Chapter Text
If there was one thing the entire universe had apparently agreed on, it was that it wasn't Tommy's time to die. It was apparently never Tommy's time to die. He still wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Fuck!"
Tommy's voice was the only thing that was able to carry over the sounds of the chaos surrounding them with a reasonable consistency. Unfortunately the only words coming to mind weren't battle commands as much as a barely lucid string of swears.
It had been years since such a fresh kind of terror scorched its way through the 20-year-old's veins. He'd almost started to think he'd become immune to fear alongside the Crimson, but his hands were shaking and the tightness of his grip was the only thing keeping the slippery axe from flying out of his grip. The only thing he could see was swaths of red, writhing and screaming. It was easy to tune out, he'd always been good at tuning out voices in the back of his head, be them his own or something else entirely. But it seemed like the rest of their hodgepodge group was struggling with that and every couple of minutes flinched at a particularly loud scream as Tommy sent a fresh volley of fire racing down the vines from his outstretched fingertips.
He felt cold.
Foolish, Karl, and Sam were babbling nonsense in the background, speaking much to fast and words Tommy hadn't ever been able to fully comprehend. Science, red stone, the Ancient Script, those were always the things that Tubbo and Fundy were best at. His best friend his beloved nephew. Both had a far clear understanding of code and the old magics, something that Tommy hadn't ever been able to fully comprehend the same way they did.
Sure he had an affinity for certain kinds of magic. The blood running through his veins gave him an aptitude for it. A phoenix could hardly go an entire lifetime without growing skilled with enchanting or potion brewing, Tommy was certainly no exception. The majority of the potions and armor being currently used were his handiwork and he was damn well proud of it! But the kinds of magic that relied on the Ancient Script and Glyphs, the just wasn't for him. At least, he'd always thought so. Fundy and Tubbo at one point had tried to sit him down and teach him in case anything ever happened to one of them. Let's just say that Tommy was glad they still had Sam.
While the more technologically inclined members of their group continued to toil away on their last resort, Tommy swung ferociously at the creeping red vines that were pushing against the walls of the obsidian bunker they'd crafted in this foreign dimension. Their group had already started to dwindle to a worrying degree, Tommy wasn't sure if they'd be able to handle anymore losses.
The decline had started with those who showed no immunity to the Crimson or its manipulations. They'd become seed beds for the budding empire. There were those who had no immunity but managed to escape none the less and shake its influence. Of course, they were some of the first to go when the Crimson started to get more aggressive. Slowly the group started to get smaller and smaller as even those with an immunity like Ponk and Puffy were killed and made into fodder and lifeless servants for the dancing vines. A ghastly beast.
There were only seven people left, including Tommy. Eight, but Fundy had been last a little over a day ago in order to buy the remaining seven more time. There was an unspoken rule about getting captured. After over half the server had been taken and made into servants by the Crimson it was agreed upon that if someone was captured by the eggpire, they were a goner. Either they found a way to get themselves free or they were a lost cause. No grudges would be held by those captured and left unrescued. They just didn't have the resources or lives to waste on rescue missions when the Crimson had already grown so expansive.
Getting captured by the Crimson was a death sentence in the eyes of most. Only one person had ever returned. Tommy himself. It had taken him two weeks to claw his way out of a pure obsidian box placed on top of the egg, barely ever even fed by his captors, and he'd been border line delirious by the time he made it back to the rest of the group. Tommy was the exception, the only exception. For ever trapped in the role of the main character, escaping by the skin of his teeth no matter how much he wished he'd just lose and be free from his role. He couldn't give up, he had too much pride for that. So it was either he keep playing his role or something finally beat him fair and square. Tommy had returned because he was the exception. No one expected Fundy to return.
"Oh come on, is that Crimbur?" Sapnap groaned as he took another wide swipe with his own weapon. A sword which had been made with actual blaze rods and reinforced with a netherite core. Sapnap pressed himself against Tommy so they were standing shoulder to shoulder as they continued the frontal assault. Fire jumped from the both of them, Sapnap's blaze heritage and the warmth that came off him was a grounding force for Tommy who was starting to register the icy chill that came from overusing his own abilities.
They both noted the enderman like screaming filling the background, likely coming from Ranboo. The half enderman had always been a good runner, but a less good combatant. He figured out how to teleport right when they needed it most and he spent the vast majority of his time darting around the overworld grabbing supplies and getting out. Sapnap and Tommy were the dedicated fighters of the group with Sam, Foolish, and Karl focused on the scientific aspects. Fundy had been a part of their group before he'd been captured.
