Chapter Text
According to Philza Minecraft (who was, in fact, a very Big and well-traveled Man), inter-dimensional travel between Servers was supposed to be easy. Easy, painless, and “really not all that difficult, to be honest.” At least, that was what he had told Tommy.
Then again, Philza Minecraft was apparently an absolute moron who couldn’t be taken at his word for anything, because inter-dimensional travel was actually the worst thing that Tommy had ever experienced.
It was supposed to be a simple portal to the Nether to gather potion ingredients, but apparently crying obsidian did not make for good Nether portals (who knew), because instead of being transported into a fiery wasteland, Tommy seemed to be stuck.
Everything around him was void and dark, and he felt like he was being compressed from all sides, squeezed in by some invisible force. He couldn’t see, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, and everything was getting worse and worse until he felt like he was going to die — Prime, he was dying, he knew it, he’d died before and this was the same, it was the same Void and he could hear the same woman’s voice and —
He was lying flat on his back in the grass.
Tommy gasped, shooting upright and clutching at his chest, trying to gulp down as much air as he could. He braced himself against a conveniently nearby tree, taking shuddering breaths to try and regain some control over himself.
“…What?” he mumbled once he could breathe again, squinting around. He was on the edge of a shoreline, just inside a forest. Across the ocean, he could just make out a series of towering cliffs, reaching up into the clouds. He recognized none of it. “What the heck.”
This meant two things: One, he was not in the Nether (obviously), and his portal was nowhere to be seen. Two, he did not seem to be in the Dream SMP anymore, either. At least, not anywhere he had been before.
Tommy muttered a curse, dragging a hand down his face. “This is stupid,” he muttered. “This is so stupid.” Grumbling to himself, he opened his inventory, intending to get out some more crying obsidian and make a portal that would take him back home.
His inventory was empty.
Tommy gaped at it, fingers hovering over the empty slots. “What the heck,” he said. “What. The actual. Heck.” He shut his inventory, then opened it again. Turn it off and turn it back on, right? Wasn’t that supposed to always be the solution? Unfortunatly, there was still nothing. Nothing.
He had definitely had stuff, right? No, of course he had. This wasn’t — this wasn’t Exile (“—Put it in the hole, Tommy—“), he had plenty of stuff now, important stuff that he collected and either kept directly on him, or put in his Ender Chest.
So if his stuff wasn’t with him — where the heck was it? It wasn’t — gone, was it?
The thought no sooner occurred to him than he realized that he had no armor on, either. Which he had definitely, absolutely been wearing. Full enchanted Netherite. He never went anywhere without proper armor on, not anymore.
This day just kept getting worse and worse.
Tommy cursed again, rubbing his hands over his eyes. He frowned at the tree next to him, considering taking it down for about two seconds, before deciding he was absolutely not doing that. Tommy Innit was a Big Man and had better things to do than punch down a tree, for Prime’s sake.
The only other option was to start walking, though, so, complaining under his breath, he started off, stomping up the nearest hill.
From there, he had a much better view, looking out over the surrounding landscape. There was nothing that looked even remotely like civilization, or anything at all he recognized. Which… at least confirmed his theory that he was no longer in the Dream SMP.
Tommy had never done much world-hopping, not like Philza or Technoblade or Dream had. He didn’t remember much of the Server he’d been on before the Dream SMP (he didn’t care to, really), and since joining Dream’s, he hadn’t been anywhere else. The Server might suck, but it was still his, and he wouldn’t let it go without a fight.
Because of this, he had absolutely no idea what to do. Wasn’t there supposed to be like — like a Sever Hub, or something? He knew Philza had mentioned something like it before, a place for people to enter and exit a Sever. Maybe this one was just fetching stupid and broken, and there wasn’t any way off. It would be just Tommy’s luck.
No, no, that was dumb. There was obviously a way back. There had to be. And if Tommy had to go around to ruined portals for days to gather enough crying obsidian to make a new portal, then that was what he was going to do.
Wrapped up as he was in his own problems, Tommy didn’t notice the voices until they were almost on top of him.
