Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The day humanity fell, Tommy was already a murderer. Several times he'd watched the life drain from his victims eyes, forced himself through the piercing screams of the dying… And not of his own volition. If his enlarged, pointed canines and bloody eyes didn’t tip you off, Tommy was a vampire, and a successful one at that. Never once since his turning had Tommy felt half as starved as he had before it.

Those that had passed him by as he lay dying on the street were at his mercy: Uncle Nasty, the owner of the toyshop who’d taunted him a million times, Major Scott the asshole policeman… Tommy was allowed to finally enact revenge on the adults who’d made his life a living hell and he took every chance to do so.

And so right before the beginning of the end, Tommy knelt down in an alleyway as if praying to the devil, guzzling down the spurting blood from the hotel owner who’d refused to even allow him to squat in their porch on the worst nights of the harsh Snowchester winters. He’d sought vengeance against that man with a burning passion. But street rats like him? They didn’t get what they wanted. Who was the street rat now?

Tommy grinned at the creature masquerading as a man as it flailed and screamed in his tight hold like the pathetic bastard Tommy assumed he’d be. Tommy would have dragged it on a bit longer but he’d not eaten in a few days and had been looking forward to the end of this hunt so he’d already began to suck, allowing himself generous mouthfuls of the warm liquid. Mr Mariot didn’t deserve such a quick death but Tommy supposed nobody got what they deserved, really.

At this twilight hour, a scant few prowled the street, the vast majority of which being painfully human. There weren’t many of his kind, not that he knew of, anyway, so he was free to make as much noise and mess as he desired. His eyes reflected the wobbling pool of blood on the floor around him, a pool which by all laws of physics should have remained on the floor as blood is supposed to. But it seemed either physics wanted to be just as much of a nuisance as Tommy on that day or the pooling puddle was one of the many things that should have tipped humanity off to their fate.

He tore his teeth off Mariot’s neck and kicked the sticky substance with his trainers, careful to avoid getting it on his face. He had to at least pretend to be normal, even if it was stupid as shit and totally human-normative. Mr Mariot moaned, clearly dying. The bastard deserved it.

“It’s a cold night, innit?” Tommy asked the half-dead, cooling man. He himself had a warm flush to his cheeks, one he appreciated despite hardly feeling heat. Mr Mariot didn’t answer and so Tommy went in for another final suck. Delicious indeed, even if it was the blood of a wealthy pig.

Just as he removed his teeth a final time, a rumbling like a thousand rockets tore through the air. This noise was surely loud enough for the citizens of Snowchester to hear and more than enough to irritate Tommy. He grasped at his hands like a baby as wave after wave of that disgusting sound ripped into Tommy’s eardrums. He fought the urge to curl up into the foetal position in favour of searching for whatever bastard made such a loud noise at this time of night.. People weren’t supposed to mess with Tommy. They did, but they weren’t supposed to. This particular bastard wouldn’t make it through this night, Tommy was sure of it.

While those naked-eyed humans couldn’t see a thing, Tommy’s eyes were fully clothed - or as much as an eye can be, anyway - and so he caught sight of the ugly grey ships entering the atmosphere. Each moment he watched, the sound only became louder. So loud, in fact, that Tommy was filled with rage he hadn't felt since Ms Rose had beaten him for digging through her bins. But he’d dealt with her, and he believed wholeheartedly he’d deal with whatever creatures now descended upon him. And perhaps rightly so, because despite Tommy’s clear anger issues, he possessed strength unparalleled, a mind slightly faster than most and three knives in his right pocket as well as several bags full of blood in his backpack in case of an emergency.

He grabbed his backpack and ran towards the ships, fighting every instinct to retreat from the horrid rumbling. While it wouldn’t bother most humans, it was positively piercing to Tommy, even from miles away. Three miles in a minute took Tommy to Snowchester’s only park, a place for posh bastards to prance around in the day and somewhere the druggies sold their wares in the nights. The large iron gates were technically locked but that stopped absolutely nobody crawling through the gap in the hedge. Or Tommy jumping the fence. The park was mostly abandoned, aside from a small yet concerned crowd gathered quietly. They whispered, scared, to each other, staring up at the sky, knowing it held something terrible. They were absolutely fucked.

Tommy looked up, following their eye line. The ships were beyond the atmosphere now and rapidly falling to earth. There was no doubt about it that whatever aliens there were in the sky, they were dangerous and likely millenia more advanced than them. For a moment, Tommy doubted himself. Could the aliens be stronger than him? Finally, Tommy decided that they likely weren’t. No smart and cool species went to attack humanity without answering their text, even he’d probably respond if he actually had anyone to text on his phone. They were probably well stupid, like those monkeys on typewriters.

The first of the fleet touched down suddenly, mere metres in front of him. The force blew the humans back to the gates but Tommy remained steadfast, directly in front of the most dangerous yet stupid thing he’d ever seen. The ship looked like the inbred child of a million cornettos and iron beams, covered in ugly-looking metal ridges and with all the personality of an unworn plain white shirt. If Tommy had convinced himself at all that the ships would look even the slightest bit inspiring, he was dead wrong. Aliens had been around for little more than a minute and were already shaping up to be as boring as his own species. At the very least, Tommy was pleased that the foul rumbling had finally ceased, even if it was for this dramatic nonsense.

The doors opened, so smoothly Tommy wondered for a moment if anything was even opening at all. It was nothing like the incessant, becursed scraping of the average door in L’manberg. The sounds most could ignore, the part of his curse he hated the most, could finally be beneath him if he only used his knife a little. Yes, Tommy had been missing a bit of violence in the five minutes since he’d last drained that unfortunately ugly man in the alleyway. While he’d relieved that man of his body out of the kindness of his heart, this was all for him, something that didn’t bother him in the slightest. Tommy believed he was above the evils of humans and above humans he would go.

The soundless opening was followed with a few dull moments of silence, which, considering Tommy’s usual attention span, was a problem. Even spending a few moments wasting life on this dull time was a nuisance, so Tommy instead spent it complaining, cursing over and over as if preparing his battle cry.

And then they were out. Oozing, bubbling creatures. Slime - or was that living sewage? - slopped out of a pipe as though the creatures were really a liquid. But they weren’t, even the remaining people in the now-empty park could see the obvious guns in their wobbling ‘bodies’ so you can imagine how easy it was for Tommy to see. And Tommy? He’d just brought a knife to a gunfight. Had Tommy been human, he’d have known how fucked he was. But he wasn’t, so for Tommy it was nothing but a decent challenge. Were those creatures killable? Tommy was soon to find out if, it killed him first.

