Slowly Alice stirred, her body screaming at her, drawing her consciousness awake. As she opened her eyes she was greeted to a world of smoke and flame, as debris from the explosion rained down all around her. While off in the distance she could hear the sound of people screaming, their voices distorted by the ringing in her ears.

Bracing herself with her arm Alice struggled to sit up, trying to ascertain her bearings. Below her a car sat, it’s roof completely flattened and it’s windows smashed, leaving shattered glass spread around her in a large area.

"Noelle’s going to kill me... " Alice thought, rolling her body off the car roof on to the tarmac below with a thud.

Alice lay spread out on the floor, her eyes trying to focus, their vision blurred and unsteady before slowly steadying once more.

"How many floors did I fall? Was it six? Seven? Either way, let’s not do that again..."

Alice continued, glancing at her surroundings, trying to locate the case. She knew she had fallen from the building with it, so she knew it couldn’t have gone too far. As she continued to search for it, more and more people arrived on the scene, some to gork and stare while others seemed to have other purposes.

"Ahaa! There it is!" Alice exclaimed, noticing the case, which had become wedged beneath another car.

She swiftly strolled towards it, the gathering crowd parting as she did so With no one wanting to get too close to the girl who had just survived both an explosion and falling several stories, with minor injury. Grabbing ahold of the case, Alice turned to quickly glance at the building, before disappearing into the backstreets of the financial district.

It was almost an hour later when she finally emerged from the backstreets, strolling casually through the packed crowds of the city centre, heart of the city and filled with numerous stores, restaurants and hotels. All around Alice the air sung, filled with the noise of a thousand conversations.

The main square of the city housed most of the cities largest stores, all crammed together within the large shopping complex, that towered over it’s surroundings. The buildings walls fashioned in soaring glass panes and cold steel beams, while countless neon signs blinked incessantly, desperately trying to grab people’s attention.

Alice sighed at the poor taste of it all. While the building itself wasn’t ugly, she couldn’t help but find the desperation of it all a little sad and pathetic. She swiftly turned her sights back ahead of her, continuing to push onwards through the thick crowd. Moment’s later her figure disappeared from the square, as she delved into the maze like system of small footpaths that made up the city’s oldest streets.

While Alice held no love for this city, she could not help but be drawn in by the beauty of these streets. Their uneven red brick pathways, misshapen and winding but filled with character beyond any towering monolith of steel and glass. All around her shops sat nestled into the alcoves and alleyways that branched off all around, their gloss wood signs holding a certain rustic elegance. Alice often found herself peering through the small blown glass panels, her eyes staring, fixated upon some small knick-knack within.

Slowly she wound her way through the maze, suddenly stopping at moments while skipping forward at others. Until finally, ahead of her a small store stood, it’s front painted black, shining in the hue of the late evening sun. Like the other shopfronts around it was made up of several interlaced panes of blown glass, while above a simple yet elegant sign sat, it’s golden lettering standing out even from a distance. This was her destination, the tailor shop Armure, run by Noelle and Alice’s current place of residence.

Quite casually Alice strolled into the store, the small chime above the door ringing out as she did so. Inside the store was littered with numerous manikins, each one adorned in some form, by a bespoke suit or elegant evening gown. Towards the back of the store a thick wooden counter sat, with several rolls of material draped over it haphazardly.

The store was in such a stated that if Alice didn’t know any better she might of thought it’d be robbed. Yet considering who worked here Alice knew she had no need to worry about such a thing. Scratching her head, Alice strolled over to the counter, halfheartedly wondering where Noelle and Mihai where.

"Mihai? Noelle!? You here?" Alice yelled, her voice somewhat exasperated.

In response, fragments of a heated conversation broke through from the back of the shop. Two voices, a man and a woman, Alice knew these voices well, and from the sound of it, it seem’s like Mihai was being yelled at again by Noelle. As the voices died down they were swiftly replaced by the familiar heavy footsteps, that echoed throughout the entire store.

As the footsteps drew closer, a figure of a man appeared from the back room, a melancholic expression across his weathered and aged features. Not that Alice could see much of his face, as most it was hidden behind his messy, unkempt hair and thick bushy beard. Only his eyes, visible behind his glasses could be seen clearly, shining dimly in the artificial light of the store.

"What’s Noelle mad at you about this time?" Alice questioned, seeing Mihai’s emotionless face.

"I got lost on my way back from getting the shopping... I took a left instead of a right apparently. I’m not even sure there was a right turn to make there mind you..."

"Mihai, your sense of direction is dreadful... that and your bad luck..."

"Don’t remind me."

"What was it last time? Didn’t some idiot try and rob you just after you’d lost your wallet in the canals?"

"Yes, except it was a group of thugs, not just one guy. Noelle was so pissed at me for ruining my suit as well," Mihai sighed, remembering the painful experience.

