Chapter Text

A young woman, many Servers away from the Dream SMP, asked an oracle "Do I have any family left, and will I find them?"

The oracle replied: 

"Beware of the man with the permanent grin,

His voice is gentle but there’s evil within.

His mind is twisted and craving for power,

He will stand before you in your darkest of hours.

He will hold the fates of two living boys,

They are your brothers, to him they’re just toys.

But by the time this foretelling comes to ahead,

One brother will be living, and the other will be dead.

Older brother craves chaos and nothing of less,

Until his body is cradled by The Angel of Death.

And though they will say that his ending was earned,

A book full of secrets could foretell his return.

A Younger brother is one of many great risks,

He craves adventure as he covets two discs.

When one disk is played by the man in the mask,

You will have discovered your brother at last.

So listen, brave soul, do not give to despair,

For one day you’ll find your brother out there.

But there’s a yin to a yang who craves to be whole,

If you are not wary he’ll claim both of your souls.

Keep your mind sharp and guarded and clear,

Keep your words honest and sweet and revered,

Keep your heart pure and selfless and kind,

And what you shall seek you shall find."

A moment of silence passed in the temple. Then the girl said, "Hang on, let me get a pen so I can write that down."

Chapter 1

The Fall of Logestedshire 

“The world’s thy ship and not thy home.”

There were many stereotypes when it came to soulmates.

They're not lovers, no matter what people may say. There was a common rumor that soulmates were a romantic thing, but that was far from the truth. Soulmates were a more power-balanced thing than destined lovers. These people could be any pair - they could be friends, even siblings. 

Dream was one of these people. 

He had known since he was a child. Even before unfortunate circumstances dragged him Servers away from his home. He knew that he was a soulmate, and that there was someone out there who was destined to meet him. He didn’t know who they were or what they looked like, but he knew they were out there.

They never arrived. 

He felt robbed. He was one of the few chosen by the gods for greatness, only for it to be snatched away from him. His soulmate, whoever they were, could've been snatched away to a different Server like he was, or they could’ve died. Dream felt like Achilles, who was born of a goddess but was forced to be a mortal thanks to his human father. He wondered if his soulmate, if still alive, felt the same way. 

So, with a bitter heart and a determined mind, he made his own way to greatness. He discovered an unclaimed Server and made it his own SMP. Its resources helped to finance his family and attract brilliant minds to the Server. He made a kingdom, its name spreading to other Servers like wildfire. 

The Dream SMP. He liked the sound of it.

Unfortunately the Server brought its fair share of trouble. Starting with a certain blond-haired brat.

But sometimes, when there is trouble, there is opportunity. 

***

“If you give L’manburg its independence, I’ll give you both of my discs.”

A moment of silence passed, Dream’s mask silently staring at Tommy. The blonde, beaten and bruised but still fighting, swallowed nervously.

“That’s… a very generous offer.” Dream states. 

Tommy took a deep breath. “Look, all we want is independence. We won’t expand or invade. Our countries can live in peace.”

Dream tilts his head slightly. “Do the others know about this?”

“N-No.”

“Why not?”

“Well…”

“They’ve all given up, haven’t they?” 

Tommy bit the inside of his cheek. 

“But you haven’t.” Dream says, as if making a discovery of some kind. 

“I don’t quit easily, Dream.” Tommy smiles, despite the spiderwebs growing in his stomach. 

“Hmm.” Dream looks away for a moment. “I’ve noticed.”

The masked man looks back at Tommy, extending his hand, a small smile hidden behind his painted one. “Very well, I accept your offer.”

***

Many, many months later…

***

Music had three goals in her life.

The first was to travel the world - to visit every settlement, trek through every biome, taste every food. 

The second was to defend the defenseless. Nothing infuriated her more than to see people abuse others simply because there was no one around to stop them. So she had made it her mission to stop them. She freed slaves, drove lords out of their own plantations, once she even set fire to a corrupted king's castle. Well, it was a small fire, but still.

The third goal was to find her little brother. When she had visited the oracles during her travels, it had been prophesied to her that one day she’d have a happy reunion with him. Yet over five years had passed since then and still nothing. 

She didn’t even know her brother’s name. 

But she also didn’t know her own name, so what did that matter? Music was the name she had given herself when she escaped slavery long ago.

