LOSING GAME ➳ dreamwastaken

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥

Reverie held Tubbo's trembling hand tightly in her own, but both of their hands were sweating so profusely that her grip began to slide. Sobs racked Tubbo's body and he pressed his free hand to his mouth to muffle his cries.

Reverie knew that she had to stay strong for Tubbo, because if she allowed her own fear to show then her little brother would surely break. But as she heard footsteps above and the creaking of the trapdoor as Schlatt stepped over it, Reverie could not seem to hold back her tears. Though she cried a heavy waterfall of tears, she managed to keep her sobs silent and, in the darkness of the basement, Tubbo could not see the hot tears that were streaming down his sister's face.

When a glass bottle smashed against the floor overhead, Reverie let out a gasp of terror before she could stop herself. Tubbo toppled over in fright and his hand slipped from Reverie's.

"Rev!" he called out, his panic evident in his shrill voice.

"Shush!" Reverie hissed. She outstretched a hand into the darkness, feeling around for her brother. "It's okay. I'm right here."

The pacing above had stopped. The silence was deafening. Alone as they may have been in the basement beneath the trapdoor, fear seemed to follow Reverie and Tubbo everywhere they went. It loomed in the darkness, swallowing them whole as they waited for the moment that the trapdoor would lift and light would flood the basement, and they would be met with the bloodshot and enraged eyes of their drunken father.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" Schlatt bellowed from above. His voice was horribly slurred.

At long last, Reverie found Tubbo in the dark and his hand clamped around hers. Tubbo clung to his sister like his life depended on it. They backed into a cold corner of the eerie basement, huddling together for warmth. Tubbo rested his head on Reverie's shoulder and they prepared themselves for a long, sleepless night filled with crushing anxiety as they listened to their father's footsteps thump against the floor up above.

"REVERIE?" Schlatt screamed furiously.

Reverie winced, shutting her eyes tight and silently willed her father to be silenced.

"Reverie?"

Her muscles relaxed. That wasn't Schlatt's voice.

"Reverie? Hey, Rev, wake up."

Her eyes tore open and she sat bolt upright, gasping for air as a cold sweat trickled down her back. Wilbur had evidentially been by her bedside attempting to shake her awake, because he had leapt back in alarm and had fallen to the floor.

"Are—are you okay?" Wilbur asked quite breathlessly.

Reverie massaged her forehead with her hand.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she brushed Wilbur off. "Bad dream."

Deep creases etched their way onto Wilbur's forehead as he frowned, an expression of worry settling on his face.

"Again?"

Reverie's stomach flipped. "It's nothing, Will—honest."

"Rev, you're having these nightmares every other night," Wilbur said gently as he seated himself on the floor next to Reverie's pile of blankets. "Talk to me."

Running a hand through her disheveled brown hair, Reverie let out a heavy and drawling sigh. Only a few months ago, everything had been blissful. Reverie would spend her days goofing around in wheat fields with Tubbo or lounging in Wilbur's house as he strummed songs on his guitar, then at nightfall she would meet Dream in the forest and they would decide whether they wanted to spend their few short hours together venturing through the woods and fending off monsters or enjoying the thrill of sneaking through the castle.