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Blazes, Dream thinks, fucking suck.
He avoids a fireball that was aimed at his head and slams his axe into the head of a blaze. The magic holding its rods together sputters out, leaving nothing but dust and dying embers behind. The smoke makes his eyes sting, now that there’s no mask protecting them. He quickly picks up the fallen rod, making his way over to the other two that spawned. The first one leaves nothing behind, and the second one almost lights his hair on fire before biting the dust. Dream sighs with relief when the last blaze rod lands on the dark red bricks of the fortress.
With seven blaze rods safely stashed away, he leaves the spawner behind.
Dodging wither skeletons and magma cubes, he makes his way to the red forest that he passed on his way from the portal to the fortress. He hears the piglins before he sees them, a hunting party surrounding a fallen hoglin, crossbow bolts sticking out of its body. When they spot him and his lack of golden armor, they load their crossbows and take aim.
Dream pulls out several gold bars and watches how the bloodthirsty rage switches to greedy interest. As he holds it out to them, they eagerly snatch it out of his hands. He leaves them to their inspections, using the time while they’re distracted to pull more nuggets of gold from the walls.
When he returns, a pile of items has already formed. It’s gravel and leather and fire charges, basically garbage. He deposits the new bars of gold near them on the floor, taking the string that one of them tosses in his direction to craft a new bow. The broken one he got from a skeleton gets thrown in the lava, where it burns up in seconds.
Several minutes pass as he waits for them to make their way through the pile of gold. He tries not to sigh too hard as one of them pushes some nether bricks into his hands. They don’t even care that he throws it away. The only useful thing they’ve given him so far are arrows, enchanted with a soft yellow glow.
One of them hands him a potion, its thick liquid an orange color. Fire resistance. He’ll keep that one for now.
Eventually, after Dream had almost given up and planned to head to the closest blue forest to hunt for endermen himself, they hand him some peals, bringing his total up to twelve.
It’ll have to do, since Dream really doesn’t want to spend anymore time in literal hell. He sets out in the direction of his portal.
-
The cry of a ghast makes him flinch, and he tenses up as he looks around for any incoming fireballs. The creature is nowhere in sight, and the impact doesn’t sound anywhere close as to where he is. Which means it isn’t shooting at him. As he turns the corner, he spots what caught the ghasts attention. The hunters have set up a platform around his portal, with cobblestone walls that have intervals at every other block. Sapnap has his bow aimed at the ghast, only missing twice before he manages to hit it, and it dies with a whine. He climbs over the wall, sliding down the netherrack before coming to a stop at the place the ghast tear has fallen.
Dreams racks his brain trying to come up with ways to distract them, or at least lure them away so he can get through. Even with all the gold around him, he has no carrots to be able to brew an invisibility potion to sneak past. An ender pearl would be too obvious, they would see it coming and be on him in seconds. They clearly have no intention to come and look for him; he’s been wandering around collecting pearls and rods for hours. Either he uses himself as bait, or he has to come up with something else.
He scans the area, hoping something will give him an idea when his eyes land on an overhang above the portal. He gives them a wide berth as he makes his way over, mining up into the wall until he reaches open ground. A stream of lava flows over the edge on one side, and Dream lowers himself on his hands and knees before glancing over the edge. He’s only a few blocks off from the portal, but the drop is too big to consider just jumping and hoping for a landing that doesn’t break at least one of his bones.
Lava bubbles at his side, and an idea forms in his head.
He builds a trench going from the bottom of the lava stream to the edge right above the portal, keeping the lava at bay while he works. He blocks off the original flow and watches the lava built up before breaking the blockade. It flows down the trench, much faster than it would in the Overworld. It pours over the edge, cascading down until it reaches the obsidian. The hunters scream as it quickly floods their platform, jumping up on the walls to escape. As the lava continues to fill the makeshift basin, Dream takes out the potion, downs it, and watches as an orange shimmer appears over his entire body. He discards the empty bottle and jumps down.
The hunters yell in surprise when he lands in the lava. It’s thicker than water, making it almost feel like he’s swimming in honey. He pushes down the instinctual fear that bubbles up in his stomach, forcing himself not to think about it eating away at this clothes, melting the flesh of his bones.
He takes a deep breath before forcing his head under, wading through dense heat until he feels the cool air of the caves wash over him. He stumbles out of the portal, limbs feeling too free as the lava no longer clings to him. It drips off him like he’s waterproof, pooling at his feet.