Before Tommy had egregiously long to think, they opened fire. Now, at least, Tommy had an excuse to swipe at them with his knife. And he did. For each civilian’s precious blood they wasted, Tommy consumed two of them. They tasted like grass and felt like jelly but it was the only way he knew to get rid of a creature made of slime. For a moment, the slime aliens attempted to force themselves out of Tommy’s throat but either they realised quickly it was futile or died. Either way, Tommy was fine with it. It’s not like his organs did too much to power his moving corpse anyway, right? What the fuck did he even know about his own biology anyway? Did space have google? Or vampires?

“I come in peace, bitches!” Tommy yelled, ignoring the lack of sense his own statement made. He could see someone’s camera recording the whole thing and if he was going to be outed as a vampire, he may as well look cool as shit while it happened.

The green, slimey creatures separated into odd little clumps, falling everywhere as if they were actual liquid. Tommy didn't understand it – how could it even be physically possible? The liquid creatures stopped spurting from the pipes so Tommy took a moment to grab one of their blasters.

Finishing off the final aliens, he was done, surrounded by a crater covered in goop.

Tommy was not under any delusion that the people of earth would be safe. These creatures were easy for him to defeat but would likely baffle and overtake even the finest militaries of Earth. And who wanted to be there when it happened?

So he charged onto the ship, red eyes gleaming impulsively as he charged through the hangar and tore down whichever hallway suited his fancy, passing through the empty ship without a care in the world. At first glance, the ship looked nearly as dull as its exterior. Clearly, the aliens didn't care much for interior design because the ship looked like utter shit. It was sparsely decorated with the same walls as on the outside (probably cheap as shit stuff, then) and all the decoration it held was a ton of boring-looking safety posters in a language he couldn't read.

The hallway came to an end and Tommy tried to open the door at the end of it. It was probably one of those stupid fucking scanner things that never picked him up anymore. Even in space it seemed everyone hated vampires.

Tommy sighed and decided to try another way. Looking up, he noticed a very oversized vent system. Even at the moment he saw it, Tommy knew he'd be using it like crazy. He lept up to the vent, twice the high as what the average human could achieve.

The vents were actually quite familiar in the sense that they were just as boring as vents on Earth. Since Tommy had been turned, he'd often required a quick getaway as soon as it got too light so he'd become familiar with Snowchester’s vent system. It seemed vents were quite universally dull as he navigated through it with ease, silent as a mouse.

Through the vents, he received a Birdseye view of many different rooms. So many held odd machinery, weird equipment and wacky jars. Some held animals: reptiles, insects and mammals. None looked in any way Earthly but it was interesting to see the sort of animals they had in ela e. Most, like the red lion-looking thing, appeared to make a lot more sense than whatever odd creatures had been pumped outside.

And then, he heard them. He dashed through the vents to the noise and stared down at the new creatures. Nothing like the green goop he'd seen outside, the creatures he saw next were a similar unappealing shade with two sharp green eyes that reeked of suffering. They had black beaks and looked more like parrots than people, with odd tentacles instead of hands. Their teeth were duller than his, sharper than humans so they certainly ate meat. Their bodies were covered in fluff the size of feathers. When the creatures spoke to one another, their voices sounded far quieter than humans, barely a whisper. He figured he could probably get along with those aliens, if he could speak their odd language. But he couldn’t, and also he was a stowaway. These were the aliens who were invading his planet, these were the creatures that would spell his end if he was found.

Luckily, Tommy didn’t need to sleep, so instead of sleeping, he found a space in the cargo hold to hide. The blasters and knives in his backpack remained firmly on his person as he carved comfortable enough space to make his base. And it was a good thing, too, because when he’d finally stepped back to admire his new little den, he was knocked back.

And he was off, going beyond where any human or vampire had gone before. The first of his kind to leave his solar system, an ex-street rat from Snowchester. If those bastards could see him now… In celebration, Tommy decided to down one of his blood bags.

“To me!” Tommy bumped his bag with his fist in lieu of anybody else to press their drink against his and pierced his fangs into the pouch. He’d stolen this stuff from the hospital before he realised the fresh stuff was better. Once the taste reached his mouth, he recoiled. It tasted wildly out of date, utterly subpar compared to the fresh stuff he’d had earlier. But to go to space? He’d do anything.

Chapter Text

Tommy spent the following few weeks wandering around the ship. It was rare he actually needed to eat or rest so he essentially had a 24/7 opportunity to watch the aliens at work. As he watched, he was already picking up a few things; this was clearly a lab ship of some variety sent to see what Earth had to offer. And his theory had been proven correct when he stumbled upon a room hidden behind several locked doors holding tons of cages of all sorts of different Earth animals, likely the reason they’d even bothered to go to Earth in the first place.

But apparently the aliens didn’t see the difference between animals and sentient species because inside one cage were two naked people: a human man and woman, both looking to be about twenty. Each time he went in to look at them they looked a little worse for wear: a bruised cheek there, a bloody hole here. At first, they’d tried to cover themselves with their hands and their cage had been covered in a permanent layer of tears but now they were resigned to this treatment: tired, sick and drugged. Despite their sorry state, they kept trying to escape, which is why they spent most of their time knocked out on the floor.

Despite what he should have felt, Tommy didn’t want nor need to care about them. What could he do, anyway? He was supposed to be hiding from these aliens and how would he do that if he had two noisy humans wandering around? Besides, neither of them spoke English. The woman was French, the man Chinese and while they seemed to be trying to pick up each other’s languages in the short time they were awake, he doubted they’d do the same for some creepy vampire who randomly showed up. So they were stuck there, naked, together.

Of the aliens, the largest one with the smile on its face was clearly the one in charge. It was something he’d realised very quickly - Dream - the name for the top alien, a word he had no idea how to pronounce himself - seemed to have a paralysed face or something because he never had anything on his face but a freaky smile and considering the guy spent most of the time walking around and screaming at the other alien scientists. He was ostensibly the only one who appeared to be allowed into the human animal room because whenever anyone else came in, they were always let in by Dream.

Dream was definitely not a nice man. An utter bastard if Tommy had ever seen one. He snarled and hissed at the humans as if they weren’t sapient even as they screamed in their different languages for mercy. He kept injecting them with odd substances, stuff Tommy didn’t think was supposed to be injected into people if the way they screamed said anything, and he never seemed to care. This wasn’t a trait of his species if the way the other aliens recoiled said anything; they were merely following orders but Dream? Dream was the alien in control, Tommy was sure of it, and an utter prick to boot.

