Didn't update this for a long time. TAT Sorry, had a hard time describing how Gray and Alice should interact. Well hopefully the character personality did not change dramatically… Enjoy.

The hanging chandelier was supported sturdily from the ceiling with its strong metal ropes and decorations. The view from the sparkling lights was truly exquisite and grand; however, Gray felt his muscles becoming tense as time ticked its way. He flickered his eyes to the huge black box. He only had less than 40 seconds before the awaited time.

Gray took his cigarette that was in his mouth and crushed it. When he closed his eyes, only one image took over his blinded sight. Alice. It was strange how he became so attached to a single girl. At first, she was just a weak girl; the only redeeming feature was her being a foreigner. His interest was only her thumping heart. Something he could not attain no matter how hard he tried. Alice was supposed to be his toy. Nothing more and nothing less. Then something slowly changed inside Gray. Something he did not expect. Whenever he saw Alice cry, his heart ached. When he saw her smile, he felt joy. It was more than just being comfortable. He was happy. Being happy was foreign to Gray's lonely life. He was never loved and did not think he would ever have such emotion, but he was wrong.

Perhaps he was already in love with Alice when he first saw her. Frowning, he remembered his first encounter with her. The girl was so small and frail looking. Even though his heart was frozen in ice cubes, somewhere he had the urge to not kill her. In his mind, it was only supposed to be something to pass his boredom, but in actuality, he was sucked in by her unusual unique nature. The kindness, warm smile, and bravery despite the fear made his cold heart melt.

The golden eyes caught a certain gray and slowly closed and opened once more to confront it, "What are you doing here half dead incubus?"

The sudden exhaustion of the body took a toll especially in Nightmare's lungs. His legs were shivering, crying out in pain from the full sprint. His throat was burning, scorching out for water and air. Still, he was nowhere near to accept an insult, "My…name…is not half dead…incubus…"

Gray could easily see Nightmare's fatigue, but he still needed to be cautious of him. An incubus is a bothersome creature with its detrimental power. Gray has trained to fight against the incubus in hopes of assassinating him some day. Even if Nightmare attacked him now, he would be able to stall him until the bomb activated, "Whatever, I'm the one who is asking a question here. Aren't you supposed to be busy memorizing the speech for the next meeting? I really feel sorry for the people in Clover Tower."

Taking a deep breath, the dark eyes sharply accused the assassin, "I know what you are trying to do. I read one of your accomplices' minds. I won't let you bomb this tower."

"You can banish me out of the tower, but it will do no good either way. The bomb is set in auto mode and Alice and other people are coming this way for the next meeting," Gray gave a quick glance at the box right beside him and touched it.

Nightmare also noticed the black box. He had assumed from the start that it was the bomb; the bomb which can kill everyone, even Alice. "Why are you doing this? Are you trying to put Alice in danger?" He couldn't understand what Gray was thinking. He had thought that no matter what, Gray would not harm Alice, but perhaps it was the opposite. Because he loves Alice, he would want to break it; a truly cowardly act for the sole purpose to protect himself.

Gray's once cold eyes soften, making Nightmare have doubts of his assumption of the assassin's unstable psychological analysis. With a soft voice, almost a whisper, Gray spoke, "When you confess…."

"What?"

This time, in a stronger and stable voice, Gray smiled and replied, "When you confess your love, it has to be dramatic, right?"

Nightmare widened his eyes in disbelief. He could not understand Gray's mind anymore, it was beyond his comprehension. Because of a confession, this man needs to kill thousands of men? Because of this so called love, he needs to put Alice in danger? Only a lunatic can think up of an insane idea like that. "You're crazy! Absolutely crazy!"

Gray was back to his unemotional and phlegmatic expression and just uttered a monotonous reply, "10 seconds remaining."

"Nightmare?" Alice was there by the entrance of the hall with other roleholders all coming after her. They were oblivious to the danger they were in.

Nightmare quickly turned to the foreigner and shouted, "Alice! Get away from here!"

"5"

Alice blinked, even though there were many people walking with her, she could easily spot one particular person. The man she wanted to see the most. Alice's gaze was locked on Gray, who was standing on the chandelier and uttered his name in a nostalgic way, "Gray…" The frail voice was hushed by Nightmare's panicked voice, but Gray still knew what Alice was thinking. He also wanted to meet her. Gray smiled down at the girl reassuringly as Alice raised her hands towards Gray. Please….take me away.

"We are going to get bo-!" Before Nightmare could finish his sentence, he was cut off by a deep low voice reminding the last second.

"0." Gray kicked the box from the chandelier. Everyone watched the black rectangle drop. The time seemed to have slowed down, but nobody could move a single muscle. They were as if enchanted by the darkness of its color.

Suddenly, a flash of light blighted the whole hall. It was absolutely pure white as Black yelled, "WTF? My eyes!"

