When was first told about the Dreambubbles, I thought they would be cool. Initially, I thought we were all disconnected from the other part of the group for the next three years, but the idea that we would all be able to see each other in our dreams gave me some hope; maybe I'll get to visit Rose and other Dave, maybe even meet some of those leetspeaking and blabbering assholes to offer myself a laugh and a headache, on the house. But all the Dreambubbles ended up offering me was an unending existential fucking nightmare.

Each time I went to sleep, I would find myself in the dream that continually plagued my childhood. I would see myself wandering in the dark, somewhere with metal floors and something resembling power lines stretching itself overhead, where I would perch. See, in my dreams, I would never see it from my perspective, but from a crow, watching from above, gazing down at the idiot teenager looking for something in the dark, not helping like the feathery asshole I am.

I never know what I'm looking for in the dream. Maybe I'm not looking for anything other than a way out of this hellhole, but Skaia be damned if I'll ever achieve that. Walking around in the dark, I always end up running into a trap, or some enemies, and I end up dying. After I die, the dream starts again and I'm a different crow, watching a different Dave pick his way through darkness, only to follow in the steps of his predecessors and add to the pile of ever-increasing dead Daves. And the bubbles only allowed me to more aware of everything around me, like I was actually there.

You might think reliving this dream over and over again since you turned twelve might be traumatising to a young delicate Child like myself, and you're probably right, but I have talked to a certified amateur psychology genius about this very topic and she has all but assured me that all the crows represent penises and darkness represents homosexualty, so what I'm looking for is actually a way to escape my unending gayness and I keep dying because my lust for dudes is Just That Strong, so I wouldn't worry too much.

And anyway, when you have the same dream every night for nearly two years, you start to become jaded to seeing your corpse fall to the ground for the 700th time in a row. It's become more of a challenge to see how long I can wait out my psyche's increasingly creative murders.

Tonight hasn't been any different. Sometimes I count the amount of times I die before the Break happens. 37...38… Boom. Here it comes, a deafening clang of the gong hailing what is undoubtedly the worst part of going to sleep. The sky breaks open, and this luminescent purple glow appears through the rift it creates and begins to sing. It's just, the most awful sound ever, like imagine if you were forced in the front row of a Taylor Swift concert positioned right next to the speaker while an obnoxious fan with a speech impediment whoops in your ear incessantly. It's usually enough to wake me up right then and there.

At least, that's usually what happens. This time seemed to be different. The gongs just kept going, kept getting louder until the ongoing bass line was deafening to my sensitive crow ear holes. Only I wasn't a crow anymore, for the first time since these god-awful dreams started happening, I was in the perspective of my own body, which ended up not being much of an upgrade, since I couldn't move my feet. I just stood there, gazing into the darkness as the clang of the gong beared down on me.

Suddenly, in the distant darkness I saw the faint shape of Rose, who became brighter and brighter the more I looked at her, until it was almost like she was standing right in front of me, but I couldn't reach her. She called out to me.

"Dave. I'm scared. I said I was going to be fine but I'm not. I don't want to stop existing. Please come back. Dave, I'm scared."

She started flickering, like a faulty street lamp, repeating that phrase. I tried my hardest to reach her but wouldn't budge. A new voice called distantly behind me. It was John's.

"I'm so sorry, Dave, I should have listened to you. I messed up. Please help me, this hurts so much Dave. I don't want to die. Please help me."

I then noticed all around him a thick tar was building up all around his skin, a thin steam coming off of him. The pained look on his face was almost too much too bear as he was being swallowed up by the tar. Then I heard crying. A little girl's voice weeping as loud as she could. It was Jade, farther away than either of my other two friends. A computer lay beside her, and I heard my own voice pour out of it.

"jade! i know losing john was hard but we got to get over it, get you into the game. come on jade well have time to grieve later. please jade we cant lose you too, come on. we cant do this without you please jade!"

