That one time I woke up in prison

Chapter 11

The Dreamon hissed and melted back into the shadows quickly, and in a second the enderman hybrid was in its place, their face splitting with a horrible shriek.

Dream threw himself to the side as the enderman slashed downwards, a yelp sounding from behind him. Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he spotted his companion nocking another arrow to fire as Ranboo advanced on him.

He turned to help, preparing to tackle the hybrid away, but was swept off his feet before he could.

The ex-prisoner yelped as he hit the hard obsidian ground, but his eyes quickly shot open as he felt the smokey figure come near. He instantly kicked at the figure's shin, grinning as he made contact; seemed it did have at least some sort of physicality.

It crumpled slightly, giving the ex-prisoner a few seconds to crawl away. He made it several blocks before he felt something wrap around his leg, yanking him backwards and closer to the figure. He kicked his legs wildly before rolling over onto his back, pulling his attacker off-balance.

Seconds later, the figure was on top of him, raining punches down upon the ex-prisoner as he struggled to keep his arms up to cover his face. He endured a few boxes before daring to throw a quick palm strike to the figure's nose. Dream twisted one of its arms and yanked it, rolling it onto its back to his left, leaving the figure winded as he prepared to-

CRACK.

A horrid snap from the far right made his heart jump to his throat, dread gnawing at his stomach. He didn't dare look over. The message popped up in chat, and that was enough for him.

>KarlJacobs was slain by Ranboo

He immediately choked down the bile as another punch was thrown his way, instead throwing his focus into staying as unharmed as he could. A swipe of claws caught his cheek, and he quickly scrambled back as the enderman hybrid teleported into the fray.

He used his few seconds of freedom to retrieve a shield from his inventory, though it had low durability, raising it just in time to block another attack from the enderman. Their claws took a chunk out of the wood.

His heart racing, he cast his eyes around for anything that he could use as a weapon. He wished he'd taken a sword with him, but it wasn't the easiest thing to get your hands on when you were being hunted 24/7, and he really didn't want to just steal one. He didn't recall his companion having any weapons either.

Well, any traditional weapons, anyway. Dream perked up as he remembered Karl's story of knocking past-Dream out with a shovel - Fundy's shovel, in fact. But his smile faltered as he realised he'd have to search the corpse of his friend.

Decisively, the ex-prisoner shoved the shield forward slightly, before grabbing the side of it and cracking it open over the enderman hybrid's head. As they let out a yowl of rage, he turned on his heel and booked it.

He made it to the time traveler's body, grabbing the shovel as he ran by, not daring to stop. He couldn't spare any of his precious seconds to mourn right now, as much as he wished he could.

Then he felt a breath over his shoulder. He screeched to a stop, spinning on his heel and swinging the netherite shovel over his shoulder. It made contact with a satisfying pang, the smokey figure dissipating to take cover in the shadows once again.

In moments, the enderman hybrid was at his side, long arms reaching for his throat. He heard the snap echo through his mind again. No thanks. He swung the shovel without hesitation. They caught it easily, and between the two of them, they grappled for the weapon. Dream tried to pull it away as the enderman kept a firm hold on the netherite.

An idea crossed the ex-prisoner's mind. As much as he thought it cruel, it was his only option in the moment. He tore one of his hands away from the shovel to rifle through his inventory, and quickly found the object he desired. In one sharp movement, he threw the water over the enderman, and instantly a wretched shriek pierced his ears.

His opponent teleported to the figure in the shadows, hissing and shuddering as the water sizzled on their skin. The ex-prisoner cringed with guilt, but now had a hold on the netherite shovel once more.

The stillness didn't last for more than three seconds.

A horrendous explosion shook the bunker around them, knocking the ex-prisoner off his feet. The figure looked up to the ceiling, confusion written in its expression, as the enderman hybrid glanced around as well.

Then the ceiling crumbled in on them. Blackstone boulders rained down, chunks of obsidian dislodged from their places as well. The ex-prisoner scrambled back, diving into a separate hallway to escape the collapse. A desperate screech echoed behind him, before a sickening crack cut through the calamity of earth-shattering tremors.

>Ranboo was squashed by a falling block

Finally, as the world seemed to calm itself, Dream allowed himself to catch his breath, wordlessly looking out at the damage before him.

. . .

He threw the door open as usual, skipping inside carelessly as he called out to his partner, "Ranboo, I'm home!"

