Chapter Text
The night Fundy ran away
Being so far from the arctic commune kept Fundy from realizing everything had gone so bad with the others. When he left that night, after Wilbur yelled at him to go away, Fundy didn’t look back. He was scared that he wouldn’t be accepted anymore by his father or by anyone there actually. That being said, he gathered up survival supplies in a rucksack and walked onward.
In fact, he walked for several miles, unaware of how far he truly traveled until he came across the mainland again. Honestly, Fundy wished he hadn’t walked in this direction. Being so close to where everything with Dream happened only dug up bad feelings.
Walking through the familiar-looking land, Fundy acknowledged just how silent everything was. If Dream weren’t around to be in control anymore, why was everything still so vacant feeling? Shouldn’t people be celebrating?
The first thing Fundy did was approach the prison. He looks at the gloomy structure hesitantly, gripping light fists at both of his sides. Then, Fundy summons the warden Dream had introduced him to so briefly.
He doesn’t formally greet Sam. Truly, Fundy doesn’t do more than say, “you need to free Eret.”
At first, Sam was relentless. He said releasing a prisoner was against the most important rule of being the warden. Then, Fundy explained what Dream had done, with the vaguest of words he could think about. Hearing all of what happened was enough for him to grant Eret their freedom.
It wasn’t enough to satisfy Fundy. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be ‘satisfied’ again. Eret told Fundy they were going to fix their castle up. When invited back to join them, Fundy declined politely. “I think I’m going to…go away for a while. I need to clear my mind.”
This was his plan, anyway. Fundy kept that rucksack full of supplies and went on his way. Before he can exit the mainland, Fundy is stopped by a voice that he recognized but not enough to not need to turn around and confirm.
“Hey, Fundy? Aren’t you supposed to be in prison?”
Fundy stood several feet away from Karl. The question alone made Fundy become perplexed. “What?”
Karl scratches the back of his head awkwardly, smiling at Fundy somewhat. “Uh, yeah. Dream said he was putting all of you guys in there after what happened with Eret. I didn’t think he’d let you all out so soon.”
That’s why nobody questioned what was happening. Fundy realized that it all made sense. Dream told everyone else he was merely having the rebels arrested. To be fair, Fundy would’ve preferred sitting in the prison rather than what Dream ended up doing to him.
“I wish he put us in prison,” Fundy slouches his shoulders with those words, noticing that it was beginning to rain. He looks up and squints to avoid raindrops landing in his eyes.
“Here,” Karl was kind with his welcoming gesture to Fundy. “Come on, before it starts to pour.” The rain wasn’t heavy yet but Karl wanted to retreat indoors before it got that bad. He walks with Fundy to the Community House.
Inside of the homely building, sat around a round table comfortably were a few other faces Fundy recalled fighting against not so long ago. Namely, Fundy’s shoulder’s perked up with his ears at the sight of George. With him, Sapnap and Quackity all held their deal of cards, seemingly awaiting Karl’s return.
“Well fuck, Karl. It took you long enough,” Quackity turns to the door Karl came back through. His eyes land on Fundy, tempted to ask why the foxling was anywhere but in prison. Quackity himself stayed out of the entire war, having only heard stories about Eret’s betrayal and Dream’s desire to lock them all up as a result.
For a few moments, they all fell silent. The only sound heard happened to be the pouring rain on the water constructed into the building’s upper level.
Seeing George was a bit difficult for Fundy, who had last seen him when his first life was taken. “You aren’t supposed to be here,” Sapnap was the first one to point out Fundy’s presence verbally. The crew exchanges some looks before allowing Fundy to speak for himself.
From the start, the story was confusing. “Dream didn’t arrest us.”
As the details were given and Fundy unveiled the truth, the others listened intently. He could tell that of the four, Sapnap and George were having a hard time believing what he said as the truth. It was almost like they couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that Dream had done these horrendous things.
