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𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 : 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬

Quiet whispers.

"What even happened?"

"What?"

"What did you do?"

"George, it was an accident, I swear."

"She could have been dead."

Silence.

"I know."

Silence again.

It took a long time before Eris could pull out of her heavy, unconscious state. Her body felt heavy and sore as she grew conscious of her rising and falling chest. She felt like a damaged old machine, rusty gears grinding against one another in an attempt to keep her body alive.

Some of the rust came off and she coughed, groaning afterwards at the shocking ache that ran through her limbs because of it.

Rustling was heard from her side, which made her open her eyes slowly, scanning the lowly lit room around her.

She was in a room she hadn't been in before, not that she could remember anyways, but still the furniture held a familiar feeling to them, she couldn't explain it.

The crackling of wood burning in a fireplace caught her attention and she turned her head, making sure to do it as slowly as she could, as to prevent the aching in her body.

The cautiousness faltered quickly however as she spotted an all too familiar figure on a chair next to the fireplace, their black dots eyeing her down with their blank stare.

Immediately, she sat up straight and moved back slightly, the movement making her grimace.

"You're finally awake."

Eris frowned, "Where am I? What happened?"

Dream closed the book he was holding and put it to the side, before leaning forward slightly, rubbing his hands together, "My room. At the bridge; you fell in the water. Turns out you actually weren't lying about the water thing. You had hypothermia."

The brunette was puzzled for a moment, memories not immediately coming back to her. But soon they did and her frown towards the man in front of her lifted slightly, she opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by another piece of rust lodging in her throat, which made her fall into a fit of coughing.

The movement gave her a splitting headache, which made her lay back down again, resting her head against the soft pillows for support.

She hadn't realised that Dream had moved closer, who now stood next to her with a glass of water, "How are you feeling?"

As he said the words, he held out the glass in front of Eris, who eyed it with confusion in her eyes, before looking up at Dream with a new frown, "Why do you care?"

Dream still held out the glass of water but was quiet for the tiniest of moments, taken aback by the distant tone of the words, before straightening his shoulders, "You're no use to me if you're sick, that's all."

Eris huffed, before settling down into the bed further, making her refusal for the drink clear. She still felt cold. Not as freezing cold as before, but still pretty cold.

Dream sighed and put the glass down on the small table next to the bed, before turning his back to her and making his way to the door, muttering something Eris couldn't make out.

He closed the door behind him, but to Eris' surprise, she didn't hear the familiar sound of the lock of the wooden door falling into its place; that was new.

Eris stared at the door for a good minute, making sure he wouldn't come back, before reaching over to the table and picking up that glass of water, drinking from it with small sips.

The liquid cold refreshed her system, making her drink faster before the entire glass was empty. The water worked as oil on her rusted gears and she cleared her throat, one of her many discomforts falling away.

Still, she felt far from good. While she felt cold, she could feel the sweat that ran down her back and seeped into her clothes. Her limbs still ached and her head hurt.

She reached her hand to her forehead, but it didn't feel as warm as she would have expected, still it was hotter than probably would be healthy.

Then a knock was heard on the door and George appeared in the hallway with a small tray of food, "Dream said you were finally awake."

"How long was I out for?"

George set down the tray, before making eye contact with Eris, "About three days. You kind of woke up once, but you were just speaking gibberish and went back to sleep."

Eris huffed. She didn't remember any of that.

"Dream made you some food. It's just some soup and fruit, but that's probably the best thing you should eat for now." George continued, picking up the tray again and gesturing for Eris to sit up straight again, before placing the wooden tray in her lap, "Can I check your temperature?"

"Sure." Eris replied, picking up, and examining a strawberry with a particularly angular shape, twisting it around between her fingers.

George lifted his pale hands to her forehead, holding it there for a moment, before lowering his hand again, shaking his head, "You still have a fever."

"I'm aware."

The brunet huffed, "Glad to see your attitude is back, always a delight."

