Free the End

25 [Who's Cutting Onions]

George could only hear his own breathing. He was hyperventilating.

Sapnap put blocks all around him and left. He was sitting in the dark alone, trying to breathe.
Dream was dead. He was gone. He died.

George was sitting with his knees up to his chest with his arms around them and his head down. His chest was tight.

Dream just died. For George.
He only hit the piglins because they were after George. It was directly George's fault that he was dead.

He heard it before he saw it, Sapnap broke the blocks around him and he wasn't alone anymore.
Sapnap pulled him up by the hand. "I got everything, you okay now?"

To George it was a foreign concept.
"Okay?"

"Yes, we're going straight back to the house, or spawn. As far as I'm concerned, he's not dead until we can't find him.
You ready to run? Come on."

Sapnap led him away and George had nothing to do but follow.

He seems unbothered. How can he not care? We just saw him die.
He thinks he respawned.

Dream, please respawn.

They ran away from the fortress, across the bridges between floating netherrack islands, left at the soul sand valley, and through the crimson and blue warped forests. Thank god Dream had left a little trail of breadcrumbs back to the portal. Sapnap followed that, and George didn't have the attention for anything but following Sapnap.

They only stopped to eat.

Finally they reached the portal again. George squeezed his eyes shut as the Nether tilted and he got nauseous.
He stumbled out and was finally greeted by the fresh air of the Overworld.

Sapnap shut the chest with a snap. "We can come back for the other stuff. Let's go to the house, come on!"

"W- wait."
George was panting, doubled over with his hands on his knees.

Sapnap was impatient. He fidgeted.
"Just eat something, let's go."

George sat down and tried to fill his hunger bar.
He looked at Sapnap.
"What if...   What if he's not there?"

"He is- we left a bed! If that didn't work then he's at spawn right next to the house!"

"But-"

"No! Shut up!"

"Sapnap he might've-"

"Shut up!!! He's home. Get up right now or I'm leaving you here."

George pushed himself to his feet.
"Just think about if-"

"You're being stupid, George! We're so close, come on!"

"Wait!" George called. "You're going the wrong way. It's that way-" he pointed.

Sapnap stopped. He looked where George was pointing, then back where he had been going. He did a full circle.
"Are you sure?" he asked George.

George nodded. "The birch is way over there past the field."

"There's birch this way too."

"That's not where we came from. My sense of direction's better than yours."

"Fine." Sapnap started running without another word.

George followed. Their surroundings became more and more familiar until the house was in sight.

George thought Dream would've come out and started back to the Nether by now, back to them. He was afraid.

They ran to the doors and bust through them.