Dream's pov

I slept amazing after the night that I had. I felt like I was floating on clouds. I took a quick shower and changed into one of my uniforms, putting my crown on last. ‘I wonder..’ I smiled brightly, making a peace sign as I took a selfie for my Blackbird. I sent it along with a text.

Bellboy: “Good morning my little Blackbird! I hope you enjoy your little Bellboy in all his royal glory, lol!”

Yes, I was in a very good mood. I went down to my brother and the guys. “good morning!”

“someone is happy today.” Ink commented. 

“i am! where’s nightmare?” I asked. I’d hoped to be able to talk to him since I hadn’t yesterday. Maybe explain some things?

“off looking for you since you never answered.” Killer replied.

“i can see why too~ the female took all of your time~?” Horror teased.

“i-i, what-?” I stammered, blushing. 

“never thought you’d be the first between you two, honestly, i’m shocked.” Horror continued, chuckling.

“i don’t understa-”

“do i have to spell it out? i know you screwed a girl, her scent is all over you!” He snapped, getting annoyed with my play on innocence. 

I shrunk away as the whole table gave me bewildered looks. 

“he’s not denying it.” Dust muttered.

“well… it’s true, that’s why. she’s my soulmate..” I replied reluctantly. 

I was immediately bombarded with questions from Ink and Blue and my brother's boys. And that was when I received a text from my phone. I tried to hide my phone from the guys but a black tentacle wrapped around my phone and snatched it from me.

“message from blackbird babe, "nice pic my bellboy. do you like mine?""

‘Crap. he’s using his scary voice!’ 

“i-i can explain!” Glancing around, I found myself alone. Of course they knew better than to stick around when he was using his scary voice. I was alone in this. 

“oh please dear brother, do explain.” Nightmare stared at me with a furious cyan eye that made me choke on my words. “i’m waiting.” He pressed.

“i-i love her!” I managed to choke out through his piercing gaze. His shoulders slumped a little. 

“you just met her dream, how can you say that without knowing anything about her?” His ferocity faded into disappointment.

“i- the mirror-”

“even mirrors can tell you so much. even if she’s your “soulmate” you should at least wait and get to know her instead of acting off your instincts. besides, why did you peek in my mirror?”

I looked down. “it… wasn’t your mirror… it was hers. she owns this neat little shop and pulled out the sun soul mirror..”

Nightmare paused. “the sun soul mirror? it still exists?”

I glanced up, nodding. “in her shop, yeah. i don’t know how she got it, but i figured she had it for a reason so..” I trailed off, trying not to deepen my grave. 

“hmmm… we are not done with this conversation. i can’t help but feel partially responsible for this since i pushed you out of the castle, so i’ll let you off with a warning this time. don’t do it again.” 

“but night-”

"not until i think you know her well enough. i’m not going to keep you from her, just don’t get handsy.” He warned before giving me my phone back and leaving.

I checked the message Nightmare had opened. It was a picture of Raven naked with her paint markings on her body. Only having a long midnight blue silk cloth covering her more "intimate" parts. I blushed heavily.

Bellboy: “Bad news babe, my brother saw the picture first..”

Blackbird babe: "Uggggghhhhh!!! Are you serious?! What's he doing with your phone in the first place?! BTW, what'd he say about it? Are you in trouble?"

Bellboy: “He didn’t say anything about the picture, but he WAS mad… very mad. He says we can still meet, but we can’t get handsy until I know you better. As for what he was doing with my phone… apparently Horror is a sex bloodhound. The boys found out and then Nightmare found out and he snatched my phone… it was a mess.”

Blackbird babe: "Yikes! That sounds like something your brother would give someone as punishment in their dreams. And just because we can't DO IT doesn't mean we can't make out~ ;)"

Bellboy: “What a beautiful genius you are~”

Blackbird babe: "Thank you, thank you, I'll DO YOU all week~ ;)"

Bellboy: “Score! XP” 

I shut my phone off for the time being. She probably had work soon. I don’t wanna know what sort of punishment Nightmare has in store for me if I do break the rules and get caught..

