Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy stands on the edge of the nether. Dream behind him. Tears burned off his face from how hot it was. The sounds of the Nether were quiet for once. Way to quiet. Dream talked back to the boy with a cheerful grin on his face. If Tommy was to turn around he would have seen it. But instead of facing a mad man he watched the lava. Contemplating something no sixteen year old should have to.

His clothes were ripped and dirty. The whites of them are almost completely brown and green from grass stains. Even in his sad state Tommy was recognizable. With his bright blue eyes and his soft blond hair. Well matted blond hair but you could still tell it was him. The cobblestone under his feet was burning his shoes. Yet he made no action to move.

“Tommy, we both know you're not going to jump.” Dream’s cocky voice said from a ways away. Tommy made his hands into fists as he frowned. Like Dream knew anything. Dream talked as if he knew his inner thoughts.

Tommy turned and faced the man. “Fuck you Dream.” He spat. Earning a chuckle from the taller mask wearing man.

Dream crossed his hands and tilted his head to the side. His electric green eyes peered through his mask. “Come back with me pup. Back to-what did you call it? Logstedshire?” Dream took a step forward causing Tommy to take a shaky step back.

“I’m not a fucking pup! Pups don’t go to war…” Tommy’s voice quieted near the end. Dream made him have to be a soldier. To have to act older than he was. Yet he felt a sort of pull to the man. The same way he was pulled to his family. Fucked up instincts. That’s all it was.

He raised his hands to the side. Not one more tear fell down his face. All dried up from crying each night in a shitty tent. Tommy was many things. A soldier, a friend, a teen, a brother, a son and yet he has no pack. Not anymore. He lets out a sob as he leans back. Most would call it suicide. He calls it falling.

Because the moment he stepped foot here he was falling. Deeper and deeper into emotions he wished not to name. He fell because life pushed him too far. His own brother hated him, his father practically disowned him, Tubbo exiled him and Wilbur…

Wilbur waited for him. He could hear Dream scream his name as he fell off the heated cobblestone path. Then he felt pain. So much pain he screamed at the tops of his lungs. Without a fire resistance potion the lava burned quickly through his skin. His mouth filled with the orange and red liquid metal. He would be able to taste it if he still had taste buds.

It wasn’t long until all the pain subsided. His vision was burned with the rest of him. Darkness welcomed him all too quickly. If this was the after life then it was a shitty place. He felt the phantom pain of the lava all over his body fade away. He tried to look around but he was frozen. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth like he’s just said something he shouldn’t. “See you soon Tommy.” A distorted voice says from behind him.

Then once more he felt pain. A stinging and burning pain flared up in his arm suddenly. A cool breeze washes over him, making him shiver. “Tommy!” Another voice shouts. Not like the one before, he could hear it as clear as day. The voice was one he never thought he’d hear again. But remembering it as being deeper, rougher and the chill of insanity laced into it. Not whatever it was now. Tommy could feel his tears silently slide down his cheeks as the heat of the Nether was no longer burning it up.

He somehow found the strength to open his eyes. How did he even still have them? He would’ve thought his whole body would have been burned up by now. But if this was the after life he guessed it didn’t matter? Tommy was never a religious person so he never thought to know what happened after the final death. He looked up and instead of an empty void he was met with a clear blue sky.

A face came into view and his eyes went wide. “I fucking told you not to climb the tree Tommy!” Wilbur yelled as Tommy just stared up at him. It looked like Wilbur, he really did, but at the same time he didn’t. The one in front of him now was shorter, cleaner and younger then when he saw his brother last. Yet it was Wilbur. Somewhere in his head he knew that.

“Wilbur?” Tommy said with disbelief as he was grabbed off the floor with gentle hands. Wilbur didn’t seem to hear him as he was picked up off the ground and carried bridal style.

Wilbur held him close as he ran across the field. His arm flared up once more and Tommy hissed in pain. He cradled his arm close to himself as Wilbur leapt over rocks and tall weeds. “Dad!” Tommy looked up at the other. Still in disbelief. How the hell could this be happening? The last time Wilbur could comfortably carry Tommy was years ago. Before his big growth spurt.

There was no way this was happening. Wilbur was dead! He was supposed to be waiting for him. But now Tommy feels more alive then he’s ever been before. And by how Wilbur panted as he ran, he was to. Alive that is. He looked down at himself. He was small. Way too small. They got onto a forest path as Wilbur continued to yell. “Dad!” It didn’t take too long for them to come up to a house.

A house he could only remember as a distant memory. “What happened!?” Tommy snapped his head forward. Watching as Phil ran over from the front of their house. Their old and forgotten house. Which looked almost brand new now. The man looked younger, just like Wilbur did. The nail in the coffin was when Techno. Who was sitting on the stairs to the front porch.

The man, like the other two, looked younger. But was also the most changed. Having shoulder length hair instead of pink strands that could touch the ground. He was also more slender, muscles not yet easily seen through his clothes. He also carried no netherite axe. Tommy was stuck in his own mind as he was softly passed over to his father. The three quickly made their way inside the house. Then like he was smacked with understanding it all clicked together.

Phil was younger, Techno was younger, Wilbur was alive and so was he. They were all fucking younger! Tommy had no time to think on this realization as he was laid on the couch. Phil quickly left muttering “I’ll get the med kit.” Before leaving the room. Tommy watched as Techno walked over and bent over. Looking over his arm.

“It doesn’t look broken.” His older brother said with a huff. Was this all a memory? He looked down at his arm as he recalled what was happening. He remembered falling out of a tree when he was younger. He was only trying to get a better look at a cool bird's nest he found. But fell out and sprained his arm. But this wasn’t just a memory, he was in the past. Tommy sucked in a shaky breath. He was supposed to be dead. Wilbur was supposed to be dead. Techno and Phil were supposed to hate him.

He was in the past and he had no clue how he did it. Phil came back with a small bin of medical supplies. Techno and Wilbur backed off as Phil tended to his arm. He stayed quiet throughout the whole thing. Even when Wilbur tried to lighten up the mood with jokes. “Tommy how many times have I told you not to go up fucking trees with bird nests in them.” Phil hissed in a fatherly tone Tommy’s used to hearing. But instead of a tiredness undertone to it of a man who’s given up on being a father, he hears worry.

Worry of a father who still loves his role. That hasn’t killed his eldest son in front of a whole server. As Phil wraps his wrist and lower arm up Tommy wonders if this is an imposter. No father of his would looked at him with loving eyes that wasn’t filled with loss. But then again Tommy realized that this is his past. And this man in front of him knows nothing of his future.

Phil then gets out a regeneration potion and takes out the cork. He puts his hand out for Tommy to take it. But he doesn’t. The lack of an action makes everyone’s scents rise with worry. One scent out of the three was clear to him. Techno’s scent. “Tommy, drink the potion.” He ordered immediately. Tommy could tell he was the most worried out of the three. But he hid it well as he stepped forward.

Tommy’s vision started to blur as his eyes became heavy. “Tommy-“ He couldn’t help it as the darkness welcomed him once more as he passed out.

Chapter Text

Tommy groaned as he shifted in his spot. Something soft laid on top of him trapping him down to the bed. He could easily just sit up but it was warm and comfortable. Wherever he was smelled heavily like sweet tea. Then the memories of yesterday came back to his mind. And he was instantly throwing the sheets off of himself and standing. He stood there for a couple seconds as he just looked around.

He was in his and Phil’s room. But there was something off. He raised his good hand to his nose and sniffed. Instead of a citrus orange smell he smelt nothing. His scent was gone, what the fuck? Tommy walked over to the mirror in the room and stared at himself. He was short, very short. He would never tell Silbue but for once he looked like a child. Small, baby faced and scarless.

Something seemed to tug at his mind. Find pack. He groaned as he looked over to the door. Pup instincts, it had to be fucking pup instincts. He looked around the room some more as he tried to push his instincts down. Across from his own bed near the door was Phil’s bed. It was common for parents to sleep in the same room as pups that haven’t presented yet. As you couldn’t track them it was dangerous to stray to far away from the pack.

His instincts yelled once more to find the rest of his pack. Tommy sighed as he made his way over to the door. He remembered it being easier to ignore his instincts. He opened the door and krept out. He looked to the right to see two other bedrooms. Those were Wilbur’s and Techno’s. He decided to skip snooping for now as he walked left. He made his way silently down the hallway. The closer he got to the kitchen the more noise he could hear.

He wondered why for a second why he was sent back here, and by who. Because he knew he didn’t deserve it. But when he could hear his family chatting and laughing he couldn’t care for the reason. He was just glad they did. It helped that the small pain in his arm reminded him that this wasn’t a dream. That this was real. He was somehow alive and in the past. Somehow, he wasn’t too scared.

As he made it to the kitchen he peeked around the wall. He could see Phil making pancakes with both Techno and Wilbur seated at the table. The sight brought tears to his eyes. Wilbur was alive, Phil and Techno didn’t hate him and they were right there. No one noticed he was there as he didn’t have a scent. If his hypothesis was right then he was between the ages seven and ten.

He looked over to Wilbur. He looked so different. Shorter and actually happy. His smile wasn’t crazed and his eyes didn’t have a distant look to them. He wasn’t insane. No blood was yet on his hands. And he still had all his three lives. “Good morning Toms.” Wilbur said as he locked eyes with him.

Tommy flinched back at the very cheerful tone his brother took. He wasn’t used to that. Not at all. Wilbur seemed to miss it as he carried on talking. “How are you feeling bubs?” Tommy quickly wiped at his eyes as he walked into view. He needs to keep it cool.

He took a calming breath in as he opened his mouth to speak. “F-fine.” He squeaked out in a too high of a voice. He cringed as hearing it. Techno turned his head to look at him. Yet he said nothing as Tommy shuffled into the room.

Phil looked over with a smile. “That’s good to hear pup. Go take a seat, breakfast is almost done.” Tommy just nodded at his fathers words as he moved over to his seat at the table. He sat down in silence as Techno and Wilbur started to talk amongst each other once more. Techno sent him curious looks from time to time but he ignored him.

The twos chat slowly died down to a slow stop. The second it did Wilbur stood up from his spot and walked over. Tommy looked up at him confused. Then he could smell the strong scent of sage as Wilbur bent over. With one hand Wilbur ran his fingers through Tommy’s hair. With the other he pushed Tommy closer so he was resting against his chest. Tommy went stiffened at the closeness as his instincts practically purred at it.

He could feel Wilbur rub his wrists along his head, back and neck. “How many pancakes do you want Wilbur?” Phil said from behind the two.

Wilbur turned his head to the side. “Two is fine thanks.” He answered nonchalantly. Like he wasn’t just scenting Tommy. The smell of sage was strong. Very woodsy. 

After a couple more seconds Wilbur let him go. Tommy looked up at him with wide eyes. Wilbur looked down as he tilted his head to the side. “You scented me…” He said.

Wilbur chuckled. “Ya?” He replied. Confusion leaking into his tone.

Phil flipped a couple pancakes onto a plate. “Almost done boys. Techno how many do you want?” He said interrupting Wilbur from saying something else.

Techno stood up from his spot shrugging. “Three?” Phil only nodded as Wilbur walked back to his seat. He looked over towards his other brother. Techno stood there as he faced him. Like he was waiting for Tommy to do something. After a bit of staring, Techno spoke up. “Move over.” Then it clicked. It was Techno’s turn to scent him. He hurried off his chair and stood just beside it.

Techno sat down in his spot as patted his legs. Tommy was hesitant. Last time he saw his brother he was covered in blood as he spawned withers with his father. But looking at his brother now was like black on white. He was much smaller than he’s going to grow up to be. Shorter hair and less frightening. Tommy’s instincts screamed for him to get up on Techno’s lap. So he followed what they said to do. Because for some reason they were no longer just whispers.

So he walked over and sat down on Techno’s lap. Techno held him by the side as he set his head on Tommy’s shoulder. Techno rubbed his face and neck against Tommy’s scent glands. He couldn’t help but relax as the smell of smoke and burning wood got on him. It was Techno’s scent. It really should remind him of battlefields and war, but for some reason it doesn’t. It reminds him of that one camping trip they went on where it rained. But for some reason the fire that Technp put up stayed burning. He called it skill and the rest of us called it black magic.

The two smells of his brothers mixed together on him. “All done!” Phil called as he walked up to the table. He set down a plate stacked with pancakes and a bowl full of cut up fruits. He went back and forth until the plate was set.

Phil took his spot at the table soon after. Techno stopped scenting and kinda nudged Tommy away. So Tommy got off of his lap. Techno stood up and went back to his spot at the table. Tommy took his seat back as he took his plate and piled on pancakes. When was the last time he ate? Dream never liked feeding him. Saying he would get food when he deserved it. “Eat up Tommy.” Wilbur said. Tommy looked at the man. Then at the food.

He picked up his fork and started to eat. The taste sent Tommy back. The memory’s of early mornings with his pack. This had better not been some sick dream. Tommy looked at his left arm. The bandages still sat there. His family sat around the table. Talking amongst each other. Like nothing was different. Like Phil didn’t kill Wilbur, like if Techno never betrayed Tommy by attacking Tubbo. Like if Wilbur didn’t blow up a whole fucking country! 

Tommy put down his fork for a second. He pinched his skin underneath the table. It hurt, then he sniffed the air again for like the hundredth time that day. It smelt like home. He was home. He didn’t just have a second chance, everyone did.

Tommy watched his two older brothers practice their sword fighting from the back porch. Phil was sitting next to him as he ran his fingers through his hair. The smell of sweet tea mixing with the sage and fire wood of his brother's scents. He watched as Techno pivoted on his feet and swiped down with his wooden sword. Wilbur quickly blocked as they went into a stand off. Trying to overpower each other.

Tommy wondered how long it would take for that single strike to become deathly. A powerful and quick blow done with an axe instead of a thin sword. He’s seen the man take down many people with that single move. “Phil.” He said softly. Not wanting to risk distracting his brothers.

“Yes Tommy.” Phil said as he turned his head to the side. Looking down at him instead of up.

Tommy pointed off at his brothers with his good hand. “I want to learn how to use a sword.” He said with a smile. “Like my brothers.” He ends off. Tommy wasn’t as good at fighting as Techno was. And Wilbur knew enough to survive. But there is only so much skill can do when you have no muscle memory.

Phil shakes his head with a fond smile. “When you're older. Let’s wait until you're thirteen, huh?” Tommy frowns as he stands up from beside his father. Making the hand once on his head fall.

“Oh come on! I’ll be careful!” He said, now not caring about distracting the two teens on the grass.

Phil holds up his hand. Silencing him before he gets too loud. Phil stands up and looks at him with a stern gaze. “When you're older Tommy. No kid your age should be playing with swords-”

“You were!” He argued back. Realizing a bit too late that maybe he shouldn’t have said that. He snapped his mouth shut and shrunk down. Both Wilbur and Techno looked over. Wanting to know what the yelling was about.

Tommy could see Phil tense up. He expected the man to get angry. To yell and maybe even hit him. Because that’s what Dream did when he spoke out of line. That’s what Phil should do. But the sad look his father gave him instead made Tommy take a step back. “Yes I was.” Phil ends up saying. Voice a little too soft, a little too quiet. “Hey how about we head inside? Can you help me make lunch?”

Phil said, trying to move the conversation off of sword fighting. Tommy nodded as Techno and Wilbur went back to sparring. Letting him leave the conversation there. Phil gestured towards the doors and he got the hint. He walked over to them and opened the door. Phil quickly followed into the house. A tense silence between the two.

They walked into the kitchen. Tommy stood next to the counter as Phil got out what they were going to make for lunch. He wanted nothing other than to yell at Phil to let him train. That he’s old enough to, but he didn’t. Phil kept many things secret. But one thing that he and his brother knew by heart was that the Dream SMP wars weren’t the first ones their family has gone through.

Phil didn’t get the title Angel Of Death by not having blood coat his hands. Tommy didn’t know much about the war Phil fought in but he knew not to bring it up. “Sorry…” He said as Phil brought over some bread and laid it on the counter.

He just looked over at him with a small smile. A sad smile, faked for his own comfort. “It’s alright mate. Now do you want peanut butter or jelly sandwiches?” Phil said as he walked over to a cupboard. Once again switching topics. And once again Tommy let him. His old self would have pushed his apology. But his old self was left behind the moment he woke up here. He needed to stay low now. If they found out he’s from the fucking future then he’d be strapped to a bed and called crazy.

“Both!” He replied, getting a chuckle back. Tommy wants to enjoy this for a little. Enjoy having a family again, a pack. So he’s not going to bring up the past, at least not right now.

So he stands in the kitchen making sandwiches with his dad. Phil’s humming filling the silence of the room. Tommy could feel his eyes on him from time to time. He said nothing about it. Tommy was always yelling, always being yelled at. The silence was quite nice. And Phil’s humming made it better. “Something wrong Tommy?”

Tommy just looked up at Phil. He shook his head no. “Why?” Tommy was generally confused.

Wasn’t he doing this right? Being quiet and part of a family. Wasn’t this what he needed to do? “You're just a little quieter than normal. Is your arm hurting you?” Tommy looked down at the bandaged arm he had.

“A little sore. But that’s it.” Phil nodded. Then that’s when Tommy caught a scent, one that he’s only smelled a handful of times before. It was well hidden but he could smell it. Phil’s sweet tea smell changed. Smelling more like flowery tea than sweet. The scent calmed him. Even though he was already. Phil’s scent only became like this when he was in parent mode. For pups it told them that their parents are looking after them. That they are okay to play fight or to adventure. To be themselves.

Tommy put the last sandwich together. A hand settled on his head. Ruffling up his hair. “Good job Tommy!” Tommy smiled and leaned into the touch. When was the last time Phil said he did a good job? Tommy couldn’t remember.

“Let’s take these to Wilbur and Techno!” Tommy yelled out. Trying to distract himself from the memories that seemed to be flooding back up. Ones of cold nights by the beach shore. Hugging himself as he screamed at the ocean. Begging for Wilbur to come back and lay his hand on his head once more. He didn’t like those memories.

Phil picked up the sandwiches and put them on a plate. “Let’s go pup.” Tommy followed Phil back out to the back of the house. Wilbur and Techno were breathing heavily as they leaned against each other on the grass. “Having fun out here?” Phil said as he walked over to them. Tommy walked over right behind and sat down.

Phil bent down with the plate in hand. “Ya, tired now.” Wilbur huffed out. Tommy grabbed a jelly sandwich before anyone else could. Both Techno and Wilbur took one each.

