Characters: Tommy, Dream, Wilbur, Tubbo, George, Fundy, Punz, Sapnap, Eret, Techno, Phil

Location: DreamSMP/L'Manberg

Possible Triggers: Permadeath Glitch (though it's not the major focus of the fic because >0<)

(For this oneshot I mixed a ton of different ideas together! Inspired lightly by unlikanins war comic on Twitter combined with a Permadeath glitch idea by CrazyLinx68 on Wattpad and finally doused in the FlamingHawkStudio's specialty angst and a Dream redemption arch. Hopefully, you guys like it ^-^ Also Dream Stans sorry for portraying Dream so villainously blame Linx for that lmfao, but he gets redemption so-) 

~~~

"One!"

Tommy's heart was pounding, the sound echoing in his ears. He could barely hear his mentor's words.

"Two!"

Dream was cold, after this, he wanted to go back to sleep. The war has gotten to his head but his pride wouldn't let him give up now.

"Three!"

Tommy was scared, his confident facade wavering in the eyes of death. His hands started to shake ever so slightly.

"Four!"

Dream's hands might as well fallen asleep, he was almost too used to this. Maybe this fight would bring a bit of humanity back to him, he knew deep down it wouldn't.

"Five!"

Tommy's grip on his bow tightened, making his skin turn red. He let all of his worries go into his ironclad grasp, hoping it would just disappear.

"Six!"

Dream began planning, this duel should be easy but straying from the path would be the best choice. Always be moving, the blond, though younger, had an edge of apathy to his grave.

"Seven!"

Tommy's gaze met his allies, his nervous leader, his best friend clutching to the anthropomorphic man; they wouldn't be safe after this. He had everything to lose.

"Eight!"

Dream didn't dare glance at his allies, his two close friends probably watching the sight in fret, the other two positive in his combat skills; they were safe in his hands. He had nothing to lose.

"Nine!"

The pair had one thing in common however, none of them were going to let this end in a draw. One victor, one loser, it's the only way they'd let it happen.

"Ten paces fire!" The first shots were both missed, both furiously reloading and taking aim. Tommy dodged, jumping right into the water and swimming under the wooden path. Dream backed out into the grass, his fire laced arrow hitting the sand. Reload. As Tommy began climbing out the river, pain pierced his body. The burning sensation swiftly sizzled out and in the distance, he could victory cries and disappointing chants. 

...

...?

He was on half a heart...

Where's the respawn screen?

The world was blurry, slowly going darker and darker. His throat hurt, but Tommy didn't even realize he was coughing up blood. Respawn screen... he wanted the respawn screen, this was too much... please just respawn already!

The darkness only became more visible.

***

Dream was the first to notice Tommy's body didn't go up into a puff of white smoke. He automatically knew what was going on. A permadeath glitch. Before he could speak up Wilbur took charge.

"G-guys... Tommy isn't respawning..."

"What do you mean he isn't- OH GOD!" Tubbo's face was filled with horror, as he rushed by his friends side. "What's happening what didn't he turn to dust?"

"Permadeath glitch." Dream filled in, keeping his tone calm and collected. "The chances of this happening is very low but the server has been kinda laggy today. If he ends up dying, he dies in the real world to."

"If the server was laggy then why the hell did you make today the day you had a war!" Wilbur shouted.

"Ok it wasn't that bad of lag just a couple of frame drops."

"You know what I cannot even with you right now. Everyone cut their streams! Tubbo take my phone and go call Techno. He's as good of a medic as he is a fighter." The green-shirted kid nodded, hoping he'd actually even talk to him, he's maybe spoken to the pig man once or twice. Wilbur on the other hand continued barking orders. "Fundy I want you getting medical supplies. You can use string to quickly weave bandages and maybe get some glass bottles and needles for make shift syringes. Might need to take one of your guys blood if he runs low."

"Want us to help with anything?" Dream asked quietly, George, Sapnap, Eret, and Punz by his side.

"I want you to stay the fuck away from Tommy." The musician's words were doused in venom, a glare ice-cold staring down the trio and their accomplices. 

"Wilbur do you think I wanted this to happen-"

"I think your the one who pulled the fucking trigger and your intentions don't matter!"

"Recommend you don't say anything you'll regret. Depending on the glitch that occurred, Tommy's stream has a very likely chance of staying live."

