Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tubbo sighed as he jotted down some notes on a piece of paper, handing it to Tommy with a huff. "I swear, I will not last another minute without piggybacking Ranboo. I miss being tall. We gotta inform the smp on what the fuck is happening"

Tommy nodded with a downcast look. "I know big man..but ksh, I don't want to make the situation worse!"

"Yea, but we have no choice right now..I have everything written down, and we always have a plan b"

"What's plan B?"

"Nuke everyone and explain in limbo"

"Then revive them?"

"Then revive them"

"Okay, we got a-" Tommy snorted "Plan B. Dream, big man, we're going to go try to not die!"

Dream was playing with Patches, clearly not listening. "Mmh"

"Ooooookay" Tubbo began typing on his communicator.

Tubbo: OKAY SO I KNOW YESTERDAY WAS VERY CONFUSING BUT HJEY MEET AT THE CONMUNITY HOUSE TO EXPLAIN WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON??!

Sapnap: What

TommyInnit: IF YOU DON'T COME A CERTAIN GREEN BITCH WOULD GLADLY HAVE OUR CONSENT TO uh COMMIT MINOR WAR CRIMES

Awsamedude: How do we know you're the real Tommy.

TommyInnit: Uh uh

TommyInnit: COCK AND BALLS

TommyInnit: CUM

TommyInnit: AND WOMEN

TommyInnit: RANBOO MY BELOVED

Awsamedude: ...I better see you there at 3

"We're late we're late OH FUCK WE'RE LATE"

The clingy duo crashed though the doors of the community house, breathing heavily and steadying themselves on a nearby table. 

"Don't worry, he's not behind you" Sapnap said.

"Oh, no it's not that" Tommy huffed, "It's just we didn't want to look like pussies by not showing up on time"

"Also" Tubbo took a big gulp of air "why would we worry"

"Maybe because he tried to kill you multiple times. Taking all of Tommy's once." Sam replied in a monotone tone.

"Oh, yea, I'm past that, me and that bitch have been sent to limbo so many times we're used to it" Tommy replied but grew silent as the rest of the SMP stared at him. "What?- oh YEAH!"

"Okay, why don't I start from the start" Tubbo declared and brought out some cue cards. "So, it all began when an arrow was shot at Dream-"

"Anddd that's why we didn't kill him!"

Everyone nodded, now knowing a bit more about the situation.

Ranboo shifted uneasily. "But..how-how do we no he's not..?"

Tubbo looked over to him, eyes softening. "Boo, if he was, why did we save him? We had a chance to end it there"

"True.."

"Also.." Tommy looked around. "Could you guys..leave the big man alone? I know he did some shitty stuff..but just for us? We'll make sure he doesn't both you"

"I mean," Tubbo continued, "Dream's teccccccchnically exiled. In exile. Where you can keep your eye on him. With us checking technically. In fact, you can set up statis chambers if it makes you all feel better"

Only some of the heads nodded, just going along with it because they still had no idea what was going on. Tommy huffed. "Fine. I'll show you myself". He got out his communicator and started furiously typing in Tommy fashion.

TommyInnit: DREAM GET YOUR ASS HERE

DreamWasTaken: Wtf Tommy you scared Patches

TommyInnit: Tell Patches I said sorry AND GET YOUR ASS HERE

DreamWasTaken: Why SHOULD I

TommyInnit: OR I WILL KILL PATCHES IN FRONT OF YOU

Everyone gasped, horrified that Tommy was threatening to kill a thing Dream, by the looks of it, loved.. When the man probably had full armor and weapons by now.

DreamWasTaken: YOU WOULDN'T DARE

TommyInnit: TRY- yea I wouldn't

DreamWasTaken: Fine I'll come

The SMP didn't know what was more puzzling. The fact that Dream openly raised the fact he had a pet/attachment, or the fact that he followed Tommy's request.

A few moments later

Dream burst though the door, fully decked out in netherite, holding nightmare. "I'M HEREEEE- oh shit hello"

Some of the SMP pushed their chairs back at the sight of the man, others raised up their weapons.

Tubbo turned to him. "Oh- yea hey Dream"

"Uh- what...did you need me for?"

"Could you give me your admin abilities"

"Absolutely not"

"Just for a second"

"I- fine"

The SMP watched in shock as green particles swirled around Tubbo.

"Okay I is the new owner of the server, you're exiled, yada yada, I don't feel the least bad"

"I- is this what you called me for?" Said Dream as Tubbo gave him back the power. "Dear XD- okay" He turned to the rows of people sitting on the bleachers "Hello people I have offended, I was a fucking bitch bastard and you may call me as many names as you want, maybe even kill me if I'm in a good mood, no shears though, okay bye"

"Wait! Dream!"

"Yea Tom"

"I need to kill you" Tommy said non-chalantly.

"WHAT?" Dream hissed, but then caught himself. Looking at the rest of the SMP awkwardly, he winced. "Okay..why?"

" 'Cause I need their trust. By killing you. Don't worry, I'll revive you after. I think. OH YEAAAA" He turned to the SMP. "Tubbo and I know how to revive people now! Yay?"

"How would that get everyone's trust exactly?"

"Just take off your armor"

Dream let out a heavy sigh as he headed for the door. "I'll be right back-" He paused as Sapnap blocked the doorway, arms crossed and glaring. 

"I can't even get privacy to take it- fuck this shit-" Dream spun towards Tommy and threw him nightmare. "Alright, you can do it"

"What?" Tommy said in disbelief. "It's gonna take a whi-"

"I enchanted it" Dream replied calmly, "So it one shots. Everything"

Silence filled the room as everyone widened their eyes.

"What" Sapnap quietly whispered. Dream was definitely up to something.

"Oh-kay big man?" Tommy said, softly bopping the green man with the netherite.

[DreamWasTaken was slain by TommyInnit using Nightmare :) ]

"WHAT THE FUCK" Tubbo yelled backing away from the axe. 

Tommy cackled. "I CAN KILL ANYTHING WITH THIS- yea no what the fuck does this have sharpness a bjillion on it or something"

"Uh..I think that backfired a bit" Tubbo let out a forced chuckle "But...let's go to go exile why don't we so you know where to NOT walk and where to NOT kill cats. I thinkkk Dream won't mind"

"Alright. That's where you can put the statis chambers. Uh- Dreaaaaaaam added something so that if you hit these buttons" He nearly decapitated Fundy when he tossed the red buttons at them "and boom you're gonna teleport"

"Is.." Sapnap narrowed his eyes "is this going to kill me as soon as I tap it" 

Tubbo huffed and yanked it out of his grasp, throwing a peal at his designated spot and then bopping the button. He imminently teleported into the water, hands on his hips, soaking wet. 

"There. Better? Now, I don't want you all to go try kill Dream, 'cause we're just going to revive him, WHICH REMINDS ME" He took out a book "WE GOTTA GO REVIVE HIM"

Everyone rushed out, but no one noticed Sapnap lagging behind, throwing a pearl into the statis chamber, observing the landscape, examing the button,  and looking back at the house with a illegible expression.

We're going to have a talk Dream. And I'm going to find some answers. 

Chapter Text

Flat-out laying on the grass, Dream groaned. "I swear to XD we are NEVER doing that again"

Tommy huffed, twirling a stick between his fingers. "Don't be such a pussy, you know that was fun"

"Your kind of fun is pelting everyone with water balloons? Hard, rubbery, water balloons? Do you KNOW how much that hurts when it collides with your skin?"

"Nope!" Chirped Tommy. "I never gave bitches the chance"

"It's ready!" Tubbo yelled from the building. With a shrug, Tommy ran to the house with Dream trailing behind him.

"Mmm" The two inhaled the aroma as Tubbo handed them a plate and armed them with a fork. 

"I haven't ate since before the water balloon incident!" Dream rubbed his hands together, barley chewing as he took a bite. "You've been practicing Tubbs!" He said between mouthfuls. However, his stomach soon lurched and his eyes widened. Emptying out a water bucket, Dream promptly threw up in it. 

"Oooookay" Tommy pushed his plate away from him in defeat. "I lost my appetite"

"Did I put too much pepper?" Tubbo said with a worried look. Dream waved him off. 

"It's alright- though I was eating perfectly fine last loop"

Tommy snapped his fingers. "I know. Right now, your body's still used to eating dry-ass potatoes and/or [he said it like "and slash or] nothing. You can't eat heavy foods in this time"

Dream just realized how much his body was aching from the cuts and bruises. "Oh fuck, where are the bandages-"

"I'll go get some- they're at Snowchester" 

"Oh waaait" Tommy checked the time on his communicator. "Shit, I gotta go do something" He turned to Dream. "I swear to fucking XD if you die for the 10th time I will not revive you"

The other rolled his eyes. "Alright"

 Stepping on the grassy terrain, Sapnap shook off the water as he pocketed the button. Looking around, he quietly walked into the forest, scanning the area. Hearing a soft call, he ran to that direction and bounded up a nearby tree.

There stood Dream, and by the looks of it he was cupping something in his hand. Sapnap narrowed his eyes, brushing the tail of his signature bandana out of the way. What was he up to?

"Right here little gal" The green man squatted down and a small bunny hopped out of his palm. "C'mon, go find your mama. I have to be quick- Tommy'll kill me if I stay out for too long". The animal gave a small squeak is it jumped back into its burrow. Sapnap couldn't believe his eves. Did Dream.. just act soft.. alone? When he didn't have to? Was always like this?

Did he really change?

No. Sapnap thought. This must be some sick game. He slid down the tree as Dream walked deeper into the dense forest. Running after him, Sapnap jumped over a ravine gap.

[Pov switch (I think)]

Dream jogged across the plain, skirting to a stop as he looked down a deep ravine. Taking a big gulp of air, he did a running jump, only exhaling once his feet were firmly on the ground. He heard a small thump behind him. Classic Sapnap. 

"Why hello there Sap" Dream said, swiftly turning around. It must've startled Sapnap, as the man fell backwards.

Into the ravine.

"SHIT!" Dream yelled, grabbing the other's hand before it was too late.

Sapnap's eyebrows raised in surprise as he was pulled up. "I- uh-"

"Nono, it's fine, catch your breath" The green man said calmly, hopping on to a nearby rock.

Sapnap didn't take his eyes off his former best friend as he huffed. "What.. what are you up to?"

"Nothing" Dream simply replied. That just raised Sapnap's suspicions even more.

"Why didn't you let me fall?" He demanded. "You- you know why I'm here"

With a heavy sigh, Dream hopped to face him. "Sap.. you might not want to believe me, but I've been though so many loops where you kill me, Where I kill you. And..." He looked down. "I wonder if this'll be any different"

"I- why"

"Huh?"

Sapnap twitched. "Why did you do all of that? Why did you throw us away? Why- why aren't you killing me right now. You have the chance"

Dream bit the inside of his cheek. "I.. just wanted it to be like the old days. Before the wars. Before L'manburg. I know it's a shitty excuse- I pushed you away in the process"

"Did.. you really mean what you said back then?"

"I don't know Sapnap" With a forlorn look, Dream crumpled on the soft grass. "I- don't know"

Looking down at his former best friend, Subpoena sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for assuming- but.. you did hurt me"

"I'm.. sorry. I know this won't fix anything, but- is there anything I can do"

"Well, there is one thing" Sapnap admitted with the smallest hint of a smile. "It's- about Karl and George"

"So.. you're telling me" Dream nimbly leaped onto a tree "That there's some curse on them?"

"Well.." Sapnap followed him, surprised someone who spent months in prison could still parkour. "It seems like it. Karl wakes up from time to time- but it seems like he just disappears. "And George- he's been hanging out with the god XD a lot"

"Dee you son of a-" Dream facepalmed, one hand still hanging on to the vine.

Sapnap waited for him to continue the sentence. "Do you know him?"

"Know him?" Snorted Dream. "He's the idiot I have for a brother"

"He's.. your brother?" Sapnap said skeptically, still not able to fully believe everything Dream said. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Well-" Dream swung to the next tree "-I didn't want you to think of me differently because of that"

"Oh" Sapnap sidestepped so to not fall between the leaves. "I get that"

They chatted a bit more, still focusing on not falling as they made their way to Kinoko.

"So-" Dream hopped onto the tallest tree so far, scanning the mushroom-themed buildings.

"Where are those two?"

Meanwhile 

Tubbo quietly zipped into the large mansion, letting out a startled noise as Micheal pounced on him.

"Bee!" The baby zombie piglin said joyously as he held up his chicken. "You're back! Chicky and me were missing you" [I've given up on giving him a lisp]

"Ah- hello Micheal" Tubbo patted him on the head. 

"Tubbo"

Knowing this would come sooner or later, Tub took a big breath and turned around. "Well...hey Ranboo"

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before jumping into each other's arms.

"I'm so sorry" Tubbo sobbed into Boo's shoulder. "You must've had the shit scared out of you"

Nodding, Ranboo held him closer. "It's just- he's done so much to me Tubbo- to you. I know he's changed-"

"-But he has to prove it to you" Tubbo finished. 

"I'm glad you're back though" Ranboo smiled. Tubbo snuggled deeper into his warm arms.

"Bee, Boo" The two got jumpscared as they forgot Micheal was in the room- "What-" Micheal coughed. "What the fuck is happening?"

Horror stricken, the couple stared at their child wide-eyed. 

"WHERE DID HE LEARN THAT?!" They both yelled.

Meanwhile meanwhile

Galloping on his horse across the fresh, pristine white snow, Tommy smiled.

"Micheal's first swear word" He said, wiping a tear from his eye. "I'm so proud"

Chapter Text

Leaping onto the birch floor, Dream brushed his hand against the bumpy mushroom walls. Sapnap ran past him and kneeled beside the two beds, each occupied by a sleeping form. 

Putting a hand each on Karl and George, Sapnap let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "They're still- here" 

Stretching his arms, Dream sighed. "I think the reason they're sleeping is because their code's unstable". Receiving a confused glace, he evaluated. "Each person has inner code in them, something admins can access as long as it's in their server. If I'm not mistaken, Karl's memory and time stability got.. messed up. George- I don't know"

"Okay... what do you have to do?"

Dream didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked over to Karl and brushed his hands over him. Suddenly, a panel similar to an admin's opened up. Purple and teal dust swirled around as green code glowed hauntingly. Looking as though he was about to dive in, he turned to Sapnap. 

"I'm going to have to enter- it's basically like an alternate dimension. I'll fix the code- then "swim" back up, and Karl will hopefully wake up. After I'll do the same for Gogy. And Sapnap?"

"Yea?"

"Normally, this never happens. But when it does-" His eyes turned glossy as he glanced at Sapnap. "If an admin stays in there for too long- their code will disperse from becoming to unstable. They won't die. They'll just be... gone"

"Wait.." Sapnap widened his eyes and took a step forward. "Wait!"

Dream didn't seem to hear him. "So if I don't come back.." Dream walked backwards and did a running jump.

"I'm sorry"

Then he dived in.

Meanwhile

Hooves galloped over the spruce gates as Tommy pulled up to stone steps. Stepping off, he smiled at his father on the porch.

"Tommy!" Phil exclaimed sleepily as he hugged Tommy. "Good to see you mate"

"You too" A whimper escaped the other's mouth. A few minutes later, the door creaked open as the tall shadow of Techno loomed over him.

Tommy's hands felt clammy. His mouth felt taped shut. He'd practiced this hundreds of times, this wouldn't be that different, would it?

Stumbling over his words, Tommy stutterd. "H-h- hey Techno"

"Tommy" The looming glare of his older brother made Tommy sweat even harder. "What do you want"

"I- I-" Tommy's voice cracked as he stumbled forward. "I'm sorry"

Tears soon came after, him crying into the crimson cloak. Startled, Techno gave him an awkward-one armed hug and frantically looked at Phil for help.

"I'm so fucking sorry" Tommy sobs were clouded by the cape. "I was a bitch, I left you when you needed me, I was an asshole"

"Y- yea" Techno was really not good at feelings. "You-" He glared at Phil who gave him a hard nudge.

"Tell him you're sorry too, it's not that hard mate" Phil whispered.

"I- I'm sorry too.....?" Techno said in an iffy tone. He gave a pained noise as Tommy clung closer.

Meanwhile meanwhile

Dream looked around the pocket dimension, looking for anything that looked out of place. He was basically floating in space- it took a lot of effort just to move a few feet forward. Finally, he arrived at the core. 

"It should be around here somewhere.." He said to himself. "Aha!"

Bouncing towards a section of code, he spotted some that were glowing red. It seemed as though it was a disease- slowly infecting and creeping onto others. Opening up some sort of keyboard, Dream wiped out all of the virus. Now all that was left was to fix memory lane.

He sprang towards another section, wincing as his form glitched. Time was running out.

Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile

Tommy wiped his tears away with his sleeve as Phil handed him a cup of hot coco. 

Taking a sip of his coffee, Techno softened. "I get it Tommy. It's fine- you're okay(please stop emitting tears child). But I don't understand-" He snorted. "-Where did this come from? Last time you were swearing at me at every chance possible"

"You.. uh don't know about the whole Dream-prison-escape thing?"

Techno spat out his coffee elegantly. [Or, as elegantly as you can when spitting out coffee] "The green Teletubby did WHAT?!" 

"You've.. been in hibernation for a long time mate" Phil said with a sigh.

"YOU KNEW ABOUT IT TOO?! AND NEVER TOLD ME?!"

"You woke up fuckin' 2 hours ago. I was taking it easy" The other shot back.

"Anyways" Tommy rolled his eyes. "Yes, the green bitch did escape, and y'know he's the admin of this server?" 

Techno and Phil nodded.

"Well, he kinddddd of messed up the code resulting in me him and Tubbo getting stuck in a time loop but then we formed some sort of truce and some how became mates and fooled around the entire time" Tommy explained in one big breath.

