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The famous Dream SMP. By far it was one of the largest servers out there. Rising in popularity after filming and acting a story in such a complex and unique fashion it raised trends everywhere. Around the middle, nearing the end, of the first season of filming the group decided they would get a house together on the server. Having the server’s admin as one of their key people made it incredibly easy. The film crews would stand on the sidelines as Tommy, Wilbur, and Dream would perform excellent scenes in the ravine that became known as Pogtopia. They watched along with thousands of their viewers; Wilbur’s descent from sanity and Dream’s careful guidance along the war.
When the viewers were gone, the cameras finally all went off and with the film crew relaxing the masks came off. Wilbur would stretch himself out immediately, cracking and popping several of his joints. Tommy would roll his neck and shoulders, shaking himself out and bouncing on his feet. Dream would drop his stiff posture immediately. He relaxed himself and dropped out of the nearly god character he played and into his actual personality. Every time it was a harder scene Dream always made it a habit to go around to everyone involved and check on them. Even the film crew. The admin’s mask remained firmly in place. After all it was important to him to have his privacy. Everyone knew the white smile mask was the sign of the world admin, but he still wanted to be treated as a regular person from time to time. Not the god of a world.
Everyone who lived on the Dream SMP knew about the acting, they were well accustomed to needing to stand out of the way for Tommy to sprint down prime path, or be one of the ones lucky enough to stand in the audience for the large speeches. All of them were friendly about it. Many even stopped to take pictures for fans they would see. Tommy got recognized almost instantly wherever he went on the server. They’d all go back to what they’d dubbed the streamer house. Or the Pog house as Tommy liked to call it. Every person had their own room, decorated with whatever they wanted.
It had been a peaceful few days. They were taking a small break for lore planning. Dream’s character being locked in the prison was a good idea for them but now without their leading villain they didn’t really know how to progress. Quackity had brought up some good ideas about his character and they were trying to figure out what extent they wanted to go to. If Dream’s character would get a redemption arc, if he would lose his last life in the cell and start a ghost arc like Wilbur had. Dream had laughed at the notion saying that his makeup would take significantly less time than Wilbur’s to do a ghost arc.
The house was quiet. People were just starting to come back to the house from the day of being out. Sapnap and George were lounging on the couch together watching shows. The blaze hybrid being warm enough for neither of them to need a blanket despite the cold temperature Dream liked to leave the house at. Wilbur was sitting in the kitchen with Phil, the two of them talking about different kinds of foods and culinary experiments to have the house try out. Techno sat in the corner with a book in his hands, whichever myth it was he was reading they all knew he’d bring it up at the next planning meeting. He always liked to work little things like that into the lore.
Quackity and Tubbo were idly chatting over a game of go fish in the room over. The others were all still out. But they would be back sooner rather than later. Sam, Ant, and Bad had all gone to find new filming locations with Callahan. Eret, Niki, and Jack all went to visit another server to try out the restaurant district that was new and rising there. Dream and Tommy had gone to explore another server as well, but they went to find a place for Dream to teach Tommy more pvp skills. Most of what they did on the streams was just acting, but Dream and Techno were never exaggerated on their skills. All of them knew the only way one of them was losing a fight was if it was scripted or there was some kind of trap. The manhunt recordings weren’t just for show after all. It was how the group all trained together, how they kept themselves sharp.
The fire crackled gently. The show ran smoothly on the viewing panel. Pages turned softly. The talking blended it all together into a perfectly domestic image. If only the fans could see them like this. See the chaos turned docile. See rivalries and hatred turn to friendship and familial like bonds.
Then the door slammed open. Not altogether an unusual experience, especially with the youngest four of the server. But with the given contrast of the scene inside it caught all of their attention. Especially when they turned to see a clearly scared Tommy standing in the doorway heaving like he’d just run for miles.
“Help.”
The short word was all it took for all of them to be up and pull him inside. Wilbur checked behind him before closing and locking the door to make sure he wasn’t followed. Tommy was protected by every other member of the server. He was their youngest, their little brother. The whole group had started as friends and become a family. Ragtag siblings and a set of parents for all of them. If anyone needed something there would be someone there. Especially if your name was TommyInnit.
“What’s wrong?”
“You look like you ran here, what’s happened boss man?”
“Tommy?”
“Wasn’t Dream with you?”
