"Hey, Jackie, have you finished with the repairs on the teacup ride yet?" Mary's voice asked from a small distance away. My back ached horribly as I remained slumped over the edge of the teacup with my head aimed at the center of the gently sloping form, utterly exhausted and unable to continue any longer as the blood rushed to my head but I didn't care. At least this proved I could still feel anything at all; this Afternoon Time Change was lasting forever … and the damages just kept piling up. Even though they fixed themselves within a few Time Changes, it still costed the Amusement Park money … something Gowland doesn't really think about. "Sweetheart? Where are you? Weird, I thought she was fixing the teacups right now," Mary muttered to himself as his feet made the metal floor briefly ring with his steps.
I slump down a little lower, touching my head to the bottom of the ride as I try to ignore the clanging of his feet. So tired … but it wasn't Night yet. My eyes shut, feeling my heavy body beginning to drift off. Ugh … not yet. I can't sleep now.
… eep.
Hm? My eyes cracked open, seeing the world spinning as the voice reverberated in my mind. Who was that … in my head? Heavier and heavier I slumped down against the ground inside the teacup, slouching deeper as the heaviness of my eyelids began to be too much.
Sleep … go to sleep.
The voice said again, making my eyes narrow. That's … Nightmare, wasn't it? But what did he want? He's never … really contacted me since I got here. I let out a faint moan, trying to force my eyes awake but a large warm presence gently engulfed my body, making me fall into the sweet embrace of the darkness despite my weak struggling.
Slowly the weight on my limbs lifted, allowing my eyes to crack open before I spied Nightmare's face hovering close by and cheerfully grinning. I stared at him for a bit before sitting up, rubbing my eyes. So weird … I felt like dead weight moments ago and now I'm totally fine.
"That's because this is a dream, Jackie." Nightmare explained with a cheerful smile as I stood to my feet, glancing around the wide open space. There was a room full of black mist, unnerving her a bit as she frowned. Well, this wasn't creepy or ominous looking at all.
"Is it?" Nightmare said, seeming a little surprised as he looked around, "well, I suppose it is a little dreary looking the first few times."
"Absolutely it is," I said, finding myself a little irritable and uneasy. He's never really checked up on me before so what's the special occasion? I stare up at the incubus, studying his floating form. Only on a few occasions have we met and they were often brief. Most of what I knew of the incubus was hearing from Alice how annoying and cryptic he could be. Alice wasn't afraid of him and, personally, he annoyed me. His lips frowned, seeming bothered before I remembered, "oh yeah, you can read minds, can't you?" I asked, feeling a bit awkward. Well, at least she always spoke her mind so it's not like it's any different. He was more than welcomed to read her thoughts since she didn't care one way or another; rather, it made it easier to talk to him.
"Awe, that's a nice way to think about it." Nightmare said with a cheerful smile as I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to think of a way to leave.
"Why are you here, Nightmare? You interrupted my work." I admonished with a stiff frown.
"Not true. You were already falling asleep." He teased with a smile, "all it took was some coaxing and you were out like a candle light."
"Coaxing or not, I don't really have time to be sleeping. I need to finish working on the teacup ride and it's dangerous to sleep on the job." I frowned; especially around machinery, but since I'm inside the teacup I will be fine. (maybe she can add that is dangerous to fall asleep while among machines?)
"See, you'll be fine." Nightmare smiled, "but why are you working yourself to exhaustion? Why not take a break?" Nightmare offered in a rather carefree manner, making a faint growl arise in my throat. He took notice, glancing over at me and bracing himself.
"Unlike some lazy incubus who has nothing better to do than pry into the business of little girls, I actually have work to do." I snap at him, seeing him take the blow rather well before he let it slip off his back with a pout.
"I do too work. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean I don't work." He teased with a grin, floating down beside her while smoothly smoking on his long handled pipe.
"Hmm … Alice has often told me you like to bug her when you don't want to work." I point out, seeing him flinch slightly, "since Alice was busy, did you decide to come bother me instead?"
Nightmare looked a bit paler for an instant "Yes, she is ... ehem, quite busy." He took his handkerchief and wiped some blood coming down from his nose. I could not help but roll my eyes; that meant she was having personal time with Blood. "But that's not the main reason I'm here. As you said. I haven't visited you a lot and I wanted to get to know the Intruder in Alice's game better."