“I don’t know where he is now, but I know that he probably won’t stay out of sight.” Fundy twiddles his fingers a bit while being stared down by the older men.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Sapnap smiled with his words. “This is Dream we’re talking about. He does some questionable things to get what he wants but-” the noir-haired man sits back in his seat. “I’m just not buying it.”
Agreeing, George sets his deal of cards down on the table. “So if it is true, now what?” He made it clear that he wasn’t being swayed to believe Fundy so easily. “Why didn’t you stick around with the others out there? I feel like that’d be the smartest thing to do.”
“Well, I wanted to help Eret out and-” Fundy lowers his hands back to his sides. “And Wilbur told me to leave. Nobody wanted me out there.” The teen blinks away a few tears and shrugs. “Nobody really wants me in general, anymore.”
The others merely watched Fundy unfold his emotions. Karl looks at Sapnap specifically, who raises his eyebrows curiously at the look his fiance was beckoning him with.
“You can stay with us!” Karl politely offers this to Fundy, laughing when the foxling looks at him. They watch the ginger blink confusedly. “I know we were all your enemies pretty recently but…” Karl shrugs. “If you need somewhere to stay, I don’t see why not.”
While Sapnap saw many reasons why welcoming Fundy into their lifestyle was a bad idea, he followed with Karl’s intuition.
Fundy spent a lot of time with the friends of Dream who seemed to believe him a little more each day. George and Sapnap were still the wariest of Fundy’s “truth,” though kept their suspicion to themselves.
Since he ran away from Wilbur, Fundy had been staying with them all. He was beginning to find comfort in the land he called home again, which was something he feared he couldn’t do anymore prior to Karl inviting him to stick around.
--
One day after Dream took Tommy (approximately one month after Fundy ran away)
On the cold obsidian and blackstone floor, Tommy sat and watched the clock above the bed silently. He’s making sure that he doesn’t lose track of time. Honestly, Tommy wasn’t so sure he’d luck out this time. Technoblade turned him in, which could only mean that Phil gave in as well. Tommy wondered if Wilbur cared that he’d been taken back by Dream, unaware of the reality that he was in fact dead.
This time around, it truly did feel like Dream won and he was trapped forever. That didn’t mean he’d steer into the skin just yet. Only a day passed since Dream brought him here and at the moment, he was left alone.
When Dream did return, Tommy pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his face down between his knees. His actions left him closed off from Dream completely.
“You know this is only hurting you , right?” Dream’s voice echoes through the vault somewhat given the high ceilings and vacant walls.
Tommy didn’t respond.
“Look at me, Tommy,” Dream tilted his head when he still didn’t get a response from the teen. Also, Tommy didn’t even move when told to look up. “Fine,” Dream walks forward and kneels down. As soon as he gripped a fistful of Tommy’s hair, the teen’s fingers dug into his own arms expectantly. “If you want to act like that, I’ll treat you like this.” Dream pulls Tommy’s face up from being hidden away. “Just know that I’m not giving in to your stupid strategy.”
Tommy’s made to look at the mask-covered face he despised so deeply. In fact, he hates it so much that he impulsively slammed a fist against his jaw. The hook punch made Dream’s head jerk to the side, which was where he froze all movement for a few seconds. The way he ended up licking over his lips made Tommy regret his actions even if not enough to quit fighting.
“After all that fucking work, you’re back to this? See, if they never took you away from me, you’d still be right where I had you before.” Dream lets go of Tommy’s hair with rough movement, standing back up. “You’ll come around eventually, just like last time. I have no problem waiting until then. This isn’t like last time, Tommy. I’m not gonna lose you again. Nobody knows where we are now. Besides, everyone who wanted to save you before is dead now, so there’s not much hope there.”
Everyone. Tommy looks up and expresses confusion.
“Maybe I’ll fill you in on the details. Not until you come out from the corner. The bed is there for you and it’s comfortable. Aren’t you tired, Tommy?”
