Chapter Text
Maybe she should have known something was wrong from the start.
Maybe, when she had first received that letter from Wilbur, inviting her to a new server, she should have torn it up and forgotten about it. Prime knows that would have saved her a lot of trouble in the end.
Maybe it would have been best to forget about him entirely.
***
Niki had been ecstatic to receive the letter. She hadn’t heard from Wilbur in weeks! She had no idea if he was even alive out there, but if this letter was to be believed, he wasn’t only alive: he was thriving.
Or at least that’s what it seemed like.
He said that he had found a new server, one where people could live in equality and peace, and that he was the founder and leader of a new country called L’manburg. Not only that, but he wanted her to come join him!
Niki couldn’t believe her eyes. A new server? A new home? New friends? How could she say no, especially after having lived alone for so long out in the wilderness between servers.
And so she set out.
It took her a few days, but with the coordinates that Wilbur had left in his letter it was fairly easy to navigate to. Soon enough, she broke out of the thick forest, and found herself in a walled-in area with a few scattered spruce and birch trees, and a small creek winding through all.
“Hello?” she called out timidly.
No response.
A little louder: “Hello, anybody?”
After a pause, a familiar voice called, “Niki? Is that you?”
Wilbur! “Yes, Wilbur, I’m here!” she shouted, looking around in joy to find her old friend. After a few seconds, she spotted him, standing proud on the top of the wall, next to two smaller figures she didn’t recognize. His old-fashioned, military-esque coat and tri-corn hat made his silhouette stand out against the bright sky, painting him in a bit of a heroic pose.
Niki sighed fondly. Of course. Wilbur had always had a flair for theatrics.
“Oh, I’m so glad you made it!” he exclaimed as he hopped off the wall, jogging towards her only to wrap her up in a big hug. She closed her eyes, unable to keep a grin off her face. Oh, she was so relieved: it had been way too long since she had last seen him.
“How was your journey here?” he asked, in his lilting accent. He pulled away to look her in the face, his hands firmly planted on her shoulders. It was then that Niki got her first really good look at him.
He looked different than she had remembered, but… it seemed like this was a good different. He stood tall, not hunched over as he used to – and now more so than ever, she could truly appreciate their height difference, as he towered almost a foot above her. His curly brown hair was tucked under a large tri-corn hat – an accessory that few could pull off, but it suited him. He still had his round glasses that she had known for years. His coat (navy blue with gold and red trimming) was perfectly ironed, and fit him to a T – again unlike the Wilbur she used to know, who seemed to live solely in oversized sweaters. His white trousers were neatly tucked into knee-high black boots.
As for his expression, he seemed… he seemed really happy. And she didn’t think it was all due to her arrival… no. This place must really have changed him, she thought.
“It was wonderful, actually,” she replied. It was true. It was like the way had been personally prepared for her. No monsters had attacked her at night, no endermen had suddenly appeared in front of her (as was their habit), there had been no treacherous terrain or bad weather of any kind. In a way, it was comforting: it was like the world had been telling her that this was where she was meant to go; this was where she would finally be truly happy.
She hoped that was true.
“Well, you’ll have to tell me all about it later,” Wilbur stated, pulling her out of her thoughts. “But first, let me introduce you to everybody!” He gestured to the two boys who were trailing awkwardly behind him – the same figures she had seen silhouetted on the wall. One was tall, almost as tall as Wilbur was, with striking blue eyes and blond hair. He wore a white t-shirt with red sleeves, together with a simple pair of jeans and sneakers. The other was shorter – about Niki’s own height – with curly brown hair sticking up every which way. He was wearing a loose green button-down that had a few too many rips, tears, and skid marks for it to be considered formal wear anymore. The two seemed younger than Wilbur by a good few years, probably in their mid-teens at best.
“This here is Tommy, my right-hand man” – the blond boy’s chest puffed out a bit at the title – “and this little guy is Tubbo, Tommy’s right-hand man.”
“Hey, I’m not little!” Tubbo protested, but both Wilbur and Tommy ignored him.
Tommy held out his hand to Niki, shaking vigorously when she accepted. “Nice to finally have a woman around here,” he stated loudly in a coarse northern accent.
“Tommy!” Tubbo hissed, elbowing the taller boy in the ribs.
What? Were there… were there no other women in this server? Niki’s brow furrowed, but she nodded quickly to cover her confusion. “Pleasure to meet you, Tommy.” She turned to greet Tubbo as well, but the brunet was scuffling with Tommy. She smiled and let them be.
She turned back to Wilbur. “So, how did you get here? How did little shy Wilbur become the founder of a server? I’m proud of you!”
