"Nix, where is Fundy?" Wilbur demanded.
"I-I don't know" I stuttered, still in shock after how close we came to losing our trees. I never thought our dumb prank would get us into this much trouble, but I shouldn't make excuses. This was Fundy and I's fault, and we needed to fix things immediately.
Snapping myself back to reality, I faced Wilbur with a determined look.
"He walked over this way, but then he saw the dream team here and left in that direction" I said, pointing to one of the paths. "After that I don't know where he went"
"Nix and I will go find him, the rest of you should stay here and make sure there aren't any fires spreading suspiciously near our redwoods" Wilbur commanded.
"Yes sir" Tubbo replied, saluting him.
Wilbur and I set off in the direction Fundy had gone, with an uncomfortable silence. I knew we had disappointed him, and I felt horrible.
Hopefully, we could still save the day by getting Dream his stuff in time. We continued down the path until we ended up at Fundy's house, praying that he hadn't run off somewhere else.
Fortunately for us, Fundy wasn't dumb. He knew why Dream was here and had already pulled the bags out from wherever they had been hiding.
"That is everything we took from them" Fundy called out, and my head swiveled to look towards where he was leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed. He looked extremely upset, and was glaring at Wilbur. Why would he be mad at Wilbur?
"Fundy......" Wilbur started softly, cutting himself off and looking away from us both "Fundy, why would you do this?" I don't think Fundy noticed Wilbur had forgotten me, actually I think they both had forgotten about me as an argument broke out.
"Why do you think I did it?" Fundy raised his voice, uncrossing his arms "Huh, Wilbur?"
"I don't know! Maybe for fun? Or maybe for your own amusement? Those are your only motives right?" Wilbur cut back, his voice matching Fundy's.
"No! you know what? Fuck you" Fundy spat.
"Don't talk to me that way" Wilbur's voice suddenly went hollow, no warmth or emotion to be found. It threw me off guard, I had never heard Wilbur sound so cold.
"Or what? You're gonna ground me?" Fundy ridiculed, rolling his eyes.
Wilbur didn't make a sound, he just stood across from Fundy, staring at the floor with a blank expression on his face. He inhaled deeply, and met Fundy's glare head on.
"Why did you do it?" Wilbur asked again, his voice so low, I almost had to get closer to them to hear what he said.
"Maybe you should figure it out yourself. I obviously wasn't thinking it would cause this much trouble" Fundy stated. Wilbur and Fundy had a staring contest, both of them unmoving. Putting two and two together, it dawned on me what Fundy was getting at. Fundy just wanted to finally be acknowledged as an adult, not a child. He did this to prove to his dad that he was capable of being grown up. Maybe that's why he makes all these elaborate pranks, just to be noticed, to be seen by his father. But it always falls flat.
"Fundy, I want to make it very clear with you. You will not engage in any affairs concerning the dream team unless I allow you too. That means staying inside the walls, no pranks, no communication with them whatsoever. You will be assigned a job and that's all you will do from when you wake up until you go to bed" Wilbur declared, no warmth in his voice.
"So you really are grounding me? Thats so dumb" Fundy huffed, looking away. It seemed that after he had hinted at Wilbur's not so great parenting skills, he had become less angry, and just a little more depressed and sullen.
"Go give dream back his stuff" Wilbur replied, ignoring Fundy's comment. With a final shake of his head, he left the house, heading off to check on the forests. Fundy and I stood silently for a couple seconds, Wilbur's cold tone reverberating in my head. Fundy was probably blaming himself for what happened, even though I assisted him in this scheme.
"I just wanted to help" Fundy whispered, so quietly I almost didn't hear.
Walking over to Fundy, I hugged him tightly.
"I know you did, someday he'll understand, you just need to tell him how you feel" I whispered back, my voice muffled by his jacket. Fundy hugged me back, sighing.
"Alright, let's drag these bags back to the Camarvan" I brightened my voice, trying to make the mood more positive.
"Are you sure you can even carry them? You look really tired-"
"I swear if one more person mentions how I look today I will break their nose" I snapped back at him.
"Sorry" Fundy apologised, stumbling back from my glare. We pulled the bags from the floor, carefully hoisting them onto our backs without poking ourselves with the swords. The walk back to the Camarvan wasn't all that bad, but when we got to the van, we were told that Dream wanted us to bring it all the way back to the community house. Contrastingly, the walk to the community house was horrible. Whenever I die and go to hell, I pray carrying a giant bag filled with sharp weapons for thirty minutes won't be part of my punishment.
