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freedomsofdream · 4 months

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Adventures of the Gargoyle Studies Club! Ⅰ

author's note: the first of three parts! this is the winner of the 200 follower poll! (o･ω･o) this part mostly sets the scene, so has an array of cameos from other characters, but the other parts will focus mainly on Malleus and reader, probably. this reader was interesting to write, and their personality just kinda grew itself as i wrote! plus i've never written a reader who is a Ramshackle dorm student, so that was also a fun new concept for me to try (ᵔ◡ᵔ) Prefect was also kept vague on purpose, so maybe you can imagine your OC or someone as the prefect too! hope you enjoy!

characters: Malleus Draconia x GN!Reader

background: you are a magicless student who stays at Ramshackle with prefect and Grim, all three of you form one 'student' (Grim with magic, prefect and you with non-magic/theory based classes/exams). You arrived at NRC at the same time as the prefect, but you didn't know each other previously.

Boring.

So boring.

You trudged behind the prefect and Grim as you headed back to Ramshackle dorm, your eyes dull and your lips pursed. At first, when you found yourself thrust into a new world, stumbling around some sort of weird ceremony, you were excited. This world has all sorts of things that were just fantasy in your world. Magic, talking monster cats, ghosts, even merfolk! You couldn't wait to see what this world had in store for you. But now...

Now you were attending school, living a fairly average student life. Not even alchemy lessons were enough to perk you up anymore. And the mysterious, magicless student reputation that you seemed to obtain was just annoying now. How did your exciting new life turn so dull so quickly?

The entrance to Ramshackle creaked open and you sighed, immediately making your way over to the beaten up couch and throwing yourself onto it, letting your textbooks fall out of your arms onto the dusty floor and throwing an arm over your eyes.

"Y/N, you okay?"

You cracked an eye to see the prefect peeking over the top of the couch at you, Grim having run straight to the kitchen to pilfer a can of tuna before anyone could stop him. You groaned, kicking your legs off of the couch as the prefect walked around and took a seat beside you.

"I'm just so bored," you complained bitterly, the prefect tilting their head as you pouted, a sheepish smile spreading across their lips at your words, "this world holds so many possibilities, and we're stuck at school."

"Don't let Crowley hear you talking like that, it would be just the excuse he needed to give us more work to do." The prefect joked, hoping to lighten your mood, but it only caused you to scowl. Jeez, how you loathed that joke of a Headmaster. Spiriting you away to this world and then trying to shirk responsibility at the first opportunity. And then making you do ridiculous tasks whilst holding your allowance over your heads? What a cockroach of a man.

"Maybe there is something you can do where you can channel some of your energy?" The prefect pondered, seeing your darkening expression and hoping to get your mind off the headmaster, "maybe try the library? Or maybe a part time job?"

You folded your arms behind your head and shot the prefect a look, your eyebrow raised, "reading about this place will only make me more miserable that I'm stuck at school. And the only one who'll benefit from me getting a job is Grim, I'm sure. He'll have spent it all on tuna before I even get paid."

The prefect conceded the point with a hum, and you both fell into silence. You stared at the ceiling, counting the cracks on the ceiling before the prefect suddenly exclaimed loudly, the sound making you jump slightly.

"I know! You should join a club!"

You were already pulling a face, but the prefect shushed you and continued on, "Hear me out! NRC has lots of interesting clubs, surely there has to be one that you click with. Plus, you can always quit if you don't enjoy it, and join a different one. Or none at all. But then at least you tried something, right?"

You rolled the idea around in your head, but you still weren't fully convinced. The prefect could see this, and continued to push, "c'mon! Just give it a try. You could visit some of the clubs after classes tomorrow. I'm sure Ace and Deuce won't mind showing you around theirs. There is no harm in it, right?"

You went back to staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the prefect staring earnestly at you. Still, they didn't stop, and you eventually relented with a sigh. "Fiiine. I'll visit a few clubs tomorrow. But no promises."

The prefect shot you a sunny smile, and you could see why they were the most approachable resident of Ramshackle dorm's ragtag trio.

You stared at the infobook in your hands listlessly, a directory of active clubs staring back at you. You'd already struck some of them from the list as a pre-cursor, namely all the sports clubs. That had near broke Deuce's heart, much to Ace's delight, as he tried in vain to convince you to at least take a look around. Unfortunately, you think this had only encouraged Ace, as you were now following him to take a tour of the basketball club, despite your immediate rejection.

"I have basketball back in my world, you know." You commented as you both made your way to the gym, Ace not missing a beat in his reply back.

"Yeah, but you didn't have basketball with me in your world." Ace grinned at you, and you squinted in return, "yeah, we really dodged a bullet there." Ace feigned hurt, a hand pressed to his chest as he slumped into the wall. You rolled your eyes, the small smile tugging at your lips ruining your irritated façade.

"This better be worth it, Trappola. You know how many clubs I have to visit today?" You warned as you neared the gym doors, and Ace waved his hand at you, "yeah yeah, it'll be great. Just trust me!" He came to a stop at the doors and held his hand out to stop you, his other hand grasping one of the handles. "Just gimme a sec..."

Ace cracked the gym door open just enough to pop his head through, and you were both silent as he peeked around the gym before pulling the door open. "Lucky. I guess Floyd isn't coming today."

"Whose that?"

"You don't want to know."

You both entered the gym, and you glanced around the gym at the few club members that were already milling around, stretching or doing basic ball exercises. Ace span with his arms out, gesturing to the gym, "so this is it!"

"... Okay, and?"

"What do you mean 'and'?! We get the whole gym to practice in! What more could you want?"

"... You would make a terrible salesman."

Ace scoffed at your words, swinging his gym bag off of his shoulder and tossing against the wall. He picked up a stray basketball and began throwing it between his hands, "let me show you how good I am, and then you'll be begging to join the team! I can get this in the hoop from here."

You glanced up. You weren't that far from the hoop, but you decided to humour him regardless, "go on then, I'm watching." Ace shot you a cocky grin, turning towards the hoop and taking his aim. He eventually took his shot, sending the ball sailing through the air... Only for it to his the basketball hoop's rim and ricochet off, landing and bouncing sadly on the floor.

"... Wow." You bit your lip in order to suppress your laughter, Ace's ears turning red in embarrassment. "I meant to do that," he reasoned.

"Wait, can you do that again? That would look great on my Magicam." You pulled your phone out of your pocket as you spoke, aiming it towards Ace as he scolded in retaliation.

"Shut up."

You found yourself yet again staring listlessly at the directory of clubs. You took your leave of the basketball club shortly after their activities began, slipping out before Ace could try and rope you into some sort of activity with him.

With all the sports clubs already crossed off, it left you with few alternatives. And they all sounded rather... Average. The pop music club was clearly just the school band, so that was out. The board game club was out, you could just play board games at Ramshackle with Grim and the prefect if you really wanted to. The film studies club apparently required an audition before you could join, what was that about? Either way, that was out too. Science club was also out. As much as you liked Professor Crewel, there already wasn't much you could do in alchemy class so you imagined it would be the same there.

There was one that seemed to be slightly promising. The mountain lover club... What an odd name. Apparently, club activities included hiking and exploring mountains and it's var. Maybe this could work, maybe there is a chance you explore mountains all over this world and that could be your chance to explore new places? To join, apparently you needed to contact some guy from the Octavinelle dorm...

You sighed as you flipped through the infobook, mostly out of frustration more than any desire for more information. But then something caught your eye. On a forgotten page towards the back of the book seemed to be a listing for another club. The... Gargoyle studies club? You skimmed the club description, and you felt your eyes begin to light up.

Visiting gargoyles... Appreciating architecture... Exploring ruins?! Like real, magical ruins? Where there could be all sort of treasures and artifacts?! For the first time in weeks, you felt your cheeks flush in excitement. This sounded exactly what you were looking for. Your eyes searched the bottom of the page, trying to find who to contact... A student from the Diasomnia dorm, huh?

You slammed the infobook shut and took off towards the Hall of Mirrors, a skip in your step. You had to go find this student immediately. You resisted the urge to run through the halls, lest Trein appear out of nowhere and scold you. He seemed to have a knack for appearing whenever Grim was up to no good, that much was for certain.

You reached the Hall of Mirrors in no time. From your experiences of visiting Heartslabyul, you knew it was as easy as approaching the dorms mirror and simply walking through. After a cautionary inspection, you found the Diasomnia dorm mirror and didn't hesitate to step through.

... Wow, did all the dorms here need to look so intimidating? Plus, they made Ramshackle look like a ruin in comparison. You stared up at the imposing castle that was supposed to be a school dorm building, wondering how much of the school's budget went into this. They even had a drawbridge, was that really necessary? Cool though, you supposed. Oh well, you could ponder over this place another time, you had a club president to find!

You marched over the drawbridge with determination, and pushed open the dorm's entrance door, slipping inside. Jeez, it was so dark in here. Did they not have any electricity? You supposed it fit in with the castle theme but... Wasn't that inconvenient?

You wandered the corridors, not really sure where to start. There must be a lounge around here somewhere, right? You slightly regretted not flagging down a Diasomnia student on your way here, and you hadn't seen anyone since you'd walked through the front door. You let out a sigh, and almost jumped out of your skin when a loud shout rumbled through the corridor.

"HUMAN! What do you think you are doing here?!"

You looked up in surprise and squinted towards the figure at the other end of the corridor, a green haired figure with his hands on his hips as he glared down at you. Actually, he looked kind of familiar...

"Hey, I know you. You're that student who laughed at Grim's test score." You stated, making your way over to him. His expression did not soften, and he continued to glare at you as if you'd personally offended him somehow. Or maybe Grim did, always a possibility.

"You... You are one of the magicless students from Ramshackle dorm," the green haired figure stated, eyeing you suspiciously, "what business do you have here? If you are here to disturb my liege, I will remove you without hesitation!"

... What a strange guy. His liege? And did he have to shout every sentence? But with the look on his face, it seemed like he was about to throw you over his shoulder and toss you out of the dorm if you didn't answer quickly, so you pushed on. "I'm looking for a Diasomnia student, you can help with that, right?"

He scoffed at you. "Of course I can't. I must hurry back and guard my liege!"

Maybe this guy was participating in Live Action Roleplay or something, you wondered, trying not to get distracted by his odd demeanor. "You can guard your liege later. C'mon, I need your help!"

That seemed to be the right thing to say, because his hard expression suddenly turned smug, and he folded his arms across his chest. "You need my help? Of course you do, silly human. I suppose I can spare you a few moments, it would be very noble of me... Who are you searching for, human?"

A smile grew on your face and you flicked through the infobook quickly, trying to find the name before he changed his mind and rescinded his offer to help. "I'm looking for... Malleus... Draconia? Malleus Draconia." You looked up from your info book and to your surprise, the green haired student looked like you had just slapped him across the face. Before you knew it, he was grabbing your arm and dragging you down the hall.

"I knew you were suspicious!" He boomed, his grip tight and unforgiving, not budging no matter how much you tried to pull away or dig you feet into the carpet. "Let go of me, you brute! What is your problem?!"

"I can't believe a spy would be so brazen as to walk directly into our dorm! Master Lilia will know exactly what to do with you!" He spat, continuing to drag you along the corridor as if you weren't resisting at all. Was he seriously trying to drag you into his roleplay experience? Was he for real?

You eventually ended up getting led further into the dorm before the green haired brute of a student dragged you through some doors with him. Ah, well at least you found the lounge, one way or another. As you were pulled through the doors, you noticed two students standing together further in, both turning to look towards you as you were dragged towards them. One was the short boy with pink highlights that you vaguely remembered meeting in the cafeteria on one of your first days at NRC. Next to him stood an incredibly tall man, you felt your neck craning just to get a good look at him. And were those... Horns?! Oh great... You truly had stumbled upon some sort of roleplay group, just your luck...

"Who do you have there, Sebek?" Asked the pink highlighted student, amusement clear from the shine in his eyes and the tilt of his lips. You shook your arm futilely in Sebek's grip, a scowl beginning to paint your face.

"Master Lilia, I have caught an intruder! A spy!" Sebek bellowed, his back straightening as he presented you, grip still tight on your arm. You huffed in exasperation and glared up at him, "get off of me. What kind of spy would walk in here and tell you why they are here! Are you stupid?"

Sebek gasped, seemingly taken aback by your rant, "H-human! How dare you?!" Before you two could continue arguing, 'master' Lilia stepped forward, "now, now Sebek, I've told you about inside voices before, haven't I? And accosting a guest is hardly the manners I've taught you, hm?"

Sebek flushed, from his neck to the tip of his ears, his grip waning on your arm enough for you to rip your limb away from him with a disgruntled pout. "B-but Master Lilia, this human is clearly suspicious..."

Sebek continued to stutter out excuses, his hand travelling up to grip his hair nervously as he tried to justify his actions. You rubbed at your arm, promising yourself that if it ended up bruising, you'd stick Grim behind him during History of Magic class and bribe him with tuna to be as annoying as possible.

"Hey..." You addressed Lilia, who promptly turned his attention, "do you know where Malleus Draconia is?" Lilia tilted his head at your question, and you could feel the gaze of the tall man boring into you.

"What is it you require of our Housewarden, dear?" Lilia enquired, the curious glint in his eyes not hidden by his calm smile. Housewarden? Is that why Sebek was making such a big deal about you coming here? Still, wasn't it a bit much?

"I have a request for him." You stated, and you watched Lilia put his hand to his chin as his curiosity grew. "A request?" He repeated, and you only nodded in response. Silence fell between you all, before a deep laugh shattered it, mirthful in its tone. You looked up, curious of the source, only to discover it to be the tall man with horns.

"I see. To think a simple magicless human would be so brave to approach me in my own abode. In commendation of your efforts, I, Malleus Draconia, will allow you to speak your request." The tall man spoke, a rich, smug smile tugging his lips up as his bright green eyes continued to bore into you.

"... Y-your Malleus Draconia? Then..." You took a deep breath, taking a step forward. Sebek's hand shot out to stop you, only to hang in mid air as he received a sharp look from Lilia. Your eyes shone with excitement and you clenched your hands into fists, holding them up toward your chest in enthusiasm. You looked Malleus dead in the eye, and spoke your request with all the sincerity in your heart.

"Please, let me join the Gargoyle Studies Club!!"

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freedomsofdream · 7 months

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I've noticed that people have started spreading the 1992 Good Omens script around. Please don't. If you've got it up, please take it down. There's a mess of serious and real legalities involved, and I don't want to have to start being a dick and asking for copyright takedowns and all of that, and I don't want to have to regret letting it out into the world. Just take it down, unshare, delete links. Thank you.

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freedomsofdream · 11 months

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(un)lucky? | pigeonholed (pt.1)

pairings: ethan winters x cadou-ified!reader (more on that later lol) warnings: mild descriptions of violence & gore (it is RE8 after all) word count: 759 a/n: so i'm in the process of writing this and frankly have no idea how long this might end up because i decided to begin it on a whim. i have a general idea of following the canon plotline for this series, but i'm open to suggestions and ideas to add :)

Its skull all but burst when he unloaded his last bullet into the lycan's head, splattering rotted brain bits and blackened blood all over his hoodie and tan jacket. Disgust sounded in his throat as he wiped as much of it off as he could. You’d think the horror show that was Dulvey, Louisiana was enough trauma for a lifetime, several lifetimes frankly, but the universe had other plans it seemed. So here he was, knee deep in snow, rubble, and miscellaneous gore in the middle of a forest somewhere in Eastern Europe. A shuffling noise sounded around the corner, and he tried not to voice his disdain as he pulled out his knife. Maybe he could get the upper hand on this one if he could sneak up behind it—

A bird. No, not like the crows that cawed at him incessantly when he was walking through the trees, it was a pigeon that was wrapped up in netting, laying pitifully on the floor. It looked like any sky rat he’d seen in the cities, with a checkered pattern on its wings and its dilated eyes. Somehow it hadn’t caught any adverse attention despite its flapping around in its attempt to escape from its netted demise. While it could have been a trap, he honestly just felt bad for it. It frankly looked like it hadn’t the slightest clue of what was going around it, or really of anything at all. He sighed.

“Hey little guy, need some help?” He knelt over the bird, and it paused in its escape attempt as if acknowledging his voice. However, it soon went wobbling around till it flopped onto its backside. Humor tugged at his lips at how out of place the poor thing was, and he reached down and gently grabbed the net to not startle it. “I’m gonna cut you free, buddy. Try to keep still.” It almost seemed to listen, pausing again, but maybe it recognized the danger of a knife as he went about cutting the bird free. As soon as he pulled the knife away once he was finished, the pigeon jostled about, basically kicking the net off before giving it as much of a stink eye as a bird could before tilting its head at him in classic fashion. “There you are. You’d better be more careful next time, huh?” It cooed back in response, before turning around and walking off… straight into the door of a nearby building. He stared at it, stunned, and he couldn’t keep from barking out a laugh as the bird fell to the side in a daze.

