LOSING GAME ➳ dreamwastaken

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞

Wiping sweat from her brow, Reverie tethered the boat on the docks and started her short trek from the water back to her and Techno's cottage.

The gravel that peppered the cobbled pathway crunched beneath Reverie's feet. As she walked, villagers beamed and waved to her, but the hollow pit in her stomach prevented her from mirroring their enthusiasm. Chilling images of what had once been Dream prosperous kingdom almost entirely overrun by Blood Vines riddled her mind.

After sneaking into the kingdom to check the progress of the Blood Vines, she had perched herself on the branch of a tree, hidden by the leaves and the darkness of the night, and listened to the conversation that Tubbo and Tommy were having about the Blood Vines. Apparently, Bad and some others were in terrible condition, and it was only a matter of time before the Egg would start to affect others and everyone would be forced to evacuate the kingdom else risk being infected.

Reverie knew that she didn't have to go back to the valley. She could have stayed in the kingdom and thwarted the Egg then and there, but she knew that she owed Techno both a goodbye and an apology.

The sun split the horizon as she sailed across the waters, which were thankfully quite calm. Now that she had arrived back at the valley, Reverie's anxiety was beginning to set in. She had brushed hands with death on a number of occasions, and yet, this time, the concept of dying seemed much more terrifying than it had before.

Bezzie was lounging in the garden and, when she saw Reverie approaching, she bound to her feet and began running circles around the garden, barking excitedly. The disturbance caught the attention of Technoblade, who came hurrying out of the cottage. His cloak draped over his shoulders and he was equipped with weapons, telling Reverie that he must have woken up and panicked upon finding that Reverie wasn't in her bed so he planned to go out and find her.

When he saw her, Techno narrowed his eyes, painting an angered expression on his face. Still, he hastened to the garden fence, threw it open and pulled Reverie into a bone-crushing hug.

"You can't sneak off like that!" he reprimanded. "Last time I woke up and you weren't here, Dream had taken you. I—I thought you'd gone to find the Egg, Rev. I was worried."

Her heart sinking, Reverie maneuvered herself out of Techno's arms and gently but surely pushed him away. Then, frowning as her shoulders slumped, she walked past him and entered the cottage.

She took off Wilbur's hat and placed it on a console table beneath the window. Pushing open the bedroom door, she bent down and pulled a chest out from underneath her bed before exiting the bedroom once more. She sat herself down on the couch, placed the chest on the coffee table and opened it. The shifting of the couch told her that Techno had taken a seat next to her.

Padded footsteps pattered across the wooden floor as Bezzie approached. She sat on the floor next to Reverie and rested her head in the girl's lap.

"What's all this?" Techno asked, nodding towards the open box.

Reverie gulped thickly. She was afraid to open her mouth and speak incase her welling tears came surging forwards.

"Everything you need to know about Wilbur," she answered at last. Her voice barely rose above the volume of a whisper, but still, Techno heard her, and he stared at her in perplexity. "There's songs, letters, photographs, accounts, even diary entries from his time in Pogtopia."

"Why are you showing me this?" Techno inquired, though the slight quiver in his voice clearly told Reverie that he already knew and feared the answer to his question.

Reaching into the chest, Reverie pulled out a bundle of tattered pages, bound together by a thin piece of twine. With a dull ache in her chest, she smiled down at the collection of letters that Wilbur had written to her over the years.