71. (credit to Smallest, tigergrace and insomniouscat)

"I'll give you independence on one condition."

"Name it."

Dream bared his teeth in a smile. "Get every question correct in my Trivia game."

There was a moment of confused silence. Wilbur blinked, clearly at a loss for words. "And. . . and if I say no?"

"Then we go to war." Dream spread his hands. "Your choice."

"We'll play the trivia game," Wilbur decided. Dream grinned.

"Excellent choice. Follow me."

~~~

"The fuck is this?"

"Good question!" Dream swept his arm out towards the five buttons, aligned in a row on two-block pillars in front of them. "Press the button if you think you have the answer. First person who presses the button answers for the whole group. Does that make sense?"

The L'Manbergians exchanged uneasy glances. "You had this set up," Eret said.

"Yeah, because I assumed you'd rather do a trivia game than go to war." Dream tilted his head. "Unless. . .?"

"No, no, we're doing the trivia game," Wilbur broke in.

"Excellent. Choose your buttons, then we'll get started."

Tommy moved forward, only to be stopped by Wilbur. "Wait," he ordered, picking up a rock. He tossed it, watching as it landed on the button. When nothing happened, he picked up another rock and made as if to throw it at another button.

"It's not a trap," Dream called.

"Why should we believe you?" Wilbur demanded. Dream let out a put-upon sigh, strolled over to the buttons, and proceeded to press every single one.

"Happy?" he demanded.

Tommy snorted and marched over to the buttons, ignoring the noise of protest Wilbur made. "C'mon," he called to the other revolutionaries. "Let's just get this shit over with. The sooner we finish, the sooner we get independence."

The other four exchanged glances before reluctantly moving to join him. Dream grinned under his mask, producing a book from his inventory.

"Ready?" A round of nods. "First question. What block is unbreakable?"

Fundy quickly slapped his button. "Bedrock."

"Correct." Dream shifted. "Who is the current unofficial ruler of the Dream SMP?"

Current? Tubbo mouthed. Tommy shrugged. Wilbur pressed his button. "You."

"Correct. What is the ground of the Nether made up of?"

"Netherrack," Eret answered.

"Correct. Name one hostile mob."

"Skeleton!"

"Correct."

"This feels too easy," Wilbur muttered.

"Don't jinx it," Fundy hissed.

Dream cleared his throat. "Who was the first person to say the quote, 'It was never meant to be'?"

The revolutionaries paused, exchanging glances. "Uh," Tubbo said. "I don't know this one."

"You jinxed it," Fundy informed Wilbur. Wilbur opened his mouth to reply, only to be interrupted when Tommy slammed his hand down on the button.

"Eret," he declared.

"Correct."

"What?" Eret asked. "I-- I did?"

Dream ignored his question. "What is TommyInnit's favorite block?"

"Cobblestone," all five L'Manbergians answered in unison.

"For some reason," Wilbur added.

Tommy rounded on him. "Fuck you, cobblestone is an amazing block."

Dream grinned. "Correct. How many iron ingots does it take to create one block of iron?"

"Nine!" Tubbo chirped.

"Correct. Name one faction that sprang up after the disc confrontation."

Another pause as the revolutionaries glanced at each other, only for Tommy to chime in once more. "Las Nevadas!"

Tubbo squinted at Tommy. "What's las nebadas?"

"Disc confrontation?" Fundy asked at the same time.

"Correct." Dream flipped a page in his book. "Name one hybrid currently on this server, and the hybrid type."

Wilbur grinned. "Fundy, fox."

"Furry," Tommy coughed into his fist. Fundy's head whipped towards him, but Tommy just shot him an innocent look.

"Correct. What event did BadBoyHalo host as a ploy for human sacrifice?"

All lightheartedness promptly disappeared from the air. The other members of the Dream SMP, who had previously been watching with amusement, straightened. George blinked. "I-- he did what?"

"Red Banquet," Tommy said.

"Wait, wait, back up, Bad did what?"

"Correct. Name two things that ultimately contributed to Schlatt's death."

"Dream, don't just ignore me--"

"Alcohol and stress."

"Correct." Dream raised his voice so he could be heard over the confused spluttering coming from the others. "Who did Philza Minecraft kill the day he joined the server?"

"Wilbur!"

"Philza isn't even on the fucking server-- what do you mean he killed me?!"

"Correct. How many people, counting those who were pretending, have betrayed the original L'Manberg and Pogtopia?"

Tommy paused. "Uh. . . six. I think. Does Tubbo count?"

"Wha-- I've never betrayed L'Manberg before!"

Eret's eyes widened. "But there are only five people in L'Manberg right now, does that mean--"

