Maybe I should lower down the requirement to 4 or 3 reviews, I was waiting for days to post this (I was so bored out of my freakin' mind!) T_T
This is the longest chapter I've wrote so far, I've been having a bit of a challenge with writing lately so I hope that I didn't have too much going on in this chapter ;_;
Thank you to:
FloraRose23: Thank you so much for the review, and thank you for your help, I hope I put your information to good use in this chapter, please let me know how I did. :D
Smileyface18493: Thanks for the review and I hope you like this chapter! ;)
ShinobiShinigami58: Thank you for favoriting this story, if you have any questions or comments you can always review. ^^
Allora22701: Thanks for the review! And yes, Ace was dumb enough to drink it *sighs* he'll do anything for attention. At least he learned his lesson from that (I hope), I gave him the 'cure'. (^_^)
Twilight Dark Angel: Thank you for favoriting and following A Dragon's Heart! I hope I'll see reviews from you in the future. :)
Guest: Thank you for the review! And I hope you just loooove this chapter ;)
Meadow Melody: Thank you so much for the reviews ;_; and for finally relinquishing me from my boredom. I will hopefully grant you amusement with this chapter. *cries in happiness*
Ace: Aww, I didn't know that Void had emotions...
Void: *throws a shoe at him but he catches it* Of course I have emotions idiot! And how the hell did you cure yourself from speaking?!
Ace: I drank the cure that you gave me. *smiles*
Void: B-but how is that possible? I gave you the same potion Allora chan gave you! O.o
Julius: I think it's due to his unnatural ability to drink so much to the point he becomes sober, except instead with potions.
Void: H-how is that even POSSIBLE?!
Julius: *sighs* Even I'm still trying to figure it out.
Void: A-anyway, I don't own J/C/HnKnA, QR does!
Chapter X: Troublesome Child
*Julius's POV*
The noon light shone in Julius's eyes, effectively waking him up. His head shot up. Did I fall asleep? His eyes trailed over to the piles and piles of clocks he still hasn't finished. He just had to fall asleep. Now he was going to be working constantly without stop for the next week or so just to finish these clocks.
He suddenly realized that for the first time ever, he woke up with a filled stomach. Julius knew that Blake was a servant and he knew that he could cook, but he didn't know that he could cook that well. Julius groaned just remembering the smell of the onion soup. Maybe he could start getting used to being fed; he could take an hour break from fixing the clocks to be fed, right?
Julius glanced over to the couch expecting to see Blake passed out, but the couch was empty. Perhaps he's cooking breakfast? Julius stretched standing up; he could feel his muscles tense and lock up. He winced; maybe it wasn't a good idea to fall asleep on his metal desk.
He stepped away from his desk only for his feet to slip on something. Julius caught himself and looked down. A trail of blood led from the front door exiting his office to his room. His shoe smeared some of it. Julius paled. Is Blake hurt? Julius ran into his bedroom following the trail of blood to the bathroom door. Julius opened it, the room was trashed. The medicine cabinet was hanging open and its contents littered the floor. The trail led to the bathtub.
Julius rushed over and found Blake curled up in the bathtub. He was completely still.
"Blake?" He touched the boy's cheek only to reel back when he felt how ice cold his skin was. The boy's lips were turning blue, and Julius noticed the pool of red completely covering the bottom of the tub. Julius shrugged off his overcoat and wrapped it around the boy, picking him up and holding him close to his chest. Blake was lighter than Julius expected. He must've lost too much blood. The boy no longer smelled gentle, but had the sharp metallic scent of iron. "Blake." Julius carried Blake to his bed and tucked him under the covers not caring that his bed was now being soaked in blood. Julius then sprinted out of the room and dialed the telephone in his work room to the doctor's office.
The phone rang for a long while. Come on, come on, come on! The phone was picked up. "Hello?"
"I have someone wounded, there's blood and—"
"I'm sorry, but the Doctor isn't in right now. If you call back later, maybe we could set up a—"
Julius punched the wall. "There is no later! HE'S GOING TO DIE, IF THE DOCTOR DOESN'T COME NOW!"
"… I'm sorry, if our services aren't up to your expectations, but it wouldn't matter if someone died, they'll just be replaced—" Julius slammed down the phone effectively ending the call. He never hated the world he lived in so much as he did now. Where was Ace when he needed him? Julius strode back into his bedroom.
"Monrey…?" Julius froze, before rushing over to the bed.
