Chapter Text
This was definitely the bougiest fucking party Tommy had ever been to. Or, well, at least the bougiest party he could remember going to.
Men and women in expensive clothes milled about, crystalline champagne glasses glittering in their hands like the stars above their heads. The night air was cool, but not unpleasantly so, although Tommy was still grateful for the suit jacket keeping him warm.
It was the only reason he was glad to be wearing the suit though. Otherwise it itched like hell, with the collar digging into his neck no matter how many times he pulled it away from his skin. Dream had told him he had to wear it since this was a formal event, even though Tommy was a superhero now and he thought he should be allowed to wear his normal superhero outfit here considering it was literally a fundraiser for the Hero Committee.
But no. He had to be in formalwear despite how stupid he felt in the suit.
And okay, maybe he wasn’t technically a hero himself. Hell, it had only been a few weeks since he’d made his first public debut as Dream’s sidekick. After training him to hell and back for a month straight, Dream had finally deemed him ready. So less than three weeks ago he’d gone out on his first patrol with his mentor, and the city was still figuring out how it felt about Dream’s new sidekick—Lucid, who wore a frowny face mask to contrast Dream’s smiley face.
So it wasn’t like he was really in a position to make complaints. But still, that was all the more reason to let him off the hook with this.
It was a stupid argument that he wasn’t going to win. He knew that. But at least he got to keep his mask on so no one could see the way he was scowling at every person who tried to talk to him.
The crowd was a mix of masked and unmasked people. The unmasked were the rich families in the city who poured heaping sums of money into helping the government fund the Hero Committee. The masked were the heroes themselves, thanking the benefactors and listening to their ideas for improving the way they did their jobs. Not like Tommy would actually bother listening to some rich pricks who just wanted to ask heroes if they could ‘do something’ about the homeless problem in L’Manberg. Like they didn’t have enough money to fund more homeless shelters themselves. Fucking assholes.
Tommy was hanging towards the edge of the crowd, looking over the railing of the rooftop and at the glittering skyline that stretched out onto the horizon. His hair was ruffled by the breeze, and he sucked in a breath of cool air, trying to rid the fog covering his thoughts that had settled in his mind from being stuck in the crowd for so long.
Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder.
“Lucid?”
Biting back a sigh at the older woman’s crooning voice, Tommy turned around to face her, somewhat glad that his frowny face mask was matching the frown he was wearing underneath.
“Yes? Did you need something, ma’am?” He asked, trying to inject as much fake politeness in his tone as possible.
“I’m so glad I caught you. I wanted to ask if you and Dream are aware of the uptick we’ve had in, well, unpleasant people showing up in Prime Heights?” The woman asked, raising a perfectly plucked brow at him. “We live in Prime Heights because it’s the safest part of the city, but there’s just been an increase lately in people who just… don’t look as though they belong, and it makes me nervous.”
Great. One of the most annoying kinds of rich people at this party. The ones who not only complained about the work the heroes did like they were baristas at a coffee shop who didn’t make her order right, but who managed to be super damn offensive at the same time too.
Tommy opened his mouth to reply, but a familiar presence materialized beside him before he could.
“Of course we’re aware of that, ma’am,” Dream said with honey-laced words, the smile audible in his voice. “We’re doing everything in our power to keep our benefactors safe. I can assure you that we’ll look into improving the situation in Prime Heights.”
The woman’s pursed lips instantly smoothed out into a warm smile. Dream tended to have that effect on people. He could calm even the angriest of people by saying what they wanted to hear. There was something about the permanent smile mask he wore that just settled the worries of anyone talking to him. You’d almost think his powers included charm speak, but that wasn’t the case. It was just the way Dream was.
“Thank you so much, Dream. We really appreciate everything you do for the community,” the woman crooned, patting his arm before she hurried back into the crowd.
Once she had disappeared, Dream leaned down to Tommy’s ear. “I understand it can be frustrating to talk to them, but you have to at least try to pretend you appreciate the fact that they’re paying your salary,” he whispered, squeezing Tommy’s shoulder in a not so gentle way.
