Chapter Text

it starts small, like most things do. that's part of the reason that it went so unnoticed, to the point that you could no longer ignore it and was forced to face what happened.

it starts with technoblade referring to phil by his name instead of father. (tommy starts doing the same.)
it starts with wilbur jokingly referring to phil as dad. (an inside joke, tommy reasons.)
it starts with phil leaving more frequently on trips, taking technoblade or wilbur with him, sometimes even both. (never tommy, but why should he care? he was lucky enough that they take care of him.)
it ends with tommy being so out of touch with his own family that they aren't his family anymore. that they aren't his anymore. he is still their's though.

sometimes, a family is three two sons. (and their neighbor)
sometimes, a family is not.

for a long time, life was simple, the three of them would leave, off to their little worlds, and tommy would be left in the house, alone in his own world.

phil leaves to go off to an adventure, to slay a dragon, to save a village. he leaves to explore monuments, to build structures.
technoblade leaves to enter competitions, to win and win and to have people worship him, revere him as a blood god.
wilbur leaves for the people, he plays lovely music and joins dating shows, he entertains people and charms them all.
they take each other on their trips sometimes, on their adventures. not tommy though, never tommy.
tommy is left alone in the house, waiting for them to come back and regale him of tales of adventure. until tommy get's tired of a lonely childhood, and secretly, he too, leaves.

that is when he meets tubbo, a boy that is barely older than him, with eyes that shine and smiles that make tommy feel so happy. (he's never felt this happiness before.) tubbo helps him build a house, a short distance away from their phil, techno and wilbur's house. he helps him build an underground tunnel between the two houses.

when tubbo asks questions, tommy offhandedly mentions that he used to live with three men. when he asks if they were his family, tommy shakes his head and says that they are merely his neighbors.

tubbo is different, he is a breath of fresh air, he showed up and insisted on befriending tommy. and for once, he had something to look forward to that wasn't phil, techno and wilbur's stories when they returned. for once, tommy had something- no, someone, that was his.

once, tommy would stay in that house while they would leave. he would make sure that the house was clean, presentable for when they returned. he learned to cook and clean and do chores.
once, that was what tommy would do, everyday in that lonesome house.

but now, tommy has tubbo. tommy has something else in his life other than his chores in that ever so empty house.

once, tommy would stay. but now? now, tommy would leave. he leaves and goes to tubbo, and the two of them spend the day having fun, doing pranks and being kids.

(when once, tommy would be left alone in an empty house. now, he has tubbo, and he will never be left alone once again.)

the two of them would spend every day together, and tubbo even gifts tommy two discs, one named mellohi and one named cat. (tommy almost cried when he got them, they were one of the first things that had ever been gifted to him that wasn't phil tiredly giving him souvenirs, the smile never reaching his eyes, that wasn't technoblade leaving him a weapon and barely acknowledging him, that wasn't wilbur giving him instruments he couldn't use, trinkets he did not know off, not bothering to explain. tubbo's gift, the discs, were one of the only gifts he had ever received that held so much sincerity.)

tommy gifted him a bee the next day, ignoring how hard it was to catch, because tubbo's smile was worth it. it would always be worth it.

one day, while his brothers and father neighbors are away, he and tubbo open the mailbox, and they find a letter to phil. it details a new smp, made by someone named dream, and an invitation, it held whitelisted cards, which allowed people to enter private smps. the two of them were obviously intrigued by it. (they took two of the three cards)

"an smp sounds fun." tubbo said, holding one of the cards, staring at it with wonder, "wonder how they're like?" he asks.

tommy shrugs, "i don't know, but we better leave soon." he murmurs, because maybe, just maybe, if he went on his own adventure, he'd learn why phil, technoblade and wilbur loved them so much. he had grown up listening to all three of their adventures, maybe this smp would be his adventure. his and tubbo's.

(besides, maybe it would be better if he left his neighbors, maybe the reason they were going on so many adventures was because they felt awkward in their own home because someone that wasn't their family lived with them. that was fine, tommy didn't want to be a bother.)

tubbo hums, tracing the golden lettering of 'philza minecraft' on the whitelisted card, "maybe we should leave now?' he suggests, and tommy stares at him, shock and disbelief in his face before a bright and wild smile makes it way.

"tubbo, you are so right."

tubbo beams.

the two teenagers spent their time packing their few items, making sure that everything they needed and everything they had was there, and by the dawn of the new day, they were ready to leave.

tommy looks back at their home, "i'm gonna miss this place." he says, and beside him, tubbo nods in agreement, taking tommy's hand in his.

as the two of them take a final glance in their once-home, ready to leave it all behind, they finally feel free.

the two teenagers smile, and they run, following the coordinates written on the whitelisted card, they leave the past behind and run towards the adventure awaiting them.

and if a family returns to find their youngest member missing and one whitelisted card, you can't say that they didn't have it coming.

Chapter Text

the portal wasn't pretty, by any means. it was jagged green stone that looked like it could pierce them both if they touched it, the portal itself glowed a faint emerald green. and tubbo looked impressed, which would make sense, seeing as his outfit was green-based.

"what do you think we should do now?" tommy asked, glancing over at tubbo.

he merely shrugs, "i don't know, why don't we look at the whitelisted cards?" he suggested, grabbing his card.

after carefully reading and rereading the card multiple times, tubbo pointed out something behind the card. an empty white text box with the words "ENTER GAMERTAG" before it.

"what's a gamertag?" tommy asks, tilting his head.

tubbo only shrugged, "i don't know, maybe our names?" he suggests, still unsure of his answer.

"that makes sense, can you hand me a pen, tubbo?"

he rummages his bag for a few minutes before finally finding a pen and handing it over to tommy.

tommy smiles at him, "thanks tubbo." he says, before glancing at the card and starting to write.

"you should write tommy in it." tubbo says, grabbing another pen from his bag.

tommy snorts, "thanks, captain obvious." not looking at what he was writing. (he writes tommyinnit)

"you're welcome, sergeant sarcasm." tubbo quips, as he finishes writing 'tubbo' neatly on the text box.

when tommy looks back at his card and realizes what he had written, ("tubbo, you fucker!") he takes tubbo's card and adds a line on the bottom of a text box, ignoring tubbo's groans of annoyance.

tubbo rolls his eyes, "are you done now, tommy?" he asks, trying hard not to laugh as he looks at tommy's card, 'tommyinnit' written in tommy's messy handwriting.

tommy nods, "yeah tubbo, let's go in!" he exclaims, excited for the prospect of an adventure.

tubbo glances at the card and holds tommy's hand, worried that they might get separated once walking through the portal. as soon as tommy feels tubbo's hand on his, he proceeds to drag the older boy towards the portal, and they both enter, laughing as they do.

they find themselves in a land that was more nature than structure. sure, there were basic buildings, but they were scarce and very few. they looked around and realized that the whitelisted cards that they had had disappeared, replaced by communicators.

tommy and tubbo exchange glances before opening their communicators.

tommyinnit joined the server
tubbo_ joined the server

tommy glances at tubbo, who was trying hard not to laugh at his gamertag, and he scowls, "stop it tubbo! it's all your fault." he grumbled.
tubbo makes a motion of wiping a tear from his face, grinning ear to ear, "i told you to put tommy in it, not tommyinnit."

tommy rolls his eyes and begins passionately arguing with tubbo, and tubbo playfully argues back.
("why would you even say that tubbo!" "it was funny at the time, besides, why did you put a line, uh, underscore, on mine?" "well, because...it was funny." "i just said that!" "yeah, well i said it too!")

"ahem."

the two of them freeze as they hear an unfamiliar voice behind them. they had almost forgotten, so caught up in their childlike arguments, in their familiarity with each other, that they weren't home, they were in someone else's smp.

tubbo was the first to avert his gaze from tommy and glance at whoever had spoken. he raised his eyebrow, and before thinking, he said- "you have horrible taste."
beside him, tommy screeches in laughter, "tubbo, you can't just say that!"
"it's true tommy!" tubbo says, pointing at him, "his style is horrible, i mean, look at it!"

the aforementioned man was wearing a light green hoodie, almost neon-like, black pants, and a weird porcelain mask with a smiley face, and to top it off, he was wearing dirtied white sneakers. (tommy had to agree, they were quite bad.)

green hoodie man sighs, "who are you two?" he asked. he seemed really tired, tubbo and tommy should probably just take it easy on him. (they didn't)

"who are you?" tommy asks instead, ignoring green hoodie man's question.

green hoodie man sighs, "i asked you both first."

"well we asked you second." tubbo quips.

another sigh. "my name is dream, i'm the owner of this smp, you two?"

tubbo points at tommy and says, "this is my friend, tommyinnit, and i'm-"
tommy glares at him at interrupts, "he's tubbo underscore, and he is a bitch."

dream raises an eyebrow, not even bothering to comment on the names "how did you two manage to get two of philza's whitelisted cards?" he asked, because after all, while dream and techno had a friendly rivalry, he had not heard of a tommy or a tubbo from the piglin hybrid.

tommy purses his lips, "i'm his neighbor, and tubbo is my best friend." he says, like it was obvious.

dream just shrugs and nods, "very well, now, come on. i'll give you a tour of the smp." and as he starts walking towards the rest of the smp, where most of the structures was, both of the young teenagers followed him without much question, he was, after all, the owner of the server that they were currently on.

and for a few days, it was calm. tommy and tubbo built houses across from each other, tommy with his dirt shack, that he was not really pleased with, and tubbo with his rustic home. they played games and met the rest of the server's members. (both of them liked sapnap, punz and george really well. they didn't really get to interact much with the others, though ponk was pretty friendly to them.)

it was peaceful, calm. (they liked the calm.)

the calm didn't last long.

a few weeks after joining the smp, they got into an altercation with dream about taxes. which was apparently money that you give to the government in exchange for living in a house that you built. which made no sense to tommy and tubbo.
why would you pay people money to live in your house?

it was one of the first of many altercations in the dream smp.

"why is dream so obsessed with robbing a bunch of teenagers." tommy had asked, when everyone had gathered around their houses. they had all stifled laughter when they heard that and dream aimed a glare at him.
dream sighs, "it's not that i'm robbing you tommy, it's just that you and tubbo need to pay taxes." he says, explaining it as calmly as he possibly could, maybe as a way to make both of them feel safe and comfortable.

"how do we know you aren't scamming us?" tubbo asks, "we don't even know what taxes are!"
"yeah!" tommy added, "we've built houses before and we didn't pay any tax or whatsoever."

dream placed his fingers on his forehead, looking so done with the both of them, "both of you need to pay taxes, or i'll be forced to fight you two."

"then fight us, bitch." tommy snapped.

so dream did.

the fight lasted two and a half hours, somehow, tommy and tubbo managed to win it and dream was forced to abolish the taxes. everyone was overjoyed with that and promised tommy that they would throw him the biggest party ever. tommy didn't know why the birthday thing was important, but everyone wanted to do that for him, so he would let them do it.

(tommy's party was a two weeks later, and true to they're word, they threw him the biggest party ever. it was the most fun that tommy had ever had that he actually almost burst into tears, feeling so happy.)

a week after tommy's party, everything was back to the way it was.

(an argument)

tubbo helped a little with tommy's house and it looked a bit better now.

("i should be the one to go on the smp!")

punz and sapnap helped them tame horses after the two desired to do so.

("it was addressed to me, mate.")

sam was helping tommy build a tower.

("i was the one he was closest to!")

even dream had not held a grudge for the battle they had over taxes.

("that's cause you're the one who leaves the least!")

ponk was helping tubbo with his building.

("well you did something wrong too, stop being so holier-than-thou!")

even alyssa stopped by sometimes.

("boys, enough.")

george was rarely there, but he was easy to tease for the both of them.

("i'm going now.")

tommy and tubbo stare at the sunrise from the bench, free and careless smiles on their faces.
they were about to head off and do their work when their communicators beeped.

wilbursoot has joined the server

Chapter Text

wilbursoot whispered to you: tommy where are you

tommy glances over at tubbo, "should i tell him?" he asks, fiddling with his communicator.

next to him, tubbo shrugs, "it's up to you man."
"but tubbo, i asked for your opinion." tommy deadpans.
tubbo only tilts his head, a small smile on his face.

tommy groans as he begins typing on his communicator, "you're no help at all, tubbo."
"didn't know i was supposed to be help." a scoff. "you're always supposed to help tubbo!" "sure..."

you whispered to wilbur soot: tubbo and i'll come get you from spawn
wilbursoot whispered to you: okay toms

he sighs, "time to show him around i guess."

"why is wilbur even here?" tubbo asks as they both stand up from the bench, heading towards the immediate area of spawn.
tommy looks at tubbo with an exasperated expression as they walked down the prime path, "tubbo, you are so stupid."

"it's a genuine question!" tubbo argues.

tommy shakes his head, "tubbo, the cards were originally from them, so maybe he came because he wanted to."
tubbo then purses his lips, "why did he want you then?"
tommy shrugged, "maybe because i used to live with them? we were neighbors tubbo, i'm probably the only one he knows here."

tubbo hums, "that is true.." he murmurs, as they walk through the community house, "

they entered the spawn area a few minutes later, and there they find wilbur soot, in his iconic yellow sweater and maroon beanie, he was facing away from tommy and tubbo and was slightly toying with the hem of his sweater.

"wilbur!" tommy calls out, and wilbur turns around. his eyes light up at the sight of tommy and he smiles brightly.
"tommy!" he exclaims, spreading his arms, as if waiting for a hug. (like tommy and wilbur used to do, when they were younger.)
tommy smiles back and gives wilbur a quick side hug (wilbur frowns at how quick it is) before turning around and pointing towards the smp, excited to show wilbur around it.

"the smp is a really cool place, wilbur." tommy says, "come on, tubbo and i'll show you!"
wilbur chuckles and smiles, ruffling both of their hairs, "of course, show me the way." he says.

both tommy and tubbo light up, beaming at the attention given to them as they began leading wilbur through the prime path, passionately pointing at the cool buildings and talking all about their time here. they were currently telling wilbur about the tax scrap- the battle they had with dream over taxes when wilbur suddenly decided to ask a question.

"are you ever coming home, tommy?"

they both freeze. "what do you mean, wilbur?" tommy asks hesitantly, as they strolled through the prime path.

wilbur shrugs, "just, back home, with phil and techno, are you planning on returning, toms?"

"like, returning for a few days or weeks, like you did?" tommy asks.

wilbur shakes his head, "no, like returning for good, tommy?"

tommy purses his lips, "i don't think so wil, this- this is my home now."

a soft smile. "okay tommy," hesitance. "will you be fine with me staying here as well?"

tommy nods, "yeah wil! i'd love for you to stay here!"

wilbur stays. (he leaves a few weeks later, promising to return.)

while wilbur was gone, the rest of the smp had taken to asking tommy about him.

ponk had been the first. ("hey tommy, who's this wilbursoot guy that's been hanging around you?" "oh, he's just my neighbor, we used to live together." "really?" "yeah.")

the next was sam. ("wilbur is your...?" "neighbor." "..is he good at any redstone?" "not sure.")

tommy was getting a bit tired of the questions. (as was tubbo) and that was why tommy had said this when the entirety of the dream team, badboyhalo, and punz showed up on their doorstep.

"tubbo, tell them that we're really tired of their shit." tommy says, making eyecontact with dream.
next to him, tubbo says, "yeah! we are getting really tired of all your shits!" with so much enthusiasm.

dream's eyes glittered with amusement, "well, luckily for you two, we already know of wilbur, so we won't be getting on your nerves with the questions."

tommy sighs in relief. tubbo, on the other hand, squints at them all suspiciously, "wait, how do you know wilbur?"

"well, his brother, technoblade, is my rival." dream says, then he points towards sapnap and george, "these two know him by association." he adds, ignoring the pointed glare that sapnap gives him and the huff that comes from george.
"we used to play in tournaments, technoblade managed to convince wilbur to participate in one, that's how i, and skeppy too, actually, know of him." bad explains.

tubbo and tommy then turn their gaze towards punz, who laughs and says, "i was 12 then, and he was, i dunno, a few years older than me? i was hired to kill him, but he taught me how to play the guitar instead." ("that's weird." tubbo says, and tommy couldn't help but to agree, it was very weird. they had asked punz to elaborate but he just shook his head and smiled at them.)

"anyways, why are you guys here?" tommy asks, staring at them all agressively.

dream scratches his head, "well, we're actually here to ask if you or wilbur have any idea of if phil and techno still have plans to join the smp, because i could give them more cards, if they want to. i would ask techno, but he just keeps going on about potato wars."

tubbo and tommy can only shrug.
"we don't really know big man."

dream sighs, "very well, sorry to bother you tommy." he says.

"that's fine."

and for a long while, thing were like that. very calm, there weren't many things happening. (wilbur was still gone.)

tubbo and tommy decided to start building a beehouse. it took them a lot of hours to build the house and even longer to get the bees, but at the end of the week, they had a beehouse and were satisfied with their work.

(but wilbur was still gone.)

the next thing they did was transport villages from villages, they wanted to get some trades. they actually enlisted the help of sapnap, who accidentally killed a few of the villagers while transporting them.

(wilbur was nowhere to be seen.)

they were in the middle of having a horse race, trying to see who was faster, (it was tubbo) when wilbur had returned.

wilbur came back, a lucky go happy expression on his face, when he saw tommy, his eyes lit up.

"hey toms, how do you feel about starting our own country?"

Chapter Text

tommy blinks, "a country?" he asks, hesitantly. he glances over at his right, at tubbo, but even he looked confused.

"yeah!" wilbur says, "have you seen the laws of this place?"

tommy and tubbo both shook their heads, they didn't even know that there were laws.

wilbur rolls his shoulders, "there's a few basic laws there, like paying taxes, no going to the end. understandable laws." then he grimaces, "then there are ridiculous laws, like a limit to how many potions you can make, the fact that dream managed to make it so that we only have two respawns, and the whole duel to the death for an item if both agree on it." he huffs, "utterly ridiculous." he adds.

tubbo and tommy exchanged looks. the thing about two respawns worried them. see, respawns basically bring people back to life after they died, and everyone usually had unlimited respawns, which meant that death was fake, and those unlimited respawns usually carried over into servers unless the admin of the server purposefully disabled the unlimited respawns. people who died in servers without unlimited respawns spawns back out of the server. they are unable to return to the server. but the worst thing about that was that since you had technically died, you no longer have unlimited respawns. and it tries to replicate the amount of respawns that the server you died in had. the only way to get unlimited respawns back was joining a server with unlimited respawns, but the moment you left the server, you would lose your unlimited respawns. that meant that if either of them died, they would only have two respawns for the rest of their lives.

they had heard about servers like this, of course, heck, tommy used to live with phil, and phil had died on one of his private servers, resulting in him losing his unlimited respawns and forced to live without any respawns.

wilbur glances at the both of them, "so, are you in?"

"yeah wil, me and tubbo are in!" tommy exclaims, ignoring tubbo, who was correcting him. ("it's tubbo and i, tommy" "tubbo, in the nicest way possibly, shut the fuck up")

wilbur seemed very pleased with them both, "that's good." he says.

"is it just gonna be the three of us, in this new country?" tubbo asked, because three people wasn't nearly enough for an actual country.

wilbur shakes his head, "i actually have another person," he says, "he's part of the reason i was away for so long."

itsfundy joined the server

wilbur lights up, almost like a christmas tree that was set up correctly. "come on, let's collect fundy from spawn!" he exclaims, speedwalking through the prime path, heading towards spawn at a very swift pace, almostt like he had taken a swiftness potion.

tubbo and tommy followed at a more sedate pace

'do you know a fundy?' tubbo silently mouths at tommy, who's only reply is to shake his head and shrug.

tommy then walks a bit faster, prompting tubbo to do so as well, both of them catching up to wilbur, "uh, wilbur, who's fundy?" tommy asks.

"oh, he's my son."

they stop.

"your son?" tubbo repeats in a high pitched tone.

wilbur dismisses it without concern, like it was normal. "yes tubbo, my son."

"who let you have a son?" tommy asked, a look of disgust on his face.

wilbur huffs, "tommy, i'll have you know i am very good with children." he says.

neither tommy nor tubbo believed him.

"does your dad-" (wilbur frowns) "-even know that you have a son?" tommy asks.

wilbur hesitates, "no," he murmurs, "no he does not."

tubbo whistles, "man, that must be some awkward conversation in the future." he jokes.

"yeah, not looking forward to that one." wilbur exclaims, laughing as they walk through the community house.

they arrive at spawn a few moments later and tommy and tubbo are immediately shocked at what they see.

"he looks older than me and tommy." tubbo points out.

"he's a fox hybrid." tommy says, like it was more important. his eyes were wide open. "did you get it with a fox wilbur?" he asks.

wilbur snorts, "of course not, fundy's mother is a shapeshifter." he says, like it was obvious. "anyways, fundy, little champion, there's some people i want you to meet."

once fundy approached them, tommy immediately started talking.

"hello fundy, i'm tommy and the bitch next to me is tubbo-" ("hey!") "-ignore him, i used to live with your dad, you know, we were neighbors."

fundy looked over at wilbur inquisitively, only to find wilbur slightly frowning.

he shrugged it off and said, "nice to meet you both!"

wilbur sighs, but he plastered a smile on his face, probably pleased that the boys were getting along so well.

fundy had settled in considerably well, in the weeks that followed, as they tried to set-up the land that they would call their home. they had to find a nice spot for it, had to figure out how big it would be, the name of it (they had had a huge argument about that, it took them a few days to settle on l'manberg), all the important stuff like that. and during all that, wilbur had tried confronting tommy about why he stopped acting like they were brothers and kept referring to him as a neighbor.

"hey toms, can we talk-" "sorry wil, sapnap and i have this joust planned."

"tommy, are you-" "sam wanted me to try this new thing! i'll talk to you later wilbur."

"can we talk about-" "mr. soot, can i borrow tommy for a moment? thanks." "-tubbo!"

and of course.. he had to deal with tubbo as well.

"hey mr. soot, what was it like being tommy's neighbor?"

"...tubbo please."

and like that, all his attempts were a failure, which caused him to stop making any more attempts at the following weeks. and so, everything went back to normal.
they would just try to further their nation, no more confrontations, no more suprises. that was that. (for now)

until of course, they had gotten another surprise.

they were just making potions in the camarvan when wilbur called for them.

"boys! come out here, there's someone i'd like you all to meet!"

fundy, tommy and tubbo all looked at each other before exiting the camarvan, heading towards wilbur and a man that they had never seen before.

he wore a plain white shirt with dark blue pants and had a cape colored with pink, purple and blue. he also had sunglasses that covered his eyes, which just made all three of them want to see it more.

wilbur smiles at them three, before turning his attention to the tall man, "these are tommy, tubbo and fundy. members of l'manberg."

"pleasure to meet you all."

tommy's eyes widened at his deep voice, on his side, tubbo was asking questions about the man's deep voice and on his other side, fundy was trying to make his voice go deeper.

wilbur then turned to face all three of them, he points at the man and says-

"this is eret, he's a new member of l'manberg!"

Chapter Text

the first thing they did once eret joined was build walls. eret and wilbur formed blueprints for the walls and ordered the younger trio to collect the resources needed for the walls. it had taken tommy, tubbo and fundy a few days- almost a whole week, to collect the resources, and after collecting it all, they had immediately set on building the walls around their new country.

they were in the midst of building the walls when dream had shown up, in his absolute glory.

"what are you three doing?" dream had asked, staring at all three of them, then he points towards the walls they were building, "what's this all about?"

tubbo beams, the first to reply, "we're starting our own country dream! it's gonna be so fun and very great."

a scowl appears on dream's face, which causes tubbo to hesitate.

"why are you starting a new nation?" dream asks, his expression wasn't one of a pleased man, it actually looked more like he was angry.

why... why isn't he proud? i- i thought he would be proud.

tommy purses his lips and tubbo frowns as fundy looks away, not exactly close to the admin as tubbo and tommy were.

"do you not want us to start a new country?" tommy asks, hesitantly, as if he was trying to gauge dream's reaction, to see what he should and should absolutely not say.

dream stiffly nods, "yes tommy, starting a new country means you're breaking away from the smp." ("it does?" tubbo murmured under his breath)

(tommy should know this- he had heard about it before, in the stories that phil used to make when he used to stay around. he should have known- after all, forming countries without the express permission of the admin always ended up badly. smpearth had been one of the tales that phil used to tell him about private servers. how the server had been torn apart after everyone started countries and waged war. of how the land was forsaken and how the server had been abandoned after that.)

tommy bit his lower lip, "dream- dream, we didn't really mean to, it was harmless-" dream raises an eyebrow. "-well, mostly harmless."
("fundy, can you go get wil and eret?" tubbo whispers, and fundy nods, running off to go find the two of them.)

"you could have asked for my permission!" dream says, "i would have given it if you guys would have asked."

"can you give us permission to build a country now?" tubbo pipes up.

dream sighs and glares at tubbo for a few seconds, "no, and besides, you're supposed to ask it before you build the country, not during!"

tommy was about to intervene, he really was, when he heard a voice behind him that made him pause.

"well hello there, dream."

dream glances up at the source of the voice, and there he finds wilbur.

"hello wilbur, i was actually just talking to tommy and tubbo here about this thing they're doing," he says, almost nonchalantly, "did you hear about it wilbur? they're starting a country!" dream adds, assuming that wilbur was siding with him.

wilbur clears his throat, "actually dream, we're starting a country, tommy and tubbo are with me."

dream stares at him in shock, before schooling his features into one that was blank, "really?"

"yes, really."

"hmm," he hums, "why would you do that, wil?"

wilbur's stare is so ice cold that tommy nearly shivers, "it's because you're being rather unfair with your rules here, dream."

a raised eyebrow. "can you explain how exactly, i'm unfair?" an unspoken challenge.

wilbur doesn't back down from the challenge. "your rule about only having a limited amount of potions."

"potions give an advantage, too much would be a bit unfair, and besides," he stares at wilbur right at the eyes, "why would people need so many potions? they would only need a lot if they were planning something."

wilbur grits his teeth, "what about the one with only two respawns?" he asks.

"i had to make this server interesting."

"what if someone lost all their lives then?" wilbur challenges.

dream only shrugged his shoulders, "i would bring them back if need to be."

"the rule about the duel to the death for an item?"

"i only added that rule because sapnap wanted me to, no one is actually gonna accept a duel to the death." dream replies.

tubbo_ whispered to you: of course sapnap made the duel to death one

wilbur scoffs, "and what happens if they do, then?"

you whispered to tubbo_: god sapnap is such an idiot

"then they would lose one of their lives, i guess." dream said, "what do you want me to say, wilbur?"

tubbo_ whispered to you: he really is

"i don't want you to say anything, dream." wilbur replies, "i want you to do something."

he sighs, "and what do you want me to do?"

"revoke the laws i mentioned."

dream shakes his head, "i can't do that, the laws are there for a reason wilbur."

a huff. "a terrible reason." wilbur says.

"i'm not revoking those laws, wilbur." dream says sternly.

wilbur seemed to back down a little after after dream said that, in that tone. tommy wondered why he backed down.

wilbur seemed really exhausted, "then at least let us build our country?"

"you built this without my permission wilbur!" dream's hands were flailing everywhere by now, "this is not allowed."

wilbur scoffs, "tough luck dream, i already wrote our declaration of independence."

dream scowls, "let me see the the declaration then, wilbur."

tommy had thought that wilbur would disagree, that wilbur wouldn't let dream see the declaration of independence. after all, they didn't really seem to be on friendly terms right now, they actually seemed to be on really bad terms right now. to his surprise, however, wilbur had agreed.

wilbur sighs, "fine, but let's discuss it on the camarvan."

"lead the way."

wilbur glances at eret, "you're in charge, eret, make sure that they don't do anything stupid."

"what?" tommy speaks up, "why is eret in charge?"

"because he's the second eldest after me tommy." wilbur explains, before walking towards the camarvan, "dream, follow me."

as both of them walk towards the camarvan, eret glances at all three of them.

"you guys should probably go back to building the walls," he says, "i'll help!"

they reluctantly agree, and all four of them immediately start building the walls again, trying to copy the blueprints, eret having to correct them a few times.

a few hours later, the wall was half-way done, and wilbur and dream's talk had ended as well.

the talk didn't really go pleasant, tommy decided, as he stares at dream, obviously angered.

"what happened?" fundy had asked his father, but wilbur just shakes his head.

"nothing... nothing happened."

it didn't really seem like nothing to tommy.

Chapter Text

they finish building the walls for their country the day after wilbur and dream's conversation. and by nighttime, tommy was a bit pissed off at wilbur for not telling him what happened when they talked, about what they had said to each other.

"wil, what did you and dream talk about?" tommy stares at the elder, and for once, there is seriousness in his voice.

a sigh. "i don't want to talk about it tommy." he says it with so much finality.

"but wil-"

wilbur lashes out, "i said no, tommy. can't you just listen!?"

"no," tommy stubbornly says, "i want you to tell me!"

wilbur says nothing, just glances at tommy, sighs, shakes his head, and walks away. (wilbur is always walking away.)

tommy stays standing there, curling his fists in anger.

it starts raining. and he is alone. (he has always been alone.)

he hears footsteps behind him, and he speaks before he can stop himself.