The humans in the cage had blue skin, a side-effect of their last injection, and were still flailing and twitching even as they were passed out. Usually, Tommy kept out of that room when they were experimenting on the humans for a reason. It was never a pretty sight.

In fact, Tommy spent most of his time inside a small room with a large cage of what looked like little space dogs. They were about the size of a typical spider with the body of a dog and Tommy couldn’ t help but to coo at the adorable creatures. Their experiments looked to be something to do with food and the little dogs clearly weren't a massive risk because the bird aliens didn’t keep their usual professional distance and openly stroked and pet them. Tommy wished he could have done the same but most animals didn’t react the best to him, something instinctive or whatever. It showed in how they fawned over the scientists that whatever was being fed to them, was absolutely enjoyed.

But none enjoyed the stuff more than the smallest one, a little spider Tommy named Shroud. You could tell shroud apart from the others because Shroud had a little black mark across his back as if someone had spread charcoal across it. Shroud was adorable, his head lolling back and forth as he ate. At first, Tommy thought Shroud was a little dopey but at some point he’d realised the little dog was dancing - Shroud could stop it but he was such a happy little boy that he hardly ever wanted to. And the rest of the spider dogs never seemed to give a shit about it.

When they all gathered up in a clump to sleep, Shroud was just as included as all the others. Shroud loved food, part of what kept him lolling. And all the other spider-dogs knew it, letting him grab a little bit of food before the rest of them went for it. He was also smaller than most of the dogs, so Tommy assumed he was a puppy and a young one at that.

It was when Tommy was watching Shroud that the gravity of the ship mysteriously (for lack of a better word) stopped. He floated up into the air, bumping his head lightly on the roof of the vents as he watched the same happen to Shroud and the rest of the dogs. Tommy assumed they were used to it as they didn’t seem panicked and no alarms were going off. A moment later, there was a huge bang and he and the tiny spider dogs fell to the ground.

Shit.

Unfortunately, while Tommy could usually be near-silent because of his super cool vampire reflexes, he was not immune to gravity. He clashed down onto the ground, banging his head and alerting the dogs as well as the scientists down below to his presence. They looked up as Tommy collected himself, scanning the vent for signs of life.

If Tommy still had a heartbeat, that would have been it for him. He’d probably have had a heart attack right there and then. But his heart came pre-stopped so he used the moments that might have been used to slow his heart to absolutely leg it to the other end of the ship. He would not be ending up in a cage any time soon.

Once he was sure there was nobody on his tail, he looked down at the view below. Unlike usually when the massive blinds covered the window, there was an entire world outside, somewhere that looked absolutely incredible. Outside, ship after ship after ship piled up on top of each other, floor after floor of ships like a massive open-air, sky-high car park. Tommy had never seen anything like the sheer variety of ships held there. Not only were there white and sleek ones like the stuff of films, ugly, round balls coloured to look like obese toddlers and brilliantly-bright, LED coloured eyesores, the ships came in all shapes and sizes, some looking more like bikes and others clearly only designed for one or two. But most were the same size as Dream’s ship, which meant that they were absolutely fucking massive.

The aliens below him screeched something to one another… Something about a subject. In his constant (and he could admit it) stalking, he’d picked up small fragments of their strange language but for the most part he had no idea what they were saying. He wondered whether the humans had escaped or something before he realised they were probably speaking about him. Sure, he was a vampire, but they didn't know that, nor did he have any idea of how the aliens would deal with someone hidden on their ship.

After a moment of quiet contemplation, he decided that he needed to play this well. He debated for a moment leaving the ship but the shipyard, because of its vast height, was very easy to see someone in, even if they were 'disturbingly' fast. And not only that, the maroon sun was high in the sky. He’d not be going anywhere until the night, whenever that was. So he clearly had to hide.

Tommy crept down to cargo in absolute silent, a dropped pin louder than his feet. There was absolutely no way he’d let himself get caught after all this time. In his little area in the hold, Tommy had built something of a bed. That had to go. Any trace of him had to be purged to hell and back or else he was definitely fucked. Tommy knew how merciless Dream could be, and to living creatures too. Why would a vampire be any different to him? No, he had to hide.

His blankets quickly found themselves folded as best as Tommy could manage where Tommy thought they came from, just the same as his pillows. The book he’d been trying to read about different signals went back to the stack of books, the cage he’d propped his stuff on went back to the pile of cages. But he was forgetful. Before he could pick up his hoodie from the floor, the aliens were staring at it.

“...Strange…” Tommy made out from whatever the alien had been saying.

“...Human….” Another said as they exchanged glasses.

Great, just fucking great. Now they knew what he was. But they wouldn’t find out where, definitely not those losers. He’d accept Dream capturing him but not the losers that worked for him. His lackeys, while scientists, grovelled at Dream’s feet half the time. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so pathetic. These aliens were just like the losers back on Earth.

Tommy sighed, a habit he still hadn’t been able to kick. They knew what he was but he’d outlast them. They probably thought he needed food and water. He needed food of a kind, but whatever meat they gave to the human subjects certainly weren’t going to entice him into any suspicious trap. Worst case scenario, he’d have to eat them. Hopefully they’d taste better than the goopy creatures that still filled his stomach.

Tommy spent the rest of the day trapped down in the hold. He refused to venture into the vents for fear of falling into some trap or other and aliens wandered through the hold intermittently, probably knowing he was there. At night, Tommy would venture outside and find himself another trip. That, or be forced to slaughter this entire ship and take command of it.

Quietly, he mourned the loss of Shroud. He’d likely never see Shroud again, even if the dog spider did live a long life. He was so cute at every moment, prime pet material. He deserved better than a life in a lab, even if the spider dogs got better treatment than their human counterparts. But it was too risky to take Shroud now, not when half the ship was after him. So Tommy hid himself inside a box made of space cardboard, peeping through the eye-holes to make sure no aliens got the jump on him. He was a vampire, the first one in space, and he wouldn’t mess this up anytime soon.

Time went by at a rate slower than Tommy’s unbeating heart as he lay in wait for his time to go. The aliens had stopped wandering through the hold, which Tommy took as a good sign despite all his worries. He tried to convince himself that it was actually a good thing that nothing was happening because that meant he was safe but all he could think was that it was the calm before the storm. Before the aliens had come, he’d not known fear in months but now it was here again, less so than when he’d lie half starved on the floor waiting for starvation to take him. There was hope now, because he had power. He had strength and power and speed and he knew how to use it, strength the aliens simply didn’t have, even if he was hiding in a box from them.

