Enjoy the second chapter!

Chapter 2 - Dream State

The blackness was slowly dissipating and filling with swirling colors. Rosie looked around and saw splashes of colors everywhere, it appeared as if a canvas was painting itself, turning into a world for her to stand in. This went on for a few minutes, colors mixing, blurring and slowly focusing. Everything finally seemed to stop swirling around and came to an abrupt stop. She recognized where she was, the edge of the Enchanted Forest.

Something seemed off though. The green of the trees was too green, the blue of the sky too blue. The colors were too bright as if they'd been over saturated. The sunlight and brilliant, vibrant colors blinded her. Her eyes blinked attempting to become accustomed to the strangeness of the world.

Finally her eyes were working again, everything still seemed too bright, it was wrong. A patch of yellow flowers grew to her left, too yellow. They were practically neon, as bright as staring straight at the sun. She noticed the flowers bobbing up and down.

She moved forward to discover what was causing the flower's movement. A very stout person stood there. He was grumpy, with a long beard that trailed behind him through the flowerbed. He was shorter than many of the large sunflowers. He came only to Rosie's knee.

"Um, hullo?" Rosie called to the small man, a gnome or dwarf she suspected. She'd never seen either in person so she wasn't entirely sure, but she'd read of them before. The man squinted up at her in a grumpy surprise.

"Who are ya?" He grunted at her with a heavy accent.

"Princess Rosalyn of Brockshore, pleasant to meet you." She introduced herself kindly, as she'd been taught. He spat in response.

"Not very pleasant when ya realizes what's happened to ya girly." She frowned at the short man.

"Why do you say that?" She demanded in a ruder voice than she'd intended. She didn't much like his tone or implication.

"You're in dream state."

"Dream state?"

"Yeh, someone's put ya under ah sleeping spell. This is the world ya get sent ta." Rosie gasped. She couldn't believe that, didn't want to believe that. She thought back to what had happened last. She couldn't remember much. She thought harder, grasping for any last thought.

Nathan. She remembered being with Nathan. An old man had been there too. He'd had… flowers! Yes, an old man had given her flowers and then… then she'd inhaled their sweet, no sickening, their sickening smell.

She groaned, realizing what had happened.

"The flowers!" She exclaimed angrily.

"What was that?" The short man squinted at her, this time in confusion. He looked rather silly with his long silver, shimmering beard a brilliant red hat and extra brown clothes.

"This old man convinced my fiance to buy me some flowers, I smelled them and next thing I know I'm waking up here. It must've been that evil wizard in disguise."

Rosie was angry now. Honestly, couldn't she and Nathan get married and have some alone time. Sure, she'd wished for adventure, but this wasn't exactly what she'd meant. She remembered then her father telling her once "be careful what you wish for." She'd paid no attention to it, figuring it was something all fathers told their daughters.

The one time she didn't listen to her father...

"A wizard ya say? Then we have somethin in common. A wizard who was greedy and wanted my gems cast the sleepin spell on me. He didn't do a very good job though, every once and awhile I'll wake up for a few seconds. I always return though. Me names Ghimney."

"Looks like we are both a bit unlucky then Ghimney." Rosie sighed and glanced around, she had to squint sometimes as everything was much too bright.

"There has got to be a way out of here." Rose spoke determinedly. She had to get back to Nathan, there wedding was very soon and she was already feeling the ache in her heart that she'd feel when she hadn't seen him for awhile. Ghimney snorted loudly through his potato-like nose.

"Ya don't think I haven't looked then?" Rosie frowned thoughtfully, searching for something. She wasn't sure what exactly she was searching for. She still felt rather disoriented from her strange surroundings and her slightly aching head.

"Are there others here?" She asked in interest.

"Sometimes. Once a girl named Snow White was here fer a couple days, ate a poisoned apple apparently. She wouldn't leave me alone becuz she'd been livin' wif dwarves previously." Ghimney scoffed. He had confirmed Rosie's suspicion about him being a dwarf, which she was glad for, it would've been rude to ask. "There was another girl Aurora or somethin' like that, said she'd been here fer a hundred years, but I bet she was being dramatic. Princesses tend to do tha." Rosie nodded in agreement, surprising Ghimney that she wasn't at all hurt by his statement.

