Phil woke up staring at a white ceiling, the slow movement of a ceiling fan can be seen directly above him. He was lying down on a bed and felt comfortable, Phil decided to close his eyes again intending to rest and sleep once more when he finally noticed a woman's voice humming.
Phil jolted awake, memories of the previous battle filled his head. He was about to stand up when a sweet voice spoke to him.
"Oh, you're finally awake."
Phil turned his head towards the voice and saw a beautiful woman with long black hair wearing a white dress, she was lovingly caressing Annie's hair. Phil could not help but stare at her face and then at Annie's, both of their faces has some kind of similarities.
The woman smiled at the gawking Phil and nodded at him.
"What you are thinking is correct. I am Annie's mother. Or what once Annie's mother to be exact."
Confused about what the woman just said, Phil wanted her to elaborate, but the one who answered him was En.
'She's a strong soul that was brought here when Annie was in grave danger.'
'What do you mean En?'
'When you passed out, the nightmare origin with its unbelievable tenacity had survived the sacrificial strike of your marble. It split itself into a smaller and manageable entity and wanted to eliminate you. That was when the woman manifested and finished the nightmare origin off.'
'Can a dead person be summoned in one's dreams?'
'No you are mistaken, the woman is Annie's mother while at the same time not.'
Curious and wanting to ask more, Phil's query was interrupted due to Annie slowly waking up. She slowly looked around her when her eyes stopped at the woman sitting beside her who was gently caressing her head and humming a nostalgic song. Annie cried seeing the woman, her hands reached towards the woman's face and touched it gently afraid that her hands would pass through her and end up merely an illusion. When Annie's hand finally touched the woman's face, she could not help but throw herself into her arms and cried even more.
"Mom, I missed you."
Annie cried in the woman's arms. Her mother gently hugged her back.
"I'm sorry for not being a good daughter. I'm sorry for not being with you when you were sick. I'm sorry for not saying I love you back then."
"No don't cry Annie, you have been a good daughter. And I always love you, Annie."
Annie hugged her mother tighter, afraid that she will disappear once more.
The mother and daughter pair hugged each other for minutes, Phil watched as the scene unfold, happy for the both of them.
Sensing that her mother will not vanish anytime soon, Annie glanced at Phil. She wanted to thank Phil for rescuing her from the nightmare origin and she wanted to introduce her big brother to her mother.
"Mom, this is big brother Phil. He saved me from a strong and mean-looking monster."
She ran towards Phil and hugged his arm pulling him towards her smiling mother.
"Phil, thank you for saving my daughter."
The woman politely bowed at Phil.
"Please don't bow down Ma'am, I just did what was right, and I treat Annie as my little sister that's all."
Phil waved his hands shyly, unaccustomed towards other people's gratitude.
"No, let me thank you. You have endured great pain due to my daughter, you almost died and it seems that you have sacrificed something special. So let me thank you."
"O-okay, you're welcome I guess."
Scratching his head, Phil gave up on persuading the woman and accepted her gratitude. Phil looked up at Annie smiling widely and patted her head.
"Go enjoy your time with your mother."
Annie nodded and hugged her mother, she requested that they play together, her mom nodded and both slowly walked out of the room.
Left in the room, Phil looked around and peeked out of the window. He could see a grassy plain the same as the once he had made his resting hub. He looked down and saw that he was inside a room on the second floor of a house.
Phil remembered the house; it was the same house he had seen when he first arrived inside Annie's dream. The same house which both he and Vicky had played for days. Seeing the house and no trace of the large and dark cavern, Phil smiled as he closed his eyes feeling the gentle breeze coming from the grassy plain.
'By the way, En, what was the special item Annie's mom was talking about?'
'She was talking about the marble you used. You heard its voice didn't you?'
'Yes, it wanted me to throw it towards the nightmare origin and then it blew up.'
'Yes, it sacrificed itself in order to save you. Well to explain more clearly, every item has a soul, and the longer time you spend with an item the stronger the soul would grow. For example the marble you threw away, you've had that marble when you were young and even though you did not spend much time with it, you had kept it for a long time. That marble is now gone, Phil, it blew itself inside a dream to save you and it caused the marble's soul to be obliterated as a price. Once you return to the real world you would know what I am talking about.'
Phil fell in silence not comprehending what En had told him fully, but one thing was clear to him though, he is weak and needed saving, his marble even sacrificed itself just to save Phil from the nightmare origin.
'You said something about Annie's mom being her mom at the same time not?'
'Yes, that's another way for an item to form a soul. In the case of Annie's mother, she gave Annie a porcelain doll at the time when she left, the strong emotion of regret of not being with her daughter and not being there to protect her had affected the doll and changed its soul, engraving it with a command to protect Annie. The soul changed into something similar to Annie's mother, but although they are similar, they are not the same. That is why I told you she is Annie's mother since the doll's will is exactly what Annie's mother wanted while at the same time not her mother since she is long gone, the only thing left was a command to protect her daughter engrave inside the soul of the doll.
'So that woman is Vicky?'
'Precisely, that is Vicky's soul form you could say. And might I add, unlike the Vicky you had seen who was possessed by the nightmare origin; this Vicky is the same as your marble, an artifact in the real world that had come inside the plains of sleep.'
Hearing the sound of running outside the door, Phil turned towards the door as it swung open. Annie with a wide smile and brimming with a happy aura ran towards Phil and pulled his arm.
"Why are you still here big brother, come downstairs let's play together with mom."
Phil chuckled as he let Annie pull him downstairs and they started to play together.
Annie could not feel any happier, she had seen her mother who she missed a lot and she gained a brother who despite only meeting briefly was ready to sacrifice himself in order to save her. She played with her mother and big brother, they played tag, hide and seek and many more. And when it was time for them to eat, Annie's mother cooked them Annie's favorite meal, beefsteak with a ton of gravy. Annie could not help but shed a tear when he tasted her mother's cooking, she could barely remember the last time her mother cooked for her but now she was very happy to have tasted her food once again.
After they finished eating, Annie tried her best and painted a picture with both her mother and her big brother while Annie was being carried by her mother in her arms, all three of them were smiling happily after finishing her painting, Annie showed it to Phil and her mother she smiled widely proud of her work, but her smile slowly turned into a frown, she could not help but cry.
She wanted for her mother and big brother to be with her forever, but she knew everything will end once she woke up, she knew that this was only a dream and her mother was long gone. She ran towards her mother and cried in her arms wanting her to stay and not to leave her again. She wailed at her mother's arms tightly hugging her afraid that she will vanish at the very moment; Annie's mother reciprocated her feeling and hugged Annie as well.
"Don't cry Annie, I am always here with you even though I am gone."
Annie's mother tried to calm her down but tears could be seen on her face as well.
Annie and her mother hugged each other and cried until Annie fell asleep in her mother's arms. She then carried Annie back to the bedroom Phil following behind her.
She laid Annie on the bed and covered her with a blanket. She kissed Annie's forehead and looked at her sadly. Phil watched as the woman started to glow white and turned towards him, the woman bowed at him one last time as Phil heard the woman's voice inside his head.
'Thank you for everything.'
A blinding light filled the room and Phil could not help but close his eyes, the light slowly subsided and Phil opened his eyes. He saw a porcelain doll on the floor where the woman was last standing; white feathers were slowly floating down and falling towards Annie and the porcelain doll.
Phil picked up the doll and carefully put it beside the sleeping Annie. He softly caressed her head and saw her smiling, Phil smiled and quietly walked out of the room, he closed his eyes and after a moment he opened them. He was back at the plains of sleep.