Morpheus X Original Character - Tumblr Posts
In His Mercy
Pairing: dark!Morpheus x original female character
Summary: Nura is a dream who dared to leave her Lord's realm and find herself a lover. Morpheus is not happy when he finds out about it.
Warnings: power difference, betrayal, heartbreak, fear, angst, intimidation, threats, rejection, eventual smut, possible dub/noncon in future. Don't Like Don't Read. 18+ only. Minors DNI
since it is my story please expect dark themes and a dark representation of Morpheus.
A/n: The story is set right after Morpheus punishes Gault and the plot of the series is ongoing in the background.
I have not read the comics so this is based purely on what I observed from the show as well as what I could find about him online. This story would contain a darker and upsetting depiction of Dream so if it's not your thing dont read. If you enjoy it let me know! I'd possibly continue this in the future. Thanks for reading.
"You're brave to have returned, but you're too late. His temper has been on a rise these past days and he has never been too forgiving," Lucienne warned her breathlessly.
Nura followed her with hurried steps as she contemplated her words. There was an ache in her chest that warned her about how regrettable it would be for her to meet Dream after leaving his realm for so long. She wished to be ethical and loyal in the decisions of her life, but there was no telling of how understanding he would be for her reasons.
"I hope he would listen to me. I hope he would be merciful, I would like to believe that he would be," Nura said, expecting some validation from Lucienne.
The librarian sighed.
"I would not recommend that you get your hopes high and…" Lucienne stopped short of her steps, just inches outside the gates of the throne room, "I'm sorry for whatever would happen next. Do your best to convince him to forgive you."
Nura gave a nervous nod as she folded her arms around her body.
"I will," Nura said.
She heeded her advice, it was best to accept her mistake and ask for forgiveness from Dream if she were to expect him to listen to her cause for staying in the waking world. But Lucienne’s troubled expression did not do anything to put her at ease. Nura bit her lip and attempted to calm herself with deep breaths as the librarian opened the grand gates of Dream’s throne room. Only she could muster the courage to enter his chambers without prior permission.
With reluctance, Nura went inside after Lucienne. Their entrance echoed with their footfalls on the cold marble floor which was not dirtied with the debris and shambles of Dream’s decaying palace anymore. She raised her head to examine the reformed structure of the throne room, gaping in awe at how its beauty had been restored now that the King had returned. For a moment, her admiration of the palace and its decorative designs distracted her from the cold and stinging presence of her Lord. Until Lucienne decided to gather his attention.
"My lord, forgive us for this interruption, but there is someone who wishes to seek an audience with you."
Nura turned her gaze to him. Her chest thrummed with the speeding throbs of her heart invoked just by his sight. And he was not even entirely visible to her.
Books were lined and arranged neatly around him, the stacks appearing as rails that began at his throne and ended five or six steps beyond his seat. The rest of the stairwell remained empty as ever while he sat comfortably on his throne with a thick book covering his face. Only his body and his spiking hair strands were visible from the distance at which Nura was standing. And that was enough to have her shudder in anticipation of his judgment.
Dream closed the book after making them wait for a few minutes. He dropped it on the stack pile next to his throne and bent forward. His cold and dark eyes narrowed in on her as his lips puckered into a distasteful grimace.
"Nura," he said with a great enunciation of every letter and syllable, "so you have finally decided to return."
The grim depth of his voice and the disappointment laced in it made her heart jolt. She exchanged a nervous glance with Lucienne before stepping forward to greet Dream.
"My lord,” she bowed her head with a hand on her heart to show him her respect, “it is so delightful to see you again and in good health.”
She truly was happy to see him safe after hearing what the humans had done to him. He was intimidating and authoritative, but he was her Creator and he had mostly been kind and sweet to her, he did not deserve to be treated like that. No one did.
Dream gave a mocking scoff, blinking his eyes slowly in the angry way that he did as he rose to his feet. He sauntered down the marble steps, running the dainty fingers of his left hand along the covers of the books.
"Not enough for you to return sooner," he said.
The muscles on his face twitched even as he attempted to not express his emotions to her. Nura squeezed her arms in her hands, wondering if she should have followed the ways of the Corinthian and focused on running away instead of coming to her displeased Lord.
