"Sap," Said boy looked up, giving his attention to Dream once again, "what is the Revival Book that he asked for?"
He was met with plain confusion, if not suspicion, "What? You of all people should know."
"Well I could guess that," the prisoner quirked an eyebrow, chuckling with no mirth, "but I could also guess I'm meant to know literally anything else that's happening too."
Sapnap seemed to be completely stumped at the statement, nervously chuckling along with his friend, "What's that supposed to mean?"
He was silent for a moment, trying to sort through his options of going about this.
"Dre?"
"What's the date?"
"The 25th of March. Why?"
His eyes widened, "It's 2021?"
"Yeah?" Sapnap frowned, confused and concerned. "Dream, why's that important?"
Dream's shoulders hunched as his gaze dropped away from eye contact, his jaw slack with a mix of disbelief and fear.
"Dream? Come on, you're scaring me here," the boy with the bandana bit his lip, reaching out to put his hands on his old friend's shoulders, "tell me what's going on, Dre."
"This can't be real," he muttered, shaking his head numbly, "no no no, it just can't be. This isn't fair."
You're one to talk about "fair", Sapnap thought bitterly, but he didn't say anything aloud. It gave him a moment to think though; maybe this was just more of Dream's manipulation.
The prisoner tried to steady his breathing, running a hand through his hair in a repetitive manner, but quickly devolved into hyperventilating and pulling at his scalp. Sapnap quickly reached out to pull his hand away, talking quietly to Dream in an attempt to calm him.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, we can figure this out," the boy shushed him softly, rubbing circles into the palm of his friend's hand.
"No. No no no, you don't understand, this-" he breathed out quickly, shaking his head more vigorously now, "this can't be happening."
Sapnap tried to keep himself sympathetic, even though it wasn't deserved. Dream was really starting to freak out while giving no explanation, which didn't make things easier for the fiery boy, "Dream, I- I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."
"I don't remember!" The prisoner looked his friend in the eyes for the first time in months, "That's the problem..."
Dream's eyes. They weren't at all what Sapnap was used to.
The Dream he'd been expecting was the one whose eyes were too hard - cold and calculating, diving into war without a care for the pain of others'. The orbs were reminiscent of an acidic swamp; unnerving to look into and barely even seeming human.
But these were eyes Sapnap hadn't seen in nearly a year. They were a light mint; open, conveying clear emotions and not afraid to show weakness. And now there were added elements: his eyes conveyed fear and confusion, with a newfound despair settling in. He seemed desperate, in a way he hadn't acted before.
"What do you mean you don't remember?" The boy with the bandana asked carefully, resting a hand on his distressed friend's arm, "And what do you remember, then?"
Dream was silent for a bit, unsure of exactly where to start in a world he didn't know. He eventually found a starting point. "July. I think it was the end of July."
"But it's not even April yet?" Sapnap questioned, before his eyes widened, "You mean 2020."
He nodded uneasily, "Tommy and Wilbur were complaining about some anti-drug law. They wanted to section themselves off from the main SMP, and I was talking to them about it, but then suddenly I woke up here."
His friend seemed to try to process that, before he dropped to a scowl instead. "Oh, so you don't remember giving Wilbur the TNT to blow up a nation ? You don't remember dethroning George, or kicking off Doomsday ? Or maybe tormenting several minors?"
"I what? " Dream's eyes widened.
"And now you've just conveniently forgotten everything, huh?" Sapnap clicked his tongue in annoyance, "I can't believe I actually trusted you for a second. George was right to get out of here."
"Pandas, you have to believe me here!" The prisoner protested.
"I've believed you before and you fucked me over!" he snapped, then his shoulders drooped sullenly, "I'm sorry, but I just can't trust you anymore. No one can."
Sapnap stood up to leave, pushing Dream away. He only took a few steps before a quiet crack under his foot made him pause. He crouched down, his fingers tracing the cracks in the smiling mask. He glanced over his shoulder at his old friend.
The prisoner was desperately trying to keep eye contact, trying to convey that maybe it wasn't an act. Sapnap couldn't trust it.
He wrapped his fingers around the mask, and stood up with it.
"Sam! I'm ready to go."
It wasn't long before the lava dropped, and with one last look over his shoulder, Sapnap left the prisoner alone again.
.
. . .
. . . . .
Time didn't pass the same.
It was hard to actually stay in reality, especially when there was nothing physically happening to keep his attention.
He found himself drifting back to the void. It didn't give him a good feeling.
He tried to find things to do in the cell. He found books in the chest - empty ones and pages he'd apparently written on. The writing wasn't his. It didn't sound like things he'd write, and the handwriting was a lot neater than his own.
