Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Boots crunched on the glittering snow.

Tommy walked through the barren tundra, seeing his breath expel from his mouth. He carried the iron basket of chopped wood searching for the familiar light of lanterns in darkening landscape. He had stayed out just a little too long, his family must’ve been worried for him already.

However, in the silence, there was a faint splashing of water, coming from the boy’s left. He didn’t pay much mind to it, tired from his excursion, until the realisation dawned on him that no water-dwelling animal could make that sound.

So, out of curiosity (and concern, but he’d never say it), he followed the sound to the rushing current, somehow still not frozen over from the long-term winter. He could handle an axe well enough; he didn’t need to be protected; he was a big man.

He crossed the snowy plains, holding an axe in his dominant hand, ready for a fight, still almost dropping it from shock.

Green.

He dropped the basket, running to the dullish green colour (was it glowing?) among the snow, before stopping firmly on both feet.

Even seeing it in front of himself, he couldn’t believe it.

Sitting on the edge of the river, legs submerged in what surely must’ve been freezing, no, painfully freezing water, was a blond man, shorter than Tommy remembered him being.

(But maybe still a bit taller. The admin could tower over Tommy if he so wished.)

The man held a small dandelion, staring at it intently, passively waving his legs in the river. He didn’t seem very bothered by Tommy behind him. His clothing seemed just a size too big on his frame, though his battered black combat boots seemed to have gone missing. The bracelet of wooden beads was still on his wrist, at least he still had that. It took them way too long to make that.

Finally, as Tommy took a step forward, the man looked up, and smiled hesitantly at the teen.

His skin was slightly translucent, and that’s what truly took Tommy’s breath away.

///

Apparently, even as a dead man, Dream was just as obnoxiously scatter-brained, if not more so, as when he was alive.

Holding on tightly to his hand, Tommy guided them back to the cabin, relying on his personal navigation skills, which, honestly, weren’t that good.

The sky was yet darker, and not being able to see as well was getting kind of annoying, so in an act of whatever the hell he was doing, Dream had conjured light for Tommy. The item didn’t feel like anything in the hand, and certainly didn’t weigh much either, but it emitted about the same amount of light as your average torch. Definitely something he’d have to question later.

Eventually, they stumbled across their cabin, and Tommy started dragging the ghost as they ran.

(No, Tommy would not admit seeing the ghost float instead made him just a little sad. He would not.)

As Tommy opened the door to the empty house, he softly placed the basket onto the ground near the entrance, leading Dream further into the house. The ghost obediently followed, still not having said a single thing to the teen. He simply floated around, staring around in a look akin to awe.

In the brighter light, Tommy realised that while the ghost’s clothes were completely visible, the man’s body itself was slightly see-through, although not enough to fully be invisible. His skin had a greyish tint to it, and his eyes seemed duller. Something about them was off, yet Tommy couldn’t tell you what exactly.

“Hey, Dream?” Tommy asked, making sure to keep his voice slightly lower than normal, both in case the ghost was easily startled and to not wake any of his household, “How’d you die?”

Dream merely tilted his head, chirping once. Tommy’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Can you… Can you talk, Big Man?”

A shake of his head, and oh god Tommy needed a nap.

“Do you want to sleep here or come with me? Man, I haven’t seen you in so long!”

The way Dream barrelled into him answers his question without words.

///

When Techno walked into Tommy’s bedroom, the first thing he expected was certainly not a stranger laying with Tommy, in the teen’s bed, which Techno knew he didn’t share with many people.

So, either a stranger with good lockpicking skills or Dream. Not difficult to figure out which of those it is.

So, when Tommy opened his eyes, he only saw Dream’s pale face, still asleep, before realising the reason he woke up was the blanket now perched on Techno’s shoulder.

Wait, Techno?

“What the fuck, man? Give that back,” Tommy rasped, falling back to the bed from his supporting forearms beneath him, “We’re sleeping.”

“He’s supposed to be in prison, actually.”

“Fuck off.”

Techno snorted, taking three steps, and dropping the blanket in the corner of the room. “Come get your blanket then.”

Tommy grumbled for a moment, sitting up from bed. He wasn’t particularly happy about being woken up so early. He left Dream in bed as he walked to the corner, picked up the blanket and threw it halfway on his bedmate. The other curled up tighter in the blanket, seeking its comfort.

Tommy left the room, walking downstairs to see Phil in the kitchen, making food while Ghostbur sat by, most likely talking about his damn sheep again.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Techno drawled, glancing up at him. Tommy flipped him off.

“Techno told me about a mystery man in your bedroom, suspicious if you’d ask me,” Phil spoke, lifting pancakes onto a plate. He was basically the only one in the household that could actually cook reasonably well, since Tech’s food was bland or had… odd flavours (“Techno, is this raw?”) and Tommy had been permanently banned from the kitchen for food related crimes.

There was an unspoken rule that Ghostbur would never be allowed to cook. Maybe it was Wilbur’s incredibly over-seasoned food.

“I- I let him sleep, he probably needs it. I’ll explain when he’s awake,” Tommy snatched a pancake from the plate before Phil could slap his hand away. Ghostbur did his best yet was too late as Phil moved the plate away from him. Tommy tore his in half and handed one part to Ghostbur.

Phil hummed. “Very considerate of you.”

They all sat down at the high table between the kitchen and living area, eating the pancakes, and enjoying a typical breakfast full of banter, when Tommy looked up at the sound of a familiar rhythm of knocks.

Dream’s eyes were obviously still tired, but they looked a little better than the previous night, which was already a win.

When Ghostbur had first appeared, the dead man had passed out for about thirty hours once he laid down. Some part of the process of coming back to earth was apparently very tiring.

So, seeing Dream already up, most likely having only actually slept about seven hours, was a little worrying.

“Hey, why’re you awake? You look tired,” Tommy turned around in his chair to stare at the man yet opened his arms when the other approached and fell into his lap, “Or sit here, I guess. That’s fine.”

“So, why’s Dream here?”

Phil’s eyes widened slightly. He slowly set down his glass, clearing his throat, “Excuse me, what?”

“He died. That’s all I know. Found him by the river.”

Tommy was holding Dream as if he were a small child, which looked kind of funny given the size of said ‘small child’.

“Wasn’t the prison secure? How’d he die?”

“Am I just being ignored?” Phil raised his voice a little, only receiving a helpless shrug from Ghostbur, who sat next to him.

“I don’t know, he won’t or can’t talk.”

Dream shifted slightly, scratching at his arms a little. Tommy took one of his arms, rolling his sleeves up a little.

The dark cloth made him drop it again.

Netherite. That was netherite cloth, with the faintest traces of fire protection enchanted onto it. Tight straps held it in place, however the ends were somehow burned off, leaving them fingerless, almost covered by the regular, much softer black gloves the man wore.

“What the fuck. What the fuck, why do you have those on?”

Dream shifted slightly.

“Tommy, mate, how do you know he didn’t have those before?” Phil looked on in worry as Dream scratched at them. Netherite cloth was highly uncomfortable, and not meant to be worn for a long time, let alone on bare skin.

Tommy started fidgeting with the clasps, “We’ve gone swimming together multiple times, obviously I’ve seen most of him.”

Techno reached over to help, and after some struggling, one of the gloves fell off. Below were scars, bruises, and numerous burn marks, along with three rings circling his forearm, indicating that Dream really was dead. Techno continued with the other one while Tommy simply stared at the damage.

What the actual fuck had Sam done?

///

While Ghostbur had left soon after breakfast, the others still sat at the table, Dream now asleep on Tommy’s lap. The revelation had left them all kind of confused, and Tommy had just hugged Dream closer than before. He didn’t even want to think about the story behind the new marks.

Phil had eventually stood up, taking Tommy and Dream into the youngest’s bedroom to check for any further injuries. They sat down on the bed, Phil holding some burn cream and a wet rag he’d picked up from the kitchen, just in case.

“Hey Dream, can you speak?” Phil asked. Dream responded with a shake of his head and a small chirp, which sounded a little echoey. Both alive ones sighed.

Tommy tugged a little on the hem of Dream’s hoodie, “Can I take this off? You’ll get it back later, don’t worry.”

As the other nodded, Tommy finally removed it, under which Dream only wore a black short-sleeved crop-top, normally almost skin-tight, yet now hanging semi-loosely. His ribs were slightly more visible than usual, and his arms weren’t as muscular, almost no trace of the hours of fighting and running he’d done every day.

A couple more scars sat on his upper arms, but his lower stomach was a lot more concerning. Many green lines littered his skin, still translucent but more visible than his skin. They looked like stab wounds.

Dream just looked away from it all, maybe he didn’t remember, or rather did not want to remember.

“Dream, who did this to you?”

“What the fuck happened to you, dude?”

The ghost just leaned into Tommy’s side, almost looking… embarrassed? An odd emotion in this case, unless…

“Dream, did you do this?”

Dream nodded slowly.

Phil and Tommy shared a look, one of complete anger at whoever had managed to drive Tommy’s friend to such horrible lengths, the usually confident admin broken down to this.

Maybe Tommy finally understood what bloodlust meant.

Yet, when they looked back at the ghost, sunken yet further into Tommy, all they could think about was help him. All they could do was treat him with kindness until they could show rage towards anyone.

“Hey, Phil’s safe and I know you’re tired, you can show yourself, I promise. I’ll protect you,” Tommy muttered, drawing Dream closer. When Phil opened his mouth to ask for any explanation, Tommy raised a finger to his lips.

Phil never remembered Tommy being this soft to… well, anyone, really.

After a glance toward the door, when Phil looked back, he almost didn’t recognise Dream at first.

He’d grown a tail, similar to Ranboo’s but slightly bulkier. Small dark spots had appeared almost everywhere on his skin, akin to freckles. His ears had stretched slightly, along with small horns curling closely around their base. The most noticeable, however, were probably the dark wings, dark aqua scales on the top fading into a speckling of bright purple feathers. Their wingspan was probably larger than even Phil’s.

And, of course, Dream had grown about a quarter of a metre, if not more, now almost curled around Tommy.

“Can I tell Phil? Only if you’re okay with it,” Tommy quietly asked. Dream made a warbled sound, hesitant, yet nodded eventually.

Tommy turned away from the ghost, facing Phil, “Dream is an Ancient hybrid. Nobody else knows, personal reasons I’d rather not share. He’ll tell you himself.”

Phil just stared in shock, and mild awe, at the hybrid. He hadn’t seen an Ancient hybrid in years, let alone one with traits past just weirder eyes. Not after they’d been practically hunted for sport many years ago.

“I won’t tell anyone, mate, I promise. Techno should know, though.”

Tommy thought for a moment, sighing, and lifting himself slightly from the bed. Dream immediately followed, not leaning on the boy as much as before.

“Do you want Techno to know?” Tommy took Dream’s hand and faced him. Dream shrugged, before nodding.

“What about the wounds?” Dream took a little longer for that one, however agreed yet again. He did his best at a tired smile, which Tommy returned, before moving to open the door.

As the trio creeped down the stairs and into the wide living area, Techno looked up, staring before furrowing his eyebrows, “Heh?”

Phil smiled at the signature sound, turning to face Tommy.

“Dream’s an Ancient hybrid. He also died to his own stab wounds,” he blurted out. That just increased Techno’s confusion.

///

“Okay, but what’s an Ancient?” Techno asked after they’d chastised Tommy on his bluntness.

Phil sighed, “Ancients were the first ancestors to humans, eventually evolving into wardens, endermen, admins, and from them into humans. They’ve been around since ages, but most were killed by traders looking for cool parts or fearful humans. They’re essentially extinct.”

“Dream said he’s, like, more than half Ancient. It’s apparently very rare to be anywhere above maybe twenty percent. He’s pretty unique,” Tommy continued, “He’s already had bad things happen to him because of it, so he didn’t tell anyone. Aside from me, of course, and now you.”

Techno was only thinking of one thing, though, “If they’re so rare now, how old is Dream?”

Both adults looked to Tommy, “In human years, more than centuries, millennia, he doesn’t know himself. Ancient years, about seventeen. Although, his ghost seems to be younger, somehow. Maybe fourteen?”

“Wait, he gets even taller?”

“I mean, yeah, he’s young and makes himself shorter around others, I’m up to around his chest at full height.”

“He makes himself shorter?”

///

While Dream and Ghostbur played together with Friend, Tommy sat on the stairs, thinking. Obviously, Dream had become extremely clingy (not that Tommy complained, even alive the man was like a dog, constantly seeking affection), but the reason was unclear. Why would Dream be that clingy, that attached to Tommy that he’d barely been able to convince the ghost to leave his side.

And, of course, the fact that he didn’t speak.

(“Hey Dream, what trait of yours would you be most upset to lose?”

“I- Tommy is this a threat?”

“I think it would be my eyes. Can’t see women without ‘em, and what am I without my girls, man?”

“Of course, Tommy. Uh, maybe my voice. I like speaking.”

“Yeah, of course you would, dickhead.”

“What does that mean?”)

He eventually stood up, walking on the path free of snow towards the two ghosts, who both rested against Friend, Dream’s wing loosely draped over Ghostbur, with books and quills in their hands. They would occasionally show each other the pages, so they were most likely drawing. When they heard Tommy’s boots, they both looked up, before Dream pulled him down to his other side. He let out a faint, quiet purr when Tommy ruffled his hair.

“So, what are you up to?” he asked, looking at Dream’s book. He was drawing a figure, someone who looked like Wilbur during the Manburg war, only you’d never actually seen him. Seemed his drawing skills were saved through death, the man looked very well drawn.

“We’re drawing! Dream got tired of playing, so we’re resting now,” Ghostbur smiled at Tommy, showing him his own book, “I’m drawing all of us!” Ghostbur’s drawing was a little more childish, but that was to be expected, Wilbur hadn’t been the best at drawing either. Tommy could still point to each person, though. Even Dream was included.

“Good job, but I had a question, actually. Do either of you know why you, Dream, can’t talk?”

Ghostbur perked up, smiling, “Ghosts can only chirp when they’re scared! So he must be scared, he doesn’t know why though…” he trailed off, looking upset for a moment. Tommy snapped his fingers in front of the ghost’s face before he could completely space out.

Another thing to add to the list of concerns, Tommy thought, or maybe reasons to murder Sam.

Tommy pulled Dream closer to him, “Dream, you’re allowed to talk, I promise. I don’t know why you can’t, and you don’t have to if that’s true, but just know I’ll personally hunt down anyone who dares to hurt you.”

Maybe Tommy could convince Phil to take him to the mainland, for a friendly visit.

///

When the table was again filled for dinner, (Still with four chairs, Dream didn’t need one because why sit on a chair when Tommy Innit existed? He was barely awake anyway, having refused to go to bed alone) and Phil was placing the pots down, Tommy was hesitant about the food.

(“Dream, have you eaten?”

The prisoner continued sitting by the lava, either having not heard or plain ignoring Tommy’s question.

“Come on, at least one? I know you don’t like it, but just… do it for me, okay?”

Finally Dream looked back, and after a moment, held out a hand. When the raw potato was placed in his open palm, he hesitated, before biting into it. Tommy scooted him away from the lava, holding him as he ate.

An hour later, the food had come back up, and Tommy still kept holding him as he sobbed.)

And while Dream may no longer remember the prison itself, his distress associated with potatoes, raw or not, may still be present. Yet, ghosts did still need to eat, and if he couldn’t take it, Phil would definitely be nice enough to make him something else. If worst came to worst, Tommy knew exactly where the regeneration potions were.

While everyone else started eating after grabbing their portions, Tommy cut a small piece of a baked potato, tapping Dream’s back. He hadn’t grabbed himself many, he enjoyed the taste of the vegetable but eating too many made him nauseous, remembering the prison. When Dream opened his eyes, Tommy picked up the fork again and offered it to him. The ghost tilted his head a little, but ate it nonetheless, not bothered until he started choking, tapping rapidly on Tommy’s hand. He grabbed a tissue, letting Dream spit the piece out, and offered him a glass of water.

The look on the ghost’s face was one of pure confusion, seemingly not understanding his reaction, as he held the glass of water in slightly shaky hands.

Tommy took the glass from him, “Alive you had bad experiences with potatoes, I wasn’t sure if you’d have the same reaction as him though.”

Both Phil and Techno looked on in concern, Ghostbur just drawing in his book, oblivious. Tommy had told them about the inhumane conditions of the prison, yet right after Tommy had come out after being trapped inside for a week, Sam had mysteriously raised the security, not letting anyone inside. When he’d argued with Sam about the conditions, the warden had insisted he knew best and wouldn’t accept any criticism.

Guess this is where it got them.

“Hey, it’s okay, I can get you some fruit, okay?” Tommy had noticed Dream’s watery eyes, “You don’t need to eat this.”

Dream nodded, hugging onto Tommy.

In the short time Tommy had had the ghost with him, he’d realised Dream remembered almost nothing of his time in prison, past what Tommy had told him.

(That honestly wasn’t much, all he knew was that it happened, and some of his reactions towards things were because of it. Tommy didn’t want to overwhelm the ghost with all the bad things he’d endured in life.)

It was possible that Dream would start remembering things, just like Ghostbur had done after a couple weeks being dead. Very possible alive Dream had forgot the prison as well though, as some kind of trauma response, so his memories might be fuzzy.

Tommy held onto Dream, “Phil, could you get me, like, an apple?”

At the question, Phil stopped staring, and stood up to go fetch an apple from the bowl in the kitchen. He returned to the table, handing it to Tommy, who gave it to Dream. He held onto it for a moment, carefully biting it, before his hunger took over at the realisation that he could actually eat the fruit.

When Tommy looked up again, Phil’s heart hurt at the sadness in his eyes.

///

Techno watched as Dream slept, on the couch, where Tommy had set him before going to talk to Phil about something he’d deemed important.

Even as a ghost, the man was obviously unhealthy. By Techno’s guess, malnutrition, which was quite worrying for a man who was supposed to be left alive, but hey, what would someone blessed by the Blood God themself know about life?

(That was sarcasm, obviously. Keep up.)

Eventually, Tommy returned, Phil following behind him, in thought.

“Hey Blade, so, I had the idea that maybe we should go to L’Manburg and see what the fuck happened in the prison, but Phil doesn’t think I’m enough of a big man, so I have to ask you to come with us. Ghostbur could come as well!” Tommy enthused, now sitting on the couch next to where Dream’s legs were curled up. Phil stood behind the couch, leaning his elbows against it.

“Uh, I mean my schedule’s free? Why can’t Phil go with you, though?”

“No reason to go back, and someone has to take care of the animals,” Phil sighed, “Maybe some other time.”

“Bruh, sure I’ll come with you. Why not,” Techno relented, “When?”

Tommy shifted slightly, thinking, “A couple of days? I want to let Dream get used to stuff again before we drag him into an intense environment.”

Techno stood up from his armchair, walking over to Tommy and ruffling his hair. As he went to the stairs, he shouted “Okay, nerd. Sleep well!”

Phil chuckled, before joining Tommy on the couch.

