"Wanna do a small job for me while Jack is working?" Gowland proposed.

"Sure. What is it?" I accepted. Why not? He was offering me food and a place to sleep; this job will be a good way to repay him. And I didn't want to just wait for Jack, doing nothing. I'd rather be effective.

"Simpler than that doesn't exist." He stopped a faceless employee passing by. She was going to take my bags to my room. I gave the lady my bags and she left. I followed Gowland to another section of the Park, full of roller coasters and scary attractions. Clearly not for me. I hoped he wouldn't make me test one of them... It was probably a delivery job of some kind. Or to run a simple errand. He stopped beside a double-looping blue and green roller coaster.

"Zoe, this is Ace." He said, pointing someone I hadn't noticed before, sitting on the ground, tied up to a pole supporting the attraction, his sword a meter away. Wait. What on Earth was Ace doing here? And tied up??? What was going on?

Ace lifted his head and smiled.

"Yo, Zoe! How's it going these days?" he said. I was too stunned to talk. Why did Gowland do such a thing?

"He was wandering in the Park and wouldn't leave. I told him to stay at one place and that we'll show him the way, but he protested and got lost again. So I tied him up--- with the help of my employees--- so he wouldn't leave and scare customers away. A sword isn't good for business," explained Gowland, ignoring Ace.

"I was only trying to get to the Clock Tower! And a journey isn't any fun if you get help."

"Anyway, you are going to escort him to the Clock Tower... Or anywhere else than here. I have more important things to do than take care of this idiot." He sighed. "Be careful that he doesn't get you lost. And don't worry about your security: Ace here is an excellent swordsman."

"Huh... So I only take him to the Tower than I come back?" I asked. This was a weird job...

"Yeah. You can even leave him before. I don't care. Just get him outta here."

"O-okay..."

"Great! See ya later kid!" He lastly said before walking away, abandoning me with Ace. I looked at the knight. He was grinning, like it was crazy fun to be tied up then kicked out of a place. What a weird guy. I didn't understand him. He was even more carefree than me.

"Could you untie me?" he asked. He gave me a sign of the head, pointing the weapon beside him. "Use my sword."

I hesitated but still picked up the blade and cut the back of the ropes holding Ace. He broke free and stretched himself. I gave him back his sword and he put it back at his belt.

"Thanks for that. Even if I hate asking for help, let's get out of here, before the old man kills me."

I nodded and started my task.

It was a disaster. I had to keep my eyes on him at each second, and each time my gaze left him, he would leave me for another direction, thinking it would be faster that way. I had to stop him and argue till he followed me. Until he left me again. At each turn, he would fail to take the good direction. It was ridiculous. I thought he was doing this on purpose, but he was so convinced that his way was the right one that I knew he only had reaaaaalllllyyy bad sense of orientation. Worse than me. Like a million, no a trillion times worse.

By miracle, I managed to drag him out of the Amusement Park. I thanked the gods of this world for this great achievement that I had managed to do. I was really tired psychologically after this. Unfortunately, Ace hadn't lost his enthusiasm and his energy.

"Wow, so we managed to get out!" He exclaimed happily. I suppressed the urge to face palm myself. We could already be at the Clock Tower now if he hadn't change directions at each five seconds.

"Of course we did." I said as I sighed. "Do you always get lost this badly?"

"Before, it wasn't so bad... But lately it has worsened." He shrugged. "But I don't mind journeys. They're always fun."

"I see." I didn't see anything and I didn't care. He was hopeless. "Then could you follow me till we get to the Tower?"

"Sure, but you know, I know all the shortcuts to get there. You should follow me."

"You cannot get out of the Park alone! How can you even think you can get to the Tower with your sense of orientation?!" I was getting really tired of this. No, I already was.

"I just remembered why I was in the Park in the first place!" He continued happily, ignoring my complaints. Well, maybe he saw them more as advices than complaints. But he wasn't the kind of person who listened to advices from others. "I had to do a job nearby... But I ended up in Gowland's territory." Deep sigh. That doesn't surprise me at all. I wonder why...

"Anyway, let's get going." I ordered, taking him by his sleeve and pulling him forward.

