Behind The Screen | dreamwastaken

Chapter 17 : Shattered Pieces forms into One

Trigger Warnings : Mentions of Suicide, Blood and Mentions of Self-Harm, Physical Abuse , Blood , Mentions of Violence and Character Death

Hi, Symphony here just for a little talk! So you might know that I've thought about having Light, which is my editor, write this chapter.

But in the end, I ended up writing the whole thing myself alongside the sore arm and the exhaustion from the vaccine.

So I apologize if the writing is sloppy and filled with grammatical errors since I am still very tired.

Thank you so so much for 10K and 11K!!! What a crazy journey this has been...

Nighttime had quickly turned into daytime, before Dream can even tuck himself in bed and fall asleep. He was being kept up, wide awake by the shocking events of yesterday; the lost of MCC and his sudden resignation of being a content creator.

The matter didn't even hit him until he was lying in the bed after the whole commotion reflecting on what he had just said to his fans and haters, that he was standing in a position of no return. He had made his final decision of quitting and there's nothing else he can do to reverse the process back. After all, his haters would definitely call him as a liar if he comes back the next day and act all innocent like nothing had ever happened.

However, he didn't need to worry about those kinds of comments any further, it will all just be a painful part of the past and soon... it will no longer exist in Dream's life. He will just have to patiently wait for his life story to unfold and end its long journey.

The next morning, Dream didn't wake up from the soft golden sunshine, poking at him slightly through his blinds. Instead, he was woken up or should he say disturbed by the roaring sound of thunder and rain. Dream rubbed his eyes groggily and tiredly, as he gets up and dreamily stumbles to his window.

The world looked grey, almost as if all of its colors were extracted out. The image shone nothing more but gloominess, just like his mental state and his whole life. The blue cerulean sky was completely covered by numerous layers of storm clouds, creating a barrier between the world and the sunny cheerful weather above.

Dream sighed depressively as he made a mental comparison of himself and the world outside; once so cheerful and bright before all of it darkens, and it becomes rainy and miserable. It seemed that the world was practically mimicking his emotions, probably teasing about it too since that is what a cruel planet would do to a human on the verge of breaking.

The blonde glanced at the alarm clock on his nightstand with half opened sleepy eyes, it was 7 in the morning. Time didn't matter to Dream, definitely not when he got less than half an hour of sleep, restraining his body from healing all of the wounds and  what seemed like thousands of diseases, he was carrying with him.

Dream let out a long yawn before deciding to head downstairs and brew himself some more coffee again. Downstairs, he was surprised to see no one present or active; he was at least expecting Bad to be up and about before he would, but apparently he wasn't.

All forlorn in silence, he walks over to the coffee machine to make the device start up its only function. Quickly, the kitchen was once again met with the fragrance of coffee; the smell travelling to all parts of the house downstairs.

Dream just noticed that for the last few days, he didn't even gag upon on the smell of coffee and usually he doesn't even drink coffee in the morning, but here he was, drinking away his supposedly least favorite beverage with no urge of vomiting whatsoever.

"Morning, Dream." a voice popped up from behind him, and even more unexpected it wasn't Bad's voice. It was someone else's voice, and that someone was someone that Dream didn't even think can wake up this early.

"George? Why are you up so early?" Dream asked, baffled by the British sleeping beauty's appearance at the crack of dawn. Not that it was wrong of him for waking up so early, it was just not something you see everyday.

"I can ask the same to you." George replied, pushing Dream to the side before grabbing a mug and putting it underneath the coffee machine. The blonde Floridian stared confusedly at his British best friend, and with close observation he notices something on George's expression that was out of the ordinary.

His eyes were bloodshot red, and he looks extremely tired almost like he didn't get any sleep last night. That worried Dream, the fact that he could've potentially made someone wide awake and unable to go to sleep in his house was unacceptable.

The familiar sensation of guilt came crawling back in, the feeling dug itself into Dream's heart as his expression darkens in shame.

"George... did you sleep well last night?" Dream questioned, his voice was soft and rather timid to utter out anything. George looked back at Dream, smiling weakly before answering honestly by shaking his head, signalling a no.

"I didn't Dream. I was really in a state of disbelief when I heard you were quitting, I chimed in on your Discord podcast and was beyond shocked when you were yelling and ranting about your stans and haters before quitting and saying your final goodbye to the community." George explained in one long paragraph, as he takes a sip of his coffee. His eyes seemed to brighten and come back to life upon the effects of caffeine.

Dream let his head get pushed down by the natural force of gravity, so he did caused George to can't sleep. Great. He was provided with even more blades of reasons to stab himself with, just the thing he wanted for Christmas wasn't it?

"I'm sorry.. George." Dream apologized quietly, taking a big gulp of his coffee from the mug that he has been holding. George's face contorted into a mild surprise, he was taken aback by how Dream sounded. His voice screamed out emotional vulnerability in which signified that his mentality was really fragile.

"Dream... are you fine?" George asked worriedly, putting the mug down before sitting down on one of the kitchen stools. Dream was anything but ready to answer a question like that this early on in the morning, why did George even asked that kind of question.?Surely not that he... was catching on?

"I'm fine George, I don't why all of you keep on asking me these questions." Dream lied, chuckling softly after the sentence. "Because you don't look nor sound fine." George reasoned, the Brit ruffling his hair for a bit.

" Now that's just rude George." Dream retaliated, coming with excuses at the top of his head. He didn't want anyone else to catch on or know what he's going through even though about 6 people here already know that but it doesn't mean that he wouldn't try and stop the last 2 from figuring it all out. After all, when he really dies then maybe he would tell them all about it using his voice when he was still alive.

"What? No seriously, you don't sound fine! I think Bad or anyone can even agree with that!" George fought back also, not letting down his claims. George knew he was speaking the truth and was getting onto something. He wasn't going to stop or back down until he hears everything that he wants to hear from Dream.

"Yeah Dream I agree with George, there is definitely something wrong with you." a new voice appeared from the stairs, speaking up before Dream can even reply back to George. Bad had finally came downstairs after an unusual late wake up. Dream's eyes widened and dilated back and forth between the two individuals in fear, he knew what they were doing. They are trying cornering him into blurting out his secrets and suicidal intentions.

"I'm really fine! Bad I know you have seen a thing or two and George I know you have heard some stuff but for real its not as bad as it seems!" Dream tried to lower down the stress that was rising immensely in his body, not to forget that he still had stage 2 hypertension for the last week.

Bad's face turned into a darkened frown, how is Dream saying that all of the things he's going through is normal? He even saw his cut wounds on his wrist yesterday for goodness sake and Dream still says that he's okay?!

"Dream.. you don't need to lie.. it's okay to not be okay." Bad gently said, putting a hand on his should reassuringly. The action made Dream lower his guard down for a brief moment before he had to instinctively pull it back up, he knew that they were trying to get him to admit that he wasn't okay and that he needed some professional help.

Dream didn't want professional help, how was a therapist going to make him feel better when Jake is still around? They will probably going to prescribe some more medicine for him and provide him just a couple hours of talking before calling it a day. Then after that he will just go back to being his miserable self.

"Well I don't have to lie because I'm really okay!" Dream faked out a smile as he talked, he hoped that at least they would give up for now and leave hin alone, giving him some space to breathe.

Bad sighed exhaustedly before nodding in defeat and removing his hand off from Dream's shoulder. He was really struggling to deal with the blonde's stubbornness of admitting that he was anything but well. He wanted to help him but how is he or the support team going to help when Dream is being uncooperative?

Dream watches as Bad and George head into the kitchen with disappointment painted on their faces; he didn't want to lie, it was just that he didn't want them to care when he kills himself. It would make his soul rest easier, rather than having them find out and make him feel even more guilty for it.

He already was carrying a load of guilt on his shoulders, he would rather be handling the amount that he currently has than adding more to it.

"Sorry Bad... George.." Dream whispered underneath his breath as he watches the both of them bringing out the kitchen appliances once again and like usual Dream couldn't help but to follow and budge in, assisting them in cooking. It would make him feel less guilty like he always say and like Bad always say, the more the merrier.

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Sapnap was up scrolling through his phone, he was alarmed surprisingly not by the sound of the roaring thunder outside and the pouring rain; instead he was shot awake by numerous notifications going off on his phone at once. Truth be told, everyone's phone has been blowing up ever since last night, and Sapnap can only assume its about Dream's sudden announcement of quitting being a content creator.

His phone, George's and Bad's were the most annoying though as they were the closest friends to Dream, so the fans are probably spamming to them about why Dream is quitting. Sapnap remembered clearly what Dream had said last night and those words haven't left his head since then.

He can even still hear Dream's voice, the burning anger and disappointment that was lingering and laced in his friend's voice was terrifying. He had never seen this side of Dream before, despite being childhood friends for the past 8 years.

Right now, he was currently scrolling through his timeline and the tweets he saw all revolved around a common popular theme: Dream Quitting.

# DreamQUITS was trending in #1 in America, hundred thousands of tweets were concerning over this specific topic and Sapnap wasn't surprised, Dream was a big influencer that brought thousands of players back into the legendary game called Minecraft. So it wasn't a big shock when everyone was taken by storm when Dream suddenly calls it quits out of a fit of frustration.

