TW: SWEARING, YELLING, SCREAMING, BLOOD, GORE, VOMIT, MENTIONS OF DISEASE AND OTHER DISGUSTING STUFF
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~~~~ Dream's P.O.V ~~~~
I sprint toward Sapnap and Phil as fast as I can. The ground vibrates with each pounding step. The siren made everything vibrate. It rattles my ribcage and sets my mask at odd angles. I focus on it as hard as I can. I use it to block the whirlpool of mixed emotions in my chest. I use it to shield myself from sorrow and heartache.
All I had in my mind was the way Y/N had looked at me before the golem took me away. Her eyes swam with unshed tears, glossy and squinting slightly. Her lips carried the ghost of a smile, one I hope I'll see again.
Selfishly, I want to be with her until the end. But I know she's right. If this is what she wants me to do then I'll do it. She wants me to do the right thing not just by her but by everyone. I want that too.
I cut through the dwindling crowd of Dark Army soldiers to get to Phil and Sapanp.
"Dream! What's the alarm for?!" Phil shouts finishing off his opponent and taking on another.
"It's the nuke alarm, we need to get out!" I shout back and block someone's sword.
"Why are there fucking plant people everywhere?!" Sapnap's voice cracks as he screams. His white shirt and bandana were stained with blood and his armour had taken a lot of hits. Classic reckless Sapnap.
"Y/N. She'll be right behind us," I lie through my teeth. A lie more for myself than Phil and Sapnap. There is a chance she can still make it out, I hope she takes that chance. Sapnap slices a man in half and stops for a breather when nobody else comes to attack him.
"Where do we go?"
"Away from the cities, we don't know what's going to be bombed," I say. Phil throws two soldiers to the ground pulling his bloodied sword out from one of them.
"I'll alert the others," Phil says and starts running towards the centre of L'Manburg.
"I'll clear the field," Sapnap smirks and cries out as he charges back into the frenzied fighting.
I take that as my cue and throw an ender pearl onto the roof of a nearby building. I wasn't expecting the scene that laid itself out in front of me. As dumb as that felt it was true. I wasn't prepared to see the ground littered with bodies of all shapes and sizes. I wasn't ready to see golems being taken down by extreme numbers of soldiers that attacked them. The bloodshed spreads further in front of me than I thought it would. I've underestimated L'Manburg's territory before but this was incredible.
I spot Punz and Purpled guiding soldiers away. I spot Sapnap running away from them and smirk knowing he must have told them to get people out. A thought shocks my brain and I throw my next pearl towards the SMP. I sprint to our back lines, our final line of defence. The people who stopped the Dark Army from reaching the SMP.
Pearling between buildings I notice how few Dark Army soldiers had actually managed to make it this far. I can't help but wonder where Schlatt's military strength disappeared to. This battle was nothing like previous raids. No soldiers used potions, no TNT, not even flint and steel. The ms they have are the standard iron swords. It was questionable, to say the least.
Landing my final pearl I sprint towards Puffy and Niki who are commanding our back lines. They also coordinated our wounded.
"Niki, Puffy, we need to get everybody to the outskirts of the SMP-"
"Already done, we filed them out as soon as we heard the alarm," I'd never seen Puffy so serious. The time she spent as a sea captain came through in her voice. She was always so cheerful and sweet with Michael and Shroud. But here on the battlefield, she was as stoic as a stone.
"There are still some people trying to get out, it takes time to move so many people," Niki adds on. I glance around and spot Ranboo carrying a badly injured and bleeding Tommy down the path. Tommy groans and squirms no doubt trying to be stubborn and walk himself. Our radios crackle and I click mine to talk into it.
"Fundy send the message to evacuate," I command through the radio.
"I have but it's hard when it's just me and Eret," he summarises and the radio goes silent once more. I look around and pearl from building to building trying to make sure we have everyone behind the defence line.
Y/N had created a masterpiece of chaos. She was too small to see from this distance but her golems had distracted everybody. Everybody except one person. My eyes widen when I spot the blood god doing what he does best. He was surrounded by bodies and I could barely see any green grass, the field was covered in puddles of red. I throw a pearl towards him.
"Techno! We need to evacuate!" I shout over the siren but it's like Techno can't even hear me. He continues to fight soldiers cutting them down two at a time. I don't even know where they keep coming from.