"i'm not a child, he doesn't need to keep secrets from me." tommy snaps. "he shouldn't treat me like-" his voice quivers, "-like i won't understand, cause i will! i will understand!"

the footsteps halt. and the person behind him speaks.

"i know you'll understand tommy," eret says, trying to calm the younger down, "and i know wilbur does too."

tommy started squeezing his wrists as his eyes welled up with tears, "it doesn't seem like it." he says, voice shaky in a brief moment of vulnerability. "it's- it's not fair!"

"no one ever said it was fair, tommy" eret replies, putting a hand on tommy's shoulders, as if to comfort him, "but you should give wilbur a chance, he's just trying to protect you."

"well, i can protect myself perfectly fine." his voice starts getting hoarser and louder, "i don't need him!"

eret stares at the boy who's back is turned against him. "well, it sounds to me like you're trying to convince yourself more than trying to convince us."

"that's not true." he argues, trying to seem angrier. (his sadness seeps in his voice, and eret takes notice of it.)

"you know, he didn't tell me either." eret says, almost nonchalantly.

tommy purses his lips, "then shouldn't you also be mad at him? he's keeping secrets from the rest of us."

eret hums, "not really, because i know he has a good reason, and a good reason is all he really needs."

tommy is silent, for a moment, contemplating.

eret pats him in the head, "you're still young, tommy, there's still so much to learn."

tommy then turns around and glares at eret through teary eyes, "i'm not a child, eret, and i already learned everything i needed to myself." and after a moment's hesitation, "-bitch."

he only laughs, "sure thing, tommy. now wipe those tears, we need to get back to the camarvan, it's raining!"

after tommy wipes his tears, they race towards the camarvan in laughter.

tommy begins to really like eret.

(the morning after, wilbur apologizes to tommy about not telling him, then going of on a tangent of why he wouldn't tell them. as wilbur is ranting, tommy sneaks a glance at eret, who nods. tommy forgives wilbur.)

that afternoon, fundy starts a campfire, and they think of what to do.
they've given their country a name, they've built their walls, what else should countries do?

"what about an anthem?" tubbo suggests, and wilbur smiles.

"i'll go get my guitar-" he says, "you guys stay put."

"of course we would stay put, where else would we go?" tubbo asks, and fundy stifles laughter.

tubbo scowls, "it's not that funny." he says.

"it really isn't." tommy agrees.

(that causes the three younger to playfully argue as eret tries to make them stop.)

"i'm back!" wilbur says, causing them to stop arguing, "let's make our anthem now!"

"let's!" tubbo adds excitedly.

wilbur starts playing a tune, and like clockwork, the rest of them started suggesting lines for their new country's anthem.

"i heard there was a special place..."

wilbur made the first line, and they all collectively agreed that it was good.

"they would- where they would be-" tubbo pauses, "where they would go and..." ("emancipate?" wilbur suggests.) "yeah!"

"where men could go and emancipate."

eret smiles, feeling at peace.

"the brutality, and the tyranny, of their rulers."

"those are some big words, eret." tommy mutters under his breath.

and eret replies, "thank you, tommy."

"well, this is our- shit," tommy pauses, "well, our 'ome is..." he purses his lips, "well, this place is..." he huffs, "wait- stop laughing at me tubbo!" he snaps. (it takes him five minutes to think of a lyric)

"well, this place is real, you needn't fret."

wilbur then glances at fundy, "go on fundy, you can do it!" he encourages.

and fundy- he hesitates. "with wilbur, tommy, tubbo and eret?" he asks.

silence, then-

"what about you fundy?" tubbo asks, and fundy could only shrug.

wilbur hums, "what about- with wilbur, tommy, tubbo, fundy, eret?" he asks.

"sounds good to me big man." tommy says, as eret gives a thumbs up.

fundy smiles brightly, mouthing 'thank you' at his father, in which wilbur returns it with a soft and fond smile.

"with wilbur, tommy, tubbo, fundy, fuck eret."

wilbur smiles at the four of them, strumming his guitar once more.

"it's a very big and-"

tubbo coughs.

there is smoke everywhere.

"our campfire shouldn't have this many smoke!" tommy protests, "what the fuck!?" he screams.

wilbur pulls fundy closer to tubbo, "stay safe and together, you two." he tells them, and fundy nods.

"guys!" eret calls out, "the forest outside l'manberg is on fire!"

tommy and wilbur exchange glances, then run up to where eret is, and they stand at shock at what they see.

the whole forest was on fire, and there was dream, who had been so kind, and sapnap, who had helped them so much, standing in the midst of the burning forest, holding flint and steel.

and dream- dream was shouting now.

tommy doesn't want to hear this, not at all.

"WE ARE AT WAR. WE HAVE NO MERCY. NO MERCY. FOR YOU!"

tubbo is staring at the forest in horror, watching as some of the bees who lived in that forest died to the flames. beside him, fundy glares at dream and sapnap.

tommy curls his hands into a fist.
he wants to stop them. he wants to come down there and face dream and sapnap, because what they were doing wasn't right.

eret stops him. so does wilbur.

"don't do anything stupid, tommy." wilbur whispers in his ear.

"but-"

wilbur gives him a look, and tommy stops struggling, helpless to watch as dream burns down the forest around l'manberg.

"I WANT TO SEE WHITE FLAGS, WHITE FLAGS OUTSIDE YOUR BASE, BY TOMORROW, AT DAWN, OR YOU ARE DEAD!"

Chapter Text

a piglin hybrid stands tall at his private island in one of hypixel's public servers when his communicator started vibrating.

he grabs his communicator and glances at the message written in it. (maybe it's an update on his youngest brother-)

dream: your brother is annoying me.

tommy? TOMMY! what are they doing? maybe it's wilbur. E. guys no it cant be wilbur. it must be tommy! you should ask him which brother it is. YEAH! the dono is right. donoright!! follow the dono!

technoblade sighs, "fine chat, i'll ask dream."

technoblade: which brother?
dream: are you trying to pretend wilbur doesn't exist? that's pretty harsh techno, he's your only brother.

technoblade furrows his eyebrows, "that's strange..." he muttered, "why would dream think that wilbur is my only brother?"

what's going on? DREAM SUS DREAM SUS. you have another brother? E. of course he does. tommy! maybe tommy left the smp? where would he go though? something's wrong, you should tell phil. TELL HIM ABOUT TOMMY! no! don't tell him about tommy! IS TOMMY GONE? dream is so sus. JOIN THE SMP! who cares? just farm potatoes.

technoblade: k.
technoblade: what did he do this time?

wilbur wasn't his most problematic brother, not really. he was the more calm one, really. out of all three of them, technoblade's twin brother was the most responsible and calm one. wilbur had always been praised as a sweet and charismatic young man, and no one believed him when he said that he was the twin brother of the bloodthirsty technoblade.
tommy, on the other hand, was what techno would call a problematic brother. leaving the house without telling anyone, techno hasn't even seen tommy use one of the weapons that he gave tommy. and he had taken it from his enemies to gift to his younger brother because someone told him that gifting things to someone you love shows that you care for them, and he knew that tommy wanted to learn to protect himself so he gave him weapons. (wilbur received armor from his fallen enemies and phil had received whatever golden apples he could get.)

dream: he started a country. in my smp.

technoblade raises an eyebrow. he knows what countries mean for servers, he's heard of smpearth, a famous server that delved deep into chaos and wars because of countries. he knew that wilbur knew of it too, heck- wilbur loved smpearth! it was probably one of his favorite stories, out of the ones phil would tell. why would he start a country if he knew exactly what countries were like? it just, seemed strange and peculiar to him.

dream: and get this, he managed to convince people to join him in his new country, ridiculous!

that gained his interest, because one of them might be tommy. one of the people that could possibly join wilbur in his new country was tommy, their littlest brother.

technoblade: who did he manage to get on his side?

after sending it and not getting a response in the first few minutes, technoblade was starting to get a little bit impatient. what was taking dream so long to answer him?

impatientblade. impatientblade. E. LOL TECHNO SO IMPATIENT. we want answers too!! be patient. why u so impatient? IMPATIENTBLADE! IMPATIENTBLADE. technoimpatient.

....and now chat was spamming impatientblade. brilliant.

"chat, i'm not impatient." techno refutes. "i'm not- bruuuuh."

dream: tommy, tubbo, someone named eret, and get this. his fox son, fundy.

"aha! so tommy is in the server and with wilbur. that's good to know." techno mutters to himself, "tubbo- seems familiar, i don't think i know an eret though, and-" he pauses. then slowly types in a response.

technoblade: son?? as in, actual son? and it's a fox?

"it's probably not his actual son," techno tells himself, "it's probably nothing-"

dream responds. and he looks at his communicator.

dream: yeah, i know.
dream: your brother is weird.

"huuuh?" techno exclaims in shock, "how did he get away with this without me and phil knowing?" he cries out, "how did wil-" he stops talking to type.

technoblade: i know dream, i used to live with him
technoblade: but i know you didn't just come here to whine about that
technoblade: what do you want from me?

there. just, ignore the thing about wilbur's son. (wilbur was gonna be in trouble with phil for that one.)

dream: come to the smp and sort your brother out?
dream: i already have a whitelisted card ready for you

"okay good, dream ignored the thing about wilbur's son too." technoblade muttered, before furrowing his eyebrows at what dream had written.

technoblade: i'm currently in a war dream.

technoblade stares at his communicator for a second, "if he says he doesn't know anything about my war, i'm revoking our rivalship. i'm serious, chat."

dream: oh yeah, your potato war.
dream: so you're not joining the smp?

technojoin! JOIN THE SMP!! smp sounds really fun techno! you should probably join! DON'T JOIN! that's strange. JJOIN! JOIN! JOIN! but the potato war- he should just join. no techno don't join! JOIN!

"chat, shut up-"

technoblade: maybe after the potato war.

"look chat, it seems like stalling, but i'm actually serious about joining after the potato war, i swear." techno says. (chat doesn't really believe him.)

dream: okay techno, bye.
technoblade: bye dream.

TELL PHILZA. tell phil. DADZA SHOULD KNOW. techno please tell dadza. dadza deserves to know! something is wrong in the smp. DADZA DADZA DADZA. what is he gonna tell phil anyways? E. why does he need to tell phil? because DADZA pog. chat shut up challenge. PHILZA POG!

technoblade huffs and scrolls through his communicator, "yeah yeah chat, i'm telling phil, now can you guys shut up for a minute?"

you whispered to ph1lza: i have something to tell you, it's about tommy and wilbur.

[ERROR! MESSAGE CANNOT BE SENT! EITHER THE PERSON YOU ARE CONTACTING HAS BROKEN THEIR COMMUNICATOR OR THEY ARE IN A PRIVATE WORLD AND CANNOT BE CONTACTED.]

technoblade sighs, "phil must be in one of his hardcore servers, i'll just send him a letter instead." he murmurs, grabbing a pen and paper.

"dear phil," he starts writing, telling phil all about what dream told him, of his suspicions, and he asks what they should do, in the end, he writes-

from your son, technoblade.

Chapter Text

there is smoke everywhere. a blazing fire rages in the forest surrounding the walls of their new country, 'sapnap started this,' he tells himself, but it is hard to imagine- sapnap, who has helped him countless times, sapnap- "call me big brother, tommy! you too, tubbo, call me big brother!".

sapnap. who he can no longer trust. ("i can't believe he would do this..." tubbo murmured. tommy hugs him.)

a loud voice echoes, words aimed at them with the purpose of being a threat. it is dream who says those words. 'no mercy.' his once big brother shouts. the one that taught them most of the things they learned once they got on this server. dream, who- "if someone ever hurts you, just tell me, okay? i'm the admin, i'll take care of you two."

dream. who no longer trusts him. ("dream- i just want to talk!" the mask stares at him, so detached. dream turns away from him.)

tommy stares out at the decimated forest, what once was a beautiful and lushful green landscape, and he thinks. he thinks of what he could have possibly done wrong for them to do what they did. shouldn't they feel proud? dream, sapnap, george- they told him stories of how it was like to run servers, isn't he practically doing the same thing?
as he mulls around, trying to figure out what went wrong, footsteps could be heard from behind him.

"tommy."

he nearly screams, "wilbur!" he cries out, turning around to stare at the older boy, "you scared me, you fucker!" he curses him out.

wilbur laughs, "tommy, you were so easy to scare, just sitting there!"

tommy scowls, "what do you want, wil?" he asks.

"everyone else is at the campfire," wilbur says, "i've kind of got a surprise, toms." he adds.

that piqued his interest, "a surprise?" tommy asks.

wilbur nods, "yeah, a surprise, now come on!" he says, leading tommy towards the campire, where the others were already seated.

tommy takes a seat next to tubbo, who smiles brightly next to him.

wilbur sits beside fundy, glancing at the other four members of l'manberg. "you guys remember what happened yesterday, right?" he asks.

beside him, tommy feels tubbo shift in his seat, he sneaks a glance at the older boy and finds tubbo looking away, probably uncomfortable.
eret sighs and nods, while fundy purses his lips and looks down.

"no one could really forget it, wilbur." tommy finds himself saying, "is that why you gathered us?" he asked, "are we planning revenge?"

eret raises an eyebrow, "revenge?" he echoes, in which tommy nods.

"no, tommy." wilbur says, almost reprimanding, in a way, "revenge-" he scowls, "it's not good, it consumes a person's being tommy, it destroys people. you-" a frustrated sigh. "-you don't want revenge."

"they just destroyed the forests around our country, wilbur!" tommy nearly shouts, "what are we supposed to do about that, nothing!?" he adds, angered.

a shift. someone stands up, "tommy, calm down." eret says, "nothing good will come out from infighting." he says.

"i say we just let them fight it out." tubbo suggests, "to relieve some stress."

fundy looks at him like he was crazy, "what? no! we should not do that, are you insane?" ("maybe.") "-tubbo, what the- nevermind." he shakes his head.

"i didn't mean nothing." wilbur says, "we obviously aren't going to do nothing, tommy."

"then what are we going to do!?"

wilbur glances at tommy with soft eyes, "plant trees would be a good start." he says. causing fundy and eret to stare at him in disbelief.

tommy huffs, "they would just burn it again," he retaliates, "tubbo back me up."

"to be fair to tommy," tubbo says, "it would be very easy for them to just burn the place again."

tommy scowls, "we need to fight back!" he insists.

wilbur sighs, "what we need to do, is to use words." he explains, "violence will only gain us enemies-"

"-but they're already our enemies!" tubbo interrupts, almost outraged.

fundy purses his lips, "...i don't think we're ready for full out war against them though," he says, and well- it was true.

wilbur smiles at his son, "thank you fundy, at least someone understands." he says.

tommy huffs, his arms crossed above his chest, tubbo doing the same.

"if we don't fight back, l'manberg will be nothing but a crater in the end." tommy argues, using exaggeration to further his statement.

wilbur softly smiles, "but we will fight back tommy." he tells the younger.

"how?"

"with our words." wilbur says. earning a confused look from tommy.

"our words!?" tommy complains, causing eret to sigh.

"wilbur is right," eret says, "nothing good really comes from countries declaring war. especially if unprovoked." eret had, after all, heard all about smpearth, of the countless countries and the even more countless wars.

tubbo scowls, "but they were the ones who attacked us! we have to attack them!" ("yeah!")

wilbur sighs, "tommy."

"yes, wilbur?" he asked, frustration obvious in his tone.

he sighs, "i don't believe that violence is the best answer, i will always believe that using our words is better," (a scoff. "of course you do, you prick.") "-but, i am allowing you to gain materials and resources for war."

tommy's eyes glittered in excitement.

"but, we will not attack unprovoked, understand?" wilbur adds, sternly.

all four of them nod in agreement.

wilbur smiles, "now, i have something for all of you." he says, causing them all to glance at each other.

"since we're now a country, i decided to get us all uniforms!" he exclaims, handing them all boxes.

inside the box, was an outfit that would later be referred to as the famous revolutionary outfit, but for now, it was nothing special, just another outfit to symbolize their unity.

tubbo smiles, "it looks really cool!" he exclaims.

"why is mine different?" fundy asks, looking at his, which had more vibrant colors.

"who cares?" tommy asked, grabbing both of them and dragging them away, "let's get changed!"

as wilbur stares at the younger trio with a fond smile, eret glances at his communicator, a confused expression in his face as he glances at the message he received.

"wilbur, i need to go do something." eret says, and wilbur nods, waving him off.

eret glances at his communicator again as he exits l'manberg's border, a thousand questions raging on his head as he heads towards the community house.

georgenotfound whispered to you: meet me at the community house, i need to tell you something

Chapter Text

the war had officially started, but the actual war- the attacks- it began a week later.

it doesn't start with a bang, like most wars do, it starts quiet. (too quiet-)

it starts with the trees inside the areas of l'manberg, with them being set in fire. it is reminiscent of the deadly flames outside l'manberg who had burnt down every single tree outside their borders- (wilbur and fundy replanted them, but they had been burnt down before they even managed to grow.)
it starts with alyssa being found within their borders, and in rage, tommy and tubbo had chased her out.
it ends terribly. (all wars do.)

"do you think alyssa burned the trees down?" tubbo asks, as the both of them sprinted towards her, crossing into dream smp territory.
beside him, tommy scowls, "if she did, she's gonna have to pay for it." he muttered, sprinting faster, trying to catch up.

(if it were a week ago, he wouldn't have believed that alyssa would do this, he wouldn't have believed that sapnap, dream or george could do this. but now- tommy is starting to see them as enemies that cannot be trusted. brothers no longer, just enemies on opposite sides.)

"leave me alone!" alyssa shouts behind her, running faster, as to not get caught.

"no!" tommy replies, "you burnt down the trees, alyssa!"

"i didn't"

tubbo huffs, "don't lie to us!"

alyssa doesn't respond, instead, she turns a sharp left, exiting what was once the street that tommy and tubbo had once lived in before l'manberg, but had no been mostly left untouched. (sometimes, dream, sapnap and george would go there, at the homes that tommy and tubbo had proudly made.)

as alyssa hurried down the stairs and tommy and tubbo moved to follow her, the entirety of the dream team, as well as punz, appeared in front of the two of them, as if they were defending alyssa from the both of them.

tommy and tubbo skidded to a halt, tommy aiming a glare at alyssa from behind the dream team.

"what are you two doing here?"

tommy shifts his gaze from alyssa to dream, who had spoken. he stares at the porcelain mask and the smiley face that was on it, somehow, it seemed so cold and distant, it didn't seem as warm as it did, before he and tubbo had joined l'manberg. in a moment of hesitance, he glances at sapnap, george and punz, who all had varying expressions of indifference.

tubbo takes a deep breath, and he takes the lead, "we found alyssa inside l'manberg's walls, and the trees were on fire, so we chased her out because we think she did." he explains.

george raises an eyebrow, "then why are you still chasing her?" he asks, "you're no longer in your territory, you're in our territory now." he said rather pointedly, "in fact, you've been in our territory for quite a while now." he adds.

tommy arches his eyebrows, and glares at george, "because we need to catch her, obviously, you fuckers, you absolute-"

"tommy, shut up."

his attention snaps to dream, and he could feel the icy demeanor that the older man had.

"we can do this the easy way," he says, "you could leave," dream continues, "run back to your country."

in a burst of courage, "we're not leaving." tommy says, interrupting dream.

"the hard way it is, then." dream says, and the four of them lunge at the duo.

tubbo yanks tommy and immediately drags him back towards l'manberg, "we should have picked the easy way!" tubbo says, as they run.

they run and they run and they run and slowly, the dream team were catching up to them.

it is not until they were safely inside l'manberg's walls that they stop running, trying to catch their breath.

"what's going on here?" wilbur asks, glancing at their enemies, who stood outside their walls.

as dream explained what was happening, fundy and eret exited the camarvan to join them, and they only heard the last part of what dream said.

"-will blow up l'manberg with a piece of TNT." and as he says, he puts down a singular piece of TNT. (and while his face is still covered by the mask, tommy couldn't help but feel a shiver down his spine.)

"what is dream planning?" tubbo whispers to his ear, but tommy does not know, all he can do is shrug.

wilbur stares at the singular TNT they placed on they placed at the ground, and he scoffs, as if to say, 'i'm not scared of your one piece of trinitrotoluene.'

"independence, or death." he begins, tommy, tubbo, fundy and eret standing behind him, "if we get no revolution, then we want nothing, we would rather die than give in to you and join you smp." he finishes.

"we will light the TNT wilbur," dream warns, the rest of his allies standing away.

wilbur scoffs, "one piece of TNT isn't gonna destroy l'manberg, dream."

dream shrugs, "suit yourself." he says, and lights the TNT.

it explodes, and so does the ones that were hidden and underground, throwing the nation into turmoil.

there are multiple explosions and there is chaos and shouting everywhere and so much smoke. (since when did l'manberg have bombs beneath their land?)

"what are we gonna do now?" tubbo asks, and as wilbur was about to speak.

"follow me, gentlemen." eret says, walking towards a one of their hills, brushing aside the dirt to reveal a door, "i've been preparing something," he says, opening the door to reveal a tunnel, "something that could help us win the war."

wilbur looks impressed, "lead the way then." he says, as eret enters the tunnel, the rest of them doing the same.

"this way, gentlemen!" eret says in hushed whispers, leading them through a tunnel, "i'm excited to show you!"

the rest of them follow along, trying hard not to make too loud of a noise.

"they will never suspect a thing." eret tells them. (who is 'they', tommy wonders later, was it the dream team, or was it them who had never suspected a thing.)

he leads them upwards some stairs, and into a room with a sign above it, naming it as the 'final control room'.

they all looked at it in awe and shock, because they never even knew that eret was doing something like this. and tommy smiles, because maybe this, this could help them win.

the final control room was made out of some sort of black material, (blackstone, tommy realizes later) and there were five chests in it, each of them labelled with their names. what interested tommy the most though, was this button in the center of the room.

as the rest of them went over to their chests, tommy instead glances at the button, "what does this button do?" he asks, glancing over at eret.

"wait, there's nothing in the chests-"

eret pushes it, and something- (the walls) open up, and chaos ensues.

"down with the revolution boys," ("what?") "it was never meant to be." he says, as the dream team ambush them.

in the midst of the chaos, wilbur could be heard- "you traitor!"

tubbo_ was slain by sapnap
tubbo_ has two lives left remaining.

tubbo's death doesn't register at his mind as he hear's wilbur's hoarse screams, telling them all to get out.

so tommy tries, he looks around wildly and he runs. trying to book it out of here, when-

tommyinnit hit the ground too hard whilst trying to escape from dream
tommyinnit has two lives left remaining.

not even a second later, it is followed by-

wilbursoot was slain by punz
wilbursoot has two lives left remaining.

and as tommy respawns back at the camarvan, he glances at his communicator just in time for-

itsfundy was slain by georgenotfound
itsfundy has two lives left remaining.

"are you guys okay?" wilbur asks, hands shaking as his son finally respawns after a few seconds.

tubbo bites his lip, "we- we're fine, wilbur." he murmurs.

"they'll pay for this, okay?" wilbur whispers, "they'll-"

tommy curls his fists and moves, ready to leave the camarvan.

"-tommy?"

he ignores wilbur and exits the camarvan, the rest following behind him. and lo and behold, there is eret, on the walls that they built, alongside the dream team.

"eret, how could you?" wilbur says, the first to speak.

tubbo, near tears, shouts, "eret, i farmed with you for hours-"

eret laughs, "i saw the better deal, gentlemen!" he says.

(there is rain, and a man comforts a teenager. he says many things, inspiring him to- ...no more.)

"it sounds to me, like you're trying to convince yourself, rather than convince us." tommy says, mirroring his words.

eret stares at him, "a good reason is all i need, tommy." he replies, and tommy grits his teeth at that.

"eret." he glances at him, "eret, listen to me-" tommy says, his voice full of unbridled rage, "and i mean this in the nicest way possible-"

"you fucked up."

Chapter Text

dream, sapnap, george, punz and eret stand atop the walls, looking around, as if they were surveying the damage that they had caused l'manberg. tommy curls his fists and glares up at them.

"you should give up," dream says, and though the mask is concealing his face, tommy can tell- he is smug. that only makes him more angry.

wilbur's hands are balled into fists, and his shoulders are tense, tommy gives him a side glance, and he speaks- "why don't we use our words, dream?" he says, as if suggesting tea to a friend.
tommy and tubbo look at him incredulously, and fundy sighs.

dream moves one of his hands underneath his chin, "words, wilbur?" he asks, "yes, let's use our words." he looks down at all of them, "you should use your words to surrender."

wilbur frowns, "i'm afraid, i really can't do that, dream."

dream takes out his crossbow and loads it with an arrow, before aiming it at their general direction. "let me try again," he says, "surrender."

tubbo takes out two iron swords, handing one to tommy, ("tubbo, how do you have swords?" "i was the first to respawn, remember? as soon as i respawned, i went to one of our supplies chest and was able to craft two swords, i also grabbed a spare bow and a stone axe." "tubbo, you are such a genius.") the aforementioned stone axe was given to fundy, leaving the bow and what few arrows tubbo had (barely sixteen arrows- but it will be enough.) to be wilbur's.

"no." wilbur says, newfound confidence surging as he glances at his allies, "i'm afraid we will not surrender."

a pause, then-

dream aims the crossbow at tubbo and he shoots. ("tubbo-") it felt so quick and tommy felt like he couldn't do anything, (so helpless, do something do something do something-) and fundy yanks tubbo out the way, the arrow flies past his cheek, barely hitting him and it hits the ground. tubbo stares at the arrow in shock, and he slowly raises a hand towards where the arrow had grazed it, and when he removed his hand, a liquid red substance was at his fingers.

wilbur aims an arrow at dream, and in response, he loads his crossbow once more and aims it at tommy instead. a second passes. then another, and another. then wilbur drops the arrow, looking sullenly at the ground.

"dream," wilbur says, voice heavy, "we surrender."

the younger three stare at him, disbelief and shock obvious in their expressions.

"what-" tommy steps forward, placing a hand on wilbur's shoulder and yanking him firmly to make the older face him, "what- what are you doing? what are you saying, wil?" he asks, voice almost desperate.

l'manberg- l'manberg was his new home now, he can't lose it, why would wilbur, why would he ever-

wilbur looks at him with fond eyes and a fond smile and he wants to be angry, "i'm doing what i need to do, tommy." he says.

"no. you're not." tommy's eyes are filled with anger, and he glances at the dream team, at punz, at eret- at the five of them who stand atop their walls, looking smug as if they had won. (they hadn't. they hadn't they hadn't theyhadn't-) he wouldn't let him.

dream laughs, "i'm afraid that you are surrendering, tommy." he says, the slight tilt in his voice suggesting the fact that he was smiling.

"dream- dream, yeah, you know what, you know what, dream?" tommy says, voice full of anger as he walks forward, towards the walls. (wilbur moves as well, trying to catch up with the storm that is tommy.)
tommy aims a finger towards dream, "why don't we fight right now dream?" ("tommy-") "yeah, why don't we fight right now dream-" (wilbur is closer now.)
his gaze is full of anger and wrath and so so red, "why don't we have a one by one duel dream? let's have a bow duel dream-"

wilbur places a hand on tommy's shoulder and pulls at him, making the younger turn around, "tommy, calm!" he says, as he puts both of his hands on tommy's shoulders. wilbur stares at this young man (teenagerteenagerteenager he's just a teenager why don't they-) and he whispers, "your passion will get you nowhere tommy, use your wits instead."

tommy stops, eyes widening as he stares at wilbur. his shoulders are still tense and he is still angry, he still wants to duel dream and fight for l'manberg-

wilbur looks away from tommy and raises his gaze to dream, "dream," he greets, "while we may had our disagreements, i assure you, tommy does not speak for me, what he says is-"

"i'll take the duel."

wilbur freezes, "what?" he asks, "i'm sorry dream, can you repeat that for me?"

"i said, i'll take the duel," dream repeats, "one of the rules did say something about a fight to the death if both parties agreed."

(tommy doesn't realize this until much later- dream was giving him an out, the rule stated that both parties had to agree to duel, he didn't have to agree.)

tommy shrugs wilbur's hands off of him and turns around to face dream, "i agree." he says.

"then it's settled then," dream hums, "on the bridge, as the sun sets, we duel for l'manberg's freedom."

he nods, "we duel for l'manberg's freedom."

dream smiles, he looks at the sun and says, "the sun sets at an hour tommy, be sure to be ready." he warns, as they leave.

"i will." tommy whispers.

the hour passed rather quickly, a bit too quick for tommy actually. he felt like a mere seconds ago, he was just standing there, challenging dream to a bow duel, and now, he was at the bridge, clutching wilbur's bow as he watches the sun set.

dream stands at the other end of the bridge and tommy- tommy feels fear.

"wilbur, what- what happens if i miss?" he asks, looking at the elder, who can only sigh.

he pats him in the shoulder, "well, you wanted this duel." tommy purses his lips.

wilbur moves to stand at the center, but before he could, tommy grabs him by the wrist, and he says- "do i shoot him wil, or do i aim for the skies?"

his expression softens, "i want you to do whatever your hearts says, tommy." he replies, as he walks toward the center.

tommy meets dream at the center and both of them stare at wilbur, who speaks.

