What's Worth Saving (Is Never Worth Letting Go to Waste)

Chapter 24: I Can't Save Us (My Atlantis)

Niki, typically, tried to keep to herself. Ever since she renounced L'manburg and aligned with the Syndicate, she only kept a select group of people close to her.

Some people called it a traumatic response. She called it keeping herself from getting hurt again.

So when about four new faces showed up at the doorstep, Niki was a little skittish. Especially when the faces weren't exactly new, and she had an unfortunate history with most of the people.

It took all of Niki's self restraint not to slap Wilbur Soot across his smug, smug face.

She takes a deep breath, trying to think about all the other people sitting around the table. She tears her gaze off of Wilbur, ignoring his half-hearted greeting. Niki dips her head to Sapnap; she remembers him from the original L'manburg war. She respects him, at least far more than Wilbur. Same with George; to be honest, the assemblance of people is bizarre. She never expected to see George and Sapnap sitting in the same vicinity of Wilbur without attacking him.

Maybe it frustrates her slightly to see Wilbur sitting so calmly.

Niki waves to Tubbo and Ranboo, giving the two a half smile. She can't help but feel uneasy with the shocking amount of people sitting in the living room of the Syndicate. She continues to ignore Wilbur, fearing it will cause her to snap completely. So instead, she turns to the person who let the bastard in the base.

"Techno." She asks, her voice pointed. "Can I speak to you for a minute?" The piglin blinks at her, before shrugging and nodding. Niki leads him outside, throwing the door open. She still refuses to look at Wilbur, and applauds her self restraint at not giving him a rude gesture. She feels it would be within her rights to, seeing as all the shit he's caused.

"You doing alright?" Techno asks as soon as he shuts the door. Niki fixes him with a withering stare.

"Why is he here?" She demands, keeping her voice clipped. Techno glances back at the house, confusion crossing his features.

"You'll have to be more specific." He says cautiously. Niki rolls her eyes. Is he dense?

"The one who blew up a country." She deadpans. "And ruined my life." Techno grimaces, shuffling nervously. He leans against the wooden beams, sighing.

"Have you checked your communicator lately?" He asks softly. Niki blinks at him, eyes narrowed. Slowly, she pulls out the device and clicks it open.

And her heart stops.

There are too many death notifications to count– and far too many to be natural. Especially when she sees the name of the victim. Especially when she knows that he's already died thrice.

Niki takes a moment to process the sheer amount of messages, of the death laden in front of her. She closes her eyes and breathes, steadying herself. I've seen worse, she tells herself. She reminds herself of the war-torn lands and ravaged lives after each war and tries to tell herself it could be worse even though she knows it's a lie.

"What's going on?" She asks, sliding the communicator back into her pocket. "Why is– what's happening to Tommy?" Logically, there's no way Dream should be able to kill him this many times this easily. She knows he killed Tommy permanently before– and she's heard rumors of what his exile entailed. Niki isn't sure of the validity of said rumors, but she knows of them.

"Have you heard of Kinoko?" Techno asks her. Niki nods. It was built on top of her old home, how could she not know about it? Techno breathes a slight sigh of relief. "Good, that makes explaining all this easier."