-
The sun is just rising as he gets to the surface, mobs burning around him. Quickly he takes out the blaze rods and crushes them in his hand, sprinkling the dust over an ender pearl. The dark green of the iris swirls when it makes contact, mixing with the yellow powder and shaping the pupil into a slit.
He tosses the eye of ender into the air, watching it drift to his left. He grabs it out of the air as it falls.
He runs through the birch forest, occasionally glancing back to see if the hunters have made it out and are on his tail again. He makes it all the way to an ocean without spotting them a single time. Just to be sure, he tosses the eye again, and it drifts the same way, hovering over the water. As Dream wades into the ocean, the eye shatters and he curses. Standing in knee-deep water, he takes out another ender pearl and repeats the steps for a new eye.
He takes out a crafting table, placing it down and pulls out some wooden planks when a shrill noise reaches his ears. Two dolphins are jumping out of the water in the distance. Dream puts his things away and starts swimming over as fast as he can.
When the dolphins notice him, they make a beeline in his direction, splashing at him when they get close. One of them is a lighter gray than the other. It bumps against his legs, the other swims around him in circles.
‘Hey, there,’ he says, when the lighter one pushes its nose against his hand. It lets out a happy chitter as it pushes again before swimming away and looking back at him with anticipation. The darker one maneuvers itself underneath one of his arms, slotting his hand around its fin and takes off. With the dolphins speed, he puts more distance in between him and the hunters than he would have if he had used a boat. Occasionally he puts his head underwater, keeping a look out for the stronghold.
After a good ten minutes of swimming, a faint glow of light catches his eye. He nudges the dolphin, who seems to understand his gesture and dives. His ears pop as they dive deeper and deeper. The light shines through iron bars, and Dream would have let out a celebratory cheer if he wasn’t a few feet from the ocean floor. The water makes it hard to break through the stone, and his lungs burn when he finally destroys one of the blocks and worms his way through, taking in a deep gulp of musty air. He waves goodbye to the dolphins, who let out a few chitters before swimming off again.
Dream blocks off the hole and walks up the steps to the portal. Two eyes are already slotted into place, so he takes out an additional nine ender pearls and turns them into eyes of ender. Silverfish try to gnaw on his feet, and he crushes them beneath his boots as he moves around the portal frame, slotting the eyes of ender into place. When he comes to the last spot, he hesitates; the hunters will feel the shift in the atmosphere when he activates it. He checks his inventory one last time. Spectral arrows from the piglins, one extra ender pearl, food, armor, his axe and his bow.
He pulls out the compass, watching the needle settle in his direction before letting it fall to the floor and crushing it under his boot. No more running, not after this game, he’s going to make sure of it.
He activates the portal, ignoring the heavy feeling in his stomach and jumps in.
-
He spawns on a small obsidian platform floating above a dark abyss. He hears the dragon roar as she awakes from her slumber, ready to defend herself and her egg. Dream takes out the ender pearl and chucks it, safely landing on the yellow stone of the main island. With the golden arrows nocked in his bow, he starts taking out the crystals.
He takes out six of the towers before the dragon lands on her perch in the middle.
He circles around her, avoiding her snapping jaws and fire breath, chipping away at her protective scales to expose the soft flesh underneath. He avoids her claws as she charges at him and takes off. Her tail swings wildly behind her, slamming into his chest and sending him several feet away. His head and back painfully slam into the stone.
Blinking the spots away, he stands up and grabs his bow again, aiming for the remaining towers.
A sharp pain shoots through his leg and he stumbles, managing to catch himself before he falls. An arrow is sticking out of his thigh, blood slowly staining the fabric of his pants red.
‘I got him!’ Sapnaps voice calls out.
The three hunters have arrived in the End, with full iron armor and a desire to see him dead. Dream runs before they can get close.
Each step sends sparks of fire through his leg. He runs to one of the obsidian towers, jumps and places a block under his feet, starting to tower up on the side of the pillar. Sapnaps blade skims the edge of the cobblestone he’s standing on, unable to reach. Dream builds to a higher spot before making a little wall around himself to stop any more arrows and slides down until he sits with his back against the obsidian.
