Pairings: Dream x Reader
Warnings: Death, injury, blood
Pronouns: They/them
AU: Squid Game
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"For this game, you'll need to get into partners."
Was the sentence that caused a wave of relief to wash over (Y/n)'s body. The games that they had played thus far, the anguish that they have lived through. All by themself. To what extent was it going to stop? They were glad that they could finally hold someone's hand through the next round and they had a feeling that they knew exactly who it was gonna be.
Right after the indicators had gone off, telling them to disperse and search for a partner, (Y/n)'s head immediately turned over their shoulder to see Dream already staring at them.
Just the longing stare into his pure, green eyes felt like enough to warm the ice that had frozen over inside of them after being put through the torture that was the games before them. Of course, they had stuck with each other the whole way through, but to finally play a game together, combining both of their strengths. Well, it was a relief. And besides, (Y/n) would do anything to spend more time with their best friend anyway.
A smile glazing across their face, they immediately gestured for Dream to come over from his spot in the corner. And sprawling out of his seat in a swift movement, he lightly jogged across the area to set himself beside them, sighing.
"What took you so long?" (Y/n) teased, elbowing him gently, causing him to tip over slightly in surprise.
"I was making sure nobody else wanted me as a partner." He chuckled lowly, readjusting himself in his seat. He patted down the folds on his jacket. 403.
"Would you not have chosen me?" (Y/n) giggled softly, feeling a little sting at his words, tilting their head down towards the ground to play with the string of cotton that had started to fall off at the bottom of their jacket.
"No, no, I would've!" Dream answered swiftly, his head darting over to look at them with a concerned expression. "You know I would've, (Y/n). I'm your best friend... I just wanted to make sure my other friends safely got into partners."
"That's really sweet of you." (Y/n)'s laughter felt dry as their head was lifted up from the ground. "They should be glad to have someone like you in their lives."
(Y/n) smiled down towards the ground, the faintest chuckle escaping their lips. But the dullness in their eyes was enough to indicate that this could be perhaps the hardest time in their life. So while they tried their hardest to stay positive, all they earned was Dream's empathetic gaze, who didn't bother trying to laugh the situation out.
"Are you okay, (Y/n)?" He held his hand on top of theirs, brushing his thumb over their palm and glancing up at them.
"Yeah." They replied shortly.
"(Y/n)." He repeated sternly. "You'd think that you'd know not to lie about these things around me after years of knowing each other. You do realise that I can see right through your whole facade." And he was right, of course. Honestly, who would be okay after having suffered through the previous rounds? And to have to suffer through a few more? Inhumane. Torture. But alas, that was not the answer that Dream was seeking to get out of them. Because they knew exactly what he was trying to imply.
"Are you trying to get me to talk about the other rounds?" (Y/n) uttered, a slight catch in their throat sounding.
"It's better to talk about it than stay silent." He shrugged. "And we've got a good nine minutes to do so." He pointed towards the huge timer that hung above everybody's heads, which was slowly but surely going down. "I know you want to."
"Why would I want to?"
"Because it's on your mind and you want someone who'll listen." He hummed. "You know I'm that person. If you let it eat you up then you'll never let go of it."
(Y/n)'s jaw ticked, the silence filling up between them. Despite the buzzing chatter of the room that surrounded them, (Y/n) still allowed the quiet to thicken to the point where it was the only thing that they could hear. Having to bite their tongue to stop themself from crying or digging their nails into their palms was just one of the very few things that they did to seem stronger when in reality, they were weak. Just a person, as Dream had said, who just wanted to talk.
"I was never even able to get over the first loss." (Y/n)'s voice immediately broke after perhaps the second word. And Dream, with kindness burning in his soul, engulfed (Y/n) in a quick hug, holding his arm around them and allowing them to lean against him.
(Y/n) almost immediately took him in, their tears already being formed in their eyes from the one sentence that they had been hiding so dearly. His hand rested on the back of their head to pat it gently as (Y/n)'s tears sunk through his sleeves. And for what felt like forever, they held this hug. (Y/n) just wishes that they would've held it longer.
