Desire wandered slowly though the darkened veins of it's realm, taking in parts of it's body it hadn't bothered seeing in years. It didn't really focus on anything however, instead looking inwards, to where her brothers presence was flickering like a candle about to gutter out.
It had claimed for years that this was what it itself desired, it's pompous older brother finally getting his just desserts. But, if it was honest with itself, it knew that this was never what it had wanted. It had wanted Dream to finally lose one of their little encounters, and to acknowledge that he had lost. But it would never have actually gone through with calling the Kindly Ones on it's brothers head had he spilt family blood. It would have been enough to know that it was possible.
Now, in it's brother's final hours, it recalled the dawn days of time. Back when there wasn't a single species that had achieved true sentience, when all any of them dreamed of was food and sex. And that was all they'd desired as well.
Back then it and it's brother had been very close, more so then to any of their other siblings. Their realms had been so close together that they were almost one in some places, and they had whiled away many long hours together.
Then evolution happened, and he had changed. Not as drastically as Delirium of course, but it had still happened. There realms had grown apart, his had expanded, and he became more uptight and obsessed with responsibility with every century that passed. And who knows, perhaps Desire had changed itself, though it had never noticed doing so. It came to a point that they only got along as well as they'd used to when they both happened to be visiting a primitive world, and then one day they just didn't get at all.
For the first time in a very long while, Desire regretted the way they'd grown apart. It realised that it might even be feeling guilt, something that had been completely absent in it's life before then. If it had made more of an effort to get past Dream's stuffy personality perhaps they could have worked around it. Perhaps it would have been able to help him now that he was in need. It didn't like this alien feeling, it was far to late to change the past, and foolish to want to.
It realised that without noticing it, it had summoned the flower that had sprung from Orpheus' blood to itself. It was still perfectly preserved, and it was clutching it hard enough to crush the delicate blossom. Yes, that was something to feel guilt over, if it needed to feel it. That had been it's fault, in a way. It hadn't known it would end that way, it had simply decided it wanted to give a gift to it's nephew, and manipulated events to guide Orpheus to the woman who was his perfect match. Then it had all fallen to pieces and ultimately lead to Dream killing the boy. So really, it had done the thing it had sworn to do. It was it's fault the Kindly Ones were hounding him.
Strangely, the thought made it feel even worse. Shouldn't it feel triumphant? Instead they was a strange churning in it's stomach, and liquid seeping from it's eyes. Not tears of course, it couldn't be tears. It was Desire of the Endless, it did not cry. Especially not over an overbearing blowhard who accused it of wrongdoing every time his life went a little wrong. It must be too bright in here or something.
Ignoring the fact that it was almost pitch black, and even if it was bright Desire's eyes would simply adjust themselves to it.
Would Dream bleed, it wondered as it breathed in the scent of Orpheus' flower. Would part of him become flowers? Would they be beautiful, and smell as lovely as his son's?
Suddenly the presence within it disappeared all together, and it's heart lurched. It had spent to long reflecting, it realised. It had wanted to say good-bye, but it was now too late. There would never be any sort of reconciliation, it would never be able to tell him it was sorry for everything that had happened between them. It would never be able to tell him anything at all.
He was gone.
Then slowly, almost hesitantly, a new presence appeared. Similar, but defiantly different, softer somehow.
And it realised that maybe, maybe this time things would be different.
It had claimed for years that this was what it itself desired, it's pompous older brother finally getting his just desserts. But, if it was honest with itself, it knew that this was never what it had wanted. It had wanted Dream to finally lose one of their little encounters, and to acknowledge that he had lost. But it would never have actually gone through with calling the Kindly Ones on it's brothers head had he spilt family blood. It would have been enough to know that it was possible.
Now, in it's brother's final hours, it recalled the dawn days of time. Back when there wasn't a single species that had achieved true sentience, when all any of them dreamed of was food and sex. And that was all they'd desired as well.
Back then it and it's brother had been very close, more so then to any of their other siblings. Their realms had been so close together that they were almost one in some places, and they had whiled away many long hours together.
Then evolution happened, and he had changed. Not as drastically as Delirium of course, but it had still happened. There realms had grown apart, his had expanded, and he became more uptight and obsessed with responsibility with every century that passed. And who knows, perhaps Desire had changed itself, though it had never noticed doing so. It came to a point that they only got along as well as they'd used to when they both happened to be visiting a primitive world, and then one day they just didn't get at all.
For the first time in a very long while, Desire regretted the way they'd grown apart. It realised that it might even be feeling guilt, something that had been completely absent in it's life before then. If it had made more of an effort to get past Dream's stuffy personality perhaps they could have worked around it. Perhaps it would have been able to help him now that he was in need. It didn't like this alien feeling, it was far to late to change the past, and foolish to want to.
It realised that without noticing it, it had summoned the flower that had sprung from Orpheus' blood to itself. It was still perfectly preserved, and it was clutching it hard enough to crush the delicate blossom. Yes, that was something to feel guilt over, if it needed to feel it. That had been it's fault, in a way. It hadn't known it would end that way, it had simply decided it wanted to give a gift to it's nephew, and manipulated events to guide Orpheus to the woman who was his perfect match. Then it had all fallen to pieces and ultimately lead to Dream killing the boy. So really, it had done the thing it had sworn to do. It was it's fault the Kindly Ones were hounding him.
Strangely, the thought made it feel even worse. Shouldn't it feel triumphant? Instead they was a strange churning in it's stomach, and liquid seeping from it's eyes. Not tears of course, it couldn't be tears. It was Desire of the Endless, it did not cry. Especially not over an overbearing blowhard who accused it of wrongdoing every time his life went a little wrong. It must be too bright in here or something.
Ignoring the fact that it was almost pitch black, and even if it was bright Desire's eyes would simply adjust themselves to it.
Would Dream bleed, it wondered as it breathed in the scent of Orpheus' flower. Would part of him become flowers? Would they be beautiful, and smell as lovely as his son's?
Suddenly the presence within it disappeared all together, and it's heart lurched. It had spent to long reflecting, it realised. It had wanted to say good-bye, but it was now too late. There would never be any sort of reconciliation, it would never be able to tell him it was sorry for everything that had happened between them. It would never be able to tell him anything at all.
He was gone.
Then slowly, almost hesitantly, a new presence appeared. Similar, but defiantly different, softer somehow.
And it realised that maybe, maybe this time things would be different.