The Sandman

Lucienne.

- Back so soon? - Yes.

How did things go in my absence?

All goes well, my lord.

And your quest?

Are you nearer to finding... your brother?

I have no desire to find my brother.

However,

it occurs to me that certain forces

might be acting counter to our interests in this matter.

Perhaps you should make inquiries.

I would know who.

And I will know why.

I will look into the matter immediately.

Anything else?

Only that...

And it's not my place to say this, I... only met your brother a few times, but...

I liked him enormously.

I also respected him.

I think it might be good for you to speak with him.

About what?

Why he left.

I think he tried to tell me once.

But I did not listen.

Nor did I hear.

Sir.

Sir.

You look well, brother.

- As do you. - Mm.

Although I must confess, I am curious--

As to why I called you here?

Come.

Myself, I find I spend an ever-increasing amount of time

in this mortal realm.

It speaks to me.

- And what does it say, I wonder? - I'll show you.

This is what you wanted to show me?

That they are cutting up apes?

Do they think that they can impale her soul on their blades?

Cut deep enough to extract her dreams?

Reason is a flawed tool, my brother.

That is why I called you here.

Because one member of the Royal Society

has prismed the rays of the sun

into beams of discrete color.

Ah, but Mr. Newton,

who ordered the rainbow,

has much else to say on the subject of optics.

Are not light and gross bodies interconvertible?

I fail to understand you.

I have seen this before.

After a while, certain ideas, they... they become inevitable.

Such as?

That which the Greeks called atomos .

The atom, that... that which is uncuttable, they will find a way to cut.

That is how they will destroy each other and themselves.

Yes.

But why tell me ?

It does not affect my realm

and does little to yours that will not change once more.

And as you say,

you have been here before.

Many times and in many worlds.

And for how much longer?

As long as they need us.

Are not light and gross bodies interconvertible?

Alas, they are.

And from that comes the release of energies

that will melt the flesh from their bones and topple their cities

and blot out the sun.

And then follows my time, brother.

The age of fire and flame.

If he loved humanity...

then why abandon them?

To...

To avoid being the one responsible... for their destruction.

And having to carry the shame of that.

There is no shame in fulfilling one's duties.

There is if,

in doing that, you destroy the ones you love.

I must return to the waking world.

Thank you.

You must be Alvin's friend.

Alvin?

My late nephew.

Here.

The book you asked for.

Thank you.

You missed the open coffin at his folks' place.

I have to say,

they made Alvin look pretty good

after the morticians were through with him.

They cut his hair and put him in a suit and everything.

Why would they do that?

Because this isn't for him.

This is for them .

These are church people.

They are grieving. Do you understand?

They believe this was God's judgment on Alvin for who he was.

I assure you it was not.

I loved my nephew very much.

But he was never very happy here.

Was...

...Wanda happy?

She was entirely herself.

At all times.

Well, how many of us can say that?

Well, the service is about to start, so...

Um...

Maybe you should stand in the back.

It's not right.

Putting that name on her headstone.

I must ask a favor of you.

Dream, I can't.

But it is my fault that she is dead.

That all of them are dead.

I can't bring them back once they're gone.

You know that.

I'm glad that you came.

Someone had to fix this gravestone.

That's nice of you.

I had to do something to try and make things right.

It's too late when they're dead, little brother.

Better to focus on the ones who are still with us.

I don't know if you've noticed, but Delirium's sigil's gone dark.

I know. She has closed her realm.

Does that surprise you?

You were using her.

Has Desire told the entire family?

They were concerned about her.

As am I. As you should be.

I am .

But what am I to do?

Go to her realm and talk to her.

Just show up.

Be her big brother.

I'm not having her go the same way Destruction did.

Will you come with me?

- She'll think I put you up to it. - You did.

- Thought you wanted to make things right. - I do.

Look at the mess I've made of it.

Be patient with her.

She doesn't see things the way you do. That doesn't make her wrong.

That sort of wisdom is why you should be coming with me.

I'm meeting someone.

Go.

Go.

You all right?

It's weird.

Growing up, I hated this place.

And I can't believe I'm saying this, but Kansas is

beautiful.

Sorry about what they did to you.

Hair and your clothes.

It was never about the hair or the clothes.

It was about... who and how I chose to be.

And no one can ever change that.

But I will miss my body.

We had a lot of fun together.

And I learned so much.

I'm ready for whatever's next now.

Then take my hand.

Okay.

Now arriving at our final stop.

Sister!

You have a remarkable sundial.

It's stopped.

I don't like it at all.

It's stopped, and it won't go anymore.

And I hate it.

And I hate you!

Well, perhaps you should.

I deserve it.

Go away.

If that is what you wish, then... I will go away.

But first, if I may...

I would speak with you.

I've come here to tell you that I am...

sorry.

I lied to you.

And I broke your trust.

And I recognize that.

And if you or any of our siblings had done the same to me,

then I would never have forgiven you.

So I will not ask forgiveness.

But I will ask...

if you're amenable...

that we resume our journey together.

Dream...

do you like me?

Well, you never fail to surprise me, which is no small feat.

And it distresses me to see you troubled.

So...

I suppose I must.

Well, I think I like you too.

When you're not being scary.

Let's go find Destruction properly this time.

Without hurting anyone else.

Mortal or otherwise.

So we're not going to find Etain of the Second Look?