Chapter Text
Tommy sat on an overturned log watching Dream carefully as the older polished his axe, he was sifting through his inventory making sure all his keepsakes where accounted for when he came across a strange old looking potion bottle which sparked a memory of him and Wilbur breaking into a witches hut and his brother telling him to take anything that looked like it might deal some damage, his fingertips ghost over the old bottle this could be his ticket out of here besides what’s the harm in trying his hand closes over the old bottle and his gaze jerks back over to the admin and he shoots to his feet chucking the splash potion as hard as he can over at the admin and bolting behind the tents towards the forest that surrounds them.
Until a high pitch sound of pure agony rips through the air causing him to pause and glance back to see Dream collapsed down on the ground writhing in pain, now Tommy may not like the dude but he doesn’t want the other to die making sure the potion is fully dissipated before slowly making his way back over “Hey big D ya there” he asks concern colouring his tone slightly when he sees the other has stopped moving he breaks out into a sprint towards the admin “shit shit” he curses loudly while his inner voice mocks him sounding an awful lot like his brothers (“oh dear you know you should really make sure you know what a potion will do before you throw it then again you were never the most mindful individual where you Theseus/Tommy?”), “shut up!” Tommy growls at his inner voice as he skids to an abrupt halt next to the fallen form of the admin almost losing his footing on the uneven ground as he kneels down next to the other to check for a pulse point to at least put his good conscious at rest knowing that he hadn’t killed the dude.
Only to have the admins form jolt up almost head butting him with that stupid mask Tommy jumps back “oh you’re good thank prime”, Dream scrabbles back though away from him what thinks Tommy in confusion “yo Dream you good big man?”, Dream scrambles back further which frankly makes a ridiculous sight for Tommy was unarmed and had only iron armour on while Dream had on fully enchanted netherite armour and was armed to the teeth so why was he retreating from Tommy like he was the threat. Muffled sounds leak out from behind the mask hands reach up to the mask and tear it away with desperation and Tommy meets mostly dull slightly confused and petrified irises of ender set in features far too young to be 21 that were already marred by harsh scarring “how the hell do you know my new name I never told anyone it” the other asks fear colouring his quiet shaky voice. Tommy’s heart drops what the hell did that potion do and what was he supposed to do now with a jittery almost feral looking teenage Dream who looked to be younger than he currently was.
Dream is sat on his haunches staring at Tommy with that eerie gaze as Tommy attempts to cook some fish he’d caught in a small pond nearby over the open fire, the teen scrunches his nose at him before remarking in the smallest absolutely wrecked voice Tommy has ever heard its nothing like the loud boisterous voice of the man he knows having fought with and against that he was burning the fish and low and behold Tommy was burning the fish. Tommy chuckles slightly bitterly “sorry I’m not much for survivalist shit someone usually cooks for me because well you can see why…”, Teen Dream looks at him head tilted “oh I see nomadic life not for you then” he remarks quietly, Tommy glances at the other “nah not really I was always happy stayin in one place…. But it’s gone now” he laments sadly Teen Dream looks at him with a knowing sad glint in his gaze as he’s handed the other skewered fish which he eats quickly as if he’s afraid it’ll be taken from him.
