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“Tommy’s just a kid, Dream. Let him go! Give him his fucking discs back, and stop tormenting him!” George yells, and he knows he’s going to regret saying that when Dream’s face turns red with pure rage.
Sapnap steps forward, “Both of you need to calm down. Dream, cant you see what you’re doing to the three of us? We can’t have a conversation without arguing.”
“Fuck the two of you. I don’t need you guys. You’re supposed to support me! Not yell at me and critique my every move! I’m doing this for you!” Dream shouts, knuckles white as he grips his sword.
“I can’t even look at you.” George scoffs, picking up his cloak and walking out the door. He hears Sapnap call after him, but he doesn’t stop walking.
Ever since Dream and Tommy started whatever they have going on, it had effected George and Sapnap too. Nobody on Tommy’s side would utter a word to them, and they were avoided. Dream would shout at them, and say he was protecting them, but he never was.
Blinking back tears, he fastens his cloak around his neck. It’s a little dirty, but he doesn’t mind. He heads for his mushroom house, but as he approaches, he becomes more and more confused. It’s not there. It’s been burned down. He pauses.
Sapnap is running after him, shouting his name, but he doesn’t hear it. His home has been burned to the ground. Rushing towards the rubble, he tries to save something, anything that might still be intact, but there’s nothing. Someone set fire to his house, and then the items inside it, too.
He drops down onto his knees, suddenly feeling weak. How could one of them do that? He had been close with all of them at one point, but now that they were against Dream, they were against George too.
“George! Wait, come — oh my god.”
George had spent a while building his home and he loved it. Treasured it. He had so many important belongings in there, but now they were gone. His mother’s blanket she had wrapped him in as a baby, gone. That was the only thing he had to remember her by.
Even some of Dream’s things had been in there. A t-shirt of his, maybe two. Sapnap’s stuff, as well. It wasn’t only him that had lost things. He knew Quackity had stashed an axe in there, and Karl had a couple of books.
“This is all his fault. They done it to me because of him. “ He gasps, a shaky hand going to cover his mouth. He feels sick.
Throwing up on the grass beside him, Sapnap is attempting to talk to him, maybe calm him down, but he isn’t listening. He can’t.
Pushing him away, he stands up and storms right back to where he had left Dream. The blonde is still standing there, and when George approaches, he rolls his eyes and tries to walk away. George grabs him by the arm, “My fucking house. Gone. Because of you!”
Dream looks genuinely confused, “What?”
Sapnap is running back over to them, panting, hands on his knees as he’s doubled over, “Someone burned George’s house down. Everything’s gone.”
He looks up in time to see Dream fume. There’s practically smoke pouring out of his ears. He glances up towards where Wilbur had been standing, watching over them maybe. He had a smug smile on his face, as he towered over them.
Wilbur was standing a while away, but even the distance between them didn’t stop George from seeing how proud he had looked. George whipped his sword out and began walking in the direction the man was. He took a step backwards, saluted them, and vanished.
George turned back to Dream, “How do you feel?” He asks, his hand shaking so much that he thinks he might drop his weapon, “Everything I’ve ever known is now gone. And it’s because of this war you’ve got going on.”
“George, I’m sorry — I had no idea they would touch your house. They promised me — they said they would stay away from you both.” Dream stutters, looking to Sapnap for help. Sapnap just shrugs and crosses his arms, leaning against the wall behind him.
“Save your apologies. I’ll know that you’re sorry when you’ve stopped this fucking nonsense. Until then, I’ll be staying with Sapnap.” He hisses, taking his friend by the arm and marching off in the direction of his house.
“Yeah, you can stay with me, man. It’s a bit messy — I think Karl might be there, too, but we’ll make it work. Are you alright?”
George doesn’t answer.
-
“Dream, this is madness! I can’t sleep at night because all I hear are bombs going off, and I’m worried about you and Sapnap. Just let me fight!” George demands, stomping his foot down. Maybe it’s for pettiness, but he doesn’t really know.
“I will not have you hurt. I’m a shitty person, George, but I’m not putting your life in danger. All I want to do is protect you.” Dream snaps.
