Chapter Text
Walking down the prime path with his hands in his pockets, Tommy contemplated what he was going to do for the day.
Tubbo was busy dealing with L'Manberg stuff, Quackity and Fundy helping out with that. Phil wasn't busy from what he knew, but at the same time he felt hesitant when it came to interacting with him given the whole 'stabbed Wilbur and spending time with Techno' thing.
Ranboo was a fairly new name being thrown around, only conversation they'd had so far was him begrudgingly learning that he was still the youngest in the smp, maybe he could go hang out with him?
Tommy's train of thought was interupted by the sudden appearance of a book, seemingly out of absolutely nowhere, falling from the sky and hitting him squarely in the face. He fell backwards in shock, bringing a hand to his face as he looked around and tried to figure out what just happened.
"What the fuck, man?! Who the fuck just did that?!!"
He made sure his nose wasn't broken (wasn't bleeding, probably fine) before leaning foreward and checking out what exactly had hit him.
Laying on the path in from of him was a fairly thick, medium sized, leather-bound book without a title on the outside of it.
"The hell man? Why the fuck did someone throw a book at me?"
He was about to stand, before the book suddenly openned on it's own. He immediately fell backwards again, scarmbling to collect himself. Tommy watched as the book rapidly flipped itself to a page near the middle of itself, words materializing on the page as he looked at it.
"Hello."
"W-What the fuck?!"
"I can explain, however it is not safe to discuss in the open. Collect me and return to your house."
"The fuck kind of prank is this?!", Tommy said as he carefully lifted the book with one hand, now on his feet again, "What kind of enchantments even let you do this?"
"Again, I can explain, but not here."
He ignored the book again, turning it over in his hands as he tried to figure out what was going on, "Oi, dickhead, which one of you is doing this, huh?"
The book made a few more attempts to tell him what was going on before just giving up slamming closed on his hand.
"Ow, what the fuck?!" He pried the book off, letting it fall to the ground and glaring at it.
It quickly openned up to the same page it'd been on before, "My apologies, you weren't listening and this is extremely time sensitive. No one can see you with me yet and there are other characters fast approaching."
"What do you mean 'Characters'?", Tommy asked, now actually paying attention to the book as he picked it up again.
"The other characters in your story."
Now he was interested. "What are you on about?"
"As I said, I'll explain once you've returned to your home. Place me in your bag, the fox will be in your line of sight in about five minutes."
"The fox? You mean Fundy?"
"Yes, he must not see me."
Being the agitator that he was, Tommy was tempted to just ignore the book and keep trying to get information from it then and there.
But there was also a voice in the back of his head telling him that for now it was best to wait and see what would happen. So, slipping the book into his inventory, Tommy continued his walk at a slightly faster pace than before.
He quickly got lost in his thoughts, zoning out as he tried to figure out what exactly could be up with the strange object in his bag. He was studdenly brought back to his surrounding with the placement of a hand on his arm. Jumping to the side with an incredibly manly shriek, he quickly turned to see Fundy looking at him in concern.
"You good man? I was calling your name for like, a whole minute."
He shrugged Fundy's hand off, righting himself from the defensive position he'd instinctively been in, "Yeah, just thinking about some shit."
"Wow, that must be a first,", Fundy laughed a bit, nervously tapering it off when he noticed that Tommy wasn't joining in, "What happened to your face? It's all red."
"Oh yeah, some bastard threw a rock or something at me."
"What were you doing to deserve it?"
"Nothing! I was just fucking walking, man!"
"Uh huh, sure you were. Well, whatever, as long as you don't get caught I don't give a shit. See ya,", the fox turned and waved over his shoulder, continuing on his way.
Tommy glared at him for a moment before finishing the walk back to his home. He went into his little make-shift bedroom, getting ready to pull out the book and start interrogating before his eyes settled on the railway that lead to his little vacation home. He thought for a moment before sighing and getting out a minecart.
The book had said no one can see him with it, and his main house was far from secluded; especially with that bastard Connor hanging about, trying to say it was his house and shit.
So, a few minutes later, Tommy was securely alone in his little vacation home. He sat down and pulled the book out, ready to get to the bottom of this shit.
"Alright, spill it. How the fuck did you know I was gonna bump into Fundy?", Tommy asked the book.
It flipped open to the same spot as before, words once again just appearing on the page, "Going out here was a good move, had you remained at your other home the fox and the bee would have appeared to check in on you."
"But earlier you just told me to go home, why the fuck are you saying 'oh, good job!' at me not doing what you said?"
"Your actions changed what was going to occur. Had you not interacted with the fox he would have left you alone for the remainder of the day."