Nightmare's pov

I don’t really know what to feel right now. Shocked? Pissed? Both? I never thought of Dream as the type to fall into instinct so quickly. Stars, what a mess. I went into my bedroom and went to my nightstand where I kept the Moon Soul Mirror. I’ve only used it once to even see if something like me could have a chance at love. It turned out that I could, which had made me feel better. The vision had been of the sun and the moon sharing the sky, living side by side in harmony. Little stars had stretched out between the two. They could represent the people of the kingdom, or they could represent more… intimate relations. I don’t know. And that was around the same time I went out to explore the nightlife of my side of the kingdom and had found Sunny. If that wasn't luck, I don't know what was.

There was no doubt in my mind that she was my soul mate, it was hard to believe at the time, seeing how young she was, but everyone was young compared to Dream and I. We were about 526 years old so.. Now that I found her, I can actually get to know my Sunshine and eventually we can rule together, expand the family if she wishes, all that stuff that I’d always wanted, but never thought I could have. I wonder how she is doing today?

I decided to drop by her restaurant and get a fresh meal. As I turned the corner on the street I saw her diner and saw that one of her workers had thrown out a slightly beaten but angry man.

“And stay out you dickwa- Oh- oh…. H-hey gooptipus- er- King… Nightmare… um… here for Sunny? She’s actually not here today, it’s her day off, but if you want her address..”

"That would be most appreciated." I nodded to the feisty red-head.

“Ok, so-” She shot a glare at the still listening man. “I’ll just write it down..” She pulled out her notepad and scribbled down the address before tearing out the page and handing it to me. 

I skimmed the paper, fairly sure I knew the general area at least. I disappeared into the shadows and shortcut to said area. It didn’t take very long for me to find her home. 

It was a tannish yellow small two story home that had some white trim. It has high fencing with some chain link. Which, I can't blame her. Even in this nice part of the kingdom, you have to be on your guard.

I walked up to the gate and got past it rather easily. I AM made of goop and negativity after all. I gave a firm knock and waited. After a few minutes, I knocked again, slightly harder, thinking she hadn’t heard the first. ‘Is she ill?’

I finally heard a groggy, "I'm coming!" Did she just wake up? As soon the door was open, her curly and wavy hair was a mess and she was in a yellow tank top with white and yellow plaid designed shorts that hugged her curvy waist. Both she and her place smelled of…. sunshine and vanilla. Where have I smelled that before. But before I could think on it more, she was fully awake and she looked panicked.

"O-oh! Hun! Moonpie! What're you doing here?!" She said panicky.

“are you ok? i had stopped at the diner, but your friend said you weren’t there and gave me the address to this place… i would have called beforehand, but i don’t have your number. i’m sorry to just drop in like this..” I stated quickly, getting nervous about my sudden actions. ‘Was I being to rash? I just yelled at Dream about this an hour ago, granted the situation was different but-’ I was broken out of my panicked thoughts by my Sunshine. 

"Oh honey! You're fine. You just caught me off guard. Here, c'mon in. Just stay in the living room while I tidy upstairs real quick." She had let me in and I inspected the place. Nice open floor plan, dining room was on the right, the kitchen on the left and straight ahead of me was a good sized living room that had a few couches and a large TV on the opposing wall. I walked to and sat in the living room. The main entrance/dining room/kitchen was a nice shade of green and the living room was a pleasant light shade of dull yellow. Where I sat on the sofa I saw that she locked a door next to the living room that appeared to go into a basement. And beside the door was a set of stairs that went upstairs to which she promptly ran up. More than likely to be more presentable.

It took over twenty minutes for her to get ready and come back down. Her hair was fixed and she now wore a short yellow and white short sleeves shirt along with blue jeans that looked like it hugged her in just the right places.

"Sorry about the wait, Moonpie! Didn't want to keep looking like I went through a war. Hehehehehe~" she giggled as she sat beside me.

“you look amazing no matter if it’s a war look or..” He gestured to her. “this.”

"Hahaha! Thanks! So what brings you to my humble abode~" she said jokingly. I wanted to respond but the smell was bugging me in terms of where I smelt it from.

"Is something wrong?" She looked at me questioningly.

