Work Text:
“You try so loud to love me, I cannot seem to hear.” -That Unwanted Animal, The Amazing Devil.
***
George has made some pretty questionable decisions over the course of his life and even he knows his last one was incredibly dumb. In George’s defense, he had forgotten how ill-tempered XD could be and he really really wanted fully enchanted netherite armor to rub it in Foolish’s dumb face. George had been hounding the god for far too long and XD had finally snapped, teleporting him away from Kiniko with nothing but an iron pickaxe and whatever he already had in his inventory.
“Maybe this will teach you to stop being so greedy George.” The god had scolded him, his voice echoing; “ It’s been a while since you’ve mined anything yourself. In fact, why don’t you go and do just that right now? ” was the last snarky remark George heard before XD rudely tossed him here.
‘As if.’ George scoffed to himself, picking himself up from the forest floor along with the ( dumb) iron pick and brushing off any dirt on his worn out clothes and cape.
With a sigh, George swung the pick over his shoulder and resigned himself to a long walk home, having absolutely no intention of mining even a single dirt block. ‘That bastard didn’t even give me any armor! What makes him think I’m going to be out here all day fighting mobs and gathering resources? He’s literally a god! It costs him nothing to give me something to defend myself with.’ George reasons to himself after hearing the faint sound of an enderman in the distance and walking just a little faster, he comes upon a river signaling the end of the forest and looks at his surroundings to figure out where XD might’ve left him.
“What the hell!” George exclaims, unbelieving as he spots the dark looming presence of Pandora. So not only did XD place him as far away from Kiniko as he physically could, he put him in front of this awful place. George groans, knowing he has no other option but to walk the entire way back. He starts heading in the direction of the prison when he spots it out of the corner of his eye.
Shining brightly against the normally gray and yellow hues of his world, is a blue butterfly.
***
When was the last time George had seen one of those? Many years ago. When he and Dream would go see them together in the forest near the community house. It was one of the few bits of precious alone time they had together before their friends inevitably sought them out for one reason or another.
Him and Dream would sit or lay together on the forest floor and watch the butterflies flutter around them. Both of them in awe of how close they got. Well, mostly George.
“Dream, Look!” George would yell excitedly, the butterflies fluttering around him and landing in his hair and attempting to land on face before his shrieks of laughter would shake them off, “They love me!”
Dream would laugh with him and say, “Of course they do.”
The ‘ Because I love you’ would remain unsaid but George could hear it all the same from the way he smiled at him. And the way Dream would kiss him with all his might like nothing else in the world mattered but loving George. In turn, Dream was also his everything, his very reason for being and his only love.
But that was in the past. Present George is looking at a brilliantly blue reminder of how the best moments of his life were long gone.
The constant explosions had destroyed a lot of the fauna and with that, many of the creatures that resided there. Including the hoards of Monarch butterflies that used to thrive near their old house. But now one’s here in front of him. A survivor of the rubble like him.
While George is watching it, the butterfly takes off from the flowers it was perched on and heads deeper into the forest, the opposite direction from where George wants to go. George, feeling like the little bug came to him for a reason, drops his pickaxe in the dirt and begins to follow.
***
It’s almost like the butterfly has a predetermined path from the way it zips through flower beds and around trees. Finally, they reach a small clearing where the trees seem taller and sunlight struggles to shine through the leaves when George notices what appears to be a person in a hooded cloak hunched over on the ground looking down at the ground. He ceases his movements to observe them, crouching down behind a bush so they won’t immediately spot him.
The butterfly continues on its path until it reaches the person on the ground, fluttering in front of them, as if trying its hardest to get their attention. George watches with bated breath as the person slowly lifts their head up to look at it and gasps at what he sees.
It’s Dream’s mask. It’s cracked and dirty almost beyond recognition, but it’s undeniably his. Crudely drawn smiley face and all. ‘That cannot be him’ George thinks, ‘ He’s supposed to be in the prison, with no way for me to see him.’
Unfortunately for George, at the noise he makes, the figure wearing Dream’s mask shoots up and withdraws a shiny netherite axe and puts up their shield, ready for a fight. “Who’s there? Show Yourself!” He shouts towards George’s direction. Dream’s voice.
