Pandemonium | Dream SMP

40. You sound like an old man recalling the taste of oatmeal.

There's already a sizeable hole by the time I arrive with Tubbo at the point of demolition. Black dust falls like snow from the wall's parapets, where a few residents have already climbed up and started dismantling the bricks from the top, down. I grab a hold of Tubbo's collar and yank him back just as a large, charcoal-black brick thuds into the grass beside him.

"Well, this is breaking at least fifty health and safety regulations." I muse, eyeing the deconstruction.

Someone walks up to us holding a couple of pickaxes and drops them into our hands. "Time to get to work, lads," he grins widely, his mismatched eyes bright and eager.

"Jack..?" Tubbo whispers, staring after the man with distress as he leaves to hand out more tools.

"Hey, hey. Focus." I say, nudging Tubbo forward.

If I remember right, that was Jack Manifold, one of the founding members of L'Manburg. And also one of the first to join the crowd in supporting Schlatt's presidency, alongside Fundy. It's my first time seeing him in person, though.

"Oy, and what do you think you're doing?" The pickaxe that had only just been given to me is plucked from my hands, and I swivel around to see Schlatt frowning at me.

"Helping dismantle the wall?" I say, an eyebrow raised.

"Hah. Yeah. No. Tub's, take this for me will ya?" The pick is dropped into Tubbo's arms and he almost buckles, now holding two tools.

"You...don't want me helping?" I question, growing more confused by the second.

Schlatt throws an arm over my shoulders and shakes his head. "Ares, Ares, Ares...just how little do you think of me? You really think I'd make you stoop so low that I'd have you cleaning up other people's messes?"

Yes, I think, rolling my eyes.

"You're too skilled for doing this kind of manual labour. I need you out on watch for Dream, or those no-good bastards, Wilbur and Tommy. Let the lesser men clean up." He takes the hand holding my trident and lifts it to his lips, a dark gleam in his eyes as he plants a soft kiss on my knuckles. "The only thing these hands can be dirtied with is blood, not mud."

I narrow my eyes at him and hum lowly, "If that's what you want me to do..."

"Ayy, that's my girl!" He pats my shoulder and then suddenly pulls away, shooing Tubbo towards the wall who up till now had been watching our exchange with bewilderment.

I watch the two males walk away, Tubbo glancing back at me as he's dragged off by Schlatt. I give him an apologetic look before sighing and setting my trident over my shoulders, resting my head back against it. So what? Am I supposed to go on patrol now? That's what Schlatt wants me to do, but in all honesty, I'd much rather be here with everyone else, getting my hands dirty in the group effort of taking down the walls. Is it selfish of me to want to be here?

I catch a flash of green from one of the towers that make up L'Manburg's skyline and immediately feel my pulse spike.

Dream.

I'm off running before I even know it, cutting through the crowd, my eyes turned skyward as I focus intently on the tower in question. It's one of the ones near the border, and from the top provides an excellent view of the country.

Exactly the kind of spot Dream would pick for spying on an enemy nation.

Finding the door at the base of the tower, I enter the structure and almost immediately trip over a chest. The entire ground floor of the tower seems to be acting as a storage place, with chests and barrels stacked haphazardly across the stone floor. Opposite the door, a spiral staircase ascends into the gloom above, and to what I hope is the top floor.