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Chapter Text

Michael lifts the block in his hoof and places it on top of the wobbly block tower he managed to make. He spent minutes just crafting the perfect way to place the blocks down so the tower wouldn’t fall. He is into it.

Both Ranboo and Michael study the tower very closely, Michael studying it, hoping it wouldn’t fall, and Ranboo studying it, trying to see if it has enough integrity to not fall on his son. He is very protective after all. After about ten seconds of staring intensely at the shaking tower, Michael throws his arms up, victorious.

“29 block high tower!” Michael cheers. He gets up as far away as he can from his tower so he doesn’t knock it over and starts hopping around. He’s been trying for a while to get a new record every time he stacks his toy blocks. Today is the day he finally got to 29.

Ranboo claps for him before standing up, being careful that his tail or his long legs don't knock over Michael’s hard work. He doesn’t want to work with a crying child right now, and not just because he can’t touch water.

“That’s a new record, Michael.” Ranboo smiles at his son and picks him up, lifting him high like the victor he is. “Now, do you think we can get it to 30?”

Michael’s smile falls as he gathers Ranboo’s words. “It may topple over and fall, dada!” Michael expresses.

“It might.” Ranboo nods in agreement. He wanders over to where they stacked the blocks and picks up one of the stragglers closest to his foot. “But what if we add this one and it stays standing? That’ll make it an even higher record!”

“And if it falls?” Michael’s face drops. Ranboo feels a pull of guilt in his stomach even though he’s done nothing wrong. Gosh, does this kid have that much of an effect on Ranboo? Yes, it would seem so. Some would consider it unhealthy, but Ranboo found it good for him to be this connected to his adopted son.

“If it falls, you already got a new record, so there’s no harm in trying.” Ranboo readjusts Michael in his grip. He kneels down close to the tower and hands the block to his son. “Come on and try it. It’ll be worth it.”

Michael grabs the block, albeit a bit hesitant, and takes a couple of glances between the block and the tower he values. He rotates the block in his hands, studying it to see how to place it so it wouldn’t break his tower. After glaring and squinting at the block for a full minute, Michael nods in approval and Ranboo gently eases Michael towards the tower, not too close that he might topple it over. Both Ranboo and Michael hold their breaths as Michael reaches out and places the block up on the tippy-top of the tower. They both freeze once he lets go of the block, none of them moving an inch.

The tower wobbles a little bit. Sometimes Ranboo thinks it was leaning a bit too far to the right or the left, but finally, it stops teetering and stays still. Everything is silent.

Then Michael’s eyes light up to the size of the moon and he turns to face Ranboo who has a smile sneaking upon his face.

“Dada!” Michael gasps. He points towards the tower to make sure Ranboo sees it.

Ranboo nods and Michael giggles with happiness. “You did it.” He moves them away from the tower, allowing them to study it safely from afar. “Look at that! New record of 30 blocks!”

“WOOO!” Michael throws his arms into the air and Ranboo finds himself laughing at his antics. He is just so adorable; everything he does melts Ranboo’s heart. “We did it!” Michael continues cheering while he hops out of Ranboo’s arms and onto the couch. “You were right dada, I took the risk and got a new record!”

“See? I told you!” Ranboo ruffles the little tuft of hair that is growing on Michael’s head, causing the hair to fall in front of his eyes. Michael huffs in disappointment before running a hand through his hair to fix it. Of course, it doesn’t look as good as it did before and Ranboo sighs, knowing he would have to comb it later. He should’ve just left it alone, but Michael is just being too darn cute and he couldn’t resist. Call him weak, but for Michael, he absolutely is.

Michael continues to hop up and down once he notices Tubbo, his papa, walk through the front door. “Papa! Papa! I got a new record of 30 blocks!” Michael squeals with excitement.

Tubbo yawns into his hand, shaking off his weariness before smiling up at Michael and investigating the tower that Michael and Ranboo built. “Woah, look at that! It’s so tall!” Tubbo congratulates Michael and plops down on the couch next to him.

Ranboo can tell Tubbo is tired. He spent all day surveying Snowchest and making sure they were safe. He probably needed some rest. Of course, Michael is a young child with a lot of energy, which probably isn’t a good thing for Tubbo currently, but whenever Tubbo enters a room with Michael in it, his frown immediately is replaced with a gleeful smile. No matter what, Tubbo is always excited to see Michael. It’s just more proof of how Michael can spread happiness like magic. It’s like all his drowsiness disappears when he picks Michael up in his arms.

“Did dada help you build it?” Tubbo asks as he wanders over to the tower, holding Michael in his arms.

“Ahuh.” Michael nods. “It was at 29 but then dada told me to add one and I did! Now it at 30 blocks high!” Michael throws his arms out and accidentally hits the top of the tower over. The blocks keel over and topple onto the floor, scattering about. Tubbo gasps and Michael covers his mouth with his hooves. Ranboo pauses when he hears the tower Michael spent so long building fall over. “My tower.” Michael lowers his hooves and sniffles.

“Michael, I’m so sorry. It was my fault.” Tubbo sets Michael down and starts gathering the blocks.

“No, papa. I hit the tower, not chu.” Michael’s cute voice calms Tubbo. He is getting better with his speech, but sometimes he would slip and all Ranboo or Tubbo would do is gush over the adorableness of it.

“But I lifted you up. You wouldn’t have hit the tower if I didn’t lift you up.” Tubbo gathers all the blocks together.

“It’s okay. I already got a record. Didn’t need a new one.” Michael hops over to his papa and struggles to get his small arms around Tubbo. Ranboo’s heart melts once again at the cuteness of Michael and how humble this child is. It would’ve been so easy to get mad at Tubbo because the tower broke, but no, he is modest and pleasant. Ranboo feels a tear in his eye and he quickly rushes to whip it away. He’s raising him so well.

“I don’t deserve you.” It seems Tubbo agrees with Ranboo, since he says exactly what is on his mind.

“Yes you do, papa!” Michael snuggles up into Tubbo’s shirt. Tubbo hugs his son back and finishes placing all the blocks in their respective spot.

Ranboo decides now is a good time to intervene and wanders over to pick Michael up. “Okay, now how about we get you to bed?” Ranboo only allowed Michael to stay up this late because Tubbo was coming home soon. But now, Tubbo is here and it is far past his bedtime.

“What if I’m not tired?” Michael dangles in Ranboo’s arms, hanging upside down like he is a monkey and not a baby zombie piglin.

“Well then you won’t get your cup of milk and one of Tubbo’s best selling cookies.” Tubbo’s face pops up in Michael’s peripheral and he starts tickling Michael’s stomach, causing the child to scream and laugh. He kicks and flails his arms, kicking Ranboo in the chin as Tubbo continues tickling him.

“Really, Tubbo?” Ranboo deadpans at his platonic husband. He is fine with him tickling Michael, but he prefers not to get kicked in the face.

“Sorry, Ranboo.” Tubbo chuckles and picks Michael up and restates him in Ranboo’s arms, placing him right side up. “Now why don’t you put Michael in bed and I’ll get a glass of milk and one of my famous cookies?”

“Yay!” Michael squeals as Ranboo rocks him in his arms and heads towards Michael’s room. Michael used to have trouble sleeping, despite being such a good child. So when Tubbo gave him a cookie to eat and some milk to help it go down and Michael immediately fell asleep afterwards, they decided that that is the best way to get Michael to actually lay down in bed. Michael fell in love with his before bed snack and soon it became near impossible for Michael to fall asleep without his cookies and milk. That is probably a bad thing for a child, but Tubbo is more than happy to bake a new batch of cookies whenever they started to run out and would complain when he didn’t make more, so they just kept doing it.

Ranboo sets Michael on the bed and he starts jumping up and down, clapping his hands. One stern glare from Ranboo with a raised eyebrow and Michael is scampering into his bed and under the sheets. Ranboo chuckles and turns on the dim lamp next to Michale’s bed. He always gets scared in complete darkness, so the lamp stays on. The kid might be adorable, but him wandering into their room late at night because he couldn’t sleep once nearly gave Ranboo a heart attack. Not to mention Tubbo dragged out the knife. So yeah, light stays on.

Tubbo comes in a minute later with a cookie on a plate and a plastic cup of milk. They have glassware, but both of them get anxious at the idea of Michael handling a glass cup. With that being said, the moment they found Michael, they went searching for plastic ware.

Michael snatches the stuff from out Tubbo’s grasp and quickly devours his cookie and gulps down the glass of milk.

After his night time snack, Michael shifts the blankets over his shoulders and sighs contently. “Night papa and dada!” Michael yawns and his eyes shift close.

“Night Michael.” Ranboo has trouble kneeling down due to his long legs to kiss Michael on the forehead. He is too tall for these normal sized things. Curse his height.

“Goodnight.” Tubbo leans down and kisses Michael on the tip of his nose, getting a quiet chuckle from the little one.

They both exit the room and Tubbo shuts the door as quietly as possible. Ranboo would once have thought that it’s impossible for Tubbo to be quiet, but when it came to Michael and his sleep, Tubbo can and will barely make a peep. They both don’t want to wake him up.

After they assure themselves the door is closed and Michael is fast asleep, they wander over to their room. It isn’t that late into the night, but it isn’t exactly early either. They are both pretty tired from today’s events and sleeping just seems so pleasant at the time being.

Ranboo stretches, a warbled yawn breaking out. Tubbo chuckles at the sound — he always finds Ranboo’s weird Enderman noises funny — as he grabs a pair of pajamas from his dresser.

He wanders into their bathroom to change while Ranboo gathers his pajamas and changes in the bedroom. They share a bed together, but it’s like sleeping over with your friend. There is nothing romantic about it at all and both Ranboo and Tubbo want to keep it that way.

Ranboo’s focus is drawn to the window on the wall with an outside view of all the snow falling onto the ground. All the glittering, sparkling white on the ground draws out another warble from his mouth. Would Tubbo be disappointed if he teleports out there and just picks up a block of snow? It is just so pretty and shiny and it would make a great contribution to his block collection.

Tubbo doesn’t really question Ranboo’s need to just pick up blocks with his silk touch hands. He knows it’s part of his Enderman heritage, to just pick things up whenever he pleases. But sometimes, Tubbo would warn Ranboo not to bring certain blocks into the house. That happened after Ranboo brought a silverfish block into the house and they ended up dealing with a silverfish infestation for the entire weekend. After that, Tubbo became cautious with what Ranboo picked up.

Ranboo thinks through all the consequences that could possibly happen if he brings in a piece of snow. Well obviously, the snow would probably melt. After all, the temperature outside compared to inside is drastic. Ranboo’s shoulders drop as he thinks about it. Of course he can’t bring snow inside, it would just become a puddle and he would no longer have any snow. Sometimes he forgets about actual logic and his Enderman brain would just want to pick up any block he sees. Oh, look at this, a pretty block. But we can’t pick it up, it’ll melt. I don’t care, pretty block. That about sums it up.

Ranboo sighs in defeat and turns away from the window before his Enderman instincts get the best of him and he ends up teleporting out there anyway despite all the reasons not to.

Ranboo pulls the covers and sheets away so he can crawl into the warm bed, but a hesitant knocking stops him.

“Ranboo, are you done?” It’s Tubbo. “Can I come in now?”

For a minute, Ranboo completely forgot that Tubbo was changing in the bathroom. His Enderman half sometimes gets over him and he would just forget.

He drops the sheets and stands up to his full height.

“Uhm… yeah, you can come in. I’m dressed.” Ranboo curses at his stutter. Why does he have to stutter? He has the words in his head, but saying them out loud? They just become a jumbled mess of sounds.

Tubbo opens the door and hops into the room as if he is five and not seventeen. Honestly, Tubbo rarely acts his age and mostly, it feels like Ranboo is watching over two kids instead of one. He has no idea how he deals with it, but he does.

Tubbo hops over to the window and closes the blinds, hiding the snow from sight. Ranboo tries not to show his disappointment with the action and he stomps down on the need to warble because of it.

Ranboo watches as Tubbo then heads towards his side of the bed and throws the sheets and covers off.

“I’m pretty tired today Ranboo, so I’m just gonna pass out.” Tubbo jumps up into the bed, causing the pillows to fly slightly. Ranboo sighs. It sure doesn’t seem like he is tired, but then again, Tubbo works in many ways that Ranboo doesn’t understand.

Tubbo starts snoring softly — how does he fall asleep that fast — and Ranboo climbs into his side of the bed, under the blankets. He pulls them up to his chin, glad to have a bed that can actually fit his size. For too long has his feet been dangling off the bed or poking out from under a blanket. It’s nice to actually have a blanket cover him entirely.

Ranboo just lays there, eyes closed, basking in the night before he starts feeling heavy and the call of sleep pulls him under.

---

Ranboo blinks open his eyes and surveys his surroundings. He isn’t at the house, in fact, he isn’t anywhere he recognizes.

At first, he thinks it’s his panic room, due to all the obsidian around, but he then realizes the cauldron, chest, lectern and block of glowstone in the corner.

Ranboo freezes.

He actually has seen this place before, but only once, and that was in a dream.

Is he dreaming again?

Ranboo shrinks back at the sight of Pandora’s Vault. He isn’t even sure if this is what it looks like regularly. He’s only seen it in his dreams, but they’re more like nightmares at this point.

The cell is empty, not one living soul besides Ranboo is inside. But if that’s the case, why does Ranboo feel like there is someone staring at him, observing him?

Dream is nowhere to be seen and somehow, that’s worse for Ranboo. Not knowing where he is is basically signing up for your own death. You need to be prepared and wary for Dream because he is not the forgiving type.

Luckily, — unluckily? Ranboo doesn’t know at this point — black smoke twists around Ranboo and from it, Dream appears in all his glory. Ranboo backs up in shock, for before him stands Dream, but he hasn’t changed at all.

Ranboo thought that months in a prison cell would have affected the way Dream looked. Maybe by making him look slimmer or maybe some more cuts and bruises, but no, he looks exactly like he did when Ranboo last saw him. The only scar that Ranboo can see is the faint one across his face from Techno’s and Dream’s duel when Techno cut Dream’s mask in half. But despite that, he is still as terrifying and grueling as he ever was.

Ranboo unconsciously shrinks back in submission. He silently curses himself for showing such fear in front of Dream. He has to show Dream that he isn’t scared of him anymore. He has to show him that he got his life together and that Dream isn’t his only friend, that he’s more than just Dream’s puppet. But, of course, his body doesn’t listen to a word he says.

Dream’s sinister chuckle rings and echoes throughout the room, the cruel laugh matching the evil look on his face.

“Ranboo, it’s been a while.” His voice is as cold as the Tundra and as sharp as a spike of ice. It’s like running nails along a chalkboard and Ranboo’s eyes flatten across his head at the noise. He thought he was free from this, that he’d never have to see Dream’s sinister smirk or hear his cackling laugh. This all has to be just some bad dream. It can’t be real. It can’t!

“Don’t think like that, Ranboo.” Dream cocks his head to the side. “I am very much real.” How does he know? Did Ranboo say that aloud? “In fact, you may not be here, in Pandora’s Vault, but this conversation is really happening.”

Ranboo backs up even further, only for the end of his tail to get singed due to the lava wall behind him.

“No, no.” Ranboo shakes his head as Dream stalks closer to him. He tries to back away, but the lava prevents him from going any further. He’s trapped. “This can’t be happening. This isn’t real. It’s just in my head.” Ranboo clutches on some strands of his hair and pulls, hoping the pain could help wake him up, hoping he’ll wake up back in his room with Tubbo who could calm him down. He pulls and pulls and it hurts , but he doesn’t wake up, he doesn’t escape. He’s still stuck in the same room as Dream.

“Awe, come on Ranboo.” Dream comes close enough to touch and now Ranboo doesn’t really care if he is shrinking down. All his courage went out the window. “That’s no way to act to your friend.”

“We are not friends!” Ranboo says before he even has a chance to think. His claws race to cup over his mouth, but it’s too late. The damage is already done.

“Oh, but we are.” Dream wheezes. Ranboo's been told that Dream’s wheeze before was such a light hearted remark and whenever he started wheezing, it would light up an entire room and that it was impossible to not laugh when Dream started laughing. But now, it’s a sign of danger, of evil, while before, everyone wanted to be near it, and now, people couldn’t get further away. “We never stopped being friends, Ranboo. And what do friends do?” Ranboo stares up into Dream’s malicious gaze and whimpers. “They help each other. And you are going to help me get out of here.”

Ranboo freezes in place and Dream disappears into the black smoke once again.

Free Dream? There is no way he’ll free Dream. Dream is a monster and a tyrant who threatened Tubbo’s life and killed so much. He manipulated Tommy, he blew up L’Manburg, he betrayed his friends and he even manipulated Ranboo. There is no way, in a thousand years, that Ranboo would even think to rescue Dream.

But he seems so sure that Ranboo would do it. He acted as if he knew that Ranboo would come back for him. But how? How is Dream so sure that Ranboo would help him?

He grips his claws onto his arm and he squeezes, not caring if he draws blood.

Why does Dream think he would free him? He thinks it over, then it hits him. Ranboo pauses and his eyes grow wide. His Enderwalk, of course. Dream is going to control Ranboo and make sure he frees Dream. Oh no. This is a problem.

Ranboo has been Enderwalk free for months. He hasn’t had an incident for a long time and he’s been racking up a new record every day! He can’t start again. He thought he was done with Enderwalking. With Dream in prison, there would be no more manipulation, therefore no more Enderwalking!

His claws dig into his skin and draw purple blood, but he doesn’t care. He feels fog pile up in his brain and it’s getting harder to breathe. It feels like his chest is constricting itself. He falls to the ground, his knees taking the brunt of the damage, scraping up against the jagged obsidian. One hand leaves his arm and goes to pull on his hair instead. Tears fall down his face as his lungs heave for a breath of air. He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe!

Ranboo wakes up gasping in a cold sweat. He shoots out of his bed and immediately grabs onto his hair for some sort of grounding measure. His chest is still rising and falling as he hyperventilates. His head is still filled with the fog, but now, it feels like he’s spinning. He can’t make sense of anything.

He hears someone say something, but his mind blocks out all noise except for the freaking out going on inside his head.

Oh gosh, Dream is controlling him again, he’s going to help Dream. He’s going to free him and release the SMP’s greatest villain upon them all again. He’s going to be out of control of his own actions. Everyone will turn against him. It’s loud. It’s too loud.

“-boo, Ranboo. You need to breathe.”

He can’t breathe. He can’t grasp onto any air. He is trying, he really is, but no air makes its way to his lungs.

“Can I touch you?” Someone is in front of him and he can sense their hands out in front of him, waiting for a reply. Ranboo nods his head shakily and continues to yank on his hair, using both hands now.

The person in front of him calmly grabs both of his hands and pulls them away from his hair. It’s  gentle and calming so Ranboo lets his arms be led down. His dominant hand is placed on the person’s chest and he can feel the rise and fall of their chest as they get air, unlike Ranboo.

“Follow my breathing.” The fog is starting to clear up in his mind and he nods his head again and tries to follow the rhythmic breathing of this person. He struggles at first, unable to capture air still, but after a couple minutes of trying, he finally calms his racing heart.

Ranboo finally opens his eyes to find a scared Tubbo with disheveled hair in front of him. Oh, did Ranboo wake him?

“I-I’m sorry, I-” Ranboo starts, only to be cut off when Tubbo wraps his arms around him, squeezing him in a tight hug.

“Don’t apologize for having a panic attack, Ranboo.” Tubbo sniffles and that, along with his voice, is muffled due to Ranboo’s clothes. Ranboo sighs and Tubbo clutches onto him tighter. Ranboo wants to say something, but he doesn’t know what he can say. His thoughts are still a jumbled mess and his chest still feels constricted, but at least he can make sense of things now. “What happened?”

Ranboo looks down at Tubbo who still has his face buried in Ranboo’s chest.

What is he meant to tell him? That Dream and him had a nice chat and he’s going to free Dream from prison? No, he can’t tell Tubbo that. Not only does that sound insane, but that’s basically treason. He would be harming the entire SMP if he did that and he may as well be a terrorist. And plus, he can’t have Tubbo worrying, he already has so much on his plate.

“Just a nightmare. It really got to me.” Ranboo decided to go with that. Usually people don’t pry with nightmares.

“That’s bullshit.” Right, he forgot this is Tubbo he’s talking to.

“Tubbo don’t-”

“No, Ranboo.” Tubbo sits up to stare into Ranboo’s heterochromia eyes. “You had a nightmare so bad, it woke you up and you had a panic attack. What happened?”

Ranboo sighs. Why does Tubbo have to be so prying?

“It was about Dream. He said things to me and it scared me.” There, maybe half the truth will work better. He knows that he should trust Tubbo in this situation, but the fear is too immense.

Tubbo sighs and pulls Ranboo closer to him. “It’s okay, Dream’s in prison, he can’t hurt you.”

“But what if he gets out?” Ranboo’s eyes fall closed once Tubbo starts running a hand through his hair.

“He won’t. We’ll be okay.” Ranboo’s reluctant to agree but hums in response anyway. “Maybe you should stay inside for a bit. You haven’t had a dream about Dream in a long time and…”

“You’re just being careful, I know.” Ranboo nods into Tubbo’s chest. “It’s alright. I can stay inside.” Besides, if he stays indoors, maybe there’s a less likely chance he’ll free Dream.

“Thank you.” Tubbo smiles warmly at Ranboo and wordlessly, he drags Ranboo and himself back up to their pillows and throws the blankets over them. Tubbo waits until Ranboo’s breaths even out and he falls asleep before falling asleep himself.

Chapter Text

Tommy groans as the snow piles up on his boots and onto his pants. Why does snow have to hate him so much? Maybe Tubbo decided to build his home in such a biome because he knows that it would piss Tommy off and it would be funny to see anyone trying to trudge their way through these snow banks.

Luckily, there’s no snow falling from the sky, so that makes Tommy’s journey a little bit easier, though it’s probably the only good thing that happened to him on his journey.

He’s going to visit Tubbo. The duo haven’t been able to hang out and talk for a while so this is Tommy’s way to get back into the swing of things. And plus, everything has calmed down regarding the SMP with Dream and all that drama, so Tommy thought there is no better time than now to hang out.

Tubbo and him have definitely had rough patches in the past. The whole exile thing is evidence towards that, but he’s trying to seal things up for the most part. He’s trying to be better, not as destructive or explosive, like Dream told him he is.

Dream may be a monster, but he does make some good points about Tommy’ behaviour. Or is that just manipulation? Ugh, Tommy can’t tell anymore. There were times when Dream was good, then times where he was the absolute biggest asshole Tommy has ever seen. Trying to figure that man out is like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with half of the pieces missing.

People tell him the entirety of his exile was just Dream manipulating him and he believes them because Dream is an asshole to him, but then again, so are the others. Tubbo made no effort to end the exile, Techno and Phil blew up L’Manburg, and Wilbur was a ghost who didn’t understand half the shit that was going on.

Speaking of Wilbur, he hasn’t heard anything about him ever since his revival. He’s been in hiding ever since he escaped the bench trio. Tommy’s terrified, yes — even though he’ll never admit that aloud — but then again, will Wilbur really harm him? Last time he checked, he really hasn't done anything to gain Wilbur’s wrath, but then again, Wilbur isn’t sane anymore, so who knows at this point?

Tubbo’s house shows up in the distance and Tommy sighs in relief. Finally, that was such a long walk. Next time, he’s taking a faster mode of transportation.

The sun’s light beaming down on the snow causes it to shimmer and slightly blind Tommy. He lifts up a hand to shade his eyes as he continues to trudge through the snow. He can barely feel his feet.

He stomps up Tubbo’s steps to his front door and slams his fists onto the door. “Tubbo!” He yells, hoping his friend isn’t sleeping and he totally just woke him up. “It’s Tommy!”

He stands outside for a bit, frown evident on his face due to staying in this freezing weather longer than he planned for. The door finally clicks, showing the door has been unlocked and Ranboo opens the door.

“To-” Before he can even finish his sentence, Tommy dashes past him and makes a beeline straight for the fireplace which is burning brightly. Thank Prime for heat and fire. He shakes off his coat and hangs it on the coat rack near the door. He kicks his boots off and struggles with pulling his gloves off, but finally gets them. He throws his hat off and saunters back to the fire, sitting down in front of it. “Hello to you too.” Ranboo sighs as he sits down on the couch near Tommy. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see Tubbo, bitch boy.” Tommy smirks at him before rubbing his hands together and holding them near the fire. He doesn’t hate Ranboo per se, but he did kinda steal his best friend. He knows he shouldn’t be too mad though, he is making Tubbo happy after all.

“Tubbo isn’t here.” Ranboo stands up, shaking his head, and heads off to the kitchen. Tommy looks cold and maybe some hot tea will help warm him up. He’s not one for tea, but the people from L’Manburg really liking the drink. Tubbo insists on having it and who is Ranboo to deny it?

