Chapter Text
Recap: Of Nightmares and Sins
Dream’s life has changed substantially. Once freed from Burgess, he retrieved his tools – but things went far more differently. Due to the interference of a magic user – Alec -, obtaining his sigils of office were easier in some ways but far more difficult in others. While getting them, he becomes closer to Johanna – she helps him against John, keeping the ruby intact -, but of course, he pulls away - not knowing his sibling planned with Lucifer behind his back to contain and entrap him. That he would need the help.
Alec, while not entirely willing, did go along with Desire and Lucifer’s plans to achieve her own ends due to wanting to be freed of a curse given to her by the two. A curse that gave her touch the ability to invoke the seven deadly sins in others.
This culminated into Dream being partially remade into Dread while trapped in Lucifer’s realm. A course not wanted by Desire, so in turn, they helped Johanna, Alec, and Hob (who got roped into the mess) to try and undo it. Death lends what help she can, though like Desire, they are limited by the rules in place.
Dread killed Alec, in Johanna’s place – who then falls to Alec’s curse, though she has far more control of it -, and Hob and Johanna concoct a plan to trap Dread and pull Dream back to the surface by using nightmares of the past. The ruby is destroyed, a suggestion inspired by a stranger (unbeknownst to Johanna that being Destruction), and Dream is freed and able to then contain Dread (the others, though, thinking he’s gone).
Story ends with Alec as an emissary of Death to avoid Hell (Alec betrays Lucifer after initially helping), Johanna immortal with the ability to invoke sins, and Hob being all too aware of Endless politics.
Death makes amends with Dream, and Dream remains distant with Desire, who tells their sibling of the dream vortex… all the while Dread plans.
Now that everyone is caught up (obviously, I’d recommend reading the first one, but this should be adequate for those that skip or those that forgot everything in the past week), here we go:
Prologue: To Immortals and Men
The mansion, or what appears to be a mansion, is utterly quiet. Every door is locked, some even bolted – though the reason for such measures is not immediately apparent. A fire does crackle live and hot in a main room – illuminating the many books on the shelves and tossed about. Pages are torn out, scattered about with no care.
There’s an answer here, though not yet found, and the issue is that the question isn’t even known.
A scream tears from the depths of the mansion, and a door two levels up opens abruptly. The person exits, shutting the door behind quietly. They grimace at even the small creak, the runes beneath their feet not reacting. She checks both directions before opting to run down the hall, feet making no sounds against the boards.
Time is short, she’s all too aware. She has a small window, and it’s only by the God’s good graces that she even has it. Weeks of work, diligent, have led to this, and she hates it. How did she once again find herself embroiled in this? She had sworn it off, yet only to fall so easily back into bad habits.
Nonetheless, she has little choice now. At least, this may work – though it’s a terrible idea. But she has her orders, her plans, and his schemes. The fire heats her body, in an unnatural way, as she goes to her knees – looking for the paper she had tossed earlier. It had been innocuous enough then and left to sit in a corner. However, in the ensuring mess, it was not where she thought it to be.
Biting back a curse, she resigns herself to this time waster, but she does not have the sigils memorized. She needs it. He won’t accept anything less, and she won’t risk his ire – not now. Finally, she finds it under one of the many tables and praises her luck. She checks the sigils – most of which can be drawn in blood. Less than ideal but better than some exotic ingredient. Blood is something she can spare.
Paper in hand, she takes to the stairs – going down two at a time. Each step, each movement, she checks behind herself – not expecting anyone to actually be following but unable to help herself, nonetheless.
The main floor is dark and disheveled, and unlike the upper levels, this floor appears all but abandoned. The wood beneath her feet splints with rot and decay, and a few times, she stumbles – doing whatever she can to stabilize herself without a curse or a sound.
The stairs to the basement are tedious to reach, but once there, things improve. Unlike the first floor, the basement is utter stone. The floor is solid beneath her feet, and she much quicker reaches her destination.
The door is locked, because of course, it is. Can’t be that easy, she thinks, falling to her knees hand against the door – it warms beneath her glove. She sheds her glove, old habit, and tries again – the magic pulses against her. Initially, it rejects her – burning her -, but the pain is a small thing. It’s a crude lock, made by someone with only basics and no care for the actual beauty of runes.
Splintering the wood where it glows bright red, the lock seizes on itself, and the door creaks and groans as it opens.
