Receeding Tides (mcyt)

Chapter 12

Dream tore the duct tape from around his mouth and hands. Thank god he'd seen that one hack on Tiktok before the world ended. Of all things, he didn't think fucking Tiktok would prove useful after the end of the world. He took Skeppy's discarded gun as his own and aimed it at Dan, who immediately shoved his own against Badboyhalo's temple.

"Make one move or try anything funny and I'll shoot him too."

Bad laid in Dan's grasp frozen in a numb haze, and he stared mindlessly into space. Almost like he dead. He probably hadn't registered what had happened much less what was happening now.

Dream wasn't the trigger-happy, gun-loving, American stereotype, nor was he an unpredictable Florida man. Guns were a rather small part of his life pre-Waves. Dream didn't want to kill the guy. Spilling another person's blood never sat right in his conscious. But that didn't mean he couldn't if was the only option. Right now it was Dan's life or Bad's. Dream tightened his grip on the handle.

"Let us go," he bargained, "And I'll let you live."

"You'll let me live?" Dan laughed, "I don't care about living anymore. Your little bitch of a friend over there killed the last thing I cared about."

That was the one thing he and Dan almost had in common. While Dan lost everyone he cared about, Dream only gained them back. His sister was waiting for him in America. For the first year or so after the Waves, Dream really only cared for his sister and Sapnap, and he lived each day terrified of the moment they were no longer here. Dream took that anxiety and frustration out on those around him even after he met other surviving friends. Really, it was Tubbo who made him change. And Ranboo and Karl. Suddenly, without Dream's knowledge or consent, the way he saw the world changed.

He was the same angry, ruthless asshole, but Dream stumbled upon a little found family of his own. They were always there through every up and every down no matter what happened. Dream he wasn't sure he wanted a part of that. Few families remained intact after the Heat Wave, and that fraction shrank as the Sea and Ash Waves hit. He didn't  like the idea of repeating that cycle of grief.

The whole time he'd been with Tommy, Dream spoke of not living that much longer. He knew he would never see the United States again, and that was something he knew since the moment he saw the European shoreline. Dream wanted Tommy to accept that fact too. It would hurt less if he accepted it beforehand. But they boy didn't. Spiteful little shit. but then again, how could Dream keep shoving that down someone's throat? How could he do that to the person he felt responsible for?

He didn't yet know it himself, but Dream wanted to live. Things would be ten times easier if he weren't alive, but once again, there was someone counting on him. Someone Dream felt responsible for protecting. He couldn't do much to spite emotional pains or other people's actions, but he could ensure this someone would never doubt him. So long as that person existed, Dream would keep his ass moving, and right now, that someone was Tommy. A child that lost everything to some stupid weather and still wanted to keep going. He wasn't going to leave Tommy by his lonesome again. He promised he wouldn't. Admittedly, he regretted it at first, but he couldn't go back on that just yet. Dream shut his eyes as someone fired a shot.

I'm alive?

When the room returned to silence, Dream opened his eyes to see Bad clutching Dan's gun, and the man lying in a pool of blood under his hip. Sometime during Dream's inner monologue, Bad must have overpowered and stolen Dan's gun.

Tears streamed down his cheeks, and his hands shook, the gun still smoking. Bad's entire body quivered as his body caught up to his mind. Dream caught his friend's arm before he slumped into Dan's pool of blood.