𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕄𝕖 - Ⓓ Ⓝ Ⓕ

~45 - The Captain of the Sky~

When George fell asleep beside Dream, there were three kicking kittens nuzzling beside Patches' fur. When he woke up, there were only two.

They lost the second kitten, Patches Jr, overnight.

After George discovered the death of the kitten, he cracked. He was reliving Luca's death all over again, letting another small animal die on his watch, and while it wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but feel guilty.

And so, he did what he always did. He rested his head on Dream's shoulder and cried.

He vaguely remembered Dream and Sapnap discussing what to do with the dead kitten while George sobbed and Karl stayed silent, and knew that they had taken action to get rid of it. There was no way that they could keep its body and give it a nice little burial like they supposedly wanted, and George didn't catch on to what they did with the body. All he knew was that when he lifted his head from Dream's shoulder, the dead kitten was gone. He didn't want to think about they did to dispose it, but deep down, he knew what they did. He didn't want to face that, yet.

"It was a little boy," Dream had murmured against his hair whilst rubbing a hand up and down the brunette's back, trying to soothe him. "Little Patches Jr – maybe the pirate version."

George knew that the words were meant to reassure him in some way, but he couldn't help but cry harder, and it made Dream hold him tight, grounding George. He started whispering kind stories into his ear, rocking them both back and forth, and the Brit couldn't help but imagine that he was back at home in his mother's arms, content and at peace while she read him a fairy tale. Oh god, he wanted to go back. He wanted to be a little kid again.

"Maybe Patches Jr is on a pirate ship right now in the clouds, sailing away across the sky," Dream made a gesture with his hand, motioning to the ceiling, but George knew he meant for it to be the sky. "I don't know if it's day or night wherever he's cruising right now, but if it was day, the sky will be a bottomless blue, and if it was night, the stars would shimmer like the million suns they are. He'll be happy up there. He has so much to explore."

George chuckled at Dream's attempt at comfort, although he was sad and with wet cheeks as he rubbed the tears from his eyes. He looked up at Dream, a pained smile on his face, but he knew it was received the way he wanted when Dream pursed his lips. "He'll be a little explorer on an expedition into the great unknown. Maybe he's with other kitty friends so that he won't be alone."

A small grin had spread across Dream's freckled cheeks, and he nodded. "I'm sure he is."

George looked deep into Dream's ender eyes for an intimate moment, and Dream stared back. He had to much he wanted to say to the dirty blonde, but had no words to express what he felt. The feeling was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Yes, he loved Dream, but this emotion was something else that he couldn't describe, and he couldn't tell if it left him comfortable or not.

He looked towards Patches, who was back to grooming her remaining two kittens, who were both confirmed as little girls, and bit his bottom lip. "Do you think she understands what happened to the other kitten?"

There was a hum from Dream, and he trailed a hand down George's side. "I'm sure she understands. It's in her nature."

George pursed his lips and nodded, and the conversation ended there. None of them wanted to talk about the dead kitten anymore, not when it was having such a negative effect on them both, especially George's mental health. They had to move on from the past, but that's a hard thing to do. They had to learn – had to try.

Sapnap was the next to speak up, and they all gave him their full attention as he proposed action on their situation. "I think we should move to the roof now, or at least start preparing. The sooner we get out of here, the better."