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thoughtsfromlayla · 1 month

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My Dearest Defiance

Summary: Equal as an Endless, more than a human, yet less than a god. Where did you even belong? The question has haunted you since you first saw humanity rise into power. Now your brother has been kidnapped and you can't do anything to help him.

Notes: ~7.5k words, This fic is a follow-up to this post sent in by the lovely @kpopgirlbtssvt, thank you so much for the idea! I took a few liberties with the plot and I hope that's okay with you!

Warnings: Platonic! Big Brother x little sister! Reader, *side eyes* a lot of angst, violence, physical abuse, heavy mentions of cancer, implied alcohol consumption, minor Dreaming mind-fuckery, death of Reader (you come back...ish), death of characters, comfort in the end :)

Masterlist

Mother Night and Father Time, the first lovers, the everlasting lovers. And it was through their love that the Endless were born. Your eldest brother Destiny came first, birthed in dark cloaks and the book that was named after him. He is in charge of the fate of every being to live.

Every being who has lived must follow the path of this fate and fate always ends in Death, your eldest sister. When Mother and Father realized that the humans must do something while waiting for Death, they birthed your favorite brother, Dream. He is hope, the one who gives the humans courage to stand up for themselves and make do with their lives. Soon, humans wanted more and in succession, the rest of your siblings were born: Destruction, Desire, Despair, and sweet Delight soon to be Delierum.

While every Endless was busy tending to their own realms and their own duties, you were born. Endless in name but not in power. You were the runt of the family, with no realm to call your own, and no responsibilities of your own. Yet here you stood amongst the humans that soon called you Defiance, the human spirit, the resilience to continue despite all odds.

You’re sure your siblings knew of you, certainly enough to be invited to family dinner once every 100 years. Yet you could never shake the feeling of inadequacy when you were sat at the far end, only to be over-talked by everyone. They were discussing important matters, after all, nothing that you had to concern yourself with.

You only find solace in Dream, where no matter how difficult the days get, you may always find a home in his realm. While he is adamant about letting you stay in the castle, you find it more comfortable to live in a cottage at the edge of the realm where the forest meets with the vast unknown and you grow vegetables from the soil you tow. It also allows you to escape to the waking world without Dream knowing.

You love humans, their lives fascinate you to no end. They know of you, just as they know of all of your Endless siblings, but sometimes it just takes a little more for them to realize. You would never push them to admit to your existence and somewhere along the millions of years of existence, you have given up trying to be the center of attention.

To understand humans is to live like them, talk like them, and love like them. Unfortunately, humans are more than that and often succumb to feelings of anger, depression, righteousness, and violence. You try not to associate yourself with those emotions, but it’s innate.

It’s been a few weeks since you stepped foot in Dream’s castle, and who could blame you? The village in which you reside is much more fun than the dreary castle your brother tends to enjoy more. The thick castle wall blocks out the sunlight, it’s filled with dust and smells of wet stones and old books. Not to mention, when Dream was busy, there was no one to talk to. Lucienne was always busy, picking up after her King, and you don’t even want to get started on Mervin.

He’s only nice to you cause you gave him his pumpkin head when his original turnip head started going out of style. Otherwise, it’s cigar smoke being blown into your face and sassy remarks.

You’re out in the market square when you feel the presence of your Endless Sibling. You turn from the flower vendor with a big smile and wave at Dream as he makes his way towards you. The dreams that he created step to the side in the presence of their sovereign.

“Brother!” You exclaim when he gets close enough for you, wrapping one of your arms around his while the woven basket hangs in the other.

The basket was filled with a few apples and a fresh loaf of bread. You were just about to buy a few glass snowdrop flowers before you were pleasantly surprised by Dream.

“How do you do this afternoon, dear sister?” He speaks, leaning into your face to tease you.

You giggle at him as the two of you walk the main road, passing dreams and nightmares alike, a few waving at you in greeting that you return.

“I’m doing great. I was thinking of going to the waking world later today and spending some time with Death, actually.” You respond, your arm leaves Dream’s as a different vendor catches your eyes. They were selling acrylic paints in colors that you haven’t seen since half a century ago.

“Here, hold this,” You say as you hand off your basket to Dream. He does as he’s told and holds the basket, the white paint offputting to his otherwise completely black outfit.

You grab a few jars of paint and can already think of the wonderful things to draw when you get back into your cottage. There was a specific lake nearby that you haven’t been able to do justice to, but you think you finally can with the new color.

A brief conversation of exchange happens between you and the vendor before you turn around. You burst out laughing at the sight before you. Dream stood in the middle of the road where you had first told him to hold your basket and hadn’t moved an inch. His shoulders were stiff and taught as he held your basket as far away from his body as possible.

“It’s not going to bite you, you know!” You practically cackle at him. Your giggles follow you as you carefully place the jars of paint into your basket. You think that you will paint some flowers and ivy onto your basket later tonight.

You go to take the basket back from him but he’s quick to move it away from your grabby hands.

“You specified that I should hold it, so hold it I shall,” He says and holds the basket higher, just out of your reach, when you go to grab at it again.

You huff at his rather stubborn behavior, but he’s been like this since the beginning. He always looks after you and takes care of you. You’re always grateful for it, but you can carry your own basket. You resolve the conversation with a roll of your eyes but the smile on your face stays in place when you turn your back to him.

Dream walks you home, basket now significantly heavier and full of things you didn’t really need. Well, except maybe the paint, it’s good to splurge every once in a while. Your cottage is basked in a warm light as the Dreaming’s sun slowly disappears beyond the horizon to rise in another universe. The pie you had baked this morning had long since cooled and you brought it inside with a hum, your brother still following you.

He set the basket on the simple kitchen table before taking a seat and watching you slice up the pie with a smile. You set the pastry down in front of him and another plate for yourself. The savory apple flavoring takes over the senses when you take the first delicious bite.

“I would like you to come back to the castle soon,” Your brother says as you take another bite.

“Whatever for?” You question, a little bit of apple filling falling out of your mouth. “The cottage is my home.”

Dream sighs but answers anyway. “I will be gone for a moment, I need to take care of a rouge nightmare, and would like you to be cared for while I am away from the Dreaming.”

“How long will you be gone for you to want me to live in that dreadful place?” You make a face as you think about the boring days ahead of you. Well, maybe you can escape to the castle garden if Mervin isn’t paying attention.

“I cannot tell you for I do not know.”

You purse your lips as you think about his request. “Fine,” You groan.

“Best not see Sister Death today.” When you don’t bother with a response he speaks against “Farwell, sister. I will be back soon,” He promises you before standing. You didn’t get the chance to follow him to the door before he leaves, his apple pie still untouched.

“Ugh, how wasteful.” You joke to yourself.

You spend the rest of your evening painting your basket as you had wanted before packing up a few items for the castle. Your basket was a gift from your brother and had an infinite amount of storage. So you managed to shove an extensive amount of your wardrobe, the paints, and some of the freshly baked pastries into the small wooden thing. You set off when the moon was high in the sky and the stars came down from their afternoon nap and danced in the village square.

Their stardust shoes clink like pure jade against the cobblestone road, illuminating the otherwise quiet and sleeping town. A few wave at you, shimmering particles following their movements before they return to their waltz. You wave back to them before continuing on your journey, mindful of where you stepped.

When stars come down to the Dreaming they become transparent and more gaseous than solid but that doesn’t stop them from burning hot. And unless you wanted to recounter that one time you stepped through one and started sneezing and coughing stardust for the next 10 years, you’ll keep your distance - only allowing for their natural light to guide your way out of the village and towards the castle.

By the time you reach the castle, Dream is nowhere to be found and you assume he went out to do what he mentioned earlier that day. Your room was set up for you, Dream obviously had some palace staff tidy up the room as you took a look around the clean environment. Otherwise, everything was in the same place you had left it since the last time you were at the castle. You yawn as you set your basket down by the door. First a good night’s rest, then you can go to the waking world to do your own things.

You sneak out of the castle a few minutes before dawn, the soft bed and good night’s rest giving you the energy you need to do so. You grimace when the door creaks loudly as you slowly open it, smelling the early morning dew on the grass and the warming dawn wind.

“Where are you headed, my dear?” A voice stops you in your tracks. You suck your lips into your mouth as you soon recognize the voice.

“Good morning, Lucienne,” You greet curtly, holding, or rather, hiding, your basket behind your black skirt.

Lucienne gives you a pointed look. “Yes, good morning.”

You give her a smile before stepping back out the door, only to be stopped when she purposefully clears her throat.

“The question?” She presses.

You feign innocence and bat your eyelashes, not that it would work. “What question?”

“Lady Defiance, my Lord specifically states that I keep my eyes on you.” Lucienne holds her hands behind her back as she takes her stance.

“By all means, keep your eyes - hey what’s that?!” You gawk as you point behind Lucienne.

Lucienne snaps her head around to look at what you were so surprised by. She doesn’t see or sense anything when she does. It’s about two seconds of her searching before she realizes that she has been duped. When she turns around the door is swinging shut and you are nowhere to be seen. She slams the door open and only sees the last of your figure disappearing on the horizon.

You’re still giggling to yourself about pulling off that little trick when you reach the ocean of the Dreaming. The little wooden dock creaks under your weight as you skip across it. Having done this traveling before, you jump right in with a squeal, holding your nose close so you don’t get any water in.

The water pushes and pulls but you don’t fight the current knowing that it will take you where you wanted to go. When you emerge, you cough once and the water falls off your body, leaving you dry in cloudy 1916 England. You wrap your blazer closer to your body as the wind picks up and leave the alleyway. The familiar smell of roasted peanuts from street vendors and car fumes tickles your nose when you turn the corner to walk into the hospital.

“Hi, I’m here to visit Genny, uh, Geniveve, Geniveve Colemen,” You correct yourself to the receptionist. The woman nods and looks down at her computer.

“She’s in the same room, 443. Here’s your visitor’s pass.” She hands you a laminated badge on a lanyard.

You thank her before wearing the lanyard and going towards the nearest elevator. The elevator smelled of shoe polish and disinfectant spray and it made your nose crinkle. You just hope the smell doesn’t transfer onto your clothes.

When you reach your destination, you knock on Genny’s door before entering. She wears her hospital gown and was reading a book when she looks up. A smile pasters onto her face when she sees you.

“Y/N!” She drops her book and sits up straighter.