"You think I care if I get canceled on Twitter? My own human instincts are what I'm gonna trust and they are telling me to strangle-"

"WILBUR!" He went silent, turning to face Tubbo. "Techno is coming with Phil and a medical kit, they'll be here in a few minutes they just gotta do some server hopping."

"I'll go whitelist them... Phil's user is spelt P-h-1-l-z-a right?" It was Sapnap who made the offer.

"Ya it is." Fundy filled in, now back with some low quality bandages.

"Sap, take George with you... I'm sure he doesn't want to see this." Wilbur looked up and noticed that behind George's glasses, he was crying, tucking his face into Sapnap's shoulder but not quite hiding it from Wilbur and Tubbo's angle.

"I-I will... come on George let's get to the main frame." Now focused on Tommy once more, Wilbur carefully began covering exposed parts of the wound, also not wanting to move the arrow around and cause more damage.

"Tommy can you hear me?"

"Hm...?" His voice stirred a tad but he was extremely out of it. Running his fingers through his hair, he did his best to keep him relaxed so he didn't move anything around. A good few minutes later, Techno and Phil arrived.

"Thanks for the help guys, we'll take it from here. Phil, fucking green shirt child, get him on the stretcher. Dream, guide us to somewhere safe. If it's a trap I swear to god I will make you regret it. Wilbur make sure Tommy doesn't move the arrow didn't hit anywhere vital but if he jerks around that's going straight into his right lung." Wilbur tensed but nodded. Once in a safer location away from mobs and what not, Techno ordered for the Dream Team, Punz, and Eret to go guard outside and they thankfully listened not wanting to face the Blood God's wraith. Most of the time, Wilbur, Tubbo and Fundy just watched. For over an hour Techno and Phil quietly worked. After getting Tommy on sedatives they made sure the arrow didn't puncture anything else, disinfected the wound, stitched it back up, and got a bit of extra blood back into his system. After finally splashing a heal pot on him, he started waking up. His trip back to awareness was slow, mumbling things before coherent sentences and then opening his eyes.

"Too... Bright..."

"Tubbo go take some of the torches down."

"On it."

"Wilbur...?" Tommy's voice weakly croaked out.

"Ya?"

"Why do I feel so... numb?"

"The sedatives probably haven't worn off yet. It'll be a bit before your back on your feet so please be patient."

"I'm high on drugs... heh poggers!"

"Not the takeaway from this bud. Oh is your stream off?"

"Uh no?" He looked through his chat a bit, a mix of "He's alive." and "High on drugs pog." Bringing up the end stream button, the menus disappeared suddenly before his eyes. Memories slowly began returning to him. 

"I... lost the duel huh...?"

"You did but the war bit has been put aside for now. What happened was actually life threatening and we'd rather abandon the streams then let you die. We even whitelisted Techno and Phil to help." As Wilbur began diving into the specifics of his injuries the door opened causing Tommy to jump a bit. It was Dream.

D̴̤̟̼̮̺̹̬̤͓̓͋͑̈̕͜͠r̶̦̗͇͍̼̒̓e̶̥̙̹̤͓͍̮̓̌̂̾͗́̚͠ͅä̴̤̱͓̞̤̟́̃͒̍̔̀͛͘̕m̴͉̯͇̰̄̆̇̌̅́ ̶̣͐h̵̳͓̳̹͐̇́̓͘ù̵̹̘̱̯͔̭̥͎̳͌͆̈̂̂̀̒̆̄ŕ̴̢̨̭͓̰͚̾̉̏̎̋͐͌͝ẗ̵͎̭̟̭͔̼̫̭̰́͋̇̽̏ ̸͚̊̍͆͂̓͘͠ÿ̶͖̫͔̫̲́͗̌͊̔̐̏̐̅o̸̪͕̹̫̩̟̹̬̩̊͋́͑̓û̵̡̢͇̳̯̲̙̙̐̎̇̓̆̒̍̈

A voice in the back of his head told him.