“Thanks dad.” Wilbur piped up mout already full of food.

 “Ya thanks.” Techno added on. Having the decency to swallow his food first before talking.

Phil sat on the ground as he took one for himself. “Don’t just thank me. Tommy helped.”

Wilbur turned to Tommy. Mouth still stuffed full of food. “Thanks Tommy.” Techno nodded to agree with the other.

“It was no big deal.” Tommy replied. His cheeks got a little red. He wasn’t used to compliments. The four males ate and chatted. Tommy stayed silent most of the time. He also stayed next to Wilbur. He couldn’t get over that his brother was alive. Wilbur was at his happiest. And that in return made Tommy happy. Soon all the sandwiches were done and the sun started to set. The day went fast. Tommy hated that. He didn’t want the day to end. It was so perfect. But Phil didn’t care about what Tommy wanted when it came to their nighttime routine. When the sun started to set all the kids were inside. Safe.

Tommy sat on the couch with Techno. He was reading a book. Wilbur was strumming his diy guitar. Made mostly of old scrapes and string from Phil’s mob hunting nights. Phil sat in the armchair as he just relaxed. They had already had their baths and put their pyjamas on so it was just the calm before bed. “Hey Phil.”

Wilbur had stopped playing the guitar. “Yes Wilbur.” Phil said as he looked over at him.

Tommy looked over at Wilbur too. Interested in the conversation about to happen. “Can we go out tomorrow.”

Phil thought for a second. And that’s when Tommy remembered this conversation. Phil had said no and they started to argue. Tommy’s heart sped up. Wilbur had yelled saying they never go out and only stayed in the backyard. “Wilbur I don’t think that’s a good-“

“Like an adventure!” Tommy blurted out. He didn’t do that all those years ago. He stood up from the couch with a big smile. He had to change things. “We can go exploring! And climb rocks, and stay out for a while!” Phil looked over at Tommy. This was the most talkative he had been all day.

It was clear Phil knew something was up. “If you guys listen to everything I say. And when I say it’s time to go, we go.” Phil stated sternly.

Wilbur’s eyes shined with glee. While Techno shifted in his spot to sit up more. “Really?” The pink haired boy questioned. 

“I think it’ll do us some good. To be out as a family.” Tommy couldn’t stop from jumping around in excitement. To Phil that was how he knew this was the right choice. But Tommy really did know. This is better than the fight, then the door slamming. Tommy was hyper now. He hadn’t let any energy out all day. A pup needed to play. But he kept it in. Techno took Tommy’s excitement as a challenge. As he pushed Tommy to the ground.

Tommy looked up at Techno. He got back up and pushed Techno back. The two started to fight. After a bit Wilbur joined in. Pushing each other around. Trying to pin the other. Wanting to be the strongest. They were all just kids. Kids being kids. And so they fought. Playfully of course. Phil chuckled as he watched. Tommy slipped out of Wilbur’s grasp and tried to pin Techno down. He being older and stronger overpowered the young pup easily. 

After an hour of play the three boys were tired. Tommy yawned. He laid against Techno. But was quickly pushed off into Wilbur’s side. Wilbur just wrapped his arm around his younger brother. “I think it’s time for bed.” Phil got up from his spot in the armchair and squatted down.

Wilbur moved Tommy over to his arms. Phil picked Tommy up with ease. “No. I’m not-“ Tommy yawned as he tried to wiggle out of Phil’s arms. “-Not tired.” Phil just adjusted Tommy as he held him closer.

Tommy could smell Phil’s scent. It was relaxing. “I’m going to bed.” Wilbur announced standing up. He stretched and looked at Techno. “You comin?”

Techno just grunted as he also stood up. “Night Tommy.” Wilbur patted Tommy’s head before disappearing into the hall. Techno did the same. Phil looked down as Tommy looked up. “Bedtime pup.” Tommy whined but didn’t say anything. He couldn’t lie and say being held by his father wasn’t nice.

Phil made his way to their room. He opened the door and laid Tommy down on his bed. The soft blankets trapped Tommy. They were so warm and nice. Phil then kissed Tommy on the forehead before going to his own bed. He climbed in and relaxed. Tommy could feel Phil’s eyes on his back. He wasn’t going to go to sleep until he knew Tommy was. Phil was an alpha and a parent. Making his instincts want to protect and keep his family safe more prominent. Tommy’s eyes felt heavy as they slid shut. “Night….dad.”

“Goodnight Tommy.” And so sleep took him.

Chapter Text

Tommy froze up as he saw Wilbur get up from his chair. The older boy walked over to Tommy. A smile plastered on his face. He bent over and started to scent Tommy like he had done yesterday. Tommy was still not used to this. He would have thought he was going to wake up with bandages and burn scars. But no. He woke up to Phil rubbing his back. A calm way to wake up for sure. But definitely not how he thought he would have.

Phil chuckled as he put plates of food out. “So after breakfast we’re going out.” He sat down and started to load his plate up with food.

Techno looked over at him. “Where are we even going?” He also started to load his plate with a questioning look.

Wilbur had finally let go of him and went back to his own seat. “There’s this great spot near the cliffs. So we’re heading up there.”

Wilbur’s eyes sparkled at hearing those words. “The cliffs!? Really?” Tommy also loaded up his plate and started to eat.

Phil just chuckled. “Yes really. If we’re going out then I’m taking you three somewhere special. Now eat.” It didn’t take long for the four males to finish eating. Tommy couldn’t help but be excited to adventure out towards the cliffs. He had never actually seen them before. He’s only heard Phil talk about them from time to time. He would always promise to take them one day. They never got the chance as someone was always missing.

First it was Wilbur who would leave to explore from time to time. They could never find a good day that fit with his schedule. Second was Techno who left to Hypixle. Then third was himself. Who went to the Dream SMP. Then…

Well that’s where things just started to fall apart. So to say he was hyped was an understatement. Everyone got up from their seats and put their plates in the sink. Tommy went to get changed but was stopped by someone pulling him back by his waist. He looked up quickly, his breath hitched and his eyes went wide. He didn’t like being suddenly touched anymore. Well he can handle being touched, just not too close to someone else so quickly.

Dream got close in exile. To close for Tommy’s liking. He could practically hear the others' voice laughing at him. Making fun of him when he flinched to hard and Dream saw it. But then he felt rubbing on his neck and smelt the smoky smell of a campfire. It instantly calmed Tommy down. It wasn’t Dream, he was safe. There was no pepper spice in the air, there was no Dream.

The thought of the other made him feel awful. Dirty and sticky from having to camp out each night in a tent. He wanted to be let go, no matter how the scent of his brother calmed him. But he couldn’t just walk off, the other had just started. It would at least be a bit until he was let go. It seemed like his wolf side didn’t like how he kept his discomfort inside. It was built into his instincts to let his pack know how he’s feeling at all times.

So you can guess how pissed off Tommy was when he let out a whimper. Techno upon hearing him stopped what he was doing. Tommy froze up as he quickly tried to shut himself up. Whimpering was basically admitting something was wrong. And Tommy being him hated having others look down on him. No matter how shitty he was feeling. So for his instincts to kick in like this was horrible.

Tommy had grown out of his pup instincts. So having them screaming at him again after all the years of taming them and pushing them down is overwhelming. It didn’t help that he was a beta. The wolf class that had the least loud and overwhelming instincts. But now he was a pup again, with loud instincts, that are keen on making him whimper loudly in front of his family members.

“Tommy you okay?” Phil spoke up from the sink. Looking over at the two of them. Techno looked over at their father not knowing what to do. Phil put the final dish away and wiped his hands. He turned fully to face the two with a concerned expression. “Tommy? What’s the matter pup.” He didn’t answer as he just tried to calm his instincts. He didn’t remember it being this hard!

With no answer Phil walked over and bent down in front of him. He tried to hold back another whimper as he stared at his father. ‘No ones going to scent a stupid beta Tommy. But I can do it, I don’t mind getting my scent on you.’ A shiver runs down his back at the memory. Dream was nice, sometimes. He would offer to scent him. But the smell was always too much.

It always overtook his own. Instead of smelling like oranges Tommy would always smell like peppers and space. “I-I’m fine.” He finally says.

Techno lets go of him and also gets into his view. Sharing a look with Phil before turning back to him. “We both heard you whimper.” He says frowning.

Phil nods and tries to pat his shoulder. To which Tommy flinches away from. Phil takes back his hands with a look Tommy couldn’t understand. “What’s wrong?” He just shook his head and stepped back.

Why wouldn’t they just drop it? Leave him alone, like they did, or were going to do. It would be so much easier. Wouldn’t it? “I said I’m fine!” Tommy yells. Putting up a front like it was a diamond shield. He runs past the two and out into the hall. He could hear Techno say something before Phil interrupted him. Tommy was just glad they didn’t bother him as he ran down the hall.

He opened the door and shut it behind himself. He slid down it as tears came up to his eyes. ‘Oh come on Tommy! Did you really think anyone was coming to your stupid beach party! Oh Tommy, when will you get it in your head? No one likes you anymore!’ He closed his eyes and tried to get the thoughts out of his head. To leave him alone.

He was shaking now as more whimpers left his lips. Then a soft scent filled his senses. Sage, a calming and woodsy smell. “Toms?” Tommy’s eyes snap open as he looks ahead. Right where Wilbur stood dressed to go to the cliffs. “Tommy what’s wrong?” Wilbur goes to take a step forward which just makes his breath quicken. His brother stops and stares concerned.

“I-it's nothing. I’m being stupid.” He says as he stands up on shaky legs. Using the door to help him.

Wilbur frowns as he scans him over. “You're shaking, it’s not nothing. Did Techno or dad do something to make you upset?” Tommy just shrugs. Not knowing if it really was them, or his stupid mind playing with him. Dream wasn’t here anymore. There should be no reason why he’s dwelling on the past. “Can I touch you?” Wilbur asks next.

The sentence shocks him. Tommy looks up at his brother and hesitantly nods. No one has asked him if they could touch him before. Always doing what they pleased. Wilbur walks over and squats down in front of him. Like his father and brother did before. But this time Tommy was okay with it, for some reason.

Wilbur uses his thumb and wipes at his watery eyes. “You gonna tell me what’s got the big man himself sad?” Tommy lets out a wet chuckle and shakes his head no. “Alright, I won’t pry. Wait, you're not even dressed!” Wilbur puts his hands under Tommy armpits and stands. Effortlessly lifting Tommy into the air. Wilbur slung him over his shoulder as he spun around. 

“Wilbur!” He screamed through laughter. Batting the others back. “Let me down shit head!” Wilbur only laughed as he stopped. Right before walking over to his bed and throwing him down on it. Tommy bounced on the bed a couple times before he stopped. Still laughing like a mad man.

He sat up and stuck his tongue out at the other. To which he just got the fiddle back. “Now go get dressed before dad yells at us for taking too long! I still have to pack my day bag.”

“We have to pack a day bag?” He asks. Earning a look that he couldn’t place back.

“Just go and I’ll pack both of our bags!” Wilbur shoos him off of his bed. Tommy scrambled over to the door, wiping it open. He turns around to send a glare at his brother. One that was paired with a smile that took all the intensity away. He closed the door behind himself and walked over to his door.

He opened it and walked inside. The family scent of sweet tea greeting him. He looked around to see that Phil wasn’t in here. He walked over to his closet and got out that day’s clothes. He quickly changed into them before bouncing out of the room once more. He made his way to the living room where he saw Phil looking over the bags. So they did need to bring a day bag!

Techno was tying his shoes as Wilbur was sitting on the couch. Tommy walks over seeing a small deep red bag in the collection of bags. He smiled as he turned to Wilbur. Knowing exactly who put it there. “Looks like we have everything.” Phil looked up from the bag. Spotting Tommy in the doorway. “Oh, Tommy.” Phil stood up and went to continue speaking. Tommy knew what he was going to talk about. So he went to talk over him.

“How are you-“

“I’m ready to go to the cliffs now!” He said over his father as he walked over and grabbed his bag.

He slung it over his shoulders and went to walk over to the door when he felt a hand pull on his bag. “Hold on pup.” Phil said. Tommy turned to face the other. He let Tommy go as he looked at all three of them. “Remember what I said yesterday?” He asked.

Techno looked at Phil then at the bags. “We have to do everything you say and when it’s time to go, we have to go. No arguing.” He sent Tommy a side look at the last part.

Tommy crossed his hands as he stepped back toward the door. “I won’t argue about it! Can we go now?” Phil sighed as he took his black bag from the ground.

“Yes, we can go now.”

“Yes!” Wilbur and Tommy said at the same time. Wilbur grabbed his blue bag from the floor and ran over to the door. Tommy beating him there by a couple seconds. Techno followed with his pastel pink bag as Phil took out his keys. They left the house as Phil locked the door behind them. Tommy followed Phil as they walked down the path. Techno stayed in the back while Phil was up in the front.

Wilbur forced Tommy to hold his hand as they went. “How long will it take for us to get there?” Phil turned his head to to side to look at them.

“Around an hour or so.” He said simply.

Tommy gasped, making all of them stop and turn to him. “An hour!? That’s too long, you have to be lying!” Techno snorted as he pushed them along.

“How far did you think the cliffs were?” Tommy just shrugged as they passed the trees. Making it out into the plains near there area. “Are you up for walking that far?” Techno teased as they got further and further from their house.

Tommy scoffed as he let go of Wilbur’s hand and ran ahead. “Of course I am!” He yelled back. You know, like a liar.

Chapter Text

Tommy seemed to have forgotten how boring it was to be a pup. Yes, the last three weeks have been amazing. But this week however was terrible. Okay maybe that was a bit overboard but Tommy still stands by it. It’s been boring. And maybe a bit suffocating. Being a pup means that you don’t have a scent. Means you stick close to your pack members. Means you're never left alone!

The worst part is that he can’t even blame his family. They're doing what you do with pups. But mentally he was still sixteen and having someone always around him was getting really weird. It was mostly Phil who hung around. Either reading in the living room, out back watching them play or he was in the kitchen teaching Tommy the basics of cooking. He likes spending time with his father. Especially the cooking part.

Before he would always blow Phil off to do something else. Not interested in cooking as he thought Phil was always going to do it. Back in Pogtopia he couldn’t cook a decent meal to save his own life. Techno was too occupied in gearing up and getting resources to have a proper meal so he hardly ever cooked. And Wilbur didn’t care about eating in general near the end…

So he let Phil teach him how to cook. But even then he didn’t want the man hovering for the whole day! Phil never hovered Techno or Wilbur, it was only him. When asked he just said his older brothers could protect themselves if need be. Plus they weren’t allowed off the property without his promotion anyways. So Tommy would ask to train to just get denied again. It was a vicious circle being a pup. 

Tommy sighs as he looks to the couch. Phil sat doing a puzzle. He wanted to go out and adventure in the woods. To go look at his past favourite places to hang out. But he had to stay with Phil because his brothers were out in the back sword fighting. Tommy can only watch so many training sessions before he goes crazy himself. It got to the point where he tried to copy the moves with a made up sword. So he sat on the couch. Lazily looking around the room.

Tommy somehow was able to keep the whole time travelling thing a secret. He was definitely getting better with the whole flinching thing when it came time to get scented. But Tommy could tell his family was getting a little concerned when it came to him. How he’s been acting differently. The once bubbly child who would yell and scream was now quiet and still. Doing things when asked without question. Well sometimes he would yell about helping with chores but it was definitely less now. Anyways, his family started to keep an eye on him even more as of late. 

“Tommy, are you tired?” Phil spoke up. Not looking away from his puzzle.

“Mhm?” Tommy hummed as he looked up to watch as his father worked.

Phil kept placing puzzle pieces down like he’s memorized the thing. “You’ve been quiet over there.” He noted as he looked up and made eye contact with him.

Tommy shrugged as he looked towards the off fireplace “Bored.”

Phil motioned to his puzzle. “Why not help me with this.” He said with a small smile. The puzzle was already half way done. No pint in jumping in now, not when Phil seemed to be so good at it.

Tommy just shook his head and sat up in the armchair. “Puzzles are stupid.” He turned his head back at his father. Hoping what he was going to say wasn’t going to get him in trouble. “I wanna go out.”

Phil put in another piece in his puzzle before turning to look up at him. “Out where? The backyard?”

Tommy shifted in his spot. He can do this, all he needed to do was ask. “To the woods. To play.” He watched as Phil instantly went into parent mode.

His sweet tea scent went into a more flowery one. “You haven’t wanted to go to the woods since you fell out of that tree.” Phil started slowly. “I don’t want you climbing any more trees and you gotta take Wilbur or Techno with you. Also whoever goes with you is in charge. Stick close to them, and only then you can go.” He warned sternly.

Tommy just smiled and jumped out of the armchair. “Yes! Thank you, you are the biggest man alive you know that dad! The biggest! I’m going to climb so many trees!” Tommy joked as he ran to the back. Only faintly hearing Phil laugh and yell back that he better not. Tommy opened the back door and quickly found the two he was looking for. Looking out into the backyard he could see Wilbur under Techno as the piglin hybrid pinned him down. He guessed they gave up on using swords.

“One of you has to come with me!” He shouted at the two of them. Already making his way towards the trees that lined their property.

Techno saw where he was going and quietly got to his feet. “What are you doing?” Tommy turned around with a big smile.

He gestured towards the trees with one hand. “Going on an adventure!” Techno didn’t seem to like the idea of Tommy going out and turned to look at Wilbur. Only to find he was already at the door.

“Have fun you too!”. He yelled as he shut the door behind himself. Leaving Techno to watch over Tommy. Tommy didn’t waste any more time as he walked towards the trees. Techno silently follows him but quickens his pace to catch up. They make their way to a path before leaving that behind as well.

He was looking for something specific. He looked around the area slowly as they walked. This was where he spent a lot of time when he was little. But it was always with someone else. Never alone. “Where are you going?” Techno questioned as they were now off the path Ohil made a while ago.

“Don’t know.” He said simply as he hops over a large tree root.

“You don’t know. Well that’s fantastic.” His older brother says sarcastically. Clearly not really wanting to be out here. They walked for a bit longer. Soon enough Tommy found a clearing and sat down. He looked around it. Tommy wanted to make a Fort. When he was thirteen he made a treehouse but then it broke because, well a thirteen year old made it. So a Fort would be easier and since he was technically sixteen mentally he could build one. Maybe? “Hey Tommy.”

