I haven't drunk my coffee yet.

You were standing alone, everything dark around you. There was an uncanny feeling of anxiety, fear, and betrayal you couldn't shake as you stared at four colorful blobs in front of you, your vision pulsing in and out of fuzziness. Pressure was building in your throat, making you lungs heave and your eyes tear up. Suddenly, you felt the pressure explode in starbursts of panic, colored with purple and red and gold. Something blasted into your chest with the force of a thousand suns, and you fell backward.

Bubbles exploded around you as you sank deeper into the night-black water, the rapidly shrinking light moving further and further away. The water stung like acid, eating away at you. You screamed, but no sound came out, and the water rushed in, burning everything inside you as it ran down your throat into your lungs.

The pain blossomed in your chest, and you were suddenly in a room of red and black. Flashes of silver moved around you, and you felt the burning in your stomach increase until you sank to the floor. You struggled to get up, but it was as if something were pinning you down. You thrashed and screamed-

And sat up, drenched in sweat, the world spinning around you. Your stomach heaved as you clutched your head, trying to stop yourself from throwing up. Finally, your breathing slowed, and your headache faded.

Standing up, you rummaged through your chests until you pulled out your last package of coffee and a mug. As you waited for the coffee to brew, you flopped on your cot and tried to make sense of your dreams.

They were just nightmares, right? But they felt- I don't know, different? Like really, really, really old memories.

Your coffee machine dinged, and you poured the caffeinated liquid into your cup before pushing your tent flap aside, stepping outside, and being greeted with a large stone van.

"Good morning, you ugly motherf***er," you grumbled at the cameravan, leaning against the thing. Sipping your coffee, you watched the sun rise. The sky was painted in colors eerily matching the ones from your dream: purple, gold, and blood red.

You were about halfway through your coffee when an excited Fundy ran up, nearly crashing into you.

"Morning Shadow! I'm so f***ing NERVOUS about today, aren't you?"

"Nervous? Why wou- OH!" you exclaimed, remembering the date. "That's right- it's the 22nd, Election Day!"

"Pfffffft, how'd you forget?" Fundy asked, leaning on the van beside you.

"Okay, Fox-boy. I had the STRANGEST dreams last night, AND I haven't finished my coffee yet. Earth-shattering events can happen after I wake up. Besides, I was enjoying my ignorance. Now, my nerves are like JACK RABBITS and I am minorly terrified that the world maybemightenddependingonwhowinstheelection. Soooooo, anything else you want to talk about, child?"

Fundy blinked. Not even a fast one, but the reeeeeeeeeeeeally slow ones that are really annoying to people who have ZERO FLIPPING PATIENCE. Like you. You sipped your coffee again and scowled at him over the rim of the mug.

"What about you?" you said, turning your mug over and chugging the rest of the coffee, "Aren't you terrified?"

Fundy snorted. "HA AS IF! Nah, Niki and I have a p-l-a-n."

"WHY THE F***ING HELL DOES EVERYONE IN THIS GODDAMN COUNTRY HAVE A PLAN?" You screamed at the top of your lungs. "FUNDY, YOU BETTER F***ING TELL ME YOURS ISN'T VOTING FRAUD, YOU SON OF A B**** ."

Fundy's ears were pinned back and his tail was bushed as he watched your outburst. "Well.... Maybe?"

"FUNDY."

"SHADOW," he said back in the same tone.

"F U N D Y."

"S H A D O W."

"WHY ARE YOU COMMITTING VOTING FRAUD?"

"BETTER QUESTION, WHY AREN'T YOU COMMITTING VOTING FRAUD?"

"BECAUSE LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE IS! And it's wrong, minor point there, morally incorrect, but we don't care about that."

"Hold up," Fundy said, holding up his hands in a 'pause' gesture. "Whaddya mean, 'everyone else is'?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." You turned away, pushing your tent back open and kneeling down beside the chest.

"Yeeaaaaaaah, sure," Fundy said sarcastically. "No, seriously, what."

You replaced your mug, closed the chest, glanced at your clock, and promptly screeched, "FUNDY WE GOTTA GO THEY'RE ABOUT TO ANNOUNCE THE VOTES AND I'LL BE F***ING P***ED IF I MISS IT." You charged out the tent door, grabbing Fundy along the way, and half-dragged half-carried him to the stage. He protest violently, but once the two of you made your way to the crowded stage (almost everyone was staring at you two), he got up, dusted himself off, and tried to look dignified. Fundy went to talk to Niki, but Schlatt waved you up to the stairs.

"Hey, sheep-man," you greeted him. "Guess what? Fundy is also going to commit- if he hasn't already- voting fraud."