D̶̡̯͖̭̦̠̠̦̰͉̕r̸͈̩͓̙͚̫͔̩̯̭̅͒̌̅́̇̓̓̕͝ĕ̴̬̭͔̬̯͉̉̌͆̾͂a̵͓̤̯͈͇̠͆̾̓͠m̶͕̙̉̎̔̈́͝ ̴̢̢̤̪̦̙̳͐̿̇i̴̹̝̖̳̗͇̿s̴͉͎̰͖̖̮̒̈́͆̑̈́͗͐̉̿͘͜ņ̷͖̤͙̟̱͙̱̟̖͆'̶͎͚͓̏̊͐͗͑͋ṱ̷̡̥̫͖̮̯̀ͅ ̸̺̝̍̍̎͘ṣ̶̹̎͗͐̂a̷̧̠̩̮̮̪̽͐̕f̴͚̺̼̙̞̰̉ę̴̧̝͉̖̟̤̄͂̉̐̇͆͝

Backing into the wall, he met the masked mans eyes. Well as best as he could, his real eyes were tucked away behind the sinisterly calm smile. "Oh thank god your ok do you realize how worried I... was...?" His voice began slowing down at how visibly tense Tommy was. Wilbur and Phil took note of this and went into a protective stance around him.

"Dream... I don't think he wants to see you right now." Fundy politely filled in.

"Tommy... Do you want me here or no?" He was only going to take his word, no one else's. Tommy shook his head but Techno was the one to speak up.

"Hey Dream! Why not you and I have a chat, it's been a minute hasn't it?" His voice went low at the last bit. Not his usual monotone low, but a low that just screamed danger and insanity. Tommy watched as his murderous pig friend ushered Dream back outside and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tommy... Are you ok?" Phil asked, concern glazing his eyes. "It's alright not to be, I'm sure that the glitch was scary."

"I just... Can I go back to sleep?"

"Of course, at least one of us will be here when you wake up." Closing his eyes, he deliriously grabbed onto someone's arm, hugging it to his chest like some sort of anchor. And in the distance between unconsciousness and reality, he heard a light chuckle, a friendly one that gave his mind the tranquility it needed to doze off...

***

"Alright Dream listen up and listen well, if you know what's good for you, you're gonna keep your goddamn distance from Tommy."

"Techno be rational! Do you think I'd want to kill a child in cold blood? That glitch was out of my control!"

"I dunno Mr. Dream, all the Twitter stans claim your the only being capable of rivaling my apathy."

"Oh please your gonna trust Twitter as a source? Do you realize how you sound!"

"Those fools study you like high school misfits do test answer keys, every step you take is one they will psychologically analyze."  The arguement by the DreamSMP king and the Blood God was quickly becoming more physical, Techno shoving Dream into a wall and his glare being filled with the most unfiltered and raw hatred. 

"Technoblade I won't hesitate to call in for help, back off."

"Do it, I dare you, I'll slaughter them all to prove a point."

"What point!?!? Ugh you know what... George come in... Send in a full batalion." From the shadows arrived an armed George, Sapnap, Eret, and Punz. It didn't take long for Techno to pull out a full Netherite sword and attack.

The_Eret was slain by Technoblade

GeorgeNotFound was slain by Technoblade

Sapnap was slain by Technoblade

"Kid in purple, I don't know who you are so I'll give you a chance to flee." Techno didn't even finish his sentence before Punz was sent running for the hills. The blood on his royal coat didn't even seem offputting to Dream who now was in a much weaker position. 

"Why do I even bother with you sometimes... What do you want me to do, apologize?"

"I want you to show through your actions that you are someone he can trust. Even at peak annoyance don't threaten him to shut him up. Respect his boundaries and for god's sake don't start the war up again, no matter how much popularity it gives you. And most importantly... lay a finger on him again and I'll see to it your life in the Game World is hell. Even your connections to Notch won't be able to save you from the pain you'll endure." Dream kept a straight face on as Techno twirled his blade, it just barely missing his neck. "Maybe I should give you something you can actually be scared about." Before he could go to defend himself, the sword twisted into his stomach. The mask across his face covered his pained emerald eyes as his health quickly depleted. Releasing his body from his grip, Dream fell lifelessly into the river, it making contact just seconds before a respawn screen could appear before him. In the chat, he could just barely make out the blurry words... 

Dream was slain by Technoblade

***

One week later...

The wound on Tommy's chest was healing rather nicely. Even though Techno had to leave to continue preparations for whatever the next chapter of the Technoblade story entailed, Phil stuck around and Wilbur forced him to check in with him everyday. It hurt to move rapidly but if he stayed inside at night and didn't do any running or heavy labor he'd be fine.