“Dream?” George asks, standing up slowly with his hands in view to show he’s unarmed, “Is that you?”
“George?” Dream says, immediately letting his axe fall to his side instead of pointing it at George.
“Dream!” George laughs. “You’re here!” He starts making his way over to him slowly, aware of how skilled Dream is with a weapon and how dangerous his instincts could be. “What are you doing in the middle of the woods?” ‘Is this real? It feels real.’ George ponders to himself.
“I escaped.” Dream says, nonchalant as usual, as if it wasn’t an incredible feat. With a groan he plants himself back into his position on the ground, axe and shield by his side, prepared for an unexpected attack still. “Technoblade helped me. He owed me a favor after I saved him from being executed.”
‘ Techno?’ George doesn’t particularly care for him after he took one of his lives as king but the man was actually pretty amicable after his dethronment and strangely doesn’t seem to hold a grudge against George for it at all. Also Techno being the one to help Dream escape made sense considering Dream somehow already had an enchanted netherite axe despite still only having what appears to be leather armor under his hood. “Are you alright?” George asks, concerned, “Why are you on the floor?”
“It’s nothing George,” Dream says, clearly sounding strained, “ I just injured myself when I was escaping, it’s nothing that won’t heal soon on its own.”
“Let me see.” George tells him, crouching in front of Dream and taking in his disheveled appearance.
“What?” Dream looks up at him from his position, unbelieving.
“Let me see.” George reiterates. “I have a healing pot on me. Let me take a look at it.”
When Dream doesn’t respond, George tells him in a voice much softer than before; “Please? I promise I’ll be quick, I just want to be sure it’s not too bad.”
“..Alright.” Dream tells him, hesitant but still moving his body slightly closer to George. Trusting him. With his permission, George kneels beside him and carefully begins to unstrap the leather armor while being sure not to jostle him around too much and hurting him further.
After taking off his cloak and armor, George instinctively taps Dream twice in his side, silently signaling for him to take off his shirt. It was something the two of them came up with long ago after deciding that words were too tedious and tapping was more “efficient” as Dream would say. And, sure enough, just as George is about to apologize for tapping him intuitively, Dream is already removing the large shirt from his body unthinkingly. George wants to tease him for it but as he reveals more and more skin George is shocked at what he sees.
His body is covered in scars, some were clearly healed immediately with regen but others were more jagged and pronounced as if they were left to heal naturally and painfully. Brutal. ‘So this real’ George affirms to himself. There isn’t a single time he would dream this fate up for him and XD isn’t so cruel to do it either. The one injury Dream said wasn’t too bad really not that bad in comparison to the others. George knew Dream had scars, he was a fighter after all, but never this much. And how did this even happen? Dream’s body didn’t look like this before the prison-
“Let me see your face.” George asks, soft but firm, the horrifying realization of why Dream is covered head to toe dawning on him. He puts his hand on his mask, reaching slightly for the strap on the back but not quite undoing it yet as he feels Dream tense up. “Please Dream.”
At his plea, Dream gives him a small nod and George undoes the strap and carefully takes his mask off. It shouldn’t have been surprising after he had seen the state of his body, and yet George is just as astounded when he sees his face in similar condition. The scars litter his face and not just that, he looks sickly and thinner, with deep bags under his eyes and his once curly hair, matted and caked in dirt. He looks dead. Dream’s eyes are looking away from him, purposefully avoiding eye contact. George reaches out and cups his face gently with both hands and makes Dream look at him. He has a haunted look in his eyes that he didn’t have before. It’s clear to him the prison is at fault in one way or another but why? And who ? Dream should’ve been safe. Imprisoned sure, but with plenty of food and even allowed visits. At least that’s what Sapnap told him.
‘But then again, how many times did Sapnap go see him? Once? George thinks. ‘And it was only the beginning of his sentence because Sam said the visitor system was temporarily down and he needed to repair it.’ As far as George knows, it was never repaired. As recently as two weeks ago, he remembers Sapnap loudly complaining to him that it was taking way too long and Sam was being incredibly annoying about it whenever he brought it up. Sapnap was also getting suspicious that the many letters he had sent weren’t being handed over to the recipient because Dream had been eager to communicate with him during his visit.
