Author's Note: This one's significantly longer than the other drabbles and it's told from someone else's point of view! Lots o' changes, huh? A lot of this was inspired by Once Upon a Time, at least a certain character. Let's see if you understand what I mean ;)

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[ 10 - Breathe Again ]

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She had been asleep for so long, she had forgotten what living felt like.

Dreams are quite the intriguing subject, for whatever memory blurs, man can rewrite to his own pleasure. If a dream ended with an unpleasant conclusion, man's mind was trained to erase the negative aspects and present them in a blurred fashion, so that he may not be forced to endure the true cruelty of the human mind. For the inner mechanisms of the human mind are dark and dangerous when tampered with.

But not Keria. She could not pretend to forget the horrors her nightmares presented to her. For her nightmares were not mere imaginings of an overactive imagination, but memories that repeated like broken records as she slept. Each moment, tragedy unfolded before her eyes. Each night, she was reminded how she was unable to change the past, unable to utilize the present and unable to possess a future.

Every dream begins the same way. She is just a little girl, little Princess Keria. She twirls round and round on the ballroom floor, pretending that she, too, would dance with a prince and fall in love. All of her servants would laugh and cheer and admire the sweetness of the child. Her personal maid takes her hand and leads her onward. "Come, little Keria, we have no time to waste." Her ruby eyes burn into her memory as time progresses and Keria finds herself a little girl no more.

In a moment, responsibility and pressure present themselves to teenage Princess Keria. All of the duties of a princess suddenly become reality to a girl who, once upon a time, lived only in fantasy. "I can't do this anymore, Lilith!" She has broken down and her maid holds her, raven locks intertwining with blonde cobwebs. "You don't have to do anything, m'lady. Life is what you make of it."

Keria digs deeper into her caretaker's bosom and shakes her head. "I can't change anything! All I want is to have a chance to breathe again." She sighs. "Father expects me to handle becoming a queen. But I- I just can't…" A violent coughing racks her body and her maid clicks her tongue. "Now look what you've done, little one. This coughing just might be the death of you."

Sighing, she finds a wet rag and presses it to the princess' forehead lovingly. "There is always a choice, my ladybird. Never forget that." Keria casts her eyes downward, index fingers circling one another timidly. "Lilith?" Her nanny raises her head and meets her eyes. "Yes, my darling?"

"Would…would it be okay if I didn't want to be queen?" The question takes the older woman by surprise, eyes widening in fascination. "Why, dearie, why ever would you not want to be queen?" Keria's eyes are set in determination and Lilith knows she has already made up her mind. "Well, if that's how you truly feel," she reaches deep within her robe and pulls out a piece of parchment, "I know just the thing to help."

Keria takes the document after a moment's hesitation. The writing is in the Ancient Tongue, and she finds it difficult to follow. "Nana, what is this?" Lilith smirks. "Why, my love, it is the ticket out of this dreadful life of yours." As if by magic, she withdraws a quill from who-knows-where and places it in the princess' palm. "All you have to do is sign the dotted line and this troubled life of yours will change- forever."

Her smile is comforting, reassuring. Keria knows she can trust her. Without bothering to decipher the rest of the document, she takes the quill and signs her name onto the paper. Lilith giggles and slips the parchment deep within her cloak. Rising to her feet, she garbs herself in her black cloak that lay on the hat rack and turns to leave. "Good luck, my ladybird. Your new life is just about to begin." With that, she leaves, only the wisps of blonde hair laying in her wake.

Thus, when the nightmare begins.

Keria can only stand, mortified, as the person she thought she could trust more than anyone else in the entire world, causes her ultimate downfall. Lilith strides directly into the King and Queen's chambers and mutters a simple incantation before both King and Queen are burned to ashes in front of Little Keria's eyes.

Soon, the entire castle is ablaze. Servants ran frantically through the building, looking for an escape from the wicked witch that has thrown their peaceful world into utter chaos. Keria begs them for help, for anyone to so much as notice her. She has never been outside the castle- how could she escape from the only person who knows her inside and out? All hope seemed lost.

But no one lifted a finger. And what only stung more is the fact that, deep down, Keria knew that this unendurable suffering was her own fault. She would never forgive herself.

She knew that she would find her. This was inevitable- after all, it was what she had asked for, in one way or another. Lilith approaches her, flames licking the tips of her frayed violet gown. The smirk she bears is so clearly evil, that she wonders how she never before recognized the insanity lying beneath pursed lips.

"Your dear Daddy was quite the lovely victim." The sorceress remarks as she toys with the skull fastened to the familiar ebony cloak. "He begged for mercy- but for you, not even for himself. How pathetic it was! You brought this on yourself." Keria feels the tears burning against her eyes, threatening to burst at any moment. Withholding a sob, she croaks out a single phrase. "You will pay."

Of all reactions, the princess certainly did not expect the cackle that loosed itself from the hag's mouth. "Oh, my dear, my time has not yet come." But she saw Keria's eyes- set with determination that she knew meant the girl was serious. She had known those eyes very well. For an instant, her clairvoyance failed her and in that moment, Keria risked everything.

Withdrawing her father's personal blade, the Legendary Sword, she lunged at her nanny and drove the metal clean through the ragged flesh. Bloodcurdling screams ricocheted off every wall of the crumbling castle as Lilith fell to her feet. "You little wretch! How dare you! I'll kill you!"

Lilith raised her hand and spoke in the Ancient Tongue, conjuring a fireball to roast the girl to smithereens. And, for a split second, she swore she was looking at a little girl, twirling around in her ballgown for the whole world to see. That moment, a single tear fell from her hollow ruby eyes.

Embracing the girl, she spoke one final time to her ladybird, before putting her to rest once and for all. "Goodnight, little one. It…is for the best." With that, Lilith placed her dearest child into a deep sleep and placed her where she would never be forced to face the tragedy she had brought upon the world.

Each night, Keria relives her nightmare and finds herself trapped within the endless cycle of hurt, betrayal and death. Would it never end? Suddenly, she felt herself slipping from her dream world and falling into the black abyss.

Falling.

Falling.

Forever falling further and further…

Until she hit rock bottom and found herself in her bed once more, sealed in a dark room, completely and utterly alone. She could breathe again.

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