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He wakes up in the middle of a wooden path, buildings looming over him.
Dream could only assume that he'd spawned on someone's survival server.
Perhaps this could be one of Bad's servers? Bad is known for getting rich off of his servers, after all.
Dream figures he should ask the regulars of the server first.
The house under the hill had looked quaint and inviting enough. After a couple of knocks, he hears the faint sound of feet shuffling and a familiar voice calling out and asking who it is.
"It's Dream." He responds. He could already feel the tension in the air, the moment he hears the person at the back of the door step away.
He expects the door to open wide, instead he hears the sound of blocks breaking and movement around him.
Slowly turning his head, around he is met with a boy no younger than Tommy and with an axe wrapped around his fists.
Dream's unarmed and practically defenseless. All he can do is pray and run.
But as the person comes nearer, the panic in Dream's chest starts to fade as it molds into confusion.
He'd looked familiar, so to speak. Messy blonde hair, ocean blue eyes and that eye soar of a green bandana. It didn't help that he'd been dressed in a red and white sweater, similar to that of a friend from back home. Perhaps Tommy had found himself in a similar situation as him?
But unlike Tommy who'd been obsessed with keeping his clothes neat and perfect, this boy's clothing had been littered with tiny holes, with some parts, covered in patches which he assumes had been sewn in.
The first thought that comes across in his mind is that this can't be Tommy.
The boy's eyes had been dull, with heavy bags under his eyes. Old scars and bruises, painted across the rest of his skin like a canvas that had been harshly painted. And unlike Tommy who always had his signature smug smile on, this boy had looked as if he'd been long dead inside.
This was a boy who had witnessed war and felt the touch of death more than once.
Tommy on the other hand, had not. He'd lived a life basked in privilege and blissful ignorance. He was sheltered, so to say. Techno, Kristin, Wilbur and Phil had made sure of it.
"Dream?" His breath is shaky and full of fear, it's almost though his voice is clawing away in a desperate attempt to escape. But instead of running away, he points his axe at Dream, causing him to raise his hands in a panic.
"You look… different." The boy studies him, but he doesn't go closer and instead shakily pokes Dream's chest with the end of his axe.
Dream takes a step back. "Um, thanks.. I guess?" Unsure of how he should react. He had never met this boy in his life.
The boy squints his eyes at him, trying to further study him from a distance. "The fuck happened to you?"
"I-I don't know. I was just on another manhunt with Bad, Sapnap and George, hit my head on a rock and woke up here." Dream rushes to explain before pausing. Perhaps this boy had known his friends and had been asked by them to help pull a prank on him? "Do you happen to know Bad, Sapnap and George?"
"The fuck?" He looks at Dream, confused. "Of course I know them. Why the fuck-"
"Is this a prank? Did they ask you to help them do this?" Dream slowly shoves away the axe pointed at him with his finger.
"No. What the fuck?" The boy nervously breathes in between words.
Dream gulps, taking another step back as he opens his communicator. "Okay, I think this may be like a misunderstanding? I'll just uhh leave the server." He mumbles. He'll just ask Bad and the others about this later after he comes home.
Somehow the boy had looked at him, offended. "You… You can't just leave after all the shit you've done, Dream! This isn't some kind of game where you can just leave and run from the consequences of your actions!" He yells out, voice full of anger, Dream could practically feel the boy's grip on his axe tighten as he raises it at Dream once again.
"Shit." Dream curses out as he scrambles to run to the road made of wood on his left. He frantically presses on his communicator, looking for options to leave this server.
His attempts are proven futile and the communicator slips away from his hand as he runs.
"I think you've forgotten Dream. You may own this server, but no one can leave. You made sure of it, don't you remember?" The boy taunts him, although voice a bit shaky.
Own this server? Sure Dream had owned a shit ton of them to do his manhunts on but he's never owned a survival multiplayer server such as this one.
"To think you'd try to run from the consequences of your actions. Fucking bitch. Or is this an attempt to manipulate me again, because if it is, it's not going to work."
Dream had still been frozen in place.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Manipulate? Dream was many things but a manipulative son of a bitch. To be accused of such a thing had felt like a shot to his ego.
It feels as if he'd just been thrown to a parallel universe.
Wait.