“Where did he go?” Tommy stands up and follows Ranboo to the kitchen as he pours water into the kettle.

“He went to the prison to talk to Sam.” Ranboo reports as he heads back over to the fire to place the kettle above so the water can heat up.

“Why the fuck would he need to talk to Sam?” Tommy snaps and places a hand on his hip as he glares at Ranboo. He just wants one day to hang out with Tubbo. Is that too much to ask?

“Some important things came up.” Ranboo sighs as he glances at Tommy who’s trying to kill him with his glare. Tommy has never been a big fan of Ranboo and now it looks like he just wants to strangle the hybrid. Ranboo is low-key afraid that he actually might.

“What kind of important things?” Tommy asks, trying to pry some information out of Ranboo. It’s not like he’s going to give him any. This entire scenario would be detrimental if it got out to the public, especially Tommy. That gremlin child would not be able to handle himself if he heard Ranboo had a talk to Dream and now he’s scared he might release him. Then again, he’s changed and it might be a good test of faith.

Tubbo went to the prison to talk to Sam to see if he could do something with Dream. Ranboo’s been getting worse and his thoughts are becoming more of a mess. He’s glad Tubbo’s enforcing the rule on him staying inside because he doesn’t trust himself outside . The moment he steps out that door, he might free Dream. That's a risk he can't afford.

Of course, Ranboo can't tell Tommy that. So, the only problem now is to figure out what to tell Tommy so he doesn't get suspicious, but based on his looks, he's already past that point. Great.

Unfortunately, Ranboo has been thinking too long, and Tommy's about to yell again.

"I don't know." Ranboo randomly shrugs. "Something political? He didn't really tell me."

"So…" Tommy backs up. "He went to talk to Sam about some political things and you don't know what those are."

"He told me to stay here and look after Michael." Ranboo nods towards Michael's room where the kid is currently playing with his toys. Thank goodness he doesn't have to be present for this conversation.

Tommy sighs in defeat, believing Ranboo's lie and Ranboo feels like he might melt to the floor. He's not really the best at these things, lying is not his strong suit.

It's silent for a minute as Ranboo finishes the tea and pours it into cups for Tommy. He sets it down on the coffee table in the living room and Tommy stares at it before sitting down and picking it up, taking a sip from the hot liquid. His face scrunches up for a split second, then immediately relaxes. Does that mean Ranboo did good with the tea? He honestly doesn't know. Tubbo always says it's good, but he could just be lying to not hurt Ranboo's feelings.

Ranboo sits next to Tommy and the teen places the mug on the table. He lifts his hand and places it on Ranboo's shoulder before he digs his nails in.

Ranboo yelps and turns to face Tommy, hand already going to free himself but Tommy only digs in harder.

"Tommy, what are you doing?" Ranboo asks as he tries to pry the hand from him.

"You and I both know you're lying." Tommy growls, eyes going dark. "You're a terrible liar."

Ranboo freezes at the accusation and Tommy smirks in success.

Shit.

"So," he continues, relaxing his grip a bit on Ranboo, "wanna tell me where Tubbo really is?"

Ranboo stares into Tommy's blue eyes before signing. He's trapped. He can't lie and no matter what, Tommy will know he's not telling the truth. Hopefully, when Ranboo comes clean, he also won’t end up with one less hand.

"Tubbo did go talk to Sam." Ranboo admits. Tommy raises an eyebrow and moves his hand away from Ranboo's shoulder.

"Why? " Tommy still continues to pry.

"Because of Dream."

Tommy takes a deep breath, albeit a little shaky and stares off at the fire. "What about Dream?"

Now this is where Ranboo really hesitates. If he goes forward, he can't go back. But when Tommy turns his glare back towards Ranboo, he realizes he doesn't have a choice.

"I had a nightmare. Vision? I don't really know." Ranboo sighs and turns his focus from Tommy to the table in front of him. It's much more pleasant to look at then Tommy's angry glare. "In it… I saw Dream." Ranboo hears shuffling on the couch, but he doesn't move to investigate it. "He said that I was going to free him." He hears the wind whip as Tommy snaps his head towards Ranboo. "I-I would never free him, but the way he worded it makes it sound like m-my Enderwalking self may do it and I'm terrified."

Ranboo finally gathers the courage to turn to face Tommy, eyes wide. Tommy has an expression Ranboo hadn't seen on his face in a long time. Fear.

"Tubbo told me to stay inside. We can't risk me going outside and having Enderboo taking over and end up freeing Dream." Ranboo felt tears start to fall down his face and Tommy can only nod slowly. He's trying to process everything, but Ranboo doesn't know if anyone can .

"Shit." Is all Tommy says after moments of silence.

Yeah, shit. This is really bad.

"Tommy," Ranboo speaks up through his tears. He needs to say this, he needs to be assured. He needs someone to stop him if anything happens. Dream will most likely be free and he needs at least one ally. "Promise me that if I do end up Enderwalking, that you'll try everything in your power to stop me." Tommy looks up and just stares. Ranboo grabs his shoulders and stares directly into his eyes. "You have to promise me! If I Enderwalk, you will do everything you can to stop me!"

Tommy is still for a while before he finally nods. He understands Ranboo's urgency.

Now, Tommy and Ranboo aren't that great of friends, but this is serious, Tommy can tell. Ranboo's terrified of this and Tommy knows that he can't blame him for anything. So when Ranboo asks Tommy to stop him when the inevitable happens, Tommy agrees.

Tommy and Ranboo haven't always been the best of friends, but maybe they can start trying.

---

Out of all the people Sam gets that visit, he didn't expect Tubbo to be among them. He's had Tommy, Sapnap, Quackity and Bad, but not Tubbo.

Tubbo hates Dream. He is the one who blew up L'Manburg again while Tubbo was president

But still, Sam didn't expect Tubbo to show up to visit.

"Tubbo, to what do I owe this honour?" Sam bows his head a little. He knows Tubbo isn't really president of L'Manburg, but he's still running Snowchester and Sam isn't one to discriminate. Tubbo's here to see Dream no doubt. Why else would he be here? He tortured Ranboo, manipulated his best friend. Understandably, he didn’t expect to see him, yet here the kid was, holding his shoulders up with authority and walking with demeanor in his step. This kid means business. And honestly, that could mean anything. Sam isn’t scared, but he is intrigued.

“Sam, how’ve things been?” Tubbo nods to him as well.

The Warden stares at Tubbo for a minute before he sighs and sets his sword down from where he was sharpening it.

“I’ve been doing well. Basically just sleeping and working.” Tubbo nods as he gathers his words, his gaze elsewhere. “But with all due respect, former President,” Tubbo looks up at those words and pulls on his fingers which are behind his back, “I don’t think you would come all this way from Snowchester just to ask me about my day.”

Tubbo gulps, audible enough for Sam to hear it. The kid isn’t nervous per se, it’s more like he’s weary, but it isn’t directed towards Sam. He can tell.

“So let me ask you, Tubbo,” The creeper hybrid raises an eyebrow, but Tubbo stays still. “Why are you here?”

“I want to talk about Dream.” Tubbo admits.

Sam sighs and turns so his back is facing Tubbo. “Tubbo, you know that Pandora’s Vault is the most secure place for Dream right now. It’s keeping him safe and more importantly keeping the inhabitants of the SMP safe.”

“I-I know that but-” Tubbo starts, but gets interrupted when Sam raises a finger and continues talking.

“I have been monitoring Dream for months.” Sam growls. It isn’t exactly how he wanted to spend his time, but it needed to be done. There are people that are depending on him to keep Dream locked up and he will do so. “There is no way he’ll escape. People in and out of the prison are safe from his reign.”

“I beg to differ.” Tubbo states plainly. Sam pauses his movements and growls, smoke appearing from his nostrils. He really needs to keep his temper in check or else he’ll end up blowing this place up.

“Are you questioning my authority and the security of the prison I commissioned?” Sam asks. He poured his own blood, sweat and tears into this building and he will take care of it like it's his own baby. And if someone offends him and his baby, he will not be held responsible for what happens.

“Of course not.” Tubbo frantically says. “Pandora’s Vault is the state of the art prison and I don’t dare question it’s security.”

“Then what are you getting at?” Sam stands back up to his full height, his four Creeper centaur legs digging into the obsidian below.

Tubbo shifts on his feet for a minute, debating whether or not to tell Sam before sighing in defeat and letting it all spill out. “Ranboo had a dream, a vision maybe.” Sam cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow. “He was in the prison and Dream was there, talking to him about weird stuff, just freaking Ranboo out in general. He said that Ranboo would free Dream from the prison.”

Sam growls at that and slams his fist into the table. Tubbo doesn’t even flinch.

“Are you sure that this was Dream and not just some… dream?” Sam does not want to deal with Dream and the chance of him escaping right now. He’s been torturing Ranboo, living inside his head and forcing the kid to Enderwalk against his will and help him do things to destroy the server. It destroyed Ranboo and he still has PTSD about it.

It could just be a trick though. One to manipulate Ranboo and scare everyone on the SMP with the thought that he might escape. The SMP has been living in harmony — albeit the unresolved conflicts — and they do not need Dream running in and destroying it all.

Ranboo and Tubbo have found a family. Tommy, Phil and Techno made up and are now treating each other like actual family. George and Sapnap are sticking together, keeping what is left of the Dream Team. Karl is with Quackity and Sapnap, living his best life with his fiances. Foolish is going off and making all the buildings he wants. Puffy is helping Tommy with therapy. And lastly, Fundy and Niki are going off, healing from the wounds that have been dug into their hearts.

Wilbur, of course, hasn’t been heard of. Ever since his revival, he disappeared and no one can find him. Not that many are actually looking in the first place. They will be prepared if he decides to show his face again, but if he’s smart, he’ll just run away. Then again, after being revived by him, Wilbur feels that he needs to repay Dream. That and Techno’s favor could be absolutely detrimental, but Sam doubts that Techno would go against Sam and Pandora’s Vault. Sam won’t let the Piglin hybrid get close.

Again, the SMP doesn’t need another threat from Dream looming over their heads.

“Ranboo knows what he saw and I know how much it freaked him out.” Tubbo glares at Sam. Hey, he never said the kid was wrong, he just needs to make sure. One false move and they could be playing into Dream’s game.

“I don’t doubt that you both do.” Sam sighs, placing his hands flat on the desk in front of him. “But if this is real, we have to take the necessary precautions.”

“I already told Ranboo that he can’t leave the house.” Tubbo admits. “I don’t want him going out when Dream is trying to get in his head.”

“Smart, but I would also advise that you stay with him at all times.” Sam picks up his sword and sheathes it.

“I am.” Tubbo says as Sam comes from around the corner. “The only reason I left him now is so that I could come to you. I believed this conversation could not be conveyed over messaging.”

“You are right.” Sam nods as he takes out his communicator. “I will go interrogate Dream, see if I can pick anything up and if he’ll say anything. While I do that, I need you to go back home and watch over Ranboo. We can’t risk him going any further into his Enderwalk.” Sam types some things into his communicator then looks down at Tubbo.

“I can do that. That’s what I planned anyway.” Tubbo shrugs then turns around to head towards the portal.

“And Tubbo,” Sam interrupts before the kids can step through the swirls of purple. “I will keep you updated with anything Dream tells me. I’ll message you via communicator.” Tubbo nods and holds up his communicator that rests on his forearm. “If anything happens with Ranboo, I need to know immediately.”

“Of course, big man.” Tubbo nods, placing one foot into the portal.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Tubbo pauses again and looks up at Sam. “Keep this on the down low, we don’t need a server wide panic.”

Tubbo only nods then steps through the portal, the purple engulfing him entirely.

Sam sighs and turns back towards his prison. Looks like today won’t be an easy day after all. He has a lot of work to do.

---

Sam stares at the lava wall as it ever so slowly comes down. He really wishes lava fell faster. It was great for when he was procrastinating and not wanting to go check on Dream, especially after Quackity is done for the day. Dream may be the villain of the server, but Sam just can’t witness what Quackity does to him in there. Though, he does seem fine afterwards when Sam is cleaning him up. He’s always cocky and smiling at Sam. He finds it quite creepy. It’s like Dream enjoys having Quackity there, but Sam can’t come up with a single reason why he would. No one likes being tortured, unless they’re a masochist, but Sam knows Dream isn’t one. Maybe he’s missing some factors.

But back to the lava wall, it’s great when he doesn’t want to go in, but it absolutely sucks when he has important things to do but it takes five minutes just for the lava to fall. He would change it if it wasn’t such a great security measure. It keeps Dream from leaving and that’s exactly why he put it there.

Finally, after what felt like hours of waiting, the lava dissipates and Sam pearls across.

Dream peaks his head up from the lectern he’s sitting at, possibly writing in one of his many journals, when he hears the vwoop of teleportation.

“Sam!” Dream tilts his head and quickly stands up. He glances out to the prison then turns back to the Warden, placing his pointer finger on his chin. “I don’t recall today being anything special.” He pouts his lips and tilts his head again like a dog. Prime, this man is so cocky. Sam just wants to punch his face, but he’s restricted by the Warden rules. (That and the fact that he still sees Dream as a friend.) “So…” Dream grins and spreads his arms out wide. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” He bows and Sam just scoffs, rolling his eyes. He’s not here for theatrics or monologuing, he just wants to get the info he needs and leave.

Sam gestures for Dream to sit and the prisoner takes a seat on the chest in the corner.

“I’ve heard some things about someone visiting someone else’s dreams.” Sam starts off straight at the point. Dream doesn’t even react, only raising an eyebrow. This is going to be harder than Sam thought. You would think that after months of torture, Dream would be broken, but that man is made out of pure netherite.

“I can assure you, Sam,” Dream leans forward, placing his elbows on his legs and hooking his hands together. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sam growls and gets up close and personal with Dream, so close that their noses are almost touching. “Don’t give me that bullshit! What are you doing to that poor kid?!”

“I haven’t talked to Ranboo in months, if that’s who you mean.” Dream places a hand on Sam’s chest and pushes him away, face scrunching up at the smell of Sam’s breath. Sam would call him out about knowing it was Ranboo, but then again, Ranboo is the only kid Dream can gain contact with from inside the prison. “Too busy being stuck in this cage, in case you forgot.” Dream gestures to the obsidian box around them and Sam only snarls, smoke rising from his nostrils once again.

“I swear, Dream, you better not be pulling any tricks!” He pulls out his sword and takes a fighting stance. He would never harm Dream, but if he even thinks about hurting another kid on this server, he will make sure that there will be hell to pay. He is the Warden which means he needs to keep the prisoner in check and keep him secure. For everyone’s sake. People are already physically and emotionally damaged by what Dream has done. He won’t let it happen any more.

This time, Dream scoffs and rolls his eyes, folding his arms over his chest. “What could I possibly do from in here?”

Sam takes his sword and points it at Dream’s neck. The man takes a step back and raises his hands, glaring his eyes at Sam.

“I swear, Dream,” Sam growls, “you will not touch a single person on this server. You will not even think about escaping as long as I’m here to stop you. You can pretend that everything is going to plan, laughing like everything's falling into place, but as long as I’m here and in charge, you won’t see the light of day again.”

“Are you threatening me, Sam?” Dream raises an eyebrow at him. Sam knows that look, he’s challenging him. He won’t have it. He has to be the bigger man here.

“It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.” Sam turns around and starts to walk towards the entrance of the cell.

“That’s the same damn thing!” Dream calls as Sam chucks an ender pearl and appears on the opposite side of the room. He flicks the lava switch and glances at Dream as the lava slowly engulfs him.

Once the lava is fully down, he turns and walks down the steps and back into the prison. He couldn’t stay there a second longer, he would’ve driven the sword through Dream.

Ugh, today is not turning out to be a good day.

---

In the cell, Dream’s frown turns into a smirk. He turns around, a little hop to his spin, and heads back to his lectern where he was writing oh so peacefully. So Ranboo’s little vision is starting to get around. Good. That’s what he wanted.

It’s turning into a good day.

Everything is falling into place.

Chapter Text

Dream stares at the lava wall as it slowly flows downward. It’s only been five minutes since Sam left, such a short time, but to Dream, it feels like hours.

He’s grown quite fond of these moments, it allows him to reminisce, but more importantly, it allows Dream to feel the pain his body has caused. To think about what everyone thinks of him even though he hasn’t been in control for quite some time now. It breaks him and it’s the most enjoyable thing ever.

The Dreamon smirks as he hears Dream screaming and yelling inside his head where he’s trapped. It never gets old, hearing Dream break down into tears because of something he’s done. It feeds him, gives him power and he has gotten so much from Dream. Dreamons feed off of the chaos they’ve caused after all and he has caused so much to Dream and Dream, in return, has given him so much sustenance.

He really should thank Tommy as well. He acted as if he hated the child, but in reality, the child was his main source of food. Dream hated the way he treated the teen, but it was the easiest to get to the child. During the exile, he had the most power he had ever experienced just because of the pain he sent him through.

But what really was the cherry on top to all the chaos, was when George and Sapnap left Dream. That was exhilarating! Nightmare was scared he was going to pass out from all the power Dream gave him in that moment, it was unbelievable .

That’s why, the moment he gets out, he’s going after Dream’s precious friends again. He wants more of the power he gets when he targets the Dream Team. Screw Tommy, he’s been biting at that line for too long, it was time for the big fish. How would little Dreamie act when he realizes that his friends weren’t going to survive if they met Nightmare? That would be the best meal ever.

Of course, he has to wait until Ranboo gets them out of Pandora’s Vault to see. The hybrid has been trying to hide, but it won’t last long. Nightmare is oozing his way into his mind and it’s only a matter of time before the Enderman teleports in here and gets him out.

But for the time being, he really should deal with this nagging idiot who’s screaming in pain within the back of his head. He’s really being a pain.

And just in a snap of fingers Nightmare separates himself from Dream’s body. The green clad man, now orange with his prison jumpsuit, falls to the ground with a groan.

“Why do you insist on being so annoying?” Nightmare growls, his smoky figure hovering slightly above the ground.

When Dreamons are first thrown into the world, — by what, they have no idea — they are just a poof of black smoke, unable to take shape. They fly around the world, trying to find their target. They need someone who’s stressed or weak mentally, someone who they would be able to access. Once they spot their target, they can latch themselves onto the human or hybrid.

Nightmare had been flying around for years, trying to find the perfect person. He wanted someone with a body that would suit him for his needs with chaos, yet someone who’s stressed and weak enough that he could infiltrate their mind. After years of searching, he finally found him. Dream.

The man had been dealing with L’Manburg separating from his own Greater Dream SMP. The man didn’t know what to do and Nightmare saw an in.

He latched himself onto Dream and started to suck away on what power he had. That’s how Dreamons work. Once they latch on, they suck what power their chosen entity has. This can take as long as they want to, but Nightmare was anything but patient with Dream. It took a couple of days, but he soon got the speedrunner to fall.

Once Dreamons get their entity to fall, they then possess the body. It takes about 24 hours until the body is used to the new entity inside its head, which is usually spent with the host bedridden. Once that day is up, the Dreamon has full range to do whatever they want with their new body.

A Dreamon’s main goal is to suck power from its prisoners and from the people around them. They feed off of emotions and that’s how they gain more power.

Once the Dreamon and their entity have been together long enough, the black smoke that the Dreamon once was will turn into a faint shape of their chosen’s body. And if the Dreamon gains enough power and has grown strong enough, it will even gain the ability to possess two individuals at once. Nightmare is hungry for that much power.

Taking over Dream, he will admit, took longer than he thought. Dream did put up a fight, but soon, he fell. Even some foolish individuals, Tubbo and Fundy tried to rid Dream of Nightmare, only to fail tremendously. Only they don’t know that. They think they freed him, but Nightmare still lurks in the shadows.

Once Nightmare gained control of Dream fully, he started causing havoc. He learned quickly that Tommy’s discs held a great connection with the teen and therefore could be used to gain emotions which meant power. So that’s exactly what he did.

While doing that, he did some side missions to piss off everyone else in the SMP. Hate is the strongest emotion after all.

And the amount of emotion he got when he broke little Gogy’s and Sappy’s heart was the greatest thing ever. Which is why he plans to do it again when he gets out of here.

“‘Cause you’re an absolute bitch!” Dream scoffs as he tries his hardest to stand up. He’s far too weak to do so and he just falls straight onto his ass.

Gosh, how had he gotten so weak? Nightmare still retains all his strength when he possesses Dream’s body, but the moment he separates himself, Dream grows as small as a stick and as weak as a bug. Dream figures it’s Nightmares power that keeps him as strong as he used to be and hates that that’s the fact.

It’s sad, really. Dream knows he should be more concerned about the Dreamon possessing him, but he can’t help but wish he still had his strength from his speedrunning and manhunt days. Oh, what he would give to have his muscles back.

“That’s quite rude, don’t you think?” Nightmare cocks his head to the side, staring at Dream with those void like eyes. He hates staring into those eyes, they’re filled with malice and hurt, all because of Dream.

“Just ‘cause it’s rude doesn’t mean it isn’t the truth.” Dream scoffs, taking his sleeve and wiping the blood that has started to flow from his nose. Nightmare’s possessions would sometimes cause his body to bleed like this. He hated it. His brain would fight over the difference, but his body has come to accept that he isn’t the one in control.

“Touche.” The Dreamon shrugs and turns his attention back to the lava wall.

Dream stares at him with venom in his eyes before he drags himself over to the lectern and pulls himself up on it. He really needs to get some strength back, but the only way he can think of doing so is if he’s out of here and he can’t let Nightmare get out. If the only way to trap Nightmare was to trap himself, then so be it. At least the SMP would be safe.

That is, if he wasn’t using Ranboo, but the Dreamon obviously has a plan that includes the half Enderman hybrid, Dream just doesn’t know what it is yet.

“What the hell are you doing to Ranboo?” Dream asks once he makes it to his feet. Nightmare turns his head slightly to look at Dream from the corner of his eye, a smirk growing on his face.

“I’ve been in this prison long enough.” Nightmare informs, backing up from the lava to come towards Dream. “I’ve done all I can do while in here.”

You mean torture me mentally while Quackity tortures me physically. Dream thinks as he stares up at the entity floating before him.

“What?” Dream smiles, chuckling weakly. He’s so done with all this shit. He just wants it to be over, but he has to persevere. “You’re done having Quackity come in here and torture us? Sorry, I mean me.” Dream spits at the Dreamon and Nightmare only backs up slightly, staring at the wet spot on the ground before turning up to look at Dream with a dead look in his eyes. “You skip town whenever he’s here.”

Nightmare doesn’t react to the anger radiating off of Dream and only flies close enough to be face to face with the speedrunner. “Y’know, for someone who’s being tortured daily, you sure do have a mouth on you. Maybe I should fix that.”

Dream shrinks back a bit, but otherwise refuses to let Nightmare win. He let the entity into his mind, he has to deal with it now and he won’t back down. “You wouldn’t fucking dare.”

“You say that,” Nightmare points out as he backs up from Dream, “yet I still do whatever I want anyway.”

“I don’t give a shit!” Dream shakes his head and stands up to face Nightmare. “No matter what, I will make sure you stay in this prison! You won’t get out, not if I have any say in it.”

“You don’t.” Nightmare says and laughs as Dream’s face falls. “But it’s nice that you think you can stop me.” Nightmare comes up close to Dream again and places a single finger under his chin, lifting his head up. “Now, little Dreamer, why don’t we dream some nightmares?”

Dream’s blood runs cold and he stares up at Nightmare with wide eyes. He doesn’t like going into nightmares. Nightmare makes them so much worse and while he’s asleep, he just experiences messed up memories or events that didn’t even happen, like him murdering his friends over and over again. He hates the nightmares. It tears at his sanity and leaves him an unblinking husk for hours afterward.

“Please no.” he whispers quite weakly. Nightmare only smirks and taps Dream’s forehead with his pointer finger. Dream’s eyes close and he falls to the ground, trapped in a land of nightmares.

---

When he opens his eyes, he’s staring at George and Sapnap, his two friends who both have deadly glares on their faces, aimed at him. He knows this scene too well, Nightmare has forced him to live in it too many times.

He tries to yell and scream, tries to get their attention and warn them that he still cares for them, that he’s still their friend and that it’s a Dreamon haunting his mind and possessing his body, but he can’t move, he can’t speak. He never can. He’s just forced to relive these soul crushing moments over and over again.

“Say it Dream! Tell me you hate me!”

He doesn’t. He truly doesn’t. But he knows what happens here, he knows what words he says. Nightmare pulls on the strings connected to Dream’s heart and tugs, ripping it out of his body with this memory. It hurts, no matter how many times he witnesses it, it still feels like losing them all over again and it destroys him.

“I don’t.” he whispers, even though he knows they won’t hear him. “I really don’t.” He faces his feet and imaginary tears streak down his face. “George, Sapnap… I’m sorry. I failed you.”