“— it’s just stupid! Why would you even — you know he wouldn’t do that!”
“I’m just saying —!“
Tommy looked around frantically, then sprinted to the nearest tree and hoisted himself up, scrambling to the highest branch he could.
Underneath him, the source of the voices came closer, and Tommy registered that they sounded weirdly familiar.
Maybe he wasn’t as far from home as he had thought.
Maybe — yeah, that was definitely Sapnap. And George. And Bad, of all people. Arguing. Loudly. Tommy almost shouted down at them, but bit his tongue instead. Better to get a grasp on the situation first, see why these three were so worked up about. He pressed himself further back into the branches, listening intently.
“— whatever, just — let’s just stop for a second,” Sapnap groaned. “He’s gotta be forever away by now, and I need to eat something.” He collapsed onto the ground, newly-made iron armor clanking.
“Still pointing straight ahead,” George said, staring down at something round and reflective in his hand. He tilted it in the light, and Tommy realized it was an enchanted compass. Like the one he himself had pointing towards Tubbo (which was fortunately, fortunately still safe in his Ender Chest). “Might as well stop now, get everything sorted out.” He dropped down onto the grass, his back against the very tree Tommy was concealed in. He looked different, somehow. More than just his clothes, which were nothing like the almost-royal, mushroom-themed attire Tommy had seen him in lately. It wasn’t something he could put his finger on, but George looked different.
All of them did, now that Tommy thought to look for it. Different clothes, different mannerisms, different… something.
So was this not the Dream SMP after all? These might not be the people Tommy knew. There was a whole universe of Servers out there, right? It wasn’t too out-there for there to be alternate versions of people he knew.
Was there another Tommy, then? No, of course not. Tommy was completely and utterly unique, thank you very much.
“It turned!” Sapnap shouted excitedly, on his feet in an instant. The bread he’d been eating vanished back into his inventory, replaced by a sword. An iron one, at that. Didn’t even have diamond, Tommy scoffed. “The compass! It turned! He’s nearby, he has to be!”
His leg was starting to cramp underneath him, jammed in between two branches, and Tommy shifted his weight, trying to relieve some of the stress.
Which, in hindsight, he realized was an absolutely terrible idea. The branch cracked underneath him, and everyone on the ground looked up.
“Frick,” Tommy breathed, and then the branch snapped. He plummeted to the ground, landing hard. He would have immediately gotten up, since the hard landing clearly hadn’t hurt at all, but froze when he found a sword point inches from his throat.
“Who the heck are you?” Sapnap demanded, glaring down at him. Yep, definitely not his Sapnap.
“I’m no one; leave me alone,” Tommy snapped. “Frick off.”
“I have never seen you before in my life,” Sapnap stated. “No one else can get onto this Sever, and you’re clearly not on our side, so —“
“Who says I’m not on your side?” Tommy snarked. “Who’s side am I supposed to be on?”
“No one’s!” Bad protested. “It’s — you’re not supposed to be here at all!”
“He’s on his side, then,” George said, comprehension dawning. He held an axe at his side, and how had George managed to get diamond before Sapnap? “Do we — what — have to kill both of them now? Doesn’t seem fair,” he muttered. “We’re supposed to get more people on our side, not the other way around.”
“I’m sorry, you want to kill me?” Tommy demanded, still on the ground, a chill running down his spine. “What the heck, George?”
“How do you know my name? That’s creepy,” George said, taking half a step back.
“This is weird,” Sapnap decided. “Whatever, I’m just gonna kill him. If he’s actually a new Hunter — well, I promise there’s no hard feelings,” he assured Tommy. “If you’re on our side, you’ll just end up back at spawn, should have a compass and everything. Just get gear and catch up with us.”
“If you’re not on our side,” Bad said, shrugging, “it was nice knowing you, I guess. GG.”
“Hang on!” Tommy protested, jerking back as Sapnap pushed the sword close to him. “I didn’t even — I didn’t do anything!”