"Correct. What was the purpose of the Butcher Army?"

"To kill Technoblade."

"Okay, that's it," Sapnap declared. He tried to pull the book from Dream's hands, but Dream casually sidestepped and raised the book above his head, keeping it just out of Sapnap's reach. Sapnap let out a frustrated growl and tried to knock him over, but Dream ducked away, still talking.

"Correct. Where did I lose two canon lives?"

Sapnap promptly tripped over his feet. "You what?"

"Your ugly-ass secret base."

". . . Correct. It's not ugly, but I'll let that slide. Who remodeled the Community House after it was destroyed for the second time?"

Fundy blinked. "After it was what?"

"Captain Puffy!"

"Correct."

"Who the fuck is--"

"Stop ignoring us, damnit!"

"Can we go back to the part where Dream lost two canon lives?!"

Dream hummed, casually blocked Sapnap's wild grab, and flipped another page in his book. "What did Sam create to help Tommy build his hotel?"

"Hotel?" Tubbo turned to Tommy. "What hotel?"

"Sam Nook!" Tommy cheered. "Man, I love that guy."

"Correct."

"Tommy, what the fuck is a Sam Nook?" Wilbur demanded. "Seriously, what the hell is happening?"

Tommy ignored him. "Next question, Big D."

"Give me a moment." Dream had towered up to escape Sapnap, who was now trying to tower up after him. "What was the name of Ghostbur's sheep?"

"Friend!"

"The hell is a ghostbur?"

"Who visited the prison every day for a month straight?"

"Prison?!"

"Quackity. Easy."

"Correct. What block do piglins love?"

"What the fuck are these questions?" Tommy demanded. When none of the other L'Manbergians moved to press their buttons, he hit his own. "Gold."

"Correct. Whose three canon lives did I take?"

"What the fuck? " Sapnap demanded, dropping the block he was holding. He caught himself before he could fall off his tower, then turned so he could glare up at Dream. "You did what? When?"

"Mine," Tommy declared. Four heads whipped around to stare at him, faces set in various looks of confusion and concern.

"Tommy, what--" Wilbur started.

"Shh, I'm trying to focus," Tommy snapped.

Dream cleared his throat. "Correct. Name one person that was revived."

"Me. Easy."

"Tommy, don't just ignore me--"

"Correct. Who blew up L'Manberg on the Sixteenth?"

"Wilbur!"

"--what do you mean 'revived', when did Dream take three canon lives-- hold on, I fucking did what-- "

"Correct. Which two members of the Dream SMP are currently in a time loop?"

"Me and you."

"Correct. Last question: does L'Manberg win independence?"

Tommy grinned. "Hell yes it does."

"Correct," Dream declared, shutting the book with a snap. "Good job, you get independence."

"What the fuck? " Wilbur demanded. "No, seriously. What the fuck."

"Seconded," George muttered.

Dream shrugged and began towering down. "Tommy and I are stuck in a timeloop."

"We know the future," Tommy added, grinning widely. The grin fell into a scowl. "Spoiler alert, it's shit."

"Ah," said Eret. "That. . . explains a lot, actually."

"You're taking this surprisingly well," Dream commented.

"I mean. . . it does explain your random decision to play a trivia game," Punz mused. "We had a war plan laid out already, and then you decided to go completely off the fucking rails for no reason at all."

Dream winced. "Uh. I had some pretty good reasons, actually. The war usually leads to. . . um."

"Bad shit," Tommy supplied.

"What Tommy said."

Wilbur grimaced. "So. . . so the comment about Philza killing me. . ."

Tommy looked away. "Yeah."

There was a moment of solemn silence. Then Tubbo stiffened, head whipping towards Dream.

"Wait, you killed Tommy three times?!"

"Maybe," Dream hedged. "Just a little bit. He got better."

"He beat me to death with a potato," Tommy added brightly.

"I said I was sorry!"

"Doesn't mean I'll ever let you forget it."

"You beat Tommy to death," Tubbo repeated, his hands tightening into fists. His eyes flared. Dream paused and glanced at him, then paled rapidly and took a step back.

Tommy cackled. "You fucked up."

Tubbo drew a sword from his inventory. Dream promptly ran for his life.

72. (inspired by L4dy_Seraphina)

"Hey. Hey Tommy."

"Dream, it's fucking three o'five ante meridiem."

"I know, I know, but this is more important than sleep."

"Uh-huh," Tommy muttered drowsily, turning over and pulling his covers over his head. "Tell me 'bout it in the morning."

A pause. "But it is morning."

". . . Tell me 'bout it when the sun is up."

Dream unceremoniously ripped Tommy's blankets away. The teenager yelped, crashing onto the floor. "Dream!"

"Up," Dream ordered with maniac cheer. Tommy groaned and reluctantly peeled himself off the floor, grumbling the entire time. Dream grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him out of the house, moving with a frantic energy that spoke of several sleepless nights and an abundance of caffeine.