“Sorry, I’m just not used to having to be all polite and shit. Especially to stuck up assholes like this,” Tommy whispered back.
“Well get used to it. This is your first non-hero related appearance by my side, and if the benefactors decide they don’t like you, you could get kicked out,” Dream told him, his gaze boring into Tommy behind his mask as he straightened back up. He kept his hand on Tommy’s shoulder and turned him back towards the crowd. “You gotta try and make a good impression on at least some of the people here, so just stick by me and follow my lead.”
Biting back his protests because he knew Dream was right, Tommy groaned and followed his mentor back into the throng.
A few minutes later, Tommy found himself stuck in a conversation with an older couple decked out in gold and silk, and Tommy was once again so glad his mask covered his entire face or else he’d be getting yelled at by Dream for all the eye rolling he’d done since this conversation began.
“Dream, Lucid, have either of you been to South End very much? Although we tend to stay in Prime Heights ourselves, South End has some fantastic restaurants down by the docks,” the man asked, glancing eagerly between the two of them.
While Tommy was tempted to snap that eating from a fancy restaurant like the ones in South End was something he’d never been able to afford for most of his life, something in the back of his head made him pause. No, he hadn’t been to any of those expensive seafood restaurants down by the docks, he knew that. But while he couldn’t remember spending much time in South End at all, the place felt familiar, even though he couldn’t recall any specific memories of the place.
Frowning, he tried to shuffle through what he remembered of South End, but groaned when he could only think of a few vague memories of crossing over into the district to go shopping with a foster family when he was much younger. But he knew that wasn’t what was nagging the back of his mind.
It was the stupid wall of void in his memories again. The last year of his life that was wiped clean from his mind like wiping chalk off a chalkboard. He had been to South End in that year, he could feel it. If he focused hard enough, he thought he could still taste the salt on his tongue and hear the blasts of the ship's horns. But he couldn’t remember when, how, or who he’d been with at the time. It was empty, and despite his fists pounding against the wall in his mind, nothing could seem to tear the blockade down.
Dream seemed to notice Tommy’s frustration because he put his hand on his shoulder again, squeezing it much more gently this time as a reassurance. He knew what it meant. It was Dream’s way of telling him, it’s alright. Focus on my hand. Focus on the here and now.
Tommy focused on the pressure, taking a few deep breaths to drag himself back to the present. The man was still going on about the seafood in South End, and Tommy tried to distract himself by figuring out how the hell he was going to contribute to this conversation.
He opened his mouth, ready to make some comment about how the idea of eating lobster made him sad because their little faces were so cute, but he was cut off by a piercing scream echoing across the rooftop.
The crowd went dead silent, every hero in the vicinity whipping their head towards the source of the noise. At one end of the roof, a stage had been set up for Mayor Schlatt to give a thank you speech to both the heroes and benefactors at the end of the night. But instead of Mayor Schlatt or one of the event organizers standing on that stage, there were three figures that were familiar to anyone who lived in L’Manberg—and not in a good way.
Tommy’s heart dropped into his stomach as his eyes landed on the three leaders of the Syndicate. The most powerful and terrifying supervillains in all of L’Manberg.
Thanatos, Orpheus, and Acheron.
Thanatos stood in the center of the stage, his black talons wrapped around the microphone while his pitch black wings spread out behind him. His face was completely shrouded by the dark, glittering veil that covered his head, but even from his place in the crowd, Tommy could feel his smirk.
To Thanatos’ right stood Acheron. His bright pink hair was done up in its usual complicated criss-cross of braids, half-hidden underneath the jagged boar skull he used to cover his face. His eyes were glowing bright red, and Tommy could see two long swords hidden under his pitch black cape.