He watches as his friends walk away and he doesn’t do anything but stand there and watch them and while the past him watches, he curls into a ball and cries.

Please, I don’t want to be here anymore. Just make it stop. He pleads to the Dreamon inside his mind.

“You know you deserve this.” Nightmare hisses into his mind. “You know this is only scratching the surface.”

“Please no more.” Dream whispers out loud and Nightmare only laughs at him.

Please don’t laugh, please don’t laugh. He just wants it to stop.

“Everything I have done to you is payback for what you have done to them.”

“I didn’t do this.” Dream retaliates, still clutching onto his head and gripping his hair. “ You did. All this evil, it’s you.”

“That may be true, but who allowed me to use their body?” Another chuckle and Dream whines.

He’s right. He allowed him into his mind and now he has full control of his body. Everything that has happened to his server, to his friends, it’s all been his fault. Maybe if he was stronger, he could have warded it off, could’ve protected everyone. He’s an idiot.

It’s his fault. His fault. His fault.

My fault my fault my fault.

Dream opens his eyes and he’s now staring down Tommy. The poor teen is scared out of his mind, Dream can tell, but is covering it with a scowl while he holds up a piece of leather.

“I don’t give a FUCK about Spirit!” Dream had yelled and he felt more tears welling in his eyes.

He did, he still does. He does care about Spirit. Losing that horse was like losing himself. Like someone had ripped through his chest and grabbed his heart, yanking it out of his chest. He lost everything, but Nightmare doesn’t care. The Dreamon never gave two shits about Spirit, all he cared about was getting fed off the energy Dream gave him.

The energy Dream gave him. He’s still feeding off of it to this day. If only Dream could just stop all his pain, he could stop the Dreamon as well. 

The Dreamon would allow him to have some free time to himself, where he could be free without Nightmare breathing over his shoulder every second, but if he shows one sign of harming himself, Nightmare is right back to the front of his mind.

He thought, at first, that it was great to have Nightmare not breathing over his shoulder during these little spurts when he gets his freedom. But he only realized later that he was still just as trapped. If he did anything too crazy, Nightmare would be right there. He got away with some stuff, but he had to be sneaky, and if Nightmare found out, the next 24 hours would be hell for him.

Dream learned fast that he shouldn’t try anything like that again.

The world spins and Dream gets a sense of vertigo, falling to the ground on his hands and knees. He would’ve thrown up the contents of his stomach if he had any to begin with. He hasn’t really been eating anything in prison. The potatoes make him sick every single time. He soon gave up on eating after he’d thrown up a week worth of food.

Dream reluctantly blinks opens his eyes to the sun blinding him. He reaches to block his eyes, but once again, he can’t move his own body.

He assesses the area around and his breath leaves his body when he finally recognizes where he’s at.

Creeper holes everywhere, a far off beach with party decorations flowing in the wind, a tent that is battered and has definitely seen better days, a teenager who looks like he got dragged through the Nether, eyes droopy and looking like he would rather be anywhere else.

He’s in Logstedishire.

And that could only mean one thing.

Dream sucks in a breath and turns to stare down at the being below him. A tiny, little teenager with blond hair and sky blue eyes looks up at him with dirt littering his cheeks and bags under his eyes. He seems smaller, skinnier than normal and Dream feels tears stream down his cheek. He knows what’s going to happen.

Dream brandishes his axe and points it at Tommy before aiming it at a certain spot in the ground that’s been dug out.

“Put your things in the hole, Tommy.” His voice is full of venom, nothing like the real Dream would say. Nightmare has taken everything away from him, including his voice.

Tommy looks up at Dream with those dead eyes before he stares back down at the hole. He can see all of Tommy’s muscles tense up, as if he’s thinking about starting a fight, but all the energy and motive leaves his body in a sigh and Tommy just throws his inventory into the hole without much complaint.

Dream loved it back then.

Dream despises it now.

He ignores the rest of this memory and just sits in the furthest corner of his mind, huddled up in a ball as he places his face in between his legs and cries.

---

“Where’s the damn book Dream?!” Quackity yells and carves more lines into Dream’s skin. “Give me a fucking answer!”

Dream just cries, tears falling down his face like a waterfall. His chest is heaving and he can barely get any words out.

“Q-Q-”

“If it’s not about the fucking book, save your breath.” Quackity spits in his face and throws him down to the ground. A sickening snap can be heard when Dream’s shoulder makes contact with the rough, jagged obsidian below him. “I don’t want to hear your desperate pleas. I’m sick and fucking tired of them!”

Dream tries to sit up. He places his hand below him, but his shoulder gives out and he falls back to the floor. Quackity just scoffs and rolls his eyes before delivering a swift kick to Dream’s side.

The prisoner scrunches up his legs closer to his body and rolls away from Quackity. A defense mechanism that is sure to fail.

He hears the thundering footsteps of Quackity walking towards him and Dream’s shoulders are grabbed, nails digging into his skin and interfering with the bruises already set there. Dream lets out a cry of pain before he’s tossed into his lectern, the side of his head smashing into the splintering wood.

His body staggers and falters and Dream’s eyes become unfocussed.

“Give.” Quackity snarls as he grabs Dream’s collar and punches him in the face. “Me.” Another punch. “The.” Another. “Damn.” Again. “Revival.” Blood is gushing down Dream’s face and his eye is starting to swell shut. “Book.” Quackity punches him one last time before he drops him to the ground and Dream slumps over, unconscious. Quackity growls and picks up his tools before heading over to the entrance and waiting for Sam to bring the bridge over to him.

---

Ranboo’s head shoots out from where it’s lying on his pillow. His breathing is ragged and he struggles to keep it under control.

After a minute of practiced breathing exercises, Ranboo can make sense of his surroundings again. He sighs and throws his head back onto his pillow.

He had one of those dreams again. Nightmares? Visions? Memories that are not his own? He doesn’t know what to call them, but he knows that they’re true and that they’re painful.

He feels every blow to Dream’s stomach as a phantom pain of his own. He feels every cut deep below his skin, every harsh word still rings in his mind. He may not have it as bad as Dream, but he still feels a little bit of what he feels.

His mind reels in anger, chanting about freeing Dream, but Ranboo silences it to the best of his ability. He doesn’t need his mind being controlled again.

He looks to his left and sees Tubbo sleeping peacefully. Thank goodness he didn’t wake him up.

He sits back up again, the blankets pooling around his waist, and sets his head on his hand. Every night, the torture is worse then the day before. The first day was simple, still bad, but simple. The next was a step up, but still something an ammature would try.

Then, as the months went on, the pain became practiced, precise, direct. Quackity knows what he’s doing and Dream has to pay the price. Sadly, Ranboo has to pay the price as well.

He doesn’t know how or why he gets these memories, but he does. He hasn’t told Tubbo yet mostly because he’s scared too.

“Hey Tubbo, guess what? Instead of having actual dreams when I go to bed, I get memories from the great manipulator himself who has been known to have something to do with my Enderwalk and I see him getting tortured in prison by Quackity while Sam allows it! Not only do I just see it, I can feel the pain too. And every time after I wake up, my brain is filled with anger and I can sense my Enderboo side wanting to break down the doors and go free him!”

Yeah no, Tubbo would kill him. He might as well be signing his death certificate now. That wasn’t an option.

It wouldn’t be that good to tell anyone else also. He can see how he’ll get treated. None of it was good.

He’s fine though, really! He just needs to keep a clear head and everything will be fine!

Ranboo glances out the window and sees snow falling gently onto the powdered covered ground.

Hmm, maybe some fresh air will help. He is feeling quite stuffy in here.

He quietly steps onto the wood floor and gently pulls the covers up over his spot in the bed. He freezes when Tubbo mumbles something and rolls around, but he soon stills and Ranboo releases a sigh of relief.

He creeps out of his and Tubbo’s shared bedroom, cringing when the door makes the squeaking noises that are possibly quite loud enough to wake Tubbo, but luckily, he just snores and continues sleeping.

Heading towards the front door is a lot easier since there are walls blocking the sound from reaching his families’ ears, so he’s more carefree as he walks to the front door.

He thanks his night vision so he can dodge all the furniture in the living room and makes his way to the door. He places his clawed hand on the doorknob and feels the cold from outside seep into the nob. He relaxes at the touch and opens the door.

He steps out into the cold, falling, white snow. He throws his arms out in a showman’s style as his clawed feet crunch into the snow below him.

The cold air seeps into his bones and he feels more alive then ever. Sometimes it’s nice to just step outside and enjoy the weather. He should do this with Michael sometime.

He opens up his mouth, sticking his tongue out, catching the quite large snowflakes on his tongue. It tastes bland and cold, but Ranboo loves it nonetheless.

He sits down, the snow seeping into his pajamas and making them wet, but he couldn’t care less. It feels nice to be outside and he’s going to enjoy it.

He lays his back down and closes his eyes, enjoying the snow as it falls on him.

He doesn’t know how much time passes, but he stays content just lying in the snow. His thoughts are quiet for a bit, but then they start rambling up and causing a ruckus. They’re yelling and screaming about Dream and soon enough, a headache forms.

Ranboo curses at his thoughts for ruining his moment of calmness, but the pounding on his head stops him from doing so. He sits up and holds his head. It feels like his brain is trying to break through his skull, like a hammer is banging his skull into splinters.

He groans in pain and that’s when the voice breaks through.

It’s time.

What the hell?

Free him.

Ranboo’s mind starts to blank out as it’s overtaken by a force he doesn’t recognize, all he knows is that it’s bad.

In a last ditch attempt to save himself, or at least stop himself, he pulls out his communicator and hits one of the names on it. It started with a T, so it’s either Tommy or Tubbo. Ranboo really hopes it’s Tommy.

He barely gets enough time to type a barely coherent sentence before his entire vision blacks out.

---

Tommy is sleeping lightly when his communicator buzzes. He used to sleep like a rock, snoring like a bull, but ever since he went to Logstedishire, his sleeping habits have changed. Dream wasn’t really the nicest to Tommy out there.

As much as Tommy hates how much Dream’s changed him, sometimes he’s glad he’s not as heavy of a sleeper as he was before. It really comes in handy when he thinks there’s an intruder outside, or in cases like right now.

He rolls over and grabs his communicator from his nightstand and slaps it onto his left forearm while blocking a yawn from his mouth with his right hand.

He opens up his messages and clicks on the latest one. His eyesight is blurry from just waking up, so he can’t read what the message says exactly, but after he wipes the sleep from his eyes, he’s able to read what it says and he freezes.

<Ranboo whispers to you> Pls hlp endrwlk

Tommy doesn’t even think about anything before he’s launching himself out of his bed and grabbing his stuff, throwing his armour on him and some supplies in his inventory.

If Ranboo is Enderwalking, that means he’s heading towards the prison, and if he’s heading towards the prison, he’s going to confront Dream, and if he confronts Dream, he’s going to free Dream, and if he frees Dream, Tommy’s nightmare will now be free to do whatever the hell he wants.

Tommy can’t let that happen.

Dream has ruined his life one too many times and he’s not about to let the bastard do it again. He has torn this server apart and Tommy is sick and fucking tired of the fucking asshole. He has to make sure he stays in the prison, even if that means beating the shit out of Ranboo.

He’s glad Ranboo actually had the mind power to message him before he completely lost it. Based on how terrible that message was spelt, Tommy can only determine that he was near blacking out when he sent it which meant that if Tommy didn’t hurry, he might miss his chance to stop Ranboo

He grabs his sword and races out his house, dashing to meet Ranboo. He measures in his head the path from Snowchester to the prison and goes to intercept Ranboo there. Hopefully he makes it in time.

---

He sees Ranboo and doesn’t even bother with talking to him. He can see how his eyes have changed from red and green to full on purple, set in on one location and Tommy goes straight to fight mode.

He swings at Ranboo and the Enderman hybrid teleports away from him and breaks into a sprint.

Tommy races after him and slices at Ranboo whenever he can. They get into a brawl that leaves them crawling around in the dirt, covering their clothes in mud and — is Ranboo wearing pajamas? — completely messing up their looks.

They’re both down on the ground, both tired and beaten up a fair amount. Ranboo stands up and Tommy tries to follow him, but the clawed hand on his throat stops him and he stills.

He’s lifted up like a sack of potatoes and Ranboo’s purple eyes stare into his own. Well shit… that’s not good.

“⟟⎎ ⊬⍜⎍ ☍⋏⍜⍙ ⍙⊑⏃⏁'⌇ ☌⍜⍜⎅ ⎎⍜⍀ ⊬⍜⎍, ⊬⍜⎍'⌰⌰ ⌰⟒⏃⎐⟒ ⋔⟒ ⏁⊑⟒ ⎎⎍☊☍ ⏃⌰⍜⋏⟒.” (“If you know what's good for you, you'll leave me the fuck alone.”) Ranboo’s mouth opens as the sounds come out, but Tommy has no idea what he’s saying or what it even means.

He growls and roars in Tommy’s face, much like an actual Enderman, before throwing Tommy away into the harsh ground.

Ranboo stares at the still body he’d just thrown and turns to continue heading towards the prison.

⎅⍜⋏'⏁ ⍙⍜⍀⍀⊬, ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔. ⟟'⋔ ☊⍜⋔⟟⋏☌. (Don't worry, Dream. I'm coming.)

Chapter Text

Sam hears the vwoop of teleportation and immediately he’s on high alert. Nobody is supposed to be in the prison today. Visits haven't been happening ever since Tommy died and Wilbur got revived. Quackity told Sam last torture session that he’s busy with Las Nevadas today, so he couldn’t make it. Sam was the only one that was supposed to be in Pandora’s Vault. He had told both Bad and Ant that their assistance was not required today since Dream hasn’t been stirring up any trouble.

So who the hell was teleporting into the prison and how the hell are they doing it. The portal isn’t activated so it has to be something else in play. An ender pearl?

Sam draws his sword and immediately scans the main room with his eyes behind his gas mask, looking for the intruder. The prison is silent all except the Elder Guardian keeping its spell upon the place. Sam isn’t one to let down his guard though. He stays tense and continues to survey the room.

More silence.

Suddenly, Sam hears a sound from behind him, something far from human and more Ender. He spins around, sword at the ready, but the intruder swings down before.

Sam hears glass break and suddenly, his limbs feel like weak jello and his vision starts to get hazy. Weakness.

He sees the intruder, Ranboo — why is Ranboo here? Why is he attacking Sam? Isn’t he one of the ones who hated Dream the most? He’s the one who was manipulated by Dream, with the voice in his head! Sam thought he was free! Is this Dream once again telling Ranboo what to do? If that’s the case, XD save them all. — jump over his desk and land right by his feet where Sam is on the ground, trying to crawl away.

The potion is making quick work through his body, making him feel more drowsy and sleepy by the second. It’s not helping that his heart feels like it’s beating a million times per second, quickly spreading the potion through his blood to all parts of his body. Not to mention the Elder Guardian who’s spell Sam is already under, making his limbs already heavier.

Ranboo, with his glowing purple eyes and weird Enderman gurlges, stalks closer and Sam tries his best to get away, but the room is only so big and soon enough, he hits the wall.

This can’t be happening. If Sam fails here, Ranboo will no doubt go free Dream and help him cause chaos again. The server will not survive Dream who will come back ten times stronger than before. Not only will Dream be back though, poor Ranboo will blame himself for his escape. Even under the influence of the voice in his head, Ranboo will beat himself up over it for years to come. He will never forgive himself, no matter how much the members of the server say otherwise.

Hell, he’ll probably beat himself up just for getting this far.

Sam remembers one day, Ranboo had come up to him after a day of work at Pandora’s Vault and asked him if he had a cell for him in the prison. Of course, this shocked Sam who questioned why they would ever need a cell for Ranboo to which the kid replied with how the voice made him do things.

Sam had to promise the kid that he would never cause any harm to them now that Dream was locked up, then messaged Tubbo so the kid could come pick his platonic husband up. He always had a gift for making Ranboo feel better.

Now here they are and Sam has broken yet another promise to someone on the SMP. A tear falls down below his mask as he watches Ranboo stalk closer to him than stop.

His body is too weak to fight back, all he can do is watch as Ranboo pulls out another bottle filled with grey liquid — where is he getting all these potions — and throws it on the ground where Sam is laying.

Sam feels his eyelids droop close, finally succumbing to the call of sleep and letting the blanket of darkness overtake his mind.

---

Tommy groans as he pushes himself off of the ground and shakes the dirt from his hair. His mind is still groggy and trying to wake up, but the moment it does, he’s up off the ground and staring off into the direction of Pandora’s Vault where a trail of footprints lead to in the ground.

Oh… oh no. Oh fuck.

Tommy sucks in a sharp breath and tries to keep the tears from coming out of his eyes. He’s fucked up. He failed to stop Ranboo and now he’s probably already in Pandora’s Vault, already having dealt with Sam, and on his way to Dream.

Tommy staggers on his feet, brain not able to comprehend anything. The world fills still while Tommy feels like he’s spinning.

Flashes of memory, of torture, of manipulation, of heart ache and dread… of death. They all flash through his mind and Tommy quiets a sob leaving his mouth with his hand.

He can’t stay here. He can’t be here. It’s already too late, he can’t stop Ranboo now. He’s most likely in the prison already and Tommy has no way of getting in. He hopes Sam can stop him, but he can’t put all his faith in Sam. Ranboo has the upper hand here.

He stumbles, reaching to touch the ground with his hand to keep him steady and stands up again.

He needs to find somewhere safe. He needs to get out .

His body starts moving before he can even think and his legs take him to his destination.

He’s going to his home, even if it’s currently broken.

---

Dream lays with his back to the chest in his cell, staring off into space as his mind just stays blank. He doesn’t know what to think about, it all hurts. When he tries to think, he just correlates everything to his friends and he gets a stab to his heart from that, so he just decided to stop.

Nightmare has been silent. He hasn’t spoken a word since Dream woke up from his nightmare trip.

Dream doesn’t know if he prefers the silence or not.

He used to love having silent moments like this. Where no one else is around and he can just sit and think. He would spend them out in the forest, where the birds chirp and the bugs are annoying as shit, but it’s nice, calming, relaxing. Dream wouldn’t give that up.

But here he is, lounging in his own personal prison cell for crimes he didn’t commit, but his body did. It was all so stupid.

He no longer gets to hear the birds as they chirp to each other or see the trees sway or even feel the wind as it tickles his skin. Now he only gets the burning of hot molten lava that pops onto his hands every now and again and the jagged cuts from obsidian underneath him.

He hates it here, but it’s the only thing holding Nightmare back and if it continues to do so, he’ll continue to suffer through it until he dies.

If that’s the only way to save his friends, then so be it.

“You’re being quiet today.” Dream spoke into the suffering silence. Nightmare only hums in his mind, causing Dream to scoff. “Why?” He must admit, he probably looks silly like this since he’s basically talking out loud to a being in his mind, but he finds comfort in it. Not that he’ll let Nightmare know that. Any more weakness he can get on Dream is just more pain. Listen, he just hasn’t had a conversation with an actual being who wasn’t yelling at him or cutting him open in a while. “You’re usually laughing in my face after a nightmare session.”

Nightmare only hums again and they go into another uncomfortable silence. Dream finds it incredibly uneasy, more so than normal. It’s not like Nightmare to be this quiet, like he’s plotting something, planning. These are the times where Dream can do what he wants and Nightmare will be none the wiser, but right now, it’s suspicious. They’re in an obsidian cage, what is there to plan out?

Unless…

“What’s happening?” Dream asks his Dreamon once again and he hears him scoff in anger.

“You just can’t shut up, can you?” Nightmare growls and Dream grits his teeth.

“You’re planning something, I can tell.” Dream points out. “You’re not usually this silent, especially since prison. The silence bores you.”

“Glad to hear you’ve been paying attention, Dreamie.”

“Don’t call me that.” Dream says before Nightmare can go any further.

“But honestly,” Nightmare continues as if Dream hadn’t said anything at all. “I think that if you think back a bit, you’ll get your answer.”

Nightmare goes silent once again and Dream is left with furrowed brows, digging through his memories to try and figure out what Nightmare is getting at.

They’ve had this conversation before, according to Nightmare. Or at least, a conversation with the answer to it.

Dream thinks for a bit before it finally hits him. Of course, they were talking about Ranboo before this all happened. How could he forget about the poor kid?

Dream tenses up when he realizes the problem with the situation. Ranboo couldn’t be on his way here now, could he? Dream thought he had time. He thought that Ranboo was strong enough to not fall under the power of Nightmare but he was wrong, Ranboo has fallen victim just like Dream has.

Anger flares up through his mind and this gets Nightmare’s attention.

“Calm down, will you?” Nightmare scoffs and finally goes to the front of Dream’s mind to talk to him without hiding in the deepest reaches of his mind. “My protege is coming. Soon, we will be out of this hellhole and I can finally start moving forward with my plan for power.”

“Ranboo.” Dream growls, silently telling Nightmare to back off the kid, but the Dreamon only laughs at Dream’s attempts.

“Soon, I will be free.” Nightmare digs his claws into his mind and Dream screams.

“Ranboo, no!” He attempts to warn his friend, but he knows it’s futile. Nightmare has control over both of them now and no one knows what he plans to do with that power.

“He can’t hear you.” Nightmare coos and Dream feels like throwing up, despite not having anything to eat today. “He is my little Dreamon.”

Dream shakes his head like a bull trying to buck off its rider, but Nightmare digs his claws further into the reaches of his mind and stays put.

“What have you done to him?” Dream growls in anger, once again causing Nightmare to laugh at his pitiful attempts to be fearless.

"Have you ever wondered why he Enderwalks?” Nightmare laughs again and Dream feels his stomach fall flat. “It’s not as much of an ‘Enderwalk’ than it is Dreamon control.”

“Ranboo’s possessed?” Dream’s eyes fly straight open and he loses his breath. He’s always known that Nightmare has his claws in Ranboo, but he didn’t know the kid was fully possessed like him. He just thought that Nightmare was saying things into his mind that caused him to act up, but it turns out he was wrong the entire time.

“Not fully, unlike you.” Nightmare says and Dream just ends up more confused. How can someone be possessed, but not fully possessed? It doesn’t make any sense. Luckily, Nightmare senses his confusion and after chuckling at him, he decides to elaborate. “He has a little bit of me in him. Not so much that he remembers what he did, like you, but enough that I can control him.”

So that’s why Ranboo will wake up at strange places at strange times having no recollection of where he's been or what he’s done. He’s being possessed like Dream, but not enough to actually remember the damage he caused. But why does Nightmare have it that way? Doesn’t he get fed power by them crying over what they’ve done while not in control?

“So you’re possessing both of us at the same time?” Dream knows that half the questions he has won’t be answered, so he may as well start with the small ones and try to work his way up.

“Yes,” Nightmare replies, “ but just because I’m possessing the both of you, doesn't mean that you are one in the same. When I split, it’s like I became two different Dreamons. But I still have power over the other. Think of it as Ranboo as my less powerful brother. Imagine occupying two chaotic heads at the same time.” Nightmare sighs. “I do not wish that hell upon myself.”

Ironic, but moving on.

“But why?” Dream can’t help but ask. Why split yourself up? Why only have one victim remember the pain? What does Nightmare gain from this?

“I knew this would happen, that you would end up in jail.” Nightmare chuckles and Dream feels the strong urge to punch the Dreamon. “I planned it all. Having Ranboo was a fail safe, which is why he can’t remember anything. I couldn’t have people catching on to me. And let me tell you, it all worked out perfectly.”

So that’s it? They’re all just fucking pawns.

Dream shakes his head and buries his face in his knees, trying to hide his tears away from Nightmare even though he knows it’s useless.

Nightmare thankfully doesn’t say anything on it and goes back into the furthest corners of Dream’s mind to plan.

---

Ranboo throws the keycard he’s stolen off the Warden into the hidden hole in the ground. He hears the redstone of the prison click and whirr before he’s allowed to the main cell. His ears flick and he clenches his hands in anticipation. He’s nearly there. Finally, the plan will start.

He stares at the wall of lava as it flows down in front of him, blocking him from his goal. He throws a similar keycard down and hits the button, waiting now for the lava to flow down. The lava is tantalizingly slow and takes five years just to go down.

Though he is lucky the voice in his head is telling him exactly where to place the keycards and what buttons to press and what levers to flick, otherwise, he’d be completely lost. The voice knows a lot and Ranboo isn’t one to question it.

Finally, after what felt like hours of waiting, the lava flows down and Ranboo has a clear view of the cell on the opposite side of the pool of lava.

Ranboo warbles to catch Dream’s attention and the prisoner perks up, standing up and turning to Ranboo. A smirk grows wide on his face and Ranboo hits the button to bring the bridge over there. He jumps on it and walks with it as it moves over the big gap between the two people.

