Again, this was a little delayed due to certain unforseen circumstances. Such as more online comics to be read! ^.^

Also, I'm really sorry for the really bad first part. I had this idea in my head which was still there while I wrote the last chapter to go into this one. Then I realised, character-wise, it wouldn't work so I had to abruptly end Gilbert's part in this...

I'm really sorry for the no doubt awful bit afterwards. Hopefully the next chapter will get a bit more exciting and a little less confusing...

Alice knocked on the door to the guest chambers before entering. She almost left as soon as she had because of the scene she was currently a witness to.

In Alfred's chambers, instead of a normal room, she was bearing witness to a fairy tale. There were frills and sparkling gems on everything. Pictures of unicorns and fairies adorned the walls. A tiara was sitting on a table in front of a tray of tea. A piece of folded paper was beside it.

Seeing no-one around, she sighed and approached the table. Picking up the note, she flipped it open to read what was inside.

"My dearest Alice – please forgive me. But I am going to totally save you so don't worry! Al."

Alice spun round before Kiku and Matthew could capture her. She looked at them blankly. They looked alarmed and lowered the hood and rope.

"Is he really trying to win me over by kidnapping me so he can save me?" Alice asked them.

"Well…" said Matthew.

"Aw, Alice!" came Alfred's loud voice from the next room. The door burst open and he hurried out, looking upset. "You were supposed to be the princess and I was gonna be the prince so I could save you!"

Alice glared at him. "How the hell is this supposed to win you into my favour?"

Alfred shrugged. "Worth a try. I mean, he has the flowers covered…" Alfred nodded behind her and Alice turned again, only to be face with a wall of white roses.

"What the-?!" Alice began before stopping herself as she saw Francis poking his head round to look at her. Smiling, he tried to hand the massive bouquet to her but she shook her head and took a step back. "Look-" she began again before being interrupted.

"AHAHAHA! If flowers worked, she'd already be yours, right?" exclaimed Alfred loudly, in Alice's ear. This made her jump and scowl.

"Well, Alfred, your façade is a definite way to make 'er 'ate you more, non?" Francis smirked at him.

Alice sighed and began to sidle away. She got halfway to the door when her way was blocked by Kiku and Matthew.

"Gomennasai, Alice-sama," said Kiku, bowing apologetically. "Our Master has commanded that we do not let you out of the room…"

The maid was about to make a retort when there was a soft knock on the door and it opened. Behind Alice, neither Francis nor Alfred paid any heed to this. However, Matthew turned and, seeing it was Gilbert, looked between him, Alice and Kiku worriedly.

Alice, meanwhile, smirked at the sight of Gilbert, knowing what was going to happen next. Gilbert glared back. Alice raised an eyebrow. Gilbert turned red and moved forward. Squeezing past Kiku and Matthew, Gilbert stood in front of Alice, his eyes down. He held out a single red rose.

"This is for you…" he said, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Kesesese…"

Alice beamed at him. "Thank you, Gilbert!" she exclaimed, loudly. "Why, I will graciously accept this token." She took the rose.

The four servants could almost hear Francis and Alfred freeze before slowly turning to them. They could almost see their jealousy, Gilbert trying to shrink down to an unnoticeable size.

Suddenly they were at either side of Alice, ready to protect her from this newcomer, both of them glaring at Gilbert. "Gilbert," said Francis, his tone one of hurt and confusion. "What exactly are you doing, cher?"

"Vell…" Gilbert glanced at Alice who made a 'get on with it' gesture. "If-If you two can fight over a girl then ve can fight over her, too, ja?" he finally said, sounding as though he had learned a script.

"You like Alice?" said Alfred, looking none too happy.

"Uh…" Gilbert glanced at Alice who gave a slight nod. "Ja?"

There was a short silence. Alice opened her mouth to speak but the next words weren't hers.

"Gilbert…" said Francis, quietly, looking sad. "This is going to be a problem…"

"Ah," said Gilbert.

Silence once again descended. This time, though, Alice was quick enough to open her mouth first. "Now that we have your attention, may I be permitted to speak?" She raised her eyebrow at Francis.

He nodded, still rather dazed. "Oui! Of course, cher!"

"Right, well, first of all, Gilbert was just helping me get your attention. Which he did superbly, of course." She smirked at him.

"Fick dich," muttered Gilbert, turning and leaving the room in a mood.

"Secondly, would you please just cut this out?! Stop this nonsense about winning me over. Neither of you can do that! And especially not if you ignore what I have to say! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some actual work to do." And with that, Alice also turned and left the room, also in a bit of a mood…

Later, at dusk, Alfred and Francis were seated at the dining table. Kiku and Matthew were attending to Alfred's whims while Alice and Antonio were doing the same for Francis.

"I like your dining room, Francis," said Alfred with a grin. "Though, your choice in decoration is just weird!" He gazed around the room. There was a deer's head above each door, with a massive stag's head above the fireplace, where the head of the table was situated. There were also a few peaceful, serene, country landscapes hung on the wall between mirrors and a set of swords.

Francis pulled a face and laughed. "Oui! Zis place was only recently bought by my parents. We have yet to redecorate."

Alfred nodded. "I think you should do it soon."

They both laughed. Behind Francis, Alice held back a sigh. They had been acting friendly since her outburst, laughing and trying to get along. They were obviously trying to make her think that they weren't competing any more. Not that Alice much cared – she had just been annoyed that they had ignored her when she had tried to speak to them. They were also not fooling any of the people surrounding them.

