The sky was a dusty black color, a chilling draft was flowing through the air. There in a small clearing in the woods stood a emerald eyed man, grasping the hilt of his sword that had ruby red blood dripping off it. He took one last glance around the area to make sure that it was clear. he started to walk, the bloodstained grass crunching below him.

"Hate to break it to you, but im still alive." a voice emerged from behind. A spike of fear shot up his body forcing him to snap around just about blocking a dagger aimed for his heart. he lunged towards the figure, slashing the face of the enemy. "Miss me dream?" chuckled philza, Dream managed to fling him against one of the spruce trees surrounding them. His sword was immediately against the winged man's throat, drawing a singular line of deep crimson blood.
"Go to hell" grumbled Dream.

"Without you?" philza sarcastically questioned before disappearing.

Dream rolled his eyes and brought his attention to the large gash on his mask. It had almost got split in two while he was trying to fight off philzla He had multiple wounds, the worst one was a slit starting at the top of his left eyebrow going through his eye and ending at the middle of his jaw, he acquired this while Phil was trying to pry off his mask.

He cleant himself up when he got back to the house, removing any stubborn dry blood that stuck to his skin. He inspected the scar running through his face, only slightly wincing while he cleaned it. The pain didn't bother him, after all it would take a lot to hurt him hed had his fair share of battles. He spent the rest of the night planning and observing blueprints of manburg.

A tall black-haired man approached him from behind. this man had eyes like fire, they glowed a bright orange with small flames in them.

"Oh, hello sapnap" said Dream still focused on mapping out exits.

sapnap leant on the table dream was working at.

" Still working on those blueprints, huh?" he sighed "are you sure were going to be able to do this?"

"positive" dream replied sternly. "if we can't kill schlatt nobody can" he added.

Dream sounded confident in himself, but Sapnap could tell that deep down dream was nervous. The sound of metal clashing on an anvil could be distantly heard. Bad was in the next room sharpening blades and arrows. He wore mostly black with red accents. Sapnap and Dream both worked into early morning mapping out escape routes.

"The 16th" dream mumbled quietly to himself. He was now sitting atop a tree holding his axe "nightmare" in one hand while silently monitoring the city he hoped to conquer from a distance. They were planning to attack on the 16th, so they had roughly two weeks to prepare. Nightmare was glistening in the moonlight. He had spent too many nights just sitting here and endlessly staring at the place he wished to tear down. Their president schlatt was the worst part of it.

God, Dream wanted to tear every inch of that man to shreds. Even the thought of him was infuriating. Wilbur the former president and his brother Tommy were both people Dream needed to capture, not for any reason in particular except bribery. Dream loved being in control of everything and anything. "if I can control the things people are attached to, I can control the world again" was once something he had said while threatening tubbo in front of tommy. This memory made dream laugh. There was two sides to the masked man, one which longed for control and power the other just wanted to live life alone with no war, no hatred, no regrets, just peace. But he knew it could never be that way no matter what he did, he would always have people that wanted him dead.

Once the sun began to rise above the trees he decided to head back to the treehouse in which he lived in. He would never call this place "home" he thought it was a stupid word, dream didn't want to get attached to anything he couldn't guarantee to keep safe. He tended to push people away because of this issue.

Sapnap however was an exception, no matter what Dream would never push his childhood friend away. Dream swore to protect Sapnap although he knew he could protect himself.

When he arrived back the place seemed relatively quiet. This was no surprise as it was only the early hours of the morning and most of his housemates were asleep. Dream on the other hand could go weeks with only few hours of sleep, this was result of training himself to do so. He rummaged the cabinets before letting out a sigh of disappointment.

" are you alright?" came Sapnaps tired voice from behind him.

"we need to go hunting again" He replied.

"we can go out now if youd like?"

Sapnap squinted his eyes as the rays of sunlight had finally rose enough to hit them. "I guess so, ill go get my axe" Dream agreed heading off into another room to fetch it.

