Finally, Free

Chapter 21: Reunion

Just an instant ago, Dream had noticed the transparent wisps of a ghost floating through the door. He then looked up and saw that apparition's eyes, which were pure white and staring at him.

But the moment his own green gems met them, the sense of their minds being sucked towards one another suddenly overcame him, and the next thing he knew, the world was white.

Weirdly enough, Dream's first thought was if he had fallen into the ghost's eyes. But he immediately crossed that thought out since the inside of an eyeball would be dark, not bright and illuminated.

He looked around. 

It was as if some clumsy deity had spilled a eternity's worth of white paint onto the world. There was not a spot that was incongruent, and it was all so intense that Dream thought he'd go blind. He stumbled a bit out of shock, but then he saw the ghost, in front but away from him.

He, too, was confused, and visually more surprised than Dream was, like a puppy that was suddenly drenched in water. But soon, he looked towards Dream as well and they saw each other face to face, for the first time.

The two stood still for a short instant, neither twitching a single finger. Dream inspected the other's face, which he now realized was just a gray version of his own. In fact, all of the ghost's colors were the muted reflection of his skin, his hair, his sweater. And, like it was instinct, it all clicked.

"So you're Delusion, right?" He broke the silence, smiling at his soul's other half. The ghost looked at him in surprise, and Dream thought he could almost see a light bulb light up above his head.

"Are you alive-me?" Delusion exclaimed, which he quickly realized sounded wrong. "I mean, Dream?"

Dream laughed, which Delusion thought sounded very much like his own, but bolder, with untold experience showing through.

"Yes, I'm Dream, the 'alive' version of you. Although, I wouldn't really call myself alive since, you know, I'm technically still dead."

The ghost's eyes widened in shock, along with his mouth, which Dream found quite amusing and honestly a little cute, despite the fact that he was looking at his own face. Perhaps it was part intrigue from knowing he could make that kind of expression, but Dream became a lot more interested in this ghost of his.

"What? Then how are you here?" Delusion asked, clearly confused.

"Hmm," Dream hummed. "To put it simply, I'm a projection of sorts, just an image of my pre-death's likeness. A hologram, if you will."

"Okay...I think I understand." Delusion said, hesitant. He ran over his other self's words in his head, just to make sure he understood their meaning.

"Well, although I can kind of feel your thoughts," Dream commented, which he'd just realized when the other became confused. "Tell me about yourself. What has your time in the Overworld been like?" 

It couldn't have been very pleasant, with all the guys after my throat.

"Um, it was alright." Delusion nervously shuffled in his spot, a tinge of fear behind his voice. But he could feel the acceptance and understanding of his words and emotions from Dream, so he continued on. "At first, I was in this obsidian box, which I later learned was in a prison called Pandora's Box. And this man called Quackity-" Dream winced at that name, but quickly composed himself. "-came in and got all confused. Then I got taken out and it turned out Sam was actually the one running the place. Ah, but you probably know that already, so I'll save you the drama."

"No, it's fine. Although they aren't exactly my favorite people in the world nowadays, it's interesting knowing what they've been up to." Dream said, shrugging off his memory of the bloodthirsty gaze of his former best friend's fiance.