~ 𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 ~ [𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑥 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟]

Prologue: Ruined

Dream stepped through a golden portal to the destroyed realm.

It was hard to believe that this was once his home—a happy place where human and monster alike could live in peace.

Dream looked left and right. He could have sworn he was being watched. Shaking his head, he sighed. No one would ever come here. It was too damaged. Too broken. Easy to be overlooked, nowhere near its former glory.

The Tree of Feelings, or what was left of it, lay on the ground. Dead. The trunk was brittle and withered, the leaves long gone. It made Dream's SOUL hurt just to look at it.

A familiar sploosh sound appeared at Dream's side. He didn't have to look up to know it was Ink. He and Ink had grown to be best friends over many years, even if Ink needed help feeling sometimes. The little Emotion Vials, or EVs, easily fixed that little problem.

Ink came very close to joining the dark side. Dream's brother—his own brother, Nightmare—had tried to use the artist's hollowness to his advantage. It would have worked had Dream not stepped in at the last moment. He filled the hollow shell with happiness and goodness, stopping Nightmare's plan in its tracks.

Now the two were inseparable, and they had even gathered a third member. Blueberry, a Sans from Underswap, made the perfect companion. He was almost always happy, and always went out of his way to help others. And when a time rift accidentally opened, he stepped in to help Dream and Ink. They made him part of the team that very day.

The team called themselves the Star Sanses now, always repelling the forces of evil. They made a great team, really. In Dream's humble opinion, that was. Dream would never take the offense; he left that to the others.

It still stung to hurt his brother, though.

Dream was shaken lightly from his thoughts by Ink. The latter's eyes were a light blue, round and curious. "Dream, we have to go. Now. There's an attack on Recoverytale."

The golden skeleton sighed. His brother's attacks seemed to grow more and more frequent. It was terrible whenever a universe was lost, or even a single life. Dream always felt terribly guilty whenever someone was hurt and he could have stopped it.

He assumed it was Error. He took the most joy in destroying universes, even more so than Nightmare. Ink and Error especially disliked each other, even when Ink wasn't on EVs.

Dream strived to keep Ink full of good feelings. That's what friends are for, after all.

The golden skeleton was able to influence others feelings through his SOUL—a spirit encapsulated by pure positivity—to make them happier. Most of the time he'd use it for the ones that survived the destruction of their universe, to help with the trauma before they were relocated.

"...Go on. I'll catch up." Ink nodded, opening a portal to Recoverytale. It swirled a rainbow of colors, although light blue seemed to be prominent.

Exhaling slowly, Dream took out a small notebook. It was an old, thin, leather-bound journal. The book was dusty and slightly stained with things Dream would rather not think about.

Smiling, Dream opened the book. There was intricate cursive covering nearly every page, neat and tidy.

Although the small skeleton could hardly read it, he held it close. This was his notebook. His brother's.

Or at least, it was.

It still blurred his vision just thinking about it. He loved his brother. He really did. Did he not try hard enough? Did he fail?

Blueberry and Ink continually told him no. He had done all he could, he couldn't have stopped him, it wasn't his fault.

But that didn't stop him from feeling like he had failed his brother.

Taking a breath, Dream smiled at the book. It was good to have memories written down in a book. It was like a photograph in word form.

It was perfect.

With a shaky breath, he twirled away from the Tree. His cape—Nightmare's flag—shimmered gold. He wouldn't be caught dead without that cape. It was all he had left.

Dream opened a gold portal, the same shade of the flag. Through it, he saw a little city from a rooftop. The smell of burning filled the air.

The positivity remnants radiating from the little town made Dream smile. It had a sweet scent, laced with a sugary humor. This was good. He was stronger in happier AUs, and the others seemed to fight harder for its conservation.

The happiness was overshadowed by fear, however. The attack had a huge impact on the genocide-less universe. No one was prepared. The Star Sanses would have to save them. It was a new day.

Taking a deep breath, Dream leaped through the portal.