Trigger Warnings : Self-Harm, Blood, Starvation and a whole lot of negativity
Dream and Niki slowly trudged back to the party, at this point the rest are probably wondering where they're at. They've been gone for about 20 minutes with no signs of returning.
Dream re-enters the dome and unexpectedly he was greeted with a barrage of questions or should he say Niki got all of the questions.
"Where did you and Dream go?" George asked, looking at them questioningly. Dream didn't care to the answer, those questions weren't even for him anyways.
"We just went for a walk that's it." Niki answered nonchalantly, in which casted some suspicious looks.
"Romantic..." Wilbur muttered silently to himself, stifling out a laugh that was building in his chest.
"I heard that!" Niki called out, playfully swatting Wilbur's arm. "Well it was, wasn't it. Right Dream?" he continued, this time aiming the question towards Dream.
The question was left with no answer and no Dream. "Dream?" Bad called, looking around for the tall boy before spotting him once again heading towards the exit.
"Dream where are you going?" they all asked universally. Dream didn't bother to look back, " I'm just going to check us all out!" he said, feigning the chirpiness in his voice.
He quickly walks out, not noticing the worried looks from Bad and Niki while the other casually shrugs before going back to whatever they're doing with Jake.
"Bad, we need to talk." Niki whispered to Bad, before dragging him into a far corner of the room.
"Have you noticed anything off about Dream lately?" Niki popped a question. Bad's face immediately darkens, before sighing deeply.
"Yes, but he told me that he was okay when he clearly isn't!" Bad replied. clearly irritated as he ruffles his hair.
Then something clicked in Bad's head. If Niki's asking him this kind of question, that means Niki must have gained the knowledge that Dream had lent accidentally.
Bad's eyes widened and shone with hope, perhaps Niki knew something about Dream that he didn't. He needed to know it.
"What did he tell you? TELL ME!" Bad interrogated a bit too dramatically as he was very desperate of getting answers.
"Calm down Bad. Let me tell you." Niki calmly says. Bad recollects all of his marbles before taking a deep breath.
"Alright... tell me." Bad said, this time more calmly before starting to listen intently.
"So when we were walking, he asked 'if I die young, do you think anyone would attend my funeral?'." Bad flinched at the powerful question Dream had left.
"I answered that his parents would be there but then he started laughing and said-"
"My parents? I don't think so, but I'm sure they're waiting for me..."
Niki can still remember those pair of green eyes under the bright moonlight. They looked so lifeless, shattered and filled with hopelessness.
"Oh my god... oh no no no." Bad started mumbling, pacing back and forth as the puzzle pieces slowly comes together and forms a fragment of the truth hidden behind the lies.
Now he clearly understood everything that he saw in Dream's room yesterday. The scissors, the reason he was hurting himself, the tear-stained pages of his diary.
Once again, they somehow managed to skip over one crucial point. The point that could majorly solve this tragedy.
"I don't think we should confront him and drop this heavy subject right away, how about we slowly interact with him and make him open up to us?" Niki offered an idea and Bad instantly beamed out a smile.
"That's a great idea! We can also figure out if he has any more reasons that has been keeping him in the dumps!" Bad cheered excitedly, they were going to help Dream.
Dream now had also indirectly woken up Bad from Jake's control. Unknowingly, he had brought 2 out of 8 friends back to him.
Dream : 3 Points
VS
Crunch (Jake) : 3 Points
First to 11/ Best of 20
Speaking of Dream, currently he's standing in the cold at the front entrance. He had checked them all out, now it was matter of time for them to come out whenever they like.
The climate had suddenly became freezing, to the point that he can see his breath. Then shortly after, came white little flakes from the sky.
Dream opened up his hand, letting one of them fall right onto his palm. He examined it closely, trying to identify what it is.
"Snow."
Dream looked up into the sky, millions of snowflakes were falling upon the state of Florida.
He sadly smiled at the rare phenomenon, very rarely will Florida ever receive some snow.
But it happened just when his life was slipping off the edge, so he doesn't know whether he should be astounded or be disappointed.
Dream hopped into the driver's seat of his car, bunkering from the snow.
He let the boredom and the silence sink into his head as he waits for all of them to come back.
