Peggy had expected to spend the day before her wedding settling into the Rogers' castle, preparing for the ceremony the next day, and celebrating Steve's 21st birthday. Instead, she was shoving and hacking her way through the tangle of thorny briars that had appeared around the castle, trying to uncover the small secret door Steve had once showed her. Entering through the main gate was out of the question. It would take a small army to clear away the thorn bushes blocking it, and even then, they wouldn't be able to enter unless someone inside opened the gates. And no one inside the castle was responding.
Peggy grunted as she finally managed to saw through a particularly tough branch and pushed her way past several spindly ones. The scratches they left on her face and hands stung, but they wouldn't stop her. Her dulling knife blade might prove more of a problem, but Peggy was determined to push on no matter what.
Her retinue had headed to the nearby town to try to discover what had happened to the castle and its inhabitants, but Peggy had insisted staying. She already knew what the cause was. Steve had told her once, on a moonlit night years ago, of the curse that had been laid on him by the evil fairy Schmidt when he was born.
Somewhere in this castle, Steve was locked in an enchanted sleep. Peggy was going to free him even if she had to fight these bushes for a hundred years.
Peggy finally made it to the door. It was small and blended into the stonework of the wall. She carefully pressed on the smooth gray stone to its right, then the rough whitish one to its left, then twice more on the gray one. The door slowly swung forwards.
Peggy sighed with relief. Climbing the walls had been her backup plan, but she was glad not to have to attempt that.
The secret door led Peggy into a little used garden. It was dead silent; nothing stirred, not even a bird or bug. Thorns and briars had sprung up here too, but there were less of them. Peggy made her way swiftly through them to the main courtyard, trying to ignore the ominous silence.
The sight that met her eyes when she ducked through the arch separating her from the courtyard made her gasp. The courtyard was always a busy place, and it was still full of people. Only now, all of them were slumped over, lying where they normally would have been walking or working. Peggy crouched beside the nearest prone figure, a maidservant slumped over a basket of laundry, and checked for a pulse. It was there, beating slowly but steadily.
"So all of them are caught in the enchanted sleep, not just Steve. Lovely." She spoke aloud, breaking the silence that felt so wrong.
"Indeed," a voice came from behind her.
Peggy started, leaping to her feet and whirling around.
Three small fairies hovered there, a woman in red and two men, one in green and one in blue.
The woman smiled sadly at Peggy as she continued, "We thought it would be kinder this way. No panic over what happened to the prince, merely a nap until it's all over."
"And we did know you were coming," the man in blue said.
"Assuming that you are Princess Peggy of House Carter and not some random noblewoman who decided to break into an enchanted castle," the man in green drawled.
"I am Peggy Carter," Peggy said cautiously. "And you are?" They seemed friendly enough, but they were also the only people here unaffected by the spell, and she wasn't sure she agreed that putting the entire castle to sleep was kind.
"We are the three fairies of the Glistening Wood," the man in blue said. "My name is Strange, and this is Wanda and Loki." The other two nodded at her.
"We were there at Prince Steve's christening when Schmidt cast his spell," Wanda explained. "We couldn't undo it completely, but we were able to change the prince's fate from death to an enchanted sleep."
That fit with what Steve had told her, so Peggy relaxed slightly. "What are you doing here now then?"
"We cannot confront Schmidt directly," Strange explained, "but we can aid you."
"He's lurking about the castle in his dragon form," Loki added.
Peggy kept her face neutral, but her heart sank at that. She didn't have any weapons beside her knife. If she had to kill a dragon to save Steve, his chances of waking and her chances of living were going to decrease dramatically.
"Schmidt wants to kill you so that no one will wake the prince and he can seize control of the kingdom," Loki continued. "It's not a bad plan, actually." He noticed Peggy's affronted look and the glares his fellow fairies were giving him. "I'm not saying he's right to do it! Or that you're easy to kill! Just that the strategy is fairly good."
Wanda shook her head at him. "You're unbelievable." She turned to Peggy. "We can guide you to the prince and keep you hidden from Schmidt until you wake Steve."
That plan sounded much more likely to end with everyone alive.
"Lead the way," Peggy said.
The fairies paused outside the door of the chamber where Steve lay.
"Here is where we will leave you," Wanda said. "You're reunion should be your own."
"However, while we may not be able to fight Schmidt ourselves, we can leave you with a greater ability to do so yourselves," Strange said. "And you certainly will have to. While the prince sleeps, Schmidt cannot hurt him, but once Steve wakes, Schmidt will try to kill you both."
He began moving his hands in a circular motion, and sparks followed them. A small disk solidified in the middle of the whirling. Peggy watched in astonishment as it began to grow, still spinning but expanding to be far larger than Strange was. Within moments, a round silver shield hung in the air in front of her.
