Alice was born from the bowels of a dilapidated building with no memory of anything before and a gift that told her where she needed to be before she'd known anything at all. It was a gift, something that gave her the knowledge to protect herself and everyone she loved. But sometimes that gift was more of a curse. Sometimes it was something that taunted her, that told her of the outcome but laughed in her face and told her it was inevitable. Sometimes the future was set in stone no matter what she did.

These were the times she cursed her ability, after all what was the point of seeing the future if nothing you did made any difference, Jasper would have told her that there were some things you couldn't change and that wasn't her fault. He would have been there to hold her and tell her everything was okay.

But he wasn't her right now. Alice was alone, by herself in a completely different country and on the run from three nomadic vampires that had decided that hunting her for sport was the thing to do.

She was on the run with a gift that told her the ending was inevitable and already written.

This whole situation had meant to be a vacation solely for herself. She had never been alone since she had joined the Cullens and while she loved them with every fiber of her being the idea to travel by herself was one that grew with time. Untill she had decided with all her usual flair that she was taking a solo trip, she was going to let herself just be by herself for the first time in almost two hundred years.

This was going to be her moment and she was excited for it.

Bella had been encouraging, in that soft but firm way that she had about her, and gave her the push she needed to finally make this decision. Rosalie had been blunt and to the point, telling her she needed some time away for herself because she understood better than anyone the skin deep urge to go out into the world and run wild. Edward had given a wry smile and told her it was a long time coming and Emmett had given her a bone breaking hug and told her she'd better bring him back a souvenir. Carlisle had told her in that patient way of his that he understood while Esme had all but demanded that she help with the vacation planning and helped her set up a whole itinerary for the trip. Renesmee had demanded she come along and barring that, that she get the best souvenir.

Jasper, her other half and the one person that completed her soul, gave her that crooked grin of his, pressed a kiss to her temple and told her to have fun and not cause any chaos without him.

After so many years as part of the Cullen family constantly molding herself into what passed as a human and throwing away anything vampiric to blend in, it was liberating to just this once be herself without worry. She loved her life and she loved her family but to be able to just allow herself to exist as she was gave her a sense of freedom she hadn't realized she'd been craving.

Usually if she traveled Jasper came with her so to be by herself for the first time since she had woke up all those years ago was exciting.

That's why when she had settled on Thailand, trekking beneath the cloudy skies on the first leg of her journey, she was surprised when she was struck by a vision. In it she was approached by three vampires that had called this area their home.

There was a spindly woman, all long limbs and shock of red hair that would introduce herself first with body language that looked as relaxed as possible but was undoubtedly poised to move at a moments notice. Her companions followed after and seemed to defer to her judgment if the way a single gesture sent them circling around Alice in a way to box her in. One was a short and stocky vampire with a wild look in his red eyes and the other was a man nearly as built as Emmett was but with none of the humor. While it wasn't a bad vision Alice would much rather err on the side of caution.

With a change in her course she'd hoped that she would avoid their path yet as she ran her visions changed. They were following her and their introductions got progressively more violent.

She cursed the fact she was alone and her diet for the first time in a long time. Alice didn't regret her choice to forgo human blood but in situations like this she was slower and weaker than other vampires who followed the regular diet. She couldn't outrun them, she definitely couldn't fight them, the only thing she could do was stop and try to talk them out of hurting her.

It was a dumb idea but the best she had.

Alice burst through the thick foliage and came to a graceful stop, trying to position herself like she was relaxed and not worried at all. It was barely a second later that the three burst into the small clearing. Just as she had seen in her visions the woman took a confident step forward and took the lead. Her companions stayed dutifully to either side of her and Alice was grateful they hadn't attacked outright.

"Well hello there." The woman drawled, it was a husky thing that Alice was sure had drawn in many a human. "Fancy meeting you here luv, its not often we get visitors. Especially ones that don't introduce themselves"

Alice kept a sharp eye on the womans posture but did her best to flash them a completely unworried smile. "Hello to you was certainly a shock when I was running through here. I thought I was the only Vampire in the area."

"Not quite" She laughed. " We've been staying around these parts now for the better part of the month. The weather's perfect and there's enough food to last us the three of us. Between Jones, Carl and I this is the perfect place to put our roots for a long while."

"I can definitely see that its an ideal place to be, definitely a great choice."

