Dream SMP War

5 - Trust nobody

ERET'S POV

"Eret!" A hushed voice came from the shadows. Eret spun around, staring around for the voice. Another voice called out to him, this time from a different angle. Eret spun around again, and backed away in surprise upon seeing the outline blocking out the moonlight, casting a slight shadow on the floor of his castle.

"Eret, we have a proposal to make." The blonde standing in front of Eret whispered. "We're not here to hurt you." He added, when Eret drew out his crossbow. Two more people emerged from the bushes — a brown haired boy, and a slightly shorter boy, dark haired as well. The blonde cast out a hand as if to stop his two accomplices from advancing, and they stopped, not glaring, simply watching, very attentively, from behind the blonde.

"We can offer you everything." The blonde smiled almost threatening, and gestured with a sweep of his hand at the Dream SMP. "We have a lot to offer you. L'Manberg has nothing in for you. Just that puny patch of land. We can crown you king. We can give you land. We can give you power." A cloud drifted over the moon, casting the speaker's voice into shadow.

Eret watched carefully, still suspicious of a trap.

"Why should I trust you?" He asked.

"We have power, Eret. We can give it all to you. If you want. Join our side." The blonde whispered, and his voice carried eerily in the wind. The words came out almost as a hiss, and despite the soft volume of his words, Eret heard every single one of them clear as day. Eret shifted on his foot, thinking.

"What will you give me? Be specific." Eret began, starting to negotiate. The two boys that were crouching behind the blonde shifted their weight as well, preparing for a fight if needed.

The blonde smirked. "Land. The Dream SMP is vast." He whispered. "Power. I have the power to crown you king. All I ask for you is to betray L'Manberg."

Eret thought a little longer. "When?" He finally asked.

"You'll know when the time is." Was the only answer.

"What do you want me to do, then? Be specific." Eret continued, warming up to the prospect.

"We want you to lead them into a trap." The blonde began. The moon emerged from behind the cloud, the moonlight falling on the blonde's face, and illuminating the rough scar and glinting green eyes. "We'll build some sort of trap. You lead them into it, we, " The blonde gestured to the two boys behind him, "will drop in and kill them all. And the war will be won."

Eret nodded slowly. "Your plan holds promise." He commented impassively.

"We just need you to carry it out." The blonde held out a hand for Eret to shake. Eret paused for a moment, then took it.

"That's a deal."

Dream slowly cracked an evil smile. "Then let's begin."

TUBBO'S POV

Tubbo straightened up, rubbing his back. It was the night before the war was set to begin. He'd been working with his villagers, and he'd finally managed to coax a good trade out of the one of them. A full set of diamond armor for less than a stack of emeralds. Another villager offered emeralds in return for sticks, which he'd been taking advantage of, gathering sticks from an extensive bamboo farm he'd built. Eret had been grinding at his own weapon, he'd told Tubbo.

"I'll show you when we need it." Eret had said, and then waved Tubbo off, returning to his own work. Tubbo was half a mind to just follow Eret out of curiosity, but at this point, he really didn't have any time. He needed to get all the emeralds he could, and trade them for resources for the upcoming war. He'd stored a good eight or nine stacks of emeralds in the chest, so he was quite comfortable with heading back to his base in the settled Dream SMP and turning in for the night, before he remembered that his house was burned down.

"Oh Dream, why?" He muttered to himself, then quickly crafted a bed in the nearest crafting table and set it down. Tubbo yawned, and stretched, doing one last check around of his villagers and making sure that everything was safe and sound, then climbed into bed.

Just before he drifted off, he heard a small creaking noise. He was half a mind to get up and check it, but it was too late, since he fell asleep already.

Tubbo was in the darkest part of the woods. The towering trees blocked out all the moonlight, and it was pitch black. He could barely see his hand in front of his face. Tubbo reached out, feeling for trees on either side, and started walking, without direction, just trying to find a lighter spot of the forest, or perhaps even the exit. The wind whistled through the trees, and Tubbo shivered, pulling his hands inside of his sleeves. A rustle came from the right. Tubbo whipped around, and listened. After a few moments, he heard a long, drawn out scream. Tubbo widened his eyes and shrank back, taking a step away from the noise, only to get his foot caught on a tree root and fell over, with a satisfying crunch of the dead leaves beneath him. Tubbo lied still for a moment, still listening. No one screamed again, although Tubbo was certain he didn't imagine the first one. He slowly stood back up and continued his slow trek through the forest, trying to find a way out, and somehow, it got even darker. Suddenly, he heard the scream again. Tubbo jumped and tripped over a tree root, falling flat on his face. This time, he could feel that his nose was bleeding. Tubbo ripped off a piece of cloth from his shirt and tried to stem the flow of blood, but it kept flowing, drip, dripping on his foot, thick, disgustingly warm, his own blood. The scream sounded again, closer now. Tubbo whipped his head around and subsequently sent drops of blood flying. A crack of a branch sounded to his left. Silence. Then the rustle of leaves. Something — or someone — was close by.

"Who's there?" Tubbo called out quietly, and his voice echoed back to him, eery and warped strangely.

Suddenly, a loud rustle came from behind Tubbo. The brown haired boy whipped around, and he felt relieved, although his body was still very tense.

Eret stepped out into the clearing. Although there was something odd — the familiar sunglasses that Eret always wore was broken on one side. A blinding white light emitted through the cracked lens.

"Eret?" Tubbo asked uncertainly. A rustle sounded from behind Tubbo, and Tubbo spun around again, looking for the source of the noise. Only, he didn't get to spin around fully before the knife entered his back.

Tubbo's eyes flew open, and he sat up, nervous sweat lining his brow, panting heavily.

"Eret?" He mumbled into the darkness.

After a few moments, Eret stuck his head into the room, his sunglasses intact, no blinding light shining through a crack in the lenses. "Yeah? Are you okay? I heard you screaming and stuff, and I checked in here, but I didn't see anything."

Tubbo was suddenly very aware of the fact that his blankets were tangled, lying on the floor and his pillow was in the middle of his bed.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just had a nightmare." Tubbo finally spoke, staring down at his lap.

"Okay. Well, if you need help, I'm over here." Eret called, extracting himself from the room, but not before Tubbo called out one last time.

"Eret?"

"Yeah?" Eret stuck his head back through the door.

"You — you wouldn't betray us, would you?" Tubbo asked, meeting Eret's eyes uncertainly.

"Of course not."

"Okay. Sorry, you can go back to sleep." Tubbo waved Eret away, and picked up his blankets from the floor, rearranging himself into a comfortable position. What he didn't notice before he fell asleep again was the window that was wide open, and the front door that laid ajar.

1368 words