A/N: I am a terrible, terrible person! I am so, so, so, sorry for not updating in forever! Thank you for the reviews, each one puts a smile on my face! I'm glad you're so passionate about the characters and guessed right as usual; Emily is Snow White. What gave her away? It wasn't the apples, was it? Anyway, here we have the fourth and final princess (but far from the final chapter, I'll have you know) and it's time to guess who our little miss smarty-pants is. It won't be hard to guess, but even so it might seem like the storyline doesn't fit all that perfectly, don't worry, I have a plan for how to match Spencer's and her princess's stories in a – if I get to say so myself – great way.

Chapter 4 – Nightmares

She was in the room again. Stone walls, stone floors. She was walking up the now-familiar stairwell that led up to the tower. She was back again for the millionth time. There wasn't much in the room except purple curtains that swayed in the wind and in the middle there was a wooden spinning wheel. She didn't know why, but she was drawn to the center. She slowly raised her right hand, holding out her index finger. And then there was a flash of pain and she fell to the floor.

Spencer woke up with a gasp, the sweat visible on her forehead. It was always the same dream every night, she'd had them for a while now and she didn't know why. But every night she visited the spinning wheel in the tower. It was strange, indeed, but she didn't let it consume her mind during daytime. Every night was more than enough.

Spencer went down to the dining room and took a seat next to her sister who chatted excitedly with their mother. "You will meet him tonight at the Autumn Ball," she confirmed, "and I promise; you won't be disappointed." Melissa had been going on and on about her new fiancé for days now. Well, he wasn't her fiancé yet, not until their father had approved. Melissa had met a lord, he was from a rich family in the Eastern Kingdom and his name was Wren. Their parents, Peter and Veronica, where looking forward to meeting this Wren, Spencer on the other hand wasn't.

It was incredibly annoying to listen about Melissa's bragging, and as if that wasn't enough her mother would turn to Spencer during these conversations and ask her why it wasn't that she'd found a suitable husband yet. In other words her mother ad told her to get off her ass and start searching for someone now. Today was that day. Today at the annual Autumn Ball she'd have to start that search and please her parents.

"So Spencer," her mother started, "I don't know if you saw, but there's a dress for you to wear to the ball tonight. It was finished yesterday."

"It's done?" she asked excitedly.

It was a gorgeous dress, a long brown sleeveless gown that made her look both beautiful and important. She wouldn't be missed tonight.

"It's very done, and very beautiful. You should probably try it on before tonight to see if it fits right. There's no room for the slightest imperfection." Spencer knew that it wasn't just the dress her mother was referring to, it was this entire family. There was not room for such things as mistakes, regrets or any kind of imperfection. This family, summed up in one word, was strange however you looked at it. And Spencer did, in fact, despise her family.

She despised the ever so perfect Melissa Hastings, the perfect daughter who was going to become a beautiful queen some day. She was the eldest, after all. And she'd be first in marriage.

Spencer didn't really want to marry, not really. But she wanted to please her parents and show that she was just as good as her sister. Because she was, really. She was smart, funny, beautiful and intelligent. Why couldn't her parents just see that they had two perfect daughters and not just one? Well, as perfect as they could be when growing up in this messed-up family.

Spencer excused herself from breakfast and headed outside. The large castle the Hastings lived in was up on a high mountain, you could see most of the kingdom from there – not that it was a very large kingdom. The Western Kingdom was a windy place with lots of fields and farmlands; it was a very rich kingdom due to that fact. But occasionally the wind would transform into a storm that destroyed the crops – that wasn't very good. At least it wasn't as dry and sunny as the Southern Kingdom with its beaches. And it wasn't as cold as the Northern Kingdom, there it was practically winter all year. And best of all; it wasn't as rainy as the Eastern Kingdom, also the Eastern Kingdom was very tiny with a large marina and lots of fishers and markets. No, the Western Kingdom was a beautiful – yet windy – kingdom that suited Spencer very well.

The wind was tugging Spencer's beautiful brown locks and her pink dress as she looked around her at what was her home. A smile graces her lips.

But then again, there was a certain loneliness about where she was standing; next to the big oak. This was her and Alison's usual meeting place. Spencer would find an excuse to flee her family and she'd meet up with her best friend. That best friend, with her blond hair and blue eyes, whose laugh would light up some of the darkest of moments.

