Please note this short story was created By Cyber to go along the WSFIB story, it's set in the era of when Dream team first meet each other and backstory about Dream

Warning: Experimentation

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Chapter 1 of 4: Abomination

Dream's POV:

Dream was only 14 ziran moon cycles old when he realized he was different from the rest of his people. He might have even known before then, but the day it was driven home was the day his mother had him cut into their family pet when it grew an extra limb for no apparent reason. Dreamons pets were used for household chores and were little more than livestock, but Dream had loved that pet.

Unbeknownst to his mother, father and his pod mates Dream had named the small Culca, Divi a name meaning bright in the mother tongue. Dream had always assumed Divi had no name, because his family hadn't thought of it, so at seven ziran moon cycles he had taken the small green and gold Culca and presented her with a small treat he'd made himself that had her name scrawled carefully atop it. That had been her naming ceremony. His family had never commented on the fact that he called the Culca Divi after that point, so Dream had assumed it was fine, he'd assumed a lot of things he thought ruefully as he stared at the ceiling of his room his claws twisting together nervously trying to wash away the stained blood on his claws.

For cycles and cycles he'd assumed that when his instructors had said that Dreamon's couldn't feel empathy, and showed the different organs they possessed in comparison with other species his kind had studied, well he'd assumed that they meant it metaphorically, or maybe just not literally? He'd thought they meant that Dreamon's were simply better at pushing their emotions down then other species due to their biology. Yesterday had proven him oh so horribly wrong. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut at the thought trying to force the memory from his mind but it was no use, the events of yesterday flashed behind his eyes in perfect undeniable clarity, just like every other moment of his life, the curse of a Dreamon's perfect memory.

*******The day before*******

"Mother, what are you doing to Divi?"

Dream felt something sick twist in his stomach when his mother turned to face him a single eyebrow raised, the rest of her face as cold and emotionless as usual.

"What do you mean by that Dream? I mentioned that I wanted to investigate Divi's extra limb earlier, it is so odd after all, a Culca shouldn't be growing more limbs at this age as you well know. So I'm investigating. Come, this is a good lesson, join me."

"But mom! You're hurting her!"

His mother who had been turning back to sink her claws back into the whining Culca turned sharply at that and stared at Dream, her face twisting into something that Dream realized with horror was curiosity. Curiosity, cold and endless examining him, and finding something of note. She turned fully from the Culca strapped to their houses personal exam table, and walked towards Dream she grasped his chin tilting his head back as she looked deep into his eyes her tongue flicking out to lick her lips like she did whenever she was particularly intrigued by something, and Dream forced all emotion from his eyes as quickly as he possibly could, fear circling his core like a Vel'e.

"Oh Dream, why does that matter? Do tell me Darling I would love to hear."

That imaginary Vel'e tightened and Dream's core froze. She'd called him Darling, a term of endearment many species used, but not Dreamons, never Dreamons, unless they were trying to pry something out of another species, a species that could feel emotion. It hit him then, it wasn't that Dreamons could suppress their empathy, pain, and their love, it was that they just didn't feel it. That is except for him, and that made him different. The word sent a thrill of pure fear straight to the center of his core, and he forced himself to answer his mother in an even tone.

"How can you be sure you're getting an accurate read of the limb's reaction time if the Culca is in pain? You and I both know that pain makes creatures react differently then they normally would."

His mother backed away the bright curiosity fading almost completely though a spark remained in her gaze as she stared at him for a long moment.

"Your correct, that is good, your lessons must be teaching you well, now come help me inject some numbing agent and we can study the Culca's reactions properly."

Dream wanted to scream in protest, wanted to run far far away from this horrid realization that his people were quite literally monsters, that his family were monsters. But were they even really a family? Everyone referred to each other as pod mates or mate's down here beneath the surface of his planet, no one had friends here, only competition and co-workers. No one had mothers and fathers, no one had lovers, only the male and female, only the mates used for raising pods and clutches so that their journey for knowledge would never end, so that she could expand her never ending scrolls of data that went on for miles through every inch of this city. So that she could try and satiate her never ending hunger for more.

Instead Dream nodded and keeping his face the careful stone blank he'd been mimicking from the others for years he joined his mother in standing over his poor pet. Mentally he apologized to Divi, before plunging his claws into the area around the Culca's new limb searching for abnormal muscles or bumps just like he'd been taught his whole life, and that horrid spark of curiosity his mother had directed at him finally dimmed sputtered and went out, turning instead to the task at hand.