Then, to Thanatos’ left stood the last leader of the Syndicate—Orpheus. The porcelain opera mask he used to cover his face was oddly appropriate for the setting, and the lights pointed towards the stage highlighted the dark glittering makeup he always had applied under his eyes. His black trench coat billowed softly in the breeze that pushed through the roof, and Tommy noticed that the villain had even switched out his usual heavy boots for proper dress shoes that had been perfectly polished, as if he had wanted to match the formal evening looks present tonight. Jesus christ, he was such a dramatic bitch.
Thanatos tapped the mic a few times as heroes sprinted towards the stage, a soft thumping echoing over the crowd with the sound. Taking that as his cue to move as well, Tommy started trying to weave between the expensively-dressed people, but it was a slow effort given how all of them were frozen with fear as they stared at Thanatos.
“Hello? Is this thing on?” Thanatos asked in an almost mocking tone.
“Don’t move, Thanatos!” One hero—Hourglass it seemed—shouted as he pushed through the crowd, having gotten much closer to the front than Tommy currently was.
Thanatos laughed, and the chilling sound reverberated off the walls.
“I don’t plan on going anywhere just yet. But you might want to think twice before you consider attacking us,” Thanatos grinned, glancing to his left.
Tommy’s eyes widened as Orpheus’ smirking figure faded from view, turning incorporeal before going invisible completely. There were a few seconds of silence as everyone’s heads whipped around, trying to find the ghost-like villain, when there was the sound of shouting coming from the right side of the stage.
Schlatt had been circled by guards the moment the Syndicate leaders had made themselves known, his security detail shoving him to the side and surrounding him to make sure the mayor wasn’t a target. But now, Tommy could see one of the guard’s eyes had gone milky white, and he had one arm wrapped around Schlatt’s neck to hold him in a headlock, with the other pressing the barrel of his gun to the Mayor’s head.
“Hey! What the hell, man?!” Schlatt shouted, although he didn’t dare move with the gun pressed to his temple.
“As you all can see, Orpheus has possessed the Mayor’s security guard, and he won’t have any problem pulling the trigger if you make any moves against us right now,” Thanatos explained, as if he were teaching a presentation instead of holding the Mayor hostage.
All of the heroes in the crowd immediately stopped running, including Tommy. Next to him, he felt Dream place a hand on his shoulder,
“Don’t make any moves until I tell you to,” Dream whispered into his ear.
Tommy nodded, knowing this wasn’t the time to question his mentor in any way shape or form. So instead of pushing forward like he wanted to, he just turned his gaze back to the stage.
“We’re not here to cause trouble. We simply have an announcement we would like to make and then we’ll be on our way,” Thanatos told the crowd while Acheron stood silent at his side like a sentinel. Taking another beat, Tommy gave Dream an uncertain look, and his mentor shook his head. He still shouldn’t try to make a move.
“Something has been stolen from us,” Thanatos said, his wings puffing up as he spoke. “Something that is very important to us. And we are fairly certain that the person who stole this thing of ours is in this very crowd.”
Dream tensed beside Tommy as the crowd broke out into murmurs. Eyes were darting towards the different heroes in the crowd, the benefactors no doubt assuming that the culprit had to be a hero.
“Like we said, we haven’t crashed your party to cause trouble. But we want this thing returned to us, and we won’t hesitate to take extreme measures to get what we want.”
Schlatt yelped again as Orpheus—still possessing the guard—pressed the gun harder against his head. A clear threat.
There was a heavy silence that fell over the crowd. Uncomfortable glances were shared. Everyone had the same silent question on their minds.
“What is this thing they stole?” One of the benefactors suddenly shouted from the crowd, his voice shaky. “If we know what it is, maybe we can help you find it!”
Thanatos chuckled, and it was a dark sound that made chills run down Tommy’s spine. “We’d prefer not to reveal that information. The thief knows what they took, and they know why we want it back. They’re the only person I’m addressing here tonight.” Even though the veil blocked Thanatos’ eyes, for some reason, Tommy could tell Thanatos was looking in Dream’s direction.
