The Bard and the Bard

Part One 

Narration:

Lindy dreams of the Stratford house again. It's the third time this week. By now, she understands the structure of the dream, the particular facets of her own mind that manifest within it. She understands that the house is not a house. She knows what she will find when she reaches the top of the staircase, which is nothing. The house is empty. She is running toward a destination she will never reach. Lindy dreams.

Lindy Morris:

Oh boy. Tybalt! There you are! You scared me!

Tybalt the Cat:

Mrrr!

Lindy Morris:

Hey! Wait! Stupid cat--

Anne Hathaway Morris:

Aaah ah-waah

Lindy Morris:

Yaaawn. Why hello. Are you hungry again?

Anne Hathaway Morris:

Hnn- hnn-hnn--

Lindy Morris:

Come here, little wiggle...Here we go....

Anne Hathaway Morris:

Ahhn--

Lindy Morris:

Shh-shh. You've gotta give me a break, Anne Hathaway Morris. I have to meet Professor Poopface in like four hours. And you know how she feels about tardiness.

Four and a half hours later

Professor Dunbar:

Ms. Morris. I am so glad you could take time from your busy schedule to meet with your dissertation advisor, even if you've wasted half an hour of my time in the process.

Lindy Morris:

I--

Professor Dunbar:

I've read your latest revisions, and I have, to say-- I still think there's a little too much... projection in here. Projection not grounded in objective evidence.

Lindy Morris:

With all due respect, Professor Dunbar, this isn't about objective evidence. It's about how Shakespeare is perceived across time, and what the theories about his identity tell us about ourselves--

Professor Dunbar:

Wait, wait. I don't need the TED Talk version. You're doing a PhD in English Literature, Lindy. You're not a private detective. It's not your job to determine which of the authorship theories are true, it's your job to analyze the texts. And thus far, you have failed to unearth anything original.

Lindy Morris:

Professor Dunbar... The reason I asked you to be my advisor is because I thought you of all people would understand what it's like to be a woman in academia--

Professor Dunbar:

You mean you thought I'd cut you a break. But I never got a break. I was the only woman in my class at Oxford who left with a PhD, and for my trouble, I'm teaching at a no-name university in New Jersey. Take another look at your chapters. Refine your ideas. Trust me when I say I'm doing you a favor.

Lindy Morris:

I need to wrap this up. I can barely make rent on what they pay me to teach the undergrads...

Professor Dunbar:

No one gets into higher education for the money, Lindy. Perhaps you should revisit your priorities. It's not too late to find a different line of work.

Mrs. Christopolous:

Lindy! You're back! How was your meeting?

Lindy Morris:

Total crap. Did Piggly-Wiggly behave?

Mrs. Christopolous:

She was fine. I almost got her to sleep just now.

Lindy Morris:

Thanks, Mrs. Christopolous. I owe you one. A nap sounds like a great idea. Right, babychild? Sleep to knit up the raveled sleeve of care ...because everything else fucking sucks.

Narration:

Sleep comes swiftly, ruthlessly, like bad news. And with it, the dream. The house had not been idle while Lindy was awake. Like all things in the Dreaming, it lives and grows. For even in our waking hours, the Dreaming persists: it is a place, an idea, a realm beyond time and memory. The house dreams. Of Lindy.

Lindy Morris:

God damn it, not again.

Tybalt the Cat:

Mrrr!

Lindy Morris:

Hi, Tybalt. ... Let's get this over with. Is there tenure at the end of this staircase? Hmm? Of course not. There are just walls. And maybe some glass ceilings. And--What the fuck? Hey! Wait! What are you doing here? There's never anybody else in this house-- Wait! Stop!

Ruin:

Aagh!

Lindy Morris:

I said wait!

Ruin:

...Shit! Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit

Lindy Morris:

You're not William Shakespeare.

Ruin:

No. Sorry. I'm not.

Lindy Morris:

Who are you, then? You're not... The type of guy I usually find running around in my subconscious.

Ruin:

That's because I'm not technically supposed to be here. Ugh! Are you normally a lucid dreamer?

Lindy Morris:

No. Not really. Just since the baby. I'm so exhausted all the time that I'm dreaming before my eyes are even closed...

Ruin:

Just my luck. He's going to kill me when he finds out...He's going to straight up unmake me...

Lindy Morris:

Who?

Ruin:

My boss. I'm sorry, Lindy. You weren't supposed to see any of this. Or be able to touch me. I was going to flit in and out. You wouldn't even remember me when you woke up.

Lindy Morris:

So you're a dream, right? Within a dream? Within my dream?

Ruin:

I'm... A kind of dream, yes.

Lindy Morris:

Then-- Wait. What just happened?

Ruin:

This isn't how it was supposed to go. I swear.

Lindy Morris:

What do you mean? Oh my God. What is this? What's wrong with you?

Ruin:

Nothing is wrong with me, Lindy I'm a nightmare. This is what I do. You can make it stop, Lindy--

Lindy Morris:

No--Oh God, get away--

Ruin:

Listen to me. Listen. All you have to do is wake up

Lindy Morris:

Go away! I said go away!

Ruin:

I have to follow you out. Do you understand? It's my only way out of the Dreaming.

Lindy Morris:

Get away from me! Make it stop!

Ruin:

You have to wake up. Wake up, Lindy.

Lindy Morris:

W-Wake up Lindy please... Wake up.

Ruin:

Hnnggh. ... Lindy? Oh no. Why do I keep messing up so spectacularly? Hang on, baby girl... I know I'm just a bad dream, but I'm gonna try to fix this...

Meanwhile

Lindy Morris:

Nngh-- Wh- What... Where am I?

William Shakespeare:

Why, thou art in Stratford- upon-Avon, good madam.

Lindy Morris:

Huh?!

William Shakespeare:

And it is eleven o'clock in the morning upon a beautiful Whitsunday.

Lindy Morris:

...Will Shakespeare?!

William Shakespeare:

Who else, madam? This is mine own house, after all, and thou art but a trespasser, neither coming nor going but always in the way.

Lindy Morris:

Am I...Still asleep? Is this part of the dream?

William Shakespeare:

A dream? Ha! O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! And therefore as a stranger, give it welcome.

Lindy Morris:

... There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Hamlet. Man. I must really be out cold I don't usually take mega-naps like this. I'm amazed Anne hasn't woken me up yet.

Anne Hathaway:

Why should I wake you, my duck, when thou art standing afore me as fresh and dewy as the new morn?

Lindy Morris:

Oh my God. You're her, you're Anne Hathaway.

