#treebark x reader

Your eyes felt tired as you glanced around the room. There was a sigh from the corner of the room and your eyes went over to lock with Ren’s equally as tired ones. He was using a rag to clean his axe. The room was mostly quiet, save for the ramblings of Martyn on the other end of the room. He was talking about the final battle. It was happening tomorrow. Everyone still on the server knew it. It was terrifying, to be honest.

“I think we have a good chance of winning.” The yellow life was saying. You and Ren glanced at him as he said that. Two red lives and a yellow life while there was still a green life running around the server. The odds were not in your favor. “If we focus on bringing BigB down to his yellow life, then target the ones with the- What?” He noticed the second sigh escape your lips. “You don’t think we can win this together?”

“It’s not that, Martyn.” You said, avoiding his faint glowing eyes, “It’s just risky. I mean, you’re still yellow, but me and Ren are red. We’re so close to just-”

“Well, don’t think like that.” Ren huffed. “We gotta have faith.” He shot you a smile. “You’re one of the best fighters I know.”

You rolled your eyes with a faint smile hanging on your lips. “I know I’m a good fighter. I just know that there are others who are just as good.”

Martyn hummed softly, moving closer and sitting beside you on the bed. His arm wrapped around your shoulders, “You’ve gotta have faith. You trust your king, yeah?”

You nodded, “Of course I do.” Your eyes flitted over to Ren’s. “You know I’m by your side no matter what, my king.”

“I know. My faithful men.” He murmured, standing and stretching. He leaned his axe against the wall, climbing beside his boyfriends. He layed back against the bed, his hand resting on the small of Martyn’s back. “As long as you trust me, then you should know- everything will turn out fine, dear.”

You nodded again, slower. You swallowed thickly, “I trust you fully. Both of you.” You added, glancing between them. “I just- it’s scary thinking about the final battle. What if… What if there’s only one winner allowed to live?”

The room fell silent. There was always a chance. In fact, the rules were clear that only one winner was allowed to leave the games. The three of you had avoided talking about it so far. But, with the end of the games in sight, it was hard to ignore that death was far more than expected.

“It won’t come to that.” Ren said clearly, sitting up in the bed for a moment. His hand left Martyn’s back and gripped your hands, “I will not let you die.” His eyes glanced at Martyn's, “Neither of you.”

You nodded softly, “Yeah… Yeah, it was stupid, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s a valid fear.” Martyn said quietly. His thumb moved against your shoulder. “Why don’t we just go to sleep? Take this off,” He murmured, snagging his thumb under your binder, “and we can fall asleep together.” Ren nodded in agreement, lying back on the bed again, releasing your hands. You hummed quietly, standing from the bed.

Once your binder was taken off and set to the side, you climbed back into the bed, in between Ren and Martyn. While usually, Martyn was in the middle, the two could tell you needed the comfort tonight. Their arms both surrounded you and you let out a breath as you felt the comfort of their weight leaning against you.

“If anything happens tomorrow-”

Ren cut you off, leaning forward and pressing a kiss against your cheek. His facial hair scratched your cheek softly. “We don’t have to think about that, dearest. Just go to sleep. Everything will be fine.” His words didn’t feel convincing. 

Regardless, you stayed quiet, eyes closing as you pulled them closer to you. “I love you.” You whispered into the night. It took a few seconds for them to respond, softly and quietly. 

It was chaos. Shouts came from every direction. Your eyes scanned the battlefield, shooting arrows towards everyone on the opposite team. You could hear the king battling with Martyn on the other end of Renchanting. The battle was fierce. Patches of lava were scattered along the ground, while arrows descended from the skies in mad quantities.

You shot another arrow, hearing the yelp of pain from Impulse as you shot him. You gasped harshly at the feeling of pain shooting up your leg as an arrow impaled itself in your shin. Pure chaos in every direction. You could barely tell who was on your side and who was the invading party. 

A strained noise left your lips as you heaved yourself behind a tower of blocks. Your hand pressed onto where the arrow had embedded. Tears burned behind your eyes as you threw your head back against the stone, whimpering silently. Your hand grasped the arrow and you took a deep breath, biting on your shirt collar as you tugged it out harshly. A few tears slipped down your cheeks as you breathed out heavily, letting your shirt cancel out your scream. The shouts from around you silenced any noises you made.

A hand grasped your shoulder and you gasped, head spinning around to meet Martyn’s. His eyes held concern as he glanced at you before looking around. “It isn’t safe to sit here. Are you okay? Do you need-”

“I-I’m fine.” You said, breathing heavily. You closed your eyes for a moment before willing yourself to lean onto your leg. You stifled your yelp of pain. “I can do this.”

“I know you can, but I don’t want you getting killed.” He said, narrowing his eyes. “I won’t stop you if you really want to fight, though. The king is-” His ears flexed and he spun around, using his shield to deflect an oncoming arrow. “We need to keep moving, dearest.” You nodded, forcing yourself to your feet as you limped to the edge of the blocks. “Right, let’s go.”