George’s question made all of them pause. He was right. Dream had been with him. They’d all watched the older blonde eat breakfast and strap the mask to his face before heading out with Tommy for their day out. Dream never left the kids unattended, and Tommy looked freaked out, like he’d run.
“Tommy,” Sapnap spoke carefully, not wanting to freak him out more than he already was. “Where’s Dream?”
“They fucking got him.”
Tears welled up in the youngest’s eyes. Immediately Wilbur was pulling him in for a hug. None of them could ignore the fear that sparked through their hearts hearing his words but they had to figure out what was happening. Techno was eventually the one who touched a shoulder of each of the pair and asked Tommy the next thing.
“Who? Tell us what happened. You’re safe here. We need to make sure Dream is too.”
He nodded, wiping at his face before looking up at his family surrounding him.
“Dream and I were just walking. We’d just finished sparring and he kicked my ass again so we looked like a mess but we were on our way back here. Dream stopped me while we were still in the clearing we found. He just yelled out for whoever to show themselves and a whole group of people came out.”
He needed to take another breath before continuing.
“They-.. they didn’t know the streams were acting. They thought it was real, somehow, despite everything else we do they thought it was real. They thought we were actually our characters and that the streams were news or whatever. They thought Dream had escaped prison, that he was exiling me and hurting me again.”
Tommy’s eyes fell from the others and down to the floor. None of them stopped him. They needed to know what happened, where Dream was.
“They had crossbows, weakness arrows. We had focused on dodging rather than blocking, we didn’t have shields. So Dream..he..he saw the arrow and he flipped our spots. He took the arrow for me. Pushed me away so I could run but more of them kept coming out and they grabbed me. They kept telling me that I was safe now. That he couldn’t hurt me again. They were pulling me away but I struggled and they tried to drug me too so I had to play along. I saw Dream nod, so I went. But they had harming, poison, I saw him try to fight but it wasn’t enough. There were too many. They have him, they took him, I just left him there with them and now they have him. He’s-”
“Tommy, breathe.”
Phil pulled him close again as Tommy began to freak out a little more. The others stood still at the news. People had kidnapped Dream, people who thought he was his character. His character, who was a villain, who had manipulated and used Tommy and should be in prison. They didn’t think he was the kind and caring man he actually was but rather a sociopath driven by power.
Their show had been forgotten until a loud crackling noise came over the speakers. Each of them turned to see what it was only to find the image flickering away and being replaced by a perfect replica of Pandora’s Vault. The inhumane cell they’d locked Dream in during the lore. The place that was only accessible by cast and crew. These people had built a replica cell to hold an innocent man. They were forced to watch Dream be thrown into the cell, hands bound behind his back. They watched him stumble and trip as he tried to catch his balance and crash into the wall before crumpling to the floor. It didn’t take a genius to see that something was wrong with him. Dream was nothing if not graceful, his power and balance kept him going in situations that anyone else would fall. If he was collapsing like that then something was very wrong with their friend and brother.
They watched him pant for breath on the ground before another voice spoke up. Tommy recognized it instantly as the leader of the group that had jumped them earlier.
“Attention people of servers everywhere. The tyrant of the DreamSMP has finally been caught. Our sympathies go out to the Warden of the SMP and the pain you must have undergone during this monster’s escape.”
His words were punctuated by a boot coming into solid contact with Dream’s stomach. Quackity and Phil immediately began pulling Tommy and Tubbo from the room. They didn’t need to see this. Everyone else watched with building fury as Dream gagged and heaved on the ground. Body twisting to try to protect himself and gasp into the floor.
“We will keep him secure. If anyone would like revenge for his actions to the innocent children of the SMP you may come to the coords we will provide in a moment. Any member of the SMP is welcome to come to ensure the demon gets full retribution.”
Another hit came, another hard thwuck against Dreams stomach that sent him sliding back against the ground slightly. This time the gagging and coughing sounded wet. Something was very wrong, and if they were right then they were already running out of time to get in and save him.
“But before we do that, we have a gift for everyone. To make sure he cannot escape again and wreak havoc on anyone, we will show you the true face of a monster.”
All of them felt their hearts stop. Dream’s face was one of the best guarded secrets of the SMP. People tried to leak blurry pictures they took or say they found him but none of it ever picked up speed. But now they could do nothing but watch as more people came in. One on either side of Dream to lift him up. Ignoring fully how he hunched over on himself or how his breaths seemed to wheeze and grate against his ribs when they did. The leader moved over to him. Gripped him by the hair and forced the smile mask to point directly at the camera. All of them could see how hard Dream was trying to struggle. They could see the shake and tremor through his body, see how his whole body seemed to move with the force of his pants. He was hurt, a lot more than anyone was letting on.