"Blake?!" He turned the boy's cheek gently so he was facing Julius. Julius's clock ticked faster, when he saw Blake's eyes were slitted open. Blake's eyes were no longer gold, but a dull brown.
"Can't… stop the… bleeding," his voice was so weak Julius could barely hear him. That's right he had to stop the bleeding. He dashed into the bathroom and grabbed a roll of bandages of the floor, hurrying back Julius lifted off the blankets. "C-cold…"
"I'm going to check your wound, Blake." He had to keep the boy talking, he couldn't allow the boy fall into an eternal sleep. The boy grunted in acknowledgement. Julius lifted the boy's shirt. Shock ripped through Julius when he saw all the dark bruises that covered the child's stomach along with all the old scars. Julius concentrated on the wound oozing with dark red blood in Blake's side. The blood was thickening which means the wound was trying to close itself up. Julius took care when wrapping the wound. "Are you still with me, Blake?" Julius lightly smacked the boy's cheek. "Come on! Don't fall asleep on me."
The boy frowned. "Stop that… that's annoying."
"I won't stop until you open your eyes."
The boy forced his eyes open. "But I'm so… tired …"
"You're not allowed to sleep. Tell me what happened. How did you get hurt like this?"
"I fell…"
"Yes, falling caused you to get bruises all over your stomach, and a stab wound in your side," Julius spoke sarcastically. Julius saw that the wound was made from a knife one and a half inches in width.
The boy let out a groan. "God, this is so… embarrassing." The boy was dying, and he was worried about being embarrassed? What is wrong with outsiders? Especially this one, even Alice would freak out if this happened to her. She freaked out when she accidently cut her finger with a knife. "I was so… stupid… I'm a disgrace to the Liddell family…" He's worried about that?
"You're not a disgrace, Blake." He brushed the boy's hair out of his face. "People get hurt all the time." Well, usually people are killed here in Wonderland, but almost never wounded and alive, well, Blake is dying so Julius doesn't think he technically counts. Don't think like that, Julius! Blake might not die... But the chances of his survival are so low…
Blake laughed dryly, before groaning in pain. "I know that… it doesn't matter if I get hurt, I'll heal—"
"Don't say that." Blake looked at Julius in surprise. "If you die, I can't fix you. You're irreplaceable." Julius felt pressure building up in his chest. That's right; if Blake dies, he'll never be replaced. Blake stared at him for a few moments and smiled.
"You're reminding me… a lot of Alice right now, so cynical. Who ever said that I was going to die? You should have more faith in me, I promised Lorina… that I would take care of Alice, I can't exactly keep my promise, if I'm dead… now can I?" He looked so confident that he was going to live, Julius pitied the boy. Julius expected the boy to say something like, 'If I die, please protect Alice' not 'There's no way I'm dying, I made a promise and I'm going to keep it'. "Now where's the doctor, because this wound in my side is starting to get really itchy." Julius chuckled, this boy was different that's for sure.
Julius heard the telephone ringing, and he quickly bolted for it. "Hello?" he smashed the phone to his ear.
"Someone by this phone number called earlier about an emergency?" A male voice spoke.
"Yes, I have a severely wounded young man in my vicinity. He has a stab wound and multiple bruises."
"Where are you?"
"In the Clock Tower, the Clockmaker's workroom." The other line went silent and Julius sucked in a breath. Did he hang up? "Are you still there?"
"… Y-yes, Julius? I thought I recognized your voice. I'm on my way." The doctor hung up.
) OoO0oOo0OoO (
*The Doctor's POV*
Doctor Adam Phillips was one of the few people who did not hate the Clockmaker. Because of that Doctor Phillips was the only doctor the Clockmaker trusted. Phillips smoothed out his thin black mustache. A young man, eh? Phillips wasn't aware that Julius received any other visitors besides that knight fellow and the outsider girl. Phillips also knew that Julius wasn't the friendly type, nor usually left the Clock Tower. So how could he have gotten a wounded man in his midst?
The doctor was just about to raise his hand to knock on the door, when it swung open revealing the mortician. Julius had a look of fear in his eyes, a look the doctor never thought he would see. "He's just passed out. Please, hurry." The mortician beckoned the doctor inside and quickly led Phillips to his bedroom chambers.
Under the covers was a rather handsome young man, well more like 'pretty-boy', but handsome nonetheless, if you can ignore the clammy skin and blood.
