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Alice Skylar wandered through Tram Common with absolutely nothing to do; she had finished her part time job for the day, and was stuck without a clue of how to entertain herself. Alice huffed and glared at the Tram as it passed by, “Why do we need a tram here anyway,” she grumbled, “This place is so small, a person could walk every where that stupid tram travels, but they won’t people are so lazy here.” The girl ran her hand through her hair and huffed again. She had been in a bad mood all day; there was nothing but watch people in the town go about their business, occasionally one would wave and say hello, and she would politely smile and return the gesture, but she didn’t really return the feeling. It had been a strange day for Alice, she felt agitated since she woke up. Although watching people was one of her past times, it felt inadequate and unsatisfying; something was missing from her life.

Alice had been making her way up Station heights when she saw it. She glimpsed something mysterious, a strange black creature rising out of the shadows, it was unlike the dusks and creepers she had seen on occasion, and this new one was rather cute in Alice’s perspective. The little black creature scurried up the street, turning the corner that led to the station plaza. “Was that a…heartless?” She gasped and ran after the suspected creature.

Alice sprinted after the little black creature, she wanted to see it and touch it. She flew around the corner, into the Plaza, but instead of seeing her target, a strange boy dressed in black stood on the brick before her. She skidded to a stop, her shoes scraping on the ground. Alice didn’t think the boy before her was the heartless she had chased earlier, from the stories she was told they didn’t shift their form. The only thing she knew that could change its form was the creeper nobodies Alice had seen at the old mansion, a few times before.

A small form lat just beyond the mysterious boy, it was crumpled and lying in a pool of red liquid. It was a body! Alice’s eyes widened with shock, “You killed him…,” she gasped. She had seen that boy drawing on the plaza’s bricks many times before; he was always so nice and was one of the people she liked to watch. But surprisingly to Alice, the boys death didn’t hurt her as much as she thought it should have. The boy was gone and nothing could be done about it, his family would suffer in grief but she could not turn back time, she had another problem to deal with at the moment.

“Who are you and what have you done to the boy?” Alice growled, pulling two medium sized knives from her pockets. Her posture shifted to defensive.

Alice felt a chill run up her spine as the boy turned his gaze towards her; he was void of any emotion, but that chill was replaced with heat as Alice flushed at the mention of her indifference to the boy’s death. “That’s a lie,” she hissed, Alice did care about the boy, he was someone she watched, but deep down the mysterious boy’s words struck home. Alice hadn’t cared that the boy was gone for the sake of the boy’s life; she only cared because he was someone to entertain her. “How can you say I don’t care about humanity, I am Human! And so are you. I also happen to like existing, for your information.”

Her rant was cut short however by a commotion in the background. Out of the shadows surrounding the dead child, emerged a very large creature, much larger than the one she had chased to the plaza. Despite its menacing features, Alice couldn’t help but feel a sense of wonder over come her as she stared at the heartless, it was amazing. The creature roared and set its haunting yellow eyes on her. Alice shivered involuntarily as the boy asked if Alice would save the human boy turned heartless. Alice grit her teeth, “I can’t even if I wanted to.” She spat “My weapons can’t kill the heartless, only key blades can”. Alice grew up with the stories of the key blade masters, and had long ago come to the conclusion that she would never be one, but coming to terms with her situation did not mean she didn’t resent it.

The heartless wanted to kill her, and she could do very little to stop it. Even her spells wouldn’t be very effective. “Now what,” she growled to her self, gritting her teeth, “the best idea would to run, but I can’t just back down.” A plan formed in her mind and she set it to action. “Fire!” she yelled, sending the balls of flame towards the creature, hoping it would distract it long enough for her to get away.

Lock looked like he wasn't fazed by Alice's words. This girl was different from the rest of her kind. Her view on life were like Locks but mixed up a little. When she cast fire, hooded boy seemed to step back. An image of a boat on fire, popped into Lock's head. Lock started to explain to the girl. " So you think your human? You haven't released that yo-" Lock was interrupted by the arrival of something dark.

The heartless returned to Lock's side, as if he were the poor thing's master. As the crazed man roared about the attack, the heartless slowly moved right next to Alice. Seeing the huge fire made Lock a little nervous, but he pushed the fear back inside him. This girl was different from the rest, she saw knew how humanity was useless weather she realized it or not. Lock would bring her to the truth.