“Genny!” You exclaim back with the same amount of excitement. You place your basket by her bed before pulling out a fresh vase of flowers and setting it by her bedside table.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever, what have you been up to?” She asks.

“Yeah, my mother took me to some private tutor to help me study for my tests,” You lie through your teeth as you fluff the flowers to make them look more appealing.

You tuck your school skirt underneath you when you sit down next to Genny and reach for your basket again. “I brought you some homebaked goods. I know this hospital’s food has got to be horrendous.”

You bring out the baked loaf of bread you bought the day before and rip off a slice for her. She takes the loaf and inhales the scent.

“Gosh, Y/N, I don’t know how you make such good baked goods. Your husband will be a lucky one if you stop trying to chase them off.” She giggles and muffles through her full mouth.

You laugh with her, sparing her the details of your actual life. You bring forth the lie you had carefully planted yourself as instead. A straight-A student that goes to the same school as Genny before she was diagnosed with cancer, how you were her best friend that visited her when you got the chance, how you had gotten onto the school council and despite all of her poking and prodding, she would not get to know what the school formal’s dance theme is going to be unless she went with you tomorrow to the dance. You try not to think about how frail she has gotten since the first time you’ve met her. Her collarbones were poking out and you can see how hard it was for her to take even breaths.

When she asks you again later in the visit about the school dance you rebuttal quickly.

“Are you going to come to the dance with me?” You laugh. “Speaking of which, I got you a dress, too!” You go back to your basket, pulling out a formal dress, and setting it in front of Genny.

“Wow! Look at the bead stitching,” She says, running a delicate finger over the beading and gems then over the lacing.

“I’ve got a good eye, don’t I?” You sit back down with a smile and a tilt of the head. “It matches my dress, too.”

“What about your own date?”

“Oh, please, I don’t have time for boys!” You giggle again, hiding behind the lie that you don’t actually go to her school.

“Oh alright, I suppose I must go to the dance with you so you won’t be lonely.” Genny surrenders.

You smile at her, happy she finally agreed. “You’re a great friend.”

Genny coughs after your compliment and you’re quick to reach for the water and hand it over to her. When she sits up to drink you go to fluff her pillow. Genny lays back down with a sigh and all of the warmth that was in the room leaves through the window. She looks like she’s aged when she looks at you again, another cough crawling its way past her throat.

“I’ll leave you to rest,” You say, turning around to grab your things.

“No,” Genny refuses. “Can you stay for a little bit longer?” She coughs again and holds your hand weakly. “I want to feel like a normal girl for a little while longer.”

“Okay,” You whisper and sit back down, feeling the chill of the hospital around your ankles.

You watch over her as she falls asleep, the conversation taking the last of her energy. You begin to stare off into space, thinking about your life. You did your best with the gift of immortality, but as you stare at Genny’s tense face, you wish you could do more. Equal as an Endless, more than a human, yet less than a god. Where did you even belong? The question has haunted you since you first saw humanity rise into power.

Your thoughts leave you when you feel the beating of wings and a flush of wind from the door. Your head snaps and you see your sister standing there in her black tank top and the same combats boots you wore.

“Sister Death,” You greet with a small smile, previous thoughts disappearing. “What brings you here today?”

Your sister only smiles at you. Your excitement of seeing your sister again is soon taken over by dread. You look between your sister and your friend and the dots connect.

“Oh... what? No!” You stand abruptly between your sister and Genny. “No! She still has so much to do in life!” You try to reason with her.

“You cannot bargain with me, Defiance. You know that,” She says in her soft voice.

“I don’t care,” Your lips form into a line. “At least let her go to the dance with me?” You try one more time.

Death sighs with exaggeration. “Fine, but not an hour more.”

“Thanks…” You’re not entirely sure how you managed to pull that off, unbeknownst to you that your sister has a soft spot for you much like Dream.

Your sister looks you up and down before she leans on the door. “So how are you doing, then?”

You look off to the side when you answer. “Fine,” You grumble out.

She lets out a huff, or perhaps a laugh, you can’t really tell. “Would you like to go on a walk with me?”

It was a tempting offer, after all, you haven’t spent time with your sister in a while. You thought about it for a little while longer. “No,” You end up refusing.

“Genny asked me to stay a little while longer, so I shall.” You turn away from your sister and sit back down in the uncomfortable hospital chair. You keep your head straight, looking after Genny, and don’t take your eyes off her even when you hear your sister departing.

When she does, a tremble runs over your body. You feel tears prick at your lashline as you come to terms with the fact that your friend will be dying soon. You did your best to prevent the inevitable, but with no powers of your own, it’s only a waiting game now.

You leave when visiting hours are over, Genny has yet to wake up from her nap. You leave the rest of the loaf on her bedside table, and a slice of your apple pie. You decide to tidy up the room as quietly as you can and hang her dress on the hook that was nailed to the wall. With one final look at her, you leave, only hoping that your sister doesn’t go back on her word and take her before her allotted time.

You spend the rest of the evening in the waking world, catching up on new things the humans have done with their time. You end your day on a park bench, illuminated only by a single street lamp. The park was quiet, you’re only accompanied by the sound of crickets and the wind along the trees. You take in a deep breath of fresh air. Oh, how you have missed this. If only it was closer to summer vacation, you would’ve taken Genny to the beach and had some sun time with her.

When you are done relaxing you go to the pond at the center of the park, the fountain in the middle still squirting out water and creating magnificent shapes and splashes along the surface. You could see the stars' reflection rippling as you peer at the lake over a bridge. The wind blows and you close your eyes to savor the moment.

“I wouldn’t jump if that’s what you’re thinking,” Someone says next to you.

You open your eyes and turn to see a man standing next to you, no older than 20. He takes off his hat when you speak.

“I wasn’t, but thank you,” You reply simply and go back to looking out towards the expanding city. He doesn’t leave your side despite your answer and it gets a bit awkward.

“Are you thinking of jumping? Because I would also not recommend that, sir,” You turn to him again and see him laughing.

“No,” He says. “I am just here to think.”

“Just like me then. What bothers your mortal mind?” You ask.

“Many things… I’m afraid I have let my family down.”

“How so?”

“We came here on a boat from the motherland, nothing to our name but a few pennies. I was supposed to go to college and finally put our family on the map. But I failed and now here I am, talking to a stranger on a bridge in the middle of the night.”

You laugh along with him. You knew of him and saw his dreams a few times when you went out exploring in the Dreaming. He wanted to be a doctor, specifically an athletic injuries doctor but failed out of medical school before he even got the chance. You rack your brain to think of his name, and when it comes to you, you speak.

“Do not worry, Albert Brocken, I’m sure there are many opportunities that will come alight in the near horizon. Perhaps you should take the entrance exam again, and see where it takes you.” You yawn and you realize that you should probably start heading home.

“Yeah… maybe I should,” He concludes with a sigh. “I think I might go into somnology,” He says more to himself than you.

“Somnology sounds fascinating,” You agree. “I must go home now, but best of luck to you!” You walk away, your shoes barely audible on the stone bridge over the gushing fountain. Albert doesn’t look your way when you depart, too focused on his new goal in life.

You find yourself standing before an old winding cottonwood tree in the same park. It’s been here for years, growing into the magnificent tree it is today. It’s passed by thousands of England residents almost every day, yet none of them are willing to stare at it hard enough to realize that the bark of the tree isn’t real.

You take one last look around the park to make sure no one else sees you before walking straight into the tree, the danging leaves caressing you like a gentle mother’s touch. The trunk of the tree turns into a curtain of falling sand and you pass through with no problems. When you emerge on the other side, the bright moon of the Dreaming greets you, illuminating and basking you in a soft welcome. When you come back into the castle, Lucienne is on top of you like a hot iron.

“Thank the Gods you are well,” She panics as she holds your arms. After taking a good overall look at you, she wraps her arms around your body and brings you into a hug.

“Lucienne?” Your question muffled against her crisp uniform. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, my dear, you hadn’t come back all day. I thought perhaps…” She trails off before she takes a breath. “Lord Morpheus hasn’t returned, and neither had you, so I presumed the worst.”

“Morpheus hasn’t returned?”

“No, but you are here. Tell me, did you see him while you were in the waking world today?” Lucienne holds hope in her eyes and you resent the next word you say.

“No,” Your thoughts trailed off. “Morpheus hasn’t returned?” You ask again.

“I am sure there is nothing to worry about. I may just be overthinking is all.” Lucienne reassures you.

“Okay…” You don’t completely believe her, somewhere deep inside you you can feel that Morpheus is in danger. As the King of Dreams and Nightmares, a rouge nightmare shouldn’t be anything to be worried about. He should be home by now.

Your eyes close as soon as your head hits the pillow, but thoughts consume you. After the dance tomorrow night with Genny, you will go searching for your brother. The following day came quickly and you paced back and forth in the castle hall, the formal dress you had on jingling with your movements. Your thoughts were in overdrive, there was Morpheus of course, but you also knew that tonight was going to be Genny’s last day. And knowing that puts a weight on your shoulders. You have to make sure that tonight is going to be the best night of her life.

When the time came, you went to the waking world feeling dolled up and in an antique car with the roof down. Your hair had enough hairspray to survive a storm from Zeus himself. You pull up to the hospital in a screech, Genny already waiting for you in the lobby. You check your lipstick in the mirror one last time before Genny reaches your car.

“You know how to drive?!” Genny says with a smile and excitement that you found contagious.

You resecure the silk scarf that protected your hair from the wind and open a pair of sunglasses to put over your eyes. You look at her over the bridge of your nose, your eyes shining past the sunglasses before stepping on the gas pedal.

“I know how to do many things, sweet Genny!” You shout over the wind, pushing the glasses back to their original position.

Each time you looked over at Genny, her smile still hadn’t faltered and the last bits of the sun’s rays caught on the embroidery of her dress. Her softness brings a smile to your face and for a moment you forget about your brother.

You pull into the gravel driveway of the school formal’s destination. You had managed to weasel your way into the school council and they were able to get help from the local people. The theme for this year's dance was “A Magical Night” and a local citizen opened his manor to the students for the night. He called himself a mage, something that you rolled your eyes at as magic has been rare in this world since the faeries left it half a century ago. But you kept that to yourself, if he wanted to play make-believe, then so let him.

Students were already lining up outside the decorated manor when the two of you arrived. You hand your keys off to a valet and walk towards the door, hand in hand with Genny. Her excitement buzzed through her like a shot of tequila.

