The Price of Power

9 - Plans

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~~~~~

He had practically won already.

All the years of preparation had finally paid off, and now, Dream was on a one-way path to becoming Nightmare's real brother. Honestly, Nightmare was a bit saddened by the fact that his friendly talks with Dream would have to be put on hold indefinitely, but he knew that they would return, someday..whether it took months or decades. Nightmare was willing to wait for Dream. 

The plans had been thought up long ago, after Dream had been out of stone for roughly twenty-five years. He'd grown into a capable fighter, and he'd grown into a person that Nightmare could respect; his beliefs just..contradicted Nightmare's. It wasn't as if Dream could help that, of course; he was the Guardian of Positivity, and Nightmare was the Guardian of Negativity. It couldn't be helped that they had been opposites from the start. But Dream had always been true to himself..Nightmare hadn't. When he had been a child, he'd tried to fit in; he'd smiled, he'd laughed, and he'd done everything that their mother (that wicked woman, setting up immature children as guardians) had told him to do! And, yet..he'd been hated nonetheless. What use was it, to try to fit in, when everyone else constantly told him that he was evil? What use was it when he knew he was evil? Dream had elected to believe that Nightmare had changed after the incident, but, really? He'd just accepted who he was. He was a manipulative, cruel guardian who was willing to use anything and anyone to get what he wanted; he had always been this way..he'd just pretended he wasn't for the sake of others. 

Someday, Dream would understand. Nightmare couldn't help it; his very being begged him to hurt others - who was he to deny his instincts? Dream had been privileged to have instincts that made him a role model; he had been accepted by society in every way, allowed to live his life happily..as long as he did what was expected of him. And, really, what was the fun in that? What did it benefit him, to be accepted by others? It only made others raise their standards around him, and it bred jealousy; Dream likely had no idea how many copycats he had, and Nightmare doubted he knew how many people wanted him dead, just because he was viewed as perfect. It was fine, though; Nightmare had made it his hobby to deal with people like that before they could become a problem for his brother. And now that Dream was here, in Nightmare's castle, he was safe from such filth! He would be happy here..in time. He'd accept his new life, eventually, and he'd grow to love his brother again; it was inevitable. Perhaps there was a better way to get Dream to understand him, but..there were none that so perfectly aligned with Nightmare's instincts. Perhaps Stockholm Syndrome was a myth, and perhaps it wasn't, but..Nightmare was quite certain that his brother would succumb to it either way. 

He would be on the receiving end of the entire world, after all.

Nightmare knew that his brother was humble and that he preferred to work for the things he had - it was just who he was - but..Nightmare was selfish. He wanted his brother to have the traits he wanted him to have. It was in his nature, after all! The current stage of his plan was rather simple, really; he just needed to condition Dream to expect others to work for him. It was a pity that Dream wasn't a human, though; humans tended to acclimate to those sorts of things much faster than monsters did. Dream would still understand the value of working for himself (Nightmare had gained a new level of appreciation for that through his work getting Dream here, after all), but..he would also understand that he was above some things. If he wanted to take up cooking as a hobby, that was fine, but Dream would let others cook for him at least sometimes - even avid chefs had to dread cooking sometimes. If Dream wanted to make his own clothes, that was fine..but the castle had one of the best tailors in the multiverse for a reason. If Dream wanted to keep his own room neat and tidy, he could do that, but there was no way he would be touching any other rooms in the castle. Here, Dream would slowly learn to let others work for him, and he'd be strategically rewarded for it. He'd let the tailor make his clothes, and he'd been granted free motion again. If Dream had taken Nightmare's not-so-subtle hints to let others cook for him and not to bring himself down to their level in the process, he would be rewarded again.