A/N: Ok, so here you are my lovelies! The third chapter of 'A little Piece of Chaos' that you've certainly [not] been waiting for! And what is this? Are chapters getting longer? It seems so! Or at least that's what my word count says…

Thanks to all that followed, faved, or reviewed this story! You guys keep this thing going! Hope you all enjoy this 'shortie' chap that totally doesn´t makes up to you the time you waited for it~. Because the little shit was a pain to write. Writer's block is EVIL. Just as much as artist's block. I'm, sadly, prone to both.

Disclaimer: I don't own. Quinrose does. Also don't own my soul, sold it for a watermelon. It was yummy~. No regrets in there.

It had been a calm day at the Clock tower, and at first sight everything appeared silent and normal. Or that was what it seemed, until the sound of two pair of footsteps echoed through the deserted halls of the Clock tower, bringing down the false illusion of tranquility. The sound bounced over the stone walls, amplifying and filling the silence, creating a weird yet soothing rhythm. However, the ones generating the noise were too busy to put attention to it, or at least April was.

Said brunette was skipping through the hallways as she hummed to herself, stopping every now and then to glance at a paper on her hands. The moment Nightmare had ended writing the instructions to arrive to the office of the clockmaker April had lost no time, forgetting at all she arrived with company. She was just so excited! She could barely contain herself and she was positive she was smiling like an idiot. With so many emotions rambling through her mind the brunette was glad that whenever she blushed it was never as brightly at Melody. It didn´t matter anyways, since her facial expressions most of the time were dead giveaways of her feelings.

She just couldn't believe it! She knew she was acting like a stupid fangirl (which she was!), but she just could not contain herself! She let a small nervous giggle that in any other girl would sound adorable but in her sounded somewhat creepy. Perhaps the maniacal smile that she was sporting helped up a little? She was just so excited she felt energy containing within herself…

Walking calmly some steps besides the storming brunette was Melody, her face calm and collected, with a small smile on her pink lips. After April´s rush out of the Lord of clover´s office she had managed to catch up with her quite fast, since the petite teen could not rival her strides, and because the girl wasn´t even running. Somehow, in the chaos of her mind she could barely command her own body and, by mere impulse, the first thing she did was just quickly stroll through the corridors like a mad woman (which she also was!).

But, even after catching up with her friend, the noirette couldn´t bring herself of her trance of happiness, caused by the only thought that was currently replaying on her head like a broken record. That thought was, of course, her last seconds at Nightmare office.

She just couldn't help it, she felt so giddy! She hated to sound cheesy but she literally felt like she was floating, her heart (the little bastard) doing cartwheels and all kind of stunts in her chest. However, she was broken out of her happy reverie by a shrill shriek.

-"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Melody halted surprised, the ends of her hair standing up higher, like the ones of a cat. Amethyst eyes were wide in her face and she was beyond startled by the sudden high-pitched noise. However the commotion only lasted a second when she stared blankly at April, who was sheepishly smiling at her, an apologetic expression in her face.

-"Heh. Gomen!" She said, rubbing the back of her neck as a dusty pink settled in her cheeks out of embarrassment. –"Ya know, I sometimes can't contain myself~." The girl sing-sang cheerily.

-"Tsk. "Melody just rolled her eyes, and shook her head slightly on a disapproving fashion, as she smiled slightly. April just mock pouted back and stuck out her tongue, earning another eyeroll from the taller teen.

Once matters settled, energy suddenly returned back to the shorter girl when she glanced back at the paper in her hand, excitement clear as she yelled. -"Were almost there!"

The blackette sighed following the brunette, Gray at the back of her mind momentarily, her only worries at the moment stopping April to fall flat in her face. Again.

I0I0I0I0I0I

'Ok... So this is it.' The brunette thought, as she stared intently at the door that separated herself from meeting Julius Monrey. After her earlier outburst they had reached her so hoped destination rather quickly, her "Almost there!" being quite accurate.

