Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been months when they first saw it.

It had been months since they had shut out the manipulator with the green hoodie and cheery smiley, sent him beyond the barriers of the SMP, and told him to never come back within their lands. 

It had been months since they saw the last glimpse of the pristine porcelain mask as it turned on its heel and walked away into the woods, disappearing behind the dense woods that marked the edge of their lands.

It had been months since they had heard the last noise that left the man’s mouth, a whispered sigh that sounded disappointed and somehow managed to hold that same infuriating condescending touch it always had.

It had been months since the worst villain their nation had ever seen had walked past the extents of their borders and given them one last cruel smile.

It had been months since Tubbo had stepped down as president, creating an equal land with no true ruler and forming peace with one of the most powerful men on the SMP.

It had been months since the server began to rebuild itself from the constant fighting, building up their world with no need for any big fighting or wars or betrayal.

It had been months since they had rid the server of their worst and most powerful enemy, the one who had built up all of the pain that had echoed around the lands since the nations had been built.

It had been months since they had last seen the man in the mask, the man who had hands stained with the blood of nearly every single person on their lands, everyone’s most deadly enemy.

It had been months since Dream had been exiled when they first found his body.

--

Technoblade had been going out to check on his turtle farm, Phil and Ghostbur’s voices buzzing happily at him through his communicator, when he found it. A corpse of someone, clothes and skin rotting, was bumping lazily against the dark wood of his farm where it had floated in from the river.

The scent of rotting flesh was pungent and horrid, almost like a zombie or two had been lying in wait to attack. It smelled like that but worse, like a drowned had crawled out of a river and sat itself down on the shore for all to see and all to smell.

Techno nearly gagged as he watched the waterlogged corpse bob with every soft wave that washed through the river. He carefully made his way past his fences and overcrowded space of turtles, walking straight up to the corpse.

It was floating on its stomach, blonde hair stained dark with water and something that looked like blood but was too old to tell clearly. Techno couldn’t tell who it was from where it was currently, only that it was wearing a disgustingly decaying hoodie and that the tanned skin was bloated and greasy. 

“-echno?” Phil’s voice sounded through the communicator, breaking the spell of horror Techno had been under.

Techno had dealt with corpses before, of course. He wasn’t a squeamish man. They were common in the lands he and his friends populated. Usually, though, they either looked peaceful after being poisoned, or they were gory. None of them were quite so… nauseating.

“Techno, buddy, what happened?” Phil’s vaguely distorted voice came through once again, and Techno shook his head. 

“There’s… it’s a dead body.”

“What? You went kinda quiet there, mind repeatin’ that?” 

“There’s a fuckin’ corpse, Phil. There’s a corpse in my turtle farm,” Techno gestured aggressively at the body before him, ignoring that no one on the call could currently see him.

“Wh- who is it?” Ghostbur cut in, the horror in his voice a stark contrast from the usual airy happiness.

“I don’t know, I haven’t touched it! It’s just floatin’ there, on my fuckin’ farm!” Techno snapped at the blinking green lights from his communicator, earning nothing but silence.

“D’you want to get it on your own, or should I come over to pull it out with you?” Phil asked gently. After a minute without response, he tried again. “Techno?”

The man in question had crept closer to the body, crouching down on his knees and sitting close enough that he could reach out and touch the tips of the scummy fingernails on the outstretched hand if he wanted to. There was dirt and random shit stuck underneath them, creating thin dark lines that Techno’s eyes were strangely drawn to.

He stared at that little line for a good few minutes before he finally responded to the calls coming from his friends within the communicator. “I’ve… I’ll get it out. I’ll take the thing out.” 

Techno flicked the small device off, hanging it back onto his belt and missing Phil’s response telling him that he’d be heading over anyway. The pig sat at the edge of the water on the wall of soaked wood, staring at the body before him. From his current vantage point, he couldn’t see any defining features on the body. 

It looked like it would have been a relatively lean man, tall and skinny but well-muscled. The flesh was bloated now, skin puffed up and waterlogged from however long the body had been floating about within the murky waters of the river and the ocean it had likely come from.

The smell was even worse now, burning into Techno’s nose and making his eyes water with the painfully terrible fumes that washed from the dead body and over the small area. The turtles were shying away from it as well, Techno noticed.

Techno carefully reached forward, tentatively grabbing the wrist. He actively gagged this time, the clammy flesh disgustingly squishy underneath his fingers. There were little bits of skin that actively gave way beneath his hands and those, those were definitely the worst, fingers digging into what felt like actual flesh as he pulled the wet body forward and onto the wood.

It took only a few seconds to pull the corpse forward and onto its stomach on the wood, but Techno dropped the arms of the body like they had burned him as soon as it was far enough onto his little structure.

He knew getting it onto the wood wasn’t enough, though. Carefully, he reached his hand into the hood of the man’s jacket, fighting the pure revlusion that climbed up his throat and made him want to drop it. Once he had a firm grasp on the disintegrating fabric, he began to drag the body forward. He only made it a foot or two before he dropped it again, however.

The body lying on its belly only made it difficult to move and to tell who it was. Techno would need to flip the body to be able to haul it to the dirt at the end of the structure. The pig stood up straight, stretching his arms up above his head before bringing them back down and shaking out his hands.

This was going to be disgusting.

Whoever this was’s face was likely also going to be disgusting.

Techno took a few deep breaths, regretting it when the smell washed into his nose and made him tear up. 

He wasn’t squeamish, he really wasn’t, but this wasn’t a normal body, and this wasn’t a normal situation. He didn’t usually have to pull corpses out of his farms or touch them at all. He could leave them alone, or, if they were mobs, he could let their bodies despawn.

Any person in the server who still had canon lives just ended up respawning, which meant their bodies despawn from where they had dropped dead. Really, no one ever had to deal with corpses. It was nice.

And yet.

And yet here Techno was, with some person who hadn’t despawned. That meant that either one of the L’Manberg men had lost their last canon life and he hadn’t been alerted, or that there was a seriously weird glitch going on.

Techno turned as far away as he could, taking a deep breath that was still only semi-free of corpse-air. He shook his hands out once more and turned back to the body, digging his fingers into the revoltingly frail flesh, giving way so easily under Techno’s hands. The hoodie was coming apart too, the texture similar to cardboard and falling apart somewhat like it.

The body was flipped in one quick movement, Techno immediately walking back into the snow to wipe the gore and dirt off of his hands, dirtying the pure white snow that was previously marred only by his soft footsteps. 

He hadn’t looked at it, hadn’t touched it any further. He had flipped it and immediately walked away in fear of throwing up all over his farm. That would be a bitch to clean, and it’d make the entire situation even more disgusting.

Techno stood in the snow for a moment, breathing in the aggressively crisp air and relishing in the slight burn it caused in his throat. It was so much better than the air just a few feet away, the air that stank with the scent of rotting flesh like the body had been there for days already.

It was clean over here, and all that was currently in his viewpoint was worlds of snow, a few hills, and in the far distance, his home, wood and stone making a satisfyingly picture-perfect place that fit into the snow biome as if it had grown along with the trees. 

But he knew he had to turn back to the body. He had to identify it, and then he could burn it, or bury it. (If he thought about it for a second, burying sounded like a better option. Keeping around the scent of charred rotten flesh sounded… undesirable, to say the least.

Techno stood for another minute, staring at the snow with growing apprehension. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do it if he didn’t get to it now, though, so he turned around once more, walking over to the body.

When Techno saw the face of the corpse, he gagged once again, although the disgust that was generated by this was different.

The first and most glaringly obvious thing he noticed was that this was Dream’s body. Dream was dead, right here, right in front of him, and by the looks of it, he’d been dead for a little while. And yet, nobody had gotten the little message alerting them to the admin’s death.

The idea that this might have been Dream’s corpse hadn’t even crossed his mind, the man seemingly untouchable by something so mortal as dying. It was strange to think of Dream as just another person, someone who could still feel pain and die like the rest of the people on the server.

The second feeling that rose right after the shock had begun to dissipate was pure disgust. Dream’s face was rotting, one of his cheeks stabbed through to the point where you could see teeth from the outside. There were little bits of white material dug into various places in the man’s face, old blood staining the tan skin.

