Much to the surprise of Polnareff and Alice, the others knew about Avdol being alive! Some time passed after that before they drew close to their final destination. Within the mansion, she, polnareff, and Avdol were traveling through the darkened pathways when they were suddenly blindsided by a stand! In a last ditch effort, Avdol knocked both Alice and Polnareff out of the way as the stand attacked. Alice hit the wall roughly, and the bruising on her ribs became severly agitated now as she was unable to breath for a good minute and her legs gave out from under her as she slid to her knees. Upon seeing the hands on the floor, panic struck her and when the stand revealed itself and what had gone down, her panic was replaced with rage. The stand disappeared a moment, leaving them in the dimly lit room and Alice struggled to get to her feet as Polnareff outwardly expressed his anguish to Avdol sacrificing himself to save them. Upon him ducking down, a chunk of the wall behind him was suddenly gone, as if something had consumed it. The adrenaline in Alice kicked in, mixing with her rage and suddenly she was on her feet and rushing to Polnareff. They both took off running to evade the stand as it charged after them, striking closer and closer as both ran. They kept running until the exit was ahead of them and when Polnareff suggested they stay and fight, Alice only said with a cocky grin, "As if I'd think otherwise!". They turned and instead raced up the stairs, unknowingly avoiding being attacked head on by the stand. They both stopped at the top floor, seeing a hole in the floor with an eerie, purple smoke trailing out it and around the room. Alice tried to ignore the intense pain from her bruised ribs as she took her stance behind Polnareff as he said for her to watch his back. Both of them drew out their stands as Polnareff shouted out for the shadow-stand to come out and face them head on. If it were not for the fact they were in an intense battle, Alice would of struck him for pulling such a stupid move. However, Polnareff jerked back suddenly and cried out and Alice dodged as not to be crushed by him when she saw his toes on his left foot were GONE, taken off by the shadow-stand! Letting out a snarl as her stand rushed to strike it in retaliation, the shadow-stand dodged hers with ease and evaded Silver Chariot as well! Polnareff had his stand strike hap-hazardly, weither from rage or to make a good distraction, as Alice had her stand strike the shadow-stand from behind. However, the stand user emerged from the stand's mouth and snatched her up by the throat and throw her to the floor out of irritation. She rag-dolled a bit, her stand disappearing as she came to a stop in the middle of the room. She could only look up and struggle to breath as she had stars in her vision. She had agitated her now severely bruised ribs and could not move in the least other then to struggle to breath. Her sweatshirt/shirt was hiked up from her body coming to a skidding hault, revealing the severely agitated bruises on her abdomen/her lower ribs. The stand user, known as Cool Ice, got out of the mouth of his stand and walked over to her as he said, "So you are the beast stand user, eh? A woman?". Alice choked out, still trying to get her breath back, "S-So. . . . you're. . . . . . the . . . . shadow. . . . stand. . . .user. . . . eh? . . . .a. . . . coward. . . . of. . . . .a . . . .man?. . . .heh. . . . Typical". Now enrage, Cool Ice kicked her hard enough in the ribs to send her flying into the wall. Alice hit the wall and blacked out for a moment, only to come to as her gut was kicked once more. Cool Ice was enraged that this lowly woman DARE call him a coward! Through the pain, she gritted her teeth in a snarl of a smirk, as if to continue to mock him. "You! Dare! Smirk! At! Me! You! Defiant! Lowly! Bitch! I! Am! No! Coward!", Cool Ice said each word as he continued to kick her over and over. However, Alice's smirk of defiance didn't waiver, even when she started to cough up blood. Polnareff struggled to his knees and pleaded for Cool Ice to stop over and over until he could take no more and sent out Silver Chariot to strike them down! Her vision was fading in and out, so she would only catch glimpses of the fight. She felt Silver Chariot pick her up and set her down on her back, close to Polnareff as the shadow-stand began to circle them. She kept her teeth bared as her bangs hid the pained-look in her eyes. She saw the panic on Polnareff's face, she felt the stand drawing closer and closer, but with her body as damaged as it was, she couldn't risk sustaining another injury. She lost consciousness for a moment, and a memory played in her mind:
"Bwig bwother, bwig bwother, lookie wat I fowund!", A young and peaceful Alice, no older then six, said as she ran with some strain to her big brother. The day was warm and sunny, with a soft breeze that played with her long, wild, flowing hair. She had a smudge of dirt on her knees and her cheek, but she smiled happily as she showed him the thing she had found. She had been playing near the river and spotted a big shiny, orange-yellow stone in it. On close inspection, she saw a strange sharp thing in it and she went to show her big brother. He looked it over, smiling as he did. He told it that it was amber, fossilized tree sap, and the shark thing in it was a claw. He spun a whole story on how it could of come about, "You see, when things get caught in tree sap and they cant get out, they become encased by it. As time progresses, the sap hardens until it's a rock. Some big, fericous saber tooth cat must of been clawing up a tree with quite a bit of sap and cracked off it's claw by mistake, leaving it in the sap!~". He looked so happy telling her the story and the silly, joyful energy he gave off as he told the story made her laugh. The story faded to black as she floated once more before the black mirror, looking at her wild stand. It didn't claw at the mirror and was as damaged as she was, but instead of blood on it's lips, there was a glowing, orange-yellow sap. She found herself reaching out touching the mirror as she pleaded, "Please. . . . .do not strike me. . . . . let me help you. . . . .". The stand didn't flinch as her hand phased through the mirror and wiped away the glowing, orange-yellow sap from the corner of it's lips. Her brother's words echoed suddenly as she removed her hand from the mirror. "They become encased by it. . . . .encased by it. . . . .encased. . . . . .enca-", before she snapped back to consciousness suddenly.