The candles flickered. Alice glanced at them and then at the windows. All of them were shut, intent on shutting out the cold. Her eyes narrowed. No-one had come in or out that she had seen. Glancing at the others, making sure they were preoccupied, she began to sidle round to the side of the table closest to the swords…

The candles went out. "What on-?" began Francis. Alfred nervously laughed. There was a short silence.

"Th-This isn't cool, dude!" said Alfred, his voice trembling slightly. "G-Ghosts aren't f-funny…"

There was silence for a second but, before anyone could reply, a rattling sound was heard followed by a clang. After a short pause, there was more clanging from the middle of the table, something rattling every so often. Then there was the noise of a match flaring as Antonio finally got a match to strike. He lit a candelabrum and held it up so those present could see.

Standing on the table were two figures. Each one of them was holding a sword and was standing in a defensive stance. They didn't move as Antonio moved around the room, lighting other candles, brightening the room.

Soon, everyone could see the man standing on the table. He was shroud in black, cloth covering his face so that only his eyes were visible. His long black hair was visible at his back, poking out from under the cloth, tied in a ponytail.

The other figure was Alice who was glaring at the man, one hand holding her skirts up slightly so that she could move better. This also revealed her ankles, which Francis took note of and found them rather attractive. However, he pushed this thought to the back of his mind for later contemplation so as to focus on the bigger issue.

"What is going on, cher?" he asked, addressing Alice.

Without moving or even turning her head slightly, Alice replied. "This is Yao Wang. He's an assassin."

"An assassin?!" exclaimed Alfred. "What the hell, dude?! Who's he trying to assassinate?"

"Apparently, you and Francis," said Alice.

There was a short silence. Then: "Dude! Not cool! Why would he want to assassinate us?!"

"Because I asked him to, da?" said a cheery sounding voice from the door. Yao relaxed and lowered his sword and Alice turned round.

"Ivan Braginski," said Alice, looking at the newcomer. The tall man had very light, silvery-blonde hair and was wrapped up in a coat and scarf. He was smiling benignly, as if he had been expected.

"Monsieur Braginski? May I ask what you are doing here?" asked Francis.

"Da," said Ivan as Yao leapt off the table and went to Ivan's side. There was a silence as he smiled at them all while Alice made her way carefully off the table. Francis glanced at her, hoping for an explanation and noticed her skirts up around her knees as she stepped carefully onto a chair. His heart skipped a beat and he had to almost force himself to behave…

Once she was on the floor, Alice dropped her skirts and shook them out before looking up at the silent group. She sighed. "Mr Braginski is Yao's master. And also one of my suitors."

"One of your suitors?!" exclaimed Alfred. "What are you talking about?! You were engaged to me before you came here!"

"Didn't stop me having suitors," said Alice with a shrug. "In particular, Mr Braginski is after any money or land I may or may not get when my parents die. At least, at the time he asked me. Now that my family is re-accumulating our wealth, I expect that I've become desirable again."

"Da," said Ivan. "I am here to see you, Alice. And ask you a question."

Alice sighed. "It's not the same one as before, is it?"

"Da!" said Ivan, smiling broadly. "And if there are other people vying for your attention, I can, how you say, 'get rid' of them, da?"

Alice shook her head. "I wish you'd stop making presumptions. You can't kill people as you please here. And you most certainly won't win my affections by doing so, anyway."

Ivan kept smiling. "I have not asked the question yet, baryshnya."

"I don't want to hear it."

He grinned and asked it, anyway. "Become one with me, da?"

Alice turned red and glared at him. "I've already told you-"

"- that you are betrothed. But that was called off a few months ago, da?"

Alice paled. She had chosen to use that as her excuse to make him back off. In fact, only her refusal to tell him who her fiancé while Alfred was stuck in New York had saved him from being targeted by Yao.

A sudden, loud laugh distracted them. "AHAHA! Alice is popular!" said Alfred, unaware of the tension. "I'm going to have to fight harder to keep her!"

"Keep-?" Alice began.

"Oui," said Francis, rising from his seat. "Except zat I will not allow you to stop me in mon amour."

Alice turned red again. "W-Wait a min-"

"Da… I will not let my hard work go to waste," said Ivan, still smiling and moving forward.

"What hard wo-"

"Well, then, gentlemen," said Francis, reaching out his hand to Alfred who took it and shook it. "Let zis mark ze agreement to play fair in zis fight, oui?" He shook Ivan's hand as well.

"What fight?! Look, would you three-"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Alfred. "Fight on!"

"Da…" said Ivan, quietly, still smiling.

"Hang on-"

"Zen it is settled. Now, how about a game of cards gentlemen? Zis way if you would like…"

"Hey-!" said Alice before giving up. She watched the men file out, leaving her standing in the dining room to clear up. She sighed and began to gather up the plates. "When he made me his personal maid, I should have asked for a pay rise…"

Like I said, sorry.

Also, I have no idea how to type a Russian accent. Sorry.

And I'm using the phonetic spellings for the Japanese and Russian words cause this is in English so I don't understand why kanji/katana/a Russian alphabet. Sorry if you'd rather have it the other way. Hopefully you know what the words mean, though.

Also, I'm saying sorry a lot and I apologise for that, too... O.o

So, I'll just leave this with you guys while I watch FrUK videos/read comics/generate more fan fic ideas.

And: Je ne peux m'empêcher de s'excuser. Désolé.