He looked over at Techno. Freezing right as they made eye contact. Techno had that look. The one he got when the voices were screaming in his head. It never ended well when the voices became too much. It leads to blood. It always led to blood. “Did something happen?”

Tommy blinked in surprise. What the hell? “What do you mean?” He asked, confused. Because you don’t just ask someone if something magically happened to them. Not out of no we’re at least.

Techno shifted from foot to foot in his spot. Still staring daggers into him. “You’ve changed.” Oh shit. “I thought it was because you hurt your arm. But after it healed you still stayed so quiet.” Tommy was stupid. How could he think that Techno wouldn’t notice? The whining, flinching, following what he was told. That wasn’t ten years old Tommy. That was broken sixteen year old Tommy.

He bit his lip as he tried to think of what to say. What was he supposed to say to that? Tommy looked away from his brother. How Techno looked at him reminded him of so much pain. Blood and fireworks. Being alone, being without a pack. That’s how Techno looked before, when he looked at enemies on a battlefield. Like he was studying there every move before striking them down.

‘If you want to be a hero Tommy! Then die like one!” His wolf side whimpered at the thoughts. Sending tears down his cheeks. He was safe now. But that didn’t mean the memories were gone. That didn’t mean he didn’t throw himself fall off into lava trying to get away from Dream.

The smell of burnt wood turned into a soft charcoal smell as arms wrapped around him. He was pulled into Techno’s lap. “Tommy I-I’m sorry. Don’t cry. Uh, you don’t have to answer. I was just worried! So don’t-don’t cry. Okay?” Techno tried to sooth him with words that were stuttered and filled with worry. 

Tommy didn’t want to listen to his wolf side. He wanted to scream and run away as far as his small legs could carry him. To get away from the Blood God. Because that was what he was supposed to do. But he gave into his instincts and gripped Techno’s shirt. Trying to get closer to him. “I-I don’t want to be hurt anymore.” Tommy whispered.

Techno however heard him and let out an aggressive growl. It wasn’t aimed at him though. The growl actually calmed Tommy down further. For some reason instead of making his instincts act up it calmed them. “No ones going to hurt you.” Techno said stern and so sure of himself. Not aware that he was the one who was the one to hurt him to begin with. At least in the future Tommy came from.

Tommy wiped at his eyes and nose. Not wanting to let go anytime soon. The rumbling of the growl died down. Tommy’s wolf side wanted to be near his pack. Even though he wanted to be left alone at the same time. He wanted to go back, because out here he was valuable. “Can we go home?” He looked up at the other.

Techno’s bright red eyes, shoulder length pink hair and tucks stuck out to him. This was Techno, before he got the title Blood God. His skin not having one scar on it from battle. “Of course.” He looked so soft now. Techno stood up as Tommy wrapped his arms around his neck. Keeping himself steady. Maybe Tommy could help Techno somehow. When did it start? The blood shed, when did it start?

It started when Techno started to go to tournaments, right? That’s where he got his title. That’s when he drifted away from being his brother. Tommy leaned his head close to Techno’s neck and sniffed. Smelling the campfire that is his brother. “Please don’t leave me too...”

Techno just squeezed him closer. “I’m not going anywhere Tommy. Plus someone needs to look after you.” Techno jokes. Tommy laughed as he pushed himself closer to his brother's neck. Tommy wasn’t going to have anymore bloodshed happen to his family. He’s going to somehow stop Techno from going to the tournaments and save him from so much pain. He was selfish, he knew that. But he didn’t fucking care anymore. He stopped caring the moment that lava touched his back.

Tommy laid in his bed. The smell of sweat tea danced in the air while soft snores rang out behind him. He sat up slowly and looked over at his father. Would he wake up if he left? To be honest Tommy had never tested it. To afraid of if his father were to wake up. He pushed the covers off on him and crawled over to the edge of his bed. It wasn’t like he was going to do anything bad.

But for some reason his pup instincts yelled at him to stay in bed. Not to leave the room. He closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. He wasn’t used to fighting with himself like this. But he tried to do it anyway. After you present that part of yourself fucks off. Well some of it. Phil was an adult and still had his alpha instincts yelling at him to keep eyes on Tommy and his brothers. To protect the household.

Tommy swung a leg off the bed. Followed by the other. He shifted forward until his feet touched the floor. He gently put all his weight on his legs and stood up swiftly. Phil kept on sleeping. Tommy smiled and looked towards the door. He has a chance. He really had a chance at sneaking out! With one step, two step, three step, many more steps Tommy was at the door.

Turning one last time to make sure his father was sleeping. Once he saw that he was he put his hand on the door knob. He turned it and opened the door. Tommy quickly walked out into the hall and closed the door behind him with a click. Tommy’s heart was pounding in his chest. Once the door was closed his instincts quieted down somewhat. He got further and further from the door. Making his way out into the back. 

‘Weak little beta. No pack, no home.’ Tommy reached for the knob of the door. He opened it and was met with a gust of cool air. It made him shiver. Tommy stepped out onto the porch anyway. ‘Put the armor in the hole Tommy.’ Tommy shook his head at the memory. He closed the door behind him. He wasn’t going to be weak anymore. 

Tommy looked at the moon from his spot on the porch. It was a beautiful crescent. Tommy marched right to the shed with determination. Wiping it open he was met with wooden practice swords. He wasn’t going to be weak. He grabbed it. It was heavy in his weak and untrained arms. He held it with both hands. He wasn’t going to be weak. He walked to the centre of the backyard. He raised the sword up and got into a battle stance. He moved it around slowly. He wasn’t going to be weak anymore!

Vwoop

Tommy stopped dead in his tracks. He turned slowly to the forest lining their house. His hands clenched around the wooden sword. Knuckles quickly turning white like paper. In the bushes he could see a familiar tail poking out from behind a tree. A black and white tail to be exact. Tommy fully turned towards the forest. Keeping his eyes on the tree. Soon enough a small head peaked around it. They were shaking. Tommy and the enderman hybrid made eye contact.

It was unlikely that Tommy would ever see him again. At least not right now. But it wasn’t out of the question. In the past Tommy knew he slept through this night, all those years ago. He didn’t sneak out to try and train. So if this enderman was here, he would have just passed by not ever knowing. Once connecting eyes the other flinched and hid back behind the tree. Their eyes, their red and green eyes…

“Ranboo?” After hearing his name the very small boy stepped back. Surprised that Tommy knew their name. “W-wait!” Tommy dropped the wooden sword.

Ranboo took off into the trees. Tommy’s heart pounds in his head. His wolf self screams at him to stay near the house. But he didn’t listen. Not this time. Not as he ran past the trees chasing after the small and young enderman hybrid. The small and clearly terrified enderman hybrid. “⟟’⋔ ⌇⍜⍀⍀⊬!”. Ranboo shouted. “⌿⌰⟒⏃⌇⟒ ⌇⏁⍜⌿ ☊⊑⏃⌇⟟⋏☌ ⋔⟒!”.

“I don’t understand!” Tommy was huffing and puffing as he continued to run after the boy. “J-just slow down a bit will you! You're not in trouble!” While running neither one of the boys saw the large tree root sticking out of the ground. Or the hill on the other side of that root. Ranboo tripped over it, making Tommy slam right into his back. They both fell to the ground. Tumbling down the hill that was there. They hit the ground hard. Tommy was dizzy for a bit. Feeling the world move around him. A chest went up and down underneath him. He looked up. Meeting red and green eyes.

Both boys were breathing heavily. Ranboo’s ears flattened against his head as tears rolled down his face. The smell of caramel that surrounded them turned salty. The older boy whimpered uncontrollably. Tommy took a second to just look at him. They were much smaller than the last time Tommy saw him. Much skinnier too. “You okay?” Tommy blurted as he sat up off of him. Ranboo scrambled back away from him but didn’t get up. He looked a bit beat up as he was the one to take the brunt of the fall.

“⍙⊑⏃⏁?” Okay now that sounded like a question.

Tommy didn’t know Ender at all. “I’m sorry I don’t speak Ender.”nTommy made sure to keep his voice calm. He had no scent to show he wasn’t a danger. No he just kept his movements to a low. “Uh, I speak Common. You okay?” Please understand, went unsaid.

Ranboo stared at him for a bit. Tears still falling down his face. Their whole body shook too. “C-com-one”

Tommy smiled and nodded his head. “Do you understand? I’m not going to hurt you.”

Ranboo stiffened at the word ‘hurt’. “H-hurt!?” He said frightened. Putting their hand to their chest to protect where their pearl laid.

Tommy shook his head rapidly. He put his hands up defensively. “No, I'm not going to hurt you! You're safe with me.” Ranboo seemed to calm down a bit at that. He however kept their hand on their chest. “S-af. Safe.”

Tommy nodded with a smile. “Yes you're safe.” The salty caramel scent turned into a more sugary caramel.

“So-we.” Tommy tilted his head. Thinking of a reason the other should be. But none came to mind.

“Why?” He tried to keep his sentences short. As the other clearly wasn’t skilled in Common yet.

“Looking. Looked warm.” Tommy hummed in understanding. Ranboo was looking for a place to hide out the cold night wasn’t he. If he thought about it, when he was ten he remembered his father talking about how some wild animal got into their shed. 

“Oh…” That makes sense. If all those years ago that ‘wild animal’ was just Ranboo then it would make sense that Tommy caught him this night. “It’s okay! No need to worry.” He sent the other a big smile. Ranboo wiped away his tears and sat up fully. His ears flicked up again. Tommy let out a yawn. He should probably head back. His eyes met Ranboo’s for the second time. “I have to go.”

Ranboo again took some time to think about what he said. After understanding he frowned slightly but nodded. Tommy stood up. He didn’t bother to help Ranboo up as he knew the other was still a little scared of him. “How about I come look for you tomorrow night?”

Ranboo perked up at that. “You come back?”

Tommy smiled and nodded. “Ya! Oh uh, the name is Tommy by the way.”

Ranboo’s tail wagged happily behind him. “Nam Ranboo!”

“Okay Ranboo! See you tomorrow night.” Tommy looked around. “Same spot. Okay?” Ranboo nodded. Tommy turned around and walked away. Leaving Ranboo there for the night. He only hoped that Ranboo’s horrible memory could remember this chat. He knew Phil, Techno and Wilbur would not trust Ranboo if he brought him home. Plus the whole thing of sneaking out to begin with was definitely not going to get them in his good graces.

Tommy sniffed at his clothes. Thanking whatever god there was that Ranboo’s scent didn’t get on them. He will definitely come back tomorrow. With food, maybe some bandages and a promise. A promise that he’ll help his friend. “I’m going to save you too, Ranboo.” He said to himself.

—+—

They watched as Tommy walked back up the hill. Leaving the small hybrid gamma in the small clearing they fell down in. He wondered how long it would take for things to turn south. Because his little Phoenix didn’t get the nickname Phoenix for nothing. They reached down under their cloak and grabbed a golden object. Lifting it up they could see it was time to head back. With one last glance towards Tommy they walked off.

Chapter Text

Ranboo stared as the blond human walked off into the night. His tail wagged happily behind him. He wasn’t in trouble. He was safe, at least for now. Ranboo looked around the small clearing. No mobs seemed to be around the area. He shifted in his spot and tried to get up. His legs ached as he slowly stood. He could feel the dirt plastered onto his pants from the fall. He didn’t care much. It wasn’t like it was common for him to be actually clean. 

Ranboo frowned at the thought. He didn’t like to be dirty. It’s just he never had time to clean himself. In between surviving as a double mob hybrid and having a terrible memory he had no time to take care of himself. That in itself showed on his body. How he probably smelled and his ribs were seen through his skin. Maybe that part was because of his enderman genes. He wasn’t really sure on that part. Ranboo looked around and walked off towards some bushes. He went into them and laid down against the forest floor. Sleep feels nice around now. So he closed his eyes.

.

Ranboo curled in on himself as the village kids threw rocks at him. He whimpered as his scent turned salty. He only understood some of what the kids were saying. As he was born knowing Ender and not Common. “Nasty…gamma…eww…don’t get close...he stinks!” Ranboo continued to whimper as he moved to cover his head more. At that the kids closest to him moved back. They moved back….

Ranboo quickly stood up. He had a few inches on the kids. “ Leave me alone !” He yelled in Ender. Some of the kids backed away but others continued to throw small rocks. People didn’t like gammas. Said they were unnatural, disgusting things that didn’t deserve a role in the dynamics.

He walked forward. The kids stepped back. No one wanted to smell disgusting. He launched at the kids and tackled one. He pressed his chin on the boy's neck. The kid yelled and pushed. “He’s scenting me!” Ranboo understood that clear as day. He got off the kid after a bit. The boy now smelled like salted caramel.

He looked like he was going to throw up as he ran away with his friends. Ranboo chuckled. Like his scent was going to do anything to him. Then the pain in his head hit him like a truck. Oh ya, they were throwing rocks at him. Ranboo growled as he stood up off the alley floor. “ Stupid humans ”

.

Ranboo’s eyes opened and he looked around. Where was he? He sat up and instantly regretted it as pain shot through his back. He must have slept wrong, or something like that. Can you even sleep on your back wrong? Maybe he just landed on it too harshly when he fell yesterday. Right down a hill because he was scared of something. What was he scared of? Ranboo looked around.

Oh ya the blond boy! What was his name? Timmy? Ya that sounded about right. Okay so he was running away from the blond boy named Timmy. Then the boy caught him and said he would come back. Ranboo smiled. They remember now. Ranboo stood up on shaky legs and looked around. He was in a small clearing, it’s an oak wood forest. So no sweet berries. He doesn’t need to eat right now anyways...

The sun wasn't that far up the sky and all the animals around were making noise. Ranboo walked to the middle of the clearing. He always liked mornings. They were nice. Much better than the cold nights filled with mobs. Well except for last night, for some reason there were no mobs. He sat down in the clearing as he thought of ways to entertain himself. He could go and collect flowers. But then he might forget where he went. He needs to be here tonight to see that strange boy again. 

Ranboo lays down on his stomach and thinks. Everything he comes up with either he can’t do because he would have to leave or because he doesn’t have the materials. Which just leads him to needing to leave to go get said materials and he can’t do that. He groans as he rests his head in one hand. He’ll just have to wait here then. At least until the boy comes back.

Ranboo watches as Timmy stumbles down the hill with a huge bag on his back. He wouldn’t be surprised if he tripped and fell on his face because of it. Once on leveled ground Timmy started to look around. Ranboo ducked back behind a tree. He wasn’t stupid. He had no clue who this kid was. So it was only smart to be cautious. 

“Ranboo your tail is sticking out from behind the tree.” The boy deadpans with a snort. At the mention of his name Ranboo peeks out from the tree. Then the words sink in. His face heats up and his cheeks turn a light purple. Why must his tail betray him? Timmy sits down on the forest floor and takes off his bag. Ranboo eyes it warily. Timmy slowly takes out some food and medical supplies. Why? Ranboo had no clue. “You can come out, you know.” Timmy says from his spot in the clearing.

Ranboo tiptoes out of his amazing hiding spot and slowly approaches the other kid. He sits down a bit away and watches. If Timmy makes one bad move he’s bolting. “Are you hungry?” Ranboo looks up from his hands. Not making eye contact. He hates looking into people's eyes. It makes him uncomfortable. So he looked at the kid's cheek instead. That’s close enough right?

“H-hunger. Food?” He asks through broken Common.

He looked at the stuff laid out on the ground. “Ya. I couldn’t get any meat as Phil would definitely notice but I got potatoes and some carrots.” Ranboo’s tail started to waggle at the mention of food. His stomach agreed with the body part as it grumbled loudly. Timmy chuckled and slowly undid some cloth revealing the two items. “See. You can have all of it. I already ate dinner.” Ranboo nodded. Caution thrown out the window. If he was going to die of food poisoning he was fine with that.

He grabbed at the food and unhinged his jaw. He put two small potatoes in his mouth before clicking his jaw back into place. He was so busy with the food that he didn’t notice how Timmy was shifting closer. Yes the food was bland but at least he couldn’t taste poison. Maybe this Timmy kid was different from the old village kids. Ranboo stopped eating the moment he felt hands on his hip. He froze in place at the soft touch. Ranboo could feel the hands slowly move his shirt up. He turned and looked down.

Timmy was-what was he doing? Timmy didn’t look like he liked what he was seeing as a finger pressed against a bruise. Ranboo flinched and shoved the boy away. He said he wouldn’t hurt him! Then why- “sorry! I was just checking to see if you had any injuries. Sorry.” Timmy put up his hands and backed up.

Ranboo curled in on himself as he stared the other down. “D-don’t. All fine.” He mumbled as he shoved another potato in his mouth.

“Okay, okay I won’t touch. But I can tell you’re injured. Plus that fall yesterday was pretty bad.” Timmy said as he pointed off to a potion bottle. The pink liquid fizzed and swirled in the glass container. “You're injured.” Timmy repeated again. “Can you drink that? It’ll help I promise. It will taste like fucking garbage but I promise you’ll feel better.” Ranboo looked at the potion bottle then back to Timmy.

He slowly crawled over to it and once in reach snatched it in his hands. He quickly backed away and popped the cork off it. Ranboo looked at Timmy one last time before drinking the liquid. He almost spit it out the moment it touched his tongue. He looked over to the boy. He looked hopeful. Something about him felt safe. So Ranboo swallowed what he had in his mouth and chugged the rest. He really shouldn’t be this trusting of a random person he met.

But it’s not like he could get any worse. Okay that was a lie, Timmy could have easily poisoned him and he would die but hey! At Least he has a full stomach now. After chugging the drink Ranboo covered his mouth with his hand. He felt like he was going to throw up. It was nasty, really really nasty. After a minute his hand dropped and his eyes widened. His back and legs weren’t as sore as before. He could only guess that the bruises that littered his body were fading quickly now. “Better?” Timmy questioned. His voice mirrored his facial expressions. He was hopeful.

“Yes.” Ranboo said plainly. “Thank you, Timmy.” Timmy looked up at him quickly. He looked confused for a second then burst out laughing. Ranboo flinched back at the volume. “What?” He had to ask. What was funny?

“Y-you called me Timmy! Fuck, Ranboo my name's Tommy!” Tommy wheezed out as he started to roll on the ground. Ranboo couldn’t help but laugh with him at his own mistake. Leave it to Ranboo to mess someone’s name up. After a bit they both calmed down. Tommy looked behind him then at his bag. “I kinda need to go now.” Ranboo’s good mood deflated at the words the younger boy spoke. He seemed to realize this as he continued. “I’ll be back tomorrow! Don’t worry. I just can't stay out here long.”

