#Soups Demolition AU

[fluffallamaful]

Okay okay okay, so: Sapnap’s Manhunt AU, post-capture

So Dream is being kept in what is basically a cottage with lockable doors and a rotating shift of guards, two at a time. It doesn’t really matter to him, though, because he is now completely defeated. Because he withstood torture, and before that the horrors of the Vault, and before that the isolation of being hated by everyone he loved, but he had only been able to do that when he had a plan. And now Punz is gone, and that means the plan has failed and he doesn’t have a way forward anymore. Which means all of that was for nothing. And that is enough to break him.

For the first few weeks, he mainly just sleeps. He barely eats. He never even tries to escape. The guards sit outside his room, playing cards and watching the days go by. (There’s no difference in behavior between shifts right now, so of course nobody wants to take the night shift: it’s inconvenient! Your additions can come into play here.) Eventually, though, someone decides that enough is enough and something needs to change, and so Dream gets his first visitor.

It’s Sam.

Dream expects the worst when he sees his old warden. He expects him to be vengeful, or at the very least eager to resume their old dynamic. He doesn’t even really care: he just kind of stares blankly at him.

Sam came in to make him eat a full bowl of soup. It takes a while. Dream isn’t very eager at first, and then later he starts to protest because his stomach has shrunk and he doesn’t think he can eat anymore, but Sam keeps convincing him to eat “just one more bite,” and soon it’s all gone. This soon becomes routine because Dream simply won’t eat if left to his own devices. Sam often tries to play with him afterwards, but to no avail. Dream just ignores him. And everyone else who tries to engage him that way. And Sam’s many things but he’s not really good at play.

But Quackity is.

And so Quackity visits — with Sapnap and Punz at the door, warning him that if they hear ANYTHING unusual they’ll come inside and drag him out.

Quackity has a bit of a heart attack when he doesn’t see Dream right away — but then notices that there’s a little lump under the blankets. It kills him a bit when he realizes that his arrival scared Dream enough to make him hide under the covers like a little kid, but he presses on. He engages him gently, and soon manages to coax him into playing a game of marbles. Dream is too scared to refuse. Quackity adds one more detail: for every marble of the opposing team that you manage to hit, you get to make a demand. (This isn’t the first time he and Dream have placed wagers on the outcome of games. Both of them are fully aware of this.) (The missing ring finger on Dream’s left hand burns.)

Quackity throws every round. He doesn’t want to make demands so much as he wants to be demanded of, to be told directly what Dream would want. But Dream is throwing every round, too, because he knows that nobody likes to lose and doesn’t want to risk making Quackity mad, so eventually Quackity has to take initiative. He scores a hit on his first real try. “You have to eat dinner with me tonight,” he says. “On the porch. I’m sick of you being cooped up in here.”

It’s the first time Dream manages to leave the room. Sapnap and Punz follow, of course. And the four of them eat, and the three of them talk while Dream sits there silently.

Quackity finally snaps and pokes him. “Earth to Dream! You going to say anything, bud? We asked you if you wanted — what. Was that.”

Dream had squeaked.

WEEHEHEHE i’m falling in love with this AU i just love the wooden shack so much 😭 i’m kinda imagining it on the edge of a lake for some reason?? but also i would love to know what your brain imagined. like is it a cute little forest shack? i’m gonna make a buzzfeed game here 😂

which image best describes dream’s shack? (A, B, C or D);

(more discussion below):

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ok so poor baby has a little depressive episode in his shack :(( he’s just lost his purpose for life pretty much. what’s even the point? he’s lost his friends and home countless of times, and now he’s lost his escape 😢

i can imagine that he’d be so caught up in his defeat that he wouldn’t even be paying attention to the fact that no one has even tried to hurt him or anything. it’s just embedded into his brain at this point, like second nature. he knows that they’re gonna kill him eventually. and now without punz he doesn’t have his safety blanket

from the other members point of view,, they may just see dream’s silence as him being spooked and adjusting. so for a while no one goes to visit him to allow him his time. there’s definite confusion and wariness in the air about the fact that dream hasn’t even tried to fight back. but no one really does anything about it, kinda waiting for someone else to make the call that somethings wrong.

