That one time I woke up in prison

Chapter 12

>KarlJacobs was slain by Ranboo

... ... ...

Gone. Just like that, any chance that he could make things right was gone.

He was gone. The boy with auburn hair and mischievous warm eyes was gone. That spiral jumper, multicoloured and vibrant, always an insistent part of his image. The glue that held the three of them together. They'd never see him again.

The nights spent climbing up to the roof, just the three of them under the stars as they made up constellations on the spot, creating stories and ways to fit it all together. The days they slept in together, using free time just to bask in each others' presence, cuddled up under the covers with whispers of "i love you"s and mutters of "just stay a bit longer".

That perfect image all three of them had wished for. A gleaming chapel, all three dressed in white. Love beyond words, love beyond anything that could've kept them apart. The three of them would overcome any kind of pain or argument between them.

But in seconds, the bandana-wearing boy felt that image shatter, as if it was his own final canon life he'd lost. How would he tell Quackity? Would he even care? How the hell was he supposed to move on without either of them?

He rocked on his feet, his knees buckling as the creeper hybrid reached out to catch him, slowly lowering him instead.

"Maybe it wasn't a canon death," the warden tried for comfort, "we can't be sure. He probably just respawned back at Kinoko."

"Doubt that. It said Ranboo killed him, and knowing the current situation..." Tubbo started with a shrug, before being swatted by the anthropomorphic fox, "I mean- Yeah, Sam's right."

The bee-loving boy cleared his throat before opting to continue, "We should keep going though, I can see their nametags down there - maybe we can help before someone else dies."

Numbly, the boy in the bandana nodded, being helped to his feet by the creeper hybrid. They trekked on, making it to the lowering platform that was supposed to take them down. It wasn't long before they figured out it wasn't going to comply.

Fundy stamped down on it harshly, trying in vain to get it to activate after they'd tried everything else.

After some very careful consideration, Tubbo sighed, crossing his arms solemnly. "You know what this calls for, boys?" A mischievous grin split his face, a twinkle in his eyes as his fellow Dreamon Hunters started to chant, much to the dismay of the warden.

"TNT! TNT! TNT!"

"No. N o-" Sam tried to stop the chant, but they only rose in volume. "We are NOT using the TNT!"

...

They used the TNT.

Collectively, they backed off as the stick lit up, Sapnap throwing it over to the pile of TNT before sprinting away to join them as the explosion rocked the ground beneath them. The group, excluding the warden, cheered as the roof tore itself open, debris raining downwards into the vault and leaving them mostly unscathed on the top. That was, until another message popped up, draining the colour from their faces.

>Ranboo was squashed by a falling block

The bee-loving boy immediately let his cheer falter, his heart plummeting as he felt himself pale and his shoulders fall. He couldn't take in a single breath.

Sapnap also blanked again, feeling the numbness creep through him. They couldn't do anything right, could they? People still died.

The warden was the first to break out of the spell, rushing over to the edge and looking down frantically, searching the wreckage. He let another child die, he let another child die -

He spotted something among the debris, and threw himself down, landing with a water bucket as he stumbled over to the bloody spot. Still at the top, Fundy let down a stream of water, dragging the remaining Dreamon Hunters down to catch up with the creeper hybrid.

It was there that the two of them split paths, Tubbo kneeling beside a limp dark hand extruding from beneath a heavy boulder, clutching the fingers of his beloved with a strangled sob, and the bandana-wearing boy didn't make a move to leave the anthropomorphic fox's side as he stared numbly at a spot of wreckage several metres away, a mop of auburn hair stark against the cracked blackstone chunk.

Fundy clutched his stomach, feeling sick as he locked his gaze on the ground, away from the blood and wreckage, and Sam put his face in his hands, knowing this all could've been prevented. If he'd stopped Tubbo from leaving the mask with Ranboo, if he'd prevented Dream's prison break-

There was so much more any of them could've done. That was the worst part.

"Hi?" A hesitant voice cut clearly through the fog weighing them down.

...

All eyes widened, heads snapping to look the ex-prisoner's way. He shuffled uncomfortably under the inspection of the sudden audience.

He wore the same torn orange prison jumpsuit, yet somehow he managed to look completely different. His mask, along with his confidence and cockiness, was still missing, with light mint eyes flicking anxiously between the group in front of him. Scars littered his skin, freckles dotting any unscarred tissue remaining. His golden brown hair reached down his back, only half of an effort spent trying to keep it tidy.

