Predator (DWT x OC)

71

L'manburg had never been this far away.

There'd been distance, thousands of kilometres, oceans and deserts and jungles that stretched between them, there'd been prisons, and walls, houses she'd been trapped in, barriers that had kept her away. 

But here, in the cavern, Niki had never felt further. It felt as though she was on an entirely different planet, a different universe to the place she thought of as home, that there was no possible way, that in this life, this endless, lonely existence, that the family and love she had found in L'manburg could have been there, even if it was in the past. It didn't even feel possible anymore. 

She knew that giving up hope was just playing into Schlatt's hands, that she should have the strength to cling onto those memories, and those dreams, the family that still existed, no matter how far scattered, to the home that was hopefully still standing, the home that could still be rebuilt. If it hadn't been for Tommy, and his endless persistence, Niki would have probably ended up like Wilbur by now. 

Wilbur. Who had fallen irreparably apart. Wilbur, who was falling faster into madness than she was into despair. 

She's lost Jack, and Tubbo, still desperately clinging onto the last remaining threads of Rosie, she can't lose Wilbur now too. Not after everything, everyone, the worlds that have shattered at her feet, the life that had seemed so good, burned down to the ground by Fundy, and Schlatt.

Hell, even Quackity and George played their part too. 

Those ashes waft down around her, the charred remains of happiness, and hope, and her home, drifting aimlessly through the air, crumbling to nothing but dust in her desperate fingers and she tries so cling onto whatever can be salvaged. 

After this, when it's all over, when life settles to the ground, the fires go out and the embers stop glowing, and all that's left is the word of black and grey and lifeless stumps, misshapen features twisted and melted beyond recognition, she doubts there would be anything left. 

They'd made sure of that. 

When this is all over. It's a funny phrase, so filled with hope and belief that is long gone, beaten from her by the cruelty of this world and mankind, that it doesn't feel right from her lips, in her voice. Will it end? It may never. Niki might spend the rest of her life fighting a hopeless war for something, someplace that was wiped out from existence before the war had even begun. 

And if it does, if it ends, the presumption that even a scrap of that world could be salvaged is almost laughable. Wilbur is right about one thing. 

L'manburg is gone. 

That home, that place, those people, that life, is gone. It has been destroyed, ripped apart and twisted into a horrible mockery of what it was. The difference between her and him however, is that Wilbur wants to obliterate its memory and Niki wants to rebuild it. 

Tommy wants to get it back, but she hasn't had the heart to tarnish the last little bits of childish naivety he has left. 

Even though that sentiment probably can't be afforded in these circumstances, even though she should just toughen up and show him reality, and the situation so horrendously messed up that lying to protect someone's feelings is probably the equivalent of shooting one of your soldiers in their foot, how can anyone blame her?

This place, this life has taken so much from them all, so much from Tommy. As selfish as it is, Niki wants to hold something back, guard it close to her chest and protect it from the harsh cruelty of the truth and the world, let him hold on a little longer. 

Let him be kid. Like Rose always used to say. 

Let them be kids, just for a little bit longer.