Ranboo nodded at the words. Tommy got up and shoved the empty glass potion bottle back into his bag along with the cloth that covered the food. With everything packed back up Tommy put it on his back and turned to walk off. Without facing Ranboo he spoke up quickly. “See you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow.” Ranboo agreed as he watched his friend climb back up the hill. He smiled as Tommy left out of view. When had the gamma ever have a friend? Ranboo didn’t know. But he liked the sound of it. Tommy was his friend. And he was his.

Ranboo stared up at the sky. He spent a lot of days doing that. He couldn’t really go anywhere. For the past two weeks he’s been lazing around the area. Not much to do when you couldn’t trust yourself not to forget how to get back. Tommy was honestly the only reason he had decided to stay. He was going to go off south. To the Hypixel village. But here it was nicer. He had thought about it many times. No rude kids and snobby adults. A noise off in the distance caught his attention.

He looked over and saw a rabbit. He waved at the animal. Of course it ran off once he did that. Animals were more scared then he was. He frowned at the thought. He was alone. Of course Tommy was good company. He also taught Ranboo some swears in Common! But in the morning he was alone and at night Tommy never stayed for over two hours at a time. That left a lot of time to think. Ranboo sat up and looked off towards the hill.

When Tommy comes back tonight Ranboo would surprise him. The gamma giggled at the thought of his plan. He just giggled more when he thought of the first night the two of them met. How Tommy tackled him to the ground. In the words that Tommy would definitely use, paybacks a bitch.

Chapter Text

Tommy waited for his fathers breaths to become even and his snores to be heard. A few minutes after making sure he was asleep Tommy sprung out of bed. A smile playing across his face. After finding Ranboo they’ve been getting bigger in the weight department. He was less skinny and from what Tommy could see all his injuries were healed. Tommy krept closer to the door and opened it slowly. He made his way out and towards the kitchen. Once there he reached a hand under the fridge and took out his bag.

He looked around the kitchen thinking. He’s only ever gave Ranboo potatoes and carrots. His eyes scanned the counter stopping at a plate of cookies. He and Phil had backed them today and saved the rest in a container. He smiled as he walked over and took it. He put it in his bag. He would definitely be blamed for stealing them. But he’s sure Ranboo has never had cookies before. So getting in trouble was worth it. After filling his bag with other foods he was all set to go. He turned around and froze.

“Tommy?” Wilbur’s sleepy and raspy voice sounded from the doorway. He rubbed at his eyes as he looked him over. His eyes then landed on the small bag he had in his hands. “What are you doing?” The sleep in his voice seemed to give out as he straightened up.

Tommy looked at his bag then at his older brother. “Oh well you know, revenging the kitchen.” He tried to put on a confident face. But seeing the other's face made his head turn down to the ground. 

“Uh-huh. That’s why you have a to go bag and are doing this when everyone was asleep.” Wilbur took a step forward. His soft sage scent turned into a sharp one. Striking and in your face. The beta did not look happy. “Now I’m going to ask again and if I think you're lying I’m going right to Phil.”

“I am telling the truth-“

“Tommy.” Wilbur said sternly. Staring down at him. Tommy let out a little whine. He bit his lip as he thought over his opinions. Outsiders are not welcomed in a territory with pups. They don’t use the word for his older brothers much but they still count as pups too. Just older ones. So in a territory with three pups and only one adult Ranboo would not be welcomed in the slightest. But what could he say? What would explain this?

Tommy took a breath in as he calmed himself. Out of his whole family Wilbur was actually the best one to find him like this. “I have been sneaking out to the forest.” He said quietly and in one breath. There it was out in the open now.

A harsh gasp was heard from his brother. “Tommy! What the hell!?”

“Shhh!” He tried to hush his brother. “I have a good reason. Just be quiet.” Wilbur stared daggers into him. His scent slowly softened as he sighed.

“And what might that be?” He whispered.

“Don’t be mad.” Tommy warned right after.

“I’m already mad.”

“Alao don’t interrupt me, bitch.” Wilbur crossed his hands. He looked ready to tell on him any second. “Okay so like two weeks ago I snuck out to go train with a sword because dad wouldn’t let me with you guys. But while I was out there I met this kid around my age. He looked messed up. So I kinda befriended him and have been sneaking out around this time to bring him food and shit.” Wilbur said nothing as he just stared at him.

Tommy fiddled with the bag straps as Wilbur processed this information. “You have to be fucking joking.” He just shook his head no. Wilbur put two fingers to his temple trying to think. “You're telling me you’re harboring another child on our territory. For the last two weeks and you thought that was a good idea?” He just nodded again.

“Wilbur you should’ve seen him…”

“Don’t talk right now.” He snapped as he walked over to the table and sat down. Tommy bit his lip harder. Wilbur looked conflicted. “You say he’s around your age?”

“Yes. Maybe a year older?” Back in the present Ranboo always kept his age a secret. So Tommy could only guess.

“Take me to him.” Wilbur stood up from his seat. Tommy looked at him surprised. Wilbur pointed to the door. “Well come on. We don’t have all night.” Tommy stopped biting his lip and silently walked towards the front door. Oh god, what was Wilbur thinking?

—+—

Tubbo pulled the covers up as he stared up at the ceiling. Memories played in his mind over and over again. He sighed as he turned and took at the wall. The darkness of his room seemed to get even darker. And yet his eyes never closed. His vision turned black then snapped into focus. He jolted up out of bed. “What the fuck?” He whispered to himself as he looked around. What was that?

Tubbo got up out of bed. Okay now that was some weird shit. A creak from outside his room made his head snap to his door. The lights that were supposed to be out there from his lanterns were gone. Not visible from under his door. His door handle slowly twisted making a crunching sound. A shiver went down his spine as he backed up. He turned to the window but paused. There were no windows…

The door slammed open. Tubbo whipped his head towards it. But there was only pitch black on the other side. It wasn’t like he couldn’t see it. There was something there. The darkness outside his door moved. He backed up against his wall and turned to his desk. Tubbo’s sword sat on it newly sharpened. “Hello.” A demonic sounding voice spoke from the darkness. The voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Tubbo clapped his hands over his ears. He ran over to his desk and got his sword.

Now holding a weapon he turned around to his door. “Show yourself!” He yelled. A chuckle filled the room. Somehow multiple voices seemed to overlap each other as it spoke. It made Tubbo feel sick.

“No I don’t think I will.” It chuckled out.

“Why not!”

“Because I don’t want to. Simple.” Tubbo grit his teeth. Who was there? He didn’t recognize the voice as anyone from the smp. “You remind me of someone. Someone who does not remember me. But I guess that’s for the better. Do you wanna hear an interesting fact?”

Tubbo watched as the darkness seemed to crawl around his door frame. It was like sludge, or goo. “...sure.” The longer he talks the more information Tubbo gets. Like how the person didn’t seem to have a weapon. That was good.

“When life gives up on itself it is dead. When life gives up but gets reborn it remembers the flames that burned it down and becomes fireproof. You kids of this world are like life itself. Life before death. Before fire. You are not reborn and yet you are fireproof. Tommy on the other hand seemed to be flammable.” Tubbo’s eyes widened at the name of his friend.

He gripped his sword tighter in his hands. “What is that supposed to mean!? Why bring up his name!” He yelled lifting his sword up.

“How about you find out for yourself.” The black goo started to retreat as whispers surrounded him. “Say hi for me. I’d love to chat with him again.”

Tubbo rushed forward ready to swing his sword. His vision snapped to black as he felt himself grow weak. Within a few seconds he shot up out of his bed breathing heavily. His hair stuck to his face and his shirt was soaked with sweat. He looked around the room seeing his sword untouched on his desk. The windows were in place and light shined from underneath his door. He clutched the blankets as he breathed in and out heavily.

“It was a dream…” he whispered, his voice raspy and hoarse. “Only a dream.”

Chapter Text

Tommy walked through the forest behind his house. He couldn’t help but be slow in his steps. He snuck glances up at his brother from time to time. The sage scent wasn’t strong like how Phil's and Techno’s scent would be if angry. But that didn’t mean Wilbur wasn’t furryous. The stone cold gaze was definitely hinting off to him being ticked off.

If Alphas were a blazing fire when angry then betas were the center of a storm. Step one inch outside and you’d be dead within seconds. You can see when you're in a fire, you can’t see the storm when you're in the center of it. So Tommy faced forward and kept on walking. He knew better than to focus on people’s gender dynamics. As no one fit into the molds of what they were born with perfectly, but right now he couldn’t help but feel like Wilbur was fitting in his. Not when Wilbur looked so much like a beta.

Many believed alphas were dominant over all the gender dynamics. But when put up against betas, alphas have a run for their money. In Tommy’s opinion all the dynamics should share the same rank. Each dominates in their own way. But the world was never equal. So the dynamics fell into ranks. Sigma, alpha, beta, omega, delta and then gamma. He had no idea why, as Wilbur himself went up against their brother a lot of times before.

But maybe that’s just because Phil taught him to think like that. Tommy remembers that one time Phil actually talked about the war he was in. Back when he wasn’t known as the Angel Of Death but as Philza, a soldier. Phil would always say betas were more helpful in the wars then alphas were. That no matter your dynamic you were useful.

Now as Tommy looked from time to time at his brother he understood what he meant. Wilbur looked calm and collected. Like he didn’t have a care in the world. But once you looked at his eyes you could see the danger. Tommy was manly enough to say he was fucking tariffed. It didn’t help that he had no clue what Wilbur thought of Ranboo. Even in the future they’ve never met before. Wilbur, passing before Ranboo came to the Dream SMP.

“Your whimpering.” Wilbur’s voice cut into his thoughts. Tommy looks up to see Wilbur staring at him.

He shudders and looks away. “No I'm not!” He yells, now a good distance from the house. “You must be seeing things.” Wilbur scoffs and turns back to face the trees.

“Ya, I’m seeing a gremlin that’s walking too slow like I don’t see what they're doing.” Tommy crosses his arms and speeds up his pace

“I don’t know what you're talking about.” Wilbur rolls his eyes playfully as he carries on. Tommy starts to recognize the area more and frowns. They were almost to the small clearing where Ranboo was. His heart sped up and he picked at his fingernails. He could only hope that Wilbur won’t rip Ranboo to shreds the first opportunity he gets.

Tommy walked down the small incline that was there and looked around. Hoping that Ranboo was hidden in a bush or something. So he could just say he must have left and lead his brother back towards the house. Lady Luck seemed to be shitting out bad luck as he’s suddenly tackled to the ground. He hits the ground and looks up into green and red eyes. “Boo!” Ranboo yells smiling.

For a second everything was like it was before. Saying hi to Ranboo and giving him the day's food. All for Ranboo to unhinge his gaw and start to eat. Then after they’ll talk and talk until it was time to go. Or Tommy would even help Ranboo go flower picking a bit away from the clearing before helping him back so he wouldn’t get lost. For a split and amazing second, everything was okay.

Then he heard a loud and aggressive growl from in front of him. And the illusion broke. Once again Tommy was only a kid man with conflict all around him. With shouts and arguments. Growls and snarls of aggression. Being forced to choose sides, no matter how bad they were. Because blood would always be shed on both sides.

Ranboo’s ears flattened against his head as he stared wide eyed at him. Tommy pushes himself into a sitting position as he watches Wilbur stalk over to them. Ranboo turns and freezes. “Ranboo don’t move.” He whispers as Wilbur stops a couple feet away from them. Frown plastered on his face.

Ranboo stays stiff as a board as Wilbur looks him over. His stance doesn’t change but he stops growling. Seeming to calm down from the shock of Tommy getting tackled. Wilbur sniffs the salty caramel air and frowns. “A gamma.” He notes to himself. Ranboo ducks his head down at that.

Tommy frowns as he sits up more. Holding Ranboo close by his waist. Gamma’s weren’t seen as equals to some of the other dynamics. Which to Tommy was fucking stupid. Along with delta’s they were under omegas in the ranks. Again, was fucking stupid. “You have a problem with that?” He spits out aggressively at his brother. Who before he was terrified of, now he was just pissed. What did ‘A gamma’ have to do with anything?

Wilbur looks over at him and puts his hands up in defence. “Nothings wrong with that!” He says, his audited changing just like Tommy’s did. At those words Ranboo deflates and rests against him. He could feel the tension leave the other's body as Wilbur took a step back. Tommy watches as Wilbur takes a breath in and calms himself. “So their the one you’ve been coming out here to see?” He says looking him over.

Eyeing him down like he was a weapon ready to attack. “Yes.” Tommy says as Ranboo turns to look up at his brother. His ears tilted down words as he’s at the mercy of one of Tommy’s packmates. A man he’s witnessed gone crazy over the course of months. A man who blew up a whole country and in his grief had his own father strike him down dead.

Wilbur sighs as he sits down on a tree root. Looking over the two in thought. “Dad won’t like this.”

“Dad won’t find out.” Tommy snaps. Sounding like he would in the future, or past, either way it worked now. Wilbur and his eyes locked together as a low growl came from his chest.

“What’s your name?” Wilbur prompted as he looked away and around the clearing. The tension in the air left with his gaze.

Ranboo looked at him and he nodded. Letting go of the other. “Nam Ranboo.” He says softly.

Wilbur hums and nods. “I take it you’re on your own then. No family?” Ranboo just shakes his head slowly. Sniffing the air to smell Wilbur’s own sage scent. “You can’t just be out here.” He says standing. Tommy glares at him but Wilbur just glares back. Shutting him down. “Let me rephrase that, Ranboo can’t live out in the forest forever. I know we don’t get snow here just it gets fucking cold.”

Tommy’s eyes grow wide as he stares at his brother. Was he letting Ranboo stay? He gets to his feet smiling. “So you're not going to tell Techno and dad?” Wilbur shakes his head no.

Tommy couldn’t help but cheer as he looked down at Ranboo. Who’s smiling wide at the thought of staying. The others thin tail whipping back for fourth happily. “But there’s going to be rules.” The older man says, making both of them pause. “You can’t keep sneaking out and Ranboo can’t just live out here.” He says plainly. Tommy turns to his brother waiting for him to continue.

Wilbur stands and gestures to the forest. “It’s a miracle one of you hasn't lost a life to a mob yet. So Tommy, you're not coming out here every night. You’ll be aloud only half of the week. The other part of the week I’ll come out and drop Ranboo off food. If I caught you, Techno is sure to follow. Got it?” Tommy nods mutely.

He doesn’t want to test the other. “Another thing, Ranboo needs a place to stay that’s not in a bush with no walls.”

“How are we supposed to find a place that’s close enough?” Tommy says, looking around. This whole forest and clearing that’s nearby is under the Craft family territory. There’s no villages nearby. Wilbur sighs once more, he’s doing that a lot, and tries to think. Tommy looks down at Ranboo as he stares up.

‘You always have a place in my cabin you know. I could use the company anyways.’ Tommy smiled at the memory that came to mind.

Then a thought came up. He always wanted to build something out here. Like a secret hideout. “What if we build a hideout!” He yells excitedly. “We could tell dad and Techno that it’s just a fun play house out here. And it would be far enough that they wouldn’t walk here by accident!” The look Wilbur gave him was burned into his memory from now on.

The look of pure pride. “That actually sounds like a good idea.” He says.

Ranboo gets to his feet and looks between them. “Hide...out?” Tommy turned and smiled.

“Like a small house for yourself, big man! Out here and away from my pack but close enough that I can still come over.” Ranboo’s confused face brightened and he nodded also.

“I wan-want a hide house!” He raised his hand as his tail whipped back and forth. Wilbur looked at him. And he could swear that Wilbur looked at Ranboo with the same look he gives him when he’s being cute or childish.

“Alright you two calm down. I’ll have to talk with dad about going into a village to get materials. Plus we have to hind mr tall ass here from Techno and dad. And even then this might not happen. So calm down gremlin children.” He says as he walks over. Looking down at them like he’s their babysitter who’s not getting paid enough.

Tommy looks at Ranboo. Seeing his scarless face, small stature and smile. ‘Sometimes I wonder if I’ll forget you guys.’ He had said so many months ago. ‘But then I wake up and realize even if I tried I wouldn’t be able to. You're my family. Hey Tubbo, Tommy don’t laugh at me-‘

Tommy’s going to try. He’s going to fucking try his hardest. Because if he doesn’t keep the memories, the scarring reality of the future he belongs to, then they're all going to fall back into line. Doomed to repeat the bloodshed he stays awake crying over.

He takes Ranboo’s hand and squeezes it. “You're going to have a home here.” He whispers. “I promise.” Wilbur smiles and nods along.

“Didn’t you bring Ranboo food?” Wilbur says, crossing his arms.

Tommy looks up then grips the bag's handle. A bag that was still on his back. “Oh shit I forgot!”

—+—

He watched Phoenix talk with his brother and friend from the shadows of the trees. Think black goo leaking from his body and into the ground. Their small golden watch sits under their cloak. He watched as they smiled, laughed and ate. “Oh little Phoenix...” He said in a voice too distorted for any human or hybrid to hear. He takes a slow breath in as he turns from them. Facing the forest owned by the Craft family.

He takes his watch and points it in front of himself. The black goo around him stings and burns into his flesh. Turning a dark and murky crimson. The goo circles around him and he falls through. It quickly closes above them. The void sings with his return. His blood flowed from burns which healed quickly across their body. “Now, where’s the other one?” They said as they looked at their watch,

Turning the arrow forward the darkness in the void opened up like a window. He walked through it and came out near a forest. Full of snow which was kicked up by a child walking through it. “There you are little Lamb.” He smiled, watching as the teen clenched his sword close to his side. Heading to a portal to meet a boy who had disappeared weeks ago.

To where a mask wearing man tries to cover up months of abuse with a smile. They put their watch back under the cloak as they follow from the shadows. Chains burned his skin around his wrist as he got closer and closer to the masked wearing man with the teen. Enchantments flaring up once they got to the portal. He stopped near the trees and watched as Lamb walked into the portal.

“I hope you keep to your promise my little Phoenix.” He says as blood drips from his burning wrists. “I don’t have much time left.”

Chapter Text

It was the middle of the day. Two days after Wilbur found out about Ranboo and things were going great. But Tommy couldn’t help but feel like he’s forgotten something. He sits in the living room with his knees brought up to his chest. The house smelled empty. Phil was gone, chopping down wood out back. If it weren’t for the fact Ranboo stayed out of view in the mornings he would have been a bit scared.

