Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy watches with unfortunate eyes. All around him, what used to be L'manburg was currently numerous cavities giving in down into the earth, water gradually streaming down the sides highlighted on how deep the cavities genuinely were. Rocks tumble down with every vibration the Withers cause. Across him in the sky stands the individual he thought he could trust walking along the obsidian that was held up high in the sky in a grid-like pattern beside one he detests right next to the one he thought was his dad.

On top of the broken oak wood pathway stands the other individual he believed was his brother, eyes gleaming red. People he thought were family are presently wearing elated smiles that sparkled porcelain white teeth. Philza and Techno. Dream remained above and looks down explicitly at him, holding TNT firmly in his grasp. Even with the mask hindering Tommy's view of the other's face he knew that a nauseating grin lays there beneath. The three are observing the annihilation they cause upon their Nation with grins rivaling hyenas.

The sky was pouring TNT now. Shouts that join uproarious volumes can be heard all around, and his ears start horrendously ringing as the blasts approach him with vigor, but unintentionally the sound clears and stilled at the sight of Techno before him. Eyebrows wrinkle as his eyes meet with Tommy's.

Tommy winces when Technoblade blinks down at him. His eyes catch the crossbow in Technoblade's hands with fireworks loaded and prayed that Tubbo was no place close by. Tommy couldn't bare to be exposed to see another one of Tubbo's momentary flashbacks due to PTSD. Shaking that thought out of his head he watches as Techno lifts the weapon with his correct hand and aims it towards Tommy's chest with pin point accuracy.

"You- You didn't need to do this!" He cries out. The turtle shell helmet unexpectedly feels a lot more heavier on his head.

"I was upfront with you from the beginning! The government needs to go." Technoblade shouts back at him. His knuckles fade into a pale white color from the pressure he exerts on the weapon.

Tommy clenches his teeth till his jaw tingles. Never once did he ever intend for there to be an undeniably power-hungry government. He simply wanted a place to stay, to be with the people he cared about and independent away from the Dream SMP. How was he supposed to know that when they needed one individual to be in-charge of them; to help protect them that others would become violent in order to gain a smudge of power?

It was all Schlatt's fault. If only Wilbur won the political election back in September this wouldn't have happened, there wouldn't be corruption, there wouldn't be TNT coming down from the sky threatening everybody's lives as smoke contaminated every one of their individual lungs.

But now no "Ifs" or "If only's" could help them now. L'manburg was no more. Tears start to form at the corners of his eyes and he tightens his hands into fists, nails digging agonizingly into his palms. Small crescents form as he bares his teeth like an animal towards Technoblade.

“You are selfish.” He spits out while his shoulders raise tightly in his new sudden fit of rage.

“Selfish?! You’ve used me from the start Tommy- You’re wearing my helmet as we spe-”

“Technoblade you said we betrayed you-”

“Yes! You’ve betrayed me, like- 12 times!”

Suddenly Tommy charges forward and jumps onto a nearby wooden platform behind Technoblade. Forcing the older to whirl around quickly to keep his eyes on Tommy. Immediately noticing the anger overflowing from Tommy’s physique, Technoblade feels a chill run down his spine from the sudden intimidation.

“Technoblade look at me- Look at me right now.” Tommy starts, then taking in a deep, but shaky breath he proceeds as if he were proposing to walk on thin ice.

“You said you hated governments, you said that we were the ones that betrayed you-”

“Yes-”

“-But you were the one that killed Tubbo when Schlatt told you to!” Tommy screams out, his throat gains a small burning sensation as the conversation continues on and the constant fact that he was continuously breathing in smoke and gunpowder from the scenery around him.

“You're the one that betrayed us! Out of all of the-!”

“I was peer pressured! You betrayed me yesterday!” Technoblade yells out, and in Techno's defense Tommy had no clue how it felt to stand in front of all those people that day when they all expected him to do the “right thing” when they all had something different in mind. It was too loud, too much and he didn't want to hurt Tubbo that day, but no one had his back either! Constantly side-eyeing his communicator for something to do to get out of that stuffy situation he had hoped for someone to pull him out of that abyss. No one had reached out to pull him out, so now he's the one who has to instead sink himself deeper in.

He had hoped. Had. Now after Tommy and Wilbur left him to the wolves while they watched him be forced to execute his little brother's best friend to then be abruptly called a traitor to then and to the rebellion he stopped hoping. He is an extremely loyal person, that day was a mistake and he wishes he could take it back, but he would never tell that to anyone. Only the voices that coincidentally felt the same.

“You used me as a weapon. You never thought of me as a friend and you’ve definitely never thought of me as a brother! You just saw me as the “blade” that’s all I was to you, “the blade”” His voice reaches heights Tommy didn't know it could reach. Watching, he sees as Technoblade slightly pulls the crossbow down to his side while his other hand runs through his pastel pink hair. He's getting overwhelmed. The voices are screaming at him, and he finally listens.

“Well guess what?”

Click

The crossbow now was once again pointing towards Tommy’s chest. Technoblade can't tell what he was doing. The voices had their hold on him. Technoblade is now temporarily the 'blood god' everyone had called him before, and he is about to kill his brother.

“I’m a person and I'm choosing what and who I'll fight for now. That choice will never ever be to fight for you or the government you so desperately want.”

Iut of the crossbow Tommy watches as three rockets come shooting towards him. He already knows the specific variation of colors from watching Technoblade shoot it at others before their “conversation”. Not knowing what to do he shuts his eyes tightly while trembling. Tommy silently curses the gods for allowing this to happen, but he's also grateful to them for keeping Tubbo away. Tommy hasn't seen him since Technoblade tried attacking him earlier only for Sapnap to block the attack; thanks to Sapnap's intervention Tommy was able to run away and for Sapnap to take Tubbo to safety.

In slow motion he watches his life flash before his eyes. Holding his discs in one of his memories, in the next he was hugging Tubbo, the next ones followed as his family embraces him in a hug while putting his head. Soft smiles from Technoblade and Wilbur were brought back into his memory, the disc war, then battling and fighting for their independence, his first exile, Wilbur dying, Tubbo becoming president, his second exile, attempting to kill himself multiple times, meeting Technoblade again, Technoblade protecting him from Dream and the other time from 20+ people to now.

Wow, he was pretty stupid. He’ll make sure to thank Technoblade in another life and try to communicate with him more.  Hopefully apologize to him and everyone else too. Maybe he’ll come back as a ghost like Wilbur. That idea brings a delicate smile on Tommy’s face that Technoblade sees last second, snapping out of the voices grasp.

“Wai-”

Then, out of nowhere a soft creamy, brown clouds Tommy’s view of the rockets. Red and black explode beautifully in front of him. But why doesn't he feel the impact of them hitting his body like he thought? Was it an instant death?

Thump

What dropped? Tommy was too caught up in shock to realize there was a body in front of him, but when he finally turns his head towards the body he notices it's soaked in a pool of blood. His eyes gaze down at the very recognizable suit.

“Tubbo!” He screams aloud, tears cloud his vision as he tears his vocal cords.

He scrambles his way towards Tubbo like a dehydrated man to water. Tommy grabs and holds the small boy’s body against his. Tubbo’s left shoulder touches and stays by Tommy’s chest. Tommy’s hand sluggishly inches towards Tubbo’s face, positioning his hand along the side of his jaw he slowly moves to softly edge his thumb on the skin of his cheek. He looks so scarily peaceful.

Tommy’s breathing quickens at the sight in front of him. He immediately panics about the situation but he attempts to suppress it as much as possible to not scare Tubbo. His throat feels as though he was trying to swallow a still beating heart. Tommy was fine with L’manburg getting blown up now. He was fine that Technoblade wanted to kill him. He was not fucking fine with Tubbo dying in his arms, or dying at all.

“Tubb- Tubbo, listen- Look at me please..!” He pleads, the tears that cloud his vision are now scurrying down his face in big hot globs. Furiously, he scrubs at them with his shoulders to wipe them away. Tears were not going to be the reason he can't see his best friend.

“..Tommy.” He hears a meek voice call out.

“Tubbo you’re fine, we’re gonna get you out of here-” With high speed he swipes his hand out beside him to reveal his inventory only visible to his eyes. Momentarily he removes his hand from Tubbo’s face to look for any potions. Why were his hands shaking so badly?

“Tommy, listen..” At the sound he swiftly pushes away the screen of his inventory, focusing all of his attention on Tubbo. Tommy sees the pain in his eyes bare for him to witness.

“Of- Of course, Big man..What’d you want to say?” He chokes on his saliva, his breathing was becoming more unmanageable. Squeezing his eyes tightly for a second in order for him to get a grip on his emotions  he breathes in deeply before he opens them quickly from a sudden cold sensation on his cheek. Tommy's teeth start to slowly hurt more from him continuously clenching them in an attempt to quiet himself.

“I’m going to die..Aren't I?” Tubbo quietly questions. His hand stays against Tommy’s cheek, a small smile forms on his face.

“No! Tubbo- Don't- Don’t say that- Please..!” Tommy raises his voice an octave higher as if it could convince Tubbo, or himself.

“It’s okay Tommy. I know I won't survive this-”

“But it’s your last life! Tubbo I-I can’t lose you.” Not again. He didn't want to be alone again. He was right there, in front of him, right there. In a way to assure himself that Tubbo was actually there he squeezes the older's shoulders and pulls him closer, while at the same time placing his own hand on top of Tubbo’s that was still on his own cheek.

“You’ll be fine.. ’All good things must come to an end.’ Now is when it ends..”

“Fuck whoever said that line, I wont lose you! I-I-...What will I do..without you?” Tommy visibly gulps. The thought that this could be the last time he would talk to Tubbo scratched at his stomach uncomfortably and made him want to puke.

“What- What am I without..You?” Tommy mumbles into Tubbo’s hand. Digging his cheek into his soft palm he finally lets his voice break. Gasping between sobs and occasional sniffles the boy cries. Lowering his head he looks Tubbo right in his eyes. Everything around him disappears. The only thing he cares about was Tubbo in his arms, and his slowly fading sapphire blue eyes.

“Yourself..”

“No- I- I don't want to be just me. I’m only me if- If i’m with you..!” He begs, letting the tears finally stream down his face peacefully. Tommy blinks multiple times as his view gets blurry again. Suddenly scared that if his view stays blurry Tubbo would disappear. Dropping his head more he places his chin on top of Tubbo’s head. The gap fitting perfectly just as he suspected, he wishes he could have done this sooner.

“Tubbo- I..I wanted to tell you something I should have said earlier...” He lets out, barely raising his voice above a whisper. His throat burns, basically inflamed with the screaming and the painful crying.

No response.

“..Tubbo?”

Letting go of the hand that is still on his cheek he watches, horrified that the limb quickly plunged down to the floor. Pulling Tubbo away from him he darts his eyes to his face. His head stays down limply from having no support from his neck. lifting up the others head by his chin he sees the snug eyes accompanied by the slowly stopping stream of tears. Moving his eyes to the other's mouth he catches sight of a peaceful smile barely quirking up each end of Tubbo’s mouth.

Tommy lightly clasps Tubbo’s shoulders to lead him into a position that lays him against the floor. Letting go, he holds both of his hands and causes them to hold each other before settling them onto Tubbo’s chest.

Raising one knee, he places his hand on top as support. Then forcing himself up he stands. Leaning forward he feels off balance, but suddenly his knees buckle and he sinks down again straight onto the floor. His knees scrape against the the stone beneath him, ripping his jeans and tearing at the skin that is hidden underneath.

Technoblade just watches. He killed Tubbo. Yeah, he planned to kill some measly L’manburgians and had already attempted to take Tubbo’s life right before and had already taken a life from the boy (not on his own accord) already, but actually peering past Tommy’s slouched body ghosting over Tubbo did he finally see a 17-year-old boy. Laying in his own blood slowly dying after he sacrificed himself for his best friend.

Opening his mouth to say something, anything. He quickly closes it when he notices the small particles drifting away from the small body. Suddenly realizing that Tommy also witnesses it he watches as the boy's shoulders became tense.

Tommy brings up his head and sees the white snowflake-like particles unhurriedly rising from Tubbo’s body his eyes widen considerably and his face became horror-struck. Tubbo’s lower half was already disintegrated.

