A hot cup of tea was steaming in Cross' hands as he looked up at the owner of the castle, who had gripped his shoulder before.

It was a skeleton with the likeness of Nightmare, an obvious twin to the Leader. He had the same face, the same pupils and innocent type look to him, the same height too. They were sitting in a large kitchen that Cross had seen on his adventure throughout the castle's bottom floor. The windows, like all of the others, were covered by curtains, which Cross had only noticed when Dream had to light up the candles since they had went out. Dream finished pouring himself a cup of the apple flavored tea, sitting back in his chair.

"So, let us continue the discussion from earlier in which we were indulged in," Dream said, crossing his legs as he smiled sadly at Cross.

~~~~~~

Cross had been surprised to turn around to see a man dressed in robes inside of the bedroom, who was gripping his arm with a golden gloved hand. But, when Dream had noticed Cross' skull expression, his hand lessened from his shoulder before dropping at his side.

"I never thought I would gaze upon that expression again," Dream had said at the time as he gazed upon Cross, "I can tell, you are a Follower of my brother, Nightmare, are you noy?"

"I am," Cross agreed, "You can tell because me and Nightmare have similar facial expressions, huh?"

"It is, I must agree with that statement," Dream spoke in a formal tone that made Cross' eye socket twitch.

This was going to get annoying pretty quickly, wasn't it.

"You're Dream, huh?" Cross asked, leaning over the Prince of Light, "I figured you'd be more... holy."

"And you must be Cross, the townsfolk from your town have spoken concerns when discovering your disappearance to me," Dream spoke, motioning for Cross to follow him as he made his way out of the room.

"Wait, where are we going?" Cross asked.

"It would be best, for the both of our presences, if you accompany me to the kitchen for some brewed tea," The Leader said, "Oh, and you should set down that picture or fold it up, make sure not to discard of it please. It has plenty of meaning to me."

~~~~~~

And so, he ended up within the kitchen with Dream, who sat across of him from the large island spreading across the middle of the kitchen.

"So, my old acquaintances from my old town told you about me being here, huh?" Cross said.

"They recognize you as a friend, do you not towards them?" Dream asked before shaking his head, "How foolish of me. You are like cross, you are indeed a Follower of him after all."

"The same can't be said about you," Cross said after taking a long sip of the tea, hot sweet apple flavor filling his senses.

"Oh?"

Dream sat up straighter, a curious expression dancing across his face. His cup sat untouched next to him, in reach, but he never did reach for it. Perhaps he wasn't thirsty, or perhaps he just wasn't in the mood for the apple flavored substance. Either way, it remained untouched.

"How so?"

Cross inspected him for a moment as his fingers danced around his own cup, the apple fragrance from the steam coming from the drink rather strong. Some light from the sun outside sprinkled in through the slit between the curtains on the window, impacting Dream but never touching Cross.

"Everyone from the village always has this happy go, carefree attitude while you seem so... dull..." Cross said, unable to find words to describe it.

Dream glanced over at his cup before pushing it away, leaning on his elbows to get a better look at Cross.

"I apologize, I haven't spoken to anyone in a very long period of time," Dream said, "But may I ask, why you were in my bedroom?"

"I was looking for you," Cross spoke honestly, "And I saw the open door, so I figured that someone might be in there."

"But, of course, the room lacked myself. So why did you walk in anyway?"

"It looked like Nightmare's room, so I was curious."

"Have you spoken to Nightmare recently?"

"Earlier today, actually, when I took a nap. Why?"

There was silence before Dream trimmed the cups top with his fingers, leaning against one hand before he picked up the cup finally and held it near his teeth.

"I was just pondering an idea..." His tone was low, "But, perhaps another time. You came here with intent, no?"

"I did," Cross agreed, pulling out the picture before flattening it out over the counter, "It's about your brother, if you don't mind answering."

"Of course, I would not dare hide anything from his Follower, you," Dream said, the drink being set down again.

Cross surveyed Dream before deciding to start off slow, since Dream didn't seem to be in a good mood to answer questions. He seemed like Cross before he met nightmare, dull, void of happiness or hope.

"Were you and Nightmare close?"

"Yes," A light smiled played at his teeth, "Nightmare was my only friend. One time, I ended up getting sick from eating golden apples as a dare Nightmare gave me, that is why Nightmare drew that image from the bedroom. He cried ever so much and I wasn't sure what to do to help him stop but get better."

"Is that why this is covered in tear stains?"

"Those are mine."

Cross fell silent at the realization, looking down at the paper.

"I don't know what happened," He couldn't muster a voice higher than a whisper, "But I can tell you both were close. So, even though Nightmare already confirmed it, I can tell there never was a fight between you two, huh?"

Dream stood up before making his way to the windows, his hands intertwining with the bright red curtains before throwing them open, sunlight flooding over Dream's figure. And with the sunlight from the sun tucked halfway over the horizon, he turned towards Cross and spoke.

"There was a fight, Cross. One where we had to choose a decision that changed us both.