"What?!"

Face palming, Tommy groaned. "This'll be a long story"

Meanwhile meanwhile mea- oh you get it


Entering the memory chamber was hard. One wrong step and you could be seeing something from years ago- wasting time during it.

"Where they eating chick-fil-a?!" Dream murmured to himself as he dizzily came back to his senses. Finally entering the memory board, he scanned the wall for any mish-mashed code. Seeing it near the top-right corner, he hopped over and quickly erased it.

"Now.." He looked up. "Getouttathecodegetouttathecodegetouttathecodegetouttathecodegetouttathecode-"

Leaping out, he let out a big exhale. Sapnap was franticly pacing back and forth while he was gone- basically exploding at him when he saw that he was back.

"What the FUCK?! You scared the SHIT OUT OF ME?! Why did you wait till LAST MINUET TO TELL ME IT COULD BE FATAL?? WERE YOU TRYING TO TO SOME HEROIC SACRAFICE?!"

"Aw-" Dream smirked. "Was Pandas scared that Dreamie was going to be gone forever?"

"Shut up-" Sapnap's face reddened. Noticing Karl's stirring form, he ran over.

"Hm-" Karl jolted up. "I'M UP! I'M UP- oh hey Sap. Hiya Dream"

"Uh- hey Karl! Glad to see you awake?" Dream was surprised that the time-traveler wasn't freaking out by the fact he was out of prison.

"You too- SAPNAP!" Karl jumped out of bed and hugged his fiancé. 

"I missed you so much" Sap murmured into his shoulder. Dream was miming throwing up from all of the fluff.

"I did too- wait. What happened to George?"

"Oh, him?" Dream looked over. "Yea, he's asleep. I'll be right back" Ignoring Sapnap's protests, he opened up Gogy's inner code and hopped in.

Meanwhile (x5)

"Yea.. so we got back, did some shit, and now I'm here"

"Oh..kay" Techno nodded slowly.

Tommy felt silent and looked down. "Re-living those moments over and over made me realize... how much of a bastard I've been to you"

"...Ah"

"I know this won't mend anything.. but I'm sorry. I know how much you want me to say it" Tommy slumped forward.

"You're.. not wrong. Thank you though"

"So.. we good?"

"..Yes"

Tommy smiled. 

"Just asking.. how's the green teletubby doing? I presume he's not homeless anymore, sadly, but I'm surprised the other nerds haven't hunted him down yet"

"Nope! We- well Tubbo actually- technically exiled him. But we're friends with him. And the SMP's not killing him. It'd be useless anyways, we can revive people now. But I mean, just saying"

"Oh. That's.. nice?"

"You should visit him- or us, we'll probably be there half of the time- sometime! Or we'll come to you"

"..Does that mean more social interaction? As in admitting he has a house?"

Never gonna give you up (yet)

Dream, now a bit more experienced, easily breezed though the time code [Gogy's body couldn't tell whether it was time to wake up or not] and now that was left was memory. Confidently strolling to the motherboard, of course he fell into a memory.

And this wasn't a good one.

Just tell me you hate me Dream  The voice of his former best friend echoed in his ears. Just admit it

Oh Dream thought. It's.. this. Due to the time loop, he'd encountered this situation multiple times. It was basically engraved in his brain.

So why did it seem to sting so much?

He was intrigued. Never before had he been able to see what George did right after he said those words- he'd never been able to-

The painful glitch that spread across his body reminded him that there wasn't time for that. Forcing himself out (by concentrating hard), he ran towards the wall of code. Once again, he scanned the wall for anything red. But this time he found something that was green. Dark green. 

Oh, Dee, I swear to- well, you Dream thought as he tried to un-bug it. However- a god's handiwork was way more powerful. As he tried to erase it, Dream knew that he was about to fizzle out into nothingness any second now. 

"C'mon, C'MON-" Dream yelled as he gave the code a forceful tug. It finally gave in- deleting every last bit of the command, Dream vaulted out of the dimension with a big breath. Brushing off the dust, he welcomed a panicked hug from Sapnap.

"You were gone for 10 MINTUES" Subpoena screamed, clinging onto him. "I THOUGH YOU DIED!"

"Well, I'm alive aren't I?" Dream said, rolling his eyes. 

Just like Karl before him, George shot up, opening his eyes for the first time in weeks. 

"GEORGE!" Sapnap said joyfully, clapping his hands excitedly. 

Sleeping beauty didn't seem to notice Sap, eyes resting on the man who stood before him.

"Hey.." Dream smiled.

"Dream" George said.

And his tone wasn't welcoming. 

Chapter Text

Sapnap was in tears. He hugged George, taking in all of his warmth. "I missed you so much" He murmured. 

"I.. missed you to. Was I gone for that long?" George's eyes softened. Sapnap nodded.

Dream, on the other hand, stayed out of the reuniting. This wasn't his time to be-

"Thank you!" Sapnap flinged himself into his other best friend's arms. Startled, Dream slowly lifted up his arms and hugged him back. Suddenly, a pair of white wings shot though the air and they went around Sapnapo too. 

Ignoring Sapnaps many gasps, Dream took a step back, tucked his wings in, and turned to George. "I'm.. glad you're-"

"Why..are you here"

Meanwhile

XD sighed. Being the god of order could be exhausting  sometimes. Servers could have too many rules to keep track of- some could have too many rule breakers. [Also, don't ask why he never stopped Tommy when he joined from breaking rule 1 and 2. I don't know either. DEE YOU HAD ONE JOB]He just had to debug with a certain server of people who liked to build because someone caused mass amount of lag due to too many boats. He did not get paid enough for this. After plonking down on a chair, he was startled when a green spark followed by a white feather floated down into his hand. 

"Dream!" The good exclaimed cheerfully. "I was wondering when you'd finally grow them out". He opened a panel similar to that of an admin's- with a few extra features, of course. [He's a god. Duh]

"Oh. He got it by going into the inner codes. Self sacrifice. Classic. Hm- Karl and George. Wait"

Why did the name George ring a bell? [Literally. He could hear Technoblade selling out a dimension away]

I'll be your best friend forever

The all powerful XD, god of order and rules, let out a small "oops"

Dream clammed up as soon as those words left Georges mouth.  "I... excuse me..?" He said meekly. 

George's glare seemed to burn though Dream as he sighed. "Last time I remembered, you were supposed to be in prison"

"I- I- yea- about that.." Dream started. "So, uhm.. story is-"

"No, I don't want to hear the story" George continued coldly- not noticing Sapnap shaking his head madly. "I think life's been hard enough without your presence"

He would soon regret those words.

Tommy waved to Tubbo as they headed to Timeloop town together. "Got the bandages?"

"Yup!" Tubbo held them up as they headed towards the house. Busting down the door, they both yelled. "DREAM! WE'RE BACK!"

Walking in, they looked around. No sign of Dream. Going upstairs, they saw Patches meowing sadly. With no sign of Dream.

"Oh. Shit"

"FUCK"!

Sprinting towards the bed, Tommy picked up a note left on the sheets.

Hey Tommy. I know you're reading this

Don't be mad, but Sapnap needs some help, and I've kinda been a jerk to him, so I'm off to help him

Don't be mad,

-Dream :)


"SON OF A BIT- well if he dies I'm not reviving him"

"What...should we do"

Tommy sighed. "Well, I do have a child to teach swear to. Bye!"

"Wait" Tubbo took a second to process what he just said. "WAIT, IT WAS YOU?!" 

"Byeee!"

"YOU BASTAR-"

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?"

George rolled his eyes. 

Rolled his eyes. And this time it wasn't him teasing

"I.. I did all of that" Now it was Dream's gaze that was burning though everyone. "AND YOU SAY THAT?!?"

"You-"

"GEORGE! I SPENT WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS WAITING FOR THIS DAY WHEN I COULD FINALLY TALK TO YOU AGAIN- AND YOU GIVE ME THIS?! WITHOUT ME, YOU'D STILL BE IN YOUR LITTLE WORLD- THIS IS THAT THANK YOU I GET?! I COULD'VE DIED TRYING TO SAVE YOU-" George's eyes widened as Dream took a step forward. 

"YOU NEVER CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY, DID YOU? I'VE RELIVED THE SAME DAYS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND YOU NEVER-" Dream stopped dead as Sapnap put a hand on his shoulder.

With fear in his eyes.

He fucked up, didn't he?

"What I'm saying is-" He hiccoughed "I'm sorry. But that's never good enough, is it?"

Then he disappeared.

Seeing the solemn look on Sap's face, George realized.

"I messed up, didn't I?"

Meanwhile

"When I say fu, you say ck! Fu!"

"Ck!" Micheal said happily.

"Fu!"

"Ck!"

"Great!" Tommy smiled. "Now what starts with a s and ends with a t?"

"Shit!"

"Yea! What's another word for cat?"

"Pussy!"

"FANTASTIC!" Tommy yelled, lifting the baby piglin up and spinning him in his arms. "Last one! Give me a sentence that has at least 3 swears!"

"Bitch-ass motherfucking cock-sucking pussy!

"THAT'S 5!" Micheal giggled as Tommy flung him into the air and caught him in his arms. "I'm so proud of you"

Nearby, Tubbo and Ranboo were watching them, telepathically screaming. 

"We are never letting him babysit" They whispered at the same time.

Sam was slowly walking along prime path when he heard a small sob beside him. Swiveling around, he was shocked to see Dream beside him. On the ground, arms around his legs.

Crying.

Chapter Text

"..Uh, hello Dream"

Dream's head shot up as he sniffed. "Oh! Hey Sam!" He said, forcing a smile.

"Are...you okay?" The creeper hybrid said awkwardly. 

"Oh! Oh yea, never been better!" Dream squeaked, voice higher than usual. Sam's stern gaze showed that he was no where near convincing him. Cracking a bit, Dream let out a small sob and pulled his legs in a little closer.

Startled, Sam winced as another round of tears erupted from the other. He didn't know how to deal with this.

But he knew who could. 

"...I'll go get help" He said quietly. Dream didn't seem to hear him.

"Now Micheal" Tommy rubbed his hands together and grinned. "I'm going to teach you the best phrase ever"

The zombie piglin nodded so enthusiastically he would've gotten whiplash.

"It's cock...and b-" Suddenly his communicator buzzed, cutting him off.

Awsamedude whispers to TommyInnit: Tommy. I think you should come to prime path

Awsamedude whispers to TommyInnit: For some unknown reason Dream's...crying and uh I don't know how to feelings

Awsamedude whispers to TommyInnit: And..bring Tubbo with you

The look on Tommy's face said everything. Nodding, Ranboo led them to the stables and saddled their horses. Giving them the salute, he wished them good luck. 

"I'll take care of Micheal! And try to see if I can give him memory loss"

Sam let out a sigh of relief as the clingy duo raced towards him. Slowly slinking away, he let them deal with Dream. 

"WHO HURT YOU!??" Tommy demanded as he tried to hug the green man.

"Oh-" Dream choked. "H- hey Tommy. I'm fine"

"No you are not!" Tubbo huffed as he sat down beside them. "You.. sure you don't want us to do anything? I found the second nuke by the way" 

Dream bit the inside of his cheek. "Y- yea I'm FINE!" White wings shot out of his back, almost hitting the two. "Sorrysorrysorry" He said, flinching.

"Pog! W-" Tommy's eyes widened as a few raindrops splashed against his t-shirt. "Uhhh-"

Lightning crackled in the dark clouds as Tubbo shifted towards Tommy. Thunder boomed, as the server cried along with it's admin.

"Iiiii don't think we're helping"

"Shitshitshitshit" Sapnap paced back and forth frantically, pulling at his hair. George on the other hand, calmly walked into the other room. A few seconds later, Sapnap heard a loud "FUCK"

The door slammed back open as George face planted on the floor. "I'm suck a fucking asshole fuck fuck fuck fuck"

Well, you technically are Sapnap thought, but that wouldn't help anything. "Wellllll you're going to have to be the one to apologise. How the turns have tabled"

"He's going to hate meeeeeeee for a good reason tooooo" George's voice was muffled as he stuffed his face into a blanket. "Shiiiiittttttttttttt"

Karl walked into the room, looked at the two people having mental breakdowns, then promptly walked out. 

"I mean, it's not your fault, you didn't know, but at the same time, you were and ass, but at the same time, he used to be an ass, but at the same time, you didn't give him a chance-" Sapnap was cut off as George screamed into the pillow. 

"He's probably pissed at me, FUCK FUCK FUCK"

"Well," Sapnap cracked his knuckles "Time to bring out the poems"

Tommy ment this in the lightest, nicest, kindest possible way possible.

Dream was depressed. 

The man was literally smooshing his face into the pillow. 

He was definitely depressed.  

"George hates meeee" Dream groaned as he pounded the bed frame. "Fuckkkkkk"

"I mean, he's probably doing the same thing as you. You both are technically assholes" Tommy pointed out, seemingly giving an invisible wall the "you know what I mean" look.  

A few minutes later, the door slammed open as Tubbo walked in. "I swear to XD, Micheal has been corrupted. And there's no way to uncorrupt him. YOU GAVE HIM HOMEWORK- gah!"

White wings took up the room as Dream winced. "Ah. Sorry. Getting used to these. Yelling seems to trigger them. I don't deserve them"

"Oh. Sorry. You alright? Anyways" Tubbo cleared his throat, and started to whisper-scream. "YOU MADE HIM WRITE DOWN ALL OF THE ONES HE LEARNED!???"

Tommy huffed. "You found them? I told him to hide the paper. Dahm. He's getting an F"
 
"SINCE WHEN WERE YOU HIS TEACHER?!"

"Uh-" Dream flinched. "I think we should go let out our anger by doing something. Other than yelling"

"Arson is the best strategy" Tommy announced. "I got a map leading to a woodland mansion that I stole-" He coughed "-Borrowed from one of Techno's villagers. I think his name was orphan? Weird"

Tubbo let out a long hum. "Hate to break it to you Tommy.. that's a map for an ocean monument"

"Excuse. Me"

"Water" Tubbo repeated.

Tommy blew up. "THAT LYING PIECE OF SHIT-" 

"Lets.. go anyways"

"You're hogging all the dolphins!"

"It's not my fault they love me!" Dream laughed as he zipped though the water.

"You're going to get me wet!" Tubbo exclaimed as he swirved his boat around.

"Well then maybe don't go near people using tridents!" Tommy shot back. "

Sighing, Tubbo broke his tubboat and took out a trident basicly radiating purple energy. He aimed, and promptly flew across the ocean.

"Uh"

"Uh"

"UHHHHHHHHHH"

"DID HE ABUSE THE ENCHANTMENTS?!" Dream sighed heavily. "His turns are getting terminated". Then, as if a lightbulb turned on in his head, he got an idea. Dream launched into the air, spreading out his wings. Gliding above the water, he laughed at the shock on Tommy's face.

"NOT FAIR!" The gremlin yelled. Rolling his eyes, Dream opened his admin panel, summoned a trident close to the one Tubbo had, and threw it to Tommy.

"Oh fuck yea"

"What took you guys so long?" Dream smirked, back against a prismarine pillar.

"HOW?!" The two others demanded as the swam down. They didn't get an explanation.

"Wait-" Tubbo looked around, confused. "Where's the monument? This is just an empty frame of the entrance"

"Turns out" Dream sighed, sliding one of his hands against the runes engraved on the columns. "This is just a portal to the monument. It's in another server"

"Huh?"

Chewing the inside of his cheek, Dream explained. "Basically, there's always portals to other servers in ever server. That's how, for example, Ninja visited us. [Yes. That's canon] The reason we never get any.. unwanted visitors is that, well, XD. So, basically, there is a monument, it's just in another server. Villager maps can do that. Don't ask. It's probably not an SMP though, maybe just an unexplored new world.

Tommy and Tubbo nodded. "Let's go, shall we?"

Dream summoned some sort of flint and steel, however this one was radiating green energy. He ran the iron against the flint, and blew the dim fire onto the ruin. It sparked, and a ripple shudderd though the frame as swirls of blue particles enveloped the portal.

"Hop right in"

Closing his eyes, George opened the door.

"Dream, I'm so fucking sorr-"

He heard a meow.

"Dream?" He looked down. Patches looked up at him, letting out a loud purr. 

"I...." George swallowed a lump in his throat. Shit.

Where was Dream?

He messed up hard.

Chapter Text

Dream threw the two others potions of water breathing as they dived deeper into the monument. "What the fuc- why do you have so many?" Tommy looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"I have a LOT of time for fishing" Dream answered. 

They swam in the illuminated building, stabbing every guardian they saw. Suddenly, the oh so familiar  feeling of mining fatigue spread across Dream. He felt like a weight was attached to him- dragging him down, down, down, down-

"Dream!" Tommy threw a bottle full of milk at him. Giving him a grateful glace, Dream chugged it down as he speared the elder guardian. With the three of them there, it was a breeze. They placed a sponge in every nook and cranny, and sealed off the entrance. 

"Okay" Tubbo cracked his knuckles. "Time for the gold, baby"

They searched for the treasure room, Dream getting way to excited when he accidentally found the sponge room again.

"Over here!" Tommy blubbled, and they all hacked at the prismarie. 

Collecting all of the gold, they filled out. Heads bobbing on the surface, Tommy sighed in content.

"Not as good as arson, but close. Okay, how do we get back big man?"

"Follow me" Dream smiled.

"SAPNAPPPPP" George screamed, kicking down the door. "FUCK HE'S NOT THERE"

"Oh" Sapnap chewed the inside of his cheek. "Uh.. he might've- uh- oh!" Running over to the chest, he nearly dived it. After a few minutes of rummaging, he pulled out a glowing compass. 

