ALRIGHT, CHAPPY 13 ALREADY. AND 39 VISITORS THIS MONTH! I'M TOUCHED. TT_TT (YES, I KNOW THAT'S NOT VERY GOOD, BUT THAT'S AN ACOMPLISHMENT FOR ME!) I'M TRULY GRATEFUL. *SNIFFLE* PLEASE READ, REVIEW, VOTE AND ABOVE ALL, ENJOY! I OWN NOTHING!

Ch.13: Coffee over Hatred

The mafia boss stood before us, Elliot just to his right. Alice squeaked and ducked behind me in an attempt at safety. Honestly, I think I'm the last person who's safe as of right now. Blood's ice blue eyes burned into my brown ones, "Hello Miss C.J. Fancy meeting you here." I put my hands on my hips and spread apart my legs; trying to put up my best 'I'm the one in charge here' air. "If you've got beef with me, then say it Blood." I cracked a smirk. "Or should I say spit it?" Blood's blackened and bruised eye twitched at my comment on his still split lip. Everyone else seemed to be in a state of shock, role holders and faceless alike.

Blood's face was stone, "Cockiness gets you killed in this world young lady." I tilted my head to the left a bit. "Is that so? Arrogance gets you a black eye in my world." The crowd that had gathered around shifted and whispered to each other. Elliot looked extremely awkward and like he wanted nothing more than to leave. Blood snuffed at my come back, "I didn't come here to fight with you, little foreigner. I came to do business." I guessed he meant that he had business with Goland. I smiled mockingly and stepped to the side. "By all means." His eye twitched again.

Goland stepped up, "Blood, I'm not giving you any land. End of story. Go home." Blood cocked his head and smiled cruelly. "Is that so, MARY?" now they'd lost me. I looked to Boris, searching for answers. Boris leaned over a bit, "Mary is the old man's first name. He hates it and never goes by it, but thanks to Blood, everyone knows." Goland looked pissed. In an instant, the violin he'd been carrying around turned into a huge rifle! And he aimed it right at Blood. In turn, Blood turned his cane into another freaking rifle! "Oh, so you want to play, MARY?" Workers and visitors were fleeing as quickly as possible. I, however, was glued to the spot. He hates his first name…. Damn it, I knew what I had to do.

Right before the bullets started flying, I took a step forward. "…Cloud Juno Hallow Thourn." Everyone stopped and looked at me, even Blood and Goland. Confusion hung like a veil in the air. "…What?" The statement was unanimous. I sighed, "Cloud, as in cloudy, was the weather during my birth. Juno, the Roman goddess of women in our world, was the type of person my mother thought I'd grow into. Hallow, as in All Hallows Eve, was the day I was born. Cloud Juno Hallow Thourn. C.J Thourn. My full name." Everyone, even Blood, was gawking in disbelief.

I stomped over to the two rifle toting fools and whacked them upside the head. Turning to Goland, "Dumbass! Why the hell should you care what this clown or anyone else thinks of you? Names are names, not labels! Get your head together and remember that you have innocent customers here!"I then whipped around to yell at Blood. "You need to stop thinking your superior to everyone! I don't care if it entertains you; think of the other persons feeling for once in your Damned life, why don't you? Did you ever stop and think about how you were making them feel? How about Alice, or even Elliot, hmm? Or are you just too stupid and pigheaded, just too mean and cruel to think about the consequences? Or do you think that just because you're a big shot mafia boss, that you'll never have to suffer the consequences?" I took a step back, taking a deep breath. My initial anger had almost dissipated. I turned towards the exit and started to stalk away after telling off Blood for the second time today. I glanced back at him, my honey brown eyes as cold and solid as amber. "Well trust me; no matter how invincible you feel now, eventually, you'll make one mistake that will ruin not only your life; but those of everyone around you. And once you've crossed that line, there's no going back." I turned and walked out of the park without a second glance. No regrets, no sympathy.