Most of the tweets were stans and fans saying that they were sorry to Dream, and the rest were just generally talking about the situation, even antis that Sapnap was familiar with were talking normally about it and not just completely shredding his friend into pieces with piles of shit. Although there was still a tiny cluster of people that still joked about the resignation and how they were happy that Dream was quitting saying how he ruined Minecraft.

Sapnap tapped report on those tweets without even giving it a thought, this was not a joking matter. Being a content creator was Dream's whole career, and Sapnap had the urge to talk to him and convince him to get back in the world of the media.

He didn't want to do it. He NEEDED to do it.

After having a quick cold shower, he dresses up in Dream's white merch hoodie and blue jeans before rushing downstairs to find Dream.

"Dream!" Sapnap called, yelling at the top of his lungs for his friend, who peeks his head out from the sudden summoning.

"You called?" Dream muttered questioningly, running his hands through his dirty blonde hair to adjust the look and style of it.

"Yeah. So.. about last night." Sapnap felt a bit intimidated as he began to start his sentence, he experiences immense pressure and tension underneath the heavy gaze of Dream.

Speaking of Dream, his face instantly switched expressions alongside his emotions from a fake cheery smile to a realistic frowning exhausted face. Out of all topics, he should've known that this would be the talk of the town especially for today when the thing is still recent and hot.

"Yeah.." Dream groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in stress. The day was already descending into the bad category and its only just late in the morning. "I did what I did.. what about it?" he nonchalantly asks back as if he didn't just end his own career short by himself, just like his life that he would be doing eventually.

Sapnap was taken aback by how chill Dream was, about the whole debacle. How can someone be so chill about such a predicament?

This was his career wasn't it? Why was he so chill about cutting it short?

"What do you mean dude?!" Sapnap exclaimed in disbelief, eyes enlarged to the size of saucers. "You can't just quit like that!" the Texan boy argued, crossing his arms trying his best to be disappointed.

"Why not? Its my channel..." Dream replied, tilting his head, feigning confusion. "Furthermore, no one likes me anyways..." was quickly added after, in which shocked Sapnap even further.

He didn't think Dream would think of himself like this, an unlikeable person.

"If no one likes you, then can I ask how you got 27 million subscribers?" Sapnap fired back to Dream.

"They did for the content not the creator." Dream answered sternly, glaring at his friend who was now shivering underneath the malice of his voice.

"What about your stans dude? You know they love you to bits. Well although some are admittedly out of control, but still." Sapnap was already starting to run out of reasons for Dream to continue making content, and the hope he had for success was already significantly fraying.

"Some?" Dream said, before cackling uncontrollably like a certified maniac and insane person. The laugh wasn't cheerful either, it came out as rather bitter.

"They don't even listen to me! Simple commands like don't send hate, they can't even follow! What the fuck am I supposed to do then?" Dream lashed out in anger, the emotions that he has been bottling in was starting to overflow, after 3 whole months of putting up with the whole Jake problem.

Sapnap jumped in the sudden raise of volume, he wasn't expecting for Dream to explode out of the blue. He was just trying to convince him to not give up with his YouTube career but he didn't mean to pop his bubble of patience.

"Sorry..." Dream quickly apologized, after a moment of realization dawned on him. He had just yelled at his friend again, like he did with Bad a week ago on a phone call.

'Fuck.' Dream cursed, why can't he ever control his temper and tone? Every time things go wrong than it needs to be and that's all because of him. No wonder his friends would probably see Jake better than him.

Dream was now back to his old dark self like he was a few days ago. Convinced that Jake was better than him, like his friends said 3 months ago and today he was beginning to see why.

Jake probably doesn't take his anger out on his friends and here he was doing things that the better version of him doesn't do.

"No I should be sorry Dream." Sapnap corrected, his face forming into a sad frown. "I just wanted to make sure that this is what you really want. I should respect your decision, Dream and no need to feel bad; I understand your frustration.." Sapnap said, putting his hand on Dream's gently. He smiled reassuringly, in an attempt to make Dream calm down his self-blame.

If Dream knew himself any better, he will know that whenever people tell him not to blame himself for something; it was guaranteed that he will definitely blame himself afterwards.

And all that he can do is to lie about not blaming himself afterwards, and that's exactly what Dream did to Sapnap to brush him off of his shoulders.

Sapnap, although a bit skeptical, took Dream's word. Even if he blames himself secretly afterwards, he will still help his friend until the same old Dream comes back and only death can stop that from happening.

"Breakfast is ready!" Bad shouted from the other side of the room, loud enough to reach the ears of Dream and Sapnap.

"Cmon lets go eat!" Sapnap energetically dragged his blonde depressed friend to the dining table, where George, Bad and their plates of food were waiting for them.

"Dude I never thought Dream's food would be this dope! This is ten times better than my food back in Texas." Sapnap complimented, taking in the wonderful mouthwatering fragrance before taking a huge chunk out of a piece of toast.

"Learn to cook then." George silently replied with sass laced in his words. The whole table was silent before bursting into laughter even Dream let out a small giggle.

Sapnap's face reddens in embarrassment before deciding to fling a soft boiled egg across the table. The egg bounced off George's forehead, leaving a water drop of the egg's condensation drizzling down his face.

"Thanks for the food idiot." George held the egg up before popping the whole egg into his mouth. Luckily his mouth was pretty wide so the whole egg can be inserted into his mouth no problem although very dangerous when it comes to choking.

"George! Why did you put the whole thing in?!" Bad worriedly scolded, trying to pry the Brit's mouth open to get the egg out. George tried his best not to laugh or either that he will have a risk of choking on the egg.

"George, I didn't think you like to swallow it whole ;) " Sapnap blurted with a smirk on his face which normally indicates that a s3x joke has been made.

"What is wrong with you?" Dream asked, trying to muffle out his laughing. He didn't deserve to laugh, he didn't want to get attached before he dies although he couldn't help to spend his last days of his life as a happy boy.

"What did I just hear about someone swallowing?!" the chipper energetic laughing voice of Tommy came rushing down the stairs, with Tubbo, Techno, Niki and Wilbur joining the 4 muffinteers at the dining room. Dream was even more pleased when he notices that Jake wasn't here yet and once again he was taken away by the warmth of company. He felt nostalgic, reminiscing about those days where he would laugh and laugh hours on end with his friend in front of a computer screen.

Today it was one of those rare short moments where he can be with everyone and actually have a genuine conversation for o-

"GOOD MORNING!"

Maybe not this time though...

Dream bit his tongue tightly as he attempt to refrain from pounding his fists on the dining table in a fit of frustration. Just when he thought he was free to take in the moment, Jake had to come in at the worst possible time and ruin it all.

Instantly, Dream lost his appetite for breakfast, not that he wanted to eat it in the first place. He gets up from the dining table, scooping his food into Sapnap's plate without ever saying a word before quickly disappearing upstairs. The rest watched at the blonde's retreating back, some in confusion and some in sadness. They should've took the opportunity to talk to Dream about his problem when they had a chance, it was 8 to 1 so it would've been fairly easy to make Dream admit to his depressive problems and struggles.

But now, that window of opportunity has passed and they are now handicapped underneath Jake's presence; most of them wished that he could have arrived later than right now. The rest of breakfast was enveloped in an awkward silence, even for Jake it was hard to withstand the muted atmosphere circling around the table. It was a far cry from where he started, whenever he's around; everyone gets chattier and the joviality would be bustling but now it was just dull silence with darkened expressions on everyone's face.

Jake's head rose up with suspicion, he was wondering why everything is so glum? Not to mention the stormy weather outside; heavy gust of wind howled in the air, picking off leaves from trees, almost like creating up a tornado. The rain was still pouring down without no hope of stopping anytime soon, accompanied by bright flashes of lightning bolts, lighting up everything every once in a while.

He thought of the possibility that earlier that morning or either last night, Dream with his resignation speech, had woken up and converted both George and Tommy, his last two playing cards, back to normal. The idea was very very frightening like a lightning to a child; if it were the case, that would explain the stares and the silence that he's receiving at the moment.

However, that also means that 9 people are against him now, which would put him in the spot where Dream has been for the past week and even for Jake, who has never been in such position, he figured that it was probably not fun, but it was Dream who was in that position, not him so he was always okay with it.

Jake digs into his meal nonchalantly without a care for the world, unaware of the secret conversations that Bad is having with the rest at the dining table.

"What else can we do?" Bad quietly whispers, giving Jake a quick glance every now and then; he's making sure that Jake doesn't sneakily eavesdrop on their planning session. " I don't know! Dream is slowly shutting himself in." replied a frustrated sounding Wilbur, the tall Brit scratching the top of his head, clueless and lost on what they should do next to help Dream.

"We have to do something now, we are losing to that prick right there!" Sapnap complained, sending a death glare to monster at the other end of the table, who was delicately eating his piece of toast. All he wishes to do is to shove that piece of cooked wheat up his asscrack to the point that he will be puking out grains.

Although in all seriousness, he couldn't or either that he will be charged of physical assault and possibly emotional discomfort and that's the last thing Sapnap wanted: getting charged and sued by Jake in court. After all, he should be the one being sued for emotional discomfort after what he had done to severely affect Dream mentally.

