Warning: Cursing, manipulation, self-harm/suicide mention/s (it's very vague), abandonment, mentions of abuse, possible death or mentioned death, technically flirting (it's not meant to be romantic, but if you want to take it that way you can)
[Before we start, I would like to point out it's over 4.7k words, but if I don't post this now, I won't get back to writing the chapter. It's slow, remember that. Also, feel free to spam the comments, or even correct spelling or grammar mistakes. Enjoy!]
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Dread turns to blankly stare at Sav. "So you not only have a Forest Steve with you, but a Winter Steve as well?"
Sav turns, having not been facing them. "Oh, you recognize them?"
Dread sighs. If he goes through with continuing to mention things, he'll blow his own cover. He thinks Genesis was probably familiar with them, so he just goes along with it. "Yes, I do."
Sav shrugs, "Checks out, you and Dream were close I guess." He goes back to leaning his head on the chair where Cherry is.
"Do you have to sit so close to me?" Cherry complains, to which Sav ignores him. Cherry rolls his eyes and just props his elbow on the other side of the chair, leaning his head onto his hand.
Sav whines like a child who hasn't gotten their way. "So mean, I was alone with Colle for so long, give me a break."
Cherry smiles thoughtfully. "I was practically alone with Goggles."
Sav scoffs. "Nuhuh, you had the whole entire kingdom!!"
Cherry sits up straight and looks at Sav. "Yeah, well, you had Envir. We're pretty even." He smiles.
Sav looks at Cherry and groans. "Oh yeah, you've spent way too much time with Goggles.."
Cherry nods exasperatedly, "Yes, I'm aware, thank you."
Sav laughs at his pain and lays on the ground. "I wonder if Orion's even still alive.."
Professor Red, who has been ignoring them up until this point, looks over at Sav. "Why would you send them away if you don't even know if this guy's alive?!"
Sav groans and stretches across the floor, unintentionally, but ironically, in a snowflake pattern. "It's better to check.."
"And when was the last time you saw this friend??"
Sav sighs and sits up against the chair again. "Uhm.. maybe like, two months ago..?"
"I doubt they've passed on, then.." The Blue Leader offers. "What type of Steve are they again..?" The Blue Leader has memory problems it seems.
Sav dismisses him, "He's a Winter Steve, and he wouldn't have passed through your section of the Spirit World."
The Blue Leader looks down, "Oh.."
Sav offers him a smile. "It's alright, he's probably fine."
Professor Red bangs his head on a wall. "What, did he melt?"
Sav rolls his eyes. "Shut up, he didn't melt, he has the Heart-"
Cherry's eyes widen slightly, "Does he now? Then how would he have died?"
Sav shrugs. "Dunno, he's one of those people that just.. don't know how to be careful."
All of the leaders look at Sabre.
"Sounds familiar.." The Yellow Leader says slowly.
Sabre groans. "Oh, hush, you-"
The hero is sitting by the staircase, Dread notices, and he looks a bit out of it. He gets up and leaves. However, someone else notices as well. The clock. The clock steve follows the hero downstairs, probably to check up on him.
Dread then just sits down, just a little out of it himself. He doesn't want to blow his cover, and none of these people really know Genesis, so he hopes they won't think he's acting weird. He just falls asleep.
~Back in Genesis' headspace~
Genesis sits in a corner, and then Judge is just standing around.
"This is so boring.."
"Was it better or worse in limbo..?" The Judge asks, seemingly genuinely curious.
Genesis thinks for a moment. "I have no clue, all I remember is when I was alive, and when I got to see Colle for the last time.."
The Judge nods. "We'll just have to wait for Dread to let down his guard.."
Little did they know, Dread had fallen asleep, and is now stalking them.
The Judge freezes, clearly noticing something is off. "Do you feel that..?"
Genesis looks around, "No..?"
The Judge sprints in front of Genesis and growls, somehow. "Dread.."
Dread laughs manically and comes out of the shadows. "Hello Judge, Genesis.." He smiles at them, and it's very unsettling.
"Good news! I'm very close to coming back.."
The Judge frowns. "We can figure that out ourselves, there's no need to torment us. Leave."
Dread laughs and stares at them for a few moments. "Hm.. fine. I think someone's yelling for me anyways.. goodbye~"
With that, he disappears.
Genesis and The Judge share a look of distrust and look towards where they think the sky would be, almost praying to Origin that they'll be alright.