The front of the body was faring no better in general, everything in the same state of disrepair and waterlog. Now that Techno had a better view, it was quite obviously the villain’s hoodie, just soaked and draped over a considerably skinnier figure.

Techno was only able to look at the face of the body for a minute or so, Dream’s previously bright emerald eyes now dull and unseeing with death. It was scary to see someone who always seemed so strong completely gone.

It seemed so weird. Everyone in the server had been waiting for Dream to come back with an army, ready to destroy all the progress they had made and get rid of the carefully constructed nations of peace they had worked so hard to build.

To know that he had died, that he could die, nearly didn’t make sense. This was the most powerful person on the server, known for always wanting more despite what he already had. The idea of Dream being dead didn’t fit right in Techno’s mind.

And for another thing that seemed wrong… Techno didn’t know how to feel about the death itself.

On one hand, Dream had been a friend. A long, long time ago, they had been nothing more than friendly rivals, people who had fought occasionally but had enjoyed each other's company and hung out together sometimes.

On the other, Dream might have been the worst person the server had ever faced. If you looked at it, nobody was on the right side, they were all idiots who were doing villainous things and believing they were doing the right thing, but Dream didn’t even seem to think he was doing the right thing. Dream was an emotionally abusive schemer who was only beaten when Techno and the best fighters L’Manberg had teamed up.

At some point, Techno stopped avoiding staring at the body and picked it up, gagging at the feeling of its flesh squishing against his shoulder but managing to carry it nearly the entire way to his house before he had to stop.

It was good he had to, anyway. He didn’t know where he was going with the corpse. What was he supposed to do with a corpse? Especially Dream’s corpse?

Techno stood in the snow for a while, staring at the body that laid awkwardly before him. He only moved when Phil arrived, watching as the older man had his own stages of reaction. Phil’s were faster than Techno’s, however, and ended with calling Tubbo and Tommy and the rest of the server.

Eventually, everyone had made it there, and the server descended into the disorder of mixed emotions, Dream’s chaotic influence spreading to the server even in death.

Chapter Text

Dream’s chaos truly did tear them apart, even when he was nothing but a body slumped on the ground before the server he had built up and nearly destroyed.

It took hours before the arguing garnered some kind of conclusion, and nothing was really decided on that first day. The people closest to Dream had left the land quickly, but everyone else had determined that they would be the ones who decided what would happen to the body and anything else.

A fight had broken out during the initial discovery of the body, Sapnap’s grief and Tommy’s strange mix of depression and happiness clashing and turning into something much darker than their frequent short spats. It had nearly ended in losing a life for both of them, but they were torn apart by Phil and Eret before permanent damage was caused. The two teens had been avoiding each other since, but anyone who had seen Tommy had seen the scar healing over one eyebrow.

When the fight had finally ended, the majority of the server left, either not wanting to be around the corpse or not wanting to be around when further anger spiked and any more arguments broke out.  

The remaining people had spent a few hours looking for anything Dream might have been carrying on him, including the enchanted porcelain mask that was so familiar to the citizens of the server. 

They stopped looking when they figured out that the sharp white material stabbed through Dream’s face was shattered pieces of the mask, no one wanting to deal with anything else that might have ended like that. 

Sapnap had been the first to figure out what the material was, and he was the first to leave the group behind, Eret and George following after him quickly. Dream’s two best friends and his sibling had been around each other the most in the four days since the corpse had been found, all of them just as conflicted as the rest of the server, but also all incredibly clear that they would not take people cheering over Dream’s death.

Those three as well as Puffy and Tubbo had been the ones to organize a funeral, the five people working together to split up jobs and make sure that it was well created and just as good as a funeral the server would have for any other member.

Eventually, Sam came in to help as well, adding his own soft touches that made everything run more smoothly and assisting the group in getting the corpse around without further damaging it or having to touch the disgusting flesh and deal with the horrid smell that still wafted from it. 

Sapnap and George had been tasked with building the small platform they were dedicating to Dream, the two men losing themselves in the job that allowed them to just build and follow instructions, stop thinking on their own for a little while. 

Tommy had come to talk to Tubbo and Eret a few times and to look at the beginnings of the funeral place, but he stayed out of Sapnap and George’s way, showing respect in his own way by trying not to start any more fights with his own conflicting feelings. Tubbo had expressed that he agreed with the mixture of grief and happiness but was helping because he felt an obligation to the grieving men instead of Dream himself. Eret disagreed with the sentiment and started avoiding Tommy’s conversations as well, not wanting to engage with someone who was willing to cheer at their family members’ death right in front of them.

Phil had come in to help at some point, offering resources and food so the group of hard workers could take a break. They had all taken the things he had given gratefully, taking a short rest before continuing on. Phil went to leave a little while later but was stopped by Eret, who asked him a bit sheepishly if he could go collect some spruce wood; they were out.

The winged man had agreed immediately, checking his own few chests before determining that he’d need to go out into a forest to get more. He’d decided that he’d take the long route and visit Techno on the way, just to see if the pig was doing alright. 

Techno had been extremely distant from everyone since discovering the corpse (more so than usual, that is), and even though Phil understood it and understood that he probably needed time alone, he was still worried about his friend. A lot of the people on the server felt confused about their emotions regarding Dream’s death, but some were taking it harder than others.

Quackity was truly the only one who seemed clear in his emotions and how he expressed them, giving loud cheers whenever it was brought up, claiming that the end of Dream was the end of all conflict on the server ever. Sapnap had nearly fought him as well, shouting that Dream didn’t need to die for that to happen and that it would’ve been fine to keep him exiled. Eret had once again had to play peacemaker between the two, although the anger simmering in their eyes after Quackity’s words signaled that they felt just the same as Sapnap.

If Phil was being honest, he thought Quackity was wrong as well. Dream was definitely a villain and a horrible person, but he had been exiled. Death was unnecessary, and cheering for it sounded like something Dream would do during the end of the last war when he was acting worse than ever before. Phil hadn’t said anything, though, purposefully not stating any clear opinion on Dream’s death. He wanted to remain neutral for a while.

He stopped by Techno’s home quickly on the way to the spruce forest, but Techno was nowhere to be found. Phil assumed he was off trading with someone in the village or something similar and didn’t attempt searching for him. It’d take a while and he could easily check in on Techno later when he knew he was home or had his communicator on him.

Collecting the wood went quickly, and he was walking back in the direction of Techno’s home and the funeral place when he began to hear someone humming through the layer of thick trees. The voice was vaguely familiar, but Phil couldn’t quite pinpoint who it was uttering the soft tune.

The winged man frowned, making his way past the trees to where the noise was coming from, only to stop dead in his tracks at the edge of a clearing. His mouth fell open in shock, eyes widening.

Dream floated in the center of the clearing, lying on back in the air and humming quietly to himself, hands tucked comfortably under his head. His mask was off, but his hoodie was whole again like he had been returned to the state before he died. His entire body looked like it was faded and then lit up with a soft blue color, giving an icy look to his figure. The edges of his body that should’ve been clear were now faintly misty, almost like someone had blurred his physique . 

He looked positively blissful, swaying gently as he murmured a quiet tune into the still air. His eyes were closed, and he had a lazy smile spread across his face, making him look almost like he was asleep.

Phil took another cautious step forward, wincing as a pile of snow crunched beneath his foot. It had been quiet, but the entire place was silent other than Dream’s humming, and the ghost had definitely heard it. He sat straight up, eyes snapping open.

A sharp gasp slipped from Phil when he saw the eyes, the once bright and sharp emerald eyes reduced to their state after death, milky and glossed over. It was something just on the edge of scary, but it was also terribly sad to see something once so beautiful diminished like that.

The expression of shock on Dream’s face quickly slipped away and he grinned at Phil, a smile spreading happily once again. It didn’t look like Dream’s normal smiles, though, it held none of the condescension or threatening confidence. “Hello there!” The ghost gave a cheerful little wave.

“Oh my gods,” Phil said quietly, staring at Dream as he floated down to the ground, setting his feet down on the snow and walking over to Phil. He left no footprints.

“Are you alright?” The cheerful smile slipped for a moment into a look of concern, the genuine worry on Dream’s face raising a knot of emotions in his stomach that rivaled any confusion this situation had brought so far.

