"Too short"...? O.o'

Wee~ So much fic to read! :D :D

I finally have time to comment properly :D!!

Except I read your fic a while ago and can't remember all that I wanted to say /fail OTL /should have taken notes like everyone else

But here are the things I really liked and found memorable:
-Kame's court in the shape of a baseball diamond ♥
-Jin nearly strangling tweedledee/dum
-Ueda as Alice, Maru as the late rabbit, Koki as the chesire cat (I think? :/) and Junno as the Mad Hatter ♥
-Junno ♥♥ (I loved all his lines)
-KT beating eachother up (it was interesting to read about Maru attacking someone lol)
-the Akame hug after they wake up
-THE OPEN ENDING asakhdhhj what happened to Kame? ;__;

What I loved most about this entire fic though was the suspense. I had to read it in one go. And I loved the atmosphere of the story, the mute horror blanketing everything. It felt like reading a Grimm brother fairytale, which is amazing given that this is still a JE verse. I know you're proud of this fic and you really have good reason to be. :) hearts;

God i really miss ER, had several to catch up already, if i can find which one i last read, and now your bigbang fic is out, not to mention your other one-shots =.=' it feels like every several days you post something new since my inbox's full with your notif lol

Oh I think this just says I have absolutely no life. :D

YOU.


YOOOOOOOOOOU.


YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU. Ugh. Ughughughugh I cannot even. opejgifdngjknfdkagjfdgjnkGOD. Can I speak English any more? NO.


Now that I'm coherent again ♥ maybe I can leave a comment now.

This fic is like the final nail in the coffin for how ridiculously talented I think you are at everything. Your plotting is impeccable (always), your phrasing is beautiful, your character interaction is believable and awesome, and your characterization is so deep and it's clear you've thought about this because it shows, in every sentence and every twitch of someone's fingers or a smile.

I read this twice--the first to get my initial impressions and a second time to savor (I do this with your fic a lot, actually...) particular bits. I was faster than your beautiful, wonderful soundtrack the first time, but I lingered the second time--over Maru and Junno and Ueda's first parts specifically, and toward the end when things were climaxing I had to really make sure I slowed down a bit, since they came very fast. Your formatting is perfect--it broke things up in a way that actually made it seem quite short? The second time around I ended up saving everything to a single text file, but it doesn't read well that way--given that you formatted it to be read in parts, it makes sense :D;; Either way it's saved to a folder in my desktop right now.

Your characterization is so solid and so pretty. I love Koki--like, adore him, even though I keep pretty quiet about him on twitter and lj. And I really love him here: that he's a lynchpin in Junno's plans, that he's so nasty, that he's so suspicious, when that's kind of something that can be forgotten in RL-Koki. Koki was a nasty little thing as a teenager! I love that you didn't shy away from the scheming and slyness I at least have seen from Junno in RL, the way he trusts Ueda to be their base, their structure in the dream world, the way he's jittery even from the first moment they walk into the center. Maru was great, too, how he was as uptight as he can be in real life, even the way he kept apologizing at the end and the way he darted in and out of Ueda's vision and the way he was the one who convinced Jin, even in a whole other world, the way he and Jin argued about plunging forward into Level Three, the way he wasn't afraid to admit he was afraid. Ueda as Alice is, honestly, perhaps the most perfect choice in all of this. I think he'd be the one least likely to panic, least likely to give up. He looks like he's made of glass but that's a dude with a steel backbone, and it is all over this, from the way he won't leave them all alone, the way he walks right into Junno's tea party, the way he punches Maru into awareness.

Which brings me to Jin. lol my notes (yes I have notes) are littered with his name surrounded by hearts. Yeah. I love how he's the driving force at the beginning, the way he's all about going forward and just doing it, fuck the consequences because this could be big. I love that he's the caterpillar--love it. The fact that he "wakes" after sleeping with Kame. All of his interactions with Kame, actually. Akame hits the perfect note for me here--there's history and angst and unspoken tension and understanding and feeling and it's not pretty and it's not easy and it's never going to be easy or pretty or perfect, in the dream world or in the real world. I love the final scene with the power of a thousand burning suns--the way that he's been an active agent for so long in everything but this, the way he only reacts when Kame breaks, the hints that this isn't over. Unf. The scene at the Sea of Tears literally ached--he's back now, he's aware now, and he still won't let them call the Queen of Hearts an iceberg, even though he and Kame are so rough in the beginning and they're in a weirdass place now. ♥♥♥

I love that even the structure of your narrative distances Kame--that he only has one part of his own and even that is largely interaction with other characters. So much of your Kame is unspoken sighs and fingertips reaching for things: only the tip of the iceberg is seen here, to steal your phrasing. ;D

The feeling of your pacing didn't really get to me the first time I read through this--I mean, it did, but lingering over the more subtle sections really changed the way the final few parts felt. I don't usually have visceral, physical reactions to most fic, even fic that's otherwise well-written, and especially less so when I think there's going to be a happy ending. But I was tense, heart in my throat for the entire final sections and it. Oh my god. Seriously.

So all in all: Katy, I love you. I love your writing and your ideas and your characterization and your everything. You are the kind of writer I hope to be one day.

wait, what?!