As the fire moved toward Alice, the heartless pushed it's legs down then jumped up. The fire and the heartless mixed into a shadowy and fiery explosion. In a dark kind of way, it was stunningly beautiful. By sacrifice of a heartless, Alice remained untouched. Lock appeared right next to Alice. The sound of his chain hit the ground, as Lock pulled off his hood. " Misunderstood like the rest of us hun? I can tell what you want in life. It's to kill and cause chaos." Lock said staring into the man's eyes. Clearly this man was powerful. Yet the man's weakness was obvious, he was to rash and didn't think before he acted. " If you joined us." Lock said, dragging Alice into the mix," I could let you destroy civilizations, causing chaos were ever you wanted. Imagine bringing a world to it's knees." Spoke Lock. Lock walked forward and reeled his chain back into the dark void in his back. Walking forward, Lock was in between the man and the girl. " Or you could just kill us here and then what? You would have missed a grand opportunity." Noted Lock.

Turning his gaze to Alice, Lock started to bargain with her. " And you, your stuck her in a dull place everyday. You see how people are. Their lives are meaningless. Is it fair that your stuck here, while those key blade masters go and hog all of the fun?" Lock walked over to Alice and looked her eyes. Lock's eyes appeared to be dark holes. They were very hypnotizing. " Is it fair for you stay here. If you join me, you could rule over these people." Said Lock as he turned away from her. Lock opened a portal. " What I offer you is a chance. A chance to get what you want. A chance to strike back at those who have dishonored you. If either of you wish to join me. Enter into the rabbits hole into a land of wonder." Said Lock walked into the portal. His emotionless voice still could be heard." Or stay here and kill each other. I could careless." The chalk drawing on the ground was now black from the dead boy's transformation into a heartless.

((Exit to the world that never was:Fragments crossing.))

Grae pulled out his pocket watch and peered at it; the ever-present smile that he wore when he left his house widen a little in irritation. Giving the watch another quick glance, Grae gripped the orb and slid the watch back into its place. The little runt was late, ‘Probably getting something to eat…’ Grae assessed as he rolled the orb back and forth in his hands. Recently, there had been a strange rumor among the heartless that had been hanging around the darker parts of the alleys near the flower shop--someone resembling Mother had been spotted…but at what location and how long ago was unknown, until now. There was a specific heartless, a rather large winged one, who would have more answers--but to get to him, Grae would need a middleman…who was now 47 minutes late. Grae started to walk.

Making his way through the alleys was one way Grae knew he would be able to run into the familiar face of his ‘friends,’ the heartless. Finding Mother was chief priority--he had dawdled for nine years now and it seemed a better time than any to seek her out again. As Grae mulled over how he would persuade the middleman-heartless to obey, there was quite a racket coming from somewhere in the middle of the street.

Popping his head out, Grae was able to see a peculiar sight: there was what looked like an angry man, a black portal, and a cringing girl. ‘In situations like these, males usually come to the aid of damsels in distress, huh…’ thought Grae, but it didn’t seem as though anyone would be coming out of their houses at this time. The sun was nearly set, just about time for hungry children and heartless to emerge and search for some food--Grae would have just left the scene as is, he had more important things to do, had it not been for what the girl had stammered. She was trying to escape a heartless? Surveying the scene, there was a small limp figure lying on the ground some feet behind the girl; a soft, pungent smell was carried with the wind--split, fresh blood.

It looks like my suspisions about lunch were correct...could this be where his informant was last? Now Grae was angry--his lunch break was over an hour ago and his middleman was possibly killed. This was setting him back from finding Mother. He would take the girl and see if she had been able to talk to the--‘Ah, but people don’t talk to heartless…Who cares, it looks like she’s getting picked on, and I know exactly how that feels…a tactful retreat is in order~’ Grae rolled the Darkness Orb over towards the pair and initiated Extraction. Amist the confusion, Grae was able to grab the orb, take the girl and scurry off, taking the back roads to the Flower shop.

Upon arrival, Grae sat the girl down next to the Oak leaf and Fennel bouquets and started the process of closing down shop.