Waiting for us at the community house was the dream team, although they didn't look to be very attentive to our arrival. George zipped past me while screaming for Dream to help him, Sapnap following close behind and yelling threats after George. Dream was watching it all unfold from the roof of the community house, a fishing rod in his hand.
"OH GOGY!" Sapnap sang as he jumped over a chest, nearly chopping George in half with a sword. George sprinted away screeching, making me cringe as his scream broke my eardrums.
"I wasn't expecting you to return the weapons so quickly, you guys caved so quick" Dream called out from the ledge he was sitting on.
"I wasn't expecting you to be fishing after we left so many salmon laying around, next time we'll be sure to bring extra" I replied flatly, dropping the bag of weapons off in front of an entrance to the house. Fundy followed what I did but with a little less aggression.
I almost missed it, but I swear I heard a low chuckle come from Dream.
"DREAM TELL HIM TO LEAVE ME ALONE!" George screamed, barely avoiding Sapnap's swing.
Dream looked completely unbothered by what was happening, yanking back on the fishing rod and reeling it in. His shoulders sagged in disappointment as he unhooked the small cod from the pole. Releasing the fish, he stood up and looked down at us to where we were standing, his figure blocking out the harsh July sun.
"Let Wilbur know we won't burn down his trees" Dream announced.
Both Fundy and I turned to leave, and I had this feeling in my brain that all of this was too easy. There had to be some kind of catch.
Turning around to face him once more, I opened my mouth to question his motives before I was interrupted by George's scream.
"DREAM!" George screeched as he leapt over the bags and into the house, Sapnap catching up to him.
Right as Sapnap reached for the door an arrow landed at his feet, the shaft narrowly avoiding impaling his shoes. Sapnap glanced up at Dream, his body rigid with shock.
"Sapnap, c'mon you're gonna kill him" Dream laughed softly. It was apparent that this was a norm for Sapnap and George based on Dream's lack of shock at how close Sapnap came to chopping George's head off.
"Fine" Sapnap said with a heavy sigh. He opened the door and shuffled inside, quickly turning to make sure he was out of Dream's eyesight before picking up speed and running to find George again.
"I didn't know you were raising two kids" I joked sarcastically, trying to keep the amusement of the situation from my face. Fundy let out a snicker and then coughed, clearing his throat.
"They're just being idiots," Dream sighed, jumping off the low roof and landing onto the wooden pathway.
"Anyways," Dream stepped over the bags, stopping only a couple feet away from us. "Like I was saying, you can let Wilbur know we won't burn any of the trees, at least not for now." Dream shrugged one shoulder, and tucked his hands into his pockets.
"What does that mean?" Fundy asked, his eyes glancing anxiously towards mine, then back towards Dream.
"I just mean that all is fair in war" Dream responded, his voice hardened as it spoke.
And love..... I continued in my mind, looking towards the ground.
"I'll allow you safe passage back, but don't forget what I said the other night" Dream stared at me, my eyes finding their way from the ground to his face. There was a pause while we held eye contact, and for a moment I could almost imagine his eyes behind the mask...before I realised Dream had looked away and I was still watching him like a creep. An embarrassed blush spread across my cheeks, and I felt an intense heat in my chest.
"Let's go, Nix," Fundy suggested, tugging on my arm. "We have a war to prepare for"
Still a bit embarrassed, I reluctantly followed Fundy away from the community house, glad to be leaving the area. We had only made it a couple feet away before we heard a loud crashing noise followed by a loud yelp.
"SAPNAP!" George exclaimed, making both Fundy and I cringe and speed walk our way back to L'Manberg.
It was quiet when we arrived home, most of the people working diligently and focused. It almost felt like a walk of shame as we entered the walls, and the first thing I noticed was Eret helping a group of people build the L'Manberg walls bigger, creating more of a barrier to the SMP than a border. Before all the drama happened this morning, Wilbur had told me my job would be to help Eret with the walls. Exhausted, I let Fundy know that helping with the walls was part of my job and we both went our separate ways.
"Nix! You're finally here!" Eret greeted me, walking away from the previous group of people.
"Yeah, sorry I was a little preoccupied, but I'm here now" My voice weary, but cheerful.
"So, have you ever built a wall before?" Eret asked, handing me a picaxe.