"We might have to stop. That job is very important." His tone was now so serious that I stopped and stared at him. What might be so important? His face was dark for a second, then brightened up when he smiled at with his normal happiness. Oh well. I just hope he concentrates on the path and does not go away.

We continued walking in direction of the town. Because of I don't know which god, but I seriously might start a cult of him, Ace stayed on the path and only once went away. I appreciated him waaaay more now that he stopped getting away. Ace chatted with me.

"Zoe, you HAVE to meet my buddy Julius! He's just like you!" He said after a couple of minutes.

"Like...Me?" What did that mean?

"Yep. He doesn't talk much, and he takes his job very seriously. And he's really nice when you get to know him!" A big smile expanded on his lips. So Julius was his best friend. It was funny because they seemed to be complete opposites. I guess they completed each other. I smiled back to Ace. He seemed to like Julius very much.

We continued talking. Ace was very nice and was obviously used to be with people that didn't talk a lot. I wondered if I would like Julius. No one had told me anything bad about him yet, which was good. Jack said he was antisocial, but I guess I could be described as such too, until someone gets to know me better. I was probably the same thing with Julius.

Then Ace invited me to the Heart Castle, which invitation I did not accept nor refuse. I was a little scared of the Queen and her beheading tendencies. And I wasn't sure about Peter either.

"Maybe later," I told him.

"Great! I'll invite Alice too. Peter is dying to see her." I didn't answer. Did Alice want me dead too? Would she attack me? Ace didn't know about the incident with Blood, I realized. I didn't want to talk about it so I just continued to walk in silence.

I realized about a minute later that Ace had disappeared. I quickly turned around and saw a piece of his cape disappearing in the forest. I ran after him, screaming his name. He was not getting lost again! Not after all my efforts!

But it was I who got lost. I had run in the direction I had thought he had gone, but Ace was nowhere to be seen. I was surrounded by big trees and I couldn't remember which way I had come. Everything was the same in that damn forest!

It was so ironic. I sighed deeply. "Okay, I need to calm down," I told myself. I took a deep breath, chasing away the envy to cry out in despair. This was too much. "No, I must calm down. Try to remember how to get back." Easier to say than to do. I did not recognize any of my surroundings, so I started walking in a random direction. Not long after that, I heard gun shots, screams and metallic sounds near me. What was going on? My curiosity took over my reason and I went closer to the noises.

I hid behind a large oak tree. In front of me was a glade, filled with people. A smiling golden masked figure wearing an old beige cape stained by what seemed like blood was fighting with a sword a gang of faceless with guns.

About half of them were lying on the ground, blood all over them. They were dead...? It was too cruel to be real, but I knew that in this world, values weren't the same. I remembered the Bloody twins and Alice fighting in town. Blood trying to shoot me and Jack, without any explanation, almost killing my friend. The way Elliot had casually used his gun to catch the attention of a maid. All that attacking and shooting had been real. This was too. It was as if life wasn't important in this world.

A faceless man screamed when the sword of the masked man slashed trough him. The masked man was still smiling. What made him so happy about killing?! I looked away for a moment. No one from the fallen was moving. They were all... lifeless.

Who had attacked first? The gang? The unknown man? Who was defending, who was attacking? Why so much death? I couldn't answer to any of those questions that popped into my mind.

I closed my eyes a second form the gruesome fight and opened them again, hoping it was all a bad dream. But it wasn't. Jack had told me to stay safe, and what do I do? I get myself into another fight. He couldn't come save me now. All depended on me now.

"I have to get out of here," screamed my rational part of my brain. But I couldn't go away. My body refused to move. My eyes couldn't unlock from the battle. A part of me wanted to know what was going to happen. The other part wanted to stop them, but it was impossible to do so without being killed. So I watched.

The masked man was slashing and spinning rapidly, and the faceless continued to fall down. The man was capable of stopping their bullets with his blade, and pierced the shooters right after they shot without hesitation. It was horrible. A carnage. Then I realized something way more terrible.

I had already seen that sword, decorated with small hearts.

I knew that happy smile.

I heard Gowland's voice in my head: "...an excellent swordsman..." A chill ran down my spine. I felt my body freeze.

The masked man was Ace.