April shivered visibly out of excitement as she stretched her hand towards the doorknob. She hesitated a few inches away from it, a small whimper escaping her lips. S-she couldn't do it! She had wanted to barge in like she was in her own house in an attempt to be bold. But that would have been just down right disrespectful and an awful first impression. They didn't even know each other! Well at least he didn't...

Melody watched her pal's distress in her face, as clear as water, with slight amusement. She was always like that. It's not that April never accomplished her objectives, but when it came to sentimental situations she tended to chicken out. Badly. She was a tsundere after all.

But, as amusing as seeing April conflicted was, Melody was starting to get annoyed by each passing second. She was aware that April's hesitation could last for long amounts of time. She also needed her extremely sweet coffee, that gave her the sugar and energy she needed for the day. Frankly so much walking and her encounter with the two main roleholders of clover tower had left her exhausted, physically and emotionally… Damn she had remembered her encounter with the lizard roleholder! The blackette sighed sadly. Now it would take her a while to calm her frantic heart again and to stop the flaring red blush that she had felt creping to her cheeks just seconds ago.

But it was just so hard to forget his worried expression and the way he had held her so briefly, the lingering touch of his hand in her back... Holly hell if just that slight touch was sending her head into chaos she wondered what would happen if they... I-if they kissed... Oh sweet kami- She would deal with that latter! She was going insane with her actual thoughts to be thinking of other much more dreary ones. When she felt heat going rising to her cheeks yet again the noirette groaned. Was she going to stay in a permanent state of 'flushness' all day?

Meanwhile, April was having a bad time deciding which was the best way to knock Julius' door (She´d latter would think back and realize that it was just plain stupid to get so fussed up just for a door.), until she heard Melody's groan. 'You see! She's losing her patience as well as me, so open the f*cking stupid door NOW! ' Her inner-self scolded her. April just mentally rolled her eyes. 'Do you always have to be so rude? I mean you're in my head n all but jeez…' Her "conscience" just snapped back. 'I'm just as rude as you are! Besides I don´t see that door opening…' April huffed annoyed, raising her hand on a fist to knock the door. 'FINE!' She answered, before letting her hand fall…

I0I0I0I0I0I

Julius Monrey was immerse in his work. It was always the same. Whenever an outsider left the game all roleholders went back to their old habits, killing faceless as a hobby, to fill the vacant time left by the outsider´s absence. And outsider leaving always meant more work for him. However, after Alice leaved… It had been a while since a game like that one had presented itself, and to say that the roleholders had reacted badly to her departure was an understatement. From the amount of work he was getting he could see their killing sprees were getting just plain ridiculous. Even Ace, whom usually brought back more clocks than requested, had agreed (in his own twisted way) that he was getting too many clocks to fix. One more clock and he could literally drown in his own work.

Now, in his case, in order to forget the foreigner, he usually worked until rest claimed him by sheer force (Normally after a week or so of nothing but coffee). But, oddly, with Alice he didn't need to go back to his workaholic habits to stop remembering. Unlike the other roleholders Julius had lost hope to make Alice return his feelings the moment she had admitted she liked Blood Dupre, the mad hatter roleholder. The Clockmaker roleholder was no idiot, and he had felt no surprise or sadness the moment the girl had moved to live at the Hatter mansion. He hadn't felt surprised either when Alice gradually stopped visiting him, and then… just left. So Julius didn't notice the change as much as the others. The roleholder sighed deeply as he closed his eyes briefly, before focusing back on the task ahead.

He had been specially concentrated on a screw that wouldn't fit when a sudden noise startled him and made him jump slightly in his chair. It wasn´t a soft knock on his door. Nope, it was more along the lines of 'BANGBANGBANG'. Did someone was trying to break down his door?! However, as fast as it came the banging stopped, making the mortician wary. He carefully putted away the clock he was working on and tightened his grip on his wrench, raising from his desk to give a proper "welcome" to the intruder.

-"Soooorry!"- A female voice yelped. Suddenly a brown tuft of hair poked into his office. The first name that came to the roleholder's mind was 'Ace', but the thought was quickly dismissed as soon as it came. For a start neither the gender or height matched the ones of the knight roleholder, and second, Ace never knocked the door.

