#daydream lover

[destinylov]

[caffedrine]

Impressions - Daydream Lover Epilogue

The novel page is found here.

This is the final bit for the Nightmare-centric novel ‘The Daydream Lover’ published in 2009. I’ve included a brief summary for the epilogue and my final thoughts below.

Epilogue

It’s been a few time periods since the last chapter, and things are almost back to normal. Pierce has started visiting again, though at first he was very unwelcome. He had Gray holding him up against a wall by the scruff of his neck during his first visit and revealed that Nightmare has been creating dreams of large, hungry cats just for him. Alice put a stop to this by telling Nightmare that she has no intentions of marring a person who would abuse small animals.  

Pierce doesn’t seem to have learned his lesson. He defended himself by pointing out that it is a mouse’s natural instinct to pick up tiny lost objects, and as far as he is concerned, finders keepers.

Eventually Nightmare magnanimously forgave Pierce for Alice’s sake, though there is a noticeable increase in the amount of tower cats these days.

Alice accuses Nightmare of being jealous of Pierce and Alice’s friendship and points out that he should know that he has nothing to feel jealous about. Nightmare tells her that he can only read her heart, her mind is a closed book to him. One day she might change her mind and her friendship with Pierce could develop further. In fact, he’s been musing that it would be nice to trap her in a dream and keep her to himself.

Of course he wouldn’t do that until after their marriage. Alice tells him that he needs to get a lot healthier before any marriage can take place.

The End

xxxx

Overall, I wasn’t particularly blown away by this final chapter, but I did appreciate how it showed the tower residents’ opinions of Pierce changing after the events of the novel. I thought the Nightmare feeling jealous was a bit out of place, but perhaps that is just my interpretation of Nightmare’s character. 

As for the novel as a whole - to be honest, I went in expecting the Nightmare that was post Joker no Kuni and got the Clover no Kuni Nightmare. I think that Joker no Kuni shed a lot of light on Nightmare’s character and how he is perceived by the other residents in a way that was different from the glimpses we got in Clover no Kuni. It’s not that Clover no Kuni was a bad Nightmare, it’s just that I think he has a slightly different characterization than post Joker no Kuni Nightmare. 

Once I got over that, I really enjoyed this novel, though this could possibly be my inherent Nightmare bias seeping in. It’s not a retelling of Nightmare’s Clover route, but I thought it did a great job incorporating bits from Pierce’s route to make a new and engaging story. I also appreciated Alice’s miniature tour of Clover no Kuni as it’s always fun to see her interact with the other role holders. It’s one of the reasons I love Alice’s characterization, no matter whose route she is on, she still interacts and visits with other characters.

Beyond that, I thought the novel didn’t go as in depth into the underlying themes of the Clover game the same way the author’s previous novel ‘Sweet Pain, Bitter Love’ did. There was no whales, though the doors made an appearance. I thought the author did a great job with the doors, we finally see Alice open one -  in a way. I thought it was perfectly done where it was ambiguous if Alice really opened the door or not. So while not a perfect replica of the Clover game, I thought it did a great job on focusing on one of the aspects.  

It was interesting reading the author’s notes on her thought process behind writing this novel. She points out that unlike the other suitors, Nightmare isn’t very romantic as leads go. He can have his moments, but he is more of the ‘child’ archetype, relatively unique to this series. I personally thought she did a good job with him.

Overall I thought this was a great book. I highly recommend it to people who enjoyed the series as it tells a different story of Clover no Kuni. I think even people who aren’t Nightmare fans would enjoy it. That said, I don’t think it will sell anyone who isn’t a Nightmare fan on becoming one, but it has a coherent and well done story with cameos from other characters. One word of warning - it’s not a very romantic book. I’m personally fine with it, but there aren’t any sexy moments. 

[destinylov]

[caffedrine]

Impressions - Daydream Lover Chapter 3

Sorry it’s been a while.

The last chapter is here. 

The novel it’self is here.

When we last left off, Pierce gave Alice some weird drugs, and now she’s teeny-tiny.

Chapter 3 - Leaving the Tower

This chapter takes place a little later, with the start of the assembly. Alice is riding around in Gray’s jacket pocket, and they’re both trying to deal with Nightmare having pre-assembly jitters. He’s the chairman, so he’s supposed to give a speech, but he thinks it’s too undignified to refer to his speaking notes. Alice gets the great idea to sit in Nightmare’s pocket and read the notes to him. Apparently, since she is so small, her voice doesn’t carry far and no one would notice.

Gray puts Alice down near Nightmare, and she sees Blood and Elliot enter the room. She forgets that they can’t hear her, and calls out to them. Alice considers asking Gray to bring her to them, but gives up on the idea. She starts feeling sad and lonesome and figures it will be awhile before she can go to any tea parties with them.

Nightmare catches her attention, and tells her that he recently bought some of the finest tea leaves. He promises to make Gray make some tea for her later. Alice is confused, she was certain that Nightmare and Gray were coffee drinkers rather than tea drinkers. Awkwardly, Gray assures her that it’s fine to switch to tea from time to time. At this point, Alice realizes that Gray and Nightmare are just trying to cheer her up, so she thanks Gray.

Nightmare complains that he’s the one who went and ordered the tea, it’s him who Alice should be thanking. Gray interrupts Nightmare’s whining to point out that the assembly is about to start.

Xxxx

The assembly is over, and now Alice is bored. Unfortunately she can’t even read a book, since she is too small to turn the pages.  She’s too small to help with any chores, so she has nothing to do but sit in the customized doll house in the window of her room. It’s actually a very nice doll house, and even has indoor plumbing.

Alice hears someone knocking on the door and shouts for them to come in. Pierce enters, confused that he can hear Alice’s voice but can’t see her anywhere. Alice yells at him to look at the window sill, and excitedly asks him if he brought her the antidote. From Pierce’s expression, Alice can tell that the answer is no. She asks if he’s been dreaming of cats recently.

Pierce trembles, and Alice feels bad for bulling him. She assures Pierce that those are just dreams, but Pierce points out that when it comes to Nightmare, he can make dreams blend into reality so you never really know if you’re really sleeping or not.

Alice apologizes and tries to calm Pierce down. She assures Pierce that as long as he looks for her medicine, Nightmare won’t traumatize him too much. Probably.

This actually does help Pierce calm down a bit.

Pierce tells Alice that everyone hates him, everyone but her. She’s kind and gentle, and so nice. Which is partially why he came to take her out for a break. He tells her that though there isn’t an amusement park in this country, there are shops with cheese, places to play, shops with cheese, restaurants dedicated to mice, and shops with chees. Has he mentioned the cheese yet?

Since nothing bad has ever happened to Alice when she’s gone off with Pierce, she agrees to go with him.

Xxx

Alice is riding through the market in Pierce’s jacket pocket. Pierce keeps on trying to talk to her, and she keeps on shushing him. Since she’s so small, it looks like he’s talking to himself. Pierce is upset, if he can’t talk to her, it would be one of the worst dates ever. Of course since he’s out with her, this is also technically the best date ever too. Hey, did she see that shop that sells cheese?

Suddenly, Pierce stops as a man with a large sword, refreshing grin, and blindingly red coat steps into the street. Ace the Knight of Hearts looks innocent and carefree, but Alice suddenly feels like an animal that has just been cornered by a predator. Was Ace always this scary?

Alice tries to mentally tell Pierce to run away, but unlike Nightmare, Pierce cannot read her thoughts. Alice suddenly realizes that Ace is staring directly at her. Alice freezes, and tries to pass herself off as a doll.

