The Soldier And The Poet

Chapter Two

-

Two days out from Techno's house, Dream was struggling.

He was completely unprepared for the cunning Arctic foxes and the sheer cold of the Arctic in winter.

He was a dumbass like that.

He struggled through waist-deep snow, shivering.

His pale skin was flushed a bright pink, and frost glittered in his hair.

Why was he doing this?

Oh. He had some justice to bring.

To a certain creeper hybrid.

But he was certainly regretting not packing more, though he'd be hard-pressed even in his prime to carry enough food to feed him for a week.

He was most definitely not in his prime.

"Fuck!" The masked man yelled when he dug into his satchel and found nothing but crumbs. He was days away from civilization, the closest town being a small village right on the outskirts of Kinoko Kingdom.

He was not looking forward to having to sneak into his former best friends' Kingdom to steal new supplies.

And he had to steal, since he had absolutely no money whatsoever.

As it was winter, Dream had to make do on roots and the occasional rabbit or squirrel.

He was used to little food, but it was still not fun.

He trudged through miles of snowy forests and snowy mountain terrain before emerging into the rainforest-like habitat that made up Kinoko.

He almost passed out from relief at the heat change. He was nice and warm for the first time in over a week, and he was incredibly grateful to any possible gods/goddesses/immortal beings out there that he'd made it.

He was now less than a day's walk to the village, and he needed to figure out a way to disguise himself. He'd be on wanted posters in town, and he couldn't afford to be recognized.

There was no way in hell he was going back to the shithole that was the prison. Absolutely no way.

-

Sapnap was struggling.

His ex-fiancé had just died mysteriously in a fight with Technoblade, and Sam had just revealed that Dream had escaped.

His ex-best friend, the psychopathic murderer, was loose.

And on top of all this, Karl's memory was getting worse. Yesterday he didn't remember Sapnap.

This morning, he'd remembered Quackity and broke down in tears.

Sapnap felt like his hair was mostly gray hairs at this point from the stress.

And then who showed up, but Wilbur Fucking Soot.

"Why are you here?" Sapnap asked tiredly, leaning back in his chair.

"Checking on you," Wilbur responded.

Sapnap scoffed. "Yeah, right. Why are you really here? Trying to turn this damn situation to your advantage?"

Wilbur gasped. "How dare you assume that!"

Sapnap gave him a blank look, and Wilbur sighed. "Look, Sapnap. I didn't want to do this, but Bad is getting you're old manhunt group together again to hunt Dream down."

Sapnap paused.

That could be the answer to getting his mind off of things.

And he was pretty sure Dream had been involved in Quackity's death.

"Tell me more."

-

George still had the Dream compass.

He hadn't gotten rid of it, not even after this time.

He liked to remember the good old days, when he and Sapnap and Dream had been inseparable.

Before it'd all gone to hell.

As he followed BadBoyHalo, Sap, Wilbur, Antfrost, and Tommy, he thought of the days when Dream had been a good person.

Or at least George had thought he was.

They were approaching the border with Kinoko, and the compass was going haywire.

He must be close, thought George, pushing down all his conflicted feelings about seeing Dream again.

He's a monster. He deserves to rot in jail.

Everyone froze as something creaked above them.

"Who do we have here?" Said Dream, dropping from the trees.

He was skinnier than he'd been the last time George had seen him, and was wearing a tattered black turtleneck sweater that was missing the sleeves.

His mask was cracked, and George could see new scars making their way across his arms and the lower portion of his face.

"It's the traitors," said Dream, grinning like a madman. "Who's stupid idea was going after me? Hmm, was it you Sapnap? You've always been too reckless for you're own good. It wasn't George, he loves sleeping too much to come up with this. Wilbur is an uncreative bitch boy, Tommy is a child, so it was either Antfrost or Halo. I'm betting on Halo."

"It's time justice caught up with you," said Tommy.

"It already did," replied Dream. "It did with the raw potatoes they fed me. It did with the tortures they did on me. It did when I realized being dead was better than bondage."

Sapnap stepped forward. "You're going back to jail, where you belong." But Sapnap's voice was shaking.

"Aww, are you feeling guilty now?" Dream taunted. "Finally realizing what you condemned me to? Hell on earth. And I'm gonna make sure no one else experiences it."

"By what? Genocide?" Scoffed Tommy.

"Oh Tommy, don't talk about what you don't know," said Dream. "None of you understand, and none of you will. I am finally the monster you wanted me to be, are you happy? Are you happy in my suffering?"

He looked straight at George.

"Are you happy with what you've done? With the scars that you made?"

"You deserve it," said Tommy.

"You're a monster," agreed Antfrost.

-

Dream wouldn't lie, it hurt. It hurt to be told to his face that he was a monster.

It hurt to look into George's eyes and see fear.

He knew they were right. He had done unforgivable things.

But surely that didn't excuse what had Sam done?

Dream laughed, a broken wheeze. "Do you hear yourselves? You're telling me that I deserved to be tortured? And they call you the heroes."

Sapnap threw himself at Dream. "Surrender, and you'll won't be hurt."

"Don't lie, Pandas, or you'll lose your ego," Dream hissed, kicking Sapnap in the stomach.

And so Dream took off through the trees, weaving his way between them like he'd been raised here.

The others followed closely behind.

Lithe like a snake, Dream dodged blows from swords and arrows alike.

How he'd never imagined when he was younger that he'd get to this point.

Running for his life from former friends.

He shouldn't have come to this server.

He should've stayed on his birth server, fighting to survive like a newborn sea turtle in the cold cruel depths of the ocean.

If he hadn't come, so many people would be alive.

So many people would be happy.

The only problem here was him.