“Its bullshit!” Sapnap yells, throwing his arms up in frustration and almost knocking down one of George’s plants, “Sam says Dream’s getting all the stuff I send him but he never has a response for me! And one time I show up and ask what Dream thought about my letter and Sam said the same shit he always does, ‘The prisoner got your letter and didn’t have much to say’ but I hadn’t even sent anything that day! I don’t know why Sam’s acting like this but there has to be a reason.” Sapnap sits himself next to George, eyebrows scrunched in frustration,“There must be, right?”
Sapnap expressing his suspicions about Sam left George with a sour taste in his mouth, considering Sam is the one responsible for Dream’s wellbeing, it felt wrong to think there had been any misdeeds. So they left it at that, Sapnap moving on to talking about his usual endeavors and, annoyingly, his favorite topic of a future wedding with his beloved fiancés. George would always feign disinterest, happy for Sapnap but longing for something he also used to have.
“How did this happen Dream?” George asks, voice heavy with sadness and then anger when he remembers Sapnaps doubt, “Was it Sam?”
At the mention of the Warden, Dream flinches slightly, eyes tearing up a little. George waits, giving him time to speak. “Not..not really.” Dream says with a sadness that breaks George’s heart, “But he-he did allow it.”
“Allowed it?” George asks, incredulous, and then he remembers, “Then who? He told us the visitor system was down for months.”
“ Down?” Dream says, laughter in his voice as if the thought was ridiculous, “The system was never down. I had a visitor every single day. And some days he would leave gaps in between each one so I could never predict the next time he would come.” He moves a little with the force of his words and takes a sharp inhale which is when George remembers he planned to use his healing pot on him, too absorbed in what Dream was telling him.
“Hang on, Dream.” He tells him, “Let me put this on you while you talk.” George rubs a little of the potion on his hands and then starts applying it on Dream’s bare chest. Dream stills a bit before relaxing at the feel of George’s hands being so gentle with him. Immediately his wounds look a lot better and George can tell the pain has stopped when Dream gives a sigh of relief. “Feels better?”
“Yeah.” Dream says, voice shaky “So much better George.” and then much quieter, “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” George tells him firmly “I would always help you.” That phrase greatly underestimates the lengths George would go through for him. He fought in a war for him already, however briefly just to be at his side and make it known that no matter what, he would stand with Dream. Even when he was dethroned, he did his best not to get involved in anything that went against Dream, even when Sapnap had fully turned on him and aided in his imprisonment. He thinks Sapnap would go back on his decision if he saw him like this because despite everything, Sapnap was Dream’s brother first and would do whatever he thinks is best for him.
“I know you would.” Dream tells him earnestly, “And all I wanted was for you to be safe. People would’ve done everything in their power to get to you because they knew it would get to me. I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve protected you.”
“Don’t apologize for that either.” George snaps at him for the first time before reeling back at Dream’s sharp recoil. “Sorry.” He muttered, rubbing soothing circles around his chest and continuing on when Dream relaxes again, “You don’t get to decide what’s best for me. I can decide that on my own. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” George leans in, placing his head on his chest and holding him in a loose hug.”I just wish that you had chosen to stay with me too.”
“Quackity.” Dream blurts out suddenly.
“What?” George pulls away from him, perplexed.
“Quackity was the one who tortured me.” Dream clarifies forlornly, a gloomy expression on his face and arms reaching out and wrapping around George, trying to coax him back in his embrace. George doesn’t move, jaw dropped at the news and completely dumbfounded before he snaps his mouth shut because if he thinks about it, Quackity makes the most sense. He knows from Sapnap’s frequent, often one-sided conversations, that Quackity had been distant with them for reasons unknown and that Sapnap was always mentioning his attempts to reach out to him with increasing desperation.
George feels pity for his friend as he’s made aware of how rough Sapnap has it. He couldn’t connect with Quackity and he would speak briefly about Karl forgetting things little by little, his expression worried. With that plus George also losing his touch with reality and sleeping for weeks on occasion, Sapnap must’ve been at his wits end.
“He wanted the revival book.” Dream responds before George could say anything, the confusion written all over his face. “But I wouldn’t tell him anything. I know that that knowledge is the only reason I’m still alive and there was no chance in hell I would ever hand it over to him.” Dream sighs defeated, “Lot of good that did me.”
