Smoke billowed out from the boat's chimney as it moved slowly through the water towards the fragile seeming wooden dock that jutted out. Alice held tightly onto her hat as her blue eyes scanned the crowds of faces before them, searching for one familiar face in particular, or rather one familiar hat. Upon spying the rose adorned hat she grinned widely and breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to know that even if she was still of the opinion that Blood Dupre was a massive bastard, at the very least he hadn't forgotten about her. Though, upon thinking about it, Vivaldi had probable threatened him with a tea party of her own design which would have caused to choose the lesser of two evils. Picking up the battered suitcase that rested by her feet, she joined the milling crowd on the wooden deck as the boat glided to a stop. Alice was soon regretting that choice however as she felt herself be knocked from one place to another as everyone else, confident of where they were going, pushed past her matter-of-factly. And then Alice was falling through the air, her arms flailing automatically as she tried futility to regain her balance. Her eyes shut automatically to protect herself as she braced herself for the impact... that never came.

"What the-?" she wondered opening her eyes which met the most beautiful pair of eyes she had ever seen gazing down at her, panic, concern and amazement swirling in the ruby depths. She was lying in a strangers arms, her case god knows where, and a blush painted her cheeks bright red when she fully realised their proximity.

"Um, thank you so much!" she said, smiling happily at her saviour as he wordlessly placed her back onto her feet and gazed shyly at her. Her eyes travelled upwards and her mouth fell open as she saw the two fluffy rabbit ears that protruded from the man's white hair. The crowd which had gathered around them also noticed this and a discontented muttering began to circulate among them, the circle getting tighter and tighter. The man noticed this and his ears went flat back on his head, as his hand slipped into his waistcoat reflexively.

"Problem here?" came a silky smooth voice and as quickly as the crowd had gathered, it had dispersed with the arrival of Blood Dupre, well known mafia boss and confidant to the Queen herself. His dark eyes rested for a moment on Alice, causing her to blush even more furiously before they landed on the tall albino whose heavy gaze still rested on the blushing girl.

"Well, well, well. Peter White. What hole did you crawl out of?"

Peter's head snapped around and he clenched his visible gloved hand into a fist and his entire body trembled in an attempt to remain where he was. Blood laughed coldly and strode towards Alice, pulling her easily towards him.

"Go back down your hole White. Or maybe you have rethought my sister's offer?" He paused and smirked at the outraged look that passed over the man's face before Peter turned away and walked proudly down a back alley, casting one last look over his shoulder as he did so, meeting Alice's gaze for one long moment. She blinked and stared at his retreating back for a few moments before she managed to regain her scattered senses.

"Blood! What the hell?!" she yelled, swinging at him with one delicate fist which he gently caught and wrapped his long fingers around her wrist, his grip strong and powerful. She ignored that fact however, pulling her wrist from his grip angrily and glaring up at the black haired man.

"You can't just say things like that to people-" she began, fully prepared to argue with her old friend until she was blue in the face but was cut off as a more familiar pair of brown ears attached to a very welcome face peeked out from behind the carriage, emblazoned with the Dupre logo.

"Elliot!" she squealed, abandoning the mafia don to launch herself into the carriage to snuggle her favourite 'pet.'

"Hello Miss Liddell," Elliot gasped out as his airways were slowly constricted by the female's grip, "May I request that you not kill me before I've had my carrot dish for the day?"

She sighed and reluctantly let go of the man who sighed in relief and beamed happily at Blood who ducked into the carriage and closed the door behind him in order to muffle the noise of the women who very quickly remembered what she had been doing before she had been distracted.

As the carriage drove off, muffled voices spilling out from inside, Peter sagged back against the wall of the alleyway where he had been hiding and watching this strange 'Miss Liddell.' She was not like the others, so unclean and full of greed. She was... pure, good and he wanted her to be happy more than anything else in the world. The white rabbit let out a broken keen as he pressed the heel of his gloved hands onto his eyes to stave off the tears that were threatening to bubble to the surface and overwhelm him. In the shadows a pair of ears twitched and the faint rustling of fabric against fur could be heard. Golden eyes took in the sight of the broken rabbit in front of him and a tail twitched in confusion. A smirk adorned the cat's lips as he glanced down the battered case he had retrieved from the crowd of people early, the insignia on it was one he knew all too well.

"Looks like the Mistress has returned."