Dream's dream (Morpheus fanfic)

Chapter 3. The waking world

"What else can you do?" She asks suddenly, pulling me out of the trance she seemingly put me in.
"Excuse me?"
"Well you can make flowers appear and change the fabric of my dress but what else can you do?" She asks excitedly.
"I can do a lot of things darling. What do you want me to do?"
"Surprise me." She smiles.
I think for a moment before speaking up again.
"Tell me who you like the most." I ask her but she only chuckles in response.
"Well as for right now that would be you Dream."
My breath catches in the back of my throat at her words.
I clear my throat and continue as nonchalantly as possible.
"What about someone else?"

She thinks for a moment, raking her brain.

"If I had to say someone else then maybe this character in my favourite tv-show?" She smiles shyly.

"May I?" I ask as I lift up my hand, pausing to ask for her permission before touching her.
She nods her head once before I connect my fingertips to her temple.
I close my eyes and draw in a breath as I try to scan through her imagination.
"Think about what he looks like."
Suddenly in the black void a vision appears.
I can make out the silhouette of a man and little by little all the details become clearer.
His facial features, his body shape, his clothes.
I have never met a human with an imagination this detailed.
Normally people get a shape and a general picture and I complete that in their dreams but she knows exactly what she's imagining.
When I open my eyes again and draw away my hand from her face I look exactly like the character she was imagining.
I see that she had also closed her eyes undoubtedly to better imagine what he looked like but she opens them again at the lack of my touch.
"Oh my god!" She chuckles with pure joy.
She slowly reaches over to me and her hand hovers hesitantly mid air.
After debating her next move her hand softly cups my face, or rather the face of her favourite character.
I instinctively want to pull away and scold her for touching me but why does it make me feel so peaceful? I can't help but stand there, frozen under her touch.
She studies my new appearance in awe.
Happiness fills my heart at the sight of her but then I feel a conflicting emotion bubbling inside me.
It isn't me who she's looking at so lovingly.
Nevertheless I try to stay as emotionless as always to not let her know something is bothering me.
"Do you like it? I can stay like this if you prefer." I ask, already knowing what her answer will be.
She takes in a breath and takes another look at me, brushing some of the now brown, shorter hair away from my forehead.
"No." She says simply, making confusion rise in my chest.
I turn my head slightly and furrow my brows, silently urging her to explain further.
"I like the way you look more. You don't have to pretend to be someone else."
Her words make all of the negative emotions I was feeling moments ago drain away as it all gets replaced by a warm feeling.
I feel the tension leave my body as I slightly slouch down my shoulders and with that regain my own appearance.
Seeing my own face again she smiles warmly and for the first time I can't help but do the same.

"When will I wake up?" She asks with some dread in her voice.
"Soon darling."
She sighs and hangs her head, looking down at her hands that still have the small flower in them.
"When I die, will I come here?" She asks.
I'm taken aback by her question for a second, not having expected her to ask me that.
When I die, does she think she will soon?
"No." I answer in a hushed tone.
"You will be taken to the afterlife, whatever that entails depends on your visions on life and death. But the dead don't sleep and therefore don't dream so you will not return here after death." I explain.
She looks up at me again and her face drops.
She goes from dread to disappointment.
She hesitates for a moment, wanting to say something but not finding the right words.
"Speak my darling, I am listening." I say softly, reaching out to brush another loose strand of hair behind her ear.
She momentarily closes her eyes as my fingers brush past her cheek.
"I want to die Dream." She says as she opens her eyes to look at me.
Her beautiful blue eyes glisten with unshed tears, seeing her blink to fight them falling breaks my heart.
"I know Darling." I breathe out with a pained voice.
"But that means I will never see you again. I will never return here again."
I nod slowly, knowing that what she is saying is true even if I don't want it to be.
"Life is complicated. I cannot force you to stay in it." I say carefully.
I feel helpless looking down at her, not knowing what more to say.
"Do you not care if I die?" She asks, the tears in her eyes threatening to fall even more than before.
I let out a deep breath.
"That I didn't say. I would love to meet you again Y/n, the Dreaming will always welcome you with open arms. Whenever the waking world become to much, just know you will be at home here."