Fantasia: Realm of Thanos

Prologue: The Dream

Red. Red. Red, all around. Blood, fire, smoke... and the endless screaming. Crash. Quiet sobbing; a gasp. Then... nothing.
Cold air whipped across Cheryl's face as she crouched, trembling violently, the metal buckle of a collapsed seat digging into her ribs. Her breathing came in short, ragged gasps. What was happening? Where were... her stomach lurched as she caught sight of dark, glazed eyes, gazing blankly at her. That woman... Cheryl had seen her before. When they'd gotten on the plane, she had smiled and patted her head....

Cheryl shivered as something cold dripped on her neck, running down her back. Her head raised by a minute amount. Scarlet blotches had appeared on the seat trapping her. Crimson began to spread on the new white dress her mother had so lovingly admired that morning.  
You look so beautiful, Cheryl! Honey, come look at our daughter? Isn't she pretty?
Mom...! Let go!
I love you so much, sweetheart!
Haha, ok, ok! I love you too...
A strange feeling rose in Cheryl's chest... a feeling that she couldn't explain. Why did it feel like that morning was so far away?

She squirmed, crying out when something above creaked, and the studded iron floor groaned. A sharp edge pressed down on her back, and she found herself struggling to crawl from the compact space into the open. Metal, burning. Its stench filled the air. Streams of black smoke still rose lazily into the sky. Cheryl shuddered again, and wrapped her arms around herself. Tears spilled over. Her dark hair clung to her cheeks.
"Mom? Dad?"  

A splintering pain shot up her right arm as she climbed over a seat that had fallen into the walkway. Cheryl hiccupped and wiped tears away from her cheeks. Something stung. Blood came away on her hand.
"Mom? Where are you?"
Desperation took over. She ran- searching, crying, screaming for the parents that wouldn't respond. The only replies she received where the blank, bloody gazes of strangers, many still slouched in their seats. Each and every one wore an identical mask of terror. But Cheryl couldn't find them... The only two that she wanted to find.
"Mom! Dad! Where are you? Where are you?!"
Her throat became dry and her voice hoarse from crying. Instead of words, Cheryl heaved. Everything blurred. Blood. Death. Mother. Father. She collapsed next to her seat- the seat that was now a deep, bloody red. The same blood patterned her dress. Cheryl stood and turned, her thumbs clasped in her palms. It usually offered her comfort. Now it only sharpened the throbbing pain.
"Who..."

She gazed at the simple beauty of the faces before her. Two people. Just two. The arm of an ebony-haired man, wrapped around the body of a beautiful woman who gazed upwards with glowing hazel eyes... except they were no longer glowing. Screaming filled the air. It wouldn't stop. It wouldn't... and then Cheryl realised that the unearthly sound was coming from her own mouth.
"Noooo, no no no no.... Ahhh...."
Agony tore at her insides, ripping out the horrific wail that she hated so much. Cheryl's vision began to blur, and the hand clutching at unmoving, icy fingers slipped away. Everything faded, replaced with darkness.
Deep, impenetrable darkness.
-

Chapter 1: The Lady in White

"Aaaaaahhh! Ah..."
Cheryl stopped screaming, still half-sobbing. "No... not again..." She squeezed her eyes shut, pressing the back of her hand against her clammy forehead. Tears leaked from under her eyelids. She hadn't had the nightmare for over two weeks... and it had resurfaced with a vengeance. With a shiver at the cold sweat covering her body, Cheryl unravelled herself from the tangled bed sheets and pushed her hair back with one shaking hand. From outside, the full moon shone beautifully down into her bedroom, illuminating its dark corners.
Cheryl, sweetheart, you need to go to sleep.
Aw, but mommy! I might have a bad dream!
No, come on now. The moon will watch over you while you sleep. Goodnight, honey.
'Night, mom.
Cheryl exhaled slowly. The perfect white circle brightened.

"Cheryl."
Cheryl froze.
"That is your name."
She leapt up, her legs nearly giving beneath her. The room spun.
"W-who's there?"
The voice gave a light, silvery laugh.
"Have no fear. I will meet you soon enough."
"I... Who are you?"
No reply. Cheryl sighed, suddenly exhausted. Her limbs ached. Despite her head telling her to stay awake and search for the voice, her body gravitated towards the bed. She slid atop her wrinkled bedcovers, eyelids drooping, yawning. The voice must have been her imagination. Another after-effect of the nightmare... though this notion made her frown rather than offering any relief. She turned away from the moon and nestled into her pillow, closing her eyes. This time, Cheryl did not dream.
-
After school the following day, Cheryl sang quietly to herself as she followed the route home. The day, though uneventful, had involved much class conversation on Mother's Day the coming weekend. Though an uncomfortable topic for her, Cheryl had smiled back at them and advised her friends on chocolates, flowers and accessories, ignoring their moans on not having enough money or not wanting to spend it. She hadn't been able to stop the flow of thoughts on her own mother, however, and she would have liked. She'd have liked anything. Even the most wilted rose or the scruffiest scarf I could ever make. She even loved that mud pie I gave her when I was three.

