Broken Dreams
(Namjoon/OC)
Most of the people in the world fall asleep easily, dream easily, wake easily. Some may have had insomnia, but even they dreamed some time.
But not that girl, not the girl he'd fallen in love with over the years. And it was all his fault.
He'd first noticed her when she was a baby. He'd come to give her first dream, and she'd seen him. That was what had grabbed his attention. Thousands of years he'd been distributing dreams and not one person had ever seen him before.
He'd come back the next day to give her her second dream in person, something he never did, but he was curious. Had she actually seen him? Or was it a fluke, a coincidence?
But there she was, green eyes wide at the sight of him, his golden skin, hair, and eyes making the two-day-old laugh in delight.
After that it was too easy. He was too busy to come in person any longer, but he could appear in her dreams.
So he did. After thousands of years of solitude, he had a friend. It was nice.
When she was a baby, the dreams were simple. All he had to do was conjure some toys, and she was happy. As she learned to crawl in real life, the dreams began to change. After giving her full reign over her dreams once, he learned to carefully watch her. She'd dreamed of things that she'd seen pictures of, including, but not limited to, a tiger, a python, and fire.
After that one dream, he never gave her full reign again; instead, he entertained her himself, playing with her, and quickly replacing all the toys he accidentally broke before she could start crying.
He taught her to walk and talk in her dreams. Now that he finally had someone who could see him, he was getting greedy. He wanted to be able to talk to someone who could talk back to him.
As she grew, her dreams changed. When she was five, she dreamed of living with wolves. To be fair, she'd just finished watching The Jungle Book.
When he'd told her that she wouldn't be able to read if she lived with wolves, she quickly changed her mind. Although she was only five, reading was already her favorite thing to do. (Because she'd learned to talk early, her parents thought she was a genius and taught her to read early. She'd fallen in love with reading quite quickly.)
At seven, she read The Boxcar Children and dreamed of solving mysteries with him as her younger sibling. Don't ask; he didn't understand the mind of a seven-year-old girl either.
When she was nine, she watched her dog die, and she dreamed of being a vet. That dream ended after she looked up the requirements to become a veterinarian and got sick at the sight of a surgery removing cancerous cells from a cat.
The toilet was her best friend for a while until he took control of her dream and sent her into the world of Harry Potter where she managed to to cure her dog with magic and lived happily ever after.
When she was ten, she learned that it wasn't normal to have a golden-haired, golden-skinned, golden-eyes, dimpled teen boy in every dream she could remember.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the Sandman. When I came to give you your first dream when you were barely a day old, you saw me. No one had ever seen me before, and I was lonely, so-"
He trailed off, staring at her with fading hope, "I can leave, if you'd like?"
She thought for a second, "So no one else can see you? That's why you stayed with me?"
He nodded, and she grinned, "Okay. So what should I call you? I'm not going to call you Sandman."
A smile broke out on his face, "My name is Kim Namjoon."
He should have known. There'd been signs for a while. He'd felt uncomfortable when he'd realized that she had a boyfriend. Whenever she talked about him, pangs ran through him, causing him to either accidentally break whatever he was holding or find an excuse to leave early because he couldn't listen any longer.
When she turned sixteen and dreamed of a first kiss with someone who seemed suspiciously like Mr. Darcy, he realized what the feeling was. Jealousy, he was jealous. He left, unable to watch her dream anymore.
When he came back the next night, she asked him if he were okay since he'd left early, and he'd simply smiled and nodded. Although skeptical, she let it go and just talked to him that night.
Two months later, when her boyfriend cheated on her, she ran into his arms crying, and he sent nightmares to the boy who'd dared hurt the girl he loved. He'd barely managed to refrain from tormenting her ex-boyfriend while they were dating, but now he didn't have to hold back...so he didn't.
As the months passed, he began to notice that her dreams were not so much dreams anymore so much as her cuddling against him while they talked. But, since her liked her, he didn't think. He didn't wonder what caused the change, but if he had, oh, if only he had, maybe he could have stopped what happened.
But he hadn't, and it didn't, and it was too late now.
She was eighteen years, three months, and two days old when she stood in front of him, blushing, stammering, and finally confessing that she loved him. He was twenty thousand, six hundred, fifty one years, two months, and one day old when he told her that he loved her too.
He was twenty thousand, six hundred, fifty one years, two months, and two days old when he was called before the Council of Sandmen. She was eighteen years, three months, and three days old when she had her first nightmare.
