~ 𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 ~ [𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑥 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟]

Chapter 17: A Tale of Love and Sacrifice

What? The thoughts in your head came screeching to a halt. Know more about him? Is he finally going to tell me about where he came from?

"I know that I haven't told you much about myself, despite me knowing much about you," he continued, blush slowly fading form his face. "So I think that after that whole confession, we should get to know each other. And by that I mean my backstory."

"Sure," you smiled, making yourself comfortable in the sheets. "I'm up for anything you want to tell me."

Taking a deep breath, Dream ran over the events in his head before starting his story. "A long, long, long time ago, there were three trees to support and protect the multiverse: the Tree of Life, the Tree of Magic, and the Tree of Feelings. These three trees gave every world everything they ever needed. I came from Dreamtale, the place where the Tree of Feelings started out."

You watched him close his eyes as he drifted into the past. You closed your eyes too, trying to imagine what it would have been like. You soon decided to keep them open, though.

"I didn't always exist there. First, there was Nim—my mother. I don't know what she looked like, but I think she was a very pretty spirit. She cared enough about the world and its people so much that she gave her life just to protect the tree."

His forehead creased at that part, like he was relieving something unpleasant. "Some people in the world got more negative feelings than others. That's why that person killed Nim. They wanted the golden fruit. They wanted to be happy. Nim was dying because of that wicked person, but they couldn't just leave because that would have left that tree unguarded. She was stuck. And that's where we came along."

It was interesting to watch his facial expression change. It had gone from troubled to bright in just a few moments. "There were two fruits of the tree: golden for positivity, and black for negativity. Humans' should couldn't contain the power, so were were put in skeleton shells with lots of escape routes. I was made from the positive side. Nightmare was made from the negative side."

"Nightmare?" You blurted, unable to imagine how Dream could live with such a monster. Unless... "You mean—"

"He wasn't always like... this," he confessed. "He was the best brother I could have ever possibly had. He was so smart and nice and he cared about the multiverse and he—he always liked to spend time with me and... and he made me the cape..." His shaky voice got quiet near the end of the sentence. His expression had changed to a sorrowful one, unnatural on his face.

Your gaze softened as you took his hands. "Is that why you always fiddle with it? And why you don't attack him like how you..."

Dream nodded slowly before bringing your hands to his mouth. He softly kissed your hands before continuing. "As time went by, lots of people came around the tree. They wanted to have some happiness too, so I helped them. I didn't think there was anything wrong with that. But then... Then Nightmare started drifting away. He didn't spend as much time with me. Bruises... Bruises appeared out of nowhere."

A gasp escaped you before it was immediately smothered by anger. "Was it them?"

The guardian nodded again. "Yes. The townspeople thought that my brother was the source of their anger. They thought that he was the reason why there was so much hurt in the world. They kept on pressuring him and doing more and more and more terrible things to him and I never—I never noticed anything. I wasn't—I wasn't a very good brother. I failed him."

"You didn't fail him," you whispered, giving his skull a quick kiss. "It was those jerks of townspeople. They did everything."

"Yes, but I could have stopped them."

"It wasn't your fault, Dream."

Taking a hasty breath, Dream decided to continue. "After a few years of that, Nightmare... broke. He tried to take one of the golden fruits while I was healing one of the elders. It was... It wasn't very smart of him. The tree died. Mother was pushed to near death. The townspeople were more angry than ever. At least I had taken a golden apple with me, or..."

He trailed off, getting more and more into the story. "Oh, stars. I can remember everything. Every detail. It happened 100 years ago, but I still remember—I still remember how those people looked at him. They hated him so much that they—they were going to kill him. I tried to stop them but... but I wasn't strong enough I wasn't fast enough. I blacked out, but when I woke up... When I woke up..."

Sweat poured down Dream's skull. His eyes were open, but they weren't focused on anything in particular. You shook him a little, but he didn't give a response. It was like he wasn't even there anymore. "Nightmare was screaming. There was this—this darkness leaking out of every crack in his bones. His shell wasn't enough to contain it. He ate all of the black apples. I tried—I tried so hard to reach out to him but his aura was smothered by that darkness. He—he was suffering. He was in pain—so, so, so much pain—and I didn't do anything. I just—I just stood there and watched as he was completely overwhelmed by power."

"Dream," you said, shaking his shoulders. Tears leaked from his eyes sockets. It was terribly strange how fast he'd gone from happy and loving to haunted.

"He killed everyone. He killed Jael, he killed Nyx, he killed Crystal, he killed Camilla, he killed Aubrey—Aubrey, oh stars, Aubrey, she was too young to die, they were all too young to—why would you do this, brother? I—I know you don't really want to do this. I know that you—oh stars, my legs, I can't feel my arms, I'm dying I'm dying I'm dying—"

"DREAM!" He snapped out of his daze, face covered with translucent yellow liquid. The look in his eyes told you that he was traumatized and afraid. "Dream, Dream, it's OK." He leaned into you, letting more tears fall onto your blankets. "I'm here. It's OK."

A few more minutes passed before he got up. Giving you a quick kiss on the lips, he said, "I'm sorry for breaking down like that. I should have known better than to just rant about Ni-Nightmare."

The way that he tripped over the name made you sad. Hugging him, you said, "Don't worry about it. Besides, I'm always gonna be here to help. Just ask me. Love can fix any sort of wound. Well, mentally, anyways."

He sniffed. "Thanks, (Y/N). That's one of the many reasons why I fell in love with you." Suddenly, a distant look passed over his face. "Love can cure any sort of wound..."

Giving you one last kiss, he got up. "I have to go check on Blue. I think I know how to cure him."