Cheryl took a deep breath of fresh air and smiled out at the blossoming trees.
"Cheer up, Cheryl! Everything will be alright in the end," she said to herself, closing her eyes and beaming up at the sun. She took one long step forward-
Thump.
-And collided with someone. Cheryl opened her eyes, about to berate whoever was there was walking into her... but couldn't find any words. A tall woman with long, very fair hair and skin as pale and smooth as porcelain gazed down at her with warm, hazel eyes. Her white silk dress blew lightly in the spring breeze.
"Mom?" The word escaped Cheryl's lips before she could stop it. Immediately a hand clapped to her mouth and she flushed red. "Oh, I'm sorry- I didn't mean to-"
"Hush, Cheryl. You're not hurt, are you?"
"No, I'm not. Wait- how did you know my name?"

The lady in white gave an enigmatic smile.
"We have already met once. Soon comes quickly, it seems."
Cheryl took a step back. That voice. I know that voice.
"You. You're the one who spoke to me last night. Who are you?"
A gust of wind tugged at Cheryl's hair, but the woman's hair remained gently swaying, as though moved by different air altogether. In fact, her entire body seemed to be translucent. Rose blossoms blooming behind her were visible through her body. Cheryl shook her head, dazed. The woman smiled.
"I'm just me," she said, her voice melodious. "But I've been searching for you."
"Me?" Cheryl bit her lip. "Why? Am I in trouble?"
The lady in white shook her head. Golden locks fell softly over one shoulder.
"No. But many others are. We need your help. Fantasia needs your help."
Silence.
Cheryl stared. She's a complete nutcase.
"What do you mean?"
"You know pain," the woman murmured, looking straight into Cheryl's eyes. "Your family... they died in a plane crash three years ago."

Cheryl began to back away, clutching her schoolbag as though it might offer some protection.
"H-how did you-?"
"Please, I mean you no harm," the woman assured, reaching for Cheryl's hand. She wanted to run; get away from this person who knew too much about her and her past. Her skin prickled as an eerily cool hand took her own.
"Please, just listen, or all is lost."
Cheryl tried to pull away, but something stopped her. Perhaps it was those achingly familiar hazel eyes gazing so imploringly into her own.
The woman seemed to sense her weakening and swiftly continued;
"I am not from this world."
Thump. Cheryl's heart jolted in her chest. It was impossible, surely. Another world? Of course not.
But something was undoubtedly odd. The strange luminescence of her hair and skin; the translucence...
"I am from a world called Fantasia, and it desperately needs your help."
Cheryl said nothing. The woman took a deep breath.
"I know that this seems impossible, but please. Our world is in grave danger, and you are the only one who can save it."
Silence, still.
"The Realm of Thanos is awakening. It will destroy Fantasia, and I cannot bear to let that happen."
Cheryl wrenched her hand from the woman's grasp.
"I realise that you are doubting my sanity, but listen. Please."

The lady in white took a frozen Cheryl by the shoulders.
"In our realm there is a key." Her voice quietened. "This key can save our world. It just needs to be found."
Cheryl swallowed, hard. This feels like a dream...
"How, exactly?"
The white lady removed her gentle hold and closed her eyes.
"A boy. He holds the key."
"He holds it? Can't you take it off of him?"
A faint smile flickered across the woman's face.
"No." She sighed, almost wistfully. "It can only be released when he can accept someone into his heart. He has known suffering as you have. You can save him, and the world. You must come to Fantasia."
"But why me?"
The lady in white smiled.
"The girl to make that boy fall in love must be from this world, and they must know what pain truly means. You have nothing but yourself here. You're alone. Can't you feel it now?"
Love?
"Yes, love," the woman said. Cheryl was silent for a long moment. Images of her past flashed through her head- playing hide and seek with her father, laughing in the garden with her mother, wrapping her arms around the golden fur of the family dog. Now they were gone, and would never come back. Cheryl clenched her thumbs in her palms. She's right. Nothing here matters any more. Haven't I though this all before? I don't belong here.

"I..." Her fingers laced with the straps on her schoolbag. "Accept."
The woman beamed. Her eyes glowed.
"Wonderful. Now, you need to close your eyes-"
"Wait," Cheryl interrupted. "Don't I need to pack? And is- is this going to hurt?"
The lady in white laughed the same silvery laugh from the night before.
"No, not at all. And your things are already packed. Just one more thing."
Cheryl glanced up.
"You may not be able to return. Is that alright with you?"
Cheryl looked down the empty path for a moment, taking in the rippling leaves and blossoms for the last time. She nodded.
"Then I will send you to Fantasia now. Close your eyes- this won't hurt a bit-"
Cheryl sensed a bright flash of light through her closed eyelids, and her feet left the ground.

For one fleeting moment she ceased to exist, travelling between the boundaries of foreign dimensions- whack.
"Oww!" Cheryl squinted up at the white shape above, clutching her legs. "I thought you said that it wouldn't... w-wouldn't... Wow..."
"This," said a disembodied voice, "is Fantasia. Welcome, Cheryl."