this world we have built is burning down around us | Dream SMP Time Travel Fic

tread carefully upon the graves you make

When Techno woke with phantom pain in his gut, he wasted no time stumbling out of his bed, filling his inventory with potions and a sword, forgoing the process of equipping armor, and sprinting outside, hauling himself onto Carl and rushing to the desolation of Logstedshire, where a portal straight to L'manberg still remained.

He pulled out his communicator halfway there, texting Phil a swift, "Hurry to L'manberg's community house. Now." He tucked it away, not waiting for a reply, for which there was no time.

He and Carl reached the portal in minutes and leapt through the swirling colors, Techno ducking his head so he didn't hit it at the top of the frame and Carl pushing forth once more the moment his hooves hit the cobblestone pathway.

He swung himself off of the horse, tying his precious steed to a post inside the hub (no mobs would hurt him), and launched himself through the portal to L'manberg, ignoring the inevitable dizziness that traveling dimensions caused as he sprinted down the blackstone steps towards the community house.

He saw the bodies first, blood and corpses strewn about like rag dolls, then Tubbo, off to the side and shaking. None of it made sense, but that didn't make a difference when he saw Dream swinging his netherite axe down onto his little brother's neck.

Tubbo screamed into the silence, but it didn't quite cover the echo of bones being crushed and flesh being penetrated, the sight of blood spraying grotesquely onto the murderer's weapon and face. It happened so quickly, Techno couldn't even open his mouth before it was over, Tommy's body still and lifeless unlike the very person he was supposed to be, his throat jaggedly and gapingly open from the harsh hack of Dream's axe; his head wasn't quite severed from his shoulders, but it might have been kinder, less horrifying.

"No!" Tubbo sobbed, loud and shattered as he jumped up to cradle his best friend's corpse. He grabbed him by the limp shoulders and ignored the stumps on his own hand that had started spitting blood again, shaking him as though he'd wake up, tears staining his own bloody cheeks. "Tommy!" His voice cracked. "Tommy, please!"

Techno felt sick, watching the child President shake his best friend's dead body with the desperation that came with hopelessness; the blond's head was rolling dangerously, and he was waiting for it to detach from the precarious muscles and skin it was still connected by.

He wanted to kneel next to Tubbo and pull him away, wanted to take Tommy's body in his arms and hold him tightly all the way back home, wanted Phil to hug him so they could mourn together, wanted Wilbur to still be alive and Wilbur so he could grieve instead of forget.

But he wanted Dream's head in his hands and heart in his teeth more.

Blood for the blood god!

E! E! E!

Justice! Revenge!

Vengeance!

Hold the baby! Pet the baby!

Oh, no, the baby! Precious baby!

Off with his head!

Deadinnit! Poorinnit!

Yes, eat his heart! Bathe in his blood!

Sing! Sing!

Dream brought up his axe to block, decked in gear Techno didn't have, and threw him back.

"You fucker!" Technoblade roared, nauseous with bloodlust and rage.

"Careful, Techno," Dream cooed sweetly, wetting his lips that still had Tommy's blood on them, "I'll kill you, too, if you're not careful."

"Not fucking again, you won't," a voice sneered, and then Dream was coughing up blood and falling to his knees, collapsing with a sword through his chest from the back. "Stay the hell away from my kids."