I heard crunching as footsteps approached me. I turned, expecting to see Alice, but surprised to see Peirce. He looked down to his boot, "Umm…Alice has an errand to run in town, so she asked me to take you back to the tower." A ghost of a smile twitched at my lips. "Sure. Thanks." He walked up to me and we walked side by side. There was silence for a time. It was actually Peirce who spoke up. "Umm…what you did back there…why?" I looked at the mouse boy. "Why? There were innocent people there! Someone might have gotten hurt if a fight had started!" He looked up to meet my eyes for the first time, "No! I mean, why did you say those things…about making mistakes." I looked at him, a strange emotion coming on. "Because something similar has happened to me several times. Every time I thought I would be happy, something or someone came along and ruined it all. Either because they didn't care, or didn't think. But it all eventually came around to bite them in the ass. Namely me."

His expression was unreadable. "…Umm…Do you want some coffee?" he said dimly. I blinked in surprise, and then laughed lightly. "Sure, why not?" I knew he was trying to cheer me up, and the fact that he tried alone made me grin. Peirce's smile lit up the heavy mood as he grabbed my hand and tugged me towards town.

A little bell rang as Peirce and I strode into the coffee shop. We walked up to the counter. "1 double latte and…" he looked at me. I browsed the menu board. "Umm…1 Fudge Delight Mocha cappuccino." Both Peirce's and the guy working the counter's eyebrows went up. The tender leaned over the counter a bit, "Umm…you sure Miss? That one is like sucking down ice and fudge with coffee. I'm not even sure why we still sell it, it's so unpopular." I gave him a thumb up, "Of course! Why else would they name it that?" The man shrugged and continued with his coffee making. Peirce and I took a seat at booth near the back. He looked at me, "So…you like sugar?" I grinned, "I love it!" He blinked at me, then blushed slightly and smiled. …Why the hell is Peirce so damn cute? That shouldn't be normal!

"So, Alice told me you were some kind of law enforcement in your world. A detective? What exactly is it?" I smiled. If it's one thing I didn't think I'd ever get tired of, I think it's talking about my job.

"Well, like Alice said, it's a type of law enforcement. I'm supposed to find out who committed a crime and help catch them." He cocked his head, "What kinds of cases do you solve?" I looked up, "Oh, that list goes on and on. Rape, murder, fraud, theft…though lately I've only been getting cases for strange behavior and kidnappings." Peirce looked at me strangely. "Kidnapping?" I scratched my head. "Well, sometimes a person in my world will take a child away from their parents and hide them away." His eyes widened, "Why would someone take a kid away from their parents?" I shrug, "All kinds of reasons. Blackmail, extortion, revenge, sometimes they're really crazy and just did because they felt like it. Though most of the time it's a little girl missing, so it's either for rape or ransom…though they usually kill the kid once they've got the money. Unfortunately, few kidnapping cases are ever solved. " Peirce still looked alarmed. I gave him a wry smile. "Not everyone in my world is good. But then, not everyone is bad. It's my job to tell the difference." A ding echoed through the café, followed by our order being shouted out. Peirce shot up. "I'll get it!" he scurried off to the counter. I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. With how hectic things have been today, I was pretty tired. I was just going to rest my eyes a little. Course, nothing seems to be going my way today.

The voice of that hated man echoed behind me. "This is the first time I just can't deal with someone." My eyes shot open. I leaned a bit out of my booth. Sure enough, Blood and Elliot were seated at a table near the kitchen door. As long as I didn't make it obvious, they wouldn't even know I was there. Ug. I just can't catch a break today. Seriously, three run-ins with the same guy in one day? Was he stalking me?

Elliot nodded in understanding, "I see what you mean. She's different than any other woman in Wonderland. And she's really different than Alice." Blood covered his black eye, "Different? That freak is on a whole other par from Alice! She's crazy, cocky, violent, sarcastic, isn't intimidated by anything, AND she's got one hell of a good punch." He put his chin in his hand, "I just can't deal with her. Maybe I should just kill her." Elliot panicked, "You can't! If you kill her, you'll make an enemy of Alice! And that puts all of Wonderland against you! Plus I don't think she'd be very easy to knock off." Blood took his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair, "Then what am I supposed to do?"