“What did I just say, bud?” Other than a light nudge of his hand, he did little to help the little guy back up as it came to its senses before flying off. He noticed a little falter in its flight pattern though, some of its feathers were clipped. He had his doubts that the bird would survive, but really he could say the same for himself. He entered the building the bird stumbled into and to his relief, found a generous heap of bullets. Maybe he’d be just fine for a little while longer, and who knows? Maybe he’d come across that silly little pigeon again elsewhere too.

You could feel the heat fluttering in your chest as your wings just barely managed to allow you to find purchase on a sturdy enough branch. He was an outsider. Mother Miranda always warned you against straying too far, but your curiosity couldn’t be contained. So naturally, she clipped your wings. Luckily (or unluckily?) that resulted in your unfortunate entanglement with that despicable netting, but led to you meeting him. Him. His hands were warm, radiating heat as he helped you to freedom. Strangers weren’t nice, they weren’t supposed to be! So why did he go out of his way to help you? He could have left you for dead, well, to lay in the snow for a few more hours at least. But he helped you. He looked at you with nothing but mirth and kindness in those mesmerizing eyes of his... He even called you a friend, his buddy! That’s why you directed him towards extra supplies in the house, playing dumb so he wouldn’t catch on— but also because you lost your footing after laying about for so long. The wind whistled, sending a cold chill through your feathers, but you allowed it to lead you off the tree and lend some guidance towards the castle. There was a family meeting today, you were certain, and maybe you could help him just a little bit more.

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freedomsofdream · 11 months

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The salvation of humanity

Chapter 12: Hob Gaddling, you're stupid.

Morpheus x (f)reader

Warning: alcohol

Reminder of the last chapter:

“We’ll see.” he said, taking your sleeping form in his arms.

He should leave you, staying out of your life. That would be for the best. He would end up hurting you.

“Let’s get you home, my little human.” He said, holding you close while raising from the ground and leaving.

Was he even capable of such thing.

10 December 2029

Eleven days had passed since Dream had found back his ruby. After what happened, he had brought you back to England, in the house he knew you loved with the fireplace, the one you two stopped on your way to Oxford. Once you were awake, the two of you had spoken.

Dream explained to you what had happened to him exactly during the last century. You had learned about Jessamy, who died helping him on the hand of Alex Burgess. The things they expected from him. The entire seven years he had spent alone, with no soul around until you came.

Your presence had comforted him, letting him feel safe as he opened up to you.

Then, he had answered your question. Who he was, his family, the Endless. You had learned about the Creator, the one above all. Dream was more than a god, that’s what you had understood, and that was a lot to take in.

The two of you went different way since he needed to return to his realm, and you, home, packing everything you needed to move North again to meet Edgar in “The new inn”.

But since then, you haven’t seen him nor heard of him. You weren’t worried much, though, he probably had many things to do. Yet, still, you had that sting in your heart, fearing you might never see him again. After all, you were just human.

Why would he care?

Meanwhile, Dream had spent the last days working on his realm, fixing everything that needed to. Finding back the resident of the Dreaming. He did have noticed his missing creation. At some point, they should come back, or he will found them.

Yet, something remain missing. He was certain that, after he would have found all his tools, he will feel good again. Now, he was just disappointed, having no idea why he felt this way when he was stronger than ever.

So, there he was, sitting on a bench, feeding pigeons until his sister, Death, joined him. They had exchanged until she asked why he was so moody. And, Dream decided to share his thought with his sister. Sharing his desire of revenge remaining unfulfilled because Paul and Roderick Burgess were dead, the thought of the mutants out there, the way he felt, empty compared to the exciting journey he had to found his tools. The way he felt more powerful than ever. A new purpose he had, a quest he had loved every minute, in this changed world.

“I was so sure that, once i got everything back, i’d feel good. But in some way, i feel worse than when i started… I feel like… Nothing” Bored, he wanted to say. Empty, like something remain missing.

“There, you asked”

His sister looked at him, smiling gently, before putting her hand on his knee.

“You could have called me, you know.” Death said.

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“I don’t believe it” she sound bored, rolling her eyes and standing up.

“Let me tell you something Dream, and i’m only gonna say this once so, you better pay attention” She picked his bread out of his hand.

“You are utterly the stupidest, most self-centred, pathetic excuse for an anthropomorphic personification, on this, or, any other plane. Feeling sorry for yourself because your little game is over, and you haven’t got the balls to get out and find a new one. You're as bad as Desire, no, worse” She spit out, throwing the bread back in Dream chest.

Dream felt offended, especially by her last sentence. Worse than Desire? No way.

“Did it never occur to you that i would be worried about you.”

“I didn’t think…” He started, but was cut short by Death.

“Exactly, you didn’t think.”

The group of human next to them throw away the ball, which Death catches quickly, just like Dream a few minutes ago.

“Waou, you’re just as good as your friend” the man pointed out.

“He’s not my friend, he is my brother, and he’s an idiot.” She said, sending back the ball.

“I am just feeding the birds.” he answered back, looking at the ground will the human walked away.

“Is this about this human and her dog?” she finally asked.

“I don’t know who you're referring to.” Lies. How could she know about his dear human.

“Don’t play this game with me, Dream”

Dream looked at her, waiting for his big sister to kept going, knowing he didn’t have anything to say about you.

“You spend almost two weeks around her day and night after spending a century imprisoned. It’s normal that you miss adventures with her. Normal that you feel this way now that you are alone again.”

“I can’t, you know it. It’s for the best” he said, more bitter than he wanted.

He had walked out of your life for a reason, the best reason. He couldn’t miss you, the adventures with you, he mustn’t. You were just a mortal. Soon, you would be gone. Dream had learnt his lesson long ago.

But the more the days passed, the more he felt your absence pulling him down.

Death sighs, knowing he had closed himself about you. She won’t get anything out of him.

“Look, i can’t stay here all day, i’ve got work to do. You can come with me, or you can stay here and sulk.”

“I’ll come with you, i suppose”

Dream followed Death on her day. She mentioned Hob Gadling and Dream decided to pay him a visit later that day. Perhaps that’s what he would need. A friend.

Death brought him with her, taking the souls she could. Ever since the outbreak and the apocalypse happened, her job had been more difficult. No human died easily, usually, they came back as mutant. She was unable to save any of them. And, even though she had grown fund of her work, she despised this aspect of humanity. They weren’t dying any more, not in the way they should. The souls to get back were rare. The souls were trapped into their monster mind. A terrifying thought.

"Are they conscious of their state?" He asked, suddenly afraid of the answer.

"I hope not. But i can never get their souls. Only when they are killed."

Dream mentioned this mutant again, explaining how he tried to fight them with his power. Death felt sad for her little brother. He wasn’t aware of what had happened when it all started, all they had learned about these zombies.

“Dream, our power doesn’t work on them.”

Dream turned to her, confused. How could that even be possible.

“We are vulnerable to them, just like them.” she continued, referring to the human they had in front of them.

“How ?”

“We don’t know.” She said, sadly.

None of the Endless, none of the deities, knew how it happened nor why it happened. But once thing was certain for all of them.

Humanity was damned.

And for Dream, it felt like shockwave. He couldn’t believe it to be true.

During their walks, Death explained to him everything she had witnessed during his absence. Showing him faces of humanity he had never guessed possible. Saying that they were here for them and not otherwise. He learned of faces of humanity that reminded of you. It made him care about them, the same way he cared about you.

And he would try to be better for Humanity.

That’s how, Dream of the Endless found back is way to a new pub called “The New Inn”, near Oxford, in an old quarantine zone in search for Hob Gaddling, the immortal human.

The café was a warm and cosy place, people were walking around, exchanging with one another. In the back, staircase were leading to rooms, probably. Different from the white horse tavern yet delightful.

Here, it felt like nothing had happened outside. People were careless and happy.

And he caught sight of him. Hob Gaddling.

Dream walked closer to him. He could feel a familiar presence near him. But then, he was facing Hob, smiling. This one raised his eyes, catching Dream sight.

And he smiled back.

“You’re late” Hob said which caused Dream to laugh.

“It seems i owe you an apology, i’ve always heard it impolite to keep one’s friend waiting.”

Dream sat in front of him and the two friends started exchanging.

Time flew away as the two friends were catching the time missed. Dream explaining the reason of his absence and his sudden return. Hob listening to his story, heartbroken for his friend.

“If i had known, i would have found a way to help you, i am sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, you had no idea, especially giving the circumstances of our last meeting.”

And Hob nodded, remembering that famous night.

“And that woman, she just randomly helped you? And helped you find back the things you were looking for?” Hob asked, referring to the woman who had freed Dream.

“She did”

“In time like this, she must be quite of a woman.” Hob commented, laughing.

“Let me be honest with you. I’ve fought in the two World War and others war, but these things outside… They are creeping the shit out of me.” Hob continued, taking a sip of his café.

“The people able to fight them like these have guts.”

Dream observed around, still feeling this familiar presence but not recognizing it as Hob presence. Then a new one. He recognized Bérangère, who had walked in and was sitting at the bar.

“So, you wait for me here, every day?” he asked Hob.

“Yes, though i must admit i was waiting for one of the traders to go out. I need her help with something.”

“And who is she?”

“I admit i do not know. I have never met her, and she's probably going to reject my demand anyway. She had better thing to do than helping me retrieve my books.”

In the upstairs of The New Inn, you were trading with Edgar. He was asking once more for one of the usual run out in the worst part of Oxford and in one of the hospital. It will be winter soon, and they needed supplies here. The dog was sitting next to you, keeping his eyes on the armed men of Edgar.

“What do i get in exchange?” You asked, taking a sip of the whiskey in front of you.

“The munition you need, and you can keep a car.” he offered.

“Good. I want one more thing.” you continued, leaning forward.

“I need an echo graph machine and vitamin.”

“What for?”

“We are missing this machine in my place.”

Last week, you had finally found everything for pregnancy testing. Turned out, Elizabeth was indeed pregnant. She would need that along many other women.

Edger leaned on his chair, thinking before moving his hand to you.

“Deal?”

You grabbed his and shook his hand back.

“Deal”

“Great, when do you need the car to leave.”

“Tomorrow morning, the weather should be better”

He nodded as you rose from your chair.

“See you soon” he said as you leave the room, going downstairs.

“Ah, there she is.” Hob said, pointing out the girl with braided hair walking down the stairs.

Dream turned, and he felt his heart missed a beat as he recognized you and the dog.

He was right when he said everything was pushing him to you.

You had walked to Bérangère, sitting next to her at the bar.

“I know her.” Dream whispered, looking at you.

“You do?” Hob said, tapping Dream shoulder.

“She is the one who freed me.” Dream murmured to Hob.

“You must introduce me to her.” Hob said, all excited.

“No” Dream could hear you laughing with your friend.

“Why not?”

“Because” was the only answer Dream gave to Hob.

Hob felt his friend more than reluctant, though he had seen the way he looked at you. Dream cared a lot.

“She is your friend” he said, trying to convinced Dream.

“I decided to never see her again” Dream whispered to Hob.

“Why is that?”

“She is just human, mortal one.” Dream said, hiding the real reason.

And Hob could feel he was hiding it.

“I’ll do it myself then.” Hob said, standing up and walking in your direction.

Dream tried to hide the best he could until he felt something touching his legs. His eyes went to the floor and he saw the dog.

“Hello you” he said, patting his head. The dog put his paw on his knee, waiting for something.

Yes, everything was pushing him to you.

Dream heard his friend.

“Hello ladies.” he said to them.

“Hello stranger” you said, observing the man in front of you, your glass of whiskey in your hand.

“I believe you know my friend over here” he said, pointing out Dream who were trying to hide even more. Hob had sold him.

You followed the place he was showing and you saw him. Dream. Your heart skipped a beat.

“I believe i do.”

Dream decided to stood up and joined Hob. The dog following him close.

“Hey Dream, long time no see” you said, a soft smile taking your face. You felt Bérangère kicking your arm, a mischievous grin on her face.

Dream, again, you still called him Dream, he thought.

He would have love to felt nothing as he was standing here. But he didn’t. Actually, the emptiness he had felt for the past days had gone.

That couldn’t happen.

Just one last time, he heard himself think, hearing his heart begging. One last time and he would leave forever. Even when he would come back here, it would be in a hundred years to meet Hob, you would be dead and gone. And if he ever had to come to earth once more, it wouldn't be near you, it was unlikely. One last adventure.

“Good to see you” he said, locking his gaze on yours.

“So, your name his Dream?” Hob cut the moment, finally aware of Dream name.

“No, it’s Morpheus” corrected Bérangère and Hob stared at you confused.

“It’s a private joke” Dream said, remembering the exact word you had told to Graham. And he smiled at you, a wide genuine smiled which you returned to him.

The evening went fine. Hob, Bérangère, Dream and you were sat at a table speaking of everything yet nothing, cracking jokes and pun. Dream was silent most of the time, sitting in front of you, facing you, catching your gaze from time to time.

“Can we have others?” Hob shoot to the barman out loud, and you shush him, pushing his hand.

“For Christ’s sake, be polite” You laughed at the man before Bérangère stood up from your side.

“Where are you going?” you asked as she moved away.

“It’s work time” She said, clapping her hand together.

“Might i say, thank you for this evening, with all this fun, i might have forgotten we actually were in the middle of the apocalypse.” She continued, bowing dramatically.

“Yeah, like we could forget that.” You said, waving at her. The dog was sitting between your legs, shifting suddenly to stand by Dream side, his head asking for cuddle.

“Traitor” You whispered to him, taking a sip of your drink.

Hob talked to you about his old flat, full of books and belonging, asking for your help to find them back. It was on your way, and you were pretty sure the car you will get tomorrow morning could be used for this task too.

Dream was silently listening to the two of you when he knocked on his napkin. He bent under the table to take it back and, while he raised back, his head knocks on something soft. His eyes drifted to fall on your hand, covering the corner of the table, realizing he knocked his head on your hand, instead of the corner of the table.

His heartfelt heavy on your action, of you taking care of him, making sure he didn’t get hurt. Without noticing, his gaze had stayed locked on you, observing every feature of your face. You felt his eyes on you for a while before turning to him and smiling.

“Are you good?” You whispered to him, losing the thread of the conversation with Hob for a second.

“Yes” He nodded, offering you small smile.

He should have thanked you, why couldn’t he say that. And honestly, he waited for you to say something about it. But he looked at you as you just smiled at him, turning back to Hob, returning to your previous conversation. The dog licked his hand, growling slowly.

“Yes boy.” he murmured to him, petting his head.

A gesture that made you smile even more as you saw it from the corner of your eyes.

It was getting dark outside, more people were inside the bar, and the place felt crowded. Dream felt uncomfortable, overwhelmed. Something that didn’t escape you.

“Hob, don’t you have a place nearby? Somewhere less crowded?” You asked him.

“Yeah, we could go to my flat. Are you coming, Morpheus?” He turned to his friend, hoping he would say yes.

Dream nodded, as the two of you were, soon, following Hob to his place. You had arrived quickly, and, as soon as Hob opened the door to his flat, you were amazed by all the books he had, adorning the walls and some organized in pile on the floor.

“Are these all yours?” you asked.

“Yeah, i was a historian teacher before… All of this. I took what i could but, i am missing my masterpiece. "

Your hands roamed over the pile of books as Dream entered the place, scanning it.

“You can take one.” Hob said, cleaning his place, not expecting visitors.

“So cool. By the way, what you wanted to ask me?” Taking the books about World War I.

“It’s about books.”

“Oh, i am in.”

You landed on the couch, sitting roughly before moving again, letting some place for Dream. Hob sat in his armchair, taking a bottle from behind the table.

“I like you Hob Gaddling.” you whispered, making the man crack a smile.

Your eyes fell on the chessboard next to him.

“Do you play?” He asked.

“Yes, love it, i am a monster at this.”

Hob took the chessboard, smiling at Dream.

“I am glad Morpheus took the initiative to introduce us.” Hob said, teasing Dream.

“I am too.” you said, laughing at the situation.

The dog came to sit between your legs as Hob put the pawn on the chessboard, letting you through the book you had borrowed, Dream reading over your shoulder. The place was warmer than the café, and he felt more comfortable as he felt your presence, happy to be around you.

“I propose something.” Hob said.

You lean forward, brushing Dream leg with your arm in the way.

“We play, each time someone loses is pawn hat to take the drink.”

“Good for me.” You said, putting the book at your side, opening the party with a simple move.

Hob were sure to win, he had years and century of experience in the area. But you were good, too good, and he noticed how Dream leaned next to you every time you seemed to take too long.

“Stop giving advice, it isn’t fair.” He complained after you took his horse.

“Why?” he asked, a smile adorning his face.

“Because you’re…” He almost let the information slipped because of the alcohol, stopping in his track as he looked at you.

“It’s fine, she knows.” Dream said, leaning back in the couch.

“She does?”

“Yes, i do” And Hob sights.

“I am your friend for what, like the past 5 hundred years and i just learn who you are. She knows you like, what? A month?” Hob continued, putting his hand over his heart, acting hurt.

“You know what i called that?” You said, acting like you were thinking.