**************************12 years later*************************

Dream could feel his face twisting in horror beneath his blank mask at the sight before him. He'd started wearing this years ago, he'd told his mother when she'd asked that it was so he didn't' have to worry about jumping into to any project without putting on the gas masks needed for some of the more wild ones, she'd smiled proudly at that and he hadn't taken it off since. In reality Dream had needed something to hide his emotions when they started him on the sentient subjects processing. Still in all his years of hiding and the horrid foul, soul tearing work he'd been forced to perform, he'd only ever worked on specimens so old they were nearly dead anyway, specimens that had been experimented on for so long they no longer cared what happened to them. He was young after all and only the elder Dreamon's got to work on the new specimens. But Dream was also from a high class pod which meant that he was getting his first fresh specimen today. He'd assumed that it would be an adult, he'd assumed that once he did this he could take the ship he had been promised after six experiments like this one and finally escape this pit.

Six deaths, he could do that, except he couldn't. He really couldn't. Dream found himself staring at the roaring Archea before him who could only be at most two cycles younger than him if not four. They'd brought him a teenager, a child really and they wanted him to rip into him until he found out how this particular specimen could create blue and white fire. Fire that burned hotter than any records they had of other Archea, and then they wanted him to cut him up for the younglings to study and then eat, after all nothing went to waste on Dresca.

Dream forced his face to harden beneath his mask and turned to the assistants in his lab. No he couldn't kill this child, which meant he had to leave now, stars curse it all! He barked out a series of commands to the assistants telling them to put the Archea back into its cargo container but to leave the grate open, and then to go and study the other specimens he needed time to plan what to do. What he neglected to mention to them as they scrambled to obey, was what exactly he needed time to plan for...

Sapnaps POV:

Sapnap roared as he was dragged back into the crate he'd been pulled from, he fought wildly trying to at least take down one of these monsters before he was contained once more as he stared at the blank faced Dreamon in charge. He snarled and snapped and shifted into liquid then pure flame....or at least he tried to. But the cuffs, the null cuffs kept him painfully contained to his solid form.

After several minutes of struggle they finally wrestled him back into the crate and then with a rapid clicking of claws they fled the room closing the door behind them as they rushed to whatever poor souls the leader had called specimens. There was a moment of silence then an enraged scream filled the air and something was thrown to the floor outside his cage. Startled and shocked, Sapnap abruptly went silent. In the sudden silence there was the sound of someone taking a deep shuddering breath, and then claws began to cross to his cage. Hunching his shoulders and baring his teeth Sapnap coiled up ready to pounce at the Dreamon the moment he showed his ugly blank masked face. That is until said Dreamon slumped over his cage mask pressed against the bars of the ceiling of his cage, seemingly peering at him in pure exhaustion.

To say Sapnap was confused would have been a massive understatement. He stared back at the blank face, his jaw dropping in shock. They stared at each other for another long moment before Sapanap forced himself to collect his emotions and he snarled at the Dreamon. The Dreamon who just sighed and muttered balefully.

"Six experiments, thats all it would have taken and I could have escaped this Vel'e pit, but oh no, they decide to give me a child a literal child for my first one, and oh no my stupid heart won't let me hurt him, what the heck is wrong with me honestly!"

Sapnap bristled at that

"Oi, I'm not a kid you prick!"

The Dreamon sighed at that,

"Right Archea, enhanced hearing and sight, you can hear me no matter how quiet I am."

Then to Sapnaps ever growing confusion the Dreamon removed his mask revealing a face that was the same eerie pale white of the other Dreamons, but with eyes so much older then he could comprehend. After a long moment though Sapnap realized that something was wrong with the Dreamons face, and he promptly yelped, lurching toward the bars and startling the Dreamon into staggering backwards. Then pointing a shaking finger at the Dreamon he said

"You're sad, and exhausted, and it's showing on your face! But Dreamons can't get tired and they don't feel sad, everyone knows that!"

The Dreamon snorted at that, actually snorted and stepped back towards the cage throwing his arms wide.

