TW: SWEARING, YELLING, SWEARING, TRAUMA, PHYSICAL AND VERBAL ABUSE, DEALING WITH ABUSERS, MENTIONS OF DRUGS, BLOOD, ANXIETY ATTACK TRAITS, SEVERE SHOCK, ILLNESS TRIGGERED BY MENTAL STRESS, COUGHING
Also, this chapter is quite long so grab the popcorn and strap in your seatbelts :D
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~~~ Tommy's P.O.V ~~~~
I groan staring up at Fundy's stupid scowl. He taps his foot with his arms crossed, orange tail flicking angrily behind him. Summer had decided to kick in today, and it was possibly the worst fucking time too. The heat clung to the outer walls of the white tent, radiating to the inside and making me feel sticky and gross.
I had to lug my big heavy red paint cans all the way from my house to L'Manburg. Even worse, I had to drag it around for an extra half-hour when I couldn't find the tent I was looking for. They all fucking look the same, white and made of some kind of rough tarp material. Just some were larger than others.
It didn't help that these fucking butterflies hadn't left me alone. The heat brought them out in droves, they followed me all the way here. Some even hitched a ride on the back of my shirt or in my hair or on my arms or just any part of my body that was available to them. It didn't matter how much I tried to swat them off, they were persistent little bitches.
"Tommy, surely you're smart enough to know that painting the gapples red is a complete waste of time!" I zone back in just as Fundy finishes his lecture. He really was stupid, my plan is perfect.
"But Fundy!" I sigh putting on my most persuasive voice. "I'm not just bloody painting the gapples! I'm disguising them like little baby chameleons in the forest and shit. They're more stealthy this way, and anyway, the colour is better," I smirk and grab another that I had yet to paint but frown when I notice the butterfly sitting on it.
The bastards were all over the tent. I had been eating the gapples whilst I was painting, and I suppose the butterflies wanted some because they've nearly covered the whole crate with their colourful wings. I brush the butterfly off the shiny golden surface and watch it flutter away and land on a painted apple. I frown as it flutters off my perfectly coloured red apple and onto a gold one. If they were going to be a pain in my ass they could at least be on my side with this.
"How is it stealthier?" Fundy exclaims and I feel like I'm going to pull all my hair out.
"You are so fucking stupid! They look like normal apples when they're red, idiot!" I flick my paintbrush as I speak causing me to swear as more flecks of red paint land on my shirt. It was a good colour, but I don't want to wear it on my favourite cardigan.
"Maybe I should have worn an apron," I mumble to myself.
"They are not stealthier!" He sticks a foul finger at the crate, specifically at the apples I had painted.
I hadn't gotten to all of them yet. Some of them were red, others were red with gold patches from when I was running low on paint earlier and others were still gold.
"Don't look until I'm finished," I say whacking his hand away.
"They're not properly painted, Tommy! And that doesn't matter anyway because we can't eat paint!" I roll my eyes at his stupidity. Sometimes I wonder if he's really my nephew.
"Of course, we can still eat them. You just put one in your mouth and-"
I drop the paintbrush and unpainted apple to clutch my hands over my ears as a monstrous ringing storms through L'Manburg. I notice Fundy clutching his ears too as the bell rings monotonously, over and over and over and over. The high pitched ringing in my ears makes me tear up as I battle away persistent memories of wailing, blood, and fire.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS THING?" Fundy shouts over the alarm pressing his fox ears against his head. I shake my head not remembering the answer. I knew all the alarms, Y/N and Sam had told me all of them, the protocols and what they meant. But I expected it to be more straightforward than blaring incessant noise.
The noise made the tent seem to vibrate and it bounced around in my ribcage like an angry bee in a box. An alarm this loud is important, it has to be. I force my legs to stand and get me off the chair but they refuse to go further. Locked in a place surrounded by an ocean of noise, nothing to think of except how much I want this to fucking end already.
Stumbling forward, I wrack my brain for some recollection of what this alarm was. I press my hands so firmly over my ears I'm sure they're going to squeeze into my skull. One foot in front of the other, I tell myself as I stumble past a wincing Fundy to the tent opening.
I'm met with a scene of chaos. Soldiers stumble about frantically throwing on armour and grabbing their nearest weapon. I nearly fall backwards as mounted soldiers appear out of thin air, galloping past me towards the SMP. All their faces with stricken with determination but also stress and worry. This was a serious alarm.