Schlatt's mouth pressed into a thin line. "That makes things so much f*ckin' worse. If he created more votes- or if he gets caught- the whole plan goes up in smoke."

You groaned. "Please, for the love of the honking geese, don't use that word. I'm going to be having PTSD for the next twenty-something years." Schlatt laughed and took another gulp of alcohol.

"Hey!" he protested as you grabbed the bottle from him.

"No drinking before winning elections, you fool. I see your alcohol addiction hasn't left you."

Schlatt grinned. "Are you f*cking kiddin', Y/N? It's the only thing that got me through the damn war!" He snatched the bottle back from you and corked it. "But, if it pleases the piglet, fine, I won't f*cking drink until after we win the stupid thing."

You smacked him.

"No using that phrase, wool-for-brains. You're not Techno, fool. You- why don't you have kids, Schlatt?"

"Cause I'm a terrible father, duh."

"Yeah, you'd probably teach the children how to swear and get drunk on alcohol." Schlatt laughed but was cut off by a loud child screaming.

"HELLO, EVERYONE!" Tommy yelled as he walked up with Wilbur and Tubbo.

"I'd just like to say, that I have in my possession, th- p- the- the election results." Wilbur ran up the stairs, Tommy following him. Schlatt tugged on your shoulder and led you up the stairs to the stage, as you were kinda his un-official vice president.

"He- hello Mr.- Mr. Schlatt, Shadow," Wilbur greeted you awkwardly as he passed.

"GeorgeHasBeenFound!" Quackity screamed over the edge of the stage.

"I- I didn't realize you were serious about this," Wilbur told Fundy, who had joined you. "I thought when the bit was over, you would... You know... Like, you'd-"

"DIE." Quackity said flatly.

"And you, you seem... Healthier than you did yesterday, or the day before," Wilbur addressed Schlatt.

"I'm feeling good," Schlatt said, resting his elbow on your head.

You punched him. "He took his meds."

"But yes, I am here, ready- ready to hear the results," Fundy broke in.

"Still running against your old man?" Wilbur asked scathingly. "Before we begin, Tommy, why have you got your own mic? Get behind me, man." Tommy protest violently, and Wilbur, rolling his eyes, let him have his way. "Before we begin, I just need to say that tonight is the inauguration. We're not just deciding who wins tonight, we're also inaugurating the winner. When- when we have announced who wins, don't point a gun at me. When we announce who wins, the winner sits- comes up here, stands on this center one, we all go down to the stands, and we listen to their first decree as president."

"My fellow L'manburgians- and by that I mean, I mean Tubbo, Ponk, and HBomb," Wilbur continued, gesturing to the three people in question, "thank you for coming to day to watch a historic moment: the passing of presidency for the first election of L'manburg. I have with me the election results of the four parties: SWAG2020, POG2020, COCONUT2020, and SCHLATT2020. I have with me- in my possession, the winners and by what percentage. Now the turnout of this election was 220,000 votes, and I will say that there was some voter fraud."

Schlatt's head rocketed around to face you, and you shared in his nervous expression.

"Some people have used Google Forms to, like, spam votes for the parties at one-hour intervals. After I noticed that we were having the spam votes, I took note of the percentages and what I've done is I've collated the votes, minus the ones that have used the same IP address, and- do you want to know what party had votes spammed for them?" Wilbur asked.

Schlatt-Y/N nervous looks doubled in strength.

Wilbur whirled to face Fundy, who laughed nervously. "I think we should continue with the votes."

"COCONUT2020 has had 120,000 disqualified votes."

"HOLY SH*T," you breathed, feeling relief wash over you. At the same time, you felt sorry for Fundy and Niki, who looked sad but worryingly not guilty. Tommy started laughing and screaming something about Fundy coding, but Wilbur shoved him down.

"With 9% of the vote, being 20,000 votes or so, in 4th place, is COOCNUT2020."

Fundy just about broke his vocal chords.
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, 20,000 PEOPLE! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!" He slapped Niki on the back, who grinned.

"With 16% of the votes," Wilbur continued, ignore them, "coming in 3rd place, is SCHLATT2020."

You winced, but Schlatt glanced at you and gave you a small smile.

"Big Q, look at me," Wilbur said, walking up to him. Quackity glanced at George and tried to hug him. "This leaves the two parties, the two major front runners as the- as the final option here. In second place," Wilbur turned to the crowd, raising his voice, "with 30% of the vote, is... lead by- the party leader Quackity-"

Tommy screamed. Quackity looked unhappy. You nearly fainted.

It was over. You weren't ever leaving L'manburg. Your last shot had missed. You'd failed.

