Chapter 41

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I just sat there, motionless, as I stared blankly at the floor with a strange sensation in the pit of my stomach. I felt like I was on the verge of crying, yet the salty tears never did come. I'd felt as if he had slapped me in the face, despite the fact that we hadn't made physical touch in days. It was all a bit strange.

It wasn't like I cared what he thought. I always knew I was kept there for a reason, but I couldn't understand why his words hurt so much. Why they made me feel like my heart had just been pulled out of my chest and had been replaced with an endless hole of nothingness.

I felt as if he'd poured salt into an open wound, reawakening recollections of why I had left L'manburg in the first place, as well as all the terrible emotions I had managed to overcome.

The idea of being nothing more than a weapon for others had always loomed large in my mind. People had always come to me when they had something on their minds. Perhaps that was all I was, a friend who was there when you needed them but didn't blink when everything was well.

My mind was slowly turning into a hurricane, with thoughts that had been locked up for years now bursting forth. As the numbness began to take hold of me, the word useless kept repeating itself. I couldn't really blame anyone for my unexpected mood swings; I brought it on myself. It was my fault for tearing down my barriers around Dream so soon, for holding out some sort of hope that he cared. It was entirely my fault.

Sighing, I headed over to the door once again and made my way out, trying my best to keep a blank expression on my face.

The sun was shining brightly in the sky by the time I arrived at the main area, lighting up the place with its beams. George and Sapnap were sprawled out on the sofa once more, but I ignored them as I headed down the stairs to the storage room.

I grabbed an old bow and several arrows from one of the several chests, ready to go take out my rage on the dumb targets.

As I dragged myself back up the stairs, I heard footsteps from around the corner in front of me, and just from the sound of them, I had a rough idea of who it was. When I turned it, I was confronted with the man I had been dreading seeing.

I moved past him, glancing at the cold stone floor and never looking him in the eyes as I made my way to the stairwell.

"Are you okay?"
Of course, the bitch had to talk to me. It was just my luck.
Turning to face him, I forced a smile as I made eye contact with the mask.

"I'm perfect. Everything is perfect Dream. Why do you ask?"
I thought I saw his posture slump slightly when I didn't use his real name, but I was probably just imagining things.

"Oh umm, no reason.... sooo, where are you going?"
"Target practice"
I knew where the conversation was going, but I prayed it wouldn't go the way I was thinking it would.
"Oh, can I come?"

Shit.

"I really could use some practice"
"Oh yeah, sure Dream"
As I heard his footsteps fade away, I turned around and headed up the stairs, assuming he was going to retrieve his bow.

I hurried out the front door, not even looking at George and Sapnap, who had been staring at me.

I made it to the archery range in under five minutes, practically sprinting the whole way there. It was in the middle of the pine forest, surrounded by greenery and wildlife. As I drew my bow forward, I could hear birds chirping above me.

Standing in front of the first target, I brought one foot forward as I kept my feet shoulder-width apart. I took my first arrow from behind my back and placed the tip against the wooden part of the bow.

I gradually pulled the string back alongside the arrow with my fingers curled around it. I aimed just above the target while squinting slightly, then I waited a second before firing.

Looking around my raised bow, I noticed my arrow had been deeply embedded in the target's central red circle. I took a stride to my right and focused on the next target while grabbing another arrow and hitting the bullseye once more.

I went to gather my arrows after repeating the process for the next three targets when I heard clapping from behind me.

When I turned around, I noticed the masked green man. I rolled my eyes before continuing my work, and I didn't say anything to him for the rest of the day, despite the tension in the air that we were both too scared and stubborn to acknowledge.











As the sun began to set over the horizon, I lay on my bed, my eyelids becoming heavy and ultimately closing entirely, allowing me to be occupied by my thoughts once more.

As I slowly came to my senses, I felt a strong force pressed against my mouth, preventing me from making a noise. When I opened my eyes, I was still in my dark room, but there was a hand over my mouth that belonged to the shadow in front of me.

I furrowed my brows in confusion, attempting to figure out what was going on.

A shaky breath was emitted from the figure before Sapnap's voice was heard.

"I'm so sorry about this Y/N"
The figure, which I knew was Sapnap, quickly raised his hands with an object clutched tightly in both of them.

However, it was the gleam of iron in the moonlight that drew my attention. I couldn't do anything but accept my fate as I watched him lower his arms and the world fell silent once more.

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