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Sam was nine, and it was cold.
His toes wrinkled in torn, sodden socks as he checked to see they were still attached despite them feeling numb to the point of nonexistence. Droplets fell from sunken strands of green hair, making him flinch with every tap. His body curled inward, back facing the shallow cave which he’d carved out to shelter from the storm while his knees pointed out towards the night.
He was cold and it was wet, and Sam had never wanted to curl up in a bed anymore than he did in that moment.
“Sammy,” came a quiet call from behind him.
The creeper-hybrid turned his head momentarily to look back at his brothers, both of whom were crouched down by a poorly made fire and shivering in their wet clothes. Dream looked like he was going to vibrate out of existence with how violently his teeth were chattering, and Sam winced guiltily. Punz merely glanced cooly towards the mouth of the cave where Sam sat, before looking back at the fire.
“Yes, Dee?” Sam asked back, voice quiet as to not alert any mobs.
Dream shuffled, hands tucked into his chest with his knees raised. He looked nervous, which was uncommon for the five year old, but not concerning. His usually soft, fluffy golden hair was matted down his forehead, sticking everywhere from when Sam had tried to ruffle the water out. His lime hoodie looked heavy with rain, dark against his white skin. It was difficult to see his dark freckles from a distance, but the pink sunburn scars across the bridge of his nose and cheeks stood out in the glowing fire. Emerald eyes raised to meet gunpowder ones.
“It’s— it’s cold,” Dream whispered back in the silence, and Sam felt his heart clench.
It was Sam’s fault that they had gotten caught in the storm. He had miscalculated the time it would take to travel to the next village and, despite him knowing the signs of a storm to come, they still ended up in the middle of a stone wasteland with no tree cover.
“I know, buddy. Stay by the fire to warm up.”
There was a moment of silence besides the delicate crackle of embers and the chattering of rain on stone. The smell of smoke calmed the creeper-hybrid, dulling the anxiety building in his chest.
“Can you- can you come warm me up?” Dream spoke up again a few moments later.
Sam sighed, shoulders slumping. “I need to watch out for mobs, Dee. I can’t have anything come in while you sleep. Ask Punz to cuddle.”
“Punz is being grumpy ,” Dream pouted.
There was another gap of silence.
“Sammy, please . My hands are going to— they’re gonna fall off,” the youngest boy whined. “Look, look— they’re— they’re blue .”
“Sam, please for the love of Ender, just make Dream shut up,” Punz groaned, shuffling closer to the fire.
The creeper-hybrid clicked his tongue. “You can just give your little brother a hug, Nez, and then he wouldn’t be complaining as much.”
“Hey! I’m cold and I just want… want a-a-a hug.”
“Sam, please ,” Punz groaned, rubbing his temples. “Just board up the cave, you don’t need to act all guard dog on us.”
The eldest brother sighed loudly, standing on shaky legs as he dusted nonexistent dust off his thighs. He was shivering even as he haphazardly raised wooden planks to the mouth of the cave, blocking off the entrance so that no mobs could enter while they slept.
Dream grinned happily when Sam finally sat next to him by the fire, pulling the blonde between his legs so that he could lean back against his chest. The pair shivered despite the embers flickering towards them and the body heat being shared between them.
Sam gripped the blonde’s hands in his own, trying to bring warmth back to his blue fingers. The five year old’s hands looked almost half the size of Sam’s, the skin calloused but unscarred in comparison to the hybrid’s fire-kissed palms. Dream tightened his grip in response, wriggling back to get comfortable.
He looked across the campfire, grey eyes catching on Punz’ lowered gaze. The blue eyed boy looked even colder than before, his knee jumping as if it was going to suddenly set off into the sky like a firework. His cheeks were sullen and grey, void of any warmth that he’d usually have if it wasn’t for the storm.
“Nez,” Sam called across, making the younger boy glance up.
Punz looked like he was trying hard to stay disgruntled, despite the obvious shivering and want for warmth. His platinum hair was tucked under the hood of his jumper, which had been stained with mud and leaves.
“Nez, come here.”
The blonde frowned. “No.”
Sam sighed. “Please, Punz, just come here. You’re cold, and you’d be warmer if you came here.”
Punz pursed his lips, glaring lightly at his two brothers. “It’s your fault we’re in this mess.”
“I know, Nez, and I’m sorry. But we’re here now, and I’m not going to let you freeze to death. Please.”
The middle brother huffed before shuffling over to Sam’s side, pressing his head into the crook of his shoulder. The creeper-hybrid wrapped an arm around Punz, so that both brothers were laying back on his chest in front of the fire.
Punz grumbled but his actions betrayed him as he snuggled into the collar of Sam’s jumper. Dream had seemingly already fallen asleep, if the soft huffs of half-snoozing breaths were anything to go by.
Sam smiled as he leaned back against the wall of the cave, tightening his grip on his two little brothers.
“Goodnight Nez. Goodnight Dee.”
“G’night Sammy.”
━━━━━━━━
Sam was fourteen, and it was loud.
He only managed to process the sudden screaming before he was being flung into the air, wood and glass splintering as TNT was set off. His body slammed into the wall opposite to the window, air suddenly leaving his lungs as he was left to gasp on the emptiness. Everything ached, and his eyes stung from the ash and dust in the air.
And then he realised what was happening.
“Dream! Punz!” Sam yelled out, raising on shaky knees to search the rest of the house.
The wall that had been exploded was completely gone, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. On the other side was chaos.
People ran down the cobblestone streets, screaming and stumbling through the gunpowder and thick smoke. Houses were alight with orange flames, crumbling from explosions. Everything was so Enderdamned loud .
