Dreaming of Demons (Dream x oc)

[61] Fiery Doubts

"Something's on fire," I said, my gaze pinned on the smoke in the distance.

Dream's brow knitted in confusion and he moved away from me, turning to find what I was looking at.

"That's by Tommy's house." He picked up his axe, but remained standing in his place, his eyes darting over the horizon.

I leaned down to pick up my own weapon, striding past him on the dirt. "We need to go find out what happened."

My heart squeezed in my chest. I had a feeling I already knew who the perpetrator was. No one else would be lighting the SMP on fire for fun. This had to be Nightmare's work.

Dream had caught up to me, falling in step beside me. His brow was still furrowed as he scanned every inch of the grass and trees around us. "Do you think...?" He trailed off, occupied with checking behind us.

I knew exactly what he was implying. He also thought it was Nightmare, and now we were both on high alert.

I swallowed, nodding. "Yeah, I think so."

We picked up our speed to jog to the Prime path. The smoke cloud was much larger up close, more menacing. Dream had been right. It looked like Tommy's house had been targeted.

"Hang on," Dream touched my arm as he started up the stairs to Tommy's place. "I'll go first. Just be on guard."

Dream steadily climbed the stairs, his body tense. I followed quietly behind, squeezing the hilt of my sword. I guess if any fight actually broke out, it was a good thing I warmed up today.

Someone coughed as we reached the top of the stairs. I had to drag my eyes down from the smoke to see who it was.

Tommy was shoving a wooden chest across the ground. There were multiple chests sitting on the grass with all manner of resources and belongings piled haphazardly near the path. He must have been frantically moving everything out of his house before it could all burn.

But my gaze caught on something else horrifying. The house I had just moved out of yesterday was completely aflame, the fire starting to take over the wooden Prime path. My chest tightened, my breath catching in my throat. Dream and I could have easily been in that house.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dream look over at me. I flinched when his hand slipped up my shoulder blade to give a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. We got you out of there."

But that only confirmed my suspicions that Nightmare had known where I was living. We had narrowly missed what could have been an even worse disaster.

A slew of curses struck me out of that thought, and Tommy was rushing toward us, pulling his arm back with a trident in hand. He threw it with surprising force, and Dream and I had to jump out of the way.

"Tommy, stop! Stop!" Dream raised his hands to show he meant no harm.

But Tommy wasn't listening, marching up to us with a sword he had been carrying in his other hand.

"I knew it! You lied, Dream!" he spat, "You deserve to be thrown back into that prison. You deserve that! You fu—"

"Tommy stop! It wasn't him!" I had to raise my voice to cut through his angry shout. I stepped between him and Dream, lifting my sword a little just in case Tommy tried to attack me. "Dream's been with me the entire morning. This wasn't him."

"Oh of course he has!" He jabbed a finger at me. "You're a liar too. I bet you were helping him!"

"Tommy, it was the Demon! Just calm—"