But he trusted the other to stay hidden. That didn’t help his dilemma in the slightest though. Wilbur couldn’t help, as he was finally aloud after hours of the both of them begging to go to the shops. Leaving him and Techno to chill in the house. But Techno was in his room, with that his scent left too. Tommy could sniff at himself if he really wanted to. Seeing as the three had scented him that morning like always.

“What the fuck am I forgetting?” He whispers to himself. It seemed important, like really fucking important. Was it something to do with Ranboo? Was it something to do with the future? He had no clue. But he tried to remember anyway. He sighed as he rubbed at his temple. Today’s not the day for him is it? Tommy unravels himself and gets off his couch. If he can’t remember then he’s just going to distract himself.

What better way than to annoy his older brother? So with that in mind he walks out of the living room. Going right for the halls. Techno’s room was the furthest. So he made his way over. Once he got to the door he paused in his steps. Turning he saw another door. The fourth room in their house. It was off limits, being Phil’s personal room. Tommy remembers Phil telling him never to go in it. He listened. Because he didn’t want to piss off his father. But now…

He faces the door and reaches out his hand. He knows of Phil’s wrathful and destructive nature. He’s seen the man blow up a whole country and kill his own son. Tommy’s not scared of the man’s consequences. Plus, he really wants to see what’s in the room. His instincts for once don’t fight him. As he’s still in the house and as far as there concerned not doing anything bad. So he grips the handle of the door and opens.

It doesn’t squeak. So he pushes it open and walks inside. “Stairs?” He questions as he looks at the oak wood stairs heading downwards. He didn’t know they had a basement. Tommy holds the railing and makes his way down. The wood of the walls turns to cobblestone the lower he goes. He hopes this isn’t some fucking murder basement or some crap. He soon gets to the last step and looks up.

His eyes widen as he walks into the basement. Or should he call it a man cave? It looks more like a man cave. Tommy shoves his hands in his pockets as he looks around. There’s a desk to one side of the room. Covered in books, quills, inks and papers. A lantern sitting unlit on a hanger right above the workplace.

To the other side of the room sat a fireplace. Probably leading up to the living rooms one. There were bookshelves across the wall closest to the staircase. Filled with books that looked older than his father. A black and yellow carpet laid in the middle of the room. The yellow being designs across the sides of the wool carpet.

But what really caught his eyes were two things. Number one was that a sword hung on the wall next to the fireplace. And the closer he looks the closer he could see the enchantments engraved into the handle. Magic was weaved into the very diamonds used to make this sword.

Which would be fine, he’s held an enchanted sword before. He’s enchanted before. But there was one thing wrong, it glowed black. The old words were hard to read. Ranboo taught him a bit about Ender. The language that could make arrows shoot out flames and armour withstand creepers. But he’s not fluent. Tommy walked over to it. Looking at the symbols that he’s never seen out together for an enchantment.

“Wither…” Tommy reads out. Not knowing the rest of it. He looks across the blade once more. It was wavy and looked extremely heavy. His eyes moved away from the blade, not liking the feeling he got from being near the thing. The second thing he really noticed besides the sword with the weird enchantment was the large picture that sat above the staircase.

He expected it to just be another family photo. Like the one they had in the living room. But this one didn’t have him in it. Or even Techno and Wilbur. Instead it was a picture of Phil, a black haired woman and a pink haired woman. They were all dressed in enchanted armour. Cuts, bruises and bandages were everywhere where the armour wasn’t. Phil looked younger, too young to have had the three of them yet.

Tommy focused on the pink haired lady first. She was the tallest out of all of them. Putting her hands on both his father’s and the other person’s shoulder. Like she was above them yet respected them. Her eyes were a dark red. Tusks large on her pale face. Ears pointed and hair put up into a tight bun. Under her armour she wore a simple black shirt and pants. Gold accents along her outfit. A piglin brute if he had to guess.

She wasn’t thin, built to do heavy damage to whoever she was up against. Bandages wrapped around her hands. A bit of red peaking through the white. Blood, his mind connected. Scars littered her face and wrists. Like she used herself to block other than using a shield. Something rotten about how she looked frightened him. How she didn’t smile, how she looked more pissed off than anything. How she looked strangely like how Techno will when he grows up into his twenties.

Tommy moved onto the other woman. The balck haired one next to the piglin brute. She was the shortest, but not far behind Phil himself. Her eyes are an earthy brown. One hand rested on her hip. A smile across her face. Yet that same smile was covered up by a large scar running from the edge of her nose down to her chin. Cutting her lips in half. She wasn’t as pale as the piglin woman. Or as beefy looking. But you could tell she’s strong in her own right.

Her hair was let down into a simple ponytail. She looked comfortable where she stood. Like she knew everyone there for a long time. Underneath her armour she wore black. But the accents were a bright purple this time. One of her arms, the one not on her hip, was covered in bandages. A lot more blood seeping through it then with the brutes bandages. Tommy looked at the final member of the photo. His father.

Phil looked different here but it was clear it was him. His cheeky smile and bright blue eyes could give it away for miles. His hair was put onto a tight man bun. Out of his face like the other twos were. His arms were crossed over his chest. The same sword on the wall being strapped to his hip. He didn't have many scars on his face or body. Not like he does now. He wore black under his armour too, being accented with white instead of gold or purple.

Tommy took a step back to see all of it in one. This was taken around war times. Behind the three is a camp. Blurry from not being the focus on the photo. He looked at the photo frame. Right on it at the bottom was a steel plank. The names Phil Craft, Bonedagger Danger, Kristin Soot were written down. He took a step back as he looked at the back haired woman once again.

“Kristin Soot…” he said out loud. “Soot…” now that he looked at her a second time he could clearly see Wilbur in her. But this was wrong. Phil said he met Wilbur’s mother after the war. His eyes flick to the other woman. “Danger…” His and Techno’s middle names are Danger. Tommy Danger Craft and Technoblade Danger Craft.

“Tommy.” His fathers voice says dangerously behind him. Tommy whips around to see Phil. Standing at the doorway. He looks pissed. Very fucking pissed. “What are you doing down here?” He has no words, being frozen by the realization that his father lied . Phil had always said that they all had different mothers. But they were all biologically his. Being named after Wilbur’s mother or his own mother. That Phil’s mom’s last name used to be Danger. It why they both had it as a last name.

But with this photo, with these names . Tommy can’t help but ball his hands into fists. “You lied.” He says back. “You fucking lied to us.” Phil looks at him then at the photo hanging above the fireplace.

He frowns as he steps to the side. “Upstairs.” He orders. And his instincts start to get louder once more at the tone.

“Phil-“ he tries to talk. He needed answers. What was this room? Who were those women? Why do Techno, him and Wilbur look so much like them? But he’s stopped when Phil growls. A deep and aggressive growl.

He points towards the staircase. Snarling and sharp teeth showing off. “Upstairs now! Don’t make me ask again young man.” His sweet tea scent turned sour. Tommy wilted under the tone, younger the growl, under the order. Phil looks so much like he did that day. When he spawned withers to kill what was left of a blown up country. Tommy instantly started whining. Head hung low and submissive. Phil didn’t waver.

He walked over to the stairs and started walking up them. Phil follows close behind. They make their way upstairs. With Tommy whining and shaking. Tears threatening to spill. As Phil keeps close. He’s stopped growling but has clearly not calmed down. Once upstairs Phil shuts the door roughly behind them. Tommy turns his head to see Techno looking around the corner from the living room. Ears tilted down and eyes wary.

“Go to the living room.” Phil says as he puts his hand on his back. Tommy flinches from the touch and hurry’s forward. Speed walking past Techno and onto his love seat. Tommy curls into a ball. Rubbing harshly at his eyes. Phil stops at the doorway. Techno looks over at their father. Going to ask what happened when Phil puts up his hand. “Can you...Techno can you go to your room for a bit mate?” Phil says, voice wavy.

Techno looks between the two before nodding. “Okay.” He says as he ducks out of the living room.

Tommy closes his eyes as he continues to whimper. ‘Shut up you fucking brat!’ Dream would yell in the middle of the night. Mobs drawing near from the forest. ‘All you do is complain and complain! I’ve taken care of you since you got kicked out of L’manburg! When your own friend turned his back on you I was here! And all you do is complain!’

Phil was going to hit him. Slice him up and take his now, first life. Tommy wouldn’t be able to save them. He failed. He fucking failed! All because he couldn’t just listen like he was told to. It’s all his fault. So many people are going to die now. Wilbur’s going to die, Techno’s going to shed so much blood and Ranboo and Tubbo. They’ll never meet him, properly meet him. Not just the kid he is now.

“Hey, hey Tommy, breathe for me mate.” Phil’s voice cuts through his water fog. Soft and now calmed. “You're panicking. I need you to breathe.” Tommy shakes his head as he curls in on himself more. Phil’s scent still smells sour. He’s still angry. He’s going to hurt him. “I'm sorry I yelled. But Tommy I need you to try and breathe.”

‘It’s what you deserve Tommy. Not even your own family wants you. So stop the crying and get up. You’ve already got blood on my favourite hoodie.’ Tommy opens his eyes. His vision blurred from the tears now streaming down his face. But he could make out the form of Phil. Who kneels right in front of him. Arms by his sides, ready to catch or to hold Tommy whenever he needs them.

“Can you follow me? In for five, out for six.” Phil says. Showing Tommy how to do something as simple as breathing. He follows anyway. Sucking in large breaths of air. He’s not good right away. Sniffles getting in the way and his breathing still a little too fast. But he calms down enough to wipe his eyes. To face his father without passing out. Tears still stream down his face, his frown still present but he’s breathing.

Phil frowns as he takes a few more breaths of his own. “I’m sorry for yelling. I shouldn’t have done that.” He starts. Looking generally sorry. “Do you want some time for yourself? To calm down fully?” Phil asks. Tommy nods slowly. “Okay, you can go to our room then. I won’t come in unless you're ready.” Tommy nods again as Phil moves to the side. Letting him pass. Tommy shuffles out of the living room. Tears falling down his cheeks. Eyes Puffy and red.

He walks down the hall and to his room. He opens it and pauses. He turns to see Techno peeking out of his room. Eyes trained on him. He mouths a “you okay?” And he nods. Going into the room and closing the door behind himself. Tommy leans against the door and falls to the floor. Curling up into a little ball and trying to remind himself that Dream wasn’t here. That he can’t hurt him, at least not yet.

Chapter Text

Tommy stays crying at the door for a while. He doesn’t know how long exactly, just that by the time he’s out of tears the lights have dimmed in the room. Lanterns needed to be lit before it got too dark. Tommy stayed in a curled up position, hoping that if it came down to it Wilbur would go visit Ranboo tonight and not him. He doesn’t know if he’ll be allowed out.

‘You don’t get to talk back to me Tommy, stupid beta.’ Tommy puts his hands over his ears, trying to silence Dream. He’s not there anymore, he’s home. But is home really any safer? His own thoughts betray him as he sits alone. A knock on the door startled him as he scrambled forward on all fours. “Tommy?” It’s Phil, it’s fucking Phil. Tommy crawls over to the other side of one of their beds and hides.

He knows how pointless it is, but his instincts think it’s better to not be seen right now, so he listens anyway. “Can I come in?” His dad calls, voice much more quieter than it was before.

“No!” He yells back as he peaks over to bed. “Leave me alone!” He’s acting childish, he knows this. But can’t he for at least a couple hours not care about him having to be a teen? It's quiet for a few seconds, no one wants to talk. Then his dad speaks up.

“Dinners ready, do you want Wilbur or Techno to bring it to you?” He asks.

“I’m not hungry!” He yells back, ducking away from the top of the bed. “Just leave already!” Tommy curls up into a little ball. He’s being dramatic, he knows this more than anybody. But he doesn’t want to eat, he’s probably going to throw it all up anyways with how upset he is right now.

It seems like Phil had left as no one talks to him back. Tommy sniffles as he rubs at his nose. How pathetic is this? Being curled up yelling at Phil like he’s a child again. Now that he’s thinking about it, had he ever really cried as a child? Other than scrapes and bruises done by not listening to his father he’s never really cried .

Injuries always out weighed yelling to him, but he guesses from how long he’s been exiled for it somehow switched. The thought has him gripping onto his arms, trying to ground himself. He knows he’s safe. Does he? He knows at least here he’s loved. You sure you aren’t lying to yourself? Dream isn’t here to torture him-

“Tommy?” He stills, hearing the door creek open. He knows the voice well, hearing it everyday for the past weeks he's been here. He keeps quiet though as Techno walks in. He could see the other round the corner of the bed by his shadow, but says nothing to greet him. “…oh.” He says, stopping a bit in front of him.

Tommy must look like a mess right now. With tear tracks down his face and eyes so red you’d think he did so many drugs. “…go away.” He says, facing the wall instead of his brother.

He could hear Techno take a calming breath in as he went to sit behind him. “No, I don’t think I will.” Tommy lets out a low growl at that. “I’m not here to bother you.” He says a moment later.

“You're doing a bad job then.” He replies back. He wonders how Techno would react in the future to this, would he just leave? Go back to whoever he came from and not bother with him? Techno was a caring man, Tommy knew that. But even a caring man can put up with Tommy for so long.

Instead of hearing him leave Tommy feels strong arms wrap around him as he’s moved towards a lap. “Let go, the fuck!?” He screeches as Techno places him in his lap. Arms pressing him gently to his chest.

“Shhhhh.” He shushes him as he rocks back and forth. “You're going to make yourself cry again.” He comments, wiping at his cheek with his thumb. “You're bringing up your pup instincts.” Tommy just growls, trying to push against him.

“Well leave me alone then!” He yells.

“Not going to happen.” Techno says back. Tommy doesn’t remember much of when Techno would do this, cling onto him. Because no matter what he said he did this for himself. Techno was an alpha, an alpha with enemies, at least in a couple more months, and he was deathly afraid of Tommy or Phil or Wilbur going missing. Leaving him. So every time one of them were upset with another member of the household Techno would cling onto who took it the worse.

This time it was him, and he hated it. Not for the fact that Techno clung onto him, trying to sooth him. But for the fact that it worked, it worked and Techno always looked so sad doing it. It started when he was a baby. Phil had said one night he was crying in his crib and came into the room to Techno in the corner holding him. He wouldn’t let Phil near, no matter what he did. At least until Tommy had stopped crying and gone to sleep.

Tommy relaxed after a while, frowning as he pushed his head to his brother's chest. “I hate you.” His muffled voice came.

“Uh-huh.” Techno said, running his hands through his hair. “Course you do.” Tommy closed his eyes, bending down to his embarrassing fate. He takes everything back, he can’t be a kid for one second. Being a kid is shity .

They stayed like that for a few seconds, just listening to each other's breath. It was weird to hear Techno’s soft breaths. Not ruff after a war or voice cracked with yelling. It was…nice. “Techno?” He asks, a sound so small he’s not sure the other heard.

“Yea.” He says back.

“…” he took a second to rearrange his thoughts. He thought back to what he had seen earlier that day, to what the photo ment that hung up on the wall just downstairs. He looks up to see his brother's red eyes, then his gaze turns downwards. To the tusks that line his mouth. “Do some piglin hybrids not grow tusks and pink hair?” He asks.

Tommy never noticed before, never thought to question when he did. But he looked more like Technoblade then he did Wilbur. They had a similar nose, which he wrote off by having the same father. They share the same love of shiny things, which he wrote off of him just liking gold in general. But something that never lined up, that he and his brother both shared was their love to basically party after defeating something.

A piglin trate that no one ever pointed out before. “Sometimes.” Techno says, cutting his thoughts off. “We call them runts. They're weaker but because of it they look more ‘human’ than most.” He says easily.

Tommy ignores the runt part and asks something else. “Can…can piglin instincts not develop?” He says, still looking at the other’s tusks. “Like when you're my age or something.” His age being ten, because that’s how old he is right now. Which he still finds fucking weird by the way.

Techno tilts his head to the side, staring down at him. “Tommy, piglin instincts don’t kick in until you're around seventeen.” He says, eyes narrowing on him. Tommy doesn’t take that in though, instead thinking about what Techno had just said.

Techno doesn’t seem to act differently, he seems perfectly fine. Tommy always thought piglin instincts were dangerous, a big change to the person. “You don’t act differently.” He points out. “And you're eighteen .” He stresses after a second.

Techno’s stares at him for a second. Red blush creeping up to his cheeks and ears so fast Tommy had to do a double take. “We-well I uh, I’m kinda….a late bloomer.” He says as he looks away. “Dad said, uh, that it’s because I’m a hybrid. He said it could hit any time, so uh, yep.” He nods.

“Wait, so you haven’t hit piglin puberty yet-“

“Let’s go get dinner!” Techno says, cutting him off as he effectively picks Tommy up. Tommy grabs around his neck as Techno carries him out.

“No no we’re not done with this!” He laughs as they make their way down the hall. “You're still a child to piglin culture! Techno you're basically like my age to other piglin’s! Tech, Techno how did I not know this!? This is amazing, fucking hilarious if you ask me!” He says loudly as he’s dropped rather ruffly onto a chair.

“Dad!” Techno says, as he takes his seat at the table. “Tell the child to stop picking on me.”

At hearing the word dad, Tommy turns to see Phil. Plate half done with his still fully full. It’s quiet for a second, before Phil puts down his fork. “Tommy stop picking on Techno.” He says lightly. The angry tone he had completely gone.

“Wait, what are we picking on Techno for?” Wilbur asks, as he stares between them.

“Techno hasn’t gone through piglin puberty!” Tommy says, needing to fill the silence. He points at his red faced brother as he tries to hide behind his plate.

“Oh my fucking void.” Wilbur says, voice cheerful as he raises from his seat. “Really!?” Tommy just nods, making the other burst out into laughter. “You're eighteen !”

“That’s what I said!” He says back. The table erupts into laughter and talking as dinner went on. Tommy’s not stupid though, or ignorent like some believe. He sees the smile on Phil’s face, the sorry look in the old man’s eyes. But he doesn’t talk to his dad when he’s brought into the conversation. He’s a liar, and if he wants Tommy to talk to him, he’s going to have to fess the fuck up.