"So last loop, I got into redstone," he told Tommy. "Just basic stuff, doors, lights, et cetera. But this loop Sam taught me how to make a TNT launcher and I was experimenting with it, and, and, I found something amazing and I need to show you now-- "

"Dream, when was the last time you slept?"

Dream paused for a moment, genuinely considering the question, then shrugged and continued pulling Tommy down the path. "Doesn't matter! So as I was saying, I was experimenting with some stuff Sam showed me and then-- and then--" they came to a stop in a patch of land, "--look!"

Tommy squinted in the direction where Dream was pointing. The area was peppered with torches, illuminating several dark, bulky shapes. ". . . are those TNT launchers?"

"No. Watch," Dream ordered, dragging him over to one of the devices. He released Tommy so he could reach out and pull the lever.

Fifteen blocks of TNT rocketed through the air and promptly exploded into glitter, showering a huge chunk of ground. The torches crackled as glitter rained down on them, firelight reflecting off the sparkling dust. Tommy stared blankly at the scene, then turned to Dream.

"Dream, why the fuck did you invent this?"

"To bring down nations, what else?"

"You're going to sleep," Tommy decided. He hooked an arm around Dream's shoulders and began hauling him away.

"Wait, but--"

"We can bring down nations tomorrow," Tommy grumbled, "when it isn't the witching hour."

"But glitter," Dream protested.

" Sleep, " Tommy countered.

". . . Fine."

Dream suffered a caffeine crash halfway back to Tommy's house and had to be dragged the rest of the way. It was the last time he tried to pull four consecutive all-nighters.

73. toddler tales, pt. 5 

Private Messaging: awesamdude

<CaptainPuffy>: sma

<CaptainPuffy>: *asm

<CaptainPuffy>: *SAM

<awesamdude>: what?

<CaptainPuffy>: i need help

<awesamdude>: Are you in danger?

<CaptainPuffy>: no, no nothing like that

<CaptainPuffy>: i need help w something else

<awesamdude>: with what?

<CaptainPuffy>: okay this is going to sound really weird

<CaptainPuffy>: but

<CaptainPuffy>: i accidentally acquired two children and i have no idea what to do

<awesamdude>: what

<awesamdude>: how did you

awesamdude is typing. . .

<awesamdude>: children???

<CaptainPuffy>: toddlers, to be exact

<awesamdude>: Please tell me you're joking

<CaptainPuffy>: sam would I ever joke about there being kids on the server

<CaptainPuffy>: especially given how the other kids have been doing

<awesamdude>: point

<awesamdude>: . . . so there are toddlers on the server.

<CaptainPuffy>: not,,, exactly

<awesamdude>: ?

<CaptainPuffy>: argh how do I put this

<CaptainPuffy>: okay so

CaptainPuffy is typing. . .

<awesamdude>: you've been typing for a minute, you good?

<CaptainPuffy>: dream and tommy are the children

<CaptainPuffy>: they got turned into kids

<CaptainPuffy>: amnesiac kids

<CaptainPuffy>: they don't remember anything past the age of three

<awesamdude>: .

<awesamdude>: they what.

<CaptainPuffy>: yeah

<CaptainPuffy>: somehow

<awesamdude>: no seriously what.

<CaptainPuffy>: they're a handful

<CaptainPuffy>: dream got hyper after I fed them dessert

<CaptainPuffy>: kid was bouncing off the walls

<CaptainPuffy>: literally

<CaptainPuffy>: I'm talking pro parkour moves here

<CaptainPuffy>: nearly gave me a heart attack

<awesamdude>: puffy

<awesamdude>: why would you give them sugar

<CaptainPuffy>: BECAUSE

CaptainPuffy is typing. . .

<CaptainPuffy>: I have no excuse

<CaptainPuffy>: but anyways I NEED HLEP SAM

<CaptainPuffy>: i'm not the 1st person the kids ran into and i'm pretty sure someone tried to kill them

<CaptainPuffy>: or dream, at least

<CaptainPuffy>: my money's on the cabinet. found the kids near lmanberg territory and you know how they feel about dream

<awesamdude>: puffy

<CaptainPuffy>: I don't know what to do sam

<CaptainPuffy>: do I take care of them? do I try to turn them back?

<CaptainPuffy>: I don't even know if I can keep them safe

<awesamdude>: are they at your house?

<CaptainPuffy>: yeah

<awesamdude>: heading over now. We'll talk more when I get there.

74. (inspired by uncreativeatnames)

"Tommy, don't panic, but I think we have a problem."

"I can't-- I can't feel my body what the fuck--"

"Calm down, " Dream stressed, carefully sitting up. "This is. This is fine. Everything's going to be okay."

Tommy was very obviously not calming down, given the waves of panic Dream could feel from him. The panic spiked when he sat up and saw himself, lying facedown on the ground.