-"Sorry, sorry! I´m soooo sorry!" The female's face poked fully into the room, giving the roleholder a better look of the intruder. Her hair was silky and reached her waist, the rich shade of chocolate brown reflected the lights in the room. Her lips were pink and plump, slightly parted as she breathed, the same shade as her cheeks that were slightly tinted of embarrassment. But what struck Julius the most were her eyes. Not the fact that they were a startling shade of steely gray, but the fact that she HAD eyes.

Julius own cerulean eyes narrowed. So she was an outsider… Had Nightmare not learned a thing from the previous game? -"What do you want in here?" he spat, interrupting her apologies, anger slowly taking over.

April flinched at the roleholder's harsh words but endured the verbal attack and stood straight to her full height (Which wasn´t much since she barely reached the roleholder's shoulder), raising her chin in a prideful manner. She inhaled deeply, all her nervousness away now that she was in front of the blue haired male. –"Can we come in? " April asked as she frowned slightly. She was not one to answer violence with pacific ways, although she understood Julius discomfort. 'For kami's sake, I practically broke the door out of its hinges back there…. ' 'You're not that strong kid…' Her inner-self deadpanned.

Julius somewhat relaxed, making a noise that sounded affirmative, before turning his back on the girl and going back to his work. The scowl on his face was gone, his face turning into a cold expressionless mask. April smiled slightly, mentally boasting of her small victory over the blue haired roleholder. She quickly entered, Melody closely following suit. But before going too far the blackette grabbed the smaller girl's arm. -"What?" April snapped after seeing the scolding gaze of her friend. –"Apologize." Melody stated calmly yet sternly. The brunette groaned as she remembered how back at the hallway she had been scolded for her impulsive act towards the poor door of one Julius Monrey.

The brunette mentally weighted her options. Ok, so she could either apologize for her rudeness so Melody could get back at her for embarrassing her with Ringmarc through making her embarrassed by admitting the door thing was her fault or she could throw a temper tantrum like a five year old girl. Yep, April didn't found any option appealing. She had technically apologized when she entered! It wasn't the brunette's problem that Melody didn't count that as a 'properapology'. Damn Melody and her good manners… in front of others anyways.

-"I'm really sorry for knocking your door so rudely." April stated solemnly, choosing to conserve her dignity to some extent through 'option number two'. She then bowed. "I offer you my sincerest apologies."

Julius just raised an eyebrow as he stared blankly at the small girl. –"… You already apologized."
April made a mental victory dance. 'Ha! Take that Melody!'

The silence extended uncomfortably, all quiet in the small office. As it seemed, the roleholder didn´t want to further the conversation anymore (He had never been one to waste his time with trivial chatter, always being one of few words.) and, even though there were thousands of thing that April wanted to say to the mortician she was too ashamed to start conversation. Not in front of Melody at least. Melody found that it was perhaps proper to start with introductions. ANYTHING to stop the awkward silence.

-"Erm… So I'm Melody Dankworth and my friend here is-"

-"I'm April Wolff. It's a pleasure to-" 'Finally.' "-meet you~." The brunette exclaimed cheerily, trying to keep her cheerfulness without absorbing the gloomy vibe that reverberated through the mortician's office.

-"Julius Monrey." The blue haired roleholder muttered as an answer, without paying much attention to the girls. Oh, if there was something that could piss April off was being ignored!

"Yeah, we know." The brunette exclaimed naturally, as it was the most obvious thing to assume in the world. She was going to get a reaction out of the roleholder, no matter the methods she had to take!

Effectively, this seemed to catch the roleholder's attention, as he seemed briefly shocked before composing himself back to his usual expressionless mask, momentarily taken aback by her answer. April smirked as she boasted (yet again) in her small victory.

However, Melody seemed to believe this fact was just a slip of her friend, April commonly being the one to speak before thinking. "Well, you see, we came here because Nightmare informed us that you have in your possession a map of Wonderland… Are this assumptions correct?" She said to cover up April's mistake, before a sudden idea occurred to her. "Oh, and also my friend over there wanted to meet you~." She said as she motioned towards April. 'Oh revenge really is indeed sweet, right April?' The blackette though, chuckling mentally.