There were only a few seconds of silence. Before a knife slashed into the side of Dream’s face and cut the strap of the mask with his cheek along with it. The smile mask fell immediately. Blood running down his cheek and covering his neck, dripping into his hoodie and staining it grossly. Dream shut his eyes as soon as the mask came down but his face was still there. They were glad he’d kept his eyes closed but the leader of the cult didn’t seem to agree. He pulled harshly on Dream’s hair, waiting for the gasp that came with it and shoving a potion bottle into his mouth.
All of them knew what a weakness potion looked like. Dream’s eyes shot open at the taste but his struggles were for nothing. They watched the fight leave his body. Watched the color fade from his eyes before they were fluttering shut and he went limp in their grasps. From what Tommy had told them and what they’d seen before they’d already dosed Dream pretty high with potions. If they kept giving him more they were going to overdose and kill him.
The screen cut to black right after Dream’s eyes closed. Coords flashing in their face like a mockery. The group stood in shocked silence for a moment. Rage building in all of them before Sapnap growled out something low about slaughtering them and they felt heat radiate off of him in waves. Techno grabbed his sword and armor, saying how the voices were fully correct on demanding blood. Wilbur grabbed the medical supplies he could think of and George equipped every arrow he had in his arsenal. If they were playing with distance before with Tommy and Dream then they would return the favor when they saved him.
What in reality was less than ten minutes felt like hours. The group was at the coords that had been shown on the screen. They were given a wide berth by everyone who had common sense. No one on the SMP was fooled into thinking about where they were going. All of the people who lived there knew how close the cast all were with each other. The greeters when they made it to the location were killed before they could even get the first words out. Techno and Sapnap leading the front and taking out cultists left and right. George offered them cover fire as they fought their way down the hallways to get to the center.
If they had gone through all the effort of making a replica of the vault then they likely did it properly, which meant they had it down low in a large area to be surrounded. Wilbur stayed in the middle, he wasn’t a fighter here, but he was fully trained on medical in case there were ever any accidents on set and he needed to be able to help Dream if anything had happened while the cameras were off.
The sounds of cheering reached their ears finally, cheering and the sound of something being hit. None of them were stupid. They knew what was being hit, who was being hit.
The cell ended up in a blur of motion. People yelling and screaming, blood flying and burning flesh. All Wilbur cared about was Dream. George, Sapnap, and Techno would take care of the fighting, they would make sure nothing got near them. But Dream hadn’t reacted to their entrance and Wilbur needed to make sure he was alright.
Carefully he took Dream’s pulse and checked his breathing. Feeling his ribcage he could already tell at least three of his ribs were broken or cracked. He needed to give him a healing potion but without knowing how dosed he was already he didn’t want to risk it. It could send him into cardiac arrest if he gave him too much. So he began prodding the other parts of his body, checking over for wounds to see the extent of the damage.
Dream’s eyes opened slowly, their color still duller than normal but his eyes were open and that was a good enough sign to Wilbur to keep trying.
“Dream? You with me?”
“Wil..bur..” His voice slurred and broken but there.
He could barely hear him over the fighting but it was enough, he recognized him. He’d wanted to jump for joy but then Dream’s eyes were closing again and he couldn’t get them back open. A quick check of his pulse told him that Dream was still alive and wouldn’t be dying on the way back but he wasn’t out of the woods. Not even close to it. There was still a high risk of internal bleeding.
It went in a blur from there. Everyone moved as a unit to get Dream out and back home. The rest of their makeshift family had gathered back, seeing the broadcast and waiting for them to come home with their missing part. When they’d carried Dream in the house there had been chaos. Wilbur, Phil, Bad, and Puffy all went to work on him. Making sure he was safe and stable without the use of any potions or magic. They found the rest of them sitting in the hallway waiting for news after they got him safe.
Tommy was the first to jump up, the one waiting to make sure his brother was okay. And if he cried when Bad nodded his head then that was his own business. They’d all have to make sure the streams had character markers after this. None of them wanted to be harmed for what their characters did. But for now they’d wait for Dream. They’d make sure he was okay and knew how loved he was. If the amount of flowers and get well soon notes outside the house said anything about it, the rest of the SMP felt the same. They’d wait for their admin, and everything would be okay.