A/N: Here's the next chapter! I just want you guys to know that I'll be updating this fic on weekends. The weekdays are reserved for schoolwork (one more week!), my main fanfiction account (EmeraldWings1992), and original writing (to try to jump start my career!)

Not separating the dreams from the rest of the narrative was done on purpose. There's a reason they blend together.

Nothing else to say here, sooooo…. Here we go!

…

Chapter Three: Nightmares

The first world I went to was Dwarf Woodlands. It was everything I remember it being from playing Birth By Sleep, but I kept that knowledge to myself (despite my confusion).

There, I took out the Heartless while helping the Dwarf, Doc, find his friends, who went missing in the mines. We managed to only find one before it got late. With a promise to come back again and help, I returned to Daybreak Town, where Chirithy showed me to my room.

My sleep was anything but peaceful.

One moment, I had my head resting on my pillow. The next, I was standing in the back of an ambulance.

The lights were eye-searing bright, and the two paramedics were yelling at each other as they worked on someone. The sirens on top of the ambulance were blearing as the vehicle raced down the street, and someone sitting at my elbow was sobbing.

Looking down at the person, I got the shock of my life.

"Mom!?" I gasped. She didn't look up from where she had her face buried in her hands. Next to her sat my dad. Both had cuts and bruises, and their clothes were torn. Dad had a thick bandage wrapped around his arm, and it was in a sling.

"She's crashing! We need to jump her!" one of the paramedics yelled. Bile crawled into my throat as I turned to see who the paramedics were working on.

It was me.

My hair was plastered to the left side of my head with a mixture of dried and fresh blood, and my earlobe was torn where my earring had ripped out. My right ear, miraculously, was intact, with the silver dream catcher earring gleaming in the bright light. My skin was a sickly pale, almost blue, and there were tubes sticking out of my nose and mouth.

One of the paramedics yelled "Clear!" and pressed paddles against my body's chest. My body jumped on the stretcher limply, but the monitor showed I was still flat-lined.

"Clear!" the man yelled once more, and pressed the paddles against my chest. My body jumped once more, and the monitor beeped.

I felt sick. I had just died.

And the more I looked at myself… they had to cut my shirts off… my chest was swathed in bandages… my body looked so… so frail… and broken…

I rolled onto my side, heaving. The lights and sounds were gone, replaced with the dark, quiet bedroom in Daybreak Town.

Nothing came up, resulting in dry heaving that turned into sobbing.

"Mary!?" Chirithy was instantly at my side, a paw on my shoulder. I shook my head, burying my face into my pillow.

"That must have been some dream…" Chirithy said softy, and I could feel him stroking my hair.

Was it? Was it a dream? Or is this the dream?

…

Despite exhaustion, despite confusion, and despite the dread swirling in my stomach, I still went on my mission the next morning. This time to Wonderland, of all places.

Yeah, that made me feel better.

After finding a stolen potion to make me small, traveling through woods, battling Heartless, and escorting Alice while she tried to find the White Rabbit, I had a splitting headache, and all but collapsed into bed that night.

"Good night, Mary," Chirithy said as I fell asleep. I only hummed in return, closing my eyes.

When I opened them again, I was no longer in my bedroom. Thankfully, however, I wasn't in the ambulance either.

Instead, I was standing in a hospital room. The light were dim, and there was soft talking from the corner of the room. I looked over, determined not to look at the bed, and saw my parents and a doctor.

"—was a success. We managed to bring the swelling on her brain down," I heard the doctor say as I walked over. "Unfortunately… there's no way of knowing if she sustained any brain damage until she wakes up."

"Can't you do a brain scan or something?" my dad asked.

"That will be our next step if she doesn't wake up within the week. Unfortunately… all signs show that your daughter… might not."

"What's that supposed to mean?" my mother asked. The doctor turned back to her and sighed.

"I'm sorry to say this, but Mary has fallen into a coma. No doubt due to the swelling on her brain, plus the numerous other injuries she sustained."

Bile rose into my throat and confusion exploded through me.

"What… WHAT'S GOING ON!?" I screamed grabbing my head and falling to my knees.

"Mary, wake up!"

"I—I can't! Didn't you hear the doctor? I CAN'T!" I screamed, tears running down my face.

"Mary! You have to wake up! It's just a nightmare! WAKE UP!"

Something hit me in the face, and my eyes flew open. I was lying in bed in Daybreak Town, gasping for air. My face and pillow were soaked.

Standing above me, his paw raised, was Chirithy, his little blue eyes huge as he watched me.

"Mary?"

