Work Text:
Karl struggled. Hard. He knew that he wasn’t the strongest person who roamed the SMP, but he always assumed that he’d at least be able to shimmy his way out of most peoples’ grasp. Especially George.
But he was wrong. No matter how much wiggling he did while George held his arms behind his back and pushed his knee into his lower back, he couldn’t budge from his spot on the ground.
The tears that had started before his body even hit the ground hadn’t let up. Karl was creating small muddy puddles beneath him where the tears would drip from his chin. His voice had become scratchy from the amount of screaming he had done.
He thought they were safe here. He thought they had evaded whatever war of Gods or Demons was raging against the rest of the SMP. He thought that was what George wanted too. To escape his past that tormented his future. But Karl should have known that Dream would always be in George’s future. He was too loyal to the man who called himself God.
“Sap! Sapnap! Please let him go, please,” Karl’s cries faded to hoarse whispers.
George did not care for his cries, he had been trying to shut Karl up for a while. This time he pushed Karl’s face into the dirt, effectively trying to suffocate him.
Nothing that happened anymore phased Karl so he continued to talk and scream, hoping that Sapnap could hear him fighting too.
“Why are you doing this? George, he's crazy. He’s using you. Why are you siding with him?”
“I love him Karl,” George said fondly.
“And I love Sapnap. Please don’t make me watch him die,” Karl pleaded.
There was no response for a long time, it was quiet in the clearing until a scream ripped through the trees.
It was Sapnap.
“You won’t watch him die. You’ll find his body.”
Karl wailed. He didn’t care anymore. He tried to act somewhat tough but now he had given up.
“Please, please, please. Sapnap! Please no. George, please I need him.”
Sobs overtook Karl’s pleas, but rustling in the brush soon caught both his and George's attention.
“It’s Dream,” George sounded giddy, “It’s Dream. Finally it’s-“
“Sapnap!” Karl shouted.
Sapnap walked out of the tree line, his eyes not even glancing down at Karl once. His gaze was set hard on George.
“George. You either let go of my husband or you die like a dog just like Dream did.”
Blood dripped from Sapnap’s hands. Karl didn’t want to think about why there was enough for it to still be dripping.
George didn’t budge. Karl wanted to know if he looked scared, or fierce, or broken. He found out when George let out a shaky no and lightened his hold on the man beneath him. The quick lapse in strength from George allowed Karl to shake him off and scramble at the ground to crawl and grasp his way to the only person he trusted here anymore.
Sap caught him, pulled him up by his arm, and shoved him behind himself.
Karl looked at George for the first time since Dream had appeared in Kinoko Kingdom. He looked happier then than he did now. Now his features sloped into a frown and his eyes started to create tear tracks that matched Karl’s.
“Sapnap…” George trailed off.
“Don’t say my name anymore. It sounds disgusting coming from your mouth.”
The sword that Sap had gripped in his hand, also dripping blood, was being gripped so hard that his knuckles were white.
“You killed him? He loved you and you killed him?”
The words came out slow. George stood stunned. Not phased by the man who was waving a sword in front of his face.
“Loved me?” The shout rang like thunder through the trees, Sap’s voice cracked off at the end, and Karl shook a little at the power pushed behind it.
“He tried to fucking murder me! You were going to murder my husband! Maybe I could have believed that he loved me a month ago when he was still in prison. But after what you two fucking pulled today, there is no doubt in my mind that neither of you ever loved me.”
Karl knew how much the last statement hurt for Sap to say. Dream and George were his brothers growing up. When he had no one else, at least he had them. Karl ached for his husband to have that again, but everyone knew that it wouldn’t have happened.
Karl hoped George was hurting too over more than just the loss of Dream.
“He did love you. Like you were his brother. I lov-“
George was cut off. Sap was tired of hearing him talk.
“Bull. Shit. George. If he loved me he wouldn’t have made me kill him. He wouldn’t make me want his body to rot in that field,” Sap took a breath to calm himself, “and if you love me you won’t make me kill you too.”
This was George’s cue to leave. Karl was curious if he would take it or if he was far gone enough to make Sapnap fight him. Apparently he still had some sanity because he backed up slowly before booking it into the woods. More than likely going to find Dream’s body.
After the pair knew that George was gone, Sap turned around to embrace his husband who was shaking as he collapsed into his arms. Karl began sobbing all over again as relief washed over him.
“Shh baby, it’s ok. We’re ok,” Sap said as he rubbed his hands up and down the others back.
“I-I-I watched him grab you and drag you away by the collar. I watched you struggle against him. I heard you screaming like you were hurt. Like you were dying. And I couldn’t do anything! I’m so weak I couldn’t do anything.”
Karl cried in Sap’s arms, not caring that blood was probably being smeared on him.
“You did so good, love. You stayed so strong for us,” Sap soothed the man clinging to him.
“What if he comes back?”
Karl had been thinking about the question ever since Sap let George live. He had underestimated George that day, but he’d make sure he never did it again.
“Don’t worry,” Sap swiped a blood covered thumb over Karl’s cheek in a comforting motion, “I have a plan for if he comes back, or if anyone else wants to fuck with what’s important to me.”
Karl didn’t respond, simply looked into his husband’s eyes and blindly trusted him. He didn’t know what Sap had planned, but Karl knew he’d keep them safe.