Munching on a piece of bread, she shot George a small smirk, before the sparkle in her eyes dimmed again, "How bad was it?"

George's lips straightened into a thin line, "It was bad. We weren't sure if you were going to make it through that first night."

The brunette lowered the piece of bread, realising that her gut feeling about the end being close was far too close to the truth, "Fuck."

"You got us pretty worried. Eret freaked out when he came back and I don't think Dream has left your side once."

Eris huffed, crossing her arms, "That's bullshit. I'm just a prisoner. He doesn't care about me. He just doesn't want to deal with a dead body."

Why would he care?

"Well, I was worried." George then admitted, after standing up, making his way over to the dresser, "That's not bullshit. Are you still cold?"

Eris shot the brunet an apologetic smile, before nodding, regretting her misplaced outing of anger.

George pulled out a fur rug from the dresser before closing it again and making his way back over to the bed, placing it next to Eris, as she still had the tray in front of her.

"I have to go. By the looks of it, I think it would be best if you stayed in bed for another day or two at least to make sure you're really healthy again. If you need anything, just shout."

A sudden pit fell in Eris' stomach, her already declining appetite evaporating on the spot, "George?"

"Yeah?"

Eris looked up at him as he was already almost out of the door, but he had turned to face her again at the mention of his name, "Do I need to go back to that room?"

George froze in his place for a moment, "I-, uh, I don't know, I'm sorry."

And with that he was gone, leaving Eris to her thoughts.

Anxiety riddled her body at the thought of going back to that dreaded place, she'd rather die on the spot.

Not wanting to spare the space another thought, she continued to eat slowly, making sure that the sudden nutrition wouldn't make her throw up.

Dream had saved her from drowning. Why did he do that? He hated her-, she hated him too. Still, he risked his own life to jump into the freezing river after her. She didn't remember much after walking onto that bridge, which certainly did not help her puzzled state.

Suddenly, she felt like she had eaten far too much, and so she put the wooden tray to the side, instead placing the fur over her already multi-layered set of blankets, trying to catch the smallest air of extra warmth.

George said she had to stay in bed for the next two days, which actually didn't sound too bad to Eris, who started to long for sleep again.

That, unfortunately, was until the implications of sleeping-, and so dreaming, came to her. Hell, she knew she wasn't going to be falling asleep anyways when she was on her own.

She silently cursed herself for her childish behaviour, lowering herself into the set of blankets and forcing her eyes shut tightly.

Forcing out sleep in this way was useless, she knew that, but still she tried.

Some time went by like that, George didn't end up bringing the books, or maybe he was still busy.

Eris groaned in frustration, leaning her head back even further in her pillows. Why couldn't she just sleep the time away?

Her eyes still shut, and blankets wrapped around her, she looked unconscious to the outside world, so when she heard the sound of the familiar light, but confident footsteps, she was surprised.

The footsteps came closer to her, until they came to a halt next to the bed. The brunette pretended she was asleep, the reason why she did that was unknown, even to herself.

There was a silence for a moment, before the footsteps retreated again.

Eris waited some time before slowly opening her eyes, to see if he was still in the room.

And to her surprise, Dream was sitting in the corner of the room, the same chair next to the fireplace as he had sat in before, the only difference being that a different book than before was placed in his hands.

Eris quickly closed her eyes again, not wanting to let him know she was awake.

Why was he there?

Dream's change in behaviour confused Eris to no end, but she decided that she didn't mind his presence in the room, at least she wasn't alone.

The only reason she allowed him to stay there was so she could fall asleep. Under any other circumstance she would have told him to piss off of course.

Her head grew heavier and her thoughts hazed until she found herself drifting into the unconscious world, the fear of bad dreams and memories pushed aside for the sweet relief of sleep.

The two days went by fairly quickly. What George had said about Dream practically never leaving her side was true, every time she appeared to be asleep, he joined her side, walking up to her every once in a while, to seemingly check up on her, before going back to his chair and continuing reading. On the second night, she even found the masked man to be asleep in the chair himself, the book he must have been holding fallen into his lap as he snored lightly. George had chuckled when he saw and placed a blanket over him as well.

