barbarism (dreamnoblade)

chapter twenty nine

Was he going to die? Was this the end?

He sits under his desk, hands clamped over his mouth to stop the sobs from coming out. Loud screeching and firing can be heard from outside, piercing his ears and churning the blood inside his skull.

Why did this happen? His parents didn't deserve this, they weren't cruel or animals like they said. They were wrong!

He hears stomping and a blood curdling scream, eyes going wide as his imagination scarred him.

"Get back here you disgusting brute!"

He hears a whimper.

Why were his parents being treated like this? They did nothing wrong.

"Where is the damn kid? No human should be under your care." The harsh voice of a man terrifies him, he hears his mother whimper.

"He's not here, he's somewhere safe." Even in pain his mother's voice holds confidence.

"If he's cooperating with you then we have no choice but to kill him too."

They were... going to kill him too? What did that mean?

One final stomp echoes throughout the building, followed by sounds of choking and gurgling. After that his mother stopped responding, her voice lost forever. He shuffles further into his corner and squeezes his eyes shut, hoping he was safe from them in here.

What would he do now? They knew what his face looked like, even if he dyed his hair black they'd still be able to tell. And his stupid eyes! He didn't have access to contacts.

The footsteps get further and further away, until he hears a window smash and doors slamming shut. After that he was left with silence and a pulsing heart.

|||Dream POV|||

Dream's stands in front of the obnoxiously fancy quartz walls of the Whitehouse, foot tapping on the ground impatiently on the spruce floor as he waits for Schlatt to answer his door.

He didn't even care about being polite, he had enough of the ram's trickery.

His eyes drift over the engraved pictures in the walls, images of faces and animals, which Dream was certain were rams.

"Come in."

Dream sighs in irritation, scowl imprinted on his face as he bursts through the spruce door and slams it behind him.

Schlatt sits in the centre of the room in front of a dark oak desk, bookshelves stacked up against the walls. Dream heavily doubted that he read any of those, they were probably just there for decoration. He could see a line of empty bottles stacked under the desk next to his feet, adding onto the small pile already on the top of his desk, it was probably an attempt to hide the fact he was drinking. Though Dream wasn't sure why since everyone knew he was an alcoholic.

"Oh hello Dream, didn't expect you here."

"Cut the crap, I'm here for many reasons." Dream walks over to the desk and rests his outstretched arms on the edges, hands digging into the wood as he glares at the smirking hybrid in front of him. He was so close, it would be so easy to punch the grin off his face, but Dream didn't want to start a fight somewhere in the ram's territory.

"Go on then."

"First of all why the hell wasn't I invited to the festival if you had important shit planned then?" Dream watches as Schlatt's grin widens, his ear twitching as he rests his chin on his hands.

"I knew you wouldn't agree with what I had planned, so I decided to not involve you. It's not any of your business."

Dream slams a hand down, the bottles on the desk bouncing from the impact, "It is my business, I didn't want Technoblade getting involved in anything. I told you that!"

Schlatt chuckles, "and I do, that's where we disagree. Anyway it's not like you should be speaking for him."

That might be true, maybe Dream was getting too involved.

But with the way Technoblade was acting right now, he was easily manipulatable and susceptible to people like Schlatt or Wilbur. His mind wasn't in the right place and he seemed to be highly unstable, Dream just wanted to help.

He had finally found someone that made his life more exciting and it was being ruined right in front of him.

"And you should be getting involved? I found a vial of hybrid blood with Technoblade and I have reason to believe it was yours."

Schlatt's ear perks up and he flashes a toothy grin, a look of smugness on his face. "Did he end up drinking it?"

Dream wasn't sure whether or not he should be honest answering that, if Schlatt had done something with that blood then he couldn't know it was in Technoblade's system.

"It broke and as far as I know none of that blood was consumed. Probably for the better to- what's the chance you did something to it?"

"It was my pure blood, I didn't add anything else to it. You have my word," Schlatt mocks indignation, acting as if he was offended by the accusation.

Dream doubts him, "Stop talking with Technoblade, I don't want you messing with him anymore."

"What if he comes to me? Would you even step in between us then?"

"He has no reason to get involved with you," Dream hates how confident Schlatt always appeared, whether or not he was faking it was always in the air, a mystery.

"If I was able to solve his little issue then you'd just be making his life worse." Schlatt glances back with narrowed eyes, "are you doing this for Technoblade or yourself?"

"I'm doing this for Technoblade!"

"Mhm..." Schlatt stands up and walks over to a bookshelf, rummaging through the documents. Dream watches and expects him to say something but he never responds, fixated on whatever he was doing.

"By the way, Dream... has your opinion on the deal changed in any way? I thought it was a rather good deal, my safety for your public image."

He tenses, a flash of doubt lingering in his mind. It was bad to make a deal with Schlatt, but there was probably no other person that Dream could talk to and have the power to give him proper public recognition. Which was what he needed, he needed to be known in all the nearby towns, as soon as his name managed to get out was the moment that the poachers would be lured to him.

But was the risk worth it? "Has anything on your end changed?"

"Oh of course not, I only want more capable bodyguards, this job can be dangerous y'know?" Schlatt hums and opens a book, breezing through the pages before huffing and shoving it back with the rest.

There was a chance that if Dream accepted the deal he would be stuck protecting Schlatt for who knows how long, in his mind nothing was worth that, not even his goal.

"Then I don't accept."

"What a shame, that's fine though I have another bodyguard in mind." Schlatt chuckles to himself, an inside joke that Dream didn't understand, "in fact probably just as capable as you."

Dream's head snaps up, "What the hell are you saying? Who?"

Schlatt chuckles in response, "our meeting is over, get out before I call in backup. They might not be as capable but you'll definitely be outnumbered."

Dream hadn't brought anything to fight with besides his sword, and his side was still healing. The last thing he wanted to do was reopen the wound and start bleeding out here of all places, so he sighs and pulls back from the desk. Sneering at the ram hybrid before storming out of the room.

A/N

I'm curious about this but... do you think this book will have a happy or sad ending?