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Gods of the multiverse, there weren’t many of them to be frank. People would say that Ink and Error were Gods though this isn’t the case, while they may not be able to die, easily anyways, they aren’t Gods. Though on the other hand, Dream and his brother Nightmare were, while they were mainly nicknamed the ‘Guardians’ of positivity and negativity respectively, they were only two out of the three most common Gods in the multiverse. The other one being Reaper, the God of unfortunate death. He would go around and help those who have not had the luxury of living life to the fullest, those who have had, well, unfortunate ways to die.
But since it was Reaper’s day off, he decided to do some relaxing in an AU, he didn’t pay much attention to the name of this AU, all Reaper knew was that this AU was semi-new and going through a neutral timeline, at least that was what he assumed anyways. It was nice and calm, mainly because the monsters haven’t come up to the Surface yet, although that wasn’t a bad thing. It just meant that Reaper could have some extra time without the many disturbances from others, either monster or human. Reaper’s job was a hard one, it definitely wasn’t easy to say the least but still he managed to get the job done with little to no fuss from the dead.
Entering the AU, Reaper managed to walk through the forest on the Surface before seeing Mt. Ebott, he quickly managed to get right to the top of the mountain, where humans would fall into the Underground. He decided to stay here because it had a nice view over the town as well as it was the perfect place to watch the sun rise. Although some may not think it, Reaper enjoyed watching the run rise and set, it was relaxing and nice to see, either when working or when Reaper actually had some time off for once. Like now for example, it was calm to see the sun start to rise from over the horizon. Reaper placed his scythe beside him to watch the sun.
As the sun was starting to rise, another presence could be detected by Reaper, though it wasn’t a human presence, it was one he semi-recognised. Dream, also a God like him but sort of for the opposite thing, though positivity wasn’t really an opposite of death, they both just work on different sides of the coin. Reaper wondered why Dream was here, maybe for the same reason or maybe he detected a presence here too. Reaper watched as Dream came up the mountain, noticing Reaper. Reaper was the first to speak, though Reaper didn’t even need to look at Dream in order to have a conversation.
“Dream, right? Guardian of positivity.” Reaper spoke, gently clutching his scythe this time, he knew that Dream wouldn’t take it, well physically he couldn’t but it was something that he had a possessive instinct for as it belonged to him. Dream paused for a moment before coming to sit next to Reaper, on the other side of the skeleton who was sitting on the edge of the mountain, he paused for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, that's me! Reaper, isn’t it?” Reaper gave a subtle nod. “What are you doing out here?” Dream asked after a moment of silence between the two, he tried to get a conversation started between the two, though then again maybe Reaper would like some quiet.
Reaper left the two in silence before speaking up.
“Enjoying the sunrise while on my day off. It’s relaxing, is it not?”
Dream nodded in agreement, the sun rising and setting were some of the most beautiful times in the day, all of the colors that come together while the sun rises or sets is honestly one of the most beautiful things that Dream could imagine and actually see.
“Of course, who wouldn’t want to see the nice sunsets and sunrises?”
With both of them being Gods, Reaper tried to maintain a bit of formality, though he was trying to drop it a little, this wasn’t a business meeting or anything, it was just two people hanging out on their days off, right?
“True. The sunrises and sunsets are really nice to watch, whether working or on a day off. I see what you mean.” Reaper responded to Dream, a subtle smile on his face for a moment as the sun continued to rise, Reapers hand still gripped onto his scythe, but he was started to let go of it slowly, he just couldn’t help being possessive and protective over it, though he was still unsure why he was so possessive of it, mainly because he needed it for his duties, or because it was just special to him. Either way, nobody would be getting their hands on Reaper's scythe because it meant a lot to him. “Also, Reaper.” Dream began to speak, pausing for a moment before speaking again “You don’t need to maintain such a formality with me. Okay?”