The particles finally, stop sprouting out of Tubbo’s body after he had officially died. Tommy instinctively tries to catch the leftover ones still lingering in the air surrounding him, but he is left with nothing in his hands.

[Tubbo_ went off with a bang due to a firework fired by Technoblade]

The notification immediately chimes throughout everyone’s communicators. A soft pinging sound is rung and the world came to be silent. It was the first official death of this one-sided war.

A new pain that Tommy has never experienced suddenly erupts in his stomach. His tears still flowing down his cheeks left a slight ticklish feeling as it edged the bottom of his chin. Not bothered enough to even try and wipe it away it drops down off his chin. The only evidence to show is the wet circles darkening the stone floor. His friend is dead and his brother killed him.

Why? Why did it always happen to him? What did he do to get punished like this? He’s just a kid, an obnoxious, loud, headstrong and too passionate for his own good type of kid. But this? He has had enough. This was enough for him. Enough to not care that the screams in the distance became louder after the public announcement.

He just wants to go home. Wherever that place might be. But he can’t. Moving his view to the pile of items he stretched out towards only two items; two compasses to be specific. An arrow in one is spinning crazily in all directions showing proof that the person it was looking for could not be found. While the latter pointed safely towards Tommy.

“The..The- Discs- Were nothing compared to you. You are worth so much more than the Discs..” He stifles out, his throat was still burning and he barely manages to convey his final words to Tubbo into the air as they became a mere memory as soon as he finishes speaking.

He, in an attempt to peer over his shoulder, twists his head to his right slightly. Not too much to alert the one behind him, spots the red robe lined with white cotton that touching the floor.

Slowly closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he cautiously stores the compasses away into his inventory with a quick flick of his wrist. A beat later he also grabs a weapon that he tightens his grip on. His skin gains a prickly feeling of blisters opening prematurely.

Technoblade, who was still behind him had no idea what was going on. Where was he? Without moving his head he looks around and remembers of what he was doing. The dark grey smoke flowing out from multiple homes that compliment the still raining TNT digging into the ground, hopefully till bedrock. Yes, he was blowing up L’manburg, finally, but why does he feel such a huge gut wrenching feeling of guilt?

Blinking a few times quickly remind him as to why. His little brother is still sitting beside his best friend who he accidentally killed. Still, this was what he wanted, right? No more government meant no more problems, no more petty wars would keep his family- All of them safe.

But that doesn't seem quite right. L’manburg is done, finished, over. So why isn’t his family safe? Why can’t everything go back to normal now that he blew up L’manburg? Go back to the time when it wasn't made and important to Tommy and Wilbur. This- This place ruined his family. Killed his brother, while heavily scarring the other. He just wants to go back, be a kid again, before the Dream SMP, even before SMP Earth. Living in the cottage with Phil, Tommy, and Wilbur, with the occasional visits from Tubbo.

He just stares. An annoying ringing in his ears blare, quieting everything else. It was almost calming. Suddenly an abundance of memories flashes through his brain, but why? He wasn't dead, he never dies. Was he that upset over himself being so utterly childish? Thinking that this whole government was the actual problem when it wasn't; it was the people, a few people who wanted power the government that made it even worse, he didn't have to blow everything up and put his brother in danger.

'You were extremely childish'

‘Not now’ He pleads to his voices.

'You did what you had to do'

‘Yeah, that sounded better’ He needs to do this, to get his family back together.

'Your brother is dead, the other one hates your guts.'

‘That’s not true’ He states to no one other than the voices increasing.

'You killed Tommy’s best friend, you think he still cares about you?'

‘It was an accident, he’ll understand, Tommy would’ He furrows his eyebrows at the thought. He would, right?

'You did betray him first.'

‘Another accident, not my fault.’ His shoulders stiffen. How are the voices so active right now? Is it the smell of blood that was currently rushing through his air-stream? Is it him killing Tubbo? Is it-

'WATCH OUT.'

The voices unexpectedly decide to team together in order to warn him of incoming danger. Swiftly opening his eyes he realizes are shut he's met with the fluid movement of an axe towards his chest.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Tommy watches the small pile of left over items in a pile hovering and floating in place while he keeps his hold on the axe tight. Grating his teeth once more against each other he seals his eyes briefly and resolves upon a rage-filled action he might regret later. Twisting his head to the right he sees that Technoblade is just standing there.

Using the rest of his strength he could muster he shifts his right hand upwards. Tommy scans the axe named "Axe of peace" Technoblade had so graciouslyCall in nurturing. He slices through the air, making it clash against an enchanted netherite chest-plate that belongs to Technoblade. However, a sharp pain that feels like thousands upon thousands of needles at once dig into make him whine out a sharp sound. Stumbling back, he barely catches himself last second.

“Thorns.” Tommy takes notice of the familiar monotone voice inform him.

He scoffs as a response. Instead preferring to steady himself into a standing position with his right foot leading his stance. Holding his axe out in front of him horizontally, he tries to channel Technoblade’s style and the lessons into his brain once again. He wasn't bad at fighting. This being his, what, fourth war? He knew how to fight.

Of course he wasn't on Technoblade’s level of fighting expertise, but growing up with Technoblade had taught him how to be near his level. Plus, with the multiple wars he knew how to straighten up and be seriousw when fighting. Tommy was most likely below Dream and Punz, on par with Sapnap, but better than the rest. He learned violence as it was all he had known, so it was all he could focus on in order to protect himself and fix problems.

Thinking fast, he decides to forget about charging at Technoblade’s armor since he doesn’t know if he had thorns on any other parts of his armor, it was best to assume he had it on all his equipment. So quickly, while leaping diagonally towards Technoblade so that they were side by side he swings the axe near Technoblade’s hip; where the armor had a slim opening it couldn't protect. Using that as a scapegoat Tommy pulls out a netherite dagger. Then sprinting to Technoblade’s other side while spinning he zips the dagger at Technoblade’s arm, slicing through the flesh beautifully.

The dark red liquid begins to ooze out of Technoblade’s left arm. Technoblade blocks the blow from Tommy’s axe with the clash of his sword which induces sparks to fly. Not being competent enough to block the dagger coming in the opposite direction of Tommy's attack Technoblade takes the cut from the dagger rather than the dagger.

Jumping back, Technoblade decides to observe Tommy. Watching his stance, Technoblade tries to predict his next move. Tommy had an open stance to accommodate for his speed and tall physique, meaning he could catch up with Technoblade before he could Tommy. Technoblade wonders briefly if Tommy had used a speed potion beforehand, but his eyes didn't detect any particles near his body. Even though they were the same height, the robe, jewelry, and crown did put some extra weight onto Technoblade.

Tommy’s posture had his right hand straightforward and at a tilted angle still horizontal while pointing the axe at Technoblade. Tommy’s left-hand holds undisturbed above the dagger that he quickly stashed back away after the one cut at Technoblade’s skin. Technoblade then finally takes a look at Tommy’s face after deeming it necessary when he was done analyzing the others stance long enough. Inhaling sharply he sees Tommy’s eyes. They aren’t even blue anymore; the dull grey that replaces them is all he can see. The dark bags under his eyes that were finally healing after his stay with Technoblade seem to have come back again much to his dismay.

‘Was this how Theseus looked like when his people abandoned him?’ Technoblade thinks to himself, instinctively comparing the two once again. Who is he in the story of Theseus? Theseus, who stands in front of him, ready to pierce him with an axe? Closing his eyes tightly to wrench his thoughts out of his head he opens them to a face full of yellow.

Tommy watches with tight teeth at Technoblade observing him. He never likes people talking about him without knowing, that included thinking something of him without knowing. Even with how ridiculous that sounds. Still, when Technoblade shut his eyes after showing an expression on his face that Tommy has never seen before he had to hit himself later because he almost lost the perfect chance, but luckily he didn't. Charging forward silently, his feet barely tap against the floor as he pounces Technoblade.

Quickly, Tommy aims his axe towards Technoblade’s side again, and once again it clashes and clangs against Technoblade’s sword. Letting out a low growl, Tommy distinctively became faster as he swings his axe out at Technoblade. From the multiple continuous swings, sparks continue to fly.

Walking back and forth Technoblade and Tommy were trading blows. Tommy, who was finally putting up with a fight seriously was gradually becoming more and more concentrating. Though he barely put any slashes, he still got a few meaningful ones in. Technoblade got some undersized cuts in the places he couldn't protect fast enough. Technoblade, being the overall better fighter was able to put more serious cuts on Tommy.

The weapons discord against each other. Tommy and Technoblade were leaning against the weapons still clashed, trying to overpower the other with their strength. Tommy’s face was scrunched in anger, his body was burning, feeling as if he was being burned alive, any voice of responsibility telling him he shouldn't be doing this disappeared in his anger.

Technoblade’s expression seemed as if it were frozen, he looked like he was stuck in his head and his body on autopilot. The voices were contradicting themselves, they were arguing with each other trying to figure out if Techno was in the right or in the wrong. If he should be fighting his little brother.

‘He betrayed us!’

‘He’s just a kid, specifically our brother.’

‘Tommy knew what he was doing when he went back to Tubbo’

‘Techno was going to destroy his only home on the server, of course he would hesitate!’

‘Blood. Blood. Tommy’s blood must be shed.’

‘Technobad. Technobad. Technobad.’

He wanted the voices to just shut up, in his anger towards the voices that could not be clenched, he swiftly kicked Tommy in the stomach to accommodate. But quickly regretted it after he watched Tommy fall down like a sack of potatoes.

Technoblade didn't like how he fell, he didn't even try to stop the fall, no hands out in front of him, not even his usual yelling that followed him whenever he got hurt by someone after he fell to the floor. This time there was nothing. This, this wasn't Tommy.

Tommy just sat there, on his hands and knees clenching the fabric of his shirt where Technoblade had kicked him, what was he supposed to do next? Fight Technoblade? He was literally sitting on his arse right in front of him, and frankly, he didn't want to do anything. He was quite done.

Thinking of something to do when he wanted everyone and everything gone was a lot more easier than he thought. He decided he would just do what the other- others wanted, preached, begged, every time they met eyes.

He was now Theseus, actually, he always was- Is Theseus, but he vividly rejected it, now, as his past slowly creeps up on him like a hungry animal he sees him, standing in front of him was no longer his older brother Techno, it was Lycomedes. History will repeat itself, whether he liked it or not, this was living proof of that saying.

The corners of his mouth quirked up at the thought, maybe he would finally get his ending, not happy- No never happy, but an ending either way. All he needed was a simple push, from a specific person, luckily, he believed, that the person standing bare in front of him would be more than delighted to find out his brilliant idea.

Standing up wobbly, Tommy stored away the two compasses and shiny axe back into his inventory with a small flash of light in the shape of the objects till they vanished mid-air, as he made eye contact with Techno he saw how the others eyes looked just like the color of red-stone dust, how nice.

Spreading out his two hands as if asking for a hug, but this time compared to asking for a normal hug his hands were outstretched to his left and right, not in front of him, he was wearing a tear jerking smile, maintaining eye contact with Techno. The smile didn't reach his eyes, he hadn't blinked once yet, feeling the burn at the back of his eyes. Slowly inhaling a shaky breath he finalized his decision.

"Lycomedes." He quietly said, almost in a questioning tone.

Technoblade visibly flinched at the nickname, he almost stepped back in- Fear? Regret? Amusement? He clearly wasn't quick enough because he felt a sudden tug on his sleeve, looking Tommy in the face made his heart fall to his stomach.

'TOMMY??'

'WHAT'S HAPPENING?'

'PUSH HIM PUSH HIM'

'BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD?'

'DON'T HURT TOMMY'

It seemed as though his chat were panicking, not having clear and longer sentences like they usually would have, they were yelling, a few words at a time to prove that fact. It was sporadic, he didn't know what to do once again, why did Tommy call him that? Was he mocking Technoblade, by also calling the other a name that had belonged to someone else?

“This is funny..” He heard Tommy whisper.

He couldn't force any words out of his mouth, his throat felt clogged, even breathing started to feel like a sport, the most he could do was a small hum in response.

“You were right- Like always! History will repeat itself.” Tommy continued.

Technoblade’s eyebrows twitched slightly, of course he was right, but no one believed him. So what was making Tommy finally open his eyes? Was it him almost dying for him to realize his mistake?