"Oh yeah, i called that favouritism.” You whispered to Dream, and he gave you a small smile in return taking his king.

“You would’ve loose anyway.” Dream commented, looking at the chessboard.

“Yeah, i am too good at this.” Which earned you a grimace from Hob who lean back in his chair.

“I don’t want to play any more.”

The evening passed, rather quickly. You and Hob get along very well, and he even had proposed to come along with you in the mission.

“Y/N, how old were you when it happens?” Hob asked at some point of the night.

“Sixteen. I was in school when it happened, my school got invaded.”

“That must have been horrific.”

“Yeah” You whispered, toying with the dog hairs.

Dream remembered that nightmare you had, one when you were in school, running from the mutant. Killing one.

“I am gonna go to bed, you are free to stay here, obviously.” Hob said, raising from the couch.

“Do you have a cigarette, something like that?” you asked.

He threw you a pack of them, saying to keep it, leaving just Dream and you together. You walked outside, the cold air of the night making you shivers. Dream joined you, looking as you light up the cigarette, putting it between your lips.

“Who was the girl.” He asked.

You didn’t need to look too far to understand what he meant. If he was the god of dreams and nightmare, maybe he had seen yours too.

“She was my best friend, she got bit.”

Dream nodded.

“I saw that nightmare.” he confessed.

“I know, guessed it”

The silence lingered as you remembered that day.

“It didn’t happen, what you saw in that dream.” You confessed to him.

Dream turned to you, waiting for you to open up, not invading your space.

“I didn’t kill her. I couldn’t.”

You turned to the dog, watching him asleep on the carpet, next to the fire place.

“If it weren’t for Oscar, i would’ve died that day. He saved me, getting me out and the others out of the fucking school. She is probably still running around because of me.”

“You shouldn’t feel guilty, you were just a kid.” Dream tried to comfort you, his hands resting on your forearm.

“I know.”

If you had died that day, no one would have saved him.

Another sign of destiny, perhaps.

The morning came quickly, as you packed your stuff in the car, Hob joined you and, to your surprised, Dream too. It made you happy. The dog jumped in the car next to you as you pat his head before he crawled next to Dream.

“Let’s fight some zombies.”

Hello everyone, sorry i am very late to post this. I had a lot of issue in this beginning of 2023 but here i am back and i hope you will be glad to see the adventure, to keep following the story. Happy to return to you guys, hope you had a great reading time.

See you soon!

@angelicwolf98

@freedomsofdream

@octo-octopie

@boofy1998

@lexi-anastasia

@cupcake-de-abacaxi

@xicesam

@carrietrekkie

@darkfairy102190

@adishax

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freedomsofdream · 1 year

Text

never going back again - masterlist

summary: ghost finds himself at the wrong safe house, injured and unable to call for backup

general warning for violence, individual warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter, smut indicated with a *

chpt 01

chpt 02

chpt 03

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freedomsofdream · 1 year

Text

Masterlist : The salvation of humanity.

Synopsis : What if, The creator had chosen to punished Humanity for the Burgess sins. The year is 2029. While the dead walk among the earth, destroying the living, Dream of the endless is still held captured. He was left alone for seven years, as Alex Burgess and his people had left suddenly, Morpheus unaware of what had happened. That was until, after all this time, finally, someone had entered the Burgess's manor. Perhaps this someone will bring back his freedom.

Chapter 1 A walk in Autumn

Chapter 2 The monster in the basement

Chapter 3 A light in the dark

Chapter 4 A new quest

Chapter 5 A way home

Chapter 6 A piece of art

Chapter 7 The end is here

Chapter 8 Crisis of faith

Chapter 9 My friend

Chapter 10 A hope in Hell.

Bonus chapter The last Christmas on Earth

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freedomsofdream · 1 year

Text

The salvation of humanity

Chapter 10 : A hope in hell.

Morpheus x (F) reader

Warning: Burned body, blood and decompostion i guess.

27 November 2029

Morpheus POV

Dream left town, moving away when the rain start to fall, he felt alone, weird it is to be alone after spending long time at someone side. Dream didn’t like that. These sorts of feeling couldn’t be allowed to grow.

He felt like he should return to his realm before going to hell. And he did.

The return of his sand had allowed him and the realm to get strength. In such condition, the Dreaming was rebuilding himself. The library being the first one to get restored. When he arrived, Lucienne was waiting for him in the throne room, ready to tell all the good news.

“Welcome back, my Lord”

“Lucienne, what news do you have for me”

With that, he learned that few of the resident had come back upon the news of the return of their King. The library was rebuilding itself, but the books of the dreamers around the universe remained missing, for now. Slowly but surely the Dreaming was rebuilding.

“Did you found who you were looking for, my Lord?”

That he did. He had found a unique human. A friend even. Now that he thought of it, he remembered the last time someone had said he was looking for a friend, and he had one. This didn’t end well. Perhaps he shall pay a visit to Hob Gadling.

“I did. I must leave now, to retrieve my helmet”

“My Lord, please be careful, you are not fully recovered yet”

“I will” he said, exiting the throne room, Matthew following him.

“You’ve been nice earlier, to them” Matthew commented, referring to Johanna and her, his little human.

“Are you spying on me?” he answered, annoyed.

“Believe me, if i were spying on you, you’d never know it”

“So, what’s our next move?” Matthew continued.

“You will stay here, in the Dreaming”

“Or, hear me out, you could take me with you, and, we’ll never have to have this conversation again.”

“That does sound tempting” Morpheus thought.

“In fact, where i am going, i may have need of you” Morpheus said, kneeling in front of Matthew to be at his size. He had an idea.

“Oh yeah, and where are we going ?”

“Have you not heard while you were spying on me?”

Matthew’s signed a no with his head.

“Hell”

That answer seems to frighten the raven, since he step back, obviously anxious.

“Hell as in Hell-Hell, or were you being metaphorical? Because either way, we should probably check in with Lucienne first, right?” Morpheus had risen from the ground, annoyed by the raven. He was the King of the Dreaming and was perfectly able to take the decision alone. Lucienne had nothing to do with this decision.

“See how she’s feeling about, i’m gonna go out on a limb, which is something birds actually do, and say she will not be in favor of hell-going” The Dream lord wasn’t even listening any more, taking his pouch of sand and using it to travel to Hell.

“But i don’t get the sense you’re listening so, fuck it, let’s go to hell.” Matthew finished while the cloud of sand surrounded them.

In the blink of an eye, they were in hell, watching the damn walked. The realm of Lucifer Morningstar stood before their eyes, a dark place.

“It has many names, Avernus, Tartarus, Hades, the infernal region we call hell” Morpheus explained to Matthew.

“So, hell does exist.” Matthew exclaimed himself, though he wasn’t reassured.

“It does, for some” Dream was thinking of what awaits him.

“Does this mean it doesn’t exist if you don’t believe in it?”

“Did you believe in it? When you were a man” Morpheus asked.

“Yeah, i just didn’t expect hell to be cold”

“So, which way do we go?” Matthew asked, waiting for the order of his boss.

“I suggest we follow the damned” Morpheus said after some time.

“They make you bring your own fire to hell?” Matthew asked, confusion stared in his voice.

They had climb down the mount and were standing in front of the gates while, in front of them, the damned were walking toward hell.

“We’re not sneaking in with them?”

“A king may not enter another monarch’s realm uninvited. There are rules, protocols which must be followed.”

Morpheus walked closer to the gates, finding a gong. He stood in front of it when what appeared to be a burned man stick out his body of the walls, handing him the mallet.

Carefully, he took the mallet in his hand, pulling it out of the damned hands, who release a painful moan as the objects left his hands.

The king of dreams hit the gong with hit, awakening in the process others burned body around the cave. Heavy footsteps could be heard as Morpheus walked closer to the gates, waiting for the demon.

“There’s one at the door, at the gates of damnation. Is it thief, thug or whore? There’s one at the door. And there’s room for one more, until the end of creation” The demon chuckle on his own words.

“Greetings, Squatterbloat. I seek an audience with your sovereign” Morpheus said to the demon.

“And who might you be?” The demon wondered in a growl.

“I am the king of Dreams, ruler of the nightmare realms.”

“Mmh. Yes, my clown. So, where’s your crown?” he said, scoffing.

“Guard your tongue, demon. The ruler of Hell will not be kind to one who insult an honoured guest, and i am a guest in this realm as a monarch of my own.”

“So, where’s your ruby?” the demon asked, mocking.

“Shall i use it to haunt your dreams? And your waking hours too? Or will you open the gates of hell and let us through?” Morpheus threatened.

Dream heard the sound of key and soon, the gates of hell opened in front of him as his threat had worked on the demon.

“Now, take us to the palace.”

Squatterbloats turned his back, opening the way to guide Morpheus and Matthew to the kingdom, repeating his song.

“There’s one at the door, at the gates of damnation”

As they walked through the realm of Hell, Matthew grew more anxious, staying close to Morpheus.

Morpheus had a feeling he would have to face a few things before arriving to Lucifer. After all, he was guided by a demon, they always had idea behind their heads.

They were walking on ashes, the air filled with them. It was barely breathable. Nothing could be seen over a few meters in front of them, nor above their head.

“Any idea where we are?” asked Matthew, trying to sound as brave as possible.

Dream watch around him, taking notice of the place, the trees were covered with body, some of them seem incorporated inside. Lying bones rested on the ground now and then, cracking under their steps.

“The landscape is subject to the whims of the Morningstar” Morpheus answered back.

“The morning star? We have to spend the night in this literally godforsaken…” But Matthew was cut by an amused Morpheus.

“Lucifer Morningstar.” he added.

“As in the Devil?”

“The ruler of Hell is no mere devil” Morpheus corrected the raven.

“So, you two know each other?”

“We’ve known each other for a very long time, when we first met, Lucifer was the angel Samael.”

“Oh, i forgot the devil used to be an angel” in front of them, the figure of Squatterbloats was slowly disappearing.

Morpheus grew concerned.

“Not just any angel. The most beautiful, wisest and most powerful of all angels. Saving only the Creator, Lucifer is, perhaps, the most powerful being there is.”

“More powerful than you?”

“By far, especially now.”

“Why now?” Matthew was still confused.

“The last time i was here, i was an honoured guest. An envoy from my own kingdom. This time i invited myself and i lack my symbols of office.”

“But, you’re still Dream of the Endless, right? You got your sand”

Morpheus stopped. The demon was nowhere to be found.

“What’s wrong?”

“Squatterbloats, he’s gone.”

Matthew was standing on a burned skull when he had an idea.

“Alright, don’t panic, i’m just gonna fly up here and see where we are.” with that said, the raven start taking altitude before returning suddenly to the ground at the sight of the human body in the trees. Morpheus was watching him, carefully.

“Nope, nope, not doing that.”

Groan could be heard as the people up here start waking up from the noise. Morpheus felt something walking behind him, and he heard the familiar groan of Squatterbloats. He turned to the demon.

“This way” he indicated and Morpheus and Matthew started following him once more.

The demon was tricking them, he was sure of it now.

At some point, they started to escalate a colon which were formed by cells. The ground was hard and the passage thin.

Matthew started to grow worried.

“Does this seem to be the way to the palace to you?”

“A demon has a hundred motives for anything he does. All of them malevolent” He explained to his raven.

“Demon” Morpheus called for Squatterbloats.

“This is not the way” He continued, as the demon take a look in the cell before him and, once again, growl as the only answer, smiling mischievously to Morpheus. The demon continued walking, following the paths.

As Morpheus walked in front of the cells, he heard one of his many names.

“Kai’ckul?” A woman shout.

Nada.

“Dream lord?” she asked, and Morpheus seems to shift form to one of his old selves as he turned to her.

“It is you” she sounded relief.

“I greet you, Nada.”

One of his ex-lover.

She repeated his name.

“Kai’ckul, how i’ve prayed for this day”

Squatterbloats looked happy with his plan.

“I knew you would come” She continued and Morpheus felt a bit of remorse. He wasn’t here for her. He wasn’t ready to forgave her, even after all this time.

“It pains me, to see you like this.” he tells her.

Nada was crying at the sight of her lover.

“Then free me, my Lord.” she begged in a small voice.

“Only your forgiveness can free me. Do you not still love me” she continued.

“It has been 10 000 years, Nada.” he answered. Morpheus didn’t love her any more, though he still cared. But seeing her broken face, as he pronounces those words, the tears flowing on her cheeks, he continued.

“Yes, i still love you.” She looked relief and happy at his statement.

“But i have not yet forgiven you” he held the tears in his eyes, walking away from her.

Morpheus’ return to his actual form.

“Come, Matthew.” he called for the raven.

“Kai’ckul, i will not give up hope.” the voice of Nada echoes through the void.

“I will never give up” was the last thing he heard from her past lover.

He had never been lucky in love, his relation always ended up in tears or anger. Perhaps he was the problem. Who could know? Morpheus hated getting attached to people. That was the reason his all mind was telling him to run away from her right away, before he started catching feeling. The little human who had freed him. That woman and her dog. Yet, he couldn’t run away. He even had accepted the fact he needed help, her help. Accepting that, she wouldn’t cause trouble, nor betray him, as he wishes to trust her. She was nice to him yet ruthless with others who had tried to harm him. Morpheus had seen it, the way she shot that man without asking further question.

He had even seen the way she looked at him, even before she finally accepted who he was. The way she looked at him with soft eyes. Attraction.

He had felt it when he found back his sand, allowing him to feel her mind, her thought, her memories. Everything that made her. Y/N. And he felt it. Devotion.

Everything and everyone was pushing him to her. The fate, that old woman in the train, the mutant out here, even himself. But it was forbidden. He couldn’t. Loving a mortal was the worst thing that could happen to him.

It wasn’t too late, she didn’t have romantic feelings for him.

They were close from the Morningstar now. Magnificent steel structure were forming open doors on the way, and crossed. In the sky were some incandescent light, fireball, floating in the air.

“So, that woman back there, anything you wanna share with your friend, Matthew”

“Her name is Nada. She was a ruler of the tribe that called themselves the first people. We were in love.”

“So, what did she do? How’d she end up here?” Matthew dare ask.

“She defied me” Morpheus answered, cold.

“Wait, you put her here?” Matthew asked, surprised.

“The Morningstar is letting me know that hell as prepared for my visit.” He told the raven, avoiding the question.

The demon in front of them stopped.

“Why are we stopping?”

Squatterbloats turned on himself, passing in front of Morpheus and Matthew without further explanation.

“We’re here”

The castle of the Morningstar appeared through the ashes, drawn by the light at the horizon. They started walking on a thin road carved from mountains, getting closer to the castle.

They arrived at the front door, where, in front of them, stood two massive goat statues. The sigil of Lucifer was carved on the walls. The doors opened by themselves, the floor crumbling as blood flowed on the ground, inviting them inside. Matthew flew high, frightened.

Morpheus walked inside, his shoes bathing in the blood puddle, following the path that would lead him to Lucifer.

A hole in the place reveals what looked like the throne room. In front of a massive window stood Lucifer Morningstar, their black wings sprayed in front of the crowd before they close them, turning to Morpheus.

“Hello” the voice of the Morningstar echoes through the walls of the room. The white silky gown they were wearing perfectly contrast with the darkness of the place.

The circular room was decorated with black and white marble, the walls covered with tapestry. The ceiling, made of black stones, was held by giant colon incrusted with gold.

As they walk closer to Morpheus, spreading their hand in the fire at the centre of the room, he noticed Mazikeen, the right hand of Lucifer, standing in the corner, watching.

It was a matter of second before the devil stood in front of him, towering him.

“Hello Dream.”

“Greetings to you Lucifer Morningstar and to you, Mazikeen of the Lillim.”

Mazikeen turned her face to Morpheus, her burned side enlightens by the fire next to her.

“Greetings, Dream Lord.” she said, walking to stood by Lucifer side.

“You look well, Dream. Are you well?” Lucifer asked, hands joint in front of them.

“And your family, Destiny, Death, Despair and the others?” They continued, smiling.

Morpheus smiled.

“I presume the ruler of Hell know this is no social call.” He said.

“Have you come to join forces, then? To ally your realm to ours” they said in a soft voice.

‘To acknowledge the sovereignty of Hell?” They continued.

“You know my feelings on that, Lightbringer.”

“Feelings change.” Lucifer said, smile breaking.

“Especially when one has been caught and imprisoned by mortals. We expected better of you, sweet Morpheus.”

“I have come because my helmet of state was stolen from me. I believe one of your demon has it, i should like it back”

The face of The Morningstar had become less welcoming.

“Now.” Morpheus said pressing, with a graver tone.

“Dream, if only it were that easy. But there are rules, you see. Protocols which must be followed” They said, echoing his word from earlier.

“Which demon has your helmet? Name it, and we will bring it here” they continued as they turned, walking towards the balcony.

“I confess i do not know the name.”

“Then we will have to summon all of them” they said, insisting on the “all”.

As Morpheus followed the Lightbringer, he acknowledged the presence of all demons present, claiming Lucifer. Many of them.

