I'm awake.

Why am I awake?

I just went to sleep a little while ago, and I would swear on my life that I'm still asleep.

"Oh, I wouldn't swear on your life over anything if I were you. That's a bad idea when you have a heart for a clock."

I whip around, looking for the source of the random voice. I must be asleep after all, conscious in my own dream.

Unable to find the source, I shrug it off, knowing that dreams can be a little weird sometimes. Focusing on my surroundings, I notice that wherever I am is just a very grey dreamscape type setting. This is so weird.

And Rory is here!

Why is Rory here?

"What on this green earth is going on?" She says to herself, most likely unaware that I'm here. Which is surprising, considering just how keenly honed her senses are. Must be a side effect of this dreamscape.

"Rory!" I say, "What are we doing here?"

She looks at me, surprised, and then smiles. "Why are you shirtless?"

"You know I sleep shirtless," someone off to our left says, "Or at least, that's what he was going to say."

We whip around, trying to find the source of that voice. That blasted voice, I'm going nuts. There's no way this is real, those noodles must have given me some weird dreams.

"Oh, I don't know if I'd call this a dream." The voice says behind us.

We turn, and find nothing.

"I think I'd call it more of a nightmare." The voice says directly beside us this time. We whip around yet again. This is getting old.

Except this time, there's a man there and he must have a thing for pirates because he's wearing a very fancy eye patch.

Rory quickly pulls her knife out of its thigh holster, pushing me back with her arm and putting herself between me and the mystery pirate man.

"Nightmare Gottschalk, at your service!" He says, taking a bow, completely nonplussed by Rory's knife.

"And Warren, my dear boy," He starts, "I actually do quite admire pirates and their style, though that is not the reason for the eye –"

And now he's coughing like a dying man, vomiting blood into an already well used handkerchief.

"Hey bud, you okay?" Rory asks, concerned, though she still hasn't put the knife down or approached him.

He just holds up a hand while finishing his coughing fit.

"I'm fine, this is normal." He says, completely nonplussed by this as well. "Yes, I do have information that will be useful to you, and no, I will not hurt you."

My eyes widen in surprise. Is he speaking Rory's thoughts right now?

Wait this is just a dream, none of it's real, it doesn't really matter what he can do.

He stands and starts walking towards us, and Rory starts to back up to put space between them, forcing me to move as well.

"I can assure you, this is all very real." He says, looking me directly in the eyes.

Rory narrows hers. "What is this place?"

"It's a place of dreams. Or nightmares, depending on who you ask and how you look at it, and on what you do." He smirks, and suddenly disappears.

"What, do I only get one question, oh magical pirate dude?" Rory says, agitated.

"No, I just dislike standing." We hear from above us. Our heads move up, and we see Nightmare moving through the air, floating like it's nothing.

"Woah!" Rory says, delighted by the flying, though she has yet to put her knife away.

"Yeah, woah is right," I reply, agreeing with her statement, "how are you doing that?"

"It's a dream!" He says, continuing to float around, seemingly aimless. "You can do whatever you want in dreams. That's what makes them so dangerous."

Oh man, does that mean I can fly too if I want? Would that be something where if I fail I die because of height? What are the rules of this place?

"I'll answer that another time Warren, for now, we don't really have a lot of time for chatting." Nightmare states, replying to my thoughts.

"So spill," Rory says, "what do we need to know?"

"Well, you are probably wondering how Peter knew your name…"

"How did he know?" she asks, warily. I'm feeling a little cautious too. I wonder if we can even trust what he has to say, but even if we can, there's been a lot of violations of privacy here.

He smirks in response. "I told him about you, where to find you. I sent him to retrieve you. Warren was a mishap, but we can work with that. I have nothing against having two foreigners at once."

"You son of a bit-" Rory starts, but is interrupted when the man turns his head to once again start coughing like mad. The hankie turns an even more brilliant shade of crimson.

"You need to see a doctor." I say, worrying for this crazy pirate lover's well being.

"No doctors!" he says adamantly, "They're evil beings."

I bet he's just afraid of needles.

"That too," He says. "My handkerchief does me wonders though, so I'm okay."

I roll my eyes. These people must really be insane, dear readers.

"We really are all mad here," Nightmare replies, "including the cat."

Rory stiffens a bit at the mention of Boris, looking down at her clothes, smacking her forehead after she takes it all in. I look at her quizzically, wondering why on earth she had that reaction of all things.

Nightmare chuckles, and then starts floating around again.

"I must have fallen asleep in the alcove with Boris," Nightmare says, a gleeful tone in his voice. "At least, that's what she was thinking. Why were you there, Rory? A midnight tryst with the cat?"