I feel my heart start pounding harder as my brain starts to come to terms with the deafening alarm. My heart leaps into my throat and I start bolting through L'Manburg. I hear Fundy shouting behind me as I push buffering soldiers out of my way. The voice in my mind I had forced to get my legs moving now had extra motivation for me.
Shroud was at the bakery with Niki today. I need to get to him now.
I imagine them both huddled behind Niki's counter. He'd be hanging onto her like the world was about to end. He probably thought it was ending. Shroud was tough, he was born a fighter even if he's a little bit shy. But fucking hell, if I'm rattled he'll be shitting himself.
I keep running as fast as I can navigate through the overflowing crowds of people towards the bakery. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a child crying. I double-take thinking its Shroud but quickly realise I'm out of my mind.
When the docks are finally in view, I feel my panic rise and relax at the same time. Shroud's just there, he'll be there with Niki. But what if he isn't? What if he's been hurt in the ruckus? It's all I can do to run faster and launch myself around the corner and down the stairs to the bakery.
I fling the door open with a bang and hear a yelp followed by shushing in reply. A speaker in the bakery blares the alarm so loud I worry the windows will break. Ignoring the ringing in my ears I swing my legs over the top of the counter and crash down on my knees on the other side.
Shroud is watching me with wide eyes with his hands pressed against his ears, his body tightly snuggled into Niki's side. She covers his hands with hers trying her best to keep out the noise and protect him.
"Tommy!" he shouts and runs out of Niki's arms and into mine. I sigh with relief as hug his little body close to my chest. I press a hand over his exposed ear feeling myself start to worry about them bleeding.
"Niki what the fuck is the alarm for?!" I scream over the noise and feel Shroud flinch. My guilt is instant but there's no time.
"The prison Tommy! There's been a breach, but we don't know what!" She shouts back.
My blood goes cold.
Schlatt's in that prison.
What if he escaped? What if any of those prisoners escaped? Shroud wouldn't be safe. Tubbo is in the prison right now. Is he alright? Are Michael and Ranboo ok?
Ranboo.
"I'm taking Shroud somewhere safe," I shout to Niki she shakes her head immediately knowing what I'm talking about.
"That's miles away Tommy!" she replies.
"Can I take your horse?"
"Yes, but if you're going to go you should go now!" I nod understanding her urgency. the longer we hung about the more likely we could run into an escaped prisoner. I wasn't about to risk anything.
"Shroud I need you to hang on really tight," I lean down and speak as gently as I can into his ear so he hears me. He nods and I feel his extra legs tighten around my torso as he grips onto me. I give Niki a sympathetic smile trying to tell her that I hope she makes it through this safely. She smiles back.
I launch myself back over the counter and out the door. I was slower with Shroud but I didn't need to be fast, Niki's horse did. After some searching around the bakery, I find the fretting horse tied to a watering trough that must have been knocked over. I can see the whites of its eyes as it watches me approach.
Our horses had been trained to be fearless. I had spent a lot of time with the others helping to bombproof them. We did the strangest shit, doing starjumps in front of them with umbrellas and ribbons, using balloons, bright signs and some of Techno's dogs to teach them to be unphased. It worked well, but this situation was fucking miles away from that reality.
"Easy," I say to it as clearly as I can and hold my hands up. Thankfully, she doesn't try and kill me and gives me time to untie her from the broken trough and get on her back. I had no idea where Niki kept her saddles, and quite frankly we didn't have time for that.
Gripping onto the horse as well as I can, I kick her into an incredibly quick canter and head to Snowchester. At least the alarm would be quieter there.
~~~~ Ranboo's P.O.V ~~~~
Reading the reports I had been sent was worse than being on the battlefield. Well... Not really. I received the thick stacks of paper daily, they were mostly for me and Tubbo but when Jack's here he reads them too.
When you are in the field, all you think about is staying alive, keeping your friends alive, and getting out in one piece. But when you have to read the reports, you're left with a world of breadth for your imagination. The pages grit against my fingers making a stiff sound as I flick through them. Numbers of all kinds, supplies, weaponry, TNT, gunpowder, potions, casualties, deaths, strength of our opposition. It went on and on leaving me to imagine whatever sorts of horrible things could happen.
I startle as Michael's footsteps thud brashly on the ceiling above me. I sigh and let the papers flop down on the table, Michael must be playing with his wooden sword. I run a hand over my face and use the other to take off my crown and set it on the table.
