Fly Away Young Phoenix

Chapter 2: Mellohi

Tw: just a wee bit of manipulation
If I'm missing a TW please let me know.

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"Hey, Dream?"

"Yes, Tommy?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"What's the outside world like?"

Dream stopped running his hand through the feathers. He knew that this question would come up eventually. Tommy turned 7 yesterday, if anything Dream should have expected this question sooner. Even if he knew to expect this answer, he never thought about an answer.

"Why do you ask?" Is what he settled on to buy himself time to think of an answer.

"I've been here in this tower and you know," Tommy paused for a moment, running two fingers over a feather gently. "I've never been outside of here," Tommy finished, looking behind him at Dream.

"The world is a very dangerous place Tommy," Dream started to explain while collecting the fallen feathers. "There are a lot of bad people out there, I keep you here to keep yourself safe," Dream paused and looked at the many feathers in his hand. "You have something very important."

"My wings?" Tommy asked and looked down to where he was still fidgeting with the feather in his hand.

Dream put the feathers in a basket on the counter and walked back over to the couch, sitting right next to Tommy

"Yes, many bad people out there want to take away your wings, they are very valuable," Dream looked out the large window that was across from the couch.

There was a pause for a few moments where Tommy looked longing out the window.

"Remember what I told you about your parents," Dream asked, looking back at Tommy.

Tommy nodded, "You said that they didn't want me anymore," he muttered looking down at his lap.

"They wanted to get rid of you because of your wings, they thought you were a safety risk," Dream said as Tommy looked up at him with sadness in his eyes. "I didn't see why someone would get rid of a child because of a trait so I took you in," Dream saw the sadness slightly fade away in the kid's eyes but he still had a slight frown on his face.

"But the world is very dangerous and I wanted to keep you safe, that is why you're here," Dream stood up hoping that the conversation would be over and that he could finally go to sleep, but Tommy had other plans.

"If the world is so dangerous, what about the lights in the sky?"

Dream froze.

"I only see them on my birthday, they look very nice and I think that they were made by people," Tommy scooched to the end of the couch, leaned on the armrest, and looked up at Dream. "Could people that bad make something that looks so pretty?"

Dream completely forgot about the festival. It was a festival that they held on the lost prince's birthday hoping he would find his way home one day. If Dream wasn't careful then this festival might fulfill its purpose. They would send lanterns in the sky with a bit of magic in them to lure the prince back. Dream wasn't sure how it worked but he always thought that they were far away enough to not be able to see them.

Curse magic, he hated it.

The kid seems drawn by the lights which is exactly what the magic is meant for and what the kingdom wants.

Dream sighed letting a disappointed tone slip through, "Tommy, those are stars."

Tommy frowned, "But Dream, they're different," Tommy whined.

"You probably just saw a comet or something, it's nothing special," Dream tried to continue the lie but Tommy was stubborn.

"But this is the third year that it has happened and it's been on my birthday each time. I was wondering if you could take me out to see them this year?"

Dream glanced down at the kid, "Is that what this is about? A birthday present?"

Tommy nodded, "Come one Dream, I really wanna go see them," he whined, trying to give Dream puppy dog eyes.

"Tommy I said no and that's final," Dream said harshly enough that Tommy went quiet but not enough so that he yelled at him.

Dream sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Look, is there anything else that you want for your birthday."

Tommy tilted his head in confusion, "I thought you said that you weren't getting me anything because of repairs."

"Well, I finished all of the repairs and I have enough to get you something nice," that was somewhat of a lie, Dream still had a few more repairs to do but a gift may make Tommy happy enough to forget about the stupid lanterns.

Tommy thought for a moment, "Can I have a music disk?"

"A music disk?" Dream repeated in confusion.

Tommy nodded, "Yeah, it gets a bit quiet in the tower sometimes." He said sadly.

Music disks were expensive in most places but he figured that he could find one for a cheap price somewhere. He needed to make sure the tower was as comfortable as possible so that hopefully the kid wouldn't think about leaving.

"Alright, a music disk it is then," Dream decided, causing Tommy to smile and run to hug him.

The next day Dream left, leaving the seven-year-old alone in the tower like he had done many times before. He returned two days later with a music disk that had purple and white stripes called 'Mellohi'.

Tommy loved it, maybe a bit too much. The disk was all he played and Dream was starting to get sick of it. Not long later, he had to get another disk before he lost his mind.