Mireille-chan: Hello everyone! I know it has been a long time, but here is the next chapter finally! It was a very difficult chapter, becuase I wished to reveal more about Ren, but was unsure of how to do it, or of how much was too much. So, please enjoy this chapter, and remember to review, I need input!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Alice in Wonderland, nor any of its characters, those rights belong to a man under the pen name of Lewis Carroll.

Part 3: All Those I Love

Ren opened the large oak doors, which lead to foyer of his dark mansion. He walked in silently, slipped off his coat, and was about to hand it on the coat rack when he heard a sickening thud. He felt pain rise up his back, knowing he had been hit by some large blunt object. He spun around to see just who he expected, his father.

"Worthless boy!" bellowed the large, gray haired man. "I cannot trust you! You attract to much attention, especially with those eyes! Devils eyes!"

"I didn't do anything," Ren spat, blood dripping from his lip as he bit it to stop from crying in pain. His father swung the candelabra down upon his ribs once more before pinning him to the wall.

"Do you know how hard I've worked to gain standing in this community! All the money to keep you alive! If they knew about you, well, your mother would be disgraced first of all! And that horrid woman, well, I'd have to have her killed you see! Let me make this perfectly clear to you, I do not have a son."

Ren stared, trying not to look weak, although he was obviously battered. He watched as his father dropped the candelabra onto the small entranceway table. He heard the mans heavy footsteps up the stairs. He heard the bedroom door slam shut. Then he sank to his knees in the elaborately painted, domed foyer.

"Am I so cursed? Let me be cursed then, he has no son, therefore I am now no son of his," Ren said, spitting the remaining bit of blood from his mouth onto the floor.

He then retreated, up the stairs to the second level, to the end of that hall, till he was faced with a iron, spiral staircase, ascending into the dark. He climbed the stairs cautiously, into a dark, cold and drafty attic. It was nearly bare, except for a few small pieces of furniture illuminated by the moonlight, which streamed in from a wide window on the side of the room opposite the staircase. To the left of the staircase, there was a wooden chair, the backrest was splintered and broken, and one of the legs was slightly too short, so that it tilted in an awkward fashion. There was also, a broken mirror, simply leaning up against the wall, with a sheet draped over the top so it would not slip. On the right side, there was an old trunk, one of the best kept things in the room. It was sturdy and made out of mahogany, with leather belts to hold it together, and even a padlock on the front.

The most enjoyable place, to Ren, was right in front of the window. He had his bed laid out there, a hay mattress, too small for a boy his age. On top of it was a threadbare sheet, torn in several places, and a ragged quilt, moth-eaten over time, with faded colours. It wasn't to most accommodating place, but it was enough for Ren to survive.

He lay down, careful not to injure his wounds more. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, although it was the first time in more than two weeks. Ren's father regularly beat him, brutally at times. He had a deep hatred for Ren, because Ren was a child out of wedlock, and good faith all together.

Ren's father had hired his mother as a maid, and he had tricked Ren's mother into falling in love with him. They had an affair for a long time, even though his father was already married to his previous wife, Lady Joanne-Claire. Whether Lady Joanne-Claire really was of Noble descent or not was questionable, but Ren felt that she deserved the title 'Lady' all the same. Now, at this time, Ren's real mother was actually very young, only around the age of 13. She didn't know how to take care of a child, and when Lady Joanne-Claire found out that the child was also her husbands, she decided to take care of him.

From that point on he was called her child, even the birth certificate stated so. Ren loved Lady Joanne-Claire like a mother, she was kind, gentle and caring. She made sure, however, that Ren knew who his real mother was, and that they got a chance to meet as often as they could, even risking getting caught by her husband to do so. Ren's life was great, he was educated and loved, and in the hall if he saw his mother, he was instructed to always look away, but he had learned ways of communicating with her, all thanks to the Lady.

He loved her, as anyone loves there mother, for she was his mother, but he knew he still had ties to this poor child which was his birth mom. He thought all would be fine as long as the Lady was there, but tragedy struck, as it always did, to those with devils eyes. One day those golden eyes, which were so full of love, met the frail, fluttering eyes of Lady Joanne-Claire. Her final words, as she held that five-year-olds hand were, "I love you, my son."

"I wish she were here," Ren whispered. He stared out at the stars in the night sky, and found a particularly pale blue one, although it did not burn as bright as the others, it was more beautiful then them by far. To him, that was Lady Joanne-Claire. "All those I love turn into stars," he thought, "All those I love fall to fate."

Mireille-chan: So there we go! I would just like to take this time to say thanks to some people. Thank you to everyone who read, and everyone who reviewed! I never thought I'd get so many good comments as I did! Please continue to read, and I will try not to fall behind again!