The arrow is still stuck in his leg, and he pulls it out with a wince. The blood flows quicker now that there’s no longer a blockage. Hissing through his teeth, he grabs a piece of cloth and wraps it tightly around the wound. It quickly soaks through, but it’s the best he can do for now. With bloody fingers he grabs his bow again, taking aim at the hunters below. George has started to build up underneath him, and Dream sends him scrambling for cover when an arrow lands at his feet. Sapnap is mirroring him on the other side. Dreams arrow lands in the shield he pulls up, but the force sends him tumbling off. He lands flat on the ground and stays there, unmoving. Unconscious, maybe, but not dead. When Dream aims for his body, Bad stands in front of it protectively.
Something flies above his head, and George appears before his mind can warn him about the noise of an ender pearl landing.
He catches Georges blade with the handle of his axe. Dreams back is pushed up against the tower as George looms over him, standing on the wall. He’s almost afraid the wood is going to snap from the force George is putting on it.
George laughs. ‘You are so dead!’
A purple light frames Georges head like a halo, and Dream has only one second to push him away before the dragons fire engulfs him.
-
He’s in stasis.
His boots sink away in the soft sand of a desert.
He screams the moment there’s air in his lungs.
-
He clutches at the sand that slips through his fingers, dragging his arms towards himself as the anguish washes over him like a wave. He was so close! In the End, finally, after so many tries he’d come so far, only to have it ripped from his grasp like a cruel game of tug of war. If only he’d been faster, smarter, he would have won.
But it’s not about winning, not really. It hasn’t been about winning for a long time. They’ll be back again like this someday, with a new cycle with new worlds and new scars.
But he’d been so close to finally have a chance to rest.
This time, with the adrenaline from a previous life coursing through his veins, he fights.
He jumps on the nearest hunter, forcing them to the ground and fights. He fights until his knuckles bleed and his mouth tastes like iron. His vision blurs when someone strikes him across the face, eyes filling with tears as his nose throbs with pain. Someone respawns.
Dream yells until his throat hurts and an uneven point of a wooden sword pricks at his back.
-
I don’t want to go back, Dream thinks as he drifts.
The void returns him anyway.
-
He runs. He runs until the hunters are gone and the moon rises. With burning muscles and lungs begging for air, he collapses at the bank of a river. Trembling fingers slide the mask off his face, letting it fall in the grass beside him.
His eyes, once green, now glow a soft purple.
He stays. He stays too long.
A sword at his neck. He doesn’t even feel it draw blood before the world goes black.
-
He’s surrounded by snow. The cold slowly seeps into his bones, bites at his fingers. Could he die here, he wonders, without even taking a single step, if he waited long enough.
He needs to start moving; if he waits for too long, he’ll be sluggish and shaky. It feels like there’s lead in his shoes, keeping them planted on the same spot. He needs to move. He can hear the hunters behind him, complaining.
‘What are you waiting for?’ someone yells.
He doesn’t know.
He runs.
The snow-covered land is barren, offering him no chances of escaping the people on his tail.
They chase him until the strays rise from the ground, arrows aimed at his head.
It was getting too cold anyway.
Like frost on a window, the scars form on his fingers.
-
There’s hands on his shoulders, on his head, pushing him into the dirt. A knee digs into his back.
‘What was that?’
‘You didn’t even try!’
Whatever, he thinks. Just get it over with. He doesn’t care. Why should he?
He quits.
The hands disappear, as does the weight on his back and the ground beneath him. There’s no numb feeling as he drifts, tired and empty.
He waits until there’s ground under his feet.
It doesn’t come.
-
He doesn’t know how long he stays in the void. For the first time, he’s opened his eyes, if only out of boredom. There is a sun, but no light shines through the darkness and no warmth reaches his skin. He stares at it until his eyes hurt, and then looks at the moon instead. White and cold, rising parallel to its counterpart, just as distant.
The void will put him back eventually, he knows. He’s scared of what he’ll do when it does.
But staying scares him just as much.
It’s calm here, he thinks. Isn’t that what you wanted?
It is, but it’s lonely.
That is, until he feels something else there with him.
One of the voices sounds like rain. The singing of ice and the murky water of the swamps. The guardians in their ocean temples. Like diamonds and lapis lazuli. The open sky after a storm.
‘It is here,’ Cyan says.
The other sounds like rustling leaves. Like fields of grass and emeralds glittering in caves. The oppressive warmth of the jungle and the hissing of creepers.
‘It is not supposed to be,’ Green says.
The voices echo in the void. He doesn’t hear them with his ears. They float around him, everywhere and nowhere, like oil in water.