Her eyes narrow again, and she looks as though she could murder Nightmare for invading the privacy of her mind. Her ears and the back of her neck turn a very nice red color though, telling us without words that Nightmare may very well be close to the truth.

But dang, have I made it through the other side of our pact all on my own? Do I get to see Rory kiss Peter?

On second thought, that's a bad thing, who knows what he would do to her.

Ror and Boris though, who wouldn't have seen that one coming. They've been giving each other looks all day.

I look at her and wiggle my eyebrows, and she rolls her eyes. "I don't think I'd call it a 'midnight tryst'" She replies to the accusation, gesturing with her hands like she does when unsure about a situation or nervous. Or if she's really excited, but that obviously isn't the situation right now.

"I don't know if I'd call it nothing!" Nightmare says in a sing song voice, still floating around above our heads.

Seeing how uncomfortable Rory is with this situation, and knowing that I will be getting all of the juicy details later on, I try to change the conversation.

I'm such a good friend.

"SO, what other things did you want to tell us?" I say, attempting to do exactly what I told myself I would.

"Ah, that's right. As I was saying, I sent Peter to retrieve you Rory. Warren was unplanned, but that is okay. It will be a good thing for him as well." Nightmare says, focusing back on the original conversation.

"Putting aside the fact that you sent a deranged lunatic after me," Rory says, still irked, "why did you send him at all?"

"To bring you into the game of course! By the way, Warren, good observation with the vial. If you were playing Alice's game, you would have had more drops than you did when you last checked. Boris, of course, did a splendid job explaining her game to you." Nightmare remarked, coming down from floating to stand next to us.

"So what you're saying is we're actually playing an entirely different game from Alice?" I say, intrigued. That would explain a few things, if that is actually the case.

"Precisely," Nightmare replies. "It's a game with a different set of rules. Completely different in almost every way."

Wow. Why did the game change then?

"Excellent question, Warren," Nightmare says, yet again responding to my thoughts and leaving Rory in the dark.

"You see," he continues, "Wonderland was created with the purpose in mind to give those who wanted more in life, more. Alice Liddell, the last foreigner, had been dealt an unfortunate hand in life. Her sister was dating the man she loved, a man who broke her heart to date her sister. Everyone else was dead, and no one loved her. So, what she wanted more from life than anything, was love. She had no one and wanted-needed-someone to be there for her. So she was brought to Wonderland where that purpose could be fulfilled. And it was."

"That's awful," Rory and I say in unison, feeling for this poor girl who went through such a tragic life. Neither of us, I know, can relate to that. Maybe that's what makes it even sadder; we have something she never did - people who love us.

Nightmare nods his head, acknowledging my thoughts. "She's actually a very sweet girl. At the end of her game, she decided to go back to her home to be with those people anyway, despite the wrongs that they had done to her. She cared for her sister that much. You will have that choice as well."

"What choice?" I ask, though I already know what he's getting at.

"Whether or not to go home, of course."

Would we not be able to otherwise? What if we choose to stay, does that mean we never get to see our families ever again?

Before I can ask though, Rory asks a question of her own that I know you all have been dying to know the answer to.

"What are the rules to our game?"

"Rory's want in life, her purpose here in Wonderland, is adventure. Therefore, to fill your shared vial, you need to have adventures. Fight a few people, discover new places, get to know what it is others do. Perhaps even pick up a skill here or there. Finding adventure is key to finishing the game."

I gulp. I really don't like the sound of this, it seems dangerous.

"So basically you want us to become adrenaline junkies?" Rory responds, sounding a bit skeptical.

I start to feel relieved. Maybe she'll decide against it.

"It seems dangerous," Ror says with a grin. "Count me in!"

Oh great, here we go again.

"You may be dead before this is over, but don't you want a chance to go home?" Nightmare says in response to my thoughts.

"I can't do this without you Ren," Rory says, knowing exactly what I'm thinking this time around.

Nightmare and Rory both give me puppy dog eyes as I stand there and try not to look at them.

Trying.

Breaking.

Broken.

"Ugh, fine!" I exclaim, throwing my hands into the air. "I'll help you try not to die."

"Good enough for me!" Rory says, excited to get adventuring.

"Well, now that that's settled, I should probably let you two go." Nightmare says with a wave of his hands.

"Whaddya mean?" Rory says.

"I mean it's time to wake up," says Nightmare. "Maybe we'll meet again sometime."

"Wait, what happens if we decide to stay he-"

I'm awake, for real this time. That jerk, my question was important.

Now I'm back in the same bed as when I went to sleep. I put my head in my hands, and start thinking. Could that dream have really happened, could it be real?

Only one way to find out.