Seven Years Ago. . .

“Dream.” The older blond looked down towards the curled up child in his arms. They sat in front of the living room fireplace, both curled up and slowly dozing off. Tommy had come into his room once again, crying and talking about the same nightmare he keeps having every night. Dream was afraid and worried for Tommy, the avian seemed almost traumatized by whatever takes place in these nightmares. The young avian has never given explicit details on what happens, only that he killed his older brother without mercy. “What if the nightmares never go away?” Dreams hold on the other tightened some, just the thought making his blood run cold. Nightmare was quiet during this interaction, not saying anything. 

“Then I’ll stay up with you every night until you fall asleep. And when you come into my room, I’ll just hug you and remind you nothing like that will ever happen.” Tommy sniffled, burying his face into Dreams' chest. The older man soothingly ran his fingers through the child's hair, Green eyes drooping in sadness. 

“I-I love you dream.” His grip on his older brother grew tighter as he spoke. Dream only smiled though, leaning down to place a kiss on his forehead. 

“I love you too, Toms.” 

Present. . .

Niki was busy plopping some pancake batter onto the pan sitting atop the burning stove in the small kitchen on this boat. The general had taken it upon herself to make a late breakfast for everyone.  Puffy sat in the entrance watching with sparkling blue eyes. Niki hadn’t noticed the other general yet, fixated on making sure the pancakes don’t burn. So, when Puffy walked further in, trying to start a conversation, Niki jumped, the bowl of batter in her hand flying towards the goat hybrid. Puffy was knocked off of her feet, batter splattered everywhere on her and a bowl covering her face. She layed on the ground, groaning in pain from the impact. The pinkette gasped, realizing who the person was and quickly ran over to the other. “Oh my gods! Puffy, are you ok?” Niki lifted the bowl off of the other’s face, who was laughing as she slowly sat up. 

“Yes, I’m fine Niki.” Niki smiled, relieved that Puffy wasn’t badly hurt. The goat hybrid got up, Niki following the movements of the other. 

“C’mon let me get you an awash cloth to get that off of you.” Niki said, dragging the white-haired female into the small kitchen. Using the bucket that was acting as a sink,  she grabbed one of the clothes sitting next to it, dunking the fabric into the container to wet it. Puffy watched, amused by the other’s actions. 

“I can do that myself, you know.” The pinkette huffed, pulling the cloth out and squeezing all the access water out before handing it to the other. Puffy took it gratefully, getting to cleaning the batter off of her face as the other rushed over to the stove to flip the pancake that was still cooking. 

“Thank you.” Niki hummed, looking over a few seconds later with a smile. 
“I should be saying sorry.” Puffy rolled her eyes. 

“I snuck up on you, I should have known better. Really, this is all my fault.” The two paused, Niki looking at the other intently, a small smile forming on her lips. Puffy herself smiled, forgetting about the batter that was all over her face and admiring the other female’s looks. Niki walked closer, still smiling and the goat hybrid could feel her heart stuttering. She couldn’t understand what the nervous feeling was, but tensed as the pinkette grabbed some of her hair, pushing some of the curly locks behind her ear. Yellow met blue, and Puffy was about to ask what the other was doing before the L’manburg general interrupted. 

“You have batter in your hair. It’ll be a pain to get out if you don’t go shower now.” The atmosphere broke when the human said those words, Puffy relaxing a bit. 

“Oh, yeah. I guess you're right! I should probably go and do that then.” Niki nodded, still smiling before going back to the stove. Puffy left, still unsure what the feeling she felt was. 

+ + +

They finally got some more of their friends here, the others that lived in boatem at least. Scar, Mambo, and Impulse They all sat in the living room, Gemini sitting in the back of the living room waiting for the avian before them to speak. “Well?” Grian slowly turned around, moving father into his house before disappearing up the stairs. The others in the room  shared  looks, all waiting for the other to come back and explain what has been up with his behavior. When he did he didn’t come alone, another human came down the stairs, red and gold covering their body. “Who is that?” This was definitely a person Gemi had not seen in Hermitcraft. 