The whole atmosphere was strange to Eris. There was little to no animosity between her and her captors. So little in fact that, at moments, she forgot that they were in fact her captors in the first place. The realisation made her angry, but she temporarily dismissed it, blaming her sickness for her foolish thoughts.

She had spent her days either sleeping, reading, or talking to George for small periods of time. She really started to grow fond of the brunet. He somewhat reminded her of the soft ways Tubbo could speak to her. Oh, how she missed him.

Eris was pulled from her thoughts by the door opening. She tuned back into the living world and realised she had been staring at a random page of her book for an unknown amount of time. So instead, she lifted her head to find Dream standing in front of her, the dots staring back at her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better." Eris replied.

Dream nodded, walking over to the side of Eris' bed and standing still in front of her.

He reached over to her forehead and checked her temperature. She let him.

"George already said I was fine; I don't have a fever anymore." Eris confirmed, recoiling ever so slightly at the cold touch.

"Just wanted to check." The masked man mumbled in reply, lowering his hand again after he was satisfied with the temperature of her forehead.

Then it was quiet for a moment, an uncomfortable thickness hanging in the air between the two.

That, until Dream spoke up again.

"I got you something." Dream began, after clearing his throat. He reached to his side to get something from under the signature green cloak he wore, holding the object in his hands, "I went back to the bridge and retrieved it for you."

He then handed her the blue hat. The smallest of smiles appeared on Eris' face, which she tried to shield away from his gaze, clutching the item between her fingers.

"Oh," She muttered, not knowing how to properly respond. She wasn't good at this, "Thank you."

She looked up at Dream, who nodded in reply before he walked out of the door. But before he completely disappeared, he turned around again, "Before I forget. You can go outside if you want. Eret will escort you."

Then he was gone.

Nothing made sense to Eris. The conversation and the happenings of the last days repeated in her mind as she walked down a dirt path in the forest. Eret in tow a good ten metres behind her, per her demand.

Her icy blue eyes scanned the trees and plants around her, the nature soothing her nervous and confused mind. She felt a little funny as she walked, her steps a little wobbly by the lack of movement and the fatigue that still haunted her brain and body.

Eret had been silent the whole walk, not wanting to disturb the brunette in fear of her reaction. It wasn't until Eris sat down in a field of daisies, the tall brunet spoke up from behind her, "Eris?"

Eris' eyes were still closed to take in the sun that shone on her face, finally warming up her body, but a small scowl appeared on her features, "What?"

"I'm sorry."

Eris sighed, resting her head on her propped-up knees, before responding, "I do not care."

A sigh was heard from behind her as well, "I know. I just wanted you to know."

Silence.

The sun didn't feel as welcoming to Eris anymore so instead, she opened her eyes, scanning the valley she found herself in. It was all covered in daisies and other white flowers she did not know the names of. Up until Eret's words, she would have felt peaceful at the beautiful sight.

She reached for a particularly small daisy and picked it from its stem, examining the flower in her hands.

"I have some news." Eret spoke up again.

Eris debated telling the brunet to shut up, but she decided against it, instead she kept looking at the young flower in front of her.

Eret took the silence as permission to continue, "Uh-, Tommy..."

Eris held her breath.

"..He's made it through. He's alive."

The breath escaped shakily, and Eris smiled, still looking at the flower in front of her. She couldn't comprehend her thoughts and a lonely tear travelled down her cheek.

Tommy was alive.

____
A/N:

ya girl's vaccinated wooooooooo - finally part of the 5G gang let's go

also - you guys proud? 3 chapters? ten-ish days? huh - i'm basically a writing god at his point.

i really wanted to thank all of you for the 35k reads- i forgot to tell you guys how much i appreciate all of you. the amount of reads and super kind comments make my day and really push me to keep writing and becoming better at it as well- so thank you, truly :]

you're worth it,
blue