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Loneliness is just a feeling,
Dream sighed, his hands finding his face. The prison was lonely, the lava spewing out from the wall his only source of comfort. Life behind bars returned to the gentle balance it had.
He remembers a warmth that didn’t come from the lava wall. A solid body that used to lean against his for comfort. One that joked about his diaries that he kept, about the home that he doesn’t have, about how he’s such a nerd, and so on.
The bell still sat untouched in the corner.
Quackity had left him alone after Techno had disappeared. Only Dream and the syndicate knew how he did it. The only reason he knew was because Techno kept telling him how ‘Phil’s going to save us. I have a pearl trap in the syndicate. I’ll come back for you.’
I’m waiting for you.
Dream rested his head against the wall, his eyes slipping shut. The sirens still blared in the background - the only reassurance that Sam hasn’t told Quackity he’s still here.
He’d been terrified when Sam had come down the hole they’d made. He still remembers the strain he’d put on his body to make himself impossibly smaller. He remembers his heart stuttering in his chest as he realized he was going to die.
Dream’s eyes shot open, his head rising up off the wall. He didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened if Sam didn’t leave him alone.
Instead, he picked at his fraying jumpsuit as memories of him and his rival filled his mind.
Techno, joining the side of Pogtopia, convincing the blond to take the deal with Schlatt and join the side destined to fail. Techno, making himself a cabin in the middle of the mountains after the war, hiding himself away from everyone with his many dogs and Steve. Techno, returning to the main area of the server to join doomsday with him. Techno, fighting tooth and nail for what he believed in. Techno, coming all the way to the prison on a whim on the possibility that Dream had sent him a letter.
Techno, holding him close after Dream confessed his fear of Quackity. Techno, convincing him to revive someone who was alive. Techno, stupidly wishing for a bell from a god that looked just like the blond. Techno, the one who accused him of writing wattpad stories in his free time. Techno, the man that gave him his share of potatoes because Dream looked like he hadn’t eaten enough.
Techno, the only one who had ever stood by his side while everyone else turned away.
Fresh tears spilled down his face, memories of him and his proclaimed ‘rival’ flashing through his mind. He was the only one who had never left. He was the only one who stayed by Dream’s side while everyone turned away from him. Techno was the only one who ever got it. He was the only one who shared the burdens of being called a ‘god.’ He was the only one who understood the drive for power that Dream had.
Techno was the only one who would ever understand.
Not George, not Sapnap, not Quackity, not Sam, not Wilbur, not Tommy, not anybody. (Maybe Schlatt but he was dead so what could he do anyway.)
The rest of them had left him. In his time of need they turned away from him and locked him away. Left him to rot in this horrible cell, forced to live the rest of his days keeping his mouth shut as Quackity pounded into his head with the butt of his axe.
Techno had come for him.
Techno had come for him on a whim as soon as he received the letter from his rival.
Techno will come back for him.
…but what if he won’t?
Dream’s head thunks back against the wall again. His mind turned to the day Quackity had returned. Everything had been fine before then. Techno had been happily ringing his bell every hour, Dream had been contentedly chipping away at the rock behind the pinket with a spoon, and both of them had been traiding past war stories and ridiculous stores about their friends and family. Techno had given him his cloak one time, the pinket silently wrapping it around his shoulders as the blond had a panic attack.
Dream had been healing, slowly but surely he had been healing all of the wounds Quackity had left on him. He was slowly starting to recover from the trauma Quackity had put him through.
When Techno was there, the cell had never felt so warm.
Now the bell was untouched, cold, and broken on one side when Quackity had swung his axe at the pinket. The spoon Dream had been using to chip away at the obsidian was snapped in half and thrown into the lava. The hole he’d made was patched up with leftover stone Sam had which would take weeks - with the mining fatigue - to break back open. New wounds appeared on his skin from where Quackity had struck him in his panic to get the pickaxe through Techno’s teeth. His mind was scrambled after Techno disappeared and Quackity turned on him, only for the raven to run out of his cell. He’d hid, the only rational part of his brain had been screaming at him to do so. Sam had found him, and he remembers him raising his axe and-.
Dream misses Techno’s cloak.
He misses the way it felt around his shoulders, and the way it made the cell feel the right amount of warm. He misses the way it used to smell like Techno. He misses the way it would keep him content as he pressed his cheek against the fabric and Techno. He misses the way his heart felt warm with Techno beside him.
The blond folds his arms around himself, squeezing his body the smallest it can possibly be. In the distance he hears the sirens fall silent. The lava pops, and Dream can feel sweat dripping down his neck.
The lava starts to slowly fall, and there, beyond the pool of lava separating him from the world is everyone he’s ever been friends with. Everyone who was supposed to stick by his side til the very end. George, Sapnap, Quackity, Fundy, Tommy, Tubbo, Ranboo, Jack, Niki, Punz, and more.
They were all here, everyone except for the only face he ever wanted to see again.
And Dream had never felt more alone.