Ace asks Pierce if he’s in the middle of kidnapping Alice or something. Pierce angrily tells Ace that this isn’t kidnapping, they’re just on a secret date! Alice admits that this is the truth. Ace admits that he’s is completely jealous. Since Alice is travel size now, he wants to take her on a journey too.

Ace pulls out his sword and holds it a Pierce’s throat. He was planning on playing with Pierce a little, but this is a better plan. So Pierce doesn’t mind handing over Alice . . . right? Before she can react, Alice is engulfed in Ace’s hand.

This shakes Pierce out of his frozen trance, and he immediately demands that Ace return Alice. He pulls out a wicked looking knife and attacks Ace. Ace points out that this does put Alice in danger as he effortlessly parries Pierce’s thrust.

The movements of Ace’s hand as he holds Alice are like an extreme roller coaster. Alice faints in the middle of the fight.

Xxx

When Alice regains consciousness, she is in the middle of the forest with Ace. It’s not the forest where Pierce and Boris live, but the forest near the Castle of Hearts. Alice asks about Pierce, and Ace tells her that he scared Pierce off. He adds self-righteously that it’s very dangerous to swing knives around in the middle of town.

Alice decides not to comment on that last statement, and just feel happy that it sounds like Pierce was able to escape.

Ace notes that this is the first time they’ve met since coming to the Country of Clover. He’s surprised, he thought that she would stay in the Country of Hearts with Julius. Alice remembers that Ace’s side job is helping Julius. It’s a weird situation, since it involves Ace abandoning his job as the Knight of Hearts to take on a different role. Honestly, she had hoped that Ace and Julius were in the Country of Hearts together.

Ace asks her where she is currently at, and Alice tells him that she’s at the Tower of Clover now. Ace notes that Nightmare and Gray live there, and notes that it’s a fun place. Alice wonders what Ace means by that, but decides not to question it.

Alice asks if Ace has a reason for bringing her here, and Ace admits that he’s lost and needs a guide. Alice wonders if she should feel surprised. Ace explains that all he wanted was her to show him the way to the Castle of Hearts, but the mouse pulled a knife on him. He notes that while mice can seem very timid, they can be very dangerous.

Ace adds that he got to play the knight – Alice was in the middle of being kidnapped by the mouse. Alice tells him that there was no kidnapping. Granted, there was no date, but she was enjoying walking around with Pierce. Ace laughs and asks if this makes him the bad guy. Alice doesn’t think he’s feeling regretful at all.

She gives Ace directions, explaining that on his way to escape Pierce, he was actually going in the right direction. Ace is happy, this means that his intuition is spot on. Alice decides not to comment on this. Now that she’s given him directions, she asks Ace to take her back to the tower.

Ace points out that he’s notorious for getting lost, he needs to bring her with him until they actually make it to the castle of hearts. Besides, Alice was just explaining that she was out with Pierce because she was bored, it’s too soon to bring her back to the tower. They can kill some time together and alleviate her boredom.

Eventually Alice and Ace make it to the Castle of Hearts. She has to guide him through the hedge maze, fighting his sense of direction the entire time. It’s that or wait over thirty time periods for him to arrive at the Castle of Hearts. Ace laughs and tells her that he’s pleased that she knows him so well.

This is the first time Alice has seen the Castle of Hearts since she arrived in the Country of Clover, and it makes her feel nostalgic. For a moment, Alice can believe that she is back in the Country of Hearts with the Amusement Park and Clock Tower just a short journey away. She is tempted to wander with Ace around the country and search for the Clock Tower, even though she may never reach it.

Suddenly Peter White shows up, pissed at Ace for missing the assembly while he was out wandering the country. Alice remembers Peter as the man who kidnapped her and originally brought her to the Country of Hearts. They’re friends now, but for a while he was number one on her hit list. Even now she hasn’t completely forgiven him, but she doesn’t hate him like she used to.

Ace asks if Peter is personally welcoming him home and thanks him. Peter tells him that he’s only here because the Queen is planning on having tea in the garden. Ace loudly assures Alice that he will get her some of that tea.

Peter’s demeanor completely changes, and he begins looking for Alice. She waves at him from Ace’s hand where he’s still holding on to her. Peter immediately begins freaking out at her new form. Before she can say anything, Peter pulls out his gun and tries to shoot Ace.

Ace dodges and points out that Peter is putting Alice in more danger. Alice tries to explain that Ace has nothing to do with her new form, and threatens to never talk to Peter again if he continues attacking Ace over this matter.

Suddenly Vivaldi arrives with an entourage of soldiers and maids, wondering what the commotion is about. Ace cheerfully salutes her and announces that he has arrived safely. Vivaldi admits that she forgot what she ordered him to do, and asks what he was doing. Ace shrugs and says that if she forgot, it must not have been a big deal.

Vivaldi looks angry and abruptly orders one of the nearby soldiers to be beheaded. Peter complains about this, it’s tiring to be constantly cleaning up dead bodies. Ace suggests that she execute him by shooting him, there would be a lot less mess to handle. Vivaldi refuses, as this is her favorite way of executing people.

Alice begs Ace to stop it, but Ace is confused as to why he should. Alice points out that the soldier is one of his subordinates, and Ace tells her that just because Vivaldi ordered it that way. Alice is reminded that she lives in a violent and dangerous world.

Vivaldi has noticed what appears to be Ace talking to himself and demands to know what is going on. Ace explains that he was simply talking to Alice and proffers her up for inspection. Suddenly everyone is staring at her.

Vivaldi thinks that this is some weird doll and asks about Ace’s questionable mental state. Alice has to explain that due to some weird circumstances, she took some drugs and is now like this.  

Vivaldi’s expression, like a little girl who just saw a frolicking puppy, resembles Gray’s. She asks if it’s really Alice, and Alice assures her it is. Peter springs into action and demands that Ace hand her over, grabbing his wrist. This tug of war between the two of them starts giving Alice motion sickness. Peter calls Ace a pervert and demands that he release Alice. Ace tells Peter that between the two of them, Peter’s the real pervert.

Vivaldi saves the day by breaking up the impromptu tug of war. She scoops Alice out of Ace’s hand and announces that she will have a special tea set prepared for Alice. She holds Alice close to her chest so that all Alice can see is the heart mark and whisks her off to the tea garden.

A miniature tea set is given to Alice, and she wonders how they could find one so quickly. Alice goes along with this, since Vivaldi has forgotten about the execution and no one has died yet.

Vivaldi is cooing over Alice, and promises to have a customized doll house made for her, one that is modeled after the Castle of Hearts. Ace announces that he would feel uncomfortable living in that kind of house and secretly Alice agrees. She tells Vivaldi that she’s grateful for the offer, but she’s in the middle of finding a cure for her current condition.

Vivaldi asks if Alice really wants to live in the boring Tower of Clover instead of the amazing Castle of Hearts. Peter announces that he is opposed to Alice living with that horrid man. Alice asks what Peter has against Gray, and Peter has to explain that he was actually talking about Nightmare. Alice wonders if Peter meant horrid as a synonym for miserable.

Vivaldi points out that Alice is different from them, and might have a different opinion of Nightmare. Peter complains about Alice first living with Julius and then Nightmare, obviously she has some sort of taste for dangerous men. Alice points out that those two are the least dangerous people she knows in this world. Unlike people like Peter, they don’t even use guns on a regular basis.

Peter tells Alice that those two are dangerous without guns. Alice doesn’t say anything more and sullenly refuses to believe that Julius or Nightmare are anything but gentle. In fact, it’s thanks to them that she decided to stay in this world.

Suddenly, Alice hears a voice call for her.