He paused after the fourth step and picked up a book to read. She was relieved to have his piercing eyes away from her.
She swallowed the knot in her throat and gathered the courage to speak.
"Yes, and I apologize for that, my lord. But I do have my reasons," she said.
"What reasons would justify you leaving my realm and doing something that goes against your purpose, Nura?" He asked, peering at her from the corner of his eye.
"I confess…I did step out of the line but I could not keep myself within this realm for long once you were gone, sir,” she explained.
Nura recalled the moment she decided to enter the realm of humans, the excitement she had felt at the thought of visiting them, especially those dreamers with whom she was already familiar.
“I wished to see them and feel what it is like to be one of them. I had to know—"
“Step out of the line? Dreams do not belong in the waking world yet you talk about violating the rules so casually,” Morpheus chided her.
“It was not my intention to defy my purpose or you, my lord!”
"Then why did you leave and why did you not return?"
"Because—” Nura quivered and pressed her lips together. She debated with herself about telling him of her true intentions. However, she needed to discuss her reasons with him. Without his permission, she could never return to the waking world and be happy among the humans.
She sucked a breath through her teeth and spoke, “because I do not wish to return, my lord."
"What?" Dream snapped his head at Nura, his eyebrows raised in shock at her audacity.
Nura scratched her knuckles as her nerves rattled with anxiety. She urged herself to speak the truth and speak it quickly.
"I–I wish to stay in their realm."
The scrunched lines on his face suggested that he was only more and more aggravated by her words.
"What has their realm to offer you that cannot be sought here?"
Nura paused at his question and ground her teeth. She thought of the man, the human who she yearned to stay with, who offered her everything that the realm did not even with all its beauty and treasures. She hated that she had to speak of him with such sourness.
“Answer me!” Dream roared at her.
She flinched and turned her eyes to Lucienne who had her head low with fear as well. There was nothing that she could do to mediate the situation between her and Dream. Nura did not want her to risk her head either.
"Forgive me— my lord. But I— I have fallen in love with a human and I wish to stay with him in their realm."
Lucienne gasped and widened her eyes at Nura.
Morpheus snapped the book shut and placed it on its stack before he turned to her with a frightening frown.
"What did you say?" He demanded.
"I–I'm sorry, my lord, but I love him dearly and I wish to spend my time with him."
"How dare you?" He growled, stomping his feet down the stairs.
The books fell from the vibration of his rage.
Nura stepped back in fear, her eyes tearing up at his reaction. He halted in the middle of the stairwell to look at his librarian.
"Lucienne, leave us alone," he ordered her.
"Yes, sir," Lucienne answered swiftly.
She gave Nura a helpless and sorry glance through her spectacles before she rushed out of the throne room, leaving the runner Dream alone to face the wrath of her Lord.
Nura watched her lord with pleading eyes as she trembled on her spot.
"You wish to stay with him. Are you a fool? Have you forgotten who you are? Have you forgotten who made you?"
"No, my lord! I will always be grateful to you, always in your devotion—but I could not help it—"
"You would refuse your service and break your loyalty to your lord, your creator for a mere mortal."
"My lord,” Nura folded her palms in front of her face, pointing them at him in a prayer for his mercy, “I beg you for your forgiveness. I apologise for this but I wish that you would see that I only act out of love."
"Is your love for that human not a betrayal of me, of your duties?” Dream asked.
His question left her without words.
“Not only have you betrayed me in your actions but also in your heart…and you dare come to my throne room expecting me to spare you for your transgressions."
Tears spilt down her cheeks as she found it difficult to contain them. She touched her quivering lips with her fingers and pressed back her whimpers with them.
"I want you to be merciful," Nura begged in her broken voice.
He stood undeterred by the sight of her tears and pain. There was not even a hint of empathy in his frigid face.
"And I wanted you to be loyal and dutiful. But you are not, so tell me, what shall your punishment be then?"
Nura panicked at the suggestion of punishment. He was not known to be lenient in them. It broke her heart to see him arrive at that conclusion so quickly. She had foolishly expected him to be more considerate of who she was and her dedicated service to him, but he cared none of it.