There were, however, bad times. Alison and Spencer didn't get along all that well and every so often they'd fight. Their fights could go on for days when they refused to talk to each other. No one wanted to give the other the satisfaction of being right. They were both very stubborn.

But despite all their fights, Alison and Spencer really were friends.

Princess and princesses, lords and ladies, they all danced around the Eastern Castle's ballroom. The females' dresses in fall colors; red, yellow, green and brown. Spencer was clad in her own brown dress, standing next to her mother, father and sister.

"There he is," Melissa said and pointed at a handsome man approaching the family.

"Hello," he greeted in the softest of voices, "it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Spencer was speechless, Wren was not only handsome, but when he spoke it made her knees weak. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his white smile and dark curls.

"Wren Kingston, I suppose?" Spencer's father, King Peter, asked. They shook hands. Then Wren turned to Queen Veronica and kissed her knuckles gently. When he came to Spencer her heart stopped. She suddenly forgot how to breathe and fought for words. Finally she managed a tiny "hello." Wren kissed her knuckles as well and gave her a warm smile, "you're the sister? Spencer?" Spencer nodded.

Melissa cleared her throat and Wren turned around immediately, "would you like to dance?" he asked her. Melissa gladly accepted and let him lead her out to the dance floor. Spencer's mother and father turned to their youngest daughter. "So when do you suppose you'll marry?" Peter asked. Spencer shrugged and glanced at her elder sister and her fiancé. "I don't know," she spoke quietly. Would her parents force her into a marriage since she hadn't found someone as fitting as Wren Kingston? Or would they let her choose for herself, because, really, that was all she wanted. When neither your parents nor your sister cared about you, a caring husband would be much appreciated.

"I'll tell you what," said Veronica, "dance, have fun and maybe, just maybe, you'll find that perfect husband." And if I don't you'll hand me one, Spencer mentally added. She knew how this game worked.

She'd danced lots of dances, with lots of suitable men, but none of it felt right. Maybe she was a bit naïve, yes, but she wanted happiness for once in her pathetic, meaningless life. She'd had happiness with Alison. Oh, how she missed her. Alison, where art thou? She wondered and wondered.

Last autumn when Alison had gone missing Spencer had gone on her very first adventure alone. She had packed her bag and sneaked out in the forest to fins her lost friend. She was just hiding. Hide and seek was a game Alison loved. Spencer used to think. But every day as Spencer would go to a new part of the forest, being home before dinner, but she got no closer to finding Alison's whereabouts. She was beginning to get lost herself. One day she just stopped. She stopped going on adventures, she stopped searching for Alison. She had forced herself to realize that life doesn't always work out the way you want it to and Alison was, whether she liked it or not, gone forever.

With that last thought, Spencer drifted off to sleep –

Burning.

Her throat was burning. She gasped for air, but no air was to be found. She collapsed on the floor and tried to catch her breath. Her insides were on fire, yet on the outside she was cold as ice, lying on the stone floor. The walls and ceiling was stone as well, and it reminded Spencer a little too much of her nightmares. This was one of them, no doubt. The only thing missing now was the –

Just as she'd thought it, the stairwell caught her eye. Yes, she was there again. Her whole body moved towards it even though she wanted nothing less than walking up those stone stairs. She knew what was waiting, and she did not like it. Not the least.

Despite what she wanted, or tried to tell her feet what to do, her body disobeyed her and walked up those steps, to that room, where that spinning wheel was waiting for her. Waiting for her finger, wanting to draw blood. And she would wake up screaming any second now, sweat on her forehead, shallow breathing. She'd done this so many – too many – times before. And here she was, doing it again.

But this time was different. It was different than last night, different than every other night. This time she saw someone.

She was standing on the other side of the room, a black hood covering her face. But there was something else too – blond hair was spilling out from the hood. Blond locks, reminding her of Alison. Spencer wanted to get closer, to see for herself. Was this really her? Was she haunting her dreams now? She had to find out.

But as she was getting closer, she also got closer to the spinning wheel. And when she got close enough her finger reached out and touched the needle and Spencer was ripped out of her dream before she had a chance to see Alison.