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As the sirens finally die down in the Dream SMP, everyone goes about their lives in their own ways, coping with the knowledge of Dream’s escape the best they can. Some fear for their lives, wondering what Dream might do to retaliate against old grudges. Others move about their day, worried but not panicked. They trust the stronger members to be able to handle the new threat, or may be too new to realize the danger they are in. Some even celebrate, for a mission completed is a reason to celebrate, though that celebration may be buried with the thick, lingering emotion of grief, permeating the air around them. Regardless, each person copes, and it is with each person that the future of the server, and Dream’s eventual fate, will eventually come to a head.
He couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face. Sure, it could have gone better. Ranboo is dead, for better or worse, and Sapnap refuses to see reason. In the end, though, all that mattered to Dream was the fresh air entering his lungs, the scent of flowers and trees faintly lingering in each area he passed. It had been so long since he could actually feel grass underneath his feet.
He really needed to get shoes. And a change of clothes. Armor is great and all, but prison clothing isn’t exactly made to help cushion plated armor. Not that he cared thoughY he faint pain he felt was new pain, and he was just grateful it wasn’t coming from some kind of fucked up device Quackity was using. Besides, who can focus on pain when there’s suddenly so much more food options outside of raw potatoes.
The first bite of real food he takes in a year is from a freshly killed cow. He cooked it over a campfire, savoring every bite. “Prime,” he muttered to himself. “I am never eating potatoes again.”
With the sun setting, Dream was able to experience night once again. Gone was the ever present glow of lava, or the heat that seemed to boil him alive. The air was cool, almost chilly, but he couldn’t bring himself to try and warm up, maybe even build a temporary shelter. Not when the sky looked so beautiful.
Stars slowly began to appear as the night went on, sparkling in the deep black of the sky. He laid in the grass, just behind the cover of trees, and stared at the sky, taking in everything he could. There is nothing better than this , Dream decided. If they want to take me back, they’ll just have to kill me . He scoffed. Like they actually could.
Briefly, his mind drifted towards Sapnap, and his refusal to give Dream his armor back. Sapnap cared about him, right? Both him and George did. So why did he refuse to give up the armor?
Dream didn’t want to kill his friends. Despite how much he tried, he couldn’t sever his attachment to the duo. They had fought with him, side by side, through thick and thin, only to abandon him at the last second.
Sapnap’s promise of being the one to kill him echoes around in his mind. Could he really bring himself to do that?
For once, Dream found himself unsure of the answer. Sapnap was sentimental, and often made big grandiose statements he could rarely keep. It was something the two of them had in common. So, Dream concluded that Sapnap wouldn’t be able to kill him, and he wouldn’t be able to get rid of his emotions towards his best friends.
Not that anyone would ever know. He would take that to his grave, which, as he hated to admit, might be closer to his fate than he’d care for. So, he would have to make sure to be vigilant in his awareness of his surroundings. Dream wasn’t going to die. It was impossible.
It was too terrifying to admit to himself.
He turned over in his makeshift bed and did his best to rest, focusing on the beauty of the stars before falling into a deep sleep he never thought he would ever experience again.
Techno sat at the edge of his bed, cleaning and polishing his armor the best he could. There were plenty of dents from Sam’s well-aimed attacks, but it wasn’t anything that he couldn’t buff out or just simply repair with magic. If he’s lucky, it would end up taking him all night.
Anything to distract from the failures of their mission.
Sure, they rescued Dream. He paid off a favor and was no longer chained down by it. However, the image of Ranboo’s form, crumpled on the ground, would not leave his mind. Chat wouldn’t let it go either, screaming for revenge or at him for failing Ranboo. He hadn’t respawned, at least not in the way he should have. No, he was a ghost, roaming around without a care in the world, while another version of himself was probably suffering in some kind of messed-up limbo like Wilbur.
With an angry grunt, he threw his chestplate to the side, bringing his hands up to his face. He had a kid and never trusted Techno enough to tell him. And now that kid would be raised without one of his parents. Even if he found Dream, there’s no guarantee that he would be willing to bring Ranboo back. He didn’t care that the hybrid was in danger when trying to make Techno run. It was his choice that led to Ranboo’s death.
/IT'S YOUR FAULT RANBOOS DEAD NOT DREAM/
/You really don’t want to hold yourself accountable, huh?/
/KILL SAM/
/BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD/
A knock on the door broke him out of his spirling thoughts. Before he could answer, it opened and the familiar face of Phil peaked through. “Everything okay, mate? I heard a crash.”