"You've had almost 2 months to do so." I point out, feeling an aggravated vein in my head pulse. But why the sudden interest? I couldn't see why he would come bug me even if Alice was busy.
"That's because I'm the almighty ruler of the country of Clover and the dream realm. I do have a lot of work to do." He explained while doing a pose to enhance his words.
My eyes grew a little wider, puzzled before remembering what Alice told me about her stay in Wonderland before she came. "Alice mentioned a Clover Country before and how there were other countries besides Heart Country here in Wonderland. And you're trying to tell me that you, a dream demon, is a ruler over one of them?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow, struggling not to burst into laughter.
"Of course I am!" Nightmare's chest inflated a bit. "Wonderland has various countries. But unlike Hearts, where the ruling party is at the Heart Castle; in Clover there is the Clover tower from where I rule and it's neutral. You'll see in time"
"But you're a dream demon. Don't you only exist in dreams?" Jackie asked, now wondering if Nightmare really did have a physical body. And if he did, would he look the same? What if he was actually quite ugly and only made himself look gorgeous in the dreams? The thought made her snicker off to the side and grin to herself.
"Of course I exist in real life and I look as the same as I do here! I just happen to also be a dream demon and actual ruler of the dream realm too," the incubus boasted. "But … ," he grinned, "I'm so glad you find me so gorgeous and handsome." He said, striking a relaxed and cool pose with his pipe while smiling with his white teeth flashing. The nearly blinding scene hardly made me blink. I've seen too many handsome men to be shaken.
"Everyone in Wonderland is, it's not really an accomplishment anymore." I immediately stated, seeing him take the hit rather hard in the head as I grinned. He's funny, at least. "But seriously though, why are you here?"
"Still you like it." He smiled quite childishly "I just wanted to talk to you. Honestly. I can only do it through dreams until we are in the same country."
"Yeah, I do." I admitted but my smile was bitter. Yeah right; no one really wanted to talk to me other than the fact I was another weird foreigner. Most people loved Alice, leaving no room for me until my game started. And obviously Nightmare wasn't an exception. I paused, remembering he could read minds as I shoot him a side glare that appeared more hurt than I meant.
He remained silent for a couple seconds, "and will you really like it when you get to be the star of the game and everyone loves you?"
"I'd be able to start my game so I can leave faster. That's what I'm eager for," I admit without any reservations, "I just need to wait for Alice to finish hers before I can even start. It's frustrating." I sighed with a stiff frown and creases in my forehead.
He nodded and crossed his arms with a thoughtful hum, "it seems you haven't gotten fun in Hearts at all. Don't you find anything you like in this world?"
"Not really." I admitted, "the Amusement Park is fun and all but that's just about it. Other than that I really don't care all that much." I said, surprising myself by how aloof I actually was about leaving Wonderland. Getting attached to anything would just make it more difficult to leave and she had no desire to stay in Wonderland where her life was on the line more often than she liked.
"How cold. You so easily discard everyone." His pipe appeared out of nowhere and he began smoking. "But that is fine. Everyone here is disposable and easy to repair after all. So maybe you are fitting along better than you think."
"Hmm~ it's that mindset that makes me want to leave more." I deeply frowned. People being disposable … that's one area Alice and I had in common. Thinking that everyone can just be replaced is almost disgusting. How was I supposed to care for anyone when they were under the impression that they are disposable? Even the workers at the Amusement Park often joke about their own demise and not seem to care about it at all. It … bothered me.
"Isn't that your sme mindset too? You are so eager to dispose of everyone, their feelings and even their memories. Clearly no one means anything to you at all, so it's the same." He exhaled the smoke and it became a little ship that sailed away. "Maybe it's even worse because you are disposing of it beforehand." He looked her straight at her, "how unfortunate, because then your vial won't fill up."
" … yeah, I figured that's how it worked," I heavily sighed, rubbing my forehead. This is going to get annoying, even when it does become my own game. I would have to build relationships with everyone and really start caring about them. However, if that's what it took, then I'd do it with a stupid smile on my face.
