The water activities eventually ended as the two outsiders grew tired. Gowland insisted that they stay there fore the night. Being too tired to argue, they agreed. Everyone, except for the twins, had their own room. They lie comfortably and most, if not all, were heading deeper and deeper into dream land. Kiana, in particular, was having a rather interesting dream... It didn't involve Nightmare and it seemed less like a dream and more like reality... It was odd, to say the least.

"Ne, Matty, we should do something!" The figure that stood in front of the male referred to as 'Matty' looked like a younger version of Kiana. Her hair ended at her shoulders exactly. She was even at least a foot shorter than her current self. A smile was plastered brightly on her young features. The black haired blue eyed male smiled. "Another nickname? But I do agree, we should do something." He ruffled her hair playfully.

"Matthew is so boring... What should we do?" Her cyan eyes looked longingly at him. Matthew picked up the smaller figure and held her close, smiling as she giggled happily. "We could play dress up? We could also be pirates. What about a tea party? I think mum's making some." Her eyes widened in thought of all the ideas he had just spat out. "What about we... dress up as pirates! We're British pirates, so to stop for tea is totally fine!" He couldn't help but smile wider as she quickly found the best combination of all suggested items.

"Alright, let's go see what we can put together, hm?"

There was a soft stirring in her bed as she dreamt. A soft whimpering was muffled in the back of her throat. It wasn't until a minute later did anyone worry about her. In the dead of her sleep, tears were sliding down her face, pained murmurs and whimpers. There was even a soft scream at one point. Her nails dug into her arms, the pain growing worse the deeper she went into this scene. She couldn't pull herself out of it no matter how hard she tried... It wasn't until a soft warm touch caught her attention.

Someone was holding her. Her heavy eyelids slowly opened. "A-Ace...?" The brunette smiled at her, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Shh, just go back to sleep~" From there everything turned back into a blur, only the soft presence of his lips grazing her skin to let her know he was still there. She didn't quite understand why it was so easy to fall back asleep... Then again, she didn't even know what caused her need to wake up in the first place. "Big... brother..." she breathed softly, nuzzling into whatever she lay on.

"Well, isn't this unusual?" It was obvious to tell from whom the voice had come. It was the dream demon, Nightmare. However, the other usual figure hadn't been quite so usual. In place of one now stood two figures. Alice and Kiana stared at Nightmare, not amused. "Why are we here?" The dream demon shrugged his shoulders, floating around as he usually did. "Who knows? I didn't decide to have a party and requested both of you for tea. Though it does seem something interesting will be happening very soon..."

Kiana crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you mean?" His smirk was inevitable as he floated upside down. "Oh, it's nothing." The blonde sighed. "If it's nothing, then why are we here?" His gray eye looked curiously at the two. Well, it was silly of him to think they would know what was going on while they slept~ He adjusted himself so stood up straight while he floated. "It seems Kiana had a rather interesting dream. So much so that the night of the heart castle had to awake you from it." They shared a glance.

"Ace was in my room?" "Still in," he corrected. "Then what are you just floating around for?! Wake me up!" Nightmare laughed at the fuming female. "I'm afraid it doesn't quite work that way. However it does appear that Alice is waking up." It was true. In the bedroom next to Kiana's, Alice was getting out of bed. Her brows furrowed angrily as she marched into the neighboring room. "Ace! What the hell are you doing in here?!" The brunette lifted his head lazily, staring at Alice with sleep ridden eyes. "Huh?" he half yawned in response.

"What're you talking about- oh, hello little kitten~" Her brow twitched at the dumb grin plastered on his face. "Get out!" Ace pouted. "I'm not doing anything wrong~ besides, she's the one cuddling me." Another sleepy head poked their head into the room, brow arched. "What's going on?" The two looked at Boris. "Ace won't get out of the room!" His ears lay flat back, a very not-amused look over his features. He then proceeded to pull the knight out of the bed, replacing where his figure once was with a pillow that lay nearby.

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving," Ace finally murmured after hitting the floor with a dull thud. She returned to her own room once Ace had left, Boris heading off to his own to polish his guns in the bit of downtime. It wasn't too long later until Kiana finally awoken. The previous day, or at least before she went to sleep, had been so exhausting from the long hours of swimming that she forgot about taking a shower. Which running her hands through her hair gave her a clear reminder. Luckily there had been a bathroom connected to each guest room. A nice warm twenty minute shower had her fully awake and feeling clean.

"I'll have to thank Alice," she hummed, noticing that Ace was definitely not there. She began pulling her clothes on and blinked towards the door. It didn't take her long to finish putting on her clothes, opening the door to see Alice leering at Peter. "My sweet! You're in for a royal treat~" She sighed with her arms crossed. Peter's antics had always been a little irritating, but now that she saw what he did outside of the castle, she didn't quite understand why she worked for him. "Ah! Kiki! You're finally awake!" Alice announced contently. Peter's sorrow showed through the drooping of his ears.

"Ahem, I am here on behalf of her majesty, queen Vivaldi," Peter explained in a dejected manner. He pulled out two cards and handed them to the appropriate person. Each was an invitation to this new ball that would be taking place. Alice sighed, knowing that her fate had been sealed when the ball was even rumored to take place. "I'll go," she responded. Kiana, on the other hand, was more reluctant. "No. I refuse~" The two stared at her with mild confusion. "No?" She shook her head. "No, I won't go." Ace snuck behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist with his head nestled against her shoulder. "Why not? You're not the faceless little maid anymore, so you can't just say no and not expect consequences~"

Her cheeks flushed with a soft pink, tugging and pulling at his arms. "Let go," she whimpered. "Someone's blushing~" "I am not!" Peter smacked him on the back of the head. "What're you doing slacking off, knight?! We're in preparation for a ball! We have one week to get everything prepared!" That was the last they saw of the two of them, disappearing off towards the Heart Castle.