"Most definitely." She smiled once more but there was no humor there. "I see your eyes, what's one of you animal drinkers doing in a place like this? That starved for a meal or two? I'm pretty sure I saw a monkey a while back if you're hungry."

"Ah no, I'm…just on vacation right now. Just traveling and exploring. I apologize for stepping on your territory, that wasn't my intention at all. If you'd like I can leave right away. I'm not here to cause problems"

"Now, now there's no need to be so hasty. It's a big enough area for all of us truly. Plus its so rare we see other of our kind, it would be nice to get to know you."

That was when the next vision hit with all the gentle strike of a sledgehammer to the saw the woman raising her hand to signal her two partners, the way they leapt across the distance to grab her so strong arms could tear at her limbs while the woman delivered the final blow. Alice mentally cursed and hoped she could do something to change what was happening.

'"It's more than okay, plus I need to get back to my coven. Its been lovely to meet you but I have get going now."

"Ah i think you misunderstood me, we insist you stay."

"And i insist i need to get going."

A sharp grin cut across her mouth once more and she nodded at one of the men who had begun circling her.

"I don't think you understand your position here, you won't be leaving. Like I said it's rare to see one of our kind and it's been so long since we had a good hunt. Especially an animal drinker."

Before the woman so much as moved Alice's body went into motion, blurring away and through the trees as she flung herself forward. Alice, as she was finding herself doing a lot, cursed her predicament and the fact she had ever decided to go out alone. But mostly she cursed the fact she was outnumbered three to one. Still she raced as fast as she could, sensing the tail more than she actually heard them

Her visions worked overtime as she ran, changing directions and paths as it told her which way would lead to capture and which way lead to the best chance of escape. Through thick bramble, darting around trees and into the forest that fell silent in the wake of four vampires, Alce picked paths at random. She would run in one direction only to seemingly change her mind and go off in another direction to the frustration of the woman.

A hand reached out, the woman on her tail, and fingers nearly grasped at her clothes only for Alice to stop abruptly letting the three vampires speed on ahead before they could break their momentum and darted back the way she came. The quiet of the jungle was filled with these moments, near misses where Alice moved with every fiber of her undead being.

She could hear the viscous snarls from behind her as she pushed herself further than she'd ever had before.

It was with a sinking gut that she started to realize she couldn't find a way out of this, that she couldn't see herself living through this in any of what she saw. No matter how much she pushed her visions she couldn't find a way out.

There's a moment when reality hits and a person comes to the realization that this is it. This is the end and nothing you do could change that fact. That was what happened to Alice, that sudden understanding that this was actually her last moments. She'd never thought about her last moments but she had always thought that when it came, she would face it with her head held high. She would smile and laugh and she would be the person she always was even in the face of death.

In reality, she was terrified. She was scared and all she could think of was being back home. There wouldn't be any more lazy sundays, no more bickering with Rosalie and being swung around by an excitable Emmet. She wouldn't ever get to see Renesmee grow up, wouldn't be able to spend those quiet moments with Carlisle and spontaneously start redecorating with Esme. She wouldn't get to harp on Bella about her lack of taste or play chess anymore with Edward.

And Jasper. She would never see Jasper again.

A tearless sob wrenched its way out her throat as she thought of Jasper. Nearly two hundred years by his side day in and out and now Alice would never see his face again. She wouldn't see that smile he reserved only for her and she wouldn't ever get to lay by his side again as the only person he ever let get that close. She wouldn't ever hear his voice again and she would never get to tell him she loved him even though he already knew the depth her love for him and the resolve she had to stay by his side no matter what.

A deep set or wrongness settled in her gut.. That her last moments wouldn't be by his side but fighting a loosing battle with the knowledge she would never be able to say goodbye. It felt so very wrong and all she could do was just keep running in the hopes that maybe if she picked a different path she'd make it.

But her visions knew, no matter what her heart begged, the outcomes narrowing until there was no more misdirecting them with sharp turns and unpredictable movements only a mad dash for freedom.

He would never know what happened to her, would forever wait for her to come home. To come back to him.

Praying silently, she begged for the opportunity to just go home and begged to whatever god there was that she could survive this. That she'd see Jasper and the Cullens again, just one last time.

But as if answering her desperate prayer, clawed hands found purchase on her clothes and yanked her to a rolling stop. She lashed out wildly as she rolled, visions showing nothing but death and she managed to kick the face of the woman that was holding her. Before she could kick again a foot kicked at her face sending her sprawling in the dirt.

