act two, scene nine
"i'm coming!" philza called out to the mystery knocking at the door. the poor man nearly doubled over in a heart attack when he pulled back the door revealing the masked man.
"please spare my grandson to your slaughter, he has only just turned six and has some much to live for!" philza begged.
"what?"
"when you kill me," philza said.
dream couldn't help, but smile at the memory of the man's daughter begging for life when it was revealed who he was on their first meeting."i'm not here to kill you. i need your help actually."
philza raised an eyebrow, "oh."
"yeah," dream said awkwardly, heat rising in his cheeks. he was never the one asking for help from others.
"and what if i say no?" philza inquired.
dream's head snapped up towards him, startled at his words, "w-what?"
"what will you do?" philza repeated.
"well then..i guess i will kill you," the confidence lacked in his voice to make his statement convincing.
"mhm," philza crossed his arms, "well go on then."
"what?"
"you heard me get off with it," philza's mouth remained in a straight line, "kill me."
dream made no movements.
"it seems you aren't keeping to what you threatened," philza pointed, "i don't see why i should waste my time on someone who has tortured my sons."
dream stayed frozen, ashamed. his mind only became conscious as the door began to close. "wait!" he cried, slamming his foot in the door.
"what?" philza asked, irritated.
"please i really need your help," dream begged.
"if this is about my sons i am not invo-"
"it isn't!" dream interrupted, "it's about your daughter."
confusion knit into philza's eyebrows. he was under the idea that dream had no knowledge of his daughter. worry swallowing his pettiness he decide to say, "well come into the family room then, i will make you some tea."
***
while the watson's house was relatively small it was full of life. the room nick named the family room shared it's space with the dining room, a long dark oak table and different chairs for every place.
as dream crouched down to sit on the brown armchair a series of photos on the fireplace mantel place caught his eye. he approached them slowly almost as if he were afraid.
the first one he lifted was a picture taken on the blue sofa several feet away from him. philza, the man who had previously greeted him at the door he recognized first. while his hair was more a vibrant auburn and his eyes did not hold the same age, he had the same kind smile on his face. his hand was placed on a woman's thigh next to him who dream assumed was y/n's mother. on the woman's lap sat a little boy with brown hair flopping over his eyes. the sight of young wilbur was weird thinking how his enemy was once small just like him. he looked happier than he had ever seen him. maybe is dream had known him as a child they would be friends. maybe things would be different. but there was no point on dwelling on things you can't change.
next to wilbur sat another boy slightly younger. he wore square glasses and had pink streaks poking through the rim of his bucket hat. dream couldn't place who it was. perhaps a family friend or another secret brother. dream wouldn't be surprised if y/n had another one of those. dream's eyes fell to the valley of the little boy's lap were a bundle of blankets was tightly gripped. inside a red and wrinkled newborn was kept. while the baby had undeveloped muddy blue eyes and the typical newborn features dream could immediately tell it was y/n. his fingers traced the baby's outline. she had so much life ahead of her and she didn't even know.
"who are you?" a high and squeaky voice came from behind him. a voice that could only belong to a six year old.
dream spun around to confirm his suspicions and sure enough he was right. in front of him stood a strawberry blonde boy no more than three and a half feet tall. he didn't seem to distressed at all at the fact there was a stranger in his grandfather's house. his posture was relaxed, head crooked with curiosity as he chewed on the yellow straw of his caprisun.
"hello there," dream cooed, crouching to his knees to meet the boy's eye level, "what's your name."
for a moment fundy continued to not speak, just staring. the only sounds provided on his behave were from the strangling, remaining sips of his juice. once he came to the conclusion that it was empty he crumpled the plastic in his hands. discarding it to the floor he at last spoke a single word, "fundy."
"fundy's a lovely name," dream softly, smiled. fundy nodded, but dream could tell he was not very interested in his compliments, so dream pointed to the toy in his arms, "what's that you got there?"
fundy smiled wide, "it's my monster high doll."
"that's so cool!"
"you think so? my auntie got it for me sixth birthday a couple months ago," fundy's beaming face fell as he added, "all the kids at school made fun of me for having a girls toy though."
"they are just jealous," dream promised, "they do that to trick themselves to think they are above you, but they are not."
fundy smiled to himself, dream was good with little kids. he had lots of practice as he raised his little sister. and while he loves terra just as much now and seeing her bloom into a young woman with her own personality and opinions he still misses the nights he would rock her to sleep by reading goodnight moon.
"do you wanna know her name?"
"tell me," dream demanded.
"it's blueberry."
"did you name her after the color of her skin?" dream asked.
"no i named her blueberry because i was eating blueberries at the time."
"that makes sense," dream nodded.
"ahem," a small cough came from the door way. both boys turned to see philza, holding a tray of tea and crackers.
"fundy why don't you go to uncle tommy's room and play with your brand new trains?" philza offered.
"but i like talking to the man with the mask!" fundy whined.
"fundy," philza warned.
"no," he crossed his arms.
dream gently tapped his shoulder, "hey kid why don't you listen to your grandfather? maybe we can talk some more before i leave."
fundy agreed, but still made a effort to stomp away and slam his door.
"i don't appreciate you making acquaintances with my grandson," philza glowered as he poured his guest a cup of tea.
"look," dream sighed, "i wasn't feeding shit into his brain, i was just talking to him about his doll."
"mhm," philza said, still suspicious.
dream continued, ignoring his tut, "besides i would never hurt someone y/n cared about."
philza furrowed his eyebrows, fingers circling over his peachy fuzz, "so what is about my daughter that intrigues you so?"
"wha-oh..er," dream paused, taking a second to think about his question, "it's like that saying..how good people bring out the good in people..s'pose it's like that."
philza concealed his smile. it had something to do with the way dream talked about his daughter. like she was the only one in the world.
"and what is it that brings you to my house?"
"well you see after an argument y/n and i parted and i lost track of her. i was hoping as her father you'd have an idea of where she might be."
philza sighed, "i'm sorry to disappoint, but i too have lost track of my children."
"oh..well thanks anyways i guess," dream mumbled.
"well..i do know one thing," philza mused.
"oh?" dream perked up.
"yeah," philza licked his lips, "they are in the forest. apologies that doesn't help too much."
dream grinned, "no! no! that is a tremendous help..thank you!"
"i'm glad," philza lightly smiled, "you seem like a good kid."
dream walked out of the house feeling a lot lighter than when he walked in. one step closer to finding y/n.