///

The next day wasn’t particularly eventful, aside from what Ghostbur had said to them after Phil had told him the travel plans.

“Oh, I need to visit Schlatt anyway! He-“

“Wait, backtrack, Schlatt is alive?”

“Oh, no! He’s a ghost, but he is in L’Manburg!”

“And why exactly do you need to visit him?”

“Well, if Dream is dead, Schlatt would know why! He controls the afterlife, or something like that.”

And that got Tommy interested.

///

Tommy was laying on his bed, holding Dream close to him as the ghost seemed to have finally fallen into a longer sleep. He was reading one of Techno’s books (surprisingly interesting, actually. Never would have thought the great Tommy Innit would enjoy reading.)

He glanced up though when Ghostbur knocked on his door, the wrong pattern, as always.

“Ghostbur, did you forget your pattern again?” he called, “Oh, and come in.”

The ghost opened the door, “Wasn’t it right?”

“No, you knocked once too much at the end, and there’s no pause between the second and third. Didn’t you write this down?”

Ghostbur just waved it off, sitting on the bed, careful not to touch Dream.

“How long has he been asleep?”

Tommy put his book down, “About a day and a half? He should be waking up soon.”

“Oh, that’s good! I was worried he wouldn’t sleep enough!”

Tommy ran a hand over the dark spots on Dream’s cheek, watching as they lit up faintly. Ghostbur looked on in awe, evidently never having seen an Ancient’s bioluminescence.

Hopefully, he’d wake up soon. Even when he couldn’t talk, Dream was still good company.

“I almost forgot, I wanted to talk to you about Dream! Do you know what he remembers?”

Thinking for a bit, Tommy answered “He doesn’t remember the prison, only what I told him. The wars are fuzzy, he knows they happened but not much else, he remembers people and my exile. I’m not sure about much else, though.”

Ghostbur tapped his finger against his chin, eyebrows furrowed, “I think he also doesn’t remember bad things! Maybe he’ll remember them later? Anyways, that’s all I wanted, so I’ll be off now! See you!” and he stood up, floating out of the room, and closing the door behind him.

Seeing how bad Dream was doing, maybe Tommy didn’t… want him to remember.

He sighed, picked up his book and continued reading.

///

Phil was sat in the living room, running his fingers through his feathers when the stairs to the second floor creaked slightly. Looking up, he saw Dream searching for something, or, as Phil assumed, someone.

“Hey mate, what are you looking for?”

Dream jumped slightly, turning to see Phil with a soft smile. He hesitantly put his hand to the wood, knocking slowly.

“Ah, Tommy’s outside. He thought you’d be asleep for longer,” Phil answered as he recognised the pattern of knocks.

(When Tommy had come back from exile, he’d always knocked a pattern on doors when he wanted to come in. When Phil had asked, Tommy confessed that him and Dream had had different patterns for both of them, so they knew it was actually them in case someone came to visit.

One day, a paper had been placed on Tommy’s desk with three different patterns written down. Since then, they all had their own patterns only the family knew.)

Dream nodded, walking down the stairs, but not turning to the door, instead entering the living area, stopping for a moment, then walking closer to Phil. The whole time, Phil said nothing, continuing on preening his wings.

Eventually, Dream sat down on the floor, in front of him, and let his wings loose at his sides. The ghost chirped up at him, tilting his head.

Phil looked down at him, “Do your wings need preening? I don’t think you’ve been washed, have you?”

Dream looked down, then nodded. Phil stood up, moving to sit behind Dream on the floor.

The moment Phil put his fingers to the darker scales, a shiver ran down Dream’s spine. Phil was careful, not having had much experience with scaled wings, slowly speeding up when Dream purred contently, relaxing slightly. When Phil was done with one wing, he almost moved onto the next before noticing the faint scars at the base of both wings. He decided to not question it though, leaving it for later.

In his blissed-out state, Dream hadn’t even noticed the door opening, Tommy and Techno back from their chores. When the pair walked into the house, Phil turned around to raise a finger to his lips, telling them to be quiet. Tommy silently walked to Dream’s side, looking at the ghost with a look of relief.

“I think we can leave tomorrow, he seems fine now,” Phil whispered, to which Tommy nodded.

Tommy knocked on the floor softly, “That’s his pattern, by the way.”

///

Dream watched as Tommy shuffled around the closet, searching for a coat.

“There’s nobody who’s as tall as you, so you might have to wear something a little short. It should be okay, though. We’re not travelling for too long,” he rambled from the small room. Dream continued watching him as he picked up an apple from a bowl on the table, biting into it.

(Tommy had been so proud of him when he’d eaten an apple on his own without anyone asking him to, so he’d started doing things on his own lately.

While some of that residual feeling of they’ll hurt me I’m not safe can I do this will they punish me still persisted, at home that feeling was way less overbearing.)

When Tommy climbed out of the closet, Dream floated over to him, having the coat put on by Tommy. Dream may have had to hide his wings, but his tail still flicked behind him.

“Now, we’re going to the mainland, to visit some people, but we’re going through the nether. The portal is kinda far, so try not to get too distracted, okay?” Tommy explained. Dream chirped as a response.

Tommy opened the door, leading Dream outside to where Phil and Techno stood.

Phil walked over, “You got everything you need? If you need anyth-“

“Phil, we’ll be fine. I’m there to protect them, and Tommy can get stuff from others. It’ll be okay,” Techno drawled, having walked near, “Come on, let’s leave before it gets dark.”

Tommy grabbed Dream’s hand, walking with Techno, and waving behind him, “Bye Phil! Have fun being old!”

Chapter Text

“So, Dream, you know L’Manburg, right? Well, there’s this guy, his name’s Schlatt, we’ve been friends for some time, one time we-“

“Back on topic, Ghostbur.”

“Oh, sorry, so, he lives in the crater where L’Manburg was before, because it got blown up, that’s where I died by the way, and he takes care of the afterlife together with this other guy, I don’t know who he is but he’s some kinda god. So they would know how, why, and where you died! The other guy can also revive you, if you want that, but I don’t think you’ve been dead for long enough, I think it’s two weeks, and you’ve been here for, what, a week?”

“Six days, seven if you count the first night.”

“Well, it’s not two weeks, so it doesn’t matter,” Ghostbur finally finished his ramble. Dream had probably only been paying half-attention, as he looked around in awe at the nature outside. Honestly, it made Tommy kind of sad to see such a nature-bound person so amazed by some trees and grass.

If Tommy let Dream wander just a little further than he should’ve, nobody had to know, right?

///

After some time, they saw the portal in the distance. Techno sped his walk up a little, so the rest of the group was forced to do so as well.

When they arrived at the portal, they stopped for a moment before Techno stepped in, disappearing after a moment. Next went Ghostbur, leaving Tommy and Dream behind.

“You go in first, okay? I’ll come after you, I promise,” Tommy spoke to the ghost, letting go of his hand. Dream seemed unsure, but turned and walked into the portal nonetheless.

The dimension he was transported to was hot. Very hot.

“Take off the coat and put it in that chest, mainland is a lot warmer than our home,” Techno ordered to Dream. Just as he closed the chest, a warbled sound came from the portal and Tommy appeared. He immediately took off his coat, placing it next to Dream’s in the chest, and taking the ghost’s hand.

The nether was, surprisingly, more humid than the overworld. Lava popped below them as they crossed the bridge leading to the community portal.

While the trip through the fiery landscape was definitely short, all three (not Techno, no, because he needed to be more overpowered) were panting. Though, Tommy quickly realized the heavy breaths of Dream were not because of the temperature.

“Wait, shit, Techno do you have any, I don’t know, ice or some shit like that?” he shouted, because Dream wasn’t tired, Dream was panicking.

“Hey, Dream, breathe, okay? In,” Tommy exaggeratedly breathed in, now holding Dream’s hand to his own chest, “And out, you can do it, okay?”

He continued until Techno held out a small block of ice he’d found, which Tommy placed in Dream’s other hand. At that, Dream seemed to calm slightly quicker, and after a couple of moments, the ghost’s breathing was a little heavier, but relatively calm.

“Was it the lava? Did you remember something?” Tommy asked, still holding Dream’s hand in his own. Dream rolled up his sleeve slightly, pointing at the burned patches of skin.

“Did you remember the prison?”

Dream almost pinched his fingers together, showing ‘a little’. Tommy sighed, looking over at Techno, “Where are we staying?”

“There’s a couple rooms in the community house we can stay in!” Ghostbur responded.

“Then, I guess we’re staying there,” Tommy looked back at Dream, who was now sitting still, staring at the ground, spaced out.

Techno moved to his side, helping him pick up Dream. The ghost seemed almost unresponsive.

“The SMP should be mostly empty, pretty much everyone has gone off in their own direction,” Techno explained, “Sam’s kind of a hazard, though.”

“Well, we can go set up in the community house, and then go to Schlatt!”

“Sure, why not.”

///

Techno laid Dream down on a bed once they reached the upstairs rooms in the community house. The ghost had by now at least started responding to stimuli, but none of them trusted him to be present enough to walk, and it wasn’t a far walk anyway.

“Hey, Dream, you okay now?” Tommy sat at the side of the Dream’s bed. The ghost nodded, reaching out to Tommy. He took the hand, and lifted it to ruffle Dream’s own hair, earning a small giggle.

Techno looked up, taking out a bottle of water from his bag and handing it to Tommy. He then stood up, walking out of the room, presumably to go find Ghostbur, who’d left the room previously.

“We’ll stay here until you feel a little better, then we’ll explore a little. You know who Schlatt is, right?” Tommy asked. Dream blinked, and chirped at him.

“Yeah well if Ghostbur isn’t lying, he can tell us how exactly you died, and if you’d like, we can try to have you revived?” Tommy continued. Dream stared at him for a moment before he looked out the window. The teen sighed.

“Okay, just… lay down for a moment, I’ll be back,” Tommy stood up, giving Dream a smug smile before walking to the door and leaving.

///

Techno looked up from where he was leaning on the wall as Tommy closed the door behind him.

“Is the nerd asleep?” he asked, startling Tommy.

He shrugged, “No, but he might be soon. He seems so… tired, could it be from the prison?” Tommy’s eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“Well, I was thinking, we could just call everyone here to have a meeting and to ask Sam for the prison records, I’m sure he’s susceptible to peer pressure,” Techno proposed, now moving away from the wall, “If enough people see that Dream’s dead now, maybe they’ll doubt his credibility as the warden.”

“Uh, yeah, good idea dickhead, but half the server hates you and the other half probably hates me. How the fuck will we get everyone in one room?”

“You’re missing one part of the puzzle Tommy– Half may hate me, and half may hate you, but everyone hates Dream. Just say there’s a problem with him and they’ll all show up!” Techno explained. Tommy hummed contemplatively, before making the sound equivalent of a shrug.

“Okay, sure Big Man, try it I guess.”

Techno fetched a small device from his pocket, containing only a keyboard and three extra buttons, and glanced at just above his wrist. He started typing out a message, reading it over before pressing send. Tommy raised his own arm, seeing a message.

<Technoblade> everyone please meet at the community house

<Technoblade> its about dream

///

Tommy walked down the stairs from Dream’s current room, having told him to stay upstairs until Tommy came to get him. He then saw almost every member of the server standing scattered in the community house. The only ones missing were Phil (obviously), Ghostbur (who was probably off somewhere), Dream (obviously), and, oddly enough, Quackity, who was nowhere to be seen, along with his new sidekick.

(Slime? Something with slime.)

 “So, is everyone here?” Tommy asked loudly, announcing his presence to the rest of the server members. A couple murmurs of agreement rang through the crowd, the rest nodding briefly.

“Okay, well,” he inhales shakily, “There’s been a slight problem…”

“Just say it already,” Sam commands.

Tommy inhales again, this time less shakily, before revealing the secret.

“Dream’s dead.”

And the room burst into chaos.

“What do you mean?”

“No, he isn’t!”

“How would you know?”

Tommy raised his hand, demanding silence. The room quickly stilled.

“I found Dream’s ghost, outside the prison, in the tundra near our house. I’d like to know how he lost two lives while in your care, Sam” Tommy glared at the warden. A couple others turned to face Sam, who stood there, face still guarded.

“There must’ve been a security breach, and the third life was taken by the intruder,” Sam calmly explained.

Tommy’s eye twitched. Third life?

“Then where’d his second life go, huh? You killed him once, how did he die twice? The prison was fucking secure! If it was so safe then how did he die, Sam!” Tommy screamed, banging his fist on one of the steps of the stairs. Techno had by now moved to stand on Tommy’s right, just behind him enough to appear threatening.

“He died as part of the check-in procedure. Norma-“

“WHY’D YOU KILL HIM, SAM? AND NOT EVEN A RESPAWN DEATH, BUT A FUCKING CANON DEATH?” Tommy swung his arm to point directly at Sam, the other one flicking through his inventory. When he finally reached the sword, he took a step back and pointed it straight at the other’s chest.

“YOU CAUSED HIM TO DIE, YOU MONSTER! IN TRYING TO PROTECT ME, YOU HURT THE ONE PERSON WHO’S HELPED ME THROUGH EVERYTHING!” Tommy turned around to stare around the crowd, “NOBODY EVER FUCKING LISTENED TO ME! EVERYONE JUST THOUGHT DREAM WAS SO HORRIBLE WHEN I WAS JUST DEFENDING SOMEONE I CARED ABOUT! YOU’RE ALL FUCKED IN THE HEAD IF YOU THINK YOU’RE IN THE RIGHT!”

“Tommy, it-“

“YOU STARVED HIM! YOU DIDN’T CHECK IN ON US ONCE DURING THE WEEK I WAS THERE! DO YOU KNOW HOW HORRIBLE HE LOOKED? WHAT FUCKING WARDEN ARE YOU?”

Tommy shoved past Puffy, who had been stood to his left, throwing the door open and slamming it closed as he left.

The crowd kept their gazes locked on the door, before it was pulled to the top of the stairs by a small chirr.

There stood Dream, who looked at Techno with concern. The rest of the server’s attention wasn’t pulled to their conversation though, but to the form Dream had.

His beautiful wings sat loosely on his back, brushing against the floor as he now sat, crouched down. His tail flicked lazily, slightly curled around the central support pole. His eyes would occasionally move to stare at someone in the crowd, before quickly focusing back on Techno.

Tubbo raised a hand, “Uh, Techno? What’s up with uh… guessing that’s Dream, right?” Techno looked at him, then nodded once.

“He’s a hybrid,” Techno murmured, “Only Tommy knew before he died.”

“What hybrid has those traits? He’s probably some mix,” Bad spun his halo around his finger before letting it bounce back to its usual spot above his horns, “Unless he’s just weird.”

Techno glanced around. No bother hiding it now, right?

(Tommy would be pissed and he knew it. But did he care?

Pfft.

Maybe.)

“An Ancient hybrid does,” he confessed.

“Yeah, as if they still exist,” Bad spat.

Techno sighed. This would take a while.

///

Tommy sat in the forest.

He didn’t know what he was doing in the forest, actually.

(Dream sat high up on a tree.

“Oi, why are you so high up, Dreams?” Tommy called up to him, “Weren’t you scared of heights?”

Dream cackled as Tommy stepped onto a fragile branch, making him lose his balance.

“I heard that! I’ll fucking get you!”

“Yeah, if you can- you can’t even get up here!”)

Tommy just liked climbing trees, maybe. Especially after he learned how not to fall.

He was just very, very pissed and had to calm down somewhere, so he just ran away.

(“Tommy?”

Tommy grumbled at him.

“Oh, are you okay?”

He glared at the taller.

“Well, if you’re up to it we can go and run together, that helps me calm down.”

He hesitated, then sighed and raised a hand so the other could help him up.

They got lost.)

Maybe forests were nice because they felt excluded. Away from everything else.

Not in the way exile felt, by the way. There was a difference between being excluded and being left alone.

Sometimes, he found himself missing exile. Logstedshire was so much simpler, he could build, say, do whatever he wanted and the most he’d get as a punishment was his name being called in the early morning when Dream woke up and found another… inappropriate build in front of his door.

(It was funny. Plus, if Dream wasn’t too occupied or tired, he’d do something back.

Turns out chickens are very hard to herd out of houses.)

Everyone kept insisting it was manipulation, that Dream made him believe it was friendship. Tommy was sick of it.

(Sam had a noticeable difference in his eyes when he looked at Dream than when he looked at Tommy.

One was pity, sympathy, maybe even compassion, and the other was unfiltered disgust.)

It hurt to be forced to say someone whom you trusted was actually horrible to you.

Never did Tommy think therapy would make it worse.

He thought for a moment, before standing up to return to the community house.

(Maybe murder Sam along the way. Life’s full of surprises.)

///

George sat in the middle of a flower field.

“So, like, I don’t know what to do with that now. I know that you’re, what, his guardian, so why didn’t you just… save him from death?”

He felt a deep sense of… something like a mixture of hopeless, sad and longing.

“That doesn’t help me very much, you know. I know you can’t talk, but can’t you just… um, write? Or… have you ever learned sign?”

Denial. Of course.

“Dream told us you couldn’t talk because you’re, uh, power as a person? But that makes… well, it makes very little sense. He also said you were involuntary. Power can’t just disobey. That isn’t how that works.”

“Oh, you can send your ‘protection’” he made air quotes, “my way all you want, but it still doesn’t explain it. Like you’re… okay, so you’re a god,”

Neutral.

“Sorry, a deity, but Dream’s not, so I don’t really see the connection here.”

He placed another flower crown, made of cornflowers, onto their head.

///

“Prison records are confidential. Nobody c-“

“Sam, someone died, and you literally didn’t know! Protocol is thrown out the window when it comes to lives! I may not have liked him, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to have his killer punished!” Puffy argued.

“He died alone, in his cell, I don’t know what to tell you,” Sam fought back. They’d been arguing for some time now, Sam refusing to budge while Puffy was getting increasingly desperate.

Most of the server members had left by now, leaving Techno, who held Dream defensively, Puffy and Sam, who were almost at each other’s throats, and a couple others who were either still processing or were observing the fight.

The argument was interrupted by someone entering the room, searching for Techno and Dream. When he found them, he practically pulled them outside.

“Heh?” Techno oh so eloquently questioned. Tommy turned to them both, smiling as Dream chirped down at him.

“We still have to visit Schlatt, right?” he started walking backwards before turning and continuing, not bothering to wait for the other two.

While walking, Dream kept glancing around at the buildings which stood around the Prime Path. He seemed to have forgotten almost everything, or only had memories of an earlier version of their home.

They turned towards L’Manburg, where Tommy saw the large obsidian grid floating above. He shakily exhaled.

He knew Dream had practically been running on instinct at the end, a cornered animal trying to gain back control. Tommy had just never expected his last instinct to be fight.

After the last time it had been blown up nobody had wanted to rebuild it, as they all had bad memories tied to the land.

(They called Dream a monster when Wilbur and Schlatt existed?)

They stepped off the path, making their way to the huge crater which stood where L’Manburg had been built before. The crater had been left alone, aside from some red vines snaking along the bottom.

