The pain that once burned like fire had faded away to an icy numbness. Black filled the edges of my vision and the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat. My breath came in ragged, shallow gasps.
Seconds passed as I lay there, screams and shouts of help here in there, then, I heard his voice. With what's left inside my body, I slowly looked away from the darkening sky, to his tear-filled eyes looking at me as I watched how his mouth moved to his screams, to what I believe, is my name. My lips quiverred at the sight, hurting me more than I thought it would.
Before I could say a word, I was lost in the darkness in a snap of a finger.
Sniffles and soft sobs echoed around the small room inside Pogtopia's space, alarming the man who was sat silently beside her, carefully brushing his fingers against the brittle papers in his hands. The edge of his red gown draped down his arm as he raised it, placing a hand on top of her icy skin. A frown made it's way to the tall man's face, displeased with the current body temperature of the frail woman. Quickly, he shook her hand in attempts to waking her up.
To his surprise, his faded red eyes widened as the brunette shot up from the makeshift bed, throwing the covers off of her body and on to the lumpy stoned floor. He huffed out, before slightly standing up to prevent the girl from doing anything, not wanting to cause a scene in the Middle of the Night with everyone trying to regain their energy- specially with what had happened earlier.
" Samantha, calm down. " Techno mumbled.
Her head crained itself to the side, staring at him with her mouth slightly agape and beads of sweat all over her forehead. Techno knew she'd wake up sooner or later, but he wished it wasn't him instead.
" Where- "
" You don't need to be afraid, " He sighed and slowly slid his hand off her, before plopping back down on the small chair behind him. " I'm not going to hurt you. "
Nervous and Terrified, Samantha worriedly looked around, searching for any familiar faces that she could feel safer with, but unfortunately, it was just her and the rosy haired man sitting beside her with a small book in his hands. His tall height and massive gown was already enough to intimidate her, and the gold jewelries scattered from his head to toe made it worse for her. Technoblade's eyes trailed down to her throat, watching it as she swallowed thickly with the small gulp able to be heard from how eerie the place was.
He sighed again, and turned his body, just enough to reach a small glass on a table beside her bed. To the advantage of his long arm, he easily managed to grab the liquid filled glass and offered it to Samantha. The small gesture made her flinch, which wasn't a surprise to him as he believed well that things happened to her, he just wasn't sure on what specifically.
" This is water, it's clean and fresh, I had one just a while ago. " Techno stated with his usual straight tone, and pointed his gaze at an empty glass on the same side table.
" Who- Who are you? " She finally spoke after a minute of silence as she took the water in one gulp, easing the dryness of her throat while the ends of her fingers fiddled with the rough edges on the glass. This somehow relieved Techno, obvious to the fact as he rested his back on the chair and took a deep exhale through his nose.
" Technoblade, I've helped Wilbur and Tommy since their exile, as well as Tubbo in someway. " He explained thoroughly but used lesser words, he'd thought it would scare her if he spoke too much.
She silently gasped. " Technoblade? " Just then, a stinging sensation errupted from her back, making her fall forward as she stayed frozen, afraid that the pain would become worse. It felt like a deep wound had re-opened behind her, and the soaked fabric was enough to confirm it.
" Just go back to laying down. " He tugged on her arm and started slowly pulling her down, setting her back down on the sheets. It took a minute before she was able to overcome the pain, and looked up at Techno.
A frowned laced her forehead as she stared at him. " You- "
" First of all, I was being pressured, everyone knows how bad I am at dealing with peer pressure; Second, it's not my fault; Last but not the least, you jumped in front of me like an Idiot and took all of it, which is why you are now, that. " Techno said all of this while raising a finger to each statement, Samantha listened carefully but was still uncomfortable with his prescence.
" I'm not an Idiot. "
His lips formed in to a straight line as he lowered his hands to his lap. " Being his saviour, No; Almost killing yourself because of it, Big Yes. "
She sighed, too tired to even fight back. He quickly took this chance to continue and kind of scold her for her reckless actions.
" Honestly, I would do the same for my family. "
" Then what makes me an Idiot, and not you as well? " Samantha complained with a harsh tone, but that was all she could do. If she wasn't in that position, she'd have Techno under her hands.
" Because I'm strategic and most definitely will not experience being on the edge of death while doing so, unlike you. " He came back, almost mirroring his words as heavy punches to knock some sense in to the girl.
" Do you even know what happened to you? "
Samantha's eyes remained on the dark grey walls, her mind completely blank as she heard Techno's last few words. Of course she does, everything was replaying right inside her mind with no signs of stopping. She clenched her fists and resisted the temptation of crying, swallowing every bit of emotions before turning to him, patiently waiting.
" You are quite something to ask someone of their own experience. " She laughed sarcastically.
" That's not what I mean. " Technoblade pulled the drawer from the same table the glasses of water were placed on, and pulled out a Potion bottle filled with dark liquid that emitted a rather unpleasant smell. " Do you know what this is? "
" I'll make you forget instead. "
" Harming: lower levels can cause temporary pain, while higher ones causes permanent damages, which is most likely death. "
" You forgot one part, " He looked at the liquid inside and started spinning the bottle around his hand, playing with it before his eyes landed on her's. " It makes you forget. "
Her brain stutters for a moment and her eyes take in more light than she expected, every part of her goes on pause while her thoughts catch up. She felt the familiar shock inside her heart, squeezing it ever so tightly that it might explode in any second, but as quickly as it came, it disappeared, leaving her in a state of numbness.
