Day 23 - Tree + Memories - One Small Dreamcember
Life seemed simpler back then, didn’t it?
One Small Dream belongs to @calcium-cat !
Unvignette’d version undercut~
Ayo, today has been one hell of a day for me but here it is! I've been trying to get some inspo for this little OSD au and like a freakin blessing, Cat posted their adorable dreamcember prompt list. Oh my god, I am so excited about this and I can't wait to share the lore for mythical dreamtale through this event.
So in case it isn't clear, Dream and Nightmare in this au can shape-shift, though as you can imagine, it takes a lot of practice, so when they were kids there was a lot of trial and error. As shown here, Dream happened to be better at it than Nightmare.
Another tidbit from the original ref is that Dream is basically a star and Nightmare is dark matter. Since Nightmare is basically a mass of energy/matter, he has no lifespan, but as I'm sure all of you know, stars do. Now the good thing about that is that he can be reborn through his own supernova, but that takes a considerable amount of time. And they don't know that yet.
So Nightmare is left to take care of Dream's heartbroken Chimera (the birds on Dream's cloak), and wallow in his misery for a while.
Mythical Dreamtale ref - Bunch of lore here if you're confused!
OSD & One Small Dreamcember belong to @calcium-cat !
This is going to be my last post for One Small Dreamcember based off of @calcium-cat fanfic “One Small Dream”. At least it will be the last while in December. I had a lot of fun participating in this event and I learned a lot about how much time I might need to be productive as well as overcoming my inner critic. I didn’t know where or how to end this. Hope you all enjoy it.
Reader’s P.O.V.
Stepping out of my tent I put on my shoes and grab my first-aid kit while looking in the direction of a yell I heard. My heart leaps from my chest to my throat as I watch what appears to be a child tumbling down the side of a cliff and lands in a briar patch. Running over to him I see he’s a…a skeleton? Tears are running down his face as he grimaces in pain.
“Are you hurt?” I ask on impulse. He looks up at me startled. In panic he looks around at the thorns surrounding him and then back at me. “It’s okay, I just want to help.” I tell him as I clear away some of the branches of the briar.
“I…I w-want my brother!” he cries as the tears stream from his golden eye lights.
“Your brother huh?” I ask grunting a little as the branches get thicker. “How about we work on getting you out of this briar patch first?” He nods as I make my way towards him. Finally lifting up a branch as high as it would go (which is a little above my waist) there’s enough space for him to crawl through and he does. As soon as I let go the branches fall back into place. I have a few scratches on my hands and arms. Turning my attention to the skeleton child I see him whimper and scuttle away from me, his eyes wide with fright. He continues to scoot backwards until he bumps against a boulder. While he covers his head with his hands, tears spilling onto the ground I take a moment to look at the cliff. My guess as to the height has to be about 13-15 feet high. Looking at the skeleton child it doesn’t look like anything is broken but he is trembling and crying.
“Umm, it’s okay.” I start trying to get his attention. He stops shaking and slowly lifts his head up to look at me. Those watery eyes make me want to rush over and hug him, to reassure him but I resist the urge. For some reason he is afraid of me, and I don’t want to make it worse. “I’m not going to hurt you.” I tell him. “May I come closer?”
“Y-you promise?” he asks. “Y-you’re not…going to hurt me?” There is suspicion and distrust in his eyes.
“Have you met humans before?” I ask. His eyes widen in surprise and then he looks down and away as he answers.
“They…they attacked me and my brother. Our home…was destroyed.” Tears begin to flow again at what I’m sure are memories of an incident from who knows how long ago or recent it happened. A lump forms in my throat as I come to understand why he is so scared. If all he knows about humans is that incident…
“I promise I’m not going to hurt you.” I tell him, feeling the conviction in my words.
He looks at me for a moment before saying “Okay. Y-you can come closer.”
“Thank you.” I tell him and get the first-aid kit to help clean the cuts and scrapes with hydrogen peroxide.
Dream’s P.O.V.
