Dream didn't bother hiding his smile as he entered the palace this time. The King wasn't on his throne, but at least they had the sense not to let a new hire walk around unsupervised; one of his guards escorted Dream to the small chamber they'd talked in before. Dream recognized it as one for planning and secrecy, where the map would be laid in times of war.
Techno and George arrived swiftly after him.
"You did it then?" George's haste betrayed his anxiety.
"Yep," Dream signed. "And look what I found." He pulled out the silver crown, smug at the thought of his advisor being incapable of tracking it down this time.
George's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Techno went stone still, but inhaled, "How did you get that from him?"
Dream had forgotten that Clay was practically never seen without his crown. "He was in the bath?"
"You didn't," George whispered. He was paler than usual. "That's not really his crown."
"Yes, it is." Dream was confused by their reaction. "I told you I'm good."
Wrong thing to say. Techno started toward him in a rage. Dream skittered backwards, signing, "Whoa, whoa, what? What?"
"What are you playing at?" Techno roared.
"Stop," George said softly. Techno turned to him but pointed at Dream.
"I told you you shouldn't have trusted him!"
George sat down and put a hand on his temple, staring at the crown like it shouldn't exist. "I said get something unimportant. What were you thinking, Dream?"
His voice was still so soft. Dream looked from him to Techno. "I don't get it, it's just a joke."
"A joke?! This could mean war!" Techno slammed a fist on the table, gritting his teeth when George winced. "You stole the crown from a future monarch! A prince whose father will take any opportunity to attack us! A joke. I can't believe this."
Dream flushed with shame under the mask. He hadn't thought of it that way. Of course these two had no way of knowing that no one in Duresh would be curious about the crown for at least a few weeks, and only if Clay appeared at the winter palace without it.
"I'm sorry," he signed, unable to say anything else. There was really no harm done. "I'm sure it'll be fine."
Techno scoffed. "How could anyone be so foolish?"
George covered his face. "Take it back, now."
"It's likely too late," Techno said. "We should prepare for the worst."
Dream hated himself for making George feel this bad. He wished he could reassure him with the truth, place a hand on his shoulder. Instead he picked up the crown.
"I return it as fast as I can, then when I get back-"
"No. Don't... don't come back." George sighed. "Just go."
"Don't let him leave with it," Techno urged. "He caused this mess."
"He got in once, he can do it again. He might be the only one who can fix it." George sounded broken.
Dream looked at the crown in his hands.
"Well?" Techno was glaring at him. "What are you still doing here?"
Dream glanced at George one last time, then he left for good. He rode Spirit in tears, losing the feel of them as they ran over his mask. The image of George at that table, heartbroken and already weary at the thought of war in his kingdom. He was too young to have all that on his shoulders, and Dream had just gone and made it worse.
He dismounted at his nearest safehouse and tore off the mask. He wanted to smash the crown, tear off its leaves and grind them to dust, but that wouldn't help anything. He set it down and buried his face in a pillow.
A new, bright thing, and he'd already fucked it up.
Don't come back.
Finally he fell into an exhausted sleep. The next morning's sunshine didn't brighten his mood. He took Spirit for some proper food and water. The horse nuzzled him lovingly.
"Thanks, girl," he said sadly. He walked alongside his horse down the road until he was tired, then climbed on its back to creep along at a slow pace. It didn't matter.
He hid himself on a high ledge of the summer castle, leaning on the railing and watching shadows of clouds slink over the ocean. Salty wind blew his hair into a mess and chilled him.
A6d found him nonetheless. "Mind telling me why you sent a letter directly to the Caelur Ki-" he saw Dream's face- "what's wrong? Clay, what happened?"
Dream shut his eyes and leaned into him, letting out a sob.
"Oh, hey, it's alright." A6d immediately wrapped him in a hug and rubbed his hair soothingly. "Whatever it is, kid, it'll be alright. We can figure it out. Why don't we go in for some warm tea, yes? You're so cold, lamb."
Dream nodded against his chest, aching from the names his mother used to call him. She teased him as a child for climbing everything. A6d was the only one who spoke to him that way now, and it was a piece of the sweet past that Dream desperately needed.
They took tea in the smallest library, Dream's favourite. The tea, fire, and blankets warmed him up gradually.
A6d sat in a nearby chair. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Dream sighed, feeling tears well up again. "He hates me now."
And he told a6d everything, about being Dream the Green Thief, about being caught and given a job, about stealing the crown, and about George's terrible reaction.
"And now he hates me. I can probably never go to Cathens again."
"Awww, lamb, I'm sure he doesn't. You just made a mistake, and like you said, there's no real harm done. To be frank, I'm relieved you have the crown, I was going mad searching for it."
Dream sniffed. "Yeah."
A6d's eyes were sympathetic. "Once a little time passes, they'll relax. I had no idea they were so concerned about a war, though I suppose it makes sense... But we have the crown and no one's the wiser, so you haven't made lasting harm, lamb. Don't fret."
"But G- King George thinks I'm a fool who's caused him trouble, and Technoblade definitely doesn't trust me."
"Why do you care what they think?" A6d asked gently.
"I- I like it there. They're calmer, but still ready, but they barely have security and King George walks next to open windows all the time, he has all this trust. It's probably going to get him killed unless someone teaches him how dangerous the world is, but he's still strong, and you can tell he was raised to be a good king, and he doesn't yell or get mad, and he's my age, but he's a king... so he knows what it's like."
Dream stared at the carpet, regretting for the hundredth time how he'd ruined his chances to befriend someone who could've actually understood.
RIP well I guess there's not much more story to tell since he's never seeing George again ;) // 1153 words
YOU ARE READING
King and Lionheart [Dreamnotfound AU]
FanfictionKind of Merlin-based AU where George is a young king and Dream is a little magic thief and there are shenanigans. Also contains the muffin squad and sleepy bois. I need a cover!! If anyone has royalty dnf art or any like basic Dream being King Georg...