One book he found was written like a diary. It left some clues of events before the prison, but didn't actively give out the information. What it did give, however, was a recount of certain visitors, as well as an internal monologue of what was apparently his thought process and goals.
Dream didn't like reading it.
It sounded mad. It sounded fucking insane. This was meant to be his own writing? His own thoughts? Yet nothing about it was his.
The writer was manic, words scribbled in an incoherent babble.
He eventually threw the book across the room. There were still pages and pages left, but he just couldn't bring himself to read another paragraph of pure insanity. Plus he realised he was leaving blood on the pages, which didn't help his patience when trying to read smudged words.
He really needed to find something to bandage his wounds with. He still couldn't feel the pain though, which was slightly unsettling. He found nothing in the chest that could help him, though. Remembering how George and Sapnap had gotten out of the cell, he decided he might as well try to ask for something that way too.
"Sam?" He raised his voice a bit the second time, "Sam!"
He received no response, but he persisted. "I need some bandages." Silence again. "Please?"
He had just about given up when the lava dropped.
The prisoner looked over hopefully, but his face dropped to confusion as someone who wasn't Sam walked in. Immediately after the confusion however, came excitement. "Bad!"
"Hey Dream," the demon trotted over to him with a smile, "how're you doing? You needed some bandages?" He cradled a med kit, happily offering to help his old friend.
Dream nearly started crying again. This seemed to be the one person who didn't hate him, and he seriously did need some comfort after the few encounters he'd already had since he woke up here.
He ended up sitting against the obsidian floor, being looked over and bandaged by the demon. Bad worked carefully, but was happy to keep up a conversation while he worked.
"So, how have you been dealing with things in here?"
The prisoner thought for a second; when he'd trusted Sapnap before and told him the truth, he'd spat in his face and fucked off. To be fair, he knew the fiery boy probably had a good reason for it - or at least the response made sense in his own perspective. But it was still a punch in the gut, and he wasn't exactly keen to have the only other friendly person turn against him too.
"Um, fine, I guess." After a moment, he took the cue that he was meant to elaborate at least a bit, "Well there have been a couple more visitors lately, I think."
"You think?"
"Well I'm having a lot of trouble with time." That wasn't exactly a lie, but he still added to make it a half-truth, "And uh, my memory is a bit foggy."
"Huh. Well-" Bad started to say something else, before he cringed, "Dream, some of these look a bit infected actually. How did you get so banged up?"
The prisoner shrugged lightly, wondering if he was actually meant to explain.
"How did Sam just let this happen?"
" According to a paragraph or two in that diary, he caused it ..." Dream muttered bitterly, not really intending for the demon to hear him. He'd once been pretty close to Sam, and he didn't remember what might've stopped that, but he already knew he didn't have many friends these days.
Bad seemed confused for a second, "What did you say?"
The prisoner shrugged it off. No use trying to explain.
The demon frowned worriedly, but turned his attention back to treating what wounds he could. When he was done, he sat back and sighed. "Dream, I think I'm gonna have to talk to Sam about this. I can't just fix most of this without a health potion - and even then, an infection isn't guaranteed to be stopped by a normal heal pot."
The prisoner rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a bit sheepish, even if the wounds weren't his fault. I mean, as far as he knew, he wasn't the one who chose to be tortured while some guy demanded the location of some necromancy book, right?
"Hey, Bad?" Said demon hummed in acknowledgement as Dream looked back at him. "What's been happening on the server lately?"
"Well, not much, actually." He looked mildly annoyed, "Since Tommy was revived and taken out of the prison, it kind of put a halt on the Eggpire's plans."
"Eggpire?" He questioned without thinking - his mind had been caught on Tommy; since when had the minor even lost his first canon life, let alone all three? And how had he been revived? Maybe Quackity wasn't as insane as he had been presented; if there was a revival book out there somewhere, of course anyone would want it, whether it's for safety's sake or to bring back a dead friend. But how the hell did that link to Dream? Also, what did Tommy have to do with stopping some egg kingdom??
"Well of course!" The demon chirped, "I have told you about it before, haven't I?"
The prisoner panicked internally, but gave a quick excuse that he was glad he mentioned earlier, "I'm a bit foggy on it, mind giving me a quick reminder?"
Luckily, Bad didn't seem to mind.
Unfortunately, Dream found himself becoming a bit more horrified with the state of his server. Not to mention what happened to some of his friends.

YOU ARE READING
That one time I woke up in prison
Fanfiction[THIS IS THEIR DSMP PERSONAS, NOT THE CONTENT CREATORS. DON'T SEND HATE TO ANYONE] "Sap, George - check out this mask I found!" "Nice! Are you going to use it in the next manhunt?" "Probably, yeah! It's an added challenge - I can't see too well in i...