(I love this au so much!!) -Pip_head_luther
Horace rubbed his forearm as he watched two strangers rustle around in his clearing, the small twinge of pain the action caused grounding him, a permanent reminder not to associate with nightmares. His forearm bore the mark of his exile, a brand about the size of a golf ball, in the shape of a circle with a long black line going through the middle, North to South. There were no other markings or labels though, for this was meant to symbolise a blank Compass, a useless one, unable to lead you back home, no matter how much you wished it was able to do so.
He watched from behind his tree as the older boy picked one of his apples, and began to devour it in earnest. He felt his stomach churn with fear and uncertainty. These boys seemed to like this place, would they run him out? Would they take over his home of two months? He saw the smaller one look around with a glint in his eye, appreciating the silence and the small water source, and he could tell he was mentally building an overnight plan.
That wouldn't work. That wouldn't work at all. So he sucked in a breath, squared his shoulders, and quickly emerged into his clearing.
"Who are you?", he demanded, and he saw the two nightmares jump. The darker hair, the even darker clothes, it brought back memories of the reason for his exhile, and he realised in an instant that these two could hurt him. Really hurt him.
"I'm-!" "We're exiles!" The taller boy interrupted the shorter, and Horace could plainly see the look of disdain it planted on his face. The taller boy said something about the apple in his hand but Horace was distant, lost in thought.
Exhiles...like him? Thrown from their society in disgrace and forced to fend for themselves? But....nightmares were so eager to please most of the time....why were they exhiled?... To say he was suspicious would be an understatement.
"You're exhiles?" A nod.
"Prove it. Show me your marks." He had seen what a nightmares exhile mark looked like....he had seen it first hand as he cuddled up to a warm body underneath a thick fluffy blanket, stars shining through the open window and hushed whispers as to not get caught. He had traced his fingers over the mark in childish Wonder, before his lips were cheekily and quickly claimed by another pair, short pecks followed by soft giggles, and he forgot all about it. But now he had marks of his own, and saw there was nothing amazing about them.
The younger boy begrudgingly rolled up his sleeve to show him, the black marks showing up heavily upon his wrists. They looked to be tattooed on, and he wondered which clan had a worse method, tattooing or branding. His own mark smarted with phantom pain as he thought about it, and resolved to ask later.
"Fine. I believe you. But I never caught your name." He asked, and the taller boy crowed. "He never threw it!" Was this guy naturally looney or just plain happy? But the younger just grunted, and crossed his arms.
"I'm Enoch." And Horace felt his heart beat just that little bit faster. Enoch. Such a nice name. Plus it suited him, unlike the last nightmare he came across. Daniel. His Daniel. He used to love the way that sounded, he loved the sound of someone being devoted to him and him blindly loving back in return, but now it felt like poison in his mouth, ash coating his brain. Daniel was a venomous snake, and Horace was a clueless mouse that walked blindly in front of his fangs.
"This dumbass is victor." And the older boy, now named Victor, waved in return. "Now you."
Horace hesitated, before just thinking fuck it. "I'm Horace." Enoch snorted loudly, and Horace bristled in embarrassed anger.
"What?" He demanded, and Enoch froze, looking put out.
"Nothing! It's just a little fancy that's all, didn't expect it. Speaking of fancy, what is a pure daydreamer like you doing in the middle of nowhere?" He mocked slightly, and the two nightmares waited for an answer, listening intently. Horaces voice became devoid of emotion, and he felt himself not caring what they thought of him.
"I'm exhiled too. I've been exhiled here for 2 months, you've just walked right into my clearing. You're lucky I came here before you, and cleaned out all the bear traps, because you would have walked right into one." And he lifted his arm to show his own mark.
Victor and Enoch gasped, and Victor stared at the mark in horror. "They fucking BRANDED you? Thats a brand mark!" And Horace laughed. No shit Sherlock.
"It's not so bad....it doesn't hurt anymore at least." A lie, but they didn't need to know that. "Why'd you get kicked?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. Enoch immediately glared.
"We got tired of warming up to entitled assholes like you. You expect us to fawn over your every move, and you never think of us as equals, you think we're VERMIN. We would rather die than suck up to you selfish, snobby assholes. You only care about yourself." He spat, pure venom hidden in his words. "Your turn, your majesty." Victor slapped him around the head in warning, sure he may be carefree, but he didn't want to offend the little guy they had just come across. He was exhiled too, branded, and most of all, alone.
Horace scoffed, crossing his arms and huffing in disbelief.
"Jesus, if you're all like this I don't know why I wasted my time. I was exhiled because I refused to hate you. In fact, I was caught in a relationship with one of you. He was exhiled, hurt, and i helped him, and i thought he loved me. But then the stupid exhiled nightmare ass betrayed me and attacked my father. And then he fucking DISSAPEARED on me. If you're like him then you can leave. Right. Now. I can't deal with this again." And the two sides stared at eachother in silence, appreciating eachother. The nightmares refused to suck up to the day dreamer, and the day dreamer refused to think of the nightmares as unequal. It was perfect.
"Well....That was heart lifting." Victor stated, a little dumbly. And they all broke, laughing into the leafy clearing, scaring some nearby birds and causing them to take flight as a flock. It took them a minute to calm down, giggles echoing in the clean air, using the air currents to carry themselves away from the mismatched group of loners and into the dusky sky.
"We're going down south. There's a community of exhiles down there. You can come if you want. You wont be alone." Enoch said, before hesitantly sticking his hand out to the shorter boy in front of him. Horace hesitated, before smiling.
He grasped his hand.
"Okay."
Oop this was bad <3