Tommy stood up and pulled the box off his head. His muscles ached but that didn’t matter if he was able to outrun basically everything. Tommy grabbed the blaster from his backpack, checking left and right before he began to move in case anybody was there to witness his unboxing. Nothing. He ran out of the cargo hold and into the vents which had become an utter minefield. Bear traps littered the floor, bear traps Tommy knew would render him unable to walk if he were to step on them. He hadn’t expected traps like that but he really should have.

He pulled his blaster tighter to his person. While it had been months since he’d been human, human instinct still infected his vampire form. The fear of predators was laughable when you were the apex predator. It was stupid, so fucking stupid. He was cool as shit. Poggers, he called himself. Poggers, even if he didn’t feel like it.

With that, Tommy made his way back to the hangar, which had an open door. Tommy eyed it suspiciously but the scientists bustled in and out of the ship, carefree, into the twilight. Tommy didn’t think the night could look so beautiful on another planet but what looked like ten massive stars lit up the entire sky. They were definitely far from everything, weren’t they? Tommy wondered if this was a normal night sky in space or if Dream had chosen this place specifically for it being so out of the way. Maybe he was a dirty crime boy? Tommy decided he probably was considering he’d kidnapped two humans. He wasn’t yet an expert at alien laws but it didn’t seem legal to steal people, especially to do tests on them.

Even if the hangar door was open, Tommy was still trapped if he couldn’t get past all the aliens. The aliens were all of the same species and all spoke quite quietly even if they were far away from each other. They clearly had phenomenal hearing so it would be hard to get past them.

He was fast but how much faster than them? In his three weeks of observation, he’d never seen a single one of them run in a panic. Sure, their normal walking pace was similar to a human’s but did that mean they couldn’t go any faster than a walk or were they just being professional? Tommy realised then he didn’t really know how these aliens worked.

But when had Tommy been particularly patient? With a grin, Tommy ripped out the vent and jumped down into the horde of people. For a moment, he was flooded with adrenaline and wonder. He moved at what felt like the speed of sound, accelerating out of the hangar. He was doing it, escaping to a new planet in the dead of night, a legend, the most brilliant vampire that (in Tommy’s humble opinion) had ever lived.

A projectile flew through the air, flying past him. He thought whatever it was had missed but it came back, striking him in the arm and sending a cold, wet pain through his arm. His eyes flickered as he reached the floor of the hangar, closing when he landed on the concrete floor.

Dream walked over, followed closely by his scientists.

“Dream!” Tommy pleaded, the alien words odd on his tongue. He was sure he’d pronounced it wrong but Dream didn’t seem to mind. No, he looked as curious as a paralysed man could, as if a new mystery had just entered his life.

“Tommy.” He yelled, pointing to himself.

“Toe-nmea?” Dream replied eagerly.

“Yes, Dream,” Tommy answered with his poor knowledge of Dream’s language,"You fucking bastard," he finished in English.

Dream clicked his mouth and two aliens with a stretcher moved over to him, slightly scared of him if their faces were anything to go off of. With that, Tommy closed his eyes for the first time in months, fading into unconsciousness faster than he ever had before.

Chapter Text

Tommy charged at the dummy, hitting it again and again and again till it broke completely. He imagined the faces of everyone who’d ever passed him by merged into one massive bastard, someone who was strong enough to suffer for longer than a weak human. Dream looked in awe from behind the glass screen, eyes glued on him as he continued to punch and punch and punch even as the thing was in pieces. He stepped away and didn’t wait for Dream’s permission to go through to the next room.

“I do good?” Tommy asked gleefully.

“You did good.” Dream nodded, ruffling Tommy’s hair.

Dream grabbed his arm and they went through to the cafeteria where the scientists were assembled for lunch. For most of them, it was a simple meal purely of some strange meat from some strange planet Tommy had yet to visit, a place they called OSMP or Origin Survival Multi-Player for short, which apparently had something to do with how dangerous it was. Tommy hadn’t been able to understand much of what Dream was saying anyway. For him, lunch was a cup of human blood collected fresh from the two humans in the lab. It had taken a lot for Dream to understand what Tommy needed to eat but he was surprisingly supportive about it for an alien that essentially knew nothing about him.

In fact, Dream was surprisingly nice in general for an alien who owned a lab ship. Who knew? Not the humans in the lab, anyway.

Tommy sipped gleefully on his drink, getting not even a glance in his way despite having what was clearly human blood running down his face. The aliens (or, Players as Dream had explained slowly) knew exactly what he was drinking but accepted him so readily as a new species. The cup was still warm, probably collected only a few minutes ago if Tommy’s tastebuds hadn’t been fucked up by space.

Dream spoke idly to the other scientists and Tommy tried to listen in as best he could. But it was hard to do that when you can’t understand even half a conversation so Dream dumbed down the main points to him after.

“We get more samples from you?” Dream requested.

“Yes, Big Man.” Tommy replied, earning yet another ruffle on the head. Tommy was more than willing to give a few samples of himself. Dream was a scientist after all, and if he wanted Vampires to be categorised as a new subspecies, they needed a few samples from him as well, even if he wasn’t experimenting on him the same way he was the two humans. He was, however, being given plenty of tests to do.

Most of his tests were easy, such as punch a Player punching bag enough times it broke, or testing how fast he picked up language. It was exhausting, both mentally and physically, but Tommy was not planning on disappointing Dream any time soon. It was a little embarrassing but Dream definitely did a lot for him.

“I am speaking properly?” Dream asked.

Tommy shrugged. Dream was trying to figure out English so he could better understand Tommy. It was difficult, especially considering Tommy hadn’t gone to school for a few years so the grammar was a mystery to both of them. He might have given Dream some pointers on a better day but he was already very tired.

Dream laughed, a noise more like a tea-kettle than a proper laugh. Dream’s species didn’t laugh like that, either, he was just fucking weird.

“Can I visit Shroud?” Tommy asked.

Dream nodded, “After dinner.” The English comforted Tommy so he sucked the remainder of his blood, careful to not spill any. That shit got everywhere, especially on Dream’s fur.

Tommy didn’t have much scheduled for the afternoon, much like most days. The afternoons were typically a time reserved for taking in everything he’d learned over the past however long their days were (for obvious reasons, Tommy didn’t need to pay much attention to that sort of stuff). Space videogames and space social media would probably come easier to Tommy after he learned more Player (though it all seemed so fucking cool!) so he mostly used his time to mess around with Shroud.