"How cruel. It pains my clock," he half joked without real humor, taking a new pull of his pipe.
"Honestly, if it's going to be psychological torture talking with you all the time then I seriously want no part of it. I'm already torn as it is." I snapped at him in irritation. Knowingly or not, his words hurt pretty badly. I didn't want to admit just how sensitive I really was to all of this and he's yanking my problems right up in front of my face to look at.
"Psychological torture? I just want to have a nice conversation!" He pouted, "have you ever considering that speaking about what hurts help the pain go away? "
"Usually ignoring them is fine until someone throws it in my face." I frown, realizing just how stubborn and stupid I sounded. Ugh … I really do have problems. My heart ached as I rested my head in my hands, trying to dispel the strong aching.
He let go of the smoking instrument that remained floating at his side as he crossed his arms and pouted again "I'm not throwing them at your face. Your problems are always in front of you, but if you don't look at them then you're gonna crash with what's in front of you." He then looked at her, seeing her visibly getting more upset and began waving his hands, "calm down! I didn't mean to be so harsh! I just don't speak with a lot of people!"
"Why don't you just go bother Alice? I don't need to think this deeply about my troubles until it's actually my game, right?" I snapped at him, letting him feel the wrath of my already irritable state. "Right now I just need to wait it out for Alice to finish her game, which I honestly don't see coming anytime soon." She huffed, rubbing her head again.
He took a few steps back with his hands in front of him. "Calm down, your game will most likely come soon enough. I told you she is busy doing 'that', didn't I?" A new small trail of blood came out of his nose and he wiped it again.
"I hope so." I said, finding myself getting more and more annoyed. I don't have time to sleep, I need to wake up and keep working. "Nightmare, wake me up. I need to get back to working. Mary was calling for me before you reeled me in."
"I think you need a rest. You have been overworking yourself, have you not? I have a feeling you getting very sleepy even though it is the middle of the day for your weird foreign decisions to sleep only at Night. That's also one of the reasons I wanted to check on you." He stood his ground.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Once I tucker myself out I'll be out like a rock." I say, waving off his concern, "I'm just still getting used to the weird Time Changes. It's really messing with my internal clock." But she knew that it was simply impossible to adapt to them. People from her world had evolved to a stable cycle of night and day, if after so many months she hadn't been able to adapt it was clear she would never do. At least she had been coping with it and so far it hadn't messed with her work, so it was fine.
"Maybe you should tell Mary if you need to sleep." He looked at me carefully.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I can't really sleep during the day anyway since the light keeps me up." I noted with a shrug.
"And yet you just did so." He said quite lightly
"You called for me." I countered.
"You were going fall asleep anyways. I hardly had to do anything"
"Ugh," I heavily sighed, giving up the useless argument, "yeah, so I was tired. I don't really feel like waking up to whatever Mary might be doing." I said, imagining him freaking out about how I wasn't waking up but that's only because of Nightmare. I'm sure he's shaking the hell out of me now trying to wake me.
"Then do you play here for a while? I can be great company." He beamed, snapped his fingers and the place turned into a dreamy set of scenery in the clouds fill with rainbows and shining stuff.
My eyes widened, startled at the scene as she looked around in shock. Whoa~ this was beautiful! Everything looked so real down to the last little touch! I knelt down, feeling the fluffy cloud under my hands; it felt more like cotton than anything else.
"Of course everything is of excellent dream material. I'm the ruler of the dream realm. I take great pride in the sceneries I can create." He looked excited about this with his eyes shining like a little kid's, "and I can take you to anywhere you want in here or even help you change yourself." He snapped his fingers and a pair of wings appeared on my back without me noticing.
"I'm sure, but what happened to all of the busy work you said you do?" I asked with a grin. "I still suspect you're just using me to distract yourself." I tacked on, suddenly hugging a big armful of cotton fluff and burying my face into the cloud, humming at the comforting warmness of the weird cotton cloud. A weird twitch on my back made me turn, jumping as I saw the black wings on my back, moving how I wanted them to. Whoa~ cool! I jumped to my feet, flapping the wings a bit and raising off the ground for a small jump before shakily landing again, finding herself smiling quite widely. Wings?! This was so cool!