It’s later into the night that Phil decides to talk to him. When everyone has gone to their rooms. Tommy snuck a note to Wilbur earlier in the evening, saying he has to go to Ranboo without him. After reading the note Wilbur just nodded to himself, showing Tommy that he understood. He feels bad for not going to visit Ranboo, but he can’t help it now.

“Tommy.” Phil says from the corner of his bed. Tommy just looks at him from underneath his covers. Phil sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, for yelling at you like that. It wasn’t right-“

“I don’t want an apology.” He says, moving his blankets from on top of him. Phil looks confused, sad, but confused. “I want you to explain who those two women are.” Tommy knows he’s risking shit by doing this. A ten year old is smart but not smart enough to understand what that photo means . He’s being too smart, but he guesses it’s time to start now and not waste this second chance he has making the same mistakes.

Phil seems to understand what he wants and looks away. “You’re to young, it’s not anything to worry about-“

“Isn’t it?” He says, once again cutting off his father. “Because what I understand is that you met two women during the war, banged them, had us three and lied about it. Doesn’t that make you a cheater and a liar, dad?” He spits out with venom. He knew Phil loved three women, at least that’s what he said. He made it a point to day they never overlapped, that he was just very unlucky.

But now that he’s thinking about it, all the signs were there. Both Wilbur and Techno are the same age, from different mothers…

“I would never cheat.” Phil says sternly, looking him in the eyes. Tommy’s taken aback by how emotional Phil looks. He can’t help but shift backwards on the bed. Phil sees this and takes a breath, calming himself. “We loved each other, that’s all you really need to know.” Another calming breath. “I…I’m sorry I lied. I just, I j-just didn’t want to say anything because I’ve pushed that part of my life aside and-“

Tommy’s eyes widen at seeing his dad tear up. He goes to say something but Phil suddenly stands, his back to him. It’s not quiet, sniffles ringing out through their shared room. “Can we talk in the morning?” He asks, like he needs Tommy permission.

“…ya. Ya we can talk in the morning.” Tommy says, watching as Phil walks over to the door and leaves the room. He’s not scared for Wilbur, knowing he hasn’t even left his room yet to see Ranboo. Right now he’s scared for Phil, because this looks more complicated than just ‘cheating and lying about it’. This is emotional, important and he can’t stop feeling like he’s fucked something up.

Phil told them everything, everything except for the war he fought in. Tommy grips the blankets, watching as his dad's shadow leaves the hall. He’s pushing aside everything right now, he thinks he knows what he needs to do to start fixing things. Phil wasn’t a good father in the future, he loved them, but he wasn’t a good father. Too much baggage, too many secrets.

“I’m going to help you.” Tommy promises. “I’m going to start from the root of the problem.” The root of the problem, the big thing to start their descent into bloodshed, being the one and only Philza Craft. “I promise I’m going to fucking help you dad.”

Chapter Text

The morning was thick with tension, and everyone knew it. Tommy sat on the couch, eyeing Phil as he worked on a puzzle. Phil’s hands were clammy, his lips thin and shoulders hunched. Tommy saw it all, and he revelled in it. It meant the older - or was it now younger? - man was thinking, contemplating. He wanted the truth, and it was going to come out today.

The effect of Tommy’s determination and Phil’s anxiousness affected the ‘twins’ heavily. Wilbur kept sending him questioning looks, wondering what had happened yesterday. No one has really filled him in, hell, Techno doesn’t even know what Tommy had found. And he was home all day yesterday!

Speaking of the alpha, he was antsy. Sticking close to the door as he sat on the love seat. Having the head alpha be this out of it is sure to make Techno’s instincts rile up. Do to this during the whole morning and part of the day neither of his older brothers moved from him or Phil’s side. The one time Phil got up to get a glass of water Wilbur had followed him, keeping quiet. It’s the quietest this family has ever been.

Tommy would say he disliked the silence, he usually did. Logstedshire was always silent, except when Ghostbur wandered in. Then it was loud and filled with laughs…or crying. Sometimes both if he was having a rough day. Ghostbur had promised not to tell anyone of his emotional outbursts, but the ghost was always bad at lying, so who knows if he kept that promise.

He glanced over at Wilbur, the memory still clear in his mind. He stared at his brother's hands, at his cheeks, at the colour of his skin and breathed a sigh as no blue caught his attention. His body was clear of the blue ink he’s come to relate with the beta. Even his skin wasn’t as grey and cold anymore, he looked alive, sitting over by their father.

Now that he’s thinking about it, Pogtopia had always been in this stunted quite. Besides the dripping of water and the creak of boards above your head only held together by pure luck there was no sound. Sometimes he heard whispers, like the wind was flowing through the cracks, but Pogtopia had never been very drafty.

If he didn’t know Wilbur was still alive at that time he would have thought it was the man’s ghost. He knows now that Ghostbur was too loud to be the whispers, which somehow makes the memories worse. “Boys.” Phil says, interrupting his train of thought. Tommy instantly stiffens, eyes leaving Wilbur and going towards Phil.

The other two also stiffen up at his words, all turning their heads over to the man. Yes, finally. He’s had enough of the fake relaxedness their family of four have taken up. Tommy wants answers , and he wasn’t going to get them alone. If he was going to be let in on some years-long cheating secret, so was Techno and Wilbur.

“I need to tell you guys something, it’s about your mothers.” With that the filter of nothing being wrong broke, giving way to the real reason everyone was in the living room. Tommy didn’t have much of a reaction, he kept a straight face as he stared at his family members. It was out of his hands now, it’s up to Phil to tell the truth.

“…our mothers?” Wilbur speaks up, glancing from him to Techno to back to Phil. Phil hummed, lifting his head away from the table to look at all of them directly. At this Techno moved around on the loveseat, pointed ears perked and alert. Wilbur himself unfolded from his curled up position on the side of the couch. “What about them?”

Phil took a calming breath, looking pained as he started to speak. “I haven’t been totally honest with you about them and I’m sorry for that. I want to preface this by saying this wasn’t to deceive you three in any way, it was so I wouldn’t have to talk about what happened…” he drifts off the sentence, scent turning rotten in the room as he thinks of some old memory.

“Your mothers were amazing.” He starts, a sad smile coming up onto his face. The three of them all stay silent as he goes on. “I met them when I was drafted, they were part of my group. Brilliant woman, strong too. They saved me on multiple accounts.”

“That can’t be right.” Techno speaks up for the first time since they all sat here. Tommy turned towards him. Techno was sat straight up, a frown placed on his lips as he gripped the sides of the couch. “You said you dated our mothers outside of the war, at different times.” His eyes narrowed then, Phil could only shake his head.

“That…wasn’t true. I met your mothers during the war. The two of them-“ Phil interrupted by a questioning noise.

Wilbur stared at him with wide eyes, mouth half open. “ Two ?” He said, looking at Tommy and Techno. Like he needed to count the heads.

“Yes, two.” Phil nods. “I loved both of them, I wasn’t a cheater. We agreed to all be together, the three of us. They were dating before I even came along. Wilbur.” At the name they all look to the tallest member of their family. “Your from Kristin, Tommy and Techno are from Bonedagger. We…didn’t mean to have kids. It was war, we couldn’t take care of children. But then Kristin got hurt and was taken off the group, so she took you two.”

There was silence for a moment, the three taking everything in. So Tommy was right, at least in the sense of them having two mothers instead of three. A stone that seemed to have been lodged in his chest disappears at the thought of Phil not being a cheater. He honestly doesn’t know how he would fix that whole problem, not when it happened eighteen years ago.

It’s also a slight surprise to hear Phil’s polyamorous. “So me and Tommy are full brothers.” Techno speaks up, looking over at him. There was no Ill will against Wilbur at that, for being only half theirs biologically. They’ve thought their whole lives they were all half brothers, but that didn’t mean they weren’t brothers . It’s just another surprise.

“Why do I feel there is a very sad ending to this?” Wilbur says.

Phil looks away from them, and it’s clear there was one yet to be said. “After Tommy was born the war had been over for a few years at that point. You two might remember your mothers a bit more, but they were kept on the field. You would have thought them as strangers.” His voice was wavering now, tight in the way that said tears were going to come soon.

“They didn’t make it.” He can’t help but state. It wasn’t a question at this point, they all knew where this was going.

Phil only nodded, hands going up to wipe at his nose. “I didn’t want you g-guys to know what h-happened to them. So I made up a story, I’m s-sorry-“ Tommy cuts the other off as he gets off the couch, ramming himself into Phil’s side. His small arms wrap around Phil’s own larger ones in a side hug.

Without warning the other two get up, warping their own arms and scents around there father as he shakes, tears sliding silently down his face. It was unnerving to see Phil crying yet not hear a peep. It’s the complete opposite to how he acted after Wilbur’s death. He screamed loud and sobbed hard for anyone to see, snot and tears covering his face. He had no care for dignity as he held Wilbur, Tommy’s own screams ringing in with his fathers one.

But here, with his family all around him, Phil cried silently. Only a sniffle for two as he kept his composure. Like it was a crime to let his emotions show in front of them for just a moment. Tommy understands it, all too well he understood . “I’m sorry for going downstairs.” He can’t help but whisper, his brother's reassurances louder against his own.

Phil just murly nods, turning a bit to drag his arms over Wilbur and Techno, Tommy being shoved into the man’s chest. “It’s okay.” He breathes out. He doesn’t believe the words, but he doesn’t deny them either. They're not okay now but they will be, oh void they will be.

The foliage was as annoying as he remembered as he and Wilbur walked through it. Tommy was a man of high stature - or at least he was - so to have bushes up to his waist was a disgrace! Honestly, he remembers clambering up trees and digging out parts of a ravine with no problem. But tree roots? Ya, he gets defeated and repeatedly fooled by tree roots.

“I could carry you if you want.” Wilbur says as he helps pull Tommy to his fear after tripping for the tenth time.

He just huffed as he took a step away from the beta. “I’m fine! I’m a big man, I don’t need you to carry me .” He spits, turning away from his brother. Suddenly his hair is ruffled, the hand on his head making a mess out of his perfectly framed bed hair.

“Aww but Toms, you're never going to be big enough to not carry. You literally fit in my lap.” Wilbur coos as he continues forward, Tommy left trying to fix the nest his brother has created. A pang of guilt flashes through his chest at the words, but he shakes his head and carries on. Because one day he will be too big to carry, too big to coddle and be taken in the arms of his brother.

“Well I’m too big now, so you're wrong.” He states, pushing past his brother as he grabs at a tree, using it to help him down the steep incline. Wilbur just rolls his eyes as he steps down the hill gracefully, not even using anything to help him down. The bastard—

“If you say so pup.” Tommy suppresses a groan as he - not so gracefully - stumbles down the hill. He’s not here to go back and forth with the other, he’s here for Ranboo. Who he hadn’t seen in a few days thanks to his family drama. Wilbur was able to come out the day before he went shopping with a bag of food and some clean water.

They were on there way with getting a little base setup for the other, Wilbur had bought a whole bunch of planks and things and shoved them in the shed. Plus Phil probably wouldn’t notice some of his wood supply going missing. Hopefully. “Tommy!” He hears a high pitched version of his friend yell from a little outside the clearing.

He turns to face Ranboo as he walks out of a bush, twigs and leaves stuck in his hair. He tries not to grimace as he waves at the other. “Ranboo!” He greets back, Wilbur slugging off the bag on his back. “I’ve come bearing food and gifts!” He watches as Ranboo’s pointed ears perk up, his pace speeding up until he’s a few steps away from them.

“…gifts?” He asks, looking at the bag as Wilbur takes out everything.

“Tommy said you’d want em.” He says, pulling out a stuffed chicken plush. He then stage whispers, pointing over at him. “He wouldn’t leave the house without it, saying you would want a friend.”

“That’s not true!” He yells, feeling his face heat up from embarrassment. “It’s just I have to many, I don’t need all these stupid stuffed animals.” He mumbles, running over to his brother and grabbing it out of his hands. “You have none so,” he walks over to Ranboo, pushing the toy into his hands. “Here.”

The Enderman-like chirp comes out of Ranboo’s mouth as he takes the stuffed animal, looking down at it. He watches as the other big smiles wide, sharp canines showing off in the moonlight as he steps forward. Without warning he feels lengthy arms wrap around him, tugging him closer into a chest.

He can hear Wilbur coo at the action. Tommy sighs as he lifts up his own hands, wrapping them around his friend. “Thank you Tommy.” The other whispers, rubbing his cheek on his own. The smell of caramel wafting into the air. “I love it.”

Chapter Text

“Let me go!” Tommy whined- no, he yelled. He squirmed against his brother's hold as Wilbur held him tightly in his arms. His face pressed against the betas neck. He only had tripped once and was now being carried back home, two sore knees being taken back with him.

“Shush Tommy, you're going to wake Phil and Techno.” Wilbur hushed, shifting his hold before carrying on. He has the feeling the bastard was smiling at this.

“You can’t shush me when I said to let me go !” He whisper-yells, trying to get his feet up so he can kick the other. Maybe if he’s lucky he could get him between his legs. That’ll show him not to pick him off of the ground. “I can walk by myself.” He grumbles after a second with no freedom in sight.

The other just chuckles as they make it out of the tree line. “You literally tripped three times, I’m not having you break something.” He rolled his eyes at that, memories of falling down the steps of Pogtopia at the forefront of his mind.

“You didn’t care before.” He whispers. Wilbur had watched as he tumbled down the steps of the raven, hitting his head off of the bottom step. All he did was stand there, eyes casted downwards at him. Techno wasn’t there then, but he’s pretty sure the other wouldn’t even have batted an eye. “You laughed .” Wilbur stops mid step, his hold loosening on him.

It’s only then that he realizes he said that out loud. “Toms.” He murmured, hands moving so he could look at his face. If Tommy didn’t know better he would have thought Wilbur looked hurt. “I’d never laugh at you getting hurt like that.” He states, something dangerous in his gaze. “Has someone laughed at you before? At getting hurt?”

Tommy pushes his head back next to the others neck, a silent yes wanting to escape him. A you wanting to come out right after. But he held his tongue, wrapped his hands around his brother's neck and shook his head no. Wilbur stayed there for a few seconds more before continuing on, the house coming into view as they passed their backyard.

Wilbur slowly opens the door, pushing it open with his hip as he finally lets him free from his armed cage. Tommy stands up straight on the floor, dusting his knees off once more. Wilbur closes and locks the front door, the only sounds in the hallway being their breaths.

“I’m going to bed.” Wilbur says, turning around. “And you should too. It had been a long day.” That was an understatement of the centre, but Tommy nods all the same. Besides, he was actually very tired. Curse his child's body and its inability to stay up past one in the morning. He swears after he grows back into his normal height he’s going to be depriving himself of sleep for days.

Tommy turns and heads to his and Phil’s room then, Wilbur passing him as he heads to his own. He climbs under his sheets and pulls an extra pillow closer, letting his eyes drop close and sleep to cover him.

When Tommy woke up it wasn’t to Phil rubbing his back or to the calls of his brothers, yelling that breakfast was ready. He woke up all on his own, his mind reeling back for some reason. Like before he went to sleep he was knocked out, which happened way to much back in L’manburg.

But instead of a pounding in his skull and his limbs aching Tommy felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. Which scared him more then pain would have. Pain was normal, feeling nothing - not even his heart rate- wasn’t.

He snapped his eyes open, half expecting to be in his childhood room, the other half expecting him to be back in Logstedshire with burns covering his body and Dream standing over him. But neither was the case as he stared up at a pinkish sky. He blinked, smelling the air. It was filled with the scent of wild flowers, the grass tickling his neck.

Tommy pushed himself up into a sitting position, which was easier said then done when he couldn’t feel his limbs. But he managed enough to now be facing a sunset, a giant orange glow coming off of the sun on the horizon. He didn’t know this place, it wasn’t like anything he’s ever seen before.

“What the fuck…” He breathed out, eyes widening at the beautiful warm colours that decorated the sky. He then paused, eyes narrowing as he sucked in a long breath of the fresh air. “Fuck.” He repeated again. His voice was back to normal, or well at least not sounding like a rubber duck on drugs.

He looked down at himself then, hands lifting up as he looked them over. They were larger, he was larger. Tommy wasted no time in scrambling to his feet, height higher then he would have imagined after so long of being short. He was his normal height now, his sixteen year old height.

He chuckles, a big smile crossing his face as he raises his hands into the air. “I’m back!” He yells into the air, the whispers of a breeze ruffling his hair. “I’m fucking back!”

“Slow down there buddy.” At the new voice Tommy whips around, hackles already raised. He knew that someone standing behind him was most likely going to slice him through, so he leaped backwards, reaching for a sword that wasn’t there. Not anymore. But instead of a hulking figure or a slim one with just as much bloodlust Tommy meets the eyes of someone who doesn’t even have a weapon.

He growls underneath his breath, taking pride in the deep vibrations that he draws out. The person in front of him was shorter, covered in flowy fabric and trinkets galore. They held their hair down, blonde hair flowing in the almost nonexistent breeze. Their cheeks were covered in freckles that looked too much like tiny stars.

“What the-“ he cuts himself off, takes another step back. “Who the hell are you!” He questioned, looking over them to see if they had anything dangerous hidden. It was harder done as their whole outfit looked like it was hiding everything they had on them.

The other rolled their eyes, fixed their collar and then gestured to the area around them. “The one that brought you here.” They say, eyes fixated on his own. “And the names Drista, she and her.” He frowns, crossing his arms. The name’s familiar, but for some reason it slips past him.

“Tommy.” He hesitates a bit, then shrugs off his own worries. “He and him, by the way. Now, where the hell did you kidnap me too?” Drista laughs, the sound causing him to flinch back. She crosses her own arms over her chest, eyes lingering onto his wrist. She doesn’t give him an answer. Tommy looks down at what she had been looking at and pauses. A gold chain was around his wrist, a small clock like pendant hanging off of it. He reaches out for it, fingers going right through. “What the hell-“

“That’s your timer.” She points out, walking closer. The smell of wild flowers gets stronger, the scent of an alpha getting nearer with it. “It’s broken, obviously.”

Broken, she says. It doesn’t look broken besides the fact his fingers went fucking through it. “I must be dreaming.” He huffs, looking over at the other. “Or drugged, I’m on a massive trip… aren’t I?”

“No and no.” She shrugs, reaching over and cupping the small clock that hangs off his wrist. She’s gentle with it, holding it up for him to see. There were no hands on it, the numbers switching and practically glitching. “You're in a sort of… between.”

