The dream realm once more… but something was off. There was a table with what seemed to be a chess board. Alice stepped closer to it but was pulled back.

"Nu-uh-uh." The Jabberwock said, waving his finger. "No touching the board. It is not your turn."

"What are you talking about? Where are we?" Alice barked, wanting to know.

"This is the dream realm, you silly girl." He chuckled. "And this is the game board." He smiled and turned toward the unusual board. He took one of the small pieces into his hand. "I'm sure that old fool told you about these." He said, handing her the piece. It was a carved wooden piece. She turned it over in her hand. It had a strange likeness to Peter.

"What of it?" She asked, handing him back the piece. He grinned wickedly at it.

"You need to be more careful with handing over your friends to me." He laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"This is what I mean." He said, snapping his fingers. Suddenly Peter appeared next to Alice.

"Alice? Alice my dear?! It's a dream come true to have you so near!" Peter sang with delight.

"This isn't why I brought you here, rabbit." The Jabberwock spat bitterly. His smile disappeared. He took the small figure within his hand and began to squeeze. Peter's face was suddenly hit with shock and he began to wheeze for air. He doubled over, groping for air. Alice looked at Peter and then the man. He was enjoying this, enjoying causing pain to Peter.

"Stop it!" Alice shrieked. "You're going to kill him!" and with that the man snapped out of his trance and realized what he was doing. He released the piece and put it back where it was. Peter cringed in pain as he breathed in heavily. Alice got down, checking Peter over and making sure he was okay. "You are a monster." She muttered under her breath.

"Wrong, dear. I am a nightmare."

"You are a horrible person."

"I don't care what you think about me." He laughed. He then snapped his fingers making Peter disappear.

"Why does someone like you even exist?" Alice asked, holding back her anger.

"If there is a dream demon then there must be a nightmare demon." He chuckled. "Nightmare didn't like to talk about me much." He sighed, picking up the figurine that looked like Nightmare. Alice tensed up. "He has always resented me. But he knows… oh he knows that I am just as powerful as he. That's why I was locked up… Although, heh heh…Now he is nothing. Now nobody can take me back to that horrendous prison."

"You're wrong. The role holders will stop you."

"I will enjoy seeing them try." He laughed. Suddenly the world began to spin for Alice and everything faded away.

~x~x~x~

"Alice! Alice, are you alright?! He didn't hurt you, did he?" Nightmare asked, completely worried about the young girl.

"W-what do you mean? How did you-?" Alice began to ask, trying to sit up but felt dizzy and thought it would be best to stay down. She blinked and all the role holders were surrounding her… except Ace… and Peter.

"Peter told us." Gray said, looking away from Alice. "He seemed to be in a lot of pain. He even had several broken ribs. He could only stay conscious enough to tell us that you were in the dream world with a strange man."

"Vex. It was Vex." Alice muttered. She once again attempted to at least sit up.

"If big sis is fine then there is no need for us to be here." Dee said, leaving the room. It was much too crowded around the bed anyway. Many of the other role holders followed except Nightmare. With the area around her bunk cleared she could look over and see Peter and his unconscious body on the cot next to her.

"Is he… Is he going to be okay?"

"He will be fine." The silver haired man answered. "But are you okay? What did he say? Did he do anything to you?"

"I'm fine, Nightmare." She sighed. His face however told her he did not believe her. "Really, he just wanted to talk."

"Vex doesn't talk. He boasts. He probably demonstrated what he could do with the board, didn't he? What power he has while in the board realm."

"Why would he want to show me this power?"

"Because he cannot control the outsider as he can control everybody else. He must use us to get to you." He whispered, a deep sorrow in his voice.

"I don't think he is interested in-"

"Alice, everybody is interested in you. Vex, Julius… even me." He said softly. A slight blush dusted on his cheeks. He cleared his throat. "Well, as long as you are fine-…" he trailed off.

"Have you decided on a plan of action yet?"

"No, and I fear we are running out of time." He backed away and headed for the doorframe. "I should probably get back to the meeting. You stay here." he disappeared leaving Alice alone with a sleeping Peter. But Nightmare was right. Vex can control her by using the role holders. To see them tortured hurt Alice and there was nothing she could do. Even though Peter was an annoyance, she couldn't help but nearly cry at the sight of him in pain. Even now with bandages wrapped around his torso, Alice felt a pang of guilt.

~x~x~x~

"Can't we just open a door to the realm?" Dum asked. "I mean we can make a door lead anywhere we want."

"The door would f****** end up someplace in the middle of the Dream Realm and finding the Board would be f****** impossible." Boris sighed. "And if the door closed your physical bodies would be stuck within the Dream Realm forever."

"What about Elliot?" Vivaldi asked, tossing a thumb in the direction of her boss. "He is the incubus after all."

"It would take many time periods for him to figure out how being an incubus works." Nightmare huffed out a sigh. "He must first be able to master reading minds before he can bend people's dreams."

"I have no idea what you are—I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP, HATTER!"

"I didn't say anything." Julius replied blankly.

"You can't even control who's mind you are reading." The amusement park owner muttered.

"What about Alice?" Gowland asked. "Could there be any way for her to get there?"

"What if Vex brought her back to the Board Realm?" Black asked, turning to Nightmare. He bit his lip. He was not comfortable with the thought of using Alice in any of their plans.

"This isn't Alice's problem. It is ours." He responded.

"Sh-she wasn't us back to n-normal as much as anybody!" White cried out. "W-why can't we use her?"

"Look. I doubt Vex would even let her get anywhere near the board or the pieces." The former incubus said.

"It's more likely he will let her than any of us." Blood pointed out.

"What about the forest of doors?" Jordan asked from his dark corner. Many of the role holders seemed uncomfortable with this idea. "If she really wants to help us more than anything in the world then she would be able to go to the Board Realm, right?"

"Her physical body would-" Boris started.

"If she fixed the board, Nightmare could easily pull her body out of the realm." The gatekeeper pointed out.

"And Vex?" Vivaldi asked.

"He couldn't touch her. His body isn't physical thus he literally could not touch her."

"This seems to be our best bet." Pierce muttered before looking at Nightmare.

"How…" He paused. "How do we know she will stay? What if… What if she goes back home? Then we are stuck like this forever WITHOUT Alice." The room grew silent.

Alice, who was sitting listening outside the door, clenched her fist. So she could fix this mess. And from the sound of it, only her. She turned to leave. It was time to set things right.

Almost done. 2 more chapters. Please review~