Shroud was just as Tommy’d left him. He chewed on a piece of food nobody else wanted greedily which he dropped once he saw Tommy. Tommy lifted off the roof of the cage and Shroud crawled onto his hand, where he belonged. Shroud barked excitedly at him, probably begging for more spider-dog food. He reached into the nearby bag of food and supplied a small, cereal-sized chunk of food for his little dog.

Shroud yipped and yapped at the small piece, devouring it as if he hadn’t been eating a moment before. Tommy gently scratched its head, careful not to apply too much force. Shroud was a very fragile puppy, as Dream made very clear. While they were great little creatures inside the lab, the chances of Shroud and his friends being crushed if they were removed from the area was too high so Tommy was unfortunately not able to keep Shroud as his full-time pet, even if everyone knew Shroud was really his.

“Aww, Shroud!” Tommy beamed, “Did you crawl all the way up my arm, to me?”

Shroud barked in response, though Tommy wasn’t sure if he really understood. Not that it mattered, Tommy loved Shroud no matter what.

“You did, didn’t you? Aww!” He gave the dog another treat, beaming ear to ear, fangs out wide. Tommy considered himself very lucky Shroud wasn’t scared of him. He didn’t seem to be aware Tommy lacked a heartbeat, nor what he was capable of. But that was the great thing about Shroud: Shroud was a creature Tommy could care about no matter what and vice-versa, even if they didn’t really understand each other sometimes; it was such an adorable little thing!

Tommy knelt down and dug a tiny leash out of his backpack. Shroud loved his walks and Tommy was more than willing to indulge him if it meant he could spend more time with his furry friend. Shroud was from Overworld, a planet without sentient species. It was now one giant nature sanctuary however the wildlife there was so bountiful you could take a few of them and get away with it, except if the IUNSA (Inter-Universe Non-Sentients Association) asked, Dream found them abandoned on the streets outside an illegal auction hall and had to take them for his protection. Dream was a dirty crime boy just like him, indeed.

Shroud’s leash was tiny, barely one strand of string wrapped into the shape of a real leash. But it did its job well enough: preventing Shroud from getting lost or hurt. On their walks, Shroud stayed firmly on Tommy’s hand but wandered up and down as Tommy explored the ship. His access card allowed him nearly everywhere but he still hadn’t explored it all. The ship was miles long to the point that Tommy sometimes hardly believed they were in a spaceship flying through space. Childhood him couldn’t have even imagined any of it.

He nattered on at Shroud about everything: his day, how he felt, what he thought of his co-workers. He knew most of them were still annoyed with him about his weeks worth of stalking but really, he could ignore them so long as Dream was nice to him. Tommy could shit-talk them all as much as he liked in English without them knowing a word he was saying. They didn’t appear to care about learning his language which was a little annoying but Tommy could deal with it if he got to spend time in space.

One of the aliens rounded a corner at the same time as him and they collided, Tommy slamming the alien to the ground. The alien looked up, dazed for a couple of seconds and a strange brown liquid rolled down its head. Tommy didn’t recognise the substance but he knew what it was, as did his body. Instinctively, he charged forwards to the barely-conscious alien, salivating as the smell reached his nose. He hadn’t had any fresh blood in ages and this alien blood smelled so nice.

“Toe- Toe!” The alien pleaded, “Dream!” Tommy didn’t hear his calls as he went in for the kill, biting into the alien’s neck with a satisfying crunch. Going bone-deep always made it easier because his prey stopped moving quicker and the crushing acted as a sort of murderous foreplay to the main event. He held the alien’s neck in his mouth as blood entered his mouth. Holy shit, it was better than human blood. Tommy’s eyes widened. Unlike human blood, which at times could be too salty, this was sweet, like the coca-cola of blood. He gulped it down eagerly, red eyes intense and focused like it hadn’t been in weeks.

A few cups of blood a day were nothing compared to draining an entire Player and Tommy wondered why he’d ever restrained himself at all. Sure, Dream might be a little upset but it’s not as if he actually cared about his scientists.

Tommy moved to the alien’s extremities, sucking every last drop of blood he could get his hands on, biting through fingers to get to more of it. Human blood was addicting, yes, but it was so much less compared to Player blood. The smell didn’t give it justice at all.

Another scientist walked through the hallway, turning and running in horror when he saw the bloody state of the hallway. Tommy, now over his dead co-worker’s feet, piercing and sipping each toe like drink pods. Tommy let him run, it wasn’t like he could hide the death of the alien. Besides, he needed to send a message to Dream - the message that human blood was not enough alone to satiate him.

–

Dream tightened the netherite muzzle around Tommy’s jaw, a heavy contraption even for him.

“I don’t fucking want to wear this.” Tommy huffed.

“You have to, Tommy.” Dream declared.

Dream had finally worn Tommy down after hours of arguments and yelling. Tommy was to wear a muzzle. He’d thought Dream had forgotten about the situation a few weeks ago but it turned out Dream had just been waiting to land on Bastion to pick up a ton of netherite, which Dream had stressed wasn’t cheap.

Tommy grumbled even as it was tightened around his jaw but let Dream lock it securely on. He tested it with his mouth, opening it as wide as he could. Electricity visibly flew through the air, blanking out Tommy’s vision with white, hot pain. Tommy’s vision returned a few moments later when he discovered himself on the floor, hair partially singed.

“Fuck!” Tommy yelled, slapping away Dream’s hand.

“Tommy, my staff don’t feel safe around you. We need to know you won’t hurt anyone.” Dream sighed, speaking in English this time.

Tommy ignored him and tried to get himself up. But the shocks had paralysed his legs, which twitched uselessly next to him.

“Don’t care.” Tommy replied, pushing himself up next to a worktable. He tried to rise into a standing position but collapsed, his legs as useless as they’d been moments before. His arms, too, were less than functional. It was like all the strength in him was gone. Tommy couldn’t understand Dream. He was Tommy’s friend, after all, even if they were different species. They were friends but when Dream did shit like this, it didn’t feel like it.

“I hate you.” Tommy spat, dragging himself up into a chair.

Dream sighed, “Listen, Tommy, in a few years time, we might be able to take this off. But for now, I think it’ll be better for all of us if we don’t have to test your control, okay?”

“Okay…” Tommy sighed, dejected.

“Good. We have an experiment to get to.”

The experiment of the day was yet another test on his control. Dream had made him do a lot of tests on his control over the past few weeks and it had become something of an obsession of his. Usually, he was strapped down in a room with a bleeding human or animal on the other side but with Tommy’s new muzzle, they were doing something different.