He wanted to say yes, everything was fine. He was alive, Phil was alive, and Dream was doing whatever he wanted. But Phil knew him, and he could reach the pigman’s expression better than most. He sat down next to him. “Wanna talk about it?”
Techno sighed. “He had a kid, Phil. A kid, and I couldn’t even keep him safe.”
Phil put a hand on Techno’s cheek, turning his head gently to face him. “It’s not entirely your fault.”
“But it is!” He threw his hands up. “Ranboo trusted me to keep him safe. I could have forced Dream to go back, or stopped Sam before it was too late. I could have just been faster and kept him from being locked up in the first place!” He let his hands fall back into his lap, defeated. “I could have been better.”
Philza hummed. “Maybe. But,” he leaned back, wings splayed out behind them, “this ended up being Sam’s choice. Maybe your choices would have changed what happened. Ultimately though, Sam was the one who locked him up for no reason, decided to use him against you, and then just killed him when that didn’t work.” He bumped his shoulder against Techno. “You know you can’t control others’ actions. You made your best call, but it was Sam who killed him. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Techno simply grunted, letting the words settle into him. The two of them sat in silence, letting the distant sound of various animals fill the night.
“We have a lot to do tomorrow,” Techno pointed out.
:All the more reason to try and get some sleep, yeah?” With a stretch, Phil stood back up and walked towards the door. “I’m always next door if you need anything.”
Techno nodded, and Phil left, leaving Techno to try his best and settle down for the night, visions of a broken, bleeding body, haunting his dreams for the rest of the night.
Distantly, in a land isolated by sand and lights, a yellow-winged man stood at the top of the Needle, looking down at what he had built. Dream would come, Quackity knew this, and it was only a matter of time before he had to defend it with his last life.
“Legacy,” he muttered, before jumping back down the waterway.
Tommy jumped at a loud creak coming from the ceiling. There was nothing there, not that there had been anything since he locked himself in his house. Every sound was Dream creeping up on him, every shadow passing his window a sword aimed at his gut.
Shroud, though terrifying in his own right, was not helping. The spider would move around so much in his little corner of the house, and it would make his skin crawl.
Another shadow, and Tommy flung off the blanket, bolting for the sword in his chest. His breath was coming in rapidly, and everything was beginning to blur. It took everything in him to keep from running outside, screaming for help. It was nonsense, Dream wasn’t here. But it didn’t stop from the fresh rise of panic threatening to spill over into tears, memories of cold nights, harsh words, and even harsher attacks from culminating into a moment of weakness.
The sword fell to the ground with a loud thump. Shroud let out a hiss, but Tommy didn’t hear it. All he could do was pull his knees to his head, making himself as small as possible. He was going to die, Dream was there, grabbing at his arm and pulling him away to his doom oh gods I don’t want to die please-
“-mmy? Please, I need you to say something.” A voice filtered through the panic,slightly franic, but familiar. He forced himself to look up, expecting the sicking shade of green he had come to dread, but instead was met with the browns of Tubbo’s clothing.
“Tubbo?” he said slowly.
“Right here, bossman. You with me?”
He nodded, though it made the room spin a bit. “Y-Yeah, I think so.”
“Think you can get up?” Tubbo asked.
With a nod, and some extra help, Tommy got up on his shaky legs and walked back to the bed. Tubbo sat down next to him, a comforting hand resting gently on his back. “Are you alright?”
Tubbo got a glare from Tommy. “Of course I’m not fuckin’ alright! Dream is out, he’s already come after me once, and he just fuckin’ played with me like the sick motherfucker he is! I don’t know what to do, the walls aren’t going to be enough, and I don’t know when he’ll decide enough is enough and kill me!” His breath was coming in short again, and he took a moment to try and collect himself. “I can’t even sleep without thinking he’s right there, about to kill me or some shit.”
“Well,” Tubbo started. “I think you would benefit from having a friend over for the night, yeah?”
Tommy looked up, another remark on the tip of his tongue, when he finally got a good look at Tubbo in the dim moonlight. His eyes were red and puffy, like he was crying, and Tommy realized with a lurch that Tubbo was grieving the loss of Ranboo, not to mention the disappearance of Michael that led with Tubbo looking everywhere around the server to try and find him.
He moved to the side, making room for the shorter of the two. “Might as well, since you’re already here.”
