Disclaimer: Neil Gaiman, whoa… Is all I have to say about that. None of this is mine except the manipulation of characters harnessed by Neil and his co-authors. Mr. Gaiman is a funny guy and down to earth. You should look up his website and his books someday soon. Okay, enjoy, review accordingly. Blessings to whoever reads.
All Hail the King, Let Him Laugh
Dream sat on his throne. He looked around. He looked the other way. Matthew raised an eyebrow and shifted his wings. Dream started to tap his finger, then one at a time employed a whole drumming of phalanges. He sighed and smacked his hand down on the arm of the throne. Matthew jumped, startled. "You alright Boss? Errm…Lord."
Morpheous looked over to Matthew who was perched on one of the chandeliers, "I'm bored." Matthew suddenly got a huge shiver down his back. It wasn't often he shivered…unless Despair was around.
Morpheous fashioned a toothpick and promptly put it in his mouth and promptly began picking his teeth. Matthew blinked, and then blinked again to make sure he was actually blinking. He couldn't be dreaming…Matthew was looking right at him! Dream threw a leg over one of the arms and reclined on the other. "Being trapped… In essence aren't we all trapped no matter where we are?" His raven friend cleared his throat and then jumped down from his perch to sit on the back of the throne looking down on Dream.
"I'm not sure I follow you…" His feathers shifted and wiggled with his chills. It wasn't often that his master spoke with him on a personal level. Dream pretended to pick at something on his pant leg and then lost interest.
"We are essentially trapped by everything no matter how large or small it is. Take for instance a planet…an atmosphere, everything." He pretended to pick at something else on his shirt. Possibly it was the weave of the fabric he chose for this shirt. Who knows…it was just a t-shirt. "Be it building or flesh…idea or cage. In essence everything is trapped endlessly." Morpheous looked up and stared across at his gallery. "Does that mean that nothing really escapes when it all goes away? Sort of like a perpetually turning snow globe, trapped in a sickening dance of confusion?" He still stared at the gallery now one in particular, Death. "Oh well." He said and stood. He produced a small super-ball from his palm and bounced it across the room it hit a wall, bounced up toward the ceiling, then stuck with a slight squeak into a flourish of a chandelier. He proceeded to walk out of the heart of the dreaming and then did an about face and walked back to the gallery. All the while poor confused Matthew sat unmoving and unblinking, his eye occasionally twitching. Morpheous walked to his gallery. He raised a hand to the ankh and hesitated. "Or maybe we are only as trapped as we make our selves. Can we be eternally free in confine?" He turned and looked to Matthew as if waiting for an answer. The raven shifted again and looked down at his talons then back up to Morpheous.
"Well, uhmm…err…I guess?" Matthew's voice made a light squawk at the end of his comment. Morpheous nodded to him and turned back to the ankh.
"Death; the only way to the beginning. Or is it as with confine? Death, always being a beginning since we are continually and eternally dying? Oh the circles these ponderings make." He hung his head and walked towards a great stained glass window. He looked down to the Dreamscapes. "At times I wonder if I am no better than the people who visit me in their slumber. Always questioning, always seeking, never truly resting." His voice trailed off into the shadows as he stepped through to the outside. His black cloak billowed in the harsh winds of his wake. His hair brushed gently across his face lapping around and down his neck, he touched ground. Morpheous, the Lord of Dreams walked soundlessly towards the library. He entered the large wooden doors glancing briefly at the plaque above them, 'Library of Dreams'. He sighed looking back down to the fog that now surrounded him. Lucien passed a glance over a book he was finishing and did a double take.
"My Lord!" Lucien then stood laying his book carefully on a stack that rested on an old style desk. "What brings you here Lord Morpheous?" Dream peered up from under his mantle of silken hair and looked Lucien over. Lucien stopped breathing and widened his eyes unable to comprehend what his Master was thinking. Dream then turned and walked down an aisle. Lucien blinked…and blinked and stood staring at the isle plaque unable to continue breathing. 'Humour' the plaque simple shined in gold. Matthew flew through the open door way and perched on the stack of books in front of Lucien. The Librarian of Dreams did not move nor take notice of the raven.
Matthew squawked quietly, "Weird isn't it? He was talking to me all strange earlier also. And the weirdest thing…he was playing with a bouncy ball." Lucien then looked over his glasses and down at Matthew, he took a breath.
"A what?" His voice matching Matthew's hushed tone.
"A bouncy super-ball thing. He got it stuck in the chandelier. I bet Merv is going to love getting that down." He snickered quietly.
Lucien's face washed over in confusion and a small grin crept upon his thin lips. "A what? A ball you say?" And his eyes darted back to the isle to see Morpheous standing close to the shelf holding a book and reading it quietly. The librarian continued to watch as a half smile painted it self gently on the King's face. Morpheous turned his head to the side and continued to read. Suddenly, he chortled, then snickered a little louder, and then broke out laughing like a madman. His deep depthless laugh made the walls of the library quiver. He quieted himself and continued to read the little book tenderly turning the pages as he read. The faded green binding could be seen from the long fingers of their pale lord. Matthew looked to Lucien and shook his head to regain his speaking. Lucien's face was now slightly pale and ferociously confused.
"What book is he reading Lucien?" The librarian smoothed down his hair, straightened his glasses and sat at his desk. His composure now regained.
"The Perilous End of Ten Purple Toads, by Mary Bruckheimer, aged 13." He said matter of factly and continued filing his papers away and cataloguing his new books. Matthew hopped out of the way of the working librarian. He now sat perched on the corner of the desk looking out at Morpheous.
"Has he ever done this before? I know I'm kind of new and all, but still. Isn't this odd behavior for the King of Dreams?!" His voice was still calm but strained.
Lucien looked back up to the raven and sat his pen down. "Well, yes…and no. I think even he deserves a time to relax. He is aware that there are some of us that reside in the palace he can trust with his small secrets." He immediately went back to his paperwork. Matthew hopped over in front of Lucien.
"Small secrets? You mean it has to be a secret for him to laugh or to be a little silly? I'm not catching your drift." He blinked his small black eyes.
"He is a King, Matthew." Lucien said slowly and evenly. "He has to always convey an air of power or none will respect him. Even though he is powerful enough, he must also conduct him self accordingly." Lucien nodded at his comment in approval.
"Erm?" Matthew looked more confused cocking his head to the side.
"What I mean is he is the only one of the Endless, of all his other siblings, that have to contain and herd all of mankind/dream-kind and keep them under control. All the other siblings deal with the waking world. He is the other side of the coin…entirely." He pushed his glasses up again. "Understand?"
Matthew nodded and looked in the direction of Morpheous. "Well, I guess I better leave him alone then. I hope he feels a little better after reading a while."
"It is one of the few ways he has to know his subjects personally." Lucien then bid Matthew farewell.
Matthew took off back up the hallways and turned to go back to Eve until his Lord needed him again. He flittered back into the cave entrance where her warm smile awaited him. "How are you Matthew, you look well." She offered him her shoulder to perch which he took gladly. He huddled against her neck and fluffed his feathers to absorb the warmth.
"Today, was a good day. A pretty, damn good day." He then closed his little eyes and waited. Waited, for the deep, endless, black voice to call him out of his slumber.
-End