"Don't cry, please-" He muttered quietly, almost in a whisper, below his breath as he drew his thumb across their face, wiping the tears that had formed on their cheeks. "How could he have known?"
"That's the thing. He couldn't have known. Tubbo even warned him! But he's always getting himself into dangerous situations without understanding the consequences!" They squeaked out, sniffling.
Tommy was the first to die. And I mean that literally. He was the first out of over four-hundred people to perish. In the very first round, Red light, green light, he made a decision that not only he would come to regret, but everybody else. Betting that he'd be the first one to finish. Because he was quick. And strong. Heaven knows that his family only wished that just this once, he had set his pride aside and just played the game properly. Because after the gunshot went off, everyone knew that this was serious.
"And I didn't even have any time to mourn because you know what happened in the second round." They tensed their shoulders, the memory poisoning their mind.
Three birds with one stone. So it turns out that a lot of the Sleepy Family weren't that good at carving Dalgona candy. Because the triangle, the circle and the star all felt just as difficult as the umbrella when they found themselves to be under pressure. And Wilbur, Ranboo and Tubbo all paid the price for their shakiness when each of their pieces had snapped.
"The only reason I didn't lose anyone last round was because they finally let us into groups. Groups of ten." They seethed. "But that was, of course, after we had gone down by four."
"I'm really sorry, (Y/n). But you know you couldn't have done anything." He huffed.
"I understand that, but I still feel... Awful." (Y/n) breathed out heavily. "And I'm not even the one suffering the most."
"Everyone's suffering just as much as each other." Dream reminded them, still continuing to pat them with his arm around them in a comforting manner.
"But we're not though." (Y/n) responded bitterly. "Sally was Wilbur's wife... And Techno was Tommy and Wilbur's older brother." (Y/n) gestured towards the two of them. 224 and 100. Sally's soft, ginger hair complimenting Techno's scruffy, pink locks that had been tied back with what looked to be a hair tie that Sally had given him. The two of them were sat beside each other, chatting amongst themselves. "Before Wilbur died, he made Technoblade promise that he'd make sure that Sally was safe and that she'd never leave his sight. To make sure that she was under his safety..." (Y/n) trailed off, looking over at them again to see them both exhibiting short laughters. Someone must have told a joke. "Now imagine the two of them having to go home to Philza and explaining why their children aren't coming home... Imagine how much more distraught their mother would be."
"But you keep saying it like you had a chance to save them. You didn't." Dream uttered. "Anything that happened to them- That was out of your control. You know that, (Y/n)."
"I just wish I didn't have anything to lose."
It was easy for Dream to say all of this. So far, he hadn't lose anyone close to him. At least, to their knowledge. Sapnap, George... Even Karl and Quackity were still alive and continuing to play the game. Even acquaintances of his like Antfrost, Bad and AweSamDude were still somewhere in this hall, looking for a partner to play the next round with. (Y/n)? They felt like the only person that they had left was Dream.
(Y/n) watched all of their friends get into pairs. And it was the obvious. Sapnap and Karl, George and Quackity, Bad and Skeppy... Etcetera. Watching them all scurry into pairs, either picking somebody who they thought was the strongest or picking someone they were the closest to. And it took longer than anybody would've expected since some were finding it difficult to even find somebody to match up with. But (Y/n) wasn't focussing on that. (Y/n) was focussing on themself right now.
"Hey." Dream held them closer. "Cheer up. We've still got, like- three more rounds to get through."
"How could I forget." (Y/n) hummed.
"Well, hey. I know we were on the same team last round, but now we're together again. We're both strong and we both bring stuff to the table." He shrugged with a hopeful smile on his face. "We can fight through this."
(Y/n) let a soft smile crawl across their lips as they slightly lifted their hand up, as if to offer a handshake.
"'Till the end of the line, Dream." (Y/n) let their gaze wash over him, out of every time that they had done this, it had never felt more real than this one. Everything was being put on the wire, including themselves. And their bond was only getting stronger.
