Chapter Text
"Bye mom! Love you! See you when I get home!" I said walking out the door with my backpack, binder bag, and Ninjago lunch box. The first two weeks of school are always the most nerve racking and confusing since everyone, including the teachers and staff, are getting used to this new schedule that's going to last for nine months, but for me it was going to be my last year there then I could have a year long break from school to relax. The dark morning was cool like normal, I crossed the streets carefully as I walked the two blocks to my bus stop. Everything felt perfectly normal. The bus arrived on time and I decided to take a small nap because I was one of the first to get on.
Then everything was quiet and hot? I opened my eyes to see that I was sitting on sand and there was no bus to be found. Hell, I don't even think I'm in America anymore. A big bright sign caught my eye.
"Welcome to Las Nevadas"
I stared at that sign in complete disbelief. There was no way I was transported to a fictional nation! I had to have been dreaming, but none of my dreams felt so realistic before at all. Did the bus crash and I didn't survive? No, I'm not that heavy of a sleeper am I? I decided that I should look around and as soon as I get up I notice a familiar green smudge hide behind the strip club. I quietly snuck over to see that the green smudge was the homeless blob himself, Dream. Luckily he didn't notice me or else I'd probably be looking like Tommy or Ranboo right now. I looked around my surroundings for something to defend myself, since I am not the best for stealth, and conveniently there was a stop sign right by my foot. I picked it up carefully, and just like in that one meme, I walked up to Dream and wacked him in the back of the head as hard as I physically could.
This
"Oh my God- that actually worked?"
I said, staring down at the unconscious criminal. I quickly took his weapons and armor, before I dragged Dream's heavy body to Pogtopia.
Once we got to Pogtopia, I had to light the whole place up so mobs don't spawn. Then I built a mini prison cell and put Dream's weapons and armor in the nearest ender chest. I put my backpack and binder bag down next to the ender chest. Dream woke up as I was unbuckling my lunchbox from my backpack strap.
"Uhmm ow- my head hurts" He grumbled.
"Morning Teletubby, how'd you sleep?" I asked as I sat on the ground and unzipped my lunchbox.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!? WHERE AM I!?" He yelled, very clearly panicked.
"We're in Pogtopia or what's left of it" I pulled out my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and offered it to him "you hungry?"
Dream stared at the sandwich like it killed his family "... It's not poisoned is it?"
I gave him a dirty look "poisoned? Bitch I packed this lunch for myself! Why the fuck would it be poisoned!?"
He was quiet for a few minutes "I don't know" he whispered
I sighed, "Are you hungry or not?"
Dream nodded. I handed him the sandwich through the cell bars. He carefully opened the ziplock bag and took the sandwich out, then proceeded to stare at it again.
"It's only peanut butter and jelly on white bread, it's not going to hurt you" I said, pulling a bag of Cheetos out of my lunchbox and opening it.
"Right-" Dream took a bite of the sandwich and his eyes lit up like that sandwich was the best thing he has ever had. He proceeded to devour the rest of the sandwich. I was barely finished with my chips when he said he was finished eating.
"Jesus criminy- that was fast-" I said shocked that a grown man could eat a sandwich that fast.
Dream shyly smiled "I still didn't get your name?"
I went quiet. I didn't know if I should give him my real name or not. "It's Tato," I replied.
"Just Tato? Do you have a last name?" Dream asked.
"I don't know, do you have a last name DrEam" I sarcastically said.
"Yes, it's WasTaken," he said, rolling his eyes.
"WasTaken? That's a interesting last name for a criminal"
"Ok then what's your last name if you're going to be judgy about mine" he said defensively.
I thought about it for a while "it's Particune, Tato Particune"
"Actually that is a better name than WasTaken," Dream said calmly.
I smiled "At least that's one thing I have that's better than you" I finished my Cheetos. I pulled out my go gurt and chugged it.
Dream snickered "You probably have more than just a last name that's better than me"
"Eh, maybe" I shrugged while collecting the trash after I took the oatmeal creme pie, Nesquik chocolate milk, and a Twix from my lunch box. "You want some of the oatmeal creme pie and the Twix?" I asked.
"Uh sure?" He looked unsure what the items were.
I split the two items in half and gave Dream one half of both plus the chocolate milk and I kept the other half of both. I had a big water bottle with me so I wasn't worried about thirst.
"Thanks" Dream nibbled both foods before stuffing them in his face. He picked up the milk and was confused on how to open it.
I giggled and ate my share of the Twix "here I can open that for you" I reached out to the bottle
"No! I got this!" Dream said, backing away from my hand.
I backed up "ok if you say so" I ate my half of the oatmeal creme pie then grabbed my water bottle and took a big sip.