The voice wasn’t from anyone around the table, and none of them react to it. Ace is teasing Peter for having a mean expression and frightening Alice into silence, and Peter tells Ace that if anyone is frightening Alice, it’s him and his big useless sword. Ace tells Peter that the problem is that he’s an asshole rabbit.

Suddenly Peter disappears. Alice is so startled, she almost misses that there is a fluffy white rabbit on the table. Peter still has a miniature version of his clothes on, but beyond that he’s all rabbit. Alice immediately hugs him, cooing over how cute he is. Peter hugs her back and tells her that he loves her.

Ace is amazed at how desperate Peter is if he’s abusing his official abilities. Vivaldi points out that they have been beaten by the real rabbit.

Peter promises Alice that if she wishes, he will stay in this form forever. He announces that they should go back to his love nest. Then they’ll have to plan the wedding, look for a great place to honeymoon, and finally be alone together.

Alice starts getting flashback and pulls away from Peter. She tells him that she can’t marry him, and would like to go back to the tower now. Peter is confused, that’s not where their love nest is!

Again, Alice hears a voice call out for her.

Alice begins to recognize the voice, though she wonders if it is just her imagination as no one else reacts. She thinks that she can never return to that place ever again.

Vivaldi, Peter, and Ace begin squabbling over who Alice will stay with. Peter gets worked up to the point that he loses his bunny form and returns to his human form to continue arguing. Before long, Peter tries to shoot Ace, who deflects it with his sword. Alice realizes that the three role holders have partially forgotten her, and she’s in danger.

Without anyone noticing her, Alice slides down the table cloth into the grass and bolts for it.

***

Even though there is not a lot of Nightmare in this chapter, I am enjoying this book. It’s cute, low on romance, and Alice is not as whiny as she was in the game.

I enjoyed Ace in this chapter, I think it captured him very well. I’m not too familiar with Pierce, but I thought it was an interesting turn where he was full on attacking Ace. It’s an interesting look at how dangerous Pierce can be if he puts his mind to it.

Unfortunately I don’t have a real sense of how big Alice is. In the text she’s doll sized, but sometimes it seems like she’s more ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ sized. Sometimes people can hear her at great distances (and through doors!), and sometimes they have to be right next to her. 

Next Chapter – A Dreamlike Dream.

[caffedrine]

Impressions - Day Dream Lover Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Sleepy Mouse’s Gift

It’s a long chapter, which I think could have been broken down into at least two shorter chapters. But we finally are introduced to Pierce, the other character on the cover!

As a quick reminder, the last chapter ended with Gray discovering Alice and Nightmare are sleeping together. Like the game, they’re not actually having sex, they’re just sleep-sleeping together. However, Gray thinks the former is going on.

This chapter starts three time periods later with Alice finding Gray with a small library of wedding catalogues that he wants to go over together with her. He is leaning towards a garden wedding, but he is concerned that Nightmare is too weak to handle direct sunlight. Alice is bewildered by this sudden development, and eyes the catalogues that include honeymoon destination spots.

Meanwhile, Gray is still talking about how Nightmare won’t have to do anything for this wedding since as the bride Alice will be the focus of everyone’s attention. Besides, Nightmare loves ceremonies and formal dress, so he doubtlessly won’t object to any of Alice’s desires. All Alice has to do is say what her desires are, and Gray will make certain that it will be done.

Alice wonders what she should do, Gray is obviously excited about their upcoming wedding. This is the happiest she’s seen Gray since she met him, and now she wonders how she can turn him down without breaking his spirit. Gingerly, she asks if Gray doesn’t think things are proceeding a bit quickly. Gray does give her that before saying that it’s about time for them to settle down.

He tells her not to worry about Nightmare, Gray will personally make certain that she wants for nothing for the rest of her life. He will make certain that her wedded life will be stress and worry free.

Alice thinks that this would all be really great if Gray was the one to whom she was getting married. But no, they’re talking about her and Nightmare.

Yes, marrying Nightmare would do wonders for her social status, and she has no doubt that her married life will be stable. However, the tremendous responsibility of being wife and parent to a near-terminally ill man-child makes her hesitate. Someone else should be his wife.

Alice points out that a major obstacle to marrying Nightmare would be the fact that he’s shown no sign of interest in her. Gray is confused, they’re . . . er . . . dating . . . so they obviously must be interested in each other. He assures her that while Nightmare is lazy, he has no doubt that marriage would transform him into a responsible man who will take care of her.

Nightmare comes up behind Alice and announces that he doesn’t mind the idea of marrying her. But more importantly, why was she thinking about marrying Gray?

Gray is shocked by this development, and Alice awkwardly explains that she was just thinking that Gray would make a more realistic husband than Nightmare. Nightmare is not pleased with this, and Gray begins to consider the possibility. He asks if she really thinks he would make a good husband, and Alice assures him she does.

Nightmare dives between the two of them and demands that they stop looking at each other. He’s the boss, he gets priority, and no one is going to get married before he and Alice do!

Flatly, Alice tells Nightmare that he’s not going to get married until after he goes to the hospital and gets healthy. Gray agrees, Alice won’t be interested in marrying a dying man who won’t survive the wedding. Alice lights up, this is the perfect way to avoid marrying Nightmare. She adds that he can’t just be healthy enough to survive the wedding, he has to regularly go to the doctors’, get all of his injections, drink all of his medicine, be monitored by those doctors all throughout, and after all that she might consider the possibility of marrying him.

Nightmare looks like he thinks that Alice has just betrayed him. Even so, Alice doesn’t think that she’s done anything wrong. She would be genuinely happy if Nightmare was a little bit healthier even if they don’t get married.

Gray is thrilled with this new development. He announces that Alice is right, Nightmare needs to come with him to the hospital before they go any further with the wedding planning.

Nightmare screams at them that a hospital is too scary and he refuses to go. Alice tells Nightmare that means that they won’t get married. Besides, this is a bad omen for the marriage, if he won’t respond to a simple request from his future wife.

Gray laughs and begins to drag Nightmare off, presumably towards the nearest hospital.

***

The rumors of her upcoming marriage have spread throughout the tower, and all the employees are congratulating Alice for her upcoming nuptials with Nightmare. Alice can’t stand much of this, and runs away to the forest to think in private. She is thankful that unlike the urbanized nature of the Country of Hearts, the Country of Clover has a mix of nature and urban areas.

Alice heads to the forest and marvels over how different it is from the Amusement Park that used to be in the area. She mopes for a bit over Gowland, which naturally leads her towards the doors. She starts to hear the doors call her name, only to be interrupted by Boris. In case we forgot, Boris used to live at the Amusement Park, but was shunted with mostly everyone else to the Country of Clover and now resides in the forest. Alice doesn’t really understand why, but she gave up on answering that question long ago.

Boris notes that Alice has a very angry expression and asks if something’s wrong. Alice thinks about her looming possible marriage to Nightmare and is relieved that Boris hasn’t heard the rumors. She changes the subject to Boris and his living situation. She still doesn’t understand why he’s so calm after becoming basically homeless.

Boris explains that he has a new and fun game to play. In fact, he’s playing it right now, and in a moment or two he’ll catch his target. He promises to bring it back alive to Alice so that she can see for herself. Before she can object, Boris runs off and disappears into the forest.

Shortly afterwards, Pierce crawls out of some nearby bushes, happy that Boris has finally left. Alice thinks that she now knows what Boris was talking about earlier. Alice gives Pierce a handkerchief to wipe his forehead, and he’s happy to be the recipient of her kindness. So happy, that he’s going to give her a present.  Alice tells him not to worry about that, and to go and hide before Boris comes back.

Pierce has the perfect idea, they can hide together in his home. Boris can’t enter, so they’ll both be safe from the cat. All they have to do is drink this bottle of medicine Pierce has on him.