Tommy tugged on Dream’s sleeve, catching his attention, “Be careful around the vines, they won’t hurt but they’re just fuckin’ annoying. Just kinda-“ He saw a vine a meter or two from his feet, so he walked over and smacked it lightly, “Bap it and it’ll leave you alone,” he continued as the vine recoiled.

Techno walked ahead, before throwing a bucket of water on the ground. It flowed down, creating a small waterfall to bedrock level, “Dream, you can just like… float down, or whatever.”

The ghost chirped once, before hopping down to land on the rock and proceeding to scale the walls.

“He’s scared of heights, what were you expecting?” Tommy scoffed light-heartedly before following Techno as he jumped into the water and started swimming down. When they both stood on solid ground once again, Tommy searched for Dream and saw him already sat on a stone ledge, staring down at them. He waved before joining them on the ground.

“Ghostbur said he lives a couple layers above bedrock, in a cave hidden by the red vines,” Techno stepped over a vine, hitting one when it tried to cover his shoe. Tommy reached for Dream, holding his hand as they climbed through the jungle which had been created by the Egg.

Dream then chirred loudly, pointing to a spot entirely covered in vines. Tommy turned to him, before calling out to Techno.

Techno climbed under some vines, taking out his sword to slash through the blockage. Light shone through the slash, where Tommy started hitting around until they could all fit through the hole.

Tommy stumbled through the vines, before he was offered a gray hand. When he looked up, the smiling face of Ghostbur was looking down at him.

“Hey! You arrived!” he pulled Tommy up, then let go of his hand. Dream walked over, taking his hand instead and looking around the cave they’d entered.

“So, there you are,” a voice approached from behind the corner, carrying with it a tired looking Schlatt, who held a bottle of something in one hand, a playing card in the other. He seemed to be more like to Ghostbur than Dream in terms of appearance, with grey skin and black eyes.

He looked over the group, before humming, “Yeah, thought I’d see you here. One moment,” and with that he left again.

“How the fuck did none of us know he was here?” Tommy turned to Ghostbur, making a pathetic attempt at lowering his voice, “And how the fuck did you find him?”

Ghostbur leaned in, also not lowering his voice by much, “Schlatt told me in the afterlife! He’s the only one who can travel between the two! And as for the rest of you, nobody ever asked, so I never said anything!”

“You do realise I can hear you, right?” Techno said. Both turned to him, just as Schlatt returned with someone following after him. Immediately Dream ran toward the figure, hugging them close.

“Oh, hey XD,” Tommy greeted, nodding at them. XD looked up from Dream, facing Tommy for a moment before looking down again and wrapping their own arms around him.

“Ah, you’ve met ‘em?” Schlatt drawled, “That’s DreamXD, they’re some kind of deity or whatnot.”

Dream then turned away, then twisting his head up and chirping at XD.

(It’s not cute, they didn’t all smile, it wasn’t cute.)

Tommy turned to Techno, “XD is Dream’s guardian. They took over most of the server responsibilities though.”

“Why’s he need a guardian?”

“…Stuff that’s happened.”

Schlatt walked closer to Dream, whom XD let go of, but hesitated.

“Dream didn’t actually fully die.”

Tommy took a step closer, not trusting Schlatt near his Dream, “What do you mean?”

Schlatt turned away from the pair, “Oh god, kid was doing horrible! XD took mercy on him by killing him! He was in that prison, right?”

Tommy looked to Techno, then back, “Yes?”

“Then Sam’s a piece of shit because he was begging for death. That’s why he looks different, he isn’t really dead, more so like… a constant state of dying? This guy,” Schlatt pointed his thumb at XD, “Doesn’t talk, so I don’t really get it either. Before even thinking of reviving him, you should make sure why he was doing so badly. Just so it doesn’t happen again.”

Tommy looked over at Dream. No wonder Sam refused to give prison records if it was that bad.

“Do you know what killed him?” he asked.

“Blood loss, or starvation. Although he had many injuries.”

XD looked up, before the whole room had a strong feeling of despair wash over them.

“Heh?” Techno questioned, confused.

Tommy bit his lip, “XD communicates with emotions. Not words. And I’m guessing that means Dreams was really, really unwell.”

Techno looked to Schlatt in question, who nodded, “They’ve been really fuckin’ sad over this, never thought gods could cry.”

Dream, who had by now escaped from XD’s grip and had sat on the floor along with Ghostbur and was playing with him, looked up at this. He seemed kind of sad as well.

Ghostbur then took Dream’s hand, holding it under his own which was held as a fist. He then opened it, causing some of his blue powder to fall out. Something cold flashed in Dream’s eyes, before he smiled slightly. Ghostbur clapped, and then stood up, “So, what would we need for a revival?”

“XD, some things that he had a strong connection to, and him, of course,” Schlatt explained.

Techno interrupted, “Wasn’t there some revive book or whatever?”

“Well that was just to summon XD, not to revive anyone,” Tommy continued, “And I think there are still some things in Logstedshire, I could get those.”

Techno nodded, Schlatt coughing once before silently apologising.

“You’re not going alone though, are you?” Techno faced the younger, “That place could be dangerous.”

Tommy shook his head, “I’ll find someone.”

Dream stood up, pulling Ghostbur to the wall where vines had once again covered their entrance. Tommy took that as a sign that they should start leaving.

“So, uh, we’ll be on our way!” he chuckled nervously, “I’ll get those things and then come back, I guess.” he stepped backwards a couple times, before turning around to slash at the vines.

Techno waved briefly, before joining the rest of the group and leaving the cave.

///

Tommy picked up a flower.

He was stood still on the Prime Path. A gentle breeze flowed through the air, fluffy white clouds drifting through his vision. The world was calm, as opposed to Tommy.

Tommy was debating with himself, his rationale fighting with his emotion.

He’d expected the prison to be bad. Had expected it to be worse when Sam hadn’t let them see the records.

Dream had wanted to die.

Dream would rather have died than kept living.

It didn’t matter whether he had died, because he had wanted to.

(“Dreams?”

“Yeah?”

“Does it really hurt this much to be alone?”

“…I guess it does, Toms. I guess it does.”)

He’d been so, so committed to surviving, even on the bad days where the only thing keeping him going was the next sunset, and the next sunrise.

(“…Maybe I just got used to it, somewhere along the way.”

“Wait, why?”

“Tommy, do you know why I don’t tell anyone that I’m a hybrid?”

“…No? Why?”

…

“Only if you want to, though.”)

Tommy was broken out of his thoughts by a set, no, two sets of steps along the path, one heavier than the other.

He dropped the flower, watching it fall before turning around to see whomever it could be.

In front of him, now stopped and stood still, were Sapnap and George.

(“I want to, it’s just… I’ve never really… told anyone. Honestly, I think XD took some of my memories. I can’t remember it fully.”

“So, Sap and George don’t know? About any of this?”

“No, they just know about XD, but not why he exists.”

…

“I didn’t trust them enough then and they don’t trust me enough now.”)

“Tommy?” George cautiously greeted. Sapnap simply waved.

The teen stared at them blankly, “Hello.”

Sapnap raised his eyebrows, “Woah, you’re cranky!”

Tommy rolled his eyes and sighed. “Yeah, my friend died. Not exactly happy about it, to be honest.”

Rubbing at his eyes, George answers, “Makes sense.”

“Are you two not, like, upset? Even a little? You’ve known him for longer than me, why are you not reacting like it?” Tommy raised his voice a little, taking a step closer. Both Sap and George stood their ground.

“He hasn’t been our friend for a while, sure we’re sad, bu-“

“You’re not.”

The pair looked taken aback, “What?” Sap asked.

Tommy turned his gaze away, “You’re sadder when your pet dies than when your- I don’t care whether he’s a friend or not, he’s a person. You all seemed to forget it, but I’ll be there to remind you. Dream’s a person.”

(“It was… They, uh, I was taken. When I was young. Like… Really young”

“Anyway, they took me, and then trapped me somewhere. I wasn’t a person to them. Hell, I wasn’t even an animal.”

“To them, I was a fucking object. An item for their benefit.”)

“We didn’t… He didn’t trust us either, I think.”

And at that, Tommy had to scoff.

“What do you mean, didn’t trust you?”

George scoffed back at him, “He’s a hybrid. Why didn’t he tell us before?”

(“They’d… They had… God, there were so many of us there. It was a big basement, full of cages. We were all sick, and injured, and nobody would help us, because helping us would get you killed.”

“All of us were hybrids. Every one of us, Tommy… Some of us were barely old enough to be considered children.”

"There were children there, with holes in their heads, with torn out bones, with… with missing teeth, or eyes, or ears, or limbs, simply because regen pots no longer had any effect.”

“We had a rule. If anyone got a weapon, you didn’t kill guards. You killed children, because they didn’t deserve it. Nobody did, but especially not them.”)

“Because he was hurt! He was traumatised, he didn’t- Have you ever seen his scars? The real ones? He learned to fucking shapeshift so he could hide them! He was basically tortured because he was a hybrid, no wonder he didn’t tell you, he thought you’d kill him!”

(“They’d take us out, put us on a- a fucking- I’m sorry, I-“

“They’d put us on leashes, take us to these- these white rooms, they smelled so strongly of blood it was horrible, and they’d…”

“They called it harvesting. They’d take bits of us, treat them as if they were gold while we were half dead. They’d give us some kind of regen, and then just- throw us back. Hope we healed enough.”)

George and Sapnap both stayed silent.

“So don’t say that he didn’t trust you, because he did. He trusted you enough to not hurt him, to not poison his food, to not fucking sell him, and that was hard enough. He trusted you, before you both ruined it.”

///

Tommy had his arms wrapped tight around Dream, who was silently crying.

“Some of us were trained, some were harvested, some were… some were both. They’d hit us, with these- these metal sticks, and they were so cold they burned skin, anytime we didn’t do what they wanted us to do. We were… we were trained to be guard dogs, basically.”

He let out a hollow chuckle, staring straight into the fire, “Better than a thing, I guess.”

“Sometimes they beat us for fun, I think. It was random, but their favourites were the ones who would last the longest. I had… I had so many bruises they had to give me stronger regen potions. I still make the stronger ones, though. Weak ones still do almost nothing.”

“I know they did more. I know it happened to me as well. XD must’ve taken those memories though.”

“Fuck, we weren’t-“ he choked on another sob, “We weren’t fed until we cried from hunger. All we’d get was some… some bread, or maybe a carrot. Nothing good.”

“I was there for… I don’t even know, exactly. Maybe, human years… forty? Fifty? It was… It was- was so bad, I- I thought I’d die any moment. Eventually XD formed, and they- they helped me out, but they were weak, so that was all we could do.”

“I just- I still feel guilty, you know. Maybe they’re still in that basement, still hurting, and I’m out, alive. It hurts.”

Tommy placed Dream a little lower so he could place his head on the hybrid’s shoulder.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty. I know you do, but… you couldn’t have helped. Just you getting out was a miracle, and I- Fuck, I’m sorry you ever had to go through that. I- I’ll never know how it felt, but I can do my best to support you, okay? I’ll do my best, Dreams. I promise.”

“For- Forever?”

“As long as we’re alive.”

Chapter Text

George stepped out of the portal, feeling wood under his hand and turning to see an oak sign on the frame.

“Where are we exactly?” he questioned, turning to Tommy. The teen shrugged.

“Read the sign, dumbass. Logstedshire.”

George didn’t say anything else, so Tommy continued walking. There was the occasional shrub that had grown on the trampled grass path, but otherwise Logstedshire looked the same as the day Tommy was invited back onto the main island.

He walked along the path, smiling fondly at the houses in a different direction than they were heading.

“Okay, wait, who else lived here?” George asked. Tommy sighed, almost exasperated.

(George had barely been awake when they’d left, how was he this energetic now?)

“Me and Dream, plus some animals. Can’t believe none of you noticed he wasn’t even home anymore,” he explained, making air quotes around the word ‘home’.

The older scoffed, “Yeah, he dethroned me, and then started avoiding us. We barely knew where his house was.”

“He avoided you because he was living with me.”

George went to reply, before noticing they were no longer walking along a path, rather through almost ankle-height grass.

“Where are we going, Tommy?” he nervously laughed. Yet, even if there were no hints of walked trails in the grass, Tommy seemed to know exactly where they were going, and as such didn’t answer him.

As he followed, George kept seeing small hints of life around him, like a couple of chopped trees, a hut he assumed to be an unfinished house hidden in a forest, some rocks, which now that he really searched for direction, Tommy seemed to turn at.

And eventually, they did get somewhere.

In front of the pair stood an opening to a cave, and as far as George could see, it seemed to stretch for quite a while.

“You can come in, but there’s a point I’ll have to ask you to stop, so Gogy, would you rather look sad and lonely outside or lost and confused inside?” Tommy moved a small bush which stood in his way, stepping inside. George, without answer, followed him.

The cave had blue torches lining the walls, along some redstone torches covered by small patches of moss. The place was obviously well kept and cared for. As they got deeper, the usual stone was slowly replaced by deepslate, along with some glow lichen hanging across the ceiling. Tommy stretched his hand to the ceiling, picking some glow berries from the less vibrant vines.

They only stopped when George could already see small shards of bedrock sticking out of the walls. One wall was almost entirely covered by vines and lichen, although George could see a large space through the small holes in the curtain. Tommy turned to him.

///

“Okay, so, this is basically Dream’s own space, and since I know he still came here even after we moved out, I’ve kept it a secret. And if you dare tell anyone, I’ll have your head, alright?” Tommy explained. George nodded, glancing away and back again, “And, because you two aren’t friends anymore,” George winced at that, “I don’t want to let you in without his permission. So you’ll stay outside.”

George looked around once, “What do I do?”

“I don’t know man, eat some berries? Be colourblind? Figure it out,” he shooed George, and when the older had turned away, he brushed the plants from his way.

The larger room, a cave they’d carved together, had plants running along the walls along with some pieces of furniture. In one corner was a small padded wooden box, about the height of an average sandbox, piled with blankets and pillows. In another were a couple cupboards with various foods inside. There was a small pet bed, which saddened Tommy slightly to look at.

However, most impressive was the hole in the middle of the room, covered by a layer of heavily reinforced glass, leading straight to the void.

(“Wait holy shit, what are you doing?”

“Remov- Oh, that- Yeah, I can do that. Takes quite a bit of effort, though.”

“But that’s- Wh- Well, why are you doing that then?”

“The void helps me, I guess. It’s nice, reminds me of my family.”

“…I- Uh um, anyways…”)

The room was generally quite dark, with the only lights being the plants and some glowstone powder smeared on the walls, although there were some candles somewhere as well. They’d often spend the bad days here, which was also partially the reason the cave was created, the other reason being, well, it was kind of cool, wasn’t it?

He moved to the cupboards, opening a specific one and searching at the back of it. His fingers brushed against a small lever, so he flicked it. He then heard pistons firing, and turned to the other side of the room where a door had opened up.

The door blended in perfectly with the wall, which had helped them hide a couple things of value in the small crevice. Tommy pulled out a small cat plushie.

(“Where’d you get this from?”

“Oh, um… A villager, when I was wandering with XD. She felt bad for me, so she gave him to me. I’ve kept him ever since.”)

He placed it gently on the ground, before reaching in and fishing out another item, this time a worn, dark green cloak.

(“When we… When we escaped, XD gave it to me because I was really cold. It’s actually infused with magic, so it gets warm when you wrap it around yourself.”)

There was another plushie, a small moth.

(“Hey, Dreams?”

“Hm?”

“I got you this, his name’s uh… His name’s Clementine, I don’t really… Have plushies anymore, but I want you to take care of him. I think you’ll find him more use now than me…”

“Oh, um, thank you, Toms. I’ll do my best.”)

And finally, the heaviest was a wooden box, which even Tommy didn’t know the contents of.

(“Fuck, this thing’s dusty, where do you even hold these things?”

“A small pocket dimension. Don’t open it, it’s… it’s something kind of important.”)

The four things were kept in there out of Dream’s own paranoia, although Tommy was now kind of thankful, since he could easily find them all without having to trudge through Dream’s house in Logstedshire.

(Ever seen that man’s bedroom? It’s a mess. Tommy sometimes wondered how he managed to find anything)

He picked up all four items, before turning to leave. He noticed a backpack though, and placed everything inside, taking it and carrying it out of the cave.

He placed the plants back over the entrance, turning around to see George sat on a small ledge, eating some berries he had in his palm. He hadn’t noticed Tommy yet.

“HEY, GOGY!” Tommy yelled at the top of his lungs, watching as George jumped, almost falling off. Some smaller roots in the walls lit up with the noise.

“Don’t do that!” he yelled back, albeit quieter. He then hopped off the rock, dusting himself off, “Did you get what you needed?”

While he started to climb to the surface again, he answered, “Yeah, yeah, I have everything. Now, we have to get back, before they die or whatever.”

///

George had had a simple life.

As an admin, he’d learned how to use his powers before helping on the server he’d been born on. He hadn’t travelled, content on his own world.

Somewhere along the way, he’d met Sapnap, the son of the server owner. While he wasn’t an admin himself, he liked following George around as he did simple maintenance tasks. He’d ask questions about the various communicator screens George kept glancing around at, about the slight buzz in the air when he did ‘nerd stuff’. George would answer to keep the child happy, and they’d be on their way.

Over time though, George would ask about Sap’s day, about the places he visited when he wasn’t following the admin around like a lost puppy.

From this he learned Sapnap was half-demon, able to light stuff on fire. He tended to get into trouble for it though, when players would complain about burning houses with a signature panda pawprint branded onto the remains.

(How he didn’t think to just… Not sign it, George still didn’t know.)

George even got to meet the server owner, Bad, for non-business related tasks, and realised that the man was a very nice person, on occasion joining them when they ran through forests as they played tag.

When both boys had grown up, they stopped meeting up as much as their work, George as a helpful admin and Sapnap as a general helper and respected community member, however made sure to still keep in contact. Yet on one of their designated ‘meetup days’ Sap didn’t show up.

You whisper to Sapnap: yo where are you?

You whisper to Sapnap: are you actually late

You whisper to Sapnap: again

As George sat, drinking from his cup of apple juice, his communicator dinged again.

Sapnap whispers to you: dad has some stuff he wants me to do

Sapnap whispers to you: apparently they found some dying person

Sapnap whispers to you: im sorry he wouldnt let me leave

You whisper to Sapnap: can i come to you

Sapnap whispers to you: uh sure, forest south of spawn at the base of that one cliff

You whisper to Sapnap: ill be there

///

Sitting in the community house was, surprise surprise, extremely boring.

While Techno did have a book he’d brought with him, having to sit inside and basically babysit wasn’t fun.

People feared him, kept their heads low when he passed, told stories of how the oracle would cut through whole armies without flinching. Apparently, Tommy had never heard these stories.

Most insulting of all, Dream was asleep. What mayhem could he cause?

He only glanced up when his ear flicked, picking up footsteps on the central staircase. The steps neared before the door to their room opened. Outside stood Sapnap, conflicted look on his face.

