#What Dreams Are For

[naminethewriter]

What Dreams Are For - Masterpost

It is time for my biggest story yet, written for @sandersidesbigbang! Be prepared for a lot of confusion, angst and confrontations! Everyone has demons to face this time around and it's not going to be easy... I hope you follow along and enjoy what I cooked up this time 🤭

Summary: Dreams are weird. Especially when you’re metaphysical. There is a distinction between your own dreams and that of your whole. Even though Roman doesn't know at first that he's trapped in a dream, he does know that something is wrong upon waking in an unfamiliar room. He thinks he's in the Imagination but can't say for sure. Just what has he gotten caught up in?

Cast as the evil Prince and forced to act out the twisted storyline of Thomas’ dream, Roman, with help from Patton and Virgil, needs to figure out what is happening while constricted by what his hateful character would do and say which is not at all pleasant.

We dream for a reason. And as much as Roman likes to be the center of attention, this dream isn’t about him. Someone else is crying out for help.

Tags: platonic Dlampr, Intrulogical, Angst With a Happy Ending, Mystery Elements, Partial Mind Control, Sides are forced to stay in character which leads to some of them acting unsympathetically, mainly Patton and Roman

Story here on Ao3!

Chapter One: Wrong

Chapter Two: Rumors

Chapter Three: Unexpected Confrontation

Chapter Four: The Other Side

Chapter Five: Escalation

Chapter Six: Back To Normal?

This Story is currently on hiatus! I will return once more chapter have been written and are ready for posting.

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Many thanks to my Betas @edupunkn00b and @starlocked01! You are wonderful 💙💚

Just as great are @failingatfailing and @wolfy-do-art-stuff who did a collaboration piece for this story that you can find here! It turned out superb, thank you so much 💖 💙 💜

[bob-artist]

I had an upsetting dream last night.

[ladychlo]

Motaz Azaiza interviewed by Ajstream after fleeing Gaza, please do watch the whole interview...

[lithium-poet]

the dichotomy of girlhood

[dangeroustaintedflawed]

[melancholicw]

[lexapro-princess]

[demaparbat-hp]

That infamous prison escape.

[sing-you-fools]

me: this is a background character who's in one scene, has two lines, and is completely irrelevant to the rest of the story. i am going to stop obsessing over what to name him and use the random name generator on behindthename.com. i am going to accept the first thing it gives me and move the fuck on.

behindthename.com:

[roseforviolet]

[naminethewriter]

What Dreams Are For

Chapter Four: The Other Side

Masterpost | First | Previous | Next | Ao3

Story Summary: Dreams are weird. Especially when you’re metaphysical. There is a distinction between your own dreams and that of your whole. Even though Roman doesn’t know at first that he’s trapped in a dream, he does know that something is wrong upon waking in an unfamiliar room. He thinks he’s in the Imagination but can’t say for sure. Just what has he gotten caught up in?

Cast as the evil Prince and forced to act out the twisted storyline of Thomas’ dream, Roman, with help from Patton and Virgil, needs to figure out what is happening while constricted by what his hateful character would do and say which is not at all pleasant.

We dream for a reason. And as much as Roman likes to be the center of attention, this dream isn’t about him. Someone else is crying out for help.

Content Warnings: Impulsive Thoughts, Partial Mind Control

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus’ hand twitches as he makes his way back to his wing. Patton hadn’t stopped with his lecturing for almost two hours. He knows he isn’t in control, but still… It was very irritating to sit through. And the only reason Patton stopped when he did was because of a lunch date he had with Roman and Virgil.

Remus is really itching to punch something.

The situation is vexing in so many ways. The stupid dream had put him in the worst position once again. He is stuck in his room, everyone around him hates him – Roman especially – and he knows what’s going on (kinda) but can’t tell anyone.

Well, maybe he could if he managed to get either Roman, Patton or Virgil alone, but the chances of that happening are very low…

Usually in situations like this, he can count on Janus figuring something out. But he’s… indisposed.

Unreachable to him, at least.

And lastly there’s Logan.

Remus stops, back in his wing, close to his personal quarters. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

Logan.

Right.

How is he going to explain all of this to Logan?

Simple.

He isn’t.

Or more like, he can’t.

He sighs. This type of thinking isn’t getting him anywhere. There’s nothing he can do but wait and hope he’ll get an opportunity to try and talk to the others again later.

Getting his move on, he trots over to his quarters, throwing the door open himself. Not that there are servants here that would do it for him.

Not anymore.

The itch to hit and break and destroy comes back and Remus grips the edge of the door to keep himself under control.

But why is he holding back in the first place? Destruction is what he’s best at. Chaos is his calling.

It’s not what he needs right now, though. He needs a plan.

As if he could come up with anything in the state he’s in. If he just let off some steam, he could clear his head and figure something out.

Let off steam how? By going on a rampage? Break whatever he can grab?

Why not? He’s already been labeled as ‘the insane prince’ anyway. A big disappointment, according to Roman. Might as well lean into it.

And make things more complicated down the road?

What’s there to complicate? It’s not like his reputation could get any worse anyway. He should just throw the vase. It’ll make him feel better.

Remus blinks at his hand. When had he picked up the vase he’s currently clutching? He had been by the door just a moment ago, right? Shaking his head, he moves to put it back in place, but his fingers refuse to let go.

He wants to smash it so bad. There’s a mirror only a few steps away. If he throws the vase into that, wouldn’t it create the most wonderful sight of shards everywhere?

He would most certainly get injured.

Isn’t that a plus? Adding blood to the mix would just make it better!

“Your Royal Highness? Are you alright?”

Remus blinks, spiraling thoughts interrupted by a very familiar voice. He turns toward the door and there stands Logan, looking very concerned. His black hair is tied in a short ponytail behind his head, not a single strand out of place. His glasses are set on his nose, their frame more circular than usual and not the solid black they are in the mindscape.

