Work Text:
Christmas Eve, 20XX
The party is in full swing, with guests swaying to the music and hors d'oeuvres flowing freely. Dream ducks through the fray, eyes fixed on a specific figure. When he finally reaches his destination, he nearly runs face-first into Sapnap’s back, not having seen him through the throng of people who aren’t quite as…non-vertical.
“Watch it!”
“Sorry, sorry. You need to wear a flag or something dude, I didn’t see you at all. ”
Their imminent scuffle is prevented by the man in front of them clearing his throat.
“Hi guys.”
Several guests turn to look at the cry of “Sam!!” Dream lets out, and he ducks his head uncomfortably. Sam’s grin eases his nerves a bit, but the attention still makes his skin crawl. Sapnap gives him a gentle nudge, nodding towards the only guest they actually wanted to see.
The gift bags hanging from his arm have Dream perking right up.
“I can’t stay very long, but I wanted to get these to y’all before the festivities ended. They’re from my latest project.”
Dream accepts the bag with a frisson of awe, rifling through the layers of tissues to pull out what seems to be a painted statue. Before he can inspect it further, Sapnap lets out a shout of interest at his own package. It’s a book, leatherbound, with mind-bending spiral patterns embossed on the cover. When Dream sticks his head over his shoulder to get a closer look, Sapnap reflexively wallops him with it.
Unfortunately, with that action the book smacks the statue right out of Dream's hands. It hits the floor with an awful crack , and both boys freeze for a beat.
Without even looking closely Dream can see that the figurine is in two pieces, and he grabs Sapnap by the shoulders.
“WHAT THE FUCK-“
Imminent bloodshed is once again prevented by Sam, who scoops the bits of Dream’s gift off the floor with a strained smile. “It’s fine-I can patch it up no problem! I’ll just be a minute…One sec.”
He hustles off through the crowd, and Dream speeds off after him-but not before giving his brother a good kick to the shin.
Once Sam places the repaired gift in his hands, with a wry admonishment to “keep a good grip on it,” Dream spends the rest of the night holed up in a corner, glaring at Sapnap, who glares right back from the couch.
Hours after, when all is said and done, the party packed up and guests ushered to the door, Dream sits before the fire, turning the statuette over in his hands. His fingers gently brush over the painted face, tracing the delicate golden lines that make up the wide, fierce eyes and hinted smile. He combs through the hair, long and soft despite the figurine’s apparent age, a shocking pink color that somehow doesn’t clash with the deep red of the cloak wrapped around the figure’s neck.
Despite the late hour, he feels barely a hint of sleepiness, too entranced by the odd gift. The flickering firelight plays over the face of the artifact in his hands, bathing it in light and shadow, and it almost seems to make eye contact with him.
He can’t tell how much time passes, lost in a haze of contemplation, but the crackle of a falling log jolts Dream from the trance he’s fallen into. In the dying firelight, he startles as the artifact drops from his hands, and the rush of fear that burns through him feels wholly uncalled for seeing as he’s only had the thing for a few hours. As he grasps for it, afraid it will fall into the fire, he realizes the room has grown silent, even the distant ambiance of a full house fading into creeping stillness.
The hair on the back of his neck stands up, some primal awareness warning him of danger –and he ducks out of the way as something swipes at the back of his head.
It's dark, the fire little more than coals, and Dream feels as though he’s caught in a net, mind slow with confusion and limbs resisting as he scrambles awkwardly away from the hearth. He can barely make out anything of his attacker, just an off-kilter, shambling figure, lurching in his direction.
Dream desperately reels backward, heart beating too fast to think this is some sort of dream, though it does feel like he’s being chased by a nightmare. The thing attacking him is vaguely human-shaped, but it clearly isn't a person , limbs too long and movement wrong in a way that catches at the back of his mind. Whatever it is, though, it’s fast , clawing at his face, and it’s all Dream can do to keep out of reach. Even as he ducks away from it, he realizes that there’s more, appearing in the room from no noticeable entrance, seemingly too many beings for the size of the place.
He isn’t ready for this, still isn’t really sure what's happening and has no weapon at hand, and he’s going to die at twenty-three, without being anything worth remembering.
