Surprise update! Yay~! Alex in the Country of Hearts is going to wrap up soon. And then she'll be on her way to Clover! Woohoo! Clover is where questions will start getting their answers and Alice and Alex will finally be uniting with their lovely love interests, so yay for all the puzzled ppl out there. x3

Please R&R!

Disclaimer: I do not, have not ever, will not ever own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice. boo boo

"What's wrong, Alex?" Nightmare asked as he floated above.

"I don't know what to do," I said then sighed. I had let Nightmare read my thoughts about the events that took place in the Clock Tower. "Was it wrong of me to be afraid?"

Nightmare gave a gentle smile.

"Of course not. Anyone would have been terrified of a scene like that."

"But she's my sister."

"Is she now? How can you be so sure?"

"What?" I asked, confused as to what Nightmare was getting at.

"You said your sister was a gentle girl, and yet what you described to me was a monster. What if the girl you saw was an imposter?"

"But that-"

"It could be. It's definitely possible that that's the case. You need to be careful," Nightmare warned. "This person is dangerous. I think she might want you dead."

"Ah…" I looked down, not sure what to think of.

"For now, just stay here in the Country of Hearts. You're safe here. I'll see if I can figure out what's going on."

"Eh… Thank you, Nightmare."

"Now it's time for you to wake up."

"Yeah…"

-3RD PoV-

Nightmare watched as Alex vanished from his world.

"What an unexpected surprise," he said to someone hiding in the shadows.

"Were you not the one who invited me here?" the man asked.

"Heh. I'll admit it was right of us to bring her here. She wouldn't have lasted long in that world," Nightmare said dryly. "But what I'm curious about is what you want from her?"

The man chuckled.

"Does it really matter, Nightmare? Maybe I'm just interested in her."

Nightmare smiled at the man.

"Is that really all?"

-Chapter 15-

-The Mortician and I-

I sipped my green tea while watching Julius work on the clocks. He was ALWAYS working on those darn things. I was starting to wonder if he ever did anything else.

There were two time periods left until the day of the ball. Julius offered to let me stay here at the clock tower until then and explain my situation to Alice and the others on the day of the ball, since everyone would be there. There was also the fact that neither of us thought it was safe for me to go anywhere right now. Plus, with Ace guiding me back, I'd never make it in time… So many things to keep me from going back.

I sighed and remembered something important.

"Julius?"

"I'm listening," Julius responded as he put away the fixed clock and grabbed a new one to work on.

"I remember something now."

Julius stayed silent.

"My uncle, Aswal. On the day of the coronation, he told me it was my special day and not Aura's. Even though the coronation was about curing Aura's illness. So why would he say that?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe the coronation was never about curing your sister. Maybe it was about something else."

Julius had a point.

"Why is it that some of my memories are blank? I've also been wondering about that as well."

"I think I might know the answer to that," Julius said then sighed.

My eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? Why then?"

"Would you mind giving me some time? I have an idea, but I want to confirm it first."

"Oh. Okay…"

Julius looked up at me.

"That thing is back. The markings on your neck."

I gasped at what Julius had said.

"A-are you sure?" I asked.

"If my eyes aren't deceiving me, then yes. I'm sure," Julius said while crossing his arms. "I remember when you last came here, you told me about the meaning of those markings and when your eyes glow red."

I stayed silent, not sure of what to say.

"Alex. Have you been eating at all?"

"I can't eat food. You know that," I said while feeling depressed.

"I'm not talking about food. And you know what I mean," Julius said with a stern look.

"Then no… I can't." I clenched my fists in frustration. "I don't want to hurt anyone. And… and what if they all start hating me?"

Julius stood up and walked towards me. I looked up at him with sad eyes.

"Alex," Julius said as he pulled out a knife. "I'm going to feed you."

"Y-you can't!" I said, afraid of what he'd do.

-3RD PoV-

"I just don't know what happened to her," Alice said sadly.

"Don't worry. We'll find her," Boris said while patting the poor girl on the shoulder.

"Don't ya worry one lil bit darlin'. We'll search high an' low for the girl," Gowland said with a reassuring smile. He then turned and left to order the workers at the park to search for Alex.

"I'll search the forest," Boris said as he dashed away.

Alice decided she'd search the Clock Tower next. But first, it might be best to pay a visit at Heart Castle. She really didn't want the twins searching there since they always caused trouble, but failed to stop them from going.

It was strange how Alex vanished so suddenly. She would never leave Hatter Mansion without some escort. After all, she was afraid to go into the forest alone. Could she have been kidnapped?

"Please be okay," Alice said as she hurried herself to Heart Castle.

-1ST PoV-

I finished wrapping up the cut on Julius' arm while Ace stood by the door with an amused look on his face.

"So let me get this straight. First, Alex walks off a cliff and then Julius cuts his own wrist. Did you two take suicide pills? Ahaha!"

"Shut up, Ace," Julius and I said in unison.

"Double ouch. But why would you cut yourself, Julius? Has being locked up in this room finally driven you mad?"

"Ace-" Julius started to say, but was cut off by me.

"He did it for me," I said, feeling guilty for what the poor man did.

Ace raised a brow at this.

"For you? Why would you want him to do that?"

"I-I didn't want him to. He was only trying to… He was trying to…" I didn't want to say it. I didn't want Ace to know the truth.

"Cutting myself was an accident. Alex had tripped over some books, and I cut myself while trying to stop her fall."

I looked up at Julius with wide eyes. He lied. Because he knew I didn't want to reveal my secret, he lied for me.

I wasn't sure whether or not Ace believed the story. He looked like he was deep in thought.

"Julius injuring himself to save a damsel in distress. How very noble of you," Ace teased.

The only answer he received was a grumble from Julius.

"Maybe you should take Alex to the dance, since you two seem to be getting it on."

"Don't say such nonsense," Julius said angrily.

"Yeah! What he said. What does getting it on mean anyways?" I asked with crossed arms.

Both men stared at me.

Ace burst into laughter while Julius face-palmed.

"Julius, maybe you should show Alex what getting it on means. After all, actions speak louder than words." Ace continued to laugh.

"I thought I told you to be quiet," Julius said, trying to sound angry as a blush formed on his cheeks.

I stood there, confused as to what was going on. Was this getting it on a bad thing? But then Julius was blushing.

"By the way, Alex," Ace said as he calmed down and looked at me. "Alice was looking for you."

"She is?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah. She looked really worried when we met at the Castle of Hearts. Ahaha!"

"You say she's worried, and then you laugh…" I looked at Ace with a bored expression on my face.

"Ahaha! Don't worry though. I told her you weren't feeling well, and that you're staying with Julius. I also told her that she'd see you at the ball," Ace said as he smiled.

"I see. Thanks Ace," I said while smiling back at him. I would definitely need to apologize to her. I honestly should have thought more of her feelings.

"Ahaha! Those boys will be glad to see you too."

"Huh? You mean Dee and Dum?"

"Yeah. You might want to avoid them as much as possible."

I froze in place.

Did he just tell me to avoid them?

Does that mean…

I imagined Dee and Dum chopping me up into tiny pieces with their weapons. Both bursting into an evil laughter while I died miserably.

Heck no. No way that was happening to me.

"Thanks for the warning, Ace," I said, hoping that I wouldn't see the two at the ball.

Oh yeah. Things were definitely going to get interesting. And not in a good way.

I started thinking about Aura. I'd see her again… Right?

And that's chapter 15 for you. A few more to go. I hope you all enjoyed *bows*. Now off to be evil! x3