Ever since the events in the throne room, Atia's been avoiding Dream. He wasn't that keen on talking to her either, as he didn't seek her out once.

Instead, he continued on his research about Rose and the vortex, while Atia stopped. She choose to spend her time helping dreamers, as she usually did in her free time and helping Lucienne in the library.

Just as the two were looking through the books together, putting them away, Matthew flew into the room and sat on the back of one of the chairs.

"I don't know how she did it, but Rose just got Lyta pregnant," the raven said.

"She did what?" Atia raised a brow.

"Apparently it happened in her dream, and when Lyta woke up-"

"She was still pregnant," Lucienne finished for him.

"Very much so."

"Then it's starting," the librarian took off her glasses. "Rose is weakening the walls between the realms."

"Are either of you gonna tell the boss?" Matthew cawed.

The two of them shared a look, before Atia looked down with a small frown.

"No," she decided.

"'No'?" the raven exclaimed.

"It's none of our business," Lucienne shrugged, putting her glasses back on.

"Uh, since when?" he, then, looked towards Atia. "Aren't you like, the Queen?"

"I might as well stop being one," she gave him a wry smile. "It stopped being our business since Lord Morpheus reminded Lucienne that she's merely a librarian and shouldn't concern herself with anything other than her books from now on, and me, that he's the King and that there's no need for me to be in charge anymore."

"He said that?" the raven cawed in disbelief.

"He did. So..." Lucienne grabbed another pile of books and put it away.

"What is wrong with him?"

"Nothing is wrong with him," the librarian shoved some books back on the shelf. "He's always been this way. He's just been away for so long I'd forgotten."

"But it doesn't explain why he said what he did to Lady Atia."

The said Lady sighed and shook her head.

"Lucienne's right. That's just the way he always was. Some said he became more tolerable after I came into the picture, but he never did change," she said. "Now, he's determined to deal with the vortex and the missing Arcana by himself. Without anyone's help."

"So any news must be reported directly and exclusively to him," Lucienne finished.

"Okay. But can I keep you in the loop?" Matthew asked almost unsurely.

"You'd better not. In His Majesty's current mood, he could banish all of us to the Darkness. As he did Gault."

"All right, fine. I'll go back to spying on Rose," the raven said. "But you should make up with him."

"We should make up with him?"

"Yes. Now's not the time to be fighting, not when there's a vortex getting people pregnant and runaway Nightmares doing God know what."

As he flew away, the two couldn't help but think over his words. As much as they didn't want to admit it, he was right. Now was not the time to fight... but it didn't mean Atia should be the first to go and apologise.

She'd like to see how much longer he can go on like this, especially as she felt down their bond how stressed and exhausted he was.

*****

The Dreaming, once again, was falling apart. It started off as minor seismic activities, that didn't bring on much damage. But the last one that happened made a whole aisle collapse, breaking a few shelves. Books were everywhere.

Lucienne and Atia took it upon themselves to put them all away in their previous places, after the Queen of the Dreaming used some of her powers to repair the small damage.

"Lucienne? Aita?" they heard Dream's voice, as they were putting the books away.

The two stopped for a second, before the dark-skinned woman put on a formal expression and turned to face her King. Atia, on the other hand, stayed with her back turned towards him, as she put away the books she had under her arm.

"My lord," the librarian greeted him.

He glanced at his wife for a second, before grabbing his own books he was caring.

"I have come to return these..." he handed a small stack to Lucienne. "And to assess the extent of the damage from the recent disturbances."

As the librarian put away the books he gave her, Dream moved closer to Atia and picked up the book she lost grip on.

"Have... you any idea as to what caused them?" he asked, putting the book away, on an empty higher shelve where his wife couldn't reach.

She gave him a sideway glance, and he pulled his lips into a thin line.

"You're shit at apologising," she told him, before going back to her work.

Lucienne smiled and shook her head at her Queen, before turning to Dream once again.