Dazed and trying to get her bearings, Alice couldn't do anything at all as either man grabbed her arms and forced her to kneel before the seething woman.

"We could have done this the easy way, the gentle way. But no, you just had to run." She spat, red eyes glowing in her rage. "Tell me was it worth it? You were always going to get caught in the end and now theres no nice way for this to happen. Now you're going to suffer. And guess what luv? Its all your fault"

And as she yelled in agony as unforgiving hands pulled at her arms, as she wished she could still cry as her skin was carved into and her joints were twisted, Alice found out she wasn't lying.

Unforgiving hands grabbed at her arms and pulled, not quickly no. Slowly. A slow agony that radiated down her neck as shoulders. She was certain that if she been able to shed tears she'd be crying. Having your arms yanked off slowly was excruciating and Alice knew for a fact this was only the beginning.

As the woman stepped forward Alice wished she could run away, could be anywhere but here. Instead all she got was agony and if she screamed than that was no one business but her own. The woman grabbed at her aching face, she was sure there were cracks running down the side of it from the force with which she was kicked.

All she could think about was going home. Being with Jasper.

:"You have such pretty screams luv. I wonder how much more we could get out of you. So? Let me hear it. Let me hear you cry."

—-

There was nothing and then there was a sharp gasp, a wet thing full of terror, and Alice shot up and automatically clawed at her neck. There was a shot of pain as dull nails raked at the soft skin of her throat and all Alice could feel as she sucked in breaths was confusion. Her mind ran through the last thirty minutes; going to Thailand, being by herself for the first time, the nomads, the tortu-

No. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She wouldn't be thinking that, not right now at least and hopefully never.

Her heart sped through her chest and it was only as she recognized the dull beating that she realized something was wrong. She had a heartbeat, her hand resting against her chest confirmed that. She was breathing, gulping down air in large heaving breaths and trying not to panic at the way the edges of her vision were black and how light headed she felt. There was the bite of her nails in skin and looking down she could see gooseflesh on her bare arms.

She was a vampire, had always been a vampire..

Alice felt a sense of wrongness she'd never experienced before. She never had any memory of her life before that day she woke from the pain of fire consuming her whole, there was no memory of what it was like to have a heart that beat in her chest. Her life began the moment that heart stopped and that had always been an absolute truth. One of the truths her life was built on in fact.

And yet for some strange reason here she sat breathing in dirt. In fact she was sprawled in it. She was in a dark alleyway that lead to a loud street, towering over her were buildings that looked like something from a period drama Rosalie would've liked to watch. The roof tapered down over either cream colored or red walls, most buildings were damaged in one way or another. One had walls that were cracked and showed water damage while another was just dirty in general and instead of cream colored walls they were an off color beige.

All around the mouth of the alley there were people in similarly period typical dress. There was a shifty group of men gathered near the opening, as if to match the ruined buildings they were equally as dirty. Quite literally; torn clothes, dirt crusted skin, hair that hadn't been washed in a long time. People walked by in various states of similarity, some seemed more put together than others but everyone that walked by bore the signs of poverty. A fight had broken out just down the way and everyone seemed to just ignore the spectacle like it was commonplace. And given everything it probably was.

Above them the night sky bloomed with stars, bright and vivid colors that would have been impossible to see without a telescope otherwise. If Alice had any breath to spare she probably would be just as breathless.

She looked to see small and shaking hands and for the first time it registered what she was looking at. Her hands were tiny things, unblemished and chubby fingers that weren't quite coordinated. They were exactly as Renesmee's had once been all those years ago. Her legs were scrawny little things too and the only thing she was covered in was a blue shirt that was no longer actually blue and went all the way to her knobby knees.

There was a puddle of questionable liquid near her and with a body that didn't move the way she remembered it, she crawled to the puddle and hoped against all hope she wouldn't see what she thought she might.

Gulping down nerves she stuck her head out and was horrified to see the small, heart shaped face in the water. Her reflection was muddy and she had to tilt her head a few times to adjust the light so she could see but the tiny face was undeniable. Her brown hair was cropped short and her eyes were a vivid shade of gold. She looked exactly as herself, just like she'd be if she was a young child.

An actual child, she thought hysterically. I'm an actual child.

"Oh god." She cried, wincing at the high pitched warble. "Oh no."