“I’m- Dream?” Phil asked before opening his mouth again in an attempt to get a more comprehensible sentence out. “Holy shit. Oh my gods.” 

“Uh. Yeah, that’s me? Do I know you?” Dream asked, taking a slight step backward and looking at Phil with an expression of hesitation. 

Phil realized what that question meant and thought over his next words carefully. Dream didn’t know who he was, but that didn’t necessarily mean much overall. Phil and Dream didn’t interact very often, and when they did, it was usually within a group, or it just didn’t last long. Dream probably didn’t have particularly strong emotions regarding Phil, even though Phil definitely had some about the masked man. But, if it had something to do with emotion, Dream might remember other people, like Techno and Tommy, or Sapnap and George. It really depended on what memories he had.

Schlatt had come back with all of his memories, and Ghostbur had come back with only the happy ones. However, Ghostbur was quickly remembering other not-so-happy things, although he was clear he didn’t want to speak or think about any of them. The cheerful ghost had purposefully distanced himself from the dark legend that was Wilbur Soot, or, as Ghostbur called him, Alivebur.

Phil took a deep breath before responding. “I… don’t know. I know you, but I don’t know if you know me , ” Phil tried to give a smile, although he wasn’t sure if it worked. “ I’m Phil.” 

“Oh, well, I think that makes sense. I think I’m supposed to know more than I do. But it’s nice to meet you again, Phil!” The easygoing smile returned once again. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was… I was collecting wood.” Phil gave an awkward chuckle, purposefully leaving out why. He didn’t think anyone would enjoy telling a ghost that they were getting materials to build their funeral. He let the silence stay for a moment before swallowing his faint apprehension and finally asking. “What do you remember, Dream?”

Dream gave a sheepish laugh and rubbed the back of his head, ruffling the short hair at the base of his neck. “Honestly, not much. My name is Dream, I’m an admin, I… had friends on here, and I want the server to be a peaceful place. I think I had rules for this place, once. But, uh, that’s it.” 

“That’s all? Do you remember any people?” Phil asked, almost nervous for the response.

Dream thought for a moment before shrugging. “No, no one specific. There were people, friends, but that was… a long time ago, I think, and I don’t think we were friends anymore when I died.”

Phil nodded but didn’t respond out loud, instead considering what he knew now. It sounded like the people Dream was remembering were probably Sapnap and George, on bad terms either because of Dream’s slip up in saying that he didn’t care about anything because of the discs or because of… the whole exile thing and Dream being a manipulative abusive asshole.

(Phil honestly did believe Dream when he said that he still thought of Sapnap and George as best friends. The single sentence that the two had taken so heavily seemed like something Dream had shouted in the heat of the moment because it would make Tommy fear him. Sapnap and George were two of the few Dream would still work to protect. The removal of George from kingship made sense as well considering the heat Dream and his allies were under, but Phil had kept all of these opinions to himself.)

Phil swallowed, once again having to think about his next words. He wasn’t sure if he would like it if he managed to get the ghost to leave or if he’d rather Dream stick around so he could bring him to the rest of the server. “How long have you been out here?” 

“A few days. It’s a little hard to keep track of time, but I think I’ve slept through two nights and been awake for three. The difference between when I came from the After and now is a bit strange too, though, so that makes it a little harder.” Dream answered, looking a little awkward in this conversation.

Phil wondered if Dream would even want to see anyone else. (Honestly, he wasn’t sure Dream was even okay with talking to him.) Phil had no clue if the intense emotions that surrounded people like George and Sapnap and Tommy would do anything to the ghost as he was now, or if he would truly have no idea what had happened or how his previous relationships with them went.

Also, whether or not it would be safe to bring the ghost back to the main section of the server. No one could physically hurt him, but Phil had no clue how interactions between people like Tommy and Quackity with Dream as a ghost might go. Especially Quackity, the one person who had both shown his feelings about the death clearly, and who didn’t try to shelter them in any way, even if it seemed rude.

The safest people to have Dream see or to see Dream would probably be George or Sapnap, but George and Sapnap both lived in their own rebuilt homes near the rest of the players in the server. Walking Dream through that area seemed like a bad idea considering that the entire point of seeing those two specifically was because they would be safe.

Phil thought for another moment or so before an idea popped into his mind. Techno was one of the people he was sure wouldn’t try to do anything to Dream in a state like this, lacking memories or any of the manipulative malevolence that he so commonly exhibited while alive and among the members of the server. 

Techno also had a house that was isolated from the rest of the server and would be easy to bring people out to, so that they could meet up without having to wade through other members of the server and hide the ghost of the old villain.

Also, Techno and Dream were friends a long time ago, before Dream’s descent into madness and the horrible actions he had committed against so many members of the server. There was a chance that that long time ago friendship might make Techno a bit more willing to help out the ghost.

“Dream, how would you feel about seeing an old friend of ours?”

Chapter Text

Technoblade was not, in fact, away from his home when Phil had first come by. He hadn’t wanted to talk to his older friend and had hidden away in Tommy’s old little base under his home, which ended in intense emotional confusion and thoughts of Dream’s emotional manipulation and how Tommy was still escaping the last tendrils of dark influence that clung to his mind. 

During the final fight, the one in which they finally managed to defeat Dream and force him out, Tommy had nearly lost his last life by stopping in the middle of the battle and freezing up, confused on whether he should be defending the man who pretended to be his friend for so long or if he should be defeating him, ignoring the strong compulsions that the old manipulation still caused.

The final fight was also the first time everyone on the server had seen Dream’s face, the mask torn off of his face somewhere in the fray of overwhelming numbers against Dream. Eret was the only one on the entire server who had seen the man’s face, and it was only because they were siblings. At the moment where it had happened, all fighting stilled for one silent moment before Dream managed to grab his mask and snap it back into place, covering up the look of horror that had spread as soon as his face was revealed. He fought harder after that happened, nearly taking out several other people. Luckily enough, the group managed to keep it so that no one lost any of their three lives, especially those with only one life left.

By the beginning of the last battle, no one was left on Dream’s side. Puffy and Eret had left him sadly, but they found out about some of his worse actions and knew the protective man who wanted nothing but the best for the server was gone. Punz didn’t take much convincing either, and anyone else who might have once been on Dream’s side was already iffy on the masked man. Unlike any of the other wars the server had been before, neither of the sides were named. It was just Dream against everyone else, and everyone knew that it was the end for the man in green.

Nearing the last bit of the last battle, Dream had crossed the line from his previous branch of controlled insanity into desperate, crazed fighting. Techno, who had been one of the people on the front lines of their group, had thought he acted like a feral animal, snarling at them while swinging his axe wildly and without his usual strategy.

Something about the savage way Dream fought was nearly scarier than the usual controlled violence. The rabid ripping into people using whatever he could, even once they’d finally disarmed him, was terrifying and pitiful all in one. Techno had nursed a harsh scratch from Dream’s fingernails that had left a long scab up his arm for nearly a week afterward. 

He understood it, though, in a disturbing way. Dream had finally recognized that no one was on his side, no one was going to fight with him. The masked man had realized his defeat only minutes before it happened, and it finally occurred to him that for once, his plan wasn’t going the right way. He was overcome with the fear and the desperate need to not give in. 

Dream was a man who always had a back-up plan, no matter how deep of a mess he had been stuck in, and he had finally faced a time where nothing else could help him. The loss of the mask was the final nudge over the edge into a type of fear Dream had never had to experience, a type of fear that controlled people new to it so completely and utterly that it removed their usual intense mental walls.

He’d had a bit of time to work through what he was feeling now, and he had narrowed it down to two major emotions. Pity was one of them, for so many reasons. 

First, his actual death, completely alone and exiled from a server that he had made, land he had claimed and friends he had brought in. His death in another sense as well, the fact that someone who Techno had held in such high regards even could die. The way he was being treated after death, half of the server feeling some sense of happiness or relief, a few of them legitimately cheering about it. And because of those last moments before he had been forced into leaving, that rabid feral fighting and the panic that came with the momentary loss of his mask.

The second was confusion. He still couldn’t truly work through it, the little mess of bits and pieces of other emotions. It was weird and it didn’t fit right, and Techno had never been particularly good at figuring out what he was feeling. Another little piece of confusion came from the thought that someone so powerful had been killed, was legitimately gone.

