Goosebumps.
Goosebumps raised on his skin...
Sunny could feel the gaze of his father. Watchful. The gaze lingered for just a moment longer for him to notice it...
'Is he suspicious of me?'
That wasn't—that wasn't how his mom described him.
Something changed inside him either from his Nightmare or his flaw?
His dad was smart and a little cunning, especially for someone who lived an honest life in the outskirts, and managed to negotiate a deal where they all could stay in the Accademy while keeping his aspect rank a secret. All he knew was it was above Ascended.
The part of NQSC outskirts they lived in was near the northern walls, where life was honest and no violence was allowed, but it was also where you needed to work the most.
The only benifit living there was you won't find yourself in violence, and if you lived alone or without any savings you couldn't live there. That was how Sunny lost his house. His parents' house.
Not his.
The house was nether his, nor were the parents.
His dad, perhaps sensing his turmoil, hugged him.
It felt comforting.
It felt wrong.
He didn't deserve this...
"Dad, are you nervous about the Dream Realm?" He asked, trying to lead him in the wrong direction.
So why? Why did it feel like his dad saw through him? Through his mask.
Through it all.
He created it carefully, over the years. He had to learn it, and the only way people could see through one was experience.
So how?
"Dad... Please come back alive."
'I can't lose you this time.'
So please...
"Don't worry... I'll be back" Red replied with a false reassuring smile.
"After all I owe you the cake for your birthday."
Huh?
It wasn't a cake.
He remembered his mom telling him they were planning on giving him crispy synthepaste.
They couldn't afford a cake.
He remembered that—just like Dew—he loved it.
He missed his mom's cooking throughout his life in the outskirts...
Red looked at his son, he had to test it.
He had to know if his son was real.
If his son was his own son.
He looked at the thing inside of Sunny or just Sunny, really looked at him.
He seemed to be reminiscing something.
"Dad, what's a cake?" He asked with a cheerful smile.
A fake smile, as his flaw told him. He knew what a cake was, and tried misleading him.
"I thought it was Crispy Synthpaste, the way mom and I like."
That was true. That's what they planned.
His flaw confirmed it...
So why did it feel like he was hiding something?
Could it be...
He did actually regress[1]? Then something must have happened, but he couldn't actually ask him.
"We can eat a cake here at the Accademy, people here say there's lots of tasty food here!" Red replied with a cheerful smile.
His son had a warm smile on his face but—but it was false. Behind that smile was pain. A lot of pain.
But within that pain, one thing was clear. It was his son. He cared about them, even if he felt as if he didn't deserve it.
'I won't ask him what happened, not now. Maybe when... Maybe when you're ready. And so am I.'
His lips parted into a smile, a false one for now but it was true... But only till an extent...
A few months passed since then, and he was certain of one thing. Sunny was Sunny and didn't hold any malice, infact he got along greatly with Rain.
Today was the day of Winter Stolice—the day he would go to the Dream Realm. He was confident in his survival, but just as confident as he was, he could never get too cocky.
It would be hard, yes, but he might just be able to tell a good tale for his kids! What he didn't know was that he would, infact, have quite a tale to tell when he returned:
A very comical tale...
Awakened Roan was fishing in the lake inside his now wife's citadel, it had been around a year since they got together, and life was great.
Infact, it was amazing. He still remembered the day he met Tyris and how it all started off.
"Ro, today is the Day of Winter Stolice, so get ready already. We need to go look around and see where this Batch's Sleepers are."
It was Ascended Tyris, his wife. She was, as of right now, the only Master here. There were no Saints here yet, but there would be one coming soon. The Sovereigns had to keep as many citadels as possible , so one would go to the Temple... The only other citadel here.
Or atleast, the only known one. No one knew about the Ivory Tower.
"I will come in a minute, I need to fill some water up."
Roan sighed, and dismissed the fishing rod, and took a bottle. The bottle was used for carrying waters for long journeys.
First he drank a bit of the water, and then kneeled down to fill some up, and just as he did, something felt odd.
'Weird.'
His Memory wasn't able to fill the water, something seemed to get stuck in it.
He removed the bottle up to see what it was only to find out that it wasn't quite what he expected.
He saw a human, maybe around his twenties, out. The person there wasn't someone from the citadel.