Anne Hathaway:

The very same, my love. That should be thereto Husband. Therefore doesn't scan.

William Shakespeare:

Does pustule scan?

Anne Hathaway:

I scanned one upon thy bald head not three days ago, so aye. Men! So contrary--

Lindy Morris:

You're helping Shakespeare. Guiding him. The Hathaway authorship theory-

Anne Hathaway:

Guiding Shakespeare? My dear, I am Shakespeare.

Sheik Zubayr:

Mistress Anne is always eager to claim credit. But in truth, I am Shakespeare, and always have been.

Lindy Morris:

Huh?!

Anne Hathaway:

Sheikh Zubayr! How lovely to see you. Still one step ahead of the Inquisition?

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe:

Wrong again, my sanctimonious poppets. I am Shakespeare, and all who value the truth do know it.

Lindy Morris:

Kit Marlowe?! Is this for real?

Anne Hathaway:

Very real, my duck. I'm afraid this house is always a little crowded, but somehow we always find room for one more.

Lindy Morris:

...Fuck.

Moments later

Ruin:

316 East John Street, Old Branch, New Jersey... 316 East John Street, Old Branch, New Jersey... 316 East John Street. Think this is it, little one. I just hope he's at home and in a good moo-- Gaah!

Jophiel:

Yes? You. What are you doing here? In the daytime? In the realm of flesh? How did you get out of the Dreaming?

Ruin:

...I fucked up, Jophiel.

Jophiel:

The most mediocre nightmare in the Dreaming has fucked up? What a shocking development. Have you ever managed to do something right, Ruin?

Ruin:

Probably not?

Jophiel:

Well whatever you've done, it's not my problem. You've caused enough misery in my life.

Ruin:

I didn't know where else to go! You're the only person I know outside the Dreaming! The whole reason I chose Lindy in the first place is because she lives close to your address...

Jophiel:

No, Ruin.

Ruin:

I haven't even asked you anything yet!

Jophiel:

No to whatever you were going to ask me. I'm your arch-nemesis. I hate you. It's your fault I will never look upon the throne again--

Ruin:

I need your help

Jophiel:

An infant...

Ruin:

I figured your side is better with kids.

Jophiel:

"Better with kids"? Have you never heard of Abraham and Isaac? Or the plague of the firstborn?

Ruin:

It's important, Jo!

Jophiel:

I haven't held one of these in two thousand years...Not since he was an infant himself...

Ruin:

I made a mistake... I followed her mother out of the Dreaming, but she was lucid, and I frightened her... I only meant to travel with her into the waking world. But somehow, when she panicked, we switched places. It was my intention never to return to the Dreaming again. But if I leave Lindy there, she will die.

Meanwhile

Narration:

The Lord of the Dreaming, architect of all mortal imagination, middle child of the Endless, is taking a walk. His chief librarian, Lucien, has not seen him for several hours. But Lucien isn't worried. For he is certain of one thing... His Lord never sleeps.

Lucien:

Kits, caps, paperbacks, knives, boots, flutes, stars, night birds, orange peels, lost buttons--Yes, all in order-- And I am once again talking to myself, which must mean that all is finally well in the Drea-- ... Oh dear. Oh no! Sire! Sire! Lord Dream! Come quickly! There's-- There's been--

Dream:

What is all this noise, Lucien? Are you unwell?

Lucien:

The box of nightmares! I found it totally ajar! Something must have escaped! But what? And how? Could it have been the Road to Nowhere? I've never trusted that one. Or perhaps Endless Teeth? Every time I check on them, it's always nibbling at the lid...

Dream:

There is no need to speculate, Lucien... I know which nightmare is missing. And it did not escape. Nothing escapes the Box. It was set loose. 

Part Two

Stratford upon Avon. Whitsunday

Lindy Morris:
...I gotta wake up.

Illuminati Shakespeare:
More wine, Mistress Lindy?

Lindy Morris:
No. No more wine. Go away, Illuminati Shakespeare.

Illuminati Shakespeare:
But I promised to tell you how I encoded the blueprints for the Tree of Life into my works, which will one day awaken the sleeping masses and--

Lindy Morris:
Oh God, do you ever shut up?

Sheik Zubayr:
Come, friend! Can't you see the lady is distressed? With all your chatter, she can't even hear her own thoughts.

Illuminati Shakespeare:
But--

Sheik Zubayr:
Off you go. I hear Kit Marlowe is doing monologues in the garden.

Lindy Morris:
Thanks for that. I thought I was going to go nuts. I think maybe I am going nuts. I don't want merriment. I don't know what this is-- a coma or a stroke or just the longest fucking nightmare I have ever had--but it needs to end

Sheik Zubayr:
A dream neither ends nor indeed begins, but exists perpetually in its own small universe.

Lindy Morris:
But I have to get back to my baby!

Sheik Zubayr:
I had children once. Three girls. I put them on a boat in Frigiliana when the Inquisition came. The Inquisitors didn't believe we'd truly converted to Catholicism because our neighbors told them we ate no pork. I was to follow the next day. Then came the storm. Their boat capsized somewhere between Spain and Italy. I never saw my children again. The next thing I knew, I was standing before an officer of the Crown at the dock in Dover, trying to spell Sheikh Zubayr in English.

Lindy Morris:
And the officer spelled it Shakespeare.

Sheik Zubayr:
And thus was a legend born. That's one of my favorites. An implausible theory, but one of my favorites. Anyway, good talk. I'll see you later, Sheikh Zubayr.

Sheik Zubayr:
But where are you going?!

Lindy Morris:
Out. I'm going to try the garden again. Maybe if I leave the house, I'll finally wake up...

Sheik Zubayr:
But this is your house! You built it, every stick and stone! You can't leave!

Lindy Morris:
Watch me.


Lindy Morris:
I can't stay here while there are people in the really real world who need me.

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe:
This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

Anne Hathaway:
Well done, Kit, that was not entirely terrible.

Lindy Morris:
I should've studied accounting like my mom wanted. What reasonable human being becomes a Shakespeare scholar? What did I expect? A Shakespeare scholar is just an overeducated broke person who … What the hell.

William Shakespeare:
Good day, madam! Are you quite well?

Lindy Morris:
Oh God.

Meanwhile Old Branch, New Jersey.

Ruin:
Here's the thing about the Dreaming, Jophiel... The Dreaming isn't sleep, not in the real, physical sense. Human beings aren't meant to live there. They start to go mad their bodies start to decay. They don't even notice as they slip toward death. Lindy might have weeks--or she might have days. And time passes differently in the Dreaming than it does here, where everything is so linear.

