The morning always started the same for Kiana. There was an unfamiliar warmth surrounding her body as she slept, snuggling into the other figure that held her tightly but comfortingly. Morning was always the same in this case whether it was actually morning or not. She normally woke up sometime when the sun was shining, whenever that happened to be in the crazy wonder land. Slowly her eyelids began parting, showing her the bright- She blinked, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness she had not expected. It was still nighttime? She shook her head, there was no way that it was still night.

Leaving the comfort of the bed she lay in, she went to the window and opened the thick curtains. Wait… This wasn't where she was when she fell asleep. Her head whipped around to see who exactly was in the bed she had been so cozy with just moments ago. In place of the brown haired red eyed knight who always got lost was the black haired blue eyed Mafioso, who she could have sworn hated her. Her mouth hung agape, eyes widened, watching as the said Mafioso stirred with a soft murmuring. Of everything that was wrong with this scene he was worried about it being too bright? The curtain fell from her hand, looking for something suitable for pants and leaving.

"Something's not right, I know it." She was now just outside of the hatter's mansion, crouching down and rolling up the pair of pants she had taken from Blood. Naturally they were too big for her, she was lucky enough to have found a belt to even keep them on. Her mind started wandering. Where could she go? Where was Ace? "Brilliant!" She ran off in the direction of the heart castle as fast as her feet would carry her. The entire time she was murmuring 'please let him be there'. The little games of cat and mouse Ace had played with her when she was a maid paid off, she arrived a lot quicker than she had expected.

Once inside, she felt a pair of arms tightly grasp her within their grip. She gasped, about to relax before noticing it was Peter who had jumped on her. "W-What the?! Peter! Get off!" Small hearts floated above his head, snuggling into her frame. "My love! You have returned to me~ *" She felt she could have never been more confused in her life. His love? What in the name of Nightmare was he spewing out of his mouth?! "Excuse me? I just came here to see Ace!" A rather menacing look gleamed in the rabbit's red hues. "Oh? Then I'll just have to kill him so you won't think about him ever again!"

Her brow twitched, smacking him on the head. "Don't you dare!" she hissed. His ears drooped, rubbing the bump that had formed from impact. Already out of breath, very confused and slightly exhausted, she huffed, pressing her hands to her hips. "All… I want to do… is see Ace…" He held onto her, leading her to a chair before barking at one of the maids to bring over a glass of water. Seconds after it was delivered the contents were gone. "Just take me to see Ace, please?" There was almost a pathetic look in her eyes as she begged him. He agreed; although he loudly commented on how he would rather her spend time with him.

"Ace!" She felt her heart rate pick up, rushing to the door, now standing beside Peter as he emerged from his room.

Ba-bump.**

He… "Yeah, what's up Peter? Oh, if it isn't the little kitten~" Peter's brows furrowed. "Don't call her that! Don't even address her! You don't even deserve to talk to my love, but for some reason she's insisting…" She swallowed, staring at the figure with disbelief. The Ace she saw standing before her had blonde hair and stunning emerald eyes. This wasn't… No. She turned on her heel and bolted out of the castle, not caring where she might end up. "Look what you did! You chased her away!" Those were the last bits she heard before she could no longer hear them. Her heart was racing, beating so loudly it echoed violently in her ears.

Was… anything normal? First she woke up in hatter's mansion, in Blood's bed, then Peter apparently loved her, now Ace looks nothing like himself? What about Dee and Dum? What about Boris? What about Alice…? Alice, the clock tower- Nightmare! Quickly examining her surroundings, she turned and started off in that direction. If anyone knew anything it was bound to be Nightmare! She panted, tears stinging her eyes as she ran as fast as she could. He had to know something, right? He'd know how to fix it, too… Right?

There was a soft stirring under the sheets. Ace's room had never looked so messy before. He was hardly ever in it, which explained its slight neatness. The light blue dress poked out from the half-closed closet, his own clothes lay scattered along the floor, and part of the blankets were coming off the bed. Ace stretched his arms out, eyes slowly opening. He had a long nice sleep and was refreshed for the morning. He was so relaxed and happy, although his way of showing it was different than others, that he didn't mind doing whatever Vivaldi had prepared to ask of him.

That was because of- He blinked, looking at the empty space before him. Where had his little kitten gone? He pulled the blankets off of himself, heading out of his room to look for her. He walked into the kitchen and frowned. "Not here." He wandered around the castle, soon entering every door he passed until he found Alice, getting ready to leave. "Alice, have you seen Kiki~?" Alice's eyes widened, blinking. "I thought she was with you." A somewhat series expression crossed over the brunette's face, replacing it with his usual smile. "No. I woke up and she wasn't there."

"What? Where could she have gone?" Alice half-dreaded the look that once more replaced the usual expression Ace held. It was a serious almost sinister look. Before she could suggest anything, he was off looking for the ravenette. She left the comfort of the room and went looking for any of the nearby role holders. "Vivaldi, have you seen Kiki?" The queen shook her head, asking what was wrong. "I'll explain as soon as I find out." She, too, was now on her way around Heartland, trying to find where Kiana was or if anyone knew. The two somehow ended up at the clock tower, Ace looking rather menacing.

"Nightmare, do you know where Kiki is?" He blinked, looking towards the knight. A small smirk played on his lips. "Did you lose her already?" Alice got in between the two before anything happened. "Now isn't the time to fight. You know of everything that happens here; do you know where she is?" The incubus shrugged his shoulders, sipping the tea that Gray had prepared for him. "I'm not quite sure, she just kind of… disappeared." Both stared at him, not believing what he was saying. "What do you mean, just 'disappeared'?" Ace questioned the dream demon, a rather displeased look on his face.

