LOSING GAME ➳ dreamwastaken

𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬

"I really hate it here," Reverie whispered nervously.

"You've said that six times already," Techno hurled back and, although he was facing away from her, Reverie could practically hear him rolling his eyes.

"Oh, forgive me if I'm not fond of a dimension that is the literal embodiment of hell," she snapped.

Something cold brushed against her neck, which was highty contrastable against the sweltering atmosphere of the Nether. With a gasp of alarm rising to her throat, Reverie flinched away and turned to see that it was Tommy who had given her a fright. He reached out a second time and touched her hair, his eyebrows furrowed.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?" he questioned, his voice ringing with disgust. "It looks like the distant cousin of a split-dye."

Reverie felt heat rise to her cheeks, which she could thankfully blame on the boiling lake of lava that was swirling below the bridge. Reverie wasn't sure what she had been thinking when she agreed to let Techno dye her hair.

Reverie recalled staring at her reflection, her face contorting into a grimace of disgust. Techno had dyed the undersides of her hair pink, leaving her natural layers of brown to drape over the top.

"Techno dyed it," Reverie answered. "He made the dye from flowers and some other stuff that I don't even want to know the names of."

"It looks shit," Tommy said bluntly.

"I think it looks cool, and you have no idea how far I had to go to get those pink flowers," Techno argued, then he pointed his sword up ahead. "There's the Community Portal."

Technoblade's new sword was impressive, with a shining blade and perfectly crafted handle, but Reverie had grown so accustomed to seeing him wield his axe that to see him hold any other weapon was strange. That was why they were passing through the Nether—to sneak into L'Manberg and retrieve Techno's confiscated weapon, hopefully without being seen by anyone.

The last part of the plan was thwarted instantly upon their arrival in Dream's kingdom. As soon as the trio stepped out of the portal, emerging onto Dream's land, they were met by Ranboo. He stood still and tall like a guard some five feet in front of the portal, almost as though he had been expecting their arrival. The moment she saw him, Reverie drew her sword, and a perplexed expression unfolded on Ranboo's face.

"Is this your normal way of greeting people?" he said, a hint of laughter hidden within his voice.

Techno carefully placed his hand on the blade of Reverie's sword, signalling for her to lower the weapon.

"It's alright," Techno assured both her and Tommy, the matter of which had yelled extremely loudly upon seeing Ranboo. "He's on our side."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Ranboo chimed in before Reverie and Tommy could start asking questions. "I'm on no one's side in particular. I want to help all of my friends, and Tommy is my friend, just like Tubbo is."

Reverie's eyebrows flit upwards.

"A friend to all is a friend to none," she said, then she turned to Techno. "Are you sure we can trust this guy?"

Techno nodded with certain finality. "I'm sure."

Reverie allowed her scrutinising eyes to sweep over Ranboo once more, before, shrugging, she put away her sword and stepped forwards, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"I have a feeling we got off on the wrong foot," she said, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Well, you certainly made an impression on me," Ranboo chuckled.