The arrow zipped through the small space between the other Dream's bow and the piece of TnT. Dream couldn't do anything. He couldn't even reach it. He reached his hand towards it, crying out desperately, though no one could hear him. Something happened, though. The arrow curved. Dream gasped, and froze.
But it wasn't enough. The other Dream was too close to the TnT, and the course change hadn't stopped the arrow from hitting its mark.
As soon as it hit, it ignited the TnT. The red and white block flashed white, and the other Dream's allies stepped back. They knew what was about to happen. They had prepared it, after all.
Dream watched the blinking block with despair written across his features under his mask. He reached up and placed two fingers on the bottom of his mask, tracing the smile. A nervous habit. He didn't do it often. Then, after a bit of thinking, he ran back over it, but this time turned it into a frown, moving his fingers in the same pattern upside down.
Dream and the Nightmare.
And as the TnT's detonation lit the other pieces of TnT in the chain, he knew that he was certainly living in a nightmare.
The ground blasted to bits beneath him, sending his body flying up. Luckily, though he could now be affected by the force, he still didn't have health, so he didn't take damage. Dream flew up with a sense of detachment similar to when he had been just floating around watching. In reality, he was still just a spectator. Nothing had changed.
Except that now he had failed to do the job he had taken upon himself.
Of course, this would not be the end of L'Manburg. It hadn't been in his previous life, he now remembered. He had done this very thing himself, and L'Manburg hadn't died out entirely. But he had still failed.
Wilbur felt the same way. As the four remaining members of L'Manburg gathered again on the other side of the water that had saved them, Dream's body slammed into it. The impact wasn't jarring, and the water wasn't disturbed, but he felt it in his bones. Pain deeper than physical. Deeper than a sword or arrow. Grief.
Exhausted in spirit but not in body, Dream swam over to join the citizens of L'Manburg, whose bodies were just as tired as their minds.
He climbed from the water, his incorporeal body not disturbing the surface as he slipped out, and stood on land next to them. He raised his head up, and looked around at the small, sad huddle.
Each of them knew it in their hearts. This was the end. There was no more talk of rebellion. There was no talk at all. They stood, each lonely and cold and wet, in a tight huddle. Yet as they stepped closer for warmth, each one of them was the loneliest they had ever been.
Dream could see in their eyes and their auras that they were frightened, cold, alone, and confused. It had been going so well. They had been winning. But then...
But then Eret had betrayed them. It was all gone.
No more life. No more liberty. No more pursuit of victory. Everything was destroyed, blown up by the bowshot of the other Dream.
This was the Nightmare. And in that moment, the auras surrounding the members of L'Manburg faded. Dream was more in touch with them than ever. He knew this feeling. It was written deep on his soul, burned into his mind. That was why he had decided never to lose again.
But was this worth it? Destroying other people's lives as his had been destroyed?
Men and boys alike, ground into the ground if they refused to obey him.
No, this wasn't right. This was tyranny. This wasn't justice.
Dream's blood boiled. He turned to face the other Dream, furious. He glared at that mask. That taunting, horrible mask.
It disgusted him. How could this man, no, this monster, ever wear something white? He didn't deserve the mask.
Dream stormed across the water. He saw a flicker of movement from the other Dream. A flinch. Maybe the other Dream couldn't see him, but he felt something. Anger, rage. His eyes. Dream could see through his mask, and what he saw confused him. The other Dream's face was conflicted.
The rest of his army was enough a storm of confusion that no one noticed. Sapnap took out his bow and drew it back, waiting for the command to fire.
But the other Dream didn't give it.
He turned and walked away without a word.
They noticed now, but most of them shrugged it off.
Most.