"It's exactly as it sounds. One moment she was in bed with you, the next she was gone." His expression continued to grow sour, soon turning and heading to leave. "Wait, isn't there anything you can do about it? There must be something, right? Can't we figure out something we can do to get her back? She couldn't have gone home… So she must still be connected to here?" Her eyes darted from the knight, who had momentarily stopped, to the dream demon. He shrugged his shoulders, looking at her with his good eye. "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not entirely sure."

Kiana panted as she finally arrived at the clock tower. Her eyes stared at the stairway she now had to climb. "Great." If she ever thought she wasn't exercising enough, she was sure making up for it today. This place wasn't as easy to get around as it seemed. There was quite a distance from the mansion to the castle and from the castle to the tower. She was also running the entire time. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. She didn't even notice the aches and pains pulsating through her body. She was too focused, far too focused to care about such a silly thing. "Just… a little… bit more…"

She forcefully made her way through the opening, panting as she stood in the doorway. "Night-mare?" Her eyes widened and jaw dropped slightly at the silver haired figure before her. That wasn't Nightmare, was it? "Hm?" came the feminine response. She could feel her hair standing on edge. Nightmare was a girl?! This definitely wasn't her world… "Where's Alice?" She questioned, hoping to get a response. The female dream demon blinked, looking at her as though she had gone mad. "Who?" Her eyes widened. "You know… the other foreigner…?" Nightmare shook her head, sipping the tea in her hand. "You are the only foreigner here, Kiana."

"That… can't be…" She took a step back, running straight out and back down the staircase. Nothing was normal in this place. Where had she gone too? She wasn't dreaming, was she? After exiting the clock tower, she pinched herself. "Ow…" No, she wasn't dreaming. Where could she go? If three territories were weird and different, there was no point in seeing if the amusement park was any different. She somehow ended up in the middle of the woods, collapsing as her body finally gave in on her. In all the time of her running, there was at least three time changes. Now it was night time. "Great," she muttered with a soft laugh. She was stuck there. She could barely even get her hands to move.

The longer she struggled to stay awake, the more her body went against her. Finally she could no longer keep her eyes open, passing out almost immediately after they closed. A figure loomed not far off, growing closer and closer to the sleeping beauty.

"Ugh," groaned from underneath the blankets. Kiana opened her eyes in the pitch dark. Was she dead? If she was dead then why was she in so much pain? It was hard to even breathe… There was a soft relaxing noise of 'shh'ing. Normally she disliked it when people did this, but it was at the right tone and pitch to be quite relaxing. Her eyelids started drooping again. Shouldn't I at least see who it is? See if everything is back to normal? She lifted her head ever so slightly upwards, pulling the blankets down. From the angle she could tell it wasn't Ace's bed… Her face paled at the sight before her.

"Oh? You're up, good morning, dear."

Author's Note;

I apologize for not being able to separate as I have begun doing in the recent chapters. My current predicament is that I may not have internet at home until November or possibly later. This is why I separated the varying parts with a '~' as you have seen demonstrated in this chapter. I'm currently stuck on mobile, but, I am still able to upload to an extent. Lucky me! I suppose.

Also, thank you for your reviews, follows, and favorites. uwu It does mean a lot to me, it really does! I wanted to say that thanks to my bit of absence, I have a few chapters written. I'll most likely post another one or two before I get internet back. (I only have three more written and working on a forth at the moment, so I'm allowed some slack, right?)

I know this chapter seems a little… weird. Plot bunny-san sparked up out of no where. Thanks to austriantatious and LifeOfA-FallingStar for the bit of help working through said plot bunny. (This chapter is about how much they knew, so don't feel bad.)

LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE IS LONG I'M SORRY.

I just wanted to finish with; if you want to add any little bit into anything, go right ahead. (Suggestions for an event, drabble idea, etc.) Events don't have to be thoroughly explained to work out, either. Drabbles can go either way, suggestion for the long run or a little extra I add in. (Like when I'm writing a chapter and someone suggests a drabble for… let's say the ending of Alice and Elliot's date; I'll write out a ltitle bit for them. :3 ALSO IF YOU WANT IT TO BE A DRABBLE PLEASE BE SPECIFIC. If you give me 'date' it'll turn into the size of the usual chapter's I post. Unless that's what you want, but otherwise… Also, keep it related to the characters in the story. Like don't ask for a Blood and Kiki cutesy scene or Alice to kiss Julius. I can make a separate story for a compilation of one-shots, but that would only be if enough people liked the idea.)

* It's supposed to be a heart, if it doesn't appear u_u;;;;;;;

** what I personally think of when I hear dramatic heart beat effects. :3

Preview for upcoming chapters;

(This is generally in order, but not quite specific. I ill not be reusing previews in future previews. So, nyeah. XP No hints!)

"That isn't true!" she growled at the bodiless creature.

"Believe what you want~"

She instinctively would have gone to Nightmare, but she had a feeling that something connected the damn dream demon to it. Both of them.

"Why don't I want to kill you? I can't stand you, yet… I want you close to me. This doesn't make any sense!"

Blood was being as helpful as ever, refusing to join the search.

It reminded her of before anyone realized there was another outsider. I kind of miss those days- Her eyes widened.

"Oh? So if I kill him in this world, will he die in that world?"

Ace smiled, holding onto his sword with deathly intent.

He saw something that not even she was willing to fully admit to herself. Strong emotions that were impossible to hide.

She nodded, resting her head in his lap. He smiled, gently stroking her hair.

"My, my, what're you doing wandering off on your own?" The voice sent chills down her spine, shivering in the unknown figures grip.

Before even a thought of making noise could occur, he had her pinned underneath him.

Her lips brushed against his in her confused and emotional state.