“Not yet,” Sapnap said, rolling his eyes. “And, I mean, technically, you might have. Chill, kid. If you’re supposed to be here, you’ll just respawn.”
“And if I’m not?” Tommy demanded, heart pounding. “I just — I’m not — I’m not dying again, I’m not doing that!” He had no idea what the death system was here, but if he still only had one life left — he wasn’t dying, he wasn’t, he wasn’t going back to Limbo.
“Uh, actually, you kind of are,” Sapnap said, shrugging. He raised his sword, and Tommy froze, eyes wide, memories of a bloody prison cell flooding his mind. “We just wanna win,” Sapnap assured him. “It’s not like — personal, or anything. I’ll make it quick, because I’m nice like that.”
“I — I don’t —“ Tommy stammered, at an utter loss for what he was even supposed to do. “Sap, you don’t have to —“
There was a soft shattering noise, and with a flurry of violet particles, a figure appeared directly behind Sapnap. A split second later, a flash of silver, and Sapnap collapsed, his sword falling to the ground.
Tommy immediately scrambled back, staring with wide eyes up at the person who’d just saved his life. It was Dream.
He barely had a moment to register this, before Dream was locked in combat with both George and Bad, both of whom were screaming bloody murder — though it was hard to tell if it was directed at each other or at Dream.
Jolting back to reality, Tommy scrambled to grab Sapnap’s sword, raising it in front of him and backing away. There was no way under Prime he was getting into a fight with Dream, not with no armor and a freaking iron sword.
It wasn’t much of a fight, anyway. Sapnap was already gone, turning into blue particles as he dissolved, and George was killed by Dream not long after. Bad tried to run, but Dream simply switched his axe to a bow, and Bad fell a few moments later.
Which… left Dream and Tommy alone.
Dream started poking through the scattered items left behind by George’s death, occasionally tossing things out from his own inventory to replace them. “Ooh, this is nice,” he muttered, picking up the dropped diamond axe. He turned towards Tommy, who had his back against the tree, sword held out in front of him. Very steadily, Tommy might add; he definitely wasn’t shaking. Definitely wasn’t thinking about how the last time he’d stared down that smile, he had died.
Dream tilted his head, grinning. Grinning. Which was about when Tommy realized he could actually see the lower part of Dream’s face, the mask only covering his eyes and nose. It was weird seeing any part of his face, even weirder seeing Dream. He was supposed to be in prison, not standing here with iron armor on and an axe in hand. But if this was a different version of him, from a different Server… Tommy realized he wasn’t necessarily ‘supposed’ to be locked up. Like the others, he looked the same, but different. Different clothes, different mannerisms. But it was still the same Dream. Still the same man who’d beaten Tommy to death with a potato. Still the same monster.
“That,” Dream said, “was epic.” His grin widened, and he gestured wildly around the hill like an excited five-year-old. “I mean, did you see that? I memed them! They never saw it coming, and I just —! Amazing.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Nice job distracting them, kid. I didn’t mean to use you as like — bait, or whatever, but once they found you….” He shrugged. “I figured I might as well use it to my advantage. Ooh, this is great too,” he added abruptly, picking up the bread from Sapnap’s inventory. “I will definitely use this.”
“What — what do you want?” Tommy demanded, hating how his voice was shaking. “What do you want from me?”
Dream frowned. “Uh, nothing, really. To thank you, I guess. So, thanks.” He stuck his new diamond axe into his inventory. “You’re clearly not a Hunter, because if you were, they wouldn’t’ve been about to kill you. So… you on my side?”
“I — no! I am definitely, absolutely not on your side!” Tommy shouted. “I — I don’t — I don’t even know why I’m here! It was an accident! Just — go away!”
“Are you, what, actually not a part of this?” not-Dream asked, tiling his head and studying Tommy’s face, his expression. “Shoot. Guess not. Um. Okay, then.” He raised a hand, and took off his mask, revealing his face in a smooth motion that made Tommy’s heart jolt. “Nice to meet you, mysterious visitor. I’m Dream. Welcome to the Hunt.”