Chapter Text
Three months earlier
The bedsheets rustled as Hob stirred, breaking the near perfect silence of the bedroom. In the distance, waves of revelry carried across the breeze from the city centre, and the odd crawl of traffic from the road out back could be heard through the window. London never truly slept..
Hob pawed at the empty bed beside him before furrowing his brows. Peeling an eye open reluctantly and gazing blurrily towards Dream's perch on the window sill.
"Dream?" He called questioningly, before rubbing at his eyes. Lifting his head and fumbling for his phone resting on the bedside table. "What time is it? 2.05!" Dropping back with an overly dramatic grunt, he covered his eyes with the heels of his hands and let out an exaggerated groan. "Umph. I have to be up in four hours!"
Smiling softly at his lover's behaviour, Dream turned to rest his forehead against the cool pane of glass, momentarily flinching at the remembrance of the cold sting against his skin. Before gazing upwards in contemplation.
" Night seems muted somehow."
Hob pulled a pillow out from beneath his head, resolutely bringing it down over it again with a huff.
"That's air pollution for you poppet."
Dream looked up at the moon, a hazy blur of light, lording over an inky sky of equally sickly looking stars. Blinking feebly in competition with the bright lights of the city below. Placing a hand flat against the smooth surface, he took a deep inhale, tentatively reaching out towards his mother, feeling a lazy waft of irritation in return.
"Perhaps"
Hob peered one eye out from beneath his goose feather fortress, before pulling himself free with a sigh. "Dream, come back to bed. Your simple human needs a few more hours if he's going to face 30 odd freshmens tomorrow."
Pulling his bare legs out from beneath him, Dream dropped gently to the floor. Hob's old shirt hanging in loose folds about his thighs, one sleeve draped precariously off his shoulder. Tip towing silently across the floor and slinking back into the bed, Hob granted him a tired yet loving, lopsided grin. Already fighting the droop of his eyelids.
"Look at you, shining like a star."
Dream smiled indulgently as Hob let out a loud yawn. Tucking himself snuggly against the side of his body. Basking in the heat of his duvet cocooned skin. With his head neatly resting in the curve of Hob's neck, he let out a small chuckle. "I do no such thing Hob Gadling."
He felt Hob's fingers run a gentle figure of eight into his shoulder blade.
"Then why's your skin twinkling like a bag of diamonds?" He mumbled, voice thick with sleep.
Dream rolled his eyes, burying his nose into Hob's jawline. "You are a hopeless romantic when you are halfway to my realm my darling. Now…" He ran a hand featherlight over Hob's face. "Sleep."
With a snuff, Hob eyes closed and dropped almost instantly into a peaceful slumber. Glancing idly about the room, Dream's eyes caught the glaring numbers of the stereo display. 12.15 am. Hob's sleep-addled brain must have misread the time.
"I too wish for more time, beloved."
…….
Two months earlier
Hob exited the door of the shared English and History department, taking in a lungful of fresh, early evening air. He swore they'd painted the windows shut back in the 90s. The last time the university had seen fit to refurbish the building. His demeanour quickly lit up when he noticed the slim, dark figure of Dream resting against the bonnet of his car. Head tilted back, seemingly observing the deep reds of the sunset. Walking to meet him with a renewed jig in his step, Hob greeted him with a peck to the cheek and twinning his arms about the Dream's slim waist, propping his head upon his leather clad shoulder. Feeling the residual warmth left by the setting sun on the fabric.
Dream turned to observe him, eyes flitting about, cataloguing the toll the day had taken on him before smiling a small, sweet smile. "You glow today my love."
Hob barked a laugh, re shouldering his work bag and running a hand through his tousled hair. "That's a nice way of saying I still look hideously hungover duck. I appreciate it."
Dream pulled away, angling his lithe body to fully face Hob.
"I do not jest. You shine with life. If I did not already know such a thing to be impossible, I would say you looked younger." He reached up, sweeping aside an errant strand of auburn hair from Hob's eyes. "Vitalised."
