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𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 : 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

Eris bit back a wince, clenching her teeth tightly shut as George poured alcohol over her bleeding hand, the stinging sensation almost feeling worse than the glass that had pierced through it half an hour ago.

"Sorry." George mumbled absently as he kept his focus on the injured hand he held between his fingers, examining the wound closely as he dabbed at the corners of it with a white cloth, making sure it wouldn't get infected.

As the brunet continued to work on her hand, Eris' mind raced like a jaguar hunting down its prey, eating away at every rational and calm portion of her mind, only leaving other predators like paranoia to freely take over her mental state.

She had to leave. Now.

Even when she wanted to do anything but sit still, the faith of her injured hand, in the one's of her enemy, she remained rigid. She did not move a muscle as he continued to work.

His calloused but gentle hands, holding her arm like a precious possession, reminded her of the way Wilbur had bandaged her up so many times. The tiniest tingle flowed through the scar on Eris' eyebrow and a set of ghostly hands seemed to appear on her cheeks, the faint memory of Wilbur scolding her for being reckless as he simultaneously tried to console a crying Tommy haunting her mind.

Would he even care what was happening? She had been here for five days, and nobody had tried to find her. Maybe they did try, but maybe not.

Dream's words flashed through her mind like a taunting chant, telling her-, convincing her that they did not try. Some part of her believed it.

It had taken George around five minutes before he had bandaged up her hand after stopping most of the blood flow from the wound. He pulled back, standing up from his seated position in front of her.

Eris sat still on the white bed, watching his movements as he pulled back the wooden chair and put it back in his previous place, next to the table.

He stood in silence for a moment, staring down at the chair in front of him, like he was contemplating something, his lips pressed in a thin line.

"I'll check in tomorrow. Don't do anything stupid." He eventually said, meeting her stare for a fraction of a second before walking out of the door, locking it behind him.

The moment she couldn't hear the sound of his light footsteps down the hallway, she shot into action.

She had to leave. If they couldn't find their way to her, she would find her way to them herself.

Eris glanced around the room, scanning for potential escape routes. Unfortunately, there were none. The door was locked, she had tried to open it before, but whatever she did, it did not give way.

There were no windows in the bathroom, so that would also not be an option. Then, her eyes fell on the small bedroom window.

A plan formed in her head.

"Did I ever teach you how to escape handcuffs?" a man asked, looking over at a tired girl on the ground in front of him, leaning down slightly on the wooden sword he had placed on the ground.

The young girl sighed, before standing up and retrieving an identical sword from the ground next to her, "No, you haven't."

The pink-haired man nodded, repositioning his sword in front of him again, "Good."

The single word was his invitation for the young girl to attack him again, which she did.

As she swung at the man in front of her, he spoke up again, "If you ever find yourself in the situation where you need to get out of handcuffs, know that you can bend your body to your will under pressure."

The brunette grunted as he blocked another one of her blows, "What?"

This time, he attacked first, swinging his sword at the girl in a swift but elegant manner, knocking straight against the girl's hands, "Do you know why handcuffs work?"

The girl winced at the contact of the wood against her pale hands, before jumping away and sending a blow into the man's direction once more, "No, but I think you will tell me."

The pink-haired man smirked slightly, blocking the swing with ease, "The bone in your thumb is positioned outwards. That is the only thing that keeps you from getting out, it's quite a flawed system really."

The child rolled her eyes, "You're being vague again."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, the young girl was knocked from her feet, sent to the grass down below, which caught her fall softly, albeit awkwardly, the wooden sword was placed against her throat. She swallowed.

"Alright, I'll keep it simple for your little child brain then."

The girl pushed away the swords, a frown appearing on her soft features, "I'm not a child."

The man ignored the reply, instead rolling his eyes at the whiny voice of the girl, which to him, only proved his choice of wording, "If you pull your thumb back far enough, it can dislocate with enough pressure. If you do that, you can get out of handcuffs."

Instead of the grossed-out expression most people would expect when telling a child such a thing, the young girl only smiled, "Cool, does it work with other things?"

The man pulled his sword back, instead reaching out with his hand for the young brunette to take, "Sure, most things break under enough pressure."

The girl took his hand.

Eris stepped up on the bed, the white sheets turning a slight shade of grey as her black boots came in contact with them.

She rolled her shoulders, preparing for what she was about to do. Glancing over at the chair that now stood under the window, she knew what she had to do.

One last breath escaped her chapped lips before she jumped down, shoulder first.

She came in contact with the wooden floor with a nasty pop, which shot electricity down her shoulder and right arm. She had to resist the urge to scream as the electricity continued to pulse through her arms.

But Eris continued on. Pulling herself up by her good arm before hoisting herself up on the chair, looking out of the window.

It was fully dark outside. But this time, there hadn't been any clouds. A meek skyline of stars greeted her pain-stricken face as she made herself ready for another set of agonising pains.

Eris bent the dislocated shoulder, with her cheek caught between her teeth to keep her from crying out.