The doctor placed his bag of essentials on the nightstand next to the bed and checked over the boy. Ice-cold skin, blue lips, shallow breathing, he looked almost dead. He needed to check his clock to see if it was still functioning correctly. Phillips took his stethoscope out of his bag, unbuttoned the top few buttons of the shirt, and pressed the stethoscope against his upper chest.
*B-bump…B-bump…B-bump* the doctor frowned, that couldn't be right. What on earth was that sound? It certainly wasn't the ticking of a clock. Could it be that his clock is damaged?
"Julius, come over here." The doctor waved the clockmaker over and handed him the stethoscope. "Listen to the boy's clock." Julius listened in with the stethoscope, before the edge of his mouth curled up. "Do you know what that sound is?" The doctor certainly was hoping he would know; Julius is a clockmaker after all.
"Yes, I know what that sound is. It's the sound of a heart."
"H-heart?" What did he mean 'heart'? "Are you saying that this boy is…?"
"Yes, he's an outsider." How could that be? Outsiders were rare to come by and yet to have two outsiders in the country at the same time… was that even possible?
"I-I see, hm…" The doctor gestured to the door. "You may leave now." Julius stood there unmoving. Phillips sighed; Julius is one of those people, who are so difficult to get to leave him alone to his work. "Julius, I can't operate on the boy with you looking over my shoulder, if you don't want any mistakes to be made I suggest you leave."
"Don't… try anything."
"Why would I try anything? I'm not into little boys, besides I'm married and I have two kids. If you think I'm going to cheat on my loving wife now, you're wrong." Julius backed off, and left. "Hmph, troublesome man."
The doctor removed the boy's vest and unbuttoned the boy's shirt all the way down. The boy's lower abdomen was wrapped in bandages, but the upper part had a sort of cloth binding over it, which could be used for… The doctor reached forward and began to pull down the front of the bindings only to reveal a small portion of cleavage.
Abruptly the boy's hand shot up grabbing the doctor's hand into a death-grip and his eyes snapped open. The doctor felt himself pale when he looked into the slitted gold eyes of the boy—no, girl—no, demon.
"You tell Mr. Monrey about this, and I will end you, got it?" The boy's—girl's grip on his hand tightened. Such amazing strength for someone who lost so much blood, the doctor couldn't help but admire.
"I-I won't."
The boy's eyes narrowed but he released his grip. "We'll see about that." A shiver went down the doctor's spine. "It took you long enough to get here, by the way. Now hurry up and close my wound before I lose any more blood and become a vegetable."
"R-right." Actually he wouldn't mind letting this boy/girl, who just threatened him, become a vegetable, but he didn't think that the Clockmaker in the next room would like that very much.
) OoO0oOo0OoO (
*Julius's POV*
The mortician paced for what seemed like hours in front of his bedroom door. He couldn't concentrate not on his clocks, not on the time, not on what to do, nothing! Never has he felt so worried about anyone in his life. Julius nervously pressed his knuckles to his lips. There still was no sign that the doctor was making any progress. Will Blake be okay? Is Blake okay? Will Blake ever be okay? These three questions kept swirling around in Julius's head over and over again, until finally the door opened.
The doctor stepped out and quietly closed the door behind him. Julius practically pounced on him.
"How is he?" The doctor looked at Julius with a solemn expression. Julius could feel his gut wrench.
"Sh—he's fine… for now. I just gave him some morphine to ease the pain and help him sleep." Julius didn't like the sound of 'for now'. "He has multiple bruising covering his entire body, and after listening to his breathing I suspect that he has a few cracked ribs. Most of the bruising seems to be centered on his outer forearms which indicate defensive wounds. And he also has many scars covering his entire body telling me that he's been in many fights before. I assume that whoever did this to him wanted to hurt him badly and maybe even wanted to kill him due to the stab wound in his side caused by a serrated knife." Julius flinched. A serrated knife?! "Julius, could you please relay the story to me exactly from the time when you found him wounded or maybe even beforehand."
Julius told him everything that happened. How Blake went out to go shopping, but took an awfully long time to do so. How he acted completely normal when he came home. About his cramps at dinnertime and how little he ate, Julius assumed that he had a stomachache… not a stab wound.
"Hrrhmm," the doctor scratched his clean shaven neck, "that boy has some amazing vitality, if he was able to keep standing that long, let alone cook for you. Foreigners sure are interesting. He must really like you." The forty year old man had an odd twinkle in his eye.
