It should also be noted that there is indeed a strong human side to the current Sandman character - those who point out that Gaiman had no such thing would be absolutely correct. But Gaiman never dealt with a *new* Sandman. Well, sortuv a new Sandman. In other word s- I 'm taking a few liberties. I 'd love to give Neil Gaiman a call and ask him what his own thoughts on how Daniel should act - but I can 't see that happening somehow... So for now, just remember this is Fan Fiction - Something to keep us going until Neil gets his own Sandman back on the tracks...it could be some time, if ever....damn shame....

This is so different to 'Tale' and 'Family Values' mainly because I set about writing it in a completely different style. On a completely different computer, and in a completely different location - thats the way of it, like it or lump it. The writing is generally influenced by Pratchett and, to a lesser extent, Craig Shaw-Gardener. Oh, and some bloke called Neil.....
 

The rain came down in sheets. In any normal place, everyone would be indoors with, or without, friends and family nearby. It was the kind of storm which came once in a lifetime. Normally somewhere close to the end.

But this isn 't a normal place. This is the Dreaming, Realm of Daniel Hall, King of Dreams, one of the most powerful, and indeed most impotent, forces in the world. Daniel Hall is a member of the Endless. They number seven in total - Dream, Death, Destiny, Delirium ( who, about 50 or so years ago, was Delight ), Despair, Desire, and Destruction.

Under normal circumstances, The Dreaming is....well, hardly a peaceful place. It is so vast that peace is a somewhat alien concept to its inhabitents. There 's always some new phenomenon, or some problem to be taken care of. Suffice to say, then, that The Dreaming is not quite so tranquil as it should be. Like I said, in such tempestuos weather, no living thing could possibly stay out. But the inhabitors of The Dreaming are NOT alive, except perhaps in a rather abstract sense of the word. What I 'm trying to say is this - dreams son 't really CARE how wet it is outside...

So we bring our attention to a large, barren expanse of the Dreaming. For miles around, all we can see is devestation caused perhaps by the Storm - which is of course impossible, the King would not allow anyone to be hurt in his realm. No, this wasteland is a scar on the Dreaming which will not be healed, nor restored, by its own request.

But look closer now, towards the center of this place.....a fire is burning bravely against the darkness, somehow remaining lit, despite being completely unprotected in the raging storm. And as if that wasn 't weird enough, if you look really close, you might even see a Scarecrow with a pumpkin stuck on its head. Sound strange? It gets worse....the pumpkins talking.......

Merv took the bottle from his lips and let out a long, rather forced, belch. The physics of this are far beyond any explanation I could offer up, so I won 't try.

"<hic> dooo yer know pretty birdie.....yer a reealllllllll prettyyyyy birdie you know? ...narrrrrrrr....do yer know, the old guy wasn 't so bad....he had looaaaaddddssss of friends all over the.....wosname.....D <hic> Dreaming"

The "pretty birdie" was Matthew, Daniel Halls.....familiar, perhaps that would be the msot appropriate word. he stood at the edge of the firelight, perched atop a scorched treetrunk. The raven did not drink, for many good reasons...all of which require a fairly long explanation.....let us say for now that he was a recovering alcoholic....

"yeah Merv" the raven said quietly against the wind, knowing he wouldn 't hear, "Fiddlers Green was a friend to all and a threat to none, only ever set a foot wrong once ( The Sandman : Preludes & Nocturns TPB ) - and even then he came back on his own. He was a damn fine guy, if y 'ask me"

"Whu-whu-whu....why 's all this rain happening? I muh-mean Daniel controls the weather here...wha-whats wrong with him?"

The short, fat man who was speaking was drinking as well...a red wine that Abel had discovered in the Basement ( being careful to avoid The Thing That Lives Downstairs ) which was surprisingly good. It had no lable on it - but as he poured each glass in went "tinkle-tinkle-tinkle" - a sure sign of faerie wine, reknowned for its excellence. It was, indeed, the second-best wine in existence.

He was lying on his back, wearing an old suit which was soaking wet. He has been here for some time.

"How the fuck should I know? Christ, the kid doesn 't knwo what he 's doing! I thought for one moment that he was going to leave you dead and dishonour my contract with....well, with the old King - but I stood up and I said ' Now liste...."

