HEY I'm Back! I hope you all like this one, I wrote a lot more than I usually would in the hopes that you'll forgive me for taking so long.

I don't own this so don't sue, plus I like reviews

I hope you enjoy!


Chapter 9

I softly stepped through the forest, the fallen leaves crackling under my feet. I looked up, loving the way the forest looked, smelled, and felt. I smiled, this world was so much more better than my own. This world seemed and was so much more alive. People weren't destroying what was beautiful and what was so full of life. The leaves were so much more greener then the ones I knew. Each and everyone of them seemed to have a life of it's own and seemed to whisper with the wind in happiness. Wile the ones in my world just seemed to moan or say nothing at all, always having a ore of sadness around them.

"Alice! Come on! Do you plan on spending the night in the forest or do you plan on getting to the castle within a week?" I looked down to see Elliot far ahead of me, his orange rabbit ears swaying with the slight breeze. I snickered when some of his hair got in his face, making him sneeze.

"Sorry!" I shouted as I ran to catch up with him.

As I slowed to a walk next to him, I took out my iPod, thinking to add some music to this wonderful forest that surrounded us. As I slowed down a little more, I scrolled through my list of songs, trying to find the perfect song to match this scenery. After a moment, I found a good song to listen to. It was " A Stray Child" by See-Saw. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it kind of clicked with me for some reason. I felt it said something that I could not but, but it was spoken from the heart. My heart. My story. Kind of.

"Hey, you are lost in your way,

Deep in a awesome story,

Don't be a down town stray,

Cling to your lonesome-"

I jumped when a hand suddenly came down on my shoulder, stopping me from moving ford another inch. Elliot's face appeared a few inches from my face, making me blush at how suddenly close he was to me.

"W-w-what is it?" I stammered, taking a hasty step back. I turned down the volume so I could hear him.

He seemed to relax when he saw me respond to him. His hand slid off of my shoulder as he sighed. "Thank god, I thought for a moment there that you had gone deaf," he laughed a little and brought his hand up to his head.

I did the same, sliding my hand through my hair, laughing a apology, "Sorry Elliot, I guess I had it to loud."

He paused, a curious look crawling onto his face. "What is that thing anyway? I heard noises coming from those things in your ears," he asked as I took the ear peaces out. I looked up at him to see a full blown curiosity storm unfolding. His purple eyes were wide with curiosity, eager to learn the unknown. His orange rabbit ears were strait, pointing to the the sky, giving me the idea that I had his full undivided attention.

That look he gave me awoke my girly side once more. I was having trouble controlling myself, if I let myself go, I would probably jump him right here and know, squealing how cute he was. I stood there, having a internal war inside me, as he looked at me with those cute eyes.

My smart side got annoyed at my girly side (lets just call them names, girly= Rose smart= Star) and came up with a idea that would hopefully shut her up.

"Ok, I'll tell you," I murmured, watching as Elliot's face began to shine with joy of learning the unknown, "but on one condition." His face slightly fell, but he was still brimming with enough happiness that he managed to keep up his cuteness.

"What's the condition?" he asked.

I smiled cutey, "Just let me touch your rabbit ears, that's it, nothing else." He looked dismayed when I said this, but after a moments thought, he nodded.

I eagerly watched as he walked over to a high tree root and sat down, so to give be a better reach. But even then he was still taller than me. I silently cursed my genes, but soon forgot when he leaned his head down a little, giving me a good view of his orange ears.

I shuffled over to him eagerly, a smile tugging at my lips. Once I was in front of him, I stood on my tiptoes and reached up.

My hands brushed against soft fur. And those very same hands, of their own accord, began to stork the soft fur. I had never felt something so soft, so wile I was lost in the feeling, Rose took advantage and tried to reach further up. I was already on my tiptoes so it only ended in failure. And in that failure, I was left embarrassed and blushing like there was no tomorrow.

I had fallen down on Elliot, that's the simplest and least embarrassing way of putting it. But since you all are here, let me explain the inter situation, nothing left out, not even the 'OMG, this can't be happening' moment.

I had lost my balance when I had tried to get a better reach to his ears and my toes had slipped on the leaves that littered the ground, leaving me falling ford, strait into the unexacting Elliot. Like I said, he didn't know what was coming at him, so when I knocked into him he also lost his balance and fell backward off his perch.

Now, I feel really bad for him, because unlike me, he didn't have a human cushion to soften his fall. But anyway, he fell backward and hit the ground, with me on top of him. Now let me tell you, heh, the situation I was left in was quit embarrassing. And you might think that the most embarrassing part about it was being on top of him. No, not even close. The embarrassing part was, are you ready for it? The most embarrassing part was that my CHEST, landed on his FACE. And the thing is, I didn't even notice it at first. I know, your probably asking, "How can you NOT notice?". Well, to tell you the truth, even I don't know, maybe I was to shocked, or maybe I was to busy yelling at Rose inside my head for doing such a thing. So you could say I forgot that I landed on Elliot.