Hob let out a snort, placing a quick peck upon Dream's brow, licking at the sweet remnants of 'dream' stuff it left upon his lips. "If you say so, love. Yesterday I swear I looked and felt every one of my 600 odd years. My hair was practically grey I tell you."
The starlight pinpricks hidden within Dream's pupils flared in what Hob had come to learn was amusement. For a brief moment, he swore he saw the first stars of the evening, scattered haphazardly amongst the intertwined reds and blues of sunset, flare back.
" You are as vibrant as the day we met."
Hob smirked at that, crowding Dream backwards until he half sat on the car bonnet. Leaning forward until they were but a hair's breadth apart. He whispered cock surely, "That's what you thought of me was it? Covered in shit and smelling twice as fragrant? Vibrant?"
A challenging spark lit in Dream's eyes as he quirked his lip, before pouncing forward, arms wrapped tight about Hob's neck, claiming his lips in a searing kiss.
A raucous chorus of wolf whistles sounded somewhere behind them, followed by a riotous roar of hoots and cackles. A group of students who'd obviously begun the night early. Hob pulled away, rolling his eyes, before giving his ear an embarrassed tug out of habit.
He watched Dream take in the group with a fond expression. Wondering passingly what he knew of them. Their lives, their hopes, their dreams. When Dream turned his attention back to him, Hob's breath hitched in wonder. His eyes, usually pools of blue or as pitch black as the midnight sky, were now a wash with soft, mingling hues of reds, purples and blues. As if someone had captured the dusk sky around them and painted it onto Dream's eyes. He took a moment silently, to once again thank whatever entity watched over him, for deeming him worthy of this ethereal, beautiful creature in his arms
"What were you looking at anyway?"
Dream looked to the sky, and once again, the stars seemed to blink brightly in response. As if clamouring for his attention.
"The stars are singing. Can you hear them?"
Hob smiled adoringly, kissing Dream one last time before detangling himself from their embrace, working his way round the car and sweeping the passenger door open with a flourish.
"If you say so sweetheart. Come on, let's head home."
…..
One month earlier
Hob pawed at the meat of Dream's thigh, hefting it higher as his thrusts increased their tempo. About his shoulder, he felt Dream's other knee tighten in a vice grip. His toes, resting near the centre of Hob's back, clenched with every snap of Hob's hips. Mouthing desperately at the beautiful pale breast below him, he felt the familiar sensation of his coming climax alight like a sparkler.
"Oh god, I'm close, I'm…" And suddenly, he was adrift. Gone was Dream and in his place he was being held aloft in the vast, endless skies of night. He felt the cold embrace encompass his body, gently, lovingly. About him, stars and comets danced and flared in a frenzied, joyus display. From within him, he felt a heat, a great light pulse and grow. A power, an essence unfurling within him like a flower, opening to embrace the first rays of dawn. He was a great wave crashing against a slowly eroding cliff face, he was sun and shadow, weaving its way about an ancient sundial. He was the very turn of the seasons, rotating like a great wheel, over and over.
And then, there was the night again, about him. Stroking, clawing, adoring, challenging. He battled back, he loved back. He felt the pull and push, light and dark, heat and cold… expanding and condensing. Building, building, building… Then… Bang.
Hob, melted rather than pulled off Dream. Flopping down beside him on the bed. His body, a mass of quivering gelatin, he was sure couldn't hold him if he tried. He took lungfuls of the stale, bedroom air, thick with the heady aroma of sex and desperately tried to catch his breath. Next to him, Dream seemed to fare no better. Sprawled out comatose, hands clutching at his head and heart. A glazed, almost vacant expression on his face.
Somewhat, regaining the use of his vocal cords, Hob turned his head towards Dream, croaking, "Holy Fuck what was that?!"
Dream gazed at the ceiling for a few moments longer before languidly rolling onto his side to face Hob. His eyes spoke of bone deep exhaustion but also utter contentment.
"I do not know. That has never happened before."
Somewhere deep in Hob's subconscious, his ego stuck its chin out, gave a pompous, self congratulatory cockcrow and proceeded to strut elatedly. As it was, he sent Dream a slightly pleased, knackered looking smile.
"Shit, seriously?"
