Team: Pride of Portree

Round: Borrowed Inspiration

Position: Keeper

Keeper's Prompt: Use the title of a story written by your Seeker for inspiration (I used "Sorta Sleeping Beauty" by Sehanine)

Word count: 2985

Inspired by the version of Sleeping Beauty called "Sun, Moon and Talia" by Giambattista Basile. An A/U where after the war a healer tries to help Alice Longbottom by entering her mind that has warped into her favorite fairy tale and coaxing her back out to face the world she has locked herself away from.

Warning for some mild coarse language and violence.

Last but not least, lots of love to my betas: Story Please and Claudia Amelia Song.

I Dreamt I Was Awake

When she was little, she learned to love fairy tales.

Talia was having a nightmare again. It was the same nightmare that she'd been having for a while now. She was stuck in a strange building with long hallways and white, unwelcoming rooms. There were other people there too. Some of them wandered the hallways aimlessly, others hurried around, brows furrowed. They all wore odd robes and unfamiliar faces. Some of them called her Alice and when she opened her mouth to correct them, no sound came out.

Sometimes she was looking for someone in the dream. Names flashed through her head and lingered for mere seconds. Frank. But then it was gone. Augusta. But the name meant nothing. Neville. But she had forgotten…

This time she was lying on a bed. A young man was holding her hand. He looked scared and Talia felt the urge to soothe him somehow. She squeezed his fingers and he tried to smile. Then he turned to another man in a long black robe. "Do it!"

Talia moved her head to look. The man approached. He was holding a needle. Talia felt a burst of fear. She began fighting. Struggling. The one with the kind eyes held her hand and whispered something. Talia couldn't hear. She tried to scream. Her throat was dry like the desert. She coughed and gasped and as the needle pierced her skin, everything went black.

Then she opened her eyes.

Talia was awake. She knew she was awake because everything was clear. The emptiness of the castle calmed her, as she sat up. A bit of blood dripped on her white dress and when she looked down, she saw a flax splinter on her lap, the tip crimson. For a moment she stared at it in wonder, then stood up abruptly. All of a sudden the emptiness scared her. There was something missing. No, there was someone missing. She couldn't tell what it was, but something was supposed to be different…

Hesitantly, Talia stood. Her feet wobbled but held her. With care, she put one foot in front of the other. It felt strange. She had been asleep for so long she barely remembered how she was supposed to do it. She looked around the room, trying to remember. The bedchamber was so grand. She ran a hand over the silks and satins. A couple of wilted roses lay on the white pillows. Idly, Talia wondered how long she'd been asleep.

"You're awake! I'm glad!"

Talia's head whipped around. He was there. The older man from the dream. Only this time he was wearing the clothes of a royal. Talia shook her head, long blonde hair falling into her face. "Who are you?"

The man bowed slightly. "I apologize, your Highness. I am Lord Clovin."

Talia took a step back and eyed the man suspiciously. She didn't trust him. He had been in her dreams. He'd tried to hurt her.

But dreams are not real, are they?

Talia hesitated, then bowed ever so slightly. "Pleasure to meet you, Lord Colvin. I am Lady Talia!"

The man's smile flickered but perhaps Talia had imagined it. "They spoke about you. A princess locked away in a castle. Forever in eternal sleep. But I never imagined you to be this beautiful."

"Was it you that woke me?"

Lord Colvin smiled. He glanced at the splinter in Talia's hand. "I did."

She should have thanked him. But something was missing. A piece. The word "Neville" floated around in her mind. Suddenly it felt like a cord had been wrapped around her neck.

Her worry was reflected on Lord Colvin's face. "I apologize if I did something wrong."

Talia raised her eyebrows. Something wrong? He'd done everything wrong. Everything was wrong. There was no Sun and no Moon. No Neville. A flash of rage shot through her as if poison had been unleashed in her veins. She lunged at the man but as her fingers closed around his throat, the world went black again.

They were talking in her dream. When she really focused, she could make out words. "How bad is it?" the younger one asked.

The man who wore Lord Colvin's face like a mask shook his head. "She's in there. Hiding deep between the layers. It seems she's constructed some sort of an elaborate narrative to replace reality."

The young man let out a stifled cry and once again Talia wanted to reach out and comfort him. The man who was not Lord Colvin stood, and put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Don't give up hope. We all knew this would be hard but if she's in there. There's a chance I can bring her out, there's hope."

Hope for what? Who were they talking about? Why wasn't she coming back to the young man? The thoughts shot through Talia's head and she felt something inside her twist. She called on every last bit of her strength to try to help the boy.

Before she could do anything, the older man raised a stick. "Sleep!" at least that's what Talia thought she heard, before she was woken from the dream.

