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Punz and Dream were cheering. They were both cheering. And why wouldn’t they be? They’d just managed to do the impossible. They’d managed to revive the dead. The truly dead. The dead and never come back dead.
They’d brought them back.
Even with Dream’s mask on, Punz could still see his clear joy. The book worked. Dream had told him about how he got it in the first place. About how it had been a deal with Schlatt from back in the Pogtopia/Manburg days. The chance of it just being nonsensical ramblings of a drunk man were high but Dream was always a paranoid man and he hadn’t taken the chance to lose out on that kind of power.
Both of them were laughing. They’d done the impossible. They’d actually done it. Dream had done it. They both knew what it meant. Punz had always loved the amount of power and strength Dream had. He’d always loved that the other would always be able to protect and fight if there was a need. Dream was smart, strong, protective. He was like a raging dragon on a battlefield and they’d joked for years that he was just some sort of god.
With what they’d just done Punz would pray to him if Dream asked him to.
He was about to make a joke about it when he felt his comm buzz on his wrist. From how he could see Dream looking down towards his own he could guess that his also went. That made for one thing. A server wide ping. Something like an advancement or a non whispered message and those had become few and far between given how things had been going recently. He thought it would be one of the new people finally getting full netherite or something like that nature.
He absolutely had not expected to see Dream’s name.
Dream has made the advancement [Ascension]
Confusion barreled through him immediately. Ascension? That wasn’t like any achievement he’d ever heard of before and he’d been to plenty of worlds. Dream’s own confusion was evident despite the mask. The tilt of his head and the shift of his shoulders.
“Dream? What does this mean?”
He was hesitating but could you blame him? He didn’t know what it meant. And if anyone would it would be Dream. Not only was he the one that just got the advancement, he was the one that always knew everything before anyone else. Dream was dangerous for a reason. And one of those reasons was that no matter what, he would always be ahead.
Dream shifted like he was moving to respond to him when the room went completely white. The blinding flash made both of them cringe and flinch away to try to protect their eyes. By the time Punz finally lowered his arm to take in what changed he realized there was a new person in the room. Both of the recently revived unconscious on the ground still and out for the count. Neither of them were gone and neither of them had anything to do with this but he could see that whatever was about to go down was something huge.
It had to be when God was standing there watching you.
He knew who DreamXD was. Everyone did. The god of their server was not someone to take lightly and there was a reason Punz was one of the very few on the SMP who had shulkers. He and Dream both highly respected XD. Dream always joked about being tied to him since he was the first one on the world. But the god hovering before them watching them both was starting to set him on edge. He had heard XD complain of being summoned before. If they’d summoned him by reviving the dead then they could be in trouble with the god.
That was something neither of them wanted.
“XD?”
Dream stepped forward when he spoke. Punz recognized it immediately. A protective stance. Dream was putting himself between XD and Punz. He was making himself a barrier to keep him safe. He was making his body a wall.
“You’re finally ready.”
The echoing voice was something both of them had heard before but the words he spoke set both of them even further on edge. Ready? For what? The white mask was focused solely on Dream. It was like Punz wasn’t even there. But if Dream was the one that had all the attention then that meant he was the one likely to need protecting out of this. Not the other way around. So he spoke up. He tried to take the attention off Dream. If he’d done something with that achievement then it wasn’t meant to upset the god. Punz had made deals with him before. He could try to convince him to let Dream go.
“What do you mean?”
The god hummed. Leaning back slightly as he took in the two mortals before him. He began circling them both. Robes shifting and wings resting on his back as he touched the ground and walked.
“You didn’t realize, did you?”
He didn’t sound upset. More like he’d just made an observation. Dream tensed and Punz felt himself do the same. Neither of them liked this. Being circled like they were nothing but insects. Part of why Dream founded this world was to ensure things like this didn’t happen. And now here he was. With the god of it circling him wearing a body that mirrored his own.
His own smile mask followed XD as he walked. Both of them sizing each other up and if Punz didn’t know any better he’d think Dream was planning to fight the god.
“Realize what? Why are you here XD?”
A low chuckle came from behind the god’s mask. His strides calm and confident as he brushed by Punz and stopped directly in front of Dream.
“I’m here because of you. Your memories are locked but I’ve been waiting for this since the beginning of this run.”