“Let’s really make it repeat itself now, shall we?” Tommy said, a smile tugging his lips upward more slightly.

“What are you trying to say Tommy-”

“Theseus, please, why stop calling me it now?”

“Wha-” He cut himself off, finally figuring out what the other was implying they should do.

The color drained from his face and he felt his lips involuntarily shake, forcing him to gulp, the saliva smoothly went down his throat and made his neck move in accordance. What was he supposed to do? His brother wanted him to kill him, it would be suicide now with how much Tommy wants it more than Technoblade, yes he didn't particularly like the other but he is still his little brother, his only one now might he add. He wasn't going to be the reason his last sibling died.

Tommy, sensing the hesitance radiating from his older brother exhaled, the motion making his shoulders sag down, not knowing that they had actually tensed up. Getting an idea he steadily raised both of his arms once again, but rather than to his side he moved them outwards in front of him reaching for Technoblade.

Clasping both of his sweaty hands onto Technoblade’s shoulders and held on tightly, scrunching up the fabric of Technoblade’s cape still hung upon his shoulders.

“C’mon Lycomedes, do it. Push me.”

Instantly they both realized who Tommy just sounded like, but that didn't deter Tommy’s goal, hell, he would join his brother soon enough, that made him want to do it more. But Tommy slightly winced after that thought, remembering the words his best friend had told him, one faithful day.

“If I can’t be the next Schlatt, you can’t be the next Wilbur.”

If only, Tommy thought for a split second, no one listened to the other and they had become the very same people they swore to not be. Now they were doomed to repeat history once more, only Tommy was left, after his death here history will have been repeated and would be even once more before someone else.

“Hurry- Push me Techno, they want you to!” He raised his voice slightly.

“Tommy-”

“NO! Push me Techno, there’s nothing left for me here, YOU made sure of that! My home is gone, Tubbo- Tubbo is gone, everybody hates me, what’s left now?!” Tommy yelled out, his throat becoming more hoarse.

“I’m not going to push you Tommy, that’s- No- I’m not-”

“DO IT! What makes you hesitate now? You weren't hesitating when you were blowing up my only home! Why don't you just finish me off as well?!” Tommy continued to yell out, grabbing Techno’s collar with both hands forcefully, pulling his face closer.

Techno looked at Tommy’s furious, but dulled out eyes, any blue that used to reside their was no more. It reminded him of Wilbur, as much as he didn't want to compare his younger brother to his other who had forced murder upon himself practically making it suicide, but with the situation it was hard not to.

“No Tommy, I’m not going to- I wont. We’re gonna help you this time, you cant- Wont be like Wilbur.” Techno’s monotone slightly cracking at the end as he thought over his words and desperately looked at his little brother, looking for any sign of hesitance that he didn't actually want to die.

"Wont be like Wilbur?" Tommy said to himself, but Technoblade heard him clearly, then, he continues, "Wilbur, and Eret were right all along, so were you!" He voiced confidently.

Taking in a deep breath, he said the phrase, the one that brought along terrible actions, "It was never meant to be."

Technoblade kept still, he knew the phrase, and if he kept Tommy in his sight he wouldn't be able to do anything stupid or hurtful. 'Just keep him in your sight.' Technoblade chanted to himself, gluing his eyes onto Tommy.

Afterwards Tommy only tilted his head to the side while narrowing his eyes, the shadow of his eyelids made his eyes darker, the blue seemingly dimmed more. Slowly letting go of Technoblade’s collar, he sighed, finally getting that Technoblade wouldn't do it, so it really was up to him in order to do it. Then, without an ounce of doubt Tommy pushed Techno back, which caused him to lose balance and also fall back into the gaping hole that was behind him.

With Techno’s quick reaction time he quickly reached out towards Tommy, his heart pounding in his ears loudly along with the screams of the voices all calling out towards his brother. But he wasn't fast enough, barely able to scratch against the skin of Tommy’s cheek, making it break and rip just slightly.

And Tommy fell, feeling the cold air push past him as he sped down towards the bedrock floor of the crater and smiled. The first real toothy smile he has had in months, now appearing because he was dying, sad but true, but suddenly the sky became white, as if he were staring straight into the sun. His vision was quickly overtaken by the pure color, tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, falling in slow motion.

But as he fell he heard yelling, for some reason it was only one voice and they were yelling directly into his eardrums, making him rush his hands to the sides of his head in an attempt to muffle the sound, but it still vibrated against his skull. He shut his eyes tightly enough to feel them bulge against his eyelids, feeling his face wrinkle at the force, then everything was quiet, he was free.

The last thing he could remember was the taste of ash, oddly enough, not gunpowder on his tongue, and his body, specifically his back felt heavy and gained a warm feeling.

[TommyInnit hit the ground too hard whilst trying to escape Technoblade]

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

With a pained gasp desperate for air Tommy jolted awake, breathing heavily enough for his chest to raise and lower at a rapid pace. He quickly started to grab at his chest, his body felt as though it was on fire, feeling himself sweat buckets, that made him seriously consider if he was in hell and receiving his punishment of eternal flames. Which would sound badass if he wasn't currently experiencing it.

The burning sensation slowly moved, almost through him as it went from his gut to his back up to his shoulder blades. Not knowing what to do he quickly forced his elbows against the smooth material beneath him for some type of leverage, while also slapping his right palm against the floor.

Tommy's breath stuttered as the pain still lingered in his shoulder blades, it was excruciating, feeling like his flesh was getting burned, but he didn't smell the familiar scent of gunpowder, or burnt flesh.

Scraping his fingertips into the (what he slightly noticed to be) marble white floor, he felt the friction of his skin against the smooth floor causing a little burning sensation to compliment his back that was on fire.

Okay, a bit dramatic. But the pain was unbearable, with quiet whimpers being the only sound escaping his mouth due to being trained to cry out in quiet or else risk the chance of getting hurt again.

Slowly, as if encasing a candle with a lid the burning he felt along his back slowly started to simmer, until it was gone. Tommy quickly inhaled leaving his mouth open to gain more air and quickly started to breath in and out as if he wouldn't be able to breath ever again while his ears started to ring endlessly.

As he calmed down with multiple breathing exercises he learned from others he steadily twisted his right hand to his back, not knowing what to expect, but the overwhelming need to touch his back forced him to reach.

But he felt nothing irregular, in fact, his back was cool, not even too cold. Pulling his hand away from his back he finally tried to get up from the floor. Pushing himself onto his two feet, slightly swaying he looked around his surroundings, trying to make any connections with places he’s been before.

Feeling the breeze softly kiss his face he looked around and saw that he was in an all quartz made structure or building, looking straight ahead he noticed a small flower he had never seen before but was also slightly familiar, it was as black as coal with small smoke-like particles dancing around its petals. The block the flower was placed on top of held an item frame that seemed to also hold some type of book, he held his curiosity of the book for now in order to figure out where he was.

Laying his eyes upon a large birch tree that seemingly had leaves that were see through and white in color. Beneath the tree was a patch of dirt with small tufts of grass beside in which the tree grew from and two swings that hung from wooden fences. Looking left and right he then saw corners of the open space he was in around the tree showed four platforms growing lilac and baby blue flowers.

Beyond the flowers were hallways that lead to somewhere else around this place, but he didn't feel like exploring yet. For some reason he felt extremely exhausted, probably from the fact that he did just die.

Wait. He died. And now he was in this pure white place, was he in that place called heaven? Oh god, when was the last time he went into church prime? Or even prayed? To be honest he would say that he didn't believe that God or whoever it was even existed, it’s not like they ever helped them when they died, or when he was left alone in exile suffering from obvious manipulation.

Shaking his head to rid the thoughts of God, he suddenly thought of something, or more specifically someone more important. Making the connection between him being here after death reminded him of why he even died. Where was Tubbo? Twisting his head fast enough to hear a small crack he quickly searched around him with his eyes for a familiar boy.

But instead he was met with an oddly familiar warmth, similar to the one that used to slash at his back, but this time it was comforting, as if a warm blanket was seemingly wrapped around his body. It was close to how he felt about the lava whenever he peered down into the lakes filled with the scorching liquid in the nether during exile.

He was met with a small, floating collected orb of flames, becoming bigger as he looked at it, as if it were excited, or bubbling with anticipation. Then the orb grew even more and a bird like shape was formed, still floating without even needing to flap its wings.

“..What are you?”

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

“I am here to help you.” The fire-shaped bird says without opening its beak. Merely sparing a blink in Tommy’s direction.

‘What the hell, is it or is it not talking?’ Tommy ponders to himself immediately while squinting his eyes narrowly. Forming a muddied facial expression and  he then tucks his arms around himself to keep the warm feeling that was flowing through his body. Tommy hides that fact by acting like he was crossing them over himself in reaction to being skeptical. Not that he wasn’t already.

“Well- You’re kinda late, y’know.” He criticizes, “I’m dead.”

“That you are.” The latter agrees politely.

“So, what? You gonna help me pass away “completely” or something?” Tommy questions while he brings one hand out and waves it around animatedly.

“Far from that actually. I wish for you to be alive again.” The bird states, twirling quickly and spreading its wings out. The bird transforms from a fire-shaped bird into a dark red colored bird with bright yellow eyes that, when shining in the light came off as gold. The transformation also reveales the scarlet wings that fade into a vividly bright orange with gold highlights on each individual wing.

Tommy wrinkles his eyebrows; making them look pinched. His eyes sharpen instantly at the offer of going back. Bringing his hand that was out back into his chest. Why would he ever go back into that hell hole? After everything he has done for it, everything he sacrificed, not getting anything in return, that place and all of its inhabitants have hurt him, minus a selected few. But that doesn't hide the truth of him still having nightmares about them and what they did till this day.

And this bird- This thing, hadn't said anything about Tubbo, if he were to go back (which he wasn't going to, but on the slim chance that he would ) he would need Tubbo. They were a package deal, so, he said exactly that.

“Firstly, asshole, who do you think you are to try and tell me to go back to that place?” He snarled, slightly leaning forward with his arms still around him and crossed, the anger he felt before with Techno was slowly heating back up, “Do you even know what they did to me? What they did but blamed on me?”

“I do.” 

“Really?! Then you would know that I would rather die another thousand times before even standing near that excuse of a country with those terrible people!” He yelled out, swiping out his right hand in front of him while his other laid by his side tightened into a fist.

“You wouldn't be returning to them, technically.” The bird countered calmly, as if it were expecting his reaction which irked him slightly more.

“Explain.You’re being unnecessarily vague, you think I can read minds or some shit?” 

“What i’m trying to say is that you can go back, but you’ll be there before.”

“Before? Before what?”

“Before everything.”

Tommy’s eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. He thought about what that meant, but ultimately shoved it away because it was impossible. Opening his mouth to say something back, that “before everything” didn't explain anything, but he didn’t know what to actually say so he decided to not say anything, hoping that this bird thing would understand and closed his mouth after he anxiously licked his lips.

The bird seemingly understood, at least, the tilted head and quick nod made it look like it understood. Slowly, the bird spread both of its wings out widely before it flapped them once in Tommy’s direction, abruptly creating hot air that pushed towards him and hugged Tommy’s body tightly in a comforting way, similar to the one he was constantly feeling as it was radiating off of the bird. Except for the fact that the constant one before was like an encouraging smile from a loved one, this one that he was feeling flow throughout his body was like a hug from someone you haven't seen in a long time.

It calmed him down, luckily, letting both of his hands drop while also releasing his left hand that still had his nails piercing his skin, noticing that his palm felt wet he tore his eyes away from the bird so he could check his palm.

He laid his eyes upon four bleeding crescent shaped indents, he blinked twice. Watching as the blood started to bubble up in small balls of liquid on his palm, with there not being enough blood for it to overflow or even cause a small puddle, but then red flashed in front of him that turned out to be a feather was placed more specifically onto his wound while it wrapped itself around his hand, from the space between his index finger and thumb to the bottom corner.

The warm feeling was then focused onto his palm, watching in awe he quickly noticed that the feather was disintegrating into a grey powder, becoming self aware again he blew away the feather quickly thinking that the dust or whatever the powder was would seep into his wound. After he blew away the powder he was left processing what the hell happened. 

