Carabosse ended up staying inside the princess's mind longer than she planned; she ended up sitting beside her on the dusty floor. Her black wings acted like a sort of backrest for the pair of them and they sat in peaceful quiet, as conversation began to lull.

Carabosse took in her gloomy surroundings with a disapproving scowl.

"Gracious! What an awful place this is," she declared, breaking the silence.

"You're telling me!" Aurora muttered and looked away from the fairy seated beside her.

"How could you bear to be in such a place all this time?" Carabosse asked as she glanced from cobweb to dusty cobweb.

"I had no choice did I?" Aurora could not hide her frustration within her response.

"What do you mean you had no choice?"

"Are you kidding? I am trapped here! You trapped me here!" An uncharacteristic fire burned in the princess's eyes as she spoke.

"I trapped you in a sleeping curse that is true," Carabosse explained calmly, not at all phased by the girl's anger. "But, Princess, this is your dream world. You have full control over your own mind," she added with a smirk.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you can make this room look however you want it to look." The dark fairy then took another quick glance at the gloomy, sad looking room. "Clearly you have let your emotions get to you, all your worries, fears, loneliness..."

"Can you blame me?" Aurora responded defensively. "I don't know when I'll be able to wake again. If I will wake again. What is happening to my body while I am trapped in sleep? Will I wake to be an old woman? Am I wasting away? Am I missing out on my whole life? Have my friends and family forgotten about me? Have they replaced me?"

"You really do have a lot of questions inside that young head, don't you Princess?"

"I wouldn't have so many if you just answered them!" Aurora snapped suddenly, getting to her feet in a temper.

"Sit back down, don't exhaust yourself," Carabosse said with a calm tone that only annoyed the princess more.

"How can I possibly exhaust myself? I am asleep. You have trapped me in this nightmare forever!"

The dark fairy gave a nonchalant shrug, leant her head back against her warm, soft, raven wings and closed her eyes with a peaceful sigh.

"It's not fair!" Aurora whined. "You can just sit there without a care in the world!"

"You could always join me."

"I don't want to!"

"Please yourself," Carabosse breathed and shuffled her shoulders as she got herself more comfortable on her seat on the dirty floor.

"Why are you here? Are you only here to upset me?" the princess huffed, crossing her arms across her lilac bodice.

"I could leave," suggested Carabosse and moved to get up from her position, making the looming darkness squeeze uncomfortably at Aurora's heart.

"No!" she said in a panic.

"Alright, I'll stay for a little while longer," Carabosse sat back down, as Aurora desperately calmed her stressed bursts of breath.

"Humans are strange things," Carabosse mused. "You live your short lives letting your fears dictate your every move."

"Others are lucky, they're getting to live their short lives. I've had mine taken from me!" Aurora mumbled, whilst she took a new seat a few feet away from her dark companion.

"Your people are not living much of a life themselves thanks to the Rosebush Twins." Carabosse's top lip twitched as she said the title of her most hated twin siblings.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, thanks to your fairy godmother and her meddling, your whole kingdom are asleep along with you." A dark smirk played on Carabosse's crimson lips as she spoke.

"You're lying," Aurora accused, but doubt was evident upon her creased brow.

"I have no reason to ever lie to you, Princess. To be quite honest, I don't have any reason to lie at all, not when the truth is much more fun to impart." Carabosse's smirk grew into an amused grin that filled Aurora with uncertainty.

"So everyone I know have had their lives taken from them too?"

"Seems so, thanks to my thoughtful sisters and Mother. Be sure to thank them if you wake up." Carabosse let out an unsettling chuckle, then got to her feet as a secret thought entered her mind.

"If I wake up? So there's a chance I might?" Hope entered the Princess's eyes momentarily, but left as quickly as it arrived. "You will not allow me to wake up anytime soon. I know that. I'll wake up an old woman if you do finally allow it."

"You and your obsession with age!" Carabosse exclaimed, as she stood, peering into the now glowing ornate mirror. "You're not aging as you sleep, Princess. That's not how death-like sleep curses work. You are sleeping as though dead, your physical form is frozen."

