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After Dream escaped prison, he learned that the outside world is a cold, careless place. He knew that already, of course, but it was heavily enhanced by his time in prison.
Birds chirped, carefree and loud. Bugs sang from the ground and fly, peaceful and calm.
It wasn’t fair, in a weird, sad way.
Why did birds, beetles, grasshoppers and animals get to enjoy the world, free of pain?
Sheep, pigs, and cows dutifully ate their food, uncaring of danger. Wolves ate the sheep, cows and pigs, but all of the animals excepted it—knowing they were to die.
The cycle of life. An ecosystem.
People, meanwhile, fought until they were sick, vomiting and starving their bodies until they could no longer function. They harm themselves knowing full well that they may never fully recover.
Why do they do it? For war. For adrenaline. For freedom. For sadistic wants. They are selfish and cruel, knowing when to stop but always pushing boundaries and limits.
However, some humans fight when they have to, they do not like conflict, not all of them. They are a select few.
Dream, too, was resigned to this fate, even if he is a hybrid.
Hybrids are like the animals, monsters, and humans. They breathe like every living thing, but their features, their instincts, their personalities; they are shaped from animals or monsters.
Their morals are designed to resolve conflict or go along with it, sometimes even cause it. They are like people, in a way, but people are selfish, they have desires for themselves only. Not all humans are like this, of course, but most are. Most crave violence.
Monsters are the strangest of the creatures. They thrive on violence, much like some humans, but they only want it. Only a select few monsters who only attack when they have to, and that is because they are descentances from humans—the humans who don’t want to fight but will if necessary.
Dream is one of those hybrids. He is an enderman hybrid. An enderman is a tall, black, skeletal creature with jaws that unhinge and violet eyes that glow. Its skin stretches over its human-like bones, no flesh or muscle, but they are strong and deadly. Do not look one in the eyes—it will not end well.
Endermen have long, floppy ears and even longer, skeletal tails. In rare cases, there are some that are albino with eyes ranging from red to violet. The whole rainbow is included for them, and Dream is one of those albino hybrids.
Albinos usually have weaker immune systems, more skeletal bodies, and are at least a foot shorter than the Normals.
Dream sits outside, his legs pulled to his chest. Tiny bugs nip at his taut, pale, scarred skin. He wonders when Punz, his only ally—a trusted mercanary, someone he’d like to consider his elder sibling—is going to come drop off armour for him.
Punz is also a hybrid of sorts, but one that is extraterrestrial. They are considered an alien. They have long, droopy antennas and wispy, frail tails. Punz specifically has pale skin, blue antenna and a blue tail, which matches their icy eyes. (Punz also goes by they/them pronouns.)
Loud, sharp footsteps alert Dream and he looks up, hoping that Punz is finally here. Instead, a short woman with puffed up hair, sheep horns, sheep ears, nose, and tail that wears a pirate outfit prances up to the door of his home.
Puffy.
Puffy used to be Dream’s mother. She had adopted him when he was around eight and later set sail to sea, but later she came back when he started his server. She used to call him ‘Duckling’ because he followed her around, but after prison and the abuse he put the youngest server member through, Tommy, an avian with parrot wings, she stopped and publicly disowned him.
Two loud, ringing knocks come from Puffy’s fist on the door. “Dream, open up! I want to talk.” She yells, apparently not noticing that Dream isn’t inside his house. (Punz built it for him after they complained that Dream wasn’t safe outside.)
“Come on, please? No harm done in talking!” Puffy says, sighing loudly. She impatiently taps her hoof on the ground.
“I’m over here, Puffy.” Dream says, his voice barely loud enough for Puffy to hear, probably. He lets his tail wrap around his bony wrist, his ears twitching.
Slowly, Puffy turns around. Her eyes widen and she rushes over to him, nearly losing her balance twice. “Dream—”
“Why are you here, Puffy?” Dream keeps his voice cold and collected despite his trembling.
Puffy clamors to the ground, sitting in a criss-cross position. “I wanted to talk to you, baby…” She starts before pausing, her eyes disgustingly sad. “What happened to you, Duckling?” Gently, she reaches out her hand, cupping Dream’s cheek.
“None of your business.”
“I’m you’re mother, Dream; of course it’s my business.”
“You disowned me.”
Pausing, Puffy rubs her thumb across Dream’s cheek, smiling when he doesn’t pull away. “Honey, I didn’t meet that, you know. I was upset because of what you did to Tommy. He didn’t deserve that, baby.”
“I know.” Dream mumbles, shying away from Puffy. “I didn’t deserve what happened to me, either.”
“Okay, Duckling… what did happen, though? You- you’re so thin and you have so many scars.” Puffy pulls Dream closer to her. She lets him rest his head on her chest, his heartbeat reverberating through his skull.
“Q- Quackity tortured me. Sam—” Slowly, he breathes, trying to keep himself from hyperventilating. “Sam allowed it. I- I thought you knew. Q- Quackity told me you knew; he said everyone knew.”
“Oh, Dream… no, no one knew. No one would’ve allowed that to happen.”
“Tommy would’ve.”
Puffy’s eyes widen slightly before she softly shakes her head, weaving her fingers through Dream’s hair. “He wouldn’t have, I promise.”
Dream flinches, trembling a bit worse. Part of him is scared that Puffy will hurt him—smash his head against the ground, maybe. “He hates me.”
“He does,” she agrees gently, “and rightfully so. But Duckling, he hates injustice. He would have a fit if he knew.” She whispers, holding him a bit tighter.
“B- but—”
“No. No buts. You don’t get to talk about people’s asses, Dream.”
Dream laughs, “Seriously? I- I thought we were having a deep conversation.”
“Well, yes, but you mentioned it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he pauses, “Punz is gonna be home soon.”
“Punz?” Puffy asks, sitting up a bit straighter but still holding Dream.
“They’ve been taking care of me. They’ll me mad if- if you’re here.”
“Well, I’m not leaving my baby duckling, so I guess Punz can me mad.”
“Dream? Why’s she here?” Punz says as they enter the perimeter of the house. They walk up to Dream and Puffy, eyes narrowed and their sword unsheathed.
“Puffy didn’t do anything, I promise!” Quickly, Dream sits up, wincing as he pulls on some of his stitches. Immediately, he feels both Puffy and Punz’ comforting hands on his back.
“I know, bud. I can see that, but why is Puffy here?” Punz kneels down, glaring at Puffy.
“He’s my son—”
“You disowned him!”
“You betrayed him!”
“I didn’t! We set it up!”
Dream whimpers, covering his mouth when he hears the sound. Immediately, Puffy and Punz go silent, looking at him. “S- sorry. I- it was too loud.” He whispers.
“Duckling, it’s okay—we’re not upset, I promise.” Puffy says at the same time Punz says, “We’re not mad. You didn’t do anything wrong.” They glare at each other.
“Puffy, why don’t you stay the night? We can talk in the morning.” Punz reaches out and grabs Dream’s hand as Dream’s tail slithers up their wrist and wraps around it.
“Fine.”
The next day, Dream, Punz, and Puffy all talked (mostly Punz and Puffy).
Later on, Dream realized that, even in the cold, ruthless world, there was warmth, and the warmth of his mother and brother kept him from falling to into the freezing abyss.