"You still have it?" George said in surprise. "Mine broke a long time ago"

The compasses always pointed to Dream, and they used then when they would do their manhunts. However, this time the compass was spinning madly, and Sapnap looked at it in worry. 

"He's.. in another server. We need to be in the same one for it to work"

George was looking at an anvil very thoughtfully.

"Don't worry, he'll probably be back soon"

Unfortunately, George was to busy banging his head on said anvil to hear him.

"Soooo you have no fucking idea where the portal is?"

"No!" Dream defended. "I just need to find it"

"Same thing"

They trekked up the hills, and then Tubbo let out a yelp. "Is that it?"

Staring at the portal that was nearly covered in vines, Dream smiled. "Yes!"

"Well then LET'S GO!" Tommy pushed them forward as they ran to the portal. Lighting it up, Dream huffed when the tall stature of XD loomed above them.

"W̴̘̄͠H̴̨̝͖̰͋Á̸͙̝̙T̷̛̺͈ͅ ̴̧͙̖̮̓Ḋ̵̔͜Ó̸̰̲̄̈́͝ ̴̥̻̔͗Ẏ̷̼͉͎͙Ö̶̜͈Ụ̵̝͉̓͝-̴̰͒̆-"

Dream rolled his eyes. "Shut it XD, we have an SMP to go to" 

Tommy and Tubbo snickerd, letting at out an "oooh" as the the god huffed and let the through.

As the sound of swirling filled their ears, they found themselves back at the SMP.

"That was fun!" Tubbo remarked, shaking a bit of water out of his hair.

"Yea! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a scammer to punt to the moon" Tommy poshly dashed to the direction of the arctic, eyes screaming bloody murder.

"Bye.." Dream hummed, walking towards exile. However, when he passed by the tree, he stopped.

Ah. It was that tree.

He brushed his hand against the peeling bark, Dream inhaled the old, natural smell. Sliding down onto the grass, he closed his eyes.

Oh how he wished he could go back to the old times, playing by the tree.

A voice cut his thoughts. "Dream"

Dream's breath hitched. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw George. The man was in his classic blue shirt, clout goggles sitting atop his head. He was holding a compass.

And its arrow was pointing directly at Dream.

"I- George.."

They stared into each other's eyes as time ticked by. And if by magic, they were suddenly in each other's arms.

"I'm so fucking sorry" George sobbed, clinging onto Dream. "I'm such an ass"

"Nono, it's my fault" Dream hiccupped.

"I was the one to yell at you"

"Well I was the one who abandoned you in the first place, so you had a valid reason to yell at me" Dream shot back.

George's face fell. "I.. left you when you had no one else. Even if you were a bitch"

"Well don't feel bad about it.."

"I didn't even hear your side of the story"

"You didn't need to, I didn't deserve anyone"

"It's my fault"

"No, it's my fault"

Sapnap was suddenly in the cuddle pile. "Shut it you two, it's MY fault"

The three, still engulfing each other in a hug, fell down, laughing like idiots.

"I missed you so much" Dream and George said softly at the same time..

Under the tree, they continued joking around till the sun set.

Just like to good old days.

Tubbo's arms waved enthusiastically as he continued his monologue. "So basically after I did that, Dream ran over to loop-you and-"

"DON'T COMPLETE THAT SENTENCE!" Dream tackled Tubbo out onto the floor as George wheezed his heart out.

"Oh come on boss man, if you're dignified enough to still go out in public you should be able to-"

"Hey Dream, when you're done being a tomato could you give me the admin abilities for a second?" Tommy called, rolling his eyes at something Sapnap was telling him.

Not even a minute later, green particles swirled around Tommy as he flew into the air. "Oh la la" He said as he opened the panel, examining the endless river of code.

"Hey, why did I never get to do that?" Sapnap complained. 

Tommy snorted as he spun around. "Well shitnap, ask him when you've broken him out of prison for the 150th time. Am I right Tubbo? Get up to our level-"

Dream looked over, horrified as Tommy's hand conveniently brushed over a specific piece of code.

"Something wrong?" George grew concerned at Dream's expression.

However he didn't get a response, as dread spread across the green man as Tommy fell to the ground, Tubbo soon passing out after him.

What worried Dream the most was that he didn't feel the familiar feeling of sickness, that he didn't pass out.

Chapter Text

Tommy's gaze swept the area, wilting a bit when he saw the familiar rows of seats. Tubbo was about to be executed. 

But that didn't matter. Dream would stop it, just like he did every single time this loop occurred. 

So where was he?

Biting his tongue, sweat poured though Tommy's palms as he franticly looked around. Dream, where the FUCK are you?

But there he saw him, standing on a far hill, spectating the scene.

Even with the mask on, Tommy could tell he was smiling.

What. The. Fuck?

Tommy closed his eyes, swallowing hard. He must be waiting for the right time. Yea, that was it.

Crossing his fingers, Tommy murmured furiously. Hearing the click of a crossbow, Tommy's heart filled with dread.

His body went limp when he heard a cry, followed by a boom.

[Tubbo went off with a bang] 

Sliding across the sand, Tommy hesitated before blurting out "Dream?"

The green man huffed before turning to the blonde. "Yes, Tommy?" He said in an irritated voice.

An irritated voice.

"Uh... whydidn'tyousaveTubbo?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why didn't you save Tubbo when he was about to be exec-"

"Oh Tommy" Dream snorted. "Why would I? Why even worry about Tubbo? He's the one who put you here" He said, smiling a sadistic smile. "He deserved that, no?"

Tommy stayed silent. Ah, shit.

"Well I'm off" Dream's grin unsettled Tommy even more. "But before I go-

-Put your stuff in the hole"

No. This couldn't be happening.

He hadn't heard those words in forever.

Tommy's petrified eyes looked down at the gaping crater in the earth.

Dream raised his eyebrow. "Tommy. I said, put your stuff in the hole"

"..." Tommy was about to cry. "...Alright" He said in a small voice.

As the arrow stuck the TNT, Tommy's hopes went along with his stuff.

What had he gotten himself into?

As soon as Tubbo fazed into consciousness, he dashed for Tommy's hobbit hole. 

He needed to make sure this was his Tommy.

Because he knew something for sure.

His Dream wasn't in the time loop.

His Dream would never let him be executed without his consent.  

"TOMMY!" Tubbo screamed, kicking down the door.

His best friend sprung out of bed, hyperventilating.

"WHAT WAS THE FIRST CARD GAME THAT HAPPEND AFTER WE ENTERED THE SECOND TIME LOOP?!" Tubbo demanded, shaking Tommy by the shoulders.

Alarmed, Tommy quickly answered. "G- GO FISH!"

Both breathing a sigh of relief, they crumpled onto the bed and both let out a small sob. 

"Dream's not in the fucking time loop" Tommy cried, burrowing his head into the pillow.

"Why though? WHY?!" 

"Wait wait wait WE CAN ASK XD!" Tommy sprang from the shack and slid across the grass, Tubbo following him.

Slapping the other with a revival book, they both watched with bated breath as the god XD appeared.

"W̵H̶A̶T̸ ̸D̶O̵ ̴Y̴O̴U̴ ̸R̸E̶Q̴U̵E̵S̶T̵,̵ ̵M̷O̶R̵T̵A̴L̵" The deity boomed. 

Tommy nervously snapped and did finger guns. "Okayyy hey XD so uh y'know how we're in a time loop and-" 

"I̵ ̵D̴O̶ ̶N̸O̷T̶ ̶H̸A̷V̴E̷ ̶T̸I̷M̴E̴ ̵F̸O̷R̷ ̵T̴H̵I̵S̴ ̷T̸O̶M̸ ̸F̴O̷O̵L̵E̶R̵Y̴,̸ ̵W̶H̶A̸T̴ ̴D̴O̶ ̸Y̶O̵U̵ ̷W̵I̸S̵H̶"

"Ah fuc-"

Tubbo clapped his hand over Tommy's mouth. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh soup"

With a sigh, the god disappeared, leaving behind a bowl of mushroom soup.

"Mmh" Tommy said, and suddenly he was trying it. "That's some good soup"

Tubbo blew up. "IT'LL NEVER BE AS GOOD AS DREAM'S SOUP!" AND WE'LL NEVER HAVE HIS COOKING AGAIN IF WE DON'T GET OUT OF THIS LOOP!"

"...Good point" Tommy drained the bowl and racked his brains. "First off.. does not our Dream have.. the admin panel?"

Their expressions clouded. If he did....

This would be a nightmare to fix.

Thankfully, as Tommy mustered up the magic, the admin panel fizzled open. Unfortunately, the relief that washed over them was soon over as the stared at the endless amounts of errors.

"Welp, fuck, we're toast"

"How the fuck did arm even do this? Must've been all the muscles" 

"XD's not going to listen... he's not in the loop either.. but if we can get not our Dream to.."

Tommy too busy digging himself a grave to hear him.

"Ten paces, fire!" 

Biting the inside of his cheek, Tommy walked up and aimed his bow.

Dream showed no mercy.

Arrows clipped his shirt as Tommy cringed, trying his best to aim-at-but-not-kill Dream. Why wasn't he trying to kill him? Dream was trying to kill him, so why was Tommy.. trying to avoid killing him?

Tubbo, who was looking on in terror, cringed as one arrow nearly struck Tommy's arm. However, the true sight that made his heart drop soon came after.

An arrow sailed though the air, and they both watched as if in slow motion. It sped closer and closer at Tommy's chest and-

The sound of metal striking wood echoed though the air as Sapnap found himself next to Tommy, shield raised.  "STOP IT!"

Everyone stared at the man, Dream's glare basically burning a hole though Sapnap's head. 

"I- uh- sorry- I just- need- to talk.. to Tommy and Tubbo for a bit" Sap said, flustered.

The clingy duo looked at each other. 

This was new.

~ 

"So... Sapnap. You need something?"

Sippy cup looked at them, closing his eyes.

"You two are in this time loop-

And I'm it too"

Tommy found himself on the sandy shored of exile, cake in front of him.

This was the party no one would come to. But that wasn't the important matter.

Was last loop just a... well, dream? 

Why was Sapnap of all people in the loop with them?

What caused Dream not to come with them? [Ahaha that's what she said lvjwaejfepoqjfpo]

Suddenly, two ender pearls shattered beside him. 

"Okay.. what was the last thing you remember before the loop started?" Sapnap asked, catching his breath alongside Tubbo.

Surprised, Tommy stuttered. "Uh- I was flying- I think my hand messed up the code- I was talking about how you needed to do shit to earn your admin turns- Tubbo was supposed to back me up-"

Tubbo snapped his fingers. "THERE WE GO!"

"Huh?"

Sapnap also connected the dots. "YOU WERE THINKING/TALKING ABOUT US WHEN THE LOOP STARTED! THAT'S IT!"

"Oh"

"So.." Tubbo grew serious. "How do we.. convince him to help us"

"I mean.. I'm his best fri-" Sapnap caught himself as he grew grim. "I was his best friend"

Tommy patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry big man, you aren't a piece of shit in the non-loop Dream's book"

"That doesn't make me feel better somehow"

"Seriously guys.. how do we-"

"Tubbs, can we have one loop to..try to enjoy this"

Sapnap tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Yea. I was wondering how this shit works, could I see one loop?"

Considering, Tubbo tilted his head.

"You'll be able to cake Dream in the face without feeling bad about it~" Tommy said in a sing-song voice.

"Let's do it"

[Don't look at me like that, I need to make the chapter thicker also it's been some time since I wrote crack loops]

"Okay..." Tommy's nearly transparent body bobbed up and down as he waved his arms around. "We just walk in. And then do stuff. And make sure you use a shit ton of foreshadowing"

Sapnap examined his hands, still trying to get used to the light feeling of being a ghost. "Why do I still remember stuff?"

"Loop logic" Was all Tubbo answered. 

~

"Tommy! What the FUCK!" Wilbur yelped, staring at the blonde. 

"Yea?" Toast sighed, turning to him.

"You're- a ghost?"

"What about it?" Tubbo put his hands on his hips. "I find that quite discriminatory"

Techno took one look at the two, and fainted.

"Now THAT'S discriminatory. Am I TOO manly to look at?"

"We have to attack in 5 minutes! HOW DID YOU TWO DIE?" Wilbur screamed.

Tommy gasped. "WE ARE NOT DEAD!"

"WE ARE MERLEY NOT ASSOSIATED WITH THE LIVING!" Tubbo added.

"Also, I'm pretty sure you'll be part of the non-living soon Wilbur-IstoleEret'sLine-Minecraft"

"EXCUSE ME?" 

"Let's just say dad's crafting the belt" Tommy whistled. 

~

"Sapnap!" George choked, looking at his best friend. "WHAT HAPPEND?"

Rolling his eyes, Sappitus Nappitus adjusted his headband. "What?"

Dream walked over, nearly exploding. "WHAT THE SHIT SAPNAP! HOW THE FU-"

"Listen Dreamie, I know for a fact that you have the ability to revive people, so shut it" Sapnap sass-naped. [That is a new word]

"Excuse me?" 

"I am honestly so offended you never told me. Shame, you wouldn't tell me unless you had to, like I dunno, being help at axe-point on your last cannon life surrounded in obsidian armor-less and the whole SMP against you-" Sapnap said-naped and an extensive amount of wheeze-coughing followed.

George's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "WHAT?"

"I just realized-" Sapnap was now gasping for air- "we'd take you to a prison of your very own creation" [Yea, I know Sam was the one who build it, but Dream was the one who wanted it, close enough, let me have my joke]

Dream narrowed his eyes. He had no idea on what Sapnap was going on about, but he didn't like the idea of being locked up. [#Notmyfic!Dream]

Now cackling, Sapparation continued. "Hey Gogy, what're your opinion on mushrooms?"

"Meh, don't really like them. However, if you added them with a cottage-core asthenic.."

Excusing himself, Sapnap floated over to the next room and absolutely lost it.

~

The pogtopians faced Manburg, ready for battle. On the other side of field, Dream hissed softly as he called Punz over.

As the two sides prepared to clash, three ghosts floated out of the crowd.

"Sapnap! My man!" Tommy exclaimed, trying to hold in his laughter.

"Tommy! How's it going" Sapnap smiled, barley keeping it in.

"Up top!" Tubbo smirked, as they started their secret handshake.

An hour later, they were still exchanging thumb wars and arm wiggles and whatnot.

"Tommy what the FUCK ARE YOU DOING! HE'S THE ENEMY!"

"HE'S A FELLOW SPIRIT!" Tommy yelled back, as he continued to high-five the two others.

"Ah, shit, give me a second" Tubbo curtseyed and poshly skipped over to a nearby building, nearly causing the ground to shake as he yelled into it. "OI! DAD! YOU'VE BEEN AT THAT MARGARITA FOR THE PAST 20 MINTUES! TAKE A BREAK, OR YOU'LL GET A HEART ATTACK!"

Returning like nothing happened, he continued the handshake.

And that's what they did for the rest of the loop.

Explosions that seemed so familiar filled Tubbo's ears as he looked up. The sky was red. 

And a familiar obsidian grid occupied it. 

If his Dream were here, they'd probably make hot dogs out of Techno's hound army.

He might give him earmuffs to block out all the loud noise.

Tommy might bring a karaoke machine. 

They might've started a chicken nugget van.

But when Tubbo looked up, he didn't see his Dream.

He saw someone who he wanted to punch in the face.

Maybe he'd ask Tommy if he could have the admin abilities for just one loop.

After all, Dream always liked cake, didn't he?

[You know what happened] 

Chapter Text

Sapnap sprang awake, taking a giant gulp of air.

Last loop was... if he was going to be honest, amazing.

Being in a time loop made all his worries go away.

If only Dream and George was with here with him

"OI! SHITNAP! COME ON!" Tommy's voice could be heard for miles.

Sapnap sighed, rushing down the creaky stairs. His eyes were still blurry from fading in and out of consciousness.

Tubbo ran past the giant mushroom. "Dre-'ms in Pandora's"

"Oh" Sapnap yawned, not understanding why Tubbo was so downcast. "That's good. He'll be easier to find"

Tommy's eyes widened, and he had to give it his all to not punt the man to the moon. "He's being.. hurt" He said, not knowing how to explain Dream was being tortured. 

Sapnap's brow furrowed. "..Oh. Then let's go!"

The other two looked uncomfortable. "Erm- you don't have to, we can just go in-"

"It's fine, I can take it" Sapnap said quietly. "I know he won't want to see me, but I just..."

Tommy and Tubbo exchanged a look. 

"What?" Sapnap asked. 

"I'm not sure it's such a good idea..."

Sapnap huffed, walking past them and throwing a pearl. "I can do it myself!"

"What- wait!"

~

"Ah. Hey Sapnap!" Bad said cheerfully, legs crossed on the chair. 

Dizzy from all the nether portals, Sapnap waved.

"What can I do for you?"

"I need to go see Dream"

"Oh!" Bad clicked his tongue. "Sam.. told me no one but him could-"

"Bad!" Sapnap's hands slammed on the lectern in frustration. "..Please. It's important"

Sapnap knew fully well he was about to break a criminal out of prison, but Bad didn't need to know that.

"...Listen Sapnap, I would if I could. It's just- ever since Tommy... it's not safe. Why do you want to see him, anyway?"

"Because..." Sapnap said slowly, "It's can't be good to be... erm, locked up with no company for..."

He trailed off, but Bad seemed to remember something. 

"I- okay," The guard said weakly. "You're lucky Sam left his keycards here"

~


"Okay" Bad reached for the lever, yanking it down. "You rea- oh. My. Muffin"

As the lava fell down, the blood covered walls revealed themselves. Hands flying to his mouth, Bad looked at the cell, horrified at what he had let happen.

Sapnap was too shocked to speak. 

It was like Bad got a slap in the face. "When he said he was.. he was.."