(The last bit brought considerations of how Dream might have died, and Techno found himself avidly avoiding that thought process, not wanting to come to certain conclusions that might be the only conclusion he could come to.)

The confusion wasn’t as strong or as clear as the pity, though, seeing as it was built upon little chunks of other emotions that all slotted into their own category somewhere or other. The pity was its own strong creature.

Despite the confusion not really being the strongest thing he could feel, it made itself quite apparent as Techno watched Philza walk back up to his door, laughing uncomfortably and being tailed by a ghost who Techno couldn’t quite make out from his current placement by the window.

It wasn’t Ghostbur, and it wasn’t Schlatt, which meant that there was a new ghost on the server, and only one person had died recently, so-

Techno froze, staring more intently down at the little duo. Sure enough, the ghost who was chatting happily to Phil was wearing a familiar oversized green hoodie. Techno still couldn’t see their face, but he could make a couple of inferences based on recent events.

It was only a few more minutes before they made it up to the little staircase that led up to his door. Phil walked inside, holding the door open for the ghost. They disappeared from his view once inside, but Techno felt frozen. He sat by the window next to his bell silently, waiting for Phil to find him or to call for him.

Dream’s voice, quiet but unusually cheerful, slipped up through the floorboards to ring in Techno’s ears. Phil was speaking back occasionally, laughing every once in a while. He said something to Dream about staying put for a moment before he climbed the ladder up to the room where Techno was, peeking his head over and spotting Techno quickly.

Phil climbed all the way up and walked over to Techno, having to fold his wings in just a bit so that they didn’t brush against the low ceiling of the attic. “Hey, Techno.” 

Techno turned to him carefully, all too aware of the shocked expression still spread across his face. “Phil, that’s...” 

“Yeah, I know,” Phil swallowed. “I know. Tech, he doesn’t remember anything. He doesn’t know who anyone is. Not even George or Sapnap. He’s pretty enthusiastic about seeing anyone who might remember him, mostly so they can tell him about what he was like.” 

Techno finally managed to shake the surprise from his face, settling back into his usual monotone frown that obscured what he was feeling. “So he doesn’t remember anythin’? Nothin’ that he did?” 

“He remembers that he’s an admin, that he had rules, and that he had friends, but nothing is specific. He’s only come from ‘the After’ a few days ago,” Phil says quietly, trying to keep his voice low so that Dream doesn’t hear. If anything too bad comes up in this conversation, he doesn’t want Dream to hear about it. “I was wondering if seeing anyone who has some kind of emotional connection to him might spark something, but you’re the first person other than me who’s seen him. He hasn’t seen you yet, but your name doesn’t mean anything to him. Neither do Sapnap and George’s, though...” Phil trailed off, considering something for a minute. “It’s possible that he just honestly doesn’t remember anything, of course.”

Techno nodded. “That makes sense, but I don’t think I’m the right person to test that on. We should get Sapnap or George or Tommy. Or Eret, maybe... someone who mattered more to him or someone who he affected more personally. We had a mutual partnership and then a friendship for a while, and we were rivals, but I don’t think the emotions were all that strong. From my end, at least.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about trying to get one of his friends to come out to your house,” Phil agreed. “I don’t think it’s safe to bring him into L’Manberg, or honestly anywhere near Quackity and Tubbo. Tubbo hangs out around Quackity too much and is too easily swayed into shitty decisions that will end badly for anyone involved, and, well... you’ve seen how Quackity is being. Also, for both Dream’s and Tommy’s sake, I think we should avoid those two seeing each other for a while.” 

Techno gave a dry chuckle that faded out quickly. “I, in fact, do not know how Quackity is bein’. I can make a couple of educated guesses, but, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve been avoiding the rest of the server for the last few days. I don’t happen to know anything past his reaction on the first day.”

The pig considered for a moment before the frown already etched onto his face sank deeper into his features. He was telling the truth, he didn’t know how Quackity was acting, but the shorter man had absolutely been cheering when he realized what was going on. What would he do to a ghost who didn’t remember anything, someone who seemed so easy to take advantage of? Also- 

Techno opened his mouth again before pausing. “Wait, can he touch people?”

“Um. I assumed he couldn’t, but I didn’t exactly test it. There wasn’t much of a reason to try to touch him,” Phil gave a small shrug before his expression turned grimmer. “Quackity has been quite loud about his appreciation of Dream’s death. He thinks it’s the end of all conflict on the server, ever, like Dream was the only problematic person on here.”

Techno grimaced. He was all too well aware of how nearly everyone on the server was a terrible person, all of them holding some crime or horrid truth that most didn’t like to admit. Dream was likely the worst of them, physically and mentally abusing a child until he was almost completely dependent on him, but everyone had done their part to feed into the never-ending circle of negativity and horrible actions. 

The ghosts were different, though. Ghostbur had come back only remembering the happy things, only remembering the things that seemed good to him. Most of those things were completely pure, unbridled joy dripping from them. (Everyone tended to gloss over the fact that one of the happy memories was his death, impaled on his father’s sword after begging to be killed.) Schlatt had come back with all of his memories, but he refused to talk about anything that had gone down when he was alive, avoiding all questions about the darker things and staying a happy figure who did nothing but joke about and laugh with people he loved.

If Dream didn’t remember anything... would he manage to fade into his old ways, manipulating everyone with every sentence, intricate plans weaved into every thread of every interaction with anyone at all, or would he escape the corruption that had spread over the once kind admin while he was alive and stay as the same innocent, childish figure that had come after death? 

He disagreed with Quackity, though. Sure, the bigger conflicts were gone for a while, but anybody who’d been on this server knew that another one would come at some point. (Possibly in the form of a new ghost and the people who rejoiced in his death, Techno’s mind whispered.) The conflict didn’t all rest on one person, and it never had. Dream was included in every war, but that was because he was the creator of the server and held the most power; he became automatically involved.

Of course, Techno understood why Quackity thought that way. He had never thought the man’s desire to blame everything on the masked admin was right or okay, but he understood that Dream was both the worst villain and the easiest to blame, tendrils of his influence lingering in the dark decisions of nearly every other villain that the server had faced.

Despite his understanding of Quackity’s anger and blame-game ideology, he didn’t trust the man to be kind to a ghost who might turn out just as innocent as Ghostbur, childlike and wholesome in a way that no one in the server had ever been, not even the people they lightheartedly mocked for being children. 

The ghosts were just people who had finally managed to escape that unfaltering circle that corrupted everyone else on the server, the circle made out of revenge and rage and deep, rampant fear. Dream, someone who was so deeply stuck within this circle, seemed to finally have found his way out, and there were absolutely people on the server who would love to drag him right back into it.

However, there was also no way they could hide the ghost forever. The server was well-explored, and the places that hadn’t been viewed didn’t see much visitation. People seemed to prefer to stick to the limited space that everyone knew, building up into the sky and below the ground to keep from spilling over into uncharted territory. There were only so many places people went, and it wasn’t like Phil and Techno could keep Dream locked up in Techno’s home for eternity.

No, no building would protect Dream well enough for long enough. If Techno and Phil actually wanted to keep him safe (and a little part of Techno thought that maybe they should still be considering that because this was Dream and he was dangerous) then they would need to protect him themselves, and they’d need other people as well.

First, though, Techno had to actually meet the ghost. Phil seemed to understand why his eyes were trailing down the ladder as well as what the lapse in the conversation had meant. He waved a hand towards the wooden rungs that led to the floor below and the person on it, waiting for Techno to climb down before he followed.

When Techno jumped onto the wooden floor, boots thumping heavily against the planks, the ghost standing awkwardly next to Techno’s roommate whirled around, readily giving a wide smile and staring straight at Techno with dull green eyes.

“Hi, Technoblade!”

Chapter Text

Techno’s first reaction was to jerk back, away from the terribly familiar voice who was such a villain for so long. Dream and Techno had rarely ever had personal quarrels, but Techno could recognize that the once masked man was terrifying, and to hear something so similar to his common greetings when he was alive just brought back memories that Techno didn’t want to associate with the ghost before him, the one who remembered nothing of his terrible actions.