Jophiel:
This one is getting hungry.

Ruin:
She is?! How? Why? What do we do?!

Jophiel:
We stop at the corner store to buy formula, you useless twig!

Ruin:
And then what?

Jophiel:
And then I'm taking you to see a friend.

Ruin:
What friend?

Jophiel:
Her name is Heather After. She's as powerful a sorceress as the realm of flesh possesses. I plan to make you her problem instead of mine.

Ruin:
I don't want to see a sorceress. The more people get involved, the more dangerous this becomes...

Jophiel:
There is another option, Ruin. Turn yourself in to Lord Dream and put an end to this. Do the right thing for once in your miserable existence.

Ruin:
I can't do that, Jophiel. I've gone too far already. I can't turn back, not when I've risked so much to leave the Dreaming… And...And I have to see him again, Jo. The boy, he's all I can think about...Since the moment I laid eyes on him...

Jophiel:
I can't believe what I'm hearing! That's why you fled the Dreaming? Because you're still infatuated with a mortal man you were sent to terrify? I will not be party to this. It's not enough that your obsession with this boy cost me my place at the foot of the throne... No, now you must drag me into Dream's disfavor as well...

Ruin:
It's not obsession, Jophiel. It's love. I don't know how or why... Nightmares aren't supposed to feel love, we're not supposed to feel anything, but I do. And I need your help. I don't deserve it, but I need it anyway.

Jophiel:
… Sometimes I hate being perfect. Well, come on, you vile serpent. We have a sorceress to consult.


Heather After:
Good evening, assembled royalty. Are you feeling tired? Drained? Do you wake up gasping for breath in the morning, as if you haven't slept at all? Do you work your ass off only to see some idiot get the promotion, the gig, the grant money, because he's a photogenic gym rat who only tells people exactly what they want to hear? Maybe you blame yourself. If only you'd worked a little harder. If only you'd kept a positivity journal, if only you ate more salad. Maybe then you'd get the gig and the views and the size four body. Well I have bad news, sweet siblings. Most people who work their asses off don't get a damn thing. Fortunately, Auntie Heather has a way to help you level the playing field… ..Cheat codes! Welcome to Spells for the Underemployed, the show that teaches you to harness the power of magic so that you too can live happily Heather After. Today, we're going to learn how to summon a luck sprite. I'm your host ...

Jophiel:
… Heather!

Heather After:
What the fuck?!

Jophiel:
Sorry to barge in, but this is an emergency.

Heather After:
I'm live- streaming right now, Jophiel! As in wave to the internet, because you're on like fifty thousand screens!

Jophiel:
Well, you can stop that now.

Heather After:
My Panasonic! ... You owe me a new camera.

Jophiel:
I will presently owe you a great deal more if you take this catastrophe off my hands.

Heather After:
Aww! That's not a catastrophe. That's a baby.

Jophiel:
A baby who will become an orphan unless we can get her mother out of the Dreaming alive.

Heather After:
How does a mom from New Jersey get stuck in the Dreaming?

Jophiel:
Ask him.

Heather After:
Hmm. What is he?

Ruin:
I'm a nightmare.

Heather After:
...Oh, I wouldn't say that. Do you have a name?

Ruin:
I'm-- I'm called Ruin.

Heather After:
And how did you get mixed up with Milton's favorite cherub, Ruin? Zophiel, of Cherubim the swiftest wing, came flying, and in mid aire aloud thus crid: Arme, warrıours, arme for fight...

Jophiel:
You've been so well-behaved, little sparkle, yes you have, yes you have.

Ruin:
You really want to know? It's, umm--it's not a nice story.

Heather After:
Indulge me.

Ruin:
Okay... Ruin's tale of woe ... The first thing I remember when I woke up in the field before the Palace of Dreams is my name. Ruined, Dream said. He's just a complete ruin. He sounded sad. Then he said some stuff I didn't understand, like I'll never be him, Lucien. Not really and then I heard Lucien's voice going don't despair, sire, Lord Morpheus would be the first to tell you that he himself made the occasional grave error of judgement. At that point, I didn't know what I was. I only knew I was a mistake. So the first thing I ever felt was sadness, and then Dream said go, Ruin, and fulfill your purpose as best you can, and the next thing I knew, I was looking at Jophiel. Jophiel was in his scary angelic form. Six wings, head of a lion, the whole thing. I asked him where we were, and he said we're in a dream, you idiot, do your job. So I looked up: there was a girl being burned alive in a pyre. She was screaming. I turned to Jophiel and asked him what was going on. "This is the martyrdom of Saint Joan", he said, like I was supposed to know. "The dreamer has a calling, very rare these days. I'm here to supervise, if this goes well, he'll wake up tomorrow and start his spiritual journey." Then I saw the person who was dreaming. The boy. He was perfect, like a sunbeam. Why do we have to send him such an awful dream? I asked Jophiel. Why can't he dream of beautiful things, since he is beautiful? Jophiel rolled his lion eyes at me. You're a nightmare, he said. You can't make beautiful dreams. We're here to scare the shit out of him so he thinks about eternity. I didn't believe him. I reached out to change the dream, but I only made it worse. Terrifying. The boy began to whimper in his sleep. Then Jophiel started screaming at me. Saying I'd ruined everything. It all comes back to that word, I guess. Ruin. I destroy things. But I have to find the boy. I have to believe I can be something else. Something good that's why I left the Dreaming, that's why I'm here.

Heather After:
...And the baby?

Jophiel:
Ruin tried to follow the child's mother out of the Dreaming while she slept but switched places with her instead, because he is, as he said, a complete waste of air.

Heather After:
And you want to drag me into this?

Jophiel:
I had no choice. You're local, I'm not going all the way to New York for a nightmare.

Heather After:
Fuck, I'd rather deal with anybody than that fluffy-haired sadboy. Even one of Lucifer's get would be preferable. Predictable. Manageable, I'd just throw up a couple of wards, lay in a supply of holy water, and call up my friend John-- 'Allo Heather luv, 'ow've you been, aven't seen you in aitches, what's the matter then? Ow, a demon, no problem luv I'll just wiggle me fingers and cast an entrapment, pip pip cheerio! But Nooooo... You had to get tangled up in the net of the Endless.

Jophiel:
The baby and her mother are innocents. So is Ruin, despite being utterly useless. You know my rules.

Heather After:
Fuck your rules. ... Okay, okay. Let me think. Do something useful and get me my painkillers. This has given me a headache. They're over there on the counter.

