"Did you know that L'manburg is expanding?"

We were walking back from L'manburg, and Dream hadn't mentioned anything about seeing Schlatt. He was standing in a spot where he would've seen the man, but he hadn't said anything to me when I returned to him standing under the trees.

"Yeah, I saw them arrive the other day. I don't know how I feel about them expanding." Dream said, anger nipping at his tone.

"How many did you see arrive?"

"Well when I saw them, there were three. Why are you asking?" Dream angled his masked face towards me. Maybe he truly hadn't seen Schlatt.

"A fourth arrived today. For the election."

"Oh, when? I must not have seen him." There was no shock in his voice when I mentioned the election.

Had Wilbur already brought the idea to him? I ignored the anger that rose up from not being told about that.

"When I was leaving." I stopped walking, making Dream stop with me. It had begun to rain harder, droplets sliding down the white mask. "It was the man. He's here. And I spoke to him."

Dream went completely still when I said these words.

When he didn't say anything I continued talking, "At first, he didn't seem to recognize me. And then when I was alone with him, it's as if he let the darkness out of it's corner. He recognized me and when I shook his hand he showed me an ... image."

"What did you see?" Dream's voice came out roughly, anger shining through. Along with the fury in his voice, I could hear him calculating. I wasn't sure what he was trying to figure out though.

"It was a vision of me watching over the SMP from a throne. And," I took a deep breath, trying to keep the tremors out of my hands. "The darkness had taken me over. I was ruling with him."

We stood in silence for a moment, the words echoing between us.

Dream seemed to have stopped breathing. And then he was walking, towards our house, "Do you know his name?"

"Jschlatt."

Dream froze again, facing away from me. What the hell was happening?

I walked up, placing my hand on his arm. He flinched slightly but didn't move away.

"What's going on?" I questioned, worry filling my voice. Dream never acted like this, he was usually confident and fearless. But right now, he seemed frozen in his mind.

"I know him."

I backed up a step, my mouth dropping.

He turned to me, pulling his mask to the side. His face was taut with anger and unspoken words. His green eyes found mine, a look of pure hatred in them.

"I knew him. From before you arrived in these lands. He had shown up in the dead of night to George, Sapnap, and I's house, mumbling about someone. And he looked awful. We had invited him in because he didn't seem stable, and he just kept mumbling about someone he was searching for. He had reeked of alcohol, carrying an empty bottle in hand."

He turned, started walking again, lost in thought, "He had passed out in a spare bed, and when he came to the morning after, he rambled on about someone he was going to rule a kingdom with. And then he started drinking again, his ramblings stopped making sense. He said the person would be able to set a mind aflame. When we told him to get out, he threw the empty glass bottle at George's head. After that, we threw him out, telling him to get the hell off our lands."

We were almost home, passing by the Community house. They must have been living in this house when Schlatt had shown up the first time. I tried to picture him in the house, drunk and insane, but the man I met seemed put together. Besides the darkness.

"It had taken a month and a half for George's wounds to heal. He had hit him right in the eye, glass shards were embedded in his face. It's a miracle that it didn't blind or scar him."

That sounded like something Schlatt would do with the darkness, but it seemed like he was just drunk at the time. How did he end up with so much power inside of him? And who was he searching for?

That's when it clicked.

I gave Dream a look, crossing my arms over my chest. "You know who he was looking for right?"

Dream's lips tilted down in a frown. "I didn't want to accept it, but it makes sense. You fit his ramblings."

I sighed, running a hand through my wet hair. "Fantastic. We just ended a war and now a madman is after me."

"We'll figure it out," Dream said lightly, squeezing a hand on my shoulder. "Let's tell the others."

-

"So he just came at the wrong time?" George asked.

We were now sitting in the living space of the house, clustered around the fireplace. When Dream arrived back at the house with me shaking in his arms, they demanded to know what was going on. So we sat them down and told them about the darkness, Schlatt, and our newest information.

I was pacing around the room, my head even again. My heart still trembled slightly at the pieces we just put together, but I ignored it.

Schlatt had arrived at the Community House that night in search of me. But he had come too early, my arrival only a few days after his. His ramblings were about 'someone who could light a mind aflame', and recently I learned to tunnel into someone's mind.

I wasn't going to test my theory, but I didn't doubt that I could do that to someone.

This plan to rule with me, the mess with the gods, has been in motion for much longer than we thought.

Dream said that he had looked awful, meaning the darkness was just starting to grip him. When Dream was being overtaken by the darkness a week ago, his appearance had totally changed, but he was only in the beginning stages. It had to at least have been two years since that night he was here, giving Schlatt's body plenty of time to adjust to its newfound power.

Schlatt has had the darkness in him for years. And he's been looking for me, the darkness guiding him.

"Yes. Only by a few days though. I had arrived here a few days after him. It's a miracle that I didn't get here at the same time as him." I sighed, I stopped pacing to look out the window.

Our house was next to Ponk's base, the court peeking through the bamboo across from us.

He had finally found me. Somehow, the darkness had led him to me, to rule. We had just fought a war and we were already dealing with more problems. I suddenly longed for the peaceful days, where we didn't have a care in the world. But now our worlds were flipped upside down.

Suddenly, there was a knock on our door. I wandered over to get it, opening it wearily. Outside, a soaking wet Tubbo waited with a bright smile on his face.