Hesitation washed over Reaper, he knew now that he didn’t have to maintain such formality but I guess it was something that he couldn’t help. With his job having to talk to so many people who have had such unfortunate deaths, he needed to maintain some form of… Whatever he thought was best for the moment. “I know.” He spoke up for a moment. Taking a quiet breath as the sun was rising in the background. Both of them were talking without looking at each other, both of them wanted to admire the sunrise which was admirable of both of them. “Being with someone while watching the sun rise is really relaxing, don’t you think?” Dream was the first one to break the silence with those words.
“Yeah. It’s nice alone but with someone else, it seems to be nicer. Even if we don’t know each other that well.”
Reaper had responded, even a smile barely forming on his face as it quickly vanished. Dream took note of this. Despite not looking at him, he could always sense a smile or two.
“You smiled.”
Dream spoke up, finally turned to Reaper and moved a little closer to him, trying to talk to him better, or maybe for other reasons.
“Smile more, Reaper. A lot of people will appreciate it.”
Again Dream spoke about smiling. Reaper wasn’t one for smiling but maybe it could make his job easier if he was smiling more and letting people know that the afterlife wasn’t that bad, even though in some cases the afterlife isn’t the best. But maybe this could be good for him.
“I don’t smile.” Reaper responded, letting out a sigh and looking over to Dream, who was now right next to him. “You smile every single day because that’s your job. You smile because you’re the Guardian of positivity. How do I smile while being faced with unfortunate deaths?” Reaper responded, mostly a rhetorical question but didn’t expect for Dream to answer it. “Everyone could use a smile. No matter their predicament. You work with death so I guess you’re the last thing they see before moving onto the afterlife, right?” To be honest, he never thought of it that way. He helped those with unfortunate deaths, not realizing how they must feel afterwards. It probably wasn’t the best, right?
Reaper hesitated once again, looking at Dream as he sighed. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. If they see me smile though, how would they feel?” He spoke, Dream let out a chuckle, was he really laughing at him at a time like this? “Everyone needs a smile and you can be the one to give it to them. They will appreciate it. I know they will.” Reaper listened to what Dream had to say about everything, maybe he was right, maybe he wasn’t. But this is coming from the guardian of positivity, a god . There was no way that Dream would be lying to him. Right? “Maybe.” Reaper had responded for a moment. A smile huh? Smiling at the face of death would surely be an interesting thing for anyone to witness.
“Maybe?”
Dream retorted with a chuckle as he noticed Reaper finally letting go of his staff. Managing to calm himself and trust Dream enough to let his guard down enough. Besides, Dream wasn’t the one to abuse or hurt. He protected people because that was his role. But did it ever get boring? Does it ever get boring being the same kind person over and over again? Reaper looked over to the sunrise and then back to Dream.
“Maybe.”
A soft chuckle managed to escape from the skeleton. If that was even possible - well it is now.
Dream even managed to let out a noise from his… Lips? Whatever he had to make noise with. “At least try it. Once. I’m sure someone will appreciate it.” Reaper then responded. “You do realize I deal with the unsettling deaths? Right?” Dream then smiled and looked at him. “I know. But you deal with murders? Those who have been murdered could use a smile from someone. Even if it is from you.” Reaper honestly didn’t know how to respond to that but he knew that Dream was right. What if he was in that position? The position of death and just meeting someone like him. A smile could be what he would need. “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”
“You ‘guess’?” Dream retorted for a moment as the two of them looked back to the sunrise. The sun is only about halfway through rising. The colors were beautiful and both of them could admire them for hours on end. “Those who have just been murdered… What if they wouldn’t want a smile?” Dream paused, trying to understand what he was saying. “That’s also a possibility.” He finally spoke up. “What do I do then?” Listening to Reaper respond, Dream hesitated on what to say next. This was certainly an interesting topic to go about and it was one that he had never had to tread on before. “Ask them.” Looking at Reaper, Dream smiled. The other could tell that Dream was looking at him, so he looked over. “I could. But that would be too much to ask of someone who had just died, Dream.”