"I assumed it was you, sir," she told him.

"Me?" he frowned.

"Making further improvements to the realm... now that you're back."

He stood in one place for a second, looking between the two women. Then, he decided the librarian would be easier to make amends with. Later, he would talk things out with his wife, in private.

"Lucienne, when we last spoke, I did not mean to imply that your efforts beyond the library are without value," he said.

"Oh?" was all she replied.

"I really wish to relieve you of responsibilities with wish, had I been here, you would never have been burdened."

"I see."

"And... in that time, did you experience any... similar seismic disturbances?"

"We did not."

Then, she walked past him again and gave Atia a few books to put on the shelve she was at. The woman took them with a small nod.

"Have you any... theory as to their origin?" Dream still tried, even though he could both see and feel how much neither of them wanted to talk with him.

"Speaking strictly as a librarian? I do," Lucienne nodded. "But you won't like it."

"Go on."

"I know you're waiting to see if the vortex will lead you to the Corinthian and Fiddler's Green. The way she led you to Gault."

"She may yet still."

"Yes, but while you're waiting, she's putting cracks in the foundation," she pointed towards the broken floor of the library Atia wasn't able to fix.

She barely managed to fix the shelved and didn't even manage to get all of the broken ones mended. Only a few of them.

"Rose Walker has visited this realm before and done no damage," Morpheus defended. "This is something else, something new."

"Perhaps. But if there's something new in the Dreaming and you, nor Lady Atia, did not create it, how did it get here? This is the vortex. I assure you."

With one last look between the two, she grabbed one of the stacks of books and walked into another aisle to find new place for them, as their shelve was still broken.

Atia quickly finished up with her own stack and went to follow her, but a hand on her wrist stopped her.

"Wait. Please," Dream said pleadingly.

She sighed and did as he told her. Still, she didn't turn to face him, just stood in place.

Ever so slowly, he walked around her and stopped just when he was in front of her, face to face. She glanced up at him, before looking away again. She clutched the few books she grabbed tighter.

Then, he put a finger under her chin and gently urged her to look up at him. However, she avoided eye contact.

"Talk to me."

Still, she stayed silent.

"Please."

"What do you want me to say?" she finally looked into his eyes. "I think you said all there was to say."

As she made a move to push past him again, he stopped her, once again.

"No," he said. "What I said was all wrong. I shouldn't have said any of it. I am sorry."

She stared at him for a moment, silent.

"Well, sorry doesn't fix this," she gestured between them.

"I know. And I will spend however long I have to, to fix this. But I can't do this without you. I need you by my side."

"As who? As an advisor? A person you turn to when you have no idea what comes next?"

"As my wife. My equal. My Queen."

She thought about it for a moment.

"Fine," she agreed. "But know that – you're nowhere near forgiven, and I will only stand by you as the Queen of this realm for now, nothing more. Not until I forgive you."

The smallest hint of smile tugged at his lips, as he nodded once, accepting her answer.

*****

They did discover the cause of the disruption. There was a house they didn't create, down in the meadow. Around it, there were thick cracks in the ground everywhere, like on a broken mirror.

Lyta and Rose stood on a small hill, watching the house with small smiles. The former seemed to live there, when she was dreaming.

Now, they stood together with Matthew and watched as the two women made their way slowly towards the building.

"So what do you think?" the raven asked.

"Tell Lucienne she was right about the source of the tremors," Dream told him.

"And that we're taking care of this," Atia added.

In a blink, they were inside the house. There was a man, who was no longer registered in the Dreaming and should not be there. Hector Hall. Lyta's deceased husband.

The man wasn't sure who the intruders in his house were. But after they introduced themselves and explained what was the matter, he couldn't help but just sat down heavily on the couch and looked forward with a blank look.

"Hector, look who's here," Lyta said with a smile as she entered with Rose.