He focused on the differences between the two different Dream’s. The actual happiness to see Techno instead of the normal emotions that filtered through the man’s voice, the confidence, and the weird twist that made it feel like he knew something you didn’t. The relaxed body slumped into a normal posture that seemed as if he was greeting a friend instead of the tension that so constantly held Dream’s body on its strings.

The pig opened his mouth to speak before pausing once again, frowning. Had Phil told the ghost his name? His eyes flickered back to the winged man, but he was also staring at Dream with an almost analyzing look. Was he looking into things too far, or did that mean something?

Techno took a deep breath, brushing off the inquiring thoughts for a bit before giving the ghost a nod of greeting and what he hoped was a small friendly smile. “Hello, Dream.”

The expression seemed to have the desired effect, for the ghost's smile grew in a look Techno had never seen on Dream’s face before, one that took the pig a moment to recognize as excitement. Of course, Techno had never seen any expressions on Dream before, the mask only falling off in his final hours on the server, but the idea that Dream could have such childish glee painting his face was foreign. The villain and emotions like that didn’t interact in Techno’s mind, and he knew they should because Dream was still human (...most likely), but they just refused to connect to each other. 

It just seemed to further separate the idea of the living and the dead version of the man before him, each part of their extremely short interactions already creating a growing chasm between the two within Techno’s mind. 

Another thing that the thought of emotions and concealing them brought; Dream wasn’t wearing a mask. The famous smiley face that so often obscured where Dream was looking or what he was feeling was gone, high cheekbones and freckles out in the open for all to see. He wasn’t quite sure what to think about it, but it was definitely strange.

“Phil said that we knew each other, back when I was alive,” Dream said excitedly, floating a bit closer to the pig. Techno resisted the urge to back up as he approached, reminding himself that this wasn’t the villain, this wasn’t the horrid man who had done so much damage and encouraged the wars between the server. “How long did we know each other? What was I like?”

Techno cursed internally. It wasn’t like he didn’t think Dream would wonder about his life when alive, but he thought he might actually have some kind of time to prepare before he had to go about the inevitable avoidance or answering of the one question he didn’t want to answer. (There was also a little part of him that had desperately hoped that Dream would be like Ghostbur and wouldn’t want to try remembering, but he knew it was different. Dream’s memories were already different from Ghostbur’s.)

The problem with Dream asking so early in is that he had no clue how to respond. The only responses he could come up with painted the alive masked man in a way that he didn’t want the ghost to hear. Just like no one truly condemned Ghostbur for Alivebur’s actions, letting him avoid the consequences of what had happened when Alivebur was still around, Techno wanted there to be a chance for Dream to think that nothing had gone wrong, that the server was always as peaceful as it was now.

Techno glanced over to Phil again, but the winged man shook his head with a shrug, wings lifting the edge of his hat as they rose with his shoulders. Dream, who had definitely noticed the extensive pause, began to frown. “Um, Technoblade?”

Techno gave an awkward chuckle, trying to think for one last moment before it qualified as acting strange. “Yeah, sorry. A year or so, I guess. And, um, you were... powerful? You had a lot of resources. Pretty smart, too. Good at runnin’, I guess, although I didn’t see that up close all that often. You did these tournaments, manhunts, where you beat the ender dragon in some unused servers while people hunted you. It was pretty damn impressive.” 

He congratulated himself internally when the hesitant frown disappeared off of Dream’s face, the excited smile appearing once again. “That’s so cool! Was I, like, a leader, then?” 

Techno contained a wince, giving the cheerful ghost an awkward smile. “Kinda, I guess? You more just... hung around? And helped people out? You gave people things, to build what they wanted and to-” Techno cut himself off before he could finish his thought about Dream’s assistance in the wars. If he could, he was going to try to avoid that topic. The ghost didn’t need to know about all the pain he had brought, but he also didn’t need to know about the pain that had raged everywhere else on the server for so long. 

Another reason they needed to keep Dream away from Quackity. Not only would he talk about everything that Dream had actually done, but he would also explain the wars as entirely Dream’s fault, telling the innocent ghost that all conflict had been Dream’s fault. Techno still didn’t blame Quackity for believing what he did (partly because he thought it might be Quackity trying to convince himself of something untrue), but the man was deluded if he thought everything was caused because of Dream.

Also, a part of Techno’s brain, somewhere in the fringes of his subconscious, was offended that Quackity would take away the gravity of other people’s actions by pinning them on one man. Techno, Wilbur, Tommy, Quackity himself, nearly everyone on the server, had all committed part of themselves into the battle that raged between so many people at any given time. No matter what side you were on, or if you purposefully didn’t pick a side, you were pulled into the chaos that was the many wars within the server. To say that all conflict could be blamed on Dream was to remove the importance of anyone else’s actions. 

Dream didn’t seem to be paying attention to the quick cut off of Techno’s last sentence, instead seeming to consider the small amount of information he had been offered, worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth. “That’s great! Do I have friends who I’ve known longer?”

Techno winced. This was another part where an interrogation from the ghost would prove difficult. He probably would’ve just mentioned the obvious group, the Dream Team, but he also knew about the whole mess between George and Sapnap and Dream, and he didn’t want to push the other two into a part that they couldn’t play. George and Sapnap (and maybe Bad) were clearly the easiest people to mention as friends, but they had also taken the loss of their friend (both in death and as a friend) the hardest. He didn’t want to make them be around something that caused them pain, especially because they’d have to keep up the lie for who knows how long. 

He remembers a similar situation with Ghostbur and Tommy, Tommy instantly accepting that they would lie to and be kind to Ghostbur until he started remembering or was willing to be told about his acts when alive. Techno had thought it was a bad idea immediately, thought that it would be a strain on everyone, especially the younger teens who had looked up to the man before he had fallen into insanity. Gods, Techno was right, and gods did he not want to be. He had found Tommy crying in his basement among the villagers about how it was so hard to be near Ghostbur, reminded so constantly of both the man when he was good and the man when he blew everything up. Wilbur was effectively Tommy’s older brother, and he had to see him impaled on their father figure’s blade only minutes after he destroyed the world they had built together.

Techno didn’t want to force anyone else into a situation like that, but no matter who he mentioned here, he’d be risking that. He swallowed, considering for another minute before he gave up. There was no good option here. 

Also, if he chose someone who wasn’t willing to keep up the lie, it’d easily defeat Phil and his attempts to protect the ghost from the truth of the conflict on the server. Techno didn’t know anything about anyone’s reactions other than the short bits Phil had explained, so this wasn’t a good place for him to answer. If he picked someone who had been glad about Dream’s death, or who had at least expressed some kind of agreement with Quackity’s opinions, then this entire protection idea was almost guaranteed to die as quickly as it had begun. 

Before Techno could panic too much about not knowing how to respond, though, Phil stepped in. “Yeah, you had two best friends. George and Sapnap. They were on the server when you built it. You knew everyone on the server and were friends with a lot of ‘em, though. You were pretty strict about who got let in.” The winged man gave a small smile to Techno, who returned the expression with a nearly inaudible sigh of relief. Phil didn’t know all that much about the conflicts of the server considering he wasn’t here for the majority of them, but Techno thought that might be better here. It’d be easier for him to gloss over the details that stood over so clearly to Techno because the pig had lived through them.

Dream’s eyes flashed for a moment before the wide grin and dull eyes returned, so quick that Techno thought it might have been a fluke. “Can we see them, then? I wanna meet the people who were alive-me’s best friends, especially if they were part of the server from the very beginning. They sound like they were important to me.”

“They were, they were really important to you. The three of you were, like, inseparable for a long while. Phil wasn’t here all that long, but even he saw some of it,” Techno contributed, not even making an attempt to match the ear-to-ear grin painted across Dream’s face. Techno was pretty sure he legitimately couldn’t smile that wide. 

He thought he might understand the admin’s mask now. In their short conversation with masks off as well as a few moments before, Dream had already proven to be extremely expressive, something that could easily be used as a weapon during negotiations or just disputes in general. It’d be even more dangerous for the masked man considering the character he played, the mysterious god who didn’t care about anything on the server. (Although, in situations like the one where Dream lost George and Sapnap, that mask was probably nothing but restraint in Dream’s attempts to get his friends to believe him.) Dream’s mask gave Dream power, gave him an eerie, inhuman look that enveloped all of his expressions and left him as just a constant cruel smile. 

