#sntn

Dream and Foolish had been made to construct a bunker under Las Nevadas, a place safe from Purpled, and any allies he may have. Dream had no choice but to pour hours of his time into the thing.

He had been digging and building one of the many rooms when he heard Quackity talking to Foolish, theorising about who he could possibly be allied with. Chests full of building materials were exchanged for cobblestone as Dream put together the room from the plan Quackity had provided him, written entirely in Foolish’s handwriting. 

“Technoblade maybe?” He heard Quackity say, speaking in a low tone to avoid being heard, unsuccessfully.

“Why Techno?” Foolish asked, also trying to keep his voice quiet, but failing even harder than Quackity.

“He hates governments, and he has a favour he owes Dream.” Quackity snapped back.

“Ahh, yeah that makes sense, actually,” Foolish said, “But, if you don’t mind me asking, why does he owe Dream a favour?” 

Dream smiled despite himself, he could picture the scowl on Quacktiy’s face. But before long, he got back to work, he couldn’t be caught slacking off, not with everything else going on.

Only when it was done did Dream find out its true primary function: housing Slime’s body. 

It was moved into the bunker, one whole room dedicated to the man. Quackity came in to talk to him from time to time, clinging to the theory that he was just in between lives. Dream hoped he was right about Slime not being fully dead, Quackity would really be pissed off if Dream was wrong. His words echoed off unhearing walls. 

The bunker (Quackity’s one, Dream wondered if he should change the name of the bunker he met his allies in to make it easier to remember) had an eerie atmosphere, the knowledge of why it was made weighed the air down, gave it a musty quality that no amount of ventilation could fix. This was their last escape if Purpled came back, if he brought allies. But once it was done, life almost went back to normal. Almost, Dream had been given more shifts, and he could never quite shake the exhaustion from his bones. Late nights and early mornings became his normal routine, enough that Fundy had even tried to sneak him out just to get him some sleep, only to be caught by Foolish, who sent them both back to their posts with a “Be glad I’m not Quackity.”

One other new thing was the increased number of late night entertainment sessions he and Quackity provided. More people had started coming, Las Nevadas was quickly becoming a popular tourist destination. One time Dream had even managed to spot Sapnap in the crowd, causing him to get distracted enough to get hit by the Pillager he had been forced to fight.

The roar of the crowd allerted him to his mistake before the pain hit. Cheers sounded from the plush red velvet chairs as his blood stained the coarse sand. Iron bars dug into his back, he could run away no longer.

Dream jumped, ready to hit a crit, and swung the wooden axe down onto the pillager, then ducked away before the Pilliager’s superior weapon could hit him again. 

He scrambled back towards the middle of the cage, always on the defensive. 

He had to be defensive outside of these cage fights as well, all whilst trying his best to stop whatever Quackity or Sam had planned, trying desperately to find any way out of the hellhole of labour they had made for him. At least he had allies now, that was one thing he could count on. Not just Punz and Techno, but Fundy as well, Phil was happy to help as long as Techno was on board. And while Purpled hadn’t been seen since Slime’s death, and despite everything that had come because of that, Dream was thankful he thought Dream could help at least a little in making Quackity’s life hell. 

The Pillager advanced again, iron axe held up, but this time Dream was ready. He grinned despite knowing nobody could see it, the mandated smile mask hiding his true emotions always, hiding his true intentions.

He knew that despite this, Sapnap would be able to tell, the man who used to be his brother could read him like a book, or at least that’s what Dream had always thought. With recent revelations though, he doubted that was true anymore. But then that had been part of Dream’s plan, it was by design that Sapnap didn’t know him anymore. So Dream acted as he would months ago, when there had just been a few people on the server, when he could have relied on the fiery man to be at his side for anything.

Cocky grin on his face, confidence in his steps, Dream held out his own axe, ready to strike.

The pillager came at him, leaving tracks in the bloodstained sand.

But before it could do anything, Dream hit. One crit to its face, Dream sidestepped the returning attack only to deliver another crit to its side.

