George's eyes watered as he stared at his long lost friend. Tears leaked down his cheeks as they made eye-contact, and Karl's eyes widened in shock.

Karl nodded his head slowly, not taking his eyes off of George.

"I'm alive." he murmured, and more tears streamed down his face.

George choked back a sob, desperately wanting to hug his friend who he'd thought had been dead for years, but he realised Schlatt was still holding onto him.

He struggled in his grip, trying to get out, and Schlatt growled.

"I'll kill you. Stop moving."

George wanted to smack the man, but he stilled in his grip, instead glancing over at Dream and the other's, who were staring at the scene in shock. Dream still had his mask on, but George knew the man's body language well enough to see that he was worried.

George looked back over to Karl, trying to take in all of his details, and how much he'd changed. He still looked so much the same, his face still youthful, just like when they were kids. He was a lot taller now and didn't have teenage features, but something about him still seemed the same.

This was Karl, but was it really the Karl he knew? He'd probably been here for so long, ever since their pod had been killed. George felt sick at that fact. It had been so many years. He could not blame Karl if he was different.

George heard the door swing open again, and a man with black puffy hair emerged, in clothing similar to Schlatt's.

The man's eyes widened, and George saw Schlatt grin.

"Quackity, my dear," he purred, "nice of you to join us."

Quackity frowned, looking around at everyone, his eyes settling on the two mermen and then back on Schlatt.

He took a hesitant step forward.

"Schlatt...what's going on?" he asked warily, and Schlatt snorted.

"Don't play dumb, my dear, come join me."

Schlatt held out an arm for the man to take, but he did not move.

He glanced at Tubbo, who was shaking very visibly.

"Schlatt, can't you see what you're doing is wrong?" he questioned, and Schlatt rolled his eyes.

"Now is not the time to question our morals, dear. Come here." he commanded, and Quackity started to move.

Except he did not walk over to Schlatt, but to the rest of George's crew.

George watched the ordeal with wide eyes and flinched when Schlatt's grip on him tightened in anger.

He whimpered slightly as Schlatt let out a huff of rage.

"Schlatt," Quackity started, "this has gone on too long. It needs to end." he said, looking mournful but determined.

Tubbo rested a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, while Phil did the same to Tubbo.

"Another traitor!" Schlatt spat out, "this castle is filled with them."

George glanced over at Karl, who'd been let go by the guards, but continued to stay on the floor, shaking.

George was really scared.

The amount of them here could overpower Schlatt easily, but the predicament they were in made it difficult to do so. Schlatt was threatening George's life, which meant none of the crew would do anything to risk it.

He wanted to roll his eyes at the craziness of this whole situation, and the loyalty of the crew, of Dream. He cared about them so much, and they cared for him just the same, but he wished the circumstance was different. If he could just find some way to get out of Schlatt's arms, everything would be okay.

But it wasn't okay, because he couldn't get out. Schlatt's grip on him, especially on his arms, would definitely leave bruises. His whole upper body was hurting from the man, and he wanted nothing more than to hit Schlatt.

George struggled to get out of his grip again, but Schlatt would not budge.

He looked over at Dream, and wanted so desperately to be in his arms.

Dream would keep him safe. He needed him.

All this time, when he'd been away from the man, Dream was all he'd thought about. He worried and missed him, and wanted to feel the comfort of his arms and his presence. Everything about him made George happy. Sure, he was an annoying git sometimes, but he was George's annoying git.

George swallowed slightly, eyes moving to the floor.

He was George's.

Dream was his, and he was Dream's.

He finally knew, he finally understood! He was meant to be with him, George belonged with Dream! George finally realised...Dream was his home.

He would have loved to say something about this, to leap into a hug and tell Dream all his thoughts, but he wasn't able to at this very moment.

He would have to wait. And for Dream, he'd wait forever.

Niki stepped forward, worry evident on her face.

"Schlatt, you said your stock of tears stopped working...what is that supposed to mean? You have Karl right there!"

George looked up and saw Schlatt smirk slightly.

"Oh, it's simple, you see," he mused, "all those years ago, I caught a merman," he gestured to Karl, "it was a bit of an ordeal, and there were some casualties, it was quite messy. I ended up killing the rest, because why would I need more than one? The tears were to cure my sickness, and yet they did not do it well enough. I didn't worry, as I had a merman in my castle, why would I ever find the need to get more than one? Well, I thought that way, up until a while ago, when this fish," he gestured to Karl, who glared up at him, "started to become weaker. His magic tears slowly stopped working, and I realised that I'd used up all of his magic energy."

George gasped, shaking his head. No, no, no. A merman losing his magic? It was the most tragic event to ever occur. He had only heard of it happening once, he thought it was a myth! That it was impossible!

"You're a monster!" George cried out, and Schlatt chuckled slightly.

"No, I don't think I am. As I was saying, I researched and researched, trying to find a way to get his magic back, but it was no luck. I did however figure out how to transform him, but nothing else. So instead, I got you. And because of you, I finally have more of this." Schlatt mused, using his free hand to pull the vial of George's blue glowing tears out of his pocket.

He held it up, showing it off with a smirk, and George smiled slightly at his stupidity. He lunged upwards, knocking it out of Schlatt's grasp. It rolled away from the fray, and Schlatt huffed in annoyance.

"No matter, I'll just get you to make more."

George huffed, trying to kick him, but Schlatt unsheathed his sword, bringing it in front of him.

George looked down at it warily, eyeing the glinting edge that could so easily pierce his skin.

Dream took a step forward, holding his own sword out too.

"Schlatt, we outnumber you easily. Give up, or we'll kill you." Dream instructed, and George could see he felt sick at the thought of killing someone, but he was willing to do it, for George.

Oh Dream, please don't.

Schlatt narrowed his eyes, glancing at the room, and he breathed deeply, obviously seeing he had no escape.

He growled in annoyance.

"If I can't have him, no one can!" he screamed, shoving George to the floor.

George groaned in pain, rolling over so he wasn't on his stomach, and looked up, seeing Schlatt standing there, shining sword raised.

"Say hi to God!" the man roared.

"No!" George heard Dream call out, and the gasps from everyone else echo around the room, as Schlatt's blade came down, making contact with his stomach.

George screamed in agony as blood rushed from the wound, some of it gurgling from his mouth.

He felt searing hot pain erupt throughout his body, and turned to the side, tears streaming down his face.

Black dots started to cloud over his eyes, and the last thing he saw was Dream's sword clanging to the floor, and seeing his feet rushing over to him before it all went dark.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Hello friends!! ...don't kill me. OkAy, so, this chapter was,,, interesting. I hope you enjoyed it :D

Yes, I did that.

Hehe.

Also my best friend Oakley (say hi to Oakley guys) was reading this in the library before I posted it because she has best friend privileges and she almost hit me. I think this chapter made her angry guys!! Mission success :D

Yes I also realise this chapter is a few hours early, that's because I managed to write most of this in science, and then I just finished it at lunch so,,, I'm still at school as I'm writing this y'all.

Happy reading!!

-Bee

(18/2/21)

Co-posted on ao3