“that scent..” I mumbled, trying to figure out why it was so hauntingly familiar.

She looked questioningly at me. "Well why don't we watch some TV." She said as she turned it on. The channel news was on. 

News anchor: "Just yesterday the baroness of the Negatives' side was robbed. According to the baroness, the thief had stolen multiple pieces of jewelry, vases, a few of her favorite dresses, and a portion of money from her family house's vault. Detectives believe that the thief was none other than the infamous Robin Hood of the Negatives' Side, Lux Furem. "The  baroness is in hysterics and is emotionally distraught and wishes that the price for their head to be raised." Says her head Butler of her estate. If you DO see this suspicious person please call this number for the proper authorities to take care of the matter."

On the screen below showed what looked like a business number. 

“...”

'The scent. Of co---' But before I could finish my sentence I heard a scoff from my right. It was Sunny? She was giving off negative emotions?

"That baroness… you wouldn't believe how much she's had her hand in making the lives of this side of the kingdom MISERABLE! She's the main reason why parents these days have to give up their kids to her in order to pay off their debts to her. Some say, no, I know, that she uses these children as slaves and hide them when respectable company is over. Although if it's her consorts or people who indulge her actions and what she does on the side, they are allowed to see and abuse them. Just "emotionally distraught" and "hysterics" isn't even enough of what she deserves…" she growled out the last part.

I shut off the tv, leaning back against the couch. “i think that’s enough tv, sunshine.”

She looked so worked up. How come I didn't know about this?! I mean, I've had business meals with that woman. Of course the baroness was always vain and prissy. Never expected that level of cruelty. Especially so quickly.

‘I can think of a way to deal with her later, I refuse to let this continue… but now…’ “what else would you like to do?” 

Sunny seemed to slightly cool down and smile at me. "Well, we could bake something in my kitchen? I have this lemon and blueberry cake recipe that I planned on making for the diner tomorrow. But you can have the first slice once it's done." She playfully winked at me.

“i… have never baked before. is it fun?” I tilted my head cutely out of curiosity.

She blushed a little before her smile came back tenfold. "Yeah! Cooking and baking is really fun once you get the hang of it! I'll show ya! C'mon!" She said as she got up and dragged me to the kitchen.

She then proceeded to get the necessary ingredients out for the cake. She showed me how to properly crack eggs without the annoying shell pieces falling in the bowl. Which, by the way, was a pain in the ass to get right. She also taught me how to add the ingredients to the right measurements and how to whisk without making a mess. Tentacles come in handy when dealing with multiple tasks. But a royal pain to learn how to control the strength of it while stirring…. I choose not to comment on the mess  that ensued.

Soon enough, we got the cake in the oven and now it was just a waiting game to see if it came out right and then what Sunny says is the best part. Putting the vanilla icing on the cake. She made some the day before and had to let it chill overnight. She says that it's the best part because we can lick the bowl afterwards. Which honestly, I'm kinda looking forward to.

While we waited we commented and talked about our day and what's happened so far. I told her about Dream's new mate and how I had to practically put a figurative leash on him from getting handsy. She laughed that adorable laugh of hers along with a few cute snorts. She always seems to know how to brighten my already sour mood. And afterwards, when she got bored, she flirted with me a few times using baking puns. I gotta say, I was both thoroughly impressed and flustered at the same time. 

It seemed like forever till the timer went off to take the cake out. Luckily, the cake didn't stick to the pan and turned out alright. She got out the vanilla icing from her fridge and grabbed two spatulas for us to use. Gotta say, I have to give professional bakers some credit where it's due. Icing a cake without ruining it is hella hard! Especially if the cake is tender and soft. After our long battle with perfecting the sweet treat, we were finally done.

“mm. that smells wonderful. and it looks edible too. i truly hope that it’s not a wolf in sheep's clothing like blue’s cooking is..” Just thinking about his tacos made me shiver. 

She laughed at my unfortunate experience. "Only one way to find out!" She chirped as she sliced a thin piece of the cake on a small plate. She grabbed two forks for us to use. We each took a bite and honestly, it melted in my mouth like butter and the taste of lemon accented with blueberries seemed to sizzle and make my tastebuds scream for more!

