Imagine #1: A Dream...

Chapter 27: Hide

DANE ZHORAN

Sunday, June 28, 2020 - 2080 RC

I had sat by the Darkness as the Dreamers fought it from the inside, defeating it and clearing all the planets of it, returning them to normal. I had portaled out of the clouds moments after Aiden had fallen asleep.I wanted to leave, but where would I go? Return to the Dream Palace? That would be stupid, with everyone thinking I was fighting here. Hide in the Nightmare Realm for the time being? That might work, but I really didn't want to go back anytime soon.

So I waited on the planet, mere feet away from the Darkness. I knew Nightmare wouldn't attack me, not with the Darkness anyways. Her anger at me afterward might just kill me though. Most of me at this point hoped that the Dreamers would succeed, and that we could return as heroes.

That THEY could return as heroes, and you could return a liar, I reminded myself. I shouldn't get too comfortable in this life. None of it is real, I thought.

I didn't need to wait long. Only a short while later, light began glowing from the center of the Darkness outward. The light grew brighter, and brighter. I shielded my eyes with my hand, not able to watch any longer. BOOM! I risked a glance towards the Darkness, but... nothing was there. Just my friends scattered around the clearing, left behind when the clouds evaporated. They had done it. They had defeated the Darkness.

I waited a few moments, but none of them seemed to be awake. I cautiously walked closer to Diana in the middle. She looked completely exhausted. Her eyes were fluttering slightly, but stayed closed and she didn't react to me at all. She seemed asleep. I leaned over her, about to wake her up.

"Dane." A voice from behind me. I turned to see Nightmare standing there with an unreadable expression.

"Commander Nightmare," I said politely, bowing my head. She must already be mad, I didn't want to make it worse.

She looked at me coldly for a moment, smacked me sharply on the side of my face, knocking me backward a few steps. I couldn't act for a few moments, in shock. I touched a hand to the place she had hit me, it was stinging slightly.

"Why?" Nightmare yelled, looking furious. "You helped them."

I shook my head frantically. "I didn't—I just needed to keep up appearances."

"Keeping up appearances, my foot." She spat. "They wouldn't have stopped the Darkness without your help. You did FAR too much for an act," She exhaled slowly, then met my eyes calmly. "I'm thinking that you need to come back to the Nightmare Realm now. You've been here too long."

No, I thought. The blow she had given me hurt, but it made it painfully clear why I had helped them in the first place. Nightmare scared me. She was blunt and cruel, lashing out whenever something ruined her plans. The Nightmare Realm was her domain, only the Nightmares were above her, and they stayed away from direct conflict.

I wanted to be somewhere I could feel safe. I've done some... bad things before. But everyone deserves the chance to make amends, to find their own safety and comfort, I decided. "They would have stopped the Darkness on their own anyways. I might have made it a bit easier, but they would have gotten suspicious if I chose not to help," I said.

Nightmare didn't seem to be listening. "You used to be such a good little Nightmare," She mused, looking off into the distance as if remembering old times. She turned her gaze on me again. "But I'm starting to think we made the wrong decision sending you here after all."

"You didn't," I stopped her. "I swear I'm the right person. I've been giving you information for months, and nobody suspects anything yet! I just did this today so they kept thinking I was on their side."

Nightmare shook her head. "We've been giving you far too much freedom. You've gone soft on the Dreams, after all." She sighed. "It's time to go home,"

Panic seized me even stronger than before. "No, please, I promise I can do better! I have more information, I've been building up towards something big. I'm so close to knowing what they're doing." I begged, desperate now, ready to play my last card.

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening,"

I swallowed slowly, then began, "The Royals know something about the Dreamers that we don't. They think they're special, that them having Dreamer powers right when we attacked means something." I continued, "Everyone is getting suspicious of them, and I think the Royals are about to reveal the truth! If I stay, I'll learn information so important it'll outshadow everything I've brought you before."

"And the Royals are only going to tell this group of children?" She asked skeptically.

"The reason they trust us must be because of the Dreamers as well. I think they think that something is going to happen soon because of their arrival, so everything after that is deemed important, even if it's just a few random Dreams getting lost." I explained, the ideas forming in my mind while I was speaking, voicing thoughts I hadn't even realized fit together before.

Are the Royals actually hiding something? I questioned. They know more than they're telling us, that's for sure.

Nightmare inhaled sharply. "Fine. Stay. But one wrong move again, the next time you go too far, you're DONE. You come home immediately. Your mission details are the same." She decided, although she still looked annoyed. Without another word, she disappeared in a flurry of black dust.

It took a moment for my heart to stop pounding. I had convinced her. I could stay here longer after all. I breathed out slowly in relief. I turned to Diana, only a short ways away from me. Her brow was furrowed, as if she was thinking hard even in her sleep.

I bent down next to her, gently touching her shoulder to shake her awake. She woke quickly, she seemed to only be half-asleep the whole time. "Dane?" She said, rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

She glanced around us carefully. "Did we win? Did we do it?" She asked, as if looking for reassurance that her eyes weren't deceiving her.

I gave her a small, proud, smile. "Yeah. We did it."