"Preposterous," Julius grumbled. The doctor laughed, but quickly sobered.
"I gave him stitches for the wound, let me know when it heals and I'll take them out. Also the boy lost a lot of blood like 2 quarts of blood a lot. To be honest, I'm surprised the boy is still alive, let alone able to talk."
"He woke up?"
"Uh, y-yeah he did," the doctor for some odd reason grew nervous, "only for a little while."
"What did he say?"
"Took you long enough to get here." Julius felt himself smiling on the inside at that. That Blake of his…. Oh no, he's getting back into the possessive perverted mindset again. "Tonight will decide his fate though."
"What?"
"He has a 50/50 chance of living right now, but after seeing his vitality I get the feeling that he'll live." Julius felt himself slightly relax at that, but there was still the chance that he might die. "But… even if he does heal, he may become a cripple." The doctor put hand on Julius's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Julius; I did everything I could for him. Now it's up to fate." Julius felt himself stare past the doctor. "When he wakes up Julius, he'll need lots and lots of water, so be sure to provide that for him, and try feeding him meals that'll help restore his blood, a nice steak will do fine. Do not let him walk on his own, you cannot allow him to put any pressure on his wounds at all. In fact it may be best if you prevented him from moving as much as possible." Julius continued staring past him. "Julius, remember the kid has the most vitality I've ever seen, he may end up perfectly healthy in no time."
Julius finally looked at the doctor. "What do I owe you?"
"For this session? It's on the house, I was late, remember? But there is one thing you could do for me, Julius."
"What would that be?"
"Try not to push this one away." With that said the doctor was gone. Julius stared dumbfounded after the doctor. What was he talking about?
Julius looked towards his bedroom door. The doctor said that Blake was asleep, but that didn't mean he couldn't check on him, right? The mortician silently opened his door and slinked over to the bed like a ghost.
Blake's face was still pale, but he looked much better now that he was asleep. His face was no longer twisted in pain, but was completely calm. Julius found himself gently hugging the sleeping foreigner, and pressing his lips against Blake's forehead. "Troublesome child… you better live," he murmured. Great, he was becoming a perverted, gay pedophile.
) OoO0oOo0OoO (
*Alice's POV*
How could she have forgotten about Blake?! Better yet, how did Blake even get into Wonderland?! She highly doubted that Peter kidnapped her as Peter thought men were filthy and only 'loved' her. She couldn't understand how anyone could love her. She wasn't beautiful or special or anything. But if Blake was here, that was going to be a problem.
Alice was lucky she managed to survive in Wonderland so far, but that's only because she was a girl and one should act polite to a girl. But Blake was a boy! And no one would mind killing him. And Blake was probably worried about her (he was always protective over her) and he's probably looking for her right now (if he's still alive!), which would explain, why the twins were complaining about him trying to take her away yesterday. Oh, she could just imagine it.
"Hello, good sir, might you by any chance know of a young lady by the name of Alice?" Blake would ask, he always was incredibly formal, well except when he was little, but he's changed a lot over the years.
Then Peter would reply. "Maybe I do, but now you're through." And he would shoot Blake in the head mercilessly and without hesitation.
Alice cried. Blake wouldn't be able to survive in Wonderland. And even if he were to somehow not run into any of the crazy role holders that would gladly kill him, he's too delicate, he's not suited for violence, and he's way too polite, he'll be taken advantage of! Not to mention his socialization skills are low as can be. Huh… now that Alice thought of it, Blake's a bit like Julius. Except less grumpy, and doesn't have an addiction to coffee, and sometimes openly cares about her, and—wait, they're not similar at all! Why did she think that?! The only things they had in common were their lack of social skills, avoidance to touching, and devotion to work.
"How entertaining…" Blood's voice sounded from in front of her. Alice jumped back.
"EEEEHHHH?! When did you get here?!" He arm was in front of her defensively. Blood's presence always made her wary as half the time he was up to something.
"For a while now," he had his neutral sleepy expression, "The amount of emotions your face can show in such a short amount of time is astounding."
"I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic!" Alice yelled at him.
"He's being serious." Elliot popped up out of nowhere beside her.
"What? Really! How can you tell, Elliot?" Elliot gestured towards Bloods neutral face.
"His expression."
"Really?" Alice tilted her head and squint her eyes. "I can't tell…"
"Oh, now he's being sarcastic!" Blood glanced over at Elliot.