and then finally sam makes the visit :((

the idea of him encouraging dream to eat and just coaxing him to take care of himself in general :(( he helps him shower. he encourages him to change his clothes. he brushes the tangles out of his hair (i’m obsessed with cdream getting his hair played with atm fzgzga). he makes him soup!! he gives dream the recipe (i kinda like hcing that dream is actually a rather good cook. self sufficient little celery stick. so it’s cute to imagine sam coming back the next day and finding dream’s scribbled amendments to his soup recipe)

and then quackity joins the party ☹️ poor dream. i absolutely adore that sap and punz are the ones keeping guard. like i can imagine them both being so fast to rush to dream’s aid if they notice dream being too uncomfortable. also just this trio is epic to imagining interacting

the marble game where they both throw is so CUTE!! that’s so adorable that they both try and let the other win 😭😭 and then quackity demanding that he comes and eats dinner with him and sap and punz 😖 so adorableeeee. can they eat it on his porch? can dream have a porch please? i need them to be eating food together on dreams porch under the light of a lantern with the sun setting and the whispers of nature around them. i adore that image

but what i adore even more than cute imagery,, is the opening for a tickle moment 👀 hehehehe. nawwwwwww and these three as a ler trio??? quackity punz and sap all just slowly starting to pick more and more fun at dream, especially coz it’s the first time so many of them has seen him smile in years. i can imagine that sap and punz would already know some of his spots, particularly sap. and it’s cute to imagine that before the lighthearted playful atmosphere arises, it was rather tense. so all of them are kind of leap at the opportunity to change it

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[fluffallamaful]

concept (Soups Demolition AU):

i’ve become a little obsessed with imagining what shenanigans sapnap’s manhunt crew could get up to whilst keeping guard over dream’s wooden shack (assuming that it’s the manhunt crew that does this). it’s just nice to imagine these characters getting to have a playful release and learning to let go a little :)

couple scenarios that have been on my mind;

campfire moments where they’re all sitting around roasting pork and potatoes, whilst waited for their soup to boil amongst the flames. all of them sharing stories of their downfall with a red flickering glow lighting against their faces

quackity hosting games of poker to determine who has to stand watch over dream’s shack that night. the rest of the crew realising that that means that quackity barely ever has to watch. quackity getting tickled until he agrees to pull his weight and stand guard

tickle fights to determine who has to go hunt with sapnap (sapnap is always up for the hunt). alternatively, sapnap tickling people until they agree to come with him to find dinner

truth or dare during extra boring shifts. fiancé trio continuously sharing embarrassing facts about each other

punz always being dragged into the play/tickle fights. he never seems to learn that calling the rest of the crew morons for not taking things seriously only gets him into more trouble

[fluffallamaful]

For Sapnap’s Manhunt/Demolition AU: basically everyone is on Dream’s side by the time he’s captured, but the thing is that — if they’re actually on his side — then they need to hurt him before he can be helped. They need to force him to surrender. They need to destroy that prison, even if he’s begging them to leave it be. Dream can’t be left to run himself into the dirt, because he is going to die if he continues on this path.

The turning point is actually Tommy.

See, the Finale DOES happen in this AU, I’ve decided. Except the nuke fails and just gives everyone a heart attack, the reset doesn’t happen, and Tommy is kicked out of the prison pretty much immediately after, Dream feeling the sting of betrayal all over again. Dream is set back to his old habits immediately, but Tommy actually learned something. And so, he’s pretty instrumental in turning public opinion in the man’s favor — even if Dream doesn’t know that this is going on.

Tommy doesn’t make Punz’s alignment well known, at least not right away. He tells Sapnap once he knows that the man has been convinced, and then Sapnap slowly makes a deal with Punz, and then Punz tries to help Dream by taking him out of the prison and Dream refuses, and they break apart. From there it’s a matter of Dream Vs Everyone until — inevitably — they manage to drag him out. The nuke hits, and this time it goes off just as planned.

The house that he’s staying in is made of wood, sure, but it’s not unguarded. Dream can’t really be trusted to not get himself killed right now — and also, nobody wants someone with an axe to grind to break in and “pull a Quackity.” So it’s in the center of the server with a rotating shift of two guards at a time, but Dream just. Doesn’t leave. Doesn’t even attempt it. (If he would, he wouldn’t even be stopped. The guards would just accompany him to wherever he wants to go. But he doesn’t even try.)

