Chapter Text
The portal is small, at first. Tommy barely notices it, what with everything else going on in L'Manburg. It's barely a glimmer in the air right above his old house, a shard of purple, similar to the portals to the nether scattered around the city. It flickers in and out of existence, and the teen pays no mind to it. He figures it's just a fucked up bit of nether portal, since portals malfunctioning and spawning in random places isn't unheard of.
After a few days, though, objects start appearing on his roof. A bone that looks concerningly human, a rotten carrot, a small, broken glass bottle. Tommy starts watching it more carefully, but he never manages to catch it when the objects drop through, only after they've shown up. None of them look native to the nether, which effectively rules out his theory about it being a portal. This, however, raises the question of what the fuck it actually is, if it's not connected to the nether.
He collects the fallen objects, brings them to Ant, who seems to be the most knowledgeable on the server when it comes to fucked up, mystic shit. The cat hybrid just offers him an apologetic shrug, saying there's nothing out of the ordinary about the items. There's a smear of blood on the glass, but no way to figure out who or what it belongs to. He keeps the objects, though, promising to let Tommy know if he finds anything else out.
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He asks other people, too. Karl seems incredibly off put by the whole thing, refusing to even go near it. Ranboo is curious, but has nothing helpful to add. Ghostbur says he tried to stick his hand through the portal, but it disappeared before he could. Probably for the best, because getting his ghost arm (garm?) stuck in a mysterious portal when it closed probably wasn't a good idea.
Bad, however, has an entirely different reaction. Tommy comes home one day to find the small demon crouched on his roof, tail swishing slowly behind him as he stares at the spot where the portal tends to appear. He doesn't even look at Tommy as the teen approaches, only shifting in place slightly. His pose is almost animalistic, reminding Tommy more of a cat stalking its prey than any humanoid he's ever seen.
He asks Bad what he's doing, but the demon just shakes his head, telling Tommy he can feel something calling him from the portal. That's about ten different flavors of concerning, but Bad refuses to elaborate, only repeating that he can feel something. He suspects it's the Egg, from the way Ant, who's rapidly deteriorating, becoming more and more focused on the Egg, has started to join Bad.
Personally, Tommy would prefer they stop hanging out on top of his house, but he apparently doesn't have a choice in the matter. A bit annoying, but he can live with it, as long as they don't steal his shit. Personally, Tommy doesn't get all the hype, if anything, he thinks the Egg's boring, and creepy, and better off as a pile of smoking ashes, but he's sure Bad would rip his throat out if he ever got close to hurting the thing.
The portal starts to grow bigger. While it used to be barely the width of his hand, it's now big enough that Tommy could probably fit his whole torso in, if he tried. Sometimes, he thinks he can catch snippets of voices coming from the other side, but he's never sure if it's just the wind or not.
The items stop dropping through, and the portal is almost perpetually open, now. It slowly grows bigger, like a piece of paper being torn apart in slow motion. Even Bad and Ant don't go too close, opting to circle it from afar, like fucking sharks . Neither of them answer his questions about what it is, or why they're so fixated on it.
Ghostbur's the one to finally provide some information about what's on the other side, though Tommy's still mad about how he went about it.
( "Tommy! Tommy, I stuck my head through the weird portal, the one above your house, and there were two very nice men on the other side! I think I accidentally startled them, but when I apologized, one of them just ruffled my hair and told me to go away, so I did. He even knew my name!" Tommy sputters indignantly, unable to form words as he blinks incredulously at Ghostbur, who smiles cheerfully at him.
"You fucking what !?" )
Unfortunately, the ghost's little escapade brings more questions than answers. Tommy racks his brain for who the two men could be, but no one is making a compelling case for it being them. Prime, it could be someone they didn't even know. Someone from a different server, or one of the independent world-hoppers who were known to sneak into private servers, just because they could.
Unfortunately, his answer comes along in a much different way than he would've preferred, effectively ruining his roof in the process.
-
The flash of light is visible even from all the way across L'Manburg, obviously coming from the direction of Tommy's home. He shares a look with Phil, who had been chatting aimlessly with him and Ghostbur, telling a story from a hardcore world he'd visited once.
"Stay here," The older man instructs Ghostbur, already pulling Tommy close to him. The teen instinctively loops his arms around Phil's neck, gripping tight as his wings snap open, propelling them into the air and towards Tommy's house with startling speed, even with Tommy being accustomed to flying with his father. (Phil had truly been making an effort, recently. Tommy's not sure what happened, but the older man's been doing his best to spend more time with Tommy, and what's left of Wilbur. He's not complaining, but it's still an abrupt change.)
Phil touches down on the ground outside his house barely a minute later, and Tommy's already drawing his sword, running towards where the light had come from. The portal swirls overhead, and the teen can make out a figure in the whirling colors. It looks like Karl, if Karl didn't sleep for a week, then got the shit beat out of him. Fucked-up-Karl shouts something else, before there's a sharp woosh of air, and the portal snaps shut all at once.
That's not the only thing, though. There's a form sprawled on the ground, apparently having broken his damn roof when they emerged from what Tommy assumes was the portal. He creeps forward, sword at the ready as the figure groans, sitting up. They're wearing a familiar coat, and Tommy's blood runs cold when he spots the brown fabric, and the patch sewn into the back.
"...Wilbur?" The figure freezes, going stiff. Slowly, they stand, brushing themselves off as they turn around. Behind him, Phil lets fly a low string of curses, drawing his own sword. Tommy's speechless, blade clattering to the ground as he stares at the older man in front of him.
In front of Tommy, the man who looks just like him stares back, blue eyes wide in shock. One of them is clouded over, with a long gash cutting across the socket. His skin is scratched and bloody, stained with soot and dirt. Wilbur's coat hangs off his shoulder, adorned with new patches and stitches, keeping it together. A pair of tattered animal ears are visible poking above his messy hair, reminding Tommy of a raccoon’s. The teen can see a dark grey tail behind older-Tommy as well, lashing back and forth agitatedly.
"Yo, what the fuck ." They both speak at the same time, and their voices sound the same. Tommy blanches, and older-Tommy does about the same. This time, it's only the older version that speaks.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me ."