That fall really hurt. Yes, he had been told not to wander too far off while the others got things set up, but no one ever says how far is too far. He had been looking at the wildflowers and chasing butterflies. How far did he end up wandering before he fell? Then a human is the one to find him. The human says that they only want to help. The emotions feel genuine, but can he trust them? Nighty said the villagers attacked them and destroyed their home, their tree, and tried to attack them too. What if this one is pretending to be nice? He doesn’t have anything this human could want. Still, he did feel better after the human made the promise not to hurt him. The human brings out a bottle and some gauze squares.
“So, this stuff is to clean the scrapes and cuts. It might sting a little but after that fall I bet you can handle anything.” the human tells him. This makes Dream nervous. “Would you like me to go first so you can see?” the human asks. Dream nods and so the human begins to pour some of the liquid from the bottle onto the gauze and proceeds to apply it to the cuts on their own arm. “Okay, your turn.” the human says. Dream takes his gloves off and extends his arm out. Looking away and gritting his teeth until he feels the cool gauze upon his scratches, he lets out a sigh of relief as there is stinging but not too bad. The human lightly blows on the application helping to further soothe the stinging.
Reader’s P.O.V.
Now that he’s calmer he’s talking about how his brother had planned this outing for him and the gang. Rory makes really great cookies and probably brought some. Dusty likes to spend a lot of his time alone with stuff that he’s not allowed to play with. Crossy is a lot of fun and plays different games. Kiki teaches him all kinds of stuff. He keeps talking as I treat his cuts. I smile at these names as he continues.
“Okay, can you stand up?” I ask and I help him to his feet.
Bending his knees a few times he runs around and says, “I feel great!” Smiling in relief that everything looks good I put away the materials back into the first-aid kit and get up. “Thank you for helping me.” he tells me as I look at the cliff he fell from.
“You’re welcome.” I answer as I look for a way back up.
“By the way, my name is Dream.” he says. The name sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it. There I spot what looks like a possible trail that could lead up to the top.
“It’s nice to meet you, Dream.” I respond as I follow the trail with my eyes to a place where we can get to it. I don’t want to lose sight of where the trail begins but Dream said something else. I just give a generic response of “Hmm, hmm. Yep, that’s great. Give me a moment.” I pick up a thin stick and break it into three pieces and I place a piece at the foot of the trail in an upright position. Then coming back, I place another piece near the boulder that we are at.
“Did I do something wrong?” Dream asks.
“What?” I ask in turn as I see Dream watching me and tears slowly begin to stream from his eyes. “Umm, sorry I got distracted. There’s a trail that I think might be able to get you back to the top of that cliff.”
“Really?” he asks, wiping the tears away.
“Yeah, the sticks are to mark the way back. I have to go back to my campsite to clean and pack up. Come on.” I tell him and wave for him to follow me as I smile at him. He follows along and smiles back. “Why did you think you did something wrong?” I ask.
“I asked you what your name is, and you just said that was great. So, I knew you stopped listening to me.” Dream says with a slight pout.
“Oh, I am sorry. My name is Y/N.” I tell him as we make it back to the campsite and I proceed to pack things up. It didn't take long as I didn’t bring a lot with me. Thanks to the markers we make it back to the cliff easily.
“So, you said you were here with your brother and a few others?” I ask looking up at the cliff. Dream nods. “Want to try calling them?”
Dream looks at the cliff and yells “Nighty! Dusty! Kiki! Rory! Crossy! Can you hear me!?!” We wait for a few moments but there isn’t any movement. Dream’s eyes begin to water.
In the meantime, …
Nightmare sat on the picnic blanket while Horror set out the food for everyone. There is a nice peaceful breeze drifting by. When a sudden spike of fear grabs his attention. Looking around he asks, “Where’s Dream?” Dust just arrived from the portal while Killer and Cross had been chasing each other but at the sudden realization that no one knows where Dream is they are instantly as concerned as Nightmare. They all start calling for him, fanning out from the picnic area. Dust hears a loud whistle. His curiosity piqued; he decides to head in the direction of the whistle.
Back to the Reader’s P.O.V.
Putting my fingers to my teeth I let out a high-pitched whistle.
