Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Damage to thrusters. Damage to thrusters. Please land immediately.

“Yeah no shit ,” Dream hissed, kicking the ship into forced autopilot while he slipped on his suit. “I’ll fix it, just shut the fuck up!” He shouted at the screen, trying to swipe the alert away. It didn’t work, of course. The crappy A.I voice only spoke again.

Damage to thrusters. Damage to landing gear. Please land immediately.

“No,” The man replied plainly, glaring at the screen while he slipped on the boots. 

Would you like to signal for assistance?

“ No ,” Dream answered, keeping his voice steady so he couldn’t be misheard. That was the last thing he wanted right now. “Do not call for assistance. I can fix this,”

Crash imminent, please land immediately.

Dream groaned in annoyance, slipping on the helmet and rushing over to the exit hatch. “We won’t crash , you outdated piece of junk. We’ll just be stranded in space until we’re caught. Ah- Until I'm caught. You’re not alive, shut up,” He hissed, shaking his head.

He stepped through the door and activated the air seal, securing himself to the tether before opening the hatch, tools in hand. The man quickly slipped out along the side of the ship, still sputtering along with the troopers gaining in the distance. He did not need that right now. 

He pulled himself along over to the thrusters, careful not to get too close and burn a hole in his suit, or worse, burn his hand off. Luckily it seemed to be an outward problem, and he wouldn’t have to get his hands near the heat: When the guards shot at his ship they managed to bend the thrusters all out of shape, and in the process cutting off the supply of fuel and such. If he could bend it back just enough, get it unblocked, then he could speed out of here and find someone actually qualified to fix it .

Dream pulled out a massive magnet along with a mallet and got to work. He tried to hurry, growing tenser with every second that the troopers got closer, shooting out at him and missing most of the time just because of how freaking shaky his ship was. But eventually he managed to bend the thing back into reasonable shape and the ship shot forward .

Dream shrieked, flying off the back of the ship and nearly snapping off his tether. He gasped, fighting against the force and pulling his way back up to the hatch, using the tether as a rope to climb, until he made it inside and shut the door. The air pressure leveled out and the artificial gravity returned in a second before he rushed back into the main room of the ship and chucked off his helmet, sliding back into the pilot seat.

Thrusters are damaged. Land soon to seek repairs.

Dream laughed, “Fuck you,”

The man continued speeding away until he was out of sight of the guards, before slowing his ship a bit to conserve fuel, and slumping back in the chair with a sigh. “What the hell…” He muttered, rubbing his hands over his eyes. He’d never been what was considered a model citizen by any means, but he never expected to become a wanted criminal.

He leaned forward again, pulling up the news on the screen and watching the little holographic woman show the scene on Mars, where the guards now crowded around the palace. “ A man who goes by the name of Dream, previously employed by SMP Transport Co. made an attempted assassination on two members of the CLA. Authorities pursued him but it is claimed that he hijacked his own ship’s thrusters and got away, ”

Dream sighed, “What the fuck …” He muttered, glaring down at the screen. He hadn’t even been there . He was unloading some random crap that the officials ordered and when he left the warehouse he was already being chased. He didn’t understand when the guards had stuttered in on his comm, telling him to surrender for his crimes against the council. But for fuck’s sake, he didn’t do anything! Now he understood though. Clearly he’d been framed by someone , for some reason .

Tiredly, he turned off the news and pulled up his ship’s status, looking through his fuel levels and damages. It wasn’t good, and if he was a wanted criminal there were not a lot of places he could land that wouldn’t just turn him in right away. Crimes against the CLA were big . Nobody could let that go. If he was spotted, just about anyone would try to turn him in. Whether for the attention and rise in popularity thanks to the council, or just for whatever price was no doubt on his head.

Dream was screwed, and there wasn’t really much he could do about it.

So, he settled in his chair, curled up and tired after all of that . He kept the ship in steady autopilot, dozing off in hopes of getting some rest before he had to figure out what to do next. And as he slept, his ship flew further and further towards the edge of the solar system, and his fuel levels dropped lower and lower.

Chapter Text

Dream woke up in a cell. Immediately, he was freaking out. The fucking cops got him; he’d been arrested. He got to his feet, stumbling before rushing over to the wall, searching for the door. There wasn’t one. Why wasn’t there a door?

The man swallowed, looking around for any sign of the outside. But there were no windows either. Not even little peepholes for people to look in on him from outside the room. He was trapped in a box. A solid white box. Since when were prison rooms white? Was he even in prison? Or somewhere else?

He glanced down at his outfit, a jumpsuit of the same color. That wasn’t the typical prisoner’s uniform either. Was he in an insane asylum?! What did he do?! Did they think he was crazy or something?

A loud, strange noise went off somewhere outside the cell, startling Dream from his thoughts. He backed away from the wall, up against the other wall with nowhere else to go, and eyed the direction of the sound warily. He blinked, eyes widening in shock as part of the wall swished into itself to reveal a door; and beyond it, something distinctly not human .

It held out a weird looking gun thing at him as it entered the cell, followed by a few more that looked just like it. They were like skeletons, from what Dream could see. They had dark skin covered in dust, and they were so thin and tall that he could see their bones with ease. Their eyes were dark, hardly visible against their black skin, and even their teeth were charcoal.

The one leading continued holding the gun at him while the other two walked over to him with different items in their hands. One looked like a syringe . If Dream hadn’t been afraid before, he definitely was now.

“Hey- Fuck off!” He shouted, moving away from the things- the aliens . He swallowed. Aliens were real. That was great. But these ones clearly weren’t friendly. But really, he could probably take them, right? They were literally skin and bones. “I’m warning you,” He muttered, holding up his hands. “Come any closer and I’m gonna fuck you up, seriously.”

The aliens of course didn’t understand and continued towards him. Dream eyed the gun in the first one’s hands for a second, before flicking his gaze back to the two with the syringe and other sharp tools. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,”

They seemed to sense a change in him and the one with the gun barked out an order, making the alien with the syringe lunge forward in an attempt to stick him with it. Dream dodged to the side and shoved the skeletal-esque alien into the wall, wincing at the easy crack of bones and uncomfortable feel of dark blood now on his hands.

The others let out choked gasping noises and stepped back, the first one pointing his gun at Dream threateningly, spindly finger on the trigger. The man moved again, ducking under any attack there would have been and slamming into the alien, making him fall hard to the floor. He raced out of the cell, finding even more dark skeletal aliens outside in the hall. They let out shrieks; ugly shocked sounds upon seeing him, and many pulled out more weapons like the weird gun.

Dream got through them with ease. It was unnerving to think about how easily he was murdering these things, hands and jumpsuit coated in dark blood. But it was better than being dissected, or whatever they planned to do to him. 

He grabbed hold of another that was aiming something at him and slammed it into the wall, dark bones cracking against whatever control panel had been there. A bunch of doors hidden in the walls whished open and Dream took off running for the door on the far end that just had to be an exit. But something struck his back, sending a jolt through his body and making him shriek in pain. He fell to the ground writhing uncontrollably as one of the aliens stepped over to him. 

Dream hissed through his teeth, unable to get any words out before he was shot again and his vision went dark.

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Techno wasn’t quite sure why the doors suddenly all opened, but he wasn’t complaining. Easy escape for him. Honestly, the withels that captured him were going to have a terrible time now, considering that the only reason he had been caught was because he’d already been injured beforehand, and one of them managed to land a dirty shot on him.

After exiting his cell he found a surprising amount of the withels already dead on the floor. His escape would be even easier than anticipated. He continued through the hall, taking out the occasional withel that was still alive, and after a while he found himself outside an open cell. All of them were open, strangely. Inside was something he’d never seen before, whether race or creature he didn’t know, but it was unconscious on the floor regardless.

He carefully entered the cell, stepping around various bodies and over towards it. It was smaller than him, and less armored. It’s skin could be pierced so easily and it’d just die, he’d imagine. Crouching down carefully at its side, he tilted his head to examine it. It was covered in withel blood. “Hm, were you the one to attack all of the crew, odd thing?” He questioned quietly, reaching out and poking its face. It remained unresponsive.

Techno chuffed in thought, glancing out the door and back at the thing on the floor. He decided to take it with him in his escape. He scooped him up in one arm with ease and stood back on his feet, making his way out and down the hall. He killed a few more withels before making it to the bridge and heading back to where they abandoned his ship. And he took the weird thing with him.

Chapter Text

When Dream woke up again, he was in a different room. Hewas still in an alien ship, from what he could tell, since there was basically nothing he recognized as man made in the room. This time, instead of white walls and floor and ceiling, the small room had a weird mat on the floor and a simple wardrobe in it; along with a window and a visible outline in the wall for a door.

Dream got up off the mat and walked over to the door, feeling along the edges for a way to open it. He could feel the crease, but it wouldn’t move. With a frustrated huff he moved back over to the mat and plopped down on top of it, looking around the room for anything to use to escape or as a weapon in case some new alien showed up. There wasn’t anything . The room was bare.

He looked over to the window, frowning at the sight of stars whishing by outside. Only stars, no familiar planets or other ships. He really was out of reach, captured by aliens. 

The man snapped his attention back to the door when he heard it swish open, and his heart dropped at the sight of the new alien ducking into the room. Ducking , because it was that fucking massive. Its skin looked to be tough and armoured, and it had hooved feet and four fingered hands holding a tray of something. It’s eyes had dark marks beneath them and there were four, two in the front, and two slightly lower and set back on the face more, no doubt giving it a wider range of vision, and a weird snubbed nose like a bat or pig. Off its back was a long, strong looking tail and it had weird tusk-like horns that curled around from behind its pointed ears.

It walked further into the room, flicking its long braid of dusty brown hair over its shoulder before settling down on the floor and placing the tray before Dream.

The man only sat still as a statue, staring up at the massive hulking alien before him in petrified fear. There was no fucking way he could fight this one off. The alien didn’t do much, though. It was talking, or at least making noises. Dream couldn’t understand. He didn’t think it expected him to. It just spoke in a deep rumbly voice while gesturing to the tray with food and looking around the room, before its gaze moved back to Dream.

He flinched slightly and swallowed, not sure what it wanted. But it grabbed the tray and nudged it closer to him, pointing to the food on it, and he was pretty sure he got the message. It wanted him to eat. He wasn’t very fond of the idea, though. The food itself looked like lumpy purple bread along with what was probably a fruit that resembled a lemon. But, how was he supposed to know if it was poisoned or something? Was he even on the same ship? What if this guy worked for the other skeletal things?

The alien grunted, ears flicking as it gestured to the food again. When Dream continued to do nothing it let out what seemed like a sigh and broke off a chunk of the bread, holding it out to him. Dream leaned away, eyeing it skeptically. He glanced back up at the alien, and he was pretty sure it was glaring at him. With an irritated sounding huff it popped the piece of the bread in its own mouth and chewed, swallowing it down and making a very obvious See? gesture.

Dream blinked, glancing down at the bread and lemon-thing. That was a fairly decent sign that it wasn't poisoned. Well, at least whatever could be poison in it wasn’t poisonous to this particular alien. But, he knew he’d need to eat eventually, so with a resigned sigh he carefully reached out and grabbed the bread, bringing it close and taking a bite.

It wasn’t half bad. There was some kind of flavour that his taste buds were having a hard time processing, but aside from that it was a lot like some sort of tea bread. He slowly ate more until it was half gone, and placed the remainder back on the tray, then grabbing the strange fruit and bringing it close to inspect.

He glanced up at the alien, unsure if this was something he was supposed to peel, or just bite into, or maybe use as a weapon to escape. He doubted that last choice, but it was certainly an option. The alien reached out and pulled the fruit away from him, and sliced it down through its horn-tusk thing, cutting it in half. It handed half back, and took a bite of its own half, skin and all.

Dream did the same, and found the flavour to be really sweet. He quickly ate up the rest of the fruit and looked up at the alien, who really had only taken the one bite before stopping to watch him. It glanced between its fruit and Dream, before passing it over to him without a sound and getting up to its feet. It walked to the door, glancing back at him with a slightly tilted head and said something he couldn’t understand before leaving the room and shutting the door behind it.

Dream sighed, setting his fruit down next to the remaining bread for later, just in case he wouldn’t get more food. This was certainly an upgrade from his previous situation, but he wasn’t too keen on being some giant alien’s pet.

He settled down on the strange mat, curling in on himself and dragging a thin blanket from the side up over him. He did his best to settle down to sleep, hoping he wouldn’t wake up on an operation table getting inspected like he thought he would be before.

Chapter Text

The thing was weird. And on that topic, Techno really needed to give it a name. He couldn’t call it thing forever. But anyway, it was really cautious. It clearly didn’t think the food was safe to eat until he proved that it was by taking a bite himself. He wanted to get it used to him before he let it out of the room though. He didn’t want it running off and getting into trouble.

So, slowly, he worked at getting it familiar with him. And after a couple of cycles it seemed a lot less cautious around him. It rambled on with its strange sounds, ate the food he brought for it, even got up and walked around. Soon, Techno decided that he could bring it out into the ship.

He exited the room, the thing following after him cautiously. It stepped out into the hall, eyes narrowed as it looked around in the bright lighting.

Techno chuckled, “C’mon,” He said, gesturing for it to follow him down the hall. “You need a bath. You’re still in bloody cell uniform,”

It hurried after him, hands held close to itself and looking anxious. Techno led it down the hall, pointing out the rooms and explaining what they were, mostly just for lack of anything else to do. He’d been on his ship alone for a long time. Sure, he’d land occasionally or talk to people on his comm, but having someone in person to speak to, even if they didn’t understand, was probably really good for him.

He made it to the washroom and started a bath, using gestures to try and tell the thing that it needed to get clean. It glared at him, and started barking out something he couldn’t understand, pointing to the door. Techno huffed and walked back out to the hall, shutting the door behind him. This creature had to be somewhat sapient if it had a concept of privacy. He wondered how far it went. Was it as smart and aware as any other race? Or more on the level of a somewhat intelligent animal, like a rysha?

After a moment, Techno checked back in, glancing inside and seeing that it was in the bath now. He walked back inside, keeping his gaze away for its sake and pulling out soap for it, and a towel for afterwards. “Now, I’m going to have to find you some clothes. I don’t think anything I have will fit you perfectly, all things considered, so you’ll have to get used to it,” He explained, “Hm. I wonder if I have any self-fitters,”

He set the soaps on the side of the bath and hung the towel up nearby. When he turned to leave again he noticed the thing glaring up at him, curled in on itself and hidden in bubbles. Techno chuckled, exiting the room and heading down the hall to search for spare clothes. The thing was weird. But he was growing fond of it.

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Fucking weird ass alien. Fucking giant round bathtub. Seriously, who made bathtubs so rounded? There was nowhere to sit except in the exact middle, and if he did that he’d be underwater! At least he had some privacy. It was better than what he expected, honestly. All of this was. Going from weird black skeletal things that probably wanted to dissect him to a giant boarish thing that treated him like a weird dog was a definite upgrade, even if being held captive by aliens in itself was not so good.

Dream quickly washed up while the alien was out of the room and stepped out of the strange tub, wrapping himself up in the ridiculously large towel. He sat on the floor, waiting for the alien to come back, hopefully with clothes. Because he really wasn’t keen on the idea of putting the bloody jumpsuit back on.

When it did return, it handed him another one piece set of clothing, and frankly it looked way too big for him. But he wasn’t about to turn down clean clothes so he waited for the alien to leave before slipping it on and zipping up the side. As soon as he had, it made a quite whoosh noise and shrunk down to fit him, perfectly his size and not even slightly too tight. Dream blinked, awed as he turned his arms over to examine the clothing. That was amazing.

He walked back out of the bathroom and found the alien waiting there for him, seemingly talking to a device in its hand. Dream stood quietly beside it until it was done talking, before it turned to him and said something, gesturing for him to follow once again down the hall. Dream did, and was led to the bridge, where the alien sat down and brought up some images on the front viewing point. 

Dream sat down in the copilot’s chair, yelping slightly when that too shrunk down to size and lifted up so he could see better. “Man,” He muttered, chuckling awkwardly, “This high tech shit is gonna take some getting used to,”

He looked up at the window-screen, watching the alien bring up images of a particular planet covered in sand. There were pictures of rolling dunes and long abandoned civilizations, along with smaller, more active settlements. The alien was talking about something, ears flicking and four eyes darting around the many images on the screen. Dream had no idea what he was talking about, but he had a feeling they were going to this planet soon. Context clues and all that.

He only hoped he’d be able to understand what was going on a little better by then.

Chapter Text

Techno switched to manual piloting as his ship approached Aren’a. The planet’s sun shone harshly down on the surface, strong winds blowing across the dunes. Techno steered the ship around the two moons and down closer to the ground, flying by over the sand and kicking up a cloud of it. 

Ur’Harran was still some distance away, even by ship, and it was especially difficult to spot this time of day. The strong winds blew the sands over the dome of the city, hiding it from view while at the same time providing shade and helping it stay cool in the hot hours of the day. But this did make it really hard to find, and it was the only settlement of any sort on the planet that wasn’t hidden entirely or labeled “savage”.

With nothing else to do but wait, Techno turned the ship off towards some large ruins in the distance. He landed his ship on a long, massive bridge between two structures that now laid mostly broken and buried in the sand, lost to time. Once the ship was safely landed, the creature previously sitting in the co-pilot seat slipped out and walked up to the screen to look outside.

Techno chuckled, laying back in his own seat and tilting his head slightly. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” He chuffed, “This whole structure, bridge and buildings and maybe even a city now beneath the dunes, was all built a very long time ago, in what locals call the Khrome-age. No one really knows what happened, though; why all the old cities and buildings are long abandoned. There’s theories, of course, but no real proof,” He rambled, glancing back over to the thing which had turned to him, eyebrows scrunched together in what seemed to be a confused look.

Techno laughed, “You don’t have any idea what I’m saying, do you?” It blinked, and slowly went back to looking outside. Techno sighed, “We might have to fix that, assuming you even can comprehend language. Maybe all those sounds you make are just for the fun of it, who knows,”

He slipped out of his seat and out of the bridge, gesturing for the creature to follow. “You know, I really need a name for you,” He stated, glancing down at the being. Hmm, I think I'll call you Praniko. It means green thing, which is really only because your eyes are green. And your clothes, but that’s technically because of me,” He explained, giving the creature a grin.

And just to get the point across, he pointed down at it and stated, “Praniko. That’s you. Praniko,”

It blinked, slowly pushing his hand away before mimicking the action and pointing at him, barking out a word that sounded a lot like the word red . “Huh, I’m Red, eh? That’s alright with me,” He chuckled, looking down at it as he focussed on changing his color to the closest to red as he could, coming out with a dark reddish-pink.