"But you said I was going to see him! Which, hey you tree made son of a bitch, you still haven't explained!"
The book didn't respond for a moment, agitating him even more.
"What? Don't got anything to say?"
"Have you ever thought of yourself as the hero?"
His stomach dropped as he remembered Technoblade's words to him on the sixteenth. He nervously adjusted as he sat there. "The fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"Have you ever looked at something wrong and decided to do something about it?"
"I mean, yeah, but that's because I'm a good person, not because I'm a 'hero'."
"But it's the makings of one."
He read what was on the page, narrowing his eyes. "What're you getting at with this?"
The book paused again before writing, "What's the most common way to access a story?"
Tommy threw his hands up in frustration and let out a groan, "Fucks sake, man! Pick a topic and stick to it! God, you're just as bad as Big Q with that adhd shit!"
"Earlier you asked how I knew you would see the fox. What's the most common way to access a story?"
"I don't fucking know, a book? Go pay a homeless man to tell me about him losing his yeezys or some shit?"
"Your first statement was the answer I was looking for, although paying the duck to discuss his lost shoes would be entertaining. How does the plot move, in a book?"
"These animal things are getting fucking weird, man,", he stopped for a moment, thinking about the new question being presented to him, "But, I don't know, I guess the main character doing shit?"
"Correct. Would you agree that the main character is the hero of a story?"
"I mean...", Tommy paused, thinking, "Not always. I can think of a few where the 'hero' it the one that's fucking everything up."
"Yes, but everyone is the hero of their own story."
Let's be the bad guys.
"Yeah, not everyone, but I can see where you're trying to get with this. Am I the 'main character' you're trying to hint at?"
"You could be."
"Make up your fucking mind, man! Am I or am I not?!"
"You could be."
Tommy growled in frustration, "Enough of this shit! You're so fucking close to just being thrown into the fucking ocean or burned or something!"
"It's a choice. Do you want to be the main character?"
"I don't even know what the fuck that means! You're being all cryptic and shit, I'm just trying to keep up."
"Life is a story. I am the book that tells that story. You asked earlier how I knew the fox was approaching, it was part of the story. Your actions and interactions decide what occurs with other characters."
"So that shit would have happened even if you didn't fall from the fucking sky at me?"
"Yes."
"Then what the fuck do you do?"
The book paused again.
"Well? Why the fuck do you matter if everything is gonna happen anyways?"
"Look at a story like a tree. The tree's full height could be considered the best ending; the ultimate goal. As the story is being told, it's branches and leaves growing out. Every action by the main character is a branch they can climb, the stronger the action the stronger the branch. A few can break in the climb but ultimately you need as many strong branches as possible to reach the top. The ending will ultimately be the point where the main character can't climb any further, the best place for this being the top with the best view."
Tommy re-read that paragraph a few times, trying to figure out what the book was on about. "I'll be honest, you lost me at the first mention of a tree."
The book paused again, something that Tommy was beginning to think was a sign that it was thinking. "You only have one life remaining, correct?"
"Wow, thanks for reminding me, dickhead."
"You losing that life would be an ending to your story, a very likely one given how easilly it could happen. If the best ending to your story is set later in your life, you dying now would still be an ending wouldn't it?"
"That sounds like a fucking threat."
"It's an example. If the best ending to your story took place in two years time, and you died next week, that would be an ending. But it wouldn't be the ending you would likely want to get to."
"I guess? I'm still really confused by all this."
"You asked what I do, earlier. I show the main character what's to come, making it easier for you to reach your best ending. Do you want to be the main character of this story, make it yours?"
Tommy looked down at the words on the page, thinking. After a few minutes, he spoke up, "There's something else to this, surely. What are you not telling me?"
"Observant. This choice will definately lead to conflict where there originally was none. That's the risk of grabbing a story by the reigns and pulling it where you want. You will likely die a few times, however it's necessary to reach your best end."
"Yeah, I'm gonna stop you there. Not sure if you remember or not considering you've already brought it up once, but I only have one life left. I die anymore and I'm fucking gone."
"Now, yes, but there's perks to this deal."
That was something that really grabbed him. "Perks? The fuck do you mean by that?"
"I'm going to start this by saying that it will not make you an admin. When a player becomes an admin to a server, they receive what's referred to as 'admin hearts'. The lives they've lost to that point get restored, and doubled."
"Wait what?!"
"That is why the chameleon has been able to die four times since the server has begun."
The gears in Tommy's head began turning as he tried to think of who the book was referring to. "Are you talking about Dream?"
"Yes."