The smaller girl was shocked, her first nervous impulse, out of fear of being caught, been to deny it all. –"T-That´s not true at all! Wh-Why would I want to meet someone I practically don't know anything about?! I mean, had I knew that you'd be absolutely hot then, yeah it would have sense-. Ahaha…! I said you were hot right? It's not that I think you´re not hot cause you totally are and-! Aaaaand I think I have spoken too much… " After such a loud confession April was obviously way too embarrassed, so she only scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, using all her restraint in order to stop herself from looking at the roleholder's face. God was she blushing?! She never blushed! She hoped she wasn't blushing!

Melody grinned triumphantly towards April, while Julius just stared wide eyed at the flustered tsundere, his face now tinged in dusty pink. Had he heard her correctly?!

The roleholder coughed, he felt like he was choking. And he was also aware of the brunette's appearance yet again. It was too uncomfortable watching or speaking with the small girl at the moment, so the roleholder just did as if the outburst had never happened, his emotions back in control, his focus now only on the other teen.

-"Excuse me, were you saying something about a map?" He addressed Melody, in hopes of forgetting the commotion that just happened.

It took a second for the noirette to notice she was being addressed, the sight of her friend to amusing to pass. –" Uh? Ah, yeah! Do you have a map of Wonderland or was Nightmare wrong?"

-"I do have a map... " Julius answered blankly, wondering about the intentions of the teens. –"What do you want it for?"

Melody was lost for a second before regaining her composure. 'Do we really need a map? What was April thinking when…? In Julius or what? Oh, yeah, that must be...'Melody mentally facepalmed. -"Well you see, it was April's idea-."

At the mention of her name April's head perked up, momentarily getting out of her mood, that had passed from embarrassed to skulking about her foolishness. Also, she found appropriate to interrupt Melody, as usual.-"Ah yeah, you see, as Nightmare described Wonderland seems to be very big and we had something to do at Heart castle, so in order to don't get lost I thought that a map would be useful… " She trailed of when her eyes locked with the azure orbs of the time roleholder, shifting her gaze almost instantly as she started to play with one of her coffee-colored locks. –"A-also we planned to stay here, so I thought that a map would be useful to get back a-and all that stuff…" A pink blush started to creep again on her cheeks.

Julius stared at the brunette intently as he tried to find a flaw in her argument and, perhaps, make her stay a little longer… Julius mentally sighed. What was he thinking? There was no way this girl could be interested in him, right? The only thing that seemed somewhat off as the reason why they were heading towards Heart Castle but that, interested as he may be, was not his affair.

Searching through his desk drawers he quickly found the map the girls needed and extended his hand with the folded map towards April. –"Here, take it."

The brunette seemed momentarily surprised, as if she didn´t expect him to actually give away the map, but extended her hand nevertheless, their fingers brushing slightly as the object was transferred to its new owner.

-"Thank you." She said as she smiled warmly, for once not breaking eye contact with the mortician, her small fingers still lingering against his much larger ones. An unknown warm seeped through April's limbs, a fuzzy feeling starting to host in her chest, making her break the connection in order to stop the strange intrusive warmth.

The roleholder also broke the contact without a protest (although a part of him was reluctant to let it go) for as much… entertaining his conversation with the new outsiders had been he had a lot of work to get back to.

However, before the blue haired roleholder had a chance to express said thoughts aloud his door bursted wide open.

Julius groaned loudly, both mentally and externally. Melody gulped, since there was a difference between, watching in the images in the manga and having the blood soaked cloaked figure right in front of her. April just stared wide eyed at the new comer, smiling brightly at the embodiment of any gore fantasy.

There in the door, also beaming stood Ace, the one and only Knight of hearts in his "work" outfit, old and fresh blood soaking the cloak.