"Cain, you 're lu-luh-lying again - you were te - terrified of what he would do to you if you pushed it to fuh - far...."

Cain mumbled something under his breath before rising to his feet and storming off into the darkness.

"Cuh - Cain, wait for me! I 'm happy to know that you care! Cain! Come back!"

And with that, the fat man stumbled off as well......

"Welllllllllll my my, what a ......umm...... terrible wossname - starts with P! Pretty Birdie what 's the word?"

Matthew raised from the scorched trunk with a beat of his wings and glided over near to Merv before landing next to a scorched section of earth.

"Jeezus Merv, who cares? We 're not meant to be here to get pissed for Christ 's sake - one of our friends is DEAD! Doesn 't that mean anything to you? The goddam Furies just walked in and killed him! as an example!"

Merv rose his hand into the air with a flourish

"I goddddddit! What a terriiiiiiiible preeeeeedicament!"

With that he feel backwards and hit the ground with a crash, asleep apparently,

"Christ. The new boss hasta sort this weather out. It 's frying everyones brains. First Abel chasing after Cain and now this! Ridiculous.......I gotta do something...." And with that, the raven started beating his wings once more, flying clear of the scorched remains of Fiddlers Green, a restplace for all travellers.
 

"Dearest, when was the last time you even spoke to this boy?" the earthen tones of Eve inquired from the darkness in a corner of her cave, "It is most unwise to make assumptions about anyone you have barely spoken to before - Maybe he likes Rain."

"Maybe...." Matthew trailed off with just the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice....."Since when did anybody like the rain, Eve? Don 't tell me you 're startin' ta lose it to!"

"I am losing nothing Matthew - and I think perhaps I am not the person to ask about matters of the male, hmmm my Raven? What would I know of how a mans mind works?"

"Don 't pull that crap with me Eve, we both know you know more about the human mind than just about anyone else in the Dreaming!"

"Matthew, you are clasping at straws, and you are delaying the inevitable......you must face the Dream King - there could be any of a dozen reasons why the weather is so poor recently - you of all people know that, my love. He is new.....Maybe he does not yet understand his powers?"

"I just don 't know Eve - I mean come on, you musta been around the Dreaming before Morpheus surely - what was HE like when he was starting out?"

A gentle laugh like a bubbling river stemmed from Eve, first Woman :

"Ah sweet Matthew. There have indeed been many ravens. But there has been only one Dream King, until now. Unlike Despair, Morpheus is the ORIGINAL Dream King. In answer to your question Matthew - No, I was not around when he was starting out. This....Daniel Hall...and the affects he has caused to the Dream King Persona are unknown to me Matthew - The child was terribly young to inherit the power, I know that for a fact - I strongly suspect he will not be so confident, nor so calm, as his own predecessor."

"That 's all I wanted to know. Thanks, Eve" - And with that the raven glided once more from Eve 's cave - and beat his wings slowly, purposefully, in the direction of the Castle, the very Heart of the Dreaming.....
 
 

In the Dreaming, reality is a little.....distorted, as many of its inhabitors will readily inform you. While the Dreaming is indeed vast - getting from place to place need not be an effort. Physics does not apply in dreams. This is a place alien to Newton or Einstein. Well, maybe quite familiar to them - they spent nearly half their lives in the realm of dreams.

Appearances can be Deceptive - a well known saying, as I 'm sure you know. Here in the Dreaming, appearances are ALWAYS deceptive - this is partially because of what a dream actually is. In simple terms, they are simply manifestations of latent subconscious thoughts, left aside to be processed when the body is at rest. More important, however, is what powers a dream - perception. Dreams aren 't real - everyone knows that. But what everyone doesn 't know is that because they aren 't real, the laws of life don 't apply. You can have ten eyes, turn into a fish, be everywhere at once - or at least you can perceive that you are. Deep? 'kay, I 'll leave that part till later - or possibly ask Delirium to pay you a visit. She 'd probably enjoy that quite a lot. Yes, thats what I 'll do...

