A/N: I'm basically scum. i know this isn't how dream bubbles work, but this has been swirling in my head for days and i just neeeeeeeeded to write it. first time writing these characters, dont hate me for occasional oocness. also im terrible at writing more than two characters at a time, so this could be a huge clusterfuck. love yall

"H3Y GUYS, NOT SUR3 1F 4NYON3 C4R3S, BUT W3'R3 COM1NG UP ON 4NOTH3R DR34M BUBBL3, SO JUST HOLD YOUR SH1T 1 GU3SS." Terezi's voice echoed through the crappy PA system they had set up on the meteor.

Dave sighed and got to his feet, shoving his hands in his pockets and stifling a yawn. He shuffled his feet to the roof to join the others. Dream bubbles were one of the rare times that everyone in the meteor could be found in the same place at the same time, and were the only real form of entertainment available on the rock. It wasn't that he didn't want to go up, he was just tired. Like he had been doing a shocking amount of not-sleeping for being on a rock where the only thing to do other than twiddle your thumbs was sleep. Stepping out into the open he saw the on coming dream bubble; shining white and red against the not-space of the furthest ring. He took note everyone was already there. Well, everyone but Gamzee and the Mayor. The Mayor didn't really have any interest in dream bubbles. He was too busy running can town. Entering and and exiting a dream bubble was never an unpleasant experience, but he watched as everyone physically braced against the feeling of it, vanishing one by one into the white and red iridescence until it finally reached him. He closed his eyes as it washed over him.
The second Dave opened his eyes alarm bells started going off in his head. They were on LoHaC, watching a dream Dave in an ugly green suit maneuver the turning gear that acted as his floor.

Shit." It came out as a whimper and everyone turned to look at him. Totally uncool. He had to keep his cool, but he was breathing too hard.

"What?" Kanaya quirked an eyebrow.

Rose took a step towards him. "Dave you don't look too good. Maybe you should take a seat."

"Everything's fine.." Shitshitshit could they see how freaked out he was? Even with the shades? Was his mask falling? Was he shaking? He couldn't keep track. He did not want any of them seeing this shit, and he wanted even less to explain it to them. He was floundering for a better, more Dave-ish way to brush off his apparent panic when the dream Dave misstepped, his foot twisting in the cogs, dragging the rest of him down between the grinding metal. Dave winced at the sight, and then something went wrong. His foot went white with pain, followed quickly by the rest of him. He felt himself being crushed and ground between the gears. The breath left his lungs and he felt it. Bones shifting, snapping, grinding, the cold metal pressing so hard into his flesh he could feel it ripping under the pressure, the pressure climbing up until he couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. Had he just gone blind or was he panicking? He felt his jaw snap in half, and he blacked out. It took him 7.34 seconds to realize he was on the floor. It took 12.39 more to realize he was screaming. It took another 18.43 to realize everyone was trying to get his attention. He didn't give it to them. He tried to stop, to get a hold of himself and at least stop screaming like a skinned cat, and he had just managed to when the scenery changed beneath him. Grated floor. Lava light. Where was there grated floor on LoHaC? Which was it this time? He had to know what to expect. Dave looked up and saw himself in the same position and his heart nearly stopped as he was run through with his own sword. A year and a half later and he still had no idea who had done that. Chalk it up to doomed timeline luck. He shook on his hands and knees until he felt weak with pain, and fell to the ground panting. Two deaths out of how many and he was already exhausted. At least in normal dreams he just had to watch. Participation sucked. He deserved a trophy.

The rest of the group had stood on in shock. What the hell was happening? Were they just supposed to stand on and watch Dave and dream Dave die on the floor?

"Dude what the fuck is going on?!"

