The Railroad

Chapter 30

George. His whole body hurt, but he was only thinking of George. Where was he? Was he hurt? What had they done to him?

"Where is he?" Dream croaked out again, asking it for the millionth time. The others in the room still didn't respond, carrying on with their activities. "I said where is he?!"

A fist connected with his jaw. His arms were restrained behind him, so he couldn't fight back. He had to just let it happen as the red head girl hit him again. Blood was dripping out his mouth, tainting his tastebuds with a metallic tang, so he spit it out to the side, along with all the other blood spots on the floor. He wasn't hurt badly, just some cuts and bruises here and there. It wasn't their goal to hurt him, but why did they still have him?

He wanted the comfort of George. He wanted to feel the warmth of the small boy in his arms, to hear his gentle laugh, to see his beautiful smile. He wanted him so badly. He was so worried about him. He wished he could've been stronger; he wished he would have protected him from his bastard of a father.

Thoughts of the brunet clouded his mind and distracted him from the light pain of the hits and from the insignificant actions of the people around him. He was still in the lab, but was too out of it to really acknowledge what they were doing. He didn't really care, either.

He noticed when Hannah left. He also noticed when she came back, about two hours later. He hadn't eaten in probably twelve hours, but he hadn't realized he was hungry until she offered him a sandwich. The blond eyed her skeptically, waiting for her to withdraw her hand and laugh in his face while eating the sandwich in front of him.

She didn't do that, instead, she said, "We're not total monsters, you know."

At that point, he was too desperately hungry to argue. He ate the sandwich right out of her hand, getting done within minutes. She gave him a drink of water, and when he was done, everyone followed her out of the lab, shutting off the lights behind them.

He could see out the windows from where he was sitting. He found solace in the thought that maybe George, wherever he was, was doing the same thing right then, looking up at the same quarter moon. Just as he was about to fall asleep, the door to the lab opened, and in walked Boomer.

"Keep quiet and maybe you'll be able to see George again," he said quietly.

Dream just stared, not trusting the lone boy in the slightest. He walked over, leaning down and holding a knife to the ropes around Dream's wrist. Dream froze, entire body tensing. But Boomer hesitated.

"Listen. I'm going to cut you lose, but if you attack me I will stab you. I'm your only chance at getting to George, so I would recommend you not try something."

Dream didn't respond. Boomer sighed, cutting the ropes. The blond stood, not bothering to attack him. It was a stupid idea to: Boomer was his only way out of here and why would he lie? If there was any chance that Boomer was telling the truth, Dream had to take it. He owed it to George, did he not?

~~~

After being led up a few staircases and down a few hallways, Punz had finally stopped in front of a room with a plaque reading 404 on it. He was nervous, but there was no reason not to trust Punz. Well, of course there was, but the brunet just didn't see why he would lie.

And even if he was lying, he had to take the chance. After all, how much worse could it possibly get?

Punz sat on one of the couches, but George couldn't sit. He paced back and forth, eyes trained on the door, waiting for it to open and the one person he wanted to see to walk inside. He was hurting so badly inside, and he felt like if he spent one more minute without the blond he might break.

He would kill Punz if this was just a trick.

But then the door swung open, and in walked an exhausted and bloodied Dream. He had a glazed look in his eye that vanished the minute he saw George. George ran to him, practically leaping into his waiting arms. Dream held him so tightly that George thought his ribcage might break, but he wasn't complaining. And that's when he heard the sob.

The brunet brought his head back from the crook of Dream's neck to see that the blond was crying. George wiped away the tears with his thumb, giving him a light kiss on the cheek.

"Are you okay princess?" Dream murmured into his ear, sending shivers down his spine.

"I am, are you?" George responded, glancing at the few cuts joining the blond's larger scar.

"I told you, I can take care of myself," Dream chuckled.

They stared into each other's eyes, accepting that they were truly together again. They were barely apart, but those few hours were spent with so much longing and so much worrying that they both felt complete now. Dream was one of the few people that George had left; after Wilbur he barely hanging on.

He was suppressing thoughts of his best friend. In his mind, Wilbur was still alive. In his world, Wilbur was a human and was back with his family now, living his life the way he'd always wanted to, oblivious to what was going on here. George almost wished he had imagined the entire thing, because that would mean that Wilbur wouldn't be dead because he had never existed in the first place. But, it was very much real, and Wilbur was very much gone. And George couldn't keep it repressed for much longer.

Here in Dream's arms, it was easy to pretend like everything was alright. Even with their situation, even under the dangerous circumstances that were present, all felt well to them. Oblivious to the world, George enjoyed Dream's comfort.

But Dream never abandoned his surroundings and was very aware of their company. Even though his mind was eased by the fact that George was here with him, he couldn't pry his eyes away from the two other blonds in the room, watching them curiously. Why had they helped them be reunited? What ulterior motives fueled them? What could they possibly want?

Boomer seemed to sense his question. "Listen, I bet you want to know what's going on, right?" Both Dream and George just stared at him, not leaving their hug. "Well, I came to Punz with the idea. I didn't want to follow Hannah; I didn't think that what she and your father were doing was right, but I didn't know how to speak up. So, I didn't. I just allowed it to happen. But I saw what happened to Wilbur and I couldn't stand it. I took the risk and approached Punz because I could sense that he might agree with me. Luckily, he did, and we formed this plan."

"What plan?"

"The plan to get you two back together, for starters," Luke answered. "But also the plan to take down your father and all his followers, once and for all."

~Word count: 1,220~

A/N: i know i said i wouldn't miss any more updates and im sorryyyy but i was busy again. the only other time i might potentially miss is thanksgiving, but we'll see what happens. again, my apologies, and enjoy this filler chapter.