The world around her felt heavy, cold and her vision came back to her all shaky and watery. Her head pounded and she felt that she was being dragged across cold brick and concrete with the snappings and snarlings of all too familiar hyenas. It all began to die away, however… when she began to hear truly familiar voices, panicked ones of her friend, Kate, after all the trouble before, she was there. Her shoulders were gripped tight and she was shaken up before Sarah dizzily had to open her eyes.

Another kid, just like her was looking down at her face, with messed up brown hair and frightened brown eyes, Sarah fully realized who it was. It was Kate! As the haze of pain began to float away, Sarah finally got the motivation to speak.

"K-kate… Kate!? What are you — !? How did you get here!? What—!?" Sarah stammered, finally sitting up.

Seconds later, she realized that the place they were in was overall strange and it just confirmed that this was still a solid reality… She remembered getting her head smacked hard after Dreamer fled away… with a weak and torn Woody in her arms. Something happened, either she blacked out or a spell overcame her - she didn't know, but time flew by and she was now whisked away somewhere else entirely. It looked like they were locked away in a themed corridor of a certain castle. The cold walls and hallways were pitch black, save for one Exit sign light…

"God~ you're awake!" Kate wept, absolutely in a total fix from what she had experienced.

"W-wait~" Sarah stammered, finding that her arm was carefully bandaged. Almost failing to see Lindsey curled with her knees to her chest in the other corner, she stood on her wobbly legs. Right then, the panic was already settling in as she looked around. The ambiance was off but she knew they were inside the walkthrough hallways of Sleeping Beauty Castle. "How did you get here…? It's… where are they? What happened?" Sarah stammered with her adjusting eyes spying a still form at the bottom of the stair beside them.

A traumatized Kate saw Sarah's eyes water before she ran down to that form and scooped it up into her arms. To Kate, she thought it was an abandoned Toy Story doll but she was proved wrong when Sarah began to cry, remembering every single event that happened before. It was no awful nightmare… They were all living in it. Lindsey's wide eyes watched as the two surrounded the torn doll, who was lifeless as anything.

Frollo's final words echoed through Sarah's hazed mind~ Who do you trust more… and it made things all the worse.

"…I was trying to look for you…because I …" Kate tried to explain, studying Woody's face who looked so calm and strangely alive to her unlike anything else. "… I believed you."

Sarah looked up at her in shock as tears fell down her cheeks. "Kate, I wish you didn't. I really wish you didn't… This is, all this, is so much more than a mouse that can spell. Because…" she spoke between thick sobs. "… because it's too late now."

"Wh-what do you mean…? I saw him. He talked to me! Robin Hood saved us~ I checked the hotel first and at first, I thought we were caught but it was Stitch and this drunk Pirate… and they led us here to hide, but everything else just started to get really weird… That giant snake came out of nowhere~ and we still couldn't find out where you were."

Sarah was truly touched at the thought that her best friend came after her so quickly, but yet again, just like her, she was almost killed tonight~ prisoners, just like everyone else here. But Kate began to realize how crushed she was as she cradled the small Sheriff.

"… Jackie…? Wh-what happened to him?" Kate softened her voice for her friend only to be interrupted by a once stoic Lindsey.

"This is all your fault, isn't it?" was thrown in out of nowhere to the three, prompting Sarah to hold Woody ever closer.

"I didn't do anything, LINDSEY~ We're trying to stop it… I was trying to help someone —" she tried hard to explain.

Kate glared sharply at the bratty Lindsey, soon turning her eyes to the seemingly peaceful Woody who was still out like a light after such a vigorous fight…

He did look really hurt, judging by that tear.

"… what happened to him?" she asked one more time, worried.

