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It was all supposed to be just an act.
None of it was meant to be real.
The fighting, the hitting, the yelling. It was meant to be fun and games for them. For them to be putting on a show and nothing else. They were supposed to be friends behind the characters and behind the scenes.
Instead, Dream found himself on the ground locked in a scalding hot room.
He felt like he could hardly breathe the longer he looked around the cell. The set of Pandora’s Vault that they’d made for the fact of playing pretend and giving a show and streams to their fans. They wanted to make people happy with the story they could tell and sure, there were times that it went too far and times that fans lost the line between fiction and reality but he didn’t think his friends would buy into the theories they gave.
He thought they knew him better.
He thought they knew him well enough to know that he cared about all of them. He didn’t even stream anything. He tried to give them as much of a platform as he possibly could. Trying to boost them and encourage them and help them where he had a chance. He wanted to see all of them achieve their dreams. He wanted to see them become something great.
And they had.
They were.
He watched the youngest of the set grow and build a following and he was so proud of him each time he made something new. Dream had wanted to encourage creation and innovation. He wanted to build the community more and more so that all the good he’d gained from it could be shared with others.
That was all Dream wanted.
A place for his family to be safe and happy.
A chance for the world to heal from the shit it went through.
But there were theories spilling out over everyone’s screens that tried to say he was just using them for a content machine. That he was only ever honest when he was manipulating them or hurting them. Clips of his laughter and people saying that that was a real laugh.
His friends knew his real laugh sounded more like squeaks and choked gasps than the hysterical one he did for his character.
Dream thought they knew.
For the last weeks, Dream had been having nightmares about his friends fighting with him. He thought that it was all just in his head and that he was being paranoid and he’d even told George and Sapnap about the things he saw when he was sleeping after a particularly bad one that had him up and walking around the server.
They had comforted him then. They’d stayed up with him and they all three talked with Dream bound in blankets sitting between them until he fell asleep leaning against Sapnap’s shoulder. It had been a calm night for them.
They’d assured him that the nightmares were wrong.
Dream had jumped a bit more than normal when they were doing the lore they needed for their streams. He’d gotten laughs and praises from his friends saying that his acting was getting better with every day and that it was almost believable.
Dream tried to sleep at the end of the night and his mind would scream and spit at him that they were losing the line between him and his character.
But the lore was picking up too much steam and they were all going right after each other and family nights were being cut short.
Instead of all of them coming back to the house and relaxing with each other, they were staying out. They were working on filming things or getting ready and dressing sets. They were busy and Dream would only be bothering them if he tried to reach out.
He was trying to make himself believe that it was alright. That he was being ridiculous and letting his paranoia get the best of him. The downside of hiding his face for so long was he jumped at everything now. He was startled and he hid himself and he was so careful about guarding his identity that it had nearly gotten him killed a few times in the past.
Dream tried to laugh with all of them like things were still normal. Like he was fine and like he wasn’t terrified out of his mind. He tried to pretend like he was going on with the bit and they teased with him before they left.
Dream noticed how all of them kept their distance. Never touching him. Never quite getting too close. All of their attention was on the work they were doing and if he interrupted them then he would be doing exactly what the theories said and he would be holding them all back into what he wanted them to do.
Dream wanted them to be happy.
He was just terrified that it was going to turn them against him.
Even George and Sapnap. They were staying away because they wanted to work on things for Kinoko and its lore. A whole idea about something for George but when Dream had mentioned potentially having DreamXD make an appearance so that he could stay close to them, they turned him down.
Dream noticed how fast it had been. How quickly they’d shut him down.
They were just supposed to do normal prison lore. To have Dream be batted around a bit and acting scared as he always felt now. They were going to argue back and forth about the revival book and they were going to end with Quackity pulling out the shears.
That was the intent.
But it wasn’t what happened.
He’d gotten into the cell. He’d been ready for the fighting and the screaming but when they were supposed to end it didn’t stop. Quackity had stalked toward him with the shears. A smile on his face and Dream realized how dangerous this situation really was. He’d tried to keep going. Thinking that Quackity just got another idea and wanted to cliffhang the audience in a different way for the lore.
But instead, Dream felt the shears ripping into his skin.
The scream he let out was real.
Tearing at the soft flesh of his throat and making him almost cry from the feeling. He tasted blood on the back of his tongue but he couldn’t get himself under control enough to contain it. He was trying to get away but all he could hear was Quackity laughing.
He was supposed to be his friend.
He didn’t think he would turn into something like this.
Dream felt his heart beating too strong in his chest. Squeezing and pounding and making him feel nauseous the longer it went on.
He begged Quackity to stop. He didn’t listen. He screamed for Sam to help him. No one came.
Dream cried and begged until his voice was gone and then Quackity was shoving the shears to his mouth and cutting a smile into him. Walking over to the lava and dipping the tips in so that he could come back and cauterize the wounds.
Dream heard him talking about making him drink some before the pain took over and he passed out. Staring at the bright wall of the lava. Staring at his own personal hell that he helped to build.
Dream cried.
Sobbing on the ground and locked in the cell. He looked at his comm to try to reach any of his friends but he could read the group chats celebrating that he was still in there. All of them messaging that they could finally go back to the house and stay together. That they wouldn’t have to lie about work or their lore or any other slew of things.
It felt like the walls were closing in on him. After a few moments, Dream realized it was getting tighter.
Pandora’s walls trying to swallow him whole. Crushing the cauldron he had and the other items in the room. He was trapped. Stuck as the box got smaller and smaller around him.