Despite designated roles, all four members of the non scientific team were throwing in their best efforts at fighting to buy those last couple of seconds to get all of them to safety.
A time machine. It had originally been Karl's idea, one that the rest of the group had been quick to jump on after the uninfected started to become the server minority. Of course, he still struggled. Karl admitted to being a time traveler, but it wasn't something he was particularly good at controlling and it often left him was as few of his memories in tact as Ranboo, to the point he'd started carrying around his own memory book.
Apparently the Crimson was something old, something he'd seen before, and it was something certainly not good.
"Of course it had to be Crimbur, it's always Crimbur, ain't it?" Tommy muttered to himself as a shambling monstrosity of red vines and beautifully deadly flowers started to try and wiggle its way through the gaps in the obsidian. Crimbur, as the name suggested, was the ghost of Wilbur possessing a lump of Crimson. Against his will, mind you. Ghostbur had originally been part of their group, and Foolish outside of the time machine project had been working on trying to revive Wilbur.
They still weren't entirely sure why their group in particular was immune with a couple notable exceptions. It was theorized that Tommy and Fundy were immune specifically because they were mythical hybrids. Creatures rare enough and powerful enough to actually hold some kind of defense against the Crimson. Though, it could just as easily be that Fundy was immune for some other reason and Tommy was immune because a phoenix would naturally burn away most diseases and parasites from their body. Or perhaps it was the gods that Tommy prayed to who were protecting him. Again, no one had any clue.
The thought process behind trying to revive Wilbur was to see if maybe it was genetic and the immunity had just skipped Phil and Techno who both fell to the Crimson during the later stages of the infection when it started to adapt to more extreme biomes.
Of course, something had gone terribly wrong. The attempt to revive Wilbur had made him semi-corporeal without actually giving him a new body or fixing the gaps in his memory. The crimson had jumped on this failing of the group, seeing Wilbur as a valuable asset. Wilbur in his half Ghostbur like state had been easy prey for the Crimson. As such, Crimbur was born. A creature that very much craved a second more final death if the constant half Wilbur half Crimson screaming was anything to go off of.
It lunged at Sapnap with a eardrum shattering screech, the banshee like cry causing the other man to stiffen for a minute and go wide eyed.
Tommy wasn't fast enough to block Crimbur's attack. Luckily he didn't need to be. A shield got in between Sapnap and Tommy's twisted excuse for a brother. A familiar smiley mask turned towards Sapnap. "You good?" Dream asked, panting slightly. Sapnap shook off the temporary paralysis and just grunted a response, pushing Dream's shield out of the way and continuing his assault on the Crimson. Slashing his sword into Crimbur's leg and watching the creature stumble to the group as the red vines and chunks of flesh like substance caught ablaze. Tommy lit a soul fire torch and quickly tossed it on the creature as it fell to the ground, hoping this would be its final death. Soul fire was the only thing that could give a final death to those taken over by the Crimson, but it wasn't always a guarantee.
Tommy had give Crimbur many a soul fire funeral pyre before. He just hoped this one would stick. Even if they weren't planning to stick around to see the end of this future, he at least wanted to try and give freedom to his pathetic shell of a brother.
"This is the final stretch," Dream said as the four regrouped slightly, pushing closer together as they readied their weapons. "Just a little bit longer before the portal is finished. That being said, the Crimson is probably going to push extra hard. Give it everything you've got!" There was something slightly manic to his tone of voice, but no one particularly had the energy to tell Dream off for it.
No one in the group was exactly fond of Dream anymore. Tommy and Ranboo both had severe trauma because of his bullshit, Sam was protective of his boys, Karl and Foolish never care for him much in the first play, and he'd lost Sapnap's loyalty years ago. He was immune though, the admin blood running through his veins keeping him from falling under the Crimson's influence. So they tolerated him even if none of them really enjoyed his company. Even if Sapnap had asked multiple times where Tommy put the duct tape, glancing at a sleeping Dream as he spoke.
They had to tolerate him, but no one in the group was obligated to like him and you can bet Sam had a number of rules about how often and in what situations he was even allowed to interact with Tommy. The rules were extensive and breaking them often resulted in Sam threatening to pull out The Spray Bottle.
Tommy forced the fatigue out of his aching body, wishing nothing more than to rest or at the very least spread out his wings. He swung, using his axe as a catalyst to release one last gout of flames which Sapnap in turn added his own swing and his own burning fire to. While soul fire was typically the most effective, the fire of a blaze hybrid could still do some decent damage to the writhing tendrils. Even soul fire paled in comparison to the amount of damage that could be done with phoenix fire, but it was much easier for Tommy to accidentally injure an ally if he wasn't careful. Sapnap's flames could be protected against with a fire res potion or two. Tommy's fire wasn't so simple.
