Predator (DWT x OC)

2

The walls grew. They towered over our land, made of heavy black stone. Sure, there was an illusion of safety, in a way, but they made me feel trapped, like a caged animal.

The declaration of war was met with grim support. Most people of L'mamburg accepted it without question. A few left, families, those injured from past fights. The rest hunkered down. A last stand to defend the only home they had left. A defiance in the face of the army that had crushed everything else in its path. 

 Everything turned into a blur. We hunkered down, built walls tall around our land and focused on getting supplies. I got a newer, bigger medical wing, small and slightly shabby, but a vast improvement from the previous shack I was working in. 

It wasn't enough. Not for the injuries war brings, not for the overwhelming suffering it causes. 

 We woke to notices plastered onto the walls, demanding surrender and a show of white flags, or we would be attacked. The white flags did not go up. We were prepared to fight. People only left L'manburg for desperately needed supplies, otherwise we stayed inside, preparing for war. We were circled by Dream and his friends, who boasted armour and weapons that could kill in an instant. The boys didn't seem to be scared but I couldn't help but think about what they could do. I always caught flashes of white above the walls. A white mask, white goggles, white headband. Or, Dream, George and Sapnap. I still feel fear pulse through me at anything white that catches my eye.

The waiting was what was the worst. Someone naïve part of me envisioned being struck down the moment Wilbur uttered those words on the lake shore. I think Dream enjoys toying with his food more than anything, building up hope. Time stretched over days and weeks and I spent every single second with nerves stretched to the absolute breaking point. 

I couldn't sleep, waiting for another fire to be lit or for his men to finally breach the walls. I felt anxious standing out in the open, the threat of arrows or something else raining from the sky. Tommy was a ball of anxious energy that set my teeth of edge, and Wilbur was immovable and unfeeling. Solely focused of planning and strategy. 

Tubbo's house was bombed to the ground. The shell of this concrete floor remained, a reminder of the power of our enemies. He kept his face impassive and brave, but I heard the sobs from the corner of the med bay at night. Everyone was on edge, about to snap at any moment.

Eret helps me shred sheets for more bandages. The shelves are overflowing but I'm paralysed by fear, the thought of running out. It's almost soothing in a way, tearing even strips and folding them up. 

Eret, tall and thin, soft spoken and kind. We sit mostly in the quiet but I know he can tell how tightly strung I am. 

"We're going to be okay Ro, we have a good defensive position. Wilbur knows this."

My hands shake a little, but I don't look up from my sheet. "I know."

"Dream hasn't attacked yet, and that gives us an advantage, he has to pull all his men back from the outskirts."

"But he has men." I look up in exasperation. "Wilbur has a few hundred at most and two fucking children."

"We have enough to defend ourselves."

"You know what he can do. He will destroy us and he will be cruel about it."

Eret sets their bandages down, and gently un furls my fist from where I've been gripping it so tightly my fingers hurt. Their  fingers massage out my own. "We can do this."

"You know I'm in this fight, no matter what Eret, and you know someone has to acknowledge that this might not work."

"We won't let him win."

"He has always won."

"He can't kill us. Not all of us. People will hear about our rebellion and they will revolt. All across his gigantic empire, the people he steps on will stand up if we give them the chance. His downfall will be his own greed."

It really could be. We're not the only people he's hurt. There's thousands of kilometres of stolen land he occupies, thousands of people whose lives he's ruined without a second thought. Maybe we're the spark, the moment they've been waiting for. 

"That's our only chance." I say quietly. "If he's concentrated on only us, he's going to win."

"We are the catalyst." Eret squeezes my hand reassuringly. "And it'll give us a chance."

Bringing Dream down is enough of a reason to fight, but losing the only family I have left is a terrifying thought. I fold the last strip of bandage, shoving it into the box already filled to the brim. 

"I just can't watch them all die."

A medic, a healer, that's who I am. A mediocre fighter and an unconvincing leader. I sometimes still feel like the little girl Wilbur found in on the floor of a forest. Scared, alone, unable to keep herself safe. All I can do is shred more bandages and hope they'll be enough to save the people that end up back in these beds. 

"They chose this Ro, we all did." Eret hands flex against his thighs. "We can end his reign once and for all."

The image is dangerous, cancerous like hope. A world without Dream, without his army, without the fear and suffering he brings with him. Freedom. Safety. 

A free L'manburg. A world I don't have to do anything but love my family. 

It's worth it, fuck, it always has been, but I can't help being afraid. 

Tommy and Tubbo aren't afraid, but it's youthful ignorance more than anything. They don't know enough to be truly scared. They haven't seen death and despair, not enough to shy away from the mention of war. I told Wilbur to keep them out of the fight, but he won't. Just like he'll have his own son on the front lines with him. 

He built L'manburg from the ground up, found all of us on death's door. He'll do anything to secure a future for us, and he'll open his arms to anyone that will join the fight with him. 

I still don't sleep. My hands still shake. The anticipation that simmered under my skin is at a boiling point, itching, almost painful. I keep seeing them all die. I see the faceless monster that I think is Dream. 

I shred bandages until I run out of sheets. I catalogue the entire storage closet and then start my list again. 

I watch neighbours turn into soldiers running drills out by my window. 

Paranoia makes me feel eyes of the back of my neck some times, when I step out in the open. 

We sit in the agony of waiting for weeks.

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A/N Last chapter was to show the world, and this chapter was to show the world in war. Next chapter we get some juicy plot (wink wink). I'm taking a lot of liberties with the dialogue, 

Edit: 6/1/25: less cringe and more character development. More tension and more realism. Cut a lot out :)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Oopsies x