"We have to go now!" I yell louder and Techno finally turns around. His eyes shock me. Instead of their mutant white colour, they seemed grey and clouded. He stared directly at me but I couldn't even feel his gaze.
"Blood," he mumbles. His axe crashes with my sword. The force alone makes me stumble backwards.
"TECHNO!" I shout but it does nothing to get him to listen. I stay on the defensive not wanting to hurt him.
So, this was the rumoured murderous rage of the blood god. Infamous and uncontrollable. The kind of rage that makes him careless about himself. His mind only focused on killing everything that comes too close. I bounce on my toes concocting a plan in my mind.
"Fine then, if you want to fight me, fight me!" I challenge the blade. He responds furiously attacking me over and over and over. I keep running back, only landing hits to keep his interest. I spot Phil in the distance as we near the edge of the battlefield.
"PHIL!" I scream as loud as I can. He hears me and whips around. The second he spots Techno attacking he sprints towards us. I block the last of Techno's swings before a potion smacks against his skull.
Phil runs over breathless as Techno collapses on the ground. He looked like he was sleeping.
"What was that?" I ask him.
"Well, I'm not George or Y/N, but I'm not half bad at brewing," Phil notes and heaves Techno's weight onto his shoulder.
"Let's go," I urge him and pull out a pearl offering my other hand to Phil. He takes it and I throw pearl after pearl until we're behind the back lines again. We pull Techno down an alley in the SMP centre to one of the stations we had built. It was much emptier than it had been before the evacuation.
"Did we get everyone out?" I demand feeling pressure burning in my body like fire. The bomb would be hitting any second now. Did Y/N make it out? My heart hammers in my chest praying that she did. Even though everything in me knew that she would be staying behind.
She's a god. She'll be fine. Gods don't die... do they?
"We brought back as many as possible but we couldn't send people to collect bodies," Phil puffs and sits Techno against a red brick wall. I double-take as my exhausted brain confuses it for the community centre. We weren't far enough away from L'Manburg for that to be true.
"What about Y/N? Did you see her?" I grip Phil's shoulders instinctively.
Before he can speak, we hear a strange whistling and somebody shouting.
"TAKE COVER!"
We dive to the ground as the bomb hits.
The impact makes the ground quiver as if this were an earthquake. I notice the wall starting to crumble on the edges.
"MOVE!" I shout. Phil and I drag Techno's body off the wall and make a break for it. We collapse on the ground a few metres away just as the wall crumbles completely.
The ground doesn't stop shaking. It should be over by now. My eyes widen when I think of a possible answer. Could Tubbo's bomb have been so big it makes the earth here rattle? The city is hundreds of miles away, that can't be possible... Can it?
We wait for the shaking to stop. Surrounded by buildings that have toppled to the ground I can only hope that no one got trapped in the rubble.
Where is Y/N? Did she make it out? I can't think of anything else. Slowly, the shaking stops and people start getting up.
I dig in my pocket for an ender pearl and throw it as hard as I can towards L'Manburg.
~~~~ Y/N's P.O.V ~~~~
I'm surrounded by nothing but darkness although I feel like my eyes are open. I try to blink them but I'm met with burning as ash sticks to my eyeballs. My head aches from the ringing in my ears. It's like there's no other sound in the world.
Why aren't I dead? A nuke should have killed me.
I lift my hand to wipe the shit out of my eye, startling when I feel water instead of air. I fumble about like a newborn kitten trying to feel my way around.
A strange draft wafts under my nose and I'm hit by overwhelming nausea. I sway dizzily and bash my head on something hard. I can't hear the water splash as I try to yank my way out. All I can smell is sulfur, concrete and burning. Horrible, incessant burning. The kind of burning that you want to say is burning flesh but it smells so much more sickening.
I blindly tap at the rock around me. Rubble. I'm trapped under rubble. A nuke would have disintegrated everything within its closest radius.
Schlatt didn't launch a nuke. I feel myself tremble as the realisation hits me like a ton of bricks. I'm alive, and there's no nuke.
My stomach drags on the ground as I pull myself up. I touch my leg and feel some strange slimy texture. I touch it again and bring it to my nose. Blood. Blood and pus. My gag reflex kicks in and I force myself to hold it together. I start coughing when I breathe in the dusty air.