On the other side of the white lab room, an alien sat, shaking at the mere sight of him. A few of them did stuff like that now, which Tommy considered huge overreactions considering they’d kidnapped and killed several members of his own species only a few months ago. But Players were as unreasonable as they were freaky so Tommy left them to their bullshit for the most part.

Not even his muzzle stopped the alien fearing him. What did it think he was going to do? Eat it through the muzzle? No, he could hardly move from his last shock.

A blade came down from the ceiling and the Player shook like Shroud’s head as it tore through their arm. The Player began to bleed, wasting the liquid as it dripped onto the floor.

“Dream, stop wasting it!” Tommy whined, “I could have drank that!”

Dream sighed from behind some one-way glass. He sounded so disappointed. Tommy was glad: he didn’t want that prick to get anything out of him if he was going to muzzle Tommy like an animal. He was better than that shit.

“You will - once we get the information we need,” came Dream’s tired answer.

Tommy barely heard him through his focus on the player in front of him. It bled so beautifully, like the one he’d killed all those weeks ago. And unlike humans, they weren’t so nice so he didn’t even need to feel guilty! His mind returned to the way its fingers had tasted as he’d gnawed on them, getting blood everywhere. Tommy hardly noticed when he began to salivate, drool dripping down his cheeks and onto the muzzle.

The player whimpered like a dying animal. He wanted it to be dead so bad. He wanted to eat it, to watch the life drain from it as he took everything from inside it. He wanted to feat on its blood and drink and drink and drink until there was no-one left but him and Dream. And then he’d think about killing Dream.

The glass door between him and the player slid down and before his prey had even realised what was going on, he was at its neck, pressing against it so hard flesh went through his muzzle. He grinned in anticipation till he realised no blood was reaching his mouth. A moment later, he was on the floor, doubled over in wave after wave of shocks as though the world would be nothing but pain for the rest of time, as though he’d never see Shroud again.

And then it stopped.

He looked up to see Dream at his side, staring down at him like a child in a zoo.

“So, the muzzle works,” Dream declared, noting it down in his weird floating clipboard.

“Whathefuck!” Tommy exclaimed, picking himself up at the speed of light.

Dream sighed,”We had to figure out if the muzzle was effective. I didn’t want to do this but my team… they’re scared of you. I’ll give you more blood, as a treat, but until you can control yourself, the muzzle is the solution we’ve had to use.”

Tommy’s eyes widened, so large Dream was sure it wasn’t even humanly possible.

“That’s so unfair!” Tommy complained for the millionth time as he took an unsteady step up.

With that, he ran out of the room before Dream could say another word, barely keeping his composure long enough to get to Shroud’s room.

Somehow, not even Shroud’s adorable lolling was enough to comfort the deep scar in his heart.

Tommy couldn't even sleep away the pain; it had been freeing before, something he could hold above all the others, the time he had a freeing force that allowed him to do so much more than everyone else. Now, Tommy realised it was a worse prison than sleep itself.

Chapter Text

Needless to say, Tommy was pissed. Absolutely fucking pissed.

A muzzle? Dream was treating him like he was some feral animal and for what? His fucking ego? Sure, he killed that guy but it was only one alien! Dream probably didn’t even know the guy’s name. So there was no fucking way he was even talking to Dream if he was going to be such a dick to him.

Sitting around in his bedroom with a vicious glare, Tommy stared out at the debris which had once been glass panels, mirrors or artificial windows. His skin was made of tough shit but if something like Dream tried to come in, they’d have a problem getting to him over the sheer quantity of glass everywhere.

At least back at home, if all else failed, he could go on YouTube and watch a video or two – something to take his mind off everything. In space, everything, from words on a screen to each weird ‘table’ and ‘chair’ was wrong. His unbeating heart ached with desire to be back, even if Earth was a changed place. Fuck, it was probably all gone. 

The aliens had invaded. The life he’d known was gone. He would never, no matter what he did, be back. He would never be able to read a book from Earth or eat proper human blood again (even if the alien stuff was delicious). He would never be able to speak English with a native speaker who didn’t have that clicky Alien accent… Everything Earth would be in past tense, as much as his freedom was.

Fuck, he’d been stupid, hadn’t he?

He’d truly thought for a while there that Dream was his friend: they’d talked like friends; they’d taught each other things like friends… maybe Dream was his friend? He was dangerous, that much was clear. More powerful and stronger than anything else on the ship. An anomaly, something new. Maybe this was just a test? If he was smart enough to get out of the muzzle, he got to go free? 

Flopping dramatically onto his bed (one of the few areas of the room without as much glass) Tommy sighed deeply. It was hard to figure out what someone actually wanted. Why couldn’t people just say sometimes: ‘we’re friends’ or ‘I hate you’ or whatever the fuck. Something, anything to help him figure out people’s true intentions.

He couldn’t even see Shroud: how shit was that? The spider he’d been fawning over for weeks, and people were acting like he’d eat Shroud in a heartbeat. That tiny little dog, with its bouncing head and wide, beady eyes… Shroud, whatever the plaque said, was a dog in spirit. But not his dog anymore.

A sudden thought entered his mind with the force of an asteroid colliding into another. A plan – a plan that might actually work. The week before, he and Dream had been discussing where they were going next: a small planet at the centre of everything, where they’d be picking up some fancy fucker who was apparently related to Dream even though they looked nothing alike. Their day of docking was today – literally today.

Experimentally, Tommy tested out the sensors on the door.

It opened. Quiet, scraping pieces of metal tore away from each other, getting smaller from his perspective as the door widened enough for him to walk through. To any normal creature, Tommy assumed that the effect would be instantaneous. But it seemed that everything was slower to his eyes, a more gradual shift. 

What would he do? Right, right… The cockpit.

The cockpit was actually not nearly as defended as it probably should have been. Maybe that was a design-flaw; maybe it was supposed to be that way (criminals could sell ships, too) but either way, Tommy could only see benefits.

As he ran through the ship, he could see tons of those weird aliens doing whatever the fuck they did in a day, wandering around with holographic images almost everywhere. Tommy assumed it had something to do with their jobs but honestly, considering aliens, that was questionable.

Tommy debated biting one of them, just to prove who was boss. Except, the shock collar wouldn’t let him do that, would it? Shit sucked. Shit sucked bad.

Honestly, Dream deserved to have his ship crashed – that was what you got if you went against the natural order. One big creature eating the little creatures, the helpless things that couldn’t do much other than sit there and cry or whatever the fuck. Tommy didn’t need to give a shit about how they felt or what they wanted: they were just… aliens. Food. Prey.

And he was going to crash their stupid ship.