"Do I look like I build walls in my spare time?"
"No, but do I look like someone who builds walls in my spare time?" Eret questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Touche" I smiled, grateful to be in the presence of Eret. He always had such a friendly personality, I doubted he had ever met a stranger in his life.
Eret showed me how to stack the bricks, placing them so that they didn't jut out in a weird angle. He made it look so easy, but the second he left to go teach someone else, it looked like a five year old's block castle. Needless to say, I was taken off of wall building duty and given the job to hand out bricks to people that need them. We worked all day, and even late into the night. Eret went around letting people know they should turn in for the night, and I started to put away the extra bricks until tomorrow.
"Nix, you should go and get some rest, I'll finish packing everything up" Eret decided, shooing me away from the bricks.
"But I'm not even tired" I complained, stopping mid sentence to yawn. Dammit
"Nix..." Eret narrowed his eyes "Go to bed"
I let out a loud sigh, and started my walk back to my house. The crisp night air held the scent of nature, the cool breeze enhancing it every step I took.
I stopped, and a strong feeling picked up in my chest, that same heat from earlier when we were at the community house crawled its way up my body and into my head, making me stumble slightly. A huge wave of fever swept over my arms, legs, and head, causing me to panic.
Hyperventilating, I fell to my knees on the dirt path. I needed to cool down, I needed to breathe. I looked around, hoping I could find something to help this fire on my skin. The first thing I saw was the bark of a huge oak tree off to my right, beckoning me to climb it, to reach the cold air of the night. I recognised this tree, it had been here forever waiting for me to climb its welcoming branches. I somehow got to my feet, holding my head as I bumped into the tree, placing my hand on the trunk. Focus. Breathe. Climb. My frying brain yelled commands at me, as I gripped a branch, and hoisted myself onto another, climbing farther and farther.
I reached the top, settling on a branch facing the bright light of the moon. The breeze picked up, and my fever went down. The heat receded back down my neck, and back into my chest. But even as the wave passed through me, the heat still stayed in my chest. Not a fire like before, but almost like an ember, it dimmed and flickered in and out. I felt at peace, I could breathe again.
I left the trance like state I was in, and realised I was in a random tree and not asleep in my bed. I sighed, letting my head fall back. I probably got a fever from sleep deprivation, I hadn't slept well since before the declaration of war, my anxiety getting the best of me. I still was a bit shaken up, my arms still trembling. It probably wasn't the best idea to try and get down until I felt steady. What used to calm me down when I was a little kid? Wilbur always took care of me if I felt sick. He would bring me a wet washcloth and tuck me in. He would sing a song, a lullaby until I fell asleep. That's It! A song...I contemplated a song that I could sing to calm my trembling limbs.
Lullaby, moon so high,
Lullaby, sleeping child,
Lullaby, fire's eye
Lullaby, flame so wild,
Little spark, little ember, turn from fire to dust
Will you keep burning brightly when we lose our trust?
That was the song Wilbur used to sing, although there were more lyrics, but they were lost in my memories. I had forgotten how much I loved to sing. Somewhere along the line I got all serious and threw my whole being into L'Manberg. It was nice to turn back to something I loved so much. Before I escaped the trees branches and left to go back home, I whispered a secret wish into the night sky
Please, keep my friends safe
•••••••••••••••••••••••
Author's note: For this chapter I wanted to try and bring more of Wilbur and Fundy's relationship out in my story, since it's hidden under a lot of lore and crazy shenanigans. Almost like Dream hiding under the table at Denny's, I dug myself a character building hole and hid in it, over analyising the fuck out of Fundy's character. Maybe Fundy plays pranks often because he's seeking attention from Wilbur? Maybe Fundy secretly resents Tommy for getting more attention from Wilbur? Idk, It's just a theory.....
I also really like how the ending turned out, I was scared to write that part because it has nothing to do with the SMP, but more just my character Nix. That fever will come back later. Also I just read through it again to check for spelling mistakes and realised it sounds kinda like another fanfiction pertaining to heat.....that comes in waves.....I really wasn't trying to replicate or use that in my own story, I already knew that I was going to use this for my story before I read heat waves(rip), so I'm not trying to copy it or anything.
I do want to make clear that everything canon in the actual SMP is canon here, so the sleepy bois are all related, Tubbo was found in a box, and Phil is married to a refrigerator.
Damn this author's note is long, sorry guys