Dream just stands and waits as Ranboo walks over with the bridge. Nightmare can’t help the smirk that grows on his face when he realizes that his plan is finally going into action. This is just the first step in a multi-process plan which may take forever, but it’s a big step and Nightmare loves every second of it.

Ranboo holds out his hand and Dream opens up his palm. Ranboo drops a smooth sphere of an ender pearl into his hand. Dream gently closes his hands around the fragile item and turns up to look at Ranboo, a smirk growing on his face.

He throws the pearl out of his prison cell and Ranboo teleports after him as they both walk out of the prison.

Dream is free.

---

Ranboo follows Dream as he leads them off further and further away from the Greater SMP. He warbles at Dream, asking him where they’re heading, but Dream just waves him off and tells him to wait, so Ranboo does.

After an hour hike that Ranboo can feel in his legs, they come up to a house hidden far away from prying eyes.

Ranboo warbles and turns to Dream who’s just smiling at the sight of his base still in shape.

“It’s my base, Ranboo.” Dream answers the questioning hybrid. “I hid it far away from everyone so no one could find it.” He chuckles and shakes his head. “If only Techno could see me now.” Ranboo raises an eyebrow at that, but Dream continues. “See, I told you, pig, I’m not homeless.”

“⍙⟒⌰⌰, ⟟⎎ ⊬⍜⎍ ⏁⊑⟟⋏☍ ⏃⏚⍜⎍⏁ ⟟⏁, ⏁⊑⟒ ⌿⍀⟟⌇⍜⋏ ⍙⏃⌇ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⊑⍜⋔⟒.” (“Well, if you think about it, the prison was your home.”) Ranboo smirks as Dream turns to the Enderman hybrid with a glare.

“Really, Ranboo.” He scowls and Ranboo chuckles.

“⍙⊑⏃⏁? ⟟⏁'⌇ ⏁⍀⎍⟒.” (“What? It's true.”)

Dream walks up to him and takes his feet out from under him, sending him flying into the ground below.

“Don’t make fun of me.” Dream crosses his arms over his chest while Ranboo laughs on the ground.

---

Tommy trips onto the snow beneath his feet as his breathing picks up and his heart rate rises. His mind is spinning and he’s hardly paying attention to where he’s going. His feet are moving on their own and he’s thankful that they actually know where to go. They’re taking him to Techno’s, a place he knows he’ll be safe. If he can stop Techno from taking his head off that is.

But this is about Dream, hopefully Techno will grant him mercy because Tommy will need so much of it. No doubt Dream will tear him apart if he finds him.

He’s already messaged them, telling them he was on his way and he didn’t get any angry messages from Phil or death threats from Techno so he expects he’s good. Then again, he did send it frantically and he thinks they may be scared for him, well… Phil at least.

He picks himself up and sets his focus solely on the door leading to Techno’s house. He just has to make it there and he’ll be safe. Techno’s the only one he knows that can fight Dream and hold him off. He’s the only one who’ll be able to defend Tommy, that is, if he wants to. Tommy really hopes he wants to.

He slips on some snow on the porch and falls shoulder first into the door. He groans in pain and bites his lip to keep himself from crying out anymore. He raises his frozen, shaky hand and knocks on the door. His hand is so numb that he can barely feel the wood under his knuckles. His breath is visible and clouding in front of his face. Tommy just wants to close his eyes and feel the warm embrace of sleep, but he knows he won’t get it out here. He needs to get inside and hope his family doesn’t strike him down.

The door opens and Tommy would’ve fell onto the floor if it wasn’t for the Crow Father who catches his falling son and drags him inside, slamming the door shut with his foot as he struggles to lift his tall son up.

Techno stands up from where he was sitting and makes his way over to Tommy who gets laid down on a couch in Techno’s living room.

“What happened to him?” Techno asks, tilting his head to the side as he stares at his frozen brother.

“He came into the arctic without any form of warm clothes.” Phil points out, standing up to get a blanket and coming back to wrap it around his youngest son’s shoulders. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I h-had to leave.” Tommy’s teeth chatter, but he needs to say this. “N-Not s-s-safe.

“Not safe?” Phil repeats, raising an eyebrow. “How is it not safe?”

Techno seems intrigued as well and kneels down like Phil at Tommy’s side, waiting for the blond to answer.

“Dream e-escaped p-prison.” Tommy says faintly and both Phil and Techno look up at each other. They both suspected that Dream would turn in that favor to Techno in order to get out, but it seems that he already had a plan for that. But the question is, how did Dream accomplish such a task?

“How?” Techno growls, expression growing calm when Tommy shivers from the cold. “Sam said there was no way Dream could get out, how did it happen?”

“R-Ranboo.” Is all Tommy said.

Techno’s ears perk up in surprise and Phil’s wings ruffle behind him. What the hell was Ranboo doing helping Dream? Doesn’t he hate him for speaking in his mind?

“Dream’s l-like controlling him. H-He s-started enderwalking and I-I tried to stop him, b-but he was s-so powerf-ful.”

Techno growls and punches the floor. He knows he’s not exactly friends with Dream, but they’re not enemies either. Techno thought Dream was at least a little bit better than that, but here he is learning that Dream is using Ranboo and his enderwalk to escape prison.

Honestly, when Tommy reached out to them, Techno would’ve ignored him if it wasn’t for Phil talking some sense into him. But now, learning what happened to one of the members of the Syndicate, he’s quite angry and wants revenge.

He can deal with Tommy. He can keep him safe because no doubt Dream will come for him. He’s already lost part of his family to Dream, he’s not losing anymore.

“So Dream’s free.” Phil breaks the silence the room has fallen into.

“No doubt he’s looking for revenge.” Techno snorts and snarls.

“You know how many people pissed him off?” Tommy’s weak voice speaks up, catching the attention of the family members.

“Well you, for one.” Phil reminds them all. Techno snorts again. Thanks for the information, Phil. It’s not like we didn’t already know that.

“There are many others.” Techno adds. “The list goes on, but I would consider us on Dream’s good side since we did destroy L’Manburg together.”

“F-Fuck you for that, by t-the way.” Tommy shivers and wraps the blanket more around him.

“I figured you’d say something like that.” Techno shrugs. He knew Tommy would bring it up, but he could care less. He’s not sorry for blowing L’Manburg up. That country had it coming.

“Enough.” Phil says sternly, stopping any argument from starting. “Techno’s right, Tommy’s most likely in the most danger.”

“We can just keep him here.” Techno says nonchalantly. “It worked last time.”

“But what about the others that pissed him off?” Phil turns to Techno and he just glares at his father.

“We’re not having a slumber party at my house, Phil. It’s not my responsibility for their safety. I’ll keep Tommy here, that’s it.”

“D-Do you r-really think Dream’s g-going to act n-now?” Tommy asks, fear evident in his voice despite how much he tries to swallow it down.

“He does hate mostly everyone a lot.” Techno shrugs.

“Exactly, but I don’t think Dream’s going to do anything just yet. He needs to rest.” Phil, ever so wise, tells them both.

“Does that blob even have a place to rest?” Yes, Techno is still gonna believe that the green teletubby doesn’t have a house.

“Unless Ranboo made a secret place that no one knows about, Dream most likely already had a base of operations.” Techno freezes at Phil’s words and he can see Tommy crack a small smile. Good, he is at least making him feel better.

“That means he wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t homeless. No!”

Tommy breaks into laughter while Phil just glares at his son.

Chapter Text

It’s gentle, calming, warm, and breezy. He’s debating to just lay on the ground and stay still, just absorbing the sunlight. It feels nice seeping into his skin and warming up his sore bones. He feels like he got ran over by a Ravager. Maybe he did because it sure feels like it.

He groans as he tries to open his eyes, the sunlight blinding him even with the skin of protection still over them. He doesn’t want to get up and move, everything hurts.

Everything feels calm but staticky at the same time.

Wait a minute. What happened?

Ranboo shoots up from his once comfortable spot and looks around the area.

He's in the woods, the sun leaking through the breaking in the leaves. The trees tower over him and sway in the wind. The breeze tickles his hairs but he doesn't feel it as his heart rate rises.

How did he get here? He doesn't remember anything. He was with Tommy. He was at home. HE WAS SAFE?!

WHAT HAPPENED?!

He struggles to stand up, the world's spinning and he falls down twice trying to get his bearings. He closes his eyes and clenches his fists, taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He can't have a panic attack, not now. He needs to stay calm and understand his surroundings. He needs to assess the situation.

He opens his eyes, his breathing calming down. He looks around the forest around him and sees nothing but trees, trees and oh! More trees.

He sighs in frustration as he sees nothing of note. There's nothing to explain what happened and nothing to tell him what he's done.

He shakes his head to keep himself from breaking down again.

He knows what most likely happened, he just doesn't want to admit it.

He was doing better.

He should've known the dam would break and he would soon run after Dream to free him. He should've locked himself up, he should've put chains on him.

He doesn't remember what he did exactly, but if he freed Dream… XD save them.

His communicator buzzes and he totally forgot he had it on him. He honestly expected Enderboo to destroy it the minute he got control, but here it is, still resting on his forearm.

He lifts his arm up and sees he has some messages from both Tubbo and Tommy. He decides he doesn't want to face what he might've done and clicks on Tubbo's messages instead.

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> Ranboo, where r u? Your not herre when i wkoe

Ranboo cringes as his fingers still over the keyboard. Oh no, poor Tubbo. He doesn't know what happened and Ranboo doesn't know if he can tell him. He promised Tubbo that he would keep it under, that he wouldn't lose the fight, but he did and he doesn't want him to know. Not yet at least. He's still trying to figure everything out and he doesn't need Tubbo worrying above all that.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> Sorry, was out exploring. Got a bit lost.

It was a lie, something Ranboo's not proud of, but it was necessary. He doesn't like lying to anybody, but he had to keep this situation hidden. More panic equals more chaos and everybody knows how much Dream loves chaos.

Dream. Another can of worms Ranboo doesn't want to open but he knows he's gonna have to.

He brings a hand to his head and rubs his pounding headache. He can't deal with this all.

Let's just focus on one problem at a time. Ranboo tells himself. He needs to focus and not get off track. Deal with Tubbo and make sure he's not worried, then worry about everything else. He didn't send Tubbo the best excuse, but hopefully it'll work and Tubbo won't ask anymore questions.

Once he doesn't get a reply from Tubbo, he decides he should just rip the bandage off and see what Tommy said, despite how much he dreads knowing.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> Rnaboo, I hope this is you and not your other side.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> I couldn’t stop u. IDk where u r now, but i dout its somewhere good.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> I told Phil and Techno. Someone needed to know.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> They took me somewhere safe so Dream couldn’t get to me.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> I do wrry for Gogs and Sap. If Dream ca’t find me, he’ll most likely go for them

Ranboo sighs and clenches his eyes close. He can't cry right now. He can't cry. He takes a shuddery breath and looks back at the communicator.

<You whisper to TommyInnit> I messed up, didn’t I?

He doesn't want to know, but he has to. If he knows the damage he caused, he can try to fix it.

<You whisper to TommyInnit> This is all my fault.

He's spiraling. How could he let this happen? If only he had more control over himself, Enderboo wouldn't have woken up and Dream wouldn't have escaped prison.

His fault. His fault. His fault.

Luckily a ping on his communicator breaks him from his stupor.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> Hey man, don’t beeat yourself up.

Oh great, now the gremlin Tommyinnit is pitying him. That's something that's unheard of and Ranboo isn't sure if he's glad it's happening.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> We’ll figure out what to do.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> Maybe having a guy on the inside will be a good thing.

Ranboo pauses. He's joking. There's no way Tommy is telling him to spy on Dream. If he finds out what Ranboo is doing, he'll be dead in five seconds. Ranboo would like to survive, thank you very much.

<You whisper to TommyInnit> You want me to stay with Dream?!

<TommyInnit whispers to you> Well, when you say it like that, it does sound bad

That's because it was! Dream is the infamous man who blows countries up, manipulates minors, kills people, and now has a control on Enderboo. He has too much power and Tommy wants him to sp y on him?! That's just asking for death!

Ranboo groans and throws his head into his hands. This is just great.

He's lost in the forest, no memory of what happened, only knowing that he freed Dream.

He glances back at his communicator and his eyebrows furrow at what he sees. His messages with Wilbur were opened recently.

He clicks on it and sees something he definitely did not send to him.

<You whisper to WilburSoot> Guess who?

Why the hell was he texting Wilbur? And doesn't Enderboo talk in Ender? He just has more questions than answers.

<WilburSoot whispers to you> Ranboo, I can see you tag.

And Wilbur replied. Why would he reply? He disappeared after Dream revived him and no one has heard anything from him since. He's like a shadow, lurking from behind waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Everyone has been on alert ever since he came back.

<You whisper to WilburSoot> Wrong, guess again.

Okay, this is definitely not Ranboo's texting. He knows how he texts and this is not. But that still leaves the question on who was messaging Wilbur, although Ranboo does have his suspicion.

<WilburSoot whispers to you> What the hell are you on about?

I’m curious too, Wilbur Soot.

<You whisper to WilburSoot> :( is that any way to treat your hero?

Ranboo’s eyes grew wide and he clenched his communicator with a tight grip. No way. Did Dream really contact Wilbur through his communicator?! Ranboo wishes he could remember because this information would’ve been great to know.

<WilburSoot whispers to you> Dream?! How thehell

<You whisper to WilburSoot> I have to thank Ranboo for this amazing escape… and for lending me his communicator.

He didn’t want to do it.

<WilburSoot whispers to you> Ranboo would never help you. He hates your guts.

Well at least Wilbur is correct about one thing. Dream has messed with his head and Ranboo had trouble thinking correctly for months and when he gets free, it comes back tenfold and now he released Dream. To say he’s mad is an understatement, it’s more like infuriating. But he’s still too scared to do anything. Dream still has much more power than him, even after spending months in prison.

<You whisper to WilburSoot> Not his Enderwalking side.

Enderboo, why do you have to help the biggest asshole ever?

<WilburSoot whispers to you> You mad bastard.

Ranboo doesn’t like where this conversation is going. There can only be a limited reason why Dream would text Wilbur and none of them are good.

<You whisper to WilburSoot> I know, now listen, I would like to meet up. We make a great team, you and I both know that.>

There it is. Shit, this is bad. Those two caused so much damage and destruction last time they joined up. Them doing it again will kill everything.

<WilburSoot whispers to you> What’s this meetup about?

<You whisper to WilburSoot> As useful as Ranboo is, sooner or later, he turns back into himself. I need someone I can trust fully.

So Dream has to know Ranboo’s off in the middle of nowhere trying to figure out what’s happening, right? Does that mean he’ll go back to Enderboo when Dream needs him again? He doesn’t like that at all.

<WilburSoot whispers to you> You know I’m your guy ;)

This is bad. This is really really bad.

<You whisper to WilburSoot> Meet me at these coordinates and I would love to discuss things that have been going around on the SMP. Maybe some locations, that kind of stuff

Ranboo quickly takes a look at the coordinates. As far as he knows, they are placed at a random place in the world, completely away from everything on the server. That’s good. At least they’re not going to be causing some chaos right away. But still, them meeting up is bad. Ranboo bites his lip and forces his body to stop trembling. He caused all of this, didn’t he? Just because he wanted to go outside. Prime, he’s an idiot.

<WilburSoot whispers to you> I’ll be there and let me say, it’s great to be working with you again

There’s no way Ranboo will be able to make it to those coordinates alone so he needs to tell someone right now and hope they can come up with a plan.

Since he freed Dream, his options on who to text are very limited, so he opens up a certain gremlins chat and messages him.

<You whisper to TommyInnit> HE’S GOING TO SEE WILBR

Please reply quickly, Tommy. Ranboo urges silently. This is a serious matter.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> well that’s not good

Yeah, no shit.

<TommyInnit whispers to you: Send me the coords. PHil, techcno and I will meet you there.

At least he’s going to have backup. Ranboo copies the coordinates and sends them over to Tommy. Hopefully the SBI can come up with a plan that can save them from their current predicament.

He takes a deep sigh once again and turns off his communicator. He doesn’t need any more text messages right now. Right now, he needs to get to the coordinates and meet up with Tommy. Hopefully this meeting will reveal useful information, especially about what Dream plans to do.

The Enderman hybrid warps and teleports towards the coordinates.

---

He stares from his hiding spot in the bushes, Tommy close to his side. He’s breathing heavily and Ranboo just hopes that neither Dream nor Wilbur will be able to hear his own heart beating out of his chest because it sounds so loud to him and he can’t help but fear any possible outcome right now, especially the bad ones where they get caught.

True to Tommy’s word, both Phil and Techno came with him to spy on Dream and Wilbur. Tommy told him that Phil was reluctant at first, but after learning what happened to Ranboo and why they were going, he decided to join them. If it was because he cares for Ranboo or that Wilbur is involved, he doesn’t know, but he’s thankful nonetheless. Techno on the other hand is skeptical about the entire situation, as Ranboo is as well, and came with to make sure, and he quotes “No one dies in a stupid way because that would be cringe.”

Ranboo’s glad they were able to make it though. He feels a lot safer with the family here and he definitely wouldn’t be here if he was going in alone. This way, he has protection and they get to learn what’s happening with Wilbur and what Dream's plan is.

“Where the hell is Dream?” Tommy interrupts their silence, whispering (for once in his life) so Wilbur couldn’t hear them. “We’ve been here forever and Dream hasn’t even shown his face.”

“Tommy,” Techno deadpans. “We’ve been here for five minutes.”

“Actually, it’s been seven.” The avian of the group interrupted, earning a smack on the back of his head from Techno.

“No one asked you, Phil.”

That causes a little fight to break out between the family and Ranboo just watches in absolute astonishment. They are on a covert spying mission and the family is arguing about how long they’ve been hiding in the bushes. Astonishing.

Ranboo remembers how he used to do that all the time with Tubbo. They would argue over the stupidest of things and Michael would just laugh and roll around on the floor. Of course they weren’t actually fighting and their arguments were all lighthearted and not even that controversial. He wishes he could have that subtle life back.

Finally, after another two minutes and fifteen seconds of waiting, counting thanks to Phil, Dream walks out into the clearing and Wilbur turns to where he is. Ranboo, Tommy, Phil, and Techno all duck behind the bushes and Ranboo slowly and gently pushes the branches to the side so he can still see the two but they, hopefully, won’t be able to see him.

“You would think that after all those months spent in prison, he would look more… frail.” Techno breaks the silence and Ranboo peeks over to see a frown evident on his face. “But no, he looks the exact same as before.”

“That doesn’t add up.” Tommy shakes his head and Ranboo raises an eyebrow at him. “He looked the same even when I visited him.”

Tommy visited Dream months ago. There’s no way Dream looks the same then as he does now. No way the conditions of the prison are the same as the conditions outside. Dream wouldn’t have been able to keep up with his exercise and the food cannot be that great.

“Something isn’t right.” Phil finally says and Ranboo can’t help but agree. He turns to Phil to find the avian already looking at him and his stomach drops into his feet. “Ranboo, I hate to ask, but would you mind seeing if you can find anything out about Dream after we have to leave? You’re the only one of us that can get closer to him.”

Ranboo sighs and looks towards the ground. The last thing he wants to do is go and get closer to Dream. He doesn’t know what he could possibly do to him and he doesn’t want to risk it. But Phil’s right, Ranboo is the only one that can get close enough to Dream and not cause suspicion. The only people Dream probably trusts right now are Ranboo and Wilbur and there’s no way Wilbur was going to help them, so that meant Ranboo would have to do the spying.

“I can try, but I can’t promise anything.” Ranboo looks back up at him and Phil nods encouragingly.

“That will work.” He goes back to watching the meeting and Ranboo wonders what he just got himself into.

“Greetings Wilbur.” Dream starts as he walks up and shakes hands with the former president. “I hope life has been treating you well.”

“Don’t act all professional, Dream.” Wilbur sticks a lit cigarette into his mouth and blows out a ploom of smoke to the side before sticking his hand in the pocket of his trenchcoat and staring at Dream with a cold glare. Ranboo shivers even though the glare isn’t even aimed at him. How can Dream just stand there with that look aimed his way?

“You definitely have changed since Pogtopia.” Dream points out and Ranboo hears Wilbur scoff before it’s followed by a softer chuckle.

“Well, a lot of shit has happened since then.” He brings the cigarette back up to his mouth and takes another hit, blowing the smoke out in a cloud around him.

“I know what you mean.” Dream glances around the clearing, checking once more to see if they truly are alone (thank goodness he breezes past Ranboo’s hiding place) before continuing the conversation with Wilbur, now deeming it time for the more serious stuff.

“What information do you want?” Wilbur asks as he glares at Dream, once again taking a deep breath with the cigarette next to his lips.

“I need information on people.”

“Tommy.”

“And a few others.”

Wilbur pulls his cigarette away and looks at Dream with a raised eyebrow. Dream gestures to the man to continue and Wilbur just shrugs.

“Tommy is being a little bitch like usual.” Wilbur says and Ranboo can hear Tommy scoff from beside him. “He knows you’re out and he’s probably running back to father and Techno like a lost dog.”

“What a bitch.” Tommy scowls and Ranboo recalls the stories he was told of Tommy and Wilbur being inseparable. It was just the two brothers against the world, fighting with each other to protect what they believed in. It sounds so sweet.

Ranboo knows the story of what went down, but sometimes he wishes he was there to see for himself, other times, he doesn’t want the trauma.

“What about George and Sapnap?” Dream asks and Wilbur freezes, much like everyone hiding in the bushes.

Ranboo’s ears perk up and he turns to his allies who are just staring at the two men in shock.

Everyone knows what happened to the Dream Team. Everyone knows how they broke up and decided to hate Dream. It’s not exactly hidden. If Dream is asking about them, that can’t mean good things for the two remaining members of the team.

“Are George and Sapnap his targets?” Tommy voices everyone’s concern.

“I don’t know mate,” Phil shrugs, “but it’s best to keep an eye on them.”

Tommy can only nod in agreement.

“George is asleep most of the time.” Wilbur informs the necromancer with another shrug as he takes another hit. “He lives in Kinoko kingdom with Karl and Sapnap and he’s barely outside. When he does actually step a foot out of his house, he’s usually accompanied by the god of this world, DreamXD.”

Dream doesn’t offer anything up and only hums at the information.

“Though, he does occasionally go on walks with Sapnap. Though it usually ends with George too tired to function and Sapnap dragging him back to the house.” Wilbur finishes and Dream turns his attention from the trees to his company.

“And Sapnap?”

“Like I said, he lives in Kinoko kingdom with Karl.” Wilbur just gives Dream all this information willingly and Ranboo remembers a time where he was told that the two were mortal enemies. A lot has changed over the year. “He’s engaged to both Karl and Quackity and kinda just roams around a lot. You can tell he’s broken.”

“Thank you, Wilbur.” Dream says and Wilbur bows down.

“Any time.” He says. “It’s the least I could do for my hero. But if you don’t mind, I would love to know what you plan on doing with this information.”

That causes all the spies to perk up and Dream just chuckles.

“I already did an arc of torturing Tommy.” Dream explains. “I’ve used him to his full extent. He can’t provide me with what I need anymore.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Tommy says a bit too loud and Ranboo quickly shuts him up by slapping a hand over his mouth to which the gremlin child licks in retaliation. When Ranboo whips his hand to look at Tommy with disgust, the teen only smirks and goes back to watching the meeting.

“George and Sapnap are my next targets.”

Wilbur hums and takes another breath from the cigarette. “Well if you don’t mind, I’ll be on my way now, but if you ever need me, don’t be afraid to give me a call.”

Wilbur and Dream start going opposite directions and Phil turns to the group, urgently gathering their attention.

“Ranboo, this is your chance to follow Dream and figure out where he’s staying. The rest of us will tail Will and see where he’s hiding.”

Ranboo nods despite how much his nerves are shot and sneakily follows Dream’s trail, teleporting when he gets too far away. He doesn’t want to be too close to the man, but he doesn’t want to lose him. He needs to do this, he needs to gather information. There’s no other way, he’s gonna have to do this if he wants to defeat Dream and finally free himself.

He trails Dream for what must be a good thirty minutes before he sees a little house in the woods, hidden by the trees. He opens up his communicator and quickly sends the coords to Techno just in case he needs the Syndicate here and just to reassure himself.

<You whisper to Technoblade> These are the coords for Dream’s base

<Technoblade whispers to you> He does have a house noooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

<You whisper to Technoblade> Okay then.

Ranboo just shrugs, ignoring Techno for the time being, and continuing to follow Dream into the house.

The green clad man strolls into the house and Ranboo decides to take a giant risk. If Enderboo freed Dream, then maybe he won't be suspicious or surprised if Ranboo walks into the house. Maybe he could play it off as just Enderboo.