“What about Sapnap?” He calls, as Dream starts to walk away, “His life is in danger! I don’t give a shit, I’m helping out tonight whether you like it or not.”
Dream whips back around, his mask nearly falling off from the sudden force, “No! You’ll stay here.”
George flips him off, and Dream scoffs, calling him immature. He doesn’t care. He grabs his stuff, and a healing potion too, heading up to where Sapnap had been stationed to fight.
There was a lot of stairs, as he was at the top of a tower, with Punz. They had been working on bombs, throwing them every ten minutes. George had been counting.
“Ive come to help.” He says, as he reaches the top.
Punz looks relieved, “Thank God. Here, can you help me making them? Sapnap is throwing, but it’s hard doing them all on my own.”
“George, Dream said no. You must be brave if you’re going to go against his wishes.” Sapnap reminds, throwing a bomb and then ducking down, preparing his next one and setting a timer for ten minutes.
A couple of screams follow as the bomb hits the ground, and George hears a loud clash as some sort of building collapses, “It’s fine.”
Sapnap doesn’t look reassured, but he nods anyways. George gets to work in helping Punz, whose giving him vocal instructions and teaching him what to do. He picks it up rather quickly, and they sit up there the whole night, going home in the morning.
Someone else takes over them, and George realises that it’s Sam and Ponk. He gives the two of them a nod as they rush up the tower, and Ponk shouts a, “Morning!”
Punz leaves them, heading off to go to his own house. George and Sapnap walk in silence, until they bump into Dream who looks worried and frantic. Once he sees the two of them, he instantly lets out a breath, and then starts yelling. More so at George.
“I told you, no! And you went out anyways! And Sapnap, you let him? I trusted you! I trusted both of you. George, no more. I was worried sick all fucking night, looking for you.” Dream shouts, right in their faces.
George keeps on walking, pushing Sapnap’s front door and waving to Karl who is making something to eat in the kitchen. Quackity is there too, and he says hello. He goes up to his room, but he’s still able to hear Dream shout at Sapnap, even after he closes the window.
It wasn’t his friends fault, really. He was determined to do something and help out. Everyone else was, so why couldn’t he? Some people were in a lot more danger than he was, anyways.
He tries not to think about it, and lies in bed, staring up at the ceiling. It’s plain obvious he won’t be able to sleep, because one) he’s not tired, two) he can still hear the bombs going off and three) he’s worried. He doesn’t know who he’s worried about, mostly Dream, everyone else, too. He wishes there was no war.
After ten minutes of aimlessly lying in bed, he returns back downstairs, preparing himself a bowl of whatever food Karl had made. He had cut up watermelon slices, so George nibbled on a couple of those, sitting on the couch beside Quackity.
“George, what’s up?” He asks.
“Nothing, Big Q. Just wanna sit with you for a bit.” He responds, picking up a book that had nearly been consumed by the sofa and beginning to read it.
It was one of Karl’s, he recognised, but he read it anyways, and he got nearly halfway through before he fell asleep, right onto Quackity’s shoulder.
-
Nearly a week after helping Punz and Sapnap out, he’s been pulled into a meeting with everyone. Dream was leading it, of course, so he hid behind a couple of people and did his best to listen along.
“I’m proud of each and every one of you here, and I’m so pleased you’re working alongside me. However, we are going to go into battle now. I overheard Wilbur saying he was going to storm us tomorrow, but we can overpower them and be prepared. Are you ready for this? It’s going to be dangerous, and I can’t guarantee anyone’s safety, but I promise that everyone here today will be a hero, one way or another.” Dream announces.
People in the crowd cheer, and some are more uncertain. George notices a couple of people go a little pale, but they’re all prepared to fight anyways. Dream leads them to an underground room, filled with chests with peoples names on them, and extra weapons and armour if anyone required any.
His name isn’t on any of the chests unsurprisingly, so he grabs a set of iron armour out of the spare chest, and then hurries out before he’s noticed. Heading back to Sapnap’s, he sees that his friend has full netherite, and he feels slightly ashamed that he only has iron.
“Are you fighting?” Sapnap asks, sounding concerned and confused as George approached.
