Broken- DreamNotFound/ Gream

Chapter. 20

Night: 10

Life Count: 164

Dream:

A branch snapped.

He whirled around, reaching for his sword, and cursing to himself as his fingers grasped at empty air. His hands instantly went to his face, panic sparking in him as he lightly touched his bare skin. He reached up and pulled his hood up to cast a shadow over his features as someone or something walked towards him. Dream raised his fists as a pathetic defense as whatever was coming at him broke through the trees.

"Dream."

"Phil?"

Philza's hat was crooked, little twigs knotted through his blond hair as he crossed his arms and stared at the man in front of him. He didn't have a weapon, as far as Dream could tell, and he looked relaxed and unsurprised to see him there.

"So you're the mysterious Dream." Phil murmured, giving the hooded man a once over and tilting his head. "I can see why my son doesn't like you. You do look too powerful for your own good."

"Huh, he hasn't seen me at my worst, then." Dream almost gave a laugh as Phil just sat down in the grass and started picking twigs from his hair. "Actually, never mind. He's kind of been the cause of most of my problems."

Phil looked somber for a second as Dream lay down across from the older man, crossing his arm over his face. Dream glanced over at Phil as he started to twist little blue flowers into a small crown, unconsciously braiding a little wreath. Phil didn't look like a murderer right now, but he also raised three crazy sons, one of which was a complete psychopath.

"He's not that bad when you get to know him." Phil answered Dream's thoughts, and the younger man looked at him, puzzled. "I know you were thinking about Wil. You got all tense and shaky."

"The only side I've seen of him is a bad side. Even when we weren't in this game, he was still so controlling over everything and everyone." Dream sighed, sliding his arm sideways slightly to peek over at Phil. "He's kind of the reason I've almost died this much, and the reason I'm stuck out here away from my friends."

"What did he do to you?" Phil asked, and Dream furrowed his eyebrows, suspicion hovering at the back of his mind.

"Why would you want to know?"

"Techno and Tommy have just been... different lately. Well, Techno has been like this for a bit, but Tommy just is not himself. They're so jumpy, flinching at every word Wil says to them, and I've never seen Tommy without the sweatshirt on now, or Techno with his sleeves up." Phil sighed, rubbing his temples. "They're so quiet now, hardly talking to anyone at all, like they're afraid to. I didn't know what was going on, so I figured, with your experience with my sons, that you'd know what to do."

"Hmm, them and I haven't been on great terms for a long time now." Dream twisted a piece of his blond hair between his fingertips. "But that's not normal behavior for Tommy, or even Techno. But I think I know what's going on. It's the same thing that happened to me when... when Wilbur tortured me."

"He did what?" Phil's voice went dangerously quiet, and Dream glanced over to see the older man's fists clenched, a flower ripped to shreds in front of him.

"Tortured me, Phil." Dream let his arm fall away from his face as he looked up at the canopy covering them, the rain beating against the leaves, lighting still piercing the night sky. "You didn't know? He hated me so much that he went out of his way to make my life hell! I'm surprised to hear that he hasn't boasted to you about how he broke me that day! I'm surprised to know that he hasn't told you about how he turned my own friends against me, made them almost kill me, Phil! Your son is insane!"