(pardon my unintelligible immediate reaction when i finished reading this fic.)

omg! this was so good, i was trapped in the universe you have cleverly created. it felt like someone pulled the plug right at the end and i guess it makes this more interesting.

i have never been good at giving comments but i hope it went thru that i thoroughly enjoyed reading this fic. *adding to fic rec*

thank you for writing and sharing this. :)

Thank you so much for your feedback! I'm so happy that you enjoyed this, I just loved writing it, and it's meant so much to me, so it's really wonderful to hear that you loved it! ♥ Hahaha, it's kind of a mind-trip, but that was what Inception was, and I was really trying to emulate that. Thanks so much!! \:D/

I just feel the need to tell you that I made this insane sound of excitement upon seeing this post. INSANE SOUND. And I do not even know how to begin to express that excitement; basically ajskdfjalsdkfalsdjf I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO BEGIN READING THIS, that's how excited I am. I have to get some work done but I WILL BE BACK. I want to pour over it but also read it all in one go, and that combined will take a bit of time, so I am fitting you, I mean, this fic, into my schedule. I am going to.

Now that I have sounded like an adequately insane fan of your writing (which I am, admittedly) - I SHALL DEPART NOW BUT I WILL BE BACK ♥ PS hope your weekend is starting off okay!

WAIT PPS BECAUSE I JUST READ YOUR NOTES

A lot of this is because I loved Inception and the possibilities it gave me

SCREAM. I THINK I LOVE YOU.

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the website. Totally awesome. And I still love how all of the times add up to 6. The awesomeness is in the details. I'd say more, but you know that I love this thing to bits and I'm so excited you were finally able to post it. And you know that I love Ueda even more because of this.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

YOU MADE THIS POSSIBLE, GIRL. YOU KNOW THIS WAS TOTALLY BECAUSE OF YOU AND THE FACT THAT YOU MADE THIS THING READABLE. ♥ ♥ ♥

Ueda just needs more love full-stop, amirite.

ok, I posted my part here sjdcb, sorry but that thing I wanted to make just didn't work out ): but um. there is a gif?

Now, this is when I finally tell you that THE SITUATION YOU PUT (all of them, really) AKAME IN, WITH THEIR HISTORY AND KJSHDBC with Kame being the Queen that Jin was supposed to help killing shdb. And how he couldn't concentrate on that once he was with Kame, I don't even T__T AND WHEN HE REMEMBERED. IT WAS PERFECT ): Also, I was totally panicking near the end, so well written ;__; I was chewing my lip and when I finally finished reading, I realized my whole body was really tense XD

I almost never ever read fic and leaving comments to authors is seriously difficult for me so um XD Can I just leave it at "this was perfect"? ): ♥ and maybe with a... lj friend request? :D

Yeah!! Of course we can be friends!! I am so excited oh my god you are amazing, these are so awesome! And my post in the comm hasn't gone through the moderation queue yet, so I can't edit it until the mods okay it. So I'll do that as soon as I see that it's up! :D :D :D

I took notes as I went along. This is probably incoherent.

This is so awesome. Alice in Wonderland and KAT-TUN and Jin and OMG so wonderful.



Spoilers from here!


The section with Jin as the caterpillar, and Maru as the white rabbit, and I thought, oh, Ueda must be Alice ... and I bet Kame is the Queen, man, I loved that reveal, the baseball diamond, Kame's distinctive gait.

And the tension-- that none of this is real, all of its metaphor and dream-logic and Ueda's the only one who remembers anything else, and time is running out!

Jin and Kame meeting up, and how distracting they are to each other, this whole scene is gorgeous. Kame just wants him to stay...

They talk, a little, and Jin asks: why didn't you follow me, and the answer is clearly that Kame stays. He never thinks to follow. And then they make out, vague and dream-like and desperate-- and Jin remembers. AND JIN LEAVES. AGAIN. Yeah, I can just imagine how well Kame's going to take that.

It's all so fantastically well paced. Really. Jumping between so many viewpoints, and ever onwards.

Koki's stripes shifting, black and blond!

And there are the meta undercurrents, the tension between Jin and the others that perhaps easier to read at the distance of fairy tale and meta, like when NTT discuss Jin "leaving" the palace and Maru says that Jin's always out for himself.

And, oh, god, Jin and the Tweedles. Jin thinking about solo cons and telling the others that he's leaving the group because that hurts LESS. And he chooses hearts, of course he chose hearts.

And Jin runs into Ueda and he's going to do exactly what NTT need him to do to have their plan be successful. Awesome.

Kame's section, and, yeah, ok, definitely first time. And it seems so like Kame, that he's so upset that he can't move.

Interesting going with a bracelet instead of the ubiquitous pinky rings, but it's something that Kame gave Jin, and just the weight of the years that they've been waiting. Calling him Kazuya, which feels like a name saved up for a rainy day, showing just how desperate Jin is.

Koki watches Jin get locked up, and sees to Two. Junno is clearly awesome at poisons, and I really don't want to see anyone "real" have that happen to them.

I love Ueda fighting Maru, calling him Yuichi. I just love Ueda fighting, the way he's clearly so experienced and competent, even with the room against him. Ordinarily, I'd totally believe that Ueda could beat Koki in a fight, but here, I'm not sure.

Can I say how much I love how Ueda is Alice, but also absolutely Ueda. That he's Alice because the others thought he was the most grounded, so he's connected to the outside world. He's not in a dress, not suddenly exhibiting some kinds of stereotypical "girly" behaviour.

(I thought the maid was Ueda, in disguise, but I guess not.)

Please don't leave anyone behind! Oh no!

And Taguchi knows who he is!

But Maru's gone! And Taguchi and Koki are gone.

