Ariadne: a story of the dream smp

Strings

TW: Panic Attacks

It's Alright - Mother Mother

"Times change Lia. People change. You can't feel bad for something that's not your fault." Dream says soothingly.

"But I promised... I promised and now-"

"Lia." Dream's stern voice stops me. I look up from my knees and stop cradling myself. "They promised too. Don't feel bad about it. You chose the right thing." I nod and hold my head in my hands.

"Yeah..." I mumble to myself.

Dream hugs me, "They're not your friends, I am. I'm your only friend. Not Fundy, not Quackity, not even Tubbo." He tells me. I nod into his shoulders and he lets go, happy with my response. "Really, there's nothing to be guilty about. You tried to stick with them but they left you." I stay quiet for a second, thinking.

"They...they did, didn't they? I went with Tommy, and I helped him get almost everything in Logstedshire. And I, I visited here for Tubbo and everyone else but they never came to me. They all left me." I look up to Dream. "They left me." I repeat quietly. He smiles and nods. After Ghostbur started singing 'An Ode to L'Manberg' I got really guilty about promising those things that night and everything began to flood back to me. I started to have a panic attack that Dream brought back to the guest house and talked me through it. My hands just stopped shaking a little bit ago along with my frozen and stiffness.

Dream stands up from the ground and pulls me up. "I'll be back soon." I nod and after one last hug he leaves. I slowly and shakily sit back onto my bed. I take a deep breath and look down at my red hands that begin to shake again. "No, no, no, no, no, no." I focus on controlling my breathing while rubbing my sweaty palms against my bed sheets. A sudden knock on the window causes me to jump with fright. I look to my large window to see Ranboo and Purpled whispering to each other. I take another deep breath before opening the window and letting them in.

"Jesus! Are you ok?" Purpled's rushed voice asks. I nod.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. How did you...how did you uh, know?" I ask them. Ranboo scratches the back of his head.

"I overheard Dream talking to Tubbo about it so I got Purpled and we came here." He says slowly.

"Does um, anyone else know?" I ask quickly.

"Hey, hey, hey. No, just us and Tubbo." Ranboo says comforting. I put my head back in my hands and shake my head.

"I'm sorry I'm just really stressed right now." I say quietly.

"It's ok.." Purpled awkwardly pats my back making me roll my eyes, not that he can see. I love the guys but they are so bad with feelings.

"Is there anything we can get you?" Ranboo asks.

"Strings?" I ask him. He stops fiddling with his gloves and raises an eyebrow.

"Strings?" Purpled repeats.

"Yes, strings. And thread." I look up to them.

"Oh, uh, sure." Ranboo nods. I force a smile to them and watch as they jump out of my window. Once they are out of sight, I stand up from my bed and pull out my bow from under my bed. I look at its gleaming, enchanted wood for a second before pulling out my dirty arrows. I sigh at the sight of my weapons and start to clean off my arrows, making more once they are clean. A knock on my window pulls me from my work and to my friends. They're holding the string and thread I asked for, along with yarn. I open my window again and they climb back in, sitting on the sill.

"We got you yarn 'cause we found it." Purpled tosses it to me. I give them weird looks before sitting back on my bed and finishing with my arrows.

"Why do you need this stuff?" Ranboo asks.

"You'll see." I say quietly.

Flashback:

"Why did you need me to get you this?" Tommy asks as he plays with the string and thread. I shake my head and work on unraveling the yarn.

"You'll see Tommy. You'll see." I say quietly.

He groans, "That's not eno-" I give him the string and gesture to the ground in front of us.

"You need to be able to track where you go." He looks at the string in his hands.

"I know how to get around. I've been doing it since I was a baby." I roll my eyes at his comment.

"Tommy. Do you know how to get around during a war? Do you know how to get to different people?" He stares at me so I roll my eyes again. "Look, the big war is in less than an hour. The place is trashed, and I can't do much but protect L'Manberg. You know that I'm not allowed to hurt anyone unless they come unwelcome here. At the moment, it's Manberg against Pogtopia. Pogtopia are the trespassers. I can't help you, Tommy. Just at least tie this around your belt." I point to the string in his hand and he sighs before tying a bit to his belt and holding the rest.

"Thanks." I nod.

"I'm giving Tubbo some, but I only have enough left for two other people so-"

"You take the other then. Me, you, and Tubbo."

Flashback end:

"So, either I'm going insane or I've been seeing flickers of Techno and Tommy around the bee farm." I start. Ranboo's eyes widen slightly, but he's always surprised so I don't question it. "Soo, if I maybe try to toss some string, Tommy might catch it. Or it might hit him, he has terrible reflexes." I finish.

"Well I- uh, I don't know I-if that's a uh..." Ranboo stutters.

"Hm? If he's a ghost than why would Techno be with him? Like I said, i could just be imagining it but I'd rather not be haunted by my dead brother and my pig brother if that's true. Plus Technoblade never dies." I shrug with a smile.

"I guess you can try it. Concur your demons, right?" Purpled shrugs. I nod and turn back to Ranboo.

"Hm? Me? My opinion? Oh-uh, w-well I think uh, um." I raise my eyebrows and purse my lips.

"Tall people am i right?" I ask Purpled. He furrows his eyebrows.

"No. Your short." I'm 5'5.