ANYWAY, to cut a long story short, it takes a short time to travel a long way in the Dreaming. In most cases. Matthew knew he could reach the heart of the Dreaming easily, almost instantly if he put his mind to it. But his mind was elsewhere - swishing the thoughts of his upcoming confrontation through his mind. At times he faltered, at times he turned around and started back towards Eves Cave. Never for long though.

So, cutting another long story short, Matthew wove his way to the front gate of the Castle, where the three guardians where alert, as always. Matthew lsighed inwardly as he approached.....

"Hey, fellas, nice to see yer not sleepin' on the job. Just came by for a word with the kid."

The Gryphon spoke first - Matthew thought about this and decided that the Gryphon, being the new guy, was eager to impress.

"Matthew, you know that you are always welcome here, this will not change. However, we do not have any need for sleep, nor are we ever 'off the job'."

"Jeez griff, fer the luvva Pete it wuz a goddam joke. Goddam gate-keepers gettin dumber every day"

Matthew flew by the guardians of the gate, feeling the stare of the Gryphon upon him. A roar sounded behind him, and he turned....

"RAVEN ! Do not speak so to a noble beast such as myself ! I......"

"Silence, New One. Know your place. I apologise for this incident Matthew. It shall no happen again."

The Gryphon backed into submission....

"Holy crap. What is it with this damn place these days? Why 's everyone so damn tetchy alluv a sudden - last time things where this bad was......ohhhhhhh....way back, when the boss went missing....." ( SANDMAN : PRELUDES & NOCTURNES again )

Matthew glided through the infinite halls of the Palace of Dreams, knowing in his heart that which he sought. He glided through the doors of the throneroom.

It was dark. Too dark - the room was completely empty, and many of the grand windows where dusty. Things had deteriorated somewhat since Nuala had left Morpheus - he had not had time to even place minor enchantments to keep the throneroom clear before the trouble with Daniel had started up ( SANDMAN : THE KINDLY ONES ).

The throne carved by Morpheus, The Dream King, was empty.

"ehhhhhhh........Dream? Kid? I gotta talk to ya, if yer too busy I can come back later though......"

"Busy, Matthew? Whatever would one such as myself be busy DOING, praytell?"

Matthew shivered. Well, we all knew the kid inherited Morpheus powers and memories, but now he 's using his old tricks as well. Daniel was standing next to the throne, looking down at a bottle in his hand.....Light seemed to emenate from somewhere just behind his head.....Matthew spoke nervously....

"uhhhhh....ain 't you a little young to be drinkin' boss? I mean jeez, I heard underage drinkin' was a problem but you 're only a year or so old ( R ) kid! aheh...." Matthew chuckled nervously

Daniel looked up from the bottle, frowning :

"Matthew, please refrain from calling me a child. As you know, what was mortal of Daniel Hall was burnt away, and what was immortal was transfigured. Human bodies are not immortal, Matthew. You of all people know that."

"Aheh...sure ki.....Lord Shaper"

"Much better Matthew. Also, do not be afraid to call me by my former name, Daniel Hall."

"uhhhh...okay boss....will do - I don 't really care if ya drink. it just seems.I dunno; weird I guess - HE never drank."

Daniel Hall chuckled. It was the first time Matthew saw him smile. His laugh sounded like slabs of Marble falling onto granite. His laugh echoed off itself. Matthew was slightly alarmed by this fact.

"Ahhhh.Matthew, Matthew the raven, Matthew the cynic. Matthew the misguided. You think I am drinking? If I was drinking from this bottle, I would surely be killed instantly - this bottle contains Ner 'ghull, one of the most powerful demons who ever lived. A long time ago, he killed almost 2 million people. They dropped a nuclear missile on him, thinking it would surely destroy him. They where wrong.No force in the world could stop him. But Morpheus did. He tricked the demon into using his own power against himself.

"But boss...I thought that sorta thing was against..y'know...... the rules - don 't interfere unless blah-blah..."

Daniel smiled again. His smile was quite possibly the most disconcerting thing Matthew had ever seen.

