atlas in his resolve

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/42319257.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandom: Dream SMP, Video Blogging RPF
Relationship: Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream &
GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), cc!Dream &
c!Dream, Clay | Dream & Dream SMP Ensemble, Clay | Dream (Video
Blogging RPF) & Everyone, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video
Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationship(s), Clay | Dream & Luke |
Punz
Character: Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF),
GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade (Video Blogging
RPF), Phil Watson | Philza, TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Sam |
Awesamdude, Other Character Tags to Be Added, Luke | Punz, Alexis |
Quackity
Additional Tags: Clay | Dream-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Hurt Clay | Dream (Video
Blogging RPF), cc!dream and c!dream being two different characters,
streamer!Dream, Some changes to canon, Author is a Clay | Dream
Apologist (Video Blogging RPF), author is an everyone apologist,
Enemies to Friends, Dimension Travel, Clay | Dream Angst (Video
Blogging RPF), Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Child
Abuse, Clay | Dream & Technoblade Friendship (Video Blogging RPF),
Protective Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), they're brothers your honor,
Alternate Universe, Aftermath of Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Minecraft, Clay |
Dream Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Sapnap Needs a Hug
(Video Blogging RPF), everybody needs a hug, and therapy,
Administrator Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Mistaken Identity,
Protective Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Protective Luke | Punz
Language: English
Collections: Recommended To Me, Dsmp/Ogsmp Histórias, Things to fuel my
escapism., mcytbrainrot
Stats: Published: 2022-10-11 Updated: 2023-09-17 Words: 136,735 Chapters:
26/?

atlas in his resolve

by Lieyantosh

Summary

Dream wakes up in the Minecraft world and expects having to defeat the Ender Dragon to
return back home. Instead he's faced with a best friend who wants to kill him, traumatized
teens, an entire server full of his friends against him and another version of himself that is
currently getting tortured.

--
 Or: I throw cc!Dream into the Dream SMP and make him suffer. Our streamer is straight up
having a bad time, while for C!Dream a chance for redemption arises.

Inspired by Therapy Gone Right by Blanc_et_Noir, Naeruns, Suga_BloomLili

 ARC I: this foreign world
Chapter Notes

Soooo, new fic! I'm excited about this one, I've always loved the trope of "actor
appears in the media they acted in", and the DSMP is perfect for that especially since
they're also the writers of the media.

I've pre-written some stuff and also, I started writing this more than a year ago, and
some things have changed in canon and also in real life for the streamers. This fic
however still takes place all these months ago, when Dream hadn't face revealed yet,
when Technoblade was still alive and when c!Dream was still in prison. I didn't
change that, mainly because I was uncomfortable with writing about the real
Technoblade being dead in my fic.

And with all that said, I hope you enjoy! :D

See the end of the chapter for more notes

When Dream opened his eyes, everything looked weird. So weird in fact, that it took his brain a
few seconds to recognize that he had no idea where he was.

He scrambled up, vertigo immediately taking him as he fell to the ground with a pained sound. A
sigh escaped him and blew through the grass in front of him, before he turned onto his back again,
staring at the wide sky above him.

His first thought was that this was a dream. A pinch to the arm discouraged that notion.

His second thought was that Sapnap was pranking him, but that too got immediately dismissed. His
best friend was scared of even just waking him up, he wouldn't do that - and even if he wanted to,
Dream would have woken up.

He tried to stand up again, this time slower, and smiled triumphantly when he managed it, though
with shaking legs. There were no cameras or people around him, just an endless, green field
surrounded by tall, dark trees.

“Nick?!” he yelled, his voice carried far away by the gentle breeze. Nobody answered except for
the quiet echo. "Sapnap?!"
Everything looked weirdly blocky, from the clouds floating leisurely in the sky to the tall, swaying
grass that almost reached his knees. It was beautiful and calm, a scene he would take more time to
appreciate if he wasn't here against his will. He reached for his phone before groaning, hands going
slack in his empty pockets. Of course, of fucking course. The last thing he remembered was going
to bed, now he was standing there with bare feet, loose, green shorts and his black merch hoodie.

Nothing he could change now though except find a way back home. God, he had watched so many
survival shows about people in the wilderness, but now he had no idea what to do. It truly was
easier pointing at the TV and making fun of others for doing stupid decisions than to make those
decisions yourself. Hell, he had barely left his home in so many months, and even before he had
never been a fan of going out into nature.

“The sun rises in the east, right?” Scratching his head, he looked towards the bright light. He would
simply choose a direction to wander and then determine in which cardinal direction he was going
so as to not walk in circles.

After several hours of wandering into the northeastern direction, he was beginning to wonder if the
landscape was indeed weird or if he just didn’t go out enough. There were no streams, only shallow
ponds in which no creatures resided. It had taken all of his willpower not to kneel down and drink,
ease his dry mouth, after all he did know that bacteria liked to grow in these kinds of ponds. It
would be better to drink from a river should he ever find one. He hadn’t been attacked by any
mosquitos and even though the sun shone, he didn’t sweat in his warm hoodie. Doubt started to
grow in his mind that he was still in Florida.

After what felt like another hour, the grass came to an end, bordering instead on hard sand and after
that- finally!

He quashed the impulse to run towards the river, instead saving his energy and walking fast.
Greedily he began to drink from the stream, only stopping when his stomach began hurting.

This was good. People in the survival shows always said to find a stream and go downstream to
find a city. His abused feet would have to suffer a bit more but he had hope that he would soon find
something. With a sharp exhale, he took off his shirt and then threw his hoodie back on. The next
minutes he spent in a humiliating battle with his shirt, trying to rip it into two even pieces.

"This- this looks easier in the movies," he gasped, frantically pulling at the collar until his hands
were rubbed red and he was holding two completely unproportionally divided pieces of cloth in his
hands. With a clenched jaw he tied them around his feet, sighing in relief when tiny sticks and
stones didn't dig into his skin anymore when he stood up. God, he should have done this ages ago.
For a moment he cursed evolution for making humans dependent on shoes.
He could do this. He wasn't a survival expert but he did have luck on his side. Sometimes. Not very
often but sometimes.

The river ended near a mountain, killing his hope with a crushing disappointment. Didn’t rivers
end in lakes or something?!

“What the hell is going on here?!” he screamed, a desire to destroy something suddenly
overcoming, making him punch a tree in a sudden burst of desperation. A part of the tree flew
away, leaving a blank space where once had been wood. He stared at it. “What.” He rubbed his
eyes and stared harder. The blank space was still there. "What?!" Even after he held his hand in the
middle, waving it around like a magician presenting his levitation trick, the space stayed empty and
the tree continued to float in the air.

A movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention. Something was floating over the
floor, smaller than his palm and slightly transparent. Confused he stretched out his arm, jumping
back with a scream when it whizzed towards him. Slowly, he got out of his protective fetus
position and stared at the thing that was still floating over his hand as if magnetized by it. It looked
like a part of a trunk, just in miniature. When he closed his hand over it, it gave out a slight pulse,
and when his hand flinched open in shock, instead four wooden boxes in a light color had replaced
it.

The creeping suspicion he had gotten the more time he had spent in this place, a suspicion he
hadn’t wanted to even consider, hit him like a truck, and he found himself reeling, staring with a
gaping mouth at the wooden blocks over his palm.

Minecraft.

He was in Minecraft.

How the hell was he in Minecraft?!

He stared around wildly before his gaze focused on the same tree again. He raised his hand and
punched it.

"Ow, shit! What the- what the fuck!" he yelled, cradling the hand carefully against his chest. The
block of the trunk was still there, as if mocking him. He punched it again, this time gentler.
Nothing happened except for another bruise on his knuckles.

What did he do differently last time? He had screamed, he had been angry, he had wanted to
destroy something- was that it? The intention of destroying something?

He raised his hand again and took a deep breath, focusing on his intention. Then he punched the
block. Like last time it disappeared and turned into its smaller form, immediately snapping towards
him when he held out his hand.

"Amazing," he whispered, balling his hand together like last time. And like last time the trunk
turned into four wooden blocks.

With wide eyes he stared at the blocks, wondering if he could turn them into a crafting table. Then,
remembering the last time, he summoned his intention to be able to craft. In front of him, a
transparent picture appeared like a hologram, looking exactly like a minecraft inventory, just
without the view of his character, the hotbar menu and the slots for armor and shield.

The other wooden blocks from the first trunk were in the first slot of his inventory and appeared in
his hand when he stretched it out to them.

"What the fuck," he whispered again, mind still not completely caught on. He was in a video game.
A god damn video game.

Maybe he had eaten something bad and was now hallucinating about Minecraft when he was
actually lying dying on a hospital bed. That would probably come from spending as many hours as
he did in Minecraft. His friends would laugh at him if he told them.

Maybe it was like in one of those anime Sapnap liked to tell him about, in which players got
transported into their favorite games and had to complete them to get out. Which meant that he
would probably find other players, his other friends!

New resolution grew in him. He would speedrun the first steps, find his friends and then get the
fuck out of here.

--
Playing Minecraft was a hell of a lot easier in a game than in real life. Mining stone with a pickaxe
was exhausting and made his arms hurt, an axe was heavier than he had expected, and the first time
he had swung it around, he had to promptly craft a new one after he hadn't been able to pull it out
of a tree. That axe would stay there forever. Blocks from the ground were weird too. If he simply
put his hand inside of sand, it would just glide off his skin just like in the real world, but if he
wanted to pick it up as a block with clear intention, then it would appear in his hand. He didn't
spend too much time gathering materials, he needed to find other people or a village before night
approached. A chat function didn’t seem to exist, and it also wasn’t possible to see who else was
present.

His limits became quickly clear, not in his capabilities but in his weak heart, when he stood before
a cow, axe raised and ready to strike.

"Come on," he told himself, arms trembling with the weight behind him. "You can do it. It's just a
bunch of code, it's not a living cow, you're not even vegetarian!"

The cow stared at him with a stupid expression, walking towards him to sniff curiously at him
before licking his face.

"Hey, come on, that's unfair! I wanna kill you here!"

The cow huffed. Then it turned around and stomped away, leaving him to let his axe fall back into
his inventory with a sigh. It looked so similar to a real cow, it was breathing, and it had a child for
god's sake!

"You'll have to continue being hungry for a while I guess." Groaning, he slapped his hands against
his face. "And I wanted to make leather for shoes!"

He could make wheat but without bonemealing it, it would take around two to three days to grow,
and since days in this world actually seemed to last as long as normal days, he didn't want to stay in
one place for that long.

So he just clenched his teeth and didn't look at the herd of cows enjoying their meals beside him.
Curse his bleeding heart.

-
The sun was slowly beginning to settle and he was wondering if he had to hide underneath the
earth to protect himself from mobs, when he finally spotted smoke rising towards the sky about a
mile away from him.

"Let's go!" he exclaimed, picking up his pace as well as he could with his bleeding feet and shoes
made out of cloth. Other players! He finally wasn't alone anymore and he didn't have to spend a
night under the ground!

"Hey!" he screamed when he finally saw houses out of wood and several silhouettes walking
around. But before he could get closer, he was suddenly picked up by the scruff of his hoodie,
flailing around with a surprised yelp when he came face to face with an iron golem. Tired red eyes
bore into his and he could only hang there frozen like a kitten carried by its mother. The golem was
absolutely gigantic, and he gulped when he saw how far away the ground was. And it had been
able to sneak up with its gigantic form. Or maybe he had simply been too exhausted to hear its loud
footsteps.

"Uhh… hi?"

"What do you seek from the village, traveler?"

Cold air blew around his face, making him shudder. The voice was deep and rumbling, containing
a certain metal hollowness like someone speaking into a long pipe.

Startled, he stared at it open mouthed. They could talk in this world?!

"I, uh… need a place to stay? And to meet other players?"

He was placed down gently, leaving only faint memories of cold fingers on his hoodie. He needed
to tilt his head and take a step back to even look into the eyes of this absolute behemoth. "Proceed
then. But be warned, any harm to the residents will be met with punishment."

With that, the iron golem continued its trek around the village, leaving him to stare at it until it
disappeared around the corner.
Quickly he shook his head to snap out of it. He should quickly get used to these oddities, he
couldn't let himself get surprised by everything- especially when he intended to go to the nether.
Shuddering, he quickly dismissed any thought about that hell. Future-Dream could deal with that.
Present-Dream just wanted to fall into bed and sleep for several days.

The village was big and full of villagers that looked too weird in a realistic setting. They were
furry, brown creatures with long noses and no differentiating traits besides their clothing, but what
startled him the most was that he could understand what they were saying. They stopped mid
conversation when he walked past them but didn't approach him, instead following him with
suspicious gazes.

At the town square, he finally spotted someone who looked official, and walked towards them,
being greeted with an official nod when they saw him.

"Ahh, a traveler," they said. "Greetings. My name is Hmmm and I'm the mayor of this esteemed
town. How can we help you?"

"Uhm- greetings!" he coughed awkwardly. "My name is Clay- uh, Dream, and- well, it's a bit
weird, but I suddenly found myself alone here without anything and just needed a place to stay."

The mayor nodded sagely. "Of course, of course, we do have a few free beds. Are you in
possession of emeralds?

Dream hid a wince. "... no?"

"Anything to trade? Wheat? Raw meat? Squid ink?"

With every shake of the head, the mayor looked less and less impressed with him.

"Sticks?" the mayor finally asked.

"I- uhm, well, I have seven? I could- I mean, I- I could get more?"

The mayor rubbed the middle of their unibrow in exasperation. "Fine," they said. "My brother has a
thing for helping lost puppies. I'm sure he'll take you in. If you intend to stay for more than one
night though, you will have to pull your weight or leave."

Dream nodded quickly under the annoyed gaze of the mayor.

"Hmmm!" the villager yelled, and another figure in the clothes of a librarian appeared. Blinking,
Dream wondered if all villagers carried the name Hmmm.

Similar to the mayor, the fur covered the mouth of the new villager but his green eyes seemed to
twinkle in delight when they fell on Dream.

"A traveler!" he exclaimed.

"Hmmm, this is Clay uh Dream."

"It's just Dream!" he threw in.

"Just Dream!" the librarian yelled. His booming voice was apparently his normal volume. "Oh,
look at the state of you, poor thing! Hmmm, how long has it been since we had one of them?"

"You had other travelers?" Dream asked eagerly. "When were they here?"

The mayor stroked the fur on their chin. "Not that long ago. A few days I think. That darn cod-head
killed one of our iron golems - Bob, may he rest in peace - and then just walked away! He went
north if I recall correctly. Other than that we don't get many travelers who aren't Hmmm."

"Ugh," the librarian groaned. "Hmmm, did you know that annoying wandering trader came here
again with his rip offs that he calls trades. Wanted to sell me white dye for one emerald. What a
joke! Oh, and he calls himself HmmmHmmm now, that imbecile!"

Dream coughed into his fist when the two siblings continued complaining about the wandering
trader. Usually he would be more polite and listen but at that moment he was too exhausted and
hurt to even think about manners. They startled and looked at him, before recognition lit up their
faces.
"Ah yes, the traveler! Just Dream!" the librarian said. "Come, I'll give you a warm bed and a hot
meal, you look like you need it!"

Relief flooded through him at the thought of finally being able to rest.

"Are all villagers called Hmmm?" he asked when the librarian led him though the village into a
two story house that looked so comfortable, it called to him like a siren.

"What are you talking about?" the librarian laughed and opened the unlocked door. "My name is
Hmmm! And my sister's name is Hmmm! And my neighbor's name is Hmmm!"

"Yeah," Dream frowned. "Hmmm."

"No, traveler, Hmmm! Hmmm is the name of my friend who tragically departed from us last year."

"Oh," Dream said, wincing. He hadn't intended to step on that bees nest. "I'm sorry. What
happened?"

"He decided to become a wandering trader and calls himself HmmmHmHmm now! Can you
believe it?! That guy wanted to trade one single wheat seed for one emerald! Talk about a rip off-"

Ten minutes later he was standing inside of the living room, swaying on his feet and snapping out
of sleep every few seconds while the librarian was still angrily ranting about his former friend.
Usually he would be polite and continue letting the other talk, but it felt like he would keel over
dead if he stayed awake for one more minute.

"I-" he got interrupted by a yawn and the librarian patted his shoulder with a twinkle in his eyes. "-
think I would really like to go to bed now."

--

The next morning the librarian sent him off with a full stomach, some cooked meat, a water poach,
a few hay bales, a water bucket and leather shoes, which he accepted with a tremendous amount of
gratitude. Hmmm was ashamed that he couldn't at least give him a pair of leather pants, but Dream
immediately shot up to assure him that it was more than enough.

"I can't- I can't repay this!" Guiltily he looked up at the villager but he waved it off with a smile
underneath his thick fur.

"You looked like you needed it, Just Dream! And hey, if you'll ever be around again, give me a
visit! Oh, and should you ever meet HmmmHmHmm, tell him he can sock it!"

Laughing, Dream nodded and gave him another toothy smile.

The librarian waved until the village was far behind him and he was walking towards where the
librarian had pointed him to find the other player, even though he had expressed surprise that
Dream wanted to find someone who would kill an iron golem just like that.

For a short moment he thought about going back and robbing their chests, before dismissing that
entirely.

This world felt too real to just be a bunch of code, they were breathing, had lives and personalities
and weren't just NPCs. He couldn't possibly rob them, not after the librarian had so kindly given
him so many of his things.

The next hours were spent again simply walking in one direction. It got boring pretty fast, the
landscape did not seem to change at all beside the position of the sun. Cold air blew around his
naked calves and he was grateful that last night in Florida it had been colder than usual because
that meant that he had gone to bed with a hoodie rather than simply a t-shirt.

A couple of bees followed him for a while, much bigger than in the real world, but for some reason
not eliciting any fear in him. He laughed when one of them landed on his head, ruffling his hair,
and gave it a gentle pet which the bee accepted with an excited buzz.

He only paused to craft bread out of wheat and eat it with a grimace. The librarian had explained to
him that crafted food items tended to taste much more bland than if they had been prepared the
normal way, but Dream didn't have the time to bake the bread. He only needed to survive after all.
Too absorbed in his thoughts, he didn't even notice the distinct sound of an arrow whizzing through
the air, until a sharp sting suddenly appeared on his leg, tearing a piece of fabric off his shorts.

"What the fu-"

He whirled around and came face to face with a skeleton underneath the shadows of the trees, bow
drawn back to point an arrow directly at him. It was horrifying and uncanny, not necessarily
because of its looks but because it felt like a human being, it walked like a human being, but he
knew that it was dead.

"Shit!" he cursed and threw himself to the side when another arrow flew past him. Without looking
back, he started running in a zig-zag pattern until he was far away, until his heart was beating
heavily and his breath got too erratic and fast, and he crashed onto the floor with a gasp, trembles
overtaking his body.

He had almost been killed. The arrow had grazed him, made him bleed, and no health bar had
appeared. For the first time he wondered what would happen if he died in this world.

Fuck.

Fuck.

That thought made him gag until he was vomiting over the grass, coughing until there was nothing
left except for bile.

With a trembling hand he took a pouch out of his inventory and washed out his mouth to get rid of
the terrible taste. He just had to play carefully. Not engage with mobs or just use long ranged
weapons. Never go out at night. Going into the nether would come later, now he didn't have to
think about that. Now he only had to think about surviving through the next day.

On shaky legs he carefully stood up and continued to walk. Compartmentalize, he told himself. For
now he only needed to find the other player. Then he could think about what came after.

--
The scratch on his leg had crusted over and he had been walking for another few hours when he
spotted smoke rising into the sky not too far away from him. Either he had found another village or
the player had made a campfire, one way or the other it could only mean good things.

He increased his speed, almost jogging towards what he now could recognize as a campfire and a
single person sitting in front of it.

"Hey!" he yelled out, relief flooding through his body. Another human, he had finally met another
player!

The person turned around, and Dream's eyes widened. Dark brown, almost black, hair, a bandana,
a brown cloak over enchanted netherite armor, a pair of golden, glowing eyes like molten lava- but
it was still unmistakably Sapnap.

Dream let out a laugh, almost choking on tears. "God, you're here too! How long have you been
here, you already got a full set of netherite armor, what the hell!"

In his relief he didn't notice that Sapnap's shock at seeing him wasn't born out of happiness.
Instead, a twisted anger was growing in his expression the more Dream talked.

"And you- you even look like your skin! I'm just, I mean, well I'm just happy I wasn't dropped in
here as my skin, god knows what that would have looked like!" Grinning, he finally arrived in
front of his friend. "Sapnap?"

"... Dream," Sapnap said slowly.

"Come here!" Dream spread out his arms and went to hug him, freezing on the spot when Sapnap
raised his axe towards his neck.

"Sapnap?" he asked again with a shaky voice, his smile turning into a grimace the longer his best
friend looked at him with those furious, burning eyes. The hands he had raised for an embrace
instead became a plea for peace.

"Dream," Sapnap growled again, breathing ash and smoke out of his mouth. "What the fuck are
you doing out of prison?!"
Chapter End Notes

So, this is the start of atlas in his resolve :D

At the moment I have 15 chapters written and have a rough outline of what happens
afterwards. I'm motivated to see this fic to its end!

since a lot of this is pre-written the next chapter is going to come out in roughly 2
weeks except if I decide to rewrite stuff
 the friends that were strangers
Chapter Summary

Dream meets Sapnap and fails to notice that it's not his Sapnap

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

To say that Dream was confused would be an understatement.

"Prison..? What do you mean with- put that thing down, come on, it's kinda scaring me right now."

"Good," Sapnap spit. "Now how the fuck did you escape?"

Dream backed away but Sapnap followed his every move, axe still raised towards his throat, hot
and unyielding. Dream gulped when his back met a tree and he was forced to stop. This man wore
the face of his friend but he felt like a stranger, hate replacing the usual fondness with which
Sapnap looked at him. Instead of soft skin and shoulders, he looked sharp and muscular, the lines
on his face more pronounced and his skin rougher than how his Sapnap looked.

"Sapnap, I have no idea what you're talking about! Come on, stop acting like that, it's not- not, it's
not funny, man!"

"Dream." This man was not his friend. He had his voice and his face but it was not his friend.
Inside of his brain, an alarm for danger began screaming. "I did promise you that I would be the
one to kill you should you ever escape."

Sapnap raised the axe to strike.

Without waiting for another second, he ducked away and began running.

He had spent the entire day walking but new power coursed through his veins, adrenaline giving
him enough energy to ignore his aching feet and to just run. Behind him he could hear Sapnap
curse and rip the axe out of the tree. The clanking of his armor got louder the more ground he
gained.

How the hell was he so fast with an axe and armor on?!

"Dream! Come back here!"

Grabbing the water bucket out of his inventory, he silently thanked the librarian once again and
threw it behind him, getting a few seconds of respite when he heard Sapnap cursing at him. Dream
was already gasping for breath, desperation making him frantic as he looked around for anything to
use. With a relieved exhale he spotted a cave and immediately ran towards it. On an open field
Sapnap would catch him soon but if he was lucky, he could lose him in a cave if it was big enough.
Maybe the other would get blown up by a creeper and would leave Dream alone.

Darkness engulfed him when he jumped inside of the cave, instinct taking over when he ran
through it, ignoring any mobs that tried to get in his way, only a torch in his hand.

"Oh, Dreeeeam!" Sapnap yelled, still too close. A breath caught in his throat. It sounded exactly
like his Sapnap, but much more sinister.

Soon he would be at the end of his stamina, he knew that, and he just had to find a good hiding
place, had to be far away so that he could dig himself in and wait.

"Stop running and fight me like a man!"

An explosion rang behind him, making Sapnap curse, and at the next divergence Dream threw his
torch into one of the entrances that lead to a steep drop and ran into the other, hoping Sapnap
would simply follow the light.

He ran slower, with one hand on the wall and the other in front of himself in case it would take a
turn, and took another torch out when he deemed it far enough from the other.

"DREAM!" Sapnap's voice echoed through the cave, probably having discovered that he had
fooled him.
"Shit," Dream whispered, desperately hacking at the stone with a pleading beg. Compared to in the
game he could easily fit into a one block tall entrance, so he quickly crawled into the space and
placed andesite behind him.

Finally able to take a break, he curled up gasping for air, wet hair falling into his eyes as he tried to
get his breath in check. The tiny space was cold and moist, hard and narrow but at that moment
nothing could bring him more comfort. That was close, way too close. He had no idea what was
going on, why this Sapnap hated him so much. He had looked surprised to see him but it hadn't
been the joyful surprise that Dream had felt upon realizing that he hadn't been alone.

With all of the armor he had, this Sapnap looked like he had spent several weeks inside of this
world but Dream had told his Sapnap goodnight yesterday.

That meant that this truly wasn't his best friend.

"DREAM, STOP HIDING!"

His head shot up and crashed against the stone above him with a painful thud. Sapnap sounded way
too close for comfort. He heard someone mining close to him and shuddered, internally hitting
himself. He shouldn't have lied here like an idiot, he should have run as far as possible. He needed
to leave now.

He began hacking away at the stone when a deep laugh sounded inside of the cave. "There you
are! You've forgotten something, Dream! I have an enchanted diamond pick!"

Shit. Shit shit shit shit, he was so fucking stupid, such an idiot!

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!" His arms started shaking the faster and more
desperately he mined the stone, and everything hurt, everything hurt so much from the blisters on
his hand to his head and his bare legs scraping against the rough floor which had reopened the
bloody gash on his leg.

"Oh thank god," he whispered when the last block that disappeared into his inventory gave way
into a clear view of a forest in front of him. He only had to make it until there and then he could
lose Sapnap in there by just hiding behind a bush.
The other could still be heard cursing several blocks behind him, so he tumbled out of the one
block space and placed several additional blocks, finally turning towards the forest, towards
freedom.

He ran until his breath ran out and he almost reached the forest, he could almost escape into the
shadows of the dark trees before something knocked hard into his back, making him fall face first
into the dirt. Not even blinking, he slowly looked behind him, cheek uncomfortably pressed against
the ground. Something was protruding out of his shoulder blade.

There was an arrow in his back.

There was an arrow in his back.

Therewasanarrowinhisbacktherewasanarrowinhisbacktherewas-

He was screaming, voice rising in pitch as the pain finally kicked through his shock until his entire
body was burning. It felt like somebody had taken a knife dunked in alcohol and had jammed it
into his flesh repeatedly, and there were tears streaming down his face, turning the dirt wet, and it
hurt, it hurt so much, oh god, oh god-

A shadow fell on top of him and he scrambled back, ripping open his wound even more. Against
the sun, his best friend looked like a stranger.

"I'm sorry," Sapnap said, voice steady but with a melancholic note. Dream wondered if his remorse
was real. "Please know that what I'm about to do isn't because of hatred."

"Please no no no, please, oh god, please-" he was begging but he didn't care, the blinding pain and
his best friend's hatred the only thing on his mind.

"I did warn you. I don't want to do this, but this is for our safety." Light reflected off his axe as he
raised it over his head for the killing blow, and Dream could see himself, bloody and cut into two.
His vision got more and more blurry but he could clearly see his death approaching.

"Please nonono, please- NICK!"

The axe was brought down and he closed his eyes shut, arms coming up to uselessly protect
himself- only for it to imbed itself into the tree next to him. He was left gasping, mind reeling as he
looked at his tear-stained face in the reflection of the weapon.

"How- what the fuck did you just call me?"

He was grabbed by the front of his hoodie, wound screaming in protest when he was pushed
upwards, and he couldn't help but let out a choked up sob, weak hands grabbing the other's, trying
to dislodge them.

"Why did you just call me that?" Sapnap screamed into his face. His face was swimming in front
of his eyes and he wondered how much blood he had already lost. "How do you know that name?!"

"Please, please no-"

"Answer me!" Sapnap pushed him into the tree behind Dream, and Dream screamed when the
arrow was pushed sideways, pain coursing through every vein of his body until unconsciousness
took him. The last thing he saw was the shocked face of his murderer who wore his best friend's
face.

--

It was the second time in the last two days that he opened his eyes without any idea where he was.
Honestly, he was getting sick of it.

It was damp and cold where he was lying, the air smelling stale and moldy and the only light came
from a campfire in front of him.

Oh, he thought. How nice.

Then the last hour slammed back and he scrambled into a sitting position, reaching for the arrow in
his back which didn’t hurt anymore, when he finally noticed that his wrists were bound together
tightly, rope biting into his skin. Frazzled, he stared at them and wiggled his hands, hissing when it
only bit more into his wrists.
“Try to escape and I’ll kill you for real.”

He flinched up, eyes meeting Sapnap’s who sat on the opposite side of the campfire and had
watched him struggling with raised brows. They were sitting inside of a cave, both sides blocked
by cobblestone with only a hole in one of them to let the smoke of the campfire escape. Shadows
danced over Sapnap’s skin, making his face look unrecognizable and foreign.

“... huh?” Was his very intelligent response.

Sapnap rolled his eyes and went back to stirring the pot he had placed on top of the campfire.

“Didn’t you wanna kill me or something?” Dream asked and immediately wanted to slap himself.
“Not- I, I mean, not that you have to, I’m very happy that you didn’t!” And also that he had
apparently healed the arrow wound, but considering that he had been the one to cause it, he’d
rather not thank him for that.

Sapnap’s jaw tightened as he looked up darkly from the pot and Dream swallowed dryly, throat
aching with the movement.

There had been times when Dream had fucked up and Sapnap had been mad at him. He had been
scared to tell him when he had accidentally broken his Nintendo, had been scared to tell him that he
had put his white hoodie together with the colored clothes into the washing machine, but he had
never flinched at the sight of him. For the first time in his life he was scared of his best friend.

He gulped, ropes digging even more into his wrists as he subtly wriggled his hands, trying to
summon something from his inventory. His heart stopped when nothing appeared in his hand.
Fuck. Maybe you couldn’t summon anything with constrained hands. His chances to get out of this
situation seemed to dwindle more and more.

"Who the fuck are you and why do you look like Nick?" He tried acting indifferent, but he recoiled
when the other's orange eyes narrowed at him, black creeping into the corners of his eyes. There
was a cold look in them, harder and more unyielding than his Sapnap had ever looked.

"You don't get to ask any questions, Dream." He couldn't suppress a shiver at that tone. It was the
same voice as his Sapnap's, the same melody and rhythm he talked in, the same growl whenever he
was angry. "How do you know that name?"
Dream frowned. This man knew his name, knew who he was but obviously wasn't the person who
had brought him into this world. Else he wouldn't have looked so shocked when they had first met.
At the same time he didn't seem to have been transported into this world like Dream had.

"What name?" he asked tiredly, shoulders slumping down. The ropes on his wrists didn't move an
inch.

"Don't play fucking stupid with me."

Sapnap stood up abruptly and Dream crawled back in panic until his back hit the wall of the cave
painfully, the former arrow wound twinging. "I'm not, I'm not, I'm sorry, I don't know- I really
don't know what you're talking about- please don't please-"

Sapnap stared at him strangely, sitting back down slowly. "Nick. That name," he simply stated as if
Dream wasn't hyperventilating against the cold wall of a cave.

"What do you mean- that's your name?!" he yelled, throwing up his hands before he noticed that
they were still bound together.

"Yeah," Sapnap's gaze darkened again, the fire illuminating his severe face. "The name I haven't
told anyone. Not even you."

Dream groaned and tried to relax against the stone. He rolled his shoulder blade, only twinges
proving that there had been an arrow stuck in his bone not that long ago. Sapnap must have healed
him, god knew why.

“There’s a misunderstanding here,” he tried to say with as much conviction as he could. “I just-
well, I just landed in this world yesterday without anything and obviously you know me and I
know someone who looks like you and has your name but you’re not him- because, because he
would never attack me? So, well, I’m kinda currently really confused!”

Sapnap’s anger had turned into a bewildered frown the more he continued talking and only an
uncomfortable silence engulfed them after Dream’s mouth clicked shut with an audible sound.

“So uh, what I meant was, well, you seem to have the wrong person?”
“... How stupid do you actually think I am?” And god, did Sapnap seriously sound hurt at that?

“Dude I’m fucking serious! I was in my bed yesterday and then suddenly I wake up in the
Minecraft world and-”

“This isn’t Philza Minecraft’s server, it’s yours, moron.”

“And Philza is here too?! Nick, what the hell’s going on-”

“Don’t fucking call me that!” The room lit up in a tiny explosion. Fire sprung up from the
fireplace, licking the ceiling, and Dream flinched back from the sparks that jumped towards him,
feet scratching uselessly against the floor. “Don’t- don’t call me that.”

“Okay! Okay, Jesus, I won’t!”

The flames died down, revealing Sapnap’s face. The white of his eyes had turned black, teeth
growing long and his skin glowed golden as if his blood was made out of molten lava, smoke
escaping out of his mouth in a choked exhale. His ears seemed to have grown too, pointy ends
turned black.

“Shit,” Sapnap cursed, hiding his face behind his hands as he let himself fall back down, his deep
breathing and the crackles of the fire the only sounds echoing in the small space. With fascination
Dream watched as the gold slowly retreated from his skin, ears growing back to a normal length.
When Sapnap raised his head after a while, the black had disappeared from his eyes. “You can’t-
you shouldn’t be able to get under my skin anymore, I shouldn’t be so fucking affected-”

This man had hunted him, had put an arrow into his back and now held him captive, but Dream
still couldn’t help but feel bad for him when he looked so desperately distressed, fists rubbing his
skin as if trying to get the golden tint away.

“I, uh… it’s okay?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“I mean, it’s not a big deal, it’s just a few sparks-”

“Shut. Up.”

“Shutting up now.”

The next hour was spent in a painfully cramped silence, Sapnap going back to his cooking while he
was working on his tied up hands again, at least trying to get them loose enough that he could
reach his inventory. If he could get any of his stone tools, he could try to escape as soon as Sapnap
would fall asleep.

“Why were you attacking me?” he finally decided to break the silence. The question had itched at
him since the other had swung his axe at him for the first time. This Sapnap wasn’t his Sapnap, but
he knew him for some reason. And wanted to murder him for it.

Sapnap scoffed. “You know why. I promised you after all. I don't- I don’t want to kill you. I would
only do that if you escaped prison and it was the only way to end all of this. But I have you right
here, so I- I don't need to kill you. I can just bring you back to Pandora's Vault. You’ve done
horrible things, Dream, you belong there. That’s where you deserve to be.”

Cold water washed over him as all of the puzzle pieces finally came together to form a very
unpleasant picture. He had been wrong, he had been so wrong. He hadn’t simply appeared in a
Minecraft world, this was his SMP. This was the roleplay him and his friends had created for fun.
This wasn’t his Sapnap, it was the resentful man who had been betrayed by his best friend and had
sworn to kill him.

How-

How the hell-

“Wait, wait, wait, you’ve got it all wrong!” he rushed to say. “I finally get what’s happening here,
and I’m not Dream- well, I am but I’m not your Dream, I’m Clay and Dream is the name I gave
myself for YouTube, if that makes sense? I think I may have jumped through some dimension or
something like that and I woke up yesterday in this world thinking that I had just landed in a
Minecraft world- which is a game I love to play in my world- because, because I’m not from this
world? If that makes sense, does that make sense?”
“Dream,” Sapnap growled, smoke trailing from his mouth, which he covered with a hand when he
noticed. “Fucking stop lying or I’m gonna change my mind and will just kill you.”

“But- but I’m not! Listen, I’m as confused as you are but this really is not my world-”

“Shut the fuck up!” He slammed his fist against the floor, and Dream fell quiet, frustration making
him restless.

“Do you seriously believe I’d fall for your manipulations again? You should really have come up
with a more believable lie then. Now stay quiet. Next time you open your mouth again, I’ll fucking
decapitate you.”

Sapnap was serious, Dream realized, cold sweat running down his back. He would kill him, this
was where he would die, and if he didn’t he would force him into Pandora’s Vault, a prison Sam
and him had designed together to be as unpleasant as possible for his character.

Faint trembles overtook his body. There was no good choice here, the only thing that didn’t lead to
death or torture was escaping, and even that seemed to be impossible. And then what? He was
stuck in a world with no idea how he had been transported inside and no idea how to get back.

… Except for his initial plan of defeating the dragon. Taking the lore of the SMP into
consideration, he could also summon DreamXD by finding an end portal, either the one at
Techno’s place, or if he didn’t prove himself to be an ally, another one. Canonically he was a god
after all, he would have to be able to bring Dream back to his reality.

A bowl was held in front of him and he blinked down at it and then up at Sapnap whose annoyed
expression made him immediately want to apologize.

“Take it or starve, I don’t give a fuck.”

Slowly, he took the bowl with his tied up hands, carefully balancing it on top of his knees to grab
the spoon. “... thanks,” he whispered, wary not to aggravate the other.

Sapnap grumbled something unintelligible and returned to his place on the other side of the
fireplace.

Dream took a hesitant sip of the soup, slamming his mouth shut when the vile taste reached his
tongue and he had to force himself not to cough it back up.

What the fuck.

What the actual fuck?!

His Sapnap was a menace in the kitchen, but at least his food didn’t taste like he wanted to poison
him.

“What?” Sapnap snapped with a pitched voice which Dream recognized as his defensive tone.

“Nothing,” he hacked into his hands after setting down the bowl. “It’s… interesting.”

“... George is usually the one cooking. Had to learn after you left. Has to at least be better than
whatever you received in that prison.”

“Oh,” Dream whispered. This wasn’t just a character, this was a functioning human being with a
life outside of lore, with hopes and a personality. He shouldn’t be surprised when he mentioned
things that his Sapnap hadn’t said on stream.

Sapnap’s eyebrows suddenly scrunched together and he looked at him with a dull anger. “Sorry for
not being up to your standard. Again.”

“Sap,” he said with a small voice. This wasn’t his Sapnap talking to him but he still had his face
and his voice, and he was voicing things that Dream feared his Sapnap was sometimes thinking.
“You don’t have to live up to anyone’s standart. You’re perfect as you are.”

His mouth twisted into a bitter line, orange eyes turning back towards his soup. “Just- just shut up
and eat.”
Dream stayed quiet for the rest of the dinner, only occasionally heaving when the taste got too
overwhelming. He had no idea how the other had managed to make what looked like mushroom
soup taste like vinegar, it was honestly impressive.

After what felt like hours he had eaten the entire bowl, giving it back to Sapnap with a relieved
sigh.

Sapnap rolled his eyes at his reaction and held out two potions in front of his nose. “Drink.”

They looked like liquid galaxies trapped inside of glass bottles, one a bright pink and the other a
deep violet, both however probably not anything he wanted to consume. He raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah no. I’d rather not get poisoned, thanks.”

“It’s just weakness and slowness. Night is gonna fall soon and we’re gonna spend it in this cave. I
won’t take any chances of you escaping. Drink.”

He clamped his mouth shut and narrowed his eyes stubbornly. It reminded him of the times when
he had gotten sick and his Sapnap tried his best to help him heal. Unfortunately for him Dream
tended to be a terrible patient, refusing to take the medicine so that Sapnap had to almost beg or
guilt trip him into taking it. It was a point of aggravation for the younger. This situation felt similar,
just that this time it wasn’t medicine to heal.

"Just fucking drink this, dude!"

Dream raised his middle fingers.

“Fucking- fine,” Sapnap growled, and in a sudden movement too fast for Dream to comprehend he
suddenly found himself thrown onto the ground, Sapnap sitting on top of his torso holding one of
the potions to his face. “Drink!”

He twisted around, trying to dislodge the other in a blind panic, the feeling of the arrow in his back
still fresh on his mind. He tried to push him away but Sapnap simply shifted, pinning down his
hands with one knee. He was shorter than Dream but so much stronger, and no matter how much
he tried to buckle, in the end he was only lying on the ground breathlessly, still pressing together
his lips and staring at his attacker with wide eyes.
A hand reached towards his face and before he could try to twist away again, it pinched his nose
close in an iron grip and held the potion to his lips until the pressure in his lungs got too strong and
he had to gasp for air. Liquid spilled into his mouth, and he coughed against the hand that clamped
over his lips, coughed until tears were falling down his face and he had swallowed every last sip of
the potion. The effect was immediate, his entire energy was zapped out of his body and he felt like
he didn't have any bones, simply a puddle of human lying on the ground.

The hand over his mouth still didn't loosen, instead tightening, making his eyes jump open to look
at Sapnap through a bleary gaze.

The severe look on his face looked much more threatening than it should ever be. Sapnap should
be happy and gentle, overzealous and occasionally annoyed, he should never wear this expression
of hatred, directed against Dream.

"Now." The second potion was pressed against his cheek and he tried to flinch back. "Are you
gonna drink this one voluntarily or do we have to repeat this again?"

Dream couldn't suppress the whimper that escaped from his lips, tears still streaming down his
face, the cherry on top of this entire humiliating experience. He was tired, he was confused, he was
in another world and he missed his best friend who was even too scared to wake him up sometimes,
who would give him a hug whenever he saw that Dream needed one, who would let Dream drape
himself over him whenever they were watching a movie because he knew how much he needed
physical contact.

He never wanted to feel scared of his best friend.

"Yeah-yes, ye- I, I will."

Slowly he was let go and the potion was set beside his head. Sapnap stood up and walked out of his
vision without looking back while he was lying there reeling from that situation, violet liquid still
dripping from his lips onto the ground. He tentatively sat up, leaning against the cave wall with his
legs pulled against his body, and drank the other potion quietly, only disrupted by shaky sniffles,
wiping his mouth when he was done. It tasted sweet and earthy, cold not in its temperature but in
how it felt running down his throat.

His entire body was shaking, from the cold stone pressed against his skin and the adrenaline that
was slowly leaving his body. He pressed his hot forehead against his knees and closed his eyes
shut until white sparks danced in front of his eyes.
"Go to sleep." Sapnap mumbled awkwardly, sounding like he was trying to have an authoritarian
voice and failing miserably. He didn't look at Dream. "Tomorrow we'll walk towards the Badlands
and you'll get thrown into prison once and for all. I can't reach anyone else right now cause we're
too far out, but if you even think about escaping, I will not hesitate to kill you. Understood?"

Dream nodded silently, not daring to look into the other's direction. His cheeks still stung from the
manhandling and his tied up hands were faintly trembling while he just could not stop the tears
from running down his cheeks. He had to take quivering breaths, forcing himself to inhale slowly.
Everything to calm down and finally stop crying.

Sapnap glanced at him for a moment, slumped shoulders and tired eyes betraying his own
exhaustion. He turned around without another word and simply lied down beside the campfire,
seemingly going to sleep.

With a shaky exhale, he reached towards the glass bottle he had kept on his lap, not even daring to
hope. He waited until Sapnap's breathing had evened out and the campfire turned into embers,
before carefully taking a rock and pressing it on top of the bottle against the ground. At every crack
he stopped and waited to see if the other would wake up, until the bottle lay only in shards. He
picked up the biggest one and pocketed it. He would have to wait until the potions ran off before
he could even think about escaping. Pandora's Vault was the last place he wanted to go to. Sapnap
would see that he had told the truth, that he wasn't this Dream, but the others would only see two
Dreams. Two versions of the villain who had attacked them.

He was screwed, he was so screwed. Curse his decision to play the villain, curse whatever deity
had decided it would be funny to transport him here, and especially curse this aggressive version of
his best friend.

Panic filled his lungs when his gaze fell onto the rest of the glass shards. It would be unwise to
pack all of them into his pockets, the campfire was already extinguished and he couldn't dispose of
the remains in there, there was no hole he could dig to hide them, no space in this tiny room that
Sapnap wouldn't immediately see. A frown crawled on his face when he thought about something.
He couldn't summon anything from his inventory but maybe- the shards disappeared from the
ground, leaving his mind to spin around endlessly. Summoning something was related to the
position of his hands but for putting something inside, it apparently didn't matter. This was
interesting, this was something he could use to surprise Sapnap when he escaped.

He took a deep breath and counted to ten. He could do this. There was only a tiny chance he would
be able to escape against someone who was faster and stronger than him, but he had gone up
against worse odds.
He could do this.

--

Sapnap had never wanted to see Dream like that.

His former best friend had always been his anchor, a figure larger than life who never stumbled,
who was never scared, who killed all the mobs around them to keep Sapnap safe when they had
only been kids. He never showed fear, and to see it so plainly on his face felt wrong.

Seeing his face felt wrong, and for a moment his mind flashed to the mask he was keeping inside
of his inventory after taking it from Dream right before he had been thrown into prison. He liked to
claim it was a war trophy, proof that he would do the right thing even if it meant turning his back
on his friends. George liked to claim that he was a sentimental idiot, but what did George know?

Before Pandora's Vault, it had become increasingly rare to see Dream's face, and it was obvious
why his former friend had prefered to hide. He was simply bad at hiding his emotions, never able
to lie to George or Sapnap because they could easily read the truth on his face. After a while
Sapnap had grown to hate the mask, the thing that Dream used to hide from even them, the ones
who should have been his best friends, his family. He had wished it gone, or for him to at least take
it off when they were alone.

Now however he wanted to give the mask back, to make him hide his expression again, because
then he wouldn't have to feel so bad, then he wouldn't feel sick when looking at Dream's terrified
expression, tears running down his face, how his hope had turned into fear.

Shit. He was in no way, shape or form prepared for any of this.

He had just wanted to explore new territories, to get away from the rest of the server, from the
prison and all of his feelings, for a few weeks- running into an escaped Dream had been so low on
the list of things he had expected, that he had no idea how to react.

(He didn't want to kill him, he didn't want his best friend's blood on his hands, he didn't-)

He had promised to kill Dream, but now that he captured him, that wouldn't be necessary, right? He
didn't actually have to take his last life, right?
 (He had shot an arrow in Dream's back and he was screaming, begging for Sapnap to stop, but he
should never sound like that, should never sound so scared, it felt wrong, so wrong, so
wrongwrongwrong-)

Saying that he just wanted to know how Dream knew his real name, claiming that was the only
reason why he still kept him alive- that would be a lie.

And he despised himself for that.

Inside of his mind, he was screaming at himself. This was the villain of the server, the man who
had almost killed Tubbo, who had made Tommy suffer. Who had gathered all of their attachments
to gain control over them, who never cared about Sapnap and George.

(This was his best friend, crying, scared of him-)

Sapnap grit his teeth.

Chapter End Notes

Hope you enjoyed!

This Dream's not having a very good time atm but it's gonna get better

soon-ish. probably.

See you in probably two weeks!

 putting the friend in frenemy
Chapter Summary

Dream tries to get used to the Minecraft world and to this new, hateful version of his
best friend. It goes as well as it sounds.

Chapter Notes

I'm back! :D

Man, the more I read my fic and upload it, the more I want to continue writing on it,
but there's just a block keeping me. Which sucks cause I have so many ideas. Should I
abandon this fic, I'll definitely upload a chapter with all of my pre-written scenes and
the outline of what was planned.

Writing is weird. I started writing a Dr. Stone fanfiction in July and it took about 2 to 3
months to reach 120k and it's almost done (gonna upload it after I finished writing
probably). This fic here is currently 45k words long and I started more than a year ago.
My last fic, a second chance from beyond the grave, took a year to finish 120k words.
Time is funky, motivation is funky and writing is funky.

Anyway, enjoy!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

A foot nudging against his side the next morning made him blink open his eyes towards a world
that was as cold and unforgiving as last night.

"Wake up," Sapnap ordered. "We need to use the daylight."

Dream tried to gain consciousness as well as he could while Sapnap was mining away the wall on
one end of the cave. It was directly at the cave opening, showing the beautiful view of the forest
and letting in a much needed gust of fresh wind. Shivers ran over his legs in the cold air and for the
first time he noticed that whatever Sapnap had healed him with had apparently also healed the
scrapes and scratches on his legs. The feeling of weakness had disappeared in the night and he
made some calculations. An entire Minecraft day lasted twenty minutes, a long potion effect lasted
eight minutes, which meant that in a twenty four hour cycle a potion should last around nine and a
half hours. The night had felt much shorter however, so maybe in this world lengths of potions
could be better controlled.
Sapnap gave him a loaf of bread which tasted as bland as every food made inside of a crafting
table, but it was still heaps better than whatever he had concocted yesterday.

It was hard not to flinch back when Sapnap approached him but he managed to hold perfectly still
while he tied another rope around his already tied up wrists, holding the other end in his hand like a
leash.

"Is that really necessary?" Dream asked without looking at the other.

Sapnap didn't open his mouth but his dark look said more than enough.

They stepped out of the cave, Dream blinking harshly in the bright light after having spent the last
hours in complete darkness while Sapnap didn't seem to have any problems. He pulled something
out of his pocket, looking from the outside like a nintendo or a handheld mirror. When he opened it
the upper part was a faded screen while the lower part was a small keyboard, keys already dirty
and scratched. The thought of technology existing in the world of Minecraft was too weird for him
to wrap his head around. This world seemed to be a mix between the game and the real world, but
what existed and what was possible to do made absolutely no sense to him. Everything made sense
in a game.

Or was this device also made with a crafting table, discarding any need for machines and workers?

Sapnap muttered something, cursing. "Still no signal to the others. I'll have to bring you there
myself then. Be warned though, I am more than enough to kill you." Without saying another word,
he began marching in one direction, pulling Dream with himself. "You won't give me any answers
on how you know my name. And you know what, I don't care. After I get rid of you, you'll be
Sam's problem."

Shivers ran over his back as he thought about Pandora's Vault and everything they had acted out in
there. The days Sam and him had spent planning the prison, all the different redstone machines and
failsafes they had added to make it as inescapable as possible. If Sapnap put him in there, he would
never get out.

God, he was so tired of everything.

Even with the added knowledge that he had jumped dimensions and this wasn't all just a game
from some deranged game maker or a prank, walking for hours still was as boring as before.
Often he opened his mouth to say something before remembering that this wasn't his best friend on
a walk and that he was indeed still a captive.

A swarm of bees greeted him and he reached out to them with a small smile before Sapnap pulled
at the rope with bitterness written plainly on his face. Dream stumbled forward, a snarky reply on
his tongue before he remembered last night and he wisely decided to keep quiet.

"What the fuck is up with these bees?!" Sapnap screeched suddenly, waving around his arms to
chase off the several bees that had surrounded them, some apparently deciding to use Dream's hair
as their nest.

"I think they're cute," he snickered when he saw Sapnap struggle with the animals.

"Fuck off!" Sapnap yelled, swatting a bee away. Then he suddenly froze. "Oh shit-"

An angry swarm of bees descended upon him, their buzzing vibrating the air around them.

"RUN!" Sapnap yelled and sprinted away, the rope on Dream's arms forcing him to follow.

"Why did you punch the bee?!" he screamed. The swarm was still hot on their heels, their angry
noises overwhelming his senses.

"I DID NOT WANT TO!"

"THERE!" Dream made a sharp turn, pulling Sapnap with him. He ran straight towards the river he
had spotted, grabbing Sapnap by the chestplate and they both tumbled inside. Water engulfed him
completely, only vague forms visible that showed him where up and down was, and he quickly
swam upwards, gasping for air when he broke the surface. "You okay?"

Sapnap's wet hair clung to his forehead and dripped into his eyes. "I hate it here," he grumbled,
looking towards the bees who had stopped at the edge and were following them with their angry
stares.
They continued to get carried by the stream and Dream almost started to relax when he heard the
unmistakable sound of loud water pounding on rocks. A waterfall.

"Ni- Sapnap," he raised his voice in a panic, "we need to get out, we need to get out now!"

"Chill, this is the direction we need to go anyway."

Dream began to swim to the river bank but Sapnap grabbed him by the back of his hoodie and
pulled him back with an eye roll. "What's your problem, Dream?"

"My PROBLEM?!" His voice was shrill in his panic as he tried to escape, pushing at Sapnap
whose grip was as relentless as his gaze. The sounds of the waterfall got nearer and Dream could
see where it would drop down. "What the hell is wrong with you?! There is a waterfall right there,
do you wanna die?"

Sapnap simply continued to stare at him incredulously, arms wrapped around Dream to keep him
from escaping. "Dude, there is something seriously fucked with your brain."

And then they were falling.

Dream was screaming, water rushing all around him as for a few seconds they got thrown into the
air, weightlessness overtaking them. From up here the ground seemed so far away and he wanted
to shut his eyes close before he would faint. Then gravity took hold again and pulled them
downwards, the ground approaching faster and faster, he wasn't prepared to die, not like this, not in
a completely different world away from everyone he loved-

They landed in the water as gently as if they had jumped from a yard instead of half a mile.

"What- what the fuck- what-"

"Can you let me go now?" Sapnap asked unimpressed, and Dream noticed that he was hugging him
for dear life like an octopus, almost holding him underwater. The river continued to carry them
forward, through the thick forest of dark oak, leaving no light through the dense layers of leaves
except for on the path of the water.
Apparently having decided that he should take matters into his own hands, Sapnap reached behind
himself to grab his hands and pull them over his head with a flat look, keeping his grip on Dream's
wrists to pull both of them out of the water.

Dream's legs were still shaking too hard, he could only fall to his knees in an exhausted heap,
heavily breathing. A drop fell off his bangs onto his nose and he followed another droplet that fell
onto the ground with his eyes, until it got immediately absorbed by the soft earth.

"Since when are you so… whatever the hell that was?" Sapnap didn't seem ruffled at all by the
water that continued to drip down his face, as he adjusted his bandana.

"Like I said," Dream muttered. "I'm not the Dream you know. My name is Clay."

Sapnap snorted in derision and grabbed his arm to pull him up, beginning to continue walking
while Dream was forced to stumble after him.

"If you're hoping to slow us down, leave it. I don't need any of that right now."

Dream wanted to punch him. "You don't get it! I'm not your Dream! I'm from- from some kind of
other Dimension where this world, this entire world, is nothing but a roleplay!"

In a flash Sapnap summoned his axe, holding it under his chin and Dream was getting really sick
and tired of being threatened. "Shut. Up."

"You know it's real!" Frustration made him bold, staring into Sapnap's golden-orange eyes with
courage he didn't know he had. "You know I'm not acting like you expected, know that I probably
look different! But- but your hatred for your Dream is fucking blinding you-"

Sapnap grabbed his collar and pushed him against the next tree, blazing eyes lighting up like fire as
black began to creep up at the corners. For a moment the remnants of pain from an arrow flashed
through his mind, but he immediately pushed it to the side. He could not deal with that at the
moment.

The water on Sapnap's skin began to dissolve into steam rolling off him like waves and Dream
could feel the heat radiating from him. "You're the blind one if you really think I'd fall for your
manipulations again. You used me once, Dream, you won't do it again."
"Nick, you've-"

"DON'T. Call me that." Black tears gathered at the corner of his eyes, the hatred on his face
turning more and more into desperation. He had a weapon in his hand and was pressing Dream
against a tree, he had only hurt and scared him until now, and yet Dream had the urge to comfort
him, to lie on the couch and watch a bad movie like with his old Sapnap.

Maybe it was stupidity that overcame him, maybe empathy, whatever it was, it made him slowly
lift his hands and get them over Sapnap's head, pulling him into an awkward embrace. He was
unnaturally warm and the hard edges of his armor were digging into his skin, but he still felt like
his own Sapnap. The other froze in his hug, the grip on his collar loosening bit by bit until he was
released. Using that opportunity, Dream pulled him even closer and buried his face in the crook of
his neck.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't know it would hurt you so much. I won't do it anymore."

Sapnap's breath hitched but he didn't make any move to hug him back. Dream could feel his heart
beat fast through the thin netherite armor.

"... what are you doing?"

"It's called a hug."

"I hate you." Sapnap's voice sounded like he was choking back tears, quivering and breaking,
together with Dream's heart. Sapnap should never sound like that, no version of him.

"Okay," he simply said.

Sapnap didn't embrace him back but he also didn't push him away for a while, so Dream took that
opportunity to close his eyes and imagine that he was still in his own world, that this was his
Sapnap, that this was a forest in Florida and they were simply on a walk. They could stand here
forever and he wouldn't have to worry about what would appear in the future, about Pandora's
Vault, about other dimensions.
But every delusion had to end. Sapnap extracted himself from Dream's grip and as much as it hurt,
he had to let go reluctantly. The other quickly wiped away his tears and then stubbornly didn't look
at him when he continued to walk.

Obviously he was affected because he had forgotten to grab the other side of the rope. For a tiny
moment he wondered if he should book it now before dismissing that idea. By the time he had
gotten the glass shard out and had destroyed his bindings, Sapnap would have caught him again.

And… he felt like he was making progress. This Sapnap was as prickly as a porcupine but he had
let him hug him. Maybe- maybe he could turn him into an ally. Maybe he could make him help
him get back to his own world.

Their stomachs were growling by the time the sun was standing high in the sky, shining brightly
down on them. After the oak forest there had been a desert through which they were trudging.
Florida could be unbrearably hot sometimes, but not this kind of heat, this kind of dry burn in his
throat, this prickling on his skin, the way his eyes felt dusty and throbbed in the rhythm of his
pulse. With an exhausted huff, Dream took off his hoodie to hold it over himself.

"Where the fuck is your shirt?!" Sapnap asked aghast.

"Used for shoes," Dream answered and raised his brows at the appalled look of the other.

Sapnap took off his netherite armor and then threw his own t-shirt with the flame print at him,
keeping the black long sleeved shirt underneath. "Here, fucking- wear something, goddammit."

Rolling his eyes he only threw over the shirt, wondering if everyone in this world was so horrified
at seeing skin or if it was just Sapnap.

“What happened to your scars?” Sapnap wanted to know. He was resolutely looking away from
him, gaze focused on the desert that reached into the horizon.

“Just have some from old operations.” The heat made him even less motivated to argue with the
other about who he was.
“No, I mean…” Sapnap trailed off, a haunted look on his face. Dream frowned down at him. He
knew that look from his Nick. He wasn’t just bothered by his lack of scars. He felt guilty.

“What scars?” Dream asked and couldn’t help his voice from sounding gentle as if he would spook
a wild animal if he spoke up.

Sapnap’s face shut off and he quickened his pace. “We should go before the temperature drops.
It’s freezing in the night.”

“What scars?” Dream repeated louder, catching up with the other easily.

Sapnap scowled. “Are you really gonna make me say this? You told me years ago that you forgave
me but-” He interrupted himself with a bitter laugh. “I guess that too was a lie.”

It got annoying really fast, holding a conversation with someone without half of the information.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered.

“The burns,” Sapnap snapped. On his sides his hands were tightening into fists and trembling.
Black veins krept down his eyes but he growled and wiped his hands over them until they
disappeared back.

Dream’s mouth felt dry. None of this was mentioned, absolutely none of this. This barely felt like
his SMP anymore, it was more some kind of parallel world. Or a nightmare. “What do you mean
with burns?”

Sapnap grit his teeth. “Fuck you,” he spit. And with that Dream knew that he wouldn’t get any
more information out of him.

Sapnap’s water pouch had only been enough for half of their walk and Dream had suggested he get
the ropes off because he also had a water pouch. It was only met with a scoff and so they continued
to suffer.
On their trek, Dream had inconspicuously mined several blocks of sand and had let them disappear
into his inventory.

At last after what felt like hours, the desert stopped to finally reveal a savannah to which they
immediately began running, dunking their heads into the next river they saw.

“Holy shit,” Dream exclaimed after finally satiating his thirst. “I thought we were going to die
there!”

Sapnap was filling up his water pouch, an embarrassed red tinge on his cheeks. “I- uh, I completely
forgot that I needed enough water for two people,” he said in a small voice. “When I crossed the
desert the first time it wasn’t as bad.”

Dream stared at him with an open mouth. First he began giggling slightly, before full on wheezing
at the stupefied expression on the other’s face. “Oh- oh god, that- that’s so stupid!” He was barely
able to get out through his high pitched laughter. “You’re- you’re such an idiot, Sapnap!”

He was laughing too hard to notice the bitter, nostalgic smile on Sapnap’s face. When he turned
back to smile at him, it had disappeared into an annoyed frown. “Yeah, yeah, continue laughing at
me,” Sapnap grumbled. “‘s not like you didn't do stupider things.”

They rested there for a while, enjoying the shade of an acacia tree, before Sapnap slowly got back
on his feet, a reluctant line between his eyebrows. “Come on,” he said quietly. “We need to get
going. Half of the day has already passed and I’m hungry.”

“Yeah,” Dream agreed, wincing when his stomach let out an unholy growl. “Same.”

He hadn’t really thought about what searching for food meant, before they were already standing in
front of a cow, Sapnap raising his axe for the strike. The cow looked at Dream with those lifelike
eyes, continuing to chew on a patch of grass as if certain death wasn’t standing in front of it.

“WAIT!” he called out, jumping in front of the cow without another thought. He let out a scream
when the axe came down upon him, only being saved by Sapnap’s fast reaction, who let the
weapon disappear into his inventory in a flash. He stumbled forward into Dream, causing both of
them to fall to the ground. The fall was feathered by the soft dirt, but he still saw stars in front of
his eyes for a short moment. Sapnap pushed himself up by the arms and stared at him wildly.
“Are you fucking insane?!” he screamed.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t think-”

“Fuck yeah, you didn’t think! Who the fuck just jumps in front of an axe, you moron! I could have
killed you!” As someone who just yesterday had been so determined to kill him, he seemed to be
extremely distressed at that notion.

“Sorry,” Dream muttered again, still shocked at what he had done. “I just didn’t want you to kill
the cow.”

Sapnap got up and threw his hands into the air. “What the hell would you want us to eat then, you
genius?!”

Dream got up himself and looked around frantically, for any reason not to kill the cow. “Well-
well, I still have a few hay bales in my inventory-”

“You really think I’m so fucking stupid?”

“I’m not letting you kill these animals!”

Sapnap slapped his hands on his face and let out a muffled scream. “When did you become a
vegetarian?!”

“I’m not, it’s just these cows are so cute, and they’re looking at me with those sad eyes, and I don’t
want to see them die-”

“Then don’t look, idiot.”

Dream gave him a flat look and Sapnap took off his hands to scream without them. “Fine!” he
growled through clenched teeth. “Have it your way! I have bonemeal, we can make some wheat.
But as soon as that bread runs out, I’m gonna kill some animals.”
Warmth blossomed in his heart and he nodded quickly before Sapnap could change his mind,
smiling brightly at him. “Thank you.”

A torn expression crossed Sapnap’s face before he turned away, hiding his red cheeks. “... don’t
mention it.”

--

“Why can’t we just go on top of a tree?”

“Because I don’t trust you.”

“This is unnecessary, Sapnap, I won’t try to escape!”

“Yeah, I absolutely believe you. Now jump.”

Dream jumped at the same time as Sapnap who immediately placed a block beneath them. They
were currently standing on top of a twenty block high, one block wide tower, and the ground was
getting further and further away. He tightened his grip on Sapnap’s arm, trying to get as far away
from the edge of the block as possible, but two people standing on one block was too cramped to
feel even remotely safe.

“I don’t like heights.”

“Sure you don’t. Jump.”

They jumped and Dream tried to control his breathing, tearing his gaze away from the ground
towards the darkening sky. The moon was beginning to rise and stars were becoming visible. If
there was one constant between their worlds, it was that no matter what, the universe around them
looked the same. It felt like a comfort, something familiar in this foreign world.

“How much further up do you want to go? This looks like it would already kill us if we fall!”
“I’m gonna push you off if you don’t shut up. Jump.”

Dream tightened his grip with an audible gulp and Sapnap huffed, exchanging the wooden blocks
in his hands with obsidian. Then he started building a platform out of it, enough for both of them to
be comfortable. Dream sank to the ground with a relieved sigh, shaking fingers gripping at the
obsidian underneath him. Finished with building the platform and a one block high border around
it, Sapnap joined him with a frown.

“Since when are you afraid of heights?”

“Since always.”

He snorted. “Yeah sure. After all these crazy stunts you’ve pulled, after bombing L’Manberg from
the sky, I completely believe you.”

Too tired to argue again, he just leaned against the border and watched as Sapnap placed a
fireplace in the middle, balancing a pot on top of it.

“Wait, let me.” To his surprise Sapnap simply handed him the spoon, the bucket of milk and the
mushrooms they had gathered on their way. Spices, Dream had learned, were also mined in blocks,
salt from a white crystal found in oceans and pepper from a plant that grew everywhere and which
you simply had to place on a crafting table to extract the spice. It was interesting, seeing the
differences to the game, and yet how similar they were. Even if it looked like they were still in
Dream's old world, stuff like that was a constant reminder of where he actually belonged.

Cooking mushroom stew took his mind off the fact that they were currently on top of a one block
thick tower, promising a certain death should they fall down. Theoretically he knew that even if the
wood blocks would break, the platform would continue floating in the air, but the worst thing
about phobias was that they weren't rational. He had lived his entire life in a world in which gravity
existed, the short moments in this entire fever dream would not be enough to change his feelings.

It was irritating to cook with his hands tied up, allowing almost no movement, but it still didn’t
take long before he presented Sapnap proudly grinning with a bowl of mushroom soup which he
took after hesitating for a moment.

“... thanks,” Sapnap whispered and avoided his gaze.

Dream smiled at him and sat down beside him to eat his own soup, knocking their shoulders
together.

The dinner passed quietly. Dream did his best to ignore the silent sniffles coming from beside him.

“You haven’t cooked for a long time,” Sapnap said, something choked up in his words, and Dream
shot down the reflex to say that he had cooked two days ago in his own world, instead answering
with a simple hum. “In the war you just started to eat food solely made in crafting tables or in
furnaces. You think I didn’t notice but I did. Convenience became more important than enjoying
your life and I- that, that should have been the first warning that your- your- your obsession with
controlling that unimportant fucking country became more important than everything else around
you!”

“I’m not the person you should be telling this to,” he said quietly. Under them the sounds of mobs
could be faintly heard, the screeching of the spiders a gruesome sound for which he was for the
first time grateful that they were so high up, away from them.

“Are you- are you seriously still trying to pull this shit?!” Sapnap snapped in disbelief. And thus
the comfortable air dissipated.

“I’m not pulling any shit, I’m serious! I know- I know I look like the Dream that you know but I’m
just a guy from Florida who plays a video game sometimes! My name isn’t even fucking Dream!”

"If there's still any respect you have for me,” Sapnap said lowly, “then stop lying."

"I'm not lying! Everything I said was the truth, I came from another dimension or something-"

"I get it. You don't have to fucking make fun of me by telling me the stupidest shit ever."

Dream wanted to throw his hands up in the air. “You won’t believe me, will you?” he breathed. No
matter what, Sapnap would always assume that he was manipulating him, no matter what, he
would get thrown into an inescapable prison.

Sapnap put out the campfire and threw the charred remains over the edge before reaching into his
inventory and getting out two familiar looking potions, setting them in front of him. “Just drink that
and shut up.”
It got increasingly harder to clench his teeth and not let out a sob. With trembling hands he opened
the bottle and tipped the liquid into his mouth. The feeling of weakness washed over his body and
he wanted to do nothing else but curl up and cry. He missed his Nick, his best friend who wouldn’t
throw him into a torture chamber, he missed his family, he missed talking to George. A version of
George existed here too, but it wasn’t his George. None of the people living here were the people
he loved.

The sounds of the mobs got louder and he dared a short look down their tower, immediately
jumping back again. There were so many of them! How the hell were there so many of them?!

“That’s weird,” Sapnap muttered too, looking over the edge of the barrier. “I’ve never seen so
many mobs before, holy shit. Now you’re glad that we didn’t just get on top of trees, right?” He
sent him a hesitant smile but Dream couldn’t even get himself to try returning it. Misery pulled at
his skin and bones and he grabbed the second potion before he would be too exhausted to drink it
and Sapnap would force him again.

As if god wanted to point and laugh at him, lightning illuminated the sky and it began raining,
immediately drenching them down to their bones. Dream just lied down, letting the rain wash over
him. He was so tired.

For the first time he noticed how unfamiliar the sky looked. He didn't recognize any constellations,
couldn't find the northstar, and for a second he wanted to laugh hysterically because of course.
Even this one constant had to be taken away from him.

Sapnap began building a roof made out of cobblestone, throwing him uncertain glances every now
and then while steam rose from his clothes. In a short time he was dry while Dream was still lying
there completely drenched, curled up to protect himself against the cold. With the swipe of his
hand Sapnap looked at his inventory which was invisible to Dream, and cursed lowly. “My flint
and steel broke,” he admitted. “I have nothing to make a fire with.”

“It’s okay,” Dream muttered into his knees, voice embarrassingly faint. “You don’t have to pretend
you care.”

“Yeah... I don’t.”

He fell into an agitated sleep, wet clothes sticking to him like a second skin, curled up and just
wanting this all to be a bad nightmare.
--

There was an arrow in his back and Sapnap was standing over him, bow raised for the next shot.

"Please," Dream choked out.

Around them shadowy figures stared at them but didn't intervene. They were just standing still,
their judging stares piercing through him and they felt familiar, but he did not want to think about
why that was, he did not want to be there, he did not-

His best friend reached towards him and Dream wanted to sob in gratitude. Instead of helping him
however, Sapnap reached back and punched him. He could feel his face break apart, lying in
hundreds of pieces across the infinite ground, and he could never feel whole again, there was an
arrow in his back and Nick had shot him-

"This is all your fault," Sapnap said as his blaze half took over. Fire began spreading but Dream
couldn't rise, couldn't get away.

"This is your fault," echoed around him, a cacophony of voices that all sounded familiar to him.
Sapnap raised his bow, aiming directly at his heart. The fire finally reached him, climbing up his
body. He couldn't feel the heat. It was ice cold, and his heart hurt, something in his heart hurt, it
felt like it was slowly being pulled apart, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt-

"Nick-"

The arrow punched through him.

--

When he woke up in the middle of the night, he was engulfed by warmth. Sapnap was lying beside
him, snoring softly and having an arm draped around him to warm him up, his cloak thrown over
both of them, and for a short moment he could fantasize that this really was his best friend, that he
really was in his old world.
Only pure exhaustion made him close his eyes again to fall back into his nightmares.

--

Frowning, Sapnap looked down at his communicator. Dream didn’t have any idea that he had
gotten a signal a while ago but hadn’t texted anybody yet. He had his message to Sam already
written out but he didn’t send it, thumb hovering over the button in uncertainty. He should send it,
he really should. This was Dream, this was the villain of the server, the person who had hurt so
many people. Everyone must have been so scared when he had escaped. There had been no
message that had informed the residents about the escape, so maybe Sam was trying to keep it
secret so as to not make anyone panic. Or maybe the message had been written when Sapnap had
been too far away for a signal.

Beside him Dream let out a whimper, burying his head into Sapnap’s shoulder and he couldn’t help
but tangle one of his hands into his damp hair and hug him, chasing the bad nightmares away. Just
like when they had been children and the world had seemed so scary, when it still had been perfect.
When Dream had done his best to help him get acclimated to the overworld after having spent his
entire life in the nether, when he had hugged him every night whenever Sapnap started freezing in
the colder climate. When Dream had still been his best friend.

He couldn’t let himself fall back into nostalgia, couldn't get blinded by what once had been, but he
could allow himself this one moment. Dream’s hair was shorter than he usually cut it and he
looked so much healthier than two months ago when he had seen him the last time. At the same
time he lacked the defined muscles that had come with being as active and training as hard as he
did before the prison. His skin was soft and all of the calluses and scars from fighting had
disappeared. His hair was curlier and had a healthy shine to it that could only come from a healthy
diet, not from food that purely came from crafting tables. It was as if he had escaped just to live a
comfortable life somewhere else. Which led to the question: When had he escaped? Why hadn’t
Sam mentioned anything?

Dream muttered something into his shoulder, still trembling from his damp clothes. Sapnap
pressed his lips together, biting his cheek until he could taste blood. Maybe- maybe he could let
himself do it just this one time. For old time’s sake. So taking a deep breath, he let his despised
blaze half take over, feeling his blood boil until his already warm skin turned golden and hot to the
touch. Dream let out a content sigh, pressing himself even closer to him, and Sapnap cursed
himself, cursed himself for not being over it, for still loving his former best friend even after
everything he had done.

He should scream at him, he should punch him, get revenge for what he did to Tommy, to Tubbo,
to George, to the server, to himself. He should not cuddle with the enemy, making him warm and
 comfortable.

Just this one time, he promised himself as he deleted the pre-written message and shut his
communicator close. Just this one time, he promised himself as the sun began rising, killing the
mobs underneath them, and he still didn’t wake up Dream to begin their walk towards the prison,
letting him sleep in. Just this one time, he promised himself as he kept running his fingers through
Dream’s hair.

And at that moment he hated himself more than everything in the world.

(But self-hatred had never felt so comfortable.)

Chapter End Notes

I MADE ART! Go check it out :D

Though I did make it a year ago before the face reveal

Thank you for everyone who comments! I read all of them, but I'm really bad at
replying ^^'
Know that I'm grateful for anyone who reads my fic :D

Until next time in two weeks!

 Compartmentalize.
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

The next morning they ate quietly and packed up everything with almost no words between them.
It didn't come from hatred but from being deep in thought. Then Sapnap grabbed his arm and threw
both of them over the obsidian platform.

Dream was screaming, shutting his eyes when the ground was rapidly approaching. The sound of
water splashing could be heard when they landed heavily, Dream immediately losing balance and
falling back into the water. Once again he found himself drenched.

Especially in that moment did his memory of waking up in Sapnap's arms feel more and more like
a dream.

Sapnap, the fucking asshole, was laughing brightly with a mocking edge in his smile and offered
him a hand to get up which he took after only hesitating for a moment.

"God, you're so weird," Sapnap snickered.

Dream looked up at the tower and gave an audible gulp. They had jumped from up there and were
still alive. This was a Minecraft world so it was natural that MLGs existed but he had never
intended to try it out himself. No, he would err on the side of caution and return home safely.
Maybe with a few scraps and a new scar, but at least alive. One missed MLG and it would be game
over. Or at least a world of pain.

They continued to walk to where Sapnap was leading them, out of the savanna into an oak forest.
His hands were still bound together but at least Sapnap had taken away the other rope, after a while
it had gotten more and more embarrassing being led around like a dog.

They walked for a few hours until they arrived at an ocean, no land in sight. Sapnap placed down a
crafting bench and quickly crafted a tiny boat floating over his hand which he threw onto the water.
It expanded in its size so that there was enough room for two people, and they sat inside, Dream
staring into the water with wide eyes while Sapnap was rowing with all of his strength.

Fish surrounded their boat and when Dream held his hands inside of the water, they grazed them in
curiosity, nibbling slightly on his fingers until they determined that he wasn't food. He smiled
down at them, too invested in them that he didn't notice the dolphin until it broke through the
water, making an impressive jump over them.

Dream couldn't keep in the laughter that escaped from his lips, face flushed when he watched the
dolphin jump around happily, knocking against the boat every once and again and then get near
enough to let Dream pet it.

"Sapnap- Sapnap, look! A dolphin!"

"Yeah. I see it." He continued rowing, not even taking his eyes off the horizon.

"I've never touched a dolphin before! They're so- they're so smooth!"

"Sure you haven't."

Dream kicked him slightly in the back. Sapnap retaliated by throwing water in his face with one of
the paddles. With narrow eyes, he squinted to the front. Sapnap had a mischievous smile on his
face, obviously mocking him. With a war cry Dream jumped on top of him and Sapnap let out a
scream when the boat toppled, making both of them fall into the water.

--

"You," Sapnap groused, squeezing water out of his shirt, "are a menace."

Like the adult that he was, Dream answered by sticking out his tongue. Sapnap raised his middle
finger.

Then both of them were snickering. Getting to the next island had been difficult, especially since
one of them would throw the other into the ocean at unpredictable moments so that it got
impossible to stay dry. Sapnap had tied his wrists to the boat after Dream had gotten too close to a
dolphin however, and that had ended that entire situation pretty quickly.

A strange look overcame Sapnap's face and he stopped laughing. "Come on," he muttered. "The
faster we arrive at the prison the better."
Ah, Dream thought. How stupid of him. In their shenanigans he had almost completely forgotten
that this wasn't just a fun camping trip and that the goal was to throw him into a torture chamber.
Great. Sighing, he tied his wet hoodie around his hip, Sapnap's white shirt almost transparent
against his skin, and followed Sapnap into the forest. It was too easy to get lost in their dynamic,
familiar and comforting.

It seemed Sapnap had too snapped out of the safe bubble they had been in, marching through the
forest with heavy steps, slashing through the branches and leaves in their way with aggressive
sword slices, muttering angrily in front of himself. Dream wisely decided to stay quiet. He needed
to keep both Sapnaps separated. This wasn't Nick- or well, it apparently was, and technically they
had the same personalities because Nick had roleplayed him and holy shit, why the hell was
everything so complicated?!

He needed to escape as fast as possible before it was too late. This Sapnap still seemed to love his
version of Dream but was too determined to put him back into prison, fueled by righteous justice
and bitterness. (If he stayed any longer, he would completely forget that this was just a stranger and
not his best friend. He had hurt him, held him captive - he had shot an arrow into his back - but
every time Dream looked at him, he could only see the anguished face of his Nick. Lines were too
blurry, and he was so confused, just wanted to get home-)

"You okay there?" Sapnap had turned around and was looking at him with a frown.

Dream stared at him incredulously and then looked down at his tied up wrists, glaring down at
Sapnap accusingly. At least both Sapaps shared the same height so that he could comfortably look
down on him.

"Yeah," Sapnap muttered. "Okay, stupid question."

Whatever had made Sapnap so angry seemed to dry up pretty quickly, and after a while he began
humming, throwing him uncertain glances every once in a while.

"I'm-" he stopped himself from talking. "You wanna know what George did last week?"

It felt weird. He had known that he was in another dimension with people wearing his friends' faces
but it hadn't really hit him yet that they were other versions of his friends running around.
A version of Tommy that had been heavily traumatized by his character. A version of Wilbur that
had blown himself up with Dream's help. A version of Karl that was losing his memories every
day. Quackity, who was torturing Dream. Sam who let him, who wouldn't even recognize him as a
friend anymore. Bad and Ant who were being possessed by a sentient egg, depending on what time
he had appeared in this world. George who was sleeping through months at a time. Punz who was a
mercenary.

They were all real, they were all living human beings, not just creations in a roleplay, a version of
Dream was currently being tortured in an inhumane prison and everyone hated him, wanted him
dead-

Compartmentalize.

"Yeah," he said. "Sure."

"So, you know how George is definitely, one hundred percent, a much worse cook than me, haha,
but last week he tried to cook chicken to cheer Karl up cause he was seeming a bit down lately, and
it looked awesome! Like, actually edible! Well, turns out the inside was completely raw but Karl
didn't even say anything, like the complete moron that he is! And, like a complete moron, he spent
the entire night throwing up! Also, also George managed to completely destroy every pot he
touched and just swept them under the table, didn't even throw them away or anything! God, our-
my friends are so fucking stupid!"

Somehow that small correction at the end stung more than it should. These weren't his friends, it
shouldn't hurt so much. But the thought that in another universe they weren't best friends, that his
other version had hurt his friends so much that they even wanted to kill him- he wanted to curl up
and sleep until this nightmare was over, wanted to grab them all and hug them, wanted to repair
everything until it all was like in his world.

But that correction also hardened his resolve to escape. The sooner he got back to his friends, his
world, the sooner he could get away from these versions who wanted him dead, wanted to put him
into a torture chamber, the better.

He shouldn't get mixed in the matters of these people.

They stopped at a herd of cows grazing in a field and Dream threw Sapnap a vexed glare when he
saw the hungry look in his eyes.
"Okay, fine!" Sapnap grumbled and summoned a bucket, throwing it towards him. "You go get
milk, I'll gather some mushrooms."

Dream walked towards the cows, holding his breath. After all this time Sapnap had finally let him
out of his eyesight. "Alright," he whispered to himself. He couldn't let himself get carried away too
much. If he ran away now, Sapnap would immediately catch him. Burying himself into the earth
was also not advisable since Sapnap would be able to see the earth block without grass. It would be
better to bide his time and wait for when he was sleeping.

He placed the bucket under the cow and inconspicuously took the shard of glass out of his pocket,
beginning to saw at the rope until he had enough room to wriggle around his wrists but not enough
for them to fall off.

A breath of relief escaped him when the bottles he had collected from Sapnap's potions appeared in
his hand. He had only had his inventory for a day but god, had he missed it.

He waited until all the bottles were full with milk and back in his inventory before filling up the
bucket, standing up when he was done.

Tonight he would finally escape.

--

To his relief Sapnap had elected to build a small house out of wood on top of some trees instead of
towering up like last time. The distance from the ground still made him nauseous but at least it
looked survivable should he fall.

He prepared the food in silence while Sapnap was watching him with a hesitant look in his eyes,
looking as if he wanted to say something but then deciding against it.

He took the potions without argument and settled down in one corner of the house with his back
towards Sapnap. The waiting game had begun.

Usually REM sleep happened ninety minutes after falling asleep, when it was less likely to wake
up at every little sound. The house didn't have any free space to look at the moon, so he could only
guess how much time had passed. Mobs had begun to groan around them, but he couldn't focus on
that now. Carefully he sat up after the arm he was lying on began to cramp and took out the glass
shard, using his knees to hold it in place while he was cutting off the ropes, cold air embracing his
skin for the first time in two days.

His skin was rubbed red, bleeding in some places from when he had tried to wriggle himself free,
and every movement hurt, sending trembles down his fingers. Blood rushed through his veins and
he couldn't help the sigh of relief when he flexed his hands and they didn't feel as stiff anymore.

But he couldn't indulge in that feeling for too long, so he quietly stood up and grabbed a potion
filled with milk out of his inventory, downing it quickly. The feeling of weakness disappeared,
strength returning back to him like chugging several energy drinks after each other. With a grim
smile he summoned his axe. Fortunately Sapnap had built the house out of wood and not
cobblestone, which broke much faster and quieter. In only a few hits one of the blocks disappeared
into his inventory and he crawled out of the one block hole, breathing in the air of freedom-

- only to flinch away when an arrow embedded itself in the wood beside him.

"FUCK!" he swore, immediately clamping his mouth shut and looking behind him.

"... Dream?" Sapnap yawned. Shit. Fuck.

So much planning and he had to fuck up then. Quickly he placed cobblestone behind him and
began to run, jumping down the branches and landing heavily on the floor, pain shooting up his
legs when he lost balance and rolled onto the ground, sharp sticks tearing at his skin. He couldn't
pay attention to that however, instead he pushed every fear, every feeling of pain aside and jumped
up, starting to run.

"DREAM!" Sapnap screamed, and he increased his speed, whizzing past mobs without even
looking at them. The sizzling of a creeper made him flinch back just in time when it exploded, heat
licking at his raised arms.

"STOP- STOP FUCKING RUNNING!"

