Penguin: Hey, readers! So-

A wild chapter appears!

Penguin: What the fu-

Penguin uses update!

Penguin: Uhmmm... anyway, yeah. Well, I hadn't written in a while, so, here, I guess...

After falling asleep in Peter's arms (Which was extremely stupid of me.), I dreamed... dreamt. Dreamed? Meh, whatever. I dreamt that I was in a very... colorful world of swirly things and no discernable ground. I peered around curiously. Ooh, more swirls. Oh, look, that one's purple...

"I never really liked that one."

I, being myself, jumped about a foot in the air and whipped around. When I did, I was not disappointed; behind me was a (very attractive) man with silver hair with a silvery-purple eye. And, yes, I said eye; he had a black eyepatch with gold... stuff on it. He was also wearing some weird suit; it had these freaky arm-loopies and it was just... strange.

Of course, I, still being myself (though I sorely wish I wasn't right now), just stared at the admittedley handsome stranger as he frowned almost poutily and said, "'Freaky arm-loopies'? I thought they were rather stylish..."

I just continued staring at him, my mouth opening and closing like some deranged fish.

Brandi snorted. Smooooth.

I waited for a ditzy comment from Carol but discovered that she was staring at the 'pretty wall swirlies', as she puts it.

"Who's Carol?"

Ah, the joys of zoning out. I didn't even notice that Silver-Dude had gottewn all up in my grill while I was thinking. I jumped again and reached for my notebook to either A) Hit him with it, or B) Give him a very capitalized piece of my mind featuring many an exlamamtion point. I started when I noticed it wasn't there and realized that A) I didn't have my notebook, leaving me unable to communicate with anyone but a mind reader (Oh, the hilarity.), B) I was wearing a white night gown that most certainly wasn't what I had fallen asleep in, and C) Peter must have changed my clothing, beacuse Vivaldi was a queen and had more important things to do and Peter already proved himself as a (sexy) pervert. My fist clenched and I hissed silently; someone was getting a Falcon Punch for breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner, really; I'm not picky...

I finally remembered Silver-Dude (as he was so rightly dubbed until I had a name to the face) and turned to him, glaring; the bastard had the audacity to look amused.

He smirked a bit after I thought that last comment, for some reason. I kept glaring. Eventually, he chuckled and said, "Wow, Alice, I didn't know your mind was so... vicious when you were angry. Although, those creepy little voices were a bit of a shock, as well..." He chuckled again and just looked at me strangely, still all up in my grill.

I glared more at him for a second before realizing that he knew about Brandi and Carol, the creepy little voices... I blinked and turned my gaze from the floor... thing to stare at him with a kind of curious awe.

I squinted at him as he smiled good-naturedly at me.

Er, hello?

He grinned. "Hello to you, as well, Alice."

I gasped silently and scrambled backwards, away from him.

Y-you! You're-

"A mind reader, yes. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Alice."

I blinked at him. I blinked at him again. I rubbed my eyes and blinked at him... again.

Wait, I thought, looking suspiciously at him. How do you know my name?

He chuckled. "Of course I know your name, Alice; you are part of the Game." He was being cryptic, which annoyed me. I mean, seriously! Jeez...

I'm not gonna get a straight answer from you, am I?

"Probably not," he admitted with a grin, floating down to sit beside me.

Cheeky bastard.

Oh, shut it Brandi.

If you're wondering where Carol is, she's still looking at the wall swirls. Yeah...

Okay, so... What's your name?

"Ah!" He stood up (and stopped braiding little pieces of my hair...) and said grandly, "I am Nightmare Gottschalk, Lord of Clover Tower and Caterpillar of Wonderland."

I blinked at him for a second then snickered silently.

He frowned. "What?"

Nothing, nothing, but... Gottschalk? Really?

He huffed and pouted. "Yes, really!"

I chuckled (silently beacuse, again, the whole 'mute' thing...). Sorry.

So, I began after undoing the all little plaits Nightmare had made (He was surprisingly good at it, actually.). Why am I here in Wonderland? What's my purpose?

He gave me a strange look. "Well, Alice, you're here to play the Game."

And my purpose? I prompted; this seemed... important, for some reason.

He gave me another strange smile. "All in due time, Alice." I deflated; his crypticness was getting annoying. "But, remember this:" I perked up and looked hopefully at him. "Beyond a dream, there is only reality." After whispering this in my ear, he floated away. The dreamscape started to fade out, and a black, fuzzy border began on my vision. The psuedo-floor crumbled and I fell.

I didn't wanna use a line-thing, so here's an evil face. :)

I shot up in the bed that I was apparently in, or tried to, at least. An arm was on me; whether it was atatched to a body or not, I may never kno- PETER! My eye twitched and I prepered to Falcon Punch him out of bed when I saw how he looked.

His glasses were off and his face was peaceful. His hair was messed up (more so than usual, I mean) and he was wearing pale pink pajamas that he could pull off, somehow. My heart melted a little bit when his face contorted softly into sadness, and he murmered "Warm...", grabbing my Falcon Punching arm and pulling me back into his chest. I was blushing like mad, of course.

He held me tightly and sighed gently, his warm breath dusting across my forehead; it smelled like peppermint. I was tempted to wiggle out of his grip, but he was right; the bed was warm and cozy. I sighed and snuggled into his chest (Which I could see, thanks to the shirt of his PJs being unbuttoned.).

Penguin: Okay, sorry for not updating. And for the short, fluffilicious chapter. So, yeah...

Um...

Bye!

PS Oh! If you get the joke in the beginning, you get a virtual cookie and virtual Joker plushies! Go you!