Author's note: Hello! Sorry for the long wait! I intended to upload over winter break, but stuff kept happening. But now, I have two new chapters for you all! Hopefully they were worth the wait. Please enjoy and review! And, as always, Joker/Clover/Heart/Diamond no Kuni no Alice does not belong to me, but the OCs do.

"Alright, I think I got everything I need!" I grin, watching Boris carry all the shopping bags. He scowls at me. I quickly give him a hug and cheesy grin, trying to butter him up. He just flicks his tail. He starts to open his mouth to say something.

"How did I—"

"There you are!" We quickly look in the direction the shout came from. Seeing a faceless man running towards us, pushing random people out of his way, I squint my eyes. He looks and sounds familiar. When he reaches us, or to be more exact me, he grips my shoulder and glares at me, which looks kinda funny since he doesn't have eyes. Panting, he growls, "What the fuck were you thinking wandering off like that!" I didn't notice Boris glaring at the man.

Hmmm, only one person cursed at me since I got here, which means… "Johnny, what the hell are you doing here?" I give him a confused look, glancing around for my other babysitters. "Shouldn't you be with everyone else?" I grin cheekily, "Bad Johnny, wandering off tsk, tsk!" I tapped his nose with each tsk.

"You little shit! Do you have any idea how worried I—everyone else was when we saw you were gone?!" I giggle, catching his little slip. Aawww~ he is a big softy after all!

"Sorry to worry you, Johnny." I beam at his annoyed, but embarrassed, face. "I just couldn't let the evil one pick out my clothes. So I slipped away and met my big brother!" I point to Boris, who is glaring at Johnny. Johnny glances at him, flinches, and then looks back at me, finally seeing what I'm wearing. I hold in a laugh when he nearly falls over him shock.

"Please tell me all your new clothes don't look like this. Master Grey will kill us all if they do." At Johnny's desperate look, I laugh.

"Don't worry," I pat the man on his shoulder, "this is my only outfit that looks like big brother's. I picked out the rest!"

"Hey!" We look back at Boris. "Who are you?" His cat eyes glare harshly at Johnny. I hobble over to Boris and get his attention off the angry, yet nervous, Johnny.

"This," I motion to the man behind me, "is Johnny! He was one of the people who were supposed to watch me." A look of realization crosses the kitty man's face.

"Right, and frankly, I need to take her back to the rest." Johnny looks away from Boris and back to me, with a glare. "Master Grey finished his work early and came looking for you and wasn't exactly happy to not see you with everyone else." I saw Johnny hold in a shudder. "Luckily, or unluckily, I was already out looking for you, not by choice! When Sally saw me heading back to them, she made up some bullshit excuse that I was taking you to get something to eat and motioned me to find you quick."

"Ah, I see. Sorry Boris, but I gotta go now." I turn to him with a sad smile.

"Wha—bu-?"

"I have to make sure Grey doesn't get mad at me." I smirk at Boris. "After all, I'm mooching off of him and Nightmare!" Johnny drops his jaw while Boris smirks back at me. "Just hand the bags to Johnny and I'll catch up to you later!" He grins and shoves the bags into Johnny's arms, almost knocking him over.

"I'm going to hold you to that!" Suddenly, Boris' ears perk up and his head snaps to the left. I follow his gaze and see a guy with fuzzy mouse ears and a tail. Boris purrs, "And what perfect timing. Lunch's here!" Suddenly a fork and knife appear in his hands and he charges at the mouse guy.

"AAAHHHHH DON'T EAT ME!" And they're off! Johnny and I just stare. Why do I have a feeling of déjà vu? Oh, Boris must've been chasing that guy when he squished me! I have to thank that guy later. I may not have met my big brother if it wasn't for him!

"Wait…Why the fuck do I have to carry all this crap!"

"Because I'm crippled, now hush up and let's go," I grin at the red faced Johnny. "I need to think of something to tell Grey so you don't get in trouble." He looks at me confused, but I ignore him and try to concentrate on what to say to Grey while we walk.

"You don't want me to get in trouble?" I can hear the disbelief in his voice. "Then why the hell did you wander off?!"

"That had nothing to do with you." I look him in the place where his eyes should be. "It was all because of the evil lady."

"Evil lady?" He raised an eyebrow.

"The one who started leading the herd to, what would've been, my frilly doom." I keep hobbling on my crutches with Johnny following.