‘Who are you?’ Dream asks, he doesn’t even question how his words are carried on air that doesn’t exist.
He more so feels Green hum than hear it. ‘That depends on what you call us.’
‘Sometimes we’re gods,’ Cyan says. ‘Sometimes we’re voices. The light and dark. Zeros and ones. Words on a screen.’
‘That doesn’t make sense,’ Dream mumbles.
‘Maybe somewhere else it does.’
‘What do you want?’ Dream asks.
Cyan shifts closer. ‘There is nothing for us to want. We found you here instead of the dream you’re supposed to have.’
‘I don’t want to go back,’ Dream tells them.
‘Why not?’
‘I’m tired of it!’ he yells. ‘I don’t want to do it anymore! Even when I try my hardest I can’t win, and even if I win it doesn’t matter.’
‘Why not?’ Green asks this time.
‘It’s going to reset anyway,’ Dream says, his voice reduced to a whisper. ‘I want it to stop.’
Something cradles him, holds him instead of letting him drift.
‘If you don’t want to return to that dream, then dream of something else,’ Cyan says.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Dream mumbles.
‘We may not be able to do much,’ Green says. ‘May not be able to tell you the things you want to hear even though you won’t be able to understand them yet, but we can help.’
‘How?’
‘You dream,’ Cyan says. ‘You are Dream, that’s what you call yourself, but you also are a dream. A dream inside a dream, you dream of clouds and forests and others like you.’
‘You dream of hunting, of being hunted,’ Green says.
‘You can dream of something else, something different,’ Cyan says. ‘But you would leave something behind. Something broken.’
‘Something precious.’
‘I’m not leaving them behind,’ Dream says. If he went somewhere else, anywhere else, and didn’t take them with him, he’d be just as lonely as he is here.
‘Of course not,’ Cyan says. ‘They belong with you.’
Something shifts.
It’s no longer the void. It’s his void. He can make it something. Something familiar. Something different.
He creates a new world.
-
Grass blades peek through his fingers, the sun warms his back. He’s kneeling on the ground, plains stretching out around him before giving way to an oak forest. Cows lazily chew on some grass in the distance.
He feels lighter, somehow.
A hand brushes against his shoulder, and he scrambles away in a panic. Sapnap is crouched down next to him, hand outstretched. He’s not supposed to be able to move, Dream thinks. He hasn’t moved out of the barrier, he’s-
But looking at George and Bad, who are both frozen on the spot, he realizes there is nothing separating them from the outside world.
‘Dream,’ Sapnap says with a strangled voice. ‘What the fuck happened?’
‘I-’ he starts, but his voice doesn’t cooperate with him. He holds his hands out in front of him.
Stop shaking, he tells them. They don’t listen.
‘Dream?’ Georges voice sounds closer than he should be. His shoes appear in Dreams vision before he kneels down.
‘Fuck,’ Dream chokes out. ‘I don’t… I don’t know.’ The grass rustles as Bad sits down next to him.
‘There was… like, a flash,’ Bad says. ‘Or something. And I heard your voice. I heard your voice a lot, actually.’
‘Like there were multiple of you,’ George mumbles. ‘Different versions.’
Dream takes a few shaky breath before he finds his voice again. ‘I was stuck,’ he says. ‘I had to kill the Ender Dragon while you guys would come after me to try and stop me.’
‘I remember,’ Bad says, staring at the ground. Dream looks at him. ‘You told me, one time,’ Bad continues, now looking Dream in the eye. ‘In the End, you told me everything.’
‘I did,’ Dream says.
‘In that cave,’ Sapnap butts in. ‘When you lost your mask, you said I gave you that scar.’ His eyes glance over Dreams face, which is hidden once again. ‘I didn’t even remember it.’
‘None of you did,’ Dream says. ‘Every time I died, you all forgot everything.’
The trees rustle in the wind as a moment of silence falls between them.
‘Holy fuck,’ Sapnap says as the revelation sinks in. ‘We killed you so many times.’
Dream laughs shortly. ‘Yeah, you guys are better than you think.’
‘It’s not still like that, is it?’ Bad asks, looking between the four of them.
‘Well, you’re not strangling me,’ Dream says. George and Sapnap both let out a startled laugh as Bad gives him a look.
‘I’m serious!’
Dream chuckles softly at Bads exclamation before a solemn feeling settles in his stomach.
With trembling hands, Dream slides the mask off his face.