Tommy watches the other trying to wrap his head around how this could be Dream he was the complete opposite of the older admin Tommy knew and seemed so dull and lifeless in comparison which concerned Tommy to no end because what the hell had the other had to go through to get like this and more importantly did he ever get to heal from it or did it remain festering within the other until someone unknowingly cut open the old wound and made themselves the target of all of the admins pent up emotions and aggression. Oh prime is that what happened with them and L’manburg pulling everyone into it’s conflict and igniting age old emotions in the older admin, he studies Dream who’s turned his back to him as he removes the menacing netherite armour storing it away in his inventory now Tommy could get a good look at what Dream was wearing underneath a plain black sleeveless turtleneck under an old torn and sewn back together faded green hoodie and forest green half cloak with golden embroidery that had long lost its vibrant lustre, torn and baggy combat trousers with multiple pockets for storage he also had a bandage wrapped around his left leg which cut of at the knee the trouser leg had been scrunched up above the knee a glance at Dream’s bare right foot shows scars curling their way across skin Tommy knew in his heart that those scars didn’t stop at Dream’s feet or only his right leg. Dream pulls down the hood of his hoodie letting free wild snow white coloured hair that looked in dire need of maintaining despite it a small part of it being braided with lime green and purple threads the rest tied back into a high ponytail his fringe still falls messily over enchanting unique eyes that give away the others otherworldliness, both of Dream’s arms were wrapped up in bandages and a few of his fingers were wrapped up in bandaids which didn’t do much to hide the rest of the scarring on his hands.
The more Tommy observed the now younger Dream the more he saw that painted a truly hard to swallow picture, Dream looked exhausted he was far to thin and small for a teen his age he was jumpy and constantly scanning his surroundings he clutched to ‘nightmare’ (the enchanted netherite axe of his older self) as if he was afraid of imminent attacks or danger despite his only company being the currently unarmed and unarmoured Tommy, that and the white of Dream’s hair didn’t seem natural to Tommy who saw a few faint speckles of a more natural looking ombré blonde and turquoise meaning that the snow white locks were likely stress induced or caused by something else at this point Tommy was glad to leave somethings to the imagination as he was already being painted a brutal enough picture just by looking at the younger Dream.
Dream was still panic checking himself and his inventory Tommy sees him pull out a fancy looking but worn looking enchanted compass out of one of his many trouser pockets and the younger breathes out a deep sigh of relief muttering thanks to the gods for giving him one good thing the last thing he needed was for someone to get ahold of this compass again as it would lead them straight to him a he didn’t want a new set of hunters on his tail. This causes Tommy’s stomach to churn and bile to build in the back of his throat a new set of hunters??!! what the hell did Dream mean by that and why did he say it in such a calm yet resigned tone.
Meanwhile on a different server in an unknown location
Stunned, gleeful and slightly manic amber gold eyes glance down at a holo table which shows the reappearance of an old signal long thought lost, he was back or the compass was back either way there was a way to locate his heir after all these years apart he sends out requests of the best mercenaries and bounty hunters across all servers along with his own specially trained guard he wouldn’t take any chances this time the reward was enough to let a man do whatever he pleased if they succeeded so this time he could be assured that his hunters wouldn’t suddenly grow a conscious and try to aid or befriend his insubordinate heir.
This time I have you “Nightmare” his dark cold voice states ominously as he glances at the blip on the holographic table that tracked the old fail safe in the original hunters compass.
…
Tommy had settled in for the night hoping that a miracle could occur and that this had all been some weird hyper realistic fever dream of sorts and that Dream was back to normal in the morning. He’d just about nodded off when he’s shaken frantically and meets the panicked irises of ender that were unique only to teenage Dream. It finally sinks in that this is real his former enemy, ally, friend??? Is still a jumpy scarred teen that acts nothing like his adult self and said teen is frantically waking him up holding his ender chest (that held one of the discs!!!!) in his hands shoving it at a barely awake Tommy who grasps it not comprehending the situation as Dream is speaking in low frantic whispers that they needed to go now their position had been given away by a scout and it was only a matter of time before the other hunters would arrive at the clearing.
