Dreaming of Demons (Dream x oc)

[42] Loyalty

"So we only have one shot at this." Karl stated, giving me a look.

I had been skimming through the book Tubbo gave us until the next morning, where we sat at Karl's table eating breakfast—or trying to. I wasn't particularly hungry, and my eyes strained to read the words on the pages. Last night's sleep wasn't the best either. I didn't have a nightmare, luckily, but I had been tossing and turning. I was worried. Worried that things wouldn't work out, or that Dream and Wilbur would be in the SMP at any moment. Now I was worried about the obvious point Karl had brought up.

I glanced up at him and then back down at the book as if I could find some new answer on the page. There was none. "Uh, yeah...yeah we've got one chance."

"Lemme see." Sapnap leaned over my shoulder, crunching a mouthful of cereal as he grabbed a hold of the book to tilt it in his direction. He narrowed his eyes, skimming over some of the words. "Why are there, like, different languages in this?"

I pulled the book back to myself, flipping through some of the other pages I had tried reading. "I don't know, but any of these could be helpful."

He straightened up behind me, scooping another spoonful of cereal. "What about enderman, or Enderian language? Didn't you have a paper with that a while ago?"

My brows ticked in as I recalled the page I had found that explained Dream's demon, the same page that Ranboo had tossed into the lava. There were some pages in this book with Enderian language—

My train of thought came to an abrupt halt.

Ranboo.

Of course! He was controlled by the same demon that possessed Dream, and he could actually walk into the SMP without raising suspicions. We could exorcize him first.

I stood up, my chair scraping the floor and drawing Karl and Sapnap's attention. "Guys, we need to find Ranboo."

---

I had to explain everything about Ranboo on our way out of Kinoko Kingdom. Karl and Sapnap listened quietly, a perplexed look straining their faces nearly the entire time. I knew it sounded crazy and I knew it would be hard to believe, especially when they had just learned about the Demon a few days ago.

"How many other people are possessed here!?" Sapnap voiced incredulously.

We were just coming around the side of Eret's castle, stepping on their well-kept path to head in the direction of the Community house. Our shoes tapped on the wooden pathway as we strode across it.

"Um, just him and Dream...I think."

"You think?" He repeated. "Is there anything else you haven't told us?"

I winced. "Sapnap, there's so much going on that I can barely wrap my own head around it. I'm sorry I wasn't clear about everything in the first place."

"Wait, guys—" Karl put an arm in front of us, pushing Sapnap and me back behind the outside wall of the Community house. "Sam is there." He whispered.

I sucked in a breath. I hadn't seen Sam since the last time I entered the prison. It felt like such a long time ago that the event almost seemed foreign. But if anyone were to believe I helped break Dream out of prison, it would be him. And I knew what consequences would come from breaking that rule.

"Where is he?" I whispered to Karl, watching him with wide eyes.

Sapnap and Karl both leaned out to scan the Prime path that branched from the Community house.

"Oh he was leaving, we're good." Sapnap pushed away from the wall, walking inside the community house as if nothing had happened.

Karl and I were still wary as we followed him, throwing a few glances around us. But the air was calm and the various buildings rising up from the ground were quiet. Now it was just us in the area.