If all she had witnessed was true and not a nightmare, there was only one thing left to do. There was nothing else to say and she knew Sarah was far from crazy. Sarah sniffled, keeping her eyes on him. For Kate, and even the frightened to silence Lindsey, this was quite a life-changing moment~ as if seeing the most beautiful thing for the very first time. Just the way his face was, as if deep asleep and that slight movement as if he was drawing a breath, was so surreal to her. Of course, he was nowhere near comfortable at the moment yet he was fairly safe. It was just hurtful to see such a beloved character look like this.

"He's one of the first people I've met…" Sarah softly began, once she found her own courage to talk again. "He got beaten up pretty bad out there… He never left my side."

"I want to get out of here!" Lindsey broke in at the wrong time but she was ignored.

Sarah tried softly stroking Woody on the cheek in hopes of rousing him awake, but he was so still.

He couldn't be gone. He just couldn't be… Her mind was racing!

Kate tearfully tried stroking him awake, also to make sure he was truly real. The moment when she stroked his cheek to his dyed-blanket stitched vest there was a sign of life from the doll. The moment Woody moved, Kate gasped with her hands over her mouth, even more so when he actually groaned. His vision was fuzzy and their voices echoed in his ears… but he knew that he wasn't alone…

"He is alive…" Kate gaped as she watched him finally open his eyes.

"W-woody?" Sarah fought against her sobs.

"I-I … aww~ J-Jackie?" the poor Sheriff groaned, painfully. "Is-Is that you…?"

"It's me, Woody… I-I thought I lost you."

"Oh man oh man!" Lindsey could be heard from behind, watching them.

Woody was surprised to not only have Sarah holding him, but there were two other kids who clearly knew her dearly. At least one of them did. Naturally, his brown eyes locked onto Kate's who was outright dumbfounded. To him, this was breathtaking as it was for her. Over generations and years of the inability to speak to human beings, he was suddenly surrounded by them, not needing to freeze up or hide…

"H-hi…" was all Kate could utter to him in her disbelief.

Woody was weak and tired but he managed a smile to both ladies. The fact that he was lethargic was worrying though… Perhaps this tear was too deep, besides the stitching on his back was loosening up.

"Y-you gals okay?" he asked, thinking nothing about himself.

"…us? We're f-fine. What about you…?" Kate stammered.

"We'll fix you up, Woody."

"Don't fuss over me, sweetheart… We have a bigger fish to catch." Woody weakly spoke, but he wasn't free from her hold just yet. "I take it that we're locked up in here. Let me down a sec, hon—"

Kate agreed, dryly swallowing a lump in her throat. "How are we to get out?"

Woody was keen on finding a way before there was a deep sounding chuckle in the darkness, severely close to them, unfortunately. Two glowing eyes pierced at them as she inched close with a toothy grin… Shenzi, all scratched and bruised from her many battles at the hands of one hunchbacked archer. Woody found it hard to stand but he had to keep himself in front of the three frightened girls. Just as he feared, there was a guard here… posted by Hers truly.

"Looks like the good ol' Sheriff's back in business, isn't he?"

"You can say that again, dog."

"Dog? Well, maybe you should speak to me more nicely, Sheriff. Because right now, your friends are all falling down like the scum they are."

Seeing the girl's so shaken at this point, Woody, all ripped and beaten up, like the lot of them, still stood his ground. Woody knew this one Hyena too well since she was the first enemy he ran into in this enchanted world, being swept away when children began to disappear from his own… Bonnie among them. Even thinking about her brought the brave cowboy an immense amount of guilt. Reasons for being so secretive thus far, Shenzi knew more than she should about the Sheriff, having been sent after him to keep him quiet. But the mission failed… Ever since it became his curse in the Magic Kingdom that this one female Hyena always showed up with her taunts.

"Hm, I touched a nerve…" she smirked at him, getting too close, for one.

"Girls. Run." Woody ordered the three before Shenzi made the first move.