Alice narrowed her eyes even further. But Blood's face didn't even change! At least from what she could tell. She shook her head and grabbed Elliot's arm. "Elliot, I need your help." Elliot blinked.
"What do you need, Alice?"
"Where are Dee and Dum? They're not at the gate last I checked."
"Those damn brats, I'm going to cut their vacation time in half the next time I see them," Elliot muttered underneath his breath. "Okay, I think I might know where they might be at." Elliot led her to the twins' room and kicked down the door. "Oi, quit skipping out on your duties!"
"Ahh, it's the stupid chickie rabbit!"
"We don't wanna work, nothin's happenin'! It's so boring!"
"Why you little…" Elliot growled, before jabbing his thumb at Alice, "Alice is here to see you two."
"Big 'Sis?" When they saw Alice, they grinned and glomped her. "Big 'Sis sure is seeing us a lot lately."
"Yeah, she is."
"Does that mean that Big 'Sis loves us?" Dee looked up at her with a dark expression. Um, okay…
"I wanted to know where you last saw 'the man who wanted to take me away' at."
The twin's expressions became disappointed. "We should've killed 'im, when we had the chance," Dum spoke and Dee agreed.
"What?! Don't you two say things like that?!"
"Well, it's true. We don't like how Big 'Sis cares more about this man than us."
"I do care about you guys."
"Then Big 'Sis wouldn't mind if we killed 'im, right?" Alice gasped and she noticed that Elliot wasn't anywhere nearby to settle down the twins.
"Of course, I would mind! Blake is my friend!" Tears ran down her face. "And if you hurt him, I won't forgive you!" Dee and Dum stared at her with wide eyes before guiltily looking down.
"We're sorry, Big 'Sis."
"We don't want you to be sad, so we won't hurt 'im."
Alice couldn't stay mad at them for long. "I forgive you," she wiped away her tears, "but only as long as you promise not to hurt him."
"Okay, Big 'Sis, we promise." Alice smiled at them.
"Good boys."
) OoO0oOo0OoO (
*Blake's POV*
I stared up at the ceiling my eye twitching. The doctor drugged me anyway, when I told him specifically not to! Luckily it didn't take long for the drugs to wear off (as usual, medicines don't really work that well on me); I could see that it was still daylight outside from since the doctor came. I closed my eyes in embarrassment. I was trying to close up the wound (as my wounds heal way faster if I close them, if not… that's not a pretty process), but it seems that I passed out from blood loss. And then Julius, of all people had to find me passed out.
He must think I'm so weak now that I can't take care of myself.
I peeked under the covers to see that some of my blood seeped into the sheets. Ugh… why did Julius have to put me in his bed?! I went into the bathtub for a reason! I didn't want to make a mess, and inconvenience him. But it seemed a little too late for that. GAH! Why did I have to be so stupid? Why couldn't I have made dinner AFTER I closed my wound?! I bit the inside of my cheek. Blood loss always makes me stupid, I hate it! Wait, my head still felt light and fuzzy. Does that mean I'm still being stupid? Dammiiiiiiiit!
I sat up and saw that there was a glass of water on the table next to me. Did Julius leave this here? I reached for it and took a sip from it. It was still cool. A small smile graced my lips as I felt my expression soften. That means Julius was in here not too long ago. Julius always acted like he didn't care or didn't want anything to do with people, but… it seems that on the inside he's really kind hearted, well caring person since he has no heart. I downed the rest of the water.
It's kind of chilly in here. Wait… I looked down at my body. Where's my SHIRT?! I looked frantically around for my vest and shirt, but they were nowhere to be found. Dammit! I let out a huff examining the new bandages that were wrapped around my forearms and around my abdomen and chest and over both my shoulders. Well, at least the doctor did a good job disguising my bindings under all the bandages. I looked almost completely flat-chested, unless one were to observe closely, but I don't think anyone would do that… well, maybe Ace would, but he's probably the only one.
My bare feet touched the cold wood floor sending a chill through my body. Julius must've taken off my shoes and socks while I was knocked out. My face turned red at the thought of someone else taking care of me for the first time. I never really had anyone actually care for me like this before… Pain from my wound shot up as I took a step forward. Ah, stop hurting and just heal already! My wound was already closed but it will take a few more hours until my insides fully recover, but restoring my blood back to normal levels may take a while.
