Chapter Text
When Dream agreed to Fundys and Tubbos' little game of 'dreamon hunters' he would have never guessed he would end up in an obsidian box with so many injuries it was hard to count.
When the two boys came up to him with the idea he first found it funny. So he played along with them. A little bit of shaking, incomprehensible words and making his eyes roll back of his head. You know, just an innocent silly game. Nothing much. Just acting…
Or that was what he thought.
When Tubbo started to read from a strange book his head suddenly started to spin. Colors and shapes mushed together before his eyes and nausea took over his whole being.
His stomach felt like it was upside down and everything that he ate that day wanted to come back up. He tried to ask his friends to stop but no words left his mouth. Just strange noises like before but this time it wasn't acting.
Tubbo and Fundy continued doing their little ritual thinking Dream is only playing with them and they not actually torturing their friend.
The blond on the other hand suffered more than he had ever. His lungs started to close off slowly suffocating him. Dreams body was on fire or it felt like it was. The flames melted his skin off while eating his soul away at the same time.
Sadly the two hunters did not notice his pain or that they didn't exorcise a dreamon out of him instead they offered him to one of the strongest one. Ironically their name was Nightmare (perfect match for Dream isn't?).
The pain only stopped for the boy when the dreamon fully took over him. Losing his consciousness and falling off the edge of reality. The darkness gladly welcomed him with open arms. Creating a prison for him until Nightmare gives him back the control over his body. Unmoving, cold and without a feeling or thought.
The time for Dream stopped at that moment. Months followed months while the boy laid there out of his mind. Without control what Dreamon did to his server, people and family. He stayed unaware at the fact he became a war criminal who torture chilrend and bring fear in the heart of the people he loved so much before.
Nightmare lived off his energy and power. The only thing kept it satisfyed was seeing other people suffering so when they got trowed into prison and escape seemed imposible with the now heavily damaged body (thaks to the starvation and torture) it quicly left Dream back up leaving him dealing with the consequences of it's actions.
Of course when the blond came back to his senses after months of being absent he was confused.
Why is he in an obsidian box?
Why is he lying in his own blood?
Where do the bunch of scars and wounds come from?
Where is everyone?
And why did his big brother, his guardian, Sam look at him so disgusted when he asked these questions?
All he knew was that he was in pain and he wanted his brother to give him a hug. To confront him that everything is going to be fine and he will get him out of there. Take him home to Punz and heal together.
But none of that happened. Instead Sam's eye started to glow red and smoke started to fly out of his mask like when he is really angry. And when the smell of gunpowder took over the cell the smaller boy realised something was wrong.
Sam made his way in front of Dream and didn't stop until he was almost standing on the prisoners face.
He was furious. How dare this villain act like his little brother? How dare he use this card to get out of prison? Everything that the prisoner gets is what he deserves. Nothing less and nothing more.
Sam buried the memories of his little brother when they caught him in that mountain trying to kill the kids. Tubbo and Tommy…
Sam has many regrets in his life but letting Tommy in the main cell… LETTING HIM DIE BY DREAMS HANDs was his biggest one.
The kid hadn't recovered since his revival. Always looking so pale and dead on his feet. Not even speaking about his dead eyes that no longer held his joyful light or sparkle of excitement.
So when the prisoner opened his arms for him he didn't hesitate. He punched him. Repeatedly hitting the prisoner face with his fist. Smashing his head against the obsidian floor without pause.
The only thing that left the prisoner's mouth was a quiet and weak "Samy". So he made eye contact with the blond. (he could do that because they stripped his mask from him after Tommy's death) His blood was all over his face and fat tears rolled down on his cheek. He was a mess under him. Once golden blond hair now almost white, his eyes were dull not vibrant emerald green like they used to look like.and his face was dirty thanks to the lack of showers or clean water he got. The prisoner almost looked like Tommy in the Warden's eye.
And when did Dream get so skinny? He could see his ribs, under his prison uniform. His hands that he held in front of his head for some kind of protection looked like they could break like a weak branch.
When Dream realised his brother stopped he looked at him too. They locked eyes so he tried to call out for his brother to help him again.
"Sammy please help…it hurts. Sam please?!" he started to cry again when he saw Sam's eye turning red once again.