Dream nodded his head slightly in confirmation.
Hob paused for a moment before sending Dream a devilish look, "Was it just me, or did Big Ben go off just as we came?"
Dream eyes crinkled as a huffed chuckle escaped him. Hob guffawed in response. And thus they greeted the morning, snickering to each other like naughty children.
……
The present day
The rain pelted incessantly from above, Dream's hair lay in sodden clumps, water draining from them streaking down his face, his shirt was soaked through. Yet he felt nothing. He clutched desperately to the cliff edge he sat upon, pressing the jagged rock beneath his palms, making it bite in the flesh. He willed it to pierce, to cut, to hurt, to make him bleed. Below, his realm was torn asunder. He wondered what it would be like to push himself forward, fall freely into the destruction below. Escape wantonly into oblivion. Would it be kinder, less painful then what was to come?
"Take my hand little brother."
He stared at Death's palm outstretched, he could not look her in the eyes. It would just be another unsaid farewell, another desperate want to stay, another moment fighting the urge to lay himself prostrate at her feet and beg for more time.
He took a deep shuddering breath, attempting to calm his nerves. His arm felt like a deadweight as he lifted it. At once conflicting emotions of panic and relief rose from within him, overwhelming the numbness. His senses dulled and head roared simultaneously and he rocked forward toward his sister in a blind, nauseous haze. Soon it would be over… I'm sorry, I don't want to, I'm so tired, please don't make me go, I'm sorry, I can rest, I'm sorry…I love you…
"Stop!"
Hob
He felt himself being hauled into the confines of two strong arms, that locked about him like an iron cage, resolute in keeping their captive from all. In that moment, as his mind frantically scrambled to process everything, aeons of repressed pain broke from the tight binding he had placed about it. And cradled in Hob's embrace, mere seconds from his death, his reserve finally crumbled and he unabashedly wept.
In his misery, he felt the unexpected sting of sharp metal pierce his chest and wondered if this was what it was to die. Yet further it plunged deeper and deeper still, until it hooked his heart and pulled. And he knew then what this was. For the first time in countless centuries, Dream allowed his mind to be reeled in without resistance. As grey mists filled his lungs and phantom hands clutched at him, pressing him maternally to a soft stomach. There he lay in the clutch of Despair, as she petted his hair and cooed softly to him. As her rats scurried about him, gently nuzzling his body. Slowly, he became aware of a thud reverberating around them. Quiet at first, but growing steadily louder. A drumming, strong and proud that sent the rats scattering…. A heartbeat he realised. Was it Hob's heart pounding frantically under his ear, no… No he was not with Hob, he was being held from behind, two arms wrapped about his chest, beautifully manicured hands placed on his breast framing his heart. The smell of peaches smothered him and as his senses roared to life.
'Fight it big brother, do you hear me? Fight it! Desire happiness, desire to be loved as you love. But most of all desire life. Let yourself desire big brother. Please, please!..' "Please, please don't!"
"Hob, you should not be here."
Hob.
He snapped back to the moment, feeling the painful, vice-like grip of Hob's hand in his hair, fiercely holding his head to his chest. Above them, he felt the rain still pelt down, below, the rock scrapped at his knees through his sodden jeans. Feebly, Dream reached out, grasping a handful of Hob's drenched shirt, clenching it in his hand like a tether.
"Please Death, don't take him, I beg you! I love him." Hob pulled Dream's body even closer to his. Rocking them both in a soothing motion, Dream was not sure if it was for his benefit, or Hobs. "I love him."
As his vision cleared, the form of his sister slowly became apparent, kneeling at their side. A respectful distance away so as to not cause Hob further distress. From the protective barrier of Hob's arms, he met her eyes, awash with unshed tears. Dream wished desperately to reach out and comfort her, but for the first time in their shared existence, feared her touch. Instead he clung tighter to Hob's shirt, feeling the hitch of Hob's body as he hopelessly failed to hold back sobs.
How was it he could bring such pain to those he loved when he wished them none?
"Hob please, it is not so simple..."