Dream was quietly cussing the bottle out as he tried twisting the top of, soon the seal broke and it opened without making a mess. He chugged that bottle within a minute. "Mmmm that was go-" he was interrupted by a loud burp "oh- uh- excuse me"
"You are excused" I said with a small laugh "maybe don't chug it?"
He laughed nervously "yeah, by the way- how did you know my name?"
"Oh uh-" it was hard for me to think of an explanation. "It's going to be hard to explain-"
"Did you hear someone else say it?" Dream asked
"No, you are the only person I've spoken to since I got here" I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and surprisingly there was an amazing signal here. I guess that makes sense since it's a Minecraft server so the internet is everywhere?
"Did you travel here?"
"Yes, but I didn't exactly want to-"
"What do you mean?"
I pointed to my school stuff "does it really look like I traveled here?"
"Wait- you were going to school?" Dream said
"Yes, I took a nap on the bus and I appeared in front of the Las Nevadas sign" I explained
"But how do you know me?" He said very confused.
I opened my phone and opened up the Dream smp wiki then showed it to him "this is the best way I can explain it"
Dream looked shocked "your bluffing- that can't be real-"
"It is, but promise you won't tell anyone else about this or anything else I'm going to tell you" I said in all seriousness.
Dream nodded "I won't tell anyone"
"Good, so where I came from, this world is one big Minecraft roleplay that a bunch of twitch streamers and YouTubers made. You, Dream, are the main villain or that is how just about everyone sees you as, no one is the hero, and everyone is the protagonist of their own story. So you may have a god complex but know that you are someone else's puppet and have no control of your own actions, even DreamXD is a puppet for the same creator that you have" I explained calmly.
Dream was too stunned to speak. I actually saw the wave of pure fear wash over his heavily scarred face. We both sat in eerie silence for a while. I sighed once and he flinched away like I was going to hurt him. I honestly don't like what he's done but seeing him flinch hit a little too close to home. I silently cursed at Quackity and Sam for tormenting Dream. After a few minutes I stood up.
"I'll be back, I need to get someone,'' I said, looking at him.
Dream only nodded. I walked out of Pogtopia and searched for Puffy since she is the only therapist in this hell of a server. Once I found her therapist office I knocked on the door and waited to see if she was there. Just a few seconds after I knocked, I heard footsteps leading up to the door. When they stopped the door knob turned and the door opened.
"Hello?" The 6'1 pirate sheep lady said as she stood on the other side of the door.
I composed myself since I'm not the best at speaking to people that I normally don't speak to. "Hi, you're Puffy right?" I had to act like I barely knew her so she wasn't suspicious.
"Yes, I am. Is there something you need?" Puffy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, I need your help. I have a friend who needs therapy and it's a bit unsafe for them to be walking around the server" I explained. "They also need medical attention so can you accompany me to Philza?" I wasn't sure why I was so formal about that question. I guess it was my nerves trying to set a good first impression.
"Yeah, I can. Do you know where he is?" Puffy said, slightly leaning against the door frame.
"Yes I do, ma'am" I've internally embarrassed myself saying that.
She walked out of the building with a small warm smile "okay, led the way then- uh- what's your name?"
"I'm Tato" I smiled in return as I started to walk to the community portal. Puffy followed behind with her white cloud-like hair bouncing with each step. When we got to the portal I was a bit hesitant to enter.
"Are you ok, Tato?" Puffy asked as she stood next to me.
I almost jumped. "Yeah, I've just never been in the Nether before but it's the fastest way to get to Philza so let's go" I walked into the portal and was intently in the Nether. My goodness was it hot, it was like a normal summer day without air conditioning but without any humidity. After Puffy came through the portal, I started to walk in the direction of the portal that led to Techno and Philza's homes.
I tried to keep calm when I saw a ghast or a Piglin, but thankfully we both got to the portal safely. I rushed through the purple door because I didn't want to be in that fiery hell anymore, but the hard slap of freezing snow didn't help. I was shivering the moment I stepped out of the portal.
As soon as Puffy joined me in the freezing tundra my tics started to act up and I was twitching my head to the left almost each minute that passed while we walked to the house. My little squeaks and other strange sounds didn't help. I'm sure Phil could hear me coming. We were at the fence line when Puffy stopped me. I looked up at her in confusion.
"Here you're going to need this, it'll help" She took off her big black pirate coat and handed it to me.
I almost wanted to refuse but I couldn't say no to one of the best motherly figures on the server, so I took the coat and put it on. It was definitely too big for me but I didn't mind. "Thank you, Puffy," I said with a big smile.
She smiled back at me. "It's no problem, Tato"
As we walked to the house I noticed a gravestone that I was dreading to see, it was Techno's. I kept silent and didn't draw any attention to it as I walked up onto the bridge. I watched my breath leave my mouth as I knocked on the door to Philza's house.