The creeper hybrid saw red. How dare that nasty prisoner try to manipulate him again. Acting like his brother. Weak and unprotected. He was convinced that Dream… no, no, no the Prisoner was only playing with his head again so he started his discipline once again.
Not noticing his lil brother getting overwhelmed by the unbearable pain and starting to slip back to his dream world.
Sam only stopped when his anger calmed down and the prisoner's hand fell next to his body letting him do whatever he wanted with him.
Dreams' eyes remained open and unseeing staring into the darkness of his cell. Sam even feared he might accidentally kill him but his chest was still rising and falling right? Well false.
No part of the prisoner's body was moving, including his chest. Sam could feel panic start to rise in his body. His actions only now settled in his mind. He might have killed his brother.
Taking a closer look at him now Dream looked still so young under the dirt. With his shrunken cheeks and faint freckles he reminded him of the time they first met.
'Sam and Punz had been traveling for a long while. They had no destination in their mind. Only a longing feeling for a home. That's what they looked for.
In the past they journeyed through many servers, cities and villages but they could never settle down. It always felt like they were missing something (or someone). So after a few weeks they always leave.
Punz was 16 at the time while Sam was 17. They never really had parents so they stuck together and escaped from the orphanage together.
The facility workers probably didn't even look for them; they just let the two of them go. It was unlikely for two 15 years olds to get adopted at that time and without them they had two less mouths to feed.
So here they are two teenage brothers against the world with no goals in life.
After a while they found an abandoned cottage in the middle of the woods a little far away from any civilization overgrown by nature; they took their chances and tried to break into the house.
If mother nature did not destroyed anything inside they could settle down for a little bit and sleep with an actual roof above their heads for now.
But they didn't expected to find a little kid inside sitting at the table all alone. The child wasn't in a good shape; he was starving and had big bags under his eyes. He probably hasn't had a shower, a meal or a good sleep in ages. But why?
Who could abandon their children like that?
They both agreed to help out the boy. Sam was the first one to approach the nameless kid. He took every step slowly, made each of them louder to make sure he didn't scare the boy who seemed to be unresponsive to the movements and the sound around him.
When he touched the kid's shoulders they didn't jump or move away he just looked at Sam with his sad eyes and said.
"Mom? Dad?"
Punz and Sam glanced at each other deciding what to do next. There was no way they were just gonna let the kid die. So they took him in, healed him and raised him like their own brother. They stayed at Dream's (they learned his name later on) house for a really long time creating a home for all of them ...."
He looked like a kid even though he was almost 21. He was still so young compared to him. This thought made Sam guts twist.
In a heartbeat he was next to Dream checking for pulse or something else that proved his brother was still alive. Sam placed his hands on the man's neck but when he couldn't feel anything there he placed his ears on the younger one's chest.
When he met with heart beats (slow and weak it was still something) he thanked every god out there for not letting him kill Dream.
Sam collected the boy in his arms rushing him out of the cell in the direction of the infirmary. Making sure he doesn't hurt the boy any further.
He gently put him down to one of the clean beds and started to heal him. He placed a totem of undying in Dreams hand just to make sure he doesn't die on him. Sam cleaned all of his wounds before bandaging them up just to avoid infection but most of them were already infected. The worst one was on his left side. A long and deep cut that bleeds even after Sam sews together the wound.
If Dream hadn't fainted because of the beating his second guess would be that injury and serious amount of blood loss.
When he finished with the cleaning up Sam forced two more healing poison and a golden apple down on the younger's throat.
When Dream got a little bit of color back at his face was the moment when Sam took away the totem. Not fearing that the younger is gonna die at any given moment.
But he just can't leave him in the prison. He gave all of his healing supplies to Quackity before his little 'sessions'. So if Dreams' health starts to fall drastically there is no way he could save him again. He just fed him his last poisons. There is nothing left other than the totem.
He waited for an hour holding his little brother's hand under the sheets thinking how he could sneak Dream out of the prison without anyone noticing it.
His first idea was Punz. Their third brother but he feared what his reaction would be when he saw Dream's condition. He will probably try to kill Sam when he finds out everything he had done to their little brother.
He dressed Dream in clean clothes and folded a blanket around him to hide his little brother. Then he took him out of the prison.
The night air was cold on his face after spending the day in the vault. Because of the lava the whole gear he wore every day.
But he took off his face mask and took his brother home unaware of the fact that they had been watched.