She thought of Lucienne’s advice and understood that she had to bend to his will to ensure her own safety.
"My lord, you must let me know how I can earn your forgiveness!"
"Defy me and then ask for forgiveness. You disappoint me,” Dream said with a shake of his head. “But before I decide what to do with you, I must see to this human that you have fallen in love with."
Nura widened her eyes at him in horror. Her lover should not have to face the consequences of her actions.
"No! No, there’s no need!" Nura protested.
“And you will not be leaving the Dreaming anymore,” Dream said.
Nura screamed and ran to him to stop him from reaching her beloved, but he was gone in a gust of sand within seconds. She was left with only fear and misery as everything fell apart around her.
With a heavy heart and tearful eyes, she ran to the royal Library to find Lucienne.
“Lucienne! Lucienne! Where are you?” She cried as she sprinted between the shelves searching for a sign of the librarian.
“Nura? What happened?” Lucienne emerged from behind a shelf with multiple books in her hands.
Nura stopped before she would have collided with the woman. She only sobbed when she looked at the librarian who had warned her of such a fate.
“What happened, dear? Where is he?”
Nura’s voice came out as a hitched breath when she tried to speak.
“Oh dear, what has he done? What did he say?” Lucienne inquired.
“Come, sit first,” she said, holding Nura by her arm and dragging her to a nearby table.
Nura let herself be carried along by Lucienne, finding no strength in her body to do anything.
“I think— I think he is going to kill him! My Zak!” Nura spoke in panic as she sank on a chair. “And I cannot leave, you have to do something, please help me!”
Lucienne rubbed her arm to soothe her.
“I doubt that he would punish someone else for your mistakes, Nu,” she said.
“But he said so! He said that he will see to him!”
“Perhaps in other ways. I do not believe that he would kill him. Not when he is not the one responsible. He might have meant something less, but even so, unfortunately, I cannot help you.”
“I know,” Nura sniffled.
She lowered her eyes to her lap and hoped that Dream would not hurt her lover in any way. The Dream King could not be so cruel and unjust. And if he was, she had to blame herself for endangering her Zak.
“There is nothing I can do either. I thought he would forgive, but he is so heartless. How can he do this to me?”
“He is our lord, our King and our Creator,” Lucienne said as she patted her back softly.
“And, Nu, as much as I care for you, I cannot entirely support what you have done and intended to do. It is true that you are an entity of the Dreaming and you cannot remain in the waking world. It’s not right.”
“It’s not fair!” Nura slapped a hand on the table. “He can take lovers, can’t he? Then why can’t I?”
“Well, that has not ended well for him either, has it? You can’t fall in love with a mortal, my dear,” Lucienne insisted.
“That’s not in my control!” Nura reverted.
She was a Dream, a creation of Morpheus, but she still felt for the humans, she did have strivings of her own. When she found herself getting lost in the lovely dreams of Zak, she had not intended to defy or offend Morpheus. She had only wanted to make her own dreams come true.
“I wish that he had never given me the ability to think or feel for myself. He could have made us be just puppets who dance on his whim.”
“It is not only that you know, Nura…you’re special to him,” Lucienne said.
Nura looked at her with puzzlement.
“How?” She asked
“You’re still here. He hasn’t damned you in any way. Gault did not last this long. You do know that he favours you slightly more than others, he has always been a little more fond of you since your creation,” the librarian told her.
The information only agitated Nura more. She would rather he not care for her and leave her be than be bound by his affection for her.
“And I should feel good about that?”
Lucienne looked at her and sighed. Nothing was convincing to her, it was much like talking to Dream.
“I don’t know. But perhaps knowing that you’ve broken his heart more than others by leaving in this manner can help you see what you can do to save yourself from his wrath.”
“What a way to live? Always in fear of him, obeying him always and—”
“As it should be,” his murky voice interrupted your conversation, startling both her and Lucienne at once.
His tall and slender form appeared in front of them. He strolled forward from between the bookshelves, carrying subtle hints of ire and disgust on his face. Nura remained frozen in her seat, but Lucienne walked away quickly, leaving her alone with their unforgiving lord once again.