AND YOU HAD KAME DRINK THE TEA. WHY? WHY KAME? Just because Jin said not to? KAME, NO!

And Ueda's gone. ARGHHHHH!

Real world, real time. They still don't have a lock on Kame? No. It. No. Oh, thank you, Kame recognises Jin. It's not ok, but he's not dead, so. (Ok, with reflection, you probably weren't going to off Kame. But by this point I wasn't sure any more.)

Junno calling Kame Kazuya sort of gutted me. Which I wasn't expecting, at the point I was already at. Just. This was T-TUN turning on Kame, and that meta undercurrent wasn't something I expected going into this, but worked so well for this story. Because, however the others think of Kame, he probably does hate himself enough to have added that to the dream space himself. Wow.

And this is no happy reunion, Jin's driving away by himself and the others are in the van. Knee jerk reaction, I would have wanted Kame to go with Jin, but as I write up my comments, this is better. Kame pulling his shirt tight around his body (which he does! I could swear I've seen him do this on variety shows, etc.), telling the others that everything's ok. Because nothing gets fixed so easy.

Jin calls him Kazu... aww... but they're still really awkward.

"There aren't really vines growing up your walls, are there?" Kame asked.

OMG. OH. MY. GOD. JUST I HAVE NO WORDS. KAME. THE CLOCK. HOW COULD YOU LEAVE IT THERE. THE TITLE. I SHOULD HAVE PAID ATTENTION TO THE TITLE. THERE WAS SO MUCH FORESHADOWING. OF COURSE KAME STAYS. HE DOESN'T KNOW TO FOLLOW JIN.

That was the most perfect ending for this story ever. Kame. OMG. Kame. (and Jin.) Kame.

And the soundtrack is wonderful (pardon the pun), gorgeous cover art. But my hands are kind of shaking, still, and I'm trying hard not to think about the meta in this story. Or think about what happens next. I am not very successful.

OMG, just read the first part and can't control my excitement.. *SQUEEE* brace yourself for incoherent babble and flailing.

LOL ONLY 28 MORE PARTS TO GO!! *braces self* I'M SO EXCITED THAT YOU ARE READING!! ♥ ♥

I already expressed my flaily love for this to you over twitter last night, but alas! THE LOVE I HAVE EXPRESSED IS CLEARLY NOT ENOUGH!

Okay, Katy, I have to tell you I loved this. I love this so, so much. You seriously just blew me away with the plot and the characterization, (not to mention the ending!!! :D D: I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO FEEL~!) and the overall feel of the whole thing!

I love how you made Jin the caterpillar, so full of uh knowledge and yet so stubborn and at the same time SO JIN. I love your Jin. Even more so when he "woke up" in the dream and started freaking out and very nearly strangled one of the twins. The frustrating feeling I felt just from reading that was amazing.

Inception as your inspiration: A+. I loved the movie and I love all the possibilities dreamscapes can bring out in fic so my love is going through the roof for this. Also, have you watched Paprika? You should watch it. It is... It is the best anime movie I have ever watched and if you liked Inception, you'd love Paprika.

Have I mentioned I love this? You are so, so, so very talented, Katy! Please never stop writing. (also, still hnnnnnggggg-ing over Jin and Kame and vines going up the walls oh GOD *____*)

Have my heart, okay? You can have it. ♥

!!!! waaaaaaaaaaaah you are so amazing!! I'm so happy that you liked it- to be honest, most of the reason that Jin was initially cast as the caterpillar is because it's the hookah-smoking caterpillar, and it was just too perfect to pass up. :D But it really ended up working out because he was kind of outside the normal circle, outside the little group that was working, and I hadn't planned on that happening, so it was a nice surprise haha. :D

The end- ah, I know. Everyone has been freaking about the end and what it means and well, it was sort of a way for me to leave myself deliberately open so that if I wanted to do something later- like with them going into Kame's mind to rescue him or something- I could. ♥ I like to do that, just in case I want to revisit past 'verses! I get so attached to my stories... lol maybe too attached.

I just can't even say enough how much this comment made me smile and made me so happy! I'm seriously so glad that you liked this so much, because I kept hyping up how much I loved it and was going oh god lol I hope people aren't disappointed when they finally read it! ♥ ♥ You are so amazing, thank you so much!! :D :D

I wish I could give you coherency. I really, really do, because this deserves all the most perfect coherency in the world, but I've been staring at this comment box for about fifteen minutes already and I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO START. JUST. CHRIST.

At first, I started marking off all of my favorite places to quote back at you. I really did, and then I realized as I went on that I would end up quoting excessive amounts back at you, and as much as I am aware that you love this I really did not think you wanted that. BECAUSE WHAT USE IS THAT SJDKLJLF I just cannot express to you how much I adored this; I really can't. And for one, I could easily tell how much you enjoyed writing this too, what with all the little details and complexities and how well everything was planned out, how you managed to fit things together so beautifully and perfectly. You made it look so easy, when in reality, I can only imagine how much planning this must have taken. You are amazing. :(

