The Withering-Dreamnotfound {Sequel Out Now!}

Postmortal

          Sapnap ended up having to drag Dream away from George's body. Dream didn't want to let go, but Sapnap knew how dangerous a dark forest would get at night. With Skeppy's help, he was eventually able to pry his hands off of George. Dream, of course, kicked and screamed. But he was tired and eventually let go.
Sapnap started leading Dream back towards the village, but stopped when he noticed Bad and Skeppy not following him. "Guys, it's almost dark. We need to go."
          "Just give him some time," Skeppy pleads. "Trust me, he needs it."
          "I'm not leaving you two to die too," Sapnap says.
          Skeppy walks up to him and pulls his sword out of its holster while staring straight into Sapnap's eyes. "We'll be fine."
          "Dude, you look like you're going to fall over and die any second," Sapnap says.
          "Don't test me," Skeppy warns. "Give me a few days and I'll be one of the most dangerous people you've met."
          Sapnap rolls his eyes. "Fine. Just make sure you get Bad home without a single scratch." Sapnap walks away with Dream still weeping in his arms.
          Skeppy lays the sword down on a stump and rubs Bad's shoulder. "How are you feeling?"
          "Guilty," Bad states.
          Skeppy gives him a weird look. "Why?"
          "Don't get me wrong, I loved George like a brother. He was there for me when you left and I'm crushed he's gone. But a part of me is... happy, I guess? You know, because I've got you back." Bad looks down. "There's something wrong with me."
          Skeppy wraps his arms around Bad and lays his head against his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with you. There's no set way that you should be feeling right now. It's ok to be confused."
          "I need some flowers. I know we will give him a proper send off tomorrow in the daytime, but I'd feel awful if I just left him like that." Bad looks around and finds a small flower patch. He runs over and picks as many flower as he can, blinking away tears as he goes. Once he has a bundle of blue cornflowers and white daisies, he spreads them gently around George. As he steps back to see how his flower arrangement looks, he feels a raindrop got his nose.
          Skeppy grabs his hand. "Darryl, I think it's time we head back."
          Bad sadly nods. "Thank you. For staying with me. It means a lot." Skeppy only squeezes his hand in response as they walk away from George, his backpack, and the beautiful flowers around him.

