Hello! This is my first multi chapter fanfic and my first fanfic in the dsmp fandom. This in no way represents the ccs of these characters. If this violates any of their boundaries, this will be taken down immediately. I hope to respect them and this is just my perception of these characters. This is inspired by My Flight for the Sun by thunderbottle and Things Changed With You by NeedingOptions. They both write on ao3 and I definitely think you should check them out! They're stories are so amazing! Also, we all know that the legend has gone on to take on the kingdom of God, but I will still write his character in here and on some of my other dsmp fanfics. If it's still to soon for some of you (its still too soon for me honestly) then don't read this. I hope ya'll are doing ok and have a great day!
TW: death (of a mob but its still death), gore kind of?, blood, child abuse, broken bones. I think that's it but let me know if I missed anything! If any of those trigger you then DO NOT READ THIS STORY. Stay safe, love yourself, and enjoy!
Sweat dripped off of Dream's chin as his stone axe and the piglin's gold one collided once again. The piglin's axe lowered a bit, leaving his chest unprotected. He could feel small hands trembling against his leg, but he ignored it in favor of slashing his weapon across the mob's chest.
The piglin roared but backed away a few blocks. Dream took this moment to shake the small hands off of his pant leg and charged the wounded thing. The mob raised its axe just in time to block his first few attacks, but Dream was fast and relatively unscathed, while the monster had a giant gash running from its sternum to just above its waist.
It wasn't very long before Dream had dealt the killing blow and the piglin went limp underneath him, its golden axe slipping from lifeless hooves. The stadium erupted in applause, people cheering and clapping with more enthusiasm than they should've had watching kids fighting mobs to the death.
Dream lifted the hand that wasn't holding his axe to adjust his mask, which had been displaced during the fight. He turned around and made his way back to the little body that had clung to him the entire fight. Pandas was shaking, his matted black hair falling into his eyes as he looked up at the older boy.
Dream gently took his hand and began to guide him to the back of the arena where they had entered from. Guards had already begun to drag the dead piglin away and were leading the next mob into the arena for the next fight. Dream glanced back and saw a giant ghast floating in the middle of the arena. He grimaced as he thought about the poor kid who would have to fight that.
A guard stopped them before they could exit the arena and Dream realized he was still gripping his axe. He frowned as he dropped it onto the sandy floor. The guard nodded and let them pass.
Pandas clung to Dream's side as they walked back to their cell, waiting for one of the many guards to open it. Dream gently pushed the boy into their shared cell when he hesitated. Pandas glanced up at him again before scampering away from the cell door to their small cot in the corner. Dream only following him once the cell door was slammed and locked behind them.
Their cell was small, only having room for a cot, a bucket full of water, and a trough full of something that could resemble something close to water if it wasn't a murky grey color all the time. When Dream first arrived in this hell he had dug a small hole behind the trough for when he had to go, hoping the smell of whatever was in the trough would cover up the smell of waste. When Pandas had joined him, he made it deeper and bigger.
Speaking of Pandas, the little boy was curled up on the cot, still shaking violently. Dream sat down beside him and ran a hand up and down his back softly, trying to remember what gave him comfort before he came here. He had a greyed-out memory of a woman humming softly to him as he fell asleep. So, he hummed a basic tune until the little boy beside him stopped shaking.
When he did, Pandas shifted around so his head was now in Dream's lap. After a beat of silence, Dream's hand now rubbing gentle circles into the boy's back, Pandas tried to mimic the tune Dream had been humming.
They had done this a few times before. When Pandas arrived, barely older than three and still not knowing how to talk, Dream had tried to teach him basic words. His attempts failed but Pandas had copied sounds that Dream had made. After a few months of this the boy had repeated simple words like 'yes' and 'no' or 'good' and 'bad'. As he grew, Pandas had started copying phrases he heard. He would only ever say things if you said them first, and even then, he only talked to Dream. Which is fine because Pandas is the only one he likes talking to anyway.
Pandas' strained humming was cut short when a sharp banging started. Dream looked up and saw a fairly plump man in a too nice suit to even think about wearing in the nether. The warden grinned cruelly as he gave a guard the plank he had been whacking the bars with.
Dream didn't move except to drag Pandas closer to him. The warden caught his movement and laughed. It was a cold sound, something Dream had always hated.
The warden then turned to the guard. "Open the door."
The guard seemed hesitant but did as he was told, unlocking the door to allow the warden inside. The warden walked in and looked around at the small cell, wrinkling his nose at the smell. He then turned his attention to the two boys still seated on the cot barely big enough for one.
A sharp grin appeared on the warden's face as he walked closer to them, stopping when he was about three blocks away.
"So, you won the fight against the piglin," the warden started, glancing around the cell again. "That's what? The eighth piglin of mine you've killed?"
Dream said nothing, just staring at the man. Pandas dug his face into Dream's shirt to avoid looking at the warden.
The warden hummed and walked over to the bucket and began nudging it with his foot, spilling some of the only clean water they had. "You know, the people are getting kind of bored with your performance lately. They liked the whole protecting thing you have going on for a time. But it's getting old and that's not good for business."
The warden turned his head over to them and grinned again. "So, to fix this problem I'm going to do two things. One, you're going to start fighting other contestants from other fighting rings."
Dream once again said nothing, made no movement to suggest he even heard what the warden was saying. But he did, and dread filled him. One thing this fighting ring prided themselves on was how there was always one that went into the arena that didn't come back out. Fighting other contestants would be bad. Dream's never killed another human being before, and he doesn't want to either. But he doesn't plan on going into the arena and dying, so if killing someone else is what it takes to keep surviving, then he'll do it.