This was twice of today, that he had to wait patiently for them and he would no matter what because that's what friends do. Even though they can't do the same for him.
The atmosphere in his car was eerie almost scary. The darkness fading into his car as the moon was slowly getting blocked by the clouds.
The ticking noise of his watch was making him go insane. How long were they going to take?
'Just drive off, they will be okay with Jake.' The voice suddenly began their daily rounds of discouraging.
Dream hated how vulnerable he feels, why couldn't he stand up every time he falls?
He felt like he wanted to curl up into a ball and cry every time, when he sees his friends with Jake.
Why couldn't he stop breaking down?
'Because you're weak that's why.'
'What you do all day is cry non-stop.'
'Jake would never be like you'
The voices weren't helping either. Combined with Jake's antics, it discouraged Dream to fight.
Never has he felt so lost, he didn't know what to do. Unlike the manhunts, when he could think of something to outsmart the hunters. This was real life, and he couldn't come up with anything to outsmart Jake.
It was funny how he wanted to change his world back but couldn't even do a simple task such as not to cry or even think of something smart.
He leaned his head onto the steering wheel as he began to sense a pain that was biting at his head. He massaged his temples whilst grunting in discomfort.
His stress levels were reaching his limit and his blood pressure was rising.
And his medication is back at home.. fuck.
Dream prayed that all of his friends come back to the car right now, because he could die if he doesn't calm down this instant.
His heart hammered as he continually begged for them to come back. His life depended on their arrival.
Sweat nervously ran down his whole face and his breathing quickens its pace.
'Come on please come back. Oh my god, I am going to die aren't I?!'
Thoughts and feelings shuffled around Dream's mind and it was about to descend into chaos when...
"Alright guys, that's it for this stream, thank you for tuning in and we will see you next time!" Dream's breath hitched in his throat, that was Tommy's voice.
He immediately glared out of the window and see that his friends were on their way back to the car.
Thank god. Now he mustn't look so weak and pathetic, pretend yeah just pretend nothing's happening although deep down you know that your life is on the line.
Dream's fingers drummed quickly, could they be anymore slow?
"Hey Big Man! Sorry for the long wait!" Tommy yelled as soon as he climbed into the car. Dream secretly rolled his eyes before lightly smile.
"No worries!" Dream responded acting like he didn't almost die earlier. He exhaled sharply as he feels his heartbeat gradually getting calmer.
"Today was fun! Big thanks to you Dream!" Tubbo thanked, although the compliment felt a bit bland it did made Dream's mood light up and even earned light smile from him.
"Anytime." Dream spoke as he starts to drive home. The time was 22:30 and everyone was pretty tired except for Dream.
He softly drove everyone home, turning on some light music for himself. The drive home was quiet and peaceful, Dream stared at the beauty of the state of Florida at night. Vibrant colors from buildings and streetlights gave the city a lively nightlife glow.
The beauty of the world made Dream forget that he was living the life of pain.
After about 10 silence-filled minutes, the group had arrived back at Dream's. He looked behind him and saw that most of them were asleep only Bad and Techno were the ones awake.
"Psst! Bad, Techno!" Dream whispered, catching the attention of the other two awaken souls.
"Can you help me bring them all up to their rooms?" Dream asked, both of them nodded.
They all gradually carry the other 7 up to their rooms, it was a slow and heavy process since each of them didn't have the weight of a feather.
But Dream didn't complain, he was the housekeeper and he had take care of the guests and he had promised himself that this stay will be the stay to remember.
Dream's breath heaved at the flight of stairs that he had to climb up whilst having immense weight in his arms.
After another 7 filled minutes of labor-sounding breaths, Dream, Bad and Techno were exhausted.
"I know I'm not fit but damn was that hard!" Techno said between breaths before yawning.
"Well then goodnight Dream!" Bad signed off before going upstairs presumably to bed and Techno quickly followed behind.
Dream was for the 5th time alone again, he knew it'd be best for him to go to sleep but he found that hard to do so. He wasn't tired physically but he was mentally drained.
But at least he can try to do so.
Dream walked to his room, took a quick shower and his daily dose of medication before flopping onto his bed.
Pulling the covers up, he closes his eyes and tries again to get a goodnight's rest.
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30 Minutes Later
'Can't believe he betrayed all trust like that.'
