Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sounds of a crackling fire and breezy wind encased the townsfolk of DSMP as they gathered around the campfire. 

They all faced their fair share of wars, betrayal, and tensions. The first war had the DTeam against L’Manberg. The tale of old as time was that L’Manberg had failed and a traitor had resided among them. That felt like ages ago, but the fight for freedom still resided in the hearts of the people. Especially in Tubbo and Tommy. 

This war would be different in more ways than one, however. It was the final war and there were more than two sides. Before, you were either with a side or against them. After a couple of wars and exiles, this line had faded. People joined and people from the original two sides had broken off on their own accord. This was the case of Fundy and Niki, who both participated in the first war fighting for L’Manberg. Now, they both left their past behind and moved to Dry Waters. 

Even if the line was gone forever, Tubbo and Tommy had each other’s back.

At any cost.

But, somehow, in the midst of war, the people came together one last time to forget about what was about to transpire the next day. No one wanted to think about the war, especially the situations of what could happen afterward for everyone. 

They wanted a break.

They needed a break. 

Fate would disagree. 

“The Legend of the End Portal,” Karl, the townsfolk storyteller, had a magical book. Gifted this treasure, he would tell stories and it would come to life. As the narrator, Karl would retell the story and his friends would reenact it. Reliving the moment the people of the stories would go through. Still mastering this art, there were hiccups on where the book would take him and his friends. One time, they were stranded in the ocean instead of the story of the desert.

When the story began, he shut his eyes then opened them to pure white. The book opened and started flipping through the pages, all seemingly empty. After a second, words appeared in his eyes, and moving like Karl was simply reading them out of a regular book. Then everyone was encapsulated in green swirls and transported inside a house. There were only two things that weren't engaged in the darkness; a table with five chairs around it and Karl.

“This story consists of the tale of the most dangerous adventure of Minecraft history. Everyone knows the tale as old as time, go to the End to beat the Ender Dragon, and has endless amounts of riches. Riches, not even the most powerful could get,” A few peeked at Dream when this was said, “The Dragon egg was one of those riches, but four friends found themselves biting off more than they can choose.” 

Lights shone on Dream, “The leader.”

Then Techno, “The fighter.”

Tubbo, “The support.”

Tommy, “And finally, the sedulous.”

“The four friends all adventure together. Going from place to place, and even after a few years of staying together, even after all their arguments; they still were friends at the end of the day,” The four were seen laughing amongst themselves, each one sitting on a chair.

“One day, the leader came up with an idea,” The light on Karl stopped shining on him.

“Guys, why don’t we go on a quest?” 

“Like we do every day?” Tommy scoffed, and Dream rolled his eyes.

“No, no. This time, this quest would be different from all the others.”

“How?” Tubbo questioned.

“This time, fellow friends, we will defeat the Ender Dragon and be the highest of them all,” His friends looked at each other then back to Dream.

“The old child’s tale? C’mon, we all know that’s fake,” Techno shook his head in disbelief, and so did Tommy and Tubbo. Karl stayed silent and unemotional.

“I don’t think it is,” Dream held up a bag and placed it on the table. He then pulled out twelve amulets with ender eyes on them. 

“Where did you get these?” Tubbo spoke up for the first time.

“I was trading with the new villager in town, and didn’t have emeralds, but did have these bad boys,” Techno raised his eyebrow.

“What new villager?”

“You know, the villager with a darker cloak than everyone. Seemed a slightly bit creepy, but was a pretty nice guy. He said he was out of town and was looking around for berries, then he found our town,” Dream recalled and Techno’s eyebrow didn’t go down.

“You do realize that there is no way that’s right… right?” Karl asked, and this time; all four were looking at him strangely.

“Guys, we have a protection spell around this place. This place technically doesn’t exist to anyone outside of this village,” Tommy and Tubbo synchronously said ‘oh’.

“Look, if it doesn’t work, then we can say it’s a bust and go found an actual mission?” Dream suggested. 

After a bit of pleading, Techno answered for everyone, “Fine, but if it doesn’t work then we leave immediately.”

“Deal,” Techno got up from his chair to go prepare and the other three followed suit. 

The light returned back to Karl and ceased for the four others. The area shifted to the Stronghold where the Ender Portal was, covered in monsters and cobwebs. 

“The End Portal that they knew of, was found in a Stronghold located by a couple of miners perchance but it was never activated. Left abandoned, monsters reigned supreme over the area and made sure anyone who entered would never come out. But, for these four friends, anything was possible. They entered the Stronghold with a potion that made them invisible, provided by the leader. When they located the End Portal, the support barricaded themselves in to make sure no other mobs could get in. The fighter and the sedulous fought all the mobs together and successfully eliminated all of them with the fighter’s ax and the sedulous’s sword,” The light once again stopped shining on Karl and returned to all four friends.

“Are you guys ready?” Dream asked his friends as he pulled out the twelve medals.

“Let’s hope it works,” Tommy simply answered, and Dream took that as confirmation and began placing the medals of ender eyes into the twelve slots. After he placed the last one, nothing happened. 

Even after a few seconds, nothing happened.

“Well, you know the deal, let’s go,” Techno wiped the dust off his arms and turned to leave and was starting to take down the barricade. Dream, disappointedly, followed and so did the others.

Then a loud sound rumbled from behind them, and they looked back to see a black light emitting from the portal.

Carefully, the four went closer to the portal and climbed up the stairs. Peering down below them, a black liquid filled with specks of green, white, and purple.

“Ready?” They all nodded and hopped into the portal.

The Stronghold began rumbling harder this time, and rocks started falling in the place the End Portal was. Rocks fell onto the medals, breaking them. Black cracks were seen for a split second then the place collapsed in rocks.

Then, the four friends were seen in a dark place with a yellowish-white ground underneath them.

Dream gave a wild smile, “We did it, guys!”

Tommy and Tubbo cheered, and Techno made a sound in approval. 

“Well no time to celebrate now, we have an Ender Dragon to fight,” Techno brought out his ax, Dream brought out a bow, and Tommy and Tubbo brought out their shields. They all ran towards the battlefield and the fight against the Ender Dragon broke out.

The light came back to Karl, “All four friends fought with everything they got, and it seemed that they would win the fight without breaking a sweat. They worked in harmony. The Ender Dragon had a little bit of health, and someone made the last blow,” The four started yelling obscenities and words of pure happiness, “They had done it.”

Karl hesitated for a moment before continuing, “But, something went wrong. Very wrong. The leader kneeled, and the others thought he was just exhausted from fighting that intensely. Then, he started coughing. He coughed up a dark liquid and the three ran to his side. They had to leave to get something to help the leader since they used up most of their resources on the Ender Dragon. When they got closer to the portal of returning back home, the portal exploded. The portal made out of bedrock, the most indestructible thing, had exploded. The three others started coughing up a dark liquid as well, and their health was decreasing rapidly. All of them were weakened immensely. Without any way of calling for help or returning home, they had no source of getting food, water, or shelter, they perished. They were never seen back again and were soon forgotten by everyone. The only memory left of them was this book,” Karl snapped and everything went dark.

The green swirls appeared and it took them all back to their places at the campfire. Karl’s eyes shut tight and reopened them to show his eyes returned back to normal. Holding out his hand, the book that was originally flipping through the pages was shut.

As he tried to get used to the light, Tommy asked, “What the hell was that ending?” Karl bit his lip in confusion.

“I’m not too sure… it just ends like that,” Karl’s eyes refocused and he stared at his book intensely, hoping that somehow his starting would entice the book to tell him.

“That was an eerie-er story than usual,” Niki commented and the others agreed.

“The book refused to show me any other story, and it was hell-bent on showing me this,” Karl shrugged, still not understanding the entirety of the book and its gifts.

“Ranboo, you’re a half enderman, have you heard this story before?” Ranboo gave them a thoughtful expression but shook his head no.

“I… I don’t remember. Yes, you do. I- my family never really told me any stories about the End. Sorry,” Ranboo struggled with fighting the two souls, one being an enderman and the other being human, that were both trapped in his body wanting to be on the top.

“All good dude, we were just curious,” Eret reassured.

“At least it isn’t real,” Karl laughed nervously, and everyone was silent; unsure of what to say after that.

“It was a pretty good story, too bad I wasn’t one of the five friends. Because I would definitely be all mighty,” Sapnap changed the mood into humor, and everyone burst into a conversation about who would be what if they were in the story. It felt good. Everyone had a warm feeling in their hearts as they conversed and laughed, and no one was arguing. Everything was good for a moment. The only person who wasn’t joining in the conversation was Dream, who was an outcast by his friends for declaring that he didn’t care about them. 