Now it was 7 days past since the incident. Since all war and bits was off in the DreamSMP, he could play his music discs in peace. He decided to relish in this. Sitting on his bench, watching the sunset before his eyes, Cat echoed out into the rolling fields. Remnants of war still soiled the terrain. Small fires still nipped at the grass, explosive pits were yet to be filled in, and bits of the nearby towers would occasionally crumble and fall when the wind picked up. But things were getting better, the air no longer smelt of ash and gunpowder, most of the major holes where he could further hurt himself were filled in and everyday, he had at least one of his friends to talk to. Fundy would go on long rants about his new video ideas, Tubbo would do his best to keep the mood light with jokes, Phil would share stories of his Hardcore world, and Wilbur... well he kept quiet. He could tell Tommy wasn't all that up for talking so he'd bring music discs and let him drift off to the faint sound of music. Sometimes he brought his phone so Tommy could scroll through Twitter. Once he even FaceTimed Schlatt to put him in better spirits and it did for the moment but something was still clawing in his mind. The worst part?

He couldn't pinpoint what.

Now alone with his thoughts, he hoped to sort out his mind, the melody from the jukebox being only a distant memory. As he zoned out, he didn't hear the footsteps approaching his bench. It wasn't until a voice accompanied it, now mere inches from the seating area. "Tommy?" He jumped back in fright at the sound before swiftly composing himself. The blond noted that the member before him wasn't equip with armor or shields.

"George... is there something you needed?"

"No I just wanted to talk. I promise I'm not here on Dream's orders or anything, I won't touch the disc, not her to hurt you either." The Brittish man gestured at the other half of the bench. "May I?" Tommy nodded with reluctance. For a moment the two just watched the slow sunset, George almost whispering a little hum along with the music. "So how have you been handling all of this?"

"Fine I guess..." The brunette didn't answer for a minute.

"You've been... quiet... I'm near certain you should've sworn at me by now." Tommy gave an unenthusiastic chuckle.

"What you like it when I call you bitch boy?"

"No it just seems uncharacteristic of you not to."

"George I'm fine-"

"You're clearly not. Dream told me you flinched away from him after you woke up."

"And who wouldn't he tried to kill me!"

"AND you had such fear in your eyes. Tell me honestly Tommy. Are you scared of Dream?" His gaze dropped to the ground. It sounded like such an easy question; are you scared of Dream? But he wasn't sure if he was. Ya he has plenty of good memories with the man. After streams he'd tell him he did a good job, he'd share tips with him of how to make the algorithm favor him, hell he even believes Tommy has a high chance of passing him in subscribers one day. But then...

The peace in his voice...

The smile across his mask...

The bloodlust in his eyes...

🅸🆃 🅿🅴🆃🆁🅸🅵🅸🅴🅳 🅷🅸🅼 🆂🅾 🅳🅰🅼🅽 🅼🆄🅲🅷...

D̶̡̯͖̭̦̠̠̦̰͉̕r̸͈̩͓̙͚̫͔̩̯̭̅͒̌̅́̇̓̓̕͝ĕ̴̬̭͔̬̯͉̉̌͆̾͂a̵͓̤̯͈͇̠͆̾̓͠m̶͕̙̉̎̔̈́͝ ̴̢̢̤̪̦̙̳͐̿̇i̴̹̝̖̳̗͇̿s̴͉͎̰͖̖̮̒̈́͆̑̈́͗͐̉̿͘͜ņ̷͖̤͙̟̱͙̱̟̖͆'̶͎͚͓̏̊͐͗͑͋ṱ̷̡̥̫͖̮̯̀ͅ ̸̺̝̍̍̎͘ṣ̶̹̎͗͐̂a̷̧̠̩̮̮̪̽͐̕f̴͚̺̼̙̞̰̉ę̴̧̝͉̖̟̤̄͂̉̐̇͆͝

"Tommy! A loud word and a hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality, the final notes of Cat ringing before the disc looped once more. "Guess I got my answer then..."

"Wait no I'm not scared of Dream!"

"No you are, and in this case it's understandable." He fell silent, George was right, as ludicrous as it sounds. "...You know I had a permadeath glitch happen to me to."

"Really?"

"Yep. We were recording one of the first Speedrunner vs Manhunter episodes, of course it was deleted for obvious reasons."

"Well what happened if you don't mind me asking."

"Well me, Dream, Bad, and Sap were like 10,000 blocks or something crazy like that away from spawn. He led us on a wild goose chase so when he killed us he'd have more time to find the End Portal. He managed to get Bad and Sap with a TNT trap but I was trailing behind since he I got caught up warding off a horde of zombies. So Dream went looking for me and it didn't take long for him to pounce. But when I died I didn't turn to a white puff of smoke... I collapsed right into the grass, the zombies gunning for my remains."

