Chapter Text
"White flags!" His voice echoed through the mostly empty field. "White flags, outside your base, by tomorrow at dawn, or-!".
Dream stops.
He knows this words, he said them once. He remembers just fine how those words brought war and pain to his server. He remembers the expression Wilbur and Tommy had at the time, and how Sapnap and George cheered at his decision.
(He also remembers how he started losing himself. How he got filled with hate and grief and pain and how he used those feelings with the hope of saving everyone from further destruction and how he *failed *miserably.)
"Dream?" Sapnap asks, just to his right.
He freezes for a second.
(He remembers fights, and screaming, and threats. He remembers how it was before the fall of L'manburg, and how it was after it. He remembers the visit to his prison and he remembers-...
Sapnap voice remembers him of so many thigs.
Sadly, most of them just make him feel sick)
"Dream, are you okey?".
This time is George who asks him.
(His body was bloody and destroyed last time Dream saw him. He wasn't breathing, and oh, wasn't it ironic? Everything he did was to protect his friends, to protect George, and there he was, dead, nothing no one could've done).
"I'm fine," he answers softly, thankful for the mask that covers his grim expression. "I'm fine, i just... i took a decision."
Tommy and Wilbur frown, their positions lowering onto a defense stance, silent.
"No need to do that," Dream waves his hand, faking disinterest. "Wilbur, I'll allow you to built L'manburg".
"What?!" several voices scream at once.
They don't notice how Dream tenses at the loud noise. They don't notice how he slowly walks onto an open area. No one ever does, and this time, Dream is thankful for that.
"Yeah. I just... I considered, and... I think it's the better option. You two won't stop until your little nation is up, and I really, really don't care enough about this issue to start a war." He actually did. Part of him was mad that he had to let all of this go, but it was truly for the better.
He didn't have the time to care about Wilbur's dumb obsession with doing drugs and starting problem. There wasn't enough time. He had to focus on fixing everything.
"The fuck do you mean you don't give a fuck about this?"
Part of him missed that noise. Tommy being a kid, screaming, making chaos.
(The other, smaller part, just wanted him to shut up. He was so annoying. Wasn't most of the destruction on the Smp his fault? Didn't Tommy lie, and stole and broke everything and tried to kill innocent people over his own, egoistic desires?
Didn't Dream do the same?)
"Just that. I have more important things to do. I stopped doing important stuff to come here."
"This is important, you asshole!"
"Tommy," Wilbur warns.
"No, no, let him speak, Wilbur".
The brown-haired man looks at him with silent fury, but doesn't speak again.
(Once, they were friends. When the other man wasn't looking for trouble, and to steal everyone's things to monopolize potions. When he didn't use his brother and his friends and his son to fight for a nation that was built in lies.
They used to sing together, and fool around, and be friends.
But no matter how early they are. It doesn't matter that there are years in between that day and this day. Some time in the future, the same eyes that watched him with fury will one day be filled with insanity).
"I don't know what the fuck it's going through your tiny American brain, but you're not taking this seriously! If you're taking this as a fucking joke-"
"I assure you I'm not," he interrupted Tommy. "I'm dead serious. I'll give you a delimited zone, but besides that, you're free to start your nation. We will sign some treaties so the members of the Smp won't try to attack you, and you will have to allow everyone in your city. Other than that-"
"Why?" Wilbur asks softly, confused. Angry. "You were ready to tell us to give up or you'd kill us. Why are you suddenly... So..." Wilbur doesn't finish his question, instead choosing to shake his hand, gesturing at him.
Obviously, Dream can't tell him the truth. He can't tell him that he came from the future to fix everything they've fucked up. to fix the destruction and death, and the ultimate ascending of the egg.
So he settles for something simpler.
"Like i said. I have more important things to do than start a war with you over a city. You may do whatever your heart desires with your city. It will not be my problem anymore. As long as you don't cause trouble on the Dream Smp zone, i really don't care what you do."
There's silence. The wind blows in a way Dream hadn't felt in what feels like years. The sun felt warm, even through his green hoodie. Wilbur opens his mouth to speak, and Dream lifts his hand, silencing him.
"Whatever it is, we we'll talk about it when we sign the documents. You have one week to bring everything to-" He stops.
To where?
He doesn't exactly have a house, and it's been long since this day happened on his original timeline.
