Chapter Text
Everything around him felt fuzzy.
He could hear voices, they were just muffled as if he was underwater, so close yet so distant.
Where was he? What was he doing there?…
He opened his eyes, darkness. Little by little, spots of light appeared, like fireflies in a forest, lightning at night.
He felt himself following them, the lights moved around him, giving him a path and at the same time taking him nowhere; such was life for him now.
He could hear the sound of water dripping, and whenever he took a step he could see the floor making small circular waves appearing and making themselves bigger until they disappeared, just like walking in calm water.
It was… strange. He felt peace, no, somewhat at peace. A strange sensation of not having to worry about anything in the world, that everything would be fine as long as he stayed inside .
He kept walking.
It felt like an eternity before he found something, another person. He got closer, seeing that this person was lying on a hospital bed, their back angled at a forty-five-degree angle for them to sit, the hospital gown seemed new, yet the person in there seemed exhausted, like they’d been in that place for a long, long time.
“Hello?” He said. The person in the bed turned and looked at them, their hair was long, from their roots to half its length brown, and the rest was a washed pink. How curious. “Hey…” They said with an unamused look on their face.
“Where am I?”
“Your mind.”
“Why is it like this?”
“...I think you know why.”
“I’m not sure, that’s why I’m asking.”
The person in bed stared at them, the dark circles under their eyes and the half-lidded eyelids showed his tiredness, yet they answered his questions. “You have to remember, Techno.”
Right- that’s his name. Technoblade. He was a college student, he had a twin brother and a younger one, and he had his dad, his mother passed away when he was twelve and he’d been stalked by a monster for the past month or so. He was trapped in his mind, in a dream that wasn’t his own. He met George, and they found a way to escape, but before they could try anything-
He lowered his head and stared at the void, the void looked back at him. He had tried to escape, and Dream had punished them, it separated them so they couldn’t try that again. He’d been walking in the void for so long, sometimes he could feel the cold breeze of something passing by him, muffled voices that never shut up, he would fall into lakes of god knows what, and the ghost sensation of hands getting a hold on him. The fireflies were new though, it was… nice.
They knew the way out, they could be free, he just had to wait a little longer.
Wait…
The pinkette looked back at himself in the bed, “Is this how I look now? How long has it been?” The other Techno laughed, shaking his head slowly at the questions. “No, this is just how you think you look right now. It hasn’t been too long, maybe about a month since it got you.”
“A month…” he gasped, so he’s been in the dark for about two weeks.
“How can I get out of this place?”
His bedridden self shrugged, boredom was all his body expressed, “This is your head, you could do anything you want, it’s not like it’s here to stop you.”
It… sounded like a sci-fi novel or movie where the main character could change whatever they wanted in their dream because it was their mind so that they could choose in their favour. The thing is, he thought of that way before being… in whatever place this was, it never worked. But, his other self said it wasn’t there to stop him. If what controlled what was possible in his dreams was the beast, maybe he could try to get out…
But this wasn’t a movie, nor a novel. This was his mind, and so far, he’s been tricked, gaslighted and manipulated by the monster that kept him in his mind. So even the thought of trying to make a way for himself to escape from the void was simply useless.
His other self frowned, annoyed as he stood there and stared at the darkness surrounding him, he didn’t know when the fireflies vanished, sighed and turned his head away. “Do whatever you want. I’m just a product of your mind after all… maybe.”
Soon the vision disappeared, and he was alone, again. He closed his eyes. Sat and hugged his knees close to his chest, and after a minute or so, he closed his eyes. He fell, everything around him felt warm, a thickness to it that he knew from experience, wasn’t water.
After what felt like an eternity, sharp talons surrounded him and took him out of the crimson liquid, —he wasn’t sure how long had he been in there, but there was no gasp for air, no panic, only numbness— it cradled him against its chest as it walked through the void, its hind legs made a clicking sound against the floor. Techno couldn’t care anymore, if it wanted to kill him, then be it, he couldn’t stand one more second in that place.
-o0o-
“Techno. Oi, wake up.”
The pinkette struggled to open his eyes, the image that welcomed him was… familiar . George was sitting in front of him, a flower crown sitting on top of his head, small beads of crimson dripping in thin streams on his skin. And talking about that… George’s skin was infested in different spots as patches of moss and fungi, and some of his limbs had just the mushroom growing from it, it looked painful, the skin surrounding them seemed irritated or rotting, and his eyebags had grown quite a bit; if he had to guess, Dream’s punishment was the same or worse as his own.
