Chapter 1: Foreward, Trigger Warnings.
Chapter Text
I hope you enjoy the fic, but first, a word from our sponsors
I put it in the tags, but I’m putting it here too. FANFICTION IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT. I am not supporting any of these creators by writing fanfiction of them; I am not endorsing anything portrayed in this fic in any specific way. I think these characters frequently make stupid and selfish choices. That’s the joy of writing good characters, they gotta be flawed.
I do not view my fanfiction as an endorsement of any content creators, as I often choose to write more about the personas they portray and even beyond that, I warp and twist these characters in many was. Dream, content creator or character, isn’t a vampire. George, content creator or character, isn’t a werewolf. Wilbur, content creator or character, isn’t an angel. I write them as though they are OCs to me, and I will not tolerate any sort of “WSS” or “DTeam support” nonsense said about me. I only watch Schlatt and Tommy at this point, and I watch Tommy like… twice a year at that. So. Womp womp.
Now! Moving on to stuff you should know before you go into reading this:
- This fic is a rewrite of a previous fic of mine; a lot of stuff will be similar for a while. There are changes even from the very start, but ya know if you read the og, you’re gunna go “ah yes here’s the point where x, y, and z happen and the response is delta, pi, sigma.” The wording and pacing are changed *pacing is massively changed* but ya know, plot beats stay the same for a good while. I have already written new stuff but we gotta get through like… 40 chapters or so before we hit new things.
- This fanfiction contains an INACCURATE portrayal of OSDD/DID. I have DID. I know it’s inaccurate. It is intentional. You’ll see in later chapters. Don’t use fanfiction to diagnose yourself, but also don’t come into the comments of a fanfiction about demons, angels, vampires, and werewolves and hound me about inaccurate portrayals of DID. I know. It’s intentional.
- Tubbo does, later in the fic, end up in a romantic relationship with another character. It is not a content creator, and I do not agree with the idea of shipping minors. Bear in mind that Tubbo is an angel who can CONTROL HIS AGE OF APPEARANCE and is well over 300. However, I also understand if “Tubbo in a romantic relationship” makes you not read. Have a good day, find a fic you enjoy /g.
Now, Trigger Warnings in no particular order: Graphic depictions of: Blood, Violence, Torture (physical and psychological), whippings, beheadings, murder. Mentions of Child Abuse and Child Abandonment, attempted child homicide, bombs and explosions. Temporary Major Character Death is frequent. Mentions of alcohol, relapse, and gambling. Mentions of Sex. Intentional Degradation/Humiliation of characters. Fires. Kidnapping. Altered mental states. Threats and Blackmail. Body Horror Aspects. Swords and Guns. Bodily Harm via teeth. Mentions of infidelity, never any MCs. Lying about Abuse and Victim Blaming. Accidental “drugging”. Possession. Starvation (both self induced and forced).
If I have forgotten something you feel deserves to be put in the trigger warnings, please let me know. I did this off the top of my head, so I might’ve missed something. Now, enjoy the rewrite that is already (no joke) 40,000 words longer than the original and still not quite finished.
Chapter 2: What's a Vampire to Do?
Summary:
The Demon’s name was Bad. Apparently, a pride-based Demon... Bad needed a place to stay, and Dream, finally having met someone who might be able to explain his shit hand in life, accepted.
Chapter Text
Dream had been on his own for a while. It was better off that way, truthfully. Last time he was around anyone was about 5 years ago, he was 17, in high school, and someone in his class got a paper cut. The ensuing chaos and his flight from his hometown to avoid getting hunted down, changing his name, and never really stepping outside again meant that he hadn’t seen anyone since then. He had bought a decrepit old house, which he had fixed up over the years with late-night Amazon purchases, and he had survived.
He didn’t even know when he became a vampire, honestly. One day, he was fine, and the next, he wanted to rip someone apart for the crime of a paper cut. He had grown used to it now, slipping out into the forest behind his home to hunt down animals to drink their blood so that he didn’t starve. Dream was perfectly content in his solitude.
Then one day, he woke up to a demon standing awkwardly in his living room. They had talked. The Demon’s name was Bad. Apparently, a pride-based Demon, which Dream didn’t quite understand at first conversation. But now it had been a few months, he understood that Hell was broken down into areas based on the 7 Deadly Sins, that each Sin had a ruler. He had done some vague research into the Kings of Hell after Bad mentioned it. However, Bad said that Dream didn’t need to worry about it too much.
Bad needed a place to stay, and Dream, finally having met someone who might be able to explain his shit hand in life, accepted. He had a spare room after all, and Bad was more than content to stay in there. They got along well, and Dream found that although he didn’t mind his solitude, he enjoyed having someone nearby for when he wanted conversation. Better than talking to the voices in his head.
Dream had teased Bad about his kindhearted nature, since the demon was more than content to do anything the vampire asked. Running out to get supplies and things they both needed, and helping clean up anything whenever necessary. When Dream brought it up, Bad just shrugged before asking Dream why he thought Bad had left Hell. Dream didn’t bring it up again after that.
Sitting on the couch, Dream jumped a bit at Bad leaning over the back to talk to him. Still not fully used to another person being around, “Hey Dream… are you… Perhaps up to meeting a friend of mine tomorrow night? I think you two might get along. Well, and he wants you to meet his roommate.”
“...Bad, I’m not great around humans-”
“Why on Earth do you think my friend would be human?” Bad asked. Dream paused before conceding that Bad had a point. “So you up for it?”
“Yeah, I mean, if I get uncomfortable, it’s my house and I’ll kick them out,” Dream said. Bad just laughed that it was fair, before grabbing his phone to text his friend. Dream noticed how Bad was smiling about this. He clearly cared a lot about this friend, and Dream was fairly confident he could handle interacting with another demon or two.
The next night, when Dream woke up, he went to eat. Getting back home before Bad had even woken up. Soon after, Bad was awake, and there was a knock on the front door. Dream followed Bad over, but let Bad open it. “Christ Sapnap! Can you act normal!?” A new voice, Dream chuckled at how annoyed this person sounded.
“Sapnap, are you… I want you to meet someone! Behave!!” Bad sighed.
“Thank you!!” The first voice spoke again.
Dream walked up behind Bad to smile at the two, “You two can come in.” They did.
Bad sighed, “Dream, this is Sapnap, and his roommate George.” Dream looked at the two and saw George pull his hood down before shaking out his head. Dog ears twitching on his head. He shoved Sapnap off him a bit. George had dark brown hair, and his ears matched. Almost blending in if you weren’t looking right at them. Dark brown eyes as well. He gave off a feeling of the forest and the moon. Dream tilted his head, a werewolf? Well, if Vampires and Demons existed. Why not werewolves?
The other man was Sapnap. He had long black hair, pulled half up into a ponytail, and the other half down. He had a charming smile and purple eyes. The smile alone gave Dream some answers as to what type of Demon Sapnap was. A lust demon. “You’re cute,” Sapnap said instantly to Dream.
Bad groaned, “Sapnap!! Keep it in your pants!! Please!”
Dream laughed, “It’s fine. I don’t mind. Nice to meet ya both.”
“Nice to meet ya too,” George said. “How’d you meet Bad?”
“Showed up in the living room one day, figured hey, why not? Since I knew nothing about being a vampire, he’s helped. Some.”
George chuckled, “Sapnap did the same shit to me.”
“Yeah, we’re both… I don’t wanna say on the run from people in Hell but-”
Sapnap laughed, “Now that we’re gone? We’d be on the run if they found us.”
“...Oops?” Bad said.
“What did you do?” Dream asked.
“I fucked Satan,” Sapnap said reflexively. Dream read it for a lie, he knew it had to be. However, he laughed and let Sapnap get away with his lie for now. “Me and George would’ve brought our other roommate, another friend of mine, and Bad’s, but… let’s just say unlike George he can’t just put up a hood and walk past people quickly and not get… found out. Plus he’s not a people person.”
George chuckled, “He stabbed you last week.”
Bad looked stressed, “Do I wanna know what Sapnap did to prompt that?”
“No,” George said simply.
“Alright,” Bad sighed. Dream chuckled; it was clear that Bad was the one keeping his friends behaved all the time. Dream found it endearing. Soon after, the four were sat around, happily talking. George saying he found out he was a werewolf at 5, and at this point nothing about it shocked him. Dream shared how he found out he was a vampire, and George and Sapnap both tilted their heads at how Dream figured it out, but shrugged. They didn’t have any answers, so bringing up questions would just cause stress.
It didn’t take long into chatting for Dream to realize that Sapnap had a massive crush on George, and that George telling him off and shutting him down was George’s way of flirting. It seemed Sapnap recognized and accepted that form of flirting, too, though, so it seemed fine.
Soon after that, Dream felt like he had three people he could call a friend. George and Sapnap occasionally came by, always asking Dream or Bad first. They were nice company here and there, although too long around Sapnap did tend to give Dream headaches because he could only deal with a man trying to fuck him so much. If Dream gave Sapnap that tired look, though, that look of utter annoyance and exhaustion, Sapnap always stopped. Dream felt reassured by that.
Dream had slept in that night, and walked downstairs to Sapnap and Bad sitting on the couch and chatting. Dream let out a small noise in greeting to them. “Hey Cutie!” Sapnap flirted. Bad rolled his eyes, reaching over to grab Sapnap’s ponytail and pull it to shut him up. Sapnap gave Bad a small smirk.
“Ugh, don’t even Sapnap-”
“You’re the one who pulled my hair Bad!” Sapnap said, “What? Trying to fuck?” Bad scoffed.
Dream rolled his eyes at Sapnap, “Why are you here before I’m awake, even dude?”
“I pissed off Techno again and didn’t feel like getting stabbed.”
“...Techno?”
Sapnap blinked, “Oh the other roommate me and George mentioned. The one who’s friends with Bad… and I guess me on good days.” Dream nodded, accepting the answer before walking over to sit on the chair in the living room. “He’s not too bad most days, aggressive but… hey! What else do you expect of a wrath demon?”
“I think you and he would get along, Dream,” Bad said.
Dream shrugged, “Why not invite him over?”
“He can’t go out easy, has hooves and tusks and stuff,” Sapnap said, “Means he’s gotta put a lot more work into getting around. George and I are trying to find a… back way here that he could take but ya know.”
“He also kinda hates… people, so.”
Sapnap nodded, “That too. I’ve been trying to convince him to come meet you but… he’s still being grumpy about it… Bad, you should try.”
“...you think he’ll- no that’s a stupid question, yeah, he would be more likely to tell me yes than you,” Bad said, grabbing his phone. “Could see if he’ll come over when George does.”
“I mean… so far every other nonhuman I’ve met has gone good so I’m batting 100% so.”
Bad laughed at Dream’s comment, “Yeah, you have lucked out, that’s for sure.” Sapnap rolled his eyes. “...hey, Sap, is he still wearing his cape and crown all the time?”
“Nah, too much to… drag around, especially just around the house,” Sapnap said, “Dresses punk. Or well… button-ups or turtlenecks with a leather jacket he found and won’t let go of.” Bad hummed that it was fair, like the way Techno dressed now made total sense in his head. Dream blinked a bit, trying to picture what Techno might look like in his head.
Dream was off. By a lot. When George and Techno got there, Bad let them into the house. Dream looked over, smiling and waving at George, “Hey George.” He looked at Technoblade. Oh. Sapnap had described Techno’s style accurately. He had a red turtleneck this time, and a beaten black leather jacket on. He had hooves, Dream almost didn’t notice because the click almost sounded like heels. It seemed Techno had put something on his feet, to make the hooves look like heels unless you looked too hard as well. He had small tusks growing in, just poking over his lips some. His eyes were red, just like Dream’s were. The part that shocked Dream a bit was Techno’s hair. It was long, and a pastel pink, and intricately braided over his shoulder. It clearly was something he was proud of.
Dream had never given consideration that he might’ve had a thing for guys before but he was rapidly accepting that fact after looking at Technoblade. Dream smiled, though, “And you must be Techno!”
“Yuh,” Techno answered. His voice was deep, monotone, and simple. No strong inflection at the moment, simple statement. Dream liked the clearness of it. “Hopefully Sapnap hasn’t been tellin’ you too many lies.”
“I haven’t told a single lie about you!” Sapnap protested, hopping up onto the back of the couch. Purple eyes gleaming. “I’ve called you mean and violent, but that’s about it.”
Techno hummed, “Then you’re just preparin’ him to have to actually deal with me.”
“Yeah, mostly,” Sapnap said, smiling. Dream looked at Techno again, taking note of how he favored his left leg significantly. His phone was in his right pocket, though, meaning something happened to his right leg. Dream didn’t ask.
The group ended up sitting around the living room and chatting contentedly. George laughed some, “I cannot even understand how on Earth you guys met each other, let alone became friends.”
“Well, Techno and I met young, I was… what, around 100 while you were 60?” Bad asked Techno.
Techno huffed, “Sounds ‘bout right. Then a few decades down the line, Bad found and scruffed up Sapnap despite my protests, so we’ve kept him… damn near his entire life.”
“Or well, afterlife,” Sapnap rolled his eyes.
Dream paused, eyebrows furrowed, while he rapidly tried to understand what was just said at him. “Sorry!?” George asked. “What do you mean ‘met young’ at 100 and 60!?”
“I… oh right raised human,” Bad said, blinking, “Guys like… demons don’t die. Like… in Hell until you’re almost 200 people look at you like a kid. None of us were kids when we met, I mean, you die an adult, you stay an adult… I mean, we live practically forever. Until you’re even 400 people think you’re stupid in Hell.”
“...You guys had… lives?” Dream asked, not really knowing how to phrase the question any better.
Sapnap let out a bitter noise, “Sure did. Let’s not get too deep into them for now. It was a long… long time ago for all of us.”
“I feel like both the fact you guys have previous lives, and the fact that we’re… going to live to be that old should’ve been mentioned sooner,” George said.
“Sorry,” Bad apologized. It was genuine; it always was from him. “We forget you guys… don’t just know that stuff.”
“How old are you all?” Dream asked.
Bad paused, Sapnap and Techno tilting their heads too. “Bad, how old are you? I can use that to figure out my age,” Techno said.
“Give me a second, I am counting.” Bad mumbled to himself, “Uh. 560? That sounds about right. Maybe like…. 564 in truth, but most people in Hell count by decades. Which makes… Techno about 500, and Sapnap… somewhere above 400, under 450.”
“Can I say I’m 420-”
“Absolutely not,” Techno bit at Sapnap. Sapnap rolled his eyes, annoyed with Techno, but let it go.
Dream shook his head, “Sorry, Bad. You’re… 28 times my age?!”
“...Yeah, probably,” Bad said, shrugging, “Listen. Functionally, I’m 25, Techno’s 21, and Sapnap’s 19. That’s where we’re about mentally. If it’s easier on you, think of us that way. Our actual years don’t matter a ton to us.”
Techno shrugged, “All I care about is the ability to gloat when I hit 1000.”
“...ugh you’ll be so unbearable for like 100 years after that ew,” Sapnap said.
“Karl’ll have it worse,” Techno remarked. Sapnap hummed in agreement. Neither George or Dream asked who Karl was. After the mind-bending realization, the group settled in nicely together. Techno seemed to get along with Dream well, only occasionally snapping at Sapnap but George always just tiredly flicked his ear, and Bad rolled his eyes, which made it clear to Dream that Sapnap and Techno fought… often.
Chapter 3: Concept of Normality
Summary:
There was a puff of grey smoke, not smoke smoke, it didn’t smell like fire. But the visual appearance of smoke was the only thing Dream could compare it to. As the smoke faded, it revealed a man.
Chapter Text
Techno came over often, not the near every day of George and Sapnap, but 3 or 4 times a week. It had slowly ticked up, and Dream was frankly expecting it to be every day within the month. He had extra rooms, and sometimes it felt more tempting to tell them to stay than to deal with the in and out. However, they seemed to enjoy their in and out, so Dream let it be.
He had quickly gotten used to Sapnap and Techno’s arguments, and Bad often tiredly stopped them while lecturing whoever started it. And they both equally started it. For all of Techno being a wrath demon and quick to anger over even small things, Sapnap was a demon clearly fond of poking bears. It was another such instance of an almost fight that made Dream laugh, “One of these days he’s gunna rip you in two, Sapnap.”
“He already has,” Sapnap laughed. Dream blinked a bit, concerned, while George sighed. Sapnap noticed Dream’s concern. “BAD YOU MENTIONED WE RESPAWN TO DREAM RIGHT!?”
“I…” Bad went to shout back before walking into the room, looking shocked, “I forgot to.”
Sapnap rolled his eyes, “Demons have the ability to come back to life. We can’t die, quite literally. Techno could rip my guts out right here and now, and in a few seconds, I would disappear, along with the blood underneath me, and I’d respawn like a video game character. The ‘save point’ you respawn at… depends. Typically, it’s a place significant to you. Which, for me, Bad, and Techno, is likely my house back in Hell.”
“Which is exactly why I haven’t ripped your guts out,” Techno bit.
George rolled his eyes, “Don’t bother asking about that Dream. They won’t tell you why they can’t go back to Hell.” Dream just looked at George before sighing and accepting it. Not pressing for further answers.
Techno coming over meant that he and Dream had bonded; they talked often and sometimes would go outside to sit together away from Sapnap and Bad’s loud playfulness to talk. It was peaceful and comforting. They had found some level of safety and happiness in that. It didn’t help much with Dream’s crush, but he also had no plans on acting on that crush, so it was fine. Although one of the times after they came back in, Sapnap started a fight with Techno, and while George stopped it, Bad gave Dream this knowing gentle smirk.
Dream knew then that Bad knew about his crush. Dream didn’t know how Bad knew, but he did. He clearly didn’t plan to say anything to Techno, though, so Dream let that sleeping dog lie. After a bit, Dream huffed. Hunger was tugging at his gut again, and he knew he should go handle it. He simply didn’t want to. Didn’t want to chase and kill a creature. Didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
It was Techno to notice, “Dream if you’re hungry, go eat.”
“It’s fine,” Dream said, noticing only briefly how his words slurred. Oh fuck, now he’s stuck.
“Dream.”
“Bad, it’s not that serious-”
“Dream.” Bad said sternly, “When did you last eat?”
Dream thought for a moment; he always had issues remembering that. “...3 days ago?”
“Dream!?” Sapnap asked, sitting up straighter.
“It’s so much fucking work!”
“You…” Techno stopped himself before looking at Bad. Bad raised his eyebrows slightly before shrugging. Sapnap glanced between them before nodding in agreement, moving next to Dream and presenting Dream his wrist. Dream froze at it. “Sapnap, there are tactful ways to-”
“You don’t have to drain something to drink from it,” Sapnap said bluntly to Dream, “And… humans and things like us will keep you fuller with less and for longer than the animals do. Protein structures and shit I don’t really get it, but I know it’s true and I’ve seen its effects. You wouldn’t be the first, and you likely won’t be the last. It’s not something I get off on either, before you think I’m doing this for my own kicks. It’s neutral to me. It is no different to me than… Borrowing a water bottle or something. I don’t care. You need to eat. You don’t wanna go hunt and chase? Fine. Here’s some food.”
Dream considered the options in front of him. He knew the truth to the ‘humans and alike are better than animals’; he had felt that difference the few times impulse got the better of him. He was still hesitant. Techno rolled his eyes, “Sapnap can’t die, and if he looks too pale, I’ll pull you off. We both know I’m stronger than you Dream.”
Dream was aware of that, and it was frankly distracting to think about right now as he tried to justify biting his friend to his moral code. Sapnap sat patiently, wrist still outstretched. After a moment of consideration, Dream carefully bit into Sapnap’s flesh. Sapnap didn’t even gasp, just turning to look at Bad. “Why hadn’t you tried forcing him to do this before?”
“...Honestly, I think he’s only willing to do it because it’s you, Sapnap,” Bad said, “Despite everything, Dream is terrified of hurting me.”
“Fair enough, you are a softie half the time… have you not talked about… her at all?”
Bad shook his head no, “Don’t want him getting any ideas about following us.”
“Fair enough,” Sapnap agreed, repositioning his arm a bit so that Dream got better blood flow. George was on his phone and glanced over for a moment before humming. Sapnap looked at Dream, who had relaxed, hearing how casually Sapnap was speaking still. “Dude, you literally only ever need to ask us. Or hell, just say you’re hungry near us. I’m sure one of us will stick our wrist in your face. It’s okay. You’re our friend, we trust you, and we want you healthy and safe. We know we’ll be okay.”
Dream was full, and he pulled away. Nodding a bit before wiping off his face. “See, and you didn’t even get close to draining Sapnap,” Techno remarked.
“To be fair, even after not eating for almost a month once, our friend didn’t even get close to draining me… I wonder just how much it takes, ya know?”
Bad sighed, “Don’t go testing that Sapnap. For everyone’s sake, right now.” Sapnap hummed in agreement. “Last thing we fucking need is you ending up back in Hell.”
“Yeah, fair enough,” Sapnap said. Dream rolled his eyes, looking at Techno, who, for once, wasn’t glaring at Sapnap. There was some odd level of affection and comfort in Techno’s gaze as he looked at Sapnap. Dream didn’t understand it.
***
Things continued like that for a few more months, and the comfort they all had with each other only grew. Techno and Sapnap still fought, but it happened a lot less now. Dream had started to notice that when they did fight, it was about him, not something said to the other. Techno would get mad when Sapnap would compliment him. Dream wasn’t sure why.
It was another morning, or well, night, at the house. Dream was lying against Techno’s side after having eaten off him. Techno had his arm around Dream’s shoulders. Dream was thriving on the touch, enjoying being this close to Techno. Sapnap was on his phone, huffing while typing. “What’s wrong with you?” Bad asked Sapnap simply.
“I am bitching out Karl-”
“...Is he…” Bad trailed off.
“Yes, he’s alive, Bad,” Sapnap huffed, before tossing his phone to the side and crossing his arms. “5… 4… 3… 2… and 1?”
There was a puff of grey smoke, not smoke smoke, it didn’t smell like fire. But the visual appearance of smoke was the only thing Dream could compare it too. As the smoke faded, it revealed a man. He had curly brown hair and tired grey eyes. He was dressed in a pastel-like style. A light blue sweater with a white lapel peaking over the top. White washed jeans, and his hands were covered in rings. He had a backpack over his shoulder that he put down at Bad’s feet before saying anything. “Sorry, I’m late!”
“...I really thought you were dead, Karl, oh my god-” Bad said, pulling Karl to him to hug him. Karl laughed, hugging Bad back.
Techno chuckled, “Glad to see you’re alive, Rat.”
“I know, what would you guys do without me?” Karl remarked tiredly, rubbing his eyes, “Anyways. Hi Dream, Hi George. Sapnap’s talked about you both. Good to finally meet you… would’ve been here sooner in truth but… I got busy. I’m Karl!”
Dream blinked a bit, “Dream. George is the wolf.”
“Yeah, Sapnap’s boyfriend, right?” Karl asked, looking at George. George froze, eyes widening and face paling. “HAD YOU- HAD YOU NOT TOLD ANYONE!?”
“I don’t think I even told Sapnap,” George joked.
Sapnap blinked, “I do bruise, just so you both know.”
Karl hummed, “News to me. Anyway, yeah, I probably would’ve guessed you two are dating. Sapnap has a type.”
“That is not true-”
“I mean, now that I see Karl and George near each other…” Techno teased.
Sapnap gasped in offense, “They don’t look that similar!!!”
“I mean, we might,” George teased, “...You and Sap dated?”
“Yeah, is how I got dragged into this shithole of a friend group. I left home at 50, met Sapnap, and he thought I was pretty. We started chatting and hanging out, and then he dragged me home to Techno and Bad one day. Said I was his boyfriend. Truthfully, I don’t remember becoming boyfriends, but then we spent the next… God 100 years together?”
“Yeah, you were… 160 when we broke up so yeah 110,” Sapnap said.
Karl shrugged, “You realize I’m older than you are now, right, Sapnap?”
“What?”
“It’s been 20 years for me,” Karl reminded, “I’m 480 now.”
“No, you’re not,” Sapnap said.
Karl sighed, “You can’t just deny the passage of time, Sapnap.”
“I can and I did,” Sapnap bit, glaring at Karl.
Bad groaned, “I’m reminded why you two broke up.”
“Uh-huh,” Karl said dully, sitting on the couch by Bad, rubbing his eyes. “By the way, did you guys know Energy Drinks explode in hell. I think it’s the carbonation in general, but yeah found that out.”
Bad blinked. “Rat you did not come to Earth for an energy drink, and then went back when you were supposed to stay,” Techno bit.
“I… We’ll talk later,” Karl said tiredly. “It’s… a long story and I don’t want to stress out Dream and George over nothing, ya know?”
“Fine,” Techno said. Dream leaned back against Techno, and Techno’s arm wrapped around his waist. That touch was new, but neither said anything about it. Karl noticed it, but looked away to tease Sapnap and George about dating. Soon after, Bad, Dream, and Techno joined in. Mostly bullying Sapnap, although George did get asked what happened to his standards. He didn’t answer the question.
Karl quickly became a normal face within the group, mostly because Dream gave Karl one of his other spare rooms to stay in. He didn’t know why, but he knew that going to Hell would be dangerous, if not deadly, for all four of their demon companions. Dream wasn’t going to stand by and let that just happen. So, he gave Karl one of his spare rooms and that was that.
Chapter 4: Empathy and it's Complications
Summary:
Everyone knew Techno’s habits, his reputation, his too rapid and violent brain. Everyone also knew Bad’s gentleness. Karl wanted to scream, to yell and shout about how they already ripped open Techno’s leg. How he was already holding in pain, and they were going to flog him harder than any of the other three.
It would only make things worse for Techno.
