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All of them had been goofing around for hours. Manhunt training was always sort of like that though. Each of them had their preferred training method. Sam liked to work on quick and easy redstone tricks that he could try to use to stall or distract Dream with. Sapnap practiced his sword work. George figured out the best strategies to collect iron and since the last challenge they did where Dream managed to snipe him from impossibly far he’s been working on his archery as well. Ant tends to be their hunter due to his good sense of smell from being a cat hybrid. Bad tends to oversee all of them and float around person to person. He tries to make sure he knows at least a little of what all of them are doing so he can fill in for any of them.
It helps to lead a group when you know where everyone's perspective lies.
Dream on the other hand tended to stay a bit away from the others while he worked. Most of what he did during a manhunt was something that caught his hunters off guard. If they watched him practice the hacks then it would come to nothing. If they watched him learn and perfect skills to get away from them they’d be able to stop him before he ever got away.
That wouldn’t make for a good piece of entertainment then, would it?
He was doing one of his favorite training runs. Parkour had always had a special place in his heart and it was a well known fact that he was good at it. He’d been in enough parkour competitions and combat areas that no one could even get close to him to know that he was one of if not the best.
There were more manhunts and challenges than he could count that he escaped from using the tree tops or the areas around him. One small spot where he thought he could make the jump and block it off before his friends could follow could mean the difference between life or death for the game. The challenge hearts they used to monitor their wounds would ‘kill’ them before they were too badly hurt to keep going. It was a way to keep them safe. It would teleport them back to spawn without their items but they wouldn’t have to go through the process of the void. It kept them safe. It kept the games easy and happy. They never needed to worry about messy respawns or actually hurting each other because the game would stop anything before it got that bad.
It was a strain on the world code though so naturally when they would practice for a few days before going to a manhunt server they wouldn’t be running it. The worlds Dream created for the sake of manhunts were ones that ran the code and they were only ever active when it was fully time for the hunts. When they ended all of them dropped the life code and went to a more creative style to explore. It made things more fun while they all talked about their favorite plays and moments from the challenge.
He climbed up another branch and listened to Sapnap laugh at something Sam was saying. He could hear the arrow twangs as George let out another shot. The two of them had tried to recreate the shot after their last challenge ended but they couldn’t do it. It was a fluke of his luck that of course Sapnap said was from his Admin status. Sure the world tended to favor him but he did his best to make sure it wasn’t anything more than listening when he made an official command.
He didn’t want to deal with more people saying he cheated or planned everything to win. It got annoying to hear it over and over again when all he ever wanted was to entertain and give people something cool and fun to see.
He swung himself up a little higher. His plan for this climb was to get to the top and run around it a bit before swinging down. The trees of this area had a little bit of wood rot in the tops of the trees so he didn’t tend to climb them. Still, in a hunt if he needed to jump to the trees he wouldn’t have time to check if a branch was stable. He needed to know how to run over rotting ones to be able to get away swiftly and safely if he ever needed to in the future.
He tested out the first branch in the rot zone and felt it hold. Carefully as he could for a starting round he pulled himself up onto the branch.
He could hear Bad and Ant talking about what they all wanted for dinner tonight. Sam was saying something about making a stew and Sapnap said it would take too long. George was mentioning that they could cook some wheat noodles and make a meat sauce from some of their other crops and the cows they’d hunted earlier. Dream liked those nights. He always made the bread that went along with it because he got to cover the dough in egg and season it. It was one of his favorite tasks in the kitchen.
He smiled fondly at the thoughts of all of them eating together and playing the guessing game as his hunters attempted to figure out what training he’d vanished away to do while they all worked. None of them had expected the manhunt he built the flying machine. He wasn’t sure his hunters were ever really going to let him live that one down.
Pulling himself up onto another branch he bounced a little to test its stability. They were holding up much better than he thought they would. He’d expected them to shatter just with one light touch. If rotten branches could hold him like this then they would be fine for him to use as launch points and might even break under his hunter’s boots if they tried to follow him. It could serve to be a good escape route if he had enough time to scout the route before he needed to use it.
“We need to find Dream and we can ask him what he wants to eat.”
Ant’s voice cut between the debate to point out his absence.
“That’s true, the muffin should be around here somewhere. He said he was testing something risky so he wouldn’t go far.”
“Of course he did.” He could practically hear George’s eye roll. “He’s probably not even doing anything risky. He’s probably just trying to keep all of us on edge and make us worried for whatever challenge he comes up with next.”
He felt himself grin as he pulled up to the next level of branches. George was completely right of course. Dream would absolutely say that just to throw them off. They had no rules about misleading each other and if he could keep his hunters on their toes a little more then it made for a more fun and chaotic game. The branch bark flaked away a bit under his glove as he heaved himself up. This one he felt bend a bit on the end but keeping his weight near the trunk seemed to be helping. He was almost to the top. Just two more branches and he would be beyond the ceiling leaves.
“Yeah, but if it is risky then shouldn’t we know where he is exactly to help him if something happens?”
It was his turn to roll his eyes. Like anything would go wrong. He was a master of parkour. He would simply just catch himself if he were to fall at any point. Logically he knew that wasn’t true. Logically he knew that was just his ego talking and if he fell from this height he could break something or hurt himself in some other way. He just wasn’t willing to admit it.
He gripped the next branch above him. The bark peeled faster on this one. It nearly felt like damp paper even through the material of his gloves. Still, he pulled himself up onto the branch and stayed perched on it. He could feel the wood bowing under his weight but it didn’t sound or feel like it was breaking. It was more like a firm rubber than something ready to crumble and shatter.
“Dream! Come out so we can talk about dinner!”
“Sapnap! There are easier ways to get him than just yelling.”
He chuckled a little at Bad’s scolding tone. They all liked to joke that he was like the father of their group but when he talked like this he just sounded like a mother hen. The branch beneath him rocked and creaked lightly in the breeze. It felt good. Peaceful. He took in a breath and let the air fill his lungs and enjoyed it. The wood didn’t feel like it was going to break and he’d discovered a new strategy. It was a good day.
“Yelling is so much faster than messaging him though.”
He rolled his eyes again at his friend’s antics. He was about to shout back to them to give them a little taunt that he could hear and watch them try to figure out where he was but then he figured he would give himself away.
He shifted to reach for the final branch above him. It was thinner than the one he was presently perched on and it bent more than the other had. He let himself frown at the wood. His mask was strapped to his belt since it was just the six of them and he didn’t need to worry about being seen.
Maybe it would be better for him to climb down.
Maybe he should stop.
But he was so close.
One more and he would have made his goal. He didn’t even have to stay. He just needed to know if it could hold anything. It bent but it might still hold. He’d climb down the second it began to give.
Dream had always been the victim of hubris, hadn’t he.
He started to pull himself up. He shifted his weight just enough so he could swing his leg up and hook the heel of his boot onto the wood so he wouldn’t fall. He was paying so much attention to the branch above him that he stopped watching the one he was one.
Dream heard the cracking a second too late. The branch he’d been internally joking about just seconds beforehand was falling out from under him and leaving him gripping tightly to the weaker one above him. Unfortunately for him it wasn’t enough. The branch shattered the moment it held his weight and he couldn’t stop the startled yelp that ripped from his lungs as he realized he was falling.
He dimly registered that his friends had stopped talking but he couldn’t put much attention to it. He tried to catch himself but the leaves and branches were slicing at his skin now instead of acting as stepping tools like they were just moments before.
He felt panic and fear claw at him sharply at the sight of the ground rushing closer to him. He tried to grab another branch only for his body weight to snap through it before it could break his fall.
He closed his eyes just before he hit the ground.
They snapped open when he felt something shred through the flesh of his side rather than the ground alone.
Footsteps reached his ears at the same time he looked down and saw wood sticking through his body. He felt his stomach turn as the blood spurted around the sharp end of the stick. It looked like part of the branch he’d insulted. Part of the tree that he’d said felt like rubber had turned into the dagger he didn’t think he could handle.
He heard his friends cursing and yelling things but the words swam through his head. He tried to open his mouth to say something to them but he only felt blood flooding his throat and spilling into his mouth. He was shaking. He knew he was shaking. He knew his vision shouldn’t be swimming this badly but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t think he was breathing very much. He didn’t think his body was trying to save itself at all.
He was coughing and gagging on blood when Sapnap and George made it to his side.
“Dream?” He could hear the panic in George’s voice. He could see the tears welling in Sapnap’s eyes.
“What the fuck happened?”
He tried to get air to talk to them but more blood took the place of his words. He could feel himself losing strength the more blood poured out of him. He could feel the tacky pool that was rapidly growing beneath his body. He could feel how cold he was starting to be.
His mouth was moving. No words came out.
“Dream. Dream! Eyes open. Come on. Stay with us. Eyes open. Sam’s getting you potions. Bad and Ant are getting stuff to help you. Okay? Just stay with us.”
He wasn’t sure he could.
He could feel the world beginning to coo at him and he felt how much his body wanted to obey. If it was vomit or blood rushing up his throat he couldn’t tell but he wouldn’t be surprised if it was both. He thought he might have blacked out for a second but then his throat was clear and he was half supported on George’s lap with his head turned to the side.
He wanted to talk to them. He could see them both crying. He could tell how scared they were and he wanted to comfort them but he couldn’t get his body to react. He couldn’t get anything to work actually. He could see Sapnap’s mouth moving but he didn’t hear him. He saw Sam, Bad, and Ant break through to where they were but it felt like watching a screen with the audio muted.
He felt detached. Broken and isolated from what he knew should be excruciating pain. He couldn’t get himself to focus anymore. He blinked and his vision was filled with stars. He blinked again and he saw George talking to him above his face.
He blinked again and the silence connected to the space of the void.
He shivered in the stars that surrounded him. He felt numb but he knew in reality his body was stitching itself back together for what was bound to be a messy respawn. They didn’t have anything in place and the body tended to still need care after a brush of death. Respawns healed the killing wound but they left the body’s condition. If he’d drowned in his throat he’d need help to make sure he didn’t do it again.
His friends were going to be so worried. They’d watched him die. They’d watched him choke on his own blood and he hadn’t even been able to give them a scrap of comfort. They’d watched him gasp and bleed and he never got the chance to assure them that he’d come back. He had seen them crying and he hadn’t wiped their tears.
The stars wiped his now.
Dream floated for a while. He wasn’t sure how long exactly but he knew it felt like dreamless sleep. The endless sky around him made him dizzy so he closed his eyes against it. The void was ready to bring him back. He could feel the pain start to radiate through his side again. He could feel the sickness starting to wash through him again and the ache of bruising along his skin.
He had his eyes shut when he felt the air he didn’t realize he was breathing be taken. A brief moment of panic was followed by hands on his shoulders turning him to the side. He didn’t try to open them to check for a bin before he was coughing and his stomach was heaving everything out of it. He could feel himself shaking and tears pricked at the corners of his eyes but his stomach didn’t relent. His lungs were aching for a breath but his body felt like it was rejecting everything he tried to give it no matter how much oxygen would help.
Through all of it the hands never left his body. He could feel weight behind him and more beside him. He could feel hands on his shoulders and another running along the length of his back at a steady pace.
He’d respawned.
His friends were here.
He was safe.
He was okay.
“Let it out, Dream. Get it out. It’s okay.”
His stomach rolled and he gagged again but the hands never left. They were here. He was safe.
“We’ve got you. You’re alright. It’s done now.”
He coughed again before his stomach rested enough for him to suck in air to his lungs. Tears were rolling down his cheeks but he couldn’t get enough. He pulled in breath after breath to his starving body and let the hands guide him like he was moldable clay.
“There you go, you’re alright. You’re doing great.”
He could barely tell who was talking but the pain from the rest of his body was starting to make itself known. He felt the hands pull him back onto the bed and only then did he manage to bring himself to pull open his eyes.
Immediately light assaulted him but after a blink and a flinch it was dimmed and he could adjust. He couldn’t see Sam or Ant but Bad was lowering a bowl to the ground and getting a glass of water from the table beside the bed. George was sitting on his knees by his thigh, Sapnap was sitting by his shoulder.
He tried to blink around to take in the rest of the room. The sheets rubbing against his fingers. The softness of the bed beneath him. The oak of the ceiling and the shoddy colored concrete they’d used for the walls in the name of ‘style’.
“Dream?” Bad’s voice was gentle, caring. The tone of a parent worried for their child. “Are you with us now?”
He nodded. He wasn’t sure how much his voice was going to handle and he thought nodding was the safer choice. Of course it had been, right up until he moved and sent his head spinning.
“How do you feel?”
Sapnap sounded nearly broken when he got the question out. He was about to be confused and ask him what was wrong but he supposed he wouldn’t be much better if he’d watched Sapnap be impaled by a broken tree branch and die in his arms.
He swallowed a few times to try to get his mouth fully working before he responded.
“Hurts..”
One word replies were safe for now. They weren’t going to expect him to do much more. They’d all been through respawns before. They all knew how they felt and they all knew how to try to help each other. They needed time. They needed patience.
Bad brought the rim of the glass to his lips as Sapnap helped him up enough that he wouldn’t choke.
“What happened?”
George still sounded scared but he appreciated his friend’s effort to hide the fact. All of them were well aware of the guilt he felt when he didn’t think he was able to help them or he thought that he’d hurt them. He knew he’d hurt them here. He just also knew that he wanted to finish healing from the respawn and pull all of them into a massive hug to make it better and apologize.
“Tree.”
“Tree?”
He frowned and looked over the three of them again. They all looked so worried. He didn’t know how to tell them that all of this happened because he’d been too stupid to stop climbing when he knew better.
“All we heard was you shout and hit the ground. We found you with wood sticking through you and then you couldn’t talk and you just— You just stopped breathing and we tried to get you back but you—”
He pulled himself up to grab Sapnap into a hug. The fireborn immediately latched onto him and he saw the tears still welled in George’s eyes. It was an easy choice to open his arms for him to join the hug as well. Bad was just watching them before Dream gave him a smile. Almost instantly all of them were wrapped together in a hug.
“I’m sorry—”
“Don’t. Don’t apologize for something you can’t help, Dream.”
“I could help it.”
“What do you mean?”
He tucked his head against George’s shoulder.
“I was trying to climb on rotten branches.”
“You didn’t—”
“I knew. I knew they were rotten. I was trying to test them to see if I could use rotting trees to get away in a chase and I—” He remembered the fear he felt when he fell. How the air had washed around his body and he scrambled to find a grip and failed. “I got cocky. I knew I should have stopped. I had my answer I just wanted to reach the last branch and I wasn’t paying attention and I fell and—”
“Dream—”
“I couldn’t stop it. I tried to find a branch and all of them broke or I missed and—”
“Dream—”
He couldn’t stop.
“I didn’t mean to scare all of you and I didn’t mean to make you all watch me die like that I—”
“Dream please—”
“I didn’t wanna die I just wanted to try to practice but I was cocky and I messed up and I hurt all of you and—”
“Dream.”
His jaw snapped shut. His emotions were spinning and his head hurt more by the minute. Part of him felt like he was going to be sick again but a larger part of him said that would only worry and upset all of them more and he couldn’t allow that. Tears were in his eyes when he finally managed to look at them properly. They were warm. He still felt cold from the void.
Still, instead of the anger he was expecting to find he saw care.
“Stop it. You didn’t hurt us. You need to breathe.”
“I made you cry.”
“You didn’t make us do anything, Muffin.”
Bad’s fingers carded through the hair at the back of his head. It felt nice. It felt calming.
“We cried because we don’t like to see you in pain. We were worried about you. We wanted to help you and we couldn’t. If anyone failed, Dream, it’s us.”
He was shaking his head no before he could think about it.
“My fault—”
“It was no one's fault. Okay? We just need to focus on you getting better now.”
He wanted to protest but Sam and Ant both came in. He could see their expressions light up when they saw him and he offered them a smile. Both of them were joining the pile on the bed and asking him how he felt.
He was tired, he felt wrong and like his body was still half floating in the void but he knew with a nap and food he would be alright. All of them stayed piled together like that for hours. He wasn’t sure the time exactly but despite being cuddled against them his stomach still rumbled through the room. All of them paused for a moment. Tired eyes blinking open from being woken from their cat nap.
Dream offered them a bashful chuckle before stretching a little and nuzzling closer to the pile.
“So,” he began. “Did you ever decide what to have for dinner?”
