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Silver was a secret keeper.
This was something he had taken pride in ever since he was little. Sure, some might say that keeping secrets is bad. But Silver knew that in the context of the ones he kept, it was a good thing. He kept people from getting hurt, kept the fae who picked on him from getting in trouble, kept himself sane by ensuring that his family never knew his true feelings.
But even he could only take so much. Even someone like him needed somewhere to go when it became too much. Somewhere no one else could go.
“Meet in a dream.”
The spell slipped past his sleeping lips before he even realized he had fallen asleep. He found himself in a familiar cottage, a familiar magic and presence surrounding everything.
Oh…
He’d wandered into Lilia’s dream.
It was a familiar setting, he stood just outside the cottage Lilia had raised him in. His home.
Silver looked up, noticing that it was nighttime. What was Lilia dreaming about?
Silver walked over to the window of the cottage, carefully looking through it. Upon peering inside, he saw Lilia and a child version of himself curled up on the couch. Lilia held a story book in one hand, reading it softly, his other hand combing through the child’s hair gently. The child version of himself was half asleep, barely keeping his eyes open but trying to in order to listen to the full story.
Silver recognized the cover of the story, the story of the princes of day and night. This particular version focused on the night prince who had felt ignored and neglected because everyone slept through the night but played during his older brother’s day.
The night prince had gone overblot and tried to shun the day from existence completely. But his elder brother, along with six others, helped and comforted him. His brother reassured him that no matter what he was loved, those who admired the stars would always stay awake to watch them. Children would often sneak out at night to watch the meteor showers that the night prince so dutifully arranged every-so-often. And no matter what, even if every single person shunned the night, he would have his older brother.
The night prince had calmed down then, was brought out of his overblot. He had apologized profusely, and a week later arranged the biggest the meteor shower that was ever recorded as a thank you to those who loved the night.
During the meteor shower, a young star gazer had come up to the night prince with a question. How to deal with bad nightmares when it felt like there was no one there to save you. The night prince had comforted the child, who then gave him an idea.
The night prince then spent every night in the world of dreams, fighting off nightmares of innocent people. The prince had also created a dream realm of his own where he could retreat when the waking world became too much-
That was it!
Silver suddenly perked up with an idea.
As long as he could remember, he had his own dreamscape. But there was nothing in it, no dreams, no nightmares, nothing. That was why he had started dream walking every night, he hated the void, the silence, everything about his dreamscape.
But he had never tried to do anything about it.
Silver had never had the forethought to try and control how his dreamscape looked. Maybe he could…
“Meet in a dream.”
Silver found himself whispering his signature spell under his breath, not wanting to disturb the peaceful moment between his father and the dream version of himself.
Silver felt himself appear back in the endless void of his dreamscape. As always, he felt like his was simply floating on his back on nothing, the endless void cradling his body in a way that would’ve been comforting if Silver didn’t hate the darkness.
For the first time though, Silver tried to force himself upright. He had to maneuver quite a bit, and he probably looked ridiculous, but he did it. He took a deep breath, summoning his magic, stretched his legs out and down underneath him like he was trying to stand.
Directly underneath the first foot he put down, a flurry of light blues, pinks, and lavenders – just like his eyes – bloomed softly. Silver’s eyes widened, and he placed his other foot down, connecting with the new ground. Another flurry of pastel colors bloomed underneath his foot, a small platform forming around him.
Silver felt himself let out a short, breathy laugh at the sight. It felt strange, but so, so nice. The feeling of creating something that was truly his own. That had nothing to do with Lilia or Malleus or Sebek or the fae council, or anyone but himself. It didn’t have to do with the debt he owed his own family caretakers, it was his own, completely and truly.
Silver took a step, the same burst of color blooming under his boot again. Silver took several more steps, the same aurora colors blooming around his feet.
Silver couldn’t help but let out small breathy laughs. He pulled out his magic pen, determined to make the dreamscape that had only belonged to him in technicality truly his.