Chapter Text
Walking downstairs, Dream wasn’t totally surprised to see George in his house. However, not seeing Sapnap with him, nor Bad nearby, nor Techno. But rather just Karl as the two sat on the couch, Karl lying down with his legs over George’s lap. That backpack was on the floor near the sofa. Dream still had not asked what was in it. “...Where’s-”
“At my house with Sapnap and Techno, they kicked me out. Said they needed to talk,” George said, “I didn’t ask too many questions. They told me that if Karl asked, he wasn’t invited and they’d tell him later. I think it’s a punishment for showing up late.”
Karl chuckled, “That or wanting me to bond with you two.”
“Fair enough,” Dream said, “Sit up for a second, Karl.” Karl obliged easily, and Dream sat next to George and let Karl lie across both of their laps. “...Ya know, you treat Sapnap and your relationship like it was nothing.”
Karl shrugged, “A short fling, really.”
“...100 years being a short fling is insane,” Dream said.
Karl blinked, looking at Dream, “Well, I guess that’s a bit… nondescript and incorrect. 100 years to us is like… 5 years to you. A 5-year relationship is… substantial, and sticks with you, but… It’s not the end of the world. That’s what 100 years feels like to us. At this point, at least. It happens as you get older. When you’re 400, 100 years won’t feel so imposing.”
“...That’s… insane,” Dream said.
Karl chuckled, “Part of why my 20-year delay isn’t affecting any of us too badly. Well… a year for Sapnap, 20 for me.”
“Why were you… 20 years late? When were you supposed to get here anyway?” George asked.
“3 months after Bad. Sapnap, Techno, Bad, Me. 3 earth months, or 5 years. Couldn’t all leave at once, would’ve drawn attention. The goal was to make people think we one by one went off to find a cave to rot in… didn’t work, hence a 20-year delay in me getting here.”
“...Didn’t work?” Dream asked.
Karl blinked his eyes closed, taking a breath, “I spent 20 years running and trying to make people… lose us. Lose them more than me. Distract and disarm, and confuse. It worked, that’s why I’m here now. I think I successfully made them all think we disappeared for real now. I hope so at least. I think they all think we’re in hell.”
“What did you even do?” Dream asked.
“Tried to overthrow Hell’s monarchy,” Karl said. Dream and George blinked. “...Sapnap and Techno don’t agree often, but they have once before-”
“Guys, this sounds like… a dangerous and dumb plan,” Bad said, he was sitting on the couch in Sapnap’s house, tail flicking near him in anxiety. He picked at his fingers as he looked up at Techno and Sapnap, side by side for once, agreeing and excited.
Techno shook his head, “We’ll be fine, Bad! We won’t lose. So many people want those two off the throne, all the Kings do. We’ll easily gather up support!”
“The majority of people are too scared to do anything to Behemoth and Paymon… even the Kings are. It’s reckless, you two,” Bad argued. Karl looked between the group, processing the idea.
“So we plan even better,” Sapnap shrugged, “Make sure there’s no way we can lose. It’s Foolproof!”
Foolproof my ass, Karl thought. Arms shakled above his head to the pole he was facing. Shirt discarded, and the guards nearby. Or rather, torturers. Techno and Sapnap got too ambitious, too bold, too… excited. Their plan fell through, and the few supporters they had gathered up ran off. Then, rattled by the failure, a guard got a lucky shot on Techno. None of them were willing to leave Techno there to face this consequence alone.
Their stupid goddamned Empathy got them here. The whole reason they tried this, the whole reason that none of them fit in with their sin where they should thrive, that stupid god damn inability to cast others out and be cruel. As crushed as he was, Karl didn’t regret his decision to try to help Techno up, try to flee while carrying the man who was almost twice his damn size. If Karl had left Techno, he’d be miles away from here at this point. However, Karl couldn’t and wouldn’t do that to his friends. He could not leave his friends to face this, thinking he had abandoned them.
There was an almost deafening silence from the four, the crowd less so. All four of them knew that talking right now would only serve to kill them, and they’d come back. But it would still hurt. Not that this wouldn’t, but dying took a toll on your system none of them wanted to risk right now. The only noise from the four was Techno’s heavy breathing, exhales almost a hiss, as he tried to exist through the pain in his bleeding leg. Looking to his right, the end of the line, Karl saw Bad. To his left, Sapnap. To Sapnap’s left, Techno.
They were being ranked. A clear line of who was the worst of the worst of the four. They were going to whip Techno far more than any of the other three. Everyone knew Techno’s habits, his reputation, his too rapid and violent brain. Everyone also knew Bad’s gentleness. Karl wanted to scream, to yell and shout about how they already ripped open Techno’s leg. How he was already holding in pain, and they were going to flog him harder than any of the other three.
It would only make things worse for Techno.
No one cared, their executioners, the crowd, the blood-stained rulers who stole the rightful crowns from Lucifer and Satan. They had long drenched their empathy in their own pain and misery, and victim complexes. The four of them, bound to poles and about to be flogged, were empathetic. And Karl was certain it would get them killed.
Then he heard the whip crack.
Techno didn’t react to the pain with any noise, dignity intact still. Techno would be dead in the ground before he screamed in pain, before he showed you his weakness. Before he admits you win. The other three were silent as well. Karl kept his eyes shut, unable to help himself from counting the cracks of the whip. 3… 4… 5… Karl wasn’t violent. He didn’t like violence and hurting people. But here he was. 22… 23… 24… Karl wonders if he perhaps prompted the idea of revolution in Sapnap and Techno. Being a double type, a show that Hell could be more unified, could get along, could work. Had he caused this for them by existing? 37… 38… 39.
Their torturer turned to Sapnap. Karl knew Sapnap’s pride and dignity were held differently from Techno, but hearing the crack of the whip and Sapnap’s immediate response of “Harder, you bitch.” Karl felt like sobbing. For Sapnap, who was going to exactly get his wish, and for himself, who was after Sapnap. After Sapnap manages to piss this dude off. Karl was going to punch him for this once they weren’t bleeding.
Then Sapnap’s taunts died, and Karl didn’t count. He didn’t know how many hits he was about to take. He heard Sapnap’s laboured breathing, saw in the corner of his eye Sapnap’s hands in fists. Then he felt only a splitting, searing pain. Karl did not have the pride of his friends, nor the willpower. He cried out when he was hit. Resting his head against the pole as he was jolted by the hits, Karl tried to pretend he was anywhere else, just like he used to when he was a child. It didn't work then; it didn't work now. He was unable to stop his screams of pain.
It stopped all at once, and Karl sobbed as he leaned into the pole more. He didn’t want to hear Bad’s cry of pain, didn’t want to be there. He wanted to punch Techno and Sapnap in the face for suggesting this, wanted to go back to a week ago, laughing around the table as Techno talked about some idiot in town that pissed him off. Wanted to gently bully Sapnap when he left to go hang out with his lust demon friends again. Karl wanted to go home.
It was over. Bad’s screams stopped and turned into cries and sobs. Karl twisted his wrist unnaturally to flick open the lock on his shackles, shaking out his wrist before freeing his other arm. He fell instantly, but took a breath. He had to help Bad, and Techno, and Sapnap despite their fucking stupidity. Karl pushed himself up, taking a breath before glaring at the person moving towards Bad.
Karl walked over there and released Bad, who collapsed and breathed, and clearly ached. Karl then made his way over to Sapnap and Techno, freeing them both as well. Karl helped Techno up he was now choking down his own pain. Focused on helping his friends. They made it back to Sapnap’s house somehow. Karl doesn’t really remember it. Just them all aching and their faces tear-stained and him lugging Techno along. Sapnap and Bad helping when they could.
Karl almost dropped Techno to the floor, but he didn’t. Not wanting to hurt Techno more. He pointed for Sapnap to sit too. He wanted to collapse, to let it all go away. But they had injuries to care for. “Stay,” Karl bit hoarsely at Sapnap and Techno. Voice raw and damaged from screaming in pain. He grabbed medical supplies so he and Bad could get started. Karl went to Sapnap, kneeling down carefully to work on his back while Bad started stitching together Techno’s leg.
“Karl let me-”
“Shut up, Sapnap,” Karl bit, harsh and mean. Sapnap went silent with it. “You and Techno are more hurt right now… let me and Bad fix you two, and then you can return the favor.” Sapnap accepted the exchange.
Bad sighed, cleaning up the wounds on Techno’s back, “Not to be a dick but-”
“Yeah, I know. You told me so,” Techno sighed.
“We’ll be fine-” Sapnap yipped a bit when Karl pressed on the sides of a wound to see if they’d be able to be stitched. Sapnap took a few breaths. “We always are.”
“We’re going to be socially ousted, you realize that, right? No one will fucking talk to us after this… not when they could get tyranny charges just looking at us. We’d be better off on Earth,” Karl bit.
“You got a point, Karl,” Techno mumbled. Bad and Techno swapped, Techno now taking care of Bad’s injuries. Shortly after that, Karl and Sapnap did the same.
Karl hissed at the pressure on his wounds as Sapnap cleaned them with a damp rag, “By the way, Sapnap, fuck you. There are times when you need to shut the fuck up and drop your fucking pride. You pissed that dude off.”
“Sorry,” Sapnap said, “I didn’t think about it…”
“Clearly.”
Bad sighed, “Are you two really going to fight right now?”
“We aren’t fighting… but no, sorry, Bad,” Sapnap said.
“Thank you,” Bad said quietly, almost a whisper. “We’ll hide until things calm down… then just go out together.”
“Stickin’ together does fuck all when it’s 4 people against all of hell Bad.”
“Techno has a point. It’s literally us against the world… for a few centuries at least,” Karl sighed. The concept alone was exhausting.
Bad admitted some level of defeat in his sigh, “No… forever. No one’s… not even the Kings are brave enough to try to get to Paymon and Behemoth. No one’s done this before… we’re fucked.”
“...Karl had a point in saying we’d be better off on Earth,” Techno said. The suggestion was loud and clear. Run away from their problems. Go to Earth, find a way to survive there.
“We can’t disappear overnight,” Sapnap said, “They’ll drag us back.”
“...Staggered? Every 5 years, one of us goes,” Techno offered simply, apologizing quietly when he made Bad hiss. “I mean… people will assume we’ve isolated ourselves like… a lot of others. We just ended up doing it younger than most others.”
“Your last plan worked wonders, Techno, you’re so right, we should blindly listen to you again,” Sapnap remarked sarcastically.
Bad thought, “...That’s 20 years Techno… I doubt we’d be able to stand that long without talking to each other-”
“The phones I got you all work in Hell and on Earth.”
“Sounds premeditated Techno,” Karl scoffed.
“...Figured it would be boredom, not ostracization, but… it was premeditated,” Techno said, “Got told it would be a good idea from someone once…”
Karl shrugged before wincing in pain. “Might as well try, who goes first?”
“I’ll do it,” Sapnap sighed, “I look most normal besides Karl, and we all know he doesn’t wanna be first. He probably wants to be last.” Karl nodded his agreement. “So I’ll go, and find a place for us… and then Techno can come since I’ll have a place to hide him.”
Bad made a small smile, “Plus, people want you two dead the most. Then me, and finally Karl… are we sure this is the best idea? This is… a plan hard to walk back.”
“This will be best, yeah,” Techno said, “We’ll figure it out.” They all agreed silently with the sentiment; they were all very good at figuring things out. Fighting their way to where they wanted to be. Maybe Earth would be better for them. Who knows. Karl just hoped they wouldn’t get hurt like this again.
“...You…” George blinked, “You guys… flogged?” His voice was small, afraid. Hurt for them, maybe.
Karl looked at George, “It’s not as… rough for us as it would be for a human. If we die, we’ll come back after all.”
“...Does… us too?” Dream asked.
“I wouldn’t go testing it, it still hurts like a bitch,” Karl said. He hoped he hid the fear well in his voice. “But in theory, yeah. You’d show up… wherever. You two are also durable as hell, things don’t hurt as much as they should… you’ll understand in a few decades.”
Dream blinked, “I don’t know how you guys just… understand this all.”
“I mean, Techno spent like… 60 years straight reading. Bad spent a good bit reading, too. I don’t think Sapnap ever did much… book research, but he interacted with a lot of people. I was raised knowing all of this so.”
“Raised?”
Karl smiled, “This is my first life. Mom’s a sloth demon, Dad’s a greed demon. Apparently, demons can get pregnant, and I was born with the hurricane of all the bad traits from both sides.”
“What bad traits are you talking about?” George asked.
“...I’m always tired, I’m notoriously possessive. I punched Sapnap once since he kept trying to take one of my rings… I’m overly forgiving; that comes from the sloth demon… I always want something. Constantly. Typically material things, but sometimes I just… want attention so obsessively it gets… with Bad, Techno, and Sapnap it’s not too bad, they’re used to my… proclivities,” Karl said.
Dream hummed, “Seems like you’re more beaten up by the Greed traits than the sloth ones.”
“Yeah. My Dad raised me, among other things,” Karl’s voice was bitter and mean and hurt. Dream and George both looked confused. Karl noticed, before softening a bit, “Child abuse is… highly common in demon-born kids.”
“Are you okay?” Dream asked.
Karl shrugged, “I’ve had like 420 some odd years to work on it, and get over it. Yeah, I’m fine… okay, my turn for questions. Uhm, Dream. Is that your real name?” George laughed a bit.
“Nope,” Dream said. Karl and George both leaned in a bit. “...If you promise to keep it between us three, I’ll tell you.”
“Promise,” George swore. Karl nodded in agreement.
Dream smiled, “Clay.”
“Ew no,” Karl said, “Stick with Dream.” George and Dream both laughed at the comment. Dream jokingly acted like he was going to push Karl to the floor. “Clay does not suit you at all, dude.”
“Why do you think I changed it?!” Dream teased. He didn’t change his name solely because Clay didn’t fit; hiding his identity was a big part of it, but they both already knew that. The three kept chatting happily. They weren’t sure what Bad, Techno, and Sapnap were up to, but after hearing the story of them trying to overthrow a tyrannical government in Hell. Dream and George were both a bit more confident that the three could handle themselves.
Chapter 5: Vampiric Inclinations
Summary:
“A text.”
“From-” Sapnap nodded. “They’re coming?”
“She wouldn’t accept a no.”
Chapter Text
Dream was getting upset. He was still sitting with Karl and George, the other three still out. And he was hungry. He knew he could ask, and George or Karl would offer, but even just asking seemed scary for Dream still. “Yeah, I mean…” Karl blinked at Dream, “Are you hungry, Dream?”
“I-” Dream shut down for a second, “Yeah.”
Karl stuck his wrist out, “Go ahead. You aren’t the first.” George and Dream both had questions. “I’ll explain if you eat Dream. Bite me bitch!!” Dream laughed a bit before complying, and Karl barely reacted to the pinch of fangs. His eye twitched a bit before he relaxed. “We had another friend. We weren’t super close, and didn’t hang around as much as we all did together, but they were around. Disappeared a bit before we tried overthrowing the government, and haven’t answered texts. Figured they wanted a few decades or so alone. They’re a vampire.”
“... Your friend disappears and you aren’t worried?” George asked.
“Well, yeah, because it’s her,” Karl answered. “He likes his solitude more than the rest of us. They did it a few times in the few centuries I knew her. Disappeared for 20 to 80 years, shows up at the house asking to be filled in on what they missed. Who knows, they might show up here one day.”
George blinked, “Do they know… that you left? What you four did?”
“Probably,” Karl shrugged, “Or they overheard it-... Oh, that might be what those three are talking about. If that person messaged one of them, they’d definitely wanna talk before telling her if we left.”
“Why’d they need to talk first? They’re your friend.”
Karl rolled his eyes, “She doesn’t really… pick sides fully. With the right bribes and offers, he’ll almost always switch teams. He’s never betrayed us, but everyone made sure we knew it was a rare occurrence for them not to. Put the idea in our heads that it was just a matter of time. Those three might not want to risk getting hurt… risk getting you two hurt.”
“I mean… they didn’t seem super stressed,” George said, “Might just want to get away from us some.”
“Oh, for sure, that was definitely a factor,” Karl laughed, “Just like us getting to hang out and know each other was a factor. We’ll probably be told when we see them next.”
“Doubt it’ll be tonight,” George huffed. Karl nodded in agreement, and Dream pulled away from Karl’s wrist. There was a bit of blood on Dream’s face, and he wiped it away. Karl reached down into the backpack to grab some gauze to wrap his wrist with.
“You’re more controlled than I thought you’d be,” Karl said simply to Dream. “Figured I’d have to make you stop.” Dream blinked a bit. “Don’t worry about hurting any of us; all of us could kick your ass in a fight anyway.”
Dream laughed, “No, you couldn’t, Karl!”
“Yes, I could!!” Karl protested, laughing and smiling. Dream rolled his eyes, and George shook his head a bit, sighing at the two fighting. They weren’t bad company, Karl decided. He might even prefer Dream and George to Techno and Sapnap sometimes. Not that Karl would tell any of them that.
Soon it was getting late, and the sun was rising, and Karl watched as Dream dozed off into sleep, and George soon after. Karl laid on the couch with George and Dream cuddled on top of him. He was okay with this, and he was always down for a decent nap. So Karl let himself fall asleep under the two.
When Bad, Sapnap, and Techno showed up, Bad teleported them over carefully to avoid Techno going outside, and the three paused, seeing them cuddled. Techno’s jealousy flared immediately, and Bad gently grabbed his arm, “Don’t wake ‘em, Tech. First of all, you aren’t dating Dream yet, and second of all… let them sleep, they’re cute!”
“But Karl knows-”
“And Karl isn’t doing that,” Sapnap reminded Techno gently. “He’s not going to steal Dream, and George and I are happily together. You’ll be fine. Let’s let them sleep. Go upstairs.” Techno huffed, but eventually went up with Bad and Sapnap.
The next night, Dream woke up. George was awake, but still cuddled on top of Karl. It looked like Karl was still asleep. Dream saw Bad and Sapnap sitting on their phones together. “When’d you guys get home?” Dream mumbled.
“Eh? 11ish?” Sapnap offered, “You guys were asleep, so we just left you be.”
“Did you eat?” Bad asked Dream simply.
“Ate off me last night,” Karl mumbled, his voice gruff and exhausted. He covered his eyes with his arm. “Waking up sucks. This is stupid.”
“I have a monster for you,” Bad offered Karl simply.
Karl hummed, “Appreciated. But I have a Gogy and Dre on me right now, Bad.”
“Shut up, you’re warm,” George mumbled into Karl’s chest.
Karl laughed, feeling George smile. Dream got up, and George took advantage of the new space to cuddle Karl more. “Sap, I’m gunna steal your man. How’s that make you feel, huh?”
Sapnap looked at Karl and George for a moment, debating his comment before deciding he was fine with it, “You’re both bottoms. Not much’ll happen.” Techno looked over at Sapnap, something akin to surprise and apallment over the comment, Bad mirroring the expression. While George, Karl, and Dream all laughed. “You two are looking at me like I’m wrong, and I think you both can tell that I’m not.”
“You didn’t have to call them out like that,” Bad said softly.
Karl laughed, “It’s fine.”
“Yeah, it isn’t hard to notice,” George mumbled.
“Although Sapnap is wrong.”
“No, I’m not?!”
“A bottom-leaning switch isn’t a bottom. Just like a top leaning switch, isn’t a top Sapnap.” Sapnap started making noises of protest. “You protest! But! We all know Techno topped when you two fucked.”
“HOW’D YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!” Techno laughed at how shocked and surprised Sapnap was.
“Bad topped you too!! Don’t act surprised that I know! Those two will tell me anything I ask, since I’m cute and nice, unlike you!” Karl teased.
“Give me my fucking boyfriend back, Karl-” Sapnap said.
“No,” Karl said, arms around George and holding him, “He’s comfy.” Sapnap laughed, rolling his eyes. He wasn’t actually mad at Karl for any of this, just like Karl wasn’t actually being mean in saying any of this. This was Karl and Sapnap’s form of playing.
“George!” Sapnap whined.
George looked over, “Yes?”
“What the fuck, dude?”
“Karl’s warm.”
“So am I!”
“I’m comfy.”
Sapnap groaned, but let it go. The group settled in, chatting happily as George eventually moved off Karl, and Karl got his monster from Bad, enjoying the caffeine. Dream looked on in jealousy. “I miss caffeine.”
“You can have coffee, dude,” Karl said simply. Dream blinked at Karl, shocked by the comment. “...Bad… tell me you told Dream he could have coffee?”
“I…” Bad blinked, looking at Techno and Sapnap in confusion. “He can?!”
“Yes!?” Karl asked, shocked at his friends, “What did you think our friend was drinking all the damn time??? Black blood that smelled like coffee?? Dream can have coffee! And alcohol, we all saw her drunk at parties!”
“I can drink?” Dream asked. Karl looked at his three friends, who all just looked confused.
Karl sighed, “Yes. Well… not around Bad, but yes!”
“Why not around Bad?” George asked.
“Well, someone is a recovering alcoholic who drank himself to death in his past life!” Sapnap said, looking over at Bad.
Bad paused, “I’ve been sober for a while.”
“You have been, and we’re all very proud,” Sapnap said. Bad smiled a bit.
Dream blinked, “Hey, knowing things like that about you three might be… uh, ya know? Helpful?”
“No, it won’t, there’s a lot and it’s confusing,” Techno said.
“Yeah, we’re traumatized. Heavily. Multiple times. A lot can happen in 400 to almost 600 years, not even counting their past lives,” Karl said.
Bad shrugged, “Sapnap's the only one with a shitty past life. Mine and Techno’s just sucked in the last leg. His was prolonged.”
“Running a mafia ain’t too bad until you get caught,” Techno said.
“You didn’t even get caught,” Karl remarked. George and Dream wanted to ask more, but they could see that it wouldn’t get them far, and they let the questions go for now. A later time. Karl hummed, “So what was so important you three needed me, George, and Dream gone?”
“Nothing much… just…” Sapnap sighed, “A text.”
“From-” Sapnap nodded. “They’re coming?”
“She wouldn’t accept a no.”
Karl smiled, “She’ll get along with Dream.”
“And be livid at how little we know,” Bad said. George and Dream realized what was being said. That vampire friend Karl had mentioned. They would be showing up. Dream nodded, content with that. “She said she’d be here tomorrow. Had something to fix first.”
***
The next night, the group sat together happily talking. None of them knew when this person would show up, so when there was suddenly a puff of red smoke by the wall, all of them jumped a bit. This person stumbled, putting a hand on the wall to steady themself. “That shouldn’t imbalance you that bad,” Sapnap teased.
“Unlike you, I am not predisposed to doing that. I had to teach myself.”
“He’s got a point,” Techno shrugged.
Sapnap made a face at Techno, “Anyways. George, Dream, meet Eret. An old friend of Bad’s who… pops in and out as she pleases.” Dream waved some while George just offered a nod. Eret was looking at Dream; he had sunglasses that covered his eyes, but his head was facing Dream.
Eret sighed, “Guys… why?”
“Look, we don’t know anything, figured if you’re gunna be around, you can help him,” Sapnap said.
“You only agreed so I can teach your babyfangs things he didn’t know, and you guys forgot?”
“Yep!!”
“Sapnap… you are… an abomination.”
“Oh, I’m aware,” Sapnap smiled. George chuckled, laying his head on Sapnap’s shoulder. Eret took stock of that immediately, especially in how Sapnap didn’t jump away from the contact.
“You got a new boyfriend?” Sapnap nodded, smiling. “I was wondering why you didn’t immediately flirt with me-”
“Oh, that’s because it’s hard to flirt when I am awestruck with your beauty, Eret,” Sapnap remarked.
“Mm. There it is,” Eret nodded.
Bad looked at Eret, “You gunna take your sunglasses off, or just enjoy being barely able to see any of us, Eret?”
“Do you wanna scare babyfangs and George?”
“They won’t care,” Karl said, “They’re weird, dude. I mean, they’ll ask questions, but they won’t be scared. I told them some stuff, they don’t seem to process fear.”
Eret made a confused expression before sighing, taking his sunglasses out. Rubbing her shut eyes for a moment before squinting them open. “Fuck that is bright-” Eret had no eyes. Well, that wasn’t true, he just only had whites. No iris or pupil. Just a white blank void. Dream blinked in confusion. “No I’m not blind. My vision is fine. I don’t know why my eyes are like this, this kinda just happens to some supernatural beings.” Dream just nodded that it was fair. “Anyways, how much does Babyfangs know?
“I just found out yesterday I could drink coffee,” Dream said dully.
Eret blinked, concerned, before looking at his friends, “He’s joking, right?”
“Our friends are stupid,” Karl answered simply to Eret.
“...You three should never teach anyone anything ever-”
“Hey! I didn’t get to readin’ about vampires before meetin’ Bad. If I did, I would’ve known. Bad scooped me up too soon.”
“Oh yeah, you did read a lot at first, huh Techno… alright fine, that’s fair. I’ll help ya out, Dream.”
“Thank you,” Dream sighed. Eret smiled, nodding his agreement. His fangs were a bit more prominent than Dream’s own, but Dream didn’t ask for now. “...so I overheard you had a reputation for backstabbing?”
Eret blinked a bit before humming, “I got… Hell’s a bit… rough. I got tired of that, so I went to Lucifer and Satan, before they got dethroned. Said… for some status protection, I’d get them some information about Heaven. I went to Heaven and… told them the same thing. I played off both of them, eventually Heaven found out and… a few people were pretty rightfully upset, but I was sent back to Hell and given the status of a Lord.”
“Are you… I didn’t know you did that?!” Bad said, “I just heard about you jumping from Kingdom to Kingdom as a guard?!”
“I did that too,” Eret agreed. “There were different benefits under each king… ultimately working for Asmodeus was my favorite.”