“Hullo, what brings you to the daycare?” Techno drawled, now looking up from his book. He closed it, placing it onto the bedside table.

Sapnap glanced away, “Uh, just… was wondering what you all knew about Dream, before and after death.”

At Techno’s confused eyes, he continued, “Cause like, we’re not- We’re not mad that he didn’t tell us, but… If he hid something from us, I wondered if he had hid something else? I don’t want to be intrusive so if that’s not okay I can leave but-“

Techno held up a hand, making Sapnap stop, and invited him into the room. Sapnap sat down on the floor, opposite to Techno.

“If you want to know anything about him, you’ll have to ask Tommy. I only know what he’s told me, and he’s still secretive.”

Sapnap hummed, and both hybrids sat in an awkward silence.

“You know, Dream would tell us stories of you both sometimes,” Techno started, “He seemed to care a lot about you.”

Sapnap looked to the bed. Dream was still asleep.

“I believe that.”

///

Sapnap had been called to dad’s meeting room, one of his least favourite places in the building.

The meetings were always about something really boring, like profits or new staff or some new minigame. Mostly business stuff. At least the staff weren’t those polite assholes who would sometimes visit, who would only talk in overly polite terms.

However, he knew this meeting would be different when an admin, one he didn’t know the name of, cleared their throat and stated, “We believe we’ve found a young hybrid, he appears to be injured.”

Dad had gotten that look on his face that Sapnap hated, because it was absolute concern and worry. It made him a bit sad.

“Do we know where he comes from, why he’s here, anything?” he asked.

The admin shook their head, “No, but we don’t think he knows where he is. He won’t talk to us.”

Taking his communicator out of his pocket, he clicked one of the small buttons which Sap knew only admins had, and quickly read the air above his arm. Clearly whatever he’d read wasn’t good as he furrowed his eyebrows, “Take us there, we could establish some form of camp. See if we could help him.”

Another nameless admin (you’d be surprised at how little Sap knew about the staff, considering his family.) then sent a message on their communicator. Dad clapped his hands.

“Okay, well, send me the coordinates and I’ll be there!” His voice was a little shakier than before.

The people in the room started to leave to continue their duties, although it was quite late so they could’ve been going home.

Sapnap left the room, seeing the coordinates sent by a staff member forwarded by dad, followed by ‘come if you want to, id like to have you there though :(‘

While he noted the coordinates down, he received a message. Checking it, he found George’s slightly annoyed question. He shot back a reply, already walking to the location.

When he eventually arrived at the small campsite (more like three tents.) he found dad talking with another admin. They both seemed disgruntled.

Looking to the cliffside, he found a lantern near a small hole in the stone. He saw green cloth peeking through. Although when he tried to step closer, someone came and stopped him, muttering something about a deity.

Waiting for George, Sapnap sat on the grass.

///

Tommy opened the door to their room, setting down the bag by the door before looking at Techno, sat reading in his chair. The teen cleared his throat, “Hello?”

“Welcome,” the hybrid muttered without pausing his reading. Tommy merely sighed and sat down on the armrest of Techno’s chair, to which the latter looked up and continued, “Sapnap was here before.”

“Wh- Why?” Tommy sputtered. Of all people, why him?

(“Dreams, please, please, don’t do that…”

Dream turned in Tommy’s arms, “Why?” he asked after a few seconds of no sound other than lava and faint machinery.

“I want you to survive, when we get you out-“

“I’m not.”

“You- What?”

Dream turned back to the lava.

“Getting out. You will, I won’t.”)

Techno huffed, “Something about wanting to know if there was anything else Dream was keeping from them,” at Tommy’s accusatory glance he continued, “Very polite about it, of course.”

“And what did you tell him?” Tommy asked, glancing to the ghost in the bed. Dream was, surprisingly, somehow still asleep. Very contradictory of his ‘I don’t sleep’ he’d told Tommy.

(Nightmares. He didn’t sleep because he couldn’t.)

“Told him to talk to you. I’m not a dictionary.”

Tommy grumbled under his breath, “Don’t want to talk to him.”

Techno didn’t answer, shrugging and continuing to read his book.

///

George had, at first, been confused by the sight he was met with.

The camp had been small, with a few workers building tents and securing food. However, there had been a part of the area which was left empty.

“Hey, Sap?” he had leaned closer to his friend, who in response hummed.

“What’s over there?” he pointed to the cliffside. Sap followed his hand, before looking to George.

“That’s the hybrid I told you about. Dad told me there’s also some kind of, like, guardian? Nobody’s allowed near, though.”

George hummed, ending their conversation.

“What if I tried?” he blurted out.

Sapnap stared at him, confused, “What? No.”

“But like, I’m an admin and like a- I don’t know, tree talker or something, maybe they’ll like me more.”

Sapnap raised his eyebrows, “Try it. See if you could even get close.”

George then smiled, starting to walk closer. He could faintly hear Sap say “No- That’s- That wasn’t a challenge, dude…” but continued nonetheless. He crouched down, squatting in front of the crevice. The hole was very small as far as George could see, which admittedly wasn’t much, because the deity appeared in front of him to block him from seeing whatever was inside.

The deity looked… odd. While he knew deities of any form looked odd, he hadn’t actually seen many himself.

The deity wore a cloak, which was tied in the front but somehow still covered most of their body. Their limbs didn’t seem to connect to their body, floating vaguely where they should have been. He could see a pair of wings, although guessed there were more by the extra feathers poking out from behind.

The weirdest part must have been the lack of any kind of face on the deity’s head, which was merely a blank, white sphere. It, like the limbs, didn’t connect to the rest of the body either.

When he continued to sit, he could suddenly feel an intense feeling of distress, something similar to what he imagined scared animals felt when they lashed out. However, instead of leaving, he raised both arms, showing he had no weapons on him. While the want to run didn’t disappear, it did lessen somewhat.

“Hello, my name is George, may I know yours?” He asked, making sure to keep his voice low. He lowered his hands once again, yet didn’t receive a response, so he continued, “Can you talk?”

When they once again didn’t answer, George accepted that as proof that they either couldn’t, or wouldn’t talk, at least now.

“Regardless, I would like to help. You seem to have an injured person behind you, and we thought we might be able to help them. So could I please see them?”

Some form of either protective or the same distress from earlier, and George thought for a moment, before asking, “You can only talk with feelings, right?”

The deity responded with a very weak happiness. George took that as a yes.

“Well, while I would like to respect you, I do think letting someone see the person might be better. I could do it, if you would be okay with that?”

In the background, George picked up on Sapnap’s voice arguing with someone else.

The deity seemed to think for a moment, before George felt hesitant rejection. He nodded, shuffling further from the deity, “Okay, I won’t come closer. Just know we’re here to help, okay?” he then stood up, walking away.

When he came back to Sapnap, his friend was also joined by Bad along with a couple other staff members.

“Dude, what was that?” Sapnap shouted, before apologising when a staff member winced at the volume.

“They’re a protective deity, can’t talk. Only emotions, or something like that,” George recounted, “We learnt about this, come on.”

While George headed towards… a vague direction, Sapnap and Bad shared a glance.

///

Despite it now being night time, Techno was still reading when Dream finally woke up.

A weak chitter alerted Tommy, who jumped up from his place on the armrest to see the ghost now sitting up in his bed. He was looking around, although he had the familiar glazed look in his eyes, the one Tommy had often seen in the prison.

He slowly approached, “Hey, Dream?”

Despite his calmer tone, Dream still jumped at his voice. His breathing was quicker than usual, the long spikes on his tail flared out and his wings furled at his sides. Tommy took a few steps towards his bed, sitting down on it before glancing over at Techno. While the oracle wasn’t looking at them, he knew he’d noticed. Perhaps Techno was being considerate.

While he’d been looking to Techno, Tommy had stretched out his hand to Dream, waiting for him to take it, as he’d always done when the man had been distressed. When he finally placed his own hand into Tommy’s palm, he pushed himself into Tommy’s side without toppling them over. Tommy placed his other arm on Dream’s back, pulling him even further in. The ghost moved his head onto Tommy’s chest, purring softly.

“Hey, it’s okay, what happened?” Tommy asked. Dream looked up to Tommy and shook his head, chirring. Tommy nodded, “Just comfort?” and Dream nodded, so Tommy shuffled them both backwards on the bed.

“Blade, mind reading to us?” Tommy called, to which Techno finally perked up and nodded.

He cleared his throat, “The grass was golden green when she looked out…”

///

It had now been multiple years since the day they’d first met Dream.

The man sat on the grass, braiding dandelions into a crown. His deity, XD, sat behind him, floating above the ground and watching the trio as they talked.

While Dream had never told George or Sapnap about his past, and they never asked, he had told them XD was a protector, and that he basically couldn’t get rid of them. Neither of them had had a problem with it, not mentioning the deity whenever the trio went anywhere and they would follow.

Although it was nice to have someone who assured safety for them in case they were in deathly danger. Dream had already confessed that he cared about the two enough for XD to consider them necessary of protection.

Dream leaned back as the conversation lulled, “Hey,” he coughed to clear his throat, “Hey XD, can you get me more dandelions?”

XD looked down, now visible by the poorly drawn face on the sphere Dream had done with a marker, then floated over to another yellow patch in the grass to collect the flowers. Dream giggled, “Like a parent.”

“We have to stand up to get things, you just have a servant!” Sapnap complained, leaning back. He raised a hand to his head, making sure the flower crown already sat on his head didn’t fall off.

“Hey, I have them, I use them.” Dream argued back. XD returned, and Dream took the bunch of flowers, thanking the deity quietly. He continued braiding his crown.

George pulled a red mushroom out of his hair, grimacing at it, “I’m sick of these mushrooms, where are they coming from?”

“Nature’s calling you a cow.”

“DREAM!” He threw the mushroom at the man, who dodged it and started wheezing.

///

Tommy awoke, rubbing at his eyes before stretching and yawning. He gently shook his shoulder, waking the still purring ghost.

Techno sat on his bed, which they had moved in previously. He was cleaning his sword. “Good morning, Techno,” Tommy murmured.

Techno leaned his sword on his bed, standing up and grabbing some of the packed sandwiches. He gave them to Tommy, “Eat.”

Tommy unpacked a sandwich, holding it out to Dream, who took it and bit into it. Tommy smiled, taking his own and starting to eat as well.

“So,” Tommy swallowed his food, “Are we going to Schlatt’s today?”

Techno was again sat on his bed, cleaning, “I think so. What else would we do, Tommy?”

“I don’t know, fuck Sam’s life up?”

“I’ll do that anyway, that’s a side project, no need to take time for it.”

Tommy hummed, continuing to eat his sandwich.

When Dream finished, he chirped quietly. Tommy looked to him, finding the ghost now alert. He messed with Dream’s hair, to which the ghost purred. He then shuffled off the bed, but failed and fell onto the ground. Tommy heard an annoyed chitter.

“Good job idiot!” he called, which earned another, louder chitter. He laughed.

Dream stood up, shuffling his wings slightly. He sent a glare to Tommy, the two holding eye contact before Dream walked out of the door and he could faintly be heard walking downstairs. Tommy saw out the window as he slowly went to the grass and laid himself down.

///

Dream had only been dead for nine full days when Tommy found himself on the path to get him revived again.

Techno was muttering something to his voices under his breath, Dream was collecting flowers and Tommy was looking to the two coming up to them, adjusting the straps on his bag. In front of them, Antfrost and Bad were talking in hushed tones, carrying their swords at their side.

Tommy shook Techno’s arm, “Hey, the Egg people are there.”

Techno then looked up again, flicking his own sword out as well. Tommy grabbed Dream’s hand, pulling him closer and shushing him with a finger at the ghost’s lips.

“Hey, bitch!” Tommy called. The two’s heads shot to him, and they started walking quicker. Tommy could still hear Bad ‘language’ him.

“Hello Badboyhalo, what brings you here?” Techno asked. Bad smiled down at them.

“Just wandering! Per chance, would you like to come visit the Egg?” The demon responded.

Tommy laughed awkwardly, “Uh, no thanks? We will just,” He took a step back, trying to look around Antfrost, “Be on our way?”

“But-“ Bad took Tommy’s hand, which the teen pulled away roughly, scowling, “But you haven’t seen it yet! Come on!”

Techno placed his sword in front of Antfrost when he approached, making the cat take a step back. He nodded subtly at Tommy.

Dream chirped when Tommy suddenly started running. They went off the path, running towards the fenced area of Tommy’s old base, fighting off the small vines they accidentally stepped on. Tommy looked back as he heard Techno monologuing while swords clashed. Bad still ran after them.

Dream chirred loudly, and before Tommy could answer they had appeared in Schlatt’s cave, with XD already at Dream’s side checking him for injuries. Tommy could feel himself becoming extremely protective, so he guessed Dream had called for XD.

Hurried footsteps echoed through before Schlatt appeared, panting. He rested his hands on his knees, “Where,” He then looked up, spotting the three on the floor, “Did Dream call for them?” He pointed a hand at the ghost, still out of breath.

“Seems so, thanks for saving me as well by the way, XD,” Tommy looked to the deity, who had now stood up, determining their protected to be okay. They nodded.

Dream tugged at Tommy’s sleeve, squishing his own nose with a finger, before pointing outside, or at least where it would have been.

“I think the kid’s asking about Techno,” Schlatt coughed out, now standing upright. Tommy snorted.

“He’ll be fine, he’s the Blade, man!”

“Even against the red lunatics?”

“Of course! Anyway, uh, about the revival?”

Tommy pulled the bag off his shoulders, offering it up to Schlatt before standing up and pulling Dream with him, “These should work, they’re all attachments.”

Schlatt held the backpack for a moment, “Oh yeah, these will work. Let’s just go to an actual room for this.”

He kept hold on the bag, leading them down into a larger space, fitted with a couple shelves and a carpet, similar to the rest of the cave but even more barren. A soul torch sat on the wall.

XD walked in and covered the torch, then showing it to have brightened. Dream walked close to the deity, cupping his hands and producing a light he ‘placed’ onto his head, smiling. Tommy smiled as well, before refocusing on Schlatt. The latter clapped his hands, “Well, if you’re ready, we could start now?”

Tommy looked to the ghost, stepping closer to the now sitting man. He smiled, “Hey buddy, you ready to come back to life?” Dream chirped at him, nodding, “Okay, well then I guess we’ll do it now,” Tommy ruffled the hybrid’s hair, smiling and taking a step back to face Schlatt.

Schlatt nodded to XD, handing the bag of items to them. He then led Tommy out of the room and closed the door.

(Was there a door before?)

“He might be wounded when he comes back, but I’m sure XD will at least keep him alive,” Schlatt sighed.

“… Look, I might not know how he died, but from all I know he didn’t deserve his punishment, so… Defend him, I guess,” He awkwardly rambled

“What I was planning to do,” Tommy shrugged.

They waited in silence, awkwardly standing near the door as if in line. Tommy perked up when he heard something similar to wind coming from the room.

He threw open the door when he heard familiar screaming from the room.

Dream, alive but definitely not doing well, was huddled into a corner, shaking hand pointing a bloody stone sword at XD, teary eyes flicking between the door and the deity.

Tommy wanted to cry.

Chapter Text

Tommy took a shaky step closer, aiming to take another but stopping when Dream whined. He immediately went back, whispering a request to the person behind him. He heard footsteps leaving the room, before they came back and a potion was handed to him. He flicked it into his inventory.

“Dream?” he asked. The man in question looked at him straight on, and Tommy could see the smallest look of recognition pass in his eyes before it vanished once again.

“People tend to not react the best when they’re revived. You have to use the potion,” The person behind him, Tommy recognised him as Schlatt, muttered. Tommy flicked the potion out again, eyeing the dark gray potion. He looked at Dream, still wielding the sword but lower and shakier, before relenting and throwing it as close as he could without getting the glass in his skin.

The moment the bottle broke, splatters falling onto Dream’s skin, he stopped holding the sword before falling limp on his side.

“Why’d he react that badly?” Tommy turned around, facing Schlatt.

The man shrugs, “For about a week after revival, people will act odd. Something to do with… the ghost, I think?” he answered, “I’ve read a couple books on it.”

Tommy nodded, once again facing Dream. He walked over, crouching to pick him up, before-

“Will this knock me out?” Tommy pointed to the dark liquid, which had created stains on the clothes Dream was wearing. Even once potions evaporate, stains still had a potential to carry the effect, not to mention the fumes, which Tommy could distinctly smell. While potions had slightly different smells for everyone, to Tommy weakness always smelled like an odd combination of swamp water and milk. Not exactly pleasant.

“Honestly I’m surprised it knocked him out so easily. Unless you start sniffing him, you’ll be fine,” Schlatt responded. Tommy scrunched his nose.

He lowered his arms under Dream, adjusting him until Tommy could pick him up and carry him.

(They had practiced carrying things a lot in Logstedshire. While Dream was definitely stronger, Tommy had actually managed to pick Dream up once.

The man now felt way too light in his arms and way too heavy in his heart.)

They walked out of the revival room, Schlatt having picked up all of their important items while Tommy had been sadly looking at Dream. Most noticeably he had shifted back to human form, but the man also just looked… wrong. He was way too skinny, to the point that the prison uniform, which would’ve been too small for basically anyone above an actual branch, seemed too big on him. The prison uniform, which had been orange with the occasional burn and bloodstain here and there, was now almost fully brown. From the mass amount of tears, Tommy assumed it was blood.

Tommy could only see a segment of a finger missing and the scar on his eye before he decided to no longer study Dream. That would be Phil and Techno’s job, because there was no way he could handle seeing his friend so… dead.

(Wasn’t it funny how the man technically most full of life looked to have none left?)

///

Tommy knew Techno had seen tens, if not hundreds of gruesome wars. The man was practically immune to gore and violence.

When Tommy came out of the room, Techno frowned.

///

Techno led the group through the nether, with Tommy between him and Schlatt, who had followed to talk to them about the ‘strange behaviours’ he’d previously mentioned. XD was on call anyway, since Dream had told them to protect Tommy as well and Tommy had kept well on his promise to only call in emergencies. While Dream was allowed to call on the god for anything, anyone else was faced with disappointment so intense it practically hurt.

In regards to Ghostbur? Well, he’ll be back. That’s all Tommy could say.

The walk wasn’t very interesting. At a couple points Tommy had gently dripped some of an extra weakness potion onto Dream, making sure he wouldn’t wake up before they were home and he had been taken care of.

When they came through the portal, they grabbed the coats from the chest and put them on. Techno offered to carry Dream, since he could use his cape to cover both himself and Dream, thus making him even warmer, but Tommy refused. Even if he was injured, Dream’s preferred-by-nature temperature was lower than a human’s anyway. The temperatures he could endure were very concerning.

(Tommy dragged Dream by the hand back to Logstedshire. Tommy was visibly shivering, while Dream was simply rambling about wanting to go back to the tundra.

“You’ll catch a cold.”

“But-“

“Dream. You are not wearing shoes.”

“I- Oh.”

Tommy groaned in exasperation. Sometimes it really felt like he was the older one between them.)

