10. The Evil Little Mermaid

Two faceless guards held the doors open for Peter nervously, watching the rabbit gleefully carry the protesting girl in his arms down the hallways of Heart Castle and towards his room.

"Peter! Put me down, now!" Alice ordered, frustrated as the man ignored her requests, gently kicking his bedroom door open and stepping inside, jumping down from the platform into the actual room instead of climbing down the ladder in front.

Finally, Peter set the girl on her feet in the middle of the room; rushing towards the door so he could shut and bolt it tight.

The brunette watched him worriedly, quietly walking away in search for an exit, though her only option was either the door or a small glass window that she knew for sure she wouldn't fit through.

The rabbit-eared man smiled widely, carelessly hopping down from the platform and making his way to the girl; a gloved hand outstretched her caress her cheek. Alice glared.

"Peter. Unlock the door and let me leave. Now." she instructed, but Peter ignored her; his fingers brushing against her cheek softly while his other hand stretched around her waist, pulling her against him securely. Alice glared heatedly, winding her fist back to falcon punch him across the face. However, the hand he used to caress her caught her fist, gripping her hand tightly in his. Peter frowned.

"Alice…" he murmured, tightening his grip on her hand and waist, pressing her body against his. The outsider flushed, her teeth grinding furiously.

"You're always telling me you love me." the reminded him as the silver-haired man bent his head down to kiss her forehead.

"I do love you." he whispered against her skin, his lips trailing down to her cheek.

"If you really loved me, you'd stop!" Alice squeaked, his kisses reaching to her jaw and moving down her neck. The brunette struggled uselessly, already knowing her attempts were in vain. Peter was strong; that was one thing she couldn't deny. Of course, in his mummified state, it was harder for him to stay together.

"I can't stand to see you with another." Peter growled at her neck, his eyebrows pushing together; pained. "I only want you to be with me. If this is the only way, then let it be."

Alice opened her mouth to object, but Peter's lips were already on hers; one hand tangled tightly in her hair to secure her face against his. His crimson eyes stared intently at her face as he continued; the brunette squeezing her eyes shut and complaints muffled out from around his lips. He tasted dead. The foul taste of a corpse invaded her mouth. It made her nauseous just thinking about it. She had to struggle from throwing up in his mouth.

Finally, the rabbit pulled away for air, and Alice took the chance to punch him swiftly across the face. To her surprise, Peter's head rolled off of his body and towards the bed. The body, however, stumbled around in confusion; refusing to fall. She could feel her stomach doing flips.

Gaining as much courage as she could muster, Alice kicked the body over; one leg falling off in the process.

"Alice!" Peter's head whined from the bed, trying to roll unsuccessfully towards his body on the other side of the room. Glaring at the body, he demanded, "Get up! I'm over here!"

The body did as told, struggling without its leg. Alice gulped.

"Alice, don't leave, my dear! I'll be devastated without you here!" the head cried desperately, but the brunette was already climbing up the ladder and struggling to unbolt the door. How had he locked this thing? It felt like it was rusted into the door!

Peter continued to guide his body towards him, but by the time he'd regained his head, Alice was already out of the room and rushing wildly through the castle, desperately praying she wouldn't run into Ace. That was the last thing she needed.

"Alice! Alice my sweetheart! Please come back! I can't bear us being apart!" she could hear Peter call from behind, and the brunette glanced behind to see Peter fixing his leg back onto his body, wobbling forward with an outstretched hand. She ran faster.

Turning a corner, Alice ran into a faceless guard who quickly caught the flailing foreigner before either could fall.

"Are you alright miss?" he asked, and Alice nodded, quickly breaking free from his grasp.

"I need to leave!" she explained, but the guard caught her by the wrist.

"Actually, her majesty requested we bring you to her." the card objected, and Alice shook her head in objection.

"Leave a rain check! I have to go!" she cried, but not before she saw a pair of bunny ears come into sight. She watched in horror as she spotted Peter searching frantically for her at the end of the all, and quickly allowed the guard to lead her towards the queen.

Alice wasn't sure what to expect from Vivaldi, or even expect her to be. What kind of horrid creature would the Queen of Hearts become?

The faceless worker led her into the throne room, quietly walking out and shutting the door behind him. Alice stared nervously as her blue eyes lifted to where the queen was supposed to be. However, a large clear tank sat in her place; a water filter hooked up to it, and a young woman with wavy purple hair covering her chest and red fins sat inside. Her expression was bored at first, but at the sight of the foreigner, she smirked.

