Dreaming of Demons (Dream x oc)

[49] Victims

Dream spent most of the day with his friends after we had cleaned up the destroyed ground left by the Withers. With our combined effort, we were able to get it done quickly and the path of destruction could now head towards a new regrowth.

While Dream was gone, I visited Karl in Kinoko, helping him spruce up the place with more flowers and replacing the wilted ones. We laughed and talked, and it was the first time we could do so without impending doom looming over our shoulders.

"You should take some home, we've got a bunch," Karl told me, gathering a variety of flowers in his hands dusted with the soil.

He added a couple more blossoms to satisfy and held out the bouquet to me.

A sweet aroma floated in the air around me as I accepted the flowers. "Thank you, these are great."

He brushed his hands together to try to rid the dirt, watching as one of the flowers slipped out of my hands. "Oh, let me get some string to tie it together." He was on his feet in seconds, jogging back to his house not far from the flower patch we had just finished working on.

"Taryn!"

I swiveled around at the new voice, seeing Ranboo walking towards me, a smile on his face. It was a bit surprising to see him looking so happy. His shoulders weren't hunched in, closing his arms to his body. His bicolored eyes were bright, and for once, he looked completely sure of where his feet were taking him.

"Ranboo!" I pushed myself to my feet, still holding the flowers in one hand. "How are you? I haven't seen you since—"

"I know, I know. I've been looking all over to tell you." He stopped in front of me. "It's gone. The rituals worked."

I stared at him, understanding coming to me slowly. 'Rituals' as in plural? As in the rituals we tried on him days ago?

"The—the rituals, yes!" I repeated automatically, my brain running a thousand miles a minute. The many rituals we had tried didn't work on him. That had already been clear. But if he claimed to have been free of the Demon, maybe freeing Dream must have released Ranboo as well.

And that meant the Demon was actually gone. For good.

But Ranboo's timeline was off. It didn't sound like he remembered anything after the rituals in the flower field, and he surely wouldn't remember trapping me and Sapnap.

"Ranboo, where were you when you...woke up?" I asked.

He blinked, caught off guard by my question. "Oh, well, I was by that lake surrounded by all those trees...The one by the entrance to the tunnel that leads to Snowchester."

I silently processed the information, trying to envision the place he was describing. That was nearly the exact spot Dream had attacked the SMP, but covered by the trees, no one would have spotted him.

"I heard about what happened," He said when I didn't respond. "Tubbo told me about the Withers, and that Dream is staying with you now." He paused briefly to draw a breath, sighing it out. "I think the ritual took a while to work, cause I don't remember anything before that."

"None of the rituals we tried that day worked on you, Ranboo," I told him, "We tried the last one on Dream and...it sounds like it freed the both of you at the same time."

His brows furrowed. "Oh."

He contemplated my words for a long moment before looking to me again. "So you're saying Dream is fine as well?"

I nodded, making an affirmative sound. Then a thought occurred to me. "Have you ever actually spoken to Dream without the Demon?"

"I...I don't know. I don't think I have, actually."