Fingers brush against soft skin, no scars to be found. Then they touch something wet. Dream hadn’t even noticed he was crying. George lays a hand on his cheek, wiping the tears away.
‘It’s the first you,’ George says as Sapnap curls around Dream, clutching onto him like he’ll disappear if he lets go.
‘It’s always been me,’ Dream says with a shaky voice.
‘Stop, you’re gonna make me cry,’ Sapnap says, as if there aren’t tears in his eyes already.
‘Group hug!’ Bad calls out and throws his arms around George and Dream, since Sapnap is out of his reach. The weight pushes Dream backwards onto the ground, his three friends keeping him pinned down.
‘What are we gonna do now?’ George asks.
‘We can just live here, can’t we?’ Sapnap says. ‘Grow all old and wrinkly.’
Bad chuckles. ‘Like George?’
Dream laughs as George lets out a noise of protest.
The sun stands high in the sky by the time they untangle themselves from each other and get to work on a shelter for the night. They built a house from wood near the forest. It’s small and basic, with only one room that holds their crafting table and furnaces and their beds, but it’s enough.
It’s home.
-
There’s hands on his throat, cold and rough. A weight on his chest holds him down. He can’t move. He can’t breathe-
Something touches Dreams shoulder, and instantly he’s transported to a different place. It’s dark. He’s curled up on his side, his hands clamped around soft fabric. There’s a hand on his shoulder, gentle and warm and real. Dream grabs it and holds onto it like a lifeline.
‘You okay?’ Even though Sapnaps voice is soft, it’s still too loud for Dreams just awoken ears. Dream forces himself to breathe slower, deeper. He nods into his pillow.
‘’M fine,’ he says, voice more stable than he feels. ‘Sorry if I woke you up.’
‘It’s okay, I was having a nightmare anyway.’
There’s a moment of silence before the hand disappears, and Dream almost tells him to come back before the bed dips behind him and a solid weight settles against his back. He scoots over to the other side, turning around so he faces Sapnap. His eyes are half-open, heavy with sleep he’s not getting, but still studying Dreams face with a knowing look like he’s perfectly awake.
‘You wanna talk about it?’ Sapnap whispers.
He doesn’t, really. He doesn’t want to think about it any longer than he has to, the feeling of death too fresh in his mind.
‘Tell me about yours,’ he says, like someone else’s nightmares won’t remind him of his own.
Sapnap closes his eyes, as if trying to recall the images to the front of his mind. Just when Dream thinks he’s fallen asleep, Sapnap answers.
‘I was chasing you,’ he mumbles, ‘through a swamp, and I couldn’t run. Like those dreams where you run but you move really slow, and you got further and further ahead. And then suddenly I’m in the End with Bad- I don’t know where George was, but you already killed the dragon and jumped into the portal.’ Sapnap takes in a short breath. ‘And then you were gone, and nothing happened and I realize I’m just… stuck there. You left and you didn’t come back, and I got so angry at you for leaving us behind.’ Sapnap squeezes his hand, and in the low light of the moon Dream notices his eyes are wet with tears. ‘And I know it wasn’t real, but… it still felt real, y’know?’
‘Yeah,’ Dream whispers. ‘I know.’
-
When Dream wakes up again, there’s morning light filtering in through the window. Something heavy lays on his side, cutting off the circulation in his arm. Looking down he finds Sapnaps head leaning on his shoulder, clinging to him like a monkey.
‘Sapnap,’ he mumbles, voice heavy from sleep. Sapnaps face scrunches up, betraying he’s no longer asleep. ‘Sapnap, we have to get up.’ Sapnap just groans in response. ‘Sap, come on.’ Dream pushes against his shoulder with minimal effort. The only thing he accomplishes is that Sapnaps wordless complains rise in volume.
Dream breathes deeply in and out, watching Sapnap rise and fall with his chest. ‘I’m going to starve if you keep me here.’
‘You’re a big baby,’ Sapnap mumbles as he uncurls himself. Dreams arm starts tingling when his nerves are no longer restrained. Before he can voice this, however, Sapnap lets out a yelp before he disappears from Dreams view. There’s a loud thud as Sapnap lands on the floor, one leg still on the bed from where he slipped off.
Dream laughs as Sapnap throws a pillow in his face, nightmares forgotten.
