A Dragon's Hoard

Chapter 8

"What do you mean?" Niki was still holding Fundy in her lap where he had collapsed.

"He'll- he has a weapon, for hybrids. It takes away our magic, but it's so connected it's like your soul is being ripped apart. You can't even use your physical traits, it's torture."

"How- how do you know this Nyx?"

"He used it on you didn't he?" Tubbo looked guilty, but he couldn't have known, he didn't even know she existed before yesterday. She didn't need to say yes. Tubbo moved from Fundy's side to wrap her in a hug. It said a lot of things, that moment, but it mostly said I'm sorry. If the situation wasn't so dire, it would've been a sweet gesture.

She pulled away from her brother, "we have to go get him, it can have permanent effects if they leave it on too long."

"How are we going to do that, woman? We don't know where he is and he mentioned that they upped their guard rotations." She scrunched her eyebrows then got a look in her eye that Tommy recognized too well, he saw it every time he stupidly sacrificed himself. "No. You're not going to give yourself to him."

"Wha- why not? It's a good plan!"

"No it's not! Then we'd just have another person to rescue, or did you think we would just leave you?" The look on her face answered that question. How can he read me so well?

"Well do you have another plan?"

"Not yet dumbass, gimme a sec." The rest of the group just watched as the two bickered.

"I need to get this arrow out of Fundy, we can discuss this later." And if Niki said they would discuss it later that meant no arguments, afterall, Niki was in charge. She helped Fundy down the hall, leaving the three teens alone in the living room.

Tommy thought for a second and then ran off down the hall with a quick, "wait here!" thrown over his shoulder. Nyx looked like she didn't know what to do so Tubbo gently grabbed her arm and sat them both down on the couch.

"I'm sorry- for running out the other day."

"It's ok, I should have anticipated that. I know you probably don't like your family now that you know it's Schlatt so I understand if-"

Tubbo cut her off. "Stop. I don't like Schlatt, but you're not him Nyx. It was unexpected, sure, but it's nice to finally know my biological family." They both smiled. It's nice sometimes, to focus on the good things that happen in the middle of the dark.

Tommy came back in then, a rolled piece of paper tucked under his arm. "Ta-da!" The twins just stared at him. "It's a map of L'Manberg!"

"Pog! Why?"

"Tubbo! My man! We use this to rule out places Schlatt could be keeping Dream, then we go all sneaky and check each place off the list!"

"That actually may work, or at least help. I probably won't be much help but I can offer insights about Schlatt." With that, the map was stretched across the coffee table and the teens set to work. They marked possibilities, got blueprints for buildings, profiled Schlatt. An hour later, Niki came back into the room to see Tubbo and Nyx on either side of Tommy, all crowded around the table and whispering like they were up to something.

"And what's all this?" All three of them startled.

"Oh Niki! Uhhh, we're helping!" She raised an eyebrow.

"Helping huh? With what?" The pressure of a disapproving Niki became too much and Tubbo broke, telling her their idea about Manberg. This earned him a smack on the arm from both of the others. But it turned out Niki was on board with the plan, so one more obstacle was checked off the list. She snagged Tubbo from working to help her with dinner, it was far later than any of them had noticed, leaving Tommy and Nyx to their list making.

Fundy laid on the infirmary cot, listening to the teenagers bicker in the other room. Niki handed him a cloth rag for him to bite on as she prepared to pull the arrow out. She applied a numbing agent and they waited for it to take effect before she braced one of her hands on his shoulder and wrapped the other around the arrow.

"Ready? Three, two-" she pulled it out.

"Fuck Niki! If you didn't know you're supposed to go on one!" But the woman just shrugged and pressed a cloth on the wound. She took the bottle of antiseptic, pouring some onto a clean rag and gently cleaning the area.

"Sorry, sorry!" Fundy had hissed as the alcohol burned. But soon his shoulder was wrapped and there was a healing potion in his hand.

"Niki- should I have- nevermind."

"What is it? You can talk to me Fundy." She sat on the edge of the cot and Fundy sighed.

"Should I have stayed? He told me to go but I just feel like I could have done more."

"Oh Fundy no! Honey, he wanted you to go, he wanted you safe. You couldn't have done anything, you'd just be stuck there too."

"Yeah, I guess. Thank you Niki, you're really keeping us together huh?" She smiled and pulled him into a light hug before saying she was going to go check on the kids. The kids. It sounded so natural. Being a family was right, but now they were missing someone. And unfortunately, that someone was not doing well.

Dream came to laying on cold stone, he had passed out from the pain and had apparently been moved during that time. The collar had been attached to the wall with a chain, preventing him from moving too much. The cell was small, too small for his wings to even stretch fully, not that he could really move them anyway. The collar sat heavy on his neck, the pain dulled to a manageable level now that he wasn't fighting back. His research had never prepared him for this kind of pain.

Dream had researched these a while ago, fearing someone would use one against him. Oh how right he had been. The collars were horrible pieces of dark magic, mixed with metal craftsmanship. They were specifically designed to hurt and control hybrids. Discrimination against hybrids had gotten better in the past few years, but there was still the ever present fear mongering. Hybrids with less noticeable traits, or hybrids that were part peaceful animals had it much better.

The collars had been created in order to "protect" humans from hybrids. However, few were made before extreme opposition shut down any production. It was crazy that Schlatt even got one. Dream shifted and the movement set off another wave of pain. Shit. I don't know how much of this I can take. Where are you Fundy? I need you. That night, Dream fell asleep with the fox man on his mind. Come back.

A/N

Lmao. How we doing? How we liking it so far? Uh this chapter was hard to write cause I'm struggling with writer's block so sorry if it's sucky. Also if you didn't understand, each little section is happening at the same time.

If you're enjoying feel free to vote! I hope you like it!!!! Love ya!