The Devil's Puppet

≪•◦Chapter 4.3❈Woods◦•≫

Dream sighed as he bounced his leg, sitting anxiously on the couch. He had texted everyone he knew. Well, at least the people who knew about him. Since Punz was still in the hospital, trying to recover from his attack as quickly as he could, Dream decided to send someone to watch over him. A precaution he wanted to take in case Stanely decided to pay him another visit. When he asked the group of people he pulled together, Callahan was the first to volunteer.

While Callahan stayed in the hospital with Punz, Dream, and George would set out to search for the Brit's parents with the help of familiar faces. The blonde and the Brit were both at Dream's house, waiting for everyone. Dream's parents had asked what they were doing, and he had to come up with a lie on the spot. If he had mentioned that George's parents were missing, the Takens would've immediately asked the government to help, which would've been a problem.

After finding a military gun hidden underneath the dirt in George's backyard, Dream knew that Stanely had something to do with the Davidsons' disappearance. If he were to find out that they knew that, although it wasn't much, more shit would've been piled onto their shoulders. Dream couldn't let it continue.

Knock! Knock!

George quickly got up, almost scaring Dream. Almost. "Who is it?" the blonde asked.

"It's everyone," he responded, but plainly.

Dream sighed as he stood up, dusting his pants off. George opened the door, stepping aside, "Hey, guys."

"Hey!" Bad exclaimed, walking into the house as he dragged Skeppy by the hand. Niki and Puffy were behind them, smiling and waving at the two teens. Quackity reluctantly walked in, Karl being behind him. Quackity didn't want to join another possible "suicide" mission. After what happened to Sapnap, he couldn't put himself up to another. He often blamed himself for simply standing there, unable to do anything to protect the boy. Karl and the rest convinced him to join, telling him Sapnap would want him to since they were talking about George.

The only reason Quackity said yes was because Karl agreed to follow. "I can't believe I'm doing this again..." Quackity sighed, huffing as he dropped onto the couch. Karl shook his head as he followed, sitting beside the raven.

Dream took a deep breath as he crossed his arms, turning to look at George who remained next to the front door. "So..." the blonde began, wondering if the Brit would take the lead. After George side-eyed him, he decided to speak instead. "We know why we're all here, right?" he asked.

Everyone stared, nodding.

"To look to George's parents, right?" Skeppy asked.

Dream nodded, "Yeah. We needed all the help we could get. To cover more ground while we're searching."

"Why should we help you?" Quackity asked. "You're the reason I went through hell."

Dream fell silent. Niki sighed, "What he's trying to say is... how can we trust you?"

"Because I trust him. So did Sapnap," George said. Everyone turned to look at the Brit, listening carefully. "Dream has his reasons for doing what he does. He doesn't have to tell you if he doesn't want to, so don't bother asking. If you didn't trust him even slightly, none of you would be sitting in his house right now, would you?"

The blonde smiled slightly, letting his head hang low.

"George is right," Bad said.

Puffy nodded, "I remember the way you looked at Sapnap the night he got taken. You were trying to get him to leave."

"I knew General Stanely was going to show up. I wanted to get all of you out of there," Dream said. "But Sapnap was his usual, stubborn self. Even if I tried to force him out, he would've ended up in the same situation he's in right now."

"Where is he anyway?" Karl asked.

George shrugged, "We don't know."

"What about Sam?" Skeppy asked.

"We don't know," Dream said.

"What about Abigail? I heard she went missing, too," Puffy mentioned, leaning against the couch. Dream sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "We don't know. Stanely took them somewhere else--I wasn't made aware of it when I started working for him."

Niki frowned, "Where are we going to search? There are so many possible locations in which they could be."

Dream nodded, "We're looking through the forests. Stanely is too predictable for his sake. We'll find them in one of the forests around here."

"Which one are we searching for first?"

"The one near George's place," Dream said.

"So the one Sapnap was taken from?" Quackity asked.

Dream nodded. George sighed as he opened the door, "The longer we sit here and ask questions, the less time we'll have to search those forests. Police are starting to do 'night watch' on them."

Everyone got up, following the Brit out of the house. Dream took a deep breath as he grabbed his car keys, getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What the hell..?" he whispered.

--   --   --   --   --

"Do you think they're alive?" George asked, walking beside Dream through one of the forests on their lists. Everyone had talked during the car ride to the first forest, deciding to separate and meet at a certain time. Dream sighed as he looked at the Brit, "Yeah, I hope they are."

"What's your gut telling you?" George asked.

"What is yours telling you?" Dream shot back.

The Brit shrugged, "That they're gone."

Dream frowned, wrapping his arm around the other's shoulder. "It'll be okay. We'll find them."

George slowly nodded, moving his flashlight around. He sighed as he looked between the trees, deciding to stop. Dream stared, watching as the Brit grew closer. "I think there's something buried there. Could you check?"

Dream nodded, pushing the Brit onto the path, away from what he saw. The blonde sighed as he walked between the trees, setting his flashlight down. "Stay there but look around. If you hear anyone, tell me," he said.

"Okay," George sighed, flashing the light in the opposite direction.

The blonde rolled his sleeves to his elbows, grabbing piles of dirt and throwing it to the side. He huffed as he tried to get bigger piles. His brows furrowed as he squinted, seeing something shimmer underneath the moonlight that seeped through the treetops. Dream grabbed his flashlight, shining it down into the mini hole he made. He gasped, "Oh my--"

George turned to look at him, but he couldn't see anything. The blonde's body covered the sight. "What is it?" he asked, flashing his light further down the path. Dream took a big gulp, "Uh... just a dead animal. It's pretty gory."

The Brit groaned, "Ugh... you shouldn't have told me."

Dream dryly chuckled, "Sorry."

The blonde sighed, "Start to head back to the front. We should check a different part of the forest."

"What about you?" George asked.

"I'll catch up. I just want to bury this animal somewhere else," Dream said, turning to look at him. George sighed as he nodded, "Be quick."

Dream nodded, waiting for George to be far enough. He turned to look at the hole again, staring at the two dead bodies inside. "How am I going to tell George about this?" he frowned. He slowly pulled Mrs. Davidson up, being careful. He set her down before grabbing Mr. Davidson and setting him beside his wife. He shook his head as he felt his heart fall into his stomach.

To Be Continued. :)