"I'll see you at the finish, (Y/n)." He joked, lifting the hand that he had been using to hold (Y/n)'s other hand to shake. This was the third round. This was their game.
A part of (Y/n) hoped that the next round would be quick. Another part of them hoped that it would be the longest so that they could spend more time with Dream. Because aside from the joking that they did whilst walking to the next arena, their time still felt short. The arena, a huge box that had a selection of makeshift streets on them made it feel like home to the two of them. But however positive (Y/n) tried to imagine their situation, it was difficult.
"What do you think the next game could be?" Clay whispered over to them, his eyes still fixed on the place in front of him.
"Do you think it's hide-and-seek?" (Y/n) suggested with their eyes also glued to their surrounding.
"If it's hide-and-seek then you're dead." He chuckled to lighten the mood. "You know I was the king of that game when we were kids."
"I swear I've gotten better now!" (Y/n) argued back with a smirk on their face.
Dream was really good at lightening the mood, but it didn't really work. They loved that he could, but there was really no joking in a time like this.
"Please walk to your designated area."
That line still felt short. That sentence was at least four seconds, so why did it feel like it was gone in just a heartbeat? (Y/n) and Dream, both arriving at the zone that they were assigned, the pink soldier stood in front of them, almost as if it was cornering them.
"Please take a bag from each of the soldier's hands."
The pink soldier in front of them revealed two small sacks that clinked when it moved. Reluctantly, they both took a bag, immediately going to pull it open to view what was inside.
"Each of you have been given ten marbles. Please check to see if they are the correct amount." The voice announced. And with that, Dream and (Y/n) poured the marbles into their palms to count them with their unoccupied hand, securing the number in their head. Ten. Dream's marbles looked to be a bright green and (Y/n)'s marbles was a vivid, purple colour.
"So maybe it's not hide-and-seek." (Y/n) muttered, tilting their head up towards him.
"Or maybe it still is." He replied shortly.
"The aim of this game is to be the first of your pair to accumulate all ten of your partner's marbles through a game of your choice."
(Y/n) narrowed their eyes down at their mountain of marbles. What did this entail? They were confused. But having turned their head towards their best friend to see a wave of shock wash over him was enough to tell them that it wasn't good.
"You will have thirty minutes to do so. If either of you fail to collect all of your partner's marbles, then you will both be eliminated. You are not allowed to switch partners or abandon your partner. Have fun!"
A timer above them set off the first tick, suggesting that the seconds had already started to wisp away. (Y/n) counted all ten of their marbles and swished them around in their hands for a couple of seconds, their eye twitching slightly.
"There's no way that they just said what I think they said." (Y/n) looked over at him.
But he was stood there, idle. Giving them a look that made it seem like he had already witnessed death. Like every loss before him was washing over him once more. His heart fell to his chest, there was no way that he could do this.
"In the nicest way possible, I do regret choosing you to be my partner, (Y/n)." He muttered through a raspy tone.
"No, no, no..." (Y/n) didn't want to let the realisation sink in. "No this can't actually be happening..." They were trying their best, with every working cell in their body, to active block out the reality of their situation. The reality where only one of them makes it out alive.
"Out of all of the games before, it's this that can't be happening?" Dream teased, pouring the marbles back into the sack and taking a seat on top of one of the short, brick walls.
"I mean- It can't happen because you're my partner." (Y/n) held their hand on top of their head, feeling the head lighten. "Can't we like- Sneak away and find another partner?"
"That's a great idea, actually. Announcing your plan right in front of the soldier." Dream pointed towards the guard, who had its gun strapped against its chest.
"Dream, please." (Y/n) let out a soft cry. balling the marbles into their fists. "I don't wanna play this game."
"Why not, (Y/n)?" He sighed.
"Because there's only one thing worse than losing myself." (Y/n) sniffled, running their sleeve cross their eyelids before pouring the marbles back into their sack. "It's losing another best friend."