Three goals. Those were the only real things that kept Music going as she traveled, forever separated from wherever she might have once called home. She didn’t have a home, there was no place for her. It was only the world, her mission, and her unnamed brother. 

The world that she was displaced in had certainly changed her. All those lonely nights and long traitorous days seemed to age her somewhat. Her skin was tanned from the sun, hands scarred from searching for food and climbing mountains. Hair, long and frizzled, was tamed in a braid barely held together with twine and ribbon. Her clothes were meant for travel and comfort, but she always wore a small enchanted leather chest plate that could fit under proper armor. It made her feel safer. 

It wasn’t all bad. Music loved the freedom to roam. No one could tell her what to do or where to go. If she wanted to spend a day swimming in a lake looking for geodes for no reason, then gosh darn, she was gonna do it. If she wanted to burgle a Pillager Outpost, she would do it - once the Pillagers had left, of course. If she wanted to tour a city trying food at every restaurant, she was gonna do it. Who cared what people thought of her? All those stuck-ups who looked at her as if she was a street rat could think whatever they darn well pleased. She wasn't going to prove herself to anyone.

So if she wanted to spy on a man in a green hoodie, then you bet she was going to do it.

… At a safe distance, of course.

She had first spotted the isolated settlement from the evergreen tree, as she sat peeking over the forest’s canopy. Or rather, she had seen a single spire of smoke from a campfire curling above the branches. So she perched herself in a birch tree about a hundred blocks away, spying on the strange man through her telescope. She had learned to never directly approach people. You never knew if they would be kind or if they would randomly decide to rob you. He looked healthy enough from the way he walked, he could easily rob her if he wanted to. But he also looked well off. His green hoodie was in good condition and he seemed at ease - perhaps he would have no need to steal from her.

But she had also met people who stole for no urgent reason - she occasionally being one of them. 

In her defense, she only stole if she felt people deserved it, and this person didn’t seem wicked enough. Then again, she hardly knew anything about him, so best not to jump to conclusions either way. 

The green man’s settlement looked very new, and very primitive. Long, stripped logs made a barrier around one area of the settlement, random structures and tents littered around it. The man walked through the opening in the logged barrier, cutting himself from her view. Music gripped the small end of the telescope with her teeth and climbed higher up the tree. Only once she could see inside the barrier did she steady her telescope again. She could only see the tops of some small buildings and the inner wall of the logs, but it was enough for her to make out the top of the green man's head.

It was then she noticed that the green man had a friend.

A very loud friend.

Music could hear the boy’s shouts all the way from where she was perched. She smiled to herself, both pitying the green man’s hearing as well as amused by the boy’s energy. She couldn’t quite see him, the glimpses she could get were red and tan blurs running around the barrier. She knew he was young since he looked slightly smaller than the man and his voice wasn’t fully mature. There were moments when she could even make out full sentences from the kid. 

He had a very foul mouth. 

Music lowered her telescope as she leaned back against the trunk, careful with her footing on the limb she was standing on. Her index finger tapped on the telescope’s glass as she theorized who the two of them could be. A father and son, perhaps? Maybe this was a getaway camp for them? There were tents around, so it was possible. Then again, there didn't seem to be that wide an age gap from their movements and statures. Maybe brothers starting a new life? 

Her muses were briefly interrupted by a distant light-hearted laugh, followed by the boy’s loud wheezing. The man definitely sounded young, too young to be a father to a teenager at least. Brothers, then. Or maybe cousins.

She smiled. They seemed to get along at least. 

Music put her telescope back in her inventory, debating on whether to approach the duo. The growing shadows warned her of nightfall, and the chance to sleep under a roof would be nice. But then again, it would just be the three of them in the wilderness. They could easily rob her and no one would know. She could just ask them for some blankets or firewood in exchange for something in her inventory, then head off somewhere to camp for the night. She closed her eyes and sighed. It would be nice to have a new blanket. 

KA-BOOM!

The vibrations of the explosion made the earth around her tremble and almost shook her out of the tree. Music hugged the trunk as her feet struggled to find footing. Her arms rubbed against the trunk as gravity pulled her down. Only when she was stable did she allow herself to think. Her pounding heart hurt her chest as her legs trembled.

KA-BOOM!

Music almost screamed, gripping the tree tighter. I need to get down. I’ll be thrown out of the tree at this rate. Despite her limb’s protests she inched her way down the tree, jumping on the solid ground. 