Alice still has lingering trauma from drinking out of medicine vials and tries to decline. To make matters weirder, a voice from the vial starts telling her to drink it. Completely weirded out, Alice moves to leave the area.

Pierce starts cajoling her to drink the medicine, similar in a manner to the way Gray has been cajoling Nightmare to drink his medicine. After listening to both Pierce and the medicine vial, Alice gives in and takes a drink.

After Alice drinks it, she feels completely disorientated, though physically she’s fine. At the very least, it doesn’t feel like the time Peter made her drink the medicine after she first arrived in the Country of Hearts.

Alice realizes that the reason she feels disorientated is that she is very small right now. As in, small enough to fit into a pocket. Pierce happily agrees that she is, he wasn’t entirely sure that the medicine would work on outsiders, but there she is. Now, they can go to his home.

Alice is upset at this surprise change in events and demands that Pierce make her normal sized again. Pierce is surprised at how angry Alice is getting, and starts looking through his pockets. As he does so, Alice wonders why this sort of thing always happens to her.

Eventually Pierce admits that they have a bit of a problem, he can’t find the antidote. He thinks he must have dropped it somewhere, and starts panicking. Alice tries to calm him down and ask if he can just buy more.

Pierce . . . cant. It’s a very rare antidote, and shops rarely have it in stock. He falls to his knees and starts crying. Then he abruptly stops, he’s had a great idea. Alice can just live with him forever in his home. That will solve everything!

It takes the rest of the time period, but Alice is eventually able to nag Pierce into bringing her back to the Tower of Clover.

Gray immediately wants to know what the hell happened, forcing Alice to admit that she took some strange medicine from Pierce. Pierce objects to that description of his medicine.

To Alice’s surprise, Gray looks happy, like a little girl looking at a baby kitten. He reaches out towards her, only to be stopped like Nightmare. Gray promises that he wasn’t going to be rough with her, but Nightmare tells Gray he knows that he had wicked intentions. Alice immediately defends Gray, who in her estimation is far less wicked that Nightmare.

From her vantage point on Pierce’s palm, she can see Nightmare’s face go paler and bluer. Next to him, Gray seems to be the picture of health, vibrant and handsome. Nightmare complains that the most wicked one here is Alice herself.

Reluctantly, Gray asks Pierce when he’s planning on giving Alice the medicine to return her to normal size. Pierce stammers and tells them that he doesn’t know. Gray’s eyes grow sharp and asks what Pierce means by that. Doesn’t Pierce understand that if he keeps Alice like this forever, he’s going to become the number one enemy of both Nightmare and the Country of Clover?

Pierce squeaks and cringes away, but Gray doesn’t relent. He tells Pierce that his affiliation with the Hatter Family means little to them, and even if it means war between their two factions, they will eventually punish him for this.

Pierce starts crying in terror, and Nightmare intercedes. He tells Gray that he thinks Pierce isn’t refusing to give the antidote to Alice, it’s just not possible at this very moment. Grateful, Pierce promises that he will give Alice the antidote as soon as he can.

However, Nightmare isn’t done. While he does consider himself a very generous and gentle lord, he wants Alice cured as soon as possible. Until Pierce supplies them with the antidote, ever dream he has will be full of hungry cats all going for him. No matter how far he runs, or how cleverly he hide, thousands of cat will stalk him in his dreams.

Gray smiles at that, and admits that he would welcome that kind of dream.

Pierce is horrified and begs Nightmare to reconsider. Nightmare tells him to cure Alice and he will happily give Pierce his preferred pleasant dreams.

Alice is too shocked at seeing this side of Nightmare to say anything. Pierce rushes out of Nightmare’s office, leaving her behind on the desk.

After he leaves, Gray groans while bringing his hand to his head. This is horrible, all of his plans for Nightmare and Alice’s wedding are ruined! If they go ahead while Alice is in this shape, none of the guests will be able to see her. It will look like Nightmare is delusional and getting married to an imaginary bride.

Nightmare whines at the mental image and even Alice agrees that it would be strange. Gray eventually straightens up and promises Nightmare that he will personally look into an antidote for Alice. Alice’s anger at Pierce is eventually replaced with a feeling of guilt for taking that medicine before she knew what it would do. She wonders how she’ll manage daily tasks such as eating and bathing while she’s in this form.

Nightmare reassures her that they are already looking into getting a custom-made dollhouse for her. Furthermore, he is personally more amused by these events than anything else. More importantly, he still wants to talk to her about Gray’s plans for their marriage. She thinks Nightmare is only going through with this because it will get Gray off his back. Nightmare insists that he really is interested in her, but Alice doesn’t believe him.

Nightmare admits that while he wasn’t specifically thinking of marrying her, he was thinking that she’d make a nice wife.

Alice begins to seriously consider the prospect of marrying Nightmare. He’s weak and whiny and sickly. However, he’s also been her friend since the Country of Hearts, and he knows her better than she knows herself. While he’s one of the nicest people she’s met here, she hardly knows anything about him. In fact, out of everyone she knows in this world, Nightmare is the person she knows the least about.

Nightmare asks her if she wants to marry him, and Alice tells him know. He starts laughing and tells her that he knew she would say that. Sulkily, Alice asks him why he asked if he already knew the answer. Nightmare tells her to brace herself, from now on he’s going to put effort into wooing her. Alice tells him not to get too far ahead of himself, at this point even if she agreed to marry him she wouldn’t be able to wear a wedding dress. Nightmare cheekily tells her that they can just order some custom made doll clothes. In fact, Gray should be contacting a doll maker about making her some extra sets of clothes as well as the dollhouse. Besides, if it means marrying her, he would be willing to have a ceremony that looked like he was being delusional.

Alice crosses her arms and glares at Nightmare. However, with her diminutive size, it lacks any of her normal ferocity and Nightmare only laughs harder.

Later Alice dreams of the time when her boyfriend left her for her sister. Just as she starts wishing she could be more like her older sister, the sound of a book closing echoes and she’s with Nightmare in the dream world.

Alice clings to him, and he soothes her for having such a terrible dream. Alice mumbles something about it not being bad, no dream with her sister can possibly be bad.

Alice realizes that she’s full size and clinging to Nightmare, and immediately lets go of him, looking around curiously. Since when did she get back to being big again?

Nightmare admits that since this is a dream, she can be whatever size she feels like. However, in the real world, she’s still small and tiny. Nightmare tells her that if she feels that self conscious about her size, when they get married they can just do it in the dream. Alice tells him not to do that, it would just annoy all of their guests. Nightmare argues that it’s not his problem if his guests are annoyed at his wedding, they can be as selfish and annoying as they want.

Nightmare moves on, he asks which wedding dress Alice like the most. He thought the mermaid line caught Alice’s attention and asks which one she wants to wear. Alice tells him that she doesn’t remember any of the dresses.

Idly, Alice wonders if Nightmare can invite the people left behind in the Country of Hearts to their dream wedding. Nightmare laughs and promises to bring Julius and Gowland to their wedding as well.

Nightmare suddenly grows grim and tells Alice that he’s happy that she doesn’t have the ability to read his heart. If she did, she’d probably start to hate him. Alice reaches out to tuck Nightmare’s bangs behind his ear and tells him that she doubts she’ll ever be able to hate him. Nightmare notes that she  doesn’t find him threatening and reminds her that he’s a guy, and is strong and dangerous in his own way.

Alice tells him that if that’s true, she’ll run away. She wonders if this is some roundabout way of threatening to kill her. Nightmare blanches and starts coughing up blood, he swears he didn’t mean it that way. Alice rubs his back, considering taking him to the hospital. With a glint in his eye, Nightmare asks her if she’ll marry him if he goes to the hospital. Alice growls at him not to involve her in his personal failings.