Sapnap laughed, “Azzy’s great, that’s why.” Eret rolled his eyes, something knowing and understanding. But he didn’t say anything that she might’ve known.
“I’ve lived a long life, I’m older than Bad even is. I have a lot of fun stories throughout the centuries,” Eret smiled. Dream found himself smiling back. Interested and curious of Eret’s life. At least Eret seemed willing and ready to talk about it, unlike the other four.
Chapter 6: As Above, So Below
Summary:
Wilbur gave a tight smile at Sapnap before grabbing one of each teenager’s shoulders, “C’mon, you two. You shouldn’t be annoying other shoppers. Let’s go.”
“It’s okay,” Sapnap said, not wanting the two to get in trouble for ‘annoying’ him. They really hadn’t, Sapnap was just scared for their lives right now.
Chapter Text
Sapnap would love to say he didn’t know how he ended up being the one of the group to go out when something was needed, but he knew damn well why. It was the same reason he went to Earth first. He looked the most human. No Horns, or tails, or tusks or snouts. Just purple eyes that people often thought were contacts, and an aura about him that he knew certain people picked up on. Not that anyone said it.
He was out at a local grocery store. Karl wanted some Monsters, George wanted some candy, and Sapnap was planning to make sure it was chocolate-free. Dream and Eret wanted coffee, since Dream had tossed his out when he stopped being able to eat food and was keen to have it back. Sapnap was more than willing to pick it up for them all. Acts of Service and Gift Giving were love languages he felt comfortable in. Well, all love languages, but touch, were ones he was comfortable in.
Sapnap walked into the candy aisle, already having the monster and coffee. He was looking at the various gummy candies when he felt it. A prickling aura that sent the hairs on the back of his neck on edge, and covered him in goosebumps. He glanced around subtly before noticing the four people it had to be. Other Nonhumans. For a moment, Sapnap panicked. Had Hell found out? Did they send guards to grab Sapnap, drag him back to Hell? Force the others to follow to rescue him. Then Sapnap noticed more. Holy nonhumans.
Sapnap would think they were angels, but there’s no reason that four angels would be in a grocery store candy aisle. Two were young. Teenagers, if Sapnap guessed. They looked around 16 or 17. He had no clue how old they really were. Then there was a middle one, he looked close to the same 25 or so that Sapnap considered himself, Bad, Karl, Eret, and Techno to look. Then one, a bit older. Perhaps looking in his late 30s. Acting as almost a father to the other three.
Sapnap took a breath. They weren’t bothering him. He knew that Heaven, or Angels, or anything Holy in truth had no reason to look for him, so he returned to finding a snack for his boyfriend. Then that feeling grew, and Sapnap looked back to see the younger two bounding up to him. Oh fuck, oh no, walk away, Sapnap willed mentally. Knowing they wouldn’t hear it. The one with brown hair smiled, tilting his head at Sapnap, “Hi!”
“...Hi…” Sapnap hesitated; he felt an instinct to run. His demonic nature was repulsed at being so close to holy beings. “What do you two want?”
“Nothing! Wanted to say hi!” The brunette spoke again, “I’m Tubbo! That’s Tommy!! We’re waiting on our dad and brother to finish shopping, and decided, why not talk to someone new!”
They were stupid. They had to be stupid, Sapnap concluded. He didn’t know what being close to him would do to these two… kids frankly. “Sapnap… didn’t your dad warn you of stranger danger?” Please walk away.
“Your eyes were cool!” Tommy shrugged, “Besides, Dad and Wilbur are just down the aisle. Figured saying hi wouldn’t hurt!” Sapnap nodded a bit, still scared and worried and wondering if these two could even tell what he was or if they had no clue. Then he saw the other young one, the brother, Wilbur, Sapnap assumed, approaching.
Wilbur gave a tight smile at Sapnap before grabbing one of each teenager’s shoulders, “C’mon, you two. You shouldn’t be annoying other shoppers. Let’s go.”
“It’s okay,” Sapnap said, not wanting the two to get in trouble for ‘annoying’ him. They really hadn’t, Sapnap was just scared for their lives right now. “But you guys should get back to shopping. I have to get back to my friends anyway.” Wilbur nodded once, and Sapnap could tell that Wilbur knew what he was for sure. Wilbur dragged the two kids away, and Sapnap grabbed some candy for George and turned tail for the checkouts as quickly as he could without it looking weird.
Sapnap went back to Dream’s house quickly, setting down the bags when he got in and letting out a small noise. “What’s that about?” Techno asked, gruff and seemingly annoyed at Sapnap for making the noise.
“Why do you look scared, Sapnap? What happened?” Bad was more concerned.
“I ran into… I guess probably fucking angels at the store!?” Sapnap said. The group all paused, blinking at Sapnap blankly. “Like… I’m just there! Shopping for candy, and my hair starts to stand on end, and at the end of the aisle are four holy somethings!! I’m assuming angels. Two of them, who looked 17, fucking waltzed up to me!! I don’t think they knew I was a demon, but-”
“Oh fun,” Eret added unhelpfully.
Sapnap blinked, “Eret can Angels even come to Earth like… like that!? Looking human!!”
“Probably, I don’t know. I didn’t look at angels on Earth, I was busy in Heaven,” Eret said, “If you demons can, I see no reason why Angels can’t.” Techno went to give an answer, knowing it since he had read about angels, before deciding seeing Sapnap this stressed out was amusing, and shutting his mouth.
Techno found it significantly less amusing when it was his turn to run into the Angels. See, Techno had gone back to George’s to sleep over the day. He had wanted out of his crush's house, especially since Bad told Eret, and now Eret kept giving Techno looks over how he reacted to Dream. So Techno went ‘home’ and got some space and rest. It was night now, and Techno was walking down the street, his hooves clicking a bit on the cement as he let the night sky cover him.
Then he felt that tingle, that light at the back of his neck of the nonhumans nearby. Techno could tell they were angels, and he half assumed it was the same ones as before. Nonetheless, they weren’t close to Techno, so he just continued walking. He then heard footsteps get closer, and his shoulders went rigid. If they wanted a fight, they could have one for all Techno cared. Then they got too close, and Techno’s tension snapped as he twisted instantly and grabbed hold of the person near him.
It was one of the boys. The teenagers who also had the gall to approach Sapnap. Techno glared at the other three. He had the blond boy in a choke hold, and it seemed his fast reflexes took them all off guard. Notably, though, the blond boy was not struggling in the hold. Still breathing calmly and steadily, obviously. He was showing his friends that Techno was not choking him. Smart kid. “Hey, woah, don’t hurt the kid, mate,” the eldest of the group said. “We don’t wanna hurt you.”
Techno snorted, a reflex he had since dying, “Sure. I’m sure you also have fangs and horns.”
The middle one paused, “We… don’t wanna hurt you though.”
Techno narrowed his eyes, distrustingly, “Why you followin’ me then? To make friends?”
“Well… yeah,” the boy in Techno’s grasp spoke. The Brunette boy was still quiet.
Techno let go of him slowly, eyes narrowed at the four. He could allow this. By himself, he could keep Dream and George safe should something go wrong, and with Karl, Eret, Bad, and Sapnap there, no one would really be able to hurt them unless they got outnumbered. Techno huffed, “I don’t do friends. But I have some friends who do… assuming they don’t go on edge just seeing you… they don’t know as much about your kind as I do… c’mon follow me.”
“Wait, really?? That worked??” The blonde boy spoke again.
“Yeah,” Techno said, “You’ve met one already…. Hopefully they’re awake.” The four angels followed, a bit shocked. Techno kept his senses alert as he got to Dream’s house. “Name’s Techno by the way.”
“Philza, or Phil,” The eldest spoke, “Tubbo’s the little brunette, Tommy’s the other kid. Then Wilbur’s the taller one.” Techno nodded. Their names were weirder than he expected from Angels, but no weirder than Sapnap’s or his own.
Techno opened the door to Dream’s house, hearing Sapnap’s immediately teasing tone, “What took you so long, Tech? Get lost, cutiepie?”
“Shut up,” Techno bit drily, “Make friends so I can justify dragging them with me.”
“Friends, what-” Techno gently motioned the angels forward into the living room. “Oh… you again hi…”
“Sapnap!!” Tubbo said, smiling. “Techno said we met one of you, but! Hi!!”
“...Why are they here, Techno?” Sapnap asked, “Where did you find them!?”
“They found me,” Techno answered. “Kept followin’ me. I threw Tommy into a choke hold over it on instinct.”
“Techno,” Dream said tiredly.
Techno shook his head, “No, listen, I chokeheld that child in self-defense, Dream, you gotta believe me! He got too close to me!”
“It was pretty cool in retrospect, I didn’t think someone could react that fast,” Tommy said.
Bad made a face, stressed, “Techno, please don’t hurt kids?!”
“Nah, kill ‘em,” Karl joked. George laughed instantly. “Useless. They don’t do shit for society. Don’t even pay taxes, and won’t go back to the coal mines. Smhmh.”
George looked at Karl, “You… did not just say smhmh, out loud at that?!”
“I did! Anyways! I’m Karl. You met Sapnap and Techno. The Bandana wearer there is Bad, and then our vampire here is Dream, then Wolfboy is George. Eret’s asleep still, but you’ll meet her later.”
“Wilbur!” He introduced himself first, “Uhm, little brothers are Tommy and Tubbo, Dad, there is Phil!”
“No actual relation, it just makes things easier down here,” Phil said simply.
“Sound more offended to be related to us, please,” Wilbur rolled his eyes. A glint of something there in his tone and eyes none of them could read.
“Well, there are the daddy issues, it seems,” Karl said.
George chuckled, “Yep. Brown hair, and daddy issues, it seems. Go get ‘em, Sapnap!”
“Fuck you!” Sapnap remarked, pulling out of George’s arms.
Karl rolled his eyes, “You have.” The Angels blinked at the group, concerned and confused. “...Oh, I’m so sorry for what we’re gunna do to you with our conversations… why are you on Earth anyways?”
The four exchanged a glance before Wilbur shrugged. “Figured it would work out well for us! Heaven got a bit boring… wanted to help people.”
“I didn’t even know you guys could leave Heaven,” Sapnap said.
“Well, we didn’t know you guys could leave Hell, so fair is fair,” Tubbo shrugged.
Sapnap rolled his eyes, “Dream and George haven’t even been to Hell yet.”
“Yet?” Dream asked.
“Well, anytime soon that’s for damn sure,” Sapnap said. “Or, well, you two could go, just us four couldn’t go with you. Meaning Eret would need to be your babysitter.”
Bad rolled his eyes, “Yeah, sorry we’re not going. Let’s not get you and Techno killed Sapnap.”
“...Is that why you keep preventin’ me from killin’ Sapnap?” Techno asked Bad.
“You’ve tried to kill Sapnap?!” Tubbo asked.
Techno looked over at Tubbo before nodding, “He’ll come back, it’s fine… well, he’d have to get out of Hell before he got caught, but he’d be fiiine!” Sapnap rolled his eyes, and Karl considered making the joke that Sapnap would be more than fine, but decided he didn’t want to upset the Angels with that.
Phil hummed, “So you guys just get sent back when you die, too?”
“Mhmm,” Bad hummed, “True immortality! How delightful.”
“That almost sounds like sarcasm, Bad?” George teased.
“It is. A lot of living forever sucks.”
Sapnap batted his eyelashes, “You have us though, Bad!”
“...Your boyfriend is sitting right next to you.”
“And?” Sapnap asked, George rolled his eyes, smiling fondly at his boyfriend's antics. Bad just hummed that Sapnap had a point, and that George being there had not stopped him in the past. Nor had Karl being there. Eventually, the Angels sat down, and Techno did notice when Tommy chose to sit next to him. He said nothing about it, though. The Angels kept getting concerned by the joke insults, hits, and threats flung between the group, but Bad and Dream were both quick to try to reassure them that it was playful and fine. The Angels caught on to it fairly quickly.
Then Sapnap decided to strike a nerve, calling Dream pretty boy, and Techno, in his jealousy, went to get up to fight Sapnap about it. Dream and Bad both reached over to hold Techno down. Techno accepted it, but still glared at Sapnap, “I’ll kill you.”
“Buy me a drink first, for fucks sake! I’m not some piece of meat, Techno!”
“Five minutes,” Bad said, “Is behaving for five minutes too much to ask from you two?!”
Sapnap shrugged, “Where’s the fun in that, Bad?”
“I am tempted to let Techno kill you.”
“You won’t let that happen. Techno would like it too much.” Techno’s face went blank, and Bad glared at Sapnap. “What! It’s true!! He’s a complete sadist and we all can tell!”
Techno sighed, deciding he was thoroughly fed up and deciding to shut Sapnap up at least for a little bit. “You’re the one who was beggin’ for it, Sapnap,” Techno spoke dully. Sapnap flushed, sputtered, and looked for some protest to say, but couldn’t find one. Techno gave the angels a sympathetic look. “Sorry, figured shutting him up for a few minutes was worth it.”
“I cannot believe this is just normal for you guys,” Wilbur said. “You just talk to each other like this!” The demons chuckled, and then they heard footsteps coming downstairs. Eret was finally awake. He went to speak, ask what the noise was about before seeing the group of angels in the room. For a brief moment, all of them could see his instinct to turn around and walk upstairs.
“YOU!!” Tommy shouted, Techno blinked a bit in surprise at the ire from the young angel, before smiling a bit. He had shot up a bit to glare at Eret.
Eret grimaced, before straightening up, “Hey guys… been… a while-”
“DON’T HEY GUYS ME YOU BACKSTABING TRAITOROUS BI-”
“Tommy,” Phil only said his name. But it stopped the young angel in his stride. Tommy huffed, sitting down and crossing his arms. A glare on his face that was unbefitting of an angel.
Bad blinked a bit, looking at Tommy before looking at Eret, “...Is this related to the… situation your reputation came from?”
“...Well, I couldn’t just waltz into Heaven,” Eret explained simply. “I didn’t think they would start to care about me.”
“You were our friend?!” Tubbo asked, confused, “Of course we cared about you, Eret!”
“I wasn’t used to that whole thing, okay!” Eret explained, “I… Hell is a man-eat-man world, and the closest to a friend I had was Bad, who is a pretty clear break from the norm. Friendship was a new concept! Besides, if you’re here hanging out, I doubt you’re on Heaven’s side.”
Wilbur rolled his eyes, “Oh, there’s a reason we’re not in Heaven anymore.”
Eret caught the implication easily, “Wait, were people blaming you guys for what I did?” The angels nodded, and Techno noticed the twitch on Tommy’s face. A lie. But one they all told together. Interesting. “I didn’t think… that would happen. I’m sorry, guys… I’ll find a way to make it up to you.” The Angels didn’t look like they believed the statement, but Eret didn’t look hurt by that. He could understand them no longer wanting to trust and believe him.
Chapter 7: Abandon All Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here.
Summary:
“I think I have to agree with you there, Sapnap,” Techno teased, “That’s 3 times now. That’s gettin’ dangerous.”
“Someone’s gunna get killed from it,” Sapnap laughed, before wincing at the way his body ached. “Probably us in truth.”
Chapter Text
Getting woken up by his phone was not something Dream was used to or fond of. He had gotten used to being woken up by laughter or arguing, but his phone was new. After a groan, Dream answered the phone. He processed that it was George talking, but between him talking quickly and sounding utterly panicked, Dream did not know what George said. “Hang on, slow down. I just woke up, my brain’s not at 100% right now, dude. What’s going on?”
“Are Sapnap and Techno there?!”
Dream was confused why George was so panicked about that, especially given the light shining around the edges of his drawn curtains. It was the middle of the day. “I’ll go check,” Dream mumbled.
“Please! They’re just missing!!”
Dream got up, walking over to Bad’s room and checking in there to see just Bad. “They run off all the time, George. Could just be out-”
“In the middle of the day?! Where on Earth would Techno go when it’s this bright out!?” Yeah, George had a point with that. Dream tried not to let the panic overtake him, too. Getting over to the other rooms, Karl was in his. Eret was in hers. No one else. Checking the living room, Dream saw that the couch was empty too.
Dream sighed, “They aren’t here-”
“So why- Dream, we should worry god dammit!?”
“Have you tried calling them?” Dream asked tiredly, still waking up.
“Yes!! Straight to voicemail! Their phones must be off.”
Dream blinked, confused, “No. Techno always keeps his phone on in case I or Bad need his help with something… he’s told me to my face that he’ll be dead in the ground before I call for help, and he doesn’t respond. Hang on, let me try calling him, maybe they blocked your number for some reason?”
“Be my guest! Just call me back after, okay?”
“Yeah, hang on, I’ll call you in a second, George,” Dream said. He hung up on George and called Techno’s number. No ringing, just straight to voicemail. He tried it three more times in disbelief before trying Sapnap’s number as well. Getting the same result. The panic set in properly for Dream. He called George back. “Okay… what do we do?!”
George huffed, “I’m on my way over, just wake Bad for now? See what he has to say??”
“Yeah, okay-” Dream said, walking back upstairs to Bad’s room. Waking him up. Bad blinked. “Sapnap and Techno are MIA, and their phones are off. George noticed-”
Bad grabbed Dream’s phone inhumanely fast, startling Dream, who didn't know he could move like that, “George, get here as fast as you can. We’ll get Karl and Eret awake. We’ve got shit to do.” Dream heard George faintly say he was already doing that before Bad hung up. “Go get Eret.” He placed Dream’s phone back in his hand and left no room for argument. Not that Dream would’ve. So Dream went to Eret’s room to wake her, while Bad woke up Karl.
Within minutes, all of them were in Dream’s living room. Eret and Karl listening to Bad and George explain the situation. “Wait, what?!” Karl asked, before looking at Bad and seeing the expression on Bad’s face. “...You think-”
“What else could it be, Karl?” Bad asked, voice sad and stressed. “It’s the middle of the day, they wouldn’t have gone anywhere. Even if it was to visit the Angels for some reason.”
“Texted them,” George said, “They said that the two weren’t over… I told them not to worry, that they were here and I just didn’t see the note Tech and Sap left… I don’t want the angels freaking out. They don’t even know what happened.”
Eret sighed, “Plus, we were all sleeping… it would be the best time to grab them. None of us would be awake to stop it.”
“Funny how this happens after you show up,” Karl said to Eret.
Eret blinked, “You really think I begged to come here, helped Dream out, and called Bad my only friend, only to turn around and rat Sapnap and Techno out?? I know you were woken up, but try to be fucking logical here, Karl!”
“Sapnap was here for decades in Hell years, and nothing happened, and no one saw anything!” Karl protested, “You’re here for barely a year in Hell, and suddenly they’re both missing!”
“Look, I’ll come with and help you guys. No one in Hell’s seen me for a century. We’ll go, and you’ll see I didn’t betray you guys,” Eret said, “I could never do that to you guys.”
“Bet you told the Angels the same fucking shit. Go to fucking Hell, Eret.”
“That’s the plan, Karl.”
Bad grabbed Karl before Karl could jump over to attack Eret. “Karl, stop. Power in numbers. Stop.”
“Not if one of them’s a traitor!!”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Dream reasoned, “Look, you can keep your eye on Eret, but he is helpful until we know if he did do something or not.” Karl snarled at Eret, but agreed with his arms crossed. Dream nodded now that Karl was calm before looking at Bad.
Bad sighed, “Look. George, Dream, stick close with us. You don’t know Hell, and that makes you an easy target. People will be able to tell it’s new to you, if anyone sees us, and we don’t need you getting hurt. We’ll go and look for a heavy guard presence. Wherever that is, that’s where Techno and Sapnap have to be.”
The group all agreed, George and Dream were content in sticking close to the group. Bad and Karl gently grabbed onto George and Dream, and the five went to Hell together. Eret stumbling, “Fucking hell, I hate that-”
“Good,” Karl bit. Bad just sighed defeatedly as his tail flicked. Dream and George noticed Karl’s eyes were now shining and bright yellow. Bad’s horns were larger, more ram-like, rather than the small spikes they were used to. Karl's lip twitched up in annoyance, and Dream and George saw the sharpened teeth hidden there. Karl noticed them staring. “Forgot we looked different in Hell.”
“...It’s… weird,” Dream said simply.
Bad chuckled, “Wait until you see Techno.”
“I doubt he’ll be in his actual outfit,” Karl said, “They wouldn’t let him have that.”
“Let’s go, before Techno and Sapnap get hurt. How long have they been missing George?” Eret asked.
George thought, “I don’t know if they came home last morning… I left Dream's at like 2 because I was tired… at 9 am, when I fell asleep, they still weren’t home.”
Dream felt concern rise in him, “They left my house at 4 am… So at most 8 hours.”
“Almost 2 days here,” Karl converted quickly. “Shit… they could be bad by now. Let’s go, we should check Sapnap’s old place. Might have stuff there we can use.” Bad nodded in agreement. They weren’t far from it. Karl and Bad instinctively brought Dream and George, and themselves, to the path into town from Sapnap’s house. Karl and Bad pushed bushes aside for Dream and George, Karl letting more than a few fall back into Eret’s way.
“It’s so weird to be back here,” Bad said, “My horns feel heavy almost-”
“Let’s go to Earth! Techno said! It’ll be fun, he and Sapnap argued! We won’t come back, they said!!”
“You’ll wait 5 years, you said!” Bad teased back at Karl.
“I was trying to lead people off our trail,” Karl said, “Guess it didn’t work, or someone ratted us out.” It was pointed at Eret, she didn’t react, though. The house they walked up to wasn’t in great condition. It made sense to Dream and George; it had been a while since any of the group had been here. At least 20 years, if not longer. Karl sighed, “Alright… surprised this place isn’t covered in graffiti with the reputation we left.”
Eret scoffed, “You tried to overthrow the tyrants of Hell; you definitely left a reputation.”
“Well, you’d know since you’ve been chatting with Guards,” Karl bit as the group walked into the house.
“I didn’t do this, Karl,” Eret held firm in the position. Karl didn’t respond. Karl walked away from the group to go look at something while Bad reminisced. Dream looked around, noticing the blood on the floorboards.
Bad noticed Dream staring at it, “Yeah… Techno was bleeding a lot after what happened… we couldn’t ever get it fully out… Or well… I tried to… Sapnap and Techno left so soon after everything… the last time we were all here was directly after… the aftermath of it all.”
“Yes!!!” Karl exclaimed, and the group all looked over in surprise as Karl walked over with a bunch of swords wrapped in a cloth that he pulled from behind somewhere. He set them down before handing a sword off to Bad instantly. The way Bad held it made it clear that it wasn’t the first time he had. “Figured having weapons stocked was a good idea… just in case.”
Bad nodded as Karl handed George and Dream both swords. He hesitated for a moment before handing one to Eret. Karl gave a second sword to Bad before putting one on his belt as well, and picking up the only axe of the group. Karl twisted the axe in his hand like an extension of self. “Are you about to be violent, Karl?” Bad asked.
“They’ve fucked with Techno specifically a few too many times,” Karl said, “They’ll come back. Meaning Dream… George… Don’t be scared to kill.”
Dream looked at the sword he was given, “It’ll be fine… if we get hurt… We’ll come back, too, right?”
“The biggest risk is capture,” Karl said. He was biting his tongue a bit at the lie he was about to tell, “So if people have hold of you and you can’t get out? Kill yourselves. Death is preferable to what they’ll punish you with, I promise.” Dream and George nodded, accepting that Karl knew more. He felt bad for lying to them, but he did mean it when he said Death was preferable. With that, the group set out. Staying hidden and out of sight in back streets, the best they could once they hit the city. Karl would look out and count guards when they got to various prisons, and Bad would shake his head, saying it wasn’t a strong enough force.
Then Karl counted, and Bad nodded, “That has to be it… That’s nearly double a normal shift.”
Eret looked at her watch, “There will be a shift change in like… 5 minutes… could go then? Wait until this crew is gone, take on the next crew.”
“Sounds like you want us to fucking die,” Karl bit.
“The next shift won’t be expecting anything to happen immediately,” Eret said, “They’ll be… complicit. It’ll throw them off.”
“Sounds like a good fucking plan for an ambush.”
“Karl, for fucks sake, do you have a better fucking idea?” George asked. Karl sighed; he didn’t.
Eret sighed, noticing that Karl didn’t like his plan, though. Making his own choice, Eret sheathed his sword before walking out of the alley, much to the protest of Bad and Karl. Karl pulled the others back, getting ready to bail. He had a hand on George and forced Bad to put one on Dream. “Lord Eret?” A guard asked, confused. “I didn’t know you were still around?”
“Well, you know me,” Eret said, smiling and charming, “I enjoy my… vacations. I was back in town.”
“What on Earth is he fucking doing?” Karl whisper-yelled at Bad.
“Giving us a distraction, everyone’s looking at them,” Bad said, “Let’s try to sneak in. Even if they’re weaker, Sapnap and Techno are better fighters than we are, Karl. Fighting out will be easier than fighting in.” Karl sighed in agreement, and the group moved to sneak into the jail. He glanced over at Eret, who seemed contentedly keeping the eyes of the crowd. She was on their side. Clearly had been. Karl sighed, shaking his head and deciding he could feel like shit for accusing him after they saved Techno and Sapnap. He should apologize.
Bad got them in an unlocked back door and looked around the area they were let into. A lot of the prisons had the same structure. Behemoth and Paymon weren’t inventive, but Bad had no clue where they’d keep Techno and Sapnap in the structure. Dream, however, took a deep breath and started moving. That meant two things: they would find Techno and Sapnap, for one. For two? It meant that one of them was bleeding, and Dream knew the smell of their blood.
Getting to a locked door, Dream took another breath before nodding to himself. He grabbed an extra bobby pin he had holding his mask on the side of his head. None of them asked as Dream used it to pick open the locked door like he had done it 100 times before. The door opened, and Dream paused, being hit in the face with the scent of blood. After a moment, he got up and walked in. Going to Techno’s chains first.