"Sandman of Asia, you are called before this Council because it has been brought to our attention that you have broken a rule. You have confessed that you love a human child. Do you deny this?"
Although pale, he told the truth, "I cannot deny it. I love her with everything that I am."
"Did you know that loving a human is forbidden for a Sandman?"
He nodded, unable to speak as fear flooded him, not for himself, but for the girl he loved more than life itself.
"Then you know the penalty."
A sudden, shuddering, desperate, "No!" was torn from him, and he reflexively started forward. Two Lesser Sandmen came forward and held him back as the Council allowed their sand to form a screen.
A scene so familiar to him that he ached appeared on the screen, and his fear shot even higher. They were going to make him watch.
She smiled as she fell asleep, knowing that Namjoon would be waiting for her. Appearing in the familiar, light clearing, she launched herself at him, hugging him tightly.
He laughed gently and hugged her back, and she savored the feeling, not seeing his golden eyes were a dull, sickly black.
When she pulled back, she looked up to ask him something, only to pause, worried, when she saw his eyes, "Namjoon? Are you okay?"
"You told her your true name?!"
He winced, knowing that the punishment had just increased to the highest level.
"Namjoon" grinned down at her, revealing jagged teeth. "I'm fine. After all, you already told me you loved me. I have no reason to postpone the feast any longer."
"Namjoon?" As her voice called him uncertainly, darkness fell on the clearing, leaving his golden body and hair the only light in the gloom.
"It's no fun if the food isn't ready. Hate, betrayal, and fear make the best seasoning, especially if they stem from pure love."
He dropped her to the ground, seeming to grow in size, and smiled her favorite dimpled smile, "Run."
When she didn't move, too in shock to even think, a sand blade ran through her shoulder, the beautiful golden grains stained a vibrant red. He pouted, "You got blood all over my beautiful sand. That's not nice."
Terrified, she stood and ran, and "Namjoon" smirked, "That's right, little one." His voice echoed after her, surrounding her in a deadly, velvet sound, "I've waited eighteen years to feast like this. I should be allowed to enjoy it, shouldn't I?"
She ran. She ran and ran and ran. She ran until she couldn't run any longer. She hid in the hollow of her favorite tree, hoping for even a second of rest. When her breaths got a tiny bit too loud, she slapped her hand over her mouth, muffling her sobs as well as her scream of pain as the sand underneath her turned into razor blades that cut her feet to ribbons.
"Oh, darling~" The endearment that she would have done everything for yesterday filled her with terror today. "I can smell your blood~ It smells so good!"
His mouth split open to his ears, revealing millions of teeth. "It's been so, so, so long since I've feasted, but you, you'll sustain me for a long time~"
Tears streamed down Namjoon's face as he struggled, "No, please! No, no, nononono, don't do this! Please, I'll do anything!"
The silence that echoed around the room was worse than any taunt that they could have returned. His struggles increased and five more Lesser Sandmen joined in holding him down.
Blood poured from her many wounds, and, when she fell, she lay where she landed, unable to stand as she'd just lost her right foot.
"Aw," he whined, "are you giving up already?"
Tears obscured her vision, and she could no longer muffle her sobs. He leaned down over her, and sniffed loudly, intoxicated, "Ah! The scent of hate and betrayal and fear...I'll never get over how delicious it is."
He kissed on the lips, her first kiss from him, "I love you, darling. Thanks for the meal."
Sand slowly dragged her down, and she screamed hauntingly as it melted her flesh.
She woke with a start, tears and sweat pouring down, pain the only thing she could feel from her entire body. She didn't sleep again that night.
Her screams would haunt his nightmares.
"Sandman of Asia, the first half of your punishment has been concluded. The second half will now be administered."
The Council stood, all speaking at once, "Kim Namjoon, for your crimes, you are stripped of your rank and abilities and are tied to the girl for the rest of your life. You will appear in her nightmares every time she sleeps until she dies. If she has children, you will appear in their nightmares as well. You are tied to her bloodline until the world ends. This is the punishment you have been given."
"So it has been said; so might it be done."
The draining of his ability, the bone-breaking pain of being tied to her timeline to forever haunt her, none of that could move him. His heart was already broken.
Namjoon watched her numbly; she feared sleep now. It had already been two days since she'd last slept, and he knew that she wouldn't be able to last much longer.
And, once she slept, he'd be forced to kill her again, just as he had for the last fifteen years.
There were so many people in the world who could dream, but not her, not the girl he loved, and now, neither could he.
Sorry I didn't warn anyone...what am I lying. I'm not sorry at all.