"Yep a shocker I know, and that is reason number one i've been trying to get off this forsaken planet! If any of the others found out that I can feel pain, sadness, joy, and empathy I'd be in a cage with you faster than you could blink. I was planning on waiting until I had my own ship to leave, but your presence has thrown a wrench into my plans sooooo are you going to attack me as soon as I let you out of your cage, or do you think you can work with me long enough to get us both off this cursed mudball?"

Now Sapnap had, had a terrible couple of weeks alright, he got captured by slave traders while visiting his sister, sold to Dreamons, endured a few horrifying test sessions of their experiments on the way here, but this- this had to take the cake on utter weirdness and just chaos for his nightmare life this last week. He stared at the apparently emotionally capable Dreamon and thought, well what the heck, why the heck not!

"You know what i'm down to not get dissected, let's get this ship in the air"

At that the Dreamon did something that both horrified and fascinated Sapnap. He smiled, like genuinely smiled. Then still grinning he held up a key ring that held the card for both his cuff's and his cage.

" I was hoping you would say that, now as you so eloquently put it, let's get this ship in the air!"

And as the Dreamon began to undo the locks on his cage, and restraints, Sapnap found himself smiling in response, sure this wasn't exactly how he'd thought this would go but you know what, he wasn't all that mad about it.

*******************************

To say things were looking grim would be an understatement. Sapnap stared down the hall over the Dreamons shoulder at the dozen's of far less friendly Dreamons that swarmed this level of the compound. He wasn't totally sure what his Dreamon was doing at that control panel but he sincerely doubted it would take care of the twenty something white clawed freaks about six feet from their current hiding spot. So like anyone else would react in this situation Sapnap got ready to go full rage mode heating up his core almost to a blue white flame as he prepared to attack, only to abruptly get smacked on the shoulder by the Dreamon next to him.

"Dude stop that, if you get hotter they'll spot us instantly and no amount of heat is going to deter the whole planet!!!"

After his whisper/hiss reprimand the Dreamon turned back to the control panel, his claws clacking against the smooth interface.

"Alright then what exactly is your plan 'Mr. Push all the Buttons'!!!"

Sapnap snarled. Though he did cool down his core, since while he might take his chances with twenty Dreamons at full heat, a whole planet might be a tad much for him. Just maybe. The Dreamon in question rolled his eyes, which nearly made Sapnap give a full body shudder, it was just so weird to see a Dreamon emoting, it felt.....unnatural. Regardless, Dreamon began to whisper his plan to Sapnap as he continued clacking away at the interface.

"I'm setting up a little distraction for this cluster of floor techs and then once they are distracted your going to hop in that box we brought with us and i'm going to get us out to a hanger, after that i'm going to point you at a ship and your going to kill the pilot on board while I open the docking bay so we can fly out of here."

Sapnap glanced at the crate on wheels that the Dreamon had dragged with them from the lab and considered it, before shrugging, figuring it was as good a plan as any. Though the we of that statement would remain to be seen. He wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of having a Dreamon on board the same ship as him. He glanced at the Dreamon as he continued tapping away confirming the last few commands, and found himself staring at the way the Dreamons brow furrowed in concentration. Now that he was looking he could see things he hadn't noticed before, while the Dreamon's horns were long enough to be an adult's they lacked the crystalline structure of a fully fledged Dreamon's horns. He was gangly and thin even by Dreamon standards, and the markings on his shoulders only went about half way down his arms.

Sapnap came to an abrupt and very concerning revelation, this Dreamon wasn't even fully grown! If Sapnap had to guess he'd say he was about four lava rotations old, which....would make him barely older than Sapnap at best. Ok so maybe he wouldn't be abandoning this teenage idiot Dreamon to the mercy of his kinsfolk. That would be child abuse, and Sapnap was not about that life. Dreamon or no child endangerment and abuse was bad. Sapnap was interrupted from his spiraling thoughts by the Dreamon stepping back after hitting what looked like a confirm button. He couldn't be certain because he didn't read the Dreamon language but he felt it was a safe bet because right after alarms began screaming from down the hall.

All the Dreamon's in the hallway looked up from their various projects, and with an eerie frankly terrifying calm they began to rapidly but carefully exit the hall and away from them. The young Dreamon gestured frantically for Sapnap to hop into the crate and after a moment's hesitation, Sapnap did, morphing his body into a more square shape to better fit the box.