Eventually, reality had to be set back into everyone as soon as Dream announced, “C’mon now, we all have to get to bed and get ready for tomorrow.”

The aura turned cold and everyone got up to leave the campsite as well, talking in whispers now. Dream waited for George and Sapnap to walk with them, but they brushed past him. Frowning under his mask, he trudged behind them. All of a sudden, he tripped and made a loud grunting sound.

“Dream!” Niki yelled, quickly helping him up. Dream refocused his vision and peered upwards to see Sapnap and George staring at him with blank looks on their faces. Dream brought his head to examine what he tripped on; there was nothing. No sign that he tripped on anything, but Dream could have sworn-.

He shook his head towards Niki and uttered, “I’m fine- ARGH.” Dream doubled down and threw up a form of liquid. 

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked at each; unconfident about what to do in this situation. 

“I’m going to bed,” His mask emitted a glowing light and disappeared away. A message followed: Dream has teleported. 

A message with no indication of where Dream had gone.

Dream had a lot of power on the server, power that no one else had. George and Sapnap had a fraction of his power, but even then; Dream never abused his powers. He never wanted to make him seem like he was powerful only because of his powers; he wanted to prove that he was strong without them. 

“Dream almost never teleports…,” Niki pondered out loud, but brushed it off as soon as she saw everyone leaving without her.

“Fundy, wait for me!”

Morning came quickly and everyone begrudgingly got up to finish this once and for all. As they waited for the signal that Dream would make, they all prepared for war. They waited and waited. But, the signal never came.

One by one, everyone stepped out of their homes and gathered around. They started to look for Dream, thinking he was pulling a prank on everyone to make them distracted.

“Hey guys,” Quackity called for everyone and all of them went towards him in confusion. Their faces fell when they saw what was on the ground. It was a black stain. It was darker than black concrete. 

“Dream?!” George’s face turned white as he ran towards where Dream resided; Sapnap close behind. Pulling out his bow, he shot a dirt block. After a moment, the floor underneath them was gone and the two went down and fell into a pool of water. George located Dream’s room and stopped in the doorway, and Sapnap was about to continue until George held his arm out.

“The liquid is everywhere,” Sapnap peeped in and felt sick to his stomach when he saw the state of the room.

“Stay here,” George instructed and carefully stepped on the ground which was covered in the liquid. As soon as he declared it to be safe, he stepped into the room. Hesitantly, Sapnap did the same. 

After a moment of inspecting Dream’s room, Sapnap noticed how a spot on Dream’s bed was completely clean. Sapnap found something more out of place than the stained room and motioned for George.

“What is this?” George held it up, and it shimmered in the light.

___

“Did you guys find anything?” Niki asked as soon as she saw George and Sapnap reappearing with the rest of the townsfolk.

“There was this,” George stated and threw what was in his hand towards Niki.

Catching it, she examined the thing that was in her hands. It was a medallion with a face on it; identical to the face on Dream’s mask. After a minute of analyzing it, she passed it on to the rest of the townsfolk. They all stared at it; the redstoners, the builders, the PVP masters were all bewildered by this medallion.

“Why do you think Dream left this?” Tubbo asked Tommy, who shrugged at the question.

“Hell if I know,”  As Tommy gave away the medal, he could have sworn that the face gave a small frown. He blinked and the face returned back to normal. The two began coming with theories of the possible meanings of the medallion. As Tommy gave away the medal, he could have sworn that the face gave a small frown.

“COME BACK HERE! PLEASE!” Yelling was heard, coming closer every second that passed. Karl was sprinting towards the book, which had swirls surrounding it and the pages were flipping frantically. It was coming full speed towards the rest of the town.

“Everyone hide-!” The book had stopped and turned around. Karl, who was running for the book, was now running away from it. The book stopped flipping and landed on a page. Since everyone was behind the book, no one could see what was on the book. But they knew it was bad as soon as Karl turned around and started dashed away from the book. Tripping over the ground, Karl let out a scream as light encased his body and was gone. The only evidence of Karl’s body ever being there were the purple swirls still staying around for a moment in the place of Karl was.

The people went into a panic and everyone hid anywhere they could. Some hid in barrels, huts, signs, anywhere that wouldn’t make them suffer the same fate Karl did.

Holding their breaths, no one made a sound as the book turned around and started moving slower than before. Almost like it was… looking around.

It then stopped in front of a sign that declared ransom for Techno, and behind it was Tubbo and Tommy. 

The book started sucking in the air like a black hole, and the sign was gone; uncovering Tubbo and Tommy. Those behind the book came out of their hiding spots with their eyes widened and their bodies stiff. 

Tubbo started to get pulled towards the book by the medallion that was still in Tubbo’s hand.

“Tubbo! I think it wants the medallion! Give it to the book!” Tommy screamed.

“It might have something to do with Dream!” Tubbo answered, still holding onto the medallion and Tommy holding back Tubbo. Tubbo’s grip on the medallion was too weak compared to the air being sucked in, and he let go of the medallion and it vanished with purple swirls. The book stopped sucking air in, and the flipping of the pages stopped. It then flipped a single page to show a picture of Tubbo on one page and a picture of Tommy on the next page.

“Tubbo we have to run, now!” The people who were behind the book and trying to be quiet, started yelling for the book to leave them alone. Some even begged to take them instead.

Tubbo’s foot was lodged into the ground, “Tommy, leave!”

“I won’t leave you behind!”

“Go!” Tubbo cried out a scream when he had light surrounding his body.

“Never!” Tommy responded and grabbed his shoulder, also making Tommy’s body covered in light.

Both were gone within seconds together, and purple swirls lingered where their body was; just like Karl’s and the medallion.

The book remained there for a bit before it turned and everyone went back to their hiding spots. All but Techno, who stood in front of the book and brought out his crossbow, filled with explosive rockets. 

“Techno, no!” Philza screamed. 

He shot the book with half a stack of rockets and nothing came out of the wall of smoke the rockets had created. Techno smirked before the smoke cleared and the book remained, unharmed. The book started flipping through the pages as it moved towards Techno, and he brought out his Axe of Peace and struck a powerful swing towards the book. Still floating, the book split in half. Then, it stitched itself together and stopped at a page to show a picture of Techno.

“Heh?” Techno muttered, and a familiar light encased his body.

“Techno!” Philza clambered his way towards Techno and reached his hands toward him. Techno brought his trotter to grab Philza’s hand. Philza went to snatch Techno’s trotter, but it was too late. In place of Techno’s body were purple swirls.

“Techno…,” Philza fell to his knees and stared at his hand solemnly then closed it shut.

Philza peered up at the book and shouted, “Who else are you going to take!”

Surprisingly enough, the book answered his question. The book simply closed, and like everyone it took; left behind purple swirls. 

“They’re gone. They’re all gone.”

“They’re not…right?” No one would dare say the word ‘dead’.

“We would’ve gotten a death message, they’re most likely-. They’re dead and deserve it. I... mean alive,” Ranboo pointed out, hitting his head with the palm of his hand.

“Teleport them back with the console, George!” Someone yelled over the sounds of panic. 

“I’m trying!” A message had popped up in bright red before them, Not in the. The rest of the message was corrupted.

“What…?” George looked mystified and clearly wasn’t the only one. George had control of the console and never had any issues when teleporting somewhere or someone.

“Sapnap!” The man looked at George expectedly, “Do it with me!” Sapnap had a blank look on his face and quickly snapped out of his daze and scrambled towards George.

“Grab my hands, now!”

Sapnap did as he demanded but grumbled, “Would a ‘please’, kill you?”

“No, but it’ll kill our friends,” Sapnap clenched his hands into George’s, with clear regret of his words.

“Do it with me,” George commanded, but in a much softer tone and clenched Sapnap’s hands with the same strength, he did.

The two closed their eyes and light swirled around them. It was blinding, but no one could look away.

“Please work…,” Quackity hoped, and for the first time in a while; the man wasn’t smiling. The two floated up and a warm aura came from them.

“Please!” Fundy begged for something. Anything.

The light ceased and the two fell with a hard thud.

Not in the Same Universe.

The message wasn’t corrupted like before and popped up in a brighter red somehow, while everyone ran to George and Sapnap’s side. 

Helping them up, George scowled and shook off the people who were helping him. 