Sam shows up after a week. Everyone is worried, and he doesn’t really know what to do, but he thinks that he should at least try.

ohhhh ctommy seeing grey i feckin adorreeee 😭 my mind is racing because there’s so many cool things about this au AH ahh aHH like the potential for different characters to interact is epic

(discussion below)

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ok so first off i have a timeline question for you;; does sapnap’s change of heart occur before tommy’s nuke? or after? is it purely tommy’s hope for dream that makes him change? or had he already decided that perhaps dream could be helped beforehand? had sap’s manhunt crew already started to form before the nuke?

i’m still obsessed with the character combinations in sap’s manhunt crew,, and now to be adding in tommy to the mix? that’s heckin epic :0 i’m throughly enjoying the idea of them taking shifts in standing guard over dream’s shack, and betting with quackity’s poker chips to determine who has to take the night shift.

i’m actually really enjoying the idea of tommy and punz getting along,, but in a tense kind of way. like they know when each other are lying about what happened in the prison on the day of the nuke because they’re both there. it’s a cool thought that tommy doesn’t fully out punz as working with dream straight away. i can imagine the relief that punz must have felt when he first heard about tommy actually defending dream and wanting to help him. coz i think that prior to that, his character would have tried to take it into his own hands to help dream out

the thing that’s breaking my heart currently is dream’s reaction to hearing the sound of the nuke again :(( like he’s trapped in sam’s arms, kicking and flailing as he’s dragged out from pandora’s vault and out into the open. in his mind he’s been absolutely betrayed by punz, and as far as he’s concerned the people around him only want to kill or torture him. they all want something from him and it’s mostly to take his life….

and then on top of all of that,, the dreaded alarm of the nuke starts screeching it’s way into earshot 😢 the absolute panic he’d be feeling :(( like i can imagine that he’d only be fearing for his life. fearing that everyone around him would rather sacrifice themselves and die along side him than let him live,, just as tommy had done to him 3 years prior :( he starts to plead and bargain, switching constantly from promising to stay out of people’s way, to shouting out insults to the morons all around him. and THEN he gets told that the nuke isn’t for him,, it’s merely for his home… he’s told that he needs to let go if he ever expects to escape the prison’s magnet.

he has to watch his safe space disintegrate into a pile of rubble, all while the screeching noise of the nuke reminds him of just how untrustworthy the server is,, and just how alone he’s felt…

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[fluffallamaful]

Dismantled AU: Recovery.

So the prison has been destroyed. Nuked. Obliviated. Dream has been dragged out kicking and screaming and is now captured, once again — this time, he fears, for good. Punz has stabbed him in the back, Sam is gripping him by the shoulders, the whole server is more united than he’s seen it in years and they’re all against him. The future looks dark.

His cell is made of wood this time. He wonders if maybe he’s not enough of a threat to warrant obsidian walls anymore. He thinks about how easy a break-in would be, here. He considers running, but he’s got nowhere to go. Mostly he sleeps. They gave him a bed this time, for some reason. He dreams of Pandora, of blood and tears and safety made in hell. He wonders if the torture, starvation, pain — if it really was all for nothing. He sleeps some more: it’s the only thing he can do to stop thinking about it.

He has a week of isolation before someone finally comes in.

Sam is even bigger than he remembers, and carries himself with a sort of dignity that he hasn’t seen since before he was appointed Warden. It scares him. It angers him, too, even if he knows it’s stupid. He doesn’t dare show either of these things, submitting quietly and obediently as the man walks in.

Sam is aloof and quiet for the first few visits, but eventually he reaches forward. Dream can’t help but melt into his touch, and then it’s like the former-reinstated-Warden can’t keep his hands off of him. It starts with more basic things — scratches on his head, gentle bumps into his shoulder, hugs — but quickly evolves into hours of cuddles, of hair grooming, of care. Even when he’s not the focus of his attention he’s being cared for: Sam will sit on him and cradle his head in his paws while he reads a book, his heartbeat loud and low like a lullaby drum. Soon Sam becomes a staple of the room, staying day and night and rarely going out into the rest of the world. Dream doesn’t know what to make of it.