Dream opened his mouth, tongue laden as he tried to speak, he worked his throat fruitlessly for a few moments as his voice sought to restore itself, before he let out a weak, "I don't… I don't.. "
Hob's startled, pushing Dream from his chest and reaching to carefully cradle his face with two trembling hands. "Dream, love? Dream?"
"I do not wish to leave you."
Dream leaned into Hob's touch, taking a moment to pull courage from the gentle strength it offered. He turned his head, pressing a reassuring kiss to the centre of the left palm, then the right, before drawing free of their caress. His attention shifted to his sister, still watching them from a distance. Her eyes shone with sorrow, though she fashioned an encouraging smile for him. Warm, yet dim in comparison to her usual beam. Dream held her gaze imploringly. His sister was her own, with her own rules. Perhaps, he had merely to ask? Oh but if that could be the case.
"Sister, I am aware how many must have pleaded their case to you. And I know I am no more deserving than the countless others you have denied. Your gift is a blessing. And I hope one day to joyfully be bestowed with it… But." He cast a quick look at Hob, then stared into the distance at his ravaged realm ." I desire to live, truly, for the first time since…" He brought his hands up before him, staring at them intently before steadying himself with a breath. "I have found happiness, as you wished me to. May I not keep it a little longer?"
Dream watched as a tear spilled from his sister's eye, and felt his stomach descend along with it. Anxiously, he pulled away from Hob, stumbling slightly, ignoring the panicked protests from Hob and the frantic hands that tried to pull him back. Moving closer to his sister, he dropped into a wobbly kowtow before her, instinctively flinching back violently when she made to pull him up. He knew the deep hurt this would cause her, and guilt twisted within his gut like a volatile serpent. Yet he could not help but keep his distance. She pulled away haltingly a deep great weight about her.
"If there is any way I may offer recompense, rather than my life. I will pay it, I swear this! But please, my sister, I beseech you! Grant me a little more time."
He watched as her face crumpled in anguish, another tear slid free.
"Oh Dream…" Her voice broke with a wretched sob as she wrapped her arms about herself in an obvious gesture of self comfort. "It's too late."
With a look of intense reluctance she waved her hand in a come hither gesture. Cirrus and cumulus wove their way from the clearing skies above, before delicately settling within Dream's arms. Slowly, they formed a figure, as soft and white as they, and when the last wisp dispersed, there lay a young man draped across Dream's lap, body lax in an unconscious state. Head cradled safely in the bend of Dream's arm. Dream ran a finger over the youths soft, boyish cheeks, recognising instantly who this was. He felt his heart shatter.
He heard Hob crawl to his side, anxiously taking in the new arrival laying in his lover's lap. He wove an arm about Dream's waist. Having Dream back within reaching distance seemed to calm him somewhat. Dream immediately leaned into the support it offered. He would savour it while he could.
"Dream. Who is this?"
Dream closed his eyes, turning his face away, utterly defeated. He answered, voice flat, devoid of emotion. "This is… Dream of the Endless."
Hob face contorted in confusion, glancing from Dream to the figure in his arms and back again.
"Darling, I don't understand."
Dream's throat worked as he attempted to explain, but he found he could not. Bile began to surge every time he tried. He shook his head despairingly.
Death cleared her throat before placing a hand on the youth's head of white curls, which draped over Dream's arm and splayed about the ground beneath him.
"This 'was' Daniel Hall, the mortal child conceived of the Dreaming. Born with the sole purpose of inheriting the mantle of Dream from my brother. Now.."
Dream let out a breath, though it sounded more like a pained whine," How is this possible, when I still live?" He huffed a self-deprecating laugh. "Or am I already considered naught but the walking dead?"
Hob and Death immediately let out cries of protest. Hob moving to tuck Dream under his chin, mindful not to jostle Daniel as he did. Death reached out towards her brother, stopping short. Her face was a picture of pure anguish as she looked at him, desperate to provide him comfort. Dream, yearning for the familiar warmth of his sister's embrace, yet still unsure of its safety, clenched Daniel closer to him in her stead.