Dizziness broke out in my head, and the world tipped. Woah, why is everything sideways? I felt someone catch me just in time, before my head smacked against the ground.
"What're you doing?!" Julius's voice sounded angry. He lifted me back up and pressed me against him, so I wouldn't fall.
"I…" I was suddenly aware that I was pressed against a mature man… without a shirt on. My face flushed. "G-get away!" I pushed away from him, only for me to fall backwards. Julius caught me again, but this time he picked me up bridal style. I felt myself blush seven-fold. "P-put me down!"
"You shouldn't be out of bed." He looked down at me with a scowl. I shoved back his face.
"Don't look at me!" My shove caused him to stumble back, before falling. "Oof!" I opened my eyes to see that I had both my arms on either side of Julius's head and my nose was barely brushing against his. His deep blue eyes were lidded and were watching me. My whole body was completely frozen. Why can't I move? I felt his hand cup my right cheek as he slowly pulled me down towards him. "Julius, wh-what're you…?" His other hand brushed against my wound causing pain to shoot through me along with a reality check. I jerked back. Wait, I just called him Julius! I was highly aware that I was now straddling his hips. Julius's eyes were completely wide as his mind finally processed our situation. I immediately scrambled off him, and for a moment it was completely silent between us. Gahhhh, this is so embarrassing! My face was a deep red.
Julius suddenly picked me up by my armpits and sat me on the bed.
"I-I'm sorry—ommfffphhh!" He took a bowl out of nowhere and shoved a spoon in my mouth.
"Eat." I gagged. What the bloody hell did he just shove into my mouth?! It was bland completely bland! I forced myself to swallow and it stuck to my throat causing me to cough.
"What did you just feed me?" I felt my eyes watering up, wait there was some flavor. Was that salt?
"Oatmeal." Oatmeal… OATMEAL?! He can't even cook OATMEAL correctly?
"Who in the bloody hell puts salt in oatmeal?" He frowned.
"Salt? I thought I put sugar in it."
"Didn't you taste test it first?"
"No." I face-palmed.
"You must always do a taste test, if you're planning on feeding someone else. If you made a mistake, you can always go back and fix it."
"Well, I already made a whole batch, and I'm expecting you to eat every last bite." Never mind, I don't like the prospect of someone else taking care of me. I'd rather take my chances fending myself off from a bear with only a pistol with one shot in it and a broken leg.
"Are you trying to kill me?" I looked at him with an 'are-you-serious?' look. "If this amount of sodium gets into the little blood I already have, I'll have a heart attack and die. Do you want that?"
"A heart attack?"
"It's when the cells in our heart muscle begin to die from lack of oxygen provided through our blood… you know what, never mind." Julius carelessly tossed the bowl onto the nightstand, and was about to leave, when I grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry. You find me dying in a bathtub, and you're doing everything that you can to take care of me… and I'm being… ungrateful. Look, I'll eat the oatmeal," I reached for the oatmeal, but Julius stopped me.
"No!" He noticed my surprised expression from his outburst, and he said more gently, "No, I don't want you to get a… heart attack."
"Oh…" I bit the inside of my cheek. "You probably see me as a complete child right now, and you're probably right," my grip on my knees tightened, "I let myself get trapped, I should've paid more attention, if I were a proper servant I would be out there right now, searching for the young mistress, but… I'm not out there, I'm in here being treated by a man who probably would rather have nothing to do with me. I'm a burden. My only use is to serve, nothing more. And if I don't have a master to serve," I squeezed my eyes shut, "what does that make me?!"
"A free man."
"A free man?" I laughed dryly. "That can't be right… I'll never be free, nor do I desire to be free. My only desire is to serve by Miss Alice's side for the rest of my life." I felt the bed sink where Julius sat next to me.
"Tell me what happened. Who attacked you?" His eyes looked at me in concern. I didn't know what to think. He cares about me? How could that be, I wonder. I straightened my back and smoothed out the wrinkles in my trousers.
"I just finished shopping and I was on my way back ho—to the Clock Tower," I saw Julius twitch at that out of the corner of my eye, "So I decided to take a shortcut through a tunnel. Next thing I knew I was trapped, both exits were blocked by them."
"Who's them?"
"I don't know… a gang of guys, I guess they were angry at me for stealing away their 'girls' or something like that."
"What?"