“Now try again.” I tell Dream. He yells out the names again. This time we see a hooded figure come to look over the edge of the cliff.
“Dusty!” Dream yells and happily waves at him.
“Dream! We’ve been worried sick!” Dusty yells at him and turns to wave behind him.
“How’d ya even get down there?” a skeleton with black empty sockets and black tears running down his face asks.
“Hi Kiki! I fell down!” Dream yells back
“Are you alright?” a monochrome skeleton asks as the rest of the group are now peering down.
As they look at me, I yell “It looks like there is a trail over here.” and I point to the trail. They look to where I point and I ask, “Do you see it?”
“Yes, we see it!” the goopy looking skeleton says.
“Great! So we’re going to start on it. Maybe you guys can find a place for us to meet up.” I yell up at them. Dream and I go ahead and start on the trail. The small skeleton child darts ahead of me and comes back to talk about a flower, or a butterfly, or whatever comes to his mind. I smile as I listen to him go on and in almost no time we make it to the top.
“Nighty!” Dream shouts as he runs into the embrace of the goopy skeleton.
“Dream! I’m so glad you’re safe.” Nighty tells him as the others come over to give him a hug, or head noogies with smiles all around.
Day 1 of OneSmallDreamcember prompt list by @calcium-cat. December 3rd.
Prompt 1: Dejavu.
I realise this is a little late but originally I had no intention of writing anything for this particular prompt, but then late yesterday evening I suddenly got a huge amount of inspiration to write... Well the following idea :3.
Hope you all enjoy =D!
~~~
Dream giggles as he races away from the room where his brother is currently counting aloud, searching the hallway and adjacent rooms for a perfect place to hide.
He’d been waiting allllll day for Nighty to play hide-and-seek with him as his brother was ‘too busy’ before this, but thankfully
now Nightmare has finally made time for him.
Dream runs into the nearby living room, diving behind Nightmare’s favorite armchair to hide there. He covers his mouth to stifle his giggles as he hears Nightmare finish counting in the distance.
“…49…50! Ready or not, here I come Dream!”
Dream listens carefully as his brother searches the nearby hallway for his presence, struggling not to laugh as Nightmare continually enters the wrong rooms to look for him.
“Hmm… he’s clearly not in here either.” Dream hears Nightmare exclaim rather loudly as he exits yet another room without finding him inside. “Just where has my brother gone this time…?”
Dream grins widely at his words, proud of himself for coming up with this particular hiding place. He really chose a good spot
this time!
Finally after what feels like a few minutes of waiting, Dream hears Nightmare’s footsteps approach the living room. The young skeleton holds his breath as his brother comes to a stop at the doorway, forcing himself not to move even an inch in case that somehow gives him away. It’s so hard for him not to laugh right now!
“You can’t hide from me forever Dream!”
“You can’t hide from me forever Dream!”
Dream struggles to catch his breath, leaning heavily against the tree that he hopes is hiding him from view right now.
N________’s mocking voice sounds much closer than it did before, but Dream is reluctant to move again just yet.
He holds his injured arm close yet gently to his chest, attempting to keep it as still as possible while magic leaks out from his newly received wound onto the snowy, forest floor below him. He’d been careless during his fight with N________ and now the humerus in his right arm is paying the price for it.
Worst of all, he’d gotten separated from B___ and I__ amidst the commotion, so he doesn’t have any backup now when he
needs it the most.
He knows he can’t portal out of this AU in his current state and he doubts he’ll be able to fight very well if N________ finds him.
That’s why he’s trying to stay hidden from him until either B___or I__ can locate him and get him safely out of the AU.
And if N________ tracks him down first, well…
Dream doesn’t want to think about what he might do to him in his current state…
“I know you’re there, Dream.” N________’s voice taunts from somewhere behind him, much closer then it was before. “You
were so eager to fight me just moments ago, so why stop and run away after one little injury? Come out… so we can finish
what you started.”
Dream begins to sweat, his eye lights desperately scanning the trees in search of a better hiding place then the one he’s currently got. He knows moving away from the tree he’s leaned up against right now is probably a foolish idea, but it might be his only option if N_______ gets any closer.