"i want a fair fight, alright." wilbur says, "if dream wins, l'manberg will not gain it's independence, but if tommyinnit wins, l'manberg will gain it's independece, is that clear?" both of them nod, and wilbur looks satisfied, "now, shake hands, turn around, and once i'll count you down."

the two of them shake hands, and turn around, their back's facing each other.

"one."

both of them take a step.

"two."

tommy takes a breath as he takes another step.

"three."

he takes a smaller step this time, no one really calls him out for this.

"four."

he starts loading his bow with an arrow.

"five."

he can hear dream take a step. was it a small one or a big one?

"six."

he glances at his bow and arrows as he takes another step.

"seven."

he want's to shoot dream, he really does-

"eight."

he stares at his reflection on the water. (why did he look so scared?)

"nine."

he ignores his trembling hands and gets ready to shoot.

"ten paces, fire."

he turns around and shoots. (he misses.)
tommy's eyes widen, and he dodges an arrow that dream shoots at him before fumbling with his bow, trying to load it with an arrow.
as he aims at dream, he looks up too late and can only see the arrow coming straight at his face.

"TOMMY-!"

tommyinnit was shot by dream
tommyinnit has one life left remaining.

Chapter Text

tommy opens his eyes and finds himself at the camarvan again. he sits up from the bed and buries his face in his hands. the one chance to gain l'manberg's freedom, and he absolutely blew it, he failed everyone and it's his fault that they aren't independent. (how did he miss?)

he takes a deep breath and stand up, leaving the camarvan. he looks around at the ruins of l'manberg before full on sprinting towards the bridge. (where he died- he's on his last life)

when he gets there, dream is waiting for him, and the rest of the members of l'manberg all look solemn. he glances at dream and opens his mouth-

"dream, can we talk privately?" he asks.

dream tilts his head, "very well, the rest of you should leave us."

george and eret move to leave, though sapnap didn't seem very keen to leave and punz had to drag him away. fundy, wilbur and tubbo looked hesitant to leave as well, but tommy gives them all a look and tubbo- tubbo pulls the others away, the trio moving towards the general area of where once stood- where l'manberg is. was.

"so, what did you wanna talk about, tommy?" dream asks, and tommy frowns. dream doesn't ruffle his hair or take his mask off. dream doesn't smile and joke and oh god tommy feels so so cold.

tommy plays with the hem of his l'manberg uniform, (a trait he picked up from sapnap) and he speaks, "i want to make a deal with you dream."

dream raises an eyebrow, "a deal about what?" he asks.

"l'manberg's independence."

dream taps his foot at the wooden bridge, "you lost the duel tommy." he says, "that means that l'manberg can't be independent." then he turns around, ready to leave.

tommy grips the jacket of his l'manberg uniform, "what if i give you something?" he asks.

dream halts in his step. "and what will you give me?" he asks.

tommy wracks his mind, trying to find something he owned that dream could possibly want, but he comes up with nothing. everything he had, it was either dream already had it or dream had something better than it. finally, he decides to say- "well, what do you want from me?"

dream turns to look at him, "you'll give me anything?" he asks.

a nod. "anything."

there is a shadow of a smile on dream's face, and tommy thinks that he's almost won, (he hasn't, he really hasn't) but what dream says next is not what he could have ever predicted.

"i want both of your discs. cat and mellohi."

tommy pales.

(tommy sits next to dream on the bench, mellohi playing in the background. it is peaceful, calm.

"what's the story behind your discs, tommy?" dream asks, all of the sudden, "you brought the discs here and you almost always play them everyday."

tommy smiles, "they were a gift from tubbo!" he explains, "he gave it to me when we were young, and i've kept it ever since." he looks fondly at the jukebox, carrying the tune of mellohi. "tubbo's favorite disc was cat, and since he gave me a cat disc, it's almost like cat is mine and tubbo's disc now, it symbolizes our friendship."

dream raises an eyebrow, "just cat and not mellohi?" he asks.

he looks away, "mellohi- it's my favorite disc. it's yours too, right?" tommy asks, "sapnap said it was."

dream nods, "yeah, it's one of the best discs."

"then in some ways, i guess mellohi is our disc." tommy says nonchalantly, "like- cat symbolizes me and tubbo, so i guess mellohi symbolizes you and me."

after a a beat, tommy looks away, face flushed red with embarrassment, "you could forget i said that, i-"

"no." dream smiles as tommy looks at him, "i quite like that. mellohi is you and me."

a bright smile appears on tommy's face and they both relax, listening to the tune of mellohi in the background.)

"dream-" tommy's eyes are filled with disbelief, "you know what those discs mean dream, why would you-" he almost sounds desperate.

dream nods, "i do know what those discs mean, it's exactly the reason i want them."

"but-"

dream interrupts him. "tommy, do you want l'manberg to be free or not?" he asks.

"the discs- they're too important, dream!" he protests.

dream sighs, "fine, you give me mellohi and cat, and in exchange, i'll give you l'manberg's independence and spirit." (spirit could be leverage._

silence.

tommy takes a deep breath because he can't understand why dream would do this, why dream would make him choose between the discs and l'manberg. and he thinks- the discs. the discs are tommy and tubbo and dream and their friendship, the discs are the first things that were genuinely given to him and he doesn't want to let them go but l'manberg is tommy and tubbo and wilbur and fundy and eret and for so many more people, and it is freedom and fairness and why does he have to choose? why can't he just have them both?

dream places an ender chest down and tommy stares at it. after a beat, he approaches the ender chest and opens it, hands shaking as he grabs his discs. he turns around to face dream and-

he hands dream the discs. he hands cat and mellohi to dream. the symbol of his friendship given away.

dream takes the discs, then he glances at tommy, and for a split second, tommy thought he could see a hint of regret before it disappears.

"l'manberg is free now, tommy." dream says, picking the ender chest up again and walking away, "it is free now."

tommy stares at dream's retreating back. "l'manberg is free now," he echoes, "but at what cost?"

after a few moments, he runs back towards l'manberg.

they are free, he should be happy. but why does his heart feel so heavy?

he returns to l'manberg and he tells them of what had occurred.

"we are free!" he says, trying to sound happy.

wilbur praises him, (it makes him so happy and warm inside) and fundy smiles, excited at the prospect of freedom. tommy is almost bitter at their happiness, but why should he? they don't know the true meaning of those discs. so tommy pushes the bitterness away and tries hard to celebrate.

dream, george, sapnap, punz and eret show up. they call wilbur "president soot" and wilbur smiles and says, "suck it green boy!" in the loudest voice he could muster. (they all laugh.)

(tommy couldn't help but eavesdrop on the five of them, they were having a conversation just outside l'manberg's walls!

"-and eret, you're king of the smp now." he hears dream say, and he freezes. because is that what eret exchanged l'manberg for? kingship?

"what?" he hears eret's voice, "but that wasn't our deal! you said you'd tell me how to-"

dream interrupts him, "deals change."

he gains more questions than answers at that conversation.)

wilbur and fundy may not know the meaning behind those discs, but tubbo does though. and when hours later, tubbo and tommy sit at the bench, it is awfully silent and awkward and tommy hates it. (there is no cat playing in the background.)

tubbo asks why he gave the discs away, and tommy reasons with him. ("it's for l'manberg!" he had said.) the two of them try to find new discs, to maybe fill the hole. they find blocks, but it's not the same. (blocks plays in the background, but tommy would give up so much just to hear cat instead.)

the weeks after that pass quickly. l'manberg gains two new members, someone named jack manifold, and a woman that wilbur had met in his many adventures, someone named niki nihachu. they both fit in very quickly, with jack becoming friendly with tommy and tubbo, and niki becoming close with wilbur and his son, fundy.

it is only when a new member joins, quackity, does problems start to show up.

tommy and tubbo like quackity, he is funny and loud and so just like them. but wilbur- wilbur didn't like him very much, but it was just probably because of his ideals. quackity had called it unfair, that wilbur was a self proclaimed president, and he had come close to comparing him to a tyrant, which wilbur didn't like very much.

tommy thinks that might be the reason that wilbur is standing in front of his house, smiling.

"tommy, people seem to think it's unfair i'm president, why don't we hold an election?"

Chapter Text

tommy blinks, staring at the older boy, trying to study his expression.

"are you fucking serious?" he asked, "an election?" he echoes, "why the fuck would you want an election, wil?"

wilbur sighs, "first of all, stop cursing tommy-" ("you can't tell me what to do, fucker!") "-i told you to stop," wilbur says, looking at the younger boy sternly, before continuing, "and second of all, i'm getting tired of quackity undermining my authority and challenging it and calling me a tyrant, because i'm not, right tommy?" wilbur asks, looking at the younger, (tommy can only nod.) at tommy's nod, wilbur looks satisifed, "and this election, will prove i'm not a tyrant." he adds.

tommy wasn't about to say it, but an election seemed kind of dumb and stupid. wilbur was president by default because he started l'manberg, he was one of the founders, didn't that mean that he didn't need to prove shit to anyone? heck- even dream, the admin of the server, called wilbur 'president soot', that probably means something.

you know what? fuck it. he's saying it.

"i think that this is a really stupid idea wilbur."

wilbur frowns, "no, it's really not," he says, "come on, doesn't an election sound fun, tommy?" he asks.

"i think it sounds very boring." tommy replies.

wilbur pats him on the head, "i don't think you'll find it very boring when i ask you if you want to run as my running mate at the election." he offers.

tommy blinks, "i don't know what that means, wilbur." he admits.

"it means, tommy, that you'll become my vice president when we win." wilbur tells him.

tommy's eyes brighten up, sure, he wasn't very familiar with elections and what they do, or what to do, but positions of power? tommy loved positions of power. people in positions of power always had the good shit and they get to boss people around. tommy loved bossing people around!

though....

"just vice president?" he asks, "and not, you know, president president?" he asks.

wilbur laughs, "tommy, you're never gonna be president, i'm gonna be president." he says.

tommy pretends that it doesn't hurt, being told that you'd never be president, but it's fine. it's fine! wilbur started l'manberg, it was only fair that he gets to be president, besides- wilbur might decide to give tommy presidentship one day!

('but you gave your discs up for l'manberg's freedom!' a voice inside his head says, he ignores it.)

"how are you so sure that we'll win?" tommy asks, confused, because, well, not everything is predictable and some thing actually end up the way that you don't want them to be.

wilbur smiles mischievously at the younger, "well, tommy, it's because we'll be the only one's running, which means that we win automatically!"

that...probably wasn't very morally right for them to do (but knowing wilbur, that wasn't where his priorities lay), but tommy would be lying if he said that he wouldn't like a guaranteed victory, heck- everyone probably liked guaranteed victories!

it was still kind of wrong though, and it kinda of felt like cheating to him.

"right..." tommy says, trying hard to smile, "ah- where's tubbo?" he asks, discretely trying to change the topic.

"tubbo's in l'manberg." wilbur responds, "he's gonna build this huge podium for the election, wanna come see?" he asks.

tommy nods, it would be nice to see the podium and how l'manberg had changed since he last saw it. (and though tommy would never admit it, it would be nice to see tubbo again as well.)

wilbur then leads tommy towards l'manberg, chattering on about his plans for the election, and tommy follows, inserting his opinion every now and then.

they reach l'manberg, finally, and tommy smiles at the sight of it.

the black walls that eret helped make stood tall, surrounding the l'manberg's initial lands, which held the camarvan, where they would do their drugs, a little jukebox area in the middle of the river, which they had built after the war, to commemorate tommy's sacrifice of giving the discs to dream, and it held a little house full of materials that they had used during the war.

the war had torn l'manberg apart, destruction had come and go and they had rebuilt. and now, in the lands surrounding l'manberg, where once stood an abundance of trees, a forest- (it had been burnt down, long before, it was burned down as they declared war on the ones that they could not control.) there were now plains. just outside the walls, there was tubbo, building a massive wooden podium, and beside it was a tall building that tommy had not seen before.

"tommy!" tubbo exclaimed at the sight of the younger blond.

tommy smiles, approaching the podium, "tubbo!" he exclaims, a smile on his face.

"i'm building this podium for the election that wilbur keeps talking about, wanna help?" tubbo asks, eyes twinkling with happiness and excitement.

tommy was about to decline, make up an excuse about how he was with wilbur and they needed to go somewhere else, but when he turned around to look at wilbur, he was arguing with quackity about something- (probably the election) and let's be honest here, tommy really does not want to get involved in that shit.

"sure, tubbo." he says instead, and tubbo gives him some wooden planks and they get to building the podium.

half an hour later, quackity leaves and wilbur approaches the two younger boys, a scowl on his face.

"what was that all about?" tubbo asks, and wilbur scowls even further.

a huff. "just quackity complaining about how the election can't be fair because there's only one party running." wilbur says, "and then saying that he's gonna be running against me just so that it could be fair."

tommy and tubbo exchange glances, "so what happened next, then?" tommy asks.

"well, we decided that the first event for the election is to have endorsement speeches." wilbur says.

"what?" tubbo asks, "we don't really know what you're talking about wilbur." he says.

wilbur purses his lips, trying to find a way to explain it easily, "well," he says, "it's kind of like finding someone important or famous- or just someone who's word holds a lot of power and influence, and you basically get them to say that you would be great for presidency." he explains.

both tommy and tubbo nod in understanding, then tommy stops.

"wait- who are we gonna get for our endorsement?" he asks, confused.

wilbur smiles, "don't worry tommy, i have just the person for it." he reassures him, "i'll ask dream for a whitelisted card and then send him a letter with the card, it'll be fine." he adds.

later, wilbur begins to draft the letter that he wa supposed to send, he hadn't gotten the whitelisted card yet, but that was fine, that was a problem for later, now though, he needed to draft a basic idea for the letter he was going to send.

dear jschlatt,

Chapter Text

wilbur soot remembers a time when he was young, a child, and he didn't really know much about the world.

wilbur doesn't really remember his real parents, but he does remember this dark haired woman with a bright smile, picking him up and bringing him home, giving him a family after he was abandoned by his.

her name was kristen, and she must have been an angel. it didn't really take long for wilbur to start referring to her as his mother.

when kristen introduced him to her husband, someone named phil, who had grey wings, that solidified his thought that she was an angel. after all, her husband had wings, that must mean that she was an angel too, right?

not even a year later, phil had brought home a piglin hybrid from his trips to the nether and wilbur had rejoiced at the fact that he was getting a brother. the piglin hybrid had been named technoblade by phil, and while wilbur thought the name was a little silly, he still adored technoblade all the same. (during his birthday, they learned that that technoblade didn't know his own birthday, so wilbur demanded that phil light the candles again for techno. they shared a birthday after that.)

he remembers being such a happy family, he was young, but he knew that they were the perfect family. it all changed though, when kristen became pregnant.

wilbur didn't like the idea of sharing his mom with a baby, sure, techno was there, but techno was more phil's kid than kristen, he didn't have to worry about techno stealing kristen away, but the baby? the baby was definitely going to steal kristen's attention away from him.

"what do you guys want to name the baby?" kristen asks, a hand on her baby bump.

phil laughs, "why don't we let the boys decide?" he suggests.

technoblade comes up with the idea of naming the baby theseus if it was a boy and ariadne if it was a girl. wilbur thinks that it's stupid to name the baby fancy names that they probably couldn't pronounce, so he suggests thomas for a boy and clementine for a girl.

kristen laughs and ruffles his hair, "a tommy or a theseus, an ariadne or a clementine." she murmurs, and wilbur blinks.

tommy sounds pretty good, actually.

kristen smiles, looking at her baby bump fondly, and wilbur thinks that maybe- just maybe, he could learn to love the baby, just as long as the baby didn't hurt their mom.

(the day at the hospital, wilbur emerges with a new brother and no mother. he glares at the baby- 'theseus' as their father named him. it's his fault that mom was gone. his fault that the one person who payed attention to him was gone. theseus is a stupid name and he's probably a stupid baby and he hates him.)

a few years after theseus was born, phil started leaving home, sometimes taking techno with him, which left wilbur with stupid baby theseus at home.

sometimes, when theseus' wails grew loud, he would play a guitar to calm him, and when theseus would open his eyes, wilbur would see their mom, who was always so kind and loved him the most and it hurts so much.

since phil and techno were always leaving, and wilbur and theseus were always left home, he actually got pretty attached to the little annoying baby. (he started hating phil and techno for leaving.)

"theseus-" wilbur calls out, after a long day of playing, then he stops himself.

kristen seemed happy with the name tommy, besides, it was a nickname from the name he suggested, and it certainly suited the little hellion better.

when a young theseus, barely a toddler, appears before him, he kneels down and smiles, "actually, how do you feel about the name tommy?" he asks.

the toddler theseus tommy seemed happy with the name, so wilbur starts calling him tommy instead. he likes to think he made kristen proud. (wilbur starts leaving a week later.)

nothing stays the same after that, but it's fine. it's not like he wanted things to stay the same.

wilbur is fourteen when he first meets sally, a shapeshifter with red hair like fire and a spirit to match it. he was like a moth drawn to a flame, and he started seeking her attention and company even more. he is sixteen when they start dating, their interactions turning more romantic than platonic.

he is seventeen when sally gets pregnant and gives birth to a daughter. (his hands are shaking and he is reminded of his mother who died when his brother was born and he is terrified.)

sally names their little girl floris, and wilbur adores her.

he begins spending more time with sally and floris. (he spends less with theseus-tommy.) he tells stories of his father, the angel of death (the deadbeat father who played favorites). stories of his piglin hybrid brother, the blood god (the favorite child). and stories of his youngest brother, the sun (the reason his mother is dead-).

wilbur is twenty and his little champion is eleven when his daughter decides that he wants to be a boy, and he is wholly supportive. (when wilbur was eight, he changed theseus' name to tommy, and now, he's twenty, and he's renamed his daughter son from floris to fundy.)

sally disappears a year later, and his son is in shambles. (it reminds him of himself, when he lost his mother.)

wilbur leaves fundy to return home, not ready to present his son to his father and brothers just yet, and he finds their youngest missing.

he follows tommy to wherever he went, grabbing the card and ignoring his father and brother.

in dream's server, he focuses on bonding with his younger brother. (he will never admit it, but he's unhappy with tommy ignoring him and acting like they're not brothers.) but he hasn't forgotten his son yet, and in a span of a few weeks, he'd managed to convince dream to give his son a whitelisted card. (his family, together again.)

he is still angry at tommy's indifference, his nonchalance. can't he see that wilbur is trying to be a better brother? why isn't he responding?

somewhere in his heart, there is anger. it festers, it rots. it eventually takes over.

Chapter Text

the electoral debate was tomorrow, but tommy was still not aware of who wilbur had invited to endorse them. quackity- who was running against them, and george, had bragged about getting endorsement from one of those famous pvpers that didn't use weapons, only their hands. (tommy personally thought that they were cool, but he could probably beat them.)

whenever tommy had asked, all wilbur would say was- "why don't you go and recruit more people so they would vote for us?" and he did. he did try so hard to appease people. (he managed to anger some as well.) he managed to get sapnap on their side though, at the expense of fundy.

but tommy was getting tired of it- getting tired of always being dismissed and turned away. he wanted to know things, and while he trusted wilbur, he didn't like the thought of not knowing anything and blindly following him. he wanted- no, needed to know. besides, wasn't he trustworthy enough? (despite only thinking they were neighbors- tommy trusted wilbur with his life, but wilbur, even with the knowledge that they were brothers, couldn't trust tommy fully.)

so here he was, standing in front wilbur, a serious expression on his face, not speaking. he wanted to intimidate wilbur enough that the older would immediately tell tommy everything that he wanted to know. he's sure that it would work.

wilbur merely stares at him, then raises an eyebrow. "yes, tommy?" he asks, "what do you want?"

"i want you to tell me who's endorsing us." he asks, lips pursed.

wilbur scowls, "someone i don't want you to meet." he says, firmly.

tommy stares at the older with confusion on his face, "then why did you ask him to endorse us?" he asks.

"because it's his specialty," wilbur replies, "but aside from meeting him tomorrow, i don't want you to associate yourself further with him."

tommy furrows his eyebrows, "why not? is he dangerous?" he asks.

(wilbur remembers the simulations he participated in during his travels, with a smiling schlatt. he remembers being pushed during the rising lava simulation. and maybe- just maybe, schlatt is dangerous in a different type than his brother and father.)

"just a bad influence." wilbur replies, patting him in the head.

tommy purses his lips, (he doesn't really believe him.), "okay wil," he says, "if you say so."

"i do say so." wilbur replies, "now go on," he says, "why don't you help tubbo with collecting materials for the white house?" he asks, a soft smile on his face.

tommy nods, "okay." he says, before running off and finding tubbo.

he doesn't see it, but as he turns around and leaves, the smile drops from wilbur's face, and not for the first time, he starts questioning his decision to invite schlatt for endorsement, and he wonders why he does so.

the day passes by quickly, and soon enough, the day for the electoral debate has finally started.

tommy and wilbur stand on one side of the podium, and at the other side stands quackity, glancing at his communciator and typing.

"big q!" tommy exclaims, "where's gogy?" he asks, saying it in the same tone as sapnap does.

quackity sweats, "well tommy, i actually- well, he's too busy being pretty, you know?" he answers, before frantically typing at his communicator.

tommy actually sneaks a glimpse at a few messages that quackity had sent, his curiosity getting the best him.

you whispered to georgenotfound: george where are you
you whispered to georgenotfound: tommy's starting to ask questions and i panicked, where are you
you whispered to georgenotfound: george answer me
you whispered to georgenotfound: GEORGE!

and that was about as far as tommy could read before he met wilbur's eyes, saw the anger and disappointment in his eyes and he walks back towards him. wilbur would definitely not be pleased with what he did, but hey! he at least gained some information, and in an attempt to alleviate the pressure, he talks about how he got sapnap on their side. ("would you rather have a furry son or one of the hunters?" he had said, and it must have been the wrong thing to say because wilbur was not happy with him.)

wilbur sighs as they wait for for the people to enter. (tubbo sits at the front row, smiling at tommy. beside him is punz, who is arguing with sapnap, typical of them.)

quackity glances at both of them, "excuse me you two, i need to ask sapnap something." he says, and he jumps down the podium before waiting for a response, already dragging sapnap towards the very back of the audience seats.

while waiting for quackity, tommy, once again, asks who their endorsement is. wilbur gives him a look, and sighs, "you'll meet him later tommy, now will you stop asking questions?"

"fine." tommy replies, pursing his lips and obviously not fine.

wilbur gives him a soft smile and ruffles his hair, causing tommy to scowl, "stop it!" he says, and wilbur laughs.

by the time sapnap and quackity have finished talking, and quackity had returned to the podium, most of the people are already there, and they had started the first phase of the debate, which was asking people what they wanted. tommy was a bit unhappy that it was only the presidents that were doing it and since he was just a running mate, he had to leave the podium. though he had to admit, it was way funnier from down there.

(punz had barely asked his question before quackity had already agreed and said that he would do it, he found that hilarious and punz retreated to his seat in slight confusion. and when it was sapnap's turn, he had asked for money and riches, which he honestly thought was more punz's style. and quackity had replied with the fact that he was poor, and tommy climbed up the podium and answered sapnap, which prompted wilbur to let tommy stay on the podium.)

after that though, were the introductions, and tommy was once more, forced off the stage. (he didn't like that very much.) and up in the podium, quackity and wilbur were introducing themselves and explaining why they were running, hoping to sway them to vote.

in the midst of introductions, there appeared niki nihachu and wilbur's son, fundy, as both quackity and wilbur leave the podium to greet them, they immediately take the stage, much to everyone's confusion.

as it turns out, ostracizing wilbur's son was a bad thing to do, because now, fundy and niki were also running for the presidency, under the banner of COCONUT2020, which doesn't really hold a candle to POG2020, or SWAG2020 for that matter. tommy exchanges glances with wilbur, who just seems tired, and wilbur stands up and goes on the podium, tommy can see him staring intently at his son as he asks- "do you have any endorsements?"

fundy sweats, then he grabs niki's hand and both of them book it, running out.

tommy nervously laughs, "why don't we have a little two minute break?" he suggests, going up on the podium and tugging at wilbur, "let's have a two minute break everyone!" he says, dragging wilbur off the stage and into the camarvan so they could talk.

(wilbur shouts at him, at first, telling him that he's not in charge and that he shouldn't act like he is because he hates it. tommy bites his lips as he does. after shouting though, wilbur tells tommy that he's proud of him, and that makes tommy feel so warm and happy.)

after the two minute break, they return to their positions, wilbur at the podium, and tommy at his seat.

wilbur, alone at the podium, sighs and says, "quackity, why don't you come next for the endorsements?" he asks, and quackity joins him at the stage.

quackity rambles, at first, about all the good that he's going to do, and he explains why his running mate, georgenotfound, wasn't there. tommy finds himself smiling throughout quackity's speech, and even laughing. quackity seemed to be doing really good actually, until he was asked about his endorsement.

a sweat. "well, george was actually in charge of that and he promised that he'd get ksi- we even sent him a letter!" he frantically says. (when a letter with a whitelisted card is sent to quackity, a few hours later, with an apology from ksi saying that he couldn't make it. quackity gives tommy the card and makes tommy promise that he'd cause chaos with it.)

wilbur slowly nods, "okay quackity, thank you for that." he says, and quackity looks at him.

"what about you guys, who's your endorsement?" he asks, staring at wilbur.

wilbur looks at his communicator, "he's joining the server right now." he says, and as if by cue, a new message appeared on their communicators, and they all glanced at it.

quackity stares at wilbur, "you didn't." he says.

and wilbur smiles, "i did."

jschlatt has joined the game

Chapter Text

there were shouts of surprise around the area of the election as jschlatt made his way up the podium, the horned man standing next to wilbur, taking the microphone.

tommy couldn't help but stare at him, trying to figure out why wilbur didn't want him to talk with the man. (tommy would still talk to him, of course, but he just wanted to figure out the reason.)

sure, he seemed a bit intimidating, but that was just it, he just looked intimidating, and tommy could handle that.

why did wilbur make him out to be so dangerous?

"this is our endorsement!" wilbur says, proudly, "our endorsement, everybody."

tommy nods along, supporting wilbur's statement as he tried to gauge everyone's reactions. punz was frowning quite a bit, he noticed, and tubbo was gripping his wrists tightly, averting his gaze from the podium. (tommy wondered why.)

for a moment, there is silence.

then schlatt speaks, "what am i supposed to be doing again?" he asked, glancing at wilbur.

wilbur nervously chuckled, "endorsing us, remember?" he asked, "we're POG2020, you know, the presidency!" he adds, "presidency for l'manberg! you know, this nation."

"the presidency..." schlatt murmurs, and wilbur gives him a thumbs up, then schlatt looks over at the other side of the podium, straight at quackity. "who's this?" he asked, and tommy had to stop himself from laughing.

quackity laughs, though it sounds more nervous than it does amused, "it's- it's me," he says, then after that, he quickly adds- "babe."

"don't call me that." schlatt says, sounding slightly disgusted as he turns away from quackity and faces the crowd again.

and this time, almost everyone briefly laughs at that. it was amusing.

schlatt then opens his mouth to speak, and everyone expects an endorsement, after all, it was what he was brought here for. but his words- his words surprised them all.

"democracy is overrated." schlatt declares, and the smile on wilbur's face disappears.

tommy blinks, "wait- no, no no no," he tries to intercede, "just, stick to the script-" he adds, but schlatt keeps talking, ignoring tommy as if he was irrelevant.

"you think you need a president?" schlatt asks, an amused smirk appearing on his face, then he turns to face tommy and wilbur, "I'LL BE MY OWN GODDAMN PRESIDENT!" he declares, staring right at wilbur.

this felt... this felt personal.

wilbur glares at him and schlatt returns his attention to the crowd, "I'LL RUN MYSELF!" he says, as tommy approaches him, trying to put a stop to this.

"no, stick- stick to the script." tommy says, almost desperately. (wilbur would be so so angry after this.) he steps in front of schlatt, taking the microphone, "and this was our endorsement from schlatt!" he declares quite loudly, ignoring schlatt behind him, who vows to run himself.

"SCHLATT 2020!" schlatt shouts from behind tommy, trying to do damage control before it got worse.

wilbur takes a deep breath, before placing a hand on tommy's shoulder, "it's fine tommy, we'll do damage control later." he says, dragging tommy back to their side of the podium as schlatt takes the microphone again.

"you think you want quackity as your president?" he asks the crowd, "his vice president can't even show up!" schlatt says, then- "you think you want wilbur?" he adds, before glancing at wilbur.

wilbur stands there, impassive. schlatt's gaze hardens.

"he stole my heart."

for a second there, schlatt almost sounded genuine, he really did. he takes a breath, and then silence.

schlatt speaks again, "you know what? vote coconut 2020." and nobody on the podium really liked that, as evident by quackity and tommy's screeches.

"right, that was our endorsement by schlatt." wilbur says, "you can get off the podium now."

and as schlatt left the podium, he spoke, one last time.

