Bang! Bang!
"Why are you still here flea? Get your filth away from me!"
Mara laughed as she ran from the gun toting maniac Peter White, sending a few bullets back his way from her own gun. She collapsed in the forest, still laughing. Until, after a second she realized something. She now had no place to stay. Heart Castle was the only place she had been in this crazy world. She had a feeling that she would not be welcomed back. Damn. Now where to go?
She slept in a tree. It was definitely not the sort of sleeping place she was used to, but it would do. She had no desire to find another place to leech off of. The forest would be her home for now.
She was in a sort of void. She was standing on solid ground, but whichever direction she looked was just a mess of colours. Greens and purples and blues pervaded her vision. She blinked. She couldn't have seen what she thought she had seen right? Was that the garden at home? She had taken a step towards it, when she heard a voice from behind.
"Hello Mara."
She spun around. A man was floating in the air. He appeared perfectly comfortable with floating and not at all confused. She assumed he knew where this place was.
"That's right. I am Nightmare. Welcome to my domain."
Nightmare? What a silly name. But, she supposed, people give their children worse burdens to bear.
"You could stop reflecting on my name and talk to me."
She jumped. Somehow she had forgotten he was here.
"How do you know what I was thinking about?"
He laughed, floating in front of her. "Well my dear, I can read minds."
"Hm..." Mara was not really surprised. In this weird world of floating colours, anything was possible. In the dream outside of this dream anything was possible. It would be very difficult to find something surprising here unless you found a piece of sanity.
"You're ignoring me again."
She supposed she was. But, in her sleep like state, she didn't really care.
"Would you be more willing to listen if you were awake then?"
Mara nodded sleepily as the world faded to black.
She rolled over, and opened her eyes, just to see a face. She shrieked and jumped back. She felt her head hit the wall. Ouch.
"You're awake!"
The person who had shocked her was now sitting beside her, on the couch she had been sleeping on. He was the man in her dream. She blinked. That sounded ... Romantic? ... She didn't think that was the right word. Anyway, here he was.
"You're awake, now will you listen to me?"
She nodded. She doesn't like talking right when she wakes up; her voice doesn't work right.
Nightmare started talking. She listened, mostly. He said that the place they were was called the country of Clover, in Wonderland and that all were participants of the game, even her. In order to win the game, and go home, she had to meet the inhabitants of Wonderland, and fill her vial.
...Wait a minute...
What vial?
Nightmare smiled and handed her something. A vial? It was the container for the thing that Peter gave her. Where did nightmare get this.
"It fell out of your pocket on the way here."
She tilted the vial back and forth, looking at the few drops of pale blue liquid inside.
"How did I get here anyways?"
"Gray carried you."
As if on cue, the door opened.
"Master Nightmare, I hope you're working."
Nightmare bolted. Before Mara could register what happened, Nightmare was at the desk, frantically filling out paperwork. She stood up and stretched, turning towards the door. A tall man with dark hair and yellow eyes was standing in the doorway, staring at her. She blinked, and fought the urge to blush. She was a grown woman. A handsome man should not be able to make her blush so easily. After a second of eye contact, he spun around and deposited the large stack of paper on Nightmare's desk. Nightmare, who had stopped working to watch them, groaned.
"Nightmare, now is not the time for a break."
Nightmare pouted. The almost ever present childish tone in his voice heightened, making him sound like a whiny kid.
"Gray, introduce yourself to our guest. This is Mara."
The man, Gray turned towards her, giving her a glimpse of a black tattoo on his neck. A lizard?
"I'm Gray Ringmarc, the lizard. I work for Lord Nightmare."
Mara smiled. "Mara Milotte. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Do you mind if I ask, are you a foreigner?"
"I'm not from here if that's what you mean."
Mara found this man very easy to converse with. Just small talk with him felt comforting somehow.
"Hey, Mara!" Nightmare's voice tore her away from her thoughts. "Want to stay here, in Clover Tower?"
"Sure. I've got nowhere better to go, and I won't turn down an offer of lodgings."
Nightmare jumped out of his seat. "Awesome, I'll show you to a room where you can stay, and..."
"Master Nightmare." Gray detached Nightmare's hands from Mara's arm. "I'll show her. You need to work."
"But..."
"If you don't have this stack of paperwork at least half finished by the time we get back, no coffee for 10 time changes." With that, Gray led Mara out of the room.
"What are time changes?" Mara asked, following Gray down the hall.
"Each day is divided into day, evening and night. They happen at random and for indeterminable lengths of time." Mara nodded, "Ah. I think I get it. Is Nightmare so unlikely to do his work that you have to threaten him?"
Gray sighed, gently pulling Mara down a side corridor. "Unfortunately, yes. Lord Nightmare is a very unmotivated, sickly superior."
"I'm guessing you have to do much of his work for him."
He sighed again, raking his hand through his black hair. "I'm afraid I don't get too much spare time as a result of Lord Nightmare's childishness." He stopped in front of a door. "This room shall be yours for as long as you need it." He opened the door to a large room done in various shades of green. A king sized canopy bed was in the middle of the room, looking as though it were so soft you would sink all the way through.
Gray smiled. "Do you like it?"
"Of course, it's beautiful." Mara set her small bag on the oak dresser. "Thank you very much."
"I'll leave you then. I'll be back in an hour to fetch you for lunch."
Mara thanked him again then fell onto the incredibly soft bed. She felt herself drifting to sleep. It was pathetic of her, as she had just woken up, but hey, a nap couldn't hurt. And last night she had slept in a tree. That had to impact one's quality of sleep. The last thought she had was remembering to kick off her shoes. Then she fell asleep.