The two looked relieved to see their friends at least. Bad carefully caught Techno a bit when he was released. They all noticed that Techno’s hair was short. Roughly chin length. Far different from the length they were used to, where Techno frequently sat on his hair if it was down. No one said anything as Dream let Sapnap down and helped catch him. “Can you two walk?” Karl asked simply.
“We can walk,” Techno bit, “Did you bring us swords?” Karl and Bad handed off their spare swords instantly. Techno gripped it, a look on his face that was new to Dream. Something focused and determined, and angry. It was fucking attractive, but Dream didn’t have time to think about that right now.
“I’m going to kill so many fucking people,” Sapnap said.
“Well, c’mon!” Karl said, “Eret can only distract for so long!” Sapnap’s tail flicked, and George made a quiet comment about liking the tail and horns Sapnap had right now. Sapnap smiled at George. Once they got outside, all eyes left Eret to look at the group standing there. Swords in hands, and all of them looking wildly furious.
Eret hummed, “Well, you were quicker than I expected. I had a full monologue prepared!” She sighed, “Anyways-” Eret pulled his sword and cut a man’s head off fluidly. There was no time for Dream or George’s shock at the casual beheading, because they were quickly flung into a fight. Sapnap and Techno had a determination in their blood. They would not fail their friends this time. This time, they would win. They would not let Karl, or Bad, or George, or Dream be hurt.
Sapnap would not allow his boyfriend that pain, and Techno would not allow his crush that pain. They were weaker and injured, but fury and adrenaline carried them as they slaughtered. Techno registering very little besides the next body to fling his sword through, and Sapnap guarding George with a ferocity that befit a Wrath demon, not a lust demon.
The surprising thing was Dream, though. Dream likely had not used a sword before, the demons knew, and he was a vampire at that. Yet, as Dream slaughtered and butchered, he did not react to the blood pooling into the dirt, staining the ground below his feet black. Eret was affected, baring his fangs often, face twitching with the urge to eat, but he pushed it off in favor of defending the side he did officially choose.
The final guard fell to Techno’s blade, and they looked around at the confused and awestruck bystanders. And in an instant, all of the group was running. Headed straight to the woods as a unified group, running deep into the woods. Then, all at once, Bad brought them all to Earth, knowing Eret was too unfocused to help, and Techno and Sapnap were too weak to teleport themselves. Bad collapsed onto the sofa in the living room. Techno and Sapnap falling next to him.
Karl grabbed the backpack and was quickly unpacking medical supplies, “Dream help out Techno, George help out Sapnap. I’ll help with the big stuff. Bad, you okay enough-”
“Yeah,” Bad said, sticking his wrist out to Eret, “Eat.” Eret listened instantly, biting into Bad’s wrist carefully and drinking. All of them were breathing heavily, and it felt familiar to the demons. However, Techno and Sapnap felt so fucking vindicated. They won this time.
“Overheard you were a high-ranking assistant to Satan for a while there, Eret,” Techno teased, breathing as Dream worked on cleaning up a wound on his arm.
Sapnap chuckled, “Ya know, when I heard that, I really thought Eret was fucking him.” Sapnap winced as George wiped off a wound on Sapnap’s cheekbone. Sapnap mumbled that it was okay to George before the wolf could worry, though.
“I think I have to agree with you there, Sapnap,” Techno teased, “That’s 3 times now. That’s gettin’ dangerous.”
“Someone’s gunna get killed from it,” Sapnap laughed, before wincing at the way his body ached. “Probably us in truth.”
Karl shook his head while stitching up a bigger gash on Techno’s side, “Could you two maybe go more than 100 years without dying?”
“Nah, we got a lot of pissed off ex… affairs,” Sapnap said.
“I think I’ve killed everyone in Hell at least once, so plenty of people want revenge on me for that,” Techno said.
Eret pulled away from Bad’s wrist, and Bad grabbed the gauze to wrap it up himself. “Meanwhile, I know of people actively idolizing Karl and Bad.” The named two looked at Eret in concern while Techno, Sapnap, George, and Dream all laughed.
“Please tell me that’s a joke?” Karl asked.
“It’s not.”
Karl shook his head, looking back at the wound he was putting back together for Techno, “You can’t fix stupid.”
“Clearly, Sapnap’s still himself so,” Techno remarked. It was that same dull tone that Techno always used with Sapnap, but something was missing. The clear sign that Techno meant it was missing. Usually, Techno clearly meant it when he called Sapnap stupid, annoying, or a bitch. Not this time. “By the way, Dream, you are a blood demigod in the makin’?!”
“Yeah, what on Earth was that??” Sapnap asked, “You were calmer and more controlled than Eret, who’s like… hella older than you.”
Dream shrugged, “I found out a few weeks ago I could drink coffee, do I really seem like the type of person to ask? It just… I dunno, the blood didn’t bother me, I guess?”
“Just wasn’t bothered,” Eret scoffed. “I’m jealous of Babyfangs. I was gunna rip someone’s throat out with my teeth, and he’s just… not bothered.”
“Your guess will be better than mine, Eret,” Dream said simply.
Karl hummed, “Too used to it? Grew up human. Lots of bumps and paper cuts. Dream might’ve just been around it as… blood, not as food for so long. When he’s fed, he might not even notice it. The same way humans don’t notice dandelions are edible unless they’re starving?”
“Makes enough sense for me,” Dream agreed. “Anyways, all of us are staying here for a bit. For mine and George’s anxiety's sake. It’ll be harder to get any of you if you’re here.” The group agreed about it without much protest. Eventually, the group split up a bit. Bad, Sapnap, and George went up to bed. And Dream and Techno had disappeared out back like they always tended to do.
Karl looked at Eret before sighing. Sitting next to her in front of the fireplace. Eret looked at Karl, raising an eyebrow. “Look… uh… I’m sorry for acting like such a dick. Saying you betrayed us and stuff… I was panicked and stressed and worried, and you were the only thing that could explain it to me… that doesn’t excuse it though. I guess they finally just… wanted us back.”
“It’s fine,” Eret said to Karl, “I mean, after finding out what I did to Wilbur and the other angels… I see how your brain went there, Karl.”
“Seeing how I got there doesn’t make what I did okay,” Karl said, “I just let worry and doubt plague my thoughts, and I shouldn’t let that happen about a friend… I think you actually value friendship now more than any social title.”
“I understand friendship now, more accurately… and yeah, of course. You guys matter more to me than anything someone could offer me… the Angels do too… I just have to show them that I mean that.”
“Give them some credit. Forgiveness is a virtue, is it not?”
“Yes, but not every angel embodies it.”
“Really?”
Eret nodded, “There’s a virtue opposite every sin. They all have virtues; they weren’t high-ranking enough to avoid them. Did you not know that?” Karl shook his head no. Eret hummed, “They have virtues, same as you, Bad, Techno, and Sapnap have sins.”
Karl sighed, “Wonderful. More to learn.”
“There is always more to learn, Karl,” Eret said, “And learning it isn’t as… horrible as it seems. Trust me.”
Karl’s eyes shone with some sort of curiosity and encouragement, “Alright. Guess I’ll learn then.” The two smiled at each other some before Karl got up, saying that he should head up to bed, and Eret gave him a small salute as Karl disappeared up the stairs after a simple good night. Karl didn’t know that Eret would stay up, keeping an eye out so no one got hurt. The whole group was now Public Enemy number 1 in Hell, and Eret wouldn’t let his friends be hurt.
Chapter 8: Long Yearned Life
Summary:
“Bet you feel the same about Bad and Karl-”
“No.” Dream’s safety net fell.
---
“...That doesn’t mean you guys shouldn’t try. Even if no human will ever be an angel, they can still go to Heaven."
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Dream and Techno sat silently, breathing in the night air together. The sun would rise before too long; they likely only had an hour or two, and typically they’d be headed to sleep around now. But neither was in a state to really sleep soundly. Dream gently rested his head on Techno’s shoulder, staring towards the forest as his eyes tracked a squirrel running up a tree. “Hungry?” Techno teased.
“...No,” Dream said truthfully, “...Adoring nature.”
“Yeah, Earth is… really beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Stunning,” Dream agreed, eyes soft as he looked over at Techno. He really didn’t know how to feel about the short hair. It looked so out of place on Techno. Not bad necessarily, just… wrong. “...Your… hair… why do you keep it long?”
Techno took a breath, not liking the reminder of it being cut, but deciding to talk with Dream anyway, “...I started growing it out when I met Bad. My hair used to be… about this short. A bit shorter in truth… but when I met Bad, especially once I moved in with him, it became a personal hourglass. It counted how long Bad and I had been together…”
“...I’m sorry you lost that.”
“The man who did it to me will be sorry eventually,” Techno said, “Once I’m healed. I’ll make sure he’s fucking sorry.”
Dream chuckled at the anger in Techno’s voice. “Ya know, you are…” Dream paused, he wanted to compliment how Techno looked when determined and protective like that, but he didn’t want to out his crush. “...extremely protective and determined at times. It’s nice.”
“Nice, huh?”
“Well, being on this side of your protective instinct is.”
Techno chuckled, “I’m glad you didn’t get hurt in all of that.”
“Well… respawn or not, I don’t think getting stabbed with a sword would feel good,” Dream said.
“Oh, it doesn’t,” Techno agreed, “I think if you got hurt, I would’ve become a thousand times worse.”
“Really?”
“Easily,” Techno assured. He reached gently for Dream’s arm, resting his hand on it. “Dream, if someone hurt you, I think I’d leave them as not even a blood splatter.” Dream blinked a bit at the comment, the heavy, promising truth to it. Techno meant that. If someone hurt Dream, Techno would destroy them on every level he could.
Dream swallowed, “Bet you feel the same about Bad and Karl-”
“No.” Dream’s safety net fell. The idea that he was simply being put on the same level as Bad and Karl, people Techno was friends with and close to. Loved in his own way. Maybe Sapnap was on that level now. Dream wasn’t sure. “Dream, I… would do for you things they wouldn’t even be able to beg me to do… if you looked at me and asked me to march into Hell and turn myself in, I would. If you told me to do it? I would trust your reason, trust your care, and do it. I would sit there and take whatever they threw at me, happily knowing I was doing what you asked. Dream, anything for you.”
“I…” Dream’s throat was dry, “...What do you mean by that, Techno?” Was that the question he wanted to ask? Would that get him the answer he wanted to hear? What Dream should ask is if Techno loves him, if Techno sees Dream, and if Dream makes his day better. If Techno’s eyes followed him when he left rooms? If Techno noticed the quirks and twitches on his face, the way Dream did for Techno. The words weren’t there, though.
Techno was quiet, looking into Dream’s red eyes. Red that was so encompassing at times. The color was familiar to Techno, his favorite color. He wore it, loved it, craved it. It was the color of love, and passion, and blood, and wrath. A color that encompassed so much of Techno’s long second life. A color held within the eyes of the man he- “It means I love you, Dream.” Well, he said it. No taking it back now.
“...like… like how you love Bad-”
“No,” Techno said, “Not… not like that Dream.” Dream was quiet for a moment, looking at Techno, and Techno withdrew. Relationships were still something hard for him; his only relationship while human ended in his death. But Dream’s hand gently reached up to hold Techno’s cheek. Looking closer at Techno. “Dream-”
“I love you too,” Dream said quietly, and if the two weren’t side by side, Techno doesn’t know if he would’ve heard it. Techno blinked a bit before smiling some. “Can I kiss you?”
“Y-Yeah, that works-” Techno hated that he stuttered there; he had an image to uphold. Dream leaned in to gently kiss Techno, and any idea about his image was forgotten as he kissed back, an arm going around the small of Dream’s back to hold him. The kiss was gentle and chaste, and Dream smiled into it. “Why are you smilin’?” Techno’s lips brushed Dream’s with every word.
Dream’s smile continued, “Because I love you.”
“I love you too,” Techno echoed. They both were happy, and even when they pulled back to not breathe each other’s immediate air, Techno’s arm stayed around Dream, and Dream stayed close to Techno. Eventually, they turned to go to bed, Techno following Dream to his room this time. They fell asleep together, peacefully side by side.
In the morning, everyone felt aches in their bones and body. Exhausted from the fight. Techno and Sapnap most so. While everyone was still tiredly sitting in the living room, Eret checked over Sapnap and Techno’s injuries. Nodding to himself calmly when they were okay. “Did you sleep at all, Eret?” Sapnap asked.
“I’m fine,” Eret assured, “The angels want to come by. I told them something had happened, but it was better explained in person. Said Techno and Sapnap got hurt. They want to make sure those two are okay, get filled in.”
“That’s fine,” Dream agreed.
Karl hummed, “Good. I wanna ask them what their virtues are.”
“Oh, good, you two made up,” Bad remarked.
“Yeah, we talked last night, it’s okay,” Karl said.
Techno furrowed his brows, confused. “They were fightin’?”
“Yeah,” Dream sighed. He was currently being held to Techno’s side, but no one even noticed. “Karl was blaming Eret for what happened. Thought he ratted you guys out.”
“Not even Eret’s that fuckin’ rude,” Sapnap remarked before shoving his face into George’s chest and shoulder area. “Fuck I’m gunna sleep all day-”
Techno hummed in agreement, and Dream made a small face, “Hey Techno. Maybe before that… we fix your hair? Even it out so it’ll grow right?”
“Why’d you fuckin’ remind me!?” Techno sighed dramatically, “Worst fuckin’ part of that whole ordeal.”
“Not the waterboarding, it’s the haircut?” Sapnap asked, voice muffled by a faceful of George shoulder.
Techno made a small noise, kicking Sapnap’s foot. “I like my hair…”
“We know Techno,” Dream said gently. “So, let’s make it so it can grow out right. It’ll probably grow quickly at least?” The comfort was appreciated by Techno, even if he didn’t say it. Soon after, Techno sat in one of the dining room chairs as Dream carefully cut Techno’s hair, doing what he could to not take off any more length. Occasionally, Dream rested a hand on Techno’s shoulder to give a gentle squeeze, especially if he noticed Techno starting to flinch. Dream kissed Techno’s cheek after, and the others all shared a look, Sapnap going to say something before George stopped him.
Techno rolled his eyes at them, “Yes. We’re dating.”
“FINALLY-” Bad huffed, “God listening to you both pine was going to kill me!!” Karl and Eret just applauded for the two, not saying anything or teasing them.
It was left there as Dream cleaned up the hair, Techno making an upset face at it all. “I know it sucks,” Dream said, “But if we’re lucky, your hair will grow like you’re in hell. Meaning in a few weeks, it’ll be long again.”
“I know… I’m still upset.”
“And that one is completely fair,” Dream agreed. He wrapped his arms around Techno, and they were all calm for a minute before the door opened after a knock, the Angels walking in. Wearing expressions of concern and worry. Phil and Wilbur stood in shock while Tommy rushed over to Dream and Techno, and Tubbo walked calmly over to Sapnap and George.
Wilbur looked at Techno for a long moment before looking at Bad, “Hell’s worse than we thought it was, huh?”
“Oh, easily,” Bad said, before smiling in amusement at the younger angels immediately checking on Techno and Sapnap. “We’re all staying here for now… we all think that this isn’t over yet.”
Eret laughed, “Definitely not. Sorry, I showed up in Hell for the first time in a century for them, to distract guards while Public Enemies 3 and 4, smuggled out Public Enemies 1 and 2! Right now, all 7 of us are on that list.”
Bad sighed, “So. If you need us for the foreseeable future, we’ll be here.”
“Do you guys need… any help?” Phil asked.
“We should be good, but Eret has your numbers, so we’ll let you know,” Karl said, “Rather not drag you into this if we can avoid it… However, Eret mentioned something to me about Virtues that paralleled sins? What’s that about?”
Wilbur shrugged, “Low rank angels are assigned a virtue, the same way low rank Demons are assigned a sin. I’m a kindness angel, opposite… I think Envy. Tommy’s forgiveness, opposite Wrath-”
“Is that why pipsqueak likes me so much?” Techno asked. Tommy protested the nickname of pipsqueak.
“Among a few other things,” Wilbur said. The tone was distinct. Tommy was in trouble. “Tubbo’s humility, opposite Pride. Phil is charity, opposite Greed.”
“What do you mean by a few other things?” Karl asked. The angels paused. “Makes it seem like Tommy’s in trouble?”
“For a forgiveness angel, he holds a lot of grudges and gets mad a bit easily at people,” Phil said. “That’s all it really takes for a Forgiveness angel to become a Fallen Wrath Angel. So we left before that could happen to Tommy. He’s still an angel.”
Karl blinked, “So maybe we don’t let Tommy idolize Techno-”
“He’ll be fine, I won’t affect ‘em,” Techno said, “I’ve figured out how to keep control of my passive influence of Wrath. The rest of you, namely Bad, should work on that, though.”
“Oh, that makes sense… I wondered why you and Sapnap were such prideful fucks, but you spend so much time with Bad, yeah,” Eret said, “I forgot you guys could do that in truth.”
Techno shrugged, “They’ll figure it out.”
“...Phil and I are not gunna be friends, gang,” Karl said simply.
Wilbur blinked, “But… you’re sloth aren’t you?”
“And Greed. I’m double typed.”
“That can happen?!” Wilbur asked, abject horror on his face, prompting laughter from the demons.
Tubbo shook his head, “That’s horrible! Why is that allowed!? How is that fair to you!?”
Karl shrugged, “Dunno… you guys do know that coming to Earth to help Tommy is going to doom him, right? Earth is such a chaotic combination of Heaven and Hell… if anything, being here will put you all in trouble. Heaven is… so strict. You guys stray from your paths at all, and your white wings won’t be white much longer after that. I mean for us to get kicked out of Hell, we’d have to give up every single sin… which… isn’t going to happen anytime soon.”
“Are you… Are you saying Earth is inherently bad?” Wilbur asked, head tilted and confused about Karl’s meaning. There’s no way Karl actually thought Earth was bad.
“Compared to Heaven?” Karl asked, “Everything is. Earth isn’t inherently anything. It has a combination of good and bad that our kinds aren’t supposed to really… toy with. It’s made us far kinder than any other demon you’ll meet… Although we were already kinder than most demons. All I’m saying is, if Tommy sees what some people get for their forgiveness? You’ll have more problems than you solved by coming down here.”
“Earth can’t be that bad,” Wilbur protested, “Humans are naturally guided towards light and to Heaven.”
Karl laughed, as though Wilbur’s ideology was a joke, “Do you really believe that? If that’s true, why is there poverty? War? Killers walking free? Rapists? Earth and, by extension, Humans, aren’t naturally or inherently anything. Each and every single one of them has equal capacity for sin and for goodness. And we are the deciders which prevails in every single life. If Humans were inherently good, then Bad wouldn’t be a demon.”
“...I indirectly caused the death of almost 2000 people, Karl,” Bad said. It was filled with regret and remorse, and George and Dream blinked. Not having known that about Bad.
“Negligence isn’t a sin, though! It’s a mistake,” Karl said, “You got saddled with pride because it was the best-fitting one. Every CEO gets pinned with Pride… you were a good person, the fact that you accidentally caused those deaths led to you… Killing yourself Bad! You were, and still are, a good person. You simply cannot meet Heaven’s standards of goodness, because you were not perfect.”
Sapnap scoffed a bit, “Not to bash you, Karl, but you were born in Hell. I think you might be biased about the nature of things.”
Dream shrugged, “He’s right. As someone raised human for 17 years, there is absolutely no such thing as pure goodness in a human. I mean, in history class, the entire thing you learn is Humans being horrible. The good guys in history still slaughter thousands. Humans can’t be good or bad… I mean… are there even any angels who were human in their past lives?”
The Angels paused, thinking. It was a long, quiet moment where the four were silent and looking off in some direction. After a second, Wilbur sighed. Showing none of them could think of one. It was a performance in some way that made it seem like they could think of one, but didn't want to share that information. “Exactly,” Karl said, “...That doesn’t mean you guys shouldn’t try. Even if no human will ever be an angel, they can still go to Heaven. Unlike Hell, the people who go there have options.”
George looked around the room. “Karl, you broke the Angels.”
“I see no reason they should be blinded by ignorance. I might be biased, but I would say a knowledgeable fallen angel is far better off than an ignorant Angel,” Karl protested.
Eret shrugged, “I mean… most fallen angels are better off like that. Clearly, they weren’t better off as angels.”
“You’re speakin’ about someone specific there,” Techno said, looking at Eret. “It shows in your voice.”
Eret smiled, “I have associates everywhere.”
Sapnap paused, looking at Eret with a small head tilt. Eret shook his head no, and Sapnap sat up straighter. “What?! Who!! Since when? Eret, you should tell me shit like that!!”
“I’m fucked. I fucked up.”
“Glad you realize it,” Tommy said quietly. Techno chuckled at it.
Sapnap rolled his eyes, “You were fucked anyway, Eret. But… tell me!!”
Eret looked at the Angels in the room for a moment before sighing and shaking her head, “No, I don’t think I will.”
“You… Eret are you dating someone we know?” Phil asked. Eret’s eyes widened for a moment before he looked down at his phone and didn’t respond, scrolling through something.
“Eret. Answer us!” Wilbur protested.
“You specifically will be so upset with me, Wilbur,” Eret said.
Wilbur tilted his head, “Who? I know literally every angel you talked to in Heaven, and besides us, they’re all still up there? Who on Earth is it?!”
“Who said I met them when they were an angel?” Eret asked. Wilbur blinked a bit, confused for multiple reasons. “Do you really want to know his name?” Wilbur nodded. Eret smirked, “Fundy.”
“I don’t-”
“He changed his name after falling. Safety reasons.”
Wilbur groaned, annoyed, “That was literally the worst hint you could’ve ever given to me, Eret!”
“I did it on purpose,” Eret smiled, “Also, that attitude isn’t very kind of you, Wilbur. What, are you eager to prove Karl’s point?” Wilbur paused, eyes widening in some sort of fear. “Don’t worry. You can only fall if you stray while you’re still in Heaven. This won’t count.”
“Why do you know that!?” Wilbur asked.
“Access?” Eret offered, before shrugging, “Sorry. I’m not revealing all my secrets like that, Wil.”
Wibur sighed, “Can you please just tell me what Fallen Angel you’re dating?”
Eret looked at Wilbur for a moment. Remembered Wilbur’s sneaky check-ins on Fundy, remembered Wilbur flinching at his name. He decided to help relieve some of the guilt and worry. “Floris.” Wilbur’s face widened, shock, surprise, and some sort of distrust on his face. A fear that Eret was lying to him. “He misses you guys… I didn’t tell him you were down here… didn’t know if you wanted him to know. If you do see him, call him Fundy.”
“He’s okay?” Wilbur’s voice cracked, something raw and emotional that none of them were willing to comment on.
“Yeah. He’s okay. Doing pretty good down here, actually. He sleeps a lot, and doesn’t… really go out. You guys can do that lil trick to hide the white wings, Fallen Angels lose that ability once they’re grey, so he tries to avoid going out. If you want, I can take you guys to see him later.”
“Uh, Eret, when I said all of us are staying here. That included you, too. Just invite Fundy over, not like I have any control over who enters my house anyway,” Dream joked.
“You love us, Dream,” Sapnap teased lightly.
Dream rolled his eyes, “Seriously though, Eret. Invite him over. You don’t get to leave this house, same as the rest of us don’t get to. You said we’re enemy number 1, that means they’ll be looking.”
Eret sighed, “Fine.” He opened his phone and started texting Fundy. The group continued to talk for a while, Karl no longer trying to upset the angels at least. Eret eventually said Fundy was on his way, but was taking his time. When there was a knock at the front door, Eret got up. Telling Wilbur to stay put. He opened the door and whispered something to Fundy before letting him in. Fundy walked in, saw Wilbur, and smiled. Running over to hug him. Wilbur hugged him back, smiling widely.
Fundy pulled away, hands on Wilbur’s shoulders while looking at him, “Why are you on Earth!?” Fundy looked around the room, seeing Tommy and Tubbo. “You brought Tubbo and Tommy to Earth!? Are you fucking stupid, Wilbur!? Do you know what Earth does to people?! How are you not-”
“They can’t fall unless they misbehave in Heaven,” Eret clarified. Fundy paused, processing that information. He knew how Eret knew that Fundy wasn’t upset with him. “They’re fine Funds, be happy, not panicked.” Fundy nodded, pulling Phil into a hug before giving Tubbo and Tommy a look. The two joined in on the hug without being told to.
“Why are you guys down here anyway?” Fundy asked, ruffling Tubbo’s hair, and Tubbo smiled.
Wilbur sighed, “Avoiding Tommy falling for his attitude problem.”
Fundy chuckled, aware of Tommy’s more snappy behavior at times. “Isn’t too bad. The biggest issue is feeling like you’re not a part of any side and being… distrusted by everyone. Wings are fine, no different than the white ones, besides making it hard to go out in public.”
“You think the wings are bad?” Techno teased.
Fundy blinked at Techno, “How have you made it this far?”
“The woods and fake shoes mostly,” Techno said.
Fundy hummed, “Good luck. Anyways, Wilbur, you really thought Earth, America specifically, would help Tommy stop being angry and be more forgiving?!”
“I’ve been told off about it already.”
“By who?”
“Babyfangs, and the other sloth bitch in the room,” Eret answered.
“I’m not just sloth,” Karl protested, “I lean towards Greed so much more than Sloth, and you know it, Eret. I’m just… tired a lot, really, but that could also be from this friend group.”
Fundy nodded, finally looking around at everyone else in the room now that he had reunited with his friends. Fundy’s eyes fell on Sapnap, and he blinked, “That’s a whole ass lust demon in a committed relationship.”