"Yes!" The group heard a cheer in the background as a loud screeching sound filled the tiny obsidian room, actually drowning out the screams of the Crimson as it pushed against the obsidian and slowly wiggled its way through. Popping out of any cracks it could find and turning the blocks with fewer cracks into crying obsidian that was easier to break.
"Everyone, through the portal," Karl commanded as it whirred to life. "Foolish and I are going to be the last ones through to makes sure it gets shut down properly. We don't want any of our Crimson seeping through the portal and making the situation over there potentially worse. Sam, I want you first through so you can monitor things on the other side." And because he was the most diplomatic went unsaid. Depending on where they were flung out the other side it might be necessary to talk their way out of a rough situation. Sam was good at de-escalation. He had to be, he practically adopted Tommy after Doomsday.
Sam nodded without complaint, jumping through the makeshift portal as it sputtered and glinted.
Ranboo and Sapnap both started to fall back, the Crimson gaining a little room but the two quickly making their way towards the portal in an unspoken order. Ranboo and Sapnap jumped through with a yelp and a whoop respectively.
Tommy glanced at Dream his gave a quick nod, falling back from the assault as Tommy pulled out obsidian and started trying to craft a secondary makeshift wall to buy just a little more time. Dream had no qualms about leaving the rest behind and soon it was just Tommy, Foolish, and Karl. Unfortunately there was too much of a build up of Crimson without all four fighters. Tommy couldn't keep up and the obsidian he placed started to crumble and decay at a rapid pace.
"Tommy, go. You can't be left behind," Foolish said. His voice was quiet and full of desperation, a thousand unspoken truths passing between the two. Tommy had seen this kind of desperation in the eyes of friends long past before. Enough time stop know that this was probably the last time he'd ever be seeing his version of Karl and Foolish.
They'd already had this conversation with the group earlier. There was a chance the two would have to be left behind on the other side. Karl had already said his goodbyes to Sapnap, as grim as the day Quackity had said his own goodbyes to the two of them, words slurred from the Crimson sheen that was already glazing over his eyes. Foolish had been strangely at peace, but then again, Foolish wasn't mortal in the same way that Tommy wasn't. If there was anyone who understood how Foolish could be so fearless in those moments, it was Tommy himself. One of them needed to get to the other side and be the 'safety measure' of sorts of the rest of the group. It was agreed silently that Tommy was the more useful out of the two.
He gave a quick nod, jumping up onto the platform and turning back towards the two. With a flick of his wrist and the use of an old magic spell he'd learned as a child the Scarlet wings pressed tight against his back were made invisible and intangible to everyone but him. If they were going to the past, well, he didn't necessarily want to out his younger self. He'd only really started showing his wings actively when the situation became too dangerous for him to hide anything they could use as an advantage.
"It's been an honor, boys! Poor one out for me when you meet with Fundy," he shouted with a two fingers salute. Techno's old cape, drained of its natural red and left white by the Crimson, billowed against his shoulders as he stepped backwards towards the portal.
Karl and Foolish both returned the gesture. Their expression turned to a mix of terror and grim determination as the vines began to wrap around their legs, Karl wincing slightly as the thorns started to dig in and toxins they held dragged the both of them towards unconsciousness. Tommy threw himself into the portal just as Foolish started reaching for the kill switch, not wanting to waste his only chance.
Falling through time was a weird sensation, Tommy noted silently. It wasn't uncomfortable, up until he suddenly collided with what felt like a wall. Probably was a wall, or at the very least the ground. Likely ground, it smelled like dirt. Where was he? He blinked a couple of times and the first thing he saw was green. HIs entire body relaxed as he sat up and found himself sitting the grass. Real grass under a real sun without a sickly sweet scent in the air or the constant threat of something looming.
The entire group glanced at him as Tommy fell through the portal and it immediately disappeared. Tommy grimaced and shook his head. Sapnap's express faltered for a moment, but they all tried to not let it bother them too much. They'd already faced enough losses, and they were finally here. They correct those wrongs. They didn't have time to grieve.
"Sun! I've missed the sun!" Sapnap rather loudly declared in an attempt to cover up the dull ache that came with Karl's demise. The rest of the group that was trying to get their bearings still glared at the blaze hybrid who just pouted in return. "What?"
"Keep it down, we don't know what time we're in right now. We could be in the middle of a war for all we know, we certainly don't want anyone to know about us until we figure out what's going on," Dream said, earning a harsher glare from Sapnap who immediately opened his mouth to try and argue.
