Chapter Nine: Grasping at a Chance

It was a strange feeling.

My heart, I mean.

It's never... well it's never felt this good. It feels like, well it almost feels like I have a real heart.

I smiled slightly as I glanced over at Alice who had fallen asleep inside the tent.

Because of her, I get this chance to feel this way.

I sighed softly. This won't last. It never lasts long. Come morning, one of the others will snatch her from me.

'Cause that's the way these games go.

A knight like me can never win.

"Ace?"

I blinked in surprise. I thought Alice was asleep!

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing..." I mumbled as I turned away from her and poked at the fire in front of me.

"May I ask you a question?" she asked shyly.

I shrugged. "Sure."

What did she want to know?

"Do you... do you know a person named 'Nightmare'?"

I whirled around to face her. "Nightmare? Why?"

She scooted back in surprise. "Just... wondering. The name sounded um familiar."

I took in a sharp breath. "I see."

She gave me a small smile. "It's nothing, Ace."

I gave her a big smile. "Yeah."

Although, deep down, I'm not so sure.


(Alice's POV)

Bah... I hate not being able to tell Ace everything.

It's not that I don't trust him.

It's... well complicated.

If I tell him, he might think I'm crazy.

But if I don't... well I suppose I could ask Julius?

No... I think Ace would understand the best. And well, he seems to know this Nightmare person. If I can get him to tell me about him, maybe just maybe I can piece together these thoughts.

I snuggled myself in my sleeping bag. I'm rather sleepy all the sudden. I yawned. Hmmm... I'll just have to find out everything in the morning.


(Ace's POV)

Whew... She's asleep now.

I'm kinda glad.

I mean, I have no clue what's going on in her mind right now.

No no no, I don't think she's crazy or anything. (I mean, if she's crazy then what am I, right? Ha ha!)

It's just with all these "memory" issues she has now... I don't know what to think about her.

And it's all Peter White's fault.

He's a selfish creature. I don't know why Nightmare works with him. I mean, even if Alice's sister Lorina wanted Alice to end up with Peter, shouldn't Alice get to choose for herself? And besides, we all know that Alice doesn't really care for the rabbit. So why can't Peter and Nightmare just let it go? It's not like the game will be ruined if she doesn't pick Peter, right? Right?!

I ran my hand through my hair.

Maybe I should have paid better attention during that meeting...

They talked soo much. I mean how was I suppose to know that some of that stuff would actually be important?


Flashback (sort of)

(No one's POV)

"Alice's sister Lorina wanted the best for her. The two were very close. But unfortunately, Alice's ex-lover fell in with Lorina and they got married."

Vivaldi frowned. "Dreadful!"

Nightmare shot an annoyed look at the Queen before continuing, "To somehow make amends and help Alice, Lorina came to Wonderland."

"Ah!" the role-holders gasped as if everything had just clicked together in their minds.

"We... don't get it!" the twins complained.

The other role-holders nodded in embarrassment.

Nightmare still wasn't getting things through crystal clear.

Nightmare sighed. "It's so much to explain and soo little time!"

"Well shorten it up as best you can!" Blood snapped.

Julius was about to nod in agreement when he noticed a flash of red. He frowned slightly. Ace... Well if he wanted to leave, he would have to face the consequences and Julius was not going to help. The situation at hand was far more important than Ace.

"I'm trying!" Nightmare whined.

"Okay!" Gowland raised his hand to stop Nightmare's whining. "We get the fact that Lorina somehow has been here before and that she somehow got the stupid rabbit here. What we want to know is, why the rabbit is the only one who can probably help Alice?"

Nightmare twiddled his thumbs. "Well..."

"Well?" Vivaldi snapped her scepter against her side.

Nightmare gulped and quickly continued, "What I mean is... Don't you remember what I said about memories and Peter?"

The role-holders slowly nodded their heads.

"In order for Alice to become Cough, cough 'normal' again, she has to have some of her memories restored."

