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In the beginning Danny, well, he isn't really sure when the beginning was. It was probably in that week long stretch of blissfully dreamless sleep he had a while back. Except at some point he realized that it wasn't actually dreamless.
Instead, he was just comfortably resting all night in a void, cradled in the deep all encompassing darkness. He could still move if he wanted, but that wasn't the point of it. After countless nights of stress dreams, nightmares, and the chaotic mess that having a(n after)life as crazy as his made his 'normal' dreams, the darkness was a relief.
It did eventually get a bit boring though. And in the way of all dreams, just as he thought that the void became more.
It became dotted with stars. A whole canvas of them lighting up everywhere he looked, the vibrant colors of the galaxy spilling behind them like they did in all the best deep space images shared by scientists.
It was amazing! It still is, though it's hard to focus on that right now.
Because after weeks of stargazing - of picking out constellations and using the vague power of 'I know I'm dreaming so what if-' to watch how they might have drifted over the last few millennia, of zipping at impossible speeds to see random planets, asteroids, and dwarf stars up close - Danny finally turned his attention to Dream Earth.
And, weirdly, had some trouble finding it.
It got to the point that he gave in and looked up how to theoretically find it if lost in space while awake the next day because it bothered him so much.
(And then he had to quickly clear the browser history before Technus took over the school's computer room again just to be sure he didn't give the guy any ideas. Space is mostly outside Technus' wheelhouse, but Danny also thought that about beach vacations.
Turns out those pop up ads are also effective on ghosts, who knew?)
Thankfully, dream logic allowed him to find his own planet with relative ease that night, even if he was forced to pointedly think about how modern light pollution would never allow the continents to be as dark and pristine as they first appeared.
He maybe should have questioned why his dreams were getting so consistent, so easily shaped. But it was so interesting! The things his mind came up with, the technological advances that didn't actually exist, the aliens, heck, they even had halfway decent world leaders! Sue him, the dreams were fun!
Then again, maybe he has a good excuse for not questioning it?
"Child," Nocturn's horned head looks even larger when they're looming like this.
Danny can't help the way he shifts half a step back in response. The ghost of dreams pauses, expression neutral. He can't explain how, but Danny thinks he can feel how done the ghost is.
"Go to sleep."
"Uh." Blinking slowly as he tries to make sense of the command, Danny glances up the street they're both lingering in, at the people who clearly can't see them, and feels his face scrunch in confusion. "I did? I mean, I am asleep?"
Clearly, right? He checks a nearby shop sign and verifies that he can't read it even though he knows what it says. That should be a way of telling if you're asleep or not if Sam's to be believed.
"No, you are not." Nocturn answers authoritatively, straightening up and yeah, Danny would definitely be getting a crick in his neck if this was happening in real life. "I would congratulate you on learning to use the dreampaths I forged to travel here if you were using them by choice, but this bumbling, nightly use of them is becoming tiresome for both of us."
"Look, I get that you're the dream ghost and all, but how are you getting this so wrong?" Pausing, Danny straightens to his less than lofty full height and looks to one side because - "Maybe you're part of the dream? That's odd, I haven't dreamt of any ghosts here at all, why would I get the first one so wrong?"
He is suddenly face to face with Nocturn again whose eyes are now burning a bright red and are way too close to Danny's.
"You. Are. Not. Sleeping." Each word is said with such force it feels like the earth should be shaking. Nocturn sighs and Danny can barely hear it because the pedestrians around them start panicking.
Because the earth is, in fact, shaking.
"What?" Reflexively, Danny floats up and away from the increasing chaos. "Wait, we aren't on a fault line here."
That means that the buildings aren't built for this. He hopes no one gets hurt. He barely notices that the rumbles cut off before Nocturn follows him into the air.
"You will only cause more trouble for your realm if you do not get some rest." Dark hands reach for him. "Come."
"My what? Whoa!" Danny dodges one, then two, but not the third hand that comes his way, somehow forgetting that two isn't the maximum for ghosts. Maybe he is overtired. He starts to charge an ectoblast only for renewed screaming from below to cut his concentration.
Nocturn doesn't give him the chance to see what the new alarm is for as they pull him close then through themselves to deposit Danny in a familiar green expanse.
"Did-" Danny stops as he realizes he knows where they are. "Did you just kidnap me from my bed just to bring me to my own lair?"
The question tumbles out before he really thinks about it and, shaking his head, he takes it back instantly because, yeah, clearly that's what just happened. Right? "Wait, no, stop, rewind, answer my first question first. What do you mean my realm? Isn't this my realm?"
"This is your lair, child." The continued use of the nickname is getting on Danny's nerves, but it's better than some of the names ghosts call him and Nocturn seems to be answering his questions, so Danny lets it roll off his back again with only one silent, scrunched look of irritation. "It is yours to do with as you wish, your home in the infinite. You can sleep here if it is easier for you than sleeping in your mortal home."
Great, old news. Danny rolls his eyes.
"I mean, yeah, it's fine, and I might, but actually answer my question first - what realm do I supposedly have?"
Nocturn somehow rolls their eyes right back even though the glowing red of their eyes is flat and uniform. Danny would be impressed if he wasn't feeling so offended right now.
"Your realm." They say the word slower like that will explain it better. If Danny was grumpy before he's feeling downright sullen now. "Just as reality cannot exist without our home, we cannot exist without it. The same is true for our lairs."
"Our lairs connect to Earth?" That can't be right. That place looked like Earth, but it certainly wasn't his Earth. It was a dream.
Wasn't it?
(What did it mean if it wasn't? How did he do all those impossible things if it's real and not a lucid dream?)
"They connect to realms. Just like us, they are infinite here and each reflects the one who anchors it." A star flecked hand waves at Danny's Door. "Most connect only through their lairs, but you are using my dreampaths nightly to reach yours directly. I will teach you how to do so quietly once you are fully rested."
Danny barely hears him, because he's having a Crisis.
That was a dream, but it apparently wasn't because the number one expert of dreams is telling him otherwise. That means that when he just shifted a whole landmass around in the ocean it was for fun, but also for real. Last week when he shifted four stars in the night sky because he wanted to make a set look more like Cujo, he did that in that universe for real. That hilarious dream where he did a groundhogs day reset on one whole town for a week just to see what would happen actually happened to real people for real.
"Am I some kind of monster?" The question that forces its way out his mouth sounds very far away.
"Most denizens of the realms consider their anchors gods." Nocturn clarifies blandly, leaning down to meet Danny's wild eyes with a tilt of their head. "But right now, on top of that, you are sleep deprived, child. You are not the first I have seen to forgo sleep in favor of playing with their newly formed realm, but you are one of he most dedicated to the choice. If you are hoping to become a full ghost, there are better, less painful ways."
"A god?! But-" Danny's panic halts as his eyelids droop. He's felt this before, he can fight it, he needs to so that he can make things right for those poor people. His next blink doesn't quite complete, leaving him in darkness as his thoughts slow. Four large hands pick him up and gently push him a short distance.
"Go to sleep and dream your own dreams instead of helping your denizens with theirs." The last part is muffled, like he's hearing Nocturn through a door. "I will return when you wake."
The last thing he feels before he succumbs to his exhaustion is the familiar comfort of the bed he has inside his lair as he lands on it.
Every nightmare that follows doesn't feel quite so bad as reality just did.