"Like I said, I don't really know. They didn't like how I attracted the 'ladies' like 'flies on shit', excuse my language." I laughed. "So I did the dumbest thing ever, I told them I couldn't help it if I attracted the ladies 'like 'flies on shit', excuse my language. He didn't take that too well. Next thing I knew they were trying to ruin my 'pretty' face. I really need to work on my socialization skills and practice having real conversations, *ahem* anyway, I tried to defend myself as best as possible, I depend on mobility, but seeing as I was in a tightly closed space and surrounded my luck was crap, excuse my bad language. Next thing I know one of them pulled out a knife on me; I didn't see that one coming in time to stop it. They left me, assuming that I probably will learn my place, or just die." I noticed Julius's eyes were slits.
"I'll send Ace after them." No one deserves that fate!
"Woah, there's no need to go that far!"
"Blake, they tried to kill you!" I waved him off.
"Yeah, yeah, and they might try again, next time I'll be ready."
"Blake—!"
"Mr. Monrey, how old do you think I am?"
"What do you mean…?" he sounded almost suspicious.
"It's just how it sounds; how old do I seem to you?"
"… Fourteen maybe…" I gave him an incredulous look. "Fifteen," he bumped it up year, probably to make me feel better. I sighed.
"I'm a year older than Alice, I'm almost nineteen years old." Julius's eyes were wide when I said that. "I'm a young adult; I can take care of myself. I can defend myself, when I'm prepared. I don't need others babysitting me like I'm some toddler."
Julius went silent for a moment. "If you don't want to be treated like a troublesome child, then stop acting like one. The first thing you should've done was tell me that you were hurt, not hide it from me."
"Well, where I came from if I was hurt I would usually get yelled at for being so careless and would be put to work, so I tend to hide it from people when I get hurt. If no one is going to be there to kiss your 'boo-boo', then there's no point in screaming for mama, now is there? I've learned to depend solely on myself."
"You don't have to be alone anymore…" My eyes snapped to his when he said that.
"You know…" I smiled, "it's kind of ironic that you said that because you don't have to be alone either." A tinge of red covered his cheeks when I said that. Is he blushing? I cleared my throat. "Would you please make me some eggs and toast with butter." That should be a very simple meal to cook. If he messes up on that I'll want to cry. "Don't burn the eggs or undercook them, I want the middle to be nice and yolky."
He pushed me down into the bed and I felt myself blushing. What is he doing? Then I noticed that he was tucking me in. "Don't move until I come back." Then he left.
I took the bed covers off of me and stood up. I need to take a hot bath and get my head screwed on straight.
) OoO0oOo0OoO (
*Alice's POV*
"Where did you last see Blake?" Alice asked the twins.
"Over there." Dee pointed into the woods. Alice deadpanned.
"I see." She glanced to the twins. "I'm going to be leaving the mansion, now, to look for Blake I had a really great time with you guys." The twins looked sad for a moment and looked at each other, before a devious smile crossed their lips.
"We've a better idea!"
"Yeah! Why don't we go with you Big 'Sis, and help you look for 'im?" Alice considered it, Elliot might get angry at them for abandoning their duties, but he probably wouldn't mind if they were helping her. But the twins might distract her also from finding Blake… "Pleeaaase?" They both looked up at her with the most adorable of faces.
"Alright, but no fooling around, okay?"
"Okay!"
As they were heading towards the Hatter town, she could hear the twins giggling to each other.
"This is waaay better than guard duty!"
"Yeah, and that stupid chickie rabbit, won't yell at us 'cause we're helpin' Big 'Sis!"
Alice had a feeling that they had ulterior motives behind helping her. She sighed. Those two better not mess around. She looked ahead at the approaching town. She was going to have to start asking around to see if anyone has seen Blake. It shouldn't be too hard, Blake kind of stands out with his very polite manner.
The bushes rustled not too far away from where she was at and Ace emerged from them.
"Oh hey, Alice!" Ace grinned when he saw her.
"Ace!" She was surprised to see him… then again she was always surprised to see him as he was always popping out of nowhere.
"It's him." The twins weren't too happy to see Ace. When Ace got too close Alice, they pointed their axes at Ace. "Stay away from Big 'Sis!"
"We don't want ya sexually harassin' her again."
"Yuup!"
Ace smiled. "Actually I'm not here for Alice." He isn't? Maybe he's on an errand for Julius, but he wasn't wearing his cloak… he was probably lost again. He took out his sword and took a swipe at the twins, they both dodged. Alice immediately retreated to a safe place behind a tree; she learned a long time ago not to get stuck in the middle of these fights.
