The Sandman Oneshots & Headcanons

Caged Love (Morpheus x Burgess!Reader)

Throughout (Y/N) Burgess's youth, she had picked up whispers of her family's past. Her grandfather was said to have trapped a god, to have taken it's power for his own. He had been a warlock, and (Y/N) had began to play pretend as a magic user when she learned that.

Before her fathers banned her from that, however. He didn't want any more magic in the family.

She had been adopted at a young age by Alex Burgess and his husband. Originally the girl was the child of a gardener who died unexpectedly, and the owners of the house had then taken her in as their daughter. Alex never expected to have a child, but he loved her like his own.

And eventually, when she grow into an adult, he revealed to her his greatest secret. The god trapped by his father was real, only he wasn't a god. He was the Sandman, and he was in their basement.

(Y/N) asked her father about releasing him, staring at the trapped and helpless man-shaped figure. The sight of him broke her heart, and he was just staring at her with bitterness in his eyes. He looked like a fallen angel.

But her father's reply was harsh. He would kill all of us, he told her, his kind is vengeful and letting him go would be a death sentence. So instead of freeing the Dream lord, she allowed her father to led her out of the room.

But she would return, unable to get Dream's eyes out her of mind. Every few days, she'd enter the basement and sit on the floor in front of the sigils on the floor. (Y/N) would speak to him, getting a little discouraged as he never said anything back. But she still continued, wanting to keep him company. Telling him about her day, asking questions that she knew he wouldn't answer.

However, things began to change.

Dream still didn't say anything to her, but the look in his eyes whenever he saw her had changed. It was much less bitter than it was when (Y/N)'s fathers were present. She got attached to him, worried about him, disgusted with herself for not doing anything.

Finally it all became to much, and she snuck down to the basement at midnight. If she were to guess, she'd say that he seemed surprised to see her at that time of night. (Y/N) considered begging him not to hurt anyone. But her father had been doing that for decades, and nothing had happened.

"I should have done this earlier. I'm sorry." Was all she said, scuffing the sigils with her toe. Making sure that the security guards didn't see.

She dashed out of the basement but froze when she heard gunshots from the basement. Morpheus didn't have a gun. Only the guards did. Terror seized her at the thought of Morpheus in danger and she immediately returned to the basement.

"Get out of here Miss Burgess!" One of the guards yelled, a bright light surrounding Morpheus as they shot at him. (Y/N) yelled at them to stop, but a large force of energy hit her and the guards. Hitting her head as she was slammed against the wall. Losing consciousness as she realized that she had probably made a mistake.

***

Morpheus tried to keep the girl out of his head, using his mission to get his tools back as a convenient distraction. But now that everything was back to normal, he found himself searching for the woman who had freed him.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again." (Y/N) commented when she first saw him since she freed him. He noticed her hands shaking slightly as he stood in front of her, obviously nervous that he would hurt her.

"Neither did I."

"I could have died because of you. I saw what you did to my dad." It was obvious she didn't trust him, just like he hadn't trusted her.

Having been so used to humans betraying him, he had expected her to be like the others. Expected her to be like her family.

But she had been kind to him, spoke to him. He had wanted to hate her, told himself that it was always the ones who masked themselves in beauty and kindness that were the worst of enemies. However, when she had freed him, he had realized that maybe there was some good in the different worlds.

"I'm sorry that you were injured. It was not my intention." She seemed so fragile next to him, so human. "As for your father, he made his choice long ago."

She looked like she wanted to argue, but knew he was right. So Morpheus continued. "I came to thank you, and to see you again."

"See me?"

He nodded. "You're a good person. One of few. Throughout my time imprisoned... you were the one good part in all of it."

"I'm sorry I took so long to help you." Her response was quiet, guilty. But he just smiled regretfully.

"You were loyal to your family, and you didn't trust me." He hadn't forgiven the rest of her family, but in his eyes, (Y/N) had done no wrong. "I only wish that..."

"What?"

"I don't regret keeping silent in my imprisonment, but I would like to now have a change to speak to you.

Her heart raced at his words, scarcely believing it. "Speak to me? Like get to know me or something?" She stuttered.

"You were kind, I don't see that very often." He tried to avoid telling her the full truth, that he just wanted to be around her. That he hoped that she would maybe... be interested in what he had to say just like he was about her. "Come back with me to my Realm."

He expected her to protest, to say no. But, he should have learned not to expect anything about her. "Alright."

She sounded eager.

"Really?"

"Yeah." She confirmed. "It's not like I'm really wanted back home anymore. And I wanna talk to you too."

He couldn't hide his smile at her reply, hopeful that this would go better than his previous experiences with women.

Unbeknownst to him (at least at the moment), he didn't have to worry about that. She was just as fascinated with him as she was with him. And as they got closer over the time they spent together; they both knew they had made the right choice.

Somehow the granddaughter of the man Morpheus hated, became his greatest love.