The Sandman Oneshots & Headcanons

Saw Your Mind (Morpheus x Reader)

Can't get out. Can't get out. Can't get out.

Waking up in a cold sweat, (Y/N) breathed deeply. Trying to get their heart to stop racing, trying to fight the desperation and fear in their body. It always happened, feeling like they were in someone else's mind. Feeling their feelings and experiencing this horrible sense of helplessness. Until (Y/N) woke up and felt like they had just broke through the surface of water. Or on the especially bad days, feeling like they were fighting through quicksand.

Another night, another nightmare seeing... being... a strange man whenever (Y/N) fell asleep. They had tried everything, pills, therapy, hypnosis, but it wouldn't stop. And they didn't expect it to, it had gotten to the point where they had accepted it.

And then it stopped. Suddenly, as if it had never happened, the nightmares were over.

Their therapist congratulated them on getting through a "rough patch", their family told them how relieved they should be. But... the main thing they now felt was loneliness. The man from the dreams was gone now, and (Y/N) couldn't completely tear their thoughts away from him. Ages of being connected to him whenever they dreamed, the strongest connection of their life. Now that the connection was gone and (Y/N) felt like they were missing a part of themself.

So... thus restarted the process of acceptance. They tried to adjust. It was the only thing they could do. Ignoring when they thought they could feel him, or see him out of the corner of their eye.

Until the moment where they couldn't ignore it any longer.

***

Standing at the bus stop, waiting for the bus to arrive. Periodically checking their watch. The same day as always. But as their eyes flickered over the cars around them, their attention was caught by a figure standing across the street.

(Y/N)'s breath caught in their throat as they recognized him. Not by his appearance, they had never seen him before. But the severed connection had returned when they looked at him. It was the dream man, they could feel it. It was obvious to them.

Acting purely on their instincts, they stepped towards him. Desperate to get closer and figure out what was happening. (Y/N) knew he shouldn't be real, knew that he shouldn't be there.

Standing in front of the road, they had just been about to run across it when a car passed them suddenly. Stumbling backwards, their attention was stolen by the car for a moment. But when they looked back, the man was gone.

"No.. no..." They gasped. Wind whipped over their face as they stepped out onto the road. He couldn't disappear again. Not again.

The mind numbingly loud noise of a car horn in front of them was their warning as the car got closer. But a hand grabbed their arm before they could be crushed, pulling them away from the road.

"Are you stupid?" The man from their dreams asked harshly with a raised voice, staring at them with an angry intensity. "What were you thinking?"

"It's you." (Y/N) couldn't believe it. "You're real."

The anger slipped slightly from his face at those words, and they had a chance to look at him properly. Pale skin, the darkest hair they had ever seen on a person, angular features. He could even be called beautiful. Hauntingly beautiful, that is.

"Yes." He told them, hand still gripping their arm as he stood over them. His voice was deep and powerful, like they would imagine a king's or a god's would be. "And so are you."

"But you were in my dreams. You were..."

"I was, and I'm truly sorry for that." Despite the power he exuded, he looked so sad, so tired. "I never meant for that to happen."