𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 | 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣

[ s e q u e l - t w e l v e ]

I ran out of the ship and fell to my knees, clutching my stomach where the shulker had hit me. I had found out that hard way that the shulkers guarding the elytras were much stronger then the average shulker, and my armor was extremely worn down.

I rolled onto my back and stared up at the void, trying to catch my breath as the pain in my stomach started to subside little by little. I had gotten the last elytra I needed, and now I just had to travel thousands of blocks back. Simple, right?

It had felt like almost two weeks since I left Dream and Ranboo, I had no track of time in The End so I couldn't really tell the difference anyways.

I winced as I stood up and started walking opposite to the way I came. I was an idiot, I should've brought a compass. Then I felt like even more of an idiot, because I did have a compass. It was unlikely that it would work in The End, but worth a shot. I pulled the chain out from under my shirt and opened the compass, trying to ignore the engraving on it.

Lost

The spire spun around a few times before landing in a set direction, thankfully it was the same direction I had already been going. I started walking again, the pain of the past nagging at the back of my mind as I clutched the compass.

My whole body hurt by the time I reached the portal, and I could barely see straight. Despite stopping to rest pretty often, the wounds the shulkers left didn't heal. I lazily threw the pearl into the portal and was surrounded by black before I landed on the island, relieved to see the obsidian towers. I stumbled towards the final portal and jumped in without hesitation.

I groaned in pain as I reached the Overworld, the sudden warmth making my stomach lurch and my head pound. I stood up and look around. It was dark, and I was in the spawn box. Not far from the meeting spot. It was worth checking, right?

I rip toed across the field and went down the secret tunnel, stopping outside the room. I heard a couple different voices, one crying.

"She should be back by now. We have to prepare for the worst." Wilbur said, his voice grim. "She probably didn't make it."

Another sob escaped from someone, it sounded like Niki. A few other quiet cries were heard. We're they actually crying over me? Did they actually care?

"I should've gone with her... this is all my fault." I heard Ranboo say.

"Fear not, tis' I." I said, being sarcastic despite the pain racking my body. I was immediately embraced by a pair of strong arms. The green hoodie was unmistakable.

"Holy fuck, don't ever scare me like that again." He breathed. The hug was joined by Tubbo and Niki, who as I guessed, were the ones crying. Ranboo joined as well.

"It wasn't your fault, Ranboo. Dream could've died without you." I said as everyone pulled away from the hug. He smiled sheepishly. We all took our seats back at the table and I cast an awkward glance at Eret. They avoided my gaze, they still hadn't forgiven me. I tore my eyes away as I reached into my inventory, passing out the elytras.

"I say we lay low for a little while, don't let Schlatt see these. Drista, did you destroy the redstone and replace the missing block in the wall?" I asked. She nodded immediately. "Good. Anything else I've missed?" I asked.

"Not really, just Schlatt being an arse." Wilbur muttered in detest. I chuckled.

"Alright, then I guess that concludes the meeting." I clapped my hands together and scanned everyone's faces. For the first time I saw something I hadn't seen in so long. Hope.

I limped away from the meeting spot, still clutching my stomach discreetly. The wound was definitely infected, I would have to see if I had anything to treat it.

I soon found myself awkwardly walking down the gravel roads with Eret as both of our houses were this way.

"Eret, are we... cool?" I asked quietly. He shrugged, kicking a rock.

"Depends on your definition of cool. Sage, I thought after the war we agreed never to betray L'Manberg again." He said, a hint of sadness in his voice which he masked with anger.

"I didn't betray L'Manberg, Eret. I betrayed everyone. This whole thing was never about L'Manberg for me." I said quietly. "And I'm sorry. I miss my brother. Can we at least be on speaking terms again?" I pleaded. He stopped outside his house, sighing loudly.

"Only if you let me treat that." He motioned to my stomach, the corners of his mouth turning up into a smile for the first time in months. "Your terrible at hiding your pain."

You'd be surprised. I thought to myself as I nodded in agreement, following him into the house. I sat down as she grabbed some stuff from the cabinets and sat down next to me.

"It's infected alright. This'll hurt like hell, but it will help." He said. He opened a bottle of dark purple liquid and poured a small amount onto the wound. I cried out in pain, it was worse then the initial hit from the shulker.

dreams pov

I knocked on Erets door, trying to ask if he had any iron.

"Kinda busy!" He yelled. I rolled my eyes, Eret was never busy. I opened the door to see him and Sage sitting at the table, Sage hissing in pain as a purple liquid was poured over her stomach where a wound ripped across her body. Even with a gashing wound, her toned abs stood out. I stood there for a moment in awe before snapping out of my trance and hurrying over.

"Shit, what happened?" I asked.

"Got hit by a shulker." Sage mumbled as Eret stopped pouring the liquid for a second. She seemed to relax for a moment, her breathing heavy before Eret picked the vial back up.

Sage instinctively grabbed my hand, squeezing hard enough to break it and she gritted her teeth. The vial was finally empty and Sage breathed a sigh of relief as Eret started wrapping the bandages.

"It looks better already." Eret said as he tied off the wraps. "Dream, why don't you walk her home just to make sure she doesn't... I dunno, pass out on the way there." Eret said.

"Pass out?" The both of us said in unison.

"That stuff is painful, you won't be getting any sleep tonight. Sometimes you can pass out from the pain." They said non-chalantly.

"Fine." I sighed, helping Sage up with our hands still interlocked. Sage glared at her brother before turning to me as we walked out. Then it hit me. Eret had just set us up.