I finally noticed when I heard a muffled voice coming from underneath me. My first thought was a stupid thought, it was "Is the ground talking?". I then noticed that the ground was warm and was moving. The next thought that came out was even stupider, "OMG, IT'S A EARTHQACK/VOLCANO ERUPTION!" I almost screamed, but then I felt two hands come around my waist and lightly push me to the side. I fell to the actual ground and heard panting behind me.

I looked back to see Elliot red in the face and huffing and puffing like someone had been chocking him. I than realized that it was him I'd been on, not the ground, and blushed all the way to my toes. Rose was squealing like there was no tomorrow, Star was blushing slightly and was cursing herself for the idea that led us to this event. After a awkward silence I asked nervously, "Are you ok?"

He was looking down, away from me, his hand covering his mouth. He nodded a fast, jerky nod. I sat up, and looked down into my lap, siting like Japanese people do. My fingers wove and unwove as the seconds ticked by slowly. I felt the need to apologize for this whole mess, because it was really my fault that this happened, and I couldn't take the silence anymore.

So I blurted out, "I'm sorry!" I sat there, still looking at my hands, worried that this might have ruined one of my few friendships I had.

"...It's ok, no harm came from it. Besides it was a accident, right?"

I looked up, hope in my eyes, to see Elliot looking at me with forgiveness in his eyes. I blushed when my eyes met his and looked away. I heard shuffling in front of me and then saw a hand appear in front of me. I looked up to see Elliot, a slight blush that he had been hiding on his cheeks, his hand reaching out toward me.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

I nodded, and reached for is hand, relieved that he seemed to disregard it, like nothing had happened. Which was all I really wanted, just pretend that it had never happened.

Once he had helped me up, I dusted of my dress, trying to get of all of the leaves from it's nice fabric. As we began to walk through the forest, I wondered if I should be grateful to Rose or if I should somehow look for a way to murder her.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when he asked, "...So, are you still going to tell me what that thing is?" I looked up to Elliot's curious face looking at me, his orange rabbit ears bouncing with every step we took.

I smiled, "Ok, it is called a iPod, you listen can listen to music with it." I held my iPod up to let him examine it.

Confusion covered his face, "How can people fit in that tiny thing? Is there like a minuter orchestra in there?" I snickered, this was quit funny, I'd never met someone who'd never heard of a iPod, let alone someone who probably didn't even know about recording.

"Ha ha ha, no, there aren't any people inside, the music that comes out is a recording," when I saw a even more confused look on his face, I explained, "A repeat of what someone else heard."

He seemed to understand that and nodded. Than a curious look came once more and he asked, "Can I hear what kind of music you listen to?"

I thought for a moment, then nodded, "Sure, but I listen to a lot of different kinds of music so you might want listen to a few different songs before you judge."

He nodded as I took out the earplugs and placed them in my backpack. I then began to look for some good songs to listen to. I saw one of my funny songs and wondered if he'd like to hear it. I decided to ask later and found another song. It was called, "Kong Foo Fighting" by Foo Fighters. I knew it was a silly song but I really liked it, it always brought my spirits up.

I smiled, "Would you like to listen to Kong Foo Fighting? It's one of my favorites." He nodded but asked what kind of name that was. I just shrugged and turned the volume up, letting its song play loud and clear.

After the song had played. I looked up at Elliot and asked, "Did you like it?"

He looked thought full for a moment, then he said, "It was ok, and what instruments do they use in this song? I've never heard of some of those sounds before."

I thought for a moment then answered truthfully, "I really don't know."

He seemed to accept that and asked, "What else do you have? I didn't really get into the feeling of the song, but I liked the sounds and the lyrics."

I wasn't surprised, I truthfully didn't get into the groove of it ether, but I had thought that it was a good song to start with. I looked through the list once more and found a song I really liked. It was "Cave In" by Owl City. I pressed play and began to sing along with the song that I would often sing in the real world.

"Please take a long,

Hard,

Look through your text book,

Because I'm history,

When I strap my helmet on,

I'll be long gone,

Cause I've been dying to leave,

Ya, all right derange and hide all my lose change,

In my bed room,

Cause riding a dirt bike,

Down a turn pike,

Always takes it's tole,

On me..."

I smiled, it was a good song. It always seemed to take my attention away from everything else. That's probably why I didn't notice Elliot looking at me with a expression that said, "Wow, she's cute!", and it's also probably the reason I didn't notice the scenery change from a forest to a maze of tall bushes. I just continued to sing like nothing had changed.