The water was definitely infested with all kinds of bacteria and rubble but I needed to be able to see. I splash it onto my face, gaging each time I come in contact with the stuff. It gets in my hair and sticks it to my face. An image of a wither rose pops into my mind. I wish I could hear the water so I knew when it was going to hit my face. But still, all I hear is ringing. Painful ringing that made my migraine sing louder than a canary.
I gasp in the dank air and blink profusely. Eventually, my eyes start to tear and push the gunk out of my eyeballs. I wait for my vision to return.
The first thing I see is the small slit of light coming through the concrete above me. I focus on it gaping like a goldfish as I start coming to. The fuzzy world comes into focus and I notice how the blue sky was gone and had been replaced by orange and pink clouds.
How long have I been trapped here?
I look around the space. I immediately regret looking at the water. My gag reflex kicks in again and I haul myself out of it. It was red with my blood. Clots of it float on the surface and dirt mixes with some strange crud that came from the concrete. I vomit into the pool adding to its monstrosity. I grip onto some concrete and feel it cut my hand open like tissue paper as I vomit my guts out. It came out pink and bloody from my throat. I must have some kind of internal damage.
Focus on breathing, I tell myself and heave in as much air as possible. I push off the rubble I was gripping onto but immediately collapse. Weakness overcame my whole body. My legs shake like a stray, starving dog's. I can barely move my head to look around. I was trapped inside a cave of rubble. Nobody would have ever been able to find me in here.
My brain starts waking up. Dream, Ranboo, and Techno are the first things to come to mind. I have to get out of here. I have to make sure they find me. I move to crawl out of the cave towards a pocket of light in the corner. I howl in pain when I try to hold my own weight. All I can hear is ringing, but the strain in my throat is enough to tell me I screamed.
I cough inhaling more dust. My armour digs into my side where the metal had bent the wrong way from the impact of the explosion. I feel tears drip down the sides of my face as I try to peel it off. My armour seems to touch every bruise on my body. My body throbbed with pain alerting me to all the places my arteries ran in my body. Blood pulsed through me like water in a river. I felt everything. I cry out pulling off the last of my armour.
I lay on the ground for a moment trying to make sense of everything. If I'm alive then Schlatt didn't drop a nuclear bomb. He couldn't have. If it was nuclear I would have disintegrated. Or at least that's what Tubbo said. Did Tubbo's plan work? Are they all alive?
If only I could hear what was happening outside. Maybe then I'd be able to hear if the others were close. Maybe then I would be able to find Dream. Where is he? Did he listen to me?
Outside. I have to get outside.
I groan as I roll over and drag myself to the edge of the rubble where I spotted a small pocket of light. I grab the concrete with my hand, hissing with pain as I heave it away. More light comes in through the small gap. I was already puffing and the hole was barely bigger than my fist.
Strength was certainly not something I had left. But I didn't want to die in here. I didn't want to be stuck in a hole with my own vomit, blood and whatever infection I had gathered in the gash on my leg.
As I dig my way out of the rubble the ringing in my ears subsides slowly. I'll need a regeneration potion to heal myself properly, but at least it was less. I started to be able to hear my own breathing as I rolled rubble out of my way. I push on the wall as hard as I can and feel it shift. But the effort leaves me drained and I have to stop for a moment.
I scream as I pull on the rubble the wrong way. It crashes down onto my arm trapping it under its weight. I scream more as I push the rock off and cradle my arm to my stomach. I whimper and rock myself back and forth to try and distract from the pain. It was definitely broken. The pain in my wrist brings attention to the pain in my shoulder and I know I have a gash there too.
I have to get out. I have to get out for Dream. I want to see him again. I want to hold him and love him and be happy with him again. I want to be there when Michael and Shroud come home. I was to hold them in my arms and kiss their sweet faces.
Forcing myself onto my knees, I use my good arm to pull away the last of the rubble. I drag myself through the hole. The rubble I was trapped under was in the centre of a huge crater. I desperately wiggle out hugging my wrist to my chest, greedily snatching gasps of clean air. I tumble down a slope and into a new pool of water. A much cooler, cleaner pool.
