Lanny sat at the edges of the water, staring into the misty beyond. Her clothes soaked from the water kicking her legs, she sighed deeply throwing rocks at the beyond. From behind her, she could detect the faintest footsteps of Dream silently walking forward.

"Hi Aunt Lanny," He spoke softly.

"You disappeared for a good while. You were that angry with me, huh?"

"A little, yeah. I just, all this time you trained me to kill the one I loved most. I guess I just couldn't understand why. Did you not care about what I wanted?" Dream asked. However, there were no hints of anger, only confusion and the lingering curiosity toward her. Lanny looked away, not wanting to look at the eyes of the nephew who snapped at her. "It's okay, I understand why you don't-"

"You sound a lot like her."

"What?"

"Your mother. She used to argue like that to me all the time. Despite both Quetz and I being older, she was the one who started the fights, mostly with me. Sometimes she argued I was too pushy on her, butt what was I supposed to do? Let her do stuff that could potentially harm her or us. I loved her and wanted to protect her, that's what we siblings did. But when it got bad...it would end kinda how you did back there in that weird town." She pointed at herself slightly, indicating she was blaming herself. Dream picked up her wet cloak, drying it with the sun.

"Sometimes, I hated our fights. I never meant to hurt her, I only wanted to keep her safe. I didn't know what the mortals could do to her, so when she wanted to leave, I just...couldn't control myself. I pushed her away, and it was too late when I realized my mistake. I wanted to take it back, but I couldn't find any way to do it. Until when she nearly died, I wanted to show I still cared for her by giving her a gift. You and Nightmare." There was no hostility by the mention of the brother's name, and surprised Dream quite a bit. She continued.

"She seemed happy with you two, so I was happy. Even if it meant I couldn't see her in person, at least she was happy with the gift her loving sister gave her. I loved you two so much, I saw you guys as like a symbol of our family's love. But, when I checked one day and saw she died, I wanted to know who did it. And when I saw it was Nightmare, a gift of love to our sister, I didn't know what to think. Why would my gift to her want to kill her? Was it something I did? I got so confused, so sad by her death, I turned away from the family that needed me. Just for one stupid mistake."

Dream coughed harshly, snapping her out of it. He stared seriously in her eyes, wanting to speak up. Picking his words wisely, he spoke. "Nightmare didn't mean to kill her, and I think you should know. There was a town that lived near us and the tree, and I was loved and adored by the people. Because I guarded joy and happiness, everyone loved me. But...they hated Nightmare, just because he protected the dark apples. They hit him, told him awful things about himself, they...abused my brother. He never told me about it, so I never knew until it was too late. In fear of being killed by the people, he ate one of the dark fruits. It was too much for him and he attacked everyone. He didn't mean to kill mother, he was just so mad and sad at the people." Dream kicked the side of the cliff. "And I couldn't do anything but watch."

He looked over to see Lanny covering her mouth in shock. Her pupils shrunk into little dots, and her breathing was rapid but shallow. "Oh my god." Was all she could say. Dream nodded. "H-How did I not know? Oh god...And you've been trying to..." She yelled to the sky, but Dream didn't flinch. He only waited for her to calm down.

"First pushed her own sister away from her blind anger, couldn't save her from being killed by a mortal, couldn't save her again from being sliced up, and now I couldn't do anything to stop a poor child...my nephew...from being abused by mortals. Man, I'm a terrible person. I've made too many mistakes to count, maybe I shouldn't really be a guardian." She felt a slight slap as Dream hit the back of her head.

"Don't say that. We all make mistakes, both big and small in our lives. That's how we are. My mistake was not being there for him, and you already know yours. I think what we should do is try and learn from our faults instead of creating new ones. Don't you agree?" Dream stood up and offered his hand. As she got up, he wrapped the cloak around her again. "Mom would want us to do that."

"Thank you Dream. For forgiving me."

"No pro-"

A roar came from behind, startling both of them. Running toward the noise, Quetz joined them.

"Did you heart that?! That did not sound like a animal around here!" He yelled.

"I think I recognize that screaming." Dream responded.

When they made it there, they were shocked to find Neil being confronted by Nightmare. He looked just the same as before, except he's breathing was so bad they heard it from where they were. And Nightmare looked sad...and mad at the same time.

But he wasn't staring at anyone, but at his little light at the life tree.