He nods once, “I am. We’re all supposed to. My armour was in my house, so I had to borrow spare.”
Sapnap looks like he wants to argue, but he tells George to follow him and leads him into his bedroom, passing him a netherite helmet. He claims that that’ll make him less recognisable, so George thanks him.
“When are we supposed to be going?” He quieres, trying on the armour. It fits perfectly.
“Soon. Dream wants us to leave as soon as possible, because they’re meant to be coming tomorrow so if we go now, they won’t expect it.” Sapnap answers, giving Karl a kiss on the forehead, as he was staying home.
Quackity joins them, also in iron armour, but he’s got gold boots that make him stand out a little.
“I need you three to come home safe, alright?” Karl demands, worry lacing his words.
George gives him a side hug, not knowing what else to say or do, and quietly murmurs that he will wait outside. In the distance, he can just about make out Dream ordering people around. He’s looking around, and George can only hope he isn’t looking for him.
When Quackity and Sapnap come outside, the three of them go over to where everyone else is, blending into the crowd. Sapnap grabs George by the shoulders and pulls him to the side for a moment, “I love you. And I’m going to protect you, okay? You’re so brave, and I’m really proud of you, okay George?”
“Yeah, Sap,” George whispers, pressing his forehead to his friends, “I know. Love you too.”
Sapnap presses a quick kiss to his forehead, just before George puts his helmet on. It’s heavy on his head, but he manages. He finds Sapnap’s hand and gives it a quick squeeze before beginning to walk behind the crowd that had already started walking.
“Alright, guys. Cause chaos as soon as we get there, and remember, no mercy!”
“No mercy!” Multiple voices yell.
Quackity, Sapnap and George form a line and walk in it, neither of them uttering a word. They’re all filled with nerves, especially George, and he just hopes that Dream doesn’t catch on, because if he does, George is in serious trouble. He knows that much.
The walk to where Wilbur, Tommy and everyone else had been staying was short, and they arrived rather quickly. Already, people were running and shouting, and George managed to see Tubbo whiten from inside the castle he had been staying in. He runs off, probably calling Tommy’s name.
Technoblade appears, suited in no armour whatsoever, his sword in the air as he shouts at his civilians to charge. Tommy dashes out the castle, still trying to suit up, and then Tubbo’s behind him, nearly in tears.
George is suddenly on the ground and he’s surprised when someone’s crept up behind him. He has no idea who it is, but he stabs them with his sword anyways, picking himself up again.
He had already been separated from Quackity and Sapnap, who had began fighting as soon as they got there. George felt small in his armour.
A couple of people began running at him, but he danced around them, recognising one of them as Jack. He tried to weave his way around him, so he wouldn’t have to hurt him, but Jack’s sword nicked through a tiny slot in his armour and nicked his side. Wincing, he fights back, but he doesn’t like it.
“Jack, please,” He says, “We know each other.”
“We knew each other, Georgenotfound. We don’t now.”
The sword plunges into his thigh, and he gasps, falling down onto one knee. Jack sprints off, and George knows he didn’t mean to properly kill him, and that’s why he went for the thigh. He forces himself to stand up, and continues to try and help out his people.
By the end of his fight, he’s in a pretty bad state, and he’s being hauled onto a stretcher and into Badboyhalos house. Bad was a medic of sort, and when he peeled the armour off of George’s body, his eyes widened.
“Jesus, George,” He sighs, “You got off easy, but just about. I’ll be able to heal your thigh, but you really need to take it easy, alright?”
The doors burst open, and Dream is rushing through them, shouting George’s name. He doesn’t want to be yelled at, so when Dream finally sets eyes on him, he turns away, “Please don’t yell.”
“George! Bad, is he alright? I’ve been looking all over and Sapnap told me that he lost him so I thought I should come here but—“
“He’s going to be just fine. I’m going to stitch up his thigh and give him a couple healing potions, but he’s genuinely alright. I’ll leave you both for a couple of minutes before I start.”
George doesn’t want Bad to leave. He knows Dream is fuming, but when he turns to face him, he watches as Dream removes his mask and sits down on a nearby chair, placing his head in his hands.