I kind of want to categorize this by characters. I went in with your general references to how much unspoken meta there was in here, so I was admittedly on a lookout for that near the beginning, but in retrospect I probably stopped thinking about looking for it by the time I reached the halfway point because it was just, everywhere. You slipped so effortlessly into the Alice in Wonderland scheme; I don't know how you did it but one second they were on a train and the next thing I know, Ueda is walking up walls and Nakamaru is being late. Your Ueda, I just. He was perfect. If you asked me to cast KAT-TUN in Alice in Wonderland before I read this, Ueda probably would not have been my first choice to cast as Alice, but now the role is just utterly fitting to me, because you made it fit so well. He is not a wimp, by any means, but he still retains the clueless attitude of Alice when she is dropped into Wonderland. Honestly, I am going to say this so much, but I don't know how you did it, like all of this, how you made it unravel and work so damn well. I really am at a loss for words. Ueda being so headstrong, so desperate to help the others wake up, being the anchor - he is the outsider but he is actually the force that enabled them to actually all come out alive. This meta, this is so perfect in so many ways. He's there but he doesn't know as much, but he actually knows all. And just...him not choosing hearts, the Sea of Tears, being practical and trying to work out paths from the Bizarre Room, everything. I'm turning so incoherent, I'm sorry. Just. Your characterization of him was tactful and brilliant. I BARELY KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING ANYMORE AND I HAVE FIVE MORE PEOPLE TO GO.

Can I group Maru, Koki and Junno together? BECAUSE I AM SERIOUSLY GOING TO GO OVER THE CHARACTER LIMIT SJDKFLSJL I already am, I know it. Maru, oh Maru, he still has that frantic anxiousness about him that we see with Maru, the fleeting mention of the bungee jumping when Ueda first sees him (I had a total "aha!" moment there - OH, IT'S NAKAMARU SJDKFLJSL) and just. He is still in order and with the game but also always lost, ALWAYS LATE. Fitting. So fitting. And then there is Koki, with his gangsta ways sjdklfjl getting in with the cards, being badass, his streaks and just. That general rebellious nature about him that you brought out, it really did hit home; I kept on picturing his face in the BTR documentary when he talked about how he used to hate KAT-TUN, that wistful smile sjdklfl that is precisely how I felt whenever I read him in scenes here. I feel like I'm commenting on your meta parts a lot, but that is really the basis of what I loved so much about this fic :( that it was all fantasy, so much fantasy and yet you grounded it into the actual group dynamic, into their history and their relationships with each other, drawing from everything. It was hazy and imaginative, but also so stark. Like a contradiction within itself. It's beautiful. I can't describe it sjkdlfjlasd

JUNNO. Junno OH GOD. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW YOU WORKED IT BUT YOU WORKED IT SO WELL. How you managed to keep his sense of humor, the stupid "Happy un-birthday" every day, how well you meshed the characters together really sjdkfjls. Even beyond the surface of the real Junno, you were able to incorporate that too - his secretly scheming sides, the not-so-rare awesome moments where he comes up with something brilliant and goes with it. I can't. I need to move on. Wait, he mixed the poison. That was really the nail in the coffin for me, pertaining to his characterization. That of all people, he mixed it. I can't even explain my thoughts anymore but just know I thought that was perfect. I need to move on. I REALLY NEED TO MOVE ON BECAUSE -


JIN. Toss-up between Jin and Kame for this paragraph, but I decided to go with Jin first, Jin who is the caterpillar OF COURSE HE'S THE HOOKAH CATERPILLAR JSKLF I MEAN. WHO ELSE. WHO ELSE TO SMOKE ALL THE DAMN TIME AND CACKLE seriously. Katy, what are you. WHAT ARE YOU REALLY; I'M IN COMPLETE AWE. His lazy flicks of the hand, how he's so languid and laid-back and carefree and every time I read him I kept thinking "sojinsojinsojinsojin" it worked flawlessly. The tensions between him and the rest, how they want him in with the plot against Kame but he never really gives them a definite answer, how he goes to find Kame instead and how just. He's in but he's not really in, as in part of their group. Even at the beginning, he is so aloof, he wants to do it because it'll make them big. And Maru's line about how he's always for himself, OH GODDAMMIT, it was supposed to be angsty but all I could think about was how perfect it was. And in the end, he's still a part of them, because after all he is the second to wake up after Ueda. He's still part of them. The bond.

The bond, and then there's Kame, KAME KAME KAME KAME. KAME. I could keep repeating Kame at you and hoping you understand what I'm trying to say. This is weird, really weird but I had a hunch at the beginning, from the point you first mentioned killing the Queen, that the Queen was Kame. At first I brushed it off as just me speculating randomly but IT STARTED FALLING INTO PLACE, IT REALLY DID AND THEN IT DID END UP BEING KAME. LIKE INSTINCTIVELY IT JUST WORKED. Really, I would not stop making incoherent sounds and a lot of "oh my god" and "fuckfuckfuck" mantras (especially near the end) but when Kame first appeared in the dream, I literally brought my hands to my face like "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" so happy. So happy and overwhelming (and I like feeling smart *preens* sjkldlf sob) and THE BASEBALL DIAMOND. THE BASEBALL DIAMOND. GOD. How he keeps everything in order and is in charge and just. His indifference or at least, pretense of indifference, lack of emotion, but then Jin comes in, and the Akame was just so many shades of jskldjfalsd I don't even know anymore. Brilliant. I need a synonym for that word, I swear. Stupendous. Amazing. Fantastic.

Because Kame, after everything, is still so weak for Jin, and Jin is so weak for Kame, too. After everything. And even though Jin leaves, and Kame stays, because of course Kame stays, because he doesn't know to follow, but they're still overwhelmed by each other, so much tension and angst and beauty wrapped into one sjdkljfl. I can't get over this - Jin leaves the castle. That metaphor is perfect in an impossible amount of ways. That Kame is mad at him for leaving, but not really, Kame just misses him but he won't say it. And just.