"And," Dream didn't like the crazed look in the warden's eyes and he hugged Pandas closer. "The kid's going to start fighting."
"No!" The word slipped out before he could help himself and Dream internally screamed at himself.
The warden raised a thin eyebrow. "Oh? Why not?"
Dream swallowed and hugged Pandas even closer to him. The boy had gone deathly still and his hands were dug into Dream's shirt in such a tight grip that Dream was pretty sure if he were moved, Pandas would rip a hole into it.
"H-he c-can't fight," Dream hated how much his voice trembled but there wasn't much he could do about that. "He doesn't kn-know h-how."
The warden smiled cruelly again and lifted his arms up just a bit. "Well, that's why we're going to teach him!"
Pandas whimpered softly and tightened his grip on Dream's shirt. Dream felt lightheaded. They couldn't make Pandas fight could they? They got so much money off of people wanting to see Dream fight and protect him, so why are they making him fight? What the warden said couldn't be true, there were so many people cheering when Dream had protected Pandas from the piglin and eventually slayed it. Who was getting bored of it? Who had the right to get bored of it?
"P-please. He can't f-fight. Put me against t-two contestants! Three! J-just don't m-make him fight." Dream was clutching Pandas so hard that the boy whined in pain and Dream had to force himself to loosen his grip a little bit.
The warden tutted mockingly and shook his head. "No, I'm afraid arrangements have already been made. Now, you get a few days to prepare for your next fight. Come up with some good moves. I don't care, just make sure you make it interesting. And in the meantime, we'll take the kid."
Two guards entered then, and Dream hunched over Pandas and growled at them as they came close. The first guard was undeterred and kept moving forward. The second guard looked a bit more hesitant but followed the first one anyway.
When the first guard was in range, Dream ripped Pandas off of him and shoved him behind him as he punched the first guard in the stomach hard enough to knock the air out of him. The guard crumbled to the floor, holding his stomach and wheezing.
The second guard froze for a moment before taking out his netherite sword and holding it in front of him in a shaky hold. Dream growled at him again before lunging at him. The guard yelped and tried to move away but Dream already had a hold on his arm. He twisted it until he heard the crack that accompanies a bone being snapped. The guard screamed and hit Dream on the side of the head with the butt of the sword.
It was hard enough of a hit to make Dream's head swim, black spots dancing in and out of his vision. He stumbled back and the guard manhandled him to the floor, straddling his waist and pinning his arms to his sides.
The warden was watching this with an air of amusement. When Dream was successfully pinned down, he kicked the first guard, who was now regaining his breath, and told him to get up and get Pandas.
Dream's struggling intensified, blood pounding in his ears. They couldn't take Pandas. They couldn't.
As the first guard passed him, he kicked his face through the mask. Dream groaned as he felt something warm and sticky drip down from his nose, but his struggling never ceased.
Pandas whimpered and looked up at the first guard. Dream could see the fear in his dark blue eyes and for the first time in a long time, Dream let his panic get the best of him.
He started shouting at the warden, begging and pleading for them not to take the boy he considered a brother. His words seemed to have no effect on the men in the cell, as the first guard seized Pandas' tiny body and began dragging him to the door.
Pandas screamed as loud as he could, and he kept screaming even when the guard shook him roughly and told him to shut up. He kept screaming as the guard tried to pull him through the door. He kept screaming as the guard slapped him harshly across his small face. He kept screaming as he dug his teeth into the guard's hand that had materialized in front of him. He kept screaming as the guard swore at him and pulled him out the door. Pandas kept screaming as he was half dragged half carried down the hallway. He kept screaming as his eyes locked onto Dream and Dream could see tears prick at the corners of his eyes.
Then Pandas was gone, still screaming.
The warden chuckled and knelt down in front of Dream. "Well, now that that's taken care of, I need to ask you something."
Dream stared at the man and felt so much hatred for him. He wanted him to suffer the way that Pandas and he had suffered. He wanted him to feel the pain he had caused Pandas and Dream tenfold. He wanted to inflict that pain on him. To make him suffer.
"What's so special about the kid anyway? Why choose to protect that little brat when you could just save yourself?"
Dream felt hot tears threaten to come out but he pushed them back down. He glared at the warden and didn't give him an answer. The warden chuckled again and motioned for the guard to get off of him.
They didn't say another word as they left him all alone.
Dream pushed himself off of the floor, taking off his mask and dumping it in the bucket, trying to get the blood off. He wiped off the blood on his face as best he could and then went to lay on the cot. The tiny cell's never felt so suffocating before.
He pulled the smiling mask back over his face and remembered when Pandas had drawn that smiley face with the soot that covered the walls of their prison.
The warden's question rang in his head and Dream could find an answer easily.
Pandas was all he had; he was Dream's everything. The reason he hadn't left the small child to die the first day they pushed them into the arena together was because even if Dream was too far gone to be saved, Pandas wasn't. He could see it in his eyes that first day in the arena. The way he stared at the wither skeleton with fire sparking in his eyes, not even knowing how dangerous his life now was, but refusing to go down without a fight.
If Dream could save Pandas, then maybe he could put a meaning to his miserable life.
He made a promise to himself, all alone in this hellish prison, staring blankly at the ceiling. He would save Pandas, whatever it takes.
The title for this story is from Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons. They're an amazing band so go check them out!
...Does anyone read these...?
