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It had been centuries since that day. The day Desire was punished for trying to meddle with things they should have never touched, and for that, you were sent away with no memories of them or your life with them. Nobody knew where you were, Desire had no way in finding you.
You had taught them so much. You had taught them to treat their siblings with respect, even Dream who they had a forever feud with. Somehow with you, they had grown to be even… likeable.
But now you had been gone, puffed out into the air, nobody knew where you were, if you were even alive.
Until one day, one day you got yourself tangled with the whole Rose Walker case and it started unfolding from there. Flashes. Flashes of someone looking at you with a smile, kissing them, them kissing you… and you always snapped out of your stupor confused.
“Are you okay?” Rose asked one day as you were watching a movie, laying her hand on your back and you turned to her slightly, offering her a small smile.
“…Yeah, I think so,” you replied slowly. “I just had a weird dream.”
“Dream? Were you asleep?” She frowned. “I didn’t see you sleeping.”
You shrugged. “A daydream? I don’t know, it felt… like a memory of some kind. It’s weird.”
That night, those weird dreams continued.
You, laying your head on someone’s lap, feeling their hand caress your head and cheeks. The room was weird, red walls that looked like plastic, red furniture, but yet it was somehow familiar. You smiled, sighing contently, closing your eyes for a moment. They hummed.
“You seem to be tired, my little heart,” they murmured, caressing their fingers along your arm. “You had a rough day, didn’t you?”
“If we put it mildly,” you replied, turning a little to see their face. They were so beautiful. You yawned. “Being immortal in the mortal world is surprisingly draining. My boss has no idea I’m thousands of years older than him and he treats me like I’m stupid only because I’m a woman.”
They snorted, shaking their head. “I should put Despair to visit them.”
You sat up slightly, shaking your head. “Oh please don’t, he’s already insufferable, I don’t want him to be depressed on top of it. He’s the kind of person who’d pour his bad mood and depression onto others.”
They caressed your cheek again, letting their eyes wander around your face. “Fine. I trust your judgement.”
Then, they kissed you, and you melted into it.
You opened your eyes to find yourself in your bedroom again, moonlight shining through the window. You rubbed your face, you had seen those dreams ever since you met Rose, always the same person, always the same feeling. You talking about immortality, of being thousands of years old. But that was impossible, you had memories of your childhood, being a teenager, turning 18… and they all had happened within the past couple of decades.
You shook your head with a small huff. Why am I even thinking about this? It’s just some silly dream.
Oh, this is definitely a dream, you thought as you were introduced to this tall, mysterious man in a hall that had a galaxy as a roof, and Rose claimed he was the Sandman, as in the guy who your parents sung you into sleep with at night. Either Rose had gone crazy or you were dreaming. Or maybe it was you losing your mind.
The man’s, creature’s, whatever he was, eyes ran over you, as if he recognised you from somewhere, before he turned back to Rose. “Your little brother may be accompanied by one of my missing nightmares.”
Rose swallowed and shifted on her feet. “That sounds… bad.”
He shook his head. “Gault will not harm him. But it will not do any good if she is at large. Nightmares and dreams reside in my Kingdom, they cannot leave without my explicit permission. Lead me to your brother through your dreams, and I will find Gault.”
That’s when Desire saw you. Stepping through different dreams, with Dream by your side. He knew? Anger boiled inside them at the sight. He knew all this time, and didn’t tell them.
Destiny sighed when Desire went to him. “It was written for you to eventually find out.”
“You knew too,” Desire seethed. “You knew she was still alive.”
Destiny’s eyes roamed over Desire’s body briefly. “She has lived many lives. Periodically, she forgets who she was and gets memories of another life. That way, she will not suspect anything and wonder why she never ages.”
Desire felt anger bubbling in their chest. “And you never thought about telling me, that it’s why I could never find them, and all the clues led to dead ends? You let me think she has died, you knew I wouldn’t ask Death because then it would have become real.”
He just stared at them. “That was not mine to tell. I am telling you now because you found her by yourself. That was written, and that is how it had to go.”
Desire huffed, turning around from their brother. “After all those years of me playing nice because of her, you dared to deny me happiness.”
“I was not the one laying the curse. It was written and I am not allowed to meddle with it. You meddling with things you should not have led her to being cursed and taken away.”
Desire glared at Destiny. “I’m going to make her remember me, whatever it takes.”
He took in a deep sigh. “I strongly advise you to be careful this time. Do not take risks, like you did last time.”
Desire clenched their teeth, before turning once again and exiting Destiny’s realm.
Now when Desire knew where you were, they could visit you in your dreams. You dreamed of them, they noticed, the familiar gardens spreading around them once they stepped into the dream. You laying on the grass with them, them feeding you as if it was some bad romance movie. You laughing and kissing them.
They stepped closer. Their dream self didn’t acknowledge them, but you did. You frowned, looking at the dream Desire and the real one. They smiled. “You still look cute when you’re confused.”
You blinked, sitting up straighter. “…Who are you? Why do I dream about you constantly?”
They smiled sadly. “We were lovers, once. You were ripped away against your will, and lost all memory of me. But it seems you see dreams about what you forgot.”
You glanced at the dream Desire again, who still didn’t acknowledge anything happening around them. You stood up from the ground, taking careful steps towards the real Desire.
“In these dreams I say I’m thousands of years old,” you murmured. “Is that… true?”
Desire nodded. “You made a pact with my sister, Death. She won’t take you away for as long as you want to live because she wanted… to make me happy.”
You frowned. “But I can remember my childhood, I finished high school not even fifteen years ago, how am I immortal if—”
Desire took a step towards you, holding themselves back from touching you. “You were cursed to live your life a few years at a time, before you lose your memory again and start living as another, having different memories.”
You couldn’t believe you actually considered things like that to be true. You, immortal? You wanted to laugh at the idea. Losing your memories over and over, being cursed? All of that was just crazy talk, but on the other hand… you did find Jeff after the Sandman himself guided you to him, even though he had ditched you to fend off yourselves after that. And after that you met a man with mouths as eyes and a serial killer fan convention. So crazier things had happened lately than this.
And… being this close to this person felt… right. Right in a way you couldn’t explain. Like you were meant to be there with them. Like… your heart found its way home.
You blinked, letting out a shaky breath. “I think I… believe you.”
Desire’s eyes widened. “You… do?”
You nodded. “Yes, I… I just feel it.”
They stared at you for a moment, before breaking into a wide smile and finally, finally, touching your face. Your eyelids flickered at the contact and when you opened them again, your own hands immediately flied to their face. “Desire.”
They nodded, pulling you in to share your first kiss in hundreds of years — and on that moment you knew you had found your true home again.