Okay, I want to give you a proper comment now. (but sorry if it's not that long ;_;) I read this fic of yours until 3AM last night, I couldn't stop once I read it. Perfect universe, and your choice of character too. You're really an awesome writer asdjaslkdjaskldj

Ueda as Alice.. He's really what Junno had described him. And he wakes up first. I can see Maru as the White Rabbit too, and the others match their character as well.

And the ending.. Kame. KAME. KAME. Actually I'm quite satisfied with the ending. You didn't make it easy for Kame and leave it open. Please make the continuation? :3 Also, is it OK if I add you as friend? I'm afraid I keep missing your updates (although I always check your journal frequently).
thanks for sharing :D

Haha I am very glad that you liked this! I thought Ueda was a perfect Alice, when it all came down to it. :) And the ending, well, I do like to leave myself an opening. However, my to-do list is about 500 things long right now and the charity prompts come first, so I won't be doing anything with this (if I ever do) for quite awhile, but it's nice to have the option! ♥ And you can always friend this LJ, no problem. Thanks so much for reading and leaving such wonderful feedback! :)

THIS

OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS EXISTS...

Will stop capslocking now for the sake of readability, even though i think this deserves to be commented in caps and sparkles and music, but then again maybe I can never do this story justice in a comment, because it's just so so so AMAZING I don't know where to even start. Or stop, really.

i loved the idea of them going in as six, how Kame is so tense, Junno afraid and Jin pressuring them to go forward. And then it gets all slightly blurry, and a bit confusing, which makes so much sense because it's a dream. And the whole Sea of Hearts thing, I didn't even get it when Ueda first went there, and still the thought hurt, and later when I sort of understood, it was like OW. And Ueda, when he was alone and he couldn't wake the others up, I loved how you put so much focus on him in the beginning; and then when he saw Kame for the first time...

God, KAME! And he's the Queen of Hearts, which just... it fits, and I hurt for him, and then him and Jin, you wrote that so beautifully and it was heart-wrenching when he woke up and ugh, I think that was what finally killed my brain and I haven't really recovered. ^^;; But Kame, I just wanted to scream at him, but then he hurt so much when he thought Jin had betrayed him, and it broke my heart when Jin called him Kazuya for the first time, and screamed at him and... So incoherent, sorry...

And them waking up and disappearing, all that urgency, I was literally glued to the screen, and then when they woke up and Jin was yelling for them to get Kame out, and just, this Kame! That scene, I love you for that scene where he's in Jin arms, and they don't care and seem to be apart. Though now that I think about the ending, maybe that whole shimmering thing is a clue that it's still a dream? I don't know, but the whole ENDING, that just... Kame still feeling betrayed, but then Jin happens and then I I had to reread that last part a thousand times because I thought no way, this can't be like inception where I'll never know if all is well or not, but then Jin just hugs him and it feel's like it doesn't matter, because they're together.

I'm sorry this got so long, and basically consists of overly long, confusing sentences; but I just can't get over the shock of how BRILLIANT and PERFECT this is. I want to print it out and read it again and again and again. And shower you with praise and write you bad fic in gratitude and stuff.

and i feel weird about this whole comment, but will post anyway... You made my Sunday with this, maybe even my whole week, and I really love you for being so awesome and for THIS and everything else you've written. ♥

uwaaaaaaah I never, ever mind comments that are incoherent and flaily!! I am so, so happy that you loved this! I do, too, probably because I worked on it for so long, but I'm so happy that you enjoyed it so much! As for your bit about the ending, it's not still a dream- they are very much still in the real world, but the bit about Kame seeing vines on Jin's wall... well, there's your hint that maybe there's something not quite right in Kame's subsconscious. He was still hooked up to the machine, so there could be some lingering after-effects. ;) It was fitting, I thought, and also so I could potentially go back and expand on this when I had the time and do some more things with this concept and this story. ♥

Seriously, thank you so much for this comment! I am just so happy that you liked this, so floored that you liked it so much, and I am just grinning like an idiot from this whole thing. ♥ ♥ You are so amazing!! :D

I read it only once and it's not enough for this perfectly thought-out story. This is another proof that you really can make us drop everything that we're doing until the reading is finished :)

My fav parts:

* The title - (it reminds me of the very strong opening scene in the latest HP movie - Obliviate)
* Ueda as a connection to the real world - after all he was the group's leader at the beginning :)
* Sea of Tears
* "a very merry unbirthday" - it was as annoying as "iriguchi, deguchi, Taguchi desu" is :)
* the Queen of Hearts (not the King): I knew immediately it has to be Kame, who else is the queen of (our) hearts? :)))
* all Jin/Kame scenes and dialogues, their relationship as the midpoint of the story
* Jin's waking up in the sex scene - I don't think I'll ever read more original sex scene with them
* the meta(!): "I didn't leave because I wanted to betray you. I left because I woke up. And I didn't- I didn't know what to do."
* the ending: I was uncertain about it but previous comments helped me to understand a bit more

Ahahaha I'm so happy that you enjoyed this! While I was writing Jin's "wake up" scene I was laughing to myself like oh my god, classy Jin, you are waking up during sex. Gotta be a first. But it was kind of important and pivotal for him, because it was what finally snapped him out of it. ;) I'm so happy to hear that you liked the meta! It worked its way in without me really having to do much with it, so I'm not sure how much I can realistically take credit for or not. ♥

And thank you so much for reading this whole thing; it's so long! lol I mean it's just this massive hunk of story, and I'm just so happy that you really enjoyed it. Jamie came up with the title, so she deserves credit for that. ♥ Thank you for your wonderful comments!! \:D/

Hello.