Jophiel:
Estradiol?

Heather After:
No.

Jophiel:
Finasteride.

Heather After:
No!

Jophiel:
Ibuprofen?

Heather After:
...Yes. Thank you.

Ruin:
So how, umm-- how do you know about all this? Dream and the Endless and all the rest of it? Mortal beings aren't supposed to know...

Heather After:
The TL;DR is this: My great-grandfather was a man named Roderick Burgess. He was an abusive, megalomaniacal creep. He was also the magician who imprisoned Dream for fifty years. In his later years, Burgess had an affair with a woman named Ethel Cripps--my great-grandmother. She was pregnant with my grandfather when she left Burgess for his apprentice, a man named Sykes. Eventually, Ethel walked out on Sykes too--and for leverage, she took a few valuable items, some of which have been passed down to me. So as for how I know all this stuff... I guess you could say it runs in the family. A shitty, twisted, backstabbing family that will end with me.

Ruin:
So...you can help us?

Heather After:
I mean, I can try. But I have to tell you, Ruin...this is Dream we're talking about. Chances are, he already knows what you're up to which means you're in much, much bigger trouble than you think.


Dream:
There is no way around it.

Lucien:
Around what sire?

Dream:
I must interrogate the nightmares.

Lucien:
You mean... go in there? With all of them?

Dream:
There has been a major breach of authority, Lucien. I must discover how it occurred and who facilitated it. Well? Are you coming?

Lucien:
Me?!

Dream:
Yes, you. I will need a written record of what passes here. You must be my scribe.

Lucien:
Well... if you say so... Look out below! How far down does it go?!

Dream:
Far enough. And then farther still. Careful, Lucien.

Lucien:
Aaah! Well? Where are they?

Dream:
Hiding. But they will come.

Endless Teeth:
... My lord?

Dream:
Endless Teeth. Where are your brethren?

Endless Teeth:
Here, my lord where they have always been. Waiting in the dark.

Dream:
I am displeased, my horrors. The last and least of your siblings--one who couldn't possibly have devised such a plan on his own--has left the Box of Nightmares without permission. I can no longer sense him within the Dreaming. I want to know who among you has aided his escape, and why. And if I am told lies, my anger will not be easily slaked.

Later, in the Shakespeare multiverse

Lindy Morris:
I h-hate this. I want my baby. I want my bed, I want my life, it was shitty, but it was real.... My b-breasts hurt. I have so much milk...Why can't I wake up?

Anne Hathaway:
None of us may leave either. We are always here, it's always Whitsunday...The sun never moves, the garden never fades...

Lindy Morris:
So you've tried? Why can't anybody leave?

Anne Hathaway:
We cannot decide who amongst us is the real Shakespeare, so the argument that brought us here is never resolved. Perhaps if it was, we could all leave... Would you serve as judge, Mistress Lindy?

Lindy Morris:
Are you kidding? I've been training for this moment my whole life. Maybe not my whole life, but for as long as I've been accruing student debt... I accept. I'll decide which of you is the real Shakespeare. And then I'm gonna get the fuck out of here and never look back.

Part Three

Lindy Morris:

Can we get the house lights, please? To his credit, he tried to do the right thing. He didn't freak out. He offered to pay for an abortion. He asked me how I felt, if there was anything he could do to support me, blah blah. There was no question of getting married and raising the kid together. We barely knew each other. We hooked up at a department holiday party. It was fun. There was Malbec and homemade toffee. Then it was over. Except that it wasn't because I was pregnant. Three years ago, I'd have taken him up on the abortion. It wasn't the right time. Too much going on. But here's the thing-- at some point, I realized there's never going to be a right time. When I started my PhD, nobody warned me that being an academic in the post-tenure gig economy is basically a monastic calling. You'll always be broke, you'll never have job security. You'll spend your life bouncing from city to city, taking whatever teaching job you can get. You can't hold down a basic relationship let alone raise a kid! So I guess... in a way...this felt like the only chance I'd ever have. To be a parent. To make my own family. I know, I know. Stupid right? I'm only thirty. Plenty of time. Only that's not how it feels. It feels like time is running out. It feels like the end of the world every single day. And now I'm stuck here. With my life's work staring at me. And I've got to figure out in a few hours what I couldn't figure out in my entire academic career so far. What is true? What is real? Who was Shakespeare?

Meanwhile, in New Jersey.

Ruin:

So, umm-- our plan is what, exactly?

Heather After:

Well, Ruin... My plan is to approach the Dreaming through Faerie.

Ruin:

Won't that be.. dangerous? Faeries are so mean...

Heather After:

Do you want to get caught or not?

Jophiel:

If you don't want to get caught, entering the Dreaming through Faerie makes sense.

Heather After:

It's a side door. The borderlands between the Dreaming and Faerie are full of hustlers, Dream won't be looking for you there. But we can't exactly waltz in. We have to convince one of the Fair Folk to take us there. Which is why I'm summoning one.

Ruin:

Summoning a Faerie? Won't that...piss it off?

Heather After:

Probably.

Jophiel:

If you have another brilliant idea, Ruin, please share.

Ruin:

I've never had a brilliant idea in my life.

Jophiel:

Finally, something upon which we can all agree.

Ruin:

The baby's getting sleepy.

Heather After:

That's good, right? She must feel safe with you.

Ruin:

No. I mean yes, but-- somebody else should hold her while she's sleeping. I don't-I don't want her to have bad dreams.

Jophiel:

Are you certain this circle will summon one of the Fair Folk, and not something else?

Heather After:

If this is a polite way of reminding me how we met, touché.

Ruin:

You summoned Jophiel?

Heather After:

Not on purpose. I was trying to summon a fire elemental. But I mispronounced a word. So instead of a nice, chill little fire spirit with the intelligence of a goldfish, I ended up with this guy.

Ruin:

So what happened?

Heather After:

I let him go, of course.

Heather After:

Whoa. I'm so sorry, your, uh, your lordship--

Jophiel:

Jophiel.

Ruin:

Just like that? Why?

Heather After:

Because I'm not an asshole. Summoning is like sport fishing. You set your bait for the fish you want to catch, but if you accidentally hook a shark, you're morally obligated to set it free. Otherwise the whole ecosystem suffers. Which my ancestors learned the hard way. There. That should do it. Stand back...This first part can be pretty intense.

Puck:

You... ignorant... insolent... Who dares summon Puck like he is some groveling lackey?

Ruin:

What the fuck?!

Heather After:

Oh, chill out. No one is going to hurt you. Do as I ask and you'll be free to go.