'You deserve nothing'
'You're better than him'
'You're humble and don't have a big ego like him'
'You're Dream but without the flaws'
'DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE'
Dream shot awake, gasping for air. It hasn't even been an hour yet and already he was experiencing some troubles.
The flashbacks of memories and voices were killing him, his mind couldn't be at peace. They will always constantly haunt him as long as he lives.
He rubbed his temples, as tears unknowingly began to flow out. Why was his life so shit? Why does he have to go through so much pain, just to continue living?
He got up and walked to the bathroom. Now standing in front of the mirror, he unconsciously rummaged through his accessories drawer before fishing out the blood-stained pair of scissors.
He picked it up and studied it for a while as if it's the most interesting blade of scissors ever. Was he about to add more cuts or was he going to stop himself before even starting?
The answer is... yes.
Dream lifted up his sleeve and opened the blade wide gently placing the sharp metal dangerously close against his left wrist.
With one deep breath of hesitation, he began to snip down the blades and slice into his flesh. The first sharp pain was quick but it also felt satisfying so he sliced again and again and again.
The blood began to flow out and start to drip down into the sink, coloring the once pure white marbled sink to a crimson red shining pool of blood.
Dream winced but it didn't matter since he still continued to slice through.
Then after a few more cuts he suddenly... stops.
If almost a new soul possessed him, he quickly threw the scissors into the sink. He stood there frightened at his own actions.
His eyes looked like beads that hurried around the room, he was focusing on many different things.
He glanced at his now bloodied wrists and the scissors in the sink, just what had he done?
"No.. no more." Dream stated to himself, shaking his head violently as he tries to clean up the bloody mess he had caused.
'MORE MORE MORE..'
The voices chanted, as it seems that he was fighting himself. There were two sides of Dream.
His bright and his dark.
The dark was aggressive and violent, the bright was physically weak but stable enough for him not to do the unimaginable just yet.
He recollected his mind and thoughts as he washes the scissors and cleans his deep new wound. The running clear water came out light pink, the liquid meeting his wound stung badly. Feels like a bunch of tiny needles were pricking at his skin.
He wraps a gauze bandage around it before he had to cover it up with one of his green hoodies. The bandage didn't help much as he sees the blood still seeping through the white cloth but it will have to do for now.
And as per usual, when Dream's awake there's no point of going back to sleep. No matter how many times he can try, no progress will ever be made.
He might as well just read a long book till dawn, and that is exactly what he did.
Going downstairs, Dream scanned through his bookshelf, looking for a book that is going to last him long enough till dawn.
His eyes landed on a particular thin book, he knew it wouldn't last him the whole night but the title was attracting his attention. A book that he didn't even realize that he bought probably because he didn't in the first place.
He slid the book out of its place and looked at the cover, then everything hit him all at once. Dream beamed at what he had found.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Dream dusted off the debris that was growing on the cover before sitting down on a couch and began to read.
He remembered when Techno bought this for him as a gift for last Christmas and he had skimmed through a few pages but never got around to actually finishing the book. Guessing its time to restart and have a new shot at finishing.
Plus it will probably be useful for Dream as of current situation.
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(Dream's POV)
I unwinded myself onto my green lounge chair and started opening the book to read. To be honest, when I first got this book, I thought Techno was lending his knowledge of how he defeated me in Mr.Beast's 1v1 tournament just for the memes.
Never thought I would... one day pick this book up and genuinely read it..
I mean does it matter anyway? My last plan did backfire... and there's kind of no point of fighting now...
Screw it, I'm reading it.
I opened the cover and was surprised by how short this book really was. I thought it would be a 500 page thick book but in reality it was just a two hundred short.
I flipped the page over to the first chapter and began to immerse myself into the lessons of Sun Tzu.
I read and read, analyzing each and every word to the core. Sometimes even letting out a few chuckles when I see some familiar quotes being used in a war between a hybrid pig and a squid.
But I also got introduced to some new passages that, according to the book, is somehow important.
"The wise warrior avoids the battle"
Well I stopped fighting literally like an hour and a half ago and I don't feel like I'm winning?
(If anyone can connect the dots between the quote above and something else in the story, I can safely say you are paying attention!)
