A smile appeared on Dream's face as he breathed in the fresh air of his victory. Everything was going perfectly: L'Manberg was gone, destroyed, and that annoying brat was dead.

The kill was perfect, dramatic even. Dream had approached the child sniffling on the edge of the crater that was L'Manberg and finished him off with a clean swipe of his axe, sending Tommy down into the hole.

There was no question of his death. Even if the wound didn't kill him, which it probably didn't (That kid seemed immortal when it came to injuries), the crater went down to bedrock, and no one could survive that fall. What made the kill even better was the lightning that lit up the boy as he fell. Everyone had been able to see their only hope fall into oblivion.

They weren't taking it well, to say the least. Phil and Techno had retreated to their cabin after Tommy's funeral and hadn't come out since. Tubbo had a panic attack at said funeral, a show of weakness that put a smile on Dream's face. Ghostbur was said to have dissolved, overcome by grief. Dream doubted that; Nothing could get rid of Wilbur Soot, no matter how hard Dream tried. Overall, the rebellious spark Tommy had lit had gone out, and everything was perfect.

Until Ranboo.

Ranboo was Dream's prized possession, now that Tommy was dead. Everyone trusted the hybrid. He was kind and helpful, and they pitied him due to his memory problems. That's why he was the perfect servant.

Not that he did it willingly. Dream only used him when he was asleep, so he was unaware of his actions: helping Dream blow up the community house and betraying all his friends, among other things.

Unless, of course, Dream told him.

It may not be practical to tell the kid he was being mind-controlled, but boy, was it fun. There was something about crushing children's mental health that filled Dream with unfathomable joy.

Therefore, he made sure to do it often.

But there was one problem with Ranboo: he was curious. That boy read anything and everything, and sooner or later, he could come across something Dream didn't particularly want him to see.

That's why when Dream saw Ranboo trying to be secretive while obviously plotting with Tubbo, he got suspicious.

While Ranboo and Tubbo were friends, Dream wouldn't expect Tubbo to be so talkative after Tommy's death.

Something was going on.

~

Tubbo frowned as Ranboo left his house. Although they had looked through practically every book imaginable, they hadn't found anything more about the Bedrock theory. Ranboo had suggested that they try to recreate it, but there hadn't been a thunderstorm, and Tubbo was losing hope. Nothing ever worked out for him, so who's to say this would?

Suddenly, a knock sounded on his door. It was odd, as Ranboo was the only one who visited him, and he just left. Maybe it was someone else for a change!

Tubbo untangled himself from the criss-cross position he was sitting in on his bed and hauled himself up, wincing as his muscles protested. He really needed to get out more.

The knock came again, this time with a voice.

"If you don't open the door, I'll do it myself."

Dream.

Oh no.

No, no, no, no.

Not Dream. It couldn't be Dream.

Anyone but Dream.

"Tubbo."

Tubbo shakily stepped forward from where he had backed against the wall.

"One second," he croaked out, praying Dream wouldn't get angry.

When he only heard a heavy sigh come from behind the door, he rushed over to his enderchest and began digging around for a weapon, glancing back at the door every few seconds.

Where were his tools? He could have sworn he had stocked up for the war...

Oh. Crap. All his stuff had blown up.

Then, a glint shone from the bottom of the chest. Tubbo hurridly dug and found... a fork.

Double crap.

Well, it was better than nothing, and he could hear Dream getting impatient.

Really, Tubbo was surprised he had waited for him this long, when he could easily come in and murder him, or whatever he wanted to do.

Tubbo grabbed the fork and shut the lid, stepping to the door. Taking a shaky breath, he eased it open.

Dream was leaning against a tree a few yards away. Tubbo could almost picture him raising an eyebrow from behind his creepy mask.

"What took you so long?"

Tubbo gripped the fork so tightly he was sure his knuckles were white. He decided to be bold, not caring that it could get him killed. It wasn't like that bothered him anyway.

"What do you want?"

Tubbo saw Dream smirk. "Getting feisty, are we?" When Tubbo didn't respond, he continued. "I was just wondering what Ranboo is doing here all the time? I don't want you plotting anything!"

