Three Forces Empowered | Dream Team

Chapter Three

Dream was an assassin. He was the best. He never failed. But then, he let one of his targets escape alive. And not only that, but he escaped with him.

All because he had gone soft. He had made friends with the one he was supposed to kill instead of doing his job, and now he was going after Peligro, his employer, and taking him out.

Peligro was a bad man. He had done many bad things. He was the dark lord of the business he had created with assassins, and now Dream was going to be the one to kill him. To end his life. To make sure that he didn't hurt anyone else ever again.

The wolves might be a problem, though.

Dream smiled at George as he landed beside him. "Nice of you to join the party," he called over as he took down another wolf with his knife.

"Shut up," George grumbled as he drew his sword.

Dream slashed and hacked through the animals. As his muscles adapted to the movements, they became second instinct. He let his mind go on autopilot as his reflexes took control.

It was purely what he had been trained for, what he had spent half of his life working towards. Fighting, taking down the opponent, leaving no one left to tell the tale.

Stop. That's not you anymore.

Confusion crossed his mind, making his temporarily lower his knife. A wolf lunged at him. His eyes widened in surprise, but his concentration had been broken. His arm raised up to stop the blow, but he was too late.

Suddenly, a sword sliced in front of him, tossing the battered body of the wolf to the side. Dream stared at Sapnap, who was breathing heavily, his sword covered in blood. He looked angry, though whether it was because of the wolves or because of Dream, he didn't know.

The remaining wolves turned and fled into the woods, their tails disappearing in the foliage.

Sapnap huffed and kicked at the dirt. "I hate nature."

He sat down on the ground and crossed his arms, pouting like a little kid. Dream clumsily sat down beside him, feeling dizzy from the sudden exertion and loss of blood. A moment later, George joined them.

Dream glanced around to make sure that no more wolves were hanging around, then exhaled in relief and checked the wound on his arm. It needed taking care of. Hopefully there were bandages in the bag George was carrying. Probably there were. They got hurt all the time.

"Wolves aren't the only thing nature has to offer," Dream said. "There's a lot of good, too. Like this forest, for example."

"Where the wolves attacked us."

"And the streams that offer fresh water-"

"Which the wolves drink from as well."

"And the trees that can provide lumber, rubber, and much more."

Dream gave Sapnap a hard look, daring him to come up with a retort to that. Sapnap hesitated, then sighed. "Fine, you win. But... wolves. They hate me."

"Humans," Dream said with a shrug. "They hate me."

"You guys are overreacting," George said. "Come on, knock it off. We need to get to the kingdom as fast as possible."

Dream gave Sapnap another look. The man still seemed uneasy, but that was natural. He had just been attacked by wolves for a second time, after a very traumatizing first encounter. If Dream was in his shoes, he'd want to track down every wolf in a fifty mile radius and slaughter them.

He could only hope that he didn't fit Sapnap's shoes.

"What was the name of the kingdom again?" Dream asked.

"Kingdom Suspiro," George answered immediately.

Dream raised an eyebrow but said nothing. George blushed. "What? I spent a long time memorizing the map and the kingdoms, okay?"

"Wait, isn't that the name of your kingdom, George?" Sapnap asked.

"It's not my kingdom," George said, his face turning even redder, "and it's called Superiora, not Suspiro."

"Sounds the same to me."

"It's not even close to being the same! There's no reason for you to---"

"Calm down," Dream said with a laugh. "Geez. George, you've got a map burnt into your mind --- are we near anything useful right now?"

Dream watched as George scrunched up his nose and thought about it for a bit. "Uh... there's a village nearby I think? It's noon so we should probably eat before we continue. We're not even close to leaving this kingdom yet."

Sapnap sighed. "How big is your kingdom? Like, actually."

"Really big," George replied, "and again, it's not my kingdom."

"It will be soon," Dream said with a wink.

George looked extremely flustered. Dream chuckled and shook his head slightly. He probably should've felt guilty poking fun at George, but it cheered him up. Was it nice to make him uncomfortable? Probably not. Did he still do it anyway?

...Yes.

"Dream, your mind is wandering off into space," George said, nudging him in the side. "What are you thinking about?"

"What?" Dream said, blinking. "Er... nothing."

The prince hesitated, then reached into his bag and pulled out a roll of clean sterile bandages. "Oh, thank you," Dream said in relief, accepting the roll from him. "I was hoping that you'd have some."

George snorted. "Are you serious? You're always getting hurt in some way, and most of the time very seriously, so of course I came prepared."

Dream wrapped up the wound and tore it off of the roll, then handed it over to Sapnap, who was poking at a few deep scratches on his sides. He mumbled his thanks and started treating his wounds as well.

"George, are you okay?" Dream asked, glancing over at him.

"Hm?" George checked around himself. "Yeah, I'm okay. No wounds. Guess I'm lucky, huh?"

"Sure," Sapnap said, giving the roll back to him.

He stuffed it into his bag and stood up, smiled uncertainly. "Okay then, it's off to the village we go. We're heading south to get to Suspiro, and when we get there, we need to be prepared. Who knows why Peligro chose to write that kingdom down and leave it for someone to find?"

"Maybe he was just being inconsiderate?" Sapnap suggested, standing up as well.

"Wishful thinking," Dream grumbled. He struggled to his feet and brushed himself off.

Sapnap shrugged. Dream smiled inwardly, though. Sapnap had clearly been rattled greatly by the wolf attack, but he was recovering. Back to his old, sarcastic self. Dream never thought that something like that would actually make him happy.

But it did.

"Dream, are you coming or not?" Sapnap yelled.

Dream looked up in a daze. Sapnap and George were already far ahead of him, with no intention of slowing down to wait. "Yeah, I'm coming," he muttered. "I'm coming."