A merman's tear (dreamnotfound)

Chapter Three

(This is last chapter in the perspective of Dream! <3)

Dream groaned with annoyance, sitting down roughly on a wooden step behind him. He rested his elbows on his knees and brought his hands up to his face. The ship swayed gently through the water, making Dream sigh.

His fingers curled themselves in his dirty blonde hair as he tried to think of solutions to his big problem. Very big problem. Possibly the worst problem.   

You see, he'd been at sea for weeks now, after leaving Schlatt's palace to capture a mermaid for the king.

That's right. A mermaid. A bloody mermaid. How the hell was Dream supposed to catch a mermaid? He was a pirate for god's sake, not a magic man.

Catching a mer these days was basically an impossible task. It was so impossible that Dream even scribbled a little list of all the reasons it was impossible.

Reason number one: He's a pirate. He steals and fights people, he doesn't fish.

Reason number two: Mermaid sightings were at an all-time low. It was almost unheard of to see them these days. They'd been hunted and killed by people for years and years, there weren't many of them left.

Reason number two and a half: To add on to his last point, mermaids weren't dumb. They knew not to go to the surface anymore. Any mermaid with half a brain wouldn't even look at the surface, let alone take a pleasant swim up there. Dream's only chance of catching one was if it was at the surface, not deep underwater where he couldn't even see.

Reason number three: Mermaids are hard to catch. They have sharp nails, or claws, Dream guessed. Their element is the water, Dream couldn't do jack shit about that.

So basically, Dream was screwed. Utterly and royally screwed. He'd have laughed at that 'royally' pun, considering it was King Schlatt's fault he was even in this situation, but his mood was just too down to find humour in that.

"Quit moping." a voice rang through the air. Dream snapped his head up, looking at his best friend, Nick (but his crew liked to call him Sapnap). 

"I'm not moping, you're moping." Dream retorted, despite it making no sense. Sapnap raised an eyebrow questioningly but decided to ignore it. 

"Dream, we're not going to get any further with this task unless you're actually trying." Sapnap told him bluntly, sitting down on the step next to him. Dream bit his lip. "I have been trying Sap. We've all been trying. It's been weeks! We're never going to find a mermaid, and if we don't, my crew will face the punishment. Do you know how stressful that is? As Captain, I'm supposed to protect you guys. My family. But I can't do that, because I've been sent on an impossible mission. I'm doomed." Dream vented, his eyes going slightly glossy. He was thankful for his mask at times like this. 

Sapnap rested a hand on Dream's shoulder comfortingly. "We know you're stressed Dream. We're all stressed. But we're worried too. Seeing you all down in the dumps like this...it's weird. You're not supposed to be like that. You're our brave Captain. Not a moper." Oh great. To add on to all his problems, he now had to deal with the disappointment of his entire ship. Great. 

Despite Sapnap not being able to see Dream's face, he knew from Dream's body language that he was hurt. Sapnap coughed, "You know that's not what I meant Dream." 

Dream tapped his pointer finger against his knee a few times, before standing up briskly. He patted down his coat and murmured a curt "I know." before walking upstairs to the deck of the ship, leaving Sapnap sitting there.