Matthew didn't even know he'd fallen asleep until he opened his eyes and he was lying on soft grass, a warm breeze whipping by his face. He quickly sat upright and found that he was in the middle of a friendly looking forest, thick brown tree stumps and bright green leaves, red apples, roses all over the ground. Far different from the terrifying thorns from the night before. Matthew stood quickly and examined the wounds he was sure he still had. There were cuts on his clothing, but his skin looked fine…
He blushed when he remembered what Gilbert had done the night before. He bit his lip and looked around the forest. It didn't seem like anyone was really around, for once. It was calm and peaceful. Matthew smiled to himself as he stood and stretched. This was very nice and relaxing…Matthew sorted through his thoughts. He was doing something, he was sure of it. He just had to remember. Gilbert had said something about that the night before.
"I found one!" someone shouted suddenly and Matthew jumped, looking in the direction of the voice. He couldn't see anything, just the trees and the roses.
"We're looking for roses, not people, idiot!" another person snapped and Matthew tensed slightly. Who were these people and what did they want? He couldn't think clearly. "Wait, what the fuck?"
And then two heads poked out from behind a tree, both looking directly at Matthew. He jumped and stumbled back slightly. They looked extremely similar, enough to be twins. One had lighter hair and a rather ridiculous smile on his face while the other one, with darker hair, wore a scowl. They also had the oddest curls sticking out of their heads, but Matthew was learning to look past the weird in this world.
"See? I told you!" the happier one chimed and the grouchier one glared at him. "He looks interesting! Wait, is this Matthew?"
"So what if it is?" the angrier one scoffed. How did everyone know Matthew's name here? It was so weird…That was when Matthew remembered, this was all just a dream. He had no idea how he had managed to sleep and wake up in his dream, but that was a question for another day. Gilbert told him to find a goal and he'd found it just before he fell asleep. He wanted to get out. Matthew gained more courage, knowing this was a dream, and stepped forward. These guys couldn't hurt him, they were just dreams.
"Who are you two?" Matthew asked carefully.
The angrier one glared at him while the happier one smiled brightly and came out fully from behind the tree. He was just as well dressed as everyone. It seemed like everyone here was dressed for a party, but Matthew had only really seen one party.
"Oh! I'm Feliciano! Call me Feli!" the happy one cheered. "And this is my brother, Lovi."
"Don't fucking call me that, you idiot!" the angry one snapped and stepped out as well. "It's Lovino, don't get it wrong, got that?" He glared at Matthew and looked like he was sizing him up for something. Matthew shifted, slightly uncomfortable under his gaze.
"The Queen said we should bring Matthew to her if we found him!" Feliciano smiled.
"It's better than picking fucking roses," Lovino grumbled.
"What?" Matthew stuttered slightly. He composed himself quickly, though. Just a dream, nothing to worry about. "Where are you thinking of taking me?"
"The castle of course!" Feliciano chimed and ran towards him, Lovino walking behind him. Before long, Feliciano had a secure grip on Matthew's arm and started pulling him forward.
"Wait!" Matthew protested as Lovino gripped hard onto his arm and started dragging him as well. "What are you doing? Where are you taking me? Who is this Queen?"
"You'll see when you get there!" Feliciano winked at him.
"Idiot! It's this way!" Lovino snapped, pulling Matthew in the opposite direction Feliciano was taking him.
"No…I'm pretty sure it's this way…" Feliciano muttered, glancing further into the forest. It all looked the same to Matthew, so he had no idea how they could possibly know where they're going.
"You're the one that gets us lost all the time! Shut up, I'm leading this time!" Lovino snapped.
"But Lovi," Feliciano whined.
"Don't!" Lovino glared at him. "Matthew's gotta get there soon to be happy, don't you know anything, fucking idiot…"
Why did everyone care so much that Matthew was happy? It didn't make sense, he was usually so overlooked…Why was everyone's attention on him here? Feliciano eventually gave up and allowed Lovino to lead and they were lead through the maze of forest. And, eventually, the forest thinned. Matthew nearly expected this to be just another small clearing in the forest, but he was sadly mistaken once they passed the last tree in front of them.
It was a massive castle that stood before them threateningly, the bricks all a shade of red, whether it was a light pink or a deep blood red. The castle was massive and looked like there would be a labyrinth of hallways on the inside. Guards stood ahead of them, guarding the massive red doors. They were dressed in red and oddly enough had numbers on their chests. They were both labeled as 10s.
"Why do they have 10s on their chest?" Matthew asked.
"That's the highest number," Lovino scoffed, saying it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Who else would the Queen trust to guard the entrance?" The guards nodded to them and the doors opened before them. They continued to pull Matthew inside, even as he stared in awe at the red tapestries and carpets that were strewn across the entrance hall.
They pulled him to another large door that was opened for them and they stood in a room filled with bright red tiles that scattered the ground, the walls covered in red and pink tapestries and lined with people, all wearing red and with different numbers on their chests, between 2 and 10. At the very end of the room, sitting on two red thrones, were who were obviously the King and Queen.
The King had very neat, very well put together black hair and glasses neatly fitted onto his nose. He wore an impressive suit with a tailcoat, completely red like the rest of the room. The Queen, beside him, wore an incredibly opulent dress, all kinds of reds, pinks, white, and black. It had hearts scattered around it. Her light brown hair framed her face well and she smiled softly at Matthew.