Peeping through my fingers I notice the purple stains on the white ceramic plate I had eaten my chorus fruit on. Y/N was growing it for me, I smile remembering our banter about how she can't stop stealing the occasional fruit for herself.
Things are better when Tubbo, Tommy and Y/N are around. At least I know Tommy isn't posted out today, but Tubbo and Y/N were doing something I don't think they ever thought they'd do. I don't even want to think about it.
Schlatt would be trying to get a hold of both of them. Using old tricks and smooth words to grab hold of their minds. I know how easy it is to bend under his austere stare, not that I had much of a choice. I don't even remember what came before the city, the only clear memories I have of that place were in Y/N's room or in the lab.
Both were hard to forget for very different reasons.
I listen to Michael playing upstairs. Every now and again he shouts and jumps excitedly or the thudding of his little feet fades as it travels across the room before returning again. A strange hum in the distance forces me to listen more carefully.
It was faint but somewhat recognisable. My tail flicks by my feet as I stand from the table, ears bent trying to listen for the sound. I listen as it slowly grows louder as if it was getting closer. It isn't humming, it's ringing. It is an alarm.
I feel everything in my body sink to the floor as I recognise what the sound means. The prison alarm was ringing. Tubbo and Y/N are in the prison. Dream and Techno and Quackity are in the prison.
"Boo?" Michael's worried voice snaps me from my freeze. I look down and see him tugging at my pant leg worriedly. How long had I been frozen?
I quickly scoop Michael up into my arms so he's facing me. Looking straight into his eyes I see every ounce of fear growing with the alarm's blaring volume.
"Michael, I need you to be very quiet for me please," I say to him.
"Why?" he grips my shirt tightly trying to find something to do with his little hands.
"I'll tell you soon, but right now I need you to be quiet," I speak sterner this time, but my fear betrays me with a slight tremble. Michael still doesn't speak, I shake him a little to try and keep him listening.
"You have to promise me," I say wishing for him to just listen. He nods slowly.
"I promise," he says. I kiss his forehead roughly and sit him down on the table and grab the papers I had been reading.
"Sit tight buddy," I tell him and dash to the fire tossing the papers in. Once I'm sure they're all burning I turn to Tubbo's desk littered with nuclear plans. The sound of crumpling paper is almost as deafening as the alarm as I grab all the papers from the desk.
I throw most of those papers into the flames too, except for the ones with round yellow stickers in the top right corner. Those were too important to throw away. With shaking hands, I fold them up and look to the ceiling. Reaching up I press with my fingers, heart hammering until I find the loose board. I slide it out of the way and slip all the yellow-stickered papers into the crevice before closing it up again. I take one last look to make sure I've left nothing out and dash to the workroom. I grab the emergency bucket from the corner that was full to the brim with sand. I huff as I heave the bucket to the fire.
My ears start to ring as the alarm gets to me. I turn to Michael and see him covering his little ears, it pulls at something in my heart. I throw the sand over the glowing embers, dampening it completely and covering the whole thing so the smoke didn't escape up the chimney. Leaving the bucket I run to Michael and pick him and my crown up. I grab a coat and sword from the front door before running out of the house into the snow.
I sprint to the vault, Michael clinging tightly to my neck the whole way, and skitter my hand over its stone bricks looking for one in particular. The alarm forces my nerves onto high alert, every lap of the small waves in the bay, each crunch of snow under my feet, the occasional scrape of my sword on the stone wall makes me flinch. A brick shifts under my hand and I nearly leap for joy. I press it in firmly and the vault door grinds and growls as it peels back its main defence.
"Ranboo!" Tommy's shout makes me jump, and before either of us knows it, my sword is at his throat.
"Easy big guy!"
"Were you seen? Did you cover your tracks?" I question and watch Tommy shift under Shroud's weight who was clinging to his back like a monkey.
"Obviously dickhead, did you?" He gestures to the prints I had left in the snow with a roll of his eyes.
"Shit," I mutter and sweep over them quickly with my sword trying to make it look like we were never here.
"Have you seen Tubbo?" Tommy's voice is tightly fraught and does nothing to help my own nerves. Tubbo always said he'd come straight here in an emergency. One side of me knew he wouldn't be able to make it all the way here from the prison, but the latter, much larger, side of me was determined to wait for him.
