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Chasing Home (a dark cream journey)
[Day 6 : sloth/diligence]
The three arrived in the field a little worse for wear than they should have been. However, the tension was oddly down a notch. Just one.
There would still be things to discuss. Later.
Dream didn’t look forward to it. He knew Cross would never accept his choice. But he had weighed it and he didn’t regret it. It had been three days… Cross was injured and blind and he didn’t notice him leaving. It had been maddening to think about. And he had a lot of time to think while waiting for Chime to calm down and get out. His soul still prickled at the overwhelming wave of uncontrolled feelings that swept him after all this time in silence. Hope and despair, before and after sheer fear.
He couldn’t get home alone. He had to wait for Chime.
Who was he kidding? He had enough magic back for a jump the second day but he hadn’t wanted to use it. All his efforts had been focused on trying to tune on Cross’s energy. It had been so faint that the instant he found a hint of it, he had run. Walk fast. His knees still did not want to cooperate. Chime had followed him and they had found a hole to the void Cross must have fallen into. And then he had to teleport to him because he couldn’t find him by just walking around.
He didn’t really know what to think about their situation anymore. His thoughts kept slugging from pain and fatigue and he doubted he was the only one.
“Do you feel anyone nearby, Dream?” enquired Cross.
The tired spirit concentrated and listened, trying to pinpoint any stray feelings that may hide around, not bothering to decipher any he may find.
Ah, there.
“I feel something not too far, we should check that.”
His two travel buddies hummed and followed.
The more they approached the source, the more the surroundings reminded him of the beginning of their little journey.
Bits and bots covered in a slightly darker than usual dust littered the ground. Dream carefully avoided looking too hard at the ground once he figured out it was another battleground.
He recognized some of the objects there and he hated that.
Stop thinking, onwards.
However, a sniffle behind him made him slow down and turned.
Chime was clutching something and his soul seized as he recognized it. A battered silver watch with little moons engraved around the quadrant and he knew… He knew that at the back, a poem was inscribed.
His brother was really proud of it… If he remembered correctly, it started with ‘Standing in the dark…’ … Dream could not remember what came next. He hadn’t seen the watch in 5 years.
So that was it. He was no longer a twin. The balance had fallen. Was it why the air was wrong and the ground uneven? Nightmare had relinquished his job as a guardian long ago. He didn’t know if someone else was assuming the duty or anything. But he had told him it would be okay even with him gone.
And that must have been a lie.
Because he didn’t feel okay. And his brother’s daughter was crying. And his son was not here. And the ground was uneven.
He didn’t stop to reassure Chime. He continued walking, trusting the mechanical process to carry him further.
Further away from everything.
And he didn’t know if the other two stopped for a while and caught up a bit after. But both were now by his side and neither produced any sound anymore.
The ground was uneven.
Finally, the faint path he was following seemed to come to an end and rounding the corner of a barely holding up house, he saw someone sitting on the ground.
A skeleton wearing torn up clothing looked up at him with big purple eyes as their star-shaped tail swished behind them. The stranger tilted their head and after a second huffed and stood up, leaving some distance between them and held their arms in a cautious way.
“Hello..?” threw Chime the other’s way, “we don’t mean any harm, we’re just looking for some help. You are…?”
Somehow, the sight of Chime was what made the stranger perk up. They took a few eager steps towards her and gazed at her with a smile.
“Oh Chime! I’m relieved you’re alright!” they frowned and brought up their hands to her cheeks, “what happened to your face… I don’t remember that..”
Chime recoiled at the gesture and Dream stepped forward, allowing her some kind of shield in case it was needed.
“Who are you and how do you know my niece?”
The other stepped back again and looked troubled, the little crown stuck on his head not moving despite the strange dance.
“Dream. I don’t know… what to think of you… My memories disagree…”
And wasn’t that quite a cryptic answer… Dream wasn’t troubled by the other knowing his name given how much he used to go around but he didn’t think Chime traveled that much yet.
“Answer my questions.”
“I don’t really know… who I am… But Mu likes me enough like that…”
Cross who had sat down for a breather joined the conversation at that moment.
“Where is this Mu and what does she look like?”
The stranger frowned as if deeply bothered by Dream’s partner’s presence.
