Aether's Legacy | Elysium [Dreamnotfound]

Seattle

The first thing George wanted to do when he regained consciousness was to throw up from the disgusting scent of disinfectant and chemicals stinging the air. The second thing he wanted to do—and what he actually did—was sneeze.

It woke him right up and when he opened his eyes, the light in the room felt like it was burning through his retinas. The heart monitor beside him was beeping at a steady rate. His chest was sore, and every time he breathed in, his lungs felt like they were burning from the inside. The paper-thin white sheets foiled his body but did nothing to ease the cold. His mouth tasted like liquid metal and medicine. He could feel the string of cold liquid surging into his bloodstream through the IV on his wrist and the little pulse contraption that weighed heavy on his finger.

Dream was by his side before he could even attempt to say a word. He was wearing a different shirt, his hair was a mess, and his face was stained with brown marks and a few gashes. He found it weird that they hadn't yet healed despite being so small considering Dream had the fastest healing ability out of all of them.

"You're awake," Dream said. His voice sounded like he was resubmerging after being underwater for a long time.

"What happened?" George's voice was hoarse and barely there when he replied.

Dream raised a glass to his mouth and let him take a small sip. The water was like ice on his throat and esophagus despite being room temperature.

"We crashed. Fucking reckless driver T-boned us."

Looking over his shoulder, George saw an unconscious Sapnap in a hospital gown laying on the bed beside him. His face was bruised, his lip was cracked open with a nasty black mark, and his arms were littered with scratches.

George tried hard to focus on his aura to ensure he was okay, but his mind felt fuzzy and weak and he couldn't quite feel him.

"My powers..."

Dream raised his wrists and showed him the cuffs around them. "Muters."

He had enough strength to raise one hand and realize Dream was right. He turned back to Sapnap and grimaced when he noticed he was wearing them too.

"His powers won't heal him if he has those on."

"I tried telling them, but they said that he would still heal normally, just slower." Dream looked off to the side with a glare that could kill. "They don't want to risk it. They know who we are."

They fell into a dense and bitter silence.

George had expected they would be caught by their own fault—that he would eventually mess up and lose control and the police would catch them. He had even expected that someone would recognize them. The last way he expected for them to be caught was a car crash that was out of their control.

Despite knowing that everything had gone wrong, that they were completely fucked and they hadn't even managed to find Bad, George had barely any energy to dread the consequences. If anything, he just wanted to close his eyes and slip back into unconsciousness, maybe relieve a memory while he was at it and pretend nothing was real too.

"Skeppy's outside talking to the police. Our parents and the headmaster are on their way." Dream's voice was eerily void of emotion. He sounded just as tired as George felt.

"We failed."

Dream rested his hand over George's and rubbed his knuckle with his thumb. It felt weird—being incapable of sensing the warmth radiating from his aura. He hadn't worn power restraints since the day he had moved to AGE, back when he thought telekinesis would be his biggest struggle. Now, the only thing he could feel was the cold air exiting the ventilator on the wall beside him and the raspy sheets on his skin.