That made it through the pain. Of course of all the voices he had to tune in on crabkat radio. He shifted and another lance of pain shot through him. Dave whimpered again. Fuck that was embarrassing. "Just a usual Tuesday night with Dave Strider, guys. No worries." It was ground out through gritted teeth. He tried to smirk, but his face wouldn't cooperate. There was no brevity in his tone, even though he wanted there to be. He wanted to be unfazed and bored again but fuck he could hardly talk around the feeling of broken bones and cold metal.

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Karkat was more worry than annoyance. Actually no, he was all worry. And he was hoping to anything that he was wrong about what Dave meant. "This can't possibly be norm-" He stopped midway as the scenery changed again. They were in some dark hallway, slit windows let the lava light into the space and illuminated a Dave backed against a wall by four Ogres. He was unarmed and afraid. The Ogres gleefully took to stabbing him repeatedly with their crappy swords, and Real Dave's screams echoed down the hallway, hitching only when a sword would create a new hole. Dave was curled in on himself on the floor and his screams had been reduced to desperate moans by the time the Ogres stopped and dream Dave had died.

"Doomed timelines." He spoke into his knees, which had been pulled to his nose. It came out small and weak, much like he was feeling. This was pathetic. He was answered by silence that hung heavy in the air. He had explained how the whole time travel thing worked to everyone a while ago, so no one asked for further clarification.

The memory changed again. They were in Dave's room, a cruxtruder haphazardly dropped in the corner and a broken toilet in the middle of the floor, some notebooks placed on top. A moment passed, and a Dersite slid in through the open window, a red diamond embroidered on his official looking coat. The Dersite eyed the notebooks a moment before swiping them up, there was a flash in the middle of the room and a Dave appeared, clad in a red and very comfortable looking suit. Thing looked damn near plush. The Dersite bared his teeth. The Dave held out his hand to the intruder, taking an intimidating stance. "Hey buddy, hope you don't mind, but those belong to a friend of mine, and I kinda need to burn them now, so hand them over." The other said nothing in response, simply approaching the Dave, brandishing his knife. "Wow, nice toothpick you got th-" the Dave was cut off as the Dersite lunged at him, the knife plunging into his neck before he could even ready his sword. The Real Dave made a choking sound on the floor and twitched violently. If anyone heard crying they wouldn't say anything about it. As the other Dave lay dead and bleeding on a sound mixer, the thief ducked out of the window again, just as another Dave walked in to find the books missing and his own lifeless body.

The Real Dave was still curled in on himself, in pain and embarrassed out of his mind, but mostly terrified. How many more times? He wasn't even sure how many doomed timelines he had created. They plagued his sleep, but had lost track of just how many were repeats. He normally only dreamed of one a night; the memory of the death usually jolting him awake, drenched in a cold sweat and screaming. But now there was no waking up. He got to find out just how many times he had died and that was terrifying. Terezi hadn't said a word since the dream had started, presumably too confused by what her senses were trying to tell her and too frightened to ask for a description, afraid her senses weren't lying. Karkat was also shockingly quiet, too stunned to think of anything to say. He wanted to jump in and stop everything from happening. He wanted Dave's candy apple red blood to stop being spilled over and over and over. He wanted to comfort Dave, but figured that would turn out like one approaching a wounded lusus. He wanted to get the fuck out of this bubble. Kanaya had spent the entire time trying not the look or to hear or to be aware of what was happening. Rose watched in grotesque fascination, knowing her friend was physically fine, this was a lovely chance to observe his mental state. So far she was coming up with really fucking traumatized as her prognosis.

Dave felt the ground beneath him change, and tried to brace himself for whatever was next. He cracked an eye open to see what to expect and found himself pressed against his quest bed, staring at the back of another Dave in a green suit. "Aw fuck..." He shifted to sitting, his body shaking and ignoring the pain that shot through him before slumping back against the slab, ignoring the wetness on his cheek. Dave had accepted that he was gonna be crying this whole ordeal. It hurt too damn much not to. "Open your nose, Terezi. You were so kind as to force this one into being." He sounded so tired.