Puck:

Puck is not your servant, Puck is not here to be commanded.

Heather After:

Look, all we need is an escort into Faerie. It'll take all of ten minutes.

Puck:

Are you out of your mind? You think you can walk into the abode of the Fair Folk whenever it pleases you? You are making enemies you cannot possibly hope to fight.

Heather After:

I'll consider it a huge favor. And I always pay back my favors with interest.

Puck:

I want none of your sorcerer's trinkets. I am a child of the night air, your favors mean nothing to me. Unless...you would give me the gift of innocence...

Jophiel:

Heather, I think this was a mistake--

Heather After:

Relax, Jophiel. He can't get out of the circle.

Puck:

Hrr hrr hrr-- hrr-aah- ha-ha! Ah-ha- ha-haaa! You're an even bigger fool than I took you for, summoner. You think you are a wolf, but you're just an ignorant puppy...I have seen the greatest sorcerers your kind has ever produced, and you are nothing beside them...

Heather After:

Athalan Othelion--

Puck:

Puck does not forget his enemies summoner.

Heather After:

Athamantus!

Puck:

When I set a trap for you, your escape shall not be so easy...

Heather After:

G-Go away!

Puck:

And that child will not be safe in the cherub's arms forever.

Jophiel:

Well, that was amateurish. If that's the best you can do, perhaps there's a reason your family never came back from the Dream debacle.

Heather After:

Wow. Wow. You're going to drag all that up now? Just to fling it in my face?

Jophiel:

I--I'm sorry, Heather. I should not have spoken in haste.

Heather After:

Too late.

Ruin:

Please don't fight. This is all my fault. I should never have put you at risk like this. I don't have very much experience of things. Life. The world everything seems so big and confusing. But I have to learn to fight my own battles. One way or another. I'll find a way to get Lindy out of the Dreaming. Even if it means I can never leave again. There's one person who will know for sure how to get a mortal out of the Dreaming in one piece... The only person besides Lord Dream who's ever done it. The person who helped me escape the Box.

Meanwhile, in the Box of Nightmares.

Dream:

Tell me about Ruin. What led to his rebellion? Was he acting suspiciously?

Endless Teeth:

He was... unhappy, Lord.

Dream:

Unhappy? How does a nightmare become unhappy?

Endless Teeth:

He has always been a strange one, Lord. Timid. Reluctant. Weak.

Dream:

For which I have no one to blame but myself.

Lucien:

Is it wise to say so out loud, sire? In front of...in front of all of them?

Dream:

They know I will unmake them if they disobey me. So does Ruin, which is why his rebellion vexes me...what could prompt him to risk his very existence? He knows what I will do to him when he is caught... Brute. Glob. I would speak with you.

Brute:

Here we are, sire.

Glob:

We've been wondering when you'd call on us.

Dream:

You too once escaped from this place.

Glob:

We sure did.

Brute:

That's how we met you. In a manner of speaking. In your mother's womb. Before you were born.

Dream:

And after I ascended to the throne, I brought you back from exile.

Glob:

We never really understood why, Lord after all--

Brute:

The last Dream--the other one-- he wanted to punish us--

Dream:

Well. Your betrayal did indirectly result in his death. And in my birth. I brought you back so that you would owe me the loyalty you failed to show to him. Loyalty I wish to call upon now. So tell me. Who let Ruin out of the Box?

Brute:

It wasn't a nightmare, Lord

Glob:

It wasn't a dream at all.

Brute:

It was something else.

Glob:

Neither dream, nor fae, nor god, nor mortal.

Brute:

Something that walks between the worlds.

Dream:

...and after all I have done for her. All I have permitted her.

Lucien:

Sire-- please be careful not to--

Dream:

Find her, Lucien. We will settle this now. Before any more chaos is unleashed.

Lindy Morris:

You know something? I think I can see my soul in the clouds. Clouds! Aristophanes wrote. The Clouds, not our Billy boy. That's okay though. Everything is okay. I like it here. No screaming baby, no professor poopface... Maybe I won't bother to choose the real Shakespeare after all...

Fairy:

But Mistress Lindy! You promised!

Lindy Morris:

Okay, okay, okay. Shut up and lemme think. We can eliminate Illuminati Shakespeare, obviously. And as much as I love Sheikh Zubayr, he's out too. Bye bye. And Anne... I want to believe her. The way Shakespeare wrote conversations between women-- other men from that time period didn't write that way. It's like he was there... But the evidence suggests Anne couldn't read... That's the thing about authorship theories. It's more fun to think about the hidden story than about the obvious one.

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe:

What, then, is the solution?

Lindy Morris:

I don't know, Kit. I faced the same issue in my research. You end up projecting yourself into the evidence. You see what you want to see. I mean, at the end of the day, all we have are the plays, not the person. Wait a minute. That's it.

Anne Hathaway:

What's it, my duck?

Lindy Morris:

I don't know why I didn't think of it before.... We'll put on a play. One of the Apocrypha. Something I can't project myself into, because I've never seen it performed before. Something really fun. So I can see the secret parts. Then I will know...I will know everything...

Part Four 

Narration:

Lindy Morris and various fragments of her subconscious present: The Birth of Merlyn, being a lost play attributed to William Shakespeare but also divers others. Act II

Illuminati Shakespeare:
Away, follow me no further, I am none of thy brother! What, with child? Great with child, and knows not who the father is! I am ashamed to call thee sister.

Lindy Morris:
Believe me, brother, he was a gentleman.

Illuminati Shakespeare:
I believe that; But, Joan, Joan, sister Joan, can you tell me his name that did it? How shall we call my cousin, your bastard, when we have it?

Lindy Morris:
Alas, I know not the gentleman's name, brother, I met him in these woods the last great hunting; he was so kind and proffered me so much, as I had not the heart to ask him more.

Illuminati Shakespeare:
Look --the cheap seats are filling up!

Lindy Morris:
Who are all those new people?

Illuminati Shakespeare:
Shadows, dear sister. They are the Dreaming remembering itself. One of these Shakespeares over there believes he received the patronage of the Faerie Court and the King of Dreams. All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. One of my most famous lines.

Lindy Morris:
Yes. From sonnet number...sonnet number... Wait. That's not Shakespeare. That's Poe. You're not real. None of this is real. I made all of you up. Why did I think this would work... Why did I think I could figure out who Shakespeare really was by putting on a play... by pretending...

Meanwhile

Lucien:

Sire, please-- be kind to the girl. She has been through so much in her short life--

Dream:

And she has defied my authority one time too many. Do you remember, Lucien? This is where I created him.