Tommy punched Sapnap in the shoulder, the action more of a light tap than anything. "As much as it actually pains and disgusts me to say this, Dream is right. We don't know what time we're in right now and us being here could be a much bigger issue depending on the time frame we landed in. Declaring our presences could be dangerous and while I'm sure we could take most of the people on the server I don't want to risk anyone knowing about us if it's close to Doomsday or something and the egg already has a foot hold. We could be anywhere between then and the first day that Dream opened the server. Like Dream said, we could even be in the middle of a war, and that's going to complicate things for us and our past selves!"
Ranboo winced at that, grabbing and wringing out his tail while he flattened his ears against his head. "We also don't want to change too much that doesn't need to be changed. What if we accidentally break the future by interacting with our younger selves? We don't even know if all of our younger selves are here. I mean, you four probably are, but I showed up pretty late into things."
"For the sake of our sanity let's just assume that this is a separate timeline now and everything we do from here on out was either intended by fate or fate doesn't exist and making changes won't exactly get us punished by it unless we actively do stupid stuff that would cause bad results anyways. We just take things one step at a time for right now. As soon as we figure out where we are?" Sam's voice trailed off as he turned around and assessed the area.
It only took a couple of moments for a sensation of recognition and nostalgia to overtake Tommy. "Look, we're right outside my old house," Tommy said, pointing at the poorly constructed monstrosity of a building his younger self had made back in the day. Not to mention his younger self had been far more proud of it than little Tommy really should have been. He knew better. Were his days learning to build from the other members of Business Bay as a kid all for naught? Well, at least older Tommy knew better after living with Sam for so long and he marveled at how his old place could even be called a house.
It would do for now at least. "It's probably safer if we don't stick around outside if we're gonna be honest. We might get caught." A Tommy's words the group of five quickly shuffled into the too small building made by younger Tommy, praying that no one would end up looking around in there for something. Least of all younger, louder Tommy. At least it seemed decently abandoned.
"Okay. Tommy, do you have an invis pots on you?" Dream asked, pulling off his armor and stashing it away in his inventory as he started searching his own. Already know where Dream was going with that line of questioning, Tommy gave a quick nod and pulled a couple out. He always had a least one type of each potion on him at any given time, which was usually more than enough since he knew how to make potions the right way. That being said he had more as well as the ingredients stashed away in his ender chest if necessary.
Fire resistance and invisibility was something that the entire group had gotten used to always carrying on them. It was rare for someone, especially Tommy, to say no if asked for one. They were after all the two most useful tools they had against the Crimson. Invisibility to sneak around the Crimson and Fire Resistance to set the entire place ablaze when the situation couldn't be recovered.
"Perfect. You and I should go and scout the area since we're the least likely to actually get caught," Dream said, and as much as Sapnap and Ranboo dearly wanted to refuse and argue in that moment neither of them actually had any evidence to the contrary.
Tommy nodded, rolling his eyes as Sam fixed Dream with a hard look. He didn't really like the idea of working with Dream more than anyone else in the group liked the idea of Tommy working with dream, but he preferred it to the only alternative they had which was Tommy going out and scouting alone. Sapnap was a hunter and by nature a stealthy person, but he was also the first to jump out of hiding swinging if he didn't like what he found. Ranboo was just all around bad at stealth and it was better if Sam stayed behind and get to work getting them established. Speaking of which.
"Sam, you still have red stone supplies in your e chest, right? While we're gone you, Sapnap, and Ranboo should work on making a secret base here in case anyone comes by." Tommy knew well enough that people were prone to entering other houses without permission or warning and riffling through their things. Their reasoning ranging from literally having no reason for the action to outright theft, something that almost made Tommy giggle considering one the first rules Dream told him was stealing would result in punishments. The group needed somewhere safe to hole up, but it needed to be somewhere that the people of the future wouldn't immediately be discovered without having to go a couple thousand blocks away from the action. A secret base right under Tommy's old base was the perfect compromise.
After all, who expected any kind of red stone inside of a base belonging to Tommy, Careful, Danger, Kraken, Innit of all people? Red stone in his base? Surely not.
Tommy didn't slip his own armor off, instead stepping away from the group and tossing a splash potion against the ground. The perks of being a phoenix was the ability to do certain magical acts at a level far outside the average person's capability. While some phoenix were good at the old languages and code like Fundy or Tubbo, there were also the phoenix like Tommy who had an aversion to such things. Tommy found his niche in the creation of armor with high level enchantments and almost distressingly powerful potions.