(Sam remembers a prisoner who begged for visitors, for someone to come and stay with him for a bit. He’s sworn not to make the same mistake this time around.)

—> edit: this is the link that llama thought she lost (HERE) (edits in purple)

omg this was so confusing because i cannot for the life of me find your first ask for this au??? it was the one with the link right?? wtf did i do with it i just spent the last half an hour determining if i had simply dreamt that that ask even existed 😭 it’s just not even there 😢 i don’t even know if i posted it, maybe i accidentally deleted it during my blog sweeping — i didn’t :( i’ve been trying so many recovery websites lmao i feel awful 😭😭

thankfully you recapped it beautifully here. i think the only bits missing are the fact that dream had to be dragged out of his cell kicking and screaming, and also that he had to watch the prison explode in front of his eyes — his only safe space on the server

(more below):

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i can’t quite remember who it was that lead the decision to ween dream away from his prison? — whole server but either way we’ve reached the point where he’s been given a lovely wooden house to stay in instead. something far more civilised… and of course dream despises it 😢 he’s just not used to being ‘protected’ by such flimsy material. he in fact feels anything but protected by it

sam appearing much larger than dream remembers ☹️ that’s so cute. he’s just so overwhelmed with how vulnerable he feels, cooped up in a wooden shack with nowhere safe to run even if he wanted to,, and now his warden is standing at his door looking taller and broader than ever

and yet despite everything, his body lunges for affection when it’s offered. i imagine it’d be a rather slow process, but still a process that progresses far quicker than his ego appreciates.

i forget who’s on his side in this au? — everyone is would he eventually get more visitors or has sam just demanded that he get used to one person at a time? i kinda like the idea of the other server members slowly starting to build other little shacks around him? like slowly creating a little village. i want them all to work together nicely in a village lmao. perhaps i need to create a village au 😂

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[fluffallamaful]

Sapnap’s Manhunt AU:

I love all of your additional commentary on the manhunt crew — I didn’t even think about half of it! Foolish wanting the Death book, Bad and Quackity having old beef, Quackity being Foolish’s boss (or even his former boss) — good eye!

One small amendment, though: Dream and Purpled were the ones that went after Quackity, and while Punz was involved he wasn’t obvious about it. To Purpled he played it as a messenger job that he was getting paid to do, and to Quackity he wasn’t involved at all. This makes things even more complicated because Punz still wants to throttle Quackity, but he’s also a pretty brilliant actor and so Quackity thinks the two of them are buds. (Bonus points: Quackity thinks that he is closest to Punz in this situation because of everyone else’s more obvious reasons for being on edge with him >:) )

Also, it’s important to note that while I joked about Dream running through the woods like a feral animal, that’s not entirely accurate? Like, that’s definitely part of it — but he’s still got Pandora. He still made the prison his home. He and Punz are still on the same side, still talking, still planning — but then Punz starts having second thoughts thanks to 1) Sapnap’s shifting motivations and 2) Dream’s obvious deterioration, and this eventually leads to his Betrayal.

oh yes very true so quackity wouldn’t have much against punz ok ok,, but punz would have to hold himself back each time he hears quackity lie to sapnap about what happened in the prison (downplaying torture and whatnot)

(discussion below)

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and ok yes interesting,, by helping sap find dream he would essentially be betraying dream,, despite punz actually just having hope that maybe the reset doesn’t actually have to happen? or at least having hope that maybe they don’t have to be hiding the whole time. i would think that punz would actually have thoughts of eventually convincing the others to join the side of immortality, but for the time being, getting the other server members off dream’s arse is the priority

i’m interested to hear what you feel punz’s motives are in this AU? coz did his character actually want the simple life? it’s so exciting to hear how they explain why punz’s character wasn’t in the s2 world (indicating that he possibly wasn’t apart of the reset)

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[fluffallamaful]

Sapnap’s Crew:

- Quackity. Most in danger from Dream. Sapnap isn’t sure if he believes the “tortured” tidbit, but he’s starting to think that it’s the most likely explanation. Especially since Dream — post-attempt-1 — is pretty obviously out for the man’s blood.

