the hunt (dreamnotfound)

Chapter 19

Skeppy paced the living room nervously, occasionally glancing up at the window to watch the two twin boys sparring outside. His pacing was interrupted when a splitting headache hit his head, causing him to cry out as he heard Wilbur's voice say, "Skeppy! We've been caught! The king had more guards with him than we expected. I need you to-" But the spell cut out, cutting off the rest of his words as the headache subsided, leaving Skeppy on the living room floor trying to recollect himself. Once the shock wore off, then the significance of Wilbur's words hit him. The guards had caught them. They weren't coming back. Shit! Skeppy quickly bolted to the front door opening it violently before yelling, "Boys! Inside! now!" The twin boys exchanged a glance before quickly running inside, not questioning Skeppy's urgency. 

Once they were inside, Tommy said, "What the fuck is going on?"

Skeppy locked the door and closed the curtains before saying quietly, "Sit on the couch, and I'll explain. They did so without complaint as Skeppy took a deep breath, calming himself before saying, "The king captured the others-"

"WHAT!?" Tommy and Tubbo both said at the same time.

"Quiet!" Skeppy hissed, peaking outside, "I'm not sure if they know where we are," He closed the curtain again before saying, "Listen. Wilbur just contacted me saying that the king had too many guards and overpowered them." He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Now, I've already prepared a backup plan just in case, but it will take a few days. In the meantime, you two will be staying with a friend of mine-"

"Fuck no! I want to help. I'm not a fucking child!" Tommy retorted, standing up,

"I know you're not, but you and Tubbo both mean a lot to Techno and Wilbur. If you two were to be injured or killed, I can't imagine that either one of them will be happy about it," Skeppy said, taking a small step back from the angry teen.

Tommy sat back down on the sofa, muttering to himself. Tubbo rubbed his arm to calm him down. Skepppy took a deep breath saying, "Ok, I have a few letters to send today before nightfall. In the meantime, I need the two of you to stay in the house, ok. I don't want anything to happen to you."

The twin teens nodded as Skeppy headed to the back, writing two letters and addressing them before heading to the two messenger birds in the back, whispering the names to them before releasing them to deliver the letters.

A few hours later, the three of them were sitting anxiously in the living room when there was a knock at the front door. Skeppy immediately jumped up from the couch, saying, "Behind the couch quick. I'm pretty sure I know who it is, but you two should hide."

The two teenagers quickly jumped behind the couch, and Skeppy opened the door revealing a man wearing sunglasses and a gold gas mask that matched his gold-trimmed netherite armor perfectly. Once the door opened, the significantly larger man engulfed Skeppy in a hug saying, "Skeppy! it's been too long!" 

Skeppy embraced the larger man saying, "Sam! How have you been?"

"Good, good," The two of them broke apart as Skeppy led Sam over to the couch. Sam sat on the sofa, saying, "So why did you need me so urgently? I got your letter and came over as soon as I could."

Skeppy took a deep breath before saying, "The short answer is I need you to babysit two of my younger friends while I go start a war."

Sam laughed at that, but once he realized that Skeppy wasn't joking, he said, "What is that even supposed to mean? I get the whole 'babysitting' thing, but starting a war? Come on, man, how are you going to do that when you're scared of your own shadow most of the time." Sam said disbelievingly.

Skeppy scoffed, glaring at the older knight as he sat next to Sam, saying, "First off, I am not scared of my own shadow. Second, let me introduce the two I need you to watch, Tommy, Tubbo; you can come on out now." the two mentioned teenagers slowly came out from behind the couch.

 Sam's eyes widened in surprise, "When you said I had to babysit, I expected the kids to be... ten or something, not teenagers. Can't they take care of themselves while you 'start a war'?"

Skeppy motioned for the two teenagers to sit, which they did, sitting on a nearby loveseat and huddling close to each other. "Yes, I just need you to make sure they don't get into trouble."

"They're trouble makers then, hmm?" Sam said playfully,

Skeppy laughed as the two teenagers glared at them, saying, "To a point, yes, but that's not why I need you to watch them. Let me explain," Then Skeppy told Sam all that had happened to them, explaining how the king initially took Bad and George to get him and Dream to cooperate up to the message he had received from Wilbur a few hours ago. Tommy and Tubbo cut in when needed. Explaining the beginning of their original capture. Skeppy finished by saying, "And now I'm going to cash in a favor with an old friend to try and break them out. That's how I'm going to 'start a war' to do that though I need you to watch these two just in case Schlatt tries to do anything to them."

Sam was silent after he finished telling the tale, and they sat in awkward silence for the longest time before he said, "Sooo. You're criminals?"

"Technically? I guess we are." Skeppy said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck,

Sam nodded, saying, "And if I agree to do this wouldn't that make me a criminal too; since I'd be harboring two criminals, and that's a criminal offense." 

Skeppy glanced at him, suddenly unsure about telling Sam about what happened; Sam was a knight, and it was his duty to tell the king if he knew anything about this kind of stuff. However, Sam didn't let him respond as he continued, "you are aware that as a royal knight and the head of the prison guard, it's my job to report your location to the king, right?" Skeppy's mind started to panic at his words as he glanced at the two teenagers sitting across from them, noticing that Tommy now had his hand on his sword and had pushed Tubbo behind him. Sam smiled mischievously, saying, "However, luckily for you, I'm off duty for the next month and a half for vacation time." 

Skeppy released a tense breath saying, "Thank goodness! you scared the shit out of me, Sam!"

Sam laughed as he said, "Consider it revenge for leaving me for a year and a half."

Skeppy chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck as he said, "Yeah, sorry about that. But, if we manage to get out of this alive, I promise to visit you way more often."

"Don't sweat it, man. It sounds like you've been rather busy. Now, regarding watching these two. I'll gladly do it as long as you promise me you'll come back." Sam said, looking over his sunglasses at the shorter man.

Skeppy shrunk under his gaze before saying, "Well, I can't promise that, but I can promise that someone will come and get them within the month. So whether it's me or someone else, you won't get stuck with these two forever, that I can promise."

"Don't worry about that, Skeppy. All I want you worried about is coming back alive." Sam said, placing a hand on his shoulder; Skeppy smiled gently, nodding. Sam stood up, motioning to the two teenagers. He said, "In that case, you two should go pack your stuff. I'd plan for about a month. Then, once you finish, bring your stuff down here, and we'll head back to my place." The twins glanced at Skeppy, who motioned for them to follow the short order, which they then quickly did, coming back down the stairs within five minutes. "That was quick," Sam remarked.

"We didn't have much, to begin with, and we didn't bring much over here," Tommy said, shrugging his bag over his shoulder as Tubbo did the same. 

"That makes it easier to move around, doesn't  it?" Sam muttered before motioning toward the door, saying, "well, if you've finished, we better get going.

"Thanks again, Sam. I swear I'll repay this," Skeppy said, following them out the door but staying behind in the doorway.

"Seriously, Skeppy, don't worry about it. All I want you worrying about is rescuing your boyfriend and staying alive."

Skeppy smiled at that before waving bye as they walked off into the forest Tubbo glanced back at him once more before disappearing into the woods.

The minute they were out of sight, the smile on Skeppy's face fell as he said, "right, that's taken care of. Now we wait for a response from Eret."