It's only matter of Time...

Depart

"Get out of here!" Dream yells, voice strained and hoarse as he tries to keep the man atop him from pressing his sword into his neck. Wilbur yanks Tubbo back, spinning to shove him away to relative safety, and parry another opponent. The battle is not going well. A good amount of Philza's crows lay dead in the snow, which had prompted the Elytrian to make the birds retreat, and none of them are without injuries. "What about you?!" Philza calls back, kicking up snow with his wing to blind the Hunter in front of him. "I'll catch up. The three of you, get out of here, NOW! Tell everyone to gather at–" Dream grunts, blocking an attack to his side with a pickaxe, then uses it to wrench the weapon out of his adversary's hand. There are only two dead, out of their group, and there's something Tubbo can't place that feels off about these men. They don't seem...normal, not that he's entirely sure what 'normal' for a human is. "To gather at Prime. I'll meet you there." Wilbur pauses, then nods, grabbing Tubbo and flaring his wings, hissing at the three men approaching him. It makes them pause for a moment, which is enough for the hybrid to leap into the sky, hauling Tubbo along with him. Philza follows soon after, calling out to his vast murder, which soon envelops them in a dark cloud of small bodies, all chattering anxiously. "He wants us to go to Prime?" Wilbur confirms, and Tubbo nods. "Call them. Phil and I will focus on getting there." The goat pulls out his  communicator, a device that resembles a watch, and coincidentally hides the number of canon lives he has. Ignoring the confused responses, he puts the device away, and realizes they're already almost there. Landing just inside the border, Wilbur carefully releases him, and they head inside, the crows filling space with ease, restless and distraught, so Philza attempts to comfort them, murmuring to the closest birds in soothing tones and mimicking certain chirps and warbles. A few minutes go by, before Niki runs in, still soaking wet. She must've run out of the water when she saw the message. "What is it?" She asks. "I'm not explaining this multiple times, and I don't even know." She accepts this and instead comes forward to help tend to Wilbur and the crows, the two most injured. Shortly following come Purpled, Ponk, Skeppy, CaptainPuffy, and Eret. After that, the rest of them trickle in, the final person to arrive other than Dream being Quackity, observing the scene and either scowling or hiding his confusion. "What the hell's all this for?" He demands, folding his wings in and definitely scowling at Wilbur, who makes a point of ignoring his gaze. "I don't know. Dream told me to bring you all here. We were attacked by hunters." Tubbo answers, catching their attention if he hadn't already. "So? It's not like they're THAT big of an issue. Is he finally losing his edge?" Quackity scoffs, unbothered. "These aren't normal hunters." Tubbo lays his ears back, shocked. Dream staggers in, Quackity moving to get out of his way and watch him pass by, unscarred side of his face clearly expressing his surprise. Not only is the speedrunner's sweater dirty, bloody and torn, a good chunk of his mask is missing, revealing dark skin and a green eye underneath. There is stunned silence. It is a well-known fact that nobody, nobody, can beat him this bad. Not when he's at his normal self, as he was. "They're not just coming to finish a job, they're almost energetic about it, like it's a fun task for them. Overall, far more dangerous than what we've seen before." The duck hybrid snorts. "Then we'll find some other way to get rid of them. Still not sure what the problem is. They're just humans. Sorry, Ponk." The man shrugs, unperturbed. "No. Didn't any of you see what they did to Philza? To Wilbur? Or Tubbo? Phil's lost at LEAST 100 crows, which shouldn't be an easy feat. No, we can't fight them. I called you all here for a reason, and that reason is this: I think we may finally need to leave." Tubbo and several other people can't suppress the gasp this announcement brings. "What? You want to run? We live here! This is our home, and I'll be damned if I don't fight for it." Dream shakes his head. "I know. I really, really do. But if we all want to stay safe, this is the best option right now. I made this place to protect hybrids. I'm sure you can understand wanting to protect someone." Quackity glowers, but stays silent and looks away. "But, wait...what about Tommy? Ranboo? Everyone else?" Tubbo asks, and Dream turns to look at him. "We'll have to hope we find them. Trust me, this option isn't ideal, but I swear, it's better than staying here." He replies. There's a sort of intensity behind his words, only multiplied by how he stares the goat down. Slowly, Tubbo nods. "Even if we did leave, where would we go?" George asks, pushing the brim of his mushroom hat up to see better. "I don't know. We'd be picking a direction and just going. Hope to find a place to lay low." Dream sits down, removing the hand from his side. There's a big bloodstain around it and his hand, the shaft of an arrow still visible. "I say we go." Niki declares, coming forward with Skeppy to offer assistance with his injury. "Do we have any other choice?" Eret agrees, as do Philza and Wilbur. "If we're leaving, we'll have to go soon. I want to put as much distance between us and these people as possible." This prompts everyone else to give muttered and mumbled answers of 'yes', leaving only Quackity. "I don't like this." He spits, arms crossed. After a few more moments, he sighs and drops his arms. "It's a cowardly move, but if the rest of you are going, I'm coming too." Waiting patiently for Skeppy and Niki to be done, Dream thanks them and stands. "Then let's go. Eret, will your gloves be enough or do you need another pair?" Eret grins, holding up her hands. "They'll be fine." Dream nods and turns to Niki. "And we'll bring some water buckets for you, just in case." He promises. "So that's it? We're really leaving?" George asks, moving to follow his friend back outside. "Yeah, guess so." Tubbo agrees. He never expected something like this would ever happen, and he can't help but wonder, what's going to happen next? 

And where are his friends?