E-404 | Dreamnotfound

Chapter Twenty One

George opened his tired eyes and was met with a wooden ceiling. It felt as though he was sleeping forever, but on the contrary, he also wanted to fall back to sleep without the worry of the present events.

His mind still half-asleep he couldn't exactly register his surroundings and he had temporarily forgotten about what happened only a day or two prior. His body still felt heavy, but when he reached to move his hand, he had enough strength to adjust his fingers. He slowly reached into the air and watched the motions of his hand as it swayed in what seemed to be the morning light.

Despite his former inability to move, he noticed his entire body was slightly shaking and it reminded him of a past time in which he'd been dehydrated, had a headache, and was nauseous to the point he couldn't stop his fragile shaking.

It was weird. He could remember certain memories without harm. And yet, when it came to parts that would shed any important information about his past or how he got where he is now, the pain seemed to only grow. Why was that?

His loose thoughts were stopped as he heard a faint laugh from a separate room. Mustering up the strength to sit up, he groggily watched as Karl watched into the room with someone else accompanying him.

"Karl?"

His voice sounded considerably strained.

Karl, realizing that George was awake and well, ran towards him and encased him in a hug.

"George!"

The brunette carefully raised his arm to return the action as Karl did the same, slowly rubbing his back for affirmation. The stranger sat on the nearby couch and watched with curious eyes.

"Who are they?"

Karl pulled away, "Oh, that's Foolish. He's letting us stay here until the two of you are recovered."

"Hi," he gave a warming smile.

George reciprocated with a positive glance before he turned his attention back to Karl.

"What happened?"

"What?" George asked.

"In the nether with Dream?" Karl was confused.

George took a second to remember as the others looked at him blankly. What happened felt like a dream: he knew it happened and could easily piece together the border, but it was hard to complete the middle of the puzzle and the smaller events that happened.

"Do you not remember?"

"No, I do, well some of it, I can't explain how it feels."

"You're shaking," Foolish entered, "Let me get you something to drink."

As he tried to regain everything, he was offered some water.

"We needed to get a Bane's eye according to Technoblade and that led to battle. We'd experienced the monster first when we all split up and then we fought it," he swallowed uneasily, "We knew it was strong, but it was stronger than we thought."

"Then what happened?" Karl was visibly concerned.

"There were no indicated weaknesses and we had to fight it, so I shot near the monster in order to get a better view. Then out of nowhere I couldn't feel my own body. I was laying on the ground and I couldn't move. Dream yell seemed a hundred times louder when he ran over to me. It was as if my lack of touch or feeling amplified all of my other senses. I don't know what happened to Dream after that moment until I saw him-" George cut himself off, slowly he reached to cover his mouth as he drew a shaky breath in, "Oh god. I-is Dream okay?"

Karl gave a reassuring face as he gently placed his hands upon the other's shoulders, "Don't worry. He's okay and recovering thanks to Foolish. Can you continue with the story and we'll see Dream later."

"Okay," he sighed, "I heard Dream scream and I-I had to do something. I gathered any strength that I possibly had and sat up, grabbing my bow. Then Dream threw TNT when the monster was distracted by a ghast. After I saw how it reacted to the ghast's fireball, I realized that was its weakness. When it exploded, I did all that I could to stop Dream's bleeding and ask for help before I collapsed."

"You were paralyzed," Foolish diagnosed the brunette, "And you'll probably be suffering from it for a while. In truth, your muscles may never recover to what they were before, especially with the strain you went through to help Dream."

George wouldn't really believe what he was hearing and yet, he didn't need any further evidence of it. He was still struggling with it.

"But, don't get too down. I'm sure with enough physical training and the correct amount of time spent recovering, you'll be able to retain your strength. And you're alive, that's more than you could even as for," Foolish encouraged.

"How long was I out?"

"It's been about three days," Karl answered.

"Three days? How is Dream?" George questioned.

"He's stirred a bit. The longest he's been up to is around an hour to talk for a bit before he falls back asleep," Foolish answered.

"Can I see him?"

"Yeah. He's in the back room. We moved the two of you after we realized it may be a while until either would fully wake up."

George, now fully conscious, observed his location. He was lying in a corner bed with sheets surrounding him. There was the couch in which Foolish was sitting on positioned to the right as well as a window that sat above it. For final details, there was a dark blue fuzzy carpet sprawled upon the ground.

"Can you walk?" Karl asked.

George gently positioned his legs to the end of the bed. Using the wall for support, he attempted to stand up. He could feel the way his muscles tensed under the harsh action but he was temporarily able to stay upright.

Karl caught what George needed before he even asked, positioning his arm around the brunette for support. He could sense the struggle of the other and in a way, he felt guilty for not being able to protect the two wounded.

"Is this better?"

"Yeah."

With Karl's support, as well as the passing walls George leaned on for more support, the two made their way to the room in which Dream rested. Foolish was trailing further behind. When they were in front of the door, George could make out a muffled conversation.

"Are you ready?" Karl asked.

A nod was given, and the signal gave way to an opened door.