"No, we're waiting for him," I barely recognise my own voice. Everything feels so big, there's so much to do. Shroud and Michael come first before anything, I don't need to tell Tommy that. But Tubbo was still out there. What if he's on his way? I look back at Tommy and notice how Shroud was now clinging to his front. Tommy had his hand over Shroud's ears, they were both trembling from the cold even though they had run the whole way here. I look down at Michael, his hands were pressed to his ears too, eyes tightly shut trying to keep out the world and all its vices.
"Tubbo was interrogating Schlatt," Tommy states trying to project over the alarm. "He could be locked in the prison."
I say nothing and let the beat pass, my eyes locked on the curve of the hill Tubbo and I usually walked down to get home.
"Ranboo we have to shut the-"
"No!" I feel Michael flinch and I am hit with immediate regret. Tommy's face contorts mournfully.
"I don't want to either Ranboo, but we need to think of Michael and Shroud."
Why does he have to be right? I look down at Michael again, a bright light in my life. My family means the world to me. Y/N can take care of herself as much as I'll worry about her. If she's hurt she has Dream. But if Tubbo's hurt who will be there for him? What will he do? How can Michael go without a dad?
I run a hand over Michael's head, playing with his hair, trying to soothe his fear. Michael means the world to me. He also means the world to Tubbo.
Tubbo would want this.
I steel myself and look at Tommy dead in the eyes trying my hardest to keep my sorrow away from my face where the boys will see it. Tommy's blue eyes lock with mine and we both nod finally coming to a decision.
We enter the vault and pull the lever to seal it shut.
~~~~Y/N's P.O.V ~~~~
The voices are what bring me back to my senses. Each individual voice overlapped another at a volume I hadn't experienced in a long time. They weren't shouting, they had no need to shout, but they were deafening. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to take a deep breath, but it comes out as a horrible spluttering cough.
The room that was once clear as day is now blurred and alien to me. I use all the strength I have in my arms to push myself up. My back scrapes on the wall as I drag myself to a sitting position. My chest wracks with more coughs and I try to make out the bodies laying around me.
My eyes gloss over the notepad that had been torn to shreds on the floor. My ears refuse to make out any other sound in the room besides ringing. I try to block out the voices but they only grow when the room becomes clearer.
The sight of Schlatt's empty shackles sends them reeling.
I twitch feeling vibrations on the floor. The door is rattling so much that I am sure it will break from its hinges. I crawl to it and press a hand onto it and feel it bounce off the vibrations. The voices soften slightly and I use the opportunity to press my ear to the door.
People. People I know. People who will help us.
I unlock the door.
The force of the door swinging open sends me back against the wall. I watch in a daze as Sam charges into the room with his trident raised. He's quick to spot me and kneels in front of me, gripping my shoulders.
A black gas mask covers half of his face and I am unable to try and read his lips as he tries to shake me back to life. Another figure enters the room with an arm full of more black gas masks. Sam spins and snatches one before pulling it over my head. I greedily suck in breaths of sweet clean air. Slowly, the world comes back, one piece at a time.
"Y/N! Y/N? Can you hear me?" Sam's muffled speech finally breaks through the voices and I start to feel more awake. I nod trying to collect myself. Sam breaths in a deep sigh. I look behind him and notice Bad holding an armful of masks unable to unfreeze from where he's staring at Schlatt's shackles.
"What happened?" Sam tries again. How long has he been asking me that?
"We've been attacked," I croak and start coughing again. "Alert the whole army, we need guards and soldiers and generals, anybody who can, we need to start searching for him."
I start coughing again but this time someone else's coughing joins mine. I look across the room and spot Techno shaking against the wall he was slumped against. Blood drips from a cut on his eyebrow. Gripping tightly to Sam, I get off the floor and take a mask off Bad as I pass him.
My knees slam onto the floor as I reach Techno's side nearly making me groan.
"Techno," I breathe out. "Techno, are you alright?"
I shake his shoulder and his eyes shoot open. My guts sink as I spot the numbness in his eyes. His voices would be reeling just as much as mine are. I fumble with the mask and pull it over his face. It doesn't fit perfectly but it's better than nothing.
"Come on, think Technoblade!" I grip each side of his head with my hands. I shake him again but he stays blank and confused. He looks around the room aimlessly, taking none of his surroundings in. I wonder if he could even feel the unnatural thickness of the air we were breathing.
