Dream

When Alice was told she would be having dinner with Klein that evening, her first instinct was to refuse.

But it was a group dinner, so she had little choice. Alice ended up at the table after all. Alongside Klein, who had no appetite after an afternoon of combat training, there was now Alice, protesting the idea of eating with her eyes closed.

"This is Alice Kingsley. Even if you haven't met her, you should know something about her," Dunn said by way of introduction. Alice had only recently begun visiting the Blackthorn Security Company regularly. Before that, she had never met most of the people there, so a formal introduction was overdue.

Alice soon noticed several people looking her way. She wasn't surprised. If people who knew about her weren't sizing her up, that would have been strange.

Dunn raised the glass of red wine before him. "Let's welcome our newest full member, Klein Moretti. Cheers!"

Klein endured his discomfort and raised his champagne. Alice raised her juice too... orange juice, to be precise.

For this dinner, Alice had gone out of her way to find a white cloth that didn't block light very well. In sufficiently bright light, she could make out what was in front of her. Apparently, seeing the anomaly around Klein required rather particular conditions...

Alice's unusual appearance soon caught the attention of the Nighthawks who didn't know what had happened between her and Klein. As soon as Klein set down his glass, Seeka Tron asked curiously, "Alice, why are you dressed like that?"

"Ah," Alice replied in a lilting, theatrical voice, "because our Mr. Moretti's fate conceals a secret that must not be looked upon directly."

The others turned curious eyes on Klein. He duly gave Alice the flustered, awkward reaction she had hoped for.

Satisfied with her little revenge, Alice settled down and drank her orange juice. She suddenly saw the advantages of being a child: she could drink a sweet, childish beverage at an occasion like this, and she could pull a prank like that to show Klein she was upset, even if he hadn't actually done anything wrong.

By the time Leonard and the others had finished the food on Klein's plate, the servers brought out portions of pudding and ice cream—Alice's favorite part of any meal.

She quickly finished her ice cream with blueberry sauce. While she was considering ordering another, Dunn suggested, "Let's call it a night. One more toast to Klein."

Before he could finish, Klein blurted out, "Captain, can I have some dinner?"

In the silence that followed, Alice chimed in, "Captain, I want another ice cream!"

Everyone burst out laughing. By the time Alice finished her second ice cream, Klein's steak with black pepper sauce had arrived.

Alice watched Klein eat his steak and ran her tongue over her lips. Disappointed to find no sweetness left, she turned an expectant look on Dunn and said hesitantly, "Captain..."

"You can't have a third ice cream," Dunn refused without mercy.

Alice pouted and tapped listlessly on the table as she waited for Klein to finish eating.

That night, Alice abruptly came to her senses in a dream. She quickly realized she was still dreaming, though... because she was in a room made of desserts. Its walls were cake, its table was chocolate, and the table was piled high with ice cream...

Across from her sat Dunn, watching her without expression. Alice thought she understood why she had become lucid.

But Dunn said nothing. He just stared at her. At first, Alice kept eating ice cream on the grounds that she might as well. But he watched and watched, until eating ice cream began to feel like torture.

This really is a nightmare... Alice thought as the joy drained out of her. She was starting to regret what she had told Dunn back then... It hadn't just been her, either. Madam Daly had said something too. She wondered whether Klein had warned him...

Alice realized the captain was probably still trying to find the Nightmare's Acting Method. Remembering how she had spent three years doing nothing as a Lucky One, she suddenly felt she ought to examine her own attitude.

...But what good would that do? The Monster Pathway wasn't like the Sleepless Pathway. The Church didn't even have the Potion Formula!

Wait. Why could she stay lucid in a dream?

Alice suddenly realized something. She remembered the first time Dunn had entered her dream to question her. She had been lucid then, too—lucid enough to deliberately conceal that she remembered the unlucky courier had been startled because he saw her suddenly wake up.

And after Dunn entered her dream, the scene had changed...

That power could not possibly have been hers to begin with. As this sank in, fear gripped Alice. Until now, she had lacked any real respect for supernatural power. In that moment, she felt a genuine flicker of dread.

Who had tampered with her dreams? If that unknown being could keep her lucid in a dream, could they also cause her to die in one without her ever knowing? Or leave her asleep forever, a living body that would never wake?

The mere thought of those possibilities terrified Alice. Then there were her missing memories, and the way her path to becoming a Beyonder seemed almost arranged.

Like a puppet on strings... For a moment, Alice even suspected she was a character someone had written into existence, her every experience, thought, and action under their control.

If that's true, was my suspicion just now written for me too?

Alice shuddered and pushed the terrifying, dangerous thought away. But her fear made the dream impossible to sustain. It gradually shattered, and she woke with a start. When she opened her eyes, she saw the Evernight Goddess's sacred emblem.

Alice had never found the Evernight Goddess's emblem so reassuring. Remembering that the Goddess held authority over slumber, she closed her eyes and prayed silently:

"Evernight Goddess, more exalted than the cosmos and older than eternity, Lady of Crimson, Mother of Concealment, Empress of Calamity and Horror, Lord of Slumber and Silence, please grant me restful sleep and a pleasant dream."

The prayer seemed to work. Alice's fear slowly faded, and she sank back into a deep sleep. Judging by the smile that gradually rose at the corners of her mouth, it really was a pleasant dream.

This was the closest Alice had ever come to the truth. (In that tone.)