Punz hated this. He wanted to fight. He wanted to do something to try to help but he couldn’t save Dream against a god. Still, if Dream asked him to, he would. He’d defend Dream until the day he died.
“We were once one and the same, Dream. You were always my favorite because you were me.”
The world felt like it stopped. Maybe it had. They’d been one? What did that even mean? Punz felt his breathing hitch trying to figure out what the god meant. He could see the way Dream’s hands balled into fists. The way he seemed to stutter where he stood before forcing himself to stay calm and in the moment.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
XD laughed again.
“Of course it does.” His head tilted slightly. Taking in all of Dream’s appearance before him. “Did you think gods cared enough for mortals that we changed our looks for them? That just anyone could read that book? Revive the dead?” He paused again. “In the beginning of all of this we were one. Until that group of self named Dreamon hunters ripped me from your body. You were damaged. I had to wait until you were ready.”
Dream twitched slightly. He remembered Tubbo and Fundy interrogating him. He remembered his body feeling weird but he adjusted and moved past it. He hadn’t thought anything of it really. Just that he’d gotten a little too carried away. With how Fundy had looked at him he thought maybe they were playing around and he got hit on the head. That was the reason they were asking him questions. Not because of this.
He never thought it was something like this. He wasn’t even sure he could believe it but something about it felt right. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t get himself to react on his own command.
XD moved to Dream’s back. Watching him and Dream couldn’t move. Not even when XD was ripping the hoodie away from him and revealing the multitude of scars that ran across his skin. Two large ones crossing over his back from the top of his shoulders at angles so they crossed into the sides of his ribs. A large X that Dream never remembered where he’d gotten them.
XD ran his hands over the marks. Pausing where they crossed between his shoulder blades.
“Did you never question your scars? The marks left from when they pulled me from our body.”
Punz shivered. He had to move. He needed to defend Dream. Something was wrong and he could see Dream was starting to panic. If XD was holding him in place then it would be up to Punz to do something. He just needed to time it right.
XD turned slightly to face him. Humming lightly at the shifting of his stance into one meant for a fight.
“You’ll be my favorite after this.”
He turned back to Dream. Twisted joy rolling through the echo of his voice as he lifted his hands again.
“Now that you committed an act of godhood without me. You’re stable enough for us to rejoin.”
Punz moved at that. He couldn’t wait any longer. He could see from the shift of Dream’s shoulders that he felt the same way but neither of them had enough time to react. XD reached for Dream and the room washed white again. This time instead of the silence that had been there when XD appeared there was sound. A horrible sound that Punz never wanted to hear.
Dream was screaming.
He blinked the spots from his eyes with the time to see wings ripping themselves from Dream’s back. His friend collapsed on the ground hugging himself and scratching at his head. He didn’t know what he could do to help but he still ran forward to try.
Dream reached for him instinctively and Punz was happy to oblige. He held him when the wings stretched and moved. As his screams died down and he was left a gasping heap in his arms. All he could think was what just happened. What just happened? Dream was XD? Dream was the god of the world?
It made sense. Part of him hated that it made sense. Dream was protective of all the land here. He called it his own. But he just thought that was because he founded it all. Not because he had literally created the world. Maybe that was why he got along well with XD. maybe because he was Dream. Or maybe that was why he got along with Dream, because he was XD.
Either way it went his friend was in pain. Hurting and changed and he had to figure out something to do. If they’d become one then was it XD in Dream’s body? Was Dream gone? Was XD? Was there ever a difference to begin with?
“Dream?..”
He was scared of the answer. He was scared there wouldn’t be one. That he’d lost his friend for good and he’d been powerless to stop it. But Dream moved and tapped his back softly where his hands were rested.
“That was…I didn’t think he was telling the truth.”
Dream was still there. He was still in there. He was okay.
“How do you feel? Are you okay? You-”
“Feel new…Old?..I don’t know. That was a lot to remember..”
“So you’re..God?..”
Dream laughed. Short and hoarse and it cut off with a small cough but he was nodding against Punz’s shoulder and he could feel wetness soaking through his hoodie. Sweat or tears he didn’t know. He didn’t care.
“At least you can be my favorite now?”
Punz didn’t know if he should laugh or cry or something in between. He just stuck to his thoughts. This was so weird.
What the hell just happened?
He wasn’t sure he’d ever know.
He wasn’t sure he needed to.