"Wh4t?" She turned toward him, looking like she'd been hit.

The other Dave then started speaking into his iShades.

"Well that was apparently pointless."

Terezi tensed up behind Karkat, who was now looking between the two, confused.

"Now what?"

Terezi started shaking her head. "1'm r34lly sorry, D4v3. 1f 1t h3lps, th1s r34lly ups3t m3, 4nd 1 f33l r34lly, r34lly b4d 4bout 1t."

"Hello?"

Dave glared from behind his shades. "No fucking point apologizing now, is there?"

"Terezi?"

Karkat finally caught up with the exchange and whirled around to face Terezi. "Oh fuck wait is this what you were crying about?! Was this one particularly terrible?"

"What's up?"

Dave sighed, "Not really, compared to others that you will no doubt get to witness."

There was a shimmer of green light to the Dave's left, signalling Jack's arrival. Dave's hand shot to his neck a moment before Jack's blade sliced through the other Dave's neck, severing flesh and bone. The pain threw him forward, propelled by a cry that couldn't be stopped by the blade. Somewhere in his mind he registered he'd dropped his shades, but the way his throat closed in pain and panic took the forefront. You can breathe, you're fine, you can breathe, remember how to breathe, fucking remember how to breathe Strider, breathing is important, breathe breathe breathe. He couldn't look at the corpse lying a foot away from him, or he would throw up. He was not going to throw up. He was going to keep breathing and not throw up.

Shit he was gonna throw up.

He quickly spun around and lost his lunch on the quest bed, coughing and shaking with the effort. He couldn't keep this up. He wanted this damn dream bubble to pop. He wanted to wake up screaming and crying and fine in his gogdamned bed. Shit he was cryin hard now. The quest bed fazed out from under him, and he flopped to the ground, the vomit swept away with the memory. Soft grass brushed his face. LoFaF. Jade's world after stoking the forge. It was all rather peaceful. The trees rustled lightly in the breeze, frogs chirped and croaked all around. The sound of water lapping at a shore line could be heard not far off. The peace in the air was quickly broken, though. A howl. The trees shook. Pounding footsteps. Dave's face paled and he tried to scramble to his feet, but didn't have the strength."No no no NO NO!" Panic gripped his chest again. A Dave in a white and red broken disc shirt came sprinting out of the tree line, followed by Jack Noir in winged pursuit. "Karkles? You were asking about the particularly terrible ones...?" The Dave had barely cleared the trees when Jack's blade connected. He swiped down, straight through the Dave, slicing him through from shoulder to thigh. Dave's vision went white, his ears rang so loud that he couldn't hear himself over the sound of his blood pounding in his ears. Oh gog there was so much blood. It stained the grass and seeped toward him, stickying his fingers. Wetting his cape. Pooling around his sunglasses. He couldn't breathe, or he was breathing way too fast. His entire body went numb.

He was relieved when he passed out, even if it wasn't for as long as he had hoped.

He regained his faculties 8 dead Daves and 13 minutes 23.7 seconds later, still in the dream bubble, still overcome with pain, but now he felt arms around him and he was leaning against someone warm and soft, so it was slightly less horrible. so one of these bastards decided to be a decent person, huh? he thought bitterly, but it was the only real thought he had before he felt himself riddled with bullets, each one a focused punch on a needle point, and the arms tightened ever so slightly when he cried out and his body jerked before slumping back against them. He didn't even care who it was. Just that they didn't decide that they didn't need to keep holding him now that he was awake. He pressed back into whoever it was, resting his head on their shoulder like a damn child. "You're not allowed to go anywhere." He was so out of breath from screaming he wasn't even sure he was speaking loud enough to be heard.

