This is a work made by Merlin of Honore which was formerly Merlin to Vivian here on fanfiction. No rights to any source works are asserted - only this particular fanwork belongs to the author.
Beta was mistaken.
Angeloids may dream. But it's a rare occurence, so rare that the sun will die way before its prime before it would ever happen.
It is in their universal specifications. Alpha. Delta. Gamma and all the rest. Artificials are not given free leave by their masters to slip into the nighttime vapors. (Though Synapse has never felt a true night) Who knows what their dreams might give them, should the failsafes binding their logic systems become relaxed?
Angeloids can dream. It is to be assumed that they only ever dream once.
Ikaros once dreamed of the planets in the sky, the planets beyond Synapse. She'd seen herself, many selves of her flying from planet to planet, enforcing the will of her masters. What hadn't occur to her as strange is that there were millions of her swarming over space, and yet here "she" was, to the side, only watching it all.
She does not remember that dream. It was so long ago. Her internal systems did not even acknowledge that particular abnormal circumstance of sleeping.
Nymph had had a dream where she had taken the place of the High Priestess of Lot. It was she who'd bargained with Synapse, the beings of incomparable power. It was she who bought the safety of her city with the Cult of the Angels. It was she became queen of an empire, beholden only to the supreme winged beings.
She'd screamed and screamed as it played out like a broken holo-reel. She'd wailed, knowing the ending – Synapse tiring of Lot, which had outlived its usefulness, the council of a minute, then sending down the Uranus Queen to obliterate everything in less than five. She'd denied her dream so forcefully that all traces of the event were purged before she "awoke" – the act itself self-deleting its existence from her banks, making her systems had merely skipped a function or two.
And that was why she doesn't remember the dream. Why she doesn't remember Lot, nor any of the other High Priestesses that had existed after Lot's dying embers had faded. Why she hopes one day to own, and at the same time be owned by, someone worthy.
Astraea has never dreamt. Her systems found it difficult to reproduce the phenomenon.
But the combination of certain fungi her systems ingested that evening, along with a recent kindness Sakurai Tomoki showed her, proved a potent alchemical mix that jolted the block on her systems, and sent the youngest Angeloid on her way.
~~There are electric sheep.
~~One little two little three
~~Indians jumping over the yakuza men in horse-carriages of plums
~~ What we have her, ladies and gentlemen is mucho delicious food expertly
~~ Are you calling me an idiot?
~~ To arms, brethren
She sees many images. Many, many images she can't understand. She thinks she does one second, and in the next, she doesn't.
At first she has wings, then she doesn't. She is a warrior in a strange land, then she's a bumbling assistant to a trenchcoat man in a black-and-white world.
All-you-can-eat restaurants on the land of forever, and she signs a contract to the conditions of "forever", so she can never, ever become hungry ever again. But then the Gretelians kick her out when they find out she has no heart to steal.
She finds herself standing on a cliff. Below, she sees a chase. There is one downer, and then two, and then three. They ride on the momma ponies, shooting "bullets" at each other. One downer has a mean-looking face, while the other two are utterly faceless.
Thinking nothing, she flies down and slaps meanie in the face with her sword. Then she raises Aegis and scares the other two's ponies.
She picks up a key that clattered to the ground. The faceless ones speak, in a low, murmuring singsong.
We thank you. We are tenacious, but the thief might have escaped us.
But this is unprecedented.
A dreamer aids the enforcers.
We must tell master.
Master… the key!
Dreamer, the key
She holds on to it, feeling a tingling in her spine. She shakes her head at the faceless ones. The key is hot in her hand.
What then
A bargain, fair trade, equivalent exchange
What would you like?
Food, she says. The two look at each other.
Food will not be enough to repay your help
Not nearly enough
No value in food for dreamers
Then we
Have no choice no choice the master
Feeling a little nauseous, the ground is suddenly swept black from under her, and she lurches downward, flapping her wings. There is a great, dark field below her, and it hurts for her to look. There are two lights in front of her.
Follow us dreamer
Do not tarry
Follow us to the master
I also have a master, she wants to say, but she finds that she cannot. She thinks on it for a moment, and shrugs it off. She continues to soar through the black watercolor sky, following the request without fail. She looks down and sees glimpses of more things she has trouble understanding. There are cleaner robots surrounding a broken hill. Over there, she sees someone push someone else down a well. She wants to laugh, because the sight reminds her of the Sakurai Tomoki, but she finds that she cannot. Just as quickly, the image disappears.
Where is this place? How did she get here?
As soon as she thinks that, she then sees a building before her. She lands before it. The two lights disappear into something. It looks like one of those things the masters of Synapse use when they don't want to use their wings. "Doors", that was it. She takes a step forward.