"There's literally nothing else, its raining we can't go anywhere! There's also no more events this month! We are basically fucked!" Tubbo said, planting his face into the table, muffling out his words through the marbled surface.

What Tubbo was truly accurate, they can't go anywhere due to the weather and MCC just passed yesterday, which was the only main event of the month. They were out of ways, both Dream and his support team was at a dead end with nowhere to go. Jake was cornering them both, with chances of winning slowly diminishing by the second.

The hope that was once burning bright in all of their hearts began to fray, as they were slowly running out of time and they haven't told Dream this yet but... they were scheduled to leave Florida in 2 days, not counting today.

They have less than 72 hours to fix and save Dream.

Time was running out for Dream and for his support team, as the war between him and Jake was beginning to end and unknown to all of them... the war ends today

(Dream's POV)

Quitting being a content creator wasn't something that I intend to do anytime soon and definitely I wasn't expecting to do it yesterday night. I wasn't sure if I did it because of my inability to control my emotions or temper, or was it because it was for the greater good.

The motive didn't matter, what I had done can't be reverse. I've quit the life on social media, I guess this IS the end of Dream, and the start for Jake. A new era to the media as an old legend dies

Right now I was staring at my YouTube channel, looking at it with dull eyes. Hundreds of video that I have created for the public to see; some were very successful and some were just doing averagely. I clicked on one of the videos that I filmed in 2020 and almost immediately I can a very large distinction between 2020 Dream and present Dream.

My voice was more chipper, more bright, more lively and it wasn't surprising since this was the time before Jake even came. Those were the days that I felt genuinely happy about where I'm standing and I loved the community and the friends I had.

Nowadays, I just sound... dead. No excitement, no happiness evident in my voice nor did the laughter charm that everyone said I have was there. A big drastic change that I was surprised that none of my viewers even caught on yet, but that's good because... I don't want them to know... did I?

They should be focused on the booming newcomer, not some kind of problematic, egoistical, flaw-filled person that eats on hate comments and death threats every single day. No one ever liked me those 27 million people just wanted some free content that they can watch every now and then. They didn't care about the creator in the slightest; they never liked me; no one ever loved me.

Everyone's against me, even my own friends backstab me and they still do. I still remember vividly what they had said about me.. with such angelic voice tones they dared to utter out such demonic sentences. According to them, I am filled with flaws, have a big ego and apparently I am just a prototype of what Jake is.

Speaking of Jake, out of curiosity, I went to type Crunch in my search bar. I wanted to see what people are saying about him, perhaps more affectionate comments and compliments rather than hate and death threats?

Clicking on one of Jake's videos which was named ' Minecraft Speedrunner vs 3 Hunters (Crunch Edition). Real clever name dude, I wonder where you got the idea from... you clout milking fuck.

"This video, 3 of my friends tries to hunt me down-" Jake's voice emitted through my monitor's speakers and instantly I muted the audio, didn't want that nasty ass British accent anywhere near my ears.

The video has 29 million views in a matter of 2 months, which is admittedly quite on par with my view count. He was literally replacing me. The comments, however, were a different spectrum of dimensions. Whereas my manhunts are always claimed to be fake or scripted; Jake's rendition had surprisingly none.

WHY? Just because he's new doesn't mean it can't be scripted... this is some favorable bullshit. How come he gets off the hook free whilst I am here, having to deal with these allegations on a daily basis?!

I slammed my fists onto my desk, not noticing that my left wrist was angled to the sharp edge corners of the table, only to realize a bit too late when I felt sharp stinging pain going up and down my arm.

"Ow.." I grunted rather loudly, as I reflexively pulled my left wrist close to myself. Lifting up my hoodie's sleeve, reveals the still bandaged self-harm wounds but now the crimson liquid was seeping through the gauze fabric after the hard impact I had accidentally applied on.

The pain stung for a big while before it gradually subsides. I let out a big exhausted hopeless sigh at how much of a mess I was. My life is just crumbling down into ruins and it was starting to the reach the point beyond repairing.

Nothing was worth living for... my career was over, my friends left me for someone else that is apparently better than me and alongside thousands of other things such as diseases and conditions, I was just a dead man walking at this point.

Even Patches, if I were to continue on living, she will gradually age up and then pass away. It was the cycle of life, things live and things die.

My wrist continued on to bleed as my eyes darted outside the window. It was raining buckets, storm clouds rolled over and covers up the whole blue sky, turning the whole world into dimmed darkness.

I often find rain to be rather relaxing than scary, the pitter pattering of millions of water droplets softly hitting against the windowsill of my room drummed gently in my ears.

It was the only thing left in the world other than Patches, to keep my nerves all calm and steady. Speaking of the feline, she instantly hops on my lap, readying herself for me to pet her.

It's funny, it was almost like she can hear me or heck even understand me.

"Meow. Translation : because I can understand you Clay." she meowed, and I can only guess what she was saying. I smiled at her warmly as my right hand gently brushed her fur, scratching her head.

It made me think of another situation... if I killed myself, who will Patches go to?

Probably George since he already has a cat and Patches would admittedly love some feline company. Sapnap can also be a good choice since he always loved my cat but apparently not enough for me.

Or maybe she can go to Niki, she looks like the kind of person that would love Patches to bits.

"I'm sorry Patches... I'm sorry for not being there with you till the end.." I apologized to the cat that was nuzzling against my lime green hoodie, only hoping that she can understand my apology.

She looked at me with a worried look before her paws gripped on tightly onto me. Did she really understand- no that's just plain stupid, how is a cat supposed to understand human language?

The flash of a thunder bolt managed to make Patches jump up in fright and out of my lap. The sudden whiteout also seemed to make me remember something but I can't really grasp it...

With all of the commotions and chaos that has been going on in my life, it was fairly difficult to keep up or remember certain things as the days seems to keep the same monotonous theme throughout: constant pain in every second and minute topped off by shit droppings of Jake on his head, all the while his friends sit on him without a care in the world.

My gaze broke away from the window as my mind was slowly being infested by horrible dark thoughts, not like that they don't come and visit every five to ten minutes.

A headache began to form inside my skull, the thumping sensation knocking hardly and irritatingly against the walls of my brain.

Upon getting up from my seat, the world seemed to be so distorted, uneven and worse, spinning endlessly. It made me want to vomit, either it was the blood pressure that I haven't taken any medication ever since the visit with Doc. Lavender or should I say Mrs. Rivers now?

Wait.. Rivers..

Oh wait! I almost completely forgot about the video footage! It's downloading process should be completed at this point, after all it has been about almost 3 days.

Quickly after running my face through some cold tap water to wash off the exhaustion and sickness that was swarming in my head, I instantly rushed to my computer, opening up the CPU without any hesitation or time to waste.

It was time to unveil the truth about Hailey Rivers.

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Dream never felt more hyped for anything other than the video footage that he has been waiting for almost 3 days of his ruined life. Even MCC couldn't get him this hype, and Minecraft is something that he loved so dearly.

Dream watches as he taps his feet against the floor, the loading cursor spinning in circles as the computer boots up its program.

"Cmon..." Dream chanted, biting his fingers in anticipation. The logo of the monitor pops up for a brief moment before the screen brightens up into colours, finally opening each and every application for Dream to use.

With almost frame perfect input, Dream clicks onto his file of downloaded content. He was thankful for his PC to be able to handle such a large recording file.

Upon opening his download files, his green emerald eyes were locked intently on the newest video file. His mouse cursor travelled towards the designated file, his hand sweating and shaking at the same time.

Although it seems to Dream that nothing was going to get in his way, life didn't have the same thought and it always loved to put barrier blocks in front barrier blocks in front of the goal he tries to reach and this time was no exception either.

"Dream!" A familiar annoying shitty British accent appeared from behind him, rudely interrupting the blonde's investigation.

Dream's blood ran cold as he was taken by the unexpected presence in his room. He was completely taken by storm by the sudden calling of his name.

He turns around in his chair and instantly gets a face full of a face that he wished he never see in his life ever again.

"Dude. Do you know how to knock? You rude bastard." Dream berated quite harshly, with his tone as cold as ice.

Jake, who had snuck into Dream's room without the proper manners of knocking, was not expecting such malice to be spat out of his mouth.

"Looks like someone's having a bad day.." Jake quietly mutter although not silent enough to make Dream unable to hear what he had said.

"Yeah no shit." Dream barked, his eyes burning holes through Jake. If only stares can kill... Jake would long be dropped dead on to the floor flat.

"Well I was here to say that everyone wanted to talk to you about something! Come downstairs!" Jake despite receiving quite a mouthful from Dream himself, still puts up the fake cheery innocent tone of his, attempting to mask his true form although his true intentions was widely known in this house.

"Still you could've knocked?" Dream argued, still pissed about the whole knocking situation. Jake remained careless as he walks out of the door, flipping Dream off while at it.

Dream scoffed at the ridiculousness; firstly Jake had no manners, entered his room without permission and he still had the audacity to flip him the middle finger as he walked out the door.

Dream shook his head before tending to the people downstairs, who apparently had something to talk to him about.