~With the hero~
He had just left the main citadel, he currently is standing by the crystal room, where it all happened..
'I hate this..' He thinks to himself. He was about to try something very stupid, before he's interrupted.
"M..?"
He turns around. "Hey, Time.. how's it going..?" He shares a fake smile.
Time knows that look. He's seen it before, on an old friend. "Don't.. we can talk about it.." He slowly reaches an arm out to him. "Just talk to me first, please.."
He sounds desperate, like he's tired of losing people but can't bring himself to not do anything.
The hero takes his hand. "I'm sorry.. everything is just, it's so much, it's too much.."
Time smiles weakly at him. "I know.. I know it is.." He walks farther down the stars, still holding the rainbow being's hand. "Let's go somewhere more private, okay..?"
M nods at him, almost crying. "Okay.."
They walk to the same place he was told about Colle, and just stare out at the kingdom.
Some Steves are below them, and some of them see the hero and wave at him. Some of them are trying to ask for help. Time notices M's discomfort in the situation and shoes them all away.
M sits down and lays his back against the wall. "I'm, sorry.. you had to go through all of this, and now I'm making it worse.."
Time sits beside him, "It's alright.. tell me what's wrong.."
M was about to speak, but Time shushes his and looks at the doorway that leads to the portal room.
There's a Green Steve there. "Sorry for interrupting, I hadn't meant to eavesdrop or anything, but I heard you talking in the stairwell and you both sounded upset.." He begins, "And I want to help.."
M smiles at him. "Sure.."
The Green Steve smiles and sits down on the other side of the hero. "What's been bothering you buddy?"
M sighs and looks down at his hands. "It's just.. everything." He explains, and closes his eyes.
"Anything specific..?" Time asks him.
M opens his eyes and looks back up at them. "Everyone keeps bombarding me with their problems, asking me to fix everything, and it hasn't even been a week yet-" He begins, and almost starts crying.
Green grabs one of his hands and squeezes it. "Let it out, I know that's not all.."
The hero almost flinches at the touch, but stops himself. He takes a deep breath and looks towards the doorway back into the citadel. He doesn't see anybody, and hopes there isn't anyone there.
"My leader always had high expectations for me, and now they're so much higher.. it's only been a few days and he's already done so much, yelled so much, expected so much of me, it's already so bad.."
Time frowns at this. He thought Red Steves were supposed to be kind, of course the same could've been said about Violet Steves.. and we all know how that went.
"He slapped me once.." M begins, and the two Steve's erupt in dismay.
"Excuse me he what?!" Time exclaims.
"How could he do that..?" Green questions.
M shrugs. "I wasn't doing good enough, and he needed to do something to make me catch up I guess.." He looks down at his hands, both of which are being held by each of his friends. He smiles a little bit.
Time shakes his head. "Absolutely not."
M let's out a laugh, "Some of the locals get physically violent when I don't do something right too.."
Green looks down. "Oh my.."
Time lays his head on one of M's shoulders. "I'm really sorry this is happening.."
M shrugs, "I bet the last hero dealt with this too.. maybe even Void did.. it can't have been easy.."
Green thinks of something, something so out of the blue that he just has to try it.
M lays his head back again. "I'm just so tired.."
Green looks over at him and smiles. "I think I can help with that actually."
The other two Steves look up at him with confused looks.
Green stands up, dragging M with him, and consequently dragging Time up as well. "I know of some Steves who are really nice, maybe we can go ask them to stay for a little bit?" He asks, "Hey, maybe it'll help take your mind off of things?"
M smiles a little, but looks down. "What about the Steves..?"
Green scoffs. "You need you time buddy, they can handle themselves like they have been for the past.. how ever many years." He states, looking at Time.
"I agree with him, you should be allowed to rest and train, and think about if you really want this." He says, "As far as I'm aware, you didn't choose for this to happen."
M thinks for a moment, and nods. He did not in fact choose for this to happen. All he had done was hold the crystal, like Sabre had asked. He wouldn't have done it if he knew the outcome.
"I just.. really don't wanna end up like the last hero.." M says quietly, averting his gaze from his companions in fear of.. anything. Probably anger, as he's probably reminded them of a dark past.
He doesn't.. remember the third hero, all he really did was watch sometimes. Not often enough to know anything about the guy.
Time stiffens a little bit, before sighing. "Void was worse off, to be fair. But no, I get it.." He drapes his arms around each of his friends. "Enough of this emotional stuff, we need time to ourselves, especially M."
