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Dream wasn’t sure how the server had restarted.
He remembered everything. He remembered the wars, the arguments, the torture. He remembered— he remembered reconciling with Tommy. The feeling of betrayal, asking what Tommy had done when he’d heard beeping. The panic and regret on Tommy’s face. There were explosions, then boom. He thinks he died.
It was a complete reset.
But he remembered everything.
Tommy didn’t. Tubbo was there, too. He was sure everyone would get there eventually. Tubbo didn’t seem to remember anything either. When asked by Dream, Tommy introduced himself, then asked if he wanted to build a base. Dream wasn’t sure how to feel.
But when Tommy asked him to be friends, he’d said yes.
Of course he had.
Tommy may have not remembered him, may have not remembered the fighting and making up, but Dream selfishly wanted to be friends with him. He wanted things to be simple. He didn’t want to— to complicate anything.
Dream wasn’t sure why he of all people remembered. Maybe it was his connection to DreamXD. Maybe it was his own strange near-ascension to godhood. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
As he and Tommy built the base, Dream thought. He thought about Sapnap and Punz and Sam and— and George. Oh God. George wouldn’t remember him, would he? Would Sapnap?
Dream felt dizzy. Why did he have to remember? Did DreamXD get off on this shit? Did he enjoy seeing his weird human counterpart suffer? Dream didn’t even have it in himself to protest when Tommy used only cobblestone on their base. He was sure his new friend thought he was a weirdo at that point, but he couldn’t help it as he sluggishly brought more cobble and wood to Tommy.
Maybe it was for the best that George and Sapnap didn’t remember him. He knew he’d been awful— maybe not to George, since George was always asleep, but to Sapnap. Sapnap, who’d been like his brother, through thick and thin, who he’d— betrayed? Fuck. Okay. Maybe he was glad Sapnap probably wouldn’t remember. Nevermind the good memories, Sapnap would probably only care about the bad ones.
“Dream? Buddy?” Tommy’s voice shook him out of his thinking. He snapped his eyes up, meeting Tommy’s worried blue ones. “Uh… you okay?”
Dream wasn’t sure he’d get used to Tommy caring about him. Despite this, he slowly nodded.
“I just— I feel…” Dream cut himself off. “Do you feel like you’re missing something important?” He’d pretended to not remember anything, earlier, when Tommy had looked at him like a lost kid, but surely he wasn’t the only one who remembered. Surely. Tommy squinted at him for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face.
“No, not really. I’m not really sure how I got here, but now I’ve got an awesome older brother figure, so I don’t really care.” Tommy smiled warmly at him. Dream’s heart broke. Tommy didn’t remember Wilbur, or Techno, or Phil, did he? His actual family. He considered Dream to be a brother figure, despite only knowing him a few days. Dream felt sick. He swallowed down the bile that was threatening to rise, and plastered on a smile in return.
He wondered if he should still feel betrayed. Tommy had pretty much been the cause of the server reset, although he wasn’t sure how that’d happened, but he couldn’t bring himself to be upset at the younger boy. Not when he wanted to be his friend in this new life, not when they’d been so close to being friends in their past lives. So he shrugged off all thoughts of the (his) old server and continued to help with the base-making.
A few weeks into the new server, Dream had started feeling a bit less unsettled about everything. He’d stopped jumping anytime anyone talked to him, because he remembered no one was against him in this world. No one would strip him of tranquility again. He’d taken to praying, too, which was kind of weird seeing as XD and him were one in the same, but he needed something to ground him.
Tommy and Tubbo didn’t get along as well in the new server. It surprised Dream. They were inseparable on the old one, doing everything together or for each other (exile aside), so to see them only talk on occasion was… different. To say the least. Wilbur hadn’t shown up on the server yet. Dream supposed he was still in ‘Utah’, wherever that was. He also still hadn’t found George or Sapnap. Or Punz. Jack had come around once or twice, seeming happy to make friends, and Quackity had started building his own thing nearby as well. No one else seemed to remember anything, though. Dream figured if anyone would remember, it’d be George.
It took another three months, two weeks, and five days for Dream to find the rest of the Dream Team. George and Sapnap were— together. They’d found each other. When Dream encountered them, he’d been searching for ruins, scouring the server for any sign that it was the same world he’d grown to love before. The two boys had been bickering near a tree. Only Sapnap was visible, George was turned just enough away from view. Dream froze where he was standing. He stayed there for a bit, taking in his old friend’s features, the lack of scars on his face from the wars, the clean white bandana that stretched across his pale complexion. The black hair stood out more now, with Sapnap losing his tan, but he looked good. Healthy, even.
Before he could turn to leave, Sapnap noticed him.
“George, look! There’s a guy over there.” He pointed in Dream’s direction, but George didn’t turn. Instead, he huffed and continued to try to grab whatever Sapnap was holding out of his hand. Dream felt paralyzed. Sapnap didn’t remember him. “Oh, come on George, can’t we help that guy? He’s been standing there for like. At least a minute.”
“As if. You’re just trying to distract me, you little—,” George huffed out a sigh, turning just enough for Dream to see the side of his face. He was pale, his brown hair a bit longer than Dream remembered, and his goggles were pushed up on his forehead. He was wearing a t-shirt. There were no mushrooms in his outfit.
“No, George, really. I think he’s having war flashbacks or something.” Dream inhaled shakily, willing himself not to throw up. The whole ‘feeling emotions again’ thing was hard to get used to. Finally, though, he cleared his throat and took a step forward, smiling at his f—at the others.
“Uh. Hi, I’m Dream. W— uh. What are your guys' names?” George’s breath hitched, his head whipping to look at Dream, his mouth slightly open, eyes wide. If Dream didn’t know better, he’d say he saw a flash of— recognition? in George’s face. Brown eyes scanned his entire face,
“I’m Sapnap! This is George. He’s kind of a bitch.” George smacked Sapnap at that. Dream swallowed the spit forming in his mouth.
“It’s… wonderful to meet you guys.”