The mention of hunters has Tommy jolt to semi wakefulness and he grasps his ender chest tightly looking at Dream incredulously “it’s a private server dude no one gets in unless invited” he states past a large yawn. Dream shakes his head frantically stating “there are ways around that Tommy his imperial majesty doesn’t really care for restrictions when it comes to tracking me down and the reward for my return is enough to make a person’s logicality go completely out the window, we need to go now if your seen with me they’ll hunt you too to use you against me and I really don’t need or want more lives on my conscience so I need to get you somewhere safe” he drags Tommy out of the tent and tugs at the other quite insistently as Tommy is just currently trying to wrap his head around the fact that this teen version of Dream had enough built up strength to forcibly drag him from his tent as a hailstorm of arrows come down out of literally nowhere. Tommy feels sick to his stomach without Dream’s insistence and interference he could've lost another cannon life in that surprise attack and been one step closer to his perma-death on this server. He looks directly at Dream whose skin had fade to an even sicklier looking parlour his irises of ender shrunk in pure horror, resentment and resignation, the other grits his teeth tightly and yanks a shell shocked Tommy behind him while drawing his shield from his inventory in one swift movement defending them both from another round of arrows that the younger Dream looks at with a certain glint in his eyes.
Tommy draws his own shield as Dream covers his back telling him to run into the surrounding forest Tommy hesitates for a moment he was ordered to stay here he’ll probably get in terrible trouble for leaving, then an arrow zips past his head and kid Dream practically screams at him to get moving his quiet hoarse voice cracking painfully which motivates Tommy to listen to the other this once and he runs his gaze flickering back to Dream who was a few paces behind him pulling one of the arrows from we're it was lodged in his shield looking at it with a studious gaze as they ran “ah they've been potion tipped” he remarks to the blondes absolute shock and horror. “What the fuck does that mean” he asks in confusion and disbelief “that shits illegal on most servers nowadays because of the inability to tell how dangerous that could be with how decidedly volatile most potions can be if they get into your blood stream”he remarks remembering something Techno had once told him. This pint sized version of Dream just fuckin shrugs looking perplexed by Tommy’s own very understandable horror “I dunno maybe it’s illegal here, but look Tommy even if it is that hasn’t stopped them from using them on me in the past I’d doubt they’d stop now”.
Tommy was gonna hurl the more Dream spoke the darker Tommy’s thoughts would become “illegal potion tipped arrows, a compass that could track him no matter his location that appeared to be the most expensive and ostentatious thing he owned that didn’t fit with the rest of Dream’s appearance, a small malnourished scarred child with very few things to his name, multiple hunters and an excessively high bounty/reward for one teenage runaway who apparently stole away the one thing that was tracking him in an attempt to get peace likely”. The more he thought the more his mind started to spiral as Dream drew a bow likely from his private inventory, and fired back at their pursuers with expert precision. That was another thing Tommy was struggling to wrap his head around. The others competence and proficiency with weapons and survival tactics this wasn’t knowledge a teen should have, heck Tommy only knew of all this kinda shit because of Wilbur and Techno: along with the fact that he’d been forced to go to war as a kid. But even he wasn’t this proficient and knowledgeable and he certainly wouldn’t have been as skilled as the other at the same age. What the hell happened to you Dream, he thinks staring at the back of his pint sized former enemy, ally and friend; his mind racing with multiple dark and negative thoughts leading him to consider the thought that. Maybe just maybe that he and Dream might not be all that different from each other after all.
And wasn’t that an ominous thing to consider.
…
Dream had absolutely no idea what had happened, literally about a few hours ago he’d been standing on the bordering walls of the neighbouring kingdom admiring the sunset. After throwing off one of his latest hunters he’d paused to take in the natural beauty of the land he’d been denied a glance at for so long. His eyes had slipped shut to blink and the next thing he knows he opens them in a completely different location. Surrounded by trees and two tents pitched up next to each other, he’d spotted another older teen with blonde hair staring at him. They wore iron armour and seemed concerned and possibly not a threat to him but then his name the name no one should know had escaped the others lips and he felt himself lock up in terror it’s at this moment he’d reached up to scratch his chin in thought only for his hand to meet a cold smooth surface that made his breath hitch. Nonono not again he had thought desperately his hands scrambled to tear whatever was locked around his head off. It hadn’t been a muzzle like he’d assumed rather a strange ceramic smiley face enchanted mask well whatever it had been he’d left it behind when he’d fled that strange campsite dragging the slightly older teen with him in the hopes of finding somewhere safe to leave the other before continuing on to the end and finding a way out from this wretched server loop those bastards had stuck him in, in an attempt to ‘temper’ his abilities yeah right he mentally scoffs he wasn’t stupid he knew they were either aiming to contain or control him neither of which he would ever allow to happen.