Seeing the tears, once again, form in their eyes, Dream got up and pulled (Y/n) into another tight hug, his head resting on their shoulder while they lifted themself up to hug him back. God, they wished that they had more time. Now, more than ever. When there's thirty minutes in the clock.
"Well, if we both stand around the. we're both gonna die." His words were muffled through the sleeve of (Y/n)'s jacket as they were still lost in the hug. For a few seconds (Y/n) was silent, but they pulled him away to speak.
"That's why only one of us is going to be leaving." They replied, holding up their bag in front of Dream.
Dream went dead-silent, pausing as if his heart had just skipped a beat. His eyes were widened. This was the most shocked he had ever appeared to be.
"You can't be serious, (Y/n)." He swiftly shook his head, pushing the bag back into their palms for them to take again.
"No, I am." They lifted their head up. "I've already lost the people that I loved. You've still got your friends-"
"Who are also gonna die in this game! We're both losing people, (Y/n)!" He cut in quickly with a hint of defensiveness in his tone.
"But you still have people left to lose." They murmured. "I lost pieces of my heart in the first two games. And, like you said, I could do nothing about it."
"But now you can. You can decide not to be a fucking idiot and sacrifice your life for me." He shoved them away as he voiced strictly, his brows were furrowed to show a tinge of annoyance.
"You've spent your whole life going out of your way to protect me." (Y/n) claimed. "It's my turn that I do the same."
"Well, you can't just hand me your marbles, we need to play a game." Dream took a step back away from them so that (Y/n) couldn't attempt to give their marbles away again.
They hung their head down at the cloth bag, hearing the marbles clink around inside of them.
"Well then lets play a game." They announced slowly. "Hide-and-seek. The game you're the king of, remember?"
"How would we play that with marbles?"
"Well... We'll hide all ten of our marbles in five minutes and then we'll look for them. Easy as that." They shrugged opening their bad for the last time to reveal how many marbles that they held. "At least we'll squeeze a little bit of fun out of this."
"This isn't fun, (Y/n)." He said lowly.
"Look who's the one being bitter now." (Y/n) murmured with a worried smile on their face. "Stay positive, remember?"
"I can't do this."
"Well you're gonna have to." They shot out. "There's no point in putting this off. I'm giving my life up for you. There's no argument." Their words felt powerful and forceful. There was no being passive anymore. "You're finally understanding that this isn't a game, Dream. It's life or death... You're life and I'm..." They took one of their marbles out, inspecting it closely through the tears that had formed in their eyelids. "...I'm death."
"I knew I had to lose someone soon, I just didn't want it to be you." He took one of his marbles out as well, just the sound of his voice was enough to burden (Y/n) with guilt. "I wish I hadn't partnered with you."
"You couldn't have known." They muttered. Dream gave them a short glare. Using his own words against him, how dare they. But he knew that they were right. Neither of them could have ever known. "Five minutes. Hide all of our marbles."
"I could get it done in one minute." He muttered.
"Okay, mr speedrunner. One minute then."
They each caught one another's gaze before turning their backs to each other at the exact same moment, rushing to hide all of their marbles. They were both so focussed on hiding them well to focus on where the other had put theirs. And once the mental timer to hide them was up, they met back in front of the solider.
"Done." They proclaimed.
"Well, we've got, like- twenty-six minutes to find them all." He shrugged.
"I don't think you'll need to take that long. I know you're gonna find all of mine." (Y/n) shrugged, causing Dream's face to stiffen.
"(Y/n), that's cheating. You have to actually hide them-"
"No, I did!-" They interrupted. "I just mean that you're really good at finding things in a short amount of time. That's your skill, remember?"
"Now I feel like I've hidden mine too well..." He trailed off slowly, a purple glimpse already shining in his eye.
"Well then, I'll get to looking..." They quipped.
As they had started to wander off in the little area that they had claimed, Dream walked over to one of the doors of the houses, kneeling down to stare through the hole that was the lock of the door. Pushing his finger through the lock, one of (Y/n)'s marbles dropped out, already indicating that he had found one.
"See? I already knew that you'd be a natural at this game..." They hummed without turning around, already hearing that he had collected one.