And then, from some unknown source–light. A flash of gold, a swooping flow of cloth, and there is a man standing in front of him. He stands tall, solid against the crowd of things approaching, and holds a massive battle-axe as though it was a toy. As Dream stands gaping at yet another sudden appearance, he flicks a look out of the corner of his eye and nods to the corner of the room. “Might wanna step aside, hm?”
Dream nods numbly–unnecessarily, as the man–the warrior –has already turned back to his foes–and sidles back to huddle at the side of the fireplace, watching in awe as a fight begins.
And it is awe-inspiring. The man stands alone against dozens of those shambling wrecks, and looks as though he could fight forever. He sweeps through them like a hurricane, every action brutal and effective, with no need for finess or embellishment.
In this sudden pocket of calm, Dream takes a moment to breathe, trying to clear the fog of chaos from his mind. He can’t seem to wrap his brain around what’s happening. It’s easy to look at the sequence of events and the tableau before him and know that they happened, but he can’t extrapolate why or how or what to do about it.
At least the flow of enemies seems to be slowing, as the warrior chops through them. They don’t bleed– thank god –but rather collapse inward and crumble apart as they fall.
Just then, movement from behind catches Dream’s eye. There’s a massive creature lurching at the warrior’s back, and he’s too preoccupied with the two foes in front of him to register the danger.
Before he can think too hard about it, Dream scoops up a pair of pokers discarded on the side of the hearth, and lunges forward. He catches the monster in the back, and it roars-probably more in shock than pain–and turns to swipe in Dream instead. The next few moments are a blur of instinct, the few months of self-defense classes Dream took in school giving him a vague sense of how to avoid getting thoroughly beaten to death. The monster is huge, and powerful, but its attacks are predictable, and a spark lights in Dream’s mind as he takes a quick glance around the room. With each blow he dodges, he guides the fight back toward the edge of the room-toward the glowing coals. After a few brutal moments of battle, he’s able to hop onto the hearth and then skid sideways, and the creature throws itself into the fireplace. It’s not a roaring blaze, nowhere near hot enough to burn the monster to a crisp, but the shock of burning combined with the few blows Dream actually managed to land during their duel seem to be too much for it, and it collapses further into the brick, already crumbling apart.
Dream steps back, breathing heavily, and then– “Heh, nice.” and he instinctively whips around, poker hurtling in an arc towards the voice behind him.
It’s stopped by the flat of a massive battleaxe, the clang ringing through the ballroom.
Dream can feel himself blush as he meets the eyes of the warrior before him. For his part, the other man just raises an eyebrow and smacks the poker aside.
When he grins, two shining fangs are revealed. He holds out a hand, gloved in silk, and inclines his head regally.
“Technoblade. That was an impressive fight, considering you seem to be…out of practice.”
It takes Dream a moment to respond, distracted by the sheer presence of the person standing before him. Even now that he’s not embroiled in battle, this…Technoblade cuts an intimidating figure.
“I’m-Dream. Thank you, I don’t really…I don’t have a lot of experience.”
“Well, you held your own pretty well.” Technoblade kicks at the smouldering ashes of the creature that almost steamrolled the both of them.
To his horror, Dream feels his face flush even further. “Thank-thank you…sir?”
The other man snorts inelegantly. “Techno is just fine.”
“Ok, Techno, where did you…come from? Where did those weird-ass ash monsters come from?!”
The soldier launches into an explanation that–embarrassingly–goes completely over Dream’s head. A combination of adrenaline, terror, and bewilderment is rapidly setting into his bones, and he feels himself sag downwards. He has just enough time to vaguely fear smacking face-first into the floor before Techno’s spiel cuts off and a pair of strong arms grab him around the middle like a misbehaving cat.
Seeing as the two of them are near the same height, Dream isn’t so much ‘lifted in’ as ‘gently dangling from’ Techno’s arms, but it’s still enough to give him several minor heart attacks in quick succession.
When Techno laughs this time, he can feel it shake through the both of them.
“I guess it’s a little late, past bedtime huh?”
Dream bristles in indignation, but Techno barrels on.
“Whatever, all you really need to know is that I am normally cursed into that nifty little statue, something about you woke me up, which means that youuuu” a flick to the back of Dream’s head, “are the person I need to help me break said curse. You could say you’re essential, even. The monsters–mobs we call ‘em–are from my realm; they just kinda follow me around, so there must be a portal round here somewhere, which is great ‘cause that gives us a direct line back to my place and all its curse-breaking accouterments. Just sit here for a sec.”