“Dream! … Dream, are you there?!”
Dream perks up his skull hopefully at the sound of B___ calling him in the distance. He is close by the sound of it, perhaps if he
runs forward now he’ll be able to reach him before N________ can catch him?
He’ll have to be very quick though.
Dream takes just a single step forward before a noise sounding from behind the tree he was just standing near makes him
freeze in his tracks with fear.
SNAP!
He knows it’s a terrible idea and definitely the stupidest decision he can make in this situation, but Dream’s curiosity gets the
better of him as he ever so slowly looks back and peers around the tree in order to locate the source of the noise.
A part of him is surprised when he doesn’t find N________ there, but the large broken stick on the ground is most definitely
evidence that he was standing there just moments ago.
But if N________ isn’t there any longer, then where-
“Hello Dream~”
Dream has barely turned his skull in the direction of N________’s voice before suddenly a tentacle wraps around his waist and throws his body against the tree he’d been hiding behind all this time.
“Found you, brother~”
“Found you, brother!”
Dream struggles, trying to ignite his magic or slip out of N________’s grip, but the other skeleton just tightens his hold on him. It’s getting harder and harder to breathe as the other squeezes him so tightly he feels as though more of his bones might break.
“Dream!”
“Dream?”
Looking around N________’s malicious gaze, Dream sees B___ has finally found him and is running towards him in the distance.
He tries to yell out to him in a frantic call for help, but finds his voice just won’t work as he watches fearfully as N________ raises another tentacle in preparation to strike him.
“Dream!”
“Dream!? What’s wrong!?”
Dream closes his eye sockets and braces for the strike, as B___ continues to urgently call his name, though he sounds much closer than before.
“DREAM!!!”
“Did you really think you could hide from me, Dream?” N________ mocks him, his face just inches from his own in this moment. ”No more running, this fight ends right here, r̵̦͊i̵̥͕̾g̸̡͒h̸͓̿t̸̠̾̉ ̸̪͒n̴͍͆o̵̧̙̎w̴̪̠͌͗!”
“Dream! Hold on, I̸͕̹͐̈́͘'̶̤͈͝m̶̝̺̖̒͠ ̶̰̗͗͌̕c̵̥͉͑ö̵̢́́m̶̨̠̩̃ȉ̴̝͑͛n̶̞̭̓̄̕g̶̳̬̓ ̸͈͋!”
“DREAM!!!”
Dream gasps loudly, scrambling away from the hand that just ever so gently touched his shoulder as he becomes aware of
his surroundings once again.
He looks back fearfully to see Nightmare staring at him in obvious concern at his reaction to the contact, his hand still
hovering where he tried to touch Dream a moment ago.
“Dream… what’s wrong?” Nightmare asks in a clearly worried tone, studying his young brother carefully as he speaks. “I’ve been trying to get a response from you for the past minute or so since I found you but… you weren’t responding… It… looked as though you were in a daze of some sort… Is everything alright? Did something startle you?” He pauses for a minute, looking
thoughtful before adding. “Did… did something I said just now startle you Dream?”
Dream gazes at his brother in a mix of slight terror and confusion. He… he has absolutely no idea what just happened to him!
The last thing he remembers is hearing Nightmare calling out to him in their game of hide and seek and then suddenly… well
something happened to make him feel really scared and it’s like he wasn’t even in the room anymore until Nightmare snapped
him out of it.
Even now he’s a little shaky after that experience and it’s frustrating because he has no idea why!
And worst of all his skull hurts! It hurts so so much that it’s making him want to cry.
Dream slowly stands up, making his way over to where Nightmare is currently hunched over before he wraps his arms around his neck vertebrae in a gentle embrace, sniffling softly as he does so.
“N-Nighty... I d-don’t feel so good...” Dream admits sadly with a trembling voice as he hugs his brother. “...my skull h-hurts really badly... b-but I don’t know w-why ‘cause it was fine a minute ago... I... I’m sorry Nighty but I... I don’t y-think I wanna play hide-and-seek anymore.”
