"Peter, who is this?" A woman sitting on the throne asked. Alice assumed she was the queen with how well dressed she was. The woman looked so elegant with her curled purple hair and red dress. The woman's lavender eyes watched the younger girl as Peter brought her before her. A crown could be found sitting on the woman's head.
"This? Oh, this is nobody really." Peter said, looking at Alice.
"Nobody? Then why do you hold her so close to yourself?" she questioned. "That is most definitely not like you, White. Is she a lover?"
"Lover? No, of course not." Peter replied, chuckling.
"Ah. Then it will be alright if we ordered her death." She smirked.
"What is she saying?" Alice whispered.
"Sirence." Peter ordered. "and you would have a guest killed?"
"We could say she was a trespasser." The woman shrugged. "Guards. Take her."
"IIE!*" Peter yelled, holding Alice closer. He pulled his gun and pointed it at the men who were ordered to take Alice from him.
"Then don't lie to me. Who is this?"
"This is Alice Liddell and she is an Outsider." Peter growled, glaring at the approaching men.
"Peter! What is going on?!" Alice yelled.
"Quriet. Ret me hander dis." Peter mumbled into her ear.
"An Outsider? We see. Guards, leave us." The queen ordered. The faceless men who were approaching the two abruptly stopped and left the large room.
"I told you. Now leave her alone. What did you need of me?" Peter growled.
"It was some papers. Send the girl over to us. We wish to speak to her."
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, you see." Peter smirked slightly. "She does not speak Japanese."
"Nani?"
"She speaks English."
"Eigo…?*"
"Hai."
"This is not good at all." She sighed.
"Luckily I know English." Peter's smile widened. "I taught myself how to speak it."
"You play the game very dirty, Peter. Making it very hard for anybody else to really play." The purplett chuckled.
"It's not my fault my love does not know Japanese." He replied, shrugging.
"What was her name again?"
"Arisu."
"Why did you just say my name?" Alice whispered.
"She wanted to know your name." Peter mumbled quietly.
"Tell her that our name is Vivaldi." The queen ordered. He sighed.
"She wants you to know dat her name is Vivarudi."
"Vivaldi?"
"Yes."
"That's a really pretty name…"
"What did she say, White?"
"She said your name is pretty." Peter grumbled. Vivaldi smiled slightly.
"Come. Let us talk more over tea in my garden."
~x~x~x~
"I hate dis." Peter mumbled as he sat at the tea table.
"What? Being a translator?" Alice asked.
"Yes." He sighed. 'and I want some alone time with Alice….' he thought to himself.
"Now then. On to a more serious question." Vivaldi said.
"NO! No more questions! I am tired and want to be alone with Alice!" The rabbit eared man growled.
"Fine then. We guess the question can wait. You may leave." She sighed, waving the two away. 'but we were going to ask if she wanted to stay here at the castle.'
"Come on Arisu. Ret's go to my room." Peter said, taking the girl's hand.
"Wha-? Why would I ever want to go to your room you pervert?!" Alice yelled.
"I am not a pervert." Peter said.
"I am not going to your room." she declared, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Prease Arisu. I swear I won't try anyfing," he begged.
"No."
"Can I at reast show you to your room?" He offered. She huffed out a sigh.
"Fine."
"Yay!" Peter yelled, taking her hand once more. He then began to drag her within the halls of the castle until they came to a door where he abruptly stopped and looked at it. "Dis wirr be your room."
"Um, okay." She muttered as she tried to pull her hand out of Peter's grasp. It was silent for several moments as they looked at the door.
"Werr, aren't you going to go in?" he asked.
"Aren't you going to leave?" She shot back, glaring at him.
"Fine, fine. I will reave." He muttered. His ears went down in sadness as he turned to leave the girl to her room. "Sweet dreams my rove…" he mumbled. She nodded before reaching for the doorknob and pushing the door open. The room was actually quite nice. A large queen-sized post bed with two night stands. The color theme of the room was red, but she assumed that the whole castle's theme was red anyway so she just ignored it. She sat on the bed and looked out the windows. It was dark out. This confused her as it was probably about noon when she went into the castle, right? Alice was tired anyway after this long and strange day so she did not argue with the sky. She quickly changed into her night gown and climbed into the bed. She was soon fast asleep.
~x~x~x~
"Konnichiwa," said a voice within Alice's dream.
"W-who's there?!" She yelled out. She was surrounded by dark, swirling clouds. She looked up to see a man with an eye patch. His silver hair glimmered even in the darkness.
"W-who are you?! Where am i?!" Alice yelled. The man smiled.
"I am Nightmare Gottschalk." The voice echoed within her head yet his mouth did not move.
"Y-you speak English?" Alice asked, tentatively.
"No, but by using my telepathic abilities I am able to speak to you via your mind." Nightmare smiled before floating closer to her.
"I-I don't understand." She mumbled.
"I am an incubus."
"Y-you're a-a dream demon?" she asked.
"I guess you could say it like that." he grimaced. "But I am an incubus. I can infiltrate your dreams and read your mind." He smirked at this.
"You… You're reading my mind?" She asked.
"Well it's the only way I will be able to understand what you are saying." He chuckled.
'If you can read my mind, Nightmare, then tell me. Where am I?' she thought.
"Physically or mentally?" he asked. "Physically you are at the castle in Wonderland; mentally you are here in my realm, the dream realm."
"So you can read my mind!" Alice shouted.
"I told you I could." He chuckled. "Now, we don't have much time and there is so much I need to tell you before you wake up."
"Tell me? What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well I doubt that lazy rabbit will tell you everything you need to know about Wonderland so I will take it upon myself."
"Lazy rabbit? You mean Peter?"
"Yes. Now, what do you want to know first?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Why am I here? I mean here in Wonderland."
"Ah, excellent question. Unfortunately I cannot answer it."
"And why not?"
"Moving on. You are an Outsider in this world. Outsiders are different than the people who live here in Wonderland. Here in Wonderland there are two types of people. Role holders, which are people with faces, and the common folk who are faceless."
"So… Those people without faces…. It wasn't my imagination? They really didn't have faces?"
"Yes. Now you need to be careful when traveling."
"Why is that?"
"Wonderland can be dangerous. It is currently in a power struggle and people wouldn't hesitate to kill you."
"WHAT?!" she screamed.
"the three powers of this place are struggling for power. The castle, which is under the power of the queen, Vivaldi; the mansion, which is under the power of Blood Dupre, the leader of the mafia; and the amusement park which is owned by a man by the name of Gowland."
"I can understand the mafia and the royals battling it out but… the amusement park?"
"Yes… Gowland has some issues with the other powers and decided to try to dominate." Nightmare sighed. "He is a really nice man and all but…" his voice trailed off. "There is one more territory. This territory is neutral toward the fighting. It is the clock tower. This place you have already been as that is the place that the portal connecting your world to ours opens. You have not met the owner of the tower. He is a grouchy man, very unfriendly. His name is Julius Monrey."
"Julius… Monrey?"
" Yes. Now Alice, because you are an Outsider, everybody is going to fall in love with you."
"What?!"
"Everybody, for one reason or another, loves the Outsider. It's a rule."
"D-do you love the Outsider?" She asked, cautiously.
"I will in due time." He chuckled. "I don't quite know you enough for me to fall in love, unlike Peter who has fallen in love with you immediately. It could take some time to get others to love you, but they will."
"Why would I want everybody to love me?"
"This is a game." Nightmare said. "A game of love. A game to win your heart."
iie-no
Eigo=English
please review your thoughts~