Forever

Chapter 16

Dream shoved open the door of the training room, and his eyes immediately fixed on Sapnap. He barely even registered who else was in the room as he closed the small distance between them.

Sapnap's eyes darted up from his phone as Dream approached, and he glanced over the blonde's shoulder as he asked, "George isn't here?"

"No," Dream answered in a low voice, "he's not here."

He came to a stop just in front of Sapnap, and Sapnap pushed dark hair out of his eyes as he spoke again, "will he be here later? I really need to talk to him."

"It's a little late for that," Dream answered, and Sapnap's eyebrows furrowed in response. With a frustrated exhale and a quick shake of his head, Dream added on, "George is gone."

Karl was standing nearby, and as he heard the words fall from Dream's mouth, he stepped closer and asked, "what? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Dream responded, "I went to see Philza this morning and when I got back, he was gone. I've been calling him all morning, and every single time, it goes straight to voicemail."

"Shit," Sapnap muttered under his breath, "I screwed up. The things I said to him the other day..."

His voice trailed off, and Dream only watched him silently. Just seconds ago, he had been prepared to place a majority of the blame on Sapnap and the anger fueled words he had spoken to George just days earlier. But seeing the regret in Sapnap's face made most of the anger dissipate, and he knew that there was a lot more at play here than what Sapnap had done.

"It's not your fault, Sap," Dream tried his best to reassure him, but Sapnap shook his head and muttered back, "you don't know that. I shouldn't have said it, I've been feeling guilty about it ever since I did. I didn't mean any of it, I was just stressed."

Karl's hand moved to Sapnap's back, and he rubbed slow circles as he spoke, "let's just focus on figuring out where he went. Do you have any ideas, Dream?"

Dream shook his head, because the reality of it was, he had absolutely no idea what was going on with George. He only knew a few things for certain, and these things made him more uneasy than he had been in a while.

"I have no idea," Dream answered with another shake of his head, "all I know is that he's angry and he's hurt. And I think we all know how dangerous that version of George can be."

Sapnap nodded quickly in agreement, cursing quietly under his breath as Karl asked, "you don't think he'd do anything that stupid, would he?"

Sapnap scoffed quietly as he answered, "Karl, he just shot and killed a mafia leader without even giving it a second thought. I think we're way past him doing something stupid."

Karl nodded slowly, and then glanced over towards Niki as she approached and offered, "all of our equipment is set up and ready to go. It'll take some time, but we should be able to track him down eventually."

"Thanks Niki," Dream spoke quietly, and his eyes flitted over towards Tubbo, who was rushing across the room towards Niki.

"Niki," he called out, "let me help you!"

Niki rolled her eyes playfully, but she was smiling as she turned towards Dream and Sapnap and said, "Tubbo's getting quite good with the surveillance equipment."

"She's right," Tubbo added on as he neared the group, "Niki even said I'm better than Tommy. I'll find George, no problem."

He smiled confidently at Dream, and Dream couldn't help but laugh softly as he said, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Accepting the challenge, Tubbo gave him a single nod and then grabbed Niki by the arm. Dream watched as Tubbo pulled her across the room towards where the surveillance equipment was set up, and then he turned his attention back to Sapnap and Karl.