They were in a carriage. Lord Colvin sat opposite her and smiled warmly as she opened her eyes. "Morning, sleepyhead. I'd have woken you before, but you looked so beautiful."

Talia moved and leaned into the red upholstery. "Where are we?"

"At the edge of my kingdom. You slept nearly the whole way!"

Talia smiled. "Where are you taking me?"

"Home!"

It sounded nice. Home. No, not nice. It sounded...right. Like that was what was supposed to happen. The prince was supposed to wake her and whisk her away to a beautiful castle. Talia smiled. Lord Colvin moved to sit beside her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Scenes flashed by. Forests and lakes and fields of flowers and wheat. Lord Colvin put a hand on her shoulder and told her stories of his lands.

The castle stood in the center of a lake on a small island. It looked like lace had been set into stone. Endless towers stretched into sky past the clouds and green vines had framed most of the windows. It was breathtaking and Talia felt the sudden urge to run out to greet it all. A servant opened the carriage door for her and Lord Colvin smiled as he watched her run up the steps into the castle.

She twirled around in the garden, then opened every door and laughed at the endless ballrooms and libraries. It was everything a girl could ask for. With every room she grew more excited; she kept running and running until the last was in front of her. The door was tall and made of polished black wood. The doorknob was made of silver, elegantly sculpted. She reached out and pulled it open.

The room wasn't empty. Her eyes met a pair of black ones and before her mind could make sense of it, a scream was ripped from her lips.

"There's a problem, isn't there?" the young man paced back and forth, folding his hands again and again.

He, the man who was not Colvin, shook his head. "It can only get better once rock bottom has been reached. She has to see hardships before she can meet her happy ending."

The boy clenched his fists. "This is not a bloody fairy tale!" he muttered under his breath.

The other man said something else but Talia couldn't hear it. A woman in white came by and gave her something to drink that tasted of ashes and looked like milk.

When she woke, she could still taste the ashes. The fire had died and Talia scrambled to her feet quickly. She wasn't supposed to let it die! Hurriedly she gathered a handful of wood and tended to the fireplace she'd fallen asleep against.

The butler snarled as she slinked down to the kitchen with the basket of wood. "Took you long enough. Lazy, useless girl."

Talia looked up at him. How had it all gone wrong? Where was her prince?

Crack. The slap echoed far too perfectly in the room. "Get back to work. The queen wants a fire lit in her room!"

"Now?" The butler raised his hand again and Talia flinched, "-Sir!" she added hastily.

The man smiled. There was something vicious about it. "Half an hour ago!"

The queen hated her. She'd hated her from the moment Talia stormed into the castle. Lord Colvin had tried to protect her but when he wasn't there, when he was away hunting or fighting, she'd be forced to sleep in the cellars in the soot and dust. The queen said Talia had taken her lord from her. Told her that she was nothing but a worm. A pathetic, filthy worm not worthy to even kissed the feet of her lord.

Sometimes fury would rage in her black eyes. She could look like a lady but when she got angry, when she raged, her black curls came loose and a strange fury that bordered on madness would erupt on her face. These times she would hit her and laugh as Talia cried and begged.

Lord Colvin would come back, though, and life would be better. He'd try to shield her from the queen. He'd invite her out of the castle. But with every day, Talia retreated back into the cellar. She hid between the piles of coals and wished she was back in the castle, where nothing could hurt her. Yet even dreams did not offer an escape. She grew more anxious as did the men in her dreams. They were worried about something and when she'd try to listen in, they'd get quiet as if afraid she'd ruin their plans.

Instead they'd feed her potions that tasted strange and the man would wave his stick, brow furrowed. The dreams would end abruptly and scare her as she was thrown back into the cellar or kitchen, where the butler would yell at her and the cook would share scraps with her when no one was looking.

Pretty soon she was afraid to fall asleep so she'd try to keep her eyes open as long as she could. Fear pushed through the tiredness and helped her stay awake.

Until it finally ran out. She fell asleep cleaning the queen's bedroom and spilled the bucket of water all over the floor.

"We have to stop I'm afraid, Mister Longbottom. I don't think Alice is strong enough to do this!"

The one called Mister Longbottom, the younger one, shook his head. "You said it would work, Healer Colvin!"

"I said I thought it'd work but all cases are different. A mind is not a book you can just bind together when a few pages get loose. She has to step out willingly. If we push her too hard, she might be lost forever!"

"She's already lost— " Longbottom's eyes fell on Talia. She was listening. He took a step forward and took her hand. Their eyes met and a warmth ran through Talia. She didn't ever want him to let go.

He did after just a few moments. Colvin stepped forward. He had another potion. Talia let out a cry. She didn't want another potion! She'd wake up from the dream. Her hands reached out for the younger boy and he accepted them. "It's okay!" he whispered. "Just calm down!" She didn't want to take the potion but didn't have the strength to fight back as her lips were pried apart and the red liquid spilled down her throat.

