Trust
“It’s not really that—Ouch!”
“Sorry! I just—ugh! Why did you pursue those trolls? Idiot! You’re going to get yourself killed if you do reckless things like that,” grumbled Dream as he carefully healed the tear in Cross’s wing. It wasn’t too bad, just a clean tear, but it had been enough for Cross to nearly not make it back home to the valley. Seeing him struggle to fly… it’d made Dream’s soul squeeze uncomfortably.
“I know, I just…” Cross looked down at the grass. It was so lush and green, and the sun hung low and wasn't as blisteringly warm anymore. It was pleasant. “I just didn’t want a repeat of that day… That tragedy in the valley.”
Dream paused, his fingers tenderly cradling a fuzzy wing.
“Nothing like that will happen again. I… I wasn’t aware of the risk the trolls could pose. I didn’t think they…” Dream shut his sockets and took a breath. He resumed healing. “I didn’t think they’d come raiding in such large hordes. All the fairies they took… the little summer faerlings…” He frowned, sockets stinging. “Only a handful made it back. I couldn’t save them all. By the time I found them they’d been…”
“Dream—”
“No, sit still, I need to—I need to heal this.” Dream took another deep breath. “I will ask Error for more knights. I know there are still many in training, but…” he sighed, “the trolls are a problem. They’re getting too close to the valley; too brave.”
“… You should let Pap—”
“No, he’s… he’s endured enough.”
“Dream, he wants to be a knight.”
“I know, I know. I just…” Dream sighed. “Cross, he was just a few days old when the trolls took him from his home. He’s not a summer fairy but I—I feel responsible for him. I allowed him to stay in the valley because Sans—” He swallowed. “He lost everything. He was just a faerling himself, but he took Papyrus beneath his wing without much thought, and he begged me to allow him to stay." Dream hung his head. "Sans begged me to let Papyrus be a part of us, to let him have his own tiara ceremony, to let him live with us in the valley. What kind of cruel firstborn will I be if I allow him to become a knight just so he may be killed by—”
“He’s not weak, Dream. He’s strong, you’ve seen it yourself.” Cross turned and gently pulled his wing out of Dream’s hands. The tear was just a faint scar now. It would fade. “Sans wouldn’t have encouraged him if he didn’t believe he could protect himself.”
“I can’t lose any more of my fairies!”
Cross jumped at the outburst, though the shock didn’t last before he shifted forward towards the firstborn, unsure if Dream wanted true comfort or not. He’d begun to weep; golden tears trickling down pale cheeks.
“I don’t care that he’s just a regular fairy. Papyrus is a part of the valley. He’s Sans’s younger brother. He—He’s strong b-but I’m so afraid he’ll be killed. A-and if he dies, then Sans will surely—”
“Error allowed Edge to join the knights in training last autumn.”
Dream paused, his breath hitching as he looked up at Cross. The tears hadn’t halted, but his erratic fears came to an abrupt freeze as he stared back at his mate. Cross’s eyelights were kind, but they held clear determination.
“You saved him too, remember? Him, Sans, Papyrus, and Red; all just faerlings of various young ages. You saved them and Error took Red back to the mountains along with Edge.” Cross positioned himself onto his knees, and carefully, he reached out and took Dream’s hands. “Whenever I went back to visit, I would check up on them. The other winter fairies took care of them whenever they could, but Red rarely left his lantern nest for the first few months after the tragedy. However, I would often see Edge attempt to leave. I’d hear him scream and cry about needing to become strong. He shed so many tears when Red pulled him back, but… then he’d clutch onto him and say that he had to become strong so he could protect other fairies from being killed; including his new brother.”
Dream listened, his eyelights full of focus. Tenderly, Cross raised a hand to wipe away the tears. None replaced them.
“Each time I returned they’d be older, until one day I came back, and not just Red, but Edge too had his own tiara.” Here, Cross smiled a little. “Error may be known as the Ice Queen, or the Winter King, but deep below the permafrost there is warmth, and he, just like you did with Papyrus, accepted Edge to be one of his winter fairies.” He clutched Dream’s cheek with a hand, and his eyelights sharpened. “And he honours Edge's wish to learn; to train into Knighthood. He, just like Papyrus, wants to protect others so that tragedies like that of the valley may never happen again.”
Here, Dream took small but quick successions of breaths. His head lowered, but he held eye-contact.
“I know you’re afraid, Dream. I know you believe yourself to be at fault for what happened but trust me when I tell you that that isn’t the case, and that your fairies can be as strong as any other season fairy. Many may not wish to become Knights, but now you have one that deeply wishes to protect his family, this valley; his brother.” His other hand squeezed one of Dream’s, and he gave a small smile as he felt the action reciprocated. “So let him. Let him become one of the best Knights this valley has ever seen, and trust me, you’ll feel so proud you’ll blind everyone with your light.”
Dream gave a weak chuckle before he finally looked away, sockets soon closing as he sniffled. It took a few moments of silence, but in not too long a time, he raised his head and returned a gentle look towards Cross; pride threatening to spill.
“I sometimes forget you have a part of my summer within you, Cross,” he said, leaning to kiss the palm of the hand that cradled his cheek. “The light shines brightly within you, and…” He took a breath. “It does so within Papyrus as well.”
Cross leaned closer.
“Will you let him travel to the mountains?”
“… I will,” said Dream, shoulders and wings lowering with defeat. “I must trust him; believe in him. I… I can’t shelter my fairies forever. It will just lead to another tragedy. It will just—”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
Dream shook his head and chuckled softly.
“I know, so you’ve said, but that wasn’t what I wanted to say.”
Cross flushed a little but inhaled and leaned back, waiting. Dream hummed in appreciation.
“I will just have to accept that my fairies are not helpless. They may not possess the divinity of Sol within their Souls like I do, but the fire of passion and courage burns within them, and they’ll want to prove that they can wield it in battle.” Dream straightened, his confidence returning. “You’re right, Cross. I must be as courageous as my summer fairies, and as trusting as Error to believe that they will prevail against any obstacle. If not, then… then I will be the one who keeps them from reaching their full potential.”
Cross smiled.
“It’s okay to fear for them, too. You love them, just like you…” Cross blushed.
“Just like I love you,” said Dream, finishing Cross’s sentence with a soft laugh. “You’re right. I may fear for your life when you patrol the border into the valley on your own, but since you’re half winter, I’ve always just assumed that… that you were much stronger than my own summer fairies.” He shook his head. “That was wrong of me. I need more faith in my own fairies, and so, I will allow Papyrus to travel to the mountains tomorrow.”
Cross gave a soft nod.
“And… if any true summer fairy were to ask the same?”
“Heh,” Dream gave a gentle smile, though it was laced with disquiet. “It won’t make me happy, but I will allow them the same opportunity. I owe them that chance; I have to.”
Artwork: Anton Seder’s Die Pflanze in Kunst und Gewerbe Pl.069 (1886) Music: Midnight Snowdrifts - Rune Realms