Good Things Never Last

Chapter 14

"What's going on?"

Tubbo's shaking form pressed up against my side, making me think he was looking for some type of reassurance, as if he wanted me to tell him that everything would be all right. I slowly reached my hand down and intertwined my fingers with his, giving his hand a little squeeze before turning to face the man that led our nation. He took a step back so he could join the line of L'Manburgians as we stared down our opposition. Wilbur was in the middle of the line, while Tommy and I were on opposite ends, trying to keep a safe distance from each other.

"Guys listen, listen. Dream's given us an ultimatum and I want you guys... and girl's to resound with me our answer. He has said that if we do not resend our ownership of this land, he said he'll light that piece of TNT"

I looked over to the masked man as George and Sapnap approached him on either side, coming to a stop right behind Dream's shoulders. The trio of Dream SMP soldiers were coated head to toe in glistening netherite armour. The pair of newcomers both had axes draped over their shoulders while Dream stood with a single piece of TNT held in his left hand, a lit flint and steel securely in his right.

"Now gentlemen and Y/N, I want you all to stand alongside me here. Independence or death. If we get no revolution, then we want nothing. We would rather die than give in to you and join your nation. You can blow up one piece of TNT in our gateway all you want. It means nothing to us"
I shifted my gaze away from the green mad man to face our proud leader. He stood with his hands interlocking with the boys on either side of him, a smug smirk spread over his face. Dream responded with a giggle, clearly smiling beneath his prosthetic mask in reaction to Wilbur's statement.

"Are you sure you want to do this Wilbur? There will be no going back after I light this TNT. It will declare war on both our nations"
Dream had bent over ever so slightly to place the TNT down on the patch of grass he stood on before standing up straight again so his masked eyes could look at us.

"Dream, you declared war the moment you turned one of our men against us. You declared war when you tried to kill us all in the final control room a few days ago. Do you really think we want to bow down to a leader that treats us like that, a leader that won't give us our own freedom? There's a reason we left you Dream, and the reason is you"

I could tell that Wilbur was angry by the fire in his eyes and the tone with which he spoke. But I was also aware that it was exactly what Dream wanted. It was clear that he was dragging out the conversation far longer than it needed to be in an attempt to aggravate us or get some sort of reaction. Or that's what I assumed he was trying to do anyway.

"Okay then, whatever you say, Mr. President"
He used a tone of mockery as he spoke but his voice seemed to fade ever so slightly as he realised Wilbur's expression wasn't going to waver. Not even a second later, he dropped the flint onto the TNT and backed up alongside his two companions. I stood still for a second as I realised what was going on, bracing myself for a sound that would ring in my ears for minutes, but it was a lot louder than I expected.

Wilbur had made sure we'd be outside the blast radius of the single piece of TNT but when I heard a hiss from underneath our feet, I realised we had been tricked. From beneath the grass that formerly covered L'manburg, explosion after an explosion erupted. In an attempt to flee the vast catastrophe unfolding in front of my eyes, I tripped over a nearby tree root, hitting my back on the solid ground as I fell back.

I sat there, frozen in horror, as one explosion after another went off, creeping closer to me with each bang. Rubble soared into the air, barely missing me a couple of times. As I was trying to avoid the debris, I didn't realise the bomb was going off underneath my feet. That was until there was a loud bang. It sent me flying through the air, the buzzing screaming in my ears as I hurtled back to the ground. It rushed toward me, and before I knew it, all the air was knocked out of my lungs and my body was screaming, screaming for me to get up, screaming for me to get help, yet it was too painful to move.

I carefully drew myself up against the Camarvan van's side wall, attempting to keep my balance and stay out of harm's way. I could see deep dark purple splotches all over my exposed flesh when I looked down at the lower half of my body. Every time I tried to take a breath, my chest screamed as if I were being stabbed in the lungs. The cut that was healing from my last deadly encounter with Dream had reopened and was a lot deeper than it was before. The blood was already pooling around me as I looked up, only to be met with nothing but fog.

I could make out two figures in the distance as the smoke dissipated in front of me, standing just at the gates of L'Manburg's ruins. All I could see was a blur of red and another blur of green as my vision started to go all fuzzy as my head pounded like it was going to explode.

I sat peacefully, slowly closing my eyes and attempting to accept the darkness engulfing me before I heard an ear-wrenching scream.