Tubbo doesn’t waste a moment before curling up next to Tommy, a quiet sob making its way through his small frame. Tommy pulled the blanket up on them, wrapping his arms around Tubbo as they tried to seek what little comfort they could from each other. It wasn’t enough to starve the overwhelming fear the pair felt, but was enough to finally fall into a fitful sleep.
With another fling, Sam threw himself up into the air, searching the ground desperately for any sign of Dream. For a brief moment, he felt weightless, the stress of the day gone with the endless sky above him, before falling back into the water with a splash . They had looked everywhere, and yet it seemed like Dream had just vanished into thin air. Some people had claimed to see him, like Tommy and Sapnap, not that those conversations went well.
Dream escaped, and it was his fault. He was the warden, he built the prison from the ground up. Sure, Dream helped plan it, but the building itself was made from his own sweat and tears. Now, the ominous building stood in the water, empty and a reminder of his failure to protect everyone. Tommy could barely look at him, and Tubbo was a whole different story.
He shuddered at the reminder that his prison had caused not one, but two deaths that could have been preventable.
Ranboo knew what he was signing up for when he signed the documents , a part of him whispered. He helped Dream escape, and had tried to before. He was locked up and then killed according to the document.
He had nothing to do with Dream’s escape, another voice yelled. You took Michael for little reason and used him to manipulate Ranboo. You’re no better than anyone else here, yet you play judge, jury, and executioner.
It wasn’t like he had a choice, or at least that’s what he reasoned. Nobody else was qualified for the difficult task of keeping Dream locked up. Even the guards didn’t understand the whole layout of the prison. Sam was the only one who knew it, the only one capable of making the decisions that were needed to keep everyone else safe.
And look at where that got you, the second voice sneered. Dream is gone and now you have no choice but hope he doesn’t go after anyone else. Wouldn’t want more blood on your hands than you already do .
With a simple twitch, Sam flung himself to the next platform of water and resumed his manhunt for Dream.
It was hard, trying to sort his feelings together. On one hand, Sapnap was overjoyed to see one of his best friends again. A part of him didn’t want to see Dream suffer, and the knowledge that Quackity may have been torturing him was enough by itself to send him over his boiling point.
On the other hand, Dream was dangerous. He’s seen the Hall of Attachments, as it had been dubbed and knew very well that Dream was capable of anything he put his mind to. It wouldn’t be long before people started seeing him again, or he devised a new plan to kill Tommy, take over the server, bring everyone together, so on and so forth.
It wasn’t fair, being put in the position of having to go against your friend, face the choice of actually having to kill him. Nobody else understood it, even if Karl did try his best earlier that night. The only person who may have fully understood was George, who slept away, peacefully unaware of the nightmare happening around him.
He knew Dream was too dangerous and would take his first chance to put himself in a better position and it was only a matter of time before he found Kinoko Kingdom. They were all in danger. Sapnap didn’t know what to do.
His wonderful fiance slept peacefully, despite the looming danger. It honestly felt like Karl wasn’t taking this as seriously as he should have been. Better yet, Karl had been acting weirder and weirder as time went on. Something was up, and maybe it was related to the argument he had with Quackity, but Karl refused to talk about what he was hiding.
There wasn’t much Sapnap could do, and he couldn’t help but feel restless. With a huff, he swung his legs over the bed, stood up, and made his way to the desk. For the rest of the night, Sapnap wrote down every possible location Dream would go to and decided to start a search as soon as the sun was up.
In the building next door, with a furrowed brow and a hazy grunt, George shifted in his sleep.
Footsteps echoed through the empty city as Niki wandered through her prized build. In her mind, it wasn’t as impressive as some of the structures she’d seen Phil and Foolish create, but it was hers and that’s all that mattered. A nagging feeling wouldn’t leave her alone, and she questioned if she did the right thing.
Dream had made awful choices, and ended up hurting so many people. He was part of the reason Wil had lost all three of his lives, and led to L’manberg’s final destruction. However, so did Technoblade and Philza.
Regardless, she felt a small bit of concern for the annoying blond. Nobody deserved to be tormented by Dream the way he was, and it was almost enough to feel bad for him.
Almost.
In the end, the choices were made. The trust anyone on the server had for her went up in flames like the L’mantree, and it was her own doing. Nobody forced her, and in the end, she would have to live with that.
Her only hope is that Dream would spare her when he finally turned his wrath to the members of this server for locking him up.
Far away, in a place where all go but few linger, a ghost looks up at the sound of a train slowing down, and the form of a lanky enderman stepping onto the platform.