White squinted his eyes to try and make a move in the brightness, but it was futile, he only bumped into the other roleholders, "It's…bright."

By the time, the light faded away and everyone's eyes adjusted to the normal clarity, Nightmare looked around. Nothing was destroyed and none of the people were scathed. The only trace left of the whole incident was the bewilderment in people's faces. Nightmare did not know if he should be upset or happy, all he could do was express his confusion, "….What was that just now?"

Blood looked around and questioned, "Where is Alice?" Everyone did not know where the brunette went, but they knew who kidnapped her.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Darkness. It was like this when Alice first encountered Gray. Despite the terror and danger emitting everywhere, his dark hair flowed gracefully. The golden eyes paired beautifully with that of a lonely moon. It made her shiver, she didn't want to remember it, but it is also true that she was fascinated by its splendor. "….Gray." The assassin's eyes slowly moved to meet Alice's teal eyes. The girl sucked the air; she thought once she met his eyes she would be killed. There was always fear inside her, telling her she would be killed by this merciless assassin, but that didn't matter to her now. She had the uncontrollable need to be with him. Alice had a similar feeling with her previous boyfriend. It ended as a tragedy for her and she swore to never fall in love again, but she couldn't bear this weight in her heart. Without her knowing, she was in love with Gray.

Alice sighed. It wasn't her plan to fall in love, but what can she do? When she saw Gray fight with Ace and Peter, she already no longer had the will to go back home. She was worried sick of him. Even after she met Gray and confirmed that he was alright; she didn't want to separate with him. Whenever Alice didn't see Gray, her heart ached like she was homesick. It didn't matter to her if she was never returning home, if it meant that she could be with this man forever. Even if it meant by death.

A few drops of tears rolled down her white cheeks. Alice put her arms around Gray's neck and looked at the man's face with scrutiny. She was savoring this moment to remember every last detail of the man she wanted to meet so much. The man her heart ached for, "I wanted to meet you…"

The eyes that were meant to be cold softened and the unemotional and unbreakable composure turned into that of a loving smile. Gray kissed Alice's tears and replied, "Me too." It was like a dream; a dream she would like to have no matter how many times she saw. Gray, who was feared as a notorious merciless assassin, is smiling gently at a plain girl like her. Her heart jumped and her face filled with color. Alice was about to put her hand on Gray's cheek and kiss him, but stopped herself. She was neither afraid of death nor was she afraid of not returning home, but she was afraid of being hated by Gray. She didn't want to get rejected and abandoned by him. She couldn't bear to be separated from him again. Alice pushed the overflowing emotions inside and took a deep breath.

Composing her face, she looked around her surrounding, "But…where are we?"

"Just outside the Clover Tower."

Alice remembered noticing Nightmare at the hall, seeing flashes of bright, and a feeling of Gray carrying her away. She was now worried about the other people in Clover Tower. "…What happened back at the hallway?"

Gray smiled, she was too kind. It was one of the parts that annoyed him at first, but now it is one of her lovable traits, "Everyone is fine; they probably are just blinking, wondering what had happened." Seeing that Alice was relieved by his reply, Gray put his arm around Alice's waist and whispered slowly into her ear, "I wanted to meet you so badly; I snatched you away from Nightmare." Alice thought she might have died from joy. She couldn't find her voice and just looked at Gray with wide eyes. After a pause, Alice could feel the warm breath tickling and then a deep baritone pouring in like music, "Sorry." Still dazed by his enchanting voice, Alice looked at Gray half in confusion and awe. The man just tightened his grip on her and spoke, "I will apologize a million times and even try to atone for my sins so please. Please don't leave me. Please…I love you…"

Gray was hugging Alice tightly that she couldn't see his face, but judging from the emotional voice, Alice knew that it was his true emotion. She was shocked. All this time, Alice did not think Gray loved her. She thought her feelings were one-sided. Hearing Gray's voice, Alice's fear disappeared instantaneously. Instead of fear, now growing bubbles of joy erupted through her whole body.

Alice quietly looked at Gray, "Gray…can you bend down a little?"

The dark haired man confusedly looked at Alice, but still did as he was told, "…Alice?"

Alice, then, kissed Gray forehead and smiled, "I…felt so weird while I was away from you. I was sad and lonely." "It's so weird, right? Peter, Blood, and a lot of people were right beside me, but I just didn't feel so happy. The only time I felt happy was…" The meaningful stare went straight to Gray's eyes. Gray was hopeful, but still he couldn't entirely forgive himself for endangering Alice countless times. He wanted to go back in time and literally kill himself. Yell at his past self for the horrible things he had done, for scaring Alice. He was willing to do anything to atone for his sins, "Do I have a chance?"

