(background art by MintFlaw (Sandra))
Hapi
I really can't believe in what's happening...
I spend another nights in my library. I was searching through all history books about L'Manberg and everything that was somehow connected with Dream's life. I was looking through all books, looking if there is anything about Hapi, but I found nothing.
I known that people from L'Apple already know about Hapi, they probably know more than me. I was sure that the person who must know more than me is Doc. I really didn't wanted to leave my house, after few more situations when I saw Dream's shadow on a walls...I felt watched, but I had to leave, talk to someone about it.
But as always... it was to late
I took my book and I glitched to find out where is Doc. I found the place pretty quickly but I felt that there is more people. I carefully teleported to the place, a little further from Doc and others to make sure I won't fall at them out of nowhere. I appeared behind one of the trees when I heard Icy's scream. I looked from behind the tree and saw Doc, Ghostie, Mlem, Luna, Icy, Liz, Huzi, Liv and few other people. The problem was... I could tell that Luna and Mlem were not themselves. They were about to fight the others. But the worst part was about to come...
Then I saw that Luna had some kind of button. I could hear Doc quarrel with Mlem while Ghostie tried to keep his children safe.
Then Luna tossed button to 'Mlem' and everyone panicked and started running. Mlem pressed the button and the explosion went off...
I teleported to the safe place in last second, before the place where I was standing blown up. The fire and smoke covered the place, I saw nothing... I could only hear others screams.
I looked around, everything around was destroyed.
When the smoke disappear I could hear Mlem coughing. I teleported a little closer to hear what are they talk about. Then I heard him. Mlem's voice wasn't normal anymore. I could hear Dream speaking. Hearing Dream's voice was truly terrifying. I could see a wide smile on Mlem's face. I freeze in fear. Dream was really here.
Then also Gramm appeared, he standed between Hapis and the rest of people. I could see Mlem's body shaking. It looked like Dream's presence was affecting negatively at Mlem. After a minute I could see Mlem falling to the ground. She seemed herself... for a moment. Mlem turned back to Berry and Luna. She was smiling again...
All of this was terrifying. I looked closer when Hapi were leaving the destroyed place. I looked at them and I could swear that Mlem just looked directly at me and smiled. I panicked and I glitched. I don't know if 'she' saw me or was it just coincidence that she looked at my direction.
I teleported away from the destroyed place to my home and I took my book. I opened it 'cuz I was about to write, but then... I saw him again. The smiling shadow on my wall. I froze in fear, staring at him, hugging my book like it could somehow defend me.
"I'm watching you"
was all I could hear before my body painfully glitched in effect of fear and I lost consciousness.
...
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POVs:
Mlem:
"Well I heard there was a special place... :)"
We had set an ultimatium of seven days. If L'Apple wouldn't surrender on the 15th of March we promised to destroy the country. Hapi was the only way justice could rule and their pathetic little government was getting in the way of that.
They answered "no.", which was expected but still disappointing considering everything could have been so much easier if they had only chosen to be on the right side of history.
It was an on-off of pointless arguments and desperate screams of protecting their children and what not before the button was pressed. After the explosion, chaos broke loose, way worse than before. I was starting to feel dizzy and slipped in and out of conciousness without really controlling it. Whenever I would blackout, a shadow stepped into control of my mind and I could only hear it echo in my brain. The shadow claimed to be Dream and he spoke to everyone, posing clear threats and demands. Unfortunately, they wouldn't listen to him either, insulting hapi and calling it a "parasite". How could something as amazing as a smile be parasitic?
He spoke of chaos and of government before L'Apple attacked with a "holy vector". Immediately, I could feel Dream start to crumble under the pressure, coughing up blood and weakening my body. I fell to the ground.
You know people have told me before that hapi would harm me, kill us all, that we were doomed from the second hapi first appeared in our ranks. Well I don't know if it was because Dream was controlling my mind and emotions in that moment but when his shadow left, hapi felt like the purest thing I had ever experienced. Waves of euphoria even through the dirt and ruins of L'Apple. I realized that I had been right all the time.
Hapi was the only home I needed.
Luna:
The time has come. Last week, we made a deal. They join hapi, or L'Apple is gone. Now, Mlem and me are getting ready to head out. Hopefully they'll join, otherwise we'd have to say goodbye to L'Apple. And it'd be a shame, Dream still has use for it. So a no would be very bad.
...
No.
They said no. Those motherf*ckers said no. Can't they see it? Hapi is the answer, it'll rid them of their faults! But to each their own, I guess they just want death. And we'll deliver :)
...