“FUCK! Why is this happening?” George threw his glasses to the ground and brought his hands to his eyes. Too overwhelmed with his senses, he collapsed beneath his feet. He started hitting the ground in anger.

“I’m trying again!” George announced to no one in particular. Maybe to himself.

He would try and try again, even if it kills him. George tried a couple of times but the message kept showing up as corrupted and redder than the last. Not that George could tell, anyway.

But everyone else could, and they were getting more nervous every second.

George did one more time and felt like he was being zapped out of his energy and gave a silent scream before he collapsed. The message was the reddest it's been and much bigger than before. 

However, a separate message was shown after the message was gone: Please Try Again In Twelve Days. Everyone was shocked, and an earthquake shook the entire townsfolk, and screaming ensued. A pink dome lit up around them and vanished. All of them, excluding George and Sapnap, ran out in all different directions outside of the areas the people inhabited.

A couple of minutes passed before all of them returned to the original spot, and Eret was the first to speak, “The dome is still there, we can’t leave.” Those who ran to check the outside area, all agreed on the same situation.

“What do we do?” Fundy questioned, and it seemed like no one had the answer. 

“The best we can do for them is to wait and study,” Niki rose as the leader, and she turned to Sapnap, “Please take a sample of the liquid from yesterday and run it through the console.” He nodded and turned away.

Niki then turned to Philza and Ranboo, “Take care of George for me.” The two that were instructed both turned to hold George and dragged him off.

“In the meantime, I want everyone else to tend to their crops and count up all the food we have. We need to know that all of us will have enough food for the next two weeks,” Everyone agreed and got to work. They would be ready to hold out these twelve days and were filled with hope for everyone who was teleported and finding Dream. 

“I hope you’ll be okay guys,” Niki said into the air, sighed, then went to go check her food stock.

Chapter Text

The ground was soft.

Too soft.

Karl’s body shot up and winced at the intense headache he had gotten. He realized he was on a bed but didn’t recognize the place he was in. There were curtains drawn back, showing another bed but it was empty.

“Oh, you’re awake!” A girl with pink hair came in.

“...Niki?”

“Yeah! That basketball must’ve knocked you out harder than we thought! Here, I got you your backpack,” She said as she gave Karl a purple bag with green swirls on it. 

He took it and asked, “I’m sorry, a what hit me?” Niki had a bewildered smile on her face.

“A basketball, next you’ll tell me you don’t know what a net is,” Karl blinked for a moment and realized that he had to think quickly.

“...Got you!” Karl started giggling, and Niki’s confusion dissipated as she laughed at the ‘joke’. 

“At least you woke up in time during lunch, I know it’s your favorite subject of the day after all,” Niki nudged him as soon as Karl hopped off the bed. 

“Thanks, nurse Ponk,” Niki thanked as they exited the “Nurse’s office”.

The outside of the office was magical; storage systems on both sides of him, everything was clean, and his favorite: no one was fighting to the death. 

Karl walked by people who he distinctly knew from their voices, all looked… different. 

Skeppy was just a boy with blue hair, who towered over what he assumed was a human version of Bad. The Bad he knew was a demonic being, who was the epitome of “Looks like he can kill you, is a sweetheart”. Now, he was simply just “Looks like a sweetheart, is a sweetheart”.

He passed by the pair who, if he knew anything about Skeppy: was teasing his best friend, Bad.

Even walking next to this Niki felt peculiar, she was calm and confident in every step she took.

He would never forget the cries of, “I don’t even want to be here!” 

The devastated look on her face was something he couldn’t wipe away from his brain. 

Ever.

A tall boy with dark patches on his face was coming by them and Karl didn’t recognize him and wasn’t sure what came over him when he exclaimed and waved, “Ranboo!” 

The supposed Ranboo gave him a hesitant stare that lasted for a few seconds and looked down but waved back.

“How do you know Ranboo?” Niki questioned, “He just transferred here today when you were taking your beauty sleep.”

“A magician never reveals his tricks,” Karl joked dramatically, hoping it would distract Niki from asking more questions.

“Anyways, they’re serving your favorite! Hot pockets!” The distraction had worked and now Karl had to pretend he knew what were hot pockets. 

“I’m so excited to… eat it!” Karl was careful with his words and knew he had to fit in long enough to understand what was happening.

They entered what Niki called the lunchroom and the volume of everyone speaking hurt Karl’s ears. Normally, he’d cover his ears from how loud it was, but it was almost like he was used to it. 

“Sit at our table, I’ll go get us some Hot Pockets!” Karl nodded as he realized he had no idea where their table was.

Something about this place made it seem familiar . It felt like he has been here before, but Karl knew for a fact that he hadn’t. But, there was a tiny voice in the back of his head telling him something, but it was too quiet to hear.

Looking around the place, he tried to somehow find an empty seat. He was about to give up and try to find Niki before he noticed two boys sitting alone at a table. Coming closer, he recognized the pair as Tubbo and Tommy. Except they had odd accessories. Tommy had a chain on his neck with the Mellohi disc on it while Tubbo had a similar chain but with the Cat disc on it.

“Tubbo… Tommy?”

Tommy and Tubbo looked at each other then Tubbo quizzed, “What territory was Tommy and I both in during the first war?”

Puzzled, Karl answered, “L’Manberg” They both let out sighs of relief, and Karl sat down with them. 

“We saw people we recognized and they responded with dumb answers like Well, Tomathy, you weren’t born yet ,” Tommy mocked.

“Were you two the only ones who came through?”

“We have no idea, but we came right after you,” Tubbo answered.

“How many do you think came through?” The three gave each other worried looks.

“I don’t think many, since no one here truly recognizes us,” Tubbo pointed out, and Karl brought up the situation when he woke up and met Niki and then Ranboo on the way to the ‘lunchroom’.

A tall figure towered right next to the three, and they looked up to see a buff guy with braided, light pink hair and nearly broken glasses held together with a semi-transparent line in the middle. He was wearing a jacket that was pink and brown, and in the middle of his shirt, had a picture of an oval, brown figure with three white lines coming from the top. Above the figure, it had the words ‘Manberg’s Pigs’ and below the figure had the numbers: 2021. He had a tray full of food and sat down with the three.

“Hey, guys,” The second he spoke, all three looked at each other in disbelief.

“What the honk!” Karl covered his gaping mouth.

“Holy shit! You’re not a pig!” Tommy howled with laughter. Techno made a face before grabbing the meat with his hands on his tray to eat it. He stopped as soon as he saw the people around him giving odd stares.

“Why are they looking at me like that?” Karl swiveled in his chair to analyze the surroundings and noticed how everyone was using a different tool to eat different foods. People are liquids with a mini shovel or ate their meat with a mini sword and mini trident.

Turning back, “I think you have to use a mini trident and mini sword to eat that, instead of your mouth.” 

“And how much do I need to grind to get those?” Techno huffed, clearly out of his element.

Karl turned for another second and turned back and pointed at a station, “I think over there?”

“I think we should do whatever the other people around us are doing no matter how...” Tubbo paused as he looked at the table next to them, eating hamburgers with cold milk, “...weird it is.”

Face covered in sauce from the meat, Techno walked up towards the station.

“You know the medallion that had Dream’s face on it?” Tubbo questioned while Techno went to struggle with picking out eating tools.

“What about it?” Karl hoped nothing happened to the one lead they had indicating where Dream could have gone.

“Well it turned into this brick these people call a ‘phone’ and it has Dream’s face on a… ‘pop socket’,” Sure enough, Tubbo held out a neon green phone with the back having a pop socket with Dream’s face on it. Tubbo looked at the phone disgusted as he held it two fingers in the air. 

“What do you do on that thing? I can’t even shovel or mine with that tiny thing,” Karl also stared at the neon green object in confusion. 

“It does emit this cool light and picture!” Tubbo turned the phone towards Karl and Tommy, and it had a picture of Tommy and Tubbo posing together.

Techno, face still covered in sauce, came back with mini tools and sat back in front of his seat.

“Techno, can you read this for me?” Tommy gave him a pink slip, and Techno’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You know you can actually read in this… place. Right?”

“Yeah, but reading is for squares,” Karl and Techno both got slightly annoyed by this comment.

“Wait, you can read now?” Karl asked, bewildered by this new set of news. Where they come from, Tommy and Tubbo both could not read or write very well since they were born in the midst of an ongoing war. Thus, reading and writing were pushed to the side as not being important.