But her smile faded as soon as she saw the two stranger standing there as well. Atia looked at her with sympathy and sadness, while her husband stood there with a small, sad frown. The mortal woman just looked between the two of them with confusion.

Rose was the one to speak up first.

"Lyta, you remember I told you about Lord Morpheus and Lady Atia, the Rulers of Dreams?"

"What do you want?" her friend asked the two.

"They want us to leave," Hector announced.

"Why?" Rose asked.

"Because a ghost cannot escape his fate by hiding in the Dreaming," Dream explained. "Nor can a living human being escape her grief here."

"Your presence has done a great deal of damage to this realm," Atia took over, looking at the cracks in the building, then towards the ones outside. "We can't allow you to stay here."

"Is there anything we can do?" Hector asked.

"You belong with the dead," Morpheus stated. "You must go to the place appointed for you."

The man looked towards his wife, who looked at him with unshed tears.

"I'm really sorry," Atia smiled sadly. "But you must say your goodbyes, now."

Hector nodded slowly. But Lyta didn't want to accept it.

"No," she protested, her voice breaking. "I'm not losing you again."

Atia grabbed her husband's hand, and he squeezed it gently. They were fighting now, but they were still in much better situation than these two. At least they could make up and continue on with their lives, unlike Lyta and Hector.

The ghost stood up and walked over to his wife. As soon as he was in the reaching distance, the woman put her hands on his face and clutched onto him, while he put his hands on her hips.

"I love you so much," he told her softly.

"You're not going anywhere," she replied, kissing him.

As she pulled away, she turned to the other couple.

"Get out of our house," she demanded.

"Lyta-" Rose started, glancing at the two.

"Enough," Morpheus said, putting his arm out.

However, before he could bring it down, Atia stopped him.

"Let her at least leave the room," she told him softly, as she released him.

The Endless looked at her for a moment longer, before nodding. He let his wife pull away from him and towards the mortal woman, who still clutched her dead husband's ghost.

"No," Lyta protested. "I'm not going anywhere. And neither is he!"

"I'm sorry," the white-haired woman pulled her lips in a thin line. "But this is the way things are. We can't break the rules, no matter how much we want to."

Then, she turned to Hector.

"You have nothing to be afraid of. The Sunless Lands are much better than they may seem. You will find peace there and you can wait for your wife there, for the moment when her time will come," she told him, and the man nodded.

Finally, the Queen of the Dreaming looked towards Rose for help. She knew she won't be able to convince Lyta to leave, but her best friend might. There was a small chance of that, as the woman was still clutching onto the man before her.

And she was right.

"Tell... Tell the baby I-" Hector started, but stopped suddenly, as he paled.

Atia looked towards her husband and saw the solemn look in his eyes. They all knew Lyta won't leave the man, no matter how much they tried. This was the only way.

"No!" Lyta cried.

"Please! Stop," Rose pleaded.

"Hector?" the woman asked, as her husband started turning into ash. "No!"

"Dream, please, stop!"

"Hector!"

And just like that, he was gone. There was only one little reminder left of him, that should not exist.

Lyta started sobbing and heaving, looking at the place where her husband just stood and clutched her stomach as if protecting it.

Atia returned to her place by her husband's side.

"Your husband died a long time ago," Dream told the mortal. "He was a ghost and this is a dream."

As she looked down on her stomach, he also glanced at it.

"The baby is yours... for now," he said, and the two mortal women turned to stare at him in fear and disbelief.

"What do you mean?" Lyta asked.

"The child was conceived in the Dreaming," the Endless stated. "It is ours."

"What?" Rose breathed out.

"And one day, I will come for it," Dream continued, not bothered by the interruption.

As much as Atia felt this was wrong, she knew the child should not be. It was conceived by a living woman with a ghost of her late husband in the Dreaming. It had no right to be, especially in the waking world. Eventually, it will have to return to its origins.

"No, you won't," Rose protested. "You'll do nothing-"

"This dream is over," and with a wave of his hand, it was.