"Oh, you mean Sally!" His realization is replaced with confusion. "Don't tell me you're scared of her. She's a little over the top and annoying, but-"

"I'm not 'scared' of her!" I glare back at Johnny. "She's just evil!" He holds up his full hands, as best he can, in surrender. Nodding I look around and realize I have no clue where we're going. Blinking a few times, I look back at Johnny. "Ummm do you know where we're going?" He looks at me for a few seconds before sighing.

"Come on dumbass, they're this way." I happily trail behind him and take in as much detail of everything we pass as I can.

"Alright Amy, lesson number one in strategizing: know your surroundings."

"Why?"

"Because a) it'll make it easier to use what's around you against your target and b) you should always know a way out incase shit hits the fan."

"So, 'when in doubt, know your way out'."

"Kinda, but more like, 'when in doubt, know your way out and where the nearest crowbar is'. When all else fails, you have to make sure you have something to beat the fuckers' heads in with."

"…"

"…"

"I'll stick with know your way out…for the most part~."

"HA! That a girl! Never be afraid to get your hands dirty!"

"Oh, and that last part didn't rhyme."

"Like I give a fuck."

Hmm, there's a bunch of stores here full of little knickknacks, a couple thrift shops, and a…glass store? That may be useful.

"Hey Johnny, wait a second! There's something I need to check out." I didn't even wait for his response before I started hobbling to the store. Looking in the window, I see a bunch of different glass objects, everything from small bottles to large sculptures. I wonder if they have a bottle that looks like the one for the Potion of Hearts.

"Damn it kid, we don't have time for you to look at shiny shit."

"Shush! They may have something I need. So wait here, I won't take long." With that I go in, leaving a grumbling Johnny out on the sidewalk. I can't have him knowing what I'm looking for, just in case he lets it slip to the wrong people. Grey said the little bottle was important, so it would probably be best that I don't carry it around. But, everyone should know that I have it and I don't want them snooping around Clover Tower looking for it if they figure out it's not on me.

Growing up in the city taught me to always have a decoy. If you have a hundred dollars on you, carry ten in your wallet to throw at the mugger and hide the rest in your shoe. Or, in this case, carry an ordinary bottle, that looks important, and hide the real one.

I start looking around the store, but I can't find anything like the little bottle in the area labeled "Bottles" and it's annoying. When it comes to finding a little bottle decoy, I guess I have no choice but to ask for help. With a sigh, I make my way out of the aisle, but put on an upset face when I'm in the casher's sight. When he sees me, his cheery face falters a little.

"Excuse me, sir. Can you help me?" I put on my best pouty face.

"Of course sweetie, what do you need?" He comes around the counter and kneels in front of me.

"I-I accidentally lost a little bottle that belonged to my friend, a-and no matter where I looked I couldn't find it!" I have to sound desperate. "So I wanted to see if I could find a replacement, but nothing looks like it!"

"It's alright." He hands me a piece of paper and pencil from the counter. "Just show me what it looks like, and I'll see if I have anything like it in my shop, okay?" I start drawing the little bottle on the paper but I don't draw the little heart at the top of it, just in case. I add a sniffle here and there so I still look upset. It's funny, show an adult a sad face and they'll become putty in your hands. I have to thank Carly for showing me that, despite the fact that she's a stupid, stuck-up bully who always did that to get me in trouble. If I ever get the chance, I'm going to shove her freckled face in dog shit for the crap she's put me through, and then thank her.

Handing the man the drawing, he looks at it and chuckles, "No wonder you couldn't find it. This is a vial, not a bottle." He pats me on the head. "Let's try looking along that wall over there." With that he guides me to the wall two aisles away from the bottles.

"Um, sir," he glances at me, "what's the difference between bottles and 'vials'?"

"Visually, bottles have a narrow neck and a wider shoulder and body while vials are generally smaller and shaped in different styles." I give him a blankish stare. "Unlike bottles, vials don't have fixed shapes. They can be as decorative as you want them to be. Bottles have to have a neck, shoulders and body, vials don't." I give him an "oh" face and follow him to the vials, still not getting it.

When we reach the shelves on the middle of the wall, I am faced with a variety of very fragile looking "vials," some look like little tubes but the rest look very pretty. My eye catches a very detailed rose shaped vial, for some reason it makes me think of Blood…probably because of his hat.

"Alright, they're organized by style and color. So what you're looking for should be amongst these." He points to a section full of vials similar to the one the Potion of Hearts was in. Scanning the section, I see that none of them match what I'm looking for exactly. But two vials are only a shade of blue off and the heart designs on the vials themselves are a little too high from being a perfect match. They'll have to do.