“Gonna have to try harder than that, you stupid bitch.” Tommy mumbles the words in response, going back to hiding his face between his knees.
“I don’t have to try at all, but you’ll see.” Dream vaguely spoke about the future course of events to Tommy, walking away from him. “Food is over there, the bed’s in the same place it has been the entire time. I’ll be back later.”
Later was hard to convey, Tommy found. His eyes moved to the clock on the wall several times, though he wasn’t so sure how much time truly ended up passing by the time Dream did return. Since Tommy was still in the corner, Dream heaved out a long sigh and set down a bag of supplies.
Dream’s words awoke rage within Tommy. He wants to do so much and get out of there. “I figured you’d be this stubborn. Listen, Tommy, I know you’re hungry and I know you’re tired. Admit that much.”
“No,” Tommy kept his face between his knees while speaking, voice muffled. “I’ll starve to death before I listen to you, bitch.”
Dream laughing is what made Tommy look up from his knees. “Wha…” Tommy trails off when noticing Dream stared right at him. The villain stood rather far away, several feet to be exact. Nevertheless, Tommy felt constantly threatened by the man’s presence.
“I’m not gonna let you starve, Tommy.” Dream explains his humored nature.
“ Let me—“ Tommy scoffs at the wording Dream used. “When the fuck will you understand that you aren’t in charge of me?”
“Well,” Dream crosses his arms and rests them flat on his chest casually. “I’m not so sure you understand what’s going on here. Tommy, I am in charge of you.”
Retorted, Tommy says, “no, you’re fucking not!”
“Okay, stand up,” Dream extends his arm out and uses two fingers to motion an upward flick for Tommy to know he was being serious. “Get up, now.”
Tommy had a burning hatred for the feeling of fear in his own heart. His heartbeat did speed up when Dream took one step closer and demanded he get to his feet. “No,” Tommy still rejected the controlling statement, making himself dead weight on the floor in case Dream tried to grab him.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Tommy.” Dream sighed like before, this time shorter.
“Well it’s too fucking late,” as he said this, Tommy took in a sharp breath at the sight of Dream walking closer. “Stay away from me.”
“I think it’s cute that you still believe I’ll listen to you.” Dream stood, towering over Tommy who still sat on the floor. “Where do you find the hope, Tommy?” Then, Dream took a longing look at Tommy’s face embedded with fear far beneath the surface. “I’m gonna say it one more time because I’m feeling nice today. Stand up, Tommy.”
Instead of facing whatever punishment Dream had in mind, Tommy pulled his lanky body up and backed up against the wall defensively. “Good job,” Dream praised the teen, standing far too close for his comfort.
“It’s not hope,” Tommy mentioned, mumbling enough to make Dream cohere what he said mentally.
“Hm?” Dream’s head tilts when he makes the noise of question.
“It’s fucking hatred, Dream. I don’t have hope, I just hate you so goddamn much.” Tommy spits the words so harshly that Dream stares at him for a while in silence.
“I’m not shocked,” Dream shrugged. “I think you’re also just angry at yourself.” He watches Tommy’s questioning eyes land on his mask. Moving on to explain, Dream says, “Tubbo died and you couldn’t help him. Wilbur got worse and you couldn’t help him. Fundy ran away and you couldn’t help him.” The repetition began to make Tommy’s shoulders slouch uncomfortably. “It’s okay, though. It’s not your fault. You want to be the hero but…sometimes things don’t work out the way you initially planned.”
For a few seconds, Tommy gets lost in what Dream had been saying. It was true, he had let everyone he cared about down. Tubbo was even dead, fully dead. He wonders what Will thought about him being gone, unaware of the fact that his brother was gone as well. Maybe Dream was right, he should quit trying to be the hero.
Then, Tommy snaps out of the trance-like state when realizing Dream had been holding a hand at his face. Tommy jerks away from the hand that held his face so delicately. No matter how caring the touch was, the source was Dream.