The crescents that were flowing with his blood were gone, in fact, the skin on his palm looked clean and healthy. Turning his head up to the bird he instantly made the connection and screamed.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Tommy screeched while raising his hand in the air and away from him as if he suddenly grew another finger.

“As I was saying from earlier-”

“NO NO NO- WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT SHIT YOU JUST PULLED??”

“Regeneration, it’s one of the many powers I possess.” 

Tommy just stared, trying to wrap his head around the fact that this bird that used to be just fire knows how to talk to other people through their minds, bring the feeling of warmth, and also have regeneration affecting feathers.

“Okay, okay, what the hell are you?” Tommy finally asked with a steady voice.

The bird blinked once back at Tommy, then flicking its head to the right it considered telling the whole truth. Then, taking a peak towards the boy once again without moving its head it noticed the scars that were scattered across his arms and on his skin underneath the rips of fabric that created small holes from his shirt, the lazy bandage over some still healing wounds that were most likely wrapped in panic or haste. Finally deciding to tell the boy everything it locked eyes with Tommy.

“I’m a Phoenix.”

“A fucking what? ”

“What?” It mocked in confusion, blinking once out of shock.

“What’s a Phoenix?” Tommy asked in a questioning tone, but it came off more as a demand, tilting his head slightly to the side at the Phoenix expecting an answer.

The Phoenix was just wide-eyed, well- As wide-eyed as you can get when you're a Phoenix. Ruffling up its feathers and shaking its wings to help it think of an answer that would make sense to Tommy. After messing with its feathers for a minute or two, finding the feather it used earlier on Tommy back in its place.

“A Phoenix, like a mythical creature. I’ve lived hundreds of years till now and have decided to help you after watching your struggles for a while. I believe that with my morals you would be a great holder of the Phoenix’s soul.”

“What- How did I even get qualified? How do I fall into your morals?” Tommy sputtered out multiple questions with the new piece of information, he was talking to some mythical being and it wants Him?

“My morals are quite simple honestly, but it always depends on the person whether or not they align with it. My morals are along the lines of ‘If you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up’.” The Phoenix slowly explained, trying to make it as understandable as possible, “I’m sure you’re still going up, even after being knocked down a multitude of times you still intended on going up, at least, that’s what I thought before you pulled that stunt earlier, your determination to keep going up is enough for me to believe that you would like another chance, without others constantly knocking you down. Because honestly, if you die now you will be stuck at the bottom.”

Tommy crossed his arms over himself once more, was he really getting lectured by a fire bird? 

“What are you trying to say?” He demanded.

“I’ll be frank with you because I wish to tell you and have you agree before they both appear-”

“Who? They? ” Tommy cut the bird off, feeling more annoyed at the fact that he is so clueless to what is happening.

“Yes, they’ll be here to take you back for your second chance.”

“Okay, let’s go back, what second chance?”

“I have a proposition, a way for you to fix all the wrongs of your land and gain power.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes, if he was dumb enough and if what he inferred from the Phoenix and what it has been saying was what he thought it was he would have agreed already. But this conversation about gaining power put him on the edge, it has most definitely been talked about hundreds of times by different people in different places. For either good or evil.

His mind instantly supplied him with scenarios in which this conversation has most likely been spoken before, people like Wisp, Wilbur, Eret and many others filled his head. Making him shut his eyes tightly at the memories, while inhaling deeply in order to calm himself. Deal with the power first, get it out of the way. He chastised himself in his head.

“Power? What’s the catch in there?” He asked in a low tone after opening his eyes and keeping them steadily on the Phoenix, although the warmth the Phoenix brought was comforting it doesn't mean that this bird won't take the first opportunity it gets to burn him alive while smiling at his burning figure.

He’s seen it many times before, the warmth someone brings into his life only for them to be blinded by something else and turn that comforting warmth into a scalding fire that burns him to his core, leaving him defenseless and alone only for another to come along and do the same thing.

“Catch? Oh, it’s not really a catch.” The Phoenix started, then blinked once before continuing “With the powers of the Phoenix you will gain abilities that tie in with mine.” 

“Well what are they?”

“Firstly, I reside within the Nether, and they all worship me there, they wouldn't think of hurting me or someone connected to me, so all mobs in the Nether wont attack you because obtaining my soul means you will be me.”

“You live in the Nether? How come no one has found you? And what do you mean I’ll be you- You gonna possess me? Cause I’ll fucking stab you if you even think of possessing me.”

“I’m one of the many apprentices of the Sun God, so mobs in the Nether that live in a place also ruled by the Sun God treat me with respect because we’re both connected to each other” The Phoenix naturally spelled out. “No one has found me because I lived in the depths of the lava pools while I watched you.”

Tommy wordlessly nodded, not wanting to interrupt and allowing the bird to continue.

“Also, no, I wouldn't think of possessing you or anything on par with possession. I am doing this for you to have a second chance, when I die soon my soul will intertwine with yours if you agree, then you’ll be the next Phoenix.” 

“So I’m becoming a bird?" Tommy deadpanned.

“No, you’ll still have your body, but with a few altercations, like how if we were to intertwine you’d be immune to fire and lava as it is a part of me. The mobs being nice to you in the Nether as I previously mentioned, and the chance that you might grow my wings.”

“I could grow wings?!” Tommy exclaimed, remembering a man who took care of him with beautiful black wings caused a small smile to stretch across his face. Could he be like him? But then as he remembered the man he also remembered all the times that same man wasn't in his life and the times that he was he hurt him and people that he cared about.

“Yes, but it’s uncommon, even rare, wings are gifted to few with a Phoenix’s soul.”

“That’s cool, but you still haven't told me the actual catch. Don't think I didn't realize that you brought up only positives” Tommy quickly reminded the bird, bringing up his right hand into a fist over his mouth to slightly cough in order to hide the fact that growing wings has always been something he wanted and that he genuinely got excited, especially when he was the son of someone like Phil.

The Phoenix internally agreed, nodding quickly. "There's not that many backlashes because we are blessed by the Sun,the few that will cause problems are the wings, it's incredibly painful to grow them. Especially if you don't already have wings." The Phoenix began, "Then the next problematic thing is the voices."

"Voices?" Tommy said.

"Yes, because we constantly connect each other to the next holder by soul combining you'll get the voices of the previous holders as they also live in the Phoenix soul, the worst they want is urges of fuel for the flame." The Phoenix answered, "Fuel is nothing violent unless you're actively violent, they would encourage it yes, but they're not bloodthirsty. Although people are an amazing source of fuel they don't actively beg for it, the most dangerous thing you'll do to obtain fuel is lay in a pool of lava for the warmth." The Phoenix clarified.

"...Alright." Tommy responded hesitantly, voices were not something he wanted on his agenda, but on the other hand being a Phoenix would help him greatly. Especially if he could get wings and try the regeneration wings. But there was still one thing the bird hadn't explained."You've talked about a second chance and being in the SMP before everything, what do you mean by that?"

"I'm going to take you back near the beginning of your timeline before it started going downhill."

"So- What? During the election then?"

"You'd be surprised."

Tommy jerked back at the comment, what did it mean by that? When did it actually start to go downhill? That thought made his shoulders tense up slightly.

"..Okay." He didn't want to talk about the past, so he just agreed. "Okay, so, time travel?"

"Is that what you call it now? If so, then yes."

"So you're telling me to time travel to the past in order to change the future?" Tommy questioned.

"That is exactly what I wish for you to do." The Phoenix confirmed.

"Would I be doing it alone?"

"Do you want someone to join you?"

Tommy's mind swiftly brought up the one person he wanted to protect and failed to do so, but a question came soon after the thought of bringing that person back as well. 

"When I go back will I still have all of my memories from now?"

"Of course, why send you back if you have know idea what to change?"

With that Tommy shot down the idea of bringing Tubbo, he didn't want him to remember everything that happened and be brought back only for the chance of him experiencing it all again to be his only option. Who would that leave him with? Would he have to do this alone?

He was then suddenly thrown out of his thoughts when he heard someone yelling his name. It wasn't telepathic this time, the voice came from behind him along with the sound of loud and fast footsteps slapping against the marble floor, that caught his attention quickly so he whipped around his head to see who was approaching them, then found himself faced towards him.

"TOMMY!!"

"What- ____?!"

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Oh god, Oh god. Again?! He was hyperventilating, body shaking like a leaf while he stared at the public announcement on his communicator. This hasn't happened before, Tommy wasn't supposed to die during Doomsday, another failed attempt?! Balling both of his hands into fists he lightly started to pound on his forehead, the recurring migraine was slowly coming back, he was already getting the warnings of needing to go back and do everything again.

“KARL!” Someone screamed out.

He flung his head upwards to the voice and saw two people, both wearing worried and exhausted faces as they ran towards him hurriedly, but he couldn't really tell, his breathing was so extremely sporadic that he was losing more air than gaining, forcing him to slowly feel delirious, making everything blend and mesh together. 

He was then slammed into a bear-hug by them both as he heard them breathing heavily, but after hearing his breathing they quickly tried to help him calm down.

“Karl- Karl, can you hear me?”  One of them quietly murmured, “Squeeze my hand if you can hear me please.”

Soon a hand was on his soon after the person stopped talking, it had an odd warmth to it that was familiar so he tightly squeezed it. Then, the hand gradually began to get warmer, not to the point of it being dangerous, just warm enough for him to lean into and feel safe, but he was still suffocating on his own air.

“Good, Karl, I need you to breathe slower, just follow me.” The same voice said.

The hand that was holding his hand then moved to his chest, lightly against his hoodie, the familiar warmth moved through him calming him down and allowing him to see clearly again, finally being able to see in front of him to take notice of who the two people were.

Sapnap, that made sense of where the warmth came from, a blaze hybrid could easily make themselves warmer, and behind him sat Quackity, his wings were trying to curl around himself but because they were small is barely wrapped around his upper body.

Feeling the rise and fall of Sapnap's chest as he demonstrated the slow breathing allowed Karl to focus and replicate the action, after sitting there and breathing with Sapnap the pounding in his head came back and the memory of what he’ll need to do next brought tears to his eyes. He’ll need to reset and try again, he needs Tommy in order to have the safest timeline and he watched him die, again.

“..Tommy” He choked out, his eyes slowly burned as the tears piled and started to overflow and fall down his cheeks.

“I know, I know..” Sapnap quietly whispered, bringing his hand to the top of Karl’s head to lightly rub his head and brush his fingers through his hair.

Quackity scooted closer to the two and sat right beside Karl, only placing his hand on his shoulder to not crowd him too much while he was clearly feeling buried in his emotions.

While Karl was crying about the situation he was left in, across the crater three people peered down into the hole where the boy fell into. The only reminder that he was ever alive was the pile of items floating in place on the bottom of the crater and the memories that he gave the people he knew.

Techno stared down, he couldn't cry, he wouldn't allow himself to. He didn't deserve to mourn about the loss when it was his fault his little brother was now dead. To force his mind onto a new subject he paid more attention to what was left of Tommy, he saw the items: blocks, potions, and other random things. But then he noticed that in the pile, unless his vision was suddenly going bad he couldn't see the compass that Tommy always had on his person, he couldn't even see his own axe, the weapon Tommy was using up until his final moments.

It made him confused, enough for the emotion to be actively shown on his face, but he decided to shrug it off, like most things. Even if there was a weird feeling that started to swirl in his gut, speaking of weird feelings in his gut, the second Tommy fell and officially died the chat became hushed and quiet. As if they were trying to hide something or hide someone.

The few words he could pick up were along the lines of:

‘Have they awoken?’

‘Why are they awake?’

‘They’ll need fuel’

Behind him stood a man who believed that if he destroyed the place that corrupted his son would be good enough revenge and repent to make him feel better about what he had to do and what he sacrificed when it came to killing his son. His broken and burnt wings twitched at the reminder. But what he selfishly didn't know was that his other son, the one he was practically disowning because of how much he ignored him, still loved this place and still loved him. He kept his face as neutral as he could achieve, he did this because of Tommy and because of his rag-tag group of comrades who believed in power above all. But he still lost a son that day.

Now he’ll never be able to apologize because his son became just like his other one, not just with losing all of his canon lives but in the way that they both lost something special to them and believed that dying was the only option in order to find peace.

One lost the home he founded by a tyrant and was sent away from his friends and family, being isolated from everyone except his little brother. The little brother lost his best friend, finally reuniting with him after multiple misunderstandings that tore them apart only to be ruthlessly separated again by death.