“There now, Dream, you may inquire, which demon has your helmet?” they said in a mocking tone.

“Shall we interview them one at the time? Or…” Lucifer turned to Morpheus, suspending the sentence.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Morpheus walked back inside the room, taking his sand out of his pocket. He didn’t notice the look Lucifer and Mazikeen exchanged.

“It surprises us how easily you would give up, Dream” They said, following Dream inside.

“We know how you relied upon your tools. But tools are the subtlest of traps, we become reliant on them and in their absence we are vulnerable, weak, defenseless.”

“Not entirely”

He kneeled on the ground, pouring the sand on the ground.

“I have recovered my sand. It brought me to Hell and now, it brings that which is mine in Hell, to me”

Lucifer looked concerned, expecting to win by gaining Dream loyalty in exchange for the helmet. Not this time.

As the sand flew around, the figure of a demon appeared, holding Morpheus helmet in his hands.

“Tell me your name, Demon”

“Do i have to tell him.” the demon asked Lucifer.

“That is Choronzon. A duke of hell”

Morpheus looked angry.

“Choronzon, the helmet is mine, you must return it to me.”

“No, it’s mine now. I traded it from a mortal for a paltry thing. It was a fair trade. I’ve broken no laws.”

He came closer to Morpheus, defying him.

“And, if the Dream king wants his helm back, he will have to fight me for it.”

“Very well. I challenge you Choronzon.”

“You know the rules, Dream lord.” the demon said, laughing.

“If i win, you will return my helmet.”

“And if you lose, you’ll serve as my slave in hell for eternity.” Choronzon set the deals.

“I accept the terms.”

“And whom will you choose to represent you in the battle?”

“I shall represent myself.” Dream answered.

Rage was filling Morpheus body.

“Choronzon, whom will you choose to represent you?”

“Hmm, i choose you, sire.” he answered to Lucifer, facing Morpheus.

That was unexpected. Now he would have to confront Lucifer Morningstar himself. And Morpheus didn’t like where it was going.

Lucifer walked behind him in battle clothes, a black leather coat, which, this time, matches their wings.

Morpheus smiled, he would not give up. He turned around, facing Lucifer.

“Apologies Dream, but the laws of hell demand that i become his champion. But, if you would not, fight me” Lucifer said.

Morpheus caught a sight of Choronzon behind him.

“I have accepted the terms” he said, intimidating Choronzon.

As he turned back to Lucifer, he was himself in battle clothes, ready to face the former angel.

The fight was about to begin as Choronzon introduced the participant. Morpheus felt his body filling with anger as Choronzon introduced him as the once ruler of the realm of sleep, before the crowd started boing him.

He knew he had small chances to win, and he walked away from the balcony, walking to Matthew side. He had stopped listening to them.

“The oldest game” he heard from far, and the crowd started cheering.

Morpheus knelt in front of Matthew.

If anything happened to him…

“Matthew, i need you to return to the Dreaming.”

“What? No!” Matthew answered, exclaiming his reprobation. Ain’t no way he would let Morpheus here.

“It’s the only reason i allowed you to come here.”

“So i could leave you?” The raven asked, confused.

“If i should not be able to leave this place, i would not have Lucienne left alone with no words of my fate. Not again.”

“The sand will take you back” He continued, pulling the sand out of his pocket.

“I’m not going back”

Lucifer came closer to them, asking.

“Morpheus, am i interrupting a preliminary about of some kind?” Morpheus rise back, facing the Morningstar.

“Just ringside pep talk, your majesty. We came here for the helm, and we’re not leaving here without it.” Morpheus turned to the raven as he insisted on the “we”, letting his master know he would stay by his side. Dream accepted, putting his sand back in his pocket.

“We shall see”

Matthew flew away, posing himself on the colon, watching over Dream.

Morpheus faced Lucifer, waiting. The thought of his little human crossed his mind for a second. Perhaps it was the last time he had seen her, earlier. Maybe it was for the best, he thought, though is heart didn’t agree.

He had to win.

“As the challenged, i set the meters and take the first move.” Lucifer said, trustful.

“Very well, make your move”

“I am… A dire wolf, prey-stalking, lethal prowler.” The shape of Lucifer turned into a big wolf, ready to strive Morpheus.

“I am a hunter, horse-mounted, wolf stabbing.” an arrow hit the king of hell in the stomach.

“I am a serpent, horse-bitting, poisoned-toothed” on their words, Morpheus started choking on his own breath, feeling the poison moving in all his body, his eyes turning blood-red, his skin grey.

“I am a bird of prey, snake devouring, talons ripping.” Scratches appeared on the Morningstar’s face as they draw their hand over the scratches.

“I am a butcher bacterium, warm life destroying” Morpheus fell on the ground, holding his stomach, feeling extruding pain in his body as is skin rotting.

Matthew crawl, afraid.

“I am a world, space floating, life nurturing” Lucifer and Morpheus were standing in a field, full of flowers and grass, full of animals from the tiniest butterfly, to the majestic deer walking away at the sight of them.

“I am a nova, all exploding, planet-cremating” Lucifer wing opened, and the gentle living world turned into a desert place, burnt down, arid, as the nova burned Dream skin he screamed in pain before falling to the ground.

Morpheus tried to get up, groaning in pain.

“I am a universe, all life encompassing, all life embracing.” A galaxy born to Dream eyes, holding life and molecules. Silence. Warm. They were getting closed to the end, he knew it.

“I am anti-life, the beast of judgment, the dark at the end of everything.”

Morpheus fell on the ground, cold, unable to move. He was losing, he was dying and had no idea what could beat the anti-life.

“What will you be then, Dream lord?” Lucifer was glad, almost sure to win.

Almost.

“I am…” Morpheus repeated, over and over. He couldn’t lose, not after everything he just went through.

Matthew was standing in front of him now, calling for him.

“Boss?”

He didn’t get answers.

“Hey! Boss?”

“Still with us, Dream?” Lucifer asked, knowing the game would stop soon.

“He is, and it’s his move” Matthew said, his voice betraying his anger. “Your majesty” he added.

“There are no more moves. What can survive the anti-life?”

“Hey boss, listen to me, you know what can survive the anti-life? You! Dreams don’t fucking die, not if you believed in them. And i believe Dream of the endless would never leave his raven here, alone in hell with Lucifer” He said the last part in a whisper.

He was right, he had already lost Jessamy. Morpheus couldn’t lose Matthew.

And he thought of it. He remembered the little girl he had told to dream to stop the destruction of a universe. What was her name again? Hope, he remembered. What a funny name for a girl.

Thinking further, Dream thought of her, again, his little human, he thought about what she had told him. About hope. Despite the mutant, fighting and annihilating human, hope, she had said, was the reason her and her people kept fighting. He had hope for her to come to the basement and freed him.

Hope, what an incredible feeling. Hope against the anti-life. He had witnessed it since he was freed and on earth, seeing the mutant. For now, human were winning against destruction.

“I am” He started, rising back from the ground.

“Hope” he wasn’t cold any more, a light flashed through the balcony, enlightening the room.

“Hope” Lucifer murmurs, mirroring Morpheus words in disbelief.

Morpheus had win.

“Well, Lightbringer, it’s your move” he said, a smirk on his face.

“What is it that kills hope?”

“Choronzon, give him his helm” Lucifer shouted to the demon.

“No, i won’t” he answered.

“It’s mine, please” he continued, stepping back as Mazikeen walked to him, a grin on her face.

She took the helm from him, raising his hand against the demon throat before ejecting him back in the crowd as all demons were cheering.

She then walked back to Morpheus, handing him the helm.

“Thank you Mazikeen”

“Thank you, Lightbringer, the ruler of hell is honourable, indeed. I will not forget this.”

“Honourable? You joke, surely” they spite.

Lucifer was angry to be defeated.

Morpheus, who were now standing close to the balcony, saw Lucifer walking toward him.

“Look out there, Morpheus.” They said, pointing out the crowd of demons.

“The billions lords of hell stand arrayed about you. Tell us, why should we let you leave? Helmet or no, you have no power here”

“After all, what power have dreams in Hell?”

“You say i have no power here.” He nodded, “Perhaps you speak truly.”

“But, to say dreams have no power in hell… “ He paused “Tell me, Lucifer Morningstar, what power would Hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream, of heaven?” he asked and Lucifer face changed before they smiled back at him.

Morpheus was about to leave before Lucifer spoke, one more time.

“Shall we bring your little human here, Dream? As a reward.”

Matthew stopped, anxious to saw Y/N being summoned to Hell.

Morpheus felt his stomach dropped to his knees. How could they know? He turned back to Lucifer, his eyes throwing dagger. Lucifer mustn’t hurt her.

He walked closer to them, his gaze threatening.

Perhaps he couldn’t protect her from the beast outside, but he must protect her from them.

“Come on, Dream, did you think, you, walking among the earth with a human, would go unnoticed? Especially while the undead are destroying Earth.”

Morpheus stood in front of them, waiting. If they knew, others probably knew, his sibling must know about her. Desire.

“Even more since you were captured by human”

Morpheus did nothing that would let the Morningstar believed that he cared for her. Though, he was afraid for her safety.

“One day, we shall destroy you, Morpheus.” Lucifer murmured.

He smiled, finally, as the only answer to the provocation of the Morningstar.

“Until that day, Lightbringer.” He said, turning away one last time, walking out of hell, his helmet under his arm, Matthew by his side.

Morpheus was triumphant.

“You think Lucifer will come after you?” Matthew asked.

"Why?”

“Because you just publicly humiliated the ruler of Hell.” He commented. Dream didn’t answer.

“Can you even see, in that thing?”

“I can. I can see the ruby. I can see mutants.” He said to Matthew.

Two days had passed. He needed her help, as mutant were fumbling where he was going. Or, perhaps he just wanted to have her by his side, especially after Hell. He didn’t know, didn’t acknowledge this idea.

It was forbidden.

He needed to find her back, to retrieve the ruby, even if he would have to bring her to another continent.

She didn’t like the way he travelled with the sand, as the first time she almost threw up. It didn’t matter, he wanted to find her. He wanted to have her by his side during this fight.

Meanwhile, a man, the child of Roderick Burgess, was walking his way to find the ruby, still grieving his mother. The same ruby she had stolen long ago from John’s father long ago, which was stolen by him, the one he had modified, so only him could use it. He was heading back to where he had left it, with the help of a very nice woman, frightened by his presence.

John Burgess was ready to change the world.

Hello everyone! Here is the next part, a bit special since it’s from Morpheus POV. I hope it doesn’t disappoint you. I especially hope i get everything right and this type of POV isn’t messed up and it is still a good chapter. Crossed fingers.

Do let me know what’s wrong, i’ll be glad to have critics and advice.

I hope, again, you will love this chapter!

Have a good day!

@angelicwolf98

@freedomsofdream

@octo-octopie

@boofy1998

@lexi-anastasia

@cupcake-de-abacaxi

@xicesam

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freedomsofdream · 1 year

Text

The salvation of humanity

Chapter 9 : My friend

Morpheus x (f) reader

Warning: None

26 November 2029

“I am going to throw up” you said, walking away from Dream.

He had used his sand to travel faster, bringing you close to the wall of your home, warning you, you might feel dizzy.

“I’ll be just fine” you had answered. Yet, there you were, nauseous, about to throw up the least of the food you had in your stomach.

“I warned you” he said, petting the dog.

“Shut up”

The nauseous went away, and you start walking back to your home.

Dream had purposefully brought you close to your city but one hour of walk from it, wanting to let you time to ask what you wanted to ask. But this wasn’t what he had expect.

“Go on, ask your question.” he said, feeling you wanted to say something.

“Did unicorn ever exist?” you kept walking, but he stopped, caught off guard by the question.

“You could have asked me a thousand thing. I just proved you i was, indeed, an Endless, the ruler of the Dreaming and you ask me about unicorn?”

You nodded as the only answer, waiting.

“Yes” he sighted.

“Really?” you asked enthusiast.

“No” he cut you off, lying. Unicorn used to exist.

“That sucks, i wanted them to be real” you sights, disappointed.

“I thought you would be asking different type of question” he said to you.

You had stopped in your way, thinking. There was a lot of question you in your mind.

“I don’t think the kind of question i want to ask are… Good to ask while being out here.” The question you wanted to ask were risky, and you thought it would be better to talk about them in a safer place, more quiet.

“I understand” he said, perfectly aware of what you meant. This wasn’t pleasant questions.

You kept walking, turning slightly in the forest each time.

“This is not your way home” he commented at some point.

“It is, shortcut, come on” you said, running in the forest, away of the road.

He followed you close until you arrived in front of a frozen lake. The days were cold enough for the lake to freeze.

“We need to cross the lake” you told Dream, walking on the ice.

But you slipped on it, falling on your side on the ice. Dream needed to be careful.

“Be careful, don’t fall on the…” you said, getting up, and you stop, seeing him walking on the ice with no trouble. So gracious.

Dream turn toward you with a mocking face.

“You were saying?” he said, teasing you while handing you his arm, so you could steady yourself.

“Shut up” you said, grabbing his upper arm and walking alongside him.

“I didn’t say anything”

“Sure”

You had almost slipped twice after that, Dream catching you every time.

“For God’s sake” you were swearing at this point.

It was night already, you were exhausted, cold. The only thing you needed right away was to get back home. To get back to your family, to be at their side. You wanted to find something to anchor yourself, making sure you weren’t going insane.

It was so cold now. The dog was playing on the ice, slipping on it.

You had finally crossed the lake and let go of Dream arm before swiping the ice off your jeans.

“Thank you, Dream”

“I believe you can call me Morpheus now, don’t you know me enough?” he was walking by your side, following your step out of the forest. At the horizon, he saw light. They were close.

“Mmh… No” you answered, taking a stick and throwing it in the air to the dog. You looked satisfied.

To you, it was Dream, for now.

The walls of the town appeared closely. Soon you were standing at the gates.

“Who is this?” said a voice. You couldn’t recognize it and raised your head towards the gates.

The only things you noticed was someone coming close from the man and smacking the back of his head.

“That’s Y/N you idiot.” he said before waving to the others to open the gates.

The gates swing open and you enter.

“Thank you” you wave at them.

“I’ll get you home, then i’ll leave.” Dream said.

“If you want to leave now, do it, i understand.”

“No, i need to bring you safe. I have been warned” he commented, looking deep in your eyes while nudging your shoulder. He looked in a distance, seeing Oscar coming in your direction, you followed his gaze, and it hit you.

“Wait, are you, Dream of the Endless, scared of Oscar?”

His title sounded heavenly on your lips, Dream thought. He would have love to hear his name on your lips. For a moment, it didn’t matter to him how he would draw out his name from them. But he didn’t allow himself to think further.

“No”

“You so are” you walked to Oscar who were only a few meters in front of you.

“Back home already? Are you two okay?” he asked, concerned.

The original journey would have taken you a week at least and thanks to Dream power you were back here after around 3 days only.

“Yeah, we find what we needed faster than expected” you told him.

“Great. Let head back home, you must be exhausted.” he signed to two of you to follow, but Dream didn’t move.

Dream come closer to you, facing you, looking deeply in your direction. He was hoping he would be back soon. Oscar noticed the way he looked at you, and he understood.

“You’re leaving already, Dream?”

“Yes, i got something to deal with”

You took Dream’s hand, squeezing it.

“Good luck, see you soon”

He nodded.

“See you soon”

And you had to let go of him, moving away from them with the dog. It felt painful, being scared he wouldn’t come back. After all, he was a God and you were just a human. Why would he care?

But it felt painful for him too, not feeling your presence by his side, a presence he had grown accustomed to for the last few days, since his escaped.

“Thank you for bringing her back safe” Oscar told Dream.

“If anything, she is the one who had brought me back safe” Dream commented and Oscar laugh.

“I have no doubt”

Oscar got closer to Dream, patting his shoulder.

“Stay safe, see you around kid” he said before turning around, leaving in the dark.

Oscar knew just by the way they had looked at each other, he would come back. For her.

You returned home, Oscar asking question about your journey. Taking a last look over your shoulder, you saw Dream walking away in the darkness.

“Goodbye my friend” you muttered to yourself, unaware of the fact Dream had totally heard it and felt nice, glad, deep down. Something he would never share out loud.

Hello, happy new year to everyone, may 2023 be a good year for all of you!

Here is a small chapter, i didn’t want to include this part since something special is happening in the next chapter and i didn’t want things to change in the middle of the chapter. Hope you will still love it! Do let me know if something is wrong.

By the way, i started posting the story on AO3, i changed a few things, i include the date especially. If you want to read the story on AO3, i will post later the link to find it.

Have a lovely day and a lovely 2023 year!

PS: The unicorn part is my guilty pleasure. I love unicorn so much, I wish they were real 🦄

@angelicwolf98

@boofy1998

@adishax

@darkfairy102190

@carrietrekkie

@xicesam

@cupcake-de-abacaxi

@lexi-anastasia

@octo-octopie

@freedomsofdream

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freedomsofdream · 1 year

Text

The salvation of humanity

Bonus Chapter : Last Christmas on earth.

