How the world works

18

"I have Tommy. And Tubbo, and Sapnap, and Purpled, and Punz, and Skeppy,  and Philza. All I need is Ponk, Techno and Puffy. Then I'll have completed my collection of P's and T's." Dream notes as if he were talking about trading cards. 

With Techno reluctantly helping, the group suddenly felt very overpowering. They simply couldn't win this fight. Dream forced everyone to empty their pockets, and eventually forced Techno to as well. Then he began to head to a blank wall. A hidden button caused it to open and reveal a long hallway with about 30 cells in it. Already there are about a third of them full. 

Using a different password for each door as well as a keyboard, Dream began putting people in their cells. Puffy in one right by the door, decorated to look like a sinking ship on a stormy ocean. Quackity in one that appeared to be solid gold, but when he fell to the ground after being thrown in, it peeled away. The flakes cover his hands and knees, not coming off. He panics for some reason when this happens and he begins to become covered in gold flake, causing the panic to escalate.  One by one, the group moves farther into the hallway. Eventually, they reach Phil's cell and Techno runs to it.

"Phil! Phil, are you alright??" He Yells, pounding the glass to reach his friend's attention. But Phil is in a daze and looks sickly. Though awake, he looks near death. His skin is pale and plastered with sweat. He's shivering as if he were in the arctic, but he lives in the arctic and never shivered before. Not like this. His eyes take a full 6 seconds to even focus on his friend. 

"T-techno? Mate, what are you doing here? You can't...." He trails off as his eyelids flutter shut. The effort causes him to turn ever so slightly and everyone solemnly witnesses the cause of his state. His wing is very infected. Nasty and covered in puss.

"No..." Foolish murmurs. Purpled speaks up from his cell 

"He's been getting worse since he got here. He needs a doctor, Ponk. He needs you." Purpled insists. Ponks not doing too well himself. He too, looks pale and sickly because he's losing a lot of blood. Dream sighs. 

"I'll take care of him after. Move." He kicks Niki towards the next empty cell, decorated to look like the inside of an oven, as if you're being baked alive. 

"D-dream? What's going on?" Comes a voice. Everyone turns to look. George?

"George, I'm taking care of things. Go back, where it's safe." Dreams' voice shows the first signs of panic for the first time since this whole encounter began.

"No, Dream. This isn't right." George insists, walking forward. 

"George, not now. Back the fuck up and go!" Dream is yelling now, but George still walks forward. 

"You're not the bad guy Dream. You're not a bad guy. Don't be the villain." George begs. Everyone watches, soaking in the drama. Techno is trying not to smile as chat begins to spam. Finally, he has to submit to the voices.

"Your one weakness, Dream, a random British dude." Techno laughs. Dream waves the switch around like a maniac, a crazed look in his eye.

"I'm not the villain, George. I'm fixing things." Dream insists. George takes off his glasses, tears waterfalling down his cheeks are now visible. Dream feels his control slipping. 

"Look around, Dream. Even I can see it. Please." George continues. Dream begins breathing really hard and strikes out in pure rage at the nearest person, Eret. His sword plunges into flesh and Dream breathes in again, feeling better already. He's in control here. He opens his eyes to see what he had done.

Grasping the sword, crying, bleeding. It's George. He looks up at Dream and the world goes still. George smiles and reaches up to caress Dream's hair. He begins to disintegrate into spores of light. Before he is gone completely, he quickly unlatches Dreams mask. It tumbles to the floor, along with a pair of oversized glasses. Dream looks at his sword, sitting in midair as if he had merely pointed it somewhere. He's…. He's gone. George lost a life.

With a scream of rage, he looks over his shoulder and everyone sees it. His face. His wild eyes and his hatred penetrates their very souls. Now, he truly has nothing to lose.

He kicks Niki again in the direction of her cell.

"I will kill every last one of you! You're dead! Step out of linez I dare you!" He's truly lost it now, if he ever had it to begin with. Spit flies everywhere as he screams.

When Niki reaches the door to her cell, Dream feels a sharp piercing and looks down to see a netherite sword sticking out of his chest.

"Sic Semper Tyrannis, Asshole." Techno hisses in his ear. Dream looks down again, and begins to laugh. He laughs and laughs, blood beginning to drip from his mouth 

"Say goodbye, then." He responds, and drops the remote. Before it even hits the ground, the ceilings open above each cell. No one has time for Dream now. Techno drops him and leaves him to bleed out on the floor. No one cares. Not even Dream. 

Niki Screams as she tries to free Puffy, both afraid. 

"SOMEONE HELP!" Skeppy calls from his cell.

"Help!! Help me! P H I L L L L L !!!" Screams Tommy from his cell.

"Someone!" Quackity cries out from his, slipping in the gold flake around him, unable to assist in his own escape. 

Everyone is yelling, panicking. What do they do? Well, at least that part is easy.

They all run to pull their friends and even their enemies from certain death. A symphony of shattering glass and relief as friends and family are once again reunited. 

Techno shatters the glass with two hits and rushes to free Phil from the shackles before the lava can descend. Quickly abandoning any delicacy, he chops the chains with his sword, shattering both in the process. He drags Phil from the cell just as everyone else seems to be leaving theirs. Quackity, Purpled, Punz, Puffy, Skeppy,  Sapnap. But there's two missing. 

Techno looks down the hall just in time to see Tubbo pulled from his cell, unconscious. But where's Tommy? There's only one option. Gently but swiftly handing Phil to Ponk, he runs for the end. This cell has no glass and no way in but the door. He tries to open it. But a keyboard, a password, and a fingerprint are all required. 

"No no no no noo," Murmurs Puffy until she begins to shout.

"No! TOMMY? Are you in there?" She calls through the door. She touches the iron door and pulls away, burnt. The door is hot. That means behind it is... no. They've come too far. It can't be true. . .

Tubbo stirs as Quackity coaxes a healing potion into him. He wakes up to the screaming and yelling just in time to see the door come down and Lava pours out. 

"What did you do?" Tubbo asks weakly. At first it simply sounds like a question, but once they all see what he was looking at, it turns to sound like an accusation. Floating in the lava is a Nokia 3310 mobile phone. Tommy always has it on him, it's his chat. Which means....

TommyInnit tried to swim in Lava