The last person, standing above them all looked down at the destruction he caused behind his white mask adorned with a now cryptic smiley face, the familiar feeling of TNT in his hands was the usual, dropping it down one after the other like clockwork from his inventory. Making it seem like the amount he had was endless. But after the chime of his communicator and his own eyes catching the boy falling down to his death made him feel empty.

What was he supposed to do now?  

His most entertaining toy, the most powerful person despite everyone’s opinions was dead. In the back of his head this was something he wanted, but Tommy was too eager, too demanding of his own death. It took away all the fun, but it didn't matter anymore if it was fun or not. 

Dream’s biggest problem was gone, Tommy was the only one who wouldn't listen to him and now that he’s out of the picture he’ll be able to have the SMP as his once again, yes, now was a good time to smile.

Everyone around was frozen in shock, the fact that two kids just died in this unexpected war finally hit them and soon enough multiple people started to cry if they hadn't of been already, a few started to scream aloud, one of those of which was Sam, although he and Tommy hadn't really talked much he cared about the boy deeply. Finding out that Tommy has been in each of the wars directly in some type of way grinded his gears, it didn't help when he heard about Tommy getting exiled for doing something on accident and less severe than others have done to him.

That’s why he was one of the first people to visit him in exile and immediately offer up his home as a place for Tommy to stay and feel safe and protected. But now he was gone, it was like watching your son die is what he felt in that moment, a piercing feeling shot in his stomach when he really felt the truth hit him.

He threw off his gas mask with a snap of the band to greedily get as much air as he could get, becoming so miserable his body heated up and the sound of faint hissing was voiced out of his throat, his gut was sizzling and burning, like someone stabbed him and twisted the knife around in the still bleeding wound, his emotions were becoming too unstable and if it continued without him calming down he could blow up.

But light arms wrapped around him and white, fluffy hair appeared in front of him, along with another pair of arms that were much tighter. When he raised his head to the both of them with frantic wide eyes he saw Ponk and Puffy embracing him. He then cried the most he ever has in his life.

As they both held him closer the faint whimpers coming from Sam broke their hearts, multiple quiet calls of "..My son", "He can't be dead", and "...Tommy" Were heard, accompanied by sniffs as he shook in their arms, while choking on air still trying to call out to the dead teen.

Diagonally across them on the other side of the crater were the houses that some of them lived in, the wooden material was charred black with gaping holes from the TNT and the blasts from the Withers. Above in the sky the blue that they were so used to was now stained in grey, the obsidian continued to loom over them, and small holes were plastered all around the ground. 

No one would be able to tell you where they came from because there were too many things that were causing destruction to even tell.

Karl held Sapnap tightly, digging his hands deep into the fabric of his shirt and clenching hard, gathering a small clump of the soft cotton. This was going to be his last hug until he would reset and have to re-meet them both, quickly he reached out with his other hand that wasn't grabbing Sapnap towards Quackity.

Quackity instantly understood and rushed towards Karl, if only he knew why Karl wanted the hug so badly he would be crying as well, then the familiar head-splitting migraine made itself known again, it was happening.

The pain the migraine caused soon rapidly increased, but he was more than used to it by now so he only cried, slow tears continued to fall and stain his cheeks. Everything gradually started to fade into a rich black, before it took over his vision, then, he closed his eyes and inhaled both of their scents one last time.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Karl opened his eyes slowly, freeing himself from the black void he was left in shoved him into the bright light of the castle. Turning his head to the left and the right he found himself right back in this place where he kept going back to.

The In-between.

He felt the cool breeze push his hair around lightly, unconsciously making him run his hand through his hair to keep it stable looking. The motion made him remember his last moments with Sapnap and Quackity, he breathed in deeply while straightening out his shoulders as he left to look for the tree.

While walking he made note of how the place seemed different, that something changed, but he didn't notice anything that physically changed about the place. It was just a fancy looking castle with lots of stairs, a magic tree, and mysterious books that would leave him messages.

Oh, and the fact that this castle is in the sky, or what he assumes is the sky.

Making the familiar turn that would lead him to the outing with the tree he kept his eyes forward, quickly noticing the boy who was not supposed to be here. With someone else who was supposed to still be sleeping.

But he was too surprised and confused that he thought running to the boy while yelling his name was a good idea. Which, spoiler alert, it wasn't.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

"TOMMY!!"

"What- Karl?!" Tommy yelled out, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" He soon added.

"Oh." Karl quietly responded.

The Phoenix twisted it's head to Karl, then calmly bowed its head as a greeting.

"It's nice to see you again Kasius." The Phoenix said excitedly, but then turned its head to the side in a confused motion while peering over behind Karl, seemingly looking for something. "Where is Ranhir?"

Karl raised his eyebrows, swiftly moving his eyes towards Tommy one more time, seeing that Tommy didn't know what was going on he just decided that if he's here then he belongs and deserves to be a part of the conversation.

"It's Karl, remember? Kasius- He's my father.."

"Oh, yes, apologies, it seems they also got confused as well"

"No worries, maybe your memory is worse than both of ours!" Karl chuckled with a sad smile, "Don't you remember me telling you? Ranhir forgot himself long ago, he was too ahead of himself in trying to save us.."

The mood of the conversation became extremely dejected, with a sad air of silence that soon took over, so Tommy tried to do his best to figure out why the hell Karl is in heaven, and how he knows the Phoenix-bird thing.

"Wait- Karl how do you know the Phoenix, and what are you doing in heaven?" He urged, once again feeling out of the loop.

"We both know each other because of my father and the In-between, which is where we currently are. It's not heaven, stupid." Karl answered with a bit of snark, it was instinct with how Tommy was acting like how he used to.

"I'm not fucking stupid bitch boy." Tommy bit back, like usual.

"Okay kid, I'm here because I need to go back, right?" He said, more specifically to the Phoenix as he turned and faced towards the bird.

"Yes, but you'll have company."

"What?" Karl uttered, the thought of anyone joining him other than Ranhir never occurred to him, out of respect.

"I know what's happening to you, you are becoming just like Ranhir." The Phoenix noted.

Karl couldn't suppress the flinch the comment made his body experience, his head involuntarily ducked down slightly, almost as if he tried to get out of view from the Phoenix.

"..I don't know what you're talking about." He stubbornly insisted, turning his head to the side, avoiding eye contact.

"You're forgetting yourself just like he did, traveling too much does that to you, you know better than this." The Phoenix sadly observed.

"I need to! How will I be able to bring peace to this timeline if I don't travel and find out why everything happened and how I can prevent it from happening again?!" Karl howled out, snapping his head back towards the Phoenix in order to glare at it, while his arms flung out in front of him as his hands spread out.

"You are too scared to make drastic changes, that's why the same things keep happening." The Phoenix told Karl strictly, "You need someone who wants change and isn't afraid of doing things differently. You don't need to figure out why things happen, that’s not your job, your job is to change things and make the outcome different"

Tommy raised one of his eyebrows slightly, he knew the Phoenix was talking about him but would one person really change the future as drastically as this Phoenix is implying?

And does this mean that Karl is supposed to travel back with him? Karl seems like an okay person but Tommy has barely spoken to him and now they both have to save their- What- "Timeline"? He wants other people to rely on, people that are loyal to him and each other despite their differences.

Then suddenly a group of rowdy boys who had an affinity for scamming and manslaughter popped into his mind. He needs to go back to business .

"You said I could bring people with me to go back, right?" He quickly asked, at the Phoenix's nod he soon added "Is there a limit on the amount of people I can bring?"

"Well, you can't bring back the whole SMP. But no, not technically."

"I want Business Bay, my Business Bay. The original Business Bay." Tommy announced, with a small fire being re-lit in his eyes that caught the attention of the Phoenix.

He's going back up from the bottom, just like I knew he would. The Phoenix proudly thought to itself,  "Alright, so, you're asking for TimeDeo, Bitzel, LukeOrSomething, and Wispexe?"

Tommy's face hardened at the mention of Wisp, but soon enough he nodded. If he wanted them, he would need them all.

"Alright, I'll be teleporting them here, but it'll take a bit, so in the meantime think about my offer ." The Phoenix reminded Tommy.

Karl studied Tommy's facial expression after what the Phoenix said, and watched as it changed from excitement to a cold seriousness that Karl rarely saw in the younger.

Tommy stayed quiet, needing to think over the offer, being a Phoenix could help a lot, it definitely had more pros than cons, the forever fire resistance, healing feathers, no hostile mobs in the Nether, it seemed too good to be true. But if it was true and he went back without those powers it would be his biggest loss, ever.

In thought he decided to look around the “In-between” or whatever this place was called, realizing that even though they had been there for a while the sky still showed off the beautiful colors indicating that the sun was setting but hadn't yet. Karl didn't seem to be phased by it so Tommy chalked it up to be usual, then softening his eyes he turned his attention back to the Phoenix.

“I’ll do it.” He stated, while squaring up his shoulders, he was still unsure about this and now that he’s accepting he didn't even ask how they were going to “intertwine”.

“Good to hear, just close your eyes, it won't hurt at all, you’ll just feel a bit warm.” The Phoenix smoothly mentioned.

Tommy nodded then slowly closed his eyes, feeling a familiar warmth swallow him instantly, making him almost fall back at the presence, a weight was added to his body that he couldn't quite place the location of. It seemed as though the weight formed at his gut but spread to his upper body and stayed there.

'You can open your eyes now'

'Hello!'

'Hi!'

'Nice to meet you!'

Multiple voices quickly invaded his mind and he shot open his eyes as soon as he heard the loudest one. Looking at Karl and seeing his some-what shocked and confused face he deduced that the voices weren't him. Wait, voices. Right.

'I told you.'

"Yeah yeah whatever." Tommy grumbled, furrowing his eyebrows slightly.

'Your friends are here now'

'Business Bay?!' 

'Back in Business?'

Turning his body around he instantly saw the four boys staring at him in shock, they each had their original outfits before they joined the bay, then they quickly looked to their sides to see each other.

"..Tommy?" Deo hesitantly called out, his shades glistening against the light of the frozen sunset.

"Hey boys.." He quietly answered, his mouth slightly stretched out into a small smile while he kept his eyes locked with Deo's.

"Where are we Tommy?" Deo asked, looking worried as Wisp behind the rest of them took notice of their surroundings.

"The In-between." Karl responded with, standing his ground beside Tommy, not knowing who exactly these people were put him on high alert.

"Okay, but how are we here? And why do you look so.." Deo wondered aloud, looking at Tommy made him feel..Guilty, for some odd reason.

Although SMP Earth just ended and Tommy announced he was going to another server he still felt like he needed to protect him like he used to when he was his bodyguard. And seeing him look all beat up was like a slap to the face at how useless he was at protecting him.

“Like you went through hell.” Bitzel added somberly, crossing his arms, grabbing on tightly to his own fore-arms, he was quickly getting agitated at how much it looked like Tommy went through without them being able to protect him.

"Tommy why do you look so beaten up and..Older?" Luke asked quietly, finally deciding to speak up.

They all soon took notice of the condition of Tommy, his body looked malnourished and lanky, he seemed to have grown a few inches though, his hair was a dull yellow compared to the bright blonde they were used to. Tommy’s face was scattered with band-aids and two out in the open scars, one that stretched horizontally across the bridge of his nose and another on his jaw as if someone sliced upwards towards his face. Also noticing his eyes that were grey and very much not his bright sky blue eyes, Visible eye bags were left underneath on his skin, coloring the pale color into a dark purple mixed with magenta.

His clothes were tattered and ripped, with dirt engraved on the white material of his shirt. Tommy’s body tensed up at the sudden attention, he couldn't remember the last time someone had actually taken note of his physical appearance. Then his mind was filled with a question similar to the one he asked earlier, not knowing that he obviously avoided the question from both Deo and Luke.

“Wait, they both don't know what happened to me, will they be able to help me? Or do I need to pick other people?” Tommy asked aloud, sounding defeated, as if he made the clearly wrong decision.

‘I can show them, if you’d like me to, or you could personally tell them.’ 

‘Let them see! They’re your friends they should know’

‘What if they don't want to help when they realize it’s too much to do?’