Suddenly, down towards the doorstep, stood a blonde man with his green eyes wide in the open, while he hid a mask strapped behind him. Techno was the only one that faced him, Samantha was in some trance as she immediately became quiet. The man being named as, Dream, walked towards the two to supposedly ask a few wondering questions regarding them.
As quiet as he could, he grabbed a spare chair and sat on it, making it creak as he moved slightly to get comfortable. Afterward, he looked up and saw Samantha already staring at him, making him nervously glance at Technoblade. After all, it's almost been a week since any of them last saw her awake. Dream didn't know what to do, nor to say.
" Clay? "
Dream held the mask tightly, he didn't know why but at the same time, he knew. He looked down at it, looking at the painted on smile for a mere second before turning his attention back to the girl. Surprisingly, her hair wasn't that worse as she was practically frozen for days, but she was worryingly pale and thin, everything that happened had obviously taken a toll on her body. He quickly figured that this wasn't the time to tell her another story, and hid the mask beneath his hands.
" Yeah? "
" Can we go outside? " She plainly asked. No smiles, No tones- just her blankly staring.
" We can, but not now. " He answered and took a look at Technoblade, but he seemed to freeze when he handed him a book.
" You can take her for a short walk, just be careful. " Dream didn't know, but Technoblade knew. Samantha wasn't comfortable with him, and 'Clay' seemed to be the only one she'd rather be with right now. And so, he quickly left the small room with his gown trailing his steps until it was fully gone from the corner.
___
Dream walked alongside Samantha as they both sauntered the silent forest. While the girl enjoyed the mystical view of the Moonlight shining through the small gaps, the other couldn't relax as he watches her struggle to keep up with walking. She was careful not to put too much pressure on to one foot and was a bit slouched, uncomfortable with the wound she obtained not long ago.
They walked in and out of shady glades, hearing the grass crisp under their feets and smell the usual fresh air from the trees that surrounded them. There were a few animals from the corners as well, but all it did was run once they heard the light footsteps from the two.
" We can go back if you're tired. " Dream spoke up about her as he slowly became uneasy, watching her and only waiting for her to stumble.
" I'm fine. " She said.
He sighed and never took his eyes off of her, not even a second to appreciate the view. He only did when she would point out little things she found amusing or adorable, he'd simply laugh it off or agree before returning to what he was doing- watching her. Unknown to the fact that she had been noticing it, just wasn't bothered by it and continued to distract herself with all the things around her.
Time passed, he still continued to stare at her, not even making an effort to play it off as a secret. This gave the brunette a fun idea. She looked down and acted as if almost falling, raising her arms to make it seem more believable. From the corner of her eye, he flinched and immediately raised his arms, only to realize nothing came down.
" What the hell- " He sighed and scratched the back of his head. " Don't do that. "
" Well, then stop staring at me. " She laughed while they continued to walk.
" How am I suppose to do that while I watch you walk like that? "
She shook her head playfully and looked around, returning her arms behind her as she looked back ahead. The road was still long but both of them really had no idea where they were headed, they just planned to walk and stop by a good place to rest for a while, if they were lucky enough.
It didn't take long, Dream got impatient. Samantha looked down to see him crouching down with his back facing her. She stifled a laugh before falling straight to his arms. Her chin laid on his shoulder while her arms lazily wrapped around his neck. Dream on the other hand, secured his hands underneath her legs, making sure she won't fall before continuing to walk.
None of them spoke another word, until they reached a small space, taking in the view of the blue ocean as they sat close to the cliff. Samantha was in awe while she admired the view, and Dream stayed silent, looking down at the book Techno handed to him. It wasn't a surprise to Dream when he saw the engraved word on the cover, the only wonder was, the papers he saw scattered around her that day during the Festival, was now sewn on along with the other empty pages.
" What's that? "
He looked up, then down, before looking back up at her and handing it to her.
" Your Journal. "
Samantha accepted it, but nothing happened as she placed it back down beside her, which surprised Dream since he thought she'd read it. She deeply took a deep breath and placed her chin down on top of her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs afterward.
" Is it wrong to love? " She suddenly asked.
He frowned. " No, why would it be wrong? "
" Well, someone told me it was the reason why I got myself in to all these troubles. "
" Because of love? "
" Because of love. " She sadly chuckled.
Dream propped one of his knee up and rested his arm on top of it. He looked down at the waters, deeply in thought as he replayed her words in his mind.
" He even told me I was a fool. "
He averted his eyes away from the view and looked at her, watching her hair move with the wind as her attempts to prevent it from flying around, miserably failed.
Dream laughed.
Samantha turned to him with a curious glance.
" Maybe he hasn't felt what Love is. " He said and locked eyes with her brown ones. " Mainly because Love is not suppose to be easy, everyone gets hurt by it. "
" What if- "
Dream picked up her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Samantha was caught off guard and stared at him with wide eyes.
" Look at it this way, " He said while staring down at her hand, and gently grazed his thumb on her knuckles, before looking up at her with a soft gaze. His evergreen eyes looked at her, and couldn't take it off, no matter what. He couldn't help it, the strums of his heart kept going and his chest seemed to tighten. His stare made it look like he was staring at his love, the center of his heart- his whole life.
Finally releasing the air he had been holding for the past seconds, he quickly tightened his hold on her hand and never took his eyes off as he said-
" Love is War, I'll be your soldier. "