"IS THAT ME?!" he shrieked. Dream winced. "AM I DEAD? I DON'T REMEMBER DYING, DREAM, WHY DON'T I REMEMBER DYING I CAN'T FEEL MY BODY I'M--"

"Calm. Down," Dream ordered. "You're in my head."

There was a pause as Tommy digested that. Then:

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Dream winced, rubbing his temples. "Please shut up," he begged.

"DON'T TELL ME TO FUCKING SHUT UP I'LL--"

Dream did his best to ignore the screeching gremlin in his head, slowly getting to his feet. His balance and coordination seemed unaffected by whatever had happened to them, thankfully. He tried summoning something from his inventory, exhaling when the familiar weight of his sword graced his hand. Okay, so whatever this was hadn't affected his inventory either. He dispelled his sword and scanned his surroundings, doing his best to ignore Tommy's maybe-corpse lying at his feet.

They were at the edge of a forest, about ten feet away from where the treeline ended. A village was visible in the distance, though he couldn't see any villagers moving about. He rifled through his memories, trying to recall how they'd gotten there.

"Ah," he said aloud after a few seconds. "Okay. Okay. This is. Okay."

"What? What's okay?" Tommy called, breaking off from his rant. Dream ignored him, kneeling by Tommy's body and turning him over. "Hey-- HEY-- what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Checking if you have a pulse," Dream deadpanned. He pressed two fingers to Tommy's neck, then poked him in the ribs. "Yep. You're alive."

"Great, wonderful, why the fuck am I here and not in there?!"

"We got attacked by a witch. Good news, she's dead. Bad news, she got us with one last potion when you stabbed her, and now we're stuck like this."

A pause. "I didn't know witches could do shit like this."

"I didn't either." Dream rose to his feet. "She must have been a messed up potion or something. Looks like you have competition."

"Competition?"

"For worst potion master."

"I'LL SHOW YOU WORST POTION MASTER, YOU--"

And then Dream was suddenly falling back, a terrifying sense of numbness spreading across his body. His vision went dark for a moment before it reoriented, and when he tried to blink, his body didn't respond.

"Oh," Tommy said, turning his head to look down at himself. "Oh. Okay. I didn't-- I didn't mean to do that. Dream? You in there?"

"What the fuck," Dream said aloud. His vocal cords did not respond to the movement.

"Okay, cool. You're here." Tommy tried to take a step forward, only to stumble. "Fuck, this feels so weird-- why are your legs short?"

"Not all of us are gangly beanpoles," Dream snarked. "Sorry to disappoint."

Tommy grumbled something and tried to take another step, arms outstretched to keep himself balanced. He was considerably more successful this time, and within a minute or so, was able to maintain a relatively stable walk. He circled back around to where his body was lying, then proceeded to stare at it.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get back into my body."

"By staring at it?"

"I'm projecting my soul through my brainwaves."

"So by staring at it."

"Fuck off."

Dream settled back as much as he could without a physical body, trying to get used to the unsettling feeling. Slowly, he reached out, pushing his mental presence upwards. It felt a bit like swimming through ink, and then he was suddenly breaking the surface, snapping back into his body--

"Woah," he gasped, staggering forward. "That was. Something."

"Watch it!" Tommy barked. Dream looked down and realized he was literally inches away from stepping on Tommy's arm. He hastily backpedaled.

"Sorry," he breathed, dropping down to lean against a tree. ". . . Fuck. What do we do?"

"Fix this," Tommy deadpanned.

"Thank you for your input, Sherlock. And how are we supposed to do that?"

Tommy gave the distinct impression of grimacing. ". . . Throw shit into a potion stand and hope it works?"

"Yeah, no," Dream decided. "You'd probably blow us up."

"Then what the hell do we do?"

"Ask for help."

A pause. "Dream, that's a terrible idea."

"Better than yours."

"Fuck you."

"Am I wrong?"

Tommy remained silent.

"Exactly."

"And who exactly are we supposed to ask for help? Technoblade hates my guts."

"L'Manberg?"

"L'Manberg hates your guts, and in case you forgot, I'm exiled."

"They still care about you, Tommy. They won't kill me as long as you're in my head. . . unless they think that's the solution for getting you out, but hopefully we can talk them out of it."

". . . Real assuring, big man."

Dream snorted. Without fanfare he pushed himself to his feet, slung Tommy's body over his shoulder, and set off in the direction of L'Manberg.

