Chapter Text
None of them knew how they ended up like this. None of them knew how they became the disaster that they were now. How the server that was once a beautiful home for everyone became so destroyed with war. How the friendships and bonds he used to have became something closer resembling a crater of distrust and hate.
“You look upset.”
The familiar warble and echo of XD’s voice echoed from behind him. George turned slow to look at him. He’d noticed that most of the others rushed to bow when they were in XD’s presence. They called him a God. He was a God. George was sure of it by this point. He’d seen the other do far too many things to not consider him such. But he was never a faithful man. He was never one that prayed and he had even found himself uncomfortable when he would follow Dream to the church at the times he would pray.
Idly he wondered if Dream still prayed. If he still found himself in the grasp of his faith despite everything he’d done. He’d watched Dream become a named monster. Watched his smile mask become a symbol of pain and hate. He’d been there when his laugh turned from caring to hollow. He’d seen it all. And still he missed when it began.
“I’m fine. Just thinking.”
XD made a displeased hum at the response. He knew the words weren’t believable but he still tried. Even when there was no hope for it to be believed. George wasn’t willing to offer him anything more to defend himself with. He didn’t need to. XD would understand and if he was bored then he would either complain or he would leave and find someone else to entertain him. George wasn’t in the mood for anything. He just wanted to reminisce. He wanted to see the world that he used to find so much joy in. He wanted to see Dream again.
He knew from Sapnap’s panic that Dream had broken out of the prison and disappeared right after. The whole SMP had been a mix of locking down on themselves or hunting for the one person George knew they would never be able to catch. He never agreed with the prison. Quite frankly he agreed with more than half of Dream’s actions. He was glad the other had escaped. He was honestly looking forward to some of the server members being put in their place.
He just wished he could see Dream again. He just wanted to know he was okay. He wanted to know where they stood with each other. He wanted to be able to hold him again. He wanted to be able to tell him he loved him again. He wanted to-
“Come.”
XD cut off his thoughts. The notes in his voice leaving no room to argue. The voice that sounded like Dream’s if it would just stop echoing. It made George want to scream.
On a normal day he would have balked at the direct order from XD. He would have lectured that friends have more tact than that. But when he turned he saw the hand XD was offering him. He saw the kind tilt in his head that he knew to recognize by all his time with Dream. Something in him was telling him to go. So with only a small frown he reached out and pushed away XD’s hand. He would go but he wasn’t going to hold XD’s hand. He didn’t like to touch him. It reminded him too much of Dream. He could see XD’s evident rejection and the way he shuffled in place like he was ready to be scolded. It made him feel guilty. XD was just trying to help. He was trying to offer a distraction. Instead of apologizing he just started to walk and turned his head back towards his overpowered friend to give him a small smile that said it was okay all in one wordless motion. He could see the relief through XD even before the words ever left his mouth.
“Where are we going?”
“On a walk.” He could practically sense the smile behind the mask. “You deserve to relax.”
The SMP was mostly empty so it wasn’t hard to just walk around without being disturbed. Most of the time when he was out with XD like this people would come running up and try to make deals. That or XD would scare them all away so he would have peace and joy. Normally that second part would bother George but for today, for now, for this one moment he was happy for the peace and silence around them. It let him look at the builds he saw and remember their creation rather than the bloodshed that likely took place in there.
He was getting used to it. To the silence and stillness of the world around them. XD was a protective sentry by his side. No one would hurt him like this. He used to always say he would know he wouldn't be hurt if Dream was next to him. That still held true when it was DreamXD. There was a feeling of safety. A feeling of belonging. It was a comfort. He never had to worry about having his weapons out or his armor on. He didn’t have to pay active attention to his surroundings. He only had to pay attention to his protector. Either Dream or XD. They would even alert him more often than not so he didn’t even have to worry about that much.
He was content to be lost in his own thoughts until XD’s arm came up to stop him. George froze immediately. He could read by XD’s posture that something was wrong. Something was considered wrong by Xd, by a God. It made all of George’s instincts stand on edge.
“XD?...”
“We are not alone.”