"i'll run my own presidency! you haven't seen the last of me!"

wilbur's expression hardens, "tommy, escort him out." he orders, and tommy does.

as he leads schlatt towards the audience, he gives him a coin, with the letter 'S' on it.

he looks up inquisitively at the older, and only finds a smirk, "in case you want out on wilbur's presidency and join mine." he says, sitting on one of the chairs.

tommy returns at the podium with the coin in his pocket.

"the votes are in a week," wilbur reminds them, then he glances at tubbo, "do you think you can finish the white house soon?"

tommy glances at the half finished white house that he, tubbo and quackity had been building since three days ago.

tubbo slowly nods, "probably, yes." he says.

"good." wilbur says, "now that this is over, i'm afraid tommy and i have to go." he says, going down the podium.

as they leave, tommy catches a glimpse of wilbur's communicator, and what he had just typed.

you whispered to quackity: meet me and tommy on the cave underneath tommy's house.

"let's go to your house, tommy." wilbur says, and tommy only nods.

once they enter his house, wilbur immediately went straight for the cave.

"what do we do now?" tommy asked, "we might not actually win this.." he leans against the wall, "dream has endorsed schlatt!" he exclaims.

wilbur pats him on the head as quackity enters the cave, "quackity." wilbur greets, "i've got a proposition for you."

quackity raises an eyebrow, "uh huh?"

"should we pool the pog 2020 and swag 2020 votes and just run as our own party?" wilbur suggests, causing tommy to widen his eyes, "you know, in case schlatt or coconut 2020 get more votes than pog or swag, we just, pool our votes!" he says, "but- but! only if, we are beaten by schlatt or coconut on the votes."

quackity had seemed to be all in for it, that is, until the last statement. "wait, wait, wait." he muttered, squinting his eyes, "wait a fucking minute- so, this is conditional?" he asks, "so if you guys get all the votes, i'll be left out of the party and if i get all the votes, you'll get left out?"

wilbur nodded, "that is correct.." he murmured.

"you know i'm not gonna get any votes, wilbur!" quackity nearly shouts, "george isn't even here, and ksi declined being our endorsement!" he takes a deep breath, "listen wilbur, this can't be conditional, you either keep me in, or i'll endorse another party."

the air was tense

"you know, i was enticed by your idea to pool votes," quackity said, when realizing that they had nothing to say, "that is, until you admitted to me that you would only use me for votes if you didn't get enough."

tommy fidgets with the hem of his shirt, "you know, at least we were honest-"

quackity shakes his head, "you guys have clearly been trying to use me this entire time," quackity said, "and that's why, i'm gonna be endorsing schlatt 2020." he adds, moving to leave the cave.

"you'll regret that quackity." wilbur says, as tommy moves to follow.

quackity raises an eyebrow, climbing up the ladder, "will i?" he asks.

after a beat, tommy moves and climbs the ladder as well, following after quackity.

"wait- big q..." tommy murmured, "i-"

quackity huffs, "i don't know what you're trying to pull here tommy, but it's not gonna work."

"don't join schlatt 2020." tommy almost pleads.

quackity shakes his head, "nothing you can say will stop me tommy," he said, then hesitated, "but, in light of our friendship, i do want to give you something."

he presses a whitelisted card on tommy's hands, "ksi sent them back earlier," he explained, "and i was supposed to give it back to george, but i am kind of still mad at him, and i thought you might need it more." quackity smiles.

"cause some trouble for me with that card, will you?"

Chapter Text

two days after the debacle that was the electoral debate, tommy and tubbo were trying to finish building the white house.

quackity was supposed to join them, but apparently, he and schlatt were doing something else, so instead, it was just tommy and tubbo. but it was fine, really. they didn't need anyone else, it could be just them against the world.

"i genuinely think we're close to finishing this." tubbo says, glancing at the unfinished white house.

tommy scoffs, "maybe, if big q had been helping us." he counters, standing next to tubbo.

tubbo opens his mouth to respond, probably to agree with tommy, but a voice behind him beats him to it.

"would you appreciate my help then?"

the both of them turned around swiftly, and they found themselves staring into purple eyes.

purple eyes could only mean one thing. it was purpled, and tommy had to prevent himself from smiling brightly, because this was purpled, someone he considered to be a close friend and his brother. but he remembered that purpled had left them during the war, had chosen to instead be neutral, to leave the server, and he tries so hard to erase the smile. tommy still loves purpled, still trusts him. but, he does want some sort of reason as to why purpled had left them, had chosen to just pack up and leave, to play games in one of the servers with unlimited respawns instead of helping them.

"purpled...?" tubbo asks, a smile on his face, "is it really you?"

purpled nods, "yeah, it's me." he says, moving to ruffle both of their hair, tubbo lets him, but tommy- tommy moves away. purpled raises an eyebrow and glances at him questioningly. (in his mind, he knows something is wrong. tommy never moves away from him, in fact, tommy was always the first to embrace him. what was wrong?)

tommy's lips are pressed in a thin line, and his arms are crossed over his chest, "you were gone for so long." he said, the tone making him seem like a child. "during the revolution, you didn't even help us."

"you know dream told me not to interfere." purpled said.

he rolls his eyes, "yeah, but you could have helped us! could have gone against him." a breath. "we went against him, why couldn't you?" his tone was almost pleading.

"that's not fair." purpled says, "i was busy too." he protests.

this time, the one who spoke was tubbo, "yeah, busy playing bedwars in hypixel." he muttered, "we were at war." he adds, then softer, quieter- "we missed you, we needed you." his eyes shone with tears, threatening to spill.

his eyes softened, "i missed you guys too, but-" before purpled could finish his statement, he was interrupted.

"you could've done something!" tommy snapped, "you could have joined us, or persuaded dream, but no. no. you decided that playing bedwars was more important." he seethed. if tubbo was trying to hide his tears, tommy was showing them. in his anger, in his passion, tears had streamed from his face.

purpled explodes, words he didn't want to say spilling out, "well maybe, bedwars was my outlet!" he shouts, "ever thought about that? my friends are fighting and waging wars- i needed comfort, and bedwars provided it." he reasoned, trying to get the two to understand. he didn't mean to leave them- didn't mean anything. they needed to understand that.

and now, the tears were stinging in his eyes as well.

in front of an unfinished building, there stood three teenagers, who hadn't interacted in a long time, and all of them were either on the verge of tears, or were crying. they all stood still, not knowing what to do.

purpled is the first to move, dragging both of the younger boys towards him and crushing them into a hug.

"i'm sorry- i'm sorry purp, i'm sorry!" tubbo whispers, burying his face into the older boy's chest, "shouldn't have gotten mad." he adds, and purpled draws circles in his back, trying to be reassuring.

tommy hugs the other two back, "i'm sorry too." he says, voice muffled as he also buried himself in purpled's chest.

"i'm at fault too," purpled says, glancing at the two younger boys he holds in his arms, "so, i'm sorry as well."

there are whispered apologies, tears and hushed 'it's my fault, you shouldn't be sorry!' thrown around as the three teenagers finally, finally talked again. no more miscommunications. it was tommy and tubbo and purpled.

"i missed this." tubbo had said, wiping a tear from his eyes, "we should hang out more often!" he adds, and what once were three crying teenagers, had now descended to laughter and joy. there were still tears, of course, but they were mostly joyful now.

he glanced up at the unfinished white house, "i was supposed to help you guys build this." purpled admitted, "but i just made you guys cry instead!" he laughs, and tommy elbows him in the gut.

"well, now we can get to finishing it!" tubbo exclaims, holding tommy's hand on his left, and purpled's on the other hand.

tommy and purpled laugh, and tubbo drags them towards the white house, so that they could finish building it, and their process, well, it was definitely interesting.

they had managed to trap tubbo in a box during the build. ("tubbo stand still!" tommy says, as he and purpled trap him in a box. purpled laughs, "tubbo in a box! tubbox! what will he do?") and tubbo had retaliated by trying to bury them in the ground. ("tubbo? what are you doing?" purpled asks, as tubbo dug a hole beneath them. as they fell, tommy screams, "tubbo, let us out you bastard! let us out!" and tubbo only laughs, trying to cover the hole with dirt, as to bury them.) to give them credit, they did manage to finish the entire white house.

as tommy chases after purpled and tubbo, who had taken his water bucket, wilbur was watching them from a distance.

wilbur observed the three happy and carefree teenagers, and he gripped ends of his revolutionary outfit's jacket.

he imagines a little fox boy running along with them- his son, and he smiles. "this is why i need to win," he tells himself, staring at the trio laughing and joking around.

"for them."

Chapter Text

it was the day of the election, and besides the electoral debate, tommy had only gotten to speak with schlatt once, when wilbur wasn't looking.
("are you wilbur's kid or something?" schlatt had asked, and tommy looked at him with a confused expression, "no, why'd you think that?" he asks. schlatt hums, and glances at him curiously, "the way he hovers over you, protectively," he says, "makes it seem like you're family." there is intrigue in his eyes. "we're just neighbors," tommy replies, shaking his head, and before he could elaborate, wilbur swoops in and glares at schlatt, dragging tommy away. and as tommy glances at schlatt, he only smirks back.)

the day had started out pretty normal, actually. tommy, wilbur and tubbo walking towards the podium, with wilbur clutching the results of the election in his hands, not letting tubbo nor tommy sneak a glance at it.

tommy had asked of course, he wanted to know! but wilbur, wilbur really didn't want to show it to him, but it was fine. they were gonna win anyways, wilbur just wanted to keep it a secret to surprise him.

as they neared the podium, wilbur nervously laughs, "tommy, i'm kinda getting stage fright." he says.

"so am i!" tommy exclaimed, a hint of uncertainty in his voice, because wilbur? the poet, getting stage fright? it was pretty unbelievable, "there's a lot of people from all around the servers who voted."

the three of them glance up at the podium, "oh god, they're all there." tubbo says, as he takes his seat, "good luck, you guys!" he smiles.

wilbur smiles back as tommy boisterously tells tubbo that he didn't need any luck. (they did, god they really did.)

"shall we join them, tommy?" he asks, and at tommy's nod, they both head towards the podium and enter it, standing alongside the others, who had previously been arguing.

wilbur clears his throat, "ladies and gentlemen, i just want to say, i have in my possession, the election results."

"forged!" quackity immediately says, "i think they're forged, wilbur."

wilbur stares at him incredulously, "quackity, there were two hundred and twenty thousand votes, all from different servers." he argues.

"and you forged every single one of them, they're all forged!" quackity insists, and wilbur explodes.

"how can i forge two hundred and twenty thousand votes?" he nearly shouts.

and tommy, tommy adds on it, "quackity, come on, pick your battles man." and the podium erupts in laughter.

as it calms down, tommy can see wilbur seizing up their competition, starting with schlatt, who tommy knows, frankly, little to nothing of.

"hello, mister schlatt." wilbur says. (if tommy was more observant, he would have noticed that wilbur's eyes are stone cold.)

schlatt nods his head, in respect, "hello."

"i didn't know you were serious about this."

schlatt shrugs, "i came early, wilbur." (does that mean he's serious? tommy wonders, does coming early mean he's serious?)

tommy glances at wilbur, (he doesn't notice the curled fists.), he watches as wilbur takes a deep breath, and then switches his attention from schlatt to george.

"well, look who decided to show up!" wilbur says, as quackity moves towards his running mate.

quackity nods, "yeah, george has been found, baby!" he exclaims, and tommy bursts into laughter.

wilbur though, he ignores the joke and stares at the final pair that were running against him.

tommy turns to see wilbur staring at fundy, "and my son." wilbur said.

"i am here." fundy deadpans, "and i am ready, to hear the resul-"

wilbur interrupts him, "still running against your old man, huh?" ("why would you say that?" tommy asks.)

"yes, i am." fundy says, not backing down.

wilbur then switches his gaze towards the woman next to his son, "and niki." he says.

"hello..." niki quietly says, waving at wilbur slightly.

wilbur gives a small half wave back before continuing, "also running against me."

niki wilts, and tommy steps forward, handing niki a carrot, "here niki," he says in hushed tone, like they were conspiring, "have a pity carrot, i gave it to you out of pity."

wilbur shakes his head and sighs at tommy's antics, and steps up on the microphone.

"tonight is the inauguration," he says, "we're not just deciding who wins tonight, we are also inaugurating the winner." he tells them, "when we have announced who wins, the winner comes up here," he points at the microphone, "stands at the center one, and we then listen to their first decree, as president, cause, i mean, the first decree of the president is important." wilbur adds, glancing at all his competitors.

he then glances at the meager crowd, "my fellow l'manbergians." he greets them, including the members of the greater dream smp at that greeting, ("that's my president!" tubbo cheers, and tommy chuckles.), wilbur smiles, "thank you for coming here today, to watch, an important and historical moment!" he feels the paper with the election results in the pocket of his revolutionary outfit, "the passing over of the presidency for the first election of l'manberg!"

"i have with me the election results of the four parties, SWAG 2020, POG 2020, COCONUT 2020, and SCHLATT 2020." wilbur says, taking the paper out of his pocket, "now, the turnout of this election was two hundred and twenty thousand votes, all across different servers." a smile, "i will say though, there was some voter fraud."

whispers in the crowd, a "wait, what?" from tubbo, and a slightly enraged quackity.

"what i have done is-" wilbur tries to say, trying to explain.

quackity though, was quick to interrupt him, "but you're the only one who has access to the votes!"

"i know!" wilbur says, "but-"

the podium descends to chaos.

"-if you're not gonna let me finish!" wilbur nearly shouts, in a tone that was almost threatening.

niki speaks up, "let him finish!"

wilbur nods at her, in thanks, and he continues, "what i've done is i've correlated the votes minusing the ones that use the same server ip addresses, that's all i'm saying!" he explains, and before the podium could descend into further chaos, he continues, "do you want to know what party had votes that were banned?" he asked.

"yeah..." tommy says from behind wilbur, curious to see what party it was.

wilbur stares straight at fundy.

"i think we should continue the votes." fundy says.

they don't continue the votes, wilbur erases the fake votes from COCONUT 2020 and finally, it was time to announce the votes.

COCONUT 2020 was in fourth place, with nine percent of the votes, and while they were in last place and didn't win, the duo was still glad that they had votes.

in third place was SCHLATT 2020, with sixteen percent of the votes, which definitely shocked most of the people.

and now, it was down to SWAG 2020 and POG 2020.

in second place was SWAG 2020, with thirty percent of the votes, which left POG 2020 at first, with forty-five percent of the votes.

"we won!" tommy exclaimed happily, "wilbur we won!"

wilbur sighs, "but listen, please stop celebrating." he tries to say, but he is interrupted by tommy.

"but wilbur we won!"

schlatt laughs.

tommy stops celebrating.

"a week ago, at the night of the electoral debate, quackity and schlatt had a, uh, deal." wilbur sighs, "that no matter what, SCHLATT 2020 and SWAG 2020 would pool their votes together." there are gasps from the crowd, but wilbur continues, "POG 2020 got forty-five of the electoral vote," he almost hesitates, "but the combined parties of SCHLATT 2020 and SWAG 2020 got forty-six of the electoral vote."

he glances at them, "which means that the combined cabinet of SCHLATT 2020 and SWAG 2020," hesitance. "has won the election by one percent."

"mister schlatt, step up to microphone and deliver your inauguration speech." wilbur says as he leaves the podium, heading towards the audience seats, but tommy stays there, still from the shock, still questioning what had happened, at least, until schlatt approaches him and speaks.

"tommy, get off my podium." schlatt says, and tommy pales.

his voice is nervous, "wilbur, are you sure about this?" he asks.

"just do as he says, tommy." wilbur says, as tommy goes down the podium.

he sits down, patting the seat next to him for tommy to sit in, "we are citizens for tonight tommy, just listen to schlatt."

(tommy doesn't notice, but wilbur was angry. it is subtle, in a sense, his anger. shown in a language only he and schlatt knew. schlatt catches his eye and wilbur knows that schlatt knows he's angry.)

"well..." there was a pause, "that was pretty easy." schlatt says, "y'know what I said, the day I joined the dream smp? and the day I said I was running?" he asked, "an election that I won, by the way..." he adds as an afterthought before continuing, "i said things are gonna change." tommy did not like the sound of that. "i looked every citizen of l'manberg in the eyes and I said 'you listen to me... this place will be a lot different tomorrow.' Let's start making it happen." (what did that mean- what did that?) "my first decree, as the president of l'manberg... the EMPEROR, of this GREAT COUNTRY! IS TO REVOKE!! THE CITIZENSHIP OF WILBUR SOOT AND TOMMYINNIT! GET 'EM OUTTA HERE!"

shock. there is shock. because this couldn't be happening, surely, this couldn't be- (he barely registers the screams, fighting against the decree, barely registers quackity laughing and cheering.)

wilbur drags tommy up from his chair and pushes him, urging him to run.

he panics and does as wilbur says, running and trying to get out of l'manberg.

"tommy, go!" he hears wilbur's voice behind him, followed by a twang from an arrow, and as tommy glances back, punz hits his mark.

wilbursoot was shot by punz
wilbursoot has one life left remaining.

with tears in his eyes, tommy runs, never looking back.

Chapter Text

tommy crosses the walls separating l'manberg from the greater dream smp and he heads towards eret's tower, overlooking l'manberg.

he needs to save wilbur, sure, but he doesn't know where wilbur respawns, he could be anywhere and tommy might just waste time trying to find him, and besides, the tower was a good vantage point, it was high up at the sky and he could listen in on what was happening at l'manberg.

he glances at his inventory, trying to find something useful, and he spots an invisibility potion. he glances at the light purplish blue potion, it would probably only last for a few minutes, but it was good enough, it was good enough.

he drinks the potion, and as he glances at his hands, he could see nothing. he made sure that he wasn't holding anything, and as he neared the edge of the tower, he crouched to make sure his gamer tag, as well as the potion particles, were hidden, and he peered down.

punz was standing in the walls, eyes flitting everywhere, probably looking for him or wilbur, and tommy gritted his teeth. but that wasn't important right now, schlatt was still on the stage, and he was still talking.

"until further notice," tommy hears schlatt say, his voice echoing due to the microphone, "wilbur soot, and tommyinnit are merely a memory of l'manberg." his eyes narrowed as he hears quackity cheer, "a relic of the past."

they started l'manberg! they should have won! schlatt didn't get to roll up here and declare their sacrifices for l'manberg null and void and just kick them out!

"a reminder!" schlatt continues, "of the darkest era, that this country has ever seen." (what?) "and i guarantee you all, tonight, that changes."

tommy stares at his once home, fingers gripping the ends of his revolutionary coat as schlatt continues his propaganda.

"we are entering into a new period of l'manberg," schlatt says, and tommy scoffs, "a period of prosperity!" (lies) "of strength!" (they were strong before.) "of unity." (isn't it his fault l'manberg isn't united?)

tommy breathes. in. out. in. out.

you whispered to wilbursoot: wilbur? have you respawned now?

he waits for a minute. then another. there is no response.

tommy would wait more, but something schlatt says catches his attention.

"where's tubbo?"

his breath hitches. not tubbo. please not him.

he spots tubbo amongst the crowd, "i'm right here." he hears tubbo say, and from there, he knows that tubbo is averting his gaze. ("he's scared." quackity says, and frankly, tommy agrees.)

"get up here." schlatt says, "get up here on my podium!"

tommy freezes.

and tubbo- tubbo does, sure, it takes a little bit of coaxing from both schlatt and quackity, who immediately calls it an order, which of course, tubbo couldn't refuse, i mean, it was an order from the president of l'manberg, but couldn't tubbo decline? didn't tubbo shout earlier, that wilbur was his president? so why was he so compliant and why was he following their orders?

tommy could understand that, he can, but what he can't understand is what tubbo says-

"am i secretary-" his blood runs cold, "well, i wasn't aware that i got to keep my job." tubbo says, as if he wasn't talking about being employed to the man who exiled his best friend. (tommy does not hear the nervousness and fear in tubbo's voice. he only does what he can to survive, but tommy doesn't hear it, he is in shock.)

...what? was tommy hearing this right? why was that the first thing that tubbo had said?

and schlatt- schlatt laughs, "well, i'm not gonna fire you, you're tubbo!" he says, then quieter, in a volume that tommy could barely hear, schlatt adds, "you know who you are to me, did you really think i would fire you?"

tommy can see tubbo stopping, in front of the podium, and tommy does not see this, but schlatt narrows his eyes.

"tubbo, get up here right now." schlatt says, looking at the younger, who is hesitant.

quackity glances at him and nonchalantly replies, "i don't think he wants the job." and as he says this, tommy wants to smile, because of course tubbo doesn't want it, but as he was about to shout something to them about tubbo being loyal to the true winners, tubbo suddenly moves.

tubbo scurries towards the podium at that, "i do want the job, i'm on my way!" he protests, and tommy's words die in his mouth.

he can barely register eret- that fucking traitor, chastise tubbo ("tubbo, i didn't know you were capable of such a thing!") and trying to stop him, because he grabs his communicator and frantically began typing.

you whispered to tubbo_: tubbo, you want the job?

as tubbo glances at his communicator, schlatt sees this and takes it, "oh, you're messaging tommy." schlatt comments, and he smirks, "and he seems to be listening in on my speech," a dark sardonic smile appears on his face, "it means he must be close."

tommy pales.

"tommy, if you can hear this," schlatt continues, "tubbo does want this job." his fists are clenched by now, as schlatt then directs his attention to tubbo, "and tubbo, since we know tommy's listening, i should tell you the order i'm about to give, tommy is included in it, it's only fair he listens to it."

tubbo fiddles with his fingers, "what is it?" he asks, his voice quivering and at the verge of stuttering.

a smirk. "i need you to find tommy, and show him the door" tommy pales as shrieks and screams come from the audience and tubbo shakes.

"he is pretty near, maybe," schlatt glances at the tower that tommy stands on, "he's on top of a building!"

he slowly backs away, fear in his eyes as punz glances up at the tower.

tubbo_ whispered to you: tommy, i need you to come with me.

no. no no no no no. this couldn't be happening, it couldn't.

wilbursoot whispered to you: tommy come down, tommy.

he glances down, and he finds wilbur, waiting for him below the tower, so he goes down.

tubbo_ whispered to you: tommy, just come to the podium man.

tommy ignores him as wilbur drags him off, far from the lands of l'manberg and into uncharted territory.

it takes hours before they finally settle down, finally build a base, finally declare they're safe. finally come to terms to what had just happened.

"we need allies if we want to take l'manberg back." wilbur tells him, as they discuss how to take their country back from schlatt, and tommy grips the whitelisted card and schlatt coin in his pocket.

he takes a deep breath and grabs the whitelisted card, "big q actually gave this to me a week ago, will this help?" he asks, holding out the card.

wilbur stares at him, and he smiles, taking the whitelisted card from his hands.

he holds it gingerly in his hands, "we can gain ourselves an ally, with this card." wilbur muses, and he glances up at tommy, "this helps us a lot." and tommy does not expect what comes out of his mouth.

"i need you to draft a letter to send to technoblade."

Chapter Text

schlatt narrows his eyes as punz and a hesitant purpled returns hours later, with no trace of where tommy and wilbur had gone.

he had to admit, exiling them wasn't really the best choice, but it wasn't like there was some sort of reliable prison he could throw them into, right? there was no place where he could contain them without fear of them escaping.

he glances over at his side, where tubbo stands. (a bright smiling woman, then screams and shouts and yelling.)

he takes a deep breath. maybe, just maybe, a speech will draw them out.

he knows wilbur, he knows how wilbur thinks, how he operates. he knows how to draw him out. though, he does wonder if it's best to leave them alone, after all, there's no guarantee that wilbur would try and take l'manberg back, you know, maybe he would get bored, and besides, wilbur had nothing he really cared about here, right?

(schlatt sees the way wilbur looks at tommy and he knows that wilbur would do anything for him. that is partially why he exiles the boy, because he knows that if he doesn't, wilbur would not stop attacking l'manberg in hopes of getting him back. he exiles tommy in hopes that wilbur would give l'manberg up peacefully. what he doesn't expect is tommy's unwavering loyalty and eternal love for l'manberg. it is tommy that eventually leads to his plan backfiring horribly.)

he taps on the microphone a few times, garnering everyone's attention. "i would like to make my second presidential speech." he says, causing everyone in the audience to sit down. ("i'm ready for the speech mister president," tubbo says rather dully, while quackity is the polar opposite, an enthusiastic, "yes sir!" coming from him.)

he clears his throat, and begins his speech.

"PEOPLE OF L'MANBERG!" he roars, "and tommyinnit and wilbursoot, if you two are listening to this." schlatt says, hoping he'd be loud enough for them to hear, "and once we find them and expel them from our great nation, the sun will rise upon another beautiful day!" he promises, glancing a the crowd with a smirk, "the next page of the textbook!"

from beside him, he hears tubbo shift, fiddling with the hem of his shirt, and he can practically feel quackity beam.

he stares at the walls around l'manberg. he can never understand wilbur's fixation with safety using walls. the walls did nothing but restrict, safety is not a wall. it is power. (and schlatt, not wilbur, had the power.)

"i reckon our nation needs to expand!" he tells his people, tearing his eyes away from the walls, a smirk. "i reckon, we tear down the walls."

there are gasps from the crowd. he spots niki glaring at him, with eret holding her back. tubbo is staring at him, mouth agape and quackity is shocked.

tubbo speaks, "i don't know if that is a good idea." he tells him.

"we can't do that!" eret adds, sounding appalled at the idea of tearing the walls down.

schlatt ignores them both. "effective immediately!" he orders, "all citizens of l'manberg, are required to do that!"

"you have no right to do that!" niki protests, anger in her voice.

he only continues, "REQUIRED! to help, tear down the walls of this country." ("no!" niki shouts.) but he ignores her, "and that ends the second presidential speech."

"let's get to work."

(atop a hill overlooking the lands of l'manberg, there arrives wilbur and tommy, the exiled leaders of l'manberg. they had heard the last part of the speech, the one where he talked about tearing the walls down and they headed there immediately, with tommy following wilbur around. "how do you know the way?" tommy asks, and wilbur glances back at him, "i just followed my heart and here i am.")

schlatt orders tubbo to be the first to tear the wall down. tubbo is hesitant, and niki glares at him, it is evident.

"tubbo, tear it down," he orders, pointing at the sign that depicted- 'DO NOT TEAR DOWN', he ignores the fact that eret, dream smp's king and quackity, his own vice president, are defending it, begging tubbo to not tear it down.

tubbo tears the first one down without a word and he laughs as the others shriek.

"you have one last chance tubbo, one last chance." quackity says.

eret pleads with the younger boy, "don't do it tubbo!" (is it because it was him, tubbo, tommy and fundy who built these walls? is that why he doesn't want them gone?)

schlatt narrows his eyes, "tear the second one down too." he orders tubbo.

"yes schlatt." tubbo says, doing as he says, and schlatt laughs before looking around at the other l'manbergian citizens.

he points towards the still-standing walls, "what are you waiting for!?" he asks, "tear them down!" he orders, and the rest of them disperse, glaring at him while they do as he says.

(tubbo weeps in his heart, because he liked the walls, it kept him so so safe, and it was one of the last things that l'manberg had that carried the essence of tommy and wilbur. it felt like he just betrayed them and he doesn't like, doesn't want it. why did schlatt have to win? why did schlatt have to turn his life upside down and tear it up again? hadn't he done enough the first time?)

schlatt pats tubbo (his son- his son that she took away.) on the back as the walls around them fall apart. he stares at fundy, who was mining away at the walls, and he narrows his eyes, the fox boy held similarity to a woman he used to know, a shapeshifter named sally, but surely, surely, it meant nothing.

("my son is tearing down the walls in front of me!" wilbur says, tears threatening to fall, "he is tearing down the walls i built to keep him safe," he glances at his brother tommy, "i promised him this world tommy...")

schlatt walks away, laughing as l'manbergians, who had lost their leaders, are left in the middle of their falling nation.

(elsewhere, watching on top of a hill, there are two men, one kneeling and one standing. singing the anthem of a falling nation, one last time.)

"l'manberg, my unfinished symphony!"

Chapter Text

"i have the letter ready." tommy says, holding up a slightly crumpled envelope.

wilbur, who had been organizing what little items they had in a chest, immediately shifts his attention towards tommy, "really?" he asks, "let me see, toms." he says, holding out his hand.

tommy hands him the letter, then watches as wilbur opens it, leaving the whitelisted card, but taking the letter and unfurling it.

hey technoblade,

dunno if you remember me, but this is tommy. wilbur is with me and we desperately need your help.
wilbur said to send you a letter, and that you'd be able to help us, but i don't really know.
would you be willing to help us?

wilbur and i got exiled from l'manberg, a country that we made, and we need to take it back.
we're starting a revolution, techno. and wilbur (and me) are hoping that you'd join us.

if you do plan on joining us, there's a whitelisted card in the envelope with the letter, don't ask me how i got it.
just, try to join the server soon. i know you can't tell us when you'll join, you can't send a letter, they'll find out.

it would really mean a lot to us if you'd help.

wilbur hums in approval before placing the letter back in the envelope, "you should send this immediately," he says, "we can't waste any time."