“I don’t give a shit about being the hero, I just want you to be dead.” Tommy has a feeling that killing Dream would be so much harder now.
“Let’s just change the topic, then.” Dream walks back over to the bag he brought with him this time. He retrieves a golden apple from the bag, walking it back over to Tommy. “Eat, Tommy.”
In his head, Tommy felt like starving himself was a good option. Dream couldn’t force him to eat, right? Looks like he was wrong about that, seeing as when he shakes his head and stubbornly looks away, he’s met with Dream’s controlling nature.
“No…” Tommy mentioned his disagreement when he felt his hair grabbed. Dream held the apple in his other hand, able to use two fingers to part Tommy’s lips.
“Bite me and you lose your teeth, I swear.” He grunted the words while Tommy struggled against him. As soon as Tommy’s jaw was unhinged by Dream’s forceful hand, he moved the apple into a good enough grip to force it in Tommy’s mouth. Tommy kept his mouth open when he felt the apple forcefully press into his teeth. Tommy does bite down but it was instinct and he hummed in disappointment with himself.
His blue eyes blink when looking at Dream’s mask, saliva gathering under his tongue as a way to symbolize his hunger. Defeated expression forming, Tommy takes a full bite of the apple, stepping back from Dream once the hand leaves his hair.
Tommy’s hands come up and hold the apple to his mouth as he practically inhales the food. “That’s good,” Dream nods. “You know, Tommy, I care about you. I want you to be safe. Why do you think I brought you here? This is the only way you’re safe!”
As he chews, Tommy listens to Dream. His eyes don’t leave the older man, too scared of what might happen if he were to be out of sight. “You don’t fucking care about me,” Tommy finished a bite before saying this.
“Of course I do. If I didn’t, I would’ve let you starve yourself. Hell, I would’ve kept on killing you until you were dead back when I took your first life if I didn’t care.” Dream smiles happily with these next few words. “Think about it. I care about you , I don’t care about others.”
Tubbo came to mind. At the thought, Tommy frowns. He was quick to react violently to his thoughts, throwing the apple at Dream. “Fuck you, bitch. Even if you do care about me, you know I’ll never give a shit about you. I wish you would die.”
Dream stood still while Tommy threw the apple at him and watched the teen have his outburst of anger. “If you behave yourself, I’ll start to give you more.”
Tommy halts his angered motions and words when told this. “The fuck are you on about?” He asked, teeth gritting together at the sight of Dream grinning.
“Well, let’s see. If you go to sleep in that bed,” Dream points at the bed he mentioned. The covers were red and white just how Tommy liked his own bed. “Then I’ll give you more light in here. I know it’s dark and cold .” Shrugging, Dream walks over to the bed and pats at the edge of it. “Who knows, maybe if you really behave yourself, I might let you go outside.”
Hearing that, Tommy felt a twinge of hope in his system once more. If listening to Dream was all it took for him to see the sun again, he considered doing as much. If there was no way that he’d be saved this time around, perhaps he should just give in.
Still, Tommy put up something of a fight. Each time Dream visited him, Tommy felt a little more relieved. It was almost like since Dream was the only person he saw these days, he was excited by him coming back around. Excitement was the substitute for a better word because Tommy didn’t like to see Dream, it was just a break from the dreary darkness of the vault.
When he was alone, Tommy would analyze the place. It wasn’t too out of the ordinary and he could tell that Dream designed it. The blackstone, obsidian, and bedrock elements all around gave away that Dream was surely the architect.
Honestly, Tommy didn’t know how many days had passed when he finally succumbed to his exhaustion. He’d been conscious for so long aside from dozing off for maybe a couple of minutes while sitting upright.
The night that Dream came back with a few more lanterns to supply the vault with a comfortable amount of light, Tommy was fed up. “No, no no—“ he whined when Dream set down the items. “I wanna go outside! I’m tired of this shit.” His whining tone made Dream grin for only a moment.