The pillager erupted into a cloud of smoke, dropping the iron axe that Dream then held up in victory. 

The crowd booed, as expected. They wanted blood, they wanted him to hurt, they wanted him dead. And while they knew Quackity wouldn’t let him die, not yet anyway, they had been promised a show, a show Dream wasn’t giving them. 

So Dream prepared himself for the next wave of mobs, looking expectantly at the piston door Dream himself had helped build, waiting to give the crowd what they wanted. 

The hiss of pistons sounded, the next wave was about to appear.

But, instead of more pillagers, or skeletons, or even a ravager, there was just a single man. Quackity. Holding a chair. 

Dream took a step back as Quackity walked to the centre of the cage and placed the wooden chair down. 

“Sit down,” Quackity said, his voice low, sounding like he did all those months ago in the prison.

“But-”

“Sit down, Dog,” Quackity commanded.

Dream sat down. 

Rope was tied around his wrists, securing him in place. Dream could only sit and wait for what was to come. 

“Hey fellas!” The crowd cheered, “Look, this man, Dream, the prisoner, has hurt everyone here! He’s hurt everyone! And while I’m sure you’re all very happy watching him get beat up by random mobs,” Quackity paused to let the crowd cheer again, “I think you guys deserve better!” He grabbed Dream by his hair, taking off his mask to let everyone see his fear, “So, for the first time, I want to invite you to enter the cage, I want to invite you to give this tyrant what he deserves. For only a few diamonds, you can have your way with him for a few minutes, rules do unfortunately apply.” 

Quackity walked to the front of the cage, towards where the majority of the crowd were seated, and broke two of the iron bars to get out. Dream could only sit and watch as people came up to Quackity, diamonds in hand. Sapnap was first in line. 

Diamonds were exchanged and Dream watched in disbelief as Quackity gave a small talk to Sapnap, a briefing, instructions. Boundaries set for him, on how best not to permanently injure Quackity’s property. 

“Our first friend is up!” Quackity announced as he walked back into the cage, Sapnap following behind. The crowd cheered as Quackity held his hands out to them, welcoming the energy.

Sapnap just stood there, staring at Dream. They both kept their expressions cold, devoid of anything that could give their thoughts away to the other. 

“The tyrant’s old best friend, Sapnap! They used to be brothers, who else better to introduce Tommy’s murderer to his new life.”

Dream smiled at that, if they wanted a bastard to beat then he’d let them have one. He could be their monster, their murderer, if it helped them sleep at night after everything they did. Sapnap didn’t bother looking at the crowd, but let his disgust show. 

His fist landed in Dream’s face.

The crowd roared as blood trickled down from Dream’s nose, as he laughed. He laughed and leaned as far forwards as he could in his bounds, smirking at Sapnap. The metallic taste of his own blood creeped its way into his mouth as he opened it to speak.

“Long time no see, brother,” he greeted, reminding Sapnap that no matter how much he tried to distance himself from Dream, they were brothers. Everything Dream had done was done in part for him, for Sam, for Quackity even. They had betrayed him, yes, especially Sam, but they were still his family, still worth saving.

Another fist, this time in his stomach. 

Dream gasped as the air escaped his lungs.

This was how it was going to be huh. He gritted his teeth and refused to cry out, refused to give them the satisfaction. He may be their monster but he wasn’t going to go down easily.

Quackity walked behind, holding Dream’s shoulders to keep him back, giving the crowd a better look. He was the show after all, the star attraction, come and see the server’s villain get hurt and ignore the suffering outside.  Sapnap knelt down, becoming eye level with Dream.

“What kind of freak are you? Call me brother again, I fucking dare you,” Sapnap said brother with such disgust, spitting the word out like it was a fruit gone bad.

“To be fair,” Dream started, and Sapnap turned in disgust, “you are my brother, you always will be. You really think anything could change that?” 

Sapnap punched him again. 

