Okay, so XD now has a Small Child (tm), c!Dream is a little 4 year old who has just been take from his family and forced to wear a strange mask that fundamentally changes his body to a human form. He's not a fan of this, but he's taking it well. Probably.
Now, something that helps is that in Ender Dragon hybrid society, kids split off from their parents relatively young. Not at 4 years old normally, but it'd be shocking for a 10 year old to still be in their parent's nest. The average is about 7-8 for moving to a new nest, but some go as young as 6.
This is partially because Ender Dragons hybrids tend to be quite independent and want their own space, but also because much of Ender Dragon society is highly communal. A kid moves into their own nest (or sometimes a sibling/friend nest), but they aren't really on their own nor are they considered full adults. Most stay nearby their parents (or another set of trusted adults, grandparents, a mentor, cool older sibling, etc) and still get a lot of help from the adults around them.
Every adult is generally considered to be responsible for ensuring the well being of any older child based on their ability rather than genetic relation or adoption.
Some of this culture is historic, but some of it has also come around in "recent" years with Ender Dragon Hybrids being entirely isolated from other societies, cultures, and most outside threats aside from a very strange curse that claims the lives of marked children once each generation. The relative safety of this situation helps enable this sort of culture.
As a result, Dream wasn't necessarily super freaked out by a strange being abducting him. He generally trusts just about every adult he interacts with, and this adult is clearly of the End. The mask was quite shocking, but after XD explained that it was to help protect him, Dream understood. He was sad about leaving behind the people he knew, but also quite excited for this new adventure.
Also XD let him have ice cream, something he'd never had before and that tasted amazing. Clearly this man has secrets.
Great! The child has accepted whatever the fuck is going on here. XD was honestly excepting that to be harder than it was.
Uh.
Okay.
Now, admittedly, XD has been working on this plan for at least 300 years. It's the only chance he'll have at this. He had all the details nailed out, he'd picked the kills, found his excuses, figured out how to try to hide the child, all of it was planned for.
Except he kinda sorta forgot that he did need to actually raise the kid during this part.
In his defense, he no longer really remembers most of his human life. He forgot they like, need things.
Right.
Okay.
So XD realizes he needs to take of this now-human child. What do children need? What do humans need? Dream appeared to enjoy the ice cream. Do humans need ice cream?
He doesn't really want to ask for instructions from the child because that would make him look dumb, so instead XD just... tries to replicate some of what he remembers being around the village that Dream was taken from.
Building Dream a new nest is the first challenge, the child is delighted at the idea and has his own ideas for how it should look. But things have to change a bit, Dream no longer has his wings and a lot of his instincts have changed. He struggles to scrabble up cliff faces without his claws, and he keeps falling over because his balance has changed without his tail.
XD sees this and decides that rather than building a nest in a cliff, a treehouse will need to work instead. It lets Dream stay up higher without looking like an Ender Dragon's home. The trees are also much easier for the child to climb.
Getting a treehouse set up with basic supplies isn't that hard. XD ensures that there's food, sets up a potion brewing area with plenty of supplies, remembers that humans need beds and water for various things, and before too long there's a nice little setup.
Of course, there's plenty of arguing and little Dream isn't entirely happy with everything, but he does like that XD lets him use the potion stand. Before he was told he was too young. But look at him now! He can brew whatever he likes!
Obviously, XD also gives Dream some proper armor and weaponry. He even enchants it so it'll grow as Dream does!
And then, having handed this small child enchanted netherite murder equipment, XD leaves.
Not like! Without warning! He checked that Dream was doing alright and that he knew to stay safe and hidden from any gods, and then... went about his day.
XD is a god! He has things to do! Probably.
More importantly, it's not safe for him to spend too much time around Dream. Not only could it attract attention from the other gods, but it could also seriously harm Dream.
See, humans tend to be negatively impacted by too much exposure to gods. Their bodies aren't made to handle it.
Ender dragon hybrids were famously capable of spending lots of time around gods, and godlings are generally immune to these effects.
But Dream is no longer an ender dragon hybrid or a godling. The mask makes him almost entirely human. Which makes him vulnerable to the effects of being exposed to a god.
So XD leaves the child alone in a treehouse, assuming this will be fine and normal, and promises to come back to check in.
And he does!
A week later
Dream was getting worried about his strange guardian not coming back, but he'd been making do. He'd already found a small local river and started fishing so he could put food away for the winter.
XD was quite proud to see his progress! He also remembered at this point that humans can't just morph their appearances at will, and require clothing external to them. So he produced several extra outfits for Dream.
Dream when XD got him was wearing a lime green shirt and white shorts, and so XD assumes that's what he should look like all the time.
He creates an array of different weather outfits based on that color scheme, makes about 20 copies of each outfit and they find space for them in the house.
XD assumes this should last Dream for a month or so, and then he can replace whatever Dream actually used.
Speaking of used clothing, XD realizes that Dream clearly needs a place to get rid of them once they're used. So he creates a little void linked trash can for Dream to use.
Just drop the clothing in once you're done with them and they're gone!
XD is very smart and has prepared for every situation.
It will be another 10 years before Dream finds out about washing clothing.
With all that settled, XD takes a little bit of time to do some basic training. He hasn't quite told Dream that he's going to need to murder two gods in the future. He will, eventually. But for now XD just tells Dream he'll have a big task in the future, and he needs to be ready.
Dream accepts this without question and when XD leaves again, he starts dedicating himself to figuring out his new body and to his training.
He's also working on reading some of the books that XD left for him on combat tactics.
Admittedly, that one is a bit harder. His reading skills aren't quite there yet. But he is working at it! He makes mental notes to ask XD about what some of the words mean. Hopefully his guardian won't be upset that he can't quite make his way through these books.
He is 4. An older 4 year old, sure, but he's still 4. I think this is important to remember.
XD thankfully isn't upset, and spends some time reading the words out loud to him to help him out. The two of them settle into mostly regular weekly visits.
As Dream settles into the area, he starts to explore more, traveling further and further out.
He's curious about the world. His former home was very cut off. People couldn't go that far. But there seems to be so much space here! The world just keeps going!
One day, he hears something quite strange. The noises seem familiar but aren't quite something he understands. Dream finds himself moving close to the noise, trying to understand it.
As he approaches the source of the noise, he hears a familiar word and suddenly it hits him
It's another person talking.
Oh.
Someone else is here too.
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