Colors of the Sea (A DNF Fanfiction)

Chapter 28: Nightmare

TW: Captivity, nightmare

I just realized this is like 200 words more than I usually write 😅
This was by far my favourity chapter to write until now...

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He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping..., Dream thought, shamelessly watching George sleep again. As if there was no war, no sadness, no hunger... no harm in the whole world.

George smiled in his sleep. The corners of his mouth turned up just a little bit, but enough for Dream to notice. When he saw George sleeping like this, it made him forget everything around him. The humans, the ship, the war... all of it didn't matter anymore. It was just him and George. His brown hair waved a bit back and forth with the flow of the water. Dream smiled.

George turned in his sleep. For a second, Dream thought he had woken him up, but George just kept sleeping and Dream calmed down again.

After a while, he noticed George mumbling something. Carefully, he shifted closer.  "No... please... stop this..."George's face was no longer peaceful. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. Dreams eyes widened. He's having a nightmare, he realized.

He had had many nightmares during his childhood. Most of the times, his favourite maid, Miss Puffy, would come and comfort him until he fell back asleep.

I need to wake him up somehow, Dream thought, remembering how desperatly he had wished for someone to come and save him during those horrible experiences.

He touched George's shoulder. No response. He shook it harder. George shot up, tears still flooding his eyes. He looked around, provably trying to remember where he was. Dream knew the panicking look in his eyes too well.

He swam over to George and hugged him. "D-dream...?", George whispered at his ear, as if he couldn't believe it. "Shhhh, just... cry if you need to", Dream responded in a calm voice, a slight blush covering his cheeks.

George hugged him back very tightly and cried, burrying his face in Dreams neck. Someone seemed to stab Dream in the heart every time George sobbed. It felt so surreal feeling this boy who seemed to have build himself out of stone wither into fragile sand. It immediatly awakened Dreams protection insticts.

"Would you like to tell me what the nightmare was about?", he asked softly. "I-I...", George whispered. "I thought I lost you!" "Lost... me?", Dream asked in surprise. "Y-yeah...I dreamed... they... they killed you..." "Who?" "The humans..."

Dream carefully glanced over George's shoulder. The redhead stood there, watching them, apparently deep in thoughts. "Hey... you know they would never...", he mumbled and felt George relaxing a bit into his hug. "I don't know what for, but they seem to need us. If they wouldn't, we'd probably be dead by now."

"Yeah... maybe you're right..."
"I'm always right, George", Dream said with a proud smile. The said merman just chuckled silently.

He had fully melted into the hug by now and Dream could feel him getting heavier. Carefully, Dream placed him down. "You should go to sleep again", he said with a soft smile, turned around and swam over to the other side of the pool to give George a little space.

After a few minutes, he heard a quiet voice behind him. "Could you..." He turned around and saw George sitting there, a hand covering his mouth and a heavy blush covering his cheeks. He avoided Dreams eyes. "Could I what?" Dream smirked amusedly. "Could you... come and stay a bit with me?"

Dreams eyes widened, his face heated up. He definetly didn't expect that question. "I-I... uh...", he stuttered. "It's okay if you don't want to", George said hastily. "No, no, it's fine. I'd love to." Dream smiled.

He swam over to George, who had curled up into a ball again, his head resting on his arms. After observing the situation, Dream simply wrapped himself around George in a protective way. The merman was warm and his smell surrounded Dream. It made him feel sleepy. George had already fallen asleep again. Before he driftet off to sleep aswell, he looked at George's peaceful sleeping face again and quietly promised him something.

"As long as I'm here, no one can hurt you."