However, Alice feels like she is starting to understand Gray just a little bit. Like him, she can’t bring herself to leave Nightmare alone

 ***

I still think that scene from the game where Alice thinks that Gray is asking her to marry him instead of Nightmare is one of the funnier scenes. I think the author tried to replicate it a little bit, but it sounded like Alice was aware the entire time that they were talking about her and Nightmare’s marriage.

More importantly, I like that the author is going into a different direction that the game, introducing Pierce and the shrinking potion. I find it funny and realistic that Alice has certain apprehensions of drinking mysterious medicine from mysterious bottles in this world. You’d think that would make her more sympathetic of Nightmare, but I guess there is a line between that and refusing medicine while coughing up blood.

I also liked how both Gray and Nightmare operated in reaction to Alice’s new size. Gray definitely came off as threatening, promising to bring the full military weight of their faction down on Pierce and the Hatter Family as need be. Nightmare kind of sounded funny when I was looking at it, but I think it was supposed to be more threatening, as Pierce thought he was the scarier one. I suppose Nightmare’s point is that he knows Pierce’s particular weaknesses.

Next Chapter: Leaving the Tower

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Impressions - Day Dream Lover Chapter 1

Chapter I - The Long Dream

 Alice finds Gray Ringmarc and the other employees are running through the hallways looking for Nightmare. They have little hope of finding him as he often escapes into dreams, and only Gray can drag him out. Alice spots Gray and offers to help him search for Nightmare, to which Gray gratefully accepts.

Gray’s eyes remind Alice of a panther, and even though he has been nothing but polite to her, she still feels intimidated by him. He is one of the two role holders living at the Tower of Clover, the center of the Country of Clover.

The other role holder is Nightmare Gottschalk, who is the lord of the tower and in charge of the City of Clover. He claims to be the most important person in the country, but takes ever opportunity to skip out on his work. He has very poor health but avoids the hospital more than he avoids work.

Alice heads to Nightmare’s office to start her search and immediately finds him smoking on the sofa. Nightmare doesn’t appear to be aware of the search going on and waves at her lazily. Alice starts to scold him and while coughing, Nightmare argues that he’s just taking a break. Alice tells him that if he’s going to cough like that, he should probably stop smoking. Nightmare argues that smoking is something cool adults like he does during their breaks.

Alice is still thrown off balance by Nightmare’s presence. She had grown used to him visiting her in her dreams while she was in the Country of Hearts, so it was strange to see him in the waking world.

It all began one Sunday afternoon when Alice had been enjoying a picnic with her older sister, Lorina, in their garden. Suddenly, a mysterious man with rabbit ears abducted Alice and brought her to the Country of Hearts, a place that was on no map.

In this world, time was crazy as it would change from day to night to evening at random times with no discernable order. There were people with rabbit and cat ears, as well as normal people all shooting at each other. Alice’s common sense was no longer an asset to her in this world.

In the Country of Hearts, Alice found a home at the neutral Clock Tower. There were three other territories, the Castle of Hearts, The Hatter’s Mansion, and the Amusement Park, which were always fighting in an unending territorial dispute.

The solitary head of the Clock Tower, Julius Monrey, was a silent, gloomy and difficult person to get along with. However, he allowed Alice to stay with him, and they had gotten along very well. It should have stayed that way.

Instead, one day Alice woke up to discover that she was no longer in the Country of Hearts. While it’s difficult to explain, the land ‘moves’ and Alice had found herself in the center of the Tower of Clover without warning. She still doesn’t understand why she wasn’t able to stay with Julius at his Clock Tower.

When she asked, the only answer she received was that as an outsider, she wasn’t tied to the Clock Tower.

However, the move didn’t leave her completely alone. The dream demon she had grown to know from the Country of Hearts was here in the flesh, as disorienting as it was.

Back in the present, Nightmare complains that he is very important and powerful, and there is no boss of comparable dignity than him. He is a respected and generous lord. Alice complains that he’s saying this to his victims. Nightmare complains that she is wrong, he is an amazing boss.

Alice gives up on trying to convince him otherwise, all she has to do is keep Nightmare here and wait for Gray to wander by. Alice wonders if Nightmare was like this back in the Country of Hearts. To be fair, he was stubborn even then, but he seemed more mysterious and in control. In the real world, Nightmare was troublesome instead of mysterious.

Gray eventually finds them, and he is not in a good mood. He reminds Nightmare that if he is always taking breaks, they won’t get anywhere in their work. Alice reflexively grabs onto Nightmare’s arm, sensing his imminent escape into the dream world. Nightmare tells her to let go, and Alice tells him that if he’s such a great boss, he won’t cause any more trouble for his subordinates.

Nightmare coughs up blood onto his shirt and Alice asks if he would rather go to the hospital or go back to work. Nightmare complains that he doesn’t want to go to either.

At this point more subordinates enter the room to subdue Nightmare. On Gray’s instructions, they bring Nightmare to another room, leaving the office quiet for once.

Gray collapses on the sofa, looking like an exhausted mother dealing with her son’s rebellious years. He thanks Alice for her help, and she sympathizes with having a troublesome boss.

Gray starts smoking a cigarette and agrees with her. Alice is impressed with him for putting up with Nightmare as long as he has.

Before her move to the Country of Clover, Alice had no prior contact with Gray. However, there had been times when Nightmare would enter her dreams only to dash away, and in retrospect, that had probably been him avoiding Gray.

Gray tells her that before, Nightmare would immediately dash away into a dream in order to hide. He thinks Alice’s presence is to thank for this easy capture. He only hopes that she won’t grow tired from dealing with Nightmare all the time.  Right now, Nightmare is becoming more dependable, and it’s all thanks to her.

Alice is a bit creeped out, this is the longest conversation she and Gray have had since her arrival at the Tower. Besides, he’s acting like she’s some kind of wonderful person that she’s not. On the other hand, Gray ticks all her boxes for being a wonderful person. He’s smart, mature, and very handsome. Of course, Nightmare is also good looking, but his beauty is more feminine, as opposed to Gray’s masculinity.

Gray has been droning on for a bit, and Alice catches the last part where he suggest that Nightmare is restless because he’s single. Alice idly agrees, men are known to calm down when they have a family.

Gray realizes his break is up and tells Alice that he would like to talk about this further in their free time. In the meantime, he asks her to consider what he was saying. Before Alice can ask him what he means, Gray dashes out of the office.

 xxx

Later Alice complains to Nightmare that there was something strange about Gray. Nightmare asks if she means Gray magically sprouted rabbit ears and Alice tells him to stop telling that joke. It reminds her of Peter White, the rabbit-eared man who abducted her to this world, and the mental image of his ears on Gray makes her shudder. Although, if it were Elliot’s ears . . . Well, that wasn’t what she was getting at.

Nightmare asks her to explain, and she looks at him while she considers her answer. Nightmare’s skin is pale, as if it has never seen the sun. He has bluish, purple lips. There is a medicine bottle nearby that has no signs of being used, and documents that have not been read. Alice feels a wave of pity for Gray. Maybe she’s being a little hard on him.

Alice asks Nightmare if he plans on drinking that medicine anytime soon. Nightmare has a disgusted expression on his face and complains that she’s abusing him. Alice points out that they had the doctor use strawberry flavoring to make the medicine more palatable, but Nightmare isn’t interested. Instead, he’s interested in hearing about Gray.

Alice tells Nightmare that Gray had spent some time praising him to her shortly after they captured him. Nightmare wonders what is strange about a subordinate praising such a great boss like him, he can understand why Gray would want to brag.

