Dream!England x Reader x Norway - Promise [Pt. 5]

"What seems to be the problem, _____?" He began. He actually called you by your name naturally.

"Well.. uhh.. this thing.. I mean.. all this- no.." You were lost for words.

"Take a deep breath and relax." He said in a monotone.

You nodded as you took a deep breath trying to relax. "All this started yesterday.. or maybe it even started already without me knowing. I'll just say,it started when my," You stopped for awhile and thought, 'Should I say fiance?' "fi-ance, died of leukemia."

He nodded and took a sip of his coffee. "Go on."

It was still the Lukas you knew a few years ago. Right now, it felt like he was just an acquaintance with you. He was still good at hiding his emotions; didn't change at all.
You explain everything to him, not making any eye-contact.

"Do you sometimes fall asleep without noticing?" He asked.

You nodded.

"Then I might know exactly what's happening. First, tell me one of those weird dreams you get."

You start telling him about what happened in the park yesterday and about some of your memories about him being lost. Lukas then tells you that you were having realistic dreams mixed with illusions. You were even more confused! You even started to think that this was a dream.

"You aren't dreaming," he said while putting his right hand on your forehead. "So yes, your fiance in reality is dead."

You felt pain in your stomach and at the same time wondered why his hand is over your forehead, but you just let him do it anyway.

"Do you believe in magic?" He asked with his hand still on your forehead. It felt very warm and different.

"Huh? Magic? No.."

"Well.. I sense a spell in you." He sat again. "The spell used on you is manipulating your mind; it makes you think that your not dreaming but you actually are. This can be activated only from a particular person."

".. What 'particular' person?"

"Dead. Your fiance was the one who placed the spell on you while he was still alive and now it's activated since he's dead now."

You looked down trying to think if he's telling the truth.
'Arthur?.. Magic? Even Lukas?!'

"What you're experiencing now, is its side effects. It's main purpose is to keep you dreaming of the real world with that person alive."

"Is that like.. sleeping forever then?"

"Nope. You can actually wake up and do real life activities switching your mind to forget about your dream. Then once you sleep again, your mind will forget the real life memories and your memory of the dream resumes. Vice versa. So, it's like you have 2 worlds."

"That sounds.. impossible."

"That's why it's magic."

"Then how do I cure this magic spell thing." You crossed your arms still doubting.

Lukas then tells you how, but you didn't hear what he said. You only saw his mouth moving. "W-What? I didn't quite catch that."

He repeats himself and still you couldn't hear. You even tapped your finger on the side table to make sure your hearing was alright.

"Stop joking around, Lukas. I can't hear what you're saying."

Lukas takes a piece of paper and wrote it down instead.

You looked at it and it was completely blank. "It's blank.."

He then writes it again this time in front of you so you could see. "Can you see it now?"

"N-No.."

"Write A to Z on the paper." He gives you the pen.

You write down letters A to Z. The pen works perfectly fine. It started creeping you out.

"Now, I'll point the letters, then you try to read it."

You nodded as he started at the letter Y.
'Y.. O.. U.. M.. U.. what?' The letters started deforming and spreading out.

"It's.. scattering everywhere on the paper and it looks like random scribbles now!" You were starting to get scared.

"There's a protection spell. I think it's protecting the dream spell from being broken."

"This is so confusing!" You held your head in confusion. All these things are happening too fast for you.

"I can try and break it." He said, pulling out a key from his pocket. "Come with me."

You followed him without asking a question.
He opened a door that had a weird door knob.
You peeked in it to see what was inside, but it was too dark.

Lukas then presses the light switch. It didn't turn on. "Sorry, I haven't been here in a while so, I'll just have to lead you down there." He starts holding your wrist, having a shade of red on his cheeks.

"Why down there?"

"Let's just go."

You sighed and both of you went down the dark staircase with him holding your wrist. The steps weren't steep so it was a little easy for you; though it's pitch black.

"Something else that you need to know is the spell's dream's characteristic.", he began to give you more information. "That person who you think is alive is called 'Dream' and it has two personalities that could separate."

You rolled your eyes since he can't see you anyway. "And what are they?"

"Kalos and Kakus," he answered.

You tilted your head. "I don't get it.."

"Your fiance in your dream is called 'Dream' or 'Kalos' but he is also 'Nightmare'," he explained.

"Kalos and Nightmare?"

"Yes.. His 'Nightmare' side is in-charge of your real memories and dream memories." He said stopping and turning the lights on. "His 'Kalos' side doesn't do much.
They were on, but the light was faint.

The atmosphere gave you an eerie feel, but the room was really organized though. There were tall bookshelves with large books. There were random signs on the floor and walls that crept you out. There were also weird instruments on tables and in glass cases. Judging by the looks of this room, it is used for black magic.