“This is Egg, a god here to help stop the world from ending.” Pearl and Gemini blinked at the other, before breaking out into laughter. Impulse did the same, but Scar and Mumbo stayed quiet, unsure if their friend was kidding or not. Grian’s expression hardened, wings growing closer to his body at their reaction. Egg only watched, their expression holding nothing but boredom. 

“Look, I’m just here for an avian that will be here soon. But in the meantime, you guys have a bigger issue on your hands!” Egg cheerfully said, clapping their hands together with a strained smile. “You have the Dreamer kingdom coming here, and that probably will mean your village will be taken over as a base camp, unless you go and attack them and keep them at your borders. So, I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you.” Pearl was the first one to stop laughing, now turning pale at the thought of her village being attacked. Gemini though was still skeptical, the others in the room stopping their actions as well. 

“Oh yeah? Do you have proof?” Egg glared, anger behind held in their red and gold eyes. He lifted one of his hands, palm up, and an orb appeared.Everyone in the room, except for Grian and Egg themselves, were frozen as the cloudy glass turned into a moving picture of a boat. 

“Ok! So, this is the Dreamer kingdom’s ship. They are nearly here. And when they get here they’ll be looking for something that is very valuable.” 

“What is it they’ll be looking for?” Mambo asked, himself trying to calm down as the information rolled in. The others in the room were silent as well, all wondering what it was they were looking for. Their continent wasn’t rich by any extent, small villages covering the land with extravagant buildings and important statues. It was weird another continent would be looking for something valuable on their continent. 

“They are looking for the universe's crystals, they keep the world from ending. But if used correctly can end the world quickly. King Dream is looking for them, himself being led astray into thinking he wants them for power.” it started getting tense in the house as the god spoke. “You all must try and stop him. But you won't be alone, others from this continent are coming, all having the intention of stopping the Dreamer king too.” The orb that sat in Egg’s hand started changing, showing a live feed of a young malewith wings, smiling happily as he talked to what looked like a soldier in the lower decks of a ship. “This, is Tommy.” All blinked at the smiling boy, but all could see something seemed off about him. “Don’t harm him. Even if he attacks you, he is the key to your survival. If he is harmed, or killed, your whole universe will cease to exist.” 

“Is he a… avian?” Pearl asked, her eyes still fixed on the wings on the boy's back. Egg nodded. 

“One of the last of Grian’s kind. His father will be on the ship that will help you, along with another- actually, the avian I am here for.” With a flick of their wrist the orb was gone, the Boatem members now nervous as they thought of what they may need to do. “Now, you have some planning to do.” 

+ + +

Dream sat leaning against the ship's railing, watching the waves crash against the sides of the ship quietly. Tommy has been acting differently around him, skittish. He avoided eye contact, and he seemed afraid of him. Dreams' heart ached at the thought his little brother was scared of him. But he knew it was true. Tommy was slowly gaining his locked away memories. He had promised himself he would only give Tommy one of those potions and he was sticking with it. He wouldn’t do that to the blond again. Nightmare though was angry he wouldn’t give him another, and even tried to force dDream to give him control. 

Dream had fought back hard, staying in his personal quarters as he tossed in pain, Night screaming at the host and belittling him as he tried. His other half hasn’t tried talking to him after that, saying he hated him before vanishing from his mind. Dream knew why Night was so desperate to gain control, why he wanted their little brother to drink another potion. He didn’t want to lose their little brother again, didn’t want him to fear them just as much as he didn’t want the avian to. But he knew he’d never forgive himself if he had put another potion into his system. His fists tightened at the thought, himself getting angry at even thinking about the idea. 

He was angry he even let nightmare talk him into it. Now, every time he hugged Tommy, every time Tommy engaged in hugging him, or when he ruffled the blonds hair the way he used to, it felt empty. He felt guilty for what he did. George quietly walked over to the king side, looking down to the waves as well. They stayed silent for a long time before the general spoke up. “I know you haven’t been giving Tommy whatever you had him take to make him act like this.” Dream looked over. George’s brown eyes were fixed on the waves, hands tightly holding the railing. “Thank you.” And just like that, Dream was watching him walk away, himself smiling softly. He knew he had lost Tommy, but at this point he was only stalling the inevitable.