Morpheus × (f) reader

Warning: no warning I think.

Be aware, this part happen in a close futur from the previous chapter. It is NOT the next part, but in the coming Christmas of the time line story. This is why some details might be weird at first.

“Would you like to spend Christmas with us? I know you don’t really like it, but you are invited.” you ask out of nowhere, speaking to Dream.

You were hunting when he found you that day. The ground was covered with snow and the cold win over everything.

Dream thought of it. He never spends Christmas with his family or with his realm, never celebrating.

But there he was on the night of the 24 of December, around the table in Oscar’s house, who were sitting next to him. You were sitting in front of him, next to you was Edith. Graham and Elizabeth were next to each other on the other side of the table. Then come Mary, Sam. All the small group you had found before ending up here were reunited as a family. You were the youngest.

Graham had entered earlier the room when he arrived dressed as Santa Claus, saying:

“Let’s celebrate this Christmas as if it were the last.”

That was a tradition. Each time, since it happened and when you found the group, you were celebrating Christmas like it would be the last one. Because, it had been the last one for many of the people you had lost.

The last Christmas on Earth.

Dream was surprised to see some sort of family meeting going so well. Usually, the one he attempted to with his brothers and sisters were chaotic, especially with Desire, always bickering him. This time, everyone was talking, laughing, Oscar and you were making sure to involved Dream in the conversation.

You had spoke with Oscar and let him know Dream had trouble trusting and all, scared of being hurt or anything else. And Oscar had noticed this while eating, seeing Dream wasn’t touching the food. He thought he might be scared of being poisoned. Instead of letting him with an empty plate, Oscar, in all his kindness, started eating, before cutting pieces of his own food, putting those in Dream plate, keeping up the conversation, reassuring Dream in the way. Action he did through all the meal. Literally taking care of him.

Dream looked over Oscar doing his little business, his heart-warming, feeling and knowing the reason of his action. Dream didn’t usually ate but he forced himself to eat a little. Oscar was acting so kindly, being more a father to him than Dream’s dad ever did.

At the end of the meal, everyone moved, taking drinks, talking about random things. You stayed near Dream and Oscar, joining the others turn by turn, not wanting for Dream to feel left out.

You were looking at them, happy. Your godfather acting like a dad to Dream, a being of a million years old. But Oscar had no idea of this. And there they were, talking to each other, like nothing else matter, nor the zombies, nor the fact Dream was more than a god.

After the meal, around 11pm, most of the guest returned to their house except for Graham who decided to take a drink of whisky. You took the bottle with four glasses and start pouring the whisky in them, handing them to Oscar, Graham and Dream, then taking yours.

The fire was on, and you were facing Oscar in front of your old and crappy chessboard, playing. You were crashing him. Years of passion for chess, and after years of learning thanks to Oscar, made you excellent in chess.

He was focused on his next move. You, on the other hand, were annoyed by Graham.

“Should we talk about business right now? On Christmas Eve?” you asked, bored by Graham speaking about the next meeting with one of the other communities about exchange and few issues they had met these past months. Graham, fearing to lose the alliance. Especially now that they had heard of a group of people robbing and devastating communities.

“What do you want to talk about then, minimoys?” he said, mocking you.

Oscar moved his pawn before stating.

“Right, give us a break, we already deal perfectly with the last one anyway.”

You took a look at the chessboard.

“Even if they complain about something, do you truly think they would forget our partnership? They would be the one to lose in the exchange.” you said, moving your horse, taking one of Oscar tower.

“They would be the one in trouble. We didn’t need them anyway.” you continued.

Putting the pawn on the table, you knocked one on the floor.

“Shoot” you said, bending over to take the pieces back.

Dream noticed the way Oscar, still focused on the board, move his hand to cover the corner of the table, so you don’t hit your head on it.

He found it funny, knowing you had done the same with him when you met Hob at the pub, Dream knocking his head against your hand rather than the corner of the table. It was the small things like this that made Dream, realized, how similar Oscar and you were. Probably because he was the one who took care of you the most. After all, you had told Dream your godfather was your hero.

Dream finally retrieving all his power, he was able to see through everyone memories, pain, feelings. If only you could know how much Oscar saw like his own daughter. If only you knew how much you saved his life too.

“Check maths” you said, taking Oscar king.

“Damn it” he said.

“I am always two steps forward” you told him, enjoying your victory.

“Can i play?” Dream asked.

“Yes, i play against you” Oscar said.

Knowing who Dream was, you were sure he knew how to play chess. And you were right, seeing the move he were using.

“Morpheus, you’re excellent at this.” Oscar said.

You went by Oscar side, teaming up with him against Dream. The party was a little more difficult with two brains working against Dream, but he still won in the end.

“Well, fellows, i’ll join my wife now” Graham said, fearing to have to confront one of his friend at chess. He knew he would lose, but he didn’t like that.

“See you tomorrow” he said, taking his Santa Claus coat and leaving the house.

“I would have let him win” you said, which caused Oscar to explode laughing.

“No you wouldn’t” he said.

He was right, Graham losing was a funny thing to see, as long as it were chess.

Now it was just Dream, Oscar and you, none of you were ready to sleep, so you decided to watch a Christmas film. The Grinch.

During the film, Dream lay closer to you, whispering:

“So, this is the Grinch.” referring to the moment you had told him stop being a Grinch.

It was three in the morning, Oscar went to bed, you went to sleep soon after, making sure Dream would be okay for the rest of the night.

“I’ll be here in the morning.” he said.

Now he was alone, sitting on the large sofa, thinking about this night. He had felt safe, around people that were kind to him, especially you and even Oscar, to his surprise. None of is family reunions were like this, this lovely and full of joy to spending time with each other. Yet, once again, he remembered how all of you spent this Christmas as if they were the last together. Just in case.

Dream closed his eyes, lying on the sofa totally. Everything was under control. Here and in the dreaming. He enjoyed the warmth of the fireplace. Dream even thought about getting some rest too. After all, he was safe with you and Oscar, and he didn’t need to be anywhere else or chasing anything.

Dream could sleep if he wanted, just, usually, he didn’t sleep, not wanting to, being too busy, not feeling safe enough.

Tonight was different, and he slowly accepted to drift to sleep, after more than a century, feeling safe enough to do it.

Oscar woke up at five am, walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water. On his way back, he noticed a form, lying on his couch. He came closer to it, noticing it was Dream asleep, peacefully. Oscar was happy to see the man safe enough to just fall asleep like that.

Oscar took the blanket near a chair, covering Dream with it carefully before going back upstairs. He passed in front of your door, opened it, making sure you were fine. You were sleeping peacefully, the dog resting in your arms. Good, everyone was sleeping peacefully, so he returned to his bed.

In the morning, you were the first awake, not aware Dream was sleeping. You went to the living room, taking wood and reviving the fire. Turning to Dream, at your surprise, you saw him, sleeping. You walk closer to him, making sure he was still alive, having no idea he could sleep, he never slept. The blanket over him had moved, you replaced it before leaving outside with a big coat, still in your Christmas pyjamas. The dog ran outside, playing in the snow that covered the grass and every inch of the garden and the city.

The dog was playing, fetching the snowflakes that melt directly once he caught them and, rolling over in the snow.

Soon, Dream joined you outside, the blanket over his shoulder.

“Morning sleeping beauty. Didn’t know the Dream lord could sleep.” you said, teasing him.

He was close to you, arms almost touching.

“I can sleep, i just don’t really need it” he said, contemplating the dog running crazy over the snowflakes.

“Did you cover me, with the blanket?” he asked.

“No, you already had it over you, i just replaced it.” you answered, looking at him.

“Mmh” he muttered confused.

But you knew. If Dream didn’t take the blanket himself, you knew who covered him. Oscar.

“Good morning kids, Merry Christmas.” Oscar said, opening the front door. You loved the way he referred to Dream as “kid”.

“Merry Christmas” you and Dream said at the same time. Though, your voice sounded more excited.

In front of you, the dog had sniffed a snowflake and was sneezing, growling unhappy before running behind you.

Your little crew went inside, taking morning breakfast before opening the present. The Christmas tree had now present under it.

All tree of you moved and Oscar was the first to open his gifts.

“I have no doubt from who they are” he said, mocking you and how awful the present were wrapped. You mimic a forced laugh.

He opened the first one, a black coat, perfect for the winter, and keep going to run supplies. The second one, contain a rifle, one of these use for hunting. He seemed to love this one very much. Finally, the last one. Oscar opened it and find inside a new chessboard in better condition than the one they had. He started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” you asked, vexed.

Dream knew what had happened and barely contain a smile on his lips.

“Open this one” Oscar said, handing you a present on the floor. Perfectly wrap. Oscar somehow was good for wrapping presents.

And you did, only to find inside another new chessboard. Dream let out a small laugh and, though you were surprised by him, you start laughing too.

“Oh, i get it” you said.

Dream had noticed all evening and even few days prior how similar you and Oscar were, to the point you thought about the same gifts for each other.

“I thought of how much you loved playing chess and how our chessboard is like, an ancestor.” Oscar confessed.

You looked at him, shocked.

“I thought the same for you!” you said, referring to how much Oscar liked to play. And you laugh together.

But Dream had noticed the hidden meaning behind the chessboard. You and Oscar both liked chess because you two like to spend time together. Playing chess together, for example.

You open the remaining gifts. One contains the compilation of “Modern family” and a dagger. Oh you loved Modern Family. You opened the last one, a soft and squishy gift.

“Oh, a teddy bear” you said, as you noticed the head of it while opening the gift.

“I love it” you said, holding the teddy bear against you. Oscar laugh softly, happy you liked his gifts.

Under the Christmas tree, remain a last gift, perfectly wrap. Oscar and you exchange a look before turning to Dream, who was now confused. You took the gift, walked to Dream who was sitting on the couch and handed him the present.

“This is for me?” he asked, hesitant to take the gift in his hand

“Yes, you spend Christmas with us after all” Oscar said, sitting on his sofa.

“Christmas isn’t about gifts. But it is still nice to have one” you said, nudging him in the shoulder.

And he opened the present, unwrapping carefully the paper. He found a small box and opened it, revealing inside a silver coin. Dream took the coin in his hand, admiring it before flipping it on the other side. This side, was engraved in the silver, an old oak tree. He recognized the sigil of your group and town, the one inspired by the old oak tree in the very middle of the city.

“This one is from both of us. It’s not a lot. Y/N told me you weren’t part of any group.” Oscar said, watching Dream.

Dream knew the meaning of it. Oscar moved, putting his elbow on his knee, his hand joined.

“You don’t have to stay here, not always. Look, Y/N always travels even if it’s a little different” he said, mentioning you. Of course, it was different, you were his kid, Oscar thought, if anyone were to question her place, he would kick their ass. But he didn’t say that. Perhaps Oscar was too scared to say out loud he considered you like his kid, scared of your reaction, scared of the realization of this.

“It just means you are part of our group, and we trust you. Whenever you need, whatever you need, you will always be welcome here.” He continued.

Dream was touched by the gesture. He was welcomed into a family very different from his, only this time, he didn’t have to prove himself.

“Thank you” he said, his eyes glued to the coin before turning to Oscar.

“But i didn’t bring gift for you” he said, feeling like he should have brought something now.

“That’s alright” Oscar said, standing up from his place.

Oscar walked closer to Dream, putting his hand on Dream shoulder and leaning on him.

“It’s for bringing my kid home every time.” he said, in a whisper for only Dream to hear.

“Come on kids, let’s get ready for today’s dinner” he said, moving upstairs to let the two of you some space.

You were still watching Dream while he admired the coin.

“Where did you find the silver?” he asked, perfectly aware that silver or gold wasn’t the kind of thing people find easily nowadays.

“The tradition want that the person who bring the new one here and welcome it, gave a piece of something to make the coin. I used one of my rings and Oscar gave a piece too from his old bracelet.” you answered.

He had hate humanity for what they did to him, his realm, their own world. He had hated you for being part of humanity, getting mixed feeling every time you were around him. Today, two human had welcomed him, showing him he was safe and could ask and accept help without feeling guilty or expecting something in return. A part of humanity had taken him in their family, giving a piece of themselves for him.

“I like it” he said, tidying the coin in the pocket of his coat.

Matthew made his entry, making sure no one else beside the two of you could hear him.

“Do i get any present as the favourite raven?” he said. You laugh before going to the kitchen, getting a hot dog homemade.

Meanwhile, Matthew asked Dream while you were gone:

“Did you gave her the present?”

Dream turned over your figure, watching making the hot dog for Matthew.

“I did not.” he said, answering to his raven. Matthew’s sight obviously annoyed.

But he didn’t get the time to speak further, as you arrived with the hot dog in your hands.

“Merry Christmas, Matthew.” you said.

“That’s some nice manner, thank you” he said, the dog come closer to him, sniffing the hot dog. Matthew was quick to take it back, away from the dog, before trying to scare him away. An action the dog didn’t like, growling at him.

“Come here.” you said to him. He sat close to your leg, and you pet him, distracting him from Matthew teasing him.

“I am going to take a shower and get ready for the Christmas dinner, you, should do the same.” you said to Dream exiting the leaving room with the dog.

Later that day, all the town were reunited, enjoying Christmas together. Everything was fine. You had put antlers on the dog head, and he was parading around, proud.

Time passed by quickly, it was evening, and you had backup away a little from the party, letting Dream speak with everyone, especially some young lady that find herself glued to him. You didn’t like her.

You were at the edges of the town on the walls protecting the city from outside. Soon you were joined by Dream.

“Didn’t take me long to find you this time” he said, mocking you.

“What? You’re going to use your power every time to find me?” you asked.

“If i need, yes.” he said, sitting next to you.

“It’s a pretty night” he said, cutting the silenced between you two.

He knew you felt jealous over that woman, as he had forgotten her name already. Dream rules over the Dreaming and every thought. He had already guessed.

He had even started guessing something else, though he didn’t like this thought.

It would never end well.

“Yep” you said.

He reached out in his pocket, taking your gift before handing it to you. You looked at him, confused.

“Your Christmas gift.” he said, almost shy.

“Why?” you asked.

“Because it’s Christmas. And, to thank you” he said.

You opened the black box, carefully, unwrapping the red knot.

Inside you find a necklace with a small red crystal. Probably a ruby. The crystal was rough, like it had been shattered.

“It’s a part of my ruby” he said.

Dream had made the necklace for you, using his old ruby. It would protect you from any harm from his sibling or from any other creation and mystical being. He didn’t say that to you. In a way, it was his way to protect you, to keep you safe.

Dream moved behind you, the jewel in his hand, carefully dropping it around your neck and closing the clasp.

“Perfect” he said. He had no doubt it was perfect on you.

You took the shattered ruby in your hand, admiring the beauty coming from it.

“Thank you, Dream.” you said.

“You are very welcome, my little dream” he said, sitting back next to you.

He knew the way he acted wouldn’t help for your feelings. But, right now, it didn’t matter. It felt right, and you had stayed by his side the most.

This would bring him sorrow.

You sat next to each other for a while. He took your hands carefully in his and kept looking at the sky.

Dream felt safe with you. He had never felt this kind of safety before. He knew you would keep him safe and gave him solace like right now. Dream could let go of everything with you, being vulnerable with you without fearing the outcome. After all, you had seen him at his lowest.

“I trust you” he said to you, as a prayer for the night.

Merry christmas Eve and Merry Christmas !!!

God, I have been running around anxious to finish the previous chapter posted yesterday and this special part for Christmas. I love it and hope you will love it too, I really wanted to give something for Christmas so here it is🎄

I will do a timeline of the story when I can !

If you have any suggestion to improve the story, any thought I will gladly take them. Meanwhile, enjoy this part and see you soon!

Love you all!🤎

@angelicwolf98 (Hope your doing better for Christmas !)

@boofy1998

@adishax

@darkfairy102190

@carrietrekkie

@xicesam

@cupcake-de-abacaxi

@lexi-anastasia

@octo-octopie

@freedomsofdream

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freedomsofdream · 2 years

Text

The salvation of humanity

Chapter 7: The end is here.

Morpheus x f reader

Warning: dead body, little bit of angst, zombie, swearing, mention of religion and faith, violence, the dog being a good dog as usual, anxiety and claustrophobia, flirt.

Summary: Morpheus and reader arrived at Oxford and cross the town to arrived at the Pacifier.

You were at the entry of Oxford, only trouble, to catch the pacifier you had to cross the entire town, probably full of zombies and mutant. If you circle around the place, you will lose some precious time. And, right now, you needed to act fast to catch the train in the afternoon, technically in two hours if it were still working.

The most complicated part would be once you arrived near the train station, considering the noise, they might be many creatures around.

You turn to Dream and the dog who were sitting beside him.

“We are going to cross the town, stay beside me and do as i say, alright?” you told Dream, walking closer to him.

“I am not fund of getting order, but alright.” he said, and you roll your eyes, a small smile drawing on your lips.

And you enter the town. Carefully, as quiet as possible. Your gun in your hand, ready if anything happen.