Woody found a stray electric cord as Shenzi charged, entangling her back foot with it as he dashed underneath her. Still stuck to the wall, the cord tripped her and tightened around her ankle. Not yet seeing that Woody keep up with them last minute, Sarah ran to an Emergency Exit door, busting out of it, causing an alarm to start blaring… Shoving the door open, the girls were swept into a separate hall where it was pitch black and the sound echoed through as loud as thunder of the tortures happening outside. Once Woody was last to slip inside, the girls slammed the door before that beast even got the chance to get in.

With it being so dark, Sarah saw her necklace light up for a second while she ran, not yet seeing who exactly she ran into! They were plush, soft and lacy and they smelled heavily of freshly made cotton candy~! She would have thought herself going mad if she never had met one with those exact characteristics… Sarah shrieked in happy tears when someone hugged her tight with just as much joy. That thick jacket and a small hat falling to the floor, she never felt so happy!

"Dreamer!" Sarah cried, to the stunned shock of the other two, who both watched with divine confusion. "You're okay!? What has she done to you! I missed you so much!" Sarah wept into her Imaginary. "She just took you! Why did you do that!?"

"She did take me~ she did…" the bright fellow spoke, spooking the two even more. "Oh Jackie, I —"

"Promise me you'll never do that again… Please~ I love you, Dreamer…" Sarah trembled, keeping him in a firm hug.

"I-I love you too…" Dreamer choked back.

"How'd you… How'd you escape…?" Woody uttered, his voice overcome with emotion as well, gladly climbing onto Dreamer's glove.

"I just gotta tell ya, it was the Wizard — He came back!" Dreamer began before he was interrupted by one frightened insult.

"What is with all these freaks!?" Lindsey spoke, panicky, which struck something in Woody, who was perched on the pachyderm's slant shoulder. He, as well as all of them, knew that she was speaking out of fear…and probably believed all this being a nightmare. Upon seeing sorrow etch tight and clear in Dreamer's eyes, Sarah just had to say something.

"You're no different than that dog." she wept, knowing of the horrors happening just outside, with heated tears falling from her face.

"Easy, partner… She's just as scared as we are…" Woody calmly cut in, sharply keeping eye contact with Sarah. "Now, girls, I know you're scared, but we're here to help you…"

"I-I believe you…" Kate lowly replied. "…sir…" she began to smile at this marvelously bright creature that Sarah was so gleeful to see again. Dreamer lightly smiled before there was a sharp reminder of the truth happening only several feet away, behind another shut and locked door. Lindsey was silenced, yet she slowly came close, not wanting to be alone.

"I knew we would find you again…" Dreamer began, trying to think straight. "Ya never took that necklace off —"

"Never, I never will… But where are we…? So-some kind of chamber of horrors?"

"I think we're inside the Castle…" Kate brought up. "But someone kept bags over our heads…"

"Dreamer. Focus. How did you escape Maleficent…? You mentioned the Wizard…?" Woody got the group back on track.

"Yes! But not before she took some of my magic away… after sayin' some terrible things. But I didn't believe them. I couldn't believe them. W-we've got to get back to everybody else. He came to me, told me to go with him… and when I did I began to feel strong again. Reminded me that you and I, we have one wish that can… Th-that can make everything good again~ Freeing everyone. Your family, everyone she has trapped in her staff…" Dreamer explained.

"One wish…" Sarah's eyes widened while the Imaginary noticed entirely of how damaged Woody was.

"O-oh! Oh gosh, what happened to you?" he stammered. Before Woody had a chance to have a say, with one touch from his magical friend, all of his undone stitching and tears were all tightened good and gone.

"You're a dime of dozen, Buddy…" Woody's voice was low and gentle, thankful to no end. "Wait… They are trapped… in her staff?" he then asked, making sure he heard right.

"Yeah… If we break it, we'll free them…"

"Where are the others? Quasimodo, the Knight? Mickey?"

"Oh!" Dreamer was ready to cry. "I can't say it…"

"Just tell us, Dreamer… We're no better than them now…" Sarah bravely said.

"I-…" the Imaginary's voice stuck. "… you're… You're not gonna like it."