How the world works

3

Dream pushed aside the boulder and enters his vault. He looks around and takes in his masterpiece. It's so.... baren. After closing the makeshift door behind him, he sighs. He takes his elevator down to the lower level and pulls his mask off. It's grown to be a part of him and it simply feels wrong with it off but it strangely feels good too. It's strange. He breathes deeply, unhindered by the clay. 

He runs his fingers over the walls of item frames and over the fur of Carl the horse. It feels powerful to have these things. Because they hold power over others. He grins as he continues to walk.

"Helloooo" calls a friendly voice. Dream swiftly replaces the mask and whips around, smoothly unsheathing his sword and holding it into the darkness. 

He ventures forth and discovers Skeppy, still in his cage. He had forgotten to move him into his cell.

Dream almost feels bad for skeppy. He seems very compliant, and willing to follow rules. He hadn't given a reason to deserve this. But he was unfortunate enough to share a soul with Bad, and now he's leverage. 

"I'm moving you today." Dream says simply and skeppy shrugs. Dream opens the cage (it was unlocked) and leads the naive and tiny diamond man to his cell, which was barren but it contained paint to pass time. Skeppy was overcome with joy.

"Fingerpaints? Thank you!" He exclaimed and used the assorted dyes to immediately begin painting the walls. Dream watched him for a minute before turning around.

Tubbo was directly across from Skeppy and was standing at the window. The bee boy glares daggers into Dreams very soul and his face was the stuff of nightmares. 

"Let. Us. Out." Tubbo enunciates each word with precision and venom drips from his voice.

"And why would I do that, exactly?" Dream counters, strolling up to the glass, undaunted by the death stare Tubbo gives.

"Let. Us. Out." Tubbo repeats. Dream pauses a second before laughing. His kettle laugh echoing through the narrow passageway. 

"You can't even give me a reason!" Dream laughs, and rests his forehead on the glass. 

Tubbo pounds just clenched fist against the barrier and Dream jumped.

"That seemed out of character. Did the little mornon go and grow a spine?" Dream taunts. He loads a dispenser with the potatoes from Technos farm and they fall next to Tubbo. He looks at them dismissively. 

"Eat. Or don't. You don't matter to me much." Dream says and unlocks the door to Tommy's cell as Tubbo watches.

"Fuck off." Tommy calls. He's sitting in the corner, facing the wall. One bed has been very clearly moved aside and Dream silently crosses to it. Tommy doesn't look until it's too late. He turns his head and cries out in alarm as Dream effortlessly lifts the bed to reveal a single block missing underneath. Dream just laughs.

"Tommy, Tommy, Tommy... Did you really think this was a good idea?" He asks, walking very slowly toward Tommy. The teen begins to panic and looks around the blank room desperately. His eyes suddenly land on the open door and an incredibly terrible idea forms. Dream watches the gears turn in Tommy's head but it processes too slowly. Tommy kicks and sweeps Dreams feet out from under him. The warrior falls to the padded floor and in a split second, Tommy is out the door.

Tubbo is still looking out the glass when a blur of red zooms by. He begins cheering for his friend to escape and quiets down when he sees Dream follow. In Tommy's defense, he almost made it halfway down the hall.

Tommy ran and ran, frantic and stumbling. Suddenly he felt weight hit him in the back and he knew.

It ends with Dream pinning Tommy's hands behind his back, Dream's knee to Tommy's lower neck, and tears pouring down Tommy's cheek. 

"Don't ever fucking try that again." Dream hisses in Tommy's ear and yanks him to his feet. Dream drags Tommy back towards his cell but right in front of the door he stops. Tubbo is staring wide eyed and Tommy is humiliated. And being the manipulative asshole he is, Dream has an idea.

"Hey Tommy, let's take a little walk." Dream says casually. Tommy looks up and silently shakes his head. But Dream simply doesn't take no for an answer. 

Tommy is forced back down the hallway and out to the vault.

"Do you know what this is?" Dream asks, letting go and gesturing to a vast array of dials and buttons along one wall. Tommy rubs his wrists and looks at it.

"How the fuck should I know?" He spits out. Within a second Dream has grabbed his neck.

"You don't talk to me like that." Dream hisses. Tommy grabs at Dream's hand and it released. 

"Its a control panel for every cell but yours. See? This one's Tubbo. That ones the one by the door. Want to see what happens when I press it?" Dream questions. Tommy days nothing and Dream flips a switch and presses a button. The ceiling in the first cell retreats to reveal a flood of lava falling. Dream grins maniacally as the realization hits the teen.

"Want me to push the button to Tubbos cell?" Dream queries and reaches for the button. Tommy jumps and grabs Dreams sleeve. 

"I- I get it. Ok? I get it. Just... don't." Tommy murmurs.

"Then we understand each other. And in case you forget. Anyone trips the security? Glass breaks? Door opens without my key? Everyone but you will die. And you can hear their screaming until it goes quiet." Dream threatens. Tommy merely nods. Then pauses.

"Everyone?" He asks.

"Give me time. It wont take too long. " Dream says offhandedly. 

They walk back to the door to Tommy's  cell and Dream opens the door. Tommy goes in without a word nor any objection.

"Tommy? Are you alright?" Tubbo calls through the glass. Tommy doesn't respond. Tubbo assumes his best friend is having a panic attack and decides to take a risk he's been contemplating from the beginning.

He begins to punch the glass, again and again, until it shatters. The glass cuts his hand and leaves behind blood but Tubbo couldn't care less. His friend is broken in the hands of a madman. Suddenly the ceiling opens and lava begins to slowly ooze down. Tubbo begins to scream and tries to break the glass faster to escape. Dream stands in the doorway to Tommy's cell, holding back Tommy who's trying desperately to break fast.

Lava begins to singe Tubbos hair and he crouches to be below the fiery death above. Dream pulls out his pickaxe and breaks the rest of the glass and Tubbo throws himself from the cell.

"Did you think I wouldn't have some basic security?" Dream asks with his head tilted sideways. Tubbo says nothing, just looks back to the room where he had almost died.

"I'm not a fan of dying in boxes." He finally says, once his heart stopped pounding.

"Funny. You sure do it a lot." Says Dream. He turns off the security system and ushes Tubbo inside the cell. 

"If you help me out later, we can see what we can do to help you out of there." Dream offers but Tubbo just stares him down defiantly.

Dream shrugs and leaves, turning the security back on as he makes his way out. Afterall, he had far more pressing  matters at hand.