[Discontinued] The Next Dream (A Dream SMP AU Fanfic)

Chapter 2: Red Flowers

Tommy arrives back at the Innit Hotel construction site, bringing Tubbo along who he met up along the way of him collecting eight stacks of spruce wood for Sam Nook.

After giving Tommy and Tubbo a short tour around the unfinished hotel, Sam Nook asks in his NPC-like sound effect, "DO YOU THINK THAT YOU COULD DO ANOTHER THING FOR ME..."

Tommy answered with a slightly annoyed tone, "Yes, yes, I can do another thing for you. I'm sor- I'm sorry I lost it, it just feels like I'm doing all the work for you all the time, always."

Sam Nook explains, "WE REALIZED THAT WE GATHERED WAY TOO LITTLE RED DYE..."

Tommy groaned tiredly, "Red dye?! Aww, you want me to go flower picking."

Sam Nook asks for a favor, "DO YOU THINK YOU COULD BRING US AT LEAST 2 MORE STACKS OF RED DYE..."

Tommy just decided to go along with it and comply, "Okay. You know what, that's easy, that's easy. I'll be on it, I'll be on my way."

Sam Nook thanked Tommy politely, "THANKS, TOMMYINNIT..."

Tommy then leaves the construction site, going towards the land just beside Skeppy's mansion. "Thanks, man."

Tubbo tags along behind Tommy and offers, "You know I actually have a thing for gathering red flowers-"

Tommy seemed to ignore him as he launched himself to the sky using the trident he took from Dream.

"Wh- where are you going??" Tubbo asked in confusion as he watched Tommy fly away.

"Getting flowers." Tommy answers in a quiet and casual tone.

"Yeah, but we can use the machine-!" Tubbo tries to chase after him but he doesn't have a trident so he is falling far behind.

Tommy stops by Pandora's Vault's entrance, hoping to scour the grassy ground for any red flowers.

He takes a glance inside the entrance, and that's when he saw... him, exiting the Nether Portal.

BadBoyHalo.

Tommy remembered what happened with Bad.

Tommy was about to run away, hoping Bad hasn't noticed him.

"Hey, Tommy!" Tommy heard a familiar, bright tone of voice.

Too late.

Tommy stopped his tracks and looks at Bad.

He looks like his usual self with his usual red-black color scheme.

"Hey, Bad..." Tommy greets nervously.

What could he possibly expect? Last time they spoke, Bad was furious at the fact Tommy is completely immune to that thing.

However, Bad just simply asked, and caught Tommy off-guard, "How are you?"

Tommy seemed reluctant. Why is Bad treating him like the usual?

Tommy decided to just answer, "I'm alright, just running a couple of errands, I guess."

Bad asks out of curiosity, "For your hotel, right?"

Tommy replied as if he was normally talking to Bad, "Yeah, yeah. B*tch."

Bad immediately snapped at Tommy when he swore, "HEY! Language!"

"Whatever." Tommy scoffed, slightly in a better mood now that Bad is kind of acting like his usual self.

But then again, he has always been too good for acting.

Bad then asked, "How's your hotel, by the way, like, is the construction going smoothly right now?"

Tommy shrugs, feeling a little tense, "Yeah, I think so."

At this point, Tommy is really confused about this conversation.

Bad is acting like last Sunday never happened. Why?

Was that just a figment of Tommy's imagination? Was that whole ordeal with Bad and Ant just merely fake?

No, it must have been real.

The both of them heard someone panting.

Right, Tubbo doesn't have a trident, so he ran all the way here.

"Oh, hello, Tubbo." Bad greeted with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Bad..." Tubbo tries to act normal, even though what happened last Sunday...

Bad asks in slight concern, "Why are you wearing such stuffy clothes here, isn't it hot?"

"I'm used to it." Tubbo huffs tiredly.

"Bro, you're literally sweating." Tommy grimaces, pointing out Tubbo's appearance after running here.

"It's absolutely fine!" Tubbo insists, even though he clearly looks a bit hot.

Tommy then realizes. If Bad came out of the Nether Portal in the prison's entrance, then that means...

"Bad, did you... visit Dream recently?" Tommy asks, putting the pieces together.

Bad turned his attention to Tommy and said with honesty, "Hmm? Oh, yeah, I did."

Tommy suddenly remembered.

"Aww, f**k! I forgot to visit Dream last Sunday!" Tommy exclaims in realization.

"Language!!" Bad snapped again at Tommy's swearing. Then he calmed down and sighed, "He's done with the homework you gave him, by the way. He's really waiting for you to visit."

"Really?" Tommy asks in disbelief, doubting that Dream had actually finished all five novels and 15 pages each. Dream must have really wanted Tommy's forgiveness. "In that case, I'll go visit him again after I finish up with the task Sam gave me."

Bad nodded, having not much to say, "Alright."

Tommy then realized that Bad is alone. Usually he'd be with Ant.

"Where's Ant, by the way?" Tommy asks out of curiosity.

"Oh, he's fine. I'm actually gonna go and meet up with him now right by my house." Bad answered, mentioning that Ant had to talk to him.

"Alright? Well, I'll see you later, Bad!" Tommy flies away with his trident, sounding suspicious of Bad.

"Wha- Tommy, wait for me!" Tubbo yells and chases after him.

"Bye, guys!" Bad waved at them as they left.

Once the duo are out of sight, Bad uses his own trident to get back to his and Skeppy's mansion, which is just nearby.

Bad spots AntFrost waiting by the doorway.

"Hey, Ant! Sorry I took so long, there's a lot of security measures." Bad apologizes awkwardly.

"It's okay. Anyways, I just wanted to make sure you planted it in his cell, did you?" Ant forgave him and changed the subject.

Bad answers confidently, "Yup! And since I memorized the ins and outs of Pandora's Vault, we have all the necessary information we need!"

"Good, good." Ant smiles, seeming satisfied.

Bad giggles and grins, "Oh, this is going to be so epic, Ant! Can you feel it?"

Ant grins as well and answers, "Yes, I can, Bad."

Bad cackles menacingly, "I can't wait! Before they'll know it, the Eggpire will conquer Dream SMP!"