Idea Given Form (Discarded Drabble)
The moment Dream opens his eyes, he immediately knows that this is a dream.
For one, he still remembers the softness of his mattress, the way it dips under his body as his consciousness unravels beneath the heavy weight of exhaustion. For another, as the Guardian of Positivity, Dream has visited a numerous number of alternate universes, and yet none of them looks even remotely close to this one.
The sky is a vast ocean that stretches from the inky shore to the hungry skyline, filling up with twinkling constellations. One particular playful shooting star zips through the endless void, trailing the faint smell of stardust in its footsteps. A heavy and enormous planet hangs overhead, and from there, he can see the flickering silhouettes of long-forgotten cities, of crumbling skyscrapers and barren wastelands.
Dream marvels at the sight in front of him. It is so beautiful, and at the same time, so haunting, as if he is cutting open time itself and peering through the gaping wound of reality.
Shaking away the thought, he starts to walk, admiring the many islands that lazily drift through the unending Cosmo, each one of them seems to be a universe of its own. One has been overgrown with vegetation, wisps of green gently dancing in the wind, another lay domain to slumbering mountains, looming over everything else like an ancient beast.
In all of his awe, the Guardian bumps against a piece of stray rubble, the force nearly sends him tumbling on his pelvis. Rubbing his sore nasal cavity, Dream grumbles, ducking under the floating rock-
And then he sees it.
A towering tree woven from human arms, forever grasping for something unreachable. If Dream thought the mountains were big, this... thing, it can crush all of them in its grip. The skin is scrawling with black tattoos, indecipherable language in indecipherable patterns. Hundreds, thousands, millions of eyes blink in slow discordance as they quietly weep rainbow ichor.
It is something out of this world, unfathomable, incomprehensible, something never meant for a mortal’s eyes.
Dream can’t help it. He gasps.
Wrong move.
At the foreign sound, all of the entity’s eyes synthetically snap toward him, peering at the small, insignificant mortal who dares to intrude on its home. The Guardian sucks in a sharp breath, taking a shaky step back, only for his spine to hit the rubble he bumped into just earlier.
There is a rumbling sound that shakes the whole island, and when Dream realizes it, a lone hand has detached itself from its coiling mass, leaving trails of dripping rainbow strings. He barely catches the sight of an entire galaxy stuffed inside that gigantic body before he is snatched from the ground, any form of thrashing or struggling completely useless against the fingers that are doubled his size.
This, he thinks, is the strangest dream I have ever had.
Getting stuck in an unfamiliar universe? Being killed by an eldritch monster made of human hands? Dream would laugh if his being isn’t struck with an overwhelming fear, the bone-deep terror that brushes its icy touch against his SOUL, leaving him paralyzed.
Completely powerless, Dream has no choice but to squeeze his eye sockets shut and wait for the inevitable end.
Except-
Except... Nothing happens.
Cautiously, he opens his eye sockets. The entity doesn’t hurt him, doesn’t grind his skeletal body into paste or fling him so far he will instantly turn to dust the moment the Guardian touches the floor. Instead, those many eyes seem to... sparkle?
Another hand lifts, moving toward him, and he instinctively jerks back. But if the entity has any harmful intentions, Dream cannot find any of them because at the moment, the only thing he can focus on is those gentle, caring strokes against his spine. Blink, and suddenly, the inky tattoos have shifted, surrounding him like over-hyper toddlers.
“Uhhhhhhh,” he mumbles, more confused than ever. “What...?”
HI!
Dream flinches. The sound seems to come from his own mind, echoing inside the confine of his skull. Fortunately, the entity doesn’t notice anything, too busy vibrating with excitement.
YOU <FRIEND, GUARDIAN, POSITIVITY> ARE FINALLY HERE <LOVE, JOY>! YOU <FRIEND, GUARDIAN, POSITIVITY> HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I <GUARDIAN, CREATION> HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU <FRIEND, SLOW-POKE, GUARDIAN, POSITIVITY>!
It has?
No, wait, the voice is familiar. Very familiar. Dream has heard it before. But where...?
A puzzle piece clicks into place.
“Ink?!”
THAT’S ME <BESTEST-FRIEND-EVER, KIN, GUARDIAN, CREATION>! The entity, Ink, beams.
“But... How...?” He sputters. “Why do you look like that?”
<CONFUSION> LIKE WHAT?
“Like that!” Dream gestures sharply at the towering mass that is his friend. “Last time I checked, you are a skeleton, not some eldritch horror of unfathomable power.”
Ink lets out a gasp of realization.
YOU <FRIEND, GUARDIAN, POSITIVITY> DIDN’T KNOW?
Know what? Dream tries to say, but Ink has already continued.
SILLY ME <IDIOT, FORGETFUL, GUARDIAN, CREATION>, OF COURSE YOU <FRIEND, GUARDIAN, POSITIVITY> DIDN’T KNOW! UNLIKE ME <VOID-BORN, GUARDIAN, CREATION>, YOU <VOID-FORMED, GUARDIAN, POSITIVITY> WEREN’T BORN A GUARDIAN <CHILD-OF-VOID, IDEA-GIVEN-FORM>!
“Ink,” Dream struggles to catch the jumbled mess of his friend’s thoughts. “Ink, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The millions of eyes blink, clearly gearing for another ramble, only to freeze when the world flickers around them.
OH DEAR <SADNESS, GUILT, REGRET>, IT IS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE.
“Time to-?” He scrambles to interrupt the Creator, as if it would stop the way everything slowly melts into colors around him. “No! Wait!”
SEE YOU <BEST FRIEND, FAMILY, LOVE-YOU-DEARLY> SOON, DREAMBOAT!
A splash, a faint sense of loss, the smell of freshly-painted canvas.
And Dream wakes up.