"about that..." tommy nervously murmured, "my stamp is the ender chest."

wilbur's eyes widened, "mine is too."

fuck. well, that wasn't really good. stamps are used for letters sent outside the server, and they are irreplaceable. admins could message anyone to their heart's desire, even those outside the server, they just needed to click on that person's name in their communicators. but those that weren't admins, they were stuck with stamps. and if they lost their stamps, they wouldn't get another one, which is why they were usually placed in ender chests.

"we need an ender chest." wilbur says, "tommy, you should get one, stamp the letter, and then drop it off at the portal." he adds, "i'll attempt to distract them." (how?)

tommy nods in understatement, "should i grab a horse?" he asks, and wilbur shakes his head.

"too much attention," he says, "just sneak in and sneak out." he tells him, voice stern, "no shortcuts, no long trips, and absolutely no scenic routes."

tommy nods solemnly, knowing that he is definitely not gonna listen to wilbur.

wilbur huffs, "promise me tommy." he sternly says.

"i promise i won't do anything that isn't necessary." tommy promises solemnly.

a sigh. "just go." wilbur says, waving him away, "get an ender chest and send the letter." he orders.

"aye aye, captain!" tommy says, almost mocking in a light hearted way as he exits their meager dirt hut. he stares out at the trees and heads towards the general area of l'manberg and the greater dream smp, prepared to steal himself an ender chest.

he had been foraging the forest for nearly two hours now when he had finally come across l'manberg again, and he grips his coat, almost tearing the fabric. the walls were almost gone. only a small portion of it remained and it hurts him to see it.

he forces himself to walk around it, heading towards dream smp lands. after all, they wouldn't expect him to be so close to l'manberg, it was practically hiding in plain sight!

he knew that he couldn't go to his home, that would be too well guarded, they would expect it, and he couldn't go to tubbo's either, it was right in front of his, so tommy did the smart thing and headed towards dream's base.

dream's base was way underground, and no one, at least, no one on schlatt's side, except for maybe george, knew about it. it was completely hidden and there was no trace of it above ground. it was a perfect place for him to go without getting caught, the only real problem was if dream was there, but he'd cross that bridge when he gets there.

after a few agonizingly long minutes, tommy had found himself in a familiar room with yellow concrete walls and floor, he stares at the chests messily placed around the room and is reminded of a simpler time, before the wars, when dream had first taken him to the secret base.

(dream smiling at him, his mask only covering half of his face, "come on tommy!" the admin calls out as he leads the younger underground, "hurry up!" he adds.
and behind him, tommy grumbles, "i am hurrying up!" he retorts, "where are we going anyways?" he asks.
dream only laughs.
"we're going to my secret base, tommy." dream says, "just promise not to tell anyone, okay?"
tommy nods excitedly, "promise!" he replies.
and finally, after crawling through some stone, they had finally arrived at his base, and the first thing tommy said was- "it's kinda messy in here."
dream wheezes, which somehow reminds tommy of one of those tea kettles, "that's the first thing you say!?"
"well, what else was i supposed to say!?" tommy retorts with a scowl.
dream pretends to think for a moment before replying, "not that?"
tommy narrows his eyes, "why you-" and dream's secret base erupts in light hearted banter and chaos.
after a few minutes, they had calmed down for a bit, and dream offhandedly mentions bringing tubbo here in the following week.
the following week comes and goes and tubbo never sees dream's secret bunker, they wage war for l'manberg's freedom before he could.)

tommy shakes his head out of the memory and he looks around the room for an ender chest, and upon finding one, he opens it, and grabs his stamp.

he quickly stamps the envelope and returns the stamp into the ender chest, and of course, since they needed an ender chest, he painstakingly mines the ender chest for a few seconds, bordering a minute.

he leaves dream's base with one of the ender chests, and here comes the harder part, getting the envelope out of the server.

getting the envelope was hard because he needed to go to the portal in spawn, and with the walls built there to prevent the hostile mobs from killing the newly spawned players, that meant that it was practically a death trap. if they caught wind of him there, he'd be easily trapped with those walls.

the first thing tommy did was head towards the forest, since it would give him the most cover in case someone was there, before he even got to the forest though, he was spotted by quackity, which caused him to start sprinting.

his communicator beeped.

quackity: i just saw tommy in the land between manberg and his house! he's heading towards the direction of manberg, last i saw him.

tommy ignores the message (later, he frowns as he looks at it, 'manberg?' he thinks, he doesn't like how it sounds.) and turns a diagonal right, trying to blind travel the forest.

it takes him a full half an hour to find spawn, and upon finding it, he enters the boundaries of the walls and heads towards the portal, as soon as he was in front of it, he immediately throws the envelope towards the portal, and he watches it disappear before quickly leaving the confines of spawn, in fear of them finding him and trapping him.

now, he has a problem. their new base was far away in the direction of l'manberg, and everyone in l'manberg probably knew that quackity had spotted him in dream smp lands by now. so the journey back had just gotten much more difficult.

his communicator beeped again.

wilbursoot whispered to you: tommy, what the fuck did you do?

well, this has been fun.

Chapter Text

the first thing tommy did was place his ender chest down and see what was inside it.

the items there were mostly useless, a few diamond blocks, some gold blocks. nothing that could help him out of the situation.

his hands were shaking, (he was on his last life.) as he rummaged the chest, till finally- finally, he found something useful.

two ender pearls. while tommy would have preferred more, that was enough. it just meant that he needed to rely on his own agility to outpace schlatt and the rest of the people in l'manberg. but it was fine, he could do it.

tommy takes a deep breath as he pockets the ender pearls. after grabbing the ender chest, he breaks into a sprint, making sure to keep himself hidden in the trees.

he passes by his house- (niki, quackity, eret, george and fundy are there, they are standing near his house, they are looking for him, like they expect him to show himself, like they expect him to go to his house. tommy is not stupid.) on the way to l'manberg, but he quickly walks away, after all, wilbur would get mad if he got himself captured.

after a few minutes, he finds himself staring at l'manberg. (the walls, the walls are mostly gone. the walls that they built to protect l'manberg was gone gone GONE-) and standing there was schlatt, tubbo and punz. schlatt had a hand on tubbo's shoulder and punz was-

well, punz was looking right at him.

tommy gulps, then he turns around and runs.

behind him, he could hear punz informing schlatt of his whereabouts, behind him, he can hear schlatt's roar, his orders for punz to catch him and to bring him back alive to manberg, and it only inspires him to run further. (what tommy doesn't see is tubbo's concerned glance, his mouth agape. he doesn't see the way tubbo tries his best to delay punz.)

tommy is quick and speedy, he knows how to traverse a forest in one of the quickest ways possible. (dream taught him. dream taught him before-) but even with all that, he is no match for punz, who quickly catches up to him and grabs him by the arm. (of course he wouldn't be able to evade punz, punz taught dream.)

"stop struggling tommy." punz orders him, dragging the wayward boy to his former country. tommy only glares at punz and struggles even more, and punz- punz sighs at tommy's stubborn behavior. (he is reminded of a fiery blaze hybrid, with anger issues.)

tommy is dragged back to l'manberg, and schlatt smirks at the sight of him. tommy ignores him though, in favor of tubbo. tubbo who is looking at him, concern shining in his eyes, and tommy almost smiles, because of course, tubbo was on his side!

schlatt clears his throat, "well, hello there tommyinnit," he says, "what were you doing near manberg?" he asks, "if i recall, you're exiled."

tommy grits his teeth, "first of all, it's l'manberg." he says, glaring fiercely at the ram hybrid, "and second of all, i'm exiled in l'manberg, not the land around it, or the greater dream smp." he smugly says, grinning.

"my country does not take L's, tommyinnit." schlatt says, "and besides, you're in manberg right now aren't you?"

tommy rolls his eyes, "yeah, but only because you dragged me here, you.. you-" (he remembers a word wilbur taught him.) "-you old sot!"

silence, then schlatt glares at him, hands curling. he doesn't know what the phrase he just said meant, but judging by the way schlatt reacted, it was nothing good.

schlatt glares at him, but tommy only stares at him defiantly, and schlatt- schlatt had enough of him, of his smartass mouth, and he wonders how wilbur puts up with him.

a loud smack can be heard.

tommy's grin has faded, and his left cheek had stung from where schlatt had slapped him. he looks down for a moment, trying to ignore tubbo, who had been screaming at schlatt about how it was child abuse. he takes a deep breath, and the hand gripping his arm had loosened.

punz had apparently been shocked by schlatt's actions, at least, to the point where his grip on tommy had loosened for a second, but it was fine. all tommy needed was a second anyways.

tommy yanks his arm away from punz and immediately sticks it into his pocket, where he had placed his ender pearls, he grabbed one of them and- (punz was near him, trying to grab him again, schlatt was trying to drag tubbo away, as to make sure that the younger wouldn't sabotage them.) -he threw it, not in the direction of his and wilbur's new base, but to the left of it, he didn't want to lead them to their new base.

he disappears with a pop, just as punz was about to grab him, had he been a second late, it would have been null, punz would have grounded him enough that the pearl didn't work, but it did work, and he finds himself in a forest.

one pearl down, only one more left.

he doesn't know where he is, but he does know that he's not in l'manberg anymore. which is good, he would have fiddled with his communicator, activated the debug that let him see his coordinates, but he didn't have time, schlatt had probably ordered punz to chase him, and this time, he wouldn't be brought in alive. he needed to run.

so he does. he uses his last pearl to go further down the left side, just to make sure that he still has a huge distance ahead of punz, so that the older boy wouldn't be able to catch up to him.

he sprints, forwards at first, further to the left of their new base to make sure he didn't lead them to it, after all, he didn't want to make wilbur angrier than needed to be, and after an hour, he swerved a hard right, going towards their base.

it is forty minutes later that he manages to return to their base, with an angry wilbur standing in front of their inconspicuous hole in the side of a dirt hill. their secret base of operations, their dirt hut.

wilbur stands there, hands in his hips, an angry expression in his face, which at first, intensifies when he sees tommy.

wilbur approaches him, grasping his arm tightly, "what have you done? where have you been?" he asks sternly, voice full of frustration.

tommy winces and looks away to the right, accidentally exposing his left cheek, which schlatt had slapped, and wilbur's tone immensely changed.

"who did this!?" wilbur asks, in a flurry of anger, concern seeping into his tone. he touches the mark gently, and his eyes are ablaze.

wilbur stares at him again, "tell me who did this." he demands, and tommy answers.

"it was schlatt."

a spark has ignited.

"i'll kill him."

Chapter Text

"wilbur-" tommy tries to pry wilbur's fingers off his wrist, "-let go!"

to his surprise, wilbur let go of him, taking a step back, and as tommy looked up at him, he could almost discern shock in wilbur's expression.

wilbur quickly placed a hand on his chin, "sorry about that tommy, it's just- i don't really know what to do, you know," he says, glancing at tommy, who was flicking his wrist, "and well, it's just you and me now, i can't afford for you to get hurt."

tommy looks up at him, and his expression softens, "i forgive you." he says, sincerely, and wilbur smiles softly at him, then tommy observes their small dirt hut, and he finds a small hole- a spiral staircase down, and his eyebrow furrows, "wil, what's this?" he asks.

wilbur glances at what tommy was looking at, and he smiles, "see, while you were out getting yourself in trouble, tommy," ("hey!" tommy shouts from the background, but much to his chagrin, wilbur ignores him.), "i was being productive," wilbur tells him, then he points to the chests, "i organized our chests, and then i thought, 'hey, tommy and i need a base! so how about i make one?' y'know, normal thoughts," wilbur says, walking towards the spiral staircase, and going down it, with tommy following suit, "so i did, but then, as i staircased down, i found this ravine," he points around, and tommy looks in awe, "and i just basically terraformed it a bit to get rid of all that lava and stuff, and now, here's our base."

tommy looks around, "woah- this is so fucking cool, wilbur!" he exclaims, and ahead of him, wilbur smiles faintly, a hint of pride in his eyes and the way he holds himself.

"why, thank you tommy." wilbur says, puffing his chest up, then as an afterthought, he adds, "though, you will need to help with adding rooms and all that, to make this a functional base and all."

tommy nods excitedly, "sure wil, i'll help! you probably need my help anyways," tommy says proudly, and wilbur stifles a laugh, which causes tommy to glare at him and demand that he stop laughing and tell him what was so funny, but that only causes wilbur to laugh harder.

after calming down, tommy took a few breaths, then he speaks, "what are we going to do, wilbur?" he asks.

"what do you mean, tommy?" wilbur asks, "i mean, we gotta fix this ravine up-"

tommy interrupts him, "no, i mean-" his voice becomes softer, "how are we gonna get l'manberg back?"

wilbur glances at him, and tommy looks away. (wilbur notices the fact that tommy is anxious, that he is impatient, he wants to do something. he notices it because of the fact that tommy's hands are shaking, of the fact that he is tapping his foot once in a while. he is itching for something exciting to do.)

"what if we head over to l'manberg, check how it's doing, how about that?" wilbur suggests, "then we'll figure out what we should do next."

tommy hesitantly nods. he should be excited to see l'manberg again, it's his home! he lives there, everyone he loves lives there, but what happened a few hours ago still clearly affected him, so he wasn't all that eager. but he couldn't pass up a chance to be on l'manberg again, so he agreed.

"we have to stay super far away though tommy, understand?" wilbur warns him, and tommy sharply nods.

at tommy's nod, wilbur smiles at him, "good, now come on," he glances at his communicator, "we need to leave now if we want to get there before the sun rises." he says, climbing up the stairs again, with tommy following behind him.

wilbur walks out of their new base, and as tommy walks out, he covers the door with dirt, and when tommy asks why, wilbur claims that it's for 'safety precautions', tommy just thinks he's being stupid and paranoid.

the walk to l'manberg took an hour and a half, which was terribly long, but tommy had been determined to make it as entertaining as possible, and besides, wilbur looked like he needed a laugh, he had been a bit too serious lately, and even with being exiled and having to take their country back from an untrustworthy tyrant that was wilbur's friend, he still wanted wilbur to loosen up a bit.

once they got to a hill that slightly overlooked l'manberg- though not too near that they could hear anything, wilbur pushed him back, as to make sure that they weren't spotted at all, "this is as far as we go, tommy." wilbur says, and tommy holds back a frown, unhappy at their predicament.

he says nothing though, and just looks down at l'manberg, where schlatt stands at the podium, with quackity at his side. he seemed to be saying a speech, tommy realizes, but they are too far away, and the wind is too loud for him to hear what they are saying, so tommy doesn't bother with them and instead shifts his attention to the crowd. he can see tubbo amongst the crowd, the nearest to the stage, and he can see niki there, can see jack, and fundy, those who used to be on their sides- no, they were still on his and wilbur's side, they're just forced to be there by schlatt. he shakes that thought away and focuses back on the crowd, and to his disbelief, he can see citizens of the greater dream smp amongst them, like ponk, like punz. though he finds it strange that eret, a former l'manbergian and the greater dream smp's king wasn't amongst them.

"hello gentlemen," they hear behind them, and both of them freeze.

they recognize that voice.

tommy turns around to find eret, there is shock in his expression, and he almost bounds forward because he missed eret, he really did, but wilbur holds him back though, and tommy forces himself to remember what eret did, of the fact that eret had betrayed them and he stills.

"what are you doing here?" wilbur asks, anger evident in his voice.

tommy can feel eret's stare, but he says nothing, he doesn't trust himself to speak, in fear that he might say something that he shouldn't. (maybe he should, an 'i miss you' wouldn't be bad, and neither would be 'why')

eret clears his throat and speaks, "i think you might need my help," he says, "i could offer you my castle as a sanctuary and whatever resources i have," tommy sees him glance at l'manberg, "dream feels uneasy with the fact that schlatt wants to expand manberg's borders, and while it is beneficial for the greater dream smp to pretend to be aligned with schlatt's regime, it will not be opposed to overthrowing schlatt's rule." he explains, outstretching a hand. (eret does not say that he still cares, that he doesn't want them to get hurt, to destroy themselves. maybe he should have, but it is too late for that.)

"first of all, it's l'manberg," wilbur scoffs, his hand gripping tommy's wrist tightly, "and second of all, we don't need your help, eret, because you know what?" he asks, squeezing tommy's wrist, "we don't associate with traitors, eret." (you should know that.)

"gentlemen, you need my help," eret insists, and though tommy couldn't see his eyes, he could almost see that-, "you're going against a whole nation, and unlike the war against the greater dream smp, you aren't a nation yourselves," he could see that he almost looked concerned, "you need all the help that you could get."

wilbur glares at eret, and if tommy observed closely, he could almost see poison in wilbur's glare, but eret does not flinch, he stays there, hand outstretched, waiting for them to accept his help.

"i've built a nation before," wilbur starts, tone full of anger and a hint of bitterness, "i'll fucking build one again!"

tommy can't help but feel fear.

Chapter Text

for a moment, there is silence, then eret speaks up again, desperate to convince them to let him help. (he wants to repent for what he's done- for betraying them. dream didn't give him what was promised, dream lied to him. they had died in that control room, and what eret got didn't justify that. dream promised him something that he couldn't give and eret had betrayed his friends for nothing. he wants redemption.)

"gentlemen-" he tries to say, but he is swiftly interrupted by wilbur, who is glaring daggers at him.

wilbur's voice is calm, though if he listened closely, he could hear anger simmering beneath the tone.

"actually, eret," he spoke casually, "tommy and i are just leaving." his tone hardens, "thank you for your kind offer, but we don't need to hear your bullshit and lies, eret." then wilbur glances down at him, and his voice takes a softer tone, "right, tommy?" he asks.

tommy hesitantly nods, "yeah.." he murmurs, trying to smile.

"see?" wilbur says, dragging him away, slowly but surely. "you can go now, king eret." he adds, the last part was said in an almost mocking tone.

eret furrows his eyebrows and makes a move to stop them, but both of them had already retreated towards the forest, and tommy's last glimpse of eret is the king standing alone, with a sullen posture and a defeated look.

wilbur drags tommy along, heading towards their base. his previously happy expression had soured, and that was probably not a good thing, tommy realized.

"um.. wil?" he asks, slightly tugging at his wrists, "can you let me go?"

wilbur immediately lets go of his wrist and steps away, as if he had been poisoned. tommy looks up at his eyes and finds a shocked and agape expression on wilbur's face, and on his eyes- there were a flurry of emotions, most of which, tommy couldn't recognize or discern, but what he could, consisted of shock, of regret, though, tommy didn't exactly know why.

"i- i'm really sorry about that tommy," wilbur says, "did i hold your hand too tight? are you hurt?" he asks, concern seeping in his tone and expression.

tommy shakes his head, "maybe a little bit, but it's fine wil." he reassures, and wilbur sighs in relief. (he didn't hurt him. he didn't hurt his baby brother- his little toms. that was good.)

"that's good." wilbur says, as he continues to walk through the forest, "it's really good that you're not hurt."

tommy slowly nods as he follows, "yeah, it really is." he hesitantly says.

after that, there is suffocating silence. the two of them traverse through the forest to their new base. tommy does not do well with silence, it is awkward and it suffocates him, he has never liked being alone and silence makes him feel very lonely. he would break the ice- he would speak first, but he doesn't really know what to say, what he should talk about. perhaps reminding wilbur of what happened earlier would remind him of their talk with eret, and it would anger him.

he could- but no, it was best for wilbur to speak first.

tommy would just have to suffer in silence for a little bit, until wilbur calmed himself and collected his thoughts enough to speak.

that moment arrives a few minutes later, when wilbur asks tommy a very important question.

"tommy, are we the bad guys?"

(looking back on this, maybe this is the question that ruined his life. wilbur asking if he was the bad guy- maybe it was the domino that caused his life to go downhill. maybe this was the question that lead to l'manberg's eventual demise. maybe this was what led a once great and prosperous country to ruin. but that was the future, this right now is the present. and for now, it was just a not-so-harmless question that tommy needed to answer.)

"no." tommy answers firmly, "we're not the bad guys, we can't be the bad guys." he adds, and it almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

wilbur hums and looks back at him, "why not?" he asks.

"because we started l'manberg, and we should have won that vote." tommy says in reply.

wilbur stares at him, "tommy, schlatt.. he won fairly," ("if you could even call pooling their votes fairly." tommy scoffs.) "-shush child, he won fairly and we lost, and now we're trying to take l'manberg back, doesn't that sound like we're the bad guys?" he asks.

tommy stubbornly shakes his head, "no! schlatt didn't even win fairly, they had to pool votes, which was totally unfair." he points out, causing wilbur to sigh, "and we're only taking l'manberg back because he had the audacity to exile us! we're the founding fathers!" he exclaims, "besides, did you hear him? he called himself an emperor, what a pompous prick." tommy muttered, voce turning bitter at the end.

wilbur laughs, ruffling tommy's hair, which elicited a laugh and a small "hey!" from the younger boy, "i guess, i guess you're right, toms." wilbur says, and if tommy had listened more carefully (he didn't) he would have noticed the strain in wilbur's voice, the way he put on this forced tone.

"i'm always right!" tommy says proudly, then after a beat, he pulls away from wilbur and sprints, "race you to our base!" tommy hollered behind him.

tommy does not look behind him as he runs. if he did, he would have seen wilbur's slightly dark expression, implying that their talks about being the bad guy wasn't over yet. but that was for another day, for now, wilbur schools his expression into a more neutral one, and he chased after tommy.

this was almost like before, tommy thinks, before botched elections and exiles, before wilbur had come to him with an idea of an election, and heck, even before- even before revolutions and wars and l'manberg.

he could almost imagine it was dream, chasing after him, tubbo and sapnap, with george watching, too tired to run. back then, when it was days full of laughter and sunshines and promises and they didn't have to worry about three lives.

but this was reality, and tommy wakes up to it as wilbur catches up to him and lightly shoves him in the shoulder, laughing.

tommy thinks.

"wilbur," he speaks, "did you mean it?" tommy asks, staring at the older man.

wilbur furrows his eyebrows in confusion, "mean what?" he asked, "you gotta be more specific, toms."

"that you were gonna be starting a new nation to fight l'manberg."

wilbur stops for a moment and thinks, "yeah," he replies, "guess i did mean it."

(will this be another l'manberg?)

tommy hums under his breath to hide his uneasiness with the fact that wilbur would be starting a new nation just to fight l'manberg, a place that tommy had died twice for. he wants to ask why, why he thought it would be a good idea, but- "what will we call it?" he asks instead.

a smile.

"pogtopia," wilbur says, "is a wonderful name, isn't it?"

pogtopia doesn't really evoke a feeling of warmth and home that l'manberg does.

Chapter Text

it takes them another thirty minutes to reach their new base- pogtopia. tommy doesn't really like it, that wilbur had named pogtopia as a country so quickly, like he was trying to replace l'manberg.

tommy goes down to the ravine, which was supposedly their new home, their new country, pogtopia, and he shivers. where l'manberg had been open, had been freedom and the sun and warmth, pogtopia was darkness and cold and tight and it felt so suffocating to be here. it is not the home that l'manberg is used to be.

wilbur though, does not seem to mind as he prances about the ravine, flitting to every corner as he details to tommy about his plans to make this ravine look nicer. as he does so, his voice echoes slightly at the cold cavernous walls that make him feel so trapped. tommy does not like it.

wilbur tells him of plans for a barracks for training, of a room for potato farms, a room for a portal, he tells tommy all about his plans to make pogtopia an underground nation, making it strong enough to be able to take l'manberg back from schlatt's tyranny.

("you claim we're the good guys, do you not, tommy?" wilbur had asked him, his voice echoing throughout the ravine, and tommy forces himself to look at wilbur's eyes, where a strange emotion that he didn't recognize (insanity-it was insanity, why?) stirred.)

tommy doesn't really see the point to starting a new country to take back l'manberg, isn't it pointless? if they took back l'manberg, pogtopia would be deserted, and this new nation, the one that wilbur was currently pouring his heart out, planning and plotting to make this as strong as their l'manberg had been- it would just be a relic of the past, of a time when l'manberg wasn't theirs. what would become of pogtopia when they eventually retrieved l'manberg?

when he voiced out his concerns to wilbur, the older initially waved him off, as if dismissing his questions, but when tommy asked again, wilbur sighed, like he was tired, and he glanced at the younger.

"tommy," he says, tone almost condescending, "we need to take l'manberg back because of schlatt's tyranny, right?" wilbur asked, glancing at tommy with a soft expression.

tommy hesitantly nods, and at that, wilbur beams at him, ruffling his hair, looking proud.

"and because we need to take l'manberg back, we need to do it with any means possible." wilbur tells him, "even if it means starting a nation and waging war while it is unfinished."

tommy purses his lips, "but why do we need to start a country to wage war?" he asks, "can't we just wage war as individuals?"

wilbur, for a millisecond, furrows his eyebrows, but it disappears as quickly as it came. "it actually stems from smpearth," he says, "where the concept of countries were first created, before it, people waged wars as individuals, like you said."

"then what changed?" tommy asked.

wilbur lowers his voice, and it no longer echoes around the ravine, "the concept of countries had become popularized, and to prevent countless of wars tearing servers apart, it became law that to wage war, you must first start a country." at tommy's agape expression, he continued, "it was what tore smpearth apart."

tommy wanted to ask if l'manberg too, was a ploy for war, but before he could, his communicator buzzed.

wilbur narrows his eyes at his communicator, "who is it?" he asks, as tommy glances down to see why his communicator had buzzed.

his blood ran cold.

"it's tubbo." he answers, staring at the private message that tubbo had sent.

tubbo_ whispered to you: tommy can you tell me where you are? im on your side.

and oh- tommy wants to, he desperately wants to tell tubbo.

"what does tubbo say?" wilbur asks him, tone and expression both deceptively calm.

tommy answers, "he wants to know where we are," he says, and his eyes light up, "and he says he's on our side wilbur!" he adds in exclamation.

(tubbo makes tommy happy, he does. wilbur should allow them to meet, but he can't trust tubbo right now, he used to, back in the good old l'manberg days but things were different now, tubbo worked with schlatt, and schlatt hurt him his little brother, schlatt must pay. if tubbo hurt his little brother too- if tubbo betrayed his brother's trust- he would pay as well. but for now, wilbur would trust him.)

"not on the ravine tommy," wilbur sternly says, "give him the coordinates in the woods, slightly far off from pogtopia."

tommy beams, because wilbur actually let him speak with tubbo, "i will! thanks!" he excitedly says, hurrying up the stairs and bursting through the dirt covered doorway before sprinting through the forest, with an amused wilbur following behind.

once he found a small clearing, not far from pogtopia, he immediately messaged tubbo his coordinates.

tubbo_ whispered to you: on my way tommy :)

he bursts into an infectious grin. tubbo was coming, he was on their side!

the sun was just setting as tubbo arrived, complaining about the heat and about how far their new base was from l'manberg, and as tommy joins in with witty banter, wilbur observes. (tubbo is dressed like schlatt, he thinks.)

tubbo is quick to fill them in as to what was now happening at l'manberg- well, manberg now.

("it's actually manberg now, schlatt decreed it." tubbo offhandedly says.
tommy looks on in horror, "what!?" he asks, "why would he change it?" he demands.
tubbo shrugs, "something about taking no L's, apparently."
wilbur scoffs, "i mean, manberg sounds horrible without the L, so i think he just took an L."
that caused the two teenagers to laugh, and for wilbur to flash them both a sincere smile.)

tubbo, with his sad eyes, had told wilbur of niki's predicament.

("schlatt wasn't really too happy with niki being so out spoken." tubbo tells them, "he's started taxing her."
wilbur scowls, "but we disbanded taxes, even the greater dream smp doesn't follow the tax rule anymore!" he protests.
tubbo purses his lips, "schlatt doesn't really care about that.")

and as the moon rises, tubbo turns to leave, after all, he was still technically schlatt's right hand man, if he went missing, it would be chaos. but before he could go, tommy stops him with a single question-

"tubbo, are you happy there?"

tubbo freezes and he turns around to look at tommy, who looks at him seriously.

"i don't really know," he admits, "it's really stressful and there's always arguing."

wilbur glances at him, "then would you like to be our spy, tubbo?" he asks, and both tommy and tubbo glance at him, curiosity in their eyes. "you'd pretend to work with schlatt, gain his favor, and then give us information, and i promise you, that when we take l'manberg back, you won't have to stress yourself out anymore." he promises, honey-coated words dripping from his mouth.

"deal!" tubbo enthusiastically says, and tommy beams. (both of them too naive- too young.)

tubbo's a good kid, wilbur decides, as tubbo waves them goodbye and runs back off to manberg, even if he did betray them and side with schlatt, he was a good kid.

Chapter Text

the walls are almost gone now, there are only a few blocks left remaining, and schlatt's attention had turned to the flag.

("i want it gone!" he had said, "replaced!" his eyes glinted with cruelty, "we will make a new flag for our new and much stronger manberg!" he had decreed.

fundy should follow.)

he stares at l'manberg's flag, waving in the wind. the beautifully woven colors or red, blue, yellow and black coming together and making a wonderful flag of a nation, gone. it was a pity he had to destroy it.

