4.14.22

(WARNING ! This chapter contains death, blood, and mentions of gore)

As the two teens were in paralyzed shock, their heads slowly turned around to meet face to face with the green hooded, masked figure that stood in their view. Despite the jarring effect of the mask that continually smiled, Tommy knew he wasn't happy in the slightest. He's talked against having visitors over a number of times. Well, except for Ghostbur because he saw the interaction between both of them resulted in more suffrage for the blonde. So, due to that, he only let the ghost visit to torment him about his dead brother-like figure. But not this. He saw them have a positive relationship in those few minutes, he saw them bond through the messages. He didn't accept this. He hated it so much.

"You said you wouldn't lie, Tommy. You lied. About lying. How could you break my trust like that?" Dream spoke up in a sickenly fake, heartbroken tone. "Why would you disobey me like that? I thought we were friends." His tone became more odd, like that of an angry parent, and not the good ones. Tommy was hyperventilating at this point, Ranboo was frozen in place, unable to think of a plan or even think at all. "D... Dream, I-I didn't mean to- you see- th-... Ranboo became one of my friends too! We can all become friends! Wouldn't that be... uh great?" Tommy struggled to find a negotiation, but the word "friends" only made him angrier and pulled out one of his prized netherite axes.

Dream swung, the axe flew out of his hand and landed blade first in the grass. He seemed to aim for Ranboo's head and only missed by a few inches. Ranboo feared for his, Tommy, and Micheal's safety. He instantly thought of a plan and ran with it. Ranboo did hand signals a little towards Tommy while he spoke. "I'm very sorry that I've upset you, Dream," his hands were brought toward his chest with clasped hands, such as that of a grabbing motion. "I didn't mean to come here so unannounced, you see, I was just visiting him," he made a gesture towards the portal and flicked his eyes over to Tommy, then Micheal, and back to Dream again. Dream questioned why he was moving his hands around so much, especially in a very panicked manner while his words were calmer than the gestures. But once Tommy nodded, pulling up Micheal from around his leg, and started to run the other direction, he finally understood what the enderman was cluing at.

The green hooded male chased after Tommy mercilessly, grabbing his axe and sprinting. But, this wasn't going to end well. Thinking about how to get him to come back, he sprinted over to the enderman hybrid and chased him. As Dream tackled the other, he held the axe dangerously close to Ranboo's neck. As Tommy neared the portal, compulsively incapable of looking back and thinking the masked man was still following him. That was until his voice called out to him when he was just about to phase through the portal. "I wouldn't go through there if I were you, Tommy! Ranboo's gonna die!" Dream yelled in a sadistic type tone, the one normally used when he's winning a fight. Yeah, the one with the psychotic undertone to it.

Tommy whipped his head around immediately to see his friend held down to the ground by Dream, struggling to be set free and on his stomach with an axe's blade pointing directly towards his neck. He completely froze, putting his leg down from the obsidian frame and staring in terror. Ranboo looked over to him, attempting to look calm, yet Tommy still knew he was scared to death. "Tommy, go! Save Micheal! I'll be fine, I swear!" the enderman cried out, being shut up immediately after the blade slightly grazed the back of his throat. As he heard the pained sound through gritted teeth, Tommy hastily pulled Micheal off of his shoulder and made an attempt to only put Micheal through the portal when Dream's voice rang through the air once again.

"You can't do both at once, Tommy. Either run away and he dies or you come back with the child. Your choice will affect your little friend's life here, so be smart." Tommy, now slowly bringing up Micheal to be held vertically against the left part of his chest, shakily breathed in and out. He formed a quick plan in his head, involuntarily heading back to the green hooded man in absolute distress. Dream smiled at the silent response, bringing the blade closer to the flesh on Ranboo's neck since he was struggling to be free. He was clearly against Tommy coming back instead of saving his only child.

"Tommy, no! Get him home safe, please! You don't have t-urgh!" Ranboo was quickly cut off with the blade searing through the skin of his neck to create a cut there. "It's now or never, Tommy, he's gonna die!" Tommy eyed a certain object, picking it up, hiding it, and hoisted the zombie piglin up once more along his shoulder. He gazed over towards the two struggling, it looked like a cop that had tackled a criminal, only Ranboo surely did nothing as much as a crime. Right? Tommy couldn't quite bear the fact he had to look at his friend that has been there for him for so long being put into a position where his windpipe was threatened by the blade of who was supposed to be a caretaker of the blonde. The fact he was scared to defy him suffocated his sense of reality even more.

The more his feet glided over to the two, the more scared he got yet the more he knew he absolutely needed to take action. His slow walking gradually turned into speed walking. Then, after placing the child down as quickly as he could without harm, started to run and shout 'run' to Micheal, pointing towards the portal. The toddler quickly obliged and ran as fast as he could towards the portal. Tommy frantically swung out the axe from his inventory, a flash of light swiping along to the movement of the hand now holding the weapon and prepared for the worst as Dream held down Ranboo's head as the axe made its way in the air, ready to strike down. He could practically feel the fear from the enderman's gaze focused on the weapon he assumed would take his life away from his grasp. Tommy sped up, almost tripping a few times. If only... he could make it... just in time.

The axe swung down. Tommy's heart dropped. Micheal turned around and ran towards his father.

"PAPA!" he cried out.

Just before it came down all the way to a resting place against the enderman's neck, a strong 'clang' burst from above. Ranboo, confused and honestly shocked he hasn't died instantly yet, he shifted and looked up to see Tommy by his side blocking the axe by another netherite axe. The masked man stumbled backwards, it was so unexpected and he was fuming at this point," I thought I told you anything above stone tools is prohibited, Tommy!" Dream decided scolding was for a later time, yet to Tommy, he saw a hint of fear lining his body language. He smirked, but then dropped it once he turned to Ranboo very quickly," Run, get away from here. I'm sorry I dragged you into all of this, grab Micheal and ru-" He was cut off by a sharp slash across his collar bone and across the top of his chest, making him stumble backwards and lose his balance, yet he still got back up and blocked another one of Dream's attacks. Ranboo reluctantly pulled himself up and wished Tommy luck, running to go get Micheal and stumbling whilst doing so.

Tommy struggled against Dream's sudden strength that he put towards his axe once Ranboo was free. "This isn't right! Please stop this!" The blonde shouted. Dream laughed, yelling," You really think I care about anyone here? Think again."

Dream's netherite axe blade turned on its side and hooked underneath the other blade, lifting it upwards and out of the now loose grip of the teen. Splinters now made its way on his hands and the grip on it became even looser, even twitching at times. Dream grabbed the splintered wood of the axes' handle, spinning it in his own hand like a baton and pushing Tommy over, landing out of his way on the ground. He pointed the axe over to Ranboo just now catching up with Micheal to hold his hand, now pointing at Micheal. So that's what this was all about. The child.

The masked man chuckled with a low tone, mumbling a simple word of 'cease', then throwing the axe over towards the two. It was pretty obvious who he was aiming for. The axe flew across the beach like a deadly boomerang.

Chkk! The axe hit something. Or someone.

The sound of the entity falling was all they heard. The display the weapon had brought to them was enough to terrify even the strongest of people.

Micheal. The axe was embedded in his skull, his head now split open with blood surrounding the toddler's body.

He's dead. Ranboo's child is dead. The scream that came from the enderman haunted the teen greatly. He stood there in shock, he knew he should've been stronger and more aware of his surroundings because then, a child wouldn't have died today.

Ranboo was doing all he could to make himself believe Micheal was okay, since he was a zombie he should recover, right? But everyone knows a zombie's one weakness and number one cause of death is any kind of severe brain injury.

Dream didn't stop there, he attempted to throw his other axe at the enderman. Tommy quickly grabbed the handle of the axe without thinking, the blade almost hitting his head at point blank range as well. He tackled the masked man out of rage, stepping down on his head, more specifically against his temple. He struggled to keep the man down since he had much more muscle and nourishment than that of the blonde.

When he was overpowered and flipped over onto the ground, a foot pressing against his chest harshly. The only thing he heard was Ranboo crying out about how his child that he cared for so much was now dead. The child who had a future to look forward to, was learning so much about the overworld and always had a sparkle in his eyes, was now gone and slowly losing blood from the split in his head. His father held him in his arms and cried so hard he thought his face was being dunked in lava due to the water that his skin seemed deathly allergic to. The words that his friend yelled out broke his heart. "Wake up!", "Please, I can't lose you!", and repeated words of 'no' or 'please'. It was practically torture to see the traumatizing sight of blood surrounding his friend as he desperately tried to stop the piglin from bleeding, but it was no use.

A vague ding was heard through all the cries of Ranboo's despair. It was from his chatlog, although he didn't dare to prioritize anything over his dead son. Dream, still having his foot pressed against the other's chest, holding the teen down firmly despite his desperate attempts to break free again, pulled up the chat log and input certain commands to check the dm logs. He read the message Tubbo had sent Ranboo, saying "Ranboo, where the hell is Micheal??? Do you have anything to do with him disappearing?!" Dream dropped down the hologram and lifted up his foot. He seemed extremely unfazed by the fact he just killed someone's adoptive child. He could even be smiling for all they know behind the mask. "This is what you get. I told you nothing over
stone and keeping secrets from me was also not allowed. You broke my trust, Tommy. So now you get to suffer, so goes for your little friend. I will stop at nothing to make everyone hate you and you can't do anything to stop me." he spoke, the words digging into the teen's brain and realization finally struck. He absolutely needs to overthrow Dream, no matter how scared he is of ever defying the person who is believed by many to be taking care of him.

The masked man finally let Tommy go and headed over to the portal, passing the enderman painfully breaking down. Tommy immediately got up and headed to Ranboo after Dream was fully gone and in the nether. He finally got a look of how severe this was up close, the blood looked to still be dripping down onto the grass. Ranboo had blood covering his clothing, mostly all over his hands and lap. Blood was sprinkled all over the left part of his face, greatly showing over the white part of his face and seeming to be drying already. Ranboo knew his child was dead, but he still hoped that there was the slight chance his son's eyes would sparkle up again and his smile would grace his soul once again, but all he got was a blank stare that didn't dare to move at all, his one eye relaxed and the eyelid never blinked. Tommy knew how much potential he had. He could've been the next president of Snowchester, leading a peaceful land and having a peaceful life on top of that. The blonde hugged the other from the side, shedding tears as well and mourning for his friend's child with him.

- - -

Dream, completely void of any blood on his person, put his axe back away as he carefully walked along the narrow netherite path. He felt in control, and in return he felt excited. The adrenaline that pumped through his veins was finally genuine, filled with cruelty and a fresh rush of power that he's only felt during the disc war. He sighed a breath through an excited chuckle that, with context, you'd hear from a psychopath. Walking along, he stopped once he realized someone was walking along the road, yet with a different destination in mind.

Sapnap. He stumbled backwards and backed away from his old friend. Dream laughed," long time no see, ey?" Sapnap's gaze darkened," Shut the fuck up, it would've been better if I haven't seen your face ever again." The ravenette breathed out a scowl and bumped shoulders against the other's, attempting to leave without Dream. To his dismay, he followed. "What do you want?" This was less of a question and more of a demand, not even bothering to turn around to look back at him again. "Where are you going?" Dream asked curiously. Sapnap refused to tell him and kept walking, but Dream was getting more and more insistent on knowing, constantly asking. Then, without any other words said, he smiled and turned around to walk the way he was originally going. The ravenette breathed in relief now that he was gone and went back to the path he was originally going to go from the random path he led Dream over to.

The green hooded man phased through the portal and started heading towards Snowchester. His act of terror started once the house was in his view, frantically running up to the door in attempt to seem as though he just saw a ghost or any other unknown entity. The sound of off-beat knocks sounded from the spruce door, waiting nervously and then seeing the door open a few moments later. "Ye- Dream? Why do you look so distressed?" Tubbo questioned, taken aback by the anxious nature the one at the door was in.

Seemingly out of breath, he spoke up," It's about Micheal." Tubbo's face went pale and he immediately wanted to figure out what he meant," What? What happened? Is he okay?" Dream looked down at him with 'worry' glossing his gaze as he breathed out two simple yet heartbreaking words," He's dead."

Tubbo breathed out a shaky gasp, then muttering turned to shouting," No, you're lying! I know it! How do you know about this anyways? Did you kill him? Did you kill my son?!" Dream shook his head innocently, explaining all of what happened in a short summary," Well, Ranboo snuck Micheal out so he could see Tommy, I caught them and we got into a big fight. Ranboo thought it would be the perfect time to get us to shut up so he killed Micheal. He killed your child in cold blood, Tubbo. We were all in shock but he looked up at us with a blank stare like nothing happened." Tubbo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion," This whole story sounds fake. I know Ranboo wouldn't do that, now where is my son?"

The masked man raised his voice," Jeez- you think I'm lying?! You put me in charge of Tommy, take care of him everyday, and you think after I come to you with news that your child is dead, you think I'm lying?!" Tubbo's breathing picked up, surely he was just bluffing, right? "Fine, take me to them. I need to see this for myself." the ram hybrid told the other, with Dream nodding and telling him to follow through the portal.

Tubbo kept his weapons in arms reach just in case this was a trap to thoroughly defend himself. Luckily, Dream didn't try anything while they were walking the path to exile. He was surprised to hear on the other end of the portal someone crying pretty loudly, it sounds like it's been going on for a while hence the hoarsness of the voice. The only factor that made him unable to distinguish who it was was the portal's opening distorting the sounds greatly. Tubbo glanced over to Dream, the smile of his slightly cracked mask bringing him a certain discomfort.

"I really hope you're lying about this."

"Go through. See for yourself as you said you would"

Tubbo phased through the glowy walls of the portal and stood in shock at what he saw.
- - -

"C'mon, Ranboo, we can't stay here... What if someone sees and gets the wrong ide-" Tommy was cut off by a pained sob, making the blonde's expression look even more concerned. "E...even if someone gets... the wrong idea a thinks I killed him... at least you know I didn't... I can't believe he's dead... I can't... he's still alive! Somewhere in there I know he has to be! Please, Micheal! Stop joking!" Despite the obvious non stop spilling of tears, he still managed to laugh to make light of the situation. He was desperate to get things back to normal. Tommy didn't blame him.

The blonde putting his arm around the other and rubbing his shoulder was the motion that made him cry harder and let out all of the pain. Then, the portal had noises coming from the other side. Someone was there. As they came through themselves, they looked upon the situation in horror.

"Tubbo..." Tommy muttered.

Tubbo just walked over and fell directly on his knees next to both Michael and Ranboo. The enderman looked over to him and stayed silent, tears still falling down making his face burn like lava. The only thing Tubbo asked before breaking down and meeting eyes with Ranboo was," ...why?"

"What..." Ranboo spoke quietly, becoming surprised when the ram hybrid grabbed the piglin and cradled him. Blood dripped onto his light brown coat, not caring one bit about it and only caring about his now lifeless son. "Why did you kill him?... Why?" Tubbo sobbed out and his eyebrows furrowed down into a scowl full of hatred. Both of the teens were shocked that he'd asked this. "Tubbo, no, he-" Tommy was cut off by Tubbo's call out to Dream on the other side of the portal, standing up and telling the masked man to grab the blood covered enderman over to the prime path through the portal.

"Tubbo! No, wait he didn't-" he was cut off again. "Why didn't you tell me about all of this? Ranboo didn't even tell me about any of this." Tubbo glared at him, making Tommy all the more pissed at him. "Are you fucking kidding me? Your son is dead in your damn arms and you're worried about my friendship with Ranboo? Learn to prioritize things better. No wonder you picked the country over me, asshole." Tommy rambled on, Ranboo speaking up and telling him that that was enough and Tommy stopped.

Dream took away Ranboo and the ram hybrid stayed behind for just a little bit, tears still streaming along his cheeks," Good job. You're also a hypocrite, remember? The discs, Tommy." Tubbo sighed shakily and stepped through the portal, the clopping of his hooves being the only thing the other heard as they were all gone from his exile area.

Tommy was left with his heavy breathing and tear stained face, silence completely clouding his ears. Although he thought it was silent because of the constant sounds of waves crashing against the sandy shore of the beach. But now he wasn't used to it. The waves were suffocating and no longer were they ever going to be relaxing. The birds chirping was more like a vulture's cry, the wind dragging them along to the grave of the one who's life was taken today.

He looked down to the blood drenching the ground, the grass seemingly trying to envelope the body fluid that was currently in the process of drying and being a part of the history on the island.

Tommy knew he should tell Tubbo that Ranboo didn't kill their child, but who made him believe that he did? He either got the wrong idea immediately or someone told him something completely different than what actually transpired. Dream. He immediately knew it would be Dream, he was the only other person involved with this anyways so it was obvious from the start. He wanted to run through that portal at top speed, to tell Tubbo the truth. He stayed where he stood though, he thought going after them was a bad idea since he was still exiled. But, even so, both scenarios would be bad ideas. Ranboo could be put in a cell to rot for all he knows.

This was all so hard to process. After all, a tragedy had just occurred on this day, he just never thought it would ever end up like this.
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