Praniko’s eyes widened in shock, and Techno laughed. “Didn’t know I could change color, did you? Pretty neat, huh,”

The being just blinked and shook its head from side to side a few times, seeming shocked. “Well, alright then, Praniko,” He continued, walking down the hall and to his gear room. “We need something a little more suited for the temperature. And maybe weapons, just in case. You never know,” He said, changing back to his normal pinkish brown.

Praniko just sneezed and rubbed at its nose before rushing after him, following at his side and rambling out nonsense barks and hisses that Techno couldn’t understand, but was content to listen to regardless.

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Prawn e co ? What the fuck did that mean? Prawn and Co.? Like fucking shrimp? Was this guy calling him a damn shrimp?! Better hopes he likes the name Bacon because that was what he got in return. Well, assuming it was a he. It was probably a he. If not, that wasn’t his problem.

Dream followed Bacon down the ship’s halls and to some sort of weapon storage room, where the alien sorted through gear and weapons of all sorts. Dream just sat on the floor watching him, occasionally piping up and throwing in the odd insult or chide that wasn’t understood, but was replied to nonetheless with alien nonsense that he couldn’t comprehend either.

Bacon pulled out some sort of mask and walked over to Dream, handing it to him while pulling an identical one over his own face to demonstrate. The mask, much like everything else, instantly adjusted to fit the alien’s strange face, and kicked on with a hiss of air. He rumbled out some explanation that Dream was sure was nothing more than talking for the sake of talking, and the man pulled his own mask up to show he sort of understood.

It hissed and seemed to block out all the air that wasn’t coming in from its own filters, and if he had to guess Dream would say it was to keep sand and other unwanted things out of your lungs. “Pretty neat,” He said, giving a thumbs up. “Now I don’t need to smell burnt bacon anymore,”

The alien gave him an unsure but somewhat knowing look, like he knew what Dream was saying was offensive, he just didn't know how. He huffed and pulled down the mask again, moving back to looking through weapons, occasionally picking one out and sticking it somewhere on his belt.

Dream sighed, removing his own mask and laying down on the ground. “Fucking dumbass Bacon,” He muttered. He got an irritated Prawn e co in response.

Chapter Text

There was something outside the ship. Dream might be going crazy, but he was convinced. He could hear it. The sun overhead had set some ways, bathing the planet in a deep red sunset that was honestly slightly unsettling, and the winds had died down slightly. Dream stood in the bridge, looking out the viewpoint screen, and trying to find the source of the sound. 

It had to be somewhere nearby. Maybe beneath the massive stone bridge they were on, or a little ways out in the sand. But he could hear it ; something moving around. He tried to tell Bacon but that was a little difficult when he couldn’t speak to him .

But it seemed like they were getting ready to go soon anyway, so maybe it wouldn’t be a problem. The alien got out of the ship and Dream followed, both wearing masks to not breathe in sand while they, well, mostly Bacon, went around making sure the ship hadn’t been damaged by the harsh winds or sands.

The sands shifted in the dunes below, stealing Dream’s attention once again. There had to be something out there. He just knew it. There was no way he was just hearing things.

He slowly watched over to the edge of the bridge, looking over a broken chunk that let him see down at the sands below. Something was moving beneath them . Dream swallowed, backing away and turning back to Bacon. “Eh, Bacon. Alien guy, come look at this. I’m at least fifty percent sure this is bad news,” He stated, waving his arms to get the alien’s attention.

He walked over to Dream, tilting his head in confusion. But the man noticed how one of his lower eyes on the side flicked out to look at the sand, soon followed by the rest of his gaze. His eyes narrowed as he stepped closer to the wall of the bridge, actually tall enough to see over it without needing a chunk to be gone like Dream. His ears were pinned back against his tusk-horn things, and Dream was willing to bet that meant something like stress or deep thought.

The alien took a step back, eyes still focussed on the moving sand, before they widened and something broke out of the surface. Dream shrieked, nearly falling over as a massive red, dragon-esque thing crawled out of the sand, shaking the dunes off its scales.

Bacon barked out some order, grabbing Dream by the back of his clothes and tugging him away as the giant creature wound its long body around one of the supporting pillars of the bridge and began pulling itself up.

They quickly ran back over to the ship, and Dream could only stare in shock as the monster raised its head over the side of the bridge, blinking giant black eyes and flicking a large forked tongue. Nobody moved, not even an inch, and the only sound was the wind over the sand and the monster’s breathing. It blinked again, once slowly, before its face contorted into a snarl and it roared .

Dream’s breath left him in one fell swoop and he retreated under the ship, hiding in the shadow. Not that it would do much, but he currently felt like his heart was going to explode and needed some kind of sense of safety. He wasn’t cut out for this. Alien planets, monsters and unknown races and technology. He thought being pursued by troopers and threatened with life in prison was scary, but now he was certainly considering it the better option.

Bacon pulled out one of his many alien weapons and aimed up at the monster crawling up onto the bridge, but before he could get a shot in, something let out a high pitched howl and stole his attention away. The two turned to look at where the sound had come from, and hopping down from the remains of a tower at one end of the bridge, bathed in red from the massive setting sun, was another alien. 

This one was a lot different from any of the aliens Dream had seen thus far. Which, to be fair, was only two. This one was still really tall, like most he had seen had been, but it was thin, and not quite as tall as Bacon. It had large pointed ears like a fox, with darker tips and a weird zig-zag pattern along the outer sides. It had a long tail that seemed to be mostly for balance, and it ran over to them in a blur of brown and white.

It rushed up to Bacon, yammering out something in alien language Dream still didn’t know, before hopping over in front of the monster, tilting its head slowly and swaying its tail from side to side. Dream winced at the loud, unnerving clicking sound it made, and even Bacon’s ears pinned back uncomfortably.

After a few moments, the monster began to retreat, leaving them stunned, and the new alien turned back to them, looking unimpressed, maybe even annoyed. It looked up at Bacon, talking to him and sounding irritated. Dream just took the chance with the closer proximity to take in the rest of its features.

In the rush of it running over to him he had missed the fact that its eyes were pure white, and that it had glasses to boot. On top of that, it had weird fuzzy antenna looking things on its head, pinned back when it hissed something out at Bacon, and a dark diamond mark between its eyes.

It huffed, throwing its arms up in the air and whacking the taller alien with its tail, and Dream noticed that along with everything else, it had weird little wing things on the sides of its waist. But they weren’t feathered, and certainly didn’t look like they’d be useful for flying. Maybe it had something to do with the sand.

With a final hiss and spit of what was no doubt an insult, the new alien sighed and tilted its head, narrowing its white eyes as it noticed Dream. It blinked, squinting at him for a moment, before letting out a shriek and nearly falling back off the bridge. Somehow, Dream didn’t get the feeling it was because he was shockingly handsome.

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“What in the sands!? Why is there a human with you?!” This new guy, Wil’buhr supposedly, exclaimed. “What is wrong with you?!”

Techno blinked, “I’m afraid I don’t know what a human is, sorry. Is that what this guy is?” He asked, pointing over to Praniko. “Bit of a weird name, but alright,”

“Wha-? Yes! Do you have any idea how dangerous humans are?!” Wil’buhr continued, looking up at him like he was insane. Which, honestly, wasn’t the first time someone looked at him like that.

Techno sighed, “Nope. As far as I’m aware, it’s just a little guy. Look how small he is,” He chuckled, holding a hand above Praniko’s head.

Wil’buhr hissed, ears folded thin together and pinned back in a mix of fear and aggression. “He could kill us !” Techno raised an eyebrow. Wil’buhr huffed, correcting himself. “He could kill me ,”

“So it is a ‘he’?” 

Wil’buhr snorted, “Yes. Most often, human males and females are easy to tell apart. But both are equally dangerous. Ah, anyway , why is he with you ?!”

“I found him after escaping a hostile ship. He was unconscious and covered in blood. I couldn’t just leave him there,” He replied, patting Praniko on the head. “He’s just a little guy. How is he supposed to defend himself in the wide, wide universe?”

Somehow, Wil’buhr didn’t seem convinced. His whiskers curled back and he inhaled deeply. “Alright, I’m going to assume that he won’t kill me, at least for now. But what are you two doing out here in general? You look like someone who’d be more interested in-”

“We’re heading to Ur’Harren,” Techno finished.

Wil’buhr huffed, ears drooped to the sides, “Yeah. As I assumed.”

“But you’re Turidenti, right?” He continued, questioning the stranger, “You probably know your way around here better than anyone.”

“Yes, I am,” Wil’buhr replied, already turned away and moving back down the bridge, hunched over in nearly a crawl as he examined bits of stone in the faded sunset light. “What’s it to you?” He asked, looking over his shoulder.

Techno grinned smugly, “I bet you know how to get to Ur’Harren,”

The turidenta hissed, ears pinned back and face scrunched up in aggression, sharp, jagged teeth showing. He spat out some foreign insult and turned back towards him, tail flicking around behind him, “Ah?! You’re implying that I as one of my people would know the way into a high security city we are prohibited from entering!?” He snapped, “You think that just because I’m a savage turidenta that I know how to sneak into that disgusting colonizers’ capital?!”

Techno stood his ground, looking down at the shorter male. “Yes,”

Wil’buhr hissed, shying back just slightly, virtually vibrating with rage. “Ack!” He exclaimed, muttering something under his breath before continuing, “ Unfortunately I do know how to get into Ur’Harren. But I refuse to help the likes of you! Especially with your freaky human ,” He added, glaring over at Praniko.

Techno sighed, hanging his head back in exasperation before looking back to the turidenta, “Can I pay you?”

Wil’buhr snorted, giving a grin, “Nothing you offer would be worth my interest, frehtash,”

Techno glowered at the insult, but reached into his pocket and pulled out the jewels regardless. “I have these, and more. And even some higher tech gear if you’re willing to assist,”

Wil’buhr’s white eyes widened at the sight of the shining jewels, “Where did you get those?” He questioned, tilting his head.

Techno smirked, “I get around. So, what do you say?”

The turidenta sighed, tapping his foot against the stone of the bridge rapidly in thought. “Agh, fine !” He huffed, snatching the jewels from Techno’s hand and promptly shoving a large blue one into his mouth with a loud crunch . He hummed contently, tail swaying behind him and ears pinned back as he pocketed the rest. After swallowing he turned back to Techno with a pout, “Alright, but I hope you know I’ll have to be in your ship to give directions,” He grinned.

Techno exhaled, “Yes, yes, just don’t mess anything up, alright?”

“The implication insults me , sir,”

Chapter Text

“Keep up, frehtash, we’re not even inside yet,” Wil’buhr hissed up ahead, and Techno could practically hear his smug grin as he hurried across the sand with ease.

Even Praniko was having an easier time through the sand than Techno himself was.

He sighed intensely, brushing escaped hair from his braid back out of his face. He looked up at the massive misshapen dune looming overhead, bits of the dome beneath showing through as the wind blew sand off the top.

“Come on, come on!” Wil’buhr demanded, “You need to hurry. We’re doing this under the cover of night for a reason !”

“I was originally going to try and find it at night. You’re not sneaky,” Techno retorted with a huff. Wil’buhr just flicked sand at him with his tail.

Techno turned to Praniko who was somewhat glaring up at Wil’buhr. He looked to Techno, gave him a strange look with widened eyes and lips pressed thin and it could clearly only mean silent annoyance. Techno chuckled, pointing ahead at the turidenta and holding his hands up in a mock surrender motion.

Praniko snorted, holding a hand up over his face despite the mask. Techno grinned but quickly schooled his expression when Wil’buhr looked back, glancing between the two in suspicious confusion. His gaze stuck on Praniko and he asked, somewhat skeptical, “What’s going on with your human?”

Techno sighed casually, holding his hands up, “He’s just like that sometimes. What can I say?”

Wil’buhr narrowed his eyes but turned back ahead a moment later, hurrying over the sand and searching around the dune for something in particular. He started digging around in the sand, long, freaky fingers chucking the stuff behind him and most likely hitting Techno on purpose.

As he did this, for whatever reason, Praniko grew anxious about something. “ Red, Rehddd, ”

Techno looked to him in confusion, and found him pointing out into the open sands frantically. “What’s wrong?” He asked, confused. He followed his gaze, squinting in the dark before he managed to spot something. The sand was moving. Not quite to the same level that it was when the lywhirn tried to attack them, but still noticeable. 

“Uh, Wil’buhr?” He began, “Something’s coming this way,”

The turidenta popped his head out of the hole he’d dug in the sand, looking over in question, “Hm?” He asked, shaking his hair free of the grains. He squinted, whiskers swaying slightly in the wind as he tried to spot the movement.

He crawled out of the hole, and Techno moved closer to Praniko, stepping in front of him in case there was any danger. He didn’t really believe Wil’buhr’s claims that the human could not only protect himself, but seriously harm others.

The movement got closer, mere feet away, before something burst out of the sands and flew at Wil’buhr, tackling him and sending both tumbling down into his hole with a shocked howl from the turidenta.

“Wil’buhr?!” Techno called, hoping he wouldn’t lose his guide already. But, well, if he did, he’d at least get to keep that gear he promised him. So it wasn’t a really big deal.

In response he got a laugh, and muffled talking, before Wil’buhr crawled back out of the hole with something clinging to his back, peering at them from over his shoulder.

Techno blinked, narrowing his eyes. “Care to explain?”

The turidenta laughed, “This is Niki Niha’chu.” He introduced, “She’s my friend. And a turiétaor. She knows the sands even better than me,”

Techno looked to Niki, who’s bright yellow eyes were glowing in the low light of the night. He couldn’t see much, but if the sharp looking fangs sticking out of her mouth were anything to go by, he didn’t want to upset her. “Hello, Niki,” He introduced, bowing slightly. Praniko did the same by his example. “I am Techno’Blade, and this is Praniko,”

Niki hummed, sliding off of Wilbur’s back and down into the sand before popping back up beside the human, looking up at him curiously. “Wow, a real human. Isn’t that cool, Wil?”

Wilbur sighed, “Yes. And dangerous. Be careful,”

Niki just giggled, flashing her teeth at the turidenta, “I will, don’t worry.” She flicked her head, getting long sandy pinkish hair out of her face in order to look up at Praniko better. “He’s so small and fleshy. I imagined humans would be a lot more scary looking,” She admitted, voice quiet. Which Techno was grateful for, since everyone else seemed keen on loudly announcing their presence to everyone.

Praniko himself seemed somewhat confused, if not unsettled, and he turned to Techno with a lost look. “Ah,” Techno muttered, looking back to Wil’buhr, “As touching as this reunion or whatever is, we need to get into the city. Can you help with that or not?”

“Oh, yes,” The male in question huffed, glancing to the side with enough attitude to get him thrown in prison if Techno were someone of higher importance, “Come on now, follow me,” He instructed, slipping back down into his hole.

Niki went after him, humming as she swam through the sand, making it easier to move through. She dove down through the sand beside the hole, leaving Techno and Praniko to make their decision. 

With a sigh, Techno turned to Praniko, “Ready?” He asked, gesturing to the hole. The human’s only response was a head tilt and a raise of his shoulders. Techno took that as a decent ‘alright’. “Okay then, Praniko, let’s follow two strangers into a hole in the sand in the middle of the night. I don’t see this going wrong whatsoever,”

Chapter Text

The furry alien whose name sounded basically the same as Wilbur, assuming the word he had been hearing was the guy’s name, was leading them down through a tunnel that had been exposed by him digging his little hole. He was quite glad that the weird sand mermaid couldn’t follow them through due to the fact that it was a stone tunnel and not sand, because frankly it kind of freaked him out. Nothing should have the capability of looking so innocently cute but also freakishly dangerous at the same time.

They continued down the tunnel until Wilbur led them out into the city through a trapdoor hidden under sand. The three of them carefully climbed out, silent as possible on the sand and cracking pathways as Wilbur hurried on through the alley, gesturing for them to follow.

Dream frowned, looking around anxiously. They had to be in some poorer part of the city. He couldn’t think of any other explanation for the shoddy buildings built so close together. He’d imagine that the further into the city you got, with the higher the dome was, the more extravagant the buildings and technology would be. But that didn’t change the fact that he was worried. It seemed like a hit and a miss when it came to these aliens’ reactions of him, and more often than not, it wasn’t good.

“Prawn e co?”

Dream blinked, turning to Bacon who was looking down at him with what seemed to be concern. The man sighed, “Sorry. I’m just anxious, don’t worry,” He muttered, waving his hand dismissively and giving a shrug. “I’ll be fine. Keep doing what you’re doing,”

Bacon narrowed his eyes before seeming to decide that it was fine. He turned back down the alley after Wilbur, and followed. Dream sighed, trailing behind the two. Wilbur shrunk back after some time, nearly hiding behind Bacon as they got to the more populated and open parts of the city. Dream was beginning to think that maybe he wasn’t allowed here.

As they progressed deeper into the city, with the ceiling getting higher and higher, even beginning to show the night sky as some of the sand above blew away, Dream started to relax, just slightly. It was still a highly stressful, overwhelming new and potentially dangerous situation, but seeing such unique and beautiful buildings and architecture undiscovered by mankind was kind of amazing.

The city seemed to be on a backwards day cycle, with artificial lights making the place bright and lively, while he’d assume that everyone rested during the day when it was hot and the city was buried by sand. Tall buildings ranging from white to orange in color towered up towards the ceiling, accented with gold and even with literally trees growing out of the tops of some. They had glassless windows letting wind blow through, and amazing flying vehicles moving from place to place. It really wasn’t anything like the old ruins he’d seen before, half devoured by the dunes.

Bacon didn’t seem all that worried. At least, not when compared to Wilbur. That guy was a nervous wreck; ears pinned down to his head and shoulders raised high. He shuffled along close behind the taller alien and kept himself small; unseen. Which, somehow, confused Dream. He actually saw quite a few aliens like him around, so he couldn’t imagine that it was a species thing. Maybe he just committed a crime or something. Oh god, Dream was helping criminals wasn’t he?

Well, technically he himself was a criminal too. But that didn’t really make him feel any better about it.

They kept going until they reached another dome, though much smaller than the massive one housing a fucking city . It seemed to be in the center of the place, so it was likely very important. Bacon exchanged some words with Wilbur, who promptly ran off after their conversation, and Dream was led inside by the taller alien. He really had no way of knowing what they were doing here, so he just kept quiet, trying to stay out of sight as much as he could in case his presence caused an uproar.

He trailed after Bacon through winding halls and past important looking rooms until they came to a golden framed door. Bacon held his hand up to a strange scanner, winced as a tiny needle came out and pricked his blood before the door whished open, and they walked in. Instantly it was clear that the room was of some importance. There were multiple doors leading off from it, a large ornate desk, walls of windows looking out over the city. Dream wouldn’t be surprised if this was some alien president’s office.