"Cheater!"
"Yeah, if you wanted to play why didn't ya jus' say so?" One sword along with two axes clashed against each other.
"I'm not here to 'play' with you guys." Ace continued smiling. "You took something precious from my Angel, but I'm going to kill the two of you first, then take it back." Angel? Was Ace talking about her? But that can't be right, Ace never called her 'Angel' before.
"Stupid, knighty-knight!" Dee and Dum charged at Ace swinging their axes at him.
With one sweep of his sword, Ace disarmed the both of them. Dee and Dum's axes buried themselves into the ground out of their reach. Ace pointed his sword at the twins, and smiled.
"Time for you two to die~."
) OoO0oOo0OoO (
*Julius's POV*
Julius wanted to hit himself. How could he have been so stupid?! He almost kissed the boy! But most of all he wanted to hurt the men who hurt Blake. Never has ever thought about hurting anyone before (except for Ace, but everyone thinks about hurting Ace at some point). He noticed that he was burning the eggs and he frustratingly threw them away and started a new batch. He put his knuckles to his mouth as he frowned.
The boy was a man, he felt himself turn red. So he really wasn't a pedophile the boy was less than a decade younger than himself… but that still made him a gay pervert! How could he think of such things?! Was he truly attracted to men? But he thought that he loved Alice… why is it that this boy was making him feel… so much emotion? He didn't understand it at all. He didn't understand foreigners at all.
And he could've sworn he heard Blake almost call the Clock Tower his home. A smile crossed his face.
Finally he finished making the eggs and put them on a plate.
"You must always do a taste test, if you're planning on feeding someone else. If you made a mistake, you can always go back and fix it." Blake's words rang in his head. Julius sighed.
He cut into one of the eggs and saw some yolk seep out of it. How could he eat this? It's disgusting. He shoved it into his mouth. It was okay, but he preferred his eggs completely cooked, not gooey in the center. He forced himself to swallow. He also put the amazingly unburnt toast onto the plate as well. The kid better not complain about the food again because he wasn't cooking anymore. He grabbed a mug of coffee in his other hand (the only beverage he knew how to brew well).
He headed towards his office and bedroom door. He glanced at his desk which was piled up with clocks and clock parts. He was far behind in his work. The kid better heal quickly so he can concentrate on his work.
He opened the door to see… that the bed was empty. The mortician felt an angry tick mark form on his head when he placed the food down onto the nightstand. Where did that boy go?
A noise came from the bathroom. Panic went through Julius. Did the boy hurt himself?
Julius went over to the door and barged in. "Blake!" He expected to see the boy in the tub with a pool of blood underneath him again. What he saw in front of him at that moment, was not what he expected at all.
Blake's white-blonde hair was dripping wet with water and his widening honey eyes met with Julius's just as wide eyes. Julius felt his gaze wandering lower; then silently closed the door. He felt himself sliding down to the floor as he pressed his back to the door with a deep blush covering his cheeks.
Blake was actually a GIRL?!
Julius found himself muttering, "Troublesome child…"
So what did you guys think? Was it too soon to reveal Blake's gender? Too much Julius x Blake? Am I moving too quickly with the romance? Did I get Julius's personality spot on? What do you think Julius is going to do now that he knows? Please review and let me know. Also, please review and tell me any suggestions you have for future chapters. For this chapter I require at least 4 reviews until I post the next chapter. Please don't make me wait to post these chapters *puppy dog eyes* I was so incredibly bored...
Boris: Yes, she was incredibly bored, she sounded like she was dying.
Void: *scowls* I wasn't that bad.
Boris: Pffffft! Bwahaha, yeah, you totally were! You even went to your brother in desperation asking what you did wrong. And he doesn't even care about the story hehehahaha!
Void: *face darkens* Boris...
Boris: Hm? What is it?
Void: *dangling a live fish right in front of his face* Look at what I found!
Boris: *eyes shine in happiness* Fish...
Void: *smirks and drops it into a nearby river*
Boris: *runs to the edge* NOOOOOO! HOW COULD YOU?!
Void: Don't keep me waiting, review! REVIEW! MUAHAHAHA! AND BORIS WILL HAVE ALL THE FISH HE DESIRES! If not... I won't be happy... and Boris won't get any fish.
Boris: You BETTER REVIEW! I. WANT. FISH!