Previously:

"It is regrettable, however—night has ended out teatime." Vivaldi said, bringing their little tea party to a close.

"Oh, yeah. We should also…" Alice said, swaying a little, as she stood up. "… Get back…" she said, looking dazed as she held her head.

"Are you all right, Miss?" Sarah asked, feeling a bit sleepy herself. 'That's funny…' she thought, bemused. 'I didn't think I could get tired in a dream. I guess neither of us has slept since we got here, but still… really?'

"Ah… in such a state, you will be asleep before you reach the clock tower." The queen remarked when she noticed how tired the two girls suddenly looked. "You must rest at he castle, if only for now."

"Maybe we'll do that, thanks." Alice answered gratefully while Sarah swayed slightly on her feet.

"White, see them to the guest rooms." Vivaldi ordered.

"Yes, Majesty!" Peter responded brightly at the idea of Alice extending her stay, more than happy to comply.

Chapter 5: Nightmare

Alice stumbled slightly as they were making their way to the guest rooms, and Peter quickly grabbed his love to steady her before the drowsy Sarah even had a chance to react.

"You're not steady at all! Take my arm or you'll fall." Peter said urgently.

"I don't need your help! And stop touching me!" Alice retorted shortly, slapping his hand away. She chose to lean on Sarah for support instead, though the maid was hardly better off than herself. Peter was positively green with envy, but Alice was so attached to her maid, that he didn't dare do anything to hurt Sarah out of fear that doing so might anger Alice further.

"These rooms are for you." Peter announced when they reached two unoccupied rooms that were right next to each other. "In truth, I would prefer you in mine—" he said to Alice just as the girls were about to split up. Sarah paused outside her door in case Alice needed her.

"You've got to be kidding me." Alice scoffed angrily with a frown. "You've done nothing but assault me. I'm not getting near your room!"

"But I want you to love me back!" Peter said earnestly. "I would never force anything physical."

'You already did force her.' Sarah thought, chagrined on her mistress's behalf.

'Did he forget that kiss?' Alice wondered, annoyed. "I'll never love you, okay? Get over it. And good night." She said bluntly, opening the door to her room.

"Fine. I understand." Peter said somberly. "The games you want to win never go well, do they? But if you don't love me… This is the world you wished for. As long as you're here… that's enough for now." He finished with a smile. "Good night, Alice… Sweet dreams…" He paused to spare a brief glance at Sarah. "Feel free not to wake up." He told the maid with a cold look in his eyes before turning to leave.

'… That mad bastard totally told me to die just now, didn't he?' Sarah thought with a vein throbbing on her forehead as she and Alice both sweat-dropped, chagrined. He clearly hated her guts for some reason. Not that she gave a rat's ass. "Are you all right, Miss?" Sarah asked her mistress once the demented rabbit was gone.

"Yeah… Let's get just get some rest while we can." Alice responded tiredly with a sigh.

"I'll be right next to you if you need me, Miss. But be sure to lock your door." Sarah said as they parted to enter their rooms.

Sarah let out a sigh as she shut the door behind her and kicked off her shoes before flopping onto the bed.

'What on earth was that rabbit talking about?' she wondered sleepily. 'Saying this is the world Miss Alice wished for… Is he trying to say that's why he brought her here? Why does he keep asking her to stay?' This place was so ridiculous it couldn't be anything short of a dream, but at the same time there was something about this strange world that felt incredibly real. If this was a dream, then eventually they'd wake up and leave, and there was nothing to worry about… but if it wasn't… 'I'm so exhausted…' she thought with an internal sigh as her eyes started to close. 'I can't think about this right now.'

"… Huh?" Sarah said when she opened her eyes again and found herself in the middle of a desolate wasteland. "Wait a second. Am I dreaming again? A dream inside a dream… that's a new one on me." She mused.

"You're right about that. You are inside a dream." A male voice said.

"Who's there?" Sarah asked warily, spinning around to face its owner. Why did she feel like she had heard that voice before?

"Hello. I'm Nightmare." Said the pale young man who had just spoken. Yet another attractive person with distinct features had appeared. Not only did he have an eye patch, but he was definitely hovering in midair. "I'm a dream demon—the embodiment of bad dreams." He finished introducing himself.

"Dream demon? Like an incubus!?" Sarah asked warily, taking up a defensive stance as she reeled back in alarm. Thanks to some of the books and stories she had read on the subject of monsters and demons, her imagination was running wild with all sorts of terrible and sexually deviant things that the handsome demon—who's real form was probably absolutely hideous—might do to her if she wasn't careful.

"Not that kind…!" Nightmare shouted, dropping to ground and blushing furiously out of embarrassment while trying to hide his nosebleed, looking as though he had just received a critical hit.

'I guess the weirdo parade continues…' Sarah thought, sweat-dropping.

"I can hear everything you're thinking, you know…" He told her, chagrined.

"Eh? Really?" She asked, blushing in surprise and embarrassment when she remembered the barrage of embarrassing things she had just pictured.

"Cut it out!" Nightmare yelled, doing his best to hold back another gusher. So much for the 'cool' and 'mysterious' image he had been trying to go for… Alice had been so much easier to deal with, though mistress and maid seemed to think alike since they had both made the same 'weirdo parade' comment.

'Uh… Sorry…?' Sarah thought, sweat-dropping again. For a demon, he seemed awfully weak. 'Hey, if you're a dream demon, then can you tell me why this one is so packed with boys?' she asked silently, deciding to test his telepathy with something tamer.

