Ch. 6 I Found Him

Dream, who was kinda just wandering around, was excited at the thought of new friends. Everyone here but Puffy, while extremely nice, acted as if he were an issue; an object that needed to be watched per say. But he smiled nonetheless and floated around waiting for Tommy to show him his fellow ghost friend. He had found out at a young age that asking questions or pointing out bad stuff would earn him a- QmVhdGluZyBmcm9tIGhpcyBmYXRoZXI. He had found out at a young age that asking questions or pointing out bad stuff would result in bad things.

"Why can't I just take Dream to Ghostbur? I don't see an issue." Tommy stated loudly. "Don't you think people are gonna find out and be surprised Dream isn't in prison?" Sapnap said with a sigh.

"No, just hide it. Sam doesn't let anyone visit Dream anymore anyway." Tommy replied. Now it was Sam's turn to sigh. "That isn't exactly true, but that's not the point, it would be better to tell the SMP whole. I say we call our first all-world meeting. We send out messages to everyone throughout the server and gather them at L'manhole."

Everyone paused to think about it, well, except for the oblivious ghost."I... I second that." Niki piped up. "Yeah, I agree. I can start sending messages out." Sapnap suggested. Tommy was about to talk but decided to bite his tongue. This just wasn't debatable for them at the moment. He glanced at the ghost to see the eight-year old gazing deeply into the clock he held. This creeped him out, but he didn't say anything since he barely wanted to talk to the ghost, just incase Dream was manipulating them again. He wouldn't risk it; not after what happens last time.

"I'll handle it you go sleep. You've gone through enough tonight," Nikki offered with a sweet smile. Sapnap tried to smile back but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Nonetheless, he turned around and joined the sleeping duo. At this point, Nikki debated just having everyone stay at the bakery, considering how late it was becoming.

She immediately got to work. Sending out brief messages out to every SMP member, she gave them key details such as the time, place, and the fact that everyone was to be there, no exceptions and no arguments. Sam had told her what to write as Tommy went to go talk to Dream, not knowing what else to do.

"Hey big D, it looks like we will have to wait a bit before you can meet him. But don't worry. He'll be here soon so you'll get to see him." Tommy said awkwardly, not knowing what he expected the outcome to be during their discussion. Five minutes ago he had accused the ghost of manipulation and now look at him. Had he learned nothing? "Oh okay. I'll just wait then." Dream said smiling. The poor child was used to disappointment, so this was doing little to dampen his mood.

Tommy couldn't get over the fact that Dream seemed to look younger than him, Ghostbur doesn't look like that. It weirded him out to see his former abuser so small and fragile. Tommy thought before he continued to speak his mind. "Say Dream, how old are you?"

"Hmm. Good question! I don't really know... I can't remember many good things that happened though, I can only remember a lot of bad... but I remember last being around seven I think," Dream said frowning. Interesting. Tommy thought. "Well, that's fine. I guess? We'll work it out later, for now, I'm gonna go do some stuff." He said as he waved to Dream.

Dream simply smiled back before doing whatever he was doing before, seemingly uninterested in the world around him now. Tommy walked away conflicted. He seemed nice enough, but if Tommy learned one thing, it was to trust nothing, not even himself. He'd done some research after his second exile was finished, he knew how abusers could manipulate their emotions to get closer to people, the signs or an abuser, the signs of disorders, PTSD, anxiety, depression, he knew it all. He knew, yet he didn't understand.

He could never figure out how to pinpoint whether someone is being genuine or not. The most confusing part was whether or not they were using him or genuinely wanted to be with him, Dream being one of the bigger reasons as to why this troubles him. His thoughts were interrupted by a thud as Sam dropped down onto a wooden chair, seemingly exhausted.

"The meeting should be in a few days. That should give people time to get here at least. For now, let's lay low and try not to worry too much about it." Sam said with a yawn.

"Right," Nikki responded, sending the message out soon after. Tommy simply nodded, choosing to leave for now and maybe go home for the rest of the day, having forgotten why he even came in the first place. Perhaps he'd visit Tubbo before he went home? Nah, I'd better not bother him. He thought, closing the door behind him.

And with that, everyone called it a night. Well... everyone but Dream."Daydream." Huh? Dream thought as a voice spoke to him, the owner of said instrument being nowhere in sight. He looked up from his clock, glancing around for the voice despite knowing no one was awake. That voice. Why does it sound so familiar?

"Daydream, you have to choose." He looked over to the people in the room currently sleeping. "What..?" He whispered as he floated to a standing position. The voice was booming around the room, bouncing off the walls and into his ears. Or was it all in his head?Who is this? Why do they sound so familiar?

