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The dark corridors were oppressive, to say the least. Each room was so well thought out, with hidden mechanisms, locks with access cards, abuse of redstone and lots, lots of lava.
"This way" Sam guided her, the sword shining in his belt and his mask hiding his face
Puffy and Sam walked the corridors and she signed all the contracts, did each sweeping procedure and walked down the lava corridor, until they went up the stairs and came up on a lava curtain. The room was empty, with only a few levers and a bed to respawn.
"Please put your spawn point on the bed and face the lava"
Puffy did so, lying on the bed for a few seconds, before getting up and stopping on the gray platform, facing the glowing lava.
"It may take a few minutes..." Sam says "The lava is quite extensive"
"Okay" she replies and they are silent
Puffy knows that Sam is taking his job seriously, so she doesn't try to bring up too much and tries to think about how things are going to be inside.
She will see her duckling after a year.
Not that it was really her fault, the server had been through a lot because of the red egg growing in the vineyards and twisting around the land of their house. It was after a lot of fighting against that thing and trying to get the hypnosis out of the minds of Punz, Bad and Ant, that she finally got the time to come and visit him.
She knew that Tommy had visited him twice before the egg was out of control, but she didn't know if other people had visited him too.
Did Sapnap and George visit him?
Is he okay?
"Puffy" Sam calls out to her and she gets scared, turning to face her friend "I need to tell you something..."
She nods, seeing that he looks a little nervous
"I needed to do something for his own good. I never did that to him except this week, okay? I'll take it off when I realize that he is fine"
"Okay..." she says, more startled by the way Sam was talking
He nods and explains the last procedure
"The lava is already coming to an end. I'm going to start the bridge, but you need to accompany it, be careful not to fall. You can call me in case something happens"
The lava cascade goes down and she can see why the prison is called Pandora's Box. It is like a sea of lava and in the middle of that wreck there is an obsidian cell.
"You can go if you want" Sam signals and Puffy starts walking across the bridge, and with each step taken, the stone bricks accompany his future step, leaving no path for anyone to leave.
It is a dead end.
When she arrives at obsidian, the lava rises to trap them here and the small security wall goes down, giving her entry into the cell. Her eyes shoot at the only person who lives in that place.
Dream.
His green sweatshirt was taken from him, leaving only a worn black sweater, which looks too wide for his body, as well as gray sweatpants, his ankles are chained to the floor, but the chains allow him to walk a few steps. He is without his mask, leaving his dark blond hair and freckles showing.
What scared her was that his face looks so thin and there are a lot of burns on his face.
And it really means a lot of burns.
There are burns on his exposed arms and on the soles of his feet, his fingers are bitten and trembling in a nervous tic. His head is staring at the dark wall beside him.
He doesn't seem to have heard it coming.
"Dream...?" she calls him softly and his head moves lazily to face her and she almost gasps
His green eyes, previously so alive, now dark and faded, there are dark circles in his eyes and many burns on his face, in addition to the old scars, there are some new ones.
And she is afraid to ask why.
"Hi..." he murmurs, his voice hoarse and low, there is no smile decorating his face, not even an insane or diabolical smile.
"What happened to you?" she asks, still a little puzzled
"M'kay... don't worry, Captain Puffy" he says and she is upset that he is treating her so formally, but it was to be expected, right?
Dream staggered to his feet, the ankle weights making the task a little more difficult, and Puffy realizes that Dream really lost weight.
"Very well... who do you want to revive?" he asks, going to the desk, the chains dragging against the obsidian
"What?"
"If you're here, it's because you want to revive some of your pets, right? Unless someone lost all three lives, but Tommy would have come here and not you, unless he's busy..." he rambles and realizes her lost look, he laughs empty "Sorry, I rambled... so, which one is this?"
"None" she says and he opens his eyes slightly "I just wanted to visit you"
"Oh..." he looks a little lost "So... um, good to see you after a year"
She doesn't know if it is to provoke her, but she feels bad and angry nonetheless.
"Uh... yeah, sorry" she murmurs softly and he waves his hand
"Don't worry, I know you're busy" he laughs, not a nice laugh "But, there must be a reason for your visit, or you could at least ask Sam how I was, without having to spend time to come here, then you will be able to resolve your commitments, Captain Puffy"
"Why are you talking like this?" Puffy asks, gritting her teeth.
"Um... sorry?"
"Don't act like it's our fault. You put yourself here, Dream"
Dream frowns and his eyes go towards the lava.
"I didn't... I didn't say anything..."
"I heard your tone"
"But... I don't ... You can't come here and analyze me!" he says, scowling "I didn't mean anything"
A piston noise is triggered and Dream's eyes go straight to the desk.
"Lunch!" he laughs like a child, forgetting the argument and runs to the table, picking up the plate of boiled potatoes.
It is the maximum joy she has seen after a long time.
"Do you want some?" he asks, muffled, extending the plate to Puffy, a hot potato is already stuck in his mouth
"No... thanks" she politely denies and he puts the plate on the desk, abandoning his food.
"Since you're here to visit, I can show you my books!" he turns to the chest, opening the lid and taking out many notebooks
"Books?"
"Uhum! Tommy gave it to me as 'homework' " he quotes with his hands "But I thought it was fun"
Puffy doesn't know why, but Dream's sudden mood swings are scaring her
He hands the books over to her and she feels something sharp poking her in the arm.
"Dream... I... where can I put all this?"
"Oh, put it to bed!"
There is no bed in the cell.
"Dream, you don't have a bed"
He pauses and frowns, his expression lines becoming more drooping, as if he's aged in two seconds
"Oh... I don't know, sit on the floor? I guess" and he goes back to the clock, mumbling to himself
She does as she is asked and Puffy puts the notebooks on the floor, finally finding out what was bothering her.
