Dream's Light (COMPLETE)

Chapter Nine: The Tipping Point

Warning: No smut yet, but there are mentions of trauma, such as abuse and attempted suicide, in this chapter!

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Her kiss haunted him in her weeks long absence.

He could still feel her soft mouth pressed upon his.

He swore he could even still taste the sweet flavor of her there upon his lips.

The warmth of her body against his, long since gone, still warmed him in memory.

She was with him, even though she was in actuality far from him — just a shadow of a reminder.

So full of sweet remembrance and devastatingly troubling yearning was Morpheus, that found his way back to that same London park bench where his sister Death had found him moping not too long ago.

He had brought with him another baguette to feed the local pigeons with, as he thought about the lady that haunted him — the lady who's absence he felt acutely, despite not knowing her very long at all.

As he sat on the park bench, Morpheus picked off little pieces of bread and flicked them to the gathered birds.

As he did, he thought about this situation he found himself in.

It amazed him that he had sought out his rescuer to thank her, and now, in such short time, he was immersed in a yet fulfilled supernatural bond with her. Furthermore, there was the very real possibility that they were in love, because of said bond and beyond it, as well.

How quickly things can happen.

Love, like death, waits for no one, he knew.

It came when it was ready to.

It mattered not if the person was prepared for it.

No matter the past one might have with love.

No matter if one swore it off for the rest of their life, even their eternal one.

It always came back — a revolving gift.

"What are you doing here, my lord?"

That voice....

Thoughts broken by surprise, Morpheus looked up to find Eternity standing before him with a small, amused smile stretched upon her rose pink lips. She was dressed in a light blue sundress that had a shimmery starburst print upon the fabric and her lengthy white hair was partially pulled back. She looked so ordinary, yet she was still the shining grace of a vision he knew.

For a moment, he wondered if she was even real.

Had his thoughts conjured a mirage just to torment him?

"Eternity?" Morpheus murmured in his disbelief.

Smiling a little more, Eternity moved, coming to sit delicately on the bench next to him. She sat angled toward him, close enough for her knee to touch his leg, as if letting him know that she was really there.

That he wasn't imagining it.

"So?" She said, teasingly. "Are you going to tell me why it is I have found you here feeding the birds and not in the Dreaming or shall I guess the reason, my lord?"

Morpheus watched her unbelievingly.

He was still not quite over his shock.

Then, seeing her waiting expectantly, he managing to shake himself free of his stupor enough to quietly answer, "You have been gone for far longer than I had thought you would be. I suppose, I missed your company."