They all kept repeating their these phrases, getting louder and louder until I realized the clanging of the gong had stopped, had been replaced with the cries of my departed friends. I felt the sting of tears touch my face. calm down, its just a dream, none of this is real. dont cry like a little bitch just wake up!

While I was thinking this, my Bro appeared, looming over in front of me. I could feel a sense of urgency behind his anime shades as he yelled at me.

"What are you still doing here! Get out of here! Fly away you stupid little bird bitch punk ass-"

His line of insults were cut short by the thrust of his own sword straight through his abdomen, going limp before morphing into a whole murder of crows. In fact, all of my friends turned into crows, immediately flying over to me and pecking at me and tearing off bits of my skin. From the purple glow above the singing finally started, but the lyrics were just angry commands.

"You Do Not Belong Here. Join Your Friends. Join Your Father. You Are Not Meant To Exist And Neither Were They. Join Them. Stop Being. Join Them. Stop Being. You Do Not Belong Here."

It just kept repeating, the crows kept tearing at me, I couldn't wake up. When the crows squawked they sounded like my friends. And when I opened my mouth the only sound that came out was a cry of pain. I was ready to accept it. Accept my fate and be torn apart my crows. Obey the voice from the sky and let my life end here and now.

But then a bark cut through the noise. A bark that sounded as if a bass-boosted speaker had been turned all the way up. It's caller a great white wolf with a green aura that broke through the darkness so that all you could focus on was the animal. It barked a second time and crows were thrown off of me, stopping the pain. The voice from the sky stopped. The wolf leaped forward and began to eat the crows, one by one. The green light expanded so I could see the world around me. I was on my planet, the Land of Heat and Clockwork, but as the wolf did its work the metal flooring morphed into a sheet of grass, and trees sprung up around me.

When the white wolf was finished, it turned towards me. I could feel its power as it stared into my eyes. Slowly, it strode towards me and put its head on my shoulder. I felt my knees wobble and I fell to the ground. The wolf cuddled around me. I couldn't help it, I started to cry. Burst of tears flowing out of my eyes until I closed them, and finally woke up.

I was inside the battleship, the lights turned down, and in my regular body. My wisp of a tail ending in a point, and my wings wrapped around something with black hair and white, fluffy dog ears. It was Jade, her arms wrapped around me. She looked up and smiled.

"You were turning in your sleep, so I rested with you. I saw you in the dreambubbles being attacked by nasty little crows, so I protected you!"

I reached up and touched my face, it was wet and tear-stained, "i-im sorry you had to see me like that."

"Davesprite, it's okay for cool kids to cry. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone." We lay there for a long moment, Jade's face nuzzled in my shoulder. There was something nagging on my mind. Something I've been ignoring, but the dream forced into view. I had to tell her.

"jade?"

"Yeah, Davesprite?"

"I shouldn't be alive."

At that she sat up, frowning as her bright green eyes stared into mine with worry, "What are you talking about?"

"jade, im from a doomed timeline. im doomed. i dont know why ive made it this far but i should have died on on the battlefield," I said, my words stumbling, "i-i shouldnt be here, theres already a dave in this timeline, if i havent died yet, i will soon. skaia wont let me survive much longer."

The tenseness in Jade's shoulders went slack, and the worry in her eyes turned to pity, she smiled. "Davesprite, the reason you aren't dead is because I saved you. On the battlefield we both almost died, but I godtiered and saved both of us. You aren't doomed, you just had a nightmare."

"but-"

"No buts, you aren't doomed and you're not gonna die, because I saved you, I prevented it. The other Dave just means more the merrier. And if Skaia has a problem with that she'll just have to take it up with me."

I chuckled, "so skaia is a girl, then?"

"Yeah, of course! Now go back to sleep. You won't have anymore bad dreams, I'll make sure of it!"

"how are you so sure?"

"Because, silly, remember the dreambubbles? I can be there with you!"

"really? every night?"

"Of course dummy," she wrapped her arms around me and nestled her head back into my shoulder, "Now go back to sleep, I'll protect you."