~~~

In hindsight, strolling into L'Manberg with Tommy's unconscious body might not have been the best idea.

"What the hell did you do?" Quackity snarled, his axe pointed at Dream's face. "What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Dream placated, his hands raised in the air.

"Bullshit." Quackity's axe inched closer to Dream's mask. "Hand him over. Now."

"Okay, okay!" Dream hastily handed Tommy over to a bristling Fundy. "Look, if you just let me expl-- wOAH!"

He ducked just as Quackity tried to take his head off with the axe. Quackity took quick advantage of his surprise, knocking him onto his back and planting a foot on his chest. He levelled the axe at Dream. "What did you do to him?" he snarled.

Dream stared up at him, unprepared for the sudden flare of panic that blossomed in his ribcage. He desperately buried his fingers in the grass, trying to ground himself, but he could already hear the dripping of crying obsidian and Quackity's laughter as he--

Tommy surged forward, wresting control from him. Dream gladly let him take it, retreating from the memories like his life depended on it.

"Prime fucking damnit big Q," Tommy snapped. "Just give us a second to explain, will you?"

Quackity recoiled, eyes widening. Tommy took advantage of his shock, rushing on to explain.

"Listen, I'm Tommy. We had a run-in with a witch. She did something-- I don't know how, but now we're stuck in the same body and it fucking sucks."

Quackity stared at him like he'd grown a second head. ". . . You really expect me to believe that?"

Tommy let out a huff of air. "The day I got exiled, I told Fundy he looked nice in his suit."

A pause. "You did?" Fundy asked blankly.

"Ughhhhhhhh," Tommy groaned. He let his head flop back against the ground. "What the fuck do I need to tell you to get you to believe me?"

"Maybe something from the pre-revolution era," Dream suggested. "Something Fundy would recognize."

"Uh. Your mom is a salmon," Tommy told Fundy. Fundy's face went through a series of strange expressions, eventually settling on what the fuck.

"How did you know that?" he demanded.

"Fundy's mom is a what?"

"You told me when we were shrinking Eret's tower," Tommy deadpanned, completely ignoring Dream. "With Jack. Remember?"

"Wait," Quackity said, apparently connecting the dots. "Wait, your-- Wilbur-- he-- with a salmon?"

"That was the only thing you could think of as proof?!" Fundy shrieked.

"Deal with it," Tommy snapped. "So do you believe me now?"

"Take off your mask," Quackity ordered, his axe wavering. Tommy rolled his eyes and complied, shoving the mask to one side of his head. Dream shifted uneasily in the back of his mind but remained silent.

The two L'Manbergians stared at him. "His eyes are blue," Fundy whispered.