The role-holders nodded again.

"Don't you see? Peter is her memories! So he is the only one out of us who knows her memories well enough to possibly be able to help her restore them! If he doesn't... he doesn't get Alice to remember certain things in time... and one of us gets closer to her. Well, there's a possibility of losing not only losing one of you forever, but also Alice."

End of the sorta Flashback


(Ace's POV)

I clasped my hands together as I gazed into the dying fire.

Lorina... Alice's older sister. Close siblings. Very close.

I sighed softly and gazed up at the stars above me.

Nightmare said Lorina wanted Alice to end up with Peter.

And Lorina... she won a game here.

I frowned slightly and turned my gaze back to the burning embers.

If Lorina thought Peter was best for Alice, does that mean she made for this round of the game...

No! That can't be right? Wouldn't Lorina want Alice to choose out of her own will?

Because if that's not the case... I might be putting Alice in danger if I continue grasping this chance to be with her.

No no no!

I shook my head fiercely.

There is no way!

"Is there?"

"Nightmare!" I growled. "What do you want?"

"Hey hey. No need to get mad."

I rolled my eyes.

"You haven't realized how much trouble you've cause, have you?"

"Enough," I replied cheerfully.

"More than that."

"And I care because?"

"Alice."

"But of course."

"Be serious, Ace."

I grinned. "I'm always serious."

"Ace! Listen to me! I'm not repeating myself! YOU... YOU need to be careful."

"...Why?"

"Because... if you make one wrong move, you'll not only lose this game... your life. You'll lose Alice forever."

"Lose Alice? What do you mean?!"

"Good... luck, Ace."

"Nightmare!"

I clenched my fists angrily. Why must the caterpillar be so cryptic?! Is he trying to help me? Warn me, maybe? I don't get this at all! What is he trying to tell me?!

Why can't they just spell things out here?

I slammed my fist into the ground.

I just got this chance...

And now, I'm probably going lose it.

To Peter White, of all people.


Author's Note:Ta-dah! I updated! *squee!* but it's rather choppy... but I kinda like it. ^^;; I hope you guys like it too. I just had to update! XD I was soo happy to see that I got 27 reviews on this story! The most reviews I've gotten on a story is 28. So 27 is pretty awesome! :D Anyways no inspiration for the chapter title once again. Still going on whim my friends. Soo I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. :D Toodles!

Author's Response to Reviews:

Guest- Yes im glad you update I hope Alice chose ace as a love interest :)

And you get another update! I hope you like it! And yes, I hope so too! ;)

serima- I'm... I'm so confused...

Awww! TToTT I'm sorry! I hope I was able to unconfuse you in this chapter... D: If it's still confusing, let me know. You can let me know in a review or pm. Whatever works for you. I don't want my readers to be confused. ^^;;

SamShamrocks- Woooah! Wait! My guess wasn't all that wrong! XD Okay, I was reading the CnKnA series Cheshire Cats Waltz and in ... one of the volumes it mentioned how Peter was Alice's "Sunday Afternoon" (The memory of that.) So, I thought because of him being her memory he had some importance... something like that... Anywho, LORINA WON THE GAME?! SHE WAS IN WONDERLAND? WHUUUUT?! Sorry, but was NOT expecting that at all! Great as always and keeping me guessing! Hope ya update soon!

Yah! The lucky 27th reviewer! ;D Anyways, really?! O.O Your guess was?! Coolio! Ah... well I haven't read that series. To be honest... the sudden change to the Hatter Mansion and the new artist weirded me out. So yah... Never got around to reading. I think I got this info through a HnKnA wikia or wikipedia or something. But yah yah! Peter is a memory sort of. *evil chuckle* We'll see more about that soon. ;) And yes. ^^;; Did you like that btw? I dunno why, but I just had this feeling that Lorina might have been to Wonderland before. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this update! Cheerio cheerio!