Actually, no, that won’t work. Enderboo speaks Ender and has purple eyes, none of which Ranboo can achieve at this moment. It’s sad honestly, how he’s half Enderman and can’t even speak their language.

Anyway, despite the fact that he can’t be Enderboo, maybe Dream still won’t attack him. If Dream wanted Ranboo dead, he would’ve killed him after the prison escape. He needs Ranboo alive and Ranboo doesn’t know if that information pleases or upsets him.

He pushes the door open and Dream turns to him with wide eyes, hands already on his weapon. When he sees who it is, he takes a deep breath and relaxes his hands. Seems Ranboo was right with the gamble which is a relief.

“Ranboo, what are you doing here?” Dream asks. “I thought I told Enderboo to teleport somewhere away from here.”

“Is that why I woke up in the middle of nowhere in the forest?” Ranboo’s trying to make this as comfortable as possible and non-suspicious as possible.

“Huh, so he did do it.” Dream looks back behind his house then turns back towards him. “Then how did you find me?”

“I saw you wandering around the forest and I have questions.” Ranboo pulls on his fingers then turns up and faces Dream. “I know I broke you out, yet you’re not attacking me right now, why?”

Dream sighs and places his axe on the wall before turning to Ranboo and gesturing for him to sit down. Ranboo shakes his head and stands up straighter and Dream just shrugs before moving to lean against the couch. This is oddly calmer than Ranboo expected it to be, as if Dream knew Ranboo would come visit sooner or later.

That’s somewhat concerning.

“You’re my only ally, Ranboo.” Dream says and Ranboo immediately knows that’s a lie. He was literally talking to Wilbur before this, but Ranboo shuts his mouth and keeps that secret. “Enderboo freed me and I want to finish what I started with you by my side.”

“I will never join you.” Ranboo scowls and Dream just shrugs again before waving his hand in the air, a mist of green dissipating into the air.

“You might not want to, but Enderboo will.” Dream walks confidently down the hall and Ranboo raises his voice.

“I will run and I will make sure you won’t catch me!” Ranboo raises his voice and Dream freezes. He turns back around and smirks at him.

“The thing is, you can’t escape. I enchanted this property so that you can’t leave.”

“What?” Ranboo freezes and glances out the window to see the faint shimmering of green magic. Dream enchanted the house.

“Think of it as me watching over you.” Dream is now fully turned to him. “People will come after Enderboo and that means they’ll come after you. This is to protect you.”

“This is so you can use me as a pawn.”

“See it as you want, but I do care about you.”

Ranboo glances back at the window and shakes his head. How the hell does Dream have magic? This doesn’t make sense. Ranboo has no recollection of magic like that and Dream has never even shown signs of magic beforehand.

“How do you have magic?” Ranboo shakes his head again. “That’s impossible.”

“There is more to me then meets the eye.” Is all Dream says back in reply.

That doesn’t make any sense. “Wha-What?”

“Let’s just say, you and I are not so different.” Dream turns and finally walks out of the room, leaving a confused Ranboo staring at where he left.

Not so different. What does that mean?

Ranboo doesn’t know where the time has gone, but when he comes too, it’s night time and the fireplace in the living room is lit.

What?

Ranboo snaps himself out of his stupor and pulls out his communicator. He’s stuck here, but at least he can contact his friends. Hopefully they can provide some comfort.

<You whisper to TommyInnit> Dream used magic. I’m stuck at this base.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> Dream has magic?!

<You whisper to TommyInnit> He said “There is more to me then meets the eye.” and “Let’s just say, you and I are not so different.

<TommyInnit whispers to you> What the fuck? What the fuck is going on Ranboo?

<You whisper to TommyInnit> I don’t know, Tommy. I don’t know.

Chapter Text

Plants whip past his face as he dashes through the vegetation. He leaps over a fallen tree and continues his chase towards Las Nevadas. He hears a worried cow moo while he rushes past it, and right now, he could care less. Right now, he just needs to get to Quackity as soon as possible.

The moment he was awake and could actually move his body, he immediately went to check on the prisoner. He knew what he would see, he knew what he would find when he looked into the main cell, but he did so just in case.

His heart sank when he saw the barren, empty, obsidian room. Soon, that sadness was overtaken with fear. Dream is out.

He’d worry about Ranboo and Dream later, right now, he had to get to Quackity and warn him about the circumstance. Then he had to make sure Tommy was safe, send a message to Tubbo in Snowchester — which would lead to the former president to question him about their talk earlier and how they both said they’d protect Ranboo and they failed — then he needed to tell George and Sapnap, who will probably not react well to seeing their friend has escaped which is just fantastic, then he’ll need to warn the entire server.

Great. This is just great.

And underneath all that fear for what Dream could do to the server, Sam is also scared of what the server would do to him. He failed them, he told them he’d keep Dream in the prison and that he’d keep the most evil man alive secure, but he failed and now Dream’s out and can cause all the pain he wants. How is everyone going to take that? Won’t they take their anger out on Sam? He is the one who let him out, if he only tried harder, if he only stopped Ranboo before this all happened. How could he be so stupid?

Sam took a moment to catch his breath as he made it to his destination. In front of him is the big, beautiful Las Nevadas. Hopefully Quackity is here because Sam may just have another panic attack if he isn’t. He needs to warn the man, to make sure Dream hasn’t already gotten to him because no doubt, he’s going to come after them after all they’ve done.

And if he doesn’t go for them straight away, Sam can only prepare for the worst.

He walks through the gates to the city and makes a beeline for the casino that sits proudly in the town. Sam’s really hoping that Quackity’s in there because he can’t think of anywhere else the man would go.

Luckily for him, he sees Charlie Slimecicle near the doors and inside walking around and checking the casino was the man, Quackity, himself.

“Good evening Sam from-” Slimecicle starts, but Sam lifts his hand and promptly shuts the man up.

"Quackity!” Sam yells, hiding all horror from his voice. His voice shakes the room and Quackity raises an eyebrow at him as he stands up and makes his way to Sam.

“What’s going on?” He asks as he meets him. “Did Dream say something?”

“Dream hasn’t said a word, but it is bad news about Dream.” Sam quickly relays and Quackity’s expression drops. He turns to look at Slimecicle before turning back to Sam. His face is blank as he gestures for Sam to continue.

“Yesterday, Ranboo came into the prison, eyes purple and no doubt in one of his Enderwalks.” Sam starts and Quackity already takes a deep breath, knowing where this is going. Slimecicle just stands in the back like a little dog, head tilted to the side.

“Don’t tell me.” Quackity growls and Sam has to bite his lip to halt his fear from leaking into his voice.

“Ranboo overpowered me and freed Dream from the prison.”

He hears Slimecicle gasp but doesn’t say anything about it. Quackity huffs and turns around to the main counter of his casino, yelling and throwing all the contents on it to the side.

“FUCK!” he screams and Sam is entitled to agree. He waits and lets Quackity get a few more kicks onto the desk before he whirls around, eyes angry and hair wild and he glares at Sam.

“How the fuck?”

“Dream must’ve been controlling him.” Sam is quick to say and Quackity stomps up to him, grabs the collar of his shirt and drags him down to be face to face with each other. Sam gulps down his saliva as he stares at Quackity’s face, one eye vibrant and full of colour, the other dead and gray with a scar running down it.

“You promised everyone that you would be able to keep him in there.” Quackity snarls and Sam scrunches his nose up in disgust when he smells his business partner’s breath.

“Ranboo was prepared, he thought like a demon and overpowered me, I wasn’t expecting it.” Sam once again tries to defend himself, but Quackity is having none of it. He throws Sam away and the Warden nearly stumbles to the ground.

“BULLSHIT, SAM!” Quackity runs a hand through his hair as he paces in circles befor turning back to the creeper hybrid. “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO EXPECT EVERYTHING! YOU’RE GUARDING DREAM FOR FUCKS SAKE!”

“I thought Ranboo was safe!” Sam yells back and he ignores the twinge of guilt in the back of his head. As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, Quackity is right, he should’ve expected this, especially after his talk with Tubbo. The man literally told him Ranboo was having nightmares about Dream, he should’ve known that he would soon Enderwalk into the prison with the goal to free Dream. There’s no one else to blame here but himself.

“WELL YOU WERE WRONG AND NOW WE HAVE A PRISONER ON THE LOSE!” Quackity faces the casino before turning back to Sam. “ONE WHO FUCKING HATES ME!”

“That’s why I came.” Sam tries to keep his voice down so he doesn’t end up in a yelling match with Quackity. He knows that’s something he will end up losing. “I came to warn you about Dream’s escape so you could prepare to protect Las Nevadas. I know Dream will be coming for us, it’s not rocket science. You’re the one who tortured him.”

“Don’t act like you weren’t a part of that, Sammy.” Quackity grins wickedly and Sam feels a shiver crawl up his spine. He knows he hasn’t made the best choices as Warden. He knows torture is inhumane, but Dream hasn’t really shown to them that he’s human. It’s like a battle in his mind, one half is glad that Dream is getting what he deserves, the other half is screaming at him to go and help his friend and end his suffering. He doesn’t know which side he should lean to.

“And I allowed it.” Sam finishes and Quackity huffs before turning away and calling for Slimecicle to join him. The slime hops up after Quackity and turns and waves goodbye to Sam, Sam weakly waving back.

“Give me some time to prepare Las Nevadas for Dream.” Quackity says as he opens a door to the back. He turns to face Sam and Slimecicle disappears through the door. “I’ll text you when I’m done and we can meet at the Community House and plan there. We will find Dream and we will kill him.”

And with that, the door slams shut and leaves Sam alone in the casino, thinking about how he got here.

---

The fresh air is nice, he hasn’t gotten some in a while. He inhales some of the air and gets a whiff of some water and dirt. It smells so nice compared to the lava and moldy potato smell of the prison.

Dream needed this, to just come outside and enjoy the smell of the air.

He sits on the ground and for once, with all this hectic stuff happening around him, he let’s Dream have control of his body.

He flies out of the body and Dream starts gasping for air as if he was suffocating a moment before. What a baby.

Nightmare rolls his eyes and folds his arms over his chest as he floats higher above the ground.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Dream asks the moment he gets control over his breathing. Nightmare knows he isn’t talking about the rude awakening and instead about what he’s doing with Ranboo.

Nightmare only shrugs as he plays along with Dream’s question.

“I’m a Dreamon. I do whatever the hell I want to.”

Dream just scoffs and rolls his eyes. The man is never one to care about himself, always caring for his server and everyone on it. It pisses Nightmare off and makes him want to throw up, if he could physically do so.

“You’re just going to keep Ranboo there?!” He points to the direction of the house and the Dreamon just nods.

“He knows too much, I can’t let him wander around.” And it's true, Ranboo knows the most about the Dreamon and he can't let him go at all. He doesn't want his plan to get ruined.

“You can’t do this to him. You can’t torture Ranboo like this.”

Well… false, he very much can and he very much will. He's a Dreamon and he does whatever he wants. And besides, the more Ranboo suffers, the more he gets fed.

“Like I said, I’m a Dreamon. I can do whatever the hell I want.” He quite enjoys this entire scenario. He's finally getting some action after being in prison for so long.

“You have me! You can let Ranboo go!” Dream pleas and Nightmare just stares at him. Is he honestly begging for Ranboo's life right now? How stupid. Why would he let Ranboo go when he already has them both in captivity?

“It’s nice to think you can sacrifice yourself for him, but I already have both of you. Why would I let one go?”

Dream just shakes his head and Nightmare sees him breaking. “This is so unfair!”

Nightmare can’t believe what he’s seeing. He’s seen Dream be feisty, sure, but not ever like this. The only other time that this man has had this much energy was when he was first fighting Nightmare off, but after Nightmare started sucking away at his energy, he never got this kind of attitude from the Speedrunner. So, the fact that he’s fighting so hard just for a little Enderman hybrid means a lot and honestly, it’s pissing Nightmare off because if Dream has this energy to yell at him over Ranboo, who knows what other energy he can use to fight Nightmare off and he doesn’t like the idea of Dream fighting him off.

He’ll have to deal with that.

“You never fought like this before.” Nightmare speaks, cutting Dream off in the middle of his rant about how much of a dick Nightmare is. He honestly hasn’t paying attention. Dream goes on those rants all the time and he just learned it was better to block them out. “Maybe letting you see the outside world and your friends was a mistake.”

The colour from Dream’s face turns drains and he stills in his movements.

“Would you prefer if you never saw the light of day again? Because I can trap you in that void like I did during the wars and you won’t witness any of it!” Nightmare flicks his black tendrils around Dream like he did when the man was trapped inside his own head. That was the best time, when Dream was just stuck in limbo inside a mind that was his own.

Nightmare brought him out of it when the prison happened because he thought it would be fun for Dream to witness the consequences of Nightmare’s events and he also thought it’d be fun for Dream to be tortured. Nightmare wasn’t just going to sit down and lay over when Quackity came over, but Dream on the other hand, he was practically a dog begging for mercy. Pathetic.

Dream whines and shakes his head. “No… please.”

Nightmare would’ve laughed at how submissive he is, but he’s more pissed off by the fact that Dream had the energy to fight. He’s not in the mood now.

Way to go, Dream. Way to kill my mood and turn this happy day sour.

“That’s what I thought. So you better behave!” He scoffs and backs away from the shaking Dream. He has lost such power since Nightmare has taken over, it’s quite ridiculous how much the assumed tyrant has fallen. Prison really did a number on him.

“... What’s your plan now?” Dream speaks so softly that Nightmare almost misses it, but after months of spending time in Dream’s head, he’s learned to know when the Speedrunner is talking.

“Your friends. George and Sapnap.”

Of course, he doesn’t like the idea of telling Dream, but who is Dream going to tell that will actually believe him? The moment he goes to someone, he’s thrown right back in jail and Nightmare knows that no matter how much Dream hates it there, he’ll never willingly go back. He was staying because Nightmare was trapped as well, but now that he’s out and has had a taste of freedom, he doesn’t have enough strength to go back, so Nightmare is safe here.

And besides, the only other person he could tell is Ranboo and that man is just as much under Nightmare’s thumb as Dream is. He won’t be able to do anything about it as well.

Also also, this is the perfect opportunity to get some energy off of Dream. If the man knows that his friends are going to be targeted, then his despair will feed Nightmare’s power. So yes, telling Dream is probably the best way to go.

Dream freezes and starts shaking his head. He pauses, noticing that Nightmare noticed his shaking and turns up to look at the man.

“And here I thought you would’ve gone after Tommy.” His voice is weak and Nightmare smiles knowing that he got to the man… again.

"He’s the finale.” Nightmare smiles a sinister smile and he feels Dream shiver at the sight.

“You’re saving him for last?” Dream shrinks down and Nightmare feels like a god over his subjects. It gives him such a rush to feel this way and he never wants it to stop. He wants everyone to bow down to him like this and he will devour all the power in this world to get there.

“Of course. Why soil the best event for first?” Nightmare tells him and he laughs at the way Dream flinches. “I’ve been going after Tommy for months before the prison and he did give me a good amount of energy, so now, I’ve decided to give him a break, go for George and Sapnap first, then head back over to Tommy. He’ll be the big bang at the end.”

He can’t help the way his body tingles at the sight of Dream in tears, feeding Nightmare his own energy. It’s so exhilarating.

Dream opens his mouth, ready to fight back at Nightmare, but the words die in his throat and he shamefully closes his mouth back up, all while Nightmare chuckles at how weak the man has gotten. And to once think, he was the most powerful being ever on this server, now he’s reduced to nothing but ash while Nightmare takes the reins. And no one even knows that it has happened. They all still blame him for everything wrong with this server.

Idiots, all of them, but that’s how Nightmare gets around so he can’t exactly scoff at them for it.

“Please.” Dream is on the verge of crying and Nightmare can see how his eyes are watering up and tears are pooling underneath his green pearls. “N-not them.”

Everytime Dream begs, it’s more energy to Nightmare, more joy knowing that he caused the tyrant to crumble apart like a cookie.

“You care for them.” Nightmare decides to accuse Dream and see how much more pain he can drag from the broken man. “Why? They all hate your guts after everything you’ve done. Why would you care for people that don’t even care for you?”

“They’re my friends!” Dream immediately yells back, fire dancing in his eyes. Okay then, a sore topic for him.

“They’re not anymore.” A dark chuckle looms over Dream’s head. “The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”

“I refuse to acknowledge that.”

Hmm, interesting. Dream was practically crying earlier, yet now that the topic of his friends has been brought up, a new fire has been lit and Dream is ready to bite and scratch to protect them, even if they hold no love for him anymore.

“Then you are a fool! I will kill them and it will tear you apart.” He gets up in Dream’s face and the man doesn’t flinch, only squares up his shoulders and stares deep into the eyes of the cloudy figure.

“So be it! I’m not going to let the things you do get to me!”

“I will make your life a fucking hell.”

“You already have.”

“Don’t underestimate me, Dream.” He starts growling and Dream only bears his teeth in reply. It’s interesting. Nightmare wants to know how his friends bring out this energy in him that wasn’t there before. Going after Sapnap and George is definitely the best choice here.

“You shouldn’t underestimate me either.” A challenge? Is Dream really challenging him here?

Nightmare stands back up to his full height and Dream continues to glare at him.

“You are quite the vessel, Dream.”

And with that, he disappears into the shadows.

---

Ranboo stares down at the communicator buzzing out of control on his forearm. He’s biting his lower lip, trying to keep it from trembling as more and more texts come through.

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> RAnboo, where the hell did you go?

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> Michael is sad and Im getting concerned.

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> U can’t jsut disapear like that and expect me to not worry!

Now, he doesn’t want Michael to cry over his disappearance, but the moment he tries to leave, Dream will suddenly be in front of him and he will be trapped all over again. Trust him, he’s already tried to escape on multiple occasions. He can't.

Though, he does find it quite weird that Dream allowed him to hold onto his communicator, but he’s not going to question it. Whether it be because he simply forgot, or if it’s because of Dream’s new plan and it’s just a step in it, he doesn’t know and he’s not sure if he wants to know. Right now, he has his communicator and he’s not going to bring it up and risk having it get taken.

He’s taken away from his thoughts when his communicator keeps buzzing with more texts from Tubbo. He’s persistent, Ranboo has to give him that, but it kinda sucks because now Ranboo needs to lie to him. He’s not about to go tell Tubbo that he just helped Dream escape by Enderwalking when they both promised to not let him go outside until the problem was dealt with. Now Ranboo’s part of the problem.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> Sorry, I just needed to clear my head.

Hopefully that’s a viable excuse enough to get him off his trail. Hmm, maybe a bit more explaining.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> I’m on a vacation. Think of it like that. Clearing my head.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> I don’t know when I’ll be back…

The “I’ll be back” is left unspoken.

Ranboo physically slaps the palm of his hand to his forehead after he hits send. Great, that doesn’t sound all too much better. He really is an idiot, huh?

<You whisper to Tubbo_> I’m fine… I promise.

He grips the communicator in his hand and prays that Tubbo doesn’t try to dig in any further than he already is.

He glances down at the blue screen and lets out a sigh of relief.

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> Ranboo…

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> you can’t just leace like that.

He wipes a stray tear from his eye and swallows a sob.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> I know.. I jsut needed to think.

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> just be safe, okay?

Ranboo smiles at the opportunity in front of him and decides to lighten the mood a bit.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> I’m probably the safest I ever will be. I don’t have danger seeking Tubbo next to me ;)

Like this, he can forget he’s captured by Dream, he can forget that he helped the biggest criminal ever escape. Right now, he can just imagine himself in his home, next to Tubbo, having a great time playing with Michael.

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> why are you so dumb

He can’t stop the little laugh that comes from his mouth and the stupid smile that breaks his face. It’s just so different from his current scenario. He just wants a hug, is that so bad to ask?

Right then, Dream bursts through the door and Ranboo yelps, jumping up into the air.

“What have you been doing?” Dream grins at him and Ranboo knows he’s been caught red handed.

Shit.

“And here I thought you weren’t dumb enough to use it.” He stalks up towards him and all Ranboo can do is back up.

So he did know Ranboo still has his communicator. He shouldn’t have used it, he’s an idiot. Now he may have put Tubbo and Michael in danger and he will die before Michael comes to any harm.

Dream reaches out and yanks the communicator out of his grasp. He reaches for it back, but Dream just kicks him to the ground.

“Stupid hybrid.” He scowls and turns back to the communicator.

Ranboo watches as he wraps the communicator around his own wrist then walks out of the room, only sparing Ranboo one more glare.

His face starts steaming as eyes trail down his face and he just collapses onto the floor.

How could he be so dumb?

---

Dream scrolls through the messages with Tubbo and smiles knowing that the Enderman hybrid didn’t tell Tubbo about his current location or predicament. He doesn’t know if he’s smart, or a complete idiot. Either way, it works out better for the Dreamon.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> Such a gullible child, thinking your friend is safe. You should be upset that he’s lying to you. Is that truly what friends do?

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> who te fuck are you?

It’s interesting to see that Tubbo can already tell it isn’t Ranboo texting. Then again, he didn’t try to sound like Ranboo with his texts.

Oh well, all part of the presentation.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> A god :)

Chapter Text

Dream opens his eyes and inhales a big gulp of air. He struggles to actually get his breath under control, body shaking as he practices his breathing exercises. His body falls onto the mattress under him and he closes his eyes again once his breathing steadies. He’s in control, he’s actually able to move his body.

He opens his eyes again and sits up on the bed, the blankets falling down to his waist. Nightmare isn’t controlling him, he can move freely.

He’s half tempted to just go do whatever he wants, but he knows better. If he’s free to move around in his own body, Nightmare is either waiting for something to happen, something to torture Dream with, or he’s busy thinking about something.

Sure enough, when Dream closes his eyes and searches around his mind, he feels Nightmare in a far off corner thinking to himself. He’s not paying attention to Dream right now so that means he can do some things that aren’t too drastic and Nightmare won’t stop him.

This is good news, at least it is for now. The minute Nightmare is done thinking about whatever it is, they all should be scared. Who knows what the man could be conjuring up in the back of Dream’s mind. If he figures out something for his plan and decides to move forward with it, they’re all screwed.

But even if he wishes to do so, Dream has no power over him and can’t stop him from doing what he wants. He’s not strong enough.

He throws the blankets off his legs and doesn’t even bother to make the bed. He’s being forced to stay in this house being possessed and torturing his friends, he doesn’t have to make a bed.

He walks down the hallway from his room and glances out the window to see the rain falling around softly. He misses the outside, being able to go wherever he wants, run where he can, climb up the trees. He misses being able to play manhunts with his friends who couldn’t care less about him now. He misses the time before.

He would run, go far away, but there’s no use. Nightmare can’t leave him, he’s a part of Dream, stuck in his head. No matter where he runs, his nightmare will always be right beside him.

Besides, the minute Nightmare knows he leaves the house, he’ll take control again and bring Dream back here, kicking and screaming. He’s basically in another jail cell, but instead this one is designed to look like a lovely home.

Dream hates this cell more than the one in Pandora’s Vault.

Dream heads out into the living room and spots the only other person in this cell with him, Ranboo, sitting on the window seal, staring out at the rain as it falls down.

He hates how Ranboo has to be here trapped with him. After learning that Nightmare has his claws in the kid’s mind as well was almost enough to break Dream in half. Ranboo is too young to experience this. Dream should be the only one affected by this. Ranboo shouldn’t have to have this Dreamon in his head.

He walks up closer, careful in case the hybrid jumps away, but when he gets closer, he notices how Ranboo’s normal red and green eyes are purple and glowing brightly.

Great, he’s Enderwalking, or in other words, he’s currently in Dreamon mode.

Nightmare said that Ranboo is possessed by Nightmare himself, but he split himself in order to possess two different entities. So this Dreamon is Nightmare, but not Nightmare at the same time. It’s confusing to think about.

He decides to sit next to the Enderman hybrid, glancing at the wet window, not saying a word. It’s silent and it’s slowly killing Dream. He’s lived in silence for months while Nightmare pushed him into the further reaches of his mind, he doesn’t want to live in silence anymore.

He opens his mouth to say something and closes it. What is he even supposed to say? His friend is currently not himself and his friend hates his guts because he thinks Dream actually did all those things to him. How is he supposed to explain everything?

“⊬⍜⎍ ⏃⍀⟒ ⋏⍜⏁ ⏁⊑⟒ ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔ ⟟ ☍⋏⍜⍙.” (“You are not the Dream I know.”) Ranboo breaks the silence and Dream turns to the hybrid with wide eyes.

He knows the language he’s speaking is Ender. Enderboo speaks that while he’s Enderwalking. He also knows it because that’s the language Nightmare talks in.

Dreamons are creatures from the void, closely related to those of the End, so when they speak, both Ender creatures and Dreamons tend to speak the same language.

That being said, even if Dream can understand a bit of that language, he’s not the Dreamon himself, so he has no idea what Ranboo just said to him.