Here, Wilbur’s expression faltered a bit. “Oh, well, I was just-”
“Wait, Niki, you thought bitchboy here founded this server?” Tommy interrupted, suddenly paying attention again. Tubbo chuckled in the background.
“Well, didn’t he? That’s what he said in his letter,” Niki said, confused. She searched Wilbur’s expression for an answer, but he was pointedly avoiding her eyes.
“Niki, this server is called the Dream SMP. It was created by a man named Dream. Do you think this dickhead would have the guts to start his own server?” Tommy laughed.
“I- I mean… I know I haven’t seen him in a while,” she started uncertainly.
Wilbur let out an embarrassed laugh. “I never said I made the server, Niki, I just- I just started a nation here! Which, speaking of, I should show you!” He hastily turned on his heel, shooting a glare at the two boys before gesturing at Niki to follow him.
Hmm.
Something was up.
Pushing down her concern for now, she turned and followed behind the three.
//
L’manburg was beautiful.
Despite the large yellow-and-black walls surrounding the country, and the “hot dog van” (complete with a flaming hot dog statue on top) that stood in the exact middle, L’manburg held the natural beauty that came from a land yet untouched by man. It wasn’t large, by any means, but from the few other citizens that Niki had met so far, size didn’t seem to matter as much as community mattered.
Wilbur had explained it to her on the way. He had created L’manburg as a sanctuary for the travellers that had found their way onto Dream’s server. According to his account, Dream and his friends had a horrible history of discriminating against him, Tommy, Tubbo, and anyone else who had discovered the server without an invite from Dream himself.
So, L’manburg was a country separate from the “Greater Dream SMP,” yet they acknowledged that they were technically on Dream SMP soil.
“Dream wasn’t too happy about that one, the bitch,” Tommy had interrupted. “I swear, he has it out for us, man,” he grumbled.
“We’re good now,” Wilbur reassured him; though Niki could tell that there was a slight undertone of worry in his voice. Tommy and Tubbo ran off after that, with some half-muttered excuse about a beehive…? Niki wasn’t really sure. Boys would be boys, and all that, after all.
What was really going on behind the scenes? Something wasn’t right here…
“And finally, Niki Nihachu,” Wilbur interrupted her thoughts with a smile, throwing his arm out in a grand gesture, “may I introduce my son, Fundy.”
Niki’s eyes widened in shock.
Standing in front of her was a young boy, maybe around Tubbo or Tommy’s age, though she guessed a bit younger. He had a black cap nestled in a mess of red hair, some of which… poked upwards? He wore a simple black jacket over a white t-shirt and black jeans, and behind him… a russet orange tail swayed. Which meant-
“Well, he’s not actually really my son,” Wilbur amended. “But I found him out in the woods a few months ago and it’s like… it’s like he’s attached himself to me? He’s the first natural-born citizen of L’manburg, actually. I mean, I assume he was born on these lands, since foxes don’t migrate…”
Niki was still standing there, staring at him, mouth open wide. Fundy looked down sheepishly, playing with a loose thread on the edge of his jacket. “Wilbur! Why didn’t you tell me before?!”
Wilbur winced sheepishly. His hand found its way to the back of his neck, rubbing there as he tried to explain. “I didn’t- I wasn’t sure if he’d wanted to stick around, and-”
“Oh, never mind,” she said, stepping forward and holding out her hand. “I’m Niki. I’m a friend of your father’s.”
Fundy shot an uncertain glance at Wilbur, then took her hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said quietly.
Wilbur leaned forward and whispered, “He’s shy. He’ll start warming up to you soon enough, don’t worry.”
Niki took a step back, turning to face Wilbur head-on. “So. You came here, built a country, adopted a son, and this is the first time I’m hearing about it?” There was no malice in her voice as she accused him, though.
At least Wilbur had the decency to look embarrassed. “Yeah… but, you’re here now! Do you want to join me, or… I mean you don’t have to,” he rushed to amend himself. “But, I mean, I would really like-”
“Hey, who’s this?” a new voice called out.
Both of their heads whipped around to see a new figure approaching them from the wall gate. He was dressed entirely in green, from head to toe, and had more weapons strapped on him than Niki had seen together in her entire life. His face was completely covered in a simple white mask that was adorned with a black smile. He seemed to be almost as tall as Wilbur. He was… unsettling, to say the least.
Niki looked to Wilbur for explanation. Her friend had gone stiff, standing at attention and carefully watching the man approach.
“Dream,” he whispered out of the side of his mouth.