The best option were, surely, not to draw anyone attention, in that way, you would avoid using munition for no real reason. To only use them on last resort.

The streets were mostly empty, the town seems to be falling apart, trees and plants growing over the road and taking its place inside the buildings. The Christmas decoration from before the fall still remain, some falling over the streets of Oxford, other still hanging proudly, only disturb by vegetation.

Turning on the corner of one street, you noticed a crowd of mutants and zombies. You grabbed Dream coat, pushing him slightly over the wall to hide the two of you from the monsters. You squat down and let Dream know to mirror your action.

The streets were blocked by them, you needed to find a solution to get all of you out of here.

Think. Think, you thought.

At the other side of the street, you saw a door open leading inside a building. Now, this was the best option. Turning slowly to Dream, you pointed the door to him, and he looked in the direction, evaluating the danger too. He nodded.

You took off your backpack, giving it to Dream, handing him one of the guns too.

“Cover me.” You told him in a whisper.

Dream wasn’t happy by your plan, especially as he saw you crouching slowly toward the door, crossing the streets full of monsters. He had a gun in his hands to protect you, but he never used one of those, never had too with his magic.

The dog was sitting next to him, waiting for a signal. Dream came closer to the edge of the walls, monitoring the movement of the crowd.

He thought you were insane.

You were getting closer to the door and start running to it, hoping it were empty. Standing against the walls, you take the guns in your hand, aiming with it before opening the door totally and entering inside, making sure your partners would be safe. And you walk closely inside the long corridors. It was really dark but no sound, no monster to be seen, it would be good enough. You walk back to where you came from, opening the door.

Stepping on the edges of the street, you sign them to come, and the dog were the first to run in your direction. Dream follow closely while you kept an eye on the herd. Once he arrived by your side, ducking by your side.

“Go first, it’s safe.” you told him in a whisper.

Dream moved inside the corridors and wait for you inside, wondering if it were the best idea to follow what you told him. Soon, he was joined by the dog and his fear fall away as he knew you wouldn’t let your loyal companion in danger.

“Good boy” he told the dog, petting his head.

He started to get anxious, not seeing you coming back. What if something had happened to you?

You walk inside a few minutes later, running, before blocking the door with a chain. On the other side of the door, the crashing sound of bodies bumping in the door could be heard. Then you turn your torch on and walk toward them promptly.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, moving closer to you, grabbing your arm as you walked past him.

He looked at you, his voice sound worried.

“No, i am fine, come now we got to move.” you told him, hoping the chain while retain the door, the time they calm down.

You grabbed the sleeve of his coat and tugged on it, silently urging him to move forward, before letting go of it. But, the thing you weren’t expecting was for him to grab your hand and keep a hold on it while the two of you walked in the dark corridor, as you led him through the dark.

The path was only enlightened by the torch, with every step you took, you sink closer to darkness. Then, a door appears, and as you let go of Dream’s hand he felt anger, he had to fight the urge to take your hand back, to pull you behind him and protect you. But he had no idea on how to protect you right now, to keep you safe from everything. He couldn’t do it without his magic.

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to protect a human. Every nice thought of you, all of your actions toward him collide against those horrible thoughts he had to punish humanity for humiliating him, for destroying his realm, his work. The thing he had to do, to take back, to have a slight amount of power. Not even enough.

Every time Dream let himself sooth by your presence, he felt his mind repressing those ideas, and he felt even more angry at human. He literally felt ripped apart.

His siblings were probably laughing at him.

The mind of the anthropomorphic being, was fighting those opposite when he heard your voice taking him out of his trans.

“Stay behind me.” You told him.

Taking your gun in your hand, you raised it slowly before opening the door.

You were struck by light and took a step back, hitting Dream chest.

“Sorry” you said and moved forward, stepping in the light.

A few steps lead you to the side of a gigantic room. You stopped there, looking for any noises, any movement that could tell you if someone was there. The place seems empty, and you move closer, warm light shaping into different colours, reflecting on the paved ground covered with dust.

You turn yourself, observing around. The roof was tall, all along the place stood magnificent and untouched stained glasses. At your right, you noticed an altar overlooking benches.

You stood in the fucking cathedral of Oxford. Of course, the irony of the situation would lead you to a church, with a so-called God from his saying, in a sacred place. Taking a look at Dream, you saw him, walking behind you, admiring the place as well.

You moved closer to the altar, watching as the statue, the ground, everything that surrounded the place remain intact. The only disturbance was the dust covering everything. You walk closer to one of the benches and sat there, letting the adrenaline drop. On the table, remain a book filled with dirt. You pat the cover of it to remove the dust before flipping the pages and looking at the cover.

“Holy bible” you read, your voice echoing against the walls.

Dream turned to you, seeking for your place as he heard your voice. Once he noticed you, he came closer to you.

You open the bible and fall on a random extract.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:1” you read out loud before sighting.

You throw the book across the alley, feeling immediately remorse from your action. Dream was facing you and looked at you. He looked pleased.

“I like this place” he said, in a low voice.

You rolled your eyes, standing up from your place.

“Of course you do, God” you respond, emphasizing on the “god”.

You walked around the place to search the best place to go out. If you had more time, you would have stayed a little longer, your bitterness toward a non-existent god doesn’t change the way you loved to admire this kind of places. To you, before everything, you learn to see God in all his work and all its religion. In everything. That why you used to love studying all religion and from all believer. Used to.

Why does your dad had to teach you about religion and let you believe in them before he died?

What was the point now?

Dream was unable to see through you as he wanted, to know all about you, to understand you. Despite all that, being in here and being with you in general, he could feel your mixed feeling about religion, an ancient believer. He felt just well the old belief you used to have, the old prayer you used to say out loud, crying for help. Dream could almost get the glimpse of a little girl, praying to the God of Dream to take her nightmare away, or praying for her life to be just a nightmare. But you lose faith years ago, and he knew the aching pain in your heart from this loss.

“Dream, come over here.” you called out for him, trying to open the door to go outside. It seems stuck.

He came next to you, trying to push the door as well.

But, after many tries, the door remains still.

“We should try something else.” he said.

“Agree”

That the moment the dog decided to show up, with a rotten arm in his mouth before dropping it at your feet. He had bring that out of nowhere.

“Ew, where did you get that.” you whispered, sitting beside him, touching the arm.

It was cold.

“Oh, thank God it’s cold” you said in relief.

“You’re welcome.” Dream murmurs in your ear.

You turned to him, raising your eyebrow.

“Really?” You asked.

And he gave you a small smile, a mocking one.

“Continue like that and i swear i use this arm to hit you in the face, i’ve touch worse before.” you said, hiding the laugh you retain.

Then you saw it. A hidden staircase. Leading directly to the second floor. The raven stood next to it.

“I believe Matthew want us to follow him” he said, looking at his raven.

But you were looking at Dream, his pretty features lighten by the coloured stained glasses. Damn, you could almost believe he was a God. Then, awaiting your answer that didn’t come, he turned to you crossing your gaze. You nodded.

“Yeah, let’s go.” you answered, almost shy.

You walk toward the stairs, climbing it. There was the organ of the church and a bunch of smaller windows. You succeed in opening one of them and step outside, walking on the lower roof of the cathedral.

Taking a look at the streets, you noticed they were empty on this side. You jump from the roof, taking caution on the reception, and grab one of the large dustbin outside, positioning it near the wall of the cathedral so Dream and the dog could go down.

“Come on” you said in a whisper.

The dog jump off the roof and land on the dustbin before jumping on you, crashing in your arms.

“Yeah, good boy” you told him before letting go of him. He is quite heavy.

Dream jump soon after and land on the dustbin before climbing down on the floor in the gracious way you ever see. He swiped the dust out of his jean with his hand and walk toward you.

“What do we do now?” he asked, watching around.

“Let’s keep going, we have lost enough time.”

And you keep going, waking through the town, avoiding as much of the monsters as possible. For now, everything was fine, and you quickly arrived at the centre of the town.

There, the streets were empty. You stopped, evaluating the best road to take when you heard Dream.

“What is this?” he said, looking at a giant fir, deprived of all its thorn. It looked dead and burnt.

You came closer to Dream and look at the gigantic tree. It was full of old garland, and old light despise the lack of thorn.

“It’s a Christmas tree” you said.

“A very dead one.” you continued.

Dream never understood the excitement human felt at Christmas. And those decorations were really different from those he used to see before.

“It was Christmas when it happened?” he asked.

You looked at him, hoping for him to know the answer.

“It was close, yes, maybe a few days or weeks. I don’t remember exactly.” you answered.

You didn’t want to ask the question. He got to remembered.

“Do you like Christmas?” he asked this time.

Dream would usually know this answer, but, with his realm destroyed, his object and powers gone, he couldn’t.

“Yes, i love Christmas, favourite time of the year.” you admit. And soon, it would be Christmas.

Once again, you tug on his coat, hurrying him to move. He followed you closely. The sky was grey, it was only a matter of times now for the next rain to fall.

Finally, you arrived near the train station. Walking slowly toward the gates of the station, you opened them carefully, making sure it was clear. And it was. Which mean, someone was cleaning it. A good sign… You hoped.

The place was empty, but it wasn’t a surprised, who would risk taking this train and walking inside such big city totally infected.

“Before we get inside, you need to know the rules.” you told Dream as you walk by the corridors, looking for the right sign.

Dream was by your side now, walking next to you, keeping you close to him.

“First, no violence inside. It’s called the pacifier for a reason. But, not everyone followed those rules. That’s why i gave you another rules, avoid as much people inside as possible.”

You found the sign and took the stairs leading under the ground.

“Last one, if anything goes wrong, we get the hell out of it, or we hide. We can’t get involved if anything goes bad.”

“Alright” he said.

You arrived at the station platform and crossed two guards. They pointed their guns to you.

“Do like me” you told Dream before raising your hand.

You walk toward them slowly.

“Y/N is that you?” a woman voice say. She pulled her mask off from his face, and you recognized her.

“Berangère?” you asked, happy to see your friend.

You walked toward her, your hand dropping.

“It’s me, long time no see. “ She said, walking closely to you.

You heard a long groan and turned to the dog who was sitting but could barely contain his excitement, bumping the floor with his paw, his butt and tail wiggling.

“Go” you told him, and he ran to her, happy to see a friend and get a cuddle.

“What are you doing here?” you asked, surprise to see her here and not at her refuge camp.

“Working mostly.” she said. Berangère then turn to her companion.

“This is Simon. We work together here.”

“Simon, this is Y/N” she continued, and you extend your hand to shake is.

“Nice to meet you.” You said, but he cut you before you could introduce Dream.

“Y/N like the one who travel and bring every group supplies?” the man asked.

“Yes, i guess it’s me” you answer, patting the back of your head. Embarrassing.

Dream was by your side suddenly, imposing himself in front of the man.

“This is Dream.” you said to Berangère.

Dream wasn’t exactly pleased by the meeting, not exactly trusting the outcome.

“Dream?” Berangère asked and he answers soon after.

“You can call me Morpheus, that’s my name” he said, and you rolled your eyes.

“Right, so you two are travelling together” Berangère said winking at you, and you pinched the bridge of your nose at her insinuation.

“We are” Dream answered before you could say anything.

Berangère had moved next to you, dodging your shoulder with a smirk on her face.

“He’s definitely your type” she said, whispering in your ears.

“Perhaps we could speak about Simon?” you answered, teasing her back. You crossed your arms in front of your chest, and she took her gun against her, holding it tightly.

The two of you lands eyes on the two men. They were clearly looking up and down at each other, Dream towering him from his height. In all honesty, they could start fighting, you wouldn’t even be surprised.

“So, what are you two doing?” she asked, hypnotized by the scene in front of her.

“I am taking him near Liverpool”

“Waou, that’s like far from where you used to travel.”

“I know, but look at him. So pretty.” you said, omitting the part where he had no idea the hell was going on and how lost he seems to be sometime, only wanting to help him.

“Morpheus” she repeated Dream name, thinking.

“That’s sound like a name of a God. Oh no, the guy from matrix”

You turned your gaze to her, surprised that she didn’t know a thing about mythologies.

“Yes, because in Greek mythologies he is the God associated to sleep and Dream.” you said.

She said a “ah” before turning again to the two men. Dream had lightly turned to you and were watching you in the corner of his eyes. Little did you know, he had heard everything and was perfectly aware of your knowledge in the matter. You knew mythology, but didn’t want to believe he was this actual “God”.

“We are here to guard the gate of the station for the Pacifier and make sure the really few passengers are safe, just promised me the two of you are no threat and will be nice and i let you pass.” She said after a long silence.

“We are, i promised.”

She nodded, muttering a small “good” before walking closer to his companion.

“They are safe, they can go.” she said.

“See you around” you said to your friend, passing the gates.

You start walking away before hearing your friend’s voice again.

“Y/N, by the way, Edgar he wanted to contact you, i think he has a job for you”

“I’ll come by then, told him i will meet him at “the new inn” pub as soon as possible” you said, and she smiled at you, giving you her thumbs up before sending you a kiss with her hand, waving a goodbye.

And you walked away, a huge smile on your lips. You looked at Dream, but he seems to be all moody and tensed.

“What’s wrong with you?” you asked.

But he didn’t answer. Truth his, he despised being unable to understand human motive. Dream couldn’t guess what those people had done if the woman wasn’t your friend. Perhaps you would be dead by now. He hated being unable to understand your motive. Most of all, he hated you calling him Dream.

“Fine, give me silence treatment.” you said.

You turn to a corner and stopped on your steps. There it was. The Pacifier.

You walk toward the train. It was ancient, creepy, cover in rust, it felt unreal. The smoke of the train lost itself on the wind, the smell of coal filling the air around. At the side of the train, written in bright red, you could read the next word:

“The end is here” read Dream.

Finally, you entered the Pacifier, goosebump on your skin. Most of the train was empty. The train was composed with private cabin and common seats and space. You find a place on one of the private cabin and sat there, join by Dream and the dog who moved to the window, looking outside. You laid your legs on the bench and rest your head on the backpack you had put against the window.

The train start moving after some minutes.

During the ride, you take a look at Dream, you saw him still tensed, sitting at the edges of his seat.

“Come on Dream, we are almost done with it, crack a smile.”

The only thing you got from him was an angered look. But this time it pissed you off. You sat back and look at him, so he could get the message.

“I don’t know what i have done to you, but it really gets on my nerves. If you have a problem with me, tell me, one time you’re all nice and almost funny and ten minute later you’re all mean and cold. I am done getting mixed signals. I get you have trust issue, but i’ve done nothing to you from what i know, so stop spending all your anger or resentment on me.” you spilled out.

Even now, he stayed silently, looking at you with blank eyes.

“Fine” you said, seeing he wouldn’t answer.

You exit the cabin, closing the glass door behind you walking in the train corridor, the dog on your steps.

Dream knew you were right. He noticed his chaotic thought about you and had tried to fight against them, unsuccessfully. Of course, he understood how lost you probably felt. At least you were honest and wanted him to be honest with you.

Suddenly, he felt oppressed. Maybe it was the lack of your presence. Perhaps it was the tiny space he was locked in. Once again. An Endless couldn’t felt claustrophobic, it would be a stupid fear. He fought against the need to open the door, to get himself out of here. To fought against the anxiety he felt.

Dream closed his eyes, thinking about his realm but soon, he found himself in this dark basement, in this cage. He rose to his feet and exit the place, taking your backpack with him.

The time you had left Dream alone, you had joined a public area. There, they were a man in front of you, he looked awful, sick and crazy. Then, there was this old lady, sitting on the bench at the other side of the wagon. She looked sweet. You thought the place would stay quiet, but the man crossed the wagon, getting closer to you stopping in front of you, muttering words you couldn’t comprehend. The dog moved, showing his teeth, and the man quickly walked past you and the dog. You pat his head, watching after the man.

Dream had entered the wagon and noticed you directly. He came closer to you, following your gaze to the other side of the wagon, where the suspicious man stood.

The man got closer to the old lady, stumbling on his feet, and he pulled something out of his pocket. That’s when you decide to move from your seat. You crossed Dream gaze.

“Stay here” you told him.

Then, you get closer to this man, closely, unsure of his action. He grabbed the woman by the wrist, pulling her to her feet, and you moved closer. You grabbed him by the back of his shirt to face him before placing him against one of the train walls, your upper arm against the lower part of his throat, your left hand around his wrist. He lost his knife in the action.

The dog come closer, growling at him.

“Leave her alone, you’re not supposed to hurt anyone her, do you get it?” you said.

The guy nodded multiple time, and you let go of him.

“Good, go find yourself another wagon now.”

He got his knife before running away in fear.

You were about to walk away when the old lady grabbed your hand.

“Thank you young lady, please, let me reward you with a fortune reading.” she said, taking your right hand in front of her and looking at it, tracing the marks on your palm.

“You don’t have too, really.”

“Shh, sweet gifted child” she said.

“Oh, Destiny really didn’t spare you, your life is full of pain and losses, some are yet to come. But…” She said, tracing another one of the line in your hand.

