Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any or the characters associated with it!

Hi all! I decided to post two chapters tonight because why not? So hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 3: Nightmares

Darkness. There's nothing more terrifying and deadly in my opinion. Especially when that darkness begins to swirl around you like wind and transform into trees and rocks. Before I know it, I'm dashing between them all; my legs carry me across all the dead leaves and twigs at what seems like super speed. The heavy crunching of the leaves beneath my feet is ringing through my ears, it's mixed with another noise though; one that is just starting to appear. The snarl gets louder from behind me. I whip my head over my shoulder only to see it. What I'm looking at I'm not sure. All I know is that it's after me. And gaining. Fast. I look ahead of me again, dodging tree branches as I sprint. I jump over one final log before I'm in a grassy clearing. At least I think it's a clearing. It's hard to see through the darkness. The snarls stop as suddenly as they began as I reach what seems to be the middle of said clearing. It's silent. I can't even hear the squeak of a mouse. I look over my shoulder. The creature is nowhere in sight. The silence breaks apart as I hear the crunch of dead leaves from in front of me. I haven't moved. That was not me. My breathing spikes slightly as I turn back around. Through the darkness I can see the faintest outline of something. Whatever it is is walking straight towards me. It's not running or moving fast at all. It's taking small, slow steps, almost as if it's in a trance. The shape of it seems to be only small. As it gets closer, I can start to see the overall form. It's a person. A child.

"Who's there?" I call out experimentally. The child comes closer still until they're right in front of me. It doesn't look up at me, only ahead. "Brianna?"

"Hello, mother." Her head moves up very slowly until her eyes lock with mine. There is no emotion behind them.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you." Her voice is off; almost like she's empty and hollow.

"Why were you looking for me?" I ask. I'm not sure why, but I feel a sudden urge to step back so I do.

"The Black Subjours. They're coming."

"Who are these Black Subjours?" She's silent. Her body not moving at all. Her long, dark, violet dress flows in the wind as she blinks once every twenty seconds. It's only now that I notice the scratch across her cheek. My motherly instincts kick in almost immediately. I bend down so that I'm eye to eye with her before reaching out to touch the scratch. Just before I manage to brush it though there's a howl. An ear screeching, murderous howl. I stop my hand and very slowly stand up. Turning around the only things I can see are blood-red eyes in the distance.

"They're coming. They'll be here soon. There's no escaping them," Brianna says from behind me. I reach my hand back, hoping to Aslan that she'll take it in her own. Ice cold fingers wrap around it. I tighten my grip. Her grip does too; the cold rushing through my arm. I flip my head over my shoulder to look at her. Her eyes aren't focused on me anymore though. I hear a snarl as loud as thunder and spin back around only to have the creature pounce at me. I scream – a blood curdling scream.

"Ashley!" A voice rips through the air immediately, rendering my eyes to flash open.

I'm sitting up, my whole body drenched in sweat. My breathing is intense, coming out in short, raspy gasps instead of my usual steady breath. It's okay. I'm okay. I hold my hand up in front of me and flip it around. It feels fine. I feel something warm touch the back of my arm though and I jump high, my whole body flipping so my back is to the dark, fire place. I lock eyes with Peter and I'm certain I know what he can see. Fear. He sits up slowly and reaches his hand out to move the loose hair away from my face before he moves his hand down to my waist.

"Are you okay, darling?" Am I okay? That question is a little hard to answer right now. I feel completely disorientated; I almost feel like my body is still in that forest.

"Not really," I manage to say. It comes out as a croak though. My throat is really dry. He pulls me down to him so that I'm curled up along his muscular body. His arms immediately curl around me, holding me close to him. I instantly feel safer.

"It's okay. You're safe. It was just a dream."

"It didn't seem like it though. It was so real." I feel the corners of my eyes prickle with tears. I've never had a nightmare like that and to be honest, it has kind of freaked me out.

"I wish there was something I could say." I shake my head.

"It's fine. I'm going to go for a little walk to try and clear my head. You should go back to sleep. King Lune is coming for court today remember? You need to have a clear mind. I'll be alright." He grimaces before giving my cheek a peck.

"Stay safe and don't be too long. You need sleep as well," he comments. I unwrap his arms from around me and jump out of bed in the same fluid motion. I give his cheek a kiss before throwing on my satin night gown and exiting the room.