Dream although impatient about viewing the 11 day long clip, was still thoughtful about the security surrounding around his room as he locks the door behind him with a key, that he pockets in his hoodie.

As Dream walks downstairs, if he had turned around for a moment, he would've caught Jake trying to break into his room for whatever reason he possesses.

His face was pale, and cold sweat ran down the sides of his face. He seemed to be shook into pure horror from something he saw in Dream's room, if only Dream can see his face clearly in his darkened room.

Due to Dream's extreme prudence, Jake was separated from Dream's territory land and whatever it is that scared him inside to the core of his heart, to the point that he began hyperventilating with panic running through his spine and body.

By the time that Dream had come down, apparently due to everyone's request, it was already midday though it was impossible to tell if without a clock. The raining grey nimbus storm clouds fully covered the sun, therefore making it almost impossible to tell the time

Dream arrived into the living room of his house where he was greeted with the 8 of his friends, sitting on the couches and lounge chairs and staring ominously at him in pure deafening silence.

The blonde American found the predicament quite unsettling as he fought down a gulp of saliva that refused to travel down his throat.

"Um... I heard you all needed me." Dream spoke up, breaking what could possibly have been the most discomforting silence in his life, although it couldn't beat long 3 month silence of Novemeber 2020 - January 2021.

"What can I help you with?" Dream followed up his initial sentence, after receiving more uncomfortable silent answers as responses. All 8 of their expressions looked either concerned, nervous, worried or either plain like Techno although Dream can sense that within, he was feeling anything but plain. They were quite easy to read, since after all... they were his friends and he knew all of them like the back of his hand.

Still... just silence enveloped the atmosphere and now Dream had an inkling that whatever they called him down for, it was anything but good. If he's not mistaken, it had to have something to do with him and his crippling mentality, which is definitely the last thing on Earth, he wants to talk about.

The rest of Dream's friends were hesitating on who should be the first to start off their plan that they had set prior.

( 30 minutes earlier)

Jake had gone upstairs after finishing his breakfast with such a delicate manner, Bad had to stop Sapnap from slapping the Brit in the face numerous times.

"Dude, Bad stop let me slap him at least once. That motherfucker needs it." Sapnap yelled angrily, trying to rip his hand out of Bad's tight restraints although despite Bad's gentleness, his grip was anything but that.

"No! Violence isn't the answer Nick!" Bad sternly scolded, pulling out the real name card to state his seriousness.

"But what are we going to do? Even I can't come up with any Sun Tzu tactics." Techno joked trying to light up the air in the room, if he had known better; he would've known that that it wasn't time for any humour.

They were getting cornered by the dark forces and power of Jake, there was no time to even joke around, let alone crack a literal joke.

"Seriously though, what else can we do?" Niki asked, her face was darkened with the glumness and gloominess of the weather and climate outside. Everybody shrugged, blanking out on what to do in order to help Dream.

"There's nothing but that we are losing to that prick upstairs." Wilbur swore, with George and Tommy who were standing in the midst of the argument. They were slowly understanding yet still confused about what they were talking about.

Sure they know that its about Dream, a toddler can figure that one out but for what exact reason is still a bit mysterious to the both of them.

"I mean there is one way but it's very risky..." George tried to propose an idea, his voice quivering in anxiety. He had the basic idea of approaching the problem head on with no fear. The risk was... that they were filled to the brim with fear, shivers running down all of their spines.

"It's not a bad idea George, but I don't if Dream would open up." Niki spoke softly, rubbing her temples to release out some of the tension and stress that was building within her.

"Yeah.." Tubbo agreed, "he would be more inclined to just walk away on us.." he muttered out sadly, sighing out a shaky breath. All of them were losing hope quickly and it probably won't take them long for it to be drained.

"But it's worth a shot, if its our last hope of helping him." Bad said, he was agreeing on approaching Dream head on, unaware of what the consequences might be.

"Yeah I agree with Bad." Niki, Wilbur and Tommy followed in Bad's decision, seeing the idea as the right decision to make in the situation. In quick succession, George's newly though idea was very popular amongst the support team members and made everyone jump onto the same page.

Their last trump card was going to be approaching Dream face to face, saying that it was their only hope in getting through to Dream on this rainy day.

Little do they know, that things might not always go as planned and that rule seemed to apply itself hardly to Dream and his support team.

-----

Back to the present, where currently Dream and his friends are having an awkward silent standoff without anyone uttering out a word.

Dream fidgeted underneath the heavy stares of his own friends, he knew that they were clearly hesitating on something. However, he isn't quite sure what that something is and that missing intelligence scared him.

His finger curled tightly, gripping onto his dark blue trousers. He began to sweat profusely from the anticipation that was killing him and also the fever which STILL hasn't lowered down its high temperature of 40 Celsius.

"Dream..." Wilbur decided to be the first one to speak up, rising above the sounds of silence around him to try and communicate confidently with Dream.

"We..." Wilbur utter out word after word before taking very long breaks and pauses in between to reconsider the things that all of their hearts wanted to say.

"We know something's wrong about you Dream." Bad cut Wilbur off, seeing as he was simply just wasting time. "We know that you don't want to be a burden to us.."

"I know I am, I'm sorr-" Dream tried to apologize before getting shut down almost immediately by Niki.

"You were never a burden Dream." she gently assured, sending out a tiny smile to the pale faced blonde, who was trying to suppress the emotions he was having.

"But you see me as one, after all... you said once that I'm a flaw-filled person."

The whole room fell silent as the were taken aback by the familiar sentence. Especially Niki was extremely shocked, she had feared that Dream was in that voice call when they were discussing lore plots for Jake on the Dream SMP, in Dream's vault.

She wished that Dream wasn't there and that she was only overthinking stuff but alas it was revealed to everyone at that moment that Dream was actually there the whole time.

"You said that didn't you, Niki? Or was it someone that sounded EXACTLY like you?" Dream beamed out a forced out smile, the anger that he was bottling in was beginning to leak out of his systems.

"Dream." Sapnap tried to calm Dream down, putting up both of his hands as he tried to approach the mildly enraged Floridian, laughing nervously while at it.

"Don't touch me Nick." Dream sternly pointed his finger to Sapnap's face, making the Texan boy stop dead in his tracks. He was terrified, the fury that was locked in those green pupils were burning as bright as the sun, he figured that Dream can kill him even if it wasn't for the fact that he was his best friend.

Despite being extremely pissed, Dream still had sympathy for his friends.

"Don't touch me, after all you don't want to go near an egoistical person." Dream spat, malice laced over his words as he drilled his heavy gaze through Sapnap's vulnerable and weakened eyes.

"Dream.. I understand that we all did something wrong." Techno tried to negotiate, although he was shut down immediately by some more harsh replies from Dream.

"Something? You don't even know what it is?" Dream furrowed his brows, folding his arms to his chest with anger and frustration bubbling and boiling in his head.

"I trusted you all. You were all my friends until I found out what you had said about, and even worse behind my fucking back!" Dream muttered darkly which was quickly transformed into furious shouting.

Very rarely does Dream gets really furious and it appears that this was one of them. Although his fury was quite hard to detect if judging at face value. He would shout here and there but he would mostly have it still bottled up.

Silent rage was no doubt miles scarier than outbursting anger.

Everyone flinched from the sudden outburst in tone although to be fair, they should've expected this kind of explosion happening.

"I know that I'm not fucking Mr. Perfect and I'm so sorry if you had high expectations of me!" Dream hiccuped as the tear glands began to leak. He didn't like being all dramatic, but even if he didn't; he just couldn't stop the tears from falling out of his eyes.

"But at least you found someone that is better me than me right?" The blonde smiled bitterly as set of teardrops slid down both of his cheeks. A collective round of sharp gasps can be heard from the guilty listeners as they stood up, in an attempt to prove Dream wrong.

"You don't need to fix yourself for me. I know the truth and your genuineness of your decisions." Dream cuts off anyone who even tried to prove his words wrong, he had heard them say it in both of his ears, what more do they have to say to him? Nothing.

"Just tell me you hate and get this over with..." The blonde muttered tiredly, he was fed up with this whole situation, and he just didn't want to hear anymore of it.

"Dream- no, you're missing our point. We don't hate you, and we don't find Jake better than you." Tommy tried to reason, although Dream's face was anything but pleased with his response.

"Bullshit. You expect me to believe that stupid lie?! When I literally heard you all praising him as the better Dream?! Don't give me this pity bullshit, get real will you?" spat Dream, his expression was beginning to become a bit scrunched up with frustration. He still cannot believe that after all that had passed, they still had the audacity to lie in front of his face.

"No please Dream listen to us please...." Tubbo pleaded, attempting to convince Dream into giving them all at least a second chance. They knew that they were wrong and they admit it, they just wanted Dream to let them have one more chance to salvage this fractured friendship that was nearly shattering into pieces.

"What more do I need to hear, other than the fact that my own friends literally talked behind my back?" asked Dream darkly, huffing and puffing heavily with the overflowing rage from the broken bottle of locked away emotions.

"Please... just stop, I don't want your pity." Dream turned away from the 8, he doesn't want them to see his face right as it was infested with tears and his throat was heaving out sobs of heartbreak.

