TW: SWEARING, ANXIETY ATTACK/DISSOCIATIVE TRAITS
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Quiet morning chatter and the smell of bacon and eggs are what wake me in the morning. That and the tentative visitor who slips through the walls of the pillow fort to find Dream and I sleeping in the pile of pillows in the living room.
Once Dream got inside I knew he was freezing. We didn't even stop to explain why the whole house was a pillow fort, he just accepted it and followed me to the fireplace to warm up. I wanted to make him something to eat, but my hands were shaking too much to even help him with his armour or hold my axe. We just lay down and slept.
Dream's arms were still firmly wrapped around my stomach and I could feel the tense muscles in his face as he buries into my shoulder. He hadn't been able to relax all night, he didn't let go of my hand once. Usually, I didn't mind, but after yesterday, it made me fret all the more.
The padding of little feet on the wooden floor and huffs as Shroud climbed through the mountain of pillows make me smile. He comes around my feet being careful not to wake Dream. Shroud's sweet red eyes were shy and cautious as he watched Dream behind me.
"Morning Rascal," I whisper to him and reach out a hand beckoning him closer. He smiles with me and shuffles forward on his knees cupping his hands over my ear to whisper back.
"Tubbo told me to be quiet," he says. He pulls back looking at me and then Dream again. I open my arms and he crawls into my chest for a cuddle.
"Does that mean everybody knows Dream is here?" I ask him, Shroud nods dutifully. I hold back my sigh of relief. That would save me some trouble for this morning, although Dream was far from escaping the boundless questions Drista will have for him.
"Do you want bacon, eggs and sausages?" I breathe out a laugh knowing Tommy must have sent him to ask me about breakfast.
"Yes please, Dream would like some too," Shroud nods again and I let him crawl away again, back into the fort to the kitchen.
Once he's gone I roll over in Dream's arms so I'm facing him. It upsets me when I notice the terrible frown lines on his face and how tightly his eyes are closed. He really does worry that I'll be gone when he wakes up. I press my hands to his cheeks and run my thumbs over his tense muscles being as gentle as I possibly can. Slowly, Dream stirs and relaxes into my touch before opening his beautiful green eyes to inspect my face.
"Are you-?" he chokes on his words and coughs a bit. I smile sympathetically and rub his back.
"Yes, I'm here, I promise it's me," I swear I'll never get bored of saying that. I'll never be irritated with him for asking, only grateful that he loves me so much.
"How are you feeling?" he asks me, shifting so that he's propped up on an elbow.
"I feel better," I smile but then sigh realising what sort of day we had ahead of us. "It's going to be a busy day."
"I know," Dream pulls me in closer leaving me wondering how there was any more space between us for me to be pulled into. I feel a sense of warmth overcome me as he gazes at my face. I watch him, his childish freckles seemed to have lost some of their prominences over the last few hours.
"I don't want to get up," he says.
"I don't either, but we have to," I quickly kiss his lips and wiggle away before he can catch me again. He groans and flops down again making me laugh. He grins watching me as I slip back into the fort and crawl into the kitchen.
I'm greeted at the end of the fort by what seems to be thousands of legs, even though I know it's only five pairs of them. I see Tommy reaching up to twirl webs around his finger that Shroud had left on the ceiling. Ranboo and Tubbo hover around the stove, plates and utensils clinking as they put food onto them. I don't miss how Ranboo's tail hovers by Tubbo's ankles or how his eyes drift to Michael who sat on the counter watching Shroud crawl across the ceiling.
"You timed that well," Tubbo remarks from the stove as I reveal myself. I laugh as Tommy jumps upon seeing me.
"Look who decided to show up," he scoffs covering up his embarrassment.
"Good morning to you too," I tease and check in the fort behind me as I hear Dream groaning from the effort of crawling on his stomach. I laugh and shake my head at his lack of judgement. Just like Tommy, he had to choose the hard way to get through the maze. He crawls up to my side as Ranboo announces that the food is ready.
"Get up idiots," Drista says rolling her eyes as she cleans a dish in the sink. I feel Dream tense next to me at the sound of her voice. She was pissed and he knew it. Thankfully, she holds off whilst we eat our breakfast.
Shroud and Michael finish first, so we tell them to start cleaning up the fort. They try their best to bargain and keep their mess in the house, but Tommy is clear about how much he never wants to crawl through that thing again. I roll my eyes as the two of them crash through the fort causing it all to collapse into even more mess before Tubbo sternly tells them to clean up properly.
Dream, Drista and Ranboo start helping them once they've finished eating. Although, Drista and Dream seem to be doing more arguing than folding blankets. They scold one another in harsh whispers as they create towering colourful piles of fabric. I want to help them work it out, but the voices and my conscience know better than to let my impulses get the best of me.
I sit at the dining table behind Tubbo who sat at his desk, Tommy leans against the wall. My earring tinkles occasionally as I continue to eat my breakfast whilst we discuss what to do about the disaster that occurred yesterday.
