New Reality: A Dream x George Fanfic

Chapter 19: Thunderstorm

God, he's cute when he's asleep. George was laying on his side, facing Dream and listening to his soft snoring. The golden light of torches placed along the wall dusted his hair and cheeks, and his face was relaxed and peaceful, despite the storm raging outside.

As George watched, Dream slowly opened his eyes. "Hey," he said groggily, his lazy smile making George's heart flutter.

"Hey," he responded, smiling a little himself. Dream yawned and shifted closer to George, throwing an arm over his back and closing his eyes again. George buried his head in Dream's chest, reveling in the closeness of the moment and reluctant to face the day ahead.

It had been maybe two weeks since they'd beaten the ender dragon; George had lost track of days. They'd tried everything they could think of to crash the game: pearl glitches, pistons, building beyond the height limit of the usual game... But none of it seemed to have any effect. In fact, if anything, the game itself seemed to be fighting back, getting stronger even. The nights were becoming noticeably longer, mobs spawned much more frequently and in larger groups, and it had been storming so often that Dream and George had become accustomed to the sight of skeletal horses and zombified pigs roaming across the landscape. Thankfully, they hadn't encountered a charged creeper yet, but it was only a matter of time.

They'd also returned to living in their old cave home, as there was no point in remaining near the End Portal anymore. To George, it almost felt as though they were back at the start again; back to the old base, back to the old routine of trying to survive while looking for a way to escape.

George closed his eyes and breathed in the peace surrounding them, listening to the sounds of the world. A fire crackling comfortingly in the furnace against the wall. Rain pattering against the roof. Dream's regular breathing, steady and sure. The distant rumble of thunder. Despite the rain and the lightning and the threat of monsters lurking just out of sight, George felt oddly relaxed.

Maybe he was just becoming used to the routine of it.

Almost dying, struggling to stay one step ahead of the game, constantly searching for a way out. An exhausting routine, and one which he felt was slowly driving him mad, but nonetheless, it was familiar. Regular. Something to fall into when he felt like giving up. When he felt like maybe they'd never get out of the game.

George frowned slightly and squeezed his eyes tighter. Don't think about it. It just makes it worse. But telling oneself not to think about something is like telling someone not to blink; suddenly, it becomes impossible.

Dream noticed George's increasingly shaky breaths and pulled back a little to look at him. He saw his own doubts, his own fears reflected in George's face. "Hey. George. It's going to be okay, alright? That's what you told me before. And I'm telling you now. It's going to be okay. I promise." They both knew it wasn't a promise he could keep, and the white lie hung heavily between them, suffocating them in its sweetness. It's going to be okay... It sounded shallow and weak, even to Dream. It's going to be okay. At a loss of anything else to say, Dream wrapped his arms around George and pulled him close again, holding on tight like maybe if he just never let go, everything really would be okay.

-----

Four weeks. Four weeks since they'd beaten the dragon, and the game was no longer feeling much like a game.

They'd spent hours mining, enchanting, building up their gear, and still it felt like the difficulty of the game was slowly overtaking them. Neither Dream nor George now dared to set foot outside of their base alone, for fear of being ambushed by monsters. It had been raining constantly for the past few days, and it was becoming even harder to determine the passage of time as each muddy grey day blurred into the next.

They were running out of food. They'd managed to gather some pork and mutton during their trip back to the cave, but as the outside world became more and more threatening, it became too dangerous to go out and hunt. Soon, however, they knew they might not have a choice.

"What haven't we tried yet? There has to be something." Dream was pacing again, as he'd been doing a lot recently; being cooped up inside all the time left him with too much nervous energy and no outlet for it. He ran a hand through his tangled hair as he walked. "The void? Maybe we could try something with the void. Like... Jumping into it or something."

"Dream. We've been through this before. That's more likely to just kill us than anything. We're not doing that unless we've run out of all other options."

"Well, what other options do we have?" Dream was pacing faster now, and watching him was starting to give George a headache.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and rested his head in his hands, looking down in defeat. "I don't know... There has to be another way. Something we haven't thought of, or- or something."

Dream shook his head incredulously. "Whatever. I'm going out to look for food."

"What?" George snapped his head up to find Dream picking up his sword and bow. "You aren't seriously thinking of going out there? Especially in the storm?" As if to accentuate his point, a resounding boom of thunder rumbled above their heads.

Dream shrugged, fitting his helmet onto his head. "We have to get more food eventually. Might as well do it now, before things get even more dangerous."

George couldn't deny his point. "Fine... But I'm going with you."

Dream hesitated, looking for a second like he was going to argue, but then just shrugged again. "Suit yourself." Not waiting for George, he stepped out of their base and into the raging storm.