{-Sharena-}

The real world came back in pieces. First, she recognized that she was in a bed, likely in her room. Then she felt Lekra's slight pull, knowing that they were probably in a daze too. Next was the clink of a glass being set down on a table, followed by the gentle turn of a page. Only after that did she will her eyes open and accept that now was the time to wake up.

"Peony was right to think you were going to wake up soon." Henriette's voice was soft as she gave her daughter a warm smile. "Welcome back."

Sharena just looked at her, hardly capable of much else at this point. She felt like everything was still trying to catch up to reality, like she woke up from a dream during their trip to the world of nightmares and was trying to figure out where the real world turned into a dream. Trying to figure out the last thing she remembered meant looking further back than the dreams she'd had and what was too far back. She knew that she'd been with Freyja, and she called Freyr… but that wasn't the last thing. Alfonse had been with her when she lost consciousness; it took a moment for the effect of all those memories to sink in.

"I'm not going to ask you to explain what happened," Henriette promised. "That much can wait. But… if you can manage, how long do you think you were asleep for?"

"A… day or two..?" She surprised herself with how what she said actually made sense. Most of her still felt incapable of forming proper thoughts and actions, but at least she could form a short but coherent sentence.

Henriette shook her head slowly. "It's been a week. We'll discuss what went on in that time when you're feeling better, though… there's a lot to go over and I don't want to overwhelm you." She put the book aside and got up. "I need to tell Alfonse that you're up. Do you think you'll be fine for a couple of minutes, if I get one of the maids to stay with you in case you need anything?"

Sharena nodded, and stayed silent until Henriette left. "Lekra…"

"Don't sound so hopeless," they remarked quietly. "I'm in no better shape than you are. You were in a deep enough sleep that, to your mind, I didn't exist. I've been in my own form of slumber from the moment you went unconscious." They sighed. "I didn't think nightmares could feel this sick…"

"Are you okay?" She looked at them worriedly, hoping she didn't hurt them.

"Just disoriented," Lekra assured her. "I'm sure it'll be better in time." They were pretty far from actually being reassuring.

The maid came in soon after, quickly deciding on cleaning up what Henriette had left and starting a pretty simple conversation with Sharena. She assumed it was to give her mind something to do to help it wake up as well. It also kept her from focusing on how she felt like Lekra was lying to her, and what they were feeling in general.

It seemed like longer than a few minutes had gone by before Henriette came back with Alfonse. They didn't really mention anything important, following the same thought that Henriette had earlier. All she realized during that time was how tired Alfonse looked; it wasn't a usual "too worried to sleep" kind of expression, instead more like he just… didn't even touch a bed in two days. She didn't say anything, but was probably clear that she noticed the difference.

She was able to convince Henriette to let her start walking around that afternoon, even if she still needed a bit of assistance by the time she called it a night. She'd made a goal to get back to doing normal stuff as soon as possible, feeling better than she had in the whole year. Maybe, if she could prove that she'd be fine around the nightmare crystal again, it would help give Lekra less to worry about controlling.

Sharena brought up being ready to talk to the others the next morning, and even offered to go to the Order's castle rather than making them come here. Alfonse didn't oppose the suggestion because it might mean pushing her recovery, though; he explained that what they needed to talk about was something she needed to understand before she went out. Thus, she was left to watch over Iztali while Alfonse got Anna and Fauna, which she didn't particularly mind doing.

"What did you dream about?" Iztali asked as he climbed up on the bed. "You were sleeping for a while, so you definitely had some dreams, right? Were any of them good?"

"I wouldn't really call them dreams… more like memories," Sharena answered. "There was a lot of good ones, and a couple of bad ones too. Would you like to hear about one of them?"

Lekra shifted a little from their spot in the corner of the room, startling her. "I'd hate to break up your bonding time, but I think Peony's waiting by the door."

Both Sharena and Iztali looked over when the door creaked open, revealing the slightly-annoyed ljósálfar. "Come on, Lekra, why did you have to give me away? I wanted to stay here for a little longer…" Much quieter, Peony finally admitted, "I wanted to know what she dreamed about but didn't want to ask her."

"I dreamed of you, Triandra, Freyr, and Freyja." Sharena wasn't sure what there would've been to tell that Peony would want to avoid mentioning. By now, even only having them back for a day, they felt like all her other childhood memories; remembering good times, a little bit of the bad ones, and be glad that she had that opportunity and those friends. "Pretty much from when I was three and met you guys to when you helped me forget when I was thirteen. Kinda surprised it only took a week."

"Then can I ask you…" Peony hesitated for a moment, continuing after a deep breath and resolving to look at the floor. "Do you know what a dream is now?"

They all understood what she meant. She wasn't talking about dreams as in the things that happened when someone went to sleep—instead closer to what gave them. There'd never been an actual explanation on it, or an acknowledgement that they even existed, but they still all knew the answer. Things that weren't really people, but calling them creatures would sound a bit harsh; the opposite of nightmares, though the two could peacefully live together.

"It would make sense, looking at Natheniel." Sharena was quiet when she answered, even if it was something she'd considered the night before. She gained Lekra's attention pretty quickly, and soon Iztali's after he seemed to realize what it was about. "He had his own nightmare and a dream, even though he was a nightmare too; they balanced each other out. They didn't attract to another nightmare when he died, they went to me… and now, there's only one nightmare and two dreams, but they still balance out. I helped you by becoming a dream, then hid the truth from myself for years until I finally remembered why I made that choice."

"I only heard about it when I was eavesdropping on Freyr and Freyja," Peony admitted. "At that point, I didn't really know what it meant. What was only a couple of days to you might as well have been a couple of years, and at that point I just… didn't want to feel like that anymore. I eventually got Mirabilis to tell me after you forgot and was pretty much able to piece it all together."

"I still don't know exactly what that means, but it's still a step closer. I'm satisfied with this answer and there's more important things to put my energy into." After waking up, the hole didn't feel so big anymore—sure, it wasn't gone, but she knew more about herself now. That was enough for her, especially looking at everything that needed to be done around her. Alfonse and whatever was going on in his brain being one of those things, naturally, with the weird way he'd been acting.

((A/N: This is a shorter chapter, but I wasn't sure how to continue it from there, so…))