"We are not pitying you Dream. We are asking for forgiveness from you and a second chance for us to fix everything that we've broken. Whether its our friendship, your career or even you yourself." Bad reasoned, using his soft and gentle tone that was momentarily breaking by the tears that was flooding his eyes due to the overwhelming guilt.

As much as he wanted to, Dream couldn't. He doesn't know if they were just flattering him or genuinely apologizing and asking for forgiveness. Without the certainty confirmed, he can't bring himself to forgive them, but also he couldn't bring himself to stay mad at them.

He was stuck in a paradoxical predicament, where both ways can end badly but if he doesn't choose, he can remain living the worst life ever.

"Do you forgive us Dream?" Niki asked after an extremely discomforting silence was heard from everyone in the living room.

Dream muttered out nothing, only shaky breaths in between his silent crying. He opened up his mouth to answer but he quickly snapped it shut. He just couldn't decide on what to say. Shaking his head in frustration, his legs started carrying him upstairs before an audible opening and soft shutting of a door echoed throughout the near silent home.

The feeling of defeat clouded the hearts amongst the Dream Support Team members, their plans yet again failed. It seems that everything that they have come up with have failed miserably by either misfortune or by something that doesn't go as planned.

"Fuck!" Sapnap cursed loudly as he covers his face, hiding away the tears that was forming in his eyes. He was on, no EVERYONE was on the verge of crying even George and Tommy wanted to cry.

"We are FUCKED." Wilbur screamed on the top of his lungs, ruffling his hair in a complete internal meltdown. That strategy was their last push to get through to Dream, and it flopped floppier than a floppy disk.

They were out of tricks in the bag, and the Dream Support Team was finally at their dead end. Their real remaining hope was up to Dream. It was up to him that whether he will forgive them now or never forgive his friends forever and carry the hatred and the pain, he holds to his tombstone.

--------------------------------------

Dream's breath heaved in and out as he closes the door of his room before sliding down to the floor in a fit of rage. He was upset with everything : Jake, his friends, the media, his life and himself.

He hated his life, what did he do to deserve such torturous punishment? He wondered at the thought as his mouth let countless wretched ugly sounding sobs escape through his lips.

"Fucking hell...." Dream whispered to himself, as he rubs his eyes vigorously to wipe away the tears that were falling. Such a loser... crying on his own within his own room. How much more pathetic can he get?

"Gosh I'm such a fucking baby." Dream shook his head as he finds the strength lift himself out from the ground. After adjusting his clothes and his hair, his eyes travelled back to his computer monitor on his desk, making a face of realization.

Oh right... he still had that video to view.

Marching up to his desk, he finally gets to open up the long awaited video file, that probably only contains about 20 minutes worth of valuable information and about 10 days worth of silent still image of Hailey Rivers' office.

Upon putting his right hand on his mouse once again, his cursor moves to the play button and with one click of his index finger...

Immediately, once the footage began playing; the first thing Dream hears through his headphones was rapid panicked breathing, and the inhalation sounds were high pitched enough for Dream to conclude that whoever was breathing currently must be a female.

'This must be Hailey when she was still alive.' Dream thought as he leaned back into his chair, his brain began cranking its gears and function as numerous thoughts and possibilities ran through his head at once.

Later, a finger released itself from covering up the camera's lens, revealing a pretty-looking brunette with brown eyes, trying to adjust the camera's focus onto her.

Although hard to tell, Dream can see that her expression was rather in a hurrying state, she looked straight up scared and horrified about something.

"Oh.. okay..." Hailey whispered as she tries to calm herself down, she was nervous that was all Dream can tell for now, but the situation was filled with tension, even he can feel the pressure coming through the computer screen.

"To anyone who sees this..." Hailey begun talking, her voice quivering uncontrollably. "I don't have a lot of time, so I will keep it short."

Dream was instantly intrigued, this might be the opportunity he gets to listen to the whole story behind the mystery of the case and perhaps he can finally do something and make himself proud of what he does for once.

"So I recently added a new content creator to my circle friends in the month of November 2020." the girl explained, trying her best not to cry almost as if trying not to think about the impending doom and misfortune that was about to arrive at her door and the fact that Dream knows what happens next, pained him as he wasn't quite ready to witness a full blown murder unravel in front of him.

"They looked innocent enough and I thought they were going to be a great addition but.." her breath hitched in her throat as she was about to make a contradiction on what she had first believed.

"I was wrong." Hailey stated, which made her listener's body shivered in chills. Dream gulped down the chunk of saliva that has been building up in his mouth ever since the opening of the video.

"It started very good but then they changed... into a completely different person. From a once nice wholesome angel to an evil devil, they were like a hellspawn walking on Earth!!" Hailey screeched, raising her voice into exceeding levels of volume to the point that Dream needed to lower his headphones volume.

Hailey began breaking into tears as she let out all of her frustrations on her only listener. Dream felt pity towards her although he knew that that pity wasn't going to be of any use.

"They threatened me for my earnings as a payment for being part of my videos." she said, her expression changed drastically from a devastated frown to a scrunched up pissed off devilish death face.

"It's just unbelievable, and I'm recording this little clip here as evidence and claim to this little bastard. I feel like I'm in danger and at risk of being a potential victim."

She paused for a moment as she looked hurriedly around her surrounding frantically. Dream narrowed his eyes in confusion, why did Hailey suddenly act all scared and vulnerable?

She turned back around to the camera with a much more terrified look on her face as if she had seen a ghost or an unknown entity creeping around in her room.

"I- I think I heard something downstairs..." she muttered out, her soft tone was barely above a whisper. Dream's pair of emerald eyes widened in pure terror as he has the gut feeling that the power impactful of a ruthless crime was drawing nearer and the time alive for Hailey Rivers was almost out of its limit.

Hailey yelped out in fear after a few more moments of silence, when a pair of hurried footsteps came racing up her staircase.

"They're here! Fuck. Okay I need to go now! Their name is Syrupy Waffles on YouTube!" she practically screamed out her last sentence audible to the camera. In a moment of revelation, Dream was beyond baffled. He knew from the start that the YouTuber named SyrupyWaffles had something to do with her death and the evidence was piled up in front of him.

A loud slam of a door boomed over the two cups of his headphones, startling and snapping Dream out of his trance. His attention instantly travelled to the video, although he would rather not watch the gruesome and heartbreaking end of Hailey Rivers.

In the doorway, stood a tall hooded figure with their face too far away for the camera to discern who it was, so Dream can only make out the muffled voices of the far away murderer and the victim they claimed.

"You! H_w da__ y_u... I th__ght t__t you w_ul_ be p__ing me _ash _or my efforts!" The hooded figure reamed at Hailey, giving her one powerful slap to the face. She falls to the ground flat, being overpowered by the violent brute that was roaming around in her house, definitely unauthorized.

Dream tried to make the hooded figure's voice, it was deep in tone, showing extreme signs the masculinity with the power and strength. Waffles was definitely a guy, who was tormenting a poor young girl for his payment that he didn't even needed. It's cold blooded... a good measure of how monstrous a human can be.

Waffles wailed on poor Hailey several times, including punches and kicks that landed on the victim that was thankful just below camera range.

Each blowing impact left a nasty feeling in Dream, he winced at the pure violence that was being displayed on his monitor screen. Little droplets of crimson liquid jumped up and was flung around after several punches were given to the now groaning Hailey.

"I s__ar I w_ll ki_l yo_ rig_t n_w!" The hooded man threatened, delivering another kick to Hailey's stomach. She crawled over to her fallen over chair, blood running down her head and out of her mouth. She was becoming a blood dispenser or fountain at this point.

"No no! Please I will PayPal you some, I promise!" Hailey, who was slightly closer to the camera's audio range, begged helplessly for her life from Waffles who was ready to do the crime.

"You b_ch! You said that so many times and I never got a single dollar, you cheap selfish whore!" Waffles yelled in anger as he gradually draws himself nearer towards the poor weak Hailey Rivers and nearer the camera's audio range which enabled Dream to catch more vocal clues of the culprit.

Dream was able to catch one more crucial aspect of Waffle's voice, he had an accent although not American. Looks like he was from abroad and decided to stay in America for a bit either that or they book a flight across continents and countries just to do this. Either way, it was anything but acceptable.

His accent was rather European, British sounding. Waffles was definitely from somewhere in Great Britain. His height couldn't be determined due to the video's height and length specification but detective Dream can tell that he was fairly tall although still very short when compared to him, he'd imagined.

The little clues of description sets him a bit off, it made him vaguely think of someone he knows although he needs to see their face clearly to really pin his suspicions down.

After a few moments of negotiations and loud shouting and threatening, alongside some additional physical abuse via punching, kicking and chair throwing; Waffles was getting to his boiling point

"Alright Hailey, you stupid bitch, you leave me no choice..." The hooded Waffles shrugged nonchalantly before his hand travelled to his back pockets, trying to grab something from it.

A metallic clicking sound of something loading was not a good sign for Hailey or for Dream. For Hailey, it was her signal of saying that her execution was about to made and for Dream, it was a signal that he was about to witness a murder crime happen right here and right now.