“When Tubbo and I were in ‘English class’,” Tommy airquotted, “I had to read a para... Par-e?”

“Paragraph,” Tubbo finished for him.

“Whatever the fuck, but I looked at the thing and I could read it. I felt like I knew I could do it and I did,” Tommy began smirking, “But, Tubbo here, oh dear god.”

Tubbo, with an offended look, “They said I have something called dyslexia!"

“No, it just means that I’m better than you, as usual,” Tommy teased and Tubbo glared at him.

“You have… detention after school?” Techno piped up and Tommy’s face scrunched up, “For responding to the statement: ‘Teleportation isn’t real and can never happen’ with ‘Well bitch, it’s called using console’.”

“That was a valid response! And... what’s detention?” He asked the three, and Karl shrugged it off as being ‘not important’ while Tubbo was now preoccupied with the phone looking like Dream.

“Knowing you, it’s probably a bad thing,” Techno responded and Tommy stuck out his tongue.

“Hey guys, do you notice how we’re the only ones sitting here?” Karl mentioned before Tommy and Techno had a full-fledged fight in the ‘lunchroom’. Indeed, the four were sitting at a table alone while the ones all around them were filled to the brim of people. Most were staring at them and whispering. 

Niki had shown up in front of the table the four were sitting at.

“Niki!” Karl had a smile on his face, but Niki did not.

“Let’s go,” Niki quietly motioned for him to move away.

“I’ll talk to you guys later,” Karl whispered towards the others as he was pulled away to another table.

“Why are you talking to them?” Niki had an exasperated look on her face and her eyes widened.

“Because… they’re my friends?” Niki’s jaw dropped.

“But, you hate the Za siblings, especially poor posture Tommy?” Niki’s voice was filled with poison as she stated Tommy’s name.

“Sorry, the ‘Za siblings’?”

“Yeah… Principal Za’s adopted kids, Techno, Wil, and the twins, Tubbo and Tommy.”

“Phil has actual kids. Like kids that are still alive?” Karl tried not to let his face show what he was actually feeling but felt his face fall when he remembered Phil killing Wil. 

Karl can’t erase seeing Phil solemnly coming out of Wilbur’s control room, with blood all over his chest and dripping from his sword.

But to be fair, Phil loved the four and was practically a father to them. War just changes people. 

And most of the time, not for the best.

“Karl, I don’t know how hard the ball hit your head, but yes those are his kids and we stay far, far away from them.”

“Why?” 

“Karl, our school is separated, remember? Us artsy students stick with the other art people, sports with sports, nerds with nerds, and so forth. If we don’t, then the ‘Dream Team’ could do something. So just stay in the group we excel in. That’s how it’s always been.”

“Right, the ‘Dream Team’!” Karl agreed, slightly happy to recognize the team name from his own world.

“Yeah, George, Sapnap, and Quackity,” Niki seemed happier to know that Karl was back to ‘normal’. Karl’s brain did a 180 when Niki mentioned the last name, but continued to agree. 

As Niki was explaining the situation to him, he saw Eret; with actual pupils, in front of Tubbo. Judging by his body language, he was probably inviting Tubbo to go with him. But, if looks could kill, Eret would be dead on the spot. Karl could feel the heat from Tommy’s death glare from his seat and it took everything in him not to run and stop Tommy from stabbing him. Luckily, Techno was there to diffuse the situation, but Puffy came to the table. Karl noticed that she was also different. Karl knew it was Puffy from her rainbow hair. But he was shocked to see that Puffy wasn’t a sheep; in fact, she was wearing a sweatshirt with a small duck imprinted on it. There, the two went their separate ways, following the person that ushered them to go with them.

Leaving Tommy all alone.

“Oh, sorry, I’m just not feeling it today after what happened,” Karl assured when they all left, and Niki had a different look of worry on her face.

“Do you want me to call your mom to pick you up?” Niki brought out her bric- phone that had a clear cover on it.

“Nah, I’ll handle it,” Karl didn’t even know he had a mother until that moment and knew that it would not be smart to leave when he had no idea where he was or what he was doing. 

A loud sound was played throughout the ‘lunchroom’, and everyone started to get up. Following what Niki did, he also got up and they went behind the moving crowd. 

Stopping behind a closed door, Niki nervously chuckled, “Ready for the test?”

“Yes,” He wasn’t. 

An older person with green hair came and opened the door, and they went in. Still mimicking what Niki did, he sat next to her. Thankfully, it was the right thing to do since Niki nor the older person corrected him. When the older person came around and gave them each a packet of paper, Karl realized that this was a very tired and old-looking Sam.

“You guys know the drill, no looking at other people’s paper and do your best. When you finish, just keep it until everyone is done,” Sam slumped down on a chair and everyone frantically began scratching at their papers. Karl did what everyone else did and took a moment to go over the test. Karl knew that he didn’t know any of this subject given to him, but his hand went into autopilot and finished the test.

With time to spare, he started thinking. Why did the book send him, Techno, Tubbo, and Tommy here? Wait. The book. 

Karl started searching around him and in the purple backpack Niki had claimed was his. All he found were disorganized, lonely pieces of paper with his name scribbled onto it. Then, he pulled out a notebook with a similar design as his backpack, but this notebook had a purple swirl with the swirl starting from the right. 

When Karl touched the book, it had a powerful energy that he recognized from when he used his book to travel through time. It felt nearly identical, but Karl knew this wasn’t his book. 

He was sure of it. 

He could feel it.

Before he could even open the strange book, a loud; “Karl!” was heard. His head shot up towards Sam’s voice who seemed to be seething with anger, “What are you doing with that notebook? Are you done with the test?”

Sheepishly he only answered the second question, “Yes.” Sam grumbled as he hobbled their way towards Karl. He snatched the test off Karl’s table and returned to his desk, and Karl noticed that everyone in the class had stopped to stare. He sunk in his seat, hoping he would magically turn invisible.

Sam’s face turned puzzled for a few seconds before his scowl only grew deeper as he muttered, “Perfect marks.”

 Next to him, Niki’s eyes widened and after a lingering moment, she went back to stressing over the test. Too embarrassed to try to read the book again, he decided to wait until he was with Tommy, Tubbo, and Techno. 

The door then swung open to find the unmistakable third of the Dream Team, George.

“Sorry I’m late, Mr. F, I was sleeping in the library,” George apologized but didn’t seem all too apologetic.

“Take the test and do it, I’m not giving you more time,” Karl analyzed how Sam didn’t blow a fuse when it came to George.

Karl had an odd feeling in his chest as he glanced down at the book with an odd green swirl.

He secretly studied George and was stupefied to find out that after a few ticks of the clock; George had finished. George got up and brought it to Sam, who marked it like how he did with Karl’s. Except, he didn’t have a frown on his face. Instead, he was perked up and said, “Second perfect mark of the day. Good job.”

“Second?” Karl panicked, knowing this was going to happen.

“Karl received a perfect mark,” Karl stared intensely at his desk, suddenly preoccupied with counting the lines on the table. In the corner of his eye, he saw George turn towards him and look at him for a second before turning to go back to his chair and table.

“I see you’re Mr. ‘Perfect Marks’,” Niki mentioned when everyone was finished with the test, stressing the last two words.

“I just knew what I was doing,” Karl said simply. 

“I cannot believe you of all people got perfect marks in Mr. F’s class!”

“It wasn’t that hard?” Karl wondered why this was a big deal, the teacher instructed them to try their best and that’s what he did. Did he somehow blow his cover already?

“You never get perfect marks, and the only person that does is-,” Niki’s eyes clouded over as she stopped talking. She looked petrified.

“Karl, right?” Someone called out right behind him, and Karl seemed nervous. He turned toward the voice and saw George right next to him.

“George!” Karl gave a warm smile, trying not to anxiously giggle.

“May I talk to you for a second?” His smile faltered for a moment, but Karl composed himself and nodded.

“Uh… sure!” He followed George out of the classroom, and everyone was staring at them. One look from George, however, and they all scurried away.

“I didn’t know you artsy people actually did well in class,” George observed as they left the classroom.

“I mean, just because I’m ‘artsy’ doesn’t mean I can’t also be smart,” George made a sound to that, and Karl wasn’t sure if it was positive or negative.

“I have a proposal for you, why don’t you hang out with me, Quackity, and Sapnap after school?”

“Sure, I would have to make sure with Techno-,” Shit. 

George raised an eyebrow, “Why would you need to ask him? You guys aren’t friends anymore.”

