CONTRACT.
FEAR AND CONFUSION SURGED THROUGH YOUR BODY, STOPPING WORDS FROM EXITING YOUR MOUTH.
The boy still sat on the piano bench, waiting for you to say something.
"Do you not like my gift?" He asked, breaking the silence.
His question brought you back into your senses, and you forced yourself to speak.
You could hear the fear and hesitation in your voice, and hoped the boy didn't.
"Y-Yes...um..." You nervously answered, eyes glued to the floor.
"Is there something else you'd like to ask?" The boy's voice said, sending chills down your spine.
"Um...well, are...are you going to kill me too?" You quietly asked.
A long silence followed your question, and your eyes stayed staring at the ground.
Although all you could see was the bloodied floor, something told you that the boy had a strong reaction to what you asked.
After a few more seconds of silence, you heard the sound of the piano bench moving, and the boy getting off of it.
You squeezed your eyes, and used all you had left in you not to cry.
As his footsteps drew nearer, you began reminiscing all of your happiest memories.
Ones with your mother when she was kind, brushing your hair, singing and playing the piano for you, holding your hand on walks through the park.
And others with Cheshire, petting him, snuggling into bed with him, feeding him treats, and playing with him for hours.
The boy's footsteps stopped in front of you, as you opened your eyes slowly, getting a view of his shoes.
"Me? Kill you?" He asked, almost jokingly.
Without a warning, his arms wrapped around your body, bringing you close to him.
Your eyes shot wide open at this.
"I would never hurt you...I'm a bit hurt that you'd think I would." He whispered, hugging you tighter.
You didn't know how to react, or do.
After a few moments, he pulled away, and your eyes found a view of his bloody shirt.
You looked up, to meet his eyes, which were hidden under his hair.
The boy reached out for your hand, which rested stiffly at your side.
Taking your wrist, he guided and placed your hand on the choker wrapped around his neck.
"It's still me. It's always been me." He said, his voice leaking of sadness and desperation.
Your eyes rested on the choker, and the shiny gold heart, with the name 'Cheshire' carved into it.
"...Cheshire." You finally breathed.
You could tell the boy's heart swelled with happiness, as a wide smile broke across his face.
"Yes! It's me! Your Cheshire! I'm...I'm so glad..." Cheshire exclaimed, wrapping his arms around you for another hug. "I'm so glad you still see me the same...I got so worried you wouldn't..."
"...Of course I do. I'm just...It's just scary. I don't like all this blood, and everything. It's scary..." You sobbed, tears welling up in your eyes.
At that, Cheshire quickly covered your eyes with his hand, and patted your back soothingly.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized, before putting his hand at the back of your knees.
In a swift motion, the boy picked you up from under your legs, with your eyes still covered.
"How about to you sleep? And I promise when...when you wake up, nothing will be scary anymore. I protect you while you sleep, so you won't need to worry." Cheshire offered.
"Do you promise promise?" You asked him.
"I do. All you need to do if you want me to protect you is to sleep, okay? That sounds like a fair offer, right?" Cheshire said in response, and used it hand to shut your eyelids.
"Yeah...but why? You're offering to protect me if I just go to sleep, but why? Are you..." You you unsurely questioned.
"I'm the Nightmare devil." Cheshire revealed, pausing before he continued to speak. "But I'm also technically the Dream devil too. So if you go to sleep, I'll make you dreams of having your own Dreamland come true. And that's all you need to do, and I'll protect you forever." He finished, smiling.
"Ah...Okay. Then I, Y/N L/N give you control over my sleep in return for your protection." You agreed, hesitantly.
"Good girl." Cheshire whispered, smiling.
You then felt a wave of exhaustion overtake you, and you slipped into a slumber.
What you thought were a few seconds went by, until the black that covered your vision cleared.
You blinked a few times, then rubbed your eyes.
Immediately, you realized you were dreaming.
Instead of on the bloodied room, your feet dangled in the air.
You gasped as you took in your surroundings.
Endless walls that seemed to swirl with different colours surrounded you.
Mirrors, tables, books, and other things floated around you.
You reached your hand out towards a rocking chair that floated near you.
Taking the arms rest, you placed yourself into the seat.
A book came floating down from nowhere, and landed perfectly into your hands.
After inspecting the brown cover, you opened it.
As if it had been waiting to burst open, you gasped in shock as the pages sprung out from the spine.
Pages of only pictures and no words erupted from the book, as the colour from the pages bounced of the paper.
The colours swirled around like living things, and danced around you before intertwining with each other.
"Wow..!" You breathed, as the colours started to form into shapes.
As the colours morphed together, a forest began to form around you.
Trees and flower grew from the colours, and your feet soon landed on a pathway.
Tall trees in an assortment of different colours encased your surroundings, and beautiful flowers sprouted at your feet.
As you took a step forward, a sound emerged from under your foot.
"The pathway...is made of piano keys!" You observed in surprise.
You took another step, and another sound came from the piano path.
With a happy laugh, you began to run down the piano path, forgetting you were ever scared or sad.
As you ran, creating a melody with every step, the flowers that sprouted from the ground grew in size, and appeared to have faces.
The piano path came to a sudden end, as you stumbled at the edge.
The piano tiles stopped appearing, as you tripped and fell of the piano.
You let out a scream at falling, but it turned into a scream of surprise when you were caught.
You looked up to see a beautiful rose holding you in it's leaves.
"Why hello, dear." The rose politely greeted.
"Hello...thank you for catching me." You replied.
The rose seemed to smile with her petals, before asking you a question.
"Would you like to try something fun, Y/N?" The rose asked you.
"Well, yes please." You excitedly answered.
The rose laughed, before dropping you.
You screamed again, but stopped when another flower caught you.
"Hello, Y/N!" The tulip said, catching you in her leaves.
"Oh, hello Tulip!" You brightly smiled back.
The tulip grinned before dropping you like the rose had.
This time, you laughed as another flower caught you in her leaves.
"Are you having fun, Y/N?" The sunflower asked you, as she caught you.
"Yes! This is wonderful. Thank you all!" You replied.