When you cross over the threshold of the manor you are genuinely surprised at the decorations of the place. The ballroom had been cleared out and a live band was playing music for students to dance to. There was a bar on the far end of the ballroom serving drinks and small snacks. A doorman takes your jacket away from you before you grab Genny’s hand and head to the dance floor.

Many of Genny’s old friends soon recognize her and start to surround you two, the night is still young and the sound of laughter soon fills the air. You and Genny danced the night away until you both were sweaty and out of breath. Your make-up had gone a bit smudged but you didn’t mind. It was nearing midnight when most of the students started to leave and you pulled Genny away for one last surprise.

Genny started to slow down a bit, the exercise of the dance sapping away her energy. She pulls through though and follows you to a winding staircase that leads to one of the roofs of the manor. The spring air chills you to your bone, but it is well received after the sweat you have built up. You help Genny sit down before you sit down next to her, the shingles of the roof poking through your dress in an uncomfortable way.

A satisfied sigh leaves your lips when you look out to the vast countryside behind the manor. The stars twinkle as far as the eyes can see and from your advantage point, no trees are blocking the view either. Genny pants beside you as she calms herself down from the climb and leans her head against your shoulder.

“I am so glad you made me come to this dance,” She whispers as she looks out to the stars.

“Me too,” You agree, you begin the absentmindedly swing your legs back and forth. Your heels come loose and slip from your feet and both you and Genny laugh at it.

“Gosh, I hope that didn’t hit anyone,” She continues to laugh as she cautiously peers over the side.

“Or else they’d have to smell my stinky feet, ewww!” You continue her joke.

Her laugh turns into a cough and your mood shifts to melancholy.

A shift in the winds tells you that her time will soon be up. “Genny,” You start. “My sister is going to be here soon.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“Yes, I have a huge family actually.”

“Well, tell me about your sister,” She smiles, head feeling heavier as she puts her full weight on your shoulder.

“She is really sweet, and a soft, kind-hearted soul. Just like you, I suppose.” You say.

Genny doesn’t reply and tears prick your eyes. When you turn your head you see Genny standing up with a smile, yet her body still remains on your shoulder. Behind her stands your sister, a reassuring smile and a gentle hand rest around Genny in a side hug.

“Your sister says that she’ll take great care of me,” She starts and looks at Death with a solemn smile. “Will she?”

“Yeah, she’s one of the best…” Your voice dips into a murmur as you feel your lips tremble.

Your answer is enough for her and she turns to leave. She seems to have remembered something as she turns back around and wraps her hands around your shoulders, her ghostly figure slightly falling through your physical form.

“I’ll see you again, right?” Genny asks, hope lines her figure and you can’t bear to see it fade.

“Yes,” You lie through your teeth. “Good-bye.”

She turns to leave with your sister, blissfully unaware of your last farewell. The sound of Death’s beating wings was the last thing you heard before it was just the barren countryside again. Genny’s body grows cold by your side as you pet her hair for the last time.

The manor staff came soon when you faked a scream and soon ambulances came and went with her body. You’re left in the aftermath of a romantic dream of confection and ribbons alone in the middle of the dance floor feeling numb.

“Hey, lady, if you’re going to stand here moping you can at least help out,” A staff member calls out and you snap out of your thoughts.

He hands you a few foldable chairs and tells you to put them up. You nodded along, not really having much else to do. You meander through the halls when you realize that he didn’t tell you where to put the chairs. It’s when you find yourself at a set of stairs that lead down towards the basement. And to you, it made all logical sense for humans to store their things in the basement.

You open the heavy double doors and descend further into the musky basement. Candles were lit on the stairs and its melted wax coats the edges as it lightens the path. When you get to the bottom, you’re greeted by the host of the party that you met earlier in the night.

“What are you doing here, girl!” He scolds.

You hold up the chairs, unaware of his tone. “Hi, Mr. Burgess. I’m helping with clearing up after the dan…” Your final word trails off as your eyes wander past his figure.

Behind him sits your brother and your jaw drops. Mr. Burgess tries to stand between you and him when he notices that your attention is no longer on him. Dream stands fully in his glass prison and you would have made fun of the fact that he was fully rocking out in his birthday suit if not for the situation at hand.

“Oh, what the fuck,” You whisper, dropping the chairs.

You breeze past Mr. Burgess and stand before Morpheus. Golden runes that surround his prison stop you short as if there was some sort of invisible force field. Your head whips around and faces your host again. He stands tall as he stares back.

“Why do you have my brother in a-a… fucking FISH BOWL!” Your words stumble out at the utter audacity of the situation, your hands moving around expressively.

Realization dawns on him and you realize that you made a mistake. “So, you are one of his family. That man warned me about your kind. Which one are you.” He seethes as he walks towards you.

“You face Defiance of the Endless,” You spit back at him.

You were in no mood to play, first, your friend dies in your arms and then you learn that Lucienne’s suspicions were right and that something did happen to your brother. This whole time he had been here under your feet while you were having fun. His clothes, tools, and dignity stripped from him as you drank enough sparkling cocktails to make Dionysus jealous.

The man scoffs at you and spits at your feet. “Oh please, and I thought that it was going to be hard. I’ve heard of you, little girl. They told me that you are nothing, a nobody. You have no realm, no powers, you are barely a god.”

You stay silent as he speaks, rage flushes through your body and your muscles tremble. His words rang true, but here you shall stand for your brother. He advances on you and you find that you have nowhere to go. A sharp pain burns across your cheek as his pierced cane comes into contact with your skin.

Your body follows the force as it throws you off balance. Your head cracks against the stone floor of the basement and a gasp leaves you. Your vision blurs from the hit and you feel warm blood sliding down your cheek like an unshed tear. In the distance of your mind, you hear Dream slamming his fist against his glass prison. You stand again, determined to not be bested by a mere mortal.

His cane comes down again like a whip, hitting your shins and then once again on the back of your knees. The blow forces you to kneel before him, and your cries of pain echo in your head. The coarse floor scratches at your palm but you keep your breath as even as you can.

“Is that all you got?” You sneer as you look up at him through your eyelashes.

His foot comes towards your face and you squeeze your eyes shut right before the impact follows. Your body tumbles further away from Dream, but his slamming continues. You feel the wall behind you, its surface cooling down your heating body.

“Stop, I command you to stop!” Morpheus shouts, command muffled.

“Dream of the Endless commands you to stop,” You repeat your brother's words. You use the wall to brace yourself to stand on wobbling legs.

Iron fills your mouth and you spit it out back at Burgess’ feet, much like he did to you before. You grin when you see him grimace at the act. You wipe your mouth clean with the back of your hand, very unladylike, but between the three of you, who is going to judge?

A backhanded slap snaps your head to the side and another painful scream follows.

“Stop! Cease yourself or face my wrath!” Dream continues to scream as your vision blurs again.

“No, I can take it,” Your voice is coarse but the message is heard loud and clear.

“Oh, you can take it, hmm?” Burgess taunts and his cane jabs into your abdomen.

You feel like you couldn’t breathe, that no matter how much your mouth gaped open, oxygen didn’t fill in your lungs as you needed it to.

“I can take it,” You wheeze out again, another hit forces you back down and this time you don’t have the strength to get up again.

“I suppose one step higher than capturing an Endless is to kill one,” Burgess laughs on top of you. His heavy body straddles you and you feel his hands wrap around your neck.

Black dots swarm your vision like the expanding universe. Your nails claw at his hands, drawing blood, as your body tries its best to fight back. Burgess picks you up by the neck and slams your back down, stars waltz behind your eyelids and a brief vision of home comforts you. A ragged breath crawls through your throat before another slam into the ground silences you. Despite your efforts, your hands grow limp and you feel your body start to break down. It flakes away like spring cherry blossom petals as you take your last breath.

“No!” Dream’s scream is the last thing you hear.

Your consciousness fades to black and it is quiet for once. It’s odd to think that an immortal being can die, but it’s true. The only thing that differentiates it is that you could be reborn. Immortality is a fickle thing.

When you come back into consciousness, you can feel the Dreaming heal your soul. It wraps its warmth around you like a soft blanket and you finally feel safe enough to stop everything that ran through your mind. When you stretch out your limbs you realize that you weren’t in your human form anymore.

Your perception spans further and you can see new angles you haven’t seen before through your eyes. You wiggle your toes, or what you thought were your toes and feel soft and fertilizing soil below you. When you look down you notice that your legs have turned into the soft bark of a willow tree. Your arms shake and the reaching leaves of the tree shake from the action. You sigh and your bark groans and creeks under your deflation.

You soon become a welcomed resident in Fiddler’s Green, providing shade for the decreasing amount of dreamers that come to visit you. As the years pass, the Dreaming starts to die around you as Morpheus stays entrapped under the Burgess Manor. You stay as a tree, unable to move and help. Guilt eats you alive, leaving your core to rot from the inside out.

Lucienne comes to visit now and then, but as the castle starts to fall apart, she can’t find the time to come by anymore. Your days grow lonelier as Fiddler’s Green decides to leave the Dreaming as well. You stand on dry soil in a barren wasteland. Your inaction keeping you hostage like a ladybug in a spiderweb. The more you struggled, the harder you found it to keep your human consciousness.

So, you did the most human you could think of: you cried. Fitting, you thought to yourself, a weeping willow, well, weeping. Your tears came to fruition in the form of vibrant yellow blossoming flowers against the beige and cracking surroundings.

You stayed like that for the next 106 years. Your roots had grown so long that you could feel each corner of the dreaming, searching high and low for water to drink from. Soon, even that would run out. Another tear runs down your bark, your trunk growing deep grooves where the previous century of tears had carved. Despite all odds, your leaves were still vibrant and your flowers would change colors based on your mood. A trick that took you a few decades to learn.

The moon rises higher and higher over the horizon. You follow its path, counting the fragments to keep your mind from boredom. It split in half 15 years after Dream’s capture and every five years or so, another fragment separates from the moon. You counted 18 fragments this time around, the same as the day before, and the week before that. You yawn, the bark shaking as you do so and close your eyes to rest.

You wake to a soft hand on your bark just as dawn cracks. Your leaves shake in surprise as someone touches you. It takes a moment to reorientate yourself and when you look down from your height your breath hitches.

“Sister?” Dream calls out, his hand still on your bark.

