Chapter Text
It was almost dawn as Dream was returning home after his regular, stock up of supplies. Steak, pearls and golden apps where most consistent items in his weekly hauls as they tended to run low quickly. He'd nearly made it back to the wooden path when Sapnap bounded over to him. With a solid punch for a greeting, Sapnap was quick to burst into conversation.
"Dream! You won't believe it! I did it! I did it!" Sapnap buzzed excitedly, as he grabbed dreams arm and dragged him along.
"Sapnap, what? Hang on, I gotta get my stuff away."
"No~ forget it," Sapnap said confidently, "You won't be needing them soon."
Dream tilted his head and regarded his friend with a look of confusion. Sapnap laughed at his friend's expression, having realised he hadn't given any of the required context needed to understand the situation. He took a deep, excited breath and held open his satchel for Dream to view the contents of.
Dream peered in, observing the items before sending Sapnap yet another puzzled stare.
"Uh, potions and... Rocks?" Dream questioned, squinting his eyes at his so called 'sane' friend.
Sapnap simply sighed and grabbed Dreams arm, dragging him across the path. "I might as well explain it to you and George at the same time."
"Alright, but let go of me." Dream protested, to which Sapnap simply tightened his grip.
"No <3"
"What? Sapnap- just let go! I'm following you anyway."
Sapnap refused once again and Dream decided the best way to solve this problem was with force. And with that thought, he drew his axe, jumped in the air and began landing critical hits right on Sapnaps head.
"Ow, ow! Okay, I get it!" Sapnap quickly blocked the blows. "Fine, I'll let go, dude stop!"
Sapnap was quick to retract his grip of Dream’s arm, resulting in a cease of Dream's attacks.
"Why would you do that? I'm on half a heart!"
Dream simply laughed at Sapnaps pout and chucked him some steak to make up for the damage.
It wasn't too long before the pair made it to George who was once again rebuilding his hobbit house. (Which had been destroyed an hour ago by Sapnap, while Dream was out) A glare was set on his face as soon as he caught sight of the two. Particularly Sapnap, who responded with a proud grin.
"How's it going, Georgie? House repairs coming along?" Sapnap taunted smugly. Unfortunately, George chose not to respond, instead, ignoring him and turning directly to Dream.
"Sapnap blew up my house again."
"And?" Was Dreams response, who was clearly already sick of the others stupid fights.
"Do something."
"Fine. Sapnap, help George put his house back."
"What no?"
Dream sighed but didn't hesitate to start landing crits on Sapnap. George laughed as Sapnap attempted to run, only to be killed a second later. Dream quickly picked up Sapnaps stuff and began to sort through.
"Which is yours?"
"Uh I dunno just give me everything except the armour and weapons"
"What? Dream no!" Sapnap protested as he ran back to find Dream handing over almost everything that was previously in his inventory. Seeing Sapnap try to grab it back, Dream swung his axe again causing Sapnap to shriek.
"Okay, okay! Fine but I get my potions and rocks back."
Silently agreeing, Dream thew Sapnap the few items he now owned.
"Why would you want stupid rocks," George asked pulling a disgusted face as he caught sight of one of Sapnaps off coloured potions.
"Well, I'm glad you asked Georgie!" Sapnap says excitedly, oblivious to George’s shock as he realised there were exactly *three* disgusting looking potions. "Because how do you feel about interdimensional travel!?"
This was enough to catch not only George's attention but Dream’s as well, both holding expressions similar to disbelief.
Sapnap couldn't even hold his prideful smile in as he read their expression, they clearly thought he was bluffing.
"Okay, so I have three potions and three gemstones. We get one of each. First, we need to sit in a circle."
Sapnap shuffled around and took a seat on the ground, then motioned for the others to do the same.
Emptying the contents of his bag, Sapnap reached for the three stones and handed one to both Dream and George.
"Quartz?" Dream asked in confusion, rolling the jagged stone he chose in his palm.
"Mines better!" George stated proudly admiring the shiny ruby in the sunlight.
"They don't have to be gemstones if you want to change," Sapnap imputed towards Dream, placing down his own polished amethyst, "I just took them from George’s collection because they look cooler than normal stones."
"Hey! You stole from me!"
"Shut up I just said that, why do you think I griefed your house?" Sapnap paused for a second to laughs at the disbelief on George face before continuing with his explanation, "Anyway, the stones are used as vessels to carry over our memories, so we'll be aware that we're in the new reality."
"Okay? So now what?"
"Hold them in your hands until they are warm, then we'll place them in the centre of the circle."
The others complied cusping the stones in their hands until they were warmed up, then placing them in the middle.
"Okay now drink this." Sapnap handed each of them a potion. The liquid was a dark purple, almost black colour and completely opaque. Dream swirled his bottle, observing the thick liquid inside.
"I am not drinking this," George said, pulling a disgusted face.
"Yeah, it looks nasty as hell," Dream added.
"Shut up and drink it pussies, it's not that bad." Sapnap was lying and he knew it, there was a reason he chose not to disclose the ingredients.
The group counted down before chugging the contents of the glass bottles, all of them gagging at each mouthful. When finished they all felt unwell as the contents of their stomachs swirled around inside them.
"Sapnap, are you trying to kill us?!" George whined as his stomach lurched.
"Keep it in!" Sapnap yelled as George gagged, "it won't work it you throw it all back up."
Dream tried his best to focus on his breathing as a distraction as the other two bickered. From his peripheral, he watched as George passed out and Sapnaps eyes widened. Eventually, he began to feel drowsy, and his vision blurred.
"Dream-!" Sapnap yelled, as he tried his best to stay awake, having just realised he'd forgotten about the last step. George was already out cold and Sapnap knew he was about to follow. He turned to Dream, having noticed that he was the most conscious.
"Dream! We need our stones-!" Was all Sapnap managed, before passing out with a hand over his amethyst.
Realising what Sapnap meant, Dream quickly grabbed his own, jagged piece of quartz and shoved it into his pocket.
If everything went to plan, next time we awoke he would be in an entirely new place. It was then that he realized that Sapnap had never even disclosed when they would return- or even how they would return. All he could do was assume that Sapnap had that all figured out. Hopefully.
Worst-case scenario was that Sapnap was too eager to test his discovery out and hadn't quite planned their means of return. But even then, it wouldn't matter, Dream knew it would only set them back a couple of days. Sapnap was a fast worker and now, after already having transported once, the trip back would be easier to master.
His stomach began to stir as the liquid finally began to kick in. Knowing he only had a couple of seconds left, he decided to take in his surrounding one last time. The hills of green that made up the SMP, the homes everyone had created, and the craters on the ground which mark past conflicts. As his eyes began to feel droopy, he looked over to his friends, who looked as though they were dozing peacefully in the grass.
However, as he scanned over where George was, he caught a glint of red in the grass. Confused he leaned closer and upon inspection, he realised it was a ruby. George’s ruby. The one he needed to regain his memory's.
His head felt fuzzy, as the potion kicked in and he register what that meant.
If Georges stone was still in the grass, it meant that George didn't have it. And if he didn't have it, that meant he wouldn't be able to retain his memories. And that would mean- what would that mean?
Dream forced his thoughts away, there was no time to think. Despite his limbs feeling like jelly, he knew he had to get that stone. Forcing his body to move he reached out to grab the ruby, just as everything went dark and he collapsed onto the grass.