Seo Hyun here! I just realized that I had a few errors in role-holders in my story (I mixed them up)! sorry about it! Well, everyone keeps saying I update fast. . . I have a secret to it. . . I'm on summer vacation still and my car is . . umm. . unusable right now. :D So I'm sitting at home every day like a lazy bum coming up with ideas for my fanfics ;) Hehehe! XD Well, back to the story! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Heart no Kuni no Alice!

Chapter 2: Manliness

Both of the tweens fell fast asleep on each other under the tree. A soft breeze blew in the wind and in front of them appeared Nightmare.

"I see that both of you are sleeping," smirked Nightmare. Another soft breeze blew in and Nightmare disappeared into thin air.

A weird fog like smoke thing covered the whole area. It was really green and blue in color and nothing could be seen in sight.

Alice coughed for a moment; the air was making her a bit dizzy. "Where am I?" She talked to herself. Then figure appeared. It was Julius. "Alice? Is that you?" Alice came closer and nodded her head. She grabbed Julius's hand. "I'm scared. Where are we?" Julius blushed and then took a look around.

Suddenly, Nightmare appeared; he was hovering above the two. "Hello there, you two are in the dream realm right now."

"Ahh!" They both were startled by Nightmare's appearance.

"Who are you?" asked Julius with a glare. Alice looked at him strangely. Just like Ace, he looks familiar as well. . . And I feel like I've met Julius before, too. This is all too strange. . .

"I'm Nightmare! You guys really don't remember anything do you?"

They looked at him with strange eyes again. Nightmare was about to give out a sigh before hacking out blood. *BLECH!*

"Ack!"

The blood had split all over Alice's short sleeve hoodie while some of it sprayed out at Julius's pants. "What's wrong with you?" asked Alice she quickly started wiping off the blood from her shirt, while Julius shook his pants to remove the blood. None of them bothered to help Nightmare up.

"I'm a sickly incubus," smiled Nightmare. That should ring a bell! They know that for sure!

"A sickly incubus? What the hell?" said Julius in disbelief. Alice was just disgusted with the blood that was all over her cute hoodie. "But Julius, I feel like we've met him before!" she tried to convince the thirteen year old. He blushed and gave in, giving Nightmare a chance to explain. "Fine, explain all of this then. Why did that Ace guy kidnapped us and what happened in that circus tent."

Nightmare smiled. "Well, you see…." (I don't want to write it all out!)

An hour later of explanation and debate:

"Woah… so we really aren't this age?" asked Alice. She stared at Julius. I can't believe I lived with him, Gray, and Nightmare!

"So I'm supposed to be twenty one while Alice is sixteen?" asked Julius. It was so weird just imagining him older and Alice as well. He blushed just at the thought of Alice being older.

"Yup! Oh, it seems like you guys are waking up! I'll see you guys later!" said Nightmare. He already disappeared. Everything in that dream realm seemed like it was falling apart.

"Julius!" Alice started to disappear. "Alice!" Julius tried to reach out, but it was no use.

A bright light shined into both of the tweens faces. They looked at each other with confused faces.

GROWL!

Alice's stomach was hungry. She blushed and apologized, but Julius just smiled. Then rustling noises came from the bushes. Julius already put Alice behind him. "Who's there?"

The bushes rustled even more and then pop! Boris came out with Pierce.

"NYA! Stay away from me!" cried Pierce. He didn't see and crashed into the two tweens.

"OW! GET OFF!" they both yelled in unison. They blushed but then they pushed Pierce off.

"Hey! Wait! Alice, Julius? Is that you guys?" Boris looked at them and inspected them. He sniffed them really closely and then smiled. "It is you guys! I can recognize those scents from anywhere!"

"Wait. . . is that you. . .Boris?" said Alice, trying to remember the names that Nightmare used in his explanation.

"Yup! You guys look. . youthful. . ." said Boris with a grin. He looked at Julius and Alice again. Ohhh. . . It seems like the clockmaker has a crush on Alice-chan! He knew because they were standing so close to each other and held hands. "It seems like Julius wants to take you out on a date!" said Boris bluntly.

