldn't find it in myself to finish a story that has gone absolutely dull and had zero sense of humor the more I continued with it.

At least, that is how I view it (and still do). Contrary to this, I hate not being able to answer to the people who reviewed. Expectations grow and I force myself another chapter. Here is the fruit of my labor.

Two chapters meant to be one, separated by the titles. Hope you don't get too bored. =.=

The blue caterpillar observed the girl dully "-You're much more her now. In fact, you're almost alice"

Chapter 9: Almost Alice

She gazed with eyes of bewilderment into the huge dark orbs of her holder, which is an understatement for her. For a moment, she failed to recognize the person and had failed to utter much of any the questions lurking inside her mind. Alice allowed her mouth to be slightly agape as she breathed in slow motion. Her chest smothered in bowl water hurt with the intense pumping as adrenaline had kept her alive earlier. She glanced behind the head containing those beautiful black irises and saw people, familiar people, familiar people she didn't know. Her head throbbed and she lurched forward, spluttering out bits and bits of dirty, salty liquid.

"Alice" she watched as an orange-head popped out from the right side. He smiled so warm-heartedly that Alice felt completely guilty of forgetting his name.

"You're back" he said. Then, it clicked.

"Pierce" it sounded different in her head. The small girl looked back at the person in front of her, his lips gradually parting and his eyes staring down at her own. But Alice didn't notice the motions at all. "Gray"

She quickly peeked at his left "Boris"

Her gaze returned to the right "Ace"

Then, a shadow from behind her darkened her view in front. Her head whirled around "Shi*"

Blood grunted "that's certainly not my name, young lady" the foreigner spun around and backed away from the Hatter in fear. How many times has he gone after her? No, better yet, was he still after her for the sake of getting to experience the stupid obsession side-effect? She shook her head, clearing herself mentally. Intimidated by the glaring eyes of the Mad Hatter, she chose to stay quiet.

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That son of a bitc*.

Blood stared at Gray with growing resentment. In his hands cushioned by a certain cat's boa, lay the doll he's been trying to capture this whole week. He had to chop down trees, kill animals, go through a rambling forest without showering for nights to count and that was more than enough to piss him off.

He cautiously circled the group; Alice was not to see him so easily. She would jump at the sight of him due to his...rather rash actions. It wasn't his fault to begin with. She had to turn magically into the size of a hamster. No one can resist their beloved foreigner in a smaller form. Frankly, he couldn't even restrain himself.

She began to name the role holders one by one, pausing after each like they were all hard to pronounce. When she got to the knight of hearts, one of the last, Blood took the opportunity to step forward. He hated how his shadow casted over her as if some evil man was behind her. She turned around and her pupils shrank, which was saying a lot. She cursed and he made a joke about it "that's certainly not my name, young lady" Alice didn't seem to get his humor and instantly cowered away from him, as expected. He licked his lips; she wasn't making this any easier.

"Bravo, I did not expect you to live this long" he clapped his hands making a short hollow sound per smack. In reply, she nodded testily whilst her eyebrows pulled together in a sort of contemplation.

"You'll be happy to know that I have made the decision to stop chasing you. I will no longer hunt you down like the madman I am" he said smoothly as his mental script began to unfold. To end the scenario was with a sincere and polite bow which, he did so. Alice was not convinced in the slightest

"You plan to NOT go after me?"

"You speak the truth" he lied. She was fickle in response yet she knew that there was no way the Hatter was telling the truth.

The Caterpillar switched gazes from man to woman, analyzing the situation best he could "Alice, what is he-"

"Shut up" Blood interrupted instantaneously but that wasn't enough to stop the honorable ex-assassin. He's seen more dangerous things, the most horrifying being in this exact room and precise moment.

"Go after you?" he continued inquiries as if Blood has never spoken.