Dream studied Nura’s tear-stricken face as he approached her. She balled her hands into fists on top of the wooden table and her chest heaved in anxiety and anger at her lord’s actions.
“You should not forget yourself, your duties and your master, Nura,” he told her.
“Did you kill him?” Nura asked.
Dream came to a stop at the edge of the table, staring down at her with dark and icy eyes. Nura did her best to meet them with equal fervour but her will wavered at the intensity of his fury.
"I did not kill him,” he answered.
Relief washed over Nura’s heart at the news and a brief smile appeared on her face. It faded just as quickly as Dream circled to her and removed the chair that was placed between them. Nura jumped up from her seat as he inched closer, wanting desperately to be away from him.
“It is not a mortal's fault that an entity from the Dreaming strayed so disgustingly away from her path and seduced him in a bid to use love as a tool of manipulation for her Lord,” he snarled at her.
His words made her want to shrink in herself and disappear. They made her disgusted in herself as if her love was never pure and was just a tool of deception. She had not seen it in that way. She had not acknowledged what could be wrong with her actions. Nura had acted out of her curiosity about the humans and her love for one of them, what could be wrong with that?
“No, that wouldn't be fair. However, he would not remember ever seeing you, meeting you or falling in love with you…as it is supposed to be."
Nura gasped at the revelation of what he had done to her lover. He had spoiled everything. Her eyes became full to the brim again, blurring his image to her as she glared at him.
“You’re cruel,” she said.
“I’m not. Not yet,” he replied.
He moved towards her with slow steps. A part of Nura wished to punch him in the face and accept the consequences that would come with it, but the other part was terrified of what her punishment would be. She had not been a rebellious one in spirit ever before and her will was not strong enough for her to openly defy her Master, she was no match for him.
“I’ve yet to decide how to punish you, my Nura,” he said as he cornered her into the wall behind her.
“Should I cast you into the darkness? Should I turn you into a Nightmare?”
Nura mewled at his proposals and the discomforting proximity between them as if being near to him in his rage would be enough for her to burn into flames. His suggestions for her punishment had her shivering even more. She lowered her head and sobbed, not having the courage to look him in the eye.
“Or should I just uncreate you?”
Nura put a hand over her mouth to muffle her whimper. Dream simply observed her in silence as she crumbled before him. It was impossible for her to even move as her hands brushed against his coat and shirt at every twitch. He had her trapped between himself and the wall and it seemed that he savoured the sheer panic that he created in her with his ideas of her suffering. That was what he wanted, for the defiant to fear him and be reminded of who their Master was.
“Please, let me seek your forgiveness, my lord,” Nura begged.
He gave her no reply. He stood there and bore his eyes into her as she struggled to collect herself. Nura had known of Dream’s ruthlessness, but she had never experienced how utterly cold and harsh he was capable of being, even to those who had been nothing but devoted to him through endless times.
“I can’t yet decide on what I will do to you,” Dream said, finally breaking the painful silence between them.
He took a small step back from her while keeping his eyes pinned on her face.
“But I will soon. You’re not to leave the Dreaming until then nor indulge with the humans when they visit. And it will do you good to stay out of my sight until I call you,” he said.
Nura watched him in a daze and confusion as he passed his uncertain judgement. She could not make sense of it and he did not provide any clarifications. He only gave her a last glower of repulsion before he stormed out of her sight and out of the library.
While she was relieved that he had left her without delivering a swift punishment, she did not understand the reason behind his decision to make her wait. She wanted to believe that by wanting to keep her out of his sight he was giving her the opportunity to save herself from his wrath. But by forbidding her from leaving the Dreaming and from even performing her duties, he left her with nothing to do but to constantly hide in a realm that belonged to him. Perhaps, that was her punishment, to be trapped without any purpose and be plagued forever with fear.
If it was her punishment, Nura favoured it against the other possibilities that he had presented to her. But she knew that she would eventually come to face her suffering. At least she could still talk to others in the Dreaming and she intended to reach out to Lucienne for comfort and answers. In the realm, the librarian was the only one who could help her through her knowledge and her books. Or so she hoped.