—-

Its surprising how necessity bleeds any emotion and how someone turns to automatic pilot when everything in them feels like its breaking down. For Alice, the moment her eyes looked back at her in that muddy puddle some switch was turned inside her that shut down her emotions and all she could think about was survival. There was no debating whether or not any of this was real or even how she got there in the first place, there was only cold rationality that stated this was her reality right now. She was a small, scrawny child curled up in some alleyway in what seemed like a slum. There was something inside her that anchored her to the here and now with the overwhelming need to survive that only a vampire knew.

Vampires as a whole felt everything deeply. They were static beings that lived through time and never quite changed. Vampires could be rational sure, but as a whole as a result of their physiology they were mostly emotional creatures. At their core, despite their death, was the need to survive that colored everything they did.

Carlisle had always said that Vampires were created to survive and he was right. That single minded need that drove out all rational thought to just do what you need to do to just live was a strong drive in every vampire. While humans were similar, it was different for vampires and the way they based themselves solely on that desire.

So while Alice cursed the fact she should have seen this happening beforehand and another part of her brain was busy debating whether or not this was real or what about her family, her body got up off the floor. Her legs were shaky but it was doable. The first thing she noticed once she took the time to was that the men at the lip of the alley weren't speaking english. No, from what she could hear from her very limited hearing was japanese.

She was now a child in a place where people spoke Japanese, okay she could do this. The Cullens had a stint in Japan a lot of years back and Rosalie had demanded that everyone be fluent. Because if they were going to do this they weren't going to look uncultured to the humans. It was a gruelling few weeks trying to learn, only helped by the ability to memorize things that every vampire had but Alice had never felt more grateful to Rosalie than she did in this moment.

Her stomach rumbled and dumbly she recognized she was hungry.

It was a soft ache, not quite the all consuming desire to drink blood that she was used to but it definitely wasn't pleasant.

Okay she needed food, human sustenance. What did humans eat again?

Alice had spent years around humans trying to assimilate and blend in as a Cullen. The small mannerisms human kind didn't need to think about and all the subtle ways to appear human were second nature to her at this point. Twitch here, breath there, make sure to blink; all of these things were drilled into their coven as they worked to live side by side by humans. But admittedly when faced with actually being human all that knowledge went out the window.

What was safe for a human to eat?

Walking barefoot through the softly lit streets, slipping between people in the crowd that paid no attention to a grubby child wandering around, she found herself walking through alleyways to a main street where lanterns hung from every available surface. Rowhouses and run down shops lined the dirt street while the sluggish lull of people wandered about..

Just as before there were mostly gruff looking men in varying styles of traditional japanese dress. There were some with pipes hunched over as they smoked various substances, some were nodding out on street corners while others heckled with the shop keepers. There was a mix of people here and Alice recognized distantly that she needed to be careful.

The first stand she approached was a brightly colored thing, almost ostentatious with its bright orange paneling with not quite neon purple accents. It wasn't a place for food with its various trinkets but beggars can't quite be choosers. The owner was a haggard old man with thinning hair, from what Alice could see he was missing a few teeth which showed as he yelled at a customer.

She wasn't quite sure what happened but she watched the other man scream back and walk away. He had thought the prices were unfair if she was listening right.

"Excuse me" She intoned, still not prepared to hear her current voice.

"What is it girl." He snapped, not even paying attention to her as he turned to adjust what looked like straw dolls placed haphazardly in a display case.

"I was just wondering, do you have any food by chance?"

"Food? Girlie i ain't a charity." He barked and as he turned he looked her up and down. I don't have any food for your kind here. Now get out of the way you're blocking business."

He all but spat the last part and while Alice wasn't the best with humans she knew that was a firm dismissal. There was no reading between the lines there and she had to clench her hands to keep her from spitting right back at him. She wasn't some disgusting thing, she grit her teeth as she moved on, but he had all but insinuated she was.

Alice felt shame boil inside her and her ears burned.

The next shopkeeper was in a bright red building advertising both food and basic goods. The red paint was chipped and there were people hanging out outside her shop that seemed to be trying their best to look intimidating. If she were a normal child they would definitely be but as a vampire it was easy to pay them no mind. The shop keeper was a middle aged woman with her hair pined up and a limp as she followed some of the customers looking through the shop.

Alice didn't have to say anything, the woman noticed her right away.