“In-between?” He asks, lips pursed and brows down. He feels like if he could feel his own heart right now it would be going a mile a minute. But at the moment everything felt calm, unmoving. The grass wasn’t even swaying. It’s like the only thing moving were them, well, then and the glitching numbers on the clock.

Drista shakes her head, letting the clock fall back down into a swaying hand on his wrist. “The In-between is one of my brothers domains, this one is mine.” She explains simply, taking a few steps back.

Tommy nods, taking another quick look around. This place didn’t feel real at all, like it was trapped in a forever sun set. The appeal is slowly losing its effect on him. “Why am I here?” He whispers, not even thinking of the words.

The other takes a second, eyes moving around from him and to the sunset that’s behind him. “I can’t tell you that.”

“Can’t or won’t.” He snaps, gesturing to around them. “Because it looks like to me you can do whatever the fuck you want.”

“Can’t.” She sneers, snapping her gaze back to meet his. “All I can say is that you have a job to do and you're not doing it.” Drista frowns, the wind picking up around them. At the words Tommy feels heat spreading across his limbs, bubbling underneath his skin.

He gunts, gritting his teeth together. “Wa-what?” He asks, confused. “What job!?”

Drista scoffs, turning around away from him. “I knew you weren’t strong enough to remember. I said you weren’t, but he didn’t listen.” He takes a step forward, reaching out to her. But the second he does the heat grows and turns to burning. Tommy cries out in pain as he falls forward, body slamming against the tall grass and he burns.  

He looks down at his arms, the skin peeling and bubbling off. “He-help-“

“I can’t.” Drista says, walking back over to crouch next to him. He stares up at her, not able to move anymore. Everything hurts, it hurts so much. He feels like he’s drowning, lungs squeezing in on itself. And she just watches, a frown on her face. Drista reaches underneath her cloak and takes out a clock - this one silver - as she looks over it.

“You have time on your side Tommy,” She coughs into her hand, drops of blood trailing down her lip. “Maybe more than us.” She adds on, a sad look in her eyes. “All I can say right now is to pay attention. What doesn’t seem right, accurate? This is your second chance Phoenix, your only second chance.”

Tommy tries to reach out, burning tears running down his face as the other stands up, staggers a bit before finding her footing again. She puts the clock away, looks down at him and waves. Blood was flowing down her nose now. “XD thinks you’re the one, I don't. Please don’t make me right.”

And with that she leaves, the wildflower scent following her as the sky glitches above him. He chokes, eyes drifting shut as he tries to call for her to come back. But the only thing he could do was whine and groan as his vision snaps to black.

He can’t breathe. No matter how hard he tries to take in air nothing happens, he’s choking, he’s dying. Tommy’s going to die here, in the darkness, alone. His lungs burn like a fire’s been lit inside of them, his throat was scratchy. He thinks he’s been screaming, he’s not sure.

Not anymore.

Tommy feels something on him, something strong and restricting. He flings his arms out, hoping for it to stop. He just wants to breathe, please. Someone help him fucking breathe. “-ommy!” He flinches at the voice. It was so close, so loud. “-ease wake up.” It was familiar, again, like he’s heard it before. He must have, he knows he has. 

“-nightmare, please, it’s just a nightmare.” Tommy forces his eyes open, tears running down his cheeks as he stares at whoever was there. He comes face to face with a younger Phil, his grey hairs gone and eyes wide. He smells sweet tea in the air, all around him actually. It’s then that he realizes he’s back in the past, he’s back and he’s not asleep or dreaming.

“D-dad.” He sobs, not knowing why the hell he’s doing so. Phil holds him tighter in his arm, rocking him back and forth. Tommy takes a stuttering breath in, lungs finally filling up with air. He pushes his head into the other’s chest. Listening to his rabid heartbeat.

“I’m right here Tommy, I’m here, you're okay.” Phil babbles, rubbing his back with his hand. He sniffles, clinging on tighter to the older man. “It was just a nightmare pup, you're safe.”

Tommy nods, looking out from his fathers arms. He looks over to the mirror, his heart feeling like it’s being ripped apart as he looks at himself. He’s small, tired looking and has a gold chain around his wrist. When he looks down at it, it’s gone. “I don’t think it was a nightmare.” He whispers, looking back at the mirror.

The chains there, the clock ticking brokenly as he clings onto the other. “…I don’t think it was a nightmare.” He repeats, shaking his head. 

Chapter Text

The Nether was smouldering, sweat dripping from Tubbo’s forehead as he carried on. He clutched his sword in a tight fist, double checking to make sure he wasn’t being followed. The dream from a few days ago was still fresh in his mind, making his heart sink down into his gut. It wasn’t real and yet it felt so… scary.

He shakes his head, forcing his legs to move faster than they were already. The terrain was hard to navigate, bubbling lava inching closer and closer to him every time he turned his back. It’s like the dimension itself was hunting him. It was one of the many reasons why Tubbo never journeyed through portals all that often.

But he needed to now, for Tommy. Because even if he exiled the other he still cared about the blonde. He did it for peace, the other knew that. He takes a deep breath, trying to shake the unhelpful nagging thoughts away. Tommy understood, right? He wouldn’t be mad with him showing up to his place of stay now, right? He hopes not, he knows the other can hold a grudge.

Tubbo’s thoughts end there as he hears the sound of a churning and swirling portal. He looks up, eyes fixated on the poorly constructed death trap. He steps towards it, closing his eyes. Nausea erupts from his gut and he forces his mouth shut. Portals never agreed with him. The sound of portal travel was deafening, the swirling making his ears ring and his stomach sick.

The smell of salt water is the first thing that comes to him as he steps out of the portal. Tubbo opens his eyes, waiting a few seconds before the dizzy spell passes before fully looking out. It’s then that the second more stronger scent hits him. The scent of burning wood and gunpowder. He claps his free hand over his nose, almost gagging. Smoke curled up high into the sky, gunpowder dusted across the sand. 

His heart beats just a little faster as he walks forward away from the portal. He holds his sword just a little bit tighter. He’s regretting not pushing himself to finish that on the go explosive device he’s been working on for a while now. Portable nukes would come in hand to steal his nerves. “Tommy?” Shouting, he begins his mission in finding his friend. It doesn’t take long to comb through the first part of Logstedshire.

Gunpowder mixed with the sand, creating an ugly dust of grey along the pure sand. There wasn’t much near the portal, so he headed deeper into the beach. The stark baby blue left an ugly taste in his mouth as he looked around the place. Creeper explosions littered around the place, deeper than any other he’s ever seen. They looked more like TNT holes if he’s ever seen them.

Shaking the thought away he heads to the only place he could. Logstedshire itself. He frowns as he follows the gunpowder up the sandy path. It wasn’t like it was described to him by others. It wasn’t bright nor poorly crafted. It was in ruins. Smoke curled high into the sky from the burned blackened wood. Tubbo quickly found himself standing in front of what looked to be the remains of Logstedshire.

The place looked barely alive, standing on its last legs. It wasn’t like Tommy to leave something so broken. Ugly? Definitely. That friend of his would take the piss out of anyone who thought his cobble towers weren’t all that. But they were hideous creations Tubbo loved helping him build. This though? It looked like Tommy hasn’t even been here in weeks. He would have never left it to rot away like this.

The thought alone is the only reason he takes his time looking around the outside. Taking in every detail. He could see blue smudges poking out from some of the charred wood looking vaguely like handprints. It smelt of a creeper explosion, but it was too much damage to have been done from one of them.

Something else did this, someone else. The pit in his stomach widens, threatening to take him with it. “Tommy!” He calls, walking past the broken gate. “Tommy, are you here!?” Was he hurt? Who had hurt him? TNT was written all over this like a sickening prank. Tubbo runs in, eyes wide as he goes to call out to his missing friend. “Tommy—“

“Tubbo!” Snapping his head to the left Tubbo swings his sword, it colliding with nothing but air. He’s met with an empty gaze, a smile too lax to be real practically blinding him. The ghost was floating a few feet away, clutching a hand of still pure sand. His sword landed through his neck, taunting the dead that he couldn’t hurt him here.

He lets his shoulders fall just a little. “Ghostbur.” Tubbo breathes, dropping his sword. “What are you doing here?” For some reason having the other here causes some form of calm to take over his racing heart. Not much, because Tommy wasn’t answering him.

The ghost skips over, glaring quickly at his sword before returning this gaze. “I live here silly!” He tilts his head, a contemplative look taking over. “But you don’t.” He states, looking over the ruins they stand in. “Did Tommy invite you?”

Tubbo sheaths his sword as he moves around what’s left of Logstedshire. “Yes—maybe, where is he?” There was nothing here. No fabrics from Tommy’s attempt and repairing his clothes. No little hidden holes that only Tubbo and Ranboo could spot. His frown deepens. A sickening sour honey scent leaving him as he growls underneath his breath.

“…I don’t know.” He looks back over at Ghostbur then, eyebrow raising. The ghost lets the sand in his hands fall through his fingers. Ghostbur frowns, his pure white eyes turning staticy and greys. Tubbo takes a step back. “He hasn’t been here in a while. Last time—he went with Dream I think? I was getting—Tommy needed some blue. He looks sad…” Ghostbur winces, clutching the sides of his head.

Tubbo raises a hand, not knowing what to do. Since when could dead people have headaches!? “Where did Dream take him?” He asks hesitantly. Tommy should have never left exile, there’s nowhere else to go. “Ghostbur where’s Tommy—“

“Do you want some blue?” Ghostbur smiles, his eyes returning to their glowing white as he produces a clump of blue from somewhere. “You look a little pale.” 

Tubbo sighs, running his hands through his hair. “No…” He spins on his heel, marching out of Logstedshire. He hears a rushed out wait from the man before quick footsteps move to follow him. He ignores him as he marches down the path. He scans the distractions with new eyes. Something happened to Tommy and it was Dream’s fault. What’s fucking new! 

“Tommy on the other hand seemed to be flammable.” Tubbo quickens in his footsteps. Maybe there was something to that stupid dream after all. Maybe it was right to make him check up on his friend. Storming down the beach the sand gets less grey, the waves lapping at the edge. He’s about to turn back and start checking other areas when his eyes land on a familiar figure. Tubbo stumbles to a stop, his hand landing on the hilt of his sword.

“Oh look.” Ghostbur stops beside him. “It’s Dream.” He takes a deep breath in. Dream was facing the other way, hand underneath his chin as he paced back and forth. He was facing the ocean like it killed his horse. Ghostbur took a few steps back, the blue in his hands darkening.

“Dream!” He shouts, causing both men to jolt. Dream whirls on him, sword already out and pointed towards him. The beady black eyes of the other mask bore imaginary holes into him.

Once seeing that it was him the other tilts his head. “Tubbo!” He greets. Tubbo can’t help but notice the sword was still pointed at him. “What brings you here-“

“Cut the shit Dream, where’s Tommy!?” Cutting the other off he pulls his own weapon, his scent turning even more sour. Like expired honey.

“Out collecting wood.” Dream hisses, taking a step forward.

“But he’s not.” Ghostbur tilts his head, setting a hand on his shoulder. “Your lying, I saw you with him—“

“And your memories are reliable?” Dream scoffs. “Wilbur—“ Ghostbur flinches beside him at the name “—You must be thinking of some other time! I literally just saw Tommy this morning!”

“He’s been gone for longer than that.” Tommy would have yelled back to him and would have come running into his arms. Well, maybe not that last thought. He doesn’t know how pissed the blonde was. “Where is Tommy really Dream? I just want to talk with him and I’ll be on my way.”

“He’s getting wood.” His patience is withering every second.

He rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m following a fucking nightmare…” He mutters, taking a step forward.

“A nightmare?” Dream suddenly snaps. His voice sends shivers down his spine. Tubbo halts in his advances. All too soon the air around him felt suffocating. “Oh you have to be kidding me.”

Tubbo only has a second to block as Dream rushes him. The force has him digging his heels into the sand, Dream pushing him back a few centimetres before he could get proper footing. “So XD sent you then, huh?” Wait, XD? Who the hell is XD?

“I don’t know who that is!” He grits his teeth, pushing back. “All I came here for is Tommy!”

“That’s the problem.” Dream pulls back before driving the hilt of his weapon into the side of his head. He grunts but stays grounded. He could already feel a bruise forming.

“Why are you fighting!?” Ghostbur shouts, practically whining. “Stop it!” Tubbo dodges the next swing as he pivots on his foot, bringing his blade down. Dream counters, taking a step back.

He knew Dream was hiding something. He knew and yet let it happen. Again, he seaths, Dream gets in the way. Tubbo slashes again, aiming for the man’s chest. Dream dodges by going low, kicking his feet out from underneath him. Tubbo hits the ground hard, sand covering him as his sword slides just out of his reach.

Dream descends onto him then, using his steel boot to kick and slam onto him. Tubbo screams, covering his head. “Of course that thing decides to intervene!” Dream yells, chuckling darkly. “Another loose end to clean up…” Tubbo watches with wide eyes as Dream lifts his sword.

One of his hands grip around his throat, silencing and yells to stop. Ghostbur’s trying to pull Dream off of him. But with his state his fingers keep going through the shirt. The sword rises, shining in the baby blue sky. Ghostbur yells, loud and ear piercing. But Tubbo could only stare, wondering if he’s sent his best friend to his death all those weeks ago.

A sudden force tears Dream off of him, the painful grip turning into a gentle one. Coughing he looks up, only to see a familiar darkness. Void like eyes stare down at him, black goo leaking down and onto a mask familiar to Dream’s. But it had something else sprawled on it. An X and a D. “You children have a tendency to try and die, don’t you?” It growls, standing up. Tubbo scrambles backwards, grabbing his sword from off the ground.

Ghostbur is next to him in a second, pulling on his sleeve. Without the panic of almost seeing a friend die, the ghost is able to control himself enough to grip onto him. Tubbo’s body was on fire, but it was overshadowed by the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The creature of his nightmare stands in front of him with a hand clock in one hand and a huge fucking blade in the next. Chains wrapped around his wrists, blood pouring out from underneath then. Staining the white cloak it wore.

“We should leave.” Ghostbur ushers out. “I don’t like this. It’s hurting my head.” Tubbo couldn’t agree more but he couldn’t get himself to say it. He was stiff as a board, hands shaking.

“Oh it’s you.” Dream spits, dusting the sand off of him as he stands. “I thought you weren’t allowed to interfere with mortals?” He asks nonchalantly, like the thing stood between them wasn’t one of them. Wasn’t mortal.

The thing makes a tisk sound, bones cracking. Its body was pure black, darkness in a physical form. “That is how things are supposed to go, yes.” Tubbo hears its legs crack as it takes a step forward. The clock in its hand was whirling around like crazy. “But then again, mortals aren’t supposed to have The Books.” The last two words are distorted, crackling in his mind and causing a worse migraine to form behind his eyes.

He hears Ghostbur gasp, like he was feeling the same thing. “Finders keepers.” Dream chuckles, drawing his bow.

The thing steps in front of it instantly, blocking his view. “Lamb!” It yells, shaking Tubbo to the core. All the air in his lungs leaves his head spinning in circles. “I’ll take care of him, I need you to retrieve something for me. A book. Phoenix has left to get the second one. But this one can’t return to his hands. The Revival Book. Get it.” Before he could even reply the thing thrusts forward, an arrow shooting right through its shoulder.

“This is where we leave!” Ghostbur grabs him bridal style, causing his injuries to turn up a notch. He howls in pain, vision blurring.

“Wait—wait! What’s the Revival Book!? Who are you!? Who’s Phoenix!?” He reaches out, watching as it keeps Dream back. Who’s yelling at him to not even think about getting the book.

The thing turns, the chains around its wrists now drowning in its own blood. “Tommy of course.” It huffs, like he was an idiot. Ghostbur starts running down the beach, the fight getting further and further. His breath stutters, hand reaching out. Only to flinch as a blade drives itself through the thing's abdomen, a sickening screech filling the air. He slaps his hands over his ears but it does nothing to the darkness closing in around his vision.

“Get the Revival Book.” A voice shouts in his mind, shaking him to his core. “Or else your world as you know it will be gone. Or else Phoenix will die, permanently. It’s in the—“ Tubbo passes out before he could listen any longer.

Chapter Text

Tubbo woke up with a pounding headache.

His mind swam between the fogginess and the urge to get up, like he wasn’t safe, like he needed to get up. But the thoughts were drowned out by the need to rest. Every part of his body felt sore and raw, like there was lava underneath his skin.

He huffs, turning over in his bed. Only to end up falling off and hitting the floor with a loud thud. His eyes pop open and he scans the area, finding that this was not in fact his room. “What the–”

“You're awake!” Ghostbur shouts from the other side of the room, a smile on his face as he makes his way over quickly. “Thank goodness, I thought you'd never wake up!” The ghost says, grabbing his arm and helping him up. Tubbo looks down at the bed, no, at the couch he was sleeping on.

“What?” Tubbo mumbles, rubbing harshly at his eyes. Then the memory of what led him here stabs into him, Tubbo quickly pushing away from the ghost as he stands again. “Dream! Where’s Dream!?” He was fighting the bastard when he passed out. But that also wasn't right, there was someone else. “XD.” Tubbo voices quieter this time.

What the fuck was going on!? “I think you should sit down, you're still hurt.” Ghostbur frowns. Trying to tug on his sleeves. Tubbo shakes the ghost off as he looks around the room. There was a fire place, walls made of wood with a sword hung up on the wall. A familiar chill was set in his bone, yet Tubbo knew it wasn't from Snowchetser. 

“Where are we?” Tubbo asks, looking back over to the ghost.

Ghostbur smiles, bright and happy. It sours Tubbo’s mood even more. “Well while I was running away I tried to think of the safest place to go! My memory is…Not really good when it comes to happy places. So instead I thought of who was the safest person to go to!” Ghostbur says as he points to the door. Tubbo looks over at it, finding nothing different. It's a door. A very large door…

“So what better place to take you then my brothers and fathers house!” Ghostbur explains. Tubbo’s blood runs cold, eyes widening. The door wasn't large for a piglin, it was the perfect size.

“Oh shit.” Tubbo curses, quickly going to grab his sword from where it laid on the ground next to the couch. “You took me to Techno’s place!? You do know that man wants me dead, right?” Tubbo asks as he sheathed his sword, rushing over towards the door.

Only for it to open, Tubbo comes face to chest with the most dangerous person that ever wanted him dead. Taking a step back Tubbo goes to bring his sword up. He isn’t quick enough as Techno grand his wrists and twists causing him to drop his weapon, red eyes meeting blue as the piglin growls. “Tubbo.” He spits, getting up in his face.