“It does not concern you Cross.”
“Ok now, stop that. How do you know all our names?”
“I remember! You’re Dream, Cross and Chime.”
The stranger sat down on the dirt and pointed at Cross.
“You’re a bastard that tried to destroy all the world or something before disappearing somewhere and you hate cows and you’re a brother’s thief and stuff.”
They pointed next at Dream.
“You were a guardian and a twin and a rival and a friend and you protected and destroyed and smiled and cried and you’re scary now but still gentle and you’re really confusing to get a feeling of,” they trailed off and their gaze glassed over for a second, “it seemed nice back then…”
Then they pointed at Chime.
“You're Chime, you’re my… You are Nightmare and Ccino and Killer’s daughter. You giggle in your sleep and you like to spoil the end of movies and you refuse to wear anything that’s not cyan or pink or animal themed but you tolerate black out of necessity and you’re stubborn but kind and… and you’re a shiny bell tintinnabulating in the dusk-”
They had to stop when a bone sharp as a knife sprouted right before them, stopping just short of shattering the other’s jaw. A bunch of skeletal hands flickered into view in reaction.
“THAT'S MY PA’S NICKNAME FOR ME, YOU CAN’T USE IT!” yelled Chime.
“I’m sorry… I won’t use it… again.”
The stranger then stared curiously at the hands in the air, as if they didn’t know they could do that.
“Hey,” called Cross, “how old are you?”
Dream froze, why did Cross ask such a weird question?
“I remember many ages… 6. 20. 34. 42. 58. 77. 82. 94. And even above. Which… do I choose…?”
“I’m not asking you what you ‘remember’, how long have you existed?”
“...oh,” the other shuffled a bit away from the still menacing bone before seemingly pondering the question, “14 days… since they fell… and I rose.”
Were they talking to a freaking toddler?
“And how many ‘memories’ do you have? How many names do you remember being called?”
The other quietly looked to the sky and muttered names to the wind.
Dream flinched with each name he recognized but he didn’t really put the pieces together, despite his growing unease, before Cross’ next row of questions.
“These memories aren’t yours, are they? Like these names do not belong to you. You are not them.”
“...I’m not? But I have the memories…”
Cross reached towards the other and slowly tugged their soul out.
“There. That's you. You’re not them. Does your soul match any of the ones in your memories.”
The other’s hands (and summoned hands) came to cup their own soul, it was deep blue with soft borders. Crescent-shaped eyelights turned to full moons. Their voice barely reached a whisper when they finally said something.
“...No, it’s different. It is… mine.”
“That's cute and all but are we actually going to ask them if they can help?” cut Chime.
“Him… I’m not… them. Whatever ‘I’ is…”
“Fine, why are we helping a toddler with his existential crisis instead of moving forward?”
Dream would have agreed a few minutes ago but the information they were getting from the guy truly was valuable. And a bit horrifying.
Cross ignored the girl.
“How did you get these memories?”
“Sure, let's continue to listen to his majesty’s madness,” muttered Chime.
“Majesty? Is that… me?”
“You got a crown so why not?” countered the teen with thick irony lacing her words.
“Alright… then… I, Majesty, had those memories from… birth. Probably… from the dust’s… leftover magic…? There was a girl too… human? I don’t really… know, sorry?”
“So you got memories from all the fallen, Majesty?” pushed Cross.
Chime stiffened at his side. Oh, she got it.
“...just the ones that fought… nearby.”
“Do you ‘remember’ Chime’s parents?”
“Just Nightmare. He lost sight of Ccino and Killer and I don’t know where they went after or if they went somewhere else at all.”
“So, they’re alive ?”
Chime hopeful’s tone hurted.
“I can’t… guarantee that… I just don't… have their memories.”
The girl wilted down a bit but the fire in her target-shaped eyelights did not fade. Hope was a dangerous fuel.
“Ok, putting this peculiar matter aside. You talked about someone else, ‘Mu’? Where is she- are they?”
“Oh, just… around there,” he pointed to a green area poking from behind a fallen building, revealing the same light blue ecto around his forearm than between the joints of his tail, “she wanted to… pick up flowers… alone.”
