She watched him sleep, as she often did.

He never knew she was there, and she could never let that happen. It was against everything that she stood for, everything that she lived for. But there was something about him that was different from all the others. And so she watched him, sleeping, as the hours passed and the darkened skies journeyed toward dawn.

She had been an Architect for as long as she could remember. Theirs is not a world that you and I can comprehend. She did not have a childhood, at least one she could remotely remember. From her perspective, she had always been an Architect, crafting dreams that guided, inspired, reassured, or directed. It was her existence. Sometimes, when it was needed, she brought nightmares. She hated those. She hated suspending a dreamer in space and forcing them to drop into a realm that only brought terror and screams. She wasn't an Architect for that reason. It made her sad when she did it. But she had to do it sometimes. It was part of the Purpose.

He was different. She never brought him bad dreams. She brought only those of love and reassurance. And somehow, as she cast her net over him and pulled him into her world, he smiled. It was that little boy's smile, despite his age, that had first startled her. Now, she watched him, hoping for that smile, and satiated when it came.

He had a guest tonight. She had watched, part of curiosity and part of duty. He was hers. She brought him the dreams that she watched play out across his face. But now there was another. It made her feel different.

So she brought the woman a nightmare. She dug down deep and brought out a terror so horrible that it made her wince. Because this woman with him had a real reason for nightmares, it was almost too easy. But it still made the architect sad. She was sad that an interloper had intruded into her place, her space of reaching him.

The woman screamed. The Architect faded into the shadows. The man bolted up and held the woman as she sobbed quietly.

"You're safe; it's over," he said. "You're safe. It won't happen again. It's over."

But in the shadows, the Architect watched. It was not over. Not while this stranger was with her beloved.