Author's Note: Hello my lovelies! I don't know about ya'll but I am absolutely feral for Morpheus. This story will be following SOME of the plot of the first season of The Sandman on Netflix but not all of it. I will be adding in my own plot points as well as some deviations from what I do keep of the season. I've read minimal Sandman comics but I just got the first Sandman omnibus and I cannot wait to begin binge reading. On that note, I went out of my comfort zone with the start of this, so I hope you like it.

As long as I can remember, I have been plagued by terrible nightmares. It got to the point that I was even scared of falling asleep. It wasn't the same nightmare, no, they were different almost every time. A doctor would have diagnosed me with Nightmare Disorder, had I ever actually seen one. But Nightmare Disorder is for mortals, and I am only half.

I was born to a very evil man, a mortal that only knows how to take. He took my mother, robbed her of her dignity, power, and her choices. He used her to gain riches and influence, to help make his petty desires real.

See, mama is a Witch, a daughter of Hecate, the Kindly Ones, The Three.

And then there's me.

My name is Devika, and I wasn't meant to happen, I should have never happened. It was a compatibility thing. A complicated mess of the birds and the bees and that while they both had the corresponding parts, a direct daughter of Hecate wouldn't have been able to give a child to a mortal. Not without the intention to do so at least. It was all about intent. And she hadn't chosen him.

She hadn't chosen me.

I just happened.

A weird little 'fuck you' from Destiny, I guess. As if she had needed any more suffering than she had already endured.

Had I been mortal, father would have gotten rid of me, one way or another. But it was very obvious after I was born that I took after my mother. It wasn't just our looks, though, I was practically a miniature version of her. No, it was the monster in the form of a black maine-coon cat that had appeared on the birthing bed that had settled up the debate.

I apparently had a 'Familiar', a monster that 'heard the call' of my birth and chose to bind itself to me. Not really sure what definition of monster she meant though. A demon? All she told me was that she had one too, a snake of all things. But she wasn't born with it, it was a gift from Hecate. When father found out what it was, he made her lock it up in Witch's glass, separating us. The start of his control over me.

I grew up to be smaller version of my mother, we had our differences sure, but I shared none of my fathers looks.

Where Mama was tall, I was short, where as she was strong, I was soft. Her bone structure was harsher than mine, she was all fine angles where as I was delicate. We were both slender, with soft curves. My curly fire-kissed hair had grown long like hers, all the way down to my waist. Our eyes were exactly the same, one the lightest blue, the other completely black, the iris as dark as the pupil it surrounded. Standing as a stark contrast to the white of our eye.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

As a child, I wasn't sure how he was controlling her. How he could make her do all of these things for him when he was so horrible to us. I didn't realize he had entrapped her. He had bought a very old Grimoire that came with a spell to summon an entity and bind it. My mother had just been unlucky.

She showed me the marks, dark and angry runes seemingly carved into a band around her wrists. She wanted me to know, needed me to understand why things were the way they were. She told me lots of things, about her past, about her mother - how she wasn't really born so much as she was created.

She told me what I was, what to expect. I would age slower than an average mortal, until one day, I would stop. Age would not kill me, but other things could. I was immortal, but not invulnerable.

She was ordered to teach me everything she knew, and she did that, and more. She helped me hone the magic I was naturally gifted with. Like her mother, Hecate, I had premonitions, but they were rare and more like feelings. My gifts were so unlike my mothers nature based magic it was disconcerting. I was proficient in blood magic, a trait she hadn't expected when she tested me. She had tested me on all the basic magics, until finally she knew. She seemed unsettled, rattled even, even as a kid I could tell.

My mother's magic kept father young, not immortal like us, but he would live far longer than he should. He wasn't often cruel to me in the beginning, just cold. Until one day, it changed. He was abusive in every sense of the word, but he was far worse to my mother.

We weren't allowed to be in the same room together except for lessons, he kept us on a tight leash. More often than not I was locked away in the attic that had become my bedroom. The door was triple locked and the light was controlled from the outside.