The small form of Dream was visible, huddling in the corner.

In the blink of an eye, Bad piled health pots, gapples, bandages, you name it, he got it, into the other's arms. "Go. I don't care if Sam knows, I don't care if I get killed, just go" Bad said. "Tell him I'm sorry I didn't keep the promise"

~

Sapnap crouched down, softly putting a hand on Dream's shoulder. "....Dream?"

The man violently flinched away, eyes filled with fear.

Suddenly, two more people appeared in the room.

Tubbo closed his eyes, cursing as the invis wore off. This is what he was afraid of. Soon.. Sapnap would find about-

Tommy bit his cheek, silently passing Dream some earmuffs. He was trying not to shake, the blood-coated obsidian reminding him of his revival. All thanks to Dream...

Sapnap took a deep breath in, and then exploded. "SIR?! WHAT DOES HE MEAN, SIR?! WHO THE FUCK IS DOING THIS TO HIM? HOW COULD SAM LET SOMEONE DO THIS TO HIM? HOW COULD I LET SOMEONE DO THIS TO HIM?  THIS IS INHUMANE! THIS IS TORTURE!"

Tubbo was about to answer, but paused. "Erm...could we do this somewhere-"

"I am not leaving him" Sapnap snapped.

"...He didn't want you to find out like this-"

"THEN WHEN WAS HE GOING TO TELL ME?!" Sapnap screamed. "I- I can't believe-" 

"Can we please do this outside?" Tommy asked, voice panicked. "This place isn't reminding me of good things!"

Sapnap stared at him, then at the motionless Dream who was pressing himself against the wall. He then turned around and stormed back on the bridge.

~

"Who did that?" Sapnap demanded as soon as they stepped out.

Tommy stayed quiet, so Tubbo replied hesistantly. "...Quackity"

A mixture of shock, hurt, and confusion washed over Sapnap's face. 

Silent, Tubbo turned to him. "You know... when I first found out.. I thought he deserved it"

"WHAT?"

"You got to understand 'Sap.. he did ruin my life. I just thought karma was taking it's course. It took me a bit to fully wrap my head around what was happening. You have to understand some people just do things. They can't help the temptation, sometimes they take it too far. Tommy didn't have to burn down George's house- sorry Tommy. I didn't have to go after Techno to try to execute him. Dream didn't have to make me exile Tommy. You didn't have to go and start a pet war"

Quackity didn't have to go so far as to torture Dream. 

Sapnap let out a choked sob. Sitting down, crossed legged, he buried his head in his hands. "I'm a shit friend"

"Yeah, well we can worry about that later, can't we, because right now, I really want to go back to loop zero not going to lie so can we please get XD?!" Tommy asked.

Tubbo quickly scribed on a tissue and slapped Tommy with it. In a flash, XD teleported beside them.

XD took one look at Sapnap, then to Tubbo, lastly Tommy. Then he took a deep breath. "I am assuming that you are once more in a time loop? For what, the sixtieth time?" Sighing, he shook his head. "Show me the panel"

"...How come you remember?" Tommy asked slowly.

"I'm literally a god. No admin magic can control me, or else the world would be in chaos. Regardless, you just need to add a twelve-twenty here, and then the code shall be fixed. Now I will excuse myself, I count that you will follow my instructions"

He teleported out, leaving the three standing in a random field. 

"...Ready to go back?" Tubbo said quietly.

Tommy's hand hovered over the panel, but he felt himself falling before he could press the buttons.

"Tommy.. you promised.."

Ghostbur's voice struck though the blonde like lightning. 

What made it even worse was Dream's cackling.

"Oh hey Tommy!" The man smirked as he waved the revival book in the air. "So kind of you to come!"

Tommy could only watch helplessly as Ghostbur drew closer and closer. 

[Ghostbur was slain by Dream]


~


"Okay, so we have to.. Tommy? Tommy!" Tubbo snapped his fingers.

"Huh? Oh, keep going"

Tommy was mad. No, he wasn't mad. He was pissed. 

At Dream.

But why was he? That was the past. Dream was better.

Was he?

Tommy treaded on thought. Dream was kind now, hell thanks to him Tommy didn't die half the time, loop or not.

However, now Tommy remembered why he hated him so much.

But they laughed, cried, committed arson with one another! Tommy couldn't be mad- the man was one of his best friends.

So why was he fuming?

He had already forgiven him! It was too late to have these feelings!

Right?

Tubbo's voice snapped him out of it. "Alright! Tommy, do the thing"

Opening the admin panel, Tommy punched the numbers in.

Whirling around, Tommy let out a sigh of relief as familiar shrubs surrounded him. 

"TOMMY! TUBBO!" Dream ran over and engulfed them in a hug. "DID YOU GUYS MESS UP THE CODE AGAIN? I SWEAR-"

Flinching, Tommy pushed him away and let out a hiss before realizing what he just did. Everyone stared at him. "Uh.. yea big man, sorry 'bout that" He said, shuffling away.

Giving the blonde a concerned look, Sapnap let out a huff. "Where's my hug?"

"Wait... did.. you-" Dream dashed over and threw his arms over his best friend. "HOW?!"

Tubbo laughed. "It's a long story bossman" He patted the spot next to him on the bench. "I'll explain"

~

"So the main theory I have is that the person who breaks the code must be thinking about others, to ensure the others in the time loop" Tubbo ranted as he crossed his legs.

Dream nodded, scanning the yard. Sapnap was talking with George, and Tommy was by the flowers, just.. staring at them.

"Another thing is, it seems as though- Dream?" A worried look casted over Tubbo. "You okay bossman?"

Dream was quick to respond. "Yea!" 

Tubbo continued talking, but Dream didn't pay as much attention.

He couldn't help noticing the uncomf-tubbo uncomfortable glaces Tommy was giving him. 

As if he was making sure Tubbo wouldn't be harmed

Chapter Text

Dream bit the inside of cheek. "Tubs.." 

"Yea?"

"Do... you know why Tommy's avoiding me?"

Tubbo's face dropped. "He's not avoiding you!"

Raising his eyebrow, Dream put his hand on his hip. "Every time I come into the room he stares at me for 5 minutes then dashes out the door"

"..Okay. He might be slightly pissed at you. But for all we know, he might've just had a bad da-"

Dream found his hands pulling at his hair. "He's been doing this for the past week! Did I do something?!"

Tubbo's mouth formed a grim line. "I'll.. go ask him"

Grey clouds lined the sky as the goat-hybrid marched out.

Tommy rocked back and forth, hands cradling his legs.

He close his eyes. What was wrong with him? Every time he saw Dream, his body seemed to stop cold.

But why?

Maybe those loops made him relive some bad memories.

Maybe it brought out that small part in him that hadn't truly forgiven Dream.

He was being a dick right now.

Flopping face-first into the dirt, he let out a loud groan.

Tubbo hopped down over and sat beside him. "Hey... bossman? Something wrong?"

Tommy turned away from him. "No- Everything's fine"

"Why don't I believe that?"

"I-"

"Tommy."

Sighing, Tommy whirled back to look at him. He could never hide anything from Tubbo, the man could see right though him. "I... I've been a shit friend to Dream"

"You're not" Tubbo said softly, putting a hand on Tommy's shoulder. 

"I've been steering clear of him!" Tommy blurted out before digging his face into his knees. "And half of me hates him right now! But I don't know fucking why!"

Tubbo blew a strand of hair out of his face.  "Listen, Tommy, how did.. it happen?"

"...He killed Ghostbur. And was happy about it. He blew up my stuff. And was happy about it. He-" Tommy whispered, twiddling his fingers.  

"Ah" Tubbo looked down. "So you're mad because he was a bitch. Which is perfectly fine!" He added, when Tommy looked sick. "Let's go over the... feelings? Thoughts? Fuck, just tell me shit"

"I mean.. I'm mad at Dream. But not Dream, past Dream. But at the same time, it's the same Dream, but at the same, but at the same time, it's not the big man's fault, but at the same time, it kind of is-"

Tubbo sighed, shaking his head. This would be a long therapy session.

Dream paced back and forth, sat down, got back up, looked around, slammed his head against the table, gave Patches a bit of fish, ran up the stairs, and then promptly threw himself onto the bed. 

Looking out the window, he saw that the sky was chalk full of clouds. 

Tommy was mad at him, he was sure of it. But why? Did he say something? What did he do?"

He whimpered. The quiet air didn't sit well with him.

Bringing out his communicator, he stared at the screen for a solid 10 minutes before typing. 

DreamWasTaken whispers to Sapnap: Sap I think Tommy despises me send help I need cuddles & therapy ASAP

Sapnap whispers to DreamWasTaken: Hey Dream! This is Karl, Sap's out and George is sleeping. But I am down for cuddles

DreamWasTaken: Go to exile. Bring a pillow. I got snacks

Tubbo chewed his lip. He had to get out the clipboard. The clipboard! This was really bad.

"Tommy, you got to understand it's okay to be mad. You don't have to forgive him" 

"I know! But.. I feel bad. But I know I shouldn't, he was a bitch. But I still do!" Tommy screeched, laying flat out on the grass, arms and legs spread apart. 

Okay, this was bad. He's have to bring in the big guns.

Tubbo whispers to CaptainPuffy: Code coke, I repeat, code coke

CaptainPuffy whispers to Tubbo: Cords? And do I need to bring the stuffy

Tubbo whispers to CaptainPuffy: Yes and yes

Seconds later, a giant cloud of dust formed as Puffy kick-slided beside the two, wearing her therapist frames, armed with a clipboard and pen.

"So" She said matter-of-factly, like she didn't just cover hundreds of blocks in the span of 2 seconds. "What's the matter?"

"What happened? What did you do right before?" Karl asked, popping a chip into his mouth as he handed the bag to Dream. 

Dream crumbled onto the bed, digging his hand into the bag of crisps. "I was talking to George, Tommy ran over, asked if he could borrow my adm- OH FUCK"

Karl perked up. "Found it?"

"...They were in a time loop, without me. So they were with past me. So they must've gone back to a moment when I was a dick, probably blowing up L'manburg-" Dream let out a loud groan.

Huffing, Karl tilted his head. "For the.." He ticked off his fingers, counting "52nd time Dream, the past is the past. I've talked to you about this"

"Well Tommy's obviously upset about it!" Dream argued, rolling over.

"I'm sure you weren't that bad. I'm sure you and Tommy can weave the loose threads back"

"To be honest Karl, you weren't there, so you don't understand the whole length of it"

"All you need Dream," Karl patted the man "Is to do apologies and hugs. Apologies and hugs"

"Tommy, you don't have to apologise if you don't want to. Heak, you shouldn't be the one apologising. Everything will be fine" Puffy said gently, ruffling Tommy's hair. 

"That's what you're both telling me! But-" Tommy wilted. "I don't have the guts to"

Puffy cuppe

"Come on bossman" Tubbo said, grabbing his hand. "What could go wrong?"

"But-" Tommy protested, kicking his heels into the dirt. 

Tubbo sighed. "Tommy.. sometimes facing the problem is better that working around it"

Tommy shrank, looking away. "Fine"

The minute Karl sadly informed him he had to go and stepped out of the house, Dream collapsed onto the couch.

A sickly feeling filled his stomach as he stared at the ceiling. 

Guilt spread though him as he was reminded that it was his fault that Tommy was mad at him.

And he deserved it. 

He wished Tommy and Tubbo were here.

He could apologise to them.

A crack of thunder interrupted his thoughts, and he felt his legs pulling him to the door. 

Stepping outside, he took a few steps forward before halting to a stop.

Tommy were standing there.

Just a few feet in front of him.

"I-" Dream's voice cracked.

"I'm sorry"

The two flew into each other's arms, tears mixing with the rain that dripped down their cheeks.

"No, I should be the one who's sorry, I avoided you for no good reason big man" Tommy whispered, digging his face into Dream's shoulder. 

Dream swallowed. "I know I did some things you'll never forgive- but I am truly sorry"

"It's okay" Tommy smiled. "Because I know you mean it"

"I'll pay for your therapy bills"

"Okay, now I know you mean it"

Tubbo let out a relived sigh. It was tiring being between them. "Want to go bake another cake?"

"Eh"

"Sure"

"Dream, your opinion does not count. You always want cake"

"Fine"

[QUICK THING- If you want no spoilers for what next chapter will be about, skip this part! It'll just be Tubbo breaking the fourth wall again. Because writing that is fun]

The three walked towards the house, the sun shining behind-

"Hey, Author? Narrator? Sunset?"

Tubbo, you're supposed to be inside preparing the batter.

"Yea, but I wanted to talk to you" Tubbo chirped. "Can you make sure the next chapter has fluff?"

No promises.

"I don't want Tommy to have his 612th depression arc"

Well, I can promise you he won't. Because the next heavy chapter will be about you.

Tubbo let out a gasp. "Will I kick ass?"

I wouldn't say that.

A concerned look spreading across his face, Tubbo pointed to himself. "Will my ass be kicked?"

I hope not. Now go on, Tommy's probably going to burn himself again.

Tubbo pouted. "Fine, but I'm watching you" 

Chapter Text

"Hey Tubbo! Where you going?"

Turning around, Tubbo smiled as he waved to Ranboo. He was glad the enderman hybrid was prone to speaking what was on his mind now.

"I'm off to Dream's! It's time loop Tuesday" 

"Oh" Ranboo said, not sure how he should react to that. "Okay"

"Wait!" Tubbo lit up as he spun around. "Why don't you come? I'm sure Dream wouldn't mind"

"I- uh- you sure? I mean- what about Michael?"

Tubbo waved it off, giving him a reassuring pat. "Don't worry, he'll be fine! We've gone out before. But the papas have always come back, right?"

Ranboo perked up. "Yea, I guess. Let's go!"

"BEE AND BOO ARE OUT FOR A BIT MICHEAL, DON'T DIE WHILE WE'RE GONE!" Tubbo yelled as the two marched out the mansion.

As Tubbo strolled along, a young voice echoed in his head.

Papa won't leave me, will he?

Today, today must be the day he comes back

Dad.. will come back, won't he?

"DREAMMM" Tommy wailed, dashing into the house. "TELL GOGY TO STOP BULLYING ME" 

Huffing, Dream turned away from the sink. "No, do it yourself, I'm not your mom"

Tommy put his hands on his hips. "SIMP!"

Face reddening, Dream rolled his eyes and continued doing the dishes.

"Dream's a simpppppp" Tommy said in a sing-song voice, squeaking as George chased after him.

Dream looked at them in disbelief before noticing Tubbo and Ranboo outside. "Hey you two!" He called. 

"Hi bossman! I was just wondering, could Ranboo join us in the loops?"

Bringing up the admin panel, Dream smiled. "Sure! It might feel weird though. Ready?"

"Yea!" The bench trio chirped, though Ranboo's was more quieter. 

George looked confused. "What are you guys talk-"

With a flick of his wrist, Dream deleted a semi-colon, repeatedly thinking of the other three.

"Oooh boy" Tubbo mumbled as he braced himself, letting out a squawk when Ranboo nearly fell on him.

"See ya, bitch" Tommy flipped a finger at George as he passed out.

"Oh shit" Tommy announced when he saw himself in the mirror. "Ranboo hasn't even joined yet"

He was wearing his pogtopia uniform- which was very itchy, now that he was thinking about it.

"Well," A mischievous look appeared on Tubbo's face. "We can always invite him"

Tommy grinned. "Let's go kick some ass"

~

"DREAMMMMMMMM" The two yelled, drop kicking down the door of the community house.

"OH SHIT!" The green man yelped. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Tubbo raced over to him. "YOU GOTTA INVITE RANBOO!"

"I did!" Dream replied, exasperated. "But he's not accepting! Either he's not noticing it, or he's- erm- unconscious!"  

Worried, Tubbo reminded himself that it was just a time loop, Ranboo was fine, he'd be there next- well- time, and he'd be back.

But papa didn't come back, did he? Not until-

Shaking the thought out of his head, Tubbo took a deep breath, plastering a smile on his face. "Well, we got plenty of time, I'm sure he'll be here next look. Let's go kick some names and take some ass, why don't we?" 

Limbs shaking, Ranboo found himself lying on the grass, facing church prime. 

His stomach felt like it had just been punctured.

Wait, no. More like if-

"RANBOO!"

Tubbo embraced him, nearly tackling him to the ground.

"Hey Ranboob" Tommy chirped, trailing behind him.

The enderman-hybrid gave them a shy wave, doubling back when Dream walked over and stood beside him, while Tubbo was still clinging onto him. 

The green man smiled, and Ranboo was more than surprised when he noticed he wasn't wearing his mask. "What do you want to do?"

"I- uh-" Ranboo swallowed. "I dunno.. do some mining? I have to-"

Tommy snickerd, only stopping when Dream gave him a glare. "R-really?" He said between wheezes. "We can do anything we want, and you want to MINE?"

"O-oops. Forgot. What do you want to do?"

"Blow up shit"

Ranboo sighed. "Why did I even ask"

Giggles filled the air as Ranboo proceeded to pelt Tubbo with water balloons, as the four ran across the grassy terrain.

"NOT FAIR!" Bee boy said between gasps. "WHY DO YOU GET TO WEAR ARMOR?!"

Ranboo gave him the sass as he hit him with another balloon. "WELL WHO'S THE ENDER HYBRID HERE BUCKO"

However, to his horror, the balloon missed Tubbo by inches and hit Dream square in the chest. 

Ranboo braced himself- the man would surely be pissed, the book he was reading was drenched.

But Dream broke his expectations again- he just smiled, and the only punishment Ranboo faced was a water balloon to the noggin. 

When Ranboo had first heard that Dream had... well- changed, he was skeptical. Which was fair, he hadn't been present during the first time loop. However.. Tubbo had only talked about the man with praise and positivity after, so Ranboo was willing to give Dream a chance. But like he said, he had to see the change for himself.