Alice curled her head towards Gray "because of my small size, role holders supposedly get obsessed with me and wouldn't want to give me up. Blood's been after me ever since just so he could try out the 'obsession' effect"

"And the obsession can't be resisted" The Mad Hatter continued "imagine a feeling that is do desirable and uncontrollable that you'll never want her to leave you. It's so…intriguing"

Alice's eyes narrowed at him as she switched her gaze to him "well Blood, you'll be happy to know that now," she grinned smugly "I have the cake"

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Gray and Alice.

Blood and Alice.

Hm, nope, don't like either of them. Ace crossed his arms over his chest. His face was feigned with a stretched beam that he was apparently used to.

He remembers few of the foreigner's new size; the rest of it was fuzzy. He had 'seen' her somewhere at the Hatter's mansion and along the way in the forest but the memory was foggy, blurred of a weird red color. His limited knowledge of the situation has contained enough info though to understand that Alice Liddell has temporarily shrank and that he needed to take advantage of it as soon as possible or the chance shall slip.

Currently, he hadn't paid attention to anything concerning the Hatman and smallfry's conversation. It seemed unessential, the flirting, the lies, the rhetorical questions. Ace thought it wise to stay as far away from the chat as possible.

However, he lent an ear to Alice's recent sentence: "You'll be happy to know that now, I have the cake"

The fuc*? Was she hungry or something?

The Knight watched as Blood's expression travelled from baffled to violent. From there, he thought that perhaps, the conversation had become interesting.

"Well, you seem very lucky" Blood smiled, something Ace had perceived to be oddly familiar. Ah yes, the convincing fake smile. The Hatter was evidentially skilled with it as well. "I'm happy for you"

"You are?" Alice did not conceal her doubt

"Yes, I am. After all, what merit will I gain from your tiny size? It's perfectly irrelevant"

"You didn't seem to think that before"

He shrugged "it just occurred to me now"

Smallfry had no smart comeback to respond and that entertained Ace all the more. He pressed forward into the little circle, determined to add input to the conversation when suddenly, something unpleasant entered his nasal cavity and he gagged "pee-yoo, what's that smell?"

Alice semi-turned while the rest seemed to have frozen in place "what are you talking about, Ace?"

The Knight of Hearts sniffed the air and a part of his nose erected in disgust "it smells like poo"

Then, it struck him and he smirked.

"Alright, who had an 'accident'?" as expected, nobody raised his hand or offered the asked confirmation and Ace laughed. He sauntered forward, heading for the center and continued in a mock tone "c'mon, don't be shy"

The smell had gotten incredibly stronger as he moved and it seemed that he had hit bull's eye. Abruptly, he stopped and chuckled even louder. Ace glowered over Alice and gave her a wicked smile "oh Alice"

She shuffled in the boa timidly and a blush crept onto her cheeks. She had no idea that she smelled that bad.

"This man in front of you just had an accideeeeeeeent" the knight said in a loud whisper from behind the palm of his hand.

Gray's head snapped up sharply, his complexion stained bright fuchsia "you idiot, I didn't!"

"He did! He did! I can smell it from a mile away, Gray" Ace fanned his nose and kept snickering.

The prime caterpillar dropped the boa that cushioned Alice and went after the man "I did NOT!"

"Oh Gray, you're so cute when you're in denial" Ace fought off the fists Gray kept launching at him, trying his best to keep from laughing.

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Alice felt gravity take her, her hair flying above her and a scream stuck in her throat. The fall had been too short however and the air had been sucked back into her as she fell back into the boa, unharmed.

Blood watched as Gray let go of the boa, seeking revenge against the man who had claimed he pooed in his pants.

Pathetic.

He also noticed Alice as she tumbled down clumsily in midair. Now was his chance to win her over. Saving her could just change their relationship indefinitely. He wasted no more time. Blood rushed towards the pink boa.

Before he could take his third step however, the Cheshire cat had reached Alice and caught the boa niftily.

"Gotcha" he said.