“Are you serious? Tommy, you haven’t slept in so long. You can barely even stand up.” Dream explains this and observes how Tommy did in fact sway subtly as a way to portray his exhaustion.
“I don’t fucking care. I just want to go outside!” Tommy stomps one foot down to show his frustration. Dream took in a gentle breath, shrugging once.
“I don’t think you’ve made any progress, so my answer is no.” Dream’s answer makes Tommy even more annoyed, shown in how he swings a punch at Dream as soon as he gets close enough.
Dodging the hit, Dream moves back toward Tommy again because the teen began to collapse due to exhaustion. He scoops Tommy up before the teen can fall to the floor. Grunting weakly in disagreement to Dream’s touch, Tommy succumbed to unconsciousness as soon as he felt warm arms held around him. His head weighed down onto Dream’s chest once fully passed out.
Thus, Dream lifted Tommy up into his arms and carried him over to where the bed was in the vault. It wasn’t a full bedroom but was separated from the rest of the vault with red curtains that provided a sense of privacy.
Laying Tommy down on the bed and covering him up was done graciously by Dream. He makes sure Tommy’s covered with the red blanket comfortably, smiling down at the teen’s slumber-induced expression. The bags beneath Tommy’s eyes were very obvious. Dream lowers a hand to brush his thumb over the soft skin of Tommy’s cheek. It’s hard not to kiss Tommy, especially when he looked so content while passed out, laying there in bed as if he were just asking to be touched.
Of course, Dream had some self-control in him. His hand retracts from Tommy’s face. Before he left, Dream made sure to keep Tommy in that bed, wishing to avoid any more of his reluctance.
Tommy would listen to him one way or another.
—
Passing out wasn’t on Tommy’s agenda. Truly, he was terrified by sleeping here. That meant he would respawn here in the case that he died. When his eyes opened, Tommy came to the realization that he’d fallen asleep. “Fuck—“ quick to move around, Tommy sat up and saw the large bed, empty aside from himself.
Then he felt a strange pressure at his wrist. Tommy was lifting his hand to brush some stray hair from his forehead, though tensed up when he was limited to movement. The sound of metal clanking together made Tommy look down.
An iron cuff clasped around his wrist was attached to a chain that connected to the bed frame. “Fuck!” Tommy repeats the word, hissing it through gritted teeth this time around. “No— fuckin—“ he begins to jerk his wrist around rapidly while his nerves frayed. This couldn’t be happening. He was handcuffed to the bed he didn’t want to sleep in to begin with.
Tommy fights against the cuff until his wrist is puffy and red from the resistance. “Just fucking get off of me, holy shit this can’t be happening. Just fucking break just fucking break…” Tommy whispers to himself the worried mantras, becoming more frantic as seconds turned into minutes.
To no avail, Tommy realized he was trapped for real. His wrist could only pull a few feet away from the headboard, not nearly enough to even get off of the bed comfortably. “Fuck!” Tommy seethes, rubbing his free hand at the burning pain in his wrist from pulling so hard.
His voice echoes through the vault somewhat.
Soon after that, Tommy heard the mechanical sound of the elevator bringing someone down and Tommy’s sure he has a good guess on who it is. Since he can’t see past those red curtains, Tommy goes back to fighting against the restraint, this time very quietly.
Too distracted by looking at the cuff around his wrist, Tommy doesn’t look up when Dream pulls the curtain to the side and peeks in.
“Hey there, sleeping beauty.” Dream says the words, sickeningly sweet, to Tommy.
In return, Tommy groans briefly and thrashes once against the handcuff. “Let me the fuck out of this! I wasn’t even trying to run.”
“No, you weren’t, but…” Dream exhales contently at the sight of Tommy confined to the bed. “You needed to sleep, comfortably , the only way to make you stay in bed was to, well—“ he looked at the handcuff. “Yeah.”
Tommy was scooched back in the bed enough to press his back into the headboard, cuffed hand against his chest as he stared at Dream. “Quit looking at me,” Tommy averts his own gaze.
