↚The Pig's Shadow | Dream x Reader | Slowburn ↛

Chapter 44: How to Plan a Party (Bonus Points if People Die)

You awoke- or did you ever really fall asleep? Had you just slipped a little deeper into the shadowed fog of your head, hidden from the problems life had thrown at you? Ducked down into the murky, slow-moving mist of your anxiety and oblivion for a few hours? Run away from your responsibilities, dived away from what you were supposed to be doing? Was it really sleeping, if it didn't make anything better, if a part of your brain stayed awake constantly, reminding you that you, more than anyone else, were not safe?

And you weren't.

You could sense that with every fiber of your being, the fact that you were reaching the end of your life, that the silken thread spun by the Fates was disappearing quickly, that the life-suffocating smoke was already beginning to curl around your body, starting to wrap thick gray tendrils over your eyes and mouth and face and brain, waiting until it could drag you down for good. 

Death was stalking you- you didn't know how you knew, but alarm bells had begun to ring, and you knew they would not get quieter.

So when you opened your eyes, staring at the smooth gray rock above your head, there was a singular thought in your mind, a sole purpose for the day, one thing you wanted to: make sure that if you were going down to hell, you were bringing a whole crowd with you.

->->->->->O<-<-<-<-

"Y/N?" Tommy asked hesitantly, looking around the room of gathered people. He was to your left, at the mouth of the cave, while Wilbur was to your right, Dream directly across the room with Technoblade standing next to him. The blond, having just entered the room, turned his attention to you, distrust, suspicion, and confusion dancing in his eyes. "You said Will called a meeting?"

You said nothing, avoiding his gaze and instead keeping your eyes training on Wilbur. You'd never noticed the bags that had been growing under his eyes since the election, the way his eyes appeared reddish under the lantern light. They glowed with unhinged ideas, with the madness of a man who had lost everything and everyone he'd ever loved. His son: hated him. His country: taken from him. His wife: gone. His life's work: fading before his gaze, trapped in the grip of a dictator who did not care who lived or died.

"I did, Tommy," he answered, shifting his fingers around the object enclosed in his fist. "I wanted your opinion on something."

Tommy glanced at the shape in Wilbur's hands, then slowly raised his gaze to meet his eyes. "What?" he asked cautiously. 

"How much do you hate Manburg, Tommy?" Will drummed his fingers against the wall, head tilted and a maniacal smile spreading over his face. "How much would you LOVE to see it burn?"

"I don't hate the country, Will. I hate Schlatt, but Tubbo, Niki, Eret- I like them, I really do. They didn't do anything wrong, Will, they were just in the wrong country at the wrong time. Surely, you understand that, right? The country can be taken back, we can do that. We have Y/N, we have Techno, we have allies, right?"

Wilbur rolled his eyes, smile fading slightly. "Oh, Tommy, you don't understand." He stepped forward, placing his hand on his shoulder. You noticed the sweat beginning to form on Tommy's face, the way his mouth pressed into a thin line. "Every- everyone here wants Manburg gone, Tommy. We want it destroyed. It's too far gone, it's worthless. We made a mistake, and now everyone's paying for it. We need to start fresh, my friend."

Tommy chuckled nervously. "Uh, Will, you don't mean what I think you do, right, man? You're not talking about... destroying... the entire country, right?" He glanced at Techno, who's face was impassive as ever, then at you. You held his gaze steadily, not giving anything away. "That'd be... insane."

"Toms..." Wilbur sighed. "When I said you wouldn't be president- you remember that, right?" He paused, waiting for him to nod. "When I said you weren't going to be president, Tommy, that wasn't a challenge. That's TRUE. That's just a fact, my friend."

"But- but we're in the right, Wilbur, we can take it bac-"

"We're the good guys, Tommy? Right?" Tommy nodded, blond curls bouncing over his eyes, uncertainty in his gaze. "We're in the right? Then..." The crazy, insane smile reappeared on Wilbur's face. "Then let's be the bad guys. Let's be the villains, in this story. Let's torch it to the ground."

With a cry, Tommy shook off Wilbur's hand from his shoulder, stepping back wildly. Wilbur ignored him, turning to Dream. "Dream, I want to be your vassal. I want to serve you, I want to work with you, work with you to destroy Manburg, to kill Schlatt." Dream tilted his head, mask hiding any hint of emotion he might show.

"Techno? Y/N? Surely you don't agree with them, right? We're good guys?" Tommy asked, uncredulous and sputtering with disbelief.

Technoblade sighed, shifting his arms. "Tommy, we've discussed this before. We've talked about what could be happening, what we would do. I'm sorry, Tommy, but it's time to speak that language. We've stayed to the shadows for too long- it's time for us to step out of the night, to stand in the light where we belong. Onto a new day- a new plot, to destroy Manburg." Wilbur nodded, his head dipping once to Techno.

Tommy's brilliant blue gaze swung around to you. "Y/N?" he asked. With a pang of sadness, you realized that Tommy was like the little brother you had never had, the companion you had never had. You had filled that void, when you were little, with Techno, with your travels, until the void no longer existed, but now, now you realized how hard this must be for him: to have his friends, his family, turn away from him, to be so morally gray.

And yet, he had to grow up. It was time he learned about the world, the way it worked, the language it spoke, of bloodshed, and violence, of betrayal and backstabbing, of self-reliance, of self-dependance and adaptability.

"Let's give Hell a party, Wilbur." 

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1058 words

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Bit of a shorter chapter today, but I'm working on some... new stuff >;)

Enjoy, hydrate, and grab a snack!