He passed through the living room's doorway, feeling his smile falter as he paused. "Ranboo?"

His spouse wasn't there. The house was eerily quiet.

A chill crept up his spine.

Tubbo cast his gaze to the table where he'd left a particular mask, and as soon as his eyes landed on the empty spot, he knew.

He tensed, slowly reaching into his pocket to bring out his Communicator.

He clicked several buttons, then waited as it rang.

Bzzzt... Bzzzt... Bzzzt... Click!

"Guys, we have a problem."

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. . .
. . . . .

Both sighed with irritation as they watched the bee-loving boy lead the way into the prison's lobby.

"You just had to leave the enderman hybrid in charge of the Dreamon, didn't you?" The anthropomorphic fox grumbled, sending a pointed glare to the boy as they walked.

"Well I'm sorry !" The boy in question pouted defensively, stopping to turn on his heel and face his friend, "How could I have known they were going to get affected so easily?"

"You're their husband! And you've seen how well they handle any kind of pressure!" The fox snapped at him, jabbing an accusatory finger in his face, "The Dreamon's probably talking them into shit right now, if it hasn't already full-on possessed them!"

A burst of fire flickered near the two, making them yelp and scramble back from each other. They snapped their heads to look at the bandana-wearing boy, who pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "Both of you, shut up. Sam's coming."

The creeper hybrid strode towards them anxiously, "What are you three doing here? Any news on the mask?"

"Well uh, about that-" The bee-loving boy cringed slightly.

"Tubbo lost the mask."

"I didn't lose it!" He quickly protested, before cringing, "Ranboo just took it. And might have gotten possessed by the Dreamon ..."

Sam stared at the boy dumbfoundedly, before groaning in exasperation. After a few moments, the warden simply put his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he let out a long sigh.

"So how do we fix this?" The bandana-wearing boy spoke up again, eyes flicking between the group members.

The bee-loving boy perked up again, "Don't worry, Big Man, I already have an idea. That's why I dragged us all to Sam."

"Alright," the creeper hybrid decided to give him a chance, "what have you thought of, Tubbo?"

"Well, calling it an 'idea' is an exaggeration but," he shrugged, "obviously Ranboo is going to head right to wherever Dream is; he's the Dreamon's long-time host, it isn't just going to give him up so easily. Dreamons are notoriously pretty possessive, Boss Man.
"So what I suggest we do is start making a list of the places we've already searched, and places that are most likely for them to have gone - places that would be good to hide, less likely to be looked in, and perhaps areas that could be important to the Dreamon or Dream himself."

Sam considered it for a moment, "Sounds as good of an idea as any." He quickly ushered them through the portal and to the prison desk, retrieving a simple notepad. "Some main places we've already searched are Dream's old base - the one in a hill near the Prime Path, Tommy's holiday home, the remains of Logstedshire, Alyssa's old barn, and we searched Dream's vault once recently but actually we should probably search there again.
"Then of course we've also done partial searches of any tunnels, like the sewers, the underground Prime Path, Eret's ice tunnel, etcetera."

"Well, we already have our obvious option then," the anthropomorphic fox pointed out, "our first action should be checking Dream's vault. The question though is what do we do when we find them?"

"An exorcism, probably!" Tubbo chirped joyfully, "We could always bring a nuke too, just in case."

"We are not bringing an entire nuke-"

"Just a few blocks of TNT, then?" The bandana-wearing boy pleaded with the warden, the fox doing puppy eyes over his shoulder as well.

"Fine, whatever," the creeper hybrid sighed, "but we're not going to use them-"

He was cut off at the end by loud whoops from the destructive Dreamon Hunters around him. The warden sighed. This was going to be a long day.

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. . .
. . . . .

They trekked up the mountain, enduring harsh snowfall and a tedious climb up an almost vertical slope.

"Maybe this wasn't the best idea to do today," the bee-loving boy shivered with exhaustion, the cold being semi-shielded by his Snowchester coat.

There was an immediate retort from a still-salty fox, "Yeah, well, we wouldn't have to be here if you didn't let your spouse get possessed by a Dreamon."

"Would one of you please just fall to your death already-" Sapnap grumbled, the creeper hybrid sending him a sympathetic glance.

After an hour more of arm-numbing climbing, they finally hauled themselves over the top, collapsing in a pile together in the snow.

The group panted for a bit, and just as they were getting up to continue, a message invaded the chat.

>KarlJacobs was slain by Ranboo