Thank you x29857289467 for going with the "spinning top on the table" Inception ending. Or at least that's how I chose to see it. And Ueda on the ceiling was this story's JGL rotating room LOL.

No words for how fucking awesome this was. I am so PROUD of you for what you accomplished with this story in terms of plotting, characterization, and nuance.

Awwwwwwww. ♥ ♥ Thanks!!

And you knew I had to. SPINNING TOP. Ueda as JGL is hot stuff. Imagine him in those vests and ties. MMMMMM yummy.

I am glad you liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiked. lol and that you got to enjoy it as a reader rather than as my always-toiling beta reader. LOL

So much fic to read! Need to start it soon. I checked the Masterpost and it looks so long though! *laughs* I might have time to read next weekend. I'm crossing fingers here.

Oh, it's 37k.... lmao I went waaaay over the limit.

off to read...
this one is a long one...
thanks!

WAHHHHHH~~~
alice in wonderland with a noir-esque twist...

i love the ending where jin saved kazuya...
kudos!!!

I wish so desperately that I could put into coherent intelligent eloquent words how fiercely I love this fic and you TT________________TT..but I really can't..you shattered and awed me with this ♥ ♥...the plot, the characterization...you're so so talented and this is just unbelievably beautiful and wonderful.

I was utterly enthralled by every word here...seriously the way you used the dreams ideas and wove Alice in Wonderland into this was BRILLIANT..( also just afsdjdflk OMFG alice in wonderland is one of my favorite books in existence...which just made this 1623786943249 times more special to me T___T ♥)

The chosen characters for them could not have been more perfect..I loved how most of this was actually more from Ueda's, Maru's, Koki's, and Junno's perspectives than just Kame's and Jin's. Ueda as Alice was something I never would've even conceived but it's so perfect for him. And the dynamics, the way Kame's subconscience was so self destructive T____T....so exquiste..omg I just want to shower you in love forever for this T___T

JIN...God I don't even know where to start, every little aspect and detail you slip in about him here just captures his essence so hauntingly...and his desperation at the end, his rage when kame was called an iceberg...just...ahsdjkjkjdskfl T______T

ALSO NO WORDS FOR HOW MUCH I LOVE THAT ENDING....TT______TT...the last few lines literally made me feel as though someone was clawing my heart...and leaving it so open and Kame so vulnerable just killed me..oh god I love you..♥

gajsdhkdsj this comment is so retarded and fails at conveying even a portion of what I want to say to you about this T___T but have my heart forever darling ♥...you're so talented and inspiring and I just want to fling love at you forever for always being so AMAZING ♥!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH but you know how much I love your flaily comments and your incoherence!! I'm just so happy that you liked this! The casting was so important because their roles really made up the bulk of how they interacted with each other; because the core T-TUN had a little circle and Jin was on the outskirts and Kame was above them. (wait I meant that figuratively but in Jin's case it works literally too hahahahaha) (dirty)

I'm so happy that you liked it seriously~~~ I was sitting on it for so long and I wanted to share so badly!! And the ending was sort of a half between knowing that there were going to be issues when they disconnected Kame, who wasn't fully removed, and half me leaving myself an opening to go back in later and expand on this if I wanted to. And the meta that worked in here, it's just all over the place. *________* Your comment made me so happy inside you have no idea!! ♥ ♥

Thank you thank you, bb, for being so fantastic!

oh my god, oh my god

that was the realest jin i have ever read in my life

HOLY SHIT

i can't...i am so incoherent right now

koki terrified me. that determination terrified me. the fucking bubbles and the maid terrified me.

this was the most perfect jin i have ever, ever read

it would be fucking 24 hr terebi

the end fucked me up. that was so sinister. so. sinister. was it supposed to be? oh my god, KAME

GKJSGKJaLGKJ

so fucking beautiful, someone make this into a drama right. now.

*___________________*

Really?! lol oh my god your comment just totally made my day like you have no idea. I don't even- waaah I'm so happy that you liked this. There was so much going on and I got to play up their more sinister sides because of the situation I threw them in and the subconscious at work there and Kame and I was actually almost nervous that I didn't get Jin right at all (why is it that I feel way more comfortable writing Kame but tend to write more Jin? igdi) Girl, you just made my day I am so happy. You know I admire your writing so, so much so I'm all aksjfkdjsfkdjs that you loved this. ♥ ♥ Seriously. Thank you.

I just need to get this off my chest.

As you know I was rather apprehensive about reading this fic based on the immediate mood and setting of the fic. I even got a friend to spoil me completely just so that I'll be prepared for what's to come. And no. it wasn't enough. I was still absolutely caught unprepared.

There is no doubt that this is a beautiful piece of writing. The juxtoposition of the the danger and the wonders of Wonderland was executed perfectly. Junno sipping tea while planning a murder- It was beautiful.
The suspense left me hanging on every word, hungry and fearful for more.

This fic left me utterly devastated cause on one hand, reading it was joy but it also caused me pain every second of the way.
It was like a beautiful nightmare. I can't even bear to think of what comes next. I felt that the 6 of them could never recover from this. I was just full of despair and hopelessness by the end of the fic. Kame seeing vines was the final blow. You should have seen me choking on my tears.

