Chapter Text
“Nix!”
My eyes fluttered open as my brain began to slowly process my surroundings. The small room decorated with chests and furnaces brought me back to reality, and I slowly sat up, squeezing my eyes shut to the glare of the sun. At this point, I'm in that stage of being half awake and half asleep at the same time. Turning back to my bed I slumped down into the warmth and attempted to get lost in my dream again. Just a little longer please…….
“NIX!”
“Uggggggggghhhhhhh” I muttered from below the covers. Suddenly, I heard my door being swung open. The loud footsteps heading towards my bed made me cringe even deeper into my pillow. I just want to sleep forever, please just let me sleep forever. The blankets are tugged away from me and I recoil as the cold morning air clings to my skin.
“Nix, you need to get up, Wilbur is making a very important announcement today and no one can miss it!” A loud, familiar voice almost yells into my ear.
Turning onto my back I look up to see my best friend, Fundy, staring back down at me with excitement. Flundy has always been my best friend ever since I first stepped foot in L’Manberg. We did almost everything together, like going for picnics in the woods and setting up various pranks on the other residents of L’Manberg. But we both agree that our friendship is platonic, and nothing will ever change that. Oh, and I also forgot to mention that he’s a fox. Literally a fox. Don’t ask me how he came to be, Wilbur has some explaining to do on that one.
“I don’t want to get up, I don’t even want to exist anymore” I mumble trying once more to flip back over and lose consciousness, which by the way, was very hard to do when there was a fox yelling in your face.
“Nix, if you don’t get up right now I will get Tommy to wake you up by screaming in your face every morning for the next week” Fundy threatened.
“Oh shit” I curse. knowing Tommy, he would probably curse me out until I eventually cave and grab the nearest weapon to stab him with. I hastily jumped out of bed and got changed into my L’Manberg uniform while Fundy waited for me outside. Putting on the navy blue suit, I felt a sense of pride for L’Manberg. It was small, but it was mighty. So far we haven’t been able to get recognized as anything apart from a miniscule village in the SMP, but we will get there if we just keep working and make ourselves known to Dream, the ruler of the SMP.
Grabbing an apple for Fundy and I, from one of my chests, we head over to the Camarvan, where Wilbur normally makes his announcements. Wilbur is actually the founder of L’Manberg, and is sort of like a leader to us. He’s pretty much like my older brother, having raised me and Fundy, his son. I guess that would make us kinda related, but not in a blood way. Wilbur negotiates things with the other villages in the SMP and settles any disputes between the people of L’Manberg. Normally, he doesn’t make any announcements unless it's something very important, since news travels around pretty fast here anyways. We followed the path until the Camarvan was in sight. The first thing I noticed was the small crowd of people forming at the bottom of the van, all wearing L’manberg clothes. We joined the group, who were fixated on the four figures standing on top of the van. My gaze followed theirs, and I immediately recognized the faces in the harsh summer sunlight. Tubbo, Eret, Tommy, and Wilbur were all standing confidently, with serious looks on their faces. Wilbur was holding a book, and seemed to be reading from it, his usually soft voice booming across the clearing. I had a feeling that we already missed out on some of what he was saying, probably because of my own incompetence, and I began to listen in on what he was saying.
“.....this time of tyranny ends with us. This book declares that the nation which shall be henceforth known as L’Manberg, is separate, emancipated, and independent, from the nation of the SMP” Wilbur declared, causing the crowd to whisper amongst themselves. I glance over at fundy and he shrugs his shoulders as if to say; I didn’t know about this. Emancipated? I didn’t even know we could do that. What would this mean for L’manberg? Realising that I had zoned out, I turn back to listen to Wilbur.
“...life, liberty, and the pursuit of freedom.” Wilbur finally ended, followed by silence except for the tree’s swaying in the gentle breeze. He then turned towards each of the men, handing off the book for each one to sign. I was anxious, maybe a little excited, but mostly anxious. Did Dream allow this? Does he even know? I thought that Wilbur just wanted us to be more important to the SMP, but now it seems he wants us to be our own nation. Looking around at the other people of L’Manberg, I noticed that they were sharing the same looks on their faces. Fear. We all knew we didn’t have the army to fight Dream, or even the weapons. But just looking at Wilbur's determined face, I understood that this is the step we need to take for ourselves, for the future, and for L’Manberg. If we wanted to win, all that we needed was the people.
