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𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐭𝐰𝐨: 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠

At some point, after a long silence, Eris and George headed back to the cabin, both worn out by the strenuous task of gardening, not to mention their little incident with the apple tree.

Once they appeared on the doorstep again, George turned to the brunette next to him.

"Give me your cloak," He whispered hastily, reaching his hands out.

Eris raised an eyebrow in reply, "Why?"

"Sapnap will literally murder you if he saw what you did-, just give it."

The girl nodded, unclasping the cloak and dropping it in his hands just in time for the black-haired man himself to open the door.

George managed to fold the object behind his back just quickly enough, sending the man in front of him a toothy grin.

Sapnap narrowed his eyes, lazy traces of sleep still visible on his features, "What'd you do?"

George shrugged innocently, still holding the cloak behind his back, "Nothing."

In reply, Sapnap just rolled his eyes, before turning to Eris, who had a hard time keeping her mouth in a straight line.

The previously narrowed eyes were now turned into a glare as his amber eyes came in contact with icy-blue ones, which was promptly returned, their contrasting hues clashing.

"Why is she outside?" Sapnap grumbled, not taking his eyes off Eris, arms now crossed over his chest.

"Because I needed her help in the garden?" George replied slowly, tones of question in his voice like he was confused by the words, "Is that a problem for you?"

"Yes."

It was now George's turn to roll his eyes, "Stop being such a big baby, Sapnap."

"I'm not being a baby!" He said in reply, finally averting his eyes from Eris' stare down, with a raised voice that resembled a whine more than anything, which was very amusing to Eris, to say the least.

She couldn't stop herself from letting a chuckle leave her mouth.

"Shut the fuck up!" The black-haired man growled, raising his finger in warning to Eris, who held up her hands in fake surrender, continuing to laugh soundlessly.

George himself let out a chuckle as well, before taking a step forward, up the first step of the little porch, subtly turning his back away from Sapnap to hide the filthy cloak he held behind his back, "Well, we should go inside, time for breakfast."

Eris moved to follow the brunet as he started to walk, but she was promptly stopped in her tracks by a hand on her shoulder.

"Hold on," Sapnap grumbled, not matching the glare Eris sent him as he instead glanced at George, whose face fell into one of confusion

"Dream wants to see her," Sapnap added.

The confusion on George's face made place for a frown and he rolled his eyes, before turning around and walking inside.

Now it was Eris' turn to feel confused, the cryptic wording and glances playing a big part in that. She pushed the hand on her shoulder to the side, taking a step backward from the man that stood in front of her.

"What the fuck does he want?" She questioned, repositioning the hat that was placed on her hair subconsciously.

The man shrugged dismissively, "Just follow me."

She guessed it wasn't time for breakfast.

Glaring daggers into the back of Sapnap's head, she trailed behind him as he led the way down one of the dirt paths again, the same one she knew would take them to the horses.

Eris turned out to be correct, they did end up at the stables, but instead of coming to a halt, as she had presumed, they continued to walk down the path.

Taking her eyes from the white bandana, Eris instead opted to look around. They were swallowed by a thick forest, the only thing that made it possible to navigate was the dirt patches they walked upon. It was a nice day, the morning cold had faded into a soft breeze that prevented her from getting too warm, as the sun trailed between the cracks of the treetops.

Soon enough, Sapnap came to a halt. Eris, still in thought, almost bumped into his back, but she caught herself just in time to prevent such a disaster.

"Took you long enough." A voice started from behind Sapnap. Eris took a step to the side to find the person connected to the voice, and sure enough, the two familiar black dots stared right into her soul.

Sapnap huffed, "Couldn't find her. George apparently took her to the garden."

The mask tilted slightly to the side, almost unnoticeable, but it was enough to intrigue Eris as she eyed the man in front of her carefully.

"Why am I here?" She ended up questioning as Dream approached the two.

"Well," He started, a wooden sword placed in his hands, "It's time for you to get back some of your strength. You look like a stick, we can't have a weak link on our team."

Eris looked down at her arms, the slender limbs ridden of all previous definition. The cause of her loss standing right in front of her. She looked back up, glaring, "I'm not weak."

A sudden push to the shoulder refuted her statement as she lost her balance. She fell back onto the grass, shock written on her features momentarily before she frowned again.

A chuckle was heard from behind her. She whipped her head around to see Sapnap sitting down on a tree stump, laughing at the scene in front of him.

She repositioned her head once more, tilting the front of the cap downwards to hide the glow that displayed on her cheeks in pure embarrassment.

What the hell has happened to her?

A dry chuckle was heard from in front of her and she looked up to meet Dream again, who had his arms crossed around his chest, the wooden sword sheathed against his side.

"Sure," he replied, "I want to train you, get you back in shape."

