The Things We Do :: Dream SMP x Reader

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟹𝟾

"Quiet. Something's up ahead."

Everyone's footsteps slowed, then halted at your whispered words.

You closed your eyes, focusing onto the sound you weren't sure you heard. A branch cracking in the distance? No, more than one. Too many to be a branch, and why would anyone be out at this time?

Maybe a wolf pack... no, most of them stayed further inside the forest. The group was skirting around the edge to minimize travel distance.

So... it had to be.

Marching.

You tapped Wilbur lightly on the shoulder, pulling him aside.

"There's soldiers," you spoke urgently, "Manberg soldiers. None of ours are walking this way, we planned it so."

Wilbur's expression morphed into one of confusion. "But they shouldn't know - they shouldn't have been able to find out, they should have been fighting the main troops."

"The traitor." Your voice hardened as you spoke the two weighty words.

"What are we going to do, then? We can't just reform our whole path-"

"We have to."

You quietly called the group over, speaking in a hushed tone. "Soldiers from Manberg are blocking our original path. We'll have to find a new path - any suggestions are welcome."

Focusing on the direction of the sound, you quickly relayed the information to the rest.

"If they're walking on the east, they're probably on that side of the lake," you mentioned.

One person volunteered an idea. "We could go south of the lake instead of directly across it. There's some trees along the river that the lake feeds into."

"We'd have to also stay out of sight," a second pointed out. "They don't go far enough to give us complete coverage."

"We can't circle all the way around onto the prime path, that would take too much time and the other groups can't hold off that long," the third added on.

A fourth. "We might not even have time to cross the river far enough to be out of sight."

You narrowed your eyes. "We're going to have to risk being seen."

There were some groans and complaints, but nobody outright disagreed. You let out a long breath.

"Okay," you announced. "I hope you've all kept up with the training of these past few months."

Everyone was silent for the trip there, only the sounds of crackling leaves and rustling grass audible. You weren't bothered by many mobs, only a creeper that you quickly killed.

You held your arm out sideways at the edge of the forest, eyes darting around for the soldiers. Just as predicted, you saw them on the east side of the lake - red 'x''s on their shields marking their allegiance to Manberg.

"Alright," you whispered. "Right over there are the soldiers. They seem to be patrolling along the east edge, so when they're heading up, that's when we go. Speed is key to doing this right."

C'mon... you thought to yourself. Hurry up...

They finally - finally - turned, and you instantly left the cover of the trees.

"Go, go, go!" you whisper-shouted to the group. You wasted no time in leaving, sprinting as fast as you possibly could.

You could faintly hear clashing swords and exploding TNT, and you couldn't help but wonder how many of them killed your own.

No, you thought, scolding yourself, you can't think about that. What matters is here. Now.

Focusing on speeding up, your e/c eyes racing to find a landmark you could recognize. Something, just some sign to help you keep going.

"C'mon, c'mon," you urged, "you all can go faster!"

Suddenly, your eyes widened, and then lit up.

Eret's tower.

You called out a quick encouragement towards your group, running impossibly faster. "Eret's tower, up ahead! We're almost back to cover!"

Closer - faster - closer - faster - yes!

Your hands reached for the safety of the tower's walls and - at last - touching them with relief. You slumped down against the wall, chest heaving up and down.

Wilbur reached you soon after a few of the others joined you, wiping a beat of sweat from his forehead.

"I don't think I've ever run so quickly in my life," he breathed out. "And that includes when Tommy tried to force feed me gunpowder and called it drugs."

A half chuckle escaped your lips, replaced with an expression of pure exhaustion.

"Good job back there, everyone," you congratulated, slowly standing up.

Wilbur added on. "Yeah, great work."

A quiet cheer sounded, restrained by the danger of being heard.

"You did great," you continued. "However, we don't have much time for rest, so we should get going-"

"Help!"

You froze. Eyes widened. Breathing stopped.

That was Finch's voice.

Head slowly turning, you saw an arrow piercing through his heart.

"No..."

Wilbur stepped closer to you, put a hand on your shoulder. "We have to go. -"

"No," you said, slowly shaking your head. "No, he had three lives. He had to have- have had more than one. C'mon, Wil, we gotta go- we gotta go get him, to heal him."

"He's dead, N/n." The brunette quietly squeezed your hand, beginning to pull you away. "You need to let it go."

"NO!"

Wilbur grabbed onto your waist, pulling you away while your hands flung out to reach for the young boy.

"HE'S GOING TO GET UP! WE CAN'T LEAVE!" you yelled, straining against him. "Please- stop- don't-"

"He's gone."

...

Gone?

No.

Nobody's gone, not yet.

They can't just-

They wouldn't just-

Would they?

Tears dripped from your eyes, finally giving into the taller man's hold. You simply held onto Wilbur's arms as you cried out apologies to a dead cause.

"But I never even knew your name..."

Wilbur gently, sympathetically brought you closer to his chest.

"His death won't be in vain," he promised. "Now come on, we've got friends to help and a war to win."

A war to win. You took a deep, shuddering breath, closing your eyes and then opening them back up. There's still a war to win.

Five things you could see.

Four things you could touch.

Three things you could hear.

Two things you could smell.

One thing you could taste.

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1028 words (without a/n)

Header by @/emlu_art on KolPaper (not sure but that's on the watermark so??)

i regret nothing writing this chapter :D approaching the end of the war so pile on the angst :D

heh thanks for reading my guys. votes and comments are always appreciated :) love you gorgeous human (or not) beings, and see you soon!

-Partially Human