Gathering up the courage, I made eye contact with Fundy, and then yelled, “For L’manberg!”. A huge smile grew on Fundy’s face and he joined in with me, raising his fist and chanting it over and over again. Soon the entire group joined in, and the look on Wilburs face made it all worth it. It seemed we were finally going to make some progress with L’Manberg.
“Wow, I’ve gotta say, I admire your spirit” A cold voice said from behind us. Even in this heat, chills grew across the back of my neck. I slowly turned to face the voice, and immediately wanted to go hide like all those times I played hide and seek with Tubbo and Tommy when we were younger. Although, this time I doubt I would win if I played with the person in front of me. Dream, the ruler of the SMP, prowled his way towards the Camarvan, his white mask obscuring his entire face. Even though I couldn’t see it, I sensed that he probably had a sly smile across his cheeks. He strutted forward with such confidence, It made me believe he was invincible. Maybe the fact that he had a giant axe on him played into that feeling too. As he passed me, I got this feeling, like he was looking at me from the corner of his eye, but of course I couldn’t tell because of that stupid mask.
“But…” He drawled out, “L’Manchildberg or whatever you call yourselves, isn’t its own nation, it barely even qualifies as a village” He stopped at the side of the van, gazing up at the four. It was unnatural, the way he acted like he could say anything and get away with it. It kinda reminded me of Tommy. But I was no fool, I’ve seen what he could do, and he’s the closest thing to invincible you could find around here. The look on Tubbo’s face was pure terror, while Tommy’s was enraged, Eret only frowned beneath his sunglasses. But what didn’t surprise me was Wilbur’s face. He’s never been one to cave into fear easily, and his eyes had pure determination in them.
“It’s L’Manberg you stupi-”
“Tommy, quiet.” Wilbur shushed Tommy without breaking eye contact from Dream. “As my right hand man was trying to say, We are called L’Manberg, and we don’t need your permission to start a revolution, actually asking for your permission would make the revolution lose its purpose.” Wilbur concluded, attempting to match Dream's confidence. I could almost see Dream frowning under the mask, just by the way his jaw moved. But nevertheless, the smile on his mask never left its place.
¨A revolution? Against what, me?” Dream chuckled, cocking his head to the side. Wilbur shifted his stance, met Dream’s glare head on, and retorted with, “A revolution against the tyranny you have caused us.”
Other than the fact that we were a literal drug empire, we were just trying to live peacefully on the SMP.
“You will find everything we wish to accomplish in this book” Wilbur added, tossing the book to Dream. I cringed back as the book fell, landing onto the dirt path in front of him. He definitely could have caught it, but being the smartass jerk he is, he made no attempt to grab it. Dream let it lay in the dirt for a few seconds before picking it up and flipping through the pages without reading any of them. He was mocking us, and I was not jazzed about it. Tommy and I seemed to have the same idea as I took a step forward and he opened his mouth to speak. Eret jumped in just in time to control Tommy, whilst Wilbur and I made eye contact. His unsettlingly deep brown eyes seemed to control me as I shuffled back to where I was before and looked away. I’ve known Wilbur for pretty much my entire life, and if there is one thing that scares me most about him, it’s his eyes. Those fascinating pools of darkness feel as though they hold all of life’s secrets in them.
“Oh come on now…” Dream trailed off in a deep tone, “You can’t seriously want me to declare you as your own nation.”
“Yes we do, and we won’t stop fighting you for it until we gain independence from the SMP” Wilbur finished, maintaining his confident stance. Dream held the book, his hand clenching it so tightly I thought he might crush it in his palm. A few moments of complete silence passed, almost like a showdown between two cowboys. Dream threw the book back towards Wilbur and casually strode away from the van. Wilbur barely caught the book, stumbling back as it hit him square in the chest.
“If it’s war you want, then it’s war you shall get.” Dream called out with his back to us, still strolling away with his hands in his pockets. When he reached the wooden path that connected us to the rest of the SMP, I noticed two other figures behind him. George and Sapnap, Dream’s second in commands, had been hidden watching us this entire time. People in the crowd cowered back, intimidated by the three of them. We all knew that the most powerful people here were those three, Dream for his strategies and sword/axe skills, George for his aim with a bow, and Sapnap for being an arsonist with little to no morals. They’ve sweeped raids and ransacked too many villages to count, eventually earning the title, “The Dream Team”. Fighting any one of them is not advised and would probably end up with you getting seriously injured.
“Just remember who let you live in this land in the first place, and how quickly it can be taken away from you” Dream commented, still walking away from the small gathering. George and Sapnap followed close behind, leaving the nervous village behind.