"Ro, we need to leave."
Bubbles formed inside the lake, and the man suddenly gasped.
This thing... It was atleast a Fallen Creature... Maybe stronger if all he sensed was a Dormant's strength.
He tensed, and got ready to summon a weapon Memory, when a sudden sound was heard. It came from somewhere near the water.
Jumping up, he yelped, ready to dodge whatever was about to attack him...
Only for him to reach his wife's arms, who caught him.
That—that made him feel as if all his dignity was gone. His cheeks flushed in emberssment, but now wasn't the time for that! There was a potential Fallen here, inside the citadel.
"What are you doing, Ro?" Tyris spoke, her lips seemed to have parted in a teasing smirk.
"There's a Fallen there." Roan replied, pointing his sword at the thing inside the lake.
"That's a sleeper, dummy." She laughed, a melodious laugh, a laugh that filled his heart with joy like—no! He was getting distracted.
Was she in a mind hex?
"A Sleeper here inside the citadel?"
That made no sense! Surely she would break out now...
Suddenly, the thing inside the water spat out some water.
"Look at it! Doesn't that feel like an Acid Attack?" That did nothing.
'Wait? Nothing?'
Yes, nothing happened.
Suddenly his cheeks felt warm, he felt himself burn. He looked as red as a tomato, with his flushed face.
He tilted his head, confused.
His wife, Tyris, laughed.
LAUGHED!
"Why are you pointing the sword at me?" The sleeper seemed to regain his awareness, and woke up to two people pointing swords at him.
Even if the laugh was melodious and genuine, poor guy must have thought he entered the Dream Realm besides potential killers.
Well, they weren't potential killers, they were killers, and he wasn't deluded enough to think otherwise.
They just didn't kill innocent people.
The poor guy looked terrified!
"Why is a person in his early twenties here? As a sleeper, no less!" Roan hurriedly tried shifting the topic, only for it to not work!
"Nice try, I won't ever let you forget this." She spoke between breaths.
Atleast he was still in her arms!
"Uh... Can you lead me to a citadel?" The man asked, still shaking, both from the cold and a bit of fear.
He noticed something strange... Glass seemed to appear arround his hands.
"You are in a citadel, this is the Chained Isles. Welcome Sleeper!"
Red blinked, looking towards them. That was weird... No one—no one entered the Dream Realm, as a sleeper, inside a citadel.
It was impossible.
'I hope they don't kill me... I need to return home to them.' he shivered in fear.
They couldn't possibly be the couple!
"That's where the gateway is." Master Tyris pointed at the gateway. He felt the same thing Professor Julius said he would from the gateway.
"We need to go, look for the other Sleepers." Master Tyris continued, "Oh I forgot to introduce myself... that was rude of me. I am Master Tyris, and he is my husband, Awakened Roan."
"I am Sleeper Red." He introduced himself, soon seeing them leave and entering the Gateway himself.
That was how he became the fastest Sleeper to Awaken...
"And that was also how I met a beautiful Master." Red concluded the story to his son, Sunny.
It was exactly how it went, and nothing went wrong.
Suddenly he sensed his wife, Dew, stare at him. Suddenly he shivered.
Something was wrong.
Very very wrong.
Sunny looked between the two, and saw Dew pout.
"You're sleeping on the couch." Her voice laced with a bit of jealousy.
That was weird.
"We don't have a couch at home." He joked, still not catching on.
Suddenly he shivered, realising what happened.
"Hey, I didn't mean it like that! She is married, for spell's sake!"
"Oh? So that's your interest?" She joked.
He was up for a long day...
Authors Note: Sorry for the chapter being scuffed like this... I was thinking of either doing two seperate chapters of 1k or so words and drag the hell out of the two scenes 💀
Let's try getting 5 comments (that aren't y'all hating on the fact that red saw through it lmfao), 100 hearts on disclrd thread (wow I am shameless), and uh 58 kudos on AO3
[1] Alright so I know the regression thing is stupid but for an outskirts guy, who's like 20, and has a flaw like his, there are realistically only two possibilities:Either sunny was a regressor or some demon, or nm creature so yes. It is what. it is I call it denial of the feeling she was prob a nm creature (excuses).