"...Dream?" The bandana-wearing boy choked out, taking a step towards the boy.

The ex-prisoner stepped back as he did so, flicking his eyes to the warden beside him, who'd drawn his sword on sight. Reflexively, Dream raised his own weapon as a threat. It would've been a more effective threat, however, if the weapon wasn't a shovel.

"Is that my Long Schlong?" Fundy accused, pointing to the netherite blade and throwing confusion into the tense atmosphere.

He took a second to simply look down at the shovel in his hands, before sighing, "Look, Karl wasn't the best at distributing weapons."

The creeper hybrid raised a sceptical eyebrow, "Why was Karl in charge of weapon distribution? What the hell did you force him into?"

As he saw Sapnap's expression fall, he quickly hurried to dismiss the notion, "What? I didn't force him to do anything!" Regardless, the warden strode forward, forcing the boy to back off with his shovel, "Sam, please, come on now- Just listen-"

In a second, he was pressed up to the wall, armourless as the enchanted sword was pressed to his throat by the warden in full netherite. He remained unharmed, but didn't dare move an inch, just in case Sam changed his mind.

The creeper hybrid glanced back towards the others. "How do we know for sure he isn't still being affected?"

Rubbing at his eyes vaguely, Tubbo got to his feet, wandering over to look at the ex-prisoner closely. "Dream?"

He faltered, giving a shaky smile to the kid; no matter the situation, there was no reason to freak him out more than what was already happening, right? "Yeah, Tubbo?"

"How're you feeling, Big man? Where's uh, your mask?"

Oh. He cast his gaze over to the wreckage again, wincing. "I think Ranboo had it last, technically." As he saw the boy's expression fall again, he quickly reached out to help, "Hey hey, they still have a canon life left, don't they? They'll respawn in no time."

The bee-loving boy let him wipe away a few tears, hesitant to believe the Dream in front of him was the one they'd been fighting, even if possession was a big factor. Come to think of it, though, he was like this at the start, wasn't he? Protective of any of the minors on the server, amicable and always happy to humour them.

He let himself feel like a child again, if only for a bit.

"What-" he let his voice drop in volume, "what happened to Karl?"

"Karl..." the ex-prisoner paused for a bit, biting his lip, "You see, Ranboo and him got into a fight, and..."

"What were you doing while they fought?"

Dream shifted his eyes up to meet the creeper hybrid, who'd since backed off once he'd realised Tubbo wasn't going to be harmed. The ex-prisoner grimaced, "Well you might not believe me, but there was this...shadow thing."

Simultaneously, all of the Dreamon Hunters snapped their heads over to lock on him, but let him keep going. "It was talking to me like I knew it, and it seemed really familiar, but I don't really know what it was. It looked like it was wearing that stupid mask, though..."

An entire conversation was exchanged silently, much to the awkwardness of the ex-prisoner and the warden. The two simply looked to each other with blank acknowledgement - it was like going to a party, but your friends ditched you halfway through to talk to the other group of extroverts, leaving just you and the other introvert together.

"So, from what we can conclude," the anthropomorphic fox paused for just a moment, "you got possessed by a Dreamon sometime back around the L'Manburg era--"

"What's L'Manburg?" It was barely a mumble on his breath, a confused murmur, and yet all eyes turned to him. " What ? I seriously don't know! We were literally just mentioning me being possessed and missing a lot of key information-"

"Okay but like," there was another pause, "it's L'Manburg ."

"Okay but like," he paused mockingly, "I got possessed . Anyway, continue."

"Right. Dreamon back in L'Manburg. Anyway, we figure you've been completely out of commission this entire time."

"Which means he's basically innocent?"

The bandana-wearing boy thought for a moment, "I guess the only thing you'd be guilty of would be the very start of the conflicts - probably the first disc fight and maybe the drug van."

"I vaguely remember the drug van, I think. I remember something about Wil and Tommy wanting to make their own nation so they could sell drugs without my permission, but I'm not too sure how far they got with that." He added a little chuckle at the end, much to the apprehension of everyone else.

"And that," Sapnap sighed, "was L'Manburg. Which you blew up, like at least three times."

"Oh," the ex-prisoner choked out on an exhale.

"I think we're going to have to give him a proper recap of everything he's missed," the creeper hybrid sighed, before his expression soured, "but there's more important things to do first."

The fog fell upon them again, smothering the group as silence reigned. No one wanted to move; that would mean it was time to... "clean up". It was inevitable, however.

Fundy let out a long breath, "Alright, how should we do this?"