The Madhatter stood there in embarrassment, staring as the moment that should have been him and Alice unfolded before him. He was unaware of his fists clenching in envy of watching the pink man and his desired doll, another opportunity gone down the drain. When he felt something wet on the palm of his hands, he gazed into the bright red stain on his gloves.

Well, what do you know? Five seconds into jealousy and he just earned himself a wound.

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Alice. It's been a while since he has seen her.

She had lost her usual scent in a sea of urine (as Boris calls it) yet she still pertained a sight of perfection to him, minus the wild hair and messed-up outfit.

She heaved in relief and thanked him for the quick save. It was wonderful to hear her voice again and all the cat could do was nod dreamily. She seemed not to notice as she stared off into the distance where Ace and Gray were bickering, Pierce helplessly in the middle trying to stop the quarrel.

She frowned "I really do smell like shi*, don't I?"

"indeed, you do" the two turned to see Nightmare heading their way, a knowing smirk marked on his face "I'm suprised Gray was able to put up with it" he said, causing the girl to flush in embarrassment

"It's alright; you could still wash it off. There is a sink in the kitchen that you could use as a shower"

"Thank goodness" was all she offered as a reply but it seemed to satisfy the incubus.

"I'll take you there now" Boris smiled, lifting her up gently and leading her towards the kitchen. Alice curiously peeked over her shoulder and when she couldn't catch sight of the Mad Hatter, she shrugged and leaned back onto the feathers of the boa.

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The water felt warm to Alice's skin, a sort of relief as it washed down her face and onto her naked body. The urinary smell was still evident but she rubbed on as much soap as she could get her little hands on to drown out the horrible stench.

Although Nightmare had locked the door before exiting the room, she had been open to the danger that it wasn't a hundred percent guarantee that they wouldn't peep through the keyhole. As a solution, our blonde heroine had created a makeshift shower curtain. Using the kitchen hand towel she found on the side, she wrapped it around the area and nailing it down onto the wall with two safety pins she found, clipping them on either side of the bath towel which had remained on the ring that held it up. It took her some time but better safe than sorry.

She closed her eyes at the memory and carefully proceeded to massage her scalp using the excess bubbles she used to clean her body with. Then by accident, she touched the spot in the middle of her hairline. It stung painfully and sent multiple warning signals to her body, not to touch it. The enormous bruise was due to Joker's grip on her hair as he yanked her out of his toilet and held her by the ends of it. She frowned at the memory; she had been scared to death back then and had not expected to survive the scenario entire.

Alice shook her head of the foul thoughts; there were more important things to think about. Like once she got back to her normal size, she would go back to Country of Hearts and make Julius her one-hundred point coffee. She would reach up and yank Elliot's 'rabbit' ears. She would ride something at the amusement park with Boris and the twins. She would visit Vivaldi and stay in her plush/doll-filled room for a few hours. She would camp out with Ace. She would...dare she say it, steal Blood's big hat and hide it out somewhere for him to find. She smiled as a pleasant image of him frantically searching for his hat popped into her head.

Alice finished off with her long locks and used both of her hands to turn off the sink water which had begun to gather a small flood below her ankles. She pushed the 'shower curtain' aside and after looking left and right for any peeping toms, she stepped out. Every step she took was heavy and caused splashes to and fro. As she reached the edge of the sink, she heaved herself out using both of her arms and onto the kitchen counter. She squeezed water out off her hair and flung the damp mess over her shoulders.

Alice walked to the spot she left her clothes and was surprised to just see her undergarments. She eyed the plain beige bra and matching underwear suspiciously and wondered if it was hidden somewhere beneath any of the two.

The question still remained and her breath caught. Where was her dress?

Her eyes widened in horror as it dawned her and her fists crumpled up in fury. "I'm going to kill them" The sad revelation that the cake was still in her pocket as well.

Almost Alice 'cuz she's almost herself (?) :D. Nah, its because she had the cake in her hands and then, it just suddenly slips away like, that!

Well, this was supposedly half of the chapter I was supposed to publish. The second part is in the next chapter. Go ahead, click the button. :)