Blood Vines | (Skephalo)

"Unfinished business."

I'm scared. I'm scared of facing Bad, I'm scared everyone is dead, I'm scared the vines are gonna come and take me and the bears away.

I want to live alone and forget everything, but each day I live, the vines torture me in my sleep. I wake up with scars shaped like the wounds inflicted every morning.

I just want to live in peace. Why must I be dragged into this? I wish I never met Bad and everyone. Maybe everyone would still be alive and okay...

She found another one and read it out loud.

I can barely trust people since the incident at the glaciers. Now I'm cursed and alone here. I wish I could cuddle with Bad, but he would kill me.

A scribble indicated that he continued writing on another day. The writing looked more rushed and panicked.

I'm leaving for the mainland tomorrow. I feel nervous, but I'm sure everything will be okay. If everyone is dead by the time I get there, so help me whatever the fuck is in the sky.

My ice curse had gotten worse. Turns out the egg torture wasn't enough and now I get tormented with the muffinfuck too. My biggest weakness. I hate it. I hate it.

I'll protect everyone till my last breath, I promise that. Maybe, I'll meet them in another dimensional plane. Who knows.

I'm gonna hunt to supply some meat to my bears for the upcoming months. If I don't come back, I'm sorry.

But I'll try, I promise you, with every last bit of blood in my veins, I'll try.

She stopped and could hear quiet sobbing in the room. What she had come for was done. She finished all her business.

The castle felt more lively as they exited the building. Something in the note she read triggered it. Though they mourned, something in them, something, felt like things were going to get better.

"Where have you all been? You've been gone for an hour!" Philza said as they made their way to the temporary camp set up at the shore.

"Skeppy's castle is several miles away. We can set camp near it when morning comes." Sapnap said.

Philza was about to ask more when hit him with a the-little-shit-is-right look and he lowered his hand.

"Hey mom," Tubbo tugged her arm as she looked down at him. "Dream wants to see you."

She walked with him to the cargo opening of the docked ship. Foolish was already waiting there, leaning onto the boat beside a cage with a boy she knew too well.

A family reunion at the weirdest time possible, she would call it. It was the first time she had seen all of them together in so long, and seeing them together made her happy.

"Mom! It's been so long!" The blond held at the bars of the cage as the water crashed lightly in the night's darkness.

"Why was I called here again?" Puffy looked at Foolish.

"Sam said it should be our choice to choose whether we want him free or caged since we're his family." He readjusted his cloak. "And I don't have bad blood with him and it looks quite cramped, so I'll say yes."

"He hurt my friend and husband," Tubbo crossed his arms. "So no."

"It's up to you mom," Dream's lifeless eyes looked at hers. "So what's your decision?"

She looked at Tubbo. She knew of the things that happened with Dream several months back. She didn't want to put him in any danger.

But on the other hand, moving meant a drop of all grudges and feuds. Including the aftermath of the disc war, which Tubbo understandably still held against Dream.

An idea popped into her head.

"I can get Sam to arrange something to keep Dream away from you three until he gets his shit together so you can be safe. But I just want all of us to start afresh. You get me?"

Tubbo took a few moments to collect his thoughts before he sighed.

"I think that's a good idea." Puffy smiled as she pulled the cage Dream was in back to the shore.

The rest chatted a bit before dispersing.

"Oi Sapnap!" Puffy alerted the ravenette who was talking with his friend George. "C'mere!"

He froze as soon as he saw the infamous smile he knew too well.

"Dream...?" He knelt to touch his face. He rubbed his face against his warm touch. "It's been so long since we talked..."

"I hope we can catch up more when we start setting up more. I'll be out of this cage with only three restraining orders!"

"That's... way less than I expected. But I'm glad you've changed for the best. Sam has already gone back to his tent, so I think you have to sleep in the cage for tonight." He carried the cage in his hands.

"In your tent?"

'In our tent. Now C'mon. George is waiting!" Puffy waved as they went their separate ways.

The trio dispersed and went back to their tents to rest for the night. As much as Puffy hated every second of fighting the egg and running around, the thrill and friendships she made along the way were something she would hold onto for the rest of her damn life.

Sometimes, bad things made life worth living. It gave you reasons to care and things to fight for. It showed the true mortality everyone hides behind a smile.

And she would cherish it for as long as she lived.

"I see you're back. Why'd you even go so far?" Niki asked as Puffy adjusted into the tent with her and changed into a pale church prime nightwear.

"Unfinished business."

"Someone else is here?"

"No. For answers."

"So... A ghost?"

"If you put it that way, yes."

Niki turned off the lantern that lit up the tent as Puffy opened and snuggled into her sleeping bag next to her.

"No more feuds?" Niki smiled and nodded. "No more grudges?"

"Not a single one in sight."

Smiling, she moved her sleeping bag closer to Niki. They silently looked into each other's eyes in the darkness, enjoying the freedom and closeness they had that war took away from them.

She missed this, and now she finally got it for years upon years to come. A fresh new start without governments or wars. No grudges, no bad blood, no feuds, just peace and snow.

The road to recovery was already running it's tracks. The end had come and went, but a new beginning was starting.

And unlike the first one she was around for, she was looking forward to it, with a sword in hand and a smile on her face.