(I think I've kinda written the ending enough so I'm just gonna upload these chapters rather rapidly. Considering I usually only post like once a week. xP There will prolly only be one more chapter after this, or else a fourth chapter will be really really short.)
The spotlights flew across the stage in random directions to the beat of the pounding music. But Alice only focused on her moves; the faces of the audience were all a blur to her, and she danced as if no one was watching. Her hips swayed, her arms swung, and she spun as her hair swirled around her.
And then she stumbled.
But someone caught her.
Which was strange, because her teammates were not at her side in that performance. Why was that, she suddenly wondered. It all made sense when she looked at the person who caught her: the familiar purple queen.
"Wh-why are you here again?" Alice asked. The music came to a halt, the audience faded into black, and then it was obvious: she and the queen were in Alice's dream.
Queen Zukin pulled Alice back on her feet. "That's not how to greet someone who just saved you." The music began to play again, and the audience reappeared. They were cheering the two of them on as if nothing went wrong. The two girls danced instinctively and mirrored each other's movements.
Despite the return of the music, Queen Zukin continued to communicate with Alice. Her voice was at its normal volume but managed to drown out the music so Alice could hear her. "I'm here to tell you something about that surgeon guy. I visit his dreams sometimes, but they're never any fun anymore."
A few dramatic turns later, she caught her breath and continued. "I wouldn't even call them dreams; they've turned to nightmares. When you wake up, you need to find out how to get them to stop."
Alice also spoke normally. "Um, you can change that, though, can't you?"
"Of course I can!" she responded quickly. "But these kinds of recurring dreams are usually caused by something bad that happened outside his dream. Those outside factors are things that my powers can't fix. So you have to fix that!"
"Why me?" she asked.
"I have my reasons, don't question me!"
"But... I can't do much," Alice doubted aloud. "He doesn't want to talk to me about it, and I don't want to bother him... I don't even know how I could help if I don't know what's going on."
Queen Zukin glared at her. "That's no excuse. Especially not when I could give you an idea of what's going through his mind."
Alice blinked. "What do you mean?"
"If you want, I'll show you his dream."
"Isn't that an invasion of privacy?" Alice asked nervously.
"Do you want to help him, or not?"
Alice took a few dance moves to ponder the question. They ended the routine with a victory pose and the audience cheered. While the crowd shouted, Alice faced the other woman and answered. "I'll go."
"That's more like it," the queen said with a smile. She clapped her hands and the light intensified so much that Alice had to shut and cover her eyes.
When she opened them, she realized she was in another location. The room was dimly lit, and it took her a few seconds for her eyes to readjust. As she regained her vision, she tried to take note of her surroundings. She was in a room about the size of her bedroom, there were tools well organized on shelves, the floor was tiled... and then she saw the back of a surgeon and his female patient, which united everything together. She was watching an operation, she concluded, and if she looked closely at the hair tucked beneath a cap, she could see that the doctor was Zero.
Worried about how noticeable she was, she looked at herself. But when she brought her hand up to her face, she couldn't see it.
"No one can see or hear us," she heard Queen Zukin's voice say. "Feel free to look around."
Though still in doubt, Alice tiptoed around the room. She listened to the soft beeping of the heart monitor on the side as she tried to get a good look at Zero from the front. She veered her sight away from the opened patient and tried to look at his face.
She was surprised. Just from looking at his eyes, he seemed no different than he was in real life; calm, focused, and quiet. He was emotionless, yet he sincerely tried to do his best to save this person. She could see so much in his eyes, so much she had been unable to see before.
If things were going so well, though... why was this deemed a nightmare?
Alice turned around and looked through the observation window and her eyes widened. There were tons of faceless spectators watching him. She couldn't see it, but she could feel the intensity from the other side of the wall. They were afraid, probably for the life of the sleeping patient.
Beeeeeeeeep...
Alice gasped and turned around. Zero stood there in shock with his hands pulled away from the body in fear. He looked through Alice and at the window. The people were crying and screaming out of hate for the seemingly incompetent surgeon.
Zero took a few steps back and Alice ran behind him as if the sea of people could see and hurt her. She shut her fearful eyes tight.
And once again, someone grabbed onto her. Queen Zukin (she assumed) had pulled her out of that dream and to somewhere safe.
It was then when Alice woke up abruptly. She took a few deep breaths, for her heart was beating faster than normal.
But it wasn't the fear of the mob that stood out to her in that dream. Being in his dream allowed her to understand what he was going through, and those feelings were what put tears in her eyes.