"Work can wait!" Nightmare proclaimed loudly and floated by her side.
Oh so tempted to take him up on his offer, my mind screamed yes before I took a deep breath, calming myself, "no, no I really can't right now." I sighed, glancing back as the wings disappeared.
"Why not? You are having fun, aren't you?" A sad expression appeared on Nightmare's face but he quickly hid it.
"Yeah, but work comes before fun." I said, "and I need to finish work before passing out on my own bed." I lightly laugh, longing for that moment to come but knowing it wouldn't be until the Night Time Change.
"But that's so boring!" He sighed, then he smirked again quite widely ,"then promise me we'll hang out as soon as you go to sleep."
"Hmm~ no." I grinned, seeing the heartbreak in his eyes. "I want a nice, long and restful sleep tonight. I don't want to be bothered." I shrugged.
"Your body will still rest quite well. You'll see as soona s you wake up."
I stared at him rather openly, recalling all the complaints I've heard from Alice about Nightmare, how he threw up blood way too often and the way he talked was annoying, which I totally understand but maybe hanging out with him won't be the worst.
"Boo~ no need to think so cynical of me." He grinned. "I'm simply quite happy at the events to soon come. Plus, we can speak more later tonight" He smiled more sincerely, making me anxious.
"What are you planning?" I suspiciously ask, hedging back a bit as he drew nearer.
"Just remember that it is all for your happiness, Jackie." He sweetly smiled, cupping my jaws as he tilted my head up. His piercing light silver eye gleaming mischievously. Then it all started fading.
My eyes cracked open, looking up at the ceiling of the medical tent and seeing Boris staring at me with a worried expression before perking up with a wide spreading smile.
"Hey, you're awake!" He cheerfully grinned, tightly wrapping his arms around me with a small purr as he tightly squeezed with a smile. I frowned, puzzled as I looked around the room in confusion.
"Why am I in the medical tent?" I asked, seeing Gowland standing beside the bed with a relieved smile.
"You fainted while working on the teacup ride, sweetheart. I was startled finding you sleeping inside one of the teacups and you wouldn't wake up. Are you feeling alright?" He asked, setting a hand against my forehead.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just … ," I trailed off, debating if I wanted to tell them about Nightmare or not. Were the other Role Holders aware of him? They had to be, right? "Hey, do you know a guy named Nightmare at all?" I asked, seeing understanding click behind Gowland's eyes as Boris put one of my hands on his head, trying to make me pet him.
"Yeah, he's the dream demon," Gowland said before his eyes narrowed, "he didn't make you fall asleep, did he?"
"Dream demon … not a really fitting title for someone who throws up blood." I sighed, completely understanding why he was called that; he was such an arrogant jerk bringing up my problems I don't want to look at. The mere thought made my head fall into my own hand while the other rubbed Boris's ear. Ugh … well, aren't I mature, not wanting to face my problems just yet.
"So he did make you fall asleep." Mary concluded with a frown, "what's he thinking, making my engineer pass out while on the job?" He huffed, folding his arms together and looking away in annoyance as Boris looked away, something else catching his eye - or rather, ear - before he cheerfully trotted off.
"Well, I was already on the verge of passing out anyway," I admitted, rubbing my aching head, "but, I'm feeling better now. I'll go ahead back to work." I grinned as I hopped out of bed.
"Oh? If you're tired then go rest," Mary suggested with a grin, "go ahead and sleep, I'll take of the rest of your work," he offered but my head was already shaking.
"I'm fine now, really! I want to work until Night and then just drop dead asleep." I grinned back in eager excitement.
"Alright, if that's what you want." He laughed, "I'm so blessed to have such a diligent worker!" He grinned, patting me on the head as if I was a little kid. If it was anyone else, I would have shoved him off but it was fine if Gowland did it. Secretly, she really did see him like a big goofy dad, something she never really had. So it was nice to be spoiled by Mary every now and then. But, enough of that.
"Thanks-," I started to say before we heard a loud voice.
"GOTCHA!" Boris shouted as a loud thud slammed into the ground.
"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" A loud voice shrieked in horror from right outside the building.