Majesty grinned, showing sharp teeth to the three.
“I can… call her or we can… go.”
Dream considered if it was worth it to stand up to go see that name stealer person (Mu was their daughter’s name and it annoyed him to no end someone shared the precious name).
Cross got up, albeit laboriously and gestured to them to stay.
He walked and Dream winced at how sluggish the steps were. They needed to find a shelter to rest soon. He disappeared behind the corner and did not reappear for a moment.
It was awkward waiting with Majesty and Chime. The girl had elected to rest upon his side, emotionally spent and the ‘toddler’ kept himself busy by summoning and unsummoning floating hands around him.
When Cross finally came back, it was with a small girl he held onto the hand. Cross had a wobbly smile splattered on his face and a renewed energy in his steps.
The girl was a small skeleton monster that barely reached his partner mid-thighs. She had orange eyelights (he noticed small crosses marking them) and rosy cheeks. A lazy rusted colored tentacle rested around her neck and a metal star dangled from the shoulder bag she was proudly carrying.
Dream didn’t need to get close to know that ‘Mu’ was written on it.
Now. That was not something that happened.
He must be dreaming or even hallucinating. He must have banged his head one too many times or maybe it was the fantasies of a dying man.
Their missing daughter of 3 years and 4-5 months couldn’t just be waltzing back to them like that.
But as they came closer, he couldn’t deny it anymore. It was Mu. It was Mu. It was Mu. She had grown so much. She wasn’t even walking yet when she disappeared…
Mu and Cross stopped not far from them and their daughter pointed at Dream and looked at Cross waiting for a confirmation.
Cross nodded and let go of her hand. She walked towards him and the rest of the world vanished as he zeroed his attention on his child walking confidently towards him. He attempted to memorize the way she put more weight on her heels, how she kept her hands gripped on her bag’s strap while swinging her tentacle in rhythm with her steps, as if it was merely a third arm.
She stopped in front of him and he lost his eyes in hers. He missed this vibrant orange.
An ugly weight kept him from reaching out, reminding him of how poor of a reaction he had had when she went away. A fleeting thought of how they would have to reintroduce her to Mimosa and how it might rip open the amnesia bandage their son kept, because of him.
Mu had no such quarry and patted his cheek with her extra appendage before turning and sitting on his knees.
It was so much, too much. The warm weight on his legs was radiating pure positive feelings and it made him want to weep. He tried hard to contain it and while he managed, if only barely, what he didn’t succeed in dodging was the darkness creeping around the edge of his sight.
Dream’s body decided for him that the best reaction to this whole mess was to slump.
Unconscious.
The next time he came upon himself, he was in a bed, feeling more rested than he felt he had any right to be. Mu was sitting in a corner of the blanket doodling. The sun filtering from the window reached him just enough to make him want to bask into it and never move again. Sloth curled into his soul and he reached for his daughter, sweeping her to his side. Little hands pushed against his face and he laughed as he released her. Mu stayed close by and only moved to bring her notebook closer.
Dream curled back into his cushions. They will have to rebuild their relationship given he doubted the girl remembered them and must be merely humouring them but she was here and looked healthy.
They had all the time in the world.
Dream was happy.
A drawing was pushed against his face and he carefully took a hold of it to see it better. It was a fairly simple drawing of several people. The small blorb in the center sporting a yellow star must be Mu, close to her stood several taller figures. The black, the red and the purple must be Majesty, Cross and him. The tallest figure had curling horns and had a big strike across it (a failed drawing?). He didn’t really know who it might be. The medium cyan blurb with cat features must be Chime.
A slightly smaller figure stood right next to Mu, fully void of features. It was circled several times.
Mu patted the drawing and looked at him with a question in her eyes.
“That’s a pretty drawing, Mu. You should be proud of it.”
The girl frowned and put her small finger on the circled random figure.
“Who is this…?” Dream thought aloud.
Mu pointed to him, then to her then to the figure. Dream decided to throw some guesses in the dark.
“Is that a friend of yours?”
She shook her head and pointed to Majesty.
“Ok, is that someone who took care of you?”
She shook again, with more strength and showed him the stricken horned figure. Oh.
“Alright, I don’t know, who’s missing?”
