let it burn - dnf

four

tan shorts that were a bit too big, a blue sweater overtop of an old dress shirt, the same old white high-tops, the new necklace jack had given him, and a whole lot of nerves.

george was just leaving the castle, ready to go meet dream by the borders.

he'd left a but early, wanting to stop by to see wilbur. george felt awful, and really wanted to apologize to his friends from l'manburg.

he approached the house to see tommy and, surprisingly, techno, conversing by their large oak tree.

"hi," george smiled sadly as he walked through the gate, "tommy, can i- um- i just wanna talk to you.."

"of course, gogy!" tommy smiled, jumping up from his sitting position on the grass, "what's up, my man?"

george felt shocked, "you aren't mad at me?"

"mad?" tommy rose an eyebrow, "george, why'd i be mad at you?"

"the whole dream thing..."

george felt awful that tommy had to see the man that had almost killed him. he had no idea it had been dream to shoot an arrow a bit too close to his good friends heart.

tommy bursted out a laugh, "george!"

george stared at him, flabbergasted that tommy wasn't screaming at him for yesterday. dream must've been the one who had manipulated tommy, too, from what george could tell.

"george," tommy calmed himself a bit, "i promise you i know you wouldn't purposely bring that son of a bitch to hurt us. that's not your fault he's gotta be your fuckin' knight, or shit."

george felt a but of weight pull away from his shoulders.

"wilbur though," tommy pursed his lips together, "not so much, mate."

and the weight immediately returned.

"don't worry, gogs, you really weren't the problem," tommy said, "it just spooked me there for a bit."

"i didn't mean to hurt wilbur's feelings either, though." george frowned.

tommy noticed the fall of georges face, "he'll come 'round, george. he's your best friend, after all!"

techno chimed in, "eh, he's kinda really mad."

tommy turned to glare at his brother.

"what?!" techno shrugged, "i gotta tell my boss the truth."

"i can cut your break short, you know." george joked.

techno lifted a hand to his mouth, pretending to zip it closed from now on. george and tommy both shared a laugh at the gesture from the pink haired man.

"i have to go," george said, "but, i'll come around later to talk to wil and niki, if you could let them know?"

"of course," tommy smiled, "anything for george!"

george rolled his eyes and made his way back out to the main road. he waved to his two friends, and turned to go towards the boarder.

it stung, knowing wilbur was probably pissed at george more than he had ever been. wilbur reminded him of what it was like to have a brother before karl became king. he really hoped he hadn't screwed everything up.

"you're early," a voice intruded georges thoughts as he neared the edge of his perimeter, "glad you came."

george looked over to the trees, where he'd just been the previous day with niki getting firewood.

dream stood leant against a tree, sword attached to his hip. the only problem for george; he was outside of his border.

dream smiled, "come on, i heard there's a sweet village down through the forest, am i wrong?"

george approached but stopped at the brick wall, "i.. yeah, there is supposedly a nice village, you're right."

"okay," dream said, pulling himself upright, "let's go."

george watched as dream turned and began walking, farther than george had ever gotten to go in his entire life. he wanted to go, but his feet would not let him move. dream turned back around, "are you not coming?"

"i can't," george frowned, "this is as far as i'm permitted to go."

dream rolled his eyes as he began walking back over to george, "you're crazy, prince george. who's here to stop yo-"

dream froze in space as he noticed someone turn the corner of the brick wall next to the prince.

"i am."

george spun around at the familiar voice.

"wil?"

"george, get away from him," wilbur held an axe tightly in his hand, "you- he's gonna hurt you!"

wilbur pulled george behind him, glaring at dream. emotions were so powerful, they could make anyone snap. dream must have been the main villain of the l'manburg story, wasn't he? if only he'd asked all that time ago when he was told about the war what the mans name was who destroyed their lives.

it was dream, he now knew.

"wilbur, seriously?!" dream groaned, "you blew it up first!"

george rose an eyebrow.

wilbur tightened his grip up on georges hand, not wanting him to be taken by dream, "you destroyed me. you destroyed my little brother- i- i'm not letting you destroy george! he doesn't deserve to be treated like a fuckin' pile of shit anymore!"

"i'm not gonna do shit to him," dream snapped, "look at him! who'd wanna hurt him?!"

"a lot of fucking people, dream! he's the prince of kinoko kingdom," wilbur pinched his nose with the hand he previously had latched onto georges, "you can't just take him and-"

"what if i want to go?"

wilbur quickly darted his eyes to george, "what?"

george blinked, looking at wilbur, "what if i wanna go?"

"then.. then why?" wilbur frowned, "i.. i- george- do you know how much trouble-"

george nodded.

"but- dream is-"

"literally just a guy now, wilbur," dream butted in, "i did what i did because of my kings' orders, the hell did you expect me to do?! say no?"

wilbur's eyes fell slowly back over to georges. how could he let his best friend go with the monster who had hurt the people and place he loved so much? especially since he was the prince, what if he got killed for disrespecting king karl?

wilbur sighed, "george- what- whatever makes you happy, okay?"

"really?" george said with a small smile forming upon his face, "you won't snitch?"

wilbur took a deep breath, "never."

knocking the breath out of the taller, george hugged his best friend, "you're so cool."

"go on, then," wilbur laughed, looking over to dream, "this'll be the last time i ever trust you, bastard. hurt him, you're fucked."

"sure," dream said. he reached out his hand, motioning for george to grab it, "come on, there's a whole world you've never seen waiting for you."

a smile slowly formed upon george's face, he grabbed dream's hand, almost forgetting how dangerous this is and how this was someone from sapnap's kingdom. all he really could think about was being free.

he stepped over the border.

he looked up towards dream, and looked back at wilbur, who seemed shocked george actually did what he said he wanted.

"let's go," george said, placing his other foot over the border of the kingdom he'd been locked inside for so long, "let's go!"

dream felt excited too, and pulled him along with him through the forests, leaving behind so much for so much more.