The Raven and The Wolf [discontinued]

Growing Tensions

  "It's been six fucking hours, I have the right to worry now, " Eret said, fiddling with their fingers to try and keep themselves distracted.

  "You do, I'm actually kinda worried now, " Niki responded.

  Though their face still hurt from the self-inflicted wound, the pain had dulled.

  Eret stood up, "I'm going to find him, " Eret proclaimed.

  "Wait, Eret, " Niki stopped them, "That's a bad idea, there's a practical hole in your face, which I'm still mad at you for... I'll go, you stay here."

  Eret wanted to argue but they couldn't, she made a good point. They sighed before nodding.

  Niki smiled, she looked at Tubbo one more time before setting out the door.

She didn't know where to start. The Dream SMP was a big place, and to find one person (no matter how freakishly tall) was a difficult task.

She set off.
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It had been at least three hours since she had left, and yet, Ranboo was still missing.

She realized that it was getting dark, and she couldn't stay out here.

Calling his name again, she knew she had to give up, no matter how much she hated it.

She set back toward L'manburg, dreading telling Eret that their friend was still nowhere to be found.

Niki was quite a ways away from L'manburg so the walk would take a little, enough time to gather her thoughts.

With each step seem to come a new thought. Emotions ricocheted through her head, was Ranboo alright? Will Tubbo be okay? Who was Foolish? And then there was Wilbur... she tried to shake the thoughts from her head but found it difficult.

She finally caught sight of the large buildings that occupied L'manburg.

She took a deep breath before stepping onto the wooden sidewalks.

Niki placed her hand on the doorknob. She slowly turned to open it, peering in.

Niki saw Eret perk up, "Niki, you're back!" they greeted her happily but quickly noticed the somber look on her face.

"I could find him, " she uttered.

Eret's face was overcome by disappointment and sorrow.

  They sighed, muttering something Niki couldn't make out.

  "I'm sorry, " she said lightly.

  "It's not your fault, I'm just stressed and worried."

  Niki walked the rest of the way into the house, "how's Tubbo?"

  "Good, as far as I know at least. He's not dead, that's good, right?" Eret responded.

  Niki laughed lightly, "Right."
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  Eret rubbed their eyes, they barely got any sleep that night.

  Glancing around as their eyes adjusted to the light, they didn't see Niki anywhere, they assumed she had gone home sometime after Eret had fallen asleep.

  But they weren't alone in the room.

  Standing by Tubbo's bedside, his hand on Tubbo's, glancing down sadly at the boy, Ranboo stood.

  Eret leaped up, throwing their arms around Ranboo, hugging the much taller teen tightly.

  Ranboo was startled for a moment, but soon realized it was just Eret.

  "What the hell? You scared me so bad! Don't do that again! What even happened to you?" Eret trailed off noticing the bandages that were wrapped around Ranboo's wrist.

  "What happened?" they put their hand on his wrist.

  He quickly pulled away, "nothing, just... Tripped, " Ranboo said.

  Eret narrowed their eyes, "What happened?" they repeated in a bit more of a firm tone.

  Ranboo looked taken back but repeated his lie, "I tripped, that's all."

  "Can you show me?"

  Ranboo stayed silent.

  "If you had tripped you wouldn't be hesitant to show me," Eret said.

  Ranboo looked off to the side.

  "Please, I'm worried about you, " Eret said.

  Ranboo closed his eyes, moving his wrist, signaling to Eret he would let them remove the bandages.

  "Thank you, " Eret said, unwrapping them.

  Ranboo nodded.

  Under the bandages was a smile with a crown drawn in marker.

Without a single word, Eret snapped around, reaching for the door.

"Eret, I'm sorry!" Ranboo yelled.

"Don't be sorry, this isn't your fault. But... I have something I need to do."

Eret shut the door behind them before Ranboo could speak again to interject.

They had had enough of Dream's shit, and they were about to end it once and for all.
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Purpled heard a knock at his door.

He stood up, wanting over and creaking the door open slightly.

Peering out through the half-opened door Purpled met Eret's warm gaze.

Eret waved, "Hello Purpled." they greeted him.

"Hey, " Purpled eyed them suspiciously.

He sighed, opening the door the full way, walking outside, and shutting the door behind himself.

"I'll get straight to the point, what do you want from me?" he said, leaning against the now-closed door.

"Not a time-waster?"

"Never have been, " Purpled responded.

"Okay, I want to hire you for something, " Eret cut straight to the point.

"I don't usually take jobs from people I'm not close with. You're best getting Punz for this, " Purpled said, turning around and placing his hand on the doorknob.

"I can't get Punz, him and Dream are too close, " Eret explained.

"You expect me to kill Dream?" Purpled turned back around.

"Name your price, " Eret said, determination visible in their face.

"I'm making a powerful enemy if I do that Eret, " Purpled crossed his arms.

"I know that, and that's why I don't expect to pay you a handful of diamonds. Whatever you want, I'm willing to pay."

"Wow, you really want this man dead, don't you?"

"That's an understatement."

Purple laughed slightly.

"Okay, I'll do it."
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Word count-955

I'm sorry, I've been experiencing intense writer's block, that's why this chapter took a while to get out and was short. School stress has been killing me but it's almost summer so I'll hopefully be getting bad to a normal update schedule