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Dream was many things. He had been called many things: a tyrannist, a power-hungry overlord, the best, amongst others.
There's one thing that he's been called that he utterly hates.
Heartless.
He wasn't heartless. And he was never going to be. Especially after the... Dreamon Incident.. he never wanted to be heartless again.
So, he took a break from the SMP. It brought to many bad memories, and nobody really liked him there anyways, so he left a note on the (technically George's) fridge, packed a bag and set off.
He visited the villages, making sure to stay long enough to help them defeat a Raid. Once or twice, he saw his friends (or just.. people from the SMP) appear, walking South, so he headed the opposite way, just so they weren't crossing paths.
He would always make sure to be extra-extra friendly to the villagers, making sure to give them as many emeralds as he could, and the farmers (not NPC villagers, just normal people) there appreciated the help he gave them with the farm, giving him pieces of bread as a thank you, for his travels.
He always made sure to be the least threatening he could in those places.
Sometimes, people ran away from him in fear. Sometimes, people subtly or not-so-subtly told him to leave the town, which Dream supposed made sense, especially considering they had probably heard stories from the SMP. He was the bad guy.
But he made sure to always leave a package of emeralds, diamonds, golden apples and other goods outside their door, even if they didn't treat him right.
He didn't want people to fear him. Not again. That was his constant rule: don't use your presence to strike fear in people. Not even if somebody's life is on the line.
He ended up breaking that rule, one day.
He was walking around the town; it was a pretty good one, the villagers seemed nice, and the Villagers had better offers than usual. It had not one, but two blacksmiths and the villagers' version of a mall was a collection of stalls.
He was seeing what they had when he heard it. A yelp, and a shout.
Looking round, slightly alarmed, he saw a collection of villagers (NPCs and people alike) crowding around something that was happening.
He frowned and walked forwards into it. "Excuse me- Pardon me- If I could just-" He told them politely, wading through the crowd.
Right in the middle of the circle of the crowd, was a small sheep hybrid, being held by someone as someone else (who looked like one of the stall owners he had seen around) yelled at them, something about "stealing" and "property damage."
The first thing he noticed was how dirty and scruffy the girl was. It was shocking, actually. He was used to Tommy looking dirty (either from playfights or actual fights, choose your pick), but this was.. almost on another level.
Her hair was wild and unbrushed and dual-toned. She was wearing a dirty dress shirt and ripped trousers. There was a little chip on her horn, just a little one, and looking around, Dream saw it just outside a stall.
He wasn't really listening to the man yelling, but when he did, he got an understanding of the situation: this hybrid had attempted to steal from a man's stall, and she was caught, leading to the scene there was now.
"Look at the sign!" He was saying, walking across to his stall and knocking on a piece of wood, with some writing. "It says 'No Animals Allowed'! Or can you not read?"
The crowd laughed at the man's remark and jeered at the hybrid, who was trying to crawl back despite being held by the back of the shirt.
Dream silently snarled at the man. Didn't he notice that the child was poor? That she clearly hadn't eaten for days?
Subtly, he put his hand under his cloak and gripped the handle of his sword.
He was considering just frightening the man into leaving her alone would be fine. Then the man went on another level.
"You know what? I'm sick of you! This town is sick of you!" He shouted, making the girl flinch and try her best to back away harder, but to no avail. "We're getting rid of you! For good! The world will be glad to be rid of you."
Dream stepped back. That was something he expected from the main SMP, not from some far-off town in the middle of nowhere.
There were uncomfortable mutters around the crowd, but the man didn't seem to care, having his own vendetta against the child.
"Every day I see you sneaking! Always running round, stealing from the stalls... Well, I say, no more!" He grinned over at someone who was wearing an apron, and it didn't look like a baking apron. "The butcher will be busy, soon enough."
The girl froze completely, as did Dream. The butcher fidgeted uncomfortably, like he would rather be anywhere but there, and shrugged.
Quickly, Dream got out of his surprised stupor. He inhaled, and with the best 'leader' tone he could muster, he said, "That's enough."
People stumbled at his seemingly abrupt entrance. Children backed away in fear. The small little lamb hybrid blinked in surprise at him, fearful green eyes meeting his own.
He pulled his sword out of his cloak where he'd been gripping it. People backed away even further from him at the sight of the sharpened blade.
The man who had been shouting looked unnerved, but said approvingly, "Oh, gonna kill her on spot, are you? Bold choice, but I wouldn't expect anything less from a warrior such as yourself, Lord Dream."
Dream's rage bubbled up. His grip tightened on the sword. "It's just Dream. And you said I was a warrior? A basic warrior knows honor. This?" He gestured at the hybrid in the other man's clutches, "This is not honor. This is executing a child because she needs to look after herself." He should know. He watched a child's life get snuffed away because of his bad decisions.
The man started to look frustrated. "D'you know, eh? Know what it's like, seeing that little bitch get past me every day and sneak to my stall to grab it?"