Techno derailed his train of thought when he realized Phil was saying something, the winged man having taken several steps closer to the ghost until they were facing each other and Techno was now the one standing to the side. “-be careful, because some of the people in there’re still grieving you.”

The tall pig blinked, confused, and Phil seemed to notice his struggle. “I was just saying that one of us should go and get George and Sapnap so that we don’t make it worse for any of the people still grievin’ over in L’Manberg. Just thinking Dream’s ghost might be a bit too much for them right now.” 

Techno was glad he was good at keeping his face neutral because grinning at that sentiment seemed like a shitty idea. For Techno and Phil, it was good, because they now had a semi-solid plan for why Dream shouldn’t visit the men in L’Manberg, one that this version of Dream would likely be fine with. Currently, though, he’d probably be a tad confused as to why Techno would grin at the idea of someone grieving.

The ghost in question was nodding sympathetically, a sad frown spread where the wide grin was moments ago. “Yeah, that makes sense. I wouldn’t want to make anyone hurt any worse. Are you sure it’s okay for me to see my old best friends, then? I don’t want to make my death worse for them.”

Phil shook his head. “No, it’ll be okay. You’ll probably be able to see everyone eventually, I just want to be careful about it. Sapnap and George might be some of the safest to introduce to you as a ghost, ‘specially because they know you pretty well. They’ll be able to answer questions better than Techno and I.”

Techno frowned a bit at the response, but he didn’t give any other outward protests. Part of his worries was pinning things on others too much, and by saying that the masked man’s best friends could answer his questions better was definitely giving them more to handle. 

Dream nodded, frown dropping in record time. “So, when are you gonna go to get them?”

“I didn’t really have a plan. I was thinking Techno could walk up to get either one or both of them and bring them back here,” Phil explained with a small shrug.

“Hey, hold on, when did I agree to this?” Techno protested instantly, both joking and disliking the idea of having to interact with any of the L’Manberg men.

Phil chuckled, “Well, I figured I’d stay here with Dream and show him around a bit.”

“It’s my house!” 

A small wheezing giggle from the ghost went unnoticed by the two bickering friends, their conversation turning away from Dream and arguing who would have it worse walking to L’Manberg and back.

Eventually, Techno lost, groaning and grouching around the house for a bit before leaving. They’d decided that it’d just be easier to get this first bit over with, and there was enough daylight for Techno to get there and bring the two men back without dipping too far into the night and having to deal with too many mobs. 

The pig set out away from his home, leaving the winged man and the ghost to defend the house while he was gone.

Chapter Text

Phil had no clue what to do.

It had been a while now, probably five or six hours, and he was expecting Techno to get back soon, but in the meantime, he had a frigid ghost asleep on his shoulder, while another one chatted happily at him from where it floated in front of him.

Ghostbur had shown up just a bit before Dream had fallen asleep, the long-time ghost immediately greeting Dream easily as if they were best buds and not even acting surprised. Phil wasn’t sure if it was just Ghostbur being kind and relating to the fellow ghost, or if Ghostbur genuinely didn’t remember all of alive-Dream’s horrible actions and the act of shutting out Dream. It didn’t seem to matter either way, as Ghostbur wasn’t making any attempt to alert Dream of his alive-self’s previous actions.

The ghost’s got along well, having excited conversations about the buildings within L’Manberg and other areas of the server. Ghostbur was mostly just explaining them to Dream while the younger ghost asked questions, which seemed a bit boring to Phil, but the two of them seemed to be enjoying themselves, so he left it alone. 

It had been surprisingly peaceful, and Phil found himself a bit less worried about the entire situation with Dream. The first two reactions other than him had both been easily willing to protect the ghost from what he had done, and they weren’t even that close to the masked man when he was alive and, well... not emotionally detached from everyone and everything.

Phil allowed himself to relax, only occasionally really tuning in to the conversations of the ghosts. He was trying to pay at least some attention in case Ghostbur let some secret or something free unintentionally, but it had been going fine so far. Eventually, he included himself in the conversation again, somewhere around the discussion of abandoned or destroyed buildings, like Techno’s old underwater base. Ghostbur didn’t touch for long on that one, especially because the only way he and Phil knew it was in its ransacked and destroyed version from after the 16th.

Dream seemed extremely fascinated in even the tiniest bits of inconsequential and ordinary information, apparently building some kind of detailed map inside of his mind. It was a little strange from Phil's perspective, but he also knew enough about the masked man to know that he’d likely want to know everything about the world he lived in and the various buildings and creations inside of it. 

Another thing Phil notices as the conversation progresses is how Dream talks. He doesn’t have all that much to compare from alive-Dream to ghost-Dream, but even so, he can still clearly tell the difference. 

The Dream that the majority of the server knew had a powerfully arrogant voice that was either soft and creepy or carried with malicious amusement and, ever so rarely, on those special occasions where they could get him truly mad, unfiltered anger. His words were nearly always chosen carefully, and even when they weren’t, they carried with a freaky sense of superiority, like he always knew something more than the others. 

The ghost who they know knew as Dream just had a generally soft voice. He stuttered frequently and let himself laugh normally and didn’t constantly sound like he was lording something over them. The difference wasn’t as clear as Wilbur to Ghostbur, but it was obvious anyways. Phil wasn’t sure how different it would be at first, considering that Schlatt sounded pretty much the exact same and Ghostbur sounded like an entirely different person, but it seemed like Dream had settled somewhere in the middle.

Around the time it had started to get darker, sometime mid-sunset, Dream sat down on the couch in the newly built living room, (Phil had complained for weeks about how the house had no good spots to sit or just relax until Techno had finally given in and built an extra room that served as a living room and a dining room) leaning back against the plush pillows.

Ghostbur asked something about the other ghost being tired and was met with a noncommittal hum and a smile. Ghostbur laughed quietly and continued to talk, but Phil noticed him purposefully making his voice quieter, likely trying to let the other ghost rest, whether he was planning on actually sleeping or not.

Phil wasn’t quite sure when he’d actually fallen asleep, but somewhere within Ghostbur’s ramblings, Dream’s head dropped onto his shoulder, making him jerk in shock. The shock was caused by a couple of different things. 

First, Dream was very much solid and Phil could definitely touch him, which was obvious in the way the ghost was leaning almost entirely against him. That answered one somewhat awkward question, one that was important and also could result in a very dangerous outcome. If people could touch Dream, that meant that people could hurt him.

Secondly, Dream was fucking freezing. It felt like someone had left metal sunk in the icy water in the sea nearby and then taken that same metal and morphed it into the being that was now seated leaning against Phil. It felt like Phil had stripped off his shirt and buried himself deep in the snowdrifts outside. It felt like someone was pressing solid blocks of ice against his arm and shoulder. 

The winged man shuddered involuntarily. He didn’t mean to move, didn’t want to wake Dream up, but the cold of the ghost’s body against his own was bad enough that it burned. He felt like he did back on that one time he had participated in a party with Schlatt and Techno, getting considerably too drunk and making the stupid decision to attempt swimming in the nearby lake. Of the snowy taiga biome. Where it was currently snowing.

(They promised they were all very smart men, occasionally.)

Fortunately, Dream didn’t wake at Phil’s movement, although his head slipped a bit farther onto Phil’s shoulder, his messy blond hair bumping gently against Phil’s wings and ears from where it floated strangely in the air. Phil was unsure whether it was good or bad that his arm was beginning to go numb, but he counted it as a win for now. He couldn’t feel the cold, so that was some kind of benefit.

Ghostbur was still jabbering happily away, although the conversation had turned away from explaining things to Dream and had morphed into a story about Friend. Phil was absolutely sure he had heard this at least three times before, but he let Ghostbur talk. The ghost was very sweet, even if his airy mind and common forgetfulness could occasionally be a bit of a bother and occasionally even a danger (mostly to himself).

Phil did try to pay attention again, but he’d heard the story enough that his mind tuned it out, occasionally filling in a few details or alerting him to something the ghost was saying. Other than that, his mind was straying to Dream.

With the new discovery of Dream’s ability to interact with humans, a lot more anxiety came with attempts to protect him. They had no clue how much of his old talents he held, which meant he might be physically defenseless, or at least considerably weaker than he was before. There was no saying what people would try to do to him, especially people like Quackity, who celebrated his death so quickly and fought so viciously in the last battle. 

