Inexplicable Dream Team one-shots

Submerged // DreamNotNap

| platonic |

**Content warnings: panic attack, trauma, mentions of injury/gore**

[2058 words]

Visiting Sapnap nowadays was a somber experience. In his reduced state, he could not live at home anymore; instead, he occupied a singular room in the scientific research institute. Dream and George's friend appeared nothing like himself, although they knew based on his brain waves he was very much alive. To their disappointment, the brain wave patterns scratched onto the polygraph paper often expressed distress, betrayal, and defeat.

When George and Dream stepped into Sapnap's room, closing the door behind them, the polygraph's minimal brain wave patterns did not ignite. Their friend did not realize they were here yet. They placed their belongings upon the white-tiled floor on one side of the research institute room, expecting another day of Sapnap's unsolvable misery.

They stood before their friend again, silent as they remembered for the hundredth time the terrible accident which nearly took his life.

"Want to give him a message?" Dream asked George softly.

His friend's deep brown eyes slowly dragged from their friend's fragile state. If Sapnap could hear them or speak to them, he would ask what had happened to him. His disorientation had only worsened with time.

George and Dream frequently disagreed on whether to inform Sapnap of his dire predicament. Dream professed honesty was the best policy, while George wanted to disguise the truth. As months passed, they told Sapnap nothing. He had remained in this strange state, precariously balanced between existing and not, for several months.

"Maybe we should tell him," George mumbled, finally deviating from his earlier opinion.

"I think so, too," Dream agreed.

"It still feels too soon, though," he commented. "What if he doesn't realize we were trying to help him?"

"It's been four months, George," Dream reminded him gently. "We've visited Sapnap every few days. He'll know we did our best." Approaching the computer which stood beside their friend, he powered on the monitor and opened the direct messaging application. "How about I start with a greeting, so he knows we're here?"

"Alright," George accepted curtly. "Maybe we can take him outside, too. He enjoys that."

Humming, Dream nodded. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, typed a brief message, and clicked 'send'.

***

Was this even reality? Why was Sapnap stuck with a near-constant lack of stimuli? He could not move anymore. He had no sense of body anymore. If he still retained nerve endings, they had been numb for months. The only explanation he fathomed was he lay paralyzed in the scientific research institute, recovering from some awful accident he could not remember. No matter the cause of his reduced state, he was stuck in a never-ending nightmare.

Sapnap could not speak or express his thoughts. Without company, he faced endless boredom. For a majority of the time, his vision was off, his hearing was off, and senses of touch and taste were long gone. However, his mind was always alive. His soul lay floating in a void, silently calling for help. The persistent feeling of being monitored relaxed when his drifting mind slept, yet returned the instant he woke. His new life seemed devoid of choice; hopelessness and defeat weighed heavily on him.

Sometimes when his hearing was off, messages popped into Sapnap's head; words which he could neither hear nor see, yet he could understand. Messages updated him on current world events and his friends' lives, but only described vague information about his own situation. He had no way of responding, but somehow, words changed style in following messages, acknowledging his feelings as if they could read his thoughts.