“I don’t know what you’re saying.” He shakes his head and looks at the ground, trying to avoid Ranboo’s gaze.

“⏁⊑⏃⏁'⌇ ⏚⟒☊⏃⎍⌇⟒ ⊬⍜⎍ ⏃⍀⟒ ⋏⍜⏁ ⊑⟟⋔.” (“That’s because you are not him.”) Dream perks up and stares down at Ranboo. He’s incredibly glad that the hybrid isn’t screaming at him even with the eye contact. Seems that Dream’s okay to look into his eyes. Maybe it’s because they’re both possessed by the same being.

“‘Him’? How did I understand that word?” It spooks him a bit knowing that he’s understanding some of the Ender.

“⊬⍜⎍ ⏃⍀⟒ ⌰⟒⏃⍀⋏⟟⋏☌ ⎎⍀⍜⋔ ⊑⟟⋔. ⌇⟒⟒⋔⌇ ⌰⟟☍⟒ ⊑⟟⌇ ⌿⍜⍙⟒⍀ ⟟⌇ ⍀⎍⏚⏚⟟⋏☌ ⍜⎎⎎ ⍜⋏ ⊬⍜⎍.” (“You are learning from him. Seems like his power is rubbing off on you.”) Ranboo waves his head, his hair brushing back and forth between his horns before he glances back out at the rain outside.

“Is that a good thing?” Dream can’t help it but ask. It seems that Enderboo may have the answers to the questions that’s been roaming around in Dream’s head since the Dreamon first showed up. If he can get more information on the entity, that’s great news.

“⎅⟒⌿⟒⋏⎅⌇ ⍜⋏ ⍙⊑⍜ ⊬⍜⎍ ⏃⌇☍.” (“Depends on who you ask.”) He goes back to staring outside but glances over at Dream when the man sighs heavily. So he’s obviously picking up on how frustrated Dream is.

“Okay, and what do you think?” His opinion is the only one he can get at the moment, so he may as well ask. Enderboo isn’t giving him a lot of answers, but he’s at least talking to him, so it’s a start.

“⟟ ⏁⊑⟟⋏☍ ⟟⏁ ☊⍜⎍⌰⎅ ⏚⟒ ⟒⟟⏁⊑⟒⍀ ☌⍜⍜⎅ ⍜⍀ ⏚⏃⎅. ⟟⏁ ⎅⟒⌿⟒⋏⎅⌇ ⍜⋏ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⊬⍜⎍ ⎅⍜ ⍙⟟⏁⊑ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ☍⋏⍜⍙⌰⟒⎅☌⟒.” (“I think it could be either good or bad. It depends on what you do with this knowledge.”) He smirks at Dream and he so desperately wants to know what’s going on in that head of his. Why are all Dreamons like this? It makes him want to throw Enderboo into the nearest pool of water, but he couldn’t do that to Ranboo. That poor guy doesn’t deserve that.

“☍⋏⍜⍙⌰⟒⎅☌⟒?” (“Knowledge?”) Dream asks, going back to what Enderboo said. The hybrid starts laughing and Dream can’t, for the life of him, figure out why. What’s he doing that is so amusing to him?

Ranboo tilts his head to the side, thinking about what to say before he opens his mouth and replies. “⊑⏃⎐⟟⋏☌ ⏃ ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔⍜⋏ ⟟⋏⌇⟟⎅⟒ ⍜⎎ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⊑⟒⏃⎅ ⟟⌇ ☌⍜⟟⋏☌ ⏁⍜ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⌇⟟⎅⟒ ⟒⎎⎎⟒☊⏁⌇. ⊑⟒ ☍⋏⍜⍙⌇ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⋔⟒⋔⍜⍀⟟⟒⌇. ⍙⊑⊬ ☊⏃⋏'⏁ ⊬⍜⎍ ☌⟒⏁ ⌇⍜⋔⟒ ⎎⍀⍜⋔ ⊑⟟⋔?” (“Having a dreamon inside of your head is going to have side effects. He knows your memories. Why can't you get some from him?”)

Well, he does have a point. For years, Nightmare has been feasting off of Dream and his own life. In order to act like Dream and steal his place, he had to know about his past. It was awful , having your memories dug through like that, split open like a book for the Dreamon to see. It’s like something you can’t wash away. Dream hates knowing that Nightmare has done that to him and now Ranboo, but he can’t exactly do anything about it now.

But the point is, Enderboo basically just told Dream that he could get Nightmare’s memories too. Or knowledge at least. He just doesn’t know how to do that. He doesn’t have powers to search through someone’s head like the Dreamon does.

“⊬⍜⎍'⍀⟒ ⌇⏃⊬⟟⋏☌ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⟟'⋔ ☌⟒⏁⏁⟟⋏☌ ⊑⟟⌇ ☍⋏⍜⍙⌰⟒⎅☌⟒? ⎅⍜⟒⌇ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⋔⟒⏃⋏ ⟟ ☊⏃⋏ ☌⟒⏁ ⊑⟟⌇ ⌿⍜⍙⟒⍀?” (“You're saying that I'm getting his knowledge? Does that mean I can get his power?”) If it’s possible for Dream to get such memories from the Dreamon, maybe he can get his power too. Enderboo did say that they were basically rubbing off on each other and if Dream is able to get some of that Dreamon power, he can fight off Nightmare and finally gain control of his body.

Of course, if that does work, then he’ll have to explain himself to everyone, fix all the relationships Nightmare destroyed, rebuild his reputation back up from rock bottom, and help fix the damage he has done to the SMP (which will not be easy considering the current state of L’Manburg). But he’s determined to do so. If it can bring him back to his friends and family and the home he once started out with, then he’s willing to do it because everyone there means everything to him.

(He misses when Sapnap and George would cuddle up with him and hug him. Especially when he was having a nightmare and the two would show up, not saying a single thing, and just sleep next to him. Or on cold nights when the group was traveling and the fire or their sleeping bags were enough to keep them warm so they shove all their stuff together and sleep with their body heat keeping them warm. He misses their hugs, their jokes, the words of encouragement. He misses being touched and held and all he wants is to just be near them again on good terms as himself.)

Enderboo warbles, dragging Dream out of his stupor. “⏁⊑⏃⏁'⌇ ⟒⌖⏃☊⏁⌰⊬ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⟟'⋔ ⌇⏃⊬⟟⋏☌. ⏁⊑⏃⏁'⌇ ⍙⊑⊬ ⟟⏁ ☊⏃⋏ ⟒⟟⏁⊑⟒⍀ ⏚⟒ ☌⍜⍜⎅ ⍜⍀ ⏚⏃⎅.”  (“That's exactly what I'm saying. That's why it can either be good or bad.”)

Dream sighs and lays back. So he can get some of Nightmare powers. How does he do it? When does he know he got his powers? Maybe he already has one and he just doesn’t know about it.

“⏃⌇ ⎎⍜⍀ ⟟⎎ ⟟⏁'⌇ ☌⍜⍜⎅ ⍜⍀ ⏚⏃⎅, ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⎅⟒⌿⟒⋏⎅⌇ ⍜⋏ ⊑⍜⍙ ⊬⍜⎍ ⎍⌇⟒ ⟟⏁.” (:As for if it's good or bad, that depends on how you use it.”) Dream turns to look at Enderboo, noting how much older the hybrid looks in this state, how much wiser he seems. He’s still the same Ranboo, just with a Dreamon in control. He’s more terrifying, even if he looks no different than Ranboo. Is that how people felt with Dream?

“⟟ ⎅⍜⋏'⏁ ⌰⟟☍⟒ ⊑⏃⎐⟟⋏☌ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⍀⟒⌇⌿⍜⋏⌇⟟⏚⟟⌰⟟⏁⊬ ⍜⋏ ⋔⊬ ⊑⏃⋏⎅⌇.” (“I don't like having that responsibility on my hands.”) Dream places his hands in his lap, noticing how shaky they are. He has grown weak ever since prison. The torture, isolation, malnurishment all got to him. That’s why he hopes that he can get some help, people to believe him so they can back him up. That’s also why he hopes he got some of Nightmare’s powers. It can help tip the balance in his favor. XD knows he’s been suffering for way too long.

“⟟⏁ ⎅⍜⟒⌇⋏'⏁ ⌇⟒⟒⋔ ⌰⟟☍⟒ ⊬⍜⎍ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⏃ ☊⊑⍜⟟☊⟒.” (“It doesn't seem like you have a choice.”) Ranboo is now staring him down and Dream just wants to avoid that judgemental gaze, but he finds himself staring directly into those purple eyes of his.

“⟟ ⍙⍜⋏'⏁ ⌰⟒⏁ ⊑⟟⌇ ⌿⍜⍙⟒⍀ ☊⍜⋏⌇⎍⋔⟒ ⋔⟒. ⟟ ⍙⍜⋏'⏁ ⌰⟒⏁ ⊑⟟⋔ ⍙⟟⋏.” (“I won’t let his power consume me. I won’t let him win.”) Dream growls and Enderboo only nods in response.

“⊬⍜⎍ ⋔⏃⊬ ⋏⍜⏁ ⍙⏃⋏⏁ ⊑⟟⌇ ⌿⍜⍙⟒⍀ ⏁⍜ ⍜⎐⟒⍀☊⍜⋔⟒ ⊬⍜⎍, ⏚⎍⏁ ⊬⍜⎍ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ⎍⌇⟒ ⟟⏁ ⍙⊑⟒⋏⟒⎐⟒⍀ ⊬⍜⎍ ⍙⏃⋏⏁.” (“You may not want his power to overcome you, but you will use it whenever you want.”)

Dream scoffs and rolls his eyes. “⏃⋏⎅ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⋔⏃☍⟒⌇ ⊬⍜⎍ ⏁⊑⟟⋏☍ ⏁⊑⏃⏁?” (“And what makes you think that?”) He’s smarter than that. He won’t use the power all the time because the more you use power, the more you want to get more and more and it just consumes you. Dream won’t allow that to happen. Nightmare basically already played it out for him and he doesn’t liek what happens.

Enderboo smirks and before Dream can open his mouth to snap at the Enderman hybrid, he speaks and Dream’s mouth shuts tight. “'☊⏃⎍⌇⟒ ⍙⟒ ⏃⍀⟒ ⊑⏃⎐⟟⋏☌ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⟒⋏⏁⟟⍀⟒ ☊⍜⋏⎐⟒⍀⌇⏃⏁⟟⍜⋏ ⟟⋏ ⟒⋏⎅⟒⍀ ⍀⟟☌⊑⏁ ⋏⍜⍙.” (“'Cause we are having this entire conversation in Ender right now.”)

Dream freezes and reaches his hand up to his mouth, only now realizing how all the words he just said recently were of a foreign language and he didn’t even realize it. He just thought it was all English, but apparently not.

He glances back at Enderboo and the man only shrugs at him before staring back out at the window.

He lifts his legs up to his chest and wraps his arms around them. How did he not realize this sooner? How was he not aware of this? He doesn’t even know Ender! The only way he could have possibly learned it is from Nightmare!

He knows that he wants some of Nigthmare’s powers. It’s the only thing that can fight him, but he’s unprepared for all of this. How is he even going to use this ability to his advantage without Nightmare figuring it out?

If he wants to get an advantage, he’s going to need to get allies.

“Can I talk to Ranboo?” He asks, making sure to speak in common this time.

Enderboo turns towards him, eyebrow raised before he smiles. “⊬⍜⎍'⍀⟒ ⟟⋏⏁⍀⟟☌⎍⟟⋏☌, ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔. ⏃⋏⎅ ⏚⟒☊⏃⎍⌇⟒ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⏃⏁, ⟟'⌰⌰ ⏃⌰⌰⍜⍙ ⟟⏁.” (“You're intriguing, Dream. And because of that, I'll allow it.”)

Next thing he knows, Enderboo blinks and those purple eyes are now red and green.

Ranboo blinks once again then freezes when he finally realizes who’s in front of him.

“Dream.” He gasps out, trying to back away, only to realize he can’t go anywhere. Dream holds out a hand to block him in so he doesn’t escape. He’s aware of how bad this looks, but he really needs Ranboo to talk to him.

“Please don’t run, Ranboo. I need to explain everything.” Dream tries desperately to make him understand, but Ranboo just shakes his head and starts to wiggle around in the small area.

“Why the hell would I listen to you?!” He successfully gets a kick into Dream’s jaw and tumbles to the ground when Dream falls back. He scrambles to his legs and starts to dash away.

“I’m not the Dreamon.” Ranboo pauses at Dream’s words. “It’s really me.”

Now, Ranboo doesn’t know a lot about a lot of things, but he does remember Tubbo talking to him about this gig he and Fundy had a while back. They called themselves ‘Dreamon Hunters’, a group designed to find those possessed by the terrible creatures and free the body from their control.

Tubbo told him about how they performed an exorcism on Dream and how they got terrible signs like Dream trying to kill them and the man flying into the air.

So, when Dream mentions Dreamons, something that hasn’t been brought up for months and Dream just now uses for no reason whatsoever, Ranboo pauses and listens, still on high alert, but he listens.

“What about a Dreamon?” Ranboo asks, slowly turning around to face Dream who looks absolutely nothing like he used to. What happened? Wasn’t Ranboo just talking to him the other day? That man was strong, determined, angry, and fearless. This man is scrawny, weak, shaky.

This is not the same Dream.

“I’ve been possessed for…” Dream lifts his hands, trying to count before giving up and shrugging. “A long time. I can’t remember how long it’s been, half the things I remember are just blurs.”

“Why should I believe you?” Ranboo’s muscles relax and Dream nods his head, as if he was expecting this question.

“I don’t have proof.” he sighs. “But I do know that the Dreamon got you too.” Ranboo shudders at that and he gets a shaky nod for confirmation. “That’s what your Enderwalk is.”

He glances off to the side, putting together what Tubbo told him about Dreamons and his own knowledge from his Enderwalks and it starts fitting together like a puzzle. He didn’t realize it before, but there are comparisons that can’t just be coincidences.

Dream continues going on, explaining all he can remember about Dreamons and his own possession, Ranboo butting in to ask his own questions, Dream happily answering them.

Ranboo doesn’t know why he trusts him so easily, maybe because deep down, he knows he’s right and he can’t leave Dream here to suffer, especially if it's his only chance to get out.

“Okay,” Ranboo sighs. "How do we solve this?"

Dream opens his mouth, pausing, before shutting it again. "I don't know."

Ranboo sighs as well, knowing he can’t blame Dream, for he doesn’t know how to either.

What a mess they’ve gotten themselves into.

---

Tubbo slams his fingers into the keyboard of his communicator, anger flowing throughout his texts.

<You whisper to awesamdude> Where the fuck r u?

<awesamdude whispers to you> Tubbo, now isn't the time.

<You whisper to awesamdude> Like hell it is! Where. The. Fuck. Are. You?

<awesamdude whispers to you> I'm with Quackity at the community house.

<You whisper to awesamdude> don't move. I'm coming to yio.

He immediately changes directions from where he was going first off, and starts running towards the Community House. In record time, he’s there and he kicks down the doors to see both Sam and Quackity discussing to each other there.

He sees Sam sigh, probably already knowing what’s going to happen. Good, he should know how pissed off Tubbo is.

"Where the fuck is Dream?!" He yells and he swears the room shakes.

"Woah, Tubbo, let's calm down." Quackity reaches a hand out to help calm Tubbo and the man only slaps it away quite forcefully. He doesn’t care if it hurt, Ranboo’s in danger and Dream is who knows where.

"I will not calm down!” Tubbo marches up to Sam and yells directly into his face. “I get a text from Dream telling me that he kidnapped Ranboo so you better tell me where the fuck the green bastard is before I start stabbing shit!"

"Since when did you become Techno?" Quackity chuckles and both Sam and Tubbo glare at the man. Is he seriously making jokes in a time like this?

"Quackity, not helping." Sam snarls and Tubbo loses it, punching Sam in the face to get his attention again.

"Where! The! Fuck! Is! He?!" He’s not playing around. That fucker could be doing anything to Ranboo and they’re just standing here like a bunch of dumbasses letting it happen! He needs to get out there now and find his beloved. (Platonic of course.)

"Look, Tubbo.” Sam stands back up, rubbing the forming bruise on his cheek. “I was at the prison, doing Warden things when Ranboo teleports into the building and fucking attacks me. He beats the shit out of me and then he takes my shit and frees Dream."

"He wouldn't!" How dare he accuse Ranboo of doing such a thing! Why would he help his enemy escape jail? He hates Dream.

"He would and you know he would!" Quackity now involves himself in the fight, grasping Tubbo’s arm when he goes to punch Sam again.

"Ranboo would never!" He rips his hand away from his grasp and goes to punch Quackity instead. He just wants to beat someone up, okay?

"But Enderwalking Ranboo would.” Sam growls and Tubbo pauses mid-punch. No. Ranboo hasn’t Enderwalked in forever. He was getting better. He wouldn’t just start again randomly. (He doesn’t want to believe that his friend did such a thing). “I don't blame him for freeing Dream. He most likely did it against his will."

Tubbo drops his hand, tears forming in his eyes. He doesn’t want to admit the truth. The truth that Ranboo broke the most evilest person ever out of jail. Why does it have to be true?

"We need to search for him.” Tubbo sniffles. “Find him.”

"We were going to head out in the morning." Sam gestures to himself and Quackity and Tubbo shakes his head, getting a huff from the duck hybrid.

"What about everyone else? Why don't we gather everyone?” The more people they have searching for either Ranboo or Dream, the more of a chance they have to find them, right?

"We can't risk everyone freaking out." Sam shakes his head, patting Tubbo softly on the shoulder, only causing the younger’s anger to boil over again. "It'll just be chaos.” Sam says and Tubbo knows he’s right. “So we're going to search for Dream ourselves. Now, any information you can give us will be useful."

"I don't have any information, only that Dream has Ranboo." Tubbo shrugs, cursing at himself silently that he doesn’t know anything else. Why does he have to be so stupid?

"That's fine. We didn't think this would be easy." Sam sighs in anger and surveys the area before turning back to Tubbo. “Don’t worry, we're going to go look for him. You should head back to your home, where it's safe."

"But-" Sam lifts a finger and stops Tubbo from talking.

"Dream has Ranboo. He can use him for leverage. We can't allow that to interfere with the capturing. It's safer for you and Ranboo if you stay back." He hates how correct Sam is and it makes him want to punch him, but he keeps his fists to his side.

Tubbo glares at the creeper hybrid and growls. "You are going to keep me up to date with everything and when you find Dream, I'm-"

"Don't worry kid.” Quackity speaks up, interrupting Tubbo’s speech. “When I get my hands on Dream, he'll wish he was dead."

---

Wilbur listens to the screaming match coming from inside the Community House from where he's sitting and listening. The topic of said screaming match is actually quite informative… and entertaining.

<You whisper to Ranboo> Sam and Quackity are coming after you.

<Ranboo whispers to you> Follow their trail and keep me updated on their location. And if you can, maybe try slowing them down.

<You whisper to Ranboo> Oh please, I love being a little shit.

<Ranboo whispers to you> You sound like Tommy.

<You whisper to Ranboo> Oh please, I am everything that child wishes he could be.

Chapter Text

It’s silent. Barely a peep can be heard as George lays in beds, off in his dream world once again.

It’s peaceful and George can stay here for eternity, living in a life that is ten times better than his own.

“OH GEORGE!”

That is… if he didn’t have a loud, annoying, persistent, friend/ neighbor.

“GEORGE!” The door to his room slams open and one bouncy Sapnap comes hopping in, humming a tune under his breath. George can slightly hear the tune to Bad’s bouncy song. Great, George isn’t going to be able to get anymore sleep after this.

“Time to get up, George.” Sapnap says loudly as he throws the curtains over and hops over to George’s bed, ripping the sheets off. He shudders at the abrupt change of temperature, but otherwise doesn’t make any move to get up off the bed, groaning to show his discomfort.

“Come on!” Sapnap drawls. “We got so much to do today!”

“You and I both know that’s false.” George states, smashing his head into the pillow, hoping its warmth will draw him back to sleep. He was having a practically good dream and would like to resume it, please.

"Well Karl is busy today and Sam called Quackity to do something with him. I'm bored." Sapnap flops down on George’s bed and the man scowls silently.

"So go find something to do." He kicks at him until finally his friend gets the message and gets off the bed.

"I have!” Sapnap perks up. “Bothering you!"

George groans again and just faceplants into his pillow another time. They sit in silence for a bit before George lifts his head back up and glares at the pyro. "I hate you."

"Awe thanks."

So that’s how George ends up out of bed and wandering around the SMP with Sapnap for the first time in forever. He’ll have to admit, he hasn’t left his bed in quite some time and being out, stretching all his limbs and checking up on all the builds that have been constructed since he last saw is quite worth it. He has been quite distant from Sapnap ever since the whole Dream fiasco and he knows he shouldn’t be. Sapnap went through the same exact thing and is still hurting very much like George is, so abandoning him and just going off to sleep was probably not the best way to go about things.

Of course, it is his way of coping, but he left Sapnap to fend for himself as he just escaped off to dreamland and he can see the bags under his friend’s eyes proving that he hasn’t been taking it easily.

Maybe getting up for him and wandering around with him to keep him away from boredom is a good idea.

“I’m sorry.” George feels the need to apologize for everything that’s happened since then. He hasn’t really been a good friend, but he knows Sapnap needs him, so from now on, if his friend is in need of comfort and he wakes him up, he’ll get up off the bed for him.

“Please.” Sapnap whispers and George knows it’s serious because his friend never whispers. “Don’t bring it up.”

He nods slowly and just looks straight forward, continuing the walk with Sapnap in complete silence.

After a couple more seconds of the awkward silence, both George’s and Sapnap’s communicators buzz at the same time.

Sapnap glances over at George, hearing his buzz as well, while George looks up at him. They both lift their hands and glance at the message they received.

<Ranboo whispers to you> Did you miss me?

"Why the hell is Ranboo texting us?” Sapnap questions and George is inclined to agree with the question. They don’t have any hatred for Ranboo, but the Enderman hybrid has no reason to text them, especially with a message so cryptic. “And what the hell is he saying?"

"I don't even.” George shrugs and reaches a hand up to wipe the sleep out of his eye, holding back a yawn so he doesn’t upset Sapnap. When you sleep for a while then get up, your body just doesn’t want to cooperate. “I don't talk to Ranboo so this is strange."

“None of us do.” Sapnap points out and George can only shrug again. He doesn’t have an answer so why does he keep pointing it out?

<Ranboo whispers to you> You must be confused.

“He’s got that right.” Sapnap smirks, causing George to shake his head at his friend’s antics.

<Ranboo whispers to you: Don't tell me you forgot.

“Ranboo’s the one with the memory problems, not us.” Sapnap just has something to say for every line Ranboo texts and George would be lying if he said he wasn’t comforted by it.

“I’m going to reply to him.” George opens up the message and starts typing out something to him.

“Ask him what drug he’s on and if he can share.” He glares at Sapnap who’s wearing that stupid grin and he shakes his head, sighing before going back to the message.

<You whisper to Ranboo> What are you doing and what are you talking about?

<Ranboo whispers to you> Oh, so you actually reply. I didn't think you would after what happened last.

“Did we do something to upset Ranboo?” George asks as Sapnap scrunches his eyes at the text message, as if hoping it will reveal a secret he didn’t see before.

“Not as far as I know and I’m pretty sure I remember all my encounters with him.” Sapnap reports to his friend. “We don’t talk much.”

<You whisper to Ranboo> What the hell are you talking about?

“This is getting weird fast.” George shakes his head. Is it too late now to just go back to sleep? He went on a walk with Sapnap around the SMP, he doesn’t want to have to deal with Ranboo’s idiocy. He just wants the comfort and warmth of his bed.

<Ranboo whispers to you> Ah right, sorry. Let me introduce myself.

“Introduce myself?” Sapnap reads out loud. “We already know who you are, Ranboo. An Enderman hybrid who apparently is not doing okay. What is happening?!”

“Something isn’t adding up.” George shakes his head and Sapnap scoffs.

“Yeah, no shit.”

<You whisper to Ranboo> Ranboo, what?

<Ranboo whispers to you> Hello my dear friend, George. Hello my dear friend, Sapnap. My name is Dream and I can't wait to reunite the Dream Team.

Sapnap and George both freeze at the words. George’s focus just zooms in on those words and he can hear his friend’s breathing start to pick up.

How the hell?

"George-" Sapnap starts, but he soon trails off. "How is he out?"

"I thought Pandora's Vault was supposed to be the most secure prison ever." George turns to his friend, seeing the panic all over Sapnap's face.

"It is! That's why this shouldn't be happening!" He turns off his communicator quickly, not wanting to look at the message anymore.

Sapnap runs a hand through his hair and starts pacing back and forth. "W-We need to tell Sam!"