"One may know how to conquer without being able to do it"
"Fight not unless the position is critical"
(I fished out these quotes because they will come back later )
All of the tips were confusing as I doubted most of them but I decided that it'd be best if I remember some of them and maybe perhaps I can win for once?
'The hell you're on about winning?'
They just can't leave me alone for at least 10 minutes can't they?
I tried brushing it off before it devours my mind. I averted my gaze back onto the pages, just continue reading Clay... just continue reading...
. . . .
This is hard. The text doesn't seem to even enter my head. The words that was once so simple seemed so hard for me to understand.
My vision then decided to double out of nowhere. I had to close my eyes and readjust them for a minute.
Great. Now I can't read. Why are you like this Clay? WHY
Then my vision began to worsen by the blurriness and my head began to pound almost as if someone was bashing my head with a wooden log.
The lack of sleep is really getting to me. No wonder this is the second damn night without any sleep.
My world dimmed down in color and I feel my strength was fading from my body. Before everything cuts to black.
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7 Hours Later...
(Technoblade's POV)
"Woof!" I hear something bark from next door. " WOOF" and it's getting louder, what a nuisance. A man's trying to get his sleep here!
"WOOOOF!!!!" then came the loudest dog howl I've ever heard in my life which was then followed by Bad's frantic voice.
"Hey! Stop! No! NO! Bad Rat! Stop pooing everywhere!" Bad yelled, " I got poop on my fucking face!!!" shouted Jake followed by the sound of gagging.
"LANGUAGE!!! AHHH!" Bad screamed in frustration, I can only imagine what's happening in the zoo next door. I softly laughed at the commotion.
"The fuck is there a war next door?" Wilbur mumbled dreamily, rubbing his eyes. His hair was clumped together and it was a complete mess. It looked like a massive shit which was ironic because next door was just experiencing an atomic shit bomb.
"The sounds of nature Wil." I tried putting him back to sleep, Wilbur gave a light laugh before slumping back into the pillows, falling back to sleep.
For me, I'm wide awake now. Might as well get a head start on today.
I glanced at the wall clock, it was 5 AM. It was too early for my daily schedule but I guess it's a new dawn and a new dawn so I will begin a new lifestyle.
I carefully walked down the stairs and was surprised to see the lights were on. Why would the lights be on at this time of day other than someone being down here?
I observed the downstairs format layout, I've never gotten to stay still and admire the beauty of Dream's house. He really does have nice wallpaper.
Going into the kitchen, I chose to brew myself some coffee. Whilst waiting, I couldn't help but to wander around for a bit more.
I observed the backyard, toilets and even the laundry room, in conclusion he has a really nice house.
But then I had came over a detail that I've missed.. there was someone sleeping in the living room.
I remained calm but I was also intimidated, who can that sleeping person be?
Is it Clark Kent? Batman? Squid Kid?! Oh.... it's just Dream.
WELL THAT COULD'VE BEEN WORSE-
Why is he sleeping downstairs when his room is literally a few meters away? I cautiously walked over to the sleeping beauty, not wanting to wake him up.
His head was leaning against the head rest of the lounge chair, and it looked like he really needed this sleep, judging by the dark purple bags under his eyes.
"Dream." I said, softly tapping his shoulders. No response.
"DREAM!!!!" I yelled and still somehow he was still asleep.
Damn... he really is exhausted. I decided to leave him and move on to the book that laying on his lap.
I turned over the cover and he was reading... no way.
Art of War? Really? Right now?
I was surprised to say the least, never thought he would actually read it.
The thought gave me a big stupid smile plastered on my face. He remembered my Christmas gift.
At that moment, Dream seemed to move and I quickly took a step back. Oh god, I have poked and woken up the sleeping Dream.
He stirred awake and confusedly looked around for a moment before staring blankly at my face. He seems to be processing what is in front of him.
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"Tech?" Dream mumbled before yawning immediately after. He passed out for a while, last time he checked the time it was 10PM and now its 5 in the morning.
"Yes?" Techno replied, taking a seat opposite to Dream. "What are you doing sleeping down here?" he asked.
"I- I don't know, I guess I ended here somehow?" Dream murmured, still half-asleep and Techno was snorting at his morning face.