"Tell me about it. I have a cousin, Paris, and she'll sob if her mother asks her to wash her hands." Rosalyn rolls her eyes. "Honestly, her mother is a saint in comparison to mine."

Ghimney eyed Rosie with a satisfied look as if deciding he liked her.

"Well I suppose we should find some food." He suggested.

"We have to eat when in a dream state then?" Her question was pure interest, which stopped Ghimney's rude retort. He normally would've snapped about how dumb she was, but she didn't seem to be dumb, she seemed curious.

"Yeah." He grunted. "Or when you wake up, you'll be so ravenous you may eat that horrid mother of yours." Rosie let out a loud bell like laugh.

"Wouldn't be so bad." She giggled with a wink. Ghimney found himself chuckling as well, something he hadn't done in quite awhile. After all, what did one really have to smile or laugh about when they'd been stuck in a too bright world with too sweet food and almost no company.

"Come on, I know where the dream deer are grazin."

The doctor had absolutely no information. Nathan in a huge angry fit had thrown every object he could reach at the incompetent doctor. All the doctor could say was "Obviously she can't be awoken by true loves kiss, unless perhaps you aren't her true lo-" That is when the first projectile had flown at the stumpy man's head.

Nathan had yelled after that, nonsensical words, just screamin, taking out his anger on the useless "doctor".

Nathan was back beside Rosie's bed, he sat in the most uncomfortable chair he could find. Books were stacked beside him, on the dresser, floor, sharing the chair with him, and on his lap. Nathan was reading as quickly as he could manage and still take in the information. He had scrounged up every book on sleeping spells, droughts, potions, charms and so on. Most of them were a large pile of dung, those would often be thrown across the room in an angry haste. Some books had flown straight out the window and now rested strewn across the yard.

Nathan was flipping madly and annotating anything he thought might be even the slightest bit useful.

"Nathan?" The voice was tearful and worried. He didn't look up from the book in his lap, he couldn't- there wasn't time. "Nathan!" The voice was firmer this time.

He glanced up angrily, ready to throw his book at whatever maid or servant that was there to interrupt him. In the doorway was the one person Nathan wouldn't throw a book at.

Mary.

Rosie's lady in waiting and best friend since toddling stood in the door, tears streaming wildly down her face. Her hair was pulled into it's simple bun, pieces of hair strewn everywhere, falling out of it, as if she'd slept in it. Nathan supposed she had. Although the dark circles under eyes told that she hadn't gotten much sleep. Nathan understood as he hadn't gotten any.

"Mary." His voice was an attempt at soft, he didn't want to hurt her more. Mary was rather fragile it seemed, she cried easily and was often stressed over the smallest problem. This wasn't a small thing though. Rosie could possibly be stuck in sleep paralysis forever.

"You haven't slept." She said it at almost a whisper. Her breathing was labored, she seemed to be gasping for air, like someone who was drowning might. He shrugged uncaring.

"You don't look like you got much either."

"No." She breathes out at Nathan. It's the end of their conversation. She ghosts over to his side, dragging a chair beside his. She grabs a book and opens up to the first page. The flipping of pages and the sound of chucked books mingle together with Mary's heavy breaths. Mary's sobs are quieting with every page she reads, she seems to be doing better with the work. It's Nathan's way to cope too, keeping busy. It may not be the healthiest coping method, but it felt like his only option and it was successful so far.

Mary gasped a few moments later. He glanced up at her, emerging out of his concentrated reading.

"What is it?" He was slightly harassed, wanting to return to his researching.

"I think I've found something." She glanced at Nathan, eyes wide. Suddenly a small smile was pulling at her lips and a bubble of relieved laughter sprang through her lips. He snatched the book from her hands. Her finger pointed to one word. His laughter soon joined hers. Relieved chuckling.

She'd found it.

I know it's kind of short, but that's where I wanted to end it. Please review! Love you all!

Thanks to Barbiegirl 22 and Be Rose for alerting already!

PeaceLoveBacon

Jenn