Lucien:

Who? Ruin?

Dream:

Yes. We were walking here in the field, and I thought--away from the palace, away from the weight of duty--I might make something new. Something unique. But instead...I created an aberration. One that has turned on me.

Lucien:

You could not have known. What is invention without a few mistakes?

Dream:

I should have known. And yet I---What is that?

Lucien:

What is what?

Dream:

A garden...costumes... a painted stage... Something has changed in the hinterlands of the Dreaming. Something-- someone--is building a new landscape. Dreams and memories of dreams are being drawn to it. And it isn't me.

Later in New Jersey

Ruin:

I have to go away, little one. But with any luck, I'll send your mom back to you, safe and sound ...well, safe, at least.

Jophiel:

I can't believe that after all this hassle, you still want to break in to the very place you risked your life to break out of.

Ruin:

I have no choice. Everything I do just makes it worse, and now Heather's been cursed by the Faeries---

Heather After:

Let me worry about myself. The more pressing question is--how are we going to send you back to the Dreaming? We obviously can't go through Faerie now. And I don't know any other way in.

Jophiel:

Don't look at me, I'm in exile, I can't go anywhere.

Ruin:

There are so many ways into the Dreaming... There must be something we can-- wait a minute. Do you think you could send me to Worlds' End?

Heather After:

Seriously? I don't even really understand where Worlds' End is. I've only read about it in some of the Arcana.

Ruin:

It's not a where. It's a what. That's the beauty of it. It's not anywhere, so it's close to everything. I could easily get back to the Dreaming from there.

Heather After:

Well, I guess it's worth a tr--

Jophiel:

Stand back. It may be the Faeries returning to seek revenge.

Heather After:

Jophiel, I don't think--

Jophiel:

Who are you?

Todd:

T-Todd! I'm Todd!

Jophiel:

What is a Todd?

Heather After:

A Todd is my boyfriend, Jophiel. I asked him to bring over dinner.

Todd:

I-- Wow. Okay. Jeez.

Jophiel:

...Please do not blaspheme in my presence.

Todd:

Sure thing, bro. Whoa. What happened here?

Heather After:

You weren't supposed to see all this. Or either of these guys.

Todd:

Hey, man. Sorry about all that in the hallway. I'm Todd.

Ruin:

Oh. I-- My name is Ruin.

Todd:

Brutal. You in a band or something?

Ruin:

What?

Heather After:

It doesn't matter. After tonight, you'll go back to inhabiting parallel, non-overlapping universes, both in my life and in general. There's no way I'm getting my safety deposit back after all this...

Todd:

Babe? What are, uhh--what are you doing?

Heather After:

Creating a portal that will send Ruin to a no-man's-land between worlds, or, if I fuck it up, suspend him eternally in nothingness.

Ruin:

Wait, really?

Heather After:

This needs an insurance policy.., an unclouded soul... someone who has never been exposed to this kind of magic before... Hey, babe?

Todd:

What? Me?

Heather After:

Don't look so scared, all you have to do is stand here and hold this.

Todd:

Last time somebody told me that, I was rushing for Phi Delta Double-Epsilon, and I woke up in a topiary wearing someone else's thong--

Heather After:

I'm afraid this is going to be less fun. Everybody breathe normally and try to relax. Abra Cadabra.

Todd:

Whoa.

Ruin:

Heather, it's-- beautiful.

Heather After:

Look, there's no guarantee that this will get you where you want to go. I've never tried anything quite like this before, there's a risk--

Ruin:

Then I'll take the risk. I owe that much to the baby-- and to her mother. To think I came so close to freedom--and now it's gone, just like that. I wanted this so badly. I wanted to breathe the same air as the boy, I felt like--if I could come this far to find him, whatever distance is left between us would be easy to cross... But I guess--I guess some dreams aren't meant to come true. Bye, everybody. With any luck, I'll send Lindy-- the baby's mom--back to you. With, uhh--with an escort. But I don't suppose I'll ever see you guys again.

Heather After:

Oh, don't say that. To misquote Prince, never is a really long time.

Ruin:

Thank you, for everything. I--I won't forget it.

Jophiel:

Watch out!

Todd:

Wow. When you said you did magic as a side hustle, I figured you meant, like, card tricks...

Heather After:

Yeah. This was supposed to be more of a six-month anniversary type of conversation, not a we're-barely- Facebook-official type of conversation. But here we are.

Jophiel:

How will we know when Ruin has reached Worlds' End? Or whether he is successful in freeing the child's mother?

Heather After:

We won't. He's on his own now. All we can do is hope.

Lindy Morris:

My feet are killing me. And my back.

Illuminati Shakespeare:

You are near your time now. We must find the child's father.

Lindy Morris:

He didn't want to be a father. He said so in as many words. It was always going to be just me. And I was okay with that, I just--I didn't realize how scary raising a child was going to be.

Illuminati Shakespeare:

The greatest endeavors all involve fear. It comes not from the immensity of the task, but from the realization that we are far greater beings than we imagined.

Lindy Morris:

You know, for a conspiracy theory, you're really deep. But I--

Illuminati Shakespeare:

Lindy! Look out!

Hunter Shakespeare:

Get back, oh ye devils!

Lindy Morris:

What the hell was that?!

Illuminati Shakespeare:

You saved us, brave knight! Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once.

Lindy Morris:

Well this thing is non-metaphorically dead, valiant or not. Wait. This isn't a Shakespeare.

Illuminati Shakespeare:

It looks like some kind of nightmare.

Lindy Morris:

Not any nightmare I've ever had. Something has changed... Something is happening this isn't just my dream anymore...

Hunter Shakespeare:

Well, it's no concern of mine. I have dispatched this monster, and now I must be on my way--

Illuminati Shakespeare:

Wait, stop! My sister is great with child and we are alone in these woods--would you not be a father to the babe when it is born?

Hunter Shakespeare:

Me, unite myself with a second- rate scholar who cannot even finish her dissertation? Do you offer me insult, sirrah?

Lindy Morris:

Hey!

Hunter Shakespeare:

Do you know how many thousands of people have written about my life? What makes you think you have anything new to say? Perhaps Professor Dumbar was right, you should find a different line of work.

Lindy Morris:

I have put my entire youth into getting this degree. Nobody is going to tell me to quit, not even William Shakespeare with a fucking toy sword.

William Shakespeare:

Stop, stop. Take the scene again from the top, with more consideration for motive. This is poorly staged. You seem to have gone off script.