"Is that-?" Gowland started, his eyes briefly flashing in recognition before he raced out of the room.
"Hold on, Gowland?!" I shouted, chasing after him outside of the building before spotting a flash of green. A hard presence slammed into my chest as I flew back with a scream, automatically hanging onto my assailant as I received a faceful of sunflowers. "GACK!" I shouted, spitting out a few petals to the side as I looked up, seeing the bright green eyes of a startled looking Role Holder. His brown furry ears twitched, catching my attention as I stared right back at him in confusion. Weird … I've never seen this Role Holder before.
"Oh? Who are you, chu?" He asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion.
"I-I could ask you the same thing." I countered, wondering briefly where all that horror from before came from.
"HEY!" Boris shouted, making the Role Holder over my freeze up with a mortified squeak. A knife's blade pressed against his neck, making the mouse tremble with shock as he slowly turned with a paled face. "You're my dinner, rat." Boris viciously grinned before, with a loud shriek, the Role Holder took off running with Boris in hot pursuit, abandoning the sunflowers. Holding one of the sunflowers up, I tried to get a better look at the mangled flowers.
"Um … Gowland, who was that? And why did he have a bunch of your sunflowers-," I started to ask, seeing him staring at the running duo with worried shock over his face. "Hey, Gowland, what's wrong?" I asked, standing up and picking up what was left of the sunflowers. Did that Role Holder pick them from Gowland's garden? " … Mary." I stated in a stern voice, seeing him pause before looking back at me.
"O-Oh, sorry sweetheart, I was just thinking." He said with a suddenly carefree grin, "I'm just surprised a move is happening so soon." He toothily grinned.
"A move?" I asked, baffled. "Are you moving or something?"
"Of course not, silly." He laughed with a grin, "I'm just wondering what country we'll land in this move." He grinned rather characteristically, "come on sweetheart, let's take these back to the garden. The seeds can still be useful." Gowland said with a slightly strained smile.
"Yeah, sure." I said, handing him most of the sunflowers before walking with him through the park. My eyes wandered around everywhere, drinking in the warm and fun atmosphere of the Amusement Park as I cheerfully trotted beside Gowland. It's been awhile since I've been able to walk around with Gowland; it's nice just to get some one on one time with him every now and again.
"Hey, sweetheart," Gowland started, glancing down at me with a softer smile, "wherever you end up after the move, be good, alright?" He broadly grinned.
"What are you talking about? You're acting like I'm going to go somewhere." I said, feeling a little unnerved but too happy to exactly care at the moment. Gowland stared a little oddly at me before letting out a hardy laugh.
"What am I getting worried for? You'll be just fine!" He laughed, rubbing the top of my head again as I shoved the flowers into his face, making him stagger back with a coughing laugh from the pollen.
"Take that, flower attack," I teased, picking up the flowers he had, "I'll go ahead and put this in the storage shed by the flowers while you go get some work done."
"Yeah, alright. Goodbye, Jackie, my engineer," Gowland said with a rather pained smile before he turned around, trotting off without another word. A snicker slipped past my lips as I walk a little faster, eager to get back to work. Although my body was still heavy from sleep deprivation, I didn't want to go to sleep until Night came along. And … I slowed in my steps, frowning in annoyance.
I really, really don't want to see Nightmare again. He was a cheeky little dream demon who was more annoying than scary. The more I think about him the annoyed I get until I raise my leg, kicking the door open to the shed and stomping ahead inside before throwing the sunflowers down harder than was meant to. That jerk … bringing up my problems I don't want to think about at the moment. Where does he get off in invading my dreams and trying to casually strike up a conversation? He's hardly ever bothered with me before so why in the hell does he even care?! Everyone only cares about Alice so who cares about the Intruder of her stupid game-!
Nightmare's stupid, snarky grin flashed across my face before I grabbed one of the sunflower stalks, strangling the already dead flower to let out my annoyance and absolutely murderous intentions before, with a hard breath, I dropped it and raised my hands in surrender.
"No, no you know what, I am not going to lose my head over this. Why? Because I am a responsible and able bodied adult, unlike Nightmare who doesn't even have an actual body!" I raved to the air, shaking my fist, "so he can go ahead and, and just suck it for all I care! I am not going to keep getting mad over him anymore, the s-stupid dream stupid idiot!"
