AN: Just a warning, this is a sad chapter. There is a reason why this story is categorized as a tragedy.

Cuinn: Please leave us a friendly review when you're done.

Ch 11: Peace before Turmoil. Turmoil before Peace.

"Looks like it will be a warm day today," Alice commented in a low voice. Currently being cradled in her arms was a sleeping Cuinn. She loved his small stature. It was one of the traits that made him so adorable. "Cuinn, wake up. We'll be at the circus soon."

"Just five more minutes. Please Alice?" Cuinn asked in a sleepy voice.

"Alright, five more minutes but that's it," Alice replied softly.

"Thanks…Gray's cooking is very bad," Cuinn muttered as he fell back asleep.

Alice chuckled. "Sorry. I should have warned you sooner." Back at the tower, Cuinn had jumped on one of the plates of food that Gray brought before Alice could warn him not to. He turned a pale shade of green after his first bite. Luckily Gray left some ingredients behind in the kitchen, enough to make Cuinn and herself a proper breakfast. She even made a plate for Julius. Hopefully he stopped working long enough to finish it.

While she was cooking, she made a little too much, but Cuinn was more than happy to eat a second and third helping. Alice did learn one thing from that experience and that was that a full belly made Cuinn sleepy. That's what eventually lead to her having to carry him out of the clock tower so he could nap in her arms.

She was glad that she chose to carry Cuinn. He looked so cute with that peaceful expression on his face as he slept. She brushed a lock of hair out of his face before running a finger over his mask, tracing the outline. It felt as if it were made of clay. Alice wished that he would remove his mask so she could see if face at least once. She knows that the faceless don't have eyes, but it doesn't mean they all look the same. Each faceless she met had subtle differences in their faces that she was able to notice. The only reason the role holders didn't see was because they chose not to.

Alice looked up from Cuinn's face and noticed that there were signs and doors attached to the surrounding trees. They were in Joker Forest.

"Cuinn, you have to wake up now. We're in Joker's Forest." Alice gently shook Cuinn awake. He let out a cute yawn and stretched his arms above his head. Alice set him down on his feet. Cuinn grabbed onto Alice's hand, leaning into her.

"You're a good cook, Alice," Cuinn stated.

"So you've told me for the hundredth-and-one time," Alice said with a slight giggle.

"Hundredth-and-second," Cuinn replied. Both let out a short stream of giggles.

Alice tugged Cuinn along deeper into the forest. She liked the feeling of Cuinn's small hand in hers. It was something new. It remind her of times with her kid sister Edith, when they would play together.

Alice was pulled from her thoughts as she heard the familiar sounds of the circus in the distance. She felt something tugging on her arm and looked to see that Cuinn had slowed his pace.

"Do we have to check in with them? I'm sure it'll be find to come back after visiting the castle," Cuinn pleaded.

"Don't worry. It'll be quick. I promise." Alice shook her head. 'He's acting like they're going to lock him up and won't let him out ever again.'

As they neared the tent Alice was able to make out White's voice from somewhere inside. He just so happened to be standing next to the entrance the two came through, shouting orders at the various performers running about.

"Oh, Alice! I wasn't expecting to see you today. What a surprise this is." White greeted the two with his trademark smile.

"Hello White. I just wanted to stop by and check in with you to let you know that everything was all right."

"How kind of you. You didn't really have too," White said. Cuinn mutter something that sounded like "told you" to Alice. "I greatly appreciate it. I take it that Cuinn has been behaving himself and hasn't been causing you any trouble." White turned his attention to Cuinn who was trying to discreetly pull Alice in the direction of the exit.

"Don't worry. He's been no problem what so ever."

"That's good to hear."

Cuinn released Alice's hand and sighed. "I was afraid of this."

"Afraid of what?" Alice asked. She then noticed that Black had appeared behind White and was walking towards them. "Oh, hello Black. How are…you?" Alice's voice trailed off as she noticed the scowl on his face.

Black ignored Alice and White and snatched Cuinn out the ground before disappearing into the prison.

"Wait! Black, what are you doing?" Alice cried.

White sighed. "Well I'm sorry Alice, but it seems that you're going to have to come back tomorrow for Cuinn." White said before walking away and disappearing into a crowd of passing performers.

"What was that all about?" Alice asked herself. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought Cuinn to the circus after all." Alice sighed in defeat and left, knowing that there was probably nothing that she could do, but wait for tomorrow. 'I hope Black doesn't hurt Cuinn.'

~~X~~

Black carried Cuinn to the living quarters wing of the prison before setting him down on his feet. Cuinn braced himself for the scolding he knew that he was going to receive.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Black growled.