So where would he direct Wilbur to?
"The community house," Sapnap answers for him.
Sapnap doesn't look happy, but he looks willing to listen to him.
(And wasn't that the first time in years Dream had seen Sapnap willing to listen?).
The raven haired smiled slightly at him, and then looked back at Wilbur.
"The community house has always been neutral grounds, so if you're gonna sign peace treaties, it might as well be there."
Dream nods, relieved for the moment.
"Then it's settled," he claps his hands and keep them together. "In a week we will reunite at the community house, and there, we will sign L'manburg independence papers and some peace treaties. Are we on the same page?"
For a few seconds, no one answers. He can feel the panic rising, all his worries floating on his mind without mercy, making him wonder if he had already fucked up the entire mission. Then, when he is about to start running in an attempt to escape from the future, Wilbur speaks.
"Fine. Yeah. We're on the same page. Next week, same hour at the community house, right?"
"I... yeah."
"Good. Then we'll be there. Until then, Dream."
"See you then, Wilbur."
"Let's go, Tommy."
The blond boy glares at him, huffs, and walks away, in front of Wilbur, who glances at the Dream Team (and oh, yeah, George and Sapnap are there too), and then follows his brother.
Dream can finally breath.
"So, what was that about?"
Or not.
"What?" He asks, as if he didn't know what he just did.
"All that!" George exclaims, annoyed. "First you're telling them to stand back and suddenly you just, stopped!"
"Yeah. I thought the plan was forcing their hand into stopping all this non-sense!"
"That was the plan, but i changed my mind."
"We noticed! What the hell, Dream?"
(His mind goes somewhere else. To another place, to another time. Sapnap screams the exact same thing when he sees him alive.
"What the hell, Dream?!" Sapnap is furious. "How are you still alive?! I stabbed you, you bastard! You were supposed to die!"
And Dream isn't sure it it's about him escaping the prison or him trying to stop the corruption that the egg brought, but at this point, it's not really important. What IS important is trying to stop his corrupted friend from stabbing him again.)
His breath hitches.
Logically he knows his friends are different in this time. He knows that they're not mad, that they're not angry. That their shouting is mostly confusion at the sudden change of heart he just had. But something dark fills his mind, terrible memories flashing through his eyes like a camera roll, and despite knowing, he can't get his body to agree.
"Dream...?" George asks, worried, probably noticing his reaction.
He winced slightly at the sound, but played off as if he was turning away from them. "Sorry for the surprise. I wasn't joking, though. I do have better things to do, i can't risk starting a war with Wilbur over something like this."
"Okey, fine, but what about his drug empire?"
"He stole some stuff. Are we gonna let him, just, get away with it?"
"Wh- no! I'm- this is what the whole thing about the treaties is for. I already have this planed. But i really have stuff to do, so-"
"You keep talking about having something to do. Dream, you just came back to the mainland. Shouldn't you rest?"
He sighs. "I came back because you called me. And don't get me wrong, I'm thankful. We really needed to talk to Wilbur about this. But there's something important and... I really need to focus on this."
He can feel the disappointment on (who used to be) his friends, but they nod.
"So? What are we doing now?" Sapnap asked. "Are you at least gonna stay the night?"
"I..."
He honestly doesn't want to.
To be fair, last time he was anywhere near Sapnap, it became a manhunt game, except there was nowhere to go, and he always got stabbed.
Last time he saw George, it wasn't even George. Just a bloody mash on the ground.
And what if he saw Bad?
(Bad, who was one of his bests friends. Bad, who always helped him, and supported him, and protected him. Bad who had begged the egg for forgiveness for Dream even after the whole "kidnapping Skeppy for the collection" fiasco. Bad who had stood against him when Dream rose up and fought against the eggpire on his last days, who was merciless and who killed-).
Dream pressed his own stomach with his hands.
"Maybe. I... I don't know yet. I have to do some stuff on the Smp anyways, so I'll stay for the next week. But I don't know if I'll have time to catch a break."
Sapnap made a sad expression. "Oh.. okey." Then he smiled. "Well, that's better than nothing. At least we get to see you around!"
"Yeah," George said, unconvinced. "Dream, if you need help with anything- well. You know we're here, right?"
"Yeah." He lied.
If they noticed, they didn't say a thing, and Dream was okay with that.