Relief floods your system just as a soft breeze runs its fingers through your thin leaves. Your catkin flowers caress his skin when he smiles at you. Just as fast as relief has found you, guilt consumes you again. Morpheus has escaped, it had taken him 106 years and all you have done is stand here and do nothing. Your branches groan again, more flowers blooming in its wake as you weep again, and the individual petals turn a deep blue color.

Dream grabs one of your leaves gently as it tries to recede from his touch. “Y/N,” He calls out carefully. “I do not blame you for what happened 106 years ago.”

“I am touched by your sacrifice.” He pauses as he picks his next words carefully. “You were the only one who came to my side when I needed it.”

You still stay quiet but your petals slowly start to return to their yellow colors. Morpheus takes this as a good sign and continues.

“I love you, dear sister, I wish for you to never doubt that. If only I could give you a hug for all that you had done for me,” He prods and extends both of his hands outwards.

You purse your non-existent lips in thought, a very tempting offer. Why not try one more time, to be by your brother’s side? Your bark groans again and you concentrate. You try to remember the details of your human body. How did your hair look? How did you hold yourself? Did you have a mole on this side of your face?

Your leaves and branches start to shake and shrink in on themselves the more you think. You call in your roots and start to wiggle your toes. You think of your fingers and how they had done so much for you: the paintings you made, the pastries you baked. One last tear escapes down your raw skin and when you open your eyes again, you are looking at Dream through new eyes.

Morpheus comes into your space and wraps his steadying arms around you. You sob into his jacket until it becomes uncomfortable. Your throat is raw when you’re finally reduced to hiccups. Through it all, Dream is holding onto you, gently caressing your hair the way you have liked since you were born.

“I like this new hair of yours,” He comments as he pulls at a few strands of your hair. It’s longer this time around and kept the same emotional properties your flowers had. It changes from blue to green as your mood shifts.

“Great, now I can’t hide my emotions anymore.” You mutter weakly to yourself as it changes to red at your slight annoyance.

Dream chuckles above you and gives you one final tight squeeze.

“Welcome home, sister,” He whispers. You take a deep breath, letting it fill your lungs thoroughly.

“Yes, I am home.”

I did a surprising amount of research for this fic. Apparently, the first woman to attain a driver's license was like in 1900 so that's why Genny was so surprised you could drive. Also, I would not recommend driving in a 1916 vehicle? Looks like it could explode at any minute.

This was a request! And requests are open, just go to my page and hit that button to submit one.

If you do submit a request, it may take me a bit to get to them just because of the nature of it and my classes are starting to get ready for finals. (Your girl is graduating this semester woohoo!)

I will see you in the next fic!

♡ Yours, Layla

#the sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #morpheus x reader #dream x reader #the sandman fanfic #the sandman x reader #dream of the endless x reader #sandman x reader #siblings #sibling reader #platonic relationships #platonic #x reader #angst with a happy ending #angst #reincarnation

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kpopgirlbtssvt · 2 months

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WAIT!!

Morpheus peeps, imagine this!!!! 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

A Platonic!Dad!Morpheus x 2 year old daughter fic!!

Imagine like in Monsters inc, a 2 year old little girl somehow makes it into the Dreaming, like Boo made it into the monster world. Remember how Boo wasn’t scared of Sulley and ended up following him back? Imagine the little girl not being scared of the nightmare that is there when she’s asleep, just giggling and ends up following the nightmare back to the Dreaming, and then suddenly there is a little 2 year old human girl that is running amuck in the Dreaming? The Nightmare is panicking and can’t find her, the rest of the Nightmares and Dreams are panicking because there is a tiny human child lost in the Dreaming, and because Morpheus will not be happy.😅 Anyways, Morpheus finds her first, him having gone to search for the human presence he felt appear, and hearing giggling, he finds her happily surrounded by the cats of the Dreaming. He goes to her in cat form at first, as to not startle her, but then turns into his human body form, and the little girl excitedly starts to refer to him as “Kitty”. And he gently picks her up to bring her inside to discuss with Lucienne what they should do (and he has a conversation with the Nightmare that accidentally brought her there😅). Anyways, they find out she’s all alone, doesn’t have parents, and feels safest in her dreams, even nightmares, so Morpheus adopts the little girl as his own daughter, who has become very attached to him🥹🥹

@roguelov @gh0stsp1d3r @honeybeezgobzzzzz @missdreamofendless @dragon-kazansky @thoughtsfromlayla

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floatyflowers · 2 years

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Platonic Dark Father! Morpheus x Reader

You are the personification of joy in the endless family, and also the daughter of Dream.

However, you were never allowed to do as you please, Dream controlled your every motive.

You mostly lived in the dreaming with Morpheus, just because he is overprotective of you.

To be honest, you never got angry or sad at your father, you would always smile at his face and do as he pleases just so you could always make him happy.

After all, you are joy, you are never sad or angry, you are always playful and easy-going

You never thought of his behaviour to be toxic and extremely possessive.

But, when your father gets locked up for a century, and you are left not knowing what to do, you decide to leave the dreaming.

That's when you find your potential, and it is to make people feel joy.

You also found out that Morpheus actually was the one holding you back from achieving your role.

Everything was going well for you until your father managed to get out.

When Dream discovered that you left Dreaming, he considered it a betrayal.

"We meet again, are you not going to greet your father, (Y/n)?"

You would only stand frozen in your place, staring at him, not moving an inch.

"Let's return back together to the dreaming"

"No"

When you reject the idea of returning with him, Morpheus takes it as a sign of rebaling against him.

"I'm not going back with you to that prison, I'm independent, Papa"

"Then you leave me with no choice, Joy"

With those words, Dream puts you into a deep sleep by using his sand.

#tw: toxic relationships #platonic yandere #daughter reader #Yandere the sandman #morpheus x reader #dream x y/n

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roguelov · 14 days

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okay I know we all love romantic DreamxHobxYoung!Immortal!Reader, BUT I saw a tiktok recently that gave me an idea. the video said something like "immortal character taking in magical character who has been rejected by their family and community and becoming their parental figure"

maybe it's a situation similar to jjk, where geto adopted those 2 girls who were being abused by their village for being sorcerers.

they don't have to be an actual kid though, they could be older since they'd still be wayyy younger than dream and hob lol

just dream and hob taking in this person who's been rejected by everyone and taking care of them and stuff (platonic soulmates maybe?)

(I have like a whole story about this in my head, but it includes yet another fandom so I'll leave it at this😅🤭)

Oh my god my heart my baby heart loves this so much 🥹🥰 found family? I’m sold I’m here for it

You were ostracized by your community by a young age, you were gifted with an affinity for magic and labeled a menace. You drifted along by yourself for a while mostly surviving until you crossed paths with a gentleman with a kind smile. Hob instantly knew you were in need, you had this broken and almost feral look in your eyes. It reminded him of his time after his family died and his town believed him to be a witch.

After some coaxing, he brought you to the New Inn and gave you a warm meal. And since then you always found yourself there. Maybe at first you tried to stay away, believing you are a monster. Your magic was wild, chaotic, and impossible to control no matter the effort you put into learning it. However, you enjoyed Hob’s company and he made you feel safe. And eventually, you met Dream.

Maybe you never told Hob and Dream your secret and past, but one day while in the Dreaming your magic spills out. It nearly toppled over the castle, and you tried to flee afterwards. But, Dream and Hob found you in Fiddler’s Green. Tears streaming down your face, you blurted out everything. You told them what people called you, your eternal life doomed to be alone given your cursed magic, how -

Hob will immediately cut you off, “No one is cursed to be alone.”

Hob and Dream will pour into how they will not leave you, how you aren’t alone anymore, and how they will do everything they can to help you.

“The Dreaming can be your home, you are always welcomed here,” Dream will say.

And you will stay. You will stay because you love it here and everyone - Dream, Hob, Lucienne, Matthew, Marv, Cain and Abel, Goldie - are your family.

Now here’s some snippets I think would be lovely:

Dream and Hob trying to help you control your magic but results in them being knocked around (more so in the beginning)

Dream will be your biggest teacher and supporter when learning your magic and may find some artifacts to help control (maybe he’ll make you a ruby necklace to contain some of your magic)

Hob will share stories of his past both the good and the bad

If you want a normal life in the Waking, Hob will gladly let you work at the inn

If you have nightmares especially of your past, Dream will be there to comfort you and apologize not meaning to upset you

Once you can control your magic, you will excitedly show off to Dream and Hob and they are so happy and proud of you

Dream and Hob will see a new light in your eyes that makes their heart feel so at ease

Just Dream and Hob becoming your home and them uplifting you constantly

#the sandman #morpheus #dream of the endless #robert gadling #hob gadling #morpheus x reader #dream of the endless x reader #hob Gadling x reader #hob x reader #Morpheus x reader x hob #Dream x reader x hob #x reader #platonic reader #anon #ask

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jay-blue32 · 1 year

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Sit Still

Dream of the Endless x Femchild! Reader blurb.

Summary- Reader is just plain clumsy. Mentioned that reader has powers of some sort-

Warnings- none that I know of-

Dream is pretty well out of character but- whatever

Also shout out to @just-some-random-blogger though this is not the fic I ask her for help on I wouldn't have wrote this if not for her.

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"Hello Y/n," Dream said in his usual monotone voice, spotting the child sitting on a bench, cradling her knee in both hands.

"Hey Dream," Y/n replied with a grin."I had a bit of an accident." Dream approached the bench and knelt down beside her, noting how hard Y/n was trying to stifle her laughter as she clutched at her knee. "Let me see," he said and reached out to gently touch it.

Y/n flinched away from his touch, the small smile on her face disappearing instantly. "Don't touch it! It hurts!"

"I cannot help you properly if you won't sit still." Dream looked around for some sort of bandage or dressing material but found nothing.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. "Matthew," he called out to his raven companion who had been loitering nearby. "Try and find something I can use to cover this up."

With a croak that conveyed all the annoyance any bird could muster, Matthew took to flight begrudgingly. "So what happened?" Dream asked Y/n as they waited for Matthew's return.

"I was playing tag with some of my friends and I tripped over a log."

“Ah… why didn’t you use your powers to stay afloat?”

"I Did! But then I stumbled on another log.”

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Just a short little...thing- ig

#Sandman blurb #dream of the endless #Dream x child reader #Morpheus x child reader #platonic x reader #Sandman #Dream #Blurb #The Sandman #X child reader #Child reader #Fem child reader #Short fic #Father figure Dream

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dreaming-about-fanfictions · 2 years

Note

is it possible to do a platonic reader and morpheus headcannon/blurb ?