He tried to remember every time he'd seen Dream die. He didn't exactly remember them all, but it'd definately been more than three.
Once the book figured Tommy had come to that realization, it continued, "If you become the main character, you get admin hearts. You will have six total lives to use, and once your story has completed you will keep whatever hearts you have left."
Tommy's eye's widened as he read that a few times, making sure he was really seeing it. "Are you serious?!"
"Yes."
"And I just have to worry about fighting and shit?"
"Essentially, yes."
Tommy let out a small laugh, "Holy shit, that's so cool! Sounds like some deal with the devil type shit, but otherwise hell yeah! Everyone here fights all the time anyways, not too much of a change!"
"So, do you want to be the main character?"
"Hell yeah!"
The book closed itself, sitting on it's spine for a moment before openning again, "Wonderful! Place your palm and wrist inside so that your hand sticks out just up to your fingers."
Tommy tilted his head, confused by the instructions given to him. He did what he was told, sitting at an awkward angle as he put his left arm into the book, "Like this?"
Without warning, the book slammed closed onto his arm, his wrist feeling like something was biting him.
"Oww!! Hey what the fuck?!!", he tried to pull back, the book lifting up with his arm as he was sitting up again.
After another mildly uncomfortable and painful moment, the book let go and fell to the floor. He watched as a bit of his blood soaked into the page, looking at what he expected to be an open wound on his wrist. Instead, there was something that looked almost like a tattoo; a mark in a shape that almost resembled a dog bite, the same dull shade of blackish-red that the writing in the book appeared to be.
"Sorry for not warning you of the binding method, I was worried you would change your mind,", appeared on the page once he was done checking out his wrist.
"You just bit me!"
"Yes, but now you are officially the main character of this story."
"Ok, cool, but how the fuck did you bite me?!"
"You are about to recieve a call on your comm unit from the bee."
Tommy looked down at the page before raising his wrist to look at the small watch sitting there, "This doesn't change the fact that you somehow grew fucking teeth and-"
He was cut off by a call from Tubbo. He looked at his comm, then back at the book before sighing and answering the call.
"Hey, Tubbo! What's up m-"
"Tommy!", Tubbo interupted him from the other side of the call, and he did not sound happy, "Did steal something from Dream?"
"No? I haven't actually done anything today aside from take a walk."
"Oh really? Cause Fundy said something about you acting really sus earlier and now Dream's going around asking about something super important being taken while he was out."
"Come on, man! It's not always me taking shit! Maybe one of his friends took it trying to fuck with him."
"It kind of is always you, though,", Tubbo sighed, sounding a bit calmer, "Where are you right now?"
"At my vacation home, why?"
There was a bit of conversation on the other side that Tommy couldn't quite hear before Tubbo sighed again. "Yeah, ok. Tommy, stay there so Dream can come ask you about it."
Tommy rolled his eyes, not that Tubbo could see it, "Yeah, whatever. It actually wasn't me."
"Sure it wasn't. I've got stuff to deal with, if you have whatever he's looking for just give it back so it doesn't cause any problems, ok? Please?"
"Yeah, if I have it. But I'm telling you I don't."
There was another sigh from across the line before Tubbo hung up, not even saying goodbye.
Tommy looked down at the book again, his mood slightly soured by the fact that Tubbo couldn't just take his word for it.
"The chameleon will be at the door by the time you finish the call,", had appeared on the page since he last looked at it.
Sure enough, there was a knock at his door almost immediately after he'd read it.
"Yeah, yeah, just a minute!", he yelled in the general direction of the door, standing and shoving the book under the edge of the bed before going to talk to the green bastard now outside.
Dream was standing at the door with his arms folded, mask covering everything but his mouth, said mouth drawn in a frustrated grimace.
"I didn't take your shit,", Tommy said almost as soon as the door was open.
Dream's tone was calm, "I didn't say you did."
"That's not was Tubbo was saying. He was all like 'you better give him his shit back, Tommy. I know it was you it's always you just give it back',", he used a highpitched voice to mock Tubbo, scoffing angrilly, "It is not 'always me'! Everyone on this server steals shit, that's basically how the economy works at this point. I bet-"
He was cut off by the book suddenly openning and slamming itself closed a few times behind him, now a few feet away from where he'd put it.
"You did take it!", Dream shoved past him, going over to the book, "How the hell did you even get to it?!"
Tommy turned around in anger as Dream picked the book up, "I did not steal that fucking book! It literally fell from the fucking sky at me and started talking and shit!"
Dream seemed to freeze when Tommy said that. "Wait, you can read it?"
"Hey, what the fuck are you trying to imply?! Y'know believe it or not I actually have been to school, I know how to read."
