It's been a bit since the last update, but I was in the process of moving and starting a new job!

"We can't just wait for Blaine to show up," Mal said, walking toward the next door in the endless hallway. She had just hurriedly filled Doug in on the whole coma and subconscious situation. Even though she still doubted the door she needed was within reach at all, they had no time to waste.

Doug caught her arm and pulled her back. "Mal, you've been here going through doors for weeks now, you said. Let's come up with a better method."

"Like what?" Mal snapped, tears stinging at the edges of her eyes. She pulled her arm from Doug's grasp and wiped at the tears. "The doors all look the same. If there was a pattern...or...or something, I should have found a way out by now."

Doug dropped his hand to his side and looked down the corridor. He studied it for a moment before turning his head and scrutinizing the hallway in the other direction. "Mal, the doors do look different. Their outlines glow different colors."

"What?!" Mal turned her attention to the nearest door, which was just over Doug's left shoulder. Her gaze flitted around the four edges of the door and narrowed, but there was no glow anywhere. "What are you talking about?"

"Just what I said. The doors give off a different color glow. Maybe that refers to what's behind them," Doug suggested. He shrugged. "Let me check back the way you've come and see what colors you've already gone through."

Mal nodded, though she was highly skeptical. How could Doug see something she couldn't in her own mind? She crossed her arms and waited. Skeptical as she was, she was still willing to try anything that might release her from this mental hell soon. She had to save Ben and Auradon.

After several minutes, Doug returned, out of breath as if he had run back.

"Well?" Mal asked. They had already wasted ten minutes, which meant ten hours had passed outside. They were pushing the limit. Already, Ben was likely only holding on by a thread.

"All dark colors. Blue. Purple. Green. Maroon."

"Doug! Useful info! I can't see the glow. Tell me which door to open."

Doug nodded and led the way down the corridor to doors Mal hadn't touched yet. His head swiveled left to right and back again as he surveyed each door. "More of the same," he muttered.

Mal followed behind, counting the seconds in her head as they walked. Any moment, Blaine could show up, and the game would be over. Blaine would have won. Ben would be gone forever, and she would have to either marry or murder a maniac. Neither option sounded pleasant, but if she lost Ben, at least her mind had given her plenty of ideas on how exactly she would kill Blaine for his crimes.

"This one," Doug said after quickly brushing past over a hundred more doors, stopping so suddenly that Mal ran into him. For being dead, he was very solid.

Mal took a step back and looked at the door he had indicated. It looked identical to all of the doors before. Nothing glowed or looked special about it in any way. "How can you tell?"

"The glow around it is yellowish-white. Like daylight," Doug answered. "Just try it. We don't have a lot of time if what you said about minutes in here being hours out there is true."

Mal nodded, though as she stepped closer to open the door she still didn't see any glow radiating from the door or anything. She reached forward and turned the knob. As she opened the door, daylight streamed in and everything went white, blinding her.

Mal sat bolt upright on the couch in the royal lounge, gasping for breath as if she had been underwater for a long time. Someone in the room with her screamed shrilly, but she didn't notice. She was awake. Abruptly and wholly awake. The oxygen in her lungs felt raw as if the air were made of fire. But she didn't care; she was awake. She had woken up from a horrible nightmare.

She looked around, wanting to immediately celebrate with Doug and thank him for seeing what she couldn't in her own head. But all she saw were the bodies of Belle and Beast laid out on air mattresses beside the couch and a startled Mrs. Potts clutching a bowl and rag to her chest. The water from the bowl had spilled down her front, soaking her apron. Doug was nowhere to be seen. Mal's euphoria instantly dimmed as reality hit her. Doug was dead. And someone would have to tell Evie.

"Mrs. Potts?" Mal coughed and cleared her throat. It was hard to talk, and she sounded like a frog. Mrs. Potts was shaking, obviously frightened out of her mind. From her position a few feet away and the slowly drying damp spot on Mal's forehead, Mal guessed the woman had been dabbing her face and then gotten a shock when she sat up so quickly. Who could blame her? It was like seeing the dead walk again.

"Y-yes?" Mrs. Potts blinked several times. She was so used to her immobile and silent patients in the lounge that seeing one of them talk again was causing her to lag in reaction time. "How did you..."

"Doug helped me," Mal explained and swung her feet off the couch onto the floor. She tried to stand but sat immediately again, her legs not wanting to support her just yet.

"Doug's been missing for a week. No one's seen him," Mrs. Potts said, blinking once again.

"I'm afraid Doug is dead. Blaine killed him because he told my friends about the situation. Please, can you tell me if Evie, Jay, and Carlos are back yet?"

"Back? They...no one has seen them either, but I just figured...and Doug, oh my goodness. No." She clutched the bowl and rag closer to her chest, still seemingly oblivious to the water drenching her front.

Mal didn't have time for this. She was still on subconscious time where a minute equalled an hour. But even if she stopped to think about it and realize she had a bit more time now that she was awake, it would have made little difference. She had to find a way to stop Blaine, and who knew how long that might take.

"I know," Mal said. "It's awful. I've barely had time to process it either, but please, this is important, Mrs. Potts. We're running out of time. Can you go find out if Evie, Jay, and Carlos are back? Can you help me get to my room to check?"

Mrs. Potts nodded. "Y-yes. I'll go check. And I'll bring you tea." With that, she left the lounge, leaving Mal alone with her two unconscious almost-in-laws.

Mal moved her legs, thinking while trying to regain feeling in her legs from lying down so long. She needed to move. She didn't have time to wait on Mrs. Potts to make tea. But, honestly, what else did she expect? When there was trouble, royalty always thought a good cup of tea could fix it in a snap.

Hope you guys enjoyed this update! Please review!

Foarrin