Here you go, love <3

Morpheus usually doesn’t spend his time with mortals for no reason

His responsibilities, his function, his tasks – they’re too demanding. And besides, he has simply no reason to talk to mortals outside the Dreaming

With you, it’s different

He notices you some day, by accident. A strange feeling, an even stranger dream, and there you are. Something draws him to you.

He watches your dreams for days, weeks, months. Your presence is calming, your dreams interesting, your life fascinating in a way. He can’t say why but he actually likes spending time … around you.

Maybe it’s Hobs influence, who knows.

It takes him almost a year until he makes himself known to you for the first time – and then he talks to you almost every night in your dream.

You forget him when you wake up. Most of him anyways. You’re always well rested and you don’t know why exactly but you can’t wait to go back to sleep each night.

You spend hours with him. Just talking. He shows you his realm, tells you about the millennia before you.

You talk about your life. The little things, seemingly unimportant for someone like him, but Morpheus always listens and is always interested.

The two of you never put a name on the relationship. You get the sense that he isn’t the type for that. But it’s okay – in the end, is there even a word that would properly describe it?

Yes, there is.

It’s friends.

#morpheus imagines #the sandman imagines #the sandman fanfiction #morpheus x platonic reader #morpheus x reader

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y44sherlock · 2 years

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I love how I dreamt about Morpheus last night and I was a small child being carried by him, admiring the streets of somewhere I have to guess is by France? Or Germany I’m not really sure. When I looked at him and smiled— he smiled back and said to wake up and I did 😨..

Idk why my consciousness makes me dream about this typa shit bc my fatherless ass is crying when I woke up 😭😭

#morpheus #the sandman #dream of the endless #Morpheus as a father figure #I’m fatherless #my dad left me and now I’m into emo dream God #I LOVE FLUFF #goofy ahh #morpheus x reader #platonic

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thebigsl33p · 1 year

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The Wake

This is...exactly what you’re expecting it to be. Funeral angst and acceptance, general Sandman stuff. Recently I’ve realised I’ve been narrating bits of my own life which is strange to say the least but I’ll blame it on the amount of writing I do in third person. Anyways... warning for Sandman spoilers. Very slight Daniel Hall X Reader.

The Kingdom now lies in the hands of the Queen, and it will remain so until the ceremony is complete, the wake and the funeral. And then it can be passed over to the new Dream of The Endless, not Morpheus, no, but Daniel feels all he felt and remembers all he lived through. After the procedures it is up to The Queen of The Dreaming what she wishes to do. Whether she wants to be put to rest by her husband, continue as a monarch of The Dreaming or be freed from the reigns of royal duty, she isn’t sure. Y/N has yet to make her choice.

At the moment she stands at the gates of The Dreaming, dressed in black and lace, thinking of the last time she saw her husband. She had known his choice to die from the very beginning, it was something he had been mulling over for a while - should the opportunity present itself - and when The Furies came and reigned terror across The Dreaming the Queen could simply nod and smile, kiss her lover, as she knew what must come next. The end.

She had yet to meet the new Dream of The Endless, an internal storm raging on inside her. Should she love him as she had loved her husband? - No it wouldn’t be right. She had to no right to be angry at him, it wasn’t his choice. Morpheus had made his decisions and that was that. That was that.

The Queen of The Dreaming was interrupted from her thoughts by the arrival of Five figures, all of which she recognised: Death, Destiny, Despair, Desire and Delirium. She greeted them gracefully, expecting formality and poise. But then Death pulled her into a hug, Desire crossed their arms and Despair’s eyebrows scrunched together, Delirium pouted like a child on the edge of tears and Destiny flipped through his book, as the Queen of The Dreaming clutched her sister in law and the two women began to cry.

Y/N watched as The Endless built the wall, taller than any creature or citizen, she watched as they picked up bricks and placed them, her neck bent to the sky, her hands folded gracefully and Matthew, perched on her shoulder.

He ruffled at his feathers for a minute before speaking, “Have you made your choice?”

“No, not yet. And you, dear bird?” She raised a hand to gently stroke his feathers, run a finger down his beak. The raven simply shuffled about and huffed before responding, “No.”

“The Guests will arrive soon.” “All those Dreamers...” The raven sighed, “That many people in The Dreaming must have quite the toll on you, no?”

She nodded gently, “True, Matthew. But it was the burden Morpheus had to bare and as his wife, I must too.” She stated and that was the end of the conversation as the two of them watched The Endless build the wall the doors of The Dreaming began to open.

But the Raven managed to slip a few last words in, “You’re allowed to be sad y’know. Everyone’s sad...but you deserve it more than most.” And then he was gone.

By the time The Endless were done all the guests had arrived, and those killed by The Kindly Ones were resurrected through, if she had to guess, Daniel. He wasn’t Daniel, she knew that, but it felt wrong to call him anything else because Dream of The Endless was a title reserved for Morpheus, her Morpheus.

Once everyone had arrived and offered their condolences to the wife and family, it was time. People shared stories of The Dream Kind and the chatter of the crowd seemed to go on and on with stories and wine and laughter. A joyous occasion for most, to celebrate the existence of someone who inspired many.

But the noise silenced when the great gates, built by the endless, swung open, and on the other side stood the only five Endless in attendance. The Queen stepped forwards first, taking each Endless by the hand, sharing solemn looks with steely eyes before they all turned and walked forward, leading her kingdom and people into a new reign.

The area that had been crafted was beautiful, a place for eulogies to be spoken and stories to be shared. The onlookers watched as an avatar of desire spread a cloth over a slab of marble and slowly, Morpheus appeared under the sheet, his silhouette as sharp as ever. The sight took Y/N’s breath away and her fingers itched to tear the sheet back and see what was under there. But she composed herself and listened to the words of her husband’s siblings, all of them with their own opinion of Morpheus. The only one who didn’t speak was Death, and when they were all done it was her turn.

She cleared her throat, “People of The Dreaming, I stand here before you today, not just as a Queen but as a sister, a lover, a wife who has lost her husband. Dream - Morpheus - meant more to me than I could comprehend and now that he is gone, his absence feels like the loss of my heart.” She steadied herself, “My husband was a loyal king who learnt much in his time and still had much to learn. The only thing that can come next are better days than this one.” She nods, a sad smile and tears in her eyes, “He loved us all in his own unique way, and he has made many sacrifices for The Dreaming. So, the most we can do is respect his decision and let him go peacefully into the night.” She finishes her speech and steps gracefully of the podium. And as someone takes her place, Lucienne, she knows this is a pain she will carry with her forever.

Y/N sits in the library, Lucienne across from her, a glass of wine in both their hands. For the first time today the two women are allowed to relax, and they sit and sip their alcohol while reminiscing. They know things will change in The Dreaming, and they make a point to savour the way things were before everything becomes different.

But the two know it is small conversation, a distraction from the nerves that eat Y/N whole. Because at the moment, Daniel Hall is meeting his new siblings, and then he will meet the person who was once his wife and then the kingdom will be his. There’s something sad in the idea of the handover - Morpheus and her had planned forever, until the universe ended and Death kissed them both goodnight - but he had let her take him earlier than they had agreed on, and it had lefr her in a compromised position.

She sighed, swilling her wine around her glass before leaning her head on her palm, “I don’t know what to do Lucienne...”

Lucienne pushed her glasses up her nose and sighed, “You must do what a King would do.” She told her, “You must do what your heart tells you to. If your heart says “stay” then stay. If it says that your time as a ruler of The Dreaming is done then so be it - and we shall say goodbye to you too.”

Tears sit in the Queen’s eyes, “I don’t want to go Luc. I’m not ready to go. I love this kingdom so much, my friends - family - but I know it won’t be the same without him.”

Lucienne’s eyebrows furrow and then she is also crying, standing from her chair and approaching Y/N. She gets down on her knees and takes her hand, “Perhaps it is time for me to go too... I am a relic of the past. We don’t have to die, but just know, my Lady, that where you go I will go too. This I swear.”

Y/N nods, “And I to you, Lucienne.” She says, and then she is pulling the librarian up and into a hug, tight and loving. And it’s just the comfort that both of them need right now as they cry into each others shoulders and savour the embrace of true, unsullied friendship.

That is until there is the clearing of a throat and the squawking of a raven.

Y/N quickly pulls away and both women face their new ruler, Daniel Hall. He looks so much different than Morpheus did. Whereas the previous Dream Lord had taken to wearing blacks and had sharp features, Daniel was covered from head to toe in white, and his face was soft... even friendly.

“My Lord.” Both ladies echo and bow to him. Lucienne splits off from the two of them with a quick, “I shall give you two a moment.” And then she has slipped through the doors of The Dreaming’s Library, leaving the Old Queen and The New King alone.

The moment is tense and awkward, two sets of hunched shoulders and stiff hands, flickering eyes and nervous glances. And then Daniel Hall speaks.

“He loved you too much.” He says, the ghost of a fond smile on his lips, “I can feel all he felt for you burning away inside me, like a forest fire but so much stronger, so much brighter. What he felt for you could never be put into words. He tried, you know, he tried so many times.” She knows the words he is saying are cruel comforts and validations but it melts away the awkwardness and she smiles lightly.

And deep down she knows that this is the end. Visions flash behind her eyelids of Lucienne and her in a small cottage by the seaside, the picture-perfect life where they spend the rest of eternity, as planned. They bake and craft and volunteer and read books and eventually open up a little cafe off the side of their house. She can smell the lightning as he speaks, the burning and extinction of a thousand stars, birth and death all at the same time.

And Y/N, Queen of The Dreaming, looks at Daniel Hall, and in a single blink, a single breath, hands over the The Dreaming. He tells her she is welcome to come whenever she wishes, and she will always remain as The Queen, in title and honour. But she’s not sure she’ll ever take him up on his offer.

She knows what waits for her at the end of her life - how her bones will melt into stardust and Death will pick up the sand in the palm of her hand and gently blow, until she has found a place in the night sky, right next to her husband. And then, her story will be over.

I’m not sure I like this... but the idea is sweet.

#morpheus X reader #dream of the endless X reader #king of dreams x reader #dream X reader #lord morpheus X reader #morpheus angst #uhh #the sandman X reader #daniel hall #platonic!Lucienne X reader

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lonelylavenderluke · 2 years

Text

Son of my father. Son of my mother.