Standing before the desk, looking through holographic tablets, was another alien. This one was shorter than Wilbur and Bacon, but definitely not as thin as Wilbur. He actually looked a lot like a human, but with a longer face and copper-like horns jutting out around his head like a crown. Dream was assuming it was male due to the brown beard that matched its hair. He looked up at them, blinking deep blue eyes before speaking.

Dream of course, did not understand, and tried his best to stay out of sight while Bacon spoke with him. That went on for some time, volume and tone changing between tense to loud and demanding to back to a forced calm, and eventually someone was waved in to take Dream away while they discussed whatever.

The man was tense as he was led away by the new alien, though it seemed to be the same race as the one back in the room. The only difference was that instead of a crown of copper-colored horns, it only had a few in the front, more like a headband, and they looked more like silver. They continued down the halls until reaching a large white room that reminded Dream of a hospital, and immediately he was put off.

“If you guys dissect me or something, you better know I’m going to fucking fight back, alright?” He said awkwardly, being ushered over to a long adjustable table-chair thing. He hopped up on it, and had nothing else to do but wait after the alien left the room.

Maybe he was overreacting though. Bacon probably wouldn’t bring him here just to be experimented on or anything. This was a checkup. Maybe he just wanted to make sure he was healthy, or try to figure out how to communicate with him.

But Dream began to have his doubts when a different alien entered the room with sharp, torturous looking tools and a wide grin on its face.

Chapter Text

Techno wasn’t pleased. One, Ur’Harren’s leader refused to help in the war. People were dying out there and this great powerful Pixl’Riffs wouldn’t do a thing about it. And on top of that, he had Praniko ushered off somewhere and didn’t tell him for what. He’d said something about dangerous humans, communication issues, and curiosity, but that didn’t bode well in Techno’s mind, so he finally gave up in trying to convince him and just asked. “Where is my human? We’ll be leaving now,”

“Ah, yes,” Pixl’Riff muttered, glancing out the window. “He’d be down the hall, through the door labeled PR.”

Techno narrowed his eyes, “What does the PR stand for?”

“It’s not important,” The hi’averi brushed off with a wave of his hand, “Although, do keep in mind that some of my… employees , if you will, can get a bid out of hand when they’re intrigued. Farewell, Techno’Blade,” He gave a bow of his head before quickly exiting the room, leaving Techno with a sinking feeling in his gut.

He hurried out the door the way Praniko was taken and down the hall in search of the room. It didn’t take long to find the one with a big label on the wall beside it saying P.R . Techno barged inside, but only to find it empty, save for another hi’averi cleaning some tools off in a sink.

“You,” He stated, moving over beside them, “Where is my human?”

The hi’averi blinked, looking nervous. “I, uh. It- it’s healthy and strong, and- and recovering in a different room,”

Techno glared, towering over the shorter being. “ Recovering from what ?”

They trembled in fear for a second before falling over, fainted, and Techno sighed, taking a quick scan of the equipment in the room before leaving and heading back down the hall, looking in every door for a sign of Praniko. It didn’t take long for him to find one that was locked and guarded by another stranger in a white coat, looking through readings on a tablet.

“Who are you?” Techno asked, walking right up to them and trying to peer inside the room.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” They replied, looking up with an uninterested gaze. “Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for my damn human, Praniko. And if you’ve hurt him I’ll have an entire fleet of warriors straight from Nethref here on your ass,” He threatened, ears pinned back in agression.

The stranger’s eyes widened, “Ah. You’re Techno’Blade then?” They choked out, “I was given orders to inspect this human , and uh, yes. Uhm, he has been inspected. Healthy and strong,” They chuckled awkwardly. 

Techno glared down at them, gaze dark, “ Move ,”

They stepped aside eagerly, opening the door with a hand scan and letting Techno duck inside. There, of course, he found Praniko, huddled in the corner of a bare recovery room, looking tense. His skin was paler than normal and he wasn’t blinking, staring at the floor with shuddering intensity and twitching hands. Techno was going to kill someone.

He hurried over beside the human, ducking down and trying to get his attention. “Praniko, are you alright? What happened?” He muttered, looking over him for injuries. 

The human trembled, jolting out of his trance and looking up at Techno with strained eyes. “They did something to me,” He whispered, shocking Techno into silence. “I think I’m wrong now. They’ve ruined something in me,”

He blinked, turning back to the still open door. He grit his teeth, mind racing with cruel ways to get that bastard hi’averi to talk. But first, he had to make sure Praniko was okay. He’d get his information later.

_____________________________

“So, from what I understand, they weren’t doing anything too bad. Trying to apply a translator and check his health and vitals. But they were also scanning his brain, trying to see how humans thought, and all together the result wasn’t good because supposedly his body reacted strangely to this,” Wil’buhr read off from the tablet Techno had taken from the hi’averi. He looked up at Techno, tilting his head, “He’s healthy, and the translator is clearly functioning properly, but the entire experience put heavy stress on him, especially the brain scan,”

Techno huffed, pacing back and forth in the sand outside the city. The sun would be rising soon, and they couldn’t afford to sit out here and get roasted. “I can’t imagine I’ll be welcomed back here any time soon, either. Not after what I did to that surgeon. And on top of that, Pixl’Riffs refused to aid our side in the war. He’s just going to sit here and watch this chaos unfold!”

Wil’buhr snorted, “I highly doubt that is what he said. Pixl’Riffs seems more the type to claim ‘he’s doing it for his people’,”

“Well, he did say that. But it’s the same thing, essentially,” Techno muttered, turning back to Praniko, who hadn’t spoken since the room. He was just sitting in the sand, circled by Niki as they tried to figure out what to do. “He can’t be the only powerful figure on this planet, though,” He stated, turning back to the turidenta, “Wil’buhr, I’m sure your people, the ones who don’t pledge their faith to the city, know of someone who could help?”

Wil’buhr made a face, ears drooped back as he looked out in the sand, hissing through his teeth. “ Well , I do know of someone that could probably convince the scattered tribes and people of the hidden cities. But convincing him will be a bit difficult,”

“I don’t care. Take me to him, we need all the help we can get,”

The turidenta looked back at him, “What is this war you speak of anyway? I haven’t heard anything of it,”

Techno sighed, looking out to the stars, “It’s not… widespread information. It’s hardly a typical war at all, really. It’s hidden, under the radar. It’s more a darkness spreading through planets and people and pushing them into violence. There’s nothing to fight yet , but getting people on our side while we can will help greatly.”

Wil’buhr frowned, “Darkness? Like a sickness? Or more like… an influence?”

“The latter, I think. Someone or something out there is turning people to a violent side. We have no idea what the motif is, who they are or why they’re doing it. But it bodes ill for all of us,” Techno explained.

The turidenta sighed, glancing down to Niki who tilted her head, giving a half frown. “Well, that is admittedly a better goal than I assumed you had when coming here. I will help you.” He declared, looking up at him surely, “So I will lead you to Fulish; the last jhuldeer.”

Techno was shocked. He had been led to believe jhuldeer were long extinct. If they could get one of those on their side, they might have a bit of a head start.

Chapter Text

Dream’s head hurt. His mind was slow, barely picking up on the muddled conversation around him that he could now understand. It was still hot, with the large sun rising over the horizon, bathing the world in a significantly less red color than sunset. They were almost back to the ship now, but Dream just wanted to go to sleep. Maybe he’d be able to finally convey that he wanted a better bed than a mat on the floor.

They made it to and onto the ship, Wilbur coming with them while the Niki character stayed behind. Dream was fairly sure she said something along the lines of she had ‘things to do’. But he couldn’t be certain; his brain was too foggy.

Between entering the ship and being taken to his room, he really didn’t process anything else. And before he knew it he was curled up on that stupid mat on the floor, staring at the wall.

“ Prawn e co? ”

Dream blinked, wincing in the low lighting and turning to find the source of the voice. The tall pinkish alien blurred into his vision. Bacon, he called him, because he reminded him somewhat of a pig, and he had been feeling quite salty when he named him.

“Praniko? Are you alright?”

Ah, yes. He forgot. There was now a translator surgically added to the back of his head. He could understand them. Dream let out a quiet groan, turning his head away and hiding it in his thin blanket. “I don’t know,” He muttered hoarsely. And, why did his throat hurt so bad? Oh, right. He’d been screaming not so long ago.

“Are… are you physically injured? I already looked at the scans, and you should be alright, but I wouldn’t know if- if they missed something,”

Dream blinked slowly, taking a moment to understand what had been said before replying. “I’m fine…” He whispered. “Physically, I’m fine…”

Bacon sighed and got up, exiting the room. Dream didn’t even have the energy to call him back and ask about a better bed.

_____________________________

“They messed him up,” Techno spat through gritted teeth. “He said he’s physically fine, but he takes forever to reply, and I don’t think that’s an issue with the translator. WHICH, by the way, is a very unorthodox model! It affects the mind of the person who has it, slowly integrating the languages they hear into their mind and forcing them to speak it! It gets easier once the person in question learns the language better, but- but that’s a lot to handle, especially for humans who we know close to nothing about!”

Wil’buhr blinked, letting out an awkward cough from where he sat sideways in the copilot chair. “Technically, most know more about humans than you do, but even then that knowledge is slim. You didn’t even know he was a human until I told you,”

“Well my point still stands!” Techno snapped, glaring down at the turidenta, who pinned his ears back at the sign of aggravation. “It can be extremely mentally damaging. Being forced to speak a language you don’t know by a device affecting your brain? Can you imagine ?!”

“I cannot. However, no matter how unwell he’s feeling, or drained, or tired or lethargic. Whatever . He will need to eat if you want him to stay alive. Especially after all that. He needs nutrients, energy,”

Techno sighed, “You’re right,” He muttered, moving off to the kitchen. “He needs food. And how long until we find this jhuldeer you spoke of?”

“A day or so. Your ship is fast enough to get across the planet quick.” The turidenta replied, messing with his tail out of boredom.

Techno huffed, walking into the kitchen to prepare food. “We’d get there faster if we picked up the pace,” He muttered under his breath.

“If you enter hyperdrive while on planet you will kick up enough sand to start a massive storm and potentially kill hundreds. Is that what you want?” Wil’buhr yelled back from the bridge.

Techno scowled and silently cursed Wil’buhr’s excellent hearing. “ No ,”

“Didn’t think so,”

He could practically hear Wil’buhr’s smug grin as he put together a tray of various small food items, easy to eat, a wide range of vitamins. Hopefully it’d encourage Praniko to eat some.

He quickly went to deliver it, placing it down in the human’s view and telling him softly to eat , before leaving the room again and going back to the bridge. There he found Wil’buhr, curiously looking through the maps of Aren’a and beyond. He zoomed back in on a particular spot on the sandy planet, searching for something .

“Can I help you?” Techno asked, stepping beside the chair.

Wil’buhr jumped, letting out a shocked yelp, before turning to glare up at him. “I’m good, thanks. But, you may want to make a stop before we reach our destination,”

Techno frowned suspiciously. “And where would you suggest we stop then, Wil’buhr ?”

The turidenta grinned. “My home. My tribe’s settlement,”

Chapter Text

“Wil’buhr’s back! Wil’buhr’s back!” A voice shouted out throughout the cavern as Wil’buhr, Techno, and Praniko walked into the place. Lights hung from the ceiling, turidenti walked and ran about between pathways and stone bridges, weaving in and out of rooms and tunnels built into the massive caverns walls.

Techno glanced down at Wil’buhr, raising a brow. “You seem popular,”

The turidenta hummed in indifference, “Eh. Everyone’s popular here. We all know each other, and thus all like to know when one or a group returns. Now let’s keep going before- Oof !”

Someone barreled into Wilbur with a flash of orange, arms, legs, waist wings and tail wrapped tight around him as they clung to his middle, face smushed in his chest. It didn’t take long for another someone to run straight at his leg and nearly send him toppling off the stone path and deeper into the ravine.

Techno stepped back in surprised, eyes widened slightly, before the first one looked up at Wil’buhr and exclaimed, “Padá!” Followed by a smaller, “Pa!”

Wil’buhr chuckled, struggling to move forward with one smaller turidenta nearly his size clung to his chest, along with another tiny one latched onto his leg. “Vrashin, vrashin,” He mumbled, ears drooped back as he nuzzled the older one’s head, “Mes chinis,”

Techno cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing back at Praniko who was still just staring off at the cavern wall blankly. He looked back to Wil’buhr, who now had his attention on him. “Uhm, this seems a bit much for a simple greeting home,” He commented.

“Ah, yes. These are my offspring, child one and child two,” He explained, shuffling around awkwardly to face him with a grin.

“Heyyyy!” The small one chimed, “That’s not our names!”

Wil’buhr hummed, ears pricked up and tilted to the side, “Is that so? Hm, oh yes. I remember. Talldy and Ful’ulah, right?”

The older rolled his eyes, releasing Wilbur from his grip and stepping aside, while the smaller giggled loudly and nuzzled his leg. “Noooo! That’s not right either !”

Techno swallowed, feeling really out of place in the father-children moment. He hissed through his teeth, casually turning around and focussing on Praniko. “So uh, caverns, am I right?”

The human blinked slowly, looking up at him and at least having the presence and energy to narrow his eyes in slight confusion. “Yes…” He muttered quietly, before moving his gaze to the floor.

“Oh, I remember now! Fundy and Tall’ulah!” Wil’buhr exclaimed, clapping his hands together, “Is that it?”

“Yes!” The small child shrieked in delight, hopping off his leg and running over beside the taller turidenta. He couldn’t be long considered fully grown. Maybe young adult at best. The smaller female on the other hand was likely no more than five.

Wil’buhr walked over and knocked his head against the older, Fundy most likely, brushing his whiskers against his head. Techno couldn’t help but notice that Fundy himself didn’t have any.

“Alright, I need to speak with Con’nor and Sal,” He stated, continuing off down the path with Tall’ulah scampering after him in a fit of giggles, hopping up and being pulled along by his tail. 

Techno and Praniko followed, accompanied by Wil’buhr’s elder child. He seemed curious of the two, but kept it mostly under the surface, only giving blank, distant glances every so often as they walked. He was a lot brighter than Wil’buhr, with orange and dusty white colors rather than Wil’buhr’s own brown and sandy appearance. The smaller child, Tall’ulah, however, was more of a mix between; retaining her father’s mostly brown fur and hair, but with orangish hues thrown in.

“You’re not from around here. But you’re not hi’averi either,” He noted, tilting his head. “You’re a…” He paused, eyes squinted, looking for the word. Techno was feeling very uncomfortable with being observed so much by this young turidenta. “Ah! Káprozlin! That’s what you are, yes?”

Techno swallowed, “Indeed,”

“And what of your companion?” He questioned, leaning back to peer around Techno as they walked. “I’ve yet to get a good view of him,”

“Hey,” Techno interrupted, moving to block his view, “Why do you talk so well? Not to say you’re people are bad at speech or anything, but you have a very proper vocabulary, if I can say,”

Fundy bopped his head up in acknowledgement, seeming to move on from his questions of the human for the time. “I study. My father has put a lot of effort into getting me books and holo-lessons so I can learn. Ever since I showed an interest in higher education, he made sure I wouldn’t miss out.”

“Ah. I see,” Techno muttered, somewhat surprised. Not that he thought Wil’buhr was stupid or anything, it was just a bit unexpected to hear that he went through with all that. “That’s nice,”

“Indeed,” Fundy replied with a grin.

They continued after Wil’buhr through the cavern until making it to a large room dug out in the rock. Inside was a large glass table, and another turidenta passed out over it. This one seemed to have melanism, because he was definitely too dark to be considered normal turidenti colors. His fur and hair were so dark they almost looked blue.

Wil’buhr walked up to him, and promptly whacked him off the table, causing him to jolt and tumble back onto the floor. Tall’ulah giggled, and Fundy didn’t bother to hide his smirk. “Con’nor, wake up,” Wil’buhr huffed, rolling his eyes. “Where’s Sal? I need to talk to you guys,”

“Ah,” The darker turidenta coughed awkwardly, clearing his throat and dragging himself up off the floor, “Right. Yeah, she’s at the lake,”

Techno’s eyes widened. Lake ? On Aren’a? The desert planet???

Wil’buhr hummed in acknowledgement, “Right. You stay here, I’ll go get her,” He stated, already slipping out of the room and down the paths somewhere. Techno glanced down to Fundy, Tall’ulah, and Praniko, all sitting on the floor. The youngest turidenta was currently occupying herself by looking at Praniko’s hands, making comments about how different they were. Techno supposed they would be fine on their own for a moment, and followed after Wil’buhr, curious to know where this lake was.

_____________________________

Dream was still a bit lost. Bacon had gone off after Wilbur when he left, leaving him to essentially babysit while struggling to get a hold of his own drifting mind. He was trying his best to tolerate the girl. She was little and curious and the fact that everything made Dream want to scream and die and explode wasn’t her fault. 

The other one though, the orange one, seemed to pick up on Dream’s distance and discomfort. He ushered the girl off towards the blueish alien, and she promptly began terrorizing him instead, climbing all over and tugging at his ears with villainous giggles. He then got to his feet and offered a hand to Dream. When the man gave him a weak look of confusion, he simply nodded in the direction of the room’s exit, and Dream took the hint.

He grabbed his weird spindly hand and pulled up to his feet, following him out of the room and through the cavern. He didn’t know where they were going, and he could only hope that he wasn’t about to be murdered or experimented on, because frankly he didn’t have the energy or awareness to fight back. The orange alien came to a tunnel in the stone, and walked in, Dream following. 

They walked down past many doorways until they reached supposedly the correct one, blocked by hanging glass beads. The alien slipped inside and, hesitantly, Dream followed. Instantly he was under the impression that this was some kind of bedroom. There was a lounge area filled with cushions, a short table to sit at, a pile of sand in a hole in the corner, and plenty of hanging glass fixtures of varying colors and shapes.

“I’m not yet sure if you understand me,” The alien began, grabbing a few cushions and setting them down by the table to sit on. “But you seemed like you needed to get away, to have some quiet,”

Dream blinked, processing, and slowly lowered himself down to the cushion opposite of the alien. “Yes,” He choked out, words feeling wrong and forced whilst his brain buzzed to tell him what was being said. “Thank you,”

The alien tilted his head, “Are you alright?”

Dream shrugged, wincing slightly. His brain felt like it was on fire whenever somebody talked to him. He knew what was being said, like the meaning behind each word was forced into his mind, but the words themselves didn’t fit. It wasn’t english by any means. It was overwhelming.