He looks down again at Dream. It seemed like his hybrid-human switch was stuck halfway, since he could still spot the dark spots on his arms and cheekbones. From what he could see, the netherite arm protectors weren’t on, which was… odd. Why were they off, if Sam had put them on in the first place?

Overall, Dream also just looked… dirty. His skin seemed to be darkened by ash, some spots having the distinct purple corrosion caused by crying obsidian. His hair was matted, stained darker with blood. They would most likely need to clean him before healing anything, since healing and regeneration potions weren’t very good disinfectants. Luckily, Tommy had already helped him wash during the exile, which meant neither Phil nor Techno would have to do it. Tommy knew Dream would never let them wash him, were he completely present.

Every time he looked closer, he could see more injuries.

Tommy couldn’t wait until they found out who had done it, just so he could take a sword and-

“Tommy, you seem angry. What’s the matter?” Techno asked, sarcasm heavy in his voice. He had been checking in with Schlatt, when he saw how Tommy glared at the snow.

“Nothing. Just want to stab a bitch,” Tommy replied, forcing as much cheer into his tone, playing along with Techno’s joke.

“Oh, glad to hear, glad to hear. Hope that goes well for you.”

Tommy nodded, then sighed, getting the potion and dripping some onto Dream when he felt movement.

///

He could see Phil in the distance, standing on the porch. Many crows surrounded him, on both the fence and the floor, making Tommy snort. “Him and his birds,” he mumbled.

When they were near the house, Phil lightly swept his foot through the crows in front of him. When there was a path for him, he ran down the stairs, only stopping briefly when he saw Dream, before running even faster.

“Mate, what the fuck happened to him?” Phil yelled, walking backwards in front of them. His wings were puffed out in agitation.

“Prison happened,” Tommy muttered. They reached the stairs, Phil and Techno rushing inside to prepare their medical supplies and Schlatt helping slightly with not waking Dream up on the steps.

When he stepped in, he saw the two anarchists moving a table into the middle of the room, one they had specifically for treating injuries. Phil grabbed his bag of medicines, laying it down on the end before helping Tommy place Dream onto the table. Tommy also gave him the weakness potion.

Phil moved closer, now holding a wet cloth. He put the cloth with the rest of his supplies, moving to slowly undress Dream. “Tommy, do you want to stay? This might get… pretty bad,” he pointed out.

Tommy thought for a moment, “I’m helping.”

Phil nodded, continuing his work.

“Don’t we need to, uh, bathe him? Before we heal him?” Tommy asked. Phil stopped, taking his hands away. “None of his injuries are too dangerous.”

“That… If he’s not very badly injured, then we should do that first, yeah,” he responded. When Tommy moved closer, he raised a hand, “Are you sure you can do that? Me or Techno could do it.”

Tommy grumbled, “I’m sure. Never been surer. I’ve done this before, don’t worry.”

Phil sighed, moving to pick Dream up while Tommy went and opened the door to the bathroom. He flicked on the redstone lamp, walking over to the bathtub and opening the tap. Cold water came through, before it quickly became warm as the sizzling of magma was heard behind the wall. He turned to see Phil, carrying Dream as he stood by the door. Tommy moved out of the way to let him lay his friend in the tub. The water wasn’t perfectly clear even at first, but it quickly became a lot darker as he soaked. Phil handed him the potion back, however said he had already used it.

Tommy quickly ran out, heading to his bedroom and rummaging in his bag when he found what he had been searching for, a bottle of body wash and another of shampoo. Small flakes of golden apple floated in the warm tinted liquids.

He ran back, showing what he had to Phil, “Dream made these for me, it’s for injuries.” He moved closer to the tub, stopping the water after it was high enough. It was already kind of muddy, even without disturbing it. Tommy turned to Phil, quickly shoving him out the door before slamming it closed and locking it.

///

Tommy carefully rubbed the shampoo into Dream’s hair, mindful of the possible injuries to his head. Even after he had rinsed it several times, the dirt in the hair still made his hands darker. And even when the hair was clean, it was the wrong colour, both from some kind of staining and from the newer hair no longer being a dirty blond, but rather a pale, almost white gray. His hair, which had before been fluffier on the top, reaching to about his eyebrow in the front but kind of short on the sides, had now grown to around his shoulders. About half of it was light.

His body wasn’t much better off, with scars littering almost every centimetre of his skin. Tommy could even see some of the old scars which Dream usually hid, which were mainly focused around his ears and upper back, along with a couple on the lower. None of the injuries seemed to be open, although they all had the distinct look of respawn healing, not dangerous but very easy to hurt again, and probably quite painful. A newer brand sat right below where Tommy knew the old ones were, but it was most likely a coincidence as the old ones were, luckily, not visible.

He took a cup, pouring the water onto the hair to rinse the shampoo out. The hair looked clean enough, and it would most likely need to be cut anyways. At least it was mostly clean.

Tommy stared at a pressure point on Dream’s neck, one which was difficult to hit but would immediately switch his hybrid traits to be visible. He decided not to do it, opting to check them when Dream himself let him.

With his body (mostly) clean, Tommy grabbed the spare clothes they had in a cupboard and put them on Dream before slowly raising him out of the tub. He had stopped using the weakness potion just in case, so there would be less of a chance of his body growing addicted to them while it was weak against the effects.

Carrying his friend, Tommy opened the bathroom door and searched for the rest of his household. He found them in the living room, Techno pacing while Phil sat, pretending to read a book but obviously not paying attention to it at all. The moment he stepped in though, the two looked over before they rushed to look over Dream.

“He’s… he’s fine, respawn healed him enough, but I think there’s a couple burns and his ankle seems weird. Maybe some of them still need to be bandaged, but most injuries just respawn scarred,” Tommy muttered, “He doesn’t have any weakness so be careful.”

Phil led him to lay Dream down on the table they’d prepared, calmed by Tommy’s explanation. Tommy then walked to Techno, pushing the oracle onto the couch, “He’s fine. Sit the fuck down.” Once he’d been sat down, Tommy let himself fall onto Techno’s legs, laying across them, to prevent him from leaving. He knew Phil had it handled.

“So, he hasn’t woken up since, right?” Schlatt, who Tommy had honestly forgotten was even there, asked. Tommy looked to the ghost, who sat on the armchair sideways to the couch.

“Nope.”

Schlatt hummed awkwardly, “Well, I have stuff to say but I’ll… say it when Phil is done.”

“Yeah.”

The trio sat in extremely awkward silence. They occasionally heard Phil shuffle around, but otherwise the house was still until the old man walked in.

“Left Dream on the table, he should wake up soon,” He explained when Tommy looked at him weird. He sat down next to Techno, lifting Tommy’s legs before setting them on his own lap.

Tommy huffed, “Well we’re all here, now talk,” he stared at Schlatt.

Schlatt flicked out a thin book. He handed it to Phil, who didn’t open it.

“Revival is weird.”

Tommy furrowed his eyebrows.

“It, um, when a person dies, it’s not like the ghost returns and the alive one just…” Schlatt made a ‘poof’ sound while gesturing with his hands, “It’s more like the ghost is just split off? So sometimes, the alive person will be there as well.”

Phil glanced down at the book. Tommy could only see some weird lines and dots on the cover, similar to the books on enchanting tables.

“When someone’s revived, it’s just swapped! But they’re not combined again, so memories will be weird and personalities could be weird. And that’s why for about the first… week or so, after revival, the person acts really weird.”

Tommy spun his hand in a ‘go on’ gesture, “Get on with it.”

Schlatt thought for a moment, “It depends on the person, but sometimes it’s like they’re reliving parts of their life. Nobody knows why it happens, but it seems to be for somehow… showing the ghost the memories it doesn’t have? And sometimes, for god knows what reason, they start acting like the ghost again! And it’s fucking weird!”

Tommy froze. Hopefully Dream doesn’t relive prison or… or the other thing.

“And then they just- they just forget everything! And depending on how well that week went, their last memory is either their death or their revival, and it also dictates how much of their memory is lost. It’s a… it’s a complicated system.”

Tommy turned his gaze back to the ceiling.

“Anything else we should know?” Phil spoke up, carefully stroking Tommy’s legs as comfort.

Schlatt was quiet for a moment, “Not really, just be careful not to remind him of his death or the way he died, and be careful about not injuring him. Treat him like you treated the ghost, that was pretty good,” he slowly answered. Tommy sighed in exasperation.

Before they could ask anything else, Schlatt rushed out, “Okay seems XD’s calling me, goodb-“ before the world stuttered and the armchair was empty.

The house was still.

///

It was a while until Dream woke up again.

They’d been drinking tea in the living room, discussing about the situation and how to tell the rest of the server.

(There was an unspoken discussion between the lines about whether they would even tell them.)

Suddenly they’d heard a loud sound, before a quiet cry. Tommy was gone before the others had even processed the sound. When they ran into the kitchen, they saw Dream, with tears in his eyes, sitting on the ground, leaning against Tommy who comfortingly stroked his arm up and down while rocking them both side to side. It seemed like he’d done this many times.

Tommy quickly looked up, raising a finger to his lips before focusing back on Dream. The man seemed to be purring quietly, but unlike the ghost who had sounded more like a cat, coming from the chest, this purr seemed more like he was making it with his throat somehow, breathy and almost vocal. Along where Tommy’s hand stroked, the dark spots would dimly light up pale yellow, providing light in the dark room.

When Dream seemed calm, Tommy looked up, almost whispering, “I think he fell off somehow, just needed some comforting.” He gently supported Dream before standing, raising them both up, “Nothing’s actually wrong.”

Tommy turned to Dream, lifting his chin slightly so he could see his eyes, “Hm. Didn’t expect that.”

Phil crouched down, “What’s up?”

Tommy let Dream’s head down again, and the man slumped against him, moving to be even closer. The teen smiled, “Ancients’ eyes change colour as they age, and his eyes are younger right now. So guess Schlatt was correct.”

“So how old would he be?” Techno asked, making Phil jump. He hadn’t realised the oracle had been behind him.

Tommy hummed, “Maybe… I don’t fu- hecking know, maybe nine? Pretty young, couple of years before anything happened.”

“Oh god you’re giving him ideas, you know what Philza does to children!” Techno spoke, making Phil cackle.

Tommy huffed, lightly hitting the top of Phil’s head, “My child. Get your own,” he scolded, fighting back a smile before failing.

The three sat in the dark kitchen, laughing quietly, Dream asleep and alive once again.

Chapter Text

okay so like. i started this work maybe uhhhhhh three..? months ago and like.

okay. i hate the way that i wrote it

theres like three plotholes i can think of off the top of my head + the amount of exposition... i really threw everything i knew about writing out the window huh

plus the dialogue is just so. its just so badddddddd

so like i really wanna uh. rewrite? but idk if i would do it in a separate work or staright up just replace the chapters here

cuz like i dont wanna idk. delete comments or bookmarks or whatever but id feel bad about making another work (guilt about like. idk "kudos farming" or whatever man idk) but replacing chapters here would feel so weird

like if i do rewrite it it would mostly be to just. improve the writing, most content would still stay roughly the same, aside from a couple things i fucked up

but its too much to be like an "edit"? so like. idk help ig, what do i do

it would also take some time to rewrite cuz i think this time i should actually like. plan and shit + my motivation is just flaky + i should probably just write ahead and then post

i could also just continue this one but. id feel wrong releasing something that im personally not happy with :/

feel free to respond or whatever, stream lovejoy ep tomorrow or whatever. good night

Chapter Text

hey :D

reading y'alls' comments,,, yeah i think ill just take some time to, yknow, properly plan the rewrite and then post it as a separate work when i eventually. get to that

so its not quite over, just... extended hiatus? ill post an update here when i actually post the first chapter :)

this story will be marked as complete now :] thank y'all for following the second draft of a ghosting's child, time for me to burrow back into the ground :)

edit: oh wait i still write like oneshots and shit so. im not fully gone i guess :p

this time i can actually tell yall to stream new lovejoy ep. good night <3

Chapter Text

hi!

it uh. sure has been a while, huh?

a lotta stuff has happened and this fic is very much a product of its time - meanin i decided some time ago, who really knows when, that this fic is officially discontinued!!!! yippee!!!

since i wanted to do smthn special for my birthday this year and i still get people askin for more of this fic... well...

im postin every piece of agc media i can find, includin deleted and unused scenes, first drafts, the brief chapter 1 rewrite, some lore details, and whatever else.

and as the first piece: there is a non-canon scene in the fic to a new day or two. search for "dream wakes up on sand", thats the agc scene :)

to whoever is still around: thank you for your support. i wouldnt be where i am today without this fic.

to another 3 years. cheers!

Chapter Text

Dream held a small feather in his hand.

The feather was one from his own wing, a bright magenta with small white dots throughout.

Nobody on the SMP knew he was a hybrid, let alone that he was an Ancient hybrid. After being… captured for many, many years, he didn’t want anyone to know, not even his closest friends.

(It was about 40 years. He turned thirteen in a cage, underground.

Even he didn’t know his own age. He was probably around three thousand years old at the time, but Ancients didn’t age by years, so it was hard to tell.

It’d been many, many years since then, but the memories still hurt. His scars hadn’t faded with time.)

He didn’t know what he was doing when he’d asked Tommy to meet him on the hill overlooking Logstedshire. What he was doing when he didn’t hide his wings, which were hanging off the edge.

He wouldn’t fall off, he knew it. Sitting close to the edges of high things was fun though.

What he was doing when he saw Tommy climbing up, his eyeline higher than usual. What he was doing when he didn’t bother to hide the way his eyes glittered slightly, reminiscent of an end portal.

And what he was doing when he didn’t even respond to Tommy when he asked “Okay, what the fuck, why the fuck do you have horns?”

He merely tilted his head, shuffling his wings, which caught the attention of Tommy. He walked around Dream, or at least tried to, realising how close to the edge the taller was sitting.

To his surprise, Tommy didn’t say anything negative. Not a single threat, not a warning nor an insult. Just curiosity. That might’ve been just as scary, had Dream not trusted Tommy with his life.

“So, Dream, are you like… a hybrid?”

Dream turned to the side but didn’t look up. Instead, he held his head low and nodded shyly. Tommy noticed his apprehension, patting the top of Dream’s head.

“Hey, no need to be scared, that’s actually pretty pog. Did you think I’d hurt you?” Tommy quietly asked. For one of the loudest kids Dream’s ever met, the boy knew exactly when to tone it down.

This time, Dream hesitated even longer, but nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Well, I promise Dream, I would never hurt you just for your species. If you’re okay with it, can you tell me what species you are?”

“…Ancient. I’m an Ancient hybrid.”

“Oh, I… haven’t heard of that one.

///

Tommy perked up at the faint sound of a nether portal in the distance. He rushed over to the windows by the door, searching for the visitor.

Standing by the portal was his housemate, looking around for Tommy. Yet, he wasn’t quick enough to expect the tackle he received.

“Dream, Big D, D Money, you’re back! What took so fucking long?” Tommy yelled, not letting Dream get up from his place laying down on the grass.

“Please… Let me get up first…” Dream wheezed for air, still smiling through it.

Tommy rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, but nonetheless rolled off Dream, standing up and offering a hand to the admin on the ground. He took the hand, pushing himself up before shaking his head. He rolled his shoulders back, letting his hybrid features out.

“Oh, I have something to show you!” Tommy grabbed Dream’s hand, pulling him along to the two houses the pair had built in their first week on the uninhabited plains.

For the first couple of days, Dream had been a regular visitor, before deciding to just live with Tommy in Logstedshire. He’d lived in an extra tent for some time, before both realised the exile might be a bit more long-term. Their houses were built next to each other, although they might as well have one with how often they were together.

What could they say, exile got lonely.

Tommy opened the door, walking into his house and waiting for Dream to crouch through. (They still hadn’t changed the heights of the doors. Surprise that they got anything done, honestly.)

“So, you remember those pieces of wood I had you make? Well, I actually had a plan for those!” Tommy explained, walking to the living room and searching for something in the drawers.

“So you didn’t make me whittle random sticks for no reason?” Dream called from his spot near the door. As some form of bonding exercise (maybe? Dream had assumed the kid just wanted to piss him off) they’d gone into the forest near Logstedshire to search for sticks and other pieces of wood. They’d spent a couple hours afterwards carving little figurines, although Tommy had also made a pile of very simple shapes, like cubes or spheres. Eventually, it’d become a contest to see who could carve faster.

Unfortunately, they’d both ended up with bandages on their fingers the next day.

“No, did you really think I’m that stupid, bitch?” Tommy called back. He finally came back, covering Dream’s eyes with one hand.

(He couldn’t reach Dream’s eyes, by the way.

Dream just closed his eyes himself, out of politeness.)

He felt one of his hands being raised, and then something being placed around the wrist. Tommy removed his hands, letting Dream see a bracelet, mostly made of wooden beads with some pebbles, a small glass marble, two pieces of iron and a heart of the sea mixed in. He gawked at it in awe, before pulling Tommy into a hug.

(Dream flicked a small golden coin between his fingers.

“Why do you always have that coin? Where’d you even get it?” Tommy looked over at him, holding a fishing rod.

“Ancients like shiny things. Not sure why, just… Cool things, like, things that catch your eye. I got this from a tournament I won once.”

“Wait, you used to play in tournaments? That’s cool!”

“Ah, that was years ago. Haven’t played in one in a while, don’t even know if they’re still going to be honest.”

When they had finished eating dinner, he’d shown Tommy his collection of various prizes from competitions he’d won.

Maybe Tommy was jealous. Maybe.)

“Thank you, Tommy. It’s very nice,” Dream muttered, loosening his hold on Tommy.

///

“You didn’t tell me though, why were you gone for so long? It’s been like, a week!” Tommy asked. They were sitting on the beach by the campfire, while Dream stirred something in a metal pot above the flame. Most likely rabbit stew, judging by the smell.

Dream placed the spoon on the handle of the pot, sighed and said “Sam wanted more guidance with the prison. I don’t really get why, but he keeps making kind of… cruel suggestions. I’m worried about him.”

“Maybe he just doesn’t know what you want from him?”

“But I made it clear! It’s not some horrible torture chamber, it’s basically just, like, a big timeout corner!”

“Made out of obsidian.”

“It is made of obsidian. Maybe it’s too harsh? I don’t want the prisoner getting out if they really have to be in there, is that too cruel or is that reasonable?”

“I think it’s reasonable, I wouldn’t want someone like Schlatt just fucking waltzin’ around the neighbourhood. Maybe just talk to Sam about it. Also, stir your soup.”

///

“Hey Tommy, hi Dream!”

Ghostbur opened the door, seeing a mildly frightened Dream and confused Tommy staring back at him.

Tommy patted Dream’s shoulder. “He wouldn’t even remember, don’t worry about it. Anyways, hey Ghostbur!” Tommy yelled, stretching out the ‘y’ in ‘hey’.

“L’Manburg sent me to deliver a message! It was, uh, give me a moment…” Ghostbur trailed off, thinking hard, “Ah, they wanted me to tell you that there’s a possibility Tommy might be let into L’Manburg again! Isn’t that cool?”