Elliot thought on that for a moment. "Just avoid her. I'm sure she won't go looking for trouble unless you give her reason to." Blood gave him a stare. Elliot waved his hands in front of his face. "Look, everyone has to meet their match someday. She's yours." Blood cocked an eyebrow, "Match?" Elliot nodded, "Yeah. The one person that they despise more than anything, but they can't do anything about it. You two obviously hate each other, but neither of you can do something about it." Blood's head slumped down to the tabletop, "Match…that little psycho is a match for a dragon."

I twitched. Talking about me behind my back and plotting to have me hushed? He called himself a man? Then Peirce came back, "C.J! I got the coffee!" I almost jumped out of my skin. Blood and Elliot's heads spun to my booth. Well, no point in hiding now.

I sat up and smiled at Peirce, "Thanks Peirce! I appreciate this. I've been feeling kinda tired lately." Both of the mafia men's eyes widened as they realized I was present. Peirce cocked his head, oblivious to the men staring at us. "Really? Have you been sleeping well?" I decided to just ignore the two. "Well…yeah actually. I've slept really well since I got here. It's just that today's been a long day." Peirce nodded, "Oh right. What with Blood and all. Were YOU the one who bruised his eye?" I nodded, "And split his lip. Jerk disserved it. He stood right in front of me, his men, and Boris and called Alice a hoe. And she didn't do a damned thing to him!" I took a sip of the ice cold coffee. It was very heavy with cream and fudge, with not all that much coffee and had chocolate chips mixed in. It was awesome. I started to chug it.

I set it down when it was empty, licked my lips, and rubbed my temples to dissipate the brain freeze. "Ow. O.K that was a bad move." Peirce laughed. "Wow. That went down fast! Do you want another one?" I nodded. This time, I would NOT chug it all. He got up laughing and went back to the counter. I leaned back. It had been a long time since I'd gone to a coffee shop JUST to chill. Back home, I mostly ordered their strongest, most sugary thing and sat in the back with my laptop, trying to narrow down a list of suspects. This was nice. Aside from one thing.

"Do you think she heard us?" I turned around to face them. It wasn't my style to keep people in the dark. "Yuppers. And Blood, the feelings are mutual. Now, how 'bout we both just chill out and have a cup of coffee. I'm not in the mood for a fight right now." They both looked startled. Peirce came back. His eyes locked onto the mafia men's and widened. Mouse ears leaning back, he turned to me, "Umm…do you want to leave?" I waved my hand, "No. I don't think we'll have a problem now, right Bloody? Why don't you two come over here, we can all have a nice chat." I motioned for Peirce to sit down next to me. He followed promptly. I motioned for the other two to sit down opposite of us as I took my coffee from Peirce. Blood and Elliot exchanged a wary glance. Blood made the move of sitting down opposite of me. Elliot sat next to him.

I took a gulp of my coffee and grinned, "So, you two like the coffee here to?" Awkward silence. Elliot rose to my question, "Yes, it's the only coffee in town worth drinking." I grinned, "I can tell. He said this was their least popular, but I think it's awesome!" All the men's eye's locked onto mine. Blood spoke up, "You actually LIKE that mound of sugar and milk?" My grin widened even more. "Yup! That's exactly what my old boss told me! He was always saying 'Thourn, you work way too much if you actually think those heart attacks in cups are actually good'. Everyone on the force back home teased me about the food I like. Like how for my birthday, they gave me a stuffed pumpkin." I stuck my tongue out at the last comment. Peirce laughed and Elliot actually cracked a smile. Blood, however, stared at me with eyes like glass. It was like he was trying to see through me. I took another gulp of my coffee, not happening dude.