-"I'm back Julius~!" He beamed excitedly as he took off his cloak and mask, paying no heed to the reaction the mortician had expressed earlier. He then took notice the girls. –"Oh, Julius… I didn't knew you had company~..." His beaming face suddenly turning into a knowing smirk. –"But don't worry, you three can continue with what were you doing, I'll return latter~!" He sing-song as he winked towards Julius.

Said roleholder was positively fuming by now, his face red by a mix of embarrassment and indignation.-"It's not like that Ace!" The mortician seethed through gritted teeth.

-"Yeah, the only whore here is Mel-ch-OMPH!" Said April in the background, before being harshly elbowed on the stomach by a very pissed Melody. –"Oh, you little-!" However, this small interaction wasn´t noticed by the roleholders.

-"Uh, really?" Ace replied, totally clueless expression in his face. -"Sorry then, my bad~!" He apologized towards the now wrestling girls, back to his cheery-self. –"I'm Ace, Knight of hearts and Julius best friend!" The Knight introduced himself smiling, thumb up, pointing towards himself; While Julius muttered a –"We're not friends." in the background, earning a pout and an -"Aw but Juliuuus~" from the knight. Both teens stopped their fighting dead in their tracks.

-"April~!" The brunette presented herself back, the same cheery tone the knight had just used. However her head was still tightly locked under Melody's arm.

Meanwhile, the blackette just mentally sighed, reluctantly letting the smaller girl free. -"Melody Dankworth." Presentations yet again… How easy it would be if they could just gather all the roleholders and massively present themselves! But nooo, they had to go one by one…

Once content with the introductions Ace was about to proceed. But before he even opened his mouth Julius spoke up, still clearly annoyed by the knight's earlier accusation and self-friendship proclamation. He also felt somewhat uneasy with the cheery way April had reacted towards Ace, though he was certainly not going to admit it. –"Well, now that presentations are over I believe that you two should head towards Heart Castle. Dusk is coming near and-"

-"Oh, you're going to the Heart Castle? I was going to head there too!" Ace exclaimed towards the teens with an excited face that could rival one of a small child, a weird glint in his eyes.

- "No you weren´t, you still have a lot of work to do." Julius stated sternly, not finding the idea of April or Melody getting lost god knew were with the Knight appealing in the least.

-"Boooh! You're not fun Julius!" The Knight cried childishly.

Melody was watching interested their interactions when suddenly an idea popped in her head, slowly moving her head towards the Knight, smirk plastered on her face. –"Oh, really? You know how to get there?! Perhaps you should be our guide!" The noirette stated with a sweet smile that certainly could fool everyone but April.

'Heeeh?! What was Melody thinking?! The only thing that was going to happen if they followed Ace was making them become lost somewhere near…Oh! Hah, I see what you're doing there Melody… Really clever…' April though, openly smirking towards her friend. She also wanted to meet someone there~.

-"There's no problem, I'll take you! We'll arrive before next time period~." The knight said grinning, totally oblivious to his atrocious direction skills.

-"I told you already, you still got a lot of work to do Knight." The azure haired roleholder scolded sternly.

April frowned slightly towards Julius. Why was he so reluctant? It was certainly too early for romance. He obviously didn't care, the only thing that the roleholder may possibly want being to get the job done. However she and her mistress needed Ace for their 'evil plans', and she was certainly not going to let the mortician roleholder ruin them (as sexy as he may be!). So she did the only thing she could think about.

–"Julius…"She walked leisurely towards said roleholder. -"Could you please let him go just for this time?" April latched her arms delicately around Julius forearm while staring right at his eyes, Julius blue orbs widening out of shock. "For… us?" She added as she side glanced to Melody, slightly chewing her lower lip, making Julius throat suddenly go dry.

-"Heh. Julius, you're blushing~!" Cheered Ace, breaking the moment. –"S-shut up." Being the usually-cold-roleholder´s reply.

April detached herself from the mortician. He was going to accept, she knew it, as she had seen his hesitation. Melody, whom also had noticed the time roleholder's uncertainty, knew it was better to hurry things up before the mood died as soon as it had started. –"So, you let him go?" The noirette pressured.