Tears fell from her eyes as she wiggled her way through the frame, just enough space to move through with her shoulder, before she let herself drop from the window, almost flying down in slow motion as she fell down, once again shoulder first.

With the luck of seven gods, Eris' shoulder popped back in its place as she landed on the ground, but with the pain that it brought with it, she couldn't fight back the scream that begged to escape her throat.

Every cell on her body was on fire as she pulled herself up once more, wiping her wet eyes with her good arm before running off into the sea of trees, letting herself drown in the darkness of the forest.

The only thing she could hear was her ragged breath and the leaves cracking underneath her feet as she ran, trying as hard as she could to ignore the pain in her shoulder, her only priority being to get as far from the damned house as possible.

If she could just grow enough distance between her and the building, they wouldn't be able to find her.

Then a shout was heard from beside her, and Eris could barely make out rays of light far in the distance.

"Shit."

The brunette skidded to a halt, weighing out her options. She could either try and climb a tree, or keep on running, hopefully disappearing between the trees.

She chose the latter.

Taking off swiftly in the opposite direction, she made sure to make as little noise possible while running.

Multiple shouts continued to chant behind her, seemingly far away, but the echoes of the quiet woods could be betraying. Eris was aware of that.

She continued to run for as long as she could, her legs and lungs screaming in protest as her body had grown significantly weaker over the last week.

Leaning her hands on her knees, she took a deep breath, capturing as much air in her lung as possible before exhaling shakily. She needed to find a place to hide, and fast.

She could still hear the faint shouts and screams behind her, yelling commands and names. How were they still so close?

Looking to her right, Eris spotted a tree that should've been easy to climb onto, and so she came to a halt again.

Reaching out with her left arm, she took a hold of a thick tree branch and hoisted herself up, trying to put as little pressure on her left one as possible, before repeating the action, climbing higher and higher into the tree.

Once Eris found herself to be safe enough, she let herself sink on another branch, a lot thinner, but still enough to support her weight, and so she let another sigh escape her lips, this one in relief. There would be no way that they could find her here.

Only now, Eris took the time to look up at the dark blue sky, dotted with white stars like freckles on a pale face. She tried to find any familiarity in the white dots, searching for patterns and formations, milky ways and constellations. But somehow, she found nothing.

Normally, she could navigate the stars with ease, Technoblade had taught her all he knew. But at that moment, her head spinning with pain and exhaustion, she could find nothing in the many freckles of the sky.

A frantic feeling of panic shot through her body at the inability to guide herself, her breathing becoming even more irregular as a result.

The brunette closed her eyes tightly shut as she held onto a branch above her, focusing on her breathing, heaving heavy breaths. In and out.

Once she gained the slightest bit of control over her body, a sudden overwhelming tiredness overtook her. Everything she put her body through seemed to slap back at her all at once, leaving her in yet another fight.

This one to keep her eyes open.

Even when she fought bravely, she could not keep up the battle, seeing as her horrible eating- and sleeping patterns had weakened her, leaving for her eyes to fall close again, drifting off in a wandering sleep.

"What happens when you break someone?"

"Someone?"

"Someone."

"They change-"

Birds chanting friendly tunes were the cause of Eris waking up, sitting up straight from her slouched position, she took in her surroundings. For a few seconds she couldn't remember where she was and she moved around frantically, almost losing her balance on the tree branch, before quickly balancing herself again.

An orange sun only just appeared over the treetops, caressing Eris' cheeks with a warm glow. For those first few moments of waking up, she couldn't remember anything that happened, the bliss of sleep keeping her ignorant from her reality, but as the memories slipped into her mind, a frown appeared on her face again.

After making sure that nobody was around, she lowered herself from the tree again, dropping onto the ground stealthily, only a few cracking branches heard as she came in contact with the ground.

Her stomach growled and seemed to turn inward, and that's when she remembered that she hadn't eaten in the last twenty-four hours, nothing at all.

She looked around again, observing her surroundings for any form of nutrition, but there was nothing in sight. That, beside the sound of water, trickling in the distance; a creek.

Eris started walking in the direction of the river, hoping to at least rid herself of the dehydration that made her vision sway.

After taking a left turn, she finally found the small creek and immediately rushed forward, dropping to her knees and taking as much water in her scarred hands.

She welcomed the cold water with all her might as she gulped down the liquid, ignoring her surroundings completely. It was only when she reached over to take a look at herself in the reflection of the clear water, she found the shadow of another figure next to her.

Eris whipped her head around, but was too late as a blunt object connected with the back of her head, sending her down to the ground.

She could only look up at her assailant, before losing consciousness, the sheer force of the hit being enough to black out her vision.

"I told you not to do anything stupid..."

__

What to do, what to do?

Everything hurt. Every joint and scar and wound hurt and Eris wanted to scream. She had woken back up on the plain white bed once more.

She had reached over to the back of her head, touching the agonising point of impact, only to retrieve a hand covered in partially-dried blood.