“Dream?”
“Fuck. I was so worried. I thought they got you.” He croaks, and George can hear him sniffle.
“I’m okay. Hey, listen, look at me. I’m okay. I’m sorry, I knew you would be angry with me. Just, don’t yell, okay? ‘m tired. We can yell later.” He yawns.
“Okay, Georgie. Okay.”
-
The next time George goes out to fight, even Sapnap doesn’t want him to. Sapnap and Punz haven’t been in the tower for a while, because it was a proper war now, battles nearly every day and night.
“Please, for the love of god, stay home with Karl. I really don’t want you getting hurt again.” Sapnap begs, changing into his armour.
George sighs, “My thigh is fully healed. And I only got hurt because I let my guard down. Please, Sap. I can’t bare sitting here and not helping out.”
It takes a lot of convincing, but Sapnap eventually gives in and nods, making him promise to stay near him. George tried to do that last time but he lost him within the first two minutes. He agrees anyways.
Sapnap has pulled Punz along as well to keep an extra eye on George, and George finds it embarrassing. He’s perfectly capable to look after himself, plus, last fight, Punz got injured too.
“You do realise it’s normal to get injured in a fucking war, Sapnap, right?” George mentions, as they start the walk over to the battlefield.
Punz laughs at this, “Vouch.”
Sapnap only rolls his eyes, “George, we care about you, that’s all it is.”
George stays silent, and then they’ve arrived, and Quackitys already engaged in a fight with someone. He brings along a couple of other people, and they go for him as well, so George steps in, of course he does. His sword pushes through someone’s chest, and then it pierces another guys shoulder.
Quackity nods a thank you, and then he’s off, away in the crowd of bloodied people. There’s so many bodies on the floor, and as he looks up, he can see Technoblade begin to walk towards Dream. Expect, Dream has his back turned, so he doesn’t know.
George rushes away from Punz and Sapnap and calls his name, “Dream! Behind you!”
As Technoblade lifts his sword, Dream spins around and just barely misses the attack. He raises Nightmare, his weapon, and slices the pink haired mans arm. Techno doesn’t cry out in pain, though he merely grunts and tries again.
George is too distracted that he doesn’t notice Tommy rushing for him, and he raises an eyebrow, stepping to the side as Tommy goes running, axe raised and ready to swing. He goes clashing into someone else though, ending up in a dazed state in the floor.
“Tommy?”
“Georgenotfuckingfound. Guess what? I found you, and you’re dead.” Tommy warns, raising his weapon again and bringing it down on George’s head.
He dodges out the way again, head cocked to the side as he chuckles, “You struggling?”
Tommy snarls, and then whips out a pocket knife, stabbing it into George’s cheek. It hurts, but it doesn’t go to deep, and he’s already pushing his sword through Tommy’s hand. The pocket knife drops to the floor as the boy squeals and shouts one of his brothers names.
He runs off. At least George had bought himself a little bit of time. He checks on Dream, and sees that he’s still doing well, a couple of people, including Quackity having stepped in to help him.
Sapnap crashes straight into George, wrapping him into a tight hug, nearly popping all of his bones. He grunts and returns the gesture before releasing his friend and complaining about the tightness of the embrace.
“You idiot.” He softly whispers, lifting a finger to wipe away the blood from George’s cheek.
He shrugs, “Forgot my helmet. I’m alright, Sap.”
“Better be. Come on, theres a group of people crowding Punz.” Sapnap says, tugging George along.
“And you left him?”
“Sam and Ponk were helping.”
They reach their friends and see that they’re desperately outnumbered, even when Sapnap and George come along. There’s maybe eight or nine of the other side, and they look like they mean a decent amount of business. One of them charges straight away, for Sam, but Ponk brings him down to the ground in an instant.
There’s a lot of shouting and George can’t hear much, but he goes for the one closest for him, and they end up in a sword duel battle for a while, before George stabs through the mans armour and he falls to the floor.
Sapnap is cheering on him, so he turns around, throwing him thumbs up, but then he’s falling and his head collides with the floor. A girl is on top of him, sword pressed to his neck, and he sees double of her for a minute before his vision clears.