- Karl. Sapnap’s fiancé. Things between him and Quackity are tense: Karl’s memories came back, but he still FORGOT Quackity. They’re still broken up. And Sapnap’s not sure if he wants to take Quackity back himself: again, the torture.

- Bad. Gets on board later, after he’s privately tipped off that their new goal is to force-feed Dream some TLC. (This is done when Sapnap comes to him for help with setting a trap: a proposal he initially refuses.) He still feels guilty about his lack of action as a guard: he wants to do what he can to help stop the man from ripping himself to shreds.

- Foolish. He joins much later, following a few very odd conversations where Dream is quite obviously falling apart. He doesn’t know Dream, but Bad is his friend and he knows that Dream means something to him.

- Punz. Double agent at first. Then Sapnap’s motives take a turn and the server starts healing and he starts to rethink the plan in general. It’s thanks to him double-crossing Dream that they finally manage to catch him, in the end.

ok i absolutely adore the choice of characters here. because literally none of them get along canonically which fits your idea of the manhunt initiation being pretty slow (more time for dream to scamper in the woods)

canonical dramas that would have to be resolved (below);

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quackity: is hurt that sapnap and karl created a nation without him. is hurt that karl couldn’t remember him and claimed that he tried to murder him. is foolish’s boss. is against bad’s eggpire. punz and dream just literally tried to turn slime against him and kill him

karl: sapnap’s fiancé. he’s no longer suffering from memory loss, but he has in fact lost his fiancé due to accusing him of murdering him. gets along with foolish (built hype train together). always takes punz things lmao

bad: sapnap’s canonical father lmao. has had run ins with quackity in the past. dream’s prison guard, but a sympathiser. pranks foolish regularly. also punz’s father (?i think?)

foolish: knows that sapnap has the death book. literally has a wall with plans to kill both dream and sapnap. has decided that he could be too good for quackity and that he doesn’t really need him. is pranked by bad regularly. gets along with karl

punz: gets his stuff stolen a lot. bad’s son. sap’s brother. literally just tried to kill quackity. knows about the torture. his placement in this AU is awesome for a couple of reasons; (1) dream taking to the woods implies that punz and dream got separated after the slime war (unless dream actually made it back to prison), (2) punz is probably rather worried about dream by the time sap knocks on his door, (3) he has to pretend that he doesn’t know about the torture (awesome stand-still between quack and punz, coz neither of them would want to mention each others previous relationship with dream coz it would out themselves to sap), (4) quackity would know that punz is lying

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[fluffallamaful]

Actually — I changed my mind. Sapnap’s Manhunt AU ISN’T a Time Travel AU. Instead, it’s an Everyone Got Therapy While Dream Ran Through The Woods Like A Wild Animal AU. Dream’s failed attempt #1 at revenge happened, and so did pretty much everything else right up to Tommy deciding to break into the prison and murder Dream in his sleep, which did not. This’ll help retain character complexity and also a cohesive narrative.

Anyway, instead the buildup to Dream’s eventual capture is…very slow. Everyone is talking with one another now — or if they don’t start out that way, they eventually get there. And through conversation they manage to mend ties, form bridges, make something a little healthier, a little happier. Less vengeful. More willing to talk. More open to the idea of missing their friends. Sapnap starts to have second thoughts about the murder plot. He misses Dream, and maybe — maybe it isn’t too late.

And in terms of the Manhunt Crew, they also start to form a more…complicated vision about who Dream actually is.

Because things aren’t adding up. There are slip-ups, lies, ideas that just don’t make any sense. And slowly, ever so slowly, they come to the conclusion that they threw Dream in prison in the middle of a severe mental breakdown. And he never got help, and now he’s visibly deteriorating to the point where he resembled a shambling mess of skin and scar and bone. So now they have to catch him and force feed him some concentrated TLC before he runs himself into the dirt.

ok ok ok so the realisation that each character goes through is not sparked by a limbo, but instead just by them all simultaneously seeking therapy (maybe it was started by those that were especially spooked by dream escaping prison). but once again, dream is left out of the mending

it also occurs at a different point to the other version of this AU? where instead of scampering back to prison after the failed attempt at ambushing quackity,, he instead scampers into the woods? (or does he make it to the prison first and then leave to scamper in the woods?)

either way sap still goes through his realisation that perhaps dream can be helped. he forms a manhunt crew and starts scheming the best ways to find, catch, and force feed him TLC. the formation is relatively slow though,, coz it takes place after the manhunt crew make some sort of peace?