The tone in his voice changed. More tuned to an echo than the warble. It was still there. The vibrating undertones that dipped his voice to a dangerous level. With all the different versions of XD’s voice that George had heard, this one set him on edge the most. It was wrong. It was the echo that he used when he was speaking fondly and freely to George but the vibrating undertone with it was what he used when he had nothing but fury. There was something wrong. Something he didn’t understand.
He was about to question what XD was talking about when he caught sight of something. A flash of blue cloth. A shard of light reflecting off what looked like white feathers. It confused him immediately. The only people he knew with wings on the server were PHil and XD. From what he remembered Phil’s wings were large and as black as the void itself. The other was XD and of course he was standing right next to him. What he saw didn’t make sense but there wasn’t really another form of explanation. He shifted where he stood and felt his heart speed up when he heard XD let out a slightly strangled sounding gasp.
“XD?”
His voice had more urgency in it this time. There was less hesitance. Less calmness. He needed answers and he needed them now. XD sounded pained. Like whatever this was it was hurting him. Something that could hurt a God. And not just any God. From how George had understood things DreamXD was the king of the Gods. He needed to know what was happening. He needed to know how to help. He wasn’t the best fighter but he wasn’t horrible either. He could hold his own if he needed to. Unfortunately for him he never got the chance to ask. XD’s arms wrapped around him and suddenly the world around them shifted. He knew what a teleport would feel like. He knew they were unpleasant and uncomfortable but with his heart already beating from the unknown threat it made him feel sick.
By the time he felt his stomach settling again and looked to see where he was he found them in Church Prime. The place he watched Dream vanish into all the time. The place he never felt truly comfortable with. He saw the edges of blue fabric but it was the flutter of wings that caught his attention first. He saw the netherite armor. He saw the edges of the black undershirt and dark cargo pants. He saw the green cloak that pulled over broad shoulders and hung between two large white reflective wings. He saw the blonde hair. The green eyes, the freckles. He knew his face immediately. He knew him irrevocably and still the wings draping from his back made George doubt.
He saw the moment that it happened.
George watched Dream pull his eyes away from him and over to XD. He saw the confusion. He saw the pain. He watched Dream step back and the agony that lashed through his expression. He heard the gasp that stole from his lungs. He’d seen Dream injured countless times before but he’d seen nothing like this. Not from creeper explosions or arrow bolts. Not from horribly bad falls or zombie laws. Not even from burns in the void after harsh respawns.
The pain he saw in Dream was more severe than any of that. An echo of lost words saying “Your pain is my pain” rushing through his mind. He felt the fear clawing at his heart and throat. The fear that something was wrong and Dream was hurt overriding all his other thoughts as he watched his legs give out. Watched his body fall towards the ground. And he saw the blue cloth move.
He hadn’t known why Dream had collapsed. He hadn’t known what pain he was in until he tried to look at the person in blue with Dream. He’d barely had time to process the face that looked identical to his own before a splitting ringing sound crashed through his mind.
He felt like he couldn’t breathe. Like he couldn’t think. He felt like his brain was turning to goo. Like his entire body was trying to vibrate apart and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He didn’t feel when his own legs gave out beneath him. Didn’t feel when XD’s arms wrapped around him again and held him close. He might have screamed. He didn’t know. He couldn’t concentrate beyond the pain but he knew that he wanted it to stop.
His lungs felt like they couldn’t take in air. His heart felt like it was trying to race out of his chest. He was desperate. Enough that he reached for XD in every way he could think of. His hand clutched at the front of XD’s robe and he forced his lungs to work to let him give one order he hoped XD would understand.
“Make it stop!”
No sooner did the words leave his mouth was the feeling and ringing slipping away. Replaced instead by a warm, comforting feeling. George almost fell boneless into XD after. He felt tired. Not like he normally did in the way that reality was just too painful to deal with but instead in the way that all the energy felt like it had been sucked from his body. He could feel XD holding him protectively and he wanted to close his eyes and sleep to let XD handle it for him.
But then he realized.
Dream had felt this. Dream didn’t have XD. Dream didn’t have the power of a God to protect him. Worry raced through his veins at the thought. He had to help Dream. He had to save Dream. He didn’t hear XD trying to pull his attention away. He pulled his head away from XD’s chest and turned to where he’d last seen Dream.
He was met with a scene that mirrored his own. Dream was on his knees before the man in blue. The difference between Dream and George was easy and instant to see.