Sam looked away from the collapsed wall, stumbling backwards into the main corridor. His diamond sword glimmered from where it leant against the wall outside his door, and he grabbed it swiftly. He ran to Punz’ room first as it was the closest, only to see it empty.
Fuck, he was too late. Punz was gone— Punz was dead. They were both dead, he was too late—
“Sam!”
The creeper-hybrid spun at the sound of his name, eyes widening at the familiar voice. Dream .
He sped down the hallway, falling through the doorway and into the youngest’s room. Dream was huddled on the floor, blood covering half his face as Punz held him tightly.
They were okay. They were okay .
“Fuck, are you hurt? Where’s the blood from?” Sam asked immediately, rushing over to crouch by his brothers’ sides and dropping the sword by his knees.
The pair looked a mess, with scorch marks on both their clothes, blood in Dream’s hair and pink blisters around Punz’ shoulder. It was then that Sam realised that part of the explosion had also collapsed Dream’s bedroom, the window curtains on fire.
Outside there was screaming.
“What’s h-happening, Sammy?” asked Dream, his eyes wide in fear.
Punz looked to the green-haired brother as well, face just as confused and worried. Sam swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the movement.
“I don’t know, but we have to leave.”
The middle brother frowned, pale eyebrows furrowing. “Leave? Surely we can just hide.”
Sam gave a firm shake of his head, gripping both boy’s arms to pull them to the gaping hole in the wall. Punz kept an arm wrapped firmly around Dream, which Sam was thankful for since he didn’t know what he would do if he were to lose one of them in the stream of villagers.
They ran out of the house, weaving through the back alleyways and badly paved streets. One of Sam’s hands was raised with the sword, while the other gripped tightly around Punz’ wrist.
They had almost reached the edge of the village when suddenly a force knocked Sam to the side, sending him sprawling into the dirt.
He distantly heard Dream and Punz yell, but all he could pay attention to was the burning in his shoulder. He glanced down to see a ragged arrow sticking out of his bicep, blood already soaking the sleeve of his jumper.
Fuck .
Sam clenched his jaw, snapping the end of the arrow before standing up again. The pillager who had shot him was standing a few feet away, crossbow already lowering to reveal a sharp grin. Another one stood beside him, twisting a lighter in his hand.
“Run!” the hybrid yelled back to his two younger brothers, turning slightly to see their worried faces.
“What?” Punz cried. “No, no , Sam. Come on, we can run!”
They couldn’t, and Punz knew it just as much as Sam did.
He grit his teeth, adjusting the grip on his sword.
“I said run , Nez. Take Dream with you. Don’t look back until you’re safe,” he ordered, voice clipped. He could vaguely hear Dream cry out in protest and Punz attempted to reply before he was shaking his head firmly. “Remember our promise, Nez.”
The platinum blonde looked like he wanted to say something, but slumped finally, grabbing onto Dream and pulling him away to the tree line.
“This isn’t our last goodbye,” he whispered.
“No, no! ” Dream yelled, kicking his little ten year old legs as much as he could against Punz’ hold. “Put me— put me down . Sam!”
But Sam tuned him out, falling into a defensive stance just on time for an axe to be swung to his left, almost clipping his ear. It didn’t matter if he was a fourteen year old fighting two grown men.
As long as his brothers were safe .
━━━━━━━━
Sam was seventeen, and it was quiet.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
“What do you mean you’re leaving ?” Sam replied flatly.
Punz sighed, shoulders slumping. His blue eyes looked almost grey in the poorly lit room, no familiar sparkle or glint that appeared whenever Punz was excited. Sam hadn’t seen that sparkle in a while.
“I can’t… I can’t do this thing anymore,” Punz admitted.
Green eyebrows furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I can’t sit still anymore. I can’t— I can’t do this whole thing where we settle down and just— I need to move . I need to live with just the skin on my back and constantly moving, Sam,” said Punz. “This life… this normal life just isn’t for me.”
There was a pause. Wolves howled out into the dark night.
“You mean you won’t even stay for me? For Dream?” Sam asked, voice strained as he crossed his arms.
He couldn’t understand what was happening. They’d been living fine for months, they’d finally found a safe place with their own farm and a village nearby. Sam did redstone for villagers to gain some money every once in a while but they were pretty self sufficient anyway.
They were happy .
At least he thought they were.
“This might be good for you. It’s good for Dream to settle down and finally feel safe but,” Punz inhaled before breathing out slowly. “You know I’m not like that. I need to move and travel the world and see things. I don’t do this— this permanent thing.”
“But it’s always been us, Nez. We are a permanent thing. Family is a permanent thing. Are you saying you’re giving that up too?” Sam asked indignantly.
Punz sighed, running a hand through his hair. “No! Of course you’re still my brothers, but— but I can’t live in this permanent house with these permanent things and weird sense of security. I don’t like it. I don’t trust it.”
Sam clenched his fist.
There was a pause.
“Where would you go?”
Punz looked up suddenly, eyes twinkling as if he hadn’t expected that response. He floundered for a moment, mouth opening and closing with no noise accompanying it. “Uh— well, wherever suits. I’ll probably find a job somewhere, something that has me travel with it. I don’t know. The unknown is more fun.”
Sam bit his tongue.
He didn’t like it. At all. Punz was only sixteen. And he was leaving . He was leaving Dream and Sam and—
“You have to tell Dream. I’m not going to be the one to give the news,” Sam sighed.
Punz nodded. “Of course. So… you’re really letting me go?”
“I don’t… I don’t like it. But I’m not going to keep you here against your will,” Sam admitted. He looked up, pale blue meeting stone grey. “But you have to promise me that you’ll stay safe.”