"If ya ain't buyin anything than git, I don't got nothin' for your kind here."

The next shop was much the same, this time a greasy man that all but shooed her away before she could even ask. Apparently from what she could figure, being a grubby looking street child was frowned upon. People gave her one look and automatically turned their heads in disgust. She was in fact very dirty with the dirt caked into her skin and a single threadbare t-shirt to maintain her modesty.

Alice realized with even more shame that she was the perfect image of a street rat as she went from shop to shop to beg. Most times she was just verbally turned away but there were a few encounters where things were thrown at her or she was pushed. Indignation ran heavy through her now blood filled veins. She had never experienced something like this.

As a vampire there was no begging for food, you found a human or an animal and you just took. Alice had always had a way to eat and once she joined the Cullens she had lived in moderate luxury. The perks of living forever and being able to amass huge sums of money.

Now that she was in a situation where she didn't have access to any of that and she was for all intents and purposes begging for food, Alice was forced to swallow down the shame that came from being in this position. She wished she could be more ambivalent about it but either her human physiology was throwing her for a loop or she was just genuinely embarrassed..

Following the shame was the anger, red hot and boiling. Alice wasn't temperamental by any means, in fact by vampiric standards she was positively easy going. However getting yelled at and constantly demeaned for having nothing was beginning to make that feeling bubble to the surface.

The next shopkeeper told her to leave, that her kind would just dirty his shop and that anger just kept building while her stomach continued to ache. She had been at this for a good hour and she was only getting more hungry. Alice tried to lean into the anger more than anything else, not just because it was better than the shame but because it kept her mind off her stomach.

The next person she asked was an elderly lady running a place that had various meats cooking and displayed a mouthwatering array of cooked meat on skewers. She had no customers but that didn't keep the woman from staying busy as she petered around her little shop. Alice's stomach gave another pitiful rumble and she stepped forward with all the expectation that this was going to go just as well as all the other places.

"Excuse me mam?"

The woman was in the middle of wiping down a grease filled tray as she looked up. Her eyes, a vivid blue that shouldn't be possible in a human and graying blue hair pulled up and pinned in place. She was a heavy set woman and the calluses on her hand and tanned skin from working in the sun showed she was a hard worker.

"What'd ya want dearie?" She spoke, turning her full attention to Alice and doing a double take. "I sure hope ya got money. I'm not no charity kiddo. "

"I uh….. I dont. I was wondering if you have any extra food? Even old food that you want to throw out? Anything is fine really"

"Again kid, this aint a charity. I ain't in the habit of givin out food, especially round these parts."

"I'm sorry mam, I just got here and I'm just trying to find my way for the night." Alice shuffled in place suddenly feeling the embarrassment she'd been trying to drown in anger. She was some random child begging for scraps and as her hand fisted in her shirt she wished she could just be angry. It was easier. "I can even work for food, I don't just expect charity I promise.

The woman gave her a heavy once over with a face full of doubt. "Y'er a small slip of a girl. Any of the work I need help with ya ain't gonna be able to do and quite frankly I wouldn't trust ya with anything without some training. Plus yer gonna need a lot more than finding yer way for the night, kiddo. Yer in the flower district, that aint just no pretty name its dangerous out here"

"I see." Alice bit her lip, grateful that the woman wasn't just kicking her out but frustrated that she knew next to nothing about where she was "I'm… new here so I don't really know where I am."

"Ya don't know where ya are." She said dubiously. "Quite frankly I wanna ask how but I don't wanna know. Yer in the flower district, seediest place in Kohona."

"Konoha?"

The woman just looked at her for a moment, skepticism obvious on her face and seeming like she wanted to say something before she turned her head and scoffed. "Yeah yer in Konoha, capital city of Konohagakure proper. Where were ya from originally, Ame or somethin?

"Ame?"

She stared once more at Alice, pondering what to say before just deciding on "I don't wanna know. Honey I don't know how ya ended up here, and I really don't care but I doubt ya don't know nothin bout Konohagakure. Yer here after all. I don't have all night to be playin these games with ya, I got actual customers to see."

"I'm sorry mam" Alice tried again desperately. "but I promise i'm not trying to waste your time. I just need to find some food before I find a place to stay."

"A place to stay huh?" She pondered that as she moved to wipe down the next tray. "I don't know how much ya know bout Konoha but there ain't a lot of those right now kid, specially not after that damn fox pranced about the capital. Too many kids that ain't got guardians and too many places destroyed. Ya'd be lucky to find any orphanage that'd be willing to take ya in."