-
This time, when he chases George, it’s because he stole Dreams slice of pumpkin pie. George laughs as he vaults over chairs and workstations, yelling for Sapnap to get Dream of his tail. It doesn’t look like Sapnap has any intention of intervening, however, happily watching the chaos unfold while he digs into his own piece of pie.
Eventually Dream manages to grab a handful of Georges shirt, pulling him back. His own momentum pushes him forwards into his friend, who doesn’t find his balance fast enough, and they land on the floor. Dream leans over George, a victorious grin on his face that disappears when he notices the way George tenses up, eyes that are no longer hidden behind glasses widening in fear. Dream scrambles off him immediately.
‘Uhm,’ he mumbles, not really knowing what to say. ‘Sorry… about that.’
‘It’s-’ George pushes himself up on his elbows, sitting upright. ‘It’s fine. It just… reminded me.’
‘Oh,’ Dream says. ‘I get it, it’s okay.’
George lets out a frustrated sigh. ‘It’s not. It’s stupid.’ He runs a hand through his hair. Dream shuffles over, nudging Georges shoulder.
‘You’re not getting any pie next time,’ he says. George smacks his arm, but at least there’s a small smile forming on his face.
It’s better to make jokes about it than to have the crushing guilt of having murdered your friends multiple times weigh down on you.
-
The portal they build stands outside, near their house. Open and visible, made from actual mined obsidian instead of tricks with buckets. Dream, Sapnap and George step through, leaving Bad behind to watch the house. It leads them to a red forest. They push through vines and weirdly solid leaves and George cheers as he spots a fortress in the distance. Dream gets to it first, taking the lead to glance around corners since the fortress is partially buried in the netherrack. He slinks through the dark hallways, taking out wither skeletons with a single sweep of his axe as he keeps an eye out for a blaze spawner.
‘Dream!’ His hand instinctively reaches for his axe when something tugs at his clothes. George is holding him back, breathing heavily. Behind them Sapnap is bend over with his hands on his knees.
‘You’re going too fast,’ George says. ‘You gotta wait for us.’
Dream feels a pang of guilt when he takes them in. He’s not alone here, they’re a team.
‘Sorry,’ he says.
‘It’s okay,’ Sapnap says, righting himself. ‘Just… slow down a little.’
Dream forces himself to take his time. It’s a little unsettling to listen for the footsteps behind him while he walks, but it’s faster than looking over his shoulder every couple of seconds to see if they can keep up with him.
Eventually the hallways open up to bridges. Dream can make out the raised platform of a spawner in the distance.
‘There’s a spawner on the other side,’ he says.
‘Should we all go in together?’ George asks.
‘No, no, I got this. Watch me.’ Sapnap doesn’t give them a chance to respond before striding past them into the lion’s den. George looks at Dream, who only shrugs before taking a stand at the bottom of the stairs, keeping watch for any stray blazes that may escape Sapnaps clutches.
It’s not so much the blazes that keep them busy, but instead the wither skeletons that creep up from behind corners. Dream’s pretty sure he’s killed more of them during this time in the Nether than in any of his runs. A quick glance over the edge reveals an expanse of soul sand.
A stray fireball whizzes past his head. If not for his mask, Dream would have had second degree burns.
‘Sapnap!’ he yells, turning in the direction of the spawner.
‘Sorry!’ is the response he gets.
He turns back just in time to see a wither skeleton making its way over to George, who is oblivious to the danger behind him.
Dream shoves him out of the way, feeling the stone blade nick his shoulder through his chestplate. With one sweep he disconnects the head from the body, and the charred bones clatter to the floor before turning to dust.
‘Are you okay?’ he asks George, who is looking at him from the floor, starstruck.
‘I- yeah, thanks.’
Dream offers him a hand, pulling him up when George takes it. The cut stings. He can feel the blood dripping down his back.
‘We should really block this off,’ George says, taking out some netherrack. Dream nods, and copies George on the other side of the path, only leaving their escape route open. His shoulder starts to ache. He places a hand on the top of it, not being able to reach all the way back.
‘Are you okay?’ George asks him this time.
‘I’ll be fine. It’s just a scratch.’
‘A scratch could be a whole lot coming from a wither skeleton.’ George moves over. ‘Let me check.’
When Dream puts up a hand to push him away, his shoulder protests by turning the ache into a painful burning feeling. It’s starting to spread from the cut, trailing over to between his shoulder blades. George makes him sit down, undoing his chestplate before lifting it over his head.