“Of course, I’m not that stupid—”
“I’m serious, Punz,” interrupted Sam. It was rare for him to use Punz’ full name, rather than the nickname he’d adopted. “You can’t— you can’t get yourself hurt or dead. I know we all respawn, it’s fine, but— I can’t have you get hurt. Dream can’t have you get hurt.”
Punz stared at him for a moment, before nodding once. “I know, Sam.”
The hybrid suddenly slumped, giving in to the urge to hug his brother. He wrapped his arms around his shoulders, pulling his face into the crook of his neck. Punz was much shorter than him, which let him rest his chin atop his blonde hair. The younger gripped back tightly, sighing in his hold.
“You’re the best big brother ever, you know,” Punz said after a moment of silence. “I— I don’t think I would have been able to do what you’ve done. Protect us. Keep us together. Just… deal with us.”
Sam chuckled, feeling tears prick his eyes. “Yeah, well you’re not an easy pair to keep in control.”
“I know,” Punz admitted. “Which is why you’re the best.”
They both stepped back, Punz wiping a fallen tear from below the green haired boy’s eye. He smiled sadly.
“This isn’t our last goodbye,” Punz whispered.
“I know, Nez. I won’t let it be.”
━━━━━━━━
Sam was nineteen, and it was sunny.
Heat beat down from the sky, flooding his face in an orange glow. His creeper scales glimmered in the light, a stark contrast against the white scar tissue of past explosions across his jaw and neck. Smokey eyes squinted against the glare of the sun and if anyone saw the tears in his eyelashes, he’d blame it on the brightness.
“You take damn good care of him, you hear me?” said Sam sternly, glaring lightly at both Sapnap and George who chuckled in response.
“Don’t worry, we won’t go blowing anything up on purpose,” Sapnap grinned, getting Dream into a headlock and ruffling his hair.
“Probably,” George huffed.
“Oi!” Dream pushed the ravenette off, laughing all the while.
No matter how sad Sam was to see his youngest brother go, he was happy that he’d finally found some good friends. He’d known George and Sapnap for plenty of years now, and they’d finally decided that they’d grown out of their childhood. It was time to explore, like Punz had gone to do.
Sam understood in a way, despite never having the opportunity to do the same. Sam’s childhood was just taking care of his brothers.
And now they didn’t need him to.
“Ender, I’m gonna miss you,” Sam sighed.
He couldn’t help himself from wrapping Dream up in his arms tightly, pressing his lips to the younger’s hair despite him almost being the same height by now. All brothers were decently tall, but Dream had already surpassed Punz and Sam was slightly worried he’d be taller than him one day.
Dream laughed into the collar of Sam’s jumper, gripping back just as tightly.
“You say that as though I’m never gonna see you again.”
“Well, I don’t know how long it will be, Dee.”
“I’ll send letters.”
“And I’ll respond to every single one.”
“Clingy.”
“I’m your big brother, I’m allowed to be clingy.”
The blonde huffed out a short wheeze before letting go. Sam pulled away, leaving his hands on his brother’s shoulders. Ender , he had already grown up so big. He was fifteen . And Sam was just going to let him go.
“Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” he said firmly.
Dream raised a brow. “That’s a big thing to promise, Sammy.”
“Well I don’t want to see any Wanted posters with your face on it next time I visit the Capitol, okay?” Sam snorted.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Sam exhaled deeply before enveloping Dream in a hug one last time. The blonde whined, groaning about him being overprotective and clingy, before finally he let him go.
Dream grinned brightly before pressing a kiss to his cheek. “This isn’t our last goodbye.”
Sam smiled sadly. “I love you, little brother.”
There was a snort in response. “Yeah, I love you too. Don’t mope while I’m gone!”
“I won’t.”
It was a lie.
━━━━━━━━
Sam was twenty three, and it was weird.
Dream was wearing a mask.
It was simple, just a childish smiley face on a white ceramic circle. But it covered Dream’s face, and Sam couldn’t see his brother. He couldn’t see his washed out green eyes which sometimes looked like sun-bleached leaves that had faded in colour a bit. He couldn’t see the dark smattering of freckles across his cheeks and ears. Or the sunburn over the bridge of his nose. Or the single dimple in his left cheek.
He couldn’t see it, because his brother was wearing a mask.
Sam chuckled to ease the tension he felt in his shoulders. “What’s with the mask, Dee?”
For the first time, Sam couldn’t see his brother’s reaction. He always had such obvious tells. It felt uncomfortable without them.
But then the mask was lifted and Dream was rushing forward to wrap his arms around Sam. The blonde had grown taller, but so had Sam. Sam’s hybrid genes had decided to make him 6”7 while Dream had reached a reasonable height of 6”3. Punz was still the shortest at 6”.
And Sam had missed this.
He hadn’t hugged his little brother in four years, and Ender he missed him so much. It had been lonely without Punz or Dream in the house, but Sam had buried himself in work to fill the space they left.
Dream was taller, and stronger. His shoulders were broader, his chest firmer and legs longer. He looked like a runner, which was fitting considering his fame in Speedrunning. His hair was a bit darker, and less fluffy than it had been when he was younger.
But when the green haired man leaned back to look at his face, he smiled at the sight. He still had his freckles and his dimple and his sunburnt nose.
He was still Dream .
Even so, there were new additions to his appearance. A scar ran across the bridge of his nose, thick white scar tissue interrupting pink sunburn. Another cut from his left temple into his hairline, and there was one catching the bottom of his lip.
Sam tried to ignore them for the sake of being happy to see his little brother.
“And you have a mask too now?” Dream replied with a raised brow.