Alice wonders if Nightmare has secretly brainwashed all of his subordinates, and that is why they all adore him.

Nightmare asks if there was anything else, and Alice tells him no. She prepares a cool towel and places it on Nightmare’s forehead. She takes another towel and wraps it around his neck. This reminds her of the time she got sick and Lorina took care of her. The memory sticks, and Alice feels her heart skip a beat.

Nightmare grabs onto her wrist, and she looks into his quiet gray emotionless eyes. Nightmare tells her that she should be dreaming when she sleeps, not when she is awake. If she’s not careful, she’ll become caught up in a daydream.

Alice complains that she wasn’t daydreaming. Daydreams were just unrealistic delusions, she was just remembering her older sister. And that wasn’t a delusion, it was okay to remember her sister from time to time. Nightmare warns her that there is nothing more unreal or delusional than memories.

Alice frowns wonders if the people of this world don’t understand family ties. She asks Nightmare if this is his way of getting back at her for when she handed him over to Gray earlier. Nightmare tells her that he wouldn’t do that and asks if she really thinks that low of him.

Alice huffs, it still feels like Nightmare is making fun of her, and she’s growing tired of him reading her mind. Nightmare quickly assures her that he’ll stop reading her mind and strokes her hair. Alice points out that he said earlier that he can’t help but overhear thoughts and Nightmare promises to block her out. Alice wonders why he wasn’t doing that at the start, and Nightmare shrugs, pointing out that just because he can hear something doesn’t mean that he’s listening to it. It’s like listening to a sunken treasure chest buried beneath the ocean.

 xxx

Alice dreams of machine oil and relaxes as she lays in the single bed in Julius’s workshop. It’s a single room with no luxuries, but it was Alice’s home. She wonders if Julius was surprised at her sudden disappearance. She still hadn’t made coffee that Julius would score ’90 points’ yet, but she felt that she was coming close to that day. However, when she got up from the bed, there was no Julius or his indigo, shampoo model-esque hair.

Instead Alice smells dirt and finds a basket of scones and sandwiches. Once again, she is in her family’s garden on a Sunday afternoon, picnicking with her older sister Lorina. Alice apologizes for keeping her waiting and Lorina laughs and tells her that as long as she finds her way home, Lorina won’t be mad. Alice sees the book in Lorina’s lap and recognizes the story. It’s about a girl who falls asleep and dreams of a laughing cat, the Queen of Hearts, roses that are painted red, an endless tea party with hatters, and a medicine that says ‘drink me’. Alice realizes that the Lorina is turning the last page and begs her to stop, to not end the dream so soon . . .

 xxx

Alice wakes up to find that she’s in neither her family’s garden nor Julius’s workshop. She’s in a spacious light green guest room in the Tower of Clover.

To her surprise, Nightmare is by her bedside, trying to sooth her. Briefly she wonders why he’s there, but then she throws herself into his arms. She wonders why she feels so uneasy, it’s not like she had a bad dream or anything.

Nightmare holds her tight and she smells tobacco smoke. As she feels Nightmare’s warm body next to hers, she finally begins to calm down. She asks if she’s still dreaming, and Nightmare tells her no.

Alice eventually realizes that would mean that this is the Country of Clover. And the Nightmare she’s pressed up against is the real thing. Embarrassed, Alice releases Nightmare and furiously demands to know why he just waltzed into her room. Nightmare points out that he would have visited her within her dreams, but Alice already shot that down earlier. And besides, he totally did knock first.

Alice points out that she didn’t give him permission to enter her room, and wasn’t her door locked? Nightmare tells her that since this is his tower in the center of his territory, he can go where he pleases. Alice realizes that means that there is no woman safe from him and his rudeness.

While she is angry, Alice also feels embarrassed about how she latched onto Nightmare earlier. She tells him that he didn’t need to wake her up, it’s not like she was having a bad dream. Okay, maybe she feels unsettled and lonely, but it’s not like she needs him.

Nightmare informed her that she was the one who called out to him. He doesn’t just go into women’s rooms without an invitation, he came here specifically because she was calling for him.

Alice wonders what kind of joke this is, especially since she remembers not wanting to wake up. She looks at Nightmare’s face and realizes that he’s serious.

Stroking her hair, Nightmare tells her to stay with him, he will keep her from seeing any more bad dreams. He promises to protect her in a way that Julius cannot. Alice asks why Julius wasn’t in her dream and Nightmare only smiles sadly.

Alice has been dreaming often of Julius since she moved to the Country of Clover. And every time she wakes up from that dream, Alice wishes that she could go back to the Clock Tower. Alice recalls that Nightmare can read people’s minds, and must have heard her wishes. In a way, she’s been rubbing it in his face that she hates it here and by extension, him. It must have hurt him every time she wished to go back to Julius.

Before she can apologize, Nightmare tells Alice to not worry about him and focus on herself. He promises that she won’t even notice him when she goes back to sleep, and he can keep her from having any more bad dreams. Alice is too selfish to argue as Nightmare gently tucks her in.

Alice muses that despite the fact that this is technically a dangerous situation, she doesn’t feel any alarm from being on a bed alone in the room with Nightmare. She wonders if it’s because Nightmare is so gentle, or if she’s just not aware of him as a man.

Nightmare interrupts her to ask if she’s trying to be rude now. Or is she saying that she wants him to try something?  Alice snorts, and tells him that if he does try something, she has no doubt that she’ll be able to dropkick him across the room. Nightmare is aghast at the violent image he reads from her mind.

Miffed, Nightmare assures Alice that he won’t try anything. He promises to stay with her until she falls asleep in order to keep her from dreaming the rest of the night.

Alice thanks him, feeling relieved. She thinks that if ever Nightmare suffers from insomnia, she will repay this favor by singing him a lullaby until he falls asleep. As Alice drifts off, she hears Lorina’s voice in her mind.

 xxx

About five hours later, Alice wakes up feeling refreshed. Like Nightmare had promised, she had slept soundly with no more dreams. It’s a beautiful morning and the sun is shining brightly through her window.

Alice realizes that there is a soft breathing sound coming from her bed. Horrified, Alice turns, remembering Nightmare’s promise to stay with her until she fell asleep again.

Alice tells Nightmare to get out of her bed this instant. Half-awake, Nightmare grumbles that he needs just a little more sleep, another ten hours or so. Alice grabs the sheets and tries to tug Nightmare off the bed.

Nightmare grumbles that he might be willing to get up if she was gentler, and maybe kissed him on the cheek. Alice tells him that she only kisses men who contribute to society. She asks if he realizes what this situation implies.

Nightmare yawns and idly asks her why she’s so upset. Isn’t it normal for women to spend the night with their favorite man? Alice gives up and starts trying to drag Nightmare to the door by his arm. She tells him that if anyone sees them like this, they’ll get the wrong idea.

She opens the door, intending to throw Nightmare out, only to find Gray on the other side about ready to knock. He apologizes for disturbing her, but he was hoping she knew where . . . Nightmare . . . was.

Gray’s eyes immediately go to Nightmare, who is in disheveled clothing and only half awake. They flick back to Alice, who is still only wearing her pajamas. Okay then, Gray understands this situation completely.

Alice yells at him to stop ‘understanding’, but at this point Gray has adopted a perfect poker face. She wonders how she can explain this situation without making it worse.

Gray tells her that she doesn’t need to say anything at all, she can trust him. He won’t let her down. Just as Alice is starting to feel relieved at this sudden show of understanding Gray continues, promising to find the perfect place for the ceremony and handle all of the arrangements.