Tommy raised his hands in the air, “Pog! Finally, what made them reconsider the exile of the great Tommy Innit?”

Dream raised his eyebrows, earning a small knock at his face from Tommy.

“Well, they think you’ve been behaving well enough, so if Dream agrees, you can go back!”

Dream looked away from his hands, which had been fiddling with his bracelet, “Why wouldn’t I agree? Yeah, Tommy’s unexiled, of course!”

Tommy whooped again. Dream just smiled fondly at him.

Dream was a kind person.

An old soul, having been around for years. He’d seen many servers, many civilisations rise and fall, had taken care of many as their main protector accompanied by his own guardian deity, DreamXD, or Dee, as he’d known them.

But there was a past even he couldn’t fully remember.

Dream had never had his own server before, opting to instead take care of servers which no longer had an admin associated with them. He found more joy in seeing all the players succeed in their plans, in what they spent years building, ultimately insignificant but important to them.

So, he hopped from server to server, building a reputation as a forgiving god, always willing to help smaller servers out when they faced problems. He built, taught, spoke of other servers so fondly.

And yet, his kindness turned out to be his eventual downfall.

Because every server had its dark side, and sometimes, people forgot.

But Dream stopped showing up to his favourite servers. Villagers stopped seeing him as he fed stray cats, as he showed flower crowns to kids, as he baked bread with the elders, because he skipped a day.

And then one turned to two.

Two turned to three.

Three turned to a week.

Weeks turned to months.

And eventually, they had to move on, because their servers were in disrepair and the young god was no longer there to help them.

After a couple of years, most had given up and moved on. Assumed he’d started his own server, settled down with a group of friends after being alone for so long, had grown tired of not having a home to his name.

Yet, a larger server spread a message, asking if anyone had heard of a blond, closely followed by a nonverbal deity, scarred and scared, terrified of anyone approaching him. A blond who seemed familiar to many older players, yet one they couldn’t name.

Until they did, of course.

That was Dream. The god who’d proven himself to fear nothing, confident and helpful, now more resembling a young animal.

He was curled up in a small hole in the mountainside, along with a small, intangible light coming from, seemingly, his own hands curled up near his chest, and a dark green, warm cloak atop his torn, white clothing.

(The clothes had dark purple blood splatters on them.)

And then there was his deity, who didn’t speak a single word, instead communicating via feelings, experiences they projected to the people around them. They were very protective of Dream, leading the players to realise they were a guardian deity, a personification of pure power, formed to protect and keep their guarded from further harm.

As hard as they tried, Dream wouldn’t leave the small hole, and would only cower and cry if anyone entered. Only the deity would be able to give anything to him, so the players learned to give food to them, who’d inspect it, and give it to Dream when it was deemed safe enough.

After a few months, the deity came to them, holding a small cookie, obviously formed by them, too perfect and cold. A feeling of wish was projected to the few cooks in the encampment near Dream’s spot, and after an hour, the deity was given a small pouch, five still warm chocolate chip cookies inside.

Evidently, Dream must’ve liked them, because they returned a week later, asking for more.

And after even more time, Dream was seen sitting by a tree, staring at the grass by his side with such childish awe the players couldn’t help but feel bad, his guardian of course sitting by his side, holding him close in a protective hug.

Nobody could bear to interrupt the moment, which seemed so important to the two.

After that one midday, Dream was seen outside more often. While it was good that the god, who seemed so young, so fragile nobody could call him an adult, or even a man, was finally getting out of his cramped burrow, it also let everyone see the extent of the youngling’s injuries.

Cuts along his back, visible through the holes in the back of his shirt when the cloak was off. Scraped feet and hands, forearms bearing scars as if been hit by a blunt object many, many times. His face was bruised, along with his neck where red, raw skin could be seen. His ankles and wrists had similar marks. His hair was almost fully white, and whatever was left was light blond or grey, far from the light brown it had been before. His eyes seemed dull and worn, lifeless.

The boy looked so… dead, unfamiliar in personality to the vibrant man they’d seen before. The players didn’t know what’d happened to him, and the deity refused to say anything. So, they were left to wonder, about the horrible conditions he must’ve been in, and about the mental pain he must’ve been in.

///

With the passing years, Dream slowly gained back his humanity. He started walking around on his own, started going up to people and giving them things, rarely even asking for things himself. While he still didn’t talk often, he expressed himself with gestures and items.

(They’d tried to teach him sign language, but he’d refused to learn. When asked why, he’d said it was fun to try to figure out how to talk to people without actually talking.)

They’d also found out the deity was called DreamXD. They were blind and deaf, using Dream’s own senses, and the small connection they had with the server, to perceive their surroundings. While at first the admins had tried to separate them from the core of the server, they could never succeed, as the deity kept pushing at it to maintain connection. Eventually, they just gave up.

Dream would dream (pun not intended) of having his own server, a place he’d hold all attachment to, a place he would personally be responsible for.

To an admin, a server they create all on their own is like a child. They hold such a deep attachment to it, such a strong urge to protect, to keep, that they’d be willing to put themselves in harm’s way just to protect its inhabitants. While Dream had never had his own server, he’d held brief connections to fix server issues, and the feeling of it was amazing. The complete fullness, the feeling of being more than, it was a feeling he wanted more of, not in a controlling way, just a feeling of content nothing else could really give.

So after he had healed enough that he could walk on his own, could hold a weapon, could eat more than a couple bites, Dream and his guardian left the server. The players gave them only a few gifts, as the rest were rejected, which were a sturdy iron sword and a backpack with some food.

The duo wandered for a long time, resuming Dream’s previous life as a wandering admin, helping out whenever they could, but still not settling down anywhere. The dream of having his own server was kind of abandoned anyway, as Dream wasn’t strong enough to create one.

Many players had heard of him by now, of an admin who had suffered as the result of his kindness, opting to treat him with kindness in return. While Dream may have wished that everyone would treat him as they did before his disappearance, the players’ care in relation to his past was appreciated.

Nobody commented on his muteness on certain days, nobody asked why his deity was there, nobody questioned the tears in his eyes when he collected leaves or flowers.

He eventually picked up an odd mask, which covered his upper face, only leaving part of his bottom lip visible. Fuelled by paranoia perhaps, he hid his face, not showing his eyes, the only hybrid feature he couldn’t hide.

And over time, people began to forget about the origins of Dream, about the rumours related to him and the tales about him. People just saw a normal admin, maybe easily startled but otherwise well.

He travelled between more servers, finding more people and places to learn about. He made friends, who sometimes travelled with him. He managed to make himself feel normal, as if he wasn’t actually a traumatised hybrid, as if he didn’t still have nightmares.

Or scars.

Or brandings.

He soon proposed the idea of having their very own server to his two closest friends, who were hesitant but ultimately agreed. Dream knew he couldn’t create one, but he could definitely own one, so together the trio searched for an admin who’d be willing to let go of a server of theirs, or even specifically make one, just for them.

///

Stepping foot into a fresh server, accompanied by an admin who kept stealing glances at Dream, he immediately felt something right with it. Almost as if it were his own. So with awestruck eyes, he looked to his friends and nodded. They both smiled at the spark in the man’s movements, telling the admin that they’d take it.

The admin looked over at Dream, who by now sat on the grass with his deity in front of him, before the deity vanished once again and he stood up quickly, walking over. Suddenly there was a shift in the world, almost imperceptible to the friends but closely felt by the third. He immediately began weaving himself through the world, taking over control of every aspect, every small detail he could find was connected with his very soul.

DreamXD promptly appeared, moving closer to Dream and holding him protectively. The other admin watched for a moment, before leaving the world. Now only his two friends stood in the forest, surrounded by spruce trees. The deity looked at them, projecting wish, warm and familiar, hoping for a house to place their protected in. The pair took a moment to understand the message, but started chopping down trees immediately after.

And when they looked over to see Dream, who was sitting by his deity’s side, glancing up tiredly, they both smiled at him.

Tommy’s head perked up as he heard faint crashing in the background, followed by a slurred curse. He snickered quietly, before he stepped out of his house to search for the source of the noise.

(Spoiler. It’s definitely Dream.)

He followed the sound of heavier footsteps, stumbling around. He reached their small garden area, where Dream had, most likely, bumped into one of the wooden herb boxes. The hybrid was sat on the grass, looking slightly disoriented. He had a hand on the grass, brushing through it. The other was in his lap.

Tommy walked over before hooking his arms below Dream’s shoulders, pulling him up (or as much as he could, considering Dream was a lot taller than him.) He supported Dream’s weight with his side, and started to walk to a bench. Upon reaching one, Dream slumped onto it, mumbling something.

Tommy sighed. It seemed Dream had deprived himself of sleep once again. It happened surprisingly often, considering Tommy’s insistence on him taking care of himself.

(Who knew someone who spent many years being tortured wouldn’t have good self-preservation skills?)

“Can you walk?” Tommy asked, crouching down near Dream. The man’s eyes were barely open, lazily watching as Tommy once again sighed, taking his quiet as a ‘no’, and proceeded to, this time more stably, pick up Dream and slowly waddle towards their houses. Tommy turned to his own house, wanting to keep an eye on Dream and make sure he didn’t leave the house in the next thirty hours.

“If you leave home I’ll call someone to fuck you up,” Tommy threatened jokingly, making sure not to mention anything specific. After one unfortunate time, Tommy had found out that Dream tended to be more sensitive whenever he was tired.

While the world has many diverse species and even more diverse hybrids, they haven’t always been widely accepted. Many decades ago, humanlike species, mainly “purebloods”, were frequently hunted for their exotic features, which would then be sold for high prices on the darker sides of servers.

After protests, the Admin Council added rules against humanlike and hybrid discrimination and hunting into their next set of universal rules, however due to the nature of these rules, they haven’t been accepted across all servers. Any server which stuck to a set of rules older than these was still, technically, allowed to hunt anyone they didn’t consider human. This is mostly seen on anarchy servers though, and those are rarely visited by anyone who might be vulnerable under any law anyway.

Proceeding this change, most species were completely safe in an increasingly hybrid-dominated society. Although there are a few exceptions.

The most notable exception being Ancients, and Ancient hybrids (mind the capitalisation.)

Ancients were a powerful species, however haven’t been seen in recent years due to both outlash in regards to their overwhelming power and hunting, which is a highly profitable endeavour as Ancient blood has been proven as an effective, concentrated medicinal mixture. Their skin and scales are highly durable, often mixed into netherite for increased durability.

Ancients were tall, sometimes reaching heights of up to six metres, however averaging around three and a half. Their eyes were light. Dark spots ran along their arms, back, legs and face, which have been described as “lighting up” like sculk would. Their skin had a bluish tint, however was usually very pale. This aligns with the current belief that Ancients live in the Void, as there would be no light and no need for darker skin.

They had two sets of wings, one scaled and one feathered, which layered on top of one another. Their ears were longer and mostly made of solid flesh. They had horns which curled around the base of the ear before continuing to curl around themselves as they grew. Their tails resembled those which are often seen on Ender dragon hybrids, with spikes running along the top and, at the end, a softer flame-like shape with sculk living in a symbiotic relationship along with them.

Ancients were extremely reliant on magic, usually old server magic which even admins couldn’t fully reach. They functioned in odd ways, like their aging being reliant on their amount of magic and how many memories they had of their life. This could imply that Ancients also harnessed some form of magic from thought or memories.

Ancients were one of the only species which had a chance of producing a hybrid child. Many Ancient hybrids were born this way, although from sources who wished to stay anonymous, it is known that this was highly disliked and kids who weren’t fully Ancient were often thrown out or even killed.

While Ancients were mostly reliant on magic, subsequent evolutions of the Ancients through pairing with other, old species we don’t yet know about, like the wardens and, of course, admins and humans, no longer have this need. This sets Ancient hybrids at odd positions.

Ancient hybrids, while stronger and more in tune with servers, typically hide these traits for their own survival. It is estimated that 80% of Ancient hybrids are hiding in plain sight.

Hybrids are closer to human height, the tallest recorded Ancient hybrid has been two and a half metres tall. They usually have combined wings, which are feathered on the inside and scaled along the outside. Their skin is the tone of the human equivalent, which is either the human parent, or an almost white, lightly yellow tone if both parents were Ancients. Both the horns and ears are smaller. However, contrary to usual hybrid traits, the dark spots on their skin glow brighter and their wings are often stronger. Hybrids still maintain all admin capabilities above the usual degree.

As Ancient hybrids are extremely rare, there have been no recorded cases of Ancient hybrids having children with another humanlike or hybrid. There have however been reports of both children from Ancient hybrid/Ancient hybrid parents, and Ancient hybrid/human parents. In both cases, children obtained almost no traits from their parents, aside from a couple of luminescent spots and increased height.

None of the children show an ability to transform in any way, which officially marks them as non-hybrid per the Admin Council’s rules on hybrid classification, despite their family history. They don’t seem capable of accessing server magic, which also removes their status as admins. As such, offspring of Ancient hybrids are classified as human. Many hybrid associations still acknowledge them as, at least, non-human.

Chapter Text

Dream was alive.

He was breathing, heart beating, why was he alive he was dead he wanted to stay dead where is he where was he where will they take him-

The pain from his injuries made him scream as he searched for anything, something so they can’t hurt him please he doesn’t- can’t- no-

His hand latched onto something, a sword, a blade, cutting into flesh and tearing through, raising it despite his vision still not being quite right, too bright his eyes were dark he couldn’t see he didn’t know what was there-

He heard a voice, muffled through his haze as he trembled, eyes darting anywhere they could just so he might maybe see where he was. He could feel himself saying something, although he didn’t quite know what it was, the usual disconnect due to the prison and the odd feeling from revival mixing into a horrible, viscous liquid around him and blocking his senses. The other voice might have responded with something, but he wasn’t able to make out what.

Suddenly, the thing in his hand, a sword maybe, familiar in some way, was lowered and someone touched his hand.

the same way he’d take his hands and drag him across the floor it hurt don’t do that no-

He pulled his hand away quickly, as if they were burnt by the lava and the potions and the glass and he didn’t want to be there let him burn let him die- But the person stayed, he could feel someone near him, looking down and scowling at him, monster with a sword in his side-

Before arms surrounded him in a tight hug, the first one he’d had in so long maybe years maybe months maybe even a week he didn’t remember why couldn’t he remember-

Despite his flailing, despite his attempts to hit the person away even if it would hurt him later, the touch stayed, holding him and not letting go until he tired himself out enough to slump into it and just cry, loudly sobbing.

His eyes had adjusted some, no longer seeing dark, and instead, a blueish tinged stone, so different to the orange tint of the sharp, painful, scratched and bloody obsidian.

The sickly sweet but metallic smell was gone, an almost neutral, earthy smell remaining.

He couldn’t hear the horrible screeching of elder guardians, menacing bubble of lava, his own ragged breathing and heartbeat drunk off adrenaline. His ears only picked up himself, and the other person, crying.

who would cry for him? why cry for someone like him?

Whispers came from the crying person, he could only pick up occasional words like ‘please’ or ‘come back’ before the person got too quiet again.

The sticky fog in his brain lifted when he recognised the blonde curls, the old shirt and familiar voice.

Tommy was holding him, crying and pleading him to ‘come back to him’, whatever that meant.

Dream then fell even deeper into the embrace, stiffly placing his own hands around Tommy’s waist because maybe he wanted him to hurt. maybe he was just doing this so they had a reason to hurt him.

But Tommy didn’t hurt him, only breathing what Dream could guess to be a sigh of relief. That made Dream cry, cry more than he was before, because at least something was safe, even if only for a minute.

///

Despite the fact Dream was, human size wise, at least five years older than him, Tommy had ended up carrying him out of the room when Dream couldn’t hold himself up on his own feet. He shushed everyone else, Dream recognised XD but couldn’t quite remember the other ghost standing next to him. The person next to them looked familiar, but not familiar enough to immediately name.

Tommy leaned in close to Dream, “We’re taking you to my home, okay? The place in the arctic?” He whispered. Dream curled closer to Tommy, having hidden his wings to make him easier to carry but still leaving his tail, which curled around his own ankle. He kept his eyes closed, ears still flicking slightly at sounds.

Tommy readjusted his hold, waiting for a moment before starting to walk. Dream tensed slightly, before a warm feeling washed over him, like summer rain or campfires under stars. Maybe comfort? He was unfamiliar with that feeling now.

When he dared to look out again, opening his eyes and dragging his head away from Tommy, he had to close them again when sun shone down on his eyes and blinded him. Inside, he cried at being able to see the outside again, see clouds drift by on light blue sky, feel wind on his scarred face. He lifts a hand, holding it up to the cool breeze running throughout his server.

Letting himself drift between disconnect and awareness, he hangs his tail down, letting it weakly brush against the grass. It felt foreign, so he kept twitching away from it, but it was a good foreign. Sharp in a good way, unlike the sharp knives and axes and-

Dream shook his head lightly. None of that, just drifting.

“Hey, you okay?” Tommy lightly asked. Dream tensed slightly at the direct question, but nodded slowly, “That’s good. We’re a bit from the Community House, so we’ll be in the nether soon. If it makes you remember something, tell me and we’ll stop, alright?”

That really made Dream tense.

heat, lava, fire, burning and burning and-

Tommy seemed to take notice, stopping his steps, “Do you not want us to go through the nether? We can go by overworld, but it’ll take longer.”

Dream nodded again, holding tighter onto Tommy’s shirt. They continued walking, Dream letting himself be lulled to sleep by the hushed tones of Tommy talking to someone by his side.

///

Dream awoke an indeterminate amount of time later, still feeling footsteps below him, along with even colder air.

Opening his eyes, he found tall pine trees above him, coated in thin layers of glittering snow.

He never thought he’d get to see snow again.

He also saw Tommy, who now looked down at him with a smile, “You’re heavy,” he teased. Dream pouted, tilting his head back to watch as the trees passed. He stretched his hand out, reaching his tail down again to run through the longer grass.

Tommy then tapped his thigh, pulling Dream’s attention to himself, and handed him an old stuffed animal, Tabs the cat. Dream immediately latched on, holding the cat in front of him in stretched arms as he leaned back once again.

He glanced above his cat, finding the trees more interesting. He gently placed Tabs in his lap, holding him with one hand, and stretching the other out as far as he could to touch the needles of the spruce trees around them. Tommy readjusted his hold on Dream, making him no longer able to reach the branches.

To his pout, Tommy responded, “You can’t do that, you might fall or injure yourself.”

Dream relented, instead placing his head on Tommy’s arm and trying to fall asleep again.

///

 Dream opened his eyes after the quiet talking of Tommy and the other person woke him up once again. Upon his eyes starting to hurt from the bright, cloudy sky, he decided to keep them closed though.

Tommy hummed, “…does this sometimes, uh, like a small child?”

The other person, who still sounded familiar, chuckled quietly, “But not like… actually a child?”

“No, no, just… simple. Not adult, not… not big and shit.”