And he was seeing it now.

Dream was like a whole new person, far from the cold, calculating, and destructive force he was before.

It was actually phenomenal. 

"Come on Ranboo! Don't just stand there" Tommy yelled, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Ranboo quickly patted himself over, checking his inventory. However, he was out of water balloons, and Tubbo was looking as though his birthday had come early.

How surprised the enderman hybrid was when he saw Dream in front of him, offering him a pack of spaghetti.  

He even knew Ranboo had an odd obsession over  liked spaghetti?!

How thoughtful. What had Tubbo been telling him?

Ranboo took it with a grin. 

"Let's go beat them with the power of dried Italian cuisine!"

"Don't hit Tommy, he'll probably eat it"

"Ranboo!" Tubbo beamed, though some confusion was reflected on his face. "Wait- it's the 16th- you're not supposed to-"

Dream grinned. "He accepted the invite"

Nodding, Ranboo looked around in astonishment. "It's.. pretty close to what you described"

Tommy let out a snort. "What, were you expecting, unicorns?"

After Dream had splashed invisibility potions on them, they walked around, showing Ranboo landmarks and planning out how they would play out the events.

"Does Tubbo still have to be killed? Even if it's not canon" Tommy asked, worried.

"It's fine, don't worry" Tubbo said, waving his hand. "We have to give Ranboo the real thing, don't we?"

Dream nodded. "I think Schlatt's about to... flip, so we should get over there. Ranboo, you can follow, but remember the invis pots"

Tubbo blanched as they sprinted over. "Uh- gimme a sec, I'll be right there"

His breath hitched as he braced himself, legs wobbling like jelly.

Emotions mixed with thoughts as he steadied himself against Tommy.

If I had just helped-

He deserves it!

But if I had just-

He made Techno kill you!

Yea, but he didn't know I'm his s-

So what, he shouldn't kill you just because you're his son?!

Well, I-

[Jschlatt fell out of the world]

Tubbo froze. 

Something nudged him, breaking him out of his trance. Ranboo whispered to him, still invisible. "Sooo.. that was.."

He received a grim smile. 

"That was your father-in law"

~

"Get ready Ranboo" Dream whispered.

A few seconds later, explosions shook the land as dust and soot filled the air.

Coughing, Ranboo looked around at the devastation. 

The crater. 

The.. pain.

Wilbur had created it, with just TNT and a dramatic speech.

Ranboo took some deep breaths, though they barley calmed him.

If this was what resulted-

There was TNT under Las Nevadas.

It was a ticking time bomb-

And he helped create it.

If this is what resulted..

Ranboo put a hand over his burning cheek.

Did he really want to continue it?

Ranboo closed his eyes. 

"Hey Tommy, could I talk to you?"

~

"What's up big man?" Tommy chirped, trailing off prime path with Ranboo.

Shuffling, Ranboo murmured quietly. "You know.." He sucked in some air, trying to keep his stomach steady. "You know how present Wilbur.. doesn't really have a liking to Las Nevadas?"

Tommy snorted. "A bit of an understatement, but yea"

"Well.." Ranboo whimpered. "I helped him mine the country with TNT" He confessed, burying his head in his hands. "...I helped him- Tommy, it's going to be like L'manburg again, please"

Tommy's face hardened like stone. "I- I trusted him. A- Are you serious?"

Ranboo nodded.

"Tell me all the details later, then" Tommy said stiffly. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you" He said softly, as his face clouded. 

"Wilbur and I will have.. a talk"

Chapter Text

Dream grinned as he waggled his fingers, hands on his admin panel. "Hey Ranboo, ever wondered what it feels like to be fully enderman, with all the abilities? And- er- weaknesses?"

Ranboo gave an enthusiastic nod as the rest of the quarted beamed.

"Dream-" Tommy grinned. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?"

His question was answered as a wave of magic spread across the SMP- Ranboo let out a gasp as he felt his body turn cold for a few seconds, before returning to its natural tempreture. 

"Dahm- It's going to take a few loops to get used to this again" Dream murmured.

Looking- down? Ranboo was shocked to see teal-to-black horns jutting out of Dream's messy hair- his face had an aqua hue to it. He was wearing a loose black top and shorts, with sandals to top it off. Tommy was styling his classic shirt with tears in the back for his- wings? And of course, he was wearing jeans and sneakers. Ranboo turned to Tubbo- who was wearing a sweater, bee wings popping out with sneakers and cargo pants- topped off with a flower crown.

"You all look- nice" Ranboo blurted out.

The three laughed. "Thanks" Tubbo said, giggling. "I thought my outfit was always under-appreciated. Dream"

He received a yelp. "I'M BLIND! I CAN'T HELP IT! IT'S TOMMY YOU SHOULD BE ITALICING!"

Rolling his eyes, Tubbo bobbed back to Ranboo. "Bossman- you are SLAYING it"

"I- am?" Ranboo said as Dream handed him a mirror. As he looked at himself..

He was going to be honest, he was slaying it.

He was wearing a dark purple victoria-era type suit (no tie), inner shirt buttoned up and collar flared. He could see a gold necklace poking out from under the coat- and was that a cape?!

Ranboo didn't just look different.. he felt different.

He felt more.. confident.

Tubbo grinned. "Amazing, innit?"

Ranboo smirked, flexing his fingers [Claws? Are they claws?]. "What shall we do first?"

"TUBBO UNDERSCORE BELOVED I AM GOING TO KILL YOU" Ranboo hissed as he looked around furiously. 

Wheezing, the voice of Tubbo chimed back. "You'll have to find me first!"

Eventually, Ranboo was able to jump-tackle the air and force the pumpkin off of Tubbo.

Snirkering, Tommy said "That really got you again" between gasps for air.

"Anyways" Ranboo huffed. "Let's go meet your friends, the other peasants"

"Excuse me?"

~

Jack was peacefully hammering down a plank before he felt something cold touch his back. Suddenly, he was thrown off the building, hearing a phantom hybrid's snickers as he had to mlg-slow falling potion. 

"OI YA COCK" The blaze hybrid yelled as he flipped a finger at Wilbur. "FUCK OFF"

"Hey bald" Tommy waved as he walked past. "Hey- Wil?"

Wilbur chuckled as he turned tangible behind the blonde. "Boo!"

Dream looked over to Ranboo, and only someone who knew the enderman hybrid very well could distinguish the look on his face.

Good thing Dream was one of those people, and he could tell that Ranboo was very uncomfor-tubbo. 

"Ranboo, could you come for a sec?"

~

As soon as they were out of earshot, Ranboo muttered in disdain. "H- how are you just- used to this?" 

"Used to what?"

Dream knew what he was talking about, he just didn't want to admit it.

"You know" Ranboo sniffed. "One moment the person's a maniac blowing up a country, next.. they're just having fun with their brother"

Sighing, Dream put a hand on the other's shoulder. "The loops have shown me everyone's good side.. their bad side- it brings out something you've never seen when you first experience it. I know it's confusing, you don't know when to hate them or not, so just.. live in the moment. If they aren't a bitch right now, don't treat them like one"

A small smile appeared on Ranboo's face.

"Just enjoy it" Dream finished.

"Sorry you three, but the time's come to close the loop"

"Awh come onn" Tubbo groaned. "Ranboo hasn't even had a full tour of Pogtopia yet!"

Dream huffed. "Fine- one more loop"

The bench trio cheered.

"Faster Technoblade, I haven't got all day"

"No, no no no-" Tubbo murmured as he tried to push away the walls, try anything. 

"Yes, Tubbo" Schlatt barked a laugh. "Your fault for being a traitor"

Tubbo wanted to scream, squirming in his prison. Dream, please please please please-

The click of a crossbow and blood red eyes greeted him.

Please, Dream, please please please-

The moment an invisible force knocked the launcher out of Techno's arms, Tubbo felt so happy he could cry. A netherite axe soared though the air, chopping the fence into two. Tubbo was yanked out, and they were speeding across the countryside, only stopping once they were on the outskirts.

Tommy and Ranboo were franticly pacing back and forth, throwing Tubbo into a hug.

"You are NEVER leaving me" Ranboo mumbled.

Tubbo forced a snort. "Why would I?"

At least one thing doesn't run in the family

~

Tubbo sneaked out of the ravine, looking up at the night sky. The looming sight of Manburg greeted him, the atmosphere ominous and eerie. 

He could imagine the look of fury and disappointment Schlatt's face when he realized he had escaped.

Furious and disappointed that his son- though he didn't know it- had escaped being executed.

Touching his horns on instinct, Tubbo felt a tear roll down his cheek.

"Why couldn't you just have kept me?"

Was I not good enough?

Tubbo swallowed hard, trying to find his voice. "Uh- Dream?"

The green man turned around. "Yes, Tubbs?"

"C- can- can-"

Can you kill me so I can pluck up the courage to talk to my dead dad?

Before Tubbo could blurt out the sentence, Tommy bust into the room, Ranboo trailing behind him. 

"Hey, could we go to Las Nevadas?" Tommy tried to keep his voice as sweet as possible, although his eyes were blazing. "I have an asshole for a brother to talk to"

Dream raised his eyebrow. "Sure. What was it you wanted to say, Tubbs?"

Tubbo swallowed hard, shaking his head. "Nevermind, it's not worth your time  important. Let's go to Las Nevadas, I have a shift anyways"

A confused look appeared on Dream's face, however it quickly passed. "Alright"

Yet the stare Tubbo got from Ranboo let the brunette know that this wasn't over.

Chapter Text

Tommy felt numb as he softly knocked the door.

"What do- Tommy!" Wilbur exclaimed, brightening as he gave the blonde a pat.

"Hey, Wil" The other mumbled. This would be an awkward conversation. 

Wilbur's brow furrowed. "Why so glum? It's not like I'll blow up another country" He chuckled. 

Oh, how ironic. 

However, Tommy was going to let it down slow. "That.. really did hurt though"

Huffing, Wilbur turned his back on him, turning of an oven. "Yea, but I'm better now! I told you Tommy, the past is the past. Don't worry about it!"

Tommy froze.

If this were with Tubbo or Dream, there would've been a hug around now.

Had he been pampered that much?



No. Apologies were basic human decency.

"I- I heard.. you've mined Las Nevadas with TNT" Tommy croaked.

The shocked look that quickly appeared on Wilbur's face didn't help.

"Oh Tommy, where in the world did you hear that? I-"

That's gaslighting, you can't let it continue Dream's voice echoed though Tommy's head as he stayed firm. "Wilbur."

The brunette sighed. "It's for precaution Toms, you know how me and Quackity have a bit of a... beef" He tried to reason, reaching for Tommy's hair.

Tommy slapped his hand away. "You promised me!" He choked out. 

Wilbur stared at him, exasperated. "You're too young-"

Tommy exploded. "Too young- TOO YOUNG? BUT WHAT, I'M OLD ENOUGH TO BE IN A REVOLUTION? OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE MY HOME DESTROYED? OLD ENOUGH TO-"

His voice cracked.

"Old enough to have had all my canon lives taken, two of them courtesy of your influence?"

Silence filled the air.

Tears streamed down Tommy's cheeks. "I loved you Wil, and I still do. But I can't keep on doing this-"

He walked out, taking a long look at his brother. "So will you do what's easy, or will you do what's right?"

Tubbo bit down on his cheek as he tied his apron, turning to Quackity. "Hey.. uhm.. Q?"

"Yeah?"

"You knew.. you knew Schlatt, right?"

Quackity doubled back. "Mmh"

Turning on the smokers, Tubbo had to force the words out of his mouth. "Was.. was he a bitch?"

Snorting, Quackity wiped down the counter. "...Not until the end. He was really talkative. I kind of enjoyed his presence until.." A dark look spread across his face. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh-" Tubbo forced a smiled as he knocked his knuckled against his horns.

Quackity's eyes widened. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry-"

"No, it's fine" Tubbo said with a sigh. "I just.." He didn't continue as he began to heat up the oil. 

I just wanted to know if there was still a chance.

The two returned on the verge of tears, Tommy being the one to crack first. 

"It's not FAIR!" He sobbed, holding a pillow against his face as Dream patted him on the back. "I just- WHY?!"

Dream gave him a hug. "Sunshine, it's not your fault"

Tubbo didn't want to intrude, so he whispered quickly. "Uh.. Dream? Could you give me the admin abilities.. for a sec"

One arm still around Tommy, Dream nodded. Green particles swirled around Tubbo as he chirped a little thanks. Walking out the door, his eyes narrowed.

Hands hovering over the code that controlled time, Tubbo filled his head with one thought. Wilbur Wilbur Wilbur Wilbur 

"Wilbur" He said out loud, as he gracefully deleted a colin.

A small smile on his face, Tubbo steadied himself against the wall.

Tubbo had to wait a loop to talk to Wilbur, as the first time you enter your first time loop, you're basically out for the entire time.

"Wilbur soot salmon minecraft" Tubbo huffed, crossing his arms.

The other gaped at him. "What the fuck? Where the fuck am- is that pogtopia?!"

"Yes" Tubbo softly hissed, snapping his fingers in front of him. "Now, you're going to be in a time loop, because you suck at brothering. Also, you're going to see past Tommy. Let's just hope you'll be better this time"

Wilbur snapped his head up. "WHAT?!"

Tubbo glared at him. "Listen. Wilbur, you've done a bunch of messed up shit. And you have to own up to that messed up shit. I'm trying to help you right now. There's no lasting effects in these time loops, so you can do what you want. Hopefully you'll do good stuff. No one else but us will remember. And I hope you'll learn something"

Wilbur was pissed.

Tubbo didn't have the right to just drag him in a time paradox! Or whatever it was called!

If Tommy was mad at him, he was mad at him. He'd get over it eventually. 

Now he had to deal with the past.

L'manburg.

Dream.

Limbo.

He hated it.

Hands shaking, he stared at the wooden button.

Phil wasn't here yet. Wilbur didn't even know why he wasted time with a speech, he could just press it right-

"What are you doing"

The voice cut though him like a blade.

Tommy's hands brushed the walls, staring at the signs, staring at his brother. "What.. the fuck?"

Wilbur froze.

Never mind, he wanted Phil.

Anyone.

Anyone but Tommy.

"I-"

Tommy looked.. afraid. "Wil.." He said, voice giving another blow to Wilbur's heart. "...Are you going to blow it all up?"

Wilbur was going to kill Tubbo. "...Yes"

"But.." Tommy's voice was shrill, scared, far from the strong, confident tone he usually had. "We.. worked so hard on it. It's our home"

"I just want it gone" Wilbur blurted out, stomach flipping. "All of it. I hate it, it's not MY L'manburg anymore. It's broken"

"And you're just going to blow it up?" Tommy screamed, fists clenching. "You're just.. you're just going to give up?!"

Wilbur closed his mouth, dumbfounded. "...There's no hope"

"THERE IS!" The other yelled, grabbing Wilbur by the collar. "WE CAN DO THIS TOGETHER! YOU SAID WE'D DO THIS TOGETHER! GET THOUGH THE HARDSHIPS TOGETHER! YOU PROMISED!" 

Wilbur didn't know how to reply to that. His vision slowly blurred, as tears began to splash against his coat.

He hadn't cried in years. [Limbo time counts]

He fell to his knees. "I wanted to protect you. I just made it worst, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you kind of did" Tommy said blankly, scooting beside him. "Why?"

Wilbur stopped.

Why?

Rain started to pour down on them, as Tommy pulled Wil into a hug.

Crumbling, Wilbur let him.

Why?

He wished he could stay in this moment forever.

Then he passed out.

Wilbur jolted awake, Tubbo smiling in front of him. "How was it?"

The other grabbed the air, as if he was reaching for something not there. "W-wait. No- I was just there. Tommy was just hugging- no!" 

Tubbo's look turned grim. "..Yeah. The loop ended"

"No- no!" Wilbur repeated, as if denying it would make it false. "It- it just can't-"

"This is why you have to cherish every moment" Tubbo sighed. "If we went back in time instead of a time loop.."

I'm sorry kid.

He closed his eyes. "..Then history would be very different" 

 

Chapter Text

Wilbur could feel his mind slowly moving on.. separating from his body.. separating from his soul-

Before an invisible force seemed to slam into him.

Taking a large gulp of air, he was shocked to see himself.. at- was it- New L'manburg?! Was that- was he standing in Ghostbur's house?!

But- wait.. wasn't he supposed to be in limbo?

Tubbo's voice echoed though his head.

The loops kind of mess up dying and shit.

Oh.

He stared at his semi-translucent hands in wonder.

It was Ghostbur who was supposed to be..

Did Ghostbur even exist when he was looping?

Wilbur had all his memories.. he was in control..

Most importantly, he wasn't in limbo.

Feeling numb, he walked towards the door, but hesitated as he heard a soft bleat.

"Ah.. hello Friend" He murmured, looping the lead around his hand. "Do you- do you want to go for a walk?"

He received another 'baa' in response, and that was enough. He led the sheep outside, slowly understanding why Tommy might've been.. attached to the animal.

Wait, was that Phil looking out the window?

Wilbur rushed towards the house, lightly dragging Friend along. "Phil!" He exclaimed, doubling back when his voice seemed to echo.

"Hey, mate" Phil replied, a sad smile on his face. "How're you?"

"I- uhm- good!" Wilbur said, but his attention directed to the device latched on his father's ankle. "Uh.. what's that?"

Phil let out the smallest sigh. "I'm under.. house arrest remember. This.. this is to.. yeah"

"What" 

"...I helped Techno, remember? Now.. he's getting executed any second now"

Wilbur froze. "What" He repeated. Yes, he had heard about the execution.. but what. "That's- that's not fair, he had right to wither them, they basically backstabbed him"

Hold up. Did he just empathy?