“There you are. Welcome back.” The brunette mustered the best smile he could, Techno felt himself do the same.
“You’re a mess.”
“No shit, you should look at yourself.”
And so he did. He looked at his hands, his arms, his legs, they all had one thing in common, they were covered in blood, his fingers darker than the rest. They had marks of hands that varied in size, long, big, thin, small… he didn’t want to know who or what touched him in that place; some strange protuberances followed where his bones were, dark and sharp as obsidian. He didn’t know how he looked face-wise, so he just asked his companion, he didn’t know if it was better or not, from the description he got, it was covered in a slight tint of crimson, tear tracks having washed some of it on his cheeks and eyelids, protuberances just like the ones in his limbs came out of his head, making some kind of pattern as if it was a leaf wreath, he passed his hand around it, it wasn’t too big, yet he could feel the cold of the stone and the rough openings in his skin from the alien formation. His breathing hitched, there was a flower crown on his head too.
He needed to throw up.
“What happened to us…”
The brunette avoided his gaze, it wasn’t a question either of them could answer; he just hoped these new “additions” hadn’t appeared in their real bodies.
“Why did it take us out?”
George shrugged his shoulders, exhaustion visible in all his features, if he had to take a guess, he was in the same situation. Clicks could be heard from afar, both humans turned to see their captor, the Dreamon was clicking at them, its throat bobbing with each sound, it walked on its four legs, its tail non-visible like in other occasions. Once it was close enough to them, it sat on its hind legs, front limbs supporting the weight of its body as it leaned toward them. Its antlers were big and sharp, eye sockets dark as the void and mouth always pursed in a smile.
“Hey Dream” George started.
“Hallo…” Techno muttered.
The creature rumbled and extended one of its claws to their faces, a sharp talon doing as much as gently boop at their noses. It gurgled and chirped, and before they could ask what was it saying, its tail dropped a big piece of meat, it looked cooked, and it smelled good, yet again… they were inside a dream, how could they be hungry? Can they be hungry?
He could feel himself salivating at the sight, something inside of him purring and begging him to take a bite.
“F-Food…” it rumbled, sharp teeth showing as its mouth opened and closed, it looked weird for it to do those movements and still be able to get words formed. “Eat… eat…”
Techno stared down at the meal in front of them, then turned to George, the brunette stared blankly at him, shrugged and ripped a small piece of meat. Took the tissue towards his lips and stayed for a second before taking a bite.
Right after him, Techno took one piece, the tissue was soft, his eyes strayed towards the beast, empty sockets stared back at him. He closed his eyes and took a bite.
It felt like paradise , like it was what ambrosia would taste; like everything else didn’t matter anymore except that moment. Neither of them noticed when they started taking bigger and bigger pieces of what was in front of them.
He was so hungry. So, so hungry. He needed to eat.
Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, hungry, hungry, hungry, so hungry.
More, more, more.
Just as Techno was about to take another bite he noticed how the Dreamon simply stared at them, didn’t eat anything, didn’t move an inch from its original place, and even its tail made the smallest movements that made it look like it was frozen in time. He tried to ignore it, tried to ignore the now obvious sensation of warmth dripping down his mouth and hands; ignore it. He could ignore it, he could ignore it for a bit longer…
—•—
Hospitals sucked.
He never liked them. It was in a hospital where he had to go whenever he broke or sprained something, the place that smelled like cleaning chemicals and medicine, the place his mother said her last goodbye, and now it was Techno’s…
No, he had to wake up, come on Tommy! Be positive!
After the… episode his brother suffered, his dad sent him home with Wilbur, and it sucks ass. Wilbur was already an edge lord, but now, he looked at him and couldn’t see his older brother, only a sad carcass of who he used to be.
Quackity would spend the night with them, taking care of both of them wasn’t fair, he was sure Big Q had better stuff to do than babysitting two adults — yes he is (almost) an adult, thank you very much!
Tommy Danger Kraken Innit Craft was the biggest man alive and could take care of himself and his bitchbrother.
Whenever he told Quackity that they were fine and that he could handle it, the tanned man would give him this look that reminded him so much of his dad when he was sad. Like Tommy just said the most depressing thing ever.
Today was the same story, and the other man’s answer was, “You’re too young Tommy.”
“The fuck you mean too young? I’m almost an adult!”