He sounded furious, and Dream didn't want to imagine what he would do if he caught him. He had
been so close, so fucking close!
He zig zagged through trees, jumped over a thin river, but no matter how fast he ran, he could hear
the sound of armor rattling fast approaching. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he swore and cursed out the mobs
that were following him, leading Sapnap straight towards him.

"Leave me alone!" he screamed, fear rising in him when he shot a look behind him. Sapnap
radiated pure fury, a bitter look of hatred in his black eyes, and compared to the last times he didn't
seem to care that he had transformed into his other hybrid half.

He noticed his strength slowly leaving his legs, but he couldn't stop now, not after everything! So
he pushed himself, through mobs and trees, through leaves, a herd of cows and his own erratically
beating heart.

The chase ended when a gigantic stone wall appeared before him, closing him off all sides.

"Nonononono," he didn't have enough blocks to get up and protect himself at the same time, he had
some dirt, a few cobblestone blocks and the sand he had mined in the desert, but not enough, not
enough-

An arrow embedded itself beside him in the stone, and he let out a yelp, not even daring to turn
around and face the other.

The sound of another arrow being pulled echoed through the forest and he raised his hands,
desperately trying to slow his hysteric breathing and holding back an angry sob.

"Another move and this arrow will go straight through your heart."

"Just leave me alone," he begged, screwing his eyes close. He was so sick of all of this, just wanted
to finally go home.

"I should have known you were just biding your time." Steps approached him and Sapnap grabbed
his arm roughly, turning him around. Pure reaction made him lash out, punching Sapnap with all of
his strength, making him fly back. Without hesitation he booked it, falling straight on his face
when his ankle got grabbed, and suddenly Sapnap was over him, trying to grab his arms to hold
him down. Dream struggled against him, anger making him stronger, and they were rolling around
on the ground, trying to get the upper hand. He got a few punches in, letting out a pained sound
when he received a knee in the stomach, and let out an angry hiss when he kicked out, hitting
Sapnap's shin.
The skirmish ended as fast as it had begun, and Dream found himself pinned to the ground by the
wrists, staring wide eyed and panting heavily at Sapnap's face over him, the blood dripping from
the other's nose landing on Dream's cheek with a silent splash. The glowing, orange irises stood out
stronger against the black of his eyes, dark veins traveling down from them to his cheeks, dividing
the golden skin, and Dream cringed away from the smoke coming out of his mouth every time he
breathed out.

"You- I- I should have known- that you were just, just trying to escape!" Sapnap yelled, the hot
grip on his wrists biting into the already damaged skin. "That- that fucking nice act you were
putting on- and, and, and I was just being- just being manipulated again!"

"Of fucking course I was trying to escape!" he screamed back, buckling against the tight hold.
"You- you want to throw me into Pandora's Vault!"

"Where you fucking deserve to be! And I'll make sure that you won't ever see the light of day again
after I throw you back!"

Angry tears threatened to escape but he didn't let them out, instead rushing up with a scream to
headbutt Sapnap, both letting out pained groans. "Fuck you!" Dream yelled. "I'm not your fucking
Dream and you know it too! Your Dream is currently getting tortured in that wonderful fucking
prison you decided to throw him into!"

For a moment Sapnap's expression dropped completely, and he froze, only staring down at Dream
in disbelief. "... what?"

Dream kicked up again, before Sapnap shifted, pinning down his legs with his own.

"What do you mean, tortured?" he asked strangely calm.

Dream grit his teeth, completely immobilized, and hated this feeling of helplessness, of being held
down and being stuck. It made his breath go fast in panic, made him want to move, get out of his
crawling skin.

"Your Dream," he spit, "is getting tortured to get the revival book-"
"You're lying."

"- and you were the one who put him there, who told him he deserved to be there-"

"You- you're lying, you have to-"

"And Sam and Quackity can do whatever the fuck they want to while you're here with me!"

Sapnap's expression closed off again, cold and unyielding. "Oh," he said. "Your lies are getting
more and more obvious."

"I'm not lying!" he screamed.

"Quackity became indifferent but he wouldn't- he would never torture anyone." Sapnap
straightened up, summoning rope, and Dream began to struggle again.

"No- no, wait! Fucking- fucking listen to me!"

His wrists were tied together again and pain shot up his arms when Sapnap pulled them taut, tying
several knots until he seemed satisfied.

"I'm not your Dream! And I need to go home, I need to-"

Sapnap jerked him upwards, pulling at the rope he had once again tied to him. "Just shut the fuck
up," he snarled, beginning to pull him in the direction of the forest.

Dream dug his heels into the ground, recoiling when Sapnap summoned his sword, raising it
towards his throat. "You can come willingly or I can kill you."

"I'm getting really sick of getting threatened with death," Dream grit out.
"Then fucking walk. The sooner we arrive at that shitty prison the better."

Sapnap pulled him towards the herd of cows and before he could react, he had raised his sword and
with a glowing strike that showed the enchantments, killed one, picking up the steak without
stopping. Dream froze, a sudden spike of hurt piercing through his heart.

"What- what are you- wait-"

He flinched back when Sapnap killed the second one. In that moment he truly looked like a
stranger, his features in the low light of the moon having no similarities to the Nick he knew.
"Your whole nice act was a lie anyway, why the fuck- why the fuck did I even listen to you?!"
Sapnap stepped towards him, poking him hard into the chest. "You just did it to look- to look nice
and innocent and to make me dependent on your cooking, didn't you?! But guess what, I'm not
your puppet anymore! You can't manipulate me!"

"What?! You're fucking insane!"

Sapnap stuck out at another cow that let out a scream when the blade met its neck, and Dream
whimpered, trying to step back as far away as possible with the rope tying him to Sapnap.

"You're doing this just to hurt me," he whispered, trembling with a mix of fury and despair.

"Stop it with the act!" Sapnap screamed at him. There were no cows left anymore, leaving the
clearing silent except for the distant screeching of spiders. "You don't give a fuck about these
cows! You don't even give a shit about your friends! Is everything you do just a fucking act?!"

The sounds of the mobs in the forest got louder again and Dream looked around wildly. He didn't
want to say anything, didn't want to ask this asshole for anything, but his common sense eventually
won over his fury, and the angry haze in his mind got replaced by logic.

"We should bury ourselves in before we get overwhelmed by mobs."

Sapnap slashed his sword through a particularly dense patch of vines as he pulled him forward and
Dream recoiled at the anger in the other's eyes when he tilted his head back at him.
"I'm in full netherite gear, I can fight them. The less fucking time I have to spend with you, the
better. For both of us."

Uncertain, Dream stepped closer as the sounds of mobs awakened around them into a cacophony of
screeching and moaning.

"Sapnap, we should really get to a safe place."

"What, so that you can delay getting thrown back into the prison even further? Don't think I don't
see what you're doing again with that whole wannabe-kind giggly act you were pulling to- to
confuse me, before you tried to escape, cause I see it."

"I'm not- I'm not pulling an act! I can stop being nice if it's really bothering you so much, if we just
box ourselves in now!"

Sapnap grabbed his arm and pulled him behind himself, and before Dream could even let out a
sound of surprise, a creeper exploded right where they had just been. A shout got stuck in his throat
and he flinched back at the loud sound, hands instinctively coming up to cover his ears before he
remembered that they were still bound together. Sapnap’s sword transformed into a bow and he
expertly shot several arrows into the heads of approaching zombies, slaying a skeleton that came a
bit too close.

Dream shuddered when a zombie approached him. Its flesh looked like it was melting off its
bones, green tinted mold crawling all over its body. Whenever it groaned it let out a smell so
putrid, he had to hold his breath else he would throw up all over the place.

Sapnap rammed his axe into the head of the zombie, splitting it straight into two and Dream
immediately turned away, not even daring to look in that direction. He slammed a hand on his
mouth, trying not to gag when the smell became too strong. Inwardly he wondered if the zombies
once had been human too. Sapnap stepped in front of him, drenched in fluids that Dream did not
want to look closer at, and blocked an arrow with his shield, shooting his own bow to kill the
skeleton who had shot it, turning around to aim at a zombie librarian without even looking if the
arrow had hit its target.

And suddenly instead of the zombie villager there stood Hmmm, the kind librarian villager who
had taken him in without demanding anything in return.
“Sapnap,” he pleaded, “can we please just box ourselves in and wait for the day? Sapnap, come
on-”

The arrow shot straight into the zombie librarian with a disgusting squelch and then he couldn’t
hold it in anymore. Just in time he turned around and threw up on the ground, coughing his lungs
out until only bile rose up, crawling up his aching throat. Blood and gore had always bothered him,
and seeing it this close made him want to close his eyes and forget everything.

“Shit,” Sapnap cursed behind him. “Where the fuck did all these mobs come from?!” Sure enough,
around them were way more mobs than Dream had ever seen in Minecraft. The spiders were
climbing on top of each other to reach them, creepers were stuck in the masses of mobs and
skeletons had begun fighting each other. A hoard of monsters, all vying for their deaths.

“Sapnap, let’s just- just run away or something.” He stood back up on shaky legs, wiping off his
mouth with the back of his hand. He couldn’t lose it now, not when they were surrounded by
mobs.

“Do you seriously think I’m not strong enough to kill them?” Sapnap scoffed and threw himself
back into the battle with a war cry. Dream was left heavily breathing, trying to blend out all the
sounds around him, when his gaze fell onto a sword beside him which a zombie must have
dropped. Wildly, he looked around for Sapnap and breathed a sound of relief when he saw him
busy with a horde of zombies.

He really just wanted to buddle himself into the ground but this was a perfect moment, and if he let
it go now he would always slap himself later. Falling to his knees, he began sawing off the ropes
with the blade, keeping it in place with his knees. “Come on, come on, come on,” he begged and
suppressed a cry of triumph when the bindings fell away, freeing his wrists for the second time in
two days. He only took a moment to gather himself, to compartmentalize, and not think about the
last hour.

He couldn’t pause now. Quickly he let the sword disappear into his inventory and booked it,
running into a random direction away from Sapnap, careful not to walk too closely to a creeper.
Any explosions would only alert Sapnap to his second escape attempt, and he couldn’t be found
now, not when he had finally gotten away! With a good hiding place he would be impossible to
find and-

A terrified scream split the night, echoing through the forest and rooting him in place.

Sapnap could deal with it. He was a loud person, Dream was sure that it was nothing.
Another scream, louder and shriller. Pained. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

What the hell would Dream even do?! He couldn’t fight, had no idea how to correctly hold a sword
and was terrified of the mobs, he was the last person who was able to help anyone. This was the
perfect opportunity, he couldn’t go back now, not when their arrival at the prison came closer and
closer, not when Sapnap despised him so much, not when freedom was so close.

God damn it.

Swearing, he turned around to run back the entire way he had put behind him, cursing himself and
the entire world. He was such a fucking idiot, at that point he deserved to get captured again! Since
when did he have this little self preservation?! And for what?! For the guy who had treated him like
a prisoner? Just because he wore his best friend's face?!

"Fuck, shit-"

He arrived just in time to see an endless sea of mobs surrounding a tree on which Sapnap was
sitting, almost lying, his shield the only thing saving him from the onslaught of arrows. Even from
this far away Dream could see the cracks in the wood slowly getting bigger. Several arrows had
been shot through the cracks of his armor and blood was coating the branch red, dripping languidly
on top of the mobs who were reaching for the small figure.

Dream couldn’t possibly fight all of them on his own. A plan began forming in his head. Sapnap
could survive for a few minutes, he just needed some materials.

He had no idea what made him so fearless, but whatever it was, he was thanking it as he clumsily
swung his sword at a creeper and then ran away, letting the sizzling die out before he jumped back
and killed it, only pausing for a moment to grab the gunpowder before already attacking the next
creeper. There was a bunch of gunpowder left from Sapnap’s kills, which he also gathered with
grim satisfaction. Fortunately the skeletons, spiders and zombies seemed too focused on Sapnap to
care about him as he jumped from one creeper to the next. One time he wasn't fast enough to run
away from a creeper, and it blew up, blasting him off his feet into a creak of water. Groaning, he
grit his teeth and pushed himself up, wet clothes and exhaustion dragging him down. The skin on
his back felt hot and tight, shooting dull pain through his body at every movement, but he couldn’t
stop now, not when he was so close.

Finally after what felt like hours, his body bruised and burned, he placed a crafting bench on the
ground and got out the gunpowder and the sand he had gathered in the desert, just enough for nine
blocks of TNT. Quickly he crafted a pressure plate and then ran towards the masses of mobs.
Sapnap’s shield had broken, so he had placed a few blocks underneath himself for protection
against arrows. He looked like he was barely conscious, one arm wrapped around his stomach
while the other was hanging loosely at his side.

“Nick!” he called out, and his friend’s head shot up, looking towards him in disbelief. The mobs
still didn’t react to Dream, clawing at the tree as if Sapnap was their only food for survival.

“Dream?!” Sapnap exclaimed, confused. “What- why are you still here?”

“Shut up and listen to me for one fucking time! I’m gonna place some TNT to kill the mobs, you
need to place some obsidian underneath yourself or you’ll get blown up too!”

He waited and continued to stare at Sapnap with determination until he could see him nod and
summon obsidian from his inventory. Dream threw himself in between the mobs, shoving away the
skeletons and zombies, at the same time pushing away his disgust at their moldy skin flaps. Focus
on the task. After that he could fall apart.

TNT got placed and at last he put the pressure plate on the floor, looking up for only one moment
to see if Sapnap had done as he had ordered. He created a wall of blocks thick enough to withstand
a blast of explosions before taking a deep breath. “Okay, okay,” he encouraged himself. “Here goes
nothing.”

He stepped on the pressure plate, immediately running behind the wall, holding his palms over his
ears.

A few seconds later the world behind him exploded, a deafening sound that continued to ring
through his head.

Hot air blew past the wall around him and he heard several screams and screeches of pain,
horrifying begs of monsters that had survived the explosion but were dying in the flames.

Gasping for breath, Dream let himself rest against the wall for only one moment, standing up when
everything seemed to quiet down. The forest got dipped into silence once again, the only sounds
being mobs far away in the distance and the crackling of fire spreading through the branches.
Something in his heart hurt, and he gripped the shirt over his ribs, slowly exhaling to make the
feeling go away. These were living creatures, they had attacked them, they were vile- but they were
still alive, weren’t they? He had killed something, such a cruel technique too, he had killed
something, he had killed-

“Nick!” he called out, shaking his head to dislodge those thoughts. Compartmentalize. Think about
it later. “Nick, say something!”

He walked through the smoke, walking around the deep crater the TNT had left in the earth, trying
to catch sight of any flash of the dark purple obsidian. “Still alive,” came the faint response and
Dream immediately reacted, climbing into the crater to the area from where he had heard the voice.
The tree had been completely blown apart, only the little obsidian platform protecting Sapnap from
experiencing that same fate. Dream built a stairway towards him and reached him just in time to
see him get into a sitting position grimacing through the pain and with hazy eyes.

“Why- why didn’t- didn’t you run?” Sapnap panted.

“You idiot,” Dream snapped and placed cobblestone around Sapnap’s obsidian to make enough
space for himself. “Did you want to die or are you just a fucking moron?”

He grabbed the other and firmly pushed him back down.

“There were, were just so many- ngh-”

“Shut the fuck up, man,” Dream muttered, pulling off Sapnap's helmet, making his hair stick out
from every direction. “We should probably get away before the entire forest burns down and we
die from smoke inhalation. But first, do you have regen? Those arrows look terrible, I think I prefer
you un-porcupined.”

“That’s- not a- not a word.” Sapnap made sluggish movements with his hand and summoned a few
bottles of regeneration after several tries.

“Well, it is now. So, uh… I have no idea how to do this? Do you just drink the regen and it pops
the arrows out of you or..?”

“You need to- need to pull- pull them out. Then- then potion.”
Dream stared at the several arrows, making a face at the blood trailing down his skin. Then up at
Sapnap again who looked barely conscious enough to even hold a conversation.

“Fuck,” he said. “I really have to, don’t I.”

He was sitting in another dimension beside a man who wore his best friend’s face and his blood on
his hands. At this point he had already come too far to even think about having a breakdown.

Compartmentalize. Just. Compartmentalize.

Carefully he wrapped his hands around the arrow that was stuck in Sapnap’s shoulder, ignoring the
pained whimper that escaped from the other's mouth. “Okay, okay, you can do this.”

“‘f course- had… had much worse before.”

“I was talking to myself, dipshit.”

“Oh.”

He took a deep breath. Then he pulled with all of his power. Sapnap’s eyes flew wide open and he
let out an ear piercing scream, buckling under Dream’s hands, but he was too weak to push him off.
Blood sprayed from the hole, coating his arms in red.

Compartmentalize.

He gagged at the smell of iron and continued to breathe through his nose as he wiped his slippery
hands on his hoodie. Forcing them to stop trembling, he grabbed the next arrow.

“You ready?”

“Just- just do- ARGH! YOU MOTHERFU-”

Dream threw the second arrow off the ledge and immediately grabbed the next one.

His best friend was bleeding out under his hands, his best friend was crying from pain, his best
friend was dying and there was blood on his hands, so much blood, how did a human have so much
blood-

Compartmentalize.

“Sorry- sorry, I just heard that you should do this- this kind of shit when the other person least
expects it! I saw it in Grey’s anatomy but it was a dislocated shoulder instead-”

Only a hoarse scream could be heard as Dream finally got out the last arrow, immediately helping
Sapnap into a sitting position and holding the regeneration potion towards his lips, tipping it
upwards.

“How long- how long does it usually take?” he asked anxiously. Over them the sky transformed
into orange hues, the first rays of sunlight illuminating the world.

“D-n’t wrry,” Sapnap slurred, sinking forwards into Dream’s shoulder and his heart made a
panicked jump when his voice got fainter.

“Nick?! Nick, come on, this would- this would be such an embarrassing death!”

“‘m not dying, moron. Regen takes- takes ‘nergy. Sleep- OUCH! What the fuck-”

Dream held up his hand threateningly, ready to slap him again. “No sleep! We need to get away
from here, the forest is currently burning and smoke is, like, really bad for your lungs!”

“Not- for- for me.”

“Congrats, only I’m gonna die. Yay.”

Sapnap let out a whine when Dream grabbed him and pulled him up, throwing his arm around his
 shoulders. It was difficult to help him down the staircase without both of them falling down, but he
managed it, gasping for air and thoroughly exhausted from the entire last days.

Fortunately Sapnap was able to move his feet himself, because Dream seriously doubted his ability
to carry a fully grown man plus armor, especially after everything that had transpired in the last
hour.

Around them everything was illuminated in golden hues, flames almost beautiful in their
destruction. He coughed through the smoke, vision swimming and unfocused, but he grit his teeth
and continued.

They were stumbling through the forest, clinging to each other, until Dream could finally see a
bright light shining through the last trunks of the burning forest. He hauled Sapnap the last steps of
the way, far away from the edge of the forest, before his knees finally gave in and they crashed
face first into the ground, Sapnap’s arm still around Dream’s shoulder.

The last thing Dream saw were Sapnap’s orange eyes blinking at him through a haze, before
darkness took him.

Chapter End Notes

Wee a longer chapter! I intended to split it up into two but there was no good place to
stop so I just let it be. Next one's gonna be shorter tho.

So, Dream finally escaped, Sapnap's still an ass, and stuff is going on. Next up: New
faces appear!

Thanks for reading! I'm reading every comment and smiling, but I'm very bad at
answering.
 the strangers that were friends
Chapter Notes

A bit of a shorter chapter!

Had to split it from the next one because it got too long, but that means that next
chapter's gonna be long :D

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Sapnap was the first one to wake up, sunlight shining directly into his tired eyes. With a pained
groan he turned on his back, marveling at the feeling of being alive. Beside him Dream was lying
unconscious, and he turned him around, pressing a hand to his heart, letting out a sigh of relief
when he felt it beating against his palm.

"Fuck," he whispered, his forehead sinking weakly against Dream's chest, simply enjoying the
feeling of his heart, the proof that he was still alive. That Sapnap hadn't killed him. "I'm sorry, I'm
sorry, I'm so fuck- fucking sorry-"

Dream had returned for him. He had squandered his chance to escape for Sapnap, even after how
Sapnap had treated him, threatened him, even after Sapnap had told him again and again that he
wanted him back in prison. Dream had saved him.

Was he trying to manipulate him? Act like that, like his old self, to make him sympathize with
him? He knew that Dream was a threat and not this weak sheep he tried to present himself as, but it
was so easy to fall back into old habits, to let Dream back into his heart.

But he could have just left him, could have saved himself instead of risking his life to get back to
Sapnap.

And the fear he had seen in his eyes when Sapnap had caught him after he had tried escaping,
when he had killed the cows- that had been real. He wasn't used to seeing his best friend's emotions
since he started wearing a mask, but he knew that he was never scared, that he didn't like to show
anything that could show his weakness. This entire trip had been like a slap in the face to
everything he had thought he knew about Dream, and he wished the other could just behave like
the villain that he should be. Then he wouldn't have to feel so shitty about everything, then he
could just throw him back into Pandora's Vault without any other thought.

Confusion warred inside of him, and he just wanted to pull Dream close and not let him go again,
just wanted everything to be how it was before.

After taking a deep breath, he turned his communicator on and went to write a private message to
George.

>>You whisper to GeorgeNotFound: "Prepare a room with iron bars in Kinoko Kingdom. I found
a certain someone."

He rolled his eyes when he got back the message "Huh?? Who?"

Dream had escaped prison and was probably already being hunted by everyone, if Sam wasn't
stupid and trying to catch him all by himself.

George could be such an idiot sometimes.

--

When Dream woke up, everything hurt.

He groaned and turned on his stomach, hissing when pain shot up his shoulders. “Fuuuuuck,” he
slurred into the grass, carefully pushing himself up. Sapnap had woken up before him and had built
a protective house out of cobblestone around them, illuminated by torches. The man himself was
leaning against the wall opposite Dream and had apparently spent the rest of the time staring at
him. Creepy.

With a swipe of his hand, Sapnap summoned a potion and held it under his nose. “Here,” he
muttered. “Drink that.”

“Seriously?” Dream asked bitterly, trying not to let the disappointment and hurt show too much on
his face. After everything he had done, after he had saved Sapnap from his own stupidity, he still
didn’t trust him enough without the weakness potion.

A frown appeared on Sapnap’s face before it smoothed out in regretful understanding. “I- uhh, this
isn’t weakness. Or slowness. It’s regen.”
Dream blinked down at the potion, and as a matter of fact, the potion was brighter than the other
two and more transparent. “Oh… why?”

“What do you mean-” Sapnap rubbed the bridge between his eyes before sighing and rubbing the
back of his neck in embarrassment. “Your back is burnt like every food George touches when he
'cooks', dude. And… also your wrists- they- they kinda look like a mess.”

Frowning Dream looked down at his wrists, once again admiring how they felt without ropes
constantly biting into his flesh. His skin looked like someone had taken a cheese grater and had
gone crazy, bruises ranging from purple to green like a rainbow of awfulness.

“Ah,” he simply said. “I see.”

He took the potion and emptied it with a swift swig. Immediately the reaction was noticeable. The
skin on his back prickled before a cool feeling washed over it, easing the tightness and wiping the
burns away. The bruises on his wrists grew fainter and he watched in awe as his skin knitted itself
together in front of his eyes.

He felt refreshed and energized as if he could take on the entire world by himself.

“Why did you come back?” Sapnap wanted to know. He wasn’t looking at Dream anymore, instead
his gaze was focused solely on a dried puddle of blood in front of his feet.

“Guess,” Dream simply said, not caring if he sounded unfriendly. At this point he was out of fucks
to give and the healthy fear he had held towards this other, aggressive version of his friend had
disappeared when he had pulled several arrows out of his shoulder. He was still angry, so angry at
this guy, and really wanted to punch him, wanted to scream at him until his throat was raw, wanted
to hug him and not let go.

“... to try to manipulate me into-”

“Guess again, asshole.”

A complicated look was written like a question on Sapnap’s face but Dream wanted him to say it,
wanted him to admit it.

Sapnap looked away, red cheeks turning golden. He slammed his palms on his slowly pointier
getting ears and blew out hot air through closed lips until the black receded from his eyes.
“Because,” he muttered, “because you care for me.”

“Ding, ding ding!” Dream yelled, standing up with a groan, cracking all of his bones in the process.
Clumsily he stumbled forwards, sitting down beside Sapnap and placed his head on his shoulder.
“You put an arrow in my back, hurt me, held me captive and you wanna put me into a torture
chamber, but guess what, fucker, you are wayyy too similar to the Nick from my world, which
means that I will not let you die! Even though it would have really been your own fault, cause
you’re a fucking idiot.”

Sapnap had frozen under him, breath hitching. Then he began relaxing, shoulders dropping, as he
slowly reached out his hand to take Dream’s and intertwine their fingers together. “I… I still don’t
believe you with that whole dimension hopping thing. I don’t know what you’re planning and I
won’t let you do it, whatever the fuck it is. Revenge on New L’Manberg, killing Tommy again,
destroying people’s lives, but… I don’t want you dead either. Or in Pandora’s Vault.”

Dream’s head shot up from his shoulder and he whirled towards him. “You- what?! You’ll let me
go, just like that?”

“Fuck no,” Sapnap scoffed. For a short moment Dream thought about jumping up and escaping
again. Sapnap tightened his grip on his hand as if sensing that and continued. “I’ll bring you to
Kinoko Kingdom. I don’t- if, if anything you said about Pandora’s Vault is true, then I don’t want
you anywhere near there, no matter what you’ve done. George and I will take care that you won’t
do anything bad and- and we can be friends again, just, just like when we were younger.”

The younger sounded so hopeful, voice cracking slightly, that Dream almost didn’t have it in him
to dash his hopes. But there was a man sitting inside of a torture chamber who was the person
deserving this moment with his best friend. Clay was just an imitation, just an outsider in the end.
“I’m not your Dream,” he stated, placing his head back on his friend’s shoulder and squeezing his
hand. “Your Dream is still in Pandora’s Vault. Still getting tortured. He- he is the one who needs
you right now, Nick.”

“... don’t call me that,” Sapnap whispered but didn’t push him away, didn’t let go. "I'm sorry for
killing the cows."

Dream huffed a sigh and didn't say anything, simply pressing himself closer.
"I miss my Nick so much," Dream admitted after a few minutes of silence, through a lump stuck in
his throat. "I miss my family, I- I miss my world, I miss Patches, I miss George."

"I miss my old Dream too," Sapnap said, misunderstanding him yet again.

For a while they enjoyed the warmth of the other without a word, taking comfort in the wrong
version of their friend.

--

“Take this.” Sapnap shrugged off his cape, placing it around Dream’s shoulders and pulling up the
hood to hide his face. It was full of holes that had come from burns and arrows, it was dirty and
stank of sweat and smoke, but it felt safe. "We're getting really close to everyone else, and I'd rather
not get you killed."

"What a novel feeling," Dream joked with only an edge of bitterness, and Sapnap flashed him a flat
smile.

They had to cross another ocean, rowing past a gigantic cobblestone tower with obsidian
reinforcements, until they finally reached land and Sapnap was rolling his shoulders with a groan,
taking the boat back into his inventory. "We're pretty close to Las Nevadas," he warned and Dream
pushed the hood further down his face with a nod.

Pursing his lips, the other pushed off the hood, taking off his bandana to tie it around Dream's
lower half of the face, pulling on the hood again when he was satisfied. "Alright," he said. "We can
go. Just let me do the talking if we meet anyone."

Dream nodded and held himself closer to the other, looking around when they started walking. The
fact that they could meet other people, that they were currently on the way to Karl and George, still
hadn't set in completely. He hadn't been face to face with any of these people, and now the
excitement he had over seeing them and letting them see his face was tampered by the possibility
of meeting other versions of his friends who wanted him dead.

How the hell could he even hope to beat the ender dragon if even the smallest confrontation with
another person scared him?!
"Shit," Sapnap whispered and came to a sudden stop, making Dream walk into his back.

Dream looked up and took a shaky breath, hands reaching out to grab Sapnap's shirt in a trembling
grip.

In front of them stood Quackity with a calm smile.

Of everyone, why did it have to be him?!

The differences between this Quackity and the energetic, funny guy who was his friend made it
easier to differentiate between the two of them, to not run up to him with a smile. He had longer,
dark hair underneath a beanie, a golden tooth shining from between his lips. Yellow, small wings
flapped leisurely in the wind. But the biggest difference was the gigantic scar dividing his face,
through the corner of his lips and one milky white eye, completely destroying it.

It made him nauseous to look at the ruined eye, the damaged cornea, the thin skin that had grown
over, so thin it made the eye look constantly bloodshot. And maybe that was Quackity's intention
when he decided to show his scar so openly instead of hiding it behind an eyepatch. It felt like a
statement, so loud he could have screamed it out.

This man was torturing another version of Dream with the most horrifying techniques he knew.
Even if getting thrown into Pandora's vault had been his character's plan, this wasn't right. His
Quackity had once told him everything his character was doing to Dream to prepare him for
anything he would mention in a stream, in case there was something that could trigger him. At that
time it had just resorted in them laughing while they were coming up with the worst torture
methods that wouldn't ban them off twitch. Now he wanted to vomit.

The man in front of him wasn't a friend, he was a monster in disguise, and Dream wanted to get
away from him, run as far away as possible from this mockery of his friend.

"Sapnap!" Quackity called out jovially and spread open his arms as he stepped towards them, still
too far away to hear them.

Dream's grip on Sapnap's shirt tightened.

"Please, please, please, Nick- Sapnap. Sapnap, please don't let him take me, don't-" At that point
Quackity had reached them and Dream clamped his mouth shut, face buried in Sapnap's shoulder.

"Oh hello," Quackity's sweet voice dripped like poison. "What a… pleasant surprise to see you
here, Sapnap. And with a guest even!"

"Quackity." Sapnap simply greeted in a clipped tone. He looked at the two rings Quackity was
displaying proudly hanging from his neck.

"Come on, tell me, who's your mysterious friend there?"

"His name is… Clay. And he's very shy, so don't bother him.”

"Hmmmm," Quackity hummed and got closer, tilting his head to look under Dream's hood. Sapnap
stepped in front, crossing his arms and Quackity walked backwards with a laugh, raising his hands
in surrender. "He's wearing your cloak. And your shirt and your priced bandana, Sapnap! Wow, it
hasn't even been that long and you already replaced me with some random guy! Did you already
tell Karl or did you also wait for him to figure out himself that he isn't wanted anymore?!"

"Leave it, Q, I didn't replace anybody. He's just a dude I found in the forest, no need to read too
much into it."

Quackity laughed, a cold sound that made Dream shudder. "Didn't know another person appeared
in this world. Say, Clay, do you know Dream? Is that he reason why you appeared here so
suddenly?"

"There's much you don't know," Sapnap snapped and grabbed Dream's arm, pulling him away from
Quackity as they continued walking forward.

"Aren't you scared that this stranger wants to help Dream?" Quackity called out.

"Dream has been in prison for months now, Clay has nothing to do with him," Sapnap said in a
careful tone, as if prying for information. Dream breathed out in realization. Sapnap thought he was
their Dream, thought he had escaped, while Quackity knew that he was still in prison. Sapnap
probably wanted to know if Sam had told the server if Dream had escaped or if there was a
manhunt for an escaped villain.
"Can you really trust him or are you that desperate to replace me?" Quackity's voice was low, an
angry note entering it.

Sapnap whirled around. "I did not-" He took a deep breath, turning back again, and Dream put a
calming hand around his wrist to ground him, ignoring Quackity's sharp look. "I can't talk to you.
Come on, Clay."

A sudden idea struck Dream. He would rather spend as little time as possible with this mocking
caricature of his friend, but he was the first person from the SMP other than Sapnap he had met.
This was his chance to prove to Sapnap that he wasn't their Dream.

"Ask him about the prison," Dream whispered to his friend. "If he says that Dream is still in there,
that would be definite proof enough that I'm telling the truth!"

"Sam probably just lied to everyone to keep the panic at bay."

"Please," Dream insisted firmly.

Sapnap exhaled sharply, taking his wrist away from Dream's hold to intertwine their hands in a
trembling grip, and Dream wondered what had happened between Quackity and him to make him
so distressed. "Fine," he spat out. "Your fault if he recognized you- Hey, Quackity!"

Quackity hadn't moved from the place, still staring at them with a too calm smile.

"Have you been to the prison lately?"

"Hmmm," Quackity mused, stroking his nonexistent beard. "To visit Sam, yes.“

„What about Dream? How‘s he doing? Nothing happened while I was out of communicator
reach?"

The duck hybrid shrugged. „No idea,“ he smiled. There was something unsettling in his gaze.
 „Sam keeps him under lock and key, no visitors allowed, after what happened to poor Tommy.
Guy's paranoid as fuck. Besides, why would I visit Dream?“

Sapnap turned back and continued walking, pulling Dream with him, who tried his best not to
scream. Liar, he wanted to yell. That bastard was going to Pandora's Vault every single day to
torture someone and here he was lying to their face with a smile.

For a moment he imagined this Quackity bloodstained and laughing, chopping off his fingers one
by one, and he pressed himself closer to Sapnap, bowing his head lower until the images
disappeared.

He wasn't the one getting tortured, but his counterpart was. He had written his character to do
horrible things, but nobody deserved whatever the fuck was going on inside of that prison. He had
written that. He had agreed to Quackity's idea when he had brought up how it would be a cool idea
to torture Dream's character for the revival book.

He was responsible for a man getting tortured.

"Happy now?" Sapnap groused, jerking him out of his thoughts.

He simply continued to shake, pressed closely to his friend and taking comfort in the fact that he
didn't push him away.

Chapter End Notes

Some stuff that I briefly mentioned will only make sense later, since I making up my
own version of how the DSMP world and the servers and such work

Also, I don't want to bash any characters or put them into a bad light since I love all of
them and I want to make them appear as canon as possible

Hope you enjoyed it! :D

Next chapter we'll meet another character!
 familiar yet not
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Kinoko Kingdom was absolutely breathtaking. Tall houses and red trees were illuminated in the
red light of the setting sun, and Dream's mouth fell open when his gaze landed on the gigantic
statue of a dragon.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed awestruck. In the game the place had been awe-inspiring too, Foolish
always managed to somehow impress him again and again, but seeing it in real life was an amazing
experience.

"It's cool, right?" Sapnap grinned widely, his bandana back around his forehead but the cloak still
sitting around Dream's shoulders. Sapnap pulled him forward, pointing at structures to explain the
history behind them them, even sometimes simply showing him a house and calling out "This is a
house!"

Dream laughed at his enthusiasm, letting himself get swept off by his eagerness to show him
everything, to forget about the encounter from two hours ago.

Finally they arrived at a plaza, connected houses in the forms of mushrooms around it, and Sapnap
walked towards one of the doors, knocking against it. They waited.

Grumbling, Sapnap raised his hand again to knock, foot tapping impatiently when nobody opened
the door. Cursing, he knocked again, this time more aggressively.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here," a voice called from inside and Dream's breath hitched. George. That was
George's voice. His best friend, his brother who he had never met in real life. He would finally see
his face in person and it wasn't even his George. God, he had wanted to look more presentable the
first time they saw each other. Not this sweaty, dirty, bedraggled and exhausted.

The door was thrown open and a yawning man stepped into the light, squinting at them. Two
mushrooms were growing out of his head and he had glasses pushed on his forehead that seemed
like normal clout goggles at first sight but had a red tint looking closer.

Dream couldn't stop himself and threw himself at him, arms winding around his best friend to hug
him with all of his might.
"George," he whispered, "George, holy shit!"

George lifted his arms to pat him on the back consolingly. Then he raised his head and looked at
Sapnap who was watching them with a small smile.

"Sapnap," he said calmly, "who is this?"

Dream blinked in confusion, hesitantly letting go of George to stare at him. George looked the
same as in his own world but he had an air of apathy around him that made him look
unapproachable as if he was floating in his own bubble.

"George," Sapnap said slowly. "That's- that's Dream."

"No, it's not. Dude looks similar but he's obviously not Dream."

And wasn't this what he wanted? For someone to finally look at him and not see their Dream? It
didn't feel like the triumph it should have been, and he slapped himself for feeling like that. This
was great! This should have been great! But, even if this wasn't really his friend, there was
something painful about looking into a familiar face and not being met with the same elation he
felt.

"George, look at him! This is definitely Dream!" Sapnap grabbed Dream's shoulders and pushed
him towards George who simply looked bored, taking his goggles off his head to push them up his
nose.

Heterochromatic eyes wandered towards Dream's face and George closed the space between them,
gently grabbing his chin with thin fingers to turn his head around and look at him from every
angle. Dream's breath caught and he stared at both of his friends in incredulity. In the last days he
had really experienced much more manhandling than he was used to.

"Yeah," George shrugged. "They are pretty similar, I have to admit. If I didn't know any better, I'd
say they're twins. Dream's eyes are brighter though. This guy has darker eyes with some brown
specks. His hair is darker and more reddish, whereas Dream's hair is more blond. Bleached from
the sun. Which this guy doesn't have." He turned towards Dream. "You don't go out much, do you,
stranger?"
Dream stared at him. "I-"

George steamrolled over him. "Also, he has a mole on his neck, Sapnap. Dream doesn't have a
mole there. How did you not notice, it's very obvious?"

Sapnap's mouth fell open. "OBVIOUS?! How in the hell is any of that obvious, you goddamn
weirdo?!"

"I'm not weird, you're just very unobservant. I had to learn to distinguish between Dream
lookalikes. They never look like the real one."

"God, you're so- you're so fucking obsessed with Dream, it's creepy!"

"Ah yeah, you're so un-obsessed with Dream that you brought home a lookalike. That's something
an un-obsessed person would do."

Sapnap threw his hands up in the air. "You are weird and also wrong! This definitely is Dream! He
talks like him, behaves like him and has the same laugh, it one hundred percent is Dream!"

George rolled his eyes and stepped back behind the door threshold. "Dream is still in prison. And
you helped put him there."

"N-no, he escaped! Didn't- didn't Sam write anything- or, or maybe he's just keeping it a secret, Q
did say- but- but this is Dream! The Dream we know!"

"I see you're still very adept at lying to yourself." George closed the door.

They were left standing in a silent plaza, staring confused at the house. "You are Dream," Sapnap
muttered. "George is just a stupid idiot."

He grabbed Dream’s arm and pulled him towards the house next to George's and Dream had to rip
away his gaze from where George had just stood a few seconds ago.
"I'm- I'm not, I'm really not! I come from another dimension where all of this is not real. I know the
name Nick because that's your real name, just like my real name is Clay."

Sapnap shook his head, a desperate expression drowning his face as he opened the door, leading
Dream inside. Smoke escaped from his mouth as his skin began to pulse in golden blood. "You are
Dream, George is wrong and you're just lying! I, I didn't just put an arrow into the back of an
innocent dude! I didn't threaten and almost put an innocent into Pandora's Vault!"

"Sapnap!" Dream grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, putting his palms on his friend's
cheeks to squish them together into a silly face. Sapnap let out a startled sound, eyebrows pulled
together in confusion, but at least the black in his eyes receded. "Calm down. I won't lie and say
that it's okay, honestly, I still kinda wanna punch you, but we both know that you know I'm not
your Dream!"

"But- but your story is absolutely insane! It's the most unbelievable shit I've ever heard."

"God, I wish," Dream muttered and looked around the room. Iron bars were placed around it and
he stared at his friend accusingly, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Seriously?! You're still so scared
that I'll escape? What, are you gonna give me a weakness potion now?"

"No! I mean, I..." Sapnap looked away, fidgeting his hands as his cheeks turned red. "Well- well, I
mean, I can't just leave you in a room where you can just walk straight out of the door?"

Somehow he got a headache just by talking to this guy. "I can just break the iron bars."

"... ah."

"Just take me to a room that doesn't look like a prison cell and we can talk."

So that led them to sitting in another house on a comfortable bed that made Dream immediately
want to lie down and sleep. It was the first bed he would sleep in since the first night he had spent
at the librarian's home, and his bones were screaming for a soft respite. Despite that he forced his
eyes open as he looked tiredly at Sapnap who was buzzing with nervous energy.
"You have to be Dream," Sapnap frowned. "You recognize us, you behave just like him, before-
before… well, and you- you know stuff that a stranger wouldn't know about us! Your entire
explanation makes no sense!"

"I can't explain it either. Days ago I was just going to bed and then I woke up in a world where
everything looks weird! And then I find out that I'm in the world of a video game! And- and I met
you and thought 'Oh hey, my best friend is also here!' and got an arrow in the back!"

Sapnap cringed at that. "Ah," he coughed. "Sorry for that."

Dream raised his middle finger, making the other snort.

"Sorry, it just sounds so unbelievable," Sapnap muttered. "You just sounded fucking crazy when
you started talking about other worlds and roleplaying or whatever, and then you started calling
me Nick, the name my parents gave me before abandoning me, and it just sounded like you were
holding that knowledge over my head. What even is roleplaying? Or a video game?!"

Thus Dream spent the next hour explaining, starting from the very beginning when he met a boy
called Pandas on his favorite video game, to them growing in popularity, living together with
George being an ocean away, to the start of the Dream SMP, the additions of all the other players
and friends, to the end with his character in prison, getting tortured, and nobody on his side.
However he stopped himself before revealing that it had been his character's plan all along. He had
no idea how Sapnap would react to that revelation, that this was another ploy by his former friend,
that the entire confrontation between Tommy, Tubbo, the server and Dream was another
manipulation. If that was even the motivation of the Dream in this world.

And maybe- maybe there was a little fear in him too. Fear that he would lose this tentative
friendship, this newfound trust. For Dream it might have been just entertainment, but for these
people it was their lives and he the puppeteer.

Sapnap had kept a continuous frown on his face, getting paler and paler at the end. "This is a lot to
take in," he finally whispered when Dream finished talking. "I… I still don't know if I believe you
to be honest."

Dream just nodded. "It's okay. You can sleep on it if you want to. But I need to get out of this
world, and I will never forgive you if you try to keep me here."
Sapnap gulped at his dark tone. "Okay," he said. "Then, uhm, see you tomorrow I guess? And,
well, uhm- try not to escape?"

He sounded so awkward and embarrassed, Dream had to pull him in for a quick hug, smiling when
Sapnap returned it.

"Good night, Nick," he yawned and finally let himself fall onto the bed after Sapnap closed the
door.

--

There was a man getting tortured inside of an inhumane prison that Dream had commissioned. It
was just meant to be fun, all just roleplaying, but now that it was all real he wanted to throw up
everything in his stomach, wanted to wake up and realize that everything was just a dream.

There was a man hellbent on destroying and rebuilding the world, and he could either get him out
or continue letting him get tortured.

Somewhere out there was a teenager who had PTSD from what Dream had done to him. There was
a boy tormented by his own mind because Dream and Ranboo thought it would be a cool idea.
Wilbur had spent a part of his life walking around as a dead man. Bad and Ant were possessed by
an egg. Sam was losing himself. Quackity was hungry with power and the desire to never feel
weak again. Karl was lost in time. There were so many people who had lost their homes and their
feeling of safety because it had been an awesome plotpoint in another world, because all the
inhabitants were just entertainment for him and his friends. The only one who wasn't suffering was
Punz.

He suddenly sat up and blinked. Punz. His character's only ally and friend. There had been too
much in Dream's head to think about him, but now something like hope fluttered in him. It hadn't
been quite clear for them what Punz' and his character's relationship was, but what he knew was
that Punz was the only one the Dream from this world trusted. Punz was the only one who had
been given the knowledge of revival, the only one his character trusted with his life.

Maybe this world was different though. There had been several changes that they hadn't planned.
Like whatever the hell was going on with Sapnap's fiery side. Or the backstories of these
characters. There was no one hundred percent certainty what they would do, if they would follow
the story Dream and his friends had planned. Hell, none of this had even been streamed. The
audience didn't even know that the confrontation had been staged.
Who knew if Punz would even help them or if he truly was just a mercenary out for money.

But if he helped them- that would mean that the rest of what they had planned was also true. His
character and Punz searching for immortality. Killing Tommy. Killing everybody and rebuilding a
newer, better world.

If he let his character out of prison, he would not come out a good person.

But was that a reason not to get someone out of a prison where he was getting tortured daily?

Dream ran his fingers through his hair and pulled.

Fuck this, he thought and let the pain take over until the panic in his mind cleared.

The Dream from this world had Sapnap now. He had George. He had his friends back. This Dream
was able to be pulled back from the brink of destruction, of self-destruction. This Dream was not
beyond help.

And for a moment he imagined it, him breaking the other Dream out of prison, getting him as far
away from his tormentors as possible, before immediately dismissing that idea. He knew the prison
in and out but he wasn't a fighter, couldn't do anything in this world in which strength was so
important. The best thing he could do was get out of this world and then give all of the characters a
happy ending on stream before leaving it alone forever. Some of his friends who were relying on
the SMP for an audience would be angry at him but it was a small price to pay.

The goal hadn't changed. Defeat the ender dragon or summon DreamXD. Get out and leave.

So why did his heart hurt so much at that idea?

--

"How did you know it wasn't Dream?" Sapnap mumbled as he watched George shoot another
arrow. It hit the target perfectly in the middle. "And don't give me that shit with the mole or his
fucking eye color."

George nocked another arrow and shot without even looking. "I know Dream," he simply said.

"I've known Dream for longer than you have." Sapnap crossed his arms and definitely did not pout.
Even after sleeping on it for a night, his mind was still made out of confused screaming. He had
hoped a new day would bring clarity but it seemed he was forced to reevaluate his choices.

"Yeah, but you also always let your anger blind you. And you're half-blaze. You'd have difficulties
differentiating between Tubbo and Tommy if they didn't wear different clothes."

"Not my fault you humans look so similar! Dad and Pops have at least different skin colors. And
you want me to look at Dream's eye color?! That's like me asking you to pick a yellow block from
an army of green ones."

George rolled his eyes and pushed his goggles back. "Let me guess, you found that guy, thought it
was Dream and then didn't listen to his explanation when he said he wasn't?"

Sapnap's face grew warm and he coughed into his hand, trying to hide his face behind it. "Well-
well, to be fair, his explanation was really unbelievable! I mean, he claimed to be from another
world in which other versions of us also exist and we're apparently all friends! That, I mean, you-
would you have believed him?"

A frown appeared between George's eyebrows, disrupting his apathetic expression. He turned
away from the target, towards Sapnap, and lowered the bow. "Tell me everything."

--

"You remind me of him."

Dream startled when he walked out of the house, his arms stretched above his head mid-yawn.
George was leaning beside the door, apparently having waited for him to get out. The mushrooms
on his head looked taller today and instead of two there were three. Dream really wanted to ask
about them, but something about his apathetic demeanor was extremely intimidating even though
he looked and sounded so much like his George.
“Yeah, we presumably look similar,” Dream said and immediately regretted being so snappish.
George didn’t seem to mind though. Or maybe he did, but his impassive expression didn’t change.

“Not just your looks.”

Dream snorted. "I remind you of a war criminal?"

"You remind me of my friend." George's voice had gotten colder, if that was even possible. He
pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the building Sapnap had knocked on yesterday,
only a wave of his hand signalling to Dream that he wanted him to follow. "Dream wasn't always
like that. We were once best friends for a reason."

Confused, Dream followed him, an unsure tilt in his step. It hadn't been difficult treating Sapnap
like his friend. Sapnap was Nick but with more edge, with more anger and more sadness, more
bitterness and more desperation. This George wasn't like his George at all. Gone were the childish
demands, gone was the petulant air, gone was the wit and the humor. Instead what was left was a
man who looked like he wouldn't care if the world ended tomorrow. "Dream once had a phase
where he always looked lost. He was searching for a purpose, for a reason to exist, as if he had lost
something important. At the moment you remind me of that."

"My purpose is getting home."

"Feeling lost doesn't fit your face." George apparently decided to roll over what he was saying. It
was becoming a pattern.

"Anyone would be lost in my situation. I mean, I randomly woke up in what I thought was just a
story me and my friends created."

"You know, not everyone would react kindly to you telling them they're just a figment of your
imagination."

Dream frowned at the back of George's head. The mushrooms were bouncing together with his
steps.
"And what about you?"

George huffed an amused breath. "Clay, at the moment you feel less real than I do."

Dream didn't know what to say to that. It was obvious that this wasn't just a fever induced dream,
but at the same time it was still mind-boggling that this all was real, that all of this truly existed.

With a sigh George grabbed his arm and pulled him beside him to fall into step with him. "No
version of Dream should walk behind me. You either walk beside me as an equal or in front of me
as a leader."

Dream swallowed drily. "I'm not the Dream you know."

George gazed at him from the corner of his eye. Even though Dream was much taller than him, he
felt like he was being dissected, like he was a particularly interesting bug underneath a microscope.
"I know," George simply said. "Doesn't mean I'll let someone who wears his face behave like this."

"I don't want to be like Dream," he muttered.

"And I didn't want to lose my friend but here we are. And from what Sapnap said, it might have
been your fault."

Dream flinched at the apathetic tone. George was speaking matter of factly, not even like he was
angry at Dream, and for some reason that hurt more than any scathing words would have.

"You get the benefits of having Dream's face. Of having caused all this. But you also have to bear
the consequences."

George led him into the house and into a small and cozy kitchen. Mushrooms were growing out of
several creaks and cracks, some were planted inside pots that were sitting on any available space
and hanging from the ceiling. Low light shone through the dust. It was a nice scene. This entire
room felt like a warm blanket wrapped around him. Everything was at a comfortable height for
George to walk under, but Dream had to awkwardly bend his head so as to not hit it against the pots
in the air.
George started pulling out two plates and cutlery, bread and yellow jam, and pointedly pointed
towards one of the three seats. Tentatively, Dream sat down and grabbed a slice of bread. It didn't
seem to have been made by a crafting table, mainly because it looked slightly burnt compared to
the perfectly bland way a crafting table prepared bread. It also didn't have the denser texture of
crafting table bread but instead was airy.

"The only benefits I got from having Dream's face were getting an arrow in my back and being
assaulted by someone who looks like my best friend."

George had already smeared a hefty amount of jam on his bread and was chewing while giving
Dream the most unimpressed look he could manage. "The benefits are that we’re even thinking
about helping you. Do you think if you didn't have Dream's face, you'd be here in Kinoko
Kingdom? Sure, if Tommy's counterpart had landed here, many would rush to help him. But do
you think Jack Manifold's would have received help? Punz'? Schlatt's? Wear this face, this name,
with pride because in this world it means power."

"Jack Manifold does have friends," Dream muttered, out of words for anything else.

"Clay, I do not care if Jack Manifold has friends," George said. He pushed the glass of marmalade
forward. "Apple jam?"

Dream smeared a thin layer on his bread and looked down on it. For a while it was quiet besides
George's loud munching. It seemed like he was intentionally chewing as loud as possible as if to
annoy Dream. For Dream however this just was finally one of his friend's personality traits peeking
through the apathetic mask.

"You'll help me get back home?" he asked quietly.

George shrugged. "At least one version of me can be happy," he said.

And for the rest of the breakfast none of them said anything.

--

After his weird breakfast with George, Dream had decided to enjoy his newfound freedom by
walking around Kinoko Kingdom, simply admiring how it looked in the bright sun. George hadn't
spared him another glance as he had walked out, simply warning him not to go too far away.

A small meow distracted him and he spent the next hour simply petting a cat until he found himself
surrounded by a bunch of cats, snickering when they swarmed him, climbing on his lap and up his
back, purring when he ran his hands through their fur. God, he really missed Patches. He picked up
a brown cat and booped her nose, grinning when she stretched out her paw to boop him back.

Some of the cats scattered when hasty steps approached them, and Dream looked up to see Sapnap
gasping for breath in front of him, looking at him with wide wide eyes. “Ah,” Dream smiled and
held up the cat. “Good morning! Or, well, noon? Man, I miss my watch. Or my smartphone. Time
feels weird.”

Sapnap looked around the cats and then back at him, groaning and hiding his face behind his
palms. “I thought- I thought you had run off when you weren’t in your room!” he exclaimed,
letting himself fall down beside Dream.

“Ah.” Dream placed the cat on Sapnap’s lap, who began petting it with a long-suffering sigh. "I
was enjoying not being a prisoner anymore." Two other cats clambered up his lap, and Dream
directed his attention back towards them, enjoying their warmth and affection.

“Gosh, I love you so much! And you, you too!” He giggled when one of the cats climbed up his
back to lie down on his hair, having to tilt his head for it not to fall down. Sapnap watched him
with a melancholic smile, petting the cat on his lap. The other cats avoided him or just sniffed
curiously at him.

“I think I came to the realization that you told the truth.”

Dream repressed his instinct to shoot up in surprise, instead carefully taking off the cat on his head
before turning towards Sapnap with wide eyes. “Really?!”

Sapnap just looked at the cat he was petting. “Yeah, I- George kinda slapped me back into reality
today, and after what you said yesterday- it, it kinda would be too much of an elaborate lie, even
for you- I mean for Dream.” He groaned. “Do I have to start calling you Clay now?”

Dream shrugged and smiled at him. “You can call me whatever you’re comfortable with! Though
your Dream may have a bit of an issue with you calling me Dream when you break him out of
jail.”
A look of shock took over Sapnap’s face as he flinched, making the cat on his lap jump off with an
angry meow, and he finally met Dream’s gaze. “How do you-”

He laughed at his friend’s perturbed expression, placing another cat on his lap. “Your Dream is
getting tortured. No version of Sapnap would ever accept that, so of course you’re gonna save
him.”

A hard look appeared in Sapnap’s eyes and he nodded in resolution. “What about you?” he asked.
“Will you try to get back to your old world? Do you even have a plan?”

Nodding, Dream took off one cat that had started to dig its claws into his skin, and gently ran his
fingers through her fur. “I’m going to the end and either summon god or defeat the ender dragon.”

Sapnap’s mouth fell open and he froze completely. “You’re gonna summon god?! And- and what
the fuck is the ender dragon?!”

Ah, he thought. It made sense, that they had no idea about what was located in the end since it was
closed off for everyone. “So, in my world I decided to close off the end to limit what is possible to
do. This includes leveling up too fast by killing endermen, or getting an elytra which in
combination with rockets can make you fly.”

A strange look flew over Sapnap's face before he seemed to snap out of it, instead vigorously
shaking his head. “Now you’re just spouting bullshit.”

Dream placed another cat on his lap with a flat look. And then another. “Weren’t we past this
entire thing where I say something and you accuse me of lying?”

Sapnap looked away in guilt and Dream sighed. “It was a joke man, relax.” He placed a fourth cat
on him. “The ender dragon is an entity that protects the end. Once you go to the end, you need to
kill her to get back.”

Another cat joined, this time on Sapnap’s shoulder, and Dream really wished for a camera to
capture his befuddled stare, indecisive on what to do with so many cats on top of him.
“And- and you want to kill a dragon?”

“What of it?”

“Dude, no offense, but you are like the softest person I’ve ever seen. You looked like you barely
knew what a sword was and you would start crying every time I even mention killing a cow. And
you’re- holy shit, you’re scared of heights!”

At every point Sapnap was listing, Dream's face grew hotter and hotter. “Well, it- it can’t be that
hard! I mean, I defeated the dragon countless times!”

“In a game.”

“Pssh, how hard can it possibly be?”

Sapnap buried his face in his hands, letting out a long groan. “You’re so fucking helpless. And also
dead. Holy shit, how did you survive until now?”

Dream would punch him if he didn’t have cats on him. Now he cursed himself for putting them
there. “Hey, I was the one who saved you from all of the mobs, remember? Which was also your
fault for getting into that situation. I may not have muscles or the ability to hold a sword, or any
accuracy with a bow, or stamina…”

At everything Dream mentioned, Sapnap’s face grew more and more disbelieving. “But?”

“But, uhm. I have common sense I guess?”

Sapnap picked up a cat and put it on Dream’s lap. Then another. “If I just let you go, you’re gonna
die, aren’t you?”

He wanted to argue but ultimately he knew he was right. His chances of being able to defeat the
ender dragon were pathetically low. Yet, everything in him screamed to get home, to get back to
his own world.
“You have to get your Dream out of prison. And I need to get back home. I've been missing for
several days now, everyone has to be so worried!”

“Can’t you wait for a few days until we get Dream out of prison? And then we can help you kill
that dragon?”

So hopeful and optimistic, just like his Sapnap. “Breaking him out of prison will take more than
just a few days and I can’t wait this long. How the hell am I gonna explain my disappearance? The
longer I stay here, the weirder it's gonna be if I just appear there. But I promise you, as soon as I
get back, I’ll create a storyline in which he escapes. In which everyone has a happy life. And then
I’ll leave your world forever alone.”

Something in Sapnap’s gaze shifted and he suddenly looked up. “You can repair all of this!” he
exclaimed. The cats that were still sitting on his lap jumped off, loudly complaining, but he didn’t
pay attention to them. “If it would take too long for us to break our Dream out of prison, and you
could just do it by going to your world, then it would be the smartest idea to help you!”

Ready to argue, he opened his mouth. And then closed it. Huh. Saying it out loud like that, it did
make sense, and he mentally slapped himself for not thinking about it sooner.

“Yeah,” he muttered slowly. “That… is smart.”

And suddenly there were arms around him, making the cats on his lap leap away, one hand
pushing the back of his head into Sapnap's shoulder, the other one placed between his shoulder
blades. He melted like butter in the embrace, clutching at the other with the same strength, sapping
up the gentle human contact like a sponge.

“You’re so stupid," Sapnap said.

“Your mother is stupid.”

“My mother is probably dead.”

“Oh. Shit. Sorry.”

 Sapnap laughed at him, ruffling his hair but not letting go. “I wanted to apologize, man. For- for
shooting an arrow at you, for treating you like shit, for forcing you to drink those potions, for- for
being such a fucking asshole! Fuck, I almost killed you! And you still saved me! And- and now
that I think about it, I forced you to sleep on a high tower even though you’re scared of heights,
holy shit, why haven’t you punched me yet?!”

“It got really close sometimes, I’ll tell you that. Dude, when I punched you that first time I tried to
escape, best feeling in the entire world!”

The arms around him got tighter and he pushed his face harder against Sapnap’s neck, breathing in
the foreign but also familiar smell of his friend.

“I’m sorry,” Sapnap whispered. “Do you still want to punch me?”

“Ask me again and I might get tempted. Now shut up and let me enjoy this.”

Sapnap laughed and let Dream cling to him.

Chapter End Notes

Aaaaand this marks the end of Arc I

Clay got some allies and is now closer to getting back home!
Arc II deals with Clay interacting with more DSMP members and learning how to
survive in this world. Next chapter three more characters and a few mysteries are
gonna appear:D

But for now I'll probably be on a one month break, but that's why you got a bigger
chapter today

Thank you for everyone who commented, read, kudo-d and bookmarked my fic :)
I love seeing all the support, and as always I apologize for being bad at responding.
But know that I'm reading every comment several times and smiling widely!

Also, here’s some art for the cat scene!

Happy Holidays!
 ARC II: Visiting unfamiliar faces
Chapter Notes

Soo, after a break a new chapter! :D

I posted some art last chapter so make sure to check it out :P

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“So,” Sapnap asked. “How are we gonna do this?”

Him, George and Dream were sitting around a table eating breakfast that Dream had prepared after
chasing George out of the kitchen when he had seen him breaking an egg and leaving in leftover
egg shells. Karl was apparently gone, nobody knowing exactly where, but he had a suspicion that
he was currently thrown out of his own time. It made him feel a certain kinship with the time
traveler.

George was suddenly less withdrawn after they had told him of their plan to use Dream to get his
other version out of prison. His George had told him that his character wasn’t really angry at
Dream’s, and it was relieving not to receive the same kind of hostility with which Sapnap had
greeted him at first, even if this George was rather cold.

“No offense,” Sapnap continued, “but you’re not the best at fighting, George. And you’re kinda
useless with any kind of weapon, Drea- Clay. So I’m currently the best fighter between us, and I’m
really not that confident in my ability to fight a dragon.”

“We’ll get to the fighting part when we have to,” Dream sighed. “But first we need eyes of ender.”

Sapnap and George frowned at each other. “Aren’t they kinda useless?” George asked. “They don’t
really do anything except look pretty. And be a part of an ender chest I guess.”

Dream stopped, taken aback. “Don’t they, like, fly in one direction after you throw them?”

Both of them shook their heads with confused expressions and he grit his teeth. That would make it
impossible to find another stronghold, but at least he knew where the first one was. He thanked
himself profusely for not destroying the portal like he had intended to when he had seen Phil and
Technoblade discover it underneath their home.
"You talked about servers. I thought you were familiar with the concept of the end and ender
pearls."

They frowned.

"Well," Sapnap started, a distressed crease between his brows. "There is a lot of knowledge we
have which nobody knows from where it came. That this is a server. That this is Dream’s server.
That we can’t go to…” He seemed to loose his train of thought before snapping back. “But- well,
to be honest, it is a bit hard to remember what came before?"

"The end," George muttered, before suddenly bending forward, clutching at his head with a pained
moan. "There- there was something, wasn't there? There, there must have been something. Philza
Minecraft had a server, didn't he?"

"Guys, what's going on?" Dream asked in panic, grabbing Sapnap's arm when he too gripped his
head in pain.

"The end," Sapnap grit out. "Servers. Outside of this server. Other servers, other- The end-"

“Can’t go, can’t leave, can’t go to the end-”

And suddenly both went slack.

"Nick?! George!" Dream grabbed Sapnap's shoulders and shook him, grabbing his face between
his hands. "What's going on?! Guys?"

Sapnap blinked his eyes open, flinching back at Dream's close proximity.

"So what did you wanna say about ender pearls?" George asked. "And what are you doing with
Sapnap's face? I know he's ugly but that doesn't mean you need to cover it up."

"You fucking ass," Sapnap said.

Neither of them seemed to remember what had just happened. With a trembling breath, Dream
leaned back.

"What's the last sentence you said, Sapnap?"

"Hah?!" Sapnap stared at him as if he were crazy. "Something about not being able to fight a
dragon I think? Why, weren't you listening?"

A cold shiver ran down Dream's spine. Suddenly it felt like he was in the presence of something
ancient, something very old. Something terrifying. Something in his gut told him not to bring it up
again.

“Eyes of ender can be used to open a portal to the end where the ender dragon resides," he decided
to continue with a trembling voice as if nothing had happened. Both of his friends listened to him
with rapt attention, neither of them apparently remembering the memory attack they had just had.
"You need twelve of them to activate it. Usually when you throw them, they should lead you
straight towards the end portal, but apparently this world really wants to make my life difficult. But
at least I know that Technoblade and Philza found a portal underneath their base and are currently
using it as a table for their secret meeting room.”

Sapnap choked. “They’re using that as a table?! What am I talking about, of course they fucking
are!”

“So,” George said slowly. “We need to either cross the entire map or nether portal to Technoblade
and Philza, hope nobody discovers Dream two-dot-oh, hope the two strongest people don’t kill us
for intruding and convince them to let us into their super secret base, meanwhile trying our best not
to get caught by anyone?”

Dream sent him a bright smile. “Yep!”

George sighed. “And I was getting pretty attached to being alive. Well then come on, no time to
lose.”

Dream watched them from the corner of his eye as they started packing up. There was something
messing with their heads. Maybe it was an unspoken rule on this server, that there should be no
knowledge of the outside. But then was one able to get out? Visit other servers? If Philza had a
server, that meant that there had been something before this server, that they had somehow come
into this server.

Dream had created the rule not to go to the end to make the game more interesting. Elytras and
shulker boxes should only be possible to get in events to keep the audience engaged. Had this
somehow translated into this world as an impossibility to get out?

What if Dream reached the portal and whatever was messing with friends' memories would keep
him from going in?

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

There was only one way to figure that out.

--

"What are our other versions like?"

Sapnap was currently doing the dishes, a reluctant George being forced to dry them while Dream
was sitting on the counter, letting his legs swing back and forth. He looked towards his best friend
and tilted his head. Sapnap wasn't looking at him, gaze focused solely on the bowl in his hands as
if it carried the answer to life.

"They're my best friends," he said with a smile, drifting back into memories. "They're the best. I
met Nick when I was thirteen, just met him on the internet! George came in later and we became
inseparable, if only- if only George didn't live on another continent. Nick and I are living together
though! We, well, we originally planned to only live together for a short while but now it has been,
what, eight months? And- and we don't wanna make George feel left out, so we're pretty much
constantly on call with him! God, they're the best."

He snapped out of his warm thoughts when neither of his friends said anything. George's mouth
had become a thin line, goggles hiding the expression in his eyes, meanwhile the bitterness could
be easily read from Sapnap's face, hard lines that pulled at his skin, forming it into a picture of
melancholy.

"Is…" Dream paused, lost for words. "Uhm, everything okay?"

With the back of his hand Sapnap wiped over his eyes, biting on his lip to keep it from trembling.
Dream recognized it from his own Sapnap who didn't like to cry in front of others, and he wanted
to get up and hug him. At the same time he had to forcibly remind himself that this wasn't his
Sapnap and he wasn't their Dream. He didn't have the right to presume.

"Your world sounds nice," George muttered. For the last minute his hand had been reaching out for
the next dish, but he had apparently not noticed that Sapnap was too busy trying not to cry to care
about the dishes.

"It is," Dream nodded.

"Why- why isn't ours-?" Sapnap stopped, head bowed. The warm water was simply flowing down
his hands uselessly. "Why couldn't we have that, why did our Dream- why, why did we-?"

Carefully Dream got off the counter, hesitant feet walking towards his friends, and he reached out
to turn off the water tap and put a hand on each of their shoulders. Sapnap immediately relaxed
under his touch while George tensed slightly, taking a step to the side to avoid it. It was hard not to
feel hurt, that someone with his best friend's face would not want to touch him, and he had to
remind himself not to take it personally. He wasn't their Dream. He was the reason why their
Dream was currently getting tortured.

Sapnap on the other hand turned towards him to hug him, hiding his face in the crook of his neck.
It felt familiar, that touch, and if he closed his eyes he could almost delude himself into thinking
that he was back home.

Soon, he promised himself and propped his chin on top of Sapnap's head. Soon he'd be back. Soon
he could fix this. Soon he could put this nightmare behind himself.

"I'm sorry," Dream whispered, his hold getting tighter. "You will fix it, promise. Every version of
us will always be friends. We'll always be the Dream Team, no matter what. Your Dream will
probably be really messed up, but you will help him, yeah? Everything is gonna be okay again,
everything will be fine."

"Promise?" Sapnap asked. He was reminded of the young boy he had met on Minecraft, the way he
had followed Dream around, how he had seen him as an older brother figure just because of the
two years between them.
Sapnap had always looked up to him for help, had always asked for his advice, and even though
this wasn't his Sapnap, even though Dream was in a completely different world and had no idea
what he was doing, even though this Sapnap was so much stronger, so much more experienced
than him- it still felt nice. It reminded him that no matter the universe they would always be the
Dream Team. Dream, Sapnap and George.

"Promise."

--

"So," Dream started hesitantly, still spooked from the way his friend's faces had blanked when he
had asked them about other servers. "You said you and Dream were childhood friends?"

"Yep!" Sapnap smiled slightly, an unusual gentle expression on his face. "Met in the nether when I
was just a tiny half-blaze. My clan didn't want me because I was half human. And then Dream
came along. He gave me a home. He’s the reason I met dad and pops."

"Skeppy and Bad?" Dream asked incredulously.

"Is that weird?" Sapnap wanted to know.

"Well, in my world they're… well, not your parents. They're just a bit older than you."

Sapnap pulled a grimace.

"Your world is weird," George commented.

Dream really did not want to argue about whose world was weirder (when it was clearly the one in
which Wilbur had fucked a fish), so he just went back to his original search for answers.

"So, where you and Dream met- that was here? On this server?"
"Where else would it be?"

"You said Philza Minecraft had a server. Maybe you and Dream met on another server? When did
Dream create this server anyway? If he created it and both Bad and Skeppy are older than him,
then where did they live before Dream created this server?!"

He saw his friends' glazed over eyes and grabbed his arms in a protective self hug so as to not
scream. Something was seriously wrong with this world.

"So anyway, that's how Dream and I met," Sapnap smiled, without any hint that he had heard what
Dream had said.

Dream gave him a weak smile.

--

They packed their things, Sapnap equipping Dream with enough armor, weapons, potions, food and
blocks to last several lifetimes, and Dream finally took the time to go through his inventory to
throw out what he didn’t need. Starting with the empty potion bottles which he gave Sapnap with a
smug grin, who only blinked down at them in shock.

"You can put things into your inventory even with tied hands?!"

"Yep." Dream grinned proudly.

"Huh." George frowned. "That's convenient. Sapnap, let me guess, that's how he escaped? Don't
tell me you were really that stupid."

The other squawked. "Hey! I- I didn't know that, okay?! You didn’t either! Man, you aren't even
our Dream but you still manage to weasel yourself out of situations."

Dream beamed at him.

His friends squinted. "Holy shit, that's too bright!"

Sapnap gave him another cloak in a dark green color, the hood big enough to hide his entire face,
and long pants so that he could finally stop freezing in his shorts. They left a note for Karl simply
telling him that they would be gone for several days. Dream pressed his lips together and thought
about writing Karl something personal. In the end he dismissed it however. His Karl hadn't exactly
known where he wanted to take his character, so Dream had no idea what he would even write. It
was best to get back home and let his Karl give him a good ending.

Then they began their journey.

And Dream was already so sick of walking. At least now his arms weren’t tied together and his
companions didn’t despise the ground he walked on.

“So you’re trying to summon god?” George asked, and again he wanted to slap himself. He was
literally in the lore that George had built around his character and DreamXD, asking him should
have been the first thing he should have done when meeting him.

“You know each other, right?” Dream asked eagerly. George’s lore was mostly them fooling
around and Dream having fun in creative mode with a voice changer, but in this world XD really
was the god and protector of this server.

“Well, depending completely on his mood. Sometimes I don’t see him for months. Sometimes he
makes me sleep for weeks to hang out with him in my dreams. It’s better to help you go back home
rather than wait for him to show up.”

A shudder ran over his back at George’s practical tone. It was horrifying to imagine, losing months
of your life because you were at the mercy of a powerful being.

“And- and you can’t do anything against it?!”

“Oh don’t look like that,” George snorted. “We’re friends and we’re just hanging out. If I really did
ask him, he would let me out of the dream.”

“You just don’t ask him to,” Sapnap stated in a somber voice.
George shrugged. “There’s nothing here for me. Can you blame me?”

“What about me?” Sapnap whispered hurt and Dream looked between them rapidly. There was
suddenly a tension that he feared to disrupt.

“What about you?” George increased his speed and walked in front of them, the conversation
obviously over, leaving Sapnap with a look of devastation. Dream immediately reached out to
intertwine their hands together and gave him a comforting squeeze.

--

They arrived at a nether portal which Dream stared at with his heart beating rapidly in anticipation.
This would be his first time in the nether, but at least he had George and Sapnap on his side and the
paths were already made, so they only had to take care of ghasts.

Sapnap was the first one to step through the portal, sending George an okay through the
communicator when everything was good on his side. Dream and George walked through together
and he had to close his eyes due to the blinding light that flashed through his vision. His stomach
lurched and he felt out of balance, like lying in bed after having spent the entire day on a boat.
Then all of his muscles tightened when he got a feeling of being condensed into a single atom and
being hurled through the universe. He stumbled out the other side, immediately getting hit by hot
air, and felt hands grabbing his arms when his knees almost gave in.

This was horrible, portals were horrible. Whoever had created them deserved hell.

Clay has made the advancement [We Need to Go Deeper]

"Uhhh, guys?!"

Sapnap held his communicator in Dream's face and he blinked stupidly down at it. "What the-"

"Holy shit, I'm so glad right now that your name isn't actually Dream!"
Dream scrolled up and between several messages were his advancements.

Clay has made the advancement [Cover me in Debris]

Clay has made the advancement [Isn't it Iron Pick?]

>> Tommyinnit: "???"

>> Tommyinnit: "Who the fuck is clay??"
>> Tommyinnit: "And how tf did he get fucking Netherite before an iron pcik???!!
>> The_Eret: "No idea. Did another person appear here without our knowledge?"

He let out a nervous laugh. "At least- at least nobody will think that I'm Dream?"

"I can't believe that I'm saying this," Sapnap said, "but now I kinda wish Dream had worn his mask
more. When people see your face, they'll definitely recognize you."

"We could slam a paper plate on his face and draw a frowny face on it," George suggested with a
wan smile. "Nobody would suspect."

"At that point we can just carry around signs that we have Dream-number-two with us!"

"Come on, you two," Dream sighed. "The sooner we get to Tech the better."

To his surprise both of them immediately shut up.

--

The nether was unbearably hot and Dream wanted to do nothing else but take off his hoodie and
cloak. Of course the constant sounds of the nether were even more horrifying in real life than in the
game, and he found himself flinching at every pop of the lava, at every grunt a zombie pigman
made, at every sigh of a ghast in the distance. There were bridges going all over the nether but
nobody had built roofs above them, making him feel vulnerable and exposed.
"Why so jumpy?" With a scream he jumped away from George who had suddenly appeared beside
him, crashing into Sapnap who steadied him with a sigh.

"Come on, George, don't be such an ass," he said and George simply snickered.

"Sorry, Clay, couldn't help myself. You're just so… different. From Dream I mean. At least how he
was later on. I'd never have been able to jumpscare him."

"You don't have to worry!" Sapnap assured him and grabbed his wrist when he still continued to
look at him dubiously. "We're here to protect you, man! As long as we're here, nothing can touch
you!"

And to his relief he was true to his word. Sapnap sniped every ghast that even breathed into their
direction, immediately ran towards magma cubes to make quick work of them and put himself
between Dream and zombie pigmen with dramatical gestures even though they just sniffed at them
in curiosity. It made him feel useless like a scared child that had to be taken at the hand at every
street intersection, but at the same time he also was grateful for his friend. And if the twinge he felt
in his heart every time a mob died at Sapnap’s hands got stronger, it wasn’t anything he had to
worry about.

He thought about killing a magma cube as practice for his non-existent axe skills but one look at
one and he knew that he wouldn't have it in him to kill anything. At that point even thinking about
defeating the ender dragon made him feel stupid.

In front of him Sapnap froze completely and Dream looked up to see what had caused it, before
pushing his hood more into his face with a curse. A figure was walking towards them, clad in a
red-white shirt underneath a blue cardigan.

In any other situation Dream would immediately greet his friend with a smile, the teen he spoke to
every week for hours to talk about youtube and how to grow your audience, the exuberant guy
who was just a nice and polite boy whenever he wasn't on stream. But this was a version who had
been abused by his counterpart and had planned to take his third life once and for all because of all
the abuse and isolation. Not for the first time he cursed Wilbur for loving to write so much
suffering for the characters, cursed his own Tommy for coming up with the idea of his character
being abused by Dream's, and himself for thinking it was a great idea.

He wondered if his counterpart had already killed Tommy in the prison, but the white streak in his
hair and the heavy bags underneath his eyes answered that question immediately. Bile rose up his
throat as he looked at this teen, who should never look so exhausted, who should never walk
around with such an air of defeat. Dream wanted to hug him and tell him that everything was
alright, that he would repair everything once he got back, at the same time he wanted to hide away,
to close his eyes until everything disappeared.

"Sapnap, you wanker!" Tommy greeted them with a grin. "And you too I guess, Gogy. Who the
fuck is that?"

Tommy bowed down to take a peek under his hood but Dream pushed it down further and stepped
behind Sapnap. "What's up with you, pussy, too scared to look the great Tommyinnit in the eyes?"

"Don't worry about him, he's just shy! And- also, also he's mute- ouch!" Dream punched him
between the shoulder blades.

"Tell him I said it's nice to meet him and also that I'm not mute!" Dream whispered into his ear.

Tommy raised his brows when Sapnap relayed that information and then hit his fist into his open
palm when he seemed to remember something. "Wait, you're Clay, right?! Dude, since when have
you been here?! I never saw your name until now and you immediately got the fucking netherite
armor achievement! I swear, the weirdest people appear here."

"Advancements being shown in the chat work like messages. That means that as long as you're too
far away, they won't show up on other people's communicators. Clay here just never approached
us because he's shy around people, so his advancements only show up now." George pushed his
goggles onto his forehead, speaking with a matter of fact tone that even Dream almost started to
believe him.

"Ah," Tommy said unimpressed. "Well, new guy, I'd say run away from this hellhole as fast as
possible before you start getting attached to something, but as I see, that might be too late for you.
Anyway, see ya around I guess."

Hastily Dream pulled at Sapnap's sleeve. "Tell him that his sweater is nice!"

"Do I have to?" his friend groaned. Dream nodded determined and pushed him towards the teen
who had already begun walking away. "Uh- Tommy? Clay- uh, Clay wants me to tell you that he
thinks your sweater is nice."
Tommy turned around blinking. "Ah," he said and looked at him weirdly. "Thanks. I guess."

Dream continued to look back at his disappearing silhouette even as Sapnap pulled him forward,
muttering about how lucky they were that Tommy hadn't been in a prankster mood and hadn't tried
to pull off Dream's hood.

"Is he… is he always so mellow?" Dream wanted to know. The lack of energy from the teen had
surprised him. In his streams Tommy was always a loud, chaotic force on the server, but his
counterpart looked like death warmed ov-

Dream immediately snapped away from that thought. Imagining Tommy with lifeless eyes was not
something he needed right now.

"He hasn't always been," Sapnap simply said. He didn't elaborate but Dream didn't have to ask.

They jumped off a bridge near a nether portal which Dream recognized would lead towards the
prison, onto another bridge which would bring them to Technoblade's cabin. His breath caught
when looking at the portal. This is what he had avoided, he thought, grateful that Sapnap hadn't
wanted to throw him into Pandora's Vault anymore.

Fortunately they didn't meet anyone beside the occasional mob, and he let out a sigh of relief when
he spotted the nether portal to Techno's place. Getting here had passed too smoothly, at this point
he expected a bunch of attackers to just pop out of the next wall.

They stepped into the portal and Dream breathed in deeply when cold air hit his face instead of the
thick, hot air of the nether. They had only walked on a bridge but it had still been a nerve wracking
experience, making him extremely unenthusiastic to see what a real nether run would feel like.

The portal they walked out of was so close to the cabin that they already saw it after a few minutes.
The houses were cozy looking things out of wood and stone bricks, fitting right into the snowy
environment. With childlike glee he grabbed a handful of snow to throw it at the back of Sapnap's
neck, pointing innocently at George when the other whirled around.

"Hey, it wasn't me!" George yelped as he ducked away from a snowball. Dream snickered when
Sapnap stepped beside him to glare at George.
"Oh I know, thanks for playing the diversion." With that he grabbed Dream and wiped a handful of
snow in his face, ignoring his laughing protests.

"Are you gonna apologize?" Sapnap grinned, still holding him in a headlock.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Dream wheezed, elbowing his friend to get out of the chokehold. "I just
don't get to see much snow in Florida!" He punched Sapnap when he got released and ducked
behind George when Sapnap raised his arm to retaliate.

A cough behind them made them freeze.

A big, burly piglin with long, pink hair in a braid stood there imposingly, towering over them, and
Dream marveled at the fact that he had somehow managed to sneak up on them despite the loud
snow. A fluffy, red cape was sitting on his shoulders, a crown proudly displayed on his head just
like the other absurd amount of jewelry he was donning, and he wore a full set of enchanted
netherite armor, pointing his sword at Sapnap.

"If this is an ambush, it's a really bad one. Like, laughably bad. Just informing you right now
should you still decide to attack me."

Of course this was Technoblade, but Dream's mouth still fell open when the voice of his friend
came out of the mouth of the gigantic piglin.

"Technoblade!" Sapnap stepped in front of the other two and let his armor disappear into his
inventory as a sign of goodwill. "We didn't come to fight, we're merely here to ask for a favor."

Technoblade raised his brows and his sword. "Now why would I do that?"

Dream decided to join the conversation, pushing down Sapnap's arm when he held it in front of
him, to stand before Technoblade, his back straight and his head underneath the hood held high.

"Heh?!" Technoblade exclaimed, the sword wavering in the air.

"What we're doing might be of interest to you," Dream said and tried his best to keep his voice
steady. "We're either gonna summon god or break the most important rule on this server to fight a
dragon."

Technoblade's character appreciated strength, so he did not flinch when Techno raised his sword
towards his head, instead making an aggressive hand motion towards his friends when he heard
Sapnap summon his weapon with a shocked yelp.

The sword tingled, humming with the weight of enchantments, when it slid through his hair, lifting
the hood off his head and pushing it away to reveal his face. "Dream," Technoblade said, rolling
his eyes. "Could have just shown your face from the beginning, nerd. Shouldn't you be in prison or
something?"

He tried not to fidget under the piglin's unimpressed stare. "Well- well, you see, I'm technically not
Dream? Really, I'm not, don't look at me like that, dude! I just suddenly appeared in this dimension
and my only way to get back is currently in your secret base."

A sound of surprise escaped him when Technoblade was suddenly directly before him, the sword
nicking neck. Wind rushed past him, the fur of Techno's cape tickling at his nose.

"Clay!" Sapnap exclaimed, rushing towards them.

"Stand back!" he ordered with determination he didn't realize he had. Long, pink hair fell into his
face from the way Technoblade was leaning over him, and he could feel a drop of blood trailing
down his throat, but he still grit his teeth, craned his neck up to look at the piglin, and didn't back
down. He had watched every single one of Technoblade's streams, had spent ages talking to him
about his character. He knew the person standing in front of him, and this wasn't an attack. If he
had intended to attack them, they would have long been dead.

"Hmm interesting," Technoblade mused, tilting up Dream's chin with his sword and Dream didn't
break eye contact, didn't look away from the ruby gaze. "I thought you were just lying, but you're
obviously not Dream. You look and talk exactly like him but your reaction time is abysmal, not
even just in comparison to him. I mean honestly, it took you ages to realize that I had a sword at
your neck, man! And yet you don't seem to be scared."

Technoblade let his sword disappear back into his inventory and stepped back as if nothing had
happened, and Dream could feel Sapnap and George visibly relaxing as they immediately appeared
at both of his sides, Sapnap grabbing his hand again. This entire thing had been a test, be it to
determine if he really wasn't Dream or what kind of person he was, and whatever it was, he had
apparently passed.
 "Shut up, chat," the piglin muttered underneath his breath. He turned around and walked towards
his house.

Only then did Dream let out a trembling breath, happy that the shivers that had taken over his body
could be explained by the cold temperature.

"Well come on, I'm not giving you a formal invitation or anything!"

"I fucking hate him so much," Sapnap groaned and let himself be pulled forward.