Immediately the crate starts moving at the same controlled pace the other Dreamons had been going and Sapnap felt almost calmed by the steady motion. After maybe fifteen minutes of consistent walking the crate abruptly stopped and the young Dreamon opened the lid tossing it aside and darting for another panel in the hanger they had arrived at. He pointed directly at a medium sized cargo craft talking as he did so.

"I wanted to steal a cruiser or maybe a faster Xlinng model but the cruiser has five personnel on board at the moment and the Xlinng doesn't have enough fuel to get us far enough that we'll be able to get a new ship, so we're taking a cargo ship, it's not as fast as the Xling but it does have four jumps left charged with only one Dreamon on board, think you can handle her?"

Sapnap nodded and darted for the ship. Just as he arrived at it and started wondering how he was going to board, the young Dreamon appeared at his side keycard in hand as the massive docking doors began to open on the other side of the hanger and other Dreamons began to pour into the hanger. The Dreamon swiped the keycard and the ship's door opened and they stepped inside. Almost immediately the young Dreamon gestured to the adult Dreamon pilot storming toward them from inside her ship. He darted the opposite way down another passage in the ship, screaming over his shoulder as he did so.

"Take care of her, toss her out when you're done, I'm going to get the engine up and fly us out of here!"

Sapnap turned once more to face the adult Dreamon, only to find her much closer then he had expected and just in time to narrowly avoid a claw to the face. She roared and morphed into her battle form, her body ripplying and hardening as limbs separated from her torso and began floating menacingly in the air.

Sapnap snarled back and lunged for her core before she could finish morphing, grabbing the bright red orb from under her ribs and superheating his hand till the orb cracked. She screamed in outrage and continued trying to claw at him, her whole body turning sharp and floating like blades as she attempted to cut his body, which at this point he had morphed to be mostly pure fire.

In response to her lackluster attack, Sapnap snarled and then had to very abruptly dodge a claw to the heart, deciding he'd had more than enough of this fight he crushed her core. The Dreamon howled in rage as she burst into shards and something black began oozing from her core. Shuddering, Sapnap tossed her core out the still open door, the door which revealed that they'd started moving and that Sapnap was running out of time. With a quick swipe after morphing his hand into a flat surface, he swept the rest of the Dreamon's shattered corpse out the door before jamming the door shut button, just as another Dreamon launched himself at the ship with a scream of fury.

Then he began to make his way to the cockpit, when he arrived he didn't like what he saw, the doors were closing ahead of them, and several of the smaller Xlinng's the young Dreamon had mentioned earlier were rising into the air, all of them with brilliantly bright cannons as they warmed up their engines and prepared to shoot them down. Sapnap frantically searched the dashboard for the weapons system's but then the young Dreamon spoke up.

"Hold on tight, I'm going to jump us now."

"WHAT!!!!"

Was this guy insane?! A jump straight from the hanger would kill them, but the young Dreamon didn't hesitate as the cannons ahead of them turned green and prepared to fire and the doors of the hanger slid another inch closed, no instead he plunged the steering handle forward with one hand and hit the jump button with the other, there was a flash of purple light and suddenly they were in the middle of space, Sapnap screaming as he tried to pry his suddenly liquid form from the back wall of the cockpit. The young Dreamon turned to face him a giddy grin of sharp fangs and pure joy spread across his bone white face. Unsettling but still endearing.

"Well Mr. Archea, my name is Dream and I do believe we just escaped my planet. What do you say we celebrate!"

The Dreamon then proceeded to stand abruptly and attack a still highly traumatized Sapnap, with-a hug??? Before turning, laughing at the ceiling and then falling over unconscious.

Sapnap stared at the limp white form of this apparently very insane Dreamon, named....Dream. Yea ok Dreamon's were just totally not creative and the moment this guy woke up Sapnap was letting him know his parents sucked at naming, for now though....

Sapnap walked up to the limp form snoring on the floor and crouched, staring at the strangely expressive Dreamon that had helped him escape. White skin, with dull copper gold hair, strange curved horns that made an almost perfect circle, curved teeth that stuck out almost like tusks at the top and bottom, and of course the glowing green markings that spiraled across the Dreamons face, and shoulders.

Sapnap thoughtfully poked one of the ones on his shoulder and waited for a response there was none. The Dreamon was solidly out for the count, likely from the sheer amount of excitement the Dreamon had no doubt never experienced before. Sapnap curiously traced one of the especially oddly shaped marks on the Dreamon's cheek, the Dreamon's skin was oddly smooth and slick like stone, or maybe glass? Regardless, Sapnap found himself staring at the markings as he leaned closer to the Dreamon.