"You must be Matthew!" she chimed happily, standing from her throne and rushing to him. Lovino and Feliciano let go of him and went to either side of the room before Matthew was completely surrounded in a hug. He froze. He certainly wasn't expecting that. Just a moment ago, she was sitting down regally, looking incredibly self-important. And now she was happily squealing about how she finally got to meet him. "I'm so jealous of all of the others, they got to see you yesterday! I had to wait a whole day to see you! It's the damn cat's fault, I'll cut off his head…"
"Ouch," Gilbert's voice sounded off and the Queen pulled away, glaring back at her throne, where Gilbert was lounging happily. The King looked almost offended that the cat was so close to him so he stood and walked further away from him. "I'm so offended, Lizzy."
"You quite deserve the rotten treatment," the King huffed, straightening out his already perfect clothing.
"Whatever," Gilbert shrugged. "You've got way too much red in here."
"I like the color red," the Queen huffed. She turned back to Matthew with a bright smile. "My name is Elizabeta, by the way. But you can call me Eliza! No need to use formalities."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Matthew," the King nodded to him. "My name is Roderich."
"It's nice to meet both of you," Matthew said, feeling a little flustered. Even if this was a dream, this was a lot of attention from royalty, of all people. It was a lot to take in.
"Oh, we must have a party for you!" Elizabeta said happily, clapping her hands together and moving to Roderich. "We could invite everyone, except the damn cat."
"I go where I want, with or without an invitation!" Gilbert cackled and stood easily from the throne. "You can't stop me from showing up! Besides, he's my Birdie, if you remember."
"Right, the only positive thing about you…" Elizabeta hummed, thinking hard. "Fine, I'll allow you to come, only if you're Matthew's date."
"What?" Matthew squeaked, a blush matching the color of the room rising to his face. Gilbert laughed even harder and suddenly appeared beside Matthew, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and leaning his face very close.
"Whaddya say?" Gilbert smirked. "You wanna be my date to this party?"
"I don't even know what this party is," Matthew said, taking a step back. Gilbert nearly fell over, but kept his balance and looked at him with slightly sad eyes, but he look was gone quickly.
"It's your party, of course!" Elizabeta smiled at him. "Roderich could play the piano for you and Arthur can make your favorite tea! It could be tomorrow!"
"Why would you do all that just for me? We've only just met," Matthew muttered.
"You're important to us," Elizabeta chimed.
"There is nothing we wouldn't do for you," Roderich said.
"Can I invite Ludwig to the party?" Feliciano asked excitedly and Elizabeta nodded happily. He cheered and rushed out of the room, Lovino following behind him, yelling something about a potato bastard.
"Distractions," Gilbert whispered into Matthew's ear and he jumped, glaring at the cat, who just winked and flicked his tail about happily. Matthew remembered. It was a dream, he had to find Alfred. He had to get out. But he glanced at Elizabeta, who was excitedly chatting to Roderich about the decorations, and he wondered why he had to leave. Everyone had their eyes on him, they all knew his name, they all loved him. They were easier to talk to than real people…
Matthew saw a glimpse of Alfred, who was standing on the other end of the room, beside a door. He was looking at Matthew curiously. Maybe Matthew should just talk to his brother really quick, get across what he needed to talk about. Alfred understood him, maybe he could help Matthew figure this out. He stepped forward and Alfred noticed, immediately running through the door.
Matthew rolled his eyes, wondering why his brother always ran from him, but chased after him anyway.
"Matthew?" Elizabeta asked in surprise as Matthew ran by, going after his brother.
As soon as he entered the hall, however, he found it empty. Matthew silently cursed his brother as he carefully walked down the hall, maybe he could find him as long as he didn't get too far. He made sure to make his footsteps quiet as he walked by, carefully listening into the doors he passed. His brother was never good at being quiet, so he could probably hear him if he was behind the door.
As Matthew rounded a corner, however, he heard something interesting. It sounded like a piano. Matthew followed the sound…it was almost hypnotic. He found the door it was coming from and carefully opened it, peering inside. The room only held a black and white tile floor and a piano. The sound coming from it was loud, but no one was there to press down the keys. Still, he could see it playing, as if an invisible man was playing the instrument.
Matthew didn't even notice he was halfway into the room until the door suddenly closed and he jumped, turning around. Gilbert stood right in front of him with his usual, wicked smirk.
"Care to dance?" Gilbert asked simply and Matthew found that his arms moved without his consent, already taking hold of Gilbert's hand and assuming a dancing position. They started to move, but Matthew couldn't even protest.
My friend gave me this really cool idea about a waltz where people have no control over their dancing, so this happened. I've noticed that I use Alfred as a plot device to move Matthew along and I'm not sure if the original Alice in Wonderland movie did that, but I'm sure it sort of did. Oh, goodness, look it's the white rabbit I'm chasing for no reason, let's move to a different place! In any case, Alfred does have a good purpose and I'm not complaining. He does really help the plot along, so I'm okay with him. And Gilbert. Poor Gilbert. You got to see a little about it this chapter and you'll definitely see more next, but he's an incredibly tragic character. Anyway, this story's wrapping up soon, only about two chapters left!
And I'm sad because I should have updated two days ago, but I got stressed out because of this stupid scholarship writing thing and finals and blah! so I finally got a chance to catch my breath and so you got this chapter! Next one should be on the 21st. You can slap me if it's not up by then.
Only one character next chapter that's new, and he's one I made up….The Ace of Hearts! (Nothing like Ace in Heart no Kuni no Alice...)
Please review!