(he remembers the day that the flag was made. wilbur skillfully sketching out whatever words had come out of fundy's mouth as his son tried desperately to make up a flag, he remembers everyone bossing jack manifold- their newest member around, ordering him to collect materials, he remembers niki's soft laughter being heard across the room as she patiently taught tubbo and tommy how to sew, both of them were probably proficient with it by now. he remembers flying the flag for the first time, seeing everyone's proud smiles and cheerful dispositions because they had made a flag that symbolized them. and now fundy had to tear it down.)

fundy stares at the flag, and his fingers find it's way to the flint and steel in his pocket. the cold steel does not bring him comfort, it is far too reminiscent of the various explosions that their country had faced, but it must. he needs the flint and steel for whatever he would be doing now, and as he glances at the flag, he sighs.

he has to burn it. (will it worth it?)

fundy approaches the flag, only stopping once near it's base. he takes the flint and steel out of his pocket and prepares himself for what he was going to do.

there is no room for hesitation here, and as much as he would like to, he does not. he almost falters as he pushes the flint and steel towards the string used to raise the flag, but he continues. he pushes the flint and steel together, colliding them, and as they collided, there came sparks, and there came fire.

he watches in amazement as the flames rise higher and higher. he takes a few steps back as the flames reaches the flag, the edges closest to the fire already looking burnt. maybe he would have stayed there- staring at the fire for ages, if not for a small and horrified gasp behind him.

niki.

he turns to meet her, and just like a sly and deceptive fox- the ones her mother loved to turn into, he adopts a mask of indifference. he acts as if he is detached from the situation, apathetic.

he does not expect a raging and crying niki, but he does not let his mask slip. he needs to make this believable. (he needs to make this worth it.)

"fundy!" niki screams, "how could you!?"

fundy does not respond. (he remembers a smiling niki, eyes glinting with pride as she watches tommy and tubbo painstakingly sew their own versions of the flag.)

niki hurls insults at him, she demands answers, and she probably would have attacked him if not for eret, who had shown up and had restrained niki, though he still looks at fundy with disbelief.

(niki's actions remind him of tommy, funnily enough.)

fundy keeps his indifferent mask, he plays the charade, even as niki shouts at him, even as eret looks at him with disappointment, even if-

"what is the meaning of this?"

schlatt.

he turns to the side to find schlatt, eyebrows raised.

"mr. president!" fundy speaks, "i thought, well, since we were replacing the flag, why not burn it? to symbolize us getting rid of the last remnants of l'manberg."

a beat.

schlatt smiles, "good thinking, fundy." he says, patting the fox hybrid on the back, and fundy would commemorate himself on a job well done, but-

"what would wilbur say if he saw you like this!?" niki asked, raising her voice, "you just betrayed your father!"

great. thanks niki.

schlatt halts, and the smile on his face fades.

"king eret, please escort nihachu out, you both are dismissed." schlatt says.

eret shoots him a concerned look before placing a hand on niki's shoulder and leading her away.

absolutely brilliant. this was off to a good start.

"wilbur's your father?" schlatt asks, staring intently at him that fundy almost squirms.

fundy does not want to say it, but he does. he needs schlatt's trust, after all.

"no," he starts, "wilbur may be my father by blood, but he did not raise me." (he did he did he did-) "i have no father." he continues, unflinching.

schlatt stares at him, an undecipherable expression in his face, "good," he speaks, "starting tomorrow, you'll be joining the cabinet meetings as manberg's chairman." he says, then he smirks, "i look forward to seeing you there." schlatt says, turning his back and walking away, not bothering to hear fundy's reply. (he narrows his eyes. he had thought that tommy would be wilbur's son, but he was sorely mistaken, it had turned out to be fundy. but that begs the question, who was tommyinnit to wilbur soot?)

"bye!" fundy says, voice nearly faltering. he had done it, it was small, but he had gained a bit schlatt's trust. he could learn about manberg secrets and help his father now! so why-

there are memories thrown about his head, memories of wilbur raising him, always being there for him, telling him stories about his formidable family, teaching him everything he could and- comforting him when his mother had died and promising to take him someplace new and safe.

this was not safe, he realizes, he is in the middle of enemy territory and his allies (friends-family) think him a traitor. he is not safe. wilbur lied.

is it worth it? a little voice in his head crooned, is it worth distancing yourself from your friends and family, making them believe you betrayed them- siding with the man that threw your father out, all for a bit of information that probably wouldn't make a difference? it adds, and he really doesn't know.

he takes a final look at the burning flag, a final glimpse of the nation that was- and he thinks.

Chapter Text

tommy glances at the letter that tubbo had sent to them, and he grits his teeth. the contents of the letter were bound to make wilbur angry, and tommy did not want to see it.

to mellohi,

you probably don't know, but the ram held a meeting today, and he introduced the fox as his new chairman. i know, it shocked the bee and the duck as well. you don't know this, but the ram actually talked about getting rid of the flag, because you know, it's a new country now. from what he said in the meeting, the fox actually burnt the flag down and proposed making a new flag. the ram also said something about disowning the general too, but i don't know if that's true.

i talked to the baker and the king, and apparently, the fox did not show much remorse for the flag.
the baker was very emotional about it, but the king didn't answer much, like he was hiding something, or like he had something to do with it. not sure.
i wonder how the general feels about this.

that was all the information i could gather today, if i have any additional, i'll just add it to the next letter i'll send.

sincerely, cat.

tubbo's letter didn't seem like it came from tubbo, but that was smart. he even referred to himself as 'the bee' during the letter, subtle.

but that didn't matter for now, what mattered was what the letter had implied.

fundy had burnt down the flag that they had made, planned to design a new flag to replace it, and had disowned wilbur.

tommy remembered how wilbur reacted when fundy tore down the walls, and he didn't want to see how he'd react to fundy burning down the flag.

their flag.

(tommy remembers the day that the flag was made. fundy had been the one to think of the design for it, and he was probably thinking of a design for the new country right now, and tommy wonders if he'll see remnants of the old flag in it. he wonders if the colors will remain, the vibrant colors that were taken from the uniform that they had worn. he wonders if the semi circle would remain, fundy had thought of that, of course, so perhaps it remained. he wonders if the three large x marks had remained. the ones that symbolized the three important events in their independence ; dream's declaration of war, the final control room, and the duel for freedom. he thinks of the days where niki would teach him and tubbo how to sew and he wonders if even then, fundy had been a traitor as well.)

"is that the letter from tubbo?" a voice asks behind, and tommy releases the letter and almost screams.

as the letter slowly falls to the ground, he realizes that he had been so caught up in his thinking that he didn't realize that wilbur had been right behind him.

"fuck." he mutters under his breath as he grabs the fallen letter.

wilbur clears his throat, and tommy freezes.

"what was that, toms?" he asked.

tommy turns around, "nothing!" he says, "and yeah, this is the letter from tubbo." he adds. please don't ask to see the letter...

"i want to see the letter." he says, hand outstretched. (fuck. i just jinxed it.)

tommy wordlessly gives him the letter, and as wilbur reads it, he prepares for his reaction.

tommy watches as the paper gets crumpled in wilbur's hand, and as he moves his mouth open to speak, rage obvious in his eyes, tommy, for once in his life, wishes that there was a god that would make a diversion because he is not prepared for wilbur's wrath.

technoblade has joined the server

...talk about perfect timing. he might have to start worshipping the blood god technoblade always talked about.

"i have to collect technoblade from spawn!" tommy says, already heading up, "i'll take the horse, and i'll make sure to bring him back as quick as possible, bye!" he adds, sprinting out of their new base.

hopefully, by the time they get back, he'd have calmed down by then. hopefully.

tommy places a saddle on the skeleton horse that he managed to tame a few days back and immediately heads towards spawn before wilbur could even get up from the ravine.

he does not look behind him as he tries to figure out the fastest way to get to spawn, after all, the people in manberg (it should be l'manberg-) and the greater dream smp had an advantage. they were closer to spawn than their base- (new nation- pogtopia, wilbur says.) was.

"riding horseback is faster than i realized." tommy murmured, as he rides past l'manberg, swiftly entering the woods near the greater dream smp, "this journey would have taken hours, had i gone by foot." horses would be their primary way of transportation then.

tommy reaches spawn in an hour, a journey that would usually take him five, maybe four if he ran. there, he finds technoblade, who looked like some sort of prince with his get-up.

"tommy, i was waiting for you!" technoblade says, upon spotting the younger, "we need to-"

"now is not the time techno," tommy says, "they'll be here any minute now, we'll talk once we get back to our base." (he doesn't want to call it pogtopia yet, it just makes it feel real. god, he was exiled from l'manberg...)

technoblade stares at him. "tommy, i'm not riding bitch." he deadpans.

tommy splutters, "well, i'm not riding bitch, so you have to-"

"tommy."

he only says one word, but that is all it takes for tommy to get down from the horse and for technoblade to take his place.

"can't believe you're making me ride bitch." tommy mutters as he gets on the horse again.

technoblade sighs, and as he readies his horse to go, he halts, and the next thing he says brings shivers down tommy's spine.

"oh look, it's eret." (it is said nonchalantly, as technoblade points towards the bushes.)

(a day in the rain- comfort so warm he is friend will never betray so nice he- final control room, betrayal. it was never meant to be- the button the button the button-)

"techno, we need to go." tommy panics, "go, now!"

(technoblade would have laughed, but at the genuine panic at his little brother's eyes, he makes the horse start moving the direction he saw tommy come in. he'd have to research what eret did to them.)

the ride to the base (pogtopia pogtopiapog topia-) is quick and silent, and soon enough, they find themselves face to face with wilbur.

"did someone say rebellion?" technoblade asks as he gets off the horse, and wilbur cracks a grin.

tommy stares at technoblade, a renowned warrior that came to their aid because he was wilbur's brother, and he felt hope surge into his chest. they can take l'manberg back.

Chapter Text

after a week of technoblade training him, and wilbur slowly becoming more maniacal, tommy finally received another letter from tubbo.

as soon as he got the letter, his eyes widened and he eagerly opened it, not caring that he was in the middle of pogtopia, where both technoblade and wilbur could see him and possibly take the letter. but hey, he was excited to see what had happened in l'manberg while he and wilbur were gone.

to mellohi,

this is probably irrelevant, but the ram and the duck got married, everyone was forced to come.
it was slightly awkward, or well-, very awkward, i suppose.
the bee didn't seem to be very happy with it. he actually seemed uncomfortable.

on other news, i heard that spiral and arson from the greater dream smp got engaged.
mercenary didn't seem too pleased about it, when he was standing guard, i heard him complaining to purple.
arson seems to be planning something, just warning you. the admin loosened his leash, he seems more feral than usual..

be careful mellohi, i fear that he has found you and the general.

from cat.

tommy furrows his eyebrows, that was mostly useless information, though the thing about sapnap was definitely interesting, it was still useless. but tubbo wouldn't send him something useless, so this must mean something, right?

as he thought about it, the paper was ripped from his hand. "hey!" he calls out, before freezing.

it was wilbur. wilbur had taken the paper.

uh oh.

tommy watches as wilbur reads the letter, his expression changing from one of indifference to slight rage.

he nervously chuckles, "uh, wilbur? are you o-"

"he got married!?" wilbur asked, "and to quackity, of all people?" a huff.

huh? that was what he was mad about?

tommy watches as wilbur retreats, still holding the letter, cursing schatt under his breath as he did.

"i will never understand him." tommy murmured, eyes still staring at the elder's back.

a pause. then realization hits him.

"wait...he stole tubbo's letter from me!"

tommy sprints after wilbur, shrieks of laughter and shouted demands echoing throughout the ravine.

half an hour later, and tommy had tired out. wilbur had been the one to decorate and terraform the ravine while he and wilbur had trained, so obviously, he had such a huge advantage over tommy.

(a furious tommy, pointing at wilbur hanging down from the lights, "not fair!" he cries out, trying to find a way to get up there and get the letter.)

tommy kneels down the side of the wall, using his right hand to stabilize himself. his deep breaths echoes around the ravine, almost like an ambient cave sound, and soon, wilbur had joined him, taking deep breaths, though the older was sitting down on the floor, face red from the exhilarating game of tag they were playing.

suddenly, they both hear rough and noisy footsteps, like someone was walking on stone. tommy lifts his head to look up at the stairs, and he finds technoblade.

"did you guys train without me?" the piglin hybrid asks, raising an eyebrow at the two of them.

tommy turns red, "shut up." he murmurs.

at the same time, wilbur asks, "how did your meeting with dream go?"

tommy turns to glance at wilbur so quickly, he almost got whiplash. "meeting with dream?" he asks quietly.

wilbur nods, "yes, dream could be an ally to us." he said, as if dream wasn't the reason that they were here in the first place.

"he doesn't like the new government," technoblade said, "he supports us from the shadows and he gave me a bunch of cool stuff." he added.

can we trust him?

wilbur places a hand on his chin, "do you know why dream doesn't like the government?" he asks, receiving a shake of a head from techno, signaling a 'no'

(bright smiles and discarded masks. pinkie promises and pats on the head. "you two look like brothers." bad had said, 'aww'ing at the both of them, dream had nervously glanced at him and tommy wondered what brothers did.)

"he did have a gift for tommy though." technoblade said, "i stashed it in one of the chest upstairs."

(cold eyes and even colder masks. distant figures and never reaching him. count up and duels and shootings and you promised- discs and exchanges and bittersweet freedom. dream does not look at him and tommy wonders if this is what brothers do.)

that piques his interest, "i'll check it out." he says, already heading up the stairs.

he finds the chest that technoblade was talking about, and he opens it, expecting it to be some basic items that would be helpful, but-

there is a set of enchanted netherite armor on the chest and a letter.

he reads the letter first.

had an extra set of netherite armor, thought you might need it.

from big d.

okay, that was a lie.

who had a fully enchanted set of netherite armor just laying around? this had to have been made before the l'manberg revolutionary war. it had too good enchants for it to not.

he grabs the set of armor and tries it on, a big smile on his face.

wilbur smiles, "you look strong toms, you might even give techno here a run for his money."

tommy smirks, "of course i can! i am the great tommyinnit after all!"

technoblade laughs, "sure thing kid." he says, ruffling his hair.

tommy shoves technoblade away before putting the armor in his ender chest for safekeeping.

technoblade leaves again, to go off to who knows where and do who knows what, and wilbur continues his terraforming of the ravine.

tommy though-

he doesn't really know what to do.

...

he should probably write back to tubbo. he grabs one of the stray papers and a pen, intent on writing a short letter to send.

to cat,

burn this letter after reading it.

the admin and blood god are helping us. do not worry.
the general is acting weird, but we are fine.

thank you.

ps. your letter was kind of useless cat, not gonna lie.

from mellohi.

it was simple and sweet. minimalistic.

tommy did not have wilbur's dramatic flair with words, he did not have technoblade's talent for sentence structure, nor tubbo's artistry for words, so this was all he could do.

"now.." he murmured, "i just need to send this."

he was still in euphoria though, after all, dream was helping them! that meant that dream was going to be friendly with him again! it was going great!

nothing could possibly go wrong.

Chapter Text

"i want to make a tower." tommy says boldly, which causes technoblade to stare at him in confusion.

tommy does not like his staring.

technoblade tilts his head, "you wanna do what now?" he asks, "because i must have misheard you-"

"i want to make a tower." tommy repeats, "and i want to make it now."

technoblade stares at him, then sighs, "why?" he asks.

"to intimidate people."

technoblade places one of his palms on his forehead, "tommy, we are trying to stay hidden." he replies, emphasizing on the word 'hidden'

"yeah," tommy agreed, "but i want a tower of intimidation."

technoblade groans, "fine, but if we get in trouble, i'll say you peer-pressured me."

tommy beams at him and grabs his hand, dragging him up the stairs.

"where are we building this thing anyways?" technoblade asked, "and what will it be made of?" he adds, releasing his hand from tommy's grip

tommy seals off the entrance to the ravine before answering technoblade's question, "we are building a cobblestone tower, and i found this spot in between a river and a lake, it's gonna be so intimidating!" he excitedly says, "come on, i'll show you!" he says, sprinting.

technoblade fondly smiles at him before following. tommy could be adorable when excited about something, he decides.

it takes them about half an hour to get to the spot, and at tommy's insistence, they began working on a tower made purely out of cobblestone.

("cobblestone is a really ugly block tommy." technoblade tried to tell him.

tommy frowns, "no it's not! shut up technoblade, just keep building!"

"you two need some brotherly bonding, he said." technoblade muttered under his breath, "it'll be fun, he said." he frowns, "wilbur, you lying ass.")

tommy's communicator beeped, and he glanced at it, "oh, tubbo's left the main channel and entered ours." he commented.

tubbo_ whispered to you: tommy, where are you? theres no one in the ravine

tommy quickly sent tubbo their coordinates, then glanced over at technoblade.

"where is wilbur, anyways?" he asked, trying to seem nonchalant about it.

technoblade purses his lips, "talking with dream about something."

tommy slowly nodded, though, he didn't know why wilbur was talking with dream, but it was probably important.

tubbo got to them thirty minutes later, still wearing his manberg suit, which caused technoblade to raise an eyebrow.

"tubbo!" tommy beamed, "how'd you get away from schlatt, big man?" he asked.

tubbo shrugs, "someone offered to cover for me, i'm pretty sure he doesn't know that i'm a spy, just that i wanted to see you."

"who is it?" tommy asked.

tubbo hesitates, "i'm not sure he'd want me to tell you.." he murmured, which caused technoblade to narrow his eyes at him.

"what? tubbo please!" he begged

but tubbo stood firm and didn't answer him, instead, he changed the subject, "so, what are we doing here?"

"we're building an intimidation tower!" tommy answered.

tubbo ended up helping them with it, joking around with tommy and ignoring technoblade's suspicious stares.

after two hours of working on the tower, it was at the height that tommy wanted now, not too high to be seen from manberg, but not low enough to be at bitch-boy levels.

"well, i gotta go now, i might get caught if i don't." tubbo said, "but this has been fun!"

tommy and technoblade waved him goodbye, and tubbo disappeared into the forest.

after tubbo left, the two of them stared at their creation, feeling proud, because the intimidation tower was pretty cool and intimidating.

they relaxed, sharing anecdotes and jokes and they immediately froze when they heard a voice behind them.

"there you two are!" they heard, "tubbo told me you were here and-" a beat. "is that an ugly cobblestone tower?"

both of them turned around to see wilbur, who did not look happy with them.

thy glanced at each other and began to open their mouths to explain, but wilbur silenced them both with a glare. "follow me." he commanded, walking back to pogtopia, and they followed, trying to explain on the way.

("it's for intimidation!" tommy had explained, "and it's not ugly!"

"i couldn't stop tommy," technoblade reasoned, "and i made sure that the tower had accurate proportions!")

"i am so disappointed in both of you." wilbur said as they entered the ravine.

both of them immediately stopped, heads down. wilbur was technically the eldest amongst the three of them, and he held power over them by his seniority.

wilbur sighs and places his fingers on his forehead, "i'm speechless," he says, "i don't even have any words for whatever you've done!"

six hours later, when wilbur had worn himself out and had gone to sleep, tommy had glanced at technoblade and said- "he said he was speechless, and then he shouted at us."

"yes," technoblade said, "that is a thing he did, and now guess what? i'm gonna be leaving the ravine because that is a thing i do." he added, ruffling tommy's hair.

tommy scowled, pushing technoblade's hands away, "where are you even going?" he asked.

technoblade only smiles at him before heading up the stairs.

"does he never sleep?" tommy murmured under his breath.

as technoblade left the ravine, probably to grind for materials or something, tommy decided to sulk and go further into the ravine, into the places that wilbur deemed too far out to terraform.

he reaches the very edge of the ravine and places his back against the wall, getting ready to quietly sulk, but as he did, his communicator began beeping and he turned to look at it.

tubbo_: sapnap, karl, im really serious pls dont do this he will somehow find a way to fight you just leave it alone

"no way.." he murmured, "messages from the main channel?"

as far as he knew, pogtopia was out of range of the main channel, that's why they picked this spot, but for one area to be included in the main channel? it was fun. he could see messages from the main channel now, like some sort of spy!

that idea excited him, so once again, he looked over at the messages in his communicator, eager to learn about information regarding 'manberg' and the greater dream smp.

sapnap: chill its just a joke
tubbo_: im gonna tell tommy if you dont stop
henry fell to his death
sapnap: oops
tubbo_: you guys just killed henry!
nihachu: how dare you kill henry!
karljacobs_: we didn't meant to

he freezes, because it can't be true, surely not...

"henry?"

Chapter Text

tommy wanted revenge. that was why he was here.

("we are above revenge, tommy." wilbur says, as they stare at the walls.

tommy huffs, "but he took my discs wilbur, shouldn't i go take something of his?"

wilbur raises an eyebrow, "and ruin the precarious balance that the server has now? no," he replies, "tommy, sometimes you need to let things go.")

tommy looks at the flint and steel laying innocently above the crafting table, and he sighs, picking it up.

sorry wilbur, i can't let this go..

"tommy, are you ready?"

he glances up and finds dream's smiley face mask staring at him, which causes him to snap out of his stupor and nod.

he can feel dream staring at him, which makes him slightly uncomfortable, since staring was pretty weird, so he forces himself to speak up.

"so, what's the plan, big d?" he asks, "how can we get him back?"

dream hums, "you know how sapnap's engaged to karl?" he asks.

tommy slowly nods, "i mean, i know, but what's that gotta do with anything? do we break them up or something?"

"no! no- nothing drastic like that," dream says, furrowing his eyebrows, "sapnap would never forgive me for that, and i'd piss of punz, sam, bad and skeppy- maybe even purpled."

tommy raises an eyebrow, curious at what dream had said, "then what do you suggest we do then?" he asks.

"well, he's building this tower- calls it an eiffel tower, behind bad and skeppy's mansion, it's being built for his and karl's honeymoon, i hear." dream says nonchalantly.

tommy's eyes glimmered, mischief evident. "so we burn it to the ground?"

a nod. "it's located quite far from manberg, so we won't have to worry about any manbergians finding out."

he can't really help but feel nervous. he's told no one about what he was planning to do, what if they got caught? what if wilbur or technoblade found out? he'd probably be in big trouble.

dream, as if sensing his hesitation, speaks once more- "if you're still nervous, we could ask niki to be on lookout, will that be fine?"

tommy nods, "yeah, that'd be fine." tommy says, because he knows that he can trust niki, she hates schlatt, hates the new manberg, just as much as they do, niki would never betray them, besides, niki loved henry, niki taught him how to take care of henry, he can trust her.

"just a warning though," dream said, as he walked towards a direction that tommy had never gone to, "we need to be quick, the fastest way is using boats, but that also means we'd be more likely to get seen."

tommy gulps, "what about niki?" he asks.

"once we're there, i'll send her a message to come, will that be okay?" dream asks, earning a nod from tommy.

it takes them about half an hour to reach the shore, and dream places two boats on the shoreline, so that it wouldn't get swept away by the waves.

"be careful tommy," dream warned him, "manberg might be a couple hundred blocks away, but you'd be surprised how well sound travels in the ocean."

tommy nodded as he got into his boat, "heard you loud and clear, big d." he replies, quieter than usual.

dream smiles at him as they both row their boats towards the water.

...

it was quite possibly the most nerve-wracking and silent boat trip he had ever gotten.

they had rowed for what felt like an hour- maybe more, in complete silence and it was extremely unbearable for him. he had to force himself to listen to the waves, not speaking a word until they reached the shore.

after landing, dream took their boats, placed it in his inventory and began leading tommy towards, what he presumed to be bad and skeppy's mansion. he wouldn't know, he'd never been there.

"we're almost there, toms." dream had said, "just a little bit further, and then we can get your revenge, okay?"

right. revenge. "sounds good to me." tommy replied.

a few moments later, and they had reached bad and skeppy's mansion, and behind it, he could see sapnap and karl's eiffel tower.

"there it is tommy," dream said, "burn it down."

he clutches his flint and steel, and he does as dream says.

he burns it down.

he didn't care for the fishes, nor the llama, or about the reason for this eiffel tower. he's grieving, so he's burning it down.

("people grieve in different ways, tommy." dream had said, "i mean, some people get destructive when they're grieving.")

he drops the flint and steel on the pond and he takes a few deep breaths.

dream stands beside him and smiles, "feel better now, buddy?" he asks.

"kind of," tommy replies, "but i kinda want to burn it more." he admits.

dream hums, "i mean, you can-"

"guys!"

tommy turns around at the sound of niki's voice, and he spots her sprinting towards them.

"is something wrong?" dream asks.

niki takes a deep breath, "bad and skeppy are coming, and i heard that sapnap might as well."

"i mean, we could let them see." dream suggests, shrugging, "i could probably convince sapnap that someone else did it."

tommy frowns, "but i'm not done burning it yet."

the other glances at him, contemplating, then- "maybe next time toms," dream says, ruffling his hair, "i'd even let you-"

"what are you guys doing?" they heard bad say, and the three turn around to spot the demon, with narrowed eyes, his (platonic) husband standing next to him.

tommy would argue, but he feels tired, the burning having taken most of his energy.

"what does it look like?" dream responded.

bad huffs, "it looks like you just destroyed sapnap and karl's engangement spot!"

"so what if we did?"

tommy stares at the burning eiffel tower as the two of them argue, and he tries to tune them out, because he just feels drained.

"what...?"

tommy turns around, and there is sapnap, staring at the building he had created.

he can register dream and bad blaming each other, trying to convince sapnap that the other had done it, trying to make them believe him, but tommy only stares at sapnap.

he'd seen that look on his face before.

("l'manberg, my unfinished symphony!")

sapnap steps forward, and tommy turns to look at him.

he is staring at his burning eiffel tower, and he when he spoke, his voice is harsh and aggressive and- "why did you do this?" -damaged.

sapnap turns around to face them, and tommy is almost frightened.

the blaze hybrid looks absolutely furious (if tommy had cared enough to notice, he would have seen the tears that had evaporated, but his anger blinded him.), and the burning eiffel tower behind him makes him look dangerous- more dangerous than he's ever been.

"an eye for an eye, sapnap," tommy says, trying to ignore his fear, "an eye for an eye."

(makes the whole world go blind)

Chapter Text

tommy didn't really know what he expected, when he had decided to take revenge on sapnap. he had expected tears, anger perhaps. and he had gotten them. (but he didn't expect for sapnap to also want his own revenge.)

"what did i even do to you?" sapnap demanded.

tommy scoffed, "as if you don't know." he replied, ("i don't!"), "you killed henry! henry was my cow, sapnap, why did you even do that!" he demanded.

sapnap paused, and for a few tense seconds, tommy dreaded his answer, wracking his mind for anything he had done before his exile that might have offended the older teenager. sapnap opened his mouth to speak, presumably to answer his question, to give tommy the answers that he so desperately needed, but before he could, dream yanked his arm and dragged him off towards the ocean, handing him a few ender pearls.

(behind him, he could hear sapnap telling bad and skeppy to go look for punz, and tommy wonders if he's already gearing for a battle, because why else would they go looking for a mercenary? privately, tommy wonders if he should gear up as well, after all, he came here slightly unprepared, only wanting to burn the eiffel tower to the ground.)

dream placed two boats on the water and immediately ushered tommy to enter his boat, "i already told niki to go back to manberg and get herself an alibi, let's row over to the middle of the ocean, pearl over to the other side, break our boats and hope we land on land." he said, entering his own boat and started rowing, tommy immediately rowed as well, albeit slower than dream did.

as he and dream rowed away, sapnap screamed at them from the shore, probably cursing them out or something like that, and as they reached the approximate middle of the ocean, dream immediately threw a pearl to the other side and broke his boat, teleporting to land. (before tommy pearled, he glanced behind him, to sapnap who was rowing quickly, and he immediately pearled over to where dream was.)

"i told you to break your boat!" dream told him, as the older man dragged him over to pogtopia's relative area. (how did he...?)

tommy scoffed as he entered pogtopia, opening the ender chest and grabbing the netherite armor set that dream had given him, he moved away from the ender chest and tried to put the armor on swiftly, because sapnap was chasing them and while tommy didn't really like pogtopia at all, he didn't want to lead sapnap towards it.

after putting it on he turned around to see dream closing the ender chest, holding a bucket of water that splashed around sometimes.

tommy raised an eyebrow, "uh, what's that for, dream?" he asked, really curious what one splashy bucket water was doing here.

despite the smiley mask's casual indifference, tommy couldn't help but get the feeling that dream was rolling his eyes from behind his mask.

"it's sapnap's fish, mars." dream said, handing the bucket of water (with a fish, apparently), to tommy, and he added, "promise me you won't harm it, okay?"

it's leverage, tommy realizes. just like how schlatt can hold l'manberg against wilbur and tommy, he can hold mars against sapnap. but...