"Wait, they are?" Dream rose a bit, as if he could see his own eyes. Tommy sent him the mental equivalent of a warning look and he sunk back down. "So our eyes are probably indicators," he mused. "I can see what's happening right now, so it's not dependent on awareness, thank Prime. Does it change depending on who's in control?"

"Are they not usually?" Quackity hissed.

"Dream's eyes are supposed to be green."

"Color contacts."

"But he knew about my mom, and-- and he has Tommy's accent."

Quackity glanced at Fundy, then lowered his axe and stepped back. Tommy sat up, rubbing his back. "Stupid fuckin' rocks digging into my spine," he muttered.

Quackity eyed him. "Wait, so Dream's really. . ."

Tommy rapped his head with a fist. "He's in my noggin, yeah."

Fundy looked disturbed. "Can he. . . can he hear us?"

Tommy hesitated. To lie or not to lie?

"Say no," Dream advised. "If we tell them the truth, they might try to lock us up until they figure out how to separate us."

"No," Tommy said. "Sometimes we can see things at the same time, but he's too busy panicking right now to focus."

Fundy's tail waved uneasily. "Panicking?"

"Near death experiences tend to make him do that, yes," Tommy deadpanned. "Anyways, do you have any food? I'm fuckin' starving, man. We just got mindbent via potion and it was shit."

"A potion?" Quackity's eyes narrowed. "Is that why you're like this?"

"I already told you, there was a witch. So. Food?"

Quackity and Fundy exchanged glances, appearing to have a silent conversation. At last Fundy looked away and sighed, adjusting his grip on Tommy's body. "We should probably take Tommy-- er-- you-- your body? To a hospital first." He grimaced. "Prime, this is weird."

"You're not the one having an out-of-body experience right now," Tommy scoffed. "Fine then, we'll go to the stupid-ass hospital--"

"And we need to talk to Tubbo," Quackity added. "We'll need to take advantage of this, since Dream is. . . indisposed right now. How long do you think he'll stay unaware?"

"I can keep him down for a couple hours, probably," Tommy said. "I'll let you know when he can hear shit again."

"Wait," Fundy blurted. "Does that-- does that mean he can keep you down too?" Quackity stiffened, obviously realizing the implications of this.

Tommy shrugged. "Dunno. If I start acting funny or threatening you all or somethin', know that it's Dream, got it?"

"Or your eyes will turn green again," Fundy pointed out.

"Or my eyes will turn green again," Tommy agreed. His stomach growled loudly and he flushed, crossing his arms at the looks he received. "What? I said I was hungry!"

"Let's get going then," Quackity decided, turning around and setting off down the path at a brisk pace. "The sooner we get T-- your body to the hospital, the sooner you get food."

"Fuck yes," Tommy declared as he hurried after him, ignoring Fundy's cry for them to wait up. This loop was gonna be fun.

75.

He was in the darkness, surrounded by the void, consumed in the nothingness even as his very being unraveled. He was everything and nothing, everywhere and nowhere at once, galaxies and worlds bursting into existence and crumbling to ashes before his eyes. It hurt, hurt like nothing he had ever felt before, and he would have screamed if he could, but the darkness had swallowed his voice, and what little consciousness he had left could not comprehend anything but everything. He was in awe. He was in agony. No mortal should have ever laid eyes on the secrets of the universe, the sheer magnitude of it all. He was being torn, pieces chipped away little by little--

And then there was a flash of light, maybe two, and he was being glued back together, gravity pulling tight the strings of his fractured mind. Memories of agony faded into forgotten echoes. The void fled from him, aching nothingness dissipating as he was reassembled, bit by bit, until he was himself, him, whole and only a little broken. He marveled at the feeling of stability, of being solid.

The universe tugged. He resisted-- he needed more time, more time to gather his thoughts, to realize his new state of existence-- but the universe never listened to anyone.

