we can all learn things(just maybe in different ways.)

in which hunter and hunted are one and the same

"I took care of them easily. They were no problem to deal with." Dream responded, only hesitating for a millisecond. Techno stiffened. No. Nonono. They're not dead. They can't be. I couldn't have failed.

"I did what you asked. Now let them go." Dream interrupted Techno's thought process. Techno took note of the way his fist clenched and the muscles on his neck fluxed.

"First, a few... clarifying questions." The voice murmured, completely calm yet somehow still menacing and mortifying. "What did you do to his brothers? I understand they were both... complicating factors."

"I knocked both of them out with a sleeping potion. I couldn't finish the job because I had to return before moonset, but I left them to freeze in the cold. If they weren't dead yet, they're dead now." Dream responded smoothly.

Techno's world froze.

"How can you be so sure of this?" The voice demanded, suddenly aggressive and fiery, blazing with rage.

"By now, they've been in the cold for almost a full day. There's no way they're still alive. Plus, with all due respect, my lord, the quest you gave me to repay for George and Sapnap's offenses was just to capture Technoblade, not his family." Dream continued, daring to angle his head slightly upwards and ignoring the fact that Techno's world was crashing down around him. He had failed, and now Tommy and Tubbo were dead dead dead and it was all his fault for being shortsighted, for not realizing the risks, for not keeping them safe when they had come to look after him in the first place. It had been his fault that they left the safety of their home and they had both paid the ultimate price in his place.

"Dream." The voice grew dangerously low. "Remind your King what the first law in this great Kingdom is."

Dream's neck muscles flexed as he swallowed and he seemed to lose confidence, folding in on himself ever so slightly. "The King's word is always Law, my Lord, and he must be protected at all costs, even one's own life."

"Correct. Now, in failing to finish the job and give a clear answer as to whether or not the other vermin are completely dead, you have confronted a threat to the throne and decided to leave it alive."

Dream's jaw clenched. "Release George and Sapnap. I brought you your prisoner. Don't execute them."

"Clay."

Dream stiffened, his chin jerking upwards as he stared at the screen. For a millisecond his body language was completely raw and vulnerable to emotion, his breath catching in his throat. That had struck a nerve, had dislodged something hidden inside of him, something untouched in years, maybe decades.

"Take off your mask."

"W-what?" Dream fought hard to compose his voice and rid himself of the stammer, but the stumble in the words was still there.

"You heard me."

He swallowed, "But, my Lord-"

"Don't anger me further, Clay. Do it."

Dream's fingers shook as he slowly rose to his knees. He pulled down his hood to reveal short dark brown hair falling against the back of his neck. He unclamped the mask's strap and slowly pulled it off of his face. For the first time ever, Techno met his eyes.

He had fair skin with a spattering of freckles dusting his cheeks. A small scar branded the bridge of his nose and there was a bruise on his forehead, still an angry purple from when Techno had knocked him out several days ago. Grime and sweat coated his chin and lips. His hazel-brown eyes flicked to meet Techno's for a split-second before staring straight ahead at the screen, the tired bags under them very obvious against his pale cheekbones. But most strikingly, he looked angry and hurt and worried, a thunderstorm of emotions brewing in his irises before settling into the cool, collected knight that Techno had fought all those times.