Maybe that was when the Nightmares started, when he showed me how cruel he could be for the very first time. Or maybe they had been with me from the start and I simply couldn't remember them. Either way, I couldn't escape my hellish situation even in my dreams. Until one day, he showed up.

There was ripping and clawing, flesh was broken, hair was pulled. The darkness was the worst, I couldn't even see what I was being attacked by, but I couldn't stop screaming. And then it was gone, and a soothing feeling settled over my skin. It wasn't necessarily a cold sensation, but it wasn't warm either.

Then came the light, like dawn approaching outside of the small window in the dust-filled attic. I was suddenly very aware that I was dreaming, I was lucid.

Before

"Mama?" I looked around, sure I would find her. Who else could chase the darkness away but her?

"What plagues you so, little one? That you would dream like this, night after night?"

It was a mans voice, deeper than fathers.

"I'm not little, mama says I'm six in mortal years now."

He was there suddenly, not just his voice. He was tall, so very tall, he towered over my small frame. He was pale, paler than even I was. He seemed like darkness incarnate. Everything he wore was black, even his messy hair seemed to be made of the darkest ink.

"And who is your mother?" He inquired softly, bending down to my level.

"Mama is Mama, silly."

The corner of his mouth twitched.

"Hmm.. and who are you?"

"You're in my dream, how could you not know who I am?" I tilted my head to the side, curious at how I even knew that he was real in the first place or that I was in a dream.

"You are shielded from me." The words seemed to irritate him.

"I don't know what that means." I spoke honestly, confused about the man in front of me. "I'm Devika, sir. Who are you?"

"I am Dream of the Endless, The King of Dreams and the Nightmare realms."

"Like the Sandman? I read a book about the Sandman. Father says I'm not allowed to be stupid, smart girls learn how to read."

"Yes." He breathed quietly. "Like The Sandman."

I took a small step back away from him, frowning now.

"Are you the reason I have these Nightmares?"

He slowly shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing.

"No, and that is what troubles me. Curiously, unless I am here with you, you seem out of my reach."

"I don't understand." I said once again.

He tilted his head, just barely.

"I will try and help your Nightmares when I am able." He finally spoke again.

"Really?" The excitement bubbled in my chest, my limbs feeling light.

"Yes. But you must wake, I have kept you too long."

He waved his hand in front of me and I awoke abruptly to my father's snarling face and pain blossoming on my cheek.

Later

I was trying to focus on what Mama wanted me to do, I really was, but it was just so hard. There were so many runes, and several looked almost identical to the last.

Eyeing her back carefully, I moved to the next page in the large tome that mama said was to be my Grimoire. It was supposed to be a useful tool to keep on hand in case I couldn't remember something she was trying to teach me.

I started to sketch out the man from my dreams. His face was all strong angles, his square jaw, the straight edge of his nose, thick eyebrows, his messy hair. I didn't hear mother approach.

"Darling, who is that?" Her voice trembled lightly and I wasn't sure why.

Turning to face her, I smiled brightly.

"The Sandman!"

I watched her eyes go back to the sketch in front of me, it was pretty good I thought. The lines were dark, blurry almost, like he was fading and yet startlingly clear at the same time.

"You have seen him?" She swallowed hard.

"Yes, mama, he comes to me in my dreams."

"Often?"

"Sort of, he says that he can't help all the time, that he has duties?" I frowned, I wasn't sure what kind duties he had, he didn't answer a lot of my questions.

"Help with what, sweet girl?"

I had never spoken with mama about my nightmares before, I didn't want to burden her. Father was always so mean to her, somedays she was hurt, I didn't want to upset her further.

Frowning, I started to sketch the slope of his neck towards the end of the paper. "With my Nightmares."

She touched my cheek softly, drawing my attention back towards her.

"How long have you had these Nightmares?" Her eyes were soft, and all the sudden I wanted to cry.

"A really long time." I whispered.

She frowned, stroking my cheek soothingly. "And how long has he been visiting you?"

"A while, he makes the prettiest dreams. But I don't see him all the time, but I can feel him there."