Lindy Morris:

I don't know what happens next. That was supposed to be the point... We stage one of the lost plays to reveal the real Shakespeare, instead, I ended up in this nightmare...

William Shakespeare:

Perhaps you are asking the wrong questions.

Lindy Morris:

What do you mean?

William Shakespeare:

You ask which of them is meant to be here, when what you should ask is why are you here? Why have you fled to this place, which seems to cause you so much anxiety?

Lindy Morris:

I guess--I guess it's all I know. I spent every waking minute here, in one way or another, so it only makes sense that I spend every dreaming minute here too. But I recognize less and less. You call the people in the audience memories, but they're not my memories.

William Shakespeare:

No, they are mine. Shadows of what has gone before. They are the Dream King and the Fair Folk, who were present at my first production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Lindy Morris:

Fairies? For real? You're definitely one of the fake ones, then. Lord, this baby gets heavier by the hour... I wonder what my daughter is doing now--I feel like I'm forgetting her. I used to see her face in everything, and now I can't see it at all.

William Shakespeare:

You must be careful. They fade when we're not looking. Children, I mean. I wasn't there when we lost my boy.

Lindy Morris:

Hamnet.

William Shakespeare:

Yes, I ran away, threw myself into my work. And when my theatre burned to the ground and I went home for solace, he was already gone.

Lindy Morris:

I--I resent her sometimes. My daughter. Bringing her into the world was my choice, but at the same time--you don't know how big being a parent is. How much of you it takes. You don't know until you're in it. I could've been done by now. With my dissertation, I mean. If not for her. There are three things--my baby, my work, and myself. One is always suffering.

William Shakespeare:

Don't do what I did. Don't run away, learn to live in the small moments. Too much has been asked of us, but it does not mean we have permission to fall.

Lindy Morris:

What's funny is that I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. After all my studies, I don't know what happens next in this stupid play. It was always supplemental reading.

William Shakespeare:

Neither do I.

Lindy Morris:

What do you mean? How could you not know?

William Shakespeare:

Because I didn't write this play. William Rowley wrote it. Detestable man. I read one of his early drafts, but he didn't like my advice, so he never sent me another.

Lindy Morris:

My God. It's you. You're the real Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare:

Are you disappointed?

Lindy Morris:

--I --- Huhh!

Narration:

Lindy dreams. But the line between dream and memory is fluid. And in that borderland, where the tides of the Dreaming meet memory and myth, where the lost gather to be found, there is a house. A house named Worlds' End.

Ruin:

Ungh!

Dora:

You took your time. I've been waiting here forever, and don't bother asking how I knew you were coming. I'm the way you got out in the first place. So of course I'm the way you're getting back in.

Ruin:

H-Hello, Dora. I f-forget you can see around corners in time and space. Like him. Like Lord Dream.

Dora:

It's not the same, but you can think about it that way if it helps you.

Ruin:

Listen--I'm in a hurry-- and I need a favor.

Dora:

Again? You still owe me for letting you out of that box.

Ruin:

This is different. When I left the Dreaming, I accidentally trapped a woman there... and I need you to help me get her out-- Hrrk!

Brute:

Well, well, well. You weren't that hard to find after all, little brother.

Ruin:

B-Brute. Glob. What are you doing in Worlds' End?

Glob:

What do you think? The Master sent us to look for you. He's angry, you see. Very angry. You've created a mess, little brother. You think you're different than us. Special. But you're not special, Ruin. You're a nightmare. All you can do is cause pain.

Finale 

Narration:

All mortal things meander toward their ruin. Their best intentions dragging disaster behind them. Learning wisdom only when it is too late to be put to use.

Ruin:
S-Stop! Let me go!

Brute:
Shut up.


Lindy Morris:
What is that thing?!

William Shakespeare:
That thing is Act Three.


Lucien:
You won't-- You won't hurt her, will you, sire? Or Ruin? They're only children in the final addition--

Dream:
I haven't decided yet.


Narration:
Their order devolving steadily into chaos.

Lindy Morris:
Wh-Who are you?

Merlyn:
Need you ask, mother? I am Merlyn. This is the story of my birth, after all.

Lindy Morris:
This is so messed up...I should have chosen a different play...

Merlyn:
Oh, I'm hurt. Do you mean to tell me you regret bearing your own child?

Lindy Morris:
You're not my child! My child is-- --is-- --I can't remember.

Merlyn:
You can't remember because it's not important. I am the child who matters. I am the child of your mind. You made me from all the doubts that plague you in the small hours of the night, when you're too tired to ignore them. I am the child you chose.

Elsewhere on the borders of the Dreaming.

Dora:

Oi! What do you think you're doing?!

Brute:

What the master ordered.

Ruin:

Aaah!

Dora:

Well the master isn't here.

Brute:

Yeah, and you better thank your lucky stars, because he's even more pissed off at you than he is at this ball of maggots.

Ruin:

You can s-still get away, Dora. You don't have to help me--just find her--find Lindy and get her out of here before it's too late--

Dora:

There's nothing more ridiculous than a sad nightmare.

Brute:

Ugh!

Ruin:

What are you doing?!

Dora:

Shut up and run!

Brute:

You can't outrun Lord Dream, Ruin! You can't outrun what you are! The same evil in me is in you!

Glob:

You will destroy everything you touch!

Ruin:

Can you find her? Lindy, I mean? Can we get to her from here?

Dora:

Do you remember where you left her?

Ruin:

I th-think so. She has a recurring dream. A house with stairs and doors that lead nowhere. That's where I waited for her.

Dora:

There are a million houses like that in the Dreaming. Can't you be more specific?

Ruin:

Sorry. It wasn't my dream.

Dora:

We'll have to make do with--

Ruin:

What's happening? What does it mean?

Dora:

It means he's found us.

Ruin:

Who?

Dora:

Who do you think? The boss. Dream himself. We're screwed.

Moments later.

Jophiel:

Nearly home now, little one...soon you'll be back in your own bed, and if Uncle Ruin has done his job, your mother will be waiting for you...

Anne Hathaway Morris:

I see her beautiful face again? And smell her beautiful smell?

Jophiel:

That's right.

Anne Hathaway Morris:

I tell her about my friend Jophiel?

Jophiel:

If you remember me when you get older, yes-- but don't be sad if she doesn't believe you. Most humans forget they once spoke the language of the angels-- Gaah!

Kushiel:

I must speak with you.

Jophiel:

What are you doing here, Kushiel? Aren't you supposed to be tormenting unrepentant sinners?

