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English
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Published:
2025-02-27
Completed:
2025-03-08
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6,362
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7/7
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Forgot You but Not Our Friendship

Chapter 1: Cyberknife is Not Hiring New Minions

Summary:

Tommy comes to get Dream back from Cyberknife. It does not go well.

Chapter Text

Thin Ice/Separation

 

(Separation counts if the separation is between Disc Duo instead of Rivals Duo.)

 

The blond commoner continued to glare at Cyber.

 

“Dream is not your minion. Give him back, you f**** pig,” the rude blond hooligan dared to bellow at him. As if he had the right to speak to his future ruler of this server in this manner. No, scratch that. This guy was getting banned off the sewer the second Cyber’s takeover was complete. He had standards for his subjects, and the grimy little hooligan wasn’t meeting any of them.

 

“Get off my property before my Skeppy minion kills you and gets blood all over my sand.”

 

“What the f**** is a Skeppy minion?”

 

“That’s me,” said Cyber’s small but mighty diamond golem as he settled from nowhere onto Cyber’s shoulder. Coming when beckoned as he should.

 

“Yeah right. That thing’s too f**** tiny. What’s it going to do? Kick my feet and bite my ankles?”

 

“Do I have permission to attack, your imperial highness?” his Skeppy minion said very professionally as they had agreed he should in front of possible subjects or enemies.

 

Cyber considered the foolish mortal before him. The brash, irreverent blond hooligan had trespassed on his property. Insulted Cyber with vulgar foul language and tried to steal one of Cyber’s minions while doubting the effectiveness of the other. And still some part of him pitied the poor commoner. Some instinct said to protect the kid because he was favored by-by someone. Someone who mattered to Cyber (&3(#^0).

 

Mattered. Past tense. Whoever it was didn’t matter now. What happened before he stood in this palace and decided his goal was to rule this server with an iron fist no longer mattered. He had made the choice to establish his rule and keep his people safe so none of them would ever get hurt again. Again. He held back a snort at the thought of yet another thing he didn’t remember. This hooligan was not his, and Cyber didn’t want him. This petty hooligan had made his cat-loving minion cry. And in the present, his minions mattered.

 

“What do you think, Chat? Should we let this guy off with a well-worded warning?” Cyber asked into the air. To someone who mattered. Or several someones. He got the feeling they could hear him. And that they had immediately bayed for blood.

 

“Who are you talking to? Are you f***** insa—” The hooligan -7#3$3~$- gurgled in his own blood as a diamond arm had pierced into his throat. His Skeppy minion grinned as he pulled out the boy’s vocal cords, and his blue skin flashed crimson. The blood as Cyber expected went everywhere so the future ruler of the server took steps back. He didn’t want to smell of blood as he went to meet his Dream minion. He didn’t think the weak admin would react well to the iron-laced scent.

 

“Clean yourself up and meet me in the plant room. I’m going to tell my other minion that he isn’t getting visitors any time soon.”

Chapter 2: Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Summary:

Dream runs away from the tyrant who had his best friend killed four times.

Chapter Text

Cold Hands/Frostbite

 

Dream huddled closer under the red cloth he had stolen from Cyberknife’s palace. One of the tyrant’s many capes. One the tyrant never used. Probably because it seemed extra warm and the brutal tyrant lived in the desert. Dream has been stupid to stay so long in the tyrant’s palace, and now he couldn’t go back to his and Tommy’s shared house. But how could he stay in the palace he had started to consider a home (if only to prove he wasn’t homeless) after he had seen Tommy gutted on the front steps?

Tommy had come looking for him four different times. Four times. Dream had not been told anything about the visit attempts while Skeppy had killed Dream’s best friend all four times. (Four times? How had Tommy gone past three?) Cyberknife had warned that if Dream went back to Tommy, Skeppy would not kill Tommy. Instead Skeppy would string Dream’s best friend up and cut off one toe every day Dream tried to stay with the other blond. When Skeppy ran out of toes, he’d start on the fingers. And when the fingers, Skeppy would cut off Tommy’s—

No. No going back to the house he once shared with his best friend. Dream had to run but not back to Tommy. He had to go to somewhere a piglin brute and diamond golem would never go. Where they would suffer to step foot. So he chose a tundra. A piglin brute would hate the cold, and a diamond golem would not enjoy it either. Also there was something comforting about the snowy landscape that set Dream at ease.