"I see that you're reading the best of the classics!" Techno tried striking a conversation, "Uh- yeah I was.. bored so I guess I somehow found myself crawling to this book?" Dream awkwardly responded.
Techno was not dumb, he knew something was just a little bit off with his friend and that concerned him.
He was also a bit dumbfounded by the blonde's odd choice of clothing. A sweater this early in the morning?
"Dream... why are you wearing hoodie at this time of day?" Techno asked, the question was out of nowhere and caught Dream off-guard.
'Damn he's catching on quick!' Dream thought, and he didn't want that.
If he was to end his life, he would like to do it secretly without anyone knowing. So it won't hurt as much when they finally realize that he's gone for good.
"I'm just cold." Dream plainly replied, hopefully that lackluster answer would sway Techno's attention to something else.
Dream received a suspicious look from Techno before he silently nods, implying that he bought it. Dream sighed, how many close calls can he get in a day?
"Well then my coffee's finished brewing, do you want some?" Techno offered and Dream immediately nodded. He was going to need it all of the caffeine power again.
Dream pulled out two mugs before having Techno pour the brownish black liquid evenly into the containers.
"Cheers." Both of them toasted, acting like they were drinking alcohol. The coffee instantly shot up an electrical jolt of energy into every system in Dream's body. It was satisfying almost like the unimaginable act he did 7 hours ago.
Just when he was about to forget, something had to dig it back up didn't it?
As much as he darkly enjoyed it, he couldn't say that he didn't regret it.
Sure his life is currently a living hellhole and he wanted to make the pain stop, he wished that there's other ways of dealing with it other than suicide.
Life was sacred to Dream, and he didn't want to throw it all away just because of one guy.
But as time goes by, it seemed that it was slowly becoming truly the only way...
'How am I supposed to hide this now?' Dream muttered underneath his breath, as he covertly roll up his sleeve under the kitchen island, revealing the bloodstained bandages.
"What was that?" Techno suddenly wondered, it made Dream jump in his seat and luckily the sleeve automatically rolled back down when he lifted his arm to rest on the kitchen counter.
"Eh heheh nothing~" Dream dryly laughed, which in result confused Techno even further. He was doing a terrible job at hiding his secrets.
He had revealed the high blood pressure news to Bad, and accidentally told about his loss of family to Niki and now he almost blew himself out of the waters with Techno.
Hiding and pretending was so difficult which was ironic because he always use those two factors in-game.
So why couldn't he implement those skills into real life?
"Hey! Leave some coffee for me!" a voice came from the stairs, which gained the attraction of the two early birds. Down came Bad with a tired smile and rancid smell.
"Bad did you shower, the hell's that smell?" Dream questioned, immediately pinching his noise while Techno started to gag.
"Rat had an accident and kind of released herself on the floor and Jake." Bad laughed before sighing. Dream held in the laughter that was trying to get out off his coffee-filled mouth.
'Serves you right, you piece of shit.' Dream grinned in amusement.
Bad stretched his arms and legs before continuing, " Anyways Dream, Jake asked me to tell you that-"
"To have me make breakfast for them again?" Dream cuts off, completing the sentence before Bad can.
"Uhm- yeah.." Bad nodded, confusingly staring at Dream. How did he know what he was going to say?
"Well then I better get started-" Dream faked a smile before turning to the kitchen. "Dream let me help!" Bad intervened, his feet raced to Dream's side.
Dream shook his head, "You don't need to, I can do it all by myself." he denies but Bad remained adamant as he didn't listen and was already picking stuff out of his refridgerator.
"You can't stop me Dream. You did everything yesterday, it's only fair for us to at least help." Bad calmly stated and Dream was only allowed to obey.
He was puzzled, why was Bad acting helpful all of the sudden? Wasn't it himself that Jake had asked for him to cook? Nevertheless, Dream didn't care. At least he won't be as exhausted as yesterday.
Bad took out the muffin mix from the box and instantly gave it a sniff. "Oh my goodness, it smells so good!" Bad exclaimed, as he took another whiff. Dream softly laughed at Bad's cheeriness, my god did it feel good to see his friends happy.
"Dream, would you mind cutting the carrots?" Bad asked as he was pouring the mix into a large baking tray. "Sure!" Dream replied, taking the bunch of carrots and laying them down on the cutting board.