Dream takes note of their surroundings as they both sprint forward zigzagging between the many dense trees of this forest. He knows that this would be the perfect place for a group of hunters to use encirclement tactics to try and catch him so he grabs a hold of Tommy’s lower arm and takes a running leap upwards practically dragging the older boy behind him as he clambers up one of the taller trees with one hand the other quickly copying his movements upwards so as not to slow them down or get left behind. They are now both perched several feet off the ground. Tommy clutching onto the trunk of the tree like a lifeline and Dream glancing down studying the forest floor intensely from behind the dense branches full of leaves that obscured them both from sight. The sound of the foliage rustling and twigs cracking beneath armoured boots sounds out and Dream sees Tommy lock up in fright as the hunters examine the forest floor and finally move their gazes upwards to scan over the treeline. His body is coiling tightly preparing to begin running frantically, Dream can see that he frantically shakes his head no and latches onto Tommy’s arm with an ironclad grip placing his hand over Tommy’s mouth, his cold dead eyes piercing Tommy’s own as he shakes his head. The hunters look upwards scanning the dense tree cover before pulling away after one of the other hunters yells from further into the forest that the signal they have is still moving, they both hear one groan as the hunters sprint onwards “it would be so much easier if we had the blood magic compass”. Tommy’s eyes dart over to Dream as the other slowly removes his hand from Tommy’s mouth the older teen just stares at the pint-sized version of the admin of the server with pure confusion and disbelief “How…” he utters “they scanned the tree line how the hell did they not see us this ain't exactly the best cover”.
Dream sighs and points down at the branch they are sitting on Tommy’s gaze drops downwards to see something like a sigil maybe a rune etched into the bark he doesn't know it's not exactly his forte Phil might have known but he wasn't here so that was a useless thought. It was glowing with hints of emerald green, white and gold light. He looks up at Dream once more to see hints of said light reflected in the others unique iridescent eyes and he just stares in shock and honestly a touch of awe then it hit him if Dream could do this sort of thing why didn't they experience the older utlising any of it when they were fighting against him during the L’manberg war for independence?!.
Dream looks at him with dead seriousness “we should get moving Tommy they’ll double back eventually and we don't want to be caught when they do so and there's chances that others could join the hunt late and still pass through here to get to the others and we just can't chance that right now”. Tommy just stares at Dream who tugs his arm “come on we need to move” he states urgently and Tommy finally snaps back to himself realising that he could have an existential crisis about Dream having unknown powers later when they were in a safe location in which they couldn't be tracked. It's now that he notices the slouch of Dream’s careful fast walk the way his left leg drags and he holds himself too equate for that. Dream was injured and yet somehow he was managing to force himself to operate at what appears to be his peak performance at this age. Tommy notices the taut clench of his jawline which implies that Dream is gritting his teeth tightly, likely in an attempt to hold back sounds of pain.
Tommy’s mind then went on the dark path of thought of wondering how often Dream would have to be injured to become this experienced at hiding indications of pain or weakness because slight clench of his jaw would be unobvious to most Tommy only noticed it from having been around The Blade and Philza Minecraft both of whom were adept at hiding injury or pain but were just as good at spotting it on others and having grown up with them both Tommy too had eventually saw the slightest indications of pain or injury though he must say he wouldn’t have noticed if not for the slightest tick of Dream’s jaw or the barely there limp of his leg. Dream was apparently very adept at hiding any indications of pain, injury and weakness even more so than his two mightiest family members.