"Requesting clearance information," said a garbled voice, clear out of nowhere.
She does not see the speaker, but she looks around anyway. Clearance Information nil, she replies.
"Unable to authorize entry for incomplete clearance information. Please retrieve information to access. Have a good day."
Before she can process the information, there is a loud hiss, and the "Door" slides open. A winged being comes out, and as per her programming, she bows. Had she been back in Synapse all along?
The being is clad in full, pure white, from the top of his wings to its feet. A green glow glimmers across its chest, casting a small light on her. There is a shimmering brilliance Astraea cannot bear to see in his face. It is of a majesty she hasn't seen before.
I see how it seems complicated to you, my servants. It is a circumstance more unique than you realize, says the being. He addresses her. I know you, little one, and I greet you. Are you a messenger from Synapse?
She wants to answer, but she cannot. She doesn't understand why.
Come, you are now my guest. We will discuss the matter of the key. My two servants have told me the whole story.
She follows the being through the door, and into a wide-open space, where the sun and the stars could be seen in the sky. There are holo-screens set up all around, and though she knows the directives discouraging her from watching without permission, she looks anyway.
It is a grainy-looking video. She can't see it clearly, but she feels that it's some sort of combat recording. It is taken from above, so the figures on screen are small as they walk on the ground. Suddenly there is an explosion that lights up the screen.
She closes her eyes, and then looks again. It is as if the explosion never happened. There are figures once more, and they're walking around the giant monolithic buildings she remembers once seeing on a mission. There is another explosion.
On the third time, she sees another; no, two- three more winged beings approach the screen. She cannot see their faces clearly but she knows: they're flying with determination. They stop in midair, fire their weapons at the screen, and then another explosion.
She feels woozy. It is stupid for her to even look. She walks through the nearest "Door".
The next room looks like one of the master's throne rooms, complete with a panoramic view of the glorious sky. The being is there, waiting, along with the two faceless ones she met awhile back. She kneels once more before the figure.
This is troubling, concludes the being after a long moment of silence. Synapse has no business here, ever since they made their decisions long ago. We receive very few visitors from Synapse as such, even less so from the automatons they created. To owe a debt to one who may never be able to visit the Dreaming again is an untenable position, one I would not wish for any of my subjects.
No master
Do not forsake
The being is pacing, just like her masters do when in deep thought. She wonders how thinking deeply feels.
Do you wish for anything?
Food, she wants to say, but cannot. But if she could, it would be food. Never turn down a chance to eat, Tomoki had said, and she found that very wise.
Since you cannot answer for yourself, little one, then I shall, however reluctantly, do it for you. The key in her hand bursts into flame, a heat so fierce it makes her release it. In the next instant, the being has it in his hands. I cannot serve you food- she twinges- for I am told it is insufficient. You cannot seek anything for yourself, so you can ask no favors. But I cannot let my servants be bound thus. In the place of their debt, accept the Dream King's boon.
This key that you saved from the Hell imp is an object "I" made long ago that unlocks the Dreaming to those who cannot visit it. There are few creatures that cannot naturally enter my domain, and of those, automatons such as your kind form a big part. The key disappears.
I feel it is a great injustice to be denied access to my domain. From this moment on, you and everyone of your kind shall be able to dream – even if you cannot. She feels herself dissolving into darkness.
I hope you are content with this, little one… She is falling up she falls up through a waterfall of electric sheep. She is losing her way, losing herself. I don't expect you to remember this. But the universe will bear witness to our agreement.
And so, our business is concluded. I pray your masters will see wisdom soon-
And, for the first and last time, Astraea wakes.
It is a long way to Synapse now; for Alpha, Beta, and herself. She now lives in the moment: going from one mealtime to the next, her battles waged in the eternal war against hunger. People may keep calling her an idiot, but she's a capable idiot.
She doesn't remember the dream, like her sisters, nor would she pay it any mind even if she did.
Ikaros' reactor hurts more than ever now. It always comes when she thinks of Master. She dreams.
There is a life here for Nymph, an existence she feels she wants to protect even above her own. She dreams.
Were she to be asked in that moment, for a boon, Astraea would've been able to answer – food, definitely food. For she is herself now; no longer an aimless angeloid. From now on, her decisions are hers alone to make. And she continues to dream.
Is it wrong for an angeloid to dream?
No.
Are angeloids able to dream?
Yes, now they can. As they always could.
Vivian's Note: Yet another for Merlin's posterity. I believe despite the series tag, this is a crossover with The Sandman, judging from the mentions of the Dreaming. If I'm wrong, then it's all the same to me. Have a pleasant day, old and new readers.