"I wanted to see the other territories," Cuinn mutter sheepishly, refusing to meet his gaze.

"By running off with Alice, even though we told you to wait and be patient so we could make sure that nothing would happen to you at the other territories. Are you stupid! What would have happened if someone discovered who you really are. What were you thinking!?" Black shouted.

"It felt so lonely here in prison and I got bored," Cuinn explained sadly. "I can't even play at the circus cause everyone there are different from the old troop. I thought that if I left with Alice then I wouldn't have to worry because Alice wouldn't let anything happen to me." Cuinn hugged himself as he began to tremble slightly, but not from the cold or Black.

"It gets so cold here. White has to keep up appearances at the circus and you have to run more shifts in the prison because of how bad it is compared to before." Cuinn didn't mention that it because Black had been neglecting some of his duties the last couple years, out of spite toward the game. "I feel so alone. It's as if we are unable to be a-"

Black put his finger on Cuinn's mouth cutting him off. He crouched and pulled Cuinn into a hugged. After a moment Cuinn warped his small arms around him, returning it.

"Don't ever try to say that. We're still here for you. We just don't want to lose you too. We've lost too much as it is."

After a long moment of time, the two separated.

"Can I go back and see Alice?" Cuinn asked.

Black smirked. "Of course not. Considering the stunt you pulled, you get to spend the rest of the day here."

"Can I at least join you on your rounds around the prison?" Cuinn asked.

"Fine. You can join me." Cuinn grabbed a hold of Black's hand as he led him through the prison.

~~X~~

Cuinn was sitting on his bed, dressed in his pajamas. Across from him, slung over a chair was the jester outfit that he had been wearing the pass couple days. Next to it was the mask that he had been wearing. He let out a sad sigh. How he longed for the days when he didn't have to hide who he was in his own home. He let out another sigh and laid down on his bed. It felt to big for him, filled with too much empty space. Just like his heart.

Cuinn clutched a pillow to his chest and buried his face in it as a dam broke inside of him and he began to cry. His body was racked with uncontrollable sobs as his blood tears stained a red mark on the pillow casing. He missed his mother and sister. He wanted them back. He wanted his old life back with all his friends.

Every time he closed his eyes, he would see the lifeless hand of his mother hanging from the prison of thorns that was now her tomb. When he tried to close his hands, he could feel his sister's throat between them; the one he unconsciously and unwilling strangled. He was trapped in a downward spiral of sorrow that was surrounded and filled with grief and guilt. He wanted to run from it all and hide, but he couldn't. He kept it bottled up for to long and now it was uncontrollably pouring out. A pair of comforting arms wrapped around him and pulled him toward a warm body.

"If you keep bottling it up like this, it will tear you apart every time," murmured Black as he stroked his hair gently in an effort to calm him down.

Cuinn looked up at Black, his eyes filled with pain and grief. "It's my fault that they're dead, isn't it." Cuinn's voice was so filled pain that it sounded like someone else's.

Black grimace. He was staring at Cuinn's black eye. The gold of eye was surround by a black abyss that guaranteed nothing but destruction and despair. How Black wished he could destroy it. A black mark on his son's innocence. The same son who would run down these halls playing with his sister and friends or out in the circus learning new tricks. The same son who had never harmed anyone in his life. How he hated that black eye.

What he hated more was the fact that Cuinn was blaming himself for the death's of his wife and daughter. It felt as if something was squeezing his clock. He gripped Cuinn tighter.

"Don't ever say that you idiot. You are not to blame and never will be to blame." Black held Cuinn till he stopped crying and held him still, till he fell asleep. He tucked Cuinn into bed and grabbed the bloodstained pillow, knowing that it would have to be thrown out. Blood rarely washed out.

Black turned around to see White standing in the doorway. Looking at the pained expression on his face, Black knew that White had witnessed everything and that Cuinn's words had as much of an affect on him as it did himself.

"I can watch over him for the next couple hours. There's nothing to prepare for at the circus so I'm free for a few hours," White said not taking his eyes off Cuinn's sleeping form.

Black nodded as he passed him. "I'll try to finish my rounds early so I can take over when you leave." Black closed the door behind him as he left.

White pulled up a chair, quietly next to Cuinn's bed as he settled in for the next couple hours. As he watched Cuinn's sleeping form, a ghost of a smile passed his lips.

'He looks so peaceful when he's asleep.'

AN: *Holding a crying Cuinn* Told you it was sad. Luckily this is as sad as it gets for a while. Leave a review. I'm sure it will cheer up Cuinn.

Cuinn: Please? *sniff*