Time looked with contempt down at his ticking seconds.

The days that had gone by since Alice's abrupt departure from her abrupt arrival were terribly bleak and dreary and lonesome. On some, Time forgot who he was and why he kept being the ruler of all time in Underland. On others, he was the patient impatient man who waited for his love to return to him.

"S-s-sir?" Wilkins spoke up nervously.

He too wasn't pleased with Alice's choices as of late. Time had been sour and moody with all of his workers.

The clockwork-man didn't look at him. "What is it?" he asked just shy of angrily.

"The Grand Clock, sir, it- um, it has- I mean, there is- Well, dear me, Sir... but there is-"

"Spit it out, Wilkins!"

"There's a crack on the side of the clock!" Wilkins announced hurriedly.

Time gripped the rails firmly. "What?" he asked nearly menacingly as if the reason for the crack had been entirely on Wilkins and the little man had done nothing to stop it. "Where?"

"U-u-up on the curve, sir. B-big jagged line."

His blue eyes burned and Wilkins trembled in his bolts. "Why haven't you fixed it?" he growled.

He looked fearful and he shuffled a bit. "That's the thing, sir. W-we've tried to.. but.. nothing will do."

"Nonsense," he dismissed. His coat whipped the air as he headed for the platform before the Grand Clock. He looked up and did in fact find the tear. But he still refused to believe it couldn't be mended.

"Nothing can be done, sir."

He sneered. "Of course something can be done."

The creation of bolts and gears shook again. "But, sir, we tried-"

"Then try harder!" he snarled.

Wilkins could only do so much. "Sir-"

Time had had enough with his creations. "I do not have much of myself left to endure your irritable self-" He narrowed his eyes. "Fix it or you're dismissed."

The little piece of clockwork knew his master was demanding and arrogant but he never was cold and heartless. Oh, where was Alice and what was taking her so long!

The taller being noticed the other did not move. "Wilkins, you-" The curse would never come to light as a resonating thundering boom sounded and shook the castle.

Both looked in utter shock at the clear jagged line across the face of the clock.

Then he staggered in pain as the same injury happened to him.

He didn't understand.

"What is that?" he asked rudely.

She frowned and followed his gaze.

"Blithering pest!" He stepped forward quickly-

"No!" She beat him to it. She quickly opened the cabin window and the blue butterfly flew out before Mason's murderous hands got ahold of it. "Honestly, it's just an insect. Harmless. Innocent. What does that say of your character, Mason?"

He narrowed his eyes and looked haughty. "I could have sworn it was watching me."

She glared at him. "You were saying about the map?"

"Yes," he grunted. He stuck a tack onto the paper and into the wooden table beneath.

A loud crack pierced their ears. Mason frowned at the newly formed deformity in the grandfather clock standing at the end of the cabin.

Alice looked to it. "There's... a crack in the face," she observed quietly and a little shocked. "H-how?"

He glanced around for some sort of answer. They were the only ones in the room. The doors were closed and the windows were not broken. What could have-

"The ships," he nodded. He snatched up the map and stuck it in his jacket. He picked up his rifle. "They're coming."

She looked - pirates.

But that wouldn't explain the crack in the clock-

"Captain Kingsleigh!" Glasdon shouted from above-deck.

She had no time to ponder about what caused it. She snatched up her rifle and cutlass and hurried to the helm.

But she stopped short on the steps.

That was it.

Time.

Something had to have happened to him-

"Alice!"