Chapter Text
Exdee sighed as he joined his brother’s server, finally selecting the familiar world to teleport, closing his eyes as he was absorbed into the code. A world suddenly appeared before his eyes.
‘DreamXD has joined the game.’
The admin snorted at that. “Pfft. that username is so dumb.” Dream had chosen it as a joke when he had originally created the server, and Exdee had never had the heart to change it.
It's been a while since he's last been here. The last time he was here, he broke an end portal after two people found it, wanting to honor Dream’s rule of not going to the End. It turned out that they just wanted to make it into a cool table, not having even known what the thing was. He never found out what they wanted it for though.
Dream usually kept him updated on what was happening on his server and how he was doing. He hasn't sent any messages for a while, though. It was getting worrying. But Exdee was positive that it was nothing big. He probably just got caught up in something and forgot to send his monthly messages to him. Right?
He hummed as he typed in the command to teleport to his brother, excited to see him again, but then he paused. There was a problem on the server. A parasite. From the feel of it, it seemed like it's been there for a while. Why is it still there? Shouldn't his brother have dealt with it by now?
...Something isn't right… What happened to his daydream?
Exdee hastily typed in the command to teleport him to the place his brother was at and closed his eyes as the world pulled him into the code, spitting him out on the other side.
The first thing that he felt was heat, from lava specifically, and he opened his eyes immediately. The place he was standing in was an absolutely tiny obsidian room, enclosed by a wall of lava covering what he assumed was the entrance. The walls and floors of obsidian of this-there was no other way to describe it-cell were stained a brownish color with dried blood, which was not a good sign at all. Why would his brother be here? This place was not fit for someone with such a free and adventurous spirit. He didn't know until he looked down, that is.
And he instantly felt his heart drop at the conditions his brother was in.
He looked so...small, leaning against the obsidian. So skinny, too skinny - when was the last time he ate? You could count his ribs and see exactly where his pelvis starts. Instead of his usual green attire, he wore an orangish-brown jumpsuit that looked way too big on his small frame and littered with tears and rips… and dried blood? He could see a multitude of scars that littered his body on the places the tears were, cringing at the placement of some of them.
He looked higher and saw his brother's face. Dull, lifeless green eyes staring into space, seeming not to notice the presence of someone else in front of him. Freckles standing out even more against his pale skin, with tear tracks creating a path through the grime that coated his skin.
When was the last time he's seen sunlight? He used to be tan.
His usually soft and fluffy shoulder-length caramel blonde hair looked darker than usual, stained and matted with dried blood, and cascaded over his shoulders and almost halfway down his torso.
The god crouched in front of his brother, trying to get his attention. He gently took hold of the younger's hand, only to feel his heart break as Dream tried to pull his hand away.
“Dream? It's me, Exdee. Can you hear me?”
After a moment of silence, Dream finally manages to slur something out, his voice hoarse from crying and not being used. “...Dee? Is that really you? This isn't a hallucination?”
He ignored the way he felt his heart shatter. “Yes, Dream, it's me, I promise.”
As he pulled Dream in for a hug, the younger shook and started sobbing into his chest and started to babble on about how ‘things weren't supposed to get this bad’ and how he was stuck in this prison for over a year. As Exdee listened to him, whispering calming words and rubbing circles into the younger’s back, he started to feel his blood boil. He felt anger towards all the people who allowed this to happen. Anger at the people who escalated it further than they should have. He froze, his thoughts overcome with murderous rage.
Dream noticed how tense his brother was and stilled himself in the other's arms, sobbing even harder than before. “I'm sorry! I’m sorry! What did I do wrong?”
Exdee brought his brother into his lap and continued rubbing his brother’s back, whispering words of confirmation into his ear. “You did nothing wrong, Daydream. I’m not mad at you. I'm mad at myself for not coming sooner.”
Dream’s harsh and painful-sounding sobs started to turn into hushed whimpers as his brother started humming a familiar tune. It was one he used to sing when they were both younger and carefree, without worlds to tie them down to. Before they were admins. Before XD was a god.
Before everything went wrong.
“Dee! Dee! Can you sing for me, please?” a young voice giggled.
Another voice sighed. “Sure, what do you want me to sing?” The giggling child went to the older one and whispered a title into his ear. Dee let out a tired exhale. “Really? That's what you want me to sing?”
“Pleeeeease? I like it when you sing that song!”
Dee hummed, never having been able to say no to his younger brother. “Alright, fine. Here we go.”
“Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of pure imagination ,”
The boy in his arms stopped shivering and shifted in his grip.
“Take a look, and you'll see, into your imagination. We’ll begin with a spin.”
Dream looked up at his brother and began to whisper familiar words. “Travelling in the world of my creation.”
Exdee smiled as he saw his brother's eyes droop, desperate to close and sleep. “What we’ll see will defy explanation.”
Seeing how his brother desperately tried to keep his eyes open, he softly whispered into his brother's ear.
“You can rest now. I’m here for you.”
He waited until he heard the soft snores of his brother to move, gathering the sleeping boy and rising slowly to his feet. He attempted to ignore how light the other was (unsuccessfully) and teleported to one of the only people he actually knew and could probably answer some of his questions.
Technoblade.