“Anymore?” Karl thought, but knew he had to get out of this situation.

“Oh, right, right. Sorry, yeah I’ll hang out with you guys! See you then,” Karl escaped into the crowd, leaving George on his own.

As soon as George left his sight, Karl’s legs went into autopilot. It went around many twists and turns before landing in front of a door. A sign next to the door said “Library”.

Perfect.

He went in.

Karl let out a sigh of relief when he saw the library was pretty much empty, except for obviously older people behind a table. He silently chose one of the empty tables and sat down at one of the seats. Pulling out the book that seemed similar to his book, he tried opening it.

It wouldn’t budge.

With an eyebrow raised, Karl tried using some force; afraid he would somehow rip the book in half. 

When that didn’t work, Karl gave up and used all his upper body strength to open the book.

It didn’t even make a dent.

He stared at the book intensely, thinking about what his next course of action should be.

“My love,” A voice called out from above him.

“God?” Karl looked to the right and left of him, but didn’t see anyone. Then he felt his head gently pulled backward, and lo and behold was Sapnap. The boy pretty much looked identical to the one he knew, except for the lack of armor and white headband. 

“Cute, you think I’m high and mighty,” Sapnap remarked before sitting down in the chair next to Karl.

“Oh, hi Sapnap!” Karl was always happy to see the boy, even if he knew in his heart it wasn’t really him.

“Karl,” Sapnap gave him a friendly smile back and Karl saw his eyes look at the book in his hands. For a moment, Karl thought maybe Sapnap was also transported here with the others and helped him figure out a way to get back.

“Glad to see artsy people actually have more than two broken brain cells.”

Nevermind.

“Just because I’m an artsy person doesn’t mean-” 

“-You can’t also be smart,” Karl paused and Sapnap continued, “George told me, pretty angrily, a few minutes ago. Didn’t know you had it in you to talk back to George of all people.”

“I-Well. Why wouldn’t I?” Sapnap squinted his eyes for a moment.

“Hm,” Sapnap clicked his tongue, “Nevermind, you still coming with us after class?”

“Y-yeah, wouldn’t miss it,” A loud ringing sound was heard above him.

“Let’s go!” Sapnap pulled him along, and Karl barely was able to put his book into his bag.

As he was being pulled along, Karl couldn’t help but wonder: Why would he not talk back to George?

Too many questions.

Not enough answers.

“Karl?” Quackity shouted from ahead and George stood next to him, stone-faced.

When the two got closer to Quackity and George, Quackity fist-pumped the air, “The Dream Team is back baby!” 

Back? Does that mean that Karl left the Dream Team?

Too many questions.

Not enough answers.

“Wanna walk to our old hang-out spot?” Sapnap suggested and the two agreed. Without having much of an opinion, Karl agreed.

During their walk, George and Sapnap went on ahead to presumably talk about something.

Quackity stayed behind and spoke up, “So… welcome back!”

“Thanks?”

“I heard from George that you passed the test!”

“Yeah, it was pretty easy,” Karl shrugged. He still didn’t understand what the big deal was.

“You were always pretty smart,” Quackity said, uncharismatically small. 

Too many questions.

Not enough answers.

Eventually, the four made their way to an odd shop. On the top of the shop, it had a brown cone-like figure with a pink semicircle on top of it.  Since George and Sapnap arrived before them, they were able to get the ice cream as soon as Karl and Quackity entered the building.

Sapnap handed Karl the cone-shaped object with bright pink, and gave Quackity what Sapnap called, “Your Rocky Road.” Why would anyone eat something that was a part of a road? 

They soon left the shop after George gave Callahan, who was behind the counter, green paper. Karl watched carefully as the three licked the semicircle that was on top of their cones. Hesitantly, he took a lick of the semi-circle on top and was pleasantly surprised. 

The shock he was feeling was evident since Sapnap asked, “How’s your Bubblegum ice cream?”

“Pretty good!”

“I cannot believe you like Bubblegum,” George scoffed, and Quackity whipped his head so fast towards George. 

“Okay, Mr. Vanilla. So plain,” Quackity mimicked George’s scoff.

“Fits him perfectly,” Sapnap added on, earning him a scowl from George. 

“Okay, Snapnap.”

“Call me that again and we’re going to have issues,” The three began playfully bickering about George’s ice cream choices, and Karl stood back and watched.

Something buzzed in the pocket of his hoodie. Still immersed in his flavourful semicircle, he pulled a buzzing purple brick out of his pocket. It took him a second to realize that it was a phone as Tubbo called it and many things were popping up on the front side of it. When it stopped buzzing, Karl put it back into this pocket, thinking it won’t matter. 

After a few moments, the four returned to the school where he saw Techno, Tubbo, and Tommy. A smile came to his face but dropped it as soon as he saw identical scowls coming from the three he was with. 

“Can’t believe Principal Phil didn’t exile Tommy from the school for good,” George made a disapproving grunt.

“Well he is his “son”, if he were my son then I would have put him back for adoption,” Quackity huffed.

“Honestly, and the other three aren’t any better,” Sapnap added on.

“Why would Tommy be exiled or put back for adoption?” Back where he came from, Tommy had been exiled from his home once and when he came back, he wasn’t the same. After all, Tubbo, his best friend, was the one who sentenced him to that suffering.

The three stopped to stare at him, “After Tommy-”

“Big man!” Tommy had a wide smile as he saw Karl coming closer to them. Karl tried not to smile, but his eyes widened to try and send a message that this was not a good time. Lucky for him, Tubbo understood his intentions and whispered to Tommy who effectively stopped smiling and turned away.

“The nerve,” George muttered.

Too many questions.

Not enough answers.

“Actually, I have to talk to Tommy for a moment, I’ll see you guys soon?” Karl put on a faux irritated face, hoping it would trick the three.

Sapnap smirked, “Make sure you don’t punch him too hard!” 

Hook, line, and sinker.

The three left to a red metal object with two black, round inflated circles on each side of it. When he saw it move and go to who knows where, Karl made his way towards Techno, Tubbo, and Tommy.

“How are you guys still here?” Karl questioned because after all, it was after school and he saw very few people lingering the outside of the building.

“I had football practice,” Techno huffed out, and it was at that moment that he saw Techno dripping sweat and looking beat. It was truly a sight to see since the Techno he was used to was a stoic being who was the best pig-warrior amongst men.

“I had to read more since it'll help me improve’!” Tubbo rolled his eyes and struggled to hold the hardcover book in his hands.

“I sat around the library,” Tommy shrugged.

“You didn’t go with Tubbo?” Considering the two were practically inseparable most of the time, seeing them split up was

“Nah, I had detention, remember?”

“How was it?”

“Quiet,” Tommy shivered, presumably from the horror of being in a quiet room.

Then, a familiar blonde and brunette came strolling out of the school. Karl heard Tommy breathe in sharply when he saw Wil, nonchalantly holding his brick phone. It was odd for them to see the Wil they knew from before the festival with Phil… it... it was just an odd sight to see.

“Boys!” Phil’s voice boomed towards them.

“Ph- Dad!” Tubbo greeted Philza, who was coming straight for the four.

“Karl! Very nice to see you talking to my boys!” He had a wide smile on his face as he stared at Karl, Techno, and Tubbo. His face wavered when he came across Tommy, but it only lasted a second. Karl made a mental note of that. 

“If you want, you can come over for a bit like you used to since I remember your mom working late most of the time,” Phil offered. 

“I would love to! Thank you!” Karl was just pleased that he wouldn’t be alone to think about how he would get the four of them back anymore.

“Get in the car, boys while I talk to one of the teachers,” That got Wil’s attention, whose head shot up and eyes were practically popping out of his head.

“I have to talk to the bitch of an English teacher about my essay,” Wil gave a strained smile as he beelined for a woman ready to get into her blue metal object.

“Techno,” Phil had an exasperated expression and tossed Techno a metal stick, “Unlock the car, you know where it is.”

When Phil left, Tommy piped up with, “Yeah Techno, you know where it is.”

Techno just shook his head and looked at the metal stick carefully, and started walking towards the metal objects. The three followed close behind and they stopped in front of a green metal ob- a car. 

Techno went towards one of the doors and took another look at the metal stick. He stuck it into the door and unlocked it. He then motioned for them to get in the back, which the three did. 

They noticed how there were two seats in the middle, two in the front, and three in the back. Tubbo and Tommy took the two middle seats while Karl got into the very back of the green car.