"Fox?" Alice felt like all she was doing was asking questions and had to bite back the frustration of just not knowing anything."

"Bah! Forget that, ya aint gonna have any luck finding any sort of safe place here. This is the Flower districts very own Manjushage corridor, There's only criminals and those sorry bastards that were unlucky enough to loose everything here. Ya see that group over there?" She pointed to a group of men smoking as they laughed, they were well built men with swords obvious at their hip. "Their part of the Shibito-kai, all this area right here is under their control and they ain't any type of kind. Especially not to street rats like ya."

"Shibito-kai?"

"Yakuza girlie. This area's under their control and all yer gonna get here is drugs and violence." Just as she spoke those words a fight broke out between two groups at the far end of the road. "They've been haven control of these parts for longer than I've been alive. But believe me between them and the Majin-gumi Id much rather the Shibito. Less disappearances that way.."

"What about the police?" Alice wondered more to herself than the other woman. If there was so much rampant crime than there had to be some form of police here.

"Police? Bah! Girlie the Konoha Military Police don't dare come out this way no more. All them fancy shinobi and what do they have to show for iit? Nothing. If yer not careful over here yer gonna get hurt. There ain't nothing safe about this part of town."

"Between the gangs and drugs yeah I'd suppose so." This was seeming more and more hopeless by the minute.

"Don't look so glum kid. Thankfully yer talkin to the right woman." She crowed and set down the tray she was working on to address Alice fully. "If ya happen to take this road down, make a left then a right and follow that street down until ya'll find the Hanako Orphanage they might be able to take ya. Shuri runs that place and she's a good woman, bit ditzy and way too old to not have a husband but she's good people. Its not no fancy place like some of them other orphanages but if yer looking for a place to stay that'd be yer best bet."

Without much prompting she reached over to pluck some of the skewers, threw something in a paper bag that made her mouth water and all but threw the food at Alice over the counter. Alice blinked in surprise as what felt suspiciously like tears built up behind her eyes. There was a feeling that Alice couldn't put a name to warring about her head and she couldn't think of anything to say.

"T-thank you." She finally choked out. "Thank you so much. But why? Why do all this?"

She cursed herself internally. There was no point in asking, she should've just thanked her and left.

"Why? There aint no reason why. Ya kept an old woman company for a bit and I happened to tell ya about Shuris place thats all. Got me?"

She nods, that emotion building and her eyes watering. .

"Good. Now git. Its already almost one in the morning and If you'll have any luck gettin in ya'd best be on your way now."

"Thank you." She moved to leave but paused. " Whats your name by the way? I never asked."

"Aoyama Tsumugi. And ya girl?"

"Cullen Alice."

"Curen-chan eh? What a strange name. Now git I have work to do."

With a greatful smile Alice nodded at the rough older woman and clutched her gifts to her chest. She walked a short distance away to slip into another alleyway that wasn't occupied to sink to the ground and curl her knees into her chest. Sitting on the dirt floor Alice was struck with just how unprepared she was to suddenly become human. It was one thing to think about it, every vampire did, but to actually find herself in this position was daunting.

She stared at the food in trepidation, as if she'd be able to figure out its secrets with her gaze alone. Alice couldn't remember ever really having actual food save for that one unfortunate experience. Her first memories after all were of her stepping out of that dilapidated building into the blinding sun with that soul deep hunger for blood . She had only ever been a vampire and she'd never really regretted not ever eating human food.

Her new life was something she was content with because it was all she'd ever known. Even if that one time Rosalie had dared her to eat some candy bar or another and she ended up violently vomiting for the better half of the night.

Swallowing down her nerves, her stomach was screaming for food, she took a hesitant bite off the skewer and her eyes widened as flavor burst over her tongue. It was a smokey flavor that followed the meat with an underlying spice that had her coughing.

It was good. Strange but good.

Taking another bite and then another, ravenously tearing into the skewer, all Alice could think of was her family and the overwhelming worry that they were forever out of her reach. All her fears and all the worries she'd been suppressing burst forth and as she devoured the food Tsumugi had so kindly given her. So it wasn't any surprise that she tasted her own tears through the meat, nose filled with snot as she sobbed in heaving gasps.

It was both the best and worst thing she ever tasted.