Chapter Text
Tommy looked at his social worker with apprehension. This wasn’t his first rodeo. He didn’t know what he was getting into with this foster house. His social worker said that Dream was a nice guy and would take good care of Tommy.
Tommy wasn’t so sure.
But then again, he never was sure of any foster house. Tommy reaches into his backpack and pats the fluffy sheep he’s had ever since he can remember. The blue fluffy lamb plush sits beside a few books and under some clothes that Tommy managed to grab. He had affectionately named the plush Friend Hope Innit. The sheep plush was often his only friend in some foster houses. He just usually calls it whatever he needs.
If he needs a Friend, he has one. If he needs Hope, he has it tucked in his arms. It reminds him that someone loved him enough to give him the plush.
Tommy’s social worker pulls into the driveway and Tommy immediately feels apprehensive. The neighbor boy -a shorter, brown-haired kid with brown eyes- gives Tommy a look of pity as Tommy is led into the house. So the kid knows this Dream and is giving Tommy pity. That is not a good sign. “So, Tommy, this is Dream, he’s your emergency placement while we take care of the legal matters of your last house,” his social worker says, putting the car in park.
Tommy doesn’t know if she likes him or just wants him to leave her alone so she can get a paycheck. He’s seen both, he’s also been the reason most of them quit. Either he was too much work, or they couldn’t stand to see him beaten and bruised at the door of the house. Tommy’s used to nearly everything. The last house was an illegal lab and he was the guinea pig. He was startled but got used to it. After all, he’s never going to find his ‘forever home’. Tommy just wanted to get out and get a house.
Tommy’s got plans.
He might not seem like the type to take kids in, but he finds that he likes kids. Especially his foster siblings, they usually have it slightly better than him, sometimes they have it good, but he’s only run across a few nasty ones. They were older than him and had been at the house for a long time, so he didn’t blame them for not liking him.
When Tommy’s out in… he thinks. He’s thirteen, so he’s got another five years, an additional year to become a legal adult and another six months at least to get a fostering license. Tommy estimates that it will be about seven more years before he can take in some kids. He’ll be twenty-one. Perfect age. Not too old, not too young, and if he doesn’t get into any bad stuff, he’ll be right on track to help some kids out.
Tommy wonders if he’s too young to think about these kinds of things. He shrugs mentally and follows his social worker to the door.
Tommy walks in the door and is instantly met with his most hated type of foster. A briber. He sighs.
He gives this house a month at most.
Tommy’s pretty good at his calculations.
With some buttons being pressed and Tommy getting under the foster’s skin enough, he pushed the foster into kicking him to the curb within only a few weeks. So close to a new record, Tommy thinks to himself as he kicks at a nearby pebble. It shoots across the sidewalk into some neighbor’s lawn.
Since Tommy has some time before CPS finds him, he’s gonna go explore this town a bit. He looks around in the darkening light. Of course the foster had to kick him out right at sundown.
That’s when the creepy-crawlies come out. Tommy shivers as he remembers the superstitious house he was at that told him those horror stories about going out at night. He had nightmares for weeks after they told him, even if he didn’t believe the stories, those kinds of things don’t just fade from your mind. They stick even if you don’t think it’s real.
It’s like that one thing… what was it? That one thing where you tell someone not to think of a pink elephant and then they think of a pink elephant because you said it and they could see it. Or something like that.
Tommy doesn’t know, nor does he care. Why should he?
Some stories about three men.
“The first will come ten minutes after sundown, he’s never late, never early. He will show up at the fountain in the park and he doesn’t leave until ten minutes before sunrise. Legends say that he’s looking for his sunshine, but no one knows why he doesn’t just show up for the sunrise or the sunset. Some say that he’s a vampire, and the sun hurts him. Others say it’s not the sun that he’s looking for. They call him ‘Orpheus’ because his haunting songs sing of times long past and he always sings of kings.
“The second comes at midnight to the fountain, joining the first. They will sing together, legends say that they will chase one another around the fountain, waiting for a child to join them so they can whisk them away to their dimension. Some legends say that they eat the kids. No one knows. They call the second ‘Achilles’ for the sword attached at his hip. Some say that he only uses the sword to teach his treasure about the dangers of the world. No one knows why Achilles looks for treasure. Some speculate that Achilles knows of a buried treasure nearby, but forgot the location. Others say that he’s searching for his lost brother. No one knows.
“The third is the most terrifying. They say that he shows up on nights of the full moon only, and he will dance with Achilles and Orpheus around the fountain. They say that he calls for a pup. Some say he calls once every hour for his baby. They say that he’s a monster with wings. Some say that he’s a monster with glowing blue eyes and a long tail. No one knows because they speculate. Rumors spread, but no one can know the truth. They call him the ‘Forgotten One’ because some say that he does not know his name. Others say because it’s because he has forgotten the names of his loved ones. The third one is the most mysterious, and the most terrifying because those who have seen him completely were never seen again.
“There are other legends about them Tommy, but the most important one for you to remember is-”
Tommy trips and nearly faceplants into a fountain. He must’ve walked to the park.
He’s never been here but the fosters were in another town.
Sure, they had lived here before Tommy was sent to them, but their stories don’t hold any merit, right?
Tommy hears a branch crack and he scrambles to hide in the nearby set of bushes. He watches for any signs of life. He watches a man emerge from another path in the park and he stands by the fountain.
“ My sunshine~
My only sunshine~
You hadn’t meant to leave, I know~
But we miss you, my precious sunshine~
We want you home~
Please come home~” Tommy is mesmerized as the man by the fountain continues to sing. That must be Orpheus! Tommy’s mind exclaims. He nips that notion in the butt before it can blossom into anything. That’s literally some rando singing by the fountain. The man continues to sing mournfully. Tommy is about to fall asleep when he hears a branch crack. He startles awake and watches as another man walks into the area around the fountain.
“ My brother~
Do you not miss our sunshine~
The one that was taken from our arms?
My brother dear~
Do dance with me”
“My brother dear,
To dance would be leer,
But for you, I will
For you, I would kill
My curse,
My verse.”
They take the other’s hands and Tommy watches in fascination as they dance in a circle around the fountain in a sad, slow dance, but as the night progresses, they pick up speed, as though forgetting their grief and enjoying the other’s presence.
Tommy watches with slight envy as they dance without seeming to lose energy.
I think I need to come back here more often if I get to see this every night.
Tommy ignores the whispers in his mind saying that those crazy legends may be more than he had believed before.