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I was born of a child's dream…what he feared and what he loved is what I am. He feared many things, but for every one of his fears there was something he loved. Loyal to his family and the ones he held dear, yet he was ever so afraid of losing or hurting them. Kind of funny, actually, if one is to consider me and him as family—he let the others separate us, to "control" me. All they did was hurt me. And sweet little Nathen let it all happen. So caring for those who've done nothing but fill him with fear and regret and worry yet completely oblivious to something of his own creation, which he'd love oh so much in the beginning…

As for my first moments of life? Not much to tell, really.

I was made where all dreams are. Where all kids go to dream. We were both so young then. Those times were quite simple…play, he wakes up, I wait for him to come back, and we play again.

But I grew tired of waiting for him for what felt like years, each time a little older than the last. I found a way to leave my first prison. I couldn't leave for long, but I was able to play with him just a while longer each day. I never had to grasp the concept of if he'd ever forget me, or move on, or be afraid. He never did, either. That decision…was completely against both of our wills.

I remember that day clearly. Nathen was seven and I wasn't much older. His guardians had given him a present, which Nathen believed to be an early birthday gift. Of course I was the only one to think that was a little odd—his birthday was still a few months away, after all. It all felt wrong to me, but I had been excited as well, so I let him open it.

It was a feather necklace. Seeing him hold it, I could tell it was quite sturdy and possibly fake; even my younger self knew feathers were soft and delicate, whereas this gift was harder. It also shimmered with an odd, purple tint in the light, and it gave me an awful feeling just looking at it.

When Nathen put it on, I was no longer by his side. I wasn't even in the realm of my birth. Everything around me…was black. I didn't possess anything that I had. But I still heard his voice; I heard his "friends." And I felt increasingly angry hearing them treat him so horribly, keeping him from everything he has a right to know about. Everything I could've told him if they hadn't locked me away.

One day, I saw a flash of death—bloody walls and floors, people of various emotion strewn across the floor, even a few dismemberments. The young me had been terrified. Until I saw a few faces I knew.

Well, two faces. I'd seen them both in the waking and dreaming worlds, when Nathen would show them to me. They were his "half-brother's" family. The younger boy's mother and aunt. And I knew, deep down, who did this.

I immediately knew it was time to leave this prison, just as I had the first.

I'd never interacted with Nathen's step-brother before. But I found myself there naturally. It was odd to be able to sense his fears like I did with Nathen…and then how I realized the fears of everyone else in proximity. I vividly remember someone nearby fearing the death of her friends, but a smaller fear that whispered about hoping she was able to get the dirt stain off of the clothes she was washing.

I tried warning him; bringing the fear of his mother to mind. And I was horrified once more as I realized I'd hurt him in my efforts to help. As the girl worrying about cleaning checked on him, I tried to bring up the fear to her, too, but I couldn't get to her. When the boy's father came in, I tried to get him to call back the boy's mother, in hopes of preventing her horrible fate, but another woman, whom I quickly realized was the boy's other aunt, stopped me from reaching him. Not long after I had the feeling that it was already too late to try to help.

Nathen never realized any of it. I tried talking to him, but he treated me with disgust. Whatever efforts I made to help us see eye-to-eye once more went in vain. I wasted out the years in silence, hushed by whatever force had kept me in that darkness.

It was a while before I found myself in the real world again. Though like the last, it was not by happy means. I'd just seen with my own eyes Nathen hurting a little girl—the same boy as before was in it, so I came to him.

He didn't listen to me. I did my best to be friendly, but there must've been something that set him off. In the end…I hurt him. He was just about to blow my cover, and in those years caged up I must've gotten a better grasp on the physical world than I ever thought possible. Thrown off by a presence of another person, I had no choice but to leave.

A few weeks later I found myself back in the place of my birth. I struggled back to the real world to spend what I knew my final moments were going to be with my creator.

Maybe it was me. Maybe it was him. But it didn't matter to anyone. I watched and was apart of almost killing the sweet little girl. I just sat there and observed through Nathen's eyes those last few days.

Times are different. We both know who we are. I was able to roam free in the world of nightmares—likely the true land of my birth—and stayed untethered from Nathen even after we left.

I'm in a new place now. It's a lot like our old home, actually. I can recognize a few people and places. I can't sense Nathen at all anymore. He left with Mother's Heart a while ago and must have left the world. And as I consider embracing my complete freedom, I'm finding myself connecting to another person…

She's a lot like Nathen, really. Her dreams are so vivid, so full of life…yet she's afraid of what they mean. I've been following her around for a while now. I plan on making my first move to get to know her soon. Maybe…maybe I can save her from the same kind of fate as Nathen, wherever he is right now. I can't help the feeling that I'm both doing something wrong and right at the same time.

I can only hope I'm making the right decision.