Silver poured his magic into his magic pen, channeling it into his dreamscape. Around him bright colors as well as soft blues burst from the darkness. Amongst the colors, small orbs formed, Silver recognized them as physical manifestations of the dreams of those around him, likely all of them being from other Diasomnia students.
Silver paused his creating, putting his magic pen back in pocket as he approached one of the orbs. Inside, held his father’s dream, the older fae now tucking the dream child Silver into bed with a soft look on his face. Silver gently took hold of the orb, it was small, small enough to fit in Silver’s palms. Silver simply stared at it for a moment, cradling it against his chest softly, not wanting to let go.
But eventually, Silver reminded himself what his plan originally was, and he slowly forced himself to let go. The dream floated away, but only slightly, and Silver could still feel his palms tingling from the feeling of holding it.
Silver took a deep breath a summoned a small glass star into his palms. The star formed without issue, it’s edges sharp enough to cut, but Silver held it carefully and gently in order to avoid doing so.
Silver brought the star close to his lips and softly whispered a secret into it. He started off with one of his own, wanting to ensure that his idea would work.
As he had planned, a small image, representing the secret that he had whispered into it – the reason why he hid his ears – appeared within the star. It was guarded, safe, somewhere that no one could find it.
Silver extended his hands and a thin string that hung from nowhere wrapped around the top of the star, successfully hanging it, just as the night prince hung the stars in the night sky.
Silver softly spoke an enchantment, ensuring that it had stuck to the star and string. That way, if the secret ever spilled past his lips, the string would falter and the star would shatter. Which would truly be a shame, the star was beautiful.
Malleus loved stars. On the few nights that Silver couldn’t sleep, Malleus would take him out to stargaze. Malleus would point out constellations and always told Silver the story behind them. Often times, that would be what Silver fall asleep, even on his troubled nights. The sound of his brother lord so happily telling Silver a story while they were cuddled up together.
Silver shook the memories off. If he was going to make a star for every secret that he had ever kept, both for himself and others, then he had a lot more to make and hang.
And so, he did.
For the rest of the night, Silver used his magic to form glass stars, whispered secrets into them, enchanted them, and hung them. He hung them so they would form constellations of his own making, all representing those close to him.
Once he was done, and his alarm clock hadn’t started blaring at him to wake up, Silver let himself lay down on the aurora colored ground of his dreamscape. He looked up, watching the dreams float around softly, some didn’t move much or at all, while some moved around slightly, while others had started almost dancing with each other and the stars Silver had hung in the sky of his dreamscape.
For the first time in a long time, Silver truly at peace. Silver rested his hands on his torso, feeling the clasp of his shooting star outfit. Huh… When had he changed?
Silver shook the thought off. In a way, the outfit made sense anyways.
~*----------------------*~
“My, my Silver, you seem more relaxed then usual.” Lilia said softly, bringing Silver out of his thoughts. Silver looked up from his plate of mushroom risotto and up to his father, who sat across from him at the lunch table. Sebek sat beside Silver, scarfing down his food happily and Malleus sat across from Sebek.
“Yes, I agree.” Malleus said softly, looking over at Silver. At Malleus’ voice, Sebek paused his eating, glancing up and toning back into the conversation.
“I… Do?” Silver asked confused. Silver supposed that he had felt more relaxed today. Silver didn’t realize how much creating his dreamscape had helped until he woke up, feeling better rested than he had in a long time.
“Yes. Did you have a good dream last night~?” Lilia asked, his voice half playful, half genuinely curious.
Silver wanted to explain the dreamscape that he had built, a part of him hoped that if he did, Lilia and Malleus might be proud of him for the creation. But that would involve telling them about the secrets Silver had been keeping, and he couldn’t do that.
“Nothing out of the usual.” Silver responded, the lie slipping out easily.
“Hm… Well, if you say so, but I’m glad that you’re relaxing.” Lilia said, smiling genuinely.
Silver nodded and let his mind wander back to that night.
The dreamscape would just have to be another secret.