"why are you giving me this? are you not gonna help?" he asked, slightly annoyed, since he knew that he'd be severely outnumbered if he tried to fight bad, skeppy, sapnap and punz together.

he hears a sort of echo-like laugh coming from dream, probably echoing from the mask, and dream says, "techno's probably farming somewhere, i'll go fetch him and we'll head towards the tower, but we need some time, so you'll distract them, okay?"

tommy was slightly miffed about being the distraction, but it was fine, after all, he had dream and the blade, they were the strongest people in this server, second and third to him, and they'd win.

as tommy and dream left pogtopia, covering it up, they separated, with dream heading off to god knows where to fetch techno, and with tommy heading towards the intimidation tower that he and techno had built.

tommy knew that he was meant to distract sapnap and whoever he had brought with him to make sure that dream and techno could come and fight with him, but he didn't really want to run into them. he knew when he was outmatched, and fighting against four people was not really in his best interests for survival.

when he heard screams of his name, of there he is and go after him, tommy cursed his unluckiness as he started sprinting towards the tower, and once he finally reached it, he turned around to face them and cursed.

of course, all four of them were there.

"come on guys, let's negotiate, i only have one life left!" he said, trying to appeal to their soft sides. (spoiler alert: it doesn't work.)

sapnap rolled his eyes, "then you shouldn't have burned the eiffel tower down tommy." then he looks around and smirks. (tommy wanted to wipe the smug little smirk off his face), "where's dream? did he leave you alone and defenseless?" he mocked.

"i wouldn't say i'm defenseless." tommy said, insulted, as he showed sapnap the bucket containing mars that he had, "after all, dream gave this to me."

tommy relished at the fact that sapnap froze, and at the anger that he could see at the older teen's face.

"he wouldn't." sapnap had said.

tommy smirked, "but he did." he mocks.

sapnap darts forward to attack him and tommy immediately switches to his sword, and as the other three move forward, tommy raises his shield to defend from punz' attack and immediately focused.

tommy stayed on the defensive at the entire encounter, unable to find an opening as he was barraged by an onslaught of attacks from the four of them, and as he saw a flash of green and pink from the forest, he knew it was time to strike.

"wait!" tommy says, causing the four to pause, "wait, i surrender." he added, kneeling to the ground and holding out his hands, and he looked up at sapnap, "i mean, i already stole your best friend and your fish, so i think i already have everything i need from you." hook.

sapnap gritted his teeth, "you know, you might have them now, but i had them first, and i'll have them again." he retorted, gripping his axe tightly. line.

tommy laughs, "but you know, sapnap, there is one thing i have that you'll never, ever have." and.

sapnap rolled his eyes, "and what's that, tommy?" sinker.

"i have the blade."

and like he was waiting for it, a flash of pink appeared and immediately attacked the four of them, with a flash of green immediately following. tommy grinned and joined the battle.

the battle was quick, especially after punz joined their side in exchange for not letting bad, skeppy and sapnap lose a life. (tommy privately wanted to take sapnap's life for killing henry, but dream and techno would be disappointed, so he didn't.)

as the three of them stand there, in the wake of their victory, tommy glanced at both techno and dream with a bright smile on his face chatting them both up with how cool they both were at the battle, with how amazing and awesome it was that they helped him.

technoblade glanced at his little brother and smiled, ignoring the aching at his heart and the voices in his head demanding why tommy ever thought that he wouldn't help him. they were family, they were supposed to help each other. had he not showed it enough?

Chapter Text

sometimes, tubbo feels like he's losing control over his whole life.

sure, he's become secretary of state of l'man- manberg. and sure, he's got this really cool office in the white house, and yet...

this is the longest he's ever gone without tommy by his side, ever since they had met, the two of them had been inseparable and tubbo had gotten too used to it. he sinks in the sofa in schlatt's office, sorting through the paperwork quackity had refused to do.

(tubbo barely remembers the time in his life before waking up in an abandoned house and meeting the kid next door- meeting tommy. he should remember, after all, he doesn't have any problem with his memories, but he doesn't, and maybe that's fine.)

tubbo spares a glance towards schlatt, seated behind his desk, and something thrums beneath his skin. this feeling of familiarity and things he feels he should know. the feeling of wanting to appease him and to make him proud. (he tells himself that it's why he seems so inclined to follow his orders, instead of him just being a yes-man.)

schlatt is holding a book, and normally that wouldn't be interesting, even to a spy, but the book had a faded image of a totem of undying in front of it and he had a feeling that it was important, somehow. familiar.

"what are you reading?" tubbo asked, approaching the older man under the guise of an innocent and curious teenager, trying to read schlatt's face.

he looked into schlatt's eyes and he swore that he could see a hint of guilt in those eyes. (guilt for what? he wondered.)

"it's nothing kid," schlatt muttered, returning the book to his inventory, "it's not important." he adds, placing a hand on tubbo's shoulders, "let's talk about something else."

the book was important then, tubbo realized, important enough to be kept a secret. "like what?" he replied, trying to make it seem cheeky.

schlatt hummed, "i brought it up with quackity yesterday and he seemed to like the idea," he said, before looking tubbo in the eyes, "what about a festival?"

schlatt's gaze kept him pinned to the sofa, and tubbo wonders if schlatt was asking or demanding.

"a festival sounds great." tubbo forces himself to respond, trying to sound enthusiastic, "maybe we could make amends with tommy and wilbur through the festival?" he suggested.

a hum. "perhaps," schlatt says, "we could even make the festival a celebration of peace!"

that...seemed really good, it was a good idea, and maybe it could fix everything, make it all better. the festival would be the best way to convince schlatt to let wilbur and tommy back here.

"you could even have a speech, tubbo." schlatt added, "about the peace and prosperity that my reign had given manberg."

tubbo finds himself nodding, "and we could have some party games and lots of decorations to make sure that everyone could have fun-" ("and we can invite tommy, wilbur and techno!" he wanted to say, but he can't. he can't he can't he can't. not now, he could ask later when it's better.)

he hears schlatt laugh, "i guess i'll leave the decorations to you as well," he had said, before asking tubbo to fetch quackity and get him to do his own paperwork. (tubbo wouldn't admit it, but he sighed in relief, he didn't really like doing that much paperwork.)

tubbo blinks, "sure then, i'll take care of the decorations!" he exclaimed, waving his hand as he exited the room, searching for quackity. (behind him, schlatt calls out that he would announce the festival the day after tomorrow, and tubbo silently files that fact away in his head.)

(when he finds quackity and tells him about the paperwork and how excited he is for the festival that they'd be having and isn't it so cool that i'd decorate it and get to have a speech? he wonders why quackity won't look at him.)

tubbo walks through the busy bustling streets of manberg, trying to pan out the decorations for the festival that they'd be planning. (and trying to figure out how to tell tommy and wilbur about it. to convince them to come, because surely they would come.)

maybe he should wait for them to hear from schlatt's speech. (but no, how would they know there'd be a speech in the first place? and what of they accuse tubbo of witholding information from them and revoke his spyship? he can't do that.)

then perhaps he could tell them by letter, then? (but he had sent one barely a few days ago, and in the the way he was using, sending letters too frequently could compromise him reveal his identity as a spy, and he was worried that he'd already sent too many.)

with both of those options out of question, that only left one option- going to pogtopia himself. of course, that was risky, but he was sure that he could convince eret to cover for him again, and besides, with schlatt and quackity busy with paperwork, this was the perfect opportunity.

though, he still didn't know what to do with the information he had about the book that schlatt was reading, because it seemed really suspicious, especially with the totem of undying on the cover, but he wasn't really sure about how wilbur would feel with irrelevant information.

maybe he just wouldn't mention it until he had enough information to make sure it was important enough to be mentioned. yeah, that would be a good plan.

tubbo then started heading towards eret's castle, hoping that the king would cover for him again. (he doesn't notice the two sets of eyes watching him.)

(later, tommy asks him a question that makes his heart feel heavy and his mind to halt. "tubbo, are you happier?" he had said, his eyes had looked pleadingly at tubbo, as if begging him to say no. and tubbo- tubbo wonders if he does, if he is. because he doesn't really know the difference of being happy and being happier. he says nothing, in the end, and ignores the feeling of sand in his mouth as tommy looked at him with heartbreak in his eyes.)

tubbo, are you happier?

i am i am i am i'm not-

Chapter Text

"what are we gonna do about the festival thing?" tommy asked, trying to gauge their options with the very limited options that they had.

tubbo had came here during midnight, eager to inform them of schlatt's plans. so far, all they knew was that there would be a festival happening, which schlatt would actually announce tomorrow, and that tubbo would decorate it and have a speech during the festival.

sure, some information was better than none, but tommy didn't really know what they could do with the little bit of info they had. (not to mention, his mind was still rattled by the fact that tubbo hadn't answered his question. was tubbo happier there? is tommy ruining tubbo's happiness by taking l'manberg back? he couldn't possibly be that selfish right? surely, tubbo was unhappy there. he couldn't possibly be happy under schlatt's control but what if he was?)

the coin schlatt had given him grew heavier in his pocket.

wilbur hummed, "schlatt's speech about the festival, it's tomorrow morning, right?" clearly pondering something.

tommy slowly nodded.

"then we'll attend the speech," wilbur said, patting tommy in the back a little bit too hard, "and then we'll make our move, okay tommy?" he added with a smile. (vicious, not genuine.)

tommy found himself nodding subconsciously, which earned him another (vicious) smile from wilbur.

another hard pat in his back.

"now, get some rest toms, we've got a long day tomorrow and i need to plan with techno." wilbur said, nudging him towards his makeshift room.

tommy wanted to argue, after all, he had participated in a war before, heck, he just fought a mini-war like, barely a week ago, he could do this, he could strategize and stuff. (he also wanted to ask why they would need to start planning, they don't have any information, at least, not more than he has.) in the end, he decides not to argue against wilbur's decision.

"i'll go mining instead," tommy suggests, "i'm running out of gapples so i need to get some gold."

wilbur narrows his eyes at him, but ultimately replied; "sure tommy, don't get lost and get back here before night time, okay?"

tommy swiftly agreed, grateful that wilbur didn't ask why he had ran out of gapples, he wasn't really in the mood to explain anything about the battle of the lake, surely it would only get him in trouble. for now, he decides, as he leaves pogtopia to go find a cave that didn't lead to their base, he was going to focus on getting gapples.

on the way to what once was l'manberg the next day, tommy had a whole stack of gapples on him, the fruits of yesterday's labor.

both of them had agreed to stay within hearing distance, but far enough that they wouldn't be seen by any manbergian citizens.

as they headed towards manberg, tommy couldn't help but stare at wilbur worryingly. wilbur, who had started acting strange when he returned from his mining sessions the day before, who had conversations of stolen glances with technoblade, conversations that he couldn't understand but knew were happening.

tommy didn't really like feeling out of loop, especially since wilbur and techno were great allies of his.

"alright tommy," wilbur said, getting off the horse that techno had given them before standing on a cliff at the side of manberg, close enough to hear the speech, but far enough and with enough foliage and trees to hide them from anyone who might see them, "this is where we'll be." he said. (this was a familiar place, where they are now. tommy stood here and wilbur kneeled here when the walls of l'manberg had come falling down. wilbur's heart had led them here before.)

tommy leans against the huge tree that covered them from the bustling streets of manberg below, and he stared. because manberg had increased in size where l'manberg couldn't. because manberg was filled with cheerful happy citizens that l'manberg once had. because manberg was hosting a festival that l'manberg never had a chance to. and it's not fair.

wilbur must have had the same idea, because behind him, he spoke, "am i the bad guy, tommy? in their history, in yours? because they look so happy there, and we are possibly taking their happiness away from them."

tommy thinks of tubbo, who hadn't answered when tommy had asked if he was happier, and he wonders if the citizens below will act like tubbo had if he asked them if they were happier. maybe it doesn't matter. (perhaps they've already lost l'manberg permanently before they could take it back.)

"i already told you this, will," tommy said with a scowl, as he watched schlatt take his place in the podium, the citizens seating themselves below, "you're not the bad guy, because schlatt's a wrong'un and the citizens will see that eventually."

behind him, wilbur hums, eyes watching schlatt like a hawk as tubbo, quackity and george took their places in the stage.

the speech starts and if tommy would be honest, he wasn't really paying any attention. he knew that wilbur would pay enough attention for the both of them anyways, the only thing he was doing was trying to justify assassinating schlatt.

in his mind, there were a lot of pros and they definitely outweighed the cons. i mean, wilbur hated schlatt, schlatt took their country, he was a tyrant and tubbo would probably be grateful. they could get l'manberg back if schlatt died. surely, it gave them a lot of benefits. (wilbur would surely be proud, right?)

as schlatt continues giving his speech, his hands in the middle of gesturing towards the crowd, tommy made up his mind and pulled out his bow before notching an arrow and taking aim. (he was nervous, the last time he tried to shoot something, it had been dream, in the middle of a duel, and he had missed. he can't miss now.)

"tommy, no!" wilbur said, and from behind tommy, he wrapped his arms around him, keeping one hand on the arrow to make sure that it wouldn't release, with the other hand half-hugging him, "tommy, killing schlatt won't solve anything." wilbur said right beside tommy's ear.

tommy's hand shook, "but.. it could solve a lot of things, will." he argued, "let me do it."

"schlatt has all three lives, tommy, not to mention, with the hierarchy now, if he does die permanently, presidentship gets passed over to quackity, then to george, both of whom have three lives." wilbur retorted, "think about it." (a quick death by assassination is too merciful, he deserves to suffer.)

it takes tommy a few minutes to let go of the bow, returning it and the arrow to his inventory, wilbur observes him with a glint of something in his eyes.

with that incident finished, tommy and wilbur watched the rest of the speech in silence, and when it ends, wilbur stares at the empty podium of a land that was once his.

after a while, wilbur spoke- "tommy, we both agree that we're in the right side, yeah?" he asks, eerily calm.

tommy nods, "yeah, i mean, i'm always on the right side."

a beat. then wilbur smiles at him, similar to a vicious wolf that had caught his prey.

"then let's be the bad guys."

Chapter Text

tommy pales as he realizes what wilbur is saying, wilbur, who, just a few weeks ago, and just a few minutes ago, had asked tommy if he was the bad guy out of what he had presumed was fear. wilbur, who tommy had reassured would never be the bad guy and would never be seen as one.

wilbur, who now wanted to be the bad guy.

"wilbur," tommy started, "you don't know what you're talking about."

the older man laughs, not loud enough to be heard, not even loud at all, but it was unsettling to tommy, unsettling in a way that he had difficulty describing.

"oh, but i do, tommy," wilbur replies, "you know what being the bad guy means, right?" he added, "it means we have nothing to lose." (tommy would never admit the fear that had crept into his very being at wilbur's tone and the expression on his face. 'deranged,' his mind supplied, 'insane,' it added, but he's not.)

tommy grabbed one of the sleeves of wilbur's coat, pushing the fear away as he tried to find a way to convince him to stop. "wil-"

"hush, tommy." wilbur interrupted, placing his pointer finger above his lips, a gesture that tommy recognized as the 'shhh' motion, "we're near enemy territory, wouldn't it be best to describe our plans in our base?" he asked, giving tommy a smile that dared not reach his eyes.

tommy felt cold. wilbur was so sure talking about being a villain like he was assured that tommy would follow through with it, that tommy would support him no matter what. he was acting like tommy had already agreed to becoming the villain and tommy didn't know why he was so assured about that. tommy didn't want to be the villain.

wilbur dragged tommy off to where the two of them had left techno's horse when they went to watch the speech that schlatt had. tommy was the first to get on board, with wilbur behind him, his arms surrounded tommy as he grabbed the reins, as if he was trapping him. (he was trapped.) and as they headed back to pogtopia, tommy didn't dare listen to wilbur's ramblings of how l'manberg had betrayed them by not staging a coup or a revolution, of how every single citizen that remained in l'manberg were traitors for their complacency. instead, tommy's hands moves on his own as he took the horse's mane and started braiding it, like he used to when he was a kid and technoblade had stayed home to watch wilbur, and by extension, him. of how techno had- technoblade.

for a moment, tommy thinks of technoblade. who is wilbur's brother and probably deserved to know that his brother had gone insane. techno had left pogtopia the same time as they did, telling both of them that he was planning to talk to skeppy and bad about something important, something that tommy had not bothered to ask. skeppy and bad's mansion were farther away from pogtopia than manberg was, so techno probably wouldn't be back in pogtopia before them, which wasn't really that ideal.

as soon as they had reached pogtopia, tommy had tried to get in as quick as possible, because maybe, if he was quick enough, he could lock himself in his terrifyingly small room until wilbur leaves him alone and drops the plan about being the bad guy. being claustrophobic doesn't matter right now, maybe wilbur would get bored and leave him alone before his claustrophobia kicks in.

he doesn't even make it to the dirt that covered their passage way before wilbur had grabbed his arm.

"eager to talk about the plan, are we?" wilbur says, as he grabbed the dirt and entered the ravine, with tommy blocking the passage way behind him.

tommy curled his hands into fists, the nails digging into his skin, "wil, i-"

he is interrupted by wilbur again, "that's great, i am too." wilbur says, "so, you know how our country's gone, right, l'manberg, it's gone. schlatt and all the others took it away."

wilbur looks at him, like he's expecting an answer, and tommy silently nods.

"so we blow it up."

tommy freezes, "wilbur, no, we can't blow it up, it's l'manberg, it's our home." he retaliates, almost pleadingly.

wilbur only laughs at him, the hysterical type, the type that terrified him, "i want it gone, tommy! gone! blown up in a way that no one can ever take it away from us ever again."

tommy stands there frozen as wilbur takes out his communicator, talking about calling technoblade, about how techno was never where he was supposed to be and how techno was a bad brother for leaving them again.

"how would you even get tnt," tommy reasoned, trying to find holes in his plan, because if he knew that the only way to beat wilbur was by logic.

wilbur glances at him with a saccharine sweet smile and says, "dream."

tommy stares at him in disbelief.

"i spoke to dream nearly a month ago, remember," wilbur said, a crazed look in his eyes, "remember how dream rigged l'manberg during the war? wouldn't he be happy to rig it again?" wilbur laughs, "i'm sure he'd be so pleased to help us blow it up to kingdom come, to watch as the people caught in the crossfire lose their lives."

tubbo.

tommy shakes his head, "we can't do that wil," he reasons, "they're still our citizens! and tubbo, tubbo's our spy, he'd be caught in the crossfire!"

wilbur pats him on the head, "that's so naive of you tommy, to still believe that anyone's on our side, to still believe that tubbo's on our side." tommy feels like there's sand in his mouth as wilbur continues, "when he'd drop us at the moment that he realizes that we aren't winning anymore, not in the lead, and with nothing to offer him."

"stop it!" tommy shouts, "tubbo's not like that! he's-"

wilbur interrupts him, "i know why you're doing this tommy," he said, mock symphathy in his tone, "i know. i can see it in eyes and hear it in your voice. you're scared, tommy." tommy glares at him, "you are so scared that people will judge you for doing this, for freeing them. you're scared they'll think differently of you, that when they look at you, they won't see their golden hero."

wilbur approaches him, and tommy resisted the urge to inch away.

"tommy, when I said you’re never gonna be president, you’ve got to understand, that wasn’t- that wasn’t a challenge!" his voice had gained an insane tilt to it, "that’s true. you’re never gonna be president, tommy." wilbur's stare paralyzes him, "whatever we do tommy, schlatt's made sure we lost, so let's make sure he does too!"

his breath hitches at wilbur's words.

tommy can't say anything. (wilbur has always been wordsmith between them, had mastered his silver tongue before tommy had thought to use his. it was inevitable that he'd lose in this war of words. his passion is not enough.)

"i'm gonna go talk to dream now, tommy. behave." wilbur says, as he leaves tommy standing in the middle of the ravine, his entire world crashing down on him. he should probably move to stop him, but tommy knows that he can't, so instead, he'll gather all the information he can and go to tubbo tomorrow so that they could plan a counter attack to wilbur's plan.

later, tommy finds wilbur placing a stack of tnt in his ender chest as dream leaves, and in his mouth, is a bitter taste. of course, dream would help him, dream may act like tommy and tubbo's brother, but he's always hated l'manberg, hasn't he. that's fine. when they win l'manberg back, he and tubbo'll just have to convince dream that l'manberg is harmless.

oh god, he needs to warn tubbo.

once he heard wilbur heading down the ravine, he immediately dashed to his room and closed the door, trying to ignore wilbur's incessant planning and he lays onto his bed. he won't sleep tonight, because he doesn't feel safe. but maybe, if technoblade would be here, he'd feel safer, because technoblade, this great fighter, had always done his best to do whatever tommy had wanted, maybe he'd side with tommy against wilbur and dream. (but would techno side against his brother for the neighbor kid? family must be important for them.)

(tommy finds out that technoblade had returned to pogtopia when he hears his door open. he had kept his eyes shut, because he had feared that it was wilbur. the person who had come in had ruffled his hair and draped something over him before leaving, and once he was sure that whoever it has had left, he opened his eyes and- oh. draped above him was one of technoblade's cloaks.)

Chapter Text

the first thing tommy did when he woke up was head towards the edge of the ravine, where he could contact tubbo in the main channel, assuming of course that he was in the main area, though, knowing tubbo, he was probably in manberg, getting ready for the festival.

you whispered to tubbo_: meet me at the bench outside my old house, we need to talk

he sent it, anxious that tubbo would get caught reading it, would get caught answering, would sell him out and drop him like wilbur had been telling him-

...tommy didn't leave that part of the ravine until tubbo had answered him with an affirmative, and he started to move.

he came across technoblade as he started to leave, techno wasn't wearing his red cape, (it was in tommy's room-) and he was in the middle of sharpening his weapons- an axe and sword respectively, when he saw that tommy was walking past him, he had stopped and immediately spoke up, which tommy was hoping he wouldn't do.

"where are you going, tommy?" he hears behind him, and tommy turns around to face the seated man.

he gives off a small chuckle, "hey blade, so look, i'm gonna go meet tubbo in the greater dream smp," right, he needed some sort of excuse, "you know, for information!" yep, just smile and nod tommy, just smile and nod.

thankfully, techno seemed to buy his excuse, "right, good luck and don't get caught then," he replies, "and try to get back before wilbur returns, he's somewhere in the greater dream smp and he wouldn't tell me what he's doing."

tommy nods in return, as he swiftly runs up the stairs, ignoring techno's shouts of- "tommy, you'll fall!" -and as he reaches the top, he grabs half a dozen enderpearls from one of the chests and he pushes the dirt from the doorway, making sure to cover it up again- albeit sloppily, before sprinting towards the general direction of the greater dream smp.

he needed to tell tubbo about wilbur's ideas, his plans and what he was going to do. he'd need tubbo to tell him what's going on in his end, what he couldn't tell in the letters that he had sent.

it took him two precisely thrown ender pearls to reach the edge of the forest where the greater dream smp was. it was empty, everyone must have been at manberg, preparing for the festival that would occur a week later.

tommy took that opportunity to stroll down the prime path, he hadn't had the chance to do this in a month and a half now, stuck in the dreary walls of the ravine in pogtopia- he'd almost lost his mind. ('like wilbur had?' his mind told him, 'shut up' he thought.)

when tommy finally reaches his destination, he pushes away the leaves of the huge tree behind the bench and finds tubbo already there. he seats himself next to him near silently, grateful that the huge tree behind the bench obscured everyone's vision and kept them safe and hidden. the tree had been overgrown now, and during the election, tommy and tubbo had wanted to cut the leaves, to trim it so that everyone could see the bench that had been hidden. but now, he's relieved that they didn't, because now, this was a hiding spot for the two of them only. perhaps, when they are safer, no longer spies and fugitives and soldiers, they'd trim it, to bring back the fond memories of two boys that had grown far too much in far too little time. but that is not now. now, they are not little boys with big dreams, they are spies and fugitives and everything in between in a world filled with shades of grey.

"i don't think we can trust wilbur anymore," he begins to say, startling tubbo.

next to him, tubbo bristles, "what do you mean?" he asks, not angered nor indifferent, but concerned. (and that is the difference between tubbo and wilbur and techno. tubbo is concerned where wilbur would have been angered and technoblade indifferent.)

he chokes out a laugh, broken and raspy. "i think he's lost it tubbo, he talked about blowing it all up." and when he turns to look at tubbo, he sees a tinge of alarm in his eyes, but more importantly and more prominent was the calculated look in his eyes.

"tell me everything from the start." tubbo said. and so tommy did.

it took him two hours to tell tubbo everything from the beginning, the formation, wilbur's words and how he had went insane and started acting strange and- everything, everything wilbur had planned.

tommy huffs as he finishes, "and well, i mean, we could run away from here and we could have everything we'd ever wanted."

"we'd have everything we'd ever care about." tubbo replies, looking at him, and for a moment, as he looks at those eyes, he considers it.

considers running away and living in some cottage in a flower forest, where the bees would be plentiful. imagined a world where they can live in peace and be untouched by the war, free to live in a paradise that they had hoped to find when they had joined this server. considered leaving the server alltogether and joining another one, or making their own. but it'd be so terribly lonely and tommy knows that he would go insane if left alone. it was a well kept open secret that tommy craved social interaction.

"we can't." tommy forces himself to say, "we have to try and fix this." he unties the red bandanna round his neck and passes it to tubbo, accepting tubbo's green bandanna in return and tying it round his neck, "but remember, we can only trust each other."

tubbo ties the red bandanna on his wrist, making sure to hide it on his long sleeves, "yeah," he murmurs, finding himself with a soft smile plastered onto his face, "running away- we wouldn't cope, would we? leaving it all behind."

"i should hope not," a familiar voice says behind them, which causes tommy to turn around and to find technoblade, standing there, his signature red cape wrapped around him, "i don't think anyone would be happy with you two leaving."

tommy stares at him, gobsmacked, "techno, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"wilbur got back home early and wanted me to come get you," techno said casually, "i messaged you a few times once i got into the main channel, but you didn't answer, so i wandered around the thankfully empty greater dream smp trying to find you."

tommy glanced at his communicator, which, true to technoblade's words, had five messages from techno, ranging from telling him to come back home, asking where he was, and threats of defenestration when he found him.

tommy frowns, before opening his mouth to tell techno that he'd come back later, but before he could, tubbo had opened his mouth first and said-

"actually, techno, tommy and me-" ("tommy and i." techno corrected automatically) "-were planning on collecting some flowers for the festival, maybe you'd like to help?"

techno seemed to have contemplated a bit, before replying with a: "sure, i'd love to."

and that was how tommy found himself picking flowers with tubbo and techno, staring as tubbo helped technoblade- a famed warrior, create a bouquet. tommy finds himself smiling, and rushing over to join the two of them, and if tommy and techno found themselves scolded when they returned to pogtopia, the smiles on their faces would say it was worth it.

Chapter Text

tommy wasn't annoyed that technoblade was invited to the festival while he and wilbur aren't.

he wasn't! he wasn't. it wasn't like tommy wanted to go to this stupid festival for l'manberg and have fun with tubbo and the rest of his friends but no. he wasn't invited. but technoblade apparently was invited.

("imagine not getting invited to the festival-" techno had said teasingly to the both of them, before having to dodge a book and a potato that was thrown at him.)

so now, while techno gets to hang out with everyone and play the stupid party games that looked really fun and win those prizes and that stuffed cow plushie that tommy really wanted, tommy was stuck with wilbur, who was monologuing about how everyone looked stupid on the island with the disco and floor that changed colours and hey, that looked really fun-

no. tommy wasn't jealous.

"shouldn't we get closer, wil?" tommy asked, "i don't think we'd hear a lot if we stay in this spot." they were at their previous spot, and while sure, they could hear whatever speech schlatt would spout up with his honeyed words filled to the brim with lies so that he could deceive everyone, but tommy wanted to get closer because this was a festival.

l'manberg had never gotten a festival before the election, tommy, tubbo and fundy actually wanted to do some sort of annual festival, to celebrate their independence from the greater dream smp and maybe even invite some of it's members to partake in the celebrations. the three of them had envisioned a festival decorated in red, blue and white- the same colours as their revolutionary uniforms, had envisioned a festival celebrated from dawn to dusk, complete with games and entertainment and a tnt cannon that they'd fire as some sort of reenactment of the war. l'manberg was supposed to have a festival. not manberg, which was once l'manberg.

wilbur shakes his head, "not now, they're too sparse, tommy, they'd spot us immediately," tommy frowns as wilbur continues, "what we'll do is we'll wait until it's time for the big speech that schlatt has planned and while everyone is heading to the stage, we'll-" he halted, before pointing to a building at the back of the viewing area, it was grey and had this huge billboard on top of the building which probably said it's name, "-see that building over there? yeah, that one, we'll pearl over there and hide behind the billboard and we'd be behind everyone, so no one would see us."

tommy nodded in response, it was a good plan, it really was, but tommy was impatient, and whatever was going on down there seemed really fun and no one was heading towards the stage yet.

it took another half hour of waiting and watching everyone have fun at the festival before schlatt had called for everyone's attention and everyone started heading towards their seats before the podium on the stage, tommy had started playing with the ender pearl in his hands, one of wilbur's hands on his shoulder to make sure that he wouldn't pearl in too early.

once everyone was seated and wilbur made sure that no one would be able to see them, he threw his pearl in, his steady aim hitting true and hitting the back of the billboard that helped them keep hidden, with tommy pearling in after him, just barely hitting the side of the billboard, with wilbur having to drag him back to prevent him from losing his balance and falling off the building, revealing that they were there.

