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Shining Star by Earth, Wind and Fire
When you wish upon a star hey, hey, yeah
Dreams will take you very far, oh yeah
But when you wish upon a dream
Life ain't always what it seems, oh, yeah
What you see on nights so clear, yeah
In the sky so very dear, yeah, yeah
You're a shining star
No matter who you are
The gathered siblings gazed awkwardly around the table at each other as Delirium bounced up and down excitedly.
“Brother, you are back! It is so good to see you again! You are here now but Dreamy is not but maybe you will see him. What is that word again for when you want something that is good but you probably won’t get it but you aren’t thinking about that, you’re thinking about what if you do get it?”
Destruction beamed at her. “It is called hope, and yes, sister, it is wonderful to see you as well! And Dream not being here is exactly why I asked Destiny to call you all here.”
“We are here. State your piece.”
Destruction nodded at Destiny and leaned back in his chair.
“You know I love art. Some pieces just resonate with me more than others. This year, Shining Star by Earth, Wind & Fire is being played all over the place. It’s about stars, how could I not be drawn to it? But there’s this line, ‘Dreams will take you very far, oh yeah/But when you wish upon a dream/Life ain't always what it seems, oh, yeah.’ Well, it got me thinking about my next older brother. How’s he doing? I wondered. I stopped by the Dreaming and it looked… poorly. Things were crumbling to pieces even before I got there. Dream was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t call him from my gallery. I began to search.
“It took me a little while, but eventually I found him. He’s in a basement in Wych Cross, stuck in a glass bowl and held there by spellwork.”
At this point, Destruction suddenly noticed that four of his siblings were nodding their heads. Delirium exclaimed, “Oh no! What is Dreamy doing in a fishbowl?!” Destruction put his head in his hands and sadly shook it.
“You all knew? Except Del?”
“They were gunning for me,” Death explained. Destiny glanced at his book, and Despair looked at Desire who looked vaguely guilty.
“Okay, so what are we going to do about it?” Destruction insisted. Now Death shook her head, Despair and Desire avoided his eyes, Destiny looked stoic as usual, and Del was just confused.
“We have to go get him out!”
“Yes, but how? Destiny, do you know how he gets out? Can you tell us anything?”
“Wait and see,” Destiny intoned.
Destruction threw his hands up in frustration. “No! There has to be more we can do than that! I tried to just destroy it, but the magic was strangely powerful. The mage didn’t seem like the type, but I have a feeling he misspelled something and got ten times what he bargained for.”
“It wasn’t ever supposed to be that strong or long-lasting,” Desire finally admitted. “I thought he’d learn a lesson about pride if he had to ask for help. But I don’t know whose idea it was to add the glass bowl and he’s still too proud to ask,” and then they mumbled the rest, “and I’m not even sure I could get him out by myself anymore.”
Destruction banged his head on the table in slow motion a couple times until a sudden cracking noise warned him he’d better stop.
“So, any ideas?”
Desire squirmed a little on their seat and then said, “His longing and despair over missing his next meeting with Hob Gadling are growing stronger every year. If you could make a crack, Despair and I might be able to get him out through it. She’s got her hooks in him.”
“I can take care of the guards,” Destruction added.
“No, me! Me! I want to help Dreamy! I will take care of the guards!” Delirium said, once again bouncing enthusiastically on her chair.
“And I believe I can take care of the mage’s heir, if the rest of you are there,” Death confessed. More than one person had been known to die of shock upon meeting her siblings, particularly in combination.
They looked at Destiny. He looked down at his book. “Fuck,” he said, and slammed it closed and left the table.
Destruction shrugged. “Well, he didn’t say no?”
“Let’s go then!” Desire surged from their chair, drawing Despair up by the hand and nearly bowling over Delirium who had twirled over behind them. Destruction nodded curtly, and moved them to the basement of Wych Cross.
“Ooh, hi!” Del zoomed over to the two guards as they reached for their guns, engaging them in conversation, or at least something to that effect, in the inescapable manner of the very young, the very old, or the very excited autistic. Destruction nodded as he watched them drop their guns and shake their heads, unable to free themselves of her influence. He turned toward the glass sphere just as Dream stood, placing his hands against the boundaries of his prison. He was emaciated and expressionless, not seeming to acknowledge their presence beyond the fact of standing up.
Destruction, Desire and Despair approached the sphere while Death stood watch near the door, where the heir would come from if he showed up. As Desire and Despair touched the glass opposite Dream, Destruction scuffed at the symbols on the floor, rejoicing fiercely when his boots smudged the gold paint into incoherence. Last time he’d gone for the glass first, but maybe this was the better order. He reached into the ether for a sledgehammer, and went around the sphere until he was opposite his siblings.
“Brace yourself,” he warned, and struck. With all of them focussing on the task, it only took once. The crack in the glass started at his hammer and spread to the other side, directly between where Desire and Despair had their hands pressed against Dream’s through the glass. All three of them slapped their hands over the crack.
“I’ve got him!” Despair called as Dream moaned in pain. Desire placed their hands around Despair’s.
“Pull!”
Destruction came around and pulled with them. He felt Dream’s essence begin to slip through the crack. And then.
SNAP
The four siblings reeled back from the glass in shock as the crack and smudge repaired themselves. Destruction looked down at his full arms. A baby? With golden eyes? He looked around in bewilderment and saw that Despair was also holding a little one, one with a shock of dark hair.
“You shouldn’t have helped!” the adult Desire yelled at Destruction. “You’ve split facets from us! What are we supposed to do now?!” The baby Desire began to howl in Destruction’s arms.
“I have an idea,” Death said as she and Del joined them at the sphere, “but we have to get out of here, now.”
“We’ll come back for you, brother,” Destruction promised the adult Dream, still enclosed in his prison. Dream shook his head, denying any further possibility of rescue, and sank back down to lean hopelessly on the side of the bowl.
This time Death swept them off to her apartment, Despair and Destruction sitting on her old green sofa with the babies while Desire paced and Del fed her goldfish.
“Nanny Ashtoreth. She can take the babies for a while,” Death suggested first.
“You want to leave our siblings with a demon?” Destruction questioned.
“Well, there is the angel too.”
“True. I guess. But what will happen to them?” Destruction cuddled the squishy little human baby Desire, and they stopped crying, finally.
“I suppose we can visit them from time to time?”
“Provided the Fates don’t catch us interfering.”
Del suddenly plunged her hand into the fishbowl, snatched the goldfish, and ate it whole. “You just have to be quick and sneaky if you want a treat.”
“I can probably live with them for a few years, if I split off my own facet,” Despair pointed out. “Desire will remember that they have a twin.”
Death groaned and buried her face in her hands. “I just can’t see this going well.”
Desire suddenly stopped pacing and broke into a ferocious grin. “Well, at least he will get to see Hob Gadling in ‘89. He’ll only be 14. Ha!” they chortled. “I can’t wait to see that!”