The problem was he was suffering. His skin had grown thin in the heat of the desert sun, and he had lost feeling in his fingers and toes. Patches had also left him alone in his little hollow tree. She had probably made it back to the palace where she had several glass dishes filled with a large variety of fish and a tiny drinking fountain of her very own. Skeppy was a surprisingly good builder for an assassin. Though Skeppy always said he wasn’t as good as someone-someone the diamond golem couldn’t remember but was waiting for. Someone who liked hot places like the desert. Skeppy was probably waiting for that person to kill him like the ruthless assassin he was.

His shivering had subsided, and Dream was actually starting to feel warm. Maybe he was getting used to the temperature? The soft red cape suddenly suffocated him, and he moved to remove it. Freezing, hard pokes brushed his arms and caught his cape to wrap it tighter around him.

“Foolish minion,” huffed straight into his face. Tusks and a snout blurrily became visible. “If you didn’t like me killing the blond hooligan, you could have just asked me to stop.”

“You’re a tyrant,” Dream groggily murmured. “Why would you listen to me?”

“Because you are my minion, and wise tyrants listen to their minions.”

“Really?” That didn’t sound right? Tyrants listened to no one, and no one listened to them. They had to rule harshly to keep everyone from killing each other. Because death could be permanent. It wasn’t supposed to be, but it was had been. A tyrant had to find a way to defeat death and keep people alive. But maybe the tyrant should listen to his minions. Maybe listening to his friends would keep them from abandoning him when he needed them most. Maybe a tyrant could be listened to. “Please don’t kill him.”

“Done,” the tyrant agreed. Then he suffocated Dream in another cape and picked him up easily. A warm weight settled on Dream’s chest and purred. Cyber was a strong tyrant. He would be able to keep people from dying. So Dream would help Cyber. If Cyber didn’t have Skeppy kill Dream’s best friends—friend, he only had one, why would he think he had more?—Dream would never abandon him.

“Don’t kill Tommy and I stay,” Dream explained.

A snort burst over his head.

“Minions shouldn’t bargain with their emperor.”

“No bargain. Promise. I promise to stay.”

“So you’ll swear fealty to me? You’ll help me unite the server and rule over it as its one, true emperor?”

Dream nodded even if he could barely make anything out from where he was swaddled in the capes. Cold seeped through two tightening sections on the capes. The hoof-like fingers of Techno’s hands always seemed to seep cold in the tundra, giving Techno freezing cold hands.

“Why are your hands always cold, Bad?”

“Because cold hands mean a warm heart, dreamling.”

“Done,” Cyber growled so deep it vibrated through Dream’s whole body. “I’m not allowing you to take back your decision when you’re more clear-headed. There are no take-baksies under my rule. You’re mine.”

Dream didn’t argue. He wouldn’t. Maybe a good tyrant could save this server from itself.

Chapter 3: Suffocated by Sleeping Pig

Summary:

Pure fluff. Sort of.

Chapter Text

Shelter From the Elements/Hibernation

 

Squeezing the figurine of the rebel leader, Dream drooped over the map. They had been so close to taking out the rebels for good using the Egg and its irresistible thrall. Well, irresistible unless you had Admin protection. Dream had been wiped out for a week, but he, Ran, and Cyber were all immune to the Egg.

Skeppy wasn’t, but as the Egg’s high priest, that would have been counter-productive. Dream had made sure that Skeppy’s will would never be overtaken by the Egg. The Egg had not been pleased, but they had worked through it with their eldritch ally. Their empire should have taken over the server by now. But their illustrious emperor needed to sleep. For three months.

Quackity’s head popped off his body.

“Stop breaking my hard work.” A ivory hand snatched the remnants of the figurine out of Dream’s grip. A obsidian hand smacked the back of Dream’s head. “That’s the third time I’ve had to fix the annoying birdbrain.”

“You could leave him broken,” Dream huffed. “Whenever his imperial majesty wakes up, the real one will be executed and banned so it would fit.”

“For battle simulations, the figurine needs to be accurate or the emperor gets upset. You know that.”

Dream grumbled something meaningless into the parchment beneath his head. Ran hummed a patronizing agreement and set to work reattaching Quackity’s head to his body.

