Ultimatum ~ Book 2

Chapter 1

Dream looked around. He was standing in a dusty clearing... no... not a clearing. He gasped, suddenly feeling a wave of awful memories encase him. He was standing in the Beast Arena and there was a crowd all chanting his name. He couldn't see their faces, they looked like shadows... and the sky was grey with swirling storm clouds above him.

"Dream! Dream! Dream!" Dream stiffened, looking around.

"Why am I here!" He yelled. There was no answer, just people continuing to chant his name. "What do you want!" The people ignored him and continued to chant. Dream felt a rush of fear wash over him. He didn't want to be here. How did he even get here? Suddenly there was a man in front of Dream. He recognized this man and stiffened. 

"Why did you kill me Dream?" Vendetta hissed. This was the first person he had killed. Dream froze, confused and frightened at the same time.

"I- I had no choice," Dream stammered, his eyes wide. 

"And me?" Dream spotted another person, he didn't remember any of their names but their faces were vivid in his mind. The people surrounded him, slowly walking toward him.

"Why did you kill me, Dream?" Another person said.

"And who about me? What did I do?" 

"I didn't have a choice!" Dream cried, spinning around frantically. "Go away!" 

"Dream, why did you kill me?" Dream spotted one of the only other people he remembered the name of. "Why, Dream?" Nightshade repeated.

"You were about to kill me, I- I had to," Dream hissed, eyeing the woman fearfully. Voices filled Dream's mind, people asking why he'd killed them. His answer was the same always. "I had no choices!" He continued to yell. Suddenly someone grasped his arm and he saw George's hazel eyes. He gasped as more people grabbed him and tried to fight his way out. George stared at him in disappointment.

"There's always a choice..." Dream sat up with a start.

"Dream? Are you ok?" He spotted George standing beside him and looked around. He wasn't in the arena, he was in his house. Dream sighed and relaxed slightly. George let go of his arm, looking confused. "I heard yelling, are you alright?"

"Just- just a dream," He muttered. 

"Oh, and it's almost ten in the morning," George added.

"Oh gosh," Dream sighed, getting out of his bed. "I slept in," 

"Yeah, and I think you told Technoblade you'd practice with him? He was wondering where you were," George shrugged.

"Oh shoot!" Dream hurried for the door, grabbing a lime green sweatshirt on the way out and slipping it on as he ran. "Ok, by George, thanks!" He called over his shoulder. Dream skidded to a halt beside an oak tree and looked around. He couldn't see Technoblade anywhere and shrugged, assuming he was late as well. He heard something above his head and just managed to look up as Technoblade landed beside him. 

"Heyo," Techno said. He didn't sound as happy as normal and Dream wondered why.

"Sorry I'm late," Dream said. 

"So..." Techno muttered, shifting uncomfortably. He looked like he wanted to say something but then thought better of it. 

"Alright, so you ready to be beaten?" Dream said with a grin.

"No, are you?" Techno replied, taking a few steps back and tossing Dream a wooden sword. He took one for himself and got into a crouching position, coiled to spring. Dream crouched too and swung at Techno. The other man dodged back and reared back to strike Dream with his blade. Dream braced himself for impact, holding his sword to where he thought Techno would hit him, but Techno hesitated. The hesitation was enough for Dream to dodge to the side and swung his sword at Techno's leg, striking him on the knee lightly. Techno stumbled a bit before spinning around and regaining his balance. 

"Something wrong?" Dream said. "You don't seem like yourself today," Technoblade hesitated a moment and sighed.

"I'm fine," He insisted. Dream shrugged. Maybe he had a bad dream like me. He thought, bracing himself again. Technoblade reared back again, this time he did his Dream on the shoulder, but the blow was so light Dream hardly felt it. Yeah, somethings definitely not right... Dream thought. The Techno I know would have hit me so hard I lost my breath. He recalled the day before and decided that Techno just needed someone to fight him in order to fight back. 

"Alright then," Dream said, spinning around. He used the momentum he'd built up in the spin to smack Technoblade with the flat end of his sword and send him stumbling a few paces away. He then ducked as Techno swung at him and blocked another blow before swinging again and striking Techno on the side of his head. Techno ducked as Dream tried to hit him again and reared back, dealing a particularly hard blow on Dream's side and causing him to fall backward. He landed on the dusty ground with a thud and coughed slightly.

"Are you ok?" Techno said, stopping.

"I'm fine, why?" Dream said, getting back up. "You seem particularly worried about me, are you ok?" Techno shifted uncomfortably.

"I heard what your friends said," He sighed. "They don't trust me," Oh. Dream thought. 

"That doesn't mean you can't hurt me a little, we're just practicing," Dream shrugged. "What are they going to do about it?" Techno shrugged.

"I just... I guess I don't have anywhere else to go," He said. "I just don't want to be kicked out of here-" There was a rustle in the bushes and then a battle cry. Dream stiffened as someone leaped at Technoblade who whipped around at once. He struck the attacker on the side of the head with his wooden sword, sending him to the ground with a thud. 

"Sapnap?" Dream gasped. "What the hell are you doing!" He realized after a moment Sapnap was unconscious and felt even more confused. Technoblade stiffened and looked up as Skeppy, Bad, George, and Antfrost came out of the bushes and stared at him angrily.

"See?" Skeppy said. "He's dangerous!"

"What-" Dream started.

"You attacked me!" Techno snarled. The tone of his voice caught the four men by surprise and they stiffened. Techno did not look pleased. "What did you expect!" 

"Dream, get away from him," George growled. 

"What the heck are you doing?" Dream said. "Why did Sapnap attack him!"

"He didn't even have a weapon," Antfrost said, narrowing his eyes. "You attacked an unarmed man," Techno stuttered angrily for a moment.

"Why the hell are you doing this?" He growled. "I wouldn't have hurt him if he'd walked over here like a normal man, not flying at me like an oversized bird!" Dream was about to say something when someone grabbed him and yanked him away from Techno very forcefully. He turned to glare at Skeppy and the others.

"He's dangerous," Antfrost growled. "Look at him,"

"What do you mean, look at him?" Dream snarled. "Sapnap attacked him!" 

"Look at Sapnap then!" Bad said after a moment. "Dream, I'm so sorry to do this, but someone has to." He sighed. "He knocked Sapnap out with literally one blow! He's way too powerful, he can't be here anymore," 

"So you're sending me away?" Techno hissed. 

"Yes," George said. "Get out," 

"You can't just-" Dream started. Techno turned to look at him and shook his head.

"Fine," He growled. "Fine, you know what? I don't want to live with people like you anyway. Tell me when Sapnap gets batter so I can come back for him," Techno snarled, tossing his wooden sword at Sapnap before marching away. Dream watched as he vanished into the woods, still a bit bewildered by what had just happened. One thing was for sure, this was not going to end well.