Ignoring the horrible infections that burned all over my body, I enjoy the coolness of the water as I sludge my way out of it. I collapse on my back with my legs still in the rank water and take a moment to stare at the sky.
It was beautiful. I wasn't sure if the bomb had affected the colour of the sky, but I'd never seen it so vibrant. Oranges and pinks and purples and the last of the blue day hung like a painting in the wispy clouds. I heave in deep breaths feeling my bruises ache with every movement of my ribs. A butterfly flitting through the air catches my attention. It was blue...
Tommy.
I lurch into a sitting position. A guttural cry rises from my throat as everything in my body fights against me. Every little cut and bruise as well as my broken wrist and throbbing leg want nothing more than to torture me.
Incoherent yelling makes me quiet down immediately. I try to make out the voices but it all mixes with the ringing.
"Help," I can barely speak as I fall into another coughing fit. I spot shadows running past the crater.
I brace myself knowing that there's only one way for me to get their attention. I raise my trembling hand and touch it to the gash on my leg. It squelched at my touch feeling like mouldy fruit. The burning pain makes me wail in pain again. My vision blurs. I flop back down on the ground.
A fuzzy figure slides down the edge of the crater. The horns on the side of their head make me jolt with fear. The last time I saw something like this I was kidnapped. I'm about to make myself scream again but I notice a strange gleam coming off the silhouette's horns.
A ring. Tubbo's ring. He comes into focus more and I make out Tubbo's unmissable physique. I cry out again when he lifts me off the ground and starts to carry me out of the godforsaken pit. Mumbling like a wounded animal with every step triggering some kind of injury. I shut my eyes as my head starts spinning.
There's more shouting and yelling and then shushing and muttering and mumbling. I can't make out any of it. I feel it when Tubbo hands me gently over to another person. I let out a strange garbled noise to express my pain. Everything just feels like a dull ache now.
This new person holds me much closer than Tubbo did. I'm too far from consciousness to know who it is. But the vibrations from their voice alone are soothing. I'm washed over with a sense of calm as I breathe in this person's scent.
It feels like home.
****
My crusty eyes peel open slowly to see the white roof of the medical tent. I slowly roll my head from side to side trying to take it all in. I lay on a standard hospital bed, rows more of them on either side of me. My arm was in a sling and no longer aching and my leg was bandaged thickly and stained with blood. I try to shift around but I'm trapped by a heavy ball on my stomach.
I look down and feel myself melt inside when I see Dream fast asleep with his head on my tummy. I smile quietly and run a hand through his soft hair. He had taken off his mask, I notice the white disc resting by my ankle. I frown lifting my hand up when I see how it's cloaked by bandages. I keep running my hand through Dream's hair but he doesn't stir. He must be exhausted.
The ringing in my ears was long gone and the voices were dead silent. I could feel them contently waiting in the back of my mind. But for now they, like me, were happy to still be here.
A sadder sight sends pangs through my stomach as my eyes settle on it. Bodies covered in mismatched clothes, blankets and towels pile against the wall. There was nowhere else to put them for the time being. Those who didn't need beds flopped across flimsy chairs. Men and women in medic uniforms dash back and forth across the tent helping patients wherever they can. I sigh and hope that Dream managed to get everybody out.
I tense in anticipation when I spot a familiar black and white face in the crowd. I watch him and wait until he turns around and spots me. I grin and he immediately strides over as fast as he can. He rushes to my side and I wrap my arms around his neck hugging him tightly. He pulls back and presses our foreheads together.
"I told you I wasn't going to say goodbye," my voice is hoarse and croaky but I couldn't care less. I chuckle as Ranboo steps back and flicks my forehead.
"Never scare me like that again," he threatens and scowls crossing his arms. I smirk knowing he's only worried about me.
"I'm a god, I'm fine," I shrug and Ranboo sighs pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Your cockiness will be the end of you," I laugh again. He holds my hand gently like I was made of glass. I squeeze his hand silently promising that I'm fine.
"How are you feeling?" this time concern gets the best of him as it sneaks into his tone. I smile for him.
"My wrist is healed I think. Nothing hurts. I'm fine, now get me out of here. Someone else who's missing a leg probably needs this hospital bed," I glance around trying to find proof of my words. It doesn't take long for my eyes to land on a person in a chair who had a bandaged nub for an arm. It was what I expected to find but that didn't make it any less horrible to look at.