"You have enough." Dream said, pointing at the stall. "You have boxes upon boxes of food. What the hell's wrong with giving away a few?"
The man clenched his fist, and Dream's muscles tensed, sensing the probably upcoming fight.
"She doesn't deserve it." The man said, quietly, deadly.
That ignited Dream's rage. He had been trying to be polite and civil this whole conversation, this whole confrontation, and yet.
He ran forwards and grabbed the man by the scruff of the shirt and slammed him into the floor. He didn't want to be responsible for any lives, one way or another, so instead of stabbing him in the gut like he usually would, he stabbed the man's hand.
The man howled in pain, clutching his hand once Dream had taken the blade out, and curled up, looking up at Dream with an all-too-familiar fearful expression on his face. He almost regretted it.
Keyword, almost.
He heard a strange sound – something between a sheep's bleat and a human's wail. He had barely turned around when the girl attached herself to Dream's leg, glaring at the man who had been holding her.
Dream smiled under the mask, scooping up the girl so that he could actually walk.
He looked around impressively at every person there. No-one met his eyes.
"This hybrid is now under my protection." He told them, his voice loud and clear. It caused ripples of murmur in the crowd. He continued quietly, "If anyone dares to harm her, then there will be a price to pay."
The murmuring completely stopped, and Dream walked away before anyone could say anything.
Just as he exited the town, the sheep hybrid said. "That was incredibly awesome."
Dream laughed a big full laugh, which made the hybrid giggle.
"I know, right?" He said, placing her down on the floor (she only barely came up to his knee). "So, what's your name?"
"Puffy." She told him, glaring defiantly at him as if expecting him to contradict her. He didn't. He just shrugged, hands in pockets.
"Cool name." He said simply. "Anyways.. Where d'you wanna head?"
Puffy blinked, as if surprised that he didn't hit her, then regained composure. "I dunno." She shrugged, then scratched at her skin.
Dream silently cursed at himself for forgetting her probably very old clothes.
Kneeling down as to not scare her as much, he said, "How long you been wearing these?" and gestured to her general attire.
"Oh, these? For ages." She said, elongating the a. "Nobody's given me new clothes because... well.."
She grabbed one of her horns and gestured hopelessly. Anger bubbled inside Dream, and he looked back at the town, then back at the girl. It wasn't fair for her. That she had – by the looks of it – been abandoned simply because of her ears and horns, then belittled and bullied and had to steal to survive for the same reason.
He looked back at the town, then sighed and scooped Puffy up, who spluttered in surprise.
"We're staying here for the night, m'kay?" He told her, which made her look uneasy, but she nodded.
He wondered when I had turned into me and her to we.
Interesting, how that happens, huh?
Everybody got out of his way while he walked through, emitting a powerful aura. He made sure his sword and axe were well in view, pushing his cape back to show them, glowing with enchantments.
Puffy seemed to think they were scared of her, so she said thinks such as, "Bow down before me, puny mortals!" or, "Hah! Not so weak now, huh!" or just simply, "Fear me!"
He chuckled good-naturely whenever she did so, which made her smile.
He opened the door of one the vacant houses and set down his travelling bag, cloak and also Puffy.
Puffy marvelled at everything, from the grandfather clock to the bed.
She immediately sat on it, bouncing comfortably and nesting in blankets.
"Human stuff is so comfy.." She said in awe, turning round in the mound of blankets she was in. "And bouncy!" She added, giggling.
"Sure is." Dream said, hanging up his cloak. Then he paused, remembering the girl's state of clothes, then rummaged around in his backpack.
She crawled over curiously, humming a strange tune he had never heard before, that sounded vaguely like a pirate shanty.
After a few seconds of searching, he found what he needed. A collared dress-shirt and one of his infamous cloaks.
He handed her the clothes, then backed out the room. "You can change when I'm not in the room."
A few minutes later, he heard her say, "Done!" and he opened the door of that room again, and almost burst into laughter.
The cloak was way too big for her. It covered most of her tiny little body, going down to her ankles.
That was when he realized she didn't have any shoes.
"Oh, sh-" Remembering there was a child in the room, he said, "-shoot..."
He looked around in his bag and quickly protruded a pair of his shoes. He knew from experience that killing mobs got your clothes dirty 99% of the time, especially with zombies and their not-blood, so he made sure to bring several pairs of shoes with him.
He put them on her, because she didn't seem to know how.
As nighttime fell and Puffy's eyelids started drooping, Dream realized he didn't want to be alone. Sure, it wasn't just cause he was paranoid about the Dreamons, but he also wanted to protect her. Who knew what would happen if the man managed to get in?
Dream grit his teeth; that man would pay, just.. he had to make sure Puffy was safe first.
"Wanna go to sleep? It's pretty late." Dream said, glancing outside. Stars were indeed starting the blanket the street, and the lamps were starting to turn on.
Puffy yawned and nodded, snuggling into the covers. Dream hesitated, but lay down in with her, curling himself around her protectively.
Tomorrow would be another day.