I head out into our living room feeling jumpy and shaky; constantly looking over my shoulder and back into the dark room ahead of me. I need some light, desperately. Glancing over to the windows, I see the soft glow of the moon peering in through the royal blue curtains a tiny bit. I walk over to them and tug them open, letting the silver light pour into the room. I feel my body relax with the tiny bit of light before I walk over to the small kitchen and light a few candles. I shake my head to clear my mind slightly before smiling to myself. I love this time of night. It's a time when I can just be me. I don't have to be a mother or a queen or a wife, I can just be who I used to be. I sit down on the lounge. When it's this quiet it just reminds me of the times when I used to live in my cottage. It was just Bella and I, but she kept to herself so much it never bothered me. They were simpler times. Don't get me wrong, I love my life right now, but I do wonder what it could've been like if I'd never married Peter. Bella would still be alive for starters and I would still be working as a servant. I wonder if my parents would've approved of my life right now. Whether they would've liked Peter or not. I don't often think about it, but would they have had something to say about me being High Queen? Would they approve of this life? Mother always wanted me to be a servant just like her. Would she have been proud of me? Bang! I jump, immediately turning my head towards the hallway. A shadow is standing at the doorway. I feel and hear my breath starting to come up out in short pants; my nightmare rushing back into my mind.

"Brianna?" I call out experimentally, my voice shaky. The shadow shuffles forwards; its small, bare feet barely making any noise on the wooden floor. All I can see is a mass of jet, black hair.

"Mother?" My heart breaks into two immediately, recognising the tone in her voice. This is nothing like my nightmare. There's nothing hollow or empty in this voice. It's full of emotion. My motherly instincts kick into gear within seconds.

"What's wrong, sweetheart? Did you have another nightmare too?" She nods her head and I can hear her small sniffles from here. I open my arms up, an invitation for her. She runs up to me straight away, not even thinking about it for a moment. She jumps into my lap and puts her arms around me. Sobs rake through her small frame as she cries into my shoulder; drenching my night gown within seconds. "Sweetie, it's okay. I've got you. It was just a dream," I say. If I'm being honest, I'm just repeating what Peter told me since my mind is still racing after my nightmare, but she doesn't need to know that. She sniffles and straightens up slightly. I wipe away the tears on her face with the satin on my gown. "Would you like to go for a walk with me? We can try and clear our heads together," I suggest. She smiles at me and nods.

"Yes please." She gets off me while pulling on my hand; a gesture for me to stand up. I do just that before we walk over to the front door together. I let her open it and we walk out into the 'not-so-abandoned' hallway.

"Is everything okay, Your Highnesses?" Yerialds asks at the door. I nod.

"Yes, we just couldn't sleep, so we're going for a short walk. We won't be too long," I reply before heading down the stairs with Bree in tow. She's quiet which is unusual. Whatever her nightmare was about obviously has her frazzled.

"Mother? Why is this level blocked off with furniture?" she asks innocently as we reach a dark hallway. I look into it and hesitate slightly. I really don't want to talk about everything that happened in the rooms in that hallway. The three doors are all closed and, honestly, I hope they stay that way. There are far too many bad memories to even think about telling my eight-year-old daughter about it.

"It's nothing, just a storage corridor. You don't need to worry about it."

"But there are doors there."

"Just some rooms there that don't need to be used and we needed somewhere to store the furniture so we used that hallway."

"What's in the rooms?" she asks.

"Nothing; they're empty."

"Do you know why they're empty?"

"No."

"Is that where Aunty Bella's room is?" I furrow my brows in confusion. What?

"Who told you about Bella?"

"Father." I am going to kill him. I've tried to keep Bella out of Bree's life, mostly because I don't want to scare her. Knowing that someone could break into her room and kidnap her isn't exactly something I want my eight-year-old daughter to know especially with her nightmares going on.

"Well since you know about her then yes."

"Is it empty too?"

"Yes," I lie smoothly. I haven't been able to bear the thought of entering her room; just knowing that that is where she spent her final moments makes it too sad.

"Can we go in there?" I shake my head at her.

"No. It's forbidden. Understand?" Bree grimaces and looks down.

"Yes, mother, I understand."

"Good girl." A distraction; that's what I need right now. "Have I ever shown you my secret courtyard?" Her head pops up then, her eyes full of excitement and curiosity.

"No? Is there a secret courtyard? Does it have fairies?" she inquires excitedly. I love how easily children are distracted.

"I wish it did. It is magical though. Come. I'll show it to you." She takes my hand excitedly and we walk quickly down the rest of the stairs. I lead her to the throne room and over to the back right hand side before knocking three times on the wall. A secret passage opens up. It's big enough to walk through that you can keep walking on your feet, but you do have to duck down a bit, although it's the perfect height for Bree to walk normally.