A sigh of relief slips free, and she gracefully rises intending to get to work quickly… only to come face to face with him. Her eyes widen – he shouldn’t be awake…
He tilts his head, considering her, whatever smile he adorns twisting into a scowl. It’s a second, and they both react. However, she’s quicker and a muttered banishment spell – not enough to send him away but enough to send him flying back against the wall – head smacking into the stone.
Rushing into the room, she ignores everyone else and focuses on getting the sigils drawn into the floor – a quick slash to her wrist enough to get the necessary paint. She hates to rush, the sigils need to be perfect – else who knows the outcome -, but the time for finesse is long passed.
She has mere moments to spare by the time he’s recovered and rounding on her – shadows clawing at the walls.
“Alec,” he hisses, but she merely smiles, eyes flickering around the room, hand pressing down into the center of one sigil.
“See you around,” she whispers, the power pulling in for a moment – pulling the breath from the room before bursting out… and their worlds go black.
…………………….
He wakes, disoriented – cold, wet – with no idea of how he ended up here. He’s on a bench in a park, dribbles from an earlier mist still wetting the ground. The sun is either just starting to rise or set, and it would be easy enough to determine which if he cared too.
However, at the moment, he opts to sit, trying to think back on the last few moments but finding nothing. His head throbs – that much is evident -, but he ignores it for the moment, merely touching the side of his head to confirm the source of sting.
The birds scatter when he stands, and he just starts to walk. No real direction is chosen, but he finds a sense of familiarity as he moves – something that drives him to make certain turns and stops as he goes.
It doesn’t take long before he finds himself outside an establishment. The inside is warm and inviting – much improved from the light drizzle he now finds himself standing in. However, something pulls at him – keeping him outside. He feels almost as though, while this is where he needs to be, he’s still missing something. It’s frustrating, and he grimaces at the thought.
Unwilling to let this emotion hold him back, he enters the bar – raucous laughter surrounds him, the smell of hot food triggers his stomach to growl (which confuses him), and the idea of a warm drink causes his mouth to water. His lips are chapped, and he realizes just how thirsty he is.
Nonetheless, he seeks out a back table and sits – as though he’s done this many times before. A waitress smiles at him in passing and calls out, “Long time stranger.” It’s not even a few minutes later when a glass of water is set in front of him. “Know you usually don’t want anything but figured can’t hurt to offer while you wait for your friends.”
He nods in thanks but says nothing; instead, once she’s out of eyesight, he downs the glass in three gulps. It’s soothing in a way he doesn’t expect, but it’s exactly what he needs all the same.
He’s not certain how long he sits, but he finds little reason to leave. At some point, his glass is refilled, but otherwise, he’s left to his own devices.
“Dream?” a voice calls out, and he turns in response. He barely has time to assess the source of the voice when she’s come right up to him. “You’re early.” She snorts, moving to sit across from him – a drink in hand. A breath passes and she tilts her head. “You okay?”
He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. It’s an easy question, but not one he has the answer to. Her gaze narrows, and she reaches suddenly across the table, surprising him. However, he can only lean back, just as her gloved fingers graze his scalp. The area burns with her touch and reminds him of the earlier sting.
When she sits back, the blood on her fingers shines bright red – in a way neither of them expects. He finds the sight disturbing and goes to stand, only for her other hand to seize his wrist.
“Dream,” she says more urgently. Her fingers tighten, and both of them feel it – his pulse racing beneath her touch, warmth of his skin seeping through. She gasps, hand falling away in surprise, “You’re human.”
"Who are you?" he asks, tilting his head. She's utterly familiar in every way, and while the name is on the tip of his tongue, he can't find a way to put it into words.
"Dream," she worriedly says, eyes wide.
And the only thing he can say in response is, “I don’t remember anything.”
Quick Note: Welcome back! Yes, this is supposed to be written rather vague. It’s the point. A touch more mystery in this sequel with twists and turns galore. Curious to see what’s next? I hope so.
For those curious about Lucifer, the dream vortex, and all that – yes, per usual, I will be addressing these things… just can’t do it all in one chapter. Obviously, this completely veers off from canon (comics/show).
I have not decided it yet, because sometimes things progress differently than what I imagine, but I’m considering adding romance to this (it would be background as I don’t ever do it as the primary storyline). It would be Johanna/Dream as I sort of had hints to it in the last go about, but I’m undecided as I like gen fics myself, but I also like the idea of a progression of relationships… if that’s an issue, I understand – like I said, I’m going back and forth on it myself.
In the meantime, enjoy!