Traveler ( Alice in the Country of Hearts fanfiction /HnKnA)

Chapter 8 - Sleep

"Hello," said Nightmare, smiling.

He was flying in mid-air in front of me, the same as I met him the first time.

"Hi," I responded. "What are you doing here, again?"

"You're so mean!" Nightmare made a sad face. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Why would I be? It's only the second time we meet."

Nightmare suddenly started coughing. Something red splattered all over his clothes. Blood? Nightmare stopped flying and fell to his knees, still coughing blood.

"Oh my god!" I didn't know how to react. "Are you okay Nightmare?!?" How do you call an ambulance in a dream?

I searched if I had a Kleenex or something to stop the bleeding. Then I noticed I was wearing my daily clothes, not my nightgown. I brought myself back to reality.

I went near Nightmare, feeling useless. After about 30 seconds, Nightmare finally stopped coughing. There was blood everywhere on his shirt.

"Don't...*cough* Worry..." he said, pulling a piece of tissue from his pocket. He wiped his face and continued. " It's normal, for me."

"This is DEFINITELY NOT normal!" I almost screamed. "You have to go to the-"

"No!" Nightmare exclaimed. "No way! I hate hospitals! They use needles there!"

I hated needles too, but I was in good health, not like Nightmare!

"Look, I'm sure you can take medicine-"

"But they are disgusting!" Interrupted Nightmare again.

"But you have to do SOMETHING!" He can't just cough up blood like that all his life, without doing anything to help his condition!

"I'm just of fragile constitution," Nightmare objected. His face was terribly pale, but it suddenly brightened up. "Are you worrying for me?"

I sighed.

"Nightmare, it is normal to worry if ANYONE starts coughing blood like he is going to die."

"Hm. I guess so." He started levitating again, but much lower than before. He seemed thoughtful. "But you know, in this world its normal to not worry if anyone dies."

That wasn't true. Blood cared so much about Alice he had sent Dee and Dum escorting her, plus Elliot after.

"That's because it's Alice." Nightmare had read my thoughts again.

"It's...Alice?"

"She is different, thats why everyone likes her," continued the dream demon. "But I like you better. The first time I told Alice I was sick, she told me I was pathetic. But you worried about me instead."

Well, he wasn't pathetic, but that a demon of nightmares was weak physically...It seemed ironic.

Nightmare sighed.

"Before I was pathetic, now my situation is ironic."

"Look, Nightmare, I appreciate that you wanna say hi, but I'm tired. I can't talk with you all night."

"Technically you can," explained the demon, "Your body is still sleeping, while you chat with me."

Was that really possible? Pfff. I was tired of questioning the logic of this crazy world. Whatever happens will happen.

"So, I see you met the Hatters?" asked my friend.

"Yeah. They are all very nice." I paused. "Except Blood."

I flinched as his cold, hard eyes. Alice was sweet, the twins were trouble-makers but they stil behaved nicely and Elliot...

"Wait." I told Nightmare.

"What is it?"

"You said you created a passage between my world to yours so that Jack could bring me back, right?"

"Yup. I am awesome, aren't I?"

"Did Elliot ever come to my world? Did I ever meet him?"

"That is... complicated." He grimaced. "All I can say is that he did not ever travel between worlds. Elliot always stayed here."

"Oh. Thanks." At least Nightmare made an effort to tell me the truth.

"So, anything else you wanna know before you wake up?"

"Huh? Is it morning yet?"

"Morning is a different concept here. What does morning mean? Is it the moment you wake up? Or when the sun comes up? You see, time doesn't quite work the same here. In the Country of Hearts, time changes randomly. Do not be surprised if it suddenly turns sunny or dark outside."

"I see." It explained a lot of things. "But why would I wake up now?"

"Time does pass faster in dreams. And it's a surprise." He gave me a teasing smile.

"What? Why a-"

"See you later," Nightmare said before disappearing. I woke up.