“Thanks, it’s the trauma!” Sapnap smiled. Fundy laughed before nodding that it was fair. “And committed is strong wording when I flirt with everyone in this room besides the angels.”
“Or at least he tries to flirt with all of us,” Bad said. “...Wait, how’d you know he was a lust demon? I mean… we can tell, but the Angels couldn’t.”
“Oh, it’s from being fallen,” Fundy agreed, “I’m literally like half demon and half angel now. More or less. It makes it so I can identify what virtue an angel is aligned to and what sin a demon is aligned to. I also could, in theory, go to Heaven and Hell, but Heaven just won’t let me in and push me back down here. Everyone in Hell would just hate me.”
“Well, they hate everyone anyway, especially us right now,” Karl said.
“No shit! We went there, showed up with the highest-ranked vampire in Hell, stole two wanted prisoners, and went on a massacre of an entire shift of guards, Karl!! That’s why we’re all hiding here right now!”
Fundy blinked, “Oh, wait, are you the guys who tried to overthrow Paymon and Behemoth?”
“Our reputation grows,” Sapnap smiled, “Yeah, that’s us.”
“I mean…” Techno hummed, “Could try again-”
“Absolutely fucking not, Technoblade!! If we try again, it won’t be a public flogging when we fail, it’ll be something so much fucking worse!!” Karl protested. Fundy blinked a bit before realizing the punishment wasn’t really that extreme for Hell.
Techno hummed, “Yeah, but this time we have Eret, Dream, and George. Plus, if we convince the-”
“No! Techno, knock it off!” Bad said, “It’s been like… 60 years for Hell, and we’re still dealing with all this shit from our first try!” Techno crossed his arms, going silent. “We can get personal revenge later on when things are calm again.”
“Oh yeah,” Sapnap smirked, “We’ve got a man to scalp and break the bones of.” Techno smiled a bit.
“I’m… going to assume there’s a good reason for that, and not ask,” Wilbur said simply. Tommy went to ask, but Wilbur put a hand over his mouth before he could talk.
Dream paused, “The guy who cut your hair…”
“Don’t fuckin’ talk about it!” Dream put his hands up in surrender. “...Sorry for bein’ mean to you, Dream.”
Dream shrugged, “You know I don’t give a fuck.” He wrapped an arm around Techno’s shoulders, leaning into him. “Anyways, Fundy, welcome to the squad we’ve got... Depression-” Karl lost his shit at the statement, cutting Dream off. He looked over Karl. “...Hysterial laughter, apparently.”
“It’s just- that was so blunt!” Karl giggled, “Like yeah, it’s clear, but fuck dude! You didn’t have to call me out like that!”
“I could’ve said something worse,” Dream said, “I don’t want to scare off Eret’s boyfrie- actually, he’s dating Eret, nothing will phase you, huh?”
“Yeah, no, you won’t get to me,” Fundy said.
Dream nodded, “A good quality to have. Your friends are still having an issue with that.”
“How were we supposed to respond to Sapnap saying ‘Techno would like killing me too much’ and Techno responding ‘you were the one begging for it’?” Wilbur asked, “How do you respond to that?!”
Fundy laughed before covering his mouth somewhat. “That’s actually a good clap back, that is… wow.”
“It shut him up for once, so it was worth it,” Techno mumbled. Dream hummed in agreement, ignoring Sapnap’s protests.
Notes:
I love that I changed Dream and Techno getting together to be post first hell trip. It scratches the brain quite nicely. Also three chapters today purely because I wanted to post this one.
Chapter 9: In Too Deep
Summary:
The biggest clue they had that Dream was still alive at times was his heavy breathing. If he wasn’t moving just a bit to show he was listening, he looked dead as he hanged there. But they saw his chest rise and fall, and heard his breath. He was so hungry he couldn’t do much else. Karl just listened to the silence and Dream’s breathing.
Chapter Text
Karl jostled when he woke up. He had fallen asleep at Dream’s house. In Bad’s bed with him, cuddled together. Karl was not in Bad’s bed. His arms were chained above his head, and his shoulders already ached at the stretch, and one lick across his teeth told him where he was. Hell. Karl lifted his head to look around, see who else was here. He was startled to see only Dream and George. He had no clue why they didn’t grab Bad. Sure, Bad was given the lightest sentence originally, but he had come back to break out Techno and Sapnap; surely that made him more of a target.
Eventually, Dream and George woke up. Dream making a small noise. “Don’t speak,” Karl said, “When they’re in here, don’t speak to them. Don’t protest what they’re doing to me, or what they want to do to you. Avoid reacting to what they do to me, the best that you can. If they do turn to you, give them the responses they want. Let me do any and all talking to them.” Dream and George both took a breath, nodding.
Karl started analyzing the room around them, it was set up like the room Techno and Sapnap were in. Maybe the same room, even. That should make it easier to find them. However, it had only been a few Earth days since they rescued Sapnap and Techno. Although better than they were, they were both still weak. Neither were really in a place to fight. Karl took a calming breath, weaker or not, Techno was a force to be reckoned with, he had earned his title of blood god-
A title Dream also earned when fighting, when he had been fed. But Dream wouldn’t be fed. Karl didn’t know if Dream would even be able to make it out of this room without hurting Karl and George, let alone if Dream would be able to manage a fight. Looking at Dream, he already seemed… off in some way. Floaty and distant. Karl shook his head. He just had to hope Dream’s self-control was stronger than anything else about him. Since Karl knew Eret, despite his age and practice, would not be able to withstand all the blood that’ll be split soon.
The door clicked open, and Karl was immediately sizing up the guard who walked in. He knew that they were here to torture them, and Karl would make sure that torture was targeted at him far more than Dream or George. The Guard smiled maliciously, “I knew you and your group were… stupid. But, bringing two very young supernaturals to Hell? It’s like you wanted to get caught.”
“You’re the stupid one. You left the strongest parts of our group, but took us? You must want to lose,” Karl taunted. “I can’t imagine what your boss will say when you fail to keep us twice. Probably won’t say anything truthfully, just start killing you over, and over, and over again.” Karl bit his tongue when the Guard’s knife sliced deep into his leg.
Dream didn’t react to the blood, and that got the Guard’s attention. “A vampire as young as you, not reacting to fresh blood? Interesting.” The Guard went to walk over to Dream.
Karl reacted before the Guard could touch Dream, “Hey! Fuckass!! We weren’t done talking!” The Guard turned to punch Karl in the gut, and he groaned in pain. But there was a protective fire in his heart about them right now. “Bad hits harder than that. You must love me.” Karl had gained the Guard’s attention and anger again, keeping Dream safe. Karl openly accepted the punch to the jaw, and when Karl tasted the blood in his mouth, he spat it in the Guard's face. Karl laughed at the reaction the Guard had, pure disgust.
He took his beating with some amount of pride, even the joining knife wounds. After a bit, the Guard left. “That’s right bitch!! Fuck you!!” Karl leaned his head back, feeling the almost scorching bricks as he breathed heavily through pain.
“Are you stupid?!” George asked Karl, voice a whisper.
“Look, I’m fine hurting. I can take this shit, I’ve had worse. I’m going to keep you and Dream as safe as I possibly can until they get here!” Karl felt more blood pooling in his mouth, and he spat it out onto the floor. “Even if it means internal bleeding right now.”
“Karl, we’ll be fine,” Dream’s voice was off, but Karl couldn’t ask right now. “Don’t get yourself killed, please?”
“They won’t kill me,” Karl said, “They don’t know where I respawn, so they won’t risk it. I can take the injuries… the others can help when we get out.” With that, the three went silent. Karl knew they’d be here for a few days at least. Bad would want a plan; he is going to force Techno and Sapnap to wait. They would both hate it, but know without Bad’s planning, they’ll be dead meat. Karl just had to make sure they all stayed as okay as they possibly could.
Days ticked by, not that any of them really counted or kept track. They all knew that keeping track of how long they had been here would only demoralize them. They could tell when it was night, though, because they would go a few hours without anyone bothering them. They slept in bursts, shortly and fitfully, in any moment they could. Trying to ignore the aches in their shoulders, arms, and backs from being suspended.
Karl pissed off the Guards every time they came by; it meant he was beaten and bloody, even compared to Dream and George. Karl knew that would happen, and he was okay with it. Even as his voice was hoarse from yelling and arguing and fighting, and his leg ached with the knife wound there. He really was hoping that didn’t get infected. Dream had started to lose sensibility due to the blood. He wouldn’t really talk anymore, would look over when George and Karl talked, and he reacted. But Karl hadn’t heard Dream’s voice in a while.
Karl was worried about how Dream would react when they were freed. He was hopeful that Dream wouldn’t immediately jump one of them, even though Karl knew that none of them would care. Would let Dream drain them and respawn and try to get back quick enough to help; however, Dream would never forgive himself if he did that to one of them and they had just got him to fully accept eating off them.
After another round of getting cut, punched, and beaten, Karl was feeling numb to the pain of it all. He forced himself to react, to scream and groan and fulfill the sadistic desires of their tormentors. Let them get their fill with him, so they wouldn’t turn to George or Dream. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it worked some. His throat hurt more than most of the injuries at this point. Karl let his head hang when the guard left, breathing while he choked back rage and bile. “Karl?” George asked quietly. Dream looked over a bit, hearing George’s voice. They couldn’t quite see his eyes.
“I’m fine,” Karl said, “They’ll be here soon… I’m sure of it. We haven’t been here too long… It hasn’t even been 2 days for them… I think…”
George nodded, sighing. They fell into silence. The biggest clue they had that Dream was still alive at times was his heavy breathing. If he wasn’t moving just a bit to show he was listening, he looked dead as he hanged there. But they saw his chest rise and fall, and heard his breath. He was so hungry he couldn’t do much else. Karl just listened to the silence and Dream’s breathing. It was hard to get any sense of what was happening outside for him; George figured it out first, almost always. His wolf ears gave him better hearing, so he was always paying attention to the noises around them.
After a moment, George leaned forward in some way, head tilted to put an ear towards the door. Karl looked over at him, confused and worried that it would be more torture for them. “...Fighting,” George mumbled.
Karl felt relief flood him; that was most likely them. He just nodded to George, and he saw the relief flood George’s face too. Soon after, Sapnap broke down the door, and the group all paused. “We gotta run,” Karl said, his voice sounded like trash, and he was aware of how concerned Sapnap, Techno, Bad, Fundy, and Eret looked. Karl smiled a bit, seeing that Eret had come back with them. “Techno, use your sword to break us down, stealth ain’t gunna do much-” Techno did so. Cutting Dream down last and catching Dream as Dream just dropped like he was a corpse.
Techno looked at Dream with concern, and Karl noticed how Dream didn’t immediately pounce on Techno. Eret moved closer, “Dream. Look up. Lemme see your eyes.” They knew why Eret was asking. A vampire’s eyes could grow darker when hungry. The lighter the red, the fuller they were. Dream didn’t move.
“Dream, look up, c’mon,” Techno prompted.
Karl grabbed the sword being handed to him from Fundy, George taking one from Bad. “Dream!” No response. “Clay, look up!!” Dream’s head snapped up at his real name, eyes locking in on Karl’s instantly. He moved too fast, too primally. His eyes were almost black. “Fuck you’re starving-”
Dream shook a bit, “I… I’ll eat… on Earth. Sword.” Each word was a challenge for Dream. Techno pushed down his worry, looking at Eret for her opinion. Eret handed Dream the spare sword he had brought.
Karl coughed, blood pooling in his lungs a bit, and he wiped it away from his mouth, “Let’s fucking go.” Any worry the group felt was pushed aside temporarily; instead, they were all laser-focused on escaping and revenge. Karl ignored every ache and stabbing pain, in favor of killing anyone who came too close to them. At one point he paused, seeing Techno and Sapnap working together to scalp a man. Likely the guard who cut Techno’s hair, if he had to guess, since he didn’t have time to ask.
Dream’s hunger had transformed into something else out here. A pure, violent rage. Dream was tearing people apart, swinging his sword like an extension of self, and ignoring the blood that stained his hands and clothes. Bodies fell, and suddenly someone was grabbing Karl’s shoulders. He went to twist to fight before seeing the orange painted nails. Fundy. Then Karl was back in Dream’s house, and he fell back against Fundy. The fallen angel carefully moved Karl to set him on the couch.
Wilbur was there, Karl was almost surprised to see him as the Angel dropped to his knees to grab medical supplies to take care of Karl, Bad at his side. Glancing around the room, Karl saw Dream in Techno’s lap, Eret patching up a wound on Dream’s arm as Dream’s fangs were sunk into Techno’s wrist. Techno seemed almost relaxed to have the vampire eating off him again. Fundy and Sapnap were both taking care of George, Sapnap occasionally pausing to brush George’s hair out of his face. Karl sighed before coughing up more blood. Bad wiped it away with some gauze quickly. “Fuckin’ gross…”
“I’m gunna go out on a limb here,” Techno started, taking his eyes off Dream to look at Karl, “Thanks for protectin’ Dream and George Karl.”
Karl smiled for a moment before making a high-pitched noise of pain as Wilbur inspected his nearly infected leg wound. “You’re welcome.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Sapnap agreed, before pausing, “But what the fuck were you thinking, Karl?! You’re five times worse than the two of them combined!?”
“Took a note from your book, Sap,” Karl remarked bitterly. He wasn’t really upset, and all of them could tell. Karl knew he had made a dangerous choice, and the others had a right to be upset with him for it. Karl was snapping out of pain. He took a breath, “Wil, where’s your family?”
Wilbur grabbed a new gauze pad to wipe blood off of Karl’s arm, “Getting what they need to stay here for a bit. You need all the help you can get.”
Karl smiled, “Thank you-”
“Stop fucking taking Karl,” Bad said. Karl looked at him. “You’re going to permanently damage your throat like that.” Bad reached for a water bottle and handed it to Karl, and the sloth demon took it, taking a drink from it. Bad then passed one over to Sapnap for George. Dream was looking around the room, and Karl was relieved seeing his eyes closer to their usual red. Karl then looked down at his hands to close the water bottle. He then closed it before throwing it aggressively across the room when he realized his rings were gone.
George jumped, and Karl gave him an apologetic look. “What’s wrong, Karl?” Sapnap asked. Karl pointed at one of his hands, angrily. “...oh… they took your rings… oh no-” The anger in Karl’s body language made Techno look like a Forgiveness angel. “We’ll get you new ones.”
Karl signed fuck simply. Techno laughed, “Do you only know how to say fuck in ASL?” Karl nodded once in response. “Are you only going to say Fuck until Bad says you can talk again?” Karl nodded again.
Sapnap huffed, “Karl, you’re really gunna be moody over losing your rings, but not over the literal torture?!” Karl pointed at Techno’s head aggressively, indicating his hair. “Look, you didn’t have to go there.”
“No, he’s got a point,” Bad said, “Techno’s hair and Karl’s rings are the same in their minds.” Bad grabbed a notebook and a pen for Karl so he could communicate easier. “I mean, I think almost the entire time I knew Techno, his hair was long, and the whole time I’ve known Karl, he’s had his rings.”
Karl wrote quickly, before showing the group, I’m robbing a jewelry store to get more.
“Karl, theft probably isn’t the best answer here,” Eret said.
Karl wrote something again, Nope. We’re robbing a jewelry store, and all of you have to help.
“I’ll help you once you’re healed,” Sapnap said. Karl nodded, content with that answer.
“There’s nothing I can do to stop this, huh?” Bad asked, Karl shook his head no. “Can I ask you nicely not to?”
You can ask. Doesn’t mean it’ll change anything, Karl scribbled down quickly.
“Karl is going to be pissed about this forever now, great,” Eret sighed.
I’ve had those rings since I was basically born dickhead! Karl was upset, even more so, he was aware of how close to losing Dream and George they all got there. He had to tell the group, tell him that he knew demons under the age of 50 didn’t come back when they were killed. He needed them to understand why he let himself get shredded for Dream and George.
“How do you manage to keep something like that for like… 400 plus years in hell?” Fundy asked Karl.
Skill. That and I wore them as a necklace for the first 30 or so years.
“Why?” Sapnap asked.
I grew like a human would, born in Hell, remember? Karl wrote, Meant it was too small to actually wear them.
“Why’d you have them then?”
Stole ‘em from people I killed.
Sapnap blinked, “What?”
Bullies, Karl said, I was the smallest person in our town until 22. I got fucking bullied, so I killed 'em and stole their shit. One of the few things my dad was proud of.
“Okay, but fuck your dad though,” Dream said, “No rights.” Karl smiled, hearing Dream’s voice again. He sounded like nothing at all had happened.
Sapnap was quiet for a moment. “We know very little about your childhood.”
You won’t for a while. Want to know a fun fact, though?
“...Sure?” Sapnap said, hesitant to actually know what Karl was going to say.
Demons can die before the age of 50. Angels too I’d bet. Why the fuck do you think I put so much effort into protecting Dream and George.
“What!?” Bad asked, “Wait what?!?” Karl didn’t offer any more explanation on how he knew that, but they all knew it was true because it was the only thing that explained Karl doing that. Why he always discouraged Dream and George from finding out about it. All of them sat for a moment, trying to think about whether they had ever died before the age of 50, find some proof Karl was wrong, but they couldn’t.
Karl took a breath, trying to ignore the flashbacks pounding at his head of his dad, the bullies in his youth, of his old friend, and of the little girl he couldn’t save.
Chapter 10: More Complicated Than That
Summary:
“You should probably be sleeping, Wilbur.”
“So should you,” Wilbur offered quietly. He knew why Bad wasn’t, but the statement was still true. Bad should still be sleeping; he shouldn’t need to sit here and keep watch like a soldier guarding their encampment.
Bad sighed, “Hard to sleep sometimes… I start thinking too much.”
Chapter Text
Bad was awake, for one, he couldn’t sleep, but beyond that, it was his turn to keep watch. They had worked out a cycle, Fundy sticking around to even make it easier. On a 12-day cycle, one of them always stayed up. Tomorrow was Sapnap’s turn. So, right now, while everyone else upstairs was asleep, Bad was sitting in the living room. He was sitting by the window, and it was nighttime. Usually, they’d all be awake by now, but they all needed extra rest. At least the demons, George, and Dream did. He knew everyone was still asleep.
Meaning Bad knew there shouldn’t be footsteps on the stairs, he turned around to see who it was, and Wilbur walked into view. Not who he expected, truthfully, but Bad didn’t mind. “You should probably be sleeping, Wilbur.”
“So should you,” Wilbur offered quietly. He knew why Bad wasn’t, but the statement was still true. Bad should still be sleeping; he shouldn’t need to sit here and keep watch like a soldier guarding their encampment.
Bad sighed, “Hard to sleep sometimes… I start thinking too much.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Wilbur walked over, sitting next to Bad, “Want to talk about it?”
“Don’t think you’d be too fond of hearing it all, Angel,” Bad said, the nickname rolling easily. “It might make you question your judgement about the world.”
Wilbur shrugged, “I do that around you all anyway. Might as well help someone out while it happens, right?”
“...You can worry about yourself some ya know,” Bad said, “Constantly panicking about everyone else is gunna kill you Wil.”
“Speaking from experience there, Pride?”
“Yeah,” Bad said, “It’s a waste of time… worrying for everyone. There’s always going to be people hurting. People will always be in pain, and people will always die. Worrying about it all the time kills you.”
“I’m a kindness Angel,” Wilbur reminded, “It’s my job to worry about others.”
“Says who?” Bad asked, looking at the night sky and counting the stars.
“God. Obviously,” Wilbur’s tone was something prideful and cocky. Bad didn’t point it out.
Bad looked at Wilbur for a moment before returning his attention to the stars, “Ever consider he’s wrong?”
“What?” Wilbur said the word like Bad had said something completely groundbreaking, something impossible and confusing. Bad didn’t realize just how deep Heaven’s teachings went.
“I’m not saying he’s intentionally misleading or trying to hurt you angels, but have you ever considered that he’s wrong about it?” Bad asked, “Maybe your job is worrying about others and being kind and never overstepping… but what if you aren’t good at it? What if you’d be better off somewhere else?”
Wilbur was looking at Bad, trying to understand what he could possibly mean. “I was made this way.”
“And I was made to be prideful, in this life at least,” Bad replied, “Yet… I’m possibly the most selfless of the group… besides you, Angels, maybe. Why should you confine your identity, your whole entire being, and infinite existence, to a word? If humans are able to harbor good and evil, and demons are able to harbor good and evil… why are Angels the exception?”
Wilbur crossed his arms a bit, “It’s… always been like that for us. We don’t know anything else… We aren’t like most demons, we don’t have reasons why we’re this way-”
“You should.” Wilbur paused at being cut off. “An act without a motive is a waste of time, Wilbur.”
“What would I be besides this? All I am is Kindness, down to the core of my being-”
“No,” Bad argued, “You’re passionate. Smart. You can be mean, but you choose kindness. You’re paternal in an odd way towards Tommy and Tubbo. You’re creative… You are so much more than just kind. Nobody is just kind. No one is just humble. No one is just… prideful. No one is ever just one thing… maybe at first we are. But we learn, and we become so so much more than that.”
“...You really think all that about me?” Wilbur’s voice was soft.
“Yeah, of course,” Bad said, as though Wilbur's asking that was stupid. “You’re smart. Without your help in planning, we would’ve gotten our asses kicked when going to get Karl, Dream, and George… if you weren’t able to prioritize and think ahead, you’d still be in Heaven, and Tommy would’ve fallen. You were able to realize what would be safest, even if it was against the norm, and you ran with it… You’re so much more than that title of Kindness. Because kindness… can be really stupid sometimes and you aren’t.”
“You really think kindness can be stupid?” Bad nodded. “How?”
Bad hummed, “Let’s say, for example, you see a woman crying in the middle of the sidewalk at night. Naturally, your instinct is to comfort her, right? That would be kind, and only motivated by kindness, right?” Bad asked. Wilbur nodded in agreement. “She pulls a gun out and shoots you in the gut when you get close to her. Your kindness got you killed because you didn’t stop to think why this woman is crying on the sidewalk at night.”
“That just… sounds like paranoia to me.”
“A small degree of paranoia is the difference between a victim and a survivor, Wilbur.”
“...What if she is genuinely sad, though?” Wilbur asked.
“Then you comfort her, and she feels better, and that’s wonderful,” Bad said, “Let’s try another example. A guy is crying because his wife left him-”
“Of course I’d comfort him-”
“She left him because he was having an affair, and got his mistress pregnant,” Bad finished, “Now. Does comforting him seem like the right option?”
Wilbur thought for a moment, “No… but-”
“Now, to him, you’re unkind because you aren’t comforting and helping him. However, to the ex-wife, you’re kind for sympathizing with her and understanding why she would leave that marriage,” Bad said. “I agree with you that it’s better to comfort people, these are… the outliers, the 1 in 20 chances. But it’s still a chance. Kindness is a paradox. Everything is. You can’t have kindness without having cruelty. Everything has its opposite.”
“No, you’re wrong,” Wilbur shook his head, “Forgiveness-”
“Is a choice you make instead of wrath,” Bad finished, “It doesn’t mean you aren’t angry, you are just choosing to forgive instead of holding onto that anger… I don’t want you to think that I believe Kindness, forgiveness, and everything like that is bad. You just view them as… absolute… the only option. There are times when kindness must be sacrificed for the good of the whole or for the self.”
Wilbur shook his head. “How could you think that?” Bad tilted his head. “It’s better to sacrifice yourself for others to help them.”
“...I don’t disagree,” Bad said, “I ‘sacrifice’ myself all the time. Getting between Techno and Sapnap’s fights? I risk Techno getting mad at me instead, but I keep Sapnap safe. I risked my own life and safety in order to help Techno when he got hurt during our revolution, and it’s what’s led me to here today… Life is too complex for the simplicity of kind vs mean, yes vs no, black vs white… Do you view everything as yes or no? Do or don’t?”
Wilbur narrowed his eyes, wondering where Bad would go with this. “Yeah, of course.”
“So, you either do or don’t order fries?”
“...Yeah,” Wilbur said, clearly humoring Bad. Curious enough to keep the conversation going.
“So, you would look at the fries and decide not to order them?” Wilbur nodded. “So, even though you’re hungry, since you aren’t getting fries. You leave. Without looking at the rest of the menu?”
“Well, no-”
“You look at the other options.” Wilbur nodded. “Life is like that sometimes… You can’t just… think ‘comfort them or don’t’. You think… ask what happened, and if they need comfort… You can’t just run around helping everyone; not everyone wants it. You can’t just… decide to always forgive someone. You wouldn’t just… forgive someone if they killed Tubbo, even if it would be the kind thing to do.”
“Some people don’t deserve kindness-” Wilbur paused, realizing what he just said.
Bad nodded, “And that’s why everyone is more than just a word. There are things that come before whatever word you are intended for me. For me? My friends come before my pride. I can set my pride aside and take whatever humiliation there is if it’s to protect them. You’re the same; you can put kindness aside for people who hurt others. And by the sheer nature of doing that, you’re not simply kind. Despite being kind to the victim still.” Wilbur nodded, understanding finally.
“That’s why we say Tommy being here won’t help him… In Heaven, the biggest issues you have are accidentally stepping on someone’s foot… that’s easy to forgive. But if Tommy sees… the hundreds of people the justice system ignores every day? The Inequalities of society? The… work conditions some people are forced to stay in… It’s hard to forgive the perpetrator of those things. It hurts too much.”
“Why’d you choke up on the working conditions?” Wilbur asked, “...Something with your past life?”