"Really?" Aurora asked her question towards the dark fairy's raven wings.

"Yes, now can you stop going on and on about it?"

"Yes," the princess responded shyly.

"Good!" Carabosse said over her shoulder as she scowled into the reflective glass. There within the frame was a smoky picture displaying Cezanne's whereabouts. Speaking about her sister made her suddenly feel the need to check up on her. She saw her sister standing in a strange land Carabosse had never seen before. Cezanne was looking into the open door of a stable. Inside, upon the hay covered floor, stood horses, and grooming these majestic beasts was a boy. Carabosse didn't need to hear their conversation to know what it must be about.

"No!" hissed the dark fairy under her breath. "I can't have lost track of time!"

"What are you doing?" Aurora questioned her.

Carabosse ignored the princess and racked her brains for a solution to slow down her eager sister. She touched her glowing finger tip upon the glass and made the mirror display Aurora's kingdom's castle. She then raised her two hands and squeezed her fingers into claws. Green magic swirled around each digit. Looking intently into the glass, Carabosse watched thick, black thorny vines grow from the ground surrounding the castle, until an impenetrable wall of thorns stood around the entire building. She would've made the thorns grow inside the castle too, if her Mother's protection spell would've let her, but she decided to just make do with what she had.

"There! That should do it!"

"Do what? What's going on?" Aurora demanded, but Carabosse just gave her a quick, dismissive glance before she disappeared into a flurry of dancing, green flames.

◇

Carabosse reappeared within the slate room of her dark master's cave. As her green flames evaporated within the moonlit atmosphere, the sound of panicked hooting and rattling interrupted the quiet. Carabosse swerved from the side of the looking pool and saw hanging in a black, metal cage, her tawny owl friend.

"Ibis!" she cried and flew to him. "What happened? Why are you in there?"

"Get me out!" he screamed inside her head.

Carabosse waved her hand to unlock the cage with her magic, only to find that it wouldn't yield to her spell. With a deep scowl she removed her black gloves, threw them to the floor and grabbed the bars in her green, glowing hands. The fire, fuelled by her anger at such a cruel prison, travelled down her arms and melted one side of the cage away. Ibis managed to escape unharmed.

"Why did he do this to you, Ibis?" Carabosse demanded as she carried on treading the air beneath her raven wings.

"Because of you!" The Dark One's voice echoed throughout the room. Carabosse drifted slowly down and planted her bare feet upon the cold, stone floor. She faced Achlys at a safe distance, so to not get too close to the deadly, blood red glow within his eyes.

"Because of me?" she repeated, confusion taking over her face.

"You betrayed me! Betrayed the dark arts! You are a traitor!" Achlys accused in a loud, unforgiving growl.

"What are you talking about? How have I betrayed you?"

"Enough feigning innocence! Stand your ground, Fairy!" Achlys commanded, straightening himself into an intimidating stance.

"What?"

"I said stand your ground!" He then flicked his hands sending his black magic over them. Carabosse followed suit making her hands glow with bright, emerald flames. Then, without time to think, they both entered into a magical duel. Imitating one another's stances perfectly, as if they were choreographed. They stood pressing their hands into the large space between them, where their magic wrestled in the middle. Deep black smoke against bright green fire, battled for more ground.

Carabosse struggled against the determination of the master of darkness, but she refused to back down. She pressed further and further into her spell, sending out her power through her aching muscles. With a yell of agony she pushed as hard as she could and watched her flames grow. They reached Achlys and entered into his dangerous red eyes. It was at that moment that Carabosse, against Achlys' will and very much to his shock, managed to make a deep connection and entered his thoughts.

◇

Carabosse found herself in the Enchanted Forest. Where she watched a younger version of her, very much alive, Mama nervously pacing back and forth amongst the trees.

"Sister, what is wrong?" questioned Heartha, alarmed by Theia's panicked movements.