Hailey squealed loudly upon the sight of a pistol in Waffle's hand; the guy loads in the ammunition before cocking it to let a bullet enter the shooting chamber. The crunchy sound of the gun, made Dream flinch in fright. He was breathing in and out slowly trying to calm himself down as he watches helplessly from the other side of the screen... the death of Hailey Rivers.

"I'm sorry Hailey, I have no choice. I need to live." Waffles quietly mutters out before he aims the weapon to Hailey's head. The poor girl locked from escape, far from help and nowhere to run. She lets out a final horrendous utterly bloodcurdling scream as a last second action before...

*BANG*

A quick flash from the gun's muzzle lit up the whole room and Dream's whole screen, accompanied by an impact as loud as a firework.

Dream's ear rang from the excruciatingly loud noise as he jumps in terror. The sound of the gunshot seemed to echo endlessly in his head, he had just witnessed a murder happen in front of him without being able to do anything.

The sound of something metallic hits the floor and Dream can only assume that it was the sound of the bullet casing, launching out from the chamber after the bullet has been fired out.

Hailey was dead and it was now confirmed that she was indeed murdered just like Dr. Lavender, her mother, had predicted. Hailey wouldn't do such a thing like suicide, she was murdered and her murderer is now confirmed to be no one other than the YouTuber under the online alias of SyrupyWaffles.

A sharp exhale was released from the murderer, who seems to be weakened and exhausted from the crime that he had just committed. He let out a sigh of either relief, satisfaction or reflection of what he had just done which is taking someone's life and shooting it down.

Waffles knelt down towards the corpse of Hailey who is lying motionless and lifeless below the camera's point of view. Dream can hear speedy rustling of clothes, before the hooded man rises up once again, this time with Hailey's purse in hand and her credit card.

At that moment, Dream realizes that Waffles was more than just murderer; he was also a thief that had a heavy desire for money but why did he do all of this?

Waffles got on Hailey's computer, luckily enough not noticing the red dot flashing on the bottom right corner of the screen that would indicate that the camera was recording.

Whatever Waffles was doing was being done off screen, just barely out of Dream's view. He can only predict that he was transferring all of Hailey's money in her PayPal into his instead.

Although what happens next will shock Dream to his core...

As he watches Waffles typing away on the keyboard, Dream was beginning to think that that was all of the valuable information, he was going to get.

"There we go! Easy as pie!" The British accented hooded man exclaimed, clapping his hands vivaciously, celebrating his newly earned money even though it costed someone's life.

"Gosh America is boiling..." Waffles complained, trying to wipe the sweat that was forming inside the jacket he was wearing although it seems that he has some difficulties doing so.

Waffles' hands travelled upwards to touch his hood, with intentions of bringing it down. Dream's attention diverted back to the video displaying on his screen, just when he initially thought he had all of the information needed perhaps he even gets to see the real identity underneath that hoodie?

The man gripped on his hood tightly before casually bringing the part of the clothing down to his neck. Upon the falling of the hood, it reveals the true face and identity of who Waffles is.

At first glance, Dream saw the fluffy patch of brown hair planted on top of his head before he goes to scan Waffles' face. That was when the biggest realization dawned on him, a truth that left utterly speechless and without a word to describe how he felt.

"NO... FUCKING.... WAY.." Flabbergasted, Dream's jaw dropped to the floor as he analyzes the facial details of Waffles' face.

British, shorter than him, brown hair... and doesn't care about anyone as long as it doesn't affect themselves. The familiar motto rang loudly in his head as he clocks out who Waffles really is.

"JAKE?!"

Dream gasped sharply at the sudden plot twist to the whole mystery; the culprit was actually Jake, right here within his house. He was literally breathing the same air with a murderer, a thief.

Fear rose quickly in his body as he still tries to process the truth that had revealed itself right in front of him. Jake was much more than an annoying piece of shit... he's a highly dangerous individual.

How dare did he let a murderer sleep in his house and worse even snuggle in between his friends?

Usually when his minds drifts into these kinds of thoughts, guilt would always bite in and try to make inflict harm on himself. However, this time around he had no time to do such a thing, not like he had any other way to cut his wrists open after all Bad had confiscated all razor blades and scissors from his room a few days ago.

He had to neutralize the lethal hazardous threat in his house immediately and nothing is going to stop him from having Jake get taken into custody.

His house was no place for criminals, there was a more suitable place for people like him. Locked up, behind my bars and away from civilization and definitely away from him and his friends.

Immediately springing up from his seat, he was ready to approach his enemy for one last time. Dream opened the door harshly, only to be greeted by a little piece of paper on the floor, lying flat in front of his door.

Curious, Dream picked up the folded piece of paper, and upon unfolding the crumpled sheet revealed a little message directed to him.

It reads : So... looks like you uncovered my dark secrets. Come to the park near the party dome you rented; we'll sort things out personally. Don't be late, you got 20 minutes.

"An invitation huh?" Dream snorted in amusement as he tosses the paper right into the trash can underneath his desk.

After doing so, he prances to his closet for a change of clothes; if he was going to have one final showdown, he was going to go into battle in style with Sun Tzu quotes engraved in his memory.

He fishes out a black trench coat, wearing over his lime green hoodie before fishing a pair of black gloves , specifically the ones he used when he was taking photoshoots for Change my Clothes, as he feared that things might get violent and out of control.

Dream paused his actions for a moment as a flash of the possible violence ran through his brain quickly. He was going up against a cold-blooded murderer, who will do anything for money. Jake knows how to use guns and he doesn't, putting him in quite a disadvantage if he still has the weapon with him.

He could die today and Jake would probably act it off as if he never done anything. He wasn't going to let Jake off that easily, as he sits back down on his desk before taking a pencil and scrawling out each and every piece of information required for anyone to file Jake to court.

He also wrote down his final will , in case he really dies; for Sapnap to have his channel, the house to Bad, his net worth split equally between the 8 of his friends and finally leaving Patches to have Niki take care of her instead. His computer will go to Tommy and finally his play buttons will go to Technoblade.

Dream wrote down each and every single letter down, as his tiny drops of tears and choked sobs escaped from his eyes and mouth. It was almost like writing a suicide note, in which would technically be correct as he was literally turning himself in towards the path of a suicide mission.

Finally after writing down the will, he thought that his friends deserve a final goodbye voice message from him. They would at least understand a fragment of the story he was living in and hopefully they will also understand the decisions he had made for them, then perhaps they can finally see the love he had for all of them.

--------------------------------------------------
It has been almost three hours since Bad and company last heard from both Dream and Jake. All of them were too scared to face Dream, whilst Jake was absent from the house, and nowhere to be found.

Bad's eyes were red, they were hurting and stinging badly from the excessive crying over the failure of their final push. Everything they tried, it all fell down completely. They thought they built a group that nothing could ever shake them up, not even Jake, but in the end, it was Dream himself who broke it all apart.

The rest weren't doing that great either; Niki and Tubbo cried their hearts out just as much as Bad had. Sapnap and George were shaken up from getting yelled at by their best friend, their trip to Florida has been nothing but disaster, putting the fun and happy moments they had aside.

No one was smiling in which it should be that way, who would have the nerve to suddenly laugh or even beam out small smile. The atmosphere was gloomy that was intensified by the heavy rainfall and the rolling thunder.

"We tried dude, we fricking tried..." Sapnap groaned, looking up from the floor to see everyone's darkened faces. The group of people who the community sees and regards as the content creators that always light up every situation were sitting ducks, weeping and regretting their decisions about a situation that they couldn't light up.

"It doesn't hurt to try again?" Bad offered, trying to see if anyone still has the flare within them to keep on fighting in which everyone quickly agreed on. Just because they failed that time, doesn't mean that they will fail forever.

Bad stood up from his seat and so did everyone else in unison. They were still determined to save Dream, their morale fuelled by the encouragement and determination burning in their bloodlines.

All 8 of them travelled upstairs before stopping right in front of Dream's room. Despite having the courage to march up confidently to his room, none of them were brave enough yet again to start off their attempt by knocking.

A simple gesture of manners although it seemed like such a task for 8 specific people. Bad's hand crumpled into a tight fist, raising his arm to the door however did not knock.

He was simply too scared of Dream, after the absolute meltdown that they received from him.

"Dream?" Bad softly asked, pressing his mouth through the door cracks, in hopes of his voice travelling through to the boy on the other side of the door.

Uncertainty and concern raised amongst the 8 when they received not a word nor sound from the blonde they had hurt for 3 months.

"Dream." Niki called instead, her voice was low and stern yet it had tinge of emotional vulnerability. Her fist knocked on the door three exact times.

Still no answer, Bad only grew more worried when he tried to twist the doorknob, it was unlocked and a self-aware person like Dream would never leave something such as his room door insecured and unsupervised.

Bad gave the door a tiny creak and a little peek through. He gave Dream's room a quick but thorough scan, only to be EVEN MORE worried as the realization of Dream's missing presence flashed across his mind.

"Guys." Bad said panicking, his voice shaking from terror which only causes the others to follow through the feelings of fear. Seeing their muffiny friend absolutely shaking with fright was not a good starting sign to begin with, and they can only sense that things are going to get even worse somehow.

"Dream's not here." The three words that left Bad's mouth felt like a thousand knives and blades stabbing all of the worried friends in the heart.