Oh god he hopes they won't back out just because it seems like too much work to do, but he hopes, on the small chance that they will agree and help him that he ultimately decides to let them know everything.

“Let’s show them, and if they back out..That’s fine.” He quietly mumbled, still the feeling in the pit of his stomach that they’ll refuse to help him was still large and weighing down heavily on him like an anchor. 

“Hold on Tommy, you still haven't told us why we’re here in the first place and now you’re deciding to show us something?” Deo quickly sputters out with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, context please.” Bitzel sarcastically quips, undoing his crossed arms to seem more friendly and not angry, he had a feeling he needed to be careful about his body language around Tommy for some reason.

“Okay, so- God how do I explain this..Basically, I kinda, in an indirect way killed myself and now I’m able to go back in time to change the future and I really want your help..Could you help me?” He explained quickly, pain written and easily read on his face like a book.

With a soft sigh and a warm smile Deo spoke up “Of course, I’m self-appointed bodyguard, I wouldn't exactly be doing my job if I didn't devote myself to you and your safety.” He remarked playfully, bringing up both of his hands up in a shrug-like motion then placed them at his sides while stepping forward.

“What friend would I be if I don't help the almighty alpha male in his “only” time of need?” Bitzel chimed in, a smirk plastered on his face standing beside Deo closer to Tommy.

“I mean, I don't know how much help I’ll be as the “Master Builder” but I’ll gladly help you Tommy.” Luke said, also following in the steps of Deo and Bitzel standing side by side.

“I’ll..Help, if you’ll let me.” The last person, Wisp muttered lightly, training his eyes onto Tommy, his eyes were almost pleading to be let in, “I know that I’m not the most trustworthy person in your eyes now after..The incident, but I swear I’ll make it up to you Tommy, I miss us hanging out together, all of us.” 

Tommy smiled softly towards Wisp, “I’m sure you know your mistake, that’s why I asked for you to help me in the first place”

The other three boys kept their eyes on Wisp, just in case the same thing would happen again, they can all tell that if Wisp betrayed them Tommy would definitely break, they subtly leaned closer to Tommy without him noticing.

“Alright, now that I know you guys will help me, I guess it’s time to show you what you're dealing with…” Tommy said, slowly becoming more quiet towards the end, which caught their attention quickly, Tommy wasn't quiet, that just wasn't in his nature, so whatever happened in the time he left with Wilbur to the new SMP must’ve been terrible.

Then, a soothing voice invaded each of the boy’s minds, “Close your eyes and pay attention to what I am going to show you.” it told them, “It will get messy so stay close to each other."

Soon, they were teleported to a place outlined with obsidian walls.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Tommy and Karl sat beside each other on the two swings underneath the tree, the sunset still frozen in place, but the air was windy, continuously brushing lightly against both of their cheeks. Karl was swinging his legs back and forth to get rid of his unnecessary energy, he wasn't used to staying in the In-between for this long and he still hadn't read the book that was clearly left for him in the item frame. Tommy, beside him was just staring at his hands, still internally trying to figure out how the feather worked earlier.

Karl looked expectantly at Tommy, “So..Who are those guys?” he asked suddenly, it had already been a few minutes since the four boys stopped moving, most likely mentally getting a history lesson about the SMP.

“They’re..My frie- No, much much closer than just friends.” Tommy began with a big exhale, lightly closing his hands into fists “We’ve been through a lot together, but after our last server together we wanted to do our own things, but we still kept in contact, well- At least they did..” ‘I didnt’ was left unsaid but heard clearly.

Karl nodded slowly, he didn't want to upset Tommy more, he knew that he was feeling nervous and anxious about letting these people know about what happened to him. Maybe it was pride, or maybe it was just the feeling that he was going to be looked down upon and be treated differently because of how weak he was.

A loud gasp was heard from in front of them of where they both were, then like the flash Deo came in running, followed quickly by Luke, Bitzel, and Wisp. Tommy’s eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened, the fear that sprinted throughout his body jolted him to stand up quickly and pull up his hands in front of him.

Deo then stopped himself, behind him breathing quickly obviously out of breath was Luke, who raised his hands and hit Deo on the head harshly. Making Deo jerk forward dramatically and Tommy wince.

“Stupid, don't just run up to him!” Luke quietly yelled, his voice obtaining a harsh venom as he glared at Deo, underneath with pure black eyes held the skin below them, they were tainted red most likely from the fact that he probably was crying and kept trying to wipe away his tears, making the skin irritated.

“Sorry sorry..Tommy, can I hug you? Please?” Deo asked, seemingly almost on the verge of tears from the break in his voice.

“Kinda weird to ask a 16 year old to hug Deo” Tommy tried to joke, he didn't want to see Deo cry, or any of them for that matter.

“Tommy, answer the question, for all of us.” Wisp called out, his cheeks lined and showed off a clear liquid that dripped down to his chin.

Tommy slightly looked away, most of the times that people wanted to touch him were to hurt him in some way, but his mind and the voices reminded him.

‘Business Hug?’

‘Group hug!’

‘They’re okay, you know they won't hurt you.’

So he raised his arms out towards them and spread them out widely, broadcasting a visible allowance for the hug, and as soon as he finished the motion Deo ran in and fiercely hugged him. The rest of the boys followed in step and held Tommy protectively.

On the outside they were heart-broken, mourning for their friend and feeling the grief swallow them whole as the people who couldn't protect the one person they each cared deeply about. But inside they each felt a fiery rage that boiled inside of them, bubbling up and just begging to be released and used for bloodshed, especially the one who was known for his merciless nature.

“Where’s Dream?” Deo growled out, his hands just barely tightening around Tommy, as to not scare him.

“What?” Tommy meekly said, “No no no no no- Deo you can't-” Tommy quickly started to stutter out turning his head towards Deo to look him in the eyes, or more specifically, in the others shades.

“I Just..Wanna talk..And possibly kill.” Deo replied with a small smirk, then quietly laughed his signature airy and bubbly one even though the topic became 100x more gruesome.

“I’ll join in that talk-” Bitzel called out, “Me too-” Luke soon added, “As if I wouldn't join in talking to that poor excuse of a man” Wisp finalized.

Tommy happily groaned, rolling his eyes just enough for them to see with a big grin on his face, “God- You guys - Haven't changed at a-” A hiccup cut him off, what , blinking a couple of times revealed that he was crying, his eyesight all of a sudden became fogged up, when did he start crying? Another hiccup was heard from his mouth and he sniffed multiple times to try and open up his clogged nose, only for him to sniff up some tears that were peacefully traveling down his face.

They immediately started to try and calm him down with soft words of encouragement and playful teasing, they weren't the best at comforting someone, especially Deo, he was more of a "I'll kill the person who hurt your feelings and hope that makes you feel better" type of guy, but they tried their best, and that’s what mattered. The fact that they were even trying at all in the first place made him cry even harder.

After the crying was reduced to quiet hiccups Deo calmly began to speak, “So, I’m sure I’m speaking for all of us ‘Business Boys’ when I say that we’re definitely joining you, Tommy.” Before he spared a glance to the others who nodded in response quickly, more than eager to help.

“Really?” Tommy whispered, his eyes still glossy and face still red as he scanned all of their individual faces, still scared that this was some type of joke and that they were going to leave him like everyone else did.

“Yeah, now let’s join the DreamSMP.” Deo declared powerfully, the smirk back on his face like before.

“Great, good to hear, but the time that we are sent back to is random so when you log in the spawn go straight to each other first, okay?” Karl chimed in, who was respectfully staying quiet during their moment finally spoke aloud again.

“Nothing different then, we always go to each other first, right boys?” Bitzel jokes, and they all quietly giggle and laugh aloud.

“Okay..” Tommy shakily blurted out, “Let’s go back..” 

Then the world was white again, just like when he was transported to the In-between, but the difference this time was the fact that he was alive again, and home. Quickly looking around he found himself in front of his dirt shack of a home, God, Luke is gonna chew me out for this..He thought to himself in dread, then, speaking of the devil, five chimes ringed throughout everyone’s communicators.

[LukeOrSomething joined the game]

[Bitzel joined the game]

[TimeDeo joined the game]

[Wispexe joined the game]

Finally, now they were really back in business.

[KarlJacobs joined the game]

Plus one.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

Karl watched the five boys get teleported away accompanied by a bright light that surrounded them before they vanished from his vision, soon becoming thin air, as if they were never there to begin with. And with his rapidly beating heart he kinda wishes they weren't.

Turning his body around he looked at the book being held in the item frame below the withering flower, only those who had traveled far and wide throughout time and space could obtain one. He kept his own flower here in the In-between where he felt it was safe, he already knew Ranhir kept his on his person.

Reaching his hand out slowly he plucked out the book from it’s frame, edging his fingers across the front cover, feeling the hard material rub against the smooth skin of his fingertips. Opening it to the first page he laid his eyes upon the hastily written words across the page, his eyes following each letter.

“Welcome back,

This’ll be it unless you fail again, don't feel bad, I’m here for you even if I can't remember you.

I’m proud of you for straying from the path and deciding to do drastic things for the greater good, continue doing what you think is right and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I need to go, he’ll be here any second, if you don't succeed this time I won't be here to help you, I’ll be running from him, you know who . Don’t let anyone, especially him know that you were behind this. Goodbye.

-👑⚫”

Karl re-read it and smiled at the trust, his eyes crinkled at the edges and his smile grew a bit wider, he knew that Ranhir had a heart of gold and always helped others even if other people thought they didn't deserve it. Ranhir always paid back people who helped him with eternal trust and the wisdom that he possessed, even now it feels like Ranhir just wrote this book, but he knew, he knew it was actually so long ago Ranhir had left himself to him, allowing Karl to take over and decide all of their fates. Karl knew that first hand because of how they met, and now he needed to repay him and help him finish what he started. 

He keeps in mind the part of the page that felt as though it was more scared, someone was chasing him, and he acted like Karl knew who it was. The confidence that Ranhir had about Karl knowing was almost nauseating. He didn't know, he had, maybe, the slightest inkling on who it might be, but he never acted out about it.

As Karl reached the end of the page he noticed that it seemed that the message was over, but it still had lots of pages he hadn't read yet, what could Ranhir have written after being done with the page he already said goodbye on?

Grabbing the next page’s corner and flipping it to the next one he saw something that instantly sent shivers running down his spine, the handwriting compared to the last page was significantly different, the one before looked like they were written in a rush, now it was more calm, as if this person was writing things they needed to do before the day ended, basically like as if someone new had grabbed the book and started writing.

But that was impossible, only him and Ranhir knew of this place. And the last time Ranhir was seen in the In-between was when he had confessed the actual amount of time traveling he was doing, then went missing after hurriedly telling them he needed space away from the time traveling. Now that he thinks about it, why was he always in some type of rush? And now with this book, who was writing in their books?

“Hello!

Forget what I said. It isn't worth trying to risk the consequences that come with failing while bringing others who have not traveled yet. Are you really okay with putting them in danger just because you can't do one simple thing like change the future?

Go back to the path and continue following it. If you stray from the path you’ll never know what’s at the end, do you not wish to know?

Go back to the path, go back to the path. Go back to the path. GO BACK TO THE PATH. GO BACK TO THE PATH. GO BACK TO THE PATH. GO BACK TO THE PATH.GO BACK TO THE PATH.GO BACK TO THE PATH.ABCK TO THE PATHGO BACK TO THE PATHTHE PATH.GO.

I’ll be waiting for you, if you don't go back to the path I will know, I always know. I am a god compared to all of you.

- ⚪ :) ⚫ “

What the hell. What. The. Hell. Karl’s face paled extremely, the color draining from his face as he almost dropped the book from his hands that were shaking erratically, that, that damn smile. Holy- Is it really Dream? He had his suspicions, especially with the path, and remembering another who was just as demanding, but seeing the two pages and the smile alongside it there was no denying the truth. 

Then would he know that he strayed from the path because he brought Tommy’s friends? Is this his fault? Will he fail again? His head started to fill with the possibilities that would come when he finally joined them, his mind came back to the path, the one he had been following, the one he knew that- Person made, not wanting to think of his name any longer, but he hoped, begged that even if he did follow that path that he could change something. He was wrong.