His hand reached up to the gas mask over his jaw, touching the black plastic and rubber. “Oh yeah. I realised it would be better if I wasn’t breathing smoke everywhere all the time. Besides, my breath smells like gunpowder. The mask is just to filter it out.”
Dream snorted. “I always did complain about your gunpowder breath.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sam rolled his eyes. “Where’s Punz, anyway.”
“Here.”
The hybrid glanced to the side, surprised at the sound of a familiar voice.
Standing a few feet to his left was Punz.
He looked… a bit different.
Colder, darker. He still had his usual white hoodie and combat pants with gold chains hanging off the side. But there were slits through his eyebrows and stubble on his jaw and his bare forearms were scarred all to hell. His platinum blonde hair had been cut shorter and it made him look older.
“Nez,” Sam breathed out.
Punz smiled smally. “Sam.”
“Ender, I haven’t seen you in so long,” Sam gasped, rushing forward to wrap his arms around his brother.
Punz was oddly stiff when he returned the hug. “I know.”
Sam released him quickly. “Where have you been . You never sent anything and I didn’t know where you were and— fuck you, Nez! What the fuck did you think I thought? I thought you were gone !”
Punz took the shouting without even a flinch. “I know.”
The creeper hybrid huffed. “So? Where were you?”
“Working.”
“Working?”
“I’m a private mercenary. You want something done, I’ll do it. As long as there’s cash involved,” Punz shrugged.
Blink. Blink.
“What!?” Sam exclaimed. “You’ve been— you’ve been killing people for money?”
“Murder isn’t the only thing people pay me for.”
Sam wanted to scream, wanted to shove Punz into a room until he told him everything about the years away. But instead he just took a deep breath, letting the rising hiss fade into the background.
“And now?”
Punz shrugged. “Not much. Just… sticking around for a bit.”
“What happened to nothing permanent?”
It was a low blow, but Sam didn’t really care. It seemed as though Punz could take anything now.
“Nothing except family, remember?” Punz said, a small smile tilting his lips.
Sam made a small humpf sound, crossing his arms.
He flinched when an arm wrapped around his shoulder, and he turned to see Dream grinning back softly.
“We said it wasn’t our last goodbye, didn’t we?” the youngest raised a brow.
Sam rolled his eyes, fighting the smile tugging at his lips. “Yeah. yeah, you did. Now come here and give me another hug.”
━━━━━━━━
Sam was twenty four, and it was dark.
Blackstone filled his vision, the only thing lighting the dark room being redstone lamps. It was cold down there, so far below the Earth’s surface that Sam could see bedrock interrupting the blackstone bricks.
And Sam felt nauseous.
Completely and utterly sick .
“I’ll accompany you to the prison,” Sapanp said stiffly beside him, and Sam resisted the overwhelming urge to just throw up right there.
But instead he gulped thickly, nodding once despite not facing Sapnap. Because instead he was looking at the floor of the vault, grey eyes hooded as they stared down his soon-to-be-prisoner.
His prisoner who was also his little brother.
Dream.
The boy (he wasn’t even a boy anymore, he was an adult — when did he grow up, when did he get so old? ) held eye contact. Half his mask had been broken, splitting diagonally so that one eye was revealed. His forehead was bleeding, and Sam resisted the urge to wipe it away with his thumb before it dripped into his eye.
His eyes which seemed different than the last time Sam saw them.
( Everything about Dream was different. )
They were darker, greyer. Sam used to compare them to sun-bleached leaves, or seaweed at the bottom of aquamarine water, flickering in the noon’s yellow glow. Now they were so dark they were almost black. In fact, Sam didn’t know if he could even call them green anymore.
And they were so Enderdamned empty .
Sam recalled when he used to be able to read Dream and all his obvious tells. And then the mask was pulled on and Sam didn’t know who he was even looking at anymore.
“You’re really going to put me into prison?” the blonde asked, voice gravelly and painful-sounding.
Sam winced. He didn’t sound like Dream. He didn’t sound like his little brother.
“I’m protecting this SMP, Dream,” the hybrid replied, voice forced into stability. “You’re a danger to society, and you’ve gone too far.”
Dream tilted his head. Sam could see small black lines creeping up from under his jumper, but disregarded them as a trick of the light.
“I’m your brother, Sammy.”
Sammy .
He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to trident up so high into the sky that he couldn’t breathe anymore—
He inhaled.
Ignoring the quiet questions behind him and confused noises of ‘brother?’ , ‘they’re related?’ , Sam kneeled down in front of Dream. The man’s hands were chained behind his back, body bare of any armour or weapon. He hadn’t looked this vulnerable in years.
The green haired man lifted a hand to the other’s cheek, meeting eyes. He lowered his gas mask to ensure Dream could see his whole face clearly.
“You are not my brother,” he whispered, and the words tasted like gunpowder in his mouth.
Dream’s eyebrow twitched, and Sam thought it was the first sign of emotion he’d seen from the blonde in years. It didn’t make the nausea in his stomach ease any more.
“What happened to family being permanent?” the blonde asked.
“ You happened, Dream. You… “ he sighed, biting his cheek. “ This is not you. This is not my little brother. I don’t know who I’m looking at but it’s not— it’s not my Dream.”
The Speedrunner hummed, as if amused. “Then who is your Dream?”
“My Dream is kind, and stupidly loyal. He’s insecure about his height because of me, even after passing Punz when he was twelve . He sounds like a tea kettle when he laughs and has one dimple in his left cheek. He hates sunscreen which is why he’s always sunburnt. He’s humble and hates being falsely accused. He’s bad with words and stuttered all the time as a kid. He is— he was … perfect. He was my little brother and I loved him,” Sam whispered, voice cracking. “But you… you’re not him.”