Before Tubbo could try and explain himself he’s being thrown to the floor, the room filling up with the scent of a forest fire. “Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn’t kill you right now.” Techno seethes, hand tightly on his sword hilt as he holds him down.

Phil walks in behind the other, eyes narrowed with his own sword in his hands. He kicks Tubbo’s sword further away, burnt wings spiking up. The chard ends looking scarily like daggers. Ghostbur’s eyes were frantic and filled with static, looking between Techno and Tubbo.

That’ll happen when you bring the one person your brother will kill on sight to his fucking house!

Tubbo growls, reaching for the hand around his shirt collar. “Fuck off, Techno—“

“Dream did something to Tommy!” Ghostbur shouts, cutting him off. “Then he attacked Tubbo! We’re trying to save Tommy!” The ghost yells, running over. He grabs Techno’s hands, Techno pulling himself away like the others burnt him. Scrambling to his feet Tubbo takes a few steps back from the others.

Phil snaps his gaze over to Ghostbur. “What?” Phil breathes, holding up his hand towards Techno. The piglin fully backs off then, he didn’t move his gaze off of Tubbo however, so he didn’t bother to show any signs of restraint as he let his hand clasp the hilt of his axe still on his hip.

Techno could easily out draw him, he wasn’t going to let his guard down all because the other pretended to.

Ghostbur ducks his head, floating a bit away as his hand reaches to tangle itself in his wispy hair, a pained expression coming up in his face, nose scrunched. “I-I don’t know, I can’t remember, but something happened to him. I know something happened to him.” He whispers the last part but in the now silent room, everyone could hear it.

“Logshire was blown to bits.” Tubbo huffs, looking over at Phil. The other returns his gaze. Not so bloodthirsty but still filled with untrustworthiness. “Dream attacked me and then…” He filters off, remembering the creature he ran into, XD. It wasn’t something he’s ever seen before or heard about. What was it? Why could it infest his dreams? What did it want from him!? 

“Then?” Techno growls, his scent somehow overpowering the dwindling campfire in the room.

“Then a fucking creature straight out of my nightmares showed up and told me I had to get something called a revival book! I don’t know! Next thing I know I’m waking up on your couch.” Tubbo waves his hands, frowning. Fuck being scared of Techno, he had bigger things to worry about. Like Dream. Both Techno and Phil flinch at that, quickly looking towards each other. “What?” Tubbo asks, arms falling to his sides. “What is it?” 

“It’s a long story.” Phil voices. His feathers flatten against his back as Phil’s own scent starts to fill the room. Bathing the room in a disgusting rotten tea small. Phil was scared. The smell must set Techno even more on edge as he growls, putting himself between Tubbo and the avain. 

“Well can you sum it the fuck up?” Tubbo asks, glaring.

“How do we even know you're telling us the truth? That this isn’t some stupid plan of yours to get our guard down?” Techno questions, taking a step towards him. Tunny holds his ground even if every part of him screams to back up. “Last I heard you're the one that gave the order to exile Tommy. What? That brat finally got underneath your skin enough?” Techno tuts, scowling.

“I wouldn’t be here if I was lying, Techno! Do you really think I’d risk my life like this just to get you and Phil? I have better things to worry about then you, you egotistical prick.” Tubbo argues back, shoving the man in the chest. He doesn’t move an inch.

“Please stop fighting.” Ghostbur whines, moving towards Techno. The alpha sidesteps the ghost, returning to Phil’s side.

Phil sighs, running a hand down his broken wings. “We believe you, mate.”

“We do!?” Techno whips to face the other, eyes wide.

“He wouldn’t know about the book if he wasn’t telling the truth. Only a few people know about it and a child wouldn’t be one of them.” Phil explains as he walks over towards the couch. He falls into it, setting his elbow on the armrest. “I need you to tell me exactly what happened before you got here, don’t leave anything out.”

“Well…” Tubbo huffs, crossing his arms. He tells them everything he can remember. Starting from the nightmare, how he went to visit Tommy, his fight with Dream and then XD itself showing up. At the end of it the room is silent. “I'll take it you two know where it is.” Tubbo says, pointing to Phil afterwards. 

“We don’t.” Phil replies. Tubbo frowns, eyes narrowed. “But I know of it. It’s a relic of the old ways. Each god has a book, it’s basically where their power is written down. A way for mortals to be able to wield a fraction of what gods do. The revival book is said to be the book XD is in charge of.” Phil explains.

“It’s also a child’s tale.” Techno scoffs, resting against the wall. “A fairy tale.”

“Every fairy tale is bathed in some type of truth, Tech.” Phil replies, looking over.

“…Well thanks for the info.” Tubbo huffs, moving to pick up his sword off of the floor. Techno sets his foot on it, glaring. “If you want me to leave, I kind of need that.” Tubbo says.

“Who said you were leaving?” Techno questions, leaning down to pick up the sword himself. He tosses it over towards Phil, who catches it effortlessly. “If Phil’s right then I’m not about to leave a book like that in the hands of the government.”

“XD said I needed to get the book, not you two.” Tubbo says, frowning. “Plus, you don’t even know where to start looking.”

“And you do?” Phil asks, twirling Tubbo’s sword in his hands.

“We absolutely do not.” Ghostbur pipes up, raising his hand like some kind of adult toddler. 

“And you’re limping.” Techno points out.

“What?” Tubbo looks back over to the hybrid, frowning. “Why the hell does that matter?”

Techno huffs, rolling his eyes. “If you're injured from your fight with Dream then you’ll only slow things down. At least if Phil and I come along you won’t just be dead weight.” Techno says as he walks over towards the kitchen. He takes out a golden apple from one of the shelves, tossing it over. 

Tubbo catches it, taking a bite out of it. “Oh so now you care about my health.” He mutters.

“When it comes to this, yes.” Techno states. “We leave to go after the revival book in the morning. Take the couch.” Techno orders as he walks down the hall, leaving the room.

“You could leave if you really want to.” Phil starts, standing up. He offers his sword back, hilt side facing Tubbo. “But you wouldn’t get very far.” Phil ends off, eyeing him. “And I wouldn’t want to tell Tommy what happened to you when we find him.” 

“I hate you both.” Tubbo flips the old man off. He grabs his sword back, seething it.

“No you don’t, or else you would have sent a hunting party for us a long time ago.” Phil says, smiling. “We rise early, so get some sleep.” With that Phil turns, following his son down the hallway.

“I love sleepovers!” Ghostbur claps his hands together.

“You can’t even sleep.” Tubbo states as he finishes off the golden apple in his hands. He can already feel the effects of it wash over his sore body and he relaxes. Limping over towards the couch Tubbo falls into it face first. Curling in on himself a little, Tubbo closes his eyes. His weapons belt digs into his hips and stomach uncomfortably as he does so.

Ghostbur hums, floating around the room before finally ending up near the window. He looks out into the tundra, blue handprints staining the windowsill. 

“Where the hell do we even start looking?” Tubbo asks the morning after. Techno’s at his potions desk, sprinkling blaze powder into beakers as Phil tightens his chestplate around his chest.

“No clue.” Phil replies, looking up from his armour pile. “Though if Dream is involved I have to guess he has it somewhere.”

“He’s homeless, so definitely not in his house.” Techno speaks up, setting another fully brewed potion to the side. The amount he has was starting to scare the crap out of him. Who needs twenty splash weakness potions?

“And how do you know that?” Tubbo questions, eyeing Techno as he takes out a small box of ghast tears. Techno looks over at him from the corner of his eye, shrugging. “That doesn’t help us at all.”

“Why don’t we ask Sapnap or George?” Ghostbur questions, tapping his fingers on Phil’s knee. The man doesn’t seem to mind. “They're both his best friends!”

“If someone was looking for me and Phil to possibly stop us from doing what we wanted, would you tell them we were here?” Phil asks.

Ghostbur seems to think about this for a second, then smiles. “Only if they promised to not hurt you two!” He answers. Phil sighs.

“Let’s just go back to Logstedshire. Dream has to have a place he goes to near there. How else does he visit Tommy so often?” Tubbo says. The other three hum.

“You’ll have to show us how to get there.” Techno says as he stands, rolling his shoulders.

“I don’t know how. Ghostbur brought me here.” Tubbo states, gesturing to the ghost.

Techno doesn’t even turn to face the guy. “Either way, we need to get to Logstedshire.” Techno states. He picks up his newly made positions and surprisingly offers a few to Tubbo. Tubbo wastes no time in taking them. “You abuse my trust and it’ll be the last time.” Techno huffs, moving to put in his own armour.

“Right.” Tubbo rolls his eyes, pocketing the potions. “Because everyone is out to get you. Like you didn’t make it your life’s mission to end L’manburg.”

“Stop it you two, we’re on the same side here.” Phil reprimands, giving them both a stern look.

Techno and Tubbo share a glace, muttering “For now.” At the same time as they turn away from each other.

Chapter Text

The table was quiet, not in the way that no one talked or laughed or made any noise, but in the way that whenever someone did say something it was met with hollow replies.

And it was all Tommy’s fault.

Turns out screaming in his sleep until your dad has to forcefully wake you up was a recipe for many questions, so when Tommy started saying nonsense and mumbling randomness it only served to worry his family more.

Didn’t help that Tommy ended up waking the whole house last night with the whole nightmare thing, either. Techno and Wilbur had walked in on him clinging to Phil, eyes glued to the mirror in his room as he just stared.

Tommy was too caught up in the nightmare he had just come out of to pay attention to his family. Because the more he thought about it, he didn't think it was just a nightmare. It had to do with his time travelling problem, it just had to.

So now Tommy was stuck on what to do.

He kept his eyes on his half eaten plate, his breakfast cold as his family gave each other worrying glances.

Drista, that was her name. She said her time was running out and his timmer was broken, somehow, and that Tommy forgot why he was here. No shit on that part, he had no clue why he got sent back in time. But obviously it was for a good reason if she took him out of his dream to tell him to hurry the fuck up and get to doing whatever he was tasked with doing.

“Tommy?” Phil voices, getting his attention. Tommy looks up, humming. “If you want something else I can make something different for breakfast.” Phil says, gesturing to his half eaten plate.

Tommy shakes his head as he tries to think of a reason for his sudden lack of appetite. “No I’m good, I just got lost in thought.”

“About?” Wilbur asks, his sage sent turning a bit smokey.

“Umm…” Tommy looks down at his wrist, remembering what his timmer looks like. The numbers glitched, the hands not even there as the whole thing seemed to be on a whole other layer of existence. How is that going to help him? “I don’t know.” He says honestly, shrugging.

They stop trying to question him then, sharing another worrying look between them. Tommy is quick to shove the rest of his breakfast in his mouth before jumping out of his chair, yelling back a quick I’m going to my room before he runs off.

Entering his room Tommy dives for the art supplies that Phil keeps in a box in the closet, he pulls it out with ease and drags it to the middle of the floor. Taking the top off, Tommy grabs a handful of papers and some crayons. It was childish but it didn’t have any markers and he needed to colour-code things, so crayons it was.

“I knew I was forgetting something.” Tommy growls, dumping the crayons on the floor. After what he had started calling the basement incident, where he figured out that he and Techno were full brothers, Tommy knew something was up with his memories. 

Wait, did that mean Tommy was a piglin hybrid?

He shakes his head shelving that information for later, he grabs a black crayon and starts scribbling words onto a page. “I was sent back by someone, multiple someone’s? Something sent me back for a reason.” He mutters, writing it out. “Can’t remember the reason because of course that part was forgotten, but it seems like I’m running out of time…”

What did he know? What has changed?

“All I can say right now is to pay attention. What doesn’t seem right, accurate? This is your second chance Phoenix, your only second chance.”

Drista gave him the worst clue because nothing was the same anymore, not since Tommy started messing with the timeline. Ranboo was here, Tommy had Phil tell them the truth about their mothers, Tommy’s planning on making Techno somehow miss out on the tournaments that made him into a bloodthirsty killer.

Those were all changes, differences. It was way too soon to go back snooping in the basement, not after he’s already been caught once. So that’s out of the question.

Tommy looks up from his scribbles and across the room, he eyes the mirror, more importantly the clock that’s attached to his wrist. He had to figure this out, somehow. “I need more information.” Tommy huffs, standing up.

He starts by snooping through the stuff Phil keeps in their room. It wasn’t much, Phil kept most of his private belongings in the basement besides the everyday things like clothes. This was mostly all for Tommy, so there wasn’t much to dig through.

A few bad fashion choices by Phil but other than that nothing strange or different rang out to him. He needs to snoop somewhere else, somewhere where no one would hide things.

He needs to go to Wilbur’s and Techno’s rooms.

Tommy eyes the door, then looks back down at his notes. He quickly piles them up and shoves them underneath his bed before leaving the room. He tiptoes around the corner, thankful that his scent hasn’t been developed so much as to where his family could sniff him out.

The only positives about being ten again.

Tommy creeps by the kitchen doorway, the voices of his family filling his hearing. “—worried about him, he’s been off…” Wilbur says quietly.

“Somethings going on.” Techno adds after a beat. “Something happened that we don’t know about.”

“What could have happened? We live in the middle of nowhere, Tommy’s practically housebound all the time and we hardly go into town.” Phil sighs. Tommy can hear him pacing back and forth.

“We went into town the day before Tommy fell out of that tree.” Techno points out, sounding agitated. “He disappeared into the crowds for a few minutes, remember? You scolded him the second we found him. What if someone did something before we found him?”

Tommy pauses, the memory coming back to him. Ten years ago, the very day they were talking about, Tommy did what every ten year old does when they went shopping with their family and ran around, hiding behind stalls and annoying the general public. Nothing had happened, Phil found him and he was scolded, forced to hold the older man’s hand for the rest of the trip.

But to their eyes something could have happened to him, something bad. In reality Tommy was sixteen years old who just time travelled but to his family he was a ten year old who had something bad happen and kept quiet about it.

A shiver runs up his spine at the thought. It was a nice cover story, but he didn’t want his family to think that way, not when nothing happened. Not when he was fine. Tommy peaks in, making sure none of them were looking at him before he hurries past the door.

Tommy enters Wilbur’s room quickly, shutting the door silently behind himself. Turning around he’s met with vague recognition. He hadn’t spent much time in Wilbur’s room at this age, of course there were those select few times where he and Wilbur hung out in here but for the most part Tommy stayed out. Something with Techno’s room.

Everything looked familiar however, like it was ripped out of his memories and made clearer. Wilbur’s bed was in the middle of the room, his closet on the left and his desk on the right. The walls were covered in posters of his favourite roaming bands that passed by the town every few months, his own songs littering his desk, the beginnings of songs that Wilbur would in the future sing to him as they built L’manburg together.

The whole room stunk of sage, Wilbur’s scent clinging to everything it possibly could. Tommy digs through a couple drawers, snoops through some of the books on Wilbur’s desk but nothing stuck out to him.

Except a blueprint.

Turning to the rough sketch Tommy picks it up, mouth falling open slightly. In bold letters at the top it read Tommy & Ranboo’s fort project. The blueprint was for Ranboo’s house they were making, all the things they wanted in it jotted on the side as notes.

Wilbur was working on the fort even now? Tommy knew the other was willing to help but not this much, to put in so much of his own time. Sometimes Tommy forgets that Wilbur was genuinely a nice person and loved kids before L’manburg ruined him.

To him, Ranboo was some strange kid who needed help, who didn’t have parents, of course he was going to help. Wilbur may be eighteen but he was an adult, one who wasn’t just going to let a kid starve out in the woods.

Setting the blueprint down Tummy rubs the dampness out of his eyes and leaves the room. Nothing helpful was in there, leaving only Techno’s room.

The same vague familiarity swept over Tommy as he walked into Techno’s room. Techno’s bed was pushed into the far corner, his practice sword laying against his desk chair that was in the other corner of the room. A stuffed animal was placed atop his bed, smelling heavily of sage and tea.

“Snooping time part two.” Tommy stretches his arms above his head, beginning his search. Techno’s room was far more messy than Wilbur’s, which slightly surprised him. In Pogtopia Techno complained about how Tommy and Wilbur kept things, that they had to be organised to win a war. His cabin in the tundra was the complete opposite of his room here.

“Teenage Techno was so messy.” Tommy snorts, kicking piles of clothes out of his way. He snoops for a full three minutes before he starts to get antsy, he keeps checking the door to make sure Techno wasn’t about to walk in and catch him. Tommy gives himself another minute before he gives up, growling underneath his breath.

This was so much harder than he thought it was going to be. Tommy turns, walking back towards the door, only to trip over one of Techno’s books that was left on the floor. He faceplants onto the ground, hand flying over his mouth as to cover up the swears.

“Fuck you Techno.” Tommy hisses, staring at the book. “Clean your room once in a while!” Tommy frowns, goes to stand back up, then stops.

There’s a book underneath the bed.

Tommy narrows his eyes, then slowly lowers himself back onto the floor. Looking underneath Techno’s bed he’s met with a weird looking book. “…Gatcha.” Snatching the book from underneath the bed, Tommy turns it over in his hands.

The cover was black leather, a gold clasp keeping it shut. It wasn’t locked but looks like it could have been, the hinge broken and rusted. The title was written in Ender, etched into the dyed leather.

Techno didn’t learn Ender until after Ranboo started living next to him, there should be no reason he should have a book written in Ender, at least not now. Flipping to the first page, he was met with more Ender. But it also looked like instructions.

Tommy kept flipping through quickly, diagrams, blueprints, numbers were all splattered across the book. It looked like a manual to build something. “Now I have more questions.” He groans.

The door creaks.

Tommy feels his heart pick up as the door slowly starts to open, looking down at the book he makes a split second decision dives for the place near the wall, right where the door covers when you open it.

Techno walks in, going towards where he left his practice sword. Tommy takes that second where his brother's back was turned to dip out of the room and run back down the hall to where he shared his room with Phil.

He closes the door behind himself, takes a deep breath and falls to the ground. The book flops onto the ground as Tommy takes a second to recollect himself. Looking up, he sees himself in the mirror.

The clock around his wrist was the same, but now the book itself was weird as well. Chains were wrapped around it when he stared at it through the mirror, the book itself glitching, like it didn't belong here. 

Looking back to the book Tommy was met with none of that. “So…” He starts, smiling. “You're one of the things that doesn’t belong here either, huh?”