"What?!" Sapnap exclaimed loudly and instantly after getting the sudden announcement of Dream's disappearance before bursting into his best friend's room without any hesitation in mind.

The older team members who knew about Dream's darkest secrets had other things to check such as the death room that is also called the bathroom. Bad, Niki and Techno stared silently at the closed wooden door that would lead to the room.

Fearing for the worst, Niki and Techno rushed into the bathroom together, hoping that they won't be witnessing an image that can potentially scar them for the rest of their lives.

Barging into the bathroom, both of them exhaled in relief as they found nothing out of the ordinary ; thank goodness Dream hadn't done what they feared he might, he still had some of his sense.

"Guys come here." George called everyone, rallying all 8 to Dream's desk, where on the table's surface laid Dream's written down evidence against Jake and his final will.

"What the.." Wilbur gasped, never did he expect a situation even remotely close to what he's going through currently. No one did actually, no one could've expected their normal Florida trip to descend into something much more problematic and depressing.

On the screen, there was also the video of Hailey Rivers' murder file and also to the right of the screen, an audio recording. It seemed like everything was carefully planned by Dream, almost like he knew that they will have the thought to come up and check on him.

Techno got a hold of the mouse, dragging the cursor to the play button on the audio file. Silence engulfed the whole room as everyone sat down on the floor, intently listening to the audio file.

"Hi everyone..." emits Dream's weak and fragile voice through the speakers of his computer.

"You all are probably wondering where I am right now... and I don't want to get too deep into it."

"Firstly I want to apologize for shouting at all of you due to my inability of controlling my temper, I should've kept it bottled up inside, then maybe you won't be as worried as you all are now."

"Now let's move to the sole purpose of this audio recording.." Dream sniffled, clearing his throat free from the phlegm and mucus that was in his nasal passage and his esophagus before continuing on.

"I wanted to make this audio clip, so that you can be aware and prepared of what you might get yourself into.... It's about the guy who you all so called as the better version of me.." Dream stated grudgingly , his voice dripping with absolute venom. It made all of his listeners feel shaken up from the surprising harsh tone.

It was funny how both Hailey and Dream, who fell as a victim of Jake, are doing the exact same thing : recording themselves before potentially facing death and meeting the end of their life story.

"Mister Dream Perfect in your vision, isn't quite that perfect behind your blind eyes..." Dream hissed. Everyone can imagine the scrunched up and pissed off facial expression that Dream was having, according to his voice.

"He is actually a money lusting piece of shit, that would do anything for some more additional dollars in his poor ass wallet. The evidence of my claim is to your left, the video file is of Hailey Rivers, a youtuber who was recently broadcasted as dead.. I'll let the motioned pictures explain itself."

Dream paused on his speaking for a bit, he had carefully planned the amount of time he was going to stay silent. The clip containing valuable information was only about 12 minutes long, so it shouldn't take all of his friends to watch and understand who Jake really is.

Techno paused the audio file of Dream's voice as they opened up and hit play on the disturbing video file of a youtuber getting shot by a murderer who wants nothing more than cash. All of their faces contorted into shock, disgust and downright horrified as the shooting segment happened. The banging sound of a gun firing bounced back and forth against their skull. It was like watching a horror movie in theaters; the only difference was that the crime had actually happened and Hailey is now six feet under the ground, resting eternally with the Earth in a box.

As the scene of identity revelation unfolds, various shouting and gasps can be heard all over the atmosphere of Dream's room. Everyone was filled with grief for Hailey and burning grudge and rage against the murderous criminal who goes by the human name of Jake.

"That psychotic fuck!" Tommy swore out loud, triggered by the cruel act of desire, and to think that all of that skirmish happened because of someone's lust and hunger for money. It was not a viable excuse to take away someone's life, presumably a life that still had a lot of potential in the future and Jake shot it down just because he wanted some more profit.

"As you can see, not as perfect now is he?" Dream posed a question, rather teasingly; the question made everyone feel horrible for ever comparing such a demonic hellspawn to an angelic human being like Dream. Even if he wasn't perfect, in fact no one is, at least he was not a criminal like someone they used to know.

"Again, I want to stress that I do not hate you all but I just wanted to say that you really fractured my trust. I thought I knew you all better but apparently I don't know all of you enough to know that I am apparently more worse than a criminal... but I guess some of my haters treat me like that so I supposed I was that kind of person, wasn't I?"

"Egoistical... flaw-filled.... not good enough... not humble in the slightest." Dream slowly listed off all of the things his friends had said about him in that voice call.

"So many things you called me, I know I'm not perfect but I'm trying to be the best I can to be the perfect one in all of your eyes.."

"But now I think its time for you all to find a new Dream, that is not me or Jake." Dream changed tone from an angry sounding grunt to a more softer and gentle voice.

"As today, I might not be coming back to see you all ever again. So this is kind of a last goodbye to all of you." The words that came out of Dream's, thunderstruck everyone who was listening; their bloodshot eyes widened in disbelief as their jaw dropped to the floor for the second time.

"What did he just say?!" George interrupted Dream's recorded introduction of his farewell speech. Although he had clearly heard what Dream said, his ears would like to strongly disagree and so did the others.

"I know you are probably thinking that I'm going to do the unimaginable but I assure I will not be doing that, I've come way too far to end my life now."

"Me and Jake are just going to clear up some stuff personally, for once and for all."  Dream's voice was vibrating in nervousness although the tiny glimmer of confidence that he had can still be detected if listened carefully.

"Do not come and find me as it is too dangerous for all of your safety and I don't want to see any of you getting hurt or violated." Dream warned to anyone who even considered the thought of going after him, talking about the importance of safety as if his never existed in the first place. Until the last seconds of his life, Dream still cared about the people that he had left in his life; he didn't want to lose anyone again and definitely today.

"I will be fine even if I never get to see you again, I will always love you with all of my heart as you are all my friends. Friends that I don't think I even deserve... but all of you deserve at least a personal message for everything you have done for me."  the blonde confessed, tears swelling up in his eyes as his floodgates could not hold the tiny drops of waters any longer.

"Let's start with my closest friend, Sapnap: Nick, I know that all of this might sound insane and absolutely batshit crazy like you always like to say whenever I pull off risky stunts in Minecraft. You were the genesis of my friendship, thank you for being friends with me for the past 8 years of my life."

"George and Bad, I met you both approximately at the same time and to be honest, I would say that you both are the ones that built and constructed the boy behind the mask called Dream. I always loved the times we used to spend all night just laughing and whatever on your server MunchyMC and all the times we spent talking to each other whilst creating codes for videos in our early days of 2019. It really brings back the nostalgia and the good old times of my past life, thank you."

As Dream continued on with his speech, the people who were mentioned so far began to shed some tears. The words he used, alongside the memories and moments that had never leave their heads, made their hearts ache painfully. They feel even more guilty and shittier than before.

"Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo and Niki... , I met you 4 after my big era of blowing up, which by the way was probably the best moment of my life. I remember when you, Tommy, begged me to let you in the Dream SMP and I'm so glad that I did. As not only did I get to meet the other 3 by you connecting me and them, but I also get to help all of your careers, providing a massive boost to stardom and fame. I'm glad that in my lifetime, I've managed to create who you all are today."

Needless to say, all 4 of the people mentioned above were more than grateful. Dream had essentially turned their lives around from a nobody on the internet to a fairly popular content creator with thousands of people supporting them. They could've never met the blessing that was Dream if it wasn't for Tommy trying to break into the SMP.

"Last but definitely not least, Techno... dude even though we're not that close as friends but for the last few days, I can safely say with confidence that we've grown more close than ever for the past 2 years. I have always enjoyed the friendly rivalry we had against each other and although some treat the relationship very seriously, I think it was a strong way for the both of us to bond. Thank you so much for being a good friend and a good rival.

With Dream finishing everything that he wanted to say about Techno, everyone had received their personal message and thank you(s) from Dream himself although in reality, it should've been them instead to say apologies and thank you(s) with personal messages to Dream for all they had done wrong to him and the way they had treated him for the past 3 months.

"Before I end this recording, I want to say a final thank you to all of you for being such a magnificent group of friends. We always had each other's backs when we needed each other and although that relationship might have crumbled right at the end, it will never change the fact that I was once your friend and that fact will always be with me, buried deep within my heart. Even if I die, my love for all of you will never die."

"Thank you all once again, you make me who I am today... I will never forget you. I love you all... thank you.." Sounds of a raspy sigh entered through the speakers before the audio silently ends its cycle which concludes Dream's final goodbyes.

If all of them hadn't drained all of their tears of sadness from their previous encounter with Dream, now it was the opportunity to do so as everyone was practically bawling on the floor, like a group of infants in a nursery home. Only Sapnap and Techno were the ones, who managed to refrain their tears from flowing and standing up and rising above the rest... when they thought all hope was lost... fate gave them one last chance to salvage this friendship from collapsing into dust.

"Cmon everyone, stop crying. We have a task to do." Sapnap bravely announces, catching the attention of every person in the room. They stared at the Texan boy confusedly, what did he mean by that? They had wasted every chance and blew all of their plans to save Dream didn't they, or were they missing something?