Phil’s mind had already automatically classified people in several different ways. One of them was by physical ability, mainly focused on fighting. This had come way before anything to do with Dream, just his mind assessing who was more skilled, who he could and couldn’t take in a fight, different people’s levels of skill in different things. The next most recent classification was how Phil thought they would react to Dream as a ghost, part of which was whether or not they’d agree to address Dream’s situation the same way they addressed Ghostbur’s. 

He was also painfully aware that he did not know these people well. The majority of them were friendly with him, but he was still the most recent addition to the server. The pool of people he had actually spoken to was small, and the pool of people he legitimately knew well was even tinier, something he could count on one hand.

One good thing, though, was that for some of them, he knew where they stood about Dream’s death without knowing them well. Sapnap, for example. Phil didn’t think he had ever actually had a conversation with the well-known arsonist, but he was fairly sure he could trust him to help them with Dream anyways.

It felt a tad cruel, forcing Sapnap and George to assist Techno and Phil with the ghost of their dead ex-best friend, someone who no doubt brought up wildly complicated emotions even without the added layer of his death. Phil didn’t doubt their willingness to help, but he doubted whether it was a good idea to bring them into this.

He knew, logically, that they would find out at some point no matter what, but part of him did think that maybe it would’ve been kinder to let them stay oblivious to the current situation for just a little while longer. It might’ve been kinder to just stay at Techno’s play and try to prepare for what hostility they might find when people find out about the ghost. It would’ve been a much bigger mess for him and Techno, but it might’ve been a bit better for the L’Manberg men, and the more selfless bits of Phil’s mind called out for them to just try that way.

He had no clue how long it had been when the front door upstairs finally creaked open,  and three sets of voices came echoing from upstairs. George and Sapnap’s were clear, the two of them speaking loud enough that Dream twitched from where he laid on Phil’s shoulder. The winged man internally cursed the other men, wishing he could shout for them to shut up. He wanted to let the new ghost rest for a little while before they went through this meetup. 

It probably wouldn’t be as emotionally exhausting for Dream as it was going to be for George and Sapnap, but Phil was wary of previous emotional connections having something to do with current memory. Dream had clearly differed from the other ghosts in most other ways, so there wasn’t a solid way to predict how the ghost would react to different things, and this was no different.

Sapnap and George were likely the most important people in Dream’s life, other than maybe Bad or Eret (the siblings were surprisingly close, contrary to popular belief and to how most of their interactions went). They had intense emotional bonds for the majority, if not all of, their lives, bonds that were apparent to everyone else in the server and affected Dream’s plans for a long time until he severed ties. 

(It made Phil sad, in a way, to know that Sapnap and George probably fought the hardest in their last battle against their former friend. It was a harsh and painful contrast to the Dream Team that was so widely known as one of the best groups of friends there was, rivaled only by friendships like Tubbo and Tommy’s.) 

Phil very carefully pried Dream off of him, biting his lip to keep from hissing at the frigid feeling of the ghost’s skin against his bare fingers. He gently laid the ghost back against the pillows of the couch, making sure that the loll of Dream’s head was as comfortable as possible, before standing up and climbing the ladder up to where the group of men was.

George and Sapnap were standing in the corner of the room by the fireplace, shivering and talking loudly to themselves. It seemed like an attempt at a more private conversation, but their bickering was noisy and bounced through the room loudly. Phil wouldn’t care much about it normally, but Dream was still sleeping downstairs.

Techno was standing in the center of the room a bit awkwardly, looking halfway to reaching out to bring George and Sapnap with them and halfway to just leaving them alone up there. When he saw Phil’s head pop up from through the trapdoor, a look of relief spread over the pig’s face.

After a moment, the two men by the fire turned as well, staring at Phil with distrust. 

Sapnap spoke before Phil could open his mouth. “Where’s Dream?” The two of them glared as if Phil and Techno had him locked up in a basement or something. 

Phil shrugged. “He’s downstairs, asleep, though you all were talking pretty loud. He might be up now.” He tried to keep his tone neutral, but it sounded vaguely like a reprimand anyways. 

“So he’s actually here. As a ghost. And he doesn’t remember anything?” George asked quietly from where he stood next to Sapnap.

“He’s got a little list of what he remembers,” Phil corrected. “He knows he’s an admin, he knows he had friends here at some point, and he knows he wanted the server to be peaceful. We don’t know who he thinks his friends are, but he didn’t remember Techno. Or me, though I didn’t know him in the first place.”

“So he probably doesn’t know anything about us?” Sapnap asked, obviously also trying to sound neutral, but also failing. His voice wavered softly.

“No, I’m sorry, he-” Phil’s voice cut off as the two men in front of him’s eyes widened, staring at something behind the winged man’s shoulders.

There was a gasp behind Phil, who turned quickly. Dream floated there, right above the ladder, eyes wide and a mixture between horror and strange, twisted guilt shining clear on his face. 

“Dream?”

Chapter Text

A long, unpleasant pause spread throughout the group as they stared at the ghost. Dream seemed to have spaced out in some way, staring at the floor with a conflicted expression and hands held up as if they couldn’t decide where to go. Half of Phil wanted to hug him or help in some way, but the other half of Phil was frozen just like everyone else in the group. 

Unsurprisingly, Dream was the first to say anything, the ghost’s mouth opening and closing a few times before he managed to stutter out a sentence. “You- I- I know you. Why do I know- why do I- what?”

Phil swallowed heavily, watching the ghost tear himself up from a strange, confused state to look directly at him, dull eyes now shining with a strange light. “I know them, I know them, and- and that makes sense, right? Because... because I knew them before, but I don’t- why does it feel bad?” 

Phil didn’t know how he felt about this. In hindsight, he and Techno probably should have had some better plan for what happened if Dream did happen to remember anyone, or at least the emotions attached to them, but their entire plan had kind of been ‘introduce him to the ones who might react better, figure out more later.’

(It wasn’t really much of a plan.)

Sapnap took a small step forwards, hand twitching at his side like he wanted to reach out towards his ex-best friend. Dream’s head whipped up, gaze turning onto the arsonist. Sapnap froze for a moment before taking another step forward. The younger man took a deep breath, face pinching into a look of concern. “Hey, Dream..”

There was a sharp intake of breath from the ghost before he shook his head, dropping his face into his hands with a quiet noise of confusion. “What is- what’s going on?” 

The entire group was silent for a moment, none of them quite sure what to do. George had crossed his arms and was worrying at his lower lip with his teeth, staring at the ghost with an unsure expression. Sapnap seemed to be stuck in front of the ghost, afraid to move closer and not wanting to step away.

The guilt that had been plaguing Phil before rose in his stomach once again. As helpful as George and Sapnap might turn out to be later, they were still being met with the issue of their dead ex-best friend who seemed to have incomplete memories of them. It would be overwhelming for anyone. 

Neither Techno nor Phil was particularly close to Dream- one of them had barely talked to him at all, and one of them hadn’t spoken to the masked man in over a year about something that wasn’t just a string in Dream’s web of plans. Even before then, though, Techno was only friendly rivals with the man, and they rarely got chances to talk. Neither of them harbored very many personal negative feelings for the man, but neither of them had very many personal feelings for the man at all.

They weren’t half as influenced by the consistent betrayals and politics revolving around Dream because they weren’t friends and had stopped involving themselves as soon as Doomsday was over. Dream had been a one-time ally, and they hadn’t been friends. They’d spoken to it on that day; they weren’t friends, but they shared a common goal, and that helped them work well together. 

Techno and Phil had formed a group after Doomsday, the Syndicate, but Tubbo, after finding new land to build his home and general places, had stepped down and permanently abolished the system they had been using. Tubbo’s decision, backed by everyone else on the server, had defeated the point of having the group. There wasn’t much need for it, and Techno was fine to have a legitimate retirement that wasn’t interrupted by a small horde of L’Manbergians attempting to sentence him to a supposed trial.

The agreement between Techno and his former enemies was shaky and unsure, but a strong sense of relief followed it for both sides. Techno got to make an actual attempt at staying away from the constant violence that followed the server and moments of actual safety where he didn’t have to look over his shoulder at all times, and the former L’Manbergians and people he fought previously lost one of their biggest enemies and ensured that they didn’t have to go through the bloodbaths that came from every meeting between them and Techno.