“I guess he did know where it was!” Tubbo exclaimed.

Techno got into the left front door, where it had a black sphere in front of the seat. Techno looked at the stick a third time and inserted it into the car and the car buzzed to life. It scared the four for a moment but stopped after realizing the thing wouldn’t eat them alive.

“Key,” Techno whispered as he gripped the metal object and hopped out of the car after a second to the other front door, without a black sphere in the front.

“That was…,” Tommy started.

“SO COOL!” Tubbo finished, clearly very excited.

“I cannot believe Phil is our actual dad here!” Tubbo excitedly reported and grinning so wide, Karl was shocked that his face could even stretch that wide.

“And we’re twins!” Tommy continued, having an identical smile Tubbo had.

“I can’t believe I was an orphan,” Techno slumped into his seat and seemed like he was in the midst of an existential crisis, “And Phil is in a position of power.”

“It’ll be okay, we’ll go back to your anarchy-induced rage when we come back,” Tubbo and Tommy stopped smiling while Techno kept his frown.

“Do we have to go back?” Tubbo rubbed the back of his neck, upset.

“There’s no war here,” Tubbo added when Karl didn’t respond.

“No fear,” Tommy held his necklace.

“No fighting,” Techno added.

“I-”

The door opened, revealing a very alive Wil. 

“She raised my grade four points! She definitely loves me,” Wil cheerfully mentioned as he sat in the back with Karl.

Within the next second, Phil got into the front left seat with the black wheel. 

“Ready to go home, boys?” Phil questioned as the green car started to move away from the school.

“Dad, did I tell you that I adopted one of the underclassmen?” Wil wiggled his eyebrows.

“Who did you ‘adopt’, Wil?”

“There’s this underclassman named Fundy,” The four tried not to show the stunned looks on their faces.

“Really?”

“Yeah, my friend Sally and I both agreed on sharing custody,” Karl couldn’t believe this was real, and it seemed the other three couldn’t believe it as well.

“Sally, the salm-,” Tommy began before Tubbo clamped his hand onto his mouth. 

“TOMMY!” Tubbo groaned in disgust as he ripped his wet hand away from Tommy, “You are disgusting.”

“Ha, fucker!”

“Boys. Anyways, Techno how was your day?”

“Tiring,” Techno simply stated.

“Fair, that’s what being a senior does to you I guess,” Phil laughed but received no laugh from Techno. 

“Tubbo?”

“Amazing! I talked to so many people!” Karl was pleased to see the boy happy, after all, he deserved it. 

“Good, good, Karl, how about you?” Karl noticed how Phil didn’t move onto his fourth son but brushed it off.

“You’re not going to ask me, Big Man?” Tommy seemed to notice as well.

“I asked Karl, Tommy,” Techno, Tubbo, Karl, all straightened themselves when they heard how much venom was in Phil’s tone. Tommy shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“Uh... I did good, got perfect marks on my test?”

“Good job!” Phil’s voice completely shifted into a happier one. There was clearly something Karl was missing.

“Tommy?” The venom returned.

“I- uh, got a hundred on my math test?” 

Wil snorted, “Did you cheat on it?”

“Why would a big man like me cheat?” Tommy’s face changed into a mixture of ‘I can’t believe this lanky stick could assume something like that’ and ‘I am a big man. Big man doesn’t cheat’. 

“Or did you have Karl do it for you?” Wil continued.

“Why would I ask Karl?”

“Ah yes, why ask Karl when you can take credit for his work,” The tension in the car was suffocating, and Karl made another mental note on Phil’s lack of sticking up for Tommy.

“Fuck off,” Tommy obviously didn’t get why Wil was being snappy, but he wasn’t having it.

“Tommy. Don’t say that to your brother!” Phil scolded.

“Fucker just accused me of cheating? Unless you went deaf during that-”

“Tommy,” Phil’s voice didn’t rise but instead said in a stern voice. Karl recognized that voice as I’m going to kill you on the spot’ from the other Phil, but it didn’t make sense for him to react that way towards Tommy. 

Tommy instantly fell quiet, which was never good. The boy was never quiet, it was just who he was.

Luckily, the tension didn’t last too long since they arrived at what Karl assumed to be Phil’s house.

Tommy was the first one to leave the car, and they all walked into the house. 

The house itself was regal and tall, but the inside was breathtaking. There were soft couches, instead of couches made out purely out of wood. The walls weren’t made of cobblestone but were detailed and magnificent. Karl noticed a fireplace and above it was a family picture. It had all the ‘Za siblings except for Tommy. 

Too many questions.

Not enough answers.

Tommy bolted towards a doorway missing a door and entered it, and Karl decided to follow him in.

“Why did you enter this room?” The room was bare, it had a bed with a worn-out pillow and a blanket, a desk with a plain chair, and a single bag on the bed. 

“This is my room. I can feel it,” Tommy muttered and advanced towards the bag.

Tommy pulled out clothes from the bag, confused. So was Karl.

“Why would you have clothes in there?”

“I... I don’t know?”

“It’s chilling how the room is so bare.”

“I’m no psychic like Tubbo, but there’s something wrong,” Tommy gripped the clothes tightly, just like how Techno gripped the metal object he called a key.

Tommy shook his head frantically as he held the clothes close to his heart.

“Tommy?”

Tommy’s face changed into despair, sorrow, and betrayal. It pained Karl to see that face again, as he hoped he wouldn’t have to after he got news of his exile from Tubbo.

Tommy opened his mouth and closed a few times before whispering out, “Phil doesn’t want me here.”

“What?”

“I… I just know it, I…,” For once, the boy was at a loss of words. Before, a quiet Tommy was a gift. But now, Karl wished more than anything for the boy to go back to his loud, chatty self.

“Tommy-” Karl began before Techno and Tubbo hurried into the room, with Tubbo holding the Dream-like phone.

“Guys! Dream’s in the phone!” Tubbo whisper-yelled, in case Phil or Wil could hear him.

“Oh cool, I haven’t seen him in this place yet!” Karl beamed to know the masked man was here.

“No no, he’s actually IN the phone!” Of course, there had to be a catch.

The phone started muttering something and Tubbo held it close to his ear.

“Put you on what?” Tubbo brought the phone away from his ears to look at the front of it.

“Speaker Tubbo! Please-,” Dream’s voice called out from the phone. 

“Got it Dream!”

“Can everyone hear me?” A chorus of yes’s was heard from everyone except Techno who grumbled.

“Thank god, I’ve been trying to call Karl all day!” That’s why there were so many things on the front of the phone he had.

“Ello Green Bastard,” Tommy greeted to which Dream made a huffing sound.

“Tommy. Anyways, let me get straight to the point, I’m stuck inside this phone and I want to help. Karl do you have your book?”

“Hold on, Dream, why would we believe that you’ll actually help?” Techno brought up a good point, the masked man tended to trick everyone in his path to get on top. Maybe that’s why all his friends left him. 

“Techno, I don’t think we have any other option?” Tubbo was also right, Karl didn’t know about the other three’s day but he felt like he was constantly running like a headless chicken not understanding the world around him.

“Yes and no?” Karl pulled out the book with a purple swirl, “My book had a green swirl starting from the left, this is a purple swirl starting from the right. Plus, I can’t open it.”

“That’s an iss-AH!” Dream yelped and took a couple of deep breaths before continuing with, “Sorry, that was weird. Anyways, I think I know what you have to do. It’s not much but it’ll help you leave this dimension.”

“Please give us the information, everything here is new and stressful,” Karl pleaded.

“Pretty much, fix the separation,” Karl was confused for a moment then a torch went on fire in his brain.

“I noticed how everyone was separated by what they’re good at except the “Dream Team”,” Karl recalled.

“Wonderful, a Dream Team without the Dream,” Dream dramatically groaned in annoyance, “Whatever, just fix it and I think you’ll be good.”

“It would be a shame to leave, though,” Tubbo sighed and Techno made a noise that he agreed with him.

“I dunno guys, I actually want to leave,” Tommy murmured and Tubbo stared at him in disbelief.

“But why? We don’t have to worry about war anymore, Tommy!”

Tommy turned his head towards the bag, “Having no family is so much worse, Tubbo.” 

“What are you talking about Tommy?” Techno questioned.

“I think Phil’s getting rid of me?”

“Dream do you know anything about Tommy’s situation?” Karl turned to the phone.

“I really don’t know, I just know bits and pieces. If you can find a way to access the book, then it might give you some more information,” Dream answered. 