"He's- he's so cool!" Dream whispered, accepting that in every universe he would always have
some kind of hero worship towards Techno.

"He threatened you with a sword!"

"And he looked cool while doing it!"

George could only shake his head. "If there's one trait you and Dream share it's that you both are
morons."

Dream didn’t deign that with a response as he followed Technoblade into his house.

Chapter End Notes

This is probably not the right platform to talk about this, but I've been feeling very
down about Technoblade's death lately, and seeing everybody still writing about him,
drawing him, remembering him, makes me happy. It's hard to realize that he's gone,
but it's really nice to know that he has been loved this much, that he has left such an
impact on others.

Anyway, more mysteries appear, Dream is very confused and finally Technoblade and
Tommy appeared if only for a short moment! :D
As always, I read every of your comments several times and appreciate the fuck out of
them and apologize that I can't answer back. Hope you enjoyed!

Next chapter is coming out in 2 weeks! Be prepared for our resident bird man :D

The good thing is that I have a lot stuff planned, several ideas lined up and a strong
desire not to abandon this story, the bad thing is that writer's block is a bitch.
 the immortal in the cabin
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"Phil!" Techno called as he opened the door. "There are two Dreams now! You know what that
means?! Chat's gonna be so annoying, Phil! They're already not shutting up, Phil!"

A man stood inside of what seemed to be the living room, clad in long robes and a striped bucket
hat. Two wings trailed behind him, one beautiful and shiny, the other disfigured, burnt down to the
bones, feathers hanging on for dear life. Several crows were sitting on his shoulders, one of them
flew towards Dream to dig its claws into his arm, hanging from it while staring at him with weirdly
intelligent eyes.

"Dream?" Philza asked with a frown. "Weren't you in prison?"

How the hell did everyone keep recognizing him?! Wasn't his character wearing a mask or
something?

Technoblade picked him up by the back of his hood, placing him down right in front of Phil and
leaned an elbow on his head. Overwhelmed, Dream could only raise a hand for a wave, trying not
to stumble under the weight on him.

"Uh… hi. My name is Clay and I come from another dimension in which everyone here exists as
another version and this is all just a game and I- I have no idea how I got here."

Philza's gaze traveled from Sapnap and George to him, studying him for a while.

"Techno," he finally said, "are you sure this isn't Dream?"

"He really isn't!" Sapnap walked forward, pushing Techno's elbow off Dream's head. "He knows
things he shouldn't know, like that weird end portal thing under your base that you apparently use
as a table?!"

Phil and Techno threw each other surprised glances.

"I know about the Syndicate. About Wilbur and his wrong letters. About Steve, the god that
appeared in your base, everything that has been going on with everyone because I'm the one who
created this SMP. And I- I need your help to get back to my world and fix everything! I can- I can
convince the others to give you the happy ending you deserve!"

At his words Phil's expression didn't become more believing, instead turning darker and darker.

"You come into our home," he said in a strange calm, "tell us our entire world is just a fabrication
and we should give you access to our base. Just so you can get to your world and bend our world,
our lives, to your will."

Dream froze, mouth hanging open. "Wait- no, I-"

"That's not fair," George added.

Phil stepped towards Dream, and even though he was shorter, he loomed over him like a shadow.
Several crows perched on his form, around them, on Dream, watching them with mocking
attention. "I have lived for several millennia now, Clay, I have walked this earth when you weren't
even considered to be on the list of creations. You may see yourself as a savior but I just see a boy
thinking he has the control to change the lives of people he has no ties to."

With that he turned around, wings trailing in the wind and the mocking laughter of his crows, and
disappeared into the next room, leaving Dream with a dry mouth and stock-still body.

Technoblade let out a fond laugh. "Guy can be pretty intense, huh?"

Dream turned slowly around towards Sapnap, helplessness and doubt slowly creeping in. "I'm not-
I'm not really trying to control everything, right? I, I mean, I just want to give everyone a happy
ending!"

Sapnap took his hand and squeezed it.

"I'm surprised Phil believed us this easily," George commented.

Technoblade shrugged. "Old man's been alive for ages, he has seen stuff. The idea of a dimension
hopping version of Dream is honestly not even that far off. But you gotta understand, Clay, that's
also the reason we can't just accept what you say. The fact that random people from another world
just controlled everything that has been happening to us- it's probably much more horrifying than
you realize."

Dream looked up, eyes still impossibly wide and feeling so small, into the red gaze of the other.
"What about you?"

Simply shrugging, Technoblade leaned against the wall. "Bruh, to be honest I don't really care.
You can go back to your dimension or whatever, it won't have much impact on our lives. I'm a
person, a real being, not just some character in a book. This is what free will is all about."

"But- we wanted to get Dream out of prison!" Geoege exclaimed. "It's pretty much impossible to
break in, so we wanted Clay to change the story in his world to help us and give everyone a happy
ending."

Technoblade laughed, high and mocking, and Dream suddenly felt like a tiny flower, trampled
underneath the boot of an uncaring wanderer. "God- you- you're really naive, aren't you?"

"What- what do you mean?!" Sapnap growled.

Technoblade stopped laughing and waved them inside to sit down on the couches. "Where's your
proof that you can change anything from your world, nerd?" He pointed at Dream as if he were a
teacher calling on a student.

"I mean, everything we were roleplaying also happened here and most of you look exactly the
same as my friends. So, everything happened in a game, right, where we were building stuff, and
that- that same stuff also is in this world! Like- like Eret's tower, Las Nevadas, Pandora's vault,
Kinoko Kingdom, your- your entire cabin! It can't have been all a coincidence!"

"Sure," Techno shrugged. "But do you have any proof that what you are gonna do will affect our
future? Or are you just hoping for the best?"

Dream looked down at his lap and Technoblade sighed. "Look man, I'm just a guy who likes to
fight. If you still wanna go fight a dragon or summon god, I'm totally up for that! Hell, maybe you
are right, and we can all retire and live happily ever after! Also I'm famished so I'm gonna prepare
dinner now. Come and help or I'm gonna let you starve."

He left for the kitchen, leaving the three of them sitting there like lost puppies.

"He… could be right," Dream muttered.

"Or he could be wrong and we're squandering our chance to get Dream out of prison as fast as
possible," George said and crossed his arms. He was lying over an entire couch while Sapnap and
Dream were sharing the second one, Dream having pulled up his knees to hug them.

"There are inconsistencies with things in this world compared to our game," he admitted. "But the
similarities were just so staggering that I didn't even think about it. For one, my Nick said that his
character, you, was just meant to be a human."

Sapnap snorted derisively. "I wish," he muttered almost inaudibly.

"I also think that Techno was rather meant to be a humanoid pig, but this version has more
similarities to a piglin than to a normal pig. And- and Tommy! He was wearing a blue cardigan,
something fanartists drew him with but not something that was canon! And your mushrooms,
George! I'm just- I have no idea, guys! I can't just- can't just go through a portal, trying to change
the future when it wouldn't do shit!"

"Are you really basing your argument on what color of sweater Tommy decided to go with?"
George asked drily, scratching at the mushroom on his head.

"It's not just the color, it's- ugh." With a sigh he stood up. "I'm gonna go help Tech. You two
brainstorm a bit, maybe we can figure something out."

--

Dream was by no means short but he felt dwarfed by the piglin hybrid while he was cooking beside
him. They were working in silence, with Technoblade telling him what to do and Dream throwing
in tips and suggestions on what to change occasionally.
"Man, this is really useful," Technoblade remarked when Dream handed him the sliced tomatoes
he had wanted. "I could get used to this. You see, this is why I always said that slavery is the
answer."

"I'm literally helping you voluntarily."

"And because I'm giving you food. And shelter. And the one and only thing that can bring you
back to your home. Honestly, now that I think about it, I think this could be counted as blackmail."
Technoblade ruffled his hair roughly, some weird sort of fascination in his eyes. "Fluffy," he
simply said. "Shiny."

Dream frowned up at him.

“This world’s Dream doesn’t really let people touch him. Touchy guy. I once poked him and he
started hissing.” Technoblade continued to ruffle his hair.

"I'm gonna put salt into your water and watch you choke." Despite his words, he didn’t lean away
from the other’s touch. This wasn’t his Technoblade, from everyone he had met he looked the
most different from his counterpart, but he still talked and held himself like his friend.

Technoblade let out a laugh, clapping him on the back, and he went flying forward, almost landing
with his face in the sauce.

"Ah- sorry." Technoblade grabbed his hood and pulled him away into the air so that he had to
stand on his tippy toes. He really started to hate getting picked up like that. "Force of habit. Our
Dream wouldn't just- well. You know."

Dream sighed. "Believe me, I'm well aware of my own weaknesses. Most of the days I spent inside
sitting in front of a computer, the only time I actually touched an axe was when I got attacked by
one!"

"Wow," the other said. "That's kinda pathetic, not gonna lie."

"You're really bad at comforting people."

"I'm not trying to."

Dream cut into the potatoes a bit too forcefully. It seemed that in every universe Technoblade
would always find a way to annoy him. At least there was always one constant.

He gave Techno the cut potatoes and then went to work on the chicken meat. For some reason he
didn't care about cutting already killed chicken, but the thought of seeing someone kill any
creatures around him filled him with a heavy dread that did not want to leave.

"Phil seemed really mad at me," he mumbled, embarrassed about sounding like a scolded child.

"Eh, he was just a bit peeved that some stranger just suddenly walked in and declared our existence
as just some entertainment for people in another dimension just cause you carry Dream's face.
Advice for the future, nerd: Next time you meet someone for the first time, maybe start with
something less insulting! Like 'Hello, how was your day' or 'nice to meet you, I like your socks'.
Hitting him with the good ol' existential crisis might not have been the best idea. But hey, who am
I to give anyone tips on socializing?"

Dream was currently cringing so hard at himself, he wanted to melt into the earth. "Oh," he
coughed. "Yeah- yeah I kinda fucked that up. It's just- it's hard to see the faces of my friends and
treat them like strangers. I've known Phil for so many months, and, I dunno, it felt like I could just
immediately be on the same wavelength with this Phil as with mine."

"You might be a shitty fighter but you're very good at overthinking stuff."

Dream groaned loudly. This is what he got for going to Technoblade of all people for comfort.

--

"You can use the table thing under our base if you want to," Philza said when they were eating
dinner. He seemed amiable as if he had never been mad at Dream. The crows behind him had also
settled down a bit, though their stares still unnerved Dream. "But since you have the knowledge,
tell us more about it. The civilization that was able to build these indestructible blocks had to have
been incredible!"

Dream blinked, stupefied, food on his spoon falling back on his plate. "I-uh…" Everyone was
looking at him in interest and he cleared his throat. He could bring up the other servers again, but
at the moment he was too exhausted with any kind of fallout that might trigger. Whatever was
going on with his friends' memories was a question for when he could deal with it. "Well, the way
these worlds are built is based on a video game, which, uhh… you don't know what that is. So, you
play a video game on a computer which is, well- imagine your communicator but gigantic-"

--

"You can fly with an elytra?!" Phil exclaimed, eyes sparkling in the light. He had seemed to take
everything else in stride, but this was the one thing that broke his forced calm. "Techno, Techno,
we need to go to the end-"

--

"So the reason why god almost took away our table is because you were scared our counterparts
would break the rules?"

"Pretty much," Dream sighed. "I almost got a heart attack when my Phil and Techno discovered the
portal room. Spilled water all over my desk in my haste!"

Sapnap laughed at that, the traitor.

"Honestly, we don't even know why this rule exists," Philza said. "We haven't really interacted
much with XD. But if you need to defeat the ender dragon to get back home, then…"

Phil and Technoblade shared a horrified look and a bad feeling grew in Dream.

"Then that might be the only way out of this server. We didn't know there was a way out."
Technoblade leaned back.

"Do you-" Dream paused and looked at all the people gathered around. His heart was beating
loudly against his ribcage. This was dangerously close to what had caused Sapnap and George to
shut down. "Do you want to leave?"
They all shifted, looking at each other. "Not really?" George asked more than he stated. "Not like
we can."

"I don't like it when choices get taken away from me," Philza said diplomatically. "Or when
someone messes with my memories."

Dream flinched at his words. He knew. Phil knew and his mind didn't immediately get wiped.
"Memories?!"

"Well, we all lived lives before this server. Going from server to server. And every server has a
way out. Except for this one. And yet none of us wondered why. And nobody remembers our
conversation when I bring it up. Most people are forced into some kind of trance. Except for
apparently you, Clay."

Sapnap blinked. George yawned, not focusing on anything around him. There was a haze over
Technoblade's eyes who furiously blinked as if fighting a war in his mind.

"You- you remember!" Dream exclaimed. "Sapnap mentioned once that you had a server but when
I brought it up, their minds went blank! Phil, what's going on?!"

Sighing, Phil stood up and gently carded his fingers through Technoblade's hair. "A power much
older, much stronger than we can imagine. I'm an admin myself, but even I sometimes have trouble
fighting against whatever is happening. I do not like it, but I can’t do anything against it. And
telling anyone only causes them pain."

"But why?" Dream wanted to know.

Phil shrugged. "To keep us here, I imagine. Maybe it's your world influencing ours. Because if the
people leave the server, there is no story, right?"

Dream wanted to argue that technically people were able to leave the server in his SMP. But on the
other hand, it wasn't their characters who left the server. The characters were staying there. If this
was another thing he had caused-

Bile rose in his throat as he watched his friends' vacant expressions.

Phil noticed his distress. "It doesn't have to be that," he said with a soothing voice. “Maybe it's
some kind of ancient power keeping us here, maybe it’s the god who wears your face. I'm an
immortal being, an admin, and I know that this server is not as old as I am. But there is something
more powerful than me out there."

A new fear grew in him, about the god of the server who could apparently do whatever he wanted.

--

Sapnap, George and Technoblade had quickly snapped out of their trance, continuing the
conversation as if nothing had happened. Phil didn't give any indication and Dream tried following
his example but from Sapnap's concerned look he knew that he hadn't been able to keep how
disturbed he was out of his face.

Immortal beings. Ancient gods. Admins.

The need to get home had never felt so strong.

--

"I'd only change things for my character. And make the others end it with a vague 'and they lived
happily ever after'. No control of lives, no change of your own will. You'll all be able to have free
will, let your lives play out the way you want to."

Over the light of the candles Phil's face didn't change. But he did give one single nod.

--

"And everyone is happy in your dimension?"

"Yeah."
"And Wilbur never died?"

"Yeah."

"And Wil isn't my son?"

"Yeah."

"And we're all friends?!" Technoblade asked in disbelief.

"Jup."

"No one's trying to kill each other?"

"I like to see ourselves as one big family, honestly. It's- we're working on something that I just find
absolutely amazing, everyone I whitelisted is just so talented and-"

"Yeah but friends? Family?!" Phil exclaimed.

"Somehow this is the most unbelievable thing you've said," Technoblade said.

--

"And Sam is just allowing Quackity..?" Phil was frowning, sharing a look with Technoblade. "You
know what that sounds like?"

The other nodded sagely. "Sounds like an extreme misuse of authoritarian power to me. Seems like
the prison needs to get destroyed."

"Clay," Philza turned towards him. "Just in case your plan for a happy end doesn't work, give us
the plans for the prison. You mentioned that Sam and you built it together, right?"
Dream shot him a determined look. "I helped with the blueprints but the redstone was all Sam
'cause I'll be honest, I don't understand most of what he was doing. I'll write down whatever I can!"

--

"So it's a plan." Technoblade crossed his arms, leaning back in the chair. "Tomorrow we'll defeat a
dragon and you'll get back to your world. And if by the day after tomorrow nothing changed, we'll
break Dream out of prison."

Around them grim faces nodded and Dream was filled with the warmth of knowing that he wasn't
alone in this anymore.

--

“Clay.”

Dream turned around from the door of the room Philza and Technoblade had provided him, George
and Sapnap. His two friends were already lying down on the beds they had shoved together,
leaving a space between them for Dream. He wasn’t their Dream and they weren’t his, but it still
warmed his heart. His counterpart had some real friends here, and he hoped this Dream wouldn’t
miss his chance to rekindle what once was.

Dream looked at Philza who still looked regal in his nightshirt. The crows seemed to follow him,
piercing through Dream with their eyes.

“Can I talk to you?”

Phil led Dream towards the veranda, throwing a blanket around his shoulders when Dream let out a
breath, watching it fog in the cold air. It was a calm feeling, this snowy stillness, untouched and
dark.

“Was there something you needed?” Dream asked and looked towards the other who was frowning
down at a crow that was sitting on his hand. A finger stroked through the feathers, adjusting and
straightening some with trained muscle memory.
Philza seemed deep in thought, his eyes faraway. “You were the admin of that game you talked
about, weren’t you?”

Dream blinked down at him and leaned against a wooden beam. “Yeah, I was the one who created
the server. So I’m the only one who could use creative mode. I only use it if strictly necessary
though.”

Phil’s frown only deepened. “You know, every time people mentioned that the Dream of this world
was the admin I figured he had simply lied to everyone.”

Dream tilted his head. “How come? Isn’t he the admin here?”

“Well, he just wasn’t behaving like an admin. Or how I remembered admins to act. I was once the
admin of my own world, but I consciously decided to create a world in which creative mode wasn’t
possible. This world already possesses a god who I assumed to be the real admin. So if Dream
really is the admin, why isn’t he using creative mode?”

Dream ran his fingers through his hair, trying to make sense of this weird world. Things that had
made sense in his world couldn’t translate in this one.

“I did it out of fairness. Obviously I only allowed myself to use creative if something we planned
in the story didn’t work out.” He smiled at the memory of accidentally blowing himself up and
needing to quickly gather all of his items under the mocking laughter of Tommy.

“You really think Dream doesn’t use creative out of fairness? The man currently stuck in a torture
chamber? I’d reckon everybody would let go of their ideals and escape. Besides, Dream never
seemed like a man who cared about fairness. Why try to gather materials the fair way if you have
everything you could ever wish for on the tips of your fingers?”

He really hadn’t thought of that. He didn’t go into creative mode because it was a story for him. If
this Dream was the admin, there should be no reason why he refused to use it.

“Maybe he can’t use it?” he suggested. “Maybe XD stole it from him or something? And that’s
why he looks like him- like me?”
Philza snorted as if he had said something completely out of pocket. “If you’re in the world you
created, you can’t separate yourself from it. You just don’t do it.”

Hesitantly Dream pushed off the wooden beam and looked into the night. “Do you think that might
be the reason why you’re caught in this world? Because Dream lost his admin powers?”

With a head shake, Philza gave the crow on his hand a slight push to fly up into the air and take
flight. They both watched as it disappeared into the darkness of the night. “That’s not how it
works,” he said. “Admin powers can’t be stolen. Or lost. At least they shouldn’t be. And that
would definitely not lead to memory loss. No, something else has to be at work.”

Phil turned around, back into the house without another word.

“Wait,” Dream called after him. “What does any of this mean?”

He felt lost, like he was standing in the middle of an unfinished jigsaw puzzle.

Phil stopped, his back rigid. “It means I really need to ask this world’s Dream some questions.” His
head turned, giving him a soft smile, contrasting to the hard edge in his eyes. “Now go to bed, it’s
late.”

Dream could only give him a mute nod as he walked off.

--

The next day Technoblade ripped him out of sleep early by simply throwing him over the shoulder
and carrying him, struggling and cursing, outside into the cold snow. His bare feet immediately
started to sting when he was placed down.

"What the hell's your problem?! I would have come without all that! With shoes!"

"It's funnier," Techno simply replied, throwing a sword at him which fell to the ground when he
jumped back with a yelp. "Wow. This is just really sad, man."
Picking up the sword, he raised his middle finger. "Nobody in my world needs a sword anymore!
I'll take you to my world and we'll see if you can code in java!"

"I bet that would be a really cutting insult if I knew what that meant. Now stand correctly and I'll
evaluate your skills."

Fidgeting in place, he raised the heavy sword and looked at Technoblade in uncertainty. "I've never
carried a sword."

With one slash, the sword was thrown out of his grip and fell to the ground. Both of them stared at
it. "Yeah," Technoblade finally said, almost in awe. "That is very obvious. Well, since you're
hopeless, you'll have to bury yourself in the ground while we go fight the dragon. Evaluation over!"

"Wait!" Dream grabbed his cape when he turned to walk away, pulling until the other turned back
with a heavy sigh. "I can't just hide while you all risk your life to help me!"

"If it's any consolation to you, we're not doing it for you. I wanna fight a dragon and Phil wants to
fly. Your goggles friend seems to only do it to get Dream out of prison. The only one who looks
ready to throw away his life for you is Sapnap."

"Still!" Dream let go of his cape and ran towards the sword to pick it up again. "You can- you can
teach me how to fight! Then, then I can help!"

Looking like he was carrying the entire world on his shoulders, Technoblade shuffled towards him
and summoned his own sword with an air of long-suffering.

"You won't learn how to fight in just a few hours, nerd. Besides, does it give you happiness,
throwing your life away just so that you don't feel useless?"

"What?! No-"

"Then why are you insisting on fighting with us when you know that you'd just get in our way? Do
you really wanna risk your life to make yourself feel less useless?"
"I'm not- I don't wanna risk my life, I just want to help my friends."

Technoblade stepped towards him and looked down at him with a tilted head. "You do know that
strength isn't everything, right? For you it would be better to step back and let others do their thing
while you can go do your thing."

He was left reeling, opening and closing his mouth like a fish in the air. "But- but I thought you
value strength the most?!"

"Yeah, I do." Technoblade reached down to gently take the sword out of his shaky grip. "You,
however, don't. Your thing is apparently being nice and not killing or whatever. And helping your
friends. And this time you can help your friends by sitting this one out."

Dream blinked down at his empty hands and let himself be led towards the door of Techno's cabin,
a hoof constantly petting his head as if he were a child. Something felt strangely empty in his heart,
drowning out the constant ache that seemed to get more noticeable the longer he was spending in
this world. "I-" He paused, searching for words. "I don't understand? I can't just let Sapnap and
George fight for me!"

Technoblade threw open the door to the guest room that he had given them for the night, making
his two friends jump up with shocked sounds of surprise when they were woken up so suddenly.

"Your idiot wants to risk his life to fight the dragon," he said and pushed Dream into his pile of
friends with a hard shove. "Good luck, nerd!" With that he walked out and closed the door behind
him, leaving him in the den of the lions.

"Clay, you what?!" Sapnap grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Are you crazy?! You barely
know how to swing a sword!"

George shoved him from behind so that he fell against Sapnap with an "Oomph", and leaned
against him so that they were standing back to back, pushing him harder against Sapnap when he
let out a sound of protest.

"Add being a self-sacrificial idiot to the list of traits you and Dream share."
"I'm not- I don't wanna sacrifice myself, I just don't want you to die for me!" He let himself be
hugged by Sapnap who clung to him as if he was a lifeline. George let the back of his head fall
against Dream's neck. It felt warm and safe between his friends.

"Ahhh, self blame. The list of similarities is only getting longer." George seriously had the audacity
to sound amused.

Holding back a frustrated scream, he let his head fall back to give George a headbutt. "Shaddap."

Sapnap let go of him to give him an intense stare. "We're not sacrificing ourselves for you, we want
to help you get back!"

"Also, technically, we're doing this to help Dream."

"Yes, and I'm the reason Dream is even in that situation! You shouldn't- shouldn't suffer for my
mistakes-"

"Wow, even constantly feeling sorry for yourself. You sure you're not our Dream?"

“Oh, go suck a dick, George.” Dream really wanted to punch him. Instead, he stayed perfectly still
for George to lean against him.

"Clay," Sapnap made him look down at him again. "I promise, we will not die. But we were raised
to be able to fight and you weren't. So let us do the fighting, resting easy in the knowledge that
you're safe, okay? You trust us, right?"

And it hurt, it really did, the idea of just letting his friends fight against such a powerful enemy
while he was standing on the sidelines twiddling his thumbs. Something in him was screaming but
he tried to drown it at the hopeful look in Sapnap's face. So he swallowed down every reply and
gave him a shaky smile.

"I trust you."

Sapnap grinned brightly. "Alright! Also-" He reached out to punch George in the arm.
 "Ouch! What the hell was that for?!"

"I did it for you, Clay!" Sapnap ran out of the room, followed by a furious George, and Dream
found himself wheezing at his friends' antics.

Chapter End Notes

Dream out there calling people a figment of someone's imagination and then surprise-
pikachu-facing when they react negatively

As always, I'm happy for every comment I receive and I'm always reading them
several times, grinning widely! :D

Next chapter they're gonna go to the end, woop woop

The story's far from over though.
 what the heart desires
Chapter Notes

Dream arrives at the end.

Man, I've been looking forward to posting this chapter for so long! :D
I hope you enjoy!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“The prison is almost inescapable,” Dream started. “Even if we captured Sam, the only way to pull
the levers is with an access key.”

“Then how would we get in?” George rubbed his chin, looking irritated at the sketches Dream had
drawn for them. Creating the prison had been a pain in the ass, moreso for Sam than for him, but
now he was glad that he had been there for every step in the process.

“Cause I know the keys.” He grinned proudly, writing down the code. “Sam, my Sam who’s my
friend, and I were the ones who came up with everything. He’s responsible for all the redstone
components though. You can’t create a portal in the nether to get inside, you need to enter through
the portal the warden takes you to. You’ll have mining fatigue three, so breaking blocks takes ages,
and breaking any block will alert the guards. There are ways for the guards to get through though,
meaning you don’t have to go through any of the security measures, and you will use your keys to
go through them. There will be stasis chambers for the guards, so make sure to destroy those.”

He pointed towards a crudely drawn sketch of the guard room that would lead into the main prison
cell. “Here are a lever and a button, do not push the button! It will kill Dream instantly. It's a
failsafe in case someone tries to break him out. However, this room does lead you directly towards
him. As soon as you get him out of the main cell, you won’t be having any problems, even if Sam
appears.”

“So the main question is how to keep Sam from killing Dream before we get to him, as soon as he
sees that we’re up to no good?”

Dream nodded. “Sam won’t be allowing any visitors anymore after Tommy tried to- after Wilbur
got revived. So the main question isn’t just how to capture Sam but also how to even get inside.
And here’s where the warden’s entrance comes into play! Sam needs to enter somehow to get into
the prison, and so here is how you…-”
It took one hour to explain everything, three to come up with several escape ideas and two more to
go over everything.

In the end they had a plan that relied on a lot of things, that was as wonky as walking backwards on
a tightrope, but at least it was a plan.

--

"Aren't you interested in the other version of yourself?" Dream was sitting in the training room
underneath their base and was watching Techno go through complicated looking sword swings, a
beautiful and deathly dance that took his breath away.

"Are you trying to bait me, nerd? Oh look, I'm wannabe Dream, I have so much knowledge at my
disposal."

He flinched upwards, hands fluttering awkwardly in the air. "N-no wait, I didn't mean it like that, I
just thought, well I mean-"

Techno's laughter interrupted his embarrassed stuttering and he had to hide his face behind his
hands when he only saw amusement on the other's face. "Chill, it was just a joke. It just… it
doesn't feel like there is another version of myself. Just a guy who apparently isn't even a piglin
hybrid carrying my name. And even just as his artist name. Honestly, it's a bit silly from your side
that you get attached to any familiar looking face because they look like your friends. You have a
whole entire Sapnap at home.”

Dream looked down at his lap, biting his lip. “Doesn’t make the life of this Sapnap less worth to
me. He behaves like my Sapnap. Looks like my Sapnap. I can’t not love this Sapnap.”

“So what it would take for you not to like someone from our world is if they look sufficiently
different from your friends?”

Dream spluttered. “No- I mean, I don’t- it’s just-” He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.
“I know my feelings might not be the most logical ones. I know I might look like a meddling
outsider to you. But you, all of you, are just too similar to my friends. Your history is too similar to
what my friends and me have come up with to entertain an audience. It’s also a big part of our
lives, even if it’s just a roleplay. It's what brought all of us together, what made a lot of us to gain
an audience and continue doing what we love.”

Technoblade let out a hum and repeatedly slashed into a dummy, completely decimating the
outside padding and leaving the obsidian core with several scratches. Dream gulped at the casual
display of strength. “So the reason why you keep searchin' me out is because you’re friends with
another version of me? Not gonna lie, I really don’t understand that."

“You look completely different from my Techno, but you act very similarly- well, at least on
stream. Don’t you look at me and think of your Dream? You can’t tell me your Dream and me are
completely separate in your mind.”

A somewhat uncomfortable look appeared on Techno’s face, reminding Dream that this version of
his friend had inherited the same social anxiety and discomfort with feelings that his counterpart
had. So it didn’t come as a surprise when the piglin hybrid changed the subject.

“How did you and your Technoblade even meet? Through that roleplay thing you keep talking
about?”

Dream smiled brightly up at the other, excited to ramble about his friends. “I actually started out as
a fan! I mean other you is the best Minecraft player! Or- or maybe Fruitberries? Illumina could- or
honestly, it's probably some fifteen year old who only plays Minecraft constantly- uhh, well,
anyway, you're amazing in every universe! And then I was able to play against him in Minecraft
for a large amount of money, and man, he’s just so cool, and-" Dream was rambling and couldn't
seem to stop himself, face getting hotter the more his mouth ran.

A snort made him finally snap out and he shut his mouth with a heavy breath, wanting to hide his
face behind his hands. How embarrassing, starstruck in front of this other version of his friend. He
felt his entire face heat up, warmth crawling over his ears and down his neck.

Technoblade was smiling, soft eyes crinkling as he stared intensely at Dream's face like he was
trying to memorize all of his facial features. There seemed to be something far away in his gaze as
if he was lost in memories and only when their eyes met did he look away, instead sighing into his
fluffy cape. "You remind me of him."

With a questioning look Dream turned around to the other who stepped closer and raised his hoof
to pet his hair again. Sighing he just let him. Whatever this guy's fascination with his hair was, it
didn't bother him.
"Dream," Technoblade clarified. "Our Dream I mean."

He let out a derisive snort. Techno wasn't the first one who had said that. "That's not the
compliment you think it is."

“What, you can tell us we remind you of your friends but I can’t tell you that you remind me of my
rival?” Techno asked with raised brows and stepped back, and the sudden loss of the hoof petting
his hair left him feeling strangely empty. "I meant less the… destructive tendencies of Dream, and
more the rambling. He could talk your ear off about a topic when he was interested. And when he
snapped out of it, he was embarrassed and was suddenly at a loss for words."

“Oh,” Dream muttered. It had been clear from the start that all of these people were, well, people.
It was weird to realize however that this Dream, this other version of himself, was human too. It
made sense of course. He had been born, had grown older, had made memories, friends, mistakes.
Of course we wasn’t just what Dream had portrayed on stream. If this Technoblade had gotten his
Techno’s personality, it would make sense of course that the personality of this world’s Dream
would resemble his.

He took a page out of Techno’s book and decided to change the topic. This one was getting too
complicated for him.

“Say,” he started, his curiosity prodding at him. “Chat is a thing here, right? In my world it was
just a way so that my Techno could interact with our audience while staying in character. It was
part of his lore. The fourth-wall break thing was kinda his thing. Just wanted to know how that
translates into this world.”

“Well, chat’s just… chat I guess,” Technoblade said and scratched his chin. “Annoying voices that
are sometimes helpful, most of the time just annoying though- don’t give me that, chat, you know
I’m right. From what I could determine they’re not people, but they also can’t just be my
subconscious because they sometimes mention things that I wasn’t aware of like when my back
was turned or when I was asleep.”

“Just around you though, not what happens miles away from you?” Dream wanted to clarify. “And
they aren’t by chance obsessed with the letter E?”

Technoblade shuddered and threw him an accusing glare. “You made them start up again!”
Dream tried not to laugh at the other’s whiny voice. This world’s Dream could take it as revenge
for when Technoblade had called him homeless. “And they’re also obsessed with the Blood God I
guess?”

Coldness fell over Technoblade as if a switch had been turned. Suddenly his aura had grown much
more menacing, and the air felt like it was too thin and yet gripping at his lungs at the same time.
As quick as that feeling had come, did it disappear, leaving Dream spooked and pressing himself
against the wall.

“Uh, sorry about that,” the piglin hybrid said awkwardly, rubbing his neck. Dream forced himself
to relax when that menacing feeling didn't return. “But also why exactly did you just say that?”

A sudden idea hit him. Technoblade was also some kind of god, wasn't he? And the last time Phil
and Dream had talked about the mind wipe, Techno had seemed to struggle, resisting longer than
George and Sapnap. Soon Dream would leave this world but he wanted to know what was causing
the memory wipe. Once he got home he would fix it.

"Have you ever visited Phil's server?" he asked casually.

"Nope, I-" Technoblade stopped, frowning. "Sorry man, what did you say?"

Dream stood up and stepped closer. "Other servers," he said. "They exist, don't they? You could
leave technically. Go to another server. Build yourself another home. You don't have to stay here."

The sword slid out of Technoblade's fingers and clattered onto the floor. He was gritting his teeth, a
low growl escaping through his lips. In the low lighting his eyes seemed to glint. "What do you
mean?" he grit out. "There is nothing outside of here."

"You have the knowledge but it's buried! Think!"

"Dream, I really think you should stop talking now."

"You have the memories in you but something is suppressing them!"

"Dream, stop-"

Technoblade's voice had risen but Dream could barely hear it over the sound of crashing waves in
his ears.

"Where were you born? How did you get here? Everyone knows that people just appear here, that
means they must have come from somewhere! Before coming to this server!"

A big hand raced forward to wrap around his throat, stifling the words in his mouth. A yelp
escaped him before he was raised slightly into the air until his toes could barely touch the ground.

Panic grabbed him as he thrashed, hands coming up to grab at the muscular arm. "Tech- no-"

A low grumble sounded deep from Technoblade's chest. Gone was the constricted look, instead
replaced by a cool curiosity. "So this is the new admin child the server latched on to?"

It wasn't Technoblade's voice, not entirely. It sounded like a cacophony of voices, a mix of every
gender, every age and every language. And all of them sounded angry.

"What are you trying to do, little godling?"

Dream shivered, fear running through him. This wasn't Technoblade anymore. This was something
ancient, something powerful. Something unfamiliar.

"Blood- god..-?" he choked out, the fingers around his throat making him feel lightheaded.

A mocking grin spread over Technoblade's face. It looked uncanny, as if the body and the one
controlling it were not working in tandem. "Right you are, little godling. You're trying to fight
against something and I don't appreciate you pulling my host into it. Don't get me wrong, I long for
a fight, for bloodshed, but not even I could win against that kind of control."

Control..?
Dream was gasping for air, scratching at Technoblade's arm. The god in front of him only seemed
to find it amusing.

"Don't go searching for answers you don't want, understood?"

Light was dancing in front of Dream's eyes. The fingers tightened and Dream choked, legs coming
up to uselessly kick at the other.

"I asked if you understood, little godling."

"Yes!" Dream wheezed out, just to get those fingers away from his throat.

As quick as the pressure had come did it disappear, leaving Dream to fall to his knees, coughing
and gasping for air, his lungs constricting in pain at the sudden rush. In front of him Technoblade's
body crouched down and stared at him with a fascination that made his skin crawl. He didn't have
the power to move back when the hand came forward again, this time to grab his jaw and tilt it up,
forcing him to look into the red eyes of a god.

"You're not even strong enough to fight against me. You're just a baby admin, barely able to
connect with your world. You don't even acknowledge what you are, what you hold. After what the
old admin did, it's no wonder that other gods were able to mess with his world, that we were able to
slip through the cracks. I was able to grab this mortal as my host. The time gods stole another. XD
does whatever they want. Not to mention whatever Velvet is doing with possessing people. And
now here you are, the server's chosen contender. Another variable."

Dream could barely concentrate on the god's words. The Blood God finally let go and Dream's
head dropped down between his arms. His breath was still fast, but not due to being strangled but
because of the intensity of the god bearing down on him. It felt claustrophobic. The Blood God
patted his head in some kind of fake condolence and chuckled. The claws running through his hair,
massaging his scalp would have felt nice if it wasn't for who was on the other end of them.

"What- what do you mean?" Dream was able to get out, through the panic that threatened to choke
him again. The Blood God just laughed again.

"I look forward to seeing how this plays out. But heed my warning. Don't get lost in this world.
You need to be strong to fight.”
"How- how do I get stronger?!"

Dream shot up and slapped the hand in his hair away but when he met Techno's eyes he just saw
plain confusion on the other.

Technoblade's eyes squinted in suspicion as he took in Dream's appearance, stopping at his throat.

"Was that him?" he asked. His voice was flat but there was a note of anger behind it.

It was a relief, hearing his friend's voice again instead of the choir of bloodthirsty fury. Even
though the body in front of him had choked him not even five minutes ago, he slowly sank forward
until his forehead met the other's chest and he let out a shuddering breath.

"Is that what you hear every day?"

Technoblade patted his back awkwardly. "Technically yes? And no? Chat and the Blood God are
different but also kinda connected. It's complicated. Are you okay? What did he want from you?"

Dream wasn't even sure himself. He let out a hysterical laugh. "I dunno. To warn me?! Tell me to
get stronger? Fight against god?! I'll be honest, it was a bit hard to concentrate while getting
choked."

"Damn," Technoblade said and looked impressed instead of horrified. "He held himself back. I
think he likes you."

Dream let out an offended noise. He had feared for his goddamn life!

"If that's how he shows affection, I don't wanna know how he treats those he hates."

Technoblade shuddered and Dream really did not want to know what he was thinking about.
"Yeah," the piglin agreed. "You really don't." He grabbed Dream's shoulders and pushed him
slightly back. "Usually I'm able to keep control. I'm sorry, Dream, I have no idea how this could
have happened."
Control. As if a god could simply be controlled.

Dream rubbed his throat in discomfort, the words of the Blood God still echoing in his head. He
had called him little godling. An admin.

He wasn't though. The real Dream from this world was the admin, no matter what was going on
with his admin powers. He was just an outsider who wanted to get home. Nothing here had
anything to do with him.

He ignored the everlasting pain in his heart and followed Techno out of the training room. Yeah.
He wasn't a god. Wasn't an admin. The only thing he had in common with the real admin and the
god of the server was his face. He could barely fight and his only hope to correct anything was in
returning home.

Dream took a deep breath and didn't look back at Technoblade who regarded him with a
calculating look.

Soon everything would be over.

--

>> Sapnap has made the advancement [Eye Spy]

>> Georgenotfound has made the advancement [Eye Spy]

>> Clay has made the advancement [Eye Spy]

They stood inside of the Syndicate's meeting room, fully armored and inventories filled, watching
as Philza mined away the wood, exposing the unfilled portal in its entirety. It was the first time he
saw Techno and Phil in their armor, and it was absolutely breathtaking. Now that they all stood
beside each other he could see that all four of them had different designs etched and drawn onto
their armor. Techno had elegant, pink engravings of thin swirls around a wing, an animal that might
be a racoon and a guitar. The delicacy of the drawing was a weird contrast to his strength and
power. Phil had four emeralds on his chestplate, two wings displayed on his back. On Sapnap’s
chestplate were bold flames, and on the area over his heart were smaller, more crudely drawn
etchings of a mask, a flame and goggles. George didn’t have any drawings except for the same
mask, flame and goggles on the palm of his netherite glove. If Dream hadn’t been so nervous, he
would have taken more time to appreciate it.

Exhaling slowly, Dream stepped forward and started placing the eyes of ender inside of the
hollowed out spaces. The thin scarf he had wrapped around his throat to hide the Blood God's
handprint was itchy but he'd rather have that than deal with his friends' questions should they see it.

The others had their weapons raised, looking around for the god that could appear at any moment.
With a deceptively steady hand, he delicately pressed the last eye inside and was the only one who
didn't startle when a loud sound echoed through all of their heads, signaling that the end had been
opened. The portal came to life before his feet, but instead of the swirling galaxies he expected, it
was purely black, swallowing any light.

>>Tubbo: "??!"

>>Tubbo: "what was that?!"

>>Tubbo: “and who the fuck is clay?!!!!”

>>Tubbo: “sapnap george what the hell are you doing?!”

>>Tubbo: “whats eyespy?!”

>>Tommyinnit: "Didn't Phil and Techno get that once too?"

>>Awesamdude: "You heard it too?"

>>Awesamdude: "It sounded like it came from my own mind."

>>Tommyinnit: "What the fucks going on???"

And in front of them, a hooded figure with thousands of white wings and countless hands appeared
before them in a swirl of fabric. Dream got blinded for a moment and when everything faded back,
innumerable eyes gazed at him. The being looked inconceivable, and Dream found himself
confused every time he caught a glimpse of it, like staring at a tesseract, but each time his brain
started spiraling at the unfeasible being, it reset back into a state of calm, only to get confused
again.

Sapnap let out a yell while George simply raised his hand with a smile. "Yo," he greeted. One of
the hands brushed over his cheek.

"What the fuck is that?!" Sapnap screamed, grabbing Dream's arm to pull him back. Dream
however stayed rooted in place, not letting himself budge.

"Chill," Technoblade said. "It's just god."

"JUST GOD?!"

"Guy almost stole our table," Phil nodded.

"Ahhh, administrator." A chorus of many voices rang out at the same time as the being bent over
Dream, green cloth floating around them. "You are a long way from home."

"Were you the one who brought me here?" Dream raised his voice, deciding to finally lift his eyes
to look at the being's face. His own eyes stared back at him behind a veil in the form of an X, pale
skin like marble compared to Dream's tan, unnatural neon green irises glowing over the bright
white of his eyes. The god looked like Dream if he had been a marble statue.

"Was I the one who brought you here or were you the one who brought yourself here?"

"That- that makes no sense!" Sapnap exclaimed. His grip on Dream's wrist seemed to be more for
himself than for Dream at that point.

"Are you going to let us go through or do you still have the rule that nobody can go to the end?"
Dream wanted to know. His own face on the god looked cold and foreign, it was as if he was
staring at his own corpse.

The being didn't move but he had a feeling that it was looking around at the others. "Only the
administrator can go to the end."

Sapnap's hand around his wrist tightened and George stepped up beside him.

"Come on, DreamXD, we can't let him fight a dragon on his own!"

"Yeah, fuck that!" Sapnap yelled, his fear of the god suddenly gone. "We'll go in together!"
The being suddenly appeared directly in front of Dream's face with only a few inches between
them, and he startled backwards. Even Technoblade inhaled audibly, raising his sword higher. He
saw his own face reflected in the dull eyes of the god, his panic and fear.

"There is no dragon in the end anymore."

Technoblade let out a disappointed groan. "Bruuuh. Seriously? That's false advertisement! Chat
was ready for a bloodbath."

Dream was frozen. If there was no dragon, was there still a way to get back? Was he stuck in this
world? "What- what do you mean?! Where is the dragon? There should be a dragon in the end!"

"We killed it." The being tilted its head, a finger poking into Dream's chest. "You killed it."

His eyes widened in understanding even when his friends let out sounds of confusion around him.
The seed for the Dream SMP he had used was the same one he had used for one of his manhunts in
which the dragon had been slain. The dragon in the real SMP wasn't dead because he hadn't used
the same world, had just used the same seed, but this world apparently worked differently.

"You- you won the manhunt!"

"We won many manhunts. And as punishment the higher beings made us take the place of the last
dragon we killed, as the protector of the end. It wasn't a coincidence this happened to become our
server."

"I'm completely lost," Phil commented with crossed arms.

"You understand what he's talking about?" Sapnap looked towards Dream but he could only
continue to stare at the being in front of him. Another version of himself that was being punished
because Dream wanted to entertain the masses. He still feared the god and their powers, but there
was also pity in him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Do not weep for me, for I learned to enjoy life once again." Several arms appeared out of the
ground beside George who gave them a pat with an amused snort.

"That's great and all but can we still go to the end?" Technoblade called impatiently.

"Only the administrator can go to the end."

Frowning, Dream scratched his cheek. "Can I as the administrator order you to let the others
through?"

"Only the administrator can go to the end."

Hesitantly he turned around to the others. "I mean… technically, since the dragon is already dead, I
can just walk through? Uhm, sorry for disappointing you though, Techno, Phil."

Philza sighed heavily. "Not gonna lie, I am a bit disappointed that I can't get to fly, mate. But when
a god forbids you to do something, you gotta follow."

"I personally am very disappointed! Chat’s crying, nerd! I'm disappointing the fans, they’re gonna
flame me for lying! The only reason they aren't canceling me yet is cause I'm gonna get Dream out
of prison, but after that it's game over, man!"

Phil pat Techno's shoulder in consolation, standing on his tippy toes to do so.

Dream smiled at them, relieved that they didn't seem angry. "Hey Phil, I know you don't like me
meddling in your life," he said hesitantly, "but if you want to, I could talk my Phil into giving you
back your wing."

The older man smiled at him. "I'll be honest, I don't think your world will have an impact on ours.
But thank you for your offer."

He frowned, fingers digging into his arms. He wanted to help everyone and give them a happy
ending, but it would be useless if nothing he did would change the outcome. He would only have to
cling to the hope that they were wrong.

"Come on, Techno, let's give them time to say goodbye to each other," Phil said and began to pull a
reluctant Techno out of the room.

"Wait!" Dream ran forward, jumping up to hug the piglin around the middle, squeezing his face
into his chest. Technoblade had completely frozen, looking very taken aback, before patting his
head awkwardly.

"Thanks. For everything." Dream dropped his voice to add quietly, "And tell the Blood God to go
fuck himself."

Technoblade gave a surprised huff. "Will I tell that to an immortal god who can take control over
my body? Probably not. I for one am not suicidal." His tone became gentler, more awkward. "And
it's uh… no problem?"

Dream let go of him to turn towards Phil with a questioning look. The older man opened his arms
with a good natured smile and Dream slung his arms around him, squeezing him gently.

"You have good intentions," Phil said. "But you're still so very young, still have so much to learn."

Dream nodded and let him go, watching both of them leave with a smile. Then he got pulled
backwards, Sapnap hugging him for dear life, letting out a loud sob.

"I'm gonna miss you!" he choked out, burying his face in Dream's neck.

"I'm gonna miss you too," he whispered back. His eyes felt hot and he squeezed them shut, fingers
tangled in the shirt of his friend. "Come on, George, don't just stand there like an idiot!"

Huffing, George joined them, arms encircling them much gentler like a soft breeze compared to
Sapnap's hurricane.

"If nothing changes, get- get your Dream out, yeah? Tell him that his friends are there for him, that
he doesn't need to do everything alone, that nobody will thank him for what he wants to do. And-
and tell Tubbo that he should not listen to Quackity, that Quackity just wants to use him against
Wilbur. Tell Wilbur that he just needs to apologize and his family will accept him back, tell Sam
that he can't be a biased warden, can't be judge, jury and executioner at the same time, tell Punz
that he can’t just follow someone else but needs to listen to himself. Tell Bad that he doesn't need
the egg to live, that it won't give him what he wants, that he shouldn't trust it, tell Ant that nothing
was his fault, tell Karl that everything will make sense soon, and- and- and tell Tommy that he
didn't deserve anything that happened to him, okay? That it was all wrong, it was all wrong, I didn't
mean to actually hurt him-"

"Clay. Breathe."

Inhaling deeply, he let go of his two friends and wiped away his tears. Sapnap let him step back
reluctantly.

"It's- uh, it's gonna be a bunch to remember, but I'm gonna make sure to relay your messages."

Dream smiled widely and looked at them one last time. "We had a rough start, but thank you. I'll
never forget you."

"Go home, Clay." George pushed the glasses on his nose, hiding his eyes. His breath had hitched
but he was trying to look unaffected.

Breathing in deeply, he walked towards the portal and looked down at the swirling darkness. "First
I need to know," he said, turning towards the god. "Are you the one messing with everyone's
memories?"

The god regarded him with their unblinking eyes. "I am not."

"Can you tell me who it is then?"

"That is not information I can share."

"Not even with the administrator?"

XD stayed quiet, simply observing him and Dream knew that he wouldn't get any answers out of
the other. He would be able to fix this at home. He just had to make other servers canon.

"And Drista, does she exist in here? My- my sister. We didn't accidentally created her just because
we wanted to mess around, did we?"

"There is nobody under that name."

"Okay," he said with a relieved sigh and looked towards the blackness of the portal. At least his
sister didn't exist in this fucked up world. "I'm ready."

"Administrator detected."

Millions of swirling, shining stars appeared inside of the portal, lighting it up. Giving his friends
one last smile, he reluctantly let himself fall inside.

>> Clay has made the advancement [The End?]

--

He appeared inside of a dark box and had to dig himself up to get to the top. In the sadness that
came with every goodbye, he had forgotten to give back the armor and tools they had given him.
Well, they seemed to have enough anyway, so he decided not to feel too bad about wasting them.
Hundreds of endermen were mingling about, walking around leisurely or simply standing still. The
choir of their voices sent shivers of fear down his spine, but he repressed it, walking towards the
middle of the platform towards the portal that would lead him home. Every step he took was heavy
and unsteady, he wanted to turn back, wanted to rush forward, wanted to stand still in this limbo
between his worlds.

There was a pain in his heart but it wasn't his longing for home, it was a pain that didn't seem to
come from himself, always whimpering in agony somewhere at the back of his mind. It was like an
itch that couldn't be scratched.

At the same time he wanted to do nothing else but wake up in his own bed, hug his own Sapnap
and see his family again. Wanted to see Tommy and not think about the teen with the dead stare.
Wanted to speak with Bad without thinking that somewhere out there, there was a version who was
suffering from being possessed who was obsessed with a dark being. Wanted to listen while his
friends were arguing, without this weird tension between them, the cold glances that George shot
towards Sapnap, the guilt that Sapnap seemed to carry.

He found himself jogging forward, avoiding the curious stares of the enderman, and looked down
at the portal, floating galaxies trapped in a mirror-like substance that beckoned him forward. He
couldn't get back now anyway, so it was stupid to think about these things. It wasn't like he could
actually change anything, it was best to get back home and end the SMP there.

He needed to get back home. It was the only way.

Who knew what had been going on in his world while he had been stuck here? Had he just
suddenly disappeared? His family and friends had to be worried sick, and he found himself
yearning for his parents' embrace. He wanted to annoy his siblings, wanted to watch football with
Sapnap, talk for hours with George. Those were his people, his friends, not the counterparts in this
world.

"You're such an idiot," he groaned, crouching down towards the portal. Soon he'd be with his
family. A smile pulled at the edges of his mouth at that thought. Not having to fear for his life
everyday sounded pretty nice too. "Alright." With a deep inhale, he jumped up and down, rubbing
his hands in preparation.

"Florida, here I come."

He jumped.

.
.

His knees gave out when his feet landed heavily on top of the black portal. Galaxies continued to
swirl underneath him, unaffected by his weight.

He stared at it.

"What- what's going on?!"

It was meant to bring him home! Why the hell wasn't anything happening?!

"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

His head shot up at the robotic voice and he looked around wildly. Nobody was there. It had
sounded like it had come out of his own mind. "What?! What do you mean? Come on, just let me
go through!"
"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

"I do want to! Get me home, now!"

"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

"I really want to!" Dream screamed, pounding against the portal that stayed solid. "I need to go! Let
me through, let me go home!"

"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

"What is wrong with you?! Let me through! I'm the administrator, and I say I want to leave!"

There was a man in a prison getting tortured.

"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

"I want to leave!"

There was a boy, heavily traumatized.

"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

"Let me go!"

His two best friends had a tension between them, uncomfortable and cold.

"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

"I WANT TO LEAVE!"

There was a man in a prison, getting tortured, this entire server was suffering, he was feeling the
pain, all the destroyed flesh of the land screaming out in agony and this was real, this was all real,
this was a real world with real human beings, not just pixels on a monitor and it was his fault and
he needed to repair it, he needed to-

"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

“I want to...”

"The administrator can leave if they really want to."

Clay opened his eyes.

--

DreamXD appeared inside of the end, countless eyes looking at the sunken figure sitting on top of
the portal.

"So you decided to stay."

Dark eyes turned towards them. "I didn't decide anything."

The god nodded. "Your heart decided."

"My heart’s a fucking asshole then."

The god tilted its head, curiously looking at the human who looked like he was desperately trying
to hold his composure. So similar to the old admin, XD could almost feel the pain, the
overwhelming feeling of tearing, of panic, of a continuous emptiness, of-
Humans were so fragile in their emotions. It was something XD had to learn in case they went too
far and hurt George. Liquid dripped down the administrator's face and DreamXD wondered if it
was a sign of sadness or happiness. George had tried to teach them emotions, but some were harder
to distinguish from each other.

"You seem… distressed?" was what they finally settled on. "I'm confused, isn't this what you
wanted?"

"I wanted to go home." The administrator's shoulders shook as he hid his face in his sleeves. One of
XD's hands reached forward and patted his back, like George did with them sometimes.

"The portal doesn't lie. You do not want to leave."

The administrator slapped their hand away, and XD held themself back to not immediately smite
him where he stood. Such an offense wouldn't have been tolerated from anyone, but this was the
administrator. Just this once DreamXD would forgive him.

"Don't tell me what I really want!" Liquid continued to flow down from his eyes and the god was
finally able to recognize the emotion, it was one he was deeply familiar with after all. It was rage.

"I'm not telling you. Your world is telling you."

The administrator threw up his hands and hit the portal with a furious scream, staying there, bent
over and trembling.

"What now?" he asked. "Am I stuck here until 'my heart decides it wants to go'?"

"I can send you back to your world."

"It's not my world. Florida is my world. My previous life is my world!"

"You misunderstand."
The administrator pushed himself up, leaning against the pillar with an angry huff. They stayed
there for a while, unmoving.

"I can send you back to your world," DreamXD said again after what felt like an appropriate time
for a human to rest.

The administrator sighed and stood back up. "Not yet," he said. "There's something I need to do."

--

Clay appeared in the bed he had last slept in, wishing he could slam open the door but having
barely enough energy to even walk on his feet. Water dripped off him onto the floor. Tremors had
taken over his body and it took him several tries to grab the doorknob with his stiff fingers, almost
falling into the hallway. He felt like a zombie, an empty feeling numbing him enough to not
immediately break down. (Air rushed past him as he fell, fell for what felt like miles, and the
ground was approaching-)

“Someone broke into my house. The voices are telling me it’s important.”

“Who would be stupid enough to break in?”

The door across the hallway opened with a loud thud and a shadow fell over him, faltering. “Nerd?
What are you still doing here?”

Wide eyes stared up at the piglin.

“Uh- you okay there, man? Hey-”

He walked past him.

Sapnap and George jumped up immediately when they saw him, surprise and shock coloring their
features. Philza looked up with a frown.
"Clay?! What the- weren't you supposed to go to your world?"

“Clay? Hey, Clay, you’re okay, everything’s okay, what’s going on?”

He was breathing quickly, and somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that he was probably
hyperventilating.

“It didn’t let me through.” He smiled, surely looking like a real mess with his damp, disheveled
hair, red eyes and puffy skin, the way his body just could not stop trembling and his ripped, still
wet clothing that barely clung to him.

“What- what do you mean?” Sapnap took his hands, letting out a surprised squawk. “You- you’re
freezing! What happened?!”

Without hesitating, his friend let his blaze half take over, pressing Clay closer to give warmth back
into his numb limbs. Huh. How funny. He hadn’t even noticed he was cold.

“It didn’t let me, it didn't- didn’t let me leave. I couldn’t get to my world, couldn't help you, so I- I
had to improvise. Can’t be helpful from outside, so had to be helpful from inside.”

“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Technoblade commented, but Philza stepped closer, face
closed off except for the shimmer of worry in his eyes.

“Clay,” he said. “What did you mean by being helpful?”

Instead of saying anything, he opened his inventory with the swish of his hand. A dark fabric
appeared in his hand and he threw it at Philza as if it were an unimportant table cloth instead of the
thing he had risked his life for.

“That’s… a cape?” George asked, frowning.

Phil looked at the fabric, unfolding it with reverence. “I think I remember this," he whispered. "In
other worlds. My own server. I can't believe the mind haze made me forget this."

Clay’s arms wound around Sapnap, letting his heart slowly warm up. Staring down he realized that
his fingers were tinted blue. That color was probably unhealthy.

“Didn’t- didn’t he tell us that elytras are only found guarded by things that shoot you into the air?”
George whispered. Sapnap flinched, trying to pull back, but Clay just clung on harder. It felt like he
would die if he let go now.

“Made an- made an unlimited water source. Drenched the entire floor. Didn’t wanna fall but had to.
Killed- killed. Killed the shulkers, killed them. Killed them all. I killed them, I killed-”

He shut his mouth when he noticed that he was rambling and opened his inventory again, throwing
six shulker shells at Technoblade’s feet. “I made myself useful. I was useful.”

The disturbed look on Technoblade’s face made him internally panic. He couldn’t help them from
his own world, so he had decided to make himself useful in a way only he as the administrator was
able to do. Had he done something wrong?

“Did you want more? I’m sorry- sorry, I couldn’t kill more. Hurt. Hurt to kill. I’ve been falling,
been falling-”

Sapnap gently took his face into his palms, leaving warm imprints. “Clay,” he said slowly. “We
saw you jump into the portal yesterday. Did you- did you try to get the elytra this entire time until
now? For fifteen hours?”

“Made myself useful,” he mumbled.

Sapnap’s arms were quivering when he pulled him back into an embrace. “You’re such an idiot,”
he whispered affectionately. “Go to sleep now. We’ll be here when you wake up.”

And something in him came undone as his eyes fell close.

--
 Darkness. Pain. He felt like his flesh was being speared through, like someone had threaded a
needle and was sowing through him. As if parts of him had been ripped away.

Heal, he thought.

Most of him was gone, had been ripped away.

Heal, he ordered.

But a small part, a tiny sliver, came back.

--

>> FoolishG: guys this isnt funny

>> FoolishG: Some asshole thought it was real funny to put sand back into the hole I spent
HOURS digging!

>> FoolishG: What the hell???

Chapter End Notes

So, a bit of background to this chapter: It started off with me realizing that in the
future I'll have c!Dream and cc!Dream interacting with each other and thus I can't call
both Dream. So obviously I'd call cc!Dream Clay and leave the other as Dream. And
then I wondered "Wouldn't that be a bit of a weird jump for the audience, to have Clay
be called Dream for so long and then suddenly when they meet he becomes Clay? So I
thought it'd be poggers to add a transition before they meet in which cc!Dream is
already called Clay. And it needed to be part of the story.

This is the moment where Clay stops calling himself Dream in his mind, where he
realizes that he wants to help the people from the inside, where he realizes that his
world and the DSMP world are not connected to each other.
This chapter has a few elements I was waiting to introduce! Like the introduction of
gods and Dream showing more of his admin powers.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter is gonna be more of a transitional one
and in the one after that a new character is gonna get introduced!
 plans over plans
Chapter Notes

A bit of a transitional chapter for the plot but important for the characters :D

See the end of the chapter for more notes

He came to himself on Technoblade’s couch, a new hoodie drowning him in fabric, a blanket
around him and the others talking in quiet voices to each other. Sapnap and George were sitting on
the floor beside the couch he was lying on, Technoblade was lying sideways on the other couch
while Philza was perching on one of the armchairs, the elytra displayed proudly over his broken
wings. They were bowed over several papers and maps, strewn over the entire coffee table.

Clay twitched his fingers, relieved when they didn’t feel numb and tingly anymore, instead a
warmth was flowing through them. His eyes were heavy but he forced them open, blinking at the
ceiling. There was still an itch in his heart, but it was almost unnoticeable beneath the constant
twinges, as if something was pulling at him at all times.

Slowly he sat up, looking towards the plans on the coffee table. They were the big blueprints of the
prison Clay had provided, very crudely because he had absolutely no drawing skills.

Technoblade was the first one to notice he was awake, giving him a small, awkward wave. “Heya,
nerd.”

Hell got unleashed.

“CLAY!” Sapnap turned towards him, grabbing his hands, George sitting down beside him.
“You’re awake! Or wait, is this weird-Clay or normal-Clay?”

“Slapping-you-if-you-call-me-weird-again-Clay.”

“He’s back!” His friends were grinning at him and he couldn’t help the smile that felt contagious.

“I’m back and I’m apparently not leaving. Now, I see you’re planning a jailbreak?”
Philza frowned at him. “Wouldn’t you rather rest more, mate? You’ve apparently gone through
quite an ordeal.”

Clay shrugged and sat down on the floor to get a better look at the blueprints. “It’s not like I’m
doing anything strenuous. I’m just watching you, right?”

“I guess.” Phil still looked unconvinced.

“Just continue as if I wasn’t there.”

Technoblade was the first one to break the silence, simply shrugging and pulling the blueprint
closer towards himself. “It won’t be that hard to get Dream out of there. Thing is, I want the prison
gone. Completely obliterated. Something like that should not be allowed to continue.”

“Tubbo has a nuke,” Clay said. Beside him Sapnap spluttered while George rubbed the bridge of
his nose. “I’m just saying!”

“Well, the most important thing is to get Dream out,” Philza mused, frowning down at the papers.
“The one issue we found is how to keep Sam long enough out of the prison so that we can get
Dream before he activates any kill-button. And of course everything we’re currently planning
depends on the assumption that Sam has the same key cards that you wrote down. That’s a bunch
of assumptions which I don’t like working with. Killing Sam to get the key doesn’t work because
he’ll just respawn, and if he didn’t carry the card with him, we’ll have squandered our chance and
he’s going to be on guard. If we capture him, there is no guarantee that he’ll give it to us. We will
use the first plan of using your key cards, but we need to have a backup.”

Thinking hard, he looked over the plans again, slowly getting sick of staring at the same plans over
and over again. “Techno, did Quackity visit you recently?”

The piglin hummed. “Nah, not that I remember.”

“Well, in our roleplay, Quackity gave Technoblade a letter written by me which made him visit
me. Sam then trapped him inside with me in the same cell.”
“Techno- Techno fell for Quackity’s trap?” Phil asked in disbelief.

“I mean, we did kinda plan for Techno to break me out, it was meant to be some sort of grand plan
for him to come up with! But well… we didn’t really plan the specifics of it yet?”

Sapnap groaned and fell back against the couch. “So we’re not one step closer?”

Something dawned on him and he looked up with a predatory smile. “Well, last time we planned,
we didn’t have an elytra. Or me.”

“Clay,” George said with a frown, “you’re not going to the prison.”

“I’m not saying that! You guys are gonna be the ones to get Dream out! I however have the for
once in this world useful advantage of sharing his face. I’ll show myself in front of Sam, distracting
him. You’re gonna break Dream out. If the key cards don’t work, Sam will go to the main cell to
determine how I managed to escape. One of you will follow him with invis.”

“That… could actually work.” Techno actually sounded impressed, and Clay preened under the
praise. "You'd have to be able to escape from the warden though. How about you get the elytra for
the prison break?"

Shivers ran over his arms at the thought of being so high up, of launching himself to that height. If
he were up there, he would not have enough consciousness to competently steer. Fortunately he
didn't have to voice his fear because Philza looked up with a frown.

"I should probably watch out for you while Sam is chasing you. For one he wouldn't expect help
from above, and the more people break into the prison, the easier it is to get noticed. And- I guess
you two wanna break Dream out?" He looked towards George and Sapnap who snapped up under
his attention.

George nodded, a stubborn set in his jaw.

Philza acknowledged his determination with a small smile. "Good. Then it's set." They were about
to stand up with groans of relief when the immortal coughed, gesturing at them to sit down again.
"We still have a bunch of planning before us though. And we're gonna have to build a hidden base
where nobody can find us after we get Dream out. And we need to relocate everything we built
including our pets. And gather all the resources we need. You know. Easy."

Around him everyone groaned.

--

"Technoblade, I swear to god, this wasn't funny the first time!"

"Hey, at least this time I let you put on shoes first."

Clay was hanging from the shoulder of the piglin, glaring at the swaying ground under him. He got
lifted by the back of his hoodie and placed on the ground. Annoyed, he looked around. They were
standing in the middle of a forest, sun barely breaking through the thick fog of clouds that had
settled over them. Techno had walked for quite a bit before deciding that this was apparently the
best area to do whatever the hell he was planning.

"So, what now?"

"Yesterday you were practically begging me to teach you how to fight and now you look like you
wanna kill me. Make up your mind, man." The piglin's voice was amused and Clay's urge to punch
him got overridden by surprise and anticipation.

"You're gonna teach me how to fight!? You wanna fight me?"

"Ehhh." He made a so-so motion with his hoof. "I don't fight people, I allow them to lose. And
again, you can't teach someone how to fight in a few hours. This is gonna be another reevaluation,
to see how good you are at running. If you suck we won't put you in front of Sam. We're not gonna
get Dream out just to lose you."

Clay set his shoulders straight. "I'm good at running! I mean, I think. I played football, soccer,
basketball, pretty much everything a few years ago!"

"You can't just hit me with these words and expect me to know what they are."
"You guys don't have football?! This world is terrible." At Techno's flat look, he rubbed his neck in
embarrassment. "Uhm, anyway, yeah, I think I'm pretty fast."

"Sure," Technoblade drawled. "But can you run while someone wants to kill you?"

"Well, I did survive Sapnap. Kinda. At least i survived long enough to- FUCK!"

He jumped back when a sword came swinging at him, immediately turning around to run into the
forest. "Techno, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I gave you enough warning. At that point it's your own fault if my extremely slow sword wave
even remotely hits you."

Clay ran, ears sharpened for any steps in the snow behind him. Technoblade was able to move
completely soundlessly, but this time he made his steps audible, jogging leisurely after him.

He made a sharp turn to the left, jumping over a fallen branch as he zig-zagged through the trees,
cursing when an arrow embedded itself beside him.

“Continue running, if you stop for even one second, Sam will catch you.”

Clay ducked under a tree, using his smaller statue to squeeze himself between two rocks, before
letting out a scream when a sword appeared at his throat. Technoblade was standing in front of
him, looking at him with raised brows. “Your world doesn’t have blocks, right? You tend to forget
that others can just tower over or destroy obstacles that you think give you an advantage. Also, you
have an inventory, use it.”

Clay summoned a stack of dirt, and Technoblade nodded, stepping aside. “Five seconds, then I’m
coming.”

Without waiting for another word, he rushed past the piglin hybrid, towering up to jump on top of a
tree, using the thick leaves to run on top of them. The ground seemed impossibly far away, but he
couldn’t care, not now, not when he had to prove to the others that he could be the decoy, that he
could be useful. Heavy steps underneath him made him veer into another direction where the
trunks were denser and more difficult to navigate through.

“Sam has a trident!” Technoblade called. “You’re running directly towards a water source. If you
let him get to a pond, it’s game over for you!”

Cursing quietly under his breath, he turned around, jumping directly over the piglin on top of
another tree. His breath was already coming in short bursts and his legs started to hurt, but he
clenched his teeth together. At the next arrow he jumped off the tree, coming down hard on the
ground, falling to his knees, and he let out an annoyed growl when he felt the sword pointing at his
throat. The enchantments were humming, almost as if in anticipation of a kill.

“You need to run away long enough to distract him for at least ten minutes, you sure you’re up for
it? Phil is gonna watch over you and will sweep down when he sees you’re in danger, but I’d rather
reveal our trump card after we get Dream out.”

Technoblade let out a sound of surprise when a handful of sand got thrown into his eyes, and then
Clay was already off, continuing his escape through the forest. There was a ravine drop in front of
him, but he couldn’t let his fear of heights stop him now. He had been dropped from the sky so
many times in the end, this was nothing!

This should be nothing.

The ground left his feet as he leaped over the ravine, placing a block at the edge, barely enough to
reach the other side. Techno jumped after him, and he mined away the dirt, smugly grinning when
the piglin hybrid fell down with a short “heeeeh”. The grin disappeared when the piglin caught
himself on the edge of the cliff, heaving himself up. “The most important lesson of escaping: Don’t
watch them self-congratulatory, use that time to run.”

Sighing, he began to run again. He tried to trip Techno up several times, once destroying a fallen
trunk that he was using as a bridge, throwing TNT towards him, blowing rockets into his direction,
but nothing seemed to faze him.

He needed to seriously surprise him with something. And what would surprise the hunter more
than being hunted?

He threw an invis potion at the feet of a fox, grinning when it disappeared into the next bush and
stood still behind a tree when Technoblade followed the invisible animal. “Good strategy, but it’s
useless when Sam can see where you’re go-”

Clay jumped out from behind the tree, sword raised to sink into flesh. Instead it got parried and
thrown out of his grip and Technoblade grabbed his arm to throw him over his shoulder, making
him hit the ground with a pained groan.

“Fuuuuck,” he wheezed, simply lying there, too exhausted to stand up.

Technoblade crouched down in a way that made him look upside down, an unimpressed
expression on his pig face. “You do realize that you were meant to run away? And not attack?”

"Wanted to surprise you,” he muttered, “thought it could work."

"Your counterpart who actually can fight couldn't even defeat me, what makes you think you
could?"

Embarrassed, he looked away. A hoof appeared in his vision and tapped against his forehead.

"Don't get me wrong, it was quick thinking, but when fighting against Sam you really shouldn't
take any chances."

Clay stayed quiet, once again feeling like a scolded child. It was weird, coming from his world in
which he was on equal footing with his friends, into this one in which they treated him like he was
incompetent, in which they wanted him to stay back and let them put themselves in danger.

A heavy sigh escaped the piglin hybrid and Clay looked up at him. "Is this because I called you
useless in a fight? You know that you don't have anything to prove to anyone, right?"

"I'm not- I'm not doing it because you called me useless-"

"So when you came back obviously traumatized from fighting and killing entities, telling me that
you made yourself useful, you did that because you were in the mood for some near death
experiences?"
Irritated, Clay got into a sitting position and turned around to sit cross legged opposite Techno who
still towered over him even though he was crouching. "I promised to fix everything as soon as I got
back home! And now- now I can't, and I left you with shit to fix that I caused! Of course I had to
do something, and the- and the elytra was the one thing that I could provide for you!"

"You know, when I called you useless in a fight, I didn't mean you should go risk your life because
you feel bad about things outside of your control. I meant that you as a human have other values
that don't have to be being good at violence. You don't like killing- that's okay. Don't kill. You
wanna make yourself useful? Great, wonderful, that's why we're evaluating your chances of
running away from Sam. But you shouldn't feel forced to risk everything for something your
friends didn't ask for. Believe me when I tell you that they'd rather have you alive. And I'm not just
talking about Sapnap and George. I mean their counterparts in your world. Our counterparts. I can't
imagine my counterpart being happy if his rival dies in another dimension."

"But- but I need to help the server somehow, I need to help you! There's a man getting tortured in a
prison because my friends and I thought it would be great entertainment!"

The other regarded him for a while while he panted, sweat running down his forehead into the
snowy ground below. Then the piglin sighed, a faraway look in his eyes, before shaking his head.

“I’m not telling you to stop being helpful." Technoblade stood up and helped him up, putting his
hooves on his shoulders. His eyes were piercing, holding Clay's gaze in a deathly grip. "I’m telling
you to be smart about it. You have a good head on your shoulders. Use it.”

--

"Couldn't you ask the Blood God to help us?" Clay was still fearful of the ancient being, but
having him on their side would mean certain victory.

"The Blood God is not there to help. He's there to be entertained. He's here for blood. And he
doesn't care where he gets it from." Techno's voice gained a hard note and Clay realized he didn't
want any more questions, despite how curious he was.

On their way back a shadow fell upon them and Clay looked up to watch Philza fly through the air
with a whoop of joy, turning loops in the clouds. Technoblade gave a quiet laugh, smiling fondly
up.
"Risking your life for the elytra was stupid," he said, reaching out a hand to floof Clay's hair, some
sort of childish glee glowing in his eyes at that action, "but thanks for giving Phil back the ability
to fly."

A yell made them look back up. "CLAY!" Phil screamed. "BE READY!"

Clay blinked, suspicion creeping up when Technoblade stepped away from him. "Wait, ready for
what?"

"Well, we need to train for everything. Including when Phil gets you out."

"Wait wha-"

A force smacked against him and all air escaped from him in a painful yelp. Then with the sound
of a rocket hissing, he got carried into the air, a hand pressing his face into Phil's shoulder, the
other arm around his waist in a painful grip. It was awkward and felt like he was about to slip,
since he was much taller than Phil. His legs bumped against Phil's but his feet were dangling freely
in the air. Phil was letting out curses and they were sailing through the air as if they were drunk.

His stomach gave a lurch and he dug his fingers into Philza's arms. "Put me down, put me down,
put me-"

"Woah mate, relax, I'm gonna drop you if you move too much- SHIT, FUCK!" Phil pirouetted
around himself with Clay in his death grip, all the way cursing and trying to right himself.

Immediately Clay slumped in Phil's hold, eyes shut tightly and arms slung around the man's
shoulders. He knew the ground would be too far away, knew if he opened his eyes now, he'd start
panicking.

Fuck, he thought he'd been over this! He had fought shulkers, had been thrown into the air again
and again, had jumped over ravines, it shouldn't be affecting him anymore, it shouldn’t be, it
shouldn’t be-

His stomach made a swoop when they approached the ground unsteadily. Phil's feet met the dirt
heavily and he stumbled, placing Clay down as gently as he could.

"You okay there, Clay?" His voice was concerned when Clay's knees buckled and he fell onto his
back with relief, finally grounded again. "I guess travelling with the elytra is different than with
wings. It's much harder, if not impossible, to carry someone with me."

Clay took heaving breaths and just enjoyed the feeling of nature. It felt like the sky got a little more
brighter and as if the birds were singing in happiness. "Let's- let's not, not do that a-again."

"You okay?" Phil asked again, bending down to run a concerned hand through his hair. Clay
leaned into the contact with a sigh.

"I don't- don't like heights," he admitted finally, not looking at the other in embarrassment. The
shaking of his knees didn't subside.

"Shit, man." Phil sat down beside him, putting back the rockets into his inventory. "I mean, we
should probably change the plan of how to get you away from Sam, right? Considering that the
elytra isn't made for two people. Except if you wanna have it?"

Hastily he sat up, waving around his arms frantically. "No! Nono, it's all good, man! You keep it,
Phil, we'll find another way! I'll just spam ender pearls or something, they won't catch me! And if
you see me cornered you can still swoop in and we crash land somewhere away from Sam!"

Philza frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Don't worry about me! It's not the end of the world, right? I can do it!"

They couldn't throw him out of the plan now, not when he could finally prove himself useful. His
fear of heights had always been annoying, but now that and his inability to fight were actively
getting between their plans, and he hated it, wanted it gone, wanted to be useful for once. These
were his mistakes and he needed to fix them.

"Alright, if you say so." The man didn't look very convinced, but he didn't press him further,
instead standing up and stretching his arms over his head. The sun cast him into a silhouette, a stark
contrast to the bright light. "I'm gonna go to Techno, let him try out the elytra! You good here?"
Clay gave him a thumbs up. "I'll just stay here for a while. Haven't enjoyed nature for quite a while
in my world." He smiled at Phil and waved as he ran back where they had left Technoblade.

The immortal stopped and turned towards him. "Oh, and Clay," he called. "Thank you. For giving
me back my wing. See, you didn't have to go to your world for that."

Warmth blossomed inside him, and it felt like a part of his heart got restored.

"Don't mention it!"

--

“I need to show myself in the SMP.” Clay stepped towards his friends who were sitting at the
kitchen table, plans still lying everywhere.

Sapnap looked up, a faint expression of incredulity on his face. “I should really stop getting
surprised whenever a new, stupid thing comes out of your mouth.”

Clay punched him in the arm. He didn't even budge.

“I’m serious,” he said as he looked at the others around him. “Before we break Dream out of prison
I need to be a known person on the server, else people will think I’m him. Of course I’m gonna
wear a mask while going out, Sapnap, I’m not an idiot.”

“Ah yes, the least suspicious thing in the world: A masked man appearing suddenly right before
Dream breaks out of prison.” George smiled thinly.

Clay rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m- I’m not trying to be un-suspicious. I just need the SMP to
know that Dream and Clay are two different entities. That way I can impersonate him whenever
necessary. And vice versa.”

And if possible talk to Punz and figure out whose side he was on. If Dream had staged the disc war
finale. What their future goals were. Preferably without anyone else present. After he knew for
sure he could make plans on how to bring it up that Dream had manipulated them again in a way
that wouldn't make them want to kill Dream. Fun.

This really wasn't going to be a piece of cake.

Phil nodded slowly. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “But you’ll need to take someone with you.”

“Yeah, Quackity already thinks that you work together with Dream,” Sapnap added. “I’ll come
with you, they won’t react well to Technoblade and Philza, and they barely trust George.”

That would make things harder, but not necessarily impossible. Sapnap at the moment saw him as
helpless and naive, he wouldn't expect him going behind his back. Though- Clay wouldn't call it
going behind his back. Rather, information gathering. Fact checking. Yeah. That.

“You need some kind of recognizable mask though. One that preferably shows your eyes since
they’re different from Dream’s,” Phil said, making Sapnap let out a squawk.

“How does everyone notice that except for me?! I’ve known Dream the longest!”

“You thought Clay was Dream?” Techno laughed. “Cringe!”

“You literally thought he was Dream too!” Sapnap yelled, red face turning golden. "Everyone here
did! Well, except for George but George is obsessed with Dream."

"I'm not obsessed, you're just an idiot," George said without looking up from the book he was
reading.

Sapnap bristled and Clay put a calming hand on his back but also made sure to laugh at him.

“Here.”

Clay barely reacted fast enough to catch the cloth Phil had thrown at him.
Something hard was placed inside and he gently folded the cloth apart to reveal a mask that would
only cover the lower part of his face. It looked like the skull of some kind of creature, with its long
canines and its angry snarl. Completely contrasting that was a cat beanie underneath the mask,
presumably to make the scary skull less scary.

"I always thought of Dream as more of a dogboy than a catboy," Sapnap commented.

"What's wrong with you," George said and immediately got slapped by Sapnap. The book fell out
of George's hands and he let out the biggest sigh as if he was carrying a heavy burden.

"Don't act as if you didn't think that yourself. You're literally the biggest Dream simp."

"You got chat screaming about who's a dogboy or a catboy." Technoblade's monotone voice
interrupted their squabbling. "Thanks for that. It's not like chat's already distracting enough."

Clay wanted to ask him more questions about how chat worked in this world, but he swallowed
them down and instead put on the mask. If he wanted to go to the rest of the SMP today, he
couldn't keep up another conversation.

Phil helped him strap on the mask, which sat snugly over his nose. It was a little disorienting since
it was long and he couldn't see past it at the ground, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as he had
assumed. He put on the blue cat beanie and then threw the dark cloth over his shoulders, pulling up
the hood.

"How do I look?" he asked, opening his arms.

His friends' facial expressions were diverse. Phil gave him an encouraging nod, Techno looked like
it physically hurt to keep in his comments, George didn't look very convinced and Sapnap looked
too convinced. Considering that this Sapnap was face-blind towards humans, that feedback was not
very encouraging.

"As long as you don't talk, I don't think anyone will recognize you," George finally said. "And
compared to just a hood, the disguise is strong enough to be recognizable and establish you as a
new person."
 Sapnap stepped closer and pushed his curls underneath his beanie until all of them were hidden.
When he was done he stepped back with a satisfied hum and nodded. "I don't think anyone would
think you're Dream now."

"Now even you?" Clay asked drily.

"Not even me."

"Great." Clay took a deep breath and looked towards the others. "Then we'll go now. Let ourselves
be seen by as many people as possible. And tomorrow it's time for a jailbreak."

Chapter End Notes

I'm really looking forward to next chapter! A new character appears!

Also, remember at the very start when I said that I had 45k written out and the story
might be abandoned? Well, now I have 100k and no intention of abandoning it! It's
going strong, y'all!

There is so much I can't wait to post! Dream's gonna show up later and that's gonna be
very fun!

Anyway, thank you to everybody who commented, kudo-d, bookmarked and read this
fic! See y'all in two weeks!
 the mercenary
Chapter Notes

Guess who got hit by covid lol

Pure suffering

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The walk towards the SMP went by quietly. Sapnap seemed to be deep in thought and Clay still
stared at everything with a childlike curiosity. As if at any moment he would wake up and realize it
was a dream.

The snow crunched underneath the boots Philza had lent him and the air smelled fresh, of pine
trees and cold sunshine. The invisibility potion he had kept from the dragon fight that hadn’t
happened felt cold, even if it was hidden in his inventory.

It was a complete contrast to the hot nether that still made him shudder when they walked in. The
smell of the nether was fascinating. It was a dry smell, reminding him of a volcano, of melting iron
and gravel. Netherrack was softer to walk on that stone, and very uneven, a rough texture that
scraped against their soles.

"You should really introduce nether roof traveling," Clay muttered. The bridges around the nether
were much more terrifying than in the game. As a minecraft character he trusted himself enough to
jump all over the blocks, parkour over blown up bits, walk over one block wide parts and ignore
that there were no railings, but as a real person all of that made him clutch Sapnap's shirt harder.

His friend glanced at him and then opened his inventory with the swipe of his hand, grabbing a
potion and throwing it at their feet. Immediately warmth swept over Clay, this time smelling of
smoke and incense. It was a comfortable warmth compared to the warmth of the nether that bore
down on you. The feeling disappeared like the wind, leaving only faint imprints.

And from his skin golden glowing particles rose. Fire resistance.

"Now you don't have to fear falling into the lava," Sapnap smiled at him, before frowning in
thought. "I mean- it is a bit painful for overworlders like you, so better avoid it, but better than
dying, right?"
Clay gave him a weak chuckle and continued to follow him through Minecraft's hell.

“What’s nether roof traveling?” Sapnap wanted to know and Clay frowned, trying to remember if
there had been any nether roof traveling in his SMP.

“You blast a hole through bedrock and reach the roof that way. It’s basically just an unending
expanse of only bedrock, but you can still build portals up there. So it’s a safer way to travel the
nether rather than build bridges. Especially… these ones.” Clay stared at the chaotic bridges that
would have OSHA inspectors crying and screaming.

Sapnap snorted. “You can’t destroy bedrock!” He paused, looking Clay up and down. “Wait, can
you?”

“Well, in the game it was possible. It requires blasting TNT right over your head and right-clicking
on a block really quickly, so I have no idea what the equivalent in this world would be.”

Sapnap stayed quiet but a glimmer of doubt shone in his eyes.

They quickly arrived at the portal that would lead them to New L'Manberg and stepped into it.
Purple swirled around his eyes and the nasty feeling of getting dissolved took hold of him again
before he opened his eyes to a city in front of him. It wasn't as big as Kinoko Kingdom, but, and
this wasn't an insult to his friends' kingdom, it looked more lively. Every block looked like it had
history behind it. There was a house which looked like the door had been replaced recently from
how much newer it looked compared to the wall around it. Some grass blocks looked like they had
been taken away and somebody had placed dirt instead, having only grass scattered sparingly on
top. Every house looked a little bit lopsided, a lot of signs were placed everywhere with nonsense
written on them.

"This is beautiful," he whispered. In front of him was the real version of what his friends had built
in the last years. How long had it taken their counterparts to build this city? How long had the war
gone on?

"It's not that special," Sapnap said and took the lead. "Usually not everybody goes out at the same
time, but having at least half of the citizens of New L'Manberg see you would be enough."

Clay nodded and carefully stepped behind Sapnap, only giving occasional sounds that he was
listening when Sapnap started recounting the history behind the area. The umbrella that Fundy had
stuck into the earth while saying he was “throwing shade” which nobody had taken out, now
tattered and weather-worn. The ever-changing wooden ground that Bad and Tommy tore out and
replaced again and again. The hole in the ground caused by Jack Manifold that nobody had fixed.
Niki’s abandoned house that she never visited, which now had several holes caused by someone
who had apparently needed warped nether planks, because almost all nether planks had been taken
away, leaving everything else untouched. The patch of flowers on which somebody had thrown a
fire resistance potion which had caused them to never bloom, which Tubbo had apparently found
so hilarious, he had insisted on keeping them that way.

Clay waved at every new face that peeked curiously over to them. Some waved back hesitantly,
even smiled. Most regarded him with suspicion. He recognized an anthropomorphic cat who had
the same posture Ant did in every picture he saw of his friend. A fox hybrid who could be nobody
else but Fundy stared between him and Sapnap with distrust, a hand raised as if to call upon a
weapon. A man with long, dark hair with the same mischievous smile as Michaelmcchill waved at
him with raised brows.

Clay thought all the experiences he had would help him differentiate between these strangers and
his friends, but his heart screamed to run towards them and envelop them into a hug. Instead he
kept up the shy charade he had established when he had met Quackity and ducked behind Sapnap’s
back.

A sliver of white fabric in the shadows between two houses caught his eye, and he snapped his
head around, desperate to see if it was the one he was searching for. However, nothing was left
except for gently swaying grass. He took out a vial of milk and downed it, making the warmth of
fire resistance drain out of his body. The orange particles disappeared.

“What’s up?” Sapnap wanted to know but Clay waved him off.

“Just a cool house.”

Sapnap frowned. “It’s a dirt house.”

Clay pushed him forward. “Shut up,” he said, happy that the mask was hiding his red cheeks.

After he had decided that enough people had seen him, he waited for Sapnap to lead him into a
wooden underpass, before silently taking out the invisibility potion and swallowing it. A cool
feeling washed over him, like standing underneath a slight drizzle, barely enough to feel the
moisture on his skin. Sapnap didn’t notice him disappearing, holding up the one-sided
conversation.

Clay stopped walking and watched with amusement when Sapnap didn’t falter, instead continuing
to walk. He turned around and left, leaving a trail of gray particles behind him. First he needed to
confirm if Dream really had planned to imprison himself, and thus if the planned events in the
future that hadn’t happened in the streams yet, would come to pass. Afterwards he would deal with
whatever the truth would be.

Either Dream was a puppeteer who wanted to figure out immortality and restart the server or the
disc confrontation was his real face. At this point, Clay had no idea which he preferred. If the disc
confrontation had been staged, then Punz would be on their side in trying to break Dream out. He
was loyal to Dream though, and not to them, and if he insisted on getting Dream away from them,
if they would restart their efforts again to achieve immortality and restart the server, that could
spell doom for the server.

He traced his steps back to where he had seen the sliver of white, past other people who seemed
much more relaxed now that he and Sapnap weren’t in eyesight anymore. The grass in the shade
between the two houses was freshly trampled, and he followed the trail through several houses and
builds, through several farms and lived-in land, until he caught sight of a man clothed in white.

His breath caught as he finally saw Punz, a man with the same face as his friend, but whose posture
seemed much more exhausted and rigid. He was standing on top of a cliff over Clay, his legs
hanging off the grass as he stared at the bright sun over them. There was something relaxed in the
man’s broad shoulders, in the way he leaned back. He was decked out in netherite and he had
painted on white lines that resembled a motherboard on his chest piece. It was intricate and showed
a love for the piece of armor. On the other hand, his pants, helmet and boots looked newer and
didn’t have the designs. They also had more scratches however. The chestplate was probably the
only piece he took care of.

Clay carefully made his way around the cliff towards the stairs that lead upwards. God, he
suddenly realized, he had no idea what he would even say. How the hell would he get the
information out of Punz without him becoming suspicious?! Clay hadn't realized how much he
flew by the seat of his pants until now.

He arrived at the top slightly panting and raised his eyes towards the cliff, only to be met with an
empty spot.

He groaned. "Seriously?!" he whispered to himself, almost kicking the ground. Sapnap must have
noticed until now that he had disappeared; he couldn't afford to chase down Punz yet again.
A sudden chill overcame him as all his senses screamed out in danger at the same time. Clay barely
took in a breath before the cool metal of a blade was pressed against his throat and a hard hand
gripped his invisible wrist with pinpoint accuracy. A heavy weight leaned against his back.

"Now, why would a person with invis follow me?" A deep voice murmured into his ear. Same
cadence as his friend. Same accent. Same tone.

Danger, his senses screamed. Friend, his mind provided. Shit, Clay thought.

He raised his free hand in a sign of submission before realizing that Punz couldn't see him. As if
reading what he was thinking, Punz's hand let go of him, swiped through an invisible field and
grabbed a bottle of milk out of thin air.

Clay slowly took it and lowered his mask, taking careful gulps. He felt the cool feeling of
invisibility drain out of him, before he could see his own limbs again.

"You're the one who followed after Sapnap." If possible, Punz's voice had taken an even more
aggressive note.

“Ah- wait, I’m just here to talk!”

With sudden force he was turned around and came face to face with wide, blue eyes. Deep eyebags
and worry lines aged him and innumerable scars marred his otherwise familiar face.

Quicker than he realized, did the shocked look on Punz's face turn into a suspicious, narrow-eyed
one.

“Dream?” he said hesitantly.

Clay lowered the mask completely and made sure the cat beanie hid the color of his eyes. This
could also work, even if it might complicate things further down the line. If Punz attacked him
now or let him go, he’d get his answer either way. Maybe in this way he could even confirm that
the goals Dream and Punz had were the same that Clay had planned for his character. It was after
all just a vague concept in the streams which hadn't been confirmed anywhere.
“Astute observation, captain obvious,” he snarked and channeled all of his character’s high and
mighty attitude. He crossed his arms and looked down at the other with the most confident look he
could muster.

“Shit,” Punz whispered, his face scrunching up in what could be relief. Or possibly regret. It was
honestly hard to read. “What are you doing out of prison?”

So, he hadn’t attacked Clay yet but that didn’t have to mean anything necessarily.

“I was in the mood for a change of scenery,” Clay said and hoped the other would finally say
anything useful. The more he said the sooner Punz could find out he was just an imposter, and then
it was game over for him. No way he could win against someone who was canonically an assassin.
“So obviously I had to get to you first. After what happened in the disc confrontation.”

Punz lips ticked up in a smile that could either be read as playful or mocking. “Obviously. It's been
a while.”

Clay cursed the Punz in his world for creating a character who couldn’t be any more specific if
someone pointed a gun at him. Come on, he wanted to scream. One single thing he needed to
know, then he would gulp down another invisibility potion and run for the hills. Or possibly recruit
him to break Dream out of prison.

Punz put a hand on his shoulder, and Clay almost melted underneath the touch of someone who
looked like his friend. “We also agreed to meet at George’s old house and not in old L’Manberg
where everyone can see you.”

Clay gave a hesitant laugh at that. An ally then. Punz and Dream had been working together and
they possibly wanted to restart the server. Great. Yeah. That was good. Fuck, he was way in over
his head. “Why wait if I could also just get you now?”

“Come on,” Punz said and grabbed his wrist, pulling him away from the cliff. He looked too casual
with the sword slung over his shoulder with a boyish grin. “I have a hideout not far away from
here. We can wait until night falls before going to our safe house.”

And now to the harder part. How should Clay even start? Continue acting like Dream and make
sure his information was correct or immediately confess who he was? Hey, I’m a person from
another world who looks exactly like your friend, help us break him out?
Yeah, honestly, it was no wonder Sapnap didn’t believe him, it sounded crazy. George had
immediately believed him because he regularly hung out with the god of this server who looked
exactly like Clay and Dream. Technoblade also had a god living in him and had flashes of
memories of traveling between worlds. Philza had all of his memories and was probably older than
all of them combined. For normal people however Clay’s existence must seem absolutely insane.

He had been so deep in thought, he only noticed Punz pressing a button hidden between grass when
the sound of pistons reached his ears. The other gave him a slight grin at his surprised face and led
him into the hole that had opened in the previously untouched looking mountainside. They found
themselves in a small room, several chests lining the walls. A corridor led into another room which
looked like a bedroom.

“Can you quickly grab my notebook over there?” Punz asked, pointing towards the bedroom.

Clay nodded absent-mindedly and made his way across the stone floor towards the bedroom. A
click. The sound of pistons. Clay was barely able to turn around in confusion before the ground
gave out underneath him.

A scream tore itself out of his throat when he found himself weightless, his arms waving around in
panic when he started falling. He barely had the chance to form a feeling of betrayal when he
abruptly landed hard on a mattress, the bed creaking dangerously underneath him. The beanie fell
off his head, making him feel naked without it and the mask.

>> Respawn point set

Hastily he jumped off the bed, narrowly escaping Punz who had jumped down after him, landing
on the bed with a dangerous aura around him. His sword was raised up, and Clay realized that he
hadn’t put it back into his inventory from the moment they had met.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-

Clay’s back hit the wall of the round hole Punz had dug out, made out of obsidian and crying
obsidian. The bed was the only item in the deep hole and the only way to escape was through the
mercenary in front of him.

“Wait- wait, this is a misunderstanding-”

Punz grabbed a handful of his hair, yanking him forward. A short second of shock was given to
him, before a knee rammed into his stomach. His armor absorbed most of the impact but bile and
spit still escaped his mouth and he landed on the ground coughing and gasping for air. Pain
bloomed across his torso up to his head and his vision swam, making his view of the mercenary
hazy. It still didn’t make him miss the detached look on the other’s face.

“That was for thinking you could fool me.” He swung his sword in an arc, stepping forward, and
Clay crawled backwards, trying to melt into the wall. “And this is for impersonating Dream.”

“No- wait!” Clay begged. “I am Dream! Or- well, I am a version of Dream! I’m not from this
universe!”

Punz scoffed but instead of stabbing him he crouched down, grabbing his hair again. Clay closed
his eyes at the pain, but at a demanding shake of Punz’s hand, he forced his eyes to open and look
at the other. Calculating eyes roamed over him, taking in every single facette of him.

“You do look the same, I’ll give you that. But Dream and I, you see, we had a plan. And while I
might not agree with it, he is not one to abandon his plans. So when some cheap imitation appears
and claims to know things that aren’t true, well, you see how I might get suspicious.”

“You and Dream never agreed to meet up at George’s house, did you.” Clay could feel his own
heart beat against his ribcage. Punz had been on him this entire time and had simply led him into a
bed trap where he wouldn't even be able to escape through death.

Cold sweat ran over his back. As an outsider, did he even have several lives? How would it feel to
die, at the hands of someone who wore his friend’s face? This situation felt all too familiar, only
now it wasn’t Sapnap standing over him.

A bloodthirsty grin crawled over Punz’s face. “Correct. Somehow you know about me and Dream
working together. If this information goes out, it might destroy several of our plans, you know?
How did you figure it out? Who the hell even are you? And why do you look exactly like Dream?”

Clay swallowed drily, not daring to take his eyes off the predator in front of him. “I’m from another
world,” he said. “I know everything that happened to you because I know a version of you and
we’re friends. This is all just a roleplay in my world-”
A sword rammed into the wall, nicking his throat and the words got stuck in Clay’s throat.
Something warm started to trickle down his neck. Cold eyes looked down at him.

“Luke, please,” he whispered and felt incredibly pathetic. Here he was, spouting big words about
distracting Sam and helping Dream escape, when he was the one who walked straight into a trap
and didn't even try to defend himself. Instead all of his muscles were locked.

“Don’t fucking call me that, pretender, that name is not for you,” Punz snarled. “Stop bullshitting
me. Who are you? What were you doing with Sapnap? What do you want from me? From
Dream?”

Clay squared his shoulders and tried to grit his teeth through the fear racing through his body. He
had fought against shulkers and had managed to come out on top, he wanted to fight against the
entire server, for god’s sake!

“I want to break him out.”

Punz snorted but the grip on his hair loosened ever so slightly. “Now why would you want to do
that?”

“Because he’s getting tortured in there.”

Punz’s face tightened. “I did tell him it was unnecessary to only give himself potatoes, but-”

“Not that,” Clay interrupted him. “Quackity visits him every day. Torturing him.”

Punz looked down and for the first time he looked unsure. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“You put too much trust into Dream’s plans,” he muttered and shut up when Punz threw him a
sharp look. The Dream SMP had been a roleplay with dozens of writers who worked on their own
story. It wasn’t an airtight story, and while his character was meant to be a mastermind, his plans
had to somehow work in between the chaos that was the roleplay. Apparently it translated into this
world as Punz putting too much faith into this world’s Dream.
“And you know all that because you come from another world,” Punz said with the quirk of his
lips. He was still crouching in front of him, only illuminated by the crying obsidian, but the
dangerous edge had left his shoulders.

“You don’t believe me,” Clay stated the obvious.

“Why would I?” Punz leaned closer, staring at his face. “You do look completely the same though.
It’s honestly uncanny. You're just… too soft. And weak.”

And to his complete embarrassment Punz leaned forward to grip his biceps, squeezing slightly
while mouthing an awed "holy shit" when his entire hand was able to wrap around it. If this had
been his Punz he would have punched him already.

“George said my eyes are different," Clay said and shook off Punz's grip with an insulted huff.

The mercenary looked up to stare intensely into his eyes with a long "Hmmmm". At this point most
of Clay's fear had disappeared, leaving behind a slight annoyance. He had expected to get beat up
by Dream’s enemies, but he had hoped that at least his allies would help him.

“Huh,” Punz finally said and snapped his fingers. “So like, are you, like, his twin or something?”

“Yeah,” Clay sighed. He’d just clear this up when they had joined back with the others. Sapnap
could go through the pain of explaining Clay’s existence. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“He never told me about you,” Punz muttered and sounded a bit hurt by that. Clay at that point
couldn’t really care about the feelings of the person who had attacked him. “And you want to help
Dream escape because he’s getting tortured by Quackity.”

“Yeah.”

“And Sapnap is helping you?”

“Yep. George, Philza and Technoblade too.”

“Huh,” Punz repeated. The look on his face was unreadable. He seemed to think about something
for a while, before finally clapping his hands, causing Clay to flinch at the sudden noise.

“Alright,” Punz said and stood up, making room for Clay to hesitantly rise up too, holding his
aching stomach. “Guess we should get out of here and meet up with your allies.”

And with that he started to build a staircase up. Clay stared after him and then at the almost empty
hole he was standing in. Cracks were running up the obsidian wall and the crying obsidian seemed
dimmer than before. It somehow fit with the complete shift Punz had gone through in the last
minutes.

“Hah?” Clay asked perplexed, a hysterical laugh escaping him. Then louder, “Hah?!”

--

“You’re accepting things relatively quickly,” Clay muttered as they walked side by side, back to
L’Manberg. The sun was beginning to set and he really didn’t look forward to justifying himself to
Sapnap. His voice was muffled from the mask that was sitting snugly back on his face. This time,
in addition to the cat beanie he had also pulled his hood deep into his face.

“I’m used to things changing quickly,” Punz said, typing away on his communicator. “Be warned
though. My ultimate goal is getting Dream out. What happens to you is none of my concern, twin
brother or not.”

“That’s okay, we just need all the help we can get, trying to get Dream out," Clay said and gave
him a wobbly smile. "But say, the ultimate goal is still immortality and restarting the server,
right?"

Punz side-eyed him as he pocketed his communicator but didn’t voice any of the questions Clay
was sure he had. "Dream told you that?"

"There were long discussions about how the plans will unfold," Clay said, technically not lying. "I
know a lot, especially about Dream's plans."
"Then what was that thing with acting like him?" Punz muttered in a low note that sounded like he
wasn't used to voicing his doubts.

Clay let out a nervous chuckle. "I panicked over having a knife against my throat?"

The other actually let out a short laugh. "Yeah, you see, that was the first thing that made me
suspicious about your identity."

How funny, that he couldn't even act like the character he had created. "We really are two different
people," he muttered out loud and was confused by how much saying that out loud surprised him.
It should have been an obvious statement after all, one that especially he should know.

"Eh," Punz shrugged. "You're not Dream. But you have the same smile. Not the same laugh
though. His is more-" He let out a noise that sounded more like a cat getting murdered than a
laugh, but Clay understood what he was going for.

And it was that simple statement that made him frown. He stared at the ground while Punz let him
gather his thoughts, a careless swagger in his step.

Clay's teakettle wheezing laugh had come from a collapsed lung for which he had to get an
operation. Now his laugh sounded more normal, while Dream had kept his. He wondered if Dream
was running around with a collapsed lung. Oh god, had the collapsed lung translated into this
world?! Had he given his character something that needed an operation?!

Somehow it was his counterpart's laugh that was about to give him an existential crisis.

“If it’s possible,” Clay started when he got reminded of something important, “when we meet
Sapnap, can you not mention that I followed you? It’s best if he thinks I got lost and then met you
where you directly recognized me from, I don’t know, the way I walk or something, and thought I
was Dream.”

“The way you walk is completely different,” Punz said, focussing on the least important thing.
“Dream walks with confidence. You walk like you just learned what walking is. Like a fawn that
was just born. As if this is the first time you walked on this earth.”

“Yeah yeah, I get it,” Clay said and was promptly ignored.
“We can say your mask fell off and I recognized you. Besides, why do you want to lie to Sapnap?”

Clay rubbed the back of his head. “He doesn’t know what you and Dream have planned. Doesn’t
know the disc confrontation was staged. Your… future goals. And I’d rather keep it that way.”

Punz nodded. “Dream must have kept you informed. Man, you really remind me of him with your
schemes.”

Clay frowned. “It’s not a scheme, it’s to keep Dream safer. If the others knew what you and Dream
are planning to do, they might not wanna get him out.”

Punz waved him off uncaringly. “Yeah. A scheme. What do you think my goals in my schemes
were? Keeping that idiot alive most of the time.”

And with that Clay fell quiet, staring at the ground in front of him. Every time someone compared
him to Dream, an uncomfortable feeling overcame him. It wasn’t too out of pocket, Clay had come
up with him after all, and his character had developed pretty naturally and through a need to have a
villain in the roleplay. But it didn’t mean he liked being compared to someone who would go to
war with some teens. Who would go against an entire server of friends. Who didn’t feel any
remorse when killing two people again and again to figure out the revival book.

A loud voice ripped him out of his thoughts, and before he could react he was suddenly thrown
onto the ground, a heavy weight on top of him. The mask pressed almost painfully into his face
and the area where Punz had kneed him screamed in protest.

“CLAY!” Sapnap screamed into his ear as he did his best to squeeze the life out of him. Clay let
out a rattling wheeze. “You suddenly disappeared! And then I have to hear from fucking Punz that
you were just wandering around!”

Clay patted his back in consolation and gave him a nervous chuckle. “Sorry, Sap,” he muttered and
allowed himself a short moment to close his eyes and bury his face into his friend’s neck. “I was
distracted by floating blocks- that doesn't exist in our world, your world is fucking insane!
Anyway, suddenly you were gone and I tried to find you.”

A part of him did feel bad about lying to his friend, but an even bigger part knew that this was
probably the better path.
“I found the dude when his mask got knocked off,” Punz casually mentioned.

Sapnap jumped up like a whirlwind, summoning his axe in the same movement. Punz parried his
strike with an amused huff and grabbed an ender pearl out of his inventory in a smooth motion,
throwing it behind Clay before casually throwing the arm with his sword around him, hooking his
chin over his shoulder. It was a warning for Sapnap to stay back, but from the gentle squeeze on
his arm he knew that Punz was merely posturing and didn’t mean him any harm. Clay stayed
frozen, blinking as he was caught in between the two warriors.

“You betrayed Dream for money,” Sapnap hissed. “And now you’ve seen Clay’s face. Get the fuck
away from him or I’ll take all of your lives one by one.”

A languid hum came from the other. “I never asked your name, did I?” he muttered towards Clay,
barely audible for him despite how close he stood. Then, louder, towards Sapnap, “I'd have
recognized his voice anyway, what got your panties in a twist, bro? And you were one of the first
people eager to defeat him. I at least did it for money, you did it out of your own sense of justice.”

Sapnap’s lips thinned, something lost in his gaze. Rolling his eyes, Clay slammed his elbow into
the mercenary’s stomach, earning a surprised “oof” before extracting himself out of the other’s
grip.

“Yeah yeah, people can change, whatever. Sapnap, Punz is here to help, and Punz, please don’t
antagonize Sapnap. He wants to get Dream out of prison because they’re friends.”

He stared deeply into Punz’s unimpressed eyes, wishing he could somehow beam the last days into
the other’s mind, of Sapnap’s yearning, his grief and regret.

“Why do you even wanna help us?” Sapnap came closer and lowered his axe but didn’t put it back
into his inventory.

Punz gave a non-committal shrug, and if Clay hadn’t been friends with another version of him, he
wouldn’t have noticed the way his gaze didn’t meet theirs, the way his easy grin seemed more
forced than before. “A favor from the admin does sound great.”

“If it’s a favor you want, you shouldn’t have sold him out in the first place.” Sapnap’s words
sounded harsh but his voice was unsure. “After getting him out I had originally planned to warn
you to run far away from here before Dream got his strength back. He had always been bad at
forgiving slights.”

Punz’s grin widened, and for the first time since he had met the mercenary it appeared more
genuine. “You know, somehow I think I’ll survive.”

--

They were walking back to the portal, Clay flanked between Punz and Sapnap, when he heard a
loud curse coming from further down the path, somewhere between a melon farm and an
abandoned looking house. Tommy's voice was as distinct as always. Now, it wasn't unusual to hear
the boy curse, but Clay wasn't used to his voice having such a genuine sound of frustration and
bitterness.

Without a thought Clay walked towards where he had heard his voice come from, ignoring the
protests of Sapnap and the exasperated sigh from Punz.

He found Tommy standing over a mishmash of different blocks, a faint red glow over some of
them. His brow was furrowed and his teeth were grinding uncomfortably against each other as he
stared down at whatever he was trying to do. The eyebags were even more pronounced than before
and there was a frazzled air around him, but he looked so painfully Tommy, he almost had to look
away. He was only wearing iron armor which he had painted in all the colors of the rainbow. The
only color missing was green. The drawings were in many styles. He had probably asked
everybody to draw on it.

"Clay, what are you doing?" Sapnap whisper-yelled.

"We really have no time to waste to get Dream out," Punz added, earning a surprised look from
Sapnap.

"We're not going to break him out today anyway. Techno is still gathering some resources and
relocating their things and pets to the new base. And-" he struggled to come up with any other
reason to approach Tommy other than that he wanted to. "- Tommy is loud and important to many
people. If he can confirm that I'm not Dream, that would be useful."

"He has already seen you before!" Sapnap argued.

"He's at most glanced at me," Clay said and then left his hiding spot to approach Tommy who was
now sitting on the ground, mumbling to himself.

"SHIT- what the fuck, dude!" The teen yelled when Clay wordlessly knelt beside him and looked
at what the other was looking at.

Clay gave him a small wave and made sure that his eyes crinkled with a smile.

Tommy squinted at him in suspicion. “You’re the dude who was with Sapnap and Gogy. With the
weird achievements.”

“Hi,” Clay whispered. This Tommy would know Dream’s voice, and while whispering would be
suspicious, it was still leagues better than being recognized by his voice.

Tommy’s gaze however grew even more suspicious. “What, can’t talk properly, bitch?”

“Anxiety,” Clay lied and immediately felt bad when Tommy’s gaze softened.

“Ah. Sorry.” The teen’s gaze fell off him as he frowned. “Well. Welcome to L’Manberg. Guess my
warning to run away as fast as possible was already too late.”

Clay shrugged. “Met people I liked.”

“That’s how they get you,” Tommy grinned bitterly. “Then it’s game over.”

Clay waved towards the contraption at his feet. “What are you doing?”

Tommy sighed, frustration seeping back into his gaze. “Sam Nook wanted to teach me how to
make a flying machine but then he ran out of battery. So now I’m just stuck with this rubble.”

He slapped the slime block, making his hand bounce off and hit him straight in the face, eliciting a
very colorful curse. Clay did his best to contain his laughter, but from Tommy’s annoyed look it
must not have been very convincing.
“What’s the problem?” Now that he knew what he was dealing with, he looked at the contraption
with a new eye. If this had been the game, he would have immediately recognized it as a bigger
version of the small flying machine he had used in one of his manhunts, but while the textures
translated well into this world, it was still hard to recognize them.

“It’s not working!” Tommy yelled while flinging his arms into the air. He suddenly seemed much
more spirited than before. “I swear to god, when Sam Nook comes back, I’ll make sure he’ll never
get any bitches! I’ll swap his sugar and salt- wait, do robots even eat? Not important, I’ll make
him scrub the toilets in the hotel! I’ll-”

“You placed the observer the wrong way.”

Tommy stopped in his tirade, open mouthed. He stared at the flying machine. He stared up at Clay.
For a moment he seemed like his brain had stopped working. Then he cleared his throat, a light
dusting of pink on his cheeks. “Well, uh- yeah. Obviously. Yeah. I knew that.”

A snort from behind them made Tommy spin around in panic, the terrified expression that had
flashed on his face immediately replaced by annoyance when he recognized Punz and Sapnap.

“What the hell do you two bastards want?” He looked between them. “Didn’t know you hung out.”

“We have a mutual acquaintance,” Punz said, pointing towards Clay. “Who needs to go now. So
say your goodbyes and we’ll be out of your hair.”

Clay felt a twinge of guilt at the actual irritation in Punz’s voice so he didn’t protest, instead
standing up to wave Tommy goodbye.

Tommy pouted. “Oi, he was just helping me.”

“And now he’s done helping you.”

Clay waved to get Tommy’s attention and gave him a smile. “See you around?”
The teen grumbled something underneath his breath. “Sure. See you around. Make sure not to
become too traumatized till the next time I see you.”

With that he turned back towards his flying machine, only to let out a loud squawk. “Wait- How do
I get this up into the air?!”

Clay laughed. This Tommy and the one from his world were really uncomfortably similar in their
mannerisms, it was quite uncanny. That was why he couldn’t leave without one last comment.
“Hey Tommy?”

“Hmmm?” The teen turned his head slightly to signal he was listening without taking his eyes off
the machine he was taking apart.

“I really do like your sweater.”

This time Tommy laughed slightly, waving him off with a small smile. “Yeah, yeah. I can make
you one if you so desperately want one, dude. Against compensation of course. At least ten stacks
of diamonds!"

"That's a pretty high price."

"Well, you know, inflation hitting all of us! The great TommyInnit loves capitalism! I will
capitalism the shit outta you, big C!"

And Clay smiled back. “Of course.”

He let Punz grab his arm and pull him along, ignoring the poisonous glare Sapnap shot the
mercenary at his manhandling.

“He could have recognized you at any moment. That was reckless of you.” Punz’s voice was low
and dangerous and Clay shifted closer to Sapnap whose hand was raised in the air, ready to
summon anything from his inventory.

“He wouldn’t have. I made sure,” Clay assured him in a soft voice, like comforting a startled
 animal.

“You might look like Dream, but if you do anything to jeopardize us getting him out of prison-”

“You’ll kill me, yeah, yeah.” Clay waved away the sword Sapnap had materialized and yanked his
arm out of Punz’s grip. “Don’t worry, I also want to get Dream out of prison.”

Punz nodded slightly, but his tense shoulders relaxed.

The walk back to Technoblade’s cabin passed in an uncomfortable silence.

Chapter End Notes

Punz introduction yay! :D

To anybody who was hoping that Punz would like Clay, unfortunately he's only loyal
to the real Dream. Clay continues to have the worst luck imaginable.

I'm so happy that Punz is finally in the story, I love his and Dream's interactions so
much, man. Drunz gives me life

Also, remember when I was scared that I'd abandon this fic? Well, I have it currently
pre-written until chapter 24 lol
If I manage to finish it anytime soon, I'll probably bump the time between chapters to 1
week instead of 2

Thanks for reading! :D

 pretender
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

“This isn’t a hotel,” was the first thing Techboblade said when he saw Punz who was trailing after
Clay and Sapnap while curiously staring at the piglin's cabin. “Why are you bringing people to our
super secret jailbreak plan?”

Clay could see Punz discretely eye Technoblade up and down, tension in every muscle. It was a
warrior’s instinct, a predator sizing up another. Technoblade’s bored, almost daydreamy gaze
looked almost comical next to it. The mercenary had almost subconsciously slightly stepped in
front of Clay as if protecting him was second nature. Or rather, protecting Dream. As if their last
interaction with Punz clarifying he only cared for Dream and not him hadn’t happened. Something
in his chests loosened at that, at the thought that his counterpart had at least one person he could
still trust.

“He’s helping us,” Sapnap said and sounded as excited about that as Technoblade looked.

“Didn’t you betray Dream?”

“For money,” Punz smiled. “If I break him out, I’ll get a favor from the server admin. That does
sound appealing, doesn’t it?”

If possible, Technoblade looked even less impressed. “You do know he’s gonna kill you for
betrayin' him, right? I’m not gonna protect you or anything, it’s your funeral.”

“Let that be my worry.”

Philza ushered them inside when he saw them trembling on the porch, an exasperated sigh on his
tongue towards Technoblade, and sat them down on the couches, pushing cups of hot chocolate
into their hands. Clay drank his without hesitation but noticed how Punz frowned down at his in
suspicion before pushing it away from himself.

“So what’s the plan?” Punz wanted to know. “You two are going to help us break Dream out of
prison?”
“No, you’re helping us,” George corrected him when he walked into the living room, a steaming
cup of hot chocolate already in his hands.

“Well, before we start with anything,” Clay began and turned towards Punz. “I’m not actually
Dream’s twin. I’m from another world.”

Punz raised an eyebrow and looked towards the others who nodded. “You’re just shitting me,
right?”

“Nope,” George said. “No shitting is happening.”

The mercenary just blinked lazily, squinting slightly at Clay. His mouth was slightly parted but he
kept most of his emotions behind a stone wall as he sized Clay up. “So you’re… from another
world?”

There was a delicate line to walk between telling the truth and making sure the people from this
world didn't start hating him for calling them imaginary characters. He didn't want the same
reaction Phil had. "A world in which the things that happened in here were mirrored by a- well, a
story. It's a- it's a roleplay and everybody has their own character they play and write stories for. I
just happened to play Dream. That doesn't mean that this world here isn't real or anything, I
actually really believe there isn’t any correlation between our worlds-"

Punz's gaze went dark and he interrupted his ramblings. "Then you made Dream get tortured?"

Clay froze, his heart beating heavy in his chest. Something dark, something horrifying seemed to
lie in the air, making it heavy and he couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe-

Phil raised a book and slightly hit Punz on the head, keeping it there and suddenly the air felt
lighter again. "If you want to misunderstand, at least listen to the entirety of what he’s saying.”

Clay took small and quick breaths, his fingers digging into his pants. His heart was still beating so
quickly and his blood felt hot. A trickle of sweat ran down his forehead. Sapnap threw him a few
concerned gazes but he was too frazzled to look back.

Punz rolled his eyes and grabbed the book out of Philza's hands when the older man made his way
to the kitchen and the book threatened to slide off Punz's head. "This guy's saying he controlled our
lives and yet you trust him? I didn't assume the strongest players would be this stupid."

Technoblade snorted. "Only one thing has the ability to control me, and it's a god. This weakling
here could never."

Clay didn't comment on that, compared to Techno and probably most people in this world he was
weak after all. "I didn't control you. I don't think I could. There are too many things that differ from
our world- how things work, the established character relationships, how you look like. Honestly, I
just think in the infinity of parallel universes one universe just happened to fit mine. You know-
you know that one thought experiment with an infinity of monkeys typing on a typewriter and one
of them will have accidentally written a Shakespeare work? Do you even have Shakespeare?"

"Uh huh," Punz stated drily and leaned back against the couch. While his previous attitude towards
Clay hadn't been warm, now it had become almost freezing.

The untouched drink in front of the mercenary had stopped steaming.

Suddenly hit with the urge to prove anything, Clay gesticulated wildly with his hands, stumbling
over his words. "No, really! I- I did have the chance to go back and fix everything from my
universe, but my subconscious refused. Maybe- maybe, and I mean that's just a theory, because I
knew that this thing, this entire server, is independent from our world. That this would be my last
chance to fix anything."

"We're not just some charity project for you," Punz growled and Clay got the feeling that nothing
he could say would sway the other from disliking him. "Either you wanna help because you feel
guilty for doing something wrong or you're looking down on us."

"Or he could just wanna help," Sapnap said.

"Come on, Sapnap, you're just a character to him." Punz laughed, a mocking little thing that made
Clay's blood boil. "He apparently knows everything that happened in this world. What's gonna
happen. Why the fuck would he wanna help Dream?"

He was talking to Sapnap but his eyes lingered on Clay, the question very clearly intended for him.
After all, Punz knew Clay knew their plans, everything they had done to achieve them. Clay knew
about LazarBeam and Vikkstar’s torture, about their plans. It was no wonder he was suspicious
about Clay’s desire to break Dream out.
"Can't you just accept the help of the only person here who knew about what was going on in the
prison?" George sighed. He was lying on the couch, a dazed look on his face as if he was going to
fall asleep any time.

"I will accept his help but I won't accept him," Punz stated, and the clear rejection stung more than
Clay could have imagined. "We're strangers to him. He's a stranger to us. Ultimately that's all we
are to each other."

"You're all my friends," Clay said in a hushed tone, staring deeply at the wooden table in front of
him. From the kitchen he could hear Phil cooking but from the way he seemed to only be near the
entrance to the living room it was clear that he was listening intensely. "You're too similar to my
versions not to feel some kind of connection."

Punz snorted but didn't add anything, simply glared at him with dark eyes. "I don't care about you,
pretender. Let's just get this over with. We'll break out Dream and then we're never going to see
each other again."

"Finally," Technoblade muttered, and with a flourish he yanked open a cabinet, taking out all the
plans they had drawn. "I was getting bored with all the talk. T'was getting really cringe, not gonna
lie. Chat's been really annoying too- no, chat i won't challenge Punz to a match to 'defend Dream's
honor, heh?- and they want to see blood. So now that we have an extra person we should also plan
for one more."

Punz's eyes flew over the pages in concentration before Technoblade snatched them away again,
giving the mercenary an amused smirk when he glared at him.

"Just wanna make sure nerd," he called towards Clay, "you are one hundred percent certain we can
trust him?"

"Yes," Clay said with his entire conviction. Punz might not like him but he was Dream's only
friend, and the opposite was probably also true. Beside Techno he would probably be the only face
Dream would trust. Out of everybody here Punz's desire to get Dream out could be the strongest,
even stronger than George and Sapnap's.

The man threw him a weird glance, eyes narrowed in suspicion. He ignored it.
And just like that, as if Technoblade saw him as an equal, he threw the plans back onto the table
and let Punz yank them to himself before anyone could take them away again.

"So this is Pandora's Vault," he muttered with a frown. "And these are the passcodes?"

"Potential passcodes," Clay corrected. "Sam and I made keywords so that nobody else could get in,
but I don't know if that translated into this world."

"And if it didn't?" Punz asked warily.

"Then Sapnap, George and Techno are gonna follow Sam back into the prison in invis when he
goes to check how Dream escaped. And if that doesn't work, then-" Clay swiped into the air to grab
something from his inventory, holding it up proudly, cursing himself that he hadn't thought of it
sooner.

"A fruit?" Technoblade and Punz asked with raised brows and then pointedly looked away from
each other when they noticed they had spoken in unison.

George sniffed the air and frowned. "Something about it reminds me of XD."

With a bright grin Clay bit into it. In the End he had eaten a few when he had gotten scared that his
food was depleting, but he probably would never get used to the swooping feeling that started with
his navel and spread to his extremities, the feeling of being condensed and then thrown around.

He opened his eyes and stared into Phil's surprised eyes. The man had a pan raised into the air,
ready to strike, and Clay jumped back with a yelp, back into the loud living room.

"What the fuck," George breathed.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Sapnap repeated.

"So, like, an ender pearl?" Punz asked and looked at the half eaten fruit in his hand. Clay licked the
last taste of sweetness of his lips before offering it to him with a grin.
"With an ender pearl you need to throw it towards where you want to land. Teleportation with a
Chorus Fruit is more random and more often than not you'll land somewhere you don't want to, but
it has the distinct advantage of making you able to phase through walls."

Ranboo had once teleported himself into and out of Pandora's Vault on stream like that, so it was
definitely possible.

"Huh," Techo said and grabbed the fruit when Punz didn't react further besides staring at it
dubiously. With a bite and a popping sound he disappeared.

For a short moment silence fell over them. Then a pained scream echoed outside of the house.
Philza was the first to react, sprinting out of the door towards where the scream had come from.
Clay took in a panicked breath, following him quickly.

They arrived to see Technoblade covered in smoke and debris, standing inside of a sizable hole that
had torn the ground apart. The enchanted pickaxe in his trembling hand was probably the only
reason he hadn't been crushed. His leg was still stuck further in the ground, bent in an unnatural
angle that made Clay nauseous. The stone shattered into dust, not even turning into blocks when
Technoblade hammered at it, a manic gleam in his eyes. Blood was running down his head, forcing
one eye closed and his braid had opened, framing his face with pink, disordered wisps of hair. If
not for his quick reflexes he would have been buried alive.

"What," he seethed when he finally was free and had jumped out of the hole, "was that?!"

Sapnap looked horrified, staring at Techno's bent leg which didn't even seem to slow him down
when he approached Clay.

Clay raised his arms in alarm, stepping back at the hulking form looming over him. "Wait- wait,
that shouldn't, that wasn't, I mean-"

Punz stepped between them and picked the rest of the fruit out of Techno's grip, casually
examining it. "Relax bro, it was just an accident."

Philza pressed a bottle of regeneration into Techno's hands and gave him a look. Techno rolled his
eyes and downed it. Immediately his leg snapped back with a sickening sound and Clay got the
desire to hurl.
"Don't act as if I was about to attack him," Technoblade said and pushed Punz away to grab Clay's
shoulders and shake him slightly. "Don't do this ever again. Any knowledge you think to have
about this world, throw it out. Treat it as a completely separate world. The same rules don't apply."

Clay's throat got dry. He had been lucky whenever he had eaten it then. The thought of getting
stuck in a wall, especially one made out of obsidian with mining fatigue sounded completely and
utterly painful.

"So for example," he started slowly, "there's no health bar? Right? Right. If you fall into lava you
don't have enough time to eat a gapple and survive?"

"If you fall into lava, even in full netherite, you probably won't have the reaction to think about
your inventory through the pain of literally getting the flesh seared off your bones."

Clay nodded slowly. "Yeah," he rasped out. "Alright."

They gathered back into the living room as if nothing had happened, ignoring the dust and blood
on Techno's clothes and his hisses whenever he rotated his leg. Philza was sitting behind him,
gently making a new braid, his fingers carding through his hair.

"So we won't do that," Punz said and despite his mocking tone it eased the tension in the room a
bit. Everybody nodded in unison.

"If the passcodes and the invis won't work, we could search for a weakness on the bottom of the
prison," Clay said. "That's how my friends and I were thinking about doing it. But then again-
different universe, different rules, right?"

Punz nodded absent-mindedly, his eyes on the middle of the map in which they had drawn
different routes to get to the prison room. "I'll go into the prison to retrieve Dream."

Sapnap squawked. "You can't just give yourself a role! George, me and Technoblade were gonna
grab Dream while Clay and Phil were gonna distract Sam."

"Then I'll just join you."

"Or you could help protect Clay," Sapnap said.

"How bout I get Dream and you protect the pretender? Out of us you're the one who actually cares
about him."

"You betrayed Dream!" Sapnal yelled. "You think he's gonna react well when he sees you?!"

Punz laughed and if Clay hadn't searched for it, he wouldn't have heard the bitter undertone in his
voice.

"Don't act as if what you did wasn't betrayal. My betrayal was unpersonal at least, it was because of
money. You did it because you wanted to. It was an oversight not to pay me more. And it was an
oversight to call you a friend."

Sapnap flinched back as if slapped. His eyes were wide with the most heartbroken expression Clay
had ever seen. His lips trembled slightly and he gulped shallowly, seemingly lost for words.

"Sapnap," Clay started but he had no idea what to say. He couldn't tell him it wasn't true, he had
written Dream after all. He had wanted the raft between his and Nick’s characters.

"You seem oddly invested in this," George said, not sparing Sapnap a single glance. Sapnap sank
back into the couch like a puppet cut off its strings.

Punz shrugged. "Ultimately I am simply a mercenary out for a favor. I prefer my missions to run
smoothly though. So if the prisoner freaks out when he sees your ugly mug, I'd rather prevent that
now."

Black tendrils crawled underneath the skin under Sapnap's eyes. With a deep breath, smoke
escaped out of his mouth, escaping in a sudden puff when Philza tapped his head with another
book. "If you wanna burn, do that outside of the very flammable house." He grabbed the empty and
untouched mugs and ruffled Clay's hair on his way to the kitchen. "Besides, I don't see any problem
here. Sapnap, Punz and George will break Dream out. Techno and Clay will distract Sam, the
guards and the server who will be after you. And I will stay above and will make sure that
everything is running smoothly."
"Phiiiiil!" Technoblade whined but Clay realized from the same tone his Technoblade used, that it
was merely playful. "Chat's gonna be so annoying if I'm not the one to break Dream out!"

Phil rolled his eyes good naturedly. "They like Clay, don't they?"

A snort however made them turn back to the mercenary who was lounging in his seat as if the
house belonged to him.

"You want Technoblade to protect the pretender? Are you too stupid to notice the marks around his
throat in the shape of hoof claws or is your desire to be the one who breaks Dream out really
stronger?"

He wasn't looking at Techno however but instead grinning meanly at Sapnap.

Clay really wanted to know what this guy's deal was. He seemed to hate him and want nothing to
do with him and then this happened. He threw him an annoyed look, too focused on giving him a
"what the fuck, dude?!" expression to notice Sapnap reaching towards him and yanking down his
scarf. "Hey, wait-"

Sapnap examined his throat with a frown before taking a deep breath. And then with a swiping
gesture a loaded crossbow appeared in his hand which he pointed at Technoblade. He stepped in
front of Clay, George beside them who was holding a bow and an arrow loosely in his hands.
Technoblade meanwhile looked at the weapons with an arched brow.

"You have ten seconds to explain yourself, Techno," Sapnap growled.

"Or what?" Technoblade asked amused.

"You're not helping, man!" Clay jumped up and grabbed Sapnap's shoulder, not too roughly so as to
not accidentally trigger the weapon. "Dude, chill! It was an accident!"

"How do you accidentally strangle someone?!"

"So, uhm…" Clay's eyes darted towards Technoblade who gave him a bored gesture of permission.
"By being possessed by the Blood God?"

The room got quiet, only the faint whispers of the wind and the occasional flaps of the ravens to be
heard. At his friends' silence Clay looked around, confused to find all of them staring at him in
shock.

"You were face to face with the Blood God?" Punz asked hesitantly.

"Clay, what the fuck," George said and pushed his goggles up to squint at him.

"I mean- I mean he just wanted to talk? And- well, and strangle me I guess. I mean, I'm fine, it
wasn't that bad, at least I could still talk and-"

"And you survived," Sapnap muttered.

Clay froze and slowly turned around to stare at everybody. Even Philza had a shocked expression
on his face, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. The only one who wasn't looking at him as if he
had suddenly sprouted two heads was Technoblade who was lying on the couch, staring at the
ceiling with a false air of casualness.

"I mean, he did strangle me and warned me not to mess with Techno or something. Spoke about
admins and stuff. Honestly, getting choked doesn't make someone listen to what you say."

"Clay," Phil said slowly, "you gotta understand that until now nobody here has survived a visit by
the Blood God. Not even I have ever talked with him."

Phil and Techno shared a meaningful look, before Techno huffed and looked away.

Sapnap gave a decisive nod. "Then he doesn't want Clay to die, right? That's good, right?"

Punz massaged the bridge of his nose and looked close to punching Sapnap. "Great, make the
goddamn Blood God protect the dude he strangled," he muttered, before his eyes flashed towards
Clay and their gazes met. He frowned, his colder expression on his face again, and rolled his eyes.
"Alright, now that that's cleared, I'll go. See you losers tomorrow."
He stood up and left out of the door before Clay even realized what had happened. Hectic, he stood
up and shot a "Be right back, just need to tell him something" towards the others before running
after Punz.

The mercenary was already halfway to the nether portal when Clay caught up to him. He threw
Clay an annoyed glare, not stopping to hear him out.

"So," Clay began, "was it something I said that made you hate me or..?"

"You can't just disguise yourself as my friend, traipse into my eyesight, claim to know everything
about us, then call all of us just a story that you created and expect all of us not to treat you like an
outsider. Because that would mean nothing that happened here mattered."

Clay stopped when they arrived at the nether portal, grabbing Punz's arm before he could walk in.
The other shook off his grip with an annoyed huff but didn't leave, instead crossing his arms and
looking like a mother scolding her child.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't think this world mattered. I had a chance to get back. But I stayed.
Because- because you matter, okay? You all- you all matter and I wanna fix everything, okay? I
wanna fix everything that's fucked up in this world!"

"You're just an outsider, a pretender," Punz spit, poking a finger into Clay's chest. "You can't just
wander into our disputes as if you had our weight on your shoulders. Just because we might look
like your friends doesn't mean we mean anything to you. And just because you look like Dream
doesn't mean I automatically care about you."

Clay bit his lip but tried not to let Punz's words bother him. The mercenary was technically correct.
At home he had his Punz, the one he actually shared memories with, the one he had gamed, joked,
laughed and cried with. He didn't share any of that with this Punz. Still, he couldn't just walk away,
not when there was even the smallest thing he could do to help these people.

"It's important to you to keep our worlds as separate entities," Clay said slowly, something that
might be realization crawling up his spine. "You don't want to conflate me with Dream. You don't
want me to treat the people from this world as my friends. Why?"

Punz looked towards the nether portal, his shoulders heavy with something Clay couldn't name. He
seemed to consider what to say before sighing and stuffing his hands deep into his pockets,
slouching as if not having a care in the world. His tense expression however betrayed his false
casualness. "We're separate worlds. I need to believe that. I can't- there can't be another Punz out
there who controlled my actions. These are my actions. I'm in control, there can't be- there just
can't be someone out there!"

"You are," Clay said soothingly as if talking to a scared animal. He would put a hand on Punz's
shoulder but it would probably be unwelcome. "The reason why I stayed is because I
subconsciously didn't think that our worlds were linked in that way. We- Sapnap and I- had a plan
for me to go back to my world so that I could fix everything from there but this world didn't let me
leave. Yes, me and my friends from my world acted this entire thing out and yes, we know
everything that happened, but that doesn't mean we can control your actions."

Something foreign fell over Punz's gaze. "Fix everything from your world?"

"Yeah, for a moment we had a thought that we could fix everything from my world by just acting
out a happy end but there are just too many differences between our worlds for me to think that we
could fix anything in that way.”

Punz's gaze was dark and for a moment fear shot through Clay's body, a desire to flee, run away,
before Punz let out a deep sigh, an exhausted expression on his face as if the previous moment
hadn't happened.

The mercenary bit his lip, frowning at a point past Clay's shoulder. "Before Dream I never cared
about anything," he started slowly. "It felt weird caring about someone. It felt… nice. Knowing I
possessed the ability to love. And now here you are, coming in and telling me it might not have
been me, that something from another world compelled me to care about him. The only thing I
ever cared about and it might be because some people from the outside needed me to help Dream."

Clay shook his head vehemently and stepped closer to the other. "We did this because my Punz and
I wanted to play more together. ‘Cause we’re friends. And you care about Dream because you
wanted to. You still have free will, right? If my Punz from outside could control you, why wouldn't
he get me out right now?"

Punz shoved him away when he got too close and rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, I get it," he
muttered. He didn't look any more convinced than before but his shoulders were less hunched in
defense. "I guess when you and Dream meet it would kinda show that our worlds are different."
He scratched his blond hair and sighed. "Man, your existence alone gives me existential dread."
"Tell me about it," Clay muttered. "I never intended to come here, hell, I don't even know what
brought me here. I'll be honest, I don't think this world existing has actually hit me yet."

Punz frowned and looked him up and down as if seeing him for the first time. "You look weak," he
stated bluntly. "Had a pretty comfortable life, huh?"

Clay rubbed his neck and tried not to feel guilty about having had a good life. He had to remind
himself that these people, despite looking like his friends, had lived through several wars and had
to constantly fight for survival.

Punz turned around to leave but Clay stopped him yet again by grabbing his sleeve. "Wait!" he
called out. "After- after we break Dream out, what do you plan to do?"

Punz looked at him with raised brows. "Shouldn't you know?"

"So you still wanna reach immortality through any gains necessary?! Figure out all the knowledge
in the world? Restart the server?" Clay asked in a hard voice. "Your friend was tortured and you
still wanna continue your quest for immortality?!"

"My desire to reach immortality now is even stronger than before. Dream could have died.
Permanently. I refuse to let that happen."

Clay's hands balled into fists, his fingernails biting into his skin. "I want to save Dream because it
isn't right- what happened to him isn't right. But I won't let you hurt anyone here either, Luke. Your
goals might not be evil but I refuse to accept your means to achieve them."

Punz smirked at him as he stepped into the nether portal, his form swimming in the deep purple.
"Then just try to stop us, pretender," he grinned, arms stretched out as if going in for a hug. And
then he disappeared, teleporting away, leaving Clay behind in the cold snow and the golden rays of
the slowly sinking sun.

Clay let out a trembling breath which fogged in the icy air. Then he turned around, back to the
house where his friends were waiting.

--
It hurt. Every time he closed his eyes and his mortal body fell away, everything hurt. A lot of the
hurt came from the vines spreading through his body. A lot of it came from the black stain on him,
something that should have never existed.

Heal.

Heal.

My body should heal and with it my land.

Heal.

--

Sam stared at the cracks running up the wall on the corridor that would lead to the prisoner's cell. It
would be too hasty to ring the alarms but he should be prepared for everything. The prisoner
couldn't have escaped. He would have known.

He didn't even use a bridge to get over but simply threw an ender pearl, shaking off the pressure on
his bones at the impact.

The abhorrent smell of the cell didn’t even hit him anymore. He was so familiar with the smell of
blood and vomit, it just blew past him.

The prisoner was still unconscious from yesterday's session, his breathing more a rattling gasp. He
threw a provisionally potion of healing on him and frowned when only the wet squelching
disappeared from his breathing. The rattling was still present. Maybe he should tell Quackity to try
harder not to kill him.

(Something in his heart twinged when he looked at Dream, once a friend that he had treated like a
younger brother, now broken, taken apart-)
 He shot an ender pearl inside the cell and marched up and down, examining every single block.
None of them had cracks or anything that indicated that the prisoner had tried to escape.

Frowning, he turned back to the corridor. If the prisoner hadn't caused these cracks, what had?

---

Blinking, Clay looked down at his exposed stomach, his shirt held loosely in his fingers. Smooth
skin greeted him back. He poked it and let out a “What the hell” when the spot where Punz had
kneed him didn’t hurt. There was no bruise, nothing, even though every movement had hurt
yesterday.

In the old world he had bruised easily, and every bruise had taken ages to disappear again. He let
go of the shirt and continued to stare into the mirror, at his own, tired looking face and the bags
under his eyes.

Maybe it was this world. Maybe people just didn’t bruise as easily.

He twisted around to look at the star-shaped scar on his back from when Sapnap had shot him. Not
even a potion of regeneration had completely healed it. Maybe only really bad injuries stayed in
this world.

He slapped both of his cheeks and took a deep breath. He couldn’t think about that now. In a few
minutes they would break Dream out of prison, and he needed all of his concentration for that.

He looked at the smiling mask Sapnap had given him with a deep breath, a mixture of different
emotions bubbling in him. It was a beautiful quartz and had a heavy weight to it. The light shone
off it and revealed the fine texture of quartz. It was humming slightly, the sound of enchantments.
Before he could rethink anything he opened the door and walked out where the others were already
waiting for him.

It was time for a jailbreak.

Chapter End Notes

I MADE ART FOR THIS CHAPTER :D

Clay out there doing his best to word his existence in the most non-offensive way and
still gets hated. Man gets no rest lol

I can't believe I started a fic based on the concept of Dream and Clay meeting and they
still haven't met lmao

Next chapter is probably gonna come out next week! It's gonna be the jailbreak
chapter and the end of this arc!

I'm haven't finished the fic completely but it's nearly there! :D

Hope you enjoyed!

 jailbreak.
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Wearing Dream's mask felt simultaneously heavy and light. Securing it on his face gave him a
feeling of confidence and fear, of strength and insecurity. A lot of conflicting emotions, in other
words.

Despite the fact that there were no eyeholes, he could see through it and in comparison to the mask
he had in his world, it didn't press uncomfortably on his nose or felt like it could slip at any
moment. It also gave off the same humming that enchanted items did which was probably how
Dream had made it see-through. The enchantments probably came from the tiny engravings that
had been etched into the inner rim of the mask.

George and Sapnap stared at him when he put it on, together with one of Dream's green capes.
George's eyes were full of conviction while Sapnap looked pained.

"This is uncanny," Punz said, his eyes fixed on Dream's mask. "You'll give it back after we get
Dream back. Right?"

It was formed like a question but it sounded more like a statement.

"Obviously," Clay said. He didn't have an attachment to this mask. He had an attachment to the
mask in his old world which a fan had made for him. Wearing this thing was nothing but
unsettling.

They were standing in a hidden house outside of the prison. Philza was on a platform they had built
high in the sky where nobody could see him, ready to sweep in at any moment. Clay's heart was
beating hard and fast against his ribs, his hands were clammy and his breathing erratic, but he grit
his teeth and tried to stay focused. If this went wrong and they all got captured, this could end
disastrously. Not to mention that the thought of Pandora's Vault still made ice run through his
veins.

"Here." Technoblade put a shulker box on the floor and grabbed something. He threw two stacks of
unrecognizable items into George's hand who caught them with a yelp before squinting down at
them.
Punz was the first one to recognize them. "Technoblade, what the hell."

"Why did you give me wither skulls?!" George shrieked.

"So that you can summon withers in the prison. Duh.” The piglin hybrid closed the shulker box and
put it back into his inventory, exchanging it with a dangerously glowing potion. “I wanna destroy
the prison and since I can't do that from the outside, I'll just make sure that nobody can get in ever
again." Technoblade's grin made Clay realize why the Blood God had chosen him as his host.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Punz said slowly.

"I think that's a great idea!" Clay threw in, knowing full well of Dream and Punz's plan to use the
prison as a base.

Punz gave him an icy glare but couldn't disagree without looking suspicious.

Sapnap pulled him into a quick hug, giving him a reassuring smile. George gave him a thumbs up.
Punz tapped his knuckles against Clay's chest with a "Don't fuck this up."

And before he felt ready, they all downed their invisibility potions and disappeared from sight. The
door to the house opened and closed again, leaving Clay and Technoblade alone. The plan was to
wait a bit so that the people with invis could dry up the water towers so that Sam couldn’t use a
trident to move around. And after sufficient time passed, they would go out and announce their
presence.

"You ready, nerd?"

"No."

"Well, too bad."

Techno pulled Clay out of the house, the two of them walking side by side towards the entrance of
the prison. It felt like everything was standing still, from the still wind to the absolute silence that
nature without most animals caused. Nobody was around and yet it felt like there were a million
eyes following his every move.

"Calm," Techno muttered and bumped their shoulders together. "If it comes to fighting, I'll protect
you. You just stand there looking ominous, yeah?"

Clay nodded and swallowed drily. Then he raised his trident and summoned a lightning bolt to
strike the prison. "SAM," he screamed, his voice projecting through the air. "Come out and face
me you coward!"

For a moment everything was silent. And then a terrible alarm rang, so loud Clay could feel his
bones rattle.

>> Tommyinnit: What is that??! No what the fucn is that sam

>> Tommyinnit: Sam tell me he didnt escape sam please tell me sam

>> Tommyinnit: sam

>> Tubbo: shit

The doors to the prison opened and a gigantic man stepped out, flanked by several others. The man
who was presumably Sam looked like a centaur, half of his body a man and the other half a fluffy
creeper. The gas mask and his wide, black eyes made him look threatening. He didn't look like
Clay's friend but when he opened his mouth it was his friend's voice he heard.

"Dream," he said, a tremble in his hollow voice. "This can't be- you can't have escaped. What trick
is this?!"

He hoped the keycards worked. He hoped this plan would work without a hitch. He hoped he
didn't have to hurt anyone who wore his friends' faces.

He laughed, deep and mocking, channeling all of his acting skills into this one performance. With a
flourish, he yanked off his mask, grinning at the other with all the manic energy that was pent up
in him.
"Did you really think that I wouldn't cash in on the favor Techno owed me? I'm here for you, Sam!
And everybody who gets in my way for revenge!"

Techno swung his sword in a lazy arc, smirking at the entourage. His presence was enough for
everyone to hesitate before attacking.

"You shouldn't even be able to stand," Sam said and despite his quiet tone, Clay could hear him
well. "Your eye- how- Healing this much damage- it's not possible."

And suddenly, real anger grabbed him, something hot tearing at him. "And whose fault is that?" he
growled, strangely satisfied when he saw the other flinch. "I'm only here like this because I'm the
admin of this world! And I'm here to get rid of the maggots infesting it!"

Sam's eyes closed for a moment, hiding his glowing irises. "I never meant for it to go this far. But
you need to go back into the prison, Dream. That's where you belong."

"Nobody belongs in there!" Clay screamed. By now they had attracted an audience. Several
members were gathering in the outskirts, not attacking but merely watching. Clay was glad that
neither Tommy nor Tubbo were anywhere to be seen. "You- you let him- me- be tortured in there,
Sam! I made you the warden because I trusted you! He- I- I trusted you."

Sam took a deep breath, his large form growing before deflating. "You give me no chance,
Dream."

And as a unit, they attacked. It was the signal for everyone else too. Puffy and Eret reached them
first and Clay pushed the mask back onto his face and ducked behind Techno who slashed Eret's
sword out of their hands and kicked Puffy in the stomach.

Technoblade swung around to step in front of Clay, parrying Sam as he used his trident to fly
towards them. He nicked Bad's arm, making it burst into flames and threw a potion of harming
onto Ant before he could reach Clay. Clay on the other hand tried not to panic when he heard his
friends scream in pain.

Techno grabbed his arm and forced him to run, away from the mob that was following them. The
sound of observers and pistons activating rang through the clearing before the entire floor got
drenched in water and suddenly it got much harder to run. Anywhere his eye reached, everything
was water. Sam had never needed the water towers to begin with.

"Shit," Techno muttered. "Have you ever used a trident?"

Clay's stomach made a flip when he thought about flying and falling. "No?"

Technoblade pressed his trident into Clay's hands. "Unfortunately you can't fly with two people.
Use this whenever someone gets too close, I'll hold everyone else back."

"I don't know how to use it!"

"Just thrust it into the direction you wanna fly in!" Techno yelled impatiently and parried Sam's
sword strike with his arm brace.

"Dream!" Sam snarled, smoke escaping his mouth, and that was the point Clay decided to run.
With the slash of the trident he was suddenly airborne, barely managing not to scream before
gravity grabbed him again and made him barrel towards the ground. He landed heavily and fell
into the water, rolling before jumping back up, narrowly escaping a sword strike from Bad who
yelped when an arrow struck his back from where Techno had shot him with pinprick precision.

At the start Clay had asked him not to kill anyone and it seemed Techno actually did try not to hit
anything vital. Seeing his friend scream out still hurt in a way that made his muscles lock for a
split moment. Long enough for Techno to reach him again and pull him along. Behind them were
at least fifteen people, all of them hellbent on catching them, dead or alive.

"This would be much easier if I could kill them!" Techno yelled.

"No!" Clay just gasped out.

"Most still have enough lives!" Techno whined and grabbed Clay's arm to activate the trident,
making him fly forwards. His limbs were flailing around at the sudden movement and he shut his
eyes after he took a small look down at the ground that was too far down.

This time when he landed he was able not to fall and only needed a moment before he could
continue running. He just needed to reach the nether portal and then he could go to the hidden base
they had created near Techno and Phil's cabin.

He could already see the purple of the obsidian and summoned an ender pearl when he saw the
man standing in front of the portal.

His heart stopped for a beat before continuing faster than before. Shit. Fuck.

Quackity was smiling at him. "Dream," he greeted as if they were friends. He kept the same smile
on his face while he grabbed obsidian out of his inventory and filled the nether portal with it. "Did
you really think you could just waltz out of the prison?!"

--

Phil stared down at his communicator with a frown. Nobody had sent anything even though they
should have given him the ok that everything was going as planned. Something had happened. He
got ready to jump down when he heard the now familiar sound of rockets whizzing towards him.

He leaped to the side when searing pain shot through him and he crashed onto the platform,
grabbing his protesting stomach. Warm liquid spilled through his fingers and he grit his teeth when
he looked back. There was a sizable hole in the elytra. Nothing he couldn't sew back together, but it
would be pretty annoying to deal with when he had to extract Clay. Flying with two people was
already hard enough.

Heavy footsteps sounded in front of him and he looked up at Purpled who was placing another
round of fireworks into his crossbow.

Phil stumbled when he stood up and grabbed his sword out of his inventory. It seemed they had
been discovered.

--

Clay felt nauseous. Water was dripping off his cape, from his hair to behind the mask, and he had
to blink to keep it out of his eyes.
The sounds of fighting from behind him got closer. Clay didn't know if he wanted Techno to come
or if he wanted him to continue keeping the others away. But he really did not want to be alone
with the man in front of him.

Quackity surprisingly didn't come closer but kept his distance, a wary tilt to his eyes. "How about
you make it easier for the both of us and just give up?" He smiled without humor in his voice. "I
promise to leave you alone for two days. You won't even get punished for escaping. That sounds
like a generous deal, right? This time I'll even keep to our agreements."

He needed to escape through the nether as fast as possible. The guards and Sam were distracted,
everyone thought Dream was already out, he wasn't needed here anymore.

Clay had obsidian but he had nothing to light it with. Mining away the obsidian of this nether portal
would take too long. Think, Clay, he thought. Where would the closest nether portal be?

"Nerd, you really have to go!" Technoblade called from behind. His voice was strained.

The next nether portal was the one connected to the prison.

"Hey, Techno!" Quackity called. "My friends found a little bird on a platform high above the
prison. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

With the cracking of an ender pearl, Technoblade appeared right before Quackity, his sword raised
to his throat. Quackity simply smiled serenely.

Sam and the others had stopped behind Clay who rushed to stand back to back with Techno.

"You're bluffing," Technoblade said.

Clay could practically hear Quackuty's smug grin. "Go on," he said and pointed towards his
communicator. "Shoot him a message."

Without taking his eyes off Quackity, Techno took out his communicator and typed in a single
question mark. He didn't wait long before biting back a curse and pressing the blade closer into
Quackity's neck.

"Stay back!" Quackity called towards the other members who looked ready to jump in. He grinned
back at Technoblade. "You can't kill me!"

"Give me one good reason," Techno growled.

"Because I still have enough lives! Philza on the other hand just has one!"

"I will hunt you down and take every single one of yours," Techno swore. “And I will burn down
the place you are so proud of. Las Nevadas will fall.”

"It doesn't have to happen if you just stop defending Dream. You don't even have to hand him over.
Just stand there and there won't be a single hair harmed on Philza’s pretty, little, old head."

Technoblade was standing absolutely rigid. Sam stepped forwards, his hand outstretched towards
Clay who backed closer into the piglin hybrid.

"Techno?" he asked hesitantly.

Technoblade took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said.

It was enough for Clay to activate his trident again and swing towards the prison portal, again and
again until he fell back on dry land, hearing his legs crack underneath him. He gulped down a
regeneration potion, trying not to listen to the squelch of his bones realigning themselves, and
threw an ender pearl, not even stumbling when it felt like something had grabbed all of his bones
and was crushing them slowly. He threw another one, this time landing on his knees when the
pressure on his bones got stronger. At the fourth pearl he coughed and felt a hot liquid spill out of
his mouth. He tasted iron.

Behind him he heard the others also throwing ender pearls, trying their best to catch up to him.

He didn't even think about what he had in his inventory, he just ran and ran until he felt good
enough to throw another ender pearl again without fearing that they would tear him apart.
"Dream!" Sam screamed in rage when he saw him running towards the prison.

He ran into the entrance, black walls closing in, with the gigantic nether portal swirling in front of
him. It immediately felt colder inside and a tiredness gripped him, caused by the elder guardians
which were being shipped around through the prison.

With the sound of an ender pearl breaking, Clay suddenly found himself thrown onto the ground.
The mask smashed in his face and he heard rather than felt the crunch of his nose breaking. Stars
shone in front of his eyes but he fought through them, kicking Quackity off of him. The only way
he could describe the other’s expression was terrifying. His eyes were wide and no trace of humor
was on his face.

Clay backed away, towards the nether portal behind him.

"Not one step more," Quackity hissed. Sam arrived after him, an imposing form against the light
shining through the prison entrance.

Clay righted himself and stood up to his entire height. "Go home to your fiancés, Alexis," he said
and used the stunned silence to throw one last pearl into the nether portal.

--

He stumbled out into the nether inside of a hole that protected the visitors from the nether but also
kept unwanted guests out. Which meant that everything was made out of obsidian. Clay really
started to hate that block. He put an obsidian block into the nether portal so that when Sam and
Quackity walked into the portal on the overworld, they would spawn in another place, and drank a
vial of milk to get rid of the mining fatigue. He started to hit an obsidian block with all of his
might. It still took too long for one to break, causing another alarm to go off, but at least he could
slip out, into the hot hell that was the nether.

And this time there was nobody who could protect him.

“DREAM!”
Well, there went his plan to bury himself into the wall and wait it out.

He started running before acknowledging the two men still hot on his trail. From their voices it
sounded like they had come out on a platform above him. He used his advantage to throw an ender
pearl towards a vast space surrounded by lava underneath him. He didn’t have to find the other
nether portal, just had to find a place to hide until his friends had gotten Dream out. He just had to
survive.

Zombie Piglins looked at him in curiosity but didn’t approach him. Somehow the nether seemed to
be less threatening than the previous times he had entered. No, instead it felt like a help to escape.

These were the facts: Clay was not athletic at all. If someone would ask him to parkour over an
obstacle, he would probably stumble over it and break his face. What he had however was his
mind and his knowledge of minecraft mechanics. And the ability to do whatever it took to survive.

“Sorry,” he whispered towards a zombie piglin before putting an ender pearl in its hand and using
its arm to throw it towards Sam and Quackity.

The zombie piglin squeaked when it appeared in front of Sam who startled and instinctively lashed
out. An enraged scream tore through the clearing as hundreds of zombie piglin’s ran towards Sam.

“You idiot!” Quackity yelled and promptly abandoned the other to continue pursuing Clay. Clay
shared one last look with Sam whose gaze was filled with hatred and contempt, before turning
around. This wasn't his friend. This man didn't even hate him but another version of himself.
Logically he had no reason to have this twisted feeling in his stomach.

Quackity was a faster runner than him, but Clay had more accuracy with his ender pearls which he
spammed until his bones felt like they would burst at any moment. His supply of regeneration
potions was running low, he didn't have time to search for stuff in his shulker box, and he could
feel his limbs grow tired, could feel himself become more and more sluggish. And then he heaved
himself over a netherrack wall, not knowing that he had been standing on top of a cliff.

For a moment weightlessness grabbed him. He could see Quackity’s shocked gaze above him, his
hand outstretched to grab Clay.

And then he began screaming as he fell.

Technically he did have several things in his inventory he could have saved himself with. Boats.
Hay bales. Ender Pearls. However, his mind was blank and gripped with panic.

It felt like ages passed before he suddenly landed on something soft, like falling on top of a
waterbed. He bounced off and landed back on top, air escaping his lungs at the sudden landing.
The thing underneath him was soft, something akin to gelatin. It was white and slightly
translucent, catching the golden light of the lava underneath its skin. It was crying softly.

Clay had landed on top of a ghast. He was flying on top of a ghast.

“What the fuck,” he could hear Quackity say above him.

Gaping, Clay ripped his gaze away from the ghast underneath him to the man who was staring at
him with a dropped jaw. Their eyes met and Quackity immediately caught himself, taking out a
crossbow with an aggressive hand motion.

Clay took out his shield and tried to hide his entire being behind it. An arrow hit the shield with
enough force to make the ghast whine. A second arrow hit and Clay swallowed drily. Now that he
was sitting down, it was like all of his energy had left him, leaving only exhaustion and tiredness
behind. And of course the complete and utter terror of having someone shoot at you with a
crossbow.

He heard Quackity curse and reload. And then scream when something slammed into him from
behind, causing him to fall down the cliff.

Clay yanked the shield away to see Phil standing there, the elytra proudly displayed on his back,
and Quackity being swallowed by lava.

>> Quackity tried to swim in lava to escape Ph1lzA

There had been no scream of pain. Nothing to indicate a death.

And yet Clay’s heart seized.

He coughed and tasted blood, burying his fingers in the skin of the ghast who was carrying him
away from the cliff, over the sea of lava in which someone with the face of his friend had just died.
Quackity had wanted to torture him, so why did it hurt, why did it hurt, why did it-

“Calm down, mate.”

Somehow Philza had managed to throw an ender pearl directly in front of Clay on the ghast and
had grabbed Clay’s hand, placing it on his chest. “Breathe with me. In. And out. And in. Yeah,
you’re doing good. Exactly like that.”

Clay hadn’t even noticed he had begun hyperventilating. He was gasping for breath, his nails
digging into Phil’s skin until he felt himself calming down and sinking against the chest of the
other man, where he closed his eyes, away from the brightness of the lava.

“Purpled attacked me,” Phil explained. “I flew down as fast as possible. Techno explained what
happened.”

He began carding a hand through Clay’s hair and he almost sobbed at the friendly touch.

“The ghast is being pretty placid, huh?”

Clay just muttered an affirmative into Philza’s chestplate.

“Say, when did mobs start being nice to you?”

Clay shrugged. He hadn’t particularly noticed anything.

Phil grabbed his shoulders and gently pushed him away to look at him and Clay let out a pathetic
whine. He felt shaky, like a thread coming undone.

“Have you been feeling any pain that wasn’t your own lately?”

Clay nodded.
“Whenever a mob got killed? Whenever the land got harmed? Whenever…” Phil paused, looking
behind them where Quackity had burned to death. “Whenever a player died?”

Clay opened his parched lips to answer. “Is that weird?”

“It’s dangerous. To you and the world. You didn’t just become the new admin, you’re flowing into
the world. It’s taking from you. Someone like you was never meant to become an admin.”

“Someone like me?” Clay whispered, too exhausted to be able to bring up any kind of panic at the
other’s words.

“Someone with a big heart so encompassing, they would try to carry the entire world on their
shoulders. Or maybe it's arrogance, thinking you could bear the entire weight. Someone who can’t
separate himself from the world because you want to fix every hurt that happens in this world.
Unfortunately it seems your subconsciousness can’t divide between what hurt is necessary and
what hurt isn’t.”

Clay fell back on Phil’s chest with a dull thud. “I want to go home,” he muttered. The ghast
underneath him whined.

Phil sighed and put his arms underneath Clay, lifting him up with surprisingly little trouble. “We’ll
get you home, don’t worry,” he said, squeezing Clay to himself for a short moment. And with the
flick of his wrist and the sounds of fireworks, they were flying unsteadily towards the nether portal
that would lead them home. Phil almost crashed when they landed heavily on the ground and
decided to walk the rest of the way, Clay in his arms like a child.

And Clay allowed himself to close his eyes.

--

>> CaptainPuffy: Phil how the heck did you get your wings back???

>> Ranboo: Phil, you got your wings again? Is there like some kind of super regenerative potion
we never heard of?
>> The_Eret: He killed Quackity and helped Dream break out and that's what you decide to focus
on???

>> TommyInnit whispers to you: Phil you what

>> Tommyinnit whispers to you: Phil please tell me you didnt please

>> TommyInnit whispers to you: you bastard dotn ignore me did you help him break out is dream
really free????

>> TommyInnit whispers to you: phil please

--

HEAL.

HEAL.

HEAL EVERYTHING.

HEAL EVERY HURT THAT HAS BEEN INFLICTED.

--

Ant frowned as he stared up at the egg. Something had seemed to agitate it. Low, drowning notes
seemed to drift off its form, something that might have been a whimper.

He pressed his lips together and sat down. He needed to observe it, observe any change to it,
anything that would indicate what had made it react like that.
It would be a long night.

--

Puffy looked down at the cracks underneath her feet all around Pandora’s Vault. The alarm was
still ringing, giving her the biggest headache she had ever experienced.

The cracks ran through the entire ground, be it dirt or stone, as if an earthquake had run through.
When fighting Dream she hadn’t noticed them. Only when they had cleaned up all the water with
sponges had they noticed the lines cracking the ground open. Was it the egg? Or did someone blow
up TNT under the ground?

She ran her fingers through her hair and looked at the scene of destruction.

--

>> Awesamdude was shot by a skull from Wither

>> Awesamdude: DREAM AND TECHNOBLADE PLACED WITHERS INSIDE OF THE PRISON

>> Awesamdude: NOBODY CAN GO INTO THE PRISON

>> Awesamdude: DREAM HAS ESCAPED

>> Awesamdude: I REPEAT, DREAM HAS ESCAPED. ANYBODY WHO HAS PROVEN TO
HELP HIM WILL GET PUNISHED. ANYBODY AGAINST US WILL BE PUNISHED AND
ASSUMED AS DREAMS ALLY.

>> Awesamdude: I DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY

--
When consciousness grabbed Clay again, he was out of the heat of the nether and was lying on a
soft bed. He could hear the ticking of a clock and the soft breaths of a dog lying beside his bed.
Outside of his door was pandemonium. Loud screams echoed through the new base, angry voices
overlapping each other. The loudest ones were Sapnap and Punz.

For a moment Clay considered closing his eyes and going back to sleep before he realized what had
probably caused the upheaval. They had saved Dream. Dream was in this house. The character he
had played, the character he had caused to suffer, the character he had turned into a villain because
it had been entertaining- he was in the same house that Clay was. Suddenly everything he had told
Punz, about being separate worlds, about there being no correlation between their worlds, suddenly
all of that evaporated. Instead he gripped the skin over his heart that was beating with guilt.

The voices got louder.

"I'll fucking kill Quackity until none of his lives remain, I swear to fucking god-"

"Give me a clean bucket of water right now and stop screaming, Punz."

"Phil, they did this to him, they-"

"And I'm currently saving his life. So either help me or get out!"

"We'll heal Dream and then we're gonna hunt down everyone who did this to him." Sapnap's voice
was angrier than he had ever heard before.

A manic laugh rang out and Clay was barely able to recognize Punz through the bitterness. "Should
I start with you then?"

"Either you two help me now or I fucking swear, I'll throw both of you out!"

Clay slowly got up and slipped on the house shoes that had been placed beside his bed. He grabbed
the new cape somebody had laid on his bed over his shoulders and bunched up his fingers in the
blue material. And with a deep breath he walked out.
The living room had been turned into a makeshift hospital room. There was a body lying on a table
in the middle. Clay only had eyes for it. The man had been stripped down to his undergarments, his
body emaciated and bone-thin. He could see ribs protruding out of his sunken, gray skin. There
were more scars and slashes than actually free skin, burns already scarring and Clay was glad that
maggots didn’t exist in this universe.

There were burn scars all over his side that looked several years old. That area was free from newer
wounds as if Quackity had wanted to keep these older scars as a reminder. For what Clay didn’t
know.

Some of his fingers were missing, the nails on his remaining ones brittle. His cheeks were
hollowed out, and he resembled more a skeleton than a human being, his long hair, longer than
Clay had ever had it, was dry with some strands having turned white. His wrists looked thin
enough to snap if touched, but even unconscious there was a certain strength to the way the body
was holding itself together. His body was decaying but he wasn’t dead yet. He had survived.

Clay’s look wandered up to his face where Phil was currently placing a wet rag on half of it which
was already getting soaked in blood. He swallowed drily at the short sliver he had gotten from
behind that bandage. Where an eye should have been, there was a disgusting mush of something
that looked like the residue flesh of an eyeball.

Clay wanted to throw up.

This man had the same face as him, but it was hard to see the similarities between everything that
had been done to him.

And then Dream's remaining eye opened and met his gaze. Clay froze as he looked at the hazy
look, pain swirling in his eye. His mouth shaped words he didn't understand. Clay wanted to reach
out, to stop the suffering. He wanted to run, to get away. Dream fought to keep his eye open, his lid
falling closed again and again, until exhaustion grabbed him and he fell unconscious again. Clay
breathed out when the attention of his counterpart left him.

With a sudden motion, Punz grabbed his arm and pushed him to the side. “If you can’t help, keep
away, pretender,” he snarled before throwing himself back into the fray. He was continuously
pouring healing potions over the worst of Dream’s injuries, snarling at Sapnap whenever the other
came closer to help.

“Boys,” Philza snapped, making the room stand still. “This is your last warning to behave. Sapnap,
sterilize my obsidian needles with hot water, Punz, stop putting healing potions over the wounds
before we disinfect them, for god’s sake!”

Mutinously Punz stepped back to let Sapnap wash Dream’s injuries with a clean rag.

“Shit,” Phil muttered. “I don’t think this eye can be healed. It’s too destroyed. And leaving it in
might cause further injury.”

“Are you sure?!” Sapnap and Punz both yelled at the same time.

“Out of all of us I’m the one with the most healing experience. So yeah, I’m sure. Punz, bring me a
disinfected spoon, I need to scoop the remains out.”

Clay would forever be grateful for George who grabbed his arm and gently guided him out of the
room, up a flight of stairs where a second living room and kitchen was. Technoblade was sitting
there, staring deeply into a cup of tea which had stopped steaming.

Without speaking, George pushed Clay onto a chair opposite Techno and went to heat up two cups
of milk.

“Probably doesn’t mean much, but I’m sorry.”

Clay looked away from George who was looking at Techno with contempt, toward the piglin
hybrid who was frowning at his hooves.

“For what?” he croaked out, earnestly confused.

The other rolled his eyes.

George was the one to answer. He placed down the cups of now hot milk in front of Clay while
scowling at Techno. “For abandoning you.”

Clay scratched his head. “I mean, yeah, obviously you did. Quackity was threatening Phil. I would
never expect you to choose me before him.”
 “You self-sacrificial idiot,” George muttered.

“I don’t regret it,” Technoblade said. “I do regret bein' an idiot and immediately believin' Quackity
though. I should know to never trust what comes out of that guy’s mouth. Second time he's
blackmailed me now. Kinda cringe. Chat's been makin' fun of me for the last hours.”

Clay sighed and took a gulp out of his cup. “And what now?” he wanted to know.

“Now we wait for Dream to wake up,” George said in a voice that indicated how obvious he
thought it was.

"Then I can rub in his face that I don't owe him a favor anymore," Techno grinned.

“And afterwards?”

George’s eyes fell towards his cup. The following silence was answer enough.

None of them had any idea what they were doing. And despite the fact that the jailbreak had been
successful, Clay didn’t feel fulfilled. He didn’t feel triumphant, he didn’t feel happy.

He was just tired.

Chapter End Notes

ALSO I MADE ART! This was drawn before I really knew what would happen in the
chapter, so at that point there was a confrontation in front of Techno's cabin that I later
changed to be in front of Pandora's Vault.

AND ANOTHER ONE! Two in one chapter yay :D Dream's blond in this one because
I drew this before the face reveal. I also drew this before I really knew what would
happen in the jailbreak chapter, so he's not wearing the mask and also he's not bloody
from smashing his face in lol.

It's interesting to see how the story progressed, from the drawings I did haha.
I dropped several hints about the mobs acting nice towards Clay, from Bees to
Dolphins to the hostile mobs multiplying when Clay is in distress. And of course I
couldn't help but add a ghast into the mix haha

Also the land reacting to Clay's emotions, from subtle things like at the first Punz-Clay
meeting when the obsidian slightly broke and the crying obsidian dimmed because of
Clay's panic, to the bigger things like the land reacting to Clay at every "Heal" passage
:D

Boy's admin powers are getting stronger

Next chapter we learn what it means to be an admin and also Dream wakes up
 ARC III: the man in the mask
Chapter Notes

SOME ART! TRIGGER WARNING FOR STARVATION AND SCARS AND

STUFF! I drew this more than a year ago now, damn

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It took four days for Dream to wake up.

Sapnap and Punz had spent most of that time at Dream's bedside helping Phil heal Dream. George
surprisingly had only visited Dream a few times and had otherwise kept Clay company, a calm
presence that was so unlike the George from his world, it still threw Clay off.

Technoblade had worked on the base with Clay helping wherever he could. It was a hidden base
inside of a mountain that could only be accessed by a lever hidden underneath snow. There was a
main house and then several farms underneath it and a training room that was so far down, it was
faster to jump down and land in the placed water. Clay preferred to use the stairs even if it took
several minutes to go down. There was a space for their old stuff, all the things they had been able
to carry over from their old home. Most of it were Techno's animals for which the piglin hybrid
made sure to build a gigantic place, enough for them to jump around and run. Steve the polar bear
had gotten his own enclosure and Clay made sure not to come too close to him even though it was
tempting to bury his face in the thick fur.

Techno and Philza had been prepared to abandon everything they had built. It was a realization that
laid heavy on Clay’s shoulders as much as it confused him. Neither of them seemed to like Dream
that much.

They had agreed on telling Ranboo and Niki roughly what had happened, leaving out Clay's
existence and their coordinates. Which meant that they were completely alone. Getting out Dream
had been the right thing but it also brought a lot of consequences.

The first day Clay spent marching up and down the corridor that would lead to the living room that
had been turned into a hospital room.

The second day he managed to turn the door handle before shutting it close again and walking
away.
The third Technoblade grabbed his arm and threw him into the room after he saw him in front of
the door again. "If you have something to say, just say it!"

He cursed the other out underneath his breath and then froze when three tired gazes fixated on him.
"Uhm… hi?"

Only Sapnap managed to give him an exhausted smile. Punz's gaze drifted off him towards the
man still lying unconscious on the bed. Somebody had placed his mask on a chair beside his bed. It
seemed to mock its owner with its smile.

Phil waved him closer. "Are you here to visit Dream or to talk about what we discussed in the
nether?"

Clay rubbed his neck, uncomfortable under Sapnap's questioning stare. Truth was, in the nether he
had been too out of it to really understand what Phil was saying. And then he had spent three days
in denial. He wasn't in any way emotionally ready to discuss any of this. But then again, when had
the world ever cared about that?

"Both?" He asked.

Phil nodded. "You two, out. I need to talk to Clay alone."

Immediately the other two protested.

"Why don't you just go out?!" they both yelled at the same time and then glared at each other.

Phil rolled his eyes. "Because I wouldn't trust any of you two with a damn cactus. If anything went
wrong with Dream, you'd try to solve the problem with a sword!"

Sapnap coughed awkwardly but Punz crossed his arms. "I know how to deal with regen!"

"What's the optimal percentage of gunpowder and redstone dust to regen for a re-opened wound?
Without the gunpowder and redstone canceling each other out."

Punz blinked. "You can have gunpowder and redstone both in a potion?!"

"If you know how and don't just throw everything into the brewing stand. You're the type of guy
who'd just throw the ingredients in without cutting them."

"It's faster that way!" Punz protested.

"It's also at least twenty percent less effective!" Phil pointed at the door. "Out. Now."

And so Clay found himself in a room with the immortal and his tortured counterpart. He was
honestly surprised by how much it didn't faze him. Then again, maybe he was just getting used to
this crazy existence. Or maybe he was still in denial.

"Can you listen to his breathing while I prepare more potions?" Phil asked him, turning back to the
brewing stand in front of him.

"Is that what you told Sapnap and Punz to do so they had something to do instead of annoying
you?"

Phil gave him a mischievous smile. "They were squabbling too much. So I told them to be quiet
and listen to Dream's breathing. It gives them something to focus on, something miniscule they can
do so that they don't feel useless. And it has the added benefit of shutting them up."

Clay had to laugh. He tried not to focus too much on the unconscious man. His wounds had been
bandaged, but the skeletal frame made something in his stomach twist. He didn't want to look at his
face but he couldn't help a few hushed glances. Even after talking with XD, it was still uncanny to
see someone with his own face, especially one that looked like it had gone through hell. The
memory of the destroyed eye still gave him shivers.

"His breathing, Clay," Phil reminded him gently and Clay took a deep breath and forced his eyes
towards Dream's chest. He couldn't afford to spiral. Compartmentalize, he told himself. Somewhen
later, when everything was over, then he could fall apart. Not now.
Phil let him gather his thoughts, didn't push him to talk. Instead he let a comfortable silence fall
through the room, the only sounds the cutting of the potion ingredients and the clinking of glass. It
made him realize why so many people enjoyed ASMR.

"Punz isn't being very subtle," Phil said.

Clay huffed a laugh. "They're friends. Dream and him. It's hard to act apathetic if your friend got
tortured."

"Despite the fact that he sold Dream out and got him into prison?" Phil's tone was casual but Clay
noticed the calculating, hard note lying underneath it.

"Well- I mean nobody knew what would happen in that prison, right?" Clay hurried to say.
Questioning Punz's loyalties would lead to questions about the staged disc confrontation. And that
would lead to questions of Dream's goals. And Clay couldn't afford for Phil to stop supporting
them. "Maybe money was enough for Punz to let Dream be thrown into prison, but he wouldn't
have done it if he had known what would have happened to him."

Phil's gaze fell back to his cutting board and Clay forced himself not to sigh in relief when the other
gave a slight nod.

"Say," he started hesitantly. "What does it mean to be an admin?"

Phil didn't stop cutting the glistering melon and Clay was glad not to have his eyes resting on him.
There was something unnatural about the gaze of this version of Phil. As if one could feel his vast
age through them.

"Being an admin simply means that you decided to create a world. It's not something one does
thoughtlessly, because this piece of existence will be connected to you. And while it is common to
create and destroy worlds, doing so without learning how to do it safely can lead to disastrous
consequences. There have been stories of people ending up braindead. Going insane because the
destruction of their world took a part of their soul instead of being reabsorbed."

Clay, gulped. "Ah," he whispered.

"Don't worry, destroying a world isn't as easy as pressing a button. First of all, you can't destroy a
world with travelers inside."

A relieved smile fell over Clay's face. He didn't want to feel like a ticking time bomb. "What about
the villagers?" he asked, remembering the nice villagers who had helped him when he had arrived
in this world.

"They don't count. They are created as part of this world and they will die as part of it."

Clay felt cold. He slowly lifted his wide eyes off Dream's barely rising chest and stared at Phil.
"What."

The other continued and Clay didn't know if he hadn't realized the mood shift or had decided to
ignore it. "Thoughtlessly creating and destroying worlds is frowned upon, but there's nothing you
can do. Of course, the admin can just leave the world, but there is something vulnerable about
leaving a part of your soul just floating somewhere. Some admins even forget where they put their
world and can never feel complete again."

"You can't just- these mobs are real beings, they're people- you can't just- this isn't right! It's not
fair!"

Phil placed the knife down and though it was a casual motion, the sound of metal against wood
rang through the room. "That's because you're too involved. When creating a world, it creates
mobs. It's only right they disappear with it too."

"You mean die with it," Clay spat. His fingers were trembling where they were gripping his pants.
And yet despite his anger he also felt disconnected.

"There is no way for them to get out of the world they were spawned in. And it's risky for the
admin to keep the world alive if nobody intends to use it. The practice of creating worlds is not
something to be taken lightly."

Clay thought about what XD had told him. They had played many manhunts, and for that they had
been punished to guard this world. Maybe that action of constantly creating worlds to fight in new
seeds had made some higher power angry. He settled slightly down again. The thought of creating
and destroying worlds with every creature inside still sounded horrifying, but at least there seemed
to be people limiting it. Even if the punishment was cruel.
"Then I'll make sure that this world will never get erased," he muttered as he thought back to
Hmmm and his generosity, to the village and its iron golem that had been so lively and real.

"You're too involved," Phil repeated with a warning tone. "An admin can't be too connected to their
world. Else it will lead to disaster."

"What disaster?! The only disaster would be to destroy everything here!"

Phil abruptly stood up and pointed a finger at Clay, digging it into his chest. The few crows behind
him cawed with the agitation of the avian. If it had been any other situation, Clay would have
flinched back at his anger. Instead he bared his teeth.

"You feel pain whenever a mob dies! Whenever this land gets hurt! Whenever a player dies! Fuck,
maybe even when the land gets changed, meaning every hole that gets dug, everything built, will
hurt since it's your land getting torn. At the moment it's probably just for things in your vicinity but
it will spread until you feel the pain of everything around you! And that pain will reflect into your
world, because if you're connected to it, it too is connected to you! Your pain will flow into your
world, cracking it, until both of you destroy. You will become just a shell of your former self until
your world has taken everything from you. And that is the good ending. The bad ending is the
world turning into a black hole, consuming everything in itself, including the travelers. Now
usually the travelers could leave before that happens, but as we currently are, we can't leave! So
get your head outta your ass and control it!"

All of Clay’s anger evaporated the more Phil talked until he only felt a hollow terror in him. Phil
stepped back with a sigh, his expression softening. "I'm sorry this is happening to you, mate, I
really am. You didn't choose to become an admin, you didn't choose to be here. You didn't choose
this burden. Usually an admin creates a world, fully knowing the dangers and consequences.
Nobody should be forced to be the admin of a world. It's not your fault. But it is your
responsibility. Because if you don't learn not to be too involved, many people could get hurt,
including you. And, Clay, I have seen admins go crazy because they couldn't detach themselves. I
don't want to see that happen to you."

Clay looked away from the pained gaze of the immortal. All the energy had left him, leaving him
lost.

When Clay had been seven he had run into the woods to play and hadn't noticed the time passing.
And suddenly it had been night and he had no idea how to get home. He felt the same kind of
terror now, the same feeling of looking up and only seeing darkness around.
"And how can I learn not to be too involved?" he asked.

Phil sighed and sat back down. "This will sound harsh, but stop caring. Kill a mob and force
yourself not to feel anything. Blow up TNT and keep telling yourself that the pain of the land is not
your pain. Try feeling joy at Quackity's death."

"The solution is to gaslight myself into being a psychopath?" Clay asked in disbelief. "You know,
my world was terrible, but at least we were taught not to be happy about someone's death."

Phil shrugged. "Your world could afford it then. In my world caring can lead to death. At least as
an admin." He looked down at the unconscious body of Clay's counterpart. "Besides, when Dream
wakes up, I'll have a lot of questions for him concerning his admin abilities. Maybe, if luck is on
our side, he can take your admin powers away. Maybe he knows what's going on with the memory
haze."

"Yeah, I have been called very lucky before," Clay muttered bitterly and wiped the back of his
hand over his exhausted eyes. "What if he doesn't know shit?"

"Then you better start working on that apathy," Phil smiled thinly. "Alternatively, how willing is
XD to help? Maybe he can tell us what's going on."

"As helpful as the last time you talked to them."

Phil nodded and massaged the bridge between his eyes. "No matter what version of Dream, you
alway bring chaos with you.”

They spent the rest of their time in silence until Punz and Sapnap came barraging in, demanding to
sit back at Dream's side.

--

Punz looked down at the skeletal frame of his only friend. He had never seen Dream this weak.
Even though he was several years younger than Punz, his friend had always been the picture of
strength. Seeing him like this made him want to tear the world apart.
He remembered wandering through Pandora’s Vault and only feeling dread. He remembered
walking off the platform into the obsidian cell, thanking whatever deity was listening that the
keycards had worked. He remembered the stench that had wafted from several feet ahead, the
gagging noises Sapnap had made and the way George's breathing had become more shallow.

The first thing he had seen was the obscene amount of blood coating almost the entirety of the cell.
Even the walls had splatters as if Quackity had intentionally wanted to create a horrifying murder
scene.

And in the middle of it had been Dream.

His clothes had been almost completely torn off and every inch of his body had been covered in
scars. His usual locks had turned matte and brittle, the dye that had hid his white strands long gone.

Punz remembered his gaze wandering down to Dream's face. The remains of his eye, the strips of
flesh that still hung from the exposed hole.

He remembered Sapnap vomiting. He remembered George quietly sobbing. He remembered

screaming until numbness had overtaken him. He remembered carrying a lifeless body in his arms,
way lighter than it should have been. Neither Sapnap nor George had protested.

He remembered George summoning hundreds of Withers and feeling happy that Dream's plan had
failed. That they wouldn't be able to use Pandora's Vault as their base. That Dream would never
have to return to this place.

He remembered wanting to burn down the entire server, wanting to tear Quackity apart limb from
limb.

He remembered wishing that Dream had never started caring for any of these people, that they
could have just left and started living far away from everyone else, leaving them to their constant
squabbles and fights.

There was a bony hand in his and it didn't feel right. It wasn't the right shape, the right texture.
Even the small scar that Dream had gotten in a practice fight with Punz was gone now, together
with his middle finger.
Yet, when he shifted his fingers and pressed them to Dream's puls it felt correct. It felt like home.

He shifted forward until he could press his forehead to the bed, both of his hands grabbing Dream's
and prayed that Dream would survive. That he'd wake up soon. That he wasn't too far gone.

--

A lot of Clay's time outside of worrying about his impending doom was spent looking at the entire
server panicking on his communicator. Blame got thrown around, most of it aimed at Sam. A
manhunt was quickly assembled. In the shortest time they had become enemy number one. The
panicking mob had destroyed Phil and Techno's base. Were looking everywhere for the escaped
prisoner. Suspicions got raised and when people visited Kinoko Kingdom and saw Sapnap, George
and Karl missing and none of them answering any of the messages, they were quickly blamed.
Kinoko Kingdom got burnt down.

Neither George nor Sapnap seemed in any way bothered by that. They simply shot Karl warning
messages and told him to hide in one of their hidden bases near Kinoko Kingdom until he could
convince the server of his innocence. Technoblade seemed the most affected by the destruction of
his home. He didn't scream or cry but he took a long time to meticulously sharpen all of his
weapons. The crown on his head was shining with new polish and violence was threaded through
every vein of his body. Whenever the piglin hybrid stared into nothingness, all of his muscles tense
and his teeth bared, Clay quickly whipped up a hot chocolate for him. It was no replacement for a
home, but guilt gnawed at him like a parasite.

And then there was Tommy. Despite the teen’s previous messages, he hadn't written anything into
the chat since then. Clay bit his lip and started typing a private message.

>> You whisper to TommyInnit: "I know you don't really know me, but are u good?"

Tommy answered surprisingly quickly.

>> TommyInnit whispers to you: "Yeah, just waiting for death to get me. Other than that I'm
poggers!"

Clay put down the communicator, too nauseous to answer. He had broken out Dream because his
torture hadn't been right. But he had also broken out the person who had abused Tommy. He had
no right to ask the teen how he was.
He thought about acting out exile, what he had said and done in those streams. It had been funny at
that time, especially seeing the audience react to it. His funky, little character was doing funky, evil
things, making everybody cry. It had been absolutely hilarious.

He bashed his head into the table and groaned.

Technically both him and Punz would be able to go out but Quackity had immediately been
suspicious of him the first time they had met and he did not want to meet him without backup. And
Punz didn't seem inclined to leave Dream's side any time soon either. So they were just playing a
waiting game for now.

He continued wallowing in his misery until Technoblade's heavy footsteps barrelled up the stairs.
"He's awake," he said and leaned against the door frame. Clay froze and looked up, his heart
beating heavily. "No idea how smart it is for him to see you right now though. The entire 'you're
just a story' thing might not be what a tortured dude wants to hear as the first thing after waking
up."

"I was getting better at the entire existential dread thing," Clay defended himself but his mind was
wandering. Dream was awake. His character was awake. The real version of the character he had
created, the character he had made terrible things do, the character he had made terrible things
happen to- he was awake. And there was no avoiding a meeting.

"You stay here for a while and we'll explain stuff to him. Wait until we send you a message."
Technoblade turned around before stopping and awkwardly rubbing his neck. "Our worlds are
separate. You said it yourself. And you need to remember that. Right?"

"Right," Clay muttered and watched Technoblade leave.

And just like that Clay's anxieties tripled. The waiting game had ended but however Dream reacted
would also tell him how he needed to proceed from here. One thing he did know was that he
needed to convince him that his goal was wrong. Then he needed to convince the server that
coexistence between everybody was possible. Easy. All in a day's work.

--

Dream awoke to the sounds of low murmuring and a distinct lack of pain. Not that he wasn't in
pain though. His entire body burned and his head felt like it was splitting apart. He could barely
move through the spikes stabbing at every inch of his skin.

However it was much better than what he had expected when he had fallen unconscious last time.

He frowned when he remembered flashes of something.

A torturously gentle touch, a feeling he had almost forgotten, so foreign now. The feeling of
vertigo when he had been lifted. The terror that Sir had finally decided to get rid of him.

The voice of an ally. And two traitors. Of Technoblade and Phil. And one last voice that he
couldn't identify.

He remembered opening his eyes and seeing himself, how he looked when he had been younger.
More hopeful, without the scars. Before all the wars had happened. Before everyone had decided
he should be the villain. When everything had been easier. His younger self had looked at him with
wide eyes, a sick expression on his face. He wanted to laugh. Even his own mind despised him.

Consciousness came slowly. He kept his eyes closed despite his desire to rip them open and see
what the hell was going on around him. He needed to catalog everything around him before
deciding on what to do. Compared to the hot steam constantly radiating off the lava, this place was
almost unbearably cold. Dream almost sobbed at that. In Pandora's Vault he had constantly
imagined throwing himself into snow. He could hear a very distant snow storm raging outside,
muffled through a thick layer of stone. Inside then. In the icy tundra. Other people were in the
room with him. Phil. Sapnap. Punz.

Sir had told him that Sapnap and George had known about his torture. That they had made some
suggestions.

When he had told that to Dream while ramming a pickaxe into his arm until it separated he had
believed it. Now however some doubts appeared. So either Sir had been lying or this was a new
technique from him to get the revival book. He couldn't believe that Phil and Techno would play
along though. And that also led to another question:

Had Punz betrayed him? Why would he get him out without Dream's orders? Allying himself with
Sapnap at that? But Punz already knew how to resurrect the dead, if he wanted to betray him, why
would Dream still be alive?
Dream was too weak to fight anybody off. He would be angrier if the lack of pain over his body
didn't feel so good.

A calloused hand grabbed his wrist and it took his entire willpower not to flinch back. He
recognized Punz, the small, familiar scars over his dry skin.

Tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap. Caution.

Tap-tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Change of plans.

Tap-tap-tap. Ally.

Tap-tap-tap. Ally.

Tap-tap-tap. Ally

Other signs they had come up with followed. New person. Don't fight. Help. No danger. Safe. Safe.
Safe. Safe. Safe.

Punz hadn't betrayed him then. A vice-like grip on his heart loosened. He couldn't afford to lose
his only ally. Punz had apparently acted on his own accord then. He must have had his reasons.
Which means that Dream should follow his lead then until he could tell him what was going on.

(And maybe, just maybe, something in him came undone, something in him would have fallen
apart and sobbed if he had been alone in the room.)

He opened his eyes.

Punz was the first thing that appeared in his hazy vision. There was worry in his tired eyes and he
looked disheveled, but despite his obvious exhaustion he seemed to keep up his hair dye job that
hid the white streaks which came with revival. It was hard to make out other details.

In his visit to the prison he had spent almost the entire time with a fuzzy, cloudy vision, too
exhausted to see clearly.

Pain, pain, pain, his eye was on fire but he couldn't stop now, not now, he had to dig deeper, or
else sir would, sir would-

"My eye was beyond help I assume." God, talking was torture. The words ripped themselves out of
his throat and yet it was just as scratchy as sandpaper. A month of just screaming did that to
someone. Sometimes Sir had enjoyed his screams. And sometimes he had absolutely despised
them, forcing him to keep quiet. Every day it had been up to Dream to figure out in what mood he
had been.

With one sentence the entire room froze. Punz grinned weakly. Phil's eyebrows rose. Sapnap
looked at him with tears rolling down his cheeks, immediately dissolving on his hot skin when his
blaze half took over.

How curious. He had expected hatred from his former friend, not whatever this was.

"Sorry, mate," Phil said. "Thing was almost entirely destroyed. Regen can only do so much."

His eye was gone. A part of him which he could never get back. He could feel his missing fingers
and toes, could feel every single scar and could remember the slash that had caused them, but
somehow this was the one thing that made him want to scream, scream until the entire world
dissolved.

With a breath he tried to calm himself. A missing eye simply meant no depth perception. He would
simply have to adapt. From the experiments he and Punz had done with Lazarbeam and Vikkstar
he knew that scars were kept when revived. Only the reason for death would heal.

Not even revival would be able to heal him.

Was this the worth of a world, he wondered. Giving up pieces of himself again and again until
nothing of him was left.

He let out a hum and slowly sat up. Punz helped him up. If they didn't have an audience, Dream
would have let himself sink into the other, would let himself be carried away by his warmth.
Instead he detached himself to lean against the headboard and look at the others with a cold smile.
Punz grabbed his mask off a chair beside his bed and offered it to him before frowning, eyes
falling down to his broken and missing fingers. Dream inclined his head and let the mask be
strapped onto his face. It was a comforting, familiar weight. He closed his eyes, relieved that
nobody could see his face, that nobody could see that he was watching every change in their
expression.

"There are things even regen can't heal," Dream sighed with faux casualness. "I should have
pushed less then. Shame."

Silence fell over the room, you could almost hear a pin drop.

"Are you saying-" Sapnap's eyes roamed across his mask and Dream felt a twinge of satisfaction at
his frustrated gaze. Sapnap had never liked it whenever he hid his face behind his mask. "Are you
saying that you did that to yourself?"

"Well, Sir- Quackity promised he would leave me alone for three days if I managed to gouge my
own eye out without making a noise. Promised he would heal it immediately so that I wouldn't lose
sight. And then he went back on both of those promises."

All three of them looked sick but not surprised. Huh. Then they had known about what Quackity
had been doing. Question was, had they known while it was happening? Was that the reason why
they had decided to break him out? Or maybe Quackity had been there when they had broken him
out.

"I'll fucking kill him again," Sapnap snarled. Smoke rose out of his mouth which Phil stopped with
a light smack against the back of his head.

"Healing room. If you need to cool down, go out."

Dream frowned at Sapnap's wording. "Again?"

Punz gave him a bloodthirsty grin. "Phil killed him. Threw him into lava."

And for a short moment nothing mattered. He could feel a slow grin creep over his face, could feel
all the scars on his face pull, could feel some of them open up again. He grinned through the blood
dripping off his face. And then he laughed, high and cackling, laughed until all the air left him,
until his ribs creaked, until exhaustion hit. He laughed and laughed until he couldn't and then
simply wheezed on top of his bed until he felt tears running down his face.

They were hidden by the mask but by the looks of the others he couldn't hide the way he hiccuped,
the way his wheezes had turned into sobs.

Dream was free. And yet he didn't feel relief, didn't feel the expected happiness. Instead he just felt
heavy.

It was a weird thing, his fear of death, for it was also what he was yearning for.

Dream was free but he just wanted to scream.

--

They explained everything to him. They told him that they had decided to break him out because
someone had told them about his torture. That Phil and Technoblade were helping because they
couldn't let tyranny stand and because of the favor. That last part was said rather forcefully by Phil
and Dream almost laughed at the immortal's reminder that he didn't have anything over Techno's
head anymore.

It was a sad puzzle piece to lose but he would make do.

They told him about how they had snuck into prison, leaving open a lot of questions that Dream
would later ask Punz. There was no way Sam had simply let them take him. There was a 24/7
watch on his room, mostly by Sam but also the other guards when the warden was sleeping.

Punz emphasized that they had summoned a lot of withers in Pandora's Vault to keep anyone out
and Dream felt pain flare up when his hands tightened into fists. But it was fine. They could deal
with the withers. It would take some time and a lot of exhaustion, but as soon as Dream was more
fit, Punz and him could deal with the problem. And then, after making sure nobody could break in
again, they would turn the impenetrable fortress into their own base. Creating Pandora’s Vault
couldn’t have been for nothing.

Sapnap told him that they were in a hidden base where nobody could find them and if it weren't for
his worried gaze, Dream would have taken it as a warning. How weird. He didn't expect this level
of sorrow from his former friend, not after the last time he had seen him.

It was a pretty story with a lot of holes that everyone seemed too unsure how to approach. He
hadn't lived the last years with these people without knowing that they were lying to him.

Even Punz had a shifty look in his eyes which spoke of guilt. It was the same look he had whenever
he didn't want to tell Dream something.

Sapnap was tapping his foot, a nervous habit he had never been able to get rid of. And his face was
caught in a transition somewhere between human and blaze which he didn't even seem to notice.

The only person not looking like they were hiding something was Phil but then again, Phil didn't
really know him much. Phil had no reason to feel guilty towards someone he didn't know.

To his surprise he didn't even have to ask. Sapnap opened his mouth and awkwardly cleared his
throat. "So, there has been something we haven't been telling you."

Yeah, no shit, he thought and rolled his eyes, safe behind his mask.

"Two weeks ago I met someone thousands of blocks away from here. His name is Clay and he
comes from another world."

Immediately all of his thoughts overlapped. His first instinct was to call Sapnap a liar but Punz and
Phil both seemed to believe it. Traveling through worlds was possible. Something in him loosened
at that, as if his mind had always known that.

Servers, something very far away whispered. Worlds. Destruction. Punishment.

He was familiar with it. The wisps of thought that only seemed farther away the more he tried to
reach them. Instead he kept them passively in the back of his mind. Someday they would come and
his puzzle would be complete.

"And this world traveler is somehow connected to your sudden change of mind," he said and
couldn't keep the cold note out of his voice. Sapnap flinched but kept his gaze steady.
"He knew things. Things that an outsider couldn't know. Because, somehow, in his world the
people got some kind of visions from our world. They know everything that happened because it
was playing out in their visions. And everyone of us has a counterpart who got visions of one of us.
So there is a Sapnap out there who got visions of what happened to me. Apparently we even look
the same. Like- like a double of us who grew up in a world completely different from ours."

Punz's grip on his wrist tightened slightly.

Tap. Tap-tap. Maybe.

He then drew a nine on Dream's skin with his thumb.

Which meant that Punz was warning him that Sapnap wasn't telling him the complete truth but that
ninety percent was true.

"And that Clay person," Dream said and frowned slightly at the familiar name. Something was
nagging at him, a feeling like something scratching against his brain. The name sounded familiar.
"He's the counterpart of someone in here?"

"It's uncanny how similar you look and yet how different your mannerisms are," Phil commented
casually and the intense gaze told him that he was waiting for Dream's reaction. "Kinda took over
as an admin for a while. But now that you're here again, you can probably reverse that, right
mate?"

The grin found itself back on Dream's face. How hilarious. What an absolutely mind-boggling
joke. The entire universe was laughing.

An outsider- an outsider who looked like Dream and knew everything about what had gone on in
his life! And this god-forsaken world accepted him. Dream couldn't access his world anymore, it
didn't let him, he couldn't feel it and whenever he had reached out to it, it didn't respond.

It never responded.

He had been screaming but the obsidian underneath his fingers didn't crack. He had been crying
for help but his world had stayed unresponsive. He had begged but his land hadn’t reacted.

His own world had rejected him and yet accepted this other version of himself with open arms.

Dream was shaking, with laughter or with rage, he couldn't determine. And then he yanked the
mask off his face and vomited into a bucket beside his bed, vomited out bile and water until his
throat screamed in pain at the acid crawling up.

Surprisingly it was Phil who gently carded his fingers through his hair with a "Calm, mate, it's all
good."

"Get out," he hissed, embarrassed that they were witnessing all of his weaknesses, his pathetic
state.

Sapnap, of course, immediately protested. He had never been good at following what he was told.
Dream almost missed the little boy who had followed him around until he had been too exhausted
to walk. "Dream, we're here to help, we can-"

"Then help by leaving!"

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Phil said and Dream snarled, acid dripping off his lips.

"I went through the most horrifying months you couldn't even imagine. Give me this one respite
and leave. After that you can interrogate me, you can- fuck, you can fucking torture me-"

"Dream!" Sapnap exclaimed in shock.

"Just- just give me one day, alright? One day." And Dream didn't like how much he actually
sounded like he was begging.

Phil and Sapnap stood up, shooting uncertain glances towards Punz when he didn't make a move to
follow.
"He stays," Dream said and looked at the other two with his only remaining eye, daring them to
object.

He watched with satisfaction as the door closed behind Sapnap and Phil, not without Sapnap
throwing him one last pained glance.

And only after he waited to make sure they left did he sink into Punz's chest and let himself fall
apart.

"Punz," he sobbed, clinging to the other who made shushing sounds, drawing circles on his back.
"Punz, you- you were right, you were-"

He hiccuped and buried himself deeper into the warm embrace of his friend.

"I'm sorry I didn't get you out sooner," Punz said in a broken voice. He was hugging Dream back as
if he would disappear at any moment but also made sure not to squeeze his injuries too hard.

"You told me it was too risky," Dream babbled on. Tears were blurring his vision and were soaking
into Punz's shirt. "You told me and-"

"We couldn't have expected that. I'd never have thought that Quackity-"

He stopped when Dream flinched violently at the name. "He- he told me he was doing it to make
me better. Sir- Sir said that Sapnap and George were agreeing with what he was doing."

Punz froze. "What did you just call him?"

Dream kept his mouth shut and continued to tremble in Punz's grip. "Tell me it's not true. Please,
Punz."

He knew it wasn't true, of course he did. Sapnap had never been a good actor and the sorrow in his
eyes had been real. It still didn't stop him from wanting to hear it.
Punz shifted so that he was on the bed and could pull Dream onto his lap. He continued to stroke
his hair, a distressed hum escaping him when it was too easy to lift him. "That bastard is a liar," he
growled. "I may not like Sapnap and George but they were desperate to get you back. The
pretender- the other version of you- told them what was happening to you."

Dream fought back his breakdown, his mind now able to focus on something else, anything else
that could distract him from his memories. He looked up at Punz and violently wiped away his
tears with his arm, disgusted at the feeling of water gathering in his empty eye socket. Punz gently
grabbed his arms and pulled them away from his face, instead using his thumbs to gently glide
over his wet skin.

Dream closed his eyes and enjoyed the soft contact for a moment, the first human contact in
several months that didn't scream of violence and blood. And when he took a deep breath he was
ready. "Tell me everything."

--

Sapnap met George when he stepped out of the room, leaning against the wall with an air of
apathetic casualness around him. Phil had shot Technobade a message that Dream was awake so
that he would keep Clay out of the room, and apparently he had told George too. And yet here the
coward stood, having made no move to go in and greet their lost friend.

He felt his hands tighten into fists, the balled up energy in him flowing into anger at the bastard
who didn't even seem to care that their best friend had been tortured.

"Don't you care? Not one bit?!"

George just shrugged and pushed off the wall. "I know when I'm wanted and when I'm not. And
the first thing Dream sees after he wakes up from several months of torture is not us. As much as
that sucks. I'll talk to him after he gets used to all of this. Until then-" he hesitated, licking his lips.
"How is he?"

Sapnap shuddered, thinking back about the tense way Dream had held himself as if any breeze
could knock him apart at any time. Dream should never look like that. Dream should be strong, a
whirlwind of force and speed. Not like this. Not like this broken man, only held together by tape
and sheer will.
 He had almost been glad when Dream had put on that cursed mask, even if he hated that he
couldn't read his emotions anymore. Because it meant he didn't have to look at that gaunt face
anymore, at those hollow cheeks. The bandaged eye.

"Better than I thought. He's holding himself together better than I'd have thought of someone who's
been tortured."

"You didn't really fall for his act, did you?"

Sapnap rubbed his neck. "Obviously not. I mean… kinda? I don't know! At this point I don't know
if I can even say that I know Dream! What can I claim about what is an act and what isn't?! Why-
why is Punz the only one allowed to- George, when did it all become so fucked?! Why did it all
happen like this?!"

And to his surprise, instead of a scatching remark George grabbed his shoulder and led him up the
stairs, his hand a calming weight on his back. "Regretting the past has never led to anything
productive. He's here now with us, right? Instead of wondering how it all happened we can wonder
how we're going to fix it."

He pulled him to the table where Clay was waiting, a nervous smile on his face. And Sapnap took
a deep breath and joined him. He wouldn't let Dream go again, never again. He'd hold onto his
friend.

Chapter End Notes

Anyone who has read my previous fic probably realized that I characterized that
Dream and this Dream very differently. A big part of it is because my previous fic
came out before the jailbreak stream. In the jailbreak stream cc!Dream portrayed
c!Dream as very fucking dangerous and even more focused on his goals. One thing I
definitely didn't want to portray in both of my fics is that the torture made him better.
So in my previous fic Dream realized his wrongs before the torture, and in this one the
torture just made him think he was even more in the right.

I'm trying to write this version of Dream similar to how cc!Dream portrayed him while
expanding on his character, especially with how he deals with the torture.

Also, I wrote Dream's goal to be restarting the server because I thought I saw that in
one of Tommy's streams, but then I rewatched the stream and I must have
misunderstood something, because cc!Dream doesn't seem to mention restarting the
server anywhere? Just that c!Dream wants to bring balance by killing some people.
Anyway, the entirety of this fic was written with the presumption that his goal was
restarting the server, so that's how it is now lol

After like 65k words the two Dreams finally meet in the next chapter! Hallelujah!
Lemme tell y'all, I did not intend for this to go on for so long before they met (Sapnap
+ Clay and Dream + Clay meeting was the reason I started writing this fic) but then I
just needed to establish stuff and more shit was happening and then Punz decided to
become an important character and so here we are! Yay

See y'all next week and thanks for reading! :D

 Idealist
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"He asked to see you."

Clay snapped out of his musings at Punz's voice. The man didn't look pleased to see him. Clay
carefully stood up, Sapnap and George right behind him.

It had been hours since Dream had sent Phil and Sapnap out of the room. Sapnap had said that
Dream had broken down, but something cynical in Clay whispered that it was an act. That Dream
had sent them out to talk with Punz and get all the information before continuing with the next
step. He had made his character be someone who would disregard everything for his own goals,
including the pain of others and his own.

It was only a small thought, a cruel one, that he tried to wipe away. This was a man who had just
been tortured, Clay didn’t have the right to accuse him of anything, he didn’t have the right to treat
him with suspicion.

"Just the pretender," Punz said, looking towards Sapnap with a pointed look.

To Clay’s surprise George slowly sat back down, his gaze as unbothered as ever.

"I'll be able to talk to him someday," he waved off their questioning looks. "He's only had
unwanted visitors for a while now. I want to be a welcome one."

Clay wanted to argue, but Sapnap grabbed his arm with the shake of his head and slightly pushed
him towards the stairs.

"We told Dream that you're from another world where you got visions from here, nothing about the
roleplay. You know, because of the torture and-" Sapnap interrupted himself with a self-conscious
cough. Clay however just stared intensely at Punz who resolutely looked forward without
acknowledging them. Yeah, he had definitely told Dream already. Great.

Here's hoping that Dream was camp free will and didn't think of the roleplay like Punz.
At the bottom of the stairs he noticed his hands slightly trembling, and buried them in his pockets
to hide it. The character he had created was suspicious and it was easier to lose his trust than to
gain it. He was good at getting what he wanted. Clay would make sure to match him.

And then Punz opened the door and Clay found that he really wasn't ready to meet his own
character, the person carrying the name he had given himself several years ago.

Seeing Dream sitting and leaning against the headboard, his mask placed firmly on his face and the
unsettling eyes seemingly following Clay's every movement was much more different than seeing
him unconscious. It was uncanny how many of his own mannerisms he recognized in the
completely still sitting man, from his slightly fidgeting hands to the way his head tilted at any
sound. He wore a netherite chest plate, the armor glowing with enchantments and his fingers were
poised, ready to summon anything from his inventory at any moment. The armor was completely
free from any paint and designs. Compared to everyone’s armor it looked empty. Tommy still had
his armor, didn’t he? Clay wondered if Dream’s own armor was as blank and impersonal as this
one.

Dream was wearing his brittle hair in a low ponytail that fell over his shoulder to his chest, and
Clay almost reached up to his own hair, debating if he should grow it out, before shaking his head.
This was really no time to think about hair.

A sound came from behind the mask and it took a while to realize it was a laugh.

"So you're the man my world decided to replace me with." Dream's voice was raspy and rough,
even worse than Clay's after several hours of recording his manhunts. Despite his broken body he
still managed to look threatening. "I've been warned about our resemblance but this really is just
weird."

"Tell me about it," Clay said and slowly approached him.

"You can leave," Dream dismissed Sapnap whose eyes widened in alarm. Sapnap looked at Clay
hesitantly, eliciting a huffed laugh from Dream. "And here I was, thinking you would give me a
little bit more trust than that, Pandas. Why are you looking like I would hurt him?"

Sapnap rubbed his neck but despite the fact that he looked like he wanted to bolt, he stayed rooted
on the spot. "I don't know, Dream," he said. "The last time we saw each other you were threatening
to kill Tommy and Tubbo and had a cage for Pops in your weird and creepy cellar."
Dream's head tilted and even though he was wearing a mask, Clay could practically feel his
mocking smile. "As far as I can recall, the last time we saw each other you threatened to kill me
once and for all should I escape."

Sapnap flinched but he didn't back down. "Are you saying you won't hurt Clay for taking over as
the admin?"

"I'm saying I have neither reason to hurt him nor a desire to go up against an admin."

Both of their voices were dripping with cold disdain. Clay's eyes flitted between them. It felt like
ages ago that Sapnap had taken him prisoner the first time they had met each other, he had almost
forgotten how he had sounded back then, had almost forgotten how menacing he could sound. It
did nothing to hide the hurt underneath though.

"It's okay," he smiled at his friend who twisted around to stare at him in disbelief. "Punz is still
here, he won't let anything happen."

The mercenary in question gave him a half-hearted nod which dropped his trust in him by at least
fifty percent.

Clay needed to ask Dream what his future plans were and get him away from the desire to restart
the server, if that was even his current goal. And Dream probably had several questions for him.
And if Sapnap heard any of that, Clay did not want to imagine how he would treat Dream
afterwards. He had broken him out because Dream had been tortured. As far as Clay could see,
Sapnap still didn't trust Dream and wasn't ready to treat him like a friend. And as far as Clay knew
his character, he would not forget Sapnap's betrayal so easily.

Sapnap grit his teeth but acquiesced with a sharp nod. He grabbed Punz's collar and pulled him
close. "Let anything happen to him and you won't even have time to scream when I kill you."

And with that he walked out, slamming the door behind him. For a moment the room descended
into silence and Clay found himself hesitating. He was in a room with his counterpart. He was in a
room with a version of himself that had gotten tortured. Because Clay and his friends in his world
had thought it would be fun as a plot line.

"As charming as ever," Dream's voice broke the silence. There was a note of bitterness in his casual
voice. Dream let out a raspy laugh and waved them closer. Even with the long sleeves he was
wearing, it was hard to hide how bony his wrists and fingers were. Clay felt bad about his relief at
not having to look at his own starved face.

"How did you get here?" Dream immediately wanted to know. No existential questions or
questions if the SMP was real or not. Pragmatic as ever.

"I have no idea," he answered truthfully.

Dream scoffed. "What were you doing before you got here?"

"Well, I fell asleep. And when I woke up, I was here."

"Nothing out of the ordinary?"

"Nothing." He had watched one of Foolish's chill streams and then had gone to bed. His sleep
hadn’t been great, but he didn’t remember any weird dreams. He would have blamed his
appearance here on this world if it hadn’t been for XD’s words. Was I the one who brought you
here or were you the one who brought yourself here? And he still had no idea what the hell the god
had meant with that.

"Then it must have come from our world," Dream said. Then, "what are your intentions here?"

Clay blinked at the sudden change of topic and tightened his fists. Dream was his counterpart but
he couldn't treat him as an ally. He had his own goals, ones which Clay couldn't let happen.

"To go back home," he said, which technically was the truth. This world would only let him go
when he apparently really wanted it and that would only happen after he had fixed this world.
"What are you gonna do now? I know what you and Punz were planning. I know where this story
will go from here."

"Not a story," Punz reminded him and he flinched slightly at the harsh tone.

“What I’m planning is for the good of this server,” Dream said, at the same time completely
avoiding his question. “You should know that. After all, you ‘created’ me, didn’t you.” The
disdain dripping off his lips told Clay what exactly he thought of that.

It also confirmed Clay’s assumption that Punz had shared all of their information with Dream. “As
I explained to Punz, I don’t control any of your actions. Your world and my world live independent
from each other. I think.”

Dream let out a mocking laugh. “And yet you plan to go back to your world to fix ours.”

“I stayed here exactly because I didn’t believe I could change anything from mine! Punz here
should have told you.”

“Only an idiot would think our worlds aren’t connected.”

Clay stared in disbelief at his counterpart. It was surreal to be called an idiot by your own voice. It
was surreal to talk to someone with his own voice. The last weeks had been a surreal drug trip. “If
our worlds are connected, why wouldn’t my friends get me out right now?”

Dream shrugged. “That’s an interesting question. I’d like to find out why." There was an excited
note in his voice that Clay really didn't like. "With your existence we can prove other worlds!
There is so much to learn from you being here! The worth of not just one but two worlds!”

Clay felt a chill at Dream’s exhilarated words. Knowledge was the reason why Dream and Punz
had killed Lazarbeam and Vikkstar over and over again. He wanted to stay clear of Dream’s
curiosity.

“You do know it’s wrong, right?” he muttered. “Doing everything you’re doing.”

“Everything I do is for the server. You should know that. You created me after all.”

“Nobody on this server wants you to do it!”

“They will thank me once I find out everything. Once I unlock the secrets to immortality. Maybe
we can achieve our goal. You yourself seem to want to fix everything, don’t you? You want to play
nice with Tommy, want to make Sapnap and George happy. You too want this server to be united
again, don’t you? Your goals and mine aren’t as different as you think. So why do you oppose
me?”

Clay grit his teeth. “Because you abused Tommy! You tortured Lazarbeam and Vikkstar! You
destroyed nations! That’s not how you unite a server!”

Dream let out a cold laugh that made Punz twitch in agitation. “I was once as naive as you, little
idealist. I tried to solve conflicts the soft way. Tried to make people see my way through talking.
And you know what that got me? I was called the villain. I got shunned. So why the hell wouldn’t I
try it the hard way? Nobody wants to listen to me? Fine. But they shouldn’t be surprised when I
decide to fight back.”

“You can’t unite a server by fighting,” Clay whispered. The worst part was that he kind of
understood where Dream was coming from. He was an extremely polarizing figure on the internet.
People who had never seen even a single video of him hated him and sometimes it felt like
everything he said and did got torn apart and dissected for anything that could tear him down. It
wasn’t as extreme as what Dream had gone through, but Clay did know what it felt like to become
the villain in other people’s stories. It didn’t mean he wanted to hurt anybody for it though.

“And you can’t unite a server by talking,” Dream said and leaned back. “For a moment everybody
was united. Against me. My actions did that. Before they all decided to split apart again. What they
need is a villain, what they want is a villain. Someone they can fight against. Someone they can
fear together. So I’ll give them one. And when I figure out all the secrets to this world, once I tear
apart the three-lives-system, once everybody is united again, they will thank me.”

“You won’t be part of that world. Nobody would ever trust you again. Not if you continue on like
this.”

“I don’t need to be part of it,” Dream said but Clay knew his own voice. He knew how he sounded
when he was lying. “I just need to make everything right.”

“This isn’t right,” Clay said but even he could hear how faint his voice sounded. He couldn’t argue
with someone who was so sure of his own world view.

“By all means, try to unite the server your way. Notice how nothing you do will work. Everybody
will ignore you to go back to their pesky squabbles. And then you can crawl back to me and tell me
how futile your efforts were.”
Frustrated, Clay shot up and glared at the smiling mask. It really made it look like Dream was
constantly mocking him. "I know you hate me but-"

"Hate you? Hah, don't make me laugh, I don't hate you."

Clay frowned. People from this world, especially the ones he called characters from a story to their
faces, did not react well to him. And he had assumed Dream to feel the worst about that
considering that he had suffered the most from their storytelling. In addition he had essentially
replaced Dream as the admin. By all means, Dream had all the right to hate him. "You don't make
that very obvious."

"Idealist, if I truly hated you, you would know. Hatred is reserved for people I would enjoy killing.
You however need to learn how the world works. You traipse around with your nose in the air and
it's so obvious that you've never sacrificed anything, that you think you can get everything you
want without giving up anything. It makes me sick. It reminds me of myself, years ago, when I
was still so blind. You think I hate you when I'm the one person here who is giving you the truth,
who is not coddling you!"

Clay looked down at his hands. The desire to leave the room and bury himself in his bed was so
overwhelming, he was amazed at himself for staying.

“Back in my world, we planned to give you a second chance,” he said, remembering all the plans
they had for the finale of the SMP. “It’s not too late for you. I know your biggest fear is being
alone. You want everybody to love you again. You wish everything would be like it was before.
And it’s not too late. Sapnap wanted to break you out so badly-”

“Sapnap trusts me as much as I trust him not to betray me again,” Dream interrupted him. His
hands were trembling from where he was gripping the blanket. However, the excessive wounds
and the missing fingers made it hard to apply any pressure. “Just because you wrote me doesn’t
mean you know me. Don’t act as if you know shit!”

“I just want to fix everything that’s gone to shit because of me!” Clay yelled. He was gripping the
cloth over his heart which was beating in pain. This entire server was in pain, and everything hurt,
everything was aching, everything was screaming for help. And he could help, he could help
everything, he could fix everything. “I created the SMP! I agreed to let Tommy get abused! I
agreed to let everything fall apart because the audience fucking loved it! I agreed to let you get
tortured!”
“Pretender,” Punz interrupted him in a warning tone but Clay was too heated up to notice it.

“Because of fucking what?! I didn’t know this world was real but it’s still my responsibility to
fucking fix it! I can’t undo what Quackity did but please, just give me one chance to help! Fuck,
I’m the one who created you, I am- I- fuck, I’m the reason why you’re even in this situation, I
agreed to Quackity’s fucking idea and-”

“Clay!” Punz was gesticulating wildly and Clay stopped in his tirade, heavily breathing and noticed
how deathly still Dream had gotten.

“Yeah,” Dream murmured quietly. It was hard to determine his emotions, hidden behind the mask,
but Clay got the same murderous intent that made his muscles lock, that made him feel like he was
standing in front of an approaching alligator. “Yeah, you created me. That’s why this world
replaced me with you, isn't it? Because it recognizes you as the creator. Sir's torture wasn’t in my
plans. The Warden's betrayal wasn’t in my plans. It was you, wasn’t it?”

Clay wanted to step back but his entire body was frozen.

“I…” He was gasping for air but no other words were able to escape his throat. No, he thought.
Their worlds were separate, he knew that, he wasn’t responsible for this, so why-

Suddenly, faster than he even realized, Dream threw himself at him, Punz immediately jumping
forward to catch him around the middle before he could reach Clay. Everything felt like it was in
slow motion. A hand came dangerously close to his face, a single finger stroking his eyelashes and
he felt the wind caressing his face-

“YOU BASTARD!”

Punz was hugging the screaming man, pushing his head into his shoulder, which shoved the mask
away so that half of Dream’s snarling face was revealed, the bandages over his destroyed eye
peeking over the edge.

Clay recoiled, back slamming against the wall when he saw his own emaciated face staring back at
him with a wild eye, thin and bloody fingers clawing at Punz's arm to reach for him.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Pretender, I think you should go. Now."

"I'LL FUCKING MURDER YOU, THIS WORLD CHOSE YOU, YOU FUCKING CREATED
ME- YOU MADE THIS-”

"CLAY. NOW."

He was frozen to the ground, couldn't tear his gaze away from eyes a bit brighter than his own, his
mirror image looking at him with more hatred than he had ever felt.

"FUCK YOU-"

"Shit! I didn’t give you that knife, how the hell- CLAY, LEAVE, NOW!"

--

Clay found himself in the training room, heavily breathing and with no idea how he had gotten
there. He was gasping for breath, his lungs were screaming and he felt lightheaded, the room was
spinning above him, the lights of the torches were stabbing his eyes-

"Breathe."

Techno was in front of him, grabbing his hand and putting it on his chest. Clay felt it expand and
condense, felt the steady heartbeat underneath his palm. He took a deep breath and coughed,
wheezed in panic when it still felt like he was drowning.

"Follow my breathing, Clay. Breathe in like me. Here, I'll do it first and you'll follow my lead,
okay? One, a deep breath in. Okay, you're doin' great, nerd, you're doin' great."

Clay tried to follow, tried to ground himself in the thick material of Techno's cape. And slowly he
felt his breathing get slower, felt himself unwind from the cramped position he had curled himself
into, felt his heartbeat get calmer.
"Damn, what did he say to you?" Technoblade asked with lifted brows. The expression of surprise
was almost comical on his usually unimpressed piglin face. The note of genuine concern made him
feel warmth though, and maybe, if he closed his eyes, he could imagine that the man in front of
him was his friend and not somebody he had only known for a week.

"Nothing too bad," he said. He had no idea why he had reacted like that. It wasn't that much worse
than whatever Punz had told him. But something about his own voice screaming at him,
something about his own character accusing him- something about that had made him snap.
Everything that had built up from the moment he had arrived in this world and had been treated like
a villain by his friend, everything that had happened to him, it all had bubbled up. "This- all of this
is a bit too much for me. The last weeks have been a constant fucking battle for survival. Nick-
Sapnap shot an arrow in my back the first time we met! This is the first time I've actually been face
to face with George and he treats me like a stranger! Everybody- everyone has the faces and the
voices of my friends but they aren't mine. I shot the shulkers, I was flying in the air for so long, I
can feel- I can feel the entire server suffering, I can feel every hurt, every death, every mistake as if
it were my own pain and I can't help them, I can't, I can't-"

"Easy, Clay," Techno said and patted his head with his heavy hoof. Clay pressed himself against
the hand for any kind of human contact. He felt so fucking exhausted. "It's not your responsibility."

Clay continued to rant. "And then I meet my own counterpart and he- I did that to him, Techno. I- I
agreed to the torture plot line, I agreed that everybody should turn their back on him, I made him
the villain!"

"I thought we established that our worlds are separate."

Clay looked to the side, somewhere past Techno's shoulder, but a gentle tap against his head made
him look back.

"What exactly did he tell you?"

"Nothing," Clay muttered. "He freaked out. Of course he did."

“You went into the room believing that our worlds were separate and left thinking that you created
Dream and that you're responsible for everything we did. Not to burst your bubble, Clay, but we
literally had this conversation several times before. Even chat's calling you an idiot. You see, what
I think happened is that you, high IQ man that you are, waltzed in, called Dream just a figment of
another world's imagination and then believed it when he freaked out and called you the creator of
this world or whatever. He believes it. And so he made you believe it.”

“I-” Clay stopped, frowning down at the ground. Somewhere in the conversation between Dream
and him it had changed from him telling Dream that their worlds were separate to him believing he
was the creator. The one thing he had tried to convince Punz of and he had believed it so easily. “I
must believe it subconsciously though.”

“Eh, Dream’s always been good at making other people believe what he wants them to believe.
Maybe even what he himself believes. It's why everybody treats the green teletubby like he's some
kind of big, bad villain. Just remember, if you really believe yourself to be our creator, you’d have
left long ago, back to your world, to fix everything from your side. You’re here precisely because
you don’t believe it. Remember this one thing and you’ll never think of yourself as our creator
again. Got it?”

And Clay closed his eyes and leaned forward until he could bury his face into Techno’s chest, until
he could dare to rest for a few seconds. A few tears escaped him but he was too exhausted for
more. Technoblade froze, his breath hitching in surprise, before hesitantly wrapping his arms
around him, gently squeezing him.

“I take it back, you’re not too bad at this comfort thing.”

Techno made a disgusted sound. “You’re destroying my reputation here, nerd. Chat’s starting to
call me Technosoft.”

Clay let out a small laugh.

"You're not Atlas," Technoblade murmured and placed his chin on Clay's head. "You want to help
everybody here. I get that. But you can't carry the entire weight of the world on your shoulders."

"I can't just leave everything like this," Clay whispered, his voice cracking.

"Then leave some of the weight for others." Technoblade paused, realizing that it sounded like an
offer. "Not me though. I'm still an anarchist, I'm pretty much the natural enemy of the government-
lovers."
"Who would help me?" Clay wanted to know. "Even if I tell everyone that I'm not Dream, the
people here won't listen to someone who looks like him, someone who is an outsider."

"I remember a few months ago, he was constantly talking about uniting the server and all that jazz,
constantly jabbered on about the worth of a world. Couldn't shut up about it. Who knows, maybe
you two have something in common."

Clay slowly extracted himself when he realized who Techno was talking about. "He literally had a
panic attack because of me. He hates me. Our goals and how we wanna achieve them are the
complete opposite! What the hell, Techno?"

The piglin hybrid rolled his eyes and patted his head, somehow managing to make that action feel
condescending. If Clay hadn't been craving for touch, he would have slapped his hand away. "Just
sayin'. A few months ago uniting the server was his one goal. People don't change that quickly.
Despite the prison. The torture. Dream wants unity."

"I know what Dream wants," Clay muttered darkly. "Oi-!"

Technoblade tapped a hoof against his forehead with raised brows. "What did I tell you about
assuming that everything that happened in your world is correct?"

"Not to?"

"And what are you currently doing?"

“Assuming.” Clay mulishly looked up at the other. “Listen, I just talked to him! I know what he
wants to do and how he wants to do it!"

"And what pray tell is that?"

Clay shut his mouth and looked away. Dream was still too weak to fight in case anyone in this
house decided to get rid of him. He couldn't afford to let anybody know Dream's plans. He didn't
even know himself if Dream was still planning to restart the server and start from scratch, the only
thing he knew until now was that he was searching for immortality by any means necessary. The
one thing he did know was that he could never let that happen.
 To his surprise, Technoblade laughed. "You see, you're already protecting him. Can't be that hard
to imagine working together."

For a moment Clay imagined it. He imagined standing side by side with his counterpart, fixing
everything, making everything right. Then reality came crashing in when he imagined Dream
trying to make up with Tommy and he cringed. Yeah. No. That was not gonna happen anytime
soon.

Instead of saying anything he leaned back into Techno and closed his eyes. "Maybe," he said and
didn't even try to hide his doubt.

Chapter End Notes

c!Dream is such an interesting character, man

Like, his goal is just to unite the server and have everything be like it was before the
wars, and he does that with really cruel means. And like, he knows what he's doing is
cruel, but at the same time he's able to go through a lot of suffering for his plans, and
as such he also sees the suffering of other people as necessary. He has such a fucked
up, interesting mindset and I love exploring that. Also, his subtle manipulative tactics
that he's not even really aware of.

At the same time that very much clashes with Clay's mindset, who wants his friends to
be happy and safe preferably without any suffering. However, the world of the DSMP
is not so easy, and everything he tries kinda backfires.

They both can't like each other because of their respective morals, but at the same time
they understand each other the most and can relate to each other, with Clay being the
one who can understand Dream the best, even better than Punz. I fucking love
complicated relationships, y'all.

Also, technosoft

Also, also, both Punz and Dream came up with demeaning nicknames for Clay
independently lmao

See you next week! Thanks to everyone who read and commented, every comment
puts a gigantic smile on my face! :D
 the worth of a world
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"Hullooooo!"

Dream flinched wildly at the booming voice and the loud noise of the door being thrown open.
Punz grabbed his arms when he threatened to topple off the bed and threw Techno a poisonous
glare.

“Man, you’re not even trying to hide that you’re allies. How did you manage to hide it for so long
when you glare at everyone who just looks at Dream wrong, Punz?"

"We were friends before all of this, you know," Punz said with a hard voice. "You're not on
Sapnap's ass for still caring about Dream."

"Yeah, but he hates Sapnap's guts. You were the reason he got thrown into Pandora's Vault and yet
here you are. The only person allowed near Dream."

Dream didn't like the calculating note in Techno's voice, the way he was holding himself that told
Dream he was constantly ready for battle. He wouldn't call them friends by a long shot, but there
had been a time they had trusted each other enough to sleep in each other's company, a time they
had been able to read each other like open books. However, Techno's casual demeanor also told
him that he wasn't confronting them, merely letting them know that he knew about them. About
Punz's betrayal being fake. Either he was content to wait how this would work out or he was giving
Dream a chance to come clean himself. If it was option two, that would make his stay in this
supposedly secret base more unpleasant. It would mean that he had lost Techno's trust completely
and couldn't count on him as an ally.

Their previous association that could have been mistaken for friendship was probably the only
reason he was allowing Dream this much leeway.

"Man, I can hear you thinking from over here," Technoblade said and shut the door, closing the
distance between them in two quick strides before unceremoniously plopping down opposite Punz
on Dream's other bedside. Dream tensed and tried his best not to look intimidated. Techno always
played to the beat of his own drums. Even if he had broken Dream out, that had been merely
because of the favor he had owed him. Should he determine that Dream was a threat towards his
loved ones, he stood no chance of surviving that.
"Techno," Dream greeted him and inclined his head. His voice was still scratchy and his panic
attack had worsened it even more. He felt a flush of embarrassment when he heard his voice crack.
It had to be very obvious that he had been crying and he was too exhausted to hide it. Technoblade
didn't react though which Dream was thankful for. "If you're here to tell me that this was the favor,
Phil already made me aware."

"Pfft," Technoblade waved him off in his usual infuriating nonchalance. "Is it so hard to believe I
just came in to check on you? The last time I saw you you were bleeding out on our table. Phil told
me he had to scoop your eye out."

He was pushing, this was just to make him suffer, Quackity would just heal him again, he was
pushing and pushing and the pressure in his eye got stronger and stronger, something in his skull
was ripping and-

Dream's hand tightened around Punz's wrist. It was okay. He had been in limbo more often than he
could count in his pursuit of knowledge. Dying brings forth a certain kind of pain, after all it rips
your soul away from your body and lets it float around without its fleshy prison for what feels like
eternity. Torture was nothing. Just a blip in his plans.

Punz tapped an okay? against his skin which he ignored.

"I appreciate the concern," he forced out through his dry mouth. And then, because he really
couldn't deal with being polite right now, "Was there something you wanted?"

Something in Techno shifted. His posture became straighter and the lackadaisical air around him
lessened. "Just spoke to your counterpart- poor sod, came from a world where he never had to fight
and now he's a weakling here."

Dream felt his eyebrow twitch at the reminder. He had no idea how he had confused Clay with his
younger self. Even his younger self had been athletic. This one looked soft. As if any gust of wind
could bend him, as if the smallest pain could make him burst into tears. Not just his body was
weak but also his mind. The blatant naivety disgusted him.

"And so I just came here to check on you. You know, see how you're doing, if you're settling in
nicely. And to make sure you know that there isn't a world out there that's controlling ours."
Dream was glad for his mask because it meant he could look away from the piglin hybrid's
piercing gaze. Punz had told him about his doubts. His fears when Clay had first told the
mercenary about where he had come from. About Clay's explanations. That Sapnap, Techno,
George and Phil had wanted to send Clay back to fix their world from the outside. That the world
hadn't let him go because he subconsciously didn't believe he could.

It meant nothing when standing opposite someone with his face and his admin-powers who had
roleplayed as him in another world. Who had played as him while maintaining all of his
friendships. Who had acted out his torture in front of an audience for fun.

Dream felt bile rise in his throat but there was nothing in his stomach except for acid. He was on a
strict diet of enchanted golden apples and fluids since he had been starving for too long. He had
thought he would miss food but now even just the thought of it managed to make him nauseous.

A squeeze from Punz's hand brought him back into the conversation. He blinked sluggishly and
tried to focus back on his rival who hadn't looked away from him.

"Where's your proof?" he demanded. As far as he knew neither of their hypotheses could be
proven. "The moment you let my counterpart back into his world, he might play with our lives
again. Who knows, maybe you're next on the list. Showing suffering is a great way to hook an
audience to your story, right? There is a reason this server has always been full of suffering.
Because it's a fun watching experience."

"Ehhh," Techno just said and leaned back into the chair until he was tipping back, balancing on its
hind legs. He looked even more apathetic than George always did. "Clay's constantly surprised at
stuff that's different in our world." He grinned and looked down his snout at Dream. "You sure you
aren't just thinking you have some kind of uber-controller because you wanna escape from the
things you did?"

Dream's hands hurt from where he was trying not to ball them into fists. His now empty eye hole
throbbed in pain. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

With a careless shrug Techno stood up and stretched his arms above his head. To Dream's surprise
he walked back towards the door instead of trying to persuade him further. "You're gonna figure it
out sooner or later. Punz here did, didn't ya?"

Dream turned towards Punz whose lips were pressed together. His ally tapped once and then twice.
Maybe, but leaning more towards agreement.
“Say,” the piglin hybrid started and Dream gloomily looked at him. “Have you ever figured out
what it is? The worth of a world?”

Dream gave a snort. The destruction of L’Manberg was just an exhilarating, exhausting blur in his
mind, but he did remember constantly rambling around Technoblade whenever the silence around
them had gone too constricting. He remembered a question constantly weighing on his mind,
remembered asking the other what the worth of a world was. Technoblade had answered with a
shrug and “as long as no governments are there, it’s priceless. The more governments exist, the
more the price exponentially sinks.” Dream had rolled his eyes and hadn't told him how bothered
he had been at not getting a serious reply. What was the worth of a world to someone like him who
had tried to save his and had only received rejection? What was the worth of a world if he couldn’t
save it?

“My soul,” he muttered. His blood was splattered across the walls, the ceiling and the floor. His
fingers were scattered around him. He wondered how much this world still demanded from him to
give. This was the worth of his world, wasn’t it? He’d give everything, everything of himself to
make sure his world would be perfect. And if he had to spill some blood, even his own, then he
would acquiesce.

“Wait, that’s a better reply, can I change mine? Chat’s giving out awws. You’re farming awws,
Dream, chat should be on my side!”

He should never expect Techno to be serious but especially now it rankled him not to be taken
seriously. Now, when he was so weak, when he had no idea when he could return to his old
strength. “Please go,” he whispered and didn’t care how exhausted, how tired he sounded. He
never really had been able to hide behind a mask in front of Techno.

Techno gave him a smile that shouldn’t be as gentle with all the sharp teeth protruding from his
snout. "Well, before I go, one more thing!"

Dream sighed at Techno's pitched voice, not looking forward to another lecture. "What?!"

His rival smiled, something almost painfully soft in his gaze. "I'm glad we got you out."

With that he walked out of the room, leaving Dream reeling at the unexpected kindness.
"Wait!" he called out and choked when his throat flared up with pain. His eyes started watering and
somehow every cough felt like his lungs were crushing into themselves. Punz helped him push his
mask up and held a glass of water in front of his face which he gulped down with gratitude.

"Damn, that doesn't sound very healthy, you should get that checked out, man." Techno was trying
to sound his usual self but he couldn't seem to hide how disturbed he was. His voice had pitched
higher and he was staring at Dream with wide eyes. Dream bared his teeth. He did not want to get
any pity, not from his rival.

"Quackity," he rasped out, his voice grating on his throat like a soldering iron being pushed down.
"I was told he threatened Phil to get you to stop protecting my counterpart. You repay injustice a
thousand times over, don't you?"

Technoblade looked at him with unreadable eyes. It wasn't the enthusiastic agreement he had
expected. "Ehh, I'm retired, ya know?"

"You were forced out of retirement months ago!" Dream exclaimed hotly. "He threatened Phil! He-
he tortured me! I'll make him wish he had never fucking met me. I'll raze his country to the
ground, I'll kill all of his allies. And when he is completely alone I will kill him. Come on, Techno,
you know you'll never live in peace again, especially not with him alive. You and me, Techno,
we're enemy number one on this server. If he's going as far as torturing me for fun, do you really
think he'll let you and Phil just peacefully exist?! He'll hunt you down! He did it once and he'll do
it again!"

Technoblade sighed and crossed his arms, looking up at the ceiling with his cheeks blown up. It
made him look like a particularly disgruntled pufferfish. "Listen, I really do wanna destroy
Quackity's entire existence, alright? But, as it turns out, our friend Clay here can feel it when
people are dying. Which I can imagine probably doesn't feel very great. So I'd prefer if we keep
killing to a minimum. We can destroy Las Nevadas though, I'm totally on board with that."

Something ugly crawled up in him. How Punz had made it sound, his replacement hadn't even been
here for a month. Not even a month and Techno was ready to stave off revenge for him. Would he
have done the same for Dream?

George, Sapnap and now Technoblade. Giving his counterpart the loyalty they wouldn't give him.

What a fucking joke.

"Yeah," he replied tonelessly and waved a stiff goodbye to the piglin hybrid. "Then let's just
destroy Las Nevadas."

--

Sapnap tapped against his glass, his anxiety not having lessened since Clay had gone to talk to
Dream, and ignored the annoyed glances George threw at him. He had heard angry screams from
Dream but Technoblade had told them he'd deal with it. A big part of him felt guilty about feeling
relieved that he wouldn't have to face Dream, not when his cold shoulder felt like needles piercing
through his skin.

He had gotten so used to a version of Dream who smiled at him as if he had hung the moon and the
stars, who treated Sapnap like they were teens again, only having each other to rely on. The reality
that he had fucked up majorly felt like a bucket of ice cold water thrown over him. The last time
they had met he had told his best friend that he would kill him if he escaped out of a place that
tortured him. The time before that Dream had gathered blackmail material against all of them.
Sapnap didn't know if he could ever forget the feeling of dread that had taken over his entire body
when he had seen the cage designed for Skeppy, the pure, unadulterated fury that had come over
him. These last weeks with Clay had made him forget that there might not be a coming back from
that. Not from Dream and not from Sapnap.

How could Sapnap forgive an action Dream didn't even regret?

"Stop that, it's annoying," George said and yanked the glass away. Sapnap didn't complain but
instead started tapping against the table. George let out a long-drawn groan.

"Your mom is annoying," Sapnap said.

"If you don’t shut up, I'll stuff your fucking mouth with-"

"That's what I told your mom yester-"

The glass broke on impact with Sapnap's head. They both watched impassively as the liquid
dripped off his hair and dissipated on his hot skin. Sapnap shook the shards of glass off his now
dry hair. "You're gonna clean that up."
"Clean up your act and I'll clean this up."

"Me?!" Sapnap yelled in offense. He felt his impassivity reclining when his blaze half took over.
Smoke escaped his lungs as he jumped up and pushed his finger into George's chest. "I'm the one
who at least wants to talk with our fucking friend! You spent the last weeks crying about Dream
being in prison and now you can't even look at him! You're a fucking coward, Gogy."

George's eyes turned into slits. Even though he was smaller he still managed to look down on
Sapnap. "I'm not a hothead who jumps into situations I'm not wanted in. Dream was literally
tortured and the only thing you care about is yourself. Not if he wants you there. Not what's best
for him."

Sapnap summoned his sword the same time George got out his crossbow, pointing it at Sapnap's
chest with an unimpressed glower. "You're just too scared that he'll hate you!"

"Well, you got confirmation that he does hate you."

Sapnap flinched back at George's words. The other grabbed the sword out of his slack hand and
carelessly threw it onto the table together with his crossbow.

"At least I'm trying. You've- you've always been too damn apathetic! You slept through Dream's
capture, you didn't care, didn't visit! At least he knows that I'm still trying!"

"Uh-huh, and where did that get you? Instead of wanting to talk to you he asked for an outsider.
And Punz."

"Clay's not an outsider," Sapnap muttered.

"Not the point," George said. "The point is that there is no changing the past. We fucked up. He
fucked up. We both want to go back to how we were before. When we were still the Dream Team.
Right?"

Sapnap sat down heavily, casting his eyes up to the ceiling with a bitter sob. Steam wafted upwards
when his tears evaporated into the air. "Why did it all go wrong?" he wanted to know. "Why's
everything so fucked up? Why did- why did he change, George? Why- why-"
George sat down on the chair in front of him and scooted closer until their knees bumped into each
other. "That's why it's gonna take time until we can go back to how it was. It took so many months
until it got to this point, right? It's gonna take equally as long if not longer to undo it. So let's do this
one step at a time."

"And you're gonna be there?" Sapnap asked and felt suddenly very small, like he was still that little
boy trailing after his adventurous friends.

"Every step," George promised. "I'm well rested enough from all the sleep I've been getting."

With both of their energy zapped, they could only continue sitting in the living room, the ticking of
the clock the only noise in the room. Aside from the creaking of wood from someone opening the
door.

"How cute," Dream's raspy voice sliced through the silence, making Sapnap flinch violently at the
unexpected sound. The silhouette of his friend would have felt familiar if it hadn't been for how
emaciated he looked even with the netherite armor he had gotten from god knows where (possibly
Punz but from how he knew Dream, he had probably managed to get to an ender chest) and the
dark green cloak Sapnap had given back to him after borrowing it for Clay for the prison break.
Sapnap acutely got reminded of Dream's old armor that was still in Sapnap's possession. Dream had
never gotten into the habit of putting a lot of effort into painting his armor, but now that he was
wearing blank netherite he missed the big, green smiley that was on his old armor.

Dream's shoulders were weirdly hunched and even though he tried to hide it, he was breathing
heavily from going up the flight of stairs. The mask sat on his face, its mocking smile as annoying
as ever. Punz was nowhere to be seen.

Sapnap and George stayed frozen as Dream closed the door behind him, approaching them with
confident steps which almost managed to hide the tremors running through his body. It was hard to
believe that this was the man who had bled out on their table not too long ago.

This would be the first time he talked to Dream, really talked to him. The last time he had visited
him in prison and had told him he'd kill him. The last time he had ignored how monstrous the
prison was for any being, had ignored how much the lava blinded him, the heat of the lava
bothered him. Had ignored that if it was this bothersome for a blaze hybrid it must have been
torturous for a human. He had not cared because he had been hurt, had been scared.
"Dream," he said numbly. He had wanted to talk to him again, to make sure he knew that Sapnap
still loved him, but now that he was standing right in front of him, any words got stuck in his
throat.

"Why did you break me out?" Dream sat down on the chair furthest away from George and
Sapnap. Sapnap and George shared a quick, surprised glance at the question.

"Cause we heard what was happening inside. We- of course we had to break you out!" Sapnap
yelled.

Dream's shoulders relaxed a bit. "Ah. So you would have broken anyone out?"

"What- I mean, I guess?" Sapnap said at the same time George stated a clear "No."

Sapnap really wanted to be more surprised at George's answer. His friend had always been more
apathetic towards anyone and anything he didn't really care about though, and most people fell into
that category.

"I wanted to break you out even without knowing what was going on there," George said.
"Unfortunately I'm just me. And everyone else hated you. So there was no way I could have done
it."

Dream let out a hum, deathly still. Sapnap missed his usual pent up energy. Dream used to
constantly move, be it his fidgeting fingers or his leg jumping up and down, he could never be
completely still. Sapnap recognized this version of Dream as the mask he wore when dealing with
strangers. Enemies. People around who he didn't let his guard down. It hurt more than it had any
right to.

"And yet you never visited."

George shrugged but Sapnap could see how rigid his spine was. "I went to sleep and the next time I
woke up my best friend was in prison and no visitors were allowed."

"Dream, you wanted to blackmail Dad and me with Pops! With my fish! You can't act like the
victim in this situation!"
"You would have let me rot in prison if Quackity hadn't been torturing me," Dream nodded as if
that was a logical leap to make.

"You- I-" Sapnap's hands balled into fists. From his interactions with Clay he had completely
forgotten how absolutely infuriating his best friend could be. "You can't blame me for losing trust
in you after what you were planning to do."

Dream let out a raspy laugh, his wheeze sounding even more like it was hurting him than usual.
"Don't act as if the damn bunker was the thing that made you lose trust in me. You'd have given
me the benefit of the doubt if you still trusted me."

George frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You know, Tommy once told me something really interesting when we were in prison," Dream
said conversationally. "He told you, months before I was thrown into Pandora's Vault, that I didn't
care about you. And you believed him."

Sapnap gaped at him. "You were pulling away from us, doing stuff without telling us-"

"So many years of friendship," Dream snarled, the first real emotion cracking through his mask.
"So many years and you don't even give me enough trust to clear things up, you don't even attempt
to talk to me to understand my side. So many years and you believe some random kid when he tells
you how I feel."

"That's not fair," George said. "You didn't trust us first! You- you did things that obviously would
make us doubt our trust in you, you can't be surprised when we then lose our trust in you."

"And have you ever thought about what made me lose my trust?" Dream asked in a suddenly small
voice. His voice was trembling slightly, if from exertion or emotion Sapnao didn't know. "My goal
was to unite the server. Get rid of barriers, of differences. You just caused trouble again and again,
especially you, Sapnap. So why the hell would I trust you?"

Sapnap's jaw was open and he felt his expression twist into something disbelieving, something
pained. "Because we are friends!"
"Were," Dream reminded him coldly. "And the same counts for you. We were friends. You could
have trusted me instead of believing Tommy. I have reasons for the things I'm doing."

"And what are those?" George asked. He was speaking gently as if talking to a spooked animal
which Dream, from the way his shoulders were riding up, did not seem to appreciate.

"My ultimate goal is the unity of this server. My world might have replaced me but I'm still the
admin. And admins want to protect their world. It might not seem like it but I do what's best for the
server."

"And what is that?" Sapnap asked in suspicion. There was no way a room full of blackmail could
ever lead to any positive goal.

"I can't tell you. Not yet. Is it too much to ask you to trust me until I complete my goal and this
server is united?"

Sapnap remembered cold, damp walls and the shock at seeing a cage designed for Skeppy. He
remembered how much sense it made when Tommy told him Dream didn't care about them. He
remembered watching Dream stand high above L'Manberg as he dropped bombs, elation in the
small silhouette in the sky. He remembered fighting in a war against L'Manberg to tear down their
walls. He remembered what a united server meant for Dream.

"I'm sorry," he said truthfully. "I trust that you wanna unite the server. I don't trust that how you
wanna achieve that is good for anyone."

He felt the walls rebuild themselves around Dream as if it were a physical reaction, and only when
the air around his friend changed did he realize how open he had been until now.

"Then there is nothing I have to say to you."

"Can't we just be friends again?" George demanded. "Dream, you know I usually don't say this
kind of stuff but I miss you. I miss us. All together. You can trust us with whatever you want to do
and we can compromise! We can unite the server together with less… unfortunate means. Just
please."

Sapnap stared in shock at his usually apathetic friend. He was leaning forward on the table, his
hands braced against it to look at Dream. He looked desperate, so vulnerable Sapnap wanted to hug
him, pull Dream into it and just give them a group hug. Instead he raised his arms towards his
friend before letting it fall back to his side uselessly. He wasn't really in George's good graces
either.

"You already have a replacement," Dream said and somehow his factual tone made everything
much worse. As if the bullshit he was spewing was actually correct. And the worst thing was that
Sapnap had no idea if he genuinely thought that or if he just wanted to hurt them. "This world
pulled another version of me out of his world. Go and whine to him. I'm better off without you."

"Dream," Sapnap whispered, hurt. "We'd never replace you. Clay's Clay. You're you."

"You know, the sad thing about this entire situation is that I would have been dead if I had been the
one you met instead of my replacement. This- this pathetic, weaker version of myself is the only
reason you wanna even be near me." He let out a small, bitter laugh and Sapnap felt dread churn
inside him. "And honestly, I have no idea if I can forgive you for that."

With that he stood up in a jerky motion and turned towards the door, leaving slowly as if that
would hide the way he was limping, the way exhaustion hung off him like a cloak. Even the
motion of opening the door seemed to take too much effort. Though, from his extensive injuries
Sapnap was impressed he even managed to walk.

"Wait, Dream!" Sapnap yelled and jerked up, but George rushed to grab his arm, keeping him from
running after their friend. "You're wrong! I wanted to break you out! I wanna go back to how we
were before! I wanna be friends again! I- I fucking miss you!" He felt hot tears evaporate on his
skin, fogging up his eyes. He knew that his blasted blaze half had taken over and tried not to sob at
the almost imperceptible flinch it elicited from Dream. "Please. Can't you give us one more chance
and we'll give you one? Can't we just leave this entire shitshow behind, fuck off thousands of
blocks away from everybody and just start from scratch?"

Dream stayed in the open door frame, his back turned towards them. His fingers on the door knob
were trembling, the stubs of the missing ones twitching from the strain. "You have another version
of me. Don't fuck it up with him."

He stepped forward but George's voice made him stop again. "He's not you," he yelled out. "He's
not your younger version or anything. He doesn't share our memories, our friendship! He- he has
his own friends back home, not us. We want you, Dream. We're incomplete without you."

And Dream actually seemed torn over that. He stayed frozen, his entire body rigid. He looked like
 he was wrestling with himself.

For a moment Sapnap's breath stopped with hope. This felt like some kind of turning point, as if
this was their last chance to convince their friend.

Dream took a deep breath, his entire body deflating with the motion. Then he turned back towards
them and Sapnap couldn't help the relieved smile that took over his face.

"Then better learn how to feel complete again. I know I had to."

With that he walked out of the room, taking with him all the air and light.

Sapnap and George stared silently at the door. Even Sapnap realized what a bad idea it was to
follow him now. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock.

Chapter End Notes

They're all kinda awful to each other, but coming back from what they did to each
other would take a long time

Sapnap loves Dream, but he can't trust him, George isn't really aware enough of what
Dream went through, isn't really aware of his own feelings and thinks they can just
bounce back and Dream- well, on top of his torture and his future plans of restarting
the server, he feels replaced by a guy who acted out his life, his worst moments, in
front of an audience, and also because of what he went through he can't trust anybody
except for Punz.

I kinda wanna write all of them as being in the right and also being in the wrong, since
their feelings do make sense from their own standpoint. It's all just a twisted mess of
emotions and that's the fun of it :D

And then there's Phil who doesn't like Dream, Techno who is too casual about
everything because he's currently the strongest person and thus doesn't feel threatened
and also kinda likes Dream and Clay, Punz who doesn't like anyone except for Dream
and is confused every time he looks at the person who looks like Dream, and of course
Clay who's going through all the existential crises and is basically constantly internally
screaming. Fun.

(Also, if you're confused by certain dialogue, it will make sense in later chapters, but
like, way later haha)
(Also also, if you like Dr. Stone check out the fic I posted! :D)
 taken
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"You want to talk to me about admins."

Philza let out a very manly shout which wasn't a squeak at all and jerked around to see Dream
leaning against the door like a bad omen.

"Shit- fuck! You little shit!" He looked down in dismay at the carrots he had accidentally thrown
onto the ground.

Dream just appearing out of nowhere would be more terrifying if Phil didn't know that he was
leaning instead of standing because he was injured. Somehow, despite his extensive injuries, he had
managed to sneak down to the farm Phil was currently tending to without making any sound,
despite the fact that the floorboards were creaking. They had thrown this base together in two days
and had thrown quality for quantity which meant that it was more a collection of wood and stone
than a real, comfortable home.

A few days ago Dream had bled out on his table, his body broken and weak, and now he was
walking around with his head in the air. This man's mind really was strong and stubborn, to a
degree it almost scared Phil.

"Dream," he sighed. The sight of the man in full netherite gear and his creepy mask was more
scary than it should be. Clay had called Wilbur's letters fake and yet Phil felt apprehensive of the
man who had apparently been obsessed with his son's country to the point of continuous warfare.
"How're the wounds doing?"

Dream flexed his fingers. The sight of the bandaged stumps made Phil nauseous. "I can tell you put
a lot of effort into healing me. Thank you." He sounded surprisingly earnest which made Phil pause
from where he was lifting a crate of carrots. Then Dream looked up and asked, "Why?"

Phil blinked. "What do you mean why? You were hurt! Of course I'd heal you!"

"And you want a favor in return."

Phil blew a raspberry. These younglings nowadays. Such a suspicious bunch. "Sure," he said and
rolled his eyes. "In whatever plans you may have, don't hurt Techno and me, alright?"

Dream inclined his head and his tense shoulders relaxed in relief. Yeah, Phil might have
underestimated how suspicious Dream was. As if Phil had healed him for ulterior motives. He
wouldn't have broken the other out if it hadn't been for Techno, hell, he didn't even like Dream, but
even he would never let a tortured man bleed out on his doorstep. In the entirety of his long life he
had never encountered someone with the extent of Dream's injuries. Nobody who had still been
alive at least. He was apprehensive of the man who had done that to him. Who had a vendetta
against Techno and was now hunting them down. It had been deceptively easy to kill Quackity but
he knew from experience how vicious that man could be.

"Admins," Dream said and came closer, sitting on top of a chest when his knees were trembling too
much to support his weight. He was walking carefully and had squinted at the chest before sitting,
probably since his depth perception was all gone now. "Why did you want to talk to me?"

"You're the admin, right?" Phil got right into business. This world had never felt right. He could
barely remember a time before this server, even though he knew that he was so much older than it
was. And then the memory spells came, constantly leaving him confused about what he knew. He
hadn't forgotten about the fact that there were other servers outside of this one, but he had forgotten
about the end. His arrival on this server felt particularly fuzzy. There was just a blank wall any
time he tried to remember anything.

"Not anymore apparently," Dream said and sounded very bitter about it.

Phil snorted. "You can't stop being an admin. You created the world, that means it's part of you
and you're part of it. Until you decide to stop at which point the world collapses into itself and
becomes a part of you again. Clay might have gotten some admin powers but that's probably
because in one way or another he is you."

Dream hissed, fucking hissed, like some kind of wet cat. What the fuck, was Phil's first thought.
This is the dude everyone's scared of, was his second.

"I'm not gonna let anyone destroy my world! Why would any admin do that?! That's- that's… why
would anyone do that?"

Oh. So Dream had the same problem with attachment that Clay had. "God, now there's two of
you," he muttered and rubbed the bridge between his eyes. "An admin should never be too
involved in their world. It will just hurt you and your server."
"The admin is there to care for their world," Dream said with a hard voice.

"Well, when was the last time you went into creative mode then?"

Dream paused, his entire body language screaming confusion. "Not in a while," he said slowly.

Phil wanted to bash his head against the wall. "You don't know what creative mode is, do you."

Dream's silence said everything.

"You're the admin of this server. But you don't know what creative mode is. You can't access it.
Compared to actual admins you age normally like everyone else. And from what I've seen, neither
mobs nor the land reacts to you. I'll be honest, if there wasn't a guy with your face from another
world out there with actual admin powers, I'd have called you a liar. How do you even know you're
an admin?!"

Dream looked to the side, his mask hidden in the shadow of his hood. "I just know," he said. "Just
like you'd know you're an avian even if you didn't have wings."

Oh, Phil thought. Oh.

Somehow Dream had been cut off from his connection to the server. Phil felt a chill. He couldn't
imagine that, being cut off from a part of your soul. It sounded so foreign and so painful. And yet,
somehow the attachment had stayed. Phil wanted to joke that at least Dream's attachment wasn't as
dangerous as Clay's but from all his interactions with the masked man he knew how wrong that
was. Phil had helped him bomb L’Manberg once and that had been enough destruction to last a
lifetime- well, a normal human's lifetime. Dream had been on a warpath for years now.

"How do you know so much?" Dream wanted to know.

"Dream, I'm old as fuck. This server got created from a part of your soul. And you're what,
twenty?"
"Twenty-two," he muttered as if Phil cared.

"So, obviously I wasn't born here. I have some- some fuzzy memories from before. My own server.
The birth of my son. My wife, Lady Death."

"Your what."

"Logically I can't have been born here. The memory spell makes everyone not think about that.
Also, I've seen Techno fight against the memory control several times."

Dream looked down at his hands. His body language was surprisingly expressive and for a moment
Phil wondered if he was wearing a mask because his face was the same. "Sometimes I feel like I
remember something. But I always forget what it was. I always forget that I forgot something.
Phil," he said and sounded more scared than he had ever heard him. "Do you know what's going
on?"

Phil sighed and took off his bucket hat to run his fingers through his hair. "Sorry, mate. I have no
idea."

Dream abruptly stood up and walked towards the door. "Alright. And thank you again. For healing
me. I'll make sure you and Techno will have a good life."

Phil frowned at Dream's retreating back and wondered what the hell that was about. Groaning, he
realized that he had ended up answering Dream's questions more than he had asked Dream
anything. Well, it appeared that Dream himself didn't know much more.

An admin without powers. His counterpart who couldn't control his powers. A server without
memories. His wife who hadn't been able to appear. Communication with the outside world cut.
The Blood God who was scared of whatever power was controlling them. A god who blocked the
end. No way out.

Phil really didn't like whatever these puzzle pieces were starting to shape.

--
"What would it take for me to convince you not to go after Quackity?"

Clay had no idea what had led him into Dream's room, only a few hours after their first
conversation. After he had broken down. His eyes felt puffy and heavy but he tried to stand as
straight as possible. His character didn't like cowards.

Dream looked up from where he was sorting through his inventory, if Clay determined his swiping
hand correctly. To his surprise Dream reached up to unbuckle his mask and slowly place it down
beside himself. The face they shared was still gaunt but it had gotten some color back. The
bandages over his eye were now fresh, colored in lime green and he wondered if Dream had
requested that himself or if Phil had done it.

He looked strangely lonely without Punz as his constant companion.

"You listened to my conversation with Techno." Dream sounded displeased and the furrow
between his eyes made Clay shift in place guiltily.

"Some of it," he admitted and rubbed his neck. Dream's visible eye was narrowed. "Sorry."

Dream let out a huff. "Shouldn't you know what I intend to do with Quackity? You created me after
all."

Clay slowly approached but didn't sit down, instead leaning against the table at the foot of the bed.
He knew how unwelcome his presence was. "Techno told me not to assume any of my knowledge
to be true. So I'm- well, I'm sorry. For assuming stuff about you."

Dream's lips quirked up. "Your assumptions are all correct though. Don't apologize to me, hearing
my own voice sound so pathetic is weird."

"It's my voice," Clay stated. "And I am sorry. Even if it's true. I judged you based on what's
happening in another world. Things don't work how they do in the game, that became very clear to
me. And characters are different than they are here. 'Cause you're not characters but real people.
Just because you want to unite the server doesn't mean you want to restart it."

Dream raised his eyebrows at the very obvious attempt at fishing for information and Clay felt his
cheeks heat up. Before Techno's talk he'd just go in and assume that Dream's goal really was
restarting the server, but now he wanted to make sure, wanted to hear it from Dream himself. It
would determine how he'd go forward from here. Even Clay had no idea how restarting the server
would look like in this world.

"You feel the pain of death," Dream said, steamrolling over his question. "How does it feel like?
Describe the pain to me. Where is it? Does it feel like a wound?"

Nope. Absolutely not. He would not be one of Dream's curiosities. "Shouldn't you know? You've
literally died several times to experience limbo."

A faraway look was in Dream’s hazy eyes. It disappeared when he blinked, letting out a long
breath. "Your own death should feel different than feeling other people's death. Limbo is…
interesting. Getting your soul torn out of your body and put back- I’d call that my most
excruciating experience, but, well-” He pointed towards his own body with a wry grin. Clay was
surprised that he was sharing that unprompted.

“And you just wanna kill Quackity to torture him with death, right? And then you’re gonna revive
him to hold it over his head. You don’t- like, you don’t actually wanna kill him, right? Like,
actually.”

Dream let out a small laugh. “We both know the answer to that, don’t be stupid.”

“You want to unite the entire server,” Clay tried to argue. He didn’t know himself where that
fervor came from. This Quackity was for all intents and purposes dangerous. He had tortured
Dream without remorse. Had tried to kill Clay. Logically he should not want Quackity to live. But
Quackity wore the face of his friend, Quackity was part of this world. When Phil had killed him,
the pain of his heart seizing up- it had felt agonizing. Like being ripped apart inch by inch. And if
dying was in any way like that, he didn’t want anybody to experience that.

“He’s a stain on this server. If he stays alive, he’ll keep on poisoning the other members. His desire
for his own country, for barriers around what’s his- it’s too strong. I can’t let him live.”

“And that has nothing to do with the torture.”

Dream’s smile was all teeth. “My enjoyment when I kill him is just a plus,” he snarled. “What do
you gain from protecting him, idealist?! Or do you simply disagree with my goals on principle?”
“What’s so different between you two?!” Clay jumped up, pacing around. Dream’s cautious gaze
was heavy on him, weighing him down until it felt tangible. “You’re as good at uniting this
fucking server as he is! All you do is destroy, Dream! I know that because I acted it out! I made
you to be a flawed character! I wrote someone who had noble goals but did fucked up things to
achieve them! You might see me as an outsider but as it stands, out of everybody here I know you
the best. And I know that you’re wrong.”

“The difference between me and Quackity is that I do terrible things because I have to. He did it
because he liked it. And for that he will burn.”

Clay felt like sobbing. “You can’t- he’s a person, you can’t-”

With the crack of an ender pearl Dream was suddenly in front of him, stepping towards him
menacingly and Clay flinched back at the furious gaze, the burning eyes that pierced through him.
The bed creaked at the loss of weight. Despite Dream’s gaunt face and his broken body, he still
managed to loom over Clay. "I CAN'T?! Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?!"

"It's- you can't just kill someone, he was our friend! You can't-"

"Let's make a bet, how about this?'' Dream interrupted him. For a short moment his hair swished
with his movements and exposed the bandages over his empty eye socket, and Clay immediately
looked away, bile rising up. His back hit the wall and he found himself forced to stare at his own
emaciated face, cheekbones still hollowed and protruding. "I'm going to torture you. I will cut off
your tongue and let you choke on it, make you beg for death, make you decide on which weapon
I'm going to use to hurt you. I will pour lava onto you, will make you hold your hand into it, will
drown you, humiliate you, spit on you, I will use your body as a canvas and shears as the brush, I
will force you to eat your own flesh to survive, will cut off your fingers and toes knuckle by
knuckle, I will make you gouge out your own eye- and in the end after only thirty days of that, if
you don't want to kill me for doing that to you- then, and only then will I go back on my need for
revenge. You go through that. You forgive me. And I will not kill Quackity. Does that sound like a
fair deal to you?"

Sweat ran down Clay's back and he needed to get away, away from the hatred emanating from his
counterpart, the harsh words and the furious expression. It sounded like a threat, but he couldn't
feel any fear, only the all encompassing guilt and empathy. Yet, despite everything Quackity had
done, he couldn't let Dream kill him, this other version of his friend who was part of this world,
part of Clay.

Dream waited for an answer and huffed in derision when nothing came. Turning around, he paused
for a moment.
"Until then, until you haven't even gone through a sliver of the shit I had to go through- don't you
fucking dare moralize me. Get off your high horse, idealist."

Clay was left alone in the room, reeling.

--

“Sapnap!”

Sapnap flinched up, his sword falling out of his hands and onto his foot. With a yell he jumped up,
cursing himself for not wearing any boots. He had just wanted to vent out some energy in the
practice room, he had no reason for wearing armor. Now that had come back to bite him in the ass.

“Shit- Clay, sorry!” He picked up the sword and let it disappear back into his inventory. “Sorry if
I’ve been ignoring you, I’ve honestly not had a very good time-”

When he turned back towards the voice it wasn’t Clay but Dream standing at the ladder, holding
himself on it through his trembling legs. He wasn't wearing his mask, leaving the bandages and his
scarred face for the world to see. “Awww, has Pandas been neglecting my replacement?” Dream let
out a derisive snort. “The second Dream you’re failing. That’s a record."

"Dream," he said tonelessly. The harsh words washed over him. His friend had always been a more
calm presence who was hard to anger, but his words could be as cutting as any sword. Suddenly he
felt helpless without George beside him who was better at reading Dream. Sapnap had always been
too hot headed to realize the feelings Dream was hiding from everybody but George sometimes
seemed like he could read Dream's mind. But Dream being here with him, searching him out for
the second time, it must mean something. The first time it had felt like Sapnap had failed some
kind of test. Now he just had to make sure he wouldn't fail it again.

He would get his friend back. Kicking and screaming if he had to.

"I'm going to kill Quackity," Dream said and Sapnap blinked at the sudden change of topic.

"Yeah?" he said with a confused frown. "I assumed you would. He did fuck you up pretty badly."
Dream stopped, his eyebrows pulling together as if he hadn't expected that response. "Aren't you
together or something?"

"Even if he hadn't disappeared on us ages ago, I still would never keep being together with
someone who tortured my best friend, what the fuck Dream! Bros before hoes, right?"

Dream snorted and then looked surprised at the earnest humor. He probably hadn't experienced joy
in a while. Sapnap wanted to go over and hug him but he knew how unwanted that was. Dream
cleared his throat and looked away, all traces of humor gone.

"So you won't stop me?"

"Dream, I'd gladly help you kill that son of a bitch."

"Even if my replacement is against it?"

Sapnap rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Clay's from a peaceful world. He wouldn't
understand. Our world was raised in violence. It's the only universal language. We don't have to tell
him if you're worried he'd try to protect Quackity."

Dream waved him off. Something in the air felt tense, like a static energy permeating through the
room. Everything was completely still. Dream's form was unmoving beside the slight tremble
throughout his entire body. "You'd help me."

"I said that, yeah."

"Despite Clay's wishes."

"Yes."

"Even if it would hurt him."

Sapnap let out a laugh. "I mean, he would probably be sad but it can't be that bad. He has his own
Quackity at home who's probably his friend."

Dream smiled serenely and the expression reminded him of a wolf smelling blood. "Neither Phil
nor the replacement have told you?" He came closer, and despite his weak frame there was
something predatory about his gait. Sapnap held himself still and resisted the urge to step back.
"He's the admin now. A very empathetic admin at that. Which means that every mob killed hurts
him. Destroying the land hurts him. Killing a player- well, that's a pain I don't even wanna
imagine."

He was standing in front of Sapnap, an elated expression on his face. As if the shock on Sapnap's
face brought him joy. And Sapnap understood now. Dream hadn't come to him to reconcile. He
had come to gloat.

It made entirely too much sense. When he had still thought that Clay had been Dream, the mobs
had reacted to him weirdly and he had almost cried every time Sapnap even threatened to kill a
mob. The way he had reacted after coming back from the end hadn't been only because of the
shock from fighting. He had killed a lot of the shulkers, hadn't he? And then, a few days ago Phil
had carried him into the hidden base, unconscious and whimpering in pain. Right after Quackity
had died.

"Dream, I-"

"You'll still fight with me, won't you?" Dream's voice had gained a dangerous edge. Sapnap felt
like he was standing on a crossroad. Dream was forcing him to choose between Clay and him.
Sapnap could have his friend back. Everything could be like it had been before, before everything
went to shit.

"Clay won't even die. It's just a bit of pain. God knows I went through some. It's not a bad deal.
I've been scared, Sapnap, this entire time. That Quackity will find me again and finish what he
started. He wants the revival book and won't stop at anything to get it! And I can't let someone like
him get it or it could spell disaster for this server. You get it though, right, my friend? I need
Quackity to die or else I'll never feel safe again."

"But- a complete death. What if that hurts Clay more?"

Dream laugh, high and shrill. "Oh no," he spat. "Pain."

It was unfair. This was so unfair. Sapnap didn't know if he found Dream's ultimatum or this entire
situation unfair. Dream hadn't deserved Quackity's fucked up play for power. He deserved to feel
safe again, deserved to be free on his own server. But Clay didn't deserve any of this either. Ever
since arriving here Clay's existence had just been one shitty experience after the other, and Sapnap
was responsible for a lot of it. Clay was just a hopeful and naive human personification of a puppy
who Sapnap had grown too attached to.

He didn't want to make a choice. But here Dream was, looking at him with his singular eye and
making him decide. Sapnap loved his friends. And that had always been his downfall.

"I'm sorry," he said and felt like crying.

Instead of a crossroad he was standing on top of a cliff.

Dream closed his visible eye. "Alright," he said. "So that's your decision."

"Dream, I- just because I don't wanna hurt Clay doesn't mean I don't love you! You're my brother,
I-" He noticed his tears dissolving into the air. His blaze half had taken over without him even
noticing.

A strange look overcame Dream. "Since when did you start accepting your hybrid half?"

Sapnap rubbed his neck, eyes glued to Dream's cloak under which he knew were achingly familiar
burn scars. "I don't like it," he muttered. "Not after what I did to you. But- but… it helped? Like,
whenever Clay was cold I could-"

Sapnap raised his arm and summoned a shield just in time for an axe to embed itself into it. He let
out a choked scream

“HEY- Dream, stop, what the hell-”

"You burnt me!" He screamed in his raspy voice. "That means you're mine! You're mine, Pandas!
Ten years, Sapnap! Ten years I tried to help you with your fucking self-hatred and along comes my
replacement and solves it in a day?!"
"Dream- Dream it's not like that! I thought-" his voice became small and he jumped to the side of
another strike, raising his free hand as if to soothe a wild animal. "I thought you forgave me."

"I thought so too. Seems we were both wrong."

"I suppressed my blaze half because I never wanted to hurt you again!" Sapnap yelled. "I never
wanted to cause you another scar again!"

"Well, too late for that."

Sapnap jumped away from another slow strike, ready to catch Dream when it looked like he was
about to topple.

“Fight me,” Dream growled. His face was distorted in an expression of fury. His arms were
shaking so hard, it looked like he was about to fall apart.

Sapnap blocked another strike without much effort but didn’t attack back. "Hey, come on, you're
not yet well enough-"

"Don't you dare fucking call me weak! Fight me!" Dream's chest was heaving when he raised the
axe.

"Dude, stop-"

"You said you'd kill me should I escape! So fucking fight me, you coward!" Dream advanced,
spitting out his words but Sapnap didn't attack, didn't retaliate, simply looking at his friend with
sadness. "You're a back turning traitor, Sapnap, you just betray and hurt your friends. That's why
George and you are currently so cold to each other, right?!"

Sapnap flinched and dropped his facade. "What? No, Dream-"

"You already replaced me with a better, nicer version of myself! You don't fucking need me
anymore, so fight me!"
"Dream, stop-"

With a scream Dream punched him with all of his strength. Once his punch would have been
strong enough to make others fly backwards unconscious. Now Sapnap just stepped back in
surprise and held his reddening cheek, still not retaliating, still not reacting.

Breathing heavily, Dream grabbed the handle of his axe with both hands and swung at Sapnap. It
missed without him even having to move, and Dream stumbled forward, landing on his knees with
an unhealthy sounding crack as all of his bones jostled. With an alarmed shout, Sapnap crouched
beside him, grabbing his arms, but he lashed out, slapping his hands away and grabbing the axe
again.

Not caring about Sapnap's panicked look he thrust it into his hands. Sapnap shook at the
unexpected weight. He stared at his friend with a slack jaw, incomprehensive of what had
happened in the last minute.

"I know you despise me, I know you fear me,” Dream yelled. His voice was breaking and cracking
like fragile glass. “You already have a replacement you like more, this world already has a new
admin, a better one. This world doesn’t want somebody who doesn’t know the worth of it! So stop
going back on your promise and kill me!"

Sapnap's breath stopped and finally Dream broke. Hot tears ran down his face and Sapnap could
see the bandages over his eye get red with blood. The axe fell out of his shaking fingers, clattering
to the ground with a deafening sound.

"Dream," Sapnap whispered, devastated. "Clay isn't- I would never replace- I, you- I would never
kill you, Dream, please-"

"You promised-" Dream sobbed in betrayal. "You promised me, please Sapnap, you promised-"

Carefully Sapnap grabbed his arms again and brought him into a standing position, arms winding
around him slowly, slow enough so that Dream could extract himself at any moment. He didn’t
though, instead he clung to Sapnap like a lifeline, made himself as small as possible so that he
could hide his face in Sapnap’s neck.

Sapnap felt himself murmur useless apologies, subconscious words that he wasn’t even aware of,
into the trembling form of his crying friend. Dream’s mouth was ripped open as if screaming but
no sound came out. Sapnap wondered how often he had to do that in prison, if Quackity had
ordered him not to make a sound. And he just held him tighter, trembling from the rage he felt
against the world, against Quackity, trembling from the feeling of millions of wasps caught
underneath his skin, and he wanted to scream, until his throat was hoarse, until someone could tell
him how he could fix any of this.

He was so tired. He was exhausted. But more than that he just wanted his friend back.

“This doesn’t mean I want you back,” Dream whispered.

And despite their position Sapnap was painfully aware of that. Dream had given him a last chance.
But he couldn’t make Clay suffer for revenge. Maybe that was what made him cling harder,
breathe in the now unfamiliar smell of his former best friend- the knowledge that after this, Dream
didn’t intend on fixing anything between them. The knowledge that getting back his friend would
be much harder now and that he had made that choice himself.

"You're so cruel," Sapnap hiccuped and cursed the cruel fates that made him love this man. It
wasn't fair, Dream wasn't fair. And there was nothing Sapnap could do.

He never wanted to let go again, wanted to stay like this forever. Dream, George and him belonged
together. Being torn apart felt like he was incomplete, like a part of him was missing.

Somehow letting go of Dream was the hardest chore he ever had to endure.

--

"He searched you out."

Sapnap flinched at George's voice. His friend had waited for him in his room and was sitting on
Sapnap's bed, throwing an ender pearl up and catching it with a gentle grip so that it wouldn't
crack. The wood on the bed was splintered though which showed that he had failed to catch his
ender pearl and had fallen on top of the mattress several times.

"Dude, you destroyed my bed!"

George rolled his eyes. "Stop whining, it's just a bed."

Cursing under his breath Sapnap strolled towards his bed and threw himself on top of George,
ignoring the sound of his bed creaking, its wood splitting more.

"SAPNAP, MOVE," his friend immediately screeched and Sapnap tried to make himself even
heavier until George's apathetic mask fell completely into irritation.

"You're such a little bitch, George."

"I can see your puffy eyes, if anything you're the bitch."

Sapnap couldn't help but snort into the crook of George's neck, earning him an annoyed slap to the
back of his head. "You listened in?"

He felt George nod. "You're an idiot," he said

Squawking, Sapnap leaned up on his arms and looked down at George helplessly. "What else was I
supposed to do? Why- why did he ask you? Why didn't he go to you to give you that ultimatum?
Why me?"

"Because he knows I'd accept without hesitation." Despite George's words he didn't look cold,
merely like he was stating a fact, as if he had just told Sapnap that the sky was blue.

Sapnap gaped at him. "But Clay-"

"Isn't Dream. We've known him for a few weeks at most. I have no idea why you're so attached.
Besides, he came out of Quackity's first death okay. Killing Quackity won't kill Clay. Killing
Quackity will make Dream feel better though. Will make him realize that we still love him. It's a
good trade."

"He didn't go to you," Sapnap whispered tonelessly.

"Because he knew you'd say no," George added bitterly. "And I wouldn't have."

--

Dream looked up when he heard the door open. His gaze met Punz’s who wordlessly dropped
down onto the bed beside him and bumped their shoulders together. He had just come from outside
and the smell of invis and milk was still on his breath.

“You don’t look very good,” the mercenary said and Dream snorted at the understatement.

“Am I weak?” he asked without looking at the other.

Punz scoffed. “Shut up. You’ve gone through hell and you’re still standing. That has to count for
something.”

Dream felt his friend’s heavy gaze from his peripheral vision.

“The plan is still on, right? You haven’t suddenly changed your mind because of these people.”

Dream closed his eye and leaned his head against the wall. He was exhausted, an exhaustion that
hadn’t left him since he had been thrown into the prison, no, since the peace of his server had been
threatened.

“Would you let me forget everything when we restart the server? I don’t think I can stay unbiased
in the new world.”

Punz stayed quiet for a while, before shifting and leaning his head on Dream’s shoulder.

“You want to forget everything we went through?”

“Punz, if I don’t forget, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive everyone. I don’t think I could
coexist with them. If we want the server to be united again, I can’t keep my memories.”

A pained grimace crawled onto Punz’s face and he looked ready to scream, ready to argue. But
instead he simply breathed out until he looked apathetic. That was one of the reasons why Dream
would allow his memories to be lost. Dream had always been bad at keeping his feelings at bay,
always had to let others know what he thought of them. Punz on the other hand had been able to
fool the entire server for several months. Dream would gladly entrust the server and himself to
Punz.

“I’ll miss you,” Punz choked out, fingers coming up to grip Dream’s sleeve.

Everything was for the good of the server. And if he had to give his body, his soul and his
memories, then so be it.

“The plan is still on. Nobody could convince me now after everything that happened. Not Sapnap.
George. The pretender. Don’t worry, I’m not compromised.”

It was time for the first step.

--

Clay was sitting in the room they had built for him and stared listlessly at the clock, watching the
minutes pass. It was already late. He was sure that everybody else had already gone to bed and he
knew he should too, but despite his exhaustion he just wanted to stay here, staring at the wall. He
was on the bed and had thrown the blanket over his head, turning himself into a cocoon.

The truth of the matter was that he was weak. What the hell could he hope to accomplish? Dream
and Punz were two of the strongest people on the server. Clay remembered endlessly grinding for
materials in Minecraft to become stacked. So that even if he got killed, he'd still have enough items
to be a threat. The only one with even less hobbies and a social life than him had been Techno, but
that guy was insane anyway.

And here was Clay who had had to rely on others until now to survive. All of his gear had come
from other people. Even if he could fight, he could never hurt anybody here.

And then there was the relentless pain. It felt like there were holes in his soul, crying out
constantly. Phil was right. He was too involved. But he also didn't know how not to be. He couldn't
stop caring about this server and its members. He couldn't stop caring about this land and
everything it entailed.

Yet he missed his home so badly, it hurt so much. He had never been far away from home for too
long, and could count the times he, George and Nick hadn't talked for a week on one hand. There
was a way home for him underneath Techno's old base but his fucking heart didn't let him through.

Wiping angry tears away he cursed himself for being so damn emotional. There was no time for
crying, nor wallowing in his own misery.

Not for the first time wondered what had happened to him in his own world. By now he had been
in this world for more than a month. Did time in the old world just not pass? Did his friends miss
him with no idea where he had gone? Did they think he had run away or that he had been
kidnapped? Hell, maybe he was in a fucking coma and was just imagining all of this shit. Did he
just disappear from his old life?

Before he realized it, his entire vision had gone blurry. He quickly muffled his hiccups with a hand
and pulled his legs towards himself. Putting his arms around himself almost felt like a hug.

This was too much, this entire situation was too much. Usually Clay knew what to do or he had
people he could ask if he was in a shitty situation. Or at least he had his friends by his side. This
time he was alone in another world.

He had thought he could do it. Save the server. Fix everything that had gone wrong. Make
everyone be friends again. He had thought if he just tried hard enough, he could do it.

He had been wrong.

A knock on his door made him flinch up. He had hoped that everybody had already gone to bed
and that nobody would hear him breaking down again. Hastily he wiped his tears away and made
himself as presentable as possible when the door already opened and Punz stepped inside with an
awkward air around him and his lips pressed together. His hair was wet as if he had just taken a
shower and despite the late hour he was decked out in his normal clothes and armor instead of his
sleeping clothes. There were white streaks in his hair, and it took a moment for Clay to realize that
he had probably dyed it before so that nobody would question it. Maybe he would reapply the dye
later. Or maybe he was done acting as if Dream and him weren't allies.
"Yo," Punz muttered and looked to the side.

"Punz," Clay said warily. On other days he kind of understood the other's dislike for him. Punz
probably looked at him as a lesser version of Dream. Now however he was too exhausted to deal
with any snide remarks. He couldn't deal with someone with the face of his friend looking at him
with anything other than love. “You’re still awake?”

Punz stepped completely into the room and closed the door behind him with his foot. In his hands
he was carrying two steaming mugs. "Here," he said and unceremoniously held one of them in
front of Clay's face.

Clay blinked at it owlishly. "For… me?"

"No, Clay, for the other person in this room. Idiot."

It was genuinely confusing to hear his name come out of the other’s mouth. His Punz always called
him Dream even off-camera. And this Punz always called him pretender. He was thankful for it
though.

"No, I mean- you don't like me," Clay said bluntly and Punz gave a shrug. "So why?"

Punz sighed and sat down cross legged in front of Clay on the floor so that he had to look up to
him. Clay pulled the blanket off his head and tried to look less pathetic.

"I may not like it but you really do sound like Dream."

"Oh," Clay whispered and finally grabbed the cup out of Punz's hands. Dream was Punz's only
friend, so listening to Clay’s voice cry must be very weird.

He took a sip and blinked down at the strange taste. It was hot chocolate with a hint of something
flowery and another, stranger aftertaste. Whatever it was, it added another level of comfort, the
feeling of finally falling into bed after an exhausted day. He chugged it.

“It’s different from what I’m used to. But it’s nice.”
“Probably a difference between our worlds. Does your world even have cocoa beans?”

“Yeah, but most of what we drink is processed stuff. If you just straight up drink unprocessed hot
chocolate, it’s probably bitter.” He let out a yawn and gratefully smiled down at Punz.

“Thanks,” he said earnestly. “Gonna be honest, had a pretty shitty day. Pretty shitty few weeks.
We- I know, I know that we kinda started off on the wrong foot. And like, I’m sorry. For what I
said- like, like, when I implied that your world wasn’t real or anything. And that I impersonated
your friend. I- this world is so fucked, Punz. I’m sorry. For everything. I just wanted everyone to be
safe.”

A strange look overcame Punz's face and he looked to the side. “Don’t apologize,” he muttered.
“And I’m sorry too.”

Clay rubbed his tired eyes and had to put the half empty mug to the side when it threatened to spill.
“For what?” he muttered, forcing his sight to be less blurry. There had been that time when Punz
had kneed him in the stomach and had threatened to kill him, but at that point Clay had been a
perceived threat. There was nothing Punz had to apologize for.

The ticking of the clock sounded like it was very far away.

“You’re a nice dude,” Punz said. There was a coil of rope in his hands. Something in Clay told him
to be alarmed at that but he was too exhausted to understand why. “A bit naive. You don’t
understand this world. And you put your nose too much into things that have nothing to do with
you. But you have a good heart. It’s unfortunate that we ended up having different goals. I think,
maybe- maybe you would have been good for Dream.”

“Punz?” Clay asked in a small voice. His vision was swimming and everything in his head felt
jumbled. Punz was now standing over him. Clay tried to stand up, panic flooding him now when
the feeling of wrongness became too strong. He stumbled over his blanket and Punz easily caught
him under the arms, slinging his weakly struggling body over his shoulder. The hum of the
enchantments on Punz's netherite armor made him drowsy. “Punz, please- Punz-”

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Punz patted his back in some sick form of consolation and Clay
tried to shuffle away, instead choking when his stomach was pressed harder against Punz's
shoulder. Clay was hanging, the ground floating underneath him. The armor digging into his
stomach made him nauseous.
 Distantly he felt his arms being pulled behind his back and rope grinding against his wrists. He was
gasping for air, his entire body shutting down. It was an agonizingly helpless feeling, being
trapped in your own body.

“Punz,” he begged. He felt his struggling get weaker and the tenuous hold he had over his mind
slowly draining. “Don’t- don’t do this, don’t-”

“I’m sorry, pretender,” Punz said and Clay felt a stab of hurt when he realized that Punz had held
back the nickname in their previous conversation. Just to lull him into a false sense of security.
“Unfortunately you’re a thorn in our plans.”

He felt new tears fall out of his eyes and land onto the floor.

"Please-"

Punz's netherite boots were the last thing he saw before unconsciousness took him and his
unwilling eyes closed.

Chapter End Notes

you could say that Dream was taken

The angst continues woop woop

I do apologize for everyone who had hope that they would get along, but at least now
in the next chapter the story is really gonna focus on those c!Dream&cc!Dream tags to
make up for its lack in the first chapters haha

Everybody's on their low point. Sapnap was just manipulating into thinking he's the
reason Dream left, George knows that Dream is pulling back willingly, Dream feels
replaced and has suicidal tendencies (to the point of wanting to erase several years of
himself) and Clay's just not having a good time. He's been in this world for several
weeks and feels like he hasn't been able to change anything, and also his more naive
view clashes with Dream's cynical one. And now boi got kidnapped. Yay.

About the burns: They're a headcanon of mine. I mentioned them in chapter 3 and 13,
they're basically the reason why Sapnap hates his blaze half. Dude lost control of
himself for once and since then carries around guilt and self-hatred. These dudes have
a lot of unspoken words and feelings between them.
Thanks to everyone who commented, read, bookmarked and kudo-d this fic! I'm a bit
busy and can't find the time to respond to everyone but they do make me happy every
day! :D
I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a chapter out next week since I currently have a lot of
stuff on my plate, from a convention I'll be attending as an aritst to the approaching
end of my bachelors!

(Talking of the convention- anyone attending the Fantasy Basel in Switzerland? O.O)
 ARC IV: Captured
Chapter Notes

question, is anyone here bothered by the double spacing in this fic? I'm unsure about
going back in and deleting all the double spacing after reading that there are some
people who refure to read a fic if it's double spaced since it's harder to read ^^'

if people say they are bothered by it, I'd change the already posted chapters somewhen
later and post the future chapters with single spaces

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Technoblade awoke to a cacophony of voices screaming at him to wake up.

GET UP

i feel a disturbance in the force

THEY’RE ALREADY GONE

NOOOO NOT OTHER DREAM

WAKE UP LOSER UR RIVAL STOLE CLAY

L
E?

L.

“What the hell are you talkin’ about now?” He groused and stumbled out of his bed, rubbing his
hair in annoyance. Usually he was thankful for his deep sleep since it could drown out chat, but
this time it sounded urgent.

Flee, he heard the Blood God whisper and he froze, wide eyed at the honest fear in the god’s
voice. Flee as fast as possible, the admin will get us-

“What do you mean?”

The Blood God didn’t answer, and Technoblade stumbled when he felt the Blood God trying to get
control over his body. He fought against it, feeling chat fight off the control with gleeful screeches,
and he was left gasping for air when it subsided. The Blood God was pushed into the back of his
head where he only heard scared whimpers.

This is gonna be interesting

ADMIN CLAY ADMIN CLAY

guys shouldn’t we take this a bit more seriously?

E
dude, we just wanna be entertained lmao

Technoblade ripped his door open and summoned his sword, ready for any attack. If Quackity or
anyone had found them, it would not have been this quiet. His first stop was Dream’s room which
he threw open. His heart immediately sank to the floor when he found it completely empty. Well,
that didn’t have to mean anything. Dream was a theatrical dude, guy liked appearing and
disappearing on you. He was probably just slinking around the base, training his mysterious energy
in the mirror or something.

Next he opened Clay’s room. When he found it empty he was immediately alarmed. Two cups of
now cold cocoa were on the nightstand besides rumpled blankets. He stepped closer with a frown
when he noticed that one of the mugs was completely full and the other still had half its content.
Maybe Clay was just really bad at making hot chocolate and nobody wanted to drink it?

He lifted the half empty cup to his nose and sniffed. At first the smell was pleasant, something
flowery. As if the creator had wanted to hide another smell. A normal human could probably not
smell it but his piglin nose was more advanced; There was a twinge of a fermented spider egg and
redstone. Someone had mixed in a potion of slowness with a heck-ton of redstone added to it to
turn it into a very strong sleeping potion.

Someone had given a potion of sleep to Clay and had taken him. Someone who he trusted,
considering that he had seemingly willingly drunk it.

Run away, you fool, from the man who ripped his soul in half-

Run away from the god toying with you-

“PHIL!” he yelled, ignoring the Blood God, and started banging on the others' doors, ripping them
open. Punz's was empty, but the mercenary had never touched it to begin with, always hovering
around Dream like a worried mother hen. George was in Sapnap’s room and Sapnap fell out of his
bed with a surprised yelp, groaning when he hit his head on the ground.

“What the fuck, Techno?”

Phil appeared out of his room completely clothed. If it hadn’t been for his rumpled hair and the
crows that were whining at Techno in annoyance, he’d have assumed that Phil had been awake
already. “What’s going on, Techno?”

“Punz, Dream and Clay are gone. I found a mug with a sleeping potion in Clay’s room. So either all
three of them were kidnapped without any of us noticing or Dream kidnapped him for whatever
reason. Which honestly seems more likely.”

Sapnap’s eyes turned black, his golden pupils illuminating the room. When he exhaled, smoke
escaped out of his mouth.

“Sapnap,” George muttered warily.

“I’m going to kill him,” Sapnap whispered darkly. “I don’t- I don’t fucking care anymore. We gave
him a chance, George.”

George snorted and gave him a thin smile. “You should really decide on one side, it’s getting
tiring. No wonder Dream didn't trust you.”

“There are no sides!” Sapnap yelled. “Dream fucking kidnapped Clay! After we broke him out of
prison! I’ll get him back and I don’t give a fuck if you’re with me or not. But if you get in my way,
George, I’ll promise you that won’t hesitate to strike back.”

“Ah, the second friend you’d betray for an outsider.”

“He’s not a fucking outsider! You're so- you're so fucking cold, don't you care about anything?!
About what's right and what's wrong?!”

"It never bothered you before when I was on your side."

"You weren't this much of an asshole before!"

Techno tuned them out and looked to the ceiling with a sigh. Of course Dream had to make this
entire situation even more complicated. Not only were they the server’s public enemy number one
but now they had disappeared to god knows where. Punz, the only functioning fighter, Dream who
could barely walk and wasn’t even nearly at full health, and Clay who held a sword like it was a
poisonous cave spider. Great. Wonderful. Show-stopping. Maybe he should take back that one time
he complimented Dream’s intelligence because obviously that man was an idiot.

“Techno?” Phil asked gently and put a hand on his shoulder. “What do you wanna do now?
Technically we already completed our mission. We wanted to help Clay break out Dream and
make sure that nobody can get back into the prison. Our job is done.”

Great, Phil was putting the choice of getting Clay back on his shoulders.

Crossing his arms, he thought. He had only known Clay for a few weeks, and yet somehow the
other had managed to crawl into Techno’s heart like some kind of worm. He kept brushing against
Techno, smiling at him and casually touching him as if he wasn’t the most dangerous person on
the server. As if Techno wasn’t a piglin hybrid. And even if he was amazed at his strength, at no
point did he define Techno solely through it. He had asked for his help, had asked him to lend his
strength but had never taken it for granted. He had never shown an ounce of fear towards him. He
saw Techno as a person.

Clay liked him because he had his own version of Technoblade at home, but he also seemed to like
him as an individual.

The Blood God had choked him, had shown that he had control over Techno, and despite that Clay
had hugged him as if Techno wasn't able to break his fragile body at any moment.

Techno didn’t like it but he had gotten attached to this weirdly gentle man who tried to carry the
world on his shoulders, who was so untouched by the violence that permeated through their world
like a poison.

“We’ll get him back,” he said and Phil nodded with a smile. His friend had known Techno’s
decision even before he himself had. “George, if you’re against us, you can just give up right now.
Fighting is useless.”

“I’m literally not against you!” George yelled and gesticulated wildly with his arms. “I don’t want
Clay to get harmed! But I won’t let Dream come to any harm either.”

Techno shrugged. He had no intention of killing Dream, but if he fought against them, he couldn’t
promise his continued survival. “Sure, I can work with that.”

Chat screamed with the promise of violence. Somewhere in his mind he could hear the nervous
muttering of the Blood God, whispers for him to run away which he easily ignored.

He really was out of retirement, wasn't he? This world would never let him lay down his sword.

--

When they stepped out of the mountain in which they had built their base inside they all froze at
the sight in front of them. The earth looked sick, almost gray. Every plant in a one mile radius had
seemed to shrivel up into dust. There was no animal in sight. The place seemed dead. In the
horizon Techno could see the vegetation going back to a healthy state. Unfortunately, since the
spell seemed to be in a radius all around the base they couldn't use it to determine in what direction
Dream had gone. He could only hope that nobody would discover this section, because it was a
very obvious sign pointing at their hidden base.

The little godling is gaining power, he’s becoming as strong as the last one, run away, run away-

"Ahh fuck," Phil said.

"Was that-" Sapnap swallowed nervously, his fingers around the hilt of his axe. "Was that Dream?"

"I'd put my money on Clay," Phil said. "This is the danger of an admin who got too attached."

They walked through the wasteland in silence. Phil activated his elytra and flew up, keeping his
eyes on anything that was moving.

Above them the crows were flying in circles, looking out for their missing member.

--

Clay came to himself with a massive headache and a panic that was clogging his throat. His body
was being jostled from side to side in a way that made him nauseous. Everything was spinning. He
had never really been drunk but if this was how it felt, he never wanted to be anyway.

Behind and in front of him he could hear low voices and something in him screamed danger,
screamed at him to run.

Underneath him was soft fur that tickled his nose. The ground he was lying on was moving though,
shaking his body along the way. Behind him he could feel the presence of somebody else. His eyes
felt crusty and disgusting like waking up after crying yourself to sleep.

Then it all came back to him. Punz coming into his room. The uncharacteristic, nice gesture of hot
chocolate. The strange, flowery taste with a weird twang of something else he couldn't recognize.
The feeling of tiredness washing over him. He remembered begging. He remembered his pleas
falling on deaf ears. He remembered fear.

With sudden strength he threw himself off the horse and immediately stumbled onto the ground
when he noticed that his hands were still tied behind his back in a way that made it impossible to
access his inventory. His face smashed into twigs and rough dirt, scraping his cheek.

He tried to get back up but a foot planted itself firmly on his back and pushed him back onto the
ground. He turned his head as much as he could and glared up at Punz who watched him with an
unimpressed expression.

"Did you really think that would work?"

"Fuck you," he spat.

"Can I take my foot off or will you try running again?"

"Fuck. You."

The horse moved and he heard Dream get off with small gasps before coming closer. Clay's heart
was beating hard against his ribcage.
"Would you like to experience what your limbo is?" Dream's voice was cold and Clay closed his
eyes in an attempt not to sob. "Then stop struggling."

"Why?" he wanted to know. "Why did you kidnap me?"

Please, god, XD, anyone, he begged. Please don't let it be for human experimentation.

He had created a character who would gladly experiment on others and himself if it could further
his research. But still, Clay didn't want to go through that. He wanted to continue living without the
knowledge of how death felt. He just wanted to go home.

“Your current… status,” Dream started, his voice dripping with displeasure, “is interfering with our
plans. We can’t let you get back to your world and change anything.”

“How often do I have to tell you fuckers,” Clay yelled and struggled against the foot holding him
down, “that our worlds are fucking separate?! Even if this stupid fucking world would let me get
home, I wouldn’t be able to change shit from there!”

“Even if that was the case, you’re still an admin,” Punz said. His voice was more gentle than
Dream’s but Clay really couldn’t give a fuck at the moment. “Now, can I let you go or do we have
to threaten you more?”

"I won't try to escape," he said through gritted teeth.

Punz stepped off him and he slowly sat up, his shoulders riding up at the two men completely
decked out in enchanted netherite armor. Tears pricked at his eyes but he refused to let them fall.
Dream was swaying and he looked ready to fall down if it weren’t for his grip on the horse. One
glance was enough to determine that they hadn’t stolen Carl and he let out a small breath of relief.
Maybe stealing Carl would have given Techno incentive to follow them, but he knew how much
the horse meant to him.

That brought up another point. Would anybody come to save him? He had known Phil and Techno
for less than a month and in that time Phil hadn’t spoken much to him except to warn him of what
it meant to be an admin. And while Techno and him could exchange banter, he didn’t know if that
was enough for the piglin hybrid to come after him. While George had warmed up to him, his
ultimate goal had still been to get Dream back. The same applied to Sapnap. Why would the two
risk getting back into Dream’s bad graces for him?
He slowly stood up and stared at the ground. “What do you plan to do with me?”

“Nothing,” Dream scoffed and gestured for him to come closer. “If you behave until we fulfill our
goal, we’ll let you get back home without a scratch. I can promise you that.”

“Your promises mean jack shit,” Clay said but something in him loosened in relief even if he
couldn’t believe a single word they said. He didn’t move and snarled when Punz grabbed his arm
and pulled him towards the horse with force. “And I won’t let you restart the server! ‘Cause that’s
your goal, isn’t it? The complete annihilation of this world!”

Dream was wearing his mask but he pushed it to the side for a moment just so that Clay could see
him roll his eye. Dramatic bitch.

“I’m the admin. Was the admin. I would never destroy this world." He looked to the side, a small
smile playing at the corners of his chapped lips. "But you’re right, idealist. We will restart the
server. Everybody will be united again. We can start from scratch, before everything went to shit,
before people started building their stupid countries and dividing themselves up into factions.
Before any wars. These people are beyond hope. They’re too stuck in their ways, too used to the
status quo, too used to violence. So I’ll just reset them.”

“You’re a lunatic,” Clay said. “You’re what caused most of the violence on this server!”

Dream’s eye twitched in irritation and he pulled his mask back on. “I wasn't the one who decided
to divide my server,” he said indifferently. “Now get on the horse. We need to move before anyone
discovers us.”

Clay looked up at the back of the horse and then back at Dream in disbelief. There was no saddle
and no way he could climb this thing. And then he squeaked when Punz grabbed his waist and
lifted him up as if he was as light as a feather. In panic he grabbed the mane of the horse and
almost fell onto the other side if it weren’t for Punz's grip on his shirt.

“Wow, you're pathetic,” Punz said in awe. Despite his words his tone almost sounded fond.

“I’ve never ridden a fucking horse!” Clay screeched.

Punz helped Dream onto the horse who reached around Clay to grab the reins. Clay pushed himself
further up to get as little bodily contact with the other as possible. Despite all their conversations it
was still so damn weird to be close to someone who looked and sounded like him. If they had been
twins, Dream would definitely be the evil one though.

“Dude, it’s so strange to hear your voice curse,” Punz said. He grabbed a strap of the reins and led
the horse through the oak forest.

Well, apparently Clay trying to be more family friendly by not cursing on stream also translated
into this world.

“It’s weird to hear my own voice,” Dream said with humor. “What do you think your counterpart is
like?”

Punz laughed and for a moment it occurred to Clay how surreal this fucking thing was. Here he
was in-between his and his friend’s counterparts who had kidnapped him and were now having a
friendly conversation with each other. What the actual fuck.

“I don’t know if I’d wanna meet him honestly,” Punz said. “I mean, it would just be a weaker
version of me who’d probably also be opposed to our goals.”

Clay’s eyebrow twitched at the way they were talking about his friend. His genuine, hard working,
lovable friend who didn’t deserve to get shit-talked by his counterpart from another universe.

“Well, I can tell you from experience that meeting your counterpart is terrible,” Clay said. He
could hear Dream laugh slightly and he tried to shift even further up in discomfort. The horse let
out an annoyed neigh at the weight on its neck.

“You were apparently the one who got the ball rolling on breaking me out,” Dream said. “Because
you were the only one who knew about what S- Quackity did.”

Clay shivered when he remembered the last time they had talked about Quackity’s torture and
Clay’s role in his world. The last time Dream had thrown himself at him with a knife. “You could
be a bit more thankful for that,” he griped instead.

“I haven’t killed or hurt you yet, have I?” Dream stated. “That’s my thanks. Of course you can
always decline it. The only thing holding me back from dissecting you is my gratitude after all.”

Clay was trembling and he shut his eyes, leaning forward until he could hide his face in the mane
of the horse. The worst part of everything was that he couldn’t even bring himself to regret
breaking Dream out. Despite his goal to restart the server, despite the fact that Dream had
kidnapped him. He didn’t even regret not telling Sapnap or Technoblade that the disc confrontation
had been faked and what Dream’s ultimate goals were. The only thing he did regret was not being
more suspicious when Punz had shown him kindness.

“What are you gonna do now?” he asked tiredly.

“Well, you and Techno did destroy our plans of using Pandora’s Vault as a base,” Punz said.

“Which means that we’ll have to continue our plans in another of our bases,” Dream sighed in
annoyance. “Withers are so damn annoying to deal with.”

“Good,” Clay muttered snidely.

This entire situation felt like a repeat of when Sapnap had captured him when they first had met.
And it had more the air of a field trip than a kidnapping which was a much more surreal experience
than he was comfortable with.

“You do realize that I won’t let you just restart the server? I’ll go down kicking and screaming.”

“You can try,” Punz said and actually sounded amused at that. “Hey Dream, if I defeat this version
of you, can I claim that I defeated big bad Dream?”

“Punz, you could defeat me as I am now. Look at me.”

“Yeah, but I could claim I defeated Dream at full strength!”

It was between his bantering kidnappers that he realized they didn’t take him seriously at all. He
felt more like a misbehaving child than a kidnapee. He didn’t know if he found it humiliating or
relieving. When Sapnap had captured him he had been swimming in a sea of confusion and fear.
Now it was mostly anger and determination. There was still a healthy amount of fear though. And
a voice in his head warning him that these men had no scruples. But the biggest part of him wanted
to bash their heads in until they understood that they were wrong.

“You know, I could scream and alert someone,” Clay said. A part of him was probing for more
information about where they were and how close civilization was. Another, less intelligent part
just wanted to antagonize his kidnappers.

“We’re at least two thousand blocks away from anyone who could hear you. So try it. And see
what happens.” Punz summoned a dangerously glowing potion and smiled thinly up at him. Clay
immediately shut up and stopped talking for several minutes.

"Is me breaking you out the only reason you won't kill me?" he finally asked. Had he really created
such a cold character that he would kill random people without remorse? No, he thought. No, the
character he had created cared too much to the point he had lost his humanity. And while he had
repeatedly killed Lazarbeam and Vikkstar, he wouldn't senselessly kill, not without a reason behind
it. He would however do everything to achieve his goals, including harming himself.

Dream sighed as if he was a stupid child. "We have no reason to harm you unless you give us one.
Besides, you carry valuable information."

Clay frowned and twisted his head back so that he could see the other. "What do you mean? I've
been here for a few weeks and most of that time was spent realizing how different this world is."

"Your world works as a mirror to our world, right?" Punz’s voice was animated, real curiosity
bubbling up. "And the way it was described is as a story where all of us have counterparts and act
out what's happening in here. Scripted roleplaying. You discuss things with our counterparts.
Which means that you know what's going to happen. You know the future."

Clay's throat went dry. Dream and Punz wanted to use his perceived knowledge to hurt his friends.
They wanted to use Clay.

Punz let out a curse and summoned his bow, shooting several arrows into the creeper that had
suddenly appeared in front of them, making Clay flinch at the sudden pain in his chest.

Dream put a hand on Clay's back who shuddered at the contact. "Stay calm or you're gonna kill
yourself, you idiot. Punz and I have armor, you have nothing. We'd survive creepers."
"That wasn't me!" Clay yelled. No way he was controlling this world. No way was this world
reacting to him. There was no way.

"God, you're stupid," Dream said. Clay shook his hand off.

"I don't know anything about the future. We stopped roleplaying for a while because we couldn't
find the time. And everything that was planned was your prison break and what your plans are."
And the egg finale. Fuck, now Clay wished he had kept more up to date to what his friends were
planning. "Nothing substantial, we don't script too far ahead. Wilbur went to annoy Quackity and
run away from his problems. Bad planned to get killed by the egg."

"The what," Dream said.

"And Quackity- my Quackity- thought it would be cool if Purpled killed his best friend out of
revenge who then became alive again and killed him to teach him a lesson."

"You people are so weird," Punz muttered.

"You can't tell me that you don't know anything more." Dream grabbed his shoulder and turned
him around slightly. "What are Techno and Philza planning? Ranboo, Tubbo and Tommy? Are
there any enemies we should be aware of?"

"In our lore, Techno will get you out and then send you away. Ranboo wants to die in the prison
break. Tommy is busy being traumatized. Because of what you did. Tubbo is busy mourning his
dead husband." And staring at the button which would detonate a nuke. But that was not something
Dream needed to know existed.

"Ranboo died?" Dream asked quietly.

Clay bit his lip. He had no idea what connection they had. In his world, his character had used
Ranboo's enderwalk state to do his bidding. But he had also left Ranboo in limbo for several
months, because the teen had wanted to play as a ghost for a while. The way their roleplaying
worked was mostly following what his friends were in the mood for, and less to create something
cohesive. "You're friends?"
"Not really. Sometimes, when the stars align, he becomes our ally. Most of the time he's just a
whining crybaby though."

"Hey," Clay defended his friend's character.

"But you have to know more. About what everyone is planning."

"We're constantly flying by the seat of our pants," Clay explained. "And even if I knew anything, I
wouldn't tell you shit."

Dream laughed. It grated on Clay like fingernails on a chalkboard. "Everyone talks. One way or the
other."

"You didn't, no matter what Quackity did," Clay said and forced himself not to care when Dream
fell silent, his body behind him freezing for a moment.

"My gratitude is the only thing keeping me from hurting you," Dream warned quietly, his voice
gaining an icier tone, and Clay's jaw snapped shut with an audible sound. "But even gratitude can
run out."

He felt the need to apologize before immediately dismissing it. No way he would apologize to his
fucking kidnappers, what the hell.

They arrived at a thick underbrush with no way of getting their horse through. Sighing, Punz
looked through his inventory quickly before placing a crafting table onto the ground and placing
iron ingots inside. It dawned on Clay too late what he had planned.

Behind him Dream's breath hitched when Punz lifted the shears.

"Punz, stop!" Clay called, struggling against the rope binding his hands together. Dream's breath
was getting quicker and he had let go of the reins, instead hugging himself in a pose that reminded
Clay too much of himself. "Dream, it's not real, you're out, you're free. We got you out, you're not
in there anymore."
"Dream?" Punz asked in an uncertain voice.

For a moment only Dream's labored breaths could be heard. And then he threw himself off the
horse in a blind panic.

"Shit," Punz yelled, jumping forward to catch the struggling man. He received a few weak hits
which probably hurt Dream more than him. He grabbed Dream's wrists which only made him
struggle harder. "Dream, Dream it's me! It's me, Punz, your Punz!"

Clay shifted onto his stomach, awkwardly shuffling off the horse without his arms and falling to
his knees before stumbling beside his two kidnappers.

Dream was a mess. Silent tears were rolling over his cheeks but even though his mouth was ripped
open for a scream, only whimpers and inhuman sounds escaped him. He had been forced to keep
silent during his torture, hadn't he? He had been fucking forced to stay silent while Quackity had
ripped into him.

"Sir- please, please, Sir, I'm being good, I promise, I- please-"

"Punz, let him go, you're making his panic worse," he ordered and to his surprise Punz followed,
letting Dream scooch back until he hit a tree trunk. Clay gently sat down in front of him, keeping a
comfortable distance between them. This was so damn awkward. Here he was, wanting to calm
down his kidnapper. Who was also another version of himself. "And make the shears disappear,
they are the reason he's freaking out!"

"I'm sorry, I'm- I'm- sorry, please, Sir-"

"It's a beautiful day outside, isn't it?" he said with a smile and ignored Punz's incredulous look.
"The sun feels nice on your skin. Not too hot. There's a nice breeze going on. Coarse earth
underneath your finger. Here." He lifted a handful of dirt and let it trickle between his fingers. "A
bit too dry for my liking. It hasn't rained in a while, huh? Anyway, where was I? Right, the grass is
nice too, isn't it? Surprisingly soft I think I could fall asleep on top of it. Having nature around you
is beautiful. Man, before coming to this world I haven't left the house in too long. In eight months I
left it like two times and one was for a doctor's appointment. I don't get it now. Just sitting down
and enjoying the beautiful forest is pretty great."

Dream had stopped muttering and letting out these heartbreaking sounds and had instead pulled his
legs to himself, yanking at his hair.

"Dream?" Clay carefully asked. "Can I come closer-"

"No," Dream growled harshly. Something in his posture loosened. Then, more gently he said,
"Continue."

"Hm?"

"With your- with your stuff. Telling me stuff."

Clay sat down more comfortably and leaned back on his hands, looking back at the branches
swaying gently in the wind. Punz sat closer to Dream, but didn't touch him. Instead Dream
uncurled one leg and bumped his knee against Punz's leg, keeping it there. Punz looked from
Dream to Clay, something lost in his gaze.

"About what?"

"Anything."

And so Clay did. He told Dream about the game Minecraft. The differences in their worlds. About
cars and big populations. About meeting a young Sapnap as a teen and becoming friends. About
George. About his family. Becoming a youtuber. Meeting his friends. When he noticed Punz's
glossy gaze he switched towards less personal topics. The planet system. An interesting butterfly
species in his world, and then butterflies in general when he realized that they didn’t exist here.
The Monty Hall math problem. How confusing inventories were compared to how easy they were
in Minecraft.

And only when he had talked himself raw and noon had come and passed did he stop to look up
how Dream was doing.

At first he didn't realize what he was seeing. Then he thought he must just see it wrong. And only
when Dream tried to discreetly wipe his eye, his fingers bumping against the mask that was only on
half of his face, did he accept that he was indeed crying. Dream reached forward to grab Punz's
sleeve. The mercenary covered his hand with his own and Clay forced himself to look away from
the display of intimacy.
 He had always needed physical affection from his friends. Maybe for Dream it was the same. How
cruel, for a man who hadn't experienced one friendly touch in several months.

Dream took a deep breath and let his head fall back against the trunk with a thud. He slipped the
mask on completely. It was a strangely tranquil scene, seeing Dream actually relaxed in a beautiful
forest. As if he was simply resting.

It took a surprisingly long time for him to collect himself again. And when he rose up his aura had
turned back to that of the villain of the server.

"Let's go," he said, his voice raspier and hoarser than before. "We have to reach our base before
night falls. Fighting through mobs would be very annoying."

He tried to sound as cold as before but when he grabbed Clay and pulled him towards the horse his
grip was much gentler.

Chapter End Notes

Clay's using a technique my therapist taught me for panic attacks which is focusing on
the present rather than the past/ future. You basically start listing the things around
you, what you see and what you feel in this moment. In addition, he's listing everything
that's different from Pandora's Vault, the air being nice and not smoldering, nature
around instead of obsidian and lava. Panic attacks are a bitch.

Some lore dropped this chapter! Chat and the Blood God are separate, with Chat being
able to fight off the Blood God, but also being a chaotic nature themselves because
they're just interested in what's the most entertaining. Meaning if the Blood God taking
over Techno's body is more entertaining, they won't help Techno.

Thank you to everyone who commented last post! I read each and every one of them,
however I am currently stacked with work (I just boothed at a convention and now I'm
full time working on my bachelor project). I am thankful for every single one of you
though :)
Maybe see you next week, but if I don't manage the next chapter will definitely be out
in two!
 under threat
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Clay had completely lost his sense of time, the sun hidden behind clouds, when Dream shifted
behind him, the first time going out of his still posture since his panic attack. Clay wanted to turn
around to see what had caused it when Dream grabbed his shoulder with one hand to hold him still
and with the other slid a hard, smooth surface onto his face.

Dream was already snapping the buckles around his head before Clay had even realized what had
happened, and at that point it was too late to struggle. He knew from experience that the mask was
remarkably good at staying.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" he asked, craning his head around to stare incredulously at the
other. Dream gave him a mocking smile. In his hand was a blue stone which he crashed with one
hand before blowing the powder into Clay's face. Clay flinched back, forgetting that the mask
would protect him from whatever that powder was. Dream pressed something on the edge of the
mask. And then everything went dark and quiet.

"What the FUCK," he repeated and tried to yank his hands out of their binding, panicked gasps
escaping him at the effort.

"Relax, I just deactivated the enchantment with lapis," Dream said.

Fuck, Clay thought, his shoulders riding up. Fuck, shit. He had overreacted. The sudden darkness
had made him think that Dream had somehow made him blind. He hadn't even realized that the
sudden quietness had come from the enchantments stopping whatever had made the mask see-
through.

"Warn a guy," he muttered, too exhausted to bring up any anger.

"Well, where's the fun in that?"

Fucking asshole.
"Why?" he just wanted to know.

"I assume you have no idea where we are, but in case you're able to lead anyone back, I don't want
you to know where the entrance is. It is a hidden base after all."

Punz snickered and Clay really wanted his hands free to show them the middle finger. He cursed
out the two assholes under his breath but made sure to listen closely to whatever was going on
around him. A moment ago they had stood on a field in front of a gigantic mountain. It wasn't hard
to guess where they had built their base.

He couldn't hear what had activated the entrance but he did hear the sound of a few pistons shifting
and stopping. The entrance must not have been that big or complex then. The horse continued to
walk and Clay realized the moment they had stepped into the base when the sound of the wind
became fainter and the smell became more moist, somehow older and fresher at the same time. A
mountain cave.

The corridor the horse walked through was completely straight and weirdly long, leading directly
into the heart of the mountain.

Before Clay could demand the mask to be taken off, he felt thin fingers work on the buckles,
strapping it off. Dream didn't reactivate the enchantments and instead slid it back onto his face so
that only his destroyed eye was covered.

Clay blinked against the light of the torches illuminating the place and immediately noticed how
cold everything was. It wasn't a base, it looked more like a warehouse. They were standing inside
of a gigantic cave, completely illuminated by torches and lanterns and filled with chests and a few
farms. A lot of crafting tables had been placed every few feet as if the creator had forgotten about
them after using them. A block of dirt was in the middle of the cave on which a singular oak tree
sat. On one wall was one single couch which looked dusty from disuse.

There was an enchanting table and several brewing stands but nothing of the homey feeling that
Techno's cabin had possessed. None of the charming chaos that Techno and Phil's quickly made
hidden base had. Not the liveliness that L’Manberg had possessed. Completely utilitarian in its
plainness.

"Damn, you live like this?" he asked but couldn't bring himself to be surprised. When Sapnap had
still thought that he was Dream he had accused him of only caring about function. Eating food
made in crafting tables instead of actually cooking. This was just the way he had written his
character.
Still, compared to the rest of the server this almost made him sad.

"Impressive, right?" Dream struggled off the horse with Punz's help. "This base has everything we
need to destroy a country."

"That wasn't a compliment," Clay said and frowned down at the ground. The last time he had
climbed down a horse without his hands he had face planted into the earth. Doing it on hard stone
sounded even more painful than the few scraps he had received.

Punz approached him and summoned his sword. Immediately Clay went rigid, flinching back at
the sight. There was no way that they had brought him to their base just to kill them.

"Wait, wait, you can't-"

He tipped backwards, his body slipping off the back of the horse and he let out a strangled noise.
At the last second Punz grabbed his arm and heaved him back, making him topple into the other
direction, directly into Punz's arms who sat him down on his wobbly feet with a snicker.

"Chill," he said as if he hadn't given Clay several heart attacks in the last seconds. He grabbed his
arm and turned him around. Clay felt something tug at the rope on his wrists, vibrations running up
his arms, before his bindings fell to the ground. The feeling of blood shooting through his arms was
ticklish and he stretched his fingers, shaking his hands to encourage blood flow.

"Aren't you scared I'll try to escape?" he asked.

Dream let out a breathy laugh, grabbing the horse's reins to tie them around a fence. "If you try to
escape, your free trial of days without human experimentation will run out."

Clay shuddered at how casual the other sounded when he talked about dissecting him. He
swallowed heavily and grit his teeth. He wouldn't let himself get threatened by his kidnappers.
They could kidnap him but they couldn't expect him to just sit still and twiddle his thumbs while
they destroyed his server. He stared at the two with dark eyes. Here he stood, feeling almost naked
compared to the two in fully decked out netherite armor, but he wouldn't back down. "I'll get back
to Techno and Sapnap. You won't reach me."
"Fine, be like that." Dream leaned closer, a taunting laugh on his lips. "You care for the people
here, right, idealist? Punz told me you tried to play nice with Tommy. He's a friend of yours in
your world, right?"

Clay stared at the other, his eyes wide. A chill crawled up his spine. "What are you saying?" he
asked tonelessly. He felt like he was standing beside his own body, like he couldn't control or feel
it anymore. Suddenly all of his bravado had left him.

"Try to escape and I'll kill Tommy." Dream's voice had dropped all humor, down to a dangerous
rumble. All the little gentleness he had shown after his panic attack had disappeared.

Clay froze, his entire body encapsulated by fear. Dream hadn't even shown any murderous intent
and yet Clay had the desire to cower. "You- you don't want to kill him," he stuttered. "You wanna-
you, you still need him."

"I can just revive him after leaving him in limbo for a while," Dream smiled calmly. "Death means
nothing to me. So each step you take out of this base is one time I'll kill and revive him. The further
you run, the more he'll suffer. If I feel like it I'll even make you watch. Understood?"

Clay couldn't breathe. Small gasps were escaping him and it felt like his lungs were on fire. His
entire body was trembling and it took all of his effort to stay upright. Tommy had already suffered
so much. Responsibility for the entire server clawed at his throat, but with Dream and Tommy it
was especially bad.

"Understood?" Dream repeated.

"Yeah," he croaked out.

Dream patted his cheek in condescension. "Good."

And with that he turned around, his back wide open to Clay as if to taunt him with it. It was a
different kind of helplessness than when Sapnap had captured him. It felt more cruel.

Almost on instinct a sword appeared in his hand but he didn't dare to lift it. He could stab Dream in
the back but he wouldn't be able to deal with the consequences. Punz didn't even summon his own
weapon to defend. It must have been very obvious that Clay wouldn't attack.
Dream looked back and Clay flinched, looking to the ground so as to not meet the other's gaze.

"That reminds me!" There was something elated in Dream's voice and Clay shuddered, only
breathing in shallow gasps at the tone. He knew the voice, knew it from his own streams. It never
meant anything good. Dream summoned a pickaxe and with a single hit destroyed a block in front
of Clay's feet. "You love Tommy, don't you? Even though you must know what a damn menace he
is. So you surely won't mind sharing something with him." He pointed towards the hole, the smile
on the mask more menacing than Clay had ever perceived it. "Drop your stuff in the hole."

Before he realized his knees gave out and he landed on the ground with a heavy thud, his fingers
digging into his arms painfully. The sword clattered to the floor. Everything was swimming in
front of his eyes. Tears pricked at the corners of them. It felt strangely distant as if he was looking
at the scene from the outside. Yet Dream's presence made it impossible to retreat, even just
emotionally.

And it wasn't like he had anything in his inventory he was particularly invested in except for the
disguise he had worn outside which Phil had given him. There was nothing he had worked hard for
to get, nothing that he couldn't get back later. But there was something so incredibly dehumanizing
about being forced to empty his hands in front of someone who could and would destroy him
without a second thought.

"Tick-tock, idealist," Dream sing-songed, leaning against the handle of his axe. Clay's trembling
got worse until he felt like he would shake apart.

"Dream." Punz appeared at Dream's side and put a hand on his shoulder. And suddenly it felt like a
spell had been lifted. The air felt less heavy. Clay sacked into himself, letting his forehead almost
touch the ground.

There seemed to be a silent communication going on between Dream and Punz that Clay was too
frazzled to decipher at the moment. It ended with Dream's shoulders sagging, the threatening
posture leaving his body. "Fine," he hissed. "Make him empty his inventory and let him keep
whatever he wants to if it isn't too dangerous for him to have. At least take away his tools and his
communicator. And then put him in his room."

And with that he walked through the base, using his axe as a walking support. The slamming of a
door announced his departure.
Clay let the panic ebb through his body, closed his eyes until his tears disappeared and slowly
loosened his fingers. Punz placed cobblestone into the hole Dream had dug and squatted in front of
Clay, hands dangling off his knees. He rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"Sooo," he said. "That was something, huh? Please don't take it too badly but, well- He was being
tortured in a prison for several months. Dude's grasping for any thread of control he can have. You
were just there."

It didn't make it better. It was in no way an excuse.

Clay had been captured by Sapnap and had almost been killed by Sam and Quackity, but nobody
had terrified him as much as Dream. He was somehow able to search for any weak points and push
and push until he unraveled. And Clay was in no way stable enough to fight against it.

"I'm sorry to ask," Punz said, hesitating. "But like- can you empty your inventory? Else Dream's
gonna have my hide. You can have back anything that's not a weapon."

Almost subconsciously he opened his inventory and took out everything he possessed, even the
shulker box full of potions of harming that Techno had given him (not that he had ever intended on
using them), letting them all clatter to the ground. It didn't even occur to him to keep anything, that
they had no way of knowing what he had in his inventory, compared to how he had always been
able to watch on Tommy’s stream if he had kept anything in his inventory. It didn't seem to matter.

Punz sifted through his things, letting some disappear into his inventory. His eyes lingered longer
on the shulker box, eyes lighting in recognition from their prison break planning. When Clay had
still been with Sapnap and George, Technoblade and Philza. When he didn't feel like any gust of
wind could knock him over. The hardest to let go off was his communicator. It would cut off all
his contact with his friends, his allies, would leave him completely stranded in an unknown area.

He was left with a few blocks, food and his mask and beanie but everything else disappeared. He
wasn't even allowed to keep his shield.

"Alright. Thanks. I guess." Punz stood up, gently grabbing his bicep to pull him up with him. Clay
stumbled, needing to lean against Punz when the other already started to walk, towards one of the
doors embedded into the cave wall. His knees were wobbly and his view was swimming but Punz
didn't stumble under his weight, instead slinging one of Clay's arms around his shoulders and
supporting his waist with his other hand.
The room was as utilitarian as the rest of the base. The iron door was activated by a button and
there was one single bed at the corner of the room and a chest beside it. Other than that and the
clock on the wall there was nothing else. He already missed the sunlight- except for the kidnapped
trip he hadn't seen it in several days now. God, in his old world he really hadn't appreciated the
outside enough.

Punz sat him down on the bed and scratched his head. "Dream's doing this for the good of the
server."

It took all of his effort to take his eyes off the floor and look up at the other. "Then why did you
stop him just now?"

"I don't particularly care for the good of the server," Punz said and crossed his arms. "Also, his
actions have reasons. This one- this one didn't. I don't like unnecessary suffering."

Clay let out a disbelieving snort, his lips twitching bitterly.

A hard look flew over Punz's face. "You wouldn't understand," he said. "You're like Dream was
before- before everything. You'd have to go through all the shit he went through to understand."

"And you never thought that he was wrong? That the hurt he went through is making him blind?"

Punz shook his head and stepped back. "Maybe one day you'll understand."

And with that he turned around and left, the sound of the falling iron door reverberating through
the room. Clay pulled up his legs and rolled himself into a ball.

He missed Sapnap. And this time it was this world's Sapnap. He missed the way he would always
comfort him, the way he looked at him as if he were something precious. He missed how safe he
had felt, how much he had been able to relax and rely on the others. He missed George's calm
presence, even if it was so different from his own George. He missed Technoblade's dry humor,
missed how steady he felt, like a rock in the midst of crashing waves. He even missed Phil even
though they hadn't talked much.

Now he was alone in a base with people who promised not to hurt him but who taunted him with
their power over him.
Above everything he wanted to go home.

(Above everything he wanted the world to be right again.)

--

"I'm hungryyyy," George complained yet again and Sapnap felt something on his forehead tick. He
took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Many people on the server saw George as an aloof,
calm person, not many knew what an annoying little shit he could be.

"Then eat something."

"I forgot to bring food."

"You're so stupid," Sapnap grit out and swiped through his inventory. Only to notice that he was
only carrying golden carrots. It wasn't anything enjoyable to eat and he knew that George hated the
taste. "Technoblade, could you-?"

"No." The piglin hybrid sounded very done and he immediately shut his mouth.

The entire trip George and him had bickered, half serious and half falling back into their old
patterns. Both Techno and Phil didn't look very enthusiastic about walking with them to the point
that Phil kept escaping into the sky to observe the area from above. The only reason he came back
was when Techno looked too much like he was suffering.

"Where are we even going?" George called forward to where Phil was walking with confidence,
deep in conversation with Technoblade. "Do you know where Dream went?"

Phil turned his head towards them, a small smile on his face. "We're getting some help from the
other members of our syndicate."

Both Sapnap and George stopped, their hands raised towards their inventories.
Phil immediately raised his hands. "We won't tell them that Clay is another version of Dream, just
that Dream and Punz kidnapped Clay. They can help us find him. We're already running blind with
no idea where Dream is, we need all the help of people who won't immediately try to kill us."

Sapnap relaxed and heaved a sigh. It was hard to remember that he might have allies in the other
members of the server. Though, except for maybe Karl everybody would probably go for the kill
when they saw Dream.

He still didn't know where he stood with that decision.

He didn't want to kill Dream. He wanted to go back to how they had been before. But this time
Dream had gone too far. Before he had threatened to lock up Skeppy and had taunted Sapnap with
his fish Mars- though now that it turned out Punz had been his ally all along, that had all just been
for show. Not that it changed much. It was just another manipulation in a long line of
manipulations. Now he really had kidnapped someone who meant something to Sapnap and was
doing who knows what with him. And he didn't know if he could forgive that.

At that moment something soft landed over his shoulder, over his head, blocking his view for a
short moment.

"What the-" He ripped it off, looking confused at the blanket that had come out of nowhere, just in
time to see a steak materialize out of thin air and slap George in the face. And then something else
which looked like a weird, circular sandwich.

"It's flying food!" George yelled. "Sapnap, look!"

A chocolate cake appeared with a pop and George tried to catch it with his hands. Half of it fell
onto the ground and his friend just shrugged, taking a bite out of it.

"Wait, George, you idiot-"

"Relax, it's safe."

Sapnap rubbed the bridge of his nose and stared at the blanket in his hands. It was a familiar shade
of green with a pattern of white smiley faces. His thoughts immediately went to Dream. Did he
want to poison George?! No, then what the hell would the blanket be for? How the hell would he
even accomplish this?

Techno easily caught another one of these circular sandwiches with one hand and stared at it with
raised brows. "Well, what doesn't kill you, right?" And with that he took a bite. He frowned. "Phil,
this is one weird sandwich. Never seen meat prepared like this. What is this?"

Phil caught a chocolate cake and turned it around in his hands, a small smile playing on his lips. "I
have an idea," he said and looked towards them as George got slapped with another steak. "It's
probably food from Clay's world. I think he's thinking of us. And the world is reacting to it. To us.
Especially George's whining."

Another steak slapped George.

And with that Sapnap couldn't help but howl with laughter.

--

HEAL.

There was a gaping hole in his middle. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, but it was so difficult, so
painful, to stitch his flesh back together.

But bit by bit, block by block, he started to feel more complete again.

--

Tommy stared down at L'Manhole and scratched the back of his head.

"What's up, big man?" Tubbo asked and stepped beside him.

Tommy hesitated. He was probably just imagining things. "Was the hole always this shallow?"
He remembered there being a lake running through the earth. It was gone now, replaced by dirt
that was higher than it was last time Tommy had looked inside. The place Ranboo called
L'Squidfarm was also gone.

Tommy kept his eyes averted from the terraforming Phil had performed as some kind of sick
apology for being partly responsible. Never mind that decorating and prettifying a place you had
destroyed was really fucking sick (sick in a bad way and not in a good way like Tommy was sick
as fuck), it also reminded Tommy painfully of the man. He had been playing nice and Tommy had
almost felt safe around him again. And then he had gone and broken Dream out. There seemed to
be a pattern here that Tommy would really like to change by never even looking into Phil's
direction again.

The good thing about whatever was going on with the rising dirt was that it hid some of Phil's fixes.

Tubbo let out a hum and stroked his non-existent beard. "I think the lakes might have just dried
out."

"That doesn't just fucking happen!"

"What are you, a geologist?"

Tommy gesticulated wildly with his arms. "You don't think, I dunno… the earth might grow?"

Tubbo stared at him as if he was going crazy. "Surely not! There's no way."

Tommy shrugged helplessly. "I'm just saying, no need to bitch at me! I mean, an egg that possesses
people exists, so why not rising earth?"

Tubbo looked down at the hole with new consideration and blanched which Tommy took as a
victory.

"Sure," Tubbo said and sounded more unsure. "But are we sure it's not just someone terraforming
it again? Maybe someone wants to fill it up."
 Tommy wanted to slap himself. Of course, he hadn't even considered that! Stupid fucking idiot, he
thought to himself.

"Still," he said. "Weird things have been going on. Holes have been disappearing. I built an
obsidian wall around my base and some of it was gone the next day. Not in a 'ohhh, I'm big bad
Dream, I'm proving to you how powerless you are and how powerful I am, I'm just playing with
my food, ohh look at me being a lil bitch'-way. Not even like someone just needed obsidian, 'cause
then they would have taken chunks. Instead the holes are randomly spaced out. Also-"

He pointed towards the sky where the obsidian grid the TNT had fallen from was floating. "- it
also looks like some blocks are missing there."

"You think whatever's filling the hole also needs obsidian?"

Tommy threw his hands into the air. "I'm just saying, okay? Something weird is going on!"

And with that he promptly got slapped by a piece of steak. It slid off his face, directly into his open
hands. Tommy and Tubbo stared at it for a moment, utterly speechless. Then Tommy screeched.

"AHHHHH, WHAT THE FUCK??!"

Chapter End Notes

Dream got caught in a panic attack and now has to overcompensate by being a fucking
asshole lmao
I'm also overcompensating since in my last fic Dream was a really nice dude, now I'm
making him a massive ass haha. Dude's wearing a facade and that facade has facades.
Dude doesn't even know that he's lying to himself.

As always, I'm happy at every comment I receive and I wish I had the time to answer!
Just know, I'm reading each and every one of them with a big smile on my face! They
really make my day! :)

On another note, has anyone seen the new Spiderverse movie? Holy shit that was
good, I'm yearning to write a fic for it
No new chapter next week probably since I got some university stuff going on, so see
you in 2 weeks! :D
 A series of snapshots about three idiots in a cave
Chapter Notes

Woo back from the break cause my bachelor's done now hell yeah!
Back with some Dream-Clay bonding or whatever the opposite of bonding is!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Day 1:

Clay's stay at the hidden base felt more like a series of snapshots. There was absolutely nothing to
do in his room. In the chest was one single empty book and a quill and Clay started writing down
random thoughts before he got bored again. He sorted through his inventory but considering that
there were only a few items inside, there wasn't much to sort.

He walked up and down the room, did a few push ups before giving up and banged his head
against the wall. He went through three existential crises, the first he spent crying, the second
screaming incoherently and the third one laughing with manic energy. Probably also went through
the first stages of grief if he was being honest.

Afterwards he sorted through his inventory again.

Then he went back to the book and tried drawing Sapnap from memory. The monstrosity that came
out looked more like a creature in a horror movie. He closed the book and sat the pen aside. His
respect for his fan artists grew even more.

He sorted through his inventory again.

By the time he was so bored he wished Dream would come back to threaten him more, four hours
had passed and he wanted to die. He stood up from where he had lied on the floor with his legs
flush against the wall and decided to say fuck it and explore the base. Dream had just said that he
wasn't allowed to leave the base. Nobody had said anything about the room.

Despite the loophole he opened the iron door by hand and not with the button and slowly closed it,
making sure to make as little noise as possible. The base was free from his two kidnappers. There
must be other rooms then. It would be the perfect time to go search for anything useful, like a
communicator.
Even though his footsteps would get drowned out by the several farms working, he still tried to
only walk on his tip toes and constantly looked around in paranoia in case one of the two decided
to swoop down on him.

He made a beeline towards the chests lining the walls and opened one, looking through it. Stacks
of stone and other blocks were floating inside and Clay immediately went for the next one in
search of something useful. Chest after chest got opened and closed again immediately and Clay's
frustration grew until he slammed one with a loud bang and leaned his elbows on top, taking a deep
breath to calm himself. Who the hell needed this many useless blocks?!

Quick footsteps made him look up towards a panicked looking Punz rounding the corner, who
looked at him as if he had materialized a second head.

"Sup," he greeted, surprised by how little fear he felt through his annoyance.

"Pretender!" Punz righted himself and ran his hand through his hair, trying to look less windswept.
"I thought- fuck-"

"That I left? No, Dream’s threats were very effective." Clay stood up and gave the chest a kick.
"Also, I have a name. Use it."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Punz came closer.

"Dream told me I couldn't step out of the base. As you can see, I'm still in the base. My feet are
firmly planted inside."

Punz rubbed the nose of his bridge in annoyance and Clay fought the desire to stick out his tongue.
"You remember when you were a child and you told another child that they shouldn't touch you
and the other child kept hovering over you insisting that they aren't touching you?"

Clay blinked at the non-sequitur. "Yeah?"

"That child is you."

He couldn't help the snort that escaped him. "To be fair, you literally kidnapped me."

"Then behave more like a kidnappee." Punz grabbed his arm, pulling him up. "Thank god Dream
didn't find you or- thank god there isn't anything important in these chests or I swear to god I would
have given you the exiled-Tommyinnit treatment."

Clay grit his teeth and almost punched the other. "What, gonna snitch on me to mom?"

"Dream is too busy with important stuff to deal with this."

Busy stuff like restarting the server. Wiping everybody's memory. Destroying everything that had
been built. "What is your opinion on this entire thing? You can't possibly believe that restarting is
the way to go!"

"I follow Dream," Punz said and Clay scoffed.

"Grow your own fucking moral compass," he snarled. "What are you, a sheep who only follows his
shepherd?"

Dark eyes looked down on him. "If it went my way I'd have eradicated everyone except for
Dream," he said and Clay's mouth fell shut. "My goal is to find out all the secrets the universe has
to offer. To figure stuff out I don't particularly care about what happens to the others. They don't
deserve to live. But Dream is nicer than he should be. He wants to give them another chance. And
so I follow him. Until he realizes that these people are beyond hope."

What the fuck, he thought.

"What the fuck," he said.

Here he was thinking that Punz was the more reasonable one out of the two and it turned out he
was way more insane. Absolutely bonkers. Completely gone off the deep end. How wonderful.
"You think every single person on this server doesn't deserve to live?" he exclaimed. Punz's grip
around his arm burned. "Not one? Not even people who haven't done anything wrong? Michael?
Callahan? Hannah? So many others? What the fuck did they do?!"

His Punz's character had at least a fondness for Tommy. Where the hell had that disappeared to?

Punz stopped and Clay crashed against him, immediately righting himself to glare down at the
other. "Look at Dream," Punz hissed. "Look at what they did to him. You want to live in a world
that led to that?!"

"You experimented on two humans and then killed them off!" Clay yelled in disbelief. "I'm not
saying what happened to Dream was right but holy shit dude, your hypocrisy physically hurts me."

"You come from a world that's soft," Punz scoffed. His blue eyes were blazing with anger. "You
don't know what it means to make hard decisions."

"I know what it means to make stupid decisions," he said. "Because evidently trusting you was
one."

"He's doing what's best for the server."

"You're doing what's best for you: Running away into a world in which you never waged war
where you can play pretend. The server has nothing to do with that."

"These people can barely be trusted with their own lives. Dream was in prison for a few months
and they already started splitting apart."

A sudden desire to be cruel overcame him. It was the kind of urge he would usually be able to
squash, but here, between two people who were synonymous with destruction it was easier to give
into his impulses. "You killed Dream," he said with a deadly calm. "You killed Dream. Again and
again. To test out the revive book. He might have agreed to it, but he also agreed to going to prison.
Tell me, Punz, what makes you so different from Quackity?" Punz's eyes were wide, his lips pulled
up into a snarl but Clay continued. "You wanna figure out the secrets of immortality, right? And for
that you don't mind your only friend suffering. You don't mind making him experience death,
limbo, again and again if it means finding out what makes the universe tick. I guess you and Dream
really do belong together."
Punz pressed his lips together. Subconsciously he raised his hand to his own hair full of white
streaks, his eyes unfocused at a place over Clay's shoulder. For a moment his grip loosened. Then
he turned around and pulled Clay with him with contained strength who stumbled and cursed,
struggling against the hard grip on his arm. Punz's breath was quick and his fingers were spasming,
his self-control almost gone. Clay didn't have it in him to feel scared though, his entire body was
consumed with rage so deep it terrified him.

"You know nothing of this world," Punz said and shoved him into his cell masquerading as a room,
slamming it shut with a resounding bang. The sound of the lock being turned made Clay crash
against the door and bang his hands against the cold iron.

"FUCK YOU," he screamed. "You fucking son of a bitch! You absolute fucking moron! You're
insane! You're a fucking lunatic!"

Only when he heard Punz's footsteps retrieving did he stop punching the door and instead leaned
against it, sliding down until he could fold himself into a ball, gripping his hair until tears stung his
eyes. He let out an angry scream that rattled through the entire room and reverberated in his ears.

--

Punz stared at the cracks that were running up the wall of their base with an ominous sound as if
the entire mountain was about to crash into itself, tearing themselves through hard stone and
granite before they stopped right before his feet. He jumped into the air, staring at them in shock
but they didn't continue, merely staying there ominously.

"Dreeeeeam!" he yelled, walking backwards and not taking his eyes off them until he could open
the door in which Dream was preparing potions. "Dream, are you sure keeping the embodiment of
the server locked up and emotionally torturing him is a good idea?"

"I wish that had been my torture," Dream muttered and Punz swivelled around, an apology already
on his lips, before he noticed Dream's quirked lips. With a sigh he came closer and sat down
behind Dream, leaning against him back to back. He let his head fall back, on top of Dream's
shoulder. His friend briefly nuzzled his cheek against Punz's head and he closed his eyes.

This was why he was doing this. He was doing the right thing. Dream was the only person who
meant something to him. The only person he loved. Even when they had been younger, Dream had
always been a bit more guarded and suspicious than others. Especially after the wars, after
everyone who had betrayed him. And yet he had trusted Punz with his life, with the one thing he
had been tortured for.
No matter how many corpses he had to walk over, no matter if he had to play nice with these
people instead of razing them to the ground, no matter if he had to delay his goal of figuring out
the secrets of the universe- he would do it to make Dream smile again like he had when they had
been younger.

Seeing Clay interact with Sapnap and the others had been painful. He wore Dream's face and had
his voice but his entire aura was free of hardship. He laughed and smiled like happiness came to
him as easily as breathing and he wore his emotions so openly on his sleeve, it was almost childish
in its naivety. His happiness. His disappointment. His anger. His hatred.

Punz turned his head to the side, pressed his nose to Dream's puls and reminded himself that it
hadn't been Dream who had just screamed at him. Even if the view of the same face, the sound of
the same voice hurt.

He summoned a golden apple and held it towards Dream until the other took it with the roll of his
eyes. He was on a strict diet to regain his power, which really didn't match with the way he
sometimes forgot about his own body.

"He has no control over his power," Dream brought him out of his thoughts, munching on the
gapple. "He's not a threat if he doesn't realize how powerful he is. And as long as we don't give
him too much emotional turmoil."

"Then why threaten his friends?"

Dream scoffed. "No version of me, no matter how soft, is allowed to bend at that little amount of
pressure."

He had stopped cutting up the ingredients of the potion and Punz's heart warmed when he realized
that his friend had kept still so that Punz's head wouldn't fall off his shoulder. Punz turned around
and wrapped his arms around Dream, around his skeletal chest, pulling him back until he could
comfortably place his chin on his friend's head.

Dream let out a shaky breath, gripping Punz's sleeve with his broken hand, the other holding the
half-eaten gapple. The sight of the missing stumps made him want to rage, to raze Las Nevadas to
the ground.
"He reminds me of you," he muttered into brittle, blonde locks, full of white strands. There was
more white than there had been before the prison. Punz knew which of the strands had come from
revival and which ones had come from the prison. After each revival he had run his fingers through
Dream's hair, had made sure that the only lasting damage would be the color of his hair. There was
the damage to the mind but that had been something negligible in his pursuit to experiment with
revival. It was truly something to experience for yourself. Now however Punz was wondering. He
was wondering how much damage he and Dream had carried away from that.

Tommy had experienced death once and now he flinched at every loud noise, at every person who
came too close. And Punz wondered if that was the normal reaction to experiencing death or if
Tommy was just weak. He certainly didn't feel any different than before they had started
experimenting. But for him it had been an honor to experience revival, to see for himself what it
was, to let the green threads envelop him and pull him back into his body. Now, after Clay's words
he wondered if it was the same for Dream. Instead of voicing his thoughts however he closed his
eyes and relocated his head into the crook of Dream's neck.

Dream stayed quiet for a while and Punz let him gather his thoughts. "He needs to learn how the
world works. I had to too."

And for the first time doubts appeared in Punz's mind. He didn't like what Clay was. Truth be told,
despite how he acted towards the pretender, he didn't hate him; he feared him. At first because he
had been a puppeteer, able to steer their lives from another world. Now his fear was less existential
and stemming more from the fact that he could probably rip a country apart if emotional enough.
He had seen the destruction around Techno and Phil's base after he had drugged Clay.

A part of him looked down on his naivety, the way he looked around the world as if it didn't just
give everyone ruin and pain. But another part wanted to preserve that. He wanted Clay to keep that
tentative hope in his eyes, the trust he so easily gave everyone. He wanted him to keep his smile,
how emotive he was, wanted him to stay in that bubble untouched by war. He had missed seeing
those things on Dream's face. Had missed how easily his friend had loved, when everything had
still been okay. Before the wars. Before the countries. Before they had declared him a villain.

And another part of him wanted Clay to understand them.

There were vague memories in his mind, clearer now than when he hadn't known about the
memory wipe. Memories of being young and teaching an excited child how to ride a horse.
Laughing when the other constantly almost fell off and Punz had to grab his shirt to keep him
upright. There was a previous life, a life before the server, somewhere in his mind and something
had made him forget that he had it, something made him not realize that there was something
wrong.
The only thing he knew was that years ago fifteen year old Luke had met twelve year old Clay
Taken and had vowed to protect him from all harm. It was only ten years ago and yet it felt like
several lifetimes, as if centuries had passed.

"Your name was Clay, like him," he said quietly. "Before. And mine was Luke. I've always known
my name. You didn't, did you?"

Dream was quiet for so long, Punz thought he had fallen asleep. But his friend just turned around
and nuzzled into him, hiding his face in Punz's chest. "I don't remember anything from before the
server," he whispered. "I just have vague memories of fun. Love. Friendship. Outside, whatever
that outside is. And- I- I think something happened. I remember fear. And anger. I think that was
after I created the server. Someone told me I was too attached."

"What made us forget? And not realize it?"

Dream let out a bitter sound. "I have no idea."

--

Day 2:

To Clay’s surprise Dream visited him next, tearing him right out of a fitful sleep. The clock told
him that it was barely eight in the morning. In his old world his sleeping schedule had been terrible,
and even these several weeks in the new world in which everyone apparently loved to wake up at
the crack of dawn hadn’t fixed it. He was doomed to be an eternal night owl. On the other hand,
his counterpart looked chipper from the half of his face that was visible. He almost walked into the
door frame but was just able to jump out of the way, a confused frown taking over as he placed a
hand over the missing eye underneath the mask. Clay would have gleefully laughed at him if he
wasn't painfully aware that Dream's lack of depth perception came from torture.

A closer look at his face showed that he had taken the bandages off and a white band snaking
around his forehead indicated that he might be wearing an eyepatch.

“I brought you food,” Dream said and pointed towards the tray in his hands with his chin after Clay
lazily blinked at him through his hazy vision.
Clay responded with a gigantic yawn. He sat up and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders,
drooping to the side. “You know, you would assume without anything to do in here I’d go to bed
earlier. And you’d assume incorrectly.”

“You have a book and a quill.” Dream placed the tray on the nightstand and placed a crafting
bench in front of the bed, sitting cross-legged on top of it. So this wasn’t just to make sure that their
prisoner wouldn’t starve. This would be a conversation. One that Clay was barely awake enough to
feel apprehensive about.

The smell of the food was tantalizing. Two eggs and bacon with a loaf of bread. Clay was
immediately suspicious. The last time he had consumed something one of his kidnappers had given
him he had been drugged and, well, kidnapped. Though, there would be no reason to drug him
again. Except if there was something like a truth potion in this world. Though, if that truly existed
Quackity would have used it on Dream.

“Dude, I have ADHD. I can barely concentrate and you expect me to spend several hours with an
empty book?”

“I had less in my cell,” Dream scoffed. “At least you're not getting tortured.”

“What, you cause others pain so that they can understand what you went through?” Clay was
barely coherent for this conversation. He just wanted to go back to bed and not wonder if the food
he was given was drugged.

For a moment he considered. Then he shrugged and took the plate, stuffing his mouth with bacon.
If they wanted to drug him they could just force feed it to him. This way he could at least enjoy
some nice food.

“Nobody should ever go through what I went through.” Dream’s voice had taken a faraway
quality. His gaze was unseeing, something haunted in his gaunt face.

“No,” Clay agreed quietly. “Nobody should. So shouldn’t you agree with me? Causing others pain
is bad and we should not do that?”

Dream rolled his eye and immediately snapped back to his old self. “I’m barely causing pain. What
these people are going through is barely a scratch. Besides, they will be rebooted anyway, not like
they’ll remember anything. I'll even revive Lazar and Vik before. Maybe Schlatt if I feel like it.”
And suddenly the food in his stomach felt much heavier. Clay placed the halfway full plate back
onto the nightstand and fidgeted with his hands. “Have you actually ever asked anyone if they
wanna be rebooted?”

Dream waved him off as if they were talking about opinions on their favorite football team instead
of erasing entire humans. “These people know nothing.”

“It’s their lives.”

“And look what they’ve done with it. These people fall into the same cycles of war again and
again. They want to stay in their narrow world view, want to stay in the same cycle. Why should I
allow them to make choices about my server?”

“It’s their lives!” Clay repeated louder. Talking to this guy was like running into a wall repeatedly.
Or rather like asking the dude running against a wall why he wasn’t just taking the door on the side
only to be called a naive idiot.

“You come from a soft world. If you experienced even half of what I went through-”

“You think if you make me go through the same pain you went through, I'll go to your side? I’ll
want to destroy the world?”

“I’m not destroying the world!” Dream jumped up, already gasping with exhaustion. “I’m saving
it! If these people want to or not, I will save them! When the world gets rebooted there will be no
more wars, no more countries. These people, how they are now, are too far gone to be saved. But
when I reboot them- when I- when I restart the server- everything will be as it should be.”

Clay closed his eyes. His body ached with the constant pain of the server. He was tired and
exhausted. The desire to help Dream realize his wrongs was fighting against the desire to clock this
dude in the head and scream incoherently. "You've been hurt. I know that. But it's not too late for
you. We wrote an ending for you that gave you a second chance. Tommy will never forgive you
for what you've done but he's an empathetic kid. He'll learn to live beside you, despite everything."

"Why are you so against me?" And Dream really had the audacity to sound hurt. It seemed that, as
much as Clay needed the reminder that he wasn't responsible for the atrocities that happened in this
world, Dream too needed a reminder that Clay wasn't just his younger, more innocent self.
"Because you hurt people. You want to accomplish your goals by trampling all over others."

“Pain was my teacher," Dream said. His voice was quiet, something so very vulnerable hidden
amongst his confident facade. It didn't fool Clay, couldn't. He knew his own voice after all.

“Pain was Tommy’s teacher too. It made him worse. And you too. Haven't you realized that maybe
these people stay in the same cycles because they haven't known anything except for pain?”

For a moment silence rang inside the room. Then Dream sighed, his lost expression melting away
into an exasperated one. "Well, it seems that it'll take longer to convince you. Of course. I wouldn't
expect any version of me to give up that easily."

So that was what Dream wanted? Convincing another version of himself that he was right? It
suddenly struck Clay how pathetic that was. It struck him how lonely Dream must be. “You want
to be loved,” he whispered and Dream seized up, his lips pressing into a thin line. “You don’t want
to be hated. You’re like me, you- you need friends around you, you don’t like being alone, you-”

“Shut up,” Dream said, a quiet voice that shattered the quiet of the room. Clay stopped, teeth
gritted as he looked at the infuriating man in front of him. “I don’t care about any of these people. I
don’t have any attachments.”

“If you didn’t have any attachments to anyone, why would you do any of what you’re doing?! You
want to restart the server because you want to have a clean slate. There is a reason you’re gonna
revive Vik and Lazar before you restart the world, why you’re letting everybody live instead of
killing them and then restarting the server.” There was a sudden realization blooming in him, an
understanding about Dream that crawled up on him now that he had calmed down from his
kidnapping, now that he had calmed down from meeting his counterpart. Dream had done horrible
things for reasons he perceived as good. “You play the villain because you’re scared. Because
you’re scared that if you didn’t, they would still hate you. You tried to unite the server and they
reviled you. And you thought that if you wore a mask, if you detached yourself, it would hurt less.
But it doesn’t.”

“Shut up!” Dream jumped up, looming over Clay who couldn’t bring himself to feel any fear.
“What the hell do you know? You’re just an outsider who has experienced nothing of pain, who
never had to fight for love.”

Understanding Dream was like understanding why your code wasn’t working. You had to look
closely, had to read every line several lines and understand every of their functions. But Clay had
written this code, should be able to understand Dream as he understood himself.

“A lot of people in my old world don’t like me very much,” he admitted. It was a fact that came
with being a big youtuber, especially one as controversial as him. “I had to create my own sphere of
loved ones around me, had to build my own nook of people who don’t wish me dead.”

Dream seemed stunned for a moment, a slight crease between his brows.

Clay laughed at his confusion, leaning back. “You thought I was universally loved and that I
always had it easy, huh? Well, I’m not saying I had a particularly hard life, but not everything is
sunshine and rainbows. That’s why- I guess that’s why I kinda see where you’re coming from?”

Slowly untensing, Dream was left standing in the room, awkwardly rubbing his neck. “You do?”
he asked with suspicion.

“Obviously. Everyone wants to be loved. And when you do your best, when you try so damn hard
to not be hated and still receive so much backlash for simply existing, it’s hard not to feel angry.
But you gotta keep the good things in mind, can’t let yourself be beaten down by the shitty things,
you get me? Like- like, whenever I felt like shit, at least I knew I had my friends. My family.”

“My friends left me. My family’s probably dead.”

Clay coughed, feeling way in over his head with whatever this weird pep-talk was shaping itself up
to be. “Sapnap and George want you back so badly, man.”

Dream looked away, a cold mask slipping over his face and Clay realized how open it had been a
moment ago, how vulnerable Dream had let himself be. “I won’t put people first that wouldn’t put
me first.”

“That you’re not getting the problem is kinda concerning, not gonna lie.”

Dream reached forward to slap him over the head. Clay kicked his shins in retaliation. For a
moment they eyed each other for any kind of retaliation before slowly inching back, ready for any
other attack.

Dream sat back down, leaning his elbows on his knees, shifting forward until their knees almost
bumped. "You once mentioned some kind of egg that Bad's gonna die to? What was that all
about?"

Now that was a much easier topic. Clay spent the next hour telling Dream all about the other plot
strings which wouldn't endanger his friends. Telling Dream about the egg wouldn't be harmful, the
same applied to plot lines like Puffy's therapeutic clinic (with strong emphasis that Dream really
needed some therapy), Tommy's hotel or Jack's quest for revenge. He told him about his friend
Velvet who was playing the egg and was in a relationship with Ant to which Dream grimaced. No
matter how useless some of his recountings would be for the other, Dream didn't look disinterested
at any point. Sometimes, especially when he was telling him about the egg, his expression got
darker, a manic gleam in his visible eye. But other than that, particularly when Clay told him about
plot lines in which his friends had simply hung out and had improvised chaos on stream, was
Dream's face filled with an almost painful longing.

And it was almost nice, as if Clay was making progress, actually connecting with Dream.

Day 3:

The third day Clay spent in the base he woke up with a scream and a tug in his heart. Achingly
familiar pain rang through his body. Somebody had died. His first thought was that Dream had
killed Tommy again and he had to fight down his panic and force himself to remember that Dream
was still in the base. The death must not necessarily have been malicious. They could have died by
accident. And most people still had most of their lives, so they were probably just a bit spooked by
their death. It was all good.

He shuddered to think about what a permanent death would have done to him. God, he was so very
happy that he had been thrown into this world after Wilbur had already died.

He was in pain, he wanted to cry and he felt trapped in a base that would be so easy to get out of. In
addition his ADHD made him feel under stimulated in the empty room and it got increasingly
harder to keep his thoughts on track. In other words, he was extremely pissed off.

So when Dream peeked in his head the next day he had to duck so as not to get hit in the face with
a book.

"Why," Dream just asked. He was hiding his body behind the door as if Clay had any other things
to throw. Well, he could throw the sand in his inventory at him

"Dunno," he shrugged. "Felt like it."

"Are you going to throw anything else at me?"

"Who died?" Clay wanted to know.

Dream still didn't move away from the door. "Somebody called Slimecicle. Got killed by Purpled."

Oh. Then they had arrived at that part of the story. The planning on the SMP was extremely
chaotic, from some people who preferred to improvise like Tom, to others who liked to have
everything already written out, like Quackity. Clay was rather someone who liked to have vague
ideas and the end goal in sight but who liked to keep the middle lose, depending on what the other
wanted to do.

Finally Dream moved and stepped into the room, his movements much stronger than on the first
day, and Clay's eyes widened at what he was carrying in his arms. A small cat was pressed to his
netherite chestplate, brown with spots and orange eyes. Clay's heart gave a painful twinge when he
remembered Patches, his own cat that he hadn't seen in ages. God, he missed her so much. He
hoped Nick cared for her, treated her like the queen she was.

"You have a cat here?"

Dream came closer and unceremoniously plopped her on top of Clay's lap. The cat immediately
started purring and rubbed her little head on his cheek. He let out a startled laugh and started
patting her, scratching her little cheek.

"No." Dream shifted awkwardly. "You said- well, you said you're bored. So here's a cat. If you
hurt her, I'll test out the revive book on you."

Clay couldn't keep the sappy smile off his face. "Aww, is my kidnapper an animal lover?"

Dream huffed a breath. "You wrote me. You should know."

"I didn't write that in though," Clay said and Dream tensed. "Everybody on the server loves
animals. Sapnap has Mars. Techno has his animals. Niki has her fox. You had Spirit. The love you
have for animals is all you. Because I didn't write you."

"The connection between our worlds can't be a coincidence." Dream'd voice was hard as if he
wanted to convince himself.
"Why are you trying to shift the blame on me?" Clay asked and didn't like how lost he sounded.
The cat bumped her head against his chin and he absent-mindedly resumed his scratching. "Do you
want our world to have controlled yours? So that you can shift the blame of your actions on
someone else?"

Dream stepped back, closer to the door. His hands tightened into trembling fists. "You don't know
anything. Maybe you want to convince yourself that what you did didn't have any lasting effects on
us. That what happened to me wasn't your fault."

"I just acted out a story, Dream," he said and grimaced at how weird it was to use his own user
name for someone else. "You actually abused someone. Tortured two people. You can't put this on
me."

"Tommy deserved it," Dream hissed. "What he went through was nothing. I'd rather go a thousand
times through what happened to him than what Quackity did to me again. If you call that abuse,
you haven't experienced shit."

Clay pulled the cat closer to himself and glared up at the other. "Maybe the one who can't break
out of the cycle is you."

"And maybe you should grow up, idealist. You see me as the villain, that's fine. But someday you
will recognize that there are no heroes and no villains. Only people who try to reach their goals."

"What happened to your morals?! You once cared for people! You once tried to resolve things
peacefully!"

"They made it impossible," Dream yelled. "Being able to maintain your principles is a privilege.
One that I wasn't allowed to have."

Dream turned around to leave and Clay was suddenly consumed with a raging hot fire, something
in him that wanted to tear Dream apart.

“What if I called the cat Hope?”

Dream froze and for a short moment Clay was overcome with the desire to apologize before
stopping. Dream had wanted to do a nice thing, even if he continued to be an ass, and here Clay
was, bringing up his trauma. And hadn’t he gone through this before? Dream and he just hurt each
other while trying to make the other see their viewpoint. It was exhausting. It made him feel
nauseous. He didn’t like hurting other people, but Dream made existing so damn hard.

“Do whatever you want with her," Dream said coldly. "Don't hurt her. And keep her away from
me.”

“Because you fear forming attachments.” Stop, he told himself. Antagonizing his kidnapper was
dangerous. And antagonizing the person whose viewpoint you wanted to change was
counterproductive.

“You wrote Hope getting killed into the story. You wrote me. Don’t turn around and act shocked,
when this is what you created.”

And with that he walked out of the room, too rigid and in control of himself to slam the door.

Clay realized he hadn't thanked Dream for bringing the cat.

--

He called her Patch.

--

In the night he was awoken by screams ringing through the hallways, quickly dissolving into sobs.

He barely recognized his own voice through the scratchiness in Dream's scream, through the
amount of fear and pain that distorted it.

Only when he heard a door bang open and quick footsteps run past his door, only when the sobs
died down and it was silent again, only then did he close his eyes again.
 He did not fall asleep again.

Chapter End Notes

Clay trying to talk to the more sane one of his kidnappers only to discover that Punz is
even more insane

Dream and Clay are just having circular conversations. Y'all ever had that one person
where you thought you were making progress with them only for them to return back
to their old talking point? And then you also start to just insult them instead of using
real arguments? Frustrating af, man

Also, I finished my bachelor and passed with flying colors woop woop! All the stress
is now gone and I finally have time for stuff!

Thanks to everybody who commented on the last chapter! I had zero time to answer,
but just know that I appreciate every single one of them and reread them again and
again!

Also, I uploaded the first chapter of a Spider-Verse fanfic I've been writing if anyone's
interested. That movie is currently my hyperfixation and I need more.
 conscience seeping in
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Day 4:

Clay was surprised when Dream opened the lock to his room the next day and wandered in with a
tray in his hand. He looked as he always did, no hair out of place, nothing indicating that he had
suffered through a night full of nightmares.

The delicious scent of cooked steak spread in the room. The man carefully navigated around
everything, his eye squinting in concentration. Patch jumped up and rubbed her body on his legs as
he walked towards the bed, putting the tray on the nightstand.

He opened his mouth, to thank him for bringing Patch, to apologize for bringing up Hope last time,
but no sound came out. Instead he rubbed his neck self-consciously and sat up, sitting cross-legged
vis-a-vis Dream.

Every day Dream seemed to make progress. He was now walking without support, and the
trembling in his hands had subsided to something only noticeable when you looked for it. He was
still walking with a slouch, his entire body tense as if prepared for an attack at any moment and he
was putting his weight on the balls on his feet so as to not aggravate the stumps of his toes, but he
was also slowly filling in his armor. His hands looked less skeletal than before and he was holding
himself less carefully, the open wounds probably having already healed into scars.

"'Sup," he said and immediately cringed at himself.

Dream shifted the mask over his missing eye to stare at him judgmentally and Clay raised a middle
finger with a pout.

"Sooo," he started when the other didn't start the conversation. "How's world domination goin'?"

"What the hell did they see in you?"

Clay blinked and bit his lip. "Hah?" he asked intelligently.

"Sapnap. Technoblade. Even Philza seemed to have some kind of respect for you that wasn't
because of your admin powers."

Clay noted that George was absent from his list. "Phil thought I was an idiot."

"You are," Dream immediately agreed and Clay almost threw the tray of food at him. "I've talked
to you several times now. And you keep being a naive idiot. You can't fight. You keep on whining.
Why's everyone so obsessed with you?"

Clay held himself back from giving him a sarcastic remark and regarded his counterpart. It really
seemed to bother him, if he was bringing it up after four days. He thought back to what George had
told him in Kinoko kingdom. "Because I remind them of you."

And as much as it hurt, that they liked him because of Dream, wasn't it the same for him? He liked
Sapnap because he was like Nick. He liked Georgentfound because he was like George. He wanted
to help all these people because they were his friends' counterparts. Obviously the opposite stood
too.

Dream however seemed unsatisfied with his answer. He was gritting his teeth, his eye boring into
Clay's as if to dig a hole into his brain. "Back then, in the hidden base- back then, I asked Sapnap.
To decide between you and me. And he chose you."

Well that didn't sound like Sapnap at all. Sapnap was constantly carrying around a veil of pain, an
intense grief and regret that weighed his shoulders. Clay couldn't imagine the pain of Nick walking
away from him. If Nick had left and there had been a chance to get him back, Clay would have
grabbed him and not let go. It was the same for Sapnap.

"What exactly did you ask him?"

Dream looked to the side. "He can come back to my side. But I'll kill Quackity."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

The green eye wandered back to him, almost glowing in intensity. "Deaths hurt you."
And oh. Oh.

Sapnap hadn't decided between Clay and Dream, Dream had just forced him into an ultimatum of
either hurting Clay or helping Dream. It wasn't at all a fair decision.

And suddenly Clay was angry, angry for the friend who had probably felt like he had lost his friend
again, angry at Dream for making him feel that way.

"You're a real bitch, you know that?"

Dream flinched back at his loud voice but leaned forward again, matching his anger.

“Sapnap chose you over me!”

“You didn’t make him choose between you and me!" Clay jumped up, towering over the other.
Dream's hand was raised but not to summon anything from his inventory. It seemed like an
automatic response to an aggressor. Clay took a deep breath and stepped back out of Dream's
space. "You didn't give him a fair choice. You made him choose between you and his morality.”

“I was his best friend. Am I not worth more than that?”

“If he asked you to choose between him and your goal to restart the server, what would you
choose?”

Dream frowned, thumbing the edge of his mask and Clay knew he was fighting with himself not to
hide his face behind the mask. He turned his head and kept silent.

Clay sat back down onto the bed and leaned forward to catch Dream's eye. “Then don’t be angry
‘cause he didn’t choose you.”

He took the tray and began eating, careful to angle the view of the knife away from Dream who
seemed more antsy than Clay had ever seen.
"Would your Sapnap choose you over his own morality?" he finally asked, his voice almost a
whisper. Clay was almost halfway done by the time he had spoken up.

Clay laughed, earning a surprised look from Dream. "If I did half the shit you did, my Sapnap
would pull me back kicking and screaming while punching some sense into me. That yours didn't
do it earlier either speaks of great trust or from knowing that you'd beat him in a fight."

And Dream cracked a smile at that, a small but earnest thing that looked foreign on his lips. He
stood up, slightly swaying. "When I reboot the server I hope he'll still be my friend."

Clay didn't fight back, too exhausted to argue again. "No matter what life, we'll always find each
other. We're the Dream Team after all."

Dream hummed, a faraway look in his eye. "Yeah," he whispered.

Day 5:

The next day Clay found himself pulled out of his room into the big hall. There was constant noise
of all the farms working, of the redstone activating pistons and the animals grazing the grass blocks
his kidnappers had brought in. They sat him at a stone table that didn't look very stable which was
already decked out in plates and cutlery. Here Clay was, in borrowed shorts and his ratty twenty-
five million merch hoodie, the hood thrown over his head and the strings pulled up to his mouth,
making his face look particularly egg-like. From Punz's incredulous stare he must not be cutting a
very intimidating figure.

He was still computing what exactly was happening when Punz and Dream sat two pans on a small
fire in the middle of the table and sat a pot full of liquid batter beside it. He squinted suspiciously at
the food.

"Are you-" he cleared his throat, the strangely domestic scene still to foreign for him. "Are you
making pancakes? Is this like a standard kidnapping thing you do?"

"Man, no matter what we do, you complain," Punz groused but there was a playful smile on his
lips. "Really can't please ya."
"You kidnapped me," Clay reminded him, not feeling very kidnapped right now. He looked
towards Dream who had taken his mask off completely. The bandages over his eye were back to
being a boring white instead of the lime green Phil had given him. His skin was a much healthier
color now and he looked less dead despite the dark shadows under his eye. He had even gained
some freckles back.

Punz gave him the first pancake and he stared down at it, thumbing the hems of his sleeves. His
brain was still not caught up to what was happening.

"It's food," Punz said and added new batter into the pan. "It's meant to be eaten."

Clay hesitantly added what looked like maple syrup and took a bite. And god, they tasted
absolutely delightful! The syrup was some kind of more liquid honey that had an aftertaste of
flowers and the pancake was so fluffy, it felt like eating a cloud. The rest of the pancake was eaten
in one single bite.

"I take it you like them," Dream said drily. Clay didn't even care about his sarcasm, instead only
nodding quickly while looking eagerly towards the pans. Dream got the second pancake and Punz
made himself the third one, scooping more dough into the pan before starting to eat his own.

"Say, what exactly is that thing you're wearing?" Punz asked and pointed towards his hoodie. "The
smile is creepy."

Clay looked down at the smiley of his merch with a pout. "I'll have you know, my subscribers
liked it!"

"Your what?" Punz didn't sound very impressed.

"My subscribers. You know." Ah yeah, obviously they didn't know. He almost slapped himself
before going back into explanation mode. "So, remember how in my old world my job was being-
well, kinda being an entertainer, yeah? One of the things was the roleplay- well, anyway, and one
way to make money is by selling merch, which can be anything from a figure of yourself to socks
to hoodies."

"And you make money off that?" Dream sounded equally as doubtful as he did intrigued.
Clay shrugged and got himself another pancake. "If enough people buy it it's worth it. I had a few
million followers when I started the merch company."

Punz spit out his food, hacking out his lungs. "A few- MILLION?!"

Ah yeah, another thing. The sheer scale of his old world was pretty wild in this one. There were
about thirty people living in the SMP, if you didn’t count the countless villagers.

"What did you even DO to get so many people following you?!"

Clay sighed and prepared himself to answer a lot of questions and explain a lot of things.

--

“What do you mean you just PLAYED GAMES?!”

--

After about six hours, if the clock in his room was to be believed, he stumbled back into his room,
his own head spinning. Things that were obvious to him had been questioned to pieces until he
himself didn't even know the answer. It came to the point that he had to explain that his earth was
round while this world here was probably unending, if it was like the game. He had to explain his
job, YouTube and Twitch, credit cards and banks, insurance and hospitals and had to go back and
explain everything that didn't exist in his universe, first of all magic. The fact that he didn't have to
go cave mining and that grocery stores existed had been such a weird concept for Punz and Dream,
it had almost been comical.

However it did feel like he had lost some respect. Punz stared at him as if he was a small child, his
touches suddenly softer as if Clay would break at any light breeze. Dream on the other hand had
given him a proud pat on the shoulder and a thumbs up for being able to make thirty million
people follow him. "Don't worry, you'll get the other- how many did you say you were?"

"Eight billion."
Dream swallowed dryly. "Yeah. Right. Eight billion. You'll get the other eight billion people to
follow you."

Clay snorted. "Doubt it. A lot don't even speak English. Maybe if I knew Spanish I'd be able to get
a bigger, Spanish community."

"Your world has people you don't understand?!" Dream exclaimed. "How can you be the admin if
you don't understand your people?"

Clay sat down and let out a long, outdrawn sigh. "Alright, so my world doesn't have an admin and
it would definitely not be me. It's like a few billion years old. We don't have immortals either. Or
hybrids. Or creepers. Or endermen. Or…"

--

Dream was lying face-first on his bed, for the first time since what felt like years doing absolutely
nothing. He felt like screaming.

"Dream?" Punz asked hesitantly as he opened the door to Dream's room (though, as often as Punz
spent the night in here whenever Dream's nightmares were particularly intense, it was probably
considered their shared room). "You good?"

"I appreciate how simple our world is," Dream said. "The world wars sound absolutely bonkers.
Their world is a sphere! A sphere! Being slingshot through the universe while rotating around the
sun at high speed! Their temperatures change depending on the time, Punz! They call it seasons,
Punz! What's wrong with them?!"

Punz came closer and sat down beside him, patting his back in consolation. "Existential dread?"

Dream nodded his head in misery. As if having another version of himself wasn't already
existential enough.

Punz lay down beside him, also on his stomach and with his face pressed into the mattress.
"Yeah," he said. "Me too. Maybe the secrets of the universe were meant to stay secrets."
Dream huffed a laugh.

Only for today would he leave his plans of restarting the server rest. They almost had all the sand
and gunpowder they needed anyway. They could wallow in their own misery for a while. Dream
grabbed his friend's arm and draped it over his own back. Punz pulled him closer.

"His world sounds like it sucks."

Dream wheezed. He had trouble with thirty people who did whatever they wanted, eight billion
sounded like a nightmare. "Yeah."

--

“What is the worth of a world?”

Clay blinked in confusion. After the pancakes and the several hours of talking he had just spent a
few hours playing with Patch, wondering with strange detachment why he wasn't trying harder to
escape. Then Dream had come in and had apparently decided to become a philosopher as if their
previous talk hadn't already been enough.

“Hah?” was his very intelligent reply.

“The worth of a world,” Dream repeated as if that wasn’t an extremely weird question to ask.

“I guess it depends?” Clay hesitantly answered when Dream stepped into the room and closed the
door behind him, sitting down cross-legged in front of Clay and Patch. The cat sniffed at him in
curiosity and nuzzled her head against his leg. Dream froze, his hands hovering over her and Clay
almost laughed before he remembered where that fear came from. “I mean, isn’t a world priceless?
Phil told me a world here is created with part of the soul of the admin. Some destroy their worlds
to get their soul back though.”

“That’s insane,” Dream muttered and Clay snapped his fingers.

“That’s what I said too! Phil’s the weird one for not seeing it. Anyway, so I guess a world is worth
part of your soul?”

“I already gave so much to this world,” Dream whispered. He hesitantly put one hand on Patch’s
head and patted her head awkwardly. It was endearing, how lost he looked. “But it still feels like I
don’t have the answer to the question.”

Clay got reminded of something Technoblade had said, that apparently Dream had wondered the
same thing before the prison. “Why do you wanna know anyway?”

Dream frowned, staring into nothingness for a moment. “I don’t know,” he muttered, his entire
body tensing as if standing in front of a threat. “I- I’m not sure. I feel like it’s the answer to
something. I’m not sure what though.” He looked up, his bright green eyes piercing Clay. “What
does it mean to you? What’s the worth of a world to you?”

A world could mean so much. His world was his friends. His family. The little niche of the
universe he had dug out for himself. And its worth was everything. “My world is my family. I’d do
everything to keep them safe.”

“Then what’s so different between us?” Dream wanted to know. “That my world would exchange
me for you. What’s so wrong with me that even my world would reject me?!”

Somehow Clay got the distinct feeling that he had been kidnapped to become a therapist. Which he
really was not qualified to do. “Listen, I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t know what
you want from me. I don’t know why I came to this world but I do have an idea. You’re different
than you were at the beginning of everything. And maybe that’s why you’re so desperate to know
the worth of a world. Because for you it changed.”

“It never changed for me. I’ve always been willing to give my soul for my world.”

“But not willing to keep your soul for your world?”

Dream clenched his jaw so hard, Clay could hear it. With a sigh he picked up Patch and let her
plump down into Dream’s hands who startled so hard, he almost dropped her. His face was filled
with a scared reverence.

“Not everything you touch destroys,” Clay smiled. “These hands weren’t meant to destroy. They
were meant to create.”

Dream blinked, not looking at him. “Oh,” he only said.

They didn’t say anything for the next hours, simply sitting on the ground and petting a cat.

--

"God, he's so stupid!"

Clay was watching dispassionately as Punz was pacing in his room, cursing and gesticulating
wildly with his arms. Roughly fifteen minutes ago the mercenary had stormed into his room,
roughly about an hour after Dream had left, and Clay had had a short moment of fear that he was
going to beat him up when the other had suddenly started ranting incoherently and scuffing the
ground. Until now he could determine that it was probably a Dream related issue but he had no
idea what exactly it was.

Punz finally came to a stop and looked at Clay as if he was looking for agreement. Clay just
blinked at him and continued to stroke Patch's fur. He vaguely felt like a villain in a James Bond
movie.

"Like, can you repeat that without the cursing and muttering?"

Punz sat down on the crafting bench Dream had placed down earlier and interlocked his fingers.
"So Dream's being an idiot."

"Yeah, I gathered that much."

Punz waved it off but the perturbed face expression stayed. "He's acting as if he hadn't been
tortured for several months! Like, he still needs to rest but here he is, wanting to come with me on
the mission as if the entire server including probably fucking Technoblade and Sapnap weren't
after us! As if I can't see him run into walls and misjudge distances!"

"Sounds logical," Clay said and tried to ignore the headache that came with giving his kidnapper
tips on how to handle his other kidnapper.

"Dream's not yet at his full strength, I see- I fucking have to see him suffer everyday and the
sooner we can reboot everything and go back to how if was before the better."

"Wait," Clay muttered, realization dawning. "You don't wanna delete memories- you wanna go
back in time?!"

So that was how restarting the server looked like in this world. In his old world it simply meant
creating a new world and making their characters have amnesia. From all the TNT-talk Punz and
Dream had, Clay had assumed they would simply bomb everything and somehow erase people’s
memories.

"Yeah yeah, that's not important right now," Punz waved him off.

"That's pretty damn important!" Clay yelled but got ignored.

"Anyway, I'm just saying that Dream's not taking care of himself! He wants to do everything
himself, from what we're planning with Las Nevadas-"

"Wait, hold on, Las Nevadas-"

"- to restarting the server! When it's better to rest and let me handle stuff! Before anyone can stop
us! Like, I know he wants to watch Las Nevadas burn and I understand revenge but he should get
why I wouldn't want him anywhere near Quackity!"

Clay stared at the heavily breathing man who had buried his head in his hands and was overcome
with the desire to roll himself into his blanket and just sleep for several days.

"I'll be honest, dude, I have no idea what you expect me to say. Do you want me to give you a pep
talk? You did kidnap and threaten me. I don't give pep talks to my kidnapper."

Punz waved his hand and let out a loud groan. "Sorry, just- you remind me of him- of how he was.
God, he was never good at knowing his limits. Do at least you know how to take care of yourself?"
Clay thought back to when he demanded to fight alongside his friends when he could barely even
lift a sword. He thought back to the countless times where he had antagonized his captors. He
thought back to his own world where he had kept an abysmal sleeping schedule.

"Yeah sure," he said.

Punz squinted and scrutinized his face. "You know you and Dream have the same tells. He also
blinks twice every time he lies."

"Fuck you, I know perfectly well how to take care of myself!" How the hell had the conversation
come to this?! They had started with a rant about Dream and now Punz was criticizing him.

Punz grabbed a gapple out of his inventory and threw it at Clay who stared down at it with wide
eyes. He'd never eaten a gapple before! He'd never eaten anything with gold in it. In his world it
was some snobby rich person thing, but here gold was so easily found. Despite what happened the
last time Punz had given him food he took a big bite and immediately frowned in disappointment.
It tasted like a very sweet apple with a metallic aftertaste.

"You have an enchanted one?" he asked more sarcastic than honestly and fumbled in surprise when
Punz actually threw one at him. It glimmered in the light and hummed with the same sound that
enchantments did. He looked at the other with wide eyes but only received an encouraging nod.
Immediately all his questions about time-travel and Las Nevadas disappeared.

"You don't have that stuff in your world, right? I'd also wanna eat weird food in another world."

If Punz hadn't kidnapped him he'd have argued more. As it stood however he didn't let himself be
told twice and bit into the gapple. Immediately everything felt lighter. It was as if the world was
singing, as if he was standing in a field of grass with sunshine caressing his face. It was tasting
vaguely of apple but when Clay concentrated, he could switch the taste around to other fruits, other
foods. It tasted like liquid happiness.

"Holy shit," he said. He'd never taken drugs before and now he was very glad that this didn't exist
in his world. Patch meowed at him in curiosity and after an encouraging nod from Punz he
separated a small part for her which she decimated happily. She began purring, rubbing her head
against his leg, reminding him very much of Patches when she was high on cat grass. Clay let out a
giggle when she turned on her back, her purrs loud in the room.
Punz smiled at him. He pulled his legs up on top of the crafting bench and sat cross-legged,
leaning an elbow on his knee. "Is my counterpart taking care of you enough?"

"Well, technically me and Luke have never met. He hasn't even seen my face yet," Clay laughed
and continued munching the gapple, oblivious to the silence ringing through the room.

"He WHAT?!"

--

Clay proceeded to spend the next hours telling him about his world and everything he hadn't told
Punz before.

"What do you mean Sapnap is living with you and I haven't even seen what you look like?!"

Punz had grabbed his face and was squishing his cheeks as if Clay would admit to lying.

"Dude what the hell, let go-"

"Why haven't I seen your face?!" Punz screamed deranged.

Clay smacked him in the nose and grinned in satisfaction when the other stumbled back, toppling
over.

--

"But we're still friends in your world?"

"Yes, Punz, we are."

"And you're gonna meet my counterpart someday and show him your face?"

"Yeah, man. Provided I get out of this alive."

Punz looked up at him from where he was sitting on the floor and grabbed his hands, a fire
glowing in his eyes. "I'll make sure you get back alive! And then you and my counterpart will
meet, okay?! And he'll make sure you'll stop being so stupid!"

"Hey- what?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

--

"Where did you get that bruise from?"

Punz's heart melted at Dream's immediate concern, the way his eyes flew over his body to assess
him for other injuries. He had to grab Dream's wrists when he started to feel for injuries and sighed
in relief when he felt the weak heartbeat underneath his fingers. Of course Dream was alive, but
feeling it was something completely different.

"Me and the preten- Clay just had a small scuffle."

And despite their argument from before he pulled his friend close and slotted his chin on top of
Dream's shoulder. Dream was usually taller but the prison had made him constantly slouch, a wary
twist in his posture. It made it easier to envelop him though.

Dream, despite how much he acted as if he didn't have any lasting effects from the last months,
melted into his embrace. "Is this you accepting that I'll come with you to eradicate Quackity?"

Punz squeezed him gently, earning a high squeak, and laughed when his friend cursed him out.

Something in him loosened when Dream didn't immediately fall apart in his grip, when he felt the
arms around him tighten, trying to squeeze Punz in retaliation. His strength was only a fraction of
what it once had been. But compared to when Punz had seen him inside of the prison, compared to
when he had watched his skeletal frame struggle to walk- compared to that this was an immense
amount of progress. "Clay told me that my counterpart and him haven't met yet. And- and he hasn't
even seen your face!"
Dream frowned, his cheeks blowing up in offense. "What?!"

For a moment there was silence and Punz closed his eyes, tried not to remember the days in which
Dream had been in prison and he had been alone, forced to be nice toward those who had put him
there. It had been Dream's plan but it didn't make it any less real. Didn't make his lives taken less
real. And all the time Punz had spent gathering resources for the restart, Dream had spent getting
tortured. He tried not to remember the bloodstained walls of the cell, the severed fingers and toes
lining the floor and the smell of Sapnap's puke when they had seen what had been left of his eye.

"Punz?" Dream asked and Punz immediately loosened his grip when he noticed that he had been
pressing his friend to himself as if to merge their bodies together. His friend tapped on his arm,
using their code to ask if he was okay.

He sighed and tapped back an OK.

"He reminds me of you. I don't like seeing you upset. Captured. I don't- I don't wanna convince
him of our plans. I don't want him to stop losing hope. I don't want him to-"

"- be like me?"

Punz immediately pulled away, grabbing Dream's gaunt face to look directly into his eyes. "I
would kill a thousand versions of you to keep you."

Dream's lips quirked up. "Romantic," he said drily but his shoulders relaxed a tiny fraction.

"I love you and everything you are, Dream, I want to reach immortality and forever live with you,"
Punz said and kept his hands on Dream's face, forcing him to realize the extent of what Punz
would do for him if he just asked. That he would burn down the world just to keep him warm. "But
he reminds me of how you were before."

"I was a naive fool before."

"But you were happy."

"I'm not unhappy."

"But you're not happy."

Dream's eyes wandered to the side and Punz let go of him, allowing him to retreat. Dream however
stayed in their small bubble of space, looking to the floor with a lost expression.

"He was begging me not to," Punz whispered as if speaking of a grave secret. Somehow Dream's
expression just now had reminded him of drugging Clay, of heaving his struggling body over his
shoulder and ignoring the cries. "He was begging me not to take him and I- I hesitated. I was
thinking about leaving him there. I didn't- I didn't wanna hear you like that."

Something in him felt shattered. Hearing his friend's voice so desperate was not something he
wanted to experience again, especially knowing that Dream must have sounded like that in the
prison. Must have looked like that. Wide, green eyes. Betrayal written all over his face.

And it wasn't just that he reminded Punz of Dream. Punz didn't want to hurt Clay. He didn't want to
keep him from Sapnap and George, didn't want to keep him in a jail with the threat of Tommy's
death over him. Not because he looked like Dream, but because he had come to admire him, as
much as he scared Punz. As much as he had disliked him at first because he had pretended to be
Dream.

Clay was strong, a kind of strength not in his body but in his will. He didn't give up, wanted to keep
on protecting his friends even in a world that fought him at every turn. Clay had arrived in a
foreign world and had declared to fix its mistakes. And even though he opposed them, Punz
couldn't help but admire him for it. It reminded him of the sixteen year old teen he had vowed to
follow, who could have created worlds with the amount of love he possessed.

"Punz." This time it was Dream who cupped his face with two hands, forcing him to look at him.
"He's not me. Treat us like two different people. That way you won't hesitate if we need to do
something drastic."

Punz snorted and leaned into the touch. Despite the sudden protection he felt over Clay he wasn't
alarmed at Dream's words. "You don't wanna hurt him either."

Dream frowned and Punz realized that maybe, just maybe, his friend might be a bit emotionally
 repressed. To the point that he didn't realize why he was doing things.

"What do you mean."

Dream removed his hands and Punz immediately felt the cold air meet his cheeks where warmth
was missing now. "You treat him as if he were your younger self and not a dude from another
universe. You gave him a cat for crying out loud! You go and talk to him, trying to convince him
that your viewpoint is right. If he were anyone else you'd have no qualms experimenting on him to
see what made him take your admin powers. But he's different."

Dream shifted his mask back onto his face and Punz grinned at how obviously he was fleeing from
showing emotions. Whoever claimed that Dream's mask hid his emotions clearly didn't know him
well. "I'm merely interested in another viewpoint," he said and turned around, efficiently declaring
this meeting over.

"Great therapy session!" Punz called after him and rejoiced when Dream flipped him the finger-
that joy turning into anger when he realized it was a stump instead of a finger.

Dream turned around at his sudden silence and shifted his mask up just to give him a grin.
"Thanks, doc! Next week, same time?"

Punz smiled back and rubbed away the tears in the corners of his eyes.

--

Day 6:

On the sixth day Clay truly learned what it meant to share the pain of a server.

Chapter End Notes

I MADE SOME ART! It's a small Punz-Clay moment from chapter 18!

Punz: I don't care for you, you're just a pretender, you mean nothing to me
Punz when Clay behaves like young Dream: wait, fuck
The calm before the storm
Next chapter shit's gonna go down. Just to get a taste, it's gonna be named "To End a
Country" :)

Thanks to everyone who commented last chapter! :D

I appreciate every single one!
 to end a country
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Clay was considering the pros and cons of destroying the iron door and trying to find a
communicator again when the door already opened and Dream stepped in, a tray with food in his
hands.

Patch stood up and meowed happily when the masked man scratched her under the chin. Clay just
noted that he hadn't shifted his mask to the side but instead was hiding his face from the beginning.

"What are you gonna do with Las Nevadas?" he asked before Dream could say anything, the last
conversation with Punz still running through his mind.

"Hi, Dream, how are you? Great and how are you doing, my esteemed counterpart?" Sarcasm was
practically dripping off Dream's voice.

"Hi, my dearest kidnapper, and what are you going to do to Las Nevadas?"

Dream gestured to the missing fingers on his hand. "When we restart the server, I don't want
anyone like Quackity disrupting the new peace. He had several chances by now and with every
step he made the wrong choice."

Clay froze and unfurled from his cross-legged position. The floor was cold under his bare feet.
"You want to permanently kill him off."

Dream waved him off and gestured towards the food. "Don't worry, you won't feel a thing! There's
a sleeping potion in this food, you'll sleep through the entire thing!"

"I'm not worried about myself." Not for the first time he wondered what the hell he was doing. At
first he had carried the small hope of changing Dream's mind and fixing everything with his
cooperation, but as soon as he had noticed that Dream was unchanging in his ways he should have
escaped the base as fast as possible and should have grabbed Tommy on the way back to Techno.

Still. Changing Dream's mind would have been the least bloody way to solve everything. And even
if he would have managed to run and hide with Tommy, everybody on the server was a hostage
against him and Dream knew that.

Clay didn't regret staying. What he did regret was not trying hard enough to change Dream's mind.

“Won’t reversing time not bring Quackity back?”

“Perma-deaths mean that your existence will be permanently erased. It’s in the name.”

Clay pressed his lips together. The glint in Dream’s eyes promised nothing good. "There's nothing I
can say to change your mind, is there?"

Dream gave him a thin smile. He didn't look joyous at the prospect of killing Quackity. "I won't lie
and say that I'm not doing this partly for revenge. But I can't let Quackity stay in the reboot. I
firmly believe that Wilbur and Tommy want peace. That Schlatt is tolerable if he doesn't have
much power. But Quackity- Quackity is like a cockroach. Vermin that always fights for power no
matter what he has to do to get it."

"There is a reason why Quackity is how he is now. Just like there's a reason why you are like you
are now, how Wilbur became what he's now. You don't have to kill him-"

"And he didn't have to torture me!" Dream's voice cracked and his facade broke, showing Clay the
desperate mask underneath. "You have no idea- you have no idea how it is. Getting broken every.
Single. Day. You have no idea how helpless I felt, how dehumanizing he can make you feel! You
have no idea how it feels like to gouge out your own eye in the - in the hope that- that- that he
won't return for three fucking days. I'm half blind, Clay! My arrows don't hit- I can barely lift my
sword! He did that to me while nobody knew! He did that to me while telling me Sapnap and
George supported what he did! Tell me, why the hell shouldn't I get rid of him?! Why would I risk
him doing this to me again?!"

Clay looked up at the man who was breathing wildly. Somewhen in his monologue Dream had
stood up to grab his shoulders, thin fingers digging into his hoodie. A wide, manic eye was
piercing through him but for the first time Clay was able to see through it. Was able to see the hurt
and betrayal, the sea of pain layered in it. And something in him clicked.

"You blame him for turning Sam against you."

Dream flinched, releasing him and stumbled back, almost falling when he bumped against the
crafting table behind him.

"You have no idea-"

"You're familiar with pain. What you did to Tommy means nothing because you can deal with
pain. Killing yourself for the revival book was a necessary pain, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm not
trying to minimize Quackity's torture-"

"Shut up, you don't get to talk about what Sir did-"

"- but you can deal with pain. What you can't deal with is betrayal. Sapnap and George left you.
The entire server turned their back on you. And Sam hurt you in a way Quackity would never be
able to."

Dream was a man for whom pain was like another constant. But he had put Sam in charge of
himself, of his body and mind, trusting in his friend to protect him. Quackity’s actions were an
extension of Sam and Sam’s permission was proof of Quackity’s ability to slither into one's mind
and poison it, to take a person’s weakness and use it against them. Between gods and admins,
warriors and fighters, Quackity had somehow come out on top as the most dangerous man. Dream
knew it. Clay knew it, as much as it pained him.

Dream's mouth was open and Clay was prepared for denials to fall from his lips, but to his surprise
Dream fell to his knees, fingers coming up to pull at his hair. The bandages on his stumps were
pulled tightly and he could see some trickles of blood starting to color them. "Can't I- can't I just
wanna kill Quackity without that?! Why are you- why are you constantly psychoanalyzing me?!
Why is it that the only person who knows me is another fucking version of myself who wrote
me?!" He let out a choked sound. “Why won’t you turn your back on me like everyone else?!”

Clay carefully sank down in front of Dream and gently grabbed his hands, massaging his fingers to
loosen them. "Hey, you'll hurt yourself."

"Fuck you," Dream spat and even though it was Clay’s voice too, hearing him curse was still
foreign. "Sam has nothing to do with this! I'd get rid of him too if he wasn't a cowardly nothing
without Quackity!"

"Quackity didn't turn Sam." Clay had Dream's hands in his and kept massaging his palms,
enveloping the thin fingers with his own. The contrast between them was jarring. It was harder to
find unblemished skin on Dream's hands while Clay's were almost scarless. Dream was full of
freckles that were now almost invisible due to the lack of sun. His skin was an unhealthy, ghostly
pallor that put even Clay who never left his house to shame. He squeezed them and let loose,
letting Dream decide if he wanted to pull back or not. To his surprise Dream kept his hands where
they were. "The prison did. The power that came with it did. Sam did everything out of his own
volition. Sure, Quackity helped, but you can’t expect your new world to turn out perfect just
because Quackity is gone. That’s not how it works."

"I trusted him," Dream whispered and his hands turned around to grab Clay's with surprising
strength. "I trusted him with my life, with my freedom. He couldn't- he couldn't have decided to
betray me himself, he wouldn't do that, someone- someone must have turned him against me."
Dream was sobbing but there were no tears in his eyes. "I trusted him!"

And then, to his surprise, Dream threw his arms around his neck and buried his face in his neck.
Cay's back hit the side of the bed but he didn't even register the pain. He gaped at the sudden
weight on top of him, but immediately put his arm around the gaunt frame and hugged him. Dream
was trembling but he kept completely quiet besides the occasional gasp he took in like a man
drowning in the ocean, only able to come up for breaths when the waves subsided.

Yet again he was reminded that Quackity had probably forced him to endure the torture silently.

A small voice inside of him piped up. Would it truly be so bad if this world's Quackity died? He
had tortured a man with glee and didn't have any remorse for it. At first he did it to gain more
power. Then he did it for fun. Sure, if Dream rebooted the world and Quackity wasn’t there, not
everything would turn out perfect- Quackity wasn’t the only reason why everything had gone to
shit. But he was a big part of Dream’s tragedy.

He remembered his own Quackity. The funniest person he'd ever met, wickedly smart and witty
and while he was secretive about his life, he would always call him whenever he noticed that Clay
felt down. (There was an image in his mind of a man with the face of his friend, dead. There was a
scream in him, the entire server ringing out in protest at the thought of losing one of its members.
There was a protest so loud it threatened to tear him apart.)

He would never endorse killing Quackity. But could he really stand here and keep Dream from
killing him? Could he really tell a tortured man that he couldn't get rid of his torturer and feel safe
again?

Clay sniffed.
"Why the hell are you crying?" Dream wanted to know. He extracted himself slowly but didn't
move too far away, instead staying close.

Clay's arms fell away to rub at his eyes in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I still think our worlds are
separated. But I'm sorry. For agreeing to this plot. For making you all alone. I'm sorry."

Dream took a deep breath and slowly let it escape. He was frowning considerably before putting
his head on Clay's chest, now almost completely laying on top of him. It was by no means a
comfortable position but Clay didn't move away.

"You were right," he admitted and partly sounded like saying that physically hurt. Clay blinked
down at the other in confusion. "I wanted to believe that you were controlling my world because I
wanted to believe that Sapnap and George didn't leave me of their own accord. That Sam didn't
betray me, hurt me. That everybody disagreed with me because it made for a more interesting story
in your world. But my actions are my own. I'm pursuing my goal because I think I'm right, not
because you made me do it. And if I believe that I'm responsible for my own actions and thoughts,
that I wasn't created for the entertainment of people from another world- then my consequences are
also my own. Sapnap and George left me because they wanted to, the Warden hurt me because he
wanted to. I hurt Tommy because I wanted to. But there's something you were wrong about."

Clay's mind was still reeling from the onslaught of information Dream had given him. Maybe-
maybe while Clay had been in the room stewing in anger, Dream had been introspective. He didn't
have much else to do while trying to get better. Maybe Clay being here wasn't totally useless. "And
what is that?"

Dream smiled again, the earnest, unsure one that looked like it felt foreign. "I'm not all alone. I
have Punz. And for some reason you're still here."

Clay snorted. He could see right through Dream and somehow the opposite was true too. Dream
knew that he wasn't staying here because he had threatened Tommy but because he wanted to
change Dream's mind.

"Do you really think the people on this server can't change?" he asked.

"They're too set in their ways. Got used to not being united that the feeling of togetherness and trust
is foreign to them."
And Clay could see in his mirror eye that Dream was completely convinced of what he was saying.

"Can you give me one chance? One chance to change your mind?" he begged. The thought of
everything resetting, of everybody getting erased hurt in a way he didn't understand

Dream looked to the side. "I gave the server many chances. Each time they chose wrong."

"They might forgive you, Dream, if you stop now. If you try to redeem yourself. You don't have to
do this."

A mask of apathy fell over Dream's face and Clay knew he had lost him. He had said the wrong
thing.

"I'm not looking for forgiveness. I'm here to fix the server, to make everything right again. My
world might not recognize me anymore but I'm still its admin. And admins are meant to protect
their server."

Clay closed his eyes and took a trembling breath. He knew his own face. He had probably worn
the same face when he had quit his job at Google to pursue a career as a YouTuber and his mother
had tried to convince him not to. The same face when he was met with waves of hate. The same
face that Dream was probably seeing when he looked at him. It was a face of pure stubbornness.

"Okay," he just said.

Dream didn't look triumphant.

--

To Dream's surprise he ate the food without much convincing. Dream was too set in his goal to kill
Quackity, he knew convincing him would be a futile effort. And he really didn't want to experience
how a final death felt.

"What do you intend to do?" He asked, the familiar drowsiness overtaking his limbs. This time he
didn't fight it, simply let it sweep over him. It reminded him of panic, of helplessness and betrayal
but he swallowed it down. The bed was comfortable as he sat down, scooching until he could fall
back without bumping his head.

"To send a message to anyone who intends to cross us." Dream's smile was wide, splitting his face
in two.

Clay's strength gave out and he let himself fall backwards into the bed which shook under his
weight. Dream grabbed the blanket and tucked him in, hand coming up to run his fingers through
his hair in a surprisingly gentle gesture. It was the last thing Clay felt before everything
disappeared.

----

"Again, you stay back and let me do everything. You're just here to enjoy the kaboom."

"Yes, mom," Dream sighed but couldn't help the warmth that spread in him at Punz's concern over
his well being. The sleeping potion he had given Clay would last for two days. They wouldn't even
need one day to raze Las Nevadas to the ground. All the work had already been done by Punz.
When they all had still been in the hidden base, Punz had snuck out to dig underneath Las Nevadas,
placing TNT where nobody would be able to find it. Enough TNT to blow everything up. They just
needed to make sure that Quackity would be there.

Punz had hired Purpled to make sure that everybody else would be out of reach. Fundy was
visiting Niki's bakery. Sam was still futilely searching for Dream. The weird slime person who had
died by Purpled's hand was somewhere in one of the alien's hidden bases. Quackity was the only
one in that empty country of his.

Dream wondered if it had been worth it. If Las Nevadas had been worth everything Quackity had
done.

It only took a few hours through the nether to come out of a portal Punz had prepared, far enough
to not link with any portals Quackity had built but close enough that they would reach the opulent
city by noon.

He reached into his inventory for his communicator and put it on silent, rolling his eyes when he
saw that his inbox was full. Most of the messages came from Sapnap, a sizable part of them in
caps. Some were from George, Techno had sent him a singular death threat and there were a lot of
panicked messages from the other server members. One message was from Sam.

>> Awesamdude whispers to you: "Dream, no matter where you hide, i will find you. You belong
in the prison"

Dream turned off his communicator and looked meaningfully at Punz.

"Time to roll?" His friend asked and Dream smiled.

"Let's go."

Punz led him through the desert until they were able to see the country Quackity was so proud of.
It was glowing, extravagant towers rising to the sky and constant music coming from the gambling
district. It was pathetic. This is what Dream had been tortured for. This was Quackity's legacy.

Punz wiped sand off the ground until a trail of redstone got revealed and placed a pressure plate in
front of it, holding out his hand for Dream with a bow. "Would you do me the honor?"

An excited grin spread over his face. "It would be my pleasure."

He took Punz's hand. Punz spun him around with a laugh and together they stepped onto the
pressure plate, eager faces turned towards the city.

The moment it took for the redstone to activate and race towards the TNT placed all underneath
Las Nevadas was full of anticipation. He didn't let go of Punz's hand, not when he heard the first
TNT detonate. Not when it caused a chain reaction, a loud boom that echoed through the desert.
And then the ground burst.

Punz threw a wall up in front of them and pulled Dream down. He briefly struggled, wanted to see
the downfall of Las Nevadas, but when shrapnel flew past him he conceded. He was laughing,
through the loud explosions that rang through his ears, through the shrill note blocking out any
noise for a moment, through the pure elation that coursed through him.

>> Quackity was blown up by TNT

Punz had his hands thrown over his ears and rolled his eyes when Dream peered over the wall to
watch the last TNT detonate. Where there once had been a city was just a big crater, not deep
enough to reach bedrock but enough so that not one single block had remained. Smoke rose into
the sky and Dream breathed in the familiar smell of gunpowder and burnt sand, a smell he had
dearly missed in the prison.

"YES!" he screamed, his voice immediately breaking. "YES!"

Punz grabbed his shoulder, mouth moving, and Dream shook his head like a dog when he could
only hear his voice as if it was through a layer of sludge. It took a few moments and a healing
potion for the white noise to lessen until he could understand what his friend was saying.

"We should reach Quackity before he can escape! I set up a bed trap but if it got blown up before
he was, we'll have to catch him at spawn!"

Dream grinned, giddy on the adrenaline pumping through his blood. He let Punz pull him towards
the city and reveled at the burning sand, the destroyed stone, the lakes Quackity had placed, now
flowing aimlessly through the ground.

He couldn't help but laugh in joy at the destruction, taking Punz's hand and pulling his friend close.
Punz looked into his free eye and smirked when he realized what mood Dream was in. He put his
hand on Dream's waist and lifted their intertwined hands.

"May I have this dance?" Dream asked, revenge tasting so sweet on his tongue.

"With pleasure," his friend replied.

And, despite Dream's weak physique he danced on top of Las Nevada's ruins, twirled Punz around
on a burning sign that had once greeted visitors and let himself be dipped over what once had been
a luscious fountain.

Punz led him through massive stone paths, through caved in buildings, until they arrived at a hole
in the ground, obsidian protecting its inside; the bed trap Punz had laid. Only then did Dream stop,
clapping his hands one last time and laughing when Punz performed a pirouette, ending with a
bow. Dream was completely out of breath and already exhausted but his adrenaline was still
running high. He knew afterwards he would completely crash.
The trap Punz had created was just obsidian all around the bed Purpled had pointed out to him.
Punz had placed a simple iron pickaxe on the bed which would force Quackity to smash his way
out. Punz summoned his pickaxe and stepped towards the obsidian casing but Dream pulled him
back, his lips already hurting from how much he was smiling.

"Let him get out himself. Let him see the destruction we wrought. And then we'll take his last life."

Punz sighed but couldn't fight his responding smile. Dream bumped their shoulders together and
took a deep breath, enjoying the smell of carnage and destruction. Soon enough he could hear the
sound of cursing, of Sir's voice screaming for someone. He could hear him sob. It was like music
to his ears. It took a long while for the first cracks in the obsidian to appear, long enough for Punz
to get antsy and look over his shoulder, at his communicator, in case anyone appeared. Dream only
had eyes for the obsidian.

Finally the pick smashed through the obsidian on the ceiling. Quackity's hand was the first thing
that appeared and he pulled himself up. A gigantic burn scar spread through his entire face, leaving
almost no free skin. His once yellow wings were now a reddish-brown and looked almost as
destroyed as Phil's. He had never been able to fly with them, but now they were barely able to flap.
His eyes were wide and bloodshot and he was gasping, tears escaping his eyes as he blinked in a
daze, looking around. He hadn't even noticed Punz and Dream.

Dream held back a laugh at his tormentor's pained expression, his screams as he saw the destroyed
city around him.

"Where's your legacy now, Quackity?"

Quackity flinched, spinning towards him and his face got overtaken by pure fury, a hatred so deep,
so familiar, Dream would have cracked if Punz hadn't been right beside him. "Dream," he spat and
jumped down the obsidian casing but hesitated to come closer when Punz raised his bow. "I know
I should have fucking killed you! You're in on this, Punz?! Didn't you betray him?! What the fuck
are you doing?".

"Death means nothing to me," Dream said, his grin widening at the slow realization on Quackity's
face. He felt his hands shake, felt the way his mind was tearing at him, trying to force him back
into the obsidian box that had been his home for several months, but he refused. He refused to go
back, refused to let this man control him again. He was free. He was out and he was free.
"Punz has the revival book," Quackity said tonelessly. "You're working together."

He raised his hand to summon something when an arrow pierced itself into his palm. His inventory
would have been empty anyway. Dream knew that Punz had only shot him because he wanted to,
not because Quackity was a threat. His heart warmed when Punz nocked another arrow. "You
should have thought twice before torturing Dream, Quackity."

Quackity fell to the ground with a scream, holding his arm whimpering. His wings flapped around
uselessly, only throwing up a storm cloud. How pathetic. He had made Dream go through worse
and yet here he was, crawling on the ground at the slightest injury.

"Why?" Quackity sobbed.

"I don't need someone like you in our new world, Sir." Dream looked down at the pitiful man who
used his other hand to crawl away. With one single movement Dream summoned his sword and
pierced his healthy hand, pinning him to the floor. Quackity screamed, his struggles only driving
the sword further into his hand. "Was it worth it, Quackity?"

"Fuck you," Quackity sobbed. "I should have done worse, you fucking psychopath! You destroyed
everything! You- you-"

"We destroyed your country. Killed everyone you cared about. That slime person. Fundy. Sam.
Foolish. Your beloved nation. All razed through the ground."

All fight drained out of Quackity. He slumped to the ground, sand sticking to his face. Unseeing
eyes looked up at Dream.

"Please, he whispered, "kill me."

Dream huffed. He closed his eyes, tried to internalize this moment so that he would always be able
to recount every single detail until this world got rebooted. "I won't do it because you asked for it.
Just tell me one thing. Was it worth it? Look around at what's left of your legacy and tell me if it
was worth it."

Quackity didn't answer. He shut his eyes, dry sobs racking his body as his fingers spasmed in the
sand. It almost looked like he was trying to pull his country back together.
And Dream yanked the sword out of his hand and slashed his throat. He continued to hack at him,
to slash and wound him until his wings stopped twitching, until his body dissolved into dust, and
only when his sword hit only sand and rocks, only when Punz grabbed his arm, threw his sword to
the side and pulled him into an embrace, only when he noticed that he had started sobbing, only
then did he stop fighting.

It was over.

>> Quackity has been slain by Dream using [Retribution]

At once, the entire server started screaming.

Chapter End Notes

So, a headcanon I have is that Dream is way better at dealing with physical pain than
he is with mental pain. And as such, he is most scared of Quackity since he's able to
get to Dream physically and mentally. If Quackity was just a brute, Dream would see
no reason to get rid of him, but since he's so shrewd and (in Dream's eyes) is able to
get to others and manipulate them, he needs him gone. If perma-deaths really stay
permanent with time travel is another question though.

This is the end of ARC IV! :D

I noticed that I haven't given the Arcs names here but I did in my google doc!
For anyone interested here are the names:

I: Dimension
II: Jailbreak
III: Counterpart
IV: Dream

And Arc V is going to be called Divinity so look forward to that.

Thanks to everyone who commented, bookmarked, kudo-ed and read! :D

It warms my heart that y'all are still along for the ride after about 9 months and more
than 110k words! I assume that this fic is going to end at about 170k and I hope that
you will be with me till the end :DD
 ARC V: the pain of a server
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Clay got ripped out of his unconsciousness by a pain so strong, it felt like he was being ripped
apart. His throat hurt and it took a moment to notice that he was screaming. His head was splitting
into two, as if someone had grabbed his skull and pulled it apart. Someone had grabbed his heart
and yanked it out.

He fell out of the bed, face wet with tears and it hurt it hurt it hurt make it stop make it stop-

There was a hole inside of him, warm liquid dripping down his body and coating the floor. He
couldn’t feel his heartbeat anymore and all of his limbs were slowly growing colder, ice crawling
up his veins. His body was being pulled in all directions and he vomited, the food Dream had given
him coming up. There was blood mixed inside, red streaking the ground.

Golden threads were running all throughout the room, all of them converging from his body, from
the hole where his heart should have been.

"Please," he begged. "Stop, please-"

Nobody was there.

Above him cracks were running through his room, golden threads ripping through the walls, the
ceiling, through the entire base. He felt the fear of the horse still bound to the fence, the agitation
of all the animals and mobs that were close, he felt the terror of Patch who was hiding underneath
the bed, meowing loudly. The entire base shook, small stones and dust raining down onto him.

Fuck. The base was about to go down.

He tried to stand up but his knees gave out and he crashed back to the floor with a sob, blood
splattering as his hands uselessly strained for the door.

>> Quackity has been slain by Dream using [Retribution]

>> Quackity has been slain by Dream using [Retribution]

>> Quackity has been slain by Dream using [Retribution]

"Qua- Quackity has been- been slain. Quackity has been slain. Quackity has been-"

Above him a shadow appeared, black cloth hovering over him. It felt like a gentle hand carding
through his hair and he cried as he pushed his head closer into the palm, grounding himself. Instead
of the base he was floating in an unending darkness, the only light coming from golden threads
unraveling from his body and the figure who was massive compared to him, her palms hovering
directly underneath him as if ready to catch him should gravity take control again. Even though her
fingers were massive, even though her hands didn't move, he knew that it was her touch comforting
him, stroking his head. Her dark fabric blended into the blackness around them until he didn’t
know where the goddess ended and the expanse began.

"Oh you poor soul," the voice of Kristin whispered. A hauntingly beautiful woman with hair so
dark, it swallowed the light, was floating over him, her expression hidden by a veil made out of
souls. Still, Clay knew that her eyes were gentle. "You're far away from home, Worldwanderer."

"Please," he whispered, unsure what he wanted. He was floating but he still felt the cracked ground
of the base underneath him. The difference in reality and perception almost made him throw up
again.

Her hands ghosted over the hole in his chest where his heart should have been, almost tangling in
the golden threads weaving through him. He was gasping through the pain, quiet whimpers
escaping him as he curled and uncurled which only jostled his body.

"What do you wish for my child?"

To go home. To unite the server. To fix everything. To right every wrong.

"He's dead, he's dead- he's dead- he's dead-"

"What do you wish for?" she repeated.

Tears were falling down his face and his mouth tasted like bile. His fingers were coated in blood.
"Heal," he said. "Heal. Heal. Heal."

Kristin soothed him with a gentle hum and he let out a sob when she put an invisible cold hand to
his forehead, numbing the pain. "I will do as your heart desires, administrator. But this world
doesn't do you good. It's been so many centuries, so many lifetimes. If you want to keep your
mind, it would be best to leave."

An invisible pressure like a hand glided over his eyes, staying there. His eyes closed. He fell back
into darkness.

Golden threads followed him into unconsciousness.

--

The entire server was screaming.

"What the fuck is this?!" Tommy screeched. He had spent a beautiful day sitting paranoid in a
hidden base underneath his actual base (best hiding place ever, Dream would never be able to find
him!) when the entire ground had suddenly started shaking and it felt like a familiar scream was
ringing through his head. His hair was full of dust and he activated a button that opened up the
entrance to crawl out, stumbling past Shroud the Spider to grab the door frame.

"Jack, what's going on?!" he yelled towards the man who had fallen to the ground outside of his
house, grabbing the grass as if that would do anything.

"Tommy, what the hell did you do?!" the most annoying man who ever existed screamed as if
Tommy had the power to make the fucking earth move. If he did, Jack's house would long be gone.

"What the fuck, man?!"

"You must have angered some god or something!" Jack yelled.

Over them the sky turned dark, stormy clouds approaching. It felt like the apocalypse had begun.
Tommy had a really bad feeling about this.

--

Tubbo looked through the window, to the storm that had rapidly appeared. Michael was in his
arms, panicked squeaks escaping him and Ranboo beside him was whispering reassuring words
into their child’s ear. The tremble in his hands betrayed his own panic.

Tubbo closed his eyes and wished, prayed to whatever deity existed, that everything would be
okay. That there wouldn't be another war.

He was so sick of being scared.

--

Wilbur took a deep breath of his cigarette when a strong gust of wind blew it out again. He sighed
from where he was lying on the forest ground. A particularly strong shake made him yell in
surprise and he grabbed at the tree beside him. Fuck. Whatever was going on, it couldn't mean
anything good. Not when he was imagining a scream in his head that sounded suspiciously like
Dream.

Maybe he should go check up on what was going on in the mainland. Make sure nobody had
summoned a demon or something. Make sure that whatever power had made Dream able to grab
him out of hell hadn't given him the ability to destroy the world.

(Make sure his kinda-brother was okay. His father. Whatever Technoblade was. Maybe even that
fucker Quackity. Fuck, he hoped they were okay.)

--

Bad stared at the egg, fearful eyes looking for any change. The entire world was shaking as if a
horde of giants was trampling over it. It felt like the start of something big, and he would bet
everything that the egg was responsible for it.
"Please," he whispered. "You already took everything. Please, whatever it is you want, you can't
find it here. You can't have it."

The rumbling continued but in the back of his head he heard a deep, nervous timber.

Too late, too late, too late, it sang.

--

"What the fuck did Dream do?!" Sapnap growled.

Six days. Six days had passed with no idea where the hell Dream had taken Clay, six days in which
they hadn't come one step closer to finding them. When the ground had started shaking and the sky
had turned dark, when a scream had rung out through their heads- that was when Sapnap knew that
their time had run out.

"Phil- Phil, what's happening?!" George yelled.

Phil was looking down at his communicator, a deep frown on his face. "A final death," he said.

Sapnap swallowed dryly. Please, he thought. Please let Clay be okay. He couldn't bear to lose
another friend.

--

"What the hell is happening?!" Punz had thrown himself on top of Dream and had shielded his
body with his own when the ground had started to shake. Only loose pebbles and dust fell onto
them. Rocks and heavy stones were falling around them as if there was an invisible protective
shield over them.

Dream shoved at his chest until he let him sit up but didn't let go of Punz's cloak. "Clay, he- it must
be him."
It had been a long time since Punz had heard him this distressed over another person. He felt worry
gnaw at him and quickly helped Dream up. Maybe something had happened to Clay. Maybe a final
death had been too much.

Behind them golden threads appeared.

Punz immediately pushed Dream behind himself and summoned a shield. Dream peeked over his
shoulder in curiosity and Punz wanted to slap him until common sense got drilled into that thick
skull. God damn idiot wouldn't know what self-preservation was if it kicked him in the butt.

The golden threads spun around, almost into the shape of a human. Black hair. Short limbs. White
skin. Burn scars. In front of their eyes Quackity appeared like someone was weaving tapestry,
golden silk turning into flesh and bones. It reminded Punz of the green strings that revival magic
used. Revival magic pulled the dead person out of limbo. This magic looked like it was creating an
entirely new person out of nothing.

Quackity floated in the air for a moment before falling to ground like a sack of potatoes. Around
them the world stopped shaking. The resulting quiet was uncanny. It was completely silent.

"What do we do now?" Punz whispered and looked towards his friend.

Dream had gone completely still, his wide eye focused on his torturer. He reached towards his face
and pulled his mask over it. The sword in his hand kept appearing and disappearing into his
inventory. Punz could hear strangled gasps escaping him.

He wanted to kill Quackity. He never wanted to see Dream like that again. But something in him
screamed at the prospect of causing Clay that much pain again, of hearing his scream echoing in
his head. Something in him was frozen in fear at the sheer power of an admin. But he knew if he
had to decide between Clay and Dream, he would always choose Dream. If he had to choose
between the world and Dream, he wouldn’t even have to think twice. The world could rumble and
fall apart, scream and cry and he wouldn’t change his mind.

He just hoped that nobody would force him to make such a choice.

Dream grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers. "Can we go?" he rasped, as if he really
needed Punz's permission. "Let's- let's check up. On Clay."
And that was all Punz needed. He gently pulled Dream away from Quackity who was slightly
groaning behind them, slowly waking up. Around them the scars their destruction had caused
slowly melted away until there was no crater anymore. Golden threads grabbed the demolished
buildings and sank them into the sand, exposed rivers were patched until they could flow through
the sandy hills, everything slowly being pulled apart until nothing remained.

Nothing that indicated that Punz and Dream had razed a city to the ground. And nothing that
proved that Las Nevadas had once existed.

--

Quackity got pulled back into life kicking and howling. He awoke with a painful scream, air filling
his lungs as if it was his first breath and his heart jump starting with a jolt. So this was how revival
felt like. It was absolutely horrible.

For a moment he had seen Schlatt, saw the slow smile crawling on his face before he had been
thrown into a room full of people and yet nobody had noticed him. Every time he went to touch
someone he had simply passed through them. The world had continued without him. Months had
passed like that with nobody acknowledging his existence, with nobody seeing him.

God, no wonder Wilbur had been so fucked up after spending months in limbo. Or, rather, years, if
what he had blabbered on about hadn't been a lie.

But why the hell would Dream revive him? Was he really not done with him? Did he want to
extend his revenge?

Fear jumped up his throat at that thought. Death had no meaning for Dream. Quackity would not be
able to escape him even in death. There was no place for him to run and nobody to help him.

Hot sun met his skin instead of the cold dungeon he had expected and he flinched up, realizing
quickly that he was all alone. Dream and Punz had inexplicably left him.

For a moment he thought that he was still in hell before he quickly realized where he was. Around
him was nothing but desert and stone but he knew immediately that this was where Las Nevadas
had been. It was the gigantic space of desert he had discovered, the land that was his and that
would once carry his legacy. Now that was gone. There wasn't even proof that Dream had blown it
up. It was completely and utterly wiped out from the map.
And somehow that hurt more.

He didn't have any capacity for tears anymore. He just felt numb. Here he was, sitting on his knees
in a desert that was meant to be his legacy. The only thing that mattered. And he was utterly alone.

"So how does death feel like?"

Quackity's head snapped up at the new voice, fear jumping in his throat that Dream and Punz had
returned. Instead his eyes met Purpled's.

The teen was standing several feet in front of him, his feet sinking into the sand. His hands were
buried in the pockets of his hoodie, four eyes regarding him with abject apathy.

"Are you here to finish the job?" Quackity asked, exhausted.

"Wow, that's pathetic." Purpled smiled. It wasn't a kind one. "Nah, Dream would just revive you
again for whatever reason. I came here to see if you shitstain were responsible for whatever that
earthquake was. To congratulate Dream for killing you twice- though I do revoke that after he
revived you. And then I saw your entire city- gone! Now that's what I call karma."

"Purpled, can we not- can we not do this? Not today, please."

Purpled snorted. "My pleas didn't matter to you when you blew up my home.”

And what a terrible feeling that was, losing your home. Still, Purpled’s UFO was not comparable to
what Quackity had lost. It wasn’t the same. “I’m sorry,” he still gasped even though a part of him
wanted to scream at the other, wanted to make him understand what he had lost. “I didn’t know- I-
I didn’t-”

Purpled snorted. He squatted, looking down at Quackity through light lashes. “Don’t give me that
bullshit, I don’t care anyway. I had my revenge on you when I killed your right hand man. And it
seems Dream did too. I don’t need anything more from you, Quackity. And now with Las Nevadas
gone you don’t need anything from me either.”
And with that Purpled turned around. Quackity panicked for a moment but was too prideful to call
out, to scream that he didn't want to be alone. Purpled's form disappeared in the horizon without
another word.

Quackity felt empty. Everything he had built. Everything he had fought for. It was all gone. In the
span of ten minutes Quackity had lost everything.

It only took a few minutes until somebody else arrived at the scene.

Quackity recognized Fundy's footsteps immediately. The fox hybrid always walked silently as if he
thought his mere presence would be unwelcome. He stopped further away from him, behind him as
if he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to him or not.

Of course Dream had lied about killing him. Of course he had wanted to cause him the most
amount of pain.

"If you got something to say, say it. Else leave me alone."

Fundy made a wide circle around him so that he could look at his face. Quackity however didn't
raise his gaze, instead kept it locked to the ground. He cupped a handful of sand between his palms
and watched it flow through his fingers. His sand. His land. Empty and vast, its fulfilled potential
stripped back to the beginning.

"You know, for a brief moment this was my home too. As much as I didn't want it to be."

Quackity felt a sob build in his throat but he refused to let it out. "Well, I guess you're finally free
from me."

Fundy looked towards the sky. He didn't look happy. Nor did he look sad. For a man who had
never belonged anywhere, it seemed so easy for him to lose a home. Quackity resented him for
that.

"Guess I am." He turned around. "You do know this isn't the end though, right? You can build
another city. Get revenge on Dream if you want to. Go on a vacation. Learn to chill."
"Everything I create gets burned down."

"Most of the time by your own means," Fundy said and Quackity flinched.

"My country got burned down by the most hated psychopath on this server and you think-"

"Your country was an empty nothing that nobody liked and nobody visited. It wasn't built with
love but the desire to carve your signature into the earth. Get yourself a better purpose in life, man.
And next time don't pull me into your bullshit."

Quackity tried to stand up on his trembling knees but slumped back. The golden threads of revival
still clung to him and zapped out all of his energy. Anger wafted through him at the fox hybrid's
uncaring words and he snarled. "What the fuck do you want from me, Fundy?!"

"To say goodbye."

Stunned, Quackity's mouth shut close. "What?"

Fundy let out a small huff of laughter and took off his cap to run his fingers through his hair. "You
have nothing, Quackity. And I don't have to feel like I have to help you anymore. I'll go back.
Check up on some people. Maybe wander the world. Discover what else is in store for me. You
should do the same."

He too turned around without another word.

The smell of burnt sand would forever be ingrained into his brain. The sound of thousands of
explosions would forever ring in his mind. The feeling of his body being ripped to shreds would
forever live underneath his skin.

Charlie was mentally dead. Purpled had left him. Fundy was gone. Foolish had never liked him.
Sam was too busy looking for Dream to check up on Quackity's death message.
Yet again, Quackity found himself completely alone. He summoned his communicator and stared
at it, ignoring the rapid, panicked messages from the chat. He went to a private chat and briefly
closed his eyes.

>> You whisper to KarlJacobs: "Hey. Im sorry. We didn't talk for a while

>> You whisper to KarlJacobs: "You didn't help breaking Dream out, right? Just sapnap and
george right?"

>> You whisper to KarlJacobs: "Kinoko Kingdom had nothing to do with me, it was Sam's idea to
destroy it. We both have no home now. Do you think we could bunk somewhere together? Like old
times?"

>> You whisper to KarlJacobs: "Even if it's a no"

>> You whisper to KarlJacobs: "Please, Karl, please answer. I missed you."

>> You whisper to KarlJacobs: "please just say something"

He waited. Hour passed. The sun was dipping dangerously towards the horizon. No answer came.
He would die waiting here, a small part of his mind warned him. He would die here and nobody
would care. In a few months the only thing that would remain of his existence would be the scars
littering Dream's body and the only one who would remember him would be Dream.

"Welcome, Quackity from nowhere!"

Screaming, Quackity toppled over, almost falling face-first into the sand if it weren't for a cold
hand grabbing his wrist and pulling him back.

He lost his balance again, this time in the opposite direction, crashing into someone. They both
toppled to the ground, Quackity's face falling against the other person's neck and for a moment it
felt like he was thrown into water and he closed his eyes when his face was enveloped by cold
goop, before he surged back up with a gasp, slime dripping off his face.
Slime.

Slime!

"You're back!" Slimecicle, Charlie, smiled up at him, his empty smile even more disturbing than
usual. Usually Quackity wasn't bothered by the way his smile never reached his eyes, but now,
after having lost everything, after having lost Slime already, his dishonest happiness rankled at him
like it had never done before.

"Quackity from nowhere!" Charlie yelled and threw his arms around his shoulders. Quackity
crashed back down onto his chest but was able to avoid dunking his head into the slime. "You've
experienced real death! How did it feel?"

Quackity shuddered. When Phil had killed him he had been too shocked to feel the impact of
hitting lava. The last moments, the few milliseconds before dying, had been agonizing though. He
had wondered how Dream had withstood everything he had done. If it had been him, he would
have caved a long time ago. The second time getting blown up had happened too quickly to realize
what was even happening. The third time had been the most painful. He had felt Dream hacking at
him, had felt his soul leave his body. The pain of getting torn away and then sewn back was
indescribable. For a short moment it made him hesitate in his desire to get the revival book.
Revival wasn't natural. And this was the punishment for defying god.

"You're back," he repeated instead of answering Slime's question. "You- after what Purpled did I
brought you back to my base. And then- then you were gone and I thought you just needed some
space to heal! Why didn't you come back?"

Charlie tilted his head, his cold hands coming up to frame Quackity's face. "Purpled took me," he
said as if Purpled and him had simply gone for an afternoon stroll. "I think he needed a
companion."

"A compa-" Quackity stared at the other in horror. "He wanted to kill you! And then he kidnapped
you! You- I left you alone and that psychopath took you-"

"I wasn't alone." Charlie wasn't smiling anymore but his voice stayed as upbeat as ever. "Purpled
talked to me. Probably wanted to connect with someone who was also manipulated by you!"

Quackity flinched as if hit. "I didn't- I wasn't-"

Charlie laughed. "You don't need to lie to me anymore. It's okay, Quackity from nowhere. For it's
human nature. You taught me these lessons, didn't you? The house always wins. And you aren't the
house."

Suddenly exhausted, Quackity's head dipped down until his forehead met Charlie's chest. There
was no heartbeat. He took a shuddering breath.

"Why did you come here?" At first he had been overjoyed to see Charlie again. His only friend. But
now it seemed that even he had grown tired of Quackity.

"Because of you, Quackity from nowhere! You never say what is in your heart but I can read you. I
know you."

Hesitantly Quackity looked up towards Slimecicle whose usual smile was plastered back on his
face.

