Dream and Tommy stared at each other. Dream's head was swirling. What did it mean if he was corporeal?
For the first time, he had a real voice. A real arm, that could wield a real sword.
Dream glanced over at Nightmare. The black, soulless eyes of the mask were staring back at him.
He knew. Dream looked back at Tommy. He didn't. He hadn't seen Nightmare.
"What are you doing here?" Tommy asked in a soft voice. Yes, he was surprised, but he wasn't shocked. Not yet.
"Watching," Dream replied numbly. The rest could be saved for later, when they got back to the ravine base.
"Then why were you invis?" Tommy pressed. Dream sighed, and he opened his mouth.
Then it came.
That dreaded sound, that loud, peace-rending Bang!. Technoblade had fired his crossbow. Tubbo was dead. Dream couldn't bring himself to look at the death message. He simply couldn't.
Tommy jumped, and his head whipped back to the stand. Terror was suddenly splashed across his face again, like a dropped can of paint. And then came the rage.
This rage was not low and smoldering. It was alive, growing, sparking like flint on steel. Consuming his sorrow and distress. With a shout, Tommy leaped off the building into the crowd.
There was shouting, yelling. Tommy was quickly rebuffed by the confused people, but they weren't able to get their bearings quickly enough to attack him before he was gone again, fleeing when he realized his life was in more danger than Tubbo's.
Tommy was naturally impulsive and reckless, but even he had a sense of self-preservation.
Wilbur had left long ago, searching for the button that he had hidden.
Dream was now left alone on the edge of the building Tommy had come from, just sitting and watching. And as Manburg's attention turned to him, they were shocked to find him simply observing them. After all, Nightmare had promised to leave them alone when L'Manburg had first gained its independence, and they couldn't see the difference between him and Dream.
So, like a specter, he watched. To flee would be to betray his identity. After all, Nightmare would surely not run. And they gradually looked away.
The crowd settled once more, and Wilbur returned, but not to the roof. He stood next to the wall, peeking out at the people of his nation. The very people he could not see, those who had been assisting him secretly. Wilbur was more of a leader than Schlatt ever was.
Schlatt returned to the stage. In the chaos, the explosive power of Technoblade's crossbow had killed him as well as Tubbo. His first death.
But Schlatt would not allow that to get him off track. He still had something to say. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't the only one with something to say. Schlatt attempted to get the people to focus, but someone spoke out.
It was Nihachu. Otherwise known as Nikki, she did not hold with Schlatt's violence, and she told him so, in no uncertain terms.
But before Schlatt could order her execution as well, Wilbur stepped out and rushed forward.
He stood in front of Nikki and shouted up at Schlatt, "Is this what you have done with the pen I left you?"
Naturally, Schlatt immediately shouted over him, drowning out the rest of Wilbur's words as he ordered Wilbur's immediate death. By hitting a few members of Schlatt's ruling party, Wilbur created enough chaos to escape with his life, if barely.
Along with that, the sudden appearance of Wilbur had distracted Schlatt from Nikki long enough for him to forget. He called an immediate meeting, and sent Quackity to see if he could find and hunt down Tommy.
And once more, Dream just watched. He watched as Nikki stood frozen, staring. Wilbur had saved her, with no regard to his own health.
More than that, Wilbur was on his last life. Everyone knew that everyone had only three lives, and he had lost two. Nikki hadn't lost any. It would have been much better for Wilbur to just let her die, and then she would likely have been kicked out of Manburg, and she would have joined Wilbur, Tommy, and Techno in Pogtopia. By all accounts, there was no reason for him to do it.
Dream didn't understand it. He would have had another declared ally, enough to finally truly challenge Schlatt with Techno's equipment. And yet he had saved her instead.
Dream could only think of one explanation.
WilburSoot was a good man.