She straightened herself, forcing her breaths to even out as she brushed the bark shards out of her clothing. She looked around, not being able to see any signs of an explosion from her position. 

KA-BOOM!

Music ducked down and looked around frantically, trying to pinpoint the source of the chaos. It was coming from the green man’s settlement. She looked up in that direction, her heart skipping a beat when she saw grey pillars of smoke rising in the sky. 

For a moment she debated if this was just men being men. She had encountered plenty of guys who loved blowing stuff up for the sake of doing it, it had kind of become a stereotype in her mind. 

The frantic screams of the boy disproved that theory. 

Music’s feet moved before her mind could scream against it. Thousands of situations raced through her mind. The green man and the boy might be under attack, or something accidentally went off, someone had set a trap for them.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she actually saw. 

She was 30 blocks away before she could see them clearly. For a few seconds she could only stand and gape as she witnessed the green man blowing up his own stuff, the explosions drowning out the frantic cries of the boy trailing behind him. The man ignored him as he continued to place TNT around areas of the settlement and light them with a flaming arrow. He wasn’t even giving the boy any time to move out of the way as the explosion went off. Music quickly ducked behind a fallen log as she watched and trembled. 

Over the course of several minutes everything was destroyed. Silence only came once the settlement had been reduced to craters. It didn’t last long though. She could no longer see the man and the boy from her position, nor could she make out what they were saying - or screaming - other than the boy’s frantic apologies.

Careful not to attract anything’s attention, Music rose from her hiding place and tiptoed through the trees until she could see the two settlers. They were standing next to what was left of the logged barrier, yelling and crying being exchanged between the two of them. The woman’s heart sank when she was finally able to clearly see what the boy looked like. Unlike the man, this kid’s clothes were practically falling apart. His blond hair was tangled and reached past his ears in a shaggy manner. She had a clear view of his dirty face now streaked with tears.

Music slumped down in her new hiding spot, torn between running over to help the boy and hiding from the pyromaniac. She cursed herself for misreading the situation as just some guys hanging out, but in her defense - who could have seen this coming?

It soon became quiet as the boy’s shouted apologies turned to soft pleading. Music held her breath as she watched the boy’s hopeless expression. He said something to the man, his eyes begging, but the man only looked away and gave an answer with a halfhearted shrug. The boy’s face fell as Music’s jaw dropped. 

And with that the man left. Turned on his heel and sprinted off the ruined settlement before flying away on a tritant. Music looked at the direction he disappeared in before returning her gaze to the boy— who only stood there, staring where his companion had vanished. 

Ever so quietly Music stood up, creeping her way up the branches of a nearby tree to get a clearer view to where the man had gone, barely able to see a distant flash of cyan light fly through the sky some 300 blocks away before it disappeared from her field of vision. Deeming the situation now safe, Music climbed down the tree and inhaled deeply. Mustering up what courage she could, she carefully made her way back to the site. 

She stepped out of the woodsy area onto the plains, feeling vulnerable now that she was out in the open. Checking the sky one more time to make sure he was gone, Music sprinted into the settlement - or what it used to be. The smoking ground and the bitter smell of TNT made her eyes water and her throat dry. 

The boy hadn’t moved from his spot. He had collapsed in the dirt, staring at the ruins of his home with a thousand-block stare. His gray eyes were glassy and his mouth hung open slightly. 

Music’s heart ached at the sight. Her feet felt like iron as she slowly approached him like one approached a frightened animal. Even when she was only four blocks away he didn’t seem to notice her. Very carefully she knelt down on the ground in front of the kid, the two of them now on a level with each other.

“Hello?” She asked in the gentlest voice she could make.

The boy's head snapped in her direction like a startled rabbit, his dull eyes widening in surprise. He quickly scrambled to his feet and back away a step, wiping his runny nose on his dirty shirt collar.

Music forced herself to stay relaxed. Not standing up or making any effort to move closer, she said, “What’s your name?”

The boy swallowed, eyes wide. He opened his mouth.

“Who the fuck are you?!”

Music tried not to cringe. Not exactly the response she was expecting. The kid still had some fight left in him, apparently. 

“Well,” She breathed, getting up slowly so as not to spook him, “My name is Music. And you are?”

“Tommy. Tommy Innit.” He bit out, struggling to hide the tremble in his voice as he moved a step away from her.

“Well Tommy,” Music said with a smile, “Can I offer you a drink?”