X-tra Dark Cream & Dark Cream Week

Notes

This time there's only one work I wrote for Dark Cream Week. But what a work that is! (Well, if I haven't messed it up like I think I did.) Be warned that it contains heavy spoilers for Turns, twists, and paradoxes!

Or does it? Only time will tell!

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Eclipse

Dream doesn’t get enough sleep. These days he actually needs it to function properly, so weak he has become, as if withering away. As if dying. So far from the guardian he'd used to be, yet less naive, more experienced. Was his suffering worth it? Dream doesn’t know the answer. What he does know is that he also needs to eat, keenly aware of how brittle his bones have become underneath the liquid negativity that ruins him just as much as both negativity and positivity around. He's endlessly balancing on the thin line in between, that fleeting moment when love turns into grief, trust into betrayal, hope into despair. Then and only then his pain fades, though does not disappear completely, and there's no getting used to it.

Dream's drowsing when his chest starts hurting so suddenly and so unnaturally he screams, the sound echoing through the Anti-Void, his sight blurry. Dream screams and screams, too afraid to check the only thing that could be wrong with him. It hurts so much, but he can't do it alone, can't make himself see his sentence. He sits up, pulls his legs to his chest, and waits for Cross to return with food that now might go to waste.

Dream's not sure how long it takes Cross to get back. Dream doesn’t even see or hear him coming, consumed by piercing pain in his chest and overwhelming terror; not trembling, not moving, not crying. Not screaming anymore, either. He just doesn't want to die, he wants the pain to stop, but doesn't know how to express it. Do his pleas even matter? They never did.

Cross must recognise something is wrong immediately, and when he gently touches Dream's shoulder, Dream finally manages to snap out of it. “I was waiting for you,” Dream whispers, his voice hoarse after who knows how much time of screaming. “I wanted to be with you when I…”

Cross’ distress flares, and he asks, urgently, “What happened?”

Dream whispers even quieter, “I think the curse has taken all of my soul. It hurts so much.” Cross looks taken aback, his worry turning into fear. The emotions soothe the pain a little, and Dream sighs and resolves to continue, “I just want you here. So you could call our family. So you all could be there when I…”

“Don't!” Cross shouts, obviously louder than intended, and his voice echoes through the Anti-Void. He keeps on in a more steady tone, “Let's see your soul first, okay? We've done it so many times already. Let it be just a normal check-up.”

“Okay,” Dream whispers. Cross’ determination has always made him stronger in a way no amount of positivity ever could. They're so lucky to have each other.

Dream summons his soul, gasping and shutting his socket from pain and fear of the unknown. He doesn't want to die, and seeing his whole soul corrupted feels like it would solidify his death sentence. He's not ready. He wants a happy ending for Cross and Nightmare, Killer and Ccino. And there'd be no happiness for his beloved family if he died. He doesn't want to leave them. It hurts so much to think about, the same way his chest hurts from corruption.

Dream finally opens his good socket.

It's the most peculiar, the most mesmerising sight he's ever seen.

His soul is indeed fully black, seemingly rotten to the core. But despite the corruption, there is a gentle, warm golden light around the black apple, the same way it always used to be, only a little brighter because of the contrast of the glow and the apple itself.

“What?..” Dream mouths without a sound, too afraid to make it worse. “It's like an eclipse,” Cross murmurs, awe and fear mixed in his voice. Then he adds, “We definitely need Nightmare.”

“We need Nightmare,” Dream repeats, only registering his brother's name and a specific sound of a portal opening. He lets Cross help him stand up and lead him through the portal, his soul disappearing into his ribcage because he loses any semblance of control.

Dream manages to focus on the world around him only when the door slams loudly, someone — his big brother, it's his big brother's voice, changed so much yet familiar, comforting, — Nightmare hurries to him, asking Cross, “What is it? Why are you two in different kinds of pain?”

Oh. Dream has forgotten about the pain in his chest as soon as he saw Cross coming back to him. It hurts still, but now that there's hope…

Cross suggests they sit in the living room, and so they do, Cross gently helping Dream onto his favourite armchair. Then, he asks Dream to show his soul once again. The pain lessens somewhat.

It's less of a shock for the second time, but just as mesmerising. Cross was right when he said it looked like an eclipse. Dream's soul used to shine like a sun, then it got cursed and slowly glowed more and more faintly, but now that it has gotten fully corrupted (at least from the outside), it still glows. Can it be that there's still a part of the apple that was able to fight off the curse, to stay as pure as it used to be?..

The twins were never supposed to have souls anyway. Who knows how they work. Who knows if Dream has a chance.

“That's why you two are hurting so much,” Nightmare speaks quietly, barely a whisper. “That's why you're so afraid. Oh Dream…”

“I don't want to die,” Dream replies.

“I don't want to lose you,” Nightmare says.

“We don't want to lose you,” Cross adds.

“But the glow!” Dream exclaims in a sudden burst of energy. “It's like an eclipse! It means we still have time, right? It's not forever, right?..”

Nightmare looks him in the socket and sighs, “I don't know. No eclipse is eternal, that is true. But how this one will end, I do not know. I only know you are our sunshine, and we won't let go that easily. We'll find a way.”

Dream nods slowly. “Can I… Can I sleep here for a bit? It hurts less when I'm with you, I think.” He asks hesitantly. Nightmare and Cross both take his hands and lead him to Nightmare's bedroom.

“I'll continue researching the nature of souls, and Cross will be with you. When Killer comes back, I will send him to find the Underhelpers. They'd never give a proper answer, but a hint might be just enough. And we already know that who seeks will always find. You will be saved, little brother.”

Dream falls asleep, and when he wakes up, everything will change once again.

After all, the eclipses are not forever.

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Credits

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Notes

I'm very tired, and a little anxious to post this. So just... Thanks for reading, and take care 🌻