“Do you at least know what this place is?”

“Oh. High School.”

“What in the fuck is a high school? Is it on drugs?” Tommy’s eyes glimmered at the thought of drugs.

“No. Just a more advanced school.”

“Wow, so Tommy and I have never been to a school, now we’re in an advanced one? I think I actually want to go back,” Tubbo shrugged.

“Come on now, you guys aren’t even supposed to be here,” Dream's input caught the four by surprise.

“What do you mean?” Karl asked what was on everyone’s mind.

“After being with Tubbo the entire day, it’s obvious how everyone knows who you are but you don’t really know them in this concept.”

“Is that why we can’t talk to Karl?” Tubbo asked.

“And I have to stay with the Dream team?” Karl mentioned.

“And everyone hates Tommy?” Techno said at the same time Tommy said, “Plus everyone hates me.”

“Pretty much. You guys suck at analyzing your situations,” Dream insulted.

“Oh bugger off, Dream,” Tommy retorted.

“Gladly,” The phone hung up.

“Karl! Please come, I’m bringing you home!” Phil called from outside the room.

“Guess we act like normal?” Karl shrugged.

“Normal as we can be,” Tubbo added.

Two days passed and life felt like a comfortable routine; get to school, hang out with Niki, hang out with the Dream team after school, hang out with Techno, Tubbo, and Tommy at their house, go home then rinse and repeat. 

Until one fateful day.

“Karl!” Tommy called him in the middle of the night, and lucky for him; his mom seemed to always be working.

“Tommy?” Karl groggily spoke into the phone.

“I have bad news, like really really shitty news.”

“If it’s about operation fork- please don’t-”

“It’s not about that! Phil’s getting rid of me tomorrow morning! I heard him with my own ears,” That woke Karl right up.

“He wouldn’t do that… would he?” Tommy stayed silent for a moment.

“The Phil I knew before, yes. This Phil is… different. There’s something wrong, I can feel it,” Tommy mumbled the last sentence, but Karl was awake enough to hear it. When Tommy held the clothes he had packed into his bag, he said the same thing. There was something wrong.

“Tommy, why don’t we be-”

“If you say the bad guys, I will personally shank you,” Tommy warned.

“No! Why don’t we drop the act? All four of us know that we technically don’t belong, even if Techno and Tubbo seem to want to stay.”

“About that Big Man, they want to leave as well.”

“Huh? Why the change?”

“Tubbo got mad from how Phil and Wil been ignoring me, and Techno got stressed from football practice and homework,” Tommy explained.

“So we’re all in agreement, we need to leave?”

“As of now, yes. One moment,” Three knocks were heard from Tommy’s end, and two fainter knocks followed it. After a second, both Tubbo and Techno were within earshot.

“When can we leave?” Techno groaned.

“Remember what Dream said? We can’t leave until we fix the separation problem…”

“But we literally don’t even know how,” Tommy reminded the four, even though they very well didn’t need it.

“Unless… Karl do you have your book?” Tubbo questioned and Karl reached for the closed book and hummed in approval.

“Still won’t open though,” Karl tried everything to get it open; lighting it on fire, throwing it in water,  the tries were endless. But, the book remained unharmed and closed.

“What if you act like the narrator?”

“What do you mean?”

“Yeah Tubbo, what’dya mean by acting like the narrator?” Tommy repeated the question in a slightly mocking tone.

“Shush, I’m getting to that. I heard from the walls that we should drop the act, right? You’re just playing a role right now, right?”

“...Right?”

“So. Stop. Stop acting like the Karl who is supposed to be here, the book probably assumes that you’re not the owner.”

“But I’m not?”

“The book doesn’t have to know that,” The four stayed silent, but Karl was thinking up a storm. He was lucky Tubbo gave him a lot of support, and this time wasn’t any different. Now, he just had to plan.

“That… actually made sense,” Techno, surprisingly, was the one who broke the silence.

“Boys! Get to bed! Now!” A loud voice was heard from behind them. Phil.

“Okay, dad!” Tubbo answered and whispered, “We have to go, but think about what I said.”

“Will do, thanks guys,” Tommy quickly hung up, which left Karl alone with the stubborn book. 

“Book,” The book didn’t react.

“I am your owner,” No reaction.

Then a thought came through Karl’s mind.

“There once were four boys who entered the world, their names were Karl, Tubbo, Techno, and Tommy,” Karl began and the book frantically flipped through its pages. 

 From there, his eyes turned white and the pages he was staring at were blank. He felt the breath in his lungs evaporate. His eyes filled with words and pictures and began reading.

“The story Purple is about the used and the accused,” Karl began.

Darkness surrounded him and a light shone on him. 

Four colored blobs came into his view; Blue, Purple, Black, and Red. 

“A team consisted of four like brothers; Blue, Purple, Black, and Red.,” Karl read, “Black excelled at history, Red excelled in science, Blue excelled in math.”

Karl saw Purple painting.

“Purple excelled in most things, especially in the art world. He knew where each line of paint went, understood colors on an emotional level, and was one with his art.”

Blue, Black, and Red started arguing with the Purple blob.

“Purple’s friend colors didn’t like how Purple was wasting his time with his art. Until the art final came along.”

The Blue, Black, and Red blob began shaking in fear and a line with a dot underneath went above the Blue blob. He came closer to the other two and they carefully went to the Purple Blob.

“Blue was the one who asked Purple to do his art project. Purple constantly was pushed around by Blue, and agreed.”

“Blue asked if Purple could do Black and Red’s art project as well. Purple said yes.”

Blue, Black, and Red exited to the left while Purple exited to the right. 

“Purple ended up stressed and pulling all-nighters to finish his work while Blue, Black, and Red had fun.”

The Purple blob was on a bed, while Blue, Black, and Red blob were dancing around.

“Purple finished his friend’s projects and the night before it was due, he started on his own.”

The Purple blob didn’t paint anything.

“Purple wasn’t sure what he should put onto his canvas. The ones he did for Black, Blue, and Red were all boring .”

Purple pulled out a phone. He was shaking.

“Purple was pissed. He saw his friends having fun with him, and he shook in anger. He couldn’t believe his friends used him like that. He picked up his brush and started painting his angry emotions onto the canvas.

Every regret he had with his friends was told by the shades of red he painted.

Every betrayal he faced from his own friends was told by the shades of green he painted.

Every negative emotion, he painted with a plethora of colors; almost like a dark rainbow. 

After working all night, he had made his masterpiece.

His piece de la resistance.

“He asked the Hot Pink blob to take his painting to the school as he slept.”

The Purple blob slept.

Black and Red panicked, but Blue was calm.

“Blue accused the Red and Yellow Blob that he stole his painting. He then accused Red and Yellow blob of destroying Black and Red’s paintings. Blue was a loved student while Red and Yellow was a known trouble maker. The entire school turned its back to Red and Yellow blob.

A big Green with white striped blob was disappointed.

A slightly smaller Yellow and Brown blob was disappointed.

A slightly bigger Pink blob was disappointed.

A small green blob was angry but not at Red and Yellow blob and knew he couldn’t leave his brother behind. He was the only one who believed him.”

Purple blob avoided Black, Red, and Blue. He started to hang out with Hot Pink blob. 

Purple and a Hot Pink blob stayed together. and a bunch of other colored blobs went into their own groups.

“After the Red and Yellow blob took advantage of someone’s gifts, people didn’t want to have their gifts used by other people. So they shielded themselves away from the other groups and only stuck with their own.”

Blue, Red, and Black stayed alone together.

“The only exceptions were Blue, Red, and Black who always felt like they were missing a piece of them. They didn’t want to separate into the groups of their interests because of the immense guilt they felt over their actions. Instead of apologizing, they just built a front against everyone around them. Since Red and Yellow’s reputation was tarnished so quickly by Blue, everyone was afraid of him, Red, and Black in fear of their lives being ruined. But, all they wanted was Purple. They hoped one day Purple would come back to them.”

Karl felt the air fill his lungs and his pupils returning to normal. The light that shone on him ceased and the darkness didn’t consume him anymore.

The book shut him out.

“Rude, but at least I know what I have to do,” Karl was giddy all night, but eventually tired himself and slept the rest of the night. He woke up to his alarm and started sprinting towards the school.
There was no time to wait for Phil, and he texted Tubbo to let him know just that.

He reached the school and huffed and puffed, remembering he wasn’t much an athlete here or back where he came from.

