Chapter Text
George is used to nightmares.
Even before the war he’d cling onto his partner at night and beg him to chase away the flashes of memories that weren’t his. After L’manburg was built and the fights began, the nightmares seemed to get worse.
When George was made king, it felt like everything would settle. He was happy sitting on the throne, knight by his side, nothing could touch him, not even nightmares could bring him down.
And then there was the assassination attempt.
Dream allowed Eret to take back the crown, saying it was too dangerous for George to be king, that he couldn’t put his life at risk again. He said many things, all of them felt like lies.
Just say you hate me.
Every day after that, for months, George woke up with no recollection of what his head had come up with during his sleep.
Dream left and took everything with him.
It was weird that his mind wouldn’t try to conjure up senseless images or long forgotten memories when he slept the day away, but as long as he could rest, George wouldn’t question it.
When Dream came back to his life - a better, softer, more powerfull version of him - the dreams came back too. They were never necessarily good, not all the time, but it filled the empty space in his mind, gave him something to think about when he was awake.
One day, he dreams of flower fields and summer, laughter all around him as his friends run ahead. He sees Dream - his green hood down and a smiley face drawn on a white porcelain mask - crouching down by the river, collecting gravel.
He wakes up shaking and alone, some deep part of him aching.
Then he dreams of jumping into a pool of lava; it looks man-made, obsidian covering the sides and the bottom is too deep to reach. In the dream, he sees Alex standing at his side, laughing at him, but George doesn’t know why. All he knows is that he’s crying and he wants Quackity to jump in, but he won’t. So George does, lets the fire consume him until he wakes up screaming, sweating, begging for help.
Dream holds him gently that day, whispers softly in his ear until he stops crying and falls asleep again.
He dreams of MD coming back, dreams of flags on fire, watches him run around devastated as their home burns to the ground. The next day, he finds a piece of fabric inside one of his chests - the same green, white and red stripes from the flags in his dream. It’s weird that he only found it after having that dream, but still George thinks nothing of it.
Then it starts to get really weird.
---
George sat on his bed, cornflower clutched tightly on his hands, staring at the chest on the corner of his room, which has the tools he had recently acquired.
The tools stared back.
He was sure the encounter between Nihachu and Dream had been nightmare, the whole situation was too weird to be real. He had no recollection of the entire day he spent with her, but he still had the tools she helped him make.
It made his head spin to even think about it.
A knock on the door takes him out of his sleepy stupor, making him get up and walk to the front door. He opens it to find Sapnap, netherite armor strapped tightly, weapons hanging from the belt around his waist, the perfect picture of a soldier ready for battle.
“Sap, what are you doing here?” he asks, stepping aside to let his friend in.
“Came to check on you,” the man says, taking his boots out to avoid dragging dirt inside the cottage. “it’s been a while since you answered your comm.”
“Oh.” is the only thing George manages to say. The communicator had been broken into pieces weeks ago, the last time he tried to use to reach Dream - the one inside the prison, not the one who slept on his bed every night.
Sapnap laughs at his reply. “Yeah, oh.” The younger man takes a seat on the couch, seeming so at home it makes George’s heart hurt a little. “I only knew you were alive because of Niki, did you know she has a place near-”
“Niki?” he interrupts, going rigid at the name. “You spoke with Niki? What did she tell you?”
“Only that she offered to help you craft some tools,” Sapnap says slowly, confused at George’s sudden change of tone. “why? Is something wrong?”
Offered. Not helped, only offered. So it had been a dream. That made even less sense, because how had he gotten the tools then? He wanted to ask more questions, details of what the woman had said, but instead he shrugged and went to sit beside the man.
“What’s the flower for?” his friend asks. Only then George realizes that he’s still holding the cornflower Dream had left for him, signaling that they would be back soon. He places it on the coffee table in front of them without a word.
Sapnap sighs heavily at the action, then takes a deep breath before saying, “George, I’m really worried about you.”
“Why?” he asks, turning his head to meet his friend’s eyes. “I’m fine, what do you mean?”
“You’re not fine!” the younger exclaims. “Ever since Dream dethroned you, you have been anything but fine. I just wanna help you, man.”
At that, George doesn’t reply, letting his eyes fall back to the flower sitting on the table. The silence stretches between them until Sapnap seems to give up on waiting for an answer.
“George.” his friend calls gently this time, reaching to grab his hand, which the older holds firmly. “We already lost our best friend, I lost my father! And now I feel like I’m losing both of my fiances.”
When he looks again, he’s not surprised to see Sapnap’s eyes filling with tears. “Please don’t make me lose you too.”
George sighs, moving to hug his friend’s shoulders in an attempt to comfort him.
“What do you want me to do?” he asks, defeated by Sapnap’s pain, not wanting to watch his friend hurt any longer. The younger sniffles and looks up with pleading eyes.
“Come to Kinoko Kingdom with me.”
---
“So you’re leaving?”
“Not forever, I’m just going to stay with Sapnap for a while.” George says as he organizes the rest of his belongings in the ender chest, only bringing essentials in his bag, in order to have an easier trip.
“But I thought you wanted to stay with me.” they states, watching as the man finishes packing.
“I do! I still want to see you, but I can’t just leave my friend alone when he needs me.” he replies, turning around to look Dream in the eyes. The mask is off today, blue eyes shining bright under the shroomlights that illuminate George’s house.
“When can I see you again?” They ask coldly, the tone making George flinch.
“I will come back in a few days, though I don’t know when.” The man whispers hesitantly, afraid to hurt them even more. Their eyes meet and Dream softens, walking towards George to embrace his smaller form.
“Just call for me and I promise I will be here.” They respond, running their hands through George’s hair. “But I need you to promise something in return.”
“Anything,” he says immediately, “I’ll do anything.”
“When I call for you,” Dream declares, looking deep into George’s eyes. “you must come for me.”
The promise seems easy enough to make, but something about Dream’s posture makes George hesitate again. He’s been watching Dream for half of his life - has been around this Dream for months - so he knows their mannerisms all too well. For a moment, the Dream from his nightmare flashes before his eyes, the one that scared Niki and made him pass out.
Still, he doesn’t want to anger or hurt this Dream, so he decides to bite his tongue.
“I promise.”