Hello readers :3 I'm back from my vacation and examinations are over. It took me awhile to type this out, so forgive me (my longest chapter yet). D: I was so sad when shingeki ended . NOO! RIVAILLE! WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO WITH MY LIFE NOW?! and I have to wait another 1-2 weeks for the manga to update?!

P.S. I started watching hetalia. OMG GERMANY! -nosebleed- PASTA!

"Alice dear!" A voice called out from the kitchen.

Alice hopped inside, the plum lady was holding a spatula in one hand and a frying pan in the other. She wore a large apron and a bandana.

"Yes?"

"Could you do me a favor?"

She nodded.

"I was thinking of making apple pie for tea, but my hands are full at the moment. Could you help me pick some apples?"

She nodded again.

"Great! There are a few trees on top of the small hill, you know the one beside the lake? The trees are too high for you to reach so I'll get some of the boys to help you. The basket's in the shed, here's the key to it. Jake, Harry! Come here and give Alice a hand."

"Eh? I don't want to!"

"Boys!" She said in a firm voice.

"Fine!" They grumbled.

They came into the kitchen. They were the same boys from that day. After getting a beating from Rivaille, they didn't even dare to lay a finger on her.

"Good. Now off you go."

The two led her to the shed.

"Here's the shed." They pointed to it. "Alright, now we're leaving."

"B-but Aunt Nina asked you to help."

"Huh?! Can't you do it yourself? You've already given us enough trouble!"

"How am I supposed to reach it?"

"How would I know? Figure that out yourself!" He pushed her down.

They snickered as they left. She picked herself up and dust the dirt off her skirt. She takes out the key and unlocks the wooden shed door, she pushes it open. She found the large basket sitting in the corner, she began to drag the basket up the hill. She looked up to find the rosy colored fruits hanging on the branches. She jumped in an attempt to grab one of them. Not even close. She tried again, her finger brushed against one but it seemed like it was teasing her, knowing that she could never reached it like this. She ran back to the shed to find something that could help her. There was a ladder leaning against the wall but it was too heavy for her to even move it. She saw an empty wooden barrel that was as tall as her.

That could work!

She pushed it to its side and began rolling it up hill. She stood it back up and tried to climb on top of it but it was too tall. She sighed.

I'm sure that those guys won't help me, and I'd get in trouble if I told on them. Wait! What am I saying? I don't want help from people like that. Yeah! That's right, I can do this myself. I'll show them!

She nodded. She tried pulling herself up again but it was no use. She let out another sigh and leaned her head against the barrel.

"What are you doing here sighing like an old lady?"

She turns her head around to find a familiar face.

"Rivaille?!"

"I'm here too you know?"

"Lorenzo-nii?!"

"Yo! What are you doing?" Lorenzo said.

"I was sent to pluck apples but…"

"You can't reach them, huh?"

She nodded shyly.

"Shorty." Rivaille snorted.

"I don't think you have the rights to say that…"

Rivaille shot him a death glare.

"H-here, let me help you." Lorenzo offered.

"No! I'll do it myself! Aunt Nina asked me, I can't ask someone else to do it for me."

"A hard worker, huh?"

"You should learn from her and stop slacking off." Rivaille said.

"Stop that Rivaille! What will I do if Alice thinks of me as a lazy guy who just sleeps all day and flirts with girls?"

"Well isn't that the truth?"

"… you have a point there. Wait. Why am I getting myself all depress now?"

"I don't think you're useless!" Alice said.

"Thanks for cheering me up."` He pat her head.

"Hey, didn't you say that you had something to do?"

"Ah! I nearly forgot!" Alice exclaimed.

"Don't worry about that, I'll help you."

"No!"

"You're pretty stubborn aren't you?" Lorenzo asked.

"Yup!"

"Alright, in that case. Here we go!" He lifted her up and dropped her on top of the barrel. "If you need anything just call out alright? We'll be taking a nap over there."

"Okay!"

"By we you mean yourself, right?" Rivaille asked.

Rivaille and Lorenzo settled themselves under a tree nearby. They started talking (or at least Lorenzo was and Rivaille was pretending to listen, making a few grunts every now and then.)

She looked up to find the apples in reach, tiptoeing a little, she reached out to a ripe looking apple. She tugged it hard enough for it to break off from its branch, she smiled at it proudly and threw it in the basket. She continued to pick more. Finally, she had managed to fill up half of the basket, she beamed at her hard work. She decided to pick a few more for Lorenzo and Rivaille as a thanks for helping her. She spotted a bright red apple, the biggest of them all. It looked shiny as the sun shone on it. She decided that she'd give that one to Rivaille, as thanks for saving her the first time they met (and she still thinks that Rivaille has some sort of illness that prevents him from growing taller). It was placed slightly higher than the others, so she had to jump.

Almost there!

Her fingers grazed its waxy skin, she jumped again this time with her eyes scrunched up. She opened them again to find an apple in her hand. Just as she landed back on the barrel, well actually she didn't. Instead she fell right through, she landed in the barrel with a thud. That was the least of her worries, the barrel began to shake and it fell over, causing it to roll downhill.

"What a peaceful day…" Rivaille thought.

But his thoughts were disrupted by screaming.

"Help me!" Alice shouted as the barrel (along with Alice) came tumbling down at lightning speed (or at least she felt it was)

"Doesn't that kind of sound like…" Lorenzo spoke.

They turned their heads in sync to find a barrel rolling their way. Rivaille dodged it but Lorenzo was too slow and the barrel slammed into his face which caused him to pass out in seconds but his beautiful face was not enough to stop the barrel's rampage. It began to roll towards the river.

"Help! I'm getting dizzy!" Alice shouted again.

Instinctively, Rivaille ran after it but the barrel tripped on a rock and sent it and it's contents which was a 5 year old, flying in the water.

Splash!

She came out gasping for air, her hands flew everywhere, desperately trying to stay afloat. Rivaille jumped in to save her but realized that the water barely reached up to his waist.

"Alice, calm down. You can stand."

"Huh?" She stood up. "Oh! You're right!"

Grabbing her by the back of her dress he carried her and dropped her back on dry land.

"Look what you've done. Sheesh, my clothes are dirty now."

"I-I'm sorry. Here." She took out the apple she had been clinging on to.

"You expect me to eat that? The river is used for daily activities like washing their asses or something."

She looked as if she was about to cry. He sighed.

"Make sure you wash it before giving it to me."

She looked up and smiled.

"Ok!"

"Now, I need to go back and bathe but before that." He grabbed his unconscious friend by the collar. "Help me wake up this piece of shit over here." She began to violently shake the auburn. "Oi! Wake up! How long do you plan on sleeping here?"

Alice went up to his side.

"Lorenzo-nii? Loreno-nii-chan! Wake up!" Panic struck her voice. "You can't die!"

"Hey hey… don't go killing me off." He wiped away her tears. He propped himself up and rubbed his head, there was a small bump there.

"You alright?"

"Of course I am, I won't die that easily."

He got up and they carried the basket back home. They came in through the back door.

"Welcome bac… What happened to you two? Why are you both soaked?" Nina exclaimed.

Rivaille headed straight for a bath.

"Here you go, I'll set them here." Lorenzo set the basket down. "Anything that I can help with?"

"Nope."

"How about a massage?"

"No thanks."

In all his life, Nina was the only woman he could not charm.

"Alice you should dry yourself off before you catch a cold. You can help me knead the dough once you're done."

"Alright!"

She wasn't very good at it but she took a liking in cooking. She ran upstairs and disappeared. After her bath, she put on a clean set of clothes. After looking in the long mirror, she went downstairs. As she made her way into the kitchen a voice called out to her.

"Hey you." Rivaille said as he stood by the door.

"Yeah?"

"Don't you know the meaning of drying your hair?"

"It's fine. It'll dry off by itself."

"It's NOT fine. Come here, I'll dry if for you."

"Eh? But that's just troublesome."

"I'm the one who's troubled, so come here right now."

"Fine…" She wined.

Reluctantly, she went into his room.

"Sit." He pointed out to the chair.

Obediently, she hopped on it and sat still.

"Sheesh, if you're not going to dry your own hair. Why do you even keep it this long?"

"Mama or the maids helped me tie it up."

"Tch. Spoilt brat." He mumbled.

She puffed her cheeks but didn't say anything. He took out a brush and began to comb her hair.

"Ouch!"

"Stop squirming and stay still."

"That hurt!"

"It wouldn't hurt so much if you combed it in the first place. If you can't look after your hair, you mind as well not have any."

"Y-you're not gonna cut it or anything right?"

"I'm not, you idiot!"

He began combing her hair with his fingers and gathering them, he tied them in a neat ponytail.

"There done."

She looked in the mirror. Not a single strand of hair was out of place.