He flips her round, and punches her in the jaw. Maybe he should’ve stayed home with Karl. She retaliates and swings a punch under his chin, sending bloody spit to come flying out his mouth. He snaps his head back down to face her, and knocks his head against hers, knocking her clean out.
Satisfied, he stands up and sees that there’s only one guy left and Sapnap is on him. Sapnap’s winning, obviously, but then the guy pulls out an arrow from behind him and pierces it through Sapnap’s chest. George is running at him, throwing him off his friend and kicking him down into the dirt.
Punz takes him off George as George tends to Sapnap, but there’s something wrong. Sapnap goes incredibly pale and he’s choking on something, and George realises he’s been stabbed with a poison tipped arrow.
“This is gonna hurt, okay?”
Without much warning, he yanks the arrow out of his friends chest, and Sapnap’s eyes are nearly bulging out of their sockets. He feels a little guilty, but knows that’s the best thing he could’ve done.
He hauls Sapnap over his shoulder, only just managing, and breaks into a sprint over to Bads. He tries to be as careful and gentle as possible as he leads his friend away from the battle, but an arrow comes whizzing through the air and lands right beside his foot. It nearly sends him face planting into the ground, but he steadies himself just about.
George keeps running, and he reaches Bads in record time. He’s placing Sapnap down onto a medical bed, and calling the medics name, holding his friends hand. He had been doing so well up until then.
“You’re gonna be alright, Sap. I got you. Bad will give you some milk, and fix you up and then you’ll be okay.” He reassures, planting a quick kiss on his friends sweaty forehead.
Sapnap chokes a little as Bad frantically rushes over, but he nods, and clutches onto George’s hand.
“What’s happened?” Bad questions, pulling together supplies and grabbing powdered milk.
“Poison tipped arrow. He’ll be okay, won’t he?” George asks, keeping a firm grip on Sapnap’s hand.
Bad nods, “Almost certainly. You got him here really quickly. The poison hasn’t spread too far. Thank god you removed the arrow, or maybe he wouldn’t have been so lucky. I do need some space, though.”
Sapnap’s eyes widen and he shakes his head, “N-No, I need — need George.”
“It’s okay, Sapnap. It’s okay. I’m just going to wait over there, alright? I’ll be over there. You’ll be okay.”
His friend is still panicking a little, but he reluctantly nods his head and let’s go of George’s hand. He watches as George goes over to the other chair, a little further away, and then he’s answering Bads questions.
George sits there for what feels like forever, and he’s fallen asleep when he hears voices. It stirs him awake, and he opens his eyes to see Karl and Quackity, demanding to see Sapnap.
He glances over to where he had been laying, and sees him fast asleep, the colour having returned to his face. He looked a lot better already. George made sure to thank Bad, who was cleaning up, before going out to see his other friends.
They surround George, and Karl is the one asking questions, “What happened? Is he alright?”
“He’s okay. Poison tipped arrow, but he’s gonna be fine. I promise.” He replies.
To his surprise, Quackity pulls him in for a hug and he’s repeatedly thanking him, “You saved him. Thank you.”
George just smiles, and leaves them to it, going back outside. It’s getting dark, but he can make out Dream from a mile away. His head is down as he’s walking towards Bad’s, but when he hears other footsteps, he looks up.
“George.”
“Dream.”
“Is, uh, is Sapnap okay?”
He nods.
“That’s good.”
George places a hand on Dream’s shoulder, squeezing a little, and then he’s walking back to Sapnap’s place. He reckons that he deserves a good, long nap.
-
This time, it was them who had been stormed. Shouting and screaming was all he could hear, he couldn’t even make out what Sapnap was saying when he raced downstairs. It had been so long since they had last been involved in a battle, but now they had no choice.
Dream was running about the streets, attempting to, ‘protect,’ his people, but he ran straight into Sapnap’s house, ordering the four of them to get to safety as quickly as they could.
“What’s going on?” George demands.