"Don't you think Sam, the Warden of the prison a prisoner just escaped from would know that he's out?" George points out and Sapnap stops.

"You're saying that Sam is keeping this from us?" Sapnap shakes his head. "He's supposed to be keeping the server safe! He's supposed to tell us!"

"Maybe he's trying to avoid what's going on right now." George gestures to the both of them and Sapnap pauses.

"What do you mean?"

"Panic!" He points out. "Sam most likely is looking for Dream, just not wanting to cause panic. Can you imagine how the entire server will react to knowing Dream is out, especially Tommy?"

Sapnap groans and his shoulders slump. "Okay, you've made your point."

George glances back down at the commutator. "He was texting with Ranboo's commutator."

"He's probably doing that Enderwalk thing again." Sapnap tes him. "I heard that Dream controls it."

"Maybe we should go talk to Tubbo or-"

"Techno!" Sapnap explodes, a smile on his face.

"What about him?"

"He's friends with Ranboo and I see Ranboo heading towards Techno's home all the time. Techno can fight Dream." Sapnap grabs onto George's shoulders. "We can alert Techno, tell him about Ranboo, then he'll help us defeat Dream."

"Doesn't Techno hate us?" George pushes Sapnap's hand off and Sapnap nods.

"He does, but he'll probably be More pissed when he hears about Ranboo!"

George thinks for a minute, determining if this is a good or bad idea before nodding.

"I guess it's worth a try."

"Of course it is!" Sapnap nods happily, despite their "friend" getting out of prison. "We can-"

Suddenly, there's a thud on the ground behind them and both friends turn to the sight of Philza behind them, wings being tucked back behind him.

"Phil!" Sapnap starts. "Just the man we wanted to see!" Goerge stares at him and Sapnap nods in acknowledgment. "Well, the friend of the man we wanted to see."

"Listen, I'm not here for conversation." Phil starts, seemingly quite tense. "We need to get out of here."

"Phil," George butts in before Sapnap can say anything else. "Dream has escaped prison and he's using Ranboo."

"You know?" Phil asks.

"How do you know?" Sapnap speaks up.

"Ranboo was able to break free from his Enderwalk long enough to tell us some things." Phil looks down at the ground at the mention of Ranboo and George can not even imagine what pain he is going through. Having someone you're good friends with be kidnapped by the worst man on the server and forced to obey them with something you can't control. This is hy Dream has to go down.

"What did he say?" Sapnap asks another question and Phil nods, knowing this was coming.

"He told us Dream's plan." He starts. "And it deals with him coming after you two."

---

After that insightful conversation with Phil, the two friends find themselves now I'm the Arctic with Phil, Techno, and surprisingly a concerned Tommy with them, though the scowl on his face says otherwise.

George has taken to ignoring all of the awkwardness and decides to investigate the surrounding areas. Not a lot of people have traveled to the Arctic Comune and have come back and told the story, so this is George’s first time experiencing it.

The cabin is cozy, definitely more warm then the blasting snow outside. It has that nice feeling to it. The feeling when you wake up on a December day and look out your window in the middle of the night to see that snow has fallen all around. It’s like that and it rains down some sort of comfort over George, one he hasn’t even felt while in his bed.

Though, the pressing weight of the matter of the visit is kinda contradicting the nice feeling.

Techno’s cabin itself is small, which makes sense. Techno is usually out and about, taking care of animals, dealing with enemies, hunting, talking to friends. He doesn’t spend a lot of his time inside the actual house. He’s probably only here to gather items and sleep. He’s a fighter, he has no need to sit and recline, despite being retired.

It’s funny actually, how the Blood god says he’s retired, but the moment something happens, he’s drawn out of the shadows and has to deal with it.

Philza got taken by the Butcher Army? Techno has to come out and deal with the execution which Dream saves him from.

Tommyinnit in exile? The gremlin shows up at his door and now he must protect him from Dream.

Dream wants to destroy L’Manburg? Techno comes out with the help from Bird man to blow it up to literally bedrock.

Dream’s in prison? Well, he has a deal that needs to be paid back so he’s probably doing something with that.

But then again, Ranboo already did the work for Techno. Now he needs to find something else to repay the deal with.

The point is, retirement for Techno is not retirement and George thinks it never will be.

George takes notice of Techno and how the Piglin hybrid is staring at him with those dark eyes, as if he doesn’t trust him and is analyzing everything about him, digging deep into his mind to find the secrets that only he’s aware of. He doesn’t like the stare so he decides to say something to explain himself.

“I’ve never been here before.” He shrugs, trying to get Techno off his shoulders. “This is so weird.”

“How do you think I’m feeling?” Sapnap elbows him in the side, a vain attempt to help calm his nerves.

“You think I want you to be here anymore than you do?” Techno draws out, not glaring at the two new “intruders”. George knows how protective Techno is of his territory, so having two strangers here that could easily give it up is not ideal to him, but with the entire Dream situation and him being after the members of the Dream Team, they have to stay here for their own protection, so there really isn’t a choice.

“Listen.” Sapnap speaks up. “If Dream even takes one step towards us, I’ll cut his head off.”

Techno scoffs and he notices how the other two feel uncomfortable, as if unbelieving of what Sapnap just said. He can get it. The three of them used to be inseparable. Everywhere one went, the other two would follow. That’s what happened with the war, the creation of the Dream SMP. Through every step of the beginning, they were next to Dream’s side, ready to fight, protect, help, and laugh.

“Would you really?” Techno stands up from his chair and makes his way over to Sapnap, towering over him. Why does he have to be so tall? “Or would the guilt eat you up before you have the chance to swing?”

Sapnap stays silent and stares deep into Techno’s eyes, as if challenging the Blood god. George subtly rubs Sapnap’s bicep to knock him out of this staring contest.

The pyro blinks and looks over to George, thanking him silently with a little nod.

Techno also seems to have seen the silent commute and takes a step back from Sapnap, giving him room to speak.

“I promise you.” Sapnap says. “I can and will kill Dream. That man has done unspeakable things and I already promised him I would kill him.” The room goes silent, more so then it already was, as if the air stills. “I told him I’d kill him if he ever escaped the prison.”

The room goes dead silent once again, not even a single breath can be heard.

“Are you sure you can follow up on that promise?” Techno asks and Sapnap looks up at him.

He opens up his mouth to speak, but is interrupted as Tommy bursts in, screaming like he always does. “I sure as hell can!”

“Tommy! Not now.” Phil grabs ahold of the boy’s shoulders and drags him away from the group.

Y’know, Tommy may be loud and annoying, but he is also cunning. He knew how tense and uncomfortable the situation was, so he butted in to save Sapnap from the stress. He’s not the only one who notices too, because Techno glances at the blond and shakes his head a little, a smile appearing on his face.

“Get off of me, bitch.” Tommy elbows Philza off of him, ripping his arm out of his reach. “I got a text, let me reply.”

Tommy looks down at his communicator which George can hear faintly buzzing.

“Oh, it’s Tubbo.” He notes down and starts reading his messages out loud like the gremlin he is.

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> You want to stab something with me?

“Oh, he was to stab something. Always on board with that.” Tommy replies with a smile.

<You whisper to Tubbo_> What do you mean?

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> Dream escaped and I’m ready to stab.

The entire group in the house freezes and Tommy looks up at all of them. “Things just got a bit complicated.”

<You whisper to Tubbo_> How did you find out Dream escaped?

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> Why arnt you screming? I feel like you would be screaming.

“He has a point.” Techno’s monotone voice speaks out. Phil nods in acceptance. “You’re usually screaming, especially at something like this.”

“I already did my screaming.” Techno points out and Phil sighs.

“Yeah, but Tubbo doesn’t know that!”

<You whisper to Tubbo_> I think this is a conversation we need to have in person. Where r u?

“Suuuuure.” Techno groans, throwing his head back. “Why don’t we just invite another person into my house.”

<Tubbo_ whispers to you> I’m at my house. Let me guess, you alrdy knew about Dream?

<You whisper to Tubbo_> We’ll talk when I get there.

Tommy throws his arm down and turns to Techno. “Got room for one more?” he asks and George just watches as Techno chases Tommy outside and into the snow.

---

There’s a knock on the door and when no one replies, Tommy twists the doorknob to find it unlocked.

He’s currently at Tubbo’s house. After having an argument about whether he should go or not because Dream’s still out and about, he won by mentioning that he isn’t the main target right now. So he was allowed to leave, after he set a stasis chamber of course.

He walks into the house and finds Tubbo on the floor next to a block of grass with an allium on it and a bee slowly buzzing around said flower. There’s tears streaming down his face and Tommy notices how his son, Michael is next to him, comforting him softly by patting his leg. When the door opens, he turns his head to glance at the newcomer and a smile grows on his face, but quickly falls when he glances back at his father.

Tommy silently nods to the child, telling him he’ll talk to Tubbo, and he makes his way over, sitting next to him.

They sit in silence, Tommy trying to figure out how to explain this. Ranboo told him that he would Enderwalk and that it was Tommy’s job to stop him from getting to the prison, yet he failed and now he had to admit that to Tubbo. He doesn’t want to admit his failure, but this is his best friend who just lost his platonic husband. So he explains everything. What Ranboo told him, what he found out with Ranboo, how Ranboo is being held captive by Dream, how they know what his plan is, how Ranboo is currently spying on Dream when he isn’t being controlled. It’s a lot to take in for the goat hybrid, but he does, and he doesn’t interrupt until Tommy is done.

Tommy expects yelling, crying, fighting, bruises, and maybe a little bit of blood, but Tubbo just sobs and hugs his friend tight, eliminating all air between them. Tommy doesn’t know how to react, this is a new situation for him, so he just takes a deep breath and hugs his friend back.

---

Dream stares at the empty room in Kinoko. Both he and Enderboo have searched the entire town and have come up empty handed. This is not good. He was supposed to find George and Sapnap here, but alas, his “friends” aren’t around.

“⏁⊑⟒⊬ ☊⏃⋏'⏁ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⟊⎍⌇⏁ ⎅⟟⌇⏃⌿⌿⟒⏃⍀⟒⎅.” (“They couldn’t have just disappeared.”) Ranboo growls and Dream nods in approval.

“⋏⍜, ⏁⊑⟒⊬ ☊⍜⎍⌰⎅⋏'⏁ ⊑⏃⎐⟒. ⍙⊑⟟☊⊑ ⋔⟒⏃⋏⌇ ⏁⊑⟒⊬'⍀⟒ ⊑⟟⎅⟟⋏☌.” (“No, they couldn’t have. Which means they’re hiding.”) Ranboo turns to stare at Dream in surprise and he growls once again in anger.

“⌇⍜⋔⟒⏚⍜⎅⊬ ⟟⌇ ⌇⌿⊬⟟⋏☌ ⍜⋏ ⎍⌇?” (Somebody is spying on us?”) Ranboo glances back at the window, looking for any sign of a person who shouldn't be here.

“⋔⏃⊬⏚⟒. ⌰⟒⏁'⌇ ☌⍜.” (“Maybe. Let’s go.”) Dream runs out of the room and Ranboo follows him out.

“⏚⎍⏁ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⏃⏚⍜⎍⏁ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⍀⟒⎐⟒⋏☌⟒?” (“But what about your revenge?”) Ranboo reminds Dream. And yes, they did come here to find George and Sapnap, but they're not here, which means Dream must improvise.

“⏁⊑⟒⍀⟒ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ☊⍜⋔⟒ ⏃ ⏁⟟⋔⟒. ⏚⎍⏁ ⎎⍜⍀ ⋏⍜⍙, ⍙⟒ ☊⏃⋏⋏⍜⏁ ⍀⟟⌇☍ ⏚⟒⟟⋏☌ ☊⏃⎍☌⊑⏁. ⍙⟒ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⏁⍜ ⎅⟟☌ ⏃ ⌰⟟⏁⏁⌰⟒ ⎅⟒⟒⌿⟒⍀ ⏁⍜ ⎎⟟⋏⎅ ⋔⊬ ⌿⍀⟒⊬.” (“There will come a time. But for now, we cannot risk being caught. We will have to dig a little deeper to find my prey.”)

And with that, they run out of the kingdom of mushrooms.

Chapter Text

They’ve been planning for days, trying to figure out a way for them to rescue Ranboo without getting Dream on their tails.

Tubbo has been so worried for his platonic husband and Tommy worried for his own friend. Everyone has been distraught and this entire scenario hasn’t been helping in the slightest.

George and Sapnap have been getting nightmares. Phil would hear them scream from across the house, listening as they wail about their friend. He knows they miss Dream, but the Dream that currently exists is not the one they were once friends with. This Dream is one of nightmares who will haunt you till your last breath and poor Sapnap and George have to deal with it.

How much Phil wishes to just grab Ranboo and stuff him with everyone else under his wings, providing a secure shelter for all of them, protecting them from Dream. They’ve all been hurt and traumatized from him and Phil can hardly get a wink of sleep in between George and Sapnap screaming in their sleep, Tommy refusing to let his guard down, and Tubbo who stares outside as if hoping Ranboo will teleport on over.

They’re hurt, tired, weak, and done with this all.

And poor Ranboo is getting the worst of it.

That’s why Phil is currently flying around trying to find out where Dream could possibly be hiding. He’s been flying around for days, not daring to come back until he has something to report.

Techno told him he needs to get out of the house, he’s aware he does, and he isn’t exactly sure if going out to find your missing friend is exactly what Techno had in mind when he told him to get some fresh air and stretch his wings. Then again, Phil will not just sit by while Ranboo is being held hostage so going out, getting some fresh air, and searching for him is the best Techno is going to get so he may as well take it and leave

He’s been pushing his wings to the limits, using them to the point of near exhaustion before he takes a break, landing on the ground and just collapsing. He’s pushing himself too hard and he knows it, but his friend would do the same for him if he went missing and was kidnapped.

He pushes his wings harder, ignoring the pain in his muscles and soars past the forest down below him. It’s not a dense forest so it’s good for spotting up in the sky. He can see basically anything down below the trees.

That’s how he finds the little cottage hidden underneath the leaves.

He halts his movement and stays up in the sky, careful to not get close in case he alerts the person that lives there.

He squints his eyes and focuses on the house.

This has to be Dream’s house, right? It’s secluded, in the middle of nowhere and Phil is pretty sure no one else has built something this far out.

The building seems like something Dream would build. Phil knows Dream isn’t quite good with building, George and Sapnap have told him that. He’s more known for his fighting/ parkour skills and his speedrunning stats.

Phil gently lands on the ground a bit away from the house so the owner wouldn’t hear him and he creeps closer, using the bushes and low-hanging tree branches as a way to conceal himself.

He peaks over the bush just in time to see a poor little Ranboo sitting in the window seal of the cottage with a book in hand.

It takes every bit of power Philza has left in his bones to not dash after Ranboo, gather him up in his arms, and take him back to the arctic. He knew it was a bad idea to let Ranboo stay with Dream and spy on him. It was only a matter of time before he found out and now here he is, trapped and unable to escape.

He watches as Dream walks up to him, mask off his face and Phil’s eyebrows furrow as he studies Dream.

He seems completely emotionless, like nothing resides behind those empty eyes. It causes a shiver to fly across Phil’s spine.

Dream glances out the window and Phil backs up away from his sight, going back to where he landed to take flight again. He got everything he needs, the coords to Dream’s base and what’s happening to Ranboo. It seems Dream hasn’t harmed him which is good. He doesn't know what Tubbo would do to Dream if he found out he hurt him.

Anyway, Phil sends a quick message to Techno with the coords to Ranboo and takes off into the sky, heading back to the others who are most likely figuring out a plan to rescue their friend.

---

Ranboo sits on the window seal, glancing outside every once in a while to get a look at the surroundings before bringing his attention back to the book sitting on his lap. He’s barely been paying attention to the words he’s reading, not getting anything out of the book. His mind has been too busy thinking about other things, like how Dream is going to execute his plan and how Ranboo is most likely going to help even if he doesn’t want to.

Speaking of Dream, the man is in the same room as Ranboo, sitting on the couch next to the burning fireplace while sharpening some of his netherite weapons. It’s been dead silent except for the slink every time he drags the whetstone across the blade. Ranboo cringes at the sound and his ears flatten against his head every time it happens.

Dream looks up from his axe and his eyes land on Ranboo who’s eyes grow wide when he realizes he got caught staring. He turns back to look out the window but it’s already too late, the damage has been done.

Dream sets his tools down and stands up, his feet creaking against the floor as he makes his way over to Ranboo.

He stops when he gets behind Ranboo and doesn’t say a word. Ranboo can feel the heavy atmosphere just leaking off of Dream and he’s aware Dream is waiting for him to say something, do something.

“What’s the point of all of this?” Ranboo speaks up, still deciding not to turn his head to face Dream.

Dream’s eyes perk up at the question and he leans backwards a bit. “What do you mean?”

“Hurting everyone who hurt Dream.” Ranboo looks over at Dream, noticing the dead look in his eyes and shakes his head. “I know you’re a Dreamon, I know you couldn’t care less. But it’s not your life.”

“So it seems you and Dream had a conversation. I was wondering when you two would finally consolidate.”

Ranboo looks at him with wide eyes and the Dreamon only smirks. “You expected this to happen?”

“I expected this to happen sooner.” Dream smirks and Ranboo wants to punch that smirk right off his face, but he knows that he’ll just end up hurting Dream, his only friend who understands what’s happening right now. “But it seems that you aren’t that bright and can’t figure out the purpose for your Enderwalking.”

“I thought it was my half Enderman side.” Well, he does literally call it his Enderwalk. Enderman sometimes lose focus when they find a cool block they like so when Ranboo just lost focus and his memory, he just assumed it’s because he’s half human and half Ender.

“While it does have to do with the End, it has nothing to do with being half Enderman.” Dream heads back to the couch and Ranboo has now closed the book, fully invested in this conversation.

“The End?” Endermen come from the End. Is that what Nightmare is going for? What does all these cryptic riddles have to do with anything? It’s just causing more questions then answers.

“That’s for me to know and for you to never find out. But I do want to say, why do you think we speak Ender so well?”

“What is your connection to the End?” Ranboo raises his voice a little and Dream turns back to face him, a singular eyebrow raised. He glances down at Ranboo’s hands and he follows the gaze to see his own fingers clenched into a fist shape. He shakes his nerves out and relaxes the fingers.

“It’s a secret.” Stop it with the cryptic answers! “But to answer your previous question, I do it for the pain. A Dreamon feeds off the pain of its host and let me tell you, you and Dream are both wonderful caterers.” He licks his lips as if savouring the taste and Ranboo nearly gags. “Months spent in the prison with Quackity torturing Dream and my own manipulation was so powerful.”

Ranboo’s shoulders drop as he turns to the Dreamon once more. Dream never mentioned anything about being tortured. He’s always been so concerned with Ranboo and how he’s doing, that Ranboo never got the chance to ask how Dream is.

How is he so stupid?! Of course something bad happened in the prison. That’s how the Dreamon got enough power to escape with Ranboo in the first place. He should’ve known. Why didn’t he put two and two together?

“Dream was being tortured?” He asks in disbelief.

An evil snicker fills the room. “For the revival book, yes. Too bad such a thing doesn’t exist.”

Wait, now the revival book doesn’t exist?! But that’s the whole reason Dream was kept alive, is because he has the power to bring back Wilbur and all others who sooner or later bite the dust and now the Dreamon is telling Ranboo that it was all a lie and that the book doesn’t exist?

“What do you mean?” He can’t help the crack that enters his voice and he cringes silently at himself for it.

“No such thing could hold the power of revival.” The man smirks as he faces him. “That magic only exists with a powerful entity, like a Dreamon. I made up the book as a cover of Dream’s possession and you all bought it. And then all the pain Dream suffered due to Quackity trying to get his hands on that power was such a gourmet meal, let me tell you.”

Quackity… tortured Dream. For all these months, people were happy that Dream was thrown in prison, they felt they were safe. They felt that the monster was locked away, but the entire time, Dream was being tortured for power he doesn’t even possess. While they were all living life out to its fullest, Dream was being cut into, tortured, beat up just for some pleasure of the Dreamon.

How the hell did they mess this up? How didn’t they notice Dream was going through this hell?

“You monster.”

“Thank you.” The Dreamon smirks and Ranboo wants to smack his face so hard that smile would be wiped off. “Now, going after George and Sapnap will most definitely ruin all of the strength Dream has left. I would have sucked him dry. And then, Ranboo, it will be our time to finish what I’ve started.”

The Enderman backed up and glared at him, ears flattening next to his head. “I’m not going to be your puppet.”

“You already are.”

---

Wilbur stares at the duo as they wander through the forest, Quackity kicking some sticks and stones away. Sam just watches his partner as he rambles and rants on about Dream escaping and how they have to find him.

He’s been watching the two for their entire journey to find Dream, keeping a track on how close they get to Dream’s location. He’s been updating the green man every hour or so and to be honest, it’s been getting quite boring.

He’s growing tired just sitting here staring at two adults complaining and his brain is growing slow. He wants power, destruction, death. He’s sick and tired of doing nothing and he’s not going to wait for Dream’s approval anymore.

It’ll be better if he deals with these two anyways, right? Dream doesn’t have to deal with them and Wilbur gets a little chaos. That seems adequate, no? And even if Dream doesn’t like it, he’ll learn to thank Wilbur sooner or later.

He waits until there’s a big enough clearing then jumps down from the trees in front of the two. They immediately draw out their weapons and point them at Wilbur.

“Now, what do you think you’re doing going after Dream?”

“Wilbur!” Sam growls and digs his sword into Wilbur’s neck. “I should’ve known. Of course Dream would contact you.”

“I know, isn’t it great?” Wilbur claps his hands together and smiles, causing Quackity to gag.

“There’s nothing great about this, Wilbur. Dream’s going back in prison, and while we’re at it, we might as well throw you in too.”

Wilbur backs up and just laughs. “You won’t lay a hand on me.” He pulls TNT out of his inventory and drops it on the ground, it lights up and sizzles and they all jump back.

The TNT ignites and the ground blows up, Wilbur cackling as it does.

---

Phil freezes in place when he hears the TNT go off. Wherever there’s TNT, there’s a fight, and that can either mean, Dream, Ranboo, or someone else which none is good.

He heads over to the source of the explosions and he’s waiting to see a flash of green or even white and black beneath the trees. What he definitely isn’t expecting, is to find Wilbur fighting Sam and Quackity though. Oh shit, well this isn’t good.

He knows he needs to intervene because Wilbur will show no mercy and Quackity and Sam aren’t known to be nice either when fighting. Someone is going to die here if Phil doesn’t do something and glancing at all the cuts and burns from TNT on Sam and Quackity, he can guess who’s winning.

Phil lands on the ground and swings out to hit Wilbur in the face, sending him to the dirt. He growls in anger and rolls away from the Avian before Phil can even do anything else.

He has to know that he can’t take on this fight by himself, not with three people against one. He may have stood a chance with the TNT in his grasp, but Phil can fly and it would deem the explosion useless.

Sam and Quackity step back, eyes wide as they notice Phil there. They definitely weren’t expecting to find him here and that’s going to have to be something he’ll talk to them about later. What are they even doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere so far from the SMP?

“You better go heal up.” Phil says, deciding to ask questions later. He has more important things to deal with. “I’ll handle this.”

Wilbur shakes his head and rubs the dirt off his pants as the two behind Phil run off, tossing health potions to each other. He stares up at Phil and his eyes are not the eyes of his son. They’re the eyes of evil, red and wide with anger. There is no more compassion, love, or interest in the world. Phil’s heart breaks at the sight of his son no longer being there. He died when he killed him and he will never forgive himself for it.

Phil pulls out his sword and Wilbur takes a step back, knowing he can’t win this fight. He turns around and throws a pearl and Phil can’t find it in himself to set chase.

---

Ranboo watches as Wilbur runs off into the forest and Philza is left staring at where he left. He shrinks back into the shadows, careful not to be seen, as Phil opens his wings and flies away. He waits a minute, deeming it empty before he comes back out.

He goes out into the battleground, walking towards the shiny object on the ground. He saw Wilbur’s communicator fly off of his hand as Philza hit him in the face with his wing. Wilbur didn’t even bother to go fetch it but that could’ve been because his father was standing over it. Luckily thogh He bends down and picks it up, turning it around to glance at the screen and frown. Wilbur turned it offline, he didn’t want to confront Dream about this.

He summons his power and teleports back to the base where Dream stares at him in anger and holds out his hand. Ranboo plops the device in his hand and Dream grips it hard enough that his knuckles turn white.

“It says Wilbur’s communicator is offline. What the hell did that man do?” He turns to Ranboo and the Enderman hybrid warbles in reply.