“Maybe you should visit Cyber. Check to see if he’s woken up.”

“You know I can’t,” Dream grumbled. “Skeppy still hasn’t escaped.”

“You could TP him out of Cyber’s hold.”

“I could. But I won’t.”

“All right, let’s both go,” Ran offered. He placed a semi-whole Quackity back on the strategy table. “I’ll stop you from getting sucked in, and you stop me.”

“Fine,” Dream agreed out of pure boredom. He wasn’t worried about his emperor. Cyber had warned about his hibernation. The Egg was using its vines to hold the rebels from entering too far into the Cyber Empire. Dream didn’t need to worry.

The two moved from the war room to the emperor’s personal chambers. In the middle of a bed that could be confused for a pile of very expensive blankets lay their imperial majesty cuddling his personal assassin/bodyguard.

“Look who finally decided to show up,” Skeppy called out from under their emperor’s massive frame. “Get me out of here!”

“He warned you not to come close while he was hibernating,” Ran said without pity. He wandered further into the room, and Dream hurried behind him to keep the half-ghast from falling prey to Cyber’s iron grip. “This is your own doing.”

“I wanted to poke him. That’s all,” Skeppy defended. “How was I supposed to know I would become a diamond teddy bear? What weirdo finds cuddling with a diamond comfortable?”

“Pretty sure a certain demon did,” Ran quipped as he moved closer to the mass of pure muscle pinning the poor golem in place.

“What demon? I didn’t know you had demon friends, Rannie.”

“Wasn’t my friend.” Standing right in next to Cyber’s sleeping form, Ran frowned as Dream reached to pull him back from getting closer. “I wish you could remember too.” Dream’s hand stilled mid-air as he contemplated Ran’s words, which gave Ran the opening to grab him, pull him forward, and push him straight into their sleeping emperor.

Dream fell onto Cyber and instantly moved to get away. But he was a second too slow and found himself next to Skeppy under Cyber’s smothering warmth.

“There,” Ran smirked. “Guess I have the rest of the week to myself now.”

“Traitor!” Dream yelped as he wiggled to get out from under his imperial majesty’s bulk. No luck. Ran snickered as he exited the room, and Dream refused to let the half-ghast to get away. Freeing one hand, he ran a TP command. Ran soon occupied the spot opposite Skeppy and under Cyber’s other arm. Instantly Dream felt his energy fully depleted. (Sometimes he wondered why Cyber kept a semi-useless Admin like himself around.) He sank deep into the mattress.

“You didn’t think trapping the Admin through, now did you?”

“He broke the annoying birdbrain’s figurine again. I didn’t want to have to keep fixing it.”

“Hope the figurine was worth it, because now he’s going to pass out leaving you with one very bored diamond golem to entertain.”

“I’m not entertaining you.”

“Ha ha. Like you get a choice.”

Dream smiled as his exhaustion encompassed him in black.

Chapter 4: The Sky is Falling

Summary:

At the Foundation Festival to celebrate the Cyber Empire's takeover of the server, the sky begins to fall.

Notes:

This is longer because it got away from me. No one is surprised.

Chapter Text

Thawing Out/Beginnings

The Foundation Festival had gone into full swing when the sky above them rippled. It’s blue color dripped onto the ground around their pavilion in odd static-like pixelations. Cyber turned to his imperial admin, but his cat-loving minion had fallen onto the floor and curled into a ball. Very unbecoming one in his position but more importantly who dared cause him enough pain to have him writhe around on the floor?

“CY! Watch out!” Cyber’s Skeppy minion yelled. He was knocked backwards, and a sword clattered against red diamond skin. The blade instantly retracted, and the hand that had pinned Skeppy to the ground let go.

“Skeppy! Why did you do that? Why are you red? Did the Egg—”

“You!” Skeppy cried. He scrambled to his feet and dove at the extraordinarily tall individual who had tried to assassinate Cyber. Instead of taking the threat out like his diamond golem should do, his usually reliable minion hugged the threat’s legs instead. “You’re him! You’re the one I was waiting for!”

“You remember!” the ten-foot probable demon sighed in relief. He fell to his knees to better hug the diamond golem back. “After meeting with Sapnap, I thought you would have forgotten me too.”