"I was lucky." He murmured, dropping the marble into the bag.
"One in seven-point-five trillion." They teased, digging their hands into the soil of one of the plant pots to pull out a bright, green marble.
"That was a long time ago..." He sighed.
"Some things stick."
The two of them continued to let their chatter buzz through the atmosphere, letting their conversation pull them through this time. But however, while Dream had already found nine of (Y/n)'s marbles in the twenty minutes that had passed, (Y/n) was still on their fourth one. They both continued to circle around the area, looking through every crack that they had seen in the place.
"This is gonna be a really weird way to die..." (Y/n) uttered, rolling their fifth marble into their bag once they had found it.
"Please don't say that..." He exhaled with a pleading tone. "We've still got about eight minutes. Don't make this more difficult than it has to be."
"Eight minutes is already a long time." (Y/n) walked across the pathway to grab another one of Dream's marbles that they had spotted in one of the plant pots. Their sixth one.
"I know you don't really think that."
"You're right." They chuckled deeply. "I don't."
"So why say it?"
"To make it easier for me." They let out a half-hearted laugh.
"Why are you like this?" He shook his head, continuing to search through every plant pot to look for the final marble.
"Because..." They turned over from the wall that they were staring at over to Dream, to see him digging his hands through one of the plant pots, scraping all of the dirt to the side. "...Why are you looking through there? You know that I'd never go so far as to hide something in the dirt."
"Yeah, I know... I just wanted to make sure." He got up, rubbing the dirt off his hands. His bag was stuffed into the pocket of his jacket whilst (Y/n)'s was tied around their wrist. Each to keep their marbles safe.
"You've been on the final marble for like-ten minutes now." (Y/n) scoffed as if to make fun of him. "Has your crown finally fallen?" They murmured, picking up their seventh marble.
"Maybe you just hid your marbles better than you thought you had." He rolled his eyes.
"I wanted to give you a little bit of a challenge... I mean- You found nine of my marbles in like- two minutes."
"Speedrunner's excellence." He chuckled.
"You are unbearably confident." (Y/n) giggled whilst closing up their bag again. "It's kind of annoying."
"If it was really that annoying, then you would've stopped being friends with me a long time ago." He let out a laugh.
"Maybe it's because I was just too close with you."
"Or maybe it's because you secretly never wanted to lose me." He smiled.
"You're annoying."
"Not too annoying, apparently."
(Y/n) let out a silent huff through their nostrils whilst displaying a short smirk. Yeah, he was right. Who would ever want to lose a best friend? Even if they were a little bit annoying? There was not a chance that they'd be losing Dream. Not back then because of a little bit of confidence, and not now over a few marbles.
Two more minutes had past before (Y/n) found their eighth marble inside one of the bowls that was placed upside-down on top of one of the windowsills. And carefully sliding the marble into their bag, they had accumulated eight. Two more to go.
"Five minutes remaining!" The voice chirped happily. And while the reminder should be a good thing, it was an awful reminder to have planted in their head.
"I wish we had more time." Dream choked his words out, staring at his hands as he was, yet again, sat beside one of the plant pots to look for his final marble.
"Was thirty minutes not enough for you?" (Y/n) chortled.
"No, I mean... More... Time. There's so much I wish I'd have said to you in the past that I didn't." He sniffed, swiftly running his sleeve across his face.
(Y/n) paused, turning.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, what else could I mean by that?" Dream rotated himself to face himself up to (Y/n) from the floor. "Obviously there were things that I kept to myself."
"In the entire seven years of knowing me?" (Y/n) arched their brow.
"Obviously." He chewed the inside of his cheek.
(Y/n) cracked their knuckles before turning their head up towards the giant timer in the sky. Four minutes left and still counting.
"Well, I mean... We have four minutes left before I die, so... Why not tell me now while we both look for our last marbles..?"
(Y/n) couldn't make out the look on Dream's face. Was it hopeful or was it fear? Was he glad that he was finally going to be able to express his thoughts after all this time or was he just doing it because he was going to lose the person he was telling his feelings to?
