Dreaming of Demons (Dream x oc)

[66] Free the End

 My whole body seized painfully and my scream died in my throat as I found myself staring into a void of stars. My mind swirled and my heart pounded like a hammer against my ribcage. Each shaky breath I took burned through the pins and needles in my throat and down to my lungs. I clutched my chest with a shaky hand. I felt sick.

Someone grabbed my shoulder and Karl's face appeared in my watery vision. He looked severely concerned and it took me a moment to realize he was speaking.

I latched onto his arm, just staring at him. He pulled me up and into a hug, his arms holding me tightly. Safely.

"Are you okay?" I heard him say.

I was hugging him. He was moving. He was breathing. He was alive.

The pain in my chest seemed to wash out, a cascading wave of relief filling its place. I clung to him like he was my life force.

How was he alive? Was this real? Did that mean all the horrible things I had seen just moments before were fake?

I didn't care about the questions suddenly bombarding my mind. I only cared that Karl was alive.

"I thought you were dead." I breathed, my voice choking up and my eyes watering. "I thought you were dead, Karl."

He pulled me back to look at me and I realized the buzz in my head was just the Endermen screaming around me. And I had a headache too. I couldn't tell if that was because of the noise or just because of the fact that my entire body still ached. The metallic taste of blood stung my tongue and the top of my lip felt warm. I lifted a hand to my nose, pulling it back to see blood smeared on my fingers. My nose was bleeding.

"We heard you screaming, Tare." Karl said, still looking at me with a deep line in his brow. "It sounded horrible. We thought Nightmare was killing you somehow."

I wiped at my nose again. My thoughts could barely form coherently. My mind was still a jumbled mess, struggling to pick itself back up. "What?

In the distance behind Karl, a pink crystal exploded at the top of its obsidian pillar, its shatter sounding too loud in my ears.

"Dream and I," he answered.

"Dream?" I turned my head to see Dream fighting with Nightmare, their axes whirling against each other. He was alive too.

But I did not like the idea of Nightmare being close to him. The memory—no, not a memory—the vision Nightmare had put in my head of him holding a crossbow bolt against Dream's head surfaced in my thoughts too clearly. I shut my eyes, releasing a harsh breath and shoving that vision as far away as I could. It wasn't even real, but I knew it could very well be a possibility.

I would not let Nightmare hurt Dream—or anyone else.

My gaze flew to the ground around me. My sword. It wasn't far from me. I bent over to grab it, immediately pushing myself to my feet with some effort.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Karls hand tightened on my arm, stopping me from moving.

"I need to help him."

I glanced around, catching sight of Sapnap's bandana wrapped around his dark hair. George was beside him, shooting arrows from his bow to destroy one of the crystals.

They were alive.

The relief became more dizzying, and I swayed, turning back to Karl.

"Everyone's alive?"

He nodded, watching me with curiosity in his concerned gaze. "Yeah. We're still fighting."

I wiped my nose again and put a hand to my head, squeezing my eyes shut. "Nightmare got in my head." I said, with my eyes still closed. "He—he made me think you guys were dead."