Poplar St. (OFFICIAL WATTPAD UPLOAD)

Waterbearer

"Have I mentioned how much I hate this plan?"

"Yep, and it's getting annoying," Quackity huffed, wincing as the lava in the buckets he was carrying sloshed threateningly and almost spilled all over his shoes.

Ranboo shot him an anxious look. "What if they get hurt?"

"They'll be fine," Quackity grumbled. "Techno's impossible to kill and Tubbo's a durable little fucker."

He carefully stepped over a warped root protruding from the ground, peering down into the canyon at the Dreamons milling about. He could sense the water at the bottom was just deep enough to break their fall when they jumped down, and hopefully Tubbo and Techno wouldn't fuck up the one job they had.

"Hold onto this," he said, passing one of the buckets of lava to Ranboo. "You remember what you're doing, right?"

Ranboo nodded quickly.

Quackity took a deep breath. He hoped all of the Dreamons would fall for the distraction, or at least most of them. If they didn't, they'd be in a world of hurt.

"Should be any second now," he murmured.

There was a beat of silence.

And then, upstream of the ruined city, several dozen fireworks shot up into the air and exploded.

The Dreamons' reactions were almost instantaneous. The frightening pale creatures whirled around to face the sounds, screeching like Endermen and bounding off towards them. The frenzy only got louder when more rockets went off, and to Quackity's delight, most of the creatures had left.

A low rumble passed through the sandy earth.

Quackity took a deep breath and leapt into the canyon.

The few Dreamons still below instantly noticed him, screeching and raising their tails. Quackity jerked his wings close to his body, hoping and praying that one of those spikes wouldn't hit him—

—He hit the water. Of course, it was warm, slimy, and tasted like a soggy soul sand cigarette.

Quackity coughed and choked in disgust, flailing and scrambling through the muck to the shore, and he promptly froze when one of the Dreamons lunged at him, mouth wide open. He yelped and swung his axe and golden blade smashed into the creature's neck, sending a spray of green blood everywhere.

The Dreamon screamed in agony.

"Ranboo now!" Quackity yelled.

With a terrified shriek, Ranboo came tumbling into the canyon with his lava bucket in one hand and his axe in the other, frantically thrashing his wings. Quackity had just enough time to realize that the kid was trying to fly before he hit the ground, rolling and flailing wildly before slamming into an old, crumbling basalt wall.

Quackity swore.

Ranboo picked himself up, wings flared, tail beating wildly and a look of terror in his eyes.

The nearest Dreamons screeched and charged.

"Keep 'em occupied!" Quackity yelled, almost dropping his lava bucket from the heat. "Fuck! I'm gonna get Phil! Fuck fuck fuck!"

Ranboo yelped. "These guys are not happy!"

You think? Quackity thought sarcastically, awkwardly scrabbling up the steep side of the gorge to the blue ice sheet Phil was frozen in. Up close, the man didn't look too good. His face was ashen, and blood oozed down his forehead from the wound Quackity had noticed earlier, causing his damp blond hair to stick to his face.