↚The Pig's Shadow | Dream x Reader | Slowburn ↛

Chapter 40: Fighter, Friend, Traitor, Spy

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There was silence in Pogtopia.

"One," Wilbur counted slowly. "Two." He added two more bolts into his crossbow, which was equipped with Multishot capabilities, his finger tightening around the trigger. "Thr-"

"NO, WAIT!" Tubbo lunged out of the darkness, tumbling to the ground in front of Wilbur, who stepped back in surprise.

Tommy knelt before his friend and helped him up. "Tubbo? What are you doing here? We weren't expecting you tonight."

"Yeah, I know, I just wanted to be away from Schl... att..." Tubbo trailed off slowly as he noticed you standing, surprised, over by Techno. "Y/N? What are you doing here?" you threw up your hands.

"IS EVERYONE CALLING ME THAT NOW? GODDAMNIT. Also, I was about to ask you that question, Tubbo. You are officially part of Schlatt's cabinet. I am not. I am a citizen, apparently, because he twisted the rules on me so now I'm still stuck there, and that's the only reason I'm spying on him for these idiots," you said, waving your hand at Tommy and Wilbur. "Why are you doing it, my friend?"

Tubbo tugged nervously on his tie. "They're my friends, Y/N." He stole a nervous look at Tommy, who was holding his dog and watching the exchange, albeit distractedly. "You of all people should understand loyalty."

You bristled at the comment, but Tubbo hadn't meant it as an insult. Just... an observation, or at least that was what you told yourself. Just because you valued friendships though... that didn't mean you were incapable of betrayal, just as Tubbo was capable of backstabbing someone if he truly wanted to. It was just a mind over matter thing. If you don't mind stabbing your friend, they don't matter. Simple.

Shrugging, you stood, rolling your tight shoulders a few times and trying not to accidentally pull a muscle. "Fine. I suppose I have to stay the night now?" you asked, turning to Wilbur. "Are you going to give me some bullshit on the forest being too dangerous at night?"

Wilbur shrugged. "It's not bullshit. Just don't blame me when the skeletons find you."

You scowled at him but, secretly, you were relieved to have an excuse to stay in Pogtopia. A late return would mean having to wake up Schlatt to report, and then he'd be in a bitchy mood, and then you wouldn't be able to fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning, and then you'd have to spend an entire DAY around Schlatt and Dream and all the other annoying gnats in life.

But the cave felt wrong.

It felt wrong to have cold, lifeless stone above your head instead of swaying trees and ropes of stars. It felt wrong to lie on a cot and not have smooth wooden beams above your head, falling asleep to the sounds of laughter and talking outside your window. There was no life in these walls, no breath of creativity or spark of home. No vanilla smell from dripping candles by a window or the fragrant scent of flowers in full bloom drifted past. Just gunpowder and dust.

The cot was annoyingly hard, no matter how you twisted or lay, and that said a lot, considering you were used to sleeping on a hard, board-like bed in the middle of an uneven forest. Every time you looked up, the lantern, swinging gently, seemed to stab you straight in the eyes with too-bright light. Grabbing a rock, you threw it at the lantern, knocking it to the ground with a smash of glass and iron. The light flickered, then died, leaving you in semi-darkness.

->->->->->O<-<-<-<-<-

Morning light glanced off of rocks and arrowed through the tall trees, illuminating the ravine below. Clouds were drifting in from the east, promising rain in the usual dark, foreboding way.