For a moment he thought he could see tears pooling in Dream’s eyes, which seemed to brighten to green for a second (but that was just a trick of the light, right? People’s eyes can’t just change colours ).
But then Dream threw his head back, laughing maniacally.
“Ender, you’re getting sappy , Sam. Did you rehears that? Did you say that to yourself in the mirror this morning? I feel honoured, really,” the man laughed, and Sam couldn’t look at him anymore.
He stood up, grabbing the back of Dream’s collar to pull him to his feet. He shoved him towards the elevator, people moving to the side so they could walk through. Sapnap and Bad flanked both his sides, weapons ready incase Dream bolted.
Nearest to the elevator was Punz.
Dream grinned. “Ohhhh, Punzy,” he called with a smirk. “Nice betrayal there, real classy. Really feeling the whole family thing at the moment.”
Punz didn’t say anything, just nodded once at Sam who frowned.
“You never were one for commitment,” Dream continued, shrugging even as Sam tightened his grip on the chains. “Thought it was only a matter of time before you’d ditch the family thing as well.”
They stepped onto the elevator in silence, Dream still staring at Punz. They began rising off the base of the vault.
“This isn’t the last time you’ll hear me say goodbye, Punz.”
━━━━━━━━
Sam was twenty four, and it was lonely.
He got lost in his work, spending all his time either in the prison or on stupid redstone projects. The most recent one was a robot for the hotel Tommy wanted, since Sam didn’t have time to build it with the Warden job. Sam Nook was his newest creation.
He hadn’t spoken to Punz in months.
━━━━━━━━
Sam was twenty four, and it was hot.
Pandora’s Vault was boiling, even with the multiple levels of obsidians surrounding the lava. It made the Warden armour extremely uncomfortable.
But the hybrid couldn’t care as he searched the chests for fire resistant potions, scrambling around all the books and potato sacks. When he finally found one, he gulped it down.
Sam dove into the lava, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of being surrounded by molten rock. It was difficult, considering the density of the melted magma, but he eventually reached the main vault in the middle of the lava pool.
“Tommy!” he immediately yelled when he shook the lava droplets off of himself.
But all he received in response was laughing. Loud, maniacal and insane.
“Tommy’s sleeping, Sammy,” Dream laughed, leaning back on the obsidian wall.
And there was blood everywhere .
It covered half the room, staining the sink and water puddle in the corner. He lifted his feet to realise he had been stepping in it. And then, there against the right wall of the cell, was a body.
It was bloody and mangled and Sam couldn’t even make out the facial features. But it was completely and undeniably Tommy.
And he wasn’t breathing.
Sam pushed back the urge to throw up, and instead raised his fingers to check the boy’s pulse. “Wake up, Tommy. C’mon, buddy.”
Laughing. Laughing. Laughing.
“He’s sleeping , Sammy, I already told you,” the prisoner cackled. “He was being too loud so I had to put him to sleep. Now it’s quiet.”
“What?” Sam whispered.
He lifted Tommy’s body to his chest.
Dream’s head lulled over to look at him. There was a lump in his arms, and Sam vaguely remembered there being a cat in the cell last time he checked. Oh Ender . Dream stroked the cat, but it didn’t move. It looked limp and cold.
“He’s sleeping now,” the blonde cooed, quieter than before. “Such a loud boy. Needed to be quiet. Don’t you like quiet, Sammy?”
The hybrid gagged on vomit, before swallowing thickly.
“What did you do, Dream?”
━━━━━━━━
Sam was twenty four, and it was raining.
He sat by Punz on the veranda stairs, rain trickling down on the toes of his combat boots. His gas mask sat next to him, him having worn it for so long that his jaw was beginning to hurt.
“Where did I go wrong, Punz?” Sam whispered into the rain.
There was silence in response. The clink of gold chains.
“I don’t think it was your fault, Sam,” Punz replied simply. “Nobody saw it coming.”
Sam closed his eyes, breathing in the smell of wet dirt and damp gunpowder.
“But I’m his oldest brother. I raised him.”
“The person he was as a kid was way too far from who he is now to even consider that your parenting skills are the cause of this.”
“But he’s my little brother.”
“He’s mine too.”
A wet nose pushed up against Sam’s side, and he turned to see Fran sitting near his hip. He sighed, running a hand through her white fur.
“He talks to me, you know?” Sam continued, looking out at the grey sky. “Dream, I mean. He begs me to kill him. He taunts me and… he cries sometimes. It's— confusing.”
Punz hummed.
Sam’s eyebrows furrowed slightly when he remembered something the prisoner had said. “He doesn’t remember his childhood.”
Pause.
“What?” Punz asked, turning to face his older brother finally.
Sam frowned. “I brought it up once. A memory, from when we were younger. He didn’t remember.”
The blonde shrugged. “Probably too young to remember.”
“No,” the hybrid shook his head. “I told him lots of things and he just— he didn’t seem to know what I was talking about.”
Silence, except for the pouring rain.
Punz breathed out deeply. “You know… in the vault. When the elevator was going back up and you were taking Dream to the prison?”
Sam hummed in acknowledgement.
“He didn’t… he didn’t say the thing right,” Punz finished.
“What?” Sam asked, eyebrows scrunching up.
The blonde locked eyes with him, seemingly in deep thought. “He didn’t say it right. You know the ‘this isn’t our last goodbye’ thing? He said it wrong. We never say it wrong.”
Sam mulled the words over in his head.
“Maybe he’s so insane that he’s forgetting things,” he suggested, but it sounded more like a question.
Punz made a sound of agreement. “Yeah, I guess. Just thought it was weird.”