"The transition of power has already begun. In the Waking, the child Daniel is dying, in the Dreaming, your power fades little brother. At the moment there are two Dream's of the Endless, and at the same time, none. The universe has halted in a state of flux and seeks to right itself. Destiny holds the page aloft. He will not turn it for as long as he is able. But it cannot stay that way indefinitely."
Hob placed a sturdy hand on Daniel's shoulder. As if attempting to offer comfort to him despite his slumber." Can you not reverse it?"
Death's demeanour drooped further. "There's barely anything of the human child left for him to return to. If the process is stopped…" She carefully regarded Hob then Dream, before finally settling upon Daniel in contemplation. "I could offer him my hand in the place of my brother." Her expression quickly morphed into one of contrite self loathing at her own words. "There can only be one Dream. There is nothing more I can do."
To that, Dream gave a tortured grimace. A sweet offer of reprieve that rang more like a death toll. "So it is him or me? That is the truth of it?" He asked in a despondent tone. Any last vestiges of hope abandoned him. That was no choice at all. He was to die then. So be it.
Hob whipped his head towards him, clenching Dream's side tightly, as if that alone may anchor him to living. "Dream. No!"
Dream placed his free hand on Hob's forearm, and attempted to adopt an outwardly calm demeanour. He would not have Hob's final memories of him be his misery and distress.
"He's just a boy. He has barely begun his first decade of life. I have had since time immemorial."
Hob clenched his eyes shut, letting out a frustrated howl. "You think I wish to send this poor child to an early grave?! You think I don't…No. Not even if it would save you. Though god I wish right now I was still the man who could." He choked on his words. Running a hand over Daniel's brow. Subconsciously, he pulled both Dream and Daniel closer to him. Dream would have smiled had the situation not been so dire. Always the defender. "But I cannot, 'will' not lose you! There has got to be another way."
Dream stomped down the hope Hob's words inspired before it had a chance to flourish. Instead, he let his fear feed irritation, fester to anger. Why was Hob making this harder than it already was? "You are being selfish." He spat.
"Yes, yes I fucking well am!" Hob roared back. "For the first time in my goddamn life when it comes to you."
Dream recoiled at his words, chastised by the truth in them. His eyes burned as he pushed his face wordlessly into Hob's shoulder in silent apology. Breathing in his scent, basking in the feel of his skin. Committing it to memory. He placed a reverent kiss on Hob's neck. I'm sorry, I am frightened. Hob brought the hand that clutched his waist up and stroked through his hair tenderly. It's alright, I know. I am too. There they sat, locked in a solemn embrace, Daniel cradled between them. Until Hob broke the silence.
"What's wrong with him?"
Dream lifted his gaze to see Hob, brow drawn with concern, frowning down at Daniel. Following suit, he took in the youth in his lap. For the first time noticing the slight crease in his otherwise unmarred forehead. The strain about his eyes. The perpetual flutter of white lashes against equally pale skin. The tightness of his lips. He ran a gentle stroke down Daniel's face. Attempting to sooth his whatever plight troubled him so.
"He suffers in his slumber."
"Dream." The authoritative tone in his sister's voice made him instinctively snap his attention towards her. "Leave him as he is. It is kinder."
Dream shook his head at her in perplexion. "My…his gift should not bring him pain."
"Dream don't! For your own sake."
Dream looked from his sister, then to Daniel. Watching as the boy unconsciously buried further into his arm with a soft whimper. He shot Death a look of determined defiance, which she countered with a desperate shake of her head. Undeterred, he placed a finger gently between Daniel's white brows and tapped. "Wake now, little prince, let the first memories of your function not be one of hardship."
Two emerald green eyes fluttered open, staring blindly at the skies above. And for a moment, Dream took stock of his successor. Sweet, fair and glowing with youth. Eyes that shone with the promise of life and renewal. He would be a beautiful Dream for the universe in his stead. From that, he would take some comfort.
Daniel's eyes rolled towards Dream, and their gazes locked. This was the face of his death, he thought. Yet it looked on him with such reverence. Daniel made to raise a slight pale hand towards him, before it halted mid ascent. His breath hitched and his eyes glazed, face contorting into one of abject suffering. Flinging his head back, the column of his neck taut, his slim body followed suit, entirely rigid in Dream's arms. He parted his lips, clenched his eyes tight, and let out a blood curdling scream.