“Tommy-“
“I can take care of myself! I can take care of Wilbur! I can take care of everybody!!”
“Tommy...”
“I’m a big man!” Why were his eyes stinging? “I could look after Techno in the hospital! But no one’s giving me a chance!”
He could hear steps behind him, but he ignored them, the sting got only worse, and his fists were trembling as he stared at the ravenette.
“I- I can take it! I can! I swear!”
Quackity’s eyes watered, tears threatening to spill every moment now. Arms were hugging him from behind, and the trembling of his brother’s arms barely calmed as he held him close to his chest, his cheeks felt wet, why was he crying?
The smaller man joined their hug, from his throat a broken sob escaped, his hands holding onto the others’ clothes, fabric soft against his cold hands.
“I’m so sorry Tom’s.” “We’ll be alright.” “He’ll be alright, you’ll see.” And more fake promises gave him the smallest comfort he needed at that moment. He missed his brother, he was scared he wouldn’t wake up.
He cried himself to sleep.
—•—
He stayed by his side since the day he suffered the convulsion, Wilbur would come from time to time. But it was much less than before, his eyes were clouded by grief, and who could blame him when his twin was on the verge of life and death?
Tommy got worse, his stubbornness kept him from going fully into mourning, but denial wasn’t great either.
And Phil, well, he hasn’t had a decent amount of sleep since then. Techno’s body would get lacerations out of nowhere, heart slowed at random times and sometimes different limbs would spasm rougher than before. His skin was pale and clammy, exhaustion wasn’t something Phil expected to see in a person in a coma.
But he wasn’t expecting most things nowadays.
With one of his son’s hands in his own, he gave a soft kiss on the knuckles before pressing them against his forehead.
“I’m so sorry…”
There was no reason to be sorry.
“I couldn’t- I can’t protect you…”
It’s out of his hands. He was helpless.
“I- I don’t- fuck…”
His fault his fault his fault his fault
Wake up.
“Dad?”
His eyes shot up meeting Techno’s resting face, he turned around, and Wilbur was at the door. His son looked like a mess, stubble grew and his eyebags looked worse than when he last saw him, his clothes wrinkled and crooked in some places.
“Hey, Wil… did- did something happen? Is something wrong?” Dumb question.
Everything was so wrong.
The brunette closed the door behind him, his arms crossed over his chest more as a type of comfort than anything. Dark irises spared a glance at the other person in the room.
“I- I wanted to- I-“ Wilbur’s eyes focused on the floor, his hands tight in fists. Phil could understand, words have been hard to describe anything anymore.
“Here.” The blond moved a chair close to his own, an open invitation to his eldest to join him. “It’s okay…” stop lying.
The younger took the invitation and sat close to his brother and his father. Phil patted brown curls, a wheezing breath escaped his son’s lips, a tremble invading his body as his shoulders shook.
His face was covered by his hands, broken sobs getting past his failed attempt at muffling his cries. “I can’t-! Dad, I can’t! I- I can’t just-”
Phil’s eyes blurred once again, tears staining his cheeks as they followed an all too familiar path, with shaky arms he brought his son to his chest. He couldn’t stand seeing his sons like this, his heart squeezed and made his soul shatter. He had to be strong, he needed to be strong.
For them, the world.
—•—
His body ached, limbs covered in those sharp protuberances, and his eyes would wander off as his mind was consumed by hunger.
Why was he hungry? Where was he again?
The starry night welcomed him, embraced him as if he was meant to be there, with them. Them? Who was…
Right, there was someone else with him there, what was their name…
What was his name? Did he have one? What was he supposed to be…
His chest rose and fell with slow breaths, he could feel his heart pumping, the buzzing in his skin a strange comfort. Steps. Steps? Yes, steps caught his attention, and then the shadow of a figure he could recognize.
Empty sockets stared back at him, a permanent smile on its features, red trickling down its chin and fur. His hand rose to its face, the alien feeling of his own body realizing such a simple action as raising his arm made him nauseous. “F-Fri…end…” It said, its voice rough and inhuman.
“Friend…” he replied, the creature crooning, leaning its head against the palm of his hand for a moment or two, moving soon to another place. His eyes followed until it was gone from his self-imposed horizon.
His hand stayed in its place, he could see the protuberances growing slowly, small droplets of crimson falling from each new cut on his skin. One of them fell close to his eyes, it rolled down his cheek and disappeared.