"Good afternoon, Alice." the mermaid greeted, and Alice recognized her at once.

"Vivaldi…?" Alice said hesitantly, taking a cautious step backwards, but feeling stupid for doing so. What could Vivaldi do to her from that tank? Nothing! This just might be the best monster she'd come across.

The queen nodded, smiling softly. "A surprise, is it not? We certainly didn't expect to have changed so suddenly. It was such a bother to get the tank, but well worth it, wouldn't you agree?"

"Erm, yeah." Alice agreed, unsure of really what to say.

"Hmm. Well, our conversation has appeared to have dropped." Vivaldi noted, frowning a little. "Time to end this, We suppose."

"E-end what?" Alice was nervous now, small drops of sweat beginning to form on her forehead as she took several steps backwards until she was at the door once again.

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!" Vivaldi shrieked to her guards, pointing at the foreigner. The cards quickly pulled up their weapons, and Alice dove out of the doors, ignoring the fact that she'd also gained Peter's attention.

The guards along with Peter chased after the girl, only a yard or so behind as the foreigner struggled for an escape. Damn. Where were the Jokers in situations like these? They'd promised to help her!

Alice ran another corner, prepared to run upstairs, but a hand roughly grasped her wrist and pulled her off to the side. A squeal escaped her throat, but another hand was clamped over her mouth as she was hidden in the shadows in a compartment beneath the staircase; her body forced to lean against a dark figure next to her.

"Shut the f*** up or they'll hear you!" a familiar voice hissed, and Alice stopped her struggles and sighed in relief. Black Joker.

Several loud footsteps followed afterwards- Alice tensing at the noise- and raced above them and up the stairs. Once the clatters of shoes and weaponry stopped, Alice sighed, and Black released her mouth.

"Why the f*** do you keep getting into trouble?" the Joker growled in annoyance. "You're not a f****** princess, bitch, so stop acting like one. I'm not going to f****** come to your aid every time you need it."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Alice apologized, tired of his ranting. Joker grunted in irritation, and Alice sighed. "It's not like I asked for this, though."

"Well neither did I." he snapped, and Alice half-expected a comment from White-san, but instead raised an eyebrow when she noticed Black was missing his belt.

"Why aren't you wearing your belt?" the brunette asked, and Black glared, his teeth clenched.

"None of your f****** business." he growled, and stretched out uncomfortably in the small area. "Now get comfortable, bitch. Because of you, we'll have to stay here for a while."

"How come?" Alice questioned, frowning.

"You really are an idiot." Black muttered, more to himself than to her, but spoke up. "With the guards running around, it'll be more trouble leaving now than it'll be at night when everyone's asleep. Now f****** listen to me and get comfortable." Alice sighed, frowning at the man.

"But you're taking up all the room." she objected, squeezing herself into a fetal position in a small corner across from the man.

"Tch. To f****** bad." he growled, but a smirk slid across his face, worrying the foreigner.

"What are you thinking of?" she demanded, even more uncomfortable than before.

"Nothing, w****." he replied, but the smirk never left. If anything, the demonic glint in his eye proved otherwise.

"Don't even think of trying anything." Alice warned, shrinking back against the wall. "So help me, Black…"

Black Joker didn't reply; just grinned in an amusement that concerned the brunette before slinking back against the wall, his single eye closing as he prepared to drift back to sleep.

Okay, I think I've given enough Joker x Alice in the previous chapters to skip any big touchy moments in this one and the next few. XD I mean, I still need to save some moments for the next stories! We can't have them click so easily in this if we still have more to go, now can we?

I'm having mixed emotions for the end of this. I'm REALLY sad that this is going to end since I love writing this story, but I'm also REALLY excited for an ending I want to put on the following sequel. 8D Decisions, decisions. DX

I hope you guys are liking this story so far despite my fan service overboard. ^w^;; I'll try to work on that. I've been rereading the manga (Not that I don't read it enough already… ^w^;;) just to make sure I'm getting these personalities right, though it isn't help too much with Gray, Pierce, and the Jokers. *sigh* Oh well; I'm trying!

As for Vivaldi being a siren… It was that or a witch. ._. There needs to be more female monsters.

Now that I think about it, we have about 2-3 more chapters left. Alice and Black still need to get that key, and then the aftermath of it all. 8D Alice promised anything~! Kuh kuh kuh...