When George woke up, it was to a pounding headache. He groaned in pain and pushed his hands to his head, holding it, as if doing that would stop.

He felt a slight resistance when his hands went into his hair, and he pulled them back with a confused squeak, looking down at them.

His eyes widened. They were webbed. They were only webbed when he was in his merman form. He glanced down at his body and realised with a start that he was not in his human form.

He wasn't exactly in water, not like he had been on the ship. Instead, his hands had long chains on them (somehow he hadn't noticed them before) and the cold stone floor was wet, as if a bucket of water had been splashed on it. He glanced to the side and saw a tiny amount of water leaking from the wall, not enough to give him the satisfaction that a full body of water would, but enough to keep him from changing forms.

He growled in annoyance, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the rest of his surroundings.

There was a large metal door on the far side of the room, but even with the long chains attached to his wrists, he knew it was too far away, and that he would not reach.

He tugged at the chains and they made a rattling noise as they ran through the water, and George sighed.

He rubbed his head and told himself to calm down.

"You'll get nowhere if you panic, George." he murmured to himself as fear pounded through his heart.

Think. Think. Think.

They'd taken him away from Dream. Shit, Dream. He was probably panicking so much. George just had to figure out some sort of way to get out of this situation.

He couldn't transform, he needed to be fully dry to do that. He still had the crystal around his bare neck, but he had no way of drying himself. The whole floor was wet, there was nowhere to go.

He looked around, trying to find a window, but realised there were none. The only light was a dim glow coming from under the door, but it wasn't enough to provide any indication of time. The only reason he could see was because of his merman eyesight. George had no idea how long he'd been in there, where he was, or how to get out.

A gentle tear slipped down his cheek as he breathed deeply, chest rising and falling rapidly as he sat, tail curled and hands chained.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

How could he have been so foolish to think nothing bad would happen? Why had he ignored the feelings in his gut telling him it was a bad idea? Why hadn't he just stayed on the ship? He'd fucked up.

George was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a door opening. His eyes snapped up to the other side of the room as light filtered in, the door creaking as a bit of water ran out of the room.

A man, Schlatt, stepped into the room, shoes splashing slightly in the extremely shallow water.

He made his way over to George, who glared at him with intense ferocity.

"Ah, you're awake. Good." Schlatt purred, and George practically growled at him.

"Fuck you!" he spat, and Schlatt rolled his eyes, smiling lazily.

"Don't be that way," Schlatt said, "we'll be friends in no time, you'll see."

"I don't want to be friends with you, you stinky rat asshole!" George snapped, and Schlatt gave him a pat on the head.

George flinched back from the touch, but he couldn't move far, due to not having legs.

"There's no need for that kind of language," Schlatt scolded, "I'm just here, as a friend, to ask you a favour."

Schlatt snorted, and added onto his previous statement, "Well, I'm not asking. You will give me what I want."

"I don't want to give you anything, I just want to go to Dream!" George said, and Schlatt's eyebrow raised slightly.

"Give me what I need, merman." the man spat.

Tears, George assumed, as he stared up at the annoying king.

Still, George asked: "What do you want?" he growled out, and Schlatt smiled.

"Just some healing tears, nothing new." Schlatt mused.

"I already gave you some!" George said, and Schlatt shrugged.

"Used them up. I need some more."

How the fuck could he need more?

"I'm not giving you any more." he snapped, and Schlatt sighed deeply, as if he were the one being inconvenienced.

"I'll just force you to give them to me. Really, this is the easier way." he said, and George rolled his eyes.

"Oh, didn't you know, Schlatt?" George mock laughed, "I have to willingly make them. You can't make me do jack shit!"

Instead of looking annoyed, Schlatt simply smiled, cocking his head to the side slightly.

"I'm well aware of the fact," he stated, "but I've found my ways around it in the past."

What? Shock pulsed through George's heart. What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

There was silence for a moment before Schlatt sighed.

"If you don't give me those tears, I'll kill Dream."

George's eyes widened, and Schlatt smirked.

"Oh, seems I've hit a nerve," he laughed, "don't think I haven't noticed your affection to him, merman."

George gulped, looking at the floor.

"I'll kill him in the most painful way I can. Don't think I won't." Schlatt growled out, amusement suddenly gone.

George narrowed his eyes at the change of tone and emotion, but said nothing.

George knew he couldn't risk the chance of Dream dying. If he refused, it would be his fault that Dream died. He did not want to give Schlatt his tears, he'd rather do anything than that, but when it was Dream's life on the line? Well, there was no other answer.

"Do you have a vial?" George growled out, and Schlatt grinned, clapping his hands together.

"I knew you'd come around!" he cheered, and George glared at him.

Schlatt reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial, as George willed his tears to appear.

Given the situation, it definitely was not hard.

He pulled into his energy source, feeling a tingle around his body, as he let the tears drop.

Schlatt didn't even give him the choice of doing it himself, and George's head hung in shame as the other man brought the vial up to his cheek, letting it fill with the faintly blue glowing tears.

Schlatt pulled away after a moment and inspected the tears. He studied them for a moment, and finally let a smile flick onto his face.

He glanced down at George, who stared at him with hatred, and gave him another pat on the head.

George shuffled back slightly. Schlatt wasn't allowed to do that. That was Dream's thing, not his.

Schlatt stared at him for a moment, before shrugging.

"Well, I'll see you the next time I need you." he turned around, raising a hand lazily to signal his goodbye before the door swung shut, and George heard it lock.

George sat there shaking for a moment, as more tears leaked down his cheeks. He shuffled back towards the wall, and leaned into the corner, bringing his tail up to hug so he could curl into himself.

The only sounds filling the room was the steady trickle of water, and the sound of a lonely merman's sobs and hiccups.

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Hello friends!!! I saw many of your comments, and I realised last chapter made a lot of you unhappy with me :) I will not apologise, for I am evil :D

Quick disclaimer: Schlatt in this is completely a character, just like everyone else, and does not reflect the real person. The real minecrafter Schlatt is very pogchamp!

Happy reading!!

-Bee

(15/2/21)

Co-posted on ao3