“So where did you come from?”

  “No idea.”

  “How can you fly?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What’s your purpose here?”

  “Follow people like you and help them fulfill their duty.”

  “What happens when they fulfill their duty?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  This seems pointless. Countless questions that can only be met with uncertainty or no answers are rather bothersome especially for someone like Rem who likes tackling things directly with a proper plan. Aimlessly running around and creating happy dreams out of nightmares seems like trouble especially with how draining this duty seems to be. The only clue they have is that there’s someone out there giving Morning Dew orders.

  “There are tons of nightmares out there, right?” Rem asks.

  “Yeah.”

  “But one person isn’t enough to deal with them, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then there must be others!”

  “Yeah!” With tons of excitement, Dew is flying around the apartment looking for ways to blow off some steam. There’s no way Rem’s the only person fighting nightmares. Every person spends countless nights reliving bad experiences or facing fears in the form of nightmares. One person cannot deal with them alone. So many more must have a fairy partner and a fellow fighter. Most of them have to be far more experienced than Rem is at this point. Most fairy partners have had more time to deal with nightmares than Dewy has.

  “Maybe we’ll find your brothers Huey and Louie!”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah! Along with your great-uncles Mountain Dew and Scrooge!”

  Morning Dew sighs realizing Rem is just messing with him. He almost knocks her over by flying into her and flies off to rest atop her bed. His marks have turned into flames signaling that he’s a little angry with her.

  “Come on… I was just messing with you. Don’t be such a spoil sport,” Rem says.

  “Hmph! I’m not telling you anything! Not even the thing I found this morning!” Morning Dew is pouting. Simply kicking away air while laying facedown on her bed.

  “I’m sorry, okay? I’m not gonna make that kind of joke again,” she lies. “At least for today,” she truths.

  Morning Dew flies towards her sock drawer revealing something he had hidden after waking up before her. A tiny ring that looks like a flower crown was hidden beneath her pile of mismatched socks. Dew puts the ring on his stub of a hand wearing it with pride. Rem can feel some sort of mysterious energy from this gem-like version of a gift she had made to that little world in dreamland. Upon putting it on herself, she feels a little rejuvenated.

  “So with the fruits of our labor we get tiny gemstones as rings. Totally worth the rejuvenation we miss out on.”

  Dew snatches the ring and curls up into a ball angrily laying atop her bed.

  It’s been a few days since their little little adventure in dreamworld. It’s Friday and they’ve yet to encounter another nightmare. At least Rem’s well-rested and in a good mood knowing she’s done a good job being responsible and finishing tons of school work in no time leaving her with a little bit of leeway.

  Right now, she’s heading home with her friend Ellis and a few others from school. He’s awfully reserved and quiet whenever there are others around listening in on their conversations. Rem is a little more popular even if only by normal amounts. There have been times where people in her friend group were quick to to accuse him of feeling superior or acting like he knows it all but she’s quick to shut down any hostility to the point that people are outright scared of her guard dog behaviour around Ellis.

  “None of you are busy today, right? We could head to my place and-”

  “Rem promised to help me with an essay. I’m sorry,” he claims. But most of the time it would be Rem asking him for help so this feels odd.

  “OHHHH! You two? Alone?”

  The others holler and cheer knowing it’s nothing serious. But they’re quick to pick up on how bothered he is by their ridicule so they quickly and uncomfortably let off.

  “Sure A+. But who would have thought that you’d need help from me, your only female friend?” Rem adds letting the others tease him a little more.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Only? What about me?” asks the other girl of the group.

  “Dog.”

  The others cackle. That sort of humor seems to be common in their friend group. Even Ellis seems to lighten up a little. They part ways here splitting off into two factions. Rem is still wondering what the occasion may be but can’t bring herself to bring it up till they arrive at his place.

  “So? What’s wrong? It’s rare for you to be this tense,” she says worried. “I didn’t go too far out of your comfort zone, did I?”

  Ellis pulls out several gemstones that look like the flower crown she’s wearing on her finger right now.

  “You have a fairy partner, don’t you?”

  Rem shrieks. The shock, the bafflement, the befuddling, the… Another person was struck duty by a mysterious fairy and that person happens to be a close friend of hers. He sighs as his expression finally lightens with a grand puff of relaxation.

  “I’m so glad I’m not the only one! Having to deal with all those nightmares by myself is exhausting and scary!” he exhales in one fell swoop. “Almost a dozen of these things and I’m still no closer to the hundred nightmares! At least now that we can do these things together I have someone else that won’t half-scare me to death or depress me.”

  “What?”

  “I… what… Did I misunderstand? Wait, is it actually just a ring???” He turns beetred.

  “No, no it’s just a lot to take in at once. I really wasn’t expecting you of all people to be dealing with nightmares,” Rem says. “And eleven? You’re ten above my count. I’ve just dealt with the first one a couple days ago. Plus I have no idea about that 100 thing…”

  “You don’t know? Why’s your fairy partner not telling you anything?”