He swore he could hear his family laughing at his sobs.
He swore he heard them cheering for his death.
He barely had room to breathe.
He couldn’t breathe.
His body hurt.
He was going to die.
He was—
Dream screamed. Loud and full and as loud as his lungs could get him. Shoving his arms out and trying desperately to get away from the walls. He hit something that felt like wood and then he was scrambling. Relishing at the realization that he could move his legs and that there seemed to be space behind him. He was kicking. Fighting as much as he could with all the desperation and fight that he could muster through his body.
Tears were streaming down his face.
All he could see was dark.
His lungs hitching and heaving in his chest and then Dream was falling.
His legs tangled and caught and he was slamming down hard into the unforgiving ground.
Wood. Not obsidian. Wood.
His heart was racing. He could hear it smothering every other sound that reached his ears. Shoving in his chest like an animal begging to be let out. His eyes almost seemed to shake with it. His body was. He could taste it. Feel the pulse of it like his heart was trying to crawl up his throat and was stuck at the base of his tongue.
He gagged.
The mental image turning the twisting in his stomach into a full knot that had him heaving and choking over himself. Nothing but bile came up. He gagged and choked and the tears weren’t stopping.
He wanted to scream but he didn’t know where he was.
He didn’t know if he was safe.
He couldn’t feel his own body and still he felt too much of it.
Too much— Too much— He couldn’t—
“Dream!”
The sound made him flinch. Hands were on him in seconds and Dream screamed again. Tearing apart his throat and begging apologies and pleas not to be hurt. He didn’t recognize the person in front of him but he felt how their hand curved gently around the back of his head. How they tried to pull him forward against his will so that he was leaning against them. How his terror only spiked.
"Breathe. You need to breathe, Dream. Breathe.”
He tried but it only caught in his chest. Sending him spiraling down into a coughing fit that had his stomach turning all the more.
“It’s okay. It was a nightmare. You’re okay. It’s okay. Just breathe.”
Nightmare.
A nightmare.
Not real.
He pried his eyes open against the tears that were blurring his vision. Stinging and taking in his own bedroom that he decorated. The oak floors. The walls. He saw George and Sapnap in front of him.
“Dream? You with us?”
They hadn’t left. They didn’t— He wasn’t in that cell. He wasn’t—
Dream hiccuped on a sob again. George grabbing him and pulling him close and this time Dream went willingly. Latching on and feeling Sapnap covering the both of them. His heart was still racing but he felt safer here. Tucked in and safe like this against them both.
“Just breathe, Dream.”
He felt the way Sapnap’s voice rumbled through his chest. How his friends were there and how close they all were. He was so scared. The feeling of terror swallowing down around him and trying to consume him. He was shaking still.
He was leaning into them.
“I’m sorry.”
It was the first of many. Broken apologies that sobbed out of his mouth one after the other.
Of course it was a nightmare. He was stupid to believe it was anything else. Stupid to think that their friendships would be thrown out over something so little. They were always together. Dream had done so much for them.
They wouldn’t leave him because they made more money at his expense.
They wouldn’t turn out cruel or unkind.
They weren’t using him just for themselves and leaving him to die for something that wasn’t real.
That would never happen.
He was safe.
He was alright.
He was so stupid. He was so fucking stupid—
“I’m sorry—”
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. You’re okay. We’re right here.”
He was getting tears and snot all over both of them. Hiccuping and heaving and he was pretty sure George was going to get vomit on his pants.
“If you want to talk about it, we’re here. If you don’t, we won’t. Whatever you need, we’re here.”
He didn’t deserve them. He was going to hurt them. Dream didn’t want to hurt them.
“It’s alright. We’re right here. We aren’t going anywhere. We love you.”
They still loved him.
“I was in—” He choked. “In the prison and— and Quackity, he— he wasn’t stopping the lore— it was supposed to stop with the shears but he— he didn’t— he just— and then they were in me and I couldn’t—”
They were both holding him tighter. He could feel how they both went stiff as he talked. But now that the words were started he felt like they couldn’t stop.
“I thought I passed out and if it was a nightmare I’d wake up but I was still there.”
His voice was shaking. He felt Sapnap running a hand up and down his back.
“I wanted to call you guys but I saw the chats and you all knew and—”
He couldn’t finish. Tears coming down his face too fast and Dream was sobbing again. Curling into them both and relishing in the fact that it wasn’t real. That the nightmare was gone and done with now and they were here. They were holding him and they’d told him that they loved him and he was safe.
Dream trusted them.
“If Quackity ever lays a finger on you I will kill him myself, I promise.”
Sapnap’s voice was dark but the protectiveness Dream could hear in it made him melt a bit.
He was so tired.
“If anyone says you deserve the things your character is dealing with, Dream,” George was holding him close. “I will make certain they never see daylight again for those threats.”
Dream smiled into him. The nightmare was gone. He was safe. He was okay.
He had them and they were here and they loved him. They loved him. They—
“We love you. Okay? You understand that?”
“We love you, Dream. We aren’t leaving you. We sure as hell aren’t letting you get locked in that hell hole and be tortured. Over my dead body.”
“Mine too.”
Dream held them both back as tightly as he could. His arms were trembling. His body was ready to give out beneath him. But he wanted to hold them close and never let go. He didn’t want to be alone.
“I love you both so much.”
They both held him close. They waited with him. They’d come for him. The moment they heard him scream. They’d come. The nightmare was wrong. He was safe.
Because they still loved him.
And that was all he needed.