Niki’s eyes widened again. Her heartbeat quickened just a tad as she unconsciously took a step back. Her gaze shot to Eret, the person currently on guard at the gate. They sent her a simple defeated shrug, as if that was all the explanation that was needed.
If this truly was the server owner, there wasn’t really anything they could do to stop him, could they?
Dream was only about ten feet away from where Wilbur stood when he stopped. The two men stared at each other for a good minute, leaving Niki in a suspended silence while she anxiously awaited their reactions.
There was obviously a lot of tension between the two, that was painfully clear to see; and if she hadn’t heard from Wilbur about how Dream was, she would have been a lot more confused than she was now. Even as it was, she couldn’t tell the extent to which their animosity stretched, and that worried her. She used to be able to read Wilbur like an open book. But now… he seemed completely shut off.
“Who is this?” Dream asked, finally breaking the silence.
“No greeting, Dream? We may be… opponents,” he said carefully, giving Niki a sideways glance, “yet isn’t a bit of courtesy expected at this point?”
Dream simply stared. Or at least, he didn’t move. It was hard to tell what (if any) expression he had behind the blank smile of his mask.
Niki felt she was going to hate that mask.
Summoning her courage, she stepped forward. “My name is Niki Nihachu. I’m an old friend of Wilbur’s. He invited-”
“I asked her if she could visit for a bit,” Wilbur cut her off. He didn’t break eye contact with Dream.
She looked up at him in confusion. “But I thought you said-”
“Trying to expand your country, I see… what was its name again? Mantopia?” Dream continued coolly as if she hadn’t said anything.
“L’manburg,” Wilbur corrected him.
A little ball of frustration was starting to take shape in Niki’s chest. Why were the two men acting so stand-offish? She had expected there to be some animosity between them, seeing how Wilbur had described Dream… but again, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
“Ah, right, that was it. L’manburg,” he said slowly, as if he were tasting the word. “And what makes you think a woman would want to settle in a place called L’manburg?”
“That doesn’t-” Niki began again, but was once again cut off.
“We are open to women,” Wilbur said, taking a step forward. “Actually, whose fault is it that there aren’t more women on this server, hmm, Dream? You’re the one in charge of invites. What does that say about you? Why aren’t there more women on your SMP?”
“I never intended for this server to be for anyone other than my friends,” Dream stated, still as cool as ever – except, when Niki glanced down, she noticed his hand loosely resting on the hilt of his sword. A silent warning. “The rest I have allowed to stay here for the time being, but that does not mean it is permanent. You had no right to claim this land as your own.”
“I never stated it was mine. The country is mine, yes, but the land remains yours.”
Niki was so confused. “Wilbur, what are you-”
“Shut up, Niki,” he said harshly. “This is none of your business.”
“But this is my business!” she cried out, angry at being spoken over yet again. “You told me that it was safe here, that this was yours; I never signed up for this!”
“You should listen to the woman, Wilbur,” Dream cut in.
“This is between us, Dream,” he exclaimed, whirling back to the masked man. “The point is, this is my country, and you are not welcome here. Please vacate yourself from the grounds immediately,” he said curtly, recomposing himself.
“So… you are claiming these lands in the name of L’manburg, then?” Dream said, something sinister slithering in his tone.
Niki didn’t like that.
She may not have a clue what was going on, but there was one thing for sure: Dream was not pleased.
And you never, never wanted to piss off the creator of the server you would be living in for the foreseeable future.
“Wilbur-” she tried to interject again, laying a hand softly on his arm; but she wasn’t surprised when he cut her off yet again. Disappointed, yes. Hurt, yes. But not surprised.
“Yes, actually, Dream,” he spat. “I do claim these lands in L’manburg’s name. And I declare independence from you and from the Greater Dream SMP, starting from this moment onwards.”
Niki froze.
The air shifted. Dream drew himself up to his full height, pulling out his sword. “Well then… in that case, I want to see white flags - white flags outside your base by tomorrow, at dawn, or you are DEAD!” he shouted.
More figures emerged from the trees, many people that Niki didn’t recognize, all with weapons drawn. Her heart began to race. She had fought off the monsters that roamed the world at night, she had learned how to survive on her own; but she was useless in a fight against other human beings. And this was assuming that she had a weapon of her own, which she did not.
“Wilbur! What have you-”
“Niki, run.”
She gaped for a moment, torn between the fear of the real threat in front of her, and a desire to make a stand with her friend.
Wilbur drew a knife out from his jacket. “Niki, I need you to leave before you get killed. Now GO!” he roared.
Niki turned tail and fled, tears of fear streaming down her cheeks.