Dream finally broke, groaning in pain. And for the first time since he had entered the cage, Sapnap’s expression changed. A smirk of satisfaction, a hint of regret. 

Dream spat blood in Sapnap’s face. 

“Oh you motherfucker!”

Sapnap stood up fully again, looming over Dream. More fists came, more cheers came. The sound of the crowd faded into the background as the roar in Dream’s ears. 

For a moment it stopped, and Sapnap stood back to admire his work. Dream knew how he must look, he could feel a black eye forming and his nose was broken, again.

Dream hurt, his head felt light, he tapped his foot twice, trying to signal to Quackity that he needed to stop, that he had reached a limit. It wasn’t certain if Quackity would listen, but with Dream now an employee it was sometimes more useful to keep him able and moving. 

Quackity stopped holding Dream back, and moved towards the front of the cage again. 

“Fellas, I’m sure you all enjoyed that very much, but unfortunately we do have to keep him alive and going, so could we all give a massive applause to Sapnap!” The crowd followed Quackity’s instruction, “You too can have your chance later don’t you worry! But if you would now all please make your way to the exit while we clean this bitch up.”

Sapnap hadn’t moved. 

Quackity came back to where the two were standing, going to untie Dream. When he was done, Dream slowly stood up, bringing him face to face with Sapnap. His whole body ached thanks to the smaller man, and he was pretty sure he had a concussion. He grinned down at Sapnap, showing off his now bloodstained teeth. 

“What?” Sapnap spat, glaring up at Dream.

“Thank you, brother, you know how much I love putting on a show.”

Dream could do nothing to stop the next punch from landing, his mind already too cloudy, he could do nothing to stop his vision turning to black.

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Quackity watched as Dream fell.

This was going to be a pain, he'd have to start vetting who got to have a turn better. He'd been so excited to see Sapnap have a go, not just for the marketing opportunity but because it had been so long since he had seen his fiancé. The piston door opened and Fundy rushed in. 

"Take him away, he'll need healing," Quackity ordered, not bothering to look away from Sapnap. He looked good with Dream's blood on his knuckles, Quackity wondered if he would look as good in the same position, if he had looked as good. He hoped he did. 

Quackity didn't watch as Fundy tried his best to drag Dream's unconscious body away, didn't watch as Foolish came in to help carry the prisoner, didn't look away from Sapnap until they were the only two left in the room. Only then did Sapnap speak. 

"Hey, uh, sorry for the trouble," he said while scratching the back of his neck. He was so cute when he was nervous. 

"No worries, babe, no worries at all!" Quackity replied, "But where have you been, I haven't seen you in ages."

"We've been at Kinoko, you know Kinoko," Sapnap said, life suddenly coming back, his vacant stare was gone and instead he was looking at Quackity with a mix of excitement and confusion. 

"Hmm," Quackity hummed, he had heard of Kinoko Kingdom, yes, he hadn’t heard why he hadn’t been invited, "I've heard of Kinoko, I didn't know you were there. Come, let's get some air, let me show you what I've made for us."

Quackity led the way outside, via the service exit to avoid the crowd overhearing their conversation, and into the winter night. Cold air and neon lights greeted them and Quackity could see their breaths forming clouds. 

"Us?" Sapnap asked eventually, having paused for the journey outside. 

"Yes! This, Sapnap, all of this for us, all of this for you and Karl," Quackity said, turning to Sapnap. 

"Why didn't you come to Kinoko with us?" He asked. Sapnap avoided Quackity's eyes, was that guilt? or just sheer nervousness? Sapnap shouldn't be nervous around him, Quackity thought, they were going to get married after all. 

"I never got an invitation, I- I didn't know you two were there until today," he lied. 

"Karl invited you!" Sapnap said, becoming defensive, "He must have, it's us two and George, obviously we'd invite you."

Quackity frowned, taking a step away from his fiancé. Sapnap held out his hand slightly, a signal that he wanted to be closer to Quackity, to the man he had barely seen these past few months. Quackity ignored him. 

