This is the story of a girl,

Who cried a river

And drowned the whole world!

While she looked so sad in photographs,

I absolutely love her when she smiles.

~Absolutely (Story of a Girl) by Nine Days

Alice wandered slowly through one of the many halls in Wonderland's Clock Tower. Though it was true Alice had been living there for quite sometime, she had never actually taken the time to familiarize herself with the place. So seeing as it had been night for a good three hours since she woke up, Alice thought now would be a lovely time to do so.

About four hours later, Alice was sure she had walked through the entire Clock Tower. When almost out of nowhere, she saw a hallway she must have missed on her lackadaisical tour.

Things here just keep getting curiouser and curiouser. Alice thought as she walked toward the hall. I'm sure this hallway wasn't here before, but I guess everything in this country is always full of surprises.

Once Alice entered the hall, she saw a wide array of pictures lining the pale blue walls. All the pictures were of those who had faces, or held importance. Alice thought most of these people ranged from angry to depressed, from powerful to defeated. There was one picture though that particularly caught Alice's attention.

The picture was of a girl roughly Alice's age, but may have been a little bit older. The girl in the picture was sitting in a grand ebony chair that had crimson red cushions and accents, and also had pretty clawed feet. She wore a lovely red corset that had intricate fleur de lis stitched in black, and had sheer black sleeves. The skirt of the dress was black to match the accents of her corset, and reached down to her knees. Rather than having draped look to it, the skirt had a wrinkled look, which surprisingly made it look magnificent. To finish the look, the girl wore red and black striped knee highs and black lace up boots.

Looking at the girl's appearance, Alice first noticed her long silver hair was in a high ponytail that fell to the middle of her back. Her skin was a pale color, that gave her a ghostly appearance, and a small smile rested on the girl's lips. What captivated Alice the most, however; was the girl's eyes. Her eyes were a striking red, almost so red that they gave off an eerie red glow. Though the girl was smiling in the picture, it never touched her eyes. In fact, tears were falling from them ever so lightly.

Such a tragic beauty. Alice thought, completely mesmerized by the sad girl.

In fact, Alice was so engrossed in the picture, that she didn't even notice a certain Knight of Hearts come to stand behind her.

Smirking to himself, the Knight leaned down to Alice's ear, whispering, "You really should pay more attention to your surroundings Alice. You just might get hurt if you don't."

A gasp left Alice's mouth, as she whipped around to see the man's face mocking her lightly. Putting a hand over her heart, Alice said, "Geeze Ace, you scared me! Why would you do that?"

"I was just trying to prove a point Alice. You can never be to careful in Wonderland. You should know that by now." Ace said in a bright voice, a grin stretched across his face.

"I thought that the Clock Tower was neutral territory though." Alice's brow furrowed as she spoke.

"Well, that may be true, but some people here don't really care about what is neutral and what is not. Some people will do anything to get their hands on you or assassinate you, and lines of territory will not be regarded at those times." Ace said, thinking of a certain Hatter, as well as a few faceless people in the nearby village.

"Alright Ace, I promise I promise I'll be more alert." Alice vowed, however; something told Ace that even though Alice's vow was sincere, she would still be the same spaced out girl that she was.

Changing the subject of conversation, Ace asked, "So what brings you down this hallway Alice?"

"Well, it was still night when I woke up. So I decided to explore the Clock Tower. What are you doing here Ace?"

"That's a funny story. You see, I was looking for Julius to discuss work, but he wasn't in his usual room. I assumed he was out on one of the balconies, so I went searching for him, and got lost."

Typical Ace. Alice thought as she shook her head.

Suddenly, a thought Alice had while looking at the picture of the girl behind her rushed back to her, and she decided Ace may be able to answer her question. "Ace, the girl in this picture seems to be out of place. I would have thought she would be one of the many Queens, but she's over here with the Clock Makers. Why is that, and who is she?"

Ace looked up at the picture Alice was referring to, and a small sad smile touched his face, as he recalled old memories of the silver haired girl.

"I'll answer your questions backwards Alice, since it will be easier to understand. Her name was Nevermore. She was an assistant to the Clock Maker before Julius came to be Clock Maker, and she helped Julius when he was first starting off. Nevermore was the only person of Wonderland to have a heart, without being an outsider." Ace said with a misty tone, his expression was glazed.

"What? How is that possible?" Alice practically shouted in amazement.

"Whoa! Calm down Alice." Ace said, holding his hands up in front of his chest. "It's quite a long story and it is a rather touchy subject around here."

"Oh come on Ace! It's not like there's anything else to do right now, and we can go to my room so that no one will bother us or overhear the story." Alice pleaded, as she pouted her lip out.

Ace contemplated the situation he was in. He could either a) tell Alice he just couldn't share this story and have her become upset with him or b)he could tell Alice the story, risking the chance of Julius finding out and killing him for it.

Oh, what a predicament Ace had. However, no matter how illogical telling this story was, a large part of Ace wanted to tell Nevermore's story. Seeing her picture again had brought back a lot of memories he thought he had suppressed long ago. Some were fun and merry, while others were terribly painful and still haunted him in his sleep sometimes.

Taking a deep breathe, Ace said, "Alright Alice, I will tell you Nevermore's story, so long as you do not tell a single soul what you hear."

"I promise Ace," Alice said with a smile. "Now, shall we go to my room?"

"We shall, Dear Alice." Ace stated, while Alice led the way out of the hallway and to her room.

About five minutes later, Ace and Alice were seated comfortably on two luxurious arm chairs in Alice's room. There was a light silence, as Ace tried to pull his thoughts together. Alice fiddled with the hem of her dress, as she waited patiently for Ace to start talking.

Finally, Ace felt content with how he was going to start talking about Nevermore, and caught Alice's attention by saying, "There are a few things you need to about Nevermore before I actually begin to tell the tale of her life.

First of all, Nevermore was never really a happy person. As you saw in the portrait of her, she would never truly smile. She was tragically beautiful in both her appearance and personality, so not many people spoke with her. Therefore, she found little to be happy about. If you could make smile truly though it was a magnificent sight to behold.

I was fortunate enough to see her happy three times. Twice when she was with Julius, and once when she was working on the clocks here. The only person to have seen her happy more times than I did would be Julius.

The only other thing you need to know is that this story is just as much about Julius as it is about Nevermore. So you will discover a new part of him in this story. Some things you may not believe and others may cause you to become angry at Julius, but know that everything he did, he did for Nevermore.

Now do you have any questions before I start?"

"No." Alice said, a glint of eagerness shone in her eyes, "Please continue Ace."

"Alright then, let me take you back to the day she was born. Just remember as you here this story, it is true. Now let me begin with the story of a girl…"

Hmmmm... Cuz I've never used Nevermore before... There's a different reason for her name this time though so yeah you'll see that in chap 2.

Tell me what ya think, and I am working on Quothe and Fighting so they're not done yet, I just had a stroke of story and wrote it.

If you guys like the story I'll continue if not it'll be a longer time for me to update.

Well stay tuned folks!

Kthnxbai!

Aya