Chapter 11: Chapter 10
I stepped through the tall grass of my nation, to Tubbo's small house that was mid reconstruction. I knocked on the door and heard a soft voice call,
"Come in!" I step in, smiling softly at the boy, no, the man sitting on his bed. Tubbo had aged a lot since we had won the war, he'd grown taller and more confident in himself. It was good to see him grow positively; he had thrived in a negative environment.
"How are you this fine morning?" I ask Tubbo softly, walking in and sitting on a chair in front of the young man.
"I'm great Wilbur!" He says brightly, smiling as he finishes doing up his laces on his boots. He's in his L'Manburg uniform. "I had the weirdest dream last night! You were in it!"
"Yeah?" I tilt my head, chuckling softly. He was still a seventeen-year-old, still a kid at heart. "What was it about?"
He then proceeded to tell me all about how, in his dream, he had appeared on a huge island made up of cotton candy, that 'hugged him like Niki does', surrounded with lava. The cotton candy didn't melt from the lava, but Tubbo said that that had made sense to him. Apparently at the time it had felt very real and 'quite logical'. Tubbo also told me that I was there and that I was a giant, swatting away any lava that tried to blob onto the island.
All while saying this, he was throwing his hands around, using his body to communicate just as much as his words. I listened, nodding in understanding and grinning when he would get overly excited about a certain detail.
"Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good dream!" Tubbo nodded as he finished his rant. He then looked out the window and I followed his gaze.
"The sun's already so high!" He exclaimed, standing up abruptly. "I'm sorry Will! I-"
"No, no! I understand, you are a busy man after all." I cut in. I make my way out of the house and Tubbo follows me. He closes the door and bids me 'goodbye', running off.
I put my hands into my pockets and make my way over to a house by the small lake we own. It has a seat out on the veranda, facing north, but is missing most of the east wall. So, Jack and Fundy are putting bits of wood up to hammer into place. Fundy seems to be having trouble with the hammer, he's fifteen and somehow has not used a hammer yet.
I go behind him and gently adjust Fundy stance. He jumps, not having noticed me watching,
"Dad! You scared me!" He had been slowly growing out of his 'cool' phase, he was growing up too fast, so he felt comfortable calling me 'dad' now.
"Hit it like this. No, use that hand to grip and that hand to swing." I instruct, going through the movements with him. "That-a-boy!" I congratulate when he gets his first nail in. Jack cheers, having stopped working to sit and rest his messed-up leg, watching me and Fundy.
"Thanks, Will." Jack thanks me. I pat him on the back and tell him that I was off the see to other matters. Other matters being Eret who was standing at the entrance of the walls like a lost puppy, waving me over. It was too early in the morning to see the ex-L'Manburgian.
I walked over anyway, wanting to be the bigger man, or at least appear to be.
"Hello there," I sniff, trying not to look at the man who betrayed me all those months ago. "How is kingship treating you?"
"Well." He says in a low voice, "Although I do miss your company Will."
I look up and anger boils somewhere deep inside of me. Maybe if he hadn't of betrayed us, he would still have friends. People who actually want to talk to him. But he picked kingship over me! Physical wounds heal easier than emotional one, I'd tried to forgive Eret, but it was going to take time.
"That's too bad." I say in a clipped tone, looking over his shoulder. Ponk, a man who has been around long before me, is calling out for Eret. "Duty calls, I suppose."
Eret looks at me sadly and then walks off, towards his castle that he 'ruled' over the Dream SMP in, without another word. As I watched him strut off, I debate where to go next. Before I could decide anything, I hear hooves clopping down the Prime Path that led down the hill to L'Manburg. It was quite new, built by Callahan, a mute man with reindeer antlers growing out of his skull.
Riding the horse was a wild, screaming blonde. He was laughing loudly,
"Hey Wilbur! Look at my awesome new horse!" Tommy crowed, whooping loudly. The horse was beautiful, strong, and sleek. It had a saddle on it, visibly worn down, and was encrusted with diamond armour made especially for this horse.
I was about to ask Tommy whose horse this was but was immediately answered by a certain figure sprinting down the path.
"Tommy, get off the horse!" I hiss at the boy as Dream stomps down to us. Tommy looks and is obviously surprised but smothers it,
"He caught up quick!" Tommy observes calmly, rubbing his almost healed shoulder. I pull on Tommy's sleeve and he gets down just as Dream arrives on the other side of the horse. He's heaving into his mask, hands on his knees. He pulls his sword out of its scabbard, pointing it angrily at Tommy, in a battle stance.
"I'm going to kill you." Dream pants through gritted teeth, advancing. I put a hand up to stop Dream from killing my right-hand man and look at Tommy for answers.
"It was a joke! A harmless prank! All for fun big man!" Tommy splutters, smiling innocently and throwing up his hands.
"I'm sorry Dream, I-" I motion at the horse,
"Keep your citizens in check, Soot." Dream growls, hopping on his horse and riding up the Prime Path and back to the Dream SMP, dramatically. I turned to Tommy and stared daggers at him, it was not the time to pick fights.
"We'll talk later." I say darkly, pushing him through the entrance. He stumbles and looks back at me, before heading towards his L'Manburg home. Looking back out towards the Prime Path I notice Niki guiding a small fox on a lead.
As she gets closer, I notice that she's whispering calming words to the little fox, feeding him bits of meat.
"Niki!" I call to her, getting her attention. She looks up and beams at me. She tests whether or not the animal will let her pick it up, then when she realised that as long as it was eating it didn't care she tenderly picks it up.
"Hi Will!" She chirped as she got to the bottom of the steps. "This is Fungie, he's my new pet!" She showed off the fox, and he stared me directly in the eyes. I nodded and waved at the little orange thing, she wiggled his paw as if he were waving back,
"He's very cute," I motioned to the ears, "Fundy will love him."
She nodded,
"Yes! I can't wait to show him. Although I must keep Fungie close by, Sapnap was being a little more hostile than usual…" She trailed off, and then shook her head,
"Anyway! I'll go show Fundy, you can come if you want." I declined politely and she walked into L'Manburg, towards Fundy and Jack over near the lake. I smiled and closed my eyes. I let the breeze blow against my face and the noises of the Dream SMP and L'Manburg float over to me. I want to be in this moment forever.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone