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They’d been recording for days. Scene after scene all of them were having a great time. They were all hanging out and enjoying each other's company. It was wonderful. Walking the line between the actions of their characters and the ones of themselves. The emotions and words and characteristics. It was great. It was fun. It was perfect. Truly.
It was just that Dream wasn’t sure where the line was anymore.
He loved his friends. He cared for them dearly. It was why he volunteered to be the villain of their storylines. He offered himself like bait in order to ensure that his friends weren’t subject to the hate that was bound to come towards them for the characters they played.
Dream had been prepared for harsh treatment from fans. He’d been ready for the comments and the overwhelming hate that came with the character he played. He had expected that. The few who defended his character and looked for his motivations had always brought a smile to his face. The ones that understood how he moved from action to action despite never properly seeing his perspective. They were the salve to the burns of hate directed at him from every other angle.
Dream had been prepared for the treatment of the fandom they’d built.
He hadn’t been prepared for the lasting looks from his friends. It had been surprisingly easy for them to take to his character as the villain. He’d heard them when walking around the SMP that if they did anything wrong they’d just blame it on him. He knew logically that they were talking about the story. That they were simply discussing the characters all of them played and that it was nothing more than that. The people of all the lands around were friendly to all of them.
It was considered an honor to live on the DreamSMP. They even gave their viewers and citizens the chance to vote for things that happened in the story. Tommy’s exile, for example. They’d given that to the audience for a vote. They’d made the choice to exile him.
Dream and his character had still been blamed.
It was Tubbo who made the call. Tubbo who gave the vote. Tubbo who sentenced his best friend’s fate. Dream had given the options but Tubbo made the choice. The fans made the choice. Why was Dream the monster for their own decisions?
He and Tommy had spent hours working out what they were going to do with their characters. They’d made an amazing plan. They’d talked all of it over and the fans were nuts about it. He’d been happy for a change.
He saw theories that said he’d abused Tommy in exile. That he’d hurt him in so many unspeakable ways. He saw takes that made him truly disgusting and vile. He saw people agreeing. He saw his defenders fall to deaf ears.
Then he saw takes that said he did it in real life. That he wasn’t just playing a character and that Tommy had truly and really been abused by him. That Tommy was forced to keep doing the SMP recordings and streams and that saying it was a character was just an excuse to show off how evil he really was.
It made him sick.
Maybe that was how they ended up here like this. Dream standing in the grass of the meadow watching Tubbo and Tommy run through their lines and Ranboo get last minute adjustments to his costume while he was too afraid to speak to any of them. He felt detached from the rest of the scene. Like he was only watching them with nothing else to anchor him there. The only reason they needed him there was because they needed him to play his role as the villain.
They were trying to film a finale. A final mark for their season that would conclude Tommy’s character arc and let him take a bit of a rest for the start of the second season before he jumped in to join the rest of them in whatever they created. Tubbo was planning to end his arc the same way. They’d talked about a death scene for him. He wasn’t sure if they’d settled on that or not just yet.
It was just going to land him with more hate. Dream was fine with that.
He accepted that.
The scene was relatively simple all things considered. He was going to ‘revive’ Ranboo in front of them for a big reveal. Ranboo would be acting like he was enderwalking. Tommy and Tubbo would demand that he let him go only for him to say that the enderwalk wasn’t under his control. He’d reveal a big part for both his and Ranboo’s characters. But of course Tommy’s wouldn’t believe his. They would fight each other. All of them in one big thing and while Tommy held him off in combat Tubbo would be working to wake Ranboo up.
He’d heard them both talking about what triggers Ranboo’s character would have. He’d heard the lines they’d planned about them both finally calling eachother platonic husband fully out loud and using Michael to get to him. Both of them knew the reaction something like that would get from their audience.
Dream felt dizzy from it all. They’d ventured far from the mainlands in order to do this. This scene was beyond important to all of them. It was a climax and an end for all of their characters. And still, Dream didn’t feel excited. He felt like his organs were filled with dread.
The night before this, before they reached their scene spot. They’d been working on setting up their camp for the night. All of them had been busy with things. All of them were absorbed in the tasks they were completing. None of them had really been paying attention to what was happening around them.
Dream had been a fool. He’d been so caught up in making sure he didn’t say the wrong thing around his friends that he hadn’t noticed the footsteps creeping up to him until the hissing sound reached his ears and it was too late.
He’d been flung back by the blast. The air knocked from his lungs the moment he collided with the hard ground beneath him. Distantly he thought he’d felt something snap inside his chest but he couldn’t be sure and didn’t have the time to check when there was another hissing sound from behind him.
He’d barely felt it when his body dragged along the grass and rocks like a ragdoll. He felt like his head was stuffed with cotton but he made himself move regardless. He was an Admin. It was his job to protect the people of his server and the proclaimed Bench Trio didn’t have their weapons on them at the moment.
Summoning Nightmare from his inventory was easy. They had two versions of the weapon. The real blade he carried almost never left his inventory unless it needed to for situations like this. Everything the fans saw of the blade was a fake one they’d built with a soft dull edge to avoid any kind of accident on sets.
He heard Tommy yell something. He heard Tubbo shout about creepers everywhere. He heard Ranboo call out the giggle of a witch.
Without giving himself any time to process his actions Dream reached out to every mob he could sense in the area and guided them away. He told them not to come back until his presence was gone. That the area was to be considered protected and not to be touched. He did this sometimes for the important lore scenes. Finales and things like that would have him placing wards around the area to ensure they wouldn’t be interrupted for the scenes of their characters. Not all the time though. Sometimes to break things up and give them and the audience a reminder that it was all in good fun Dream would lay the lines for a blooper here and there.
A well timed lightning strike, a zombie coming out of nowhere, a sheep that vanished repeatedly and made them all laugh and joke before returning and going back to the heavy lore.
But that just made Dream the puppeteer that his character was. That just made him the monster he played. That just made it more clear that he was pulling the strings to manipulate them all and he was truly evil. He deserved everything his character did. He deserved all the punishment he’d gotten. He deserved it to be real. He deserved the hate. He deserved to play the monster.
Maybe that was why Dream hadn’t said anything about the growing discomfort of his body throughout the day. Why he hadn’t told any of them that his side and ribs were hurting and aching more than he thought they should or that the headache pulsing behind his eyes had wrapped around his head and was making the world spin every time he blinked and the sun hit his eyes.
He was in pain. And he deserved it. That was why.
He was paying back to his friends like this. He was making things right by not burdening them and making himself the center of attention. He wasn’t going to be greedy this time. This was meant to be their stream. This was meant to make them heroes and martyrs.
Dream wouldn’t harm that. He wanted to see them be heroes too.
Every hero needed a villain.
Even if the villain was a wounded victim first.
“Dream!”
Ranboo was waving him over. He felt like he’d jolted back into his body at the sound of his name. Like the world had shifted around him he realized the filming crew was almost completely set up around him. Callahan was signing to some of the cameras on what angles they wanted to get and what lenses they wanted to make sure their audience saw the best content they could.
“Hey, you okay?”
Ranboo. Right.
His mask blocked the fake smile he forced onto his face and into his voice.
“Yeah.” His voice wavered. “Just thinking about the finale. You ready?”
He didn’t want to do anything they were uncomfortable with and he needed to know if he was going to go harder after Tubbo’s character or not. He needed to make sure if they wanted to do a death scene that he played the lead up to it correctly.
If Ranboo noticed anything off in his response he didn’t comment. Instead he smiled at him and nodded.
“Yeah. Tubbo and I have a pretty good plan I think. We’re going to get a lot of the fans with a few of the things we wanna hit each other with. It’ll be fun.”
He nodded a bit. Maybe he was just being dramatic. Maybe they weren’t trying to lock him out.
“I’m so excited for the enderwalk reveal. I’m surprised none of the fans considered the enderwalk just teleporting into the cell to break you out. Your character would definitely have been able to do that if he controlled it.”
The illusion shattered. Dream felt himself curl back into a shell of sorts. Ranboo was still talking but he wasn’t sure he was really hearing him. He felt his stomach twist in guilt and shame. He nodded without understanding. He excused himself to prepare without really hearing the words coming from his own mouth.
He didn’t notice Ranboo falter when he spoke or watch him leave.
He simply ran on autopilot with thoughts circling his head until the scene was ready to begin. Over and over again his brain screamed at him that his friends hated him. That they didn’t really want him and that they were only going along with all of this because they felt like they were forced to.
Maybe after the finale ended he could call a meeting to their big house and tell everyone none of them were required if they didn’t want to do it. He didn’t want them to feel forced. He didn’t want to be the villain that the fans thought he was. He didn’t want to be the monster that so many considered him to be.
But if he told them he didn’t want them to be pressured would that just make them feel like they had to comfort him? Would that just lock it in farther? Would he be manipulating them if he knew the answers already? They would tell him they weren’t being forced. They’d tell him they did it because they wanted to but what if they were lying for his sake and he’d just conditioned them to think they wanted to do it.
What if he really was evil?
What if he really was a monster?
He forgot to breathe. His head felt foggy. He was starting to shake but he clenched his hands to stop it.
He had a performance to give. The cameras were about to roll. Tommy and Tubbo were taking their spots. Ranboo was standing waiting for the teleport command to bring him over for the appearance of a revival.
He saw the lights on the cameras turn red. He saw the screens of their audience chats going ballistic. They were cheering. They were showing their excitement.
They were hoping he died.
The scene was starting.
Tommy and Tubbo both moved forward with practiced ease. They were confident in their steps but they showed the hidden nerves. It was fear for their characters. It was excitement from them for the scene. But maybe it was fear too. Fear of him.
“Dream. This ends, now.”
Tommy had been so excited for his opening line. He’d heard him practicing it over and over again. When they were all at home with each other he’d been trying to get breakfast and heard Tommy say the line behind him when he found they were out of breakfast muffins.
He forced himself into his role. He pushed out his confidence. He didn’t move, he didn’t need to. His character standing still would only aid in the show of his power.
“What ends?”
Tubbo and Tommy looked at each other. He was staring right at them. He could see Ranboo behind the cameras looking more and more excited for his entrance.
“All of it. All of you.”
Tubbo readied his prop weapon behind him. Dream forced out a laugh. It sounded hollow. To their viewers it sounded threatening.
“You’ve tried that before, haven’t you?”
He took a step forward. He gestured around him.
“What happened again?”
He stepped closer. He watched them step back. Why was slipping into his role so easy?
“You died.”
“Not by you.”
Danger leaked through his voice. He remembered them filming that finale. The end of the chapter just before his prison arc. Tommy had been jumping up and down with excitement when the stream ended and Dream sat on the floor watching him. He’d been a bit tired from the teleporting he’d needed to do to make his ‘deaths’ look good but his exhaustion was outweighed by seeing his friends all so happy.
They were happy to watch him die. They didn’t want him. They hated him.
He could see their fans going ballistic over the line. He caught a couple messages screaming about his voice. He read so many more telling Tubbo and Tommy to run and get away from him.
“I killed you—”
“Only because you had help.” He took another step. His side was screaming. His head was swimming. He felt like he was about to throw up. “There’s no help this time.”
He felt himself shaking. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck. Something was wrong. He felt wrong. He was hurt. He couldn’t show it. He had a job to do.
Tommy was shouting his part. He was raving about the list of crimes. Offense after offense and some of them he hadn’t even done. It was Tommy’s character. It was necessary. It was part after part of anything he could find to use against him.
“You revived Wilbur! You piece of shit you bastard—”
“I revived you. Would you rather I’d left you in limbo to rot?”
He wasn’t meant to say that. There was exhaustion leaking into his voice. He had to do better. But Tubbo and Tommy had always been great at improv.
“You have no idea what it was like. Dying and coming back. Getting put back together again—”
“Tommy.” The boy went silent. They were ready for his response. He could see the excitement in their eyes. They were ready. They knew what was coming. “You should be happy.”
“Happy? Why the fuck would I be— Dream, you sick bastard, the only way I’ll be happy is when you’re fucking dead.”
“Because I brought back the one other person you missed.”
He issued the command for Ranboo’s teleport. He thought he was ready. He thought he was prepared for the drain the action would take out of him. They’d planned for him to be quiet after. He’d made it a mark in his character that he watched from shadows often. With Ranboo showing up in front of him it made sense for his character to draw back.
He heard them running their lines. He knew they were carrying on with the scene. He knew he needed to be paying attention but his side felt like it was on fire. Heat was running through him so intensely it felt cold. He saw Callahan shift towards him but his vision was starting to get spotty. Something was wrong. It was so wrong.