"So, what are our options?" Tubbo asks turning to face the two of us, a pencil spinning between his fingers.
"We don't have many," I mutter unable to come up with a real answer.
"Well, Schlatt's fucking gone and we're not getting him back," Tommy's voice should belong in a foghorn. Drista and Dream's whispers seem to cease immediately. I look to Tommy as he cringes and runs his hand through the white streak in his hair. I notice the orange butterfly on his shoulder as I try to look at anything except someone's face.
"He's probably gone back to the city," Ranboo says with something spikey in his tone. Drista takes the boys upstairs carrying piles of blankets that she and Dream had folded. I shoot her a grateful smile before she disappears.
"That would make the most sense," I nod and shoves another forkful of egg into my mouth, chewing thoughtfully.
"Do the crows have information?" Dream asks.
"I'll see if I can find one later," I swallow before speaking. Fast light footsteps make us all look at the stairs.
"Bee we finished packing up," Michael says stopping on the last step with Shroud just behind him tugging on the sleeves of his sweater.
"Can we play with Michael's toys upstairs please?" Shroud asks sweetly.
"Yeah, off you go," Tubbo says with a slightly forced smile. Once the boys disappear, it does too. I hated how we had to pretend for the boys, they deserved to know, but they were too young to understand. They'd want to be a part of everything someday. But for now, they only cared for the romanticised parts of their fathers' work. Like the glory of battle or thrill when you slay the demon you're fighting. Fake things from children's storybooks.
"What are we going to do about the city? If Schlatt's there he's got all the power again," Tommy points out making an effort to be quieter so the boys don't hear. Tubbo taps the spruce desk with his pencil and Dream sits next to me on the table.
Ranboo gets Drista from upstairs and they join us too. I try to look at her expression, but her eyes were firmly locked on her toes. She was pissed off.
"We're yet to test the nukes, but we could blow those motherfuckers sky high," Tubbo's grin was mischievous.
"Would the nuke be big enough to destroy the whole city?" I frown unable to understand how one explosion could be that big. The city was at least a thousand hectares in size, from the tower it was impossible to see the outskirts.
"We need more data and a test, Jack and I can have it done quickly," Tubbo summarises but I know he's thinking of a thousand more things than what he just told us.
"Then that's what we'll do," I know my expressions only full of concern as I turn to look at Dream.
"We can't leave him or his operations standing." Dream was right about one thing, we couldn't leave even the slightest trace of the Dark Army behind. It was too big of a risk to leave that sort of power in existence. But at the same time, I'm not sure if before yesterday that would have been something Dream would have suggested.
"We have to tell the others in person. The safety of our correspondence by crow has been compromised by the escaped prisoners," Drista's voice was monotone. I decide to leave her be, she has been through enough and I know she likes having space regardless.
"Good idea," I say and look around at the others. We all seem to agree.
"I'll go to the castle and organise a proper meeting," Dream slides off the table but before he can get away I grab his wrist. I could see him becoming more and more distant and I wasn't about to let him get away so quickly. He looks at me with a frown, I'm not about to let him wander around on his own. Once the others are busy I'll talk to him about it.
"I'll visit Techno and Phil," Ranboo says adjusting his crown.
"I'll call Niki and Puffy and see if they have time to watch the boys. Then I'll speak to Jack and the generals," Tubbo says.
"I'll go to the prison," Tommy says.
"I'll go with you and Dream," Dirsta looks between the two of us and I nod at her.
"See you all in the castle."
****
Tommy's butterflies flutter around the meeting room as we debate our next move. Nobody had any real solution, just observations we had already made. Where the Dark Army is the strongest, where they are the weakest, where they can and cannot attack from. We only had one part of the plan in place, blow the Dark Army headquarters sky high.
When Jack arrived, he and Tubbo went through the work they had to do to prepare the nukes. Tubbo was fairly certain that they'd be able to test them at the end of the day if they left as soon as the meeting finished. Ranboo had flicked his tail anxiously as Tubbo wrote a letter to Quackity ordering him to pencil him out of L'Manburg duties for the rest of today.
Eret held open the door when Techno and Phil arrived from the Arctic commune. Techno was quick to remark about how the table I had split in half with my axe had been fixed. Eret had shot me a teasing look before disappearing.
"This plan revolves around secrecy," I state to the room causing chatter to go silent. "What has been said in this room stays in this room. We shouldn't expect retaliation after the city is destroyed. There is no need to spread unnecessary panic."
I turn immediately when I hear a chair squeak against the floor. Phil stands up anxiously with a crow on his shoulder I hadn't seen there before. It must have arrived whilst we were deliberating.
"The crows have seen a facility whilst scouting the city that we don't have on the map," he starts slow but I start to fret anyway causing the voices to worry too. I take a deep breath and adjust my posture before he continues. I feel Dream's hand brush mine under the table before he takes it. I couldn't be more glad that I got to sit next to him for these meetings.
