key
- trigger warnings!: none.
RECAP
he watched the warden closely, seeing him unlock his handcuffs and take them away. he finally felt like his wrists could breathe.
before the warden closed the door fully, dream tried to talk to him once more. "what's your name? i don't want to be calling you warden the whole time i'm here." "it's sam. i'm flattered you don't appreciate wardens." dream chuckled at that statement. "actually.. it's quite the opposite, sam."
—- SAM GREETED THE group of knights, leading them through security checks before entering pandora's box. king george allowed them some time off to visit dream. albeit some of the knights walking around in the prison felt empty, and didn't really like dream as much as they used to, they still made memories with the congressional knight.
dream did help the knight's union greatly, and he even stood up for them back in the war between pogtopia and manberg. they owed him some slither of gratitude for that. nothing more.
everyone followed behind the leading knight and the warden, the two of them talking in whispers up in front. it made everyone slightly curious to see the warden and the knight communicating closely, but they kept to themselves.
the air lingered with an obscure type of tension. the walk to dream's cell was fairly calm. however, it felt weird to be walking inside pandora's box for the first time, knowing its raw history and the types of criminals sam has had to deal with.
the knights would gaze around once in a while, pointing out the architecture and certain red stone attractions that kept prisoners at bay. it was fascinating to them.
once again, they had to go through security checks, storing their weapons away before they made it to the double doors. they found the strict protocols somewhat abnormal but they didn't expect anything less in a maximum security prison.
sam opened the grand double doors, leading into a smaller room. the knights crowded in and closed the door while sam worked the control panel to the side, making the horizontal doors open. that's when all the knights' eyes widened, looking over the edge to see dream's obsidian cell in the middle of a gigantic room, blankets of lava sizzling at the bottom.
"hey. take this. it's fire resistance." sam instructed, giving everyone bottles of fire resistance potions. once the knights finished their bottles and gave it back to sam, they were told to go on the drawbridge, carefully taking steps forward as the stone platform inched near dream's cell.
eventually, the platform hitched to a stop, connecting to the foundation of dream's cell, making a stone scraping sound that jolted the knights out of their thoughts. they all looked towards the leading knight, letting him take steps forward before them and following his behavior.
when they all stood inches away from the cell bars, dream put his head up, getting up out of his bed and walking over to the bars. he looked empty, almost curious under his mask, and the knights were able to sense this as well.
"well.." dream chuckled. "i didn't expect you guys to visit." upon hearing dream's voice, the leading knight took off his mask, letting the humidity graze his face, fixing his blonde hair. dream was surprised to see punz's face, his eyebrows raising. he saw a reflection of himself in punz, reminding him of the times he had when he was leading knight.
simultaneously, the other knights who were comfortable in doing so took down their masks too, letting out fresh breaths. all their eyes locked onto dream, a hint of betrayal in them. "i didn't expect it much either." punz said, his voice slightly reverberating in the obsidian compound. "so what's it like being a prisoner, dream?"
——- ——- ——-
CHAPTER SOUNDTRACK.
WHY KNOCK FOR YOU? - KELSEY LU.
according to the album (blood by kelsey lu), the songs describe the observation of love mixed with pain in order to get through them. this song in particular describes a person who is only seen for their good side when in reality, they're stuck in a bad spot as well. so the question gets brought up: why should i knock for you? why should i care about you when i should work on myself instead?
that's the feeling that the lyrics describe, and that's the exact feeling that the knights union now feels against dream.
PREVIEW LYRICS.
And I'm not losin' out on this war when he's surrounded
And we're livin' it now
It's lightning trapped in clouds
You'll be lost to the bloodhounds
Breathing while underneath birds
I said I really wouldn't mind, said I wouldn't really mind
Reading aloud to the earth
I said I really wouldn't mind, shit, I wouldn't really mind
They're always watching you
Why knock for you?
Symphony's cry for you
Why knock for you?
——- ——- ——-
A/N.
WHEN AUTHOR SPEAKS.
sam and punz in one chapter pog?. if i end up writing the book for king's past, i was thinking to make them good friends ngl
w.c.: 800+