Thud
"Fuck"
Clack clack clack
Phil opened the door then gave me and Puffy a confused look "did you adopt another kid?" He said directly to Puffy.
"No no they- uh, wait what are your pronouns?" Puffy said, looking at me.
"Oh, I use any pronouns" I almost said 'like Eret!' but I stopped myself.
She smiled "ok so tot, here needs help because pots friend needs medical and mental attention" I smiled widely at the neo pronouns Puffy gave me.
"Oh, yeah I can help, where's your friend?" Philza asked, looking down at me.
"They're in Pogtopia right now," I said. Both of them looked at me like I had a third eye.
"Why are they in Pogtopia?" Philza asked in a concerned tone.
"It was the safest place to put them" I answered in the honest way possible without really giving away who they were.
"Okay- I'll get some health pots and the first aid kit" Philza said as he turned towards the chests behind him.
"You're going to need more than that-" I said with a nervous smile.
Philza turned to me with a very concerned look. "What do you mean by that?"
I chuckled nervously "so uh- that friend I was talking about- they've been horribly tortured" Phil gave me a horrified look. After a minute of silence I caved in "the friend is Dream- I want to help him recover from the prison"
There was long silence before Philza walked to the chests and collected a lot of medical things. I don't know what was what but it seemed like medical things. After Phil finished packing we headed to Pogtopia.
On the prime path…
As we were walking past L'manburg, because I got us lost, I was staring at the crater debating if I should say the joke that had been looping through my mind.
"You alright there, mate?" Phil asked. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
"Oh, uh yeah I'm good… can I say a joke about L'manburg?" I asked, pointing to L'mancrater.
"Uh, sure?" Phil was confused.
I smiled a little "Manbur didn't take any L's but L'manburg did'' there was silence between us, but I could see Phil and Puffy hiding a smile. My smile vanished when I saw Quackity coming our way. I could tell that he knew who I was or at least recognized me.
"Heeyyyy, how's it going Philza? And Puffy" the manipulative duck smiled before turning to me. "Well, nice to finally meet you, trespasser" he gave me an evil smirk. I wanted to slap his glass eye out so bad.
"Oh, what the fuck do you want, Quackity?" I said looking down at him. "The revival book? Dream dead? Power?" I listed, not caring that Phil and Puffy were there.
"You clearly have information, I-"
"Don't you fucking start that bullshit with me, I'm not getting you shit. You're a grown ass adult- get it yourself mofo" I said, cutting him off. "I know what you've done. You tortured Dream, manipulated Sam into letting you bring weapons into the cell, blew up Purpled's UFO so he could join Las Nevadas, you used Foolish's death as a way to get him to join your fucking nation, and you tricked Techno into entering the prison. I do not trust you at all. Go the fuck away from me" I said in the strictest voice I could.
Puffy gave Quackity a death stare "you did what?"
Philza was also visibly displeased with Quackity. Quackity didn't move and his face didn't change, I'm not surprised that it didn't, he is used to this isn't he?
"I said go, Quackity" I stated harshly. He still didn't budge.
"No," he firmly said. I was on my last straw.
"This is why you can't have a good love life, you manipulative flightless duck. You're lucky, Foolish and Sam are still on your side" I said in his face. I backed up and was ready to continue towards Pogtopia.
Quackity stood there nearly speechless. Puffy and Philza led me to Pogtopia and calmed me down.
At Pogtopia...
I walked down the weathered stairs and walked into the room Dream was in. He had been humming to himself while I was gone.
"Hey Dream, I'm back" I kindly said. He bounced up with a smile on his face.
"Yay! Who did you get?" He frantically asked.
"I got Puffy and Philza. Puffy to get you therapy and Phil to take care of your wounds" I let Puffy and Philza walk in after me, then I got a lever, and placed it by the iron door. I pulled it down to open the door. Dream immediately hugged Puffy.
"Mom!" It warmed my heart to see how happy he looked to see her again.
"Do I need to leave while you guys do this?" I asked.
"Are you uncomfortable with blood?" Philza asked.
"No, not really. Why? Do you need help?" I said taking Puffy's coat off and setting it on the bed.
Dream looked at me "can you stay, Tato?"
I nodded "yeah, I can stay" Me and Dream sat on the floor and I helped him through the pain of Philza cleaning the wounds and cutting off the horribly infected dead tissue. I also helped him relax through the therapy session. I honestly wasn't expecting him to act like a golden retriever underneath that shell of ego and god complex. We scheduled a second therapy appointment for tomorrow and Phil was going to check on Dream's wounds before then, so I guess everything is going well so far.
I managed to make a bed for Dream and we went to bed for the night. I'm glad Dream slept well but man was it hard for me to sleep in a bed that smelled like literal blood, sweat, and tears. I think this was Wilbur's bed at one point. I'm so glad the bed wasn't crusty, I would've slept on the stone.