He deposits Dream into a half-sit half-recline-like-an-evil-mastermind stance on the edge of the fireplace and disappears into the gloom of the room around them. In the momentary silence, the yawning fatigue gnawing at Dream’s mind and body, the ballroom feels enormous , like a cave filled with fog, ready to swallow them whole.
Then Techno comes strolling back, holding a plate of finger foods that must have been forgotten at the end of the festivities and points to a dot of light to his left.
“Found it!”
The portal looks like a dot of light no matter how close or far they get, like a glow-in-the-dark star forgotten on the side of a bookshelf and painted over, but Techno is adamant that they are going to go through it and end up in his realm, where magic remains responsive and he is a vital and active part of the government. Hesitantly, Dream pokes the dot with his least favorite finger (right fourth), and is instantly pulled through an indescribable vortex of nothing, spattered with stars and fire. For a blistering, exhausting moment, no one exists-they are just numbers on a ledger-pixels on a screen-shadows on a cave wall-then Dream spirals back into three-dimensional space. He manages one faltering step before he has to drop to his knees and heave into the snow field stretching before him.
Behind him, Techno emerges from the nothing of air, cool as a cucumber-when he drops to his knees he manages to make it look cool and warrior-greeting-his-native-land-ish.
For a few seconds there is nothing, and Dream tries to take the lay of the land. It’s not much, just gently rolling hills of snow. Then Techno breaks the silence with an enthusiastic ‘hup’ and hops to his feet.
He is–as Dream is coming to realize, characteristically–flippant about the soul-shattering journey they have just taken.
“Ok great! You survived!”
“What!?”
“Next step, we gotta meet the Sugar Plum Fairy.”
“Who?”
I can never remember the particulars of what we’re supposed to do so he’ll get us on the right track. I will need you to take notes.”
“What?”
“Cmon!”
In seemingly no time, Dream has been rescued from his increasingly damp shoes and clothes–intended to be worn during a party taking place indoors, not traipsing through several fields of knee deep snowdrifts. His new outfit is very…fairy-tale…is really the only way to describe it. There are ruffles and gemstones and several completely unnecessary belts.
Clothes aside, having reached their destination, Dream and Techno are now standing in a stone tower, decorated with beautifully-wrought ironwork. The tower is inhabited by The Sugar Plum Fairy, an unimpressed, gently-glowing man. He has spirals of glowing freckles painted across his face and arms, and is wearing so many layers of frothy, beaded lace and silks that they sound like a waterfall every time he moves. Dream heroically refrains from asking…any questions about any of the everything he has going on, and settles in to listen to a clearly oft-rehearsed lecture.
“So, Mr…”
“Dream.”
“Dream. You have been chosen as Emperor Technoblade’s companion on this quest, yes? Well, that means that you have been tasked with a crucial role in the future of this kingdom. I am sure Techno has explained the particulars of his curse, but I need to reiterate that if it is not broken in a timely manner, he will be unable to continue his duties and the kingdom will fall into disarray.
“So! You two will need to make it through the cave where the curse was placed and find the magical trap that triggered it. It is guarded by a constructed beast, which Techno unfortunately can’t defeat on his own without the curse becoming unbreakable; otherwise I would have just sent him up there and not let him come back until it was dealt with.
“There is a lot of complicated magical theory behind this, but the most important thing to remember is you two need to kill the curse beast before breaking the curse, and Techno cannot make the killing blow.”
“It’s a fetch quest, basically.” Techno breaks in. The emperor–as Dream has just now learned–does not seem impressed with much of anything going on at the moment, instead tossing his axe up and down as if it was a toy.
The Sugar Plum Fairy rolls his eyes and huffs. “It is a fetch quest that is very important to you personally , Technoblade, I’d expect you to have a little more interest in the particulars. Or even have them memorized by now, considering how many times you’ve tried to break it.”
“Nahhh, I got the guy for that right here.” Techno slings an arm over Dream's shoulders and gives him a wink. Dream’s face grows hot, which he desperately tries to ignore to focus on the Fairy.