Then he saw a familiar hot-pink-haired person.

He ran towards her.

“Niki!” Karl inhaled deeply when he reached her.

“Karl? Where’s the fire?” Niki said in the same amount of panic but had teasing laced around her words.

“Do you trust me?” Niki looked confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Niki. Do you trust me?” Karl repeated, looking serious.

“Of course,” Karl smiled.

“Good. I will not see you at lunch,” Karl sauntered away, leaving a very worried Niki behind. 

Karl carried on his day like he did the past three days, but today was most definitely different.

Minutes before the bell rang to let them go to lunch, Karl carefully tapped his notebook in anticipation.

He counted down the minutes… then seconds.

“3...2...1,” He whispered under his breath.

“Showtime,” Karl continued whispering when the bell rang for lunch.

Karl left Niki behind and went straight to the lunchroom. He first spotted Techno, who was trying to melt into the floor amongst the rowdy athletes he was sitting with and headed straight for him.

“Techno,” The man looked at Karl and saw the look he gave him and stood up.

The people at the table looked disgusted.

“Let’s go get Tubbo,” Techno nodded and they found Tubbo, who was using his hands as he dramatically told a story to Eret and Bad.

“Tubbo?” Karl called out, and Tubbo stopped talking and turned his head towards Techno and Karl. Tubbo had a wide smile and got up, the Dream phone in hand.

The people at the table looked horrified.

“One more to go,” Karl told the two, and Tommy was the easiest to find. The boy was sitting by himself at an empty table, eating his lunch.

“Tommy!” Karl sat on the opposite side of him while Tubbo sat next to Tommy and Techno next to Karl.

“You better have a plan or else I’m going to be homeless tomorrow morning,” Tommy put down his fork.

“Reminds me of a green man I know,” Techno snickered and Tubbo’s phone dinged.

Dream: I’M NOT HOMELESS!

Tubbo recited Dream’s message, “Sure, sure, whatever you say.”

Dream didn’t respond.

Techno won that fight.

Soon, the lunchroom filled with even more people. People were looking at them strangely, just like on the first day they came, but this time; they didn’t bother to try and fit in.

“Don’t you remember how cool it was when I dueled with Dream? Wil was all like ‘Ten Paces Fire!’,” Tommy recalled.

The phone with Dream in it was placed on the table on speaker.

“Too bad you missed,” Dream cackled.

“Listen here you son of a bitch!” Tommy started arguing and Dream continued to wheeze in response.

The four recalled their best moments, ignoring the swarm of people trying to get them to sit “where they belong”. 

Karl ignored Niki.

Tubbo ignored Eret.

Techno ignored Puffy.

Tommy ignored no one.

But, the fou-five were immersed in their conversation and everyone eventually backed off when they realized it was a lost cause.

All except George, who stormed over.

“Karl?” George seethed out, and Karl calmly turned and peered over George’s shoulder to see Sapnap and Quackity.

Karl gave a warm smile, “Yes?”

Tommy didn’t conceal his snicker all too well.

“Why are you sitting with him? I thought you loved us-”

“George. You’re like a brother to me, and what you did was just awful. Pretending like it never existed is even more awful,” George’s shoulders slouched and he didn’t utter a single word.

“I-,” The tall man looked small at that moment.

“George. If you ever want a friendship with me again, do the right thing,” Karl never knew what George was thinking. No one ever really knew. George wouldn’t show his emotions or voice them out to anyone, and this George here seemed to be the same.

Keyword: seemed.

George had a look of determination on his face. Of course, Karl could recognize the guy had hints of fear but was taken back from how determined he looked.

George gave a single nod and went back to Sapnap and Quackity. They stare at the floor and nod their heads slowly.

Karl went back to the three, “Let’s go.” 

Karl pulled his backpack over his shoulder, and the three hurried outside the doors of the lunchroom. But not before hearing George yell, “May I have everyone’s attention?”

Karl grinned for the millionth time that day and hearing that was worth the hurt his mouth felt from smiling too much.

As they left, they noticed the entire room went silent. 

“Why did we leave? It would have been so funny seeing them get chewed out,” Tommy spoke in an annoyed manner.

“It was never my place to accept the apology, and somehow; I think neither do you three,” Karl answered, which seemed to appease Techno and Tubbo but Tommy continued to pout.

Shouting was heard in the lunchroom, but Karl made sure they wouldn’t look back.

They went straight for Phil’s office, but he wasn’t there. In fact, no one was there.

“I still cannot believe that no matter what Phil we meet, he will still love me better,” Techno joked and Tommy slowly turned his angrily vibrating head.

“I’ll kill you,” Tommy blinked his eyes a couple of times before turning his head and shaking his head in disbelief.

Phil came back and was mildly surprised to see the four there. His face softened when his eyes landed on Tommy.

Karl heard Tubbo whisper something to Tommy and Tommy smiled at Phil, whose face was replaced with regret.
“Let’s go home, boys,” He spoke in a fond, quiet manner.

The six (including Phone Dream) made their way into the car, and Wil eventually caught up after a minute when Phil requested him to be taken out of classes for the day.

They drove off and the car was silent.

It wasn’t uncomfortable or tense; it was just… right. It felt right.

Tommy seemed to think so as well because Karl saw the toothy grin Tommy gave him when the car began driving.

Eventually, they all made it safe at Phil’s house and Phil took Wil to another room to talk while the four (plus the Dream Phone) went into Tommy’s bare bedroom.

“How do we know if we actually fixed everything?” Tubbo brought up.

“Can you call Dream?” Tubbo made a pained face.

“I’ve never actually called him before. It’s usually him who calls me,” Tubbo stared at the phone.

“I got this,” Techno held out his hand and Tubbo gave him the phone.

Techno’s face had no emotion, and for a split second; Karl thought he was going to smash the phone into the ground.

Instead, he gave a menacing grin, “If you’re not homeless, call.”

The phone started ringing immediately.

“Hello Dream… no, you’re not on speaker… you’re still homeless in my eyes… I don’t really care,” Techno said into the phone, still smiling.

After a moment, Techno put him on speaker.

“I hate you,” Dream uttered.

“Feeling is mutual.”

“My man, why are we not home?” Tommy shouted at the speaker.

“Ow. Ears. But, I don’t know, did you try not being bad-?”

“Fuck off already, I wanna go home so I can kick your ass!” Tommy argued.

“Did you guys fix the separation problem?’

“We think so, but we left before we saw the end,” Karl started to slightly regret respecting this version of Karl and not listening to the Dream Team’s apologies.

A knock on the door was heard.

“I’ll go check who it is, you guys stay here,” Karl turned to go to the door, and opened it to find three familiar faces.

“I had a feeling you’d be here,” George spoke out when the door was fully opened. He looked like a complete, utter mess. There were bits and pieces of food as well as random wet spots on his hair and shirt. He noticed Sapnap and Quackity were the same.

“We wanted to say we’re so-”

“Don’t,” They looked dejected.

“Listen, I can’t be the one who accepts your apologies,” Karl said carefully, as to not reveal the secret they worked pretty hard to keep undercover.

They nodded their heads in defeat.

George opened his mouth, then closed it. He did this a couple more times before he handed Karl a box.

“What’s this?” George refused to make eye contact with Karl and instead stared at his shoes. 

“We were going to give you that during the summer,” George muttered, still refusing to look at Karl.

Karl carefully opened the box, and his eyes widened. 

“It’s a pin…,” The pin itself was split into four colors.

“...Blue for me, red for Sapnap, purple for you, and black for Quackity,” George explained and was looking at Karl directly in the eyes; clearly in a lot of pain.

Karl solemnly smiled.

There were so many unspoken words.

Karl lovingly looked at his friends.

“I’ll see you guys later,” They agreed and turned to leave, “And… thank you.”

They left.

Karl stared at the pin.

“I hope you guys know. In any world that you guys are in, I’ll always be glad to call you my friends,” Karl fiddled with the pin in his hands.

Then it started floating.

It started floating.

“Wait I don’t think it’s suppo-!” Karl watched as the ring escaped his fingers and went into Tommy’s room.

Karl tried running for it, then noticed his skin starting to get encased in light.

Shit.

Karl saw a glimpse of the other three, plus phone Dream, running out of the room.

Karl woke up in the scorching sun and immediately started coughing out the water that was in his lungs.

It took him a second before his brain registered the sound of the ocean.

Karl groaned.

This wasn’t the beach day he hoped it would be.