Hidden Wings [A DreamSMP Hybrid AU]

{Chapter 2}

[Dream POV]

~Slight blood/gore~

Despite setting off around dawn, it wasn't until dusk that we got back to the main area of the SMP. George had got progressively worse throughout the day, until he was sweating and shivering, his eyes wandering blindly beneath his clout goggles. I wasn't in much better shape, the bite on my arm throbbed with every movement, and I was sweating heavily under my armour, though I couldn't tell if it was from the bite or the exertion. I sighed with relief as the spawn area came into view, if anyone could help George it would be Karl, a wolf hybrid, and Sapnap had asked me to go to Kinoko anyway.

I stumbled through the undergrowth, vision swimming and legs shaking. Finally, I reached Kinoko, staggering to the door of a building and knocking a few times. I vaguely noticed the door open, and then I passed out.

-~-~-~-

When I awoke, there was sunlight streaming through the windows of a place I didn't recognise. Then I remembered, George. I swung my legs over the bed, ignoring the dizzying sense of vertigo as I did so, and stood up. The effort made me light-headed, but I needed to see George. I needed to know he was okay.

"Hey hey, what are you doing up?" I heard a voice from the doorway. I turned to see Sapnap, a tray of food in his hands.
"I- I wanted to see George." I said uncertainly. I had never really been to Kinoko Kingdom before, and to turn up in such an unexpected way... Sapnap frowned and walked over to me, pushing me back onto the bed. "He's not in good shape, but-" Sapnap started

"WHAT?!" I shouted, "I need to see him, please, let me see him," I begged. Sapnap gave me a look that could only be described as sarcastic. "But as I was saying, he's fine. Karl's with him at the moment, he's a bit beaten up, but some water and sunshine will do him the world of good." I relaxed back into the bed at those words. I had forgotten that George got weaker at night, only by a little bit, but enough to impact him in a fight.

I flipped my legs back up onto the bed, sliding under the covers when I spotted my mask on the table beside me. I cast a fearful glance at Sapnap. He was the only one who knew, so I was fine taking my mask off in his presence, but if anyone else had come in while I was asleep, they would've seen my horns, scales, and short fangs.

"It's okay," Sapnap reassured me, "I made sure no-one came in while your mask was off." I sighed in relief and picked the item in question up from the table, placing it against my face and sliding the strap over my head. I knew I'd have to take it off to eat, I never ate in another's presence usually, but I needed the reassurance.

"I wasn't sure when you'd wake up, but I brought you some food anyway, you look like you need it," Sapnap said. I nodded; my expression covered by the smile on my mask. "Thanks," I said. Sapnap placed the tray on the table and turned to leave, but as he did, I grabbed his wrist. "Do you think-" I coughed and started again "Do you think I could see George after I've eaten?" I asked tentatively. My childhood friend chuckled, "Okay then, if you're that determined," I grinned and pushed my mask up, exposing the lower half of my face. I grabbed the bowl off the tray and began eating with gusto, causing Sapnap to laugh.

Within minutes, I was done, turning to Sapnap with a hopeful look on my face as I nudged the mask back into place. "Okie-dokie then," he said with another chuckle, "But I have to warn you," His face turned serious, "You might not like what you see," I nodded sombrely and stood up, noticing vaguely that my weapons and armour were gone. As if sensing my thoughts, Sapnap pointed to a chest at the foot of the bed. "Your stuff is in there, but we'd appreciate it if you didn't wear your armour in the kingdom, Big Q's threatening to blow it up, and it's better not to take chances." He said. I nodded again and quickly emptied the chest, ensuring my armour went in my inventory, not anywhere else.

When I was done sorting my inventory, I turned to Sapnap, and he led me out.

-~-~-~-

We arrived after a few minutes. Sapnap pushed open the spruce door, entering the room. I followed him in.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it probably wasn't my friend, bandaged and bloodied, lying motionless on the bed, and Karl padding around with armfuls of potions and healing items.

There were numerous bandages adorning George's body, the most notable ones being the one on his thigh, stained brown with dry blood, tinted green from the zombie poison that was working its way out of his system. But even that wasn't the worst. A flat expanse of white covered his stomach, broken only by the large red stain in the centre. A metal tray sat on the bedside table, much like the one back in my room, a bloody arrow placed atop it in a puddle of fluid.

My knees suddenly felt like jelly, and I collapsed to the floor, one hand reaching out towards my best friend as if I were a drowning man, and he a life-ring, just out of reach. I became aware of Sapnap and Karl talking, though I didn't fully comprehend the words they spoke.

"Maybe I shouldn't have brought him," "I'm not surprised he's on the floor, George certainly is in a bit of a state, what happened anyway?" "I don't really know, the message was a bit tangled to say the least," I heard the tell-tale ping of the game chat being pulled up as Sapnap showed Karl the message.

The next thing I knew, Sapnap was next to me, pulling me to my feet and leading me towards the door. I murmured a brief retort, but he quickly shushed me and led me out of the room towards my room. He pushed me onto the bed, sitting down next to me. I stared straight ahead blankly. I wanted to stay with George. I wanted to keep protecting him. I turned to look at Sapnap monotonously. He looked back at me.

"Dream." He said, "I need to know what happened." I stared at my legs, clasping my hands in my lap. I noticed that my nails had elongated and sharpened so they resembled claws. "We were out picking flowers. Around dusk George found a flower field and started reverting. We got attacked by mobs, I protected him. That's all there is to know." I said bluntly. Sapnap watched me intently as I spoke until I began to feel uncomfortable.

"How did you protect him?" The ghast asked. I looked back at my hands, avoiding his gaze. "Dream."

"Fine!" I shouted, "I teleported to him and fireballed the mobs!" I noticed detachedly that I was basically shouting my biggest secret for all to hear, but it strangely didn't bother me. Sapnap sighed, his smoky blaze rods sagging in defeat.

"I had a feeling." Was all he said. I went to argue, but he shushed me again. "You should rest, you're probably tired out after carrying George all that way and using your hybrid powers." I didn't say anything, preferring to glower at him past my mask as he got up and walked to the door.

The door swung shut behind him and I sighed. Sapnap was right, I was tired out. I settled back against the pillow, moving my axe a little from its slot on my belt and abandoning myself to the dark abyss of sleep.

(1328 words)

A/N

Uhh...

Hi :D

Sorry this a day late

I kinda forgot yesterday 😅

But hey, we here now, so yeah, I think I already said but I'll say again, updates gonna be on Mondays (hopefully). So if I forget to update, do feel free to drop an angry comment 😅

And just so you guys know, I see all the comments, follows, and reading list adds, and honestly-

Ok scratch that I just looked at the reads and wtf how did we get 80 views in like a couple of weeks I think it's fair to say I am shooketh.

And like, holy hell, the ranks keep changing as well, we got #312 in 'tommyinnit' out of 21.4K stories (like wat the hell and ik he not in the story yet but bear with XD), and then #12 in 'hybridau' out of 227 stories, and finally #70 in originssmp out of 81 stories (not so impressive it must be said, but hey)

ANYWHO sorry for the late update and long A/N have a good week and take care of yaselves!

-Tak