Morpheus x platonic!oc, mentioned Morpheus x Calliope x oc, mentioned Morpheus x reader

Warnings: angst, character death

Hope is who he was.

It's what his father would call him in the dead of night when even the moon couldn't scare away the small boys fears.

Lord Morpheus was besotted by his son. A final gift from his lover. The last thing they ever made before a curse put upon them by a jealous goddess killed them.

All the Endless remembered the day Hope was born.

Death had been there despite her best efforts to save her dying sister-in-law not even she could save them, she'd watched her brother clutching the screaming infant to him, the palace staff who'd been aiding the birth buzzing about. Some where crying, others ordering the rest about but in amongst it all stood her little brother cradling the crying child against his chest trying to sooth it whilst desperately avoiding looking at the corpse of the child's mother. "I'm so sorry Dream..." her voice was quiet as the room seemed to empty leaving the immortal Endless beings and a corpse. "Were they in pain?" the only thing he asked unshed tears welled in his eyes as he finally looked up at the body of his lover.

After the loss of Calliope and Orpheus both Dream and Goddess of Fortune, Tyche stayed away from many of the other gods. Betrayed by family, Tyche swore never to return to Olympus and instead devoted her time to aiding Morpheus in ruling the Dreaming, helping the mortals through guiding their dreams to show them fortunes within their lives. The Goddess's Hera and Artemis not long before before the death of the gods of Olympus cursed the young Goddess to die at child birth that even her own grasps of fortune could save her from. Morpheus was reluctant at the news of their child, he'd already lost a son now he faced losing another child and wife. Tyche had been upset by his reluctance, she held no care for the curse all she cared for was her child. "Have we not earned this one bit of joy Oneiros" she had once argued, sat upon his throne as if she had always belonged there, "but at what cost" he responded kneeling before sadness plaguing his very soul.

Desire arrived but hours after the birth of their nephew. Their twin Despair appearing beside them. Both twins walking in tandem of one another as they stepped through the gates into the throne room. The pair could feel the love and pain oozing from their older brother, as he sat upon his throne with his son in his arms, Lucienne standing tentatively at his side with Death hovering at his other. "Greetings brother" Despair was the first to speak, "Greetings sister" Desire followed on as Death and Lucienne turned their attentions onto the twins. "I hope we aren't to late to share our condolences" Desire smiled as Despair hovered closer to the steps wanting to see the infant within their siblings arms, "if you are only here to jest and make fun then leave... the both of you today is to celebrate and mourn" Death was harsh with her words, a surprise to both younger siblings. "No jesting, we only wish to see our new family member is all... we are deeply bereaved at the loss of sweet Tyche" Despair was the one to answer as Desire held their tongue knowing that it would be unwise to start something when Dream was like this. "Come closer then" Dreams deep voice broke through the tension as Despair darted up the stairs hovering in front staring contently at the small child in his fathers arms, "he is small" was her first thought. "Far too small, are you sure he is yours Dream" Desire poked at his brother seeing if he could goad some sort of reaction from him. Desire was forbidden from returning to the Dreaming for a long time after that day.

Destiny and Delirium were the next to visit. Destiny did not stay long only to pass on his blessing and a title for the new-born infant. The 'Prince of Hope'. Delirium stayed the longest other than Death. She adored the baby finding peace when holding him, Dream did not have the heart to turn the younger Endless away when she would visit. He found comfort in the sounds of his son and youngest sisters laughter echoing in his throne room, filling the silence left behind from his wife's own laughter.

Morpheus also found comfort in holding his son. Letting the boy sleep against his chest as he listened to the dreams that would come and speak of their own problems. He would carry the boy with him as he traversed the lands of the Dreaming doing his rounds as he visited his people. He never took his son near the nightmares. Despite being their creator he feared for his sons safety when near a nightmare, always enlisting Lucienne and Jessamy to watch over the boy as he went about working on his nightmares.

The child had been crying for what seemed like hours. Most of the palace staff steered away from where the king and his son were. Lucienne had tried offering some advice but instead was met with nothing but more tears. "You're only causing yourself more pain" the lord muttered pacing back and forth, "there is little benefit to all this noise" he almost huffed confused as to what could have caused so much distress for his son. Walking back into his chamber he sat on the end of his bed resting the child on his lap so that he could look down and check over the infant once more, nothing was out of the ordinary. Lifting the boy up he rested him against his chest offering comfort as best he could, "my sweet boy what is so upsetting " his voice was low and deep pressing a gentle kiss to the crown of his sons head. "Your mother would have been better at this... she would have known what you were feeling, what to do to make you feel better" Morpheus admitted quietly running his hand up and down the child's back trying to sooth the restless baby, "your mother was always better with others than I was" the pain of missing his wife gnawing away at him. He found that he could only speak about her to their child, it was too painful to talk about her to any of the others but he felt that it was his duty to his wife that their child knew of their mother. Lying down holding his son against him, the king of Dreams kept telling tales of his wife sharing his memories of her to try and sooth his son. When he'd finished reciting the time Tyche had taken to being a mortal actor for plays such as those written by William Shakespeare he'd noticed Hope had finally fallen to sleep eventually soothed by the sound of his fathers voice.

Any who walked in the realm of the Dreaming would see it's king and his shadow in the form of his child. The little boy growing happily under the protective gaze of his father, Hope was rarely seen away from his father, hands clasped onto his fathers cloak so that he wouldn't lose his way. He spent so many of his days either playing in the Fiddlers Green or curling up in the library be read the stories of the world. Wanting nothing more than to explore the waking world but only having the books as an escape. Morpheus however forbid his son to go to the waking, “mortals are not as they are in the books my sweet boy… there are those who would seek to use you and your gifts” he warned gently lifting the boy up to sit on his lap, brushing his hair from his eyes, “when here no harm will come to you as long as I say.. you are my son and the Prince of the Dreaming, all the Dreams and Nightmares are just as much yours to control as they are mine” he leaned closer as the small boy glanced around at the few castle staff that were bobbing in and out of the throne room. He reached out for his fathers ruby playing with it in his hands, Morpheus took it off and placed it around his sons neck instead. “One day a long time from now, you will have your own tools like I do to govern the Dreaming as I do now” he slowly explained watching as Hope studied the jewel with great delicacy, the boy seemed to look closely at the inscription on the gold of the jewel recognising the name that Lucienne had pointed out to him so often, “Mama” the toddler cooed running his fingers over the inscription. Of course how could Morpheus forget, the day his son had been born but his wife died he’d inscribed her name onto the gold of the ruby wanting to forever have a part of her with him where ever he went. “Yes little one it allows her to always be with us” he spoke softly as he watched his sons gentleness, that was one thing Morpheus believed little Hope had inherited from his mother was her gentleness. They stayed in silence Dream wrapping his arm to pull Hope closer as the little boy yawned still playing with the ruby, “one day I will take you to the waking but for now I want you to stay and keep growing happier and stronger” the king of dreams promised his child not knowing what the future held for them both.

“Papa” his sons voice called out over Lucienne’s warning, the Lord of the Dreaming was just leaving to go after a rouge nightmare, the little one had been reading in the library when he sensed his fathers preparations to leave. Morpheus turned back to look at his son who seemed to be struggling to run up all the stairs with his baby deer like legs, ml img away from his throne the king moved closer before kneeling down to his sons level as the child crashed into him wrapping his arms around his father. “Don’t go stay” the poor boy whimpered, he always cried when Dream left the Dreaming, the fear of him never coming home grew anxiously within the child, Morpheus hated leaving Hope wanting nothing more than to take the boy and lock themselves away in chamber so he could hold and shield his son from the dangers of the universe. “I cannot little one, I must leave to sort something out… I promise to be home soon” the ancient being promised pressing a kiss to the boys temple, “I miss you papa” the toddler snuffled clinging to his father.

Hope eventually let go. The last memory he has of his father was that of swirling clouds of sand. After that his father never came back. And soon after even Jessamy stopped returning. The memory of his father was all Hope was left with. He was still an infant in the eyes of the endless. Delirium visited once during the Dream Lords absence but left quickly when the little boy refused to play instead focused on trying to help Lucienne stop the chaos.

He eventually lost track of time. Slowly began forgetting what his father was like. He shadowed Lucienne for a decade before taking over, by then he'd grown as if he were a human, tired of being treated like the child he knew deep down that he was. Standing tall almost as if he were the reincarnation of his mother with hair like his father, those who remained took pity on the Orphaned Lord. All he had left were in what remained of the Dreaming. His endless Aunts and Uncles abandoned him at the first signs of fathers disappearance. With no one to guide him and no books left in the dreaming to teach him, Hope was left to hold together what remained of the Dreaming. Lucienne mourned the child her young lord had been, mourned that there was little that she could do to help the prince in his attempt at ruling. The boy held no ill will to her, reassuring her that her remaining at his side was all that he needed from her.

Fierce was the young Lord Hope, kept away the reaching hands of those like Lucifer who sort to steal what was his fathers. With what little power he knew to muster he forged a blade encrusted with Amazonite, 'the stone of hope' as mortals knew it as, in the presence of those that remained like Cain and Abel. He swore upon an oath to protect the Dreaming and all who resided and walked among it, swearing to never abandon those who stayed true to it. And so he stayed in the far reaches of the Dreaming wondering the dreams of those who could still dream. He never returned to the castle of his youth to much was felt there, pain that not even the soothing words of Lucienne could quell in the young gods mind. So he remained governing and caring for who stayed, watching over protecting his realm until he felt a disturbance in the realm, feeling a pull that lead him towards the home of Cain and Abel.

If he could remember his father then he would have felt his fathers return. Instead all he could think was that his home and its people could be in danger. He sensed Lucienne nearby, close to the unknown threat. His heart picked up, fear growing in his mind as he ran through the Dreaming, holding tightly onto the connection held between it and himself.

"Lucienne!" he shouted pulling his sword from its sheath reaching for the librarian who stood beside the dark figure. Cain and Abel stood by as well all seemed shocked yet unsurprised by the Princes actions. Long had those left in the dreaming known that Hope had forgotten his father Morpheus, the belief that the pain of his absence had been to much that his conscious mind had forgotten him to save the young boy from the pain. "Stand back" the boy hissed pulling the librarian behind him shielding Lucienne with himself his sword held high and aimed at the figure, Morpheus was all but stunned.

