Opaque Birdcage

Chapter 1: Divergence

Chapter notes:

Hello my lovely readers!

This story is a rewrite of my 'A Caged Dream, (my continuation)' story. I didn't like how the beginning chapters sounded, so I decided to revamp the entire thing.

I decided to post this chapter, but don't expect the next chapter any time soon. I plan to flesh out my plot line and have an actual idea for how the story will progress. Until that point, I don't plan to have any more chapters out too soon. Life's hectic, and I'm kinda busy. :)
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The sound of yelling woke up the twin guardians from their nap. There was a villager running up the hill, screaming for Dream to help them. Again. Dream groaned as he pushed himself up off his brother's lap.

"I already told you all, I'm not going to help the village anymore." He addressed the villager with a frown. Nightmare didn't quite remember this exact villager, but he vaguely remembered a few dog monster villagers attacking him one day.

"B-But Dream! There was an accident at the forge, and Tommy's hurt real bad! If you don't heal him, he might not make it!" Dream bit his lip, and Nightmare could see him fighting with himself.

Nightmare himself was okay with Tommy, the kid was a gentle soul, he had never hurt Nightmare, and sometimes even sneaked the two sweets from his mothers bakery. From what Dream had said before, and just from the contrast of the kid's temperament vs his job, Nightmare felt correct in his assumption that the kid was forced into such work by his awful tempered mother. Unlike the others, his happiness never seemed off to Dream each time he was herded to heal the poor kid. Tommy seemed to get ill often, and his 'healing sessions' were usually filled with pleasant conversation. Dream would tell Night about what Tommy had heard, what gossip was going around. And unlike what seemed to be pretty much everyone else in that damn village, he never once spoke ill of Nightmare.

"It's okay Dream, go help the kid."

Dream looked back between him and the villager, before giving a deep sigh. "Okay, I'll help Tommy, but on one condition." The villager nodded, "Nighty gets to come with me, so I know that this isn't another trick to separate us so someone will come hurt him again." Dream glared at the villager, and Nightmare felt touched, but also worried, something didn't feel right.

The villagers' smile grew tight. "That's fine." Dream gave him one last glare, before turning around and reaching for a branch, whispering to their Mother for a bit of help in doing so. Her leaves shook nervously, which wasn't helping Nightmare's unease. She did bend down a branch just enough for Dream to grab a single Golden Apple.

"Alright." He grabbed Nightmares hand with his spare hand not holding the Apple. "Let's go help Tommy."

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The uneasy feeling in Nightmare only grew the longer they walked through town. Almost every single villager had a smile. Some even came out of stores and homes to smile at them. Nightmare shuddered, he gripped Dream's hand tighter, walking a bit faster to be closer with him.

Thankfully, it wasn't much longer till they reached Tommy's house. Nightmare ignored the sweet smells coming from the bakery as they reached the door. He tuned out the conversation Dream was having with, likely, Tommy's mother. Instead, he focused on the crowd of villagers getting closer, and closer.

He scooted closer to Dream as the crowd grew in size. Each of them had a wide grin that made Nightmare's metaphoric skin crawl. "Dream...?" His brother immediately turned to him, ignoring the sudden anger from the villager he was talking with.