He was catapulted headfirst into reality.

~~~

One moment, the room was empty.

In the next, he appeared, wild-eyed and covered in ash, clutching his midsection. "Ow," he groaned, staggering. A glance at the makeshift calendar pinned on the wall confirmed his suspicions. "Ha. . . looks like. . . looks like it worked."

With his remaining strength he hobbled to the wall and sank down against it, letting his legs fall out in front of him. His hands trembled. He tugged lightly at the edge of his shirt, tried to lift it up, then cried out in pain. "Okay," he panted. "Maybe. . . maybe not such a great idea. Where are the regen pots when you need them?"

He eyed the chests set at the opposite end of the room, then closed his eyes and let out a defeated sigh. His head fell back against the wall. Minutes trickled by, marked by the clock hanging over his head. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

"I'm gonna die," he muttered at last. "Sorry to whoever finds my corpse here. Can't even say it's a pretty one."

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

His breathing stuttered and he coughed, grimacing as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. "I really messed up," he told the empty room. "Dunno how things are going to go from now."

"That was a lie," he amended seconds later, settling back against the wall. "It's-- gonna go bad. I've doomed this timeline. Can't. . . can't even do anything about it." Frustrated tears welled in his eyes. "I'm useless."

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Without warning, he barked out a harsh laugh, body trembling with the effort of sustaining the noise. "Prime," he wheezed. His bloodied fingers clawed at the carpet. "I ruined everything-- this one chance and I can't--"

He cut himself off abruptly and closed his eyes, listening as though someone was replying to him. "Stupid," he muttered. "I gave him all the time in the world. What-- do you think he's-- gonna do?"

Tick. Tock.

He hesitated, chin sinking down to rest on his chest. "Hope-- is useless," he choked out. "But. . . it's the only-- thing-- I-- hah-- have left."

Tick. Tock. Tick.

He laughed again, the sound catching in his throat and coming out as a weak cough. "Well," he rasped, "Never thought-- I'd be trusting-- Dream of all people. 'S up. . . to them. . . I guess."

Tock.

He blinked, gaze growing distant. His labored breathing stuttered, stopped, and failed to start again. The clock hands inched onwards, unmoved by the corpse cooling on the ground below.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick--

Tick--

Time shuddered. Time rewound. Time folded back on itself and he was gone like he'd never existed.

~~~

Agony. Darkness. A flash of light. Crashing back into existence at breakneck speeds. His knees nearly gave out and he stumbled, catching himself on a wall.

"Ow," he groaned. Looked up. "Ha. . . looks like. . . looks like it worked."

He slowly sank down against the wall, letting his legs fall out in front of him. His hands were shaking. He tried to lift the edge of his shirt, only to yelp and drop it. "Okay," he wheezed. "Maybe. . . maybe not such a great idea. Where are the regen pots when you need them?"

Tick. Tock. In the silence of the room, the clock sounded so much louder. A sudden wave of deja vu overtook him. He blinked then shook his head, laughing dryly.

"I'm gonna die," he muttered. "Sorry to whoever finds my corpse in here. Can't even say it's a pretty corpse."

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

"I really messed up," he told the empty room. "Dunno how things are going to go from now. . . that was a lie."

He slumped against the wall. "It's-- gonna go bad. I've doomed this timeline. Can't. . . can't even do anything about it." His hands curled into fists. "I'm useless."

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

He threw his head back and laughed, only to choke on the noise as it turned into a sob. "Prime," he groaned. "I ruined everything-- the one chance I had and I can't--"

Time shuddered. Time rewound. Time folded back on itself and he was gone like he'd never existed.

~~~

Darkness. Light. The clock rewound.

Darkness. Light. The clock rewound.

Darkness. Light. The clock--

Over, and over, and over, the cycle went on. Three loopers went back again, and again, and again. The first and the second remembered these resets.

The third did not.

Loop Notes
72. Sleep-deprived loopers may be chaotic, but not-sleep-deprived loopers are chaotic and have the intelligence to back up their chaos. By the end of the week, nearly every civilization on the server had been glitter bombed. Only Snowchester was spared.
74. Tommy was Very Upset to discover that Dream's body was faster than his despite the fact that his legs were a bit shorter than Tommy's. He did, however, put the running skills to good use (read: run from a vengeful Technoblade after he dyed all his dogs pink "to match your theme!")
75. ᚢ ᛚᚨᚹᚾ'ᛞ ᛩᛩᛁᚠ ᛗᛟ ᚲᛁᛉᛚ ᛉᛒᛗ ᛚᛖᛟᛋ ᛟᛒᛏᚱ ᚲᚨᚲ, ᛚᚺᛗᚹᚲ. ᚢᛒ'ᚴ ᛏᛚᚡ ᛩᚴ ᚾᛋᚾᛚᛞ. ᛗ'ᚤ ᚨᚷ ᛚᛟᛒᚡᚴ. (Key: MISTAKE)