You've definitely struck a nerve there. I don't even know what it is.

I'm sorry to leave not a very happy comment. But you should know the force with which I felt for the characters is a testament to your amazing gift in writing.

Sadly I will never read this again :(

ilu <3

Awwww girl it wasn't meant to be that sad!! It was just psychological stuff that caught them all off-guard and really threw them for a loop! And so much of it was based on their real experiences and their real lives- all of Jin leaving, Jin coming back, Kame not knowing how to follow- that's all based on canon. The dream just took their real experiences and made them into the fantasy setting.

♥ I'm so sorry to hear that you were so upset by this! That really was never my intent. :( :( I am making sad faces now, you have no idea. :( I'm so sorry to have made you cry that much!! There's a happy ending there, somewhere, you know- that Jin and Kame figured things out between them, even if it took the dream world to do so.

bb I am sorry to have made you so upset!! ♥

Wow.

I have a lot of thoughts about this fic, but I just wanted to check first- well a) are you planning to continue with this idea/verse? And b) are you okay with constructive criticism? Cos I know a lot of people are just in this for the fun and that's totally fine (I'm just physically incapable of gagging the inner editor ^_^;)

Ahahaha uh, well, yeah I suppose you could give me constructive crit ... I'm obviously not going to change anything at this point since it's pretty much done, so I mean, it won't do anything necessarily, but yeah, haha you can. And there are tentative plans to maybe continue with the opening I gave myself, but nothing set in stone yet. Does this help? :)

.... okay be nice. I'm not very thick-skinned, I'll be honest here.

...This was amazing. Absolutely amazing. I feel speechless. Wah. SORRY, I'M IN A BIT OF A SHOCK HERE, THE WHOLE THING IS STILL SORT OF RUNNING IN MY HEAD.

Amazing plot. Amazing. Oh god I loved it. It held me tightly on its leash and I just had to read it as fast as I could in one day, because it really didn't let me let go of it. I know I'll never be able to write a comment for this that gives it the justice it needs so... yeah. I apologize. Just know that I really, really, really loved it and it went to my bookmarks and will be in my head for days if not weeks or months or asgkjhejh. WAAHHH ♥♥♥

My favourite parts were the Akame parts. Suddenly their... well, the dream world!Akame was so strong and all of the emotions involved were just mindblowing and I could really suddenly feel so much I think my system overloaded ':| But that's good! ♥ I so love them in this. Their story, the strong emotions... yessss. Hell yess.

AND I LOVE HOW YOU INCLUDED THE REST OF KAT-TUN AS WELL! 8<<< People tend to drop them out or not give them as big roles but here I was actually extremely excited about reading what was going on with this and that person and waiting to come across some of them and askjeghaag yes yes yes many people don't do that to me ♥ The characterization is amazing and I can't help but love you for it.

PLUS FOR SOME REASON YOU REALLY MAKE ME UNABLE TO GET THIS IDEA OF CATERPILLAR/THE QUEEN OF HEARTS. WHY. DO. I. LIKE THIS. I love how this whole thing was mixed with Alice in Wonderland XDDD ♥♥♥ It really made it reach perfection and I seriously loved it when it got so confusing and odd and XDDDD

...I feel like I had a lot of other things to say, but I just can't remember anymore. Sorry for that. I love your imagination and writing and this fic and ashkjgaegj. Know that. Seriously.

Anyway. I've felt a lot of crushing emotions and physical sensations, gotten my mind blown away by a whirlwind and read one of the most unique KAT-TUN fics I've happened to come across. I couldn't possibly ask for more.

Thank you so much for writing this thing ♥ So, so, very much. You have all of my respect.

!!!!! uwaaaaaaaaaaaah now I don't even know how to answer this comment because it's just so amazing, and I'm so honored that you took the time to read this whole thing and leave me such wonderful feedback! I'm so, so happy that you loved this story! I thought there was so much I could do with the Wonderland/meta into their real lives and how it corresponded to them in the real world, and I'm so happy that you feel it came across well and strong. Someone told me once that I didn't really give a whole lot of descriptive details when I write, and in this story I really tried to make sure I did because it was so important for the reader to get those details, so your comment about how you felt like you were part of it just really made my day! ♥

I could never ignore the rest of KAT-TUN! This was, first and foremost, a 6nin fic, focusing on them and their dynamics as a group and the unresolved things between them even with Jin gone. The Jin/Kame was honestly secondary to the rest of it; it wasn't quite as important in terms of the story, but it was sort of the background hum, I guess, that drove everything forward. I'm so happy to hear that you liked having all six of them play such big parts, because I just love their dynamics as a group and the things you can do and how different they all are, because that thin tension there I think really makes them interesting.

The odd/confusing parts were some of the most fun to write, too. ♥ ♥

Seriously, thank you so much for this comment, you just put this huge smile on my face. I am just so glad that people are enjoying this because I had so much fun writing it! ♥ ♥ Thank you so much for even just taking the time to write this out for me, it means so much, I can't even explain. ♥

I almost forgot to leave a comment since I read the fight yesterday in a hurry, before going to bed, but omg and holy whatever, you are a genius.

The fic, the whole idea, everything, how you mixed this and that and omg just everything was great and perfect and edbvjkre everything!!!! I sound like I've lost it *takes deep breaths* But Alice in Wonderland x KAT-TUN x Inception (movie which fail me still hasn't watched *hides* I'm probably the last person on Earth who hasn't seen it) kdsbvkjvbhrekvbkrejvrvbltbt. Especially the last few chapters, or more like part 2, don't know how to call it kbjcvekr. And the way things worked out in such a dfvbhrevbr way between Kame and Jin.