The roleholder just deeply sighed. –"I… I guess you can bring back the other clocks latter…"He said addressing Ace.

-"Yaaaaay~!" Both April and Ace exclaimed merrily.

-"Thank youuu Juliuuus~!" April screamed, running towards said roleholder, hugging him tightly by his left arm, while Ace did the same with his right side.

-"L-let me go!" The clockmaker stated through gritted teeth, getting redder by the second out of embarrassment.

-"Heh. You're so cute Julius~!" Stated the Knight of hearts as he stared at Julius flushed face, pecking said roleholder on the cheek. Of course this made the time roleholder just turn a deeper shade of crimson.

-"Haha! No way! I was thinking the exact same thing!" The petite brunette exclaimed laughing as she rubbed her face against Julius's shoulder.

Looking at the team teasing/hugging that was taking place right before her, Melody couldn't help but snicker at the now beet red Julius Monrey. However, she also felt sympathy towards the blue haired roleholder, since she had been at the receiving end of April's unmerciful teasing. She smiled. It seemed she had to take the role of the responsible adult in the room.

Melody clapped in order to get the attention of both brunettes. -"Okay, you had your fun kids. Now let's get out of this tower before evening ends!" She ordered gently, yet sternly, signaling the door at her back with her thumb.

-"Daaaw…" April pouted like a kicked puppy, unlatching herself from the flushed mortician and walking towards the door. Ace said something about Melody being boring like Julius but the noirette took no offense (or care for the same matter). He still followed April quickly anyways, letting go of Julius right arm and heading too towards the door.

Once both 'children' were at her back she mouthed a "you owe me." towards the clockmaker roleholder. Julius just nodded in response, still too shocked to give a rational answer, his face still red from the double harassment.

And with this Melody turned around, heading outside with the two brunettes.

I0I0I0I0I0I

It took relatively no time for the females to get to the lowest level of Clock Tower. At first they had followed Ace (still holding faith that he could navigate himself through a building), proving them wrong when the Knight tried to convince them the way out was upstairs. After that they had to make the way down ignoring Ace's directions and following mere logic (Which consisted on 25% luck and 75% doing the opposite of what Ace said.).

Now they were on the last corridor, April on the lead, running towards the entrance when it entered her visual field.

-"Well, Wonderland, get ready 'cause here we go~!" The brunette exclaimed as she opened the wooden entrance, being greeted with the pure and blinding whiteness of the winter…

I0I0I0I0I0I

Meanwhile, from a window on one of the highest rooms in the tower the retreating forms of the knight and two foreigners were being observed closely by a certain incubus and lizard.

The lizard just sighed. –"It's cold outside. I should have offered them a coat…" Gray stated to no one in particular, concerned by the teen's health.

Nightmare snickered. –"Gray, they're grown girls. Believe me, they can take care of themselves."

The two roleholders continued to watch the foreigner's walk through the snow, until Ace suddenly hugged Melody. Gray's hands involuntarily turned into fists, the knuckles turning white, his amber eyes turned into dangerous slits. He definitively needed a smoke to calm down.

However, as soon as she had been hugged Melody quickly detached herself from the Knight of Hearts, raising her hand to slap him harshly across the face. This action brought inevitably a subtle smile to the lizard's lips, his body untensing almost instantly.

Nightmare watched his reactions with mocking interest. -"Oooohhh~! Seems to me you've taken a liking to Melody, Gray?" The incubus poked him happily.

Gray just stared at the incubus blankly, not amused at all by his teasing. -"…That's nonsense Lord Nightmare."

The incubus chuckled. –"Seems to me you've forgot I can read minds my dear friend." Replied Nightmare, a smug grin on his face.

The lizard frowned and looked back at the window, the retreating figure of the black haired foreigner almost invisible now.

He wondered what she had thought of him. Perhaps Lord Nightmare knew? However, when the lizard roleholder turned around the incubus was nowhere to be seen.

