Dahlia - The Flower Of Betrayal. || SBI Hero AU

-CHAPTER THIRTEEN-

“Stop, plea—!” 

“Jubilee, it's your choice whether I stop or not.”

So much for not giving in. Not giving a reaction, my ass. 

“Asshole!”

 Another punch straightened out his attitude, jerking his head to the side. He coughed again and blood spewed, and he restlessly leaned his shoulder onto the wall. Dream almost wanted to make a snarky comment about how it was working, as he was tiring and had to have given in eventually, but he refrained. 

“Please. Please just-..” 

He was punched again, and this time he let out a sort of yell, though it was muffled into his shirt. He slid back to the wall, now on the ground where he struggled to get a rest, curling up into a ball. 

“You know all you have to do is answer me, Jubilee,” the older man spoke down to him, raising his hand again, to remind the other to watch his words.

“I’m not going to!” he hissed. Dream grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him up so that he was forced onto his knees. His shoulders were back, his head turned so he wouldn’t have to face the older. “I’m not going to,” he repeated, quieter, staying perfectly still for Dream.

“You don’t have to make this difficult,” he reminded Juilee. 

“Fuck you, Dream.” Wilbur panted, straightening out his posture and trying to ease the tension in his shoulders, relaxing. “You’re just-..I could say anything and you would have no way of knowing what is true. I could..I could blatantly lie to you just to make you stop, and you wouldn’t know,” Wilbur spat out. “And I’m not telling you anything. Hurt me all you want, I’m not letting you hurt other people. I’m not letting you hurt my family.” 

"As much as I'd love to hurt you, I need you to start fucking talking." Dream let go and kicked at the man’s stomach, which just made him fall to his side, clenching his fists behind his back. “You never cared about Theseus,” he began, a deathly tone in his voice. “You aren’t a hero, Jubilee. And you won’t ever be one.” 

“I cared more than you ever did!” Jubilee yelled. Without his hero mask, you could see how wide his eyes were, his furrowed eyebrows and his scrunched up nose.  “And you promised that you wouldn’t hurt anyone again. That's the only reason I didn't kill you then and there!” Another kick, this time right in the stomach so it forced all the air out of him at once, leaving him gasping and rolling over himself.

“I’m not one to keep promises, Jubilee. I thought you would know that best. I can admit that I’m a bad person, that I’ve done bad things, that's obvious. The difference is, can you? I kept you in line, Jubilee. Ends justify the means. Doesn’t make me a good person. I’m merciless, I’m a villain, I’m a manipulative bastard, call me what you want! I don’t care. All I need is information that you have, and you’re gonna give it to me, because I don’t have to keep you alive. You just make things a little easier for me. But if you aren’t going to tell me, I’ll just kill you now. All you have been is a pain in my ass, and Jubilee I mean in the most putrid, vile way I can say this, it'd be an honour, a pleasure to finally get rid of you.” 

Wilbur was struck speechless. At a loss for words, and even if he had them, he couldn’t dare speak now. He wouldn’t even look up at Dream, keeping his head low and his jaw clamped shut. 

“So, Jubilee, you have a choice to make.” 

Despite being a grown man, he felt like a child again. Weak and feeble, and useless under authority. He couldn’t make a decision like that, sacrificing himself for the people he cared about, or sacrificing them for his own sake.