“Your Highness?” he repeats, softer this time.

Remus’ fingers finally let go of the vase, placing it back where it belongs, and he quickly takes a step away from it.

“I told you to just call me Remus, Lo. It’s just the two of us here.”

“Right.” Logan’s hand twitches towards his glasses, as if to fix them when they aren’t out of place in the slightest. “I apologize, Remus.” The name comes painfully off his lips, but Remus knows it’s simply the force of habit from having maintained the image of a perfect aid for so many years.

At least, that’s the past Logan knows at the moment.

He has no idea that this isn’t real, that it’s just a dream.

Right now, this is his reality.

Because this dream is all about him. Remus wishes he had managed to tell Roman that.

He can’t tell Logan. The dream won’t let him. The subconscious is such a fucking annoying thing to deal with.

But he’s been in this situation before, just… usually he’s in Logan’s shoes and Janus is the one to come to his rescue. This time it’s up to him to figure out what exactly is going on and help Logan get over whatever it is that keeps them trapped here.

He can figure this out. He just needs more time.

“You are spacing out again, Your— Remus. Did something happen?”

Once again, Logan’s voice startles him back into the here and know.

Right, he should stop getting lost in his thoughts. Remus shakes his head and takes another deep breath before smiling weakly at Logan.

“I… ran into my brother.”

“…Oh.” Logan shrinks into himself at the mere mention of Roman and the itching in Remus’ fingers returns. Now he really wishes he’d gotten to punch him at least once earlier.

Even if he knows the Roman that Logan is so afraid of is not the Roman that is currently having lunch with his friends. There’s a reason he’s been cast as the selfish prince.

It still wouldn’t be fair to punch him, he reminds himself. ‘The Crown Prince’ is just a caricature.

“Did he come here?” Logan asks, finally moving to close the door behind him to give them the feeling of privacy even if the halls outside are abandoned.

“No,” Remus admits with a wince. “I went out.”

Logan freezes.

“I didn’t even look for him, promise. I just couldn’t sit still anymore.”

“You don’t have to justify yourself, Your Hi— Remus,” Logan interrupts before he could truly start rambling. “I agree with you that your detainment here is entirely baseless. Still, it would be best to avoid confrontations with the Crown Prince. At least until the King returns and we can have a proper discussion.”

“Yeah, I know. I know.” Remus throws himself onto his couch with a groan, looking at Logan upside down. “I wasn’t trying to confront him. We just happened to run into each other and… well…”

Logan sighs and moves to sit down in one of the armchairs.

“Please tell me what happened in detail.”

~~~

After Remus’ account they both sit in silence for a while. Remus had moved, so that now his upper body is lying on the floor and his feet are up on the couch’s cushions. Logan remains seated in the armchair, his back straight as a pole and looking entirely uncomfortable.

“As I thought,” Logan eventually begins, “it is best for us to avoid you and Prince Roman interacting for the time being.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Remus agrees in a flat tone, annoyed with himself and their situation.

Because Roman could be on to something. If the two of them worked together and had Logan there as well, then maybe they could brute force the dream to end, but it would be a highly dangerous situation. Even if Remus can break character if he’s alone with his brother – and he is very unsure if that would be the case – they definitely can’t in front of Logan.

“Maybe if I were the one to talk to him. Or the Royal Advisor.”

Immediately, Remus sits up.

“No, that’s a bad idea, Lo.” Because they will be forced to be awful to you, he wants to say but his mouth won’t let him. Instead, he adds, “I don’t think they will listen to you. Roman thinks of you as a traitor, he will take anything you say as manipulative or some shit. And Patton is on his side, he’s just going to tell you that it’s Roman’s decision and he stands by it. It’s not gonna help.”

“Still, I have to try, right? If I don’t then nothing will change for sure, and Janus…” Logan trails off, avoiding looking in Remus’ direction. Remus slumps back to the ground.

“I’m kind of jealous you can call him by his first name so casually but not me,” he scoffs and raises a hand to stop Logan’s protest he’s sure would follow that statement. “I know, I know, our statuses are different, but we’re friends, Lo. Just relax a bit.”

It’s Logan’s turn to scoff. “How am I supposed to do that when things are like they are. If we don’t do something, things will just… get worse, won’t they?” He sounds so small as he says it, Remus just wants to go and hug him but apparently, even that would be out of character since his body doesn’t obey.

“Jan’s going to be fine,” he says instead. “He’s a lot tougher than you might think. And they can’t do with him whatever they want, he is still a noble. Until he’s convicted for something, they’ll have to treat him with at least some decency.”

“But if we do nothing, it’s like we’re abandoning him, isn’t it?”

Remus looks over to Logan. He still sits in the armchair with his perfect posture, but his fingers are digging into his thighs and his jaw is twitching. It’s a very similar sight for Remus. He looked the same just a few hours ago, before he decided to head out.

Logan is going stir crazy.

“Fine. But only Patton. My brother’s dangerous. You need to be careful, promise me.”

“I promise, Remus.” Logan’s small smile makes Remus’ heart clench in his chest.

He is so hopeful.

He is going to get crushed.

But Remus can’t protect him from everything. Not with how things are now.

“I’ll go make some tea now,” Logan says as he stands up. “I think we are both in need of something stress-reducing right now.”

“Yeah, Lo, that’d be great.” Remus smiles at him, getting up and watching him leave. As soon as the door closes behind him, he collapses on the couch, this time lying on it like you’re supposed to.

What a shit show.

[livingisboring]

[whirriscool]

im slowly losing it

[killjoyous]

TAKE THE SHOT, TOMMY

[dlwrish]

mentally a living corpse

[lexapro-princess]