The alien hummed, lowering his voice slightly. “Well, I’m Fundy, by the way. What’s your name?”

The man blinked, taking a moment to understand what was said before allowing himself to feel surprised. “Dream,” He muttered. Nobody had yet asked him his name. Since he got that dreadful device implanted in his head, he’d been left mostly alone. No questions, little conversation. They were trying to let him heal. Nobody thought about asking his name. “It’s Dream,” He repeated, giving a strained smile.

Fundy grinned, tail curling over his lap. “It’s very nice to meet you Dream,”

Chapter Text

After following Wil’buhr down a tunnel, not particularly trying to be unnoticed, but neither announcing his presence either, he was indeed led to a lake. An underground lake, with stalactites hanging from the stone ceiling, slowly dripping into a massive, nearly undisturbed body of water. The only movement across its surface being the ripples of the droplets and the small waves coming from someone swimming on the far edge.

Wil’buhr was crouched down against the shore, smiling out at whoever was swimming through the waters. They came up to him, pulling out of the lake and shaking water out of their deep orange-red fur. Ears pinned back and smiling, they nuzzled into Wil’buhr’s chest, no doubt getting him covered in water, but he didn’t seem to mind, tail curling around them in earnest.

Techno was beginning to regret following. He felt like he was intruding on something personal. Deciding against heading back, he cleared his throat loudly, looking anywhere but at the two. A loud hiss came from one of them, and it was higher pitched than Wil’buhr’s so he assumed the other was the culprit. But Wil’buhr’s own voice soon followed, hushing them quietly.

A moment later, the two were walking over to him, hand in hand. “Techno’Blade, this is my partner, Sally,” He introduced. “She’s in charge of keeping the waters that sustain our livelihood.”

The female rolled her eyes, flicking his tail at him, “Technically speaking we don’t need this water. Turidenti are well capable of surviving out in the sands without any help. This is a luxury not many tribes have,”

“Yes, and you guard it well, my love,” Wil’buhr smiled.

Techno tsked awkwardly, glancing away and swaying on his hooves. “Right. Well, uh, you needed to talk to her? And that Con’nor guy? So we can get going?”

“Mm, right,” Wil’buhr hummed, already walking back out through the tunnel alongside Sally. “Come on. We need to discuss Fulish’s last known location,”

Techno huffed, reeling back in slight shock. “What? I thought you already knew where this jhuldeer was! You said it would take a day or so to get to him!” He exclaimed, hurrying after the two.

Wil’buhr grinned, tilting his head casually, “Yes, well, he likes to move a lot. Stay under the radar, you know? But it’s okay, we keep tabs on him. We’re friends, in a sense, him and my tribe.”

Techno glared but didn’t say anything else, continuing after them down the tunnel and back to the room with Con’nor, Tall’ulah, and surprisingly, no Praniko or Fundy. He sighed, glancing around once before setting his sights on Con’nor. “Hey, you. Where did they go?”

The melanistic turidenta held his hands out in surrender, “I don’t know. I was more focussed on the child attacking me!”

Tall’ulah giggled, running behind her father’s legs with a mischievous grin. Wil’buhr sighed, rolling his eyes. “We’ll find them. But first, let’s talk location. Con’nor, Sal, where was the last time Fulish was seen?”

_____________________________

Dream was quite fond of this Fundy guy. For the first time in a while he got to let his brain rest; the only noise around being the rhythmic falling of sand somewhere nearby. Fundy seemed to have picked up on the fact that talking and listening to talking was difficult for him at the moment, so he stayed quiet, instead opting to sit in silence across from him, slowly working together glass colored beads onto a thick string.

Dream let himself revel in the quiet, resting his head on the small table, focussing on the distant sound of sand rather than the stinging buzz of a device working with his brain. After an uncertain amount of time, he was shocked out of his daze by a hand near his head. He jolted up, breath caught in his throat, only to find Fundy, backed away and holding his hands up in peace. “Sorry,” He whispered, the words bouncing around in Dream’s skull, registering as sorry in his brain, forcing him to translate.

“I just,” He paused taking a breath and holding out the beaded string. “The glass almost always stays cold, unless you’re within the depths of a volcano or such,” Fundy explained quietly, settling down in front of him. “It’s calming, somewhat. I used to have a lot of nightmares and panics when I was small, and my father made me one of these to help ground myself when things got to be too much,”

He reached up to his own orange-ish hair, brushing strands back to reveal his own beaded string tied into his hair, with dark orange, yellow, and dark and light blue glass beads on it. “I made you one. I hoped it would help calm your mind when things are too much,” He muttered, tilting his head casually.

Dream blinked, looking down at the string with white, green, and black beads on it. “Oh…” He whispered, groaning and rubbing his palms into his eyes. “Sorry. Thank you. You can continue,”

Fundy hummed in acknowledgement, reaching out and tying the string into Dream’s hair. When he pulled away again, Dream reached up to feel the glass beads, and they were pleasantly cool. When undisturbed, they rested against the side of his head, a small but, like Fundy said, somewhat grounding presence. He smiled, looking back up at the ginger alien, “Thank you,”

Fundy gave a half grin and got to his feet, nodding for Dream to follow. He led him back out of the room and through the tunnel, all too soon welcomed back to the world by the jumbled sounds of aliens talking and laughing; too indistinct for him to translate, but close enough for his brain to sputter and spit fire in his head.

They made it back to the room with the table, and the attention of everyone inside turned to them.

“Ain! Fundy!” Another orange one exclaimed, hurrying over to the alien in question and grabbing him by the face, turning his head side to side and looking him over. She glanced to Dream, glaring at him warily, before dragging Fundy over to the table with the others. “Be careful , little dune. That’s a human, you know,”

Fundy blinked, same casual, almost uncaring look to his eyes. “Yes, madá, I know. I’m fine, I just wanted to help him get away from the noise,” He muttered.

She looked over to Dream again, narrowing her eyes. But her gaze softened after spotting the string of beads in his hair. “Ah, I see. That was very nice of you, Fundy. Tall’ulah! You should be more like your brother,” She scolded, turning away again to look at the smallest alien, clinging to the blueish one’s ears.

“Aawww, ma ! Con’nor doesn’t mind, do you?” She whined, looking down at the poor guys face.

He sighed, “No. It’s fine, Sally.”

Dream sighed, settling down against a wall a little ways away from Bacon. He noticed him watching him out of the corner of his eye and muttered, “Got something to say, hm?”

Bacon huffed, “Not necessarily. Although I would like to know now; what is your name?”

Dream chuckled weakly. “It’s Dream. How about you?”

“Techno’Blade.”

The man snorted, eyes wide. “ Techno’Blade?! What? Really?”

“Yes? What’s so amusing about that? You were calling me Red,”

Dream shook his head, shocked. “No, man. I was calling you fucking Bacon , ‘cause you look like a hog.”

Techno’Blade gasped, “How dare you!”

Dream could only grin, cold beads against his head dulling the fire of words through his mind.

Chapter Text

It was night once again as they approached their destination. From what Dream had picked up on, they were traveling across the desert in search of an ancient, near extinct deity-esque being by the name of Fulish. Which was a really funny name in his opinion, but he didn’t voice that.

Wilbur, who apparently was called Wil’buhr , rather than the name of that stupid pig from the children’s book, was sitting casually sideways in the copilot chair where Dream normally sat, lounging comfortably and skimming through articles on a holographic tablet.

Techno’Blade was focussing on steering the ship, keeping his eyes open for some half buried temple that they were searching for. And Dream, despite all the chaos and terror in his brain whenever anyone spoke to him, was bored , and needed conversation or he thought he’d keel over and die.

“So, uh, we can actually talk now. That’s cool,” The man began awkwardly, swaying on his feet. “Uhh, s’a lotta sand out there,”

The alien blinked, “Yes… There is. Are you feeling alright? I’m sure the translator is difficult to adjust to-”

“No, no it’s fine. I mean, yes , it’s awful, but I would really like to talk to someone before I lose my mind,” Dream chuckled anxiously.

“... I see. Well, what would you like to talk about?” He questioned, looking back out the viewing window to make sure he wouldn’t crash.

Dream hissed through his teeth and shrugged, unsure. “Hm, well, uhm, for one, I’d really like to stop sleeping on that weird mat on the floor,” He admitted.

Wil’buhr snickered, “You sleep on a mat? Sounds rough. I sleep in a pile of sand,”

Techno’Blade rolled his eyes, “You also live in sand, build with sand, and eat sand.”

Dream’s eyes widened, “He eats sand ??”

“Yes sir. It makes of the majority of turidenti diet, actually. That, and rocks,” Techno’Blade explained, and Wil’buhr glared, ears pinned back as he sunk into his chair more. That explained why he had seen him eating the gemstones Techno’Blade had given him before. “And I can most certainly see that you get an actual bed, if that would help,”

Dream sighed in relief, “Yes, thank you,”

The conversation fell away as they began to approach their destination, the crumbling, crooked tips of temple pillars visible through the sands. Techno’Blade brought the ship down to land, nearly burying it in sand as he did. He huffed in irritation, muttering some silent complaint to himself as he got out of his chair.

“Come on now, let’s not waste anymore time on this forsaken desert planet,” He grumbled.

Dream and Wil’buhr followed him off the ship, sand being pushed and falling away with the opening of the hull. Techno’Blade shuffled out through the sand towards the temple, and Wil’buhr scurried along behind, leaving Dream to trudge through with somehow even more difficulty than Techno’Blade.

After about ten minutes of struggling, his ankle was grabbed from under the sand and he was yanked to the ground with a shriek. Wil’buhr and Techno’Blade looked back in confusion, only for Niki to stick her head out of the sand. “Sorry,” She whispered, giving a small smile, “You looked like you were struggling,”

Dream panted, looking over at him from where he laid. “How the fuck did you get all the way out here so fast?”

“Niki’s fast,” Wil’buhr answered for her, “Turiétaors are fast to begin with, but Niki is fast . She’s actually built herself quite the reputation out here,” He noted.

Niki looked away bashfully, cheeks flushed a bright pink as she sunk lower into the sand. A moment later, she was back up, humming and swimming through the sand, causing Dream himself to slip into it as it almost felt liquid from her presence. She dove down, placing her hands beneath his feet to hold him up, and suddenly he was zooming across the sand, without hardly enough time to even consider balance let alone falling over before he had already reached the others and face planted into the dunes once again.

Techno’Blade bent down and scooped him up out of the sand, standing him back up on his feet and dusting him off. Dream blinked, blowing hair out of his face and sighing. “Thanks,”

“Of course,”

They moved up to the front of the temple, bathed in moon and starlight. Even cracked and buried it seemed to glow with an ancient shine. “Alright, Wil’buhr, what exactly is it that we do to get this guy out here?”

“Well, assuming that the location was correct,” He began, trailing off as he stepped forward, plopping down in the sand and looking at it. He cleared his throat, and began hitting his palms against the sand rhythmically, like he was making music. For a long few moments, nothing happened, and Dream was beginning to think that the guy had either lost his mind, or they were in the wrong place completely.

But then the sand began to shake, trembling and shifting, and Wil’buhr hopped back to his feet, retreating several yards away as the sand began to sink away in one spot, and soon something very, very large began to emerge from the depths.

“HA! I know that tune!” A loud voice boomed before two sets of hands slammed down on the sands and a massive face with sharp teeth and green eyes was grinning widely at the group.

Dream’s eyes widened in horrified shock as the massive being shook sand from his golden, scale-like hair. Huge hooped earrings jingled with the movement, and the shark-like fin upon his head raised in some emotion.

“Wil’buhr!” He exclaimed, sinking his face down even more, chin touching the sand as he examined the smaller alien. “What brings you all the way out to my summer home?”

Summer home? This buried temple from ancient times was this guy’s summer home ?

Techno’Blade cleared his throat, stepping forward. “I hope this isn’t too forward, but a war is coming, and we’d really like you to be on our side for it,”

Fulish’s eyes widened, glowing bright green in the darkness. “Wow, that is forward. What war do you mean? I haven’t heard anything of this,”

“An evil is growing in the shadows. Something corrupting people and leading to violence. Tensions are growing. It won’t be long before action is needed,” Techno’Blade explained, “We need as much help as we can get, and Wil’buhr told us you can help convince the scattered tribes,”

Fulish hissed through his teeth, rising up into a more standing position, only he wasn’t standing per say, as Dream noticed he didn’t have legs to stand on . Rather, a long snake-like tail ending in a crescent fin, coiling around to hold him upright. “I don’t know about that. I do tend to avoid conflict. I’m an important figure to the people of Aren’a; known as the last of my kind. If I were to get injured in this war you speak of, should I die… Not only would that really suck for me, but it would be taking something important from the people,”

“With all due respect, your greatness, but you may very well die either way if this gets too out of hand,” Techno’Blade added.

Wil’buhr came up beside him, giving a sort of dull, excepting look, “Yeah, Fulish, if what he’s saying is true, this could bode ill for us all,”

“You stole my line. I said that earlier,” Techno’Blade huffed, turning to the short alien with a glare.

Wil’buhr held his hands up defensively, “I believe what you said was something along the lines of ‘but it bodes ill for all of us’. I didn’t steal anything,”

Dream chuckled, accompanied by Niki’s quiet giggle and Fulish’s great laugh. “Alright, alright! It’s been too long since I got some story in my scales anyway. I’ll rally the tribes. If the time comes when you need the people of Aren’a, you need only let me know, Techno’Blade ,”

Dream furrowed his brow, a bit surprised. He didn’t recall Techno’Blade telling this Fulish guy his name. But maybe he shouldn’t question the great, near extinct giant alien. For all he knew it could tell him his birthdate and mother’s maiden name just by looking at him.

The group gave their thanks to Fulish before setting out for the ship again, and the giant alien snaked back into the sand, a shifting mound in the dunes showing his departure through the desert. Niki bid her farewells, speeding off in similar but smaller fashion through the sands, and Dream, Techno’Blade, and Wil’buhr climbed back onto the ship.

“You drop me back off at my home. I’ll inform my people of this war, and make sure we’re all well prepared should it come to a fight,” The smaller alien stated, plopping down in the copilot chair once again, leaving Dream seat-less. “And where will you two be headed next, I wonder?” He inquired.

Techno’Blade grinned, looking back at Dream with a face that spelled no good. “You ever heard of a planet called Chi’on, Wil’buhr?”

Chapter Text

Techno held his ship back from landing for a moment, hovering just outside the pull of the planet’s gravity. Chi’on was no pleasant place. Least not anymore. In a harsh contrast from Aren’a, it was cold . Frigid. With long nights and days as it revolved around its distant sun. But that was hardly the worst of it. The terror of Chi’on wasn’t the blizzards or long icey nights, wasn’t even the people that called it home. The real thing to fear on Chi’on was the eddarakon . Giant spiders. 

It isn’t entirely known where they came from. Spiders had been apart of Chi’on for thousands of years, but never of such size. Not even natives who knew the land, weather and creatures better than anyone could hold up well against the eddarakon. Most people were killed, and those who weren’t adapted. But population is lower than it’s ever been before on Chi’on these days. Luckily for Techno, though, he wasn’t here for an army.

He brought the ship down, approaching the surface and looking for a good place to land. He and Dream had already changed into weather appropriate clothing and even grabbed weapons in case of a worse scenario. As he descended, snow began to block out his visuals; blowing around harshly in the howling wind, collecting on the front of the ship and blocking pretty much everything out. Techno had no choice but to land.

He brought the ship down carefully, listening tensely lest he break something or land somewhere unstable. But he touched ground and all seemed to be well.

He got out of the pilot seat, gesturing for Dream to follow, and made his way outside. “Pull your goggles down and your mask up. I’d dare say the weather here is worse than Aren’a’s,” He said over the wind, tugging his own face gear on.

They walked out into the snow, squinting as they took in their surroundings. Techno didn’t recognize this place. It seemed to be a massive clearing near the edge of a forest, with giant trees creaking and looming overhead, stretched out in a frosty canopy to somewhat cover them. Techno made sure his wrist tablet had connected to his ship’s location, and set off for the trees, with Dream hurrying along at his side.

“Who exactly are we looking for?!” The human yelled, pushing against the wind with difficulty, even with the cover of trees. 

“An old friend of mine,” Techno responded, unable to hold back the grin beneath his mask.

Dream gasped, nearly toppling over with a harsh gust of wind, “Well they must be fucking insane if they can handle living here!”

Techno chuckled to himself, “Yep,”

The two continued on through the trees, ears and eyes alert for any sign of danger. Techno kept returning his gaze to the trees, searching the branches for anything familiar. He spotted nothing yet, but that didn’t mean there was nothing there. Although the lack of friendly greeting proved that whatever may be up there certainly wasn’t who he was looking for. 

“Dream I hope you know how to fight because this planet is a little bit more unfriendly than the last one,” He stated, just loud enough to be heard over the wind.

The human inhaled shakily and shook his head up and down, trudging along to be closer to him. “I can fight, somewhat. I mean, I did take down a bunch of dark skeletal guys  before,”

Techno blinked, turned back to him with a half chuckle and surprised grin. “That was you ?”

Crack !

Techno spun around, searching the trees for the source of the sound, only to have his attention pulled back when Dream screamed. He turned just in time to see the human disappearing into the canopy above with a flash of white. Techno sighed, “Well great. Now I’ve gotta find who took him and barter him back before he becomes someone’s lunch,”

_____________________________

Dream wanted to scream. And he did, of course, before a white, clawed hand was covering his mouth to silence him.

“Make one more sound and I slit your throat,” His captor spoke, glaring down at him.

Dream swallowed, nodding and instantly going silent. The stranger removed his hand, peering down through the branches as Techno looked around, venturing deeper into the trees in his search. “Agh, I thought he’d never leave…” The stranger muttered, turning back to Dream. “Now, what’s a káprozlin and a human doing on this planet? Looking to start something, hm?”

The man shook his head rapidly, “No,” He choked, “We were just– Just looking for someone,”

The stranger narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “Hm. Well, I doubt you’ll find them now. Your friend there is heading straight for an eddarakon nest. He’s done for. And you are going to make a lovely stew,” He grinned sharply, making Dream’s heart jump to his throat.

“You really wouldn’t want to do that, man. I’m all skin and bones really. I taste awful. Just ask anyone! Humans are disgusting!”

The alien didn’t seem convinced. “Don’t care. Meat is meat,”

Dream inhaled sharply, eyes wide, “Come on-” He began, only to get cut off by being grabbed once again and the alien took off into the sky above the trees. In an instant Dream was shrieking and clinging onto him, grimacing as snow hammered against his goggles, blinding him. Everything was white until they landed again, and Dream was tossed to the floor.