Wake up
His eyes wandered once again, maybe he could stand up? Walk for a bit? He might be able to find that other person.
Run
His bones cracked with each move he made, like an articulated doll that had been forgotten for quite a while and suddenly used after a long time. Taking the first step was… hard, his dizziness almost made him fall back where he started, luckily that didn’t happen. His eyes searched in the distance for someone, that person… his name- what was his name?
“Techno?”
“George?” The name slipped his lips the moment he heard his name, right, his name was Techno, he- he was trapped, with George in some sort of… nightmare?
The brunette ran towards him, his clothes were in worse shape than he remembered, the mushrooms growing out of his body were more than before, and his eyes showed how exhausted he was; all Techno could guess was that he looked the same.
“Techno! I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“What’s.. Wha’ happen’?”
“I’ll explain later, right now just follow me, we need to leave.” His eyes were wide with terror, his skin pale and a level tremor on his hands as he grabbed Techno’s hand. “Follow me…”
He opened and closed his mouth, there was really nothing for him to say, not that he could think reasonably at least. Instead, he nodded and followed the British man through the flower field.
After a while, he recognized the path they were taking, he stopped in his tracks, fear leaving him stuck in his place as the memories of what happened when they arrived at a place Dream didn’t want them to go.
Annoyance was the first thing that crossed George’s face, then realization and guilt; their silence spoke volumes. “I’m… I’m sorry for what happened.”
His eyes were trained on the grass beneath his feet, “You… you’re apologizing.”
“Yeah…”
“Why..?”
“Because- well, if it wasn’t because of my id-“
“Stop.” George's mouth stayed agape at the order, eyes spoke confusion. “It’s not your fault.” ‘We both know who is’ was left unsaid.
George closed his mouth and averted his eyes for a moment, a few seconds later he looked back at the pinkette and gave a determined nod. “I know, let’s… let’s get going, I promise it’ll be better this time”. At the sight of his companion’s frown, the brunet grabbed both of his hands and gave them a small squeeze; “I have a plan, we’ll be fine.”
Techno sighed, there wasn’t much he could do anyway, so why not try?
It’s not like it matters anymore.
As they approached, familiar chirps made themselves known, and a chill ran down his spine, yet George kept going, a finger against his lips in the universal sign to keep quiet.
Terror had a tight grasp on his soul as they moved forward, eyes searching for any sign of the little blobs that could mess up their chance to escape. Soon enough they saw the archway, blurry images of what must be George’s memories and what was happening in his present life. He could go back.
“Techno… I can go home… I can go home!”
“George-”
•*•*•*•
Suddenly the white blobs started to chirp wildly. Not like they’ve done before, this was different.
They were scared.
The world around glitched; the sky turned into a deep carmine, droplets of blood falling from pitch black clouds. The smell of rotting flesh and old blood made Techno’s stomach turn, he was sure if he wasn’t inside his mind he would have thrown up already.
The grass dried in seconds, the chirping and squeaking of the little blobs grew louder with each passing second. Then, there was silence.
Both humans turned to look at each other, shivers running down their spines and pain flaring from within. They fell to their knees, limbs shaking as their bodies changed.
“Bad… friends…”
The Dreamon stood on its hind legs a few feet away from them, its head tilted to the side as it watched the “show”.
“Punish… punish-ment…”
Techno could only stare as the sharp protuberances in his body grew, skin giving in and flesh tearing. Everything hurted so badly.
“It hurts… please- Dream, please stop.” George’s eyes met its empty eye sockets. Its hackles raised, for a moment it made no sound, a long, long second…
A choked breath and a wet squelch took his attention away from his body tearing apart to find the brunet impaled through his chest with the Dreamon’s talons. “Dream…?”
“Liar… George… is a l-liar.”
It’s growl made Techno’s blood run cold, he met eyes with the agonising man, there wasn’t anything he could do, George’s body started to fade, the images of his present showing the frantic movements of who must be George’s family to wake him up.
In shaky legs, Techno stood and ran away. He could still hear the tearing of flesh and cracking of bones as the beast started its feast.
Its roar echoed through the plains, and Techno ran faster.
He needed to find his consciousness, find it and cross it, make it back with his family to at least say goodbye. With each step he could feel something tugging at him, at his soul, something that called for him, a warmth he’s been missing for a while now.