George is seething. He thinks he could go and tear Quackity to pieces, go blow up the prison with Sam in it while he’s at it. Hell, he could destroy the entire damn server and have them feel a fraction of the pain Dream felt. He wants to- George’s eyes drift to a sudden movement, the butterfly he valiantly followed wings fluttering, getting ready to take off. He wants to go home. He wants a home he can go to. He wants Dream there.
“Run away with me.” George pleads, holding onto Dream’s arms “Let’s go far away from this place and start over.”
“George-“ Dream starts but George cuts him off immediately, “There’s nothing for us here. Neither of us are safe. They’ll never leave you alone if you remain here.”
“What if they come for me? For you? I may not be able to protect you at all times.” Dream argues.
“I’ll keep myself safe.” George reasons. “I’ll keep us both safe.” George takes his hand in his. “We’ll keep each other safe. Like we always should’ve.” George brings Dream’s hands to his lips and presses a soft kiss there. “Please. Choose me this time.”
Dream looks at him, deep in thought. “We can’t leave Sapnap here. We may not be on good terms right now, but he’ll be worried sick if we’re both missing.” It isn’t a no.
“Sapnap needs some time.” George answers. “I’m certain he’ll come around eventually. He has experience tracking us down anyway.”
At that Dream lets out a little chuckle, the first genuine laugh George has heard from him in a long time. “That’s true.” He says. “Sapnap could be very scary.”
At that, George laughs too and suddenly the two of them sitting there giggling like idiots again like they used too. After a while their laughter dies down and Dream suddenly frowns, gripping George’s hands slightly tighter. “Where can we even go? We’ve never gone much further than this.”
“I don’t know.” George responds, honestly, “And I don’t know why but I have a feeling that little one knows where it’s going.” George points in the direction of the butterfly and Dream turns back to look at it, puzzled. As they look, the butterfly flies a little further away from them, as if it was getting impatient. Watching it go fills George with a sense of urgency and he quickly rises to his feet, extending a hand out to Dream.
“Well, are you coming?” He teases, voice light and smiling at him. Dream shoots him a beaming grin in return and takes his hand, letting George pull him up.
“Let's go.” He says excitedly, sounding hopeful. “Wait, one more thing before we go.”
He lets go of George’s hand before picking up his mask and placing it so it stands upright against a tree. It looks like a memorial of sorts. He also hastily puts his shirt and cloak back on and picks up his axe and shield, storing them away for safekeeping. He turns back to George, “It feels fitting to leave it here.”
With that, he takes George’s hand in his again and they both set off behind the butterfly that was leading them further and further away from the place they once called home.
‘We’re going to make it.’ George thinks, giving Dream’s hand a comforting squeeze as gets startled by a sudden noise somewhere in the forest, ‘We’re going to do this together.’ George can’t wait for what lies ahead of him and he’s filled with joy at the thought that Dream will be there to share the experience with him. Maybe Sapnap too, one day.
George almost trips over a wayward log, too busy looking at Dream’s awed expression at every beautiful bit of nature he sees. And as Dream’s laughter at his clumsiness echoes through the trees, George knows he’s made the right choice.
***
XD stands ominously among the trees, watching the two of them walk away from everything they’ve known hand in hand, ready to face it all together. A stunning blue butterfly delicately lands on his shoulder.
‘I did all I could’ He thinks to himself, ‘They have a chance this time’ He can’t cross with them, knows he can’t pass the invisible borders of the Esempee but he wishes them the best all the same. He knows they won’t be alone long anyway, Sapnap will eventually make his way to them as he always does, his loyalty for his family unwavering. He just knows it won’t be merely a few weeks as George secretly hopes, it will more likely be months before their eventual tearful reunion, as Sapnap comes to terms with the fact that the people he loved so deeply aren’t who they appeared to be and seeks them out.
Their journey won’t be an easy one, but he believes they’ll make it through whatever obstacle comes their way. Together.
He takes one final glimpse at their retreating forms, both of them laughing at something one of them said, and turns back in the direction of the Esempee.
He has a nuke to destroy after all.