"Hold on!" He comes to a halt before he trips over the wooden stairs. His attacker stands over him. And though Dream had been cornered, he could still sense the feeling of fear from his attacker.
"I could kill you right now, you know that right?" Suddenly the axe had been pointed at his chin.
"Yes, I'm aware." Dream croaks out, taking a deep breath. "But I don't think I'm the same Dream as the Dream you're referring to." He takes off his mask, the other withdraws his axe.
The boy had looked taken a back "You… You look…Weird."
"Is that an insult?" Dream blurts out, suddenly the axe is defensively shoved straight at the air near his face once more.
"Yes and no." The boy hisses through his teeth. "You're not Dream?"
"I am, well.. Just different." Dream pushes himself backwards. "Tell me. What is this server called?"
The boy looks at him, puzzled. "Dream smp."
Despite the claims of server being owned by him, he had never heard of such a server.
"Who… Who else is on the dream smp?"
"Well, there's Wilbur, Phil, Techno-"
Dream doesn't listen further. Of course Wilbur, Phil, Techno are here. Chances are Tommy's here too. They may have orchestrated all this together as a prank alongside Sapnap and the others. If there's something Dream knows, it's that the Sleepy Bois are always up to mischief. "Where are the Sleepy Bois right now?"
"The fuck's a sleepy bois?" Maybe he isn't just familiar with it. While Dream may be crazy enough to think he's in a parallel universe, he's still in denial about it. Maybe some people just haven't heard of it yet. But he feels as though like this kid should know.
"Well.. It's a group of friends consisting of Wilbur, Technoblade, Philza and Tommyinnit. You've heard of them right? They're pretty much well known everywhere, well next to the Dream Team that is."
"That's a shit group, consider that group gone forever now since I'm not on good terms with all the rest." The boy sputters out.
And then it clicks.
"Y'know.." Dream trails off. "I wasn't sure it was you at first, but you don't happen to be Tommyinnit, right?"
The boy hesitates, Dream observes him as he clutches his right arm tightly as he swallows the lump in his throat. " I am Tommyinnit. " He shakily breathes out before letting out a nervous chuckle.
"Oh." Dream takes note of the look of fear in Tommy's eyes. Somehow he feels that he should be guilty of this. And to think that he'd never thought of the day he'd get to see Tommyinnit dressed in rags and eyes full of fear. It was so unlike Tommy.
The Tommy he knew was loud and brash. He was energetic and brave, known to bring chaos everywhere he went. This Tommy however had been more quiet, more threatening and with dull and sunken eyes that never show emotion unless it had been fear.
Dream's heart sinks at the sight.
He feels it sink further as he opens his mouth to talk once more. "This may sound crazy but I think I'm from an alternate universe."
Tommy only tilts his head at him, shoulders no longer as stiff as before and more relaxed. "Based on all the shit I've seen in all 17 years of my life, no. That doesn't sound crazy at all."
Dream could only sigh in relief, Tommy sits next to him, axe still in his grip.
"So what's it like in your world?" Tommy faintly asks, kneeling down beside him, axe still in his grip.
" Well." Dream pauses, rubbing his chin. "To start off, our servers don't usually work like this one."
Tommy gives out a confused look. "Okay?"
"What I meant is that, our servers usually are connected to other servers, we can always leave when we want to." Tommy still looks at him confused. "Well here it's just one big server, no one gets to leave unless they're dead." Tommy explains. Dream however grimaces at the concept of a server with permanent deaths.
"To get to the basics, we have a three life system here where after you die three times you're gone for good." Tommy continues "Got it." Dream musters, curiously looking at the boy beside him. This is the look of a child who'd met with death. "So how many lives do you have left?"
"I don't know to be honest." Dream doesn't fail to notice the fear crawling back into the younger's eyes. "I've already lost three of my lives, but I've been brought back to life again, so I can't really tell."
"Didn't you just say after your three lives are out you're gone for good?" Dream furrows a brow.
"Well yeah.. but like, you… I mean like my version of you killed me and brought me back to life with his stupid revivebook."
Somehow, Dream is starting to understand the hesitancy and fear Tommy had when talking to him.
His Dream had killed him.
Dream doesn't know how, nor does he know why, but he feels as though Tommy had only given him a single piece of a bigger puzzle of what his relationship had been like to his world's Dream.