Groaning from another corner of the room sends me scrambling to the source.
"Dream!" I cry and skid to a stop by his side. I hold his hand feeling their coolness as he rolls to his side coughing harshly.
"Bad!" I turn back to Bad who had snapped out of his trance. He doesn't hesitate and hands me a mask. I pull Dream's mask off his face and swap it with the gas mask. Immediately he starts to cough and splutter.
"Dream deep breaths, deep breaths," I say pulling him off the floor so that he's leaning on my body instead. I get through to him and he listens, breathing deeply.
"Dream are you alright?" I ask scanning for any injuries. In a daze, he looks up at me.
"Yeah, yeah," he breaths. He looks around the room again pausing when his eyes lock on the empty shackles. I feel every one of his muscles tense until he feels as heavy as a rock. In response, I feel my heart start hammering knowing exactly what he'll do next.
"I'm going to kill him," Dream's voice turns gravelly and harsh. I grip onto his shoulders to try and stop him but he shoves me away like an unloved doll.
I knew exactly what was running through his mind. Schlatt being loose was a threat to everything he had built. He knows Schlatt will want to get me back, steal information, leave spies, anything that could jeopardise our side of the war.
What if Schlatt got me? The voices crackle at the thought. I can't go back to that. I'd die in that city if he finds me again. Schlatt's loose, he could come for me, or for the boys. What if he got them? Would they survive? Would Tubbo and Ranboo die trying to find them again?
With each question, I hear the voices grow louder. I press my hands over my ears to try and relieve the pain but I can't run from what's in my own head.
"Dream stop," I'm ashamed when my voice comes out as some kind of strangled sob. The thickness in my chest only strengthens and chokes me more as Dream refuses to come back. His green eyes seem to smoulder in the dark room through the gas mask.
"Dream!" I attempt a final shout but he's already gone.
We can't go back. We'll die. We need Dream. Is everyone alive? Schlatt. The city.
The voices seem to want nothing more than to torture me as they shout at one another. They argue and tangle with each other creating a huge terrifying mess. Their worry only heightens mine, their fear contagious and justified.
The brick wall is cold as I press my head against it and try to take deeper breaths. Every breath seems to shudder and shake as I'm unable to control any part of my body. I have to help the others but I can't even stand.
"Y/N!" A voice calls above the noise shooting my eyes wide open. Drista grips my shoulders, golden curls sneaking out the sides of her hood and around her gas mask. Her violently green eyes are shocked with nothing but concern. I shake my head and push her off trying to get her to focus on the others.
"They need masks," I tell her. I don't miss the reluctance in her nod or in the way she stands up to grab more masks.
I press my hand to my forehead trying to relieve the beginnings of a migraine but sigh when I feel my hand is hot and clammy. Wincing at my body's many protests, I force myself to stand up. Where the fuck is Dream going? How am I going to find him now? He could be miles away. He could get hurt or worse, he's not thinking.
I turn my attention to Drista as she pulls a mask over Tubbo and Quackity's faces.
Oh my god, Tubbo.
I stumble over and kneel at his side. My memories from before the gas knocked us out start to freshen in my mind. Tubbo is Schlatt's son. And he's going to remember straight away. It's not long before the mask is working and Tubbo starts coughing as he wakes up.
"Tubbo, breathe slowly, deep breaths," I say to him and rub his back as he curls into himself from the rattling coughs. His coughing eases long enough to catch sight of the chains.
"Tubbo, I know what you're thinking-" I'm shoved aside as Tubbo scrambles to his feet. He stares at the chains unmoving, his coughing long forgotten.
"Tubbo don't-" Antfrost storms into the room in a flurry of stress.
"All of the prisoners have escaped!" I'm stunned to silence. What?
"WHAT?!" Tubbo roars and grabs Antfrost by his armour and drags him out of the room with him.
I know he's only thinking of one thing right now. Protecting his family. Just like how Dream is only focused on protecting me and the SMP.
We have to go get them. They'll die if they go on like this.
The voices overlap and start creating confusion in my mind. I don't notice I'm staggering through the doorway until Drista stops me again. Her green eyes were once again the only things that cut through the unrelenting noise.
"Y/N, stop," I've never heard her voice so stern, so unwavering. She reminds me so much of Dream.
"Help me get Quackity and Techno out of the room, they need you," again I hear Dream in her voice. She was cunning with her words just like him, knowing exactly what buttons to push to get me to listen. Quackity and Techno need me, but so do Dream and Tubbo.