 ***

So far it’s a lot like Nightmare’s Clover Route. I kind of miss the part where he announces that he and Alice were sleeping together in front of all his subordinates, but maybe that will happen in the future. And poor Julius, he’s going back to being the romantic rival. I suppose it makes sense, but still!

I like the morning after scene, I wish the game had something like that. Nightmare’s route was a comedy of errors, it was missing Gray walking in on them on inopportune moments and misunderstanding. I like that the book had the scene.

[itsallloveworld]

Dede Lovelace: Daydream Lover

W Magazine · Playlist · 20 songs · 283 likes

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Impressions - Daydream Lover Chapter 5 - The Daydream Lover

Novel Page

Chapter 5 – The Day Dream Lover

This chapter is a bit different from all of the other ones. Since Alice is constantly falling asleep and having dream-adventures as well as being awake from time to time, it’s more of a series of short scenes. Honestly, I think it works for a chapter that is centered around Nightmare.

The chapter starts when Alice first comes to, she finds herself in a hospital with a panicking Nightmare. More specifically, she is in Gray’s breast pocket, as he’s trying to wrangle a panicking Nightmare. She’s not entirely sure how she wound up in this situation, but decides that the best course of action is to assist Gray by chiding Nightmare. Eventually Gray explains that he is doing his part to ensure Nightmare fulfills his promise of going to the hospital in order to marry her.

xxx

Later, Alice and Nightmare discuss this promise, which Alice cannot remember making. At this point Nightmare is subdued and recovering from his previous injections, so they can have a normal-ish conversation.

Nightmare is put out that Alice conveniently forgot one of the major requirements to proceed with their marriage. Alice points out that it’s not like they had plans to marry in the first place and Nightmare starts to pout.

However, this marriage is not to be no matter how many times Nightmare goes to the hospital. The assembly period is almost over, and Alice is still teeny-tiny. Nightmare tells Alice that he still likes her, and wants to marry her. This catches Alice by surprise. Almost as surprising as seeing Nightmare’s body become transparent. Alice realizes that he’s going into a dream.

Nightmare explains that if he falls asleep in the outside, he is likely to wake up with even more medical procedures being done to him. A common hazard of living with Gray.

However, this evokes a memory of Alice’s mother, frail and thin, dying in a hospital, the last day she was alive. Nightmare gently calls her name and tells Alice to wait until she falls asleep before dreaming, else she will be caught in a daydream.

However, Alice can still hear a familiar voice call her name.

Xxx

Alice wakes up to the sound of someone calling her name. It is Vivaldi, who has come to visit her. Alice is confused, as she can’t remember falling asleep.

Vivaldi has brought a doll-sized tea set, including a table, chairs, and miniature tea-cups. In addition, she also furnishes Alice with silk dresses, and tells Alice to wear them next time she comes to a tea party at the Castle. Alice is flattered by this and thanks Vivaldi profusely. Vivaldi tells her that this is way more fun than participating in the assembly.

Alice realizes that she is skipping out on one of the assemblies, and technically should be attending Nightmare. She must have slept through them getting ready.

Speaking of which, Alice is still exhausted. She begins to droop, and Vivaldi grows concerned. Alice assures Vivaldi that she is fine, she just gets like this when she has nothing to do. Vivaldi tells Alice if she could, she would do nothing herself. Alice points out that as a queen, Vivaldi shouldn’t be saying that, and Vivaldi tells her that the queen is just a role, no real content to it. Though Alice has heard similar things from other role holders, she still doesn’t understand it.

Vivaldi is thinking, and tells Alice that there is a job she can take. Alice asks what it is, and Vivaldi tells her that she can be the new executioner, slowly cutting off heads. Alice immediately refuses.

Xxx

Alice wakes up after falling from her chair. Gray quickly picks her up and places her back on her chair. She assures him that she’s not hurt, just embarrassed. She had been eating lunch with Gray, a lunch made of pancakes that the tower chef had made especially small for her, when she had fallen asleep and rolled over.

Gray tells Alice that he’s beginning to get very worried, she shouldn’t be falling asleep like this all the time. Alice assures him that she sometimes just gets like this, and wants to sleep all the time. That said, this has been happening more often now that she is tiny.

Gray offers to make her some coffee, hopefully that will help her perk up. As he leaves, Alice falls asleep again.

Xxx

Alice dreams of her sister, and the doors. Just as she grasps a doorknob and turns it, she is grabbed by Nightmare from behind. Alice accuses him of sexual harassment, and Nightmare defends himself as just trying to rescue her.

Alice wonders if Gray had sent Nightmare to rescue her after the pancake fiasco. Right now, in this dream, Alice feels as clear headed as she ever has since the incident with Pierce and the drugs. She turns and clings to Nightmare, wondering if this dream is real, and the outside world the illusion.

Nightmare tells her that she’s not a dream demon, the outside world should be more real to her. Alice points out that Nightmare has been talking about how the outside world is more ambiguous than a dream.

Alice then holds Nightmare tighter, and asks him not to leave her. She is filled with a sense of urgency, and Nightmare tries to soothe her. He reminds her that as long as she dreams, she will never be alone, since he will be there. He wonders if she’s just confused due to the move.

Alice releases Nightmare and tells him that she is not confused, and he is rude to imply so. She takes a moment to admire him, how beautiful he is. Nightmare tells her that she herself is beautiful and quickly kisses her lips. Alice looks confused and Nightmare laughs and asks if that wasn’t enough for her.

Alice tells him that it wasn’t, grabs ahold of him, and kisses him long and full on the mouth. Nightmare immediately starts to panic, and tells her that it’s bad for his condition if she starts acting so unpredictably. Alice is a little frustrated that Nightmare isn’t much on the initiative on this, but on the other hand, she appreciates that he’s not forceful. The kiss continues for a while.

Alice asks if Nightmare has any complaints, and he whines that he’s just being cautious. He also tells her that it’s bad to start things that she doesn’t intend to finish. He initiates the next kiss, using his tongue.

Alice wonders if this is a different Nightmare than she is used to, and Nightmare assures her that he is the usual Nightmare.

The sweet low voice of her sister breaks Alice’s concentration, and she stops the kiss, wondering where that voice could have possibly come from. Nightmare is confused, and Alice covers up by telling him that she’s getting embarrassed. Nightmare points out that she initiated at least one of those kisses. Alice complains that it’s all him, and Nightmare complains that she’s an awful woman if she is going to forget that.

Alice thinks that if Nightmare was a woman, he himself would have been considered cutely devilish. There is no doubt about it, Alice has terrible tastes.

Nightmare begins to kiss Alice again, and she complains that he’s taking over her dream. Nightmare beams and tells her that this is his dream. That said, dreams and reality are starting to blur, and he’s not certain if they’ll remember this when they wake up. Alice complains that he’d remember everything anyways. Convinced that she’d forget this anyways, Alice resumes kissing Nightmare.

Xxx

When Alice wakes up, she is in Nightmare’s room. Her dollhouse had been transferred to his room, and she’s not alone – the lord of the tower himself is sleeping in the giant bed nearby.

Alice can remember everything. As she buries her burning face into her pillow, she can remember everything in astounding details. Every single kiss.

Alice wonders why she feels so embarrassed, and wonders if she would feel the same if it had been anyone other than Nightmare.

There is a knock on the bedroom door, and it opens to reveal Gray, who is relieved to see Alice awake. Alice recalls that once upon a time, Gray was going to make her coffee. There is no coffee now. Gray apologizes, he had panicked a little when she was unresponsive and was the one who moved her house into Nightmare’s room. He asks after her health, and Alice assures him that she’s feeling just fine.

