DreamsCodeAU

Chapter 8: Roundabout

It was an arena. How had he not noticed that before?

There was no more crimson. He hadn't noticed how they had faded. Clean, yet so tainted.

There was nothing left on his sleeves other than his heart.

Nothing was comprehensible anymore.

The rolling greens spread out before him, framed by picture perfect valleys, mountains, faraway lakes and rivers that was endorsed by the lush bushes and overgrown hedges. So perfect, yet so wrong- hinting at the uncanny, artificial quality the map possessed. A simulation world. A design so awfully familiar, like it was on the edge of his tongue, but he could not quite place it.

_____________________________

"It's.. beautiful."

"It's for us."

"You did it."

"We both did."

"What happens now?"

"We test it."

"What if...?"

"Don't. It has to."
"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

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The ground split. There was no warning other than the delayed crack of thunder that nearly took out his audible senses. Aftershocks pelted the earth before him. Instinctively bracing as he hunched down for cover, he peeked over, awe-stricken as the fissures parted, revealing an ascending, square-ish glow.  What in tarnation was that? It stood an approximate 7 foot above ground, and its glow swirled and pulsated as if it were alive.

To approach it or to run? He wondered, rising to his feet. 

He didn't need to make that decision. 

The glow fizzled and crackled as the center parted to reveal a humanoid figure. Blinking away the afterimages, he swallowed a gasp as his blood ran colder than ice.

George stepped through the portal. With a flick of his wrist, a sleek, cruel blade materialised in his palm in a flurry of holographic pixels. The same one he had used to-

Had he anymore time to adjust to circumstances, he would've ran. Ran the opposite way, ran to George. Did something.

But he wasn't surprised, no, he wasn't happy. Numbness and heaviness overrode his senses as he registered the familiar figure that stood before him.

"George, I didn't mean to..." Dream pleaded so softly he wasn't sure if he had even said that out loud. His words trailed away as they locked eyes, tens of meters away from each other.

George's eyes were shining, almost radiating. Green. Bright green. Glinting and cold as Dream felt inside. For a moment's notice, he recalled a memory of him and Sapnap making fun of George, teasing him for not possessing green eyes as they did. The irony of the flashback nearly clawed a reaction out of him.

"Dream." George called.

He took a step back, as if the word uttered stung him. It sounded like every other time he had said his name, as if nothing changed. It scared him.

"I'm giving you 30 seconds to run from me." George said.

"George, it doesn't have to be like this." Dream fought the urge to take another step back from the stranger he once called friend.

"I don't see why not. You murdered me." He replied, with casualness unwavering from his tonality. He smiled knowingly as Dream froze. "You'd do it again."

The latter avoided his gaze, unsure himself if it was out of confirmation or denial.

"30 seconds. I'll begin now."

It was impeccably clear now that George was beyond all reasoning, and or, he was unable to bring himself to convince him to wake up, break free of whatever the hell took over his friend. He wasn't going to go through that anytime soon again. There was only one option that he was able to opt for.

Run.