"Oh, it looks good. Thank you, Rivaille." She smiled.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I just don't want any of your hair in my food. Now leave." (OMG! Rivaille's a tsundere!)

"I'm leaving!" She stuck her tongue out at him and ran off.

Her footsteps pounded through the hallways. He went up to his bed and laid back down on his creaseless bed. After a few moments, he heard another pair of footstep coming closer, eventually his door swung open.

"There you are! Stop lazing around and help me with the chores." Lorenzo said.

"Leave me alone."

Lorenzo pulled out the chair, he rested his chin on his folded arms.

"You know, you're being awfully nice to her."

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb, Alice of course."

Rivaille didn't reply.

"Any reason for it?"

"I'm not particularly being nice to her."

"You sure about that? It seems pretty obvious to me." He let out a small gasp. "Could it be?! You have fee-"

"Of course not! How could I have feelings for that brat? And besides she's just a kid."

"Then what's the reason?"

"I told you, I'm not treating her indifferently."

"You've taken a liking to her? Well, I'm not surprise. She's a good girl after all."

"Stop blabbering nonsense."

"Is it because you feel sorry for her?"

"Everyone here is under the same circumstances."

"It was the same with me too."

"Your circumstances are as different as heaven and earth."

"… You had it rough too. It's just like you… You always looked out for the weak. Maybe that's why we were able to be such good friends."

"You're not weak, Lorenzo."

Lorenzo let out a small chuckle.

"Yes, I am. If I had to say you're defiantly stronger than me. You're stronger than anyone else."

"Hey, don't get all sentimental and mushy. It's disgusting you know?"

Lorenzo laughed again.

"That's true. It's not like me, huh? I always knew that behind your short, violent, rebellious, abusive, clean freak, bad mouthing façade, you were always a nice guy."

"I can make do without those insults." Rivaille shot him a glare.

"But that won't be any fun would it?" He got up. "Well, I'm going to weed the garden. Make sure you do your part too or you'll get scolded." He left the room.

Outside the corridor he could hear a few boys whispering.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Don't be a chicken!"

"Shh! She's coming."

Finally, some peace and quiet…

Suddenly, he heard a storm of footsteps banging hard against the floorboards, the door swung open with a loud bang.

Slam!

"Rivaille!" Alice burst in with tears filled in her eyes. Her hand clutched tightly to her rabbit.

I knew it wouldn't last…

"What is it this time?"

"Eren… Eren's ear broke!"

"Huh?"

"See?" She shoved the rabbit into his face.

Rivaille pushed it away with one hand and examined it. One of it's ears was almost completely ripped off and it's stuffing was expose.

"Eren's gonna die!" She started sobbing.

"Shut up, it's not dying! Don't cry over such a small matter."

She sniffed and dried her tears.

"Here." He held out his hand. "Give it to me."

"Can you fix him?" She said as she dried the last of her tears.

"It's not that bad. Fetch the sewing kit. It's in that drawer."

She nodded and began rummaging through his stuff.

"Hey! Don't mess anything up."

She nodded again and gently took out some of the things, she spotted a small sewing kit and took it out, she placed everything back the way she remembered and ran up to Rivaille, she passed it to him. He inspected the ear once more and began to thread the needle. Slowly and carefully he began to seem the torn parts back. She sat on the edge of his bed and she quietly waited. Suddenly, Lorenzo came barging in.

"Argh! So tired."

"Welcome back, Lorenzo-nee."

"Oh, Alice what are you doing here?"

"Rivaille is helping me fix Eren."

"Oh, I see his ear came off but I'm surprise though. You usually take such good care of it."

"I didn't break it! It was fine when I left him in the room."

"Here. Take it." Rivaille said as he tossed the rabbit to her.

She inspected it, the colour of the thread was different so it stood out but other than that he did a pretty good job.

"Thank you, Rivaille!"

"That rabbit is important to you, right? So make sure you take good care of it." Lorenzo said.

"Yeah! I'm going to put him back now. See ya!"

She said as she happily ran out the room. Rivaille got off his bed and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Lorenzo asked.

"Out for some air." He closed the door behind him.

"You're so dishonest." Lorenzo laughed. "Try not to kill them."

This arc is pretty long because Alice spends most of her life here ._. but don't worry, there are only a few more fillers and one last arc before the real romance start! So till then please bear with me. m(_ _)m

Spoiler alert! In the next chapter, it's going to be focused on Lorenzo. Originally, I felt Lorenzo was a great side character but when I started writing him out... but what do you think about him?