New Reality: A Dream x George Fanfic

Chapter 16: The End?

 Dream and George spent the next day making the final preparations for their trip to the End. An air of nervous excitement buzzed around them as they worked. Soon enough, the two friends (boyfriends, George kept having to remind himself) were decked out in fully enchanted iron armor, with enchanted weapons as well. Dream had also crafted two golden apples: one for himself, and one for George. They had a surplus of arrows, which Dream had stolen from the skeletons he found while mining, and they had more than enough food, as a result of George's return trip to the surface. With this gear, they decided they were as ready as they'd ever be to fight the dragon.

Dream stepped up to the portal frame with George beside him. Only one spot remained to be filled, and George held the last ender eye to fill it.

"I guess this is it." George tentatively placed the eye into its frame piece. Immediately, a rushing noise escaped from the portal, and in the center, a vortex of star-scattered darkness began swirling. The vortex expanded until it reached the edges of the portal frame, where it stopped.

Dream stared into its inky depths apprehensively, feeling George's breath quicken beside him. Neither of them knew for sure what awaited them on the other side of the portal; they only knew that it was their only chance of escape.

"Dream?"

"What?" Dream looked up at George to find him staring back with fear in his eyes, the kind of fear that hurt to look at.

"I don't want to die."

Dream grabbed George's hand and Leaned forward until he could feel the wind from the portal's pull. "We won't die. I promise." And even though they both knew he could promise nothing of the sort, George decided to trust him, closing his eyes as they jumped together into the End.

-----

Dream opened his eyes and found he was lying on a large slab of smooth obsidian, next to George. Together, they stood, looking up at their surroundings.

The obsidian was embedded into the solid ground below them- a surface of yellowish rock dotted with small holes, like a giant, solid sponge. A short distance from them was the first obsidian pillar, and on either side of it were two more, and there were more beyond those, forming a giant circle of ten pillars. Dream and George stepped off of the platform cautiously, looking around for the ender dragon as they approached the circle.

Soon enough, they spotted it; the great black dragon rounded one of the obsidian pillars with a mighty roar that made them both flinch. It was more terrifying than either of them could have been prepared for, with glowing, malice-filled eyes, razor-sharp spikes, and two-foot-long claws. The two were frozen in horror for a second as it dived at them, until Dream yelled, "Duck!" and pushed George down as they both narrowly avoided being hit by a fireball.

Heart racing with adrenaline, Dream turned to George. "We should split up and cover more ground. You get the pillars on the right; I'll go left." He didn't want to leave George alone, but surviving was more important than anything else at the moment.

"But-"

"George, now is not the time to argue!" Dream dived to the side as another fireball shot straight in between them. "GO!" Not waiting for an answer, he turned and ran to the closest pillar.

The first pillar was one of the shorter ones, and Dream had no trouble taking out the crystal on top with only a few shots of his bow. He ran to the next one, firing again as the dragon swooped past him. The arrow missed, and he barely had time to dodge another fireball. He aimed again.

Meanwhile, George was struggling to take out his own pillar. He found it hard to focus, knowing he was one fireball away from death at any time. Glancing over to the other side of the island, he saw Dream already moving on to the third pillar. How does he do it? George narrowed his eyes at the pillar and aimed another shot, finally hitting the end crystal. It was certainly a lot more difficult aiming in the New Reality version than in the regular version of the game, but he was starting to get the hang of it.

George ran toward the next tower, already drawing another arrow. The tower was one of the tallest ones, and he couldn't even see the crystal on top, aiming blindly and hoping a shot would land. After three consecutive arrows missed, he growled in frustration. I wonder how many Dream's gotten already?

As if in answer to his question, he heard a distant explosion and a yell. Looking wildly around for the source of the noise, he spotted Dream, his back against a pillar as a swarm of endermen attacked him. Right in front of him was a giant crater caused by the dragon's fireball, trapping him between the endermen and the obsidian wall.

"DREAM!" George abandoned his attempts at shooting the crystal and ran toward his friend. He was too far away to help, however, and could only watch as Dream struggled to fight off the endermen and the dragon circled around for another attack.

There's no way he'll survive another attack from the dragon. George knew he had to do something, but he had no idea what. As a last resort, he drew his bow and aimed at the dragon, hoping to at least distract it.

The distraction worked a little too well. The arrow bounced off one of the dragon's black scales, flying off into the distance. The dragon turned and looked at George with its glowing eyes, hovering in the air for an instant, before folding its wings and swerving into a dive straight at him.

Oh, shit.

George turned around and ran away as fast as he could from the approaching dragon, but he knew it was useless. It was simply too fast. He heard a great rushing of air behind him, and a second later felt himself lifted into the air, held in a death grip by the dragon's massive claws. As the ground dropped out from beneath him, he screamed, and this time it was Dream's turn to yell "GEORGE!"

George saw Dream far below him, growing comically small as he soared higher. He clutched at the claw holding him in place, trying desperately not to fall.

Higher, higher, higher the dragon took him.

Finally, as the island below him began to fade into the distance, George felt the dragon's ascent slow. For a second, he was weightless, floating alone in the dragon's claws a million miles away from the rest of the world. Then gravity caught up, and he felt himself being pulled back to the ground.

George felt the dragon's claws loosen slightly. It's going to drop me. In the air. I'll never survive the fall. He could just see Dream's distant figure again, yelling helplessly as George plummeted toward the ground.

Just before they hit the height of the obsidian towers, the dragon pulled out of its dive, letting go of George at the same time so he was tossed up into the air again. Too terrified to even scream, George watched the island grow nearer, and suddenly an idea came to mind. He angled himself toward one of the towers, hoping beyond hope that he'd be able to make it.

He collided with the tower in a jarring crash hitting his head on the stone, and finally rolling to a stop next to the end crystal. He could now hear Dream's faint yells, but for a second they seemed distant as he struggled to stay conscious. Blinking hard to clear the black dots from his eyes, he dug in his backpack and pulled out his golden apple.

Thank God Dream decided to make these. He took a bite. It tasted like chocolate and caramel and vanilla and honey, nothing at all like solid gold. A strange buzzing sensation filled his veins, and he felt warmth flow to every part of his body, healing his numerous cuts and bruises. Practically laughing with glee, he leaned over the edge of the tower and called down to Dream. "It's okay! I'm alive!"

He heard a distant "oh my GOD, George!" and grinned. He was alive for the time being, and felt better than he had in a while as the power of the golden apple flowed through his veins.

He turned to snipe the crystal on the tower next to his, using his height to his advantage, while Dream continued shooting from far below. I can do this.

We can do this.