Grrr, so short. I'm sorry I didn't write much in the chapter. A temporary writers' block, you see, and it's the kind that will take forever to pass if I don't just get this done with. Not to mention, this is in the middle of my English final. My teacher showed the class a power point on a type of persuasive essay we've never seen before, gave us our prompt, and said, "Now write that winter final!" like it was a piece of cake. It's not all too bad, but even writing this fanfic isn't as therapeutic as it should be. So in short, I'm being lazy. But hey, have a little sympathy. It's not easy to get a 4.0 grade with the classes I have.

Okay, rambling done. Now here's the super short chapter. Note the obvious cut corners. Again, I was lazy.

Oh, maybe not the chapter yet. I almost forgot: questions, comments, and suggestions are still welcome. Also, I know Blood's personality has changed more than just a little, but that's 'cause of Alice. Not that he was broken hearted about the JuliusXAlice couple or anything, but still, she taught him a lesson (so to speak).

Hatter Mansion

Tara was seated on a plush couch opposite of Blood, the twins – Dee and Dum, as she had been told – and Elliot – which was the bunny-man's name.

"Tea?" Blood asked.

Tara realized that there was a silver tray on a coffee table between the couch she sat on and the man's gold chair - Tara was fairly sure it was made of real gold. On the tray was an assortment of cookies, a few empty teacups, and a teapot.

"No thank you," Tara answered tentatively. She didn't want to be rude. After all, those twins still had their axes in their hands.

Blood looked a little disappointed at this answer. "As you like," he said.

The room Tara was seated in was luxurious, but that was more of an understatement than a description. The few hallways and rooms Tara had seen into were all equally grand. It sure looked like these guys preferred the finer things in life. There seemed to be no theme to any of the mansion, except 'expensive'. However, most of what wasn't priceless jewels and rare metals had a color scheme of black and red. Which meant there was a lot of velvet and dyed silk.

"Where's that idiot incubus?" Elliot growled impatiently.

"You're the idiot," Dee told him.

"Yeah, stupid newbie-chickie-hare!" Dum added.

"Hey, it's not my fault Blood decided to fire all of the faceless servants!" Elliot defended.

"Speaking of which…" Dum began.

"…does that mean we can get a raise?" Dee finished.

"No, but you can get a paycut if you'd like," Blood answered calmly.

"No fair!" the twins complained.

Just then, a man – I'm guessing that's Nightmare? – walked into the room. He had slightly longish silver hair, though it wasn't anywhere as long as Elliot's shoulder-length hair. He looked to be in his early twenties at oldest – way too young for his hair color to be natural. He was wearing a black jacket over a white shirt and tie. What's with the hair dye color? Most people want to dye their hair so that it's not gray!

The man looked in Tara's direction and smirked. "Yes, I am Nightmare. And about my hair – well, let's just say I'm special. The color is completely natural."

Tara's eyes widened as she stared at the man in shock. Glancing around at the others, she noticed that none of her companions were surprised with Nightmare's seemingly random outburst.

"Wh-how…" Tara began.

"Yes, I can read your mind," Nightmare said. "I told you I'm special, did I not?"

"…"

"Moving on," Nightmare announced, "there are some thing's you'll have to know about this place. This is the Country of Hearts, but you can just say 'Wonderland'. Isn't that easier? Yes, it is. There are different territories here in Wonderland. Here, the Hatter's mansion is the home of the Mafia. The amusement park is run by a crazy old man who thinks he can play a violin - if he ever offers to play for you, run. Also, there's the castle of hearts, ruled by Vivaldi. There's also the clock tower, but it's neutral in the power struggle, so it's boring. Did I mention the three other territories are in a power struggle? Well they are. But you don't have to worry about that – you're a foreigner, not from this world, so everyone will love you wherever you go. And you're in the game, so you'll have to stay here for a while before you go home. Have fun! I'll see you in you nightmares!" Nightmare chuckled to himself as he walked out of the room.

Tara was still silent. All that time, Nightmare had been rambling unintelligible nonsense.

"What was he talking about?" Tara asked.

"I guess I'll explain," Blood sighed. "I never should have expected Nightmare to use his brain long enough to explain your situation to you fully, anyway."

So it was up to Blood to explain the wonderful wonder world.

I told you I cut corners, didn't I? Yeah, but do I really need to explain Wonderland to you? I mean, you probably wouldn't be reading this if you didn't know.

I won't be so lazy for the next chapter, I hope.

Thank you for your time.