“Your life is so precious, full of happiness, full of hope. The hope of humanity!” she continued. You sat down in front of her, listening to her saying.

Dream looked at you and the old lady as he heard those word, the same as the fate used. “The hope of humanity”. Plus, this old lady seems awkwardly familiar. He decided to come closer to you.

The woman traces then a line on your hand that look like a “M”.

“Waou, interesting, yes, very interesting here look my child.” she said.

“This, little dove, is really rare. You have Morpheus marks on your skin. You are bounded to the Dream realm.” she said in whisper for only you to hear.

She let go of your hand as soon as Dream came by your side, and you stood on your feet.

“My lord” she said to Dream, lightly bowing her head.

What was happening, you thought for yourself. Dream referred to himself as the God of dream, Morpheus, and that woman were saying you had Morpheus mark on your skin?

Dream on the other hand couldn’t remember her name. The world was full of the soul his sister had let to wondering to help human. Guardians.

“Thank you for this reading.” you told the woman.

“The pleasure is all mine”

Dream looked at you walking away at the other side of the wagon. He, then, turned to the woman.

She was standing up in front of him.

“Lord Morpheus, i’m glad to know you’re free from the Burgess family and, in good company” she said, looking at you.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, in a cold tone.

“Telling good fortune to people. And you are looking for your Sand” she tried to reach for Dream hand, but he back up from her touch.

The woman sat back, still looking at him.

“Danger and complot surround you, my lord, but fear no more. You are travelling with a brave and loyal soul. You can rely on her, my king”

Dream start walking away but was cut again by the voice of the old lady.

“Your future is dark and uncertain. She would be the key if you let her.”

He turned to her.

“Yes. Like Calliope was supposed to be” he said before joining you at the other side of the wagon.

He sat on one of the benches, and you were leaning against the walls of the train. When you turned your head to the woman, she was gone.

You turned your gaze to Dream and saw him sitting, eye closed, resting his eyes.

“Dream.” you called, and he looked at you.

“I get that you have trouble trusting anyone after what probably happen to you. Just…” you paused.

“I know saying i wouldn’t do anything to you won’t change the trouble. Just know, i am here to help you, as long as you need my help. I won’t hurt you or betrayed you. I won’t abandon you”

Dream could feel sincerity in your voice.

“If i did anything that made you believe otherwise, i’m sorry.”

“It’s not you, but you’re right, i do have trouble trusting” he said, and you nodded.

I tried, was the words he wanted to say, to keep being honest with you. But he didn’t. Humans are not good. Dream thought about Roderick Burgess, trapping him, holding him captive for years for his own benefit. Then his son, Alex, killing Jessamy, taking his father legacy, holding Dream captive for years and years.

And soon, as the wall of the train seems to close around him, he remembered all this time, trapped in the glass bowl. He wished to open to you, but you weren’t even believing who he truly were. He remembered how lonely he felt, the sensory depravation he felt washed over him once again. Anxiety run in his body and mind, letting him remembered how it was to feel nothing, to touch nothing but the same glass of the train, to touch no being like right now. Unconsciously, he was aching for touched, he has the need to be held once again, to felt contact against him.

For something to remind him, he was safe and away from the Burgess, from the fishbowl he was stuck in, the dark he was kept in.

The dog seems to noticed Dream distress, and he moved closer to him, sitting in front of him, muffling his wet nose against Dream hand, licking his hands, leading him out of his trans. Dream open his eyes on the dog and started petting him. He focused on the sensation of the dog fur, his heartbeat, the sweetness of his kisses against his hands.

Then, his little human was walking to him. You came to sit by his side. Your thigh touching his. He could feel the warmth of your body against his.

He was out of here, out of the basement. Dream was safe, he felt safe with you and the dog, remembering he could feel, touched, hold thing.

He was out of there. Out of this hell.

The rest of the train ride was quiet. It took 3 hours to get to Liverpool, when you stepped outside the train, it was almost dark. Thankfully, the train station was near the place of the magician. And you and Dream decided on common idea to go already and get familiar with the place.

What an awful surprised you found when, after 3 days almost of travels, the place full of mutant.

“No, no, no, fuck” you said, ducking down behind a car not too far from the place now filled with monsters.

Dream moved to you, ducking behind the car. The plan had failed.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but we can’t stay here.”

You moved back on your step, searching for a safe place for the night, to think of a plan.

Little did the two of you know, a few blocks away, an elegant woman with a white coat were walking down the pavement after a long day hunting demon.

“Johanna Constantine” the old lady called her.

Johanna turned to face her, walking closer to the woman.

“Look at you, all done up” she continued.

“What are you doing here, Hettie?” Johanna asked.

“Same as you, i expect. He’s coming.” Hettie answered.

“Who?”

“Well, you know who. Morpheus. The oneiromancer. You know, the Sandman, he’s back.”

“The Sandman? The one who put the kids to sleep?” Johanna asked mockingly.

“ He’s a fairy story, Hettie.” she continued.

“He’s no fairy story, missy. He’s back, and he wants his sand.” Hettie said, urging Johanna.

“Good to know, i’m done working for the day.” Johanna said, turning away from Hettie.

“You’ll see. I know. I am 280 years old and i know.” Hettie said, raising her voice to Johanna to pierce the night sky.

Meanwhile, Dream and you had decided to split up to search the small area.

Johanna were walking away when she heard footstep, she hides behind one of the pillar. Taking a look at the direction, she saw a tall man, all dressed in black, walking with a raven at his side. She walked beside him and raised her gun to his head.

“Turn around and no Sharpe move or i’ll shoot.” she said to Dream.

He did and, once he turned around, he recognized an old face from century ago.

“Constantine.” he said in a calm voice despite the gun pointed at his head.

“Have we met?” She asked.

“We have business, you and i.” he answered.

She was about to talk back, but she heard a loud click behind her. Someone was behind her.

“Drop your gun.” She heard a woman’s voice and saw a small smile drawing on the face of the man in front of her. You got his back.

She turned abruptly to the other person, hoping to disarm the woman behind her, but she was too slow, and you too fast. Her gun fell on the ground as you hit her wrist with the back of your weapon, and she found herself facing a rifle bigger than her own gun. Then she noticed the woman holding it.

Dream came by your side, taking the gun on the floor.

You still had your gun pointed to her.

“ I am not overly found of people pointing guns at me, but, when it is a pretty lady like you, it does something to me.” Johanna said.

“If i may return the compliment” you answered to her, lowering your weapon slightly. Damn, she was beautiful.

“This is Johanna Constantine.” Dream told you.

You turned to him, shocked to hear that. He was lucky to find the person he was looking for so fast. Especially in a town full of mutants.

But the courtesy would have to wait, as you heard loud grunt coming from the street. They were here.

“Come on, we got to move.” you said.

You closed the walk, keeping an eye on the monsters, making sure everyone was safe.

“My flat is close from here. You can come.” Johanna said.

You took a look at Dream before nodding.

“Yes, let’s go.” you told her.

And soon, all of you stood in her flat. Safe from outside.

“Y/N by the way, thanks for letting us stay here.” you said, looking over her messy flat.

“I am Morpheus.” Dream said to Johanna.

“Shit” she said, as Hettie’s words returned to her mind.

She had business with an Endless.

Hello! Here is the next part. If anyone had advice to tell how to do a taglist with people who wants to, i would love to know.

I hope you will enjoy this part, and i hope the part about religion won’t upset anyone, i am truly sorry if it does, i am extremely anxious about posting about this but it needed to be part of the story. If anything can be improve on this idea by the way, do not hesitate to let me know.

If there is anything wrong, anything bad, let me know and i’ll do my best to work better next time. Do not hesitate to leave your opinion and any advice on writing or anything you want! I know it’s a bit slow but dont worry, as soon as Morpheus get his sand back the story will move faster.

Hope you will enjoy and still like the story. See you soon and have a lovely day! 🤎

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freedomsofdream · 2 years

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“you’re a writer, right?” Me, staring at the one sentence ive managed to add in the last hour: In theory

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freedomsofdream · 2 years

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How (Part 1)

[Part 2]

Nathan Bateman X F!Reader Rating: 18+ pals Masterlist | ao3 | want to be tagged?

Summary: After the events of the film, it’s decided that it’s best for everyone if Nathan has a babysitter.

Warnings: swearing, typos, fragment sentences, soft!Nathan, mental illness, PTSD, overuse of italics, panic attacks, brief illusion to suicide. There’s no smut in this, but there will be in part 2.

A/N: What is this? What is this? Self indulgent. That’s what it is. This was meant to be a short under 1000 words instead of this monstrosity that is now two parts. All I can say is this really got away from me.

Word Count: 5431

Taglist: @pleasurebuttonwrites @raven-rk @campingwiththecharmings @alexxavicry @mystinky-butt @cocodiem

_____________________________________________

If there was one thing you wouldn’t have believed prior was that Nathan Bateman: founder of Bluebook, recluse, and self-aggrandising arsehole, was a cuddler. And a pretty needy one at that.

You had noticed it well before the two of you had started a less than professional side to your relationship.

Small things: his arm brushing against yours if you sat or stood next to each other, he would touch your hand (usually holding it for a second longer than necessary) if you passed him something, pats on the back and nudges with his shoulder in the kitchen as he said ‘good morning’.

He wasn’t that much of an arsehole either. Annoying? Certainly. God complex? For sure. But you were surprised at how considerate he was. What did you want for dinner? What were your plans for the day? Would you have time to check something over? – even though it was technically part of your job to help him.

You had started a small experiment of your own. Arguing internally that it was out of nothing more than professional interest. A hand on his shoulder when you spoke his name, resting your knee against his at the dining table, little things. But boy did they have a big reaction.

A shudder, a slight softening of his eyes, a lean into your touch. And that was it, wasn’t it? Nathan Bateman was touch starved. End of story.

And you couldn’t help but push it.

You had laid your legs on him on the settee while he was watching television and you were pretending to read a book. Your calves resting on the middle of his thighs.

You had expected him to tell you to ‘fuck off’. Expected him to push your legs away. And, in all honesty, you kind of wanted that. Wanted to piss him off. He’d been bordering on the very fine line of Acceptable Annoying Nathan and Genuine Bastard all day.

The cherry on top being the tiny sideways looks he gave you while purposefully turning the television sound up every few minutes as you did your very best to ignore him.

But he didn’t do any of that. Didn’t even say anything, just froze and, for a second, a pang of fear dripped like warming ice down your spine.

You’d gone too far, you should-

He placed his hand on your shin, the warmth of his fingers seeping through your trousers. It was a light, but reassuring touch. Grounding almost. After a minute he began to trace small circles with his thumb, after another, he turned the television down to a more reasonable level.

Neither of you commented on it.

A few evenings later you threw your arm over the back of the settee when you heard him come into the room. Quickly relaxing back into your best impression of carefree before he came into your line of sight.

Again, you expected him to act a certain way. A sarcastic comment, purposefully sitting somewhere else and glaring. But instead he flopped down next to you, on the edge of a little too close, his arms loosely crossed and lent his head back, brushing his shortly cropped hair against your lower arm as he closed his eyes.

Neither of you commented on it.

The next day he got drunk. Not a completely unusual occurrence, but in the whole time you’d been staying with him he normally drank with you, or, at least, around you.

This time he simply appeared in the living room, obviously more than a little tipsy but seemingly not as intoxicated as he was pretending to be.

You were reading, curled up at the far end of the settee.

He sat down, sighing loudly, and nursing a beer. And you thought you’d play along, at least for a bit. See where this goes.

You watched him subtly for a while, as he tried not to obviously watch you.

He sighed again, wiggling the bottle along the edge of the arm rest.

“What is it Nathan?” You didn’t look up from your book.

“Bored.”

“Hmm.” You nodded your head noncommittally and turned a page for emphasis.

There was a pause. You could see him staring out of the edge of your peripheral vision.

“You’re not even reading that.”

You looked up at him slowly. “I am.”

“What’s the last word you read?”

“The.” You said without missing a beat.

Nathan scoffed and took another swig of beer. He was quiet for a moment, running his thumb along the rim of the bottle, betraying, briefly, his lucidity.

You went back to reading.

“Is it good?” It was like he had waited for you to stop looking at him.

“Hmm?” Your tone was a little sterner this time as you raised your eyes from the page.

“The book.” He gestured with his hand that wasn’t holding the beer. “Is it good?”

You shrugged. “It’s okay.”

“What is it?”

You held the cover up to him, keeping two fingers on your page.

“I can’t see.”

“Where are your glasses?”

“Kitchen.”

“Go get them then.”

He scoffed again, pretending to be offended but the hint of a smile pulling at his lips gave him away. “You want me to walk all the way back there, just to get my glasses, so that I can see what you’re reading?”

“Yes.”

“You’re unreasonable.”

“Good.”

“And illogical.”

You resisted the urge to make a Star Trek reference. “Great.”

“And mean.” He dragged the last word out a little childishly.

You grinned wickedly, glancing back up at him and emphasising your dictation. “Perfect.”

Nathan sighed, leaning back in the armchair in defeat. For a moment you thought he might have fallen asleep and were in half a mind to take the bottle out of his hand before he dropped it and made a mess on the carpet.

However he sat up and stood, placing the beer on the coffee table.

You almost let your mouth hang open in surprise as you were sure he was going to actually go and get his glasses, or the far more likely, go off to sulk.

But he walked the short distance closer and flopped down next to you, jostling you as much as he could in the process.

He squinted, an over the top movement, and leaned unnecessarily close to your book, laying his chest on your bent legs in the process, putting one warm hand on your thigh. He made a show of muttering the book’s title as he read it, as if it was some great new revelation.

After a few seconds of him not moving, you gave him a gentle nudge with your knee. He didn’t move.

“Are you going to get off me Nathan?”

He looked up at you, trying his best at an innocent expression. His fingers twitched over your thigh.

“You are crushing my feet.”

He smiled, relaxing purposefully so that his chin was now also resting on your leg.

“Look,” you were trying your best not to smile back, his stupid expression infectious. “I don’t know what weird foot fetish stuff you’re into,” you swatted at him with your book while pushing him a little more forcefully with your knees, “but you can keep that to yourself and get off.”

He pouted, but sat up. For a moment you thought you saw a flash of something else beneath his expression, disappointment perhaps, rejection.

There was a pause, not entirely uncomfortable but niggling – a hangnail you couldn’t stop catching.

You shifted, sitting up yourself and putting your feet on the floor. “Here.” You gestured to your lap.

Nathan frowned at you.

Oh maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

You pushed down your uncertainty and patted your thigh, “lay down.” Your voice didn’t sound like your own, an authoritative layer deepening the words.

And to your surprise he did. Moving quickly and partially curling up on himself, Nathan Bateman laid down, resting his head sideways on your lap, facing outwards.

He sighed, contented this time, some of the tension in his shoulders easing as he relaxed into you. Your heart, on the other hand, seemed to have a different idea as it beat furiously in your chest. So fast and hard you were surprised it wasn’t echoing in your legs and shaking Nathan’s head.

“You should read to me.” He said quietly, his eyes closed.

“I’m sorry?”

“Your book,” he gestured with his hand without opening his eyes. “Read it to me.”

You let out a small surprised breath before you found your words. “What’s the magic word?”

“Engage.”

You tutted, breathing heavily through your nose, but you opened your book back up and found where you had last stopped.

You rested your elbow on Nathan’s shoulder, digging it down a little too enthusiastically at first until he gave a small grunt of complaint, before you eased up and started to read out loud.

With the book in front of your eyes, you didn’t see that Nathan had opened his and was smiling. Watching you with his full attention in the television’s reflection.

The next morning you were perched on one of the kitchen chairs, eating breakfast. The cereal in question, not even pretending to be healthy with the amount of sugar it contained, had been one of the many food items you had requested on your submission forms.

You chewed it slowly and stared out of the windows, lost in your own thoughts as you watched the city skyline.

“You think I have a foot fetish?”

Somehow you managed to not jump out of your skin, or spit out your cereal at Nathan’s sudden appearance.

He was uncomfortably good at being deathly quiet when he wanted too, so very opposed to his normal loud footsteps.

You swallowed your mouth food and turned to him. “I knew you weren’t drunk.”

“I watched the tapes.”

You smile and pop another spoonful into your mouth. “No you didn’t.”

He paused. An unreadable expression on his face for a moment as you slowly chewed.

You broke first. “I do,” you shifted the spoon around the bowl, giving yourself a break from looking at him for a moment before returning to meeting his gaze. “You’re always walking around here barefoot.”

“Surely that means you have the fetish. Not me.”

“What?”

“You’re the one noticing my feet.”

You clenched and unclenched your jaw, trying to fight the little smile that wanted to spread itself across your face.

A good reply wouldn’t come. Telling him to ‘fuck off’ wasn’t creative enough, saying ‘your feet repulse me’ (which had been your knee jerk reaction) seemed strangely… mean? Too much time had passed now anyway, so you stared at him for a second longer, blinked poineatly, and then turned away from him and back to the window.

