↚The Pig's Shadow | Dream x Reader | Slowburn ↛

Chapter 16: Empty Shells and- WHY IS THE RIVER BURNING

Wow, making titles is becoming really fun. :D

You awoke to a KILLER headache, lying on something extremely hard and uncomfortable, probably your cot. Once the world stopped spinning, you slowly sat up, blinking rapidly to clear the blurriness. The torches outside of the cell had been replaced, but they were pulsing in and out of fuzziness like strobe lights. It didn't help that the sun outside had somehow been replaced with a flashing disco ball of pure pain to your eyeballs.

"Oh look, here we are again," a voice outside the cell drawled. You slowly turned to see a lime green figure, half-blob, half-human. You rolled your eyes, winced, and rubbed them.

"Wish I could say it's nice to see you, but I wouldn't want to lie," you hissed back, massaging your temples. "Wow, the effects of George's Weapon-Of-Choice are SO much worse this time," you groaned. "What's even in that thing, anyways?"

Dream snorted. "A lot of spider guts. Enjoy falling asleep knowing that's on your clothing." He stood, bringing out a set of keys. "But I'm not here to answer all your questions." He unlocked the door and you stood warily, eyeing his sword nervously. "Come with me."

You rolled your eyes but followed him out of the cell and down the hall. You passed one doorway and glimpsed Sapnap inside. For one awkward moment, the two of you maintained an extremely uncomfortable eye contact, but then Dream was grabbing your wrist and yanking you along. Finally, you came to the main room, where Dream pulled out a single chair and gestured to it.

"Sit down." He said, his tone leaving no room for debate.

Of course, you debated anyways.

"Or what?" you spat at him, annoyed. One second Dream was standing in front of you, the next he was behind you, sword against your neck, tip digging into your skin.

"Ooooooor I kill you." You could feel the soles of your feet and the palms of your hands prickle with a panic you were barely suppressing. You took another shuddering breath, gulping down air as Dream shoved the blade deeper into your skin. Dream laughed, a dark noise which was straight nightmare fuel. "I said sit down." You slowly closed your eyes, shoving the blade away. The tip of the sword sliced a thin line of pain and blood in your skin, and you winced in pain. Muttering a curse, you stomped over and flopped down in the chair, glaring at the masked man.

"Happy?" you growled at him. Slowly, a sickeningly sadistic grin spread upon the bottom of his face.

"Oh yes," he said softly. "I am."

->->->->O<-<-<-<-

Over the next few days, Dream kept asking you to do small, meaningless things, threatening you if you didn't comply. You learned to just save yourself the time and do whatever he said. Slowly, the actions grew larger. Taking a loaf of bread, killing a rare (and innocent) pink sheep, even burning the invis pot Fundy had given you.

It was unnerving to see that, over time, you stopped caring what the action was and simply do it. At this point, Dream could probably tell you to kill Technoblade and you'd do it without hesitation.

Except, of course, Technoblade never dies.

George PoV

Over the two weeks, George noticed a notably significant change in Shadow. She'd sit, unmoving, on her cot, for hours at a time, staring at the wall. Her speech became more monotonous and unemotional, and her eyes lost their spark. In short, Shadow had become less human and more shell. On the eighth day, George stopped Dream in a corridor.

"Dream, what the hell is going on?" George said angrily. Dream looked back impassively, the mask staying in the same cold smiley face.

"Whaddya mean, George?" Dream replied, cocking his head to one side.

George rolled his eyes. "With SHADOW! What the hell are you doing to her? Threatening her with DEATH to get her to do whatever you want?"

Dream smirked. "One way of putting it." He paused. "But another reason is the fact that she's so very terrified of dying but tries so hard to hide it. You could probably just mention it and she'd have a panic attack." He slowly turned to his friend. "Besides, I thought you and Sap were done being friends with her. I mean, she literally said she was using you."

"Believe me, she's burned that bridge," George sighed.

"More than that!" Sapnap said, popping out from a doorway. "She burned down the river too!"

"AH SAPNAP WHAT THE HECK-" George screamed, making Sapnap laugh. "Where did you COME FROM?"

Sapnap gestured to the arch behind him. "Uh, my room? Where else?"

George blinked. "How does one burn a river down?"

Sapnap grinned, screamed "Let's go find out!", and proceeded to jump out the nearest window.

George walked over to the window and craned his head out. "So, he's dead. Anyways."

->->->->O<-<-<-<-

Your PoV

Approximately nine days after your failed escape attempt, you were sitting on the main couch, staring into space and thinking about how much you craved potatoes (No joke, I do this a lot except with popcorn because I'm too lazy to go make popcorn so I just sit there making myself miserable when I could be making myself popcorn. Incredibly fun, you should try it.) when a loud and familiar meow came from your left. You turned to see Patches for the first time since your reimprisonment.

"Hey, you," you said softly, standing up and picking up the flabby tabby. "Where've you been, you fat potato?" Patches meowed, climbing up your shoulder. You winced at the little pinpricks as the claws dug in but boosted the cat up onto your shoulders. (Oh look, even more things I've done before.) Once the tabby had settled herself comfortably, you started walking down back to your cell.

As you passed one of the rooms, you heard voices and glanced inside. There, two men were standing, talking. One of them was facing away, but the other (Dream) looked up as you approached, annoyed.

"Shadow, what do you want." He growled slowly. The other man paused and slowly turned around. For a brief moment, neither of you recognized the other. Suddenly, the man's eyes widened.

"Y/N?" Schlatt whispered.

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1042 words

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Wow, guess who had zero motivation to write today?

I'm sorry it's a trash 'filler' chapter, but I just want to eat popcorn and sleep right now. But yAy, plot is coming along....

Aight, I'ma go take a freaking nap.

TA TE CHILDREN