With a deep inhale I stopped, lowering my hands with an exhale. Just … relax. Nightmare isn't here and he's not going to be. He can't bother me at all while I'm still awake so the reasonable option to do is just not sleep. That way he can't bother me and he can't annoy me either. The mere childish thought made my head hang in shame, realizing my pettiness. Ugh … I'm actually more childish than he is. The obvious realization made a heavy sigh roll off my chest.
"WHATEVER!" I shout loudly in annoyance, turning back around towards the shed before kicking it open and leaned forward before my eyes burst out of my head, seeing a forest a few feet down rather than a cobblestone path.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" I shouted in shocked, fumbling forward and out of the tree headfirst. My arms shot out as a desperate attempt to save myself before landing on the ground hard on my chin, clicking my teeth together and biting my tongue, feeling my spine curl back over my head in a scorpion position. A bruising pain through my chin sent a freezing shiver of agony through my body before I slumped over, holding my chin and mouth while letting out a pained whine. Ow … ow, ow that hurt … h-how the hell did that even happen?!
My eyes, full of pained tears, cracked open as I looked up at the door to the shed, staring at it before it slowly shut and remained closed. The metal taste in my mouth was horrible as I spat it out, licking my tongue and feeling a hot cut in it from biting it. Ow … my ringing head ached as I stood up, looking up and around the strange forest.
"Who would put all these doors out here?" I asked out loud, looking around the trees and finding various doors of shapes, sizes and colors surrounding me entirely. What sort of builder would put all these doors out here like this? Do they serve some purpose? Or is this some kind of territory I've never been to before?
Open me
I sucked in a fast breath, whipping around at the sound of a strange, unisex voice. Who-
No no, open me!
Another voice shouted as the aching in my head worsened. I staggered back, looking around at all the doors as a barrage of voices began overlapping and speaking over one another, making my head spin in aching confusion. W-Where in the hell am I?! My legs staggered as I quickly began running down any path in front of me, trying to escape from the voices inside my own head. Ugh, it hurts-!
"S-Scary-!" A voice shouted nearby, making my head turn before the same green coat wearing Role Holder burst out of the trees, making my eyes widen, "SCARY CAAAAAAT!" He shrieked, stumbling before running right into me. We both tumbled back, falling onto the ground before the mouse shot up, breathing hard and looking around the forest before letting out a shaky and relieved sigh. "Ah~ thank goodness I got away." He breathed before smiling, hugging the few surviving sunflowers in his arms.
"H-Hey, get off," I growled, seeing him perk up and look down at me in confusion.
"O-Oh … sorry," he said, still not moving as he tilted his head, "who are you, chu?" He asked again, appearing to be thinking hard as I patiently waited for him to get off of me but he never did. He instead sat there thinking before tilting his head with his ear twitching, "you … your clock … it sounds weird." He said, baffled as he leaned down and stared intently at my chest.
"Well, yeah that's because I'm a foreigner." I explained, seeing the light behind his eyes light up with surprise.
"R-Really?!" He cried before smiling broadly, "I-I'm so lucky! I found you before anyone picked you up!" He happily smiled, hugging her tightly with his ear against my chest. "I-It sounds so cool!" The little boy happily smiled as I sat up, tempted to pry him off but his genuinely happy smile made me stop and just stare at him. How old was he, like 14 or 15? He was still a kid. With a huff I sat back, giving his back a firm pat while letting him take a good listen. I wondered briefly if I was the first foreigner he's ever seen before. "Hey, hey your heart sounds different than Alice's." He said, seeming confused as his ears drooped. My smile immediately fell at the mention of Alice. Well, clearly he's met Alice before. Oh well; he seemed like a bit of a scatterbrain so that worked to my advantage.
"Hey, you're a Role Holder, aren't you?" I asked, seeing him look up and innocently blink, "what's your name?"
"Oh! You're interested?" He asked, seeming touched for some reason.
"Well, yeah. I want to get to know you." I answered, seeing his eyes glowing brightly with happiness.
