Minecraft, but Manhunt is getting real [DreamNotFound]

13

They held hands.

Clay didn’t let go of George’s hand when they tried to find the way back to the portal, navigating through the Nether.

He didn’t let go when a ghast appeared and pursued them.

He didn’t let go when they finally found the portal.

He didn’t let go when they went back to the Overworld.

George didn’t let go despite he wanted to.

That man was firmly holding his hand. George felt like he could trust him, at least for now, but he didn’t know why the man was acting like this. It was both awkward and comforting. Protecting him, holding his hand, always looking back to see if George was still here. And there was this sad look in his eyes. A sad look that meant he wanted to tell George something, but he couldn’t, and George couldn’t help but feel bad about it.

Eddie was waiting at the entrance of the portal. The cat started meowing happily when it saw George coming back. Clay let go of George’s hand, and looked away. George let out a relieved giggle, still troubled by what happened, and took the cat in his arms. Eddie cuddled against his chest.

“Oh, I missed you too, Eddie”, George said while petting it. Seeing his cat was genuinely reassuring. The Nether was behind them.

Clay looked at them with a sad, painful look. He wished George reacted like this when they reunited earlier. He couldn’t talk with him, nor tell him jokes, nor teasing him, nor laughing with him. He was very salty now. He wanted to end up this game already. George didn’t see him as Dream. He couldn’t see him. Clay just wanted George to giggle to his teasing and to find their complicity back.
And what was most heartbreaking was, even if George knew it was Dream, Clay didn’t know how his friend would actually react. He wanted to tell him it was him so bad, but it was so scary at the same time he didn’t know what to do anymore. They wouldn’t be able to talk about it, and it would be awkward to just hang out in silence. Yeah. That was it. In the end, it was better for George not to know it was Dream. Just being a stranger was fine, after all. When they’ll get out of the game, their friendship will be back and they’ll brag about how they did great without the other. That’s fine. They just had to find the stronghold and they’ll beat the dragon. And it’ll be over. All of this nightmare will be over.

“Um… How… How should I call you?” George asked shyly, looking in Clay’s direction.

Clay raised his head, looking back at George. Well, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t important. But it felt kind of weird to let George name him, like he was his dog. Any block name was fine. It would be less embarrassing. The tall man shrugged and threw blocks at him.

“What? I-” Clay started walking away, his pickaxe in hand. “Wait! I- How should I call you?” George desperately called out. He looked at the blocks on the ground. His inventory was so full he couldn’t pick them up. The blonde man has thrown birch logs and wooden planks at him. What was that supposed to mean?

George let go of Eddie, who sat beside him, and looked at the lava remaining around the portal he had built. Standing in front of the lava, the young man sorted his inventory. He transformed the blaze rods onto blaze powder. He didn’t have any ender pearls, though. He had avoided every fight with mobs since the beginning of this game. The only mobs he fought were blazes, actually. The dark-haired man sighed. Maybe he could ask the other guy if he had any pearls. When he turned, he saw him approaching.

“Err, do you… Do you have any ender pearls? And, uh… Tell me how I should call you. We can’t be together if I don’t know how to call you.”

Clay had pearls, actually. And even many beds. He had protected them in a chest, in case he would die in the Nether, and was bringing them back. When George was mining, he went back to the village to trade. He had already decided to help his friend at that time, and as a fierce speed runner he was, he already knew what to do to get the pearls. He had traded and had decent enough pearls to find the stronghold. He was already so prepared to defeat the Ender Dragon. Clay wrote on as sign and showed it to George.