Down with the King- Dream SMP

28- Drista

WARNING: Language

She watched her brother ride away, a numb feeling spreading through her bones. Tubbo screamed, firing reckless arrows after their retreating figures.

"Tubbo, stop," she said gently, placing a hand on his arm. He stopped, throwing the bow on the ground.

"FUCK!" he cursed, kicking at a fallen beam of wood.

"Please," she said softly, frightened by this version of him. She'd never seen her friend so worked up before. "Calm down!"

"He was right there!" Tubbo sobbed, staring at his shaking hands. "Tommy was right in front of me! I almost had him! And now he's gone, again!"

"I know," Drista nodded, tears of her own springing to her eyes. "Trust me, I know, but we have to move! The castle is going to collapse on itself soon."

"You're right," Tubbo sighed, taking a shaky breath. "Here, let me take Wilbur."

He slung Wilbur's free arm over his shoulder and Drista stepped away, relieved of his weight. She began walking through the debris that had already fallen, trying not to listen to the sounds of fire consuming the only home she'd ever known. Drista had never intended to spend her entire life within the castle, but she never wanted to see it destroyed. Sure, there were times when she hated the place, but it was still home. Or, it had been home. She doubted there would be much left of the castle in the morning.

The explosions had happened so quickly, the first one shaking the castle as she was speaking to Wilbur in the Apothecary. Tubbo had burst in the room not too long afterwards, yelling that they had to escape. Using a skeleton key he'd found from somewhere, Tubbo had freed Wilbur and the three of them had fled the room as more explosions shook the floor beneath their feet.

Tubbo had been adamant about finding Tommy before leaving, but Drista had shook her head at that, knowing that their time was running short.

"If Tommy is half as important as you say he is, my brother will find a way to get him out," Drista promised. That seemed to make him feel better and they ran out the closest door, her lungs expanding gratefully in the smoke-free air. Of course, they would happen to run into both Clay and Tommy crawling out from the castle ruins.

She'd found that she couldn't look at Clay without hearing Wilbur's screams in her head. How could her brother, the one person she thought she could always rely on, do something like that to anyone? He was turning into a monster before her very eyes.

She stumbled over a stray piece of blackstone, taking a few steps forward to regain her balance.

"Careful," Tubbo murmured and she nodded. They ducked through a blackstone archway and found themselves in front of the castle in the large courtyard that housed the Nether portal. Servants and members of Clay's council grouped together, everyone staring at the flaming castle. It had been the most advanced and impressive structure in the entire kingdom, built by her grandfather, and now it was burning.

"Drista!" George exclaimed, starting towards her. "You're alright!"

"I'm fine," she said as George continued to ask if she was hurt. "Did everyone make it out?"

"I believe so," George said. "I was just doing a headcount. The explosions started in the storage rooms, which is a blessing since no one was down there at the time."

"Drista, have you seen Clay?" Sapnap asked urgently. "Is he okay?"

"He..." she started, but her throat closed up and she couldn't speak.