the enemy

22 | their triumph die

Diamond clinking against iron, as footsteps break the vulnerable grass; who didn't ask for any of this. Looking up to the noise, she chokes on her own oxygen. When both of them heard footsteps, and the dream team's faces were attached to such, they knew it was over; that it their triumph would end right where it began. That the debt they stole would be paid, that this was it— only not on a way they expected.
Her body begins to tremble, it is now the second time she's been thrown into this, only this time she's fully conscious; forced to remember it all.

Three tall men stand only feet away, all bearing weapons. Tears begin to stray down her face one by one, salt bleeding into her pores.
One man pointed a cross bow, the other a sharp sword, and the last was empty handed, fumbling over himself; George.

The girl's breathing gets heavier, as does the young boy beside her. She looks to him, as a tear or two trickle down his face, blending into his skin. She hadn't seen him like this before, this scared. She didn't know Tommy had a side like this, he was always brave wasn't he?
He could help her! Sure enough, or that's what she hoped, what she begged to happen.
"Move." Her brother points the crossbow her direction, before aiming it towards the right.
Her face is like a deer in head lights, gripping Tommy's sleeve so intensely, it could've torn.
"Y/n move. Now!" He shouts even louder. A yell that the girl could feel the pain of inside her own throat.

Her tears fall harder. Slowly loosening the grip against Tommy's shirt. His eyes begged her not to leave, not to move from his side; he knew it was pointless, that she had to, but he was scared. Her touch lingered against his skin, fading by the second, as he begins to shake more.

"I warned you! Both of you! To stay the fuck away! How hard could hard could that possibly be!" Dream's voice was more or a growl now as he snapped at them; the teenagers only response to cry.

Y/n links eyes with George, desperately. Trying to break words out of her mouth that forced itself shut. "You said you wouldn't tell him, that you'd keep it a secret. You lied to me George!" Her whole body trembling now, sobbing as she kneels on the ground. She didn't even try to stop the tears, making no effort to wipe them because she knew that wouldn't make them leave completely. She couldn't even look in George's direction, or anyone's for that matter. She didn't know who she was the most upset with. Though, she did believe herself to be high on the list.

"Y-you, you what George?" Keeping the loaded crossbow aimed at Tommy's head. He couldn't believe the words he just heard come out of the young girl's mouth. One's that implied his best friend lied to him, about something as big as this.

George's posture sturdys, "I-I; you weren't meant to find out like this Dream! I didn't mean to!" He shouts, trying to redeem himself. As if he could say anything to mend relationship with his best friend, that he knew would be shattered. Only now, Sapnap's eyes stared daggers at him,  shaking his head in disbelief. George's breathing picks up, his eyebrows furrowing. He knew what to do, what would be morally right. He knew he wouldn't hurt any less, just save a few bridges from being burnt to the ground.

"I didn't tell him y/n! It wasn't me!" His lips pierce. "I promise you."

She had become the little sister he never had, the family he never had. Sure, her brother had as well, but there's was no saving what had already started to burn between them. Saving his conscious with one less person he cared about being upset with him. Even though she would also never see her again after this mess was over and they all returned home; that Dream wouldn't allow it. Though he didn't want her to return home believing he did that to her.

He knew that these two didn't deserve this, that they deserved just the same amount of freedom as any of them did. That's why he stuck his neck out, and he knew that now. He did it all because he cared for her, like a sister. That he wanted her to be the happiest she could; because he actually cared about her.