"Y-You're the first person to say that-!" He said, clearly overwhelmed with happiness as his eyes begin to well up. "You're so nice! Here, a kiss!" He excitedly smiled, lunging forward and pressing his lips against mine. My eyes burst open, shocked at his forward demeanor before he pulled back and instead happily hugged my shoulders surprisingly tightly for a young boy. "My name is Pierce Villiers! Let's be friends!" He happily cried as his tail lashed from side to side.
"U-Uh … yeah … um," I started, thrown off my game rather terribly as he happily hugged me without any sort of reservations. He paused, seeming to have remembered something.
"Oh! I almost forgot, I need to go meet Nightmare. He promised to let me sleep a whole Time Change if I came during the Night period!" Pierce excitedly grinned as I stared at him incredulously. Nightmare did?
"Nightmare?" I asked.
"Yeah! He's really nice, he doesn't bully me like the others do." He cheerfully smiled.
"You mean, you met him in a dream, right?" I questioned, having a rather unsettling feeling about his answer.
"Nope! He lives at Clover Tower." Pierce cheerfully smiled, "it's so nice sleeping there, I can sleep for almost a whole two Time Changes without worry." He lightly blushed with a very, very happy and satisfied smile. "He gives me super happy dreams too~ so nice."
A small strain in my head almost snapped at the comment of Nightmare being nice. She doubted he was actually genuinely capable of it. But if he lived somewhere, did that mean he had an actual body? Now this I had to see. "Let me come with you. I want to talk to him."
"Of course, chu!" He grinned, kissing the corner of my jaw before jumping up, helping me to my feet. "It's this way. Hopefully we don't run into a scary cat." Pierce childishly smiled, holding my hand rather tightly as he trotted off with me in tow. "Yay yay yay~ I picked up something cute today!" He happily rhymed. I ignored his little chanting, instead looking forward to seeing if Nightmare actually had a body. Would be be different looking in person than in his dream? Maybe he actually looked like an ugly monster in real life to reflect his personality. I chuckled at the thought, actually looking forward to seeing him now.
MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW
"Nightmare~!" Pierce cheerfully cried, bursting into a large room up ahead as I stumbled down the hallway, utterly exhausted. Why in the world did Pierce take such a backwards way?! We literally climbed in through the basement, got up to the attic before making our way down the stairs and back up them again, taking a crazy elaborate way to just get to Nightmare's office on the second floor of the building?!
You could have just used the elevator. His voice spoke within her mind, nearly making my heart stop. He can talk to her while she was awake? That's … creepy. Yeah, creepy. Her head dully pulsed, aching a little bit. Oh, sorry. Those are aren't used to my presence often experience headaches when I speak.
"Then stop talking," I huff, picking up my pace towards the large doors Pierce went into. Would Nightmare be giant and hulking and gross looking? Maybe with lots of warts like a witch? Or maybe a giant beak nose? My grin grew larger at the entertaining thought, whipping around in front of the doors before freezing, seeing Pierce happily crouching down besides Nightmare's desk and looking up to the incubus while he coolly leaned back in his chair, smiling rather dashingly with his pipe in hand.
"I told you. I look just as good if not even better in real life than in the dream realm." He set his pipe aside "From your lack of thoughts and words I think I just exceeded your expectations, didn't I?" He gave a pull to the pipe and turned his head to expel the smoke in a fancy mannerism.
" … disappointed, actually." I heavily sighed, annoyed he was this good looking in real life as he was in the dream world. Oh well, not everything turns out satisfying, I guess.
"You are disappointed at my good looks? You are weird but you are foreigner, so it's fine." He passed his hand to his hair and set the pipe aside to lean his chin over his hands "Anyways, you are finally here."
"Yeah … I guess." I said, not understanding what he was meaning by that or how this Clover Tower suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I walked inside towards the desk with my gaze locked onto him. In all honesty I was hoping he'd be ugly to match his ugly personality.
Nightmare let out a small chuckle. "The tower didn't appear out of nowhere. It's always been here, there simply was a move." Then he huffed, "come on, my personality is as great as I am." He smiled as Pierce sleepily laid his head on his desk, smiling in happiness at something unseen.