He stood beside you, helping deflect arrows as you shot your own, aiming at the enemies. Your eyes darted around, landing on Grian and Scar, who were new to the battle. “The desert arrived.” You muttered, horror in your tone as the pair immediately started battling. Your eyes scanned the battlefield, landing on Ren, who was aiming for Scar. When Scar was hit with his arrow, he spun around, returning blows to the king with his blade. “Ren!” 

Your voice was hoarse as you shot an arrow towards Scar, narrowly missing his skin as he followed Ren. Desperate to protect the king, you made your way over, shooting arrow after arrow towards the desert man. His deranged gaze never left Ren’s as he rushed after him. Even as a few of your arrows embedded into his skin, Scar never looked away from his target. Fear sparked in your chest, larger than it ever had before. 

You watched, completely helpless as Ren was poisoned by a pufferfish. You watched, completely helpless as a golem attacked him. You screamed, completely helpless as Scar’s sword thrust into Ren’s chest. From the distance, you could hear a similar scream from Martyn as he fought with Grian, trying to get to Scar for revenge. Your heart seemed to tear from your chest as you watched Ren’s mouth splutter with blood. Your chest seized as another heart-wrenching scream left your lips as Scar pulled his blade from his chest. Ren fell to the floor, spluttering in his own innards, eyes glazing over. 

“The Red King has fallen!” Scar announced triumphantly, his eyes leaving the body and narrowing in on his next target. “Go for the hand!” You watched as Martyn moved through the battlefield, attacking Scar with his sword. An arrow flew from Scar’s bow and hit Martyn in the stomach. The adrenaline kept him upright as he slashed his way to fighting Scar head-on.

Your hands moved too slowly. You couldn’t comprehend what had even happened until it was too late. Another arrow was released, hitting Martyn directly in the chest. The wound, too fatal to even run on adrenaline, caused him to double over, falling backwards onto the dirt. You screamed again, voice hoarse as you watched him bleed out. His chest wasn’t moving. You were horrified. Pure, unadulterated pain and terror seized your voice. 

You reached for an arrow, only to find the quiver empty. You breathed heavily, both from physical and mental strain. You could barely feel the pain in your leg anymore as you pulled out your sword. Your gaze landed on Scar. He had done this. He had destroyed the two people you were fighting for. He had killed Martyn and Ren. 

You staggered forward, eyes locked onto the greyed man. His ruby coloured eyes shone in amusement as they glanced your way. Grian stepped forward, eyes narrowed, sword in hand. Scar’s hand went up, stopping him. 

“You’re brave.” Scar said, his sword in hand as he stepped forward to face you.

Your eyes shone with pain and sparkled with tears. A ragged breath left your lips. “You killed them. Without mercy.”

“Yes, well,” He said, nodding his head slightly and humming, “Sometimes that’s just what needs to happen. The Red King… kinda of a silly name, isn’t it? I mean, he was the king of what, exactly? Dogwarts? Renchanting? Please, like that’s anything to flaunt about.”

Your breathing was hurried. Not only had he brutally slayed your king, he had the nerve to- to mock him? “Don’t. Do not. You have no right to speak of him that way. You- You’re a monster.”

Scar’s eyes sparkled and he smirked, stepping even closer. Your sword rose. He didn’t seem afraid, staring down the end of your blade with something akin to amusement. “A monster? That’s a pretty big claim, don't‘cha think?” He stepped forward again. Your blade was pressing into his skin. One move and you could kill him, avenge your lovers. Avenge Dogwarts. You heard Grian mumble Scar’s name in warning, eyeing the situation carefully. Your eyes never left the man in front of you. The one who took everything from you. “You never could have won. You know that. It was a losing battle from the beginning.”

Your breath stopped. Everything seemed to stop. You felt… numb. Your eyes flickered down. The end of a diamond sword stuck out of your stomach. You staggered forward as the sword was removed. Scar’s eyes were amused as he glanced at the person who had stabbed you.

“Well, that’s that. Thanks, BDubs.” 

You fell to your knees. Your eyes welled with tears, landing on the bodies of your fallen lovers. You had… failed. They were dead and you didn’t do anything to stop it, to avenge them. Your breathing quickened as you felt an electrifying tingle throughout your body.

Then heat. Everything felt hot, searing hot. You whimpered as the fire of a thousand suns burned from your stab wound. You landed on the ground, face-first. The pain came after. Pain you had never felt before, searing through your body. You coughed, choking on blood despite facing the ground. A foot poked at your arm, flipping you over and the choking got worse. 

Scar squatted beside you, humming, “You could’ve walked away. Regrouped, gotten stronger. Then you may have stood even a little bit of a chance.” He stood up, gesturing for Grian and BDubs to follow him. “Shame.”