"Why didn't you come to get me?" Quackity asked, voice quiet. 

"I didn't even know you were here until today!" Sapnap said defensively, "I didn't know Dream was either, how the hell did you manage that? Listen, I don't know what's going on, why he's here, why you're here, but I want you back. I miss you, we already have a house for you in Kinoko. And, like I get if you want to stay here, it looks… amazing, really, but I'd love for you to see Kinoko."

"Did you even try to find me? Or did you leave that one up to Karl?" Quackity asked. 

"Of course I did! I followed every rumour to try and find you." Sapnap said, throwing his hands out.

"Don't lie to me!" Quackity shouted, "Fucking Punz found out about this before you did, Punz! He's never even around anymore, has something going on with that fucking stupid egg Bad's fucking with and is fucking about with that valorant thing."

“Valorant?” Sapnap said in disbelief, “The egg’s gone Quackity, why would that hold him back, you dealt with the egg!”

“I have been here for months, Sapnap, I’ve been here for months while you three did fuck all to find me, I’ve seen George, talked to him even, he didn’t say shit, didn’t invite me to Kinoko. You guys made a new country and didn’t even fucking tell me! I had to bump into George randomly to find out! Not you, not Karl, not the people I’m supposed to be fucking marrying!” 

“Babe, I’m sorry-”

“Don’t fucking babe me, Sapnap,” Quackity interuppted, “You lost that right when you fucking abandoned me!” 

“If that’s how it’s going to be,” Sapnap said, turning to leave, “I’ll leave your country in peace, I don’t want there to be any more bad blood between us.”

Quackity reached out to Sapnap, held him back from leaving.

“You’re not leaving, you damaged my property, you went against my instructions and now you have to pay up,” He had been willing to let it go, had been willing to let Dream take the fall, for Sapnap. But with Dream out of action for a while now, Sapnap had cost him a lot of income, and protection. 

“What?” Sapnap asked, brushing Quackity off with ease.

“You owe me, Sapnap, you owe me for all the money Dream was going to make me. Property damage. Sam’ll be pissed as well and he is not someone you want to piss off right now,” Quackity threatened, walking closer to Sapnap, looking up into his eyes. 

“Fuck off Quackity,” Sapnap spat, before turning away and heading off into the night.

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“... You can do this, you can do this, you can do this...” 

Dream heard a voice as he woke up. It was a familiar voice, a nice one. His head hurt, and he felt nauseous, but then he had been expecting to feel like hell after that shitshow. Still, it was better than prison. 

“Oh he’s waking up, you can do this Fundy.”

Ah, that’s why it was so nice. 

Dream opened his eyes, or at least as much as he could. His left eye was swollen shut, and the harsh light of his room hurt his eyes, he squinted up at Fundy, who was pacing all over the room.

“Hey,” he croaked.

“You worried me, Dream. Here, take some water,” Fundy went to hand Dream a bottle of water, before realising he was in no state to sit up. He put the bottle to Dream’s lips, helping him drink from it. Dream grimaced at the taste.

“That’s got a healing potion in it,” He said with disgust.

“Thought you would like a health pot after that,” Fundy said, dabbing a cloth - soaked in another health pot - at Dream’s black eye.

“Hmm, they’re useful, sickly.” At least the watered down health pot had quenched his thirst. 

“I guess you’ve had too many forced down you to enjoy them now,” Fundy said, to which Dream said nothing. 

“They told me not to feed you,” Fundy whispered, not out of fear of being heard; the weight of the information admitted had quietened him, “Something about you breaking rules.”

Dream nodded, that was to be expected, especially if Sam had heard about this. 

“But,” Fundy started, “Fuck how are you still pretty all beat up?” 

Dream chuckled, although it sounded more pained than happy, a wheezing laugh that hurt his ribs.

“But,” Fundy tried again, “I brought you this?” 

Fundy held out a bowl of beetroot soup.

“Thank you,” Dream said as he took it from Fundy’s hands, letting their fingers brush.