Mu looked rather frustrated and got up from the bed and ran out of the room.
Well that went alright.
She came back with Majesty who looked only half-confused at the endeavor. She showed him the drawing then pointed to Dream.
Majesty detailed the paper before looking at him and waving hi to him.
“Mu… asks about… her brother… I think?”
Mu jumping around at the assumption all but confirmed it.
“I see… Thanks, Majesty. Can you go tell Cross I’m awake?”
He nodded and left, leaving father and daughter to talk alone.
“Come here,” he gestured to Mu to get back on the bed.
She climbed and settled herself against his side, not letting him leave her sight during the whole process.
“So, your brother is back home. We’re gonna go pick him up as soon as we’re good enough to go there. But I need you to do something when you see him again, can you do something for me?”
Mu nodded and closed her hands into determined little fists.
“Seeing you again might be a lot for him, so when we get back, I want you to wait for us to call you to introduce you again. And then, you’ll need to be gentle with him. Can you do that for me?”
He wasn’t sure she understood but she didn’t seem to mind the instructions therefore the subject was dropped altogether in favor of messing around with the cushions as they waited for the others to become aware he was up.
Cross and Chime came back looking more alive than before he ‘fell asleep’. The bandages had been changed and were clean. Cross’s eyelights weren’t as fuzzy anymore and Chime stood straight, seemingly unbothered by any lingering pains.
He learned around a meal (finally some monster food) that they had found an intact house full of healing items and nobody to claim ownership.
The new plan was decided diligently.
They had temporarily removed the bandages, letting their healing wounds breathe a bit, they’ll put some back later if they bothered them still then.
Dream and Cross would go back with Mu and Majesty to check on the house while Chime would stay behind and start looking around to see if she could find signs or hints of what happened to the rest of her parents. She had insisted upon it.
They had only accepted because Majesty assured them there were fewer and fewer voidlings around. The things seemed to fade on their own when left alone.
And because they made her promise to stay around the area so that they could join her easily later in the week.
And then, they went home. Finally putting an end to this horrendous journey.
The three arrived in the field a little worse for wear than they should have been. However, the tension was oddly down a notch. Just one.
There would still be things to discuss. Later.
Dream didn’t look forward to it. He knew Cross would never accept his choice. But he had weighed it and he didn’t regret it. It had been three days… Cross was injured and blind and he didn’t notice him leaving. It had been maddening to think about. And he had a lot of time to think while waiting for Chime to calm down and get out. His soul still prickled at the overwhelming wave of uncontrolled feelings that swept him after all this time in silence. Hope and despair, before and after sheer fear.
He couldn’t get home alone. He had to wait for Chime.
Who was he kidding? He had enough magic back for a jump the second day but he hadn’t wanted to use it. All his efforts had been focused on trying to tune on Cross’s energy. It had been so faint that the instant he found a hint of it, he had run. Walk fast. His knees still did not want to cooperate. Chime had followed him and they had found a hole to the void Cross must have fallen into. And then he had to teleport to him because he couldn’t find him by just walking around.
He didn’t really know what to think about their situation anymore. His thoughts kept slugging from pain and fatigue and he doubted he was the only one.
“Do you feel anyone nearby, Dream?” enquired Cross.
The tired spirit concentrated and listened, trying to pinpoint any stray feelings that may hide around, not bothering to decipher any he may find.
Ah, there.
“I feel something not too far, we should check that.”
His two travel buddies hummed and followed.
The more they approached the source, the more the surroundings reminded him of the beginning of their little journey.
Bits and bots covered in a slightly darker than usual dust littered the ground. Dream carefully avoided looking too hard at the ground once he figured out it was another battleground.
He recognized some of the objects there and he hated that.
Stop thinking, onwards.
However, a sniffle behind him made him slow down and turned.
Chime was clutching something and his soul seized as he recognized it. A battered silver watch with little moons engraved around the quadrant and he knew… He knew that at the back, a poem was inscribed.
His brother was really proud of it… If he remembered correctly, it started with ‘Standing in the dark…’ … Dream could not remember what came next. He hadn’t seen the watch in 5 years.
