Chapter Text
It all started when Sam was making his daily rounds. Walking through the familiar halls of the dark prison, checking for any attempts of a break out- or a break in. He was the warden, it was his job to keep everyone on the server safe from the man locked inside his prison. On this particular day though, something was different.
Sam made his way to the main cell, already having his key card ready to lower the lava. It would be the same as every day he imagined: the lava lowers, Dream is laying there limply, and then he'll raise the lava back up… But before Sam could insert his key card into the system, he heard crying. Unfamiliar crying.
Sam did recognize however, that it was the crying of a baby.
Sam hurried to scan his card then, worried about what the crying could possibly mean. His pawed feet tapped on the obsidian as he watched the lava lowered, far too slowly in his opinion- so who could blame him when he downed a fire resistance potion and jumped into the lava to swim into the main cell. What he saw in the little cube however was something he could've never guessed.
Sam looked down at Dream, the white dreamon curled up around a baby that had fur just as white as him… except the child also had like green creeper markings splotching their fur, and a black mouth and nose that looked just like Sam's… the child looked exactly like Dream except for their mouth and eyes. Those looked like Sam's.
"Is… is that…?" Sam began to ask, trailing off as Dream looked up at him with his own green eyes, sadly nodding. The prisoner curled up even more around the newborn then, and scooted back, looking up at Sam with begging eyes… and Sam knew exactly why he was begging. "Give me the baby."
"N- no-" Dream croaked out, hugging onto his baby for dear life as Sam glared down at him.
"Dream. Give me the baby, you know you're meant to be alone in here." Sam threatened, pulling out his trident and pointing it at the prisoner.
"You- you'd really take my own kid away… our kid away…?" Dream frowned in disbelief, moving his baby down to his side to keep them safe from the weapon.
"That child isn't mine, it's an abomination!" Sam growled out, pressing his trident around Dream's neck and pinning the Dreamon to the obsidian wall.
"Th- they're just a baby Sa-" Dream tried to argue back, but the trident cut him off, Sam twisting it to choke Dream- and the next thing Dream knew his baby was being snatched away from him. "N- no! Sam no! Give them back!"
"Stay." Sam commanded and pulled his trident back. "I'll be back after I've disposed of the monster." The creeper growled out and turned to leave, ignoring Dream's wails and cries, already leaving the cell by the time he heard the Dreamon chasing after him.
•••
"What a malicious little thing." Sam grumbled to himself as he decorated the new room in the prison.
"Mal!" The baby parroted back causing Sam to chuckle.
"Yeah, malicious, that's what your mom is." The creeper crouched down on his four legs and booped the baby on the nose, letting out another chuckle as they went cross eyed to look at his finger. "Y'know, for the kid of someone so evil you're actually adorable…"
"Door door-" The baby babbled out, grabbing onto Sam's huge in comparison finger to pull his hand down into a hug.
"Uh-huh, adorable." Sam nodded and picked the child up with one hand, making the baby squeal and laugh. "Oh you like that?" The new father said in a playful tone, getting more laughter in response. "Well how about this!" Sam spun around, holding the baby up like an airplane and watched as they held their arms out and continued to let out their adorable high pitched laughter, and soon, Sam joined in, laughing along with the baby until he sat back down on the floor and hugged them to his chest.
"Weeeheeeheeee!!!" The baby giggled a little more before cuddling into Sam's warm chest.
"Y'know… originally I was making this room to kill you…" Sam mumbled, wiggling a finger over the baby, watching as they reached up and batted at his finger like a kitten trying to play. "But… maybe… maybe it'd make a better play room, somewhere I can raise you to… not be like your mom.."
"Mama?" The baby spoke up and looked up at Sam curiously.
"Yeah, he's the most evil man on the server- but I think, maybe with enough training, I can make you good like me!" Sam lifted the baby up and nuzzled his face into their tummy, eliciting laughter out of them. "Hmmm… but you need a name don't you…?"
"Mal!" The baby called out, grabbing Sam's nose with their tiny little baby hand.
Sam giggled, "Yeah, that sounds perfect- my little Mal…" The father said softly, pushing his face into the baby's tiny body and purring, which the child- Mal- happily recooperiated.
•••
Mal sat in the middle of the Play Room, holding a stuffed cat named Hope and playing with them. The child was alone in the room, their white and green fur groomed perfectly, hair puffy and short with a nice gradient leading from white to green; their horns curled at the top of their head shiny and sparkling in the glowstone light of the room. The child giggled to themself, picking up Hope and putting the cat plushy into their overall's pocket as they stood up, their pointy ears twitching as they heard a ding.
Mal ran over to the wall, bouncing on their toes as a door appeared and their father stood over them. "Papa!" Mal called out laughing, immediately jumping up his dark green leg and climbing up to his back.
Sam laughed and reached back to make sure Mal made it up safely, "Hi Mal! Did you miss me?"
"Obviously! I've missed you all day papa!" Mal exclaimed, getting up to Sam's shoulder to sit there. "But now you're here!"
"Yep! I'm all done keeping the world safe!" Sam sighed tiredly, carrying his kid to their bed.
"Yes! Did you beat anyone up? How many people did you save? Oooohh I bet you made so many friends!!!" Mal smiled, their eyes sparkling as they imagined what their dad did outside today.
"Yeah of course I did…" Sam said quietly, then picked Mal up off his shoulder and put them in their bed. "Now what'd you get up to today?"
"Oh! Me and Hope read a new book that Ant got us about a hero like you!" Mal smiled, bouncing in their bed in excitement. "And Bad made us some really good grilled cheese and soup for lunch!" The child then got their plushy out. "Hope didn't like it though…"
"Ah, I'm sure Hope'll like Bad's cooking eventually." Sam carefully pet Mal's little plushy's head.
"Mhm, I told Hope- Bad worked reeeeaaaallllyyyy hard on the food! So we gotta eat it! Like you taught us, always eat what we're given cause people always work super duper hard on it!"
"Yep, that's right Hope, when people cook for you they work really hard." Sam smiled and pet the plushie again. "Did anything else happen today…?"
"Well…" Suddenly Mal's entire demeanor changed. They looked down and hugged Hope tightly, Mal themself frowning and looking a little scared. "We heard screaming today… someone was begging for Quackity to stop…" Mal trailed off, and Sam froze- oh no. "But…" The child looked up at their dad. "But uncle Quackity would never hurt anyone… right?"
"R- right!" Sam quickly stood up. "Uncle Q is a good guy like me, just make sure you remember that Mal…" He gently booped the child's nose, but Mal didn't seem convinced this time…
"You always say that but… what happened to Mama? You're always telling me that he was evil so you beat him up and locked him away… wouldn't it be good if… if you talked to him and tried to help-"
"Mal." Sam said coldly, an edge to his voice that he didn't usually use on the child, "We've talked about this, your mom was irredeemable, I did what I had to."
"A- are you sure-"
"Yes." Sam glared, causing Mal to shiver. He was quick to let up on the attitude after that… "Sorry… I just don't want you to get hurt one day if you try to help the wrong person… some people just can't be helped with kindness…"
"I know…" Mal said sadly.
"I love you Mal…" Sam leaned down and kissed Mal's hair.
"I love you too Papa…" Mal sat up in bed and hugged their dad's neck, staying like that until they fell asleep.