The footsteps, previously crunchy with snow, now sounded more firm, so Dream opened his eyes once again to see a large house, made out of spruce and stone brick. There was another material, a warm beige, but he couldn’t name it in his fogged mind. They started climbing a staircase, which Dream hadn’t even noticed.

When the other person opened the door, Dream instantly felt warmth surround him, a subtle smell of burning wood and fresh bread along with it.

He was placed on some kind of hard surface, which felt similar to wood, maybe a table?

A set of hurried footsteps, before someone, less familiar but definitely someone he knew before, shouted, “What the fuck happened?”

“I’ll explain later, can you get some potions and medical supplies?” Tommy responded, slightly less hurried but still loud and panicked.

The third person left, before Dream felt the prison shirt being removed. He whined when it stuck to his skin, both from dried blood and the way the cloth had gotten stuck in some of the cuts in his skin. Tommy quickly shushed him, petting his hair once the shirt was completely off, before moving to stroke the dark spots on his arms, watching as they lit up teal from the touch.

While Tommy had kept him distracted, someone had also removed his pants, which Dream had realised a few moments after Tommy had started talking to the other two people, pointing to spots on Dream’s body with concern drawn over his face. When Dream tried to lift his head, Tommy gently pushed him down again with a hand on his forehead.

The teen continued to comfort him, still keeping him from paying attention to the way the other two wrapped bandages, smeared potions and stitched wounds on his body.

However, both stopped when a hand was placed just below his collarbone, followed by scared whispers. Dream was instantly pulled out of his fog at the reminder of his injuries, namely the brand from his past, because nobody was supposed to know, did the shifting fail how did they see it how-

Tommy quickly noticed the difference in breathing, pushing the hand away from the brand and turning to comfort him. When he tried to touch him, though, Dream flinched away violently, crying out from the pain of moving. The pain he had been trying to block out returned, leaving him to cry and sob. In his panic, he barely noticed the sound of breaking glass before his energy suddenly drained, and he blacked out.

///

Dream woke up, for the fourth time that day.

His head felt foggy again, and he couldn’t remember what had happened before he fell asleep. Looking around himself though, even through his blurry vision he could see wooden walls, along with wooden furniture. He seemed to be laying on a bed, which sat under a large window. The curtains were closed.

He remained in bed, simply letting time pass, before someone opened the door. He saw the third person, leaning slightly against the doorframe. The man, wearing some form of green robe and a white-green hat, took a couple steps closer to him and sat on the foot of the bed.

“Hey, mate, you alright?” He asked, smiling comfortingly. Dream felt safe around him.

Upon his nod, the man smiled a little wider, “That’s good to hear! Tommy was really worried about you, you know.”

Dream nodded, before blinking and trying to sit up. The man immediately stopped him, “No, no, no, you’re not doing that mate.” Dream surrendered, slumping back into the bed but pouting. The man chuckled, “You don’t recognise me, do you?”

Upon Dream shaking his head, his smile got just a little sadder, “I’m Phil, Tommy’s dad? You might remember me from when we blew up L’Manburg together with Techno.”

Dream thought for a moment, tilting his head away, before snapping it up and nodding rapidly. He raised a hand from below the blanket, making the figure of a beak, opening and snapping shut. Phil did the same, however cawed along with it. Dream giggled.

“Well anyway, I’ll leave you to it, you should probably sleep more, you look very tired. There’s a bell on the bedside table, ring that if you need anything, we’ll hear you. But don’t,” Phil held up a finger, “Don’t ring it unless there’s something wrong. Okay?”

Dream nodded, before letting his head fall back onto the pillow. Turning it to the side, he saw the golden bell along with a small stick, a cup of water and Tabs. He tried to grab the cup, but realised his hands shook to much for him to hold it. He debated for a moment, before taking the stick and hitting it against the bell. The bell made a ringing sound, a little too loud for Dream’s sensitive ears, so he quickly tried to stop it. He could still hear someone come upstairs though, Tommy almost slipping on the hardwood floor as he ran to his door.

“You okay, Big Man?” he asked. Dream then raised his hand, which was obviously shaking, and then pointed it to the cup of water. Tommy’s eyes widened, “Uh, we didn’t think of that…” he nervously smiled, walking over and placing a couple pillows behind Dream, grabbing the cup and helping him drink.

“You’re probably in quite a lot of pain, so Phil gave you a very weak weakness potion, just so it isn’t too bad. But at some point we will have to stop using potions so you don’t get addicted, enjoy these few days I guess,” he explained. Dream looked in thought, before nodding sadly. Tommy ruffled his hair, starting to stand before Dream grabbed the hem of his shirt, tugging on it weakly.

“Do you want me to stay?” he asked, leaning down. Dream nodded, tugging him closer to the bed. Tommy sat down, moving Dream slightly so they could lie side by side, and adjusting himself to be slightly behind Dream before grabbing a book and starting to read, leaving Dream to quietly fall asleep once again.

///

When Dream woke up, Tommy was gone.

While the curtains were still closed, he could still tell the sky had by now gone dark. Downstairs, he could still hear people talking, so it was most likely early evening. He hit the bell, lighter this time, when he felt the hurt deep in his bones. He looked at his hand, only now noticing the bandages wrapped around his whole right arm. Although most of his body was covered, and he didn’t want to take it away as he was already kind of cold, he could still see that a lot of his body had bandages wrapped around it, some tinted pink with the amount of healing potion soaking through. He didn’t realise a lot of it was probably also blood.

This time, it was once again Phil who stepped into the room. He walked closer, holding a small basket which seemed to hold potions.

“We need to replace some bandages, plus give you more potions. Techno will be up soon, he’s just getting the food, we need you to eat as well,” he muttered as he searched for potions from his basket. When he had all he needed, he took the blanket off of Dream, showing all the bandages. Phil handed him a potion, telling him to drink it all. When the last drop was gone, Dream placed the bottle into the pile of empty bottles. A numbing feeling ran through him.

When he looked up, he saw the second person, probably ‘Techno’, holding a small bowl and another bottle, “Got the food, Phil.”

Phil muttered something, gesturing to the bedside table, continuing his task of replacing bandages, which Dream hadn’t even realised he had been doing. He intentionally didn’t touch some of the potion-soaked bandages though, which Dream didn’t comment on.

When Phil finished, he took the bowl, which Dream assumed contained broth by the smell of it, and a spoon to help Dream eat. He helped Dream eat, until the man looked uncomfortable taking the next spoonful. While Dream himself didn’t say anything, Phil noticed and stopped feeding him, “That’s… more than I expected you to eat, honestly.” he looked down at the bowl, eyebrows raised.

He then stood up, taking the basket of empty bottles with him and leaving the room. Dream, now full, once again fell asleep.

///

Dream woke up, breathing heavily and crying.

His head hurt, everything hurt and he didn’t know where he was and there were footsteps he was back he was back he didn’t want this please-

The hands on his arms made him scream, too similar to him him him him him him-

He felt sick, his throat closed and breathing difficult. Something touched him again, not making him scream, but instead making him whimper in fear, accepting because there was no use in fighting, he would be hurt, no matter what-

Something cold like a blade like an axe maybe a sword touched the side of his head, making him jerk back. Someone shouted before glass broke and he blacked out.

///

“…Dream?”

Dream woke up to Tommy softly shaking him awake.

“We… We need you to tell us something, but you can’t talk like this, but I can’t wait until you wake up like that again and oh god we don’t know what to do…” he rambled. Dream tilted his head.

Tommy moved closer again, holding something behind his back. Dream leaned slightly closer, hearing Tommy whisper, “I’m so sorry,” before he felt a horrible burning against his upper arm.

Immediately, his mind cleared, making him flinch back from the pain and watch with wide eyes as the threat in front of him raised his hands. Even as he tried to scuttle backwards, a wall hit his back, trapping him between a threat and a wall and he couldn’t see the weapons what would they hurt him with-

The person moved closer, before holding his arms to hurt him to hurt him to hurt him-

He was held closer to someone, hearing faint talking. When he could feel himself succumbing to the usual fuzziness, a small pinch on his arm held him back. After a while, he had managed to tire himself out enough from the heavy breathing to become mildly lightheaded. The voice was familiar, repeatedly counting along with exaggerated breaths.

Ancients couldn’t chirp.

That was a fact Tommy knew. While Dream may not have told him all the sounds he could make, he did know quite a few.

And chirping wasn’t one of them.

So imagine his confusion when Tommy walks into Dream’s room, before immediately being tackled into a hug by the man, shrunk down slightly.

(They’d quickly realised that it was less about him being aged down, and more him only having the memories of himself but aged down. Since Techno had spotted his odd discomfort, Tommy had managed to convince Dream to shrink slightly, just so the man could be less…

Well, giant.)

Tommy just picked him up by his shoulders, arms under the shoulders, and carried him over to the bed, “You- you shouldn’t be out of bed so early. You’re still healing.”

While Dream didn’t seem to yet know English, he did understand it, usually answering in the usual language only Phil could understand, which sounded kind of like a bunch of vowels with some odd purrs in between. Apparently it was a real language though, according to Phil.

(Tommy would never disagree with Phil.

Never.

Aside from when he did.)

Instead of an answer in his usual coos though, Dream made a sound eerily similar to a bird.

“You don’t make that sound,” Tommy looked at him blankly, setting him down on the bed.

Dream chirped again.

“No you still don’t do that.”

Dream resigned, instead tapping his finger on the frame of the bed. It was Tommy’s knocking pattern, obviously learned by imitation and not by just remembering it.

“Yeah?”

Dream nodded.

“O- Okay. Yeah. Agreed,” Tommy awkwardly stuttered. They both looked at each other in silence, not quite making eye contact.

They both turned to the door when someone cleared their throat. Techno stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. A blanket was loosely draped around his shoulders.

“Are you coming down for breakfast or no?” he asked. The dark spots on Dream’s arms flashed briefly. Younger Dream seemed oddly excited about food.

Tommy huffed, “Sure, one moment,” he muttered before picking Dream up and leaving the room, ‘accidentally’ bumping into Techno.

While Dream was busy tracing the walls with his finger, Tommy walked into the kitchen and stole a pancake off the plate. There was no Ghostbur to copy him this time.

“Wai’, Phil, where the hell is Ghos’bur?” Tommy had stuffed half the pancake into his mouth, making his words muffled.

“I won’t answer until you ask me properly, jesus christ,” Phil laughed. He booped Dream’s nose, to which Tommy sputtered something about ‘his child, I told you to get your own’ however as most of his mouth was still full, all he did was spit food.

He finally swallowed, “I said, Phil, where is Ghostbur? Are you getting too old?”

Phil scoffed, “I’m not old! If you’re to be believed, then Dream is older than me!”

“Yeah yeah, where is he?” Tommy asked before stuffing the second half of the pancake into his mouth.

“I don’t know, he doesn’t tell anyone. He’ll probably be back.”

Before Tommy could respond, he noticed how Dream had gone oddly still, staring off into space. While it had happened once already, it was still kind of weird to see.

“I swear, either he has absolutely horrid memory or he did absolutely nothing in the past. Aren’t memories supposed to be pretty consistent?” Phil commented. He then turned back to the pan upon remembering that yes, he was still making food.

“I think it’s just the memory gaps XD created, he has absolutely nothing there other than knowing there was supposed to be something there. Since he’s sliding through, he has nothing to… act as at that point. So he’s just like this,” Tommy spoke, knowing of Dream’s various memory issues, “Guess he’s searching.”

Phil placed a pancake onto the pile, before scraping the last of the dough from the bowl, “Memory gaps?”

“At some point XD just took some memories,” Tommy explained, “Nothing happened, I guess they just needed them for something. They weren’t important ones anyway.”

Phil hummed, setting down the spatula and going to get Techno from the living room, where he had retreated to his books.

When they returned, Techno still having his blanket, Tommy quieted them down as he saw Dream begin to come back to awareness again. When he was completely present, Tommy gently set him down onto a chair.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked. Dream raised a hand, looking at it for a moment before nodding.

“Good, uh, do you know how old you are?”

Dream raised up all his fingers, before closing one hand and two fingers to make it thirteen.

Phil inhaled, “That’s a three year jump, the previous one was only one year.”

“I’m sure it’s… it’s fine, right?”

Phil patted Tommy’s back, “Kids are like that. You’re acting like a true parent already,” he wiped a fake tear from his eye, “They grow up so fast!”

“I’m not old!” Tommy shouted, “Phil, this is what we call projection. You’re projecting, and I don’t appreciate it.”

Phil laughed. Tommy rolled his eyes exaggeratedly before turning his attention back onto Dream, “Can you speak English?”

He shook his head. Phil stepped forward, speaking in his own language, to which Dream responded.

“He says he actually remembers us. Doesn’t know why though.”

Techno knocked on the table, “I was brought here for food. I want food, Phil!”

Before Phil could answer, Tommy interrupted, “Yeah dad, where’s our food?”

He sighed, “I’m not your dad.”

“Are you telling me I’m fatherless? What happened to him?” Tommy questioned, “Phil, where’s my father?”

Phil took hold of his shoulders, dragging him onto a chair, “Eat.”

///

Tommy was helping Phil with the dishes when they heard a door open.

“Family!” they heard, “I’ve returned!”

The call was followed by a sound of someone falling, along with loud chirrs. Tommy set down the plate he had been holding and ran to the hallway, where Ghostbur had been tackled by Dream. The latter was purring somewhat loudly, more of the Ancient variety rather than ghost-like.

“Hey, do you think you could help me?” Ghostbur asked, weakly pushing Dream away.

Phil looked up from the stove when he heard two pairs of feet walking down the stairs.

“Hey Dadza,” Tommy called, “I’m hungry.”

Dream, who held Tommy’s hand, stayed quiet however did let out a distinctly Ancient-sounding purr, less in the chest and more vocal than that of a ghost. Phil’s ‘bird thing’ recognised it as a younglings call.

“H- Hi hung-”

He only registered Tommy attacking him when he had been shoved into the counter, with Tommy rambling about Ranboo and dad jokes, or at least that’s what Phil could catch, before he burst out laughing, interrupting Tommy.

“Tommy, calm down,” he laughed, lightly lifting Tommy off of him. The teen pouts, moving back to his ‘child’ to move him to a kitchen chair. Dream purrs, this time more ghost-sounding while his tail wags back and forth from between the sticks of the armrest. While he hadn’t revealed his wings, the dark spots on his skin, his tail and his longer ears were visible. His horns were mostly covered by the longer hair he now had.

“I never calm down, I’m big man Tommy Innit. The women all look at me and think ‘That’s so hot, I’ll marry him. I wanna marry him.’”

“Tommy, you’re seventeen. You can’t- Who will you marry?” Phil questioned. He took four plates from the cupboard and gave them to Tommy.

Tommy started setting the table, “All of them, Phil. All the women.”

“What the hell are you on about?” Techno sat down opposite of Dream, having just woken up and still being sleepy, “It’s like nine!”

Phil placed the food onto the table as Tommy gathered cutlery, “Tommy wants to get married to every woman ever.”

Techno chuckled, “Tommy, do you want to steal Phil’s wife?”

“No, no, I would never! Phil, you can keep Kristin. I’d never steal her,” Tommy raised his hands in defense, although it didn’t look as convincing with the cutlery in one.

Dream reached over to grab it from Tommy, who hesitantly handed him a fork. He tried to reach the plate in the middle, however Techno lowered the fork. Dream pouted at him.

Phil, who had sat down next to Techno, suddenly looked up when he heard cawing from outside. He stood up again, walking to the door with a mutter of ‘fucking birds, always got stuff to say…’

However the three in the house were surprised when they heard Ghostbur greet him.

Dream almost dashed up but was stopped by Tommy, as he wasn’t yet fully healed and could hurt himself like that. Instead, they walked, slowly, to the door.

“Hello, Tommy! Hello, Dream!” Ghostbur said. While Dream chirped at him, starting some form of conversation, Tommy was distracted by Phil trying to close the door while keeping the crows out.

When he finally smacked the door closed, Tommy snapped out of it to Dream tugging on his hand to pull him to the kitchen.

(He wasn’t very strong.)

Tommy let himself be pulled, until he was gently shoved to his chair. Phil, Techno and Ghostbur all followed, until Phil cleared his throat, “Um, we only have four chairs.”

“Oh, I can si-“ Ghostbur started, before Dream suddenly flopped on Tommy’s legs. He raised his head slightly to let out a happy chirr.

Tommy shifted them both slightly, “Or that. That works as well.”

///

At late evening, Techno looked up from his book, “Hey, nerd.”

Dream looked to him, rubbing at his eyes. Tommy was out hunting for food with Phil, leaving Techno at home with a napping Dream.

The hybrid gave a tired trill. Techno nodded wisely, even if he couldn’t understand him. He made sure to remember the page number, before he closed the book and placed it on the couch. He patted the opposite side of the couch, prompting Dream to patter over to him and curl up with his head on Techno’s lap. When Dream started to quietly purr, he absolutely did not pull him closer, and neither did he smile. Absolutely not.

Later, when Phil and Tommy walked in with laughing faces and silly tones, they immediately quieted down to content smiles and domestic whispers upon seeing both Dream and Techno asleep, slightly curled up into each other.

///

Tommy woke up to a quiet, curious chirr. Blinking awake, he found Dream perched on the side of his bed with his wings shuffled out behind him.

“Hey, little guy,” he croaked, reaching for a water bottle on his nightstand. He lifts his eyebrows, prompting Dream to climb off and scuttle over to a woven basket containing regen potions. He hands one to Tommy, chugging it after it’s opened. He placed the empty bottle on the nightstand by Tommy’s (now empty) one, before flopping down on Tommy’s stomach. The teen grunted, lightly holding Dream away from himself as he rolled himself out of bed.

He turned around to watch as Dream literally rolled off the bed, falling to the floor in a mess of feathers and scales with a small thump. He winced, thinking how it must hurt, before remembering that he’d be basically immune to anything for a couple minutes from the regen potion. As he heard no cries, he hesitantly asked, “You alright?”

Dream trilled happily, more ghost than his previous happy sounds. Tommy just chalked it up to him figuring out how to make new noises, and using that to his best advantage. He smiled, rolling his eyes fondly but still going to pick him up with his arms below Dream’s shoulders. The latter shuffled his wings and kicked his legs a bit trying to be let down, but went limp once he realised Tommy was, in some odd way, bigger and stronger than him.

(Ironic really, because while Dream had been steadily growing in height as he aged in memories, even at his current age which Tommy guessed to be around late ten, early eleven, Dream could definitely still tower over Tommy if he wanted to.

Guess Dream still liked being handled like a little child.)

They started slowly waddling down the stairs, Dream still as limp as a cat in Tommy’s arms. Every time Tommy took a step down, Dream chirped quietly. When they finally reached downstairs, Dream patted Tommy to let him down, carefully placing the hybrid on his feet before he was released and disappeared downstairs into the basement. Tommy just chuckled, instead walking into the living room, where Techno and Phil had been calmly drinking tea, to join them.