“Fine, fine,” Dream walks into the bed’s vicinity, the red curtain draping naturally as soon as he lets go of it. Tommy gulps when he notices just how dark the area got when the curtain fell again. He could still make out Dream’s figure and that white mask but it was dim nevertheless. “You did really well, Tommy!” Dream’s voice praises the teen, who felt sick to his stomach.
When silence fell and Dream stood beside the bed, looming over Tommy’s presence, the younger blond broke. “Dream?” He looks down at the handcuff, itching to get it off of him and rub at his irritated skin.
“Yes, Tommy?”
The fact that Tommy knew what he had to do was the best part to Dream.
Softly, unlike anything Tommy had ever done before, he asks, “will you please let me out of this?”
Overall, Dream was exhilarated by the way Tommy asked him. “Good,” Dream nods. “That’s how you ask me for stuff. Politely. Keep that up and this’ll go very well.”
Disgusted internally, Tommy watched Dream retrieve a key from his pocket and then watched him unhook the cuff. Quickly, Tommy scooches to the other end of the bed, cradling his burning wrist to his chest.
“Hm,” Dream sets the key down on the bed. “That’s not how you thank someone. Remember what comes after please?”
“Fuck off!” Tommy snarls, immediately going back to being resistant.
“Tommy,” Dream smiles with the call of the teen’s name. “Don’t act like that, I’ll have to hurt you if you do. I don’t wanna do that.”
At first, Tommy felt the urge to go against what Dream just said. He opens his mouth to spiel off some sort of retort. Then, Dream climbs onto the bed, sitting on his knees and raising his hand to land a hit down onto Tommy.
The sight of Dream raising his hand up made Tommy flinch back and take in a sharp breath. “Oh fuck— okay okay okay, fine—“ Tommy sputters these words, his own hands coming up to defend himself meekly.
Dream, instead of hitting Tommy, reached over and grabbed his hand. He pulls Tommy’s wrist closer to view the rashing skin around his wrist. Tommy kept quiet while Dream looked at his wrist so closely, free hand coming up to rub the skin gently. “Mnn..” Tommy made the noise of slight pain when Dream touched him.
“I can help you feel better,” Dream looks at Tommy again, mask-covered eyes adoring every feature of the teen’s face. “All you have to do is say thank you.”
Staring at the mask, Tommy blinks once. “I’m not gonna fucking—“ Tommy halts his speech when Dream tangles their fingers together, squeezing his hand tenderly. It wasn’t painful but Tommy did fear what Dream would do if he disagreed. “I’m— I’m not…” Dream stares at him intently. Then, after feeling Dream hold his hand tighter, Tommy gives in. “Thank you.”
When the words were said, Dream headed over to his bag of supplies. From it he pulled a roll of gauze. When beside the bed again, Dream holds onto Tommy’s hand and wraps his wrist up in the gauze securely. He keeps the wrap firm by wrapping it around his palm as well, making sure to keep it beneficial.
Once Dream was finished, Tommy gripped his fist and felt the firmness of the wrap, sinking down into the bed and looking down.
“See? Doesn't that feel better?” Dream sighs the question out, noticing that Tommy was avoiding looking back up at him. “Tommy?” And Tommy lifts his head to the fall of his name. While Dream knew he still had a lot of work to do, he acknowledged this as the first step of Tommy listening to him. “Good…” Dream nods to Tommy’s listening nature, carding fingers through his fluffy hair. “It’s just so much better when you listen…”
There’s a pit of disappointment in Tommy’s stomach and it grows the more Dream touches him by caressing sly fingers through his hair.
Regardless of everything he’d done up until now in terms of resisting against Dream, Tommy moves into the hand in his hair, eyelids fluttering closed.
Maybe it’d be best if he just gave in and listened.