He rubbed his goggles clean, even going as far as to pull them off his eyes after realizing he was inside somewhere. The alien was across the room, throwing wood into a large fireplace and lighting it up. In the snowless space with the new light of the fire, he could actually make out the being’s details. 

Massive white wings spread out from his back, segmented and fluffy like a moth, but with hand-like claws on the top corners like a bat. Golden looking horns curved back over its head, split into two at the   ends and chipped in places. It turned back to him, and he noticed blue marks under and above its eyes, which themselves had no color. Pointed ears, fluffy white fur around its neck for warmth, and dark clawed hands. Why did everything have claws ?

“So,” The alien began, crouching down in front of him on back-jointed legs. “How should we do this? Should I kill you now, or wait for the rest of the stew to be ready? Maybe I’ll boil you alive,”

Dream swallowed and cleared his throat, “Well, I would suggest not doing that, since I really don’t want to die. Y’know?”

The alien blinked, unamused. He blew light blond hair from his face and stood back to his feet, stepping away from Dream. “Too bad, human. I’ve gotta eat,”

“Have you considered going vegan?” Dream offered with a weak chuckle.

In response he received a laugh and talons around his neck. The alien tilted his head, eyes narrowed as he regarded him with half a grin. “Fuck. You.”

Dream’s eyes widened. “Hey! That’s english!”

The alien groaned and rolled his eyes, releasing him and stepping away. “No shit. What about it?”

“You can’t just say that and expect me not to ask questions! You’ve met humans before ,” Dream said surely, a knowing grin spreading across his face. 

Again, the alien laughed, hanging his head with one hand on his face. “Yes. I’ve met humans before. Got pretty close to some too,” He stated, walking over to a cracked wardrobe. He kicked it harshly, making the doors fly open and the contents tumble out. “They taught me some of their language, I taught them some of mine. But humans are nasty creatures, trust isn’t something they know,” He said, quieter.

Dream didn’t say a word as he watched something roll from the wardrobe towards him. “Traitors,” The alien whispered, looking over his shoulder back at Dream. He could swear his eyes were glowing in the firelight. “Do you know what happens to traitors, human ?”

Dream looked up at him apprehensively, eyes narrowed before the thing stopped rolling, coming to a stop at his feet. He picked it up, holding it in the light of the fire to make out what it was. Empty eye sockets of a skull stared back at him. He dropped it out of shock, and suddenly the alien was right in front of him, bent down with a wide toothy grin. “They die ,”

Chapter Text

Techno was now on his own in giant spider infested forest. Dream had been snatched, he couldn’t find the person he was looking for, he was cold . All in all it was a lovely day. He already knew the spiders were following him. Eddarakon were terribly easy to spot once you’d spotted them. As soon as you noticed that that branch or root of a tree was in fact hairy and moving, all of a sudden most of the branches were alive. So many of the roots scurried and hurried out of sight. 

But Techno’Blade wasn’t going to die out in the middle of the woods, eaten by overgrown pests. He pulled out dual plasma blades and sliced them across the snow. “You want some of this, BUGS?!” He laughed, swinging one of the blades at an eddarakon that had rushed up behind him. The creature shrieked and hissed, retreating back with the others that had began to show themselves, scittered around each other, gnashing pincers at him.

Techno grinned widely. “What’ve you got, beasts?”

Before any blood could be spilled, with the eddarakon still hissing and spitting, ready to kill, a loud and long whistle sounded out through the air. Techno blinked, looking around in search of the source, only to turn back to the eddarakon as they rushed away, dispersing into the trees with a silent rumbling. 

From the canopy above a familiar figure swooped down into the snow, pulling down his hood and shaking his hair free. Great white striped wings spread out behind him, with diamonds on the ends and speckles in the fur to hide in the snow. Techno smiled, rushing to pull his old friend into an embrace. “Phil!” He exclaimed, squeezing the aliglai tightly. 

Phil’Za himself just laughed, stretching his wings out and cracking his back. “Bit tight there, mate. Careful of my old bones,”

“Heh, sorry,” Techno chuckled, releasing him, “You saved my hide back there, y’know,”

“Yeah I know. But what’re you doin’ all the way out here? Eddarakon are everywhere, mate, you almost became spider lunch,” The aliglai pointed out with a frown.

Techno sighed, “I was looking for you, of course. You know anything about the coming war?”

Phil frowned, “Can’t say that I do, no. What’s going on?”

“Evil, Phil. Something in the shadows, corrupting people. Turning them to a more violent side. I’ve had to explain this like five times already to various people and it’s getting very tiring. I can’t be dramatic and intimidating if I just say ‘oh people are going bad, we need help’ but it’s so hard , Phil,”

The aliglai whistled understandingly, placing a hand on Techno’s arm. “I understand, mate. Repeating yourself dramatically can be rough. But I think I know what you mean. I’ve seen it here even,”

Techno blinked, looking down at his friend, “What do you mean?”

“At least one. I’ve run into one other aliglai recently who was just off . I’ve met the guy before and he wasn’t as bad, but recently he’s just been violent. More cruel,”

“And, who is this aliglai?”

Phil’Za frowned, deep in thought. “His name is Punz,”

_____________________________

“So how’s my death soup coming along?”

The alien groaned, snapping a spoon in his hand, “You’re getting more and more irritating with every minute that passes, you know that?!”

Dream grinned, “Well you know, with a piece of extremely advanced technology currently setting my brain on fire any time either one of us speaks, really the only option left is sass and attitude. Wouldn’t you agree?” 

The alien walked swiftly over to him, crouched down to glare him in the eye, “How about I rip your stupid fucking head off your neck so you don’t have to deal with it anymore, huh?”

“Awh, don’t do that. I’d bleed all over your lovely blood stained floor,” He crooned, tilting his head in mock sadness. Dream had already been here a couple hours, and frankly had no idea why he wasn’t stew yet, but at least he was alive. However, with everything really beginning to affect his head; the stress, translator, unknown environment with dangers all around, remembering the fact that he was a wanted fucking criminal back in his solar system. It was all a lot, and thus he decided his only real option to pass the time was to piss this guy off.

“AGH! What is your problem ?!” The alien shouted, springing back to his feet and moving back over to the stew slowly cooking on the fire. “I’m going to kill you and you’re just sitting there mocking me !”

“Hey, who said I was mocking you? I’m simply trying to lighten the mood with my mordant humor,” Dream stated, cracking a grin.

“THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT THIS THAT REQUIRES LIGHTENING! You’re going to DIE!” The alien shouted, kicking him and pinning him down to the floor with talons around his neck.

Dream only chuckled. “Wow we’ve gotten closer, haven’t we?”

“I don’t give a shit about our physical proximity.” The alien hissed, digging talons into Dream’s neck. “I’ve waited long enough. You’re going in the stew,”

BANG! “Like hell he is, Punz!”

Dream blinked, turning towards the door where another fluffy winged alien was standing, along with Techno’Blade. He choked out a laugh, smiling wide and hysteric, “TECHNO’BLADE!”

“That’s me,” The taller alien huffed with a grin, stepping inside and having to duck under the roof. “Now Punz , what do you say you let go of my human, hm?”

“Heh, your human? What, like he’s a pet or something?” The alien pinning Dream, Punz, supposedly, snickered.

Techno’Blade glared. “I may have thought he was a sad pathetic animal when I first met him but now I use the term my human in a friendly matter,”

Dream frowned, confused, “You thought I was like, what, a dog ?”

“Shush, human. We’re speaking,” Punz scolded.

Dream scoffed, offended. But didn’t get another word out before Punz had his hand over his mouth. “I won’t be returning him, actually. I’m hungry, and need meat for my stew,”

Techno huffed, pulling some sort of gun off his back. “Have you considered going vegan?”

Dream grinned manically. 

Chapter Text

“Are we going to talk about the fact that you threw that guy through his own wall?”

“No,” “Nope,” Techno and Phil said in sync. Dream sighed.

“Phil, can you come with us?” The taller of the three asked, looking down at his friend. He had little doubt that Phil would help, but going with them now was another question entirely.

The aliglai hissed through his teeth, “No, sorry mate. I’ve got some things to take care of before I head out. I can meet you in Kastell though? I’m sure you’ll be heading there eventually,”

Techno sighed, ducking under a tree branch, “Yes, unfortunately. I hate that place. Too many people. Too much everything ,”

Phil chuckled, “I hear ya,”

The group continued through the trees, led by Phil’Za who was taking them to his home. But as they approached the odd shaped cabin in the distance, Techno noticed concern fall over his friend’s features. In an instant, Phil was in the sky, whizzing through the wind and diving down through the doorway. Techno and Dream hurried after him, rushing inside to find him searching all over for something. Or, some one .

“Tubbo?! Tubbo !!” The aliglai shouted, searching every room and space in the entire building. “He’s not here. He’s not here -” He whispered, eyes wide.

“Who is Tubbo?” Dream asked, shaking snow off his clothes. Techno was wondering the same thing.

“He’s– He’s a kid I took in a while back. Only about fif– sixteen, seventeen maybe? He doesn’t leave, he just doesn’t . He never goes out in whether like this, why would he –?”

“Ah, Phil’Za? Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…” Dream muttered, moving over to a broken window that was definitely far from its original size. There was blood around the edges, staining splintered wood. “Pretty sure he didn’t leave on his own,”

Techno saw the horror dawn in Phil’s eyes the instant he realized, “ Eddarakon ,”

_____________________________

Dream wasn’t very keen on the idea of following the trail of a bunch of killer giant spiders, but who cared. Not like he’d had much say in any of this so far anyway. He was just there, a side piece in the overarching chessboard of this world. He hardly had any idea what was going on. He just knew that Techno was gathering people for something, something evil from what he’d heard. That wasn’t great, really.

But now they had to detour because of this Tubbo character who was supposedly important to Phil’Za. And had been taken by giant spiders. That could and would kill them. Fucking great .

“We’re gonna die,” He muttered, his ability to make sense of the situation or even want to slipping away. “Let’s make this fun I guess,” He shrugged.

He got a couple weird looks from Techno and Phil’Za, but he couldn’t care less at this point. He’d been kidnapped multiple times, labeled a wanted criminal by humans, his brain was on fire almost always, and he was freezing his ass off after almost getting eaten in stew . His life was a joke. But maybe it was a funny one at least, if a bit of dark humor.

They came up to a large wooden manor, broken windows completely blocked off by webbing, and a spiraling silk tunnel into the main entrance. Dream swallowed and sighed, “Alrighty then, let’s go,”

A shrill scream rang out from inside the building, and Techno wasn’t able to stop Phil’Za from flying inside in time.

Dream looked up to him, face scrunched up in discomfort. “We’ve gotta go in there, huh?”

“Yep. Can’t just not ,”

“I mean we could . My conscience wouldn’t care.” Techno glared at him, unamused. Dream chuckled. “Fine. We save the weird bird,”

_____________________________

Techno and Dream followed Phil into the nest, keeping their eyes and ears out for any sign of the eddarakon. He could still distantly hear the high pitched shrieks of what could only be Tubbo, but they were more distant, even if annoyingly frequent.

“At this point I don’t even think he’s scared,” Dream muttered, glancing around the web-covered halls. “He’s just going on repeat, like some kind of alarm. I hate it,”

Techno sighed, “Maybe he’s trying to lead us to him?”

“Good. When we get there I’ll shut him up myself,”

Techno was beginning to worry about Dream’s increasingly violent urges, but he didn’t have time to focus on that at the moment. They hurried through the halls, following the repetitive screaming until they came to a large room broken in many places and patched up by webs. Not an inch of the original surface could be seen beneath it all, and in the midst of it all, were two aliglai trapped in the webs.

“Phil,” Techno greeted quietly, giving a small bow.

“Techno,” The other returned the gesture. “Now could you please get us out of here?!”

“Oh I don’t know. Dream, what do you think? He certainly got himself into this mess. Shouldn’t he get himself out?” Techno grinned, looking down at the human.

Dream chuckled, “Ah yes. Or at the very least apologise for being so rude. He didn’t even say hello,”

“WOULD YOU LET US OUT?!” The other aliglai, Tubbo, shrieked, chest heaving. “If I weren’t trapped in these webs I’d wring your damn necks, I swear!”

Techno and Dream exchanged a look before rushing over to the webs, cutting through it while keeping a vigilant look out for spiders. Tubbo screamed again, pulling his mostly cut out arm free and pointed across the room. “Eddarakon! We’re gonna DIE !”

“Oh shut up, Tubbo,” Phil muttered, reaching forward in an instant and slicing Techno’s sword through the webbing, freeing him. “Let’s murder some really ugly spiders,”

Tubbo shrieked, wriggling around and dislodging himself from the webs only to tumble down and get wrapped up in more, blissfully muffling his screams.

Techno laughed. “They really are ugly,”

Chapter Text

It would seem giant spiders are a bit harder to kill than regular spiders. Dream was beginning to see why these things were feared so much. He’d slice his alien sword through one leg only to get it stuck not even halfway through. These things were unphased! Retreat was beginning to seem like the only option, but that wouldn’t be possible until they got fucking Tubbo out of the webs.

Seeing as Techno and Phil’Za were busy, he unfortunately decided that this would be his job. Dodging snapping pincers and giant hairy legs he rushed over to the webs, slicing his plasma sword through the silk and watching the smaller alien roll to the ground, still cocooned in the stuff. Dream crouched down beside him, pulling out a smaller knife and cutting through the web to release him.

Tubbo gasped dramatically once he’d been freed, and Dream asked, “Could you not breathe in there or what?”

Tubbo tilted his head, “Hm, no. I just thought it’d be dramatic. Plus it doesn’t exactly smell great,”

Dream glared at him, “I hate you already,”

“Awh, no fair,”

Dream lifted the alien to his feet, swinging around and slicing his blade across another spider’s face before rushing beneath it, pulling Tubbo with him. “COME ON! LET’S GO!” He shouted, looking over to where Phil’Za and Techno were fighting. “ NOW !”

The two exchanged a glance, eyes wide, before hurrying after him, racing through the old halls of the manor with spiders on their tails. At some point Dream just picked Tubbo up and held him under his arm, sprinting as fast as he could while fearfully muttering to himself, “Run run run run run run run run,”

They sped around the corner, rushing to reach the exit before the spiders caught them. Tubbo squirmed around, screaming as the spiders got closer. Dream slapped a hand over his mouth and ran out the tunnel that was the exit, Techno and Phil’Za hot on his tail. “Let’s go let’s go let’s go !”

The three barreled out of the manor, sprinting through the trees and snow as the giant spiders rushed out after them. Phil’Za jumped into the air, pushing forward with his wings and snatching Dream up, and Tubbo along with him. “Hold on!” He shouted over the wind, squinting in the blowing snow as he flew on through the harsh weather. Somehow, he knew where Techno had landed the ship, and dropped down as soon as he reached it, hurrying to two inside. “Get, get in! Hurry!” He urged, glancing back over his shoulder to where Techno was running up to them, spiders not far behind. “ Inside !”

Dream stumbled into the ship, Tubbo falling out of his hold and onto the floor with a loud bang, followed by a pathetic cry from the younger alien. Phil’Za was already rushing to the cockpit and powering up the ship as Techno reached them, lunging inside and rapidly pressing his hand against the scanner on the wall to close the door. 

The hull door swished up quickly, but not before the giant spiders had reached the ship, shrieking and clacking their pincers as they struggled to try and rip the door off. Multiple limbs snapped off with sick cracks as the door finally hissed shut, and it was clear that the spiders were not pleased.

But they retreated nonetheless, leaving Dream somewhat confused. “Well, that was easy,” He muttered, brows furrowed in thought.

Crrrrraack .

“Oh,” Techno whispered, eyes wide. “That’s no good,”

He rushed to the cockpit, and Dream followed, looking out the viewscreen as cracks spread out through the snow. “What–?” He muttered, confused, before the ground began to break off in chunks, dark water sloshing around in the cracks as the pieces shifted around against each other. His eyes widened, and he realized it wasn’t just snow or the ground. It was a fucking lake. “GO!” He shouted, turning to Phil’Za who was struggling to work the controls.

“I’m trying ! The damn legs are frozen to the ice!” He yelled in reply, pulling up on the steering and trying to break free. Dream heard more ice crack nearby outside the ship, no doubt beneath them because the ship started to tilt at an angle to the back.

“PHIL! We’re gonna fall in!” Techno shouted, dropping down into the copilot seat that adjusted to his form. He worked at some controls, pressing buttons, flipping switches, putting commands into the many screens. 

Dream ran off to find Tubbo, wanting to get him up to the cockpit with everyone else despite his slight distaste with the loud alien youngster, but of course he wasn’t there when he went back to grab him. With an irritated sigh he hurried down the nearest hall in search of the alien, scanning rooms and around corners for him.

As the ship began to tip dangerously to one side again, sending him sliding into the wall, he caught something out of the corner of his eye, and couldn’t do anything but stand and stare dumbly as Tubbo slid past at the end of the hall, sitting and spinning slowly on the ground as he went. 

Dream shook off his stupor and stumbled down the hall, turning the corner and sliding down after him. He hit the wall beside him, and found the young alien munching on a fruit. 

“This is really good,” He stated, swallowing his mouthful, “You want some?”

Dream’s eye twitched, “ No ! We’re going to sink into a fucking lake, dumbass! Come on,” He huffed, grabbing his arm and pulling him back up to the cockpit, with much difficulty due to the tilt of the ship. He left Tubbo at the doorway and climbed up to the copilot seat beside Techno. “Any luck?!” He asked, frantically looking between blinking screens and the harsh white of the sky outside.

“NOPE!” Techno said in return, frantically searching through the controls while Phil’Za struggled to pull the ship free. “What is in this damned ice?!” He questioned loudly, turning to the winged alien.

Phil’Za glared at him, “I don’t know ! I’m not an ice expert !”

Dream groaned and spun around to look at Tubbo, “Stay there,” He said threateningly, before sliding out of the cockpit and down to the hull. He fiddled with the controls until the door hissed open and jumped out onto the ice, nearly losing his balance and falling as soon as he was out.

Carefully, he got back up on steady feet and made his way around to the landing gear, finding it was indeed frozen solid to the ice. He moved over to it, crouched under the leaning ship, and pulled out his plasma blade. “Hope this works,” He muttered, before hitting the blade against the ice.

It chipped and sizzled, sending miniscule shards of ice everywhere, but it was working, if only somewhat, so Dream continued. And all the time the ship was continuously struggling to not tilt too much in any direction and sink into the water. It left Dream wondering why they couldn’t just fly off with the ice attached, but what did he know.

He made quick work of the ice, at least, as quick as he could, and when he finally managed to free the last of the legs the ship fucking shot off into the sky. Without him .

