Location: The final floor of an evacuation platform in a crumbling AU.

Context: You and Dream save another AU from the hands of Nightmare. Dream opened a portal, and the inhabitants of this world go to a safe place. But the portal closes.

"THE PORTAL IS CLOSING!"

Someone's voice overhead, cracked with fear. Sirens howl, the walls shake like the last chord of a dying symphony. The ceiling crumbles — gray dust, sparks, and the remains of someone else's life fall.

You stumble, grabbing onto a metal beam. Your breath is ragged, your heart is pounding so hard that it feels like your ribs are about to crack. Where is he? Where is Dream?!

"You shouldn't have stayed." — a familiar voice, sharp as a blow.

He's nearby. Dream emerges from the clouds of smoke, tattered, with a disheveled robe and a bloody hand. The staff hangs behind his back, and the tiara on his head hangs down slightly.

"You should have left with the others. The portal couldn’t handle the overload. We… we were stuck.”

You see him trying to say it calmly. There’s metal in his voice, a habit of being a leader. But there’s panic in his eyes.

Not for himself. For you.

“I managed to close the rift. I should have been left alone. I expected you to leave…”

He takes a step towards you. The stones fall behind him. There are hot cracks under his feet, and the sky is no longer a sky, but a gaping madness of darkness and light.

“Why didn’t you leave?.. Why did you choose death?”

You see his voice breaking. His shoulders shaking, his eyes clinging to your figure, as if they don’t believe you’re real.

And then—

BOOM! — a section of the wall collapses. Dream lunges forward, grabs you by the waist, presses you to the floor, covering you with himself. Debris falls next to you, a hot wind tears everything around.

He breathes heavily. His face is next to yours. Too close. Too sincere. He whispers. — “You’re… crazy. Brave. Unbearable…”

“…and if this is the end for us, then… to hell with it. Let me be here. With you.”