Child Soldier

Chapter 1; Nightmare

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"I have been nothing but gracious to you," Dream's words still wrung through Tommy's ears as he sat on the freshly disturbed dirt around the crater that had been Logstedshire. His legs crossed while he reached over and idly brushed his palm through a soft patch of grass beside himself.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's my fault..."

That's all Tommy could say.

That's all he could think in the moments that Dream was near him was how much he wanted for Dream to approve of him. How apologetic he was for every step out of line he made. Then somehow several hours after that green bastard left, Tommy would start to feel himself again.

He'd start to feel indignant and wronged. Rather than weak, and uncertain.

By nature Tommy was never one to care for pleasing others. This state of mind was foreign and terrifying.

It was as though he were split into two people.

"No one can visit you, until you learn how to listen," Dream had told him.

Dream with his eerily monotone voice. His composure somehow calm, even after having set ablaze everything tommy had worked for over the last month.

Had it been a month?

Maybe two months.

Tommy's sense of time was all over the place as of late.

"I'll be back, you just... You stay here," Dream had told him before having left.

Since then Tommy had already gone through several stages of emotions. He was still in the process of working his way out from the mess that his head was always in after one of Dream's visits. Wavering between the inner voice that told him he deserved what Dream had done- have hidden things when he wasn't supposed to- and the other one that said that was complete bullshit.

But Dream was his friend, right? He always wanted what was best for Tommy, even if that meant hurting him and blowing up his things. Right?

Of course.

"Wish I could listen to Mellohi right about now," Tommy huffed quietly to himself. He glanced down to the blades of grass softly brushing his palm, and then back out to the wreckage of his home. He grumbled under his breath impatiently. "What's taking that green bitch so long?"

A part of him felt a stab of fear as he said that. He knew Dream wouldn't like that. He'd be in trouble again if he heard.

"Tommy."

Tommy jumped at the sound of Dream's voice behind him. It was followed by the swish of the nether portal as the masked man passed through to his side. Whipping out his pickaxe and giving it a twirl between his fingers.

"Dream," Tommy stood quickly, spinning around to face the masked man. He swallowed down a dry lump in his throat, feeling his heart race in his chest. He never knew what to expect from the man. Now more than ever he expected to be hurt again. "You- you came back."

"I said I would, didn't I?" Dream said. He turned back toward the portal behind himself and after just a few solid hits with his pickaxe he dislodged a chunk of the obsidian. The purple light from the nether disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Yeah, but I-I didn't... you know... no-no yeah, of course," Tommy laughed nervously. He hated how shaky and uncertain he'd become when Dream was this way. "Look, Dream I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have-!"

He was cut off by dream as the man turned around and reached to the side. The man summoned his axe from his inventory and dismissed his pick in a wave of pixels. His opposite hand held a lead.

"Tommy. Just... stop talking," Dream told him. His tone suggested that he had rolled his eyes behind the mask covering his face. Dream was obviously annoyed, but he wasn't angry. At least if he was he was doing a good job of concealing it.

"What is- what is that for?" Tommy asked. His eyes landed on the lead and he nervously rubbed his arm as he instinctively took a step back. He glanced from the lead to Dream's masked face. Last time Dream approached him with a lead it hadn't ended well. He was tied to the branch of a tree overnight and- lets just say it'd been a very rough ten hours for the teen.

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A/N edited for improvements!