"Then how are you even here still?"

"Let me finish child. When he realized my near-dead corpse was just gonna lay there with a gapping slash wound until I bled out, he took action and got me to somewhere safe. But in the middle of a desert with the sun setting he couldn't do anything. He tried using a spiders tooth and some string to stitch me back together but it was too late. I already passed away."

"Wait... WAIT WHAT-"

"Tommy what did I just tell you?"

"Sorry sorry, continue please."

"Well thankfully at the time, Dream had just gotten ahold of Notch's contact information. They'd have only been on call maybe once or twice before but he had to hope that was enough to get him to literally go into Game World code and reverse my death."

"So that means..."

"Yep, Dream went to the capital server as fast as possible and begged at Notch's feet for him to revive me. The emperor is a nice man but it took lots of negotiating to get him to agree. He sacrifised his own freedom in return for my protection."

"Dream seems pretty free to me..."

"That's what they want you to think. He's bound to a contract now. If the Capital wants him to say something or endorse a message, even if he doesn't believe in it, he has to or he's risking me dying as it takes a lot of effort to let the servers run a glitch such as myself." Tommy gulped, how much more can that green man be hiding if he could never tell he was a Capital puppet? "When I woke up after that whole experience, he told me that if this were to ever happen again, he'd have to give a soul for a soul. He'd take my place in the permadeath glitch and he told me he was ready to do the same thing for you. Dream might seem cold or uncaring, even ruthless or brutal but he will protect his friends at any cost. Even if you don't see him as a friend, he won't hesitate to die for you. He wanted to win the war and get his 10 million views, he never wanted to hurt you." He went silent, what else is there to say to that? He wanted to believe George, but the pair were joined at the hip, he'd needs Dream's confirmation to take it as fact.

"O-oh..." The sun was fully set at this point, the moon rising behind them and the very distant sound of zombie groans, skeleton rattles, creeper footsteps, and spider hisses. "George?"

"Ya?"

"Do you remember it was like... ya know... being dead?"

"Not really... I like to call what I saw 'nothingness'. The actual definition of nothing is something a human mind cannot comprehend because even darkness and light is something. When you die there is just nothing and I'm glad my brain has tried to forget what was there because no one should have to live with those thoughts in their head. It's terrifying..."

"THOMAS INNIT SIMONS WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT BEING OUT AT NIGHT!" The voice pierced through the atmosphere, making himself and George jump. It was Wilbur.

"And what have I told you about using my full name?"

"Tommy what are you doing out past dark- OH AND WITH GEORGE! What? Here to do Dream's bidding? Place propaganda in his head! You better have not hurt him, trust me I'll know."

"He hasn't hurt me I promise, though the propaganda part ehhhh-" Wilbur inhaled sharply.

"George, go tell Dream that he needs to make sure his goons aren't coming anywhere near Tommy."

"The war is on pause." The brunette's voice dropped low.

"I know that." Oh geez his glare was intimidating. "Tommy, come with me."

"But-"

"Don't even fucking test my patience right now."

"S-sorry!" Grabbing the Cat disc and stowing it away, he ran to Wilbur's side. George gave him the slightest sympathetic look before turning away and jumping down the hill, the sound of water hitting the ground before he did faint. "Wil-"

"You are still healing Tommy it should be very clear why I don't want you out past dark."

"I know so mobs don't open up the wound but I was planning on coming back in I was just watching the sunset but then George came!"

"Why didn't you go back to home base when he arrived then?"

"Ok George is like the weakest of all of them! I could handle him if he tried shit. Besides he didn't, he just told me about his own permadeath glitch experience and how Dream saved him..."

"So he was putting propaganda in your head?"

"No... No I don't think so. Apparently George died from his glitch but he went begging to Notch in order to be revived in return to becoming a political pawn."

"Tommy just... just don't associate with them until we've sorted this all out ok?" Tommy went to open the door to the community house (that was their base of operations until L'manberg was fully fixed.) But Wilbur grabbed his wrist, turning him to meet his gaze. "The Sleepy Boys, L'manberg? We have your best interests in mind. Once your healed you can go out and do whatever you wanna again but for now please, let us figure out who you can't and cannot trust alright?"

"I'm not a child-"

"You aren't a child but you are still young. Don't worry about this all too much ok? Focus on getting better so you can help us rebuild our great nation!" Tommy gave a light chuckle.

