Thinking about Cornelius!Dream again and him being gifted a book with information about how to raise the dead and the thought of bringing back Robin and Cat not once crossing his mind.
Not because he’s moved on after so much time has passed, not because he wants to respect their memory and not force them into a world that has changed so much, and most certainly not because he doesn’t want them to see the monster he has become.
No, he just doesn’t care anymore. They died ages ago. He cut all care out of his life because he still adamantly believes caring is a weakness. If he did think about it he’d perish the thought immediately, can't risk having a weakness... even if he misses them.
even if the Cornelius he used to be would’ve brought them back without any hesitation.
“Hi!” A kid with a straw hat, and brown pants and a white shirt smile at him. “Are you new?”
Tommy looks at him, eyes wide. “I don’t...” he stuttered. “I don’t know.”
The kid frowns, and looks over at an adult next to him. “Dad, he doesn’t know.” He said. The adult gently tugs at the kid’s hand.
“Move away, move away.” He said before kneeling down. “Are you okay?”
Tommy stares at him, and shakes his head. “I—I think so,” he says. “But where am I?”
The man’s tail—he has a tail?—whips and he says softy. “Kid, you’re dead.”
The kid peeks around his dad’s—???—shoulder and smiles widely.
“I can’t be,” Tommy says and he takes a shaky breath. “I’m not.”
The cat hybrid pats his shoulder. “Come on,” he says. “You can stay at our place until They make you one.”
“They?”
“The Gods. Have you ever beaten the Ender Dragon?”
“A few times,” Tommy thinks back to when they’d do on adventures with his family.
“Have you ever read what They say? The Green and Blue?”
“No.” He remembers how he’d gotten bored barely halfway through, and how he just left just as soon as he’d entered. How Wilbur stood up, and Phil didn’t even look surprised.
“Oh,” the adult said. “Well, that’s okay. They’re the Gods here, and They make places where you can stay. Unless you’re leaving soon, then your house won’t be build for a long time.”
“I think...” Tommy said, mouth dry. “I think I’m dead for a long time.”
The kid holds onto the cat’s hand and smiles. “That’s okay! I’m Robin, and this is my dad.”
“My name’s Catt,” Robin’s dad says. “And yours?”
“I’m...” Tommy trails off. “I’m Tommy.”
“Oh! You’re the one with my partner, aren’t you? How’s be doing? His name’s Cornelius.” Catt asked. His eyes were milky-white and Robin’s hand never really left his.
Tommy blinks. “Um,” he said. “I don’t—”
“You probably don’t remember him, do you?” Robin says kindly. “That’s okay. Once we get to our home, we’ll show you a picture.”
Catt nods and then they come to a two-story house. It’s kinda cute, how simple it is, and Catt shrugs. “The house changes and warps with what we’d like. Sometimes it can be a mansion, sometimes a whole Redstone-powered house. But we do like it simple.” Robin runs through the house while Catt and Tommy follow at a slower place.
They enter into the house, in the living room. Tommy hears a bunch of things hitting the floor as Robin searches for something, and Catt goes into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?” He offers.
Tommy shrugs. “I’m dead. Doesn’t that mean...?”
“You can still eat,” Catt says, laughing. “If you want to.” And he sets down a plate of cookies and a glass of coke in front of him. “Plus you won’t get cavities.”
A huge thump happened upstairs, and Catt calls up “Don’t forget to clean up, Robin! When your dad gets here, we don’t want a mess right?”
“Dad was always messy!” Robin calls back. “I don’t think he’d mind a little more mess. Do you remember what he’d always say?”
“‘A clean house isn’t the same as a messy home,’“ they both said.
“My partner was a corny person,” Catt said. “Always coming up with stupid phrases. Jokes, too.” Catt laughs. “Like, one time he asked me—”
“I found it, Dad!” Robin shouts, and runs downstairs before stumbling. Catt grabs him just as quick, and Tommy’s reminded of how Phil would catch him or Tubbo before they fell off the stairs, how Dream (before everything went to shit) would snap to attention when Tubbo would say something snarky he’d quip back.
Robin grins, and shows Tommy the picture. “See? This guy!”
And Tommy scrambles backwards, because that’s Dream. Holy shit, that’s Dream.
“Are you okay?” Catt asks, turning his head. “Tommy? Is everything okay?”
Tommy gets up, and he spits “I don’t know what sick kind of game you’re playing but that’s not Cornelius. That’s a stupid name, too. Don’t know how to break it to you all, but his name’s Dream.”
“He was Cornelius once,” Catt says. “Don’t you know? We’re just waiting for him.”
“You’re in heaven,” Tommy says bluntly. “What do you mean?”
“We’re in the middle.” Robin says. “Or well, the before of the After. We’re waiting for him to finally come so we can go.”
Catt reaches a hand out and Robin takes it. “We’re a family. Wherever Cornelius goes, we’d follow. But until he gets here, we won’t move on.”
“He can’t be immortal.” Tommy says. “He’s not... he’s not Philza, he’s just some dude.”
Robin frowns. “Well, he’s not here. And he’d never leave us behind willingly. So, he’s got to still be alive.” Catt reaches forward and Robin grabs his hand.
Anyway, here’s a little thing I came up with for the medieval au I was thinking of. It’s not much so it might change if I get the motivation to continue this au.
Oh and as per request @creatlysse you said to tag you if I ever write it, so here you go lmao.
---
George ran through the trees, following the person he treated as a best friend and family for almost all his life. “Dream!” He yelled for him, trying to catch up. Dream didn’t turn around and he had no intentions of turning around, he has had enough of the current ruling king and he’s not just going to stand idly by watching as his friends suffer the consequences. “Dream it’s not worth it!”
A thunderclap roared through the sky, clouds looming over the kingdom of L’manburg but neither of the two cared, especially Dream. He built this world out of the rubble his predecessor left behind. He watched this world grow for centuries and there was no way he was going to let a dictator of a king ruin the lives of the people he gave half of his immortal life to.
“Dream if you expose yourself you know what’ll happen!” George tried to convince him to turn around again, to go back to the place they decided to reside in. Dream seemed to flinch, but he kept on his relentless pace. He knew the consequences, he knew more than anyone, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him from keeping the kingdom he watched bloom for years to be utterly driven into madness and chaos by a ruler that didn’t fit the throne. “Dream! You’re going to die!”
“I know that!” Dream finally turned around to face him. George halted, noticing how pained Dream’s expression is right now. “I know that more than anyone!” Dream yelled, the rain finally pouring down on both of them but neither cared.
“I know you don’t want the kingdom to fall, I care for it as much as you do.” George admitted. “But you have to remember that if you die, the world dies with you…”
“I can’t just stand by!”
“And you can’t just risk your life!”
“George I’ve built this world out of pain and rubble and you expect me to not—”
“CORNELIUS CAN YOU LISTEN TO ME FOR ONE GOD DAMN SECOND!”
C!Dream is fucking terrifying me so much right now-
but also the side of me thats super into the theory about him being Cornelius is all like 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 keep on talking sir!!! You fucked up son of a bitch you!!!!