He grabbed a sharp knife out of the set and was about to begin chopping.
At that moment, he hears footsteps sprinting down the stairs and he can only assume one thing only..
"Good Morning!!" Jake shouted excitedly, awkwardly waving at them. Dream cringed, why was he down here?
Then unexpectedly everyone in the house came downstairs all at once. Now Dream wasn't even mad, he was baffled.
"What are you all doing?" Dream asked, "Well Dream we decided to go for a morning swim in your pool." Jake took the lead to answer and Dream nodded, for once he didn't get mad at Jake.
He thought it was just a normal reason.
"We thought we would invite but it looks like you are occupied, too bad!" Jake sheepishly grinned and instantly Dream was fuming.
Perhaps he thought too soon.
Dream growled in his throat, trying to block out all of the rage that was burning bright in his head. His grip on the knife tensed up as he stared down Jake who was casually prancing towards the pool.
He had to even stop himself from throwing the knife and have his attention back towards the carrots.
"Jake I'm sorry but I want to help Dream." suddenly came Niki's voice, she was already with Bad who was taking the muffins into the oven.
"What why?" Jake disbelievingly asked, his face was contorted with shock and confusion alongside a smidge of disatisfaction.
"Why not?" Niki confusedly fired back, she didn't get why Jake was getting ticked because of helping Dream.
Jake said not a word and gave both Bad and Niki a disapproving stare before opening the sliding door and letting the rest follow him to the pool.
Dream was surprised yet grateful, but still he was clueless of why these two were suddenly being helpful out of the blue.
As he let the knife fall down onto the carrots, audible splashes can be heard from outside the kitchen.
He tried his best not looking up and out the window, because he knows that he would immediately explode in a fit of anger.
But he couldn't help himself but to at least take a peek for a few seconds. Momentarily he can see Jake floating and splashing water with George, Sapnap and 4 of the sleepy bois inc.
Dream eyed down furiously at them before he had to snap back to the carrots.
'Carrots, cut the carrots... cut the fucking carrots. Don't look up..' he said to himself multiple times, bottling up his emotions. He would rather implode than explode in front of Bad and Niki.
'Look Up.'
'Do it.'
'They will be better without you'
'Jake is the best, you are nothing compared to him'
'Jake is superior'
'Jake is the better you. Jake is the better you. Jake is the better you. Jake is the better you. '
Demonic voices and whispers circulated within his head. They were attacking Dream, gnawing away his bright side and this time...they were stronger than ever.
These thoughts made Dream become enraged, his hand began to shake and the blade of knife chopped down onto the carrot violently. He looked up at the monster that had ruined everything.
His eyes locked on intently secretly boring holes into Jake. Negativity bounced off the walls of his skull as he continued to stare deadly and cutting vigorously.
Unknown to him, Bad and Niki were worriedly looking at him. They were shivering in fear from the sudden mood change especially when he has a knife in his hand.
"Dream?" Bad courageously spoke up, trying to see if whether or not Dream was doing fine. He didn't respond to his call, looked like he was occupied with something else other than the carrots.
"Dream." This time Niki decided to speak up, who gently approaches Dream and still he doesn't seem to react upon their verbal interaction.
Dream was done with cutting one part of the carrot, unconsciously he shifts the blade onto the other part of the vegetable but he forgot to do one more thing.
He forgot to move his hand backwards up the root.
Bad and Niki's breath seemed to freeze still as they look in horror. Dream was bringing the blade down onto his fingers without knowing, his attention was still locked outside.
Then... the knife finally met his fingers. With one jerk of his hand.... he began to slice into his fingers.
Blood immediately flowed onto the cutting board but Dream didn't wince at the pain one bit as he continued slicing in.
The more he stared outside, the more furious he was and the more furious he was, the more pressure Dream applied to the knife.
Niki gasped in shock whilst Bad rushed into stop him from slicing any further.
"DREAM DREAM! STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP" Bad screamed, snatching the knife out of Dream's hand immediately.
That seemed to snap Dream back into reality, and the pain finally kicked in as he yelped.
"What were you thinking Dream?! You cut yourself!" Bad shouted, putting Dream's hand under some running water before grabbing a cloth and tying around it.