It was weird. Really weird.
━━━━━━━━
Sam was twenty four, and it was strange.
Sometimes he saw Tommy and thought he was looking at his little brother.
Maybe it was the blonde hair which was freakishly similar to Dream’s when he was younger, or maybe it was the blue eyes which looked green under the right light. Maybe it was the obnoxiously loud laugh or smattering of freckles or stubbornness or undying loyalty or lanky limbs or occasional stutter—
Sam didn’t know what exactly it was. But it hurt.
Tommy would smile, eyes glinting in the sunlight as he turned back at Sam, and all he could see was Dream.
“Sam?” Tommy asked one day, and the hybrid hummed in response.
“Yeah, Tommy?” he turned, pausing his work.
Tommy was sitting on the bench, watching while Sam cut logs. The blonde had helped him at first but began complaining almost five minutes in.
“What was Dream like as a kid?” Tommy asked, and Sam almost choked.
“Huh?” he coughed out, eyes going wide.
Tommy scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sorry, I— I didn’t mean to be r-rude or intrude or anything. You— you don’t have to t-tell me—”
“He was like you,” Sam interrupted, and he didn’t know why he said it but he did .
The blonde froze, looking surprised. “Really?”
Sam nodded after a moment of hesitation. “Yeah.”
“How?”
In every way possible .
“Um,” Sam shrugged, resting a hand on his hip. His black hoodie was thrown over the bench, leaving him in an old white tank top. “He just— he was loud. And annoying. And clingy, but he’d never admit it. He was loyal to those he loved, to a point where it would often get him into trouble. He was a great leader and… his friends adored him. People just got the feeling that they should listen to him, no matter what he was doing. I don’t… I don’t know. He was a kid, I guess.”
He looked up to see Tommy staring at him.
The blonde looked away. “Oh. He sounded like fun.”
Sam smiled sadly. “Yeah… yeah, he was.”
━━━━━━━━
Sam was twenty five, and it was tense.
He watched Quackity through the surveillance camera, biting his cheek anxiously. He’d given Quackity his weapons and a pair of pliers, so that he could torture Dream.
So that he could torture his little brother.
But— no .
That wasn’t his little brother in there,
That was some… monster. It wasn’t Dream.
Sam swallowed again, knee bouncing against his desk.
Dream sounded panicked on the other end of the com line, eyes widening as he realised what Quackity was doing. Quackity gripped tightly around the prisoner’s arm, knife brandished in his other hand.
But then something happened that made Sam freeze.
“ SAM!” Dream yelled out. “ SAM, PLEASE!”
The hybrid slapped a hand over his mouth, biting down on any noise which tried to tear through his teeth. He couldn’t do this anymore, he couldn’t .
“ SAM HELP!”
That wasn’t Dream. That wasn’t his brother. It wasn’t. It wasn’t him, it wasn’t him .
“ SAMMY!”
━━━━━━━━
Sam was twenty five, and it was terrifying.
He could feel his heart racing beneath the grip of his ribcage, almost quivering with how quickly it was beating. It made him feel sick. Sweat dripped down the line of his neck, meeting the hem of his tank top there.
It was too hot to wear his usual jumper, with how hot it was out in the glare of the sun. His hands shook, knuckles white as he clutched tightly on the worn leather handle of his sword.
Tubbo was kneeled down on the ground, scratching runes into the dark oak wood. Sam tried to focus more on the loud sound of wood being carved, rather than the voice coming from inside the pit.
The ‘containment pit for containing shit’ as Tubbo had so creatively named it.
Sam appreciated it, kind of. At least not everything was dark and serious. And whenever someone said it, it always lifted the pressure building in his throat.
Because he was so fucking scared .
“You almost done?” Fundy asked towards Tubbo, who hummed around where he was biting his tongue in concentration. “Okay, I got the weakness potions and blaze rods.”
Sam watched as the fox hybrid grabbed said objects out of his inventory, setting them to the side of the pit opening. The murky purple potions swirled, thick in the fragile splash bottle. Steam blew off the blaze rods.
“We haven’t done this in a while but it should work,” said Fundy, turning to the group of non-hunters there.
Sam nodded, feeling Sapnap shift behind him. George, Punz, Bad and Foolish were there too. They hadn’t wanted to make it public just yet, considering the number of things that could go wrong and the amount of protest he’d receive for letting Dream out of prison.
Sapnap, George and Bad were there for… obvious reasons. Because they were Dream’s best friends, and they deserved to be there if there was any glimpse of Tubbo being right and them being able to get their Dream back. Sam had forced Punz to come after the mercenary had shared his very pessimistic views on the whole situation.
And then there was Foolish.
He wasn’t very close to Dream, which was understandable considering he’d only recently arrived in the SMP. But Fundy had made it clear how much easier the whole process would be if they had a literal god working with them.
Apparently Foolish’s status as the Totem God meant he had access to the spirit world, considering Totems literally breached the laws of life and death. With Foolish’s ability to observe the spirit world, he would be able to tell if any second presence left Dream during the ritual.
That was if there even was a second presence.
Because for all they knew, Dream wasn’t even possessed by a Dreamon.
“What if this doesn’t work?” George asked, voice weak.
Sam knew the feeling. He couldn’t help but think that this was all going to go so very wrong. That he was putting his hopes up for nothing.
Maybe that was why he wanted to throw up.
Tubbo blew away the splinters from the carved runes, standing up and dusting off his jeans. “Then it doesn’t work and he goes back into the Vault.”
The boy looked like he was trying extra hard to be nonchalant and positive, but Sam could see the shaky in his smile and the tension between his shoulder blades.