Green laughs nervously. "I didn't even know that this had happened until I came here.. and I didn't tell the villagers.." He emphasizes 'this' by waving his hands up and down, staring at M. "This is sudden, yeah, sure, but uh.. they might be skeptical, or maybe even excited."
M smiles, "Anything's better than being physically injured by the people I'm meant to care about.."
Time baps the back of M's head. "Hush about that already. Let's go, I'm sure the leaders won't care."
Green teleports the three of them out, and they end up in the village, as Green had talked about.
Green and Time were talking to each other as they all walked around in search of the leaders.
M, however, just followed silently, hyper aware of the eyes watching him, and voices whispering about him.
~With everyone in the citadel~
"GENESIS!!"
Dread wakes up with a jolt, and hits his head on something. "Ow.." He lays his head back onto the wall behind him, taking a hand and rubbing it. He looks up to see Sav quite literally in his lap, and just stares.
Sav smiles a fake smile and lightly pushes Dread so he hits the wall. He then stands up with Envir's help. "Hi, they're back."
Dread just stares at him, then looks around. "Wha.."
Envir slaps Sav lightly. "Look what you did."
Colle walks over to them, with someone behind them. They're a pale blue. Colle kneels down to Dread and pokes him. "You good man?" He grabs him by his hands and helps him stand.
Dread blinks slowly. "Uhm.."
The Violet Leader walks over to them and pats Dread on the head. "You alright buddy?"
Dread looks at Violet for a second and nods. "That hurt.."
Sav rolls his eyes and walks back to Cherry, sitting on the chair arm. "Get over it."
Cherry frowns and pushes Sav off of his chair, taking note not to leave any part of his chair untouched if he were to want to be alone.
Sav lands on his side with a groan, eyeing Cherry harshly. "You're so mean.."
As Violet goes back to his chair, Colle and Orion start talking to Dread about how to go about bringing Dream back.
Orion hadn't been told of this plan, and unfortunately he remembers the consequences all too well.
Orion slaps Cole's arm and shakes his head. "Are you stupid?!"
Colle tilts his head. "What..?"
At this point, everyone was listening to them bicker, even Shadow. He thought it was a waste of time, though. "How long are we gonna pretend all of this is normal..?"
Sabre groans, "Shut up Shadow.."
Light looks at him sympathetically, not understanding, but aware.
Shadow does in fact stop talking, for now.
Colle, genuinely confused about Orion's outburst, practically begs for an answer.
Orion just paces in circles, all while Dread internally panics. He knows they know.
Orion stops pacing and takes a deep breath, clasping his hands together in a tight triangle shape, pointing the tip directly at Colle, and then arches his back, leaning towards Colle with raised eyebrows. It shows how pissed he is.
"You remember Dread, right?" He smiles, baring his teeth to show his fading calm nature.
A shadow crosses Colle's face before he slaps himself. "Ah, shit.."
Orion stands up straight once again and nods, "Thank you."
Dread physically facepalms, playing his role. "Why didn't I think of that.. damnit.."
Shadow walks toward the group, eyeing Dread warily. Something's really up with him..
Dread can feel Shadow's presence, for some reason. He's out of it, really, he has been for a while.
Orion stares at the heart, which he has in his hands. He hadn't really put it down much unless it was necessary, for sleeping and possibly other things. He doesn't trust putting it in his pocket either. He feels as though that would end badly.
"As much as I absolutely hate this.. we need him back.." He inhales sharply and looks back at Colle. "How did you get him back the first time?"
Colle thinks for a second. "Oh, yeah! Seer helped me."
Sabre chokes, loudly.
All of the leaders turn to him as he starts coughing out of seemingly nowhere, and Cherry rolls his eyes. The Green Leader looks at him worriedly, "Are you alright Sabre-?"
Sabre takes his fist and jams it into his own chest, hoping he'll stop coughing so much.
It works, somehow, and he takes a few slow, deep breaths to help calm himself down.
"Sorry, sorry.. uhm, that sounds like Void's old name-"
Colle growls. "Don't talk about that imbecile. He's gone."
Sabre groans and rolls his eyes. "You brought him up, don't tell me what to do-"
Light raises his hands, "Children, stop fighting."
Orion giggles, "I like that guy. Okay, so, Seer, the Blue Steve right?" Colle nods. "Okay, so all we need is a Blue Steve as strong as, or stronger than him, right?"
Colle nods slowly. "Yeah.. hey, uh, Blue Leader-?" He turns to look at him.