"What do you mean?" my voice doesn't betray me.
"A massive concrete facility on the outskirts, with a giant chimney, and it was heavily fortified-"
"That's a nuclear plant," Tubbo's chair nearly tips backwards as he stands from his seat. His eyes are wide with realisation and fear.
"Are you sure?" I ask not wanting to jump to any drastic conclusions. Tubbo's expression remained absolute. He pauses for barely a second before he shoots more questions at Phil and the crow.
"How big were the chimneys?" he asks eyeing the crow. Phil turns to his feathered friend who clicks quietly in his ear.
"At least ten storeys," Phil says. I nearly jump when Tubbo punches the table with his fist letting a bang echo through the room. Techno looks up at Phil, they share unspoken words before coming to some kind of agreement and turning back to the room. Tommy gets up from his seat and moves to Tubbo's side. Tubbo, Tommy and Jack whisper to one another before Tubbo says anything.
"It's a nuclear plant. But the technology is centuries old, I didn't bother using it but I did read about it," Tubbo explains.
The voices bubble in my mind as they argue with one another about what we should do. I shake my head even though I know I can't get rid of their whispers.
"Did the crows see anything else?" I ask too loudly. Techno, Ranboo and Dream all send me knowing looks.
"There are a few who haven't returned yet from the outskirts, but that's all the information I have right now," Phil looks apologetic and I smile for him to try and relieve some of his stress. He smiles back but I feel like today all I had seen were forced smiles.
"Drista," the girl looks up from where she had silently listened through the whole meeting. The dagger she had been spinning between her fingers halted and her green eyes gleamed. Her curls and freckles make her look sweet, but in her eyes, I saw real bloodlust. The past few days have been hard, she had seemed so nonchalant about it all I didn't ask her how she was feeling. Perhaps I should have.
"How many people are living in the SMP and outer towns?" I ask her. She continues spinning the knife.
"All towns in our occupation have been evacuated, but there are quite a few people still living in the SMP," she summarises not looking away from me despite how quickly her blade flashed between her fingers. The tool relaxed as easily to her touch as a language to a native speaker. It scared me sometimes to see somebody so young who was possibly handier with weapons than I was. It felt wrong.
"The SMP shouldn't be too much of a worry, if Schlatt plans on taking over he'll want a functional base of operations. L'Manburg and the outer towns will be Schlatt's main objective..." Dream trails off as another thought crosses his mind. His eyes are riddled with worry as he looks down at me. The thought transfers to me and sits like a stone in my chest.
"But destroying the SMP would be a treat for him if he has the recourses to do so," I look back to the room and see the same pensive expression on everybody in the room.
We move swiftly into planning locations for battalions and Ranboo starts writing letters with Tommy for the generals. Our northern border was most liable to attack, but it was also the ocean and we don't know if Schlatt has a naval force big enough to move all his soldiers there. Gods, we have never even seen a naval Dark Army force before.
The room is the tensest it has ever been. I couldn't help but wonder, was this what it was like in Old World? When the leaders of the world discovered that they could be blown to bits at any moment, was this how it felt? Were their people kept away from the truth too? Did it start slow or happen all at once? How did their world end? Who pulled the trigger? Who retaliated?
We would never know. Their world is long dead, its people are long dead. Our ancestors barely survived and only made it because they could withstand the worst of radioactivity. They only survived because they were far enough away from it all. They only survived because they were resourceful and worked together.
Are we forcing our people into a fate worse than death? Are we doing the right thing to protect them?
A flurry of cawing crows interrupts my thoughts and the tense atmosphere of the room. Those closest to the window duck and flinch as the dozen or so crows search for various places to settle. On the backs of chairs, in the middle of the table, one sits on my shoulder. I tense when I sense its aura, these crows were distressed and exhausted from the flight but there was something else I couldn't place.
"Phil, what are they saying?" I ask him and stroke the crow on my shoulder to try and calm it down. Cheekily it taps my crown testing the lustrous texture. I watch Phil intently and readjust my crown. I feel my stomach sink when his expression morphs in the exact way I didn't want it to.
"They've spotted Dark Army soldiers marching towards us," the room is dead silent apart from the scuffling of crows.
"They've broken our south-eastern border," Phil's voice is as taut as his expression. My pulse quickens and the voices mutter between themselves, Dream holds my hand tighter.
"How far away are they?" Dream asks, his voice sounds like it's a million miles away rather than right beside me. I feel his concerned eyes watching me. I look at Phil and know the answer.
"We have one day before the army comes to kill us all."
~~~~
HELOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WE ARE HERE AND IT IS HAPPENING!
The finale approaches...
Sorry for the short chapter, it's certainly not one of the best I have written. I was struggling with the plot and this was the most I could come up with. Trust me, the next chapter is better :)
I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING MORNING/DAY/EVENING/NIGHT <3 <3 <3
Also, has anybody told you that you look amazing today? Because you do ;)