Dream of Death - The Sandman (TV) Fan-fiction

Dream of Death

Dream sat hopelessly in the transparent cage his captors had placed him in 10 years ago. To an endless, while it was still a decade, it felt quicker to him than the humans that stood guard. He kept his stoic expression, blank but bringing fear to the on-lookers, but inside? Inside he felt ashamed. How could one of the endless be captured by humanity and remain captured for their amusement as if he was a side-show to look at, or a farm animal to gift power to them? He was exposed to all of them, not just emotionless but physically. Forcefully displayed in his personified form; not that he cared too much of that, but the cold still sometimes got to him if it was strong enough. He wanted his robes back, he wanted to feel secure and safe back in the dreaming but he couldn't. He was stuck. Stuck for who knows how long.

"Alright King of Dreams," A deep voice snapped him out of the trance he had put himself in. His face was unmoved, but his silver eyes raised to meet his guest. Roderick Burgess stood opposite the cage, towering over him like a General barking orders with a cane in his hand. "Are you going to give me what I want, or do you want to wallow away for another decade until you do?" He asked, pursing his lip and staring. Dream stared right back. He knew what his captor wanted, his son back from the dead, immortality and youth. But he couldn't do it. Even if he wanted to, it wasn't his jurisdiction nor his ability to give out. If he did have his ruby he could at least grant one but why should he willingly give his captor what they wanted?

Dream continued to stare, his dark eyes unmoving and expression still. Burgess waited a few minutes, like usual when he came for his demands, before turning on his heels. " Fine," He snapped. "We'll see what you say next year." Without much thought, he exited through the stone doors to the basement, leaving the guards to stand watch. Like always, the guards eyed Dream up and down, in bewilderment, terror and conceitedness all rolled into one. They believed him to be a demon, a devil, but he is but a dream in the daylight.

The room was back to the silence that he had to endure, it made his mind wander. Did his family know of his predicament, of course, they must have. Right? They are probably watching him be tormented by loneliness and at the mercy of a mortal. He could imagine Desire laughing with Despair in their chambers, fixating on his powerlessness over the situation. How could the mighty King of Dreams be toppled so quickly? Despair was probably writhing in joy over his misery, something she rarely showed at the best of times. What about Death? Destiny? His older siblings have always said they would protect him, leaving him to sit naked in a sphere. What have they all got to gain?

More days passed, maybe months, but who could count? Dream was, like usual, sitting in the sphere meditating, daydreaming, blocking out the world. He was quickly taken out of this by the loud THUNK against the glass. He jolted up, he hadn't heard footsteps of the mortal's approach. He gave a smile as he noticed what it was. His side-kick, his emissary, his raven; Jessamy. Jessamy flew continually at the sphere, trying to break the glass but to no avail.

Loud footsteps began to approach the holding chamber, Dream shooed Jessamy away and returned to his stoic expression as she flew into the rafters. Around the corner appeared Alex, the Burgess' son, reading a shotgun that pointed straight towards the glass orb. Dream stared into the barrel from afar. He could see the teen boy subtly shaking as he tried to keep it upward.

Alex took a deep but shaky breath, keeping it pointed. He could do it, shoot and the glass would break and the demon they kept in the basement could be free. It's not like he wanted to hurt Dream, he hated his presence here. His father's obsession with the creature of the endless. He could end it all here. He held his finger over the trigger, slowly resting on it and pulling only slightly.

"What are you doing?" Rodrick Burgess' voice boomed out, echoing across the basement that even startled Dream for a moment.

"I.. err.." Alex spluttered out as Rodrick pulled the gun away from his son.