Bad sighed, “I owned a clothing company… became more successful than I could’ve imagined. Hired some managers for my factories, I thought they would keep the line workers safe… one of the factories caught fire. First floor… shouldn’t have been an issue, there were fire escapes… except they were blocked by boxes… There were 2000 people in that factory… 12 of them survived. 6 were managers I hired… the other 6 were employees… the other 1,982… were employees…”
“How do you live with-”
“I didn’t,” Bad cut Wilbur off, “Within two months, I had given myself alcohol poisoning. I was… the least screwed over in our group… Sapnap just… got so so mistreated and Techno got backstabbed… literally. We’re fine…. Have had a few hundred years to get past it.”
“...Are you sure you’re okay, Bad?” Wilbur’s voice was gentle, caring.
Bad smiled, “Yeah. I just hope those people didn’t end up condemned as I did. After almost 600 years… you work past a lot of the sting. Besides, it made me who I am today… pretty directly.”
***
12 days later, Bad was awake again. Sitting at the window like he had last time, and watching the sky. It was quiet in the house, so Bad heard when a door upstairs opened. It was still a bit early for anyone to be waking up, so he turned to look over his shoulder to see Wilbur walking downstairs again. Red mark on his face. “What happened?” Bad asked, voice quiet in order not to wake George.
“Tommy slapped me in his sleep,” Wilbur huffed.
Bad tried to stifle his laugh as he smiled at Wilbur, “I thought he was sharing a bed with Tubbo.”
“Oh, he is. Tubbo was hogging the blankets, apparently,” Wilbur said. Bad covered his mouth with his hand in order not to laugh and wake the others up. Wilbur smiled, “It’s not funny, Bad!”
“I dunno, it’s kinda funny,” Bad teased. Wilbur walked over and sat down next to Bad again. It was silent for a while, the two looking through the gaps in the curtain. They could see humans going about their daily lives, walking home from work. Unaware of the Angel and Demon watching them, unaware of what that Demon was dealing with in Hell. Bad looked at Wilbur eventually, “Ya know. If you hadn’t said Tommy slapped you, I would’ve guessed you enjoyed my company, Wilbur.”
“Well, I definitely enjoy the company of Dream and George,” Wilbur said, “So maybe yours too.”
“You’ve just… coincidentally had issues sleeping on my days awake, that’s all,” Bad teased.
“Exactly,” Wilbur agreed, “Coincidence.” Bad smiled softly, and the two returned to silence. Bad then felt a wing gently wrap around his side. He jumped a bit. Wilbur looked at him in concern.
“You have your wings out… I didn’t notice."
“I… hide my wings a lot for an angel,” Wilbur shrugged, “Most angels like their wings far more than I do.”
“You don’t like your wings?”
Wilbur hummed, “Not that. It’s not that I don’t like them… I just don’t… care for them? They’re there, and that’s fine.”
“I’ll trade you,” Bad offered, “I get your wings, you get my horns?” It was a joke, and Wilbur chuckled. “...Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s that simple.”
“No, it’s not,” Wilbur agreed, “Why don’t you like your horns?”
“Makes it hard to go out. I love everyone here, but… I like meeting new people. At least you can hide your wings,” Bad offered.
“True… people still know somehow-”
“People don’t approach you because you’re an angel, Wilbur; they approach you because you’re attractive,” Bad said. Wilbur paused, looking at Bad and blinking. Confusion evident. “You… you did know that, right? Like… you know you’re attractive, Angels are specifically designed to be good looking.”
“I didn’t think…” Wilbur blinked, “I didn’t think Humans just approached people they thought looked good, though.”
“Yeah, some will,” Bad said, “Others will stare and whisper with their friends, but.” Bad paused, remembering a common human pickup line. “God, Wilbur, did people ask you if it hurt falling from Heaven because you look like an angel?”
“Yes, see-”
“Wilbur, good god, that’s a pickup line,” Bad laughed. Wilbur blinked, a bit confused. “It’s a way to say you look cute and they wanna talk with you.” Wilbur made a look like he understood something. “You look so confused, Wil-”
“I didn’t know humans say stuff like that!”
“You really don’t know anything about humans, huh?” Bad asked. Wilbur shook his head no. “Don’t worry, I’ve got time to explain.” Wilbur sat there, and the two talked for hours. Bad willing to talk about anything. Wilbur listened intently. Curious about humans, but also just about Wilbur’s new unholy friends. Bad happily talked to Wilbur, not used to someone willing to listen. The demons were all happy to talk; they just enjoyed talking to each other. But Wilbur liked listening.
Karl was first to wake up once the sun set, happily climbing into Bad’s lap to listen to the two talk. They had never outright announced their relationship to the others, but everyone kind of knew that Bad and Karl were together. Bad smiled and wrapped his arms around Karl while continuing to talk with Wilbur. Karl was finally allowed to talk, but he stayed quiet. Still sleepy and resting to the sound of his boyfriend talking.
The others woke up slowly, and after a few more people trickled into the room, Bad stopped talking. Karl and Wilbur both missed it once it stopped. Karl had moved to lie across Bad and Wilbur’s laps as everyone slowly woke up. “Karl… what are you doing?” Sapnap asked.
Karl hummed, “Vibin’.” Bad and Wilbur laughed, and it made Karl smile. “They’re comfy, dude. I don’t think they slept.”
“I did, until Tommy slapped me,” Wilbur said.
The group laughed, Techno looking at Tommy, “The gremlin did what?”
“I’m sleeping, comfy and cozy, and this gremlin pushes me and says, ‘Tubbo’s hogging the blankets, you’re sharing. Move’. And I didn’t care, so I let this little monster into my bed. 20 minutes later, he slaps me in his sleep, waking me up!! So I just came down here and sat with Bad all day!” Wilbur said. The group laughed, ignoring Tommy’s attempts to protest.
Techno paused, some level of fear on his face, “Wait, you and Bad are bein’ friends?”
“We talked last time it was my day too,” Bad said.
“The thought of you two being friends… is horrifying,” Eret said.
“Why?”
“I’m not giving you any ideas, Wilbur!” Eret protested, “If I say why it worries me, then you’ll do it just to piss me off!”
“I would-” Wilbur was cut off by an unamused look from Eret. “...Bad-”
Bad sighed, “Eret, put your fucking sunglasses back on and shut up!”
“Oh no, they have a system,” George said, “Wilbur can be mean now without getting in trouble. We’re fucked.”
“We don’t have a system,” Bad said, “I just agreed with him.”
“Karl, help,” Eret said. Karl looked at Eret from his position lying across both Bad and Wilbur’s lap before raising an eyebrow. Eret hummed, “No, that’s fair… Sapnap help!”
Sapnap looked at Eret, and then Wilbur and Bad, and thought for a moment, “I mean… they could both probably beat me in a fight… while I’d kick your ass, Eret… so no.”
“That was not what I expected him to say,” Dream said, “I am pleasantly supri-”
“They’d also fuck me while you’re a bottom ass bitch Eret so-”
“DAMMIT!” Dream shouted, “This is why we can’t have nice things, Sapnap.” Dream glared at Sapnap as he started laughing.
Bad sighed, “Sapnap, you literally just have to piss off Techno and Dream, huh?”
“Keep angering the blood god and the blood demigod and see what happens, Sapnap. Your entrails will be spread across the street, and I’m going to, frankly, laugh,” Karl said.
Sapnap smirked, and Karl threw something at him. “Why?” George asked, having been leaning against Sapnap, “Why must you risk my life as well?”
“You’re the idiot wh-... I dated him, too. I can’t say that,” Karl said. Sapnap laughed at Karl, and Karl went to get up, quickly being held down by both Bad and Wilbur. Karl whined dramatically, “Techno kill ‘em for me?”
Techno sighed dramatically, “Fine, but you owe me.”
“Techno no killing Sapnap,” Dream said simply.
“Never mind, I’ve been told no. Sorry, Karl.”
Bad paused, “It really only takes Dream saying it? I’m just going to start telling Dream and George to say things so you guys finally listen.”
“I don’t listen to George,” Sapnap said simply. George paused, whispered something to Sapnap, and watched as Sapnap paled some. “Change of plans, I listen to George.”
Dream laughed, “What did he say?!”
“Don’t worry about that,” George said, “The point is, He listens. Therefore, don’t worry about it.” Karl pulled out his phone and messaged George. George looked at it and nodded, “Pretty much Karl.”
“Stop that right now, you two,” Sapnap said, “Stop bullying me!”
Karl shook his head no, “Absolutely not. Positively no. Negatively yes. No. Nada. Nein? I don’t know how to say no in enough languages for you to understand that George and I will always talk shit about you, no matter what you say, Sapnap.”
“...I should’ve expected that.”
“Yeah, maybe you fucking should’ve.”
Tubbo paused, “I like how Karl is told he’s allowed to speak again and uses his voice to, near exclusively, bully Sapnap. That’s amusing.”
“This is why you’re tied for 4th favorite Tubbo,” Karl said.
“That’s higher than I ever could have expected, thank you!”
Dream paused, “I’m number 5, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, but you’re higher up than Sapnap,” Karl said.
“We dated?!” Spanap asked, “Am I 6?” Karl nodded. “Number 1 is Bad.”
“Yes.”
“Number 2 is… Techno?”
“No.”
“George…?”
“George is tied with Tubbo.”
Sapnap paused, “Eret?”
Karl looked at Sapnap before sighing, “I am out here full on laying in two people-”
“WILBUR!? REALLY??” Sapnap shouted, “He’s higher than I am!! Then Techno is!?”
Karl nodded, “Techno’s third.”
“I can live with that,” Techno said, “I only need Dream to like me. The rest of you are just extra. Besides Bad. If Bad didn’t like me, I’d kill everyone here and then myself.”
“Ouch,” Eret said.
Techno paused, “I appreciate you all… I simply do not need you guys in my life.”
“We know,” Sapnap said, “Me and Karl realized like 200 years ago, dude. But holy shit codependent on Bad much there?”
“Hold on now, he’s got trauma,” Karl said, “Bad was who he knew first, so it’s fine.”
Techno looked at Sapnap and Karl, “I hate that you two know so much ‘bout me.”
“You were the one who told us,” Karl said.
“That was a mutual bonding session, and you apparently lied during it, Karl, so-”
Karl cut Sapnap off, “YOU HAVE NO PROOF I LIED!!”
“Keep yelling, and I’ll cut your dicks off,” George mumbled, covering his ears with his hands.
“Sorry,” Karl said, “But it’s true. They might suspect I lied, but they have no proof because I kept my childhood shrouded in such mystery, they can’t even guess, so fuck you guys.”
Sapnap looked at Karl, “Did you lie?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Karl said. Wilbur, Tommy, Eret, and Fundy all laughed. “I lie a lot. I wish you luck discerning my lies from my truths. Because the truths I've told you have been nothing like what I have hidden through lies.”
Chapter 11: Mistakes and Guilt
Summary:
Wilbur spoke after a second, “The chances-”
“I know,” Bad said.
“...Wilbur knows about your past life?” Techno asked.
“Yep.”
“Does he know how you-” Sapnap started.
Bad nodded, “He knows how I died, yep.”
Notes:
another three chapter week, as a treat.
Chapter Text
Dream sighed, looking around at the entire group gathered in his living room. “I have no clue how my house became the hangout space. There are so many of us, good god.”
Fundy shrugged, looking around at the group, “I’d let you all come over to my place, but uh… my… roommate? I suppose, wouldn’t like it, I don’t think. We’d be overwhelming.”
“You… have a roommate?” Wilbur asked Fundy, Eret looked at Fundy for a moment before shaking his head, knowing how this was about to end.
“I mean… I guess?” Fundy shrugged, “It wasn’t a choice. More so, I’m her roommate-”
“Fundy has a woman?!” Tommy asked.
Fundy shook his head no, “Nope. No. Don’t say that. It’s… complicated. It’s like… I moved into her house without… her knowing about it? We’ve talked through it, we’re fine. It’s fine.”
Bad looked at Fundy, processing what was said before tilting his head, “Your house is haunted… and you… never mentioned it?”
“I mean… didn’t consider it relevant information. I don’t think you guys can meet her? She doesn’t leave the house… well, she can leave the house, but she’d be stuck with me 24/7, and I think we’d both get annoyed with each other,” Fundy said.
“Oh yeah, right, Ghosts are attached to a place or person… I had forgotten that.”
“You have… a ghost friend?” Dream asked, looking at Fundy. Fundy nodded. “…Fun…”
Sapnap laughed, “I love watching Dream and George learn things like… yeah, obviously ghosts exist, do you see the aura of the room right now??”
“Well, maybe, if we were ever fucking told things instead of finding them out hands-on!” Dream protested at Sapnap; his voice was off, and Sapnap did flinch a bit at it, narrowing his eyes some while looking at Dream. “Sorry, Sapnap, I don’t mean that-”
“You’re good, dude,” Sapnap said, “Anyways, I’m not telling you shit. I had a 100 years of struggling and trying to figure shit out. You’re along for that ride, too, baby boy.” Techno snarled at Sapnap, calling Dream Baby boy. Sapnap winced and apologized quickly and quietly. “Anyways, Fundy. Ghost Girlfriend?”
“She is not my girlfriend!” Fundy protested. “She is a roommate.”
“One who will be really upset that people are calling her your girlfriend,” Eret rolled their eyes. “She’s too old-fashioned for that, I swear.” Fundy just sighed in agreement, but gave Eret an annoyed look. She blew a kiss at him in response.
Dream looked at Fundy, “C’mon, ask her if she wants to come over and meet everyone. Please?”
“Why do you guys wanna meet her so bad?” Fundy asked.
“Uh… curiosity about ghosts mainly for me,” Dream answered bluntly, “Plus ya know, you clearly care about her, so that means we should at least meet her since we care about you.” Fundy paused at the sentiment, at the idea of Dream caring about him. But it resulted in him sighing in agreement.
***
Fundy came by the next day with a chill in the air near him. No one could outright see the ghost with him, but they could feel her presence. None of them said anything, just doing their best to appear nonthreatening. “Niki, wanna show yourself? No one here wants to hurt you… I don’t think they even could in truth.” Suddenly, a girl phased into view next to Fundy. She was levitating, and it put her at a similar height to Fundy, who was about 6 foot 1, she, however, was almost a foot off the ground. Dream thinks she’s maybe 5 foot 4?
She had blond hair, shorter than Dream expected for some reason. She smiled softly, “Hi… I’m Niki… Fundy’s roommate, I guess, he described me as?” Fundy just shrugged, and everyone in the room introduced themselves. Except Eret, who obviously knew Niki already. Niki nodded, “Nice to meet you all… it’s… been a while since I’ve been around much of any people… really since I… ya know, died… It’s just been Eret and Fundy.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Dream laughed a bit, “I was by myself for a bit too, but then Bad showed up and dragged Techno, Karl, and Sapnap with him. I’m blaming Sapnap for the Angels and George.”
Tubbo tilted his head, “Well, we did meet Sapnap first, but Techno’s the one who brought us here, Dream.”
Techno looked at Tubbo, doing his best not to glare, “I am not responsible for any of this. Do not make my boyfriend mad at me.”
“None of us fear Dream,” Karl said, “However, we do fear you, Techno.”
Bad blinked at Karl, “Do not speak for me! I fear Dream!! Did you not see that fucking murder machine in Hell?! He’s a crazy fucking maniac!”
“...Fair point,” Karl hummed.
“I… I wasn’t that bad,” Dream said. Like he was trying to remember it himself almost. Like he had no clue what he had fully done. “I didn’t… it was fine!” Dream had his head on Techno’s shoulder, while Techno held onto his waist. “I was calm.”
Wilbur paused, looking at Dream before glancing at Karl and Bad, “How… bad was it? Like… he doesn’t have any official training-”
“He did more damage than Bad, George, and Eret combined,” Karl said. Wilbur looked at Dream in some sort of shock and concern, maybe awe. Dream just shrugged, not sure how bad he actually was, and not wanting to bring up that he didn’t remember it. Niki looked around the group before dropping down to stand. Dream was right, about 5 foot 4. Fundy hugged Niki to his side, not really touching her. Mostly just intent shown.
Niki smiled before turning and hugging Fundy close. Fundy blinked, “Oh! You have energy today, huh?”
“Yeah… I mean… might be everyone else’s and I’m stealing electrons again but-”
“Help yourself to my electrons anytime, Niki,” Eret teased. She laughed at his joke.
Dream blinked, “...You… can steal… energy?”
“Well… I can do a lot of things,” Niki clarified, “And it’s not… energy in the sense you’ll be more tired from me doing it, that would require effort, and I have no reason to do that while here. Electrons are what make things like… touchable? I don’t know the science of it really, Fundy explained once, and I think my eyes glazed over.”
Phil thought, “Yeah, that makes… some sense.” Niki smiled at him.
“Oh, you’re so nice… you’re so sweet,” Bad said, “Run. Sapnap and Techno are gunna drive you insane, Niki, run.”
Niki laughed, shaking her head, “Can’t be any worse than Fundy and Eret. Those two have driven me crazy already. I was crazy beforehand, considering where I worked and died, but.”
“...What’s that mean?” Eret asked. He had never pried into Niki’s life before. Had no clue how she died.
Niki hummed, “Should’ve quit the job as soon as I saw the place not gunna lie Eret. I didn’t, and look where it got me.” Niki smiled, clearly not too upset over her death, “It’s whatever. Been almost 300 years since I died… 292 this year, so… almost 3 centuries!”
Bad froze the moment he heard the number, doing some mental math to verify to himself the number he heard. She was his age. In terms of death, that is. She looked around 18, or 19, and Bad had died when he was nearing 30. But they had been dead for almost the same amount of time. “...Where’d you work, Niki?” Bad asked simply. Wilbur and Techno both looked over, having caught on to what Bad was worried about.
“Uh, clothing-making factory. Noveschosch clothing, not really around anymore. CEO died soon after I did-” Bad’s face dropped, this look of complete and encompassing guilt. A feeling of remorse and sorrow that he expressed through bottles of gin in a past life, and had no clue how to properly express now. Niki noticed it. Wilbur and Techno both flinched on Bad's behalf at the realization of what was happening.
Sapnap, however, was a bit slower, “What’s up, Bad?”
“...292 earth years is roughly 560 hell years-”
“She worked for you,” Sapnap said quickly, connecting those dots. He looked between Bad and Niki quickly. Well aware of how guilt ate Bad up.
Niki hummed, “Your real name is-”
“Prefer for them not to know that, please,” Bad said.
“Demon right,” Niki said, “Sorry…”
“Thanks… uhm… I’m…” Bad paused, “I’m sorry-”
“Everyone knew you weren’t looking that close, Bad,” Niki replied, “Your managers knew that that’s why they did what they did… You hired people you trusted, and it wasn’t your fault that they were capitalist pigs who exchanged life and safety for profit. It was capitalism, not a crime.”
“Should be,” Bad huffed. “Sure, Earth was different back then, but-”
“Bad,” Niki cut him off, “It’s fine. You trusted those people… putting your trust in the wrong people isn’t a sin. It’s not your fault; people are good at lying.”
“But-”
“You didn’t do anything. You didn’t kill me,” Niki argued, “Even if you did. I forgive you. It’s okay.” Bad went quiet, while Karl, Sapnap, and Techno all gave Bad sympathetic looks. Sapnap and Techno knew they’d be equally as fucked up if their life had come back to haunt them.
Wilbur spoke after a second, “The chances-”
“I know,” Bad said.
“...Wilbur knows about your past life?” Techno asked.
“Yep.”
“Does he know how you-” Sapnap started.
Bad nodded, “He knows how I died, yep.”
“You fucking simp,” Sapnap said.
“Stop. I do not want to talk about this,” Bad protested, glaring at Sapnap.
“You’re not getting a choice-” Sapnap said. Bad’s face twitched, and his eyes shifted to something dangerous as red encompassed his pupil, and charcoal grey began to creep over Bad’s skin, starting at his neck. “Nevermind,” Sapnap said quickly. He knew what it was like when Bad went grey. They left the topic quickly, no one wanting to upset Bad further. Slowly, the charcoal grey receded back under Bad’s bandana. No one mentioned it.
Wilbur kept an eye on Bad while still talking with Niki. She and Wilbur clicked immediately. Although it definitely helped that Fundy had talked about the angels a good bit in the past, so Niki had a reference to go on about them. Bad at one point mumbled an apology about getting so angry, but everyone assured him it was fine. They pretended not to notice Bad’s shock at being forgiven. Niki fit great with the group, fluctuating in the perfect middle of the group. More than Fundy had. Karl pointed out that it was probably because she was a human and thus had those experiences so tangibly. Karl did say it seemed like Niki was far more good than bad, though, which she smiled and thanked him for.
When Niki smiled, it radiated this happiness and optimism through the room. A reassurance of peace, somehow. Wilbur was in awe that someone who had lived and died as Niki had, managed to think like that. Bad was just impressed someone thought like that without it being a conscious choice.
***
Bad sighed at the familiar motion of Wilbur coming to sit next to him, far too early into the day, while Bad kept watch. All too used to this at this point. “Ya know, the first time something happens, it’s a surprise. The second, it’s normal… a third time? That’s a routine,” Bad remarked, smiling over at Wilbur.
“...Your company is too good to pass up,” Wilbur said. “Besides, you act like yourself here… you’re different when around everyone else.”
“I’m too worried they’ll get hurt.”
Wilbur looked at bad, “Not worried about yourself getting hurt? Or about me getting hurt?” It wasn’t a question of malice or jealousy, but curiosity.
“No one has a reason to hurt you, Wil. And I’ve been hurt before, I’m fine doing it again.”
“Not to tell you how to live, but that seems like an unhealthy mindset.”
“Maybe it is… but it’s how I’ve always thought, in this life. I’m fine hurting. I don’t want to hurt, but if it happens, that’s fine. If it keeps others safe? It’s whatever.”
“I guess that’s fair… considering everything.”
“So what’s the excuse this time?” Bad asked, “Since Tommy told me you convinced him to cover for you.”
“...I ask him to do one thing for me and he can’t, huh?”
Bad chuckled, “He’s a little brother. Besides, he only told me. What’s the excuse?”
“Don’t know yet. I’ll think of something.”
Bad shook his head, smiling, “Just tell them we like talking. Not like they need to know how… personal our talks are.”
“You know more about me than Toms and Phil combined… if they find out I’m a dead man walking.”
Bad chuckled, “Join the club.”
“...I suppose you guys are huh…”
“Any day now, something will happen. If you’re here? We’re all dead men walking…”
“We aren’t leaving you guys, Bad. Every angel is trained with swords, so… we’ll be here to help you.”
“...Are you guys even allowed to kill people? I believe thou shalt not murder is a commandment.”
“No, but to Heaven, Demons don’t count. Never have.”
“Sounds like a shit thing to say since Demons and Angels are the same thing in different locations.” Wilbur paused before realizing Bad absolutely had a point. He’s realized that through talking with them all over the past month. “Never realized that?”
“Why would I? Until a month ago, I hadn’t met any demons in person.”
“I guess that’s fair… You never read about demons?”
“You really think Heaven had books about Demons when Angels weren’t even allowed to leave?” Wilbur asked drily, a bit of that sarcastic and mean flare that he had only been showing to Bad.
Bad sighed, “So… when do you plan to tell everyone that coming to Earth was for everyone’s safety, not just Tommy’s?”
“Never.”
“You should. It’ll stop Karl’s stupid rants about how Earth will kill you.”
“Fundy will kill me for lying to him.”
Bad chuckled, “Eh, Fox boy doesn’t got that much energy.” Wilbur laughed. The curtains were open a bit further today, allowing the sunlight to light up both of their faces. It was soothing and comfortable. Bad didn’t know what it was about Wilbur that brought so much comfort and peace to his soul; he didn’t expect to figure it out.
“So… what was going on when we met Niki? Your… skin and all?”
Bad grimaced, something hateful and cruel towards himself, “I hate it so much. If I get too mad, my eyes go red and uh… my skin turns that… ashy charcoal color… I hate it-”
“You really hate being a demon, huh?”
“It’s not supposed to be enjoyable,” Bad argued, “It’s because we fucked up in our past lives. But yeah… I do hate it.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong-”
“Niki panicked over a candle, Wilbur,” Bad spoke a cold, hard truth. They had seen that. Sapnap lit a candle, and Niki jumped and let out a small scream at it. They all also saw Bad’s guilt.
Wilbur shook his head, “Accidents happen Bad. You didn’t… mean for that factory to catch fire. You didn’t know there were unsafe practices occurring. Also… 292 years ago? Bad everything was unsafe; there were no ‘safe’ jobs. You can’t help that tragedy struck one of your factories. Thousands of others burnt too… it happened.”
“It’s my fault for not caring enough-”
“You did, and still do care more than enough. You did all that you could… It’s not your fault you were unlucky,” Wilbur was gentle.
Bad shook his head, “She’s 19… forever. She died at 19… She had a whole life to live still… There were children in that fire. Whole families, Wilbur.”
“And most of them are living happily in Heaven, and those who are in Hell must deserve it if you do right?” Wilbur asked. Bad went to protest, but stopped. “I mean… with Earth so full of pain… death must be preferable to them.”
“No… Earth’s not just pain. There’s so much good here that isn’t… anywhere else. Heaven and Hell could never compare.”
“What Good?” Wilbur asked, that snark was there. Sometimes, Bad felt like Wilbur was more befitting of demons than he was.
“...The sun,” Bad said. Wilbur paused. “I never realized Hell didn’t have a sun until I came here… You never value the sunrise and set when alive as a human. And then in Hell… you forget it existed at all… the sky darkens and lightens, but it’s still a hazy red all the time. It’s always warm and slightly dark there… then Earth… twice a day, you are given the most beautiful colors… and the light is bright and blinding-”
“Is that why you look out the windows on your day up?”
“It’s beautiful… and then there’s the green… Fundy said Heaven was all white and gold, and Hell is all reds and black and orange… blue and purple here and there, but… no green. Yet Earth is so full of… every color. I feel bad that George can’t experience it… can’t see how beautiful all the colors are.”