“All right. Enough,” Cyber barked. A tone he rarely used since it did not suit an emperor, but he found that he didn’t care currently. “Who are you and why are you trying to steal my minion? Also if you’re the one behind the falling sky, you will cease at once.”

“I’m not stealing your minion. I’m getting back my best friend,” the demon snarled. “And saving him from you.”

“Aw. That’s so sweet, guy-I-was-waiting-for. But I don’t need saving,” Skeppy clarified stepping away from the demon and out of the clawed grip. “This is his imperial majesty and my other best friend, Cyberknife. I just helped him finish taking over this server.”

“Guy-I-was-waiting-for? Really, Skeppy? Right now is not time to pretending to forget my name.”

“I’m not pretending! I have no idea what your name is, but I know I’ve been waiting for you. Also look! We made this server safe for you so now we can live together without worrying about people griefing our house!”

“You’re the one who always griefed our house,” the demon whispered weakly.

“If you continue to ignore me and leave my minion in pain, you will live to regret it,” Cyber warned. His cat-loving minion was still curled up on the floor, and the sky was still falling. He didn’t care if this was the guy his Skeppy had waited for. He would soon fall under Cyber’s mace if he continued to yammer while his minions suffered and his entire citizenry panicked. His half-ghast minion and his two grunts could be seen doing an excellent job evacuating their civilians, and his siren minion had likely gone into the shelter with her grunts to keep the people calm. As expected his minions were incredibly effective in times of emergency when they were not struck down or distracted.

“I’m sorry. Let me get back to killing you,” the demon said easily. His sword jabbed at Cyber’s head, but his diamond golem remembered his purpose and parried the netherite sword with his own. “Skeppy!”

“Sorry, guy-I-was-waiting-for. I’m his imperial majesty’s main source of protection when Dream’s out. So I can’t just let you kill him. Also, again, he’s my other best friend.”

“You’re other best friend? Since when were you so close to a viral tyrant?”

“Since I started waiting for you,” Skeppy answered. “Also he’s clear for viruses. Dream checked.”

“Dream!” the demon cried. He moved away from both of them to crouch next to Cyber’s admin. The pathetic assassin barely dodged the mace headed towards his head. He skittered to a stop a few feet away from Cyber’s cat-loving minion. “If you care about him, you’ll let me give him this!” The demon held up a vial of blue pixelated liquid that looked like a piece of the falling sky. “Please. If not his connection to the server might break completely!”

“You tried to kill me,” Cyber stated, holding his mace loosely in his hand. “I have no reason to trust you.”

“Aagh! Holy muffins! I’m sorry! I won’t try to kill you again if you let me give Dream this! I promise!”

Cyber cocked his head and listened. Still expecting to hear something from…them. To hear an opinion not his own and allow it to influence his decisions. He only heard the pounding of the falling pieces of sky around his netherite pavilion and the whisps of whimpers from his writhing minion. Still Cyber almost felt like he could make out what they would have said and how he would have ignored it for the idea that popped in his head.

“Swear fealty to me.”

“What?!” the demon exclaimed.

“Swear fealty to me, and I will allow you near him,” Cyber expounded. Having a demon minion of this one’s size and power would be a great asset to his empire. It would also have the added benefit of allowing his diamond golem to bond further with the best friend he had been waiting for.

“We don’t have time for—Fine. I swear fealty to the emperor of the Cyber Empire. Happy?”

Cyber felt the oath take hold and snorted. “Cause harm to my minion and I will have you skinned alive.”

“He will!” Skeppy chirped from Cyber’s shoulder. Cyber had barely noticed him scramble into his usual seat. “And he’ll likely have me do it to add insult to injury.”

“You would skin me alive, Skeppy?” the demon asked hurt.

“If you hurt Dream, yep. But I have a feeling you would rather be skinned alive than hurt Dream.”

“I would,” the demon admitted softly. He strode past Cyber and crouched next to Dream. Cyber held back from smashing the demon’s head in. With gentle but quick motions, the demon tipped the vial’s contents into Dream’s mouth. Dream sputtered, and his eyes flashed open and glowed concerning green.

Cyber’s mace fell straight towards the demon’s skull, but a white hand interfered. Only Cyber’s skill kept the mace from crushing his half-ghast minion’s face.