SWAG2020 was celebrating, but you didn't care.

At least, at least until Wilbur's smile disappeared.

"Tommy- Tommy, listen. Tommy, listen, please." Tommy was shouting happily, but when he saw Wilbur's face, he paused.

"Two nights ago," Wilbur was addressing the crowd again, "on the night of the election, after the announcement of SCHLATT2020 and COCONUT2020, Quackity made a deal with- with, um, with the leader of SCHLATT2020." Hope bubbled up in your chest, and you glanced at Schlatt incredulously. "Wuackity said that no matter what happens, Quackity will pool his votes with SCHLATT2020 votes. POG2020 got 45% of the vote. SCHLATT2020 and SWAG2020 got 46%. Ladies and gentlemen, on Tuesday the 22nd of September 2020, SCHLATT2020 has been inaugurated."

You tackled Schlatt, who laughed out loud and grinned at you. "I had a plan," he mouthed, before walking up to take the mic.

Wilbur, Tommy, Fundy, and Niki left the stage, leaving you, Schlatt, Big Q, and George alone on the stage.

"Well... That was pretty easy. And you know what I said the day I got unbanned from the Dream SMP and the day I said I was running? An election I won, by the way. I said, 'things are going to change.'" Wilbur shifted in his seat, and even from the stage you could see his nervous glance at Tommy. "I looked every citizen of L'manburg in the eyes and I said, 'You listen to me: this place will be a lot different tomorrow.' Let's start making it happen."

He stared down at Wilbur, then grinned at Big Q and you.

"My first decree as the president of L'manburg-" Tommy rushed over to Wilbur- "the EMPEROR! of this great country- is to REVOKE-" Big Q laughed and screamed 'yessir' "-the citizenship of Wilbur Soot and Tommyinnit. Get them out of here! You're no longer welcome!"

You jumped off the stage, nearly running into Punz and Ponk, who had their crossbows drawn. You didn't have Orphan Slayer, as Dream still hadn't given it back, but you did have a sword you'd borrowed from Fundy. You unsheathed it and stared at Wilbur, maniacal smile on your lips.

"Tommy, run." Wilbur whispered. Punz fired, the bolt hitting Wilbur in the leg. The blond child hesitated, and you ran at him, sword slicing. He screamed and ran, following Wilbur.

You and Punz followed them inside the walls, where Tommy and Wilbur drank purple potions and vanished. Punz reloaded his crossbow, glancing at you. "Unofficial first lesson, kid." He paused, listening, then aimed the crossbow and fired at a tree. The bolt suddenly recoiled as blood spilled out onto the ground. There was an audible Tommy-scream, meaning that Wilbur had been struck.

Punz grinned at you, and you smiled back, your heart racing with adrenaline. Behind you, you could faintly hear Schlatt talking as the two of you chased Tommy down some sort of underwater passage. The child threw logs behind him, attempting to trip you up, but Punz hopped nearly over them, tugging you over as well. You arrived in some bunker-thing, but Tommy was already gone.

The two of you returned to the stage, where Tubbo had joined Schlatt and Quackity.

"...He's around here, somewhere," Schlatt said as you approached. He glanced at you and grinned, then slowly turned to the top of the nearby tower. "Perhaps on top of a- on top of a roof, perhaps?" You followed his gaze to where L'manburgs Most Wanted stood. Tommy's eyes widened, and he shoved Wilbur away from the ledge before turning and following.

Schlatt set Tubbo on them like dogs before announcing, to the entirety of L'manburg, that the walls were to fall. You spent the rest of the day alongside George, helping tear down the very walls you'd once defended.

And it felt good.

->->->->O<-<-<-<-

"Wilbur, Wilbur, we need him."

"Fine, fine Tommy, we need to speak to him. Get him in a call. I'll listen, but I don't want to talk."

"Alright, give me a second."

"Hello?"

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2324 words

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Sheeeeeesh, it's a longer one, innit?

We really got in the grove, despite lack of coffee

Also, the length of the little divider things has changed again.

Oh, and an announcement >:D

We're going to post a choose-your-own-adventure DSMP book soon!

You (the readers) pick the storyline, your skills, your family, your affiliations, everything! 

It's based on a voting system where at the end of every chapter are multiple choice polls and you can vote (comment) on which one you want!

It'll be a lot of fun :D

The starting set of questions to set the stage will be posted on Thursday around 2:00 probably. The voting will remain open for a week, then the votes are counted, and the next story written!

The voting for each chapter ends on Wednesday at 11:59 P.M. every week  so we have time to write!

Hope y'all join us!

TA TE CHILDREN

Peace, love, and plants (Hermitcraft references XD)