“Not that humans realize the beauty. They’re destroying nature faster than anything else,” Wilbur said. “...It destroyed some virtues… They can’t even look at Earth anymore.”
“Humans will fix it. They learn from mistakes.”
“Maybe, if they come to their senses,” Wilbur replied sarcastically.
“Now that would be an Angel’s job, right?”
“Being told to do the right thing hardly works… they need a reason to not be bad, not a reason to be good.”
“Ah, and that’s where we come in, right?” Bad mumbled, laying his head on his arms, resting on the windowsill. “...I wish Eret and Dream could enjoy the sun.”
“They prefer the darkness,” Wilbur said. Bad hummed in agreement before adjusting his bandana. “Can… Can I ask about the bandana? You never take it off, and it’s how everyone identifies you to others. It’s clearly important.”
“...it’s just my bandana… I suppose it stands out about me.”
“Not until mentioned… Is there a reason for it?”
Bad looked at Wilbur before deciding he trusted him. Bad took the bandana off, revealing his neck to Wilbur. Dark charcoal veins replaced the normal blue that Wilbur could see on Bad’s hands. The color of his skin turned when he was mad. “...I hate seeing them in the mirror. My torso and upper arms are also… like this… no one’s really ever seen my neck.”
“I know for a fact you’ve slept with Sapnap and Karl, and I have strong suspicions about Techno.”
“I have slept with all three of them… Kept my bandana on. None of them asked or cared.”
“...I’m the first person to-”
“Yep,” Bad said, popping the p. He turned to face Wilbur before tying his bandana around Wilbur’s neck. “Red really isn’t your color.” Wilbur smiled, rolling his eyes as Bad went to look back out the window. Wilbur gently touched the bandana. He didn’t know why it felt so significant to wear it. Wilbur just turned to look out the window with Bad, ignoring his blush.
They were happily in silence together for a while, off-hand comments but no conversation. They heard footsteps on the stairs, and Wilbur reacted instantly, going to untie the bandana. Bad just grabbed his arm and stopped him. Wilbur blinked, but went back to looking out the window with Bad. If he trusted them all to see his neck now, that was up to Bad. “What are you two doin’?” Karl’s voice was gentle.
“Watching the sunset,” Bad said, “Wanna join?” Karl nodded and sat on the other side of Bad. He made no comment about the bandana, instead focusing on the orange and pink in the sky. His hand was gently grabbed by Bad, as Bad tilted his head to lie on Wilbur’s shoulder. Wilbur spread his wings, letting one extend to wrap around Karl on the end.
Chapter 12: Casual Homicide
Summary:
Eret took a breath before getting up and going to sit by Sapnap and George. Sapnap had subtly pulled George closer to him, holding him down some, and Bad had gently moved Wilbur and Karl behind him. Karl just grimaced a bit, glancing at the angels before deciding they were far enough out of the way... Dream moved as well, not wanting to be between the two, with whatever would happen.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The others woke up, but no one spoke or did anything about it. Either stunned by the scene and the casual affection between the three, or knowing the three needed this. For most of them, it was a combination of both. No one noticed Wilbur had on Bad’s bandana. Sapnap pulled out a book and pencils while sitting on the couch behind the group and started sketching the scene. No one asked where Sapanp learned to draw.
The scene was only interrupted by a gift. Sapnap set the drawing down on the windowsill in front of the three. Bad turned to look at Sapnap, smiling at his friend, “Thank you.” There was a pause, seeing Bad’s bandana not there. Then Wilbur turned, and it was clear where it was. When Karl turned too, Wilbur reextended his wing to hold the two again.
Techno looked around the room before sighing, “Since I’m not afraid to ruin sentimental moments. I have questions.”
“Yes, I’m letting him wear it. Yes, my veins are always like this. No, I don’t like it. Please don’t talk about it,” Bad rapid fired at Techno before he could even ask.
Techno paused, “And that answers all my questions. Thank you, Bad.” Techno settled back in next to Dream.
“I have one. Why are you two always up together?” Phil asked.
Bad and Wilbur shared a look before Wilbur sighed, “I like talking with him.”
“YEAH! Enough to lie and coerce me into lying!!” Tommy crossed his arms. Phil took a breath before looking at Wilbur silently for answers.
“...Tommy didn’t hit me in his sleep… he just made a convenient excuse.” Bad chuckled, rolling his currently hazel eyes. No one had seen that before, besides Techno, Karl, and Wilbur. Karl smiled and hugged Bad, earning a kiss on his forehead in repayment.
Sapnap blinked, “Your eyes are a different color.”
“Yeah, they do that. Hazel means… happy. You can figure out what the red means,” Bad said.
Tommy looked at Wilbur, noticing him holding Karl and Bad with his wings. “Oh, so they’re special then, huh?”
“Don’t-”
“What’s he mean?” Karl asked Wilbur, and Wilbur gave Tommy a blank look. Almost a glare. But not quite.
Wilbur put his wings away quickly, and Bad and Karl both reacted a bit to the loss. “I don’t have my wings out often. Tommy’s just being… himself.” The last word was almost said with venom.
“Oh, he’s getting meaner,” Sapnap said, “Earth’s really messin’ with you, huh, Wilbur?”
Wilbur rolled his eyes. “Earth hasn’t done jack shit to me, Sapnap.” The group paused, including the angels. “You guys cannot fucking break over that. Toms, Phil, Tubs, you have heard me say far, far worse.”
“I was just confused on if we’re letting them know stuff now, honestly,” Tubbo said.
“Bad already knows.”
“What do you and Bad not know about each other?” Eret asked.
Bad tilted his head, “I’m sure there’s something. I don’t remember all 560 years as a demon super vividly. Don’t remember a lot of my human life. There’s bound to be something.”
“...He saw your neck before any of us, Bad,” Sapnap said, “Before Techno did.”
“Yeah. The topic came up,” Bad dismissed with a shrug.
“Oh yeah, do I need to bring up the time you put a knife through my hand for even joking about touching your bandana. It’s your thing, dude. Like Techno’s hair, Karl’s rings, or my cards!”
“And I’ll put another fucking knife through somewhere far more vital if you don’t shut the fuck up, Sapnap.” Some of the grey of his veins expanded to cover some of his neck, and his eyes tinted red.
“Bad-” Sapnap started again.
“I am not discussing this,” Bad said, quickly getting up and going upstairs past everyone. Karl and Wilbur shared a look before going to follow after Bad. He wasn’t hard to find. He was in his room, the one he shared with Karl now that he was here. Bad was trying to calm down. The dark grey was reaching up his throat to the bottom of his face.
Karl was quick to wrap his arms around Bad, tucking himself close and allowing Bad to hold him, almost like a stuffed toy. Wilbur was still for a moment, not sure what to really do. He had no plan; he just felt like he should follow after Bad and acted on that instinct. After a second, Wilbur moved to stand by Bad and carefully hug him as well.
Bad let go of Karl, only to wrap his arms around both of them. Karl was mumbling to Bad, various things that were either calming or comforting. Wilbur’s wings were out, around the group. A shield from everything outside this little bubble of three. After a few moments, Bad calmed down, looking at them. He pulled out of the hug, only to reach into a dresser drawer and grab two new bandanas.
Karl and Wilbur blinked a bit in confusion before seeing the colors. One was a light blue, the same pastel shade of Karl’s favorite sweater. The other a bright yellow, the same shade as Wilbur’s favorite sweater. Bad gave Karl the yellow one before donning the blue one himself. A rotation of color between the three. There was a happiness and love in the room that all three felt consuming them. “...You look nice in blue,” Wilbur offered to Bad.
Bad smiled, his eyes back to a shining hazel, “These colors are so weird together… but… I like it.”
“I thought you only had Red bandanas… I think we all did,” Karl said, moving towards the dresser drawer to look through it carefully. Bad let him.
“Red fits best with what I was wearing,” Bad said. Karl turned, smiling at Bad and kissing him. It was quick and chaste. Then Karl leaned into to whisper to Bad, something Wilbur couldn’t hear. Wilbur didn’t intrude. Bad checked if Karl was being honest, and Karl nodded. When they walked back downstairs, no one said anything. Even if the three holding hands and matching outfits were new. No one said anything to them, because there was nothing to be said. Besides, an apology to Bad from Sapnap. Bad accepted it easily.
They settled. No one paying attention to anything; everyone doing their own thing in little groups. Karl, Bad, and Wilbur were stargazing. Eret and Fundy were on their phones. The other three angels were whispering about something, but Techno wasn’t listening to them. Focusing on his plan for if they get attacked. Then the gentle, steady weight of Dream leaned against him.
Techno smiled softly and wrapped his arm around Dream before kissing the blond hair tossed everywhere. “Aww, how soft Techno!” Fundy teased. Techno paused, looking up at Fundy with a glare that could freeze hell. “What? You are soft. Not like you’ll do anything.”
Eret took a breath before getting up and going to sit by Sapnap and George. Sapnap had subtly pulled George closer to him, holding him down some, and Bad had gently moved Wilbur and Karl behind him. Karl just grimaced a bit, glancing at the angels before deciding they were far enough out of the way. “Wanna fix that statement, Fox?” Techno’s voice was monotone. Dream moved as well, not wanting to be between the two, with whatever would happen.
“Why should I?” Fundy teased, “You’re just a big softie who can’t accept it. That’s not my fault-” Fundy was abruptly cut off by an axe, severing his head from his body. Blood quickly pooled from both ends of the wound into the carpet as Fundy’s body fell sideways. Techno let out a self-satisfied snort, and the axe disappeared.
The room was still and quiet for a moment, broken when Eret sighed, “...In the living room, Techno? Really?”
“He’ll respawn. Blood’ll go when he does. He’ll be at his house and back here shortly,” Techno gruffed. Pulling Dream back to him, Dream went with easily. Although he was annoyed at the blood on his carpet.
Tubbo blinked, “YOU JUST KILLED HIM!?”
“...Yeah.”
“Why!?!”
“He was bein’ a bitch, he had it comin’,” Techno protested, “He’ll be back.”
Karl sighed, “Techno. You’re the sole reason none of us Demons go more than 20 years without a death.” Techno shrugged, not really caring about it a ton. The angels watched in stunned silence as Fundy’s head and body slowly phased out of this world. The blood going with him.
“See,” Techno said to Dream, “Don’t worry so much.”
“He’s gunna be pissed,” Sapnap sighed, “Respawning isn’t fun.”
“Then he learns to not piss me off twice then, won’t he?” Techno didn’t react to the angels’ still stunned expressions.
Bad sighed, looking at the Angels, “You guys thought he was called the Blood God for no reason? He’s done this to all of us. I’ve even gotten it a few times.”
“And we all have the scars to prove it,” Sapnap mumbled, “Mostly me.”
“Stop pissin’ me off then,” Techno grunted. Before long, Fundy did return. Head back on his body, and it was almost like nothing had happened. Beyond the addition of a scar across his neck, his eyes looking utterly exhausted. Techno didn’t acknowledge him.
Fundy huffed, “What the fuck!?”
“Want me to do it again?” Techno asked dully. “If you keep shoutin’, I will.” Fundy paused before sitting back down and grabbing his phone. Staying silent. “And now you all learned a valuable lesson about callin’ me soft.”
Sapnap shrugged, “I mean… You can be pretty soft sometimes, Techno.”
“When this is over, and I can kill you without you immediately gettin’ imprisoned and tortured, you’re a dead man, Sapnap.”
“That’s at least 200 years on Earth, I’ve got time.”
“But I won’t forget.”
Sapnap smirked, “I’m counting on it, Techno.”
“You fucking-” Techno cut himself off before the derogatory word escaped, and Bad and Karl's heads snapped to him instantly; he knew better than to call Sapnap that, and, despite Sapnap annoying him, Sapnap was still one of his best friends. “You’re lucky I somewhat respect you.”
Sapnap nodded, “I know.”
“If you two keep this shit up, I promise to you, my 400 years of sobriety is going to come to a crashing and burning end, and that is a mother fucking promise,” Bad growled at his friends.
Sapnap laughed sardonically, “You know damn well what I get to do if you start drinking Bad. Don’t make me go there.” Bad tore his glare from Techno to give it to Sapnap. Sapnap glared back without a falter.
Bad lost the contest, looking away and crossing his arms, “Whatever Ni- …Sapnap.”
“Why are you four so moody this week?” Tubbo asked, it was a huff. “I’ll ask since everyone else is too afraid to!”
“Might have something to do with the fact we’re overdue for an attack and any day now could be our last as free men,” Bad offered, “It’s been… a month here. That’s over a year in Hell. They’re ready and waiting to take us, and they won’t be stupid enough to leave anyone behind… They’ll take all 7 of us, maybe 8 if they realize Fundy’s how we got out last time.”
Karl nodded, “So we’re a bit stressed.”
“Is that why you’ve either been silent or arguing?” Tubbo asked.
Sapnap shrugged, “Less silent, more so, only having mental conversation. Haven’t let George, Dream, or Eret in. Don’t want Dream and George panicking. Plus, it’s hard for Bad to hold that many minds at once.”
“Not doing a whole lot to keep me nonpanicked when I can read you all… I can tell when you’re mentally arguing, even,” George said.
“Why not discuss out loud?” Phil asked, “We’re here to help, and knowing what the plan is makes helping easier.”
“Bad’s paranoid,” Karl said, “And… we’re unsure if we should let you guys help…” Wilbur looked over at that. He had known everything up until then. He wanted to help. “What happens when angels enter Hell? And not fallen Angels, but Angels. Your wings are still white.”
“I… don’t know,” Tommy said.
Eret sighed, “No one does. They don’t want to risk you guys getting hurt or killed… because who even knows what happens to an angel killed in Hell. Could be permanent.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Wilbur protested. Not speaking for his family. “If you guys get captured, I don’t care if it kills me, I’ll find a way to get you out.”
“I know you would, Wilbur,” Bad sighed. As though he didn’t like the idea in truth. “It’s… well… they only have the ability to listen in… not look in.” Bad reached for a notebook and pen and began writing furiously. He then handed it off to Phil to read. Phil read it before giving it to Dream and George. Fundy and Eret moving to hang over their shoulders.
Sapnap gave Karl a look, and after getting a nod, Sapnap disappeared. Reappearing with enough notebooks for them all to communicate. Here’s the plan, Bad wrote. The next few hours were silent, filled only with the scratches of pencils or pens on paper. They found a way to keep themselves from being heard, while still being able to form a plan together. The main roadblock they saw was how to get the Angels to Hell if Fundy was captured, too.
Easy, Wilbur wrote, One of us goes up to Heaven long enough to fall.
Absolutely not. Bad gave Wilbur a look before writing more. We cannot ask one of you to do that to yourselves.
It’s the only way. Unless there’s someone else one of us knows able to go back and forth.
Fundy paused, only other fallen angel I’ve run into I haven’t seen in 5 years. I think he’s hiding in Hell, and he’s not answering his phone.
Can’t think of anyone willing to be around Angels, even for something like this, Eret wrote.
Wilbur shrugged, I’ll do it. Go up there, piss some people off, and Fall. I’ll be fine.
No Wil. I can do it.
Absolutely not, Tommy, Fundy wrote. You and Tubbo are not falling. You’re too young. It’s fucked me up a lot. I can’t imagine what it would do to you two. It would have to be Phil or Wilbur.
I don’t want to be an angel anymore anyway. I can do it, I promise. That statement was a realization, and Phil looked at Wilbur at it, but didn’t say anything for now.
Even if he does fall, will he know how to do the back and forth?
It’s instinct immediately, Fundy wrote.
Wilbur, we can figure something out, you don’t have to, Bad wrote.
Anything else would take too long. Besides, we have to keep George and Dream from dying as well. This is the fastest and easiest plan, and I want to fall anyway. If I leave Today, I’ll be back by tomorrow. Fallen.
After a few moments of contemplation, everyone agreed to the plan. Wilbur would leave and fall. He would be their ticket in and out if Fundy got taken. If they don’t take Fundy, then Wilbur's falling would be for nothing. However, Wilbur seemed excited for the change. Ready for it. He wasn’t as old as Philza, close in age to Bad at around 550. But that was long enough for Wilbur to be sick of Heaven’s rules and game.
Fundy reassured Wilbur that falling itself wouldn’t hurt, as long as he remembered he had wings and caught himself. Wilbur nodded. “...No way to talk you out of this?” Fundy asked. They were outside, still dark, so that Eret and Dream didn’t burn. Saying goodbye before Wilbur left.
“It’s our best choice… besides, I don’t want to be an angel anymore,” Wilbur said, locking eyes with Fundy for a moment.
Fundy shook his head, “You ready to be ousted by all sides? Feel like you never fit anywhere? Feel like everyone you meet after this distrusts you?”
“Fundy. The fuck do I care about fitting into a realm, or needing new people to trust me, or any other side? I have you guys? Who the fuck else matters?”
Fundy couldn’t help but smile, “I think I have to agree with you, Wil.”
“See you soon, right?” Bad asked Wilbur, gently grabbing his hand.
Wilbur nodded, “Of course. I’ll be back before tomorrow’s sunrise.” It was currently sunrise, not enough to hurt Dream or Eret, but beginning. A new beginning. 24 hours. Wilbur wouldn’t even need 24 hours.
Bad smiled, “I’ll time you.”
“You better,” Wilbur smiled back. He turned to the group and waved, “See you guys in a bit!” They nodded and waved as Wilbur disappeared into a puff of white. It was the last time any of them would see him with white wings. They retreated back into the living room before Dream and Eret got hit by the sunlight, and Bad started the timer on his phone.
It took 12 hours before Wilbur walked back into Dream’s living room, the group awake with anxiety for him. Wilbur had left at around 7 am; it was now only 8 pm. He smiled as grey feathers fluttered on his wing. Bad stopped the timer, showing it to Wilbur and giving him a smile, “Before sunrise means 8 pm?”
“Yeah, listen, you three cannot go to Heaven. You’ll get tossed out so damn fast it’ll make your heads spin,” Wilbur said.
Phil sighed, “Figured as much. Not often Angels just get up and leave.”
“Not often meaning never,” Tommy corrected. Phil just gave his son a tired look.
“While there though… I found a book,” Wilbur said, “Might’ve stolen it, but we need it more than them.” Wilbur tossed the book onto the table, and Eret and Bad’s eyes shone with familiarity. “Turns out Heaven did have some. That one talks about Angels in Hell and Demons in Heaven, at least in my skimming. Tagged pages that could be useful. You’re welcome.”
Sapnap paused, “Wilbur, I could kiss you right now-”
“Please don’t,” Wilbur cut, “Hopefully the book makes things easier.”
“Yeah, whatever, I can’t read Wilbur! Show us the wings!!” Tubbo said. Wilbur fondly rolled his eyes at Tubbo before turning to have his back to them all. Letting the grey wings spread lightly. They stood out against the yellow of his sweater, and the red of Bad’s bandana still around his neck. “Oh, the grey looks really good on you, Wil.”
“Better than I ever looked,” Fundy agreed. Wilbur smiled.
“I’m… really happy about it, despite the reason,” Wilbur said, “Feels… right.” Bad hid his smile. No one needed to know how happy Bad was for Wilbur, how happy Wilbur’s happiness made him. For now, they just needed to know Wilbur and Bad were close friends. Nothing more. At least until they convince people to leave them alone. Bad wouldn’t let his love kill Wilbur. Besides, the next few days needed to be distraction-free.
Bad sighed, “You guys know you can’t be here right… for this to work. They’re taking everyone in the house. For them not to take you guys with… You need to go home… We’ll text every 30 minutes, and if one of us doesn’t text one of you, then you know the plan.”
“I know,” Phil smiled sadly, “We’ll leave in the morning.” The group nodded. They could all feel the heavy weight of impending action on them. They knew this would suck. The Demons would fight against being taken, but that hasn’t seemed to work before. They were reliant on the angel knowing when to rescue them, and on the angels following through on it. The last few hours the whole group was together was spent making sure the Angels would be fine. They would be. Dying would result in a respawn like normal, and there should be no pain being in Hell. Perhaps discomfort, but that was livable. They’d survive.
Notes:
Sorry for the (technically) monday post, I had a concert today so I had no time to post until now lmao
Chapter 13: Matthew 10:28
Summary:
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
***
His voice still off despite being fed. They all noticed it. Whatever had been happening to Dream during his time in Hell was not tied to his hunger.
Chapter Text
There was a sadistic familiarity to waking up like this for Techno, arms chained above his head, the smell of old blood, and heat. It meant that despite his anger, Techno wasn’t surprised. Looking around, he saw the others. Bad, Karl, and Sapnap. Fully as expected. Eret, George, and Dream, infuriatingly expected, and Fundy, unfortunately expected. Not Wilbur, or any of the angels. They’d get out of here; it might take a year, but they’d get out of here and be fine. They simply had to survive.
Slowly, everyone woke up. There was a quietness to the room, an acceptance of how brutal this would be to them. But, they had a plan this time. They went in with a plan. Bad let out a slow, steady breath. Already trying to soothe himself and let his mind drift elsewhere. Karl was mumbling, his typical habit to soothe himself. Techno didn’t know if it was Karl’s usual list of things he loved or if it was something else. He didn’t ask. Techno found himself grateful that Eret and Dream ate before going to bed.
Knowing the others were there made it easier. But so much harder. It was such a purgatorial situation to have in Hell. The comfort of family nearby, the horror of knowing what would happen to them. No one spoke, besides Karl’s mumbling. A guard entered the room, and Karl teetered off quietly, “Et in hora morti nostrae…” Karl locked eyes with the guard.
“Well, would you look at who it is?” The guard spoke like he was personally wronged by them, which didn’t narrow it down.
Then Karl recognized who was in front of him, he smiled meanly, “How’d my blood taste bitch?”
“Like Shit.” Karl laughed as he was punched in the gut. Or, well, halfway laughed. The air got punched out of him, so it was more of a wheeze with a smile. All four of the older demons had their plan to take as much as they could. Keep the others safe. Fundy, however, seemed in a state to handle it. There wasn’t time to ask.
Karl rolled his eyes after regaining his breath, “You punch like a bitch. You’d think in the year you’ve had down here, you would’ve at least trained some.” Another punch. “Maybe you wanna send someone else, ya know, someone who knows what they’re doing? Or is there a bet between your coworkers on how long it’ll take to make me stop?” An hour passed, and the taunting never stopped from Karl until he lost the breath to speak.
The Guard’s attention turned towards Dream, and Techno wouldn’t allow that so soon and so easily, “Took you an hour to make Karl shut up, how are you not fired? I can do that in 10 seconds-” Techno now had the guard’s attention, and he was well prepared to take any heat the guard gave.
The others were silent, besides Karl, breathing through his pain. Dream and George already knew the routine. They’d do what they did last time. Stay silent until the others couldn’t protect them, then they needed to satisfy the sadistic wants and needs of the guards to get it over with quicker. Eret would be of little help or reaction, since it was at most a day before he became consumed by thirst. Fundy told them not to worry about him, that he could handle it.
Their plan would be flawless, hopefully. All they could do was endure. Each coping in their own ways, they just needed to wait for the angels. Techno slightly doubted, and Sapnap fully doubted the angels would come. Bad and Karl knew better; they knew Wilbur would make the angels come, so they didn’t worry. The others just trusted their not-quite-holy friends.
After Techno got beaten by the guard, not much more happened on day one. Day two, Fundy got a wing broken, which he admitted in a half-dazed state would be a bitch to heal. Bad had slashes in his arms and right leg, and Eret was fully gone after that. Sapnap was beaten and bruised from arguing and challenging.
Day three, Sapnap, Techno, George, and Dream were removed from the room by the guard that cut Techno’s hair. That Sapnap and Techno, in return, scalped. The others sat in silence, knowing the effects on the four would be shattering. Dream and George wouldn’t do well seeing Techno and Sapnap so directly tortured, and they had little hope for Techno’s hair, too.
Bad bit down his rage when they returned, since Sapnap was being carried by Techno. Techno could just barely walk himself, and his hair was almost buzzed. None of them commented on it; they knew Techno would be silent and moody until out of here, and a bit longer after that. They knew he’d only talk if he needed to. They were let out of their chains after that; the guards knew they couldn’t run anywhere. They heard a few extra locks on the door.
“At least we’ll feel our arms,” Sapnap tried to joke, lips quivering in pain.
“...What’d they break?”
“My femurs.”
“So the ones hardest to heal.”
“Yeah, no fucking shit, Karl,” Sapnap bit. Karl wasn’t upset by it. They had to be forgiving of each other’s rage and outbursts, and temper. All of them were prone to it as is. Fundy was completely gone. When you looked at him, it felt like his head was empty. The only sign he was alive was his blinking and steady breathing.
Eret swallowed, forcing his voice, “Floris… are you okay?”
Fundy moved for the first time since his wing was broken to nod, “Do they know?” Eret shook his head no. “...use my real name if you need me for something. Floris. It’ll get my attention. Fundy won’t work right now.” The four demons nodded, while George sat silently in rage and horror. Dream however… was off. They had no clue what it was, but it felt like that wasn’t Dream.
There were two days before anything big happened, two days of just the normal slapping and cutting and beating. Then, on Day 6, Eret snapped at a guard who went to touch them. The intent to drain them for their blood is all too obvious. It earned Eret a punch to the face as the guard left. All of them waited in silence, knowing that something would be done in response to that, but none of them knew what it was.
When the two guards returned, the elder demons realized quickly what the something was. Muzzles. Vampire Muzzles to be exact, a contraption made typically of leather that hooked over the fangs of a vampire, clipping around the back of their head. Making it so their fangs were useless, and they couldn’t really eat. One guard walked up to Eret and fought with him to put it on. Eret was managing to draw blood with his nails as he fought against it.