In the window, he could see a planet so vast it seemed endless. They were only slightly close – about the distance from the moon to the earth – but already Tommy could feel that jumping was just a little harder.

How long did he have? More than it looked, surely: ships had to slow down massively before they could actually land and with the amount of checks done in near-orbit, it could be hours.

Well, not if he was in charge.

Sure, they might be shot out of the sky. But who would that hurt? Him, who could literally regenerate fucking limbs, or Dream, a random alien who (probably) couldn’t?

So that was the plan then, wasn’t it? Killing everyone on board but him.

His stomach jolted and somehow it wasn’t the ship moving.

There was something missing. Something he’d forgotten.

But what?

Then, it hit him. With force. It hit him so hard he wondered how he’d ever forgotten it at all, and then he cursed himself for it like he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt in a sudden rainpour.

Shroud.

Shroud – what could he do without Shroud, his closest confidante and best friend in the haunting emptiness of the galaxy.

In seconds, Tommy found himself in front of Shroud’s enclosure, a thin smattering of sweat almost blurring his vision. He didn’t even need to check to know which one was Shroud: he could see it in the way he moved his head, so silly like he was always dancing. Adorable as always.

How long had it been since he’d last seen Shroud? It couldn’t have been longer than a day and yet in his heart it was months; months without his greatest companion; months without the allyship of the most amazing space dog anywhere He put the spider-dog in his front pocket, checking carefully that he wasn’t being crushed.

Fortunately, that little thing, eight-legged and eager to please, was moving as excitedly around the new enclosure of his pocket as it did his normal cage, surrounded by enrichment. 

Oh, right! 

Tommy poured some of the flaky form of his feed (he’d taken to keeping it into his pocket, because any time Shroud looked at him for a treat and he had nothing on hands, the gut-wrenching, heart-killing guilt was enough to make his unbeating heart jolt.

Shroud gulped the things up desperately, struggling as the pieces fell from his mouth like it did for nobody else. His tiny dog-like head swung back and forth, earning him a little head-nudge from Tommy’s thumb, about the same size as that tiny little head of his.

“There you go,” he cooed, all too aware he was being uncharacteristically soft. He’d visited Shroud many times before, and where it had once been a time for affection and reflection in equal parts, Tommy found himself utterly consumed with the thick haze of fear which penetrated deep into his mind, blinding him of the joy he might have felt.

Shroud is small, too small for this world. If he’s not the creation of some weird lab on a weirder spaceship then he’s from a planet where everything is his size. Tommy can imagine two-foot trees towering over him, so giant from where he plods around almost invisibly on the floor, wiggling his head around like he’s so full of energy and life and whimsy it’s almost taking control over him.

He tries to let the fear simmer down and finds himself back on earth. Things were simpler there: it wasn’t a push-and-pull; he was the top of the food chain, humanity powerless to stop him. he was strongest; no other creature could ever hope to disagree.

The shock collar sat heavy around his neck.

Hearts beat in the distance and Tommy wondered if he was being watched. They clearly had the technology to do it… Let them. Fucking let them. What could he do? Tear eyes from brain; rip through skin and bone till he heard the almighty crunch? Not there. And yet, there was the place he wished he could do that most.

Thankfully, there were other solutions to this modern problem of his, ones which played more to his strength. He was fast; faster than anything else could hope to be.

“You’re staying with me,” Tommy said, determination firing up in his heart like a frenzied madness. He was hyperconscious of every feeling around his body; inside and out. He could feel those fake breaths he let out when he was scared; those instinctive gasps for life he never needed again.

In his pocket, against his unbeating heart, Tommy could hear a drumming beat from inside Shroud, a little dumdumdumdumdumdumdumdum, a rolling thunder, a murderous mixtape for his ears alone.

Was he really doing this?

Yes. He had to, like a mind-altering, body-bending compulsion, Tommy felt his pace quicken as he ran through the ship, zipping through corridors; somehow, (instincts? practice) avoiding hitting the milling aliens who worked around the ship.

Good fucking riddance, he felt himself argue, fucking aliens telling me what to do?

At its core, that was why: that was the reason for his ship-destroying murder-plan. Who there did he give a shit about? Dream? The man who’d fit a shock collar around his neck; a muzzle on his face, breaking all facades of trust or respect or care? Really, the only thing he could actually give a shit about was Shroud, and frankly Shroud was perfectly pocket-sized.

So Tommy found himself in the cockpit, a relatively large room of the ship. He knew it was the cockpit not because of any sign on the floor, but because it was the room with the largest window, and beneath it a thousand different buttons, levers and pulleys. There was something so mechanical about it all: cogs whirred and… was that steam? Somehow, with all the weird futuristic technology on show, there was something about this room that was thoroughly human, so comprehensible.

And yet, Tommy had no clue how to man it.

There was nobody in the cockpit, and so Tommy assumed they were either having lunch or the ship was on autopilot. That made sense, considering all he could see was the vastness of space: faraway stars danced through the purple-pink sky; stars he’d never seen before. Wherever he was, it was a galaxy away from where he was from, his insignificant patch of the universe left behind. There was something so beautiful and so horrible about the sheer distance of it all: how fast was this ship moving? How far away from home was he?

Beneath all this mechanical madness was something resembling a sofa: plush fabric, without so much as a scratch, long so as to allow as many people to be seated as needed. He, meanwhile, was alone. Good — he didn’t want to be around some weird as fuck alien freak.

Then Tommy realised it was probably quite lucky nobody was in the room with him.

…

He needed to keep it that way, didn’t he?

So Tommy looked around the room for something, anything, to keep the door shut with. Unfortunately for him, space doors were really difficult to keep from closing. They opened from the middle, which was shit and wrong, and they were all plain white and ugly, unless they had stupid safety posters because when you’re being a creepy evil alien you need to be safe about it, apparently.

Tommy huffed.

He was going to have to move fast if he wanted to get that ship crashed and burning.

Shroud cooed in his pocket, his voice crackly as he bashed his head pack and forth against his plush pocket. Tommy was wearing his old shirt, red sleeves with white beneath, although the white was spattered black with soot and red with blood. Yes, he looked like shit, but inside his pocket, Shroud didn’t know that.

Shroud didn’t know a lot of things, really… it’s was an easy way to live, not how genius like him lived. He didn’t even need to think about when his next treats were coming: to Shroud, food probably just appeared. Sometimes, Tommy thinks life would be better off as one of those animals Dream had abducted, like the badgers and dogs. They were probably none the wiser about being taken, nor did they mind. Food was food, innit?