"Nightmare is also the reason you're confused, That's the dream spell's side effect; he isn't doing his job properly." He let go of your wrist and walked to the center of the room. He looked at you and made hand signs for you to come closer. You slowly walked to him while looking at your sides feeling uneasy.

"Ok.. stand still," he ordered while pulling up his long right sleeve.

You cooperated and stood still. He started whispering something you can't understand then placed his right hand on your forehead. After a while, he jerked and took his hand away. He tried again and still received the same result.

"What's happening?" You asked wondering.

"It's really strong.." he said started rubbing his hand. "Let me try another." He took something from his pocket.. a needle?

"What are you gonna do with that?"

He pressed the needle on his thumb making it bleed a little. He then draws something on your forehead with his own blood. A circle or something? That's what you felt.
You closed your eyes biting your lower lip trying not to react.

He started whispering something else you still don't understand and placed three fingers in the middle of what he drew. "This is gonna hurt a little bit."

"Wha- OW!" You felt a cold, sharp, painful shock spreading throughout your head,
enough to make you believe in magic this time.

"Hold still!"

"I'm trying! What do you mean by 'hurt a little bit'?! It's freaking painful!" You complained.

He sighed and took his hand away. "I think the one who placed this protection spell is the only one who can break it."

You started rubbing your forehead. Lukas' blood already disappeared.

"I have no other choice but to break the dream spell instead of the protection spell.", he said while pulling up his long left sleeve.

"Why didn't you do it earlier then?"

"It's too risky. I'm going to counter the dream spell by doing the dream spell myself."

"What are the consequences?"

"If ever you or I make a tiny mistake, my Nightmare-self will be in there too but while I'm still alive," he answered.

"Great!" You exclaimed sarcastically raising your arms. "Now, how to prevent that from happening?" You questioned switching to a serious tone.

"All you have to do is keep yourself awake. Countering dream spells will make you drowsy."

You took a deep breath. "Ok.. I'm ready."

Lukas placed his hand on each side of your head with his thumbs on you temples and reminded you again, "Don't fall sleep, ok?"

You nodded as he put his forehead on your forehead and closed his eyes. Your cheeks turned rosy pink, he was very close to you.

... Silence ...

After a minute, you felt a somnolent heat in your head making your eyes feel heavy.
'Ahh! Don't sleep! Don't sleep! You were mentally slapping yourself.

Your vision started to blur.

"Tch.." he uttered a sound of frustration and stopped. Your drowsiness quickly disappeared.

"I couldn't counter it," he said while walking towards a table full of unusual things. "Who is this 'fiance' of yours? He's got a lot of potential."

"Arthur.." you responded.

'Arthur Kirkland..', Lukas thought of him and decided not to tell you that he knows him as his magic teacher. His heart pounded hearing that you got engaged to Arthur.

You followed him to the table. "What do I do now?" You then see him looking for something.

He turned around and showed you a necklace with a small, transparent, smooth, flat stone. It was neither glass, nor crystal. He snapped his fingers and gave the necklace to you. "Wear this at all times."

You held it up and asked, "What does this do?"

"That necklace will help you if you are having an illusion or dreaming. When smoke forms in the center, that means your dreaming."

You wore the necklace. "So how can I break this spell thingy now?"

"You yourself can break the dream spell but not the protection spell."

"I just want this over with."

"You have to go to places where you and Arthur had memories with." He walked to the staircase and you followed. "You will start hallucinating or dreaming about that memory." He held your wrist again and went up the stairs.

"How will I know where to look around? I lost some of my memories."

"Remember that feeling you had in the park's pond yesterday? That pulling feeling you get means your memory about him is there. Since Nightmare messed up, your memories of your dreams and reality got mixed up causing you to forget most of them."

"What does finding memories have to do with the dream spell?"

You both are back in the room you first came in.

"One of them has the answer that you have to figure out yourself but be careful. Nightmare isn't in every memory though," he said locking the door to the weird room behind him.

"Since Nightmare is in-charge of your memories, he will do everything to put you in your dream state. Even if it meant pain.. he might even accidentally kill you, that's what I've heard," he added. "I'm not sure about it though, but to be safe, don't get fooled by him."

Your heart pounded hard. "S-So.. I have to discover it myself, right?"

"Yes.. it's a memory that you feel that is so important. That memory will holds the answer of all this."

"There is really something important that I forgot.."

"Then that's the memory you need to find," he said while pulling down his sleeves. "Also remember this, Kalos can only appear in your dream but Nightmare can appear in both dream and illusion, but rarely. Just be careful."

You nodded nervously. "Ok.. ok.. I can do it. Is there anything else I need to know?"

Lukas pondered for a moment. "I think that's about it." He took a calling card from a drawer giving it to you. "Just give me a call if something goes wrong."