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!” He shrieked, watching it get smaller and smaller in the distance while the ice he stood on sloshed around wildly from the movement. He put his blade away and tugged at his hair, screaming into the air. “WHAT THE HELL!”

Chapter Text

Dream hissed through his teeth, arms wrapped tightly around himself as he trudged through deep snow. He headed away from trees this time, hoping that the lack of cover would mean less spiders, even if it meant more snow and harsher winds for him.

He couldn’t exactly stay in the clearing waiting for them to realize he was gone, because it wasn’t a clearing. It was a fucking lake. And everything around that was trees. So he hightailed it out of that woods as quickly as he could.

But being out of the trees was hardly any better than being in them. Everything was worse, weather-wise. And at this rate he’d starve to death before they even realized he’d been left behind.

Dream paused, glancing back over his shoulder cautiously. He had the feeling something was watching him. Squinting through his goggles, he tried to make out any potential figures hidden in the distance, but ten feet away was about as far as he could see given the snow blowing around. So he didn’t see anything.

Swallowing anxiously, he turned back ahead, attempting to pick up his pace through the snow in search of shelter.

Over the howl of the wind he heard something. A rhythmic sound that didn’t quite fit with the rest of the wind.

It took him only a moment to realize it was the sound of wings, and he turned just in time to see Punz diving down towards him. Dream shrieked, tumbling backwards and sinking far too deep into the snow as Punz crashed into him. 

Dream gasped, trying to push up and get him off, but his arms only sunk deeper into the snow, leaving him pinned and helpless. “GET OFF!” He shouted, the words scratching his brain as they forcefully came out twisted and alien. 

“No!” He shrieked, shoving Dream down further into the snow. “You broke my house!”

“And you tried to put me in SOUP! SOUP ! You’re crazy!” He declared loudly. He surged up and headbutted Punz as hard as he could, making the alien shout in pain and reel back. Dream took the opportunity to wiggle out from underneath him and take off through the snow to the best of his ability, only to hear heavy wing flaps seconds later and get scooped up from above.

Dream screamed, thrashing around in Punz’ grip until he decided that he was too high up to want to fall, and began clinging to the alien for safety. “PUT ME DOWN, YOU MAN EATING FREAK!”

“No,” Punz huffed, “You are now my hostage, human. Don’t just assume that I didn’t see your ship leave without you. They’re going to come back,” He stated, voice sharp.

Dream frowned. They would come back. He knew that. But what would that mean for them if Punz was planning something? Would he lure them back with him and kill them? Would he steal the ship?!

Dream decided that he wasn’t going to let that happen, thank you very much, and yanked his mask down before promptly sinking his teeth into the alien’s arm. 

Punz shouted out in pain, nearly dropping him and faltering in his flight. “WHAT THE FUCK?! OW!” He clamped his hand over Dream’s mouth to keep it from happening again, but the man took the opportunity to swing his foot back and kick Punz in the knee and reach back, digging his nails into his fluffy wings. This successfully got him to fall out of the sky, taking Dream with him.

Punz screamed, flapping his wings wildly to try and keep them from hitting the ground too hard, but they both ended up buried in a snow drift in the end.

Dream gathered his bearings before Punz managed to, crawling up out of the snow and pulling out his plasma blade. By the time the alien crawled out to join him, disoriented and in pain, Dream already had his blade pointed at his neck. 

“I suggest you stop all this now before I slit your throat. They’re coming back for me, but this means nothing good for you,” He said with a dark grin.

Punz swallowed, and gave a small nod. Dream chuckled smugly.

_____________________________

It was taking an irritatingly long time for the ship to come back for Dream, but he was making do with what he could. It had been two or three days, but he figured they must be having trouble finding him. He forced Punz to help him figure out what to eat—which was mostly just spider meat and icy roots, but that was fine. He was doing fine .

“DREAM!” Punz shouted from where he laid in the broken bed in the corner of the room. “Are you going to fix that fucking hole in the wall? It’s drafty in here,”

Dream groaned. He was really starting to hate Punz. The guy still tried to kill him every chance he got, but at the same time acted like they were best friends and roommates or some shit. He wasn’t doing crap to help him since he’d dragged him back out to the house he’d literally intended to eat him in before.

He hammered his head against the wall, trying to drown out Punz’ complaints. “Will you shut up ?!” He shouted, glancing over to him from where he stood beside the wall. “I have a headache already, you’re just making it worse,”

Punz huffed, chucking a rock up in the air and catching it when it fell back down. “You’ve had a headache for three days. I’m beginning to think you’re just lying to keep me quite,”

“Technically I’ve had a headache for a lot longer than that,” Dream muttered, rubbing his temples. “Do you have ANY idea what it’s like having a fucking device hooked up to you fucking brain, forcing your thoughts and the words that come out of your mouth to be in a language unknown to you?! No. Didn’t think so,” He snapped, turning back to the wall.

Punz let out a small ‘huh’ before speaking again, “Oh. I get it. You’ve got one of those shitty translators. But you’re overreacting really. They affect everyone a little different, but it’s not that ba-” The alien cut off with a choked sound as Dream pressed his knife against his throat.

“ Don’t tell me that I’m overreacting. Don’t tell me that I’m fine . I am fine. But not out of choice. I have to be fine, because what else is there to be?” He whispered darkly, staring down in the alien’s eyes.

Punz held completely still, unblinking as Dream threatened his life. Until the man’s gaze flicked over to Punz’ healing wings, and he brought his knife down on the bandaged tear in them, making Punz scream.

“AAGHH! COME ON! THEY WERE NEARLY HEALED, TOO!” He shrieked, kicking his legs out at Dream and folding his wings in on himself, pressing his hands to the worsened wound.

Dream scoffed, watching uncaringly. “I don’t want you flying away or anything. Don’t get any ideas. You’re my prisoner now, don’t forget that,” He informed, turning and walking over to the fireplace. He peered into the large pot over the flames, grimacing at the pathetic attempt at stew they had made. Old spider bits and dull roots, some defrosted leaves thrown in for flavor and all too much water to be anything tasty. Honestly, with all Punz’ bickering he was considering resorting to eating him .

Punz finally decided to shut up, however, when the building began to shake. Dream turned to the door, rushing outside in search of the source and found a familiar ship landing not but a few feet away. The man laughed, hunched over and clutching his stomach in hysteria as Techno and Phil’Za hurried out of the ship, looking worried. “HOLY SHIT!” He shouted, gasping for air and reeling back to look up at them. “Took you long enough!”

Chapter Text

“So he’s our prisoner now?” Techno questioned.

Dream shook his head up and down. “Yes,”

“And we’re not going to talk about this?”

“No,”

Techno sighed, clapping his hands together, “Alright then. Uh, we need to round back to drop off Phil and Tubbo and then we can get going again,”

“No need,” Phil butted in, walking in with Tubbo at his side. “You just take the ship over near my home and we can fly the rest of the way,”

“Great,” Techno huffed. He brought the ship around to where Phil called home. “You’re not gonna have any more issues with the eddarakon?” He asked, glancing back over his shoulder at the aliglai in question.

Phil rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine now. We won’t stick around long, just need to tie up some things,” He assured. “See you in Kastell?”

Techno grinned. “Of course.”

And with that, Phil hurried down to the hull and was soon seen flying outside the ship with Tubbo at his side, circling down to the ground. Techno sighed, closing the hatch and pulling the ship up and away from the surface of the planet. “Well, next stop then,” He muttered, slumping back in his seat once he was a safe enough distance for autopilot.

“And where is our next stop?” Dream questioned, taking his spot in the copilot seat.

Techno groaned, leaning forward again and squinting down at his map on screen. He swiped around, zooming in and out to examine different planets. “Well, I refuse to go to Kastell’Re yet, so the only other considerable option is Mariduz…” 

“ And ? You sound not so glad about the idea of going there,” The human pressed, sounding confused.

“I’m not,” Techno confirmed, “However it is quite a lot better than Kastell.”

“Annnd… what’s wrong with Mariduz?” Dream continued.

Techno frowned, pulling up an image of the planet on screen. “Nearly the entire surface is covered in water,”

_____________________________

Dream made a noise of disdain as they approached the planet below. Through the scattered clouds he could see the odd sprinkling of islands amidst the endless sea, but it wasn’t much, and there wasn’t much on them either. They could hardly be described as anything more than giant rocks.

Techno slowly brought the ship down near one of the small islands, carefully steering it into a little cave just big enough to house it. Once landed, he and Dream walked down to the hull and opened the hatch, only for it to stop after opening about two feet as it hit the cave wall. The alien sighed, climbing up the ramp and hopping down from the side, gesturing for Dream to follow.

The man did, jumping down after him. They walked out of the cave, wincing in the spray of the water and looking around. “Who are we here for now?” Dream questioned, not sure if they’d find much help from fish people.

“No,” Techno agreed, still staring out over the waves. “However I know of somebody here who could rally more to our side in our absence; as I’ll have to go to Kastell soon and once we’re there it’ll be hard to leave,”

Dream nodded, understanding somewhat. “And who is this someone?”

“Lady Lizzinad Shadown. Or, as her friends call her, Lizzie,” Techno huffed casually, “I’m not sure I qualify as one though so don’t tell her I said that. She’s really nice, but really powerful. So. Yeah,” He mumbled.

Dream frowned. That sounded great . “Alright, but this Lady Lizzinad or whatever doesn’t sound like the type to come up to rocks to chit chat with people.”

“Oh no,” Techno confirmed, crouching down by the water’s edge. “We have to go to her.”

The man sighed. “Of course we do. And how do we do that ?”

Techno got back to his feet and turned to him with a grin. “I’ve got special gear for this type of thing, you know,”

“Yeah. Sure. Why did I expect anything different?” Dream grumbled, following the alien back to the ship. He watched Techno climb back up inside and disappear within the ship, and stood there waiting for his return. When he came back he dropped a heavy suit into Dream’s arms and jumped down beside him.

“There.” He huffed, dusting his hands off. “Put that on. I’ve got a mask for you too, and some gloves and special boots. I hate swimming, but it should be easier for you. You’re a lot leaner and lighter than I am,”

Dream chuckled, “Do you just sink?”

“Almost,” Techno grinned. “But the gear helps.”

“Right,” Dream muttered, nodding slowly as he began to pull the suit over his clothes. He took the mask and other items from Techno and slipped them on too before joining him at the water’s edge. “So… Are there gonna be any killer sharks or whales or giant sea monsters or anything that we have to worry about?”

Techno huffed dismissively, “Eh, not really.” Dream sighed in relief. “Well, just as long as we stick to the path of course. If we got lost even the tiniest things could attack us,” And with that he dove into the water, leaving Dream to process what he said.

“... What–”

Chapter Text

Dream had joined Techno in the water not long after their short conversation, and quickly swam to catch up with him. It was fairly clear from the start where the path was. Techno was swimming down towards a long series of floating lamps tied to rocks by weird rope so they wouldn’t float away. 

The lamps gave off a weird pink light that all manner of creatures seemed to avoid. So at least he wouldn’t have to worry about that. The two continued on through the waters, swimming deeper and deeper as the lamps went lower. Until the pink glow surrounding them was their only source of light for what seemed like miles.

“It’s very dark,” Dream muttered, voice coming out muffled and warbled through his mask.

Techno huffed in agreement, “Mhm. Yes it is. We should be almost there, though,”

“Well… That’s good…” The man said under his breath, cautiously glancing around for any sign of danger. They swam even deeper until the lamps came to an end, and Techno moved up to the last one to inspect the sign in front of it. 

Dream swam up beside him, eyes skimming the stone slab’s alien words. In an instant his head was bombarded with the translation and he reeled back, squeezing his eyes shut tight and wincing. “Oh god, ow,” He muttered, rubbing his head. “That’s even worse than the talking,”

“What?” Techno questioned, turning away from the sign to look at him.

The man shook his head, breathing as deeply and steadily as he could through his stupid water mask. “I looked at the sign and my brain nearly exploded, that’s all,” He informed casually, before adding. “Man my eyes feel like I just stared at the sun for five hours and then dumped bleach in them,”

“Yeaahh… That’s your brain trying to make sense of things. It can’t actually change the way you’re seeing the same way it makes you speak differently, so it’s just gonna result in an extreme eye strain feeling,” Techno explained.

Dream sighed, “No shit… What did it say, though? I was too busy focussing on the pain in my eye sockets and skull,”

“It says, Deep Ocean to the Right, Deeper Ocean to the Left, and Xvrium on the Down .”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Dream questioned, staring up at the larger alien in confusion.

“It means ,” Techno began with a sigh, swimming backwards a few feet and looking down the last lantern’s tether. “We go down.”

Dream followed his gaze, finding that this tether went a lot farther down than all the others, and there were more pink lamps tied to it along the way. “Great,” He grumbled, following Techno as he began to swim down along the tether, mostly just letting himself sink. “I’ll be surprised if th fucking water pressure doesn’t implode my skull at this rate,”

He sighed, and dove down after him. The space they were descending through was very clearly man-made. Or, alien-made. It was carved out in a nearly perfect tube shape, with shining purple crystals twinkling in the stone walls the lower they went. Eventually the lamps stopped, and the crystals began to glow in the darkness, providing them with light on their own. And just as Dream was beginning to think they’d be going on forever, the tunnel opened up beneath them and they slowly sank down into the depths of a giant cave.

The place was brimming with life and color despite the lack of sunlight. There were countless spiraling white buildings with blue and green and purple and pink roofs depending on the part of the city, massive geodes stuck out of the walls and ceiling, twinkling purple and pink crystals giving off some light, there were more pink lamps but of larger size, and axolotl-like creatures everywhere . Fish and coral-esque structures and colorful seaweed and grass and in the distance, a massive castle made up of towers that were open near the top, letting anyone swim up if they so choose.

“Come on,” Techno said, waving his hand to lead Dream along. “We’re going to the palace.” He informed, shocking the man out of his stupor.

“Wait, what? We’re going there?!” He repeated, hurrying after him as he began making his way through the underwater city towards the palace.

“Yep. Lady Lizzinad is the Queen here. Did I not mention that?”

“ NO ?” Dream exclaimed, feeling lost. “Why do we keep meeting up with such important people?!” 

“You need to get to the top of things if you want the best on your side,” Techno replied with a grin. “And I happen to know quite a lot of people at the top of most places.

“No shit,” Dream muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

The two swam up to the palace, slowly approaching what had to be the proper entrance as it was big and arched and guarded by two really buff looking axolotl men. Dream wondered if they were the sentient race here, or if they just happened to be really buff animals.

Techno gave a small bow and they slipped past the buff axolotls with no trouble, swimming around through halls and tunnels until they got to a spiral staircase but without the steps, making it look more like a slide. Techno led Dream up it, swimming around the spiral with ease while Dream all but crawled up the damn thing.

“I thought you were fucking heavy or something. How are you swimming so easily?” He grumbled, really just to himself. They made it to the top and Dream just floated there for a moment, struggling to collect his breath as his mask pulled oxygen out of the water. 

“Oh, Techno’Blade– I didn’t expect you,”

“Most people don’t,”

Dream sighed, turning over and righting himself in the water to see what was going on. Standing, or rather floating, before Techno was a massive alien with blue, pink and white calico skin and frilled ears. She had to be at least ten feet tall, with wing-like fins stretching out from her back, slowly working to keep her steady in place where she was. She looked to Dream, curiosity crossing her features before she swam over to him, head tilted as she looked down at him.

“Techno’Blade, why do you have a human with you? They’re quite dangerous, I’ve been told,” She said, not looking away from him. In fact, she didn’t seem worried at all. She just swam around him a few times, messing with his hair floating around him and poking him to see how he’d react.

“Eh,” Techno muttered, making a nonchalant gesture with his hands. “He’s not that bad, actually. He’s got some strength and power in him, won’t lie, but he’s not like, savage or anything. Technically speaking you’re very dangerous too if we’re going about comparison,”

The queen grinned, revealing razor sharp teeth as she looked back over to Techno with her smile, “That’s true. He’d be like a snack for me,”

Dream swallowed and cleared his throat, “Well, can we get on with this? Tell her about the evil and whatnot. This suit is very uncomfortable,”

“Oh. Right,” Techno huffed, clearing his throat. He pulled himself down into a weird round hoop with a curved rest for his legs at the bottom, and when the queen slipped into one opposite of him, the same but bigger, he guessed they were like chairs. “Ehem; Great evil is building throughout–”

“People are turning evil and violent for no known reason across planets with minimal connection and nobody has any idea what’s going on but we want you on our side for when things inevitably go south,” Dream butted in, summarizing everything to the best of his abilities.

Techno blinked, staring at him in shock, before humming in acknowledgement. “Yes, that– Well, that is what is happening. Yes. Thank you, Pr– Ah, Dream.”

Dream nodded. “Yep,”

“Well,” Lizzinad exclaimed, flicking her tail behind her. “That is certainly something. And you want me on your side in case a war breaks out?” She questioned. 

“Yes,” Techno confirmed. “It’d be an honor to have you help us,”

“Well yeah of course it would. I’m great,” The queen grinned, slipping out of her fish chair and swimming over to the edge of the tower. She plucked an item that looked like a microphone off a hook on the wall, held it up to her mouth, and declared in a loud, reaching voice over the city; “OI! What say you, my loyal citizens, the people of Xvrium, the great and amazing race of Steibithaf, about joining the potential oncoming war and kicking some evil BUTT?!”

The city erupted in loud, enthusiastic cheers, with aquatic aliens of all colors swimming up to the tops of the buildings to show the queen their thoughts on the matter. They twirled around, throwing their arms up and doing flips, shouting and cheering agreement. And when Lizzinad turned back to Dream and Techno she was grinning again, showing sharp teeth and determination. “The Ocean Queen is on your side,”

Chapter Text

After making a quick stop at another city some ways away from Xvrium in order to meet with some other steibithaf who lived in shallower waters, ruled by Lizzinad’s younger brother, Techno and Dream made their way back to the ship to take off. The Queen bid them farewell, once again promising to help them in the coming conflict, before diving back down to deeper waters, leaving them on their own. Or, seemingly so.

When they arrived back in the cave, their attention was instantly drawn to the steibithaf lying against the front of the ship’s legs, asleep. Techno frowned, walking up and nudging his leg with his foot. “Heh. Heeeehhhhh .” He muttered, trying to wake it up.

Dream sighed, holding up a hand for him to stop and moving over beside the stranger, crouching down in front of him. He stared at the sleeping steibithaf for a moment, before slapping him across the face.