Tommy glanced up at his mentor, and paused when he noticed something odd.
There was a strange shimmer over Dream’s mask. In fact, when Tommy’s gaze lowered, he realized that the shimmer was covering Dream’s entire body. It was so subtle, it was only noticeable to those who had it pointed out to them. But Tommy was quite familiar with Dream’s powers at this point, and he immediately understood what Dream was doing.
Just as the realization hit Tommy, he heard a yelp come from the mayor’s direction. The Dream standing behind him dematerialized as the real Dream darted over to Schlatt’s side, shoving the guard Orpheus had possessed away from Schlatt.
And just like that, everything fell into chaos.
Schlatt stumbled out of Orpheus’ grip, his guards grabbing him and yanking him away from the stage as quickly as possible. Tommy—and the rest of the heroes—resumed weaving through the crowd, the civilians now screaming and running in a panic. Tommy could barely see above the throng, but he was just able to make out Dream fighting the guard Orpheus had possessed in hand to hand combat, while Thanatos and Acheron made their way towards Tommy’s mentor.
Shit. Tommy’s hands may have been shaking with the idea of confronting a member of the Syndicate head on, but he couldn’t let them get to Dream.
Surging forward, Tommy pulled out the collapsible baton on his belt and lunged for Acheron. Maybe it was a bit stupid to go for the guy who literally could die and come back to life, but he just happened to be the one closest to him.
Acheron jumped back when Tommy swung the baton his way. He dodged Tommy’s swings easily, almost looking bored as he reached for his own twin swords.
One sword came in from the left, and Tommy yelped as he swung his baton up to block it. Then, the other moved towards him, and Tommy twisted his baton sideways so it was blocking both the weapons.
Spinning his baton and jumping out of the way of the swords, he and Acheron began something of a dance. Acheron would swing for him and Tommy would just barely dodge, and then Tommy would try to lunge forward only to get his baton batted away like a fly by Acheron’s swords.
Every time his baton met one of the sides of Acheron’s swords, pain would flash through his arms. Acheron hit hard.
“Lucid! Behind you!” Dream suddenly shouted from behind.
Recognizing the command, Tommy dropped to the ground as Dream barreled towards Acheron. Predictably, Acheron swung both his swords Dream’s way, and Tommy almost laughed at the shock on his face when the swords passed through Dream’s illusion like smoke.
Using the moment of distraction as the illusion faded away, Tommy leapt at Acheron again, and this time actually managed to land a hit against his gut. Acheron grunted and took a step back, but it was only half a second before Tommy had to bring his baton back above his head to keep his throat from getting slit.
Acheron pressed down harder on the baton with his swords. Hot, searing pain screamed through Tommy’s muscles as his arms began to shake. It was like he was being crushed by a hydraulic press. Acheron wasn’t just strong, he was insanely strong.
Biting back a whimper, Tommy was forced to stumble back against a wall, clenching his jaw as he fought to keep the swords away from him.
“I haven’t seen you before,” Acheron commented, barely even sounding out of breath. “You a Dream wannabe or somethin’?”
“I’m his sidekick,” Tommy forced out between gritted teeth. His heart was pounding out of his ears because he was actually talking to Acheron, but he trusted his voice changer would keep the man from recognizing him. “My name is Lucid.”
Acheron snorted, and leaned in further. This time, Tommy did whimper as his shoulders started to tremble against the weight. “Lucid, huh? What are your powers anyway?”
“Like I’d fucking tell you!” Tommy hissed.
It wasn’t that Tommy was powerless. He did have powers. It’s just that they were completely useless when it came to actual combat situations. But it’s not like he wanted Acheron to know that.
“Well, let’s see if we can find out,” Acheron snickered.
Tommy squeezed his eyes shut, mentally preparing to hear the snapping of his own bones if the pressure on his baton got any worse.
But before Acheron could do anything, another voice shouted from behind.