“I think we’ll be ok, it doesn’t seem crazy dangerous, right?”
“It’s not ‘crazy dangerous’ no, but it is important . If you screw this up he’ll remain cursed until you can find another person to help- Technoblade are you even listening to me -“
Techno gives a disinterested thumbs up from over Dream’s shoulder and the Sugar Plum Fairy makes a sort of growling-squeaking noise that presumably precedes a massive explosion. Dream decides to de-escalate the situation as much as possible.
“I totally understand, Mr…uhh, Mr. Sugar Plum Fairy. I will be super careful and we’ll get this curse broken in no time! In fact, I think we should get going as soon as possible, right?”
The Sugar Plum Fairy huffs again, but nods begrudgingly. “Yes, you two should head out as soon as you’re ready.”
“Great!” Techno cheers, “Let’s go!”
Dream gives an awkward wave as Techno steers him around to leave the room. ”…Bye.”
“Dream!” The Fairy calls after him. “Call me George. And if you can actually manage to break the curse, come see me again. I have some magical conundrums of my own that I could use some help dealing with.”
And he winks.
Dream leaves the Fai-leaves George’s tower practically radiating heat, Technoblade beside him, cackling loud enough to wake the dead.
It doesn’t actually take them very long to get ready for the quest. Techno apparently has a stash of go-bags ready for whenever he manages to find a new companion to take along. Dream gets a sturdy green cloak and high leather boots to go with his ‘fairy-tale outfit,’ as well as a backpack full of the essentials-food, water, potions, anti-demon charms, matches. Normal stuff.
The potions are apparently common in this world, like keeping Tylenol and snacks on you is on Earth. The anti-demon charms are not explained.
Similarly, the path to the cave they need to delve through is well-trod and clear. It’s increasingly more obvious that Technoblade has done this dozens of times, which finally prompts Dream to ask: “So was the whole thing about me being “destined for” and “essential” to this quest total bullshit or…”
Techno makes an interesting face. “Ehhh…I mean, it’s not like the stars aligned to shine down on your birth and lead me to you. But I figure at some point I’ll find a person who can actually help me finish this stupid quest, so if I tell ‘em all it’s destined to happen it will eventually be true.”
“Isn’t that…lying?”
“So? I can lie. I’m not that cursed. God, that would suck.”
“That’s not…ok. Sure, man, congrats.”
“Thanks.”
The trek up the mountain is surprisingly pleasant. The weather is nice, the slope is gentle, and the conversation is blessedly free of confusing revelations.
Once they reach the mouth of the cave, though, Techno calls a halt. By this point, Dream is starting to get a handle on his expressions, and he leans against a tree as the emperor visibly tries to figure out how to word this.
“Ok, so, uh. Y’know we’re here to kill the curse creature, blah blah blah. You heard George give the speech.”
“Yes?”
“Well, uh, I like you, so, I’d really like it if you didn’t get completely murdered.”
“Thanks, Techno, I will. Try my best.”
“Yes, ok, thanks man. I just wanted to warn you that the battle basically starts now.
“Wait–fuck, the curse creature is here??”
“I’ve started calling it the Wither.”
“The…Wither? Why-”
A dart of roiling black smoke shoots past Techno’s face and impacts on a tree slightly to his left. With a wretched crackling sound, the bark begins to blacken and dessicate, crumbling to the ground.
“...hm…m?”
Techno scratches the back of his head. “Yea. That, uh, that would account for a…number of the previous companions.”
Dream manages to get a good three hundred feet back down the mountain before Techno catches up and cajoles him back to the mouth of the cave.
They stand for an instant, and then slowly, Dream follows Techno into the dark. THis time there are no projectiles, and they enter into a massive cave system, choked with fog. Stalagmites and stalactites loom up in front of them suddenly, and the floor is scored with the marks of countless previous battles.
Techno obviously knows his way around, though even he comes up short every now and then, and Dream sticks close behind, dizzied by the thought of getting lost forever in the massive warren of stone and never emerging.
The first sign they have of their foe is another blistering ball of rot. In the silence of the cave, Dream can just catch the sound of it whistling towards them, and tugs Techno aside. It crashes into a pillar of rock and there’s a short, sharp silence.
Then the cave comes alive with sound as mobs appear from the fog, and the battle begins.