The two best friends walked down a pathway in the woods searching for anything of use such as berries, plants animals ect. After a few hours they decided to rest against a tree. There they sat in the peaceful hours of the morning, the sun beaming down on them revealing some hidden freckles on the blonde bons cheeks. They sat in almost silence just enjoying eachothers company.

"what are we doing?" Dream suddenly blurted out looking at the other boy in fear almost as a child who had a nightmare.

"what?" Sapnap furrowed his eyebrows looking at him, a blur of confusion and concern on his face.

"in two weeks were meant to be invading a country. I- I don't know I want to do this anymore." Dreams mask was on the grass beside him.

Sapnap was now making eye contact.

"whys the sudden change of mind..?" He asked slowly becoming more concerned. The blonde man still resembling a scared child. The only response Sapnap got was seeing his best friends eyes become glossy.

"its nothing, lets go" Dream replied coldly standing up and clipping his mask back on. Sapnap flinched at the sudden tone change but knowing not to push for an answer.

As the same two friends walked down the same pathway. They were met with a cold silence instead of the warm and welcoming one mere hours ago

. "your not mad at me right?" Sapnap asked, his voice small.

Dream sighed, "no im not mad"

"okay.. if you say so" sapnap added before fixing his eyes on the house above them. The two headed inside where they were met with bad examining what l

ooked to be a freshly sharpened blade. "hey guys, where've yo-" he began to ask before being interrupted by Dream rushing to his room.

"is he alright?" bad asked sympathetically.

"ill go check on him." Sapnap replied walking over to Dreams door and lightly knocking three times before entering. There sat dream with his mask on the floor beside him.

"what do you want?" He questioned avoiding any form of eye contact.

"I came to check if you're alright." Sapnap stated.

"well I am, can you leave now?"

"you're clearly not Dream just tell me whats up" Sapnap said softening his voice as he sat down beside him.

Dream bit the inside of his cheek noticing the concern in his friends voice. He didn't normally care about others concern but this was different. Sapnap was now looking at him, noticing the tear stains on his face he only grew more concerned.

"I just think it's a bad idea" Dream finally replied. "ii-i- mean I just don't know about the whole assassination thing." Dream leant his head back onto the wall behind them and wiped his eyes. Taking a minute to think

. "dream.. we have to do this george is being held captive for gods sake! Theres no way to get him back other then this." Dream let out a sigh his eyes now meeting Sapnaps.

"fine.. only for George tho we kill sclatt capture will and tommy that's it. We don't hurt anyone else."

"fine" sapnap replied. Sapnap stood up and made his way to the door.

"wait." Dream shakily said.

"yeah?"

"thanks" Dream mumbled sheepishly.

Sapnap laughed "you're turning soft yknow that?" he joked before closing the door behind him.

Dream smiled at this joke. Now that Sapnap, left he was left alone with his thoughts. To say the silence was deafening was an understatement, he threw his head back again looking at the ceiling. His mind drifted back to an old memory. This memory was the root of all his pain and hesitation.

*FLASHBACK*

A young boy ran around the town square chasing his little sister. The two of them giggled completely oblivious of what was about to happen. "tn you're it!" the boy gleefully shouted. fluffy dirty blonde hair falling over his eyes. A sudden alarm startled the two. They looked at each other confused before running home. The town was in chaos people running around grabbing their children and hiding.

Once they arrived home they were greeted with their hysterical mother franticly looking for a place to hide, as they were just kids they didn't know what was happening, the village was being pillaged. Before anyone found a place to hide the sound of glass shattering came from behind them. The rest of this night was a blur, but the one thing he will always remember is spinning around. He wished he never did, the image of his family being pierced by arrows is an image that haunts him to this day. Part of him wished he had stayed to fight, or got killed instead of them. But no, He ran, he ran until his legs gave out.

(A/N I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter it's my first time posting something like this here so I hope you enjoyed <3)