Gray inhaled deeply as he rubbed his temple, a deep sigh escaping his lips. He was not in the mood to play hide-and-seek…

I0I0I0I0I0I

Outside the Clock tower the winter shone in all its magnificent glory. The snow covered the top of the business and houses that were scattered through the plaza, some of them even sporting the decorations for the upcoming festivities. The woods could be seen in the border of the plaza, it's trees covered in so much snow it seemed they were about to bend in half.

Walking down a snow covered path were the two foreigners and Knight of hearts.

April, whom had never seen snow before was laughing full of mirth, sometimes jumping on the stone patches that weren't covered by snow others on the snow itself in hopes of leaving her footprints in the white stuff. "Nya~!" She shouted occasionally, every time she landed on the place she wanted to.

Her laugh seemed to be infectious, as soon Ace was too laughing whole heartedly, running after the tsundere with a snowball in hand, in hopes of starting a fight.

The only one who didn't seemed to be catching the mood was Melody.

While April had at least two layers of fabric (counting the apron), the blackette was practically bare, specially her shoulders and sensitive neck. The most warming thing of all her attire were her jeans, but even those weren´t helping her too much with the cold.

- "I-IT'S FREEZING!" She suddenly screamed, unable to hold her distress anymore, wishing to have a coat or something.

Both brunettes stopped their chasing to stare at the shivering noirette, a snowball falling from April's hair.

Then, suddenly Ace smirked mischievously, walking predatorily towards Melody. "Are you cold Mel-chan~?" He asked with faux concern. -"Aw, don't worry." He pulled the teen into a hug. –"I'll warm you~!" He murmured in her ear.

Melody's face turned a crimson red, her amethyst eyes wide. -"P-Pervert!" She squealed, immediately detaching herself from the roleholder, smacking his face with a loud 'SLAP'.

"Ouch, I could hear the slap!" April shouted, as she ran towards her friend. "That's totally going to sting latter!" The brunette pointed out as she laughed at the roleholder's face. -"But, anyways, don´t do that again Ace!" April scolded severely, moving her pointer finger on a scolding fashion, surprising Ace with her totally serious demeanor. "Only I can heat up Mel-chan~!" She screamed cheerily at the top of her lungs, loud enough for some of the nearby faceless to turn to them with quizzical looks.

Melody just groaned as the two idiots doubled in laughter yet again. This was going to be a long walk. The things she had to endure in order to meet Blood Dupre…

I0I0I0I0I0I

Through the past minutes the three travelers had reached the woods that surrounded the territory of the towers, the trees providing a shelter from the cold wind.

Even though it was still somewhat cold, Melody seemed more content with the change of her surroundings. She had to admit that they were warmer than the plaza… She had to get a cozy sweater before going back the tower that was for sure.

The foreigners kept walking through the woods, Melody enjoying the contact with the nature and the smell of the trees, while April made conversation with both her noirette friend and the cheery Knight. The teasing had ceased drastically, now both brunettes just speaking of ways to cause mischief, Melody sometimes pointing out one or two suggestions to their plans, successfully showing Ace that she was "not so boring after all".

Everything seemed perfect; the mood was light and fun, the teens sometimes checking the map Julius has handed over to see if ace was effectively was walking through the wrong path but towards the right destination (and effectively they were heading towards the Hatter Mansion!). 'Nothing could ruin this!' April thought happily…

And then Night fell without sunset whatsoever.

At the sudden darkening of their surroundings Ace looked up at the sky. -"Is it dusk so soon?" The Knight inquired as his mouth formed a perfect 'o', browns knitted together. -"Well, I guess we'll have to camp for the Night!" Exclaimed Ace, quickly regaining his signature cheerfulness, tent and a bonfire miraculously already settled.

At the sight of the campsite both teens looked at each other in horror, immediately taking notice of the medium sized tent that, while may be suitable for only two people, was going to be a little bit too cramped with three. They were alone. At night. On the woods. Alone on the woods with Ace. Ace, the perverted Knight. And they only had one tent.

-"Sh*t." Muttered April, eyes wide with realization.