I looked into my cup and saw that there was half left. I decided that it was late and that I should get back to the tower soon. I chugged the last half a. The brain freeze wasn't that bad this time. I smiled at the mafia men. "Well, I surprisingly enjoyed your company. Maybe we can all do this again sometime. That is, if Blood decides I'm not a complete psycho. But it's getting late and I should probably get back to the tower." Peirce scrambled up out of the booth to allow me exit. I turned back to the rabbit man and his boss and waved a farewell, smiling. "Adios." I spun on my heels and strode out the door, Peirce following and the bell jingling behind us.

P.O.V Change: Elliot's

I watched as the bizarre foreigner trotted out of the shop with the dorm mouse in tow. I found the combination of the cowardly mouse and the cocky girl as an odd friendship, but then again, I suppose her overconfidence balanced out his inferiority complex. And I must say I was impressed with the way she handled the situation with Alice, Goland, and here. Blood tended to be a difficult person to deal with, but she handled it like she'd met hundreds of people like him. But then, she probably had.

I glanced at Blood. His expression was nearly blank. Nearly. "How? How can she just shrug me off like that? How can she bare to sit in the same booth with me after having clashed with me all day?" I started to get nervous, "Umm…it seemed to me like she's dealt with a similar situation before. So that's probably it."Blood nodded slowly. "Yes. That's probably it." He looked down to his coffee. I noticed the smirk on his face. "I must say, she is an interesting little lady."

Normal P.O.V

I trotted through town, feeling peppy. I thought that had gone well. You know, considering how the rest of today had gone. Peirce caught up to me. "C.J! That was…you…." Then I realized he was hyperventilating. "Oh crap! Peirce, sit down and breathe!" We both sat down on a nearby bench and took a breather. Peirce managed to catch his breath. "That was so s-s-sc-scary!" I was stunned a bit by his sudden freak attack. Then I remembered how he had plowed into me at first sight because he'd been scared of Goland. That's right, he is a mouse. I shouldn't be surprised he was scared.

He looked up at me, teary eyed. "I can't believe you did that! Weren't you scared?" I scratched my head, "Well, not really…." He hung his head. "You're really brave C.J. Not at all like me. I'm a complete coward." I gave him a wide eyed look. Since when was Peirce so down on himself? I sighed, "No, you're not. You're actually pretty brave. I couldn't even tell were scared!" he looked up at me again, "Really? Dee, Dum and Boris are always saying that I'm stupid and weak." My eyebrows shot up. "You mean the twins and Boris pick on you? The twins? Your taller than them, why do let them call you stuff like that?" He sweat dropped, "There are 2 of them, and they usually have that mean cat with them." Cats and mice….

"Peirce, you shouldn't let them put you down like that. You know, I was bullied when I was little." He looked at me, genuinely shocked. "YOU were bullied? Didn't you just whack them like you did Blood?" I shrugged, "Viciously. Like I said, I was little. I was too weak and, yeah, I was scared. But I grew up. I got smart and stopped caring about what others thought. That's what's made me strong, and anyone could do it." He looked up at me, a look of hope filling his eyes. "Even me?"' I nodded, "Yes, even you." Then sheer happiness in his face was immeasurable. Is he bi-polar or something?

Peirce's deep green eyes widened, "Oh, I still have to get you back to the tower!" Without letting me say anything, he grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bench and out of the town, towards the tower. I laughed and picked up my pace. Soon, Peirce and I were nearly racing. O.K, so he can be a little annoying. But Peirce Villers was now my second best friends I'd ever had.

THE COCKY C.J AND THE COWARDLY MOUSE PEIRCE ARE NOW GOOD FRIENDS? WHERE WILL THE STORY GO NOW? I HOPE YOU'LL BOTHER TO FIND OUT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED! PLEASE VOTE ON MY PROFILE FOR WHO YOU WANT C.J TO END UP WITH! OR I'LL EITHER SEND HER HOME OR STICK HER WITH BLACK!