Through It All ~ Dream Team SMP ✅

->Twenty<-

It was happening again.

Instead of seeing Niki on the floor, I saw Phil.

It was happening again.

IT WAS HAPPENING AGAIN.

It couldn't be real, right?

No chance.

Or at least that's what I wished.

But Wilbur's scream was very real. Much like Tubbo's tears, Fundy's useless words of reassurance, Eret's shocked expression, my own pain. Very real. Humanely real. Horrifyingly real.

I'd expected everything to stop at the moment, for the war to be forgotten. But no, arrows continued to embed themselves into the grass. We couldn't stay here.

"We have to move..." I whispered, "We have to move!" I repeated, raising my voice.

"But Niki-" Wilbur's face was tracked with tears, his breathing irregular, each breath laced with a cry.

"Wil, they'll kill us!" I insisted, dragging Tubbo along as I tried to set an example for us to leave.

"I'M NOT LEAVING HER!" He yelled, lying across the blonde's fallen body protectively.

"There's nothing we can do, she's gone-" Eret tried to reason with him.

"SHE'S NOT GONE, SHE CAN'T BE!"

"Wilbur, take her with us if you need, but we have to move!" I implored. Tubbo caught onto my advances and began to fall back as well. Fundy and Eret followed suit. We stared back at Wilbur's broken form and Niki's limp figure. The brunette man eventually gave up, scooping her lifeless body into his arms and hurrying after us.

We couldn't stay in the Palace. We fled into L'manberg, back to our old hideout. We were lucky it was nearly dark, as we ducked between alleyways. How strange we must look. Three men, one carrying a dead woman and two teenagers.

We didn't speak.

We simply sat in our old headquarters, unable to fathom what had just happened. We'd already lost. Niki was gone, along with our entire army. We'd been slaughtered within minutes. How stupid were we to try and take a stand against the King?

I silently excused myself, needing the solitude. I went back to my room, collapsing onto my bed, trying to hold back the onslaught of emotions that threatened to murder my consciousness. I reached into the pocket of my blue jacket, fumbling with the faded, gold clasps, and pulled out Mellohi. I was still no closer to figuring out its purpose. It was miraculously unscathed, despite my jumping out of a window. Jumping out the Palace window... That'll be one to tell my children.

"If I live to see that day..." I whispered, thinking aloud.

I didn't even know why I brought the object. I guess it was like my good luck charm. Without it, I would never have met Wilbur, or Tubbo, or Fundy, Eret... Or Niki. Or Phil. Scott, Shelby, Deo.

More of my friends were dead than alive.

I'd spoken so passionately about how we had the power of belief on our side. Where was our cause now? It had drowned in blood and tears. We'd lost so much. And for what?

"Tommy, we need you." I hadn't even noticed Eret standing in my doorway until he spoke. His expression was unreadable. The man's eyes could have been telling me anything, but they were hidden by dark circles of glass. I could sense a hint of regret in his voice.

I stuffed Mellohi in my jacket hastily and followed the man back. We didn't speak. What words were there to say? We entered the main room and I immediately took the seat next to Tubbo, but Eret remained standing. Niki's body was nowhere to be seen, and I could only assume Fundy and Wilbur had done something about it.

"Gentlemen, we need to go back to the Palace." Eret addressed us. I frowned.

"Are you crazy? We just got slaughtered!" Fundy rose to his feet, shouting.

"Fundy's right. We either need to flee L'manberg or surrender." Tubbo whispered next to me, white as a sheet. I looked at Wilbur. The curly-haired man was staring at his hands, as though he was somewhere else entirely and couldn't hear our conversation.

"In the months we have prepared, I worked a little extra for us. To make something. A secret weapon, you might say." Eret continued, smirking. Wilbur raised his head slightly and spoke for the first time.

"What sort of secret weapon?"

"Why don't you come and find out." He said cryptically before exiting in a swish of his cloak.

The four of us shared a confused look and followed after. Something didn't feel right about this... Eret was smirking. Which, granted, maybe this would be so tactically brilliant we would win without question, but given the circumstances, I could barely bring myself to quirk my lips, let alone fully smile.

As quickly as we left, we returned. It surprised me to see no guards stationed by the Palace watching for us. But I guess Dream thought he wouldn't need to as we would most likely not return, owing to the fact it was practically suicide. This was too convenient. I snagged Wilbur's wrist, holding him back a little.

"I don't like this..." I breathed. Our leader turned to me, his right-hand man, with broken eyes. Wil's chocolate coloured irises were filled with sorrow, and his words truly hit me.

"What do we have to lose?"

I squeezed my eyes shut.

What did we have to lose?

Nothing. Nothing at all. Because it was already gone.

I expected Eret to lead us into the Palace itself, but no. Instead, we veered off to a collapsed outhouse. The sunglasses-wearing man began to shift the rock, exposing a narrow passage into the Earth.

"Eret, what the fuck?" I queried, in awe.

"Gentlemen, the secret weapon is right this way." I couldn't quite join in with Fundy, Wilbur, and Tubbo's excited looks. Something still felt off.

The claustrophobia of the corridor didn't help my suspension. I had to duck my head from the low-hanging ceiling, and the only light issued from a single torch Eret held as he lead us deeper and deeper underground.

"Eret what is this place?" Wilbur asked.

"You'll see." That was all the brunette answered.

My eyes widened as the passage broadened, revealing a locked door and smooth Blackstone furnishings.

"Holy shit..." Fundy gasped. A sigh of amazement issued from Tubbo's mouth.

"Welcome to the Final Control Room." Eret clicked a key into the lock and let the door swing open. The room was small, but lining the walls were elegant oak chests, each with our names etched into them. The most curious thing, however, was the button in the middle of the floor.

Wilbur was first to his chest, creaking the lid and scanning inside. A frown graced his face.

"These are empty." He said at the same time as Fundy asked:

"What does the button do?" Eret made no comment on either.

It seemed colder somehow. The quiet unsettled me and every breath was like an icy hand constricting my neck. The man who lead us here was eerily silent, looking upon us like it was the last he'd ever see us.

We watched in confusion as Eret walked to the centre of the room uncertainly, crouching next to the wooden button.

My unease peaked as he pressed it, a large thunk ringing out in the small room.