𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬

His Story

"Why are you here?" Shattered growled at Cross. Cross rubbed the back of his skull and told him that he wanted to talk to Dream.
"No, Dream is taking a little rest okay? And believe me, it takes an awful lot of time to get him to sleep in these conditions." Shattered explained as he got two tea cups filled with green tea and drank one of it. Cross stared at his cup, he wasn't sure if Shattered poisoned it or not.

"Relax, Oreo. I didn't put anything in there except warm water and a tea bag." Cross still wasn't sure, but he took a small sip. To his surprise, it tasted like warm water with a small flavor he couldn't describe, but it was good to drink. So he drank some more of it. After that, Cross began talking.

"S-so, why are you so protective of Dream?" Cross asked a stupid question. Shattered stayed silent for a minute while staring at his cup. Cross felt uneasy because he thought he angered him.

Shattered sighed. "Well, we still have a lot of time, I guess I'll let someone else know about this, other than Dream."
Cross perked up and was ready to listen.

"It started 10 years ago and a couple months before Dream ate the black apple..."

~Flashback~

??? POV: (wait wha-)

I woke up in a black void, presumably someone's mind. I stared at my hands that were darkened white and I was wearing some kind of weird yellow outfit with black leggings.

I looked around and heard quiet sobbing nearby. There, I saw another skeleton that looked like me, but his bones were lighter. I slowly approached him. "H-Hi there." I mentally cursed myself for stuttering.
He looked up at me and I was shocked. He had golden yellow tears streaming out of his eyes. I tried to reach out to him, but then three floating screens showed up and blocked his view. He curled himself on the floor as the screens played some kind of memory to him, presumably HIS memories.

I could feel negative emotions coming from the memory itself and how hurt he was. My chest tightened and I felt angry. So I punched the screen from behind and it shattered to the floor. It felt good to do that, so I punched the other two as well.

I turned my attention back to the other person, he seems shocked and scared. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." I assured him, but instead of saying thank you to me, he laughed and not in a funny way.

"T-that's a-a lie..." He choked between his sobs as more tears streamed down his eyes. "E-everyone e-ends u-up h-hurting me in the e-end..." He was now curling himself with his knees up to his chest and hid his face with his hands.
I gave a face of sympathy and sat beside him, but not too close. There was silence, except for his cries. What am I supposed to do now?

"Hey, what's your name?" I asked him. The guy looked up and answered me. "I-I'm D-Dream..." That's a strange name. "W-what's y-your name?" He asked me and I totally spaced out. I don't even know what my name is.

So I looked around and saw the shattered screens on the ground and got an idea. "Call me, Shattered." I smiled at him. 'Shattered' Wow, I don't know if that's a cool name or not.

"So, can you tell me what happened? I'll listen to you." I faced him and he seems to be shy about it. "I'm not s-sure if I can tell you..."
"Hmmm..." I thought for a second. "B-But we are i-in my mindscape. Y-you can j-just see f-for yourself."

"Mindscape? Wait, if I was made in the mindscape does that mean I'm a part of you?" I asked him. "Maybe, b-but I do f-feel negativity coming from you. You must be my n-negative side."
Negative side, huh? Well, I don't have time to worry about that, I gotta see what happened to him.

So I used my hands and tried to trigger something to come to me. For at least one hour, I finally managed to summon all his negative memories.
Carefully, I analyzed each and every one of them. Studying his entire life.
I felt hatred and anger rise up inside of me.

"You don't deserve this..." I quietly said, but Dream heard. "You don't deserve ANY of this!" I said a bit louder, which made Dream squeak. I apologized to him.
"Sorry, Dream. I didn't mean to scare you like that. It's just, why is everyone in your life so blind? Can't they see that you're slowly breaking bit by bit inside those fake smiles of yours?"

"No one would believe me, I-I deserve t-this after all. I-I fail m-my b-brother..." He cried once again. I sighed and pat his back, slowly embracing him. Dream flinched a bit, but accepted my hug.
"Don't worry Dream, if no one else believes you, then let me be the first one to actually believe you." I said as I rubbed his back, calmly. "T-thank you S-Shattered. T-that means a-a lot t-to me..." He hugged me back and we both stayed like that for a while.

A couple months later...

"DREAM! DON'T!" I kept shouting as Dream slowly ate the black apple. I knew he could only hear faintly of my words, but I have to stop him from doing this to himself. So I just kept shouting him to not do it, hoping he won't do it.

But I was wrong, he ate the apple and it affected me as well. Power grew inside of me, but gladly I fought back. Gaining control over the corruption that was affecting my whole body. I have to always remember that Dream is my priority.
I felt strange liquid drip from my bones and before I knew it, I was covered in blackened yellow substance. My left eye was covered in this liquid and only my right eye was visible now. Even my clothes were covered in this weird slimy stuff. Four slimy tentacles grew from my back,it disgusted me as it reminded me of Dream's brother, which I hate the most.

The only thing I'm glad about is that I still have full control of my body and the corruption stood no chance to invade my brain. This new power that I received, I can now protect Dream and be there for him whenever he needs me. And I promise I'll always protect him.

~Back to the Present~

3rd Person POV:

"So yeah, that's what happen. Five years after that, you came along and dated Dream. I still couldn't trust you because you used to hurt Dream in battles." Shattered told him and looked at Cross, who was unconsciously crying from the story. Shattered rolled his eyelight at his emotional state. "Come on, Oreo. It wasn't that sad."

Cross wiped off the tears away from his face. "Sorry, it's just. You've been protecting Dream for at least a decade now. And here I am, in a relationship for 5 years with him and yet, I didn't do anything for him." Cross began crying again.

"Y-You were right... I am no fit to be with him..."