Phil's shocked glace sent shivers down his spine. "H- how do you remember that?"

Oh, crud. Wilbur found himself cornered. Trying to steer the conversation away, he shook his head. "We can't let them do that. I'll be right back"

He found a wedge of wood outside, motioning for Phil to hold out his leg. Wilbur rammed the point against the vulnerable glass over the red light- it shattered, and the monitor feebly died with a beep.

"I- thanks mate. You don't- seem like the type to break the rules" Phil said in astonishment. 

Wilbur grinned. "No problem. Let's go"

The wind whipping at his hair and coat, Tubbo kneeled down and placed a daisy in front of the unmarked grave, patting the flower into the dirt.

"How's limbo?" He said to no one in particular, in a sarcastic tone. "Bet that's your 1784th round of solitaire now" 

He was saying it as though it was a joke, trying to convince himself that it was one.

"I got something to remember you by" Tubbo continued, pointing to his scar.

Staring at the stone, he could feel tears building up.

Making sure no one else was there, he whispered.

"Why did you leave me?"

He could feel his vison blurring. "W-was I not good enough? Did I do something?"

Now that he was starting, nothing could stop him. "I- I always wondered why I was different. Why I had horns. Why Phil-" He let out a sob, "Why Phil never truly treated me like his son"

Tears watered the plant. "I wanted to be just like you" Tubbo whimpered. "I knew you were out there, and I thought-" His voice cracked. "I hoped that one day, one day I'd find you again"

He grew silent. "What.. what happened to mom?"

He could her soft, caring touch and the flowery scent that wavered around her.

"I-"

Tubbo closed his eyes.

"I loved you. Or at least, the thought of you. You-" He let out a small hiccough. "Before-"

"Papa, why isn't she waking up? Why isn't she waking up?!"

"Tubbo.." Wilbur rocked his legs back and forth. "I just wanted to say.. thank you"

The goat-hybrid looked up. "Oh? Uhm- no problem"

"You didn't have to do this.." Wilbur said quietly. "But you did it anyways"

He received a small shake of the head. "Don't feel bad, I didn't only do it just because of you. I.. needed to solve some things too"

"Ah.. okay" Wilbur said. "I just wanted to say.. sorry"

"Huh?"

"These-" Looking away, Wilbur sighed. "These loops made me realize not just how much of a piece of shit I was to Tommy, but how much of a dick I was to you"

"Uh- don't feel bad, it's fine"

"If.. you have anything to say.. just tell me alright?"

Tubbo didn't look him in the eye. "...Mmh"

"Thank you for giving me the disc.. I just want to say that you're an idiot"

Tubbo's head snapped up as the blank face of Dream's mask stared at him. Water flowed behind him, Tommy was shaking- the ruins of the community house surrounded him.

Ah. Great.

Dream continued, and Tubbo could tell he was trying not to laugh. "You're an absolute idiot. And you have no power, and you are the worst president-"

Tubbo knew what he was going to say, but every word that came out of the green man's mouth felt like another stab to the heart.

"I don't care about you. I'm not your friend, okay?-"

Everyone was looking down at him, furious, disappointed, as more voices chimed in.

They hated him. He ruined everything, and now everything was against him, his country in ruin, just like dear ol' dad.

"You can't even run your nation right!-"

And that's when Tubbo finally snapped.

He, with the sweetest smile on his face, raised his hand and slapped Dream across the face. 

"Listen here, DreamWasTaken" Tubbo said calmly. "You're right"

He received a look of confusion from Tommy, however he found that he had slammed his hand against the wall. "Because I can't run my country"

He felt his voice waver.

"I never wanted to be president in the first place"

Everyone was quiet.

"Sure," He continued, still in the same sweet and sadistic tone, "Let's make a in-experienced child run a nation!"

"You didn't object.." A stray voice retorted.

Tubbo's tone just became even more cold. "Sure, okay, if I'm the president, I get the last say!" 

He turned to Techno. "Bring the hounds. The fireworks, the withers. Everything. Blow it up"

Tommy's eyes widened. "Tubbo, let's talk about this-"

"No." Tubbo replied. "I am done"

He turned to Dream. "Make your ugly-ass obsidian grid. You don't care about anything? Okay then, I want you to blow your server up to smithereens. I want it gone"

"Seems pretty c-"

"SHUT UP YOU DUMB GREEN BITCH!" Tubbo found himself screaming. "I NEVER GOT TO RECOVER! I HAD TO MAN UP, I HAD TO FIGHT, I WAS A FUCKING CHILD! I HAD TO WATCH MY HOME BLOW UP, I HAD TO WATCH MY FRIENDS GO INSANE, I HAD TO EXILE MY BEST FRIEND, WHILE YOU'RE HERE RUNNING NOT JUST HIS, BUT MY LIFE TOO! SCREW YOU, FUCK YOU, YOU GREEN BASTARD!"

Tears rolled down his cheeks as he felt his voice grow hoarse. "SITTING UP ON YOUR HIGH THRONE, I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ANYMORE! DESTROY L'MANBURG FOR ME, AND DO ME A FAVOUR AND BLOW ME UP WITH IT! AT LEAST I'LL BE ABLE TO SEE HIM AGAIN! SO BRING THE WITHERS! GET THE TNT! YOU'VE BEEN PREPARING FOR THE YOUR WHOLE LIFE, JUST WAITING FOR ME TO CRACK! WELL HERE IT IS, HERE'S YOU TIME TO SHINE, DO IT! 3PM! I DARE YOU!"

He shoved Tommy's hand out of the way, as he yelled- "I'LL JUST BE ANOTHER FAILURE, JUST ANOTHER SIDE CHARACTER, JUST ANOTHER WORTHLESS THING TO THROW AWAY!" 

Eyes narrowing, Tubbo stared at Techno. "Make the skies red. The voices want it. I'm expecting the blood god" He said mockingly- "Will fulfil his fucking duty"

With that, he stormed out.

But everyone could swear that they heard a small sob with it.

Chapter Text

CW: When I say self, you say hate! 

Also unhealthy coping mechanisms


"Tubbo? You okay bud?"

Blinking, Tubbo nodded. "Yeah, doing great bossman"

Wilbur grew solemn. "Why don't I believe it?"

"It's just-" Tubbo sighed. "Something's been bothering me lately"

Judging by his mood, Wilbur guessed that the brunette didn't want to talk about it. "Do... you want to go blow something up?"

"Huh?"

"It.. makes me feel better..? It's the least I could do"

Tubbo forced a smile smiled. "Sure"

"What are they doing?" Ghostbur- Wilbur- hissed.

Tubbo fidgeted with his fingers. "I forgot- they're trying to revive you"

Wilbur's eyes widened. "Excuse me?" 

"They thought by recreating your death- it'd bring you back"

"...With Phil and everything?"

Sighing, Tubbo nodded. "Do you want to do it?"

A grin spread across Wilbur's face. "Let's give them a show"

~

"Okay.." Phil said softly, as a crowd watched on. "Now, you say 'they're fighting, they're fighting"

"A-alright" WIlbur said innocently. "But.. can I ask why?"

"We're going to bring you back" Eret firmly answered.

Phil nodded, hesitant. "So.." He cleared his throat- "There's a lot of TNT.. that could potentially be connected to that button"

Smiling from behind the stage, Tubbo mustered up all the admin magic he could.

Suddenly, the blue wall became grey- the brewing stands became a wall, signs placed against the stone.

Phil's eyes widened as he took in the familiar surroundings. The furnace.. the glowstone..the crafting tables..

And the button that replaced the flag.

"Phil.." Wilbur continued, "There was a saying.. by a traitor"

Fundy instinctively took a step back.

"One that was part of L'manburg"

Doubling back, Eret froze.

"Ever heard of Eret?"

Tommy, who was looking by the side lines, grew stone cold.

"He had a saying.."

Now Wilbur was dressed in a trench cloak, gloves and all, white shirt neatly tucked in.

Wilbur tilted his head, grinning at the horrified face of his father, who knew what he was going to do next.

"It was never meant to be!"

He slapped the button, and to everyone's horror the sound of explosions followed, the back wall being blow to bits and revealing..

"Is that- past me?" Fundy said, astonished.

"MY L'MANBURG, PHIL!" Wilbur bellowed, everyone's heads snapping up as he cackled maniacally. "MY UNFINISHED SYMPHONY, FOREVER UNFINISHED!"

Phil now actually looked.. scared.

Wilbur turned down on the mania, continuing. "IF I CAN'T HAVE THIS, NO ONE CAN PHIL!"

Silence commenced.

"You're supposed to say 'oh my god'" Wilbur said softly, nudging Phil.

"Oh my god" Phil repeated, thought it didn't seem that the reason he said it was for a line.

Un-sheathing a glowing, diamond sword, Wilbur recoiled when he heard Tommy wince. "Uhm.."

He handed the weapon to a paralyzed Phil.

"Kill me Phil- Phil, kill me" Wilbur said with less enthusiasm, knowing full well that they were all going to have nightmares after this. "Phil, stab me with the sword, murder me now, Killza-" He snorted. "Killza-"

Phil's fingernails dug into his skin as he grasped the sword.

"Kill me Phil, murder me-"

"N-"

"They all want you to!" Wilbur cut. "You too". He couldn't help adding- "They all want their Wilby back, do it Phil, DO IT!"

"You're-" Phil broke into a sob. "YOU'RE MY SON!"

"PHIL, KILL ME!"

The other dropped the sword, it clattering against the stone. 

Wilbur bit his lip, knowing he might've gone too far. "Oh.. you're not going to? Well, CUT!"

Instantly, everything returned to what it should've been, the wall returning to its whole, blue state, and the button disappearing.  

Except for Wilbur, who was still wearing the same outfit.

"Breathe Phil, breathe-" Wilbur sighed, putting his hands on Phil, who was hyperventilating. "XD, someone call the ambulance, the old man's having a stroke"

But to Wilbur's eyes, it was his own eyes that were watering and him who was panicking.

He didn't want to blow up another home.

He didn't want to be that person again.

Even if someone really deserved it.

Recoiling in surprise, Wilbur let Phil hug him.

Wilbur inhaled sharply, as a thought hit him. The wind hit his and Tubbo's face as they watched the sunset atop a hill. "Hey.. Tubbo?"

"Hm?"

"What's.. what's Dream like?"

Tubbo beamed. "Great! Basically the opposite of what he is... here"

A strange look appeared on Wil's face. "How.. and how's Tommy.. dealing.. with it?"

"He's great! They're getting along g- wait"

Pausing, Tubbo stared at Wilbur. "Wait. Are you jealous?"

"No!"

"Oooooooh" Tubbo grinned, nodding. "Sure. Big brother Wilby's afraid of getting replaced, aren't you?"

"Phil should've never brought you home" Wilbur rolled his eyes, not noticing Tubbo wince.

Rolling his eyes right back, Tubbo continued. "Well- at least he wanted me"

"Oh you little-"

Taking a deep breath, Tubbo bit his cheek hard enough to draw blood.

In and out.

In and out.

In and o-

The sound of shattered glass clattering on the floor met Ranboo's ears.

"Wilbur.. you ready to go back?"

"I- yeah"

Taking in one last look at the ruins of his failed country, Tubbo took a deep breath.

Sometimes he wished he could change the past.

And change a certain someone.

Quickly returning Dream's magic to him, Tubbo skipped away, hoping no one would notice the tears in his eyes.


Wilbur Soot whispered to Tubbo: I'm going to Tommy's to apologies. Thanks again. The tables have turned, huh? Never thought I'd be learning something from you. 

Tubbo whispered to Wilbur Soot: I wish my problems could be solved that easily  No prob. That's what I'm here for

Vison blurry, Tubbo quickly splashed himself with invis before trekking off, the damp dirt now having no source.

Staring at the cracked headstone, Tubbo flicked off a vine that was growing on it.

"Hey," He said in a light tone. "You actually listened to me once"

Walking away, Tubbo's words were carried by the wind. 

"You're right where I left you"

Tubbo glared at the mirror, pointing to himself.

"You are fine" He said, voice high and squeaking. "Everything is fine" 

For extra motivation, he slapped his cheek hard.

"Don't be a burden" He whispered. "Your friend's don't deserve it. You do"

"Everything is fine" Tubbo repeated. "You're supposed to help others. You don't need help"

Turning away, his hands clenched into fists.

"You're the side character. Act like one"

Chapter Text

"Well I heard there was a special place.."

Dream's legs swung back and forth, as he sat alone on the roof, staring at the sunset. [Og readers will get what I'm getting at. Also, watch the clip where he's singing it, it'll help set the atmosphere]

"Where men could go and anticipate.. the brutality and the tyranny of their rulers"

"And enemies" He added with a  smile.

Looking down, he sighed. "Well this place was real, but now it's gone"

"Techno and Dream.. planted a bomb"

He felt his fists clench.

"It was very big and now blow up because of Dream...."

"Dream did this"

"Well.. you know, before Dream blew it up"

"Then.. Dream came and destroyed it all"

"Their home, L'manburg.. their home L'manburg.."

Guilt that had been sealed away with hugs, apologies, and forgiveness started bubbling up.

"It's gone, their L'manburg... because of me"

He had ruined everything. 

Before, everyone had hated him.

So why was he missing that feeling?

Dream didn't understand himself sometimes. Did he want to be a villain?

But that rush of adrenaline.. the feeling that it was him, against the world..

Nothing else could match it.

He buried his head in his hands- what the fuck was wrong with him?

Not to mention that Tubbo seemed.. less Tubbo-y lately. 

He groaned, laying on top of the roof. 

Another thought made him hurl.

Fuck, he still had a ton of apologies to give.

Yes, he apologized to Tommy, Tubbo- Sapnap, George- but no one else.

No one else.

Dream swallowed down a lump in his throat. 

"Come on. Don't be a wuss. You can do this" Dream whispered to himself. 

First stop, someone who he'd hurt emotionally on their big day.

Which honestly, didn't narrow it down much.

Fundy opened the door, blinking at the sight of Dream.

"....Can we talk?"

"Tubbo? You okay?"

"Huh?" Tubbo blinked as Ranboo waved his hand in front of the other's face. "Oh- uhm- doing great bossman!"

He only just realized he was slowly ripping the document in his hand.

No one could tell, but Ranboo narrowed his eyes just a smidge.

"...If you say so"

"Fundy... I'm sorry"

The fox hybrid looked away scornfully, before drooping his ears apologetically. "Sorry. Wasn't expecting you to be the one who apologizes before... he did"

Dream hurried on. "Really Fundy, I'm so sorry. I blew up your home. I ruined your perfect day, I-"

"Sounds like someone I know"

Pausing, Dream looked at him.

Fundy sighed. "Don't mind it- I'm just-"

"Want to talk about it?"

As though it was a foreign concept, Fundy eyed him doubtfully. "Who are you and what have you done with Dream?"

However, he felt his mouth open.

"I just- fuck, I hate him. But- I knew he was going to come back. Part of me was.. actually looking forward to it. But-"

He let out a hiccough, Dream putting a empathetic hand on his shoulder. "Go on"

"When he needed me, I was there" Fundy spat out. "But as soon as I needed him, he went and left me. He held out a hand.. and walked away as soon as I reached for it"

Dream opened his mouth, but quickly shut it as Fundy rambled on.

"I- I don't even want him to apologize. Just for him to leave alone, that's what I want. He had his chance, it's too late now"

Stopping, Fundy stared at Dream. "How- how did you even find me here anyway?"

"....Uhm"

"Dream."

"I might've teleported to you when I knew you were taking your afternoon nap.. sorry?"

"And exactly how did you know I was taking my afternoon nap?"

"You have them every Sunday???"

Fundy froze. Fucking- Wilbur couldn't remember he existed half the time, and here was Dream, Dream, remembering his sleeping patterns from what, a year ago?

Face reddening, Dream was suddenly very interested by the flower atop the shelf. "Uh.. yeah- uhm- so I just wanted to say that you don't have to forgive me, and that- if you want me to leave you alone, it's fine"

"..Thank you. I- uh- want to start over?"

Dream looked at him, surprised. "Oh- sure"

Fundy wiped his hand on his leg, holding it up to Dream. "I'm Fundy, I like coding, movies, and crying"

"I'm Dream, and I hate everything"

Dream was practically screaming inside as the comment made Fundy chuckle. Although one thought lingered.

"Fundy- what will you do if Wilbur.. talks to you?"

Silence was what responded.

"...I set my spawn here. And here is.. far away. From everywhere. There's a quick way to come back if I don't want anyone to follow me"

It took a few minutes to understand what he was saying.

A few, very painful, minutes of nothing.

"Fundy- don't tell me you're willing..." Dream trailed off.

The other snorted. " 's not like anyone'll miss me. Plus, I have 2-"

Dream cut him off. "Fundy, I have no idea what you're talking about, and I met you 5 minutes ago, but that isn't true"

Fundy huffed, hugging his legs with his arms.

"You can just revive me"

"No. I lost you once, I'm not losing you again. Don't treat your life like something that can be replaced. I have too much emotional attachment to the original"

Freezing, Fundy couldn't find what to say. He felt like he was going to cry. Finally.

Words came out of his mouth.

"That's not possible, you met me 8 minutes ago"

"I- you- I- rude."

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Vik stared at the sky, blinking.

Dream had just ran over- they hadn't seen him since he freed them with no context- then apologized profusely for being such a dick, explained the situation to them, handed them the book that had caused so much pain, and told them they could do it to him if they wanted to if he wasn't busy.

Not to mention Lazar was basically kissing the grass, but that was beyond the normal by now. 

"Lay's™️, you want to go and make my dream gym I was talking about?"

"Hey.. Wilbur?"

"Yeah?" 

