I am not making any money from this story because the characters do not belong to me. They where created by Neil Gaiman, the true king of dreams. Please forgive me if I have in any way butchered his characters and/or their personalities.

I DREAM OF YOU

A frown crossed the face of the Dream King and it vanished almost a mysteriously as it had appeared. The Prince of Stories, as he was sometimes called, rarely showed any emotion. His tousled white hair came to his shoulders and his white robes hung loosely from his gaunt frame. The white walls of the room in which he stood looked a dingy gray compared to the iridescent glow that emanated from his robes, and his cavernous eyes seemed to shine like stars in the night sky. His name was Dream and he stood in his gallery, staring with a look of rapt contemplation upon his face at the symbols of his siblings for no particular reason.

On the walls of his gallery hung seven picture frames. Five of the frames held the symbols of the other endless. The last frame at the end of the hall was empty and had belonged to his brother, Destruction, before he left the family approximately 300 years earlier. Dream contemplated this one frame. Why did he keep it in his gallery? Even though he respected his brother's privacy and had no desire to see him again, he could not help but feel that it had to remain. Removing the picture frame that once held the sword of Destruction would be to "final" of a good-bye. There were many things in this palace that Dream could not rid himself of. Morpheus had left many odds and ends when he died and Dream could not bear to part with them. Even though Dream knew that Morpheus was and would always be part of him, freeing himself of his possessions, like the emerald necklace that Dream wore upon his breast, would mean that Morpheus had never existed and all that had been was Dream of the Endless. As he realized this, he turned abruptly, leaving the gallery.

He passed some of his servants in the halls a he went to his throne room. After years of serving the Dream Lord, most knew better than to disturb him unless he called. A cold wind swept through the halls as Dream escaped briskly to the solitude of his throne room. Lucien stopped and stared as the Dream Lord passed. He knew it was never a good idea to bother the Lord Shaper when he brooded. After the wind had passed, Lucien knelt to the floor, retrieving several papers and books that had littered it in the Dream Lord's wake. He slowly walked back to the library in the hopes of finding any misplaced books along the way. And, he was also not too keen on seeing Mervyn whom he heard was adding an extra wing to the library. As Lucien did this, Dream entered his alabaster throne room without a sound, shut the doors, and began, once again, to brood.

"Enter," commanded the Lord of Dreams as he heard a knock at the door to his throne room.

"My Lord, I am sorry to disturb you but it is of utmost importance," began Lucien as he slowly entered the alabaster room.

"Not to worry Lucien," said Dream nonchalantly though he was somewhat disappointed that his meditation had been interrupted. "What is it?"

"My Lord, the griffin has captured a Dreamer trying to enter the palace. I believe you should come outside." Lucien took a slow, deep, rattling breath, as if preparing Dream for what he had to say. "It is Thessaly my lord. She…she wishes to speak with you."

Lucien shuddered, thinking that he would be severely punished for being the messenger, but Dream calmly stated, "Let her in. I will see to it that she has an enjoyable stay, no matter how long she wishes to remain with me" His expression remained unchanged, even after Lucien had left the room. He remembered his last meeting with Thessaly. It did not go exactly as either of them would have liked. Dream shook his head, freeing himself of his past memories and promptly exited his throne room.

After he made his way to the foyer, he found that Thessaly was waiting for him. She was unchanged since the last time they had met. She had the same chestnut colored hair, crimson lips, and round spectacles. He had startled her with his sudden appearance and she stood abruptly in her silk nightdress, waiting for one of them to speak. She slowly pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose for her face was quite thin and they always slipped. In spite of that, she was quite beautiful.

'Hello Thessaly," he began. "It is…good to see you again. I fear it has been far too long since we last met."

"I concur Morpheus. It has been far too long. How have you been?"

"Please do not call me that. The name of Morpheus no longer belongs to me. I am simply Dream of the Endless and that is all," he requested.

"Oh. Sorry," she said as an eerie silence fell over the castle. Not a sound could be heard accept for the Dream King's light breathing and pacing footsteps. Each seemed to be waiting for the other to speak and break the awkward silence when his servants interrupted it by bringing clothing for Thessaly if she decided to stay. She bid him farewell until the next morning when they would converse and she left the hall carrying the basket containing her clothing. Dream watched as she walked to the stairwell leading to the guest quarters, never removing his gaze until she was out of sight. After she had left him, he continued with his day's work, having procrastinated. The night was young and after his work was finished (for the time) he walked despondently to his gallery to wait until the morning.

As he looked at the symbols on the wall, a thought struck him. He reached into one of the picture frames, pulling out an emerald heart and he spoke, "My sister/brother, I hold your signal. Let me be admitted into your realm." With that he stepped into the in-between places of his world and the realm of Desire.