There were dozens of theories as to why Dreamon's had such odd clearly intentional markings when the race had no emotional attachment to anything, which meant that the markings had some sort of purpose besides looking odd. Sapnap eventually shook his head and picked up the Dreamon with one hand. Dream was surprisingly light, almost as if the hard glass-like skin was hollow. Which honestly with how empty hearted most Dreamon's were, really wouldn't surprise Sapnap.

He carried the unconscious Dreamon toward the bedroom's or well.... what he thought were rooms. They looked almost identical to the cells also on the ship, void of any form of entertainment or color. The only difference between the rooms and the cells was that the door could be unlocked from the inside. Sapnap thought about going to his own room, but the eerie silence of the ship soon banished the thought from his head. Dreamon ships ran off of Enderian Jump Crystals and all their internal systems were dead silent. Sapnap, glared at the Dreamon he'd laid out on the thin metal bed in the room and decided he'd rather sleep sitting against the wall, rather than drag in another of the contraptions. The beds reminded him far too much of the dissection tables down the hall. He leaned against the wall, heating himself up to a more comfortable temperature while still remaining...mostly solid. After a few long minutes, Sapnap found himself dozing off to the steady sound of the Dreamons....no Dream's breathing. His last thought as he passed out, was to where exactly Dream's autopilot was taking him, and then the darkness consumed him.

*********Meanwhile Deep beneath the surface of Dresca, in the core of the planet*****************

The high Dreamon in full battle form scuttled into the throne room, his red markings pulsing excitedly as he waited for the room to activate. Slowly the pitch black room lit up the sphere in the center of it glowing a viscous red as black oozed down the edge of the pedestal it sat upon. The high Dreamon bowed as low as he could, his rack of twelve crystalline horns brushing the floor as he compacted his twelve foot form down to show respect to her. A long moment passed then,

"Yessssss?"

The high Dreamon trembled with excitement.

"My Draia! The Archea escaped!"

The orb hummed glowing brighter almost orange as it considered his words.

"And this is a matter that concerns me, why exactly?"

The Dreamon was practically vibrating as he stared at the floor, his eyes brimming with interest and foul curiosity.

"He had help my Draia, help from one of our own, and it would seem that the Dreamon in question, did it because he cared."

The word was said with pure ecstasy as if the high Dreamon could practically taste the oddness of a Dreamon caring. Could taste a mystery that hadn't been seen in millenia. Could taste what would become his and indeed most of the planet's latest obsession. The orb froze its endless turning, and the light paused its pulsing. Then-

"Truly? How utterly fascinating."

And far away inside a stolen Dreamon ship, with and Archea sleep beside him, a young Dreamon awoke with a start, his glass skin around his eyes slick with glowing tears, a feeling of terror pulsing in his core.

Authors Note:

So quick clarification, Dreamon's can feel some things, but empathy isn't one of them, neither is fear, pain, or exhaustion. That is except for Dream obviously. It's quite literally how their species has evolved, their brain's don't contain the chemicals or necessary receptors needed to feel these emotions, which again is what's different about Dream. Also, it's mentioned in this chapter that the pilot shifted into a battle form, all but the youngest of Dreamon's can do this and as they get older they actually gain a third form as well. Elders or High Dreamon's are Dreamon's who are part of families who are specifically bred to gain a fourth form in the Dreamon race. Each form is stronger than the last. Sapnap fought an average adult Dreamon. Also the mention of him destroying her core is vital, as that is the only way to kill a Dreamon and keep them down. Since they don't feel pain or exhaustion they can't be deterred from their prey, and as long as the core is given enough time their whole body could be destroyed and they'd still regenerate. The only way to stop a Dreamon is to destroy their core. Because of this Dreamon cores are actually super high in energy and are a serious commodity on the black market as they can be used to power just about anything as long as they are placed in the correct conductor.

Ve'le: Snake like creature in space

Dresca: The Dreamon's home planet

Ziran: the Dreamon word for green, a ziran moon cycle is about half an earth year so Dream is about seven earth years old in the beginning scene.

Draia: Roughly translates to high queen, lady, mother, or empress in the Dreamon tongue.