          Sapnap and George finally make it to the start of the desert when they can see Rose and Mega running towards them. When Rose reaches them, she asks, "Where is everyone?"
          "Bad and a guy we rescued stayed back for a few minutes. They should be coming behind us any minute," Sapnap responds, letting Dream go. Dream starts walking towards the village without another word.
          "What about George?" Rose asks. Sapnap doesn't respond. He clenches his jaw and closes his eyes tightly to keep himself from crying. Rose instantly understands his silence. She pulls him into a hug.
          "I'm so sorry, Nick," she whispers. Sapnap buries his face into her hair in an attempt to hide the tears starting to fall from his face. But once his shoulders shuddered as he cried, he knew there was no use in hiding it.
          He pulls Rose in tighter. "It should've been me. George died because of me. He pushed me out of the way of an arrow and it hit him instead."
          Bad and Skeppy make it out of the forest and into the sand, a little wet from the rain. The canopy of leaves above them had helped a lot, but they still ended up wetter than they wanted to be.
          Mega leads the group back towards the village. In the distance, he could see Dream struggling to walk, constantly stopping to wipe his eyes. Honestly, Mega had been intimidated by him at first. He was a big guy who knew his way around his sword. But seeing him broken down completely changed how he saw him. It almost made Mega want to talk to him. Almost.
          Everyone manages to make it back to the village just as the monsters started coming out to play. Mega ushers everyone inside before taking his place at the watch tower to kill monsters from above. Upon arriving, Rose asks to speak to Zelk and Alyssa alone to catch them up on the guys' situation.
          Dream falls into George's bed, desperately hugging the blanket that still smelt like him. Cat jumps onto the bed next to him and curls up by his leg. Sapnap and Bad both sit at the table while Skeppy looks at the bed awkwardly. It was the first time he had seen a bed in what felt like forever and was excited to have a decent night's sleep.
          Sapnap watches as Dream cries into the blanket, feeling hopeless. He was never good at comforting people, especially when he was feeling the same pain.
          He gets up and walks over to Dream. "Hey, you should probably get changed and cleaned. I can't tell if your shirt has your blood or someone else's on it."
          Dream wipes his nose and looks at Sapnap with puffy eyes. "I don't have anything to change into."
          "I'm sure Zelk wouldn't mind if you stole a shirt from him," Sapnap says, trying to figure out which bed was Zelk's. "We just have to find his chest." Dream nods and sits up, allowing Sapnap to help him remove the sticky shirt. Sapnap then notices the cut on Dream's neck. "Dude, what happened?"
          "It was a pillager thing. Happened mid-fight and stopped bleeding on out way here. It doesn't hurt anymore." Dream wraps himself up in the blanket as Sapnap leaves to fetch him a shirt. He then realizes something. "Shit! I left my hoodie in the forest!" He pulls the blanket over his face and he yells muffled profanities.
          Sapnap eventually finds a Zelk's chest and brings Dream one of the plain black shirts from inside. "We can go find it tomorrow. It'll be ok."
          Dream sadly nods as he slips into the shirt. "I know you don't like to talk about these things, but how are you feeling?"
          Sapnap looses himself in thought. "I feel awful. I was nothing but rude to George and he took an arrow for me. He gave his life for me. I didn't deserve that." He sits in the bed next to Dream. "I don't even know why I treated him like I did. Maybe it was because I was jealous or something? I don't know, but whatever it was, it got in the way of what could've been a great friendship."
          Dream leans on Sapnap's shoulder. "That's just who he was. He put himself at risk to help everyone else. I can count at least four times that he's kept me from dying."
          Sapnap smiles fondly. "Well, he was just as much of an idiot as you. You run into danger and he just follows after you."
          Rose opens the front door and walks in quietly. "Hey there. I just wanted to let you all know that you have this place to yourselves for the night. The rest of us are staying with our families to give you some space."
          "Thank you, Rose," Bad responds.
          Rose smiles. "Of course." She starts to leave, but stops in the doorway. "You know, I haven't know George as long as you guys, but after seeing the impact he left on me, I can only imagine the pain you guys are going through. My friends and I want to help give him a proper send off tomorrow. Let me know when you guys go back out and we'll come with you." With that, she leaves them alone in the home.
          Skeppy settles on a bottom bunk bed and lays down. He lets out a pleasant sigh as his head sinks into the pillow. He understood why Bad felt guilty. Skeppy felt like he could finally breathe while his new friend's lungs had collapsed on the other side of the room. He still was sad that George had died, but he didn't know him like the others did. He wasn't there for all of the great moments they had together. He felt bad that he couldn't muster up any tears for the fallen hero.
          "Hey, can we turn off the lights? They're hurting my eyes," Dream says. Bad nods and hits a lever, turning the red stone lamps off. Bad stumbled through the dark but eventually finds a bed. He tosses himself into it, not caring if it was someone else's bed. He just wanted to sleep forever. Sapnap ended up staying in bed with Dream. Dream was trying to fall asleep, still on his shoulder. Sapnap couldn't sleep. There was no way he was going to sleep with so much in his mind. He'd give anything to see George again and apologize for how he acted. The old saying was right. You never appreciate what you have until it's gone.
          Sapnap was right. He didn't sleep at all. When everyone was waking up the next day, he was already up and making a cup of coffee, hoping it'd give him enough energy to get through the day. Bad and Skeppy both roll out of bed at the same time and begin cooking some meat for breakfast. Dream didn't wake up for a long time. It was around midday by the time he got up and, even then, he was a zombie. He must've cried all night because his eyes were still wet and watery. He looked miserable and probably felt even worse.
          A little after noon, Rose opens the door. "Hey, are you guys ready to head out?"
          The guys don't respond and instead look at Dream, waiting to hear his response. Dream shrugs. "I don't think I'll ever be ready, so let's just get this over with." Rose nods and heads out to collect her friends.
          Bad rubs Dream's arm. "Everything's going to be ok. I promise."
          Dream gives him a half smile. "Thanks, Bad. I'm glad I've got you."
          Bad hugs him. "Me too."
          Once everyone is ready, Sapnap leads them to George's resting place, a shovel in his hand.