--
That same day, hours later
Fundy had been getting used to living here with Karl and the others. The area of the mainland they lived in wasn’t too far from Eret’s castle either, so Fundy found it easy to spend a lot of time with them as well. Things were seeming normal again, he was feeling like a teenager again. The only issue Fundy had was that he felt a subtly impending desire to find someone to take care of him. Honestly, he just wanted someone to care about him the way Wilbur used to care about him…perhaps even the way Dream pretended to care about him.
While the sun set gradually, Sapnap plucked a few arrows from the target he and George had been practicing on out in the tree scattered forest.
“So,” Sapnap puts the arrows away in the quiver George provided. “How are you feeling about this whole thing?”
“What do you mean?” George realized it got a bit too dark out for his shades, using one hand to push them up to rest on his head casually.
Unsure of how to word his question, Sapnap just laughed before speaking. “Well,” he stands up straight when George walks over to his side. “About Dream, everything Fundy said. Do you think-”
“We can’t take one person’s word over everything else, Sapnap.” George shrugs when giving his opinion. “It’s Dream . I think we just need to talk to him about all of it.”
“Where is he?” Sapnap waves his hands, trying to convey his suspicion to George. They’d all been friends for so long and it was true, Dream didn’t ever act like he’d ever turn so...menacing. “I mean, right?” He tries more to get his point across to George. “I haven’t seen him since before Fundy showed up, so I don’t know, maybe…”
“Sapnap,” George puffs his chest up, determined not to distrust Dream so easily. “We have to talk to him before we even consider believing anyone else.”
“Fine-” Sapnap gives in, handing the full quiver over to George. “Well, we better find him and talk to him soon.”
As if on queue, a familiar figure saunters swiftly through the forest’s paved path toward the Prime Path. Sapnap and George both watch Dream walk by from far off, walking as if he hadn’t been gone for so long. “Dream!” Sapnap was the first to call out.
Dream had left the vault and kept its location secure, having memorized where it was thoroughly. So, he wasn’t worried that leaving Tommy there could result in him being gone upon his return. “Oh,” he smiles at George and Sapnap when looking over to them both. “Hey you two, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” George took a few steps closer to the path Dream walked on. He laughed when Dream looked at him inquisitively. “You’ve been gone for like, I dunno, a month. Where have you been?”
Thinking on how to answer, Dream hums shortly. “Oh, you know. I like to go voyaging sometimes. I didn’t realize a whole month had gone by, though.” Normally, when Dream did travel just for fun like that, he invited Sapnap and George to join him.
So it didn’t make sense that he was just off on an adventure. Sapnap briefly looks at George before speaking to Dream. “Why did you tell us that you arrested the rebels?”
Matter of factly, Dream says, “I did have them arrested.”
“Sapnap,” George seemed wary of hopping into the conversation topic right away. He was a bit more eager to talk to Dream after having not seen him for weeks on end.
“What is it?” Dream blinks beneath his mask, expressing his feigned confusion through his stature. “C’mon, guys, don’t act like you’re too scared to talk to me about something.”
“No, I’m not scared. I’m confused. Dream, Fundy told us about what you did.” Sapnap got to the point, not wishing to beat around the bush. Dream was here and who knows how long it’d be until they saw him again.
“He did?” Dream tilts his head. A hum comes from him as he watches his two oldest friends stare him down. “Of course he did. What did he tell you?” Unsettled as he remembered what Fundy told them, the other two went quiet. “Well?” Dream pesters for an answer.
Taking the leap, Sapnap blurts, “he said you raped all of them.”
After silence fell, Dream began to laugh. He almost wheezed when the laughter continued on. “And you believed him!?” Dream asked this. George sighs a bit, relieved by the idea that what Fundy told them was a lie. “Come on, you two, you’re gonna take a kid’s word over mine?”
“See, Sapnap,” George looks over at the black-haired man. “I told you. Dream, what kind of stuff did you get on your trip?”
Wickedly grinning though able to make it seem like that of a friendly one, Dream says, “I got something priceless.”