"Ner 'ghull went too far. Unsatisfied with his conquest of Earth, he sought to invade the world of Morpheus. Thirty seconds from the time he decided to act, Morpheus had him trapped in this little bottle. I found it......locked in a chest he had in this room, along with many other things. At first I was astounded at this - so many enemies, so many massive threats to himself, all together in one little box. What would happen if they where to escape? But, of course, this is the Castle, the heart of my power - nothing occurs here against my will, except in astounding exceptions ( THE KINDLY ONES once more... ) - nobody comes, nobody goes"

"yeah thats right Daniel, the box doesn 't keep these things trapped, the bottle doesn 't keep this particular demon trapped - no, to cage such destructive beings requires a huge amount of power - the Castle is what keeps them trapped in their bottles, and boxes, and bowls, and whatnot. But you already knew that didn 't ya?"

Daniel frowned now, and instantly his face was cast into shadow

"No........Yes.....I..don 't know Matthew. Morpheus had a great deal of knowledge, so many secrets, too many. I feel like I know it all, but I can 't recall individual things without a prompting sometimes....usually the more oblique artifacts or whatnot." he held the bottle aloft "It took me several minutes to think of what this bottle was. This monster killed 2 million people and I couldn 't REMEMBER? I am angered by this Matthew - it should not be like this. The transition was not as smooth as I thought it would be. I fear something may be amiss, Matthew, something important."

"Look, Danny m' boy, you need to take it easy. It 'll come to ya in time, don 't worry about it. I know Morpheus more than most people and believe me this isn 't the kind of thing he gets wrong. Look inside yourself, kid, look at what Morpheus thought about it - I said it wasn 't the kind of thing he got wrong, because he never got any of his facts wrong as long as I 've known him. Trust your instincts."

Daniel looked once more at the raven :

"Matthew you are a mystery to me. You seem to know more than I about some things, some....important things."

"Yeah thanks kid....but look I gotta question. What 's with all this weather lately? Why the rain and thunder? used ta be all we got was sun sun sun all day long. I 'm pretty sure nobody complained about it boss, so what ya up to?"

Dream raised an eyebrow quizically...

"The weather is simply the weather Matthew. I see no need to make it sunny, nor indeed to make it rain - right now, it is acting of its own accord. Tell me Matthew..what difference does it make? The rain, the wind, none of these things affect the denizens of The Dreaming, so why change it?"

Matthew frowned. It was going to be hard, dealing with this kid, he thought. It 's like he has it all in his head, but he just can 't get it out without someone giving him a hint. He needed Matthew to help. If he could, Matthew would have laughed. When he was a man, if someone so powerful needed his help he would have overcharged him and probably tried to steal as much as possible from his house. But, if you live long enough, you realise that money isn 't important, not really. What matters is being needed.

Before Matthew flew into that throneroom, he had decided to die. Sure, before, he had agreed to stay - he didn 't know about Fiddlers Green back then. He had been told his final words - how he had lived his life and that to be brought back would make everything he had lived for meaningless. Fiddlers Green chose to remain dead, not because he was afraid, but because he knew a truth - life wouldn 't be worth living if it lasted forever. Matthew had heard these words and they had cut to the bottom of his soul. When he was offered the chance to become a raven, he jumped at the chance. At the time, he was a shell of a man, an alcoholic, a joke of natures, one of many just like him.

So he decided it just wasn 't worth living any more. Hell, he thought, why bother? I 've already had wayyyy too much time alive ( as it were ), so why bother going on? All the trouble with Daniel made him feel unwanted, staying in Eve 's Cave, thinking about his friends, his ex-wife....his life as a human. How pointless that life seemed now. How there was no point in being a familiar to a king who needs for nothing at all.

But now, Matthew was needed. He was tired, true, but that didn 't matter right now. In all the years as a Raven, Matthew has learned many, many things. The most important of these things is that all he needs from life is the feeling of being NEEDED by someone. Dream needed him. His boss needed him.

He wasn 't going to give up.
 

OK so you might not have liked the above story - half of it I threw together after midnight on a Sunday night and the other half was basically never leading anywhere....Did this story as a filler between parts 2 and 3 of the better ( I hope ) FAMILY VALUES story - which I hope to complete some time next week.

Stephen McMahon 12:27AM Monday 20th July

.....help me I 'm going blind......