"Ya for L'manberg!" Ruffling his hair, the two returned inside. Before he could comprehend, Tubbo had ran and pulled him into a hug.

"Tommy where were you when you didn't come back we thought the worst-"

"Tubbo chill I'm fine, just went to my base for a bit!"

"Well at least your safe. I was put on dinner tonight, chicken and alfredo will be ready in five or so."

"Aw I thought Fundy was making food!"

"Come on my cooking is just fine!

"You cooked meatloaf and nearly burned the house down! Why did Wilbur even let you near a furnace?"

"Fundy was doing terraforming, he couldn't make anything tonight." Wilbur filled in. "Speaking of which I should go bring him inside to eat. I'll be back in a few minutes." When the door closed behind him, Tommy began telling Tubbo about his plan. He needed Dream's word on what George told him, he wouldn't be able to sleep until he knew the green man's stance.

"Ok Tubbo I need your help. Do you know where Dream is holed up at?"

"You've been told specifically by so many people not to bother with Dream right now."

"You dodged the question. Guess ya do know then..."

"N-no! ...When are you even wanting to go find him?"

"Tonight."

"Tonight!?!? I swear Tommy your pride is gonna be the death of us all."

"This isn't for my pride, it's for answers." Grabbing Tubbo's shoulder, he spun him to face him. "I don't want you in an SMP ran by someone that I think could harm you alright?" His friend gave out a small sigh.

"You're really gonna make me tell you huh?"

"If you tell me, I won't be out there looking as long, therefore keeping me safer."

"Ok fine... I'll tell you after everyone's gone to bed."

"Thanks! Your the man little T!" Tubbo laughed a bit.

"I'm literally older than you I'd be big T."

"Nah we don't need to worry about that."

***

Out in the dark spruce woods, only the flicker of his torch and the pale moonlight was out to guide him. Doing his best to follow the instructions he was given, Tommy kept his eyes peeled for an artificial looking hill. Decked out in Tubbo's Netherite armor he insisted he needed to stay safe, he did feel rather secure.

Being drawn to one paticular mound, he noticed the footprints imprinted in the dirt and began digging down. The deeper he got, the easier it was to decipher the noises below. It sounded like hitting. Climbing down a ladder, Dream didn't seem to notice him as he attacked a punching bag. The room seemed not well put together. Wood walls that was beginning to crumble, a futon haphazardly thrown in the corner and a staircase down to what he thought was a mine or mob grinder. For a moment, Tommy just watched. The man was so aggressive, his punches precise and fear-striking. His back hit the ladder.

If you stay one of those punches might hit you.

Run

Run

Run-

D̶̡̯͖̭̦̠̠̦̰͉̕r̸͈̩͓̙͚̫͔̩̯̭̅͒̌̅́̇̓̓̕͝ĕ̴̬̭͔̬̯͉̉̌͆̾͂a̵͓̤̯͈͇̠͆̾̓͠m̶͕̙̉̎̔̈́͝ ̴̢̢̤̪̦̙̳͐̿̇i̴̹̝̖̳̗͇̿s̴͉͎̰͖̖̮̒̈́͆̑̈́͗͐̉̿͘͜ņ̷͖̤͙̟̱͙̱̟̖͆'̶͎͚͓̏̊͐͗͑͋ṱ̷̡̥̫͖̮̯̀ͅ ̸̺̝̍̍̎͘ṣ̶̹̎͗͐̂a̷̧̠̩̮̮̪̽͐̕f̴͚̺̼̙̞̰̉ę̴̧̝͉̖̟̤̄͂̉̐̇͆͝

"Who goes there!"

"Uhhh-"

"Tommy you aren't supposed to be here."

"Ya well George told me some things and- OH MY GOD IS THAT BLOOD ON YOUR FISTS?" Dream looked down before chuckling.

"Heh, guess it is."

"Jesus christ man go clean that up."

"Nah it doesn't matter." Wiping it off on his green hoodie, red stain were left in it's place making him appear all the more ominous. "Well why you found me, I'm assuming you want to ask me something, get it over with..."

"First of all why the hell are you down here?" Dream didn't answer. Even with the mask, he seemed to be zoning out. "Dream?"

"Sorry sorry uh I'm just not ready to face everyone yet ya know..." He looked down to his calloused, deep red hands. "I almost killed you, it's hard to go up there and see everyone's disappointment and horror when your own mind is telling you to do better to."