The sights outside of the window caught my attention as I slowed down and took a good, long look outside at the strangely thicker forests. That … looks different. I walked over to the window without answering, looking around in shock. Whoa! Even the Town looked completely different. I didn't really pay attention to anything since we took the back way into this weird building but everything almost looks … older? Even the architecture of the town looked different. Did something happen? An unsettling feeling spread out around her gut. I have a very, very bad feeling about this.
"I just told you. There was a move. You are now in the country of Clover." He then pouted, "you shouldn't ignore the words of the Lord of this country so easily when I'm trying to explain things to you"
"Gowland also said something about a move. What does that mean?" I questioned with a more panicked gaze. W-Where … where was the Amusement Park? Her heart dropped like a bowling ball into her gut as she searched the reorganized country before her, her heart racing in panic. W-Where was it?! It should be to the right of Heart Castle bu-but it's not there-?!
"See, you still ignore me," he crossed his arms and looked away with a childish pout "Now I won't tell you until you ask me properly"
"I'll throttle you." I threatened, imagining his neck to be like that stalk of the sunflower she strangled earlier, "don't mess with me when it comes to my Amusement Park, Nightmare." I dangerously threatened with sincerity behind her anguished and furious words.
"Ok ok ok! Geez!" Nightmare waved his hands frantically, "I'll say this for the third time, so pay attention now, will you?" He took a deep breath to make a dramatic silence, "you. Are. In. The. Country. Of. Clover" He said slowly, word by word "Before you were in the country of hearts. With the move, you arrived into the Country of clover. And since it's a different country, there are different territories, except for the ones that did moved here too. Right now, there is the Hatter's territory and the heart castle that also moved, but instead of the Clock tower you now have the pleasure of being in the Clover Tower. And instead of the Amusement park, there is the Forest of Doors." He explained while observing her cautiously.
" … what? But, but I didn't move at all! I went through a door and fell into a sea of trees with a bunch of random doors on them!" I snapped at him. How can the Amusement Park just disappear from a country?!
"Wonderland simply brought you into the move" Nightmare shrugged "If it serves, you should know that Alice is still in Hearts."
"T-There's no way a territory can just up and move!" I shouted, feeling my face go pale. I-I have to check. It's still there, it has to be! There's no way I could have already lost my second home-! I quickly turned, heading towards the doors quickly.
Nightmare blinked, "eh?oh, isn't it so in your world? How weird," Nightmare sighed, deciding to let me vent. Before I was out of the room, however, his voice rang inside my head, when you have calm down, I'll still be here to answer your questions.
I began running down the stairs, blowing past workers quickly as I headed for the main doors. Making a quick turn I run headlong into someone carrying a mountain full of paperwork, scattering the papers but without a glance back she continued running.
How can a territory just up and leave? Gowland, and the other workers, my apartment, my violin, my home-! My legs did not stop running all the way through town, feeling the emotional struggle in my heart beginning to physically ache while my legs never stopped. Just tell me this is a lie! Tell me this isn't true! I have handled everything Wonderland has thrown at me, gunfights, mafia gangs, a crazy queen, a gloomy Clockmaker, everything and now Wonderland is trying to take away the Amusement Park?!
My legs came to a staggering halt in front of the massive expanse of a forest where the Amusement Park was supposed to stand. N-No way … but, but how is that possible? It just, just up and left? Just like that? My legs gave out, dropping me heavily onto my knees. The bruising pain did not make my gaze waver from the forest in the least. But … the Amusement Park was here, it was just here! I was just there! How can it be gone?!
Glass clinking against the cobblestone path sounded as my Potion of Hearts rolled in front of me and out of my pocket, making my eyes grow wide as I spotted the beginnings of the liquid inside of the bottle. M-My game … shakily I reached forward, picking up the vial and stared at the contents; before it was empty, and now, it was starting to fill up? A rock slammed into my stomach as I gasped in fright, leaping back and watching the vial roll between two crevices of the rock and smugly lay there while I stare at it in horror.
… Oh balls my game has started.
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Woohoo~~ never thought you'd see the day when I write a Nightmare x Jackie pairing, huh? Neither did I! 10 REVIEWS to find out what happens~
Chaos-Dark-Lord helped me a lot with Nightmare's scenes so thank her! She's awesome!