So that was it. He was no longer a twin. The balance had fallen. Was it why the air was wrong and the ground uneven? Nightmare had relinquished his job as a guardian long ago. He didn’t know if someone else was assuming the duty or anything. But he had told him it would be okay even with him gone.
And that must have been a lie.
Because he didn’t feel okay. And his brother’s daughter was crying. And his son was not here. And the ground was uneven.
He didn’t stop to reassure Chime. He continued walking, trusting the mechanical process to carry him further.
Further away from everything.
And he didn’t know if the other two stopped for a while and caught up a bit after. But both were now by his side and neither produced any sound anymore.
The ground was uneven.
Finally, the faint path he was following seemed to come to an end and rounding the corner of a barely holding up house, he saw someone sitting on the ground.
A skeleton wearing torn up clothing looked up at him with big purple eyes as their star-shaped tail swished behind them. The stranger tilted their head and after a second huffed and stood up, leaving some distance between them and held their arms in a cautious way.
“Hello..?” threw Chime the other’s way, “we don’t mean any harm, we’re just looking for some help. You are…?”
Somehow, the sight of Chime was what made the stranger perk up. They took a few eager steps towards her and gazed at her with a smile.
“Oh Chime! I’m relieved you’re alright!” they frowned and brought up their hands to her cheeks, “what happened to your face… I don’t remember that..”
Chime recoiled at the gesture and Dream stepped forward, allowing her some kind of shield in case it was needed.
“Who are you and how do you know my niece?”
The other stepped back again and looked troubled, the little crown stuck on his head not moving despite the strange dance.
“Dream. I don’t know… what to think of you… My memories disagree…”
And wasn’t that quite a cryptic answer… Dream wasn’t troubled by the other knowing his name given how much he used to go around but he didn’t think Chime traveled that much yet.
“Answer my questions.”
“I don’t really know… who I am… But Mu likes me enough like that…”
Cross who had sat down for a breather joined the conversation at that moment.
“Where is this Mu and what does she look like?”
The stranger frowned as if deeply bothered by Dream’s partner’s presence.
“It does not concern you Cross.”
“Ok now, stop that. How do you know all our names?”
“I remember! You’re Dream, Cross and Chime.”
The stranger sat down on the dirt and pointed at Cross.
“You’re a bastard that tried to destroy all the world or something before disappearing somewhere and you hate cows and you’re a brother’s thief and stuff.”
They pointed next at Dream.
“You were a guardian and a twin and a rival and a friend and you protected and destroyed and smiled and cried and you’re scary now but still gentle and you’re really confusing to get a feeling of,” they trailed off and their gaze glassed over for a second, “it seemed nice back then…”
Then they pointed at Chime.
“You're Chime, you’re my… You are Nightmare and Ccino and Killer’s daughter. You giggle in your sleep and you like to spoil the end of movies and you refuse to wear anything that’s not cyan or pink or animal themed but you tolerate black out of necessity and you’re stubborn but kind and… and you’re a shiny bell tintinnabulating in the dusk-”
They had to stop when a bone sharp as a knife sprouted right before them, stopping just short of shattering the other’s jaw. A bunch of skeletal hands flickered into view in reaction.
“THAT'S MY PA’S NICKNAME FOR ME, YOU CAN’T USE IT!” yelled Chime.
“I’m sorry… I won’t use it… again.”
The stranger then stared curiously at the hands in the air, as if they didn’t know they could do that.
“Hey,” called Cross, “how old are you?”
Dream froze, why did Cross ask such a weird question?
“I remember many ages… 6. 20. 34. 42. 58. 77. 82. 94. And even above. Which… do I choose…?”
“I’m not asking you what you ‘remember’, how long have you existed?”
“...oh,” the other shuffled a bit away from the still menacing bone before seemingly pondering the question, “14 days… since they fell… and I rose.”
Were they talking to a freaking toddler?
“And how many ‘memories’ do you have? How many names do you remember being called?”
The other quietly looked to the sky and muttered names to the wind.
Dream flinched with each name he recognized but he didn’t really put the pieces together, despite his growing unease, before Cross’ next row of questions.
“These memories aren’t yours, are they? Like these names do not belong to you. You are not them.”
“...I’m not? But I have the memories…”
Cross reached towards the other and slowly tugged their soul out.