"O-oh god… what's going on?" I sobbed.

"Mary…? Are you okay? You were talking and crying in your sleep…" Chirithy asked, gently rubbing my cheek where I guess he hit me to wake me up.

"I-I don't know, Chirithy," I muttered, before covering my face with my hands.

What's even real anymore?

…

Agrabah was hot, sandy, and annoying. I was definitely not at my best while I tried to help Aladdin find Abu, who was taken by a Heartless.

In fact, if it hadn't been for Chirithy and Aladdin, I probably would have died quite a few times at the claws of a Heartless.

But it got late, and we didn't find the monkey. So, Chirithy and I returned to my room.

"Don't worry. I'll watch over you tonight," Chirithy said, patting my forehead as I rested back against my pillow. I nodded, reaching up and patting his head.

"Thanks," I yawned. Two nights in a row caused me to be dead on my feet.

Still, I was dreading going to sleep. I tried to stay up as long as I could, but once Chirithy curled up next to my head, my body refused to listen to my mind, and I passed out.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was back in the hospital room. My parents were sitting on one side of my bed, and on the other side…

…were my friends, from school.

There were all guys – I never really fit in with the girls. There was Ian, a guy who I kind of had a crush on, Andrew, and Rafe. The four of us, plus about five others, were part of the misfit clique at school. None of us really fit in with most of the rest of people at school. We didn't even really fit in with each other, but we banded together as friends.

But now…

Ian reached forward, stroking my now clean hair out of my face. "So the doctors don't know when she'll wake up?" he asked.

"No," Mom muttered, wiping tears away from her bloodshot eyes.

Tears filled my eyes as I watched the boys quietly talking to my parents. I tried to reach out for them, but my hands went right through Ian's shoulder.

"Ian… Mom, Dad… I'm right here!" I tried to call. However, they were focused on my body lying in the bed, covered in bandages, wires, and tubes. I looked down at my body as well.

I looked so… dead.

"Oh god…" I breathed. What if they decide to pull the plug on the life support…? What'll happen to me? I guess the me here would die… and that means I could never see Mom and Dad… and Ian and the guys again…

I pressed my hands over my mouth as a sob crawled up my throat. My vision blurred with tears.

"Mom… Dad…" I sobbed.

The thought of never seeing them again… of never feeling my mom's hugs… of going fishing with my dad… of their teasing…

I dropped to my knees, dropping my hands from my mouth and wrapping my arms around myself as I sobbed.

"Mary! Wake up! MARY!"

I opened my eyes to find myself curled in fetal position on the bed, my arms wrapped around myself, my face buried in the pillow. I turned my head slightly to see Chirithy standing next to my head. He reached forward and gently wiped my tears away.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

"I-I don't know," I admitted. His ears flattened slightly, as though he was worried. Makes sense. This was the second night in a row I gave him that answer. "I k-keep… having these dreams. At least, I think they're dreams… or this might be the dream… I-I just… don't know any more…" I sobbed.

Chirithy sat next to my head, wiping more tears away. "Why don't you tell me what they're about," he offered. I hesitated only a moment, before spilling everything: being in the accident right before I arrived here, and then each dream after that. I kept out a few things, like all of this being a video game where I came from, but Chirithy listened to everything I told him.

"Wow…" he muttered.

"Chirithy… what if that's real, and this is real? If I'm in a coma in my world, and here? If they pull the plug… and I die there…" Tears filled my eyes. "I'll never see my parents again. And if I die there, would I die here? Are my dreams even real? Or is this the dream?"

"Hey, hey," Chirithy moved closer and wiped my tears away again. "I don't know about your dreams, but this is real. See? I'm here, and I'm solid. And so are you."

I looked up at him, and he wiped my tears away once more. I smiled slightly.

"You're right," I muttered, reaching up and stroking his head. I swear I almost heard purring. "I just… don't understand."

"Neither do I," Chirithy admitted. "But I know who might. Will you be okay tonight if I leave?"

"I think so," I muttered. "Though I don't think I'll be going to sleep…"

"Alright. We'll just relax tomorrow. I'll be back," he said, touching my forehead before disappearing in a poof of white smoke. Rather than attempting to fall back asleep, I pulled out a notebook that I had bought earlier that day and began to write.

…

A/N: So… yeah. Here's an explosion of emotions! And a look at what's happening in the real world.

And Ian, Andrew, and Rafe are all real people. I did have a huge crush on Ian, and we winded up dating for two and a half years before we split up. And yes, I was in the misfit clique.

Er, nothing else to say here, sooooooo…. Bye guys!