She nodded her head, her eyes unfocused. Sighing deeply, she crouched in front of me, taking my hands in hers.

"Sweetheart, I need to tell you something really important, okay?" Tears pooled in her eyes and I instantly panicked.

"Mama what's wrong?"

"There will come a day where I can no longer see you."

I started to protest but she shook her head.

"When that happens, I need you to find him. Find The Sandman."

"But mama-"

"No, you must. Do you understand me?" Her voice was firm, not quite angry but something I couldn't grasp. "I wasn't sure how to protect you after I would be gone, but now I know how."

I nodded quickly, wanting to appease her and ease her distress.

"A bond with The King of Dreams will sever the one your father will have over you. Promise me you will find him."

"I promise." I was confused and scared, it bubbled in my chest like acid. "But why will you leave?"

She shook her head. "Let's not talk about that right now, sweet girl. I must teach you what to do when you find him. But you cannot write this down, you cannot let your father know. You have to memorize this."

I nodded, determined. "I will mama, I swear it."

I couldn't figure out why she seemed so determined and yet scared at the same time. Her emotions tickled the edges of my senses, but I couldn't understand them. There was so much I couldn't understand. Adults were complicated.

But if mama wanted me to find The Sandman, then I would.

One day, he stopped coming. At first, it wasn't obvious, he didn't show up every night after all. But days bled into weeks, and weeks turned to months. He was just gone. And without him, the Nightmares returned worse than before.

I didn't dare tell mama, I didn't want her to know that I had lost The Sandman already. How was I to find him again when I was supposed to? I had failed her.

Had I done something wrong for him to leave? Did he not want to help anymore? Did he hate me?

He didn't show up again, and years passed. By the time I turned ten in mortal years, I had given up on seeing him again in my dreams. I resigned myself to fearful sleep and the exhaustion that came with it.

Mama didn't ask why I seemed more and more tired, I could only hope that she figured it all to be father's influence. It wouldn't be entirely wrong. I couldn't bear the thought of her disappointment.

The worst day of my life, was also the day that mama disappeared. I was twelve in mortal years now, father had started to get more lines around his eyes and mouth. Mama had explained that one of our duties was to keep him as young as we could, lest he hurt us more. He wasn't like us, he wouldn't stop aging, but we had to slow it.

I had started asking more and more questions about the things that went on in the house. Why so many people came to visit mama, why father seemed so happy one moment and so terribly cruel the next. I started interfering with the wounds he'd inflict on mama, and in return, his anger was turning further onto me.

Mama rushed into my room, practically shoving the door into the wall in her haste. What was she doing? She wasn't allowed in here, it wasn't time for lessons. She walked briskly, but her hands trembled at her sides. She didn't give me a chance to get up, instead she sat next to me on my bed.

"Sweet girl, do you remember what I told you, about me leaving?"

Dread filled my stomach, heavy like stones.

"Yes."

"And you remember what I told you to do?"

"Yes." I repeated, swallowing hard.

"It's time. We have to act carefully, we cannot raise suspicion with your father." She held up her hands, once again showing me the angry rune cuts around her wrists. "This is what will happen, this is what you must endure for a time."

"He is going to control me, like he does you, isn't he?"

She nodded.

"Yes, you have grown into such a free-spirited girl. And he hates it." There was a small smile on her face. "It will hurt. But your father doesn't know he can't have us both, there are laws he knows not."

She took my hands in hers, rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand.

"You must be brave like I know you can be. I would spare you, if I could. But if I tell him what is to happen, I'm afraid of what he will do to you."

"He'd kill me, wouldn't he?" Mama had explained death to me, to explain my vulnerability.

Tears leaked from her eyes.

"Remember what I said, the spell in which he will bind you is not strong enough to withstand a bond with an Endless such as Dream."

"How do you know he will help, mama?"

She smiled through her tears.

"He has helped you before, he will again."

The way she said it.. she knew he was gone, that he had been for sometime.

We both flinched when father yelled from downstairs.

Time was up.