A Caged Dream

4

[I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter out! I swear I just updated like a week ago but apparently it's been an entire month. The art is from @00Skotadi00 for Dream's banana dance daydream. It made me so excited to get fanart for my fic and everyone is welcome to do that. I asked for permission to put this on display. If you give me art and are uncomfortable by the idea of me putting on display, let me know and I won't put it here.]

*Nightmare's POV*

Nightmare was mad. It had been 2 hours. He had been fine with 30 minutes. He was concerned with an hour. He was worried with an hour and a half but he still tried to be patient. He tried to be open minded unlike certain people he knew. After all, none of the villagers that hurt him had asked for Dream's help.

He was done being patient. It shouldn't take this long to heal one kid and if it did, Dream would appreciate his assistance and company. He hated the villagers after he discovered them hurting Nightmare.

Nightmare tried to be open minded but he still would never trust them. Especially not with his twin.

Speaking of his twin.....

Nightmare finally arrived at the village. Unsurprisingly, Dream was nowhere in sight. Nightmare promised pain to anyone who tried anything.

He marched up to the first person he saw, a human.

"Where. Is. Dream."

"Whatever do you mean? Dream was healing Tommy last I heard," the human grinned.

Nightmare's glare darkened. "Take me to Tommy then."

The human's grin faded. "I would never trust you near that kid. You'll just have to be patient."

"I have been patient! It's been two hours! Take me to Dream!"

Villagers were starting to gather around. A dog monster ran off, probably to get someone official to deal with it.

Nightmare's last bit of patience and self control died and he pushed through the crowd.

"Fine. If you won't take me to Dream, I'll find him myself. I don't care how many houses it takes."

He marched to the first house and opened the door.

*Dream's POV*

Dream hugged his legs to his chest as he watched the villagers debate about what to do next. It has been at least an hour since he was caught. Thankfully, they untied him once he was in the cage. His wrists were still sore from struggling.

He had mostly stopped crying but a stray tear fell every now and then. He sighed as he wiped yet another one from his boney cheek.

What was he going to do? How would he escape and get home? If they were doing this to him, who knows what was happening to Nightmare! They better not hurt his twin or he would-

He would sit in his cage unable to do anything.

Another tear fell. And another. And he was crying again. Just, softer than before.

He was interrupted from his despair by the villagers coming back over.

"Get the wagon!"

"Are the horses ready?"

"Where are we even going to hide him?"

A flurry of action and words confused Dream. He definitely should have payed more attention to what they were saying.

He understood once they dragged his cage onto a wagon and went into the forest. They were hiding him from Nightmare.

He started panicking again. There was no way he could get out of this by himself. If he was hidden, how would Nightmare help him get away?

He decided to listen to the villagers plans to get an idea of what to do. Apparently the North village had 'bought' him as a positivity source. Wait, a positivity source?

Yes, Dream was the guardian of positivity. But that didn't mean people would automatically feel happy around him. Dream was really just like any other monster really, he just had an important job and was immortal. His soul is made of positivity but that really didn't do anything other than keep him from touching the black apples.

He smiled. Once they all realized this, they would understand that this was all for nothing and let him go!

"You know, I can't make people happy by just being around them. You did this all for nothing! Why would the other village buy a positivity source that doesn't make them feel positive?! No one is going to buy me and you'll have to let me go. Besides, Nightmare is going to kick your butts and save me!"

To Dream's confusion, no one was discouraged by his words. In fact, some of the villagers even smiled. The elder was one of them. Dream couldn't believe he ever trusted them. He once considered them his best friends!

"Oh Dream. You're such a sweet, innocent boy. I already thought of that of course," Jonathan said with a grin. "And besides, I'm sure the other village will have lots of chores for you to help with on top of making them feel happy."

Dream frowned. He already thought of that? What were they going to do then? Was he just going to clean all day? What was the point of capturing him specifically then? Anyone could do chores, guardian or not.

Just then, a dog monster ran up to them, out of breath. "The the freak is in the village! He's looking for Dream!"

Jonathan smiled. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll go deal with our dear guardian of negativity."

Dream did not like the way he smiled. On second thought, maybe Nightmare should leave him here and save himself instead.

"No! Leave him alone, please! He didn't do anything wrong! Please don't hurt him!"

"Don't worry Dreamy. I won't hurt him. I have no use for such things."

Dream felt relieved. At least Nightmare would be ok. Jonathan just said he wouldn't hurt him. Then again, the villagers had also promised to leave them alone if he healed a child that wasn't even hurt and now look where he was. His small smile disappeared.

'Please be careful Nighty.'