Awesamdream - His Beloved Warden [Fic 1]

2. The Aftermath

Consciousness returned slowly, and with it, pain that throbbed through his body in increasing intensity, until he squirmed and whimpered softly, wanting it to stop.

"Ssh, it's okay, Dream," a comforting voice said, there was a rustling sound, and then a cool sensation in his arm. He felt the pain fade and slumped back, and a hand stroked through his hair. "I'm sorry, I thought you would be asleep longer. You bounce back quickly, huh? Rest, you don't have to talk. Oh, you feel so hot. Maybe I should move you to a different part of the prison, I thought keeping the lava wall down would help, but I guess we are still surrounded on the other three sides."

A cool, wet washrag was draped across Dream's forehead. He sighed with relief.

"That's better, huh? Prime, I can't believe Quackity did that to you. But it's my fault. I should have known he would just keep escalating. I'm sorry. He was so confident about what he was doing, he convinced me that it would all be worth it if you gave up that book, but no. I never should have allowed it."

Dream managed to crack his eyes open. He realized he was on a bed, and Sam was sitting next to him, watching him. His ears perked and he leaned in a little.

"Just take it slowly. You almost died."

"I... did?" Dream croaked. His throat hurt. There was a metallic taste in the back of it.

"Yeah, almost, but you pulled through. You're not out of the woods yet, though. You have to recover all that blood you lost. And even though I cauterized the wound, I think it might have gotten infected, because you have a fever now. Then there's the other things Quackity did... you have a broken rib, there's the cut on your cheek, your nose is bruising... there's a lot you need to heal from."

"Just... you have regen, right?"

"Yeah, but this is a lot even for regen. I've been giving you some slowly though, along with other fluids through an IV. I think it's helping."

Dream saw the stand next to his bed then, the drip bag with a line running down from it, connecting to his right arm. He blinked a few times, bewildered. "I didn't... know we had those here."

"I made sure we were well-stocked here. Just in case." Sam looked him over, then sighed. He seemed unsure of himself. "This is awful. But I'll do what I can for you. This happened under my watch, so I'm going to make it right. As much as I can, anyway."

Dream was still a little foggy, but he was able to focus more as the seconds passed, and he remembered what all Quackity had done to him. His eyes widened and his right leg jerked. "Wait. My foot. Is it actually...?"

"It's gone," Sam said sadly. "Quackity cut it off, and I couldn't... it wasn't able to be reattached."

Dream stared, a swirl of emotions going through him, anger and grief making him briefly choke on his own breath. His eyes burned with unshed tears and he looked aside, blinking them away. "I hate him."

"I know. And you probably hate me too, huh?"

Dream looked back at him, the answer coming easily. "No."

"No? Really?" Sam's brows went up.

"You're not the one who cut my foot off. It's fine. You said you're going to make it right. So no, I don't hate you. I'm... glad, you're helping me. You could have just left me to suffer."

"I couldn't just leave you like that. Maybe you are a prisoner, but you're my responsibility, and I neglected you. I'm going to do better now. I'm going to take care of you."

There it was again. Something twisted in Dream's chest. Sam was looking at him with a gentle expression, and Dream wished he wasn't wearing that respirator so he could see his mouth, but he could see in his eyes that he was smiling. Dream soaked in the attention, wanted to just bundle it up and cradle it to his chest, never let it go.