XD had made something like a shield around him. He’d stopped the pain from flooding his body. But Dream? The man in blue had his hand cupped under his chin. He was tilting his head back and Dream’s eyes were closed. He could see from the speed of Dream’s breathing that it hadn’t stopped the pain. He could see Dream’s mouth moving but he couldn’t hear the words. He saw a glow. A brightened tint of glowing blue from the man’s eyes and he saw Dream relax completely.
His wings fell to the ground. HIs body moved as the man moved him. His head rolled where the man tilted it. His body had gone completely pliant to the man. But George wasn’t fooled. He could still see how Dream’s chest was heaving. He could see how his mouth stayed open. Lips parted in a silent struggle to get air.
Anger flooded his system. Dream was being used by this man. By this thing. The remembrance that XD had considered him a threat was not lost. Dream was in the clutches of something and it made him feel sick. The pieces of the puzzle he’d been lost in thought about earlier came clicking into startling place and he hated the picture it painted. The sudden change in Dream. The times he felt out of character and like he wasn’t acting on his own. When he’d rambled breathlessly to George about some mission that only he could do.
How much had they faulted Dream for as he was being used? He looked like a puppet with cut strings. At a total submission to the man in front of him.
He wanted to yell. Wanted to fight. But he felt the barrier from XD double just as the man turned back to look at them. He could see the complicated expression on the man’s face when he looked at XD. George saw the anger and confusion when that same gaze fell on him.
He tried to speak but he felt like he couldn’t. He saw Dream sway on his knees and watched him tilt to the side. The man in blue grabbed him before he hit the ground. He pulled Dream’s body to his chest and cupped his face. Bending down and if George didn’t know better he would have said the man kissed him. But he saw Dream jerk after, saw him breathe deeply and fall still again. It was nothing as intimate as a kiss but it still gave the air as such. There was still a mask covering the lower half of the man’s face. He’d done something to Dream. Something that George was sure he wouldn’t like. The horrid thought that he was putting Dream further under made him want to fight harder.
Only a second after that George watched the world begin to glitch. The same static feeling that ran through him when XD showed his anger flooded through the church. The world shimmered and warped until it split and pulled open. He watched it swallow the man and he watched as it closed and sealed Dream away from his reach.
Once the shimmers stopped and they were both gone he felt XD drop the shield. He felt too cold and he wanted to burrow himself closer to XD just to have it back but George was always somewhat of a prideful man and he simply refused to do anything like that no matter how much he might want to.
He felt like he knew the man that was with Dream and it made him want to throw up. The man was wearing his face. He knew how Dream felt about him. He felt the same way. They both knew that and they both acted on those feelings. The scene they’d made at the botched wedding wasn’t something just for show. And now this thing was using his face to make Dream bend.
Maybe he knew him from one of Dream’s old stories and books when he used to bring him to the Church. Maybe he knew him from somewhere else. The stained glass held images that looked vaguely similar but Dream had always been good about ensuring the Church’s use for people of any faith. Old memories of Dream telling him about God’s surfaced at the front of his mind. Dream had told him about several of them. About the ranks and relationships between the God’s. About the powers they all held and the myths and legends that surrounded them. He’d let Dream talk but he hadn’t paid attention to it. He hadn’t thought he’d needed to. He hadn’t thought they were real.
But time had proven him to be a fool.
He wanted to ask XD. Wanted to demand answers. But before he could even open his mouth XD was cupping his face and he felt the warmth rush through him again.
“Sleep.”
He wanted to struggle against it. He wanted to fight with every fiber of his being. He couldn’t sleep no matter how much he wanted to. Dream needed him. Dream needed help. He needed to be saved. But the warmth felt so good. It felt like it was relaxing his whole body at once. He felt like he was floating through the softest fabric in the world and he couldn't convince any of his limbs to move.
His struggles died down and he felt XD push him closer to the brink. He felt like he should be angry but he couldn’t muster the emotions up. He just felt the weight of his eyes and the pull of the darkness that promised him rest and salvation.
He tried to struggle. But he was just a human. He couldn’t win against a God. Not one like XD.
The image of the Church faded to black. A warp barely visible around the helm of XD’s shoulders. And before he could think about it George fell in the warmth and the world fell silent.