Dream turned around and saw the last person he expected to see that day.
George.
George with the fluffy brown hair and the not matching brown and blue eyes, George with the sweet voice, the sassy remarks and the cutest laugh in the entire ocean, George, who had protected him from Wilbur, who had held him after his nightmare, who had stood by his side during the most difficult times of his life.
Tears started forming in the sirens' eyes as he looked in the eyes of the merman he had grown to adore so much, the merman he loved. And although for everyone else it was just a split second, for Dream it felt like an eternity.
It was like a huge weight was lifted of his heart, the weight of the thought he had never actually allowed to form in his mind but held deep inside for a long time: that he he would never see him again once he was back in the castle, back to this life that he had been born into without anyone asking what he really wanted.
He lunged forward and hugged George tightly, burrowing his face in his neck. "I... I thought I lost you!", he croaked, expressing all the doubts and differences they had, all the emotions he had never revealed, all the anger and helplessness he had felt regarding the fact that they were different species and could never be one.
George exhaled sharply and hugged him back even tighter, crying into his chest. "Me too...", he whispered.
As Dream held George in his arms, in the middle of the hallway, in the middle of fights, conflicts, yes, an outright war on their backs, he felt happier than he had ever before.
The world was whole again.
"Okay, so... I hate having to destroy this beautiful moment nobody expected", Sapnap said from behind them, "but, uh, we gotta get going or else we might get killed."
George let go of Dream. "He's right", he said softly, "we need to go." Dream sniffled and quickly wiped his eyes.
"Well, would you look at that. The DreamWasTaken is crying", Technoblade mocked. "I don't know who you are, but you have to be some sort of magician to be able to melt his stone cold heart like that."
"Wow, Techno, didn't know you could be poetic", Sapnap grinned. "There's nothing I couldn't be", Techno announced proudly.
"Yeah, yeah", Dream cut in, "we get it, now let's get a move on."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible."