As soon as Persephone's mythical form stepped into the earthly world, Smiles knew it. He felt it deep in his gut, a sickening lurch so powerful he stumbled and fell to his hands and knees, gagging on the things inside him answering the call of the little prince he was chasing. He clapped a hand to his mouth, trying to keep them down, but the memories had gained strength from his weakness, and a number of them were soon shoving against his hand.

Beside him, Sapnap grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet again. However well he'd meant, it was the wrong move. Dream's hand was yanked away from his mouth and several jumbled masses of incoherent words came streaking out. They had no visible form to Sapnap or Quackity, but Dream grabbed at them as if his snatching grasp could hold them back. "No!" He yelled. His grinning face tightened, his eyes growing wide and frenzied. Surging from Sapnap's hands, he jumped up and down trying to get his hands on the memories again, but they evaded him like those cursed crows, and darted away towards the higher peaks of the mountains.

Dream fell to his hands and knees again. "Kîrm! Garfór! Stachrhætach Krevus!" Cursing and railing, the Dreamon did his best to clamber back to his feet, but his frailty and injury were getting horribly in his way. Neither of his companions stepped forward to help him, disinclined to be the next targets of his wrath. After struggling for several minutes, Dream managed to stand at last and let out one last curse. "Stach vronomor aetorlok Krevus ia Illith ia Flekash Dia-"  but he got no further than that, for at these words, the very ground began to shake.

"You fool!" Yelled Quackity, now gripping onto whatever rocks he could and wrapping his wounded leg in shadows. "Why would you curse them so close to their bloody home?!" A tremor caused his rock to crack and shiver. Quackity yelled in fright and began to climb further upward.

Sapnap roared in frustration and surged into the air. Flames echoed his cry, bursting from his body and propelling him beyond the reach of the fracturing ground. Neither stopped to help Dream. They knew they didn't have to.

Dream stood there, on the the heaving, swaying ground, his cane clutched tightly in his hand. His eternal grin stretched wider and wider until the teeth gaped apart and his furious laughter echoed over the crackling and splitting earthquake. Yet he did not fall. For all the power of whatever had sent the tremors, they could not yet touch him. Dream's power as a Dreamon was still great. He leaned over facing a crevice just opening up underneath him, and let out a high-pitched, scraping scream into the darkness. Both eyes scrambled and scribbled on his face, contorting into two X's while his open mouth smiled and smiled like the open, hungry hole it was. The echo of that shriek seemed to send itself tumbling into the abyss, whereupon the rumbling slowed, and slowly died away.

Dream sat down on the ground beside the new crevice, panting heavily. His eyes blinked a few times and resumed their usual shape. When Sapnap landed, his mouth was closed again, though smiling as always. He glanced at the Netherborn and huffed. "Paltry. Whatever creature lives down there was unable to do more than rouse my anger." As soon as Quackity had rejoined them, his face ashen and every limb trembling from the terror of the earthquake, Dream pulled himself to his feet and grabbed his cane. "Time to go." And with that the hunters resumed their climb after their prey.

~~~~~~~~

The Queen of the Underworld stood before her prince, awaiting his command. The thought awed Philza, who had no idea how to comprehend it. What Persephone was, what her relationship to Bunnyblade would mean for Techno, and what strange magic the small rabbit child seemed to wield were all new things to him, and he had no means of understanding them yet. Nor, it appeared, did Bunny, yet the boy stood there and with as steady a voice as he could, he made his wishes known to the Servant-Queen.

"Hestia has fallen protecting my brother." The boy stated, his high voice echoing in the wide, still chamber. "If he is to be set free, I must have your help healing her. Will you aid me?"

The Queen bowed low. "I shall. But first, my Prince, you must be acquainted with the circumstances surrounding the sealing of the King. Our reasons for so doing may yet be relevant." She clasped her hands behind her back, waiting permission.

Bunnyblade glanced at Phil and Kristin. Neither knew what to say. Philza came over and sat down beside Bunny, putting an arm around his shoulders. On the other side, Wilbur and Ranboo glanced at each other and then back at Persephone. The Enderman flipped his veil up over his antlers.

"You sealed him?" The taut anger in his voice made the others flinch, except for the Queen. Ranboo took a step forward, tail lashing from side to side. "You sealed up Technoblade, when we needed him most? When Dream had come and was devouring, when your little prince was getting kidnapped and tortured, when the Angel of Death himself, and his wife, were being emptied of every memory they had? When-" he was interrupted by Wilbur, who tugged on his arm and whispered pleas for Ranboo to stop. Purple light flickered through Ranboo's eyes. He turned back to the Queen. "Wilbur was separated from his parents that day. Technoblade's father and mother? Gone. Little Fluff here and the Blood god are the only ones left of that family. Dream killed everyone else. And you're telling me you sealed him away so he couldn't help those he cared about?" Crouching, the Enderman tilted his head on one side. "You'd better have had ironclad reasons, Persephone."

Bunny hid his face in Philza's chest. No one said a word after Ranboo had finished, until the Queen slowly spread her hands and answered him. "Because of the might of the Dreamons. Powerful as the King is, he was but one against many-"

Ranboo shot to his feet. "I was there! My sword was ready, but I stood alone because of you! Do you know how many times I wondered where he was as I fought that monster? How long I waited and held out until the last? And when the last came and went, how betrayed do you think I felt?" He hissed and seized the handkerchief in one of his jacket pockets, raising it to his face. Philza saw with bewilderment the tears searing their way into Ranboo's skin.

Persephone bowed her head. "By the time the King came to us, the realms below were already receiving the victims of Dream's war. Some power strengthened him beyond our ability to combat. In such a state, there was nothing our King could have done against him. But that power does not belong to the Dreamon, it never did. And so we knew it would one day leave him. Hestia and I thus determined to protect the King until such a day as his enemy would be weakened and able to be killed." When she raised her eyes to meet Ranboo's, her expression was hard as stone, her eyes set like jewels. "The state of his family was already unfolding. We had no power to prevent it. As for the Angel and his Lady, we have no knowledge of their condition at any time. And you, Lord of Madness, have always done as you will." With that, she turned away from Ranboo and back towards Bunnyblade, awaiting his words.

Ranboo's hands gripped the front of his jacket as though they would rip it to shreds, but he did not move. His red and green eyes shone unblinking, staring at nothing. Then with a snap and a swirl of purple sparks, he vanished. In the silence following, a faint scream rang through the air outside, long and filled with pain. Bunny shuddered in Philza's arms. The Queen did not move.

Finally Philza spoke up. "The...the important thing is...you did seal Techno. You can release him, right?" A part of him felt guilty, moving past Ranboo's grievance, but he remembered too little to know how to address it on his own. Persephone answered with a nod, and the farmer decided to take it. "Bunny," he said, gently drawing the child out and cupping his face in both hands, "we can get your brother out. When he's free, maybe he can tell us more. Alright?"

Bunnyblade nodded, sniffling. He rubbed his paws over his eyes and got to his feet again. "Persephone, how do we break my brother's seal?" He was trying to make his voice sound commanding, but the frightened tears slipped into every word. He sounded instead like a scared little boy needing his big brother back. Phil stroked Bunny's head, hoping to reassure him.

"We must heal Hestia, my Prince." Replied the Queen. "To complete the seal, her blood was required. It is what holds our King, and her wounds must be healed if she is to release him. This you must do, for you alone now hold the power." Again, she bowed, and every gem in her hair tinkled against each other.

As before, Bunny seemed to know what to do without being aware of how or why. Holding Phil's hand, he trotted back upstairs. But he did not return to the throne room. Instead, he led Phil through a hallway with several doors, and one at the far end. Bunny took the third door on the right, and pushed it open.

Inside was what had once been a cozy room, with walls of what looked like gold-colored stone, a wooden floor covered with a red rug, now threadbare and eaten away, and a fireplace of brick. Several chairs stood idly about the room, big soft armchairs now long unused. One of the walls was lined with bookshelves, where many old tomes sat neatly stacked behind dusty glass doors. Three pictures hung above the fireplace, all of people none of the companions recognized, though they saw the faces of Bunny and Technoblade among the images.

Bunny stood quietly in the middle of the room, gazing about him. Philza came and stood beside the child, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You alright, mate?" But the only answer he received was a half-hearted shrug. Phil knelt down beside him as Kristin came up and took Bunny's hand. "Tell us what we need to do to bring Hestia back, then." Philza said.

Bunnyblade gave a long sigh, both ears, steady and erect while talking to the Queen, now limp against his back again. "Hestia: of the hearth and home. Of hospitality. Of safety and warmth." It was like he was reciting a lesson. "I think...I think we have to make this room cozy. And light the fireplace." The boy took a few steps forward and touched the hearth. "She'll wake up if there's somethin' for her to watch over. It's not...it's not normal magic, but it's how she works."

From the door came Wilbur's voice. "How do you know?" He sounded nervous, his words coming slowly together to pose their question. "Didn't Dream take all those memories away?"

But Bunny only shrugged. "Not all of them, I guess. I dunno." Walking over to one of the chairs, he brushed his hand across it, stirring up puffs of dust. "Kristin?" He asked, looking back over his shoulder. "Help me, please." And Phil's heart ached at the sight of his wide, troubled eyes.

As Kristin stepped forward, the ground began to shake. Only a tremble, and nothing fell, but the sound accompanying the tremor was what terrified them all. A long scream, similar in note to Ranboo's from earlier, but instead of pain it was filled with rage and malice. It seemed to reverberate through the earth under their feet. Bunnyblade instantly dove for the fireplace and curled into a ball. Kristin rushed to protect him, while Philza ran to the door to see what was happening. Wilbur flew upstairs, his eyes lighting the way, shouting at his father to stay put.

Ranboo flashed into the room, at the same time as the voice of Hades broke through the far wall. "My Prince, your enemy is close upon you! My power is not yet sufficient to stop him. You must wake Hestia and free the King before the Broken One arrives! The Queen and I shall do what we can, but our hands in this world are weak until you grow strong. You must arise and hurry!"

Already Bunny had jerked upright, his ears taut and trembling. His legs twitched, instincts screaming to warn of danger. Kristin's comforting hand stroking his back seemed to be the only thing keeping him from panicking completely. Philza turned back to face him.

"Mate, you know what to do. Kristin will stay here to help you and keep you safe. Ranboo, you too. No arguments." The Enderman nodded, his eyes steady. Phil looked back at the door. "I'll go out with Wilbur and see if we can help your friends."

Kristin's soft cry of "Phil," nearly stole his determination. But Philza knew every moment would count. Every delay would only speed Techno's awakening the faster. Before anyone else could ask him to stay, Philza sped up the stairs, mind filling with a few idea for how to slow down the smiling Dreamon. The question pounding hardest in his mind was How? How did he catch up? How did he find us? How do I stop him? He stepped out into the throne room and looked for just a moment at the imprisoned warrior he was supposed to know best in all the world. "Wake up, Technoblade." He whispered. "Wake up. We need you." Then he fled out the door.

It was deceptively quiet. The mist rolled past him along the mountain soil, rocks and boulders lay scattered and damp with dew. The sky was covered in a vast blanket of lumpish clouds. The rumbling had died away and no note of Dream's cry reached him, but still the farmer strained every sense to try and find out where Dream was supposed to be. "And those two..." For he could not forget Cardman and the Firebrother. But silence was all he could find.

Wilbur came streaking down out of the fog and landed beside him. "Dad, I told you-", he tried to say. But Phil cut him off.

"I want to help. I can't just run now, there's nowhere else to go. There's nothing else to do. Now tell me what you saw."

Wilbur shut his mouth and glared down the mountainside. When he spoke again, his voice was low and resigned. "They're at the base of the mountain for now. It looks like Quackity is holding everybody up, and Dream's injured. Sapnap looks fine, though. He'll be difficult for any of us to deal with besides maybe Ranboo. But Dream..." Wilbur trailed off, the tips of his feathers beginning to tremble. He kept looking back down to where their pursuers presumably were.

Phil reached out, ready to comfort him, ready to say something to help his son. But before he could, before any words even came to him, a conglomeration of sounds came whizzing up towards them. Words, yelled or spoken, in voices unrecognizable to Philza, hurtling up as though carried by some demented ghost, invisible and faster than he could move to avoid them. He barely registered a bundle of sounds whisking past him into the Blade home before another pack engulfed him.

"Da-" Wilbur's voice was drowned out in an instant. Shouting, crying, laughing, whispering, growling, muttering, speaking, roaring, cawing, ordering voices all filled Philza's mind at once. Gasping, he staggered back, clutching at his head. His sight vanished as his brain worked overtime to distinguish the sounds, to organize them, to make them less terrifying. Even his sense of touch faded. Phil collapsed to his knees, his ears filled with voices he couldn't understand.

"-y lov-" "-chno, it's-" "-ey!-" "-lood!!-" "-ahaha-" "-eam-" "-on't go-" "-isten-" "-o-" "-ow lo-" "-foun-" "-irty thou-" "-anbo-" "-m you-" "-VER HER-" "-is wa-" "structi-" "-ELP-" "-ristin, wa-" "-oo lat-" "-rrots-" "-illin's al-" "-rust me-" "-EAM, YO-" "-ilbur-" "-rian-" "-top!-" "-eath, de-" "-NO-"

Blackness blotted out everything but these sounds. He couldn't even feel the rocks. Gravity itself hardly made an impact on his consciousness. All he knew was he was falling deeper and deeper into a swirl of memories he did not possess, memories all containing his voice. Philza flinched, his body beginning to spasm under the unrelenting weight of the voices. Then another sensation forced itself through the agony of his mind. It was pain, physical pain. His back felt like it was splitting apart.