Phil tuned back in when Sapnap tried speaking again. “We’re... um. I’m Sapnap. I was,” he paused, swallowing, “I was one of your best friends when you were alive. We had a big.. A big fight, before you died.” Sap’s voice was softer than Phil had ever heard it (not that that was a large scale- he was fairly sure he had only ever spoken to Sapnap while in battle) and it seemed a bit strange to hear him talking so gently, almost like Phil was intruding on something.

Dream looked up, shaking his head at Sapnap in something almost like disbelief. “Gods, how bad was- how bad was this fight? What happened?”

Sapnap seemed to be considering his words carefully. “You.. you said some shitty stuff, and we said some shitty stuff right back. If you don’t remember it, I don’t think we need to give specifics. I don’t want to bring it back up, honestly.” 

“But if it was that bad, if we hurt each other that badly, shouldn’t I know about it? Shouldn’t I at least try to apologize, even if I don’t remember it?” Dream asked. His two ex-best friends both stiffened, and George’s eyebrows knit together like he was angry.

Phil frowned as well, speaking before George could. “No, I don’t think that’s a good conversation for tonight. Emotions about your death are still running pretty wild, and I agree with Sapnap. I don’t think now is a good time to bring it up, even if you all do talk about it eventually. Besides, it’s pretty late, you were already falling asleep earlier and these guys walked for a while, we should let them rest. You all can catch up more in the morning.”

Dream’s mouth set into a thin line, but he didn’t speak up in protest, keeping quiet. He stared around at the group of alive men for a moment before nodding. “Should I go downstairs to sleep on the couch?”

“That works, or Sapnap and George can take the couch and you can take Tommy’s old bedroom,” Phil said, trying to give a placating smile. He saw Dream’s eyes flash with what he thought might be curiosity, but it was gone before he could properly tell.

None of them were dumb, they knew Dream wouldn’t just give up on this, they knew that the entire situation of not explaining much was suspicious, but for now the best they had was trying to avoid it. Phil hadn’t gotten a chance to seriously talk to any of them before Dream had come upstairs, so he didn’t have any solid standing on how George and Sapnap themselves wanted this to go down. 

Past that, Phil definitely wasn’t lying about it being late, and he was undoubtedly exhausted. He still needed to have a short conversation with the two men who had recently arrived before they got to rest, but letting Dream sleep might be nice. He was fairly sure that their talking had awoken the ghost, and if he was tired enough to just fall asleep like that, then it would probably be kind to let him get some kind of rest.

After a quick discussion for who would get which room, Phil took Dream back down to the couch and gave him a few blankets. Phil made himself leave quickly once the ghost was settled, however, because the layer or so of blankets covered up the blurred edges, and with his eyes shut, Dream almost looked like he was back alive and sleeping on Techno’s couch. It was a bit too freaky for the winged man, so he bid Dream a speedy goodbye and fled back to the other uncomfortable conversation.

Upstairs, George and Sapnap had returned themselves to their huddle, talking much softer but much more animatedly at each other. It looked almost like an argument, but Phil wasn’t quite sure. Upon Phil’s arrival, they muttered a few more words to each other and turned back to the older man and the pig.

Sapnap, once again, spoke up first. “So you weren’t lying. He really doesn’t remember what he did.” There’s a silent ‘or us’ following the last sentence, but nobody comments on it.

Techno glared at the shorter man. “We’re not lying, we want your help with this. Both of us thought that he deserves the same treatment as Ghostbur, and we thought you could help since you knew him so well.”

“The same treatment as Ghostbur?” George asked scathingly. “You mean letting him walk around the things he destroyed, around people who constantly inform him of his alive self’s issues? No offense to you all, but you messed up protecting Ghostbur. It didn’t work.” 

A soft growl slipped from Techno, his face pulling into an expression of irritation. “It wasn’t my fault, I wasn’t in L’Manberg. You all, L’Manberg, were the ones who caused that!”

“Hey!” Sapnap snapped angrily. “Neither of us were working with L’Manberg during that! The times we teamed with L’Manberg were against Dream and against you ! Besides, if you actually wanted to protect your brother from the truth about what happened, you could have helped him. It wasn’t like L’Manberg was keeping him away from you!” 

“Oh, yeah, let me walk back into the place that’s got wanted signs of me up everywhere, seems like a good fuckin’ plan,” Techno snarked, taking a step closer to the blaze hybrid.

“Didn’t you go there anyw- ”

“Stop arguing!” Phil stepped up and between the men, wings flaring. “This isn’t what we should be fighting about right now. We can agree that nobody handled Ghostbur well, but we’re not talking about Ghostbur, we are talking about the other ghost who is literally trying to sleep on the floor below us. Also, maybe don’t fuckin’ yell about the stuff that we’re trying to keep a secret from that exact fuckin’ ghost, huh?”

Both of the men still looked extremely pissed, and annoyance was still clear on George’s face, but none of them protested. As much as they’d like to continue arguing, Techno listened to Phil when Phil was serious, and Sapnap was here to help his friend (?). Besides, Phil was right. 

Ghostbur was a different situation anyways- his memories operated differently, and he had already remembered enough to have some dots to connect. Dream, however, did not, and that could easily be used to their advantage, or to someone who wasn’t willing to help him’s advantage. It was easily a double-edged sword. 

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, George spoke again. “Whatever. We’re not going to handle this as badly as you all did with Ghostbur. You got one thing right that we will follow, though- Dream is a ghost, and he doesn’t remember. We aren’t going to make any attempts to convict him of his alive self’s crimes, and we aren’t going to let other people do it either. That’s why we have this group, right?”

Phil nodded. “Yeah, that’s why we brought you all. Both of you know Dream a hell of a lot better than Techno or I. We figured you would be some of the most willing to help protect him from people like Quackity. Also, we wanted to see if he’d have any emotional reaction to people closer to him, and that question was answered...” he trailed off for a moment, absentmindedly reaching back to run his fingers softly through the feathers of his wing. “I wonder who else he’ll react to, or if anyone else will bring up more solid memories? Maybe he’s going to slowly regain his memories?”

Sapnap spoke up almost cautiously. “Well, yeah, the emotional reaction part was obvious, and both George and I are easily onboard to help, but what exactly is your plan? We can’t just hide him from everyone else forever, and I doubt half of the people on this server will react as well as we have.” 

“Honestly, we didn’t have much of a plan either. I think we should try to figure out who’d react to Dream being a ghost and how. I’m not gonna be much help, though, because I don’t know many people on the server.” Phil shrugged. “It’s another reason why you all will be helpful- you’ve been on the server since the beginning.” 

George gave a little hum and seemed to think for a moment. “Right... Puffy, Sam, Punz, and Bad will all almost definitely be on board with helping Dream, either because they knew him... before, or because they’re just good about things like this. Or both, honestly. Other than that, I can’t think of anyone who I’d definitely know one way or the other. Well, Quackity definitely won’t want to, but I think that’s obvious.” 

Sapnap frowned. “I dunno... Quackity might have different opinions about Alive Dream and Ghost Dream. We probably shouldn’t go looking to see, just ‘cause it could go wrong really easily, but we should keep that in mind anyways. Also, Eret’d definitely be on our side.”

“Eret is probably our safest bet, right? I don’t know any of the others very well, but Eret is Dream’s siblin’, and they seemed supportive of him not deservin’ death...” Techno gave an uncomfortable chuckle. “That probably counts for somethin’. Also, you all know her better, so if you trust him, that works with me. You all know the server better than Phil or I.”

Sapnap nodded at Techno, some of the previous tension having sloughed away. “Yeah, Eret or Puffy should probably be our next choices. Puffy was pretty much Dream’s older sister- or mother figure, I guess- for a while. Both of them are probably the most trustworthy.”

“Right, this is good. We have a plan, and we can get to it in the morning. I wasn’t lying when I said that it was late, though, and we should all be getting some rest. You all had a long hike, and some emotionally exhausting stuff happened today, too.” Phil gave a softer smile before continuing and cutting off any protests before they could be spoken. “Sapnap, George, I’ll show you to Tommy’s old room.”