Dream had no answer, he had hurt himself again. "Sorry Bad, I was just... just... thinking." Dream lied but he knew that it was not good enough for them to buy it.
"Dream do you have a first-aid kit in your house?" Bad gently asked after calming down to a certain extent. "In that cabinet." Dream pointed up to a cabinet that was above the oven.
"Niki can you patch him up?" Bad asked and Niki nodded right away. She fetched the kit out of the cabinet and pulled Dream away from his station.
Opening the red box, she grabs a bottle of alcohol and gauze bandage.
"You're lucky that Bad stopped you Dream, if not you would've ended in the hospital." Niki muttered, her voice was shivering clearly shocked from the sight of blood.
"I'm sorry Niki I know sorry isn't good enough but that's all I can say..." Dream weakly uttered out as she rubbed his wound with the alcohol. He didn't react at how badly it stings, he was numb from everything.
'Dang it Clay, you're such a mess! No wonder they say that they'll be better without you!'
Dream held back the tears forming in his eyes, them patching him up was bad enough. He didn't want them to see him cry as well.
"What is on your mind, Dream? Why did it make you not realize that you were cutting into your fingers?" Niki gently asked, placing her hand on Dream's shoulder.
Dream's defenses were slowly decaying, as he started to show his weakness. Dream looked at Niki and she was sending puppy eyes to him, begging him for an answer.
And if there's a weakness that made him open up it's puppy eyes.
Dream sighed at how badly he wanted to at least tell both of them a smidge of his biggest problem.
But as he told himself before, this was a problem that if he told them, they would go back to their normal-selves temporarily until he was happy again.
Then they will go back to Jake as usual.
It will be an endless loop of torture and he would rather die than go through it again.
"I really wish I could tell you, I really do but I can't.." Dream said sadly, wishing that it would be enough to satisfy them both.
Then without a warning, Niki went in for a hug, burying her head into his shoulder. The warmth that was seeping in astounded Dream.
He wasn't prepared for the sudden action at all. He wrapped his arms around her in response.
He can feel her wet damp tears on his shoulders, and it made Dream feel guilty.
He'd made Niki cry. Now he wants to cry as well. He wanted to disappear right then and there.
"Never do that again, Dream. You scared both of us to death." Niki softly mumbled between muted sobs. Dream silently nods as he runs his bandaged fingers through her hair wishing to comfort her.
The last thing he wanted was to see his friends wallow in sadness. He didn't care if it costed his happiness, he just wanted them to be at peace.
He can also hear sniffles from Bad which only drowns him further.
"Just rest for a while okay?" Bad said, his voice breaking. He gently smiled which cleared some of the sadness within him.
After a while, Niki released herself from Dream's hold, smiling warmly at him before going back to preparing the food.
Dream went back to his lounge chair, lying down and closing his eyes he wishes that all would go away.
What a burden he was...
He glanced at his wrists which was covered in gauze and now his newly wounded fingers which was also covered with bandages.
He sighed depressively, if he didn't let them know that he had been cutting himself now they have a lead on it.
Time seemed to pass by so fast but somehow still so slow. When Dream opened his eyes again, everyone including Jake were already back in, eating their breakfast without him.
They were talking away with merriment, laughing with smiling faces.
Dream understood that because he dazed off, no one dared to wake him up or did nobody bothered to call for him?
It didn't matter, he wasn't in the mood for breakfast anyways. He decided to skip the meal and go upstairs to have some alone time.
Meanwhile Bad and Niki were just giving him concerned looks, they had no approach or clear idea on how to help Dream.
Even if they were given one of the problems, neither of them had helped anyone with this kind of condition before. Both of them were lost on what to do.
They had no guidance on what to start on and as time goes by it seemed that Dream's mental state is crippling down into critical levels.
No matter what they did, it didn't seemed to heal the brokenness within Dream.
Dream : 3 Points
vs
Crunch : 4 Points
First to 11 / Best of 20
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This chapter was sooo bad. I think its because my mind and brain feels fried right now with school and everything.
I worked on this chapter for 6 hours on my Saturday and my god was it exhausting...
Let me know what you think! Leave a comment and don't forget to vote!
Chapter 9 won't be guaranteed for next week but we'll see what I can do!
See you all next time!