I sat on the bench with my friend. I looked at him: his hair had taken much more of an orange tone; the blond was almost all gone. He had decided to let his hair grow. He had changed so much since he had become a role-holder! Now he had a face, and two beige fluffy rabbit ears were standing on his head.

"So how do you like your new job, Elliot?" I asked to my childhood friend.

"It's more tiring than anything, really. They don't trust me very much since I'm new, so I do errands and paperwork. Nothing too exciting," responded Elliot, a little discouraged.

"I would have thought working for the mafia would be a little more dangerous."

"Yeah, me too. But the only thing difficult is to find so free time to come see you. I always have something to do..." He sighed, but his face cleared up. "Maybe you could work at the mansion! Then we could see each other all the time!"

"I'm not sure... I don't really like to fight." I had turned 19 not long ago, and I worked at my father's bakery, and didn't want to work at the Hatters. To be honest, they scared me. Except for Elliot, of course.

"Hm, I see. But then we can't be together much... They always keep me so busy... I don't think they trust me a lot."He looked at his watch. "I'm sorry, I have to go," he said.

"That's fine. Just come back safe, okay?"

"I could say the same to you!" He smiled and went away, to the Mansion.

I blinked. I was in an office, decorated with clovers. Nightmare was sitting in front of a desk full of papers, arguing with another man. They stopped talking and stared at me. Nightmare smiled.

I remembered everything. Everything made sense now.

I was born in the Country of Hearts as Aislin Johns, a faceless girl living in Town. My best friend was Elliot, which lived near me. I had a pretty was normal life, until Elliot was claimed as the March Hare when we were 19 years old. He was now working with the Hatters, and we saw each other less and less, even if we still remained best friends. We lived like that till my 20th birthday. Then...

That morning, I had woken up quite early. I was impatient, because Elliot said he had the whole afternoon free to come celebrate my birthday. I was really excited. It had been such a long time since I had seen Elliot for a more than one time period! I had dressed myself in normal clothes and went to the bathroom. There, I saw my reflection. It wasn't the usual me that was reflected. I had now a face. I was reminded that Elliot too had woken up like that, when he became a role-holder.

I panicked. Completely. No role-holder was dead, at my knowledge. Then what was happening to me?! I rushed out of my house, my parents still asleep. I had to see Elliot. Only him could understand and help me. I had ran to the Mansion, and entered by the unwatched gates. I didn't know where the Twins were, but I didn't care. I had to find Elliot.

But I got lost in the huge territory and found myself in a pretty rose garden. I was surprised by two people, a man with a top hat and beautiful woman in red. The two were role-holders, but I didn't know who they were.

"What are you doing here, young lady?" had asked harshly the man.

"I... I'm searching for Elliot," I started, desperate, "Please, I really need to see him now."

"... I see." He had answered before showing me the way to the Mansion.

"Thank you so much," I had thanked. I did not know who he was, but I was grateful.

I found Elliot soon after, walking in a corridor. I had run to him and started crying.

"Aislin? What are you doing here? What happened?" He had asked, enlacing me to comfort me.

"I... I don't know! It just... I don't know!" I had cried. Then he had noticed my face.

We went out of the Mansion, back to Town. It was too dangerous to stay with the Mafia, when I wasn't part of them.

We had sat on a bench, and I had slowly calmed down.

"I'll go get you a hot chocolate, okay?" Elliot proposed. "It will make you feel all better."

"No... Don't leave me..." I pleaded.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you. Remember my promise," he had reassured me. But the second he had turned around a corner, people came out of their hiding places. There were Hatters along with soldiers of the Queen. I was surrounded. No escape was possible. And I had no weapon on me.

So they shot me. It was the worst pain of my life.

And when Elliot came back, I was lying in the street, slowly dying. It was too late. I was going to die. Nothing could save me from the blood loss.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Elliot, rushing towards me. Everything was blurry in my mind. I remember he took me in his arms and cried.

"I couldn't protect you... I promised... but I couldn't..." He kept repeating the same things over and over again. My vision was slowly becoming darker and darker.

"Please...des...troy...m...clock...don't... ant...to...forget..." I articulated with my last breath.

And everything went dark.

"I died," I whispered to myself.

"Indeed you did," said a voice in front of me.

I looked up. To Nightmare.

"But...How...?" How was I still alive? That wasn't possible!

"You are special kind of role-holder, Zoe. Or should I say Aislin. You are the rarest role-holder that exists in our realm: the Traveler. You belong at the Amusement Park, like Jack. But if the Cheshire Cat connects places using doors, you can travel between worlds. Like here, the Country of Clover." I had changed countries? Then Nightmare did not live in dreams. He lived at a real place. Interesting...

"If normal role-holders get replaced when they die, the Traveler, however, does not. It is always the same person, getting always the same role. So if the Traveler dies, her clock gets repaired, and she starts a new existence as a normal faceless, till she reaches 20 years old. Then she becomes a role-holder. Only few of the present role-holders know about your existence" He made a pause, to be sure I understood. Then he continued.

"But when you died, Elliot destroyed your clock. He went to jail, because we can't simply kill role-holders for that. If the Traveler could not live again, it would be a disaster. So Julius worked day and night on your clock, to repair it. It seemed impossible, but he did it. Since your clock was no longer broken, security on Elliot was less strict, permitting Blood to help him escape, resulting in Elliot becoming a loyal second-in-command."

"Then I had an idea," continued the dream demon,  "To be sure you would survive long enough to assume your role again. I send you, when you were reborn as a baby, in the other world. I gave you a heart, and a face. Time was going much faster there, so I used Jack, who wanted a friend, to get you back here when you were old enough. Then you began your journey as an outsider, the goal being to make some allies and friends. And the rest of my plan worked perfectly: Jack made you drink the Medicine of Hearts, unlocking your memories and changing back your heart into a clock," finished Nightmare. "Oh, I forgot." 

He made a move of his wrist and suddenly I remembered my previous travel in the Country of Clover.

"You erased my memories!" I screamed, angry. He was manipulating me all that time! And Jack too! I could have died plenty of times because of his stupid plan! "We are not pawns! You can't manipulate us like that! Do you have any idea how painful it is to get your heart changed back into a clock?!"

"It was all for you, dear Traveler." Nightmare came closer and lifted my chin to his face. "Don't you think I should get a reward?"

"Are you expecting a kiss?" I snapped back, "Sorry to disappoint you, but as you know, I'm not an easy girl."

And I traveled back to the Country of Hearts.