Welcome back to another chapter of my story~

Laughing, incessant laughing. That's what she heard as she entered the dark dream realm. Still there was no Nightmare in sight. She needed to talk to him but how would she ever find him?

"He won't be here, you know." A man said. The laughing had stopped.

"W-who is there?!" Alice yelled out, twisting around.

"Aw, Alice. Don't tell me you have already forgotten me." The man whispered in her ear. She turned once more to find the grinning man from her previous dream.

"The…. Jabberwock?" She asked, only slightly remembering. A chill ran up her spine as he chuckled.

"So you do remember me." He laughed, brushing his dark hair out of his face. "I feel so special to have you remember."

"What is this? What are you playing at?" Alice asked, looking him up and down. She got a better look at him. He had black hair that was combed forward into his face which was pale. His eyes were dark and hollow as if there was nothing there, no emotion. The only sign of emotion in the man was the large toothy grin.

"Playing? This isn't the game. No- this is the dream realm. The game is played in the real world where your physical body is. Not here." he chimed. "I play no game. Not even the game to capture your heart. I hold no interest in a woman like you."

"Well that's good to know." She said, sourly. The man pursed his lips. That was not the answer he intended to hear. "Where is Nightmare?"

"Nightmare? That old fool? Why, he is at the amusement park."

"Oh god, please don't tell me he is-"

"No, no, my dear. He isn't the Cheshire cat. I wouldn't grant him that lazy fate that he dreams of often. No. I wouldn't give him the pleasure of that job. Nope. He is the owner of the park."

"You… Are you saying you did this?!" Alice yelled, angrily.

"Did what?" he asked, mockingly. "You don't even know what I did and you don't even know what I could do." He was right. She didn't know what he did if he even did it, although by the sounds of it he did do it but how? She would need to speak to Nightmare. All the clues lead to Nightmare. When she wakes up she will head to the park for answers. "Ah, today has been fun."

"Fun? You think this has been fun?!" Alice yelled, angered.

"Well obviously not for you… but it has been extremely fun for me. Ha ha ha!"

"I don't understand how you can take such pleasure in this…" Alice spat.

"Well you don't need to understand. Now go do whatever it is you need to do. I have grown bored of this conversation and your presence." He sighed, waving her away. The darkened dream realm started to fade away into the darkness.

~x~x~x~

Once more, Alice's dream was left a little fuzzy when she woke up. Her memory of the dream was already fading. She remembered she needed to find Nightmare at least. And Nightmare was at the… amusement park. Then she remembered the Jabberwock. She told herself it might be a good idea to remember him. To speak to Nightmare about him.

As Alice sorted through her dream to try to force herself to remember what needed to be remembered she found something was off. She fell asleep on the couch, right? Then why was she in a bed? After spending a few moments thinking about it she figured it had to be Julius. The man could be so caring and kind if you got to know him. Alice wondered if he was still working on papers and decided it would be best to check on him. He cannot take care of himself, or so she thought. When she went to his office it was dark and nobody was inside. Maybe… maybe his room? Alice was curious and went to find his room. Sure enough, there was the new mafia boss in bed, sleeping. She smiled softly and quietly closed the door behind her. She needed to leave now. It would be a long journey to where she was going considering the amusement park was back in Hearts where the mansion is in Clover.

~x~x~x~

Elliot was working diligently on his work when Alice had arrived. She told him that things were even more screwed up than previously thought and said that Blood was missing. Elliot was slightly worried but could not leave his job to find his former boss. Vivaldi was, of course, yelling at the faceless workers. She even threatened to cut off their heads, but they only laughed at her because in her current position she cannot order such things.

When Alice entered the clock tower she was slightly relieved. Until she heard the sounds of a dying cat. She quickly ran into the clockmaker's office and found Gowland trying to play his violin.

"Gowland! What are you doing?!" She yelled over the screeching noise. It stopped when Gowland noticed the blond.

"Alice, what are you doing here?" He chimed.

"Gowland, don't you have work to do?" She asked.

"Nope."

"Nope?"

"Yep. Got it all done."

"… done…?" Alice paused for a moment. How could Gowland, a struggling clockmaker, have finished all the clocks when Julius would still be working and he was a master? Then she realized something. The hatters wouldn't be killing anymore. Julius didn't like violence. And Vivaldi, she couldn't order executions anymore. So people were not getting killed, or at least not as many as there had been before the change. "It's because of the change."

"The change? What do you mean? I thought this was only me and Julius." Gowland said, confused.

"G-Gowland… Julius isn't at the amusement park. He is at the hatter's mansion. He is the mafia boss." Gowland's eyebrows furrowed.

"Then who is at the park?"

"Nightmare."

"Then who took Nightmare's place?!"

"Elliot."

"and who-"

"Peter."

"And-"

"I don't know. I didn't have time since I was looking for Nightmare. I hope to get this fixed before I have to go to the castle." Alice sighed.

"Right."

"Well… if you are done with work would you like to accompany me to the amusement park?" She asked.

"Of course!" He chimed, jumping up quickly. "I want to make sure my-… I mean the amusement park isn't in horrible shape because of that lazy man."

Thanks for reading and please review. I love getting reviews. It makes me excited to type more on a story~