The other guard approached Dream. Dream was calm, looking at the guard in front of him and the muzzle in his hand. His eyes were dark, but Dream was still and quiet. This guard was one they saw often; he wasn’t… harsh. If he was there, it was to lean against the opposite wall and watch, or to chain someone up to transport them. Dream took the muzzle from him without a fight and put it on himself. The Guard tilted his head, “Oh… you’re obedient, aren’t you?” The tone was wrong. Not the usual sadistic glee or intrigued lust, it was a tone of confusion.
Dream looked up at the guard and nodded softly. All of them knew that this was Dream’s way of coping with everything. His way of getting through this, even though they all hated it, they knew why. Techno was aching at it, the fight in his lover far gone for now. Dream was currently not the vengeful Blood Demi-god, something far more gentle and submissive. Dream sat with his hands in his lap as the guards left. “Dream?” George asked quietly, the demons staring at him in too much hurt to speak.
“If I obey… they… won’t hurt me… If I’m on their good side… It’s less hits the others take for me…” Dream’s speech was slow, tilted. His voice sounded different in a way none of them could quite place. “...I’ll be fine afterwards… Let me do what I… must…” They all agreed silently to leave Dream alone.
He sat calmly with his muzzle on; it didn’t really bother him a ton. It was a bit tight on his face, but Dream could live with that. It was nothing compared to the torture. There was no need for Dream to feel humiliated around these people, and so the muzzle didn’t humiliate him. Eret was a different matter, however. Enraged and upset, but clearly still awake enough to know that taking it off would just result in more pain than she wanted to deal with.
After a moment, Karl was mumbling again. It was comforting at this point, even if it should’ve felt unsettling. A reminder that Karl was still holding on, still fighting. Fundy looked over, having been woken up somewhat by Eret’s tantrum. He blinked, realizing what Karl was saying, “Karl… are you mumbling the Hail Mary prayer… in Latin?”
“I’ll explain more later, but yes.”
“So that’s why the guards look so uncomfortable,” Sapnap hummed, “That should at least be upsetting me, Bad, and Tech as well.”
“You’ve met our other friends. Their influence is ruining that… sensitivity for us,” Karl explained.
Bad hummed, “Noted… I don’t know how you know that, though-”
“Well, I’ve told you I’m religious, Bad, make a guess.”
“That makes more sense now,” Bad said. Their discussion and tone read as friends; they didn’t want to show the weakness of their relationship. Didn’t want anyone to think they could break them by torturing the other. Sapnap and Techno accepted that weakness; they knew that George and Dream needed them right now, and so they took that weakness. Eret and Fundy were both so far gone from their minds that it didn’t matter for them.
“...You realize we’re here for a while,” Techno said, “If they even show up.”
“They’ll show,” Bad assured.
“Yes, because their kind are always so willing to storm Hell to help Demons,” Sapnap remarked.
Bad shook his head, “They aren’t normal for their kind, and none of us are normal for ours. They’ll come. Trust me.”
“If they don’t?” Techno asked, almost as though he wanted an actual plan.
“They will,” Bad affirmed. Not allowing a plan B. “I’ll explain after.” Techno rolled his eyes and went back to his broody silence. Bad didn’t know how to tell the others he knew the angels would come. He’d been dating Karl for so long now it felt like, that telling Sapnap and Techno he was dating Wilbur too would probably break their brain. Besides, Bad didn’t need enemies to hear it.
Day after grueling day crawled by, all of them getting beaten, cut, punched, and more. It was wearing them all down, and they knew this time they couldn’t fight as soon as they were out. But that was the plan. The plan was to leave immediately, to grab onto Wilbur and hope and pray he had enough energy to get them all. The angels said they had a plan to get them all out of the cell, and Wilbur told Bad not to worry. Bad hasn’t.
A few times, people were pulled from the room. Karl having gotten his face bashed into a wall a bit one of the times. This was another one of those times. A guard had been curious about Fundy’s aloofness and wanted to figure it out. Their silent watcher was back, the guard none of them could quite pinpoint, couldn’t figure out. They looked at Dream. “You.” Dream looked up, head snapping as he was spoken to. His eyes were dark, and he just blinked silently. “Chain up your ginger friend for me.” The heavy chain was placed in Dream’s hands.
Dream considered his options for a moment, glancing around the room wildly, before he shakily and slowly stood up. He walked over to Fundy and did as he was told. Far gentler than any guards had been when chaining them up to move them, the cuffs didn’t eat into Fundy’s wrists this time. Fundy easily went to his feet when Dream pulled on his arm. The Guard smiled a bit, “...Interesting.” Techno hated that. The tone of the guard’s voice. It was something fond, amazed, soft. Techno barely tolerated his friends speaking to Dream like that.
The guard guided Fundy out of the room, grip on his arm lighter than it necessarily should’ve been, but Fundy didn’t fight. Dream moved back to where he sat next to Techno, a bit of space there so that Dream wouldn’t impulsively try to bite his boyfriend. “...Dream?” Bad asked quietly, and Dream looked over. “You’re still with us, right?”
Dream took a moment, staring at Bad while he dug up the energy to speak. “...Would’ve… taken Fundy either way… avoid… fight.”
“Okay,” Bad said, reassured that Dream wasn’t going to betray them. “I wanted to make sure.”
“You… are… family.” Dream spoke slowly, “Always your… your side.” Speaking took so much energy out of Dream at this point, something that hurt everyone to see and hear.
“Who knows,” Techno bitterly remarked, “Maybe helping will get you fed.”
“Wishful thinkin’ there, Techno,” Karl mumbled.
“Let me be the blind optimist for a few moments, Karl.”
Karl sighed, “I know.” He also knew that Techno hated whatever Dream was doing here, Dream making the guards like him. Even though it wasn’t intentional by Dream, it was him avoiding fights and problems. The same way he always did. Techno didn’t want anyone to think too fondly of Dream, especially people like this. Dream was silent, head back against the wall, as his eyelids fluttered. He was going to pass out again. Dream’s head lolled, and his body followed as he fell against the floor and blacked out. It was familiar at this point.
“...His control is… outstanding,” Bad mumbled, “Even with the muzzle, Eret’s tried attacking us and guards alike. Dream’s… somehow still controlled… Still calm.”
“There’s gotta be something up with him,” Karl said, “Being around a few bumps and cuts as a kid doesn’t do that to a vampire…” They all agreed. Eventually, Dream came to, rubbing his eyes slowly. He didn’t have to say it; they all knew he hated passing out.
After too long, Fundy was brought back into the room. Hair and upper body wet. Waterboarding. It was the same guard as before, that silent watcher who was never quite harsh enough with any of them. The Guard motioned to Dream, who looked over. “Unchain him.” Dream nodded and stood up. Prepared to follow the order again, but it took only one step before his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground as a dead weight. His hunger was too much for him to move. The guard gave Dream a look and unchained Fundy himself. The Guard helped Fundy move and settle back into his spot between the wall and Eret.
The guard looked at Dream for a long, silent moment, and Techno hated the fact that he could see ideas forming in that Guard’s head. He had no clue what ideas they were. The guard turned and left. When Dream woke up again, he heard Karl’s voice before anything else, “Dream. Take off that fucking muzzle and eat off one of us.”
“...you’re… too weak… all of you… I’d kill you… And that’ll hurt everyone,” Dream huffed.
“Dream, I swear-”
“Not happening, Karl…” Dream breathed, “...save your breath…” It was a while before anything changed. Dream didn’t move from where he fell. Lying on his arm and breathing in the scent of blood, body odor, and metal. He felt disgusting in truth. When a person reentered the room, it was that same damn guard. He walked straight over to Dream without even a glance at the others, picking him up.
“Wait- don’t hurt him-” Karl started protesting; he was terrified. The others all knew why now, Karl had dealt with someone he was close to actually die, and he was terrified that would happen to Dream now too.
“I won’t,” The guard replied, “If you care about him, you’ll all sit here and behave. He’ll be back shortly.” The group fell silent as the Guard carried a weak Dream from the room. Techno’s anxiety was suffocating immediately. Not typically a feeling from him, but not knowing what was happening to Dream right now was enough to make Techno feel ways he typically didn’t.
Techno was staring at the door, uneasy and worried. He had no clue if they were going to keep Dream away from them, not allow him with the group, or manipulate him. Turn him against them all, Techno was fairly certain that couldn’t happen, but he had no clue what tools these guards had. Maybe they were going to beat Dream, the guard said he wouldn’t, but you can’t trust these fuckers.
When the guard returned, Dream was in his arms. Not weakly awake, or passed out, but seemingly sleeping calmly. His muzzle was still on. The guard set Dream down carefully next to Techno, offering only a blank look when Techno moved too quickly towards them, before Dream was properly set down. Techno stopped, not wanting Dream to get hurt due to his own impulsivity. The guard set Dream down and stood back up, not reacting to Techno immediately pulling Dream to him. The guard turned and left the room.
When Dream woke up, he took a breath and adjusted how Techno was holding him, with a small, annoyed face. He didn’t struggle, and he was emoting. His eyes were a lighter red. “...They fed you?” Techno asked quietly.
“Yeah,” Dream said, “I’m no help if I’m passing out all the damn time.”
Bad blinked, “Help?”
“They won’t make me hurt you guys, they couldn’t make me hurt you guys,” Dream said, his voice still off despite being fed. They all noticed it. Whatever had been happening to Dream during his time in Hell was not tied to his hunger. “They know I won’t either way. But… help transport. They’ll drag you around anyway, besides… I might be able to convince them to feed you guys, too… at least Eret.”
Karl smiled a bit at Dream, “You are smart as all Hell.”
“I do what I can,” Dream answered, “I’ll do what I can and have to until the others arrive.”
Fundy moved, for the first time without a prompt in a few days, he looked at the group, “That guard. Silent Watcher? The one who likes Dream? He’s fine. I won’t say good, but fine.”
“Do you see what he did to you!?” Karl asked Fundy.
“He didn’t do this,” Fundy said, “Only walked me there and back… was gentle with me. All we’ve seen him do is take us to places, and like Dream. Unless he’s hurt one of you, and I don’t know?” The group all shook their heads no. He hadn’t hurt any of them. “Then he’s fine.”
“He’s still dragging us there,” Karl said bitterly.
“People get desperate,” Fundy said, “Eret betrayed anyone he got his hands on for money… a demon doing this for money? Or safety?”
“...Is far too likely,” Bad mumbled, “We’ll find out. See if we can learn more about him.” The group nodded and fell silent again.
Chapter 14: Luke 6:37
Summary:
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
***
Wilbur was standing in the opening, smile wide and with charcoal and dust all over his face. Phil seemed a bit exasperated, and no one commented on the blood on all four of them.Wilbur smiled at Bad, “Hello, Love.”
“Well, don’t you look great,” Bad said.
Chapter Text
One month, eighteen days, fourteen hours, and thirty-seven minutes. That was how long in Hell time the group had been sitting in their cell. It wasn’t too horrible, not since that Guard came through. The group didn’t know his name yet, and a few nicknames were developed. Mute was Techno’s go-to; a lot of them stuck with Watcher, Sapnap had mutated Watcher to Watchy. ‘Watcher’ didn’t seem to mind the nicknames.
They had realized a bit that he obviously knew one of them. A moment alone, they discussed it, but they had no clue who he knew. For him to be helping them, he obviously cared. The first thought was the demons, but Sapnap shrugged, saying he only knew other lust demons, and the other three couldn’t recall. Then they thought maybe he knew Dream, but he was clearly a higher-ranked guard to be assigned to them, meaning he was at least 100. If he were someone Dream knew, he would’ve had to have died 100 Hell years ago. Dream had no memory of a childhood friend dying. Same for George.
Fundy offered that he had only ever met one other fallen angel, and Watcher had no wings, so that was out of the question. Eret shrugged, not sure if he might’ve known the guy, but he seemed so neutral and ignoring of Eret that it was clear Eret didn’t. Besides, most people who knew her didn’t tend to like him. Watcher entered the room, handing Dream his cup of blood before giving out everyone else’s food. It wasn’t much, but it was something. It kept them alive. Dream smiled, “Still don’t get to know your name?”
“Weak attempt there, Dream,” Watcher remarked.
Dream hummed, before looking round at the group, deciding to test their theory, “So which one of us do you know?”
“Are you going to eat your food or should I take it back?” An empty threat, and they all knew it. Watcher made sure Dream ate, even if he didn’t manage food for everyone else. Dream and Eret ate. It seemed more for Dream’s sake, and like Watcher felt cruel feeding Dream and not Eret if he could feed both. No one asked.
Dream sighed, “I hope you tell me your name someday. I wanna get to know you.” Dream drank the blood. Watcher shrugged. “You realize never answering will just make me ask more questions?”
“Ask all the questions you want if that’s what keeps you sane, Dream,” Watcher said. “I won’t answer.”
George and Techno both reacted oddly after a moment, George leaning forward before widening his eyes. “Tech, do you-”
“Yeah, that’s screamin’, and a whole lotta fear,” Techno smiled. The angels did come.
Dream smiled, “That’s probably our ride. If you wanna live, I need your name, and you can come with us.”
Watcher turned, looking at the door, before glancing at Karl, “It’s Skeppy.”
“WHAT- WHEN DID YOU-”
“Probably not the best time,” Bad said to Karl quickly.
“ALL OF YOU GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR,” Phil shouted. Skeppy turned and watched the door get blown off its hinges. Wilbur was standing in the opening, smile wide and with charcoal and dust all over his face. Phil seemed a bit exasperated, and no one commented on the blood on all four of them.
Wilbur smiled at Bad, “Hello, Love.”
“Well, don’t you look great,” Bad said. Wilbur rolled his eyes fondly.
“We gotta move,” Karl said, “Skeppy, carry Sapnap.” Skeppy nodded, walking over to Sapnap and carefully picking him up. Moving in a way to minimize pain in his legs.
“You seem healthier this time,” Tubbo said.
“Yeah, well, we got food, everyone grab onto someone,” Bad said. The group listened, and in a second, they were back in Dream’s house. Niki was there, and she quickly started moving medical supplies around while half invisible. She passed stuff to the Angels before pausing at Skeppy.
Karl grunted as Dream and Fundy fell back off him, “Niki, give him stuff for Sapnap. He knows what he’s doing.” Niki gave Skeppy what was needed without a second question.
Skeppy had put Sapnap on the bigger couch to give him the space to work with, quickly assessing Sapnap. Skeppy glanced at the supplies on the table before grunting, grabbing a knife off his waistband, and using it to slice Sapnap’s pants off so that he could rebreak and set Sapnap’s femurs. “If you wanted-”
“Not the time, and it won’t work,” Skeppy said, cutting Sapnap off completely. Sapnap huffed some. For a moment, it was quiet. Niki going to work on Fundy, but Skeppy glanced over, “Do you know how to fix a wing ghostie?”
“...His wing is broken?”
“Left one, yeah,” Skeppy said, looking back at Sapnap. “I’ll also take that as a no. Fix everything else, let me rebreak Sapnap’s bones, and then I’ll work on Fundy’s wing.” Wilbur was kneeling in front of Bad, Tubbo at his side, fixing up Karl. Phil had taken on Techno, and Tommy was working on George. Dream and Eret were both relatively uninjured, so they were waiting while drinking premade bottles of blood. Niki was fixing up the smaller things on Fundy.
Skeppy took a breath, reaching behind him to grab a rag off the table, putting it to Sapnap’s mouth. “Bite.”
“What?”
“Listen, I have to rebreak your legs. Your femurs are completely misaligned, and if I leave them like that, you’ll never be able to walk even if you respawn a thousand times, bite or you can bite off your tongue, take your fucking pick,” Skeppy said. Sapnap glared some, but bit the rag. “Try to breathe. I’ll go on three, okay?” Sapnap nodded, taking a breath. “One… two-” Skeppy went then, and Sapnap screamed into the gag. George flinched at the image. “Sorry. There are painkillers you can take, I’m sure.” Sapnap spat out the rag to breathe.
Fundy finally moved, flinching a bit at Niki’s hand by his face before relaxing, seeing it’s her. “...I’m never going near standing water again. Showers are fine… nothing else.”
“Sorry it took us so long,” Wilbur apologized, working on stitching up a wound on Bad’s shoulder. “Making bombs takes a bit of time.”
Phil blinked, “Bad, can I ask why the fuck Wil called you Love?”
“Been datin’ for a lil bit now. Two months for me. A month for him.”
“Aren’t you datin’ Karl?” Tommy asked, giving George a moment to breathe after Tommy had forced an infected wound apart to clean it.
“He’s dating Wilbur, too,” Bad said.
Sapnap laughed, trying to breathe through the pain. Skeppy had already finished a leg splint for him. “Damn, Bad’s got bitches.”
“Karl, you wanna explain knowing Watcher? I was convinced it was none of us,” Bad asked.
Karl hissed as Tubbo stitched a wound, “Long story short. He’s a childhood friend.”
“That’s the simple way to put it,” Skeppy mumbled. He finished up on Sapnap’s immediate wounds and moved to Fundy after giving Sapnap some pain meds. Niki had moved on to taking care of Eret. Skeppy was investigating the wing joint that got snapped. “Karl found me when I formed… hasn’t seen me since I was like 40 and he was 50… or something similar to that.”
“Hard to recognize you when you don’t have… ya know, all over your face,” Karl said.
“Pain is also one hell of a drug,” Skeppy said, mumbling an apology at Fundy’s small cry of pain. “You’re still Christian based on your mumblings?”
“And you’re still worth a million bucks, Skep.”
Skeppy paused, partly to let Fundy breathe, partly so he could look at Karl exhaustedly. “Man. Getting blown up is looking a lot more appealing if it means I never hear that shit again.”
“I have more bombs,” Wilbur offered to Skeppy. Skeppy blinked a bit at the joke, clearly picking up that Wilbur was newly fallen. He also recognized Wilbur's name, but he wouldn’t say that.
“He’s joking, Wil,” Karl laughed, before grunting in pain. “Skep loves me.”
“...Karl, do you realize what would have happened to me if anyone found out what I was doing for you all?”
“Spawn kills, probably.”
“...I don’t respawn, remember?? No fucking shit, I love you.”
“...I forgot you don’t respawn…” Karl said quietly. Skeppy just sighed, accepting that.
Skeppy hummed, “You’re good, Fundy. Need anything else?”
“I’m good.”
Skeppy nodded, getting up and looking around at the group. Seeing that Sapnap had fallen asleep. Skeppy hummed and turned to work on taking care of Dream’s wounds. “Why be a guard? You’re walking money, Skeppy,” Karl asked.
“I was not keen on breaking off parts of my body in order to house myself… plus Satan wasn’t bad, I didn’t mind working for him… Paymon threatened to let Greed demons rip me apart, so that was a good motivator to stay working for him!” Skeppy said, “By the way, Sapnap has a concussion. Set a 30-minute timer for us to wake him up. I don’t think we need him slipping into a coma.”
Wilbur blinked, “Why are we trusting one of the guards who tortured you guys?”
“Skeppy didn’t hurt us. Was actively too gentle at times when it came to cuffs and grabbing us,” Karl said, “Besides, he kept Dream from dying.”
Skeppy paused, “...Is Dream under 50?”
“Yeah. You came through at the perfect time.”
“I don’t understand why they refuse to feed Vampires,” Skeppy said, his eyes focused on Dream, though, and on his arm as Skeppy stitched up a knife wound. “They want screams of pain, and fighting, and arguing, and starved vampires barely even breathe. Hell, starve ‘em long enough, and they go sleep sleep for a long time!”
“We do?” Eret asked.
“Yeah. Seen it happen once or twice. There’s a default wake-up every 100 years, and obviously, real names will wake you right up quick, like always. It’s almost like that’s a key thing to demons and the like.”
“Which is why you never share it,” Karl said, “I know yours though, Skeppy.”
Skeppy scoffed, “I’d damn well hope so, you named me. Once I’m done taking care of Dream, I’ll get into how Karl and I met, requires more… focus than I am willing to spare while working on babyfangs.”
“I’m so interested,” Wilbur said.
“Me too,” Bad agreed.
Karl was quiet for a moment, “...Skeppy, why didn’t you tell me it was you?”
Skeppy barked out a laugh, something harsh and almost befitting the guard uniform he was wearing, “Yeah. The cameras in there, just be like, What’s up, dude who found me in a cave and helped raise me, and then went on a fucking tyranny attempt and is now a prisoner!! It’s me! The dude who loves you like a brother and feels indebted to you forever! Like what was I supposed to say?!”
The group all laughed a bit at Skeppy’s tone, the demons and like grimacing a bit in pain, but still amused. Karl sighed, “Okay, you have a point. Could’ve shown me, though. You’ve got control over it all, clearly more than you did when we were younger.”
Skeppy looked at Karl, absolutely befuddled, “You really think me sproutin’ diamonds from my face suddenly would’ve gone any better?”
Karl smiled, “You’re really gunna be sarcastic today? You narrowly avoided getting exploded, joined a group of people who have at least one foot in the grave until we can convince someone to help us, and reunite with me, but you’re still gunna be a sarcastic prick?”
“Yes.” Karl just sighed at Skeppy’s reply.
“A month… seems so short until shit like that,” Dream mumbled.
Niki shook her head, “How’d you guys keep track?”
“Skeppy did,” Dream answered. George had moved now that Tommy was done with him, sitting by Sapnap on the floor. George leaned his head over to rest it on Sapnap’s hand. It was somber and quiet. Seeing them both so beaten, but it was a comfort to see the display of love.
Niki hovered up now that she was done helping care for everyone, and she dropped to be even more transparent, “Nik, you’re fadin’,” Fundy said. It was familiar. Like he had to remind her often that she was becoming transparent.
“It’s a choice, I don’t want to be borrowing energy from anyone by accident right now.”
“Does it take energy to be opaque?” Skeppy asked, turning to look at Niki.
She nodded, “Mhm. A lot of it. Only thing harder for me is interacting with the physical world… I’m not able to be 100% solid and touch things at the same time. Best I got is 60% visibility and able to move lighter things.”
“Sorry if the question was rude,” Skeppy apologized, “Never met a ghost before. Don’t really come to Hell, ya know?”
“What did you mean by making diamonds appear out of your face?” Niki asked the question clearly her “getting even” by asking an invasive question of her own.
Skeppy hummed, “It’s… complicated. I’m not really a demon. I’m just… carbon with sentience. I’m made of diamonds, literally made of them.” Skeppy unhooked his thumbs from the holes in his shirt. He pushed the black long sleeves up to show patches of diamonds. Mostly clear, with large spots of yellow and orange. He had bits of blue, pink, and even some red, though. “I can mask ‘em as human skin… but I’m not… some can, but I can’t get my whole body at once. I let my arms and torso be spotted with ‘em to keep my face and hands clear.”
The others were staring in a bit of awe, the demons besides Karl clearly being unaware that this was even possible. Niki smiled, “It’s pretty. Although I can see how it’d cause issues.” Niki looked at a pink patch before smiling. Skeppy quickly knew her favorite color.
“The fact it didn’t cause problems with my only friend being a greed Demon for the first 40 years of my life is surprising.”
Karl shrugged before wincing in pain, “I only found you because you were sparkly.”
“I was fully diamond when Karl found me… I was 5, and he was… I dunno 15? Still small. I learned to control the fake skin slowly… I weigh like I’m made of diamonds though.”
“He’s heavy,” Karl said, “I almost broke my arms trying to pick him up.”
Skeppy chuckled, rolling his eyes, “You’re the dumbass that tried to pick up a diamond the size of a five-year-old.”
“I see shiny, I take shiny. Not my fault,” Karl shrugged. He smiled, hearing Skeppy laugh at it.
“...Karl really knows everyone, huh?” Phil teased.
“Not by a long shot,” Karl said, “Skeppy’s the only person I like… know who’s not here… besides my parents, obviously but. Eret knows more people than me.”
“I know everyone,” Eret mumbled, picking at the skin near his nails.
Skeppy reacted to Eret’s voice quickly, moving to sit across from her. Pulling his sunglasses off, and humming when Eret cringed at the light. “Dizziness or double vision?”
“Some double vision.”
“Veritgo at all?”
“Yeah.”
Skeppy nodded before turning one of his fingers to diamond; it was a pink diamond, so it stood out. “Follow my finger.” Skeppy watched intently while moving his finger, counting quietly at some points. “What letter comes after P in the alphabet?”
“Uhm… uh…” Eret blinked, “Q?”
“Do you remember the last thing Phil said?”
“...No, not at all,” Eret said.
Skeppy listened when Eret spoke before nodding, giving Eret her glasses back. “Put those on, I think you have a concussion too… We’ll monitor your sleep like with Sapnap…” Skeppy sighed before going one by one to the others who were in hell. Dream and George got an all clear, Bad and Fundy both got a maybe from Skeppy, he said he’d check again in the morning. Techno and Karl got a yes. “...So we’ll monitor you guys…” Skeppy got up and turned off some of the extra lights. “Account for light sensitivity and headaches… pain meds help, but nothing with drowsiness-” Skeppy began reading the bottle of the pain meds before nodding, and giving it out to Karl and Techno.
thenumber13 on Chapter 1 Mon 10 Nov 2025 12:34AM UTC
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hurricane_child on Chapter 1 Mon 10 Nov 2025 12:38AM UTC
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Sanityisnthere on Chapter 2 Sun 09 Nov 2025 09:34PM UTC
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hurricane_child on Chapter 2 Sun 09 Nov 2025 09:44PM UTC
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Qx_Laila on Chapter 3 Mon 10 Nov 2025 02:26PM UTC
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Sanityisnthere on Chapter 3 Mon 10 Nov 2025 06:01PM UTC
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Sanityisnthere on Chapter 5 Mon 17 Nov 2025 01:21AM UTC
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