"So apart from her usual fiery demeanour, how is our auspicious benefactor?" Alice wryly remarked, rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Same old, same old. Though she’s probably going to lose it when you go in there. As from the look of your clothes, you’ve been up to your neck in something stupid, haven’t you?"

"Can never fool you, can I? No matter, the problems resolved and I got away scott free."

"Sure you did. Now just don’t go dragging me into it whatever you do... I’ve had enough of her tantrums for one day..."

"Roger, understood and all that jazz. I’ll leave your poor and delicate self out of this." She sarcastically replied, heading into the back room as she did so.

The back room was even more of a disorderly mess than the front of the store, with only a thin strip of floor being visible between the stacks of books and half finished clothes. While countless pieces of loose fabric and off cuts littered everywhere in between. Alone, in an oasis of neatness at the other end of the room a woman sat. Her legs lay stretched out on the desk in front of her, while her head hung in her hands. Upon hearing Alice draw closer the woman turned, facing Alice with a cold stare.

"Is that a new eyepatch Noelle? I really like it, the flowers suit you," Alice quipped.

"Stop talking about my damn eyepatch! What the hell... Or where the hell have you been?"

"Nowhere exciting really... Just went for a bit of a walk."

"Going for a walk made your coat look like that did it? Looks more like you got blown out of a building to me... wait! That’s because you did! You did get blown out of a fucking building, didn’t you Alice?" Noelle snapped back, her left eye glaring almost incandescently at Alice.

"How the hell? You been spying on me? Or did you just get lucky?" Alice Shot back, her brows furrowed.

"It’s all over the damn news you stupid girl... and while no one can see your face I’d recognise that coat anywhere. So what the hell have you done now?"

"Nothing much... Just stole this case from a guy, he wasn’t happy... things went south a bit so I had to improvise."

"Improvising... Which bit? The explosion or the fall? ’Cause both seem like another one of you’re happy little accidents to me, and what’s in that case? To cause that many dead bodies it must be something special."

"No, the really special stuff got taken by another party, I only barely managed to get away with this meager haul..."

"Other party? Who?"

"Ahaha... ahh no one in particular just some rivals I guess..."

"Alice..."

"uhhh... the Separatists..." She replied under her breath, hoping Noelle wouldn’t notice.

"The bloody Separatists! Fun-fucking-tastic, girl! What the hell is wrong with you!? Are you that damn adamant about pissing off every faction in town!?" Noelle exclaimed, throwing herself backwards into her chair in exasperation.

"Mihia, would you please take that case from Alice for me?"

"And Alice, just hand over the case...I really don’t want this to turn ugly in the least, trust me on that one..."

"Honestly Noelle... It’s no big deal, don’t worry about the case okay?"

"And Mihai, keep your hands off it! I don’t care what Noelle says I’m not giving it to her."

"Alice, just give me the case. I told you I didn’t want to be dragged into it and look what you’ve done..." Mihai sighed, edging closer to the cornered Alice.

"Fuck it!" Alice screamed, launching a vicious palm strike into the bottom of Mihai’s jaw.

Yet the old man didn’t even budge, his eyes staring at her indifferently as he spoke. "Come on, that was way out of place. You don’t want to hurt my feelings..." sighing once more as he clicked his neck.

Alice tried to step back but was unable to, glancing down she saw why as Mihai’s left hand sat grasped tightly around the handle of the case. Seeing this Alice shot a quick death glare at him, as she continued to pry the case away from him.

"Mihai... Let go would you! It’s not nice to try an-" Before Alice could even finish her sentence, Mihai’s free hand grasped ahold of her by the collar before throwing her backwards into the wall, pinning her there.

"Don’t be rash Alice, Noelle is right here, no matter how much you hate it." Mihai solomy replied, tossing the case over to Noelle.

"Fuck you old man! Get off me."

"Old? If you consider my age I’m middle aged at the worst.."

As the two continued throwing insults and retorts back and forth, Noelle placed the case down on the desk, flipping open it’s latches as she did so. Taking a deep breath she slowly pried the case open. It’s contents stunning her into shock, leaving only silence in it’s wake.

"Alice..." Noelle’s voice trembled, her voice quiet and mouth dry.

"How much is here?"

"Noelle..."

"How much... Alice?"

"...One and a half million, give or take a few thousand Marks."

"...God damn it Alice... How on earth did you think this was a good idea?"

"Well it sure beats working at Risha’s..." Alice replied, mumbling under her breath, desperate to avoid eye contact.

"Who was it? Do you know who you got this from? A name? Anything?"

"Why does it matter..."

"It matters to me. Only people with this much dough on them have the balls to pose a threat... and we both know I wouldn’t be able to do much about it, nor that bitch Risha. So go on, tell me everything you know."