-"Yeah, majorly screwed…" Agreed Melody, Ace (being himself) totally unaware to the revelation that appeared to the foreigners…

I0I0I0I0I0I

At first it had been hard to decide how they were going to sleep, or were for that matter. Even though the girls tried to kick Ace outside, pointing out the pros of sleeping under a starry sky, the knight stubbornly proclaimed that he was going to sleep inside (it was is tent after all!). They had to resign to sleep all together in the same place, when the girls couldn´t think of any more excuses, and they had realized the tent was pretty much larger on the inside. Also, certainly none of them wanted to sleep on the cold creepy forest floor, thank you very much.

Hell, once they had all agreed, even the places where they were going to sleep had been assigned (by the ever responsible Melody of course!). The blackette had settled everything to her full comfort. She liked the right side, so she had made sure that Ace was placed on the furthest left corner of the tent (one never knew!), and she had settled April in the middle (as a second protection wall), who seemed to don't mind.

From the three, once the sleeping arrangements had been settled, the first one to fall sound asleep had been Ace. The girls had arrived to the conclusion that he was either tired or that he knew that he could just not harass two girls at the same time. They spoke for a little while about their excitement about the situation they were in, even stopping to watch at the progress of their vials. Melody's was a little bit fuller which just made April complain and state that it was probably because of the density of their liquids. With nothing more than idle chatter the teens went to sleep too after a while, following the Knight's earlier example.

It seemed that everything was all right, until April woke up half amour or so after going to rest. Well, perhaps woke up wasn't so appropriate, since her brain wasn't even working properly, the clutches of sleep clawing at it tightly.

It was cold. That was one of the brunette's thoughts at the moment. Even though she had a somewhat low skin sensibility she still loved to sleep super warmly at night. Also, unknown to Melody, whenever April slept over at the house of any relative of any relative of hers, she normally cuddled near her family.

The small brunette glanced to her left, making out a male silhouette. She though she recognized the male's shade of brown hair, so she just crawled towards her objective, once arriving cuddling to the warm body, snaking her arms around the figure's waist. 'Hmm, warm~.' The girl thought approvingly, contently going back to sleep.

A twig snapped under the tent as April rolled, making Melody (who was a very light sleeper) awake. With sleepy eyes the noirette scanned her surroundings, just in time to see her small friend cuddling against the Knight's back. Seeing there was no danger Melody closed her eyes again, murmuring softly 'slut' under her breath, before drifting back to dream…

-END Chapter 3-

A/N: Way to go April! Good job w/ first impressions!*eyeroll* It also seems that Melody has a reluctant motherly trait to herself don´t you think, hm? Furthermore we finally see a small fragment of April's mental stability! It all has a purpose dears, all the reasons of her instability will be (perhaps) exposed (and explored) in latter chapters. That is, when I get to them… ^ ^'

You know guys, I know most of authors are like "Don't pressure me or I won't update" and all that shizz but with me PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO IT. I'm a lazy sod and always put school first, dreaded college is coming near and sucking my time away :U. I also have a very short attention span per fandom, so if you see I don't update in about let's say… 2 moths (I got a life after all, a shitty one but still a life.) you can get at me all like 'Y U NO UPDATE YOU B*TCH! :U'. I kind of work better under slight pressure. Or you can just use the 'Winterblizzard1' method, which consists in the simple phrase of "Keep writing.", and any name of your choice, from abusive to indifferent. 'Cause that's just how she shows she appreciates my work~. I guess that's partially because she hates waiting for next chapters as much as you do. ( I love making her suffer ya know~? XD Did I mentioned she proofreads all of my works?)

Oh, but also don't get me wrong, pressure in not the only way. Constructive criticism is still fine~! I'd love for any of you to point out my atrocious grammar mistakes (God knows I already gave up on them!).

See you in the next installment of this fanfiction which has no high belatedness rating whatsoever. Nope. Absolutely not. It also doesn´t has long author notes. It doesn´t. Not at all…

[Note for Winterbblizzard1: It's 90% possible for Eric to appear on the next chapter, if the Hatter mansion doesn't occupies too many paragraphs~ (Which it totally will XD)]