Disclaimer: I do not own Heart no Kuni no Alice. But I did find a new otome game/anime to obsess over. Ever heard of Hakuouki? Anyone? Besides the practically useless heroine who can't do anything even though she has a friggin sword, it's pretty good (and I mean the pretty bishounen ).

In HnKnA news, guess who just got her very own Clover no Kuni no Alice: Bloody Twins manga? WOOO!

Chapter 3: How Many Stalkers?

All was silent atop the tower. What did Peter mean when he said that I would be hated? I didn't even do anything out of the particular, other than jumping into the gargantuan hole.

'You don't belong here.'

Alice doesn't either. She was in a sense the same as me; we're both girls, about the same age, and we were both thrown into an extremely odd situation. So why the hell was I the one that received the "warm welcome?" Moreover…

"Alice, did you know that man?" I inquired.

She looked at me incredulously.

"What? No!"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? You two seemed pretty well-acquainted."

Alice blushed.

"I was never 'well-aquainted' with that brute!"

"But if the guy kisses you on the lips, then surely you've met him before?" My eyes trailed towards the ground, " I thought we told each other everything?"

As big of an exaggeration as it sounds, this particular fact was true. We would exchange secrets and gossips as if they were one of those collectible trading cards those boys back in school would play with. So when Alice displayed slightly remote signs in which she might have kept something from me, it wasn't surprising to find me all down in the dumps. Call it an extreme sister complex, if you will.

"Emma…

Alice reached over and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"You know that you and Lorina are the first people I'd tell anything to."

I stood up and held the grimace that had threatened to overtake my face. Even in situations like this, Lorina still haunts me.

"So then, Peter's just a random…

" Pervert? Most likely," Alice said as she started for the exit.

There was a rather long silence as we trekked outside and into the woods. Perhaps there we would find someone that would help us. As we walked, my eyes widened as a thought popped into my head.

"Alice?"

"Hm?"

"You said that you've never met him before, correct?"

"Mmhm."

I turned and look at her.

"Then how…how did he know our names?"

She stopped, color drained from her face.

"Oh God, he must be one of those super stalkers!"

I wrinkled my nose, knowing exactly what she meant by a "super stalker." It was a common thing to regard Lorina as "a pretty thing to look at." However, Alice and I weren't the only people who thought of her that way. The village's men also had their eyes on her. If a Geisha in the islands near Cathay could stop a man in his tracks with a glance, then Lorina would have said man become a skuzzy, psycho creeper without even looking at him, which was exactly what happened, and although I loathed Lorina to an impossible degree (homewrecker), even she didn't deserve the -ahem- "woos" of a "super stalker."

It was an incredibly strange and disturbing part in my life.

And I was not going to re-live it.

" I see," I could imagine the fiery spark glinting in my eye as I held a fist in the air, "Like I said before, Alice, I'm going to kill that sonofabitch!"

She smirked and cracked her knuckles, "Not if I get him first, Emma!"

In the distance:

It was not uncommon for wild animals to prowl in these woods. The bandersnatch creeps as the jub jub bird stalks. Prey wouldn't kill themselves, you know. However, it was not an animal that was observing these two peculiar girls a mile away. No. It was a blur of red, a grin, and a pair of red eyes.

But like the bandersnatch, he creeps.

And like the jub jub bird, he stalks.

Following their every move.

But mostly Emma's.

Author's Note: Sorry if this was short and lacking in Ace action, but I'd like to slowly bring him in. What I like to do with my stories is to not only entertain my audience, but also to show them a deeper side to the characters. I've read many fanfics in which the main guy rushes in and immediately liplocks with the heroine (or hero, if you're reading a yaoi) and it's a bit ridiculous, in my opinion, because it's been only the first few chapters and the word count for each chapter is like, what, 300 words? So yeah, I would like to steer clear from rushed plotlines (because I'll admit, I've written one like that before, and I don't particularly want to do that again :)