“⊑⟒ ☊⍜⋏⎎⍀⍜⋏⏁⟒⎅ ⌇⏃⋔ ⏃⋏⎅ ⍾⎍⏃☊☍⟟⏁⊬ ⏃⋏⎅ ⟒⋏⎅⟒⎅ ⎍⌿ ☊⏃⎍⌇⟟⋏☌ ⏃ ⎎⟟☌⊑⏁. ⌿⊑⟟⌰ ⊑⟒⏃⍀⎅ ⏃⋏⎅ ⎎⍜⎍☌⊑⏁ ⍙⟟⌰⏚⎍⍀ ⏃⌇ ⍙⟒⌰⌰. ⊑⟒ ⌰⍜⌇⏁ ⊑⟟⌇ ☊⍜⋔⋔⎍⋏⟟☊⏃⏁⍜⍀ ⟟⋏ ⏁⊑⟒ ⏚⏃⏁⏁⌰⟒ ⏃⋏⎅ ⍀⏃⋏ ⏃⍙⏃⊬.” (“He confronted Sam and Quackity and ended up causing a fight. Phil heard and fought Wilbur as well. He lost his communicator in the battle and ran away.”) Ranboo circles Dream and takes the communicator out of his hands, heading to his room to place it on his desk. The device is destroyed, only showing it’s offline, but until some repairs, it can’t be used for anything.

“Like the cowards he is. I doubt we’ll hear from him for a long while. Until then, we can’t depend on him for anything.” Dream says as he turns away.

Ranboo warbles a thank you to Dream and heads back to his room.

---

Ranboo blinks his eyes open and groans at the pain of his head scratching against his skull.

“I guess Enderboo went and did some things.” He groans as he gets out of his bed. He glances around his room and his eyes grow wide as he stares at the broken communicator on his desk.

Without saying a word, he runs over to the desk picking up the communicator and examining it. He glances back down the hall, not hearing anything from Dream so he gets to work. If he can get this thing fixed, then he might have an advantage.

It’s hours later when Ranboo silently shouts in hooray when the communicator boots up, showing its main screen. He immediately goes to text Phil. He has some memories of Enderboo and it may be nice to tell Phil before he can’t anymore.

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> I really hope this works.

<Ph1LzA whispers to you> Wilbur?! What the fuck are you doing?

Oh! It does work! That’s a relief.

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> Not Wilbur, Ranboo.

<Ph1LzA whispers to you> Ranboo?! What the fuck?! Are you okay? How did you get Wil’s communicator?

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> I was Enderwalking when you guys had your fight. After you all fled, I took the communicator back to Dream. I was able to fix it and get it working.

<Ph1LzA whispers to you> Can you tell me where you are? Tubbo, Tehcno, George Spnap, and I can come rescue you and defeat Dream.

So George and Sapnap are with Phil? Well at least they’re somewhere safe. If Dream finds them, the Dreamon may get more power and they don’t want that. But he also doesn’t want Dream to die. That man has been tortured and manipulated by the Dreamon in his mind. He’s not going to let him die after not being able to live life for a long time. He doesn’t deserve that.

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> No, don’t hurt Dream.

<Ph1LzA whispers to you> Are you still Enderwalking? Dream’s the bad guy!!

It hurts him to know this is how they all think about Dream because he’s basically the same way. He’s been possessed by the same Dreamon and he has done some fucked up shit behind the face of Enderboo, yet he isn’t blamed for any of it, just Dream. That poor man hasn’t been fully in control for over a year. He needs to be freed and Ranboo will do everything he can to help him.

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> It’s not Dream, never has been. He’s possessed by a Dreamon for as long as he can remember. Apparently I am too, just not to the same extent. You can even ask Tubbo. He knows what I’m talking about.

The line goes silent for a minute and Ranboo can only hope that the avian is asking his platonic husband. Hopefully Tubbo can actually put an end to this mess.

<Ph1LzA whispers to you> Just askd Tubbo and he agreed. I didn’t know Dreamons existed!

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> Well… they do and now he’s hunting George and Sapnap.

He needs to tell him Dream’s plan. He needs to be prepared. Ranboo isn’t going to allow the Dreamon to get anymore power. The more both Dream and Ranboo sit in this house, the more powerful he grows and if he gets his hands on George and Sapnap, it’s basically game over.

They’re going to have to fight this Dreamon and they’re going to have to win. The least Ranboo can do now before the Dreamon finds out, is to tell Phil and hope they become prepared because it’s only going to be a matter of time before Enderboo tells Dream where George and Sapnap are. Curse having the same brain as the villain!

<Ph1LzA whispers to you> We figured. So what are we meant to do?

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> I don’t know. He’s grown stronger due to mine and Dream’s pain. I doubt a subtle ritual like the one Tubbo preformed would do the trick.

<Ph1LzA whispers to you> We’ll figure soething out Ranboo, I promise

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> I’m sur you will. Another thing, let’s try to keep this on the down low. I don’t want the entire server freaking out. Also, DReam can be coming back any minute now. I have to destroy the communicator.

<Ph1Lza whispers to you> Ranboo WAIT!

<You whisper to Ph1LzA> Be prepared. I’m bringing the fight to you.

He smashes the communicator to pieces as he feels the Dreamon start roaming around to the front of his head. He really hopes that they’ll be able to figure something out and kill this Dreamon, he doesn't know how much longer he can do this.

Right then, Dream bursts into his room and Ranboo looks over at him with a face that looks like he got caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. Good job with the acting, Ranboo. He scolds himself.

“Why are you looking at the communicator like that?” Dream asks and Ranboo quickly scatters his brain for an excuse. Right now, the smartest thing he could do is act like Enderboo so Dream wouldn’t get suspicious and think he’s going behind the Dreamon’s back.

“⟟ ⎎⟟⌖⟒⎅ ⟟⏁.” (“I fixed it.”) Now this is where everything either works in their favor, or all falls apart. Ranboo told Phil that he’d be coming so they better get a trap ready to trap the Dreamon, but Ranboo also has to play his part and get Dream to come with him towards the bait, so he’s going to have to tell Dream the truth, just not the full truth.

“⏃⋏⎅?” (“And?”) Dream replies in Ender and Ranboo hates how much the Dreamon has rubbed off on them. Before this, Dream didn’t even know about the Ender language and now he can recite it perfectly. Sure, the Dreamon is in control right now, but with the Dreamon speaking it means Dream is as well.

“⟟ ☌⍜⏁ ⌿⊑⟟⌰ ⏁⍜ ⏁⟒⌰⌰ ⋔⟒ ⏁⊑⟒ ⌰⍜☊⏃⏁⟟⍜⋏ ⍜⎎ ☌⟒⍜⍀☌⟒ ⏃⋏⎅ ⌇⏃⌿⋏⏃⌿.” (“I got Phil to tell me the location of George and Sapnap.”) He really hopes he isn’t going to regret this.

“⏁⊑⟒⋏ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⏃⍀⟒ ⍙⟒ ⍙⏃⟟⏁⟟⋏☌ ⎎⍜⍀?”  “Then what are we waiting for?”) Dream walks up to him and places a hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm shake. “⌰⟒⏁'⌇ ☌⍜.” (“Let's go.”)

Chapter Text

Tubbo throws Tommy some protective gear and fits it over his own head. Everyone else is staring at it. It’s weird looking armour, leather in build and completely bland in colour. George keeps talking about how he’s colourblind whenever Tommy complains about it and how it shouldn’t matter since he can’t see the world in colour anyway. Tubbo says the armour is to help protect them from the Dreamon, much like the clothes they wear when confronting the egg.

He doesn’t like any of this, not one bit. The entire Dreamon scenario is just boggling his mind. A couple of weeks ago, he didn’t even know this Dreamon existed! Now, it’s one of his biggest enemies and it has two of his friends.

Can he even call Dream his friend? For the longest time, he blamed Dream for everything. Reason he’s alone, Dream. Reason Tubbo hates him and exiled him, Dream. Reason he contemplated suicide once, Dream. It’s all been Dream.

He’s the one that blew up L’Manburg. He’s the reason that the server has been torn apart. He’s the reason for all the wars. It’s always been him .

But with this newfound light, Tommy figures that he may be in the wrong. If Dream hasn’t always been Dream , then he can’t really blame him for all those things, right? But it feels like he should. That monster wore Dream’s skin like a costume, his own little mask to hide his identity as he terrorized everyone. Dream probably yelled, screamed for help, but no one ever showed up. Why would they? Why would they help someone they thought to be a monster?

Tommy feels guilt settle in his stomach along with dread. He hates what happened to Dream and Ranboo. He wants to kill this Dreamon and make them pay. But how will he react knowing the Dream that was his friend is now back after so long of being away? How will anyone react?

Dream has been their enemy, the one they all came together to defeat. They threw him in jail, secluded him so that the Dreamon can use him and torture him.

Tubbo mentioned how the Dreamon would manipulate them like he was manipulated by Dream and that’s how it gains its power. The weaker Dream and Ranboo become, the stronger the Dreamon is.

The only reason Ranboo isn’t as bad as Dream is because it was a while before the Dreamon fully emerged in Ranboo. They’re lucky that happened or else both Dream and Ranboo would’ve fallen to this Dreamon and no one else would be none the wiser.

They’ve been preparing for the worst, they’re friends to come over but they won’t be their friends. Ranboo messaged Phil, telling him he’s coming over, bringing Dream with him. None of them are ready, but honestly, will they ever be? This isn’t exactly something you can really prepare for.

Maybe Ranboo can feel the presence in his mind growing stronger and knows it’s only a matter of time before he loses himself fully. Poor Dream has been with him and Ranboo has to watch him suffer as the Dreamon sinks his disgusting, gruesome nails into him.

Even though Enderboo was all the Dreamon, he knew more than the entire server combined and Tommy wishes he got to talk to him. Maybe he could’ve pieced something together sooner, if he could figure out how to speak Ender.

Tommy feels justified with his actions towards the two, but he also feels like an asshole. No doubt everyone in this house feels like an asshole. Two of Dream’s best friends didn’t even realize what had been going on, that their friend wasn’t even their friend anymore. They didn’t spot the differences in personality, attitude, or his motive. Dream used to build the Dream SMP up so all his friends and friends of their friends could show up and have a home, then all of the sudden he changes it to be a war-zone? It makes no sense, but they didn’t even investigate it, now they pay the price, they all do. Phil was the reason for his own son’s death, probably influenced by the Dreamon himself if he isn’t possessed. Poor Dream played him like a puppet and Phil tried to cut the strings, only to cut himself down and make the Dreamon stronger. He helped the entity with their lust for power and destroyed L’Manburg by command of the Dreamon. Techno is guilty in those departments as well. He tried to kill Tommy, the goal the Dreamon was at, he used his bloodlust to go after an entire country. He was Dream’s only ally and therefore fell into the trap the Dreamon set up. Tubbo tried so hard to keep Ranboo out of trouble and when he forced Ranboo into house arrest, he just made the Dreamon more antsy and it pushed forward with its control over Ranboo. It freed its other half with Ranboo and they all learned what Enderboo really is. Tubbo feels guilty for not knowing his own platonic husband was being twisted and pulled in multiple directions and he didn’t even know. Tommy was their enemy and he just angled all his anger towards Dream, most likely making Dream feel awful and fueling the Dreamon's power. He didn’t try to go the pacifist route, he was fueled by anger and revenge and it caused the dominoes to keep falling, falling and falling . So yes, though that was just six people out of the entire SMP, they’re all to blame for this and now they must fix it.

Tommy sighs and fits the armour over his head. He used to fight Dream to kill him, but now he’s going to fight Dream to save him, Ranboo too. They’re going to free their friends.

He hasn’t really fought a Dreamon before, but Tubbo seems to know what he’s doing… somewhat. He keeps blaming himself for the Dreamon’s coming. He told them a story about how he and Fundy were joking around and decided to do a ritual that Tubbo read about in books on Dream. He thinks it was then that the Dreamon started to gain full control. No one yelled at him like he expected, no one hit him. All they did was hug him and forgive them.

Wow, how much better the SMP would’ve been if they just hugged out all their problems.

“Are you sure this will work?” Tommy asks as he fits himself into the rest of the armour.

Tubbo only shrugs and glances outside as if waiting for Ranboo and Dream to show up. They got the message from Ranboo a couple of hours ago and it’s only a matter of time before they show up.

“Do you have a better idea?” Tubbo asks in reply. It’s not a set answer and it’s not reassuring in any way, shape, or form, but he has a point. They don’t really have any other ideas.

Techno is sitting on the couch, sharpening his blade. Phil is going through all their chest, gathering potions and handing them out to everyone in equal distribution. Sapnap is meditating quietly, holding his hand out as a flame flickers steadily in his palm. George told them that Sapnap is summoning his power from his heart, a way to gain full capabilities of his power. He’s going full blaze mode to fight Dream. George is stretching his limbs, eyes distant as he’s used to this. This is how they prepared for Manhunts beforehand.

Tubbo continues to stare outside and all goes silent. Techno looks up and his ears flatten against his head. “They’re here.” He says and everyone stands up, fastening their weapons to their bodies, strapping potions to their belts, and fixing their armour tightly around them.

“It’s now or never.” Tubbo says and together, they all head outside. Michael is safely placed inside, away from the grasping hands of the Dreamon. Hopefully they’ll be alive to get him afterwards.

They travel for a couple of minutes before they meet up with Dream and Ranboo. Tommy thought this encounter would be with snow falling all around them, but the forest is silent and the weather is still.

“Look at this.” Dream laughs and Tommy cringes at his voice. How did he not notice how different he sounds? “All my favourite people in one place.” He gestures to George, Sapnap, then Tommy. “This is all nice.”

Tubbo squares up his shoulders and walks up to both of them, stopping about halfway and unsheathing his sword, pointing it at the Dreamon.

“We know who you are!” He yells and Dream and Ranboo don’t even flinch. “We’re here to take you down.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Dream takes out his axe and charges at Tubbo.

It all happens oh so quickly, they don’t even realize what’s happening, it’s all going by so fast. Techno is pushed back by an invisible force, no doubt the Dreamon’s power, and Tommy can’t react fast enough to save his friend.

But right then, Ranboo swings in and kicks Dream in the head, knocking him down into the snow below.

“You’re not hurting my friends.” Ranboo growls as he draws out his sword.

“Ranboo!” Tubbo yells, grabbing his arm.

“I had a moment of being me and I took it. Don’t know how long it’ll last though.”

“Then we’ll use this moment.” Techno growls as he leaps up and dashes for Dream.

They’re all caught up in the moment fighting as Tubbo and the others read through a book so that they can free Ranboo and Dream. They notice how Ranboo keeps flinching or shutting his eyes in pain and they flip through the pages even faster.

Techno has noticed that Dream is fighting with a lot more power, despite being in prison for months with no training. The Dreamon’s power must be driving him forward. Too bad he isn’t as good as the Blood god.

Techno flips around Dream’s back and slices his sword up his back, cutting into the skin and causing red blood to flow down and seep into his clothes. He kicks Dream’s leg and sends him to the ground, stabbing him in the thigh to keep him there.

Right as Dream hits the ground, Ranboo’s jaw unhinges and he screams an unholy screech. Tommy is quick to tackle him to the ground and hold his arms and legs down as the Enderman hybrid screams and twitches violently.

Techno steps away from Dream to come deal with Ranboo, but that was a complete mistake. Dream, despite being stabbed in his leg, gets up and swings at George. Sapnap throws a ball of fire towards Dream, it hits, but Dream isn’t affected. He gets burned, but the Dreamon is determined. George looks up with wide eyes and blinks slowly, accepting his death so easily.

Tommy jumps in front of the colourblind man and swings his sword, directing it right into Dream’s stomach. The man freezes, axe falling to the ground and they all freeze, even Ranboo has grown silent.

Tommy just watches with wide eyes as blood starts to leak down his sword, towards his hands. He drops the sword in terror and Dream falls to his knees. He coughs and blood splurts out of his mouth and lands on Tommy. Tears leak in his eyes and he feels sick. Dream reaches out weakly and touches the hilt of the sword that is currently stuck in him. He looks up and coughs up more blood, glancing at George then Sapnap.

“Dream.” Sapnap whispers as he steps forward. Dream falls to his ground and Sapnap slides down to his side, grasping his shoulders and shaking him as Dream stares, unblinking, at the sky above. “Dream!” He starts to cry and George can’t even function. He slowly walks up to his friend and sits down by his side, placing his hand reassuringly on Sapnap’s shoulder.

Ranboo opens his mouth up even wider and just screams. He screams in the pain of feeling Dream die. He screams in the anger of the Dreamon. He screams and everyone covers their ears.

A giant smoke of black exits Dream’s body and flies towards Ranboo. He screams in pain as the Dreamon fully enters his body, pushing apart his mind and cracking it open like an egg.

He opens his eyes and he’s greeted by the dark void. White, purple and blue stars dot the endless sky. He glances around him and notices Dream floating softly on his back, eyes closed and he looks so peaceful.

“Dream.” Ranboo pushes himself forward and grabs onto Dream’s shoulders, glancing at his friend’s eyes.

“He only exists here now.” The Dreamon shows up in front of Ranboo and stares at him angrily. “It’s your fault, you tried to defend your friends. Now you will be the one to fight them.”

“I would never!” He growls at the Dreamon and grasps Dream closer to himself, pushing them both away from the Dreamon.

“But you’re already doing it now.” He flies closer and Ranboo situates Dream so he’s facing away from the Dreamon, even though he’s lifeless and not breathing, Ranboo is still going to protect him. “While we’re here, having this talk, I am currently using your body to fight them all and soon, they will fall by my blade.”

Ranboo can only shake his head and cry into Dream’s blond hair.

“He can still be brought.” The Dreamon smiles. “My power will bring him back, but right now, I’m going to take full control over you. No more waking up, no more warning or protecting your friends. It’s over.”

“Over. My. Dead. Body.” Ranboo growls. He pushes Dream away slowly and charges.

---

Dream gasps for air as he twitches his fingers and toes. His brain spins as it tries to catch up with what’s been happening. He looks around and immediately takes notice that he’s in the void.

A phantom feeling of pain strikes his body and he’s reminded of being stabbed by Tommy.

That was a fatal blow? How is he alive?

He turns around and stares at Ranboo as he fights the Dreamon and suddenly it all clicks. When he died, the Dreamon had no body to control anymore so he flew over to Ranboo, fighting for control over his mind right now.

He’s free. The Dreamon isn’t in his mind at all and if Ranboo can beat the Dreamon right here and now, then that means that they can get rid of this Dreamon for good.

He charges after the Dreamon and pushes it away from Ranboo.

“Dream!” Ranboo yells and Dream throws a protective hand out to keep him back. He seems happy to see the man alive and well, but this isn't a moment for hugging.

“Awe, look. You came to help.” The Dreamon chuckles and Dream only glares deeply at it. “Too bad you can’t fight me. You have nothing to beat me with.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Dream states. He waves his arms and green magic flows around him. “You left your influence on both Ranboo and I. You left your power.”

“Oh hell yes.” Ranboo states, getting on board with his idea.

The Dreamon stares at him with wide eyes and they both charge, the Dreamon now fighting to protect itself.

There’s an explosion of magic and the Dreamon tries so hard to push them back, but with what they’ve learned over the months of having the Dreamon in them, and gaining their own powers from the Dreamon, they over power him and push him back, tearing him apart bit by bit as they force him back.

Purple and green magic force the Dreamon back as it tries to fight back with its own magic. But right now, it’s two Dreamons magic against one and Ranboo and Dream are winning.

“Let’s end this.” Dream glances at Ranboo and holds out a hand for Ranboo to grab. “Together.”

Ranboo nods and grabs ahold of Dream’s hand, using their combined magic to force the Dreamon’s very existence apart and make him disappear into the void forever.

The force fighting them suddenly disappears and they’re both left panting in the void, just the two of them floating around together.

“Did we do it?” Ranboo asks as he turns towards Dream.

Dream nods and grabs ahold of Ranboo, dragging him in for a hug. “The Dreamon couldn’t possess us without losing something. He left some of his power with us and he became weaker. We were able to defeat him, two against one.”

“Great.” Ranboo nods and slumps against Dream’s shoulder. “I’m tired.”

“Yeah, I want to take a nap too.”

---

Sapnap stares at the two sleeping figures as his mind wanders. It’s been a couple of weeks since they think the Dreamon was destroyed.

After Dream was killed, Ranboo screamed in anger, falling to the ground before getting up and fighting them. Then after a couple minutes of fighting him, both him and Dream, who was once presumed dead, screamed and then Ranboo fell to the ground, staying in a coma for weeks later. They still haven’t woken up.

They told the rest of the server what happened with Dream and Ranboo and Tubbo told everyone what happened with Quackity and Sam. The server is deciding what to do with them now, also what to do with the missing Wilbur situation.

Which is where he should be now actually. They have a meeting at the Community House today and Sapnap is supposed to be making his way over there now, but he doesn’t feel like leaving Dream alone.

“Sapnap.” George walks in, leaning against the doorframe as he waits for his friend to respond. Ever since the Dreamon fight, he’s been sleeping less and less and spending more time with Sapnap. They both been keeping each other away from the edge.

“I know, I know.” Sapnap sighs as he stands up and heads over to George.

“We thought we lost him.” George says as Sapnap pauses by his side. He turns and watches George stare at Dream. “He brought himself back to life with the power he was given and helped Ranboo defeat the Dreamon with it. We got a second chance with him and we aren’t going to waste it.”

“That’s if he wakes up.” Sapnap turns away and starts walking downstairs. They left Ranboo and Dream resting in Techno’s house, too scared to relocate them somewhere else.

“Don’t be so hopeless.” George shoves Sapnap and he nearly falls into the snow as they exit the house. He starts laughing as Sapnap glares at him. “He’ll wake up.”

They make their way towards the Nether Portal and go to the meeting. Despite how much they don’t want to, they’re going to have to be adults and face their problems. Even with the Dreamon gone, they’re still many problems left to deal with.

---

Dream jumps up out of his bed right as Ranboo does as well, awake for the first time in weeks. They both glance at each other and take a sigh in relief, knowing that they are free. They can’t feel the ever dark presence of the Dreamon in their mind anymore and it feels like there isn’t a weight on their chest as they breathe.

“How long do you think we were out?” Ranboo asks as Dream lays back on his bed, staring at the ceiling while Ranboo watches the sunset out of his window.

“Probably a while.” Dream replies as he turns to stare at the setting sun with Ranboo. “The others are probably scared we’re going to die.”

He gets up out of the bed and walks out the door, Ranboo watching him before getting up and following him.

“What are you doing?” Ranboo asks as Dream makes his way through the house.

“I want some fresh air, for the first time in years.” He has had the Dreamon pulling his strings forever it seems, he just wants to take a breath of air without him controlling him anymore. A breath of freedom.

He lays down in the snow, not even caring as it seeps into his clothes and soaks them. Ranboo stares at him with a raised eyebrow before decking ‘Fuck it’ and lays down next to him. They deserve this after pulling the weight of the world behind them.

“Thank you by the way, for getting him out of my head.” Dream says as he stares at the snow falling from the grey sky. He remembers, from years ago, someone telling him how it looks like salt and pepper falling down and he can’t see anything different.

“I should be thanking you; we would’ve lost that final battle if you didn’t help me.” Ranboo chuckles. Should he be laughing about the Dreamon? No. But is he going to use it as a coping mechanism? Yes, absolutely yes.

“I’m always there to help people. Nightmare just made sure I wasn’t.” Dream turns to Ranboo and the Enderman blinks before moving to look back into his eyes.

“Your eyes don’t scare me.” He says in awe as he’s allowed to stare into Dream’s green orbs.

“Probably because of the influence of the Dreamon.” Dream replies. Maybe the connection the Dreamon formed caused Ranboo to be more safe around Dream. His eyes don’t hurt Ranboo because he and Ranboo are connected.

“But he’s gone now. We can go back to our normal lives.”

Oh how naive Ranboo is. Despite the Dreamon being dead, Dream knows that they can’t go back to their normal lives. They’re stuck with this power and now they have to live with the leftovers of this entity.

“Ranboo, you and I both know that we can’t go back to our normal lives. We were exposed for too long.”

The Enderman hybrid sighs and nods his head. “What does that mean for us?”

“I don’t know.” Dream grunts as he sits up, the scar on his back aching as he moves. “Guess we’ll find out. And when something happens, we’ll have each other.” He moves to stand up and Ranboo hops up after him, throwing snow all around as he does so.

He runs up and hugs Dream, nearly sending them down to the ground again. “I like this side of you a lot better.”

Dream smiles and pats Ranboo’s back, hugging him back tightly.

“Come on, I bet the others are wanting to see us as soon as we wake up.” He waves his hand, remembering the teleportation power Nightmare used and using it to his own advantage.

They both pop up in the middle of the Community House, somewhat disoriented. Ranboo shakes his head and pauses the moment he glances at everyone else who is staring at him with wide eyes.

Tubbo is the first to speak. “WHAT THE FUCK?!”