Kushiel:

The fact that I am not should tell you all you need to know. Your exile from heaven was meant to be a time of reflection and penitence. Instead, you are interfering in the affairs of not one but several other realms.

Jophiel:

Innocents needed my help. Am I supposed to defy my own nature?

Kushiel:

Yes, if it disturbs the balance.

Jophiel:

Oh shut up, I'm older than you are. I am one of the first. I outrank you.

Kushiel:

Not while you're in exile. I am not here to remonstrate. I come only as a messenger. If you continue to meddle with the mortal world, you could forfeit any chance you have of returning to your place at the foot of the throne. Just... think about it.

Jophiel:

He is too shiny and very mean. Ignore him. He was demoted after bungling his first job and he thinks this is his chance to dunk on me. Sometimes, to do a great right, you have to do a little wrong. I think it was Shakespeare who said that...

Merlyn:

Well, mother? This is your grand moment. Tell the others what you have decided. Who is the real Shakespeare?

Lindy Morris:

Why do I feel like this is a trap?

Merlyn:

No trap just a test. I know you've already determined the outcome, just say it out loud and this nightmare will come to an end.

Lindy Morris:

I ---

William Shakespeare:

Remember who you are, Lindy. Remember what you know. He wants to catch you off guard. Oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths.

Lindy Morris:

...Win us with honest trifles to betray us in deepest consequence. It's the wrong question. I've been trying to answer the wrong question. Without me, the words continue. But without you, the work would cease. I won't forget this. Not ever.

Merlyn:

Well?

Lindy Morris:

I owe you no answers. You're not my child. You're every voice I've ever heard in my head telling me I couldn't do it. Every so-called mentor waiting for me to fail. I refuse to let these voices speak through me or for me anymore. I refuse to let you live in my head. None of these Shakespeares are the real Shakespeare. They're all products of us--the living, here in the present. We can't untangle the man from the history. Our perception will always be clouded by the lens through which we see him. And my real child's name is Anne.

Narration:

All mortal things meander toward their ruin. And ruin in turn becomes rebirth.

Lindy Morris:

Hnnggh--

Narration:

A tumbling-down. A breaking-through. New lives born of old lessons. Life ends in darkness. Life begins again in that same darkness.

Narration:

It is not the darkness that sparks fear. It is the overturning that the darkness brings.

Ruin:

What now?

Dora:

We fight till there's no fight left. So get behind me, and I'll smack 'em in the--

Ruin:

I have to fight my own battles, Dora. I can't keep hiding behind everyone around me.

Dora:

But you can't fight. You don't even like being moderately scary.

Ruin:

Then I'll learn.

Brute:

I'll skin you alive, you ungrateful little shit! I'll flay you like a bloated pig!

Ruin:

Do it, then. Teach me a lesson. See if it feels the way you think it's going to feel. Show me what I'm supposed to be!

Brute:

You attack your own kind--your brothers--and all for what? What are you trying to prove?

Dream:

Enough. Stop this. I forbid it.

Brute:

I found him for you, sire. It wasn't that hard in the end. He was coming back to the Dreaming all by himself.

Dream:

Hello, Ruin. I'm hurt that you tried to slink off without saying goodbye.

Ruin:

Lord Dream! I--I never meant--this was never about you--

Dream:

Yet you risked much to escape from me. Why then did you return?

Ruin:

I couldn't let other people pay for my mistakes. There's a baby girl in the waking world who needs her mother. I had to come back and get her out.

Dream:

You would risk your own freedom to save the life of a mortal you barely know?

Ruin:

...Yeah. I guess I would. And d-don't blame Dora. Please. I asked her to help me escape. None of this is her fault.

Dream:

I shall deal with Dora's intransigence later. For now, let us recover this woman---before she is lost between worlds and irretrievable even to me.

Lindy Morris:

Gaah!

Dream:

I have you... Hello, Lindy. Are you well and unhurt?

Lindy Morris:

Do I...know you?

Dream:

All mortal beings know me.

Lindy Morris:

I--I remember you somehow. I've never seen you before, but somehow I remember you.

Dream:

And when you wake, you will forget. That, too, is written.

Lindy Morris:

And you! I know why I remember you- you were in my dream.

Ruin:

Yeah. Sorry. It didn't exactly go the way I planned. The baby's fine, by the way. She's made a bunch of new friends.

Lindy Morris:

You've seen her? Where is she? How is she doing? Is she really okay?

Dream:

Go. Return to the waking world. The life you left behind is still there, untouched.

Lindy Morris:

God, I've got edits due in two days. How am I supposed to get it all done? I'm exhausted

Dream:

She waits for you. Have no fear, Lindy Morris. You will never again dream of the empty house. All will be well again--or as well as it ever was.

Anne Hathaway Morris:

Hnnggh?

Jophiel:

Look, Anne. Your mother is back.

Anne Hathaway Morris:

Mama is here?

Jophiel:

Here and whole. Our useless Ruin must have succeeded after all. Goodbye, little one. Sweet dreams.

Lindy Morris:

Hnnggh? Oh man. I had the absolute weirdest dream...

Anne Hathaway Morris:

Daa!

Lindy Morris:

Hello, my love. Come on. Let's order Chinese. I'm starving.

And so:

Dream:

Dora claims you wanted to leave the Dreaming because you fell in love.

Ruin:

She's right. I did.

Dream:

But that's impossible. I did not create you to love. I created you to spread fear. That is your first and only purpose.

Ruin:

People keep saying that, but it doesn't make it true. And I still-- I still want to find him. The boy. The dreamer. If you put me back in the box, I'll find another way to escape. If I'm caught again, I'll find a third way. I'll escape again and again until I escape forever. What?

Dream:

I am a part of everything I create, yet there is a part of me in you that I do not recognize. Very well. So be it. I have learned what happens when I fail to recognize the sovereignty of my creations. Go, Ruin. Walk in the waking world. I give you leave to travel back and forth between the realm of the living and the realm of dreams. But I warn you---when you leave the Dreaming, you are no longer my subject. You are hers.

Ruin:

Whose?

Dream:

Death's. As soon as you set your foot on solid ground, she rises and begins her journey to meet you. You may never find this boy. You may never know pleasure or happiness. But you will meet her.

Ruin:

Then...then I accept. The certainty of death for the uncertainty of love. It s-seems like a fair trade.

Lucien:

If you wished, you could slip Ruin into that boy's mind right now. Why send him on a fool's errand?

Dream:

Because it is the only way he will learn, Lucien. And because in a way, I...I envy him. The world is new in his eyes. All he sees is possibility. I would not deprive him of this. For now.