So what happened in the end? We blew up a cave that had children inside, Dream managed to take over mlem's body. We were surrounded, the 2 of us were not enough. Mlem even got almost cured! But luckily there was no cure, so she was hapi again very fast :)
But this whole incident left me thinking: was I really like him? I-I couldn't be, I mean, he was insane, he did it to himself, there's no way I'd go down the same path, right? L'Appe would stand for long, r-right? :)
Doc:
Ah yes, March 15th. Seems to me sixteen in the continent of Orchadia is the day before. But this day was bad news, as is the 15th of every month. I'm simply not going to sugar coat my point of view with fancy words because I'm a bit of a poet and I like to do it. Personally this is trauma to my character, however events to come will make this pile like child's play. To put it midly, the Cult of Somnium Morbus, more widely know as The Hapi, made their return in our story once again. This time was different. We confronted them. History seemed as if it was on the opposite side of history with Hapi. Earth history, yes, but not galactic history. The Hapi were threatening to hurt Ghostie's children, Lizard and Icy. But of course I knew of an Earth story from an island of the European mainland.
Luna has grabbed onto Icy's shoulder while Starry was trying to break Icy free. Icy was screaming in pain as Luna had dug her hand into the shoulder. I ran at Luna and dived at her. I pinned her down. Luna broke free and retreated the safety of the hapi lines.
"Ohohoho, hapi don't learn do they," I say. "Are you forgetting what love is all about?"
They said they only love hapi.
Then I thought for a moment Oh, so does parental protection not apply to then?
I knew that if they attempted to hurt either one of the children, Ghostie would lose his shit. Personally I've never seen Ghostie lose his shit, but now was probably a time when he did.
Just then, something happened which changed history drastically.
Mlem, who I'd say was the leader of that particular Hapi army, did something so big, not even history was going to save us.
"So, tell me Mlem, do you have anyone you love here?" I say, standing her off. But Mlem's voice didn't answer the way it was meant to, with her voice. There was a masculine voice accompanying her voice as she spoke. Ghostie was standing behind, calling my name.
"What is it?" I turn to go to Ghostie.
"That's not Mlem" He said shakily.
"The ghost figured it out" Mlem, or rather, the masculine voice said, now fully exposed without Mlems voice. I recognised the voice immediately.
"That's not possible," I say, turning slowly to Mlem "That's not fucking possible".
"It is" Ghostie said.
Dream. He had made it all the way here.
"I damn hope he hasn't come for what I think he has come for," I say, knowing the discs were in my possession, in The Hideout.
"Dream," I say, making everyone around us have a sharp intake of breath. Starry managed to get the children away.
Yeah, I was fucked. But trust me, it got so much worse.
They had a button primed.
"Oh no you don't," I say. "I KNOW THE STORY, DREAM, OF L'MANBERG"
"Then if you wish to stay alive you must join hapi," Dream says, making Mlem smile to the point there was a thin line of blood in the shape of a curve.
"Hmm, yeah, no," I say.
"What?" Dream replied.
"Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and I think history has repeated enough here. I'm seeing that you don't care about history except when you write or you're on the right side of it" I say.
Dream stares at me.
"We will be back. And we will flatten this place"
"If it goes down then I'll have the pleasure to go down with it, even if that doing you day is by my own hand" I bite back.
Lizard Crimson:
I was in the house with my sister Icy while Ghostie, Doc, and the others walked into the battle field. I heard the singing of our national anthem and went outside with Icy to see. We neared the battle field to find that Luna and Mlem were standing alone against all of us. Except.... Mlem didn't look herself... Mlem looked greener and a big wide smile was plastered on her face.
Icy and I were both found and as Mlem neared closer, we tried running away, but Icy's leg was broken from a previous incident. Mlem laughed and tossed a button to Luna. The button must have been a big deal because everyone started yelling and shouting about putting the button down. What was weirder than that was that Luna kept calling Mlem, Dream? What was that all about? Mlem was Mlem and not some bad.... green... smiley face... Mlem had become Dream!
Mlem tried taking me and Icy away, but the others helped our escape. Liv gave me a flamethrower which I got to keep. After giving me the flame thrower, Liv and Huzi called the Holy Vector, blinding us with his holiness. During the confusion, Ghostie took me and Icy away into a cave where we were safe for the time being. This was scary, and we didn't know what was going on in the field. Icy and I escaped the cave and stayed at the river, catching lizards while the madness went down and when we came back..... Mlem was on the ground and blood was everywhere. Both of us, went into the field just as Mlem lifted her head with a smile on her face.
She said something and then I remember nothing......
What happened? What did Mlem say? What went on? Did we survive?