Somehow, even with being in the Nether, Dream feels cold. He knows what it is before George even has to say it.
‘Dream, it’s…’
Dream vaguely remembers watching the black tendrils snake up his leg with a burning feeling before it retracted faster than it grew, leaving only a normal, bleeding cut behind.
‘Wither,’ he says.
George curses. ‘Did you bring milk?’ he asks urgently. Dream shakes his head. It hadn’t even crossed his mind when he gathered his things before the trip. He’d never had the luxury of milk, and there hadn’t been enough close calls with wither skeletons for him to deem it necessary.
Go in, gather the rods, get out. Don’t stay longer than you have to.
He hears George call for Sapnap, who appears with soot on his face and his armor singed. ‘What happened?’ he asks as he makes his way over.
‘Do you have milk?’ Sapnap shakes his head, realization dawning on his face. ‘Great, help me get Dream back to the portal.’ George puts a hand around Dreams waist, hoisting him up. Dream hisses when the burning intensifies, spreading to his chest and arm. Sapnap quickly moves to Dreams other side.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Dream protests. ‘I got withered before, it’s not going to kill me.’
It’s not, he forces himself to think. He’s not dying. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen if he does. Panic seizes his chest as he recalls the void pulling him in, the numb feeling of his body repairing itself as it forces him back in a new world with scars and friends that don’t remember him dying over and over-
He feels the wither spread like there’s vines growing in his veins.
‘I don’t want to die,’ he chokes out.
He feels Georges hold on him tighten. His legs feel too heavy.
‘Dream, you’re-’
The front of his chest burns as the wither reaches his heart, and Dreams eyes flutter shut. Immediately he opens them again, finding himself on something soft, the burning feeling quickly fading away like it was never there.
He bolts upright, taking in the familiar wooden walls, their chests, their workstations, their home. Bad is taking something out of a furnace, and the smell of baked bread fills Dreams nose. He can only stare at his friends back, his chest feeling too tight. Faintly he realizes he’s breathing too fast.
Bad almost drops the bread as he turns around, startled by Dreams sudden appearance.
‘You’re back already? Where’s George and Sapnap?’
Dream only manages to make a strangled noise. His hands are shaking, he can’t slow his breathing. This isn’t good.
Bad quickly notices this as well, depositing the bread haphazardly on the table before making his way over to Dreams bedside.
‘Dream, you have to breathe slower,’ he says. ‘I know you can do it. Just hold it for a few seconds before breathing out. There ya go.’
With Bads help and encouragements, Dream slowly manages to get his breathing under control. Bad holds onto his hand, helping him stay grounded in the mess that is his thoughts.
‘What happened?’ Bad asks after a few minutes, when Dream feels like he isn’t going to revert back into panic-mode.
‘I-’ Dream starts, trailing off as he stares at the bed beneath him. He respawned. An actual respawn, bed and everything. No pull, no void to drift through.
He’s not sure if he misses it.
-
Bad offers him a piece of the bread he’s made, but Dream waves it off; he doesn’t feel like eating right now. He worries about George and Sapnap, who are now alone in the Nether. He feels restless, waiting in the house for them to get back not knowing how they’re doing. When he can no longer sit still, he grabs an axe and tells Bad he’s going to chop down some trees. Bad waves at him as he walks out.
The work distracts him, having the familiar weight of an axe in his hands and the strain in his arms. He stays near the portal, occasionally glancing over to see if either of his friends have appeared. After cutting down a few oak trees, he’s replanting the saplings when he hears the hum of the portal grow louder.
George comes through first, followed closely by Sapnap. They tumble over each other, falling onto the grass. They’re both covered in soot and slightly singed. At first Dream thinks there’s blood on their clothes, but when he steps closer he realizes it’s just red dust from the netherrack.
‘Dream!’ Sapnap exclaims when he spots him, accidentally shoving his elbow in Georges stomach when he tries to get up. He almost tackles Dream to the floor when he throws his arms around him. Dream glances over Sapnaps shoulder to George, who makes his way over with a hand on his stomach and a relieved smile on his face.
‘Glad to see you’re still here,’ he says.
Dream smiles. ‘You’re not getting rid of me that easily.’
-
Once they’re inside George and Sapnap empty their inventories. Twelve blaze rods are laid out on the table, next to a pile of nether ward and some soul sand. They even managed to find a saddle, together with some gold and diamond horse armor. Sapnap triumphantly pulls out three diamonds, adding them to the collection. All in all, a good find.