“ACHERON!” Thanatos yelled, his powerful wings already lifting him off the stage. “WE’RE LEAVING!”
Acheron huffed, and suddenly all the weight on the baton was released. Tommy’s arms fell limp to his sides in relief, and it took all his energy not to collapse on the floor right then and there.
“Guess we’ll save this for another time. See you around, Lucid,” Acheron said, something mocking wrapping around his voice when he said Tommy’s name.
Looking back to the stage, Tommy watched as Thanatos swooped forward, picking Acheron up by the arm and flying off the roof and back into the city. A bit behind him, Tommy noticed the see-through Orpheus—having left the guard’s body—floating behind the winged man, albeit at a slightly slower speed.
Within seconds, the trio had disappeared into the city skyline, leaving the heroes watching them from the rooftop with dumbstruck expressions.
Suffice to say, the party was ruined.
♔
After the villains had fled the party, the heroes tried their best to do damage control with the guests who had run and hid in the stairwell of the building. Naturally, there were a lot of incredulous demands of “how could you let this happen?!” and “are we going to try and find what was taken from them?”
As the Number One Hero, it was Dream’s job to try and assuage these fears. He reassured the guests this was something completely unprecedented, and they would be taking steps to prevent an incident like this at future events for the Hero Committee. While this was enough to placate the guests, Tommy could tell by the numerous scowls that they were going to be dealing with complaints for a while.
Once all the guests had left, Dream told the heroes at the scene that they would have a meeting on this incident the next night. In the meantime though, everyone needed to go home and rest up, and be on the lookout for any more activity from the Syndicate.
Now, it was several hours later, and Tommy was back at Dream’s apartment. Well, it was technically their apartment, but Tommy didn’t pay any kind of rent. Dream was just letting him stay there out of pure generosity, so Tommy tended to call it Dream’s apartment anyway.
He had taken a shower as soon as they got back, the muscles in his arms screaming for something to lessen the ache. The hot water had done wonders, easing the tension in his shoulders that had sat there ever since the Syndicate first showed up to the party, and soothing the aches that he knew would only be ten times worse tomorrow.
Stepping out of the bathroom, Tommy dropped his towel in the laundry basket, shoving his hands in his sweatpants pockets as he wandered back towards the living room.
The apartment itself was one of the nicest places Tommy had ever been in. It was at the top of the Hero Tower, with floor to ceiling windows looking out over the entire city. There was a large, open living room, a very modern-looking kitchen, and three bedrooms—one for Dream, one for Tommy, and a guest room.
Trailing his hand along the granite countertop of the kitchen, Tommy spotted Dream sitting on the couch, news blaring across the TV screen in front of him. The light of the TV gave the room an eerie, white glow, because Dream hadn’t turned on any other lights in the house.
“What are they saying?” Tommy asked as he moved past the kitchen and into the living room itself, his bare feet moving off the cold wood and onto plush carpet.
Dream had changed out of his hero costume and into sweats, but still kept his mask on. There was a part of Tommy that was hurt by Dream still not trusting him enough to show him his face, but he knew that considering his situation, it was probably for the best.
“It’s unsurprising, but they’re making it all about the benefactors,” Dream told him, the sneer audible in his voice. “Talking about how they barely made it out with their lives. Totally ignoring the fact that the only one who got threatened was Schlatt.”
Tommy rolled his eyes as he dropped onto the couch next to Dream. “Fucking typical. Did they mention what the Syndicate said about something being stolen from them?”
Dream shook his head. “No. The Committee sent me an email saying they don’t want that to be public information, and that the benefactors have already been told to stay quiet about it.”
“Why?” Tommy frowned.
“Well, if the Syndicate starts making more moves to try and demand this thing be given back to them, if the public was aware they were looking for something, they would be asking us as heroes to give into their demands. Obviously, we can’t do that, so it’s to keep public pressure off of us,” Dream explained, running a hand through his hair.
“But if the Syndicate starts pulling shit with the public, like taking hostages or something, isn’t that a little unfair for the public not to know why?” Tommy asked.