"Hello Dream," Desire began. He or she or it was in the temple of its body as it usually is. It wore its hair and clothing in the fashion of a man this evening but Desire was always breathtakingly beautiful. It was as sexy as it was vindictive and many a mortal man had fallen to their knees asking for its hand. "How have you been? Please, sit down," Desire said, pointing to the chair next to it.

"Do not talk to me that way Desire," began the Dream King as he walked behind it. Dream placed his hands on Desire's shoulders and felt the warmth from it. Desire smelled of summer wildflowers, sweet wine, and lost love but this did not deter Dream from speaking to it. He ran his chilly chalk-white fingers along its cheek, bringing it to rest once again on its shoulder. "I can see past your lies."

"Very well," it began coldly with only a hint of malice in its voice. It slowly removed Dream's hands from its shoulders, very slowly, and turned to face him. Its menacing yellow eyes stared deeply into his cavernous stars. "What do you want?"

"A woman that I loved long ago entered my realm today Desire. I recall that the first time she left my castle, she said that she did not love me and never had. I was heartbroken and now I have an odd feeling that you have something to do with this."

"I assure you Dream that I am in no way responsible for the way you feel about her or vise versa. She came to your realm of her own free will. Was anything else bothering you?"

"No sister/brother. Nothing at all." And at that, the King of Dreams returned to his kingdom. As he did so, Desire said nothing. It smiled, and nothing more.

Dream reappeared in his gallery only to find that his youngest sister was waiting for him. She had bright green hair with stripes of pink. She was wearing a short black skirt, fishnet stockings and brown leather jacket that was large enough for her to get lost in. "Hi Dream," she said excitedly. "I was with Despair but then I thought that maybe I would want to go home and I forgot where exactly home was. So I thought that I would ask one of you because I figured that you could tell me where home was since you are all a lot older than me. Usually Barnabus would tell me where home was but I seem to have lost him. I was being a goldfish and I decided to go flying and when I returned, he was gone. What were we talking about?"

"Hello Delirium. It is good to see you again," the Dream King began. "You were telling me how you happened to come into my realm when you were with Despair."

"Oh yes. Well, I didn't want to talk to Desire because I really didn't feel like talking to Desire. And I really didn't want to talk to Destiny because his garden kind of scares me and I knew that our oldest sister is always busy and I really didn't want to disturb her. I wanted to visit Destruction because he was always nice to me and he understood me but then I remembered that he left our family and I didn't know where he was. So then I thought of you and knew that Thessaly was staying with you again. I don't know how I knew but I knew and I thought I would pay you a visit cause I remember what Thessaly was like and I don't know why you would want to see her again. Butterflies are pretty. So I went to Despair's gallery and picked up your little bug-eyed mask signal thing and asked if I could come in and you didn't answer but I figured you wouldn't mind my company. And why is she staying with you?"

"Well Delirium, she is staying with me because she wandered into the Dreaming wishing to speak with me. I know that this is not your doing because only Desire would do something like this. I do not know why I allow her to stay. This perplexes me so," he answered somberly.

"Well I don't know if she should stay with you," she began, "or if you should let her stay or if I should even be here or whatever. But I don't know if it's a good idea or not 'cause I can't even find my realm again. Maybe Destiny can help you. He can always read you a story from his big book because you're his favorite and he'll tell you everything you wish to know about whatever. Or you can talk to Death because she's just really nice that way. I think I remember how to get home now so I'll probably be leaving."

"Thank you Delirium. You have been much help to me," said Dream. As he said that, Delirium broke into an uncountable number of pieces, each one of them a goldfish made in every hue. They swam listlessly though the realm of dreams, searching for their rightful place and the people they resided over. Dream breathed a heavy sigh as Delirium left the castle. When she had left, he picked up a large tome from one of the frames and called upon his brother to enter the Garden of Destiny.

He walked the paths in the garden turning here and there. Shadows of memories past were forever being re-enacted on the paths walked all too long ago. Dream did not know why the garden of Destiny disturbed him. It was unusual for the Endless to feel uncomfortable in each other's realms. Only Death went where she pleased without a second thought. Dream continued on the paths through the garden, once passing himself along the way. These patterns were shadows of memories forgotten or life long ago. Which was which, he could never decipher. He found Destiny, reading from his book as he usually was while he walked the various paths in his garden with Death. Destiny was wearing brown robes with the cowl drawn over his face. Death happened to be wearing black jeans and a halter top with leather boots and an undertaker's mourning derby atop her unruly mane of hair. She wore a silver ankh necklace and periodically looked at Destiny's reading. She was shorter than Dream and not nearly as thin but she was witty and very beautiful. They stopped slowly in front of Destiny's many statues of the Endless and Dream slowly made his way to Destiny's side.

