Versailles

I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?

Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999

...

I must have hit my head. Very hard. I can remember what happened vaguely, but I have no idea how it happened. I don't know if this is a dream or not, because it feels so real, but so ridiculous at the same time.

The young boy who took me closer to the palace lets go of my hand and runs away. I look around. It's very pretty here, this is how the palace was intended to be used. Not some kind of spot for tourists to meet at, but a lively palace for parties that take days.

Then the smell hits me. Why would my head make up smell like this? It's disgusting, I hope I never dream about something like this again.

I'm trying to stand still, but the crowd pushes me closer to the festivities. It's odd that the king would invite literally everyone, normally only the rich and nobility were invited. I guess there's really something the king wants to celebrate. I ask a man walking next to me: "Why is everyone invited?". The historical-looking man answers perfectly: "No one knows, but there are rumors going around of the king trying to find a spouse."

Louis XIV is trying to find a wife? Couldn't he just marry some rich woman, he's basically the most powerful person in Europe right now. What am I saying? Right now? This is just a dream. Right?

I finally make it to the palace that I had been seeing in the distance for a while. I walk into the gardens and try to blend in with the crowd. It's not that hard, because I'm wearing clothing that fits the era. However, I am a lot taller than all these people, so I do stand out a bit.

I walk underneath an arc made of vines that leads me to the palace, I look around. This place is crazy. I assumed these parties would be big, but not like this. I can see multiple big stages where plays and musical performances are going on. There is a big buffet outside of the palace and it looks like they made a big hole in the wall so the table could continue inside. I see rich people laughing hysterically while putting make-up on pigs and giving monocles and pocket watches to rabbits.

I walk into a room that I've seen before, it's a room with nice paintings. The difference this time is that some of them aren't finished yet and that there are three painters working on a mural. I'm impressed with my mind for remembering all of this and recreating it in my dream.

 I suddenly feel a pinch on my arm. "Ow!" I say. I look over to the perpetrator, it's a stern-looking woman who starts to speak "Boy! You are not supposed to be here, it's not allowed!". I immediately soften my gaze "I'm so sorry, I'll leave". The lady forces a smile and points to the way out, I quickly walk away.

Wait.

What.

She pinched me.

The lady pinched me and I felt it.

I run into the bigger crowd, but my mind is racing. You're not supposed to feel pain in a dream, right? I mean, I have never. Is feeling anything physical even possible when you're dreaming?

I start to panic against my will. I want to keep my cool, but I start hyperventilating. I drop to my knees and clutch my heart. Wake up Hoseok, please wake up. Please wake up. I want to wake up. I WANT TO WAKE UP. PLEASE WAKE UP. "I WANT TO WAKE UP". I cover my mouth in shock, did I really just shout that?

Everyone in the room looks at me and starts laughing, I want to sink into the ground. Someone pulls me away by my arm. I look at them and see that it's the young boy from before. "What are you doing?" he says while looking up at me. "I don't know, I had a little breakdown" I say. The boy has taken me to an empty room and lets go of my arm. "You have to watch your mouth here, you don't want to end up underneath the guillotine" he's giving me advice but I'm not paying attention to him.

I look past him at the room I'm in. The room is full with gold decor and pretty jewelry, this must be the room where the king keeps all his crowns, necklaces, bracelets and... rings!

"...that's also something you don't want to do" the boy is still talking, I brush him off. "Yeah, yeah, thank you" I say, my eyes scanning the room for the emerald-colored stone that brought me here. The boy walks away and says something that I don't really hear.

Once I see that he left the room I start walking quickly through the rows and rows of jewelry displayed here. That damned ring got me here, so it'll also get me back. I'm one-hundred percent convinced. 

It's hard to find, green stones are apparently very popular in this weird world. The ring is small compared to all the big extravagant pieces I see here, so it will probably take a really long time.

I hear a sound outside of the room. I don't want to be sent away again, I need to find that ring, so I hide behind a big pillar. I'm scared but curious, so I look over to see the back of the head of someone. Is that? The king? The figure is busy with picking out a necklace, he's trying them on.

A familiar, disembodied voice tells the presumed king something. "I do not think you will find anyone my king, you spend too much time on things other than romance". So the rumor is true? The king is trying to find a wife? The king answers the other man "I will make time for it, stop bothering me!" he has a nice, deep voice that also sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it.

I see the king turn around, so I quickly hide behind the pillar again. That's when I see it. A ring with a beautiful green diamond, displayed at the top of a high table at the top of very high stairs. It must be an important ring if it's kept like that.

I hear the other man leave the room and check if it's really empty again. I start to run up the stairs, I need to get to that ring.

I thank myself for being a dancer, otherwise I probably would have been out of breath from running up these stairs. The only problem now is how I will get to the ring, it's on a very high table and you can't just reach it easily, you'll probably need some sort of ladder.

I look around to see if there's anything I could step on so I can get to the ring. I see a few empty display boxes laying in the corner, I could build makeshift stairs with those.

I grab the boxes, they're made of glass, but glass is a pretty sturdy material, you can definitely stand on this.

I place the first two boxes down and try to stand on them, that goes well, so I place another box on top. I estimate that I'll need about six boxes, so I'm halfway there.

I place the fourth box down and step on it, it's getting a little more unstable now, but I can manage. When I place the fifth box I almost fall, but I adjust to make it balanced and everything is fine. I place the sixth box and step on it, everything is fine. I can already see the nice details on the ring.

I try to reach for the ring on the table, but I'm not able to. Aish, I should've brought seven boxes, it won't work this way. I try jumping for the ring, but I'm not comfortable enough to jump very high, I feel like I'm going to fall.

"HEY!" I look over in shock. "What are you doing, peasant? That ring is meant for the king's fiancé, not for someone like you"

I'm not able to move, completely frozen in place.

"Jungkook?"

Then everything falls.

...

What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

...

a/n

Do you guys watch WandaVision? I'm a big fan of Marvel, but they didn't release anything in 2020, so I had to get into a new fandom (so here I am lol).
Anyways, yesterday's episode was insane! Spoiler alert, but Evan Peters showed up, he used to play quicksilver in the x-men movies. You probably won't get how crazy this is if you're not in the fandom, but I'm super hyped lol. My friend and I were watching it together through discord and we both started screaming lmao.

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