"'Dream,' huh?" he said with the hint of smirk, recovering quickly. "Fine, you can think of it that way."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah asked, furrowing her brow slightly. He was saying the same thing as Mr. Julius from the clock tower.

"Relax. It's fine. It's dream." The demon assured her with a smile.

"It's a dream."

'Wha? He's the voice I've been hearin'!' she realized, taking a step back. The crease in her pretty brow deepened as she frowned. "I think I get it now." She said aloud. "You did all this, right? You're the one showing us this barmy world!"

"Actually, no. Peter White went to get Alice. I just connected everyone to this place. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to be able to tag along so easily since this game was initially set up with just Alice in mind, but you wouldn't have made it through unless it was something you truly wanted. You need this world just as much as Alice. This is the world the two of you wished for. A world where you're wished for." Nightmare explain calmly. "Everyone in this world is going to fall in love with you girls. And that includes me. I love you too. Of course, in your case it may take a little time for the others to come around…"

"Yeah, I know. It's 'cause I'm so hard to love, right?" Sarah asked cynically. "Well, I guess that makes sense." On what planet would everyone trip over themselves for someone like her? And it would explain why Alice was suddenly younger. She must have been reverted back to a time when she could still smile. An Alice who couldn't remember all the terrible things that had hurt her. "In other words, deep down, I'm a sad, lonely little girl who wants everyone to love me… So what? Who doesn't want to be loved!?" she retorted defiantly, clenching her fists.

"Well, you're a little more honest with yourself than your mistress…" Nightmare said with a smile. "But I think you're being a bit hard on yourself. You didn't let me finish. I was going to say it might take time because this game was intended for Alice. We don't normally take in two outsiders at once, so they'll probably be drawn more to her at first, but I think they'll like you once they get to know you. The people in this world are naturally drawn to outsiders."

"Give me a break. I wouldn't want to be loved just for that." Sarah said with a frown. Neither would Alice. "I guess my subconscious must be pretty weak and twisted to think of something like this."

"Sarah. Neither you nor Alice created this world. It was here from the start." Said Nightmare.

"So it's not just a pathetic delusion? It has to be in my head. Aside from Miss Alice, everyone who loves me is gone." Sarah retorted hotly, clenching her fists as she bit her lip to keep it from trembling.

"That's not true. This place has people who love you." Nightmare said gently. "It's not that everyone will love you immediately. But let them get to know you, and they'll love you more and more. Many of them will love you and Alice. And some, no one else but you."

"That's… impossible. I don't Adam and Eve it!" she said stubbornly with flushed cheeks, looking as though she was on the verge of crying. She was so upset that she had slipped back into her old cockney accent. That kind of thing was impossible. As soon as people found out the truth about her, they rejected her. Not even Alice knew everything. "You're a devil after all, aren't you!? Tryin' to tempt me into…"

"I'm Nightmare." He said. "I think that's scarier than a devil. Devils make people descend into hell, right? But I make people descend into dreams."

"But people can wake up from dreams." She pointed out. "Dreams aren't nearly as scary as hell."

"…" Nightmare stared at her for a moment. He raised his hand and pointed off into the distance. "What do you think lies beyond a dream?" he asked.

"Huh? Nothin'." She answered, wondering where he was trying to go with this. "There's nothin' beyond a dream. They just end!"

"Exactly." Nightmare said slyly, leaning down to close the distance between them. "When you wake up from a dream, there's nothing left but reality." Sarah's eyes widened and she suddenly felt a heavy, sinking feeling in her gut. The demon's voice began to echo as her surroundings started to fade away.

"Dreams are terrifying because there's an end."

"I'm sure you, of all people, understand only too well what I mean by that, Sarah."

"So think carefully before you try to 'wake up'."

KNOCK. KNOCK.

Sarah's eyes popped open at the sound of someone knocking on her door. She could see from the sunlight streaming through her window that night had changed to day while she was asleep, but she was still in her guest room at the castle.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

'What a weird dream…' Sarah thought with a sigh as she slipped her shoes back on to answer the door. As expected, she found herself facing a disgruntled Alice.

"Come on, let's go. This place is starting to give me the creeps." Alice said bluntly, pulling her maid along without bothering to wait for a reply.

"… Did something happen, Miss?" Sarah asked. Was it just her imagination, or did Alice look more tired after her nap?

"Huh? Well, not really…" Alice said rather cryptically, sweat-dropping.

"…" Sarah stared at her.

"Okay, fine!" Alice caved, feeling a little flustered under her maid's intense scrutiny. There was no fooling Sarah. "It had a weird dream… Well, more like a nightmare." She admitted, chagrined just thinking about it.

"… It didn't involve a man wearing an eye patch and calling himself a 'dream demon', did it, Miss?" Sarah asked with a straight face.

"Eh? How did you know!?" Alice asked, taken aback. "Don't tell me you also…" Sarah nodded.

"…" For a moment the two girls stood in silence.

"This is so weird!" Alice said as she held a hand to her head, feeling exasperated. "Are you telling me we both had the same dream within a dream?"

"Well, technically we're both sharing the same one now, Miss…" Sarah quipped, though the more the 'demon' insisted this was all a dream, the more inclined she felt to doubt it. Now it was Alice's turn to stare at Sarah.

"… This is so messed up. I think it's starting to give me a headache." Alice eventually said with a sigh, sweat-dropping, while she massaged her temples.