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A spinning compass was all he had now. He had it stowed away in his inventory because looking at it hurt. He didn't know why looking at it hurt that much, he didn't know why he couldn't throw it away. The compass didn't even work anymore. But every time he got it out of his inventory to throw it away, he would end up trying to follow it. Its call was too strong, even though it didn't work. the compass was called ‘your Tubbo’, but he had no idea what or who Tubbo was.
"Why doesn't my compass work?" Tommy asked Wilbur one day, after he once again spend hours walking; following the compass, only to end up at their base in the end. It just led him in circles. Wilbur couldn’t answer his question. The compass had worked at first when he gave it Tommy. He didn't know why it broke. The loadstone it was aimed at still worked. He had checked it multiple times. Wilbur had tried to lead Tommy to L’manburg himself, but Tommy got distracted by the compass every time he tried to bring him somewhere, always saying he couldn't come along with Wilbur because he had to follow the compass.
"Why don't you play your discs anymore?" Wilbur asked Tommy. Tommy looked up from his spinning compass. "My discs?" he asked. "Yeah, you have Chirp, which you got from BBH, and Lazar gave you a disc once too." Wilbur was happy he managed to pry away Tommy's attention for a second from his compass. "I think you stored them in your enderchest, but we don't have one of those anymore. why don't we try to make one so we can listen to the discs?" A small spark seemed to light in the boy’s eyes. "The disc are important right? I don't remember them, but they feel important." "You had some other important discs Tommy, but we can't listen to those today, I will tell you more about them later." Wilbur sad. It hurt Wilbur that Tommy didn't remember his disc. Tommy had lost everything for his discs. Once they were his most prized possessions. But know, Tommy didn’t even remember which discs were the ones he loved. Wilbur didn't remember much of his own life, but he spend time with Tommy while he was already a ghost, so he still remembered Tommy's life. It hurt that Tommy didn’t remember it himself.
Tommy put his compass in his inventory again, where it was out of his immediate sight. "the hardest part of getting an enderchest is to get the blaze rod," he remarked. "I'm going to make a sword." Tommy moved toward Tnret the tent and got some iron and sticks out of one of his barrels. 'The discs feel important,' he thought as he crafted all the things they would need to survive the nether. He rummaged through his barrels to see what stuff he still had. For the first time he could remember, there was more than just a compass in his inventory.
Wilbur and Tommy entered the swirling purples of the Nether portal together. Wilbur was a bit worried. He didn't know if going into the nether would trigger any memories in the boy. But Tommy seemed normal. They made their way to Philza's blaze farm and easily retrieved the needed blaze rods. On the way back, Wilbur asked, "Do you remember anything about the nether?" Tommy thought deeply. "I think I made a bridge with Dream through the nether?" He said in a questioning tone. "Yeah, you did!" Wilbur said, hoping Tommy would remember more. When Tommy had appeared in Logsteadshire, he didn't remember anything. It had taken Wilbur a long time to get Tommy to remember him. Because Tommy didn’t remember anything yet, he hadn’t told anyone Tommy had appeared. It would only spread more sadness if everyone realised Tommy had forgotten about them, and he didn’t have enough blue to handle all that sadness. Dream had come to visit Wilbur one day, causing Dream to know off Tommy’s existence. He had sworn to Wilbur to keep it a secret though, so Wilbur could try to get Tommy to remember at his own speed. I took a while, but Tommy now also remembered Dream. Everyone else was a stranger to Tommy.
They safely got to the nether portal and back in the overworld. Tommy hadn't checked his compass once since they started their little adventure, which made Wilbur proud. Maybe he could get Tommy to live normally again, without obsessing about his compass every day. But because of this, neither of them realised the compass has stopped spinning while they were in the nether.
Listening to discs only sparked anger in the boy. "These aren't my discs!" he screamed. "This is all wrong, where are my discs!" The boy emptied his enderchest, looking for them, screaming at Wilbur to give him back his discs. Wilbur didn't know what to do. He didn't have the discs Tommy wanted. Dream had given those to Tubbo after everything happened as an apology. The discs could not make up for what happened, but Dream had realised that Tubbo needed them and that there was no purpose for him to keep them anymore. Eventually the boy sunk down on the ground next to the jukebox, sobbing. He got his compass out of his inventory and held it to his chest. The compass comforted him. The compass was important, he just had to find out where it pointed to. Maybe his discs would be there too.
Wilbur didn't dare to offer any other ideas after the failed suggestion to listen to the discs. But he remembered the nether sparked some memories in the boy, so he tried to convince the boy to go there with him again. The younger boy refused. He was following his compass around with a new energy. Surely his discs must be where the compass pointed towards. What else could it be. He guessed Tubbo was the name of one of the discs he owned. Why else would the compass be named "your Tubbo"? It must be how it worked.