“He’s helping,” his half-ghast said. “I promise, Techno. He’s here to help.”

“I’ve told you not to call me that name. And next time you get in my mace’s path you had better be prepared to say a permanent goodbye to one of your grunts,” Cyber reprimanded.

“I apologize, your imperial majesty. But Bad loves Dream too much to hurt him.”

“Bad?” Skeppy piped up. “You know his name? Did you call him here?”

“Sort of? I tried to get in contact with one of the people expelled off our server, but it was Tommy who managed to contact outside.”

“Turns out the gremlin can squiggle messages through viral walls somehow,” his new demon minion added. “He didn’t speak well of your empire.”

“Our empire,” Cyber corrected as he pushed past his demon to check on his cat-loving minion. Dream looked up at him and blinked. The concerning green glow disappeared.

“I think I might be part deity,” Cyber’s idiot minion declared.

“Good for you,” Cyber huffed. “As long as you remember who you’re sworn to, I don’t care what you are. Are you able to stop the sky from falling?”

“No! He needs to let the debugger run,” Cyber’s new demon burst and tried to get in-between Cyber and his admin again. Dream stood and took his place shadowing Cyber’s right side.

“I think I can.” Cyber’s admin closed his eyes and the sky pieces froze in place before returning to the atmosphere.

“Wait! Listen to me! Let the process finish or what happened to the server will happen again!”

“No it won’t,” his admin argued. Glowing green eyes glared at the new demon minion. “His imperial majesty would never allow it.”

“I wouldn’t,” Cyber agreed. “This server will never fall to ruin under my rule. I refuse to allow it.”

“Many people have thought that before,” his apparently annoying demon murmured. “They have always failed.”

“Well then it’s a good thing that Cyberknife never fails.”

Chapter 5: Letting things grow

Summary:

Dream spends a moment of time with his emperor in a garden.

Chapter Text

First Showers /Blossoms

 

The trees stretched their empty branches in arches over the palace’s inner garden. Cyber sat on the bench in the center of the garden, and Dream sat next to him. Skeppy had made Dream promise to keep an eye on his imperial majesty while the diamond golem spent time with the confusing demon. The demon named Bad had also tried to bond with Dream, but Dream felt like the demon was expecting someone else when he talked to Dream. A person Dream might have been.

“You look like you’re thinking too hard,” Dream’s emperor warned without looking up from the book he had brought with him. It was a gift from the new demon. The book was called The Art of War, and Cyber seemed to enjoy it. Even if there was no longer any need for a book like that. The whole server was under Cyber’s control, and the citizens would never rebel. The Egg made sure of it. “If you keep thinking like that, you might sprain your brain. And then you’ll lose around 5% of your effectiveness.”

‘If you sprained your brain, we wouldn’t even notice,’ Dream wanted to snap back. But he couldn’t. This was his emperor, and Dream was not Skeppy. He didn’t go around treating the emperor like he was his best friend. Considering what happened to his best friend(s), he didn’t dare label his emperor that. So he took a deep breath and said instead, “I’ll keep from spraining it then.”

His emperor grunted, sounding both frustrated and dissatisfied. He closed the book and gazed at the empty branches surrounding them.

“It’s almost hibernation time again. Am I going to wake up to all three of you taking naps under me?”

“We were trapped, your imperial majesty.”

“Yes. You trapped yourselves and then made yourselves cozy under my massive muscles. I know I’m irresistible, but try not to take advantage of me in my sleep like that.”

Dream grit his teeth and tried not to shout how they had not taken advantage of anyone! It wasn’t their fault the large slab of bacon didn’t have control of his own limbs! He breathed. “We wouldn’t dream of doing that again to your imperial majesty.”

“You wouldn’t ‘dream’ of it,” Cyber snorted, a smirk tilted towards Dream. Dream refused to respond with a ‘don’t start.’ The server’s emperor could do as he liked. The smirk turned into a frown followed by a loud snort. “Dream, what would you do if I said I didn’t like that the trees were bare?”

The question was odd, but Dream considered it. The emperor loves this oasis in the midst of his desert palace with its unusual greenery. Seeing it succumb to the winter months was always disheartening. Dream determined his answer and decided to show instead of tell.

