Two days after that bizarre conversation with George, they let you out of your cell to walk around and stretch your legs while Dream was gone. You were sitting on the couch now, Patches curled up on your lap. The cat had taken a liking to you. Or, perhaps, to your black clothes, which warmed up quickly in the sun.

The sound of shrieking could be heard coming closer as Sapnap rushed in, holding a familiar yellow leather hat. You'd seen George wearing it several times, and, sure enough, he came in, chasing Sapnap.

"Sapnap! Give it back!" George yelled, but the dark-haired boy only grinned and held it above George's head.

"Why don't you get it, shortie?" Sapnap teased. George frowned, stepping back for a moment before charging Sapnap and attempting to jump for the hat. When this failed, he resorted to tickling the arsonist, who shrieked alien syllables out and threw the hat right onto Patches' head. The cat mrowed unhappily, and you pulled the cap off the cat. George noticed this and charged you, not caring about the now-terrified tabby cat on your lap.

Patches' engaged her claws right into your thigh and hissed at George, ears back. You cursed, standing up. The cat fell off of your lap, running under George's legs and tripping him. You took this opportunity to run out of the castle, the hat in your hand.

You could hear the slap of George's boots against the ground as he chased you. There was no way you could outrun him for long. He most likely had a speed pot, because there was not physical way someone as short as him could run that fast. You slipped around a tree, circling around it until George was so confused that you ran right by him, giggling.

After a few seconds, you glanced over your shoulder to see if he was behind you, and he was. You were so preoccupied in watching that you ran straight into a horse.

"What the- Shadow? What are you doing out here?" Dream asked, confused.

You laughed, out of breath. "Come on, we can't let George get the hat!" You swung onto the horse as a very bewildered Dream urged the horse back towards the castle. You looked around, but George was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the brunette appeared right in front of the horse, causing it to rear back.

You fell of the horse and jumped back onto your feet as George turned to snatch the hat from you. Dream was calming the horse down, still completely confused as to what the muffins was going on. You were relatively sure his brain was shorted out.

Laughing, you danced out of George's reach as he lunched for you and ran back into the forest, sliding under a birch branch. Grabbing the end of it, you pulled it down until it was low enough for you to climb on, then you scrambled higher up the trunk. Strands of your H/C hair had fallen out of the braid, getting into your eyes. You caught your breath, staying as still as possible, as you waited for George to come charging into the forest.

With a start, you realized that the yellow cap was no longer tucked into your belt. You groaned, realizing it must've fallen out when you hit the ground.

You were about to climb out of the tree when the sound of a branch snapping made you pause. You froze, holding your breath, as a figure came around the corner.

"Shadow?" Sapnap asked, relieved. "Oh good. I thought George had caught you."

You exhaled loudly, swinging out of the tree. "No, but I lost the hat."

Sapnap grinned. "You mean this hat?" he asked, holding up the wrinkled leather cap. "Now come on, we have to get back to the castle and hide this before George realizes where we are."

Together, the two of you crept back to the castle, avoiding the angry colorblind boy who was furiously searching along the river. Once inside, Sapnap handed you the hat and boosted you up on top of the bookshelves, where you put the hat in between the shelves and the wall.

You had just climbed down when an angry George stormed in, followed by a slightly-less-confused Dream. You slammed an innocently blank expression on your face but were unable to hide your grin. George crossed his arms.

"Alright, where is it?" he asked, looking back and forth between you and Sapnap.

"Where's what?" Sapnap asked, faking confusion.

"My HAT, you idiot! Where did you hide it?" George was really mad now, and you were questioning whether steam would come pouring out of his ears next. You and Sapnap shared a look, both of you barely suppressing smiles while Dream looked on, amused.

George sighed, glaring at Sapnap. "Give it."

Sapnap glanced at you, who rolled your eyes and started scaling the bookshelves. When you reached the top, you shoved your arm down to grab the hat, only to find it wasn't there. Returning to the ground empty-handed, you hesitantly smiled.

"So, George. Here's the thing." You bit your lip to stop from laughing. "Your hat... it kinda... fell down into the crack?" you offered, shaking with glee.

"WHAT?!!?!" George yelled, shoving past you and shoving his arm behind the bookshelves to try to find it. You started laughing uncontrollably, but then caught Dream's eye. Your grin faded and you scowled at him while George tried to coerce/threaten Sapnap into moving the bookshelf.

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

You slowly walked down the halls back to your cell, thinking about the stone 'Brick Book', as you had dubbed it. You were fairly certain that the writing inside was encrypted or some trash, and you wished you could find ink and a quill to scribble notes down with. Perhaps then you could read it.

As you passed Dream's room, you noticed it was empty. Ducking your head inside, you spotted an inkwell on the corner of the desk. Quietly, you stepped over to it, nearly tripping over a sleeping Patches. Carefully, you picked up the inkwell, capping it, and grabbed the quill beside it. You tucked both objects into your pocket before picking up Patches, who meowed, annoyed. If anyone asked, you could say you'd been looking for the tabby cat. Any mention of the inkwell would lead straight back to the book.

Sighing, you carried Patches through the main room, pausing to glance outside. The new moon was invisible, and the stars were partially covered in places by patchy clouds. The wind was nonexistent and the air was still and muggily warm, like it apparently was 90% of the time in this god-forsaken place. Rolling your eyes, you hefted Patches up again and continued on your way down to your cell.

Almost all except three of the torches were burnt out, so you grabbed a lantern and lit it with one of them. Reaching up as high as you could with your short legs, you hung the lantern on the iron hook imbedded in the ceiling.

Walking over to the window, you grabbed the stone brick with your fingertips, hauling it out and nearly dropping it on your foot. Cursing under your breath, you picked the book up, slamming the stone back into place. Stomping over to your bed, you plopped down, opening the book and unwrapping the inkwell.

Flipping past the first pages, you found the one with the smiley face and began examining the page before it, which was covered in the strange writing. You began copying down which symbols appeared the most, trying different combinations of letters for each one.

After around 30 minutes, you gave up in frustration as all the symbols seemed to blur into each other. Replacing the book into it's window hiding place, you blew out the lantern and flopped onto the bed, dragging a hand down your face.

Outside, the wind had picked up, whistling through the trees and castle like a flute. As you listened, some of the noises sounded eerily like violin strains, playing a song Techno once played for you on your birthday. The longer you listened, the more something strange and wet happened to your eyeballs. You curled up into a ball as the tears leaked out of your eyes and trailed down your cheeks.

Before you knew it, you were sobbing softly, shoulders shaking. Right then and there, you'd have given anything to be back with your adopted father. 

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Aw, sadnessssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Also, I have ZERO motivation to draw or scan any art for the chapters :/

TA TE CHILDREN