The Burning ~ Dreamnotfound + Skephalo

Chapter 6: A Balanced Diet

          Every time a piglin walked by his cell, George aimed his bow and prepared himself to fire. Vincent has tried to convince him to lower his weapon so that they could talk, but George refused. The time that George wasn't ready to attack was spent trying to figure out a way to escape. He didn't know much about the rest of the fortress he was locked up in, but he also knew that the longer he waited, the harder it'd be to escape. The door to his cell was made out of iron and, as the pillagers did, the piglins removed the lever when he was locked away. But if George could make a bow, he knew that there had to be a way to make something to help him out. His eyes fell on the broken furnace, with pieces of rocks surrounding it. If he could manage to get one more stick, he'd be able to make a lever and leave.
          "Hey," a voice says behind him. George swings around and loads one of the arrows into his bow. On the other side of the cell was Vincent, holding his hands in the air. "I need to talk to you."
          "Fuck off," George says through his teeth. "I will shoot you."
          "I know you will, but I need to talk to you."
          George steps forward, still aiming at him. "I already told you, I'm not talking to traitors."
          Vincent lowers his hands. "You don't even know me! How would you know I'm a traitor?"
          "I know you gave those potions to Dream. I know you saved him from dying in lava. I know you convinced your friend back there to send the Wither out the morning we killed it." George looks him dead in the eyes. "So, tell me, why did you kidnap me? I know you remember what Dream looks like."
          "It was on purpose," Vincent admits.
          George shoots an arrow at him but makes it go over his head to startle him. "Why would you kidnap me on purpose?"
          Vincent turns around and pulls the arrow out of the Blackstone wall, careful not to look away from George for too long out of fear of getting shot. "Techno is trying to raise another Wither and he wants Dream to help him kill everyone in the overworld."
          "What does that have to do with me?" George asks.
          "I can't leave here without Techno, but I needed to warn him that bad things were coming. By taking you, it showed him that someone was after him." Vincent hands the arrow back to George. "I'm on your side. I promise."
          "How do I know I can trust you?" George asks.
          Vincent looks away. "I have no way to prove it to you. I'm sorry." George lowers his bow, seeing the pain in Vincent's eyes. "George, I'm sorry that you had to be the one to come here. But if Techno took Dream, Dream would've been dead long before someone came to help him. Techno doesn't want you the way that he wants him. If Dream won't help him, he'll kill him."
          "Well, jokes' on you guys," George says with a touch of sarcasm, "Dream is in no rush to get here."
          Vincent looks back at him, worried. "What do you mean?! He needs to get here as soon as possible! I don't know how many more souls Techno needs to make a new Wither!"
          George sits down and leans on the bed. "I said some pretty hurtful shit to him. He wanted to adopt this orphan girl in our village and I broke him down because I was too scared. I'm such an idiot."
          "Did someone say orphan?" George hears Techno ask from down the corridor. Techno walks towards the cell, once again wearing his golden boots. "Tell me more about the orphan."
          George stands up with the bow and aims. "You're not getting anything out of me!"
          "Her name is Lily, right?" Techno asks. He smiles as he watches George floss his balance at the sound of her name. "She's that village kid with the light hair. Kinda looks like Dream. She's seven, I believe?"
          "How did you know that?" George whispers.
          Techno shrugs. "Must've been from that time I spent watching you."
          George scoffs. "So, you know about Lily, but you still couldn't tell who Dream was?"
          "Hey, it was dark and you had his hoodie and his sword," Tech says defensively. "A sword which, by the way, sucks." He pulls his black sword from its place by his leg. "Now this? This is power. Nothing beats netherite and a bit of brainpower." He then turns to Vincent. "Get me some obsidian and a flint and steel. I'm going to pay this orphan a visit."
           George screams, "NO!" as he lets an arrow fly. It catches Techno's crown and pins it against the wall. He tries to fire another arrow, but he hears glass shatter as everything around him turns dark. He looks around, desperate to figure out what happened and suddenly feels a knee to his stomach. George clutches his sides and falls to the ground, his bow skidding off to the side. He feels around for it, but only finds the hot metal of a boot in his hand. The foot rises and kicks him in the face, knocking him onto his back. As soon as the blindness potion wears off, he sees Techno walking down the corridor, taking his blue bow with him. George turns to Vincent, who looked terrified. But George couldn't tell who Vincent was scared of at that moment. His sadistic boss, or the man in the cage, ready to rip his throat open.