Then they take out Dreams things, the ones he left behind when he died. Iron armor, his tools. Dream just puts it on his bed, he’ll clean it up later.
George pulls out something else and holds it out to Dream. It’s his mask, blackened and cracked.
‘You left it behind when you, uh, yeah…’ he says, as Dream takes it. One of the straps is frayed and burnt, it crumbles in his fingers. He’s not sure if it’ll even stay on his head.
He hadn’t even missed it. He doesn’t know if he should have.
‘Thanks,’ Dream says, sitting down in a chair. He tries to wipe some of the soot away, but it only results in a black smear across one of the eyes.
‘What’s wrong?’ Sapnap asks. Dream sighs, rubs a hand across his face.
The smiley face stares back at him.
Blood spattered across the unwavering smile. Scars always hidden.
‘I don’t know if I want to wear this anymore,’ Dream mumbles.
‘Why not?’ Bad asks.
‘It’s…’ Dream groans. ‘I hate it and I don’t. It’s weird. It’s weird seeing my face like it’s normal and I don’t… I don’t know if seeing this is better.’
‘We could make you a new one,’ Bad offers. ‘Something different. Maybe something smaller, or- ooh, one of those pretty ones that they wear during parties. Uh- masquerades.’
‘Like a princess during a masquerade ball waiting for your prince charming,’ Sapnap butts in. He gets on one knee, dramatically placing a hand over his heart and reaching out with the other. ‘Please dance with me, Dream,’ he says in a high-pitched voice.
Dream pushes him over with his foot.
‘I’ll think about it,’ he says, placing the mask on the table.
The talking about masquerade balls apparently has given Sapnap an idea. He takes one of the diamonds and moves to a crafting table. When he’s done he places down a juke box and starts rummaging in one of their chests, pulling out a disc.
‘George, dance with me,’ he demands as he places the disc in the player.
‘What?’ George says with a startled laugh. ‘No.’
‘Geooorge,’ Sapnap begs him.
Bad nudges Dreams arm. ‘Can you go get some water?’ he says. Dream nods, standing up and grabbing an empty bucket. There’s a river not too far from the house, so Dream makes his way over. His own face stares back at him as he dips the bucket in the water, with green eyes and freckles and a distinct lack of scars. He turns away and heads back. Bad has set down a cauldron by the workstations. Dream fills it up.
George has given in to Sapnaps demands, probably realizing he’s not getting out of whatever Sapnap has set his mind to. Sapnap is holding one of his hands, the other placed on Georges waist. Together they shuffle clumsily back and forth in what must have been a formal dance if either of them were even a little bit better at coordinating.
‘Stop stepping on my foot,’ George complains.
‘Stop putting your feet under my feet,’ Sapnap retorts.
Eventually Sapnap tries to get George to spin. It’s clunky and awkward and instead of a graceful twirl George stumbles into Sapnap, who instantly wraps his arms around him and starts swaying to the music.
After a minute of containment George seemingly has had enough and lets himself fall against Sapnap, pulling all his body weight down. Sapnap struggles to keep him on his feet as George stretches out like a cat.
‘George, stop,’ Sapnap says. ‘Oh my god, you suck.’ George just laughs as he slips further and further down. Eventually Sapnap is holding him up by his armpits, Georges legs stretched out in front of him. With a huff Sapnap lets him go, stepping away so George flops backwards. The smile on Sapnaps face falls away when Georges head bonks on the floor.
‘Oh shit, are you okay?’
‘Language,’ Bad pipes up.
George just laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as he leans on his elbow. ‘I’m fine. Ow.’
Sapnap turns to Dream. ‘Dream, your turn.’
‘Wait, wha-’ is all Dream manages to say before Sapnap pulls him to the middle of the room. George lets out an undignified yelp as Sapnap almost stumbles over him.
‘You’re just gonna leave me on the floor?’ he asks, offended.
‘You were a terrible dance partner, anyway,’ Sapnap says.
‘As if you were any better.’
Bad pulls George to his feet and takes him to the cauldron, taking out a cloth that he dips in the water before wiping the soot off Georges face. Dream smiles when George pulls away with a frown, complaining that the water is too cold.
Dream doesn’t think about dark skies or scorching fire. Instead, as Sapnap swings their arms back and forth, he thinks Sapnap is a terrible dancer.