Techno’s eyes widened in surprise, and the stranger stumbled over onto his side, scrambling against the stone in confusion as he blinked in his surroundings. “What–? Hey!” He shouted, glaring up at Dream only to grow more shocked upon realizing he was human.

Dream, however, didn’t care at all . He blinked, face uncaring, and got back to his feet. “Go away. We’re leaving. Unless you want to get run over, of course,” Said, raising his shoulders in a casual motion. “Your choice.”

And with that, he left him and Techno and wandered back into the ship on his own. The stranger sitting before him clapped his hands together and cleared his throat, “Well, uh, you wouldn’t mind if I hitched a ride with you, right?”

Techno narrowed his eyes, “What for?”

“I just wanna get to Kastell to meet up with a pal of mine. It’s not that far, really–”

“Don’t try to lie to me, I know where Kastell is. This planet is on the edge of the damn galaxy, Kastell is in the middle.” He huffed, crossing his arms. The stranger lowered his gaze, fins flaring in embarrassment. “ However ,” Techno continued. “I happen to be heading to Kastell anyway, unfortunately. As long as you won’t cause trouble–”

“SWEET! Let’s go,” And then he was gone, hurried into the ship after Dream. Techno sighed, climbing up into the ship where the hatch was stuck against the stone before closing it and heading to the bridge to get them off planet. Dream wasn’t there, so he assumed he was in his room, and neither was the new guy. Hopefully he wasn’t getting into too much trouble.

But Techno tried not to worry about it. He already had a human, a hostage, and now a hitchhiker on board. He didn’t need a headache added to the list.

_____________________________

“Why are you here?” Dream asked, scowling at the new alien standing not far away from him. “Don’t tell me Techno let you on the ship,” He muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Uh, the big guy? Yeah. He let me in. You’re a human right–?” He cut off with a shriek as Dream’s knife bounced off the wall and clattered to the floor beside him. He looked down at it, then up at Dream in shock. “WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!” He shouted, eyes wide in concerned confusion.

Dream groaned, “I missed.” He sighed, “Can you just shut up? My tolerance for this shit is lessening by the day,”

“You– Your tolerance for what ?”

“ Speaking . Talking. Conversation. Words out of your mouth and into my ears. I hate it. I. Hate. It . Not that you would understand, of course,” He continued, stepping forward idly and moving his hands around as he spoke, “You’ve probably grown up speaking the same language most– if not all of your life! You’ve never had to deal with a piece of technology burning foreign words into your mouth and brain!” He laughed, eyes wide as he threw his hands out. “You’ve never been separated from your home and entire species , thrust out into the unknown and kidnapped and treated like some kind of animal !”

The alien was backing away now, looking worried for his safety, and maybe Dream’s too. But he was well past the point of caring. He kicked him over and held him to the ground under his foot, tilting his head and staring down at him blankly, blinking once. “I’ll likely never be able to return to my home anyway, after I was framed for a crime I didn’t commit. But even so, I can’t help but be curious as to why so many of you alien races fear humans so much. What is it about us that scares you so? Are you all really that easy to kill ?” He grinned widely.

The alien’s eyes went wide and suddenly Dream’s legs were kicked out from under him. He fell, and expected to hit the floor while the guy ran away. That didn’t actually happen. Instead, the alien caught him, and promptly wrapped his arms tightly around Dream’s back in a hug, catching him off guard.

For one, he didn’t recall learning that aliens did hugs. And two, he had no idea why this stranger was giving him one now of all times. And, well, he really didn’t know what to do.

“What are you doing?” He questioned, brows furrowed in confusion.

The alien, didn’t let go, tense and still holding him tightly. “Holding you,”

Dream sighed, “Yes, clearly. Why ?”

“... I once read that humans need to be held like this, especially if they are upset. I– I was told that it can lead to agitation and unhealthy mental states if they go without physical contact and companionship. Really, it’s not that different from a lot of races, but I read that it’s really important for hu–” He stopped, blinking once as Dream let his head fall limp against the alien’s shoulder. “Are you alright…?”

“M’fine…” Dream grumbled, not exactly pleased to know that aliens studied humans in a way that made them sound like animals that they had all figured out. But it probably wasn’t entirely wrong. “I’m just tired.” He admitted, “And, you’re probably right. Just, stop talking. It’s too much for me right now,”

The alien swallowed and replied in a whisper, “Alright…” Before carefully adjusting his position to sit against the wall. Dream shuffled over to sit beside him, letting his head rest against his shoulder and blinking slowly. He was so fucking tired of everything. He was tired of feeling lost and not understanding what was going on. He was tired of being treated like a monster or a topic of study. He was tired of the fucking device in his brain making nearly every waking moment hell. He just wanted to sleep. He wanted to sleep and not have to worry about any of it ever again.

_____________________________

Techno hissed through his teeth, staring down at the screen displaying the hall’s camera footage. Maybe he should start doing something about Dream’s translator. It was clearly driving him to the edge of his sanity. 

Chapter Text

How do I…

Techno hummed, eyes narrowed at the screen. He continued typing.

How do I remove painful translator from my human?

No results found :(

He sighed. Clearly that wasn’t going to work. Maybe he needed to consult a professional. But he didn’t really know any human professionals. Or even any translator-removal professionals. Of course, if there were one, they’d probably be in Kastell. All the more reason for him to stop flying around sightseeing and stalling.

With an uncomfortable groan he set the ship’s course to head straight for Kastell. No detours, no pit stops, nothing. They were getting there as quick as they could. He could no longer put this off.

With that said and done he got up from his chair and made his way out into the halls, searching for Dream. His guess was that the human was still passed out near his room, successfully holding the new guy hostage. Speaking of hostage, they should probably feed Punz sometime soon.

He rounded the corner, finding the steibithaf that had joined them trying to crawl away from Dream, who was passed and half laying on his back. Techno frowned, confused, “What happened?”

“I tried to move away and he fell over. Help . He’s heavy,” He whispered desperately, before letting his head fall to the floor with a dull thunk. “I regret everything,”

“Oh yes, you should,” Techno agreed, crouching down in front of him. “From what I can tell, once humans get attached to someone they can’t leave. They pack bond aggressively. You’re probably part of his family now or something,”

“What?!” The steibithaf exclaim, lifting his head to look up at him in disbelief. His dark hair fell over his eyes, which he brushed out of the way and continued, “What do you mean?! I’m stuck with him?!”

“Yup,” Techno grinned. “Best not leave him while he’s sleeping. It’ll only anger him,”

The steibithaf’s eyes widened in horror. “What have I done…”

“You got yourself a human. And please, do share. He was mine first. We’re best buds and all that,” He deadpanned, tilting his head slightly before getting back to his feet. “Lunch is soon. Don’t make him miss it, or he’ll get upset,”

“But– How do I get him up without angering him?”

Techno huffed, “No idea,” And made his way back down the hall. He chuckled, listening to his quiet complaints and demands for help grow distant until they couldn’t be heard anymore. Then he turned and made his way down to his room, sighing as he slipped inside and sat down at his desk, pulling up the search bar on his screen.

He typed out his query, and waited as the options cascaded down on the screen. Techno exhaled and leaned forward, swiping through the options. Most of them weren’t anyone he would actually consider, until one specific option came up that interested him.

“Hm… Multi-species attending, ex-machinist, studied in Eastern Kastell University for seven years . Huh, sounds good,” He muttered, skimming through the description. But something specific caught his eye. Experience with humans . Bingo.

_____________________________

The new alien guy was acting very weird after Dream woke up. He didn’t talk much, which he was assuming was because of what he said about speaking bothering him, but he was just really weird on top of it.

Resigning himself to the fact that there would have to be talking to get anything across between the two, he sighed and asked, “So what’s your name anyway?”

The alien blinked, tilting his head slightly only to have his hair fall in his face. “It’s Sapnap,” He replied. “What about you?”

“My name is Dream. But Techno used to call me prawn something or another. Don’t do that please,” He muttered, resting his head back against the wall. Sapnap was still watching him, and Dream couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever considered a haircut. “Hey, why is your hair so long anyway? It’s hanging in your face, can you even see?”

Sapnap made a face, fins flaring in what might be his version of a shrug. “Eh. Not very well. It’s a lot easier to handle under water, y’know? Even the queen has issues with her hair when above the surface,”

Dream rolled his eyes. “Uh huh. Listen, you look dumb and I’d like to limit the amount of things ticking me off so how about this,” He said, pulling a long, unused cloth bandage out of his pocket. He reached over and wrapped it around his head, under his bangs, and tied it in the back to keep the majority of his hair in a small ponytail. “There, all better. Now you’re less ugly and you can see,” He deadpanned.

Sapnap, looked up at his hair and grinned. “Thanks, Dream.”

Dream smiled slightly, “No problem.”

A moment of silence passed between the two, until Sapnap jumped up to his feet, eyes wide, “Ah! I forgot about lunch! The big guy told me to tell you when you got up,” He exclaimed, snatching Dream by the wrist and pulling him along.

Dream sighed. “I hope it’s not those weird alien potatoes again…” He grumbled, following Sapnap down the halls. After a few minutes though, he slowed to a stop, looking around in confusion. Dream chuckled, “You don’t know where it is,”

“Nah. No idea,” The alien admitted, scratching his neck. “Hey, you’re not gonna like, murder me or anything, right?” He questioned, glancing back at Dream.

The man snorted, “No. But that’s not the first time people have been worried about that, actually,” He noted. “Don’t worry. You’re fine. However, if you try to murder me on the other hand,” He began pulling Sapnap down a different hall until they reached the cell holding Punz. “This is what would happen to you,”

Sapnap stared past the plasma bars in startled confusion at where Punz laid. Unfortunately for Dream, and Techno too, Punz got used to prison life very quickly. After only about one or two days of viciously attempting escape. So there he was, laying casually over his bed and glancing over to the two of them when they arrived and winking. “Hello,”

Dream groaned, rubbing his eyes in annoyance. “I hate you,”

“Nice. Can you bring me some food, please?” The winged alien questioned, hanging backwards off the side of his bed. 

“Fuck you,” Dream spat, flipping him off. Punz returned the gesture, sticking his tongue out at him before grinning and turning back to his holographic book.

Dream sighed, turning to Sapnap and leading him away from the cell, “Anyway my point is you try to kill me and I’ll beat your ass and lock you up, blah blah blah. Capiche?” He asked with a humorless forced smile.

Sapnap stared at him before smiling. “Yeah. Okay. No attempted murders either way, alright?”

Dream chuckled, “Alright.” He nodded, “Now let’s go get some food before I resort to non-cannibalism since we aren’t the same race,”

“What–?”

Chapter Text

While Techno had been mostly joking to scare Sapnap when he said that Dream had bonded with him and he couldn’t leave, he was beginning to think it was more true than he thought. At the very least the two were clearly becoming friends. 

They spent a lot of time together, leaving Techno mostly alone. It was weird, since he’d gotten so used to Dream’s near constant company, but he could use some alone time. He used it to mostly research humans, since he hadn’t got that much time to do so before.

Being what he was, Sapnap had to sleep in the washroom in the bath. Dream more often than not fell asleep against the wall beside him, having been in there talking with him and keeping him company.

But, they were soon coming up on Kastell. Techno frowned, seeing its shape in the distance. He called Dream to the bridge, and of course he brought Sapnap with him.

“What’s going on?” The human asked, sitting down in the copilot chair.

Sapnap sat on the armrest beside him, “Are we almost there?” He questioned eagerly.

Techno sighed, “Yes. We’re almost there. But I need you to understand– Dream, not Sapnap, that this place is massive . It is full of people of all kinds, countless races, creatures as pets, children, the elderly, tourists and locals, people of high stature and nobility. There will be people who would want to learn everything they can about you; some by asking questions and others by dissecting you,” He explained, watching the human’s expression sour. “This place is considered the safest place in the galaxy while simultaneously the most dangerous, people wise. You could be kidnapped, drugged, or straight up murdered if you wander into the wrong people. Just– Be very careful, and stay close, alright?”

“Yeah,” Dream agreed, shaking his head up and down. “Alright. Doesn’t sound like a big deal. Fairly similar to human cities anyway,”

Techno chose to ignore the implications of that statement and instead turned his focus to bringing his ship closer and into dock as they approached Kastell’Re.

_____________________________

Holy fucking shit. Holt fucking shit . Dream had imagined this Kastell place to big, don’t get him wrong. It was described as a massive city to him, of course he expected it to be big. But this was massive . Colossal in scale. No human made city he’d ever seen could match up to this.

The city wasn’t built on a planet. It was built around two planets that seemed to have collided with each other who knows how long ago. Kastell itself was a massive ring around the planets, with other rings built around parts of it, or spires and towers jutting off in places to give even more space. It sparkled and hummed with energy as it slowly rotated around the planets, accompanied by ships going to and from the many docking ports.

Sapnap seemed fairly awed too, but not nearly as much as Dream was. He assumed he’d seen it before, since he was supposedly going to meet up with a friend.

Techno pulled the ship down into one of the larger ports, grumbling to himself as guards waved him in and locked his ship into place. Once they’d exited, it was picked up by some odd crane thing and moved into a weird rotating garage deal in the wall. Dream glared at the guards that stared at him in shock, and Techno worked to fill out some sort of form regarding his purpose in the city, any weapons he had on him, his information and ship’s information, etcetera etcetera. 

They were lead out of the docking port by a guard and into the main streets of the city, and Dream’s mouth dropped in shock. There were aliens everywhere . Weird taxi things flew around in the air, trams attached to tracks on the ceiling whipped by, there was music coming from somewhere, bright lights from overhead, shops, advanced alien technology in everything, even the sidewalk . It took only a moment for the awe and delight of everything to be completely washed away by overwhelming sensory overload.

Dream backed away against the now closed doors they had come from, sinking down to the floor and clamping his hands over his ears, eyes squeezed shut. “Nope. No no nope nope no. That’s too much for me, thanks,” He muttered, desperately trying to block everything out. He felt like a child, hiding in the corner because he was scared. He wasn’t scared . He just knew that if he tried to handle that for even a second more he would probably murder someone.

“ Dream ?” Techno’s voice came through the muffled chaos. Dream forced and eye open, scowling up at the tall alien crouched in front of him. “Are you okay?” He asked, looking him over for any injury.

Dream shrugged, “Eh. Just feel like my head’s gonna explode. Not a big deal,” He muttered, lowering his head into his knees.

Somebody sighed, Techno probably, and he spoke again. “Can you at least handle it until we get to the doctor?”

Alarms started blaring in Dream’s head and he lifted his head back up in an instant, eyes wide as he stared at Techno in confusion. “Doctor? What doctor? Why are we going to a fucking doctor? Nobody’s sick why would we need to go and see a doctor if nobody’s sick or hurt? What–” He questioned, rapid fire. 

Techno held his hands up to silence him, “Hey, hey. No one is sick or hurt, calm down. We’re going for you. I want to see if they can do anything about that translator in your head–”

Instant no . Dream sprung to his feet and took off into the crowd, alarming multiple aliens as he ran and pushed past them to get away. He wasn’t fucking going back to any doctor or surgion of fucked up weirdo scientist. The last time Techno sent him off for anything of the sort he got that thing in his head and he hadn’t been the same since. He wasn’t doing that again. He wasn’t risking the chance that they might do something worse .

So he ran. And he kept running. And he ignored shouts of anger when he shoved past people and Techno and Sapnap’s shouts growing distant. He didn’t have time to think things over. He just had to run .

Chapter Text

Stupid. Stupid fucking idiot. Dream groaned in frustration, pulling at his hair and kicking the stupid alien wall. Why did he go and get lost? A little temper tantrum from the lights was no reason to essentially hand yourself out to be kidnapped by human hunting freaks! What was he thinking ?

The logical part of him knew that Techno wasn’t going to have him experimented on, really. But it still freaked him out. He thought he’d been safe before, but then he wasn’t, and he got that fucking thing in his head. For all he knew this new doctor might get curious and decide to crack open his skull for a peek inside.

He sighed, sliding down against the slanted wall. He was finally at a part of the seemingly endless city that wasn’t so crowded. Really, there wasn’t anyone there at all. Just plain doors into unmarked buildings, and bright lights on overhead. Maybe this part of town recently moved out or something, and was up for sale. Or maybe he was in the suburbs and everyone was asleep. Who knew.

Dream hid his head in his knees, trying to block out the lights and his problems. He wished he could go home. He didn’t want to be out in the middle of a giant space city surrounded by aliens. He wanted to go home . He wanted his bed, he wanted familiar food and sights and people . He didn’t want to constantly be suffering or in danger; he didn’t want to be a wanted criminal in his own solar system. But what he wanted didn’t matter much. Because he was here. And he wasn’t home. There wasn’t much he could do about that.

“Hello?”

Dream lifted his head, finding himself looking up at a new alien, one he didn’t recognize. This one was the same species and Punz and Phil’Za, but a bit shorter, and with blue skin and wings with white markings. “Are you alright?” He questioned, head tilted as he looked down at Dream.

Dream blunked. “Are you going to kidnap and dissect me?” He asked dully, letting his head fall back to his knees.

The alien scoffed, and he heard him settle down on the ground in front of him. “No. Gross.” He huffed. “Why would I want to do that?”

“Because I’m a human and blah blah blah, dangerous stuff, whatever.” Dream shrugged. “That’s it, right? Or maybe you want to sell me on the alien black market. Or how about using me in some sort of fighting arena. That sounds believable, huh?”

“Hm, no. Not really my thing, actually. My friend Sapnap however would be totally willing to go toe to toe with a human such as yourself. But he’s not here yet, lucky for you,”

Dream’s brow furrowed in confusion and he raised his head again. “Sapnap??” He repeated. “I know Sapnap. Might not be the same one though if it happens to be a really common name out here in the galaxy or whatever,” He muttered.

The new alien tilted his head again. “Oh? Well, my Sapnap is very kind and somewhat loud and reckless at times. Really the type of person to befriend a human just as likely as he would fight it,” He said with a grin.

Dream smiled slightly. “Yeah, he would. What’s your name anyway?”

“George.” The alien introduced. “And you?”

“It’s Dream.” He replied. “Are you by any chance waiting for your friend Sapnap? Because if so I’m willing to bet he’s already here.”

“Really?” George asked. “Hm, yeah it would be about time for him to meet up with me. But he said he was having such a hard time finding someone to give him a ride in their ship. He doesn’t have his own,”

Dream shrugged, “Eh. We gave him a ride. He was passed out outside our ship so we didn’t really have much choice, honestly. He’s a nice guy. I like him, at least, which is saying a lot from me these days.” He admitted, tilting his head. “What about you, though? He talked a lot about how he was so eager to meet up with you. What’s that about?”