At this, Dream turned to look at Tommy for the first time since he sat down, and Tommy squirmed under the blank stare of his dotted eyes. “Unfair? Maybe. But if it prevents mass hysteria then I say it’s worth it,” Dream told him. “As heroes, our job is to protect the public from threats they’re not even aware of. The average citizen doesn’t need the burden of knowing just how in danger they really are on a day to day basis. If everyone realized just how powerful these villains were, life would come grinding to a halt because everyone would be too scared to do anything.”
“But-”
“Tommy,” Dream cut him off before he could even start his protest. “Ignorance is a blessing, not a curse.”
Tommy thought back to the black void in his memories. The year of his life he was missing. His frown deepened.
“Not being able to remember the last fucking year of my life sure doesn’t feel like a blessing,” Tommy snapped.
“Are you sure about that, Tommy?” Dream asked, cocking his head to the side. “You really want to remember what happened to you when you were kidnapped by the Syndicate?” When Tommy was silent, Dream continued. “I have no idea what happened to you while you were being held captive, but from what we know about the Syndicate, I highly doubt it was anything nice. You’re probably being saved from so much trauma because of your amnesia.”
Flinching, Tommy dropped his eyes to his lap. “But… I feel like I would know if anything really bad happened to me. Like, I doubt I could just forget that all so easily.”
“Or maybe your brain is trying to protect you by blocking out your memories,” Dream pointed out, reaching forward to tap Tommy’s forehead. “You keep trying to unlock these memories thinking they’re going to give you answers, but haven’t you considered that you don’t need these answers?”
Tommy smacked Dream’s hand away from his face. “But what if someone’s looking for me? The last thing I remember, I had just turned sixteen and I was fucking homeless. I lived in a warehouse that had holes in the roof and smelled like mold, and I was lucky if I got to eat once a day. Did I look homeless to you when you found me?”
“I found you tied up in a warehouse with the Syndicate watching you like hawks. They could’ve had you in captivity for months, and they probably fed you more than what you got on the streets. That doesn’t mean they were being kind to you though,” Dream pointed out.
“I wasn’t saying that!” Tommy snapped again, narrowing his eyes at Dream. “I’m not trying to say the Syndicate were all wonderful and lovely to me because that’s fucking ridiculous. But I’m saying I just-” He paused, unsure of how to put into words all the thoughts and wisps of memories floating in his mind.
“Go on,” Dream pushed after a few beats. “You’re saying you just…?”
In truth, Tommy wasn’t sure what he was trying to say. There was nothing he remembered, but there were wisps that would float at the edges of his mind, just out of reach. It was like when you woke up from a dream, and you knew that your mind had just been filled with vivid images moments ago, but anytime you tried to remember it the picture dissipated into smoke. The feelings and sensations would sit on the edge of your thoughts, but couldn’t ever be brought into focus.
Tommy had those same dream-like wisps of memories. The whisper of a kind voice. The ghost of a hand running through his hair. He knew deep down in his bones that in that year he lost, someone had loved him. Someone had taken him off the streets, gave him food, and cleaned him up. But anytime he tried to bring the memory of that person into focus, it would all disappear.
“There should be someone looking for me,” Tommy admitted, keeping his head down. “I just- I don’t know how I know, but I got off the streets in that year. I think someone took me in, and if they did then that-that means they should be searching for me right now.”
“Tommy,” Dream said, his voice much softer than it had been before. “I told you I’m keeping an eye on missing person’s reports, but no one has reported you missing. You’ve been with me for almost three months now. The only people that could possibly be looking for you would be the Syndicate.”
Gritting his teeth, Tommy winced. He knew Dream was right. It was stupid to get his hopes up when he knew that if anyone was looking for him, they would’ve filed something with the police by now.
However, what Dream said brought another question into his mind.