AND THE END!!!!! THE END OMG OMG OMG I WANTED TO SCREAM OR SOMETHING!!!! AND I'D WANT MORE THOUGH I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ELSE COULD BE WRITTEN BUT JUST FEBVJKERVER T__________________T

And now I can't help but wonder whether this deserves the most incoherent and crazy comment award lol.

But still.... I think I seriously love you *___________________________* ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

UM WHY ARE YOU SO AWESOME AND AMAZING, BB??? I am so happy that you liked this so much!! Honestly, it was so much fun to write and I had a blast with the Wonderland x Inception bits, and don't worry if you haven't seen Inception, because I really explained what they were doing here so you didn't even need to! ♥ I'm just so happy that you liked it and thought it worked out well! Jin and Kame... oh bbs, why do they struggle around these things so? :D :D Your comment totally just made my day, so thank you so, so much for taking the time to read this and leave me feedback, because it really just means everything to me! ♥

Okay, now that i've ate and feel a little less...well, brainded, it's time to (try to?) give you some decent feedback on this awesome piece.

For starters, I will admit that i was saving your fic for last :) I am good friends with the person that made the art for you and she was enthusiastic about the fic so i thought it would be better to save it for when i had time to sit down and savor every word properly. Well, today i found the time and i must say that while this was HARD (will get on my reasons for this), i do not regret waiting to dedicate some exclusive time to it. It was wise/great being able to sit and read all in one go *hearts;

Now, what do i even say? :(
There's so much that i want to point out and keysmash like an idiot about, but at the same time, i feel that if i keysmashed i wouldn't be paying the fic the respect it deserves so I will just, point out things i want to shake you/hug you/clasp your hand in glee about.

Well, you know i suffer from a terrible akame bias so i will start with them and what you did with them, how tragic and fabulous and fitting it was. Kame as the Queen of Hearts and all that that entails in like, a million levels. Perfection. How Jin had to be a part of the ploy to kill him but couldn't. How things come together and it gets messed up and...well :(
But while Kame and Jin were fantastic (and i naturally give them more attention cause, you know ♥) you also get a billion props for how interesting and well written the rest of KAT-TUN were. And the entire universe you created, too. Do I even have to say this?
It sucked me in hard, and it's great when fic does that. I assume you thought a lot about it because i definitely shows :)

At one point, I squirmed all over my couch (because i was just so nervous i had to move) and thought: "fuck, how am i so fucking invested in this fandom", but hey, while this is, well, the truth lol, it was a feeling intimately connected to how emotionally involved/shaken i was by what i was reading. So there's that (and i mean all of this in a good way).

Oh and last but definitely not least OH MY GOD all the meta hiding in plain sight in this fic I CANT EVEN. It's fantastic. I was :(-ing all over the place because there was just so much said in the way they all behaved, the parts they fell into, the things they said, just, everything.
THIS IS WHY YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PLAY INNOCENT WHEN I ACCUSE YOU OF DELIVERING BLOWS, LADY.

Also, this a a little outside of the, er, writing scope, so to speak, but the website also looks awesome. Congratulations for pulling the whole project together so gorgeously.

Just. So, so glad this fandom sucked you in. You don't even know ♥

Awwwwww, I am so happy to hear this! Hahaha I definitely don't mind that you saved this for last, heehee, and oh my god my artist, I could seriously just go on and on about how brilliant and amazing and wonderful she is, because I'm still floored by the artwork she made for me, like, oh my god floored. ♥ I love-love-love her so much.

But I'm so happy that you liked the other member's parts and involvement! I definitely, definitely wanted this to be a 6-member fic before anything else; before the Jin/Kame, before the meta, before the crossover, this was a story about KAT-TUN as all six of them and how they fit together and perhaps don't fit together and how they will go on but always be connected. And the roles they ended up falling into, well, a lot of that is due to astrangerenters, since she helped me cast this originally back in July over gmail when it was nothing more than a lol-idea. :) So I'm really happy that it worked out so well, because I was really trying to do just that.

♥ ♥ !! The meta. Oh, the meta. You know, I didn't even plan for some of it. The whole anti-Kame as the KAT-TUN frontman really came out way stronger than I meant it to, and since it took me so long to write this, it was one of those things I didn't actually notice until I read it again right before posting and went ... oh shit. LOL that ... was really strong. And most of that stems from Kame's subconscious, not the other members, so, there's that. But the meta with Jin and with the group and with hearts and the card suits and everything else was totally and completely planned haha. ♥

I'm just so, so happy that you liked this!! Seriously, you reading this and leaving me this feedback just totally made my day and put this huge smile on my face. (I've been accused of "bullet sentences", like as in "Katy, reading that sentence was like taking a bullet" hahaha) ♥ ♥ Thank you so much for being so ridiculously amazing, bb. :3

i can't even wrap my mind around what i just read. i read most of it with my jaw dropped and mostly confused but i kept going and finally it all came together and then i stopped breathing but everything ended up okay.

... or did it.

i kind of hate you right now, but i love you more. or something.

Did it? ;)

I'm just so happy and grateful that you read this whole thing!! I'm glad the split up sections were easier to get through, since it was so long! ♥ ♥ No, I love you. :3