Somewhere while walking on the path he had before he didn't notice that he was actually not walking along a path, but a perfectly disguised graveyard for him. Leading him to his grave, and he had been proudly walking down it. Karl licked his lips and swallowed hard, his mouth tasted terrible, the taste came and went every time he visited the In-between, a nasty, dirty feeling that made him want to throw up everything he has ever eaten.

But he wouldn't, because he didn't need to taste it anymore, didn't need to mindlessly follow anyone. He was him, and he had a job to do. Slapping the book shut with a loud slam, purposefully ignoring the rest of the pages he knew were just bullshit words trying to convince him to stay on the path he was ready to go back.

Then he felt that familiar white surround him and pull him apart while slowly mending him back together again. Opening his eyes slowly he saw the other four boys. 

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

As he looked closer, squinting his eyes at his house Tommy hummed lightly, when did his house look like this? It’s so small, he then saw the sign with his messy handwriting that writes “TommyInnit Enterprise” on his dirt shack that weirdly had smooth stone and wood planks adorning it.

When did he decorate his house like this? He thought to himself, he kinda remembers the few times he used smooth stone, but he can't put his finger on when exactly he was sent back. Then something caught his eyes inside his house, grabbing the handle of his front door he opened it and was met with another sign. And- Oh, he was sent back during this time.

He guesses that the Phoenix was correct, in some sad, twisted way.

‘When is this?’

‘Where are we?’

‘What’s going on?’

‘Does that sign say…”Noob” ?’

Tommy sighed deeply, while bringing up his right hand he pinched the bridge of his nose. It did, it did say noob. Fully walking in he was hit with nostalgia and deja-vu, a pink bed in the living room, or what he assumed was one, it was the only room, the floor had holes, made out of materials varying from gravel, wood, smooth stone, cobblestone, and pure stone. Gross. He instantly thought to himself. Right beside the bed he had several double chests and furnaces, he noticed that he didn't even have his enderchest yet.

Opening some chests to figure out what he had at this time left him to discover the two objects he thought were somewhat useless now. The discs. He wanted to just burn them, here and now, the fire in his gut sparked at the thought, but the tugging at his heart that pulled him towards them made him re-think.

Quickly looking through the other chests before he thought of a solution to the disc problem he remembers that he’s literally broke. The only thing of value was some iron, iron tools, a diamond pickaxe and a single netherite ingot. Great.

Swiping his hand out to check his inventory to see if he had anything better he gasped, body left frozen in shock. Why the hell do I still have Techno’s axe? And Is that-

But he was interrupted by multiple pings rapidly being heard from his communicator, swiping his hand again to send away the inventory he soon reached into his pocket for his communicator. Once it was in his hand he clicked the screen and read who was trying to text him.

[TommyInnit logged back in]

<Tubbo_> Heyo!

<Purpled> hello thomas

He must have just “woken up”, so nothing unusual yet, except for Purpled being a dick and using his full name, but whatever, then, while scrolling down with his index finger he read the other messages that were most likely the cause of the multiple pings he heard.

TimeDeo whispers to you: where are you

TimeDeo whispers to you: send coords?

KarlJacobs whispers to you: what time during the timeline are we in?

KarlJacobs whispers to you: I actually joined, so we’re far back in, be careful

KarlJacobs whispers to you: don't know if Dream wants control yet

Great, meeting Dream will really be the confirmation that he’s back in time. Tommy sighed deeply, holding onto the communicator tighter than he needed to, then, clicking Deo’s name he typed out in a flash.

You whisper to TimeDeo: 257, 110, -638

You whisper to TimeDeo: quickly, might meet Dream sson dont wana

Fucking hell, he was already shaking? He bit the inside of his cheek feeling the comforting pain barely sting to ground himself, his hands slightly calming down from that excessive shaking they were going through, now only reduced to trembling. He stared at the communicator, waiting for the message back, his foot tapping against the floor creating multiple little sounds in a fast rhythm, then when Deo finally did reply after what seemed like hours but was just around thirty seconds he checked immediately.

TimeDeo whispers to you: almost there

Okay, Okay good, they’re coming soon. Then moving onto Karl’s message he also hurriedly typed out while slowly starting to pace around in his broken living room abandoning the excessive foot tapping.

You whisper to KarlJacobs: we are so fucking far bak

You whisper to KarlJacobs: first disc war, when me n Sap killed Dream

He went back to his chests at the reminder, staring into the one that held his discs, contemplating what he should do next with them. But he decided on just grabbing them and putting them in his inventory with another swift swipe of his hand just for comfort.

Closing the chest he lazily dropped down onto his bed, in response it lowered accordingly to his weight, his back was up against the cold smooth stone lining his walls while pulling his knees to his chest to curl in on himself. He thought more about what the Phoenix said before he got teleported here, how he would be back to where it started going downhill. He agreed with it not too long ago, but it didn't make sense, him and Dream and everyone here were close friends during this time, the three canon lives weren't even implemented yet. 

They were friends, 'right? I shouldn't have to feel like running away from Dream yet, right? I don't need to feel scared of him already, right? How long has Dream wanted power? Was it my fault that he became so power hungry? Was it something entirely different that made him want power and control?' He thought to himself erratically, slowly pulling his hands up into the air to reach for his hair to grab something he stopped midway.

Looking at his arms because they caught his attention, he pulled up his clean white sleeves to show his arms, he saw that they were smooth, the scars he was so used to seeing everyday had disappeared. The fair, clear skin traveled across both of his limbs, any evidence of war, battle, or anything of the sort was gone. It made him feel a bit lonelier, like he was alone in his head of the memories that tainted his mental stability and personality.

Paying more attention to his body, now that he checked he really did go back in time, his body felt smaller, in a way. His body was void of any scars, the painful blisters that scarred his palms were still there but not severe and stiff, if he checked in any mirror he would probably see a healthy teenage boy with bright blue eyes and clean blonde hair. Not what he used to be, the dirty boy who was broken inside and out, who did not know how to handle physical contact and was doomed to die. He didn't want to think about the past- Or future, either one, he didn't want to think about it. He felt his nerves tickle his skin, bubbling up in his head and making his ears hot.

Hey, maybe this time he’ll just fake it till he dies, fake being what he was, act “normal”. It’s not like he won't die, one day he’ll bleed out, or get exploded, or poisoned, or suffocated and lose his last life. What would happen then? Would people cry? Maybe make a grave, or those cheesy memorials? Would they think it wasn't true? That just because he’s “TommyInnit” he can survive anything? Would people dance on his grave? Maybe celebrate with cake in his house as some sick joke?

He snapped out of his thoughts again from the sound of his door being pushed open loudly, the bubbling calmed down slightly but it still lingered, he seemed to be zoning out much more often than he would like to admit, the door hit the wall behind it, causing him to flinch slightly and flick his head towards whoever was at the door.

Deo, Karl, Wisp, Luke, and Bitzel were right outside his house, behind the opened door. Deo was leading them while panting, his sunglasses askew on his face and his Christmas hat was barely holding onto his head. It could've made him laugh, if he wasn't on the road to a panic attack. Seeing Tommy sitting on his bed in the position he was in made them slowly approach him, taking caution of the holes in his floor. Luke tried to hide his dislike of the interior but failed, making Tommy’s lip curl up slightly at the edges.

“Hey Tommy, you okay?” Karl asks, his voice slightly pitched higher, 'Is that something he does when he’s nervous?'  Tommy internally questions. 

“I’m fine, big man!” He cheers back as happily as he can muster, which isn't much, depending on how each of their facial expressions change after he spoke.

“Sure you are.” Deo sarcastically says, walking closer to Tommy, then, while seemingly sizing up the bed he shrugs and turns around away from the bed, and abruptly sits down on it, making Tommy bounce up.

“OI, YOU DI-” Tommy yells, but is cut off by someone else.

“Got any more room or are you just gonna let him take all the space?” Wisp asks, raising one of his brows with a smile, walking up to the pink bed, most likely deciding by himself that he's gonna sit on it too but just wants a verbal agreement just in case. Standing in front of the bed he looks at Tommy with one hand on his hip, still waiting for Tommy to respond.

“I didn't even say Deo could sit down.” He mumbles, acting angry, but is extremely happy when Wisp sees through him and with a snort he sits down on his other side, pulling up one of his legs and letting the other drape out off the bed.

"Ooooh, me too, me too." Bitzel coos out while walking closer, this time not waiting for confirmation, "I'm not even that fat compared to Luke lemme in instead of him." He says while laying down horizontally on the bed, his body stretched across Wisp's, and Deo's lap, Tommy specifically avoiding him.

"Uuuuuugh." Tommy groans out, pulling his legs back more to his chest, arms wrapping securely around his legs, "You're like a fucking cat- A pussy if you will." 

"And I'm not even fat!" Luke yells out, in a fake offended way, quickly noticing the bed was full of people he sighed in relief. He didn't need to repair a broken bed today when he already has so much on his plate (Tommy's "house").

He decides to sit in front of the bed on the floor, his head leaning back against the mattress, near Bitzel's shoulder. His eyes travel around the room, thinking of things to change as soon as he gets the say to do so, which he knows he will. Tommy can't possibly think this place looks good.

They sit there, together, in a comfortable silence and Tommy is so grateful that he isn't thinking about death still, if he were to admit it, he’d tell them that he has thought about, and imagined his own death so much since his second exile he could probably say it had already happened, that it was like a memory. But now, it really was a memory, he did die.

As he slowly zones back into the conversation it seems that Deo agrees with Luke, “So Tommy, is this really a house?” He says with a bark of laughter that is so contagious it reaches them as well, even Tommy chuckles a bit at the insult. 

“Thanks dickhead.” Tommy counters, looking towards Luke he continues “Luke, do whatever you want with this place, I trust your judgement.” He pauses, “ But it has to be here. ” He states, in a tone that won't take criticism or change. When he finishes he cringes slightly, he didn't like the way he sounded when saying it, “..Sorry” Is quietly heard soon after.

The silence changes and it's now suffocating, Tommy thinks he can hear his own heartbeat slowly increase as it continues, it was that type of silence that ripped and burned at your skin, making you feel like everyone was looking at you, watching, trying to look through you.

Pings were then heard from Tommy’s communicator, then once from everyone’s, replacing the silence that loomed over them. Tommy pulled out his communicator and looked down at the screen, he saw the private messages soon following after the public one.

[Sapnap logged back in]

Punz whispers to you: is your house okay?

Punz whispers to you: it was burned and i stopped it

Punz whispers to you: and heard screams for help

Oh, wow. Sounds much more gruesome without context. He thinks to himself as he raises his brows at the message, he feels Deo lean his body closer while poking his head a bit closer to his communicator to look at the message and in response Tommy just shoves it in his face. 

“Your house got burned?” Deo says with a bit of irritation, he must be remembering something else that relates to burning houses.

“Yeah, used to it. I gotta get ready though.” He responds, his face becomes tense and straight as he moves Bitzel over and gets up off of the bed. Stretching his arms out towards the roof, turning to his chests once again.

They watch closely, paying close attention to what Tommy reaches for and grabs. With the swipe indicating his inventory was out they soon see him pull out iron armor, carrots, a bucket of water, a crossbow, a shield, and materials to make arrows; flint, sticks, and feathers from the chests and see him put them on/into his inventory.

Deo and Wisp then suddenly get up off the bed making the bed creak aloud, soon Bitzel sits up on the bed from his laying position and Luke also gets up and stands. They all look accordingly to Tommy.

Tommy heard the movement and darted his head to them, seeing them look worried made his stomach flutter and the voices cheer.

‘They seem like they care’

‘Help?’

‘Get the boys to help!’

He raises his right hand up in front of them while presenting a happy exhausted expression, his smile soft but genuine, “I’m fine, it’ll just be me and Sapnap being reckless and causing trouble.” Looking back into his inventory with another swipe he thinks for a second, then decides something.

Reaching his hand in he pulled out the two discs and turned his body towards them, “If you really feel like you need to do something to help me then someone take these and hide them or find an enderchest nearby and put them in there.” Suddenly they look to each other, then Wisp speaks up.

“Give it to Bitzel, tell him where you think the nearest enderchest is and then Deo will go with you, since I still don't feel comfortable with you going to- That person alone” He gets an annoyed moan from Tommy and a nod and smirk from Deo, “Me, Luke, and Karl will deal with this..House” Wisp finishes with a knowing look towards Luke and Karl, who nod.