"What are you saying?"

"You're lonely!" Charlie sang and Quackity flinched, looking away. A cold hand on his jaw forced
him to look back though. "And you see me as a friend. You manipulated me because that's the only
way you know how to make friends, because else you’re scared that people will leave you. And I
let you because I wanted a friend. But you need me, Quackity from nowhere. And I don’t need you
anymore."

Quackity's eyes widened.

"You're lonely, Quackity from nowhere and so was I! And so I came here to say goodbye!"

"What," Quackity said breathlessly, completely thrown for a loop.

"I made a friend! I realized that the ones who don't want you near them are the only ones you can
trust! Because that means they aren't manipulating you into being your friend!"
"You're leaving me too," he stated. It wasn't as if he didn't know he didn't deserve this. It wasn't as
if he didn't realize he wasn't a great person to be around. Still. Even a shitstain like Dream had a
loyal companion in Punz. Quackity had fought, had fought for so long, had sacrificed so much.
And for what? Ending up with nothing, with nobody at his side? Was this really how his story
would end?!

Slimecicle stood up and gave him a lofty wave as if he wasn't worth more effort. "You taught me
that lesson, didn't you, Quackity from Nowhere? Seek successful revenge!"

He too left, walking away past Quackity and forcing him to turn around to watch him disappear
into the next hill of sand.

There was nothing else. Nobody else.

But Slimecicle was right, wasn't he? Quackity didn't have anything to his name except for one
thing: His lessons.

And he would be damned if he didn't follow them himself.

--

>> Awesomedude: "Quackity was killed?!"

>> The_Eret: "Dream you bastard, come out right now"

>> Nihachu: "Is Dream still where he killed Quackity? Can anyone get there and capture him?"

>> Quackity: "I'm alive. I think he revived me."

>> Quackity: "Las Nevadas is gone."

>> Quackity: "Punz is on Dream's side. Don't trust that rat bastard."
 >> Tubbo: "punz?! punz betryed us?!"

>> Tubbo: "so what dos that mean for th disc confrntation?"

>> Quackity: "It means the two bastards have something fucked up planned and we gotta be
ready."

Chapter End Notes

SOMEONE DREW FANART!

I need everyone to go check out these awesome artworks!

Thank you so much, AlrikBlue ! They look amazing and I feel so damn honored! :D

Soo, Quackity is back :P

That wasn't a very long-lived death. What is long-lived on the other hand is the toll on
Clay's mental health woop woop
Next chapter we'll finally see how Clay is doing!

Until next time and thanks so much to everyone who commented, kudo-ed,
bookmarked and read!
 Change
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

>> Sapnap whispers to you: "dream what the fuck did you do to clay?!"

>> Sapnap whispers to you: "I gave you a fucking chance”

>> Sapnap whispers to you: "i understand that youre mad at us, at me, but please"

>> Sapnap whispers to you: "please don't hurt him"

Dream looked up from his communicator, for the first time taking his time to read Sapnap's
messages. He returned it back to his inventory at Punz's questioning look and hastened his steps.
Gasps were escaping him and he was already out of breath, his own weakness fighting him at
every step, but something was urging him forward. An emotion he hadn't felt for a long time. Guilt.

Suddenly the ground disappeared underneath his feet. If asked later, he would deny the squeak that
left his lips when Punz hefted him into his arms and started running towards the nether portal as if
he was as light as a bag of feathers.

"I got you, don't worry." Punz's voice rumbled in his ear and he calmed, untensing at the contact.
"Rest for now and let me help you."

If it had been any other situation he would have yelled to be let down, his pride mortally wounded,
but now time was of the essence. He needed to return and check up on Clay, and it seemed Punz
was also worried for his counterpart.

The run through the nether was short but Dream was looking around, worried that at any moment
another member of the server would jump out and attack. His worries mainly lay with Sapnap and
Technoblade. In this state he wouldn't be able to defeat them, and as strong as Punz was, he
couldn't fight and protect Dream at the same time. His worry was unfounded though; nobody else
was in the nether.

The next nether portal led to a hidden one in the overworld they had placed underneath the ground
and a simple press of a button activated a mechanism that elevated them upwards and at the same
time opened up the dirt. Punz barely spared the time to activate the hidden button to close the
ground back up before sprinting towards their hidden base with renewed vigor, his arms solid
underneath Dream. Yet he felt a slight tremble in them. His counterpart truly was inconceivable,
managing to worm his way not just into Dream's but also Punz's heart.

It was obvious from far away that something terrible had happened. The grass was desaturated and
lifeless, every waterfall had dried up and the falling snow looked gray, like ashes falling from the
sky. The mountain their base was hidden in was cracked like a geode, dangerously creaking and
groaning.

"Punz," he said alarmed and without another word Punz started running even faster. Dream had to
throw his arms around his friend to make the ride less bumpy. They ran into the base and Dream
balked at the damage that had been wrought; cracks ran down the entirety of the hall, the tree in
the middle had somehow grown so big, it covered almost the entire ceiling and its roots had grown
through the stone. Punz needed to climb over them, weaving his way through them until they
reached the hallway that would lead to Clay's room.

Dream tapped at his arm to be let down. "I'll check up on Clay. You go bring the TNT to our new
base. I'll call if I need help."

This base was compromised now since it was very obvious from the outside that something had
happened here. And Sapnap and the others knew how the surroundings of their base had looked
after Clay had been kidnapped. They would know if they saw the mountain. A lot of the supplies
Punz and Dream had gathered were in this base, including the hundreds of thousands of TNT they
would use to kill everyone and restart the server. The railway system about a hundred blocks
beneath them that was connected to the new base would make it quicker to transport them but there
was no time to lose. If Technoblade found them, they were dead.

Dream gasped through his exhaustion and limped through the hallway towards Clay's room while
Punz ran further where their supply room was. His missing toes hurt at every step he took but he
grit his teeth and threw the door open. He froze in the doorway, breath stopping for a moment.

There, in a pool of blood, was Clay. The cat he had given him was beside his head, licking his
cheek while meowing in panic. His counterpart's eyes were wide open, his lips parted, in the
perfect mimicry of a corpse. His hoodie dipped at a spot where his heart should have been. Dream
watched with a morbid fascination as the hole grew smaller and smaller, golden threads fixing the
gaping wound until his chest looked normal again. His expression didn't change.

Slowly Dream approached him and sank down beside him, pressing his ear to Clay's chest. After a
moment he slumped in relief when he heard an irregular heartbeat underneath him.
"Thank god," he whispered.

Clay's breath started up again, more a sob than anything else, and it hit him how uncannily silent
the room had been until now. Dream grabbed his hands, shushing him quietly. The cat stopped her
loud noises, rubbing her head against Clay's.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't want you to feel that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

He summoned a regeneration potion and gently tipped it into Clay's lips. The other didn't even
twitch, not even when Dream gently massaged his throat to make sure the liquid would go down
the right pipe.

"Quackity is alive, I didn't kill him again. I won't kill him, not before you've gone back to your old
world, promise. Just please-" He cupped Clay's face with a desperation he didn't expect himself, "-
please be okay. Please don't let me have done this. I didn't want to- this wasn't the plan."

If Clay had been dead, Dream could have simply revived him. However, this was foreign. This was
a situation, a wound, he had no idea how to fix. And he didn't know if he even could.

And then, finally Clay's eyes blinked open and he took a shuddering breath, curling into himself.
The golden threads wound around him one last time before disappearing into thin air.

“Clay?” Dream murmured quietly, one hand over his counterpart’s chest, the other supporting his
back.

Clay’s head lolled to the side, unseeing eyes wandering up towards Dream’s face. “He’s dead,” he
whispered.

“He’s not. I killed him, yes, but he got revived in front of my eyes. Looked different from how I
know revival though. You must have revived him, right?”

“Not dead?” Clay’s voice was thin and weak, almost inaudible over the creaking above them.
Dream’s eyes nervously scouted the area, trying to determine if it would come crashing down on
them. “Not dead. Now come, we should go. You have a long way ahead of you.”

Clay let out a questioning sound.

He put Clay’s arm over his shoulder and tried to stand up, his own legs wobbling dangerously
underneath the heavy weight. As much as it rankled at him, his strength was a fraction of what it
once had been.

“PUNZ!” he yelled when his knees gave out and they both crashed back to the ground. He felt his
kneecaps give in and hissed, getting out another regeneration potion that corrected it with a crack.
“PUNZ!”

The door crashed open and a disheveled Punz stared at them with wide eyes. He was cataloging the
room, staring at the puddle of blood for longer, before snapping back towards Dream. He
immediately rushed forward to grab Clay, taking his weight off Dream who stood up with a
relieved sigh.

“Take him back to the mainland and call Sapnap. Make sure Clay goes back to his own world. He
can’t stay here.”

“You’re letting me go?” Clay’s voice still lacked coherence but his eyes were boring into Dream’s,
a golden hue over them that made Dream’s fingers shake at the raw power in them.

“This is no place for you,” Dream said. “Staying here will only hurt you, especially with what we
have planned. And, to my own surprise, I don’t want to hurt you. You’re a good person. Naive and
wanting to solve everything through peace. Weak in body but not in will. So go back, Clay. Go
back to your own world. Forget this one and be safe. You don’t need to hurt yourself for this world.
One of us suffering is enough.”

Clay swallowed drily, struggling slightly in Punz’s hold. “Can’t-” he muttered. “Heal- this world
must heal.”

“And it will heal. But to heal, it must be destroyed. And I’d rather not have you around when that
happens. Punz.”
His friend nodded. “What about the TNT? I still have to connect some minecarts to the chests and
hide the tunnels to our new base.”

“Let me do that,” Dream said and allowed himself to run a hand through Clay’s sweaty hair. “This
mountain will crash in soon. Let me deal with the TNT and the animals here and I’ll trust you with
Clay. Don’t let yourself be caught. Bring him to the mainland, send Sapnap a message and run.
Don’t even take invis, keep your armor on and just run. I dread to think what Technoblade would
do if he catches you.”

Punz snorted and shifted so that Clay was settled on his back, his hands gripping the other’s thighs.
Clay’s head rolled on Punz’s shoulder, a feverish muttering coming out of his lips.

Dream grabbed Patch who had been circling them and placed her on Punz’s other shoulder.

“Emotional support,” he grinned at Punz’s dry look. “And Clay?”

Clay shifted his head, green-golden eyes piercing through him as if he was as transparent as glass.
“Don’t do it,” he whispered, “they can change- they can- they can change.”

“I hope you can live a good life. With your friends. I’m happy. That at least in one dimension we’re
all united.” He smiled at the other as Punz turned around to leave. “This is goodbye, Clay. And I’m
sorry. I really am.”

--

Clay’s head was muddled as if someone had stirred his brain. Soup. His brain was soup. His chest
kept bumping against Punz’s back and he was surprised every time he felt his flesh and bones
where once a hole had been. Dry blood caked his lips but the taste of iron was already so
entrenched in him, it was barely noticeable.

Punz carried him out of the base, into the nether portal. He barely noticed the shift in temperature.
Around him the mobs looked towards him, some pigmen approaching to ask if he was okay. Punz
continued on as if he didn’t notice anything.

“Fine,” Clay muttered when the pigmen continued to follow them, and only then did they stop,
their angry eyes following them until they disappeared from their view.
“What was that?” Punz asked. Patch shifted and used his head as a pillow, and he let out a hiss
when claws dug into the skin of his head. He didn’t throw her off though, instead accepting it
cursing.

“I’m fine,” Clay repeated and Punz snorted.

“Sure, dude,” he said. “You’re as fine as when George accidentally poisoned himself with
suspicious stew.”

Clay was too tired to argue. He slumped and let Punz carry his entire weight. They continued their
walk in silence until they reached the area with all the dangerous bridges. It only took a few
minutes until they arrived at the area where several nether portals were placed beside each other,
signs indicating where they led to.

“This one here leads to my old house,” Punz said and stepped inside. Purple took over and the
feeling of traveling through dimensions made him close his eyes. They stepped out into the
overworld, directly in front of a house made out of dark oak and glass. Every torch that once had
been lit had burnt down, giving everything a cold and abandoned feeling.

Punz placed him down gently and led him towards a chair when his legs were shaking too hard.
Patch was placed on his lap and he started petting her absent-mindedly.

“Here.”

Clay fumbled when a communicator was thrown his way. He stared at it, not comprehending what
to do with the item in his hand. Punz sighed and took it again, opening it up.

“Hello, Sapnap. Here is Punz,” the mercenary read while typing out his message. “We brought
Clay back after he had a bad reaction to Quackity’s death. He’s in my old home. If you know
what’s best for him, if you want him to survive what Dream and I are planning, you’ll bring him to
the place that will bring him back to his old world and you’ll make sure that this time it will let him
through. And no, this isn’t a trap either.”

He put the communicator back into Clay’s hand and rubbed his neck with a frown. “Guess this is
the last time we see each other then.”
Clay shrugged. “Can’t say it was fun.”

Punz laughed quietly. “You’re a good man, Clay. This world doesn’t let good men stay good men
though. It’s best you leave now. Keep your principles. Keep that mindset of yours. It’s admirable.”

“Not admirable enough to change your mind.” Exhausted, he looked up towards the mercenary
who was looking out the window with a bitter smile.

“I too wish Dream and I had been able to keep our principles. Unfortunately being able to keep
your principles is a privilege in this world, one we can’t afford to have.” He bent down to squeeze
Clay’s shoulder one last time. And then he walked out of the house, his swishing, white cape the
last thing Clay saw of him. It felt anticlimactic. Not at all like he was truly free. Not like the end of
a chapter in his life.

Silence was left behind. Clay stared unseeing out of the window, towards the landscape, the wheat
fields outside. Punz had built this home, had created it and then stopped visiting it to stay with
Dream. It was abandoned now, but it looked much more homely than their cold, utilitarian bases
had.

He stood up, Patch in his arms, and let the communicator fall into his inventory, summoning the
mask and the cat beanie Phil had given him at the same time.

He walked out of the base and into the fields without looking back.

For a moment he felt guilty that Sapnap would panic if he didn’t find him, but that worry quickly
got swept away by a want, a desire so strong, it was the only thing leading him on, the only thing
keeping him from falling apart. He needed to know. Needed to prove Dream wrong, needed to
prove that these people weren't against change.

Clay walked into what once had been L'Manberg feeling more like a ghost than a human being.

Loud voices made him stop, head turning to see Tubbo and Tommy loudly arguing, sometimes
gesturing towards the sky. Something stirred in him, but he felt too numb, too disconnected to dig
in and find out what it was. Tubbo had the same face as his counterpart, but there were small horns
peeking out from his curly hair and a gigantic burn scar spreading over his entire side. It hurt to
look at it for too long.
"I swear to god, Tubbo, it was a hundred percent Dream! Who else would want to scare everyone
like that?!"

"There is literally an egg that possesses people and wants world domination. Besided, how the hell
would Dream manage to make the ground shake?"

Tommy screeched. "How would he manage to revive people?!"

He made a circular gesture with his arm, hand accidentally smacking into Clay's chest who had
probably come too close and had to maneuver out of the way so that Tommy's hand wouldn't hit
Patch. Tommy slowly turned around, eyes wide as saucers. When he saw Clay's skull mask he
screamed, jumping into Tubbo's arms who didn’t even buckle underneath the weight.

Clay would have jumped himself if he didn't feel like his mind was made of jello.

"Hey," he whispered, conscious to keep his voice down.

"Hey?!" Tommy yelled. "You bitch, you almost gave me a heart attack! Fuck, you look terrible! Is
that- is that fucking blood?!"

Tubbo grabbed Tommy and pushed him behind himself, frowning eyes going from Patch to Clay's
mask. "Tommy, who is that?"

Tommy waved a dismissive hand. "The dude with the weird achievements. Was with Punz and
Sapnap and helped me with the flying machine."

Tubbo's eyes squinted harder in suspicion. "He was with Sapnap? He broke Dream out!"

"And Punz!" Tommy defended, the irony almost making Clay feel something. "Clay has no reason
to break Dream out. Right, big C?"

"Tommy, read the goddamn messages on your communicator for once! Punz literally helped
Dream! The disc confrontation was fake! And I bet this dude helped break Dream out!"

Tommy flinched and immediately got out his sword, holding it vaguely in Clay's direction. Clay
couldn't even bring it in himself to feel scared.

Every movement somehow took a lot of effort. Even blinking was exhausting. Clay looked towards
the sun and wished he could feel its warmth. Instead his skin felt cold and clammy, a wrongness
spreading through it. Not even Patch rubbing her head against his chin made him feel anything.

"Dream kidnapped me," he muttered. "They let me go though."

Tommy's sword lowered but Tubbo looked more suspicious if possible. "So you didn't help break
him out?"

Clay swayed on his feet, his unsteady grip tightening on Patch.

"Come on, Tubs, he looks terrible!" To Clay's surprise Tommy was defending him. There was a
sympathetic look to his eyes as he regarded Clay and Clay looked away at the honest emotion. He
didn't deserve it. He had broken Dream out after all. "I believe that that bastard would kidnap
random people! They probably used him, those bastards! Besides, look at this dude, he looks
weak! Even I could defeat him! Why would people like Technoblade, Sapnap and Punz need this
guy?"

Tubno looked unconvinced from Tommy to Clay who did his best to keep his eyes open.

"Hey," he rasped out, his throat feeling like needles were sticking in it. "Do you think you and
Dream could ever coexist beside each other?"

Both Tommy and Tubbo let out confused noises, Tommy's going more into disgusted ones. "What
the fuck are you talking about?!"

"Who even are you?!" Tubbo wanted to know, a hand hovering over his inventory.

"Coexistence," Clay repeated, swaying on his feet. "United. A- a united server. Do you think- do
you think that's possible?"

Tubbo's heckles were still raised but Tommy frowned, honestly thinking about it. "You already
realized how shitty it is here, huh?" he said, sympathy coating his words. "So I'll tell you right here
to not get your hopes up, aye? Dream's never gonna stop wanting to hurt me. I'll never stop
fighting against him. There's always gonna be war. I had to learn that the hard way, so… 's better
you learn that now, yeah?"

Clay looked at the teen, so similar and yet so different from his friend. He looked at the dark
eyebags, even darker than the last time he had seen him. He looked at the constant vigilance in his
eyes, the way he was holding himself as if expecting an attack at any moment. He looked at his
shuffling feet, the innumerable scars on his skin, the way his clothes hung off his body. He looked
at Tommy and felt the boy's exhaustion seep into his own bones, felt the weariness the other felt.

Tommy frowned down at himself, stretching slightly. "Huh," he muttered, flexing his hand. "I
could have sworn I had a scar there."

"Was Jack ever able to forgive you?" Clay wanted to know.

"Hah?!" Tommy yelled, distracted from his missing scar. "What the fuck do you think I did to that
bitch that I need forgiveness?! He's the one that should grovel at my feet and beg for my
forgiveness for trying to take away my hotel! Little pussy's too scared to fight me man to man,
mano a mano, le mân against le mân-"

"What the fuck does that mean?" Tubbo exclaimed.

"It's french, you wouldn't understand it."

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't french, big man."

"Oi, I even thought about the lil’ hats they put on letters-"

"You killed him," Clay interrupted them before they could start an argument about language. Both
Tommy and Tubbo froze.
"Nah, I'd remember that. I'd try to remember that memory every time before bed, I'd treasure it-"

"In exile. You killed him. Tubbo chose you over him. He never forgave you for that."

Tubbo stepped forward, shielding Tommy again. "How the hell would you even know that? Who
even are you, man?"

Clay continued as if the other hadn't said anything. "Do you think Jack could forgive you if you
apologized? Do you think that people can change? Could this server be united again?" He was
begging, his whispering voice breaking apart.

"Shit, man, what happened to you? Took months for me to become even half as depressed as you,
man. I guess getting kidnapped by fucking Dream would do that to someone, aye?"

"Please, Tommy," he whispered. His hands were shaking and his vision was swimming but he
didn't care. He needed to know. He needed to prove that Dream was wrong.

Tommy blew a raspberry, crossing his arms. "If Jack really just wanted an apology, he'd have asked
me. I don't think he likes me very much, gonna be real honest with ya. And a united server? Don't
make me laugh. The only way the server could ever be united again is if Dream dies. Then people
can stop being scared of the green bitch."

"People can change," Clay weakly defended.

"I changed," Tommy replied quietly. "I didn't want to."

"Okay," Clay whispered. He felt numb, numb enough to lessen the constant ache that was
drumming through his body. He turned around and walked away.

"Hey- what the fuck dude- why the fuck are you running away?!"

He heard footsteps beside him that suddenly stopped. "Tommy, wait. Let him go. That was way
too weird."
Clay walked out of old L'Manberg, past an area where a hole should have been, where obsidian
should have hung from the sky, all the while the grass grew dry underneath his feet. He walked
and walked until he reached the nether portals again, until the purple took over and tossed him into
the nether.

There he sat back against a netherrack wall and yanked his mask off, wiping over his eyes. What
should he do now? Maybe Dream was right. Maybe a united server would never be possible, not
with the history behind everything. Maybe he was fighting a hopeless battle. He was neither
wanted nor needed here.

Maybe he should just go home. Go back to his old dimension and forget all of this had ever
happened.

Clay hugged the Patch to his chest but was too tired to cry.

--

Tommy stared at where Clay had disappeared to, a feeling of wrongness in him. That hopelessness
in his eyes had been familiar. He had seen it every time he had looked in the mirror when he had
been in exile. He knew what it felt like to be broken and put back together the wrong way.

Clay was like him and letting him go, with his bloody hoodie and his haunted expression, it felt
wrong.

A yelling voice brought him out of his thoughts. Ranboo's lanky form was running up to them,
waving his hands in alarm.

"Big man!" Tubbo greeted him and startled when the tall teen grabbed his shoulders, shaking him
slightly.

"That- that guy just now-" he panted, knees shaky. "Who- who was that?!"

"Just a dude who ran away from spawn and only recently came here. Poor sod's already
traumatized after a few weeks. Fucking green bitch." And fuck, Tommy should have made him
stay. There weren't many people so lucky to get a one-on-one stay with Dream. Something like
kinship brewed in him at that thought. He didn't like talking about what had happened in exile, but
maybe if there was someone who had experienced something similar, maybe if there was someone
with the same eyes as Tommy, maybe if there was someone who could relate to what he had
experienced-

Ranboo threw his hands up. "Was that Clay?!"

Tubbo and Tommy shared a look before nodding slowly.

Ranboo turned around to run after Clay but Tubbo grabbed his arm and stopped him, almost
smacking into the tall teen.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait- what is this about?"

"Techno and Phil were looking for him. Dream- Dream kidnapped him after they broke him out
and-"

Rage burst through Tommy and he didn't know who he was angry at. "You're still talking to them?!
After they broke Dream out of prison?! Besides, why the fuck are they searching for him?! To
kidnap him again?"

"No- no, Dream betrayed them-"

"Is anybody surprised? The only thing that green bitch does is betray and destroy!"

Stressed, Ranboo wrung his hands. "Listen, they explained to me that he was tortured-"

"I don't give a single fuck what happened to him. Techno and Phil broke him out. And you're
helping them."

"Dream kidnapped Clay!" Ranboo yelled.

 Tommy seethed. "Well, if Clay helped breaking him out, maybe he fucking deserves to be
kidnapped and traumatized!"

He couldn't stop the poisonous words from spilling out of his lips. A part of him was feeling for
Clay, but another was angry, so angry at him for associating with the people who had brought
Tommy the most pain, betrayal running through his veins.

Ranboo stilled. "Traumatized?"

"Dude looked one gust of wind away from falling apart," Tommy waved him off. "But again,
you're still helping Techno and Phil and- HEY!"

Ranboo turned around and ran off, towards the portal Clay had disappeared to. Swearing, Tubbo
and Tommy followed, ready to summon a weapon at any moment.

Tommy had no idea what he wanted to do, nor even what he was feeling. There was a turmoil
inside of him, something that stung like betrayal, something that felt like he would rip out the
throat of the next person who looked at him wrong. Something else was sobbing. He ignored it and
instead focused on following Ranboo, on getting to Clay. What he would do afterwards would be
determined later.

The three squeezed into the nether portal, cursing and screaming and were promptly flung out,
landing onto the bridge with pained noises.

Tommy opened his eyes, coming face to face with a pair of shoes. Clay's mask and the beanie were
lying on the floor. His gaze wandered up, to a dark blue cape, fingerless gloves, a black hoodie, a
cat in the man's arms.

He looked up into the face of Dream who blinked at him with panic in his eyes.

(The eyes looked wrong, wrong, wrong-)

Tommy screamed.

Chapter End Notes

Chapter End Notes

THERE'S MORE FANART AHHHHH!!!

Everyone please check out this awesome fanart by AlrikBlue!

I come back to bring you more suffering woop woop!

It's only gonna go downhill from here for our poor admin before it can go back up
again

Until next time! :D

Thanks to everyone who comments! I'm so sorry if I don't reply to your comment, I
have a lot on my plate at the moment, but just know that every single one makes me
smile really hard! :)
 Mercy
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Clay was panicking, internally screaming. Externally useless babbles fell out of his lips, pleas that
fell on deaf ears. The numbness had disappeared, instead replaced only by sheer terror.

After Tommy had screamed Clay had been too shocked, too out of it, to get up and run. He had
scrambled up but a strong hit from the hilt of Tubbo's axe had made him crumple back to the floor.
Patch had been meowing, scratching at Tommy's leg when the teen had forcefully grabbed a
handful of Clay's hair and had pulled him up.

Tommy had kicked Patch away. Clay could remember begging him not to hurt her. He could
remember the cold, calculating gaze in Tommy's eyes. Tubbo had lifted Patch, his axe
threateningly over her small neck.

"Behave and we won't have to repeat what I did in the prison." Tommy's voice had been
unrecognizable. He had never heard the teen so furious. Tommy and Tubbo had him at gunpoint.
And Ranboo was standing back, a bow pointed towards his throat. Yet again Clay found himself in
captivity.

Tommy had kept his hand in his hair, yanking him forward, through the nether portal. The grip had
quickly grown almost unbearable and Clay was whimpering, his tries to dislodge the teen making
it even more painful.

"Please- Tommy, I'm not- I'm not Dream, please-"

Tommy opened the door into a house and threw him inside. He landed heavily on the wood, arm
raised for his inventory, when a boot landed on his hand. He let out a scream, new tears welling up.
Patch was still in Tubbo's arms, struggling.

"What the fuck did you do to Clay?! Did you kill him?!"

"No, please, Tommy-" He tried to crawl backwards but the weight on his hand made it impossible
to move. "It's me, I'm Clay, I just look like Dream-"
With his other boot Tommy kicked him in the stomach. All air left him. He could taste iron on his
tongue. Pain hit. He let out a croak and tried to curl into himself. "Please," he whimpered.

"Last time I showed you mercy. I did actually try to be civil in the prison. And you went and
fucking murdered me. To prove a fucking point. This time I won't make the same mistake." The
teen raised his axe, and Clay couldn't recognize his friend anymore, the talented boy who always
glowed with the potential of a sun. No, in front of him was a warrior, a child soldier, full of hatred
and disgust, ready to kill. “Your last life belongs to me.”

He was desperately racking his brain for anything to convince Tommy, tried to remember their last
conversation but his brain was buzzing, only filled with pure panic. "N-no wait, wait, Tommy! I'm
not Dream, I swear! Ask Sapnap, write- write to Punz, Techno-"

Something dangerous flashed in Tommy's eyes and he let out a snarl. "This is it Dream, do you
really want your final words to be this pathetic lie?!"

"Wait, I'm not lying! Tubbo, Ranboo, please listen to me!" The other two teens didn't step in and
Tubbo's cold and calculated look would forever be engraved in his mind.

He pressed his back even further into the ground until it felt like he would melt into it, his feet were
scratching against the floor as he watched the metal shining in the dim light of the torches.

"Goodbye, Dream."

"NO, WAIT-"

The axe embedded itself into Clay's chest, breaking through ribs and splitting his heart into two.

>> Clay was slain by Tommyinnit using [Nightmare]

An announcement rang through the entire server.

Tommy frowned down at the corpse of his abuser and watched his blood slowly coating the
ground.
"What the-"

Why didn't the corpse disappear? The bodies always disappeared after death. Had he miscalculated
and only wounded him? He kneeled down and pressed his hand against Dream's neck, as much as
it disgusted him to touch his abuser. No pulse. Nothing that indicated that he was alive. His ribcage
was split in half, naked, broken bones a nauseating sight. His mouth was stuck in an eternal scream
and his eyes were wide open, frozen in fear, but they were dulled by death.

(His eyes looked wrong.)

Corpses were always so uncanny. Not quite human but acting as if they were, just like zombies.
Growing colder where once had been life. Corpses also usually disappeared after death. Wilbur's
body had disintegrated into ash in the embrace of his father, so even final deaths should make the
body disappear.

So why the fuck was Dream's corpse still here?

(His eyes looked wrong, why did they look so different, why-)

"Uh- Tommy." Tubbo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, thrusting his communicator
under his nose. Beside them Ranboo was a tightly held mess, infecting Tommy with his
anxiousness, and he felt bile rising up when he saw the letters on the screen. They were suddenly
swimming in front of his eyes as he felt himself spiraling.

>> Clay was slain by Tommyinnit using [Nightmare]

Tubbo had let go of the cat who had raced towards its owner and was now letting out cries of
distress, licking at the man's lifeless face.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no-" Ranboo whispered, running his hands through his hair.

"What the fuck-" Tommy said. No no no no no no no no, this couldn't be Clay, this had to be
Dream, he couldn't have killed an innocent person, he couldn't have-
Maybe Dream had been able to change his server name, who knew what the fuck kind of freaky
powers admins had. Maybe he had changed his name, created a fake persona so that he would be
able to walk unseen between them, maybe he had-

His eyes looked wrong.

"Does anyone have a healing potion?!" Ranboo was kneeling beside Clay's body, taking off his
cloak to press it on the slash. "Tommy, snap out of it!"

Tubbo was the first one to move, summoning several potions out of his inventory while Tommy
was frozen, rooted to the ground as he stared at the ashen face of the other man. It wasn't Dream. It
wasn't Dream, it wasn't Dream, but he had the same face, the same voice, but he was innocent, oh
god Tommy had killed an innocent and the body didn't disappear, the body stayed there on the
ground-

What if this was Clay's last life?

"Tommy, get help!" Ranboo ordered and he snapped out of it, meeting his friend's eyes. The
enderman hybrid didn't like eye contact but now he was staring at him point blank, serious and
urgent.

Cursing he grabbed his communicator and quickly typed in a message.

>>Tommyinnit: I need help I'm in lmanberg pls anyone who can heal

"I- yes!" It felt like he was running away when he jumped out of the house and- "SHIT!"

In front of the house was a gigantic crater, so deep Tommy swore he could see bedrock. The
houses in front had been completely obliterated, one of them having been ripped apart. Even the
sky seemed to have a hole, a circle of blackness in the clouds. "What the fuck, what the fuck, what
the fuck, what the fuck-"

"Tommy, hurry!" Ranboo yelled and Tommy slapped both of his cheeks. Later he could freak out
about the ginormous fucking hole in front of his doorstep. Now he had to save a life.
“NIKI?! JACK! FUNDY!” He made a big circle around the hole and raced towards New
L'Manburg, yelling out every name he knew. Nobody was awake, nobody was here, the streets
were deserted like New L'Manburg usually was, and why the fuck did he think that anybody was
here to help, why the fuck-

The sound of an ender pearl hitting the ground rang out and suddenly he found himself thrown onto
the ground, a furious blaze hybrid snarling above him and looking at him with golden glowing eyes
full of vicious hatred. He had never seen the other in his complete hybrid transformation. Fire
instead of hair danced on his shoulders and black lines were running down his cheeks like tears. A
sword was held to his throat.

"What the fuck," Sapnap growled, smoke wafting out of his mouth like a campfire, "did you do?!"

Behind him George appeared, suppressed anger pulling his muscles taunt. The goggles hid his eyes
but Tommy could feel the piercing gaze.

"I- I didn't, what do you-"

"CLAY!" Sapnap screamed into his face, heat making him flinch back. "What the fuck did you do,
Tommy?!"

"I thought he was Dream!" he yelled back, crawling away from the weapon. Sapnap simply
followed his movements.

"I don't give a fuck if you're on your last life, I'll fucking murder you, I'll-"

"Sapnap," George warned. "Clay wouldn't want-"

"CLAY'S DEAD! And we don't- we don't fucking know if someone like him can respawn! I'll kill
you, Tommy, I swear!"

Someone like him. As if he was different, as if his death would be different from theirs. Puzzle
pieces appeared in his mind, not yet a complete picture. "Wait, he may not be dead yet!"
The sword at his throat shook, be it because of anger or the weight. "Is this some kind of cruel
joke? We saw the message, Tommy!"

"Yeah, yeah, but his body didn't disappear!" Tommy pushed away the blade and jumped up,
gesticulating wildly with his hands. "He- his body, it didn't disintegrate into ashes after I killed
him, and- and Tubbo and Ranboo are trying to help him-"

George put a hand on Sapnap's shoulder and pushed him away to step in front of Tommy and look
up at him through his clout goggles. Even though he had kept Sapnap from murdering him, his
gaze wasn't in any way warmer. "Show us. And if this is just a sick lie, if you claim this so that you
can run away…"

Tommy swallowed through his dry throat, raising his hands. He locked his jaw and nodded.
"You'll kill me."

As fast as he had run out of the house did they arrive at the gruesome scene. Both Sapnap and
George had ignored the hole and Tommy was glad that he didn't have to explain whatever the hell
that was.

Tubbo was tilting potions of healing and regeneration into Clay's mouth while Ranboo was still
pressing his blood-soaked cloak onto the wound. His hands were coated in red and his eyes were
blown wide open, breath panicked while Tubbo looked like the stoic picture of determination.
However Tommy could see the subtle tremble of his lips.

Sapnap shoved him away and fell to his knees onto a sticky puddle of blood beside Clay, carefully
taking his face in his hands. Dull green-golden, open eyes didn't react.

"Fuck," Sapnap muttered. "Shit, fuck. You there, buddy? Come on, say something, you're the
admin, right?! You're not gonna die in this world, right?! Please, I just got you back-"

His words didn't make any sense but Tommy didn't listen, instead searching for anything that
proved that this wasn't a corpse, that he hadn't killed an innocent person. And finally he saw it: The
subtle rise of a broken chest.

"He's alive!" he yelled. "Continue with the potions!"

Another potion was emptied between bloody lips before the body shook with a convulsing cough, a
dying man's prayer, and Clay let out a hoarse scream which turned into horrifying gurgles. Blood
spilled out of his mouth and Tommy watched with a strange fascination as the crack in his chest
suddenly glowed golden, thousands of threads appearing in the air to sew together his flesh.

"What the fuck," Tubbo whispered, lowering the potion in his hand.

The glow was almost too blinding in its intensity and they had to shut their eyes. When it receded
and Tommy dared to look at the man he had killed again, the slashed hoodie revealed the wound
on his chest that was disappearing, leaving behind a nasty scar, dark and rough compared to his
pale skin.

George went to put his hand on the naked scar over his heart in a gesture that felt too intimate.
"He's alive."

A dam seemed to break.

"What the fuck was that!" Tubbo screamed.

"Why does Clay look exactly like Dream?!" Ranboo wanted to know. "Techno and Phil- they
didn’t mention anything about that!"

"For good reason," George hissed and Ranboo's mouth fell shut.

"If he- if he hadn't survived I'd have killed you so badly!" Sapnap's threat sounded less intimidating
while he was clutching Clay to his chest, blood smeared on his clothes and skin and he was
shaking in unreleased sobs.

Clay blinked, his breathing uneven and hitching every second as tears streamed down his cheeks,
not stopping with the terrible sounds that escaped his mouth, a mix between a gurgle, a cough and a
whimper. "Nick," he choked out, "Geo- Geor-ge-"

"Shhh, we're here," Sapnap whispered.

George turned around to the three frozen teens, dark anger in his eyes. "Leave," he ordered. "I don't
want to see you anywhere near him again."

"But I-" Tommy bit his lip and begged his fingers to stop trembling. He couldn't just leave Clay
like that, not after he had almost killed him. It had been a misunderstanding, right?! He wasn't a
murderer, he hadn't maliciously killed an innocent, right?! He needed to apologize, to make up, he
needed to stay, to explain.

"Tommy." Tubbo grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back and he followed like a puppet on a
string. "Let's go. We've done enough."

Even as he stepped out of the house he couldn't tear away his eyes from the crying man lying on
the ground in a pool of blood, weakly grasping Sapnap's arms as he was letting out choked sounds
of pain, vomiting out the blood that had filled his lungs.

"Tom- Tommy- To-"

His feet froze on the ground as he could only stare at the bloodied man who was reaching out a
hand towards him, feebly trembling in the air. George grabbed it when it fell back down, pressing
it close to his chest. As weak as Clay's body was, his red rimmed eyes were burning into Tommy's
with a wild determination and he found himself rooted, completely tied up under that gaze that was
so similar to the man he despised the most.

Why did they have to carry the same face?!

"I'm so- 'm s-rry-"

Tommy wanted to scream. He had rammed an axe into this guy's chest, had killed him, and yet
here he was apologizing for god knows what. What the fuck. What the actual fuck was going on.

Sapnap let out a low growl and his hold on Clay got tighter, pushing his blond head into his chest
so that the bloody face was hidden from view as he glared at Tommy with the force of a thousand
suns.
Almost inaudible, slurred apologies continued to sound in the silent room.

Tommy threw one last glance at the healed body. Only blood, the gruesome scar and the torn
clothing were proof of what had happened. This should have been triumphant. This should have
been Dream finally getting what he deserved. This should have been Tommy's freedom. Instead he
wanted to buddle himself into a hole and hide for the next decades.

He exhaled. Then, without another word he turned around and left, ignoring the heart wrenching
whimpers behind him.

--

There was an axe embedded in Clay's chest.

He breathed through his destroyed heart, through his cracked ribs, through the pain shooting
through his body. Around him was pure blackness. Kristin's sorrowful face floated above him.

He took a wheezing breath and wondered why death was so painful.

"Worldwanderer," she whispered, "you weren't meant to die."

His breathing stayed shallow and he closed his eyes, tasting blood on his lips. "Send me back," he
rasped out.

She closed her palms around him and gently compressed his body. "You weren't meant to be here.
It would be best to return to your world."

But Clay only closed his eyes and allowed golden threads to take him. “This is my world.”

--

"You know, you ending up on our couch unconscious should be illegal. You can't just keep pulling
these kinds of stunts, man."
Dream blinked up towards the stone ceiling of an unfamiliar base. Patch forced herself into his
vision and he absent-mindedly pet her, grounding herself with her soft fur. Before he realized, tears
were running down his face.

"Ahh, damn," Technoblade said, his voice betraying his panic. "Crying person. Yeah. Shut up,
chat, I have no idea how to- I could run out and grab Sapnap-"

Clay grabbed Techno's sleeve before the other could stand up and sat up, pulling the piglin hybrid
closer until he could sink against him, exhaustion making him slump, completely boneless. Patch
jumped off his lap and instead sat down beside him.

Techno began running his hoof through his hair with an awkward hum and Clay pressed his head
against him, taking a deep breath to keep his sobs at bay.

Death. For a brief moment he had died. For a brief moment he had found himself in the void with
Kristin above him, her eyes an unending sadness. He had been forcefully yanked into life, golden
thread ripping through his flesh and repairing him. He remembered Tommy's furious face. He
remembered Tommy's panic.

He remembered fear so strong, he had wanted to tear the world apart. He remembered his server
screaming out in pain as he tore into it.

"Tech," he hiccuped and strengthened his grip on the other. "Tech, do you think people here can
change? Become united again?"

Technoblade whistled. "Wow, has Dream indoctrinated you into his weird goal?"

Clay hastily shook his head, extracting himself to stare up at the other who flinched back in shock.
"I'd never agree with Dream! He's wrong! He's- he wants to destroy the server, restart everything-"

"Is the glowing eye thing like an otherworldler thing or?"

Clay stopped in his tirade. Now that he looked closer, there was a golden shine on Techno's skin as
if a flashlight was shining on it. A flashlight coming directly from Clay's eyes. Clay leaned forward
until he could bury his head into Techno's chest and screamed.

"Okay, noted," Techno nodded and resumed petting his hair. "Not a thing from your dimension.
New and unwanted development."

"Techno, I'm one unwanted body change away from going insane."

"Well, statistically that's far away then."

"Statistically I'll kill you."

"Statistically not likely."

"Techno, I swear to god-"

"You swear to yourself?" Techno's tone was mocking but his eyes were serious. Clay stopped
breathing for a second.

Because even he couldn't deny it anymore. He couldn't deny it for a while now. It had worked,
telling himself he was just a normal dude, but even he had his limits in how much he could bullshit
himself. And the line had been crossed ages ago.

"I'm a god," he said numbly.

"That took a while," Techno said and put his hooves on Clay's shoulders.

"I'm a god," he repeated, repressing the desire to scream again. He was a god and this was his
world. He was a god and he was hurting because people were destroying his world, destroying
their lives. He was a god and this server was his responsibility.

"Techno," he said, new desperation clogging through his muddy mind. "Techno, do you think
people can change and live in unity?"
The piglin hybrid leaned back with a sigh, his hands leaving cold spots where they fell from his
shoulders. "Can people change? Yeah but not necessarily for the better. As for unity- maybe that
would once have been possible. But as we are now nah. Some people need to stay away from each
other. Do ya really think I'd ever be in a room with Quackity without tryna kill 'im? Ya think
Tommy'd ever agree with laying down his weapons when Dream is there? You think Dream would
agree to peace with Quackity there?"

"They could," Clay weakly defended.

Techno scoffed. "Listen, I think I agree with what Punz wrote us. Going back to your old world
would be best. Don't suffer because of our history of war. We're used to fighting. We're used to
war. You deserve peace and being united with your friends. So why don't we just bring ya back,
hm? Before anything else happens to ya."

"Can't," he muttered and stared down at the green blanket. "The world just lets me through if I
really want to. And I don't think it would let me through now."

Technoblade sighed and rubbed the bridge between his eyes. "Every version of Dream insists on
making everything way more complicated than it should be," he groaned and Clay fought the
desire to apologize. "Well, I'll go and grab Sapnap. Maybe he can guilt trip- I mean convince you to
go back home. See ya!"

With that he marched out of the room, a valiant mimicry of not running away. He didn't come back
but a few minutes later the door crashed open and Sapnap flew inside, throwing himself at Clay.
The bed creaked dangerously and for a moment the fog almost disappeared from Clay's mind when
he crashed into him, hitting his stomach with his head. Patch let out a protesting meow when she
was flung out of the bed and landed on the windowsill where she curled up hissing.

"OUCH- Sapnap, ahhh get your elbow off, DUDE-"

"I was so worried!"

Clay immediately stopped complaining when he noticed the fabric on his stomach getting wet. His
friend's shoulders shook and he wrapped his arms around Clay's waist, holding him as if he would
disappear at any moment.
Clay felt warmth trickle through his numb veins and he slowly reached up to run his fingers
through Sapnap's long hair. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Didn't wanna worry you."

Sapnap jumped up, straddling his waist, and grabbed his shoulders. "It's not your fault. It's so not
your fault, like, the opposite, dude! Dream- Dream fucking kidnapped you and then Tommyinnit
decided to murder you! I'm- I'm the one who's sorry! I wanted to protect you, I wanted to keep you
safe, but-"

Grief overcame his face and he toppled forward to bury his face in Clay's neck. "I'm sorry," he
sobbed.

Clay wound his arms around his friend and squeezed him, blank eyes looking forward. "Please
don't blame yourself," he muttered. "I could have escaped but I thought I could change Dream's
mind. I walked out of Punz's house because I wanted to know something. I got killed by Tommy
cause I took my mask off and didn't hide. I'm just- I'm just the stupid idiot who thought he could
make this world dance to his tune. I'm the moron who thought he could actually change
something."

Sapnap took a shuddering breath. "Is that what Dream told you? Cause if he did I'll- I'll kill him."

"Please don't," Clay whispered, exhausted. He was so sick of killing. Of friends being separated.
"He didn't tell me. I learned it the hard way. I can't change people's minds by just talking. Nobody
thinks change is possible."

Sapnap tried to lean back but Clay let out a pathetic whine and clung harder to him. Sapnap
slumped back into him and wrapped both arms and legs around him like a koala. He felt his friend
heat up slightly and let out a content sigh at the nice feeling.

"I thought it was possible," Sapnap said and Clay stared at the back of his head in surprise. Only
for Sapnap to crush the little, tentative hope that was blossoming with his next words. "And then
he drugged and kidnapped you, leaving us behind. I thought he could change. We gave him a
second chance. But he went back to how he was before."

"He let me go," Clay said but even to his ears it sounded weak.

"You're still giving him another chance." Sapnap's voice sounded defeated, tired.
"He wants to unite the server. I don't agree with his methods but his goal is good."

He felt Sapnap shudder against him. "Clay, you weren't there for most of what happened here. You
don't know what it's like to fight in wars, to go down a bunker and discover a cage for your father.
That is what a united server means to Dream."

"The disc confrontation was fake," Clay said and Sapnap let out a sigh.

"It doesn't change anything. Dream still did all of that, still manipulated all of us, for whatever
reason. And you lied to us to protect him, didn't you?"

Clay froze, fingers digging into Sapnap's shirt, and Sapnap immediately drew calming circles on
his back and nuzzled against his cheek.

"I'm not mad," he assured him. "You thought we'd throw Dream out. George wouldn't have. I
would have thought about it. Phil definitely would have though and hell knows what Techno would
have done. I understand why you did it. You trusted Dream."

And the worst part was that if he would be thrown into the past he would do it again.

"You're too hopeful for this world. Too naive."

Clay flinched, the words too similar to what Dream had told him. Sapnap slowly extracted himself
to look him square in the eyes.

"You don't belong here, Clay. This world only hurts you and puts you down. You- fuck, compared
to how you looked when we first met, you look terrible! And it's because of our world!"

"What are you saying?" he whispered.

Sapnap closed his eyes and sank forward to lean their foreheads together. "Techno told me you
can't go back to your world if you don't want to. But please. Please try, yeah? I don't like seeing
you like this, I don't- I don't want to see what's gonna happen the longer you stay here. You've been
killed for god's sake! So please," he opened his eyes again and the raw pain in them made Clay
stop breathing for a moment. "Please go back to your world. We'll fix it from our side. You go back
and heal. Please."

Clay felt himself shake his head, desperate eyes fixed on Sapnap's face. "I can't- I- I can't, the
server needs me, I have to-"

Sapnap grabbed his face, more intense than he had ever seen him. "You have to go home. You
have to make sure you're safe. You have to get away from here before the world destroys you and
before you destroy the world."

Clay hiccuped. "What?" he whispered breathlessly.

Sapnap closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath. "When Punz and Dream kidnapped you,
every plant around us had died. When Quackity died, the entire world was shaking. When Tommy
killed you, you ripped a hole reaching bedrock into the ground. Clay, I fear the pain this world
brings you but at the same time you too are a danger to this world. Your negative emotions could
end up killing someone."

His breath stopped. Tears gathered in his eyes and he let go of Sapnap to wipe them away. "I'm
sorry," he hiccuped, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I didn't want to-"

Sapnap grabbed him and hugged him tightly, his entire frame trembling. "It's not your fault, yeah?
It's not your fault. But maybe it's best if you leave."

Clay closed his eyes.

--

Clay walked down behind Sapnap, a new mask and beanie thrown on, though now that everyone
here had been branded as a traitor it was probably less necessary. The last disguise was probably
still somewhere in the nether. Patch was sitting on his shoulder, nuzzling into his neck. The base
looked hastily thrown together and had in total three rooms. They were underground and from the
groans and hisses that came from underneath them, there was probably a cave there.

"We're going," Sapnap announced. Techno, Phil and George were all sitting in a room. They hadn't
even bothered to build any furniture, but were simply sitting on crafting tables. Well, Phil and
George were, Techno was digging out the stone, the constant banging of his pickaxe making Clay's
head swim. "I'll bring Clay back. Techno, could you come with us? In case anyone discovers us?"

The pigling hybrid didn't look at them but stopped destroying the stone. "Sure," he said casually.
“You managed to convince the nerd?"

Clay shrugged and picked at the hem of his cloak. "I don’t wanna destroy this world just cause I
can’t control my emotions," he muttered. “You were right, Phil. I was too involved. And now this
happened.”

Phil's eyes were gentle when he regarded him. "I'm sorry, mate," he said. "This world's too fucked
up for you. But you tried, yeah? You did your best."

Not that it amounted to anything. In the time he had been in this world, what had he actually
accomplished? He had broken out the one person who wanted to destroy the entire server. Great
job, Clay, absolutely outstanding.

George stood up slowly and came closer. Before he could even open his mouth, Clay started
talking. "Dream's fine. Doing better. Punz is doing his best to make sure he heals fine."

"I wanted to ask how you were doing," George said and Clay huffed.

"It's fine," he said. "You helped me because I wanted to break Dream out. There's no reason now to
pretend to like me." With that he walked past him, towards the ladder that led upwards into a dirt
block. "One more thing though. Should have led with it honestly. Dream plans to restart the server.
I don't know how, though they did speak of TNT. He wants to reverse everyone to how they were a
few years ago."

The effect was instantaneous. Sapnap flinched and stepped back as if slapped. George let out a
shocked "What?!" which mixed with Techno's high pitched "Heeeeh?!" Philza was staring at him
with wide eyes.

"Wait- he can't do that," Sapnap yelled. "He can't- that's not possible! How would he do that?!"

"The same way he can raise the dead," Clay shrugged. He felt strangely disconnected. If it weren't
for the fog in his head he would have tried to tell them with more tact, would have sat them down
to break it to them gently that their best friend wanted to reverse time.

Technoblade rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Bruuuuh, this man can not chill for a moment, can he?
The most extreme guy I've ever met."

"I tried to change his mind," Clay whispered. He had a chance to change everything but he fucked
it up. Dream had literally kidnapped him and given him a chance to change everything and instead
he destroyed the land with his emotions and then had gotten himself killed.

"It's not your fault," Sapnap said forcefully and grabbed his shoulders.

Clay looked to the side. "Are we going?"

Sapnap and George shared a quick glance before Sapnap joined Clay. "While we're gone you can
try to find Dream. Maybe you can find out how he wants to restart the server."

Clay made space for Sapnap to go up the ladder. "They kidnapped me to a place about five
hundred blocks x and two hundred blocks negative y from the nether portal that leads to Punz's old
home. In the overworld you can easily see it because every plant is dead in a big radius. They
gathered their supplies there and I think underneath the mountain there's a railway system that's
connected to their new base. Though the mountain might be caved in."

He rubbed his neck, apparently pathetic enough looking for Techno to put a hand on his hair and
pet him. He only leaned in and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Damn, you're not doing so hot, huh?" The piglin hybrid's voice was gentle and Clay rubbed at his
watery eyes.

"Sorry," he muttered. He looked towards George and Philza who would stay behind. "Guess this is
goodbye. If my world lets me through."

"I hope it does," Phil says. "This world's suffering shouldn't be yours. Enjoy your life in your
world. Forget this one."
They were meant to be comforting words but Clay just felt a stab of hurt. He would never be able
to forget this world. It belonged to him and he belonged to it. Leaving it would surely feel like
ripping away a part of his soul. And yet, he thought back to the dead plants around Dream's base.
He thought about the hole in front of Tommy's house. He thought about the weird things the server
member's had written in chat. Maybe it wasn't a good thing that he was so connected to this world.

He grabbed Patch and sat her down in front of Phil. She let out a protesting sound, looking up in
demand for him to pick her back up but he only stepped back. "Can you take care of her?"

Phil's smile was painfully gentle. "Of course, mate."

He followed Sapnap and Techno up the ladder and stepped into the sunlight, ignoring Patch's sad
meows behind him.

Going back to Techno's old home was a quiet affair. They all drank a potion of invisibility and
walked through the nearest nether portal, Sapnap taking Clay's hand to lead him. He was too
sunken in his thoughts to bring up any fear in the nether. A ghast let out a crying sob and he
mentally reached out, soothing it with a hum. The ghast let out a happy noise, thanking him and he
smiled tiredly up.

"What the hell was that noise?" Techno asked, the first words he had said since they had started
walking.

Clay waved after the ghast and ignored the two incredulous stares from his friends.

They stepped through the portal that would lead them towards Techno's old base and walked
towards it. Immediately the damage was obvious. The fences had been ripped to shreds and the
houses lay torn apart. The roofs were gone and the walls had been bashed in. The ground had
several holes as if someone had blown up TNT. It didn't look like it had just been searched for the
escaped prisoner, it looked like someone had had great joy in destroying Techno and Phil's home.

He repressed the anger in him. From the grunt coming from Techno and the way the invisibility
particles were frazzled as if he was shaking, he knew that Techno was doing the same.

"I'm sorry."
Techno blindly reached out and somehow managed to pat his head. "After you're gone I'll make
everyone pay for this. Now come, this sight makes me wanna kill someone. Chat's going insane
right now."

Techno parted the rubble to lead them down the base, past ripped away walls, broken trinkets and
pictures and empty chests that were scattered all around. Someone had taken the chance to rob
them of all their riches they hadn't had the time to hide in the new base. Techno ignored it all.
Suddenly Clay bumped into him when the piglin hybrid stopped and he looked around for what
could have caused it. There, on the floor, were shards of what would have been a beautiful vase.

"Niki tried out some pottery. Compared it to bakin'. She was really proud of that one."

"That sucks," Sapnap muttered. "I bet these bastards did the same with Kinoko. I really hope Karl
won't come back to that."

Clay opened his mouth to apologize again but he felt Technoblade shift, turning towards him. "This
server was built on violence and destruction. The ones who did this just wanted a reason to destroy
our homes. Nothin' more than that."

"It wasn't," Clay disagreed. "It was built on love and friendship. It just- it just became like this."

Technoblade huffed and didn't answer. They continued their way down the base until they reached
the ice boat road. Clay rode behind Sapnap as they followed Technoblade, almost crashing into
walls several times. It opened to a base that had been ransacked as well, but fortunately Phil had
gone through the trouble of hiding the portal room under several layers of stone. There was no
hidden way to open a door, Technoblade just grabbed his pickaxe and destroyed the block
underneath.

They let themselves fall into the portal room and Clay took a deep breath. "What if it doesn't
work?" he wanted to know.

"You come back," Techno said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Clay rolled his eyes and grabbed a bottle of milk, throwing two more at his friends. If this really
was his last moment with them he wanted to see their faces. "And afterwards?"
Sapnap appeared, his face grim and bitter. "Then we have to do everything to stop Dream." He
stepped forward to wrap Clay in a big hug and Clay melted into it. "But please, your world has to
let you through. Tell XD you need to go or you might die. Please, Clay."

Clay nodded into his shoulder, his fingers digging into his friend's back almost painfully. He
carefully extracted himself and turned to Techno who wrapped his big arms around him,
completely engulfing him. He was so warm, Clay almost got drowsy. "Techno, please don't kill any
of them. Please don't kill Dream. I know what he wants to do is horrible but he wants to do it to
unite the server."

"He wants to do it 'cause he can't just go and apologize to some people," Techno snorted. He let go
of Clay and grinned down. "But yeah, if it comforts you, I won't kill anyone."

It wasn’t trustworthy at all but it would have to do.

Sighing, he stepped back and looked towards the dark portal. This felt way less official than the
last time he had done this.

"Alright, XD," he said. "Here I come. Again."

He let himself fall in.

--

"Tommy!"

Tommy flinched up before recognizing the voice. He frowned up at Quackity who approached him
way too calmly for someone who had been killed twice and revived on the same day, if the
messages on the communicator were to be believed. The other looked absolutely terrible. Burn
scars littered his body and face and his throat looked like someone had slashed at it like a pinata.
His usually yellow wings were more reddish, a lot of feathers plucked, and they hung as if they
were too exhausted to stay upright. Tommy recognized it from Phil's destroyed wing. Quackity
wouldn't be able to use them anymore.

"Dream did that to you," he said numbly. If Dream went after people for revenge, he was sure to be
the next victim. New fear spiked in him and he repressed his desire to run, to buddle himself in and
wait until anyone would catch the bastard.

Quackity let out a bitter laugh, hand reaching up to scratch at his new burn scars. "Getting blown
up by TNT was surprisingly not the worst thing that happened to me that day. Revival is pretty
terrible, huh?"

Tommy shivered, remembering his limbo, remembering the constant coldness and loneliness. He
remembered the pain of his soul getting pried out of his body, the pain of being torn out of limbo
and being sewn back into his flesh, all the while his dead, cooling body was protesting. He
remembered Dream's cold laughter.

(He remembered white streaks in Dream’s hair, streaks he didn't have before.)

"How're ya doing, big Q?" he asked. They hadn't always been courteous with each other but right
now they had one common enemy.

Quackity sighed and sat down beside him on the bench, looking over the hole that had appeared in
front of Tommy's doorstep. He had considered filling it in before giving up that notion and instead
had just begun closing the top so that nobody would stumble inside. As funny as that would have
been. The clouds were still avoiding the spot in the sky above the hole.

"Not that hot, not gonna lie." Quackity grinned at him, his golden tooth glinting in the sunlight.
"Dream did a real number on my country. But that's why I'm here. Dream, he has it out for all of
us. You probably the most. So I was thinking, we should probably put our powers together, right?
And make sure the green bastard can never hurt anyone again."

Tommy's eyes widened, his heart beating with the desire of immediately agreeing. He had an ally.
Someone strong who would make sure that Dream would get the justice he deserved. He nodded,
paying more attention now and Quackity smirked.

"The person you killed. Clay. Who was that?"

Tommy blinked in confusion at the change of topic. But Quackity was his ally, right? And he was
wickedly smart. He must have some plan.

"Just a dude who suddenly appeared. Dream kidnapped him too. I-" He paused, remembering the
dead eyes, the pained gasps. "I didn't wanna kill him."

Sympathy was in Quackity's eyes as he put a comforting arm around Tommy's shoulder. It took a
considerable amount of effort not to melt into his touch. "Why did you kill him then? I thought you
did it because he was helping Sapnap."

Tommy shook his head. His feelings were still thrown into a pile, his thoughts muddled and he had
no idea what he should be thinking. Clay had been kidnapped by Dream. Clay had Dream's face.
George and Sapnap had helped break Dream out. They had almost murdered Tommy for killing
Clay. What was right and what was wrong? What the hell was even happening?

"He had Dream's face and his voice," he said and Quackity let out an interested sound, leaning
closer. Emboldened by the attention, Tommy stumbled over his words to explain more. "He- I
thought he was- I thought he was Dream because he looked exactly like the green bitch, but then I
killed him and the communicator announced him to be Clay. And then- and then his corpse didn't
disappear! He just stayed there, dead! And, and these weird, golden threads appeared and just
sewed him healthy, and not- not like revival! I have no idea what the fuck that was. Sapnap said
something about him being the admin."

"Isn't Dream the admin?" Quackity frowned, stroking his chin as he looked over the hole in the
ground.

"No clue, man! I have no idea what the fuck's happening! I just- I just thought I had finally killed
Dream for real."

He had thought he had finally been free. He had thought he could go back to when he didn't have
to worry about every little sound over his shoulder. Instead he had killed an innocent man who had
proceeded to apologize to him for being murdered.

Quackity clasped his shoulder and he almost flinched at the sudden contact. "Thanks for telling
me," he smiled and a knot in Tommy's heart loosened. He wasn't alone in this anymore. "I'll make
sure the green bastard will never touch you again, alright?"

Tommy grinned and held out his fist that Quackity bumped with his own. The duck hybrid stood
up to leave. A bad feeling pooled in his gut and he grabbed his stomach at the weird sensation.

He shook his head. Until Dream made his first move, he'd just continue filling in the hole.
Chapter End Notes

Clay will go home, get therapy and will be fine now :))
Quackity being suspicious? No, he's just looking out for a friend :)

We're soon gonna finish this arc woop woop!

The next arc is going to be the last one and then this story is gonna be done! :D

Out of interest, how many people here came from my other DSMP story a second
chance from beyond the grave? , how many have found this story on its own, and also
how many of you have read both fics? :D
This is just for my own curiosity!

As always, thank you to everyone who commented and I'm sorry if I don't reply to
your comment! Just know reading them really makes my day! :)
 Incentive
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Clay appeared back on the obsidian portal surrounded by end stone and the staircase he had built.
He walked up with a heavy heart and rubbed his tired eyes.

"You ok?"

"All good?"

"Tired?"

"You tired?"

"All good?"

At once the voices of the endermen barraged him. He looked up in surprise at the voices he hadn't
understood before but immediately looked down so as to not look at their eyes. They surrounded
him, some touching him, putting their hands on his head, his shoulders. He looked up to a point
above their heads and smiled.

"I'm okay," he said, and while he heard English coming out of his mouth, his lips felt different as
he mouthed the words.

The enderemen let out chittering sounds, some pressing him to themselves and he couldn't help but
giggle at their attention.

"I'm sorry," he said and extracted himself from them. "But I need to go now."

"Go?"
"You go?"

"Go where?"

"Go where?"

"Creator go where?"

He looked to the floor, his smile slowly slipping from his face. "Away from here," he whispered.
"It's for the better."

"Have you always been such a coward?" Millions of voices rang through the end as hundreds of
wings unfolded around him. The endermen chittered nervously and teleported away, and suddenly
Clay was all alone in the end with a god bearing down on him. He flinched back but met several
arms that were sprouting from the ground, blocking his way.

"XD?" he asked hesitantly.

"You were called here to unite the server and yet here you stand, trying to run away for the second
time."

He froze, eyes going wide in shock. "What- no, I- I'm not running away! It's just for the best if I go,
I could end up destroying the world-"

The god appeared directly in front of him and roughly grabbed his face, pulling him close. XD's
eyes shone in neon green and gold, angrier and more emotional than they had appeared the last
time they had met. "You are running away. From your responsibilities. From your purpose. I
looked for a Dream the server would respond well to and yet here you stand, throwing excuses at
my feet. I didn't split my powers just for you to cry and whine and go back to your own world just
because nothing went how you wanted!"

Hot, boiling rage enveloped him. "You were the one that brought me here," he hissed. "You- you
lied to me!"
"Don't kid yourself. I was the one to call out into different universes. And you responded, even
subconsciously. If you hadn't wanted to appear here, you wouldn't have."

"I have a life at home!" Clay screamed. He tried to rip himself away but arms shot up from the
floor and held him still. His jaw hurt from the god's hard grip. "I have friends! I- I have a family
there!"

"And a heart big enough to save another world. That's why I needed you here. Where is that heart
now?"

Clay bared his teeth. His heart was beating wildly in his chest but to his surprise it wasn't out of
fear but out of anger. "You took me from my universe and planted me in this one with no fighting
chance, into a world where everyone hates me, you just took me to- why the fuck did you get me
here?! Why am I here?!"

"No fighting chance?" The god's voice had gone low. "Hasn't the land responded to your will, have
the inhabitants not responded to you? Has the world not caved to your wishes? I gave you a part of
my powers, I gave you a part of myself!"

"Are you insane?! The world got destroyed because of my emotions!"

XD actually seemed stumped at that. The god's grip got lax enough for Clay to slip out and stagger
back several steps. Then the god started to curse, a display of frustration that didn't seem fitting on
the marble face. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not again- this wasn't meant to happen, this should
have fixed everything." XD put their head in their hands, pulling their hair until soft tufts rained to
the floor.

Hesitantly Clay approached, reaching out for comfort before taking his hand back as if burned
when the god flinched back, staring at him as if he had insulted him. "Explain that please. I- I have
no idea what's going on, XD. The last weeks haven't been very great."

"You got too attached to this world," XD said blankly. "I gave you my powers and you got too
attached. The immortal warned us- he warned us, that's why we did it- but it happened again, it
happened again-"

"What happened again?!" Clay yelled over the muttering voices that echoed through the end.
"- but maybe it needs to happen. Maybe that's how unity will be created. Maybe that's how the loop
will be broken."

Clay was utterly lost in the mumblings of the god. "Wait- hold on, I don't understand. The- the
memory problems. My admin powers. Has that been you this whole time?"

XD hissed, voices raised in a cacophony of fury. "We are trying to free everyone! We are trying to
give everyone a good ending! It never worked! And then I found you, I thought you could help. I
didn't expect you to be this weak."

Clay seethed, slapping the god's hands away when they came too close. "Maybe if you asshole
took one moment to explain anything to me, we wouldn't be in this situation! Maybe if you gave
me any kind of incentive, I'd know what our goal here is!"

The god stopped, every movement completely halting. It was uncanny. The flying cloth of their
robe and their hair froze when they had been fluttering in a wind that hadn't existed, their face was
immovable and their lips were slightly parted. For the first time they seemed stumped. Clay took a
deep breath, wanting to feel triumph that he had gotten the god to be still for a moment, but only a
dark feeling managed to worm itself into his stomach.

"Yeah," XD muttered and a bead of sweat trickled down Clay's face. It felt like he had made a big
mistake. "You need incentive, don't you?"

With the snap of a finger a silhouette appeared in front of Clay. He only heard a surprised meow
when his instincts already kicked in and he stretched out his hands to catch Patch who startled and
hid in his arms when she recognized him.

"What-" Clay stared up wildly at the god. Slowly a manic grin crawled onto their face, and he got
reminded of Dream, of the desperate insanity in his eyes. "What are you planning to do?"

"I'm at the end of my rope," the god whispered. "I spent several centuries in this cursed world,
hoping that it would be the last restart. But it never is. The higher gods will never set us free. This
is their punishment for not recognizing the worth of our world. I've lived through the same life
again and again. And I watched the same thing happen again and again. The time beings chose a
champion and I sent him out to search for answers, but time was never meant to be wielded.
Everything we tried only ended in destruction. I had hope in you, administrator. So maybe what
you need is a small push. And maybe what the server needs is an avalanche."
Clay startled back and gripped Patch close to his chest. Endermen started appearing around him,
chittering nervously, some warning him to run away, to disappear. He grit his teeth. "XD, what are
you-"

Clay disappeared out of the end without a trace.

--

Clay stumbled when his feet landed on something hard and he had to let go of Patch to save his
nose from crunching onto the ground. He flailed up, arms waving around wildly and looked around
in paranoia. He felt his arms weaken with the feeling he recognized as mining fatigue and it only
took a moment to realize that he was standing directly on top of Pandora's Vault.

"XD, what the fuck-"

"What the hell did you just do?!"

Clay froze at the voice. He swallowed drily, not daring to look back. No, he thought. No, XD had
looked mad but surely the god wouldn't be that cruel.

"Oi, turn around, asshole!"

Clay took a deep breath, hand swiping through in inventory for an ender pearl, only to find it
almost blank. Right. Dream and Punz had taken everything useful and had given nothing back. His
breath was uneven but he barely heard it through the ringing in his ears. Slowly he turned around
and looked right into the face of a furious Quackity.

"Hey," he said faintly. "Fancy seeing you here?"

"Dream?!" Quackity's eyes filled with shock, before pure and unadulterated glee took over. Clay
stumbled back as the other approached and with several quick swipes of his hand several potions
landed at Clay's feet.

The effect was immediate. Clay's knees buckled as weakness spread and he slammed to the floor,
crawling back in terror. Patch was hissing, apparently feeling his agitation.

"No, you're not Dream."

Come on, world, he begged. Now would be a great time to react to my emotions!

Whoever claimed that Clay had good luck should be as cursed as he was.

"So you're Clay! You're the admin, right? And wow, that resemblance to Dream is uncanny!"
Quackity squatted down in front of him and grabbed his shirt, keeping him from moving away. It
was a threatening posture but not one that promised violence.

"Who told you that?" he asked, trying to fish for information. Behind his back he swiped through
his inventory, summoning his communicator. The device felt wrong and he had no idea what he
was typing but he could only hope that at least some letters made sense.

"A little birdie told me. Killed you only for you to be revived. And from how it sounded it looked
exactly how I got revived."

Clay swallowed drily, his fingers still going ham on the keyboard. "Dream revived me. He's my
twin and I ran away to escape everything here before Sapnap found me. Dream kidnapped me
because he wanted to use our shared look for some plan and I refused to help him."

"Cute story," Quackity smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. "But even if you didn't look like the most
despised man on the server, you're still the admin."

"Nope, that's Dream," Clay immediately denied. "I just look like him, but-"

Quicker than his eyes could follow, Quackity grabbed a knife out of his inventory and slashed his
throat.

>> Clay: osklxpand ras vailt jelp

>> Clay: dopwp1nlxlppb techndlo sap o

>> Sapnap whispers to you: "Clay?! Are you still in the end? You didn't respawn in the bed, are
you okay?!"

>> Clay: sos Oa pamdlrss Ajlt

>> Clay: zrom on vslhigrf hekp i neef belp

>> Sapnap whispers to you: "Clay are you okay?!"

>> Clay was slain by Quackity using [Legacy]

--

Kristin looked at him with sad eyes.

He was floating again, floating in the unending sea of darkness and he choked, hands around his
throat. Blood trickled down his fingers as he heaved, the air around him too thin.

He wondered if he could hide in this darkness, as oppressing and strangling as it was, wondered if
he could stay here until Quackity thought he was dead for good.

"If you stay here for too long, you might get lost forever on your way back," she warned him and
he repressed a sob.
I don't want to die, he thought.

Kristin closed her eyes and nodded.

Heal.

--

When he surged up, gasping for breath and choking on blood, Quackity was still hovering over
him, a strange curiosity in his eyes.

Clay's head was spinning, threatening to fall back into fogginess and he fell to the side, hands
closing around his throat and the closing wound. Underneath them the building let out a soft moan,
the sound of cracking unmistakeable.

"Beautiful," Quackity whispered. Clay had no problem differentiating his friend from this man. His
friend had never looked at Clay like this, had never had such an expression of pure insanity on his
face. "Revival. You have the powers of revival! You're the admin! Oh my- I could do so much
with you on my side!" He stood up and let out a breathy laugh, his arms stretched out to reach for
the sky. "I don't need Dream anymore! I have the actual admin in my hands!"

Clay spat a chunk of blood in front of Quackity's feet. His eyes flew to the side of the building. It
would be a high fall but it was also surrounded by water. And even if he died, he would come back
to life.

He got up on shaking knees, grabbing Patch with one hand like a sack of potatoes, and limped
forward as fast as possible. The edge of the building appeared and he prepared to jump, when a thin
cord wrapped itself around his throat and yanked him back. He choked for the second time as he
stumbled back.

"That's fine." Quackity's smiling face was swimming over him as he let the fishing rod disappear
back into his inventory. "I'm used to giving someone who looks like you some incentive."

>> Clay was slain by Quackity using [Legacy]

.

>> Sapnap: "GUYS WHERE THE FUCK IS QUACKITY"

>> Sapnap: "PLEASE ANYONE IF ANYONE KNOWS"

>> The_Eret: "Why should we help you after you broke out Dream?!"

>> CaptainPuffy: "Quackity, what are you doing?!"

"This is fun," Quackity said when Clay came back with a sob and tears in his eyes.

He rolled himself into a ball, hiding the communicator, and typed with trembling fingers.

"Compared to Dream I can actually kill you and you come back! I don't have to be as gentle."

Clay flinched. "No, wait, please- ALEXIS!"

>> Clay: "pandorasvault"

>> Clay went off with a bang due to a firework fired from [Piñata] by Quackity

"I guess it makes sense now why you know my name. You were the figure disguising himself as
Dream when he broke out, huh? And there I was thinking my lessons didn't stick. But don’t worry,
I can make your faces match."

He awoke completely without strength and with the feeling of Quackity's fingers rummaging
around in his organs, his entire hand buried in the hole in his stomach. The flesh healed and the
golden threads got tangled, before gliding off Quackity’s fingers and sewing Clay back together.
Quackity kept his fingers inside until the golden threads pushed them out and he stared down at
them in fascination.

"Revival," he whispered.

Clay vomited all over his feet. The phantom feeling of fingers in his ribcage made him sob in
earnest.

>> Sapnap: "We'll be right there, Clay, please, hold on until we arrive!"

>> Clay was slain by Quackity using [Legacy]

“I heard that some cultures believe that if you consume a god’s heart, you too will gain their
powers. I wonder if that’s true.”

His heart was beating in Quackity’s hand as the man opened his mouth to take a bite.

>> Awesamdude: "How many times did he die already?!"

>> Awesamdude: "Quackity, have you figured out the secret to revival?"

>> Tommyinnit: "Holy shit quackity what the fuck are you doing?!"

>> Tommyinnit: "Stop, this isn't right you psycho!"

>> Dream: "Quackity, I will make sure you're never going to see the sunlight when I'm through
with you."

"You're as stubborn as the man whose face you share." Quackity gently wiped the tears from the
corners of Clay's eyes, leaving behind bloody fingerprints, and he couldn't help but lean into the
touch. His entire body was screaming in pain, everything hurt, everything hurt, make it stop, please
make it stop-

Quackity summoned a bucket of lava.

"No," he sobbed, "no, please, please don't-"

>> Clay tried to swim in lava to escape Quackity

Kristin looked down at him, her hands folded protectively around him. "You could stay here," she
murmured gently, her hands soothing to his burning skin. He was wheezing, air barely entering his
lungs. There was a hole in his chest.

And would staying be so bad?

He was tired, he was in pain. He couldn't do this anymore. Clay had given up a long time ago, this
was just the server's way of telling him he was unwanted, this was XD’s revenge for being too
weak to accomplish anything.

But he thought of Sapnap and George, from both worlds. Of the people, his friends and family. He
thought of his two worlds.

He sobbed with the knowledge of what he would go back to. "I don't wanna die."

He opened his eyes with Quackity's hand around his heart again, slowly squeezing. The golden
threads were going wild. Clay's entire body seized. He didn't even have time to beg before
Quackity's hand tightened.

>> Clay has undergone a non-consensual surgery by Quackity

"Fuck," Quackity muttered when Clay's eyes opened again and he heaved, only bile and acid
escaping his throat. The man's eyes were focused on his communicator. "You fucking managed to
use a communicator."
Clay sacked to the cracked floor, relief bringing tears to his eyes and he hiccuped through his
aching throat. Patch was licking his face with worried meows but he couldn't even bring up the
strength to pat her, to console her.

"Shit," Quackity hissed and Dream followed his gaze. There, very much on the horizon, was the
flying silhouette of Philza, the sound of fireworks coming closer and closer.

Clay sobbed as he curled up, hugging Patch to his chest. Only a few seconds and then it would be
all over. Maybe his world would let him rest then.

"You revived me," Quackity hastily rambled. "That means something! Dream killed me and you
revived me! That was you! You don't want me dead! The only times you saw me was when you
were with Sapnap and when you acted as Dream with Technoblade! You don't want us dead!"

He pointed the knife directly between Clay's eyes. "Tell me how to revive people or I'll kill Philza.
I'll kill Sapnap. Karl. I'll kill them. Tell me!"

Quackity was only a blur through the tears in his eyes. "You lost," he croaked. His mouth tasted
like iron and vomit but he still managed to lift the corners of his lips in something that might have
been a smile.

"QUACKITY!" Sapnap's voice sounded from the bottom of Pandora's Vault. "Come out or I swear
I'll tear you apart limb for limb!"

Phil's silhouette was approaching rapidly and he landed heavily on the roof, enough to make the
blackstone crack. His stare was deadly, jaw clenched so hard, it looked like it hurt. There was no
way for Quackity to run. "I knew you were a piece of shit, but you've officially gone too far."

The sound of an ender pearl hit the roof. Punz stood there, fire and anger blazing in his eyes. "You
made a huge fucking mistake, Quackity."

"Chat's screamin' for blood." Technoblade rammed his pickaxe into the blackstone and heaved
himself up, Sapnap following soon. Quackity and Clay were surrounded.

Immediately Quackity held his knife against Clay's throat. "Nobody move or I kill him!"
Steam escaped out of Sapnap's mouth, his entire body taken over by his blaze hybrid side. On the
other hand Techno only shrugged casually. "Oh no," he said. "He's threatening the dude who can't
die with death. Whatever shall we do?"

"Step away from him," Punz growled, loading an arrow into his crossbow.

Quackity looked down at Clay, desperation clawing at him. Clay had no idea what he saw, had no
idea what made his eyes light up. Whatever it was, he managed to dodge an arrow from Punz and
dove in to grab Patch, holding her by her tail and pointing his knife at her. She was mewling in
pain, but her swiping didn't make the other let her go.

Clay's eyes widened and he choked, body too weak to do anything other than slump into his own
pool of blood. "No, don't-"

"The revival book!" Quackity shrieked, eyes only for Clay. "Or it gets it!"

"Quackity, I don't have it, I don't-"

Several things happened at the same time. Everyone moved as one to fight against Quackity. Punz's
arrow slammed into his throat, the head sticking out of his neck. Sapnap rammed his sword into
Quackity's stomach. Technoblade's axe separated his head cleanly from his body. Phil's sword
pierced his back. And Quackity's knife drove cleanly into Patch.
̆̆ ̏ ̓͑
̅̐ ̓ ́ ͆̅ ͂ ̅ ̾̈́ ̈́ ̀ ̉ ̋
͐̂ ̍ ̾ ́ ͂ ̒ ̉ ̈ ̓ ̏ ̿ ̓ ̽ ͐ ͌ ̍ ̽̎̎ ̊ ̈́ ͋ ̈́ ̽ ̋ ̈́ ̋ ̓̎ ̑ ̀ ̊́ ̈́
̽ ̈͂ ̀ ̐͑ ̎ ̈ ́̃ ̈́ ́ ͑ ͊ ̉ ̊ ̆ ̉ ́ ̌ ̔ ̌ ͑ ͋ ͋ ́ ̓ ̅
̤̬ ̳ ́ ̔ ͗ ų̷̥ ̡̫̣ ͈̜͎ ̃ ͊͒ n̴̠̮̚ͅ ̞ ̀ ̌ ̈ ̈́ ͋͠ ̢ n̬ ̡̪̫͍ ̜͓̘ ͝ ͘ ͑̄ a̶ ̑ ͕ ̘ ̈ ͜ ̎͘ p̵̸̠ ̰ ͖ ̌͝ ̂ ͒͜ ̓̔ ̯͍̋̋ ̙̩ ̿ ͜ ̵ ̨̮ ̡̗ ͎͓̩̟̹͈̙ using d̵͋ȉ̶̗͍͜ ̙͎ ͛ v̨̮ ̳̪̕ ͈ ͜͠ ͝ i̷̶̊̀̀̏ ̳̺ ̝̻͓̈́̿ ͘ ̦̒̔ n̷̕ ̩ ̂ ͘ ̢ ȅ ̹ ̔ ̵ ̀ ̺͇͔ ͋ ͘ r̶̛̾ ͔̗ ̩ ̓ e̸̶͆ ̨ ̤͇ ͖̝ ͘ ͠ ̍͗ ̅ t̵̖ ͉̜͝ ͌̓̓̔ r̴̀ ̡ ͘ ͛̐ i̅ ̥͙ ̹ ̓ b̴̷̥ͅ ̲̰̪ ͋ u͆ ̥ ̣ ̻ ͊̐ ̛̎̂͝ t̷̷̨̬ ̭̯̰ ̘ ̄ ì̖̑ ̡͔̲̣ ̢̦ ̽ o̸ ̡̫̗͇ ̻ ̋ ̈́ ̢ n̴̵ ̖͙ ̭ ̜͎ ̋ ̛ ͐ ̤ ̘
>> Quackity was slain by T̴͝ ̈ ͋ e̸̕ ̖ ͔ ͓͓ ̇ ͘ ̛ ̔ ̎̎̕͝ ̾ c̴̠̮ ̪ ̀ ͝ ͘ ̿̈́ ͊͊̐̓͝ l̶̄ ̃͜ ̘̙̩̻ ͊͛ ̢ ̎̄ z̵͐ ̥̮̠̠̀̏̏ ̲̭͇̣͍̚̕ ͝ ̓̓ a̴̍ ͆ ̱̏ ̭̗̯ ̩ ̀ ̌ ̛̛͊ P̷
͓͓ ̩ ̭͚ ̦ ͍ ͕ ̘ ̱ ̹̼ ̲ ̟̜̙ ̖ ̫͔ ͕̲ ̹ ̯̺̣ ͓̟ ͖ ̥ ̤̯ ̘
̲ ͕ ͍͚ ͉ ̫͓ ̤̩ ̠ ̖
͙̥ ͍͇̗ ̠ ̞͉ ͓ ̲̤͚ ̜ ̮̖ ̗̰ ͈ ͙ ̣̺̗ ͎ ̜ ̹
̦

Pain raced through his body, his soul, at the final death, at Patch's death, and the land rumbled, the
land responded, nothing was meant to stay forever-

Quackity's body immediately disintegrated, leaving Patch to fall down with a wet squelch. Clay
immediately slumped forward to catch her, feeling warmth leave her body. "No, no, no, no, no, no-
don't, please don't, please-"

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he could simply revive her. He knew that. He knew
that death meant nothing to him.
But something in him cracked and completely broke apart. It was as if a tsunami had been
unleashed, as if a door that had been locked had splintered and destroyed.

"Clay?" Sapnap asked and rushed towards him, grabbing his shoulders. "Are you okay? What
happened- are you okay? Fuck, are- fuck- shit-"

Technoblade grabbed his shoulder to pull him slightly away. "Nerd, you good? Not gonna lie, you
look terrible."

>> Patch was slain by Quackity

Clay looked down at Patch who slowly disintegrated into dust, and he was left to stare at his own
blood coating his hands, his pants and the ground. Blood was still flowing out of his mouth and he
let out small chokes. His heart had grown back but it felt like it was still gone. He felt cold, so cold.
The tendrils of death were all around him.

"Clay?"

It was too much.

He couldn't anymore, it was too much, everything-

Golden threads exploded out of him, enveloping him.

And then he screamed.

.
 .

And the server reacted.

>> [Clay set own game mode to Creative Mode]

Chapter End Notes

CHECK OUT THE ART I MADE!

Ahahaha and this is the end of arc V :P

The good news is that since this is the lowest point it can only go upwards woop
woop!

Let me tell you, I've had this part (the torture and Clay going into creative mode)
planned for so long and to finally be able to reveal it (and what comes afterwards)
makes me genuinely so happy!

Next chapter is gonna come out in about 2 months! I'm taking a longer break since I'll
 be going on vacation for about 6 weeks :D

As always THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! Last chapter's engagement was insane
and I'm so sorry I couldn't answer to everyone! Just know, I have read every single
review at least three times and they really make my day! :)

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!