"You can't get to them now, they'll be long gone by the time you get out of this fucking prison," she's right.
Steeling myself, I turn to the people I can help the most at this moment.
"Let's get Quackity out of the room, unlike you, me and Techno, he's human, he can't keep breathing this shit in," I feel like my voice is consumed by the deafening alarm but Drista hears me well enough.
Drista drags Quackity out of the room and into another where the gas is thinner and I check on Techno. He slumps against the wall breathing heavily and some weight lifts from my shoulders.
"Techno?" I say gently and grab his hand. He looks up at me, tired eyes clear and free from the influence of the voices. I smile for him even though I know he can't see it through my gas mask.
"Y/N, Quackity's alright, we need to help with the search," I turn and see Drista in the doorway. My heart beats faster at the mere thought of being out there. I could find Schlatt. I could find Dream or Tubbo. Or I could find something more dreadful.
"Can I leave you here?" I ask Techno. He nods sloppily.
"I'll be fine, now go kick Dark Army butt," he jokes trying to make me feel better. The joke isn't what raises my spirits. I squeeze his hand and then stride after Drista trying to ignore my dizziness.
****
The light of the sun blinds me for a moment as we run out of the prison tearing off our gas masks. We drop them on the grass and sprint to the stable Sam had recently finished building for our horses. We grab our saddles from the racks. I don't miss Sparticus' empty stall. Nor the stall that usually held Sam's horse.
I saddle Percy faster than I'd ever saddled him before. Sensing my distress he becomes uncontrollably jittery. There's no time to try and calm him down. Drista and I mount our steeds and bolt from the stables towards the SMP.
The air is filled with alarms from different buildings we pass. Shadows flicker across the backs of running foot soldiers from the thousands of crows that patrol from above. Phil must be searching too. The streets of the SMP are bustling with a new type of crowd, the worst kind. Soldiers of all sorts of rebellion uniforms flood the streets. Mounted soldiers, archers, demolitions experts, ammunition suppliers ran in their camouflage-patterned uniforms with little gold wings sewn onto the shoulders of the sleeves.
Drista and I head for the woods knowing the SMP is well taken care of. Our weapons never leave our hands for a moment as we carefully scan for traces the prisoners may have left behind. But every track we follow leads us to a group of our own soldiers. Not one trail or broken branch or trampled grass or sapling leads us to anybody.
At least we were away from that stupid alarm.
"How could they have gotten out?" Drista growls as we march back to the horses after another few hours of pointless searching.
"The prison is designed to be impossible to navigate unless you're a guard," my brows knit together as another wave from my migraine hits me. The voices hadn't let up, not one little bit and they were making me pay for not searching for Dream.
I wish I could be looking for him. The inside of my cheek had started to bleed from where I had unconsciously gnawed at it. Every failed attempt at finding a prisoner was time we could have spent looking for him. But Drista was stubborn and convincing. It didn't help that they were so similar, or that she knew exactly how Dream would be acting right now and just kept going. Why didn't I follow him? What is wrong with me?
How does Schlatt do this to me? The fact that I couldn't see him made me shut down. I couldn't think let alone stop Dream. Why wasn't he listening to me?
"What if a guard betrayed us?" Drista's words are like ice and hit me like a sugar rush. I shake my head profusely, it wasn't possible.
"We picked guards so that it would be impossible for them to betray us. All of them had lost something to the Dark Army, they wouldn't gain anything from joining them," Drista sighs and we remount for the thousandth time this afternoon.
The bright dappled light that had littered the floor was slowly glowing golden with the ageing afternoon. We look at each other knowing it's unsafe to say out here any longer. We'd have to leave this to our soldiers. We scan for any last tracks as we head North to the prison but find nothing.
As we approach the prison, bobbing lights on the lake greet us in the dim evening light. Boats full to the brim with diving equipment patrol the edge of the looming obsidian walls. The soldiers look no bigger than ants.
The air is silent now, the alarm turned off long ago but the memory of it would be fresh for a lifetime. The whole country of the SMP and L'Manburg had been searched, and we'd come away empty-handed. People in the SMP would be allowed to leave their houses now, although I doubt they'd want to unless they had no other option.
"Searching under the prison will take forever," Drista scoffs. I hum absentmindedly as we head to the entrance of the prison.