"Hey Tubbo, want to come in?" I said cheerily, masking the worry in my heart. I didn't want to dampen the boy's mood with my own problems. He seemed so happy after their victory.

Technical victory, I corrected myself mentally.

"No thank you, I just came to drop this off." He handed over a piece of parchment that was previously hidden away in his jacket. "It's for the four of you, all details are included. Y/n, we are going to need your help tomorrow morning to prepare for it."

"What is-" Tubbo ran back off into the rain before I could finish asking him what it was. I closed the door, walking back into the living room.

I unfolded the parchment, rain spots bloomed like fireworks on the page, blurring a few words,

You are formally invited to a masquerade ball that will be thrown in celebration of the L'manburg elections that are approaching.

The details were listed below as I quickly skimmed over them. A small part of me brightened at the thought of a ball.

"What is that?" Sapnap said, trying to snatch the paper from my hands. I moved out of his grasp, holding the paper above my head.

"Boys, we're going to a party."

-

The next morning, I arrived next to L'manburg, spotting a new building. On the other side of the nation, stood a huge building with large pillars. Thoughts of Schlatt were temporarily put on pause.

I walked over to it, eyeing Tommy and Tubbo finishing up the west wall.

"Hey, y/n!" Tubbo said happily, running over to me. Tommy followed, a grumpy expression on his face.

"Hey! What's wrong Tommy?" I asked him when he made his way to us.

"Oh he's grumpy because he doesn't want to have the ball. He thinks it's dumb." Tubbo answered for him, his happiness making up for Tommy's anger. That's how its always been, Tubbo was the calm to Tommy's chaos.

"I am not grumpy! I told Wilbur that we should spend our time campaigning and the prick came up with the idea of this ball. He didn't even ask me! I'm his bloody running mate!" Tommy waved his hands around in frustration.

Tubbo waved his annoyance away, turning back to me. "Glad you came to help, y/n. We're going to need it. Wilbur's inside, so you can head on in and ask him where to start."

He dragged Tommy off back towards the wall they were working on, signaling for me to head inside.

When I stepped inside, I found myself in a huge room. Towards the back, there were bathrooms and a stage. Large chandeliers hung from the tall ceiling. The glass on them glittered in the light that streamed in from the pristine windows.

In front of the stage, Wilbur stood rapidly shooting off orders for the party preparations. It looked like most of the decorations were up because the party was tonight, but Wilbur was holding a long checklist.

"Hey Wilbur, Tubbo said I should ask you what to do. So how can I help?"

"Oh, y/n! Glad you could join us. We're a bit frazzled right now, so your help is much appreciated. If you could go help Fundy with the candles that would be great." Wilbur pointed towards Fundy, who was stood on a very tall ladder, struggling to light the candles on the chandeliers.

I made my way over to the boy, cupping my hands around my mouth so he could hear me, "Fundy come down here a minute."

Fundy looked down, his tail swishing as he climbed down. "I'm a little busy right now, y/n. If you want to help, ask Wilbur."

Wilbur was right, they all were a little frazzled.

I nodded at Fundy. "Wil told me to come and help you. And it's your lucky day cause I happen to have a trick to help you out."

I raised my hands, calling flame forward. All the candles lit, the room instantly brightening.

Fundy looked up, the light glinting in his eyes, mouth agape. "Well, that definitely helps." He laughed a little, nodding his head in gratitude before walking off to complete his next task.

I looked around the room for Wilbur but paused when my eyes landed on someone struggling in the doorway. They had a mountain of bags in their arms, struggling to get inside.

I rushed over to help, to find it was Niki.

"Oh y/n, how are you doing?" She panted, clearly out of breath from the weight of the bags she was holding. I quickly took some out of her arms, gasping slightly at the weight.

"Niki, what is in here?" I said, following her as she headed towards a long table that was pushed against a wall.

"Wil put me in charge of all the food, so that's what it is." She smiled at me, thankful I was helping.

I set the bag down, peering in. Inside there was a variety of foods, ranging from apples to fancy cakes.

When we began pulling out the food, I gasped. Niki had made a pumpkin pie.

"I thought you would like it." She giggled as I practically drooled at the sight of it.

When we finished with the bags we had, we went and gathered the rest that sat outside.

Sitting next to the pile of food bags, patiently sitting was a fox. It's red fur glimmered in the light, making it have a glowing effect.

I ran over to it, holding out my hand for it to sniff. It hesitantly sniffed, then when it deemed me safe, leaned in for me to pet it. "Niki, is he yours?"

"Yes, meet Fungi." She giggled as she watched her fox curl around my legs. "He's very friendly if you couldn't tell."

"I didn't know there were even any foxes that lived here."

"Oh, Fungi was gifted to me from Fundy, so I'm not sure where he came from." She bent down to grab the next set of bags.

I gave the fox one last pet, then stood grabbing the next set as well. We wandered off back into the building, and I realized something.

"Oh my gosh Niki, I don't have a dress." Panic flooded me as I remembered. How was I supposed to go to a ball without a dress?

"Don't worry, I can help you out. Let's head to my house as soon as we are done here."

~~~~~

we're going to have a partyyyy

have a lovely day, drink some water!

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE READS AND VOTES!!!