"Okay.. thank you, Lukas." You stared at the calling card for awhile then slipped it in your pocket walking towards the door. Lukas was pretty serious, you wonder what's on his mind.

"Good luck, ____," he wished you as you closed the door.

Mathias was playing with a pen with his fingers and dropped it when he noticed you. "It's been awhile since he did those magic stuff," he said picking up the pen.

"I'm curious. What did you write in steno?"

"Oh that.. that's just between me and Lukas~" he chuckled getting your overcoat. "Here you go _____~"

You slipped on your overcoat stepping forward to the main door and stopped. "Thank you."

The rain had subsided but it was still cold and cloudy. You strolled the streets feeling the cold wind caress your face. You feel lighter now that you have an idea of what's going on, but you still had a hint of doubt though. You started thinking. Should you start searching now? You still feel a bit shaky thinking about it. You even feel sort of frightened to sleep now.

Nightmare..
The one at the pond was Nightmare? The one who visited you was Kalos?
Lol, why is it Kalos?
You held the clear stone and studied it for awhile. It's a flat square stone that looked like glass and each side seems to be an inch in length.
Smoke will appear in here if I dream huh?'
You then hid it under your shirt again. You reviewed all of what Lukas said.
'Ok.. Nightmare and Sweet Dream..
Wait.. how can I tell them apart?
Maybe I should call Lukas later.'
You held your stomach as it starts to growl. You haven't eaten yet.

You scanned your environment to look for a place that sells food. You spotted a pastry shop just across the street. You could smell fresh pastries as you crossed the street. The scent was sweet and mouth watering. It was pulling you.
As you opened the pastry shop's door, you heard familiar voices. You decided to just stand behind the slightly opened door and listened.

"You should try this! I tasted it yesterday and it was delicious!"
Your heart raced hearing your own voice.
It was a memory; too soon!

"Sure, love."
You started to breathe heavily hearing Arthur's voice.

You were stunned from fright. You began to panic taking a peek of your necklace.
Still clear.. no smoke. You didn't know what to do, making you panic even more. So you ran getting away from the memory. You didn't plan where you were going, but you just ran anyway. You hoped and prayed that Nightmare wasn't in this memory. You suddenly hit someone by accident making you fall on your behind.

"Ah.. I'm sorry.." You rubbed your head apologizing.

"It's ok, love. Why are you such in a rush?" He reached out his hand to help you up. His other hand was holding a paper bag of the bread you wanted him to taste before.

Your heart continued to pound fast. You backed away from him refusing his help. "A-Art.." You couldn't think up of any idea. You weren't fully prepared to face him.

"What's wrong?" He stepped closer.

You backed up even more still not getting up. "I-I-I.." You quickly stood up and ran again.
'AHH! What should I do?!
While running, you saw Lukas getting on a bus.

"LUKAS!" You screamed. "LUKAS!"

He looked back seeing you running and stepped off the bus. While you were running you tripped and fell, making Lukas run after you instead.

He knelt and took your arm putting it over his shoulders to help you up.

"He.. was.. w-was.. there.." you panted.

He lets you sit on a near by bench. "I'm sorry.. I was about to go to your place to tell you how to get away him. Right now, you're safe." He rubs your back.

You still continued to pant, trying to catch your breath.

"Calm down.."

Calm down? How could you calm down when you didn't know what to do in a surprising situation like that?! After seconds of panting, you finally regained your normal breathing. You inhaled and exhaled to calm your nerves.

"So.. how?" Feeling dizzy, you leaned back on the bench looking up the sky.

"I actually don't know," he said scratching his jaw. "But my old magic classmate told me that it depends."

"What?!" You looked at him with an annoyed expression on your face. "Is there anything else rather than that?"

"Just calm down.. he isn't that much of a threat."

"Ugh.." You held your head. "Fine.. how can you tell Sweet and Nightmare apart?"

"You can't."

"What?! Then how do I know it's Nightmare? He's in both my dreams and illusions, right?"

He nodded. "He tries to make you sleep. That's all."

Risky.. but you were still willing to do it.

"You need a companion too; everywhere you go," he added. "You will sometimes faint or fall asleep without knowing."
He didn't want to just wander around looking for your lost memories and just unintentionally sleep anywhere looking like an idiot.
"I could,.. if you don't mind," he suggested shyly.

You thought about it for awhile.
He does know what you're going through and has magic. He'll be a great help, so you agreed. "I'm fine with it."

"You will be.. sleeping at my house too," he said with his cheeks turning pink, rubbing his neck. "Your home has some memories of him. That's why.. you had an illusion."

You? Are gonna sleep at Lukas' house?
He was right anyway. You don't wanna meet Nightmare, right?
You just need to adjust a little, you thought.

"Alright."