Chapter Text
Vee eventually nodded back to sleep. Dandy was having trouble on the other hand. Their head rested against Vee's chest, hoping the white noise from her systems would help them. Despite how wonderful it felt to be in her arms, and listen to her gentle and artificial heartbeat slow down from anxious racing to calmer beating… Their mind still thought about her dream. Dandy sighed and sat up. They kept one hand on Vee's hand.
The flower never understood vee’s relationship with Arthur. She and him were always a bit tense with each other. They never caught why Arthur would bicker with her so much.
There was a soft knock at the door. “Mmmhmm? Come in..?” Dandy replied. The door creaked open, and Astro walked in, holding Pebble. Pebble was asleep. “Hey… Pebble was sleeping in my room again.” He set Pebble down on his dog bed, and looked at the bed. The moon looked to their bed, and spotted Vee. “Oh…! I didn’t think you two would do that this early-” Dandy interrupted him, “WHOAH HOH HOOOH ASTRO!!! That’s not what happened! Geez Astro! I was just helping Vee sleep.” They explained. Astro nodded, “But you’re still awake?” He inquired. Dandy sighed. “She had a nightmare, a pretty bad one, and I got her to go back to sleep, but I'm worried about her.” They continued. Astro sat down on the edge of their bed. “... Hey, if you’d like, i’ll check on her dreams. To make sure she doesn’t get another nightmare?” He offered. Dandy smiled and nodded, “Yeah… yeah that would be good.”
Speaking of nightmares, Vee began to twitch again. Dandy immediately looked over to her, and watched as her screen flickered on. She looked distressed. Astro placed a hand on Dandy’s shoulder before they could go wake her up. “Let me take care of it, try to get some rest,” he said. Dandy looked to astro. “Tell her I hope she’s okay, can you?” they asked and lay down next to vee. Astro nodded, and gently set one hand on dandy’s head and the other on vee’s head.
Astro walked right into Vee’s dream. It wasn’t hard to spot her, as she was just crumpled there in darkness, empty darkness. Astro couldn’t tell where the walls were, yet it felt cramped. He walked over to Vee, and knelt down beside her. Vee jumped and looked at him. “Astro! Oh thank goodness, if you’re here I know it's not real! Right?” she asked with a wave of relief in her voice. Astro nodded, and raised his hands to warp the dream from the tight room to a flower field. Something calmer, and Vee looked relieved.
Astro sat with her in the flowers. “... it’s really good to see you asleep… I was growing worried about you, Vee.” he remarked. Vee nodded softly, “Yeah, blame blossom. Tricked me into going to sleep with their stupid cute face.” she said and laid back into the flowers. Astro looked at her. “You had nightmares before the shutdown too.” he began, “... Is there something still bothering you that you’d like to talk about?” Vee shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it right now… I’ve had a rough enough night… and… Dandy talked to me.” she remarked. Astro inquired, “Oh? Did it help?” she nodded in response.
The quiet of the fields made vee feel much calmer. Astro smiled. “... I’ll let you sleep now… but remember that you can’t stop nightmares until you address what's bothering you, directly… and not just a bit, everything about it.” he stated, and placed a hand on Vee's shoulder. Vee’s antenna drooped. “... I know…” she replied, and looked away.
Astro then left her dreams, and woke back up. Vee’s screen had turned off, and she was peacefully asleep, dandy was holding her softly. Worry was creased on their face. He thought for a moment, then got an idea.
Astro’s dream magic was one of those things neither Arthur nor Delilah could ever truly explain, but it’s good not to think about how his magic works.
“Hey Vee!!!”
Dandy’s voice called from the other side of the hill vee was lying on. She sat up and looked back. They were running up the hill with a basket in one hand and a blanket in the other. “Dandy?” she asked and turned in their direction. Dandy set down the basket and blanket. “Hey Vee! I saw you on the hill and thought maybe we could have a picnic? I thought it’d be sweet.” they smiled and offered. Vee chuckled, and ruffled their petals. “You’re so sappy sometimes, but I'd love to either way.” she replied. Dandy beamed and began to set up the blanket.
Did either of them know they were sharing a dream? No, or at least probably not.
That didn’t matter, because it’s the best dream Vee had in a long while.
That was enough relief for Astro.
He left the room, hoping they would sleep well.