Dreaming of Demons (Dream x oc)

[36] Local Brewery

My thoughts were alive now, swirling and swirling as I lay in my cot, brainstorming. The new energy I felt was like waking up, like my bleary eyes had cleared and I could see again. I was intent to prove the Dreamon wrong, to show that he had not defeated me. It was my new goal to plan better than I've done before.

You're too predictable.

That's what Dream had said the last time I tried escaping. If he thought that, I had to change what I was doing. I had to, well, be unpredictable—to determine what he expected of me and flip that on his head. I had to fight fire with fire. Chaos with chaos so to speak.

But I couldn't match his strength and skill, so my only option was to match his resources. I needed healing potions, maybe ender pearls. And now that I thought of it, a few extra potions wouldn't hurt either.

I felt confident about this plan. We were already going to the Nether for the wither skulls, so getting ingredients for potions wouldn't be a problem. Dream had gotten lax in his supervision as well, probably finding it useless to follow someone around who had lost their will to do much of anything. As long as I acted like nothing had changed, then he shouldn't suspect anything.

I ventured up from my room the next afternoon, trying to keep my posture relaxed. Though there were only a few storage spaces for food, I knew there had to be at least some typical ingredients stashed around in the kitchen area. Lunch had already passed and dinner wouldn't be for a couple more hours. That way, I could avoid too much activity upstairs. I didn't want a crowd watching as I looted the cabinets for ingredients like sugar and melons.

As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, I noticed Dream sitting on the couch, cleaning his axe. My heart rate sped up and I forced myself to keep walking. Calm. Keep cool. No need to react. Just get your stuff and leave.

I pulled open a cupboard, spotting the sugar immediately. It was in a glass jar that had a crack running up one side, though not enough to let anything spill out. The few remaining jars looked about the same. They must have been some haphazard find to try to accommodate the need for actual food in what would have otherwise been an abandoned cabin.

I removed the jar and twisted the lid, cringing when it popped loudly. I continued, however, and gathered a small handful of the sugar, closing the lid as quickly as I could while holding the ingredient.

"What are you doing?"

I didn't look back at Dream as I put the sugar away. It sounded like he was still on the couch though, so he must not have been interested enough to abandon his own task.

"I'm hungry," I answered simply, looking through a new cabinet. There had to be a melon around here somewhere.

"You get three meals a day. That should be enough."

I had to bite back a retort as I continued my search. There were so many things I could say about my living conditions here, but that argument would take far too long.

All the cabinets had been checked and no melons were in sight. I stood up and pursed my lips in thought, folding my arms to keep the stolen sugar in my now-sweaty palm out of Dream's view. I could feel his gaze on me in the silence.

Before the tension could rise any higher, I turned to face him. "You got any watermelons to snack on?"

He stared at me for a moment, the one exposed eye from his broken mask studying me so intently I thought he was going to see right through me. I stayed rooted to my spot, hoping he couldn't hear how hard my heart was beating as I stared right back.

Finally, he answered. 

"No, we don't have any. Unless you want the rotting one outside the house."

I quietly let out a tense breath. Well, a rotting watermelon would be better than no watermelon. But I couldn't check it out now. I was already pushing my luck just standing here with Dream's suspicions rising by the second.

So I went downstairs and stored the sugar behind the door in the bathroom. I brushed my hands off as I stood up, priding myself in the fact that I managed to get the sugar unscathed. It definitely looked like I was hiding drugs, though. Wilbur probably wouldn't have a problem with that, but Dream would have a problem if I was hiding anything, drugs or not.

Later in the day, I checked out the melon Dream had claimed was near the house, and sure enough, it was. Most of it was quite deteriorated, but there were a few good spots I could still use. I carved them out with my spoon from dinner and quickly stashed them near the sugar. Now, all I needed were the rest of the ingredients from the Nether.

I was cautious as I approached a Blaze, worried that this was the day Dream happened to check up on me. But he never showed up even as the Blaze shot a couple of fireballs at me. The fiery creature emanated so much heat that I could barely get too close without having to jump away again. After a few irritating swings that yielded no reward, my sword was able to catch on one of the molten rods orbiting around its body and send it skittering across the netherbrick walkway. I picked it up as soon as it solidified, ducking out of its view.

I was extremely paranoid still, and after checking my surroundings once more, I slipped the small rod into my shoe. It fit the length of my shoe almost perfectly, but the uncomfortable, shared room made it difficult to walk. I made sure to grab one more blaze rod before leaving the Blazes entirely. The only other ingredient I needed from the Nether was some Nether Wart. Obtaining those were even easier than the blaze rods, and I stuffed them into the pockets of my sweatpants before following Dream and Wilbur to traipse back home. I reassumed the muted state I had been in for the past few days, and Dream never seemed to notice anything off about me. Again, I was getting back to my room without so much as a glance from Dream. It seemed too good to be true, but I gratefully accepted the luck I had received thus far.

Except for the fact that obtaining ender pearls was much harder than I anticipated. I had never seen an Enderman in real life, and therefore never collected ender pearls of my own. Thinking back on it, having ender pearls on me might have fixed some of the previous problems I had in the SMP. But, in all honesty, everything I had heard about Endermen sounded scary. If I happened to spot one, I didn't think I could find it in myself to get close enough to kill it. Stealing them was also out of the question since Dream and Wilbur kept their stuff locked up when they weren't in use. It seemed I would have to rule the pearls out of the equation.

But I could still carry on with the other part of my plan, and I promptly constructed a brewing stand in my room. It was crude, and a bit fragile, but I believed it would work. My gaze was constantly flitting back to the door as I worked, yet it remained quiet and closed. Every thump I heard upstairs froze me in my spot, and sometimes, I waited several minutes to ensure that the thump wasn't someone making their way down the stairs. It was nerve-wracking.

I worked meticulously, my fingers dancing around the brewing stand. Only a few ingredients lay on the cold ground around me. I couldn't afford to mess things up. This was probably the only time I could have all these ingredients here at the same time. Gathering them all again would be far too risky. I only had one chance with these.

But then I watched as the colors shifted in the potions and my excitement bubbled up in the same manner as the raspberry-colored liquid. I did it! I had actually created my own potion!

I couldn't test it now, though. I had a limited supply, and if the potion happened to work upon testing, well, that would be one less potion that could be more useful in the future. I just had to trust that they would work out correctly. And if they didn't...

I guess I would find that out.

The potions of swiftness were created much faster than the health pots. I felt confident brewing them, and now that I held my very own potion vials in my hand, a surge of hope flooded through me. I actually felt powerful for the first time in a long time. I could do this.

And I was ready.

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A/N

ehh in-between chapters are the worst to write. But Taryn is gettin' stuff done and planning meticulously so maybe—maybe she has a chance this time (Idk, y'all will just have to see what happens in the next chapter...) And! I've recently had a bit more time to write and now I've got a block of chapters built up. Makes me feel better to have a block of chapters so I can post one every week, but its just a matter of actually remembering to do that lol.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm always so grateful for the support on this story! <3