Wilbur just watched the boys walk in circles around their camp never straying too far from it.
One night, Wilbur went back to L’manburg. He was going to tell Ranboo about Tommy and ask Ranboo to visit Tommy, in an attempt to spark some more memories. Tommy had an epiphany while Wilbur was gone. He had been walking around in circles around the camp for weeks now, when he finally realised that in the middle of the area the compass spun around, the nether portal was located. The compass never led directly towards it, which was why Tommy never realised it before. But every time Tommy got some distance away from the portal, the compass would change directions again. Like he walked from one side of a circle to another, and to another, and to another, with the nether portal never actually disappearing from his sight.
He looked at the swirling purples in the black obsidian frame. 'It is worth a shot', he decided, and went through the portal.
The compass didn't spin
Tommy started walking in the compass direction, expecting it to start spinning when he got away further from the portal, but it didn’t spin.
The compass didn't spin.
He walked further. The compass still didn't spin.
He started running, following the compass until he was at the edge of a lava lake. He could see a structure floating above it with paths leading to it.
In the middle of the lava pool was a little house. it was built with cobblestone, and there was a big tower next to it which made it easy to get to the house from the nether hub. In the house lived a broken boy who blamed himself for the fate of his best friend. The location of the house was carefully chosen. Originally there were a few scattered blocks in the lava pool here. These scattered blocks were where all the items were found. In the nether boys hotbar were two compasses. They never pointed to real persons, they pointed to locations the persons lived. But that never mattered before, because neither of the boys who had the compasses would stray far from their home (whether that was because one of them wasn't allowed to didn't matter). The compasses still worked. The bases where still there, but both bases were now empty. The compasses still pointed to the right direction, but for the boy they didn't work anymore because there was nothing left in the locations they point to.
Tommy made his way up to the nether hub and entered the cobblestone tower. He liked the blocks the tower was built of. He made his way down the tower to the entrance of the little house and knocked on the door. Not really expecting there to be someone to open the door.
He checked his compass. It pointed directly at the house. He was so focused on his compass that he didn't notice the door had opened until he heard someone say his name. "Tommy?" He looked up. there was a boy. He looked to be around his age. The boy obviously knew who he was. "That's me," he answered, "Who are you?"
He could see that wasn't the right question to ask. The boy seemed to shrink in on himself, eyes shining with unshed tears. "I'm Tubbo," the boy said. "Do you want to come inside?"
He found what the compass pointed towards, Tommy realised. "I thought Tubbo was the name of one of my discs" Tommy admitted as he stepped inside, looking around. It was cosy inside the house. If it were not for the view out of the window, you would not realise it was built in a lava lake.
"You did? why?" Tubbo asked as he sat down on one of the couches. He didn’t trust his legs. He couldn’t believe that Tommy had come back. He had spent days waiting after it happened. Wilbur had come back initially at the place he died. Tubbo has assumed the same would happen for Tommy and waited there for ages. Eventually he had started building a house, and a tower. He never left the place. Asking his friends to get him the resources he needed. If he left, he might have missed Tommy, and he didn’t want to risk that. All his hope was located here.
"Because my compass is called 'your Tubbo'," he explained. "The compass felt important. The discs felt important too, so I thought the compass would lead to the discs". Tommy looked at his compass. It pointed exactly where Tubbo was sitting. He walked circles around the house, circles around Tubbo. The compass staid pointing at him. "My compass leads to you," he said.
Tubbo stood up and walked to his enderchest. "I’ve got your discs in here," he said. He got out Cats and Mellohi. He put Mellohi in his jukebox next to the window, while handing Cats to tommy. he had listened a lot to discs while living here. It had hurt to listen to them, but that didn't matter because they were all he had. But now tommy was here, and for the first time in ages the music didn't hurt.
Tubbo looked at tommy, who had come to stand next to him. Both boys overlooking the lava lake while the discs played. He saw tears making the boys cheek shine. "Are you alright Tommy?" the boy asked worriedly. He attempted to put his hand on Tommy's shoulder, only for it to go right through.
"I remember Tubbo, I remember everything," the boy said, tears continuing to fall. "I’m sorry Tubbo, for leaving you behind."
Tubbo just stood next to him. He couldn't offer him any reassuring touch, but he was there. They looked over the lava lake together, as Mellohi played in the background, Forgotten by both boys.
"It's okay, Tommy" Tubbo said, smiling at him. "because you came back. You left but you found me again."