Her eyes snapped open just as the shadow-stand was about to engulf Polnareff and herself. Faster then either he or Cool Ice could process, Alice's Stand manifested, snatching Polnareff up as it quickly clung with one arm dug into the ceiling, the other was holding it's tail, wrapped tight around Polnareff so he was held close to it. Alice, herself, was encased in Amber and a large chunk of it was missing. "Alice. . . . why?. . . . you keep chastising me. . . .saying you will kill me if you have to help me get out of dangerous situations. . . .yet. . . . .you keep coming to my aid. . . . .and saving me? You hate me so, so why do you keep saving me?", Polnareff asked out of shock. Alice's voice came from her stand as cracks began to form in the amber, ". . . you. . . .really. . . . are. . . .stupid. . . . .if. . . .you. . . . don't. . . . .know". As the amber that encased her body shattered, her stand shattered and gave way as well. As he fell, he struck the shadow-stand user and snapped their neck before turning his attention to Alice, who lay seemingly still on the floor. His heart ached as he had thought she had died and the memories he had of her and of the group flashed in his mind. She was hot-headed, strong-willed, harsh, but that was all just a front, wasn't it? "Having those you cared about most be lost to you. . . . it turned you cold, didn't it? Though, not completely, since you would come to my aid just when I needed it. You said you hated me, the look in your eyes said it so, but. . . . . .your actions said otherwise.", Polnareff thought as tears came to his eyes as he looked upon her. Amongst the scattered pieces of amber, one piece caught his eye. It looked like a tear was encased in the fossilized amber and the thought had struck him, "No matter how many times she seemed to yell at him afterwards, she always looked like she had been crying. . . . .". Just as Cool Ice and his stand went to strike him, Silver Chariot manifested and Polnareff said in a bitter, cold tone, "I knew it. . . . Cool Ice, you bastard. . . . .", before Silver Chariot ruthlessly stabbed Cool Ice over and over before sending him flying into a wall! Polnareff turned to look at him now before cutting open a doorway and Cool Ice's arm shattered in the light. He finished him off by pushing Cool Ice into the sunlight, though, he did not feel victiorious. He looked back upon Alice with an ache in his heart before stopping. His eyes rested on the faint movement of her chest. She was breathing?! He scrambled over to her, still clutching the amber stone that held her tear and picked her up gently to hold her close. She was still breathing, faintly, of course, but he did not feel any broken bones. He tilted his head down and listened to her heartbeat beat weakly. Suddenly, it picked up quite rapidly and he was met with a weak hit to the face with a balled up fist. Alice weakly choked out, her fist dropping from his face and her eyes still closed as she said, "Idiot. . . . .you are. . .. . an idiot. . . . .Polnareff. . . .". Though when he looked at her, he saw a few tears coming from her eyes as she continued, "You claim. . . .Silver Chariot. . . .to be the fastest. . . . .yet it took. . . . .Amber Claw. . . . .pulling you. . . . out of the way?. . . . .you talk. . . .too big. . . . .of a game. . . .you stupid. . . . . .French man.". He seemed relieved a bit as he moved his head so he could look her in the eyes now, "I know and I am sorry, Alice. I promise you, from now on, I will be the one to protect YOU.". He moved her bangs so they weren't partially hiding her eyes and wiped the tears from her eyes gently, allowing her to see a soft-yet-determined look in his eyes. He saw the harsh look in her eyes that he had become accustomed to break away to a softer, more vulnerable one upon him doing that sweet, reassuring gesture.