“Oh we just haven’t spoken in a while. We wanted to catch up. Plus, he’s planning to move out here, so he wanted to get to know the place.” George explained. “And, well, things have been kind of tense lately. Something happening that the higher ups are trying to keep under wraps. I don’t know, I’m just worried and wanted him here.”

Dream frowned. “I think I know what you mean. It’s why we came in  the first place. Something bad’s happening around the galaxy, right? People getting violent and cruel, I’ve heard of it. Seen it somewhat, though my only subject to judge is kind of a cocky ass so I don’t see much difference really,”

George laughed. “Oh that’s awful, actually.” He said with a grin, cringing at himself. “But yes I guess that’s probably at least close to what’s going on. Some sort of illness, I think. Not sure.”

“Ah, well. That’s a shame,” Dream deadpanned. “However, I am actually lost at the moment because I ran away after my… friend , I guess, told me he was taking me to the doctor.”

George looked at him, brow raised. “You ran off like a frightened fledgling afraid of a checkup?”

“Fuck you,” Dream hissed, flipping him off. “I just don’t want to wind up with another fucked up device in my head is all.”

The alien frowned, “Device? Do you have a translator or something? Does it bother you?”

“ Yes it bothers me! Every word between us is like another electric shock to my brain! Or like someone’s prodding my head with a heated iron rod! That’s how much it bothers me…” He trailed off, blinking plainly at the floor.

“Oh… That sounds unpleasant.”

“It is.”

They sat in silence for some time before George spoke up again. “Would you like help getting back to them?”

Dream frowned, looking up at the alien in front of him and giving a small awkward smile, “Yeah. Please.”

Chapter Text

Well, they were screwed. Dream was gone, possibly snatched up by someone bigger and stronger than him lurking in the dark corners of the massive city. There was really no way to know where he was, at all . Techno had never thought to give him a comm for communicating over text, so he had nothing.

He and Sapnap were stuck sitting outside the help station on a cold little bench, unable to do anything but wait and hope that the human would come back.

“Well, he definitely doesn’t seem to be a big fan of doctors, does he?” Sapnap said with a strained chuckle. He sighed, leaning back against the wall and looking into the crowd. “I wonder–”

Ping !

Techno glanced over to him, brow raised, as he pulled out his comm to check the message. 

“Oh– Oh! George found him!” Sapnap exclaimed, jumping up from the bench and rapidly typing back a reply. “He’s down near the museum right now, they’re on the way down here!” He pocketed his comm and turned back to Techno. “Come on, let’s meet them halfway!”

Techno sighed, getting up from the bench and hurrying to keep up with Sapnap as he took off down the street. He apologized for the steibithaf’s antics as he ran by confused peoples, and picked up the pace to not lose sight of him.

They finally came to a stop in front of some random store, with Techno panting for air while Sapnap ran up and nearly tackled some aliglai before pulling both him and Dream into a tight hug. Techno caught his breath and just stood there awkwardly before Dream came over to him, butting his head against his arm and just resting there.

“Let’s just go.” He muttered, barely audible. “As long as it doesn’t get worse, I don’t care anymore.”

Techno frowned, resting a hand on the human’s head. “Alright,” He replied quietly, turning to look back at Sapnap and his friend. “We’ll be going now, if that’s alright with you.”

Sapnap blinked, before walking back over and holding out his comm. “At least give me your contact so I can still talk with Dream from time to time, please? I’d like to still be able to see him.”

Techno hummed, holding out his own communicator and trading information. “Mhm. I’m sure you’ll see him again before we leave. I’m always in Kastell way longer than I intend to be anyway.”

The steibithaf sighed, tilting his head. “Well, I hope I do. Until then, good luck, with the whole doctor thing and whatever else comes after. See you around, I hope.”

Sapnap and his friend waved to Dream, who returned the gesture, before they walked off down the street and Techno and Dream did the same in the other direction. Techno turned to Dream, still walking absently along at his side, and asked; “Are you alright?”

Dream did the thing where he lifted his shoulders in lieu of an answer. “Probably not. I’m fucked up, really. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to any sense of normal after this, even if I do get this thing out of my head. I’m more violent and agitated; almost everything sets me off. I almost tried to kill Sapnap when I first met him. I just don’t care anymore.” He admitted, looking dull. “I want to go home…”

And that, well wasn’t that just awful? Techno felt terrible for not doing anything sooner, but he’d been so absorbed in trying to find new people and planets to ally with. He hadn’t even considered that Dream had been having such large issues.

He sighed, continuing through the city towards the hospital he’d looked up. “I’m sorry,” He muttered quietly, not quite used to being so sincere with apologies. “I should have done something when it happened. And I should have done something after, too. But I didn’t, and you have every right to fault me for that. But I am taking you to a doctor who should be able to remove the translator, and I’ll be there to make sure he doesn’t do anything to hurt you.”

Dream hummed, soundly mildly pleased. “That sounds nice. I’d like to be able to talk without words in another language being forced out of my throat.”

Techno grimaced. That sounded just awful .

They went on through the city until they reached the clinic they were searching for. It was small, and certainly not crowded, but it didn’t look all that suspicious or out of place aside from the quiet scene. Techno led Dream inside, and the human looked around in an expression akin to disgust. 

“You alright?” He asked, slightly confused by the reaction.

Dream huffed, rubbing his nose. “Fine. Just feels all too much like a human hospital. Hospitals in general, really. Don’t like them. Never did. Even smells like a hospital…”

Techno understood. Medics, clinics, hospitals and the like; they were all terribly uncomfortable. He walked past the front door and into the back, having booked an appointment ahead of time and been told to just come back once he arrived. There was a small waiting room, and a door off into the patient rooms. 

The doctor who Techno had looked up and called soon walked out of the room, dressed in a white coat and a red, black, and yellow mask covering most of his head and keeping his hair back. Techno didn’t know his exact species, but he was quadrupedal, and had a prehensile tail carrying a notepad.

“Techno’Blade and, Dream, yes?” He asked, tilting his head at the to.

Techno stood to confirm, pulling Dream with him. “Yes, that’s us.” He replied, and followed the doctor back through the door. Dream stuck close as they walked down a short hall and into a room with all sorts of complex equipment. Techno noticed the way he tensed, eyes darting around to take in every detail he could.

“Don’t worry,” He said, resting a hand on the human’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright. Promise.”

“Up on the cot, please.” The doctor instructed, and Dream hesitantly obeyed. The doctor held out a mask attached to a tube and stated, “This mask will provide anesthesia in the oxygen to put you to sleep. I believe this is a process humans are familiar with?”

Dream swallowed tensely and shook his head up and down. “Yeah.”

The doctor repeated the gesture more surely, “Mm. Now before I do this, I am going to explain what will happen during all this, so you know what to expect when you wake up. So to start, I’ll put you to sleep, so you won’t feel anything or have to be conscious during the surgery, and once you’re out I’ll remove the translator as carefully as I can. After that, as long as it is alright with you, I’d like to do a general scan of your vitals and brain, but using techniques similar to what I believe you humans use. Is this alright?”

Dream shook his head up and down again. 

“Alright. Are you ready?”

Once more, and the doctor slipped the mask over Dream’s mouth and nose. A few deep breaths and he was out in an instant.

Chapter Text

When Dream came back to his senses he half expected to find something worse had happened to him, given the dull pain throbbing throughout his body. He peeled his eyes opened with a tired sigh, met with the harsh white lighting of the hospital. The near constant fiery buzz in his mind was gone, but he had no idea if that was because he hadn’t had to talk or listen to anyone talk for who knew how long, or because something had changed. There were no tubes or anything attached to him, so he assumed it was safe to sit up, slowly pushing himself up on the cot.

He blinked groggily, looking around the room, and his gaze landed on Techno asleep in a chair in the corner. His mouth was dry, his head hurt, and everything ached. He just wanted to get out of there, so he slipped off the cot and walked over to Techno, poking him in the arm to wake him.

The alien snorted, jolting out of his sleep and looking at Dream in confusion. His eyes widened slightly, and he opened his mouth to speak, only to close it before any words came out, seemingly thinking. Before he could try again, the alien doctor walked into the room, looking up from a holographic clipboard and tilting his head at Dream.

“Ah, you’re awake.” He stated simply, in english . Heavily accented but decipherable. “Please sit down.” He instructed, and Dream obeyed without question, unable to process. “You’ll feel somewhat tired and lethargic for a few days, as your translator certainly wasn’t an up to code model and was affecting many things in your body. It was somewhat difficult to remove without causing lasting damage, but I believe I managed to do it without leaving any more than a scar. However, with it now gone you’ll have to put conscious effort into speaking galactic common now with it gone. It shouldn’t be too difficult, though, as I’m sure it cataloged most of the words you heard to your memory, whether you like it or not.”

Dream nodded slowly, watching him as he pulled out a small device from his pocket and held it up in front of him. “I’m going to shine this light in your eyes and see how you react. Once it is turned off, follow it with your eyes, not your head. Then we’ll try speaking some common, alright?”

Dream nodded again, flinching slightly when the light was suddenly clicked on in his face. He looked into the light, and followed the device with his gaze when it was moved around in figure eights in front of him. After that, the doctor pocketed it, and looked back to him.

“Okay, we will start simple. Repeat after me: Hello, my name is Dream .”

The man inhaled deeply, and did his best to repeat the sentence. It felt odd to be speaking the alien language on his own accord, but still it felt familiar on his tongue after so long of being forced to speak it. The doctor, who soon after introduced himself as Ponk, continued giving him sentences to practice, which Dream in turn repeated until he was told that they were done.

He slid back off the cot and looked over to Techno, feeling dazed. “... Hi ,” He muttered, waving his hand at the larger alien.

Techno smiled awkwardly. “ Hullo .”

_____________________________

Techno was unexpectedly relieved after Dream woke up after surgery. He seemed to be handling it well, even if he was still a lot more blunt and unnecessarily cold than he was when he first found him. He supposed being trapped out in space, separated from your own kind, forced to survive dangerous situations and deal with a painful translator in your head would certainly mess some people up. But he believed Dream was strong, and he could handle it, even if it would all have some lasting effect on him.

Now that the whole translator issue was hopefully solved though, Techno needed to consult Eret, Fwip, and as many other big leaders and people of power as he could. Eret would be easy, but he heard that Fwip had been acting strange lately, and Badboy’Halo was completely MIA. But there was still Quackity, though he hated him, and Smajor too. Those were the biggest leaders he could think of, though he knew there were a few other people of power, a bit shady, but useful. He needed as many on his side as he could get. And to start; Eret, because he had the most connections.

So, he began towards the heart of the city, ( if you could even call it that, given the ring shape,) where the most of the hustle and bustle was. Even if he despised it, he needed this, so he pushed on anyway, even as the streets began getting disgustingly pristine and crowded.

“I don’t like this,” Dream muttered, voice dull from lack of use. “I do not like this at all. Still too bright, too loud, even with the translator gone.” He stated, glaring around at everything with a cold, passionate hatred.

Really, Techno couldn’t relate more. Well, he probably could, since the lights and sound were likely not bothering him quite as much as it was Dream, but it was still awful . 

The two continued through the chaos of the city until they reached GRA Palace. After a painfully long and complicated process of getting through security, Techno and Dream were escorted to meet Eret and the other leaders currently present in the city. Upon arriving, the guard left them, and the two were faced with some of the strongest people in the city.

Within the meeting hall was Eret: King of Larita; one of the last Styernans, Count Fwip: Recently crowned Emperor of his own distant planet after the untimely death of it’s previous Empress, Scott Smajor: Captain of the Intersolar Trade system, and one more whom Techno did not recognize; a human . But it would seem Dream did .

“Holy fucking shit,” He muttered, eyes wide as he stepped forward, staring at the human before them. “No fucking way!”

“What?” Techno questioned, glancing between the two in confusion. “Who is it? Do you know?”

“Yes I know ! He’s half the reason I got stranded out here in the first place! I was framed for trying to KILL HIM!” Dream shouted, growing increasingly angry. He glared at the human who only grinned smugly in response. “Alexander Cyberknafe; President of over half of Earth’s solar system and military commander.”

For some reason, Techno had a feeling he wouldn’t like this guy.

Chapter Text

“What the fuck?!” Dream shouted, storming over in front of the man who second-hand ruined his life. “What are you doing here?!” He questioned angrily.

Cyberknafe only raised a brow at him, looking smug. “Why I’m part of the GRA, of course. Somebody has to represent the humans in this big game of galactic chess. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“What– But– Humans didn’t know about the other races! We didn’t know aliens existed! If we did, then–”

Cyberknafe tilted his head mockingly, “Then everyone would have run out in their ships to meet them. We’d start intersolar wars, maybe even galaxy wide! Humans as is are a very interesting species to many races out here. If we were a part of the equation, we’d be used as killer dogs, experiments, or just plain pets. We keep the peace by keeping it under wraps.” He explained matter-of-factly, giving a sly smile. “Do you have a problem with that, Dream?”

Realistically, Dream knew that he would know his name. It had been all over the news. But it was still unsettling.

The man glared, stepping back towards Techno without taking his eyes off of the human in front of him. “I didn’t try to kill you, you know. I don’t know who did, but it wasn’t me.”

“I don’t care,” Cyberknafe shrugged. “It wasn’t like you would have succeeded either way. We’re not stupid enough to give announcements in public like that without some extra protection.”

“Extra protection?” Dream repeated, confused. He wouldn’t know what he was talking about, because he hadn’t been there. He was just unloading cargo. He didn’t know .

“Ah nevermind. It’s none of your business, anyway,” The man brushed off simply.

Dream scowled, practically seething. But he didn’t really have any reason to be so angry at him, so he tried to choke it down, stepping back beside Technoblade to watch the rest of the meeting in bristling silence. He stayed back as Techno discussed the issues he’d come for, but he couldn’t help but feel uneasy everytime Cyberknafe looked his way. It didn’t sit right with him that humans knew about the other races and populated planets throughout the galaxy, but the public just wasn’t allowed to know.

By the time the meeting was over, they’d come up with a semi-sturdy plan to combat the growing evil across the solar systems, but Techno didn’t seem quite satisfied. He wanted to take action, stop whatever it was before it got to the point of a bloody freaking war. But everyone else insisted that that wasn’t necessary, so, with Technoblade plastering on false calm for the sake of appearances, they left. And as soon as they were out he exploded in anger.

“ How can they say that ?!” He shouted, seething and throwing his arms out, nearly knocking Dream’s head off. “ This is kind of a big deal! Countless innocent people could be dying right now and we wouldn’t even know! ”

Dream sighed, “Yeah. And I don’t like the fact that humans knew about all this but, just, not most humans. Only humans of high standing. Like him.” He grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets because somehow they were so freaking cold in this damn city, even with the well regulated temperature.

“ I know. I didn’t like him either. He looked like me, but human and snobbish ,”

Dream snorted, “ That’s fair. He’s always had a weird liking for dying his hair pink .”

“ That’s probably part of it, ” Techno agreed. “ But we should get going. They weren’t the only people we have left to meet in this city ,” He stated, picking up the pace as they hurried down the street and away from the most crowded part of the city.

“ Oh ?” Dream muttered, hurrying after him, “ Where else do we have to go? ”

“ Well we could still meet Schlatt, but there’s a couple others who– ”

“ Technoblade! Please, wait! ” A voice shouted from behind them, and when they looked back Dream noticed the King guy, Eret, if he remembered correctly, hurrying after him. He kind of freaked Dream out. He had a long multi limbed body, like some fucked up centipede, and pure white eyes. Very unsettling.

Techno narrowed his eyes at him as he caught up to them, positioning himself more upright and adjusting his crown and dark glasses. “ Technoblade, I’m sorry to catch you so late, but I needed to talk to you,” He stated, sounding worried.

Dream frowned in confusion and looked up to Techno who shared the expression. “ About…? ”

“ I agree with you. We really need to do something soon about all this. I’ve seen it where it’s worst; it’s not good ,” 

Techno’s eyes widened. “ Oh . Well, follow us then. We shouldn’t talk about it here,”

Eret hummed in agreement and they began walking off, and Dream was left with nothing left to do but follow. They walked off into a small alley off the main road, looking around for any sign of street cameras before speaking. 

“ I don’t trust that human. And on top of it, I think there’s something wrong with count Fwip. He may be affected by this evil spreading throughout the galaxy, ” Eret explained, wringing his hands and looking worried. “ So he’d no doubt be trying to steer away from the idea of attacking .”

Dream looked to Techno for his input. The taller alien seemed interested. “ That would make sense. And I don’t like that human, either. I’ve heard that they have quite a bad reputation, ”

“They do,” Eret confirmed, glancing over to Dream who frowned at the implication. “But that’s simply because most interactions we’ve had with them have been under not so friendly circumstances. The only reason Cyberknafe is apart of the GRA is because humans near threatened us should they be declined,”

Dream tilted his head, “ That does sound like something humans would do . But if this Fwip guy and Alexander both, with that other guy, are against going into action, what can we do ?” He questioned, wondering how they were supposed to do this. “ If I remember correctly, Techno has gathered a lot of people to his side already ,”

“ Ah, yes. ” Techno hummed, “ Pixl’Riffs didn’t agree to help, but I did get the native turidenti of Aren’a have agreed to help, as well as two aliglai and the steibithaf of Miraduz .”

“ Having Queen Lizzinad and the Codd Father on our side would be helpful. Have you considered requesting help from Quackity? He has a lot of power at his disposal, and he could be quite useful, ” Eret suggested.

Despite how great the idea sounded, Techno was somehow completely opposed. “ No. No. Absolutely not. I can’t go anywhere NEAR him. He will NOT negotiate with me. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he declined merely because I was the one asking, ” He rambled, shaking his hands in a motion Dream read as ‘hell no’. “ I had a run in with him about a year back and let’s just say I’m the reason for his fancy new eye. ”

Eret grimaced. “ Oh… That would make things difficult. Can you not just have your human, Dream I believe, go in your stead? Unlike the views of most of the galaxy, Las Nevadaz doesn’t require humans to have an escort. In fact, you can get away with a lot of things in that pLace… ”

Dream perked up at that. “ I could. I haven’t gone anywhere on my own before though, so I wouldn’t exactly know what I’m doing or how to get there, ” He admitted, shrugging. “ If I had someone to fly me over then maybe, but… ”

“ You’ve got Sapnap and his friend, right? I’m sure one of them can fly a ship, ” Techno suggested. “ Would that work, as long as I provided you with the necessary gear? In the meantime I could try to get the help of other people around the city, ”

Dream nodded, somewhat interested in the idea of trying something mostly on his own. “ I’d be one hundred percent on board with that. What do I have to expect from this Quackity guy ?”

Techno sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “ In simple terms? Well, prideful.”