He reached into the code and changed the area’s climate from nearing cold and winter to the warmth of spring. The trees’ code also shifted to the change, and they grew beautiful pink buds that blossomed before their very eyes. Petals twirled in the air and added to peaceful and beautiful atmosphere. Another alteration of code, and the change became permanent. He turned a huge grin at Techno Cyber.

Cyber frowned deeply and glared at Dream.

“That’s what I thought,” Cyber grunted. “Change it back.”

“What? Why?”

“The beauty of flowers is that they grow into themselves. They take their time and grow from buds into blossoms and then fade into petals floating in the air. This. This isn’t the garden I want.”

“Then why would you ask me to change them?”

“I didn’t,” his emperor said flatly. “I asked what you would if I said I didn’t like that the trees were bare, and you took it as an order to change them. Do you know why?”

“Because you’re my emperor and I’m your minion,” Dream answered. “I am here to follow and predict your every order. That’s why you keep me around. If I predict wrong, you can just tell me, and I’ll fix it.” Dream reversed his coding work, and the trees became bare once again. The flower petals remained a carpet of pink on the floor, and in a fit of annoyance, he left them there. “I apologize for misunderstanding.”

Cyber cocked his head for a moment as he did frequently and gave another loud snort. “We are no longer at war. The point of conquering the server was to make a safe place. A place where my people can thrive and live. Dream, are you living and thriving?”

The question physically rocked Dream. What was with his emperor and strange questions?

“I am finally able to use my admin abilities without getting exhausted. I can do whatever you want me to. Patches is happy and healthy. I am better off than I was. Isn’t that ‘living and thriving’?”

The frown and deep sadness in his emperor’s ruby eyes told him his answer was wrong. But he couldn’t see how.

“Skeppy calls me his emperor and best friend,” Dream’s emperor said. Dream nodded, unsure what that had to do with this conversation. Cyber sighed. “This is why people say ‘Sooner or later, you will pay the price,’ Chat.”

“Price? Pay what price?” Dream asked confused, ignoring the usual reference to the non-existent Chat.

A small snort from Cyber followed by, “Don’t worry about it, Dream minion. It’s a price I don’t plan to pay. So to keep my empire safe, we need to come up with a plan to deal with the continued instability of my server that my demon minion warned of. He said it should be stable for a year, but there’s no reason to leave for tomorrow what we can do today. Also I do not want the sky on my server coming down on our heads again. So let’s get a head start and using those admin powers of yours for better things than forcing my garden to grow at an unnatural rate.”

“I put it back,” Dream muttered quietly.

“You hear that, Chat?” Cyber declared loudly to a person that didn’t exist. “He said he put it back. Like if he stole a cookie from the cookie jar and put it back. Admins, am I right? Changing the world’s natural processes like it’s nothing.”

Gritting his teeth again, Dream refused to snipe back with “I thought green was my color.” This was his emperor who kept the server safe and running. He could not offend him. He deserved respect.

The ruby eyes gained a determined gleam, and his left brow rose up. “Careful, my dear Dream minion. Your teeth can only take so much grinding together. Our empire’s dental insurance is still in its beginning stages.”

Dream bit back another response, and Cyber dared to laugh at his growingly frustrated expression.

Chapter 6: The Egg Should be Scrambled

Summary:

Techno has to fulfill his side of the bargain with the Egg.

Chapter Text

Out of the Nest/Growth

 

“Remember, minions. You stand there and look menacing while I negotiate with the Grand Potential Poultry. Don’t move unless I tell you to.”

Issuing his usual orders for meeting the Egg, Cyber stepped forward to stand under the giant crimson eldritch being and stared up at it. Skeppy sat on top and stared down at him.

“The server is yours,” a distorted voice spoke through Skeppy’s mouth. “Your people obedient and safe. As promised. Now give me what is due.”

“Hm. Sure,” he agreed, rolling up one of his coat sleeves. He then drew on of the daggers Skeppy had given him and cut deep into his arm.

“What are you doing?!” the wrong voice shouted. Cyber’s demon pulled him away from the Egg’s beautifully crafted nest. “Get away from it. You can’t trust it.”

“We were allies,” Cyber said flatly. “It fulfilled its end of the bargain, and as the ruler of the server, I need to keep my word. The blood of every person on this server will be shed at the Egg’s feet, and we will start with mine.”