[fluffallamaful]

Another Time Travel AU: Sapnap’s Manhunt

So in the previous TT AUs, Dream was basically put under the care of the other server members. This is what happens when that DOESN’T happen. He’s out and about and — still in is canonical deterioration process, but also a threat. He’s still running, hiding, plotting, and continuing through with his plan even though he’s forgotten why he’s doing it in the first place because at this point he’s come so far and he’s been abandoned and humiliated and tortured and this plan is all he has left to keep him going ooowwwwwww —

Well, while he’s out being quick and clever, everyone else has come back from a hypothetical future where they had time and therapy and distance and were able to look back and see everything that went wrong and wish to make amends with everyone they lost along the way. And they’ve gotten their wishes! Tommy is trying to be a better friend to Tubbo, Tubbo is trying to not be such an enabler, Quackity is looking at Las Nevadas and trying to strike a balance between love and safety (and is still kind of at a loss on how to do it), Sam is — still kind of the same, but he’s recognized that he’s not infallible and that’s a step, the wall has cracked, and that’s huge for him. He’s reached out to Ponk already — and Ponk missed him, too, even if he’s wary due to the whole lost-an-arm thing. (They’re not together again yet, but they’re talking. Quietly, carefully, testing the waters.) Dream, as per usual, did not have this revelation. He doesn’t need it: he already wants his family back, even if he’s forgotten that that’s his reason for doing everything he’s doing.

And right now, Dream is out for blood.

Well, maybe not blood. Daedalus happened: he and Sam are even, they’ve put it behind them, they have. He and Quackity aren’t there yet but he has plans, even if he’s not — not sure what he wants yet. How do you get even with torture? An eye for an eye — what could he take? What does he want to take? (Mostly he just wants to take that control back. He was tortured daily. He screamed, he cried, he begged. He was forced to lick his boots, to say things he didn’t want to say, to call him “Sir”. He wants to stop feeling so wracked with humiliation, to stop feeling sick. He wants to feel like he can look people in the eye again.) Either way, he’s out for something. He’s restless and angry and frightened. And everyone is on the lookout right now because even if they don’t quite get what he’s after, they DO understand that there’s nothing more dangerous than an animal that feels as though it’s been caught in a trap. (The prison destroyed Dream. They all remember this, even if many of them don’t know why.)

Sapnap is still on the hunt, but now he’s replaced his initial goal of Murder with one to Imprison. Dream is dangerous, but Sapnap missed him so, so badly and if there’s any chance that he can get his brother back now that he’s been given this gift — he’s gonna take it. And he’s assertive enough to recruit others into his plot.

ohhhhhh interesting!!! sapnap gets some time in the spotlight!!!! i’ve seen your other asks about your amendments to this AU. but for specifically this one we’d have the same thing as time travel au but with the travel back in time being less far? to the point where dream has already found sam back in prison,, but hasn’t had his revenge on quackity yet

(discussion below, despite the changes)

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it’s interesting to have an AU were dream is more mentally scarred than physically. like he’s escaped prison and managed to find his way to punz i assume? who has patched him up and helped him heal. and then the plot would continue as normal with the canon stuff,, with sam being chucked into prison and dream finding him, talking to him, killing him, getting the prison to himself. only it’s then at some point after sam is released that the time skip happens? and instead of all of them straight away worrying about dream, they worry about their relationships with other server members first

… except for sapnap. sapnap’s newfound perspective has inspired him to extend the olive branch out to dream, and the nature of his once murderous manhunt flips to a far more friendly one. he realises that dream needs help, not isolation. he wants to be that help

dream of course is unaware of his change of heart, and is still actively planning out ways to get back at quackity (sapnap’s fiancé) with punz (sapnap’s brother). interesting dynamics here :O i know your other ask has amendments but i thought i’d still discuss this one anyway

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