Ruin - The Dreaming: Waking Hours

A nightmare created by Dream of the Endless in the fields outside the Palace of Dreams, 'Ruin,' as he was cruelly dubbed, was considered to be little more than a pitiful failure, far from what his creator had intended. 

Disheartened by this rejection, he tearfully followed Dream's orders to fulfil his function and help guide a young dreamer with a religious calling onto his spiritual journey, alongside the angel Jophiel. However, this ended in disaster when Ruin fell in love with the dreamer, causing him to turn the Martyrdom of Joan of Arc into a torrid scene of demons and shadow creatures, terrifying the young man and angering his compatriot. 

Taking the insults to heart, his self-confidence shattered, leading him to conclude that his detractors were all right about him; that he ruined everything he touched and could not even carry out his base function. 

Banished to the Box of Nightmares, he remained there, tormented by his siblings. However, he never forgot the dreamer and vowed to one day find him and show him beautiful visions. 

With the help of the night hag, Dora, he attempted to escape the Dreaming through the dreams of Lindy Morris, only to accidentally switch places with her, trapping the single mother in a perilous situation. 

Unsure how to correct his mistake, he sought out Jophiel, who had been banished to the Waking World for their collective failure. Despite a testy reunion, the angel reluctantly agreed to help the nightmare save Morris, introducing Ruin to the sorceress, Heather After, the great-granddaughter of Roderick Burgess.

Not wishing to be a burden on his new friends, and seeing how much danger that Heather had out herself in by invoking the Hob Goblin Puck, he decided to meet Dora at the World's End and ask her to help him retrace his steps to find where Lindy had ended up. 

Despite interruption from his siblings Brute and Glob and a confrontation with the irate Dream, Ruin was successfully able to help return Morris to the Waking World. Speaking with his creator, he defiantly told the Lord of Dreams that he would never stop trying to find the boy of his dreams, willingly giving up his own immortality for the chance at love and happiness. Intrigued by this, Dream consented to the request, though secretly promised to keep tabs on him. 

No longer a fugitive on the run and seeking new experiences, he returned to Jophiel's apartment, asking if the angel would take him on as a roommate, which the latter reluctantly accepted, finding the young nightmare to be endearing if not dangerously accident-prone. 

Accompanying Heather and Jophiel to Faerie to stop a civil war between loyalists of the former monarchs, Titania and Auberon, and the usurper, Queen Nuala, the mission devolved into chaos and resulted in the group getting separated. During this time, Ruin was forced to take a life. Even though it was in self-defence, this traumatic incident caused the young nightmare to see himself as irrevocably evil and dangerous, no matter how hard he tried not to be anything other than one of Dream's tools. 

Crossing from Faerie to the Dreaming and then to the Waking World, Ruin helped Todd retrieve Heather from the fairy realm and return her safely to New Jersey. It was during this ceremony that he met the young Dreamer, Ben, who, through magical intervention, agreed to visit Heather's flat with his friend Azar. 

Stunned to see Ben, and to discover that the boy shared feelings of love for him, the pair went to the Dreaming for their first official conversation. Though initially hesitant to act upon his feelings, believing that he was responsible for destroying Ben's life and making him leave the church, he was moved by Ben's reassurance that he was loved and not a burden; one of the few acts of kindness and compassion he had ever experienced since his creation. 

Standing up to his creator, Ruin begged Heather to help them hide from Dream of the Endless, who had reneged on their bargain and threatened to permanently separate them. 

After a tense confrontation between the Endless and the descendant of Roderick Burgess, the Dream Lord gave Ruin his leave to make a new life in the Waking World with Ben. And, much to his shock, his creator validated his life and purpose; that his terrifying yet lesson-teaching nature fills a necessary niche in the world of dreams.

Now out from Dream's shadow, Ruin was free to make a new life for himself, starting a romantic relationship with Ben. The couple stayed in touch with Lindy, Todd, and Heather, becoming good friends.