dysphoria | mcyt

𝟘𝟜 | 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕟

A/N: Players can only respawn if they are killed by other players.

Dream had noticed Badboyhalo's distinct change in behavior for the past few weeks. He wasn't quite sure how to describe it. He's been more social, bouncy and happy, sure, but there was something off about it. His gut instinct told him that something wasn't right, at all. But he didn't know what it happened to be.

His personality felt more desperate, exaggerated, and he always looked so anxious all the time, as if something was going to jump out and attack him if he said something wrong or wasn't openly cheerful all the time. He slept a lot and stayed inside when he wasn't hanging out with him George and Sapnap. Almost as if he were...sick, with a fever or a cold or something. And looking at his frequent migraines, it made sense, he shouldn't be too worried unless it gets worse.

But that was not what bothered him. It was Bad's weird 'splits', as he called them. Sometimes his voice changed for a few seconds, going from light to deep and smooth. He always played it off as something being wrong with his throat or something, but that was becoming the least plausible option.

It was almost like he got stronger overnight, which, usually would be a good thing, but this strength looked unnatural, in a way. It was most prominent during manhunts- or moreso, practice manhunts. One minute Dream was chasing him with a sword after sending George and Sapnap back to spawn, and the very next he was...dead. Either impaled or thrown off a cliff, and Bad always did it without remorse, and seemed surprised after they regrouped that he managed to kill him. Dream didn't know about the others, but something wasn't right.

Or maybe it was just him? Maybe he was just overanalyzing things and being salty that he got his ass handed to him by BadBoyHalo.

He soon found out that that was, in fact, not the only one who had noticed the change, the day George and Sapnap barged into his house (and spooking Patches quite a bit). He glanced up, grumbling something under his breath before picking up his cat and moving from the couch into the kitchen, where the pair had let themselves in.

"What gives, guys?" He asked, quirking a brow. Sapnap gestured to George, who looked ou the door before closing and locking it. He adjusted his clout glasses on his forehead and turned around to them.

"George, you do realize you can, oh I don't know, maybe knock?" Dream said tartly. George shook his head and leaned back against the door, crossing his arms. "We need to talk."

"About what? You literally dragged me out of my house and broke into Dream's. Nobody died, did they?" Sapnap snapped with a small pout playing over his lips.

"I can't be the only one who's noticed. Bad's been acting...weird. He's been anxious all the time, overly happy for no apparent reason, and a dozen other things that I'm sure you guys are aware of, too." He started, pacing the floor. Dream let patches jump out of his arms and stalk away into a corner or something while he pulled on the strings of his worn green hoodie. So, it wasn't just him being salty.

"No, you're not alone. I thought I was just looking for excuses to play off him beating my ass in the last few manhunts." He agreed, drawing a chair from the table and sitting down. "How about you, Sapnap? You've been a bit quiet."

"Thank god. I really did think I was going insane when I heard voices coming from Bad's house. Like he was talking to someone who just broke in or something. Given, it was pretty late and I thought I was just delusional from sleep deprivation. But still, something really isn't right and I'm honestly glad you guys agree." Sapnap replied, running his fingers through his hair before it settled over his forehead again.

"Speaking of gods, I've been looking through the libraries and visiting a few other servers over the past few days, asking around and staying up to find the oldest, weirdest books I could possibly find and read. And what I've found is a little bit interesting." George continued, pulling a piece of paper from his inventory and unrolling it out over the table.

The scroll was yellowing and torn in places, and looked to be about a hundred years old (maybe more!). On it, was a few faded drawings of what Dream assumed was half goat, half man. They wore a suit and had curled ram's horns, and, from the waist down, appeared to be some kind of goat or sheep, of sorts. There were several sketches, summoning circles, question marks and an absurd amount of notes scribbled down hastily with what likely was a quill and ink. He judged by the texture of the scratchy paper and how the ink occasionally faded out.

"I found this in an abandoned university, I think it belonged to a student. Anyways, there's someone- or something, known as the Blood God. I've seen the name cropping up around the servers I've travelled through, via nether highways, and they're, well, it's pretty self explanatory. They're summoned using a drop of the summoner's, or someone else's, blood, and will grant you one wish in exchange for something else. Your own demise, your peace of mind, it really depends on the situation but-"

"So, you're saying Bad might've sacrificed his soul to Satan for a favor?" Sapnap interrupted. His tone was disbelieving, like George just told him that he was completely imaginary and he was actually a mental asylum patient who was talking to the voices in his head.

"-Yeah, Maybe. It sounds crazy, I know, but doesn't it make a little sense? Like, if I was possessed, I would act pretty weird as well." George reasoned with a shrug. "It's plausible."

"George, you said something about a blood god?" Dream asked, pushing a hand over his mask. His fingers brushed against the tips of his hair. If this whole blood god thing was true, he had an idea. Now, wether it would work was a different thing, however, he was confident in his own abilities and had a feeling that there was at least a 50/50 chance that he'd succeed- at least in knowing what the hell was actually wrong with Bad.

"Yeah, why?" The brunette gave Dream a quizzical look, tilting his head.

"...I know someone."