Alice chuckled and shook her head to the side, "You don't understand Gray. You already got me."

Gray looked at her with shock, "You mean, you forgive me?" He couldn't believe it. He was so angry at himself, he was prepared to shoot himself and crush his clock so that it will be beyond the mortician's repair. His cowardly, selfish side had done many things to hurt the girl. He was weak and couldn't understand the growing irrational feeling in his heart and so he bashed at Alice in order to protect himself. He was pathetic and feeble.

"I forgive you," the calm, tranquil voice sounded beautifully like an angel. Instantly, Gray felt like his whole body ascended to a paradise. He really wanted to touch this beautiful creature. Carefully, slowly the cold hands shifted to touch the brunette's cheek.

Alice did not move, she was also enchanted by the man's large hand. His hand seemed as if he could grasp anything. It was those hands which she wanted to be stroked by.

Alice's gaze moved from the hands to his beautifully formed lip. His lip was open a little. Seeing this and without thinking, she leaned her head closer to its beauty. Suddenly, her lip collided with the lip she was admiring at. The hands which were far bigger than her size stroked her cheek and supported her waist. At first the kiss was a light contact. It was as if Gray was seeing Alice's every reaction and deciding whether he should continue or not. Seeing no rejection, he proceeded to inserting his tongue. Alice flinched at the sudden advance, but nuzzled closer when she noticed the man hesitate a little. She didn't want him to end it. She wanted more. Gray continued to move his tongue around, searching around to intertwine with Alice's. Alice could hear a slight moan escaping from her mouth. Her head was getting hot and she had hard time staying conscious. Gray's invasion in her mouth made her feel excited and desperate for more contact. Her breathing became more heavy and intense.

At last, not able to take all the affections, Alice broke the kiss and gasped for air. The breathing calmed her down, but the fact that she broke the kiss made her sad. She didn't want to end it. Just as when Alice thought of this, Gray moved in to kiss her neck. The feeling sent down shiver through the girl as she looked at Gray with wide eyes. "…Gr..ay." She managed to say his name while he moved down to kissing the collarbone. The feeling of the tongue softly licking and then the dull pain left marks on her unstained body. Tears trickled down and Gray stopped his movement once and moved to kiss her tears. He, then, heard a quiet whisper, "…I love you…I want to be with you…"

After hearing the small confession, Gray hugged Alice once more. The muscular body easily covered the soft, petite one as the sound of the clock and heart moved at the same speed. "I also love you. I will never leave you even if you tell me to." The deep voice hypnotized Alice's mind. She closed her eyes and gave a wry smile. Both of the couple wanted this moment to last. Gray moved in to give another passionate kiss and Alice leaned closer.

"Uh…cough, cough." The couple blinked at the sudden familiar voice and immediately shot their heads to the source. There were about ten faceless people wearing business suits. They had their faces filled with color as they shuffled their gun loaded hands nervously, "Gray Ringmarc and Alice Liddell, you are called to meet Nightmare-sama."

Alice knew that they were in trouble, but there was something even more surprising in front of her. Opening and closing her mouth a few times, her face turned from red to pale, "L-L-Lori?"

"You know her, Miss Alice? She was hiding behind the wall and looked suspicious so we captured her." Alice quickly nodded her head and continued staring at the faceless girl.

Lori nervously winked at Alice and gave Gray a thumb up sign, "I guess I got caught. I never really wanted to peek in your love affair, but Nightmare is looking for the both of you. If you don't come, the whole meeting is going to be on a rampage." Gray rolled his eyes and sighed.

Alice had her eyes popped open. She thought she was seeing a ghost of Lori, "Wait a minute. Why are you a live?"

Lori looked at the foreigner and gave a timid smile, "It's a long story so I will tell you later when we go inside."

Alice still couldn't stomach the fact that Lori is alive. She just stood there, unmoved with jaw gaping at the faceless girl. Gray gave a worried look at Alice and ushered her to the Clover Tower, "Let's go, Alice."

Glancing at Lori and then to Gray, Alice just nodded her head and went inside.

So this is still safe in the T rating right? Maybe? Maybe…not? Come on it was just kissing! Nothing wrong…I think… xD

i had to actually re-read the whole story so that the emotion and interaction between alice and gray is not so cheap and choppy. well...it was hard to explain all those earlier chapters becuz gray's action towards alice was just...plain weird. and when i read the earlier ones i had to literally hide myself with a blanket becuz...the writing is seriously not good. i hope i improved, but im not too sure. so after hours and perhaps days of thinking how i should make gray and alice show their emotions, i ended up writing this version. maybe a bit rushed, but who cares now as long as alice and gray are lovey dovey T_T i quit thinking.

Hopefully all u kind readers didn't mind the (maybe) rushed smooching scenario.

I think the next chapter will be the last so plz plz read 'till the end!