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𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 : 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭

A spark, a flame and an explosion. Music to her ears.

Icy blue eyes contradicted the reflection of the blazing reds and oranges in front of her, leaving a small smile on her dry lips.

"That was sick!" A voice shouted from beside her. She turned around to look at her accomplice, a shit-eating grin displayed on his face while his hands were thrown into the air in excitement.

The two teenagers stood up from their hiding spot behind a bush as they looked up at their glorious 'art piece'. The burning building in front of them was completely engulfed in waves of fire, charred wooden panels dropping to the ground like apples after they burned to a crisp, all while an enormous cloud of smoke started to appear above the burning house. The smoke rose above the line of trees that created the forest around the two, undoubtedly attracting all sorts of unwanted attention.

Well, not really unwanted. To be honest, the girl couldn't care less about danger as she looked at her creation, which could be seen as kind of ironic.

"Eris?"

The name made the girl whip her head to her side, looking her taller friend in the eyes, the slightest of frowns appearing on her brows. Eris was obviously not her real name. It was a nickname she adopted years ago during her childhood. She preferred it over her actual name, which she hadn't heard or used in years, and to be fair, she liked to keep it that way.

"You reckon Wilbur's going to be mad?"

Eris laughed, a mischievous glint in her eyes that could barely be observed by the taller one of the duo as a dark blue cap hooded the top of her face, "Well Tommy, of course-"

She paused a second before resuming her sentence, throwing a plastic canister that was previously placed in front of her into the raging fire, "But that makes it all the more fun, doesn't it?"

A quick nod was sent her way, accompanied by a loud laugh, "True, true. Well that's what the bastard gets for messing with us anyways."

Eris just replied with a hum, before repositioning her cap, taking a quick glance at her surroundings. The two friends were in enemy territory. When you add the large amount of commotion they just caused in said enemy's territory, to the already impending danger, it was quite important to be on guard.

As she looked around she found nothing suspicious around her, well besides a chicken that waddled around in circles in the distance. Dumb chicken.

The duo watched the crumbling home in front of them for another few minutes before they decided it was time to go.

"Which way do we go back?" Tommy asked as they stepped back from the house.

Eris picked up a small compass that was strapped to her belt, holding it up. The red arrow in the centre of the object moved around for a bit before it stilled, pointing to the east. She took a few steps and repositioned her stance so it was now facing north, before looking up.

"East."

Tommy frowned, "Is that left or right?"

"East."

A frustrated groan escaped the boy's lips, causing Eris to have a difficult time keeping in a chuckle, "I don't know that math shit, do we go left or right?"

The brunette finally let out the small laugh she tried to hold in before pointing to her right, "East."

Tommy rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to undoubtedly let out a colourful insult before he was cut off by the sound of twigs snapping on the forest floor. His eyes widened before he was pulled down by Eris, who held a silencing finger to her lips.

They were conveniently placed behind a bush. It wasn't the ideal hiding spot as it wasn't particularly large, but if the two sat still they would blend in with their surroundings just well enough to not be seen.

Two pairs of almost identical blue eyes watched as a group of three men stepped out of the forest into the clearing they were in just minutes before.

Eris' breath hitched in her throat at the sight of the three, a large set of nerves settling in her stomach. It wasn't that she was that terrified of the trio, but she wasn't stupid. She was a lot, but not stupid and thus knew what consequences there would be if they were to find her and Tommy, and saying those consequences would be bad were an understatement.

Her small train of thoughts was interrupted by an angry yell, making her focus on the scene in front of her again. One of the three, a brunet with a white bandana wrapped around his head looked absolutely furious as he shouted at the two men next to him. The shorter of the two seemed to try to calm the guy with the bandana down, while the tallest of the three looked fairly uninterested, having his back to Eris.

That was, until Tommy shifted in his position, making a twig snap underneath his hand, causing the tallest guy to whip his head around.

Eris didn't know how she didn't expect it, but seeing two black dots stare directly into her direction made her skin crawl slightly, disturbed by the eerie mask.

Tommy and her were absolutely fucked, there was no doubt about it as none other than Dream, Sapnap and George now knew their location of hiding.

"God damnit, Tommy." Eris hissed quietly, swatting the boy next to her on the shoulder.

In reply he whispered a quiet sorry, which was almost inaudible as he simultaneously swallowed down a lump in his throat.

The smaller brunette let her eyes dart around her, scanning for potential escape routes. After a small moment an idea settled in her head, and she sighed.

She reached down to her belt for the compass again before tossing it to Tommy, who caught it effortlessly.

"You stay here alright, I will distract them. Make sure the arrow keeps pointing wes- left as you go back to L'Manberg alright?"

Tommy seemed to hesitate, opening his mouth before he got cut off for a second time, "I'll be right behind you."

Eris moved to stand up but was pulled back as the younger boy wrapped his arms around her smaller frame, before quickly retracting them, "Please don't do anything stupid."

Eris was taken aback slightly at the small but meaningful action, as Tommy definitely wasn't big on showing affection, not at all.

To lighten the mood she shot a small wink into his direction, "No promises."

After finishing her sentence she shot upwards, putting her hands next to her mouths before shouting, "Oi, fuckers! I believe somebody set a house on fire."

This earned the attention of the trio respectfully, especially that of Sapnap's, who looked like he could commit a war-crime at that moment.

This only made a small smile tug at the brunette's lips, before she darted off in the opposite direction of where L'Manberg would be, leaving Tommy hidden behind the bush.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, hopefully creating a distance between her and the so-called 'Dream-team'. She cringed slightly at the dumb name, mentally rolling her eyes at Dream's narcissistic little gang.

Trees passed by her vision while she skilfully navigated her way through the thick forest. At that moment she was so glad she was trained for situations like this. The greens and browns of the forest blurred beside her as she kept on running, ducking several times at low hanging tree branches.

She was at a slight advantage in the dense forest, mainly due to her height. This was one of those rare moments she was grateful for her height.

A yelp escaped her lips as an arrow flew through her vision, grazing her cheek before slamming into a tree that was only a metre or so in front of her.

She dared to take a look behind her, seeing George holding the bow while Dream and Sapnap were still way too close to her for her comfort.

And so she picked up the pace, her legs starting to ache slightly from the exercise. She tried to focus on controlling her breathing as she now zigzagged between the trees, making sure properly aiming at her with an arrow would be impossible.

But unfortunately for her, zigzagging means taking a longer time to grow the distance between her and her pursuers. This fact only seemed to hit her as a body slammed into hers, throwing her against a large tree.

The impact made her let out a pained groan as her shoulder slammed against an uneven part of the tree, a large bump pushing against her now throbbing shoulder. Her eyes were tightly shut as she tried to recompose herself, trying to ignore the hands that pushed her further into the tree, barely leaving room for her to breathe.

It took her a few seconds before she could get grip on herself again. A short sigh escaped her lips before she opened her eyes, coming face to face with the black dots.

She let a smug smirk display on her features, leaning back slightly from the mask, creating a little more space, before opening her mouth.

"Hi, Dream."