Chapter Text
Dream encountered his first ever loss at the age of twelve.
Most would call him conceited for saying that, but it was the honest truth.
Academics, sports, fighting—there was nothing Dream couldn’t do without ever being the best of the best.
George and Sapnap, his two best friends since childhood, were always there to make sure he kept a level head, but he still grew an ego three sizes too big for his head, and he had the talent to back it up.
Breezing through school until he even managed to graduate from a prestigious college, winning multiple first place awards for track, basketball, football, tennis, and beating a handful of server-wide sword trainers and the like all by himself… All in all, he had little to no reason to not believe he would simply ever lose.
All of that changed when he competed in the first ever Diamond Tournament.
The server he lived on was actually one of the more famous servers for fighting, fourth only to the ever infamous Hypixel, and the Diamond Tournament was a tournament held by the server admins every ten years as a way to celebrate their ten year long war against another server long forgotten about to secure this current server’s place, and a way for people to gain honor and fame and glory for their hard work and dutiful training.
In all honesty, Dream didn’t really care about all of that.
This tournament was to show off the toughest of the tough, and Dream simply wanted to prove that he was the strongest there is. This tournament was simply a stepping stone down that path.
And, sure, he might have begun blowing off George and Sapnap, both of them being infinitely weaker than he was, though Sapnap used to be a decent training partner back in the early days, but he needed to be better. Stronger.
What better way to prove that than with a tournament gathering all those sorts of people all in one place?
So, he signed up, scoffing when the only reason he was allowed to was because of his previous accomplishments because his age was what led them to turn him away the first time. Cowards.
Regardless, he was in, and that’s all that mattered.
-
Was this… Really all that this server could offer?
Dream stared down at the last man he had to battle before the finale, a pained expression on his face, not that anyone could see it behind his smiling mask.
He thought the people signing up for this were supposed to be strong. He’d heard of some of them taking down bears and mountain lions with their bare fists, or lifting boulders with one hand…
Surely these can’t be the same people, right?
Look, don’t get him wrong; Dream had absolute confidence in himself despite hearing all that. He was certain he could win, but he knew that, if those rumors were to be true, he’d need more than just brute strength to take them down.
Because, let’s face it—he’s a twelve year old kid taking on fully grown adults. As strong as he may be, he’s still not fully developed and raw strength alone would only get him so far.
And, true to his thoughts, he wasn’t physically stronger than most of these men. Granted, some of them focused more on speed than strength, but then they were just playing into Dream’s territory at that point and Dream could easily outpace and out stamina them in that case as well as generally just being physically stronger at that point.
That was the game plan, but… these guys were just muscle-headed idiots.
Sure, Dream couldn’t match them blow for blow, but running circles around them and striking them from multiple different places at once while they bumbled about just trying to see him… Look, it was funny at first, but now it was bordering on pathetic.
Letting out a deep sigh, Dream walked off, waiting for his next, and final, match to be called and he could just go home already.
Maybe he should move to a new server… This one, if it’s anything like this tournament is, would be useless to him and he needed stronger opponents if he’s to get any better.
When his name was called and he got up to finally finish things, he was slightly surprised to see another kid already standing there waiting for him.
He looked to the left, and then to the right… Well, it certainly seemed like this was his final opponent, but… Were the people here actually so weak they would lose to not one, but two kids, just like that?
Looking at the other, Dream could tell that they were older, maybe by a year or so, but they looked so… weak.
A thin frame, muscles hidden behind frills, if they had any at all, a weird skull boar mask, and pink hair tied in a braid… In all honesty, they looked like some snobby noble with a weird mask fascination that somehow got here by accident rather than any sort of trained fighter able to fight their way up the ranks and come out to the grand finale of a tournament.
Dream scoffed inwardly, not even bothering to put up a proper fighting stance, looking as laid back and bored as he felt, just wanting it all to be over with.
He couldn’t see his opponent’s expression either, both of them wearing masks for what Dream could only assume was for the reason reason—hiding their identities and then some for Dream’s case—but it’s not like it mattered. He would win this tournament then go and try and find actual worthy opponents instead of this high-end garbage.
When he heard the referee shout “go!”, he wasted no time, simply shooting forward to end the “battle” as soon as possible.
And, to his surprise, it did end quickly.
Just… not for him.
Before he could even get a proper blow in, the other blocked his attack and threw him off the arena, ending the battle in seconds flat.
Aghast, Dream just sat there in complete and utter shock, the entire crowd also deafeningly silent, the referee himself stunned silly as well.
The pink-haired kid didn’t even bother waiting for the winner to be announced, simply turning around and walking away, leaving everyone to simply watch in stunned silence.
The next hour or so went by in a blur for Dream, standing at the podium in second place with the winner, declared the Blood God by the crowd and attendees alike, face flushed in embarrassment and anger as he stewed in his own resentment, glaring at the pink-haired teen behind his mask.
When everything was finally over and done with, Dream chased after the other, the only person who’d ever defeated him, and in such a humiliating way, too!
The teen had surprisingly long legs for his age, and it took a while for Dream to catch up, but, when he did, he didn’t even give the teen a chance to run away any further when he shouted out, “hey!”
They paused, the other two standing with them also stopping as well.
All of them turned around, and the other two, a man and a child, two pairs of blue eyes staring directly at him with the pink-haired teen’s gaze hidden behind the eerie boar mask, and the kid huffed, the six or seven year old boy eyeing Dream with clear suspicion.
“Who’re you?” He asked, eyes narrowing before widening, mouth forming an ‘o’ shape. “Oh! You’re the dude that W—Te—Uh… M-My brother managed to beat!”
Dream grit his teeth, more focused on the sting of the kid only knowing him as ‘the person his brother beat’ than the clear stutter in trying not to say his brother’s name out loud.
“It was a good fight.” The man said, giving him a polite smile, and Dream felt his flush deepening in shame and anger—was this man mocking him?
“I demand a rematch!” Dream snapped, pointing at the pink-haired teen.
Ignoring the younger boy’s squawks of protests and the man’s eyes glimmering with an emotion he couldn’t decipher, Dream watched in shock as the teen stared at him for an uncomfortably long time in complete silence before simply turning around and walking away.
“... Hey!” Dream snapped, watching the other two glancing between them before choosing to follow the pink-haired teen. “Don’t ignore me!”
And that was the beginning of a slippery slope for Dream… not that he quite knew it yet as he was forced to go back home, now determined to beat the person who’d given him his first, and in his heart only, taste of defeat.