“Fine fineee” Tommy scoffed out, then he handed his discs to Bitzel, “The nearest enderchest that you’ll be able to just go to without danger is in the community house.” He watches Bitzel put them in his inventory with a swipe of his hand then jumps off the bed and yells out, “I’ll be back faster then you can say “Pog”!” He then runs out of the house, the sound of his feet stomping on the ground slowly fades out as he goes farther away from them.

“Deo, you know you don't have to join me, right?” Tommy clarifies, looking at Deo directly.

“Kill?” He quickly responds with, the smirk growing more on his face.

“DEO-”

“I’m kidding!”

“Sure, sure you were, prick.” Tommy grumbles out, then, peeking at Deo, he sweeps out Iron out of his chest, and brings the ingots to the crafting table and creates iron leggings, boots, and a helmet. Then throws them in Deo’s direction, hearing a small “oof” indicating that Deo did, in fact catch them.

He splits his carrots and grabs half, moving his hand to Deo, seeing Deo just stare he just stares back and shakes his hand, showing a “You grabbing it or am I going to have to shove them down your throat?” type of look.

Deo takes them and puts them in his own inventory, then, opening his mouth to say something, he is cut off by two pings that are then followed by ringing. But once again the noise was coming from Tommy’s communicator.

Punz whispers to you: and my inner hero came out

Sapnap whispers to you: do not fear my friend

“Don't worry about your chest-plate, Sapnap has mine and gives it back to me, you’ll have it soon” Tommy says, “And your weapon will be the sword he also has of mine. I’m fine, I’ve got..A good axe.” He finishes with, keeping his eye on his communicator.

“Alright.” Deo fleetly agrees, if Tommy says so, it’ll happen.

<Sapnap> is calling you…

Tommy presses the accept button and is met without delay a loud voice calling for him, “TOMMY-” Sapnap quickly yells out, making Tommy yank the communicator away from his ear.

“Sapnap where the hell are my things- Where are you.” Tommy’s glad he remembers some of what he said during this time or else he would've been so lost about the situation.

“Tommy I am borrowing them.”

“I swear to- I will borrow your life.” He states, looking at Deo and pulling his thumb out to point behind him, an indicator to leave and follow.

They both soon start to run out of the house in great haste, Deo closely behind Tommy, their footsteps loudly hitting against the wooden planks of the prime path. Meeting Punz along the way he runs up to them and hastily shoves a potion of speed into Tommy’s hand, glancing at Deo with an indescribable look on his face he then continues to run past them.

Tommy fumbles with the cork slightly but gets it open and chugs it down, feeling the carbonated liquid bubble and sting his throat. But his speed definitely increased, if he remembers correctly the potion was supposed to be speed level two, so it took a bit more effort on Deo's end to keep up with Tommy but he wasn't being left behind.

Then Sapnap continued to speak as they were running, “I’ll return them under one circumstance” He said, and waited for Tommy’s response.

“What is that?”

“You must join my cause.”

Tommy knew what he was talking about, and to be clear, the cause was stupid, they were both in the wrong, going too far after a prank. But hey, he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to kill Dream once again, and although Sapnap and him fought a lot, he always thought they were close friends. So he just acted dumb, he was supposed to have just logged in either way.

“What’s your cause?”

There was a small pause from Sapnap’s end, and Deo snuck a glance at Tommy, wondering what was happening. From their shared vision of what happened to Tommy in the future they weren't sent this far back, so none of the four boys knew what was going on.

“Well, we have some people on this server who need to be taken down.”

Well then.

“Okay, okay I get it, I’ll be there soon.” He breathes out, running into the Community house after slamming the door open they almost bump into Bitzel, who was about to be leaving. Tommy quickly shouts a “Sorry!” And continues to run past.

Bringing up the communicator back to his face as he slows down to a speed walk, Deo quickly mimics. Before speaking, he looks behind him past Deo, and makes sure no one is following, remembering that Sapnap before was pretty strict on that aspect, then speaks into the communicator.

“If you’re gonna ask if anyone’s following us, no, it’s just me and Deo.” He mentioned.

“Who’s Deo?” Was the immediate response.

“Good friend, he’ll help. If you’re with me he’ll be with you.” Then, thinking over what he said, remembering a certain pink haired brother he turns to Deo and with one eyebrow raised as he pulls up his other hand with the “ok” sign. A mental question if that was okay to say, and if he was okay with the statement.

He gets a laugh in response, then a rough but affectionate pat on the head. Frozen in place he watches Deo run past him, to Sapnap who is waving his hands around signalling for them while hiding behind a small wooden structure.

Shaking his head rapidly he catches up to them, hanging up on the call, Sapnap notices him then tells them to follow him to a more secluded place in order to be able to speak freely, his diamond armor shining brightly against the reflecting sun. Deo flicks his head towards Tommy and Tommy nods swiftly, “Let’s go big man!” He cheers aloud, hiding the fact that his nerves are steadily increasing, building up even more from before.

‘Calm down!’

‘Heartbeat is loud, too loud’

‘I don't like blindly following... remember?’

Remember what? Did something like this happen before? When has he ever blindly followed someone else? He was TommyInnit, people followed him, but then blackstone fills his eyesight and he found himself again.

‘Breathe!’

‘BREATHE’

Why did they tell him to breathe?

Oh, it’s because he isn't.

Coming to a stop he opens his mouth, trying to breathe in but he can't feel any air go into his lungs, he coughs out at how dry his throat feels, more air is taken away from him. The cough comes out scratchy and burns his throat.

He doesn't understand, why cant he breathe? It tastes like iron, why does his mouth taste like iron? He looks around and sees himself laying down on the cold blackstone lined room, beside him- Or the other him, is piles of materials and items that are aimlessly hovering above the floor. Moving his eyes he flinches as he sees Eret standing right in front of him, then he sees the other three also standing there. Sapnap, George, and Dream, not being able to move he watches as Dream raises his sword high up towards the roof, then swiftly plummets it down at his still body.

He gets stabbed.

Then Tommy realizes why he can't breathe, he’s dying. The iron? It’s his blood oozing out of his body, the other body, him, and it's flooding his air-stream. He can now feel the sword from that green bastard as it pierces his abdomen, he’s dying. And he’s so scared, he watched them die, his friends died as they screamed his and each other's names, his bastard of a friend Eret betrayed them. Now he’s losing his first life on this god forsaken server and he Still. Can't. Breathe.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Deo follows this “Sapnap” guy, keeping his footsteps light and steady, while walking he explores his surroundings with his eyes. Remembering any big structures that would be able to help him if he were ever alone and needed to run back to somewhere familiar.

But he concludes that he won't really need to be as observant as he usually is, this is, for now, some server with a group of friends. He also has the “Business Bay Boys” and Tommy, plus the guy named Karl who he assumes is like the original time-traveler or something.

Thinking about them he twists his head to the right to look behind him to Tommy, now noticing that he couldn't hear the younger's footsteps anymore. He sees him standing in place, his body abnormally still, especially for someone like him, at least, for someone like he used to be, as he stares at Tommy, he hears a small wheeze that suddenly cuts off.

The corner of his brow twitches and he steps closer to Tommy, his feet crunching the leaves on the floor till he’s standing right in front of him, by now Sapnap has noticed they both stopped following and soon stands behind Deo.

Deo lightly puts his hands on Tommy shoulders, moving his head around he looks and looks for an injury that could have caused Tommy to stop. The only thing he can really notice is the fact that Tommy is very much not with them, his eyes are glossed and his face hasn't moved at all, most likely spacing out or something similar. But other than that he finds nothing, turning his head back around to Sapnap he quietly spoke, “Go ahead, send me the coordinates, we’ll be there soon.”

Sapnap takes a half step closer and asks “Is he okay man?” To which Deo responds with a “Yes, just tired…? We ran here thinking you took the gear because you needed the extra protection.” Bit of a white lie, but if it gets Sapnap gone quicker than he’ll go with it, either way Tommy probably would have come just as fast if Sapnap wanted a high-five.

He knows that Tommy understands what Sapnap does, what he does, is for attention, for someone to realize that he’s still there. He understands that he’s been second place since, forever. Tommy probably wants to be the person he didn't get for Sapnap, someone who actually pays attention to him and sees him for him, and not his bubbly persona.

“Oh..” He hears Sapnap utter, then watching him pull out his communicator he types something out and sends it, Deo gets a ping coming from his own device and nods towards Sapnap. Sapnap slightly grins “Take care of him alright? Can't have the biggest man fall just because he’s tired!” Then promptly runs away, presumably to the place he was talking about beforehand.

Sapnap keeps to himself about how he felt a weird sensation bubble in his stomach when he met up with Tommy, like as if Tommy had a new warmth to him he had never picked up on before, he wonders if Tommy’s a blaze hybrid like him and forgot to hide it today because he was in a rush. But it doesn't matter, he keeps the thought to himself.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Tommy feels something grab him, big hands hold him by his shoulders lightly and guide him to the ground. His legs are so numb he can't tell when exactly his body sits down. He’s no longer watching, he’s experiencing it now, and he hates it.

He blinks a couple times, but everything's is blurry, colors mix together and continue to confuse him to where exactly he was. But the hands still lingering on his shoulders barely bring him back enough to where he can see the person beside him, the only thing he sees is the sunglasses and he freaks out. Completely ignoring the Christmas hat and the orange sweater.

“Eret..Get your filthy hands off of me!” He growls out, moving his body away from Eret, “Don't fucking touch me!” 

He hears Eret say something, in that disgustingly monotonous low voice of theirs, how dare she try and touch him, or even get near his vicinity right after killing him? Killing his friends, killing their friends?

The hands grab a bit tighter, shaking him slightly, he bites down on his tongue hard, he doesn't want to hit Eret but they're making it really hard not to try. But then suddenly the hands are quickly off of him, did he say that out loud? He doesn’t think he did, soon after he reaches for where the hands were on his shoulders and rubs them lightly, it didn't hurt, but he didn't like the abrupt touching.

Trying to listen closer to whatever bullshit Eret is sprouting he hears broken parts of sentences, is Eret not being loud enough? Why the hell has his body been so weird today? It must be because of his first death.

“..ommy?” He hears, “It’s me..” Who? Who is it ? Wasn't he just with Eret?

“Listen..me” He’s trying to, why is it so hard?

“Focus..voice” Closing his eyes and focusing more on the voice it just barely becomes more audible.

“Can you hear me..?” Eret's voice finally came through, it was still a bit quiet but he heard them so he guessed he can be nice and respond.

“Yeah, but you're still quiet.” He mumbles, slowly being able to hear more clearly. The low voice once again talks, but his eyes are still closed, he doesn’t want to see Eret and his stupid face.

“Okay, uh, do you- what do you remember last?” 

“Really? You're gonna betray us, then right after I die act like I won’t remember anything?”

“Tommy just look at me- Look around you.”

Tommy’s eyes furrow greatly, he wants to open his eyes, but now that he’s actually trying to, his eyelids feel heavy. Just barely moving them open enough to look in front of him he sees his eyelashes partly cover his view, then the color orange replaces and covers everything else. When did Eret wear the color orange?

“Tommy?” Eret whispered.

“Shut up, I’m trying, prick.” He retorts sharply.

Forcing his eyes open along with the help of him blinking multiple times in order to get rid of the fogginess he finally takes notice of the person in front of him. Although the corners of his vision are still blurry he can’t forget that stupid Christmas hat. Where did Eret go?

“Deo?” He calls out quietly, his voice still a bit raspy, squinting his eyes slightly to really confirm who he was seeing. He finally saw that the person he was with this whole time was Deo, and not Eret.

“Finally.” He gets as a response, along with a batch of giggles that erupt from Deo, “Keep looking around, can you remember what we were going to do?”

Taking the chance to really inspect his surroundings he saw the trees that stood tall around them both, light from the sun was shining down on them between the leaves, lush berry bushes were growing out underneath them. Looking down he stared at the grass, the blackstone wasn't there anymore, reaching out he lightly caressed the healthy grass, really testing if the hard material was actually gone.

“We..were outside?” He guesses, they still were, but it must be for some reason, moving his hand away from the grass he looks at himself, he then sees the armor he’s wearing, were they going to fight someone?

“Yes, anything else? Do you remember why?” Deo prodded on.

Tommy keeps looking at his