Mr. Sandman, Bring Me a Dream

Chapter IV

I once again stumbled on something as we were making the trek all the way to the castle. I was feeling nauseous, and had been since we entered the inner city of the dreaming. Morpheus once again caught me and gently rubbed my back. I hadn't the foggiest why I was so unwell but I felt as though I was slowing everyone down. As though he sensed my discomfort, Morpheus gathers me into his arms.

Which wasn't hard given that I was barely 100 pounds soaking wet. He easily navigates the terrain with me bundled in his arms until we reached the ruined castle. At the steps, Morpheus places me down and helps me carefully climb the stairs. We walk until we reached the collapsed throne room. A massive wave of nausea causes me to collapse and then I remembered. I had only had this feeling once before.

"Morpheus, I think I'm pregnant." I whisper softly, which echoed through the enormous hall. Carefully, Morpheus holds his hand over my stomach. Then his hand splits into a smile. "We're going to have a child, (y/n)." He says gleefully before turning back to the destroyed throne room. Lucienne broke the silence afterwards with her knowledge of the past 100 years, a journal she kept for a while, chronicling everything in his absence.

"But slowly, the words began to fade." Lucienne says and I look around, my hands resting on my stomach. "Sometime after you left, all the books in the library became bound volumes of blank paper." They explain to Morpheus. Apparently, when they went into the library the next day, the whole library was gone. Vanished into thin air, never found again. I found an overturned chair and I righted it before sitting down in it. It was still sturdy enough to hold my weight.

"And yet you remained while others fled, the royal librarian of an abandoned kingdom." Morpheus muses as he moves over to me, taking my hand, our rings tapping together. Our rings, that were a sign of our love. "I never felt abandoned. I knew you would return." They say before looking over at me, all done up in a loose now black dress as to not harm the baby. "And you brought a most beautiful Queen with you." Lucienne compliments.

I bow my head towards her for the words of kindness she had bestowed upon me. Once again, with a trying burst of magic, a wave was placed over the room. The rumbling of the crumbled moldings and stained glass lifted elegantly into the air. It was yet another display of his great power but I saw it in his hands, in his eyes. The effort of maintaining the spell was causing his hands to shake and his nose to scrunch.

I lifted myself from my chair and walked through the sea of debris until I stood in front of Morpheus. I carefully wrapped my arms around his waist. "That's enough, my love. No need to endure for anyone's sake." I whisper to him and with that everything was released from his magic, and he fell into my arms. "You need rest, my love." I order him as he looks up at me from my arms as I help him steady his feet.

Lucienne agrees with me quickly, stating that food and rest would allow him to return back to his full strength. "No." He grumbles, breathing heavily as he returns his balance. "Not without my tools." He insists and I nod. It would be impossible to talk him out of his opinion and I knew this. I had been with him for more than a century. I brush some dust from his jacket and smile. "Very well, love. We'll find your Helm, Sand and Ruby." I promise him.

He smiles down at me as Lucienne looks confused about where his items had gone as we explained simply that they were taken. Excluding the information that I was the daughter of the man who had kept the Lord of Dreams captive. "I know not where. Nor what I am without them." He sighs, still breathing heavily. I lift my hand to brush some hair behind his ear in a comforting gesture, which he accepts lovingly.

"There is only one sure way for me to find my tools." Morpheus says, his voice echoing spaciously through the room as we sit, side by side on the stairs that used to lead to Morpheus' throne. "I must summon the Three-In-One." He states and my brow creases slightly. "Who or what is that?" I ask the two softly, still unknowledgeable in the people of this world of The Dreaming. Lucienne, however, understands and begins to try and talk him out of it.