"I knew that you would be coming to see me today Dream," Destiny began, not looking up from his book, the burden he was forced to carry. "I hoped that I could avoid this conversation for some time but one knows that what is written in my book is inevitable. I regret to inform you that I cannot give you the answers you seek. I can only tell you that this meeting will do you good, though it will not live up to either of your expectations." Destiny looked up from his passage for the first time, closed his book, and stared into the Dream King's cavernous eyes as Dream drew his cloak closer to his chalk-white skin.

"Hello Dream," Death said quietly. "I have been reading with Destiny today. We expected you some time ago but you were late, as usual. I have not seen you in so long. How have you been? Tell me even though I've read it already." She smiled as she said this. She never though twice about what she said or did.

"A woman named Thessaly entered my realm today and I have been searching for the cause of this," Dream began slowly as he paced along the gravel path, searching for an explanation. "I loved her and now she returns to me. Why? This question perplexes me so I come to ask you for your advice even though you are not one to reveal your secrets."

"You never change little brother," and she smirked as she said this. Her eyes glittered against her black eye shadow. "You never change. All you ever think about is yourself. I could expect this type of behavior from Delirium and the twins but I thought we were above their level. I know why Thessaly came to you today and what will happen but I'm not going to tell you. " She smiled slightly and wrapped her arms around his neck. She ran her fingers through his hair and whispered, "the book said that we would not tell you. Sorry, but you have to figure this one out on your own." She smiled again, kissed him on the cheek and went back to Destiny's side.

"You may not think that we have helped you today but we have given you a greater gift than you will ever know," Destiny said in almost a whisper, "for now, that is. You will be going back soon. She is waiting in your gallery and has been for some time. She wishes to speak with you." Destiny said this, never removing his gaze from the passage he was reading and Death smiled.

"Thank you my brother and sister. You have been much help to me. I hope it does not have to be this long until we meet again." Dream bid them farewell and returned to his realm as a pattern of emerald green flames grew from the hem of his cloak to his knees.

Dream appeared in his realm to find that Thessaly was indeed waiting for him. She was wearing the clothes provided for her by the Dream Lord's servants. It seemed that she had been waiting for him for some time.

"You did not have to hurry back so quickly," she told him. "I did not have anything too important to say anyway."

They spoke soft words as they walked to the dining hall. His servants brought them a tray of coconut macaroons, and a pot of tea. They ate, and talked about nothing of any importance for the rest of the morning. Though he had meant to ask why she had come to his palace, it never came up and he did not care. He was happy only to be in her company even though he knew that he shouldn't be. They spent the rest of the afternoon talking and travelling the palace and the grounds of the Dreaming.

That evening, a party was held in her honor. Dreamers wandered in, free to attend the party. Dream saved the last dance for Thessaly, even though he never danced. And his servants, along with the other dreamers, looked on disapprovingly.

When the evening was over, the guests left the Dream Lord's palace. His servants cleaned up the caviar, champagne, and all the other odds and ends that come with parties, making them raw materials of the Dreaming again. Thessaly and Dream slipped away unnoticed to her bedchamber where she was enveloped in his cloak of starlight. And that night, everything that could dream, dreamed of love.

She awoke in the middle of the night though she was still in the Dreaming. Stars were shining outside the balcony in her bedchamber. He had left her, obviously to continue with his work but he would be back. His love had been like a fire that engulfed her and made her feel utterly safe. She left her bed, robed herself, and walked out to the balcony. It looked exactly the same as it had when she last left her bedchamber. Life was surrounded in the darkness of midnight and not a soul stirred in the land below. Everything was new and awakened in this world and for the first time, she understood. She dressed quickly, to avoid his return, and left his bedchamber.

Thessaly awoke alone that morning. The memories fell from her like grains of sand. There had been a man by the name of Dream. She had loved him and could no longer remember why she had left.

Dream returned to find that Thessaly was gone. He walked out to the balcony as black clouds began to gather on the horizon of the Dreaming. He stared somberly at the world around him as rain began to fall. He found a very short letter on the bedside table written in her loopy penmanship.

My Dearest Morpheus-

Forgive me. Remember our dream awakened

Forever yours,

Thessaly

He walked out to the balcony again and tore up the note, letting it fall to the ground below and become one with the Dreaming again. He left his bedchamber and walked, ever so slowly, to his gallery. And it rained.

And it rained. He arrived in his gallery and stared at the mocking picture frame on the wall. He took it off the wall and carried it away as held his emerald necklace gingerly before crumbling it in the palm of his hand. He took the chain off and threw it to the ground. And as he did that, a smile flickered across his lips and vanished almost as mysteriously as it had appeared. The Prince of Stories, as he was sometimes called, rarely showed any emotion.

The End