"Please choose right." And with that, his head began to throb. It wasn't a normal headache. In some ways, it felt familiar to the ghost, similar to the ones he would get when- SGlzIGZhdGhlciBoaXQgaGlzIGhlYWQu. Similar to when he got hurt, but on the other hand, it felt like the worst pain he'd felt in his afterlife. I'm moving? Where am I..? I'm in front of a cauldron? He decided not to question it as his headache pursued. Natural instincts took over. As if the time spent in prison had been ingrained in even his ghost, he hopped into the cauldron, hoping for the pain to pass.

He whimpered as the pain intended slightly at each movement, but quickly slapped a hand to his lips, refusing to bother the kind people that let him stay with them. As if a spell had been cast, the moment his skin collided with the smooth, frigid metal the pain in his head dispelled. He wasn't sure whether it was coincidence or not. Perhaps it is a ghost thing? Will this happen more often? He couldn't help but think as he sat in the metal bowl. He patted the sides of the giant bucket, despite the outside being square, the inside was shaped more like an egg, which aided comfort to the young ghost.

He had no idea why, but he felt extremely comfortable, more so than with his own mother. He didn't remember anything special about this cauldron, so he could comprehend why. He chalked it up to being a future thing, therefore not something he should worry about.

Unfortunately, just as he began to feel comfortable the pain resumed. Despite lacking a physical form, his ectoplasm ached. It felt as if he were multiplying, and his head was worse. Random flashes of memories passed slowly, every ten minutes or so. He had to bite his tongue to stop form crying out. He refused to be a nuisance. Silent streams of water poured down his cheeks, glittering in the moonlit room. He couldn't find much more comfort than he had already been given, so he decided to just be grateful it wasn't as bad as before. He hated pain; he hated being it pain, but most of all he hated others being in pain.

XD, he couldn't even fathom his own hatred for the sensation. So alas, he spent the night curled into the fetal position in the cauldron, early in the morning, once the pain settled he finally felt better. Tired, but better. He quietly peeked his head from the metal oversized cane and looked for something soft, as the metal did little for the headache he'd just had. Spotting a beige pillow, he floated over to it to pick it up from besides the cabinet, nearby the door.

He went to grab a corner of the bag and pick it up and take it back to his new favorite spot, only to be flung backwards by the heavier-than-he-thought pillow. Looking at it, he noticed there was no label on it, so he carefully opened it a bit to see it wasn't a pillow at all, it was a bag of flour. Much heavier than he had originally suspected.

He sighed in distaste. He didn't want to move it all the way to the other side of the room, but motivation to not rest on metal took over and so he slowly dragged the sack across the wooded floors, silently thanking XD that the wood was well maintained and had little to no splinters, so the bag was never pierced.

By the time he finally reached the other side, he was peeved at the bags heaviness. Carefully, yet very ungracefully, he chucked the bag into the cauldron with a loud thud. His ectoplasm ran cold as he got a sense of dejavú. He prayed no one woke up to that, and a few minutes later he breathed a silent breath of relief, once again thanking XD for the heavy sleepers in the next room. He quickly floated into the cauldron, being extremely careful not to make anymore noise. He didn't feel tired, he assumed it's because he was dead. I guess they weren't kidding with the eternal sleep thing... he thought as he closed his eyes. Although the didn't need to sleep, he felt the urge to follow the adults lead and try to sleep. He was curious as to what would happen as well. Do ghost's dream? He wasn't sure, but felt excited to find out. Then again, if ghosts could dream, they can also have nightmares. Dream didn't not want ghosts to have dreams.

With that last thought, he drifted off in to a deep, dreamless sleep.

About mid-afternoon is when people started waking up. First, it was Puffy, then Nikki and Sam, and then finally Sapnap. George was woken up a little later on as they got ready for the day. This is when they decided to update George on what they had planned. Although George was a bit offended they sent him off like a child to talk about adult things, he didn't say anything due to the severity of the situation.

As Puffy groggily stood up and reality set in, she began to panic. "Where is Dream?!?" She shouted, looking at Sapnap. He, in return shot her a confused glance before he realized the blonde wasn't there with them and that's when they all went into a panic, looking in every nook and cranny before Nikki stepped in.

"Wait! Everyone calm down, I doubt he would have left without telling us. Let's look in here for him, he's probably in the kitchen." Nikki said as the only voice of reason and she pointed to the kitchen area, which was one of the only other rooms in the small bakery.

Sapnap hesitated momentarily, too wound up to consider the sudden shift in emotions, but nonetheless he  calmed down and followed Nikki, grabbing George's hand to guide him as he was still sleepy. One by one, they all shuffled into the kitchen, prepared to search high and low for the boy before searching outside. But as Puffy entered the kitchen, the last the pass through the doors, her eyes instantly and frantically glanced about looking for the young ghost. Puffy's eyes fluttered to the cauldron that sat on the other side of the room, a faint trail of flour followed her gazed and   stopped when she saw the green, white, and blonde blob sleeping soundly in the giant tin. She, along with Nikki awed at the sight in front of them. Despite everyone being able to see the adorable ghost, Puffy clarified the results of her search:

"I found him."

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