There it was, the frame of his consciousness greeting him from afar, his breathing grew heavy as exhaustion took over him, the sound of hooves and claws breaking branches or scratching tree trunks the only thing that kept him from stopping. His legs trembled and made him stumble, the protuberances taking a good part of what used to be his leg, Techno was sure that looking at the wounds would be his worst mistake ever. Well, not like running away from this creature was a better idea, but he’s not ready to see his own flesh torn apart.
As soon as he got to a couple of feet away from freedom, his body hit the ground, a large body covering his, wetness from it’s fur that he didn’t have to bother looking at to know who it belonged to, carmine talons on each side of him as the beast caged the pinkette with little effort.
He froze in place as fear invaded his senses, he needed to move, but that’d mean immediate death. Techno’s breath hitched as the beast got closer to his head, it sniffed once, twice.
“F-Fr-iend… Almost done… friend… soon…” the beast crooned as it nudged Techno’s head. Soon? What was soon? What was-
A scream ripped out his throat as his body tried to fight the last changes, failing miserably as he was no longer who-
…
……
………
Who was he?
-o0o-
—•—
-o0o-
Phil couldn’t understand who, or why, would take his bedridden son from the hospital. How could a person come into a private room inside a hospital with guards in all entrances, and not be detected by a single camera.
The day Phil discovered his son had disappeared was a day he had taken Tommy to visit the younger blond’s brother. The nurse had been nice to them since the day that Techno had to be hospitalised. But as soon as she opened the door to his son’s room, she froze for a good minute before taking off somewhere else. Panic had already settled in Phil’s heart, so without another second to lose, he opened the room to find… nothing.
The bed wasn’t made, the sheets and the duvet were stained in fresh blood, his heart broke in a million pieces as Tommy ran to the bed screaming for his brother to come back.
Losing two of his most loved ones for something out of his control made him feel miserable; they’ve been too late for Kristin to get an effective treatment, and now he had witnessed the way some… demon took one of his sons from his side.
Neither of his other two sons had been well after Techno’s disappearance, Phil had to put Wil inside a mental institution for how badly his perspective of life had turned, screaming at night begging for his brother to come back, to the creature that took him to let him return home; it had gotten to the point he’d hurt himself trying to “reunite” with Techno. Tommy on the other hand, he’d gone quiet, nothing more than two syllables whenever someone talked to him. Tubbo and Ranboo had tried their best to get him to talk more, or even play video games with them, Tommy would just shake his head and go inside Techno’s room for the rest of the day.
Phil wasn’t so sure anymore, he wanted to believe this “dreamon” had taken Techno in some supernatural way, but it didn’t make sense … Why would a creature like that get obsessed with a college student like his son? So he tried thinking it had been someone, a real person, who had kidnapped him.
They had a funeral after a month of Techno’s disappearance, a casket without a body, merely a way for them to mourn his loss. He could be dead, he could be alive, but with no trace of where he could be, or who’d taken him, there was no point in keeping their hopes up.
It was late, the cemetery was near its closing hours, Phil had brought Tommy with him to leave flowers on the tombstone. He knelt and prayed to his wife to look for their son, to care for him and protect him from whatever monster pried him away from his home.
That’s until he heard the rustling of bushes and a gasp escaping his youngest mouth.
Turning around, Phil was greeted by a tall figure, piercing red eyes meeting icy blue ones. Its body made a clicking sound as it moved, fallow deer-like antlers and a crown of some sorts made of obsidian coming out of its head, red fur covering most of its body, from it other pieces of obsidian broke through tattered skin and made a makeshift “armour” for the beast, its maw opened as it made strange pained noises, its tail swishing back and forth as it stepped closer to them.
Another creature appeared at its side, its hue green and white, empty eye sockets staring straight at their souls as it chirped and rumbled at the first beast. Tommy hid instantly behind his father, both of them using the tombstone as a makeshift barrier, the creature crooning at them, from its eyes tears of crimson descended the sides of its face.
The green beast backed off into the forest, clicking and snapping its mouth repeatedly. The other one stayed in place, its hackles raised as it got closer to both humans.
Phil kept Tommy behind him as he grasped at the straws of courage he could find to ask, “Who- What are you?”
The creature tilted its head. Whispers in the wind ran chills down the older blond’s spine, something was off, not only the presence of the monsters played part in it, but also something terrifyingly familiar.
“F-Frie-nds…?” Its head tilted to the other side, and took another step.
“Fa-mi-ly…”