"Yes?"
"Are you the strongest Blue Steve that's alive right now?"
Blue pauses for a moment. He had no idea. "I.. don't know.. I'm just the appointed leader because of Sabre.."
Colle hums, looking back at Orion, at the heart in his hands. "We'll have to find that one place again.."
Orion raises an eyebrow. "What place?"
"The summoner. Or, whatever its called, its like.. a shrine..? No, uhm.."
"Pedestal." Sav adds, leaning his back on Cherry's legs. Cherry had tried to kick him multiple times, but he hadn't budged, so Cherry had stopped trying for now. He had hoped to eventually catch Sav off guard.
Colle points at Sav with both of his hands. "Yes! That! Anyways, I think I remember where it was..?"
Dread tries his best to smile a believable smile, but Shadow sees through him and growls.
Sabre rolls his eyes at that and sits on the floor next to Light.
Light ignores Sabre for once, focusing on the conversation in front of him.
Dread grins, not even having to fake it this time. "I know where it is."
Colle looks at him, "Really-? Not surprising.. but good! Can we go, like, now?"
Orion rolls his eyes and looks at the Blue Leader expectantly. "We'll need your help, if that's okay?"
Blue nods nervously and stands from his chair. "Of course..!"
Orion smiles sadly, understanding the fear. "Hey, if it doesn't work, we'll have less of a villain to deal with. Dread sucked."
Blue smiles at that. "Yeah.. but if it does work, they'll be back because of me.."
Orion shakes his head. "I disagree, we'll blame Colle for being airheaded."
Cherry cackles from across the room, and Goggles slaps him. It doesn't stop him from laughing with him, though.
Colle groans and grabs Dread, Orion, And the Blue Leader. "Come on, let's get this over with.." Little did he know, Shadow was extremely close to them.
Dread teleports them away, unknowingly taking Shadow with them.
Sabre looks over and stares wide eyed, standing up and rushing over to them. Envir stares at him confused. "Is everything okay..?"
Sabre shakes his head rapidly. "That idiot caught their teleport on purpose!"
Light groans, leaning his head back on his chair. "Of course he did.."
Sabre looks around, "How the hell did he manage that, he's literally tied to me!"
Sabre dismisses everyone who tries to talk to him, and just leaves the citadel. Probably to go for a walk, and clear his head. He's not necessarily mad, he's just confused, and annoyed. Shadow wasn't supposed to leave him, or even be able to.
All he can do is wonder why he trailed them.
~With Colle and the others~
Colle opens his eyes to see Dread has in fact brought them to the right place. "Thank you Genesis."
"Of course."
Dread smiles to himself, and Shadow stares him down. Dread hadn't realized he was there yet, that's clear in his body language.
Colle takes the Blue Leader's hand and drags him to the same exact place Seer stood when he brought Dream to this place. Orion goes over and looks at Colle, holding the heart in his hands still. "Where do I put it..?"
Colle gestures to the center of the pillars, where a pixel art replica of the heart is. "Right there, in the middle, flat." He looks back towards Seer- uh.. the Blue Leader. "Just, uhm.. say what feels right, to summon a creator.."
Blue nods, taking his hands back. Colle, Dread, Orion, and Shadow stand where Colle did all those years ago, and wait.
Blue looks up at the sky, then back at the heart. "Creator.. we need your help.. something is very wrong here.." He pleads, looking up at his companions.
Colle blinks, "Nothing is happening.."
Suddenly, there's lightning, and a white flash before a white, blue, and yellow being appears. The turn to Blue. "Whatever could you possibly be feeling? Gosh, it's been centuries.."
Colle smiles and runs up to him, Orion in tow. "Dream!!"
Dream almost falls over, turning around. "Oh my, Colle? Orion? Genesis- no.. no, that's not.." He gently pushes Colle and Orion behind him, motioning for Shadow to follow them. Shadow blinks, not like anyone can see that, and goes to stand by the Blue Leader.
"It's time to let him go, Dread.."
Orion groans loudly. "You're joking right..?"
Colle slumps to the ground and hugs his knees. "Oh come on.."
Shadow growls at Dread, and the latter finally sees him. "Oh, you're hideous.."
Shadow goes to punch him, but Dream stops him. "Let him let go of my friend first, please." He smiles at Shadow kindly, and Shadow's face feels warm before he turns around and walks away, grumbling about how unfair it is that kindness affects him this way.