Gray is happy to hear that, both he and Nightmare had grown concerned, especially over her heart. Alice is confused, and Gray elaborates. He wonders if she wants to return to the Country of Hearts. Alice shakes her head in denial, and Gray muses that if she really wanted to go there, the world would have been influenced by her heart. Alice assures Gray that she is happy here in the tower with them.

She wonders if in this unstable world, if Nightmare is the most unstable existence of them all. But then what the hell was with that last dream?

Alice hears the voice of her sister, and her eyelids grow heavy.

Nightmare calls out her name, breaking Alice out of her daydream. Alice is surprised to see him awake, and Nightmare explains that he realized that he forgot his body outside of the dream, and came back to retrieve it. Otherwise he could wake up in a hospital with various medical procedures being done to him.

Gray excuses himself from the room, leaving Nightmare and Alice alone. Alice is exhausted again, that momentarily clarity gone.

Nightmare bends down so he is eye-level with Alice, and she grows red as she recalls the dream. She immediately tells him that she has no memory whatsoever of the last dream, and forgot everything that happened when she woke up. Nightmare smiles wickedly and Alice recalls that he has a terrible personality.

Nightmare simply tells her that it is a shame that she has forgotten everything. Alice wishes she could go back to sleep and avoid this. Nightmare tells her not to be so cold, besides, he needs to prepare for the closing ceremony. Even though Gray could possibly fill in as a substitute, it is a rule for Nightmare to do this.

Nightmare gets ready, and reminds Alice that beyond anyone else, he can protect her dreams. He gently picks up Alice and places her in his left breast pocket.

Xxx

With the final assembly upon them, the assembly hall is packed. This is the last time these people will easily see each other in a non-combative environment, as after this final assembly they will return to their respective territories for good.

From her vantage point in Gray’s pocket, Alice can see Nightmare sweat with nervousness. Alice tells Nightmare not to push himself too hard. Nightmare assures her that he is very cool and doesn’t need her to worry after him. Gray is excited, and asks about the closing speech.

Nightmare . . . doesn’t have it memorized. Gray suggests using the cue cards, but Nightamre shoots that down. It doesn’t look cool to use cue cards, only someone who didn’t memorize the speech would use something like that!

While they bicker, Alice gets distracted by a voice calling her to open the door. Alice is confused and wonders about doors. While Gray and Nightmare are distracted, Alice slips out of Gray’s pocket and finds a door set just into the wall.

Unexpectedly, this door is the perfect size for her, suitable for a mouse or a cat. Even though it’s too suspicious, this entire thing is suspicious, Alice walks up to the door. It asks her where she wants to go, and Alice herself wonders about that. She reaches out, and turns the doorknob, opening the door.

Xxx

Alice finds herself in her family garden, wondering how she wound up there by going through a random door in the Country of Clover. Beyond that, nothing has changed even though she has been gone for so long. While the place is familiar, she feels like she doesn’t belong.

Alice hears the voice of her sister searching for her, asking her to come play a card game. Alice wonders if it’s a continuation of that one day. Finally she can see her beloved older sister and apologize. She doesn’t need to be forgiven, she just needs to be able to explain everything.

A new voice that didn’t belong in this scene calls Alice back. Nightmare assures Alice that he won’t destroy this dream by entering it, and the scenery wavers and fades into Nightmare’s dreamscape.

Alice asks if she was dreaming and Nightmare has an ambiguous expression. He tells her that it’s up to her, if she thinks that previous scene is real than it will become her reality. Or she could think that she’s sleeping in Gray’s pocket back at the Country of Clover, and after noticing her body fade Nightmare came to wake her.

Alice wonders if this means that she no longer exists in the Country of Clover. She wonders if she’s going to fade into this dream, like Nightmare warned her about so long ago.

Nightmare asks her to come back with him, if she stays here then shell never be able to return to the outside world again. Alice asks if she stayed here, would Nightmare stay with her. Both her sister and Nightmare are important to her, and she couldn’t’ stand it if they both left her.

Alice recalls the words of the door and wonders if she really wanted to return to her original world. Nightmare assures her that she doesn’t have to return, she can stay here. Alice asks if she stays will she get lost again, and Nightmare assures her that no matter how many times she gets lost, he will always find her.

Little by little, the sound of Alice’s sister’s voice fades, and Alice acknowledges that she will never see her again.

Nightmare has Alice close her eyes and promises that one day her dream will end, as there are no endless books. Alice thinks that it is part of Nightmare’s role to end the dream and close the book. Alice isn’t afraid, because she knows that when she wakes up, Nightmare will be with her.

Xxx

 There was a sound of book closing and Alice wakes up in Nightmare’s room, next to Nightmare in his bed. She is about even with his face, and his one eye is beautiful and large. He asks after her, and Alice tells him that she feel clear again. She wonders how long she was asleep for this time, and Nightmare tells her that it was about three time periods. Alice is a bit surprised, it felt like it was closer to thirty.

Alice tries to remember her dream, but it is like struggling against a tide. Alice wonders why she can’t remember it, and Nightmare tells her it is because she cant hold all of it. At some point people will forget even important things that they want to hold on to.

Nightmare gestures at a side table and asks if Alice is feeling thirsty. Alice sees a suspicious tiny vial that reminds her of the one Pierce gave her. She asks if that’s the antidote and Nightmare explains that Pierce finally came through.

Nightmare warns her from now on to say ‘no’ to drugs, even if she knows the person. Alice grumbles but takes the medicine. Her whole body grows hot and begins to feel uncomfortable.

Eventually it’s done and Alice finds herself at her normal size, with nothing out of place.  She’s back!

Nightmare muses that she was very cute when she was little, but overall he does prefer her at this size. Alice asks if Nightmare is asking to be abused. Nightmare denies this, but Alice quickly grabs on to him. As he panics, Alice whispers in his ear that she is very grateful that she’s back. Nightmare flushes, and Alice grumbles that he was a lot more aggressive in their dreams.

Nightmare stops and grins wickedly at Alice, pointing out that he was positive she said that she forgot that one dream. Alice tells him that she really doesn’t remember, and even if she did, it’s not like there was a deep meaning to the dream.

Nightmare laughs and tells her that it had a deep meaning for him. Alice wonders at this shift in mood. Nightmare teases her that she is a wicked lady and then gently kisses her. It’s a sweet modest kiss that is repeated again and again. He muses that he thought she was like this only in dreams, but is relieved to find that he was wrong. Alice complains that he’s being rude again.

If Nightmare can read hearts, he should already know what Alice is feeling. She wonders if he has her dancing in the palm of his hand. Nightmare complains that he can’t always be certain what the voice of her heart is saying. Alice tells him to try harder and consciously thinks ‘I love Nightmare’.

Nightmare blushes and floats off the bed. Alice wonders if she excited him a bit too much. Nightmare asks if she’s being truthful and instead of answering, Alice kisses him again.

They continue making out until someone knocks on the door.

End of Chapter

***

That’s it for Chapter 5. As I said, it was a lot of scenes of Alice being awake or asleep, but since it’s Nightmare it works. I do appreciate that the Nightmare-centric chapter is a bit weird and it’s very Nightmare-centric.

Overall, I liked that they were dealing with the ramifications of Alice’s small body, and her inability to stay awake for five minutes. I liked that Gray was staring to show concern over her health, as it seemed a moot point in the previous chapters.

Ultimately, I thought this was a great chapter for Nightmare’s character. If I hadn’t already read Sweet Pain Bitter Love by the same author, I would have guessed that she was shy about writing fade-to-black sex scenes, but it fits Nightmare’s character that the go as far as kissing. While I loved his route in the games, it was definitely not the ‘sexy’ or ‘explicit’ route.

Just an epilogue left and then on to the next novel. If anyone has any requests, please let me know and I will take them into consideration.