AN: (Groans while Face Palming) Why? Why? Oh... For those of you who follow me, have I ever told you that I'm bad at multi-tasking? Cause I am, like really bad. Like I shouldn't be working on more than one fic at a time and right now I'm working on like 3 or 4 and Korrasami is canon and that's making me really emotional. And there's this whole Korrasami Wedding Day thing that's going to be happening on tumblr and... I'm crying, just... I'm crying, like I really am.
But um... whatever. Anyway, it was not actually my intention to have this be Kingdom Hearts-esque, although I suppose it does feel that way. Quinn may or may not end up getting a Keyblade and uh... I'd still enjoy suggestions for Disney worlds. And enjoy.
Grass. That's the first thing that Quinn felt as she woke up. And since she was camping it didn't seem too odd, but the fact that she wasn't in her sleeping and that Rachel was near her was. She quickly rolled over, hoping to find that her girlfriend was simply playing some prank on her. But instead Quinn found that she was lying in the middle of a meadow. She couldn't see Rachel or their tent. Quinn could feel her heart stop.
And then she heard it, "Quinn!" A voice; a sweet, angelic voice but not the one she was hoping for. "Quinn, where are you?" The voice sounded familiar but Quinn couldn't quite place it. She knew that she had heard it before but didn't know where. She waited for the voice to call out again. "Well, if you're not going to come out then I suppose I'll just go inside and help my aunts." Another voice called out, although this one was harder to hear and Quinn couldn't make out the words. "Okay, Aunt Flora. I'll tell her if I find her."
Quinn's eyes widened and she quickly shot up into a sitting position. In front of her stood a cottage, and at the door a young woman was heading inside. Quinn couldn't catch her face but she looked just like… but she couldn't be. Still, Quinn had to find out. And regardless of who she turned out to be, Quinn hoped that she'd at least be able to help her find Rachel. She walked up to the cabin, noticing but not thinking about her change of clothing. There were bigger, more important things to think about.
The door was slightly open, perhaps an inch or two. It felt rude to just walk right in and yet it appeared that the woman who had just stepped inside knew who Quinn was. A cool breeze blew by and Quinn shivered. She rubbed her arms and knocked on the door. It easily swung open and, after a moment, Quinn decided to step inside. "Hello?" she called.
In the moment that no one responded she hoped that she had been incorrect, she hoped that she was dreaming or something. But then Aurora walked through. She smiled as she saw Quinn and stopped whatever it was that she was doing. "There you are. I've been looking for you for forever, and so have my aunts. They need you for something," she informed Quinn. "They won't tell me what they need you for, but I think I can guess." There was a certain, knowing glint in her eye. Due to her confusion and surprise, Quinn couldn't quite figure out why. Aurora, Princess Aurora was standing in front of her. Quinn knew that she was dreaming; she had to be. Aurora gave her concerned look. "Are you all right?" she asked worriedly.
"Um, yeah… fine." Aurora still had the same look upon her face. She took a step forward and examined Quinn closely. "Really, I'm fine… I just uh… you said your aunts needed me?" That seemed to take Aurora's attention away from her.
"Oh, yes. They're in the other room."
"Okay, I- I'll see what they want." Aurora smiled pleasantly before making herself scarce and disappearing inside her room. The moment she was gone Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather entered the room, albeit a bit cautiously. Fauna went to check to ensure that Aurora wasn't trying to listen in and upon noting that she wasn't, signaled the other two to tell them that the coast was clear.
"Are you ready dear?" Flora started.
"We don't have much to do and so little time," Fauna added.
"It'd be easier if we just used magic," Merryweather grumpily pointed out.
"We've spoken of this before, no-" Flora suddenly stopped as Quinn yelped out in pain. "Dear, what are you doing?" she asked, running up to her and checking the spot where Quinn had pinched herself. It hurt, it had actually hurt. But that didn't mean anything, right? Just because you can't feel pain in a dream doesn't mean you can't imagine yourself feeling pain. Yeah, that's what it was. "Dear, are you all right?"
Quinn's eyes darted down to her, to all three of them. It was unreal, the likeness was uncanny. "I uh… I'm… no, I'm not…" The three fairies escorted her to a chair where they had her sit down. The touch of their hands felt so real, but it couldn't be. Quinn needed it not to be. She needed to get back to… "Rachel."
"Who?" one, or maybe all three of them asked.
"Rachel," Quinn repeated. "I need to find her. She'll be so worried. I need to find her." And then she wondered where Rachel might even be. "I need to go," she said as she stood up, causing the fairies to jump back in surprise. "I need to find her, I need to." She headed towards the door but the fairies blocked her path.
"Where are you going?"