"I've had just about enough,

Of cloaked diamonds in the ruff,

Because my back bone is paper thin,

Get me out of this cavern

Or I'll cave in..."

I still didn't notice the look that Elliot was giving me, and it was probably good that I didn't. Don't ask me why, it's just my guess. However, I did notice when a guard stopped us.

"Holt! What is your business here?" he asked. He was dressed up like a card from a deck, what a weird uniform. I almost squealed in surprise when I saw his face. He had no eyes, but apparently he could see us, which is quit weird. But I soon accepted that and looked up at Elliot, hoping that he would know what to do.

He looked at the solder and said, "I am here to escort Alice to see Peter White." The solder looked surprised, and muttered, "Lord White?!"

Elliot ignored him and looked at me, "I think it's time I left for the mansion Alice." I looked up at him and wined in distress, "But we haven't even gotten there yet, I don't know the way there."

He looked up to the solder and asked, "Would you mined escorting Alice the rest of the way to White? I'm not suppose to be here." The solder nodded.

He looked back down at me and smiled, "I'll see you later Alice, be careful around White, he's a hard shell to crack."

I nodded. Hesitated for a moment, then decided to do what Rose wanted to do, I gave Elliot a quick, but tight, hug and whispered, "Thanks for your help Elliot, you really are a good friend." I looked up at Elliot and gave him a genuine smile, letting all of my gratitude show in that one movement. Elliot seemed a little surprised, but then he smiled too and hugged me back within the 5 seconds that I allowed myself to hug him. I needed to watch myself or Rose might try to takeover again.

I stepped back and waved goodbye, watching as he disappeared behind the hedges. I turned back to the solder and said, "Please, lead the way."

He nodded and led me through the maze that I would have gotten lost in if no one had been there to lead me. We soon were out of the maze and were heading toward a odd, but cute, castle. The odd was the same thing as the cute thing, so let me just say it as simple as I can. Basically, the inter castle was covered in hearts. Weird, right?

As he led me into the castle, I was shocked into silents, not that I wasn't already silent. Let me just say this, the mansion was great and all, but compared to the is, it looked like my house compared to a skyscraper.

We continued through the castle until we got to two huge doors. He nodded to the two guards in front of them and they opened the doors for us. I followed the solder inside, hoping that Peter was here, because, let me tell you, my feet HURT! Walking in high heeled boots all day was not a thing you want to try.

I looked around the room we had entered, seeing nothing of interest on the lower area, I looked up, and was met with who I was looking for. Above me was a balcony, and on that balcony, stood Peter White, who was looking quit bored.

Out of anger or satisfaction of finding him, I'll never know, I shouted out his name. He looked down from the balcony, surprise clear on his face. But that surprise quickly turned to happiness and the next thing he did left me kind of worried about him.

I know, I know, I shouldn't worry about a kidnapping/pervert, but that balcony was probably one or two stores high, and I would worry about anyone who'd jump head first off something so high without a second thought. And he came falling down strait toward me, shouting nonsense.

"Alice! I knew you'd come but to have come so fast..." as he collided with me, he finished happily, "You must have really wanted to see me!"

I blushed bright red as I felt his arms wrap around me, bring me down with him. As we landed on the floor, I thought, 'Why? Why me?' It's not that I'm not a little happy that someone is acting like this over me, but why over someone so boring and plain like me? I was brought out of my thoughts when I felt his arm squeeze around my waist. He sat up and beamed at me, his white hair falling into his pale face, his white rabbit ears aiming in different directions, and his red eyes, behind his Harry Potter like glasses, sparkling with joy. This picture I just painted made me lose some of my steam, and what was left me was mostly a very embarrassed girl who had forgotten the reason why she was angry at this man on top of her.

I sat up and rubbed the back of my head were it had collided with the floor, looking away from him. Now I think I know what Elliot felt like earlier today. Well, at least I wasn't used as a cushion or that would have hurt. I looked down to see that his white gloved hands were still on ether side of me, leaving me only one way out if I wanted to escape. I looked up to see his face was only a few inches away. I had been recovering from my last blush but that discovery led to another bright red blush. You know what? I've never blushed so much in my inter life until I came here.

I was about to ask him a question when a voice behind him call out my attention. "You there, art thou a foreigner?"

I looked up to the balcony from which Peter had jumped from to see a woman siting in a heart shaped thrown. She had a dark purplish red, curly hair that was put up nicely around her head, and was dressed in a dress with hearts all over. Even thought I would usually hate stuff like this, I actually liked the way it was arranged, it was... a nice change.

I asked the question I was wondering, "May I ask who you are?"

"We are the Queen of Hearts, Vivaldi."