Upon entry, you wouldn't think it's anything that grand as all you can see is dark stone around you, but as you enter through an archway of green vines and beautiful, smelling, red roses, you realise it's actually pretty amazing. Seated in the middle of the courtyard is a small pond that houses several kinds of fish and turtles. Bright, green grass surrounds the pond (although it all looks dark in the light of the moon) and along the stone pathway is a beautiful, old, stone love seat. The courtyard is filled with beautiful roses and flowers and it smells absolutely divine. The moonlight is just starting to hit it too now, giving the stone pathway and pond a beautiful silver glow.

"This is my favourite place. I come here to de-stress and relax. I suppose I like it because my mother, your grandmother now, planted all the flowers. She built it purposely for the royal family so that whenever they wanted to get away from it all they could go somewhere where they didn't have the worries of the world around them. It's like a royal hiding spot really," I explain while picking a red rose in its bud and handing it to my shy daughter. She doesn't grab it though. She turns it down and instead backs away from the courtyard slightly. "Is everything alright, Bree? What's wrong?"

"My nightmare. This is the courtyard where it happened," she whispers. Through the dim light I can vaguely see her eyes looking at me in pure terror – there's no other way to put it. It can't be...

"Bree, you need to tell me what happened in your nightmare," I say as calmly as my voice will allow; it comes out more forcefully than I intend though. She shakes her head slightly and, from where I'm standing, I can see her eyes starting to well up with tears.

"No. No, I can't. Not now. Not here." She dashes from the courtyard then, running straight back into the castle at top speed. The guard keeping watch in the courtyard looks at me worriedly.

"Is Her Highness okay?"

"We need to go inside," is my simple reply, my legs already carrying me back through the archway. "Bree?" I shout out worriedly. My eyes lock with her small body within seconds. She's curled up in a ball in front of the thrones, sobbing her little heart out. My heart breaks in two upon the sight and my legs don't even wait for a command before they're already running over to her. Before I even have time to process it, I'm sitting down in front of my throne with my daughter curled up in my arms. "It's okay, Bree, I've got you," I whisper into her ear. My shoulder is soaked with tears, but I don't have it in me to care. Whatever happened in her nightmare has her terrified.

"Mother, I don't want anyone to go in there ever again."

"What happened?"

"A creature came and he was hiding in the roses and he killed you and father an – "

"You don't need to say anymore, Bree," I say as I hold her close to me. We sit in this position for what feels like forever. I'm not really sure how much time passes to be completely honest; Brianna is my only focus right now.

"Mother?" she whispers through the silence. I look down to her.

"Yes?"

"Can you promise me you won't go back in there?" she asks through her sniffles as she pulls her face away from my shoulder and wipes away her remaining tears. I grab her face gently and turn it so I can look straight into her eyes.

"I promise you, Brianna, nobody will ever go into that courtyard again."

"You absolutely promise?"

"I absolutely promise." The smile that stretches from ear to ear as soon as I say that is just the motivation I need to never break that promise. I mean it.

"Thank you." I pull her back to me, my arms wrapped tightly around her.

"You don't need to thank me for something like that. I will never break that promise. I swear it." I feel her smile against my shoulder.

"I know you won't."

"Now, little miss, what do you say we go back to bed?"

"Can I sleep with you and daddy?" I smile slightly at her using the term daddy since she rarely uses it these days and nod.

"Of course." We head back upstairs; both of us just managing to drag our feet up the stairs. Once we get to the top we go back into our apartment. I draw close the curtains again and grab Bree's hand before heading over to our bedroom. I open it as quietly as possible, although it does give a slight creak upon opening and closing again. I put a finger to my lips and very carefully pull the bed sheets over a bit so we can both slide in without waking up Pete. Of course that would be too easy though wouldn't it. Peter stirs and wakes up slightly. He smiles at me and gestures for me to crawl in. I slip my night gown off so I'm left in my pyjamas before sliding under the covers. I glance over to Bree who is sulking. "What's wrong?" She sniffles again.

"I wanted to cuddle up to daddy," she whispers quietly but in a sulky voice.

"Get in from the other side then."

"No, I want to be in the middle."

"Crawl over me." She smiles brightly at that and eagerly jumps on the bed before crawling over my body and slipping under the covers. Peter puts his arm around her almost immediately and gives her a forehead a kiss before yawning and going back to sleep. She curls up between us in a little ball and closes her eyes. I know for a fact she's over tired. I'm just really hoping that she has a peaceful night sleep and doesn't get disturbed by more nightmares. I close my eyes almost immediately too, wishing for exactly the same thing.

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Until next time!

- narnia and beareject fan 1 xoxo