Sapnap pulls out his phone as he remembers a small little detail, that is crucial to their actual last push on Jake. He had remembered that he can track Dream's location on his phone; Dream had gave him permission to track his location just so they can watch out for each other and luckily for them, Dream had forgotten to turn off his GPS.

"I have his coordinates tracked on my phone, we still have a shot." Sapnap says, trying to convince everyone to rise up from the ashes one more time and fight alongside Dream until the battle's over.

"B-but Dream said not to-" Tubbo tried to reason, defeat still lurking in his chest perhaps they really should let Dream handle this by himself. Although his attempt of reasoning was instantly cut off by Techno.

"Cmon, do we really need to follow what Dream says? He is LITERALLY putting himself into great danger and potentially death, are we just going to sit back and watch him die by the hands of a cash loving psychopath." shouted the potato loving anarchist, giving it his best to lift everyone's spirits up.

"Exactly are we going to let Dream down again? We did once and we messed up bad, we're not letting it happen again, and his life is on the line." Sapnap encouraged, grabbing Bad's arm and trying drag his whole body from the floor.

They needed to go now as time was not on their side; who knows what both Dream and Jake can be doing to each other right now?

"Alright I'm going." Niki spoke up, after a brief moment of consideration, volunteering to put her life also at risk just for Dream's. She had fractured his trust and now it was her last opportunity to gain it back and mend the relationship back to normal.

Moments after Niki's final decision had been made, the others quickly followed, agreeing on risking their safety and life for Dream. He had risked his life on the line several times for them such as the hot wing incident; anyone could've gotten the tampered box and yet Dream took it for himself, enduring the pain as he watches the others having fun with streaming.

Everyone quickly dressed up properly for a rainy day out, even though they would be having anything but fun and jolly. The weather roared intimidatingly, conveying the beginning of a giant storm but it didn't scare anyone of the Dream Support Team.

Everyone was once again reunited to Dream's side and no one was longer on Jake's. The blonde's final goodbye woke up the last two remaining individuals of his oblivious friends, now they were all geared up with a goal in mind... do not let Jake kill Dream like he did with Hailey.

They can't afford to lose Dream, after all he had done for them. They can live without, but without Dream they will be miserable at best.

"Come on! Let's go!" George loudly ushered, to the people that were still upstairs taking their sweet time dressing themselves. Upon the Brit's loud command, came down a rushed Wilbur and Niki, their hair was all over the place and could potentially start a new fashion style trend. But their beauty is the least of anyone's concern at the moment as everyone hurriedly stuffed and crammed themselves into Bad's car.

"Is everyone in?" Bad asked, doing a mental head count. According to his lightning speed calculations, everyone was in and if now he wasn't going to wait any longer anyways. They had spent way too much time already and the situation can get out of hand at any period in time.

Bad's feet pressed against the gas pedal, the vehicle almost zoomed forward if not for Bad's precise steering grip on the wheel.

Looking at Dream's exact location on Sapnap's phone on the dash cam of his car, he gradually speeds his way through the rainy and thunderous weather of Florida. But due to the road's regulations and laws, he and his speeding can only do so much, not to mention how slippery the roads were. He shall not panic or the whole car was going to end up dead like Dream if they don't arrive faster than this.

The whole car was shadowed over with the tension of silence and muted praying underneath their breath. All of their prayers directed to Dream, wishing for his safety as they hope that they won't be too late..

'Please let us not be too late and let us fix our mistakes.'

Dream : 10 Points (1 point required)

VS

Jake (Crunch) : 10 Points (1 point required)

First to 11/ Best of 20 *MATCH POINT*

--------------------------

The skies never seemed so gloomy as today, that is what Dream thought as he stares out the window of the cab he was riding on. Occasional flashes of lightning can be seen in the far distance. It was almost the perfect combination of natural aspects for a final showdown and revelation.

He doesn't know how long he has been sitting in the dimly lit vehicle but it seems like ages has passed but he wasn't sure, the fact that Jake was the murderer of Hailey Rivers still shocked him to the point of that he ignored everything that was going on around him.

Street lamps shining brightly on the side of the pavements, travelled by his dazed off pupils as quick flashes of a bright white light underneath the halo of the bulb.

The cab driver didn't care what Dream was going through, he was just doing his job and luckily for him, he doesn't need to stick around for the oncoming event that is mere minutes away from happening.

Dream stared down at his new customized outfit and he wondered if he had gone a bit overkill on it. A black trench coat over his lime green hoodie with his usual blue jeans with dress gloves and shoes. It made him look quite intimidating sure but he remembered that these were anything but cheap and if Jake smears some blood on it, it will definitely be a chore to wash more than one crimson stain.

The sound of heavy rain crashed loudly against the windshield of the vehicle, it seemed that the weather had worsened over time signifying the ensuing chaos that was coming Dream's way.

"Alright young man, that would be 15 dollars!" The old cab driver announced in his raspy dry tone, causing Dream to snap out of bis state of disbelief. He was here at his designated location... the riverside park where he had his first attempted suicide and also where his army of resistance originated with Niki.

Dream paid off the driver with a gentle weak smile, holding out a ten and a five dollar bill, placing it in the driver's hand. He gets off the vehicle and watches as his ride slowly disappears out of sight. A long sigh escaped his lips, before he looks up at the sign dangling above the entrance arch. One step after the other, Dream slowly walks and enters the proximity of the park, it was fairly calm and peaceful despite the loud rain splashing all around him with the sound of thunder roaring across the dull sky.

The trees and flowers still looked as beautiful and aesthetically pleasing as the day he first wandered into this place with his dark intentions, and today he was back with a vengeance only in his heart and mind : Confront Jake once and for all.

The drenched blonde looked around the park with his limited vision through the rain and the dense fog that was starting to form and cloud over the entire city of Orlando. He was thankful that he wore the trench coat rather than his hoodie, otherwise he would've more soaked than this, thank god the coat was somewhat waterproof.

After 5 minutes filled with aimless walking and looking, Dream began to suspect if whether or not Jake had given him a random location to mess with him and in reality he was still back at his house, still hiding in one of the rooms. It was a terrifying thought and very possible since this is Jake he's talking about, he can literally do anything that is to the limits and beyond the word extreme.

So Dream's face drew a quick exhale of relief before a little smirk grew on his face as he sees a faint outline of a person, leaning on the railing barriers that prevented anyone from falling into the strong swirling water below of the river.

Dream carefully approaches the figure that seemed to nonchalantly look over to the tall building over on the other side of the river without a care of his surroundings. His dress shoes carried him onto the more grassy parts of the park, his feet rustled softly against the blades of grass, emitting out a couple of decibels. Dream tensed up underneath the small sound he was making, hoping that the rain would mask it enough for who he assumes is Jake, to not be able to hear it.

Dream held onto that thought until a withdrew of breath was heard from the person leaning against the railings before they seemed to turn around and face Dream, with what he can assume as a deadly smirk painted slyly on their face.

"You never disappoint me... you even exceeded my initial expectations.." a British sounding voice spoke through the rainfall, and that was all the confirmation of identity Dream needed to solidify that this guy he was talking about was definitely the person he was looking for.

"and you never cease to shock me..." Dream replies, slowly approaching the shadow which also seems to walk over towards him as well. Both of their feet pulled themselves against each other until Jake was visible to Dream's eyes and Dream was clearly visible to Jake.

"Dream."

"Jake... or should I say murderer, Mister SyrupyWaffles?"

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Next Time on Behind the Screen

After... 8 pain-filled days...

"I never thought you would come this far..."

192 hours of sadness and guilt...

" I also never thought I would accept someone like you into my team."

Days that were filled with arguments and fights...

"You ruined my life, you piece of my shit!"

Nights that were filled with tears and talks...

"It is my job, and I will be done with it like I did with Hailey.."

"All I need to do now... is just to get rid of you and erase your existence."

The war of gaining and losing points...

"Come on traffic why now?!"

"We're running out of time!"

All comes down... to a gruesome GRAND FINALE

"You've done this before haven't you? PVP?"

"Dodgebolt... all familiar stuff am I right?"

The last final battle in the rainstorm...

"DREAM WAIT!"

"NOO DREAM!!!"

"JAKE YOU FUCKER!"

will decide the war's worthy winner..

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!"

"GO FUCK YOURSELF!"

and the loser... will meet the consequences.

Who will be the real winner that will come out on top of this war?

"Since we start all of this together... we're going to finish it... together."

.

.

.

Chapter 18: Dream vs Crunch : Fate of the Future...

Coming Soon...

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HOLY COW, WHAT A CHAPTER

Thank you so much for tuning in and reading Chapter 17! This has to be one of the most enjoyable chapters to write, I feel Dream's outburst of emotions and anger on a spiritual level.

Once again sorry if the writing was a bit sloppy, I'm very tired T^T (Dang it Light. Why didn't you come and write as I told you to, you lazy piece of sh-)

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Are you hype for the FINALE??? Hopefully I made the trailer really good and intense!

If you liked the chapter, don't forget to vote, it really supports my book and also comment down on what you think! It is all completely free and you should do it!

Until next time, I will see you all with the showdown between Dream and Jake...

Peace!

-SymphonyKingdom