The ritual all happened so quickly, Sam feeling like he was floating in some dream-like state while Tubbo and Fundy threw the potions down. He dissociated when screams started coming from inside the pit, loud and painful.
But Sam was up in his own little bubble, vision blurry as all he could hear was the rushing of his own blood and shallow breathing in his head. It all felt so fake. So… not real.
Was this real?
Was he here?
“It’s not… something fucked up,” Fundy said afterwards, when Dream had been reduced to whimpers and intangible mumbling. “It— clearly it did something , but not the right thing .”
Foolish hummed quietly, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. For a moment his eyes went white and foggy before he seemed to come back to reality.
“There’s definitely a disruption in the spirit dimension,” the god informed, but he looked confused. “It’s… I can’t see if there are two separate beings, though. How long could he have potentially been possessed?”
Sapnap and George shared a look.
“We don’t know. Everything kind of happened gradually,” Sapnap shrugged, shoulders tense.
Sam pursed his lips. “Did he ever tell you why he began wearing a mask?”
George glanced up. “No. He just decided to one day and when we asked he got super defensive. But that was ages ago. You don’t think…”
The creeper hybrid sighed. “I don’t know. It’s just something we never really got an answer to. That would mean he’s been possessed for… what, five years ?”
Foolish inhaled sharply. “A Dreamon link for such a long time would… make things a bit harder. It would mean Dream has been a host for five years. Five years of being trapped in his own body. He’s weak, and he’s starved. The Dreamon would have… almost absolute control by now.”
Punz crossed his arms. “How do we even know there is a Dreamon? What if he’s just acting. Like he always does.”
The Totem God shook his head. “No, there’s definitely something else at play. Can’t you smell it?”
Sam couldn’t smell much with his gas mask, but turned to the others with a raised brow. They just looked equally confused. Except for Bad who nodded his head in consideration.
“Oh, right,” Foolish winced. “Mortals.”
Bad snorted.
Sam tried to focus more on what Foolish had said before. ‘There’s definitely something else at play’ . So Dream wasn’t… he wasn’t himself? It wasn’t his little brother who did all those terrible things?
( He could have his little brother back? )
Tubbo ignored the comment. “If the Dreamon has such a strong hold on its host, then we have to tear the connection. Something that individualises them. We’ve been seeing them as the same being for five years . If we can… if we can remind the real Dream that he’s a real person, his own person, then we may be able to weaken the connection enough.”
Foolish scratched his jaw. “It’s… plausible. Our biggest issue currently is Dream’s weakness. Both mentally and physically, he’s drained of all energy. To cut the connection, we’re relying on Dream’s ability to do so. I don’t know if he’s strong enough.”
Sapnap snorted. “If anyone can do it, it’s Dream.”
Sam looked away.
“So how do we do this exactly?” Bad asked. “Weaken the connection?”
Tubbo shrugged. “Help him individualise himself. Remind him that it’s his body and that he can take the power back. Currently, the Dreamon is just… using everything. Draining his power, taking his body, using his voice, trapping him in his own head.”
“We talk to him then?” Sapnap asked.
Tubbo, Foolish and Fundy nodded.
There was a moment of silence as the group considered their next move.
“I want to go down to him,” Sam announced suddenly.
He looked up, only to be faced with wide eyes.
“What?” Fundy exclaimed. “No, no, no, no . He’s too dangerous right now. He could kill you.”
Sam shrugged, trying not to show his nerves. “He’s my brother. He won’t hurt me.”
There was a scoff from Punz. “That thing is not our brother, Sam. You said so yourself.”
“If Dream’s really still in there, then he won’t kill me.”
The two brothers stared at each other, cool blues narrowed in thought and misty greys stubbornly blank. Finally, Punz sighed.
“Okay. Let him go down,” the blonde nodded to Fundy and Tubbo. “If he kills you, Sam, I’ll never forgive either of you.”
The hybrid nodded before clearing his inventory out onto the floor. His armour and gas mask were stripped too, leaving Sam with nothing that Dream could use to escape.
Fundy handed over the end of a rope, before he was lowering himself into the pit.
Down there it was dark.
The dark oak planks left it dull and shadowed, despite it being daytime. It was cold, so deep in the ground, and the air felt damp. When his feet hit the ground, he shivered.
Dream was cowered down in the corner of the room, knees tucked up to his chest. He looked so small. Sam swallowed thickly.
“Dream?” Sam asked quietly.
This was easy. All he had to do was talk to Dream. Get him to remember himself. Bring him back.
The blonde looked up quickly, eyes wide in fear and Sam winced. Dream looked… like shit, to put simply.
His face was bloody and bruised from the last time Quackity had visited (which— did that mean Dream had undergone torture when he really didn’t do anything wrong?). Blonde hair was matted down with thick red blood, staining his clothes too.
He hadn’t seen him this close up in months.
Black lines grew up from under his dirty jumper, wrapping around his jaw and ear and stretching into his hairline. It covered his left temple, almost reaching his eye. Dreamon scars , Tubbo’s voice reminded him internally. The boy had said something about Dream having them if he was really possessed.
“Sam?” Dream asked with a shaky voice. “Sam, you gotta get me out.”
“I’m not letting you out, Dream,” Sam whispered.
The blonde looked terrified. “Why? Sam, Sam— it hurts . You’re letting them hurt me. Sam, please —”
“No. I’m not letting you out, because you’re not Dream. I know what you are. And it’s not my little brother.”
Something flickered in Dream’s eyes, a flash of grass green, before they darkened again.
A smile widened. His head cocked to the side.
“Oh, Sammy, what are you doing to my boy?” the voice cooed mockingly. “You’re confusing him, Sammy. I have to say, this whole thing is quite impressive. Blaze powder infused dark oak, weakness potions, blaze rod chains. You have some good hunters up there.”
