« Chasing that pappy pipe dreams »
And I think about how much Dream really wanted to go back to the time when everything was fine with him and his brother.
When they spent their time together, when they lived in peace and quiet, when no one, no one prevented them from spending time together. When it could only be the two of them and no one would be hurt.
Dream thinks about it for a long time. Dreaming even longer.
He turns this thought over in his head for at least an hour every morning—if he has that much time. He thinks several more times during the day and often falls asleep with the same stupid childish hope.
Shattered tells him «You're an idiot», — and for the first time, Dream ignores it. Just because Shattered is not the entity he's going to believe in.
The next night, Shattered tells him to "think about it and remember how you both lived." Dream wants to strangle him. Because he's taking away the last bits of that fragile and childish thing he had. But he remembers, he really does.
That none of them were happy "then" was for sure not. They spent time together, but outside of that, Nightmare was bullied, and Dream was spinning between the villagers like a shuttlecock, in pathetic attempts to please everyone and in any way.
The last time Shattered told him something like, "If you want to bring him back, you should only do it with the hope of creating something new."
Dream hated changing things, didn't want to, but he understood what was needed. He has not been a child for a long time, but, unfortunately, he is afraid of the same things.
Dream has no idea what to do, but all he can do is sit with his knees tucked up to his chest and stare at the wall, where his worst friend was a second ago, and think about his words.