“I don’t know, but it’s really not good, and I can’t protect all four of you. You need to get out of here. There’s a boat down by the dock that I’ve prepared for you guys, and I need you to get on it and sail as far away as possible.” Dream explains, running a hand through his incredibly sweaty hair.
Exhaustion and stress is very much evident on his face, and as he puts his mask back on and gets ready to go, George snaps out of his thoughts and pulls on his arm, “Not without you. I’m staying if you are.”
“George, please. This isn’t the time. I really can’t protect you. Not all of us are going to make it, our luck has run out.”
George shakes his head and pulls on his armour, “I’ll fight beside you.”
“So will I.” Sapnap chips in.
“And me.” Quackity adds.
“Me too.” Karl says.
“You don’t need to protect us,” George promises, “We can protect ourselves. And if things get too bad, the five of us will get on that boat.”
Dream doesn’t want to argue. George is aware of that. So he sighs and nods, telling them to get everything they need and follow him out. George is right on his tail, keeping his eyes sharp. This is one of Karl’s first times, but he’s already fought someone off, and he did a really great job of it.
Wilbur is shouting orders from the centre of their town, and once he sets eyes on Dream, he demands them to charge for him. Dream doesn’t panic. He doesn’t even look worried. Instead, he turns around and says, “Brace yourselves. Be incredibly careful. Stick together.”
People are coming from left, right and centre. They all wear serious expressions on their face, prepared to kill not only Dream, but the rest of them too.
“I want the five of their heads. Now!” Wilbur yells, Tommy standing beside him, a proud look on his bruised and battered face.
Someone leaps for George, but he stabs him easily enough, kicking his body away. He doesn’t have time to feel guilt. Not really.
Karl yelps, and he turns around, but he mutters something about getting blood in his hair and quickly apologises. It makes George chuckle, even despite the horrible circumstances they were in.
People keep coming though, it’s an endless amount, and even George can see that it’s not looking good. Quackity is knocked to the floor, and Sapnap is trying to help, but then someone tries to attack him from behind so George does his best to ward him off.
Dream is shouting something, maybe telling George to look out? But he sees Jack Manifold’s cruel face as he forces his dagger into George’s chest, and the feeling of betrayal aches. It hurts his heart. He can’t tell if it’s because he’s been stabbed or not, but his heart really does hurt anyways.
The knife is pushed all the way in, and as George glances down, he barely sees the handle sticking out. He drops, unable to stand any longer, his legs wobbly and his head dizzy. He’s lightheaded, and he can hear roaring. Anger.
Sapnap pushes his face into George’s vision, and he’s wiping George’s salty, warm tears. He didn’t even know he was crying.
“-okay. You’re gonna be fine. Bad is coming.”
George pretends to understand what he’s saying by nodding, but he can’t because his head is just so heavy. It hurts to even move it. He coughs a little, and is disgusted to find blood splatter all over himself.
Sapnap is gone, now, and it’s Dream who has replaced him, but George knows that he shouldn’t let his guard down, especially not now.
“You — you need to fight.”
His head is now in Dream’s hands, “Punz, Quackity and Karl are protecting us. Don’t close your eyes, okay? I’m so, sorry. I didn’t mean for — I’m just so sorry.”
George doesn’t want Dream to apologise. Dream never apologises. Why would he be apologising?
“Love you. I really do.” He murmurs, the pain in his chest spreading, and he gasps at how painful it really is.
Dream’s hand is on the wound, and he’s crying. George finds that funny, because so is he. They’re crying together. Why are they both crying? George tries to lift his hand, and it’s hard because it’s heavy, as he wipes the boys face, trying to dry his eyes.
“- love you too. I’m sorry I started this. I’m sorry. Bad is coming, okay? He’s coming. And we’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna get on that boat and we’re going to get out of this stupid place.” Dream promises, but George knows he’s lying.
“Cold.” Is all he replies with, it’s all he can muster.
His strength is slowly draining, but at least Dream is okay. At least Sapnap is okay. At least his friends will make it out of this alive.
“You’re so brave, honey. So brave.” Dream whispers, stroking his face and pressing soft, damp kisses onto his forehead every so often.
All he ever wanted to be was brave.