Dream rubbed his neck. "If you see Fundy.. just avoid him. Pretend he doesn't exist. Don't try to apologize, just leave him alone. It's what he wants, I promise"

Before, Wilbur would've just scoffed and said that the green man was trying to ruin his relations.

But now he nodded, making a mental note. He could just make things worse for Fundy.

Walking away, Dream's mouth curved up. 

Why have the risk of dodging a bullet when you can just take the gun?

"Listen.. Eret... I-" 

Dream exhaled.

"I know Wilbur already talked with you, said this to you.. but I am really sorry"

When the brunette didn't reply, he stumbled on. "I peer-pressured you to betray your friends, all just for what? Getting back at Wilbur?"

"I won't say.. it's entirely not your fault" Eret admitted. "But.. I thought if I just stopped the war in its tracks.. then we'd go back to peace. I tried using what I could for just another chance- but.. I bit more off than I could chew"

"I made you give up your ties.. for a title"

"Hey, don't say that" Eret chuckled. "It makes me sound- nevermind. Now.. I'm trying to live with it. I know pretending like it didn't exist won't work.. but Dream, I wanted to ask, what are you going to do?"

Dream fell silent, chewing his cheek.

"It.." Picking at their finger, Eret huffed. "I don't mean to sound rude, but it just feels like you're saying sorry.. then just, leaving. Poof. Gone, like you never existed"

"Eret.. what else am I supposed to do? No one will ever.. actually forgive me. I can't do what you're doing.. Eret, I was behind it all. I made their lives miserable. How are they just going to.. tolerate me out there?"

"Well, seems like you managed to do it with two" Eret smiled.

Dream's head snapped up. "That's di-"

"Dream" Interrupted Eret. "You managed to make the two people who utterly despised you into your best friends. I know you can mend the problems you've caused. Just promise me one thing.."

"..Yes?"

"Never, ever, harm another person physically or mentality ever again"

It was.. that easy?

"I promise. And.. I expect you want me to prove it?"

"Oh, no" Eret grinned. "You, Dream, of all people, saying sorry to me is good enough"

"I wish it hadn't went that far"

Clicking his tongue, Eret strolled away. "Good luck Dream. And thank you"

Another person down.. a kazillion more to go.

The wind wiping at his hair, Dream smirked.

 He hummed, the gust drowning out his voice.

"I'll show you what the SMP was supposed to be"

Chapter Text

CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNING: Major character death/ Temporary.. suicide 





"And..I'm sorry, Puffy"

Awaiting her reaction, Dream shifted on the white stool.

He so desperately wanted to be her duckling again, her ray of sunshine, a bright, innocent kid.

But he knew it was too late.

Best he could be was just.. Dream.

"Okay"

They stared at each other, silence filling the room.

"Okay" He repeated.

She looked away, blinking back tears. "..Thanks"

"Sure"

With that, he awkwardly slid out of the room.

"..Thank you. But- uh- Dream?"

"Yeah?"

"I want answers" Ranboo said, exhaling. "...How did my enderwalk start in the first place?"

"I.. really don't know" The other admitted, shifting in his seat. "It's definitely because you're part enderman"

Ranboo bit his cheek. "Yeah, I know, but.. how did you control it?"

Even when I couldn't?

"Well, I-" Dream paused. "I guess.. well, when you're in that state, you're basically a whole new person. And.. you couldn't understand English in that form, you only spoke enderian. The thing is, I'm one of the only other people who can also understand it. So basically, I was.. your enderwalk form's first friend?"

Staring at him in disbelief, Ranboo gestured for him to continue. "And.. why did you seem to trigger it?"

"Uhm.. I guess it's partly because you were.. scared of me? And well.. I guess whenever you're 'awake', your enderwalk is dormant. However, whenever you see me.. or something related to me, I guess- it takes control. Maybe it was a reflex, or maybe your enderwalk wanted to.. help me talk to me? The reason you haven't enderwalked in a long time.. I guess it's either because I'm not an enemy anymore or you and your enderwalk.. agree?

Ranboo paused. It.. did start to make sense. "...Thanks- but.."

"Yeah?"

Letting out a low whistle, Ranboo looked at his lap. "See.. Tubbo's been acting.. strange, lately. Un-Tubbo-like. Distant. Uhm.. I'm going to talk to him.. but.. if-  just look out for him, alright?"

Dream nodded.

Staring out the window, at the calm waves, Dream let himself smile.

It felt as though a weight he didn't know was on his chest was lifted- the heavy burden was.. somewhat gone.

However, he inhaled sharply as he remembered what Ranboo had told him.

How had he not noticed? The tired looks, the flinches..

It was as though the brunette had gone through something without their knowl-

"Uh.. Dream? Could you give me the admin abilities.. for a sec"



Green eyes widened.

Ah.

Shit.

Some say it was from his own foolishness.

Some say it was just his luck.

Some say it was from pride.

Some say he did it on purpose.

This is the story of our Icarus.

A different story.

"Tubbo?"

Holding back a sigh, Tubbo whipped around. "Yeah, Ranboo?"

"Are you okay?"

The question echoed off the walls, Tubbo's head snapping up.

"Wha- yeah! I'm doing great!" He said, yawning.

Ranboo raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms.

"Just a little tired" Tubbo added. "I've been having.. nightmares trouble sleeping"

"And by that you mean you wake up screaming?" Ranboo shot back.

Tubbo's blinked. "I- Ranboo-"

"Sorry- I- are you really fine?"

Pausing, Tubbo's voice cracked. "Yeah. I'm fine. Totally fine!"

Looking down, Ranboo murmured. "If that's what you want" He said, ducking under the door frame as he walked away.


Tubbo felt his heart shatter, the pieces dragging down every step he took.

He did the right thing.

He did the only thing he could do in that situation!

So why did Tubbo feel like everything went wrong?

He messed that up.

He messed up hard.

And you know he did, because he's not even denying it.

Animals scampered by as the goat hybrid stalked across prime path.

The brunette buried his head in his hands as he walked onto the wooden planks, letting out a groan.

"Hey, Tubbo?"

Tubbo froze.

No.

Not them! Not right now!

"Yeah.. Tommy? Dream?" He said, voice hard as he slowly turned around.




"Are you okay?"





Tubbo exploded.

That question again.

The dahm question.

He was sick of that question!

It was always 'are you okay?' and 'talk to me if you need help' but they never fucking did anything! Yes, it was partly because he didn't ask- but fuck it! Can't they just fucking empathy and see that he wasn't okay?!!

Tubbo was done. He didn't want to deal with this right now, he wanted everyone to just piss off.

He glared at the two. 

"No, I'm not"

He took a step back.

Their words didn't meet his ears.

It was just one step.

One falter.

One move, made because of a mountain of mistakes.

He made no sound as air rushed behind his ears.

Tubbo had lost his mom. Then his dad. Then his home. Then his brother best friend. Then his country. Then Ranboo. Then his friends.

And now, he lost his will to live.

This is how our Icarus fell, just when he was flying high.


[Tubbo fell from a high place]

Chapter Text

I've been contemplating on writing this, but I just wanted to give you all a head's up.

You've all probably heard the news. I learned it from an older sibling. I cried all the way to bed that day.

It was through Techno's videos that introduced me to DSMP. During hard times, his videos would always cheer me up, and I could say the same thing for thousands of other people. When I watched the video, I didn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it.

I'm going to be going on a small hiatus, to take a break for my mental health. Just like for many others, it doesn't seem right to write when a community is grieving. 

I'll probably continue writing about him, however. I'd like to believe that he wouldn't want us to stop making fanart, fan works, and other things. I think he'd want us to continue his legacy. We can't be sure, although I know he would want us to cherish all the good times we had watching his videos, the fun memories. I'd like to hear all of your opinions, though. 

Fly high Techno. Good luck on that conquest against the kingdom of God.

Chapter Text

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK, JUST- FUCK!"

Dream stared at the ground below, numb with shock. "He- he just- he-"

Tommy whipped out a book. "I'm reviving him. Now. Get-"

Teleported Ranboo to DreamWasTaken

"..King Boob"

"What-" Ranboo looked around. "What's going-"

"..Look at your communicator"

As soon as Tubbo woke up on the platform, he crumbled.

He shouldn't of done that. He overreacted. They probably hated him now. If they didn't already.

Why did he do that? That was stupid! 

But honestly? He didn't give a shit. 

"Oh, hey, kid"

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, just fuck.

Turning around, Tubbo glared at Schlatt. "You- Why did you abandon me?!"

"Woah woah woah getting a little-..what?"

The anger began to resurface. "You. Left me with Phil. In a box. When mom died" Tubbo said, gritting his teeth.

Schlatt drew in a sharp breath. "What are you talking about?"

"Fucking- TOBY!" Tubbo exploded.

Finally, something seemed to click. "..Toby?" 

"Yayyy" Tubbo said sarcastically, raising his arms and waving them around. "He finally remembered, oh my XD, que the flashback scene.."

"You.. I.. you can't-"

Glaring at him, Tubbo flattened his hair, revealing his horns. 

Schlatt seemed to be at a lost for words. 

"Never wondered where these came from, hmm?" Tubbo said bitterly. "Never noticed while you were executing me, huh?"

"I-" Schlatt's knees felt weak as he sat down on the metal bench, his back to the station.

"Tubbo?" 

The brunette stiffened as blonde hair poked out the train's doorway.

"No"

"Tubbo, please-"

"No, Tommy."

"....Tubbo,"

The few seconds of silence felt like hours to the two.

"Just.." Tubbo closed his eyes and exhaled. "Go."

There was no noise. When Tubbo turned around, the train, and most importantly Tommy, were gone.

Biting the inside of his cheek and holding back a sob, Tubbo's legs gave way and his back banged against the back of the bench as the two left sat in silence.

"Ki-"

"I don't want to hear it. Actually, I want to ask something. How did mom die?" Tubbo said, furiously staring at the empty stone wall.

The other's posture broke as Schlatt put a hand to his face. "..I think it was raiders. She.." He closed his eyes. "I..."

"Don't remember?" Tubbo laughed sourly, crossing his arms. "You and Ranboo should start a club"

"...Ranboo?"

"Tall, half enderman, half IT clown or some shit, might.. might be a little pissed off with me.. fuck.. somewhat charming.."

"Thanks"

Tubbo shot up, refusing to turn around. "No, no, no, fuck you TommyInnit, he did not just-"

"Tubbo.." Ranboo said quietly. "Tubbo, I-"

"No, no" The goat-hybrid repeated as he turned around, facing Boo. "I refuse. Ranboo, I want this, I deserve this, please, leave me alone-"

"You're.. just going to isolate yourself? Tubbo..This isn't healthy. It was never healthy" Ranboo exclaimed. "Tubbo, why-"

"Because I don't want your pity!" Tubbo exploded. "Because everything's great! Everything's fine! It was just that one thing! And I just needed a *little* breather-"

"In limbo?"

"No one'll bother me! And.." Tubbo trailed off. "..I won't bother anyone. Plus, I don't need it"

Ranboo grew exasperated. "Tubbs, getting the help you need isn't bothering anyone.. and.. really? Are you-"

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I CAN PERFECTLY. HANDLE. MYSELF." Tubbo screamed. "I was told to shut up and act like a man! At, what, 16? There was a war going on, Ranboo, could I have just been like 'oh no, I'm going to have a breakdown, can we stop killing each other for a sec'? NO! But hey, look! I was fine! A little shaken, sure, but fine! Smooth sailing! I didn't need help then, and I don't need it now! During the time loop, was I going to mention anything? NO! It's worse enough having them saving my bloody arse every other loop because of the mistakes I've made before! I'm not going to be the one to drag others down! I'd rather do it to myself, thank you very much! I've already hurt people! I've already hurt you! I'm the reason Techno sent the two withers after everyone! I'm the reason Tommy was exiled! I'm the reason Doomsday happened! When I'm there, shit happens Ranboo! I was a burden to Phil, I was a burden to L'manberg, and I'm a burden now!" 

They stared at each other, Tubbo's lip trembling.

Sighing, Ranboo held out a hand. "Tubbo, please.. I can't guarantee that nothing bad will happen this day and forward.. but I'm pretty sure it won't be your fault"

"Bu-"

"Please. At least do it for me. Michael. Tommy. Dream. Everyone. We all miss you. Even if you.. don't need us.. we need you, Tubbo"

Tubbo raised his arm hesitantly. Turning his hand, he swallowed when Schlatt stared at him back, making the tiniest gesture with his finger for him to take the enderman hybrid's hand.

"I'll talk to you. Later." Tubbo said coldly. The other goat hybrid shrugged, interest suddenly turning to the stone wall behind them. 

Dropping his hand in Ranboo's, Tubbo let himself be yanked into the train.

As soon as the doors closed, they both burst into tears. 

"I'm so fucking sorry" Tubbo shook as the drops ran down his cheeks. "It's all my fucking fau-"

"If you complete that sentence, I will punch you" Ranboo interrupted, stern. " Same with anyone else who says it's either their fault or yours"

Life rushed back into Tubbo as he awoke under the bridge, with Tommy, Dream and Ranboo staring at him. 

Tubbo opened his mouth. "I'm-"

He never got to finish that sentence, though, as Tommy tackled him with a hug.

"Shit," The blonde sobbed. "I'm so sorry"

Frozen, Tubbo eventually wrapped his arms around the other. "...I should be the one saying that"

"No," Dream interrupted. "We put you in that situation. I chose to put you in that situation. Fuck, Tubbo, we should've let you have some time to think it over. I'm so sorry"

Ranboo took one look at him, raised an eyebrow, then shoved him so he went tumbling into the other two.

"Yeah, yeah, that's it" He said, taking out a camera. "We haven't had a full Timeloop Trio moment in what, 2 months?"

Tubbo let out a weak chuckle. "....Just- I'm sorry. I overreacted. I'll.. explain later..."

"I understand what you were going through, and are still going through" Dream said. "But you shouldn't take the blame. It's my f-"

Ranboo proceeded to deck the green man in the face. 

Tubbo stared at him.

"Told you I'd do it"

Tommy nodded, impressed. "Everyone to Timeloop town, capiche? Tubbo, you can.. evaluate.. there"

A hand to his cheek, Dream caught up with them. "We got your back, Tubbo. You can relax. You should've a long time ago."

Nodding, Tubbo cracked a smile.

Maybe.. this time he truly could.

[Of course, Dream and Tommy are being hypocrites right now, but we're get to that later]

Chapter Text

Handing the bag of crisps over to Dream, Tommy guestrured for everyone to sit on the couch. "So. Uh..... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

"So I went into a time loop with Wilbur because he was a sort of dick right then and we all know time loops give you therapy" Tubbo said quickly. "And uh yeah that worked but thing is uh remember when the community house got blown up?"

"Oh-" Dream's eyes widened. "Oh shit- Tubbo-"

"Yeah okay that opened a lot of insecurities cough cough and uhm it did not help that I was fireworked 2 times.." Tubbo trailed off. "Overall.. I was really pissed. You know what happened next. Then I yelled at Schlatt, yelled at Tommy- sorry- yelled at Ranboo- sorry- then I'm here. "

Silence filled the room.

"Tubbo, do you want me to revive Schlatt then kill him again? Because I can do that"

The brunette held back a snort. "No thanks. I have to talk to him, and it'd be very awkward"

"Fine. Pick a movie. He can wait a few months, can't he?"

Knocking on the door, Eret awkwardly waited, twiddling his fingers. The sound of crashing and yells could be heard before a smiling Dream opened the door, Patches settling on his wild hair. 

"Eret. What's up?"

"Uhhh- I'm starting to make a museum for the SMP.. and I was wondering if you had any donations" Eret said, half regretting asking.

"Oh!" Dream picked up and settled Patches back onto the floor, turning towards the stairs. "Sure, give me a sec"

With Eret still standing at the open door, Dream went up the stairs, coming back down a few minutes later, out of breath.

"Alright, this is the arrow I killed Tommy with" He said, handing it to the brunette. "Here's the..." Dream stared at the block of TNT in his hands. "What was I going to use this for?" The blonde wondered aloud, mostly talking to himself.

Something seemed to click, and he tossed it over to Eret. "It's one of the blocks of TNT I used to blow up New L'manberg. I think"

"..And may I ask why you still have it..?"

"I keep a chest of trinkets under the community house"

"What?"

"What?" Dream repeated. "Anyways, last thing.." He held up a jagged shard of porcelain, a black line near the middle. "This.. this is my original mask" He said with a faint smile as he handed it over. 

Eyes widening, Eret looked it over. "You mean.. the one.."

"It's seen better days, but yeah. It's the one I fought all the wars with. To be fair, I was never practical, so I never made a new one"

Eret still gawked at it for a few more seconds before putting it in his inventory with the rest of the items. "Thank you. This.. this means a lot"

"No problem. Also, if you want one of Tubbo's nukes, just ask him. He'd gladly give you one"

He had thought it over a thousand times. Enough was enough.

Shielding his eyes from the scorching sun, Sapnap trudged across the sand as he passed the giant Las Nevadas sign. 

His eyes narrowed as he saw Quackity at the fountain, talking to Slime.

"No, Slime, do not eat the chip- Sapnap!"

"Hey, Quackity" Sapnap said through his teeth. "How are you!"

"I'm doing great, man! How are you and Karl?"

Sapnap had to take a deep breath before replying. "We're good. I.. need to talk to you. Can we go..?"

"Of course" Quackity replied, turning to Charlie. "Now Slime, we'll be right back, and please don't throw up in the water again"

The slime hybrid nodded, saluting. "Right-o, Quackity from Las Nevadas!" 

Following him, Sapnap eyed the giant buildings as he bit his cheek. Hesitating, he reminded himself why he had come, and the fire soon flared right back up.

