LOSING GAME ➳ dreamwastaken

𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

The last person Reverie expected to see in the courtyard the next morning was Eret.

He was stood by the castle's gates conversing with Dream in low murmurs and when he saw Reverie, he tensed. Dream took notice of his sudden shift in demeanour and glanced over his shoulder to see what had startled Eret.

Reverie was overcome with the urge to yell at Eret, to demand to know what he was doing with Dream when he was supposed to be fighting on the side of L'Manberg, but she managed to stop herself. She could not risk Dream finding out that she too was fighting for L'Manberg, fighting for her friends.

"Eret?" she asked calmly, despite the pounding of her heart. "What are you doing here?"

With panic written all over his face, Eret muttered final words to Dream before turning and sprinting down the stone steps of the castle, disappearing into the glorious sunrise. Reverie stood, unable to move, rooted to the spot with shock and confusion.

"It's always nice to have a spy on the inside," Dream smiled wickedly. "They can help set up traps."

Dream was adorning his brilliant Netherite armour, gleaming in the orange sunrise. With a bow and quiver strapped to his back, his magnificent sword attached to his belt and his ceramic mask clutched in his hand, he was ready to go to war.

Morning mist circled Reverie's feet, creating a sinister atmosphere in the courtyard and pumping feelings of fear and foreboding into her very veins. From doors on either side of the courtyard, George and Sapnap emerged. They too were fully armed and prepared for battle.

Reverie's stomach twisted into knots. This was it. Today was Doomsday.

"Are you coming, Rev?" Dream asked her. His voice held a calm exterior, but Reverie knew him well enough to identify the hidden undertones of malevolence. It was almost as though Dream was threatening her, daring her not to take his side.

When Reverie said nothing, gave no response besides staring wide-eyed at the armed trio before her, Dream strapped his mask on and turned, and he led George and Sapnap into battle.

Reality crashed down upon Reverie with all the weight of the sky. Traps, Dream had said. Eret had set up a trap. Eret was a traitor, and the reason he had not informed Dream that Reverie was on Wilbur's side was because Dream would interrogate Reverie about it. Eret was intelligent, as was Reverie, and he knew that, were she to be accused of betraying Dream, someone on the inside would have to have supplied him with this information.

She had to get to Tubbo and Wilbur. She had to tell them before it was too late.

The long minutes that Reverie spent raiding Dream's armoury proved to be in vain. He, George and Sapnap had stripped the armoury of its best gear and weapons, leaving behind only half-broken bows and scraps of iron armour that would prove to be useless against Netherite. The iron would have to do, Reverie told herself, because she had no time to go mining or to trade with someone for better armour. She slipped on an iron chestplate and clipped a bow and quiver to her back. Then, having already wasted enough time by taking a detour to the armoury, she sprinted through the endless woods towards L'Manberg.

By the time Reverie arrived in L'Manberg, her stomach ached and her legs screamed for mercy, and the damage had already been done. L'Manberg itself had been deserted but arrows that were lodged into the walls showed signs of fighting only minutes before. Reverie started to panic. If L'Manberg had been abandoned, that could mean that Eret had already led Wilbur, Tubbo, Tommy and their new addition of Fundy, and possibly regular L'Manberg citizens, into his trap.

Then she heard them: confused yet curious echoes of voices somewhere around L'Manberg's borders. At first, the voices were difficult to identify as they were all muddled together, but she could never miss her brother's bewildered voice, "What?"