"sorry!" tommy whisper-shouted.

wilbur merely raised a finger above his lips with a small "shh.." causing tommy to turn his attention elsewhere.

the colours were somehow brighter closer up, their brightness and vibrancy contrasting well with the black and grey stage and podium. (the bright and cheery people also contrasted well with the dark gloomy people up at the stage, excluding tubbo.)

schlatt began to speak up, probably something about how manberg was greater than l'manberg, or about how he and wilbur were the villains in the story (which they weren't) but tommy didn't care much about what schlatt had to say because he knew that it would all be lies. sure, wilbur cared about what he had to say, but that's because it's wilbur, wilbur cared about everything they perceived was a threat, even what could never come true, he was a paranoid man.

instead, tommy observed the people in the audience. tubbo wasn't with them, he was in the podium with quackity and schlatt, but the first person that caught tommy's attention in the audience was technoblade. he just looked really out of place with his full-on royal get up, the boar skull that covered his face, and his long pink hair. the second person to catch tommy's attention was fundy, wilbur's son who had betrayed his own father.

tommy didn't really think that fundy had the guts to do that, to turn his back on his family and betray them, to disown his family and act like they aren't even related. tommy had relayed these thoughts to wilbur once, but wilbur's mood had only worsened after that as he glared at tommy like tommy had been a hypocrite. (privately, tommy dismissed it as wilbur being sensitive about fundy's betrayal still, family must have been a sore subject for him.)

he had also seen niki and eret seated together, which he found confusing. why could niki ever sit next to that traitor? didn't niki remember that eret had betrayed them? that eret had bushed the button (tommy was gonna push it-) that had taken their first lives?

...tommy had mixed feelings about those two.

he shifted his attention to the podium, where tubbo had started walking towards the podium, where the microphone was, and tommy listened as tubbo started his speech, preaching about manberg and it's greatness, and about how the festival was meant to celebrate it.

"-i hope everyone enjoys the festival!" tubbo finishes, a bright smile on his face that tommy unwittingly echoes, unaware that it was a phrase that wilbur was waiting for, as he rummaged around in his ratty coat for.... something.

behind tubbo, schlatt asks, "is your speech done now?"

tubbo nodded slowly, and tommy only managed to see schlatt press a button before a box falls, surrounding tubbo. it had yellow walls made out of concrete, with the black podium trapping tubbo on the box.

his eyes widened, an arm reaching out. but before he could scream, behind him- wilbur, wilbur covered his mouth.

"shhh..." wilbur said, a mockery of the one earlier.

on the stage, tubbo was panicking, "what- schlatt, what are you doing?"

schlatt laughs, bitter and cold, "did you really think, tubbo, that i wouldn't know?"

"wouldn't know what?" tubbo replied, with a shaky voice that tommy knew meant that tubbo was nervous.

another bitter laugh. "that you were a spy, of course!" schlatt replied, "did you really think we wouldn't find out about the letters and the visits?"

the audience and their reactions were all out of tommy's focus right now, as he tried to remove wilbur's hands from covering his mouth.

tubbo was shaking on the stage, and tommy couldn't get to him.

wilbur only let go of him once schlatt said- "you know what, why don't we get technoblade up here."

tommy stares as technoblade goes up, praying- wishing that the warrior would save tubbo, because if anyone could save tubbo in the situation that he was in, it would be technoblade, right?

he watches as techno stands in front of the podium, face to face with tubbo, who was nervous, was shaking. all techno needed to do was grab him and give him a pearl, and then-

"i want you to take him out, technoblade."

his blood runs cold.

"wilbur," tommy started, "we need to-" he halts. "how do we get them out of there?"

wilbur raises his palm in a 'pause' motion, "hold on tommy, i'm messaging them the plan."

(if tommy had looked, he'd realized that only tubbo had received a message of false reassurances.)

behind him, he hears the distinct sound of fireworks and he turns to see techno shooting tubbo with his crossbow.

(later, niki will tell him that he had shouted, had screamed, but tommy wouldn't remember it.)

before wilbur could stop him, tommy threw a pearl towards the stage- to tubbo's body, trapped in a box.

he made there just in time to see the light from tubbo's eyes die out.

tubbo_ went off with a bang from a firework due to technoblade
tubbo_ has one life left remaining.

jschlatt went off with a bang from a firework due to technoblade
jschlatt has two lives left remaining.

quackity went off with a bang from a firework due to technoblade
quackity has two lives left remaining.

tommy screamed.

Chapter Text

everything was a blur after that.

tommy could recall trying to attack technoblade after that, the pink haired man dodging him as he swung his blade through teary eyes, though instead of retaliating and attacking him back, the older warrior had fired his crossbow into the direction of the audience, and he remembered feeling so so angry as he heard the fireworks, reminding him of how tubbo had died at the hands of someone both of them had idolized. had hung out.

he had felt so betrayed.

tommy didn't know how he ended up here, on a horse to pogtopia, techno in front, leading them and with wilbur in the same horse as him. 'probably making sure i couldn't dip' he thought to himself furiously.

how could they just brush this off? tubbo had died! tubbo, the closest thing he had to a brother, was now like tommy. on his last life.

oh prime, tubbo was on his last life. just like tommy and just like wilbur, if he died one more time, he'd be a goner, it'd be permanent. the next time tommy would see tubbo again, it'd be outside the server, and by then, they'd be forced to go live in a server with unlimited respawns. tommy didn't want to live like that- didn't want tubbo to live like that.

behind him, wilbur made a joke about how frustrating this was, the fact that they had lost their spy, and tommy tightened his hold onto the reins, because was that truly all wilbur had to say?

as soon as they got into pogtopia, tommy headed straight towards his room, where he finds tubbo, sitting on his bed. tommy chokes out a sob as he quickly rushes forward to hug the older teenager. he was so grateful that tubbo decided to set his spawn here, that tubbo decided that this was a safe enough- was safer than manberg.

(tommy and tubbo sat down on tommy's bed.

"so, it's the day before the festival." tommy murmured, looking tubbo in the eye, "good luck out there, aye?" he said, "be safe."

tubbo smiles at him, patting the bed and setting his spawn, "of course, tommy!" he replied, "what do you think will happen? it's just a festival.")

"wilbur promised he wouldn't hurt me." tubbo breathed, as tommy stared at the burns that the fireworks had left, similar to the slashes they both have at their backs, and the arrow wound that remained in his forehead and at the back of where wilbur's heart was. permanent. "he promised that he had a plan! he-"

tommy had heard enough. wilbur had a plan, and technoblade didn't follow it. it was technoblade's fault. (technoblade didn't know of any plan- there was no plan.) technoblade killed tubbo with no regard of wilbur's plan and just sacrificed him like some sort of pawn in a chess game.

"i'm gonna avenge you, tubbo." tommy whispered, eyes flaring with anger, "i'm gonna make technoblade pay for ever daring to kill you." as tommy rose, heading towards his door, to where he presumed wilbur and techno are, and tubbo followed swiftly after him.

he finds them at the edge of the ravine, talking with niki, who seemed to be chewing them both out. tommy made his presence known by storming towards them, with tubbo a step behind him.

once wilbur spotted him, he smiled the smile that he had been showcasing for a few months now, that deranged smile that tommy had come to hate the whole time he'd been here.

wilbur spoke before tommy could even open his mouth, "and what can we help you with, tommy?" he said, in that sickly sweet tone that he absolutely despised.

"screw you, wilbur." was the only thing tommy said before he charged at technoblade.

of course, techno was a greater fighter than he was, so he managed to dodge every attack that tommy send his way, which was fine, tommy had accepted the fact that the fucking blade was stronger than him, but what got in his nerves was the fact that techno wasn't fighting back. it was patronizing- he was going easy on him and wasn't even fighting and it angered him so much.

"tommy stop!" tubbo pleaded, as niki went in between them to separate them.

both of them stood there, niki in between, and tommy took deep breaths.

"why the hell did you attack me, tommy." technoblade demanded, his red eyes staring down at the golden haired teenager.

tommy laughed, "you have the nerve to ask why?" he said in return, "you killed tubbo!"

"so just because i killed tubbo, you want us to fight in the pit?" techno deadpanned, looking like he wanted to be somewhere else as he referenced one of those games he played in hypixel. (why was tubbo so important? tubbo wasn't family.)

the absolute nerve of him.

"yeah, techno." tommy snapped, "maybe i want to fight in the fucking pit. you fucking killed tubbo!"

behind him, tubbo cried out, "i forgive him, tommy! i- we were both in a situation we didn't want and i forgive him!" (tommy wasn't on that podium, tommy didn't see the regret in technoblade's eyes, or in the tone of his voice. but tubbo was, tubbo did see.)

"no, no." wilbur said, a glint of mischief in his eyes, "why don't we let them fight?" at niki and tubbo's looks of horror, he added, "you know, to relieve tension, better to fight here than at an actual battlefield."

niki still looked fairly hesitant, "i would prefer it if they didn't actually fight-"

"no," tommy replied, his anger clouding his judgement, "i wanna fight him."

technoblade stood indifferent. (an observant man might see that he was hesitant, that someone was goading him into it and that he was refusing. and wilbur was an observant man.)

"niki, why don't you go talk to tommy and tubbo, while i go talk to techno about the fight." wilbur said, to which niki had agreed.

(niki had pulled the both of them away, and had spent all of ten minutes trying to help tubbo convince him that it wasn't worth it, to fight techno, but tommy wouldn't budge.)

when they had returned, wilbur had already dug out a pit, and technoblade was already in it.

once tommy had gotten down, techno had said, "are you sure about this tommy?"

"you killed tubbo, techno." tommy responded.

technoblade's expression changed, shifting to something like anger, "it stays in the pit, tommy."

"it stays in the pit." he agreed, and then he charged.

(tommy lasted thirty minutes, though the first twenty were just techno dodging his attacks and going easy on him, he faintly remembered will's laughter as niki and tubbo got him out of the pit.

he didn't see the regret on techno's face.)

later, wilbur had visit him and said, "well, you shouldn't trust people who fought- and would have fought you in the pit." ("like technoblade." was left unsaid, but tommy had understood.)

Chapter Text

technoblade didn't want to fight tommy in the pit. heck, he didn't even understand why tommy wanted them to fight in the pit. sure, he killed someone, but didn't they usually have unlimited respawns?

(he remembers the voices being so so loud during that, shouting at him to spill blood, to kill tubbo, he remembers waiting for wilbur to say anything- do anything. the voices had been so loud then, and he had been so desperate to shut them up that he had barely managed to say an apology to tubbo. "i'll make it as painless and as colorful as possible." he had promised the young boy as the voices cheered when he fired the rocket launcher- twice. they had been quiet after that, but not quiet enough.)

"wilbur," techno starts, as he spots his twin already digging a hole around him, "stop digging a pit, i'm not gonna fight tommy-"

wilbur continues digging, and when the pit he dug was a decent size, he stops.

"tommy hates us." wilbur says, a frown on his face.

beside him, technoblade raises an eyebrow, "and what makes you say that?" he asks.

wilbur laughs bitterly, "did you not see, technoblade? he was all too eager to fight you in the pit for a boy that's not even family." in wilbur's eyes were a glint of amusement, "he considers us below that boy, and maybe, family means nothing to him."

YOU SHOULD FUCK WILBUR UP!! this intense. just fight tommy lmao. E E E. wow wilbur is an asshole aww,,, but i like wilbur! SIMP ALERT- tell him to shut up. just kill both of them geez

technoblade's blood turns cold, "take that back wilbur." he grits out. (wilbur knows how important family is to techno. out of the three of them, he was the only one adopted and when he was young, he often had to be reassured that he was really part of the family, that they cared for him just as much as they cared for wilbur. (they cared for him more, wilbur often seethed) and techno had only felt his place in the family grow unstable at kristin's death, since that was the time that the voices had manifested.)

"pretty sure he's practically abandoned the family." wilbur hums, as he climbs out the pit, leaving techno in it, "maybe, if you show him who's in charge, he'll come back." he suggests.

oof! low blow wil. KILL HIM. KILL THEM ALL. BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD! wait, tommy's part of the family? dono keep up! NO FAMILY ONLY BLOOD! WE CRAVE BLOOD! blood cult pog? we're not a fucking cult.

and techno wants to do it. because techno had always been the strongest of his brothers, so doesn't that mean that techno should be in charge of his brothers? the youngest was treating them as not-family. as someone below and techno couldn't stand it.

when tommy returns and challenges him still, techno did try to hold back, because this was his youngest brother, the baby of the family, but the voices screamed at him to teach him a lesson, to assert himself as the strongest brother and the one in charge. so he did.

that was how techno found himself here, standing over his baby brother, who he had beaten within an inch of his life. techno watches in horror and shame as niki and tubbo struggled to get tommy out of the pit because how could he do that? how could he beat tommy up over something so- so trivial and useless? techno falls into his knees- not out of exhaustion, mind you, but because he couldn't bear to stand. (wilbur drops down the pit and wraps his arms around his twin, cradling him. "don't worry," he says, "tommy will understand one day." he lies, and techno begins to doubt him- him and tommy.)

lmao weak little brother. L. TECHNO GET STRONGER BROTHERS. but we like tommy! i don't. why did you guys even fight? NOT ENOUGH BLOOD! yeah! we want more! MORE BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! fight wilbur next!

"i should go talk to tommy." technoblade says, "i should explain things to him."

wilbur, who had just returned from talking to tommy, had given techno a soft, pitying smile, "tommy doesn't want to talk to you tech, maybe tomorrow?" and techno pretends like that didn't just break his heart into pieces.

"...okay," techno replied, "tomorrow." he says, as he rushed out of pogtopia, plans of a vault in his mind. he'd show them, he thinks, that he can be useful to the family, that they could still keep him around. he'd show them. (he doesn't show up tomorrow, or for the next week actually. too busy grinding for materials that he hoped would be enough appeasement for the youngest, because that was techno's way of showing affection. giving items.)

he didn't see wilbur's smirk, a smirk that would have told him that something wasn't right.

as techno leaves pogtopia, wilbur heads towards his room- a room that no one else was allowed in. it was messy, full of papers and plans. he sits down and grabs two pieces of paper, and he begins to write.

one letter was addressed towards dream, the admin and the one who had helped wilbur with his plans, it was a simple letter, asking the admin to meet him somewhere soon, and to be discreet. he fetches the attention of one of the parrots that he had trained to send letters once he realized that the portal would be too well guarded for them to be able to send letters outside anymore.

"give this to dream," he orders, rolling up the paper and tying it with a ribbon before depositing it to the parrot, who immediately flew off- in search of dream, most likely.

and now, while the parrot delivered the letter, he worked on the other one, which was a letter that was addressed to philza, with the address of both their home server and his hardcore server etched into paper.

that had been one of the conditions that phil had set before letting wilbur go off into this server, and no matter how much he hated his father, he had to abide by it or else phil would come himself and would see him in his disgrace.

"dear phil," he starts, "l'manberg is doing great, and tommy is a brilliant vice-president, techno built a house near, so we're all together-"

he continues writing, lies upon lies piling onto the letter. he makes sure that it's long, descriptive. so eloquent that phil wouldn't be able to see through it.

when the parrot returns, he hands it another letter, this time, enveloped. "to the portal." he orders, and as he watches it fly away, he plots.

(techno would realize far too late that his twin had used him, that wilbur, brilliant wilbur had broken their-his family into thousands of little shards, had played his cards so well that even in his absence, their family could not piece themselves together again. tommy would not realize at all.)

Chapter Text

tommy ran through the forest, sprinting towards the general direction of manberg. it had been an hour since he had gotten a message from his communicator- an alert that quackity had shot schlatt.

to be fair, he was already on his way to manberg, tubbo and niki were currently there, collecting both of their things and tommy was supposed to meet them halfway to help them out. he had already been halfway there when he had received the message, so he had begun sprinting.

quackity had shot schlatt, for some reason. tommy remembered tubbo saying that they were married, so perhaps it had been a lover's spat. (but why would quackity take a life if it was that minor? lives were important on this server.)

he was brought out of his musing when he almost tripped on a rock, barely managing to catch himself before he fell. right, he couldn't think about that, leave the musing for later, think of the positives! schlatt only had one life left, just like him and wilbur. tommy didn't know if it meant that was good, because he could easily be overthrown by assassinating him, but that'd mean that even if he left the server, he'd be doomed to have only three lives for the rest of his life and would probably be forced to live in a server with unlimited lives to avoid dying before he got old.

well- dream would probably just give him all his lives back, he did say that he could.

right, schlatt was on his last life, and quackity was-

quackity was currently getting chased by schlatt's goons. sapnap and punz and purpled- (they had reconciled, so why?) tommy had been so stupid, getting distracted by his thoughts.

he ran even faster, counting the pearls he had in his inventory to make sure that there'd be enough for the both of them. he needed to get quackity away from manberg, niki and tubbo would still be expecting him to be at the halfway point, they probably weren't in a rush.

he knew that when he heard shouts, he was close.

he had to applaud quackity for not getting caught really easily, though, he did wonder how quackity had the idea to head here.

tommy slowed down and pressed himself against a tree when he heard the telltale sounds of someone running around in full netherite. (wow, someone's been busy.)

he didn't know how long he stood there, nervous, as if he was the one that they were chasing, though, knowing schlatt, if any of his men found him, then he'd be sharing whatever quackity's fate was- or worse.

it was like a bizarre game of hide and seek, tommy would silently switch trees, hoping that quackity would be behind one of them, and sapnap, punz and purpled would loudly call out for quackity to come out, which didn't seem to be very practical, but tommy wouldn't complain.

he catches a flash of red- must be the tie in quackity's suit, and tommy moves forward, covering quackity's mouth before the older could see him.

"i'm going to give you four pearls," tommy whispered, and quackity relaxed, "and you're gonna pearl towards that direction," he added, pointing to where pogtopia was, "cause i trust you."

quackity nodded, so tommy released his mouth and gave him the pearls. as soon as quackity threw the first pearl, tommy followed suit.

'i hope,' tommy thought, as he landed and readied himself to throw another one, 'that wilbur would accept quackity into pogtopia.'

they needed allies, and tommy hoped that wilbur knew that. with allies, they could get l'manberg back.

later, tommy would tour quackity around the ravine, making him promise not to betray them for schlatt. ("don't worry tommy," quackity had said, eyes angry, "that asshole won't get my loyalty. i'll help you.")

above them, tommy heard the door open, and beside him, quackity froze.

"don't worry," tommy said, "wilbur is still probably with dream, it's probably just tubbo and niki." he added, dismissively.

wilbur had went out with dream to collect stuff, stuff that he didn't want tommy to know. probably gravel or sand, to make more tnt. which honestly? it just infuriated tommy. wilbur was acting like they couldn't get l'manberg back and tommy was, quite frankly, getting sick of it. wilbur wasn't even trying! he was so ready to get rid of l'manberg like it was nothing to him, and dream wasn't better. dream had encouraged him, encouraged this destructive behavior that tommy didn't really appreciate.

"what are they doing?" quackity asked, causing tommy's expression to stiffen.

he forced himself to answer, "probably collecting sand and gravel." please don't ask, please don't ask-"

quackity opened his mouth to ask, but was interrupted by someone- probably tubbo and niki, walking down the stairs. (there was a third set of footsteps.)

"you were supposed to be waiting us halfway, toms." came tubbo's voice, and as tommy turned around to retaliate, he found that he couldn't. because standing there, helping niki with stuff was fundy. wilbur's traitorous son.

tommy narrowed his eyes, "why is fundy here?" he asked, as niki and fundy started piling things into niki's room- the one he made a few days ago.

tubbo's hands were at his waist, "well, i didn't question the fact that quackity's here, did i?" he replied, like it was a suitable answer.

god, it wasn't easy to talk to tubbo.

"quackity's here because he took one of schlatt's lives," tommy said, forcing a smile.

tubbo only glanced at him, "well, i didn't fucking ask, did i?" before glancing away

tommy felt like screaming.

"i just told you why quackity's here," tommy said, "now, can you tell me why fundy's here?" he asked, almost like a demand.

tubbo hums, "well, me and niki-" ("niki and i," the woman corrected absentmindedly as she helped fundy organize the things.) "-yes, that," tubbo amended, "anyways, we found out that fundy was spying on schlatt, like i was, he was just less obvious about it."

tommy raised an eyebrow, "any proof?" he asked.

fundy held out a book, and the cursive at front was murder on his eyes, "i wrote everything down!"

look, don't get him wrong, tommy knew that fundy had pretty handwriting, after all, he had been the one to write the declaration of independence, but honestly, tommy just hated the cursive. why couldn't he just write in something that wasn't cursive?

"right, we'll just give it to wilbur later then." tommy decided.

fundy beamed at him as he helped niki out with her things.

god, with both quackity and fundy here, tommy would definitely need to make more rooms. but it wasn't like it was that crowded, after all, tubbo and tommy shared a room, and techno didn't even have his own room, he and wilbur just alternated between using wil's. tommy met tubbo's eyes, and gestured towards the open space, they should probably get started on that.

(they had finished fundy's room and was in the middle of making quackity's room when wilbur and dream had entered, wilbur had immediately stiffened up at the sight of quackity and fundy here, and had demanded answers. dream stood stoic at the back. tommy had winced as fundy was dismissed, wilbur's words towards his son could be interpreted as some sort of mock, though the words he had for quackity were worse.)

"wilbur, lay off." tommy said, as wilbur joined them at the ravine, with dream still above the stairs, "you can test them later, but isn't it great that we have so many allies?" he asked, looking for the positives, "i mean, dream- one of the admins, is on our side, and so is techno, the blood god, and with quackity, fundy and tubbo's info, we'd be unstoppable!"

from above the stairs, dream winced, "about that tommy, i'm not on your side anymore."

the smile on tommy's face melted away, "what?"

"schlatt gave me something that's worth more than alliances and friendship," dream said, "but not brotherhood."

wilbur narrowed his eyes at dream's wording. ("we're like brothers, aren't we, dream?" tommy had asked, once upon time, "is this how brothers act?")

quackity laughs, "it's that stupid book, isn't it?" he asks, causing tubbo to stiffen at the mention of the book.

wilbur's gaze is questioning, but dream reveals nothing.

he tries to change the subject, "as a show of our good alliance, i'll give you a warning, and i won't reveal your base." the admin promises.

a scoff from wilbur, "what is it that you wish to warn us about?" his tone is dark, sarcastic.

"you have a traitor." dream warned them, as he pearled away, leaving them all frozen.

wilbur hummed, not as surprised as tommy thought he'd be, playing with a coin on his hand, "a traitor." he murmured, "wonder who that could be."

and tommy's traitorous thoughts went to technoblade, who wasn't here. (don't trust people who would have fought you in the pit, tommy.)

in that ravine, a fragile alliance teetered over an edge, and tommy knew, that anything could send them spilling right over the edge.

Chapter Text

once the shock that someone in their alliance was a traitor had been gone, tommy immediately raced up the stairs, fully intent on catching dream before he left. he had enough pearls to do it, he was confident.

(behind him, he didn't hear the others shouting at him, telling him to come back. he didn't see wilbur stop them, a devious smirk on his face as he says-
"tommy must have something important to tell dream," making them doubt. "i mean, what else could he be doing?"
a sliver of doubt crept into their hearts, because what could tommy be saying to dream that was so important after the spy allegations? what else could tommy be doing?)

tommy comes across dream midway to the greater dream smp, which he was grateful for. if they were any closer, he might have gotten himself caught before he could talk to dream, with every single competent fighter in both manberg and greater dream smp lands being payed off by schlatt using the manberg treasury. (he's not angry.)

"what are you doing here, tommy?" he hears dream ask, before he even turned around. tommy privately wondered how dream knew he was here, it wasn't like he was obvious, was he? (he was.)

("it's probably techno!" quackity said, "he's the only one that's not here!"
tubbo hums, "that is pretty suspicious, not gonna lie."
niki scoffs, "i don't want to be part of this conversation," she said, storming up the stairs, "i'm gonna go talk to eret."
wilbur watches, a glint in his eye as he spots opportunity.
she leaves.)

"i needed to talk to you." tommy said, dream turns around and he finds himself staring at the elder's mask, a permanent smile etched onto it, but feeling oh, so cold, "just one last favor for brothers?" he tries.

he hears dream sigh, "fine, toms, what is it?" the way it was phrased made tommy shiver.

("what if it's niki?" asked tubbo, "i mean, she didn't want to talk about it..." he murmured.
quackity nodded in agreement, "yeah! and the eret dude, they betrayed you guys, right?"
tubbo gives the affirmative.
wilbur plays with the coin in his hands.)

tommy knows that dream won't give him the discs, he has nothing worth more than it- and besides, it was probably safer with dream than with tommy. no one would dare mess with the server admin, after all.

so he decides to ask the next best thing.

"what did you get?" he asked, and when dream tilted his head in confusion, he continued, "to side with schlatt, i mean," he amended, "you must have gotten something huge, or powerful, something worth more than," he shrugs, "us, our alliance."

(at last, somebody had noticed wilbur.
quackity approached him, "what's that in your hand?" he said, suspicion coloring his tone. of course- he recognized it.
wilbur merely hums, "oh, this?" he asks, "i found it in tommy's room." he said, not even needing to lie.
tubbo and quackity exchanged a look.)

dream ponders the question, "he gave me something i needed," he said, "something i was looking for a long time," dream removes his hands from the pockets in his jacket, "it's worth more than friendship to me," dream admitted, then he looked straight at tommy, "but not brotherhood."

dream was giving him an out here, dream was offering for tommy to join him, he was offering to vouch for tommy in manberg and protect him, essentially.

to dream, tommy was worth it, and he's never felt so special before that he almost agreed.

("tommy's the fucking traitor!" quackity spat out, "he is, isn't he?"
wilbur feigned innocence, "what do you mean?" he asked.
"it's the coin," tubbo muttered, "schlatt gives these coins out to people he can trust, so if tommy-" he stops.
wilbur eyes him, "continue, tubbo." he says.
"but he can't be!" tubbo argued, "what would schlatt even offer him?")

"i can't," tommy said, hesitantly, "i have to help out with wilbur and tubbo and techno-" he stops, "i'm sorry?"

dream is silent, then he says, "okay tommy, but contact me when you change your mind, okay?"

for a moment there, he almost sounded disappointed.

tommy nodded.

("presidency?" wilbur suggested, "he wants to be president, right, tubbo?"
the younger boy simply nodded.
quackity cursed, "it's probably that fucking book that he said i couldn't see or sign on."
tubbo stiffens.
"a book, you say?" wilbur replies, an intrigued look on his eyes.
quackity scoffs, "yeah, it's apparently really important and shit, probably what he gave to dream, that bastard."
a flinch from tubbo.
"how interesting," wilbur murmured.)

"think about it, tommy." dream says, before throwing a pearl in the direction of the greater dream smp. (a part of him wonders how many pearls dream had, because he must have had a lot.)

he probably wouldn't be getting anymore information out of dream even if he followed him even farther to the greater dream smp lands, and he;s not even sure he wants to take the risk, so he decided to pearl back towards the ravine.

("why don't you two go check on technoblade?" wilbur suggested.
both quackity and tubbo looked at each other, before shrugging.
as they left, quackity could be heard questioning tubbo, asking if he knew any place where techno could potentially be.
and at the bottom of the chest in tommy's room lay a piece of paper.
written in tubbo's handwriting, the words "public enemy no.1" penned in red.)

tommy returned to an empty ravine.

('it's suspicious,' a part of him said, 'where could they all be?" he ignored it.)

the ravine was freezingly frigid without the warmth of other people, just like the early days, so when tommy found wilbur he almost sighed in relief.

"where are the others, wil?"

he didn't answer, and tommy frowned.

"wil? are you-"

he gets interrupted by wilbur, who glared at him.

"did you really think, tommy, that i wouldn't find out?" wilbur asked, walking towards him.

tommy gulped and started walking backwards, "what do you mean?" he asks, fear evident in his voice.

a scoff.

before he knew it, his back up against the wall, and wilbur spoke.

"that you know, you're a filthy little traitor." wilbur spits out, as he grips tommy's hand, ("wil! it hurts!") another scoff, "should've known you were like this, god, what would techno and phil think?"

tommy didn't know what he was talking about, all he knew was that he was so, so afraid.

wilbur drags him over to a room and throws him in, and he hears the distinct sound of an iron door locking behind him.

his eyes widened and he ignores the pain in his elbows and ankles, "wil- wait,"

wilbur started piling stones against the door, and as tommy cried and begged for him to stop to just let him out, wilbur didn't. he continued piling the stones until only a small hole could be seen, just enough for tommy not to lose oxygen.

tap, tap, tap the stones go, and tommy realizes that it's wilbur walking away.

"come back, wil!" tommy calls out, tears threatening to fall, "please! i don't wanna be alone!"

the room is small, and it was so cold, there was a bed, but no blankets and no pillows, tommy didn't even know that this room had existed. it honestly terrified him.

he didn't know how long it had been, but tommy sat there, banging against the door, crying for wilbur to come back, to please wil, please let me out! i swear i'm not a traitor! i'm on your side!

(it's so cold.)

but nobody came.