"Fine... Fine. I don’t know much, just a couple of names. One was Samuel, Samuel... Jones I think. The other was an old raggedy man who went by the name of Mr Oliver, didn’t catch a first name, though I doubt it matters. As I’m pretty sure he got caught up in that explosion."

"Mihai. Ring any bells with you?" Noelle questioned, colour slowly returning to her face.

"I don’t know anything about this Mr Oliver character but I think Samal was the name of a mid-level enforcer and deal broker for one of the smaller groups. Important enough that this will cause some issues but luckily for us not important enough where we can’t leverage ourselves out of it. You’re almost as lucky as I am unlucky, you know that Alice?"

"Sure doesn’t feel like it..."

"That´s it! I’ve had it up to here with you! Noelle exclaimed, storming over and delivering a harsh slap to Alice’s cheek.

"N-Noelle?" Alice stammered, shocked at Noelle’s sudden outburst.

"Why can you not get the seriousness of this through that thick skull of yours! Can’t you just smell the danger coming right up? Alice, the last thing I want you to do is pull the same awful stuff I did in the past... people I lost, pain I suffered... you are like a little sister to me, you know that? Do you think I feel happy with all of this? With you throwing your life away like this!?" Noelle continued, tears streaming down from her eye, her beautiful face distorted into a blubbering mess.

"Well done on making the daemon boss cry... now why don’t you forgive her, hug her and make her something warm to drink, and I’ll shut up the shop for the night." Mihai suggested, loosening his grip on Alice’s collar, a wry and somewhat childish smile on his lips.

It was several minutes later when Noelle finally calmed down, huddled up in her warmest jumper, while sipping on a warm cup of coffee Alice had made her. All the while Alice continued to sit their, in dead silence, fidgeting awkwardly as she did so, unsure of what to say or do. She didn’t think Noelle would cry and seeing it had made her think she might have gone too far.

Noelle was the first to break the silence, "Alice?"

"Yeah..?" She replied sheepishly.

"Don’t ever do something this dumb or stupid again... okay?"

"No promises... but I’ll try not to."

"I guess that’ll have to do, you’re not one for staying out of trouble. Just do me a favour okay?"

"What?"

"Next time you decide to be this idiotic... tell me first."

"Deal."

"Well we’ve still got to resolve this mess first, so don’t getting all elated on me."

"Okay, so what’s the plan."

"Well you’ll have to give that money up for one thing."

"What the hell, I earned that!"

"No you stole it, there’s a difference. Even in our world. Just think about it as being a cost you have to pay to keep your head where it should be."

"When you put it like that... it doesn’t sound unbearable."

"I thought you’d say that. Anyway, we’ll have to go talk to Risha as well, as much as it annoys you and myself, she is technically your guardian still."

"No. No, no no. No. No! I am not going to see that psycho bitch."

"Psycho bitch or not, she’s our best point of contact to resolve the issue of getting this money returned."

"Fine... just try not to leave me with her alone for too long okay. I’m sure she’ll want to discipline me for all the hassle I’ve caused."

"If she does, you’ve only really got yourself to blame Alice..."

"Shut up."

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Okay. Don’t shut up."

"We’ll go see her tomorrow, okay? The sooner we see her the sooner we get this resolved."

"Alright! Fine, whatever. I just hope this is worth giving up one and a half million for."

"probably not but then again, you shouldn’t have stolen if from them in the first place."

"Okay. You can shut up again."

"Just because you know I’m right."

"Keep telling yourself that, anyway... I’m going to head to bed if you don’t mind, as from the sounds of it you’re trying to put me through hell tomorrow."

"It’s fine, I’ll head up in a minute as well."

"Okay. Night Noelle... and sorry about you know... being an idiot and whatnot." Alice responded, already having run half way up the stairs.

"It’s fine. And Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the coffee."

"Welcome, you weirdo." Alice muttered, chuckling quietly to herself, pushing the door to her room shut behind her.

Alice entered her own room and looked around inside. The inside area of the room was that the large but it was enough. With the space mainly being taken up by her shelves, covered in books, as well as a bed and desk. Apart from that not many things were there, it was a rather plain room.

Moonlight entered naturally from the lone window, but the light that night was terribly weak. Alice proceed to change her clothes without turning on the light, throwing her coat and jeans roughly into a pile in the corner. Afterwards she slipped into her night attire, it’s soft satin material feeling heavenly against her skin.

“Somehow here is the best place to let myself relax,” She thought, the stiffness from her body slowly fading.

Thanks to Noelle and Mihai, she knew she had nothing to fear in regards to assailants. Throwing herself down on the bed, a good feeling quickly enveloping her. Alice closed her eyes and gradually felt her consciousness getting blurry before slipping off into the realm of sleep completely.

Next Chapter: Underground