Joanne
Dream gazed up at Ruby, eyes wide in surprise. It was strange, they had a oddly similar story. At the question he looked back down again.

"I... Yeah," He confirmed. "I am... The bad ending. The one where everything went the worst way possible. I finished my first quest the same, but despite wishing on the Triforce for *Everyone* To come back, my Uncle didn't. The person who meant the most to me, who my first quest was about *Avenging...* Did not come back."

Dream's hands balled into fists, the Nightmare Fuel squeezing out between his fingers. He took a shaky breath in as he looked at the stuff angrily, a hatred in his eyes unbefitting someone so small. "So I ran. To Holodrum, then Labrynna. And I failed to save the Oracles. Failed to save Zelda from being sacrificed. Failed to stop Ganon from coming to full power. I set sail across the ocean, trying to find a place where no one knew me and Ganon couldn't find me or die trying. 

"A storm hit, and I capsized. And then... I woke up on Koholint. An island that was... Incredible. But it was plagued by Nightmares. I fought them, but... Eventually I learned the truth. It was a dream. And to dispel the nightmares, I had to wake up the god whose dream I was trapped in, so that I could go home. But the island would disappear."

Dream wasn't sure why he was so ready to tell Ruby his story. Maybe he was just a good listener? "I never left Koholint. Ganon is waiting for me. I know it. So... I protect the people of the island from the nightmares. Or... I thought I did." He fell silent, he didn't know how much more he would be able to say before he lost it.
Tricia
And once more, they are patient. The Dark Link's attention kept hold of every word, listened to every detail. She didn't interrupt, did not write until they had emptied what words they could.

And he held sympathy. Ruby knew fear well, the fear of disappointment. The fear of having no one to remember you. The fear of having no one that cared for you. The fear of finding yourself in a world that held nothing but cruelty, whether the people held it against you or the wasteland that had been left did. Ganon ruined all that he touched- they saw that destruction themself.

The fear that they would not be enough to defeat it. The barriers that gave life to them. The inner demon that laid within.

- You're scared. And fear is natural.

It's something they'd only begun to accept themself. Through the support of those friends that kept to their side. Only as of recent has he begun to accept that what created them does not *Define* Them. No matter how much hatred and fear creates their body and being, that she can be more than that. He knows this one has the potential for that too, because they fear being the harm. And that means something.

- I have been a plague amongst my other's consciousness as well. If you are the bad ending, than I reflect a bad half. The strongest of ills within a mind, yet here I am. Rejecting what I was created for, and going further. It's a difficult thing, to know you are created out of cruelty. Yet, we are not what we are made of, we are what we make of ourselves. Otherwise, why would you be scared?

Ruby tilts their head, before extending a hand. Dream may be afraid, but but he is not. Just because one is made of ill, does not mean they will forever be an ill. The nightmares does not make them untouchable.
Joanne
Dream was struggling to hold himself together at this point. Ruby was being incredibly kind... Too kind, almost. Dream hated the fear in himself, hated the gods for placing tasks in front of him he could not complete because of that fear. He had not felt heard in that... Until now. Until Ruby.

In a way, him being a nightmare was the *Only* Thing that made sense. The Triforce should have worked properly. He shouldn't have woken up in the Dark World. Nightmare Fuel did not cling to him. He could not dream since he woke up. Both of his alternate selves completed their adventures, were able to leave the island. Dream was not. He was an anomaly, an impossibility. The irrational fears of the real thing, given form and breath.

He looked at the extended hand, nails clawed but somehow not dangerous-looking. He had to admit, he so desperately wanted to take it. Unclenching his fists, he moved his left hand, still dripping black liquid, and placed it on top of Ruby's. Immediately, he felt the fear within him start to subside, and his hands felt strangely... Dry. He raised them in front of him, and gasped as he realized that the Nightmare Fuel had gone.

He looked back up, his eyes filling with tears he could no longer hold back. "I... I guess that makes sense," He sniffed. "Just 'cause I came from a nightmare... Doesn't mean I'm gonna hurt people. I... I don't wanna do that. I wanna beat this thing. It's... The least I can do. After all my failures."
Tricia
They don't write this time. Instead she just listens to their thoughts. To their process, and she's happy that they're going to allow themself to live as they want. He's gentle with them, because someone needs to be gentle to someone so scorned for what they cannot help.

Then, once their words end, she nods. Before leaning forward and moving to wrap an arm around the younger shoulders. A gentle hand pats at their back, reassuring and understanding.

She believes in them. They're a mere child made of nothing but the irrational, and that is not his fault. It's not either of their faults- and he wants to be more than cruelty. He can be more than cruelty, even if he still holds their grief. They're far more than what they're made of.

He believes.

- You want to do good, and I believe you will. You are going to be a help to everyone, not a hindrance. And if anyone gives you any issues

They raise a finger to punctuate, before continuing.

- I'll deal with them. Because you don't deserve that scorn.
Joanne
The contact is too much for Dream. This kindness that he couldn't help but feel he didn't deserve... It overwhelmed him. He turned his head into Ruby's sleeve and gripped her shirt as he cried. He couldn't speak, so he merely nodded to show he understood. It was so strange, how Dream was openly crying in front of a stranger. The last time he could remember doing that was... Well the last time he *Cried* Was when he came home to see no Uncle waiting for him. He couldn't remember the last time he cried in the presence of someone he didn't know.

"I... You don't have to promise that," He sniffed. "I don't know what I could give you in return..."

In all his adventures, Dream had learned that things are never simply freely given. It was just common sense. Give someone something, you get something in return. He didn't know what he could give to repay such a kindness.
Tricia
Sometimes you didn't need repayment in anything but an act.

Ruby was not made to be rewarded, and a reward never crosses their mind when it comes to their actions. It is done out of a want, whether instinctual or of their own choice. She couldn't imagine asking for something in return for this- no matter what he was, Dream was still a child. A child that has faced more hardship than anyone should.

He would know. He was that child once.

- Nothing. I do it because I want to. Not because I need anything in return.

His hand shifts from Dream's back to cradle the back of their head, careful of his claw-like nails. There's a low, echoed hum from the shadow as she gently pat, allowing the tears to be shed. Everyone needs a moment. Some need several.

They'd be here as long as they needed to be. It's what he would have hoped others would do for himself as a child. Sometimes there just needs to be a kindness against all misery.