CONSORT OF DARKNESS × THE SANDMAN

CH. 4: PEOPLE WATCHING

CHAPTER 4:
PEOPLE WATCHING.
Morpheus

"I am so happy for you, my Lord."

"She will be happy," The Corinthian and Lucienne told me as I informed them I was planning on proposing to Arcadia. We have been together a long five hundred years and she was already so used to being the future Queen of my realm. She is the picture of perfection in both a Queen and a doting wife.

She long forgot and insisted she had no longer a need for a title because she wished to only remain here. In my realm, all of my creations had already treated her like their Queen and loved her for she was fair but stern. That the title she had longed for did not matter as long as she was with me.

"When do you plan on asking? Could we see the ring?" Corinthian asked, his hands in his pockets where he fiddled with his own ring from a certain goddess. Not marriage, for I would never allow it because he is a Nightmare and Nemesis is a Goddess. They are ancient and powerful, and sooner or later he needed to learn that this union would not work.

"A ring?"

"Well, yes."

"I am not human, Corinthian. I will simply ask her," The way his smile faltered showed me disobedience and that he did not agree.

"Why would I use a human method to ask Arcadia to be my Queen?" I questioned him, and Lucienne looked between us with a nervous gaze but did not speak out.

"Lady Arcadia loves humans, and she always loves watching how grand they are with their proposals. She's always talked about-"

"It's a human tradition. Arcadia is a Goddess, and a daughter of Nyx and Erebus. Which you do not understand about Nemesis," I was tired of it. The Corinthian is my belonging, and therefore would not exist without me. He cannot be with such a grand Being and leave my realm where he has no purpose and would be of no use to me.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think we should-" Lucienne was trying to interrupt but my patience was fleeting with him.

"Nemesis is the Goddess of Divine Retribution, and them being with a Nightmare is demeaning. You can never truly be with them, and even if you could, Nemesis would soon realize that they belong with someone more powerful," He chuckled darkly, looking down as his hands came out from his pockets to reveal the ring that had been moved. Once on his right hand and now on his left.

"I am theirs, and they are mine. And there is nothing you can do to stop that," He hissed in my face, anger radiating from him that exuded belonging, want, and a desperation to have something that is not possible.

"Corinthian!" Lucienne called for him as he started to walk away, and I held my ruby up.

"M-My Lord, surely we can think of something," Lucienne tried saying as Corinthian suddenly dropped to his knees as his Being started to decay into sand and come back into the ruby.

"Corinthian, you are one of my greatest creations, but you are not your own. You cannot marry a Goddess," I did not understand how this came to happen. How could he even think that he could ever have a life with Nemesis, when someone like them must have an equal partner?

"What's going on?!"

My Arcadia, soon to be Queen of Dreams and Nightmares, appeared from the doorway without me noticing and she ran to Corinthian. Kneeling down before him, she looked at me as she started to reverse the sand. One thing we had both learned was her ability to copy certain powers - another reason why she should be mine. It was one of the many reasons I needed her to be Queen.

"What are you doing, Morpheus!?" She demanded, her green eyes staring up at me with desperation and confusion. 

Lucienne wished to speak but kept her mouth shut, knowing the consequences. As The Corinthian formed, taking his first breath from which, I tried to take from him, he looked at me. It was a look of "I can destroy it all in a moment". That he knew he could take everything from me because no one believes in the power of love more than Arcadia.

"He tried to stop me. . ." He breathed out as I stared at him but would not beg for which was mine.

"From telling you that he didn't get you a ring," He knew better. He knew that if I killed him, it would risk losing Arcadia but also making an enemy of Nemesis.

"A ring? For what?" She questioned as Lucienne quickly escorted Corinthian out of my castle, and Arcadia walked up to me. Her hair was down today, framing her features and making her more enchanting and I still could not believe that she was mine. Still, after many suitors, she decided that she wanted to be mine.

"My love," I grabbed her hands in mine, the warmth of it always making me wish she would never let me go, "you have been with me for five hundred years, and helped my realm in ways that not even I could think would benefit others. I always thought of myself, and what would benefit me and me alone. Yet you danced with me on a night I thought I would regret and let your light shine on us. For that, I say to you, be my Queen."

"Tie her mouth! Who knows if she can use magic!"

"You're hurting her!"

My head perked up from my own daydream, which I allowed myself to rewatch in hopes of just seeing her face again, but if she were here, I am not sure she would be delighted. My words back then were nothing, they held no value of which my true feelings held.

Not before I was too late.

"Lord of Dreams, we have a gift for you," Roderick Burgess spoke, opening the iron gate behind him as three men struggled to force an individual inside. They thrashed about, a cloak hiding their identity and I could only see that they had gagged them with tape.

"A little bird told me that you have someone you care about, and if you wish to see her alive," He grabbed them by the arm and threw her into the moat, soaking them as they shoved the hood back and looked up at me.

"You'll give us whatever we want."

For the first time in years, I was shocked. I had seen her that day, I know I did because. . .she should not be here. The same white hair that flowed down her shoulders, the same piercing green eyes, and the same innocence that held a power completely inimagianble was staring at me.

Burgess tore the tape from her mouth, and she gasped as he grabbed her locks and forced her to look up at me.

"Who. . .who are you?" Was all she uttered, and all I could think was that the impossible just occurred.

No.

I saw him kill you.

I buried you. . .

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Who dared to murder Arcadia, Queen of Dreams and Nightmares? Daughter of Nyx and Erebus? Also Nemesis goes by they/them pronouns. Sorry if there's some errors, it's been a long day.