“mm! this is the best thing i’ve ever had!” I was quick to take another bite.

She seemed to agree with me. But then seemed to make a contemplative face, thinking. "It is good. But I know a dish of mine that tastes even better!"

“something better than this?” I asked, once again doing that cute head tilt thing. 

She blushed again but she smiled mischievously.

"Yep! My Moonpie~" she winked at me.

I blushed heavily. “o-oh- uh…” ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?!’ 

She sauntered up to me and kissed my teeth and gazed in my cyan eye while hooking her arms around my neck. "I wonder… if we have the right INGREDIENTS, we might be able to make mini Moonpies. It might take a while for them to take them out of the OVEN, but I think the wait will be worth it~" she purred while licking my teeth, that seductive look in her eyes made me want to internally erupt in giddiness.

“i-i just y-yelled at dream about this, th-this morning..” I attempted feebly, wanting it as much as she did. 

She grinned at me evilly with that mischievous smile of hers and leaned in close to where I could hear her whisper. "Nobody has to know~ my delectable Moonpie~" she seductively growled while teasing one of my tentacles with her soft hands. 

My other tentacles were already acting on their own accord, touching and groping in more private areas. ‘Stars dammit, you could have waited, stupid tentacles.’ I decided to give in, Horror wouldn’t say anything if he knew what was good for him. 

My tentacles fondled her lower body till they had unzipped her pants and slithered to cup her more intimate parts. She jumped and shivered at my touch. "Oh! So~~~, you want to foreplay~? I'm down with that~" she purred as she nibbles my neck. "Why don't we take this upstairs~ don't want to ruin the cake, now do we~?" 

I picked her up like a child and carried her up, I didn’t need to be told twice. 

We made it to her bedroom in about the fastest that I've ever run. Once there, she stripped teased me and I saw that she had some risque underwear on. But then I saw the old brand mark on her side and verbally growled. Still pissed at her previous caregiver. She seemed to notice my anger and saw what I was looking at. She smiled sadly at me and took my hand and placed it on the scar. "I don't belong to him anymore. Never was. Because now, you'll finally claim what has always been yours. For tonight, I am yours~" she said to me with love in her eyes staring into my eye while cupping my face. 

“i’ll take that anyday, sunshine~” I cupped her face, kissing her deeply and licking her lips for entrance. 

But instead of compliance, she lightly nipped my tongue with her teeth. I looked at her in surprise and she had the most cocky smirk on her face. "You're going to have to work for it Moonpie~" she playfully winked at me while she pressed and rubbed the front of her body to mine.

I growled in need. ‘Well fine then, I’ll just find something else to occupy me.’ I groped one of her breasts while the other was handled in a… different… manner. 

She moaned in ecstasy and continued to rub her intimate parts on me as she leaned into the touch. We kept this up till she finally opened her mouth for me to explore. And the way she looked while she did it was damn hot. I eagerly explored her mouth while she explored mine. We kept this up till we finally gave into each other and had the night of our lives. By the end of it all, we were tired, exhausted, panting, and so damn happy and satisfied. She curled into me, seeming to want more of me. I was about to drift off to sleep with her till something caught my eye. The closet door was opened ajar from when we "ahem" were more rough with each other. And what I saw only furthered my assumptions. There hanging on the inside of the door was a familiar dark green tunic. I didn't want to jump to conclusions but it was definitely one of the clues. 

‘Sunshine… whether you are Lux or not, I will protect you. You're doing things that I’m not always around to do… you will make a wonderful Queen, someday.’ I promised her and myself. 

After the sun rose, I had to get back to the castle. As soon as I walked in, Dream immediately asked where I was. I didn't answer him the absolute truth but partially with things omitted of course. Then I saw Horror look at me with dilating eyes. No doubt he already figured it out.

I gave him the “Say anything and your dead” glare.

He immediately backed off and went in the other direction. But it was then that Ink came to us about the next Eclipse Games that was going to start soon and that we needed to organize the event. You see, once a year, both sides of the kingdoms' mages and athletes come together to one of the neutral places where we can converse together without dispute. The other neutral places are the throne rooms and the chapel that's connected to the front of the castle. Where we hold services to the Heavens and our nurturing emotions to the sampling. To mother. We also hold our weddings and funerals there as well. 