"This is for Prince Steve if he awakens," Strange said. "I will leave it in your hands."
Peggy reached out and took the shield, which felt solid enough despite its strange method of creation. She hoped the armory was accessible, because if Steve was going to fight a dragon, she was going to join him. However, it turned out the fairies weren't done giving gifts.
"I have something for you, Princess," Loki said. He twitched his fingers backwards and began to draw a sword out of what seemed to be thin air. When it had fully emerged, he gestured towards Peggy, and the sword floated forwards, the scabbard attaching itself to her belt.
"Show off," Strange muttered.
Loki flashed a sharp grin.
Peggy rested her hand on the sword's pommel and felt a sense of rightness flow through her.
"Thank you," she said. "Will I see you again?"
"We'll be at the wedding," Wanda said.
"Assuming you survive," Loki added.
Wanda turned to scold him even as the three of them began to fade from Peggy's sight. Strange bowed his head to her, and then they were fully gone.
Alone, Peggy turned to face the door. Her heart began to beat faster, and she took a deep breath as she reached for the doorknob. Steve was just beyond this door, and if she couldn't break the enchantment, he was doomed to sleep forever.
Well, all that meant was that she wouldn't stop trying until she'd succeeded.
Peggy opened the door.
Her breath escaped with a slight whoosh when she saw Steve. He lay on the bed in the center of the room, perfectly still, his hands crossed over his breast. From here, he looked as if he could be dead.
Peggy hurriedly crossed the room to his side. She perched on the edge of the bed and leaned over him, and then she could see the signs of life. Steve's chest rose and fell with deep, steady breaths, and there was a healthy flush in his cheeks. If he weren't posed so stiffly, Peggy could believe that this was a normal sleep and that she was merely here to wake him up so that they could go down to dinner.
She laughed a little. "I'm afraid we're going to have to fight a dragon before dinner, darling."
Steve didn't stir, but Peggy had hardly expected him to. An enchanted sleep was probably harder to lift than that. She thought back to the night their parents had officially announced her and Steve's betrothal. Steve had told her about the curse that night, wanting her to know what she was getting into.
His face was paler than usual, but his voice was steady as he explained what was fated to happen to him.
"Obviously I won't touch a spindle if I have a choice, but I expect Schmidt is probably powerful enough to force me to. When that happens, I'll fall into an enchanted sleep that I'll never wake from on my own. The fairies at my christening said only my true love would be able to wake me." He blushed, and looked away from Peggy, suddenly awkward.
Peggy smiled. She knew Steve didn't want to ruin their friendship by presuming she would love him back just because their parents had arranged a marriage between them. Luckily for them both, she'd already felt that way for quite a while. She laid her hand on his shoulder.
"I'll be glad to wake you up."
Since the breaking of the spell depended on true love, Peggy assumed a demonstration of love would free Steve from his sleep. (Well, a romantic demonstration. Peggy would certainly argue that fighting through giant thorn bushes to break into an enchanted castle and staying even though a dragon was waiting to kill you showed love on its own, but apparently that wasn't suitably poetic for the spell.)
She leaned forward and gently kissed Steve.
When she pulled away, he was blinking sleepily at her. Tension she hadn't realized she was carrying drained out of her. Peggy smiled, and Steve smiled back, warm and sleepy.
"Hi Peggy."
"Hello, darling."
A moment later Steve furrowed his eyebrows and sat up. "Wait a second, why am I in bed? I was on my way down to the courtyard to be ready to meet you when you arrived…" he trailed off as he remembered. "The curse."
"You've only been asleep for a few hours," Peggy reassured him.
Steve smiled at her. "Thank you for saving me."
"I promised I would," Peggy said, smiling back. Then suddenly she remembered. She sighed. "Unfortunately, we're not out of the woods yet."
"What is it?" Steve asked.
"I met the fairies from your christening. They told me that if the spell was broken, Schmidt would try to kill you so he could claim the kingdom."
Steve's face clouded. "We can't let him do that. He'd trample over everyone with that kind of power."
It was just like Steve to focus on the danger to his people instead of the threat to his life. It could be frustrating sometimes, but it was also part of why Peggy loved him.
She handed him the shield. "The fairies left us tools to fight him, a shield for you and a sword for me. I suppose their magic told them which weapons we prefer"
Steve took the shield and stood, testing its weight and maneuverability.
He back at her with a grin that spelled doom for Schmidt and warmed her from head to toe. "You ready to fight a dragon?"
Peggy stood. "With you at my side?" She kissed him again. "Always."
...and they lived happily ever after.
I had more ideas for this world than fit in the story, so if you're curious about something, feel free to leave a comment asking about it! I love any feedback :)