"That's fucked up." Dream mutters. "It is." Tommy responds, a bit calmer and less fearful.
"Where I'm from, when we die, we just spectate. Sometimes we have the option of respawning. Deaths aren't really permanent." Dream looks at the younger who looks at him with interest.
There's a huge silence between them as Tommy nods in response to the information before scratching the back of his head "I've been meaning to ask. You've asked me if I was Tommyinnit. That implies you have a version of me in your world. What was I like in your world?"
"You're pretty well-known and well-liked I guess. What can I say? You were pretty famous. " Dream clicks his tongue."You did a lot of crazy things on every server that you've stayed in. You're well known for testing out mods and doing it in the most entertaining way possible. There were times where you'd let me join in on testing them out too, it was pretty fun." Dream laughs softly, reminiscing of the times he'd spent with Tommy… or at least the Tommy from his world.
"Wish I could've joined in on more though" Dream whispers to himself. He's sure Tommy had heard of it too as he can feel the boy start to smile.
Dream could feel himself smiling as well "Every month, we'd participate in Minecraft Championships. Sometimes we'd be on the same team and sometimes we'd be up against one another."
He remembers the victorious smile across Tommy's face after having killed him and his comrades in battle. He remembers how happy he'd looked after having won Minecraft Championships along side his friends.
"How'd I do?" Dream could only look at Tommy fondly as he started to ramble again. "There were times you'd do great. You'd beat me a couple times too. And though I was a bit annoyed by it, I was still impressed."
"That's cool." Tommy comments."You've mentioned something about Wilbur Phil and Techno earlier. Were they nice? "
Dream could only give out a concerned look in response to his question. "Well, yeah. "
"Technoblade was usually known for beating everyone on sky wars. Phil was known for doing solo hardcore survival worlds and Wilbur would get a hundred people to do whatever fucked up experiment he has in mind." Dream rambles.
"That sounds a lot like them. Especially Wilbur, considering how fucked up he already is." Tommy laughs, Dream is taken a back by the implications of the former. Maybe it's just a universal thing where every version of Wilbur was an insane son of a bitch. And though Wilbur was sort of insane and with a god complex that could rival Dream's, Wilbur was never complete without his sidekick, Tommy.
"Sometimes you'd join in on him too." Dream adds in. " That's fucked." Tommy blurts "I would never do such a thing, although my Wilbur could never do something as insane as that, he was fucked up enough to blow up an entire country."
"That's definitely a Wilbur thing to do."
"He also stuck his dick in a fish once." Tommy mentions. Dream however is not phased by this. "It's the same in my world too.."
"So can we all agree that Wilbur fucking fishes is a universal thing?" Tommy jokes, Dream tries to hold back a laugh and fails.
"How am I not surprised? That's definitely such a Wilbur thing to do." Dream cackles.
Tommy hums in agreement "I'm still on good terms with Techno there, right?"
Dream could only look back at the question with interest. This Tommy was not on good terms with his Techno? While him and Techno had their fights from time to time, they were quick to make up and forget about it. "You were never on bad terms to begin with."
"That's a relief. I haven't been on good terms with him for a while now." Dream could've sworn he heard Tommy mutter something along the lines of wishing he could apologize to Techno.
Tommy looks back at him after a series of mutters to himself. "You said something about us being part of a group."
"Sleepy Bois." Dream says.
"Shit name to be honest, but were we… all of us, still family?"
"You were never family." Dream feels the small smile that had been plastered on Tommy's face start to fade. "Not in a bad way, but you guys were just a bunch of close friends who were hard to separate. But you were close to becoming one."
"That sounds better than what I have." Tommy bitterly smiles "Phil wasn't my dad, he was Wilbur's. But he was one of the closest I had to having a dad. Wilbur was more of a brother-figure and Techno… Techno I saw him as a brother too, but I guess not so much now. He probably never saw me as one too."
Aw heck, the more Dream had asked about this world the more depressing it had sounded like.
After a while of chatting with this world's Tommy and exchanging stories with him, Dream had finally managed to slip up. "Yeah." He clears his throat "Not to be rude but your world sounds depressing."
"Welcome to my world." Tommy sighs, there's a bit of amusement in his tone.