"Why?" Eris questioned, still puzzled as she still sat on the floor, arms propped up behind her for support.

The masked man stood still for a second before shrugging, seemingly dismissing the question. Instead, he put out his hand in front of him for Eris to take.

"You want to train or not?"

Eris felt in no position to say no. It was either this or going back to the house and doing nothing. Plus, she really needed to get her strength back.

She hesitated for a moment, eyeing the gloved hand in front of her, before sighing.

She slapped away the hand, before standing up on her own.

No visible reaction could be observed from the masked man, he just retreated his hand and instead placed it on the sheathed sword.

"Good." He finally said, taking a step back and turning around, fetching another sword that leaned against a nearby tree.

Only now, Eris took the opportunity to figure out her surroundings. She was in a little clearing of the forest. Sunlight fell down from above, lighting the whole area in a vibrant hue. It honestly reminded her of L'Manberg's training area.

Memories flashed. Eris shook her head to snap out of it.

"Catch."

Eris looked up just in time to catch the object flung in her direction. She caught it with a little more effort than should be necessary, but still, she did.

Looking down she noticed the detailing on the wooden sword in her hands, or rather, the lack thereof. It was just two different carved sticks stuck together with a tight rope construction. It looked silly, but yet still well-made.

Dream tapped the floor with his sword, trying to earn Eris' attention, which it did. She observed as the man repositioned himself to take a combative stance, sword raised in Eris' direction.

She mirrored him, the familiar thrill of a fight fueling her tired limbs with a fire she had long yearned for, a smirk displaying on her lips.

"Don't worry," Dream said, head once again tilted slightly to the side, "I'll go easy on you."

And with that he made his first move, slashing his sword forward, aimed at Eris' side, which she blocked with relative ease. She returned the blow with a swing of her own, this time aimed at Dream's legs, he caught that one as well.

Slowly moving around, throwing blows at one another and catching each other's swords time and again, Eris began to grow fatigued quickly, her body not used to the strain.

Dream must have noticed and threw a quick blow to her side.

Eris was too late to react and the wood came in contact with her side, sending her to the ground with a thud.

She laid there for a moment, head pressed against the grass as she heaved, trying to fuel her body with oxygen.

"Come on, get up." Dream taunted from behind her, and she quickly rose to her feet again, swinging the sword in her hands forward with all her might. But once again, Dream caught it with his own, and so they continued their combative dance.

Time after time Dream managed to get a hit in, throwing her off balance or completely sending her to the ground countless times, but every time, Eris got back up and tried again, pushing her recovering body to its absolute limit.

Frustration in her grew, and so did her sloppiness, which only fuelled her anger more. Dream's taunting remarks and Sapnap's snide comments didn't help. She felt like fire.

One particularly painful and unnecessary blow to her thigh sent her over the edge as she fell to the ground again.

Her hair a tangled mess with her hat laying by her side, having fallen off long ago, she reached over to the sword in front of her, before flinging the wooden object in Dream's direction hitting him against the shin.

He cursed and Eris took the moment to charge again and jumped up, pushing him over until she lay on top of him, taking his sword from his loosened grasp and placing it against his next.

She heaved as she held the object there, "I win."

The masked man huffed before Eris was pushed to the side and suddenly Dream leaned on top of Eris, the wooden sword now pressing against her neck, "Are you sure about that?"

Eris' lips pressed into a thin line. Gods, why must she be so stupid and weak.

Eris pushed against the hold but was trapped in place by the sword that pressed down on her neck and shoulders.

"Didn't know you were one to play dirty, Melody." Dream cooed sarcastically, hovering dangerously close to her face, the combination of her name and his action working like the gasoline to her already burning veins, "but then again, I shouldn't have expected more from someone related to such scum."

That was too much. Eris could take an insult to her name, but one to Techno? To L'Manberg? That was too far.

So she did the only thing she could do in her predicament.

She leaned back, glaring deeply before spitting on the damned mask, "Fuck you."

The action made Dream lean back, immediately wiping the spit from his mask to prevent it from slipping through the crack of the porcelain, which also happened to be created by Eris.

She took this as her moment to escape and leaned forward, pushing Dream back even further to try and escape from his grasp, but his reaction was too quick and he immediately pushed her down again, "You little bitch."

Eris just smirked in reply, she had finally pushed Dream's buttons.

The wooden sword was let go off and instead, Dream took hold of Eris' jaw, nails digging into her cheeks as he leaned over her, "I try to do something nice for you, help you, and all you can do in reply is disrespect me. I am the one who let you out of that room. I can easily throw you back in."

She truly had expected a hit, a slap, she would even have been content with a fist to the face, but unfortunately for her words tended to inflict more threat than any physical violence could.