Tubbo's eyes widened. How did he know? It could be a coincidence, but this was Dream. Nothing was a coincidence with Dream.

"W-why do you want to know?" Tubbo managed to say. This could not go well.

"Oh! So something is going on?" Tubbo felt Dream's eyes search him from behind the mask, and he grimaced. It was not a pleasant feeling. Something about it felt like the man could see into his soul. "So, what is it?"

"Nothing! It's nothing." Tubbo squeezed the fork even tighter.

"Ah, but it is something. And if you won't tell me, I'll have to find out for myself. I can't have a revolution forming from under my nose! That would ruin my reputation!"

Oh no. This was not good. Dream's methods of finding information were brutal, to say the least. He couldn't put Ranboo through that type of torture.

"It was just..." Tubbo tried to come up with something, anything to get himself out of this mess. "We were-"

"Tubbo," Dream cautioned. "Tell me the truth."

"I-"

Dream sighed. "It looks like you're not going to say what I need you to. Well, I have other sources." He turned to leave.

Ranboo. The fork clattered to the ground.

Ranboo was in trouble if he didn't do anything.

"Wait!" Tubbo called, but Dream was already out of sight, hidden by the woods surrounding Tubbo's house.

Tubbo ran out, searching for a glimpse of bright green, the crack of a footstep in the thicket. But there was nothing. Dream was gone.

~

Dream rolled his eyes at Tubbo's calls for him to return. It was evident he wasn't going to tell Dream what he wanted, so he would have to find Ranboo.

Dream really didn't know why he didn't go to Ranboo in the first place. It was easy to get him to spill, even more so when he was under Dream's influence. Maybe it was because he wanted a challenge? Or possibly because he wanted to see how broken the kid really was. Not very much, it seemed.

Dream trudged through the snow. After his home was... well, blown up, Ranboo had gone to live near Technoblade and Philza's cabin. Dream wished he had stayed closer; the tundra was a pain to travel through.

As Ranboo's home came into view, Dream paused and closed his eyes, searching for the hybrid's presence. Sure enough, he was there. Gathering his power, Dream willed Ranboo to sleep.

Today had been weird. First, Tubbo had been acting strange, sadder than usual. Then Ranboo was organizing chests one moment at midday, and then he felt a wave of drowsiness, and he was standing outside at dusk. And furthermore, there was nothing about it in his memory book.

It's not like it hadn't happened before; he often had blanks in his memory. At first, he thought it was just whatever was wrong with his head, but now he was starting to suspect otherwise.

He had thought it was just some sort of nightmare, but Dream had come to him a few times in his panic room, telling him he had blown up the community house and betrayed all his friends. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the traitor thing was actually true, so he thought it was some sort of convicting dream.

But now he was blanking out? If... if it was true, could he have done those things in those lapses in memory? Was he really that monster, betraying everyone he loved?

If it was real- what did he do today?

~

Tubbo cursed as he face-planted in the snow. God, he hates the cold, wet mush. It got everywhere and made him just plain uncomfortable. But if he wanted to warn Ranbbo, he needed to brave the cold.

Tubbo arrived at Ranboo's house, wet and shivering, to see the hybrid standing in front of his door, looking lost.

"Ranboo?" The teen looked up, startled. "Ranboo, you have to be careful. Dream wants to know what we're doing, and he's gonna make you tell him, and we can't let him find out about Tommy." Tubbo rambled.

Ranboo's eyes widened significantly at the mention of Dream.

"Wh- what?"

"He came to me asking why you kept seeing me, and when I wouldn't tell him, he threatened to make you tell him," Tubbo explained, a bit slower.

The hybrid's eyebrows furrowed. "Dream? Why would he want to know what we're doing? And it's not like he could make me-" Ranboo cut himself off with a gasp, seeming to realize something. His face darkened, and he looked... scared? Tubbo got why he was scared, but something told him this wasn't about the news he had just delivered.

"Ranboo? Are you alright?"

"I-" Ranboo whispered, barely loud enough for Tubbo to hear. "I think he already knows."