"What are you talking about?"
"We need you here."
Their words jumbled together as they spoke. Not much of it was very clear. Quinn could only make out a few words, the most important of which was that it was Aurora's birthday. And that only meant one thing. Quinn's head turned towards the stairs that Aurora had previously ascended. But she'd be okay. Quinn had seen the Sleeping Beauty countless times; she knew how the story ended and she had most important things to focus on instead of fictional characters.
As they spoke the fairies quickly got into argument and Quinn took the opportunity to escape. She had a bit of a head start, and without their magic or wings, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather were unable to keep up. It pained Quinn to leave in such a way but she knew what she had to do. She broke into a sprint, knowing full well that the fairies would be unable to catch her in their current state. But just before she was able to get out of their line of sight she saw a crow flying overhead.
Quinn paused, briefly, noting its appearance the direction in which it came through. There was no denying where it was going. Behind her, Quinn could hear the sound of leafs being crushed as the fairies caught up with her. She took a tentative step forward but stopped. She had millions of questions but no answers could be found. She rubbed her hands together and then tried to warm up her arms. Flora, Fauna and Merryweather ran up in front of her. They all started speaking at once, making their words indecipherable from one another. One thing was clear though, they all quite upset with her behavior.
And none of them seemed to have noticed the raven flying overhead. Though it was rude, Quinn had to yell out, "Can you all just be quiet for a minute?" The three of them jumped back in surprise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be mean but Aurora's in danger." They gasped in unison and once more all started speaking at once, primary warning Quinn to not use Aurora's real name and assuring her that Aurora would be safe. "Listen to me, please just listen," Quinn interrupted before she lost control of the conversation. The moment she had an opportunity she continued to explain. "Maleficent knows where Aurora is and she'll be coming for her; soon, most likely. You have to get her somewhere safe now!" Her warning wasn't taken as well as she could have hoped. Instead of instantly springing into action, the fairies only seemed to panic. Quinn groaned in frustration and pointed the fairies back towards the direction of the cottage. "You have to go protect her!"
"Right, of course."
"But you must come with us."
"Yes, you'll be in danger out here."
"And we'll need your help to keep the Princess safe."
Fauna and Merryweather took a hold of her hands as Flora guided them back. They started to move before Quinn could get a word in. "Wait, I can't," she tried to explain. "I have to find Rachel; I need to make sure she's safe." Her words fell on deaf ears and she considered simply pulling away and breaking out of their grasp but as they closed in on the cottage she decided that she'd at least like to make sure that Aurora was okay. She hadn't made it very far away in the first place anyway.
The four of them entered the cottage and split up to search the small area. If she were anywhere, Aurora would likely be up in her room so Quinn ran straight there. Much to her dread she found the room to be empty. She tried to keep calm though and not add any more worry to the fear that she already felt about Rachel. Quinn looked high and low to find any clue as to Aurora's whereabouts and when none was found she went back downstairs to see if perhaps the fairies had any better luck.
She ran into them halfway down the stairs. "She's not up there?" they asked.
"No. She's not down there?" Quinn didn't even know why she asked.
"Maybe she went out to pick some berries," one of them suggested unconvincingly.
"No, she'd never just leave without telling one of us first."
"Then what?"
"Maybe Maleficent did get her."
"We mustn't think that way, dears."
"But what if she has?"
"Then we have to save her!"
"Don't be silly," another warned. "Even if Aurora has been taken, you know we can't stand up to Maleficent. We'd have to go to the King and together we can come up with a plan."
"That'll take too long, but that time it'll be too late."
Their arguing continued with no end in sight. Quinn clenched her fists and whispered to herself, "Sorry, Rachel. I'll come find you as soon as I can, I promise. I love you." With that said she turned her attention to the fairies. "Stop, all of you!" They jumped back in shock. "We don't have time to argue, we have to save Aurora and we have to save her now before it's too late!"
"Yes, yes. You're right, but what can we do?"
"I don't know," Quinn admitted. "But I'm going to Maleficent's castle and I'll find some way to save her."
"You can't!"
"Maleficent is too dangerous!"
"I know, but I have to do something."
The fairies looked unsure and then they huddled together. They spoke amongst themselves, discussing their options in a far more civilized way then they had previously. Quinn anxiously rocked back and forth. They were still running out of time. And of course she was also terrified so a moment's respite was nice. "All right, we'll go with you."
"Thank you. I don't have much of a plan, and I know that this is a big risk, but maybe if we're quiet we can slip in, get Aurora, and get out of there before Maleficent even knows we were there."
"Yes, I think you might be right."
Quinn could only hope that she was, and if she wasn't then she hoped that Rachel was okay.