Walking up the stairs, the two entered what seemed to be a combination between a bedroom and office. 

"So," Quackity dropped into a black revolving chair, clapping his hands together. "What's up?"

It was time to let it out. Eyes blazing, Sapnap swallowed. "Did you torture Dream in prison?"

The shocked look on Q's face said it all. "Sapnap, querido, I-"

"Don't querido me!" Sapnap shot back. "How could you?!"

"How could- who's the one who was going to kill him on the spot?! What happened to that?!"

"It's not torture!"

Bewildered, Quackity rose up. "After all he's done, you're still siding with-"

"TORTURE!"

Now it became a yelling match. "SAPNAP! HE TORE US APART!"

Pointing to his scar, Quackity continued. "TECHNOBLADE WOULD'VE NEVER ESCAPED! L'MANBERG WOULD'VE NEVER BEEN BLOWN UP! AND YOU'RE STILL TAKING HIS SIDE?!"

Swallowing, Sapnap's fingers wrapped around the button in his pocket. "Quackity. He didn't drive the wedge in us. You did."

He teleported out.

At a lost for words, Quackity stared at the place were Sapnap was, crumbling into his seat.

Dream was playing with Patches on the couch when the door opened with a creak. Looking up, he brightened. "Sapnap!"

"I- Dream.." Sapnap said, "Why.. why did you never tell me Quackity..."

The blonde's expression dropped. "Oh, Sap-"

"You- you said you'd tell me everything, Dream- how.. how long?" Sapnap asked in a weak voice.

Reluctantly, Dream answered him. "..Ever since Tommy was revived"

"WHAT?!"

"Well.." Dream sighed. "I didn't want to.. hurt your relationship in anyway.."

Sapnap snorted, murmuring to himself. "Great job doing that. Never thought to mention it?"

"..Sap, it wouldn't be the same without him. You three are.." Dream drifted off. 

"But- but you- Dream, you can't possibly have forgiven him" 

Dream paused. "I wouldn't say that.. but I guess, yeah. I get.. were the anger was from"

"Are you hearing yourself right now? Dream! For weeks, months, you've been stuck there with him, going through hell! You-"

"Listen, Sapnap" Dream said, cutting him off. "I.. think about it. Sure, what he did was.. not.. okay, but I mean, I did not okay things too. Doesn't mean it was justified.. but I mean, Sap, talk to him about it. You did for me"

Now looking a shay bit regretful, Sapnap sighed. "I.. kind of did already, and it didn't go so well"

Cringing, Dream nodded. "..Try another time.. with less screaming?"

"I'll.. think about it. Dream, tell me the truth. You don't hold a grudge or anything?"

"Sap, I've been through so many loops.. it'd be quite hard to, actually"

Chapter Text

Tubbo waved to Steve as he walked up the spruce stairs, knocking on the door as he mumbled to himself.

Phil opened the door, his sleepy eyes widening in surprise. "Oh, hey mate. What brings you here this early?"

"Hi, Phil" Tubbo said, strolling in. "I just wanted to ask you something"

Placing his mug on the counter, Phil gestured for Tubbo to take a seat. "Go ahead"

"..You knew Schlatt before coming to the SMP, right?"

It took a few seconds for Phil to register the question.

"Yeah, I did. Why.. do you ask?" 

"Hey... Punz?"

"Yes, Dream?" Punz said, eating his grilled cheese sandwich.

"So.. you know how you're on this quest for knowledge and the secret to immortality and how to be god and the laws of the universe and how to access the end?" Dream said, twirling his fingers.

Punz stared at him. "..Dream, what did you do now"

Raising up his hands in surrender, Dream shrugged. "..I'm just saying? You want to talk to my brother?"

Choking, Punz looked at him. "You haven't in years, Dream"

"Yeah, uhm, about that.."

Punz sighed, face-palming.

"Phil, why is Tubbo here, and why is he crying"

"Dunno mate" Phil said with a chuckle. "He was originally asking me about Schlatt, but then his communicator buzzed and now he's glued to it"

Techno looked from Phil, to Steve, to a sobbing Tubbo.

"I didn't even remember I had a giant nuke!" The brunette said, throwing his face in his hands. 

Techno raised an eyebrow, and Phil smirked. "Kristen's also.. well, she's been sending people in and out of limbo while watching what I'm assuming Tubbo's watching. And I think most of chat are too"

"How..?"

"Kristen drinks their tears"

Shaking his head, Techno sighed, rubbing his nose. "Chat, chat be quiet, fill me up on whatever this phenomena is after my nap" He said, turning around and heading back in his house.

It was 2 in the morning, and Sapnap was still awake. 

Usually, he'd fall asleep to Karl's soft snores. Or George's occasional murmurs. But not for the past few days.

It had nearly been a week, yet the argument he had with Quackity still haunted him. He had also spent some while on what Dream had said after. 

Sapnap had always fought other people's battles. Maybe.. it was time to back off for once.

But this was more than about Dream. 

It was so confusing. Why had Quackity done it? And what made Dream forgive him?

He'd have to talk to Quackity himself if he wanted the answers. 

But that wasn't an option.

However, there was another.

Tubbo had stayed overnight, sleeping next to Steve in Phil's house. 

He woke to a face full of white fur, letting out a big yawn as he stretched. 

"Morning, mate" Phil smiled, pouring coffee into the cup the crows brought him. "Ready for a long story?"

Sitting down next to the older, Tubbo looked at his lap. "Yeah, I think so"

XD was just calmly reading when he heard Jean let out a roar.

Immediately teleporting over, XD looked around. "What in the incarnation-"

On the obsidian platform stood Punz.

XD paused, trying to remember why Dream would allow-

Oh. Wait. Punz. Dream's little buddy who was obsessed with the universe or something. 

"Greetings?" XD said. 

Throwing an enderpearl and teleporting in front of the god, Punz blinked. "I wait years for a chance to go to this dimension, not even knowing if it existed, and then all of a sudden Dream told me that in fact it did, and that I could go if I wanted.. over sandwiches"

XD rolled his eyes under the mask. "That sounds like him"

Punz glanced at the immortal. "I.. have a few questions"

Sapnap whispered to Dream:  Hey, Dream?

Dream whispered to Sapnap: Yeah?

Sapnap whispered to Dream: Could I talk to you later?

Chapter Text

XD stared off into the endless void. “What do you seek is knowledge, Punz, is it not?”

Punz looked at him, skeptical. “...Right,”

The god’s voice remained level, though it seemed like he was holding back an eternity's worth of sighs.

“You can gain that easily"

“...Sure I can,”  Punz replied. There was a glimmer of curiosity beneath the facade, though it was fading. The prospect of gods, creators of all, was slowly diminishing now that he had met one. For immortal beings with all the knowledge and power, they seemed quite…dull. 

“Why devise such a plan, why take lives, Punz?”

Punz snorted. “I haven’t seen any sign of a god till now, Don’t tell me I could’ve just asked,” He said, though he was quite unsettled by the fact he was talking like this to a god.

“You’re unlike any mortal I’ve ever met” XD mused with a hint of admiration. “Why do you have such a fascination with death?

Why was he so interested? Why did the god care? Punz didn’t want to answer. Sure, XD may be close to Dream, but there was a difference.

Though… ever since the ‘time loop’, Dream had turned into a whole new person Punz couldn’t recognize. He was open, content- for XD’s sake he barely even wore his mask anymore!

Punz felt betrayed, though he wouldn’t admit it. It had been him and Dream, fixing the server, finding the secrets of the world and how it worked, and now…

Now nothing was going to plan.

“Immortality isn’t the only way, Punz,” XD said.

What did XD, an immortal himself, know? Punz had learned early on that lives were short, too short, and could end at any moment by another hand. He had ended many himself.

When Punz didn’t speak, XD continued. “Though it is fairly easy to gain. I could grant you it this second”

Punz knew better. “You couldn’t. It can’t be that easy”

XD did the equivalent of a smirk from behind the mask. “Of course it is. Though there are consequences Punz, consequences no mortal mind could properly understand. You watch those you befriend grow old, as you stay young. Years may pass, the world around you changing, though you don’t change at all. Living forever is not a blessing, Punz. It is a curse. Do you not remember when you had connections, Punz?”

Punz did remember. When he first joined the server, befriended Tubbo and gifted him bees. How devastated he was when he lost Beenus and participated in the Pet War. How he fought along against Pogtopia.

They seemed ridiculous now, though. Such simple conflicts created by stupid reasons, all the while there was a bigger picture. All while there were the laws of the universe, just waiting to be tinkered with.

But some small part of Punz missed when times were simpler.

“Tell me, Punz,” XD said, “Do you truly wish for immortality?”

Was the god serious? With one word, Punz could get what he had searched for the past months.

But there had to be some catch. There was always a catch. There was no reason for anyone to do something if it wasn’t for their own gain. Such a thing as kindness- a weakness. Punz had to quickly think things through- what was XD planning?-figure out what to say, so he blurted out. “Why isn’t Dream immortal? He’s your brother, isn’t… he?”

“Ah, Dream,” XD said, and Punz was surprised to hear a hint of regret in the god’s voice. “Indeed, he is. Unlike I, however, his destiny is not set in stone. Though his life is tied to the server, he still dies. Every admin always does, at a certain age. However, he is reborn, without his past memories- past regrets”

“...What?”

“I suggest you ask the goddess of death of this,” XD continued. “However, yes. Unlike mortals, Dream does not get to depart to the afterlife. No, he is forever bound to the world. He may travel to other servers, but in the end, he always goes back to his beginning”

That seemed… depressing to Punz. Never able to truly die, nor never able to live an immortal life.

Which meant… everything that he and Dream had planned, how they were going to live their infinite lives- it wasn’t even possible. It was all a lie. 

As if the deity could read Punz’s mind, he exhaled. “No, Dream does not know of this, and I do not wish it. It… didn’t work out so perfectly in another life”

“Can't you just- Aren’t you a god?” Punz interrupted.

XD slowly shook his head. “Punz, you must understand. Even we gods have our limits. Even gods have rules. We too have beings more powerful than us”

Punz liked to think he was above the rest of the server-say for Dream- but compared to XD, he was nothing. 

And now he was learning that there were people that had more power than gods themselves? Everything he had laid out was being uprooted- trampled upon.

Punz’s mouth felt dry as he struggled to find words. XD was lying. He had to be.

“This is not a trick, Punz. What do I have to gain by deceiving you? There’d be no universal repercussion to turn you immortal. Yet, in times, there can be such thing as too much knowledge,” XD said. “It was the journey you were seeking, Punz, rather than the destination. Alas, your quest to gain all knowledge is one you will never be able to end, and you will never be able to truly take it back. So I ask you again, Punz. Do you wish for immortality?”

Yes! Punz’s mind screamed. He’s trying to lead you out of your goal!

He’d have to watch Dream die, unable to do anything about it. He’d have to see more wars, more fighting, more children trained to be killers.

All over again.

But he could stay in the end, away from everyone. He could learn everything he ever wanted to know. He could finally be satisfied.

Though he could never be able to make another connection again.

But isn’t that what he wanted?

Punz stayed silent.

XD huffed. “I see that you require more time to think. My service is required in a few servers, however, so I will- how do mortals put it?-  see you later, Punz”

With that, the god teleported out.

Leaving Punz all by himself.

In the city of end, void particles twinkling like stars.

Sapnap wouldn’t say that he was out of options, but in actuality, he was just being stubborn.

This was simpler.


No, it wasn’t. He was just being a coward. Sapnap wanted to play all his cards right, make sure everything went perfectly, and if he wanted to do that then he’d have to do this.

He scowled. Wasn’t he just like Dream in the past? Hiding,  manipulating- it was everything he fought against. Yet now, he was about to do the exact same thing.

Though Subpoena was doing it for the sake of himself. He knew well that if he talked to this Quackity again right now, then he’d do something he’d regret.

Which was why he found himself facing Dream.

The admin looked worried. “What do you need, Sap? Did something go wrong?”

Nope, no, absolutely not. Sapnap turned around, but Dream grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. Holding his friend's shoulders, Dream walked him to the couch and sat down.

“What. Happened?”

Sapnap sighed. After a few seconds of silence, he quietly spoke. “I… need the full story, Dream. I need to know why Quackity…” He trailed off.

Taking another breath, he finished. “I need to kind of mess with time…as in...?"

He paused and closed his mouth. Quiet followed.

“Sapnap… no”

Sapnap blinked. He knew that Dream was going to say no, but it still caught him a little surprised. “...Dream-”

“There's always other ways... what if we couldn't access-" 

"Then you'd be dead, the server would be in chaos and George and Karl would still be asleep" Sapnap interrupted. 

Dream stopped. "Well, that's fair..."

“Listen, Dream. I wouldn’t ask you this for anything else. I… really don’t want to face Quackity right now. I should’ve kept my cool when I spoke to him- but that’s my fault, and I can’t really do anything about it. So, please. I just... need this once"

Silence followed. Dream swallowed, looking at his lap. “I guess I just don’t want you to learn to hate me again”

Sapnap was stunned. “I- what?”

“I don’t want you to relive it again, Sapnap. I don’t want you to feel that you need to save my past manipulative ass every time I’m cornered. Maybe I’m being selfish. But… Sapnap, I need you to promise me that you won’t rescue me from prison if I'm. You don’t have past me’s trust, Sapnap, remember, you said you’d kill- Sapnap, make sure that the entire server won’t hate you. Or,” Dream said, lighting up. “I could with you-”

“No,” Sapnap said immediately, shaking his head. It’d be worse if this Dream was stuck in the prison. There’d be no way he’d let Sapnap get him out of Pandora, whether the ravenette could or not. “Dream, I need to do this myself”

Dream grew quiet. “I... guess so"

Tubbo fiddled with his fingers, looking at the table. “Schlatt gave me to you". He wasn't asking, more so stating the obvious. 

Phil nodded with a pained expression. “Yes. He did”

“...How old was I?” said Tubbo, and his voice cracked.

“You were… six. Old enough to take care of yourself with everyone else… young enough to not clearly remember” Phil winced.

If there was a scene representing awkwardness, this would be it.

“I’m sorry, Tubbo" Phil continued, sighing. "I’m sorry if you felt like an outcast, I’m sorry if you didn’t feel loved. I know you felt different- but I could never explain to you why.  I never planned to tell you, Tubbo. I didn’t want you to resent yourself, even before-”

He stopped and looked away.

Tubbo exhaled. “I don’t get it! Why couldn't he have just- not? I know now that Mom died but why? Why couldn’t he have held it together for me?!” 

Phil thought for a while before speaking. “Tubbo… understand, that it would’ve been worse. Schlatt was- is -broken, and nothing could've been fixed that then. I’m not trying to defend him- it’s just, he was there mentally, and it wouldn’t have been safe for you to stay. One day, he just showed up, and asked me to take you”

Tubbo knew that, but made him feel better hearing it from Phil. "I guess I get it now," He said softly. 

"...Are you going to talk to him?" Phil asked, taking a cup a crow nudged toward him.

"I mean..." Tubbo bit his cheek. "Yes"

"Don't feel obligated to," Phil advised. "He's not your responsibility"

Tubbo nodded. "I know, but it's kinda in the moral aspect... no one deserves to stay in limbo"

Phil chuckled. "Some people might disagree. So you're planning to...?"

"Yeah, maybe"

"If you are, take your time, mate. It'll be mentally draining" Phil said. "I'll tell Kristin too, before she gets really miffed" He murmured, and a crow divebombed him in the head.

"Thanks," Tubbo said, and smiled. "Phil?"

"Mmh?"

"I'm glad you're the one who adopted me"

There was a ring of a bell as Tommy stepped halfway through the door of the bakery. "...Niki?"

She was busy washing plates, freezing at the sound of his voice. Taking deep breaths, she put the dishes down, wiped her hands, and turned to look at the blonde. 

"Welcome, Tommy. What can I get you?" She said, dusting her hands.

Tommy stepped to the counter, standing across from her. "Erm... I wanted to...apologize"

Niki's head snapped up. "...What?"

Tommy quickly rushed on. "For... all the stuff I did before. I was an asshole- I'm sorry. About- Pogtopia too, I was-" He sighed. "I was so focused on Wilbur, Tubbo, Manberg- that we- I-"

He stopped, swallowing. "I'm sorry. We were supposed to have each other's backs"

Niki looked away from him, staring at the pastries on the shelf. After some silence, she sighed back. "I'm sorry too, Tommy"

The blonde stayed silent, letting her continue.

"I realized that- you weren't the root of my problems. No one really was, except me. I should've put all the blame on you, Tommy. I... expect that you know about the nuke...?"

Tommy nodded.

Niki winced. "I thought it would end my troubles, Tommy. And I realize that- I just needed to let go. I only realized that after... you died. I'm sorry for trying to kill you." 

They stood awkwardly, waiting for the other to start speaking.

Tommy didn't, still trying to figure out what to say, so Niki finished. "When I pushed everyone away- it was- I've realized how much having people I could trust- friends- meant to me. Baking's helped me- I'm over Wilbur, Manberg, Pogtopia- I think I can live. I don't hate you anymore, Tommy. I stopped a while ago"

"It if makes you feel better..." Tommy said, "You didn't need to apologize to me, I- I- get why you were so angry, and it was valid, and we all fuck up sometimes including me- point is," Tommy rambled, "I forgive you, and I appreciate your effort to change" 

Niki was taken aback, but nodded. "Thank you. Er-" She took a cookie from the heating rack and held it out to Tommy. "Do... you want one? They're... not that fresh, since it's so late, but-"

Tommy took it. "Thanks. Can... we be friends? Is that okay?"

Pausing, Niki thought before softly nodding and holding out a hand. "...I'd appreciate that. Friends?"

Hesitant at first, Tommy shook. "...Friends"