Wicked [Super 4]

XXXI.Dreams

Leonora

I woke up cradling Alien. The dream I just left was still fresh in my mind. I was alone, standing in the castle's dungeons. Mom was there, but she wasn't laying on the ground lifeless. She stared at me silently from the same spot where we found her dead all of those years ago, illuminated by the dim light of the torches in the same way as that day, yet she looked exactly the same as she did when she was alive.

When she read me bedtime stories, when she told me about how her and dad had met, when she combed my hair and braided it to match Eloise's, when she taught me how to wear a crown and a gown properly...

Just like during those old days, her black curls adorned her head, prettier than the crown that should be up there too but that she wasn't wearing in my dream. Her blue eyes were clear and they looked right at me, no longer having that faraway, lifeless gaze from the last time I had seen her.

It surprised me that, rather than an attire appropriate for a queen, she was wearing a simple white dress. No patterns, not a single colour that wasn't white, just a skirt that reached the ground and elbow length loose sleeves.

It didn't matter. She was still the most beautiful woman in the world in my eyes.

She told me:--Oh, my sweet child... How you've grown into such a lovely young lady...

Then she hugged me, and she let me cry into her shoulder, just like when I was a kid and I had fallen down while playing with Eloise.

--Mom, I'm scared...--I remembered confessing.

--You're strong, my dear Leonora. Your brother and your father don't know you like I do...--Her hands softly caressed my hair--. And I know that you like stories about princesses similar to yourself getting freed from their towers, but tomorrow, honey... Tomorrow you'll have to be both the knight and the princess. You have to free yourself, Leonora...

I didn't understand what she meant, not even after waking up and thinking about it. It's true that dreams might be just that; dreams, but those were my mother's words, after all. Even if she wasn't real, she was still queen Helen of Kingsland.

Still, I answered:--But mother... I don't know where Alex is and I can't face our father after escaping like that, he must be worried sick and I-

Mom shushed me just like she would to a small child.

--My sweet Leonora, you've always been the maiden atop of a tower, waiting for a dragon to strike so you could be freed from your invisibility... But my dear, you're the one who must defeat the dragon. You need not wait any longer, for you've already wasted too much of your life on that useless task--She kissed my forehead, and her lips felt almost ghostly on my skin--. And I want to see you flourish.

--Isn't that what I'm made for..? Waiting to be rescued atop of a tower?

--Honey, there are some dragons that only you can see. That no matter how great any knight is, they'll stand no chance at slaying, because they can't find what's invisible--She calmly explained, as if it were a fairytale or a bedtime story.

I was about to ask something which I didn't remember after awakening, but the moment I lifted my gaze to look at her face, I caught on a sight that almost turned my dream into a nightmare.

[If I see one single "HAHAHAHAH GARETH IS DEAD LMAO THAT'S THE ONLY DEPTH OF THE SITUATION" in the comments, I will rip off my hair and grow a beard :3]

{Seriously now, it was funny once but I did NOT write a 1k word long dream sequence that is relevant to Leonora's character just for you to dismiss it with an unfunny joke. I love you guys, but come on, you can do better than that. Btw, trigger warning for mentions and slight descriptions of gore.}