“Oh Dream... it’s alright, don’t worry about the game.” Nightmare attempts to reassure him as he hugs his brother back in a comforting manner. “It must be one pretty bad skull ache if it’s stopping you from playing though. ... Do you want to go to bed and rest for a while?”
Dream thinks about the option for just a moment before reluctantly nodding. “...Ok.”
Nightmare gives him a sympathetic smile. “Alright then. Let’s get you to bed.”
Dream grips tightly to Nightmare as he carries him back to his room, trying his hardest to remember what he was thinking about before his brother brought him back to reality.
This only seems to make his skull ache even worse however, so with a whine of resignation and defeat, Dream soon chooses to give up on remembering it as he closes his eye sockets and leans against Nightmare’s shoulder to rest his throbbing skull.
With his brother here to comfort him and snap him out of any other strange states he might find himself in, Dream lets out a
huge yawn and decides it’s probably not worth thinking about too much anyway as he snuggles into his brother’s hold.
Maybe it’s a good thing his skull won’t let him remember what he was thinking about in that moment?
Perhaps… he wouldn’t even want to remember what it was about anyway…
~~~
So how was it?
Just couldn't help myself when this angsty idea came to me. It was a lot of fun to write :3.
Hopefully it's just the start of many more OSD related and inspired works from me to come hehehe~ =
Thanks for the inspo as always, bestie! Super excited for OnesmallDreamcember and everything that will come out of it. I'm sure it'll all be amazing ^^! So glad to see this community is showing so much support for your amazing work already Cal :3!
Nightmare heard a crashing noise from outside his office. Putting down the pen he used to write with, he went into the hall and traveled until he saw a small skeleton sitting on the floor, tears in his eye sockets. Nightmare hurried closer, only then seeing the broken mug and little splatter of blood coming from Dreams hands. The skeleton in question only registered the new presence in the room when he saw the shadow of his brother behind him.
“Nighty! I hic hurt my hands! It really sob hurts!” Dream managed to get out between sobs. “What we’re you doing?!” He yells out of his worry. Dream was crying and was afraid that his brother was mad at him for breaking the mug. That’s right, a mug. He wanted to do something nice for his brother.
Small phalanges clumsily grasped a mug of tea. Nightmare had been working reeeeaaalllyyy hard recently and Dream wanted to do something nice for him! After hearing up the water (with Rory’s supervision) and putting in the tea bag, he was making his way to his brothers office. He was happily walking down the corridors, looking down at the drink to make sure it didn’t spill. Though, because he didn’t have his attention on the path in front of him, he fell pretty harshly. Dream yelped when he tripped, and landed pretty hard on the ground, causing the mug to shatter. Little pieces ended up in his hands, and since the beverage was hot, he event got burnt! It really hurt, and Dream didn’t know what to do!
“I just wanted to do something nice for you,” Dream explained, pausing in between his crying. “So I made you tea! But I dropped it and it hurt my hands.” Dream finished, looking up at Nightmare. “Am I in trouble? I didn’t mean to break the mug..”
“No Dream, it’s okay. Let me see your hands please.” Night assured, preparing to heal his hands. “Okay, I’m really sorry Nighty.” Dream said, still guilty about the tea situation. “Like I said, it’s fine Dream. I’m just glad you aren’t more hurt.” The taller skeleton said, healing his brothers hands. Looking down at his brother, he smiled a bit. “Woahhhh Nighty look! Your hands are reeaalllyy big!” Dream stated, grabbing his brothers hand to compare. “I guess they are heh.”
_______________________________________________
Another day! I hope it’s good! Not really that centered around hands but idk I just hope you like it.
OSD and the One Small Dreamcember event are by @calcium-cat I hope you like my work Cal!
This is just a normal\ boring idea for the fan art but i had fun doing it! I had fun with the brushes and the coloring, and i thought that this pic is actually cute, i thought that maybe Nightmare is going through something and baby Dream came and held his hand, but he was not sure at first so he just touched Nightmare's hand ^^
I used thos hands to draw over (Yes i traced them) cause drawing hands is so freaking hard!