"You two get back to the mansion," Elliot told Dee and Dum. The twins pouted, attempted to argue, but soon found themselves heading back to their duties. "Want me to take you back to the clock tower?" The ravenette shrugged, giving a small murmur of 'sure, why not'. Alice disagreed. "We need to get our clothes from the heart castle." He just smiled, ears perked up. "I'll escort you there then head back to the clock tower. I wouldn't want you to get stuck out here at nighttime, that's the worse time for the two of you to travel..." He wasn't being sexist, but rather concerned. It wasn't the people he worried about, since they didn't much take favorites.

It was the animals that wandered. Plus neither of them were armed, so it gave a higher chance of getting into trouble. If one of them had at least a knife, it wouldn't be so bad... "It'll probably be quick," Kiana spoke with a kitty face. "The last time the ball was held, Vivaldi rarely cared who came in and out so long as preparations were right and on time. Though I do want to take a bit to talk to her, if that's alright." They all agreed and headed off towards the heart castle. It was a fairly quiet walk for the ravenette, watching Alice and Elliot chatter the entire time. She seemed to really like him and she was happy for her. It must have been a nice feeling...

Her own thoughts wandered off onto Ace. How exactly did she feel about him...? She was usually the one doing the pushing, but did she honestly want him away from her? An unnoticed sigh escaped her lips, staring at the lightly clouded sky. "Kiki~" Alice cooed. She came from her little thought bubble and stared at the blonde. "Huh? Oh, we're here," she laughed nervously. "Sorry..." The trio made their way into castle and to where the laundry was kept. The clothes they had first arrived in a few days ago were neatly folded and piled separately from the maid's regular clothes.

"Alright! To Vivaldi~" They made their way quietly to where Vivaldi was, watching the hustle and bustle of the preparations being made. Not a single person was given any time to rest. It was no question as to why this was. The castle was always decorated as beautifully as it could be made to look for the single night occasion. It never failed to 'oh' and 'awe' the crowd. "I would like to speak with Vivaldi," Kiana said to one of the guards. "Your highness, the foreigner would like to speak with you..." Vivaldi waved her hand, allowing the group to come to her.

"Vivaldi," she started out sweetly. "I have a teeny tiny request." Her purple hues gazed to the dark haired foreigner. "What is it?" She smiled. "Well, I've never really liked the foreigner idea because I feel like I'm freeloading... So, I was wondering if I could work for you again? I don't really care what work you give me or the salary versus what work I'm doing... I would just feel better if I get to work and support myself again." Alice thought over what she was doing. If she too got a job, then she could help Julius a little more at the clock tower.

"Could I as well, Vivaldi?" The queen of hearts thought over their odd request with a smile. Her lips soon returned to the straight form they had been in moments ago. "We shall allow you to work here under one condition." They gave each other a glance before returning their gaze upon Vivaldi. "We have heard of your refusal to partake in our upcoming ball, therefore we offer that in exchange for being allowed to work here, you must come to it." Her eyes widened, not believing that she was hearing what she thought she was. To prove she was, she pinched herself. "Yup, I'm not dreaming. But, I..." "That is our offer."

She gave a defeated sigh. "Fine, I will go." Vivaldi allowed a smile to return. "Excellent! We will be expecting a dance with you during that time." They left, heading back to the clock tower with Kiana hanging her head the entire time. During their walk back Alice tried to cheer up the other. "It can't be so bad..." She leaned her head on her shoulder, sighing. "Maybe... but I need to work in order to get a dress... Plus I hate wearing dresses. This is a nightmare." Elliot's ear twitched the closer they got to the clock tower.

"Speaking of nightmares, I can hear him moaning and groaning from here." Kiana crossed her arms with a pout. "He's got the right attitude, unless... Gray's just preventing him from spying on everyone again, then he's hopeless..." They quietly stared upwards, a bead of sweat rolling down their faces. If the second choice was indeed the reason then he was hopeless. "Well, I've got to get back to work. I'll see you at the ball, okay?" Elliot spoke, smiling to Alice. She nodded and the duo made their way up the stairs. "Julius helped me with mine, maybe he can help you with yours?" Alice suggested. "I dunno, maybe. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask him," she replied with a shrug.

Author's Note;

Soo... What do you think will happen next?

I know~3

But anyway, the next chapter is long enough for me to consider it two chapters. I'm not going to put it up and if I can put it up before I lose internet, I most certainly will. (Like I said, I want to get another chapter written out.)

"Oh, so you're going to stay for A-" "I'm going to see if they need help in the kitchen!"

"Because you actually thought you looked good in the dress, didn't you?"

"W-well… since this is a ball and all, um… would you like to dance?" She smiled sweetly at him. "I would love to."

"You didn't need to force it on her!" he growled.

"I said go away!" she barked.

(Cut short to not reveal too much)"What if I'm willing to stay here…? To stay… with… you," her sobs over came her little huff.

"Goodnight, Kiki~ " he hummed, closing his eyes.

Things were looking nice...