He knew that face. It was almost as if looking at the ghost of Tyche. His boy. His small son that had been begging him not to leave him that day. "Lord Hope" the brothers called out bowing their heads at the youngster, Morpheus watched at the snarl that had found purchase on his sons face. How he looked at him as if he were a stranger. "Hope please put down your blade" Lucienne ordered resting a hand gently on the boys shoulder as he looked back at his closest friend, "Lucienne a stranger stands before us, a possible threat to both you and the brothers and you ask me to put down my blade and leave us defenceless" the young lord growled unhappy at the order. The only thing stopping him from snapping at the woman was the trust in which he had in her. "My dear lord this is no stranger to the dreaming" she was soft in the way she spoke, spending so long with the boy had allowed for her to learn how to calm the young man in front of her. "Lord Morpheus has returned, my prince" Abel called out a hush fell over them as Hope struggled to deal with what was said. Anger and hurt but also glee brewed within him, he had waited so long for his fathers return but at what cost.

"Hope" Morpheus called to his son, wishing for the boy to meet his eyes, "my son" the words were a plead to the child he'd left behind. The blade was lowered but not put away. “I am no one but the Lady Tyche’s son” the young lord said, tears welling in his eyes. Morpheus felt betrayal fester inside of him, how dare his own blood turn against him. But then he understood, he’d promised to be by his sons side, to guide the young boy into his powers and now. Now his son stood before him nearly a grown man. Had his absence forced his son to change so.

“So, did you find out what you were looking for?” Hope was sat at the end of the walk way, staring down at the rippling nightmares and dreams below him, “I must leave for London” Morpheus said aloud Lucienne watching from behind as the pair stared at one another, “so I’ll watch the realm for another hundred years then” the younger hissed with venom on his tongue. Morpheus stared at his son unsure as to approach the subject of his absence. “I want you to come with” the request startled Hope. He looked at his father with unease, “the man who left would never have allowed me to the Dreaming” the statement was meant harm more than it did, instead Morpheus nodded. “Trust me if there was any other way I would travel alone.” The old god responded, Hope knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he didn’t know this man but knew that if he helped then his home might be saved.

“For my sake please take a raven, my prince” Lucienne pleaded taking hold of the youngers hand, her pleads had fallen onto deaf ears with his father but the youngster nodded, “please send one for us Lucienne” the request was quiet but heard before the boy followed after the Endless being into the waking world.

#tom sturridge #the sandman #morpheus #original character #Morpheus x platonic!oc #morpheus x reader #the sandman netflix

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book-place · 2 years

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Mr. Blue

Warnings: Mention of Lucifer, let me know if I missed any :)

Pairings: Morpheus x child reader

*not my gif*

Summary: Morpheus is being moody- as usual- when someone with the complete opposite of his personality comes along

A/N: I really enjoyed writing this

Please don’t plagiarize my work, you may reblog if you like but I’m asking that you don’t steal my hard work

Dream of the Endless tossed another chunk of bread to the ground before him with a sigh, unwilling to let his eyes travel beyond the birds of the park to the arrogant and obnoxious humans beyond, ruining any chance he could have of peace and quiet in that place.

Pigeons, crows, and ravens alike fed happily on the food he was tossing to them, oblivious of their feeders fowl mood.

It was not until the sound of tiny footsteps appeared next to him, that Morpheus finally glanced away from the winged creatures.

You looked up at him with wide eyes and an even wider smile as you plopped down on the bench next to him, giving a couple inches of space between you two.

He scowled, moving his body farther away from you along the bench and angling himself so you were facing his back. But that didn’t even seem to make a slight dent in your mood.

“Hi, Mr. Man!” You greeted cheerfully, the way that all five year olds like you were expected to talk.

His head turned around and he gave you a slight glare, “Go away, child.” He hissed.

You only giggled up at him in return, “Whatcha doin’?”

A frown formed on his face, normally humans would have run away screaming just by the tone of his voice and the look on his face by then.

“Feeding the birds.” It was said very bluntly, and quite honestly, in a rude way.

“Well, duh!” You exclaimed, rolling your eyes teasingly, beginning to kick your legs back and forth because they couldn’t quite reach the ground yet, “But why?”

“Because they’re hungry.”

“Yeah, but why do you do it?” You pushed, eyes trained on your dirty blue sneakers.

“I don’t know.” He snapped, “Now, go run off to your parents and annoy them instead.”

His eyes had already begun sweeping the park for any signs of adults looking for a particularly annoying child who had escaped from their grasps and slipped away to terrorize some random man’s life.

You ignored him, as if he hadn’t spoken at all, and instead you continued on, “I’m Y/n, by the way! What’s your name? Is it Blue? ‘Cause you have really pretty blue eyes, Mr.”

He blinked once. Twice. Then three times down at you in surprise, “Oh.” Was all he said, his face subconsciously softening the slightest bit from its hard look.

“Heads up!” A random voice suddenly called above all the other loud ones, not giving the dream lord a chance to answer you, and causing both your heads to snap up just in time to see a volleyball flying straight for your head.

Without even thinking, Morpheus snapped his arm out directly in front of you, and caught the ball one handed seconds before it could hit you.

Your eyes had squeezed shut and you had stiffened while bracing for impact, only to peel them open slowly when you realized that you had not in fact been hit.

“Geez, thanks Mr!” You called up to him with your signature wide grin, but he wasn’t even looking at you.

He was too busy glaring harshly at the man who had almost injured you. And if looks could kill… that man would be having tea with Lucifer right about then.

“O-oh, sorry man!” He quickly apologized, stumbling over his words nervously, afraid to come close enough to get his ball back.

The dark haired one threw it harshly back at him, with too much force to be normal for a human, nor casual enough to not be caring that you almost got hurt.

“Just don’t let it happen again.” He growled in a warning clear as day.

“Y-yeah. Sure, man! Whatever you say!” The man quickly took stumbling steps away before retreating from Morpheus’s vision all together. A wise decision.

“Are you okay?” Your voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Once again, he couldn’t help but look down at you in shock, “You were the one that almost got hit, and you are asking if I am okay?”

You shrugged a little bit, “You just seem kinda annoyed.”

He didn’t even know what to say- how to answer that. But before he could rack his brain for anything, you hopped down from the bench.

“Well, I better get goin’ Mr. Blue.” You stretched your hands above your head as if you had been sitting for hours.

He blinked at the nickname, but before he could say anything, you were already skipping off in another direction, “I hope you have fun feeding your birds!” You called before you too disappeared from his sight.

Morpheus sat there for a moment, frozen in silence, before he did something he hadn’t done in a long, long time. He smiled, a small and delicate smile at the little sunshine girl he had just met.

The Endless 🌌- None added to this taglist

#platonic #platonic imagine #x reader #the sandman netflix #the sandman x reader #sandman morpheus #morpheus x reader #Morpheus x child reader #Morpheus x reader platonic #child reader #dream x reader #dream x child reader #dream x reader platonic #dream of the endless #dream of the endless x reader #the sandman 2022 #the sandman fanfic #the sandman x child reader

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ep-the-penguin · 1 year

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~Request Rules~

[Published: Sunday, January 7th, 2023]

I write One-shots, headcanons, and drabbles. Maybe a mini-series, when I think a request is good enough for one. Also if people keep requesting for me to make one, lol...

Only Platonic stuff. Whether it be friends, sister, or daughter-related stuff. Characters don't have to be related to the reader, obviously.

All requests are done in the Reader Insert style [using (Y/N)], no expectations. I'm also only writing for females. I apologize to any male readers out there, but it's what I'm most comfortable with.

I will not write the reader doing drugs of any kind, consuming alcohol, having intercourse, self-harm, suicide, etc. I'm not comfortable writing any of that.

While I do write characters being yandere, I will not write them intentionally physically hurting the reader in any way, emotionally is a bit in the grey area for me, but please nothing too extreme. I won't write the reader being a yandere either.

While requesting something, I would advise that you specify the fandom, the character, and the scenario you want me to write. But with the scenario, please explain it to me like I'm a five-year-old. I need you to be as descriptive as possible to get your request right✨

Fun fact: This blog was created out of spite that the fanfiction community does not have enough or just simply the lack of platonic stories for my bois... So here I am, committing to writing things for them, and for my fellow readers out there who also want to read platonic fics.

If there's something you have in mind but aren't so sure that it will be uncomfortable to write, or a character you aren't too sure of, just send it in. Please, don't hesitate to ask. I know it can be a bit daunting to ask and or comment on things, but always know that I'm happy to communicate with all of you! It really makes my day to see people comment on my works or just simply ask questions regarding my works✨

~T.V Shows/Movies/Characters I Write For~

Supernatural (Seasons 1-5)

John Wick

Doctor Who (New Who, except the 13th Doctor and so forth)

Stranger Things

Van Helsing (2004)

The Sandman (Dream of the Endless/Morpheus)

Hopefully, more will come in the future. I might even add more anime characters/series later on. For now, this is all I'm writing for...

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ghostlyxserenade · 2 years

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𝓸𝓱 𝓼𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓶𝓪𝓷! ; the sandman universe OC.

𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒽𝒶𝒾𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾'𝓂 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓈𝑜 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒. 💫 𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 '𝘢𝘴𝘩' 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 ; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘳.

#the sandman #the sandman oc #the sandman rp #sandman #sandman rp #the sandman fanfic #sandman x reader #the dream oc #the dream of endless #Morpheus #allaboutocs #toalltheocsivelovedbefore #Tom Sturridge #Dream of the Endless #neil gaiman #someone stop me #ocappreciationtag #platonic relationships

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nvirskies · 3 months

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sand - c. la rue

idea taken from one of @star-girl69 's asks about married clarisse and immediately went to think about how the vast majority of greek demigods didn't get to live past their 20's or even teen years... and the survivor's guilt that would come with being one of the few lucky enough to live longer.

warnings: angst, hurt/comfort, traumatic nightmare flashbacks, descriptions of violence, descriptions of blood + war, spoilers for TLO, set after both reader and clarisse leave CHB about 6-8 years into the future, google translated Greek term of endearment, crying, survivor's guilt, platonic RueGard, ooc Clarisse, she's matured more over time and more articulate with her feelings and words

summary: clarisse wakes up from a particularly bad nightmare in the middle of the night, reader comforts her through a breakdown

wife!fem!demigod!reader x wife!clarisse la rue

word count: 2.2k

καρδιά μου (kardiá mou) - my heart

Η καρδιά μου είναι η καρδιά σου (I kardiá mou eínai i kardiá sou) - my heart is your heart

"but you have more pieces of me than than desert has sand, and I have less pieces of you than I can hold in my hand" sand, alchemical: vol. 1, dove cameron

taglist: @lvrue @star-girl69 @azrielsdiary @petitegavotte @b0ok-lover

men, nsfw, non-sapphic, 16-/19+ dni

Greek demigods fell in love hard and fast with an unmatched intensity. They normally didn’t live long enough to even envision themselves in their adult lives, and why would they? Every day was a struggle to stay alive with monsters coming in from all angles and quests most didn’t come back from.