"The king, the human king has been cursed!" Theia then stopped and looked deep into her sister's lilac eyes. "Heartha, he is dead, Achlys killed him!"

"Now now, Theia!" Young Achlys's voice cut in, making the yellow haired fairy turn around with a startled gasp. "You mustn't gossip, it's unbecoming," he added with a dark smirk.

"Y-your eyes..." Heartha's voice trembled as she took in the dark magic sitting within his irises. "Achlys, what have you done?"

"What I had to do to finally be free," Achlys said in evil triumph, then his face fell into a resentful frown. "Free from the Great Power's cruel tricks, making me into a slave of humankind!"

"But serving humans is an honour, Brother!" Theia argued, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"What do you know about it?" Achlys hissed. "All that being around humans taught me is that you must do all that it takes to grab what you really want!"

"And what do you want, Brother?" asked Heartha, coldly.

"Control," he answered with an eerie hiss in his voice.

Theia's face crumbled as she saw the change within her brother; he was so full of hate, full of dark ambition and greed. Her dear brother, whom she loved so dearly, had vanished within the newly formed darkness within his eyes.

"What did they do to you?" she cried through bitter tears.

"They made me stronger! And now I'll pass on the favour!"

At that moment he turned towards the many trees within the Enchanted Forest and raised his hands above his head. With a loud, resounding clap he sent flames in all directions, and to his sisters' horror, those flames grew and began to scorch the forest. The screams of Heartha's children echoed in the air as they began to whizz around trying their hardest to put out the fire.

With a wicked laugh, Achlys turned to leave only to accidentally brush the bark of a burning tree with his large white wings. The fire of his dark magic scorched at the bright, beautiful feathers, turning them black and twisting them into a mangled mess as he screamed in agony. No longer able to fly, he searched the air desperately and caught the eye of a large grey owl. Sending out his dark magic, he hypnotised the bird and another of its kind, and got them to carry him away above the burning trees, into the night air.

Carabosse blinked and found herself back in the slate room, as Achlys managed to dispel her magic from his eyes.

◇

"You lied to me!" Carabosse managed to push out her accusation through laboured breath, tired from her excursion. Achlys didn't say anything. Dangerous pants crushed between his bared teeth. "You lied to me! You tricked me! You are the true traitor!"

A snarling smile curved the Dark One's lips and danger settled upon his piercing gaze. "Listen to yourself, Carabosse, you have allowed the weak to overcome you and your powerful rage! You have become like them, weak!"

"No, I was weak when I listened to you, I see that now," Carabosse admitted out loud to herself more than to him.

This moment of clarity caused her to drop her guard, which Achlys noticed straight away. It was then that he threw a vicious spell at her. It soared through the air, but just before it reached her unwitting form, Ibis jumped in between them. The spell hit the tawny owl and he fell from the air into Carabosse's arms, who only just managed to catch him.

"Ibis!" she cried through bitter tears as she took in her friend's mortal injury - a gaping hole had opened through his chest and his heart was gone.

Ibis was dead.

What was left of him crumbled away into burning ash through the gaps of Carabosse's trembling fingers. She broke into heartbroken sobs over her bird of prey friend, thick, black tears dripped onto the slate floor.

"He deserved to die!" Achlys growled, "As do you!" He then lifted his hand once again, to send a second blow of his death spell. However, this time Carabosse was ready. She blocked his attack with her emerald magic and managed to send her bright flames around herself, so that she disappeared from his cave and from his presence, forever!

◇

"You're back!" Aurora cried out, in what sounded like relief after she witnessed the dark fairy materialise in front of the mirror. Carabosse's focus was fully on the still glass, which she began to shake with her magic, causing violent ripples to form upon its surface.

"What are you doing?" the princess asked.

"Closing the connection," Carabosse answered simply.

"What connection?"

"The connection to the Dark One." the Dark Fairy then turned towards the princess, the black tears upon her face made the girl recoil in horror. "I'm sorry, Aurora, I am so so sorry. I will never leave you alone again."