Dream giggles at him before turning back to Dread. "You're free, partner. Let Genesis go, please."
Dread thinks about it jokingly, going as far to put a hand on his chin before actively splitting himself in half, freeing Genesis. Dream barely catches him, handing him over to Colle as he keeps his gaze on Dread. "You planned this, didn't you?"
Dread had gone back to looking like himself, fading from black to whatever colours he is.
Dread laughs manically before disappearing. He whispers a few words into the air, Dream barely understanding what he says. "I won't be far.."
Dream bares his teeth before turning back to the others. "We should leave, yes?"
Colle nods, and Dream takes Genesis back from him, and grabbing everyone else before swiftly teleporting back to the citadel.
Dream made sure Shadow wasn't left behind, too.
--
Once they're back at the citadel, Sabre was already back with Light.
All of the leaders turn to look at them.
"Who.." Sabre starts, before Dream just bows at him.
"Hello, colourful one, my name is Dream Steve."
Sabre tilts his head. "Why am I colourful-?"
Dream looks at Shadow, then back to Sabre. "You know."
Sabre groans. "Why can you see him, ugh.."
Dream smiles at Shadow, and Shadow starts talking to himself again as he walks back to Sabre. His face feels warm again, and he hides behind his counterpart.
Sabre looks at Shadow, then back to Dream. "Y'know what, I like you."
Light giggles a little bit before standing, beckoning the other leaders to stand with him. They stand in colour order, and Light introduces everyone.
"Hello, Dream Steve. These are the chromatic leaders. Red Leader, or Cherry." Cherry waves, as he had seen Dream before.
"Orange and Yellow leaders," The mentioned leaders bow at Dream, one less polite than the other. Guess who.
"Green," The Green Leader takes Dreams hand, shaking it.
Dream smiles warmly at them, bowing his head.
"Blue and Indigo," He gestures towards Blue, who walks back to his chair, and then Indigo who was standing awkwardly without his other half.
The both of them just smile at him, not fully understanding these weird bowing formalities.
"Then there's Violet." Violet waves at Dream, smiling.
The leaders all sit back down, and Cherry accidentally sits on Sav.
"Damn, take me to dinner first-" A slap.
Sav rolls his eyes, rubbing his face where he got slapped, and just sits back down on the floor. Cherry smiles proudly before sitting back in his chair, crossing his legs.
Light bows to Dream, "I am Light Steve, protector of the light."
Dream smiles. "Who created you?"
Light's face contorts to one of annoyance, looking at Sabre. "This idiot did."
Sabre hangs his head. "Hey, it's fine, you're not dead."
Dream still had Genesis in his arms, so he gently placed him on the floor. "May I ask for a Green's help, please?"
The Green Leader stands from his chair and walks over to Dream.
Colle and Orion step away, towards Sav, to give them their space.
"What exactly happened?"
Dream sighs, "My old.. partner.. work partner, possessed him, for who knows how long, and has finally left."
Green blinks in confusion.
"It knocked him out, and I don't know if he'll be okay, considering he's.. uh.. old.. like me.."
Green smiles a bit. "I can try to help, I'm still not good with anyone who isn't a chromatic though-"
Green kneels down and places his hands over Genesis' chest, looking at Violet. "I need your help."
Violet gets up and walks over to them, kneeling down and placing his hands on either side of Genesis' head.
Green smiles, "I'm assuming if he was possessed, we simply bring him back to front?"
Dream nods, almost impatiently. He misses his old friend.
Shadow, from behind Sabre, sees all of this. He's almost jealous of Genesis. Almost.
Green and Violet eventually move Genesis to Green's room, to the same place M was when he passed out.
Dream had gone with them, and Shadow follows them, of course.
It took a while, but they finally got him to wake up.
Dream was beside them the entire time, almost immediately hugging him when he wakes up.
"Dream- Dream-?" Genesis hugs him back, almost crying. "Damnit, he's back..-"
Dream lets go of Genesis. "He is, but we've gotten rid of him one, my friend.. we can do it again."
Shadow hears a thump outside the room, and Dream looks at him. "Is something wrong, shadowy creature?"
Shadow ignores him and just stares at the door. "There's something wrong.."
Dream fully gets up after his moment with Genesis, and the two leaders look at him with questioning looks. "Is everything alright?"
Genesis looks over at Shadow and sees his distraught, confused facial expressions. All that he can see, of course. He gets up to walk over to them as well, and Dream opens the door.
