Predator (DWT x OC)

102

I didn't think I'd be able to say goodbye, not to Tubbo, or Punz, not to Sam or Niki. Tubbo and Niki just cried, the three of us clinging onto each other as the only people of our family left standing, begging me to stay safe, as if all the pleading in the world can take a stand against cruelty and fate. Sam wouldn't speak to me, but I felt the squeeze in his fingers against my back as he hugged me all the same. Sapnap showed up to the camp the moment someone had sent him word. 

And Punz. I said goodbye to him a few hours ago, and it still weighs on my heart, more than Dream and his feelings, more than the fear for Tommy. He was so ready, so open to letting me go even though I could see in his eyes how much it was killing him inside. He's always known that they come first, and he's never cared.

Sapnap and Dream are the ones going with me, to the front, a planned swap. They managed to talk me out of bursting in there on a crazed kamikaze mission, instead setting up and arrangement with Schlatt. My life for Tommy's. 

We set off into the woods with a small party of soldiers as protection, towards the front. 

I try not to think about those who I left behind. I left after Wilbur died and the world imploded, left without answers and assurance and comfort.

But I had to do this. I can't leave him. 

The woods we walk through are not the untouched peaceful refuge they once were, because they've been marred by war, touched by death and destruction only capable at the hands of man. I pass lonely bodies, abandoned posts, old weapons and carts, trails stamped into the undergrowth with footsteps that belong to ghosts.

I don't even give a shit about L'manburg anymore, that's the real fucking irony of all of this. I just want my family to be happy.

Sapnap speaks to me, but Dream doesn't, following up at the rear while we cover the front. 

When we sleep, curled under an oak tree, I dream of before, not after. Never after.

In the morning we keep walking, following the relics of old battles to keep me close to the frontlines. I try not to think about Punz, and the guilt.

I'm not going here to die, but I could. It'd be easy, caught in the crossfire, caught in Schlatt's rage, out of my depth, out of control, an easy target, an easy casualty.

I used to never care, but there's someone else now, people who can get hurt by my recklessness.

When the sun has hung itself in the midmorning sky, Dream ends up alongside me, Sapnap distracted with a soldier at the back. It's a few tense moments of silence, before he breaks it. 

"What happens after this Rosie?"

There's so many afters I don't really understand the question. I look up at him. 

"After what? The war?"

To my surprise, he lets out a harsh laugh. "No, no I'm not- I didn't mean it like that. I meant after you hand yourself over to Schlatt."

"Kill him." I shrug. "There's not much else."

"What if you can't? You know him, you know he's going to try and hurt you."

He's going to try to do a lot more than hurt me, after I rejected him, humiliated him, taunted him so much I pushed him to the edge. Oh no, I'm sure he's got a special plan for me. 

"I know." I don't have much else to give to him. "I'll try and survive until we win, try and make it through."

"We're going to try and get you out, the moment Tommy's safe at camp we'll try whatever we can."