Three Fates Entwined | Dream Team

Chapter Thirteen

Sapnap grinned as he looked around his room. Sure, the walls were stone, but the interior was so comfy and nice that it made his previous room in the village look downright shabby.

"It's really nice, isn't it?" a voice asked.

He turned around. Dream was leaning against the frame of the door, his arms folded in front of him. He wasn't wearing his cloak anymore, which meant he must've taken it off and shoved it somewhere in his room.

Sapnap took off his own cloak and tossed it onto the bed. "It's everything I'll ever need and more," he said with a dramatic sigh.

Dream walked into the room and planted his hands on the windowsill, which was low enough that he had to stoop over slightly. He gazed down at the courtyard. Suddenly, Sapnap was rocked with a feeling of déjà vu. The way he looked out into the distance, with the sharp look in his eyes, reminded Sapnap of when he had been attacked by wolves. Their sense of hunting and fighting skills made them difficult opponents to overcome.

Just like assassins.

Woah, where did that thought come from?

"Are you ready for the training?" Dream asked, shaking Sapnap out of his thoughts.

Sapnap shrugged. "I mean, it should be pretty easy, right? Fighting each other, trying to improve your swordsmanship, all that jazz. It's basically what I've been doing for my whole life."

Dream smirked. "If you're so good, then you should be able to take me down without breaking a sweat, right?"

He thought back to his first encounter with the man. He had been overpowered easily. "Uh... right, right, definitely. But, uh, I might need a bit of practice beforehand."

Dream laughed. He moved away from the window and sat down on Sapnap's bed, picking up the cloak he had discarded there and neatly folding it up. His hands wandered over to the flame emblem stitched onto the fabric. Maybe Sapnap was imagining it, but Dream seemed sad.

"You don't know your family house, right?" Sapnap asked, then immediately regretted it. Stupid, stupid, he scolded himself. That was way too direct.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a while as Sapnap fumed silently and regretted his life choices.

"You're right," Dream finally said. "I don't know my house. I never have. My family is a mystery to me."

Sapnap winced. His own family wasn't as great as it could be, but at least he had one. Judging from what Dream was saying, he had never, ever met his family before.

"Must've been tough," Sapnap said.

"Yeah."

"Hard childhood?"

"Yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really, no."

Sapnap paused, then said, "You sure?"

Dream faced him, putting the cloak aside. There was a hard glint in his eyes that suddenly made Sapnap feel kind of nervous. "No offense, Sapnap, but you're a horrible psychiatrist."

Sapnap chuckled nervously. "I'm just going to go ahead and be offended, then."

"Do whatever you want. Just... leave me alone."

He turned away, his slumped back pointing towards Sapnap. The leather strap attached to his sheath was still around his chest, though the rest of his clothes were black. He must really like the color. Or he's a goth. One of the two.

"Dream, I'm sorry," Sapnap said softly. "I got too deep into your business and didn't know when to back out. I'm sorry."

Dream straightened and stood up again. "No, it's okay," he said, not looking at him. "I'm going to go practice a bit, get used to using a sword again. You can join me if you'd like."

"Yeah, maybe later."

Sapnap closed his eyes, internally cursing himself for his stupidity. He opened his eyes again. Dream was gone.

Huh, he thought, somewhat surprised. I didn't hear him leave. He must have a really light tread. Must be useful for sneaking up on people. Or if he were an assa---

Stop. Stop comparing him to a bad guy. He's your friend, stop thinking badly of him.

Sapnap shook his head and sighed. He glanced over at the folded up cloak, then out the window. The sun was shining brightly. Maybe it was a good time to go practice his skills. And he definitely needed practice if he wanted to get better than Dream.

He stood up and stretched, then grabbed his sword and left his room.

***

Sapnap found Dream standing in an empty courtyard, a sword in his hands. A green blindfold covered his eyes, tied at the back of his head in a fashion almost like his own bandana.

He took a step towards him, then another, trying his best to keep his footsteps silent. I'm going to scare him. He won't even see it coming, and quite literally.

Sapnap was within touching distance. He reached out an arm, ready to put a hand on his shoulder and scare the crap out of him, when suddenly Dream turned around. There was a blur of movement. Sapnap choked back a startled yell as the edge of a sword touched his throat.

Dream pulled the blindfold away from his eyes and smirked at him. "Nice try."

"How did you know I was there?"

He tapped his ear with his free hand. "When one of your senses is blocked, your other senses become heightened in a way. I had to rely on my sense of hearing. That's how I knew."

"But I was being so sneaky," Sapnap complained. "That was, like, high level sneaking right there. There was no way that you could've heard me."

Dream shrugged and lowered his sword, letting Sapnap breath easy again. "But I did. You've got to try harder if you want to try and sneak up on me."

Sapnap folded his arms and pouted. "Okay, fine. If you really wanna get scared so badly, then yeah, I'll try harder next time. But when I make you jump out of your skin, just remember that you asked for it."

Dream chuckled. "I'd like to see you try."