Either way, I groaned. Having the event was fine. I actually looked forward to it. But organizing the event was a pain in the ASS! 

'welp, there goes my near future plans to spend more time with Sunny. but hopefully we can gather more information from our assassin about what the Mafia wants to do.'

3rd pov

Sunny and Raven knew each other. To an extent. They were business partners but they only knew each other by their professional names. While Sunny stole from the rich and provided Raven stuff from the Negatives Side, Raven would kill off criminals that would pose a likely threat to her provider and she would provide information about the kingdom and where to strike next in terms of likely targets for stealing. The only time of year where they would get together was at the Great Hall during the Eclipse Games at the Arena. They also shared some casual chit-chat every now and then during this discussion but they mostly talked about what to do next in terms of planning ahead. And it just so happened that it was coming to that point.

A few weeks later

It was time for the games. And both Sunny and Raven felt like absolute crap. They weren't sure if they had the flu or not, but they knew that they had to attend to the games regardless. They picked out similar but ambiguous clothing and headed out towards their destination to buy a ticket.

After miles of walking to the place and then handling security checkpoints, which was a hassle in and of itself. They finally went through and went to take their seats in the Colosseum like Arena.  The games were similar to our Olympic Games but involved more strength and stronger abilities such as magic. 

So far, both girls watched with relative ease as the athletes and mages warmed up. And as the games started, both Dream and Nightmare came out in formal attire and came to give a speech.  

“good afternoon, everyone, we are extremely happy to have you all here on this beautiful day!” Dream started, making Nightmare roll his eye.

“here we go again..” The negative brother muttered, making his boys quietly snicker. 

“i would like to thank all the competitors for this year's eclipse games…” He then started to name off all of them, making Nightmare facepalm. 

He waited for his turn… which took awhile. Finally though, he was able to speak. “thank you brother, for that lovely monologue. of course we would also like to thank all of you in the stands for attending as well, even if you're not participating, your presence is still much appreciated. without further adieu, let the games begin!” 

The brothers took their rightful thrones, watching from the front of the stadium. 

The first half of the games went off without a hitch and like any other athletic game, there was half time. Where multiple bands, singers and dancers performed. During the half time that would take up an hour, the girls got up to refresh themselves in the bathrooms and then started towards the Great Hall. They looked at their usual meeting place and sat at the table.

“Hey DB, long time no see, how’s things?” Sunny asked. 

".... Not bad. Found my mate recently. Banged him of course. Both jobs are fine. I recently had gotten some information that the kings would need to stop the funding for the mob." Raven said the last part quietly.

Sunny perked up at that, because she too had some important information for the kings.

“Ok, who is funding the mob?” Sunny whispered back in question.

You could tell that Raven had a cheeky smile beneath her mask. "Afraid I can't tell you that as much as I want to. The kings specifically told me to keep it confidential. But I will tell you this. It has to do a lot with the upper crust being suspicious behind the scenes."

While Sunny was trying to process that information, she was still trying to organize her thoughts on what she learned from Meredith last week. Apparently the baroness had started to traffic the young children to some of her friends/alliances and was starting a drug cartel with a powerful funder. She at first didn't know who would fund her dealings, but when Raven said her bit of information, she started to put the pieces together.

“Oh. Well then, I suppose… want your merch?” Sunny gestured to a bag of negative side items for DB.

"Sure. You can send the rest of the stuff through the usual route if it isn't compromised?" Raven asked.

“Can do, DB.” Sunny smirked beneath her own mask.  

"...Which king are you going to give your information to?" Raven asked.

“Nightmare. I’m actually currently working with him on something..” She trailed off, thinking about the matter with the Venom Fists. 

"I have to meet with him too. But now his brother is in on this as well. I guess I can go to Dream and give him the information that I got from the interrogation. Just hope he won't keel over the details." She laughed.

Sunny joined her. “Right. Well then, good luck with that!” 