"Alright, fine." He sighed, getting up from his seat beside the plant pot. "I've got nothing left to lose and we only have four minutes left anyway." He exclaimed whilst dragging himself over to stand right in front of (Y/n), his hands dug deep into his pockets.
"Wow, you look very serious." (Y/n) murmured out.
"Because I'm being very serious."
(Y/n) gulped.
"(Y/n) you said we've known each other for seven years, right?" He began slowly. (Y/n) nodded as a response. "Well, I'd say... Five of those seven years, I have been... How do you say it. Oh, right- In love with you."
Dream was being very blunt with his wording. Oh shit, he really was being serious. And he said it all in just two breaths. Maybe it was time to realise that he knew that he didn't have much to lose anymore.
"...Are you joking?"
"...Yes, I'm just pulling a prank on you." Dream snorted out with a short smirk, his sarcasm beaming through. "I'm pulling a Skeppy- I'm trolling you."
(Y/n) shook their head to the ground.
"Why would you keep that a secret from me?"
"Well, because." He tensed his shoulders up, his hands still in his pockets. "I didn't know how you would react. You always seemed to be interested in other people... You'd always talk to me about who you liked and my name never came up. I never mentioned it because I didn't wanna ruin what we had." He pulled his hands out of his pocket to drop them to his sides.
"You wouldn't have ruined anything, Dream." (Y/n) quickly assured him, taking his hand and holding it closely. "You're my best friend. And even if I didn't like you back, we still could've been together as friends."
"...If you didn't like me back?"
(Y/n) felt at a loss of words. There it was. The confession, you could say.
"Yeah... If I didn't..."
"Are you saying that you do?" He queried.
"I mean... I guess I am." They nodded quickly, letting their gestures do more than their words. "Every name that I had thrown out before... They were just silly crushes. You are my best friend. You are quite literally my soulmate."
He laughed out, a wave of relief hugging his body.
"...Five years..." He chuckled out.
"That's a really long time..."
"You don't say..." He held his other hand against (Y/n), looking down towards their parted lips. "...It's okay if I kiss you, right?"
"I mean, go for it... We have time..."
(Y/n) leaned forward slightly to let Dream's lips rest against theirs as he moved forward, eagerly holding his hands out to cup their face while (Y/n) wrapped their arms around him. He felt warm. Like- Spiritually warm. Five years was a long time to keep such a secret, but they were glad that he had told them. It was a little disappointing since they only had about two minutes left on the clock, but it was the thought that counted.
They pulled themselves away from each other, their eyes being the first that they saw. (Y/n) had never realised how mesmerising Dream's eyes looked. Probably because there was never a moment where they had been this close to him to stare longingly at the green that engulfed the pupil. But it was beautiful. It was like God had sprinkled emeralds into his iris.
Dream smiled softly, still feeling a little heartbroken at the matter.
"You do realise we still have to find the marbles, right?" (Y/n) looked at him with a concerned glance. He nodded back.
Without saying anything, he placed his hands on (Y/n)'s shoulders and turned them around. He guided their body to rotate, facing one of the houses. Once they did, he rested his finger against their chin to tilt their head up. That's when they saw it.
"Wait..." They breathed out. A bright green glimpse shimmered in their iris. "...How could I have seen that..." Pulling away from Dream's grasp, they steadily walked towards it. "Now I'll only have one to find..." They reached one of the roofs that hung above the door and stood on their tiptoes to grab it. However, once they had laid their hand on top of the roof, their heart sank. Because, to their surprise, when they had only expected to knock one of the marbles down, two fell out of its place. Two green marbles dropped into (Y/n)'s hand.
"Oh no..." Dream walked behind them, running his hand through his hair. "...You found them both..."
"Why did you do that?" (Y/n) balled the marbles into their fist.
"Do what?"
"Why did you hide two marbles in one hiding spot?" They cried out.
He shrugged. "To make it easier." He grinned.
"Dream, this isn't funny!" (Y/n) punched him with the fist that they used to hold the two marbles.