“Um, so today then, when Thanatos said they were looking for something, do you think they meant-”
“You?” Dream finished for him. Tommy nodded. “I think it’s possible, but I’m not sure.”
“If it is me, I just don’t understand why they’d want me back so badly,” Tommy said, wringing his hands in his lap. “They’ve held hostages plenty of times. Why the hell would they want me back badly enough to crash a fundraiser party full of heroes?”
There was a moment of silence. Glancing up from his lap, Tommy saw the reflection of the TV lights dancing across the surface of Dream’s porcelain mask. It seemed like the news had changed to a different story now, but the volume was down so Tommy couldn’t hear it.
“Do you really need me to tell you the answer to that?” Dream finally said, the black dot eyes of his mask boring into him again.
Tommy squeezed his eyes shut, biting back a sigh. Dream was right. Tommy knew the answer to that question. He just didn’t want it to be the truth.
“So they knew about my powers then,” Tommy muttered, dropping his gaze to his hands.
“They probably did, and that’s probably why they kept you around. You were likely their personal healer. That’s a valuable thing to have, especially when you get into fights as often as the Syndicate does,” Dream explained.
Seeing Tommy’s tense expression, Dream then reached forward again, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay,” he reassured Tommy, his voice low. “As long as you do as I say, they won’t find you again.”
“What if they see me healing you as Lucid though?” Tommy asked, struggling to keep the tremor out of his voice. “Won’t they know it’s me?”
Dream snorted and shook his head. “Healing isn’t that rare of a power to have. I doubt they’d see you healing me and automatically assume it’s you under the mask.”
“But they want a healer, right? So what if they find out Lucid is a healer and decide to just take me without even realizing who I am?” Tommy pushed, all these different scenarios spinning around his head.
“I don’t think that’ll happen. They want their healer Tommy because they’re familiar with him. They know his strengths and limits, and they likely knew how to make him do what they wanted. To them, Lucid is a complete stranger. They have no idea how powerful your healing abilities are, and they would have to start from square one to get you to work with them, which would be even harder than it was the first time because you’re a hero now, not a civilian. I doubt they would think it’s worth the effort,” Dream reassured him, squeezing his shoulder. “Besides, every time you’re out as Lucid, I’m right there by your side. And I’m not going to let you get taken by them again.”
Taking a shaky breath, Tommy nodded. “Do you promise?” He asked, wincing when his voice cracked.
Suddenly, Dream was leaning forward, tugging him into a hug. Tommy melted into Dream’s hold, burying his face in his mentor’s shoulder.
“I promise I’m not going to let them get you again,” Dream whispered, hugging him tight. “You’re mine now. My sidekick. Not theirs.”
Tommy nodded, breathing in the familiar fabric softener smell on Dream’s sweatshirt. “I’m yours.”
“You’re mine,” Dream repeated. “You don’t belong to the Syndicate anymore, and you never will again.” He pulled back from the hug suddenly, and Tommy missed the comfort the touch brought.
“Thank you, Dream,” Tommy muttered.
“You’re welcome, Tommy,” Dream said, ruffling Tommy’s hair as he pushed to his feet. “I think I’m gonna call it an early night. If you need those sleeping pills again, they’re in the same drawer in the kitchen as always.”
“Alright, night then,” Tommy nodded.
“See you in the morning,” Dream waved, the wooden planks creaking underneath his feet.
Tommy watched as Dream disappeared into the hallway behind the kitchen, before slumping back into the couch. The TV was onto reporting the weather for the next week, and Tommy’s eyes glazed over as he stared at the woman pointing at a satellite map with her hand.
The Syndicate was looking for him. Although he didn’t remember it, they had kidnapped him before, and likely forced him to work as their healer. If they knew he was Lucid, they would snatch him up in two seconds flat.
But Dream promised that wouldn’t happen. And Tommy trusted Dream completely. Dream was his mentor, his best friend, his savior.
So Tommy pushed his worries as far down as he could. It would be okay.
He just had to make sure the Syndicate never found out who he was.