“I’ve seen how across lifetimes this man has kept every promise he made. It is why I allied myself with him.” A red vine reached up and stroked Cyber’s cheek and curled around his tusk, and he held back from biting it. It slithered to his arm. Through his periphery vision he saw multiple vines converge behind him, and his demon was pulled away him. “Meanwhile you, false demon, have failed me and my high priest. Even now you continue to fail us. That is why your blood will be next.” The vine poked into Cyber’s wound and dug into his skin. Cyber waited and allowed the viral being to burrow painfully and deeply into his flesh. An exhausted numbing filled his body. “Yes. Yes! Give in, my darling tyrant. We will continue to rule the server and keep all your citizens safe. Just as you wanted. All for the low cost of your soul.”

“NO!” the right voice shouted. Cyber felt himself bounce three times on the floor and crash into the obsidian wall surrounding the Egg’s nest. “You can’t have him!”

Through blurry, split vision, Cyber made out a canopy of slick black surrounding him. Screeches and distorted tones pierced through the black, but he felt pressure on both sides of his skull moving his head and prodding gently for injuries. A quieter voice broke through the loud, piercing tones and muttered barely comprehensible words. Pointy fingers stopped poking and ran softly through his fur. A potion made its way to his lips, and the world came back into focus.

“—r? Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you,” he answered, pushing at the clawed hands holding his head. His demon minion caught the hint and let go, and Cyber’s head only throbbed once. “Did my Dream take care of the Undone Omelet?”

His demon giggled. “Yes, your Dream is stripping the Egg of the last of its power. I suggest you don’t try to stop him. Dream doesn’t look like he’ll even listen to you right now.”

“Good. Help me get up,” Cyber commanded. Despite sending Cyber a questioning look, his demon obeyed and folded his wings behind him. Cyber got a good look at the chaos left in the wake of his cat-loving minion’s anger and desperation. Tiny bits of the Egg’s code coated every inch of its nest, but his Dream’s power, a golden green snake-like code, was chasing every last bit of it down and wiping it from existence. “Not in good mood?”

“No,” growled his admin’s voice as he turned to glare at Cyber. He stomped over and grabbed Cyber’s shoulders despite being a foot shorter. “What were you thinking?! Your soul?! Were you going to just leave your server in the hands of that—that virus?”

“Nah. Eggs don’t have hands.”

“That’s not—why are you like this?” his Dream pleaded as he shook his shoulders hard. “What did you think would happen?!”

“That my favorite minion wouldn’t let me get overtaken by a piece of spoiled poultry.”

“You told us to not move unless you told us.”

“And you moved.” The hands shaking him stopped, and his minion stopped breathing likely realizing he had gone against Cyber’s orders. Cyber dropped his head to fall onto his minion’s. “Guess you were too worried about me to do something stupid like follow orders without question.”

“They were your orders.”

“Yeah. And I knew they were stupid and you’re not.”

“…I could have let it take you.”

“But you didn’t,” Cyber snorted. “It’s like you’re my friend first and my minion second.”

“Does he have to be your minion at all?” his demon mused as he let more of Cyber’s weight fall on his Dream.

“I keep forgetting you’re new here,” Cyber muttered as the earlier exhaustion returned. He might end up hibernating early.

“Hey! Hey! Down here! If Dream’s your favorite minion, what am I?”

Cyber peeked down around Dream’s head to see a blue diamond golem frowning at him with a golden green snake-like code around his shoulders.

“My second favorite.”

“But I was here first!” Skeppy whined. “Bad! Tell him I was here first.”

“You’re my favorite, Skeppy.”

“I know that. But I should be everyone’s favorite!”

Cyber chuckled, echoed and matched by giggles beneath him. He let him slump further onto his admin, and several foul and nasty insults floated up towards him. He grinned and didn’t resist as his grumbling Dream minion dragged him back to his palace and dropped him on the nearest couch. Cyber pulled his minion down with him and then settled in for a short hibernation. He’d be up in around two weeks or so. His friend should survive being crushed by him for that long.

Chapter 7: Paperwork is Always the Final Boss

Summary:

Cyber asks his prime minion-I mean minister for a favor.

Notes:

I did! I finished! Late, but I finished. Huzzah!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Springtime Revival/Healing

 

Pink buds grew on the branches stretched out above them, and Dream held out his hand to catch a falling petal.