And that was why, as soon as the two of you graduated high school, Clarisse got down on a knee and proposed with the knowledge that you were the one she would want to spend the rest of her life, however long or short, with.

When you two had graduated college, the next thing in the books was to make it official in the courthouse, and that was what you had done. No extravagant party or ceremony, just a quiet day in the courthouse and a night in to celebrate.

But no matter how far the two of you ran from Camp Half-Blood, the nightmares never went away, never got better. As the years passed, more of the people you had considered friends died. One after the other, falling like cursed dominos, helplessly standing by as they all tumbled down.

Soon, the nightmares became more about the people that were lost than the monsters themselves. Nightly plagues of searingly painful memories from watching the life drain from so many demigods’ eyes burned themselves in both of your psyches.

All you could do was hope Charon would be kind enough to ferry them across the Styx without his payment of a silver coin.

And tonight certainly hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary with the two of you and your limbs interlaced in a protective embrace while sleep claimed your minds, as if the both of you could protect each other from the monsters both in and outside.

Your head, nestled into her chest. Her deep, rhythmic breathing made your hair flutter ever so slightly as she exhaled. Her arms, wrapped loosely around your waist, hands not-so-sneakily under the baggy shirt of hers you had stolen to wear as pajamas for the night. It was all perfect. Too perfect.

You would be damned fools to think that peace would last for so long. Demigods didn’t get peace, they didn’t get tranquility, and they especially didn’t get uninterrupted domestic bliss.

Unbeknownst to you, Clarisse’s face contorted into one of distress. Her arms pulled you in closer subconsciously as the all too familiar face of Morpheus greeted her with a sly smirk on his face in her dreams.

In moments, she was transported back to the Battle of Manhattan.

She was seventeen again.

Blood was everywhere. Abandoned weapons lay on the floor, the hands that once gripped them tightly, now loose and limp. Shrill screams echoed throughout the air, all cut short by gut-wrenching sounds of fatal injury. Metal cut through flesh. Acid burnt through metal. Flames licked and greedily consumed anything and everything as fuel.

Her feet felt heavy, her hands numb. She could do nothing but stand and watch it all unfold before her own eyes, forced to relive the carnage and devastation that had ripped through Manhattan on that fateful day.

Morpheus’ voice whispered in her right ear, the sound of it sending an uneasy chill down her spine. “Daughter of Ares. A fitting dream, no? Your father must have been proud of you for the way you fought after… well, I’ll let you relive that, too.” Before she could blink, she was transported to the moment right after Silena had been sprayed by the Lydian Drakon.

Clarisse was too late. She had always been too late.

She was back on her knees, choking and weeping bitterly as Silena lay in her arms, watching as life slowly left her once-lively eyes.

What kind of a warrior even was she? So weak that she couldn’t even protect her friend? Too weak to protect the girl who had adorned her armor and led her siblings into battle?

Just as Clarisse reached out to touch Silena’s face to wipe away the one mark of smudged eyeliner that the Aphrodite girl normally would never have even allowed to happen in the past, she was jerked back to consciousness, eyes flying open and arms almost crushing your sleeping form momentarily as she came to.

No longer was she in Manhattan, instead sheltered in the familiarly adorned walls of your shared bedroom. Upon the walls hung framed pictures of joyous times past and her sword collection, among other things.

Familiar faces stared back at her, some faces that would never age again. Immortalized memories of times that would never happen again. Everyone was dead or scattered across the globe.

A particular picture caught Clarisse’s eye. It was a portrait of Silena that she had commissioned one of the Apollo kids to draw for the daughter of Aphrodite’s seventeenth birthday.

She never lived to see that day.

Her eyes locked with Silena’s in the drawing for a moment, and that moment was one too much as hot tears began to prick in the corners of her eyes.

She had inadvertently woken you up with the way her arms tightened around your waist in a near vice grip, slowly coming to your senses. No longer were her breaths slow and rhythmic, their steadfast pattern replaced by one that was erratic and shallow. The once-steady thumping cadence of her heart as it beat in her chest was now quickened, all of which you could hear with your head having been nestled into her chest.

Craning your head to look up at her, you were greeted with the sight of Clarisse desperately trying to silently blink back tears and control her own breathing.

Hurriedly, you pushed yourself up off her chest and tugged the blankets off the two of you before sitting down on her lap. You took note of the way her hands had never left your waist, holding onto you as if she were drowning and you were the last life ring thrown out.

It wasn’t anything you and Clarisse hadn’t dealt with before. The nightmares had been a part of your lives as far back as you could remember, it just came with the territory of being a demigod. But they never got any easier as time went on.

She watched silently with eyes brimming with unshed tears, pleading wordlessly with you to do something, anything to make it all go away.

“Let’s switch, yeah? You can lay on me and completely cover me if you want, love,” you offered up, a melancholy smile tugging at the corners of your mouth. Wordlessly, she nodded and you slipped off her lap, laying back where she had just been moments ago.

Gently patting your chest, you motioned for her to rest her head on it, knowing that the rest of her body would soon follow, completely engulfing your form with hers. After she had positioned herself, her arms snaked around your waist again as she simply held you for a few moments, her face pressed into your chest as tears slowly soaked into your shirt.

One hand reached out to gently run along the length of her back, the motion meant to soothe. A few beats passed in silence before you spoke in a hushed whisper, the bedroom devoid of sound beyond the two of you breathing in tandem with each other.

“You hear that, love? That’s my heart,” you murmured softly, craning your neck to press a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “It’s beating, beating for you. Η καρδιά μου είναι η καρδιά σου.”

She didn’t respond beyond releasing another shaky sob into your chest and tightening her grip around your body, but you didn’t mind. You didn’t need her to talk just yet.

“You’re also η καρδιά μου, you know that, right? My heart, my wife, my love, my everything. And I’m yours. Entirely yours, and I”m not going anywhere.” You craned your neck again to press another kiss against the crown of her head, hand never stopping its path of running gently along the length of her back.

“I would go down to the depths of Tartarus for you. I would challenge Hades himself to a fight if it meant I had even a glimmer of a chance in getting you back.”

Never once did you try to rush her into talking or shushing her tears. You knew her better than you knew yourself, and giving her time to let everything out was the best thing you could do for her at the moment.

You were her safe space, the one woman that she could let her walls down around. She wasn’t Ares’ star daughter in your arms, she was just Clarisse. No expectations dangling over her head, just open arms and understanding.

After another few quiet moments, she finally spoke up in between half-choked sobs, whispering so quietly that her voice was nearly inaudible, “Silena… Manhattan… should have been able to save her,” before letting her face fall back down onto your chest, releasing another pained cry.

“She’s gone- a-and everyone else too- why me?”

Her question left you speechless, mouth partly opened in an attempt to come up with a reassuring response, but nothing seemed to come to mind immediately. It was rare for this to happen, as you normally had just the right words at the top of your tongue, weaving them as Arachne once wove tapestries on her loom.

“They’re all gone and- and- ”

“Shh, love…” you cut her off, gently pulling her head up to look her in the eyes, your other hand leaving her back to wipe the tears that were still streaming down her cheeks with the pad of your thumb. “Please, don’t go back into that self-sacrificial spiral. Talk to me, tell me what the dream was about?”

She only shook her head in response, unwilling to divulge details of the memory that had shattered your night of otherwise perfect proportions.

Deflating back on top of you, she whispered, “They’re all gone, and we’re one of the only ones remaining. It was like every time another one of them died, that small part of myself that I gave to them died as well.”

Her arms that were wrapped around your waist tightened for a moment before going limp along with the rest of her body as she lay atop you, her head pressed against your chest.

“Love…” you began softly as one of your hands found its way to her head and carded gently through her curls. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened. None of it was your fault. We didn’t ask to be born, to be thrown into this mess of a world and tossed around like pawns in the gods’ game of chess with our lives.”

“We didn’t ask for this life, and we were so young at the time. For fuck’s sake, we were only seventeen- we hadn’t even made out yet. We hadn’t graduated high school yet, there were so many things we couldn’t control.

“None of it was your fault, I promise you. You were so brave, and you did everything you could.” She stayed silent as you spoke, the only sounds coming from her were the soft, shaky breaths as she sniffled and burrowed her face further into your shirt.

“I can’t explain to you why so many things had to happen, that’s up to the Fates. I can’t give you the pieces of yourself back that you lost when we kept losing everyone,” you murmured whilst your hands kept on with their idle motions.

It shattered your heart to give her such an incomplete answer when you knew it was tearing her apart inside to live with it all, but there was nothing you could do beyond offer solace and comfort. “And for that, I am so, so sorry. But the one thing I can do is keep the piece you’ve granted me to keep, safe and sound.”

She only nodded in response, not trusting herself to speak in fear of her own vulnerability. Her tears soaked into your shirt, but you didn’t care. All that was important was that Clarisse was here, in your arms, and slowly calming down.

Clarisse knew just as well as you did that everyone had done the best they could with the circumstances given, and that the loss affected you just as deeply. But she didn’t dig into that, it would be a can of worms to open for another time, another sleepless night where your own troubles caught up with you after running from them for so long.

And so, the rest of the night stretched on into early morning, the two of you half-awake, seeking silent solace in each other until sunlight crept into the bedroom through the cracks of the curtains the next day.

The two of you might have been running from your trauma like runners to a marathon, but at least you were running hand-in-hand with matching strides.

#🖋️ nvir writes #clarisse la rue x reader #clarisse la rue x fem reader #clarisse la rue #clarisse la rue pjo #clarisse larue #clarisse la rue x you #clarisse la rue x y/n #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #pjo tv #im not sorry #maybe i am #no im not

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