ORPHANED

:: seventy-two ::

the first two rounds had been fairly normal. all of them having fun in the dark neon lit playing field, the music playing overhead resembled the music played in a first person shooter, ironic for their current situation.

the first round, george's team conquered a high tower, snipping down dream's team in places they couldn't hide from. only halfway through the fifteen minutes had they figured that one out.

george had appeared to be a runner, scouting the floor and finding them in blind spots they couldn't reach from the tower. dream was sure of this, counting the numerous times he turned a corner  only to have george run right into his chest. he'd turn away of course, letting the brunette escape unscathed.

not a very fairly played out match, an opinion voiced by every member on dream's side.

the second round wasn't any better. although through it, they had managed to tie the overall team points, the way they had done it, felt like it was cheated. sapnap and karl had managed to find the other team, only for them to be body blocking the very only person dream had been planning to target the entire game.

in the intermission between the final round the teams regrouped, huddling on their respective sides of the court. karl seemed to be their hype man.

"last time we were in a situation like this we murdered a bunch of little boys in dodgeball, who says we can't do the same thing to a few older little boys."

quackity kept nodding his head, despite not having ever been in a situation like this with the others.

"we will win this and show george who his actual cool friends are." his sister spoke from beside dream, knocking into his side, hoping it would make him feel better. he smiled, bumping her back.

"alright hands in the middle." karl began by hovering his hand in the center of the circle. the group following the action.

he glanced up to look them all in the eyes.

"we break all the rules, we play dirty, we win these."

"on three, fuck george." quackity bounced from beside dream, having actually been energized by the pep talk.

together they all counted down until their hands flew in the air, yelling the cheer louder than it need to be.

as they returned to their positions a voice spoke from above.

"nice chant, but i feel like i'm being targeted."

dream scoffed, rolling his eyes at the voice that spoke over the quieted music.

"that's because you are, dickhead." quackity's voice piped up from where he waited for the countdown to start.

before the other team had a chance to speak up the counter began, music increasingly getting louder. one last round, all they had to do was win by a single point. it seemed easy enough.

dream had ran into every person on the opposing team, that was of course, beside the two he had been looking for. he caught a glimpse of a bright pink tuft of hair, heading in the direction he knew karl hid by.

"do you know where sapnap is?" he asked aloud before even turning the corner.

sapnap stared back at him when he did. "i'm right here dude."

karl shrugged, leaving the two as he walked out past the obstacle, finding someone else to follow.

"have you seen george?" dream noticed he hadn't run into the brunette once this entire round, an extreme contrast to the many times they collided before.

sapnap shook his head. "i haven't seen that asshole either."

"do you think they're camping the watchtower?" they both peeked past the wall they hid behind.

"i haven't been hit more than twice this entire round, i doubt it. we should check though, i haven't been that way." sapnap backed away from peeking past the wall. "lead the way blondie."

dream looked over his shoulder to glare at sapnap.

"that's my bad, that's on me. lead the way dreamy." he corrected himself.

the blonde rolled his eyes, advancing forward knowing his friend was patrolling behind them. they made their way to the tower, ducking behind any and every obstacle they passed.

dream turned a corner, squinting his eyes in the dark to see two people pushed into the corner of the room. he walked closer, his heart dropping when he noticed what exactly it was he was seeing.

george was pushed up against the wall, lips pressed to the prick from earlier. the yellow sweatshirt he had been wearing laying on the ground by their feet.

dream stood and stared, feeling sapnap turn around from behind him, confused by the abrupt pause in their movement. he stood beside the blonde to stare in disbelief. waves of anger rose inside him, increasing in intensity the longer they were together.

dream felt his legs move before he could stop them. "what the fuck dude." he pulled the guy away from george, throwing him onto the ground.

during the few seconds he stood over the man on the ground, laughing started up.

"hey, it's just a game blondie, let us have some fun." he winked at dream from where he still lay on the ground.

dream turned around george shyly pressed himself into the wall of the arena. eyes diverted to the sweatshirt that lay on the floor.

"seriously george?" sapnap shook his head, disappointed in his friend. aiming his gun at george's chest to pull the trigger, temporarily disabling the other's equipment.

george looked up at dream, only for the blonde to shake his head from the gaze, turning to leave the corner, feeling suffocated by the picture in his brain.

he walked out past his sister who seemed to be interested in the cause of the commotion. "what happened?" she asked as she jogged to keep up with the fast pacing of his steps.

"i'm leaving."

"what? we still have..." she looked up at the digital clock on one wall of the arena. "four minutes."

"i'm leaving." he repeated himself.

—

another chapter i'm not sure makes sense. maybe it's because most of these scenes are prewritten and i'm just tying them together idk. my hands are getting ripped from all this typing, you guys should see the veins in my thumbs!