“Beeeeeest friiiiiiend,” said a sly voice next to him, and Dream frowned.

“My imperial majesty,” he said slowly back, making sure the stupid piglin brute heard the contempt in his voice. The wide smile didn’t slip off the irritating snout.

“Isn’t it nice to sit here and spend time with your friend?” Cyber asked too brightly while bumping Dream’s shoulder. Dream’s frown deepened.

“What do you want?”

“To spend time with my friend-minion like this all the time.”

“You want me to freeze the garden in this state?” Dream guessed. “Because I already did that, and I’m not doing it again.”

“Good,” Cyber said, the smile falling into something softer. And then the smile shifted to a full-on smirk. “But more I was thinking of a change of scenery.”

“I’m not getting sucked into doing your paperwork again,” Dream scowled.

“I didn’t mention paperwork.”

“You were trying to get me to go to your office with you to do your paperwork.” He tried to push his emperor out of his space. “Get Bad to do it.”

“Sadly my demon minion is worn out, and my Skeppy said he would put acid on my carrots if I make use of him. We need those carrots for the citizenry. They’ll starve without them.”

“They won’t starve if you do your paperwork,” Dream pointed out. Though given the size of the emperor’s carrot field, Skeppy would have to use hundreds of gallons of acid to kill all of them. He started walking away from his emperor. “I need to do my own paperwork.”

“But, Prime Minister of the Cyber Empire, isn’t your duty to help your esteemed emperor first?”

“With matters of state, not your own paperwork.”

“My paperwork is matters of state,” Cyber argued, a whine almost entering his voice. He used his annoyingly long legs to get in front of Dream. The ruler of the entire server looked pathetic. He absolutely was not crumbling Dream’s resolve with his wide, pleading brown eyes. Dream resigned himself to his fate.

“I can do your paperwork with you,” Dream emphasized. “Not for you. Do we have a deal?”

“Of course. I am so lucky to have such a kind, understanding prime minister.”

“I should have known the promotion was a trap,” he muttered to himself.

“Promotions are always a trap, minion. That’s why Skeppy refuses them.”

Dream stopped in the middle of the palace hall leading to the emperor’s office. “…am I your favorite minion because I’m easy to manipulate?”

“Nah,” Cyber replied without missing a beat. He threw a large arm over Dream’s shoulder and gave him a little shake while tucking him into his side. He marched them both forward. “It’s because you’re my dream minion. And also because your my beeeeeest friiiiiend.”

“That’s not—Skeppy’s also your best friend.”

“But you’re my better best friend.”

“Because I’m easy to manipulate.”

“Because you’re helpful. Being helpful is a good thing, my Dream minion.”

“I want to resign from my position as prime minister.”

“Sorry, but it’s a lifetime position. That and there are still no takebacksies in my kingdom.”

“‘Takebacksies?’ What are you, two?”

“Pretty sure I’m 200,” Cyber said, “but seeing as I can’t remember past four years ago, I’ll say 26.”

“That’s not what I meant—”

“Brave of you to imply your glorious emperor is old.”

“I never—“ Dream spluttered. “I was implying you were acting like a child!”

“Strong words coming from a homeless man.”

“I’m not homeless! I literally live in your palace!”

“Not if I decide to evict you for refusing to help me with my paperwork.”

“I agreed to help you!”

“Then you’re definitely not homeless then.”

“You’re the one who said I was!”

“You need to calm down, my Dream minion. And you know what’s calming?” Cyber said pushing Dream into the emperor’s office. “Mindless, repetitive tasks. Like paperwork!”

“What—I was already going to help you!”

“That’s good. That’s good. Because now I command you to help me with my paperwork.”

“Nope. Forget it. I changed my mind,” Dream declared turning around. Unfortunately his emperor was behind him. With the most pitiful expression that would embarrass the entire empire if seen in public on their imperial ruler. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” his stupid emperor dared to ask while his eyes got wider and shinier. Dream hated him.

“You’re a horrible tyrant,” Dream bit out and marched to his side of the emperor’s desk. He grabbed a pile of paperwork and kept his back to his imperial majesty.

“That I am, Dream. That I am.”

Notes:

I really did miss them. Rivals Duo, you will always be so much fun to write.