“There. That's you. You’re not them. Does your soul match any of the ones in your memories.”
The other’s hands (and summoned hands) came to cup their own soul, it was deep blue with soft borders. Crescent-shaped eyelights turned to full moons. Their voice barely reached a whisper when they finally said something.
“...No, it’s different. It is… mine.”
“That's cute and all but are we actually going to ask them if they can help?” cut Chime.
“Him… I’m not… them. Whatever ‘I’ is…”
“Fine, why are we helping a toddler with his existential crisis instead of moving forward?”
Dream would have agreed a few minutes ago but the information they were getting from the guy truly was valuable. And a bit horrifying.
Cross ignored the girl.
“How did you get these memories?”
“Sure, let's continue to listen to his majesty’s madness,” muttered Chime.
“Majesty? Is that… me?”
“You got a crown so why not?” countered the teen with thick irony lacing her words.
“Alright… then… I, Majesty, had those memories from… birth. Probably… from the dust’s… leftover magic…? There was a girl too… human? I don’t really… know, sorry?”
“So you got memories from all the fallen, Majesty?” pushed Cross.
Chime stiffened at his side. Oh, she got it.
“...just the ones that fought… nearby.”
“Do you ‘remember’ Chime’s parents?”
“Just Nightmare. He lost sight of Ccino and Killer and I don’t know where they went after or if they went somewhere else at all.”
“So, they’re alive ?”
Chime hopeful’s tone hurted.
“I can’t… guarantee that… I just don't… have their memories.”
The girl wilted down a bit but the fire in her target-shaped eyelights did not fade. Hope was a dangerous fuel.
“Ok, putting this peculiar matter aside. You talked about someone else, ‘Mu’? Where is she- are they?”
“Oh, just… around there,” he pointed to a green area poking from behind a fallen building, revealing the same light blue ecto around his forearm than between the joints of his tail, “she wanted to… pick up flowers… alone.”
Majesty grinned, showing sharp teeth to the three.
“I can… call her or we can… go.”
Dream considered if it was worth it to stand up to go see that name stealer person (Mu was their daughter’s name and it annoyed him to no end someone shared the precious name).
Cross got up, albeit laboriously and gestured to them to stay.
He walked and Dream winced at how sluggish the steps were. They needed to find a shelter to rest soon. He disappeared behind the corner and did not reappear for a moment.
It was awkward waiting with Majesty and Chime. The girl had elected to rest upon his side, emotionally spent and the ‘toddler’ kept himself busy by summoning and unsummoning floating hands around him.
When Cross finally came back, it was with a small girl he held onto the hand. Cross had a wobbly smile splattered on his face and a renewed energy in his steps.
The girl was a small skeleton monster that barely reached his partner mid-thighs. She had orange eyelights (he noticed small crosses marking them) and rosy cheeks. A lazy rusted colored tentacle rested around her neck and a metal star dangled from the shoulder bag she was proudly carrying.
Dream didn’t need to get close to know that ‘Mu’ was written on it.
Now. That was not something that happened.
He must be dreaming or even hallucinating. He must have banged his head one too many times or maybe it was the fantasies of a dying man.
Their missing daughter of 3 years and 4-5 months couldn’t just be waltzing back to them like that.
But as they came closer, he couldn’t deny it anymore. It was Mu. It was Mu. It was Mu. She had grown so much. She wasn’t even walking yet when she disappeared…
Mu and Cross stopped not far from them and their daughter pointed at Dream and looked at Cross waiting for a confirmation.
Cross nodded and let go of her hand. She walked towards him and the rest of the world vanished as he zeroed his attention on his child walking confidently towards him. He attempted to memorize the way she put more weight on her heels, how she kept her hands gripped on her bag’s strap while swinging her tentacle in rhythm with her steps, as if it was merely a third arm.
She stopped in front of him and he lost his eyes in hers. He missed this vibrant orange.
An ugly weight kept him from reaching out, reminding him of how poor of a reaction he had had when she went away. A fleeting thought of how they would have to reintroduce her to Mimosa and how it might rip open the amnesia bandage their son kept, because of him.
Mu had no such quarry and patted his cheek with her extra appendage before turning and sitting on his knees.