"Those up there would work. The little heart-thingy should be a circle, but she'll like that better! It's so cute!" I clap my hands and giggle, earning a soft look from the man.

"Alright then," he reaches to get them, "would you like them both, or just one?"

"Hhhhmmm both! That way we'll match!"

"…Like you and the cat?" I hear the slight touch of bitterness in his voice. Huh? I look to his face to see his smile is now a little forced.

"Are you alright, mister?" This may be bad.

"Of course I am. Now let's go ring these up!" I get a little nervous hearing his voice change from carefree to a little edgy. I gulp and grab a little, pink, glass kitty statue on the way to checkout. I'll just ignore the change for now and hurry out of here. "Is this everything?" I nod as he totals the price. When he's done wrapping everything so they don't break, I hand him the money.

"Thank you and come again!" I can hear in his voice that he doesn't want me to. I'll ask Johnny why the guy changed so suddenly when I get outside.

"Have a nice day, sir!" I quickly leave, feeling a chill run down my back. Once I get outside, I quickly hobble to Johnny's bored form.

"'Bout time, what took you so long?"

"I had trouble finding what I was looking for, but I got it." He nods and starts walking to where everyone else is. "Um Johnny," he grunts, "the shop keeper started acting weird after a while. Do you think you'd know why?" He stops and glances at me sharply.

"What'd he do?! Did he say or do anything that he shouldn't have?! Did he touch you anywhere?! I swear I'll-"

"No, no, nothing like that! It was how he started talking that changed. He almost sounded a little meaner." He looks at me confused. "I think he said something about big brother and me matching and then seemed like he wanted me nowhere near him, or his shop."

"'Big brother'?"

"Boris."

"Fuck," Johnny mumbles and looks at me, "listen here kid, some of the faceless around here aren't too fond of role holders. That guy may have an issue with Airay and was taking it out on you, or would've taken it out on you because you're close to him. So be careful." I nod my head. So that was why. Could that also be why those guys attacked me in that ally, because I look like a role holder? It makes sense. "A lot of people here wouldn't think twice about hurting you to get to someone else, doesn't matter that you're a kid."

"I'll be alright, not like I need to go there again." Johnny nods his head and we continue walking. "Oh and thanks for caring." He quickly whips around to face me.

"I never said a fucking cared!"

"You're caring actions and caring words preach differently." I watch his face turn red as he quickly turns away and starts to grumble again. He is fun to tease, but I'll cut him some slack. But just a little.

"Look Master Grey, here they come now!" One of the faceless that were supposed to watch me puts her hands on my shoulders.

"See, see, she's perfectly fine!" Another starts rubbing my head and pinching my cheeks. I quickly look to Johnny for help, but he just smirks and sneakily flips me off. Well, I'll be damned, didn't think his sense of humor is similar to mine. It's going to be fun having wars with him! Just you wait Johnny, I'll get you back for not helping me. After I save you from Grey's anger, of course.

"So it seems…" Grey's sentence dies off as he looks at me and does a double take. I watch him twitch in annoyance and grab onto Johnny's shoulder, very tightly. I don't know if I'm imagining it or not, but I swear there's a dark purple and black cloud surrounding him and a shadow covers his eyes…scary. "Would you care to explain Amelia's current state of dress?" Looking back at me, Johnny pales. Now is probably the best time to save him.

"Hey Grey, I got you a present!" I carefully pull the wrapped kitty statue out of the bag. Holding it out to him, I grin cutely. "Come here and open it!" I watch as Grey gently smiles at me and removes his hand from Johnny's shoulder. He kneels in front of me.

"Amelia, you didn't have to get me anything." I hand him his present.

"But I wanted to! Now open it, pleeeasssse!" I hear my, should have been, babysitters start to quietly gush, all but Johnny who's looking at me in both shock and disbelief.

"Alright," Grey says and opens the little present. He lightly blushes at the adorableness of the glass statue.

"I thought it'd be funny since I'm a kitty too!" I copy the statue's stance and do the kitty boxing paws thing. "Meow! Purrr, purr!" I hug Grey around the neck and nuzzle his face with my cheek while I "purr." Now, to sell the act, I giggle sweetly. Grey looks at me softly and pets my head between my kitty ears, playing along. No one noticed the man watching the scene from a nearby ally, or the dark smirk that settles on his lips.