Chapter Text
Fingers dipping forward into warmed air, the blond lightly hissed as the heat kissed his pale skin. He kept reaching, reaching, reaching, for what?
Bandaged hand crossed the threshold, submerging into the raging liquid that was lava and Dream had to bite his tongue to stop from screaming. Even as his health ticked down slowly, an indicator that if he did this for much longer or pushed any farther, he would respawn. Persistent, the male pressed on and let his other hand feel at the lava, a metallic taste sitting sickly in his mouth. Nostrils flared, he pressed forward and felt his chest touch the heat that almost felt like ice it burned so much. Sweat dripped down his dirty temple and then everything went black.
Startled, Dream sat up with a cry, chest heaving and palms face down on cracked floors. For a second he could barely see except for a white expanse that haunted his dreams but it eventually faded away until he was staring back at his cell walls. Looking down at his fingers, he stretched out what was still there and took in a deep breath with each flex of a muscle. No matter how many times he looked, he couldn’t get over the fact that some of his fingers weren’t fully there.
But he had no time to wallow in it as he usually did every time he did this. Not as he heard the gears and sounds of big machinery shifting in their place as they did every day. The male knew better than to hold hope it was someone that cared for him. So he curled into a ball, backing himself into a corner and watching from behind his dirty and tangled hair as the lava fell.
A shadow outlined itself against the light in his cell and he could have sworn that his heart rate kicked up but he didn’t know why. Or at least he’d never admit why.
“Ah, Dream. Your usual position I see,” Sam called out, walking into the blond’s cell, using his trident as a cane almost as it hit the ground with a cruel bang each step. Dream almost flinched. He knew the real reason the creeper brought it in here.
“C’mon. Answer for once,” Sam said and approached Dream until he was right in front of him, towering in front of the male. Dream stayed silent, digging his head into the crook of his arm and settling his feet firmly on the floor, the discomfort from the texture being ignored as fear traced his bones and god he wished it would go away.
Sam brought down his trident, the clashing sound echoing throughout the cell and Dream bit the inside of his cheek to attempt to keep himself from jumping. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work and the taller noticed.
Dream could feel the shift of energy in the room and it made him shiver, against his wishes of course. He pulled his legs closer and tried to listen to his heartbeat, counting to his own breath as his fingers twitched around his worn clothes. The blond could feel Sam bend over just slightly and he clutched onto the sleeves of his shirt.
“Dream, are we really going to keep doing this?” Without warning, Sam picked up Dream by the back of his shirt, roughly pulling him up from the ground and this made him yelp. In just another few seconds, Sam shoved his trident under the smallers chin and forced his head to tilt up. Suspended in air, Dream gulped, letting his body dangle.
“What do you want from me?” Dream tried to muster whatever he could from his chest, trying to claw at those last few bits of confidence and strength he had sitting down deep in his soul, trying to force them into his voice but instead he sounded scared, tired, weak. Everything he didn’t want to become. But maybe all that power was lost as soon as he was thrown into this cell, or when he wasn’t fed regularly, or maybe when Quackity began showing up and doing whatever he wanted to Dream.
Quackity.
He had almost forgotten.
The rest of the time Sam was there was a blur, Dream now completely encased in his own mind as he feared what may come next during today's Quackity visit. He shivered at the thought of what could be planned, knowing the male never ever held back. Sam threw him back onto the ground eventually and he barely even noticed as his frail body hit the coarse floor or as Sam scoffed staring at him before leaving without another word.
Taking in a deep inhale and then letting it all out into a sigh, Dream felt tears fill in his eyes.
He tried not to think about being in here in depth too much, about everything he’d done, about everyone he missed. He forced himself time and time again to not think about why he would let himself be engulfed by the lava whenever he couldn’t sleep or felt like he couldn’t breath, forced himself not to realize it was because the warmth reminded him of Sapnap, forced himself to stop wishing someone would just help him, save him, anything.
Deep down he wanted it. It being his old life back. The days where he and his best friends messed around, building the community house, laughing, feeling okay. He felt okay then. Like things would be alright. But as he sat, decaying in this cell, all he wished for was to vanish. For Quackity to just kill him. To finish it.