“Who likes living?” Tommy asked, cuddling Shroud’s chin gently.

Shroud purred, almost like a cat.

“You are! You are! Yes you are! My favourite little dog-spider-thing,” Tommy smiled, babbling softly at the little animal who probably didn’t even realise he was the only thing keeping him alive.

Alive… when his heart had stopped beating months ago. Tommy couldn’t even remember what it was like to breathe anymore, and yet he still had the gall to insist he was alive. And all the people he’d killed… well- actually, hang on a second — he regretted fuck-all about that. But still, there were plenty of reasons to pity himself and shit.

And it would be all over soon. Shroud was adorable, but he wasn’t enough. Truthfully, Tommy had already committed hard to the whole killing-himself-and-everyone-on-this-ship thing and it would be a bit annoying if he had to go through all that again next week or some shit.

Which brought him back to the pressing concern: how the fuck do you fly a ship? Because, okay, Tommy’s seen Dream fly it a few times, but that was through asteroids or something if Dream wanted to show off, like a prick. It seemed to be going straight ahead, through the vastness of space to some far-off planet in the distance. Well, except from the asteroid belt beneath them…

…Wait…

Could he…?

…

He could.

And it would be so easy, too! Just point the ship in the direction of an asteroid and brace!

And what if he didn’t die? The thought chilled his undead corpse to the bone: what if he was left there, floating in the vastness of space? What if that was it, for all of eternity? Pain, cold, loneliness. Hunger.

The thought sickened him to the core but what else could he do when Dream was being such a dick? He couldn’t get the collar or the muzzle off: he couldn’t do anything to himself, so the only possible way out was taking out everyone and everything.

Tommy sat down on the sofa, staring at the innumerous controls in front of him. He could hardly believe they were all just to fly a ship. Maybe some were for weapons, or something? But that would be a lot harder to figure out…

His fingers graced something which looked suspiciously similar to the throttle of a ship… it was perfectly within arms’ reach, far closer than the buttons which towered overhead. It only made sense, didn’t it?

He pushed downwards; no noticable movement. But maybe it dipped a little lower… maybe it was headed further on-course towards the asteroids. It was a massive ship, wasn’t it?

Tommy’s eyes widened like a child in control of a remote-control car: his eyes saw only control; only access to the beautiful machine keeping him caged. Tommy’s heart panged at the idea: if he hadn’t been on the street; if he hadn’t been turned, he might have wanted to be a pilot. Prime, at seventeen, he could have been studying to get his license. Instead, he was rotting in the belly of a ship a trillion miles away from his home planet.

For what felt like the first time, Tommy missed home. Not for the first time, Tommy regretted jumping on the ship like some insane animal burrowing itself in. Like a cockroach in an electric panel, he’d buried in for warmth, only to get fried when the lights turned on and the truth of his horror-hole became evident.

The first vampire in space, and it was a shithole.

Tommy continued to press down; the ship complied. He could feel it moving downwards; he could feel the subtle movements, the quiet creaking.

Movement. Feet in the hallway. Aliens, coming to stop him. Aliens, whose blood tastes delicious even through the thick stench of fear permeating from himself.

They, too, excreted it bountifully. Perhaps that was why Tommy knew it wiuld be so enjoyable if he could sink teeth into flesh, bone penetrating skin. He could practically feel it already – taste it, even.

Steps, coming towards him.

Tommy stared at the ‘roid-flecked sky, eyes widening in a bittersweet humiliation. The ship’s nose was nowhere near tradjectory – he could feel it wasn't enough.

What could he press? What could he do that would scatter the ship into a thousand pieces, debris dancing the void. His eyes grew wider, frantic, scanning.

Sweat bled from every office; fingers banged at each button. His mind was fear, rational thought retreated.

“Fucking work!” Tommy screamed, his voice shattering painfully like at life’s end. In his eyes he could see death.

He felt weak, and he was a vampire – he wasn't supposed to feel weak. This was wrong; this was unnatural… This wasn't Earth, and natural order was therefore absent. The aliens didn't know he was supposed to be more powerful than anyone or anything. They didn't know he'd ascended to near-godlike status after years at the meat of the people, only to make them his bitches. Oh, yes, he'd been powerful – he was powerful, if he could just-

His face fried – audibly sizzled as his hands shook at the shock collar assaulting his neck. He was strong- he was powerful!!! This was-

Hands blackened; he spasmed, a puppet fighting its strings. And yet… he couldn't fight; no, not this. He was entirely at the mercy of that collar: Tommy looked down and saw his hands were glued to the collar, heavy sparks of electricity keeping him bound to the device seemingly intent on killing him.

On the floor – he was on the floor.

Yes, he was on the floor when they came into the room, when they watched and sneered and laughed and jeered like he wasn't the biggest fucking man earth had ever seen.

And Dream, fucking Dream with his face permanently contorted into that smile which, even now, still brought a chill down his spine.

“Please!” Tommy begged, wailing like a sky-whale, crying out like a baby, trapped. His legs, too, had failed him. Unconsciousness chased. Tommy's whole body jerked uncontrollably, painfully. Not for the first time that day, he wanted to die, for this pain to end.

He wasn't that lucky.

“You took longer than I thought you'd take, Tommy,” Dream remarked, almost cheerful. Wait, no- he was cheerful. The bastard was gleeful in his suffering.

Dream retrieved a clipboard from his pocket, ready to take notes, like he was a real scientist and not just an evil bastard.

Finally, Dream seemed to take note of his anguish and, noticing this, brayed like a horse (scoffed??) and in one swift motion, retrieved a device (the controls?) from his pocket.

Off.

Muscles anguished, Tommy could only fall to the ground. He was weak. He was done. Dream had subdued his body but his mind demanded a fight. Scrambling, shaking, he- he-

He hardly moved. Fuck, fuck! He could barely move an inch.

“Dream, you bastard!” Tommy hissed, serpentine as he lay there on his belly, looking up at Dream like a child to an adult.

“Subject [——]”, Dream noted to the assembled scientists who stood seemingly only to witness his humiliation. Words he didn't know, said at speeds he couldn't comprehend.

“Let's get you back to your room,” Dream said, his English accented but undeniably there. It only rubbed salt in the wound – Dream had just what he wanted from him, the bastard.

“Ngh- nuuhhh,” Tommy moaned, desperate, weaker. What…

Oh.

Then he felt it: the pins in his neck; the clinical coldness of it all.

He'd been (drugged?? Sedated???) poisoned, somehow.

And that was his last thought before his mind and sizzling body, too, went cold to his commands. His last thought before nothing.