Chapter Text
Here he is, in the edge of the space that it is destinated for Calliope’s dreams to take place. As a Goddess and a being who has lived so many lives, she has the right to carve a place in the Dreaming just for her. All the immortals and another kind of long lasting being have it. Yet, he cannot find in himself strength to cross over the border and visit her.
Not because he isn’t strong enough. He had recovered two of his three Work Tools and he had absorbed the power of the one that had been destroyed. He is stronger and more powerful than ever. But he still cannot dare to do what he wants to do with all his being. Inside of him, there still so many doubts after his experience in the Waking World, through his imprisonment and during his search for his Working Tools.
What is my place after everything? He asks himself. Why I am still here doing what I do? He thinks as he reminds how all of them, except Hob and Calliope, had left him to rot in his glass cell.
“Come in, Oneiros”, the soft voice of Calliope breaks his train of thoughts. “We are waiting for you”, she adds and, in a way, she hooks him into going inside her space in his Realm.
Morpheus is surprised as he is pulled inside her former wife’s dream space when he notices that Hob’s space is interconnected with Calliope’s in a way he had never seen before. It isn’t invasive. It’s curative and he feels so much better for being there. The Union of the two dream spaces is so natural that even to him, Dream of the Endless, is stuck by its beauty.
He can see the traces of the past of both of them knotting together in a beautiful and tragical play. Their suffering, their longing and their wishes are blending together in this shared space they made. The Endless could see the traces of his former wife’s doing; she made this merging together possible and there isn’t any resistance for Hob.
What is the meaning of it?, he asks himself as he travels to the centre of this place. He looks around astonished of the dreams and nightmares that comes to live there. Why did this happen?
“Oneiros”, Calliope receives him with a smile when he walks into a meadow. The Muse is sitting under a tree with a book between her hands while Hob sleeps with his head on her lap. He also notices that she is conscious, not slept, but Hob is sleeping in the Waking World and in the Dreaming.
They stay quiet for a long time, just looking at each other. Neither of them knows what to say to the other after everything that has happened between them. So, they just contemplate the other, taking special attention in every small detail and change they had experienced after their son died…Until Hob let out a small whimper.
“Why is he sleeping?”, he asks as he turns his attention to the human.
It’s not normal to someone to sleep in the Dreaming. In a way, it is an insult to him as Lord of Dream and Nightmares that a human doesn’t to participate within his Realm. Everyone dreams.
“I use a little of influence to make him sleep”, Calliope answers as she caresses his hair. “He cannot rest in the Waking World, not really, and this is the only way he isn’t tormented by insomnia…”
Insomnia?, He asks himself trying to recall if the immortal human had suffered of it before. Had he been affected by his absent too?
“Why is he suffering of insomnia?”, he asks taking it as a personal offense.
“I cannot tell you, Oneiros”, Calliope replies but he notices the bright ire in her eyes. She wants to tell him what or who is responsible of Hob’s affliction but she cannot do it. She really cannot. “They wanted him to stop looking for you and they hurt him for that”. The fire in her eyes is beautiful and a name coming out of her lips would be enough to make him go on rampage looking for justice for her and him.
They are mine to protect.
“How do you meet?”, he asks instead because if he continued thinking in the entity which hurt Hob, he would not respect the reason of Calliope’s silence. And he trust that it is a reason for it.
“Hob found me when he was looking for you”, she responds after considering for a second. “I, like you, were captured…”
“Who?”, he asks immediately.
“It doesn’t matter, the mortal is dead now as Hob made sure of it when he found me and found out I was bonded against my will to a human”, She answers and she turns her eyes to the man sleeping in her lap. “He was looking for you but he didn’t doubt in helping me, without asking what I was or looking for a reward”, she smiles proudful to the human, “He allows me to decide the destiny of my captor and, also, allow me to stay by his side until I get better”.
Oh, Hob! Morpheus thinks with softness in his heart for his friend. You never stop surprised me, don’t you?
“At first, I didn’t know he knew you or his condition, I thought he was an extraordinary human”, she admits.
“He is extraordinary”, he affirms coming at the defence of the immortal.
“I know”, She agrees. “You should tell him that when you, two, talk…” Her smile becomes smaller. “He loves you so much, Oneiros that he didn’t think it twice when he found out that you didn’t miss your date on purpose and he looked for you around of the Waking World for thirty years”.
“I am glad that, in his search, he found you but he shouldn’t have taken risks for me”, he replies.
“As I told you, he loves you and he cares for you”, She simply answers and that words sinks deeply in Morpheus’ being. “If I learnt something about Hob in the time I have known him, it is that he has a big heart and a strong will…He wouldn’t have stop for nothing to find you, not even your sisters convinced him of the contrary”
“My Sisters?”, He repeats with jealous and possessiveness in his voice.
How they dare to interact actively with Hob’s life? He asks himself outragedly. Hob is mine!
“Come to the Waking World”, Calliope says instead. “I and Hob are waiting for you and he would want to, personally, fill you in with his adventures”, she explains. “Please”, she adds.
He just nods because what else he can do when his former wife, mother of his son, and his friend, the ones who come to him in his more desperate moments, ask something for him. He has promised them that when he had to depart for them. So, he just nods.