Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

Chapter Six- No sense of Direction

Martella- the dream world

Expecting to be in my room I open my eyes but instead I find a pirate hovering over me.

"I'm not a pirate," he corrects me reading my mind.

"Who are you and where am I?" I ask plainly just wanting to sleep.

"My name is Nightmare and you're in the dream world, Martella," he informs me.

"How do you...?"

"I read minds;" he answers before I even finish asking, "Anyways, I asked Peter to bring you here because after Alice left, Wonderland has been out of balance, so here you are. And yes you could just converse with me through thoughts, though I do prefer speaking."

"Okay then, so can you tell me about Wonderland?" I ask.

"Yes, first of all you were chosen to come because you wanted a world where you could live without getting teased all the time. Second, there are three major sections of Wonderland, the Amusement Park, the Hatters Mansion, and the Castle of Hearts.

"Julius is the clock maker here and Ace, whom you've also met is his subordinate and the Knight of Hearts for Queen Vivaldi. Be careful, everyone here is trigger happy, but don't worry they will all come to love you.

"Also we usually have a Hatter but we haven't found someone to fill the job yet since our last one left. I'll explain this later on to Iris, so for now sleep well and go explore when you're ready."

With that the world goes black and I wake up in my room fully rested to find that the moon is shining bright in the night sky. I want to go and check the place out but it might not be safe.

I search around the room for any type of weapon other than my instrument case. All I can find are some throwing knives; I have no clue why they would be in there but when I test them out I find that I'm pretty decent at them and decide to keep them. I make them accessible to me so I can use them while carrying the viola in one hand.

Iris is fast asleep in her room. I'm thinking about telling Julius that I'm leaving but it might bother him. He seemed pretty irritated when we met earlier, but before I walk out I check on him in his workshop. He's fast asleep next to a pile of tiny gears. I go back to my room and find a spare blanket covering him before heading out.

It feels nice to walk under the stars, but I'm on a mission to find someone who can fix my viola. I'll ask Julius if he's ever not busy. I swear, if I ever find the power to go back to Earth just for a little bit I'm going to hurt that pansy cake so bad her ancestors will cry.

Suddenly I have the feeling that I'm being followed. I look back and no one's there, but I keep my hand on a knife.

"Who are you?" A voice startles me and I throw a knife in that direction out of instinct.

"Be careful with those. You could hurt someone." The mystery person steps out of the shadows. It's the guy who threatened Iris with a sword. The one with blood on his shirt, I think he said his name was Ace.

"Sorry about that. Why were you following me?" I asked. He took my knife out of the tree it landed in and handed it back to me.

"I was curious," he stated. Sighing, I put my knife in my belt.

"Since you're here, where are you headed?" I ask.

"Back to the castle to see Vivaldi, the Queen."

"I was headed there anyways. Would you accompany me? It'll be nice to have someone to talk to." I agree not wanting to be rude.

"Why are you looking for the Queen?"

"I'm looking for someone to fix this," I tell him.

"At this time of night? Have you asked Julius?"

"He was asleep and it seems like he has a lot on his plate."

We start walking in the direction that seems to be the opposite of the castle but he lives here so maybe it'll end up being a shortcut.

Suddenly out of the blue it changes to daytime again and the building I see in the distance is not a castle but a mansion, the mansion that houses the Mafia.

After remembering the warning from Nightmare about everyone being trigger-happy here I get out my knives ready to pull my arm back and throw if I have to. And I do. An axe flies past my head and buries itself in the trunk of the tree next to me. My eyes find its origin, which looks to be two black shadows, but right before I throw the knives Ace holds me back.

"Hey Dee, hey Dum!" he calls to the figures.

"You know them?"

"Yeah, they're the gate keepers for the mansion," he tells me.

"Then why did they throw the axes at us?"

"It's their job," he tells me casually.

"Martella, meet Dee and Dum, the gate keepers for the Hatter's Mansion," he introduces. Dee and Dum appear to be twins, one preferring red and the other blue.

"We already met the other Onee-San, but you can also be ours."

"Do you mean Iris?"

"Yeah we dropped her off at the Clock Tower, she taught us how to tree run." I don't know what that is, I guess its sort of self-explanatory though.

"Hey! What are you doing here? Did you get lost again?" A man with rabbit ears demands. He is wearing a colorful scarf and overcoat.

"Hi Elliot, we were heading to the castle," Ace grins and Elliot just shakes his head.

"It's that way stupid," Elliot tells him annoyed.

"This is Martella," Dee and Dum push me towards Elliot.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Elliot, the March Hare," he smiles.

"Nice to meet you too."

"What's that?" Elliot points to my case.

"A viola. It's like a violin but a little bigger and it has a deeper sound. I'm trying to find someone to fix it."

"Well, as long as you don't take it to Gowland. His always changes and he's terrible at it. Maybe you can give him lessons sometime." I don't know who Gowland is but he must be pretty bad.

"You should try to take it to Vivaldi," he suggests, "maybe someone there can fix it."

"That's what we were doing until someone," I look pointedly at Ace, "got us lost."

"Well you should get going. The queen might be having tea soon and Ace should get back before she or Peter gets rid of any more servants." That last bit made me uneasy. Gets rid of them?

"Well, thank you for pointing us in the right direction. We'll be off then."

"Come back and visit us onee-san!" The twins and Elliot wave us off as we head to the castle, in the right direction this time.