Change of Plans--A Heart no Kuni no Alice FanFiction

Chapter 11: Nightmare's Message

I was standing in the midst of a grey, misty void. There were no real sources of light, no sounds to make out, no distinguishable objects. I stood on a flat, solid surface, which made me feel somewhat better about my surroundings. Even if I couldn't tell where I was, having the ground beneath my feet was a very reassuring feeling. I looked around, finding that I was more curious than frightened of the strange place. This was completely unlike the first dream I'd had here in Wonderland. "Where on earth am I?" I asked, my voice echoing back strangely at me in the emptiness.

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, you know."

I turned slowly to find the owner of the amused-sounding voice. A man with silvery gray hair floated a few feet above my head, dressed in a black gentleman's coat. As he drew nearer I saw he wore an eyepatch over his right eye. Something about this man made me incredibly uneasy, and I didn't know what it was. What I did know, however, was that the knowing smirk on his face was doing nothing to ease my apprehensions. "But I'm not talking to myself anymore, am I?" I countered with my own small smirk. "I'm talking to you now."

The man gave a low chuckle. "True," he replied with a slight wave of his hand, "very true." He floated down a little closer to me so I didn't have to bend over backwards just to look him in the eye. I held back a shiver when I finally got a good look at him. He was incredibly thin and pale, with slight hollows in his cheeks. He looked so sickly I was surprised he hadn't keeled over in midair and plummeted to the ground. "I am Nightmare," he said with slight bow. "I am the dream incubus-I rule over all the dreams in Wonderland."

"So, I'm dreaming?" I heaved an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Well that's just fantastic. And here I was thinking that I had died from that stupid head wound and was stuck in limbo for the rest of eternity."

Nightmare snickered behind his hand. "Quite the sarcastic one, aren't you?" he noted, his uncovered grey eye twinkling mischievously at me. "Yes, my dear, you are dreaming-sleeping peacefully as your friends stitch up your wounds." I shuddered involuntarily and his smirk widened. "Ah, not fond of needles I take it? Neither am I, my dear, neither am I." He winked at me, as if we were two naughty children sharing a secret too big to tell our parents. I wasn't sure how I felt with that kind of familiarity.

"Despise them, actually," I responded lightly, trying not to think of a needle tugging at the tender skin that had been torn apart by bullets. As if to distract me, a thought blossomed at the back of my mind and slowly crept forward. I hesitated a brief moment before looking back up at Nightmare and meeting his single eye. "You say you're the dream incubus," I mused to him. "And so, if I'm seeing you like this...I take it Alice has too." It was a lead-in to the next question I wanted to ask, depending on the answer he gave me.

Nightmare's smirk softened into a fond smile. "Yes I have," he replied. "We've had many pleasant conversations." I couldn't help wondering if the 'pleasant' part was sarcastic or not. His expression slowly turned into something resembling a sympathetic gaze. "You're wondering if I know if she's happy here in Wonderland." I nodded slowly, crossing my fingers behind my back for luck as I silently prayed that he did know. "You could always ask her yourself, you know," he chided me softly.

"Oh I do know. Trust me, I do." I took a deep breath. "But if you know anything about her at all, Nightmare, you know that she doesn't like people seeing her unhappy. Even if she wasn't happy here she would still pretend she was-for everyone's sake." I looked down at me boots and shuffled them a little bit. "I know her way too well. I can always tell when she's unhappy, but for some reason I can't tell now." I chanced a glance up at Nightmare again. "It's like she's happy one day, but the next she's unsure."