A wave of relief hits me when I see Quackity and Techno on their feet talking to Phil. I kick Percy into a canter feeling eager to reach their sides.
"Techno!" I shout as I approach them. He waves, stoic as ever, whilst Quackity and Phil call back with more enthusiasm. Percy is barely stopped when I drop my stirrups and slide off his back.
"We're ok," Techno mumbles to me as I hug him tightly, his bear-like frame engulfing my much smaller one.
"Y/N, I got a letter from Ranboo. Tommy and the boys are with him in Snowchester and they're all fine," Phil summarises as I pull away from Techno.
"Thank the gods," I breathe and let some tension go, but the bulk of it remains.
"What about Dream?" Phil's face falls as the words spill from my mouth.
"The crows have seen him and Sam around, but no real news," his voice is solemn. I take a deep breath and thank him anyway.
Where is he? When was the last time the crows saw him? That could have been ages ago, he and Sam could be on the other side of the world by now.
"He'll probably be out there forever. You should try to relax-"
"He's not thinking right!" I snap at Drista and immediately regret it. I cover my mouth with my hand to stop myself from saying anything else. I feel everybody's eyes on me now, like little flickering lights through a glazed window.
"I know," she says much softer this time. "But there is nothing we can do to put his mind at ease. You know as well as me that he needs to do that himself."
Drista's radiating wisdom only serves to make me want to pull out all my hair.
"But he's going to be upset until we find Schlatt again. There isn't anything we can do anyway!" I force away the pricks behind my eyes as my building frustration from the day spills out of its bottle. I had tried so fucking hard to hold it together I can't break it now. Not when everybody needs me to be ok. Not when I need to be ok for Dream. When he comes back he needs to know I'm ok, not bawling my eyes out in a hole somewhere.
"I know," Drista says and sets her hands on my shoulders rubbing them gently. I try to compose myself but another face pops into my mind.
"What about Tubbo?" I ask Phil, he shakes his head.
"The crows say the same," he says.
"Y/N," I turn at the sound of Techno's voice and notice his worried expression. The sort of expression Techno never wears, an expression he only lets a select few see.
"Are you ok? After what happened in the interrogation I mean..." Techno trails off and I know exactly what he's referring to.
My parents weren't my parents. Tubbo's parents weren't his parents. I had barely thought about it. My parents have been dead for so long, the fact that I'm not their real daughter has done little to affect me like Schlatt hoped it would.
"I'm not thinking about that," I say feeling sure that I would have plenty of time to process the information later.
"Right now, there are more important things for me to be doing."
"What's wrong?" Phil asks confused. Techno and I share a quick glance.
"I'll tell you back home," he says to Phil.
I look at the world around us noting its darkness. We weren't going to find anything tonight. Searching is pointless as much as I want to go out and look for him.
"We should go home," I say to the group. Everybody nods understanding me completely. Techno wraps me in another hug.
"I'll speak with you soon," he says and I can't help but smile.
"Thank you."
I hug Quackity and Phil and the three of them go their separate ways. For a while longer, Drista and I watch the boats as they search the outside of the prison meticulously. It was like Schlatt had vanished.
"Where are we going now?" Drista asks pulling up her hood as a cold wind blows behind us. I frown not understanding her.
"What do you mean?"
"Well I assume you want to see the boys in Snowchester, but you also want to see Dream," Drista states the obvious as usual. The familiarity of it provides something comforting. I swallow and force logic to take control of the words in my mouth.
"I need to go see the boys. Dream is strong enough to look after himself and he's with Sam. But I know Tubbo, he wouldn't have taken any of what Schlatt said lightly," Drista slings an arm over my shoulder supportively.
"We'll find a crow and send a letter to Dream so he can find us whenever he wants to come back," she says. I'm surprised I hadn't thought of that yet. At the suggestion, the voices ease slightly and my migraine is quick to respond with the same release.
I take a deep breath of the fresh night air and let it soothe the dizziness that had haunted me all day.
"Sounds perfect."
We mouth the horses and start the slow journey to Snowchester. But before we get far Drista had one last thing to say.
"By the way, what happened in the interrogation?"
I sigh. It's going to be a long night.
~~~~
HELOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WELL WELL WELL
LOOKIE HERE
HOW THE TURNS TABLES
I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL MORNING/DAY/EVENING/NIGHT <3 <3 <3
See you in the next one shawty ;)