Tricks and Treats

2 - Listen To My Story

Sam was a warden. He never imagined he would become a warden, but it didn't bother him as much as he thought it would. All Sam had to do was feed Dream, give him a new clock every once in awhile, and help people navigate to path to speaking with Dream. It wasn't hard work, definitely not physically laborious. But it was extremely mentally draining.

Dream didn't talk often. He mainly played with his clock. When that happened, Sam was bored. He watched Dream play with a clock for hours through the security cameras. Sometimes, Dream would swim in lava. Not because he wanted to die, but because he was bored, and swimming was swimming. Sam often felt like banging his head against his desk.

However, when Sam was nearby (he still didn't know how Dream knew his location), Dream would talk about his past. Sam didn't want to listen, but it was insightful to hear Dream's perspective on all these events. Sam heard about bloody wars and screaming men. Dream depicted images of traumatized soldiers and stacked TnT. It frightened Sam to simply hear about it all.

Today in particular, Sam was just sitting by the lava. Dream's voice echoed in the chamber, "Do you want to hear a story?"

Sam sighed. He was sure that he had heard it all. Unless Dream remembered something new or wanted to talk about his childhood, Sam knew everything about the wars in Dream's POV. "No, I don't want to hear a story."

"Come on! This one is about how I tricked a man into thinking I was his only friend!" Dream replied like that would convince Sam. It did, however, because Sam couldn't recall a person like this in any of Dream's stories. Dream was manipulative, sure, but how did he convince someone that Dream was their only friend?

"Who... who was it?" Sam asked. He didn't want to indulge Dream, but a part of Sam needed to know the truth. Sam thought himself to be a kind person. Frankly, he might have been one of the only peaceful people on the Server. Sam decided he would befriend whoever Dream was talking about. No one deserved to fall under Dream's grasp.

"Haha! So, you are interested! All right, I'll tell you!" Dream said before beginning his story. It started after Tubbo's election, past the death of Wilbur and Technoblade destroying L'Manberg. Dream talked about the wall, about George's house being burned down by Tommy and Ranboo. Dream talked about how he convinced Tubbo to exile Tommy. That's when it all went dark.

Dream talked about Tommy's crumbling mental health. How Dream took all his stuff before burning it. How Dream weaseled his way into being Tommy's confidante, eventually exclaiming that no one visited Tommy. Dream mentioned a party. A beach party that Tommy had set up for. A party that Ghostbur sent the invitations out, where Dream destroyed the invitations. Dream purposefully showed up late to the party before convincing Tommy that no one cared about him. Tommy almost destroyed his Tubbo compass. Dream mentioned that Tommy tried to jump into lava, but he didn't put that one in the timeline or explain it completely. When Sam thought the story was over, Dream told Sam about blowing up Logstedshire, Tommy's sheer fear and sadness. How Tommy built a large tower, jumped into water, and ran away.

"If he hadn't run away, that would have been my greatest accomplishment," Dream concluded with his own sigh. Sam put a hand over his mouth, holding back puke that was steadily rising. Sam thought about Tommy. They weren't close at all, but Sam remembered once offering Tommy a place to stay at his home. Tommy had rejected that time, so Sam left the boy alone. Sam realized how big of a mistake that was. Sam decided he needed to help Tommy. After everything, between his country getting blown up three times, the death of his brother, and Dream's complete annihilation of his psyche, Sam knew the boy needed help.

That chance came sooner than he anticipated. Tommy came to him. It wasn't for the help Sam wanted to give him, no, Tommy had another idea in mind. "I want you to build a hotel for me, Sam the man!"