A Week 'Til Christmas

-3-

The hours turned, just sitting there. No words were shared, but the silence wasn't bad.

The sun started to glare in my eyes but I didn't move. I didn't have the energy, nor did Dream.

"It's bright." He joked again, letting me know he was up.

"No shit." I snarked back at him. "Oh, wait, sorry..sorry." I quickly corrected myself.

"Tommy, its fine! You can joke with me. We are friends after all." He revered. I gave a small smile, rolling to look at him. It almost seemed like he did too.

"Come on, we should get up. You're not just going to sit around all day." He lectured me, pushing himself up and temporarily blocking the light.

I followed his actions, standing only am inch shorter than him from my bad posture. He seemed to notice my drousy body language as well.

"You know, maybe it would be a good idea to train you. Your stance is going to be off if that's how you stand normally."

I shook my arms a little, standing straighter up now. I was just as tall as he was with the little adjustment.

It took a lot of effort though. So, as soon as he turned, I slouched down again.

When nothing was said, and he just stared off into to space, I broke the silence again.

"Can we go mining today? There's something I've been..wanting to do." I asked carefully, no giving any clues to what I 'wanted to do'. I could see he was skeptical about it.

"We can go out later. Do you need tools?" He finally sighed. I thought back to what was in my chest. I hadn't made anything else since Dream destroyed the last pair. Too much effort for something that would get destroyed.

"I do, they kinda..you- yeah." I stammered. He stepped toward the portal, nodding to me to come alone. I stayed to his side, not paying attention to where we were going. I focused on his feet.

They went up onto a black path, and I did the same. My vision tinged purple for a moment, indicating further that we were going to the nether.

The hot atmosphere hit me harder than normally, kinda shocking me from the normally chilly weather. I adjusted quickly, having to keep walking ahead. I didn't question or complain about it.

We passed over the log portion of the bridge, allowing me to see down into the endless pit of lava. I winced at the thought, forcing my head up. He noticed that too.

"I'm just getting some extra tools for you, we're not wasting our time using stone."

I nodded, continuing with him. The days had been uneventful and slow, better tools would help. Now I just had to pray he would let me keep them. I knew what I had to do.

The plan would be to sneak out tonight, get the resources and cook the food. Then all I needed was to be back by morning, when he would wake up to the meal. It would be perfect if I made it back in time. Because there was only

3 days left.

Dream stopped at a chest, rummaging through it for a moment. He took out a half-broken netherite pickaxe and an enchanted one. Unbreaking, it seemed.

Of course, he handed me the runned-down one, but I didn't mind. He would get more than I would just based on strength, so it was fair in my eyes.

"Stealing isn't that bad when you don't know who claimed it." he laughed. I smiled at the small joke. Seeing him happy made me happy, too. I wasn't really happy, though.

It was a weird feeling.

I hadn't felt happy since everything happened. I kean, there were times of small joy I felt when I did something, bit nothing really put me in that state.