Violet lets out a noise of disgust, and Green just stares.
Dream and Genesis share a look, before Dream picks up a body. They aren't dead, he notices, but their face.. is blue.
~With the hero~
M was still silent, the other two either not caring, or not noticing. He opts to believe they don't care, though.
They make it to the leaders' house, and Green knocks.
A Violet Steve opens the door, surprised, they smile and hug Green. "Hello! It's so great to see you!"
Green hugs them back, and motions towards his friends.
The Violet Village Leader goes quiet for a moment.
Green smiles awkwardly, "Uh, well, this is Time Steve, and, uh, M-"
"M?"
M snaps out of his trance, finally. "Oh, uh, hello-"
"They're a rainbow..?"
Green laughs nervously, "Yeah, uh, the crystal chose him for some reason.. uh.. we just need somewhere to stay so he doesn't go insane..?"
The leader smiles thoughtfully, "What might be the problem, the expectations?"
M just shrugs, "A little.."
The leader beckons them into his home. "Come on, we can talk about it inside."
The three friends walk into his house, and they sit where the leader tells them to. "Ah, don't be shy or anything, it's alright. You're free here, you aren't chained down."
M looks down at his hands, which are still not red, and sighs. "I.. uhm.. I'm a, Red Steve.. if that wasn't obvious.."
The leader gasps, dramatically covering his mouth with both of his hands. "No way, really?!" He sounds genuinely surprised, M notices.
"Okay, so it isn't obvious.. noted."
At this point, the other two leaders are there as well.
M starts talking about how his leader treated him- and of course they wanted to question the fact there's more Red Steves but M said it was a long story.
He continued on about how the people of the Rainbow Kingdom treated him as well, and the least anyone could say was that the village leaders were pissed.
M is almost crying at this point, "I just.. don't wanna end up like the other heroes, dead or, corrupted.."
The leaders have sympathy, of course, and give the three a house to stay in. It was a newly built house, for the reason of anyone seeking refuge, or just anyone moving into the village. It was convenient, M thinks.
Green of course has his own house, and says he'll at least visit every once in a while to see how they're doing.
~A little while later~
M was sitting in the kitchen, looking out the window. Contemplating whether or not this was a good idea. Time seems to read his mind, and puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder, using the other hand to pat his head.
"We'll be alright, M. The kingdom will be alright as well."
M nods, hugs him, and goes upstairs. He needs a break from this.
He chooses a room, he doesn't care which one, and lays down in the bed. It doesn't take long for him to fall asleep, however he wasn't doing it for sleep.
~In M's "dream"~
M wakes up in a room, and it's not as dark as it usually was. Probably the Orange Steve's doing honestly.
"Oh.. you're back." The Red Steve, er.. Red King said. He seemed annoyed.
M blinks and just hugs his knees. "I'm sorry,, just needed an escape."
The Red King walks over to him and sits down beside him. "I understand that."
M sighs, and the other crystals walk over to them. He even notices Crystal Orange Steve this time, the third hero.
The other kings sat down, and the Blue and Indigo Steves have flowers they're tending to together.
M looks at Crystal Orange, and almost starts crying. Crystal hugs him, and M just tries to be quiet.
"It's alright little one, let it out.. tell us what's bothering you.." The Violet King says, rubbing circles on M's back.
M tries to calm down more first, and then goes on about the physical abuse, from his leader and the other Steves, and how he had run away with his two friends.
The Kings shared their knowledge on the situation, mainly Violet and Red, and M felt better about it.
M just wished he didn't have to run to feel safe..
~With Dread~
Dread had.. made a few friends in the past few hours.
He knew that Dream had gotten Genesis back, and he knew they knew he was back.
He also knew The Judge would probably come back soon, is Genesis remembered them.
What he knew that they didn't know, was that there were many good friends he's made.
One, he'll call them.. The Void. The Void hated the player, Sabre. The Void hated Shadow. The Void hated all of the steves, as they were all as annoying as a bee.
Another, well.. let's just say, he was charming.. stupid, of course, as all of the Desert's were. But most of all, he had befriended the dragon that brought Colle to his village. Origin knows how much he wanted Colle to pay for what he did to his people. For what he did to everyone he came across.
The third, well.. he was killed by the same being, and sent to the World Below.. who knows why he was there, but he's back. With The Void, and Dread.
Dread thought they needed new names, so he gave them new names.
"Welcome to my team, Void, Dex, and Fyrose."