I Had Strings, But Now I'm Free (Dream SMP)

Runaways

tw: descriptions of violence, mentions of torture/trauma, blood, mentions of death, language

Rain was resting her eyes, sitting against the spruce tree Carl was tied to. Her brother's horse was nickering quietly, scraping the ground with his horseshoes. Rain opened her eyes drearily, reaching over to pat Carl's leg.
"Don't worry. He'll be back soon." She reassured him. Carl bent his head down to her, snorting and blowing hair out of her face. She laughed, standing up and checking over the horse's accessories. She retightened his armour, fixing the saddle and brushing spruce needles from the seat.

While she was fiddling with the straps around Carl's legguards, she heard footsteps, heavy ones. She knew who it was immediately, her head whipping around to see her brother storming towards her from the undergrowth. He looked terrified, Rain noticing his clothes and face covered in blood and ash.
"Whoa whoa! What happened to you?!" She screamed. Techno started waving his arms around in the air like a mad man, skidding to a stop in front of her.
"Get on the horse! Get on Carl! We gotta go! We gotta go now!" He shouted, practically throwing his sister on to the stallion's back. He swivelled around, seeing Dream meters away from the treeline. Rain's eyes went wide, her earrings clinking as she moved back to help pull Techno up.

"Why is Dream following you?!" She screamed as her brother sat in front of her. Techno didn't answer her, pulling tightly back on Carl's reins. The horse reared, Rain taking hold of Techno's waist to stop herself from falling out of the saddle.
Dream had broken the treeline, gripping a crossbow but stumbling back from the horse's kicking front legs. Carl was tugged around by his rider and started running up the hill away from Dream, the masked man lining up a shot towards them.
If Carl got hit...

Rain thought fast.

Grabbing the crossbow hanging off Techno's waist, she fitted a firework to the mechanism, pulling it back and her finger moving over the trigger. She moved the barrel to her eye, twisting to sit backwards in the saddle and aiming with an eye shut. Techno realised the grip on his waist was gone, his head turning slightly. He quickly realised what she was trying.
"Rain, you're a terrible shot! What are you doing?!" Techno's voice almost threw her off. Rain didn't respond, instead she pulled the trigger and shot the firework.
She wasn't aiming for Dream.
The firework landed at Dream's feet and exploded, sending colourful sparks and gunpowder smoke into his face. Dream reeled back, spluttering and waving his hand to clear the air. Rain twisted back around, clipping the crossbow to Techno's belt and wrapping her arms back around his waist.

"What did you do!?" Techno's voice was urgent as Carl picked up speed, the pig-man's armoured hooves urging him faster and faster still.
"I bought us time, Techno! He can't catch up to us if Carl keeps this up!" She shouted over thundering hooves, patting the horse's neck as he galloped. Carl whinnied in response, exiting the forest with a burst of speed and a leap. They landed with a thud, their equipment rattling as Carl continued to carry them away. Rain glanced over her shoulder, seeing L'manberg fading away behind them, Dream wasn't in sight anymore.

They made it.
They were truly free.

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Phil walked out of what remained of the button room, his son's body cradled gently in his arms. The blood around the wound was drying now, the good it would do the man now. Phil's eyes were still stinging from tears, the haze of the moment was clearing now.
His wings were killing him.
Shielding Wilbur from the blast had rendered him unable to fly, his left wing was falling to pieces. Clumps of feathers fell whenever he tried to raise it, the muscles and sensitive ligaments torn and sore. It's like some damned cat had massacred him, scratched crooked lines through his only ties to the sky.