It is a sliver of white porcelain, with a single black dot.
"Hey!" Dream runs towards her and pulls out the piece "Don't touch it!"
"What-- Dream?!"
He returns to the chest and throws the sliver, closing the lid of the chest in a loud thud.
"He likes to keep looking..."
"Dream, what the hell is going on with you?!"
"I'm fine" he says aloud and mumbles to himself, before turning to face her "And you should… yeah, you should go"
"What?" he approaches and lifts her by the arm, going closer to the lava
"Sam!" Dream shouts "Sam! Captain Puffy wants to go!"
Puffy acts faster and pushes Dream, causing him to let go of his arm and trip over the chains, falling into obsidian.
"Dream!" she runs to help him, but he squirms and walks away, hitting his back against the other wall
"Don't touch me!" he screams in terror, his hand pressing on her side and her hands fall and she doesn't come any closer.
It's a broken scene
Dream starts to hyperventilate, tapping his fingers against the floor at the rhythm of the clock above him, he presses harder on her side and the pain seems to make him come out of his trance. After a long time, he starts to breathe more deeply and more slowly, coughing in the process, it’s unstable but calmer, his hand grips the stone and he stops pressing his side. His eyes look unfocused, like from an hour ago.
"Dream?" she calls out to him, kind of desperate for not knowing what to do.
"Sorry... I burned. What did it say?" he looks at her, unable to recognize where he is for some minutes.
"Dream..." she approaches slowly and bends down in front of him "What's happening with you?"
He looks away from her, shrinking more.
"Puffy..." he whispers, broken "Why are you here?"
"I just wanted to see you" she replies, whispering too
"No, no... I... nobody should visit me, I..." he breathes heavily, pressing his fists against his eyes "Oh god..."
"Dream..."
"I-- I've been here for a year and Tommy only visited me twice... in the first few days, he didn't come to see me anymore... and I don't blame him, I don’t, I really don’t… nobody came... and... and there he showed up two weeks ago asking about reviving people... and..." his hands were shaking and he started to stutter
"Dream..." Puffy tried to take his hands off his eyes, but Dream threw his head against the wall in a loud and sick thud
"I am so stupid!" he screams, making her shudder "I... I... I'm so selfish and stupid... it's been a year, but I shouldn't have...you shouldn’t be here, no one should be here! Just me! Just me!" he screams and breathes quickly, opening his red eyes "Ah... I'm scaring you… I... I... Puffy... I just... I'm so, so, so sorry..."
He started to murmur unanswerable excuses, pulling a piece of his own hair and Puffy takes his hands.
"Dream... Dream... stop, you're hurting yourself" she forces him to face her "Release slowly and take a deep breath..."
He cries, but tries to do what she asked, slowly letting go of his hands and Puffy takes them gently, a reminder that she is still there with him.
"Puf-- Puffy... I... I" he starts and Puffy tries to wipe away the tears, feeling the rough skin on the scars and burns
"It's all right..."
"N-- no... no... it’s not... it's not!" he starts to shake his head and stands up abruptly, the chains dragging, she walks away "I don't know what's going on with me! I just... I don't..."
They are silent, with only Dream's irregular breathing and the ticking of the clock on the wall.
"Stop making that noise!" he screams and pulls the clock off the wall, making it break on the stone "I'm going crazy and I don't know why! I ... I... maybe I was already crazy... I just... holy shit... "he laughs humorlessly" am I that broken?"
"Dream..." Puffy calls out to him, feeling distressed to see his duckling so horrible
"No..." he pulls away, scratching his arms "Puffy... I... I... don't come... just... oh..." he looks at the ground, his eyes already blurring "I ruined the visit... god... I always ruin everything..."
Before he can enter another spiral, Puffy approaches and embraces him, her arms almost cover Dream's entire chest, he is so thin now. He's paralyzed in place, just staring at the floor.
"Shhh... just listen to my voice and stay here with me, okay?" she asks "Stay here... don't go, please... Can you do this for me, duckling?
And that's when Dream breaks into loud sobs
He starts to sob and cry compulsively, grabbing her coat like a lifeline, and she hums softly, making gentle circles on his back.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." he repeats over and over, his eyes don't blur anymore
She says nothing, moving her hands to his hair and stroking the strands.
"I... I just want to die..." he whispers muffled and she widens her eyes "I... I don't want to stay here.... but I deserve it... but I want to die... I... I... Sam pinned my legs to stop me going in the lava... Puffy... I don't know anymore... I don't care anymore... I just... "
"Duckling..."
"You... you shouldn't call me that, I don't... I... I don't... I don't deserve..."
"Dream... duckling" she moves and makes him look at her "Breathe... that's the nickname I gave you... and I use it because I want to... because you are my duckling"
And he starts another crisis of crying and Puffy allows some tears to fall from her eyes.
After Dream calmed down, they sat next to each other. With Puffy reading and commenting on her stories, and he just sitting next to her, quiet, but calmer, and slowly chewing on the potatoes, now cold, by Puffy's orders, since he had only eaten one.
After a while, Sam calls them out of nowhere, saying that visiting hours are long over. Puffy stands in the water and dies with a potion, appearing on the bed on the other side of the lava waterfall.
"I'm going back, Dream!" she screams and waits for him to hear, being guided by Sam to return "Sleep well!"
She knows that Dream may never be able to leave, she knows that one day, Tommy and everyone else can decide that they don't need to keep Dream here and they will probably run their last lives, she knows that Dream still needs to learn that what he did was cruel and inhuman, that he must suffer the consequences of his actions.
But, she also knows that Dream is her duckling, and that she won't give up on him so easily.
"Bye, mom" Dream whispers from his cell, knowing she won't hear