"...Secondly, George told me about some... er... negotiations... you made with Notch for his life. Is this true?"

"I'm not liberty to give exact details but in essence, yes. I'm in contract with Notch and the capital men. In return they will maintain a certain server line on him that accommodates his glitched behavior. The SMP was built with George in mind so even when he was getting banned for lagging and crashing servers, he always could at least have one server he could be in.

"What if those server lines suddenly stopped working?"

"Well then the next time George died, he'd go into a permadeath state. If the contract had become null and void for some reason... I'd have to give up my life for him and take his place in the permadeath state. If it happened to another friend of mine, I'd have to do the same thing to set them free... That does include you, Tommy..."

"O-oh..." Dream whipped around suddenly, making Tommy jump and grip onto the ladder tighter.

"You are scared of me, knew it."

"What! Pfft of course not-"

"I'm just scared of myself as you are. I got strength and power that mixed with my outlook is deadly. People have gotten seriously hurt because of me. But if I'm down here, isolated, I can't make anything worse."

"Hey you gotta stop being so melodramatic, you're always gonna have George and Sapnap at least!"

"I just... I just wanna be like them again. I want to be human again, but I've become deattached." Tommy thought for a moment, attempting to get something to pinpoint his problems on.

"Maybe your persona is connected your emotions. When I go full-on TommyInnit, I become a little meaner and say stuff I regret so maybe it's similar with you."

"...You've got no reason to be trying to help since you don't even trust me. You should go anyway, I'm sure your friends are worried."

"Ok well first of all if I didn't help you, the stans would never forgive me and I don't want #TommyIsOverParty trending again. Second of all, ya I don't trust you, why do I think I'm keeping my distance? I almost died because of you!"

"Tommy I'm not gonna hurt you, that was an accident I swear-"

"The world was always wide enough for the both of us... So why did you pull the trigger?" Dream for the second time tonight didn't speak up, his face now fixated on the ground. "Ya that's what I thought. Well guess I'll tell-" A sniffle.

"Tommy?" He turned to face Dream once more, now already one rung up the ladder, what he saw shocked him. 

"Dream you... Dream you took the mask off..." For the first time, he actually saw his face. Many scars were scattered across it like some twisted decoration. Even weirder than just seeing his face, he was crying, wiping tears onto his already blood-stained hoodie.

"I-I'm so-sorry you're pro-probably traumatized be-beyond belief. If y-you wa-anna leave t-the SMP I wouldn't be su-suprised..." The speedrunner wasn't one to stumble over his words but he had broken down before him as a muttering mess. Tommy wasn't the best at comforting people, being quite uncaring to other's needs himself. But he sat down on the ground, motioning for Dream to do the same.

"Clay-"

"Y-you never call m-me-"

"Why don't we start over? I can sorta understand where your coming from on the apathy. Sometimes Toby would come crying to me about something bad that has happened to him and no matter how hard I try I cannot bring myself to care as awful as it sounds."

"Heh mhm, I'm kind of the same way with George and them, don't tell 'em though." 

"I won't if you do the same." The two nodded and Tommy continued. "Well if you promise you won't hurt me again maybe we can help each other out. Work together to be a little more open and understanding. A little more human?"

"Yo-you're forgiving me?" He asked in surprise.

"Oh god no, you have taken any faith I had in you and crushed it but I'm saying that we can try to get back to being friends."

"Hm... I've got an idea if I can suggest anything."

"Go ahead."

"Why not we stop streaming on the SMP for a while but we all still play on it. Keep all of the bits off and just work on rebuilding the relationships that's been broken. After all, Wilbur and all of them hate me right now."

"I'm... I'm open to that... Well your fists are still bleeding why not you get those fixed up then we head back to home base ok?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." While Dream went searching for a medkit, Tommy took in the surroundings.

"So what exactly is this place?"

"Built this room some while ago, it's where I go when I need quiet or wanna train. The only other person who's found it is Tubbo but he's sworn he won't come down here."

"If I get mad can I come here and stab things?"

"I... you know what sure, I'll set up a room where you can stab things."

"Poggers!" Dream returned with the white box, grabbing out bandages and a bit of open wound disinfectment ointment. "You know you haven't referred to me being a child once in this encounter..."

"What you like it when I call you child?"

"I feel like I've had this exact same conversation before but with more swearing..."