Dream would never be able to measure how long they spent, battling off waves of rot-twined corpses, dodging deadly missiles, before the fight came to a head.
The Wither makes itself known with–of course–a rain of wither bombs. As it emerges from the depths of the cave, it is only Techno’s reflexes that keep Dream alive. His body is frozen, locked in that same primal terror that gripped him the first time a mob attacked, and Techno has to grab the back of his shirt and throw him across the room to get him clear of the danger.
Dream lands on his feet, somehow, and crosses swords with some ancient skeleton as Techno engages the Wither.
It is a work of art, and Dream has a hard time keeping his eyes off his partner. If Techno seemed like a great fighter before, now he is a god. He keeps up with the Wither’s massive bulk, solid enough to tank its physical blows and agile enough to dodge long-range attacks.
After what feels like another eternity of battle, Dream ends up pressed against Techno’s back, trying to finish off the last few mobs. Something in the shift of Techno’s body cues him in, and he whips around in time to see the Wither stagger, a massive gash opened across its blackened skull.
The air of the cave shifts, and everyone embroiled in the melee knows the scales have tipped.
The next blow will be the kill.
For one shining minute, Dream just cranes his neck back and watches Techno, struck dumb by the ferocity as he hefts his massive battleaxe. The gleaming head whirls up and arcs forward and then starts–to–slowly–fall.
And Dream screams “ WAIT” so loudly that his chest burns. For a second, the entire cavern stands still, even the Wither frozen in shock. Techno’s axe, arrested mid-flight, misses its mark and clunks to the stone below.
“Techno! Wait!” Dream reiterates frantically, “you can’t kill it! I gotta strike the final blow or whatever!”
“I still think Gogy just wants you to kill-steal me.” Techno grumbles, but he shifts at Dream’s back, deflecting a spray of withering projectiles off the flat of his axe blade with one hand as the other wraps around Dream’s waist.
With a neat twist of his hips, Dream’s feet leave the ground and they swap places, landing perfectly in position to strike that killing blow.
If Dream can get his brain online in time to avoid being turned into evil dust.
He can feel Techno’s shoulders shaking behind him and jams his elbow back, ostensibly getting a better grip on his shortsword. The stifled giggles subside.
Dream’s focus narrows on the Wither, floating injured before him. Its eyes betray no intelligence, only death, and it spits orbs of crackling poison even as it sinks lower and lower to the ground.
Dream lines up his shot, carefully, and leans back against Techno as he hurls his first sword at the Wither’s thorax. Even as it moves jerkily out of the way, he launches himself towards it, driving the length of his second blade through the center of its mass.
Up close, he can smell nothing but dust and rot, and the thing’s body seethes with deep, hateful magic.
But Dream’s blade has struck true, and he feels it come apart underneath him, first slowly, then all at once, until he is standing in the middle of a heap of shattered bone.
From somewhere behind him, Techno howls with glee.
Dream feels elation rush through him, but it is overpowered by a wave of exhaustion. Through his rapidly falling awareness, he hears Techno’s voice, heavy with regret.
“Thanks, man. See ya…someday.”
There is no dot-light portal this time. Dream simply wakes, slumped awkwardly before the fireplace, to Sapnap clattering into the room with all the grace of a newborn giraffe. It takes several frantic moments and several frantic questions, both of which are greeted with increasing concern from his family members, before Dream convinces himself he is really just…back home. Awake from a beautiful, nonsensical dream. None the worse for wear, but also none the better.
It’s a sobering conclusion.
It takes a few days of drifting through life, even more aimlessly than before–which didn’t seem possible–before Dream sits down in front of his laptop. He finds a few promising possibilities, and he holds the feeling of fighting back to back with Techno in his mind as he signs up for beginner fencing. It’s fun, a good workout, a rush of adrenaline, but there’s still something not quite right.
It’s harder, this time, signing up for an intro to dance instead, but he keeps that image fixed in his mind, the warmth at his back and the feeling of light as Techno’s arm wrapped around his waist and he spun .
Three classes in, one of the instructor’s more advanced students stops by to have a chat. His long, pink ponytail sways as he tips his head back and laughs. Dream stares across the room, and when the other student catches his eye and winks, he finds himself falling right back through that portal.
THE END