They blushed and let go of each other turning away. "I do not!" growled Julius.

Boris smiled again. Ohhh, they're going through puberty . . . it's the rebellious stage. . . sooner or later he has to confess. . . hehehe!

"Why don't we go to the amusement park guys? Just for fun, no dates! You can even pick on the stupid dormouse too!" said Boris as he picked up Pierce by the collar.

"What? chu~ I don't wanna die!" cried Pierce. "Shut up!" said Boris he punched him and smiled at the two tweens again.

They looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "Why not?" Boris's smiled grew wider. He dropped Pierce and dragged the two towards the amusement park and was already headed for the super coffee jet coaster.

This'll definitely make Julius embarrassed and make him puke too! Boris laughed to himself, plotting the evil plan.

Alice didn't mind at all and loved riding roller coasters. (Considering she rode this one as a five year old without puking! haha!) On the other hand, Julius was turning pale and his cheeks were tinted green.

"Julius? Are you alright?" asked Alice who was concerned.

"I'm alright," said Julius hesitantly. Boris grinned. "Oh, are you scared Julius?" He froze when Boris said 'scared'.

"You're scared?" Alice looked like she was about to laugh at the thirteen year old. No! I have to look strong in front of Alice! thought Julius. But all he did was stay silent.

Boris prodded his cheeks laughing at him. "Come on Julius! Be a man! Manliness is the key to bravery!" he said this with a tease. Julius scowled. "I'm NOT scared! I'll ride it!" He took Alice's hand and dragged her to the coaster seats. Boris smiled at the two. Accomplished!

Five minutes later:

"Julius, you don't look so good," said the eleven year old, not even dizzy from the ride.

"I'm alri—" then Julius ran over to the trashcan and started puking out everything he had. Alice held up his hair as Boris laughed on the floor. Then Gowland came in.

"Hey there! Oh, Boris, is that Alice and Julius?" Still laughing on the floor in tears, Boris managed to say a very weak "yes".

"It's alright Julius! It's just a ride!" said Gowland with tease in his voice. Suddenly a memory flashed into Julius mind as he was puking. He stopped and wiped his mouth and glared at the old man.

"I know it's just a ride, Mary," said Julius in a serious tone. Gowland blushed and his eyes started to turn into fire. "I'm warning you kid—"

"Mary Gowland, I really want to ride the merry-go-round," said Julius, cobalt eyes glaring at the old man. Then he heard Alice giggling. Her giggles started to turn into laughs like Boris. "Your name is Mary? HAHAHAHA!" She laughed so hard, that she was on the floor with Boris. Julius smirked at Gowland.

Gowland, amazingly, kept his composure and did a comeback. "Oh so you think my name is like a girl's? What about you Julius, you're a girl yourself! Alice was braver than you and you puked!" He scoffed at Julius, smiling. Then, he realized that his decision to retort was a bad one.

Julius went all red. Alice and Boris stopped laughing and saw Julius going red from embarrassment.

"Julius! It was just a joke," said Alice who was smiling. Julius didn't take it so well though and he ran off.

"Julius! Come back! I was just kidding! Please!" Gowland chased after the boy but he already left the park. Boris stayed with Alice. "Don't worry Alice! He's gonna show up sooner or later! It's already sunset."

Alice felt sad and pretty guilty for laughing. "Really?"

Boris smiled. "Really!"

Gowland sighed. "The days when I have a good comeback, I make a kid feel embarrassed and run off. . ." He turned to Alice. "You can stay with Boris for the night. It's not safe to go looking for Julius yet." Alice nodded. "Okay then. . ." She looked pretty sad and alone.

"Don't worry Alice, I'm here for you," said Boris with a grin. He slung his arm over his shoulder and took her to his room.

Awww! Poor Julius! All he wanted to do was look brave and cool in front of Alice! hahaha! XD I already have an idea forming for Julius and the twins hehehe! :) But I should put in some of the role-holders first! hooray! any suggestions? Next chapter: Boy Talk

Thanks for reading and please review! ;D