He didn’t know what to do. He needed help.
He couldn’t ruin this.
He couldn’t hurt his friends more than he already had.
“Let him go!”
“Dream!”
His voice scratched through his throat when he managed to get it out. They thought he was playing his part. He had to do better. He needed to be better.
“I’m not controlling him.” He felt faint. His voice was starting to show it. “You just can’t accept that someone would side with me willingly.”
“Damn fucking right.”
“Ranboo!”
The words they were yelling were slipping through his fingers. This was the big moment. He couldn’t mess this up. He had to be careful. He needed to get it together. Everything was coming down to this.
Breathing hurt. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t concentrate. His vision was turning black around him. He could feel his heart thudding against his ribs and the heat washing through him. It made him sick. He was going to be sick.
“Dream?”
He thought he heard his name. He thought they were talking to him again but he couldn’t really hear them. It felt like his ears were stuffed. His head was too clogged to pay attention.
He couldn’t do this.
Oh god he couldn’t do this.
“Dream?”
He only heard a voice. Nothing else. He tried to move. Tried to do what he was supposed to but he didn’t feel like he was taking in air anymore. He didn’t feel right. He tried to focus his eyes but it didn’t work. He was dizzy even though he could barely see.
He didn’t feel himself swaying. He didn’t realize he hit the ground.
“End the stream!”
Dream felt like the world was floating off without him. Hands were on him but he couldn’t tell who. People were shouting things but it didn’t make sense. He was just looking above him. He was just trying to see and make the world come back.
Did he do something wrong? Did he mess things up? He didn’t mean to. He really didn’t mean to.
“‘M sorry.”
His tongue felt like it was too thick. He wasn’t sure he was making sense.
“Boss man take a breath.”
“He’s not fucking breathing right.”
“Dream? Hey, you okay?”
“Clearly he’s not fucking okay Ranboo!”
“Sorry I just—”
“Stop..” He didn’t want them to fight. He didn’t want to make them mad. He didn’t want them to be upset because of him. “Don’ fight.”
The world was starting to come back. He could see Tommy and Ranboo hovering above him. Tubbo was popping in and out of his sight. He thought he saw Callahan behind him. Something grazed down the side of his ribs. Pain flared through him almost instantly.
He felt someone lift his shirt from his side. He felt air sting against his skin and drew a whimper from him before there was ever a hope to stop it. He didn’t want to be weak in front of his friends. He was meant to be the strong one. He was meant to be better than this.
“Holy fuck.”
“Dream, man, when did this happen?”
He didn’t know what they were talking about. His head still felt too stuffed and clogged. He wasn’t sure what was really happening. He wasn’t sure he knew what to do.
“The creepers last night. Remember? He’d been quiet since.”
He didn’t want to upset them. He didn’t want this.
“Didn’t wanna worry you.”
He couldn’t tell if his words came out jumbled or not.
“Well we’re fucking worried now so good job.”
Tommy was mad. He didn’t want Tommy to be mad. There was a stream they were meant to be doing. He was messing things up.
“Don’t fucking yell at him.”
Tubbo was defending him. Why was he defending him?
“You should have told us you were injured. The stream could have waited.”
Ranboo sounded worried. He didn’t seem mad but he must be. He’d messed it all up.
“Shit, the stream.”
Was it live?
“The viewers can wait. He matters more right now.”
That didn’t make sense. He was just the villain. He wasn’t supposed to be cared about.
“We’re fucking telling everyone about this when we get back.”
“Callahan, can you teleport us all back?”
“You can’t hide injuries like that Big Man.”
Tommy sounded quiet now. He sounded scared almost. It made him feel sick.
“You’re our example. We all try to do what you do. What if we went around hiding stuff like this?”
It took him a moment but Dream managed to focus on their faces. Their concern was more than open. Callahan had emergency panels open and typing. He saw the comm window open with messages sent to the others that there was an emergency meeting and that the lore would be on hold for a bit.
They’d have to do damage control because of this. They would be hurt by their fans because of this. But they didn’t look mad at him. They didn’t seem angry. Maybe he was really just being over dramatic. Maybe they didn’t actually want him to be the villain. Maybe he could tell them his fear when they gathered up together.
Maybe it would be okay.
He could be okay.