The sheer sight of it sent her into another panic. She was going to kill them all and get out.

Looking out of the window and back in the room, she noticed the sun shining directly in the frame.

With shaking hands and eyes of fury, she reached over to the glass shards and retrieved one of the few she had left, alongside the book George had given her.

She walked over to the path of sunlight that made its way onto the floor, before opening the book on the page she had left it and placing it on the ground.

Brows lowered in a frown, she started to work on the task at hand, aiming the glass to catch the light in such a way, she could send it to a particular spot on the paper, making sure it keeps aiming at one single place.

Mustering all the concentration she could, after a few minutes the left corner of the page started to give off the slightest bit of smoke, signalling Eris' success.

She continued onwards until the paper had caught fire completely, a distant smirk appearing on her lips.

Without any regards of safety or a real plan, she ripped off the piece of paper and another few pieces, setting them on fire as well, before throwing three of them on the bed and the others on the table.

It should be enough.

As Eris looked at the growing fire, she was brought back to the day she and Eret had burned down the embassy. Eret and her.

As smoke started to fill the room, so did in Eris' mind. His betrayal anew once again as she watched the fires licking the air around it.

She stood frozen, watching the heat rise around her, but strangely enough, it felt comforting to her. Instead of the stinging, burning sensation, she felt like the heat embraced her, holding her close in her unfortunate situation. A tear dropped down her cheek.

It was a few moments before somebody noticed. Smoke must have escaped the room via the window or underneath the door, but a shout was heard in the distance.

Eris was in a daze when the door unlocked behind her. The actions seemed distant to her, even when a hand wrapped tightly around her upper arm and pulled her back, dragging her out of the room.

The only thing that stuck out to her was a slight ringing in her ears and the distant sounds of shouting as she was dragged through the building, down two flights of stairs before she was harshly thrown against a wall and fell to the ground.

Only at the impact she was snapped out of her stare as she sat back up against the stone wall.

"What the actual fuck?" A voice spoke, and only now did Eris realise that Dream was the one who got her out of the room, "What is wrong with you?!"

Before she could answer, Dream reached over and roughly pulled her up by her collar, forcing her to face him, "Huh?! Do you know what you could have done?"

Eris stared back at him without a reply, the smoke in her head slowly poisoning her mind, causing another wave of fury to slow rise.

"Answer me!" Dream shouted, pushing her back against the wall, the tight grip he still held on Eris' collar making his knuckles turn white, "You could have killed all of us!"

Finally, the poison had hit its peak and Eris finally spoke up again, "I wish I did, you piece of shit!"

Then, in a last effort she swung at him, hitting him in the exact same spot she had once before, right under his exposed jaw.

Dream however didn't even seem to react to it, instead only tilting his head slightly, then looking away for a moment, "I told you not to challenge me."

The way the man spoke the words, made a shiver run down Eris' spine, even when she made sure it went unnoticed.

"I told you not to defy me, and yet you did once again."

"Good."

The reply was rendered foolish as Dream let go of her collar, only to take a grip of her jaw instead, his fingers digging into her cheeks, "I hope you're happy."

"I hope you're happy with yourself, Melody."

All coloured drained from Eris' face and the small smirk she held on her features faltered, "What-, h-how?"

Dream hummed, tightening his grip on her jaw slightly, finding a seeming satisfaction in her reaction, "Surprised?"

Eris just stared up at him, feeling smaller than she ever had, even smaller than she had been when she had last been called that name.

"How did you know?"

The masked man chuckled, "I know everything I need to."

"Something I also know is that you keep taking advantage of my hospitality. Even after I've given you a spacious room with a bed, window, your own bathroom and even some form of entertainment, because don't you think for a second that I didn't notice the book George has given you, you still have to go and be an annoying little bitch. I trusted you to behave and you couldn't, so now I'm going to make sure you aren't going anywhere."

Only then he finally let go of her, and the state of shock she was in made her knees buckle and she slowly slid to the ground as Dream stepped back towards the exit of the stone room.

"Before I forget," Dream chimed, turning around once more.

Eris looked up, eyeing the man with foggy eyes as he reached into his pocket before retrieving a blue object from it. He tossed it to the ground in front of her.

"I know everything."

With that he walked out of the room, locking it behind him.

Eris' throat tightened as she looked at the object before her with such pain, she thought she was going to suffocate, before reaching over and taking the object in her arms.

For the first time since her abduction, she cried. Strangled sobs left her lips as she pulled up her knees to her chest, holding on dearly to her father's hat once more. 

____

I AM BACK AND I FINISHED MY FINALS AAAAAAAAAAAH - for real tho i'm so sorry for taking so long to upload, but i just did not have the time, at all. but from now on, expect them bi-daily updates! bc i also want to work on other books (which will come out sometime in the future ;])

i hope you guys like this chapter, bc it took so long to write lmao - please leave a comment or vote bc it really helps me out :]

ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTHS YOU LOVELY FUCKS <3333333

love you all lots,
blue