Who Lies in the End?

Ch 53: 26 "Stay?"

art by: irrttggg (edited by me)

Dream had been pulled away from the fire a while ago. After learning the shortcomings of her potion, Drista bugged him until he helped her work out another formula. They poured over her notes, tweaking the ingredients and their amounts until they were sure they had something that could work.

They would have started crafting a new potion had they not gotten distracted trying to see who could hold their breath the longest. Which turned into a staring contest. Which turned into a battle of rock, paper, scissors... Needless to say, the two blondes had to stop working.

After a fervent battle of pencil jousting, Drista managed to flick Dream's "weapon" out of his hand and across the floor. He sulked as she cheered despite her sleepy expression. By the time Dream retrieved his fallen pencil and returned to Drista, she was already passed out on her messy work table.

He smiled as he set his pencil down and began gathering her scattered notes so they wouldn't be knocked away. After ingredients were tucked away, and journals were closed, he lifted Drista off the chair and carried her to her bed roll.

He had to kick the blanket aside before setting her down. When she was finally tucked in and taken care of, Dream turned to the quiet cave. The other witches had gone to bed, leaving the fire barely brighter than an ember, and nowhere near the roaring flame it use to be. Even Redne was fast asleep in her corner, exhausted from the busy day she had.

Only himself, George, and Puffy were still awake at this late hour. The other two were sat by Puffy's items. While she was digging through her chests, searching for something buried below, George was sat on a pile of pillows, mocha eyes hazy with sleep but focused on an old journal.

Dream recognized the journal as Foolish's. It was one that he had finished years ago and sent to Puffy to tell her just what he had been up to. If he remembered correctly, that journal was a year after they split.

He walked over towards George, "May I join you?" he asked quietly. George glanced up at him, and Dream could immediately see just how tired his partner was. His eyes were barely open and his body was sunken into the blankets. If Dream watched closely, he could see how the journal dipped and swayed with George's consciousness.

George nodded and scooted over to make room for Dream; however, after the blonde got comfy on the pillows, George crawled into his lap and sat between his legs. Dream smiled as his partner leaned his back against his chest and tried to continue reading the journal. Trying was the operative word, because he could barely bring his hands up to hold the leather-backed pages.

Dream chuckled as he took the journal, holding it up for both of them to see, "Why haven't you gone to sleep?"

George sighed as he rested his head back on Dream's shoulder, "I wanted to stay up with you," even his speech with muffled and slurred with a heavy tiredness.

Dream lifted the mask enough to press a kiss to his partner's temple, "You don't have to. I'd rather you be rested for tomorrow. Er- today, I guess."

The comment got a weary chuckle from George, "Your brother is very smart, by the way."

Dream hummed as he flipped through the pages, "He can be. You know, it was actually his notes that helped me find the End."

"I thought you stole knowledge from the Illagers," George yawned.

"I did, but not all their info was correct," Dream began flipping through the journal, looking for a specific page, "The Illagers knew that the portal would need some sort of key or power source, but they had no idea what it was; however, Foolish did," he landed on an image of a roughly sketched Eye of Ender, "Apparently, he found this image in a desert temple and translated the name 'Eye of Ender'. He knew it needed to be crafted, but didn't quite know how.