Good Things Never Last

Chapter 20

I stumbled backwards instantly after impact, just managing to stop myself from falling over.

"It took you longer than I expected"
Taking a long deep breath, I slowly raised my head so I could look at the man's masked face. I was standing a metre or so away from Dream himself, the last person I wanted to bump into on my little escape mission.

I felt heat rise in my face as I realised the lack of space that was between us as we stood there in complete silence. I'm not sure how, but even though I was only staring at the lifeless eyes painted on the mask, I felt as if my eyes were locked with those who hid beneath it.

We stood in silence for what felt like forever, just staring at each other, waiting for the other to break. And he did. Shaking his head slightly as he let out a sigh, he turned away to face L'Manburg once again.

"I thought I told you to behave Y/N"
I slowly dropped my gaze to the bloody bandage wrapped around my waist, silently trying to shake off the feeling of a pit growing in my stomach.

"You didn't lock the door. What did you expect me to do?"
I spoke slowly so I wouldn't stutter over any syllables by accident. As my mind seemed to slow, I pressed my hands against the bloody bandage around my torso for a couple of seconds before removing them. There wasn't an inch of my hands that wasn't covered in my own blood, and seeing it made me realise how lightheaded I was.

"I expected you to at least stay in the house, so you wouldn't hurt yourself like you clearly have"
I cautiously raised my head to stare into the prosthetic mask's eyes, a surprised expression quickly forming on my face.
"You literally left the door open. What else was I meant to do?"
"To stay in your room or at least in the house"
I scoffed slightly at the annoyance in his voice and I had to refrain myself from rolling my eyes at him.

"And why exactly would I do that?"
He paused for a moment as he looked at me, clearly dumbfounded by my stupid question.
"Because I hold power over them all, Y/N, and you know that"
He returned his gaze to the walls of L'manburg and then back at me.
"Oh wow, is big man Dream trying to threaten me? Oh I'm so scared"
I just looked at him, keeping a straight face so I could hide the pain I felt from my reopened wound.

We stood in silence for a moment before I rolled my eyes and turned back towards where I'd come from and started walking forward. The green man didn't move an inch as I walked away, but I could still feel his glare burning into the back of my head.

"Are you coming or not green boy?"
I didn't turn to look at him once as I continued to trudge along the wooden path, heading forward through the muddy forest while watching the pastel colours change in the sky as the sun set on another day.

After a little while, I heard heavy footsteps come up behind me. Briefly looking over my shoulder, I caught sight of the hooded masked man coming to catch up with me. Rolling my eyes, I looked forward once again as the man's footsteps fell in sink with my own. We walked side by side in complete silence for quite a while, since we were quite a distance away from the house and my walking pace gradually slowed due to the injury in my torso.

"Dream?"
I caught his stare for a brief second before he redirected his gaze back to the trees in front of us.
"What?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
He seemed to stiffen up at my words, almost as if they scared him.

"You just did"
He slowed his pace so it was more relaxed while turning to look at me slightly. I rolled my eyes at his statement, quickly disregarding what he'd said.
"Why do you always have..."
As I felt his stare morph into a glare beneath his mask, he came to a complete stop.

"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Please continue"
"I was going to ask you why you always have your hood up"
He let out a quick sigh of relief before continuing onwards. I could tell he thought I was going to ask about the mask. It was obvious by the way he'd frozen at my words, but I had already guessed that it was personal, so I wasn't going to bring it up unless he did.

"Oh umm, it's to keep blood or dirt from getting in my hair I guess"
"Oh wow"
I rolled my eyes at him.
"The great almighty Dream doesn't like his hair dirty, what a shock"
He let out a small chuckle before silence fell between us again, only this time we were entering the gardens of his base.

"Dream! There you are"
George came bounding out the door with Sapnap right behind him as Eret stood in the doorway.
"Where have you be... oh"
His eyes quickly fell onto me. I gulped slightly as I took a step back, subconsciously hiding myself behind the boy who'd brought me back.

"How'd she get out?"
Sapnap was quick to catch up with George, panting after his run over.
"Oh. I let her get some fresh air. We don't want her going mental just yet"
With a puzzled expression on my face, I gazed up at him, surprised that he was lying to his closest friends. Shaking off the thought, I turned back to the other two boys.

"George, I'm going to need you to wrap her up again. She tripped over a tree root and opened a couple of her wounds again, and we can't have her injured for tomorrow"

With a nod, George took a step forward and gently grabbed my hand before pulling me away from the other two and heading off back inside.