[BEING REMASTERED]The Curiosity Prophesy(An HnKnA Fanfiction)

Chapter 2: The Talk

~Elise's POV~

"..." I stared at the leaves. There wasn't much to stare at, but I kept on staring for the next few minutes, processing what I had just heard.

...I didn't know Alice was real... I thought she was a fictional character...

There was still gaping holes in Nightmare's explanation, questions that were going to be hard to give the answer to... But I was glad that the dream had faded before I had gotten all of them answered. The one thing I couldn't believe was that... I was dead.

"Ugh, what the heck, Nightmare? This is the stupidest dream I've ever had!" I whined suddenly.

Is it, now?

...what the fuck. I thought you were just in dreams.

Mm-mm, I can get to your head, too.

...

Dot dot dot?

I ignored Nightmare and shook my head, finally standing up. I had almost collapsed with a sudden wave of tiredness on my way to Heart Castle. There was enough time to resume a sitting position before my eyelids forcefully closed, as if someone had pressed a hand over them.

Stuck. I was stuck, forever, in a dangerous world of ticking clocks and careless killing. "Dammit. Now I'm mad." I brushed my hair out of my face with my left hand and yawned. "But I still... Don't think this is real..."

I didn't even believe myself. My stomach hurt, my head hurt, and I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry, long and hard, snapping at all the people who try to come near me, moping in my own self-pity. Yelling all the things that made my life(...or something like that, now that I was dead...) terrible right now.

I really needed my friends. People I could call up on the phone and bore them with a three hour ramble about how my life was terrible, and know that they would be asleep on the other end.

I really didn't feel like going to the castle, so I huffed and started on the path back to the Amusement Park. I wanted to go in my room and lock myself in there, from the outside and the inside, and throw the key down the vent, so Boris, Gowland, and everyone else would be locked out.

As I ran to the park, I felt the beginnings of tears welling up in my eyes. I made it to the gates in a run. Ignoring Boris's yell of alarm, I fled to my room, dived into my bed, and buried my head in the soft pillow. "Why me, God? Why meeeeee?" I sobbed.

"Elise!" I didn't look at Boris, just cursed myself that I hadn't closed and locked the door. "Elise..." He repeated, looking at me.

"I heard you the first time. Leave me beeee!" I wailed into my pillow again.

"But- There's something important..."

"Hmmmpggrmph."

"..." Boris quieted.

I paused, the tears running down my face as I stared into the pillow. I could hardly breathe, but butterflies made my whole being lighter as I jumped slightly because Boris sat on the edge of the bed. He plunked something fairly heavy on the small of my back, making me twist around and push it off. "Hey!" I crushed my pillow.

I knew Boris was doing his little sly cat smirk as he replaced the book on my back.

"What the fuck?" I brushed it off my back. Boris put it on my back AGAIN, and I turned to face him furiously, my mood snapping from sad to mad. My cast didn't allow for much movement in that arm, so I had been using my right arm. "Leave me alone!"

"What's wrong, anyways?" Boris asked, putting the book on my stomach if only to annoy me.

"I-" I stopped short, more tears dripping from my jaw onto the unmarked black book now in in my lap. "Lots of things, things you wouldn't understand." I threw the book at him. "Get off my bed."

Boris caught the book calmly in one hand. "Oh, so you're not going to tell me? I just met you, but I already like you. I wanna make you feel better." He replied with infuriating coolness. "And I'm not going to get off your bed, seeing as I shouldn't be making you uncomfortable by sitting on the edge of it."

"You already like me? I've just met you earlier since you had to carry me to the park because I broke my arm. And yes, you're making me uncomfortable, because having boys on my bed makes me nervous."

"Come on, just tell me what's wrong." Boris said. "And why would that make you nervous?"

"I'm not going to tell you what's wrong, okay? I-I don't- you won't understand! I'd never tell you..." I cried. "And it makes me nervous... For reasons!"

"I could make you tell me."

"Please, what could you do-" I yelped as Boris flipped over so he was on top of me with a smirk.

"Tell me now?"

I blushed and bit the inside of my cheek. "Fine, God, just get off me! Dammit, Boris, I swear-"

With a short laugh, Boris got off me and resumed his position on the edge of the bed. "So, you said you'd tell me!" Boris said in a sing-song voice.

"Shoot. Well..." I tried to put my feelings into the most vague and simple words possible. "Nightmare told me the Truth, and in my world, I'm dead. My friends were sent home. I'll never see them again." The heart vial I had gotten from Nightmare rolled out of my pocket as Boris averted his eyes.

"Oh... Sorry." He really did sound sorry.

"Whatever, I-" I couldn't say I didn't care that much, because I did care. The tears started to flow again, and Boris did something really unexpected. He moved so he could sit next to me and hugged me.

"We try not to have people find out the truth... But most of them find out eventually... Sorry, that under the circumstances..."

"It's fine. See, when I was depressed, I always said three things to myself." I said with a light flush, holding up my index finger. "-It's okay-" I added my middle finger. "-I'm okay-" and finally, my ring finger. "-Everything will be okay. I repeated that until I believed it, Boris. And-"

I sighed and took one of Boris's hands like a kid, playing with the many rings he had on it. Boris didn't seem to mind... In fact, he smiled. "That's a good mantra to live by." He said. "Here... I've got a riddle for you. I'm a flower, but put two of me together, and I shoot up into the air. What flower am I?"

I recognized this from somewhere, but at the moment I couldn't think. "I-I don't know."

"Look." Boris pulled a rose from somewhere. "The answer is this!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, try saying it out loud. A rose... Arose!"

I laughed at the lame riddle, a smile breaking the sadness on my face.

"Did you like that?" Boris asked, tucking one of the roses behind my ear. "Do you feel better now?"

"Yes, I do." I said, grinning. "Thank you, Boris."

~~~~~~~
Hai! Hoped you liked that. Thanks for reading!

-Ginger