"You have priority," Ranboo says.
"That's bullshit, I'll be fine at home. I've got work to do anyway," my voice was more solemn as I glance around the makeshift hospital. There was a lot of work to do.
"There is a lot to do," Ranboo agrees quietly looking at the bodies stacked against the wall. There was no dignity in a death like this. It was all just disgusting and a waste. Such a tremendous waste of life. As I glance around I catch sight of a butterfly on the back of Ranboo's arm.
"Where's Tommy?" I ask remembering the last time I saw him he was falling to pieces. Ranboo waves dismissively.
"He's been patched up. He's out helping Niki and Sapnap right now."
"Is everybody else ok?"
"We came out better than most," Ranboo says and I know what he means. We were warriors who had been training in combat for years. Many of our L'Manburgian soldiers were new to fighting. People in Lian's village would have had a better chance, but it's clear everybody suffered casualties. I look around again and spot Tubbo's ring glinting in the distance. I look to Ranboo and know he's already looking at Tubbo.
Ranboo presses his fingers to his lips and whistles across the tent. I giggle as Tubbo whips around instantly recognising Ranboo's call. He spots Ranboo and then me awake in the bed. Tubbo sprints over dodging the swarms of people and practically crashes into me. I laugh and hug him as tightly as I am able.
"You scared the fucking life out of me!" he scolds and shakes my shoulders making me laugh more.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry!" I say until he stops shaking me. He chuckles with me and Ranboo.
"Did the bomb work?" I ask him. Tubbo's grin is cracked with excitement.
"The crows just got back. The city has been completely levelled," I shake my head sure that I'm not hearing him right. The city was humongous, there's no way we managed to level the whole thing.
"Leveled?" I clarify and Tubbo nods profusely.
"The nukes were more powerful than we anticipated. We can't go anywhere near the areas for months until the radiation is cleared. That doesn't really matter though, from what the crows said, the chance of survival in the city and at least a hundred miles around it is zero."
I can barely believe what I'm hearing. The whole city had been destroyed. Most of the area surrounding it was uninhabitable. There's no way Schlatt could have survived that. It's impossible. I'll keep crow patrols going for the next few months to be sure. Schlatt was slimier than an eel and I'm not about to take chances.
"What about Shroud and Michael?" I ask.
"I just sent a letter to Lorelei and Myles. Quackity is writing letters to the evacuation sites," I take a deep breath and run my hand through Dream's hair comfortingly.
Most of the news was good. The people I love and care about are ok.
"I'll see Fundy and Quackity later," I say to Tubbo and smile as relief fills up my system.
It's really over.
Dream starts stirring and turns his head so he's facing me. His eyes take a moment to open and another moment to process what he's seeing. Realisation dawns on his features and I can't help but smile as all his emotions mix together into a massive happy palate.
He sits up abruptly and pulls me into his arms.
"Hello Dream," I say cheekily and he had no other response than the fat beaming smile on his face. I giggle uncontrollably as he kisses my face over and over and hugs me tightly. I kiss him back, all over his freckled cheeks and above his eyebrow on his scar.
"Get a room!" Tubbo jeers. I pull a face and flip him off making him laugh.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Dream pouts and I chuckle more when I see how genuine his expression was.
"You were exhausted, I wasn't just going to wake you up," I loosely hang my arms around his neck. He leans into my touch and I have to force away my swoon.
"I wanted to be the first to see you," he admits quietly so Tubbo and Ranboo don't hear. Sometimes Dream could be sweeter than honey.
"You technically were the first to see me," I try to cheer him up a bit. "You were just unconscious too," I fall into giggles again.
Dream frowns and kisses me again this time on my lips.
"How are you feeling? Do you want anything?" he asks breaking the kiss. I grin knowing exactly what I want to do.
"I want to get the fuck out of this bed."
~~~~
HELOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Well, I hope you all enjoyed it. I have no idea what I'm going to do when this is over. Actually, that's a lie, I know exactly what I'm going to do. Write another fanfiction. It might be a few months though before I publish that thought since I'm quite busy nowadays. But I can't wait to see you all there :D
I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL MORNING/DAY/EVENING/NIGHT <3 <3 <3
Here's your reminder to hydrate!