Talia screamed as the whip bit into her skin but no one would listen. Guards held her still and the whip rose to land across her back again and again. The queen's eyes held that bright vindictive glint as she stepped forward and grabbed Talia's chin, fingers digging into the skin. "You've ruined my carpet, you useless whore!" she snarled. "You won't ever learn, will you?" Talia gasped again and the queen raised her hand. The servant with the whip lowered his weapon.

"Why don't you just give him up?" She leaned closer so her lips almost brushed against Talia's ear. "You know I will get him sooner or later. And if you don't stop fighting me, it'll be your son who suffers next."

Talia's eyes shot up as something sparked in her. Something like rage, like the urge to fight. For a moment, the pain didn't matter. She didn't even think about what she was doing as her forehead slammed into the queen's face. The woman shrieked and stumbled back, blood trickling down her face. The queen was in too much shock to counter it. She stumbled out of the room, still clutching her nose, making a hasty motion at the servants. The whip came down harder this time giving Talia barely a chance to wonder why the queen would threaten a son she didn't even have.

"I can't, in good conscience, continue. I'm sorry." Healer Colvin shook his head and put a hand on Longbottom's shoulder.

"You said rock bottom. She's nearly there," the boy whispered softly.

"I didn't estimate that rock bottom was so far down. She might recover, but I fear that what happened has already taken more from her than she can ever get back. Her mind...every time I try to remind her she's safe, it warps into a nightmare. Like she doesn't think there's anything good left." The man put his stick away and patted Longbottom on the shoulder once more. "I truly am sorry. I should not have given you hope when there was none to be found." With those words, he turned and walked out.

For a while, Longbottom just sat there, silently sobbing without tears. Talia watched from the bed. She couldn't leave him like that. Even if it was justa dream. With effort, she pushed herself up and he didn't even notice as she sat down next to him. She couldn't speak so she just took his hand.

He jumped from surprise. Their eyes met. He buried his face into her shoulder and she held him until the tears ran out. Then, he looked up. Something flashed in his eyes. A look of determination. Before she knew it, his wand was in his hand. With the free one he brushed hair from her face. "There's always hope," he whispered, "there has to be. Otherwise, why bother?" He placed the tip of the stick on her forehead. A flash of light took them both.

She was pregnant, and she could no longer hide it. At first, the queen had just called her a pig but now she knew and she knew who the father was as well. This time, she didn't beat Talia but she'd watch her in the hallways. Especially when she walked with Lord Colvin. The queen's eyes burned with cold fury.

One day when he went out hunting early in the morning, something else burned bright in the courtyard. The queen had ordered a pyre to be built and when she sent for Talia, she already knew what was going to happen. Lord Colvin was gone; she'd be dead before he got back. The guards were loyal to the queen and the few who weren't could not help her lest they be the ones sharing the pyre with Talia.

Still, she didn't want to die. She walked out of the castle dressed in the gown Lord Colvin had bought her; jewels around her neck and wrists. The queen stared with disgust and envy and when Talia asked to be allowed to take off the pretty clothes and jewelry, she eagerly agreed. Talia knew she was just stalling but she had to do something. So she tore off her earrings and hoped Lord Colvin would come. He didn't.

He didn't come when the bracelets fell on the ground or when the pearls followed. The shoes and then the silk stockings, peeled off slow and still he wasn't back from the hunt. She began unlacing the dress and soon she had nothing but her petticoat. Her fingers shook as she reached for the laces to undo them.

Movement startled her. Just a small sensation as the baby tried to get a better position. She nearly jumped and the laces got stuck. Her son. She wasn't alone. She had a duty now. A duty to protect her son.

She grabbed a sword from a guard and charged at the black queen. Someone grabbed for her and she pushed them away. An archer shot and missed. Another one shot and hit. She swung the sword and as the queen fell, their eyes met. Those black eyes looked as if they could not believe it. The Queen stumbled and fell off the platform. Talia gasped as the flames took her. Then she saw the blood run down her own dress.

"My lady!" A man stormed forward. It was the man who wore the face of Lord Colvin and sounded like her son would have one day sounded. A pair of hands grabbed her, another found the arrow. A sharp pain shot through her and Talia could feel the darkness creep up before it actually did.

If this is a fairy tale, the authors can keep it! She thought.

Alice was lying on the floor, Neville hunched over her, as Colvin stormed in. "What have you done?" he demanded.

"I don't know. I just wanted to help her." The boy shook his head. "I just wanted to help her."

Horror flickered on Colvin's face. Then he kneeled down quickly and began pulling out potions. He found the black one and moved to pour it down Alice's throat.

A hand shot up and grabbed him. Two groggy eyes opened slowly. "Where is my son?"