But Dream knows that face all to well. He's seen it before from his version of Tommy when he'd get jealous of Ranboo or Tubbo. That was the face of someone who'd wished to get something better.
This Tommy wanted to leave.
"If you want to, I could take you with me to mine. You can be Tomathy isn't it and we can be a duo. How does that sound? " It's a good idea, Dream thinks. He can take care of him, protect him and make him feel better. Tommy however doesn't seem to agree despite Dream being so sure that he would. "As fun as that sounds, I'd rather stay here in this shithole and make amends with friends than run from it."
The Tommy he knew was brave and strong. But he was never as resilient as this Tommy. To survive all of this by his own was something that Dream had found himself admiring. And to think that Tommy had refused to accept his offer and chosen to stay instead of run away from his problems.
Dream pulls him into a tight hug. "Has anyone ever told you of how strong you are?"
And though he can feel Tommy's unsteady breaths, he doesn't let go. "Not really. Tubbo did once but I don't know if he really meant it."
Tommy let's go of the hug, and while Dream wants to hug him some more and melt further into the touch, he decides to respect his lack of reciprocation for it.
"My Dream did too. But it was more of in a sarcastic and taunting manner."
Dream hadn't been new to the whole idea of taunting Tommy, as a matter of fact it's part of his dynamic with him to keep on messing with him. It just doesn't feel right without the usual taunting.
But he knows this Dream and Tommy's dynamic might've been far than the one he has with his Tommy at home.
The thought of this Dream killing this Tommy never leaves the back of his mind.
"I've been meaning to ask, what was your Dream like?" Dream could only internally yell at himself for asking it, but his interest to the topic had been practically killing him. Tommy had not reacted well to him at all when he'd first seen him. It could only be indicative of how bad this world's version of him's relationship with Tommy had been. It didn't help that Tommy had mentioned being killed by him in this world.
Tommy fidgets with the hem of his red and white sweater. "You were a giant prick." He huffs. "You killed me at least three times and brought me back to life so you can kill me again." The grip Tommy has on his own arm grows tighter. Dream's heart sinks.
"You...Well, you from this world literally just broke out of prison days ago and ran after me because you were a dick. You shot me in the head a few years back then, stole my discs and you beat me to death when I was trapped with you in prison." Tommy breathes out. "Which was not fun by the way, I would not recommend being slowly beaten to death with a potato, zero out of five stars." Tommy comments. Dream could only look at him in sheer terror. While Dream had not been new to the concept of dying, the thought of being beaten slowly to death had sounded horrifying.
"You made Tubbo exile me and visited me every day to blow up my things and manipulate me. You helped blow up the country me and Wilbur had tried to build with our very own hands twice and you threatened to kill Tubbo to put me in prison, which wasn't successful since you ended up in prison anyways. There's a lot more that I'm probably forgetting but you were overall just a huge dick. " Dream's stomach twists at every word Tommy says.
The sinking feeling of guilt in his gut grows into rage.
He doesn't know this version of him enough, but he's sure he'd done worse than what had been mentioned.
He's going to kill this world's version of him.
"You know, Tommy. I was going to ask you at first to help me try and find a way back to my world. But that could wait." Tommy squints at him. "Tell me where he is right now and we could kill him." Dream continues.
It was time for another manhunt.
Dream wakes up in an entirely different world.
The last thing he remembers is breaking out of prison and chasing down his prey.
He doesn't recall how he'd gotten here.
This world had been different than the one he'd come from, but it had also been similar.
A whole new world to break and to make completely his just to break and to make all over again.
It was easy pretending to be this world's Dream at most. Just be nice and act all chummy with everyone he was familiar with.
While he wasn't familiar with people such as Smajor, Grian and DanTdm, there were some people he'd been familiar with like Bad, George, Sapnap, Quackity, Fundy, Techno, Wilbur and Tommy.
Bad had been the same, always shouting 'language' left and right. Though he was more attached to the hip with this Skeppy than he was with the Skeppy from his world.
Sapnap had been similar as well, though with more human ears and less hybrid features. George is still the same as well, barely any difference.
Most of them had been similar, just less of the hybrid features and less tensions between some relationships.
Perhaps it's the lack of serious wars in this world? Perhaps it's because of the more relaxed environment? Dream doesn't know but part of him admires the lack of pettiness in this realm.