Nathan fidgeted for a moment, his hands on his hips, before he moved to the stove.

His back now to you, but directly in your line of sight.

You stared at him for a moment, leaning your chin on the heel of your hand. It was nice to watch him as he moved, opening a cupboard and taking out a frying pan. Nice to watch him without the scrutiny of his own eyes on you. He had a grace about him that was hard to place.

You admired his back muscles through his just on the edge of being too tight t-shirt. Heat began to pinch at your cheeks. Had he always been so-

“Youwanteggs?”

You nearly did jump out of your chair this time, your heart pounding in your chest in a bid to escape.

Despite him being the only thing you were actually focused on, his muffled words made little to no sense.

“Erm.”

He turned to look at you over his shoulder, his eyebrows raised. The movement sort of reminded you of an old fashioned pin up girl. Wait... No, don’t think about Nathan as a pin up girl. Heat was burning your skin now.

“Do. You. Want. Eggs?” Nathan repeated, and, finally you shook your head.

“It’s better than that rubbish you're eating.” He gestured with a spatula to your cereal.

“I’ll have you know,” you swallowed and shifted in your seat, settling back into the normal rhythm of your conversations. “That this has at least 200% of my daily sugar requirements.”

Nathan snorts and goes back to making his own breakfast.

The next morning Nathan is in the kitchen before you, sweaty from exercise, and cooking.

You take an extra moment to admire him, no, not admire, that’s the wrong word, that would imply- No. You shake your head and sigh as you walk to the cupboard, still in your pyjamas.

You barely have got the words, “good morning,” out of your mouth before Nathan gestures to the table without looking at you.

“Sit.”

You scowl at him. “Heel.”

He glances up at you this time, a dark look in his eyes. “Please.” He wrinkles his nose a little as he says it.

You let the silence rest a beat too long between the both of you before you roll your eyes and take your regular seat at the empty table.

Nathan turns back to the task in front of him. The hiss of the pan and scrap of the spatula the only sounds punctuating the quiet.

“How long am I meant to sit here?”

He doesn’t look at you. “Good things come to those who wait.”

“Starvation?”

That earns you a small glare and you grin.

A minute later Nathan walks over and sets a plate of pancakes and a jug of syrup in front of you.

You stare dumbfounded at them and then at Nathan. “What’s this?”

“Breakfast.”

“You made it?”

He pulls a face. “I know rationalism says we can’t trust our senses, but you literally just saw-”

“You know what I fucking mean.” You laugh, and take the cutlery out of his hand when he offers it. “Thank you.”

Nathan gives you a small smile before walking back to the counter to grab a plate of his own. “It’s better for you than that cereal.”

The pancakes taste heavenly. “What have you got against my cereal?” You say through a full mouth.

He sits opposite you, pancakes on his own plate. But doesn’t answer.

You both eat in silence for a moment.

“These are really good,” you wait until he looks up before adding, “thank you again.”

He shrugs, but you can see him puff his chest out ever so slightly.

“Before I got here, I thought you’d have some cooking robot or something.” You said, your voice light and jokey, but Nathan tenses.

It’s a subtle thing, easy to miss.

“Yeah.” He nods once. There’s no humour in his voice.

You were lucky number 6, even though head office called you number five. The sixth person put on ‘Babysitting Duty’ or, on paper, Temporary Executive Director of Functionality.

Something had happened just under eighteen months ago. Some big scandal to do with the office contest that had been so successfully swept under the rug that not even the press had caught wind of it. (Or, more likely, anyone that had, had been bribed or blackmailed into silence. Bluebook's pockets were deep, and its reach was wide.)

The lack of information didn’t stop the workplace rumours though, the two that had prevailed at the top were,

A. whoever had won the competition (because all records on this mystery person had seemingly been wiped, though there was still a reference to a big payout settlement) had been a crazed super fan and had gone all Katy Bates on Nathan.

Or B. Nathan had turned into Norman Bates from being a recluse for too long and had tried to wear the competition winner’s skin. (You had tried to point out that B was mixing two horror franchises together here, but it seemed the amusement at Katy and Norman sharing the same surname was too much for the analogy to change.)

Either way, it was common knowledge that Nathan had nearly died. The only thing that saved him was the biometric heart monitor that was linked to an alarm system.

He had spent months in hospital.

Rumours changed on who was telling, but it seemed the board members, acting CEO and possibly Nathan himself had come to an agreement. Nathan was too valuable for something like this (whatever it was) to happen again.

He would not return to his house in the middle of nowhere. And he needed a babysitter.

Within a week the top fourteen floors of the Newfoundland Quay in London had been purchased, gutted, and refitted to Nathan’s specification. He could be as reclusive as he wanted at the top of the skyscraper, as long as emergency services could get there in five minutes or less.

Finding the new Temporary Executive Director of Functionality was a lot more complicated.

An email had gone out to every Bluebook employee, from the head of marketing to junior coders.

Everyone was being accessed to see if they might have the ‘niche required skills’ for the job. (Though how it was being done was not made clear.) Most people didn’t even need to think twice about it because 99% of staff would not get through to the next stage.

You had half read the email and then forgotten about it. Too stressed and wrapped up in your low paid job as a Junior Content Editor, that you hated but couldn’t afford to leave without another position.

Your manager, Michael, a fake charming man with a shrill voice and no people skills whatsoever, had called you into a meeting two months after the email was sent out.

You had been expecting his usual beratement of your ‘lack of skills’, your stomach twisting itself into knots, but had been surprised at the two smartly dressed people waiting for you with him in his office.

In one panicked moment you were sure you were going to get fired.

“Ah, there you are.” Michael smiled and held out a hand. “One of the best members of my team.”

You nearly died from shock.

“She’s a real asset,” he continued before the smartly dressed woman held up her hand, silencing him instantly.

“Thank you, we’ll have the space now.” She glared at him until he left the room. You didn’t watch Michael go, but you didn’t hide your small smile either.

Once the door was closed they both explained that you were one of 89 people in the whole company that had been whittled down to the preliminary short list for Temporary Executive Director of Functionality.

After signing an NDA they explained further.

The deal was, for four weeks the Temporary Executive Director of Functionality would ‘assist’ Nathan. Live in his home and every week he would give a ‘brief rundown of what he had been working on’ and that was it.

For an eye watering amount of pay. Enough that you could comfortably live for the next five years with no job.

Nathan would then judge who, if anyone, he was happy to invite back and then they would become The Permanent Executive Director of Functionality (or, more likely Directors as Bluebook made it clear this position would most likely turn into a job share if the right individuals were found.)

Nathan was allowed a one week ‘break’ between the four-week shifts, when he was ‘permitted’ to be on his own.

You weren’t given any information on what the ‘incident’ had been. And had four whole days of interviews, personality tests, recorded behaviours, questionnaires, a physical, and another NDA to sign. It was gruelling, but it beat your normal 9-5.

On the fifth day, just before lunch, you were told you were one of the twelve that had been chosen.

(Much to Michael’s obvious displeasure.)

The third NDA gave you pause when you read the paragraph about: ‘a guarantee that the Temporary Executive Director of Functionality’s personal rooms and bathrooms would, under no circumstances, be recorded or monitored’.

You were given the dates of your month, which went out of the window when Temporary Executive Director of Functionality Number 2 only lasted eight days. Number 2 became Number 0 and you were ‘promoted’ from 6 to 5.

Three weeks beforehand you were given an intensive coding course, apparently this was a stipulation Nathan had insisted upon – just in case he wanted to talk about it. He had never mentioned it to you in the whole time you’d been there. But you were thankful for the training nonetheless.

One day before you started you were given your ‘biometric keycard’, a small chip that was inserted just under your right collar bone. You couldn’t even feel it afterwards, though you tried to.

You had expected to meet him before you started, a video call, an email. But the first time you made his acquaintance was the first time you met him in person.

“How often do you exercise?”

You had gotten used to Nathan’s out of the blue, and sometimes less than tactful, questions by now.

“Never.” That was a lie, but you knew it would annoy him.

“It’s good for you.” He said, sitting down next to you. His knee brushing yours.

You paused, that wasn’t the response you’d been expecting.

“You know I’m trying to work here?”

“You’re playing spider solitaire.”

“Important work.” You raised an eyebrow at him.

Nathan’s response was yet again not something you hadn’t been expecting. He leaned towards you, looking at your laptop screen and carefully rested the side of his head against your shoulder.

“You can move the 6 to there.” He pointed, touching your screen in the process.

A flush of heat ran up your neck and you swatted his hand away. “I know.” You hadn’t.

He smiled and stayed resting against you, his breathing slowing ever so slightly.

You stared at the screen for a moment, but the feeling of him against you was the only thing you could pay any attention to.

“You can move the queen too.”

“Nathan-”

“Do you play poker?”

You sighed overly dramatically and moved a four. “No.”

“Strip poker?”

You gave him a look and didn’t answer as he stared up at you with faux innocence.

“I could teach you?” He said when you glanced away.

“I’m not playing strip poker with you Nathan.”

“Normal poker then.”

You turned to look at him fully and Nathan sat up a little reluctantly.

“Are you that bored that you want to teach me poker?”

He just smiled.

“I thought you were meant to be solving the great riddles of the universe?”

“I knew you didn’t pay attention during the weekly updates.” He gave you the most self-satisfied expression and you barely resisted the urge to kick him.

“Last week’s update was two minutes, in which you just said, and I quote: ‘I’m doing stuff.’”

He shrugged. “It’s important stuff.”

“Are you playing spider solitaire?”

He laughed at that and looked down at the side hem of his trousers. He picked at the material slightly.

You swallowed. “You can teach me poker.”

He grinned broadly as he looked back to you, his eyes lighting up.

“But I’m not playing with real money.”

“That’s fine, we can-”

“I’m not playing strip poker either.”

He pouted a little, but you could tell it was for show. “What’s on the line if I win?”

“When you win, you mean.” You shook your head at him and shut down your laptop. “Self-satisfaction of a job well done.”

He snorted.

“Well what do I get if I win?” You retorted.

“You’re very confident for a first-time player.”

You gently shoved him in the shoulder with the heel of your hand. “I thought people played for chips or something?”

“Yeah, we’ll do a few practice hands and then we’ll both have the same number of chips and play a few hands. Whoever gets all the chips wins."

“All right.”

“So, what do I get if I win?”

You closed your laptop. “What do you want?”

“A kiss.”

It didn’t faze you; it was textbook Nathan, just trying to get under your skin. You gave him a world-weary look, but were very thankful he couldn’t feel how your heart skipped a beat.

“I’m not kissing you Nathan.”

He was, astoundingly, quite a good teacher. Calm, explained things well and was happy to go over something more than once. He even gave you a ‘cheat sheet’, a hastily written order of winning hands in poker that he placed next to you.

You had been a little surprised when he had pulled out the pack of cards and a bag of sunflower seeds.

“Don’t have any poker chips,” he shrugged. “Just don’t eat the stand ins.” He said as he sat down opposite you and scooted his chair further under the kitchen table.

“I thought you’d have a whole gambling room.” You teased.

He shrugged again but didn’t look up from shuffling the cards.

Again, it was like you had stepped over some invisible line.

However he began to relax again the more you played.

To no one’s shock, you lost.

He gave you a shit eating smirk as he slowwwly reached into the middle of the table and pulled all of the sunflower seeds towards him. He let out a self-satisfied and overly dramatic sigh before leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head.

“And to the victor,” he paused, puffing his chest out. “The spoils.”

“You left some behind.”

He gave the table a glance. “What?”

“This.” You stuck your middle finger up at him.

Nathan snorted out a laugh and then waved towards him. “Give it then.”

You snapped your hand back before he had a chance to grab it.

“Don’t feel bad, I’m just better at reading people.” He said.

“Better at counting cards more like.”

Nathan pretended to be offended for a second. “Now, I believe,” he stood up slowly, “I was promised a kiss.”

You gave him the most deadpan expression you could muster. “You were not.”

He mocked thinking for a second. “No… I think I was.”

“You think wrong.”

“No, I made notes, and I think you’ll find you said, and I quote: ‘yes Nathan, of course I will kiss you when you win.’”

You couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled out at the absolutely atrocious impression of your voice.

“So,” he stopped next to you, leaning one hand on the table. “Do I get my prize?”

Slowly, you stood, making a little more of a show of it than necessary before turning towards him, looking him in the eyes and trying to hide your smile. “I’m not kissing you Nathan.”

He took a small step forward, your chests nearly touching.

“Why not?” He whispered, his voice soft.

A shiver ran down your spine and you swallowed, the sound of it upsettingly loud in the quiet.

The little smile on his lips grew.

“I don’t know where you’ve been.” You meant it to come out jokey, light-hearted, but instead you sounded wrecked, you sounded breathless.

“Here…” He slowly reached out, tracing his fingers up your forearm.

Your heartbeat was too loud, your mouth too dry.

“Always here.” He leaned a fraction closer and you stepped back without thinking, you couldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do this, it was just another Nathan game to wind you up and you’d never hear the end of it and-

You bumped into the chair you’d just been sitting on, stumbling for a second before finding your balance, your right hand out in front of you.

When you first started to fall Nathan reached out instinctively to help, but he froze. All emotion left his face in an instant as he looked down at your hand, hovering in front of his chest, just below his heart.

The smile quickly disappeared from your lips. “Nathan?”

He staggered back. One had reached out behind him like he was expecting something, while his other clutched at his chest.

He stared at the floor, his eyes glassy and wide with panic that did not reflect on the rest of his features.

It was like he wasn’t there, watching some far-off scene play behind his eyes.

“Nathan?” You took a cautious step towards him, this hadn’t happened before, this wasn’t in any brief or meeting or seven-hundred-page manual you’d been given.

He didn’t hear you as he lurched backwards until he collided with one of the large floor to ceiling windows and sank down to the floor.

He was sweating heavily, his whole body shaking, his breathing fast and uneven through his nose.

For a moment you just stared dumbfounded, fear threading itself into your soul, before you found yourself slowly moving forward. Afraid any sudden movement would be too much.

“Nathan.” You whispered, trying to make your voice sound soothing.

He didn’t respond.

You crouched down next to him, leaving plenty of space. “Nathan,” you said again, keeping your tone calm. “You’re okay. You’re safe. No one is going to hurt you. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here. You’re safe. Everything’s okay.” You repeated the words on a loop.

Suddenly he met your gaze.

“Nathan, okay,” it was impossible to hide your relief. “Can you breathe with me, yeah?” You took in a deep, slow breath. “Can you try to copy me?” And let it out. In and out. In and out.

He nodded, the shaking hiding most of the movement and tried his best to match your rhythm.

“Okay, great, you’re doing great.”

He was still shaking, still sweating, his breathing still too fast and too shallow.

“Can you name five blue things in this room?”

He stared wide eyed and panicked at you.

“Can you find five blue things, you don’t have to say them out loud, just find them.”

His line of sight darted around the room. The quick movement accompanied with the uneven breathing made it look like he was having a seizure.

You continued to breathe in and out deeply, making the breaths as loud as possible.

“The painting.” He muttered between gasps of oxygen.

“Yes, yes, excellent.” You nodded enthusiastically.

“The... the book.” He pointed with his right hand, his left still held close to his chest.

“Fantastic. You’re doing great.”

He searched the room, his breathing was evening out ever so slightly. “Your ring.” He touched your left hand lightly, it was a ghost of contact but still it seemed to steady him.

“Yes, yes, my ring.” Without thinking you took hold of his hand in yours, his skin was freezing and clammy. For one horrid second a spike of fear jolted through your nerves, afraid touching him was the wrong thing to do, but his shoulders quickly relaxed as he squeezed your hand.

“Is... is it an engagement ring?” He asked, his voice was quiet but his breathing was much closer to normal. The shaking hadn’t stopped though.

“It’s my grandmother’s engagement ring.” You smiled at him, trying to sound reassuring. Carefully you ran your thumb along the back of his hand. “I’m not engaged.” You added, unsure why you had the second it came out of your mouth.

Nathan nodded, still looking at your hand.

“What else?” You gently pressed. “What else is blue?”

“The sky.”

“It’s dark Nathan.”

He smiled weakly. He looked tired, more tired than you’d ever seen anyone. Weighted, like his bones were too heavy and collapsing into themselves.

He breathed in deeply, the shaking had almost stopped.

Carefully, oh so carefully, you raised your right hand to the side of his face; giving him as much time as possible to turn away.

Nathan lent into your touch and closed his eyes as he took in a stuttered breath. His beard was softer than you imagined.

“Are you okay?” It was a stupid question, but you had to ask.

He nodded.

“Do you need anything? Water?”

He shook his head.

“Okay.”

You bit your lip, worrying the skin between your teeth. “Can I,” you swallowed down your apprehension, “can I hold you?”

Nathan opened his eyes, looking at you once before staring back at the ground. He nodded once.

Without letting go of his hand you manoeuvred yourself from in front of him to next to, your back against the cool glass. You wrapped your free arm around his shoulders and gently coaxed his body against yours, laying him down until he was wrapped in your embrace.

You stayed like that for a long time.

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