Okay yes, that was true. But maybe it would help? Everyone is different and if things go wrong Reaper would know what to do, right? “That’s true. Some people could use it. Use your initiative. You’ve been doing this job for so long. I’m sure you should know the difference between people. Right?” Reaper looked away from Dream, not wanting to look at him any more for this moment. This was something he didn’t really want to talk about but yeah. That was right. “True.” He spoke up for a moment. “I do know the differences between people and their tone as well as body language. But I still make mistakes. I’m never perfect.” Dream then instantly responded “I never said you were perfect, Reaper. You’re you and that’s the best you can be.”
Taking in what Dream had to say about that made Reaper feel… Strange, though not in a bad way at all. It was something that he had never heard before and it was something he seemed to want to hear more often.
“Thank you.”
The cloaked skeleton muttered. Returning the gaze and staring back at Dream. The sun's rays begin to hit their feet. It was almost time for them to depart, yet neither of them wanted to leave despite the wavering tension between the two of them.
Listening to Reaper’s short ‘thank you’ it made Dream smile even wider. “Of course! Honestly it’s the least I can do. You’re you!! And you can only be you! You know?” He chuckled, trying to make some sort of sense out of his own babble of words. “I understand.” Responded Reaper as the two of them looked away from each other to watch their feet be basked in the sun's morning rays. “The sun is absolutely beautiful” Dream was the first to break the minor silence between the two of them. “It really is. This is one of the times I’ve managed to actually sit and take it in.” Reaper opened up for a moment. While he was unsure whether not not opening up about this to Dream was the best idea, he just knew at this moment it felt right.
Taking in what Reaper had said to him, Dream had turned to look over at Reaper. Taking a quick moment to close the distance. “Really? You’ve never managed to just sit and watch the rising sun? I do it basically daily!! How do you keep missing this?” Dream had spoken up as Reaper turned to make eye contact. “I work with death. Remember?” Dream then paused and chuckled lowly. “Yeah… I didn’t expect your job to cause you to miss out on so much though!” With a hesitant look, Reaper turned back to the sun. It felt blinding but he still watched as it rose in the distance. “It happens. I don’t mind it. My job is an important one and I cherish it. Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
Dream quickly retorted.
“Unfortunate death is not one anyone should deal with.”
Reaper had spoken, answering Dream’s question as Dream then nodded.
“Yeah. I guess you’re right. I wouldn’t want to deal with it either despite being the current guardian of positivity.”
Reaper felt his whole body tense then quickly relaxed, all of that just felt strange for a moment. Listening to how Dream was talking about his job. Not even the current guardian would want his job? Well it wasn’t fully surprising.
“Haha.” Reaper sighed for a moment as Dream then spoke up quickly. “Wait wait! I don’t mean it in any harm. I just meant that I could never do the things you could. You’re a special god, Reaper. Cherish your moments. Alright?” Reaper again hesitated for a moment. Looking at where Dream was before realizing that he was standing up, ready to depart the AU. Reaper also rose to his feet. Grabbing the staff that was placed close to him and then looking back one last time at the rising sun. “I’ll try to.” He spoke, responding to Dream before feeling a bony hand rest on his cloak. “Good. Make the most out of every day. I know that at least one person will appreciate it.”
Listening to those words honestly make Reaper's day in ways that he thought he couldn’t be cheered up. Though just as Reaper turned to thank Dream, he had vanished without a trace. Taking a moment to realize that he actually was alone, he paused once again. Was Dream actually there or was this all just part of his imagination. No. It had to be real because the indent in the grass was right there and the footprints were also there. Two sets. Not one. This did happen, but the real question was how Dream managed to vanish so quickly, especially without a trace.
His glare landed back at the rising sun, his mind instantly thinking of Dream and the mixture of conversations that the two of them had. It was something that he enjoyed and would probably want again if he had the chance to. But knowing his luck, that might not happen for him for a while.