He shook as his breathing became unsteady once more, eyes tearing up as he slowly dragged his hands to his hair, fingers tugging at matted strands desperately.
Dream laughed quietly as he realized he wanted Quackity here at this point. Maybe he truly did deserve the pain, the torture, the harsh words as Quackity brought down his bat over and over again over Dream’s shaking body curled up on the floor, the pain as he sat in his own blood as the male laughed each time he left, the way his vision went in and out as he laid on the cold floor, quietly begging for someone, anyone, to help him.
Quickly he threw his head up, hearing the gears once more shift into position, watched as the security cams light shut off and he dragged in a shaky breath.
“Just get it over with,” he thought to himself, not daring to stand as the lava fell, knowing Quackity would take a disliking to him being anywhere else other than crumpled on the ground. “Maybe Sam will come in and help you after he leaves this time.” False hope etched his mind and he held his breath as another shadow entered his vision for the second time today, this time accompanied by weapons.
“Hello, Dream,” Quackity taunted, coming into full view and Dream sucked in a breath, dragging his bottom lip between his teeth and biting. Hard.
A smile cracked on the man's scarred face and Dream held himself up by his palms that were set firmly against the floor, staring at Quackity. He was unsure whether to look at the weapons or the man himself and settled on the ground.
“Aw, you’re shaking. Have you finally come to the common sense to be scared of me?” Slowly nodding his head, Dream let his hair curtain his face til he couldn’t see the raven. That was changed when Quackity grabbed the blonde by his throat roughly, slamming him into the wall from where he sat. Out of instinct, his hands reached up and clawed at the man's wrist, with what fingers remained, and tried to take in gulps of air, vision blurring for just a few seconds from the impact of his head on the wall.
“Look at me when you answer,” Quackity grit out, palm pressing harshly onto the blond's neck and he winced, eyebrows furrowing.
“I’m sorry,” he choked out.
“You will be.”
Dream slumped onto the floor and took in deep gulps of air, the oxygen piercing his lungs as if he hadn’t breathed properly in years. He held onto his throat with a gentle touch but that didn’t last long before a kick was administered straight to his torso. Crying out, he reached for anything he could, mouth open in a silent scream.
“So, how do we want to go about this today, hm?”
The blond dared to not look up at the man that kicked him, instead staring at his weapons as his eyes followed. Those made out of netherite glistened from their enchantments and the lava and usually he’d find it beautiful but now, he found it horrifying.
“You want me to beat the shit out of you, or do you feel like losing another limb?”
Nearly crying, Dream knew he had no real choice. One way or another he lost.
“Beat the shit out of you it is!” Quackity responded to the silence and Dream watched his fingers traced the outline of the bat's handle, a smile shown sadistically on his face. Silently, in his own mind, the male begged for someone or for this to end quickly. Shaking, he shifted so he was farther away from the wall and glanced at his clock.
“Just let time pass,” he thought in a desperate plea.
Without warning, a hit was made again on his torso. Gasping and instinctively grasping at the flesh, the male curled into himself, body strewn across the ground. Another hit and he was screaming, tears threatening to fall down his dirtied cheeks as he dug his forehead into the ground. He was screaming into the ground, hoping something took pity on him as hits were continuously brought down on him. Quackity didn’t stay in one place for long, eventually moving from his torso to his legs, to his arms and even once to his head. He almost passed out from the pain but unluckily for him, his body kept him awake.
Everything began to feel blurry and not real. Even as Quackity hit what he knew were weak spots and Dream stopped himself from holding back the tears. Or maybe he physically couldn’t anymore. They fell down his face in big, warm droplets, hitting the ground and sinking into it and Dream wished that were him.
Eventually, it stopped. It all came to a pause and Dream shifted his head in a slow turn, looking up at Quackity who stared in… horror? The blond felt confusion as he tried to ignore the aching pains throughout himself. Usually the man was never done this early but soon he was gone, watching Dream until the last second when the lava reappeared and silently, Dream laid on the ground, breathing shaky and grainy and he thought about why that happened.
Soon he realized that without consciously doing it, he had been screaming for Sapnap.