A field with no poppies for a wandering empress, a garden with fading sweetpeas for a once powerful emperor, that is where she walked. Her feet followed after each other for what felt like hours, carefully avoiding all of the stems and leaves of the flora that made their home here. There were probably millions upon millions of different types of greenery that inhabited this garden, or what seemed to be a garden. There was nothing that appeared to be garden-like, no gnomes, no flamingos, no white picket fence, no nothing other than a swaying field of plants. It was so large that she couldn't see the outskirts of where she was walking just because of how huge it was, and the thick fog that engulfed the sea of green didn't help either. All she could see were plants, she couldn't see an exit or an entrance, and certainly no other people, even though the whole place seemed wonderfully maintained, even better than her own personal courtyard, as much as she hated to admit it.
Since it seemed she was stuck here, with not much to do, she studied each and every flower, tree and shrub in the garden, it probably took her days, maybe even weeks, but there was no way she could keep track of time. The sun and the moon never made a cameo, and even if they did, she wouldn't have seen it, the fog covered the sky like a woolen blanket. The only things providing light were small fireflies that buzzed around the perimeter, though a large number of them would hover around her, as if they knew she needed the extra help in such an odd and troubling time.
She found everything in order, growing strong and healthy, with the exception of the sweetpeas, they were fading to a tired purple, as opposed to the royal pigment they usually took, and their stems wilting to an unsightly yellow, to match the new "purple", if you could even call them that. The garden appeared to have every single type of plant in existence, with the exception of the poppy. "How odd" she thought, reaching to scratch an itch beneath her bun, only to completely miss, bringing her arm back to where it was in the first place. She crinkled her nose and tried again, and again, and again. She grumbled with frustration, trying to come up with some sort of flimsy excuse as to why this is happening, eventually deciding she was somehow losing blood circulation to her arm, so she grabbed it and shook it, only making it fade into a flock of fireflies, as did her other arm. Eventually, her whole body turned into a large group of fireflies, joining in with the ones that previously surrounded her.
The fireflies soared and glided across the misty sky, slowly ascending, pushing with all of their might against the thick rooftop until they finally break in. She felt as if she should be screaming and panicking, but nothing bad was really happening, and she didn't have a say in it anyway, so, as her father would always tell her to do, she put up with it.
The fireflies slowly dispersed, going their own separate ways, leaving her newly reformed body on top of the mist. Her cold body was left to lay there, and she had no idea why, but she wasn't one to complain, especially when the surface she was lying on was just so soft. Her eyes began to shut close, regardless of how hard she tried to resist. Now was the time to scream, if ever, but she couldn't, it was as if a higher force was pushing her down, compressing her, mentally and physically. "N-No... I don't want to." she yawned with empty authority, her struggle slowly proving useless as her eyes finally came to a close.
The moment her eyes shut, instead of seeing blank, she saw a blurred figure in the distance, walking towards her, with a watering can in one hand, and an unidentifiable flower in another. She blinked a few times, and everything was so much clearer, even clearer than she was before she shut her eyes. She felt as if she actually opened her eyes, and what she saw before was something of a dream. The figure was dressed rather smart, wearing a well fitted black tuxedo, accompanied by all of the accessories a proper man of the higher caste should, along with a funny hat. The figure came closer, and she made it out to be her husband. Oh, her husband! How she had longed to see him! But she couldn't understand why he was holding a flower and a watering can, things that only servants should hold, only the lowest of the low! And they had plenty of servants in their manor, but, this wasn't really the manor anymore.
"Dear!" he cried, rushing to her limp body. "Oh, we must help you up, get you to the doctors" he insisted "No, dear, I'm fine" she insisted, just as much as he. "Well, dear, don't just stand there and feel sorry for me, do help me up!" She chuckled half halfheartedly, feeling slight pain as she did so. He grabbed her hands and pulled her up to his height, he checked for any bruises or cuts, but none were there. "Oh... Oh dear, my legs. they ache. Oh, they hurt ever so much." she began to cry. "Now, now." he hushed, raising the flower "take this poppy, and all will go away."
Her eyes widened with shock, pushing his hand out of her face, refusing the offer. "No... Never. I will never!" she whimpered in a weak voice. "Oh..." he huffed. He snapped his fingers and released an "ah!" as if he had just come up with something. "Don't you have a sweetpea to give me, dear?" he pondered with a tilt in his head. "No!" she screamed, getting louder as the word finished. "Can't you see I'm in pain?! Th-this is no time!"
He gave a pained smile, and vanished. She tried to crawl after him, but it was futile, she was in too much pain, and she was too busy screaming and hollering to put in any effort in her pursuit, so she gave up. Her cries became quieter and quieter, until they were nothing at all.
This is when she woke up.