It was so much, too much. The warm weight on his legs was radiating pure positive feelings and it made him want to weep. He tried hard to contain it and while he managed, if only barely, what he didn’t succeed in dodging was the darkness creeping around the edge of his sight.
Dream’s body decided for him that the best reaction to this whole mess was to slump.
Unconscious.
The next time he came upon himself, he was in a bed, feeling more rested than he felt he had any right to be. Mu was sitting in a corner of the blanket doodling. The sun filtering from the window reached him just enough to make him want to bask into it and never move again. Sloth curled into his soul and he reached for his daughter, sweeping her to his side. Little hands pushed against his face and he laughed as he released her. Mu stayed close by and only moved to bring her notebook closer.
Dream curled back into his cushions. They will have to rebuild their relationship given he doubted the girl remembered them and must be merely humouring them but she was here and looked healthy.
They had all the time in the world.
Dream was happy.
A drawing was pushed against his face and he carefully took a hold of it to see it better. It was a fairly simple drawing of several people. The small blorb in the center sporting a yellow star must be Mu, close to her stood several taller figures. The black, the red and the purple must be Majesty, Cross and him. The tallest figure had curling horns and had a big strike across it (a failed drawing?). He didn’t really know who it might be. The medium cyan blurb with cat features must be Chime.
A slightly smaller figure stood right next to Mu, fully void of features. It was circled several times.
Mu patted the drawing and looked at him with a question in her eyes.
“That’s a pretty drawing, Mu. You should be proud of it.”
The girl frowned and put her small finger on the circled random figure.
“Who is this…?” Dream thought aloud.
Mu pointed to him, then to her then to the figure. Dream decided to throw some guesses in the dark.
“Is that a friend of yours?”
She shook her head and pointed to Majesty.
“Ok, is that someone who took care of you?”
She shook again, with more strength and showed him the stricken horned figure. Oh.
“Alright, I don’t know, who’s missing?”
Mu looked rather frustrated and got up from the bed and ran out of the room.
Well that went alright.
She came back with Majesty who looked only half-confused at the endeavor. She showed him the drawing then pointed to Dream.
Majesty detailed the paper before looking at him and waving hi to him.
“Mu… asks about… her brother… I think?”
Mu jumping around at the assumption all but confirmed it.
“I see… Thanks, Majesty. Can you go tell Cross I’m awake?”
He nodded and left, leaving father and daughter to talk alone.
“Come here,” he gestured to Mu to get back on the bed.
She climbed and settled herself against his side, not letting him leave her sight during the whole process.
“So, your brother is back home. We’re gonna go pick him up as soon as we’re good enough to go there. But I need you to do something when you see him again, can you do something for me?”
Mu nodded and closed her hands into determined little fists.
“Seeing you again might be a lot for him, so when we get back, I want you to wait for us to call you to introduce you again. And then, you’ll need to be gentle with him. Can you do that for me?”
He wasn’t sure she understood but she didn’t seem to mind the instructions therefore the subject was dropped altogether in favor of messing around with the cushions as they waited for the others to become aware he was up.
Cross and Chime came back looking more alive than before he ‘fell asleep’. The bandages had been changed and were clean. Cross’s eyelights weren’t as fuzzy anymore and Chime stood straight, seemingly unbothered by any lingering pains.
He learned around a meal (finally some monster food) that they had found an intact house full of healing items and nobody to claim ownership.
The new plan was decided diligently.
They had temporarily removed the bandages, letting their healing wounds breathe a bit, they’ll put some back later if they bothered them still then.
Dream and Cross would go back with Mu and Majesty to check on the house while Chime would stay behind and start looking around to see if she could find signs or hints of what happened to the rest of her parents. She had insisted upon it.
They had only accepted because Majesty assured them there were fewer and fewer voidlings around. The things seemed to fade on their own when left alone.
And because they made her promise to stay around the area so that they could join her easily later in the week.
And then, they went home. Finally putting an end to this horrendous journey.
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Final day!
Credits:
Shattered!dream belongs to shattereddreamau Cross!Sans belongs to jakei95 Chime, Mu and Fancy (Majesty) are mine Dark cream ship week by @zu-is-here
