I Had Such High Hopes

Summary: AU from the season one finale. Dream doesn’t uncreate. Instead, he remakes
Warning(s): Spanking (darker discipline); spoilers for the first season of The Sandman; violence; AU; bondage; some elements of D/s

###

Dream looked at The Corinthian; at the nightmare he’d created, who had turned on the humans he was meant to serve. The defiance he could see in his creation was similar to that he’d also seen in Gault…though it wasn’t the same. Gault hadn’t caused harm to the humans, even though she’d defied him and fled his realm. Lucienne had disagreed with how Dream had handled Gault and perhaps she’d had a point. Once he’d dealt with Rose Walker, perhaps he should consider how he had handled the other rogue nightmare.

For right now, he had a bigger problem to deal with.

It was little matter, little more than a thought, to form the chains around The Corinthian. Made from the dreaming, they were stronger than any kind of human chains could be, though they looked like nothing more than steel chains.

Knowing The Corinthian was bound and there was no way he could break free, Dream turned to the group of humans his nightmare had influenced. Once upon a time, he might have left them to it. Taken The Corinthian with him and left the humans to gradually come to terms with what they’d done and what they’d become on their own.

But he was changed. Like Gault. Like Fiddlers Green. And like The Corinthian.

He didn’t pause to second guess his actions. He didn’t consider what any of these humans might do to themselves. He saw every single fantasy they’d had, both those they’d had the opportunity to carry out and those they’d not been able to realise in the physical world.

And he pronounced their sentence.

Dream felt very little as he saw the effects of his words; as he knew they’d realised what they’d done, what they’d become. And he also knew that what the mortal authorities didn’t deal with, their own newfound consciences would handle.

Satisfied with the work he’d done here in the physical world, Dream turned his attention to The Corinthian. He was satisfied that his nightmare, his creation, wouldn’t be able to break free of the chains that held him bound. Only allowing himself a moment to consider his next move, and to ensure that his sentence had taken effect on these Collectors, he used a simple thought to transport the two of them from the waking world to the dreaming.

The room he brought The Corinthian to was one he didn’t use all that often. It was a room he’d created for when he wanted to teach through correction. Through punishment. Only his creations had ever seen inside this room, none of those who he’d invited to live in the dreaming alongside him. Even Lucienne hadn’t seen it, although he had little doubt she knew of its existence.

The room was fairly small, with a sturdy wooden bench against one wall. The bench had straps attached to it, positioned so that someone could be bound in place, bent over the bench.

There were various tools and instruments hanging on the walls around the room. Some of them were designed with the idea of teaching through pleasure…but others were tools to correct through pain. Through lessons that might be difficult to learn, but were necessary.

Turning to The Corinthian, Dream removed his nightmare’s clothing and sunglasses with only a thought. Now, his creation stood before him naked and vulnerable, directly back in Dream’s power. Exactly where he needed to be, if Dream was going to return The Corinthian to what he was always meant to be.

The Corinthian looked around slowly, showing no surprise at the sight of the various tools, or even the bench. “You’ve been affected by your time among them as well.”

“I’m not like you.” Dream spoke in a low voice. He didn’t bother to explain that this room wasn’t created as a result of his interactions with the humans. His sibling Desire was actually at least partially responsible for some of what existed here in this room.

Dream began to circle around The Corinthian, looking over the body of his creation. It was smooth, as untouched by the passing of mortal years as Dream himself. Unlike other nightmares he’d created, the only part of The Corinthian’s form that didn’t look human were his eyes. He could still see, but the teeth were meant to be unsettling to humans when they dreamed. The Corinthian had been created to be a mirror to the darkness that existed inside humans.

But he’d lost his way. Turned against his purpose. And Dream’s only choices were to unmake him, or to break him and then remake him his own way.

With another thought, Dream turned the chains that bound The Corinthian into fluid, living things. They clenched and flexed and forced the nightmare over to the bench, bending him in position over it. Then, he allowed the straps to close around The Corinthian’s wrists and ankles, pulling tight and holding him fast.

Dream watched The Corinthian for a few moments and then walked over to one of the wall mounts. He reached out and took down a thick, black leather strap. It was stiff and heavy in his hands, modelled after a tawse he’d once seen in the dream memories of a human. Then, he walked over and stood by The Corinthian’s side.

The nightmare’s backside was pale and the highest point of his body, vulnerable to Dream’s next actions. Dream rested his hand on The Corinthian’s lower back and raised the strap, bringing it down in a hard slap across the centre of the nightmare’s bottom.

The Corinthian’s fingers clenched and he drew in his breath sharply, but didn’t show any reaction apart from that.

Dream lifted the strap and continued bringing it down, aiming each of the blows at The Corinthian’s naked backside and the tops of his thighs. He didn’t hold back, only making sure he didn’t break the skin. It took a dozen strokes from the strap to turn The Corinthian’s bottom a deep pink and another dozen turned it scarlet and hot.

The Corinthian was breathing hard and shifting slightly from one foot to the other when Dream paused. His body was held taut. He was still fighting. Still resisting.

Dream stepped away from The Corinthian and replaced the strap on the wall. He removed a wooden paddle with holes drilled into its surface and stepped back over to The Corinthian. And he swung the paddle against The Corinthian’s already punished backside.

The wooden implement made a whistling sound as it swept through the air and The Corinthian jumped, a low whine escaping his throat, as the wood impacted with his backside. He began pulling at the straps that held him, letting out tiny whimpers and groans as Dream continued to bring the paddle down firmly against the nightmare’s red bottom.

By the time Dream paused in the punishment, The Corinthian’s bottom was a deep, scarlet red that would likely become bruising. The nightmare’s breath was hitching and his fingers were clenched tightly.

Dream banished the paddle back to its place and summoned a jar of salve to his hand. Opening it, he scooped some onto his fingers and began to rub it into The Corinthian’s bottom and thighs.

The nightmare moaned softly. “You could just…heal me,” he gasped out.

“And ruin the effects of a perfectly good punishment?” Dream continued to rub the salve in for a few more moments and then put the jar away again.

“I thought you might banish me.” The Corinthian breathed in deeply. “Like you did Gault.”

Dream had already considered his actions with Gault a mistake. He’d already thought about changing his mind. Gault didn’t need to be broken and remade in the same way The Corinthian did. But Dream needed to deal with the problem of the Vortex before he could decide how he was going to place Gault in his world once more.

“Banishment would serve no purpose for you.” Dream ran his hand over The Corinthian’s bottom.

“And you think punishment will?”

“Just one punishment might not. But I don’t plan for it to just be one.” Dream straightened up. “I have work to do. For now, you will remain in this position until I return. You will be unable to leave this world again.”

The Corinthian didn’t speak as Dream walked out of the room, closing and locking the door behind him. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe that his nightmare was anything close to subdued, but at least for the time being, The Corinthian was where he needed to be and receiving what he needed to receive.

And Dream had a Vortex to deal with.

The End…for now