Both Hob and Dream reared in fright, causing Daniel to fall free of their grasp, tumbling into the rocks below. He curled inwardly for a moment, before savagely clawing at the ground, as if desperately searching for purchase to offer him respite. He mewled and whined and then arched, mouth opening in a soundless cry, then another…until finally, he scratched violently at his throat and wailed.
Despite his overwhelming urge to leap to Daniel's aid, Dream found he could not will his body forward. Indeed, he could not move at all. Each cry sent shards of ice that tore through his nerves. Each scream swirled about him like molten fire. Undiluted horror overwhelmed thought or reason. He could do nothing but watch the young man twist and turn, crying then howling. What surely must have been a soft and peaceful voice now piercing through the air, as Nightmares otherworldly screech bled through his screams.
Hob however, was up in seconds. Scooping Daniel into his arms, holding him in a steady, secure grip. Flailing arms locked tight within his own. Writhing body supported against his chest. Whispering soft, urgent utterances into his hair. "I have you, I have you little one. It's alright."
Death quickly followed suit, flinging herself at them, pressing her hands to Daniel's, face, neck, arm. Futility trying to offer comfort as he wailed.
"Death, what is happening?!
Death pressed Daniel to her breast, creating a protective frame about him alongside Hob. His white clad feet kicked violently against the ground and he bucked in their hold, as if attempting to escape it.
"His mortality burns, the Dreaming is being torn asunder, thus so is he. Until his transformation is complete, it will not stop. He remains trapped between the two torments."
Frightful memories swamped Dream at Death's words. Torn asunder, torn asunder, torn… No, no, no, no. . "No!"
With everything he had, he crawled unsteadily on hands and knees towards them before stopping, heaving himself upward with what little control of his body still remained. With one last desolate look at Daniel's suffering face, he thrust his hand determinedly towards Death. It quivered, betraying his nerves, yet his arm stayed held aloft, sure and strong. He set his shoulders, raised his head. She startled, staring first at the hand, then assessed him with a look which betrayed nothing. He took a breath, then said in a firm, assured voice. "I take your hand my sister."
Death did not move.
"Please sister, I am sure."
He felt a large hand clamp about his wrist, locking in place and squeezing. So hard his bones sang and his hand spasomed in response.
"No!"
He looked at Hob, and wished he hadn't. He felt his resolve instantly start to chip and fray.
"Would you have me turn blind eye and deaf ear to his agony, my love? When the fault of his suffering is mine?"
The unspoken 'again' hung heavy and deafening.
"Hob?" Hob turned his face away, willfully refusing to meet his eye, gently readjusting Daniel as he squirmed. His face was set in a steely frown and angry tears gathered in his eyes. Dream let out a broken sob. "Hob." He tried again. Reaching out with his other hand to cup Hob's cheek. "Will you not look at me?" Hob's eyes flicked, first to his chin, then upwards to meet his eyes. A tear broke free from his eye, flowing down to pool in Dream's palm. "I love you Robert Gadling...so very much! Know it, remember it always. If the choice was mine, if the time was mine….I would not leave you. But fighting the inevitable brings this child insurmountable pain. And it is within my power to stop it! I.. I would go easier with your blessing."
Hob's face remained steely and resolute, " If this was Robyn laying in my arms," He stated flatly, "You would still not have it."
Dream face fell, distraught. He clenched Hob's jaw, running a thumb frantically across his cheek. "Hob please! Don't let this be our farewell."
Hob jerked free of his touch. In his arms, Daniel clenched his shirt and groaned. He looked at Dream, eyes alight despite his evident heartbreak. In his mind's eye, Dream observed the same man, centuries ago. Filthy, ragged, starving… Are you crazy?
"This is not farewell! I can fix this, I can… Just let me think, give me time!"
Daniel let out a frantic wail.
"Hob please, let me go!"
"I just need time ."
"Hob!"
"Ju… just… STOP!
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