Eris stilled, "No. Please."

The word escaped her throat in a desperate whisper, wide eyes looking up at the black dots above her.

"Thought so." Dream replied, victory laced through his vowels as he leaned back, letting go of Eris' jaw.

He stood up and pulled the brunette with him, who protested only slightly, careful to not upset the man further. When they were upright, however, Eris pushed Dream away, desperate for his hands to stop touching her arms.

She walked backward, eyes big and glazed over ever so slightly before she picked up the hat from the ground and put it back on her head, shielding her eyes.

"You're a fucking monster," Eris spoke quietly, staring down the black dots, before turning her back and walking away.

She noticed Sapnap's cautious glances to Dream but stayed still as Eris passed him, her eyes cast to the ground.

She wanted to get out of there.

Eris expected to be followed, be called back, but she was left alone. And so she made her way back to the house, instead of going inside, however, she walked down a different path, the one she knew would lead her to the daisy field.

Once there she let herself drop to the ground, the tears pricking behind her eyes and throat tightening, but she refused to show emotion, instead opting to pick a daisy from the ground and clutching it to her chest, looking over the valley.

She wished she had her compass with her. She needed to see where he was. She needed him.

And that was the exact reason why she didn't cry.

Closing her eyes, she let the wind caress her cheeks and soothe her mind, the early summer breeze singing a soft lullaby to distract her from her troubled state.

Then the lullaby was gone, instead of the soft wind, the crunching of leaves was heard behind her and she opened her eyes again to find Eret standing behind her.

"I thought you would be here." He began softly, a small bag placed over his shoulder.

Eris turned around again, not wanting to face the brunet, "I don't want you here."

A sigh, "I know."

The brunette pulled up her legs to her chest, resting her head on top of her knees. She really wanted him to leave, she wanted to be alone. But still, she didn't want to be alone. Eris desperately needed a friend.

"I brought you some food. George said you didn't have breakfast." Eret began again, now standing beside Eris, his tall figure looming above her.

Eris looked up at him for a moment, a questioning glare displayed in her eyes, before nodding ever so slightly.

He slowly sat down beside her and opened his bag, revealing two sandwiches. He handed her one.

She took it wordlessly, returning her gaze to the valley in front of her.

Silence overtook them, the wind returning to sing her beautiful song.

After a while Eris sighed, her heavy heart too hurt to be carried by her own body, "I miss Techno."

Eret was visibly surprised by the softly spoken words and he turned the brunette, his wide eyes replaced with caring ones, "I know."

Eris' breath hitched and she took another bite of the sandwich to hide it. Letting a silence fall over them once again.

This silence, however, was more comfortable, the tangible tension that hung between them previously had dispersed, making way for a more familiar quiet that did more to Eris than she would like to admit. Immediately she was being transported back in her memories to the endless hours the two had spent together in silence, where Eret would be reading and Eris practiced perfecting whatever weapon she picked up. She missed it.

It took a long time before the two returned to the house. George welcomed them with a lazy smile as he was previously sleeping on one of the couches of the living room. Sapnap had only arrived later that night precisely around the time Eret was done with preparing the dinner for that night.

Eris had spent the rest of the day in her room, mostly laying down and trying to sleep as the training with Dream had absolutely drained her body. But of course, the needed sleep never came. So instead she opted to stare at the ceiling above her, counting every single discolouration she could find.

Dream didn't appear at dinner, or the entire evening for that matter. Eris sat silently at the dinner table outside of the house as Sapnap and George chatted, taking jabs at one another with Eret occasionally chiming in.

After that, Eris retreated to her room again, letting herself fall back onto the bed once more, eyes tightly shutting.

"Just let me sleep."

She sighed.

Eventually, after an eternity, light started to show through Eris' window and soon she was 'awoken' by a groggy George who took her out to the gardens again.

It was a complete rendition of the day before, besides the apple incident of course.

Eris was tired, the sleep deprivation evident in her eyes as she trailed behind George as they walked back to the house, where she was stopped once more, deja vu running through her veins as Sapnap led her through the woods to the training area again.

But, as she had expected the masked man to be there, only a wooden sword on the ground was the thing she was met with.

"Lucky you," Sapnap started, turning to Eris with a smug smile displayed on his lips, "Dream's gone, so I'll be the one to train with you."

Eris' shoulders slumped subconsciously as a sigh escaped her lips.

Well, this is going to be fun.

____
A/N:

aha I have returned aha - sorry

my motivation is just as my will to live- constantly stagnating (for legal reasons this is a joke)

Is there anything you would like to know about the story or one of the characters? I would be happy to answer some questions :] a little Q&A if u will

anyways I'm going to continue writing so you guys can have a new chapter soon

much love,
blue