  “I demand to be told why you bear so little knowledge of your duties as well! Who’s your fairy partner?”

  A scarfed mascot floats down the stairs. They’re clearly taller than Morning Dew though not by much. Its ears are sharp and long stretching backwards while the marks beneath its eyes are crescent moons. It bears a fluffy little puff of a tail and is colored white with a little scar beneath its left eye. Most peculiar is the tiny scythe floating on its back.

  “Morning Dew… It’s not his fault! He just doesn’t know as much as needed!” Rem is quick to defend her partner knowing very well that this one is far less indulgent in clueless tomfoolery than Dew.

  “Fine, then… I, Nightfall, shall forgive his transgressions. I can teach-”

  Ellis tugs on Nightfall’s ears cutting his speech short.

  “This is our pretentious Nightfall. He loves acting cool but he’s an axious mess that cannot think the moment things go off-script. We have a dozen plans for several scenarios just because he can’t handle uncertainty.”

  “Ah, okay. So he’s like you.”

  “Escuse me?”

  “Did you fart?” She begins heading upstairs to his room but is shoved out of the way as Ellis rushes to the top in a panic.

  “There’s something I need to clean up! Stay out!” He shuts the door as he begins to redecorate his room into something she’s more familiar with. Though they know each other enough to comfortably hang out in silence, he still has to keep up some sort of facade for whatever reason.

  “Come in! Step into my humble abode.”

  Ellis is herding both Rem and Nightfall inside. His fairy partner is itching to reveal what Ellis is hiding in his closet and beneath his bed but knowing that retaliation and bloodshed would follow is convincing enough to keep those secrets.

  “Ask away. I’ll answer with honesty,” Nightfall says.

  “So, where did you come from?”

  “No idea,” answers Nightfall.

  Rem is already is disliking the direction they’re heading. She has a feeling only fundamental questions pertaining her duty may be answered. Grimacing, she asks, “What happens when we fulfill our duty?”

  “As a Dream Catcher you have the duty to convert 100 nightmares into dreams and then come to terms with the biggest fear you possess. Each dream grants you a Dream Link bestowing you powers based on their meaning to you and the nightmare you slayed. Collecting 100 of them grants you a wish and the choice to forget ever having these duties as a Dream Catcher,” he states.

  A definitive goal outlined by a few terms which are pretty straightforward.

  “However, there are a few rules that may complicate your duty:

  1. You cannot abandon a nightmare. Once you’ve been assigned to defeat it, you’ll have to turn it into a dream no matter what. If the host of that nightmare passes away or never dreams of it again without resolving those fears, you’ll be assigned to eternally fight as a Dream Catcher with no access to a wish.

  2. You cannot speak of being a Dream Catcher. You are sworn to utmost secrecy and the moment you purposefully tell another person of your duties, you’ll be struck with memory loss. None of the memories you carry now will ever come to you again. Your life will practically start anew from the moment you break this rule and you’ll be released of your duties.

  3. Finally, you cannot harm another with these powers. Any harm you inflict onto others is reflected onto you. Be wary of the useage of your gifts.

  These rules do not apply to Dream Catchers. You may speak of your identity, you may abandon your duty, and you may harm another. Dream Catchers are excempt so I urge you to proceed with caution whenever you come across another comrade. Just because they fulfill their duties, doesn’t mean that they fulfill them out of benevolence. I advise you to keep any Dream Links hidden lest you wish to risk your own safety.”

  Actually knowing the rules and stipulations of her duty worry her. Knowing that they come with these risks and so much danger certainly hurts this pure image Rem had just built up. Her little fantasy of the ideal magical girl fighting evil and saving the day were shattered pretty much immediately after gaining these powers.

  “But it’s not that bad!” Ellis counters. “It may sound like a lot but people constantly dream. Unknowingly even! You can basically disregard that first rule. Most Dream Catchers also are people like you and me. Good people. And the final rule is just a good thing. Imagine how horrible it would be if you could just saw people in half with a laser beam.”

  “You’re right,” Rem counters. “I’m still just a basic magical girl with just a few extra rules. Secrecy and helping people no matter what has always been a part of that anyway!”

  “So you want to be a magical girl? Why not just be a normal super hero?”

  Rem’s aghast. “How could you say something like that? They’re also superheroes!”

  “Ellis likes magical girls as well! You can raid his closet for figurines!” Nightfall exclaims as he flies out the window at top speed.

  With that very same speed, Rem tears apart Ellis’ closet admiring the figurines even she doesn’t possess. Her allowance doesn’t allow for much meaning she can afford a figure a year while taking care of her necessities. Ellis working weekends at a sketchy kiosk grants him far more freedom. They begin to gush about their favorite characters as they delve into magical madness.