Sleeping Beauty's little Sister.

Chapter 3

Good morning! It's 7:24 A.M. where I am...how many people wake up early just to update their fanfics? Oh. Just me. Okay... I'm for sure updating one chapter today, maybe 2 if I'm in the mood. If you read PLEASE review. I know not just my best friend is reading this, and I'd like to hear comments.

Please...for me...

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Gakuen Alice, they are owned by the amazing Higuchi Tachibana-sama. Story inspiration of E.D.B.'s story.

Mikan stayed in the castle for the rest of the day. She made sure that everyone was safe and comfortable, from the highest nobles down to the boy who cleaned the pots for the scullery maids. She put out all the fires in the fireplaces, lifted the bucket from the well that was dangling from a sleeping groom's hands, and tried, unsuccessfully, to close the drawbridge facing the town.

The climbing roses kept the drawbridge from moving, so Mikan walked along the battlements to see how far the roses had encroached on the castle grounds. She was relieved to see that they had stopped on the other side of the moat and hadn't come any closer than the portcullis on either of the two drawbridges.

Mikan was standing on the battlement facing the road into town when she noticed movement in the distance. The roses had overgrown the road for nearly a quarter mile, but beyond that it looked as if people were gathering. Wagons heading to the castle had stopped on the road, unable to get past roses that had grown higher than the horses' heads. Men on horseback were milling around the wagons, gesturing to one another and pointing at the castle.

Mikan was concerned about what could happen to the sleeping inhabitants of the castle, but until now it hadn't occurred to her that the rest of her parents' subjects might be in danger as well. With the king asleep and not likely to wake any time soon, Alicean had no one to make important decisions. And because most of his army was garrisoned in the castle, the were sound asleep as well, leaving only the soldiers currently on patrol to protect the people from bands of thieves, marauding trolls, and flocks of harpies. Mikan wished she could get in touch with even one patrol, but she had no idea how to find them. If only there was someone she could turn to for help! She was sure that her uncle Kazumi would come if she could get a message to him, but he was commanding the forces stationed in Delaroo Pass, high in the White Mountains. Even if he could leave someone else in charge of keeping the mountain trolls from enetering the pass, it would take at least a month for word to reach him, then another month for him to make his way through dragon territory that lay at the base of the mountains and cross the land that was said to be the most dangerous in all the kingdom. Mikan didn't think she had that much time. Once word got out that the curse had taken its toll, untrustworthy people and nasty creatures would be pouring into the kingdom.

Mikan's eyes grew wide as another horrible thought came to mind. Without the king's army, other kingdoms could invade Alicean and be in control of the kingdom long before her family awoke. Her parents could wake up to find themselves prisoners in their own kingdom. If Mikan were to locate a prince to kiss her sister and wake everyone in the castle, she would have to do it quickly or the kingdom would be lost. Too bad she'd never traveled more than a few minutes' ride from the castle and knew only what rumor and books had told her about the rest of the kingdom.

Mikan's first thought was to start on her journey right away, but it was almost dusk and she wasn't ready to go. Deciding she'd leave as early as she could in the morning, she went to the kitchen and collected food to take with her, then ate some cold ham and cheese and drank a cup of cider before returning to her room for the night. Although she had seen for herself that she was the only person awake in the castle, she felt uneasy and dragged a heavy trunk in front of her door to block it.