Author's note: Might not seem all that exciting, but this chapter has the first bit of the plot that's been bugging me to be written… (As always, could no doubt use another edit.)

The great halls of the palace were silent, eerily silent. Even during the latest hour, they were never truly empty. As long as there were people in the grandiose place, you could feel their presence, that the palace was alive. But not this time.

It was cold and empty. And it frightened DG.

And then she heard it, a soft, wailing lament. At first, she couldn't make sense of it even knowing the lamentation consisted of words.

She wandered along the halls, trying to find its source, but failed. Instead, she kept going in circles, or were all the halls simply exactly the same? All the while, the immense feeling of loneliness became more and more crushing.

And then she caught a glimpse of something, an ethereal fluttering of light. But it had looked like a girl, so far away from DG that she could not make out any of the details.

However, she hadn't the time to discern more, for the fright of its sudden and unexpected presence woke her from her strange dream with a start.

The feeling of immense loneliness from the dream persisted as DG sat up in her large bed, in her large chamber, in her large suite, in the large palace. It was oppressively sad and she found herself wrapping her arms about her knees and hugging them to her chest.

When she could no longer stand the isolation and longing that weren't really hers, DG got out of bed and slipped on a dressing gown, heading for the door. Stepping lightly, she padded quietly on bare feet into the even larger and emptier corridor. There was always a guard in the hall, stationed between the two princesses' rooms. Most of the time, they tended to doze off, and DG wasn't especially in the mood to wake one and answer dozens of questions about what she was doing, where she was going, and on and on...

Uh-oh...

She had forgotten who was on duty that night, but she instantly recognized the figure leaning against the wall with his hat down over his eyes and his arms crossed across his chest. For some reason, he got away with not wearing the uniform the rest of the royal guard adorned. Perhaps, it was because no one wanted to argue with the man. And at the moment, DG didn't even want to explain herself to him. It was too likely she'd burst into tears, the intense emotions of the dream still lingering.

Maybe she could sneak by him-

"Are you alright, princess?" His low voice made her jump, for he hadn't moved an inch as she slowly attempted to pass by him.

"Jeez, Cain!" she hissed. "You trying to give me a heart attack?!"

He stood up, lifting his head to look at her. She was obviously preoccupied by something deeply troubling to her mind. Then why couldn't he keep his thoughts from her bare legs, so slender and smooth in the moonlight filtering into the dark corridor? Why did his eyes keep wandering to the curve of her hips and waist? Did she know that he had caught her in the same state while she played when she had thought no one looking that morning? Even if she did, she could not know his thoughts' proclivity for considering her feminine attributes.

Made uneasy by his silence, DG fidgeted and in doing so realized how naked she was. She wrapped the dressing gown tightly about her, which seemed to snap him out of his reverie.

"What's wrong, DG?" he asked, concern edging his quiet voice.

"Nothing." She forced a smile, too embarrassed to tell him how such a simple dream had distressed her to such a degree that she was trying to seek the comfort of her sister. "I just wanted to check on Az."

"She still having nightmares?" DG had told him of the lasting effects of the witch's possession on her sister.

"I don't think so," DG confessed, glad that he had took to her excuse. "But I still wanted to check on her."

He nodded his head and she took the opportunity to escape her friend's scrutiny.

...

Az's room was as quiet and still as her own had been, compelling DG to walk slowly across the hard echoing tile floor. So badly, she had wanted to wake her sister, to hear comforting words from her, but she now realized that it was a selfish notion. Azkadellia so rarely found a peaceful night's rest, that DG did not have it in her to disturb the serenely slumbering woman.

But still...DG did not want to return to her large, lonely room, for she knew that she would not be able to sleep.

Gently, she lifted some of the emerald silken blankets and slid into the vast bed, cuddling up next to her sleeping sister, like she had done so many nights after the eclipse, when Az was in such a terrible emotional state. The loneliness seemed to lesson at her proximity to another living person, one that she cared about and whom cared about her, but the dream still lingered, preventing her from finding sleep right away.

Azkadellia was the perfect fairytale princess, the best rendition of sleeping beauty she had ever seen. Studying the pretty features of her sister's face bestowed a sort of serenity upon DG. While she didn't appear especially joyful, her sister did look content, and it pleased DG to think that Az' mind had settled, maybe even begun to recover from the turmoil of having an overwhelming, evil presence oppressing her personality for so many years.

Eventually, DG fell into a comfortable, undisturbed slumber.

...

"Deeg?"

"Mmm..." she moaned sleepily, feeling a gentle touch on her cheek. Blinking, she slowly opened her eyes to the early morning light pouring into her sister's bedroom in golden rays. Az never drew the drapes at night. She claimed that it was because she loved to see the sunrise, and that was no doubt part of it, but DG thought it was more that she didn't like the pitch black of a closed off room.

"What're you doing here, little sis?" Az asked, a warm but curious smile on her lips. "You weren't just checking up on me, were you?"

"Uh. No," DG confessed sleepily, stretching and turning to face her sister better. "I had a strange dream."

"It must've been more than strange," Az prompted.

"Nah," DG evaded the topic, feeling embarrassed even to tell her sister that something so not terrifying had shaken her up to such a degree. "It was just a silly dream."

"Be careful, DG," Az warned, looking concerned. "In the OZ, a dream is never just a dream."

Her sibling's delivery had just been so ominous and mysterious that DG burst out laughing. Maybe she wasn't the princess of the fairytales. Maybe Azkadellia was the elf queen or some other beautiful mischievous mystic. Or maybe not...

"Come on, time for princesses to be up and charming their subjects," Azkadellia announced cheerfully, throwing the covers back and making DG cry out at the rush of cold air.

A/N: I hope I can get the next bit written soon…