Sam stared at the person, and he couldn’t see his brother. He didn’t know how he couldn’t see it before. Whoever he was looking at was clearly not Dream .
“Hm,” Sam hummed.
He lowered to the opposite corner of the pit and Dream watched him closely, confused.
“I want to speak to Dream,” the hybrid spoke clearly, despite his heart racing a hundred times per second.
Blonde eyebrows furrowed, head twitching strangely. Sam hoped that was a good thing, and continued talking.
“I had some things that I never really got to tell him, and I’ve never forgiven myself for it,” the hybrid admitted, leaning his head back against the wood. “I grew up raising Dream, you know. I was the oldest of us three, so it meant I had responsibility for the two. Dream was… heh, he was a rascal as a kid. Chatty and cocky and bratty to anyone else who saw him. But to those who… who really knew him… he was caring. Loyal. Ambitious. Protective. Generous and modest and…” Sam squinted, a small smile tugging at his lips as he dipped into his memories, “and he used to blush whenever someone complimented him. His ears would go red. And Punz would tease him so he’d put his hands over his ears to… to hide them.”
“Shut up,” Dream whispered from the other corner of the pit, and Sam looked over.
The boy’s hands were shaking, violently so. He tried to cover his ears, probably to block out Sam’s voice, but his hands were shaking so much that he couldn’t.
Sam hated the sight.
But he wanted his brother back.
“He,” Sam was cut off by his own laugh, “he used to sleepwalk when he was really little. I mean like four or five years old. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and at the time we all slept in one room or bed, because we didn’t really have a permanent house. So I’d wake up and panic when I noticed he wasn’t there. I would run around thinking someone had kidnapped him, then I’d find him just like… walking somewhere in the forest at two in the morning. I used to hate it. Because he never woke up . I would have to carry him back to bed. And Dream was super clingy so he’d just… koala hug me. And then he wouldn’t let go all night. I used to always complain about it, but… secretly I loved when you’d cling onto me. I never said that to you.”
Dream was crying now, trying to block out the sound with his hands. His eyes were squeezed shut, head in his hands.
Sam shuffled over, grabbing the blonde’s hands so that he could bring them down from his ears.
“No!” Dream yelled. “No, stop ! Please, it hurts— you’re ruining everything . Stop it, stop it —”
But Sam held his hands firmly between his two much larger ones. “You are my brother , Dee. My little brother. I watched you grow up, I was there for your first steps and your first words. You are my little brother , and I need you to come back to me.”
The blonde shook his head, tears streaking down his cheeks like rain on window panes. He tried to pull away, tried to tear his hands from the creeper’s grip, but Sam wouldn’t let go.
“You, Punz and I have a saying, remember?” he whispered, and Dream’s lips pressed together tightly to muffle his cries. “ ‘This isn’t our last goodbye’ . Do you remember that? I… the last time I spoke to you… the real Dream… I said that to you. That was the last thing I ever told you, Dee. Please don’t make me a liar. Please don’t have that be our last goodbye.”
Sam almost fell backwards when Dream’s body suddenly slumped into his. The ground beneath him rumbled, a weight that Sam never knew was there lifting. The blonde shook violently with sobs, shoulders heaving up and down as Sam gently wrapped his arms around him. He placed a hand to the nape of the younger’s neck, pressing his face into the crook of his own neck.
“Come back to me,” Sam pleaded softly into blonde hair.
He held his breath and pressed his eyelids closed tightly, gripping onto quivering shoulders and a lowered head. Dream’s tears wet his neck and collar, but Sam couldn’t bring himself to care. His own tears sizzled slightly on his skin as they dripped over his creeper scales.
“Please come back to me.”
Their legs were tangled beneath them, Sam rocking back and forth slowly. A heart beat against his chest, and he grasped onto the reminder that his brother was in his arms.
“ S-Sammy ?”
The hybrid felt his chest clench painfully as the hissing in his throat suddenly ceased, like a fire dampened in the rain. All that was left was the thick scent of gunpowder and damp soil.
“S-Sam, I don’t—”
The green haired man shushed him softly, running his fingers through blonde locks. “You’re okay, you’re safe. I’m right here.”
The crying had quietened down, and yet Dream still shook violently in his embrace.
“Y-you’re here— Sam, Sammy —” he stuttered out.
“Shhh,” the hybrid cooed. “I’m here, little brother. Everything’s okay.”
Dream sniffed. “I haven’t— I haven’t b-been hugged in so long .”
Sam closed his eyes, grip tightening as he tried to ignore the sudden clench of his heart. He pushed back after a moment, letting Dream breathe finally.
And Ender , Dream looked so young.
His eyes were red and puffy from crying so much, but Sam could finally see them shining green . They were light and soft and nothing like the dark ones he’d seen only moments earlier. The black lines around the side of his face had already begun fading grey. The ends had turned white already, like thin scars.
Sam placed both hands on Dream’s cheeks, and the boy leaned into the touch.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you ever again,” Sam promised, and he hoped to Notch that it was true.
A wet chuckle escaped Dream before he sniffed. “I missed you so much. I couldn’t— I couldn’t feel anything . I could hear and see and… and I felt the pain, but— but I was so alone .”
Sam shook his head gently. “Hey, we’ll figure it out later. We have all the time in the world, okay? You need to rest now, Dee.”
Dream nodded before pressing himself back into Sam’s chest and gripping onto the front of his shirt. His shoulders began shaking once more and the hybrid sighed as his hands reached up to scratch at the blonde’s hair.
“I told you it wasn’t our last goodbye.”