Who needed to take off their armor when they could use one of Tommy's splash potions? The particles jumped into the air seeping not only into Tommy himself and making him completely see through, but also sinking into his armor. It had taken Tommy months to perfect this potion since he also needed to make a set of netherite that was compatible with the invisibility. He knew it had to be possible since everyone was able to make invis pots that accounted for regular clothing, but account for armor had been a bit more of a challenge. Tommy, ultimately though, was a phoenix and during those four years between Dream getting imprisoned and the 'present' he'd put in his fair share of determination and hard work to get to the place he was now.
He was proud of his concoctions and he knew that this splash potion alone would last him a full fourteen minutes before he needed to slink off somewhere and douse himself again. He could get a full half an hour to maybe even an hour with his stronger brews but that would mean sacrificing his armor and he didn't want to do that unless he had to.
Tommy usually had an emergency supple of potions and even made some in excess when he was feeling stressed and there weren't any fabrics around. He left the extras out for his fellow immunes but it was obvious by the missing armor that Dream wasn't using any of his. Tommy wasn't sure if he felt good about that or insulted.
The two carefully left the building, heading in the direction of L'manberg while trying to keep one another in sight. It was easier for Tommy to follow Dream than the other way around since Dream's potion gave off much more noticeable particle effects than Tommy's potion. Tommy hadn't been able to get rid of the particle effects entirely, but it would take him standing still and someone like Technoblade to actually notice, so something told Tommy it wasn't going to be too much of a problem for this first scouting mission.
The duo were quick to make it to the area they recognized as past L'manberg, knowing that it would tell them almost everything they needed to know about what time period they were in. It was probably one of the few places on the server which could be used to create a comprehensive timeline of the SMP.
Understanding was immediately followed up by a small bubble of worry as the two arrived to find that there weren't any walls visible. They still couldn't see the full city to tell if there was the Wilbur made chasm running through it, but that was already enough to tell Tommy that this was either Schlatt era or Tubbo era.
Tubbo ear wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. The egg might be a problem with a bigger foot hold, but it could be worse. Tubbo could be reasoned with and having both Dream and Tommy from the future could get the Dream from the past to back off. Stop manipulating minor for long enough to deal with the actual problem at hand. Either way Tommy's younger self was going to be in exile by now probably, but that was a problem that would be a lot easier to fix and move on from if they were living in the Tubbo era.
It being the Schlatt era, well, that would cause a lot of problems.
The two carefully advanced, picking their way through the trees and getting into a position where they could actually see some of the buildings when Tommy heard Dream muttering under his breath. "Oh for the love of..." The agitation was crystal clear in the admin's tone and sent a small set of chill's down Tommy's spine. The memories of sand banks and that tone being directed at him made him dazed for a moment but if there was anything Tommy had gotten good at it was pulling himself out of his episodes. He sunk his teeth into his bottom lip and the sharp jolt of pain combined with the taste of iron and magma instantly brought him back to the now.
It didn't take long for Tommy to scan the surrounding area and realize why Dream sounded frustrated. There he was. The ram hybrid himself in all his grotesque glory. A smaller and less scarred up Tubbo tailed after him with Quackity and Fundy not far behind. All three looked decently miserable but neither raised a single complaint as Schlatt continued to monologue. It wasn't hard for Tommy to tell even from such a great distance how much the other hybrid was enjoying himself.
Tommy's heard clenched as his eyes lingered on Fundy and then Tubbo a moment longer than he meant to. Tubbo was still so little, still on two lives. Damaged from the first war and hurt by Eret's betrayal, but free of the burn scars and the wounded eye Techno had left his best friend with. Free from the fluffy ears and small horns that had only appeared after Schlatt died. Tommy could still remember how distressed his best friend would look each time he caught sight of the tiny horns in the mirror.
Tommy moved back from their observational perch and thumped his head against a tree, the tree taking significant enough damage to nearly topple from the sheer force of the impact of Tommy's face alone. "Of course it would Schlatt era, Pogtopia era. Why wouldn't it be? Of all the times we could have been sent to!" Tommy's monologue was only cut short by Dream yanking on his arm and starting to drag him back towards their makeshift base. They had enough answers after all, and now they had a ton of planning that they'd have to do. He just hoped they weren't too late. Hoped that the rest of the group would at least be willing to let him try and right some of the wrongs of their past, particularly egregious ones. At the end of the day it was always left up to a vote with them, so there was no telling.
Tommy had the sinking feeling that he was going to be stuck at the center of all this mess one way or another.
Always the protagonist, even when he never asked.