"Right you too. Half time is almost over… We better get to the kings while they're on break. See you later." Raven got up with her stuff from Sunny and made her way to the restricted area of the hallway. But to her surprise, Sunny was following her. 'I guess they want to trade the info with the Kings now as well…. Hmmm, this will be interesting.'

When they went up to the guards standing guard over the entrance to the thrones, they immediately stopped them. "Halt! You're not allowed back here!"

"We're the thief and ….task taker of the kings. We have vital information that needs to be discussed." Raven spoke in her modulated tone through her mask. And yes she has one as well. Sunny gave her one a while back. 

The guards were about to "gently" escort them out when a voice ordered them to stop. 

“they were requested by me. come in guys.” Dream gestured for them to come in. 

The girls looked at each other before slowly went into the throne room.

“brother… your guests have shown up…” Dream called to the King of Negativity. Nightmare had to do a double take. 

“both of you? at the same time? do you work together or something?” He suspected they’d both be here to give him intel while they had the chance, but he wasn’t expecting for them to be together. 

They looked at each other for a moment then Raven spoke up. "I'm afraid that's classified information king Nightmare. I have come with Intel from the prisoner. While they have other information. It's urgent that you both hear the information as quickly as possible before something happens."  

He wanted to know why they were together, but dismissed the subject for the time being. “tell us.”

 Dream was also listening rather intently as well. 

But Before Raven could get a sentence out, shots rang out all around them. The people started panicking and running away. The girls looked to each other once more and stood guard by the kings with throwing knives and guns at their ready.

Nightmare stood up, ready to protect his kingdom, and Dream didn’t plan on standing ideally by either, the King of Positivity summoning his bow for battle.

They heard shouts at the door to the back staircase where the guards were. Shots rang out as well dressed men and a couple of their goons came barging through the door. 

Raven threw her knives. Each landing with precision in landing on the vital parts of their bodies. While Sunny shot with her pistol and successfully killing most of the goons. They dragged the kings behind some pillars for cover while the kings fought back.

Dream fired arrow after arrow, missing vital areas for obvious reasons. Nightmare wasn’t so kind. His tentacles tore through their bodies, if he did miss the vital areas, they bled out. There were no healing wounds like those. 

“nightmare, we need some survivors at least for more information at least!” Dream argued.

“those your shooting can be our survivors. these bastards are taking our kingdom and tearing it apart.”

Shot after shot after shot. The Mafia goons fell like flies. When it was deemed safe they came out of hiding. At least, that's what they thought. A goon somehow survived one of Nightmare's slashes and tried to shoot at the kings before he died of blood loss. The kings braced for the impact, but it never came. They opened their sockets and saw that Raven protected Dream and Sunny protected Nightmare. Each having bullets in them, for Raven it was in the shoulder blade and a grazed neck. For Sunny it harshly grazed her hip with the brand and the other hit her leg. Now normally being shot like this might be typical for them, but these bullets were large and were laced with poison. They slumped over and fell, but the boys quickly held them. 

Nightmare smelled the poison instantly. “poison?! Dream?!” He looked to his brother. 

“i can save them, but the bullets have to be removed and they’ll need a safe place to rest for a few days.” Dream replied, going for their mask to see who this assassin he was going to be saving was. His soul dropped to his “stomach” upon seeing his soulmate, Raven. “oh my stars..” Now the panic was really setting in. “we have to save her nightmare! she’s my little blackbird!”

Nightmare had switched to his passive form as not to get his goop into the wounds. He’d also removed his Sunshine’s mask, confirming what he’d suspected. “i’m working on it dream! your soulmate isn’t the only one in danger here!” He carefully managed to remove the bullet, hopefully without too much pain. “now get over here while i remove the bullet from your “blackbird”.”

The brothers traded places and got to their designated tasks. Dream finished up with Sunny and went back to Raven while Nightmare moved back to pick up Sunny. “i’m taking her to my room… your mate can go in yours just-”

“don’t get handsy, i know..” Dream muttered in concentration as he removed the poison from Raven. Nightmare nodded, walking away with Sunny in his arms.

It was safe to say that the Games were postponed.