"Wanna know what I think? You are still young, there are some things you shouldn't be worrying or talking about. But you are also sixteen and while on stream yes I will still call you a child and ask if you need some crayons but you are more mature than people give you credit for." Tommy studied Dream's face. The light smile across it looked nothing like the simple stroke of a pen on his mask. It was intricate, detailed, genuine, human. Everything that mask could never be. The fact that he was confident enough in Tommy to give him a piece of his real identity was something that brought his once somber mood right back up.

***

"And that's when he opened the Cuck Shed doors and he fell right in! Ya know he can really be such a bitch boy sometimes."

"You just told me a story about how you get called a baby by your hero, how is he your favorite YouTuber guy again?"

"Well we chilled out after I stopped streaming. He taught me and Tubbo about economics! The other stream I did a bit ago, I saved all the Twitch Primes and donos and invested them into in an SIPP which is basically a Roth IRA but for the British, courtesy of Schlatt teaching us about retirement plans of course."

"Interesting... he sounds like a cool guy."

"Well do you think you'd unban him?"

"Nah, not unless we become friends. I'll consider DM'ing him though."

"Eh it's a start!"

"It is a start..." Approaching the community house, he noticed the lights were on inside. "Oh geez they are probably awake..."

"Guess we gotta confront them. I'm sure Wilbur is gonna be incredibly defensive so I'll go in first." Quietly opening the door, hushed voices could be heard on the other side of the main room. Phil quickly took notice of him and rushed to his side.

"Tommy where have you been!"

"Uhh..."

"And after I told you to stay inside!" Wilbur shouted next.

"Oh my god Tommy I thought you were gonna be a lot quicker than that!" Suddenly all eyes switched to Tubbo.

"Wait you knew where he was?"

"Um... No?"

"Tubbo where was he?"

"I gave him directions to Dream's hiding place ok! I'm sorry he just managed to convince me it was the best move. I didn't let him go unarmed I gave him my Netherite gear he was safe!"

"Why the hell would you do that we need to keep him away from Dream until we get a chance to chat with him!"

"Wanna chat with me now?"

"...Dream..." Wilbur, Phil, and Fundy glared at him, Wilbur roughly grabbing Tommy's wrist and moving him protectively behind him."

"Guys..." Tommy attempted to speak up.

"What are you doing here what did you tell him?" 

"Guys."

"Better dish up some sort of explanation now or this arrow is going right into your vital organs."

"GUYS JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME TALK!" His voice managed to overpower everyone else in the room, his throat almost a tad sore after that.

"...Well?" Fundy asked, prompting him.

"Well I went to go find Dream for answers. Like I told Tubbo, I don't want my friends to be in an SMP that is ran by someone I think will harm them. We managed to negotiate a bit and figured out some plans. We wanna keep the SMP open but not stream on it for a while. Just focusing on rebuilding the broken bridges that have been created. While I'm nowhere near ready to forgive or forget what Dream did to me, I'm ready to keep moving." The older three appeared to be contemplating it before Wilbur spoke up.

"That does sound reasonable but I still wanna have a talk with him before we decide anything. Dream, me and you. Dinner at six tomorrow."

"Dinner at six what are we farmers? We'll do eight." 

"Fine sure."

"So it's a date?"

"You are still on thin fucking ice. Don't push it."

"Sorry sorry! Guess I'll cya soon Tommy?"

"Ya, probably." The door shut behind him. A few moments of silence was broken by Phil yawning loudly.

"Well think we better head back to bed. It's still what 3 in the morning?"

"Good idea, well you two, back upstairs. Give Tubbo his armor and weaponry then straight to bed."

"I will I will!" Following his friend back up to the room they were sharing, he began getting the stiff armor off of himself, leaving him in his casual clothes. Putting it back on the stand, he collapsed on his bed right away, already feeling tired.  "Tubbo can you get the lights?"

"Sure thing!" The rooms warm orangy glow quickly dissipated into blackness. But before he could drift off, a question rang clear in his mind.

"Um one more thing..."

"Mhm?"

"Who has Dream shown his face to?"

"Uh I know George, and maybe Sapnap but I still need a confirmation on that. Those are the only two I know. Why did he show you what he looks like?" Tommy didn't answer. "Tommy...? Heh... good night." But the voice on the other end of the large room never reached his ears as he had already passed out, a light beam of amusement drawn across his face...

~~~

Thanks for reading!