Disclaimer: Morpheus and Itachi both died--that alone should tell you I don't own either Naruto or Sandman.
Warning: Some manga spoilers in this chapter.
In the Frontiers of Endless Dream
When Konan met the King of All Night's Dreaming, she had just lost one of her best friends. The civil war in the Rain Village had been raging for years, and many had been lost on both sides. But no matter how difficult the battle, Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato had always survived somehow. Until the day when Hanzou had taken her hostage, and forced Nagato to make an impossible choice.
Nagato had told her over and over that she couldn't blame herself for Yahiko's death. But no matter how many times he told her, a part of herself refused to believe that. If only I had been strong enough to save myself. If only I could turn my body fully into paper, I could have escaped on my own.
As a ninja, you couldn't afford to be distracted during a battle, even for a fraction of a second. That was why shinobi were told to kill their emotions--because if they didn't, it was quite likely that their emotions would kill them. So perhaps it was inevitable that shortly after Yahiko's death, the guilt that gnawed constantly at Konan diverted her attention at a crucial moment, and she found herself with a katana between her ribs.
After killing the enemy who had wounded her, Nagato had sealed the wound so that she didn't bleed to death, but repairing the internal damage was beyond his rather rudimentary medical skills. He carried her away from the front lines, back to one of the hospitals allied with their side. She drifted in and out of consciousness, and eventually the two states began to melt into one another. The pain, the drugs the medic-nins gave her to ease the pain, and the blood loss combined to blur the boundaries between reality and unreality, and she began to dream even when she was awake.
Adrift in the world of dreams, Konan saw many strange things. She sailed among the stars and dived to the depths of the ocean. She stood amongst swirling desert winds and marveled at flowers that glowed like lanterns. She saw family members who had been dead for years, and family members who were not yet born.
And then she crossed a bridge over a shimmering lake, and entered a garden where fireflies danced above blossoms that filled the air with sweet perfume. In the center of the garden was a splendid palace that seemed to rise up unendingly into the sky. Magnificent towers and turrets sparkled in the light of the fireflies, and the palace itself seemed faintly luminous. Above the massive golden doors leading into the palace was a balcony, and on that balcony stood a man. He was clad all in black, and his eyes glowed like the stars above.
Konan remembered the stories her mother had told her as a child, and she recognized the man right away. She went down on one knee and bowed her head. "Greetings, Lord of Dreams."
"Welcome to my realm, child. It is not everyone who can find their way to the center of this place." His voice was smooth and deep, and she seemed to hear it in her head rather than in her ears. "To have found it, you must have a powerful dream within your heart."
"...Am I dead?"
The King of All Night's Dreaming smiled. "If you were dead, it is not me that you'd be seeing. You are here because you're dreaming, and you were drawn to me by the strength of your dream. It is a dream you carry in your soul even when you're not asleep."
Konan looked down, sorrowfully. In the realm of dreams, her body had been intact, but now a vicious puncture opened in her abdomen, mirroring the wound that had sent her to this place. Blood dripped onto the grass, and strange crimson flowers rose up where it fell. "My dream is peace. I dream of a country that isn't tearing itself apart, a world that isn't constantly at war. But sometimes that dream seems so far away."
"Ah, peace. One of the oldest and noblest dreams of mankind. Only the dream of immortality is older. The dream in your heart is strong."
"But it's only a dream. Maybe it's one that can never be achieved in the real world."
"Child, this is the real world. Just because it isn't the world you know doesn't mean it isn't real. Anything from this world can be pulled into your world, if you are strong enough and determined enough. Show me your dream."
"How...?"
"Dreamstuff is all around us. Mold it. Show me your dream."
The garden, the grass, the flowers, the fireflies, all seemed to dissolve into mist, and then the mist took on new shapes. Buildings of white marble rose around Konan, and cobblestone streets appeared under her feet. Laughing children ran through the streets, and shopkeepers displayed their wares in the windows of prosperous-looking stores. A trio of Rain ninja strolled down one street, talking in an animated and carefree way. An emissary from another village approached them, asking for directions to the nearest inn.
"This is the world you would build, then? This is your dream?" Konan turned and found the Dream Lord at her elbow.
"Yes. This dream is what I fight for. I've killed men for it, and now I think I'm dying for it."
"I told you before--you wouldn't be here if you were dead. As for your dream...if you carry it in your heart, protect it fiercely, and do all you can to shape the world around you in its image...someday you just might succeed. No matter what happens, a dream can never be killed. Even if you die, even if your comrades die, even if the tyrant you fight triumphs for a while, the dream will still survive, and someday someone will make it a reality. Dreams never die, for they are Endless."
Slowly, the dream landscape faded from view, and the bare walls of a hospital room took its place. Konan found herself lying in bed with an IV drip in her arm. Nagato was sitting in a chair by her bedside, and as she opened her eyes, he jumped to his feet. "You're awake!" he exclaimed. "I was so worried--you were delirious for days!"
"You were talking in your sleep," he confided, his gray eyes glinting with something that might have been tears. "It sounded like you were talking to someone. I thought...I thought you had met the Shinigami. I thought you were dying."
"I was talking to someone, but it wasn't the Shinigami."
"Who was it? And what did he say?"
Konan's right hand was curled into a fist, and she opened it now. A single firefly sat within, alive and unharmed.
There were no fireflies in the Rain Village.
Anything from this world can be pulled into your world, if you are strong enough and determined enough. Dreams never die, for they are Endless.
"He was the King of All Night's Dreaming, and he said not to give up hope."
A/N: See, I told you the next update wouldn't take so long!
I'm intending for their to be one, maybe two more chapters in this story. I hope you're all enjoying it!