"No, but you can read what's written in the book?"
"It's a book, Dream. Written in the Queen's english. Again, really not liking the fact that you seem surprised that I know how to read."
The book flipped itself to the page after the deal and wrote something that Tommy couldn't see from the angle Dream was holding it at.
He was about to peek over the older man's shoulder before Dream very quickly turned around and pointed to the page, "Prove it. Tell me what this says."
Tommy went to grab the book, but Dream pulled it out of his reach.
"No, just read it. You don't need to hold it to do that."
"Alright, dickhead,", Tommy snapped at him before turning his attention to the book, "It says: 'The chick is able to'- Hey, why does he get to be a fucking chameleon and I'm a fucking chick?! I'm a man at least make me a co- Actually y'know what forget chickens, make me a wolf, bitch!"
The books responded with, "A chick is something of growth, a wolf is a danger."
"Oh come on, man! Call me a puppy then or something! Just not a chick!"
"I don't decide the names. A chick can grow into a cockatrice just as a pup grows into a wolf."
Tommy laughed a bit, "The hell is a cockatrice? Sounds a bit lewd if you ask me."
"I could draw a picture, if you like."
Tommy let out a gasp, reaching for the book again, "You can draw shit?!"
It was then that Tommy remembered the other man in the room with him, when Dream let go of the book with one hand and grabbed his left arm.
"Hey, hands off!", he began squiring to try getting away, but Dream's grip was too tight for him to do anything.
"How did I not see that when you openned the door?!", Dream exclaimed as he examined the marking on the boy's wrist.
"Let me go you green son of a bitch before I kick your ass! I got six lives to burn, bitch! Fucking try me!"
"You seriously-,", Dream cut himself off with a sigh, "No, I guess this makes sense."
He let go, and Tommy quickly scampered back, getting a sword out, "Yeah, that's right bitch! Better back the fuck off!"
"You obviously haven't talked about the common sense stuff that goes with this."
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?! I have so much common sense, enough that it's rare, bitch!"
"No, I mean,", Dream paused, taking a glove off to reveal a similar mark on his own wrist, "You obviously haven't gone over the fact that you don't just advertise your extra lives. Did you even get told about book hunters?"
Tommy didn't process that last bit, instead he was more focussed on the similar mark that Dream had on him, "Holy shit, wait. I though you had six lives cause you were an admin."
"I did. The book gave me twelve."
"Wh- What the fuck?! Twelve lives?!! The fuck kind of shit do you even have to get up to where that's even remotely needed?"
"Considering the fact that I've lost four since I started the server, I'd say it's reasonable."
"Why couldn't it give me twelve?"
Dream brought his now uncovered hand to his face, "Because you only had three. Look, the book can go over this with you. I had something else I wanted to talk to you about today."
Tommy raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah? And what might that be?"
"It's about you and Tubbo,", Dream began as he handed the book back to Tommy, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to keep following him like you do."
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?!"
"He doesn't trust you. No matter how much you care about him. I'm just trying to look out for you."
Tommy was starting to get angry at the mere implication that Tubbo didn't trust him, "No offense, big man, but you don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to 'looking out for me'. I seem to recall the opposite, in fact."
"What if I could prove it?"
"How would you prove it? Cause I reckon I could just walk up to him and be like 'Tubbo do you trust me?' and he'd be like 'of course, Tommy! I like bees and shit!' and this issue that doesn't even exist would be sorted."
Dream sighed as he waked past, putting his glove back on as he went back to the door, "Like I said, I'm just bringing it up to try to look out for you."
"Alright, you green fucking prick, give me one example of Tubbo not trusting me."
"Earlier, when you told him you didn't steal from me. You actually didn't for once and he didn't believe you."
"Yeah ok well-"
"I'm not saying you have to be on 'my side' here or whatever, but I'm saying that in my opinion it'd be better to separate from him and go do your own thing."
"What if my 'thing' is with Tubbo?"
Dream extended his hand out to him, "Let me make a deal with you. Tomorrow morning we meet up in the community house with Gerorge and Sapnap and I tell you my plan to prove that Tubbo doesn't trust you. Deal?"
Tommy eyed the hand cautiously before accepting it, "Alright, and when we prove that Tubbo aboslutely, one-hundred percent does trust me, I get my disc back. You get it from Skeppy and hand it to me in front of everyone in L'Manberg."
"Deal. See you tommorrow."
Tommy watched Dream walk away for a moment before closing his door and sitting down on his bed. He openned up the book again, sighing at what he assumed was going to be more reading, "Alright, lay it on me; What the fuck was he talking about?"