"Wasn't planning on it." Ok, that made no sense. That was definitely Karkat's voice, but it was so soft and gentle, Dave was sure he must be getting brain damage from all this damn torture. He opened his eyes to pleasant darkness. His shades had been returned, thank gog. His eyes slid to look at who he was laying on, and it was indeed a very scared and tired Karkat. "Sucks ass you gotta wake up before this fucking nightmare of a dream bubble dispersed. I was getting used to being able to fucking think." Karkat was trying so hard to sound normal, but it didn't feel right.

Dave chuckled hollowly. "Sorry, man. I got bored and decided to make your life harder again."

The others were all splayed out on the ground, emotionally exhausted. Terezi looked like she was going a little bit crazy, probably because the changes in scenery were messing with her taste buds or something. Kanaya had her arms crossed over her eyes and had an aggressively stoic mask in place. She was trying so hard not to have a mental breakdown of her own, because even though trolls normally reveled in killing, there was such a thing as too much of a good thing, and she had a feeling this was going to push too far into too much. There was a long pause before Rose spoke up. "Any idea how many more deaths you will have to endure before this dream bubble is dispersed?" Her voice was steady and monotone as ever. That in itself was a comfort.

Dave had to physically prepare himself to talk, so he wouldn't end up gasping in the middle of a sentence. After a few moments he replied, "No, I have no Idea. There could be hundreds, or like, 20. I honestly didn't count. Seemed too morbid at the time. Sorry guys." He sank deeper into Karkat as the world changed again, another Dave appeared, was slaughtered, and Dave tried not to lose control again.

At the entrance to a death very much like the one that had knocked him out earlier, he decided to take his cape between his teeth rather than blow Karkat's ears out. He struggled not to writhe in pain as he felt the metal tear through muscle, tried not to dig his nails too far into Karkat's arm when he felt bones break, resisted the urge to vomit when the pain in his head made his stomach twist. The whole time, Karkat whispered assurances that he was ok, reminders to breathe, grabbing his arms when he tried to mutilate himself, running his fingers through his fellow knight's hair. Neither was sure if this was helpful, but it was so appreciated that Dave wished that he was physiologically capable of purring. But every time such thoughts would arise, they were cut short by white hot, all consuming pain, and he buried his fist in the troll's sweater. He lost count of the Daves again.

He was later told there had been 73. That seemed like far too small a number.

This continued for another hour 3 minutes 4 seconds.

The moment the dream began to dissipate, thinking became easier. The pain eased away with the dream, albeit a bit slower, but as the pain ebbed out there was so much room for thoughts and feelings other than despair and fear. He also realized how much easier it was to breathe without earth shattering pain and crippling fear of the upcoming earth shattering pain. Everyone else breathed easier. They were back on their quiet rock flying through the outer ring. Kanaya hardly checked to make sure Dave was alright before bolting back inside. Rose spent 3 more minutes to make sure everything would be alright before taking her leave as well. Terezi looked too shell shocked to move, still trying to process the last hour and a half before abruptly getting up and leaving as well. They decided to leave her to it. Dave probably shouldn't have called her out.

"You gonna be ok?" Oh right, Karkat was still holding him up.

He sighed. "No. That was actually the worse thing I have ever gone through in my life." He wanted nothing more than to fall asleep right there. He was exhausted, and Karkat was really comfortable. "Karkles, can we take a nap? I think I need a nap." He didn't care he sounded like a little kid, he wasn't even sure he had much pride left to defend after that show.

Karkat's eyebrows rose, and he had to bite down the impulse to lash out in indignation. "You don't wanna move first?" The blond shook his head lazily against his shoulder. He was surprised by how not annoyed he was, and chalked it up to his own exhaustion from the ordeal. He'd been the one to keep the bastard from actually hurting himself in his fits of panic, after all. "Fine, let's settle properly first. This is not as comfortable for me as it is for you." After a few moments of fidgeting, Dave's head rested comfortably on Karkat's shoulder, a hand still clinging to the troll's sweater, and Karkat was stretched out, one hand tangled in Dave's hair. The cape was spread as a blanket over the two of them, and neither of them could find reason to complain.