Work Text:
Huh, that was oddly convenient.
Sebastian squinted at the latest document he had opened and layed out on his desk.
“Z-224, Codename “Dreamer”. An entity that helps with one’s nightmares that wears Z-224-1, a red string, as a bracelet around their wrist.” he thought out loud, summarizing the document in an attempt to understand what he just read.
That was really, really, weirdly and oddly, and especially freaky convenient, that he stumbled upon this document.
He had dealt with horrible nightmares ever since he was convicted for 9 murders he never committed. And when Urbanshade got a hold of him, they became so terrifying, he made the decision to never want to sleep ever again.
Not to mention the vulnerability that came from being asleep. No, he rather passes out if his body decides that he finally needs some rest and he cannot fight it any longer than actually try to sleep on his own free will.
But now this document was on his table, and his eyes were skimming over its text again...
He slowly moved away from the desk, putting a finger on his lips while he started to pace around his hideout. Should he really risk going back to where he scooped that document in hopes that string is somewhere close by in a containment room?
“Peck it!” Sebastian balled a fist. If there was a way of hopefully not having nightmares for once, he should go for it.
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It was actually an easy grab. Thanks to his agility, he had quickly backtracked his steps... erm... path and found the string which the document mentioned.
Back inside his hideout, Sebastian looked at his wrist. It was actually helpful for once having three hands, tying the string around his wrist was done in no time.
Now he just needed to wait to pass out.
...
He scoffed, realizing that he kind of now was looking forward to the thing he had grown to hate: Sleeping.
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Sebastian opened his eyes, gasping for air while he jolted upwards.
It had happened, he passed out.
But instead of being greeted by the environment of his hideout, he found himself inside a children’s room. Although the wall very deteriorated and there was no ceiling.
His eyes widened when he realized he was inside his bedroom.
He stood up.
This was not how his nightmares usually started.
He slithered to the broken walls, looking outside, seeing that the entire room was surrounded by water.
“Okaaaay...” his hand started to tense up, gripping to the walls tightly, while he tried to control his breath.
“You don’t like the water?”
Sebastian jumped, pressing himself against the wall while looking at the source of the foreign voice.
He didn’t hesitate for a second when he grabbed his gun immediately after and pointed it at said source.
There was a floating entity, had a blue crescent shaped mask, with red stripes coming from the eyes, and it wore a green dress. It seemed to not possess legs.
“Uh...” the entity held their hands up “Please don’t shoot me. I am here to help you with your nightmares.”
Sebastian lowered his gun slowly, squinting in suspicion “You are ‘Dreamer’?”
The entity nodded “Yes! But my actual name is Moonjumper.”
“Okay, how does this work now?”
Moonjumper gave him a smile while red strings appeared around his fingers, before shooting out into all kinds of directions “Just tell me what you want the dream to be, and I will turn it into it. As long as you wear the red string in the real world, I will appear in your dreams and prevent any nightmares from taking over.”
Sebastian scoffed, not believing what he just heard “It’s that easy?”
“It’s that easy.” Moonjumper replied. He wiggled with his fingers, making the strings swing a little bit “Now what do you want the dream to be about?”
“...” Sebastian looked at him, before putting his gun away, and then taking a look at the room they were in “Can... Can you replace the ocean with land and... can you make me dream of my family?”
Moonjumper chuckled “Sure can do.”
He moved his hands, the strings following and latching onto all sorts of points within the environment. And then from these points, things changed to what Sebastian requested.
Sebastian’s eyes widened when he saw his room become whole again, and he rushed to the door, opening it to go downstairs.
Moonjumper followed him, to find him hugging the blurry replicas of his family, from 12 years ago. The last time he saw them.
“Hey... I am working with your memories, so that is all I can create...” Moonjumper rubbed the back of his head.
Sebastian continued hugging his family, tears starting to form in his eyes. “That’s okay.”
...
Despite his bliss, Sebastian suddenly pulled away, turning to the dream being while drying his eyes “You wouldn’t be able to wake me up, would you? I cannot be knocked out for multiple hours.”
Moonjumper chuckled again, but this time with displeasure in his voice. “Yeah, I took a look at where you are in the real world...” he put his hands together “Power naps it is, no problem.”
“Next time you fall asleep, the room with your family will be waiting.” Moonjumper said as his last words before pushing Sebastian out of the dream.
Sebastian woke up, surprisingly feeling refreshed. He looked at the red string, feeling it with another hand. Yes, the string was real and what he just dreamed must have been real too.
He smirked and went back to looking at data.