It makes it all the more interesting to break and make his.
He feels like a child, being given a whole new set of toys to play with.
A whole new set of toys to break and destroy.
Like a warrior, he strategizes and with strategy comes observation.
It's noticeable how everyone here has their own niche that Dream thinks matches them very well.
Fundy is well renowned as an engineer for his redstone experiments. Wilbur, Skeppy and Bad are known for messing with people and using it to entertain others. Sapnap, Tommy and George were mod testers, known for testing mods in private servers alongside friends. Technoblade was known for his battle strategies and strength and Dream…he was known for his manhunts.
And though it has been interesting to observe. The one thing that strikes Dream as the most different is this world's Tommy.
Unlike the Tommy from his world, this Tommy had never felt the brush of death. He'd been more innocent to the concept of it and had never felt the horrors of war. He was more naive and child-like unlike his Tommy who was untrusting and forced to mature at such an early age. Eyes always full of joy and a personality oh so full of energy and confidence that can easily rile up people.
Easy to break and all the fun to make just to break him all over.
He misses the Tommy of his world, more silent and less of a chaotic ball of sunshine. Oh, how he hated the smile on that kid's face! It reminds him of how his Tommy used to be before the wars, before the discs and before L'manberg.
He's not quite like his Tommy, but it's okay. He can work with this.
He'll just find ways to put out the light inside of him to the point where he's similar to the Tommy Dream had grown attached to.
Like a moth to a lamp, Dream chases after Tommy.
The world can wait, after all he has a brand new favorite toy to play with.
It's weird, Tommy thinks. The fact that Dream had been way more nice to him as of recently.
Dream was nice, he'll give him that. But he was a bit of a bully at times. To see Dream acting completely nice with him without the occasional teasing had felt weird.
"Why are you acting so nice and shit all of a sudden? You're so fucking weird." He remarks. He feels Dream grimace at that, discomfort encapsulating Tommy.
"Can't a friend be nice for once?" Dream places a hand over his shoulder, Tommy feels himself shudder at the touch.
"Well… it's just weird innit? One moment you're like 'mimimimi you're never going to be a hunter in my manhunt, Tommy' and now you're just all nice and shit." Tommy pushes away the hand on his shoulder, Dream laughs.
It makes him all the more uncomfortable.
That's not how Dream usually laughs.
"I mean… if you really want to be a hunter, you can join me and the others tomorrow."
Suddenly Tommy loses all regard for his earlier concerns. He's a bit sceptical over it, but he's more excited than concerned.
It isn't long until Tommy realizes, this isn't Dream.
He'd joined the server expecting to see Bad and the others. Instead he is met by heavy silence and the echoes of his voice throughout the vast forest.
After countless attempts to exit the server and being greeted back by an "Error" message, Tommy isn't sure how he can make it out of this ordeal.
He's trapped in the server, he realizes. The imposter had made sure of it.
There's movement around him and it feels as though he's being watched.
There's still going to be a manhunt.
He's not the hunter he'd wished to be. He's prey and his predator is watching.
Steadily he swallows the lump on his throat and freezes in place.
"You're not Dream." Because Dream would never trap him like this. Dream would never isolate him like this. There were moments where Dream could be cruel, but it had never been to this extent.
Not-Dream smiles, watching him as if he's prey. One wrong move and Tommy's dead, he thinks.
"You're smart." Not-Dream circles around him. "I'm not sure if I like or hate that about you."
"What are you?" Tommy shakingly asks, completely frozen in place.
"I'm still Dream. Just different." He snakes an arm around the younger's neck. "Where I'm from, you're not exactly like this." He clicks his tongue. "Well, you were once. But it was delightful seeing your light slowly fade away."
"I wonder if I could do that to this version of you too." Not-Dream hums.
Tommy wants to scream and to run and to ask for help. He wants to go back home to his friends, to listen to the comforting sounds of Wilbur's guitar. To go back and chat and train with Technoblade. To go back to Kristin and be mercilessly coddled by her like he's a child again. And to listen to Phil's embarrassing stories about his hardcore server.
For the first time since he was younger, Tommy feels fear.
"You and me. We're going to have so much fun."
Tommy doesn't like the sound of that.