///

Dream ran straight into the snow, falling backwards on it with his wings outstretched to the sky. He chittered similarly to a laugh, enjoying the cold. Even if it wasn’t the familiar, all-encompassing void of his home, it was still better than the faint memories of suffocating heat and burning stone he had somewhere deep in his brain.

He thought best not to focus on them, as every time he did it felt like something was pushing him back to his own, more known memories. So he stayed in his own area, with his own memories of green fields, old villages and familiar villagers. He let himself lay in the fluffy snow, calmly breathing in and out in tandem with the wind blowing through his bright magenta primaries. He curled them above himself, reaching out to feel the small white speckling, barely noticeable on the tips of each feather, bleeding back into the magenta. The scales shimmered faintly, reflecting a dull endstone yellow. While he loved his swishy tail, Dream absolutely adored his wings.

He churred quietly to himself, followed by a brief chitter. He let his head fall as deep into the snow as he could, shaking his head to watch the white clumps fly up. He stretched his wings up, as high as they went, before letting them fall above him onto the cold ground, almost longer than the rest of his body.

He let himself stay in the calm atmosphere, until shivers started running through his limbs. He raised his arms, pulling himself up with them. He shook his wings out, briefly running his fingers through the longer feathers to rid them of snow. He saw Tommy watching him from his spot on the windowsill, so he waved up at him. When he received a wave back, he grinned.

He stood up, stumbling out of the snow and walking, which was closer to skipping for him, back into the house. When he closed the door, Ghostbur waved at him from the kitchen, “Hey Dream! You’ve got snow in your hair!”

When Phil heard that, he immediately peeked out as well, a small smear of flour along with something distinctly royal blue on his cheek. He glanced Dream once over, before quiet laughing could be heard, “Tommy, your chick’s back.”

“Is he now?” Dream heard, already distracted by the new snow falling outside, before his attention was pulled to Tommy, gasping and running over to him, “What the hell were you doing outside, you’ve got snow everywhere-”

As Phil wheezed from laughter, Ghostbur giggling with him, Dream just smiled at him. While Tommy tried to stay ‘mad’ (he wasn’t mad and they all knew it) he just couldn’t, and they could all see it from the way his frown kept pulling itself into a smile.

So while his memories spoke of far off adventures and constant discovery, Dream thought, maybe he had always enjoyed this kind of life more.

///

Tommy walked past Phil, who was sat on the floor with a book, before stopping and bending down to whisper, “If you see Dream, don’t say anything. We’re playing hide and seek, and it’s really obvious but he’s having fun, so just keep quiet, okay?”

Phil laughed breathily, humming an affirmative. Tommy smiled, before continuing to ‘search’. On second thought, there was an obvious area he was avoiding, purposefully not looking there. Behind an open door, he could see bright magenta feathers sticking out and brushing against the floor with a sweeping sound when he (kind of loudly) giggled. Eventually though, Tommy gestured for Phil to stay quiet as he finally turned in the direction he had been avoiding.

Phil watched as Tommy snuck around, with occasional calls of “Dream?” and “Where are you?” mixed in. Every time was followed by more shuffling from behind the door.

After Tommy had taken the steps to reach the door, he quietly (but loudly enough for Phil to hear, so honestly was it even quiet?) asked, “Dream, are you maybe…” he pulled the door away from the wall, revealing a shocked looking Dream, “Here?”

Dream squealed as Tommy picked him up, carrying him towards Phil. The oldest just laughed, seeing them fight over Dream’s ‘floor privileges’, as Tommy called them. After some shuffling, Dream was (softly) dropped in front of Phil, where he raised his head to pout at Tommy.

Tommy laughed at him. Dream sank his face back into the carpeted floor.

“Hey mate, Dream, let me clean your wings,” Phil chuckled when Dream raised his head again, still not having moved from his crumpled position on the floor, before huffing and sitting himself upright properly. Tommy helped him a little as his wrist had started aching, however they soon had Dream seated in front of Phil, wings draped over the floor.

Phil started gently running his fingers through the scales, “His wings are actually very well cleaned. I guess he doesn’t let them out often.”

Tommy was sat in front of Dream, working on slowly brushing his hair. They had decided not to cut it when Techno had assured them that yes, it was most definitely salvageable, it would just take a while. Tommy knew Dream really feared having his appearance changed without his permission, so they had opted to just try and save it. So far, most of it was no longer clumped together, now just slightly ragged looking. He did look cool with a ponytail though, so it was fine.

“Yeah, in prison he didn’t do it at all. Too scared of anyone finding out,” Tommy looked up, before focusing back on the hair. Dream was too blissed out to notice, purring softly. Tommy didn’t comment on the parental-sounding coos Phil let out every time he did anything even the slightest bit wrong.

Tommy clattered down the stairs, pulling his coat on. He flicked his right hand to see if he had his axe. After seeing it, he flicked it away again.

“Where you headin’?” Techno asked, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. His ear flicked as he blew hair from his eye.

Tommy grabbed the flint and steel next to a spare lantern near the door, lighting it with a few sparks. He closed the latch on the lantern, picking it up and willing it into his inventory, “Out. Chopping wood and getting girls.”

Techno turned to a window. It was quite dark, enough for the stars to be clearly visible but not enough for mobs to spawn quite yet.

“The only girl you’re getting is frostbite.”

“No, I get so many girls,” he huffed while putting on his gloves, “So many. You’ve never even seen that many girls.”

“Sure.”

Tommy didn’t respond, instead opening the door and leaving.

(Not before he had flipped Techno off though.)

Upon closing the door, most noise stopped. He was left in the tranquil silence, only interrupted by the occasional rumble of wind against the trees. He stumbled through the snow, cursing at the cold, even if he did stop at times to feel the chilling wind blow on his face. He walked under starlight, not holding his lantern and instead letting the moon guide his steps.

Eventually, he made it to a spruce forest, where he finally took out his lantern and placed it on a leftover stump from one of his previous walks.

He took his axe, bouncing it in his hand before throwing it into the nearest tree. While an extremely ineffective method of cutting down trees, it was definitely the most fun, so naturally Tommy had gone with his own method.

His night-time walks had started after he’d been released from the prison, when most server members thought he was angry at Sam due to his imprisonment, not due to his absolutely inhumane treatment of his prisoners. They’d recommended for him to channel his anger into something, and one of the tasks he’d genuinely enjoyed was chopping wood. At this point, he didn’t do it out of anger, but rather out of routine.

A tree fell. Tommy picked up his lantern to move it closer to the rest of the trees.

He had stepped closer to the fallen tree to cut it into smaller pieces, when suddenly he heard an odd sound, stemming from the direction of the nearest river. It was further from the cabin, however their nearest source of both water and fish, so Tommy knew its location well.

The server was in a colder phase in its thermal cycle, so the river had been frozen over for weeks now. For him to be hearing what he presumed was water would be bizarre enough, however Tommy suddenly felt an odd, indistinct feeling, closest to distress but almost as if it was fading. It took him a couple moments, although the moment he did identify it, he almost immediately made his axe return to his inventory and started running to wherever the feeling willed him.

He dodged newly spawned mobs, breathing cold air as the noise grew louder, his feeling with it. In the distance he could see a faint light, along with a dull colour he couldn’t quite identify.

Slowing as he reached the glow, he recognised it as a human figure, skin translucent and emitting a dim glow. It sat near the river, melting the snow around it. Tommy kept his step quiet as to not alert it.

He suddenly stopped.

He opened his mouth, closed it, then asked,

“D- Dream..?”

The figure turned around, and Tommy couldn’t help but gasp silently. It was most definitely Dream, but also distinctly… not.

His eyes held a downcast gaze, not allowing Tommy to see them however he could tell they were somehow different. His left eye had a scar right under it which Tommy couldn’t remember being there before. His clothes were ripped in places. Generally, he seemed rather malnourished, cheeks more hollow and hands on his sides skinnier.

When Tommy took a step closer, he saw Dream flinch the tiniest amount, but otherwise he seemed fine.

Chapter Text

George caught up, walking in silence before asking, “Why did Dream live here?”

Tommy looked to the man, “He didn’t want me to be alone, so he moved in.”

“But like… why’d he exile you then?”

“I don’t know, for protection? He didn’t want me to be hurt.”

“And the basement?”

Tommy stayed silent.

(Dream held Tubbo at his chest, holding a sword in shaking hand. His axe remained strapped to his belt. While Tubbo looked distressed, Dream had been hiding his emotion.

Tommy could see his shaking shoulders, and Tubbo could hear his heavy breath.

“D- Dream?”

Dream ceased his quiet, barely understandable mutterings. His head shot upwards.

“Can you- Let go of Tubbo, okay? Just-“

“NO! I’m not letting go- I- No…”

Tommy took one step forward, stopping when Tubbo winced.

“Don’t-“

Dream took in a shaky breath.

“Don’t come closer, please, don’t…”

Tommy raised his hands, before extending them in front of him. When he took a step, neither reacted, so he took that as a good sign.

He slowly approached, before placing his hands on Dream’s arms and gently pulling them off Tubbo. He stumbled, rushing away from Dream.

While he quickly grabbed Dream, Tommy didn’t notice the nether portal activating.)

“

///

Sapnap held out his hand before a thin notebook, brown leather with some green and blue paint splattered on it and the letters NF written on in black ink. It seemed there was another letter which had been written over, but it wasn’t readable.

“Um, this is a notebook we had, when we lived on Munchy. George decided he didn’t want it anymore, and it kind of hurts to see it, so… We decided maybe Dream would want it. I know you’re going to have him revived, so… Maybe he’ll remember it,” Sapnap handed the notebook to Techno. The hybrid didn’t open it, instead placing it below his own book. Sapnap sighed, “We weren’t really the nicest to him, I really doubt Tommy wants to see us after, he, uh, shouted at us.

///

While the man hadn’t talked for a long time, he’d eventually greeted George when he came to give him his food. While George had just greeted him back, when he returned to Sapnap, who always waited in the designated ‘kitchen’ building, he had been ecstatic.

(“Sap! Sap!”

“What?”

“He- He said hello to me! He said hello back!”)

After he’d started responding more, he had told George that his name was Dream.

(“Oh, that’s a nice name! Thank you for telling me, Dream.”

“… You’re welcome.”

“Uh, while I’m here, we were thinking if you would one day like to come outside? Like, to see the rest of us, or even just breathe some fresh air.”

“Maybe…”)

Even longer afterwards, they’d

A couple days had passed since then.

While he knew they could handle it, he still couldn’t help but worry about those years. Even when he saw Dream, having fun in an environment he obviously wanted more of at all times, he couldn’t stop his thoughts from wandering just a little off into the future, where the sadder histories were laid out.

He didn’t want to see them.

So he cheered when Dream, a once sharp-worded man, said his first proper words.

So he laughed when Dream, a once skilled man in all but failing, fell trying to swing a sword.

So he smiled when Dream, a once hysteric, panicked person too paranoid to even rest, slept peacefully through a night, nightmares of neither chains and cages nor fire and obsidian haunting him.

And he inevitably had that vision crash when he woke up to sobbing, to find Dream curled up near him on his bed, slightly hanging off by his legs. He had his hands scrunched around the blanket, loudly crying to anyone willing to listen.

He quickly reached his own arms around the smaller, (and god he seemed so small like this,) lightly rocking them both back and forth while he whispered comforting words to him. He knew Dream wouldn’t be aware enough at the moment to respond to any kind of input, so he just pulled him closer and continued talking in hushed tones.

When the crying finally reached an end, he slowly lifted Dream’s head to see his tear-streaked cheeks, red and puffy. He did his best not to make eye contact when he knew Dream would mostly still be running on instincts out of distress. He slowly shuffled them both to the side of the bed, before picking Dream up on his hip and slowly walking out of his room and down the hallway.

He bumped an elbow against the small lever on the wall, turning on the lights in the bathroom before quietly pulling the door closed. He set Dream down on the side of tub, being careful with his hybrid parts as to not touch them too much. After gently prying the other off of him, he grabbed a small bowl and filled it with cold water.

///

Tommy finished tying up Dream’s hair, which they hadn’t cut due to not having ‘present’ Dream’s permission, and watched as the younger ran down into the basement.

Ghostbur hummed, making Tommy jump. Since when had he been there?

“You know, you act like a parent to him,” Ghostbur floated slightly above the floor in the middle of the hallway where they were stood. Tommy stayed put, staring at a random point on the floor until he finally turned to the other, “Was it like that during exile?”

“Kind of, yeah,” Tommy turned away to walk into the kitchen, “We’d often spend time together, and we took care of each other. We were friends, even if nobody believes it.”

Ghostbur sat down on the counter as he watched Tommy search for snacks in the cupboards, “Why did nobody believe you?”

A box was placed onto the counter, “Being exiled for a month or two isn’t exactly incredible for your trust,” Tommy muttered, closing the cupboard and moving onto the next one, “So when I didn’t really trust them not to fucking… exile me again, they thought Dream had manipulated me. After that, my opinion of anything was basically null.”

“But didn’t you have Tubbo?”

Tommy sighed, closing the second cupboard to face Ghostbur, “We were friends, sure, but… He still exiled me, y’know? And he didn’t even visit me. Apparently the only time he came to Logstedshire was after I’d already left, just to see what it was like. Dream still lived there so he told me about it.”

Ghostbur grabbed the box, inspecting it while Tommy searched for some milk. The box contained homemade chocolate chip cookies. He put the box down, “Tommy, from your perspective, what happened when they locked Dream in prison?”

“Did nobody tell you?” Tommy froze for a moment as footsteps could be heard upstairs, however calmed when they stopped without anyone showing up, “They were all so fuckin’ proud of it as well, those dickheads.”

“Not really, just the basics. They thought it was too sad for me to handle,” Ghostbur confessed, swinging his legs and fiddling with his hands. He looked up, “I don’t know a lot of what went on with the prison, actually.”

Finally having found a small glass bottle of milk, Tommy grabbed the cookies and walked to the staircase before stopping to wait for Ghostbur to follow him. The ghost hopped up, floating towards him and following him up the stairs, where they turned to the second room to the right, or Tommy’s room.

Looking around, the room was a bit of a mess. The blanket from his bed was halfway on the floor, one pillow following it. On the nightstand nearby, there were dried flowers, slightly crumbled and definitely hell to clean up.

“Don’t mind the mess, Dream gets very… prone to fighting, I guess. Probably some child thing,” Tommy placed his cookies and milk on the drawer next to the door. He closed the door when Ghostbur was fully inside, “So, what do you want to know?”

“Well, why do you think he tried to kill Tubbo?” Ghostbur questioned. Tommy winced at the bluntness, “And uh, I heard he collected attachments! Why’d he do that?”

Tommy gathered the blanket from the floor, dropping it onto the bed unceremoniously, “About Tubbo, I’m not quite sure. I think it was just him acting out of complete impulse so that he wouldn’t kill him, but honestly, no fucking clue,” He gently pulled Ghostbur to the bed, pushing him down, “The attachment thing was just him being scared, he had realised that attachments had hurt everyone on the server so he tried to kind of… Collect them all, so he could lock them away and nobody would have trouble. It’s flawed logic, but you can kind of see where he was coming from. That thing about him not having attachments was bullshit by the way, as long as me and the server are alive he has at least two.”

“How did he lose two lives?” Ghostbur asked, processing the information. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said that he didn’t know much. Many people just… didn’t think of him as someone they could tell their history to, even if he could handle it.

(He could handle it, even if Phil would tell him about the ways he’d cried when he had first realised how horrible Alivebur had been.

He could.)

“Lost one life from Tubbo killing him,” Tommy picked up the snacks and made his way to Ghostbur’s side, laying down. Ghostbur cringed at the future complaints from Tommy about crumbs in his bed, “The second one, that was Sam, the warden. Fuck that guy.”

“Why didn’t you just tell them to let Dream go?”

“As I said, the moment I said Dream was a friend, my opinion wasn’t considered and I was just a fucking thing to throw pity onto. Nobody would’ve believed me,” Tommy spoke as he chewed on a cookie slowly.

In all honesty, he didn’t go on these walks just to see the stars or to feel the cold-

(He could just open a window. No need for all this.)

“Fucking idiots, god they’re so stubborn, bitches won’t fucking-“

He hit his axe into the nearest tree, swinging his arms with as much anger as he could.

-he did it to leave some anger behind, to ‘let out some steam’ as Ghostbur would say. To rant about his issues with everyone on the server.

“’Tommy’ this and ‘Tommy’ that until I say anything and then it’s just them, always them and never me-“

In one of the therapy sessions the rest of the server, aside from his family, had basically forced him into, Puffy had advised him to do something destructive with his energy. To channel his anger into something.

While he didn’t listen to most of her advice due to her being a horrible therapist and not fucking listening to him, that was something he had absolutely started doing. He had started chopping wood almost weekly, to the point that they didn’t know what they would even do with all of it.

“Do they not know what the fuck a friend is-“

Tubbo had been concerned the first time Tommy had come to him with three stacks of spruce logs, saying it was a gift for their ‘boundless friendship’. In reality, Tommy was too embarrassed to admit to Phil that he’d chopped two stacks more than usual that night.

He slammed his axe into a tree with the most force he could. He panted, before pulling it out and storing it away into his inventory. He huffed at the fallen trees around him, not feeling up to taking them all home and instead just replanting every sapling which had dropped down. He picked up the lantern, stepping away and beginning his trek back home.

He walked through the night, closing his eyes to listen to the distant rattle of early skeletons. There was an odd feeling in his heart, like a sense of urgency and distress but blurred and distant. He paid no mind to it, swinging his lantern. He searched his awareness for any food he might’ve somehow forgotten in his inventory, but could only identify some loose dirt, his communicator and his axe.

///

He slammed the axe into the last tree with the most force, before yanking it out and heavily breathing. He let himself stand for a moment, before stepping back to chop all the trees into smaller logs and replant most of the saplings.

While he held his axe to the wood, he suddenly heard a sharp sound and a quiet splash, far away from him. He wouldn’t have questioned it, were it not for his (one tenth) hybrid traits suddenly spazzing out about a part of his group being in danger.

He knew his familial trio was safe, so…

Wait-

But-

He immediately stood up, running to wherever his instincts would pull him. His lantern forgotten and axe in his inventory, he rushed by the now spawning mobs.

He found himself near the river close to the cottage, feeling of danger intensified by the closing distance. He ran along the side, until he spotted a subtle glow from further ahead. He continued, now swinging his axe out. He almost fell into the snow, but quickly recovered.

When he was close enough to the light, he spotted the gang of zombies surrounding the… ghost?

///

He took a longer way back, one which passed near a familiar river. While the server was going through a colder period at the moment, meaning it was frozen over, the river was usually one of their favourite sources of food, almost overflowing with salmon.

The odd feeling grew stronger as he walked. He got out his communicator, checking the server chat above his arm. The last messages were just people asking for materials, nothing about an odd feeling.

(This had happened to the entire server once before. During his exile, Dream had gotten sick once and accidentally made a mistake when going over the server code. Everyone felt a sudden sense of paranoia for about an hour, before DreamXD had to step in and fix it.)