"You're right, it isn't." He held his hands up in his own defence. "I'm out of jokes."
(Y/n)'s fists clenched as their shaky hand revealed the two marbles to them.
"...Why did you do that? I said I was going to die for you! We agreed!" They exclaimed.
"Actually, we didn't agree." He chimed in.
"But still! You could live! Stop trying to be a hero and hide the one of the marbles again!" They pushed their hand towards him, but Dream pushed it back.
"It wasn't in the rules that we had to hide the marbles in unique places." He said lowly. "You can't change the rules now. And you have all ten of my marbles."
"Dream, why?" They whimpered, tears streaming down their cheeks at a rapid pace.
"...Because... You have a family to go back to." He said quickly.
"So do you!-"
"No." He interrupted. "I had maybe a few friends to leave this place with. That was if they made it out alive." He stated. "I mean- You still have your family. And even if they don't wanna talk, then I'm sure you could go back with either Sally or Techno to Kristen and Phil."
"What about you, Dream?"
"Believe me, I wish I had someone to go back to. I don't know who my parents are. I'm not even sure if they're still alive... And Puffy and Foolish basically think nothing of me. I'm dead to them. The rest of my friends... They're here. Just waiting to die."
"But what's my world without you?" They sputtered out, feeling their body shake.
"Your own, of course." He took (Y/n)'s bag and pulled it open, guiding (Y/n)'s hand to tilt the marbles into it.
"This was a horrible play." They murmured bitterly.
"It only gets better."
"Excuse me?"
Dream smiled down at them whilst walking away towards another one of the doors. (Y/n) watched as Dream reached into one of the gaps of the wood to take out one of the marbles that had been covered by a little stone that had been wedged through the plank. He walked back to (Y/n) with the marble.
"...You found it..."
"I actually found it about twenty minutes ago." He admitted.
"Wait- So then that means you won!"
"No, it doesn't." He huffed. "Because I found it. I didn't grab it. Which means that you were the first of us to take all ten of my marbles."
"...So you really are good at hide and seek."
"You could say so."
"But then that's just stupid." (Y/n) spat out. "You just confessed your love to me and now you're telling me that you actually found the final marble! You're an idiot!"
"Yeah, yeah I am." He snickered. "But I'd give anything to be called an idiot for the last time by you." He pulled (Y/n)'s hand so that they could take the last marble. "This is no use for me anymore."
He had admitted defeat. Sort of. The pink soldier held up its gun towards him and he felt free. But just before Dream could turn around to accept the bullet, (Y/n), grabbed his wrist.
"Clay, please..." They cried.
He held their hand for a short second before gently pulling it off his wrist.
"'Till the end of the line, (Y/n)."
(Y/n)'s lips trembled. No words were being formed. For good reason. There was no way that they were letting go... They couldn't...
"See me at the finish line?" He offered, his eyes welling with tears before turning towards the soldier.
And even if (Y/n) was planning to get a word out, they couldn't. Because in less than a second, their heart leapt at the sound of the gunshot.
"Player 403 has been eliminated."
***
(Bonus because I like watching the world burn):
"I thought I had already lost everything." A soft voice echoed through the circle that they had made around one of their beds. "I didn't think I had any more to lose." Sally whispered out, playing with the dead ends of her messy curls.
"It wasn't your fault." George reminded her with an empathetic expression. "None of us could have known. He only wanted to protect you."
"I'm gonna have a lot of explaining to do if I ever get out of here alive." Sally chuckled, sniffing as she scratched the bit of skin below her eyelid.
"You are gonna make it out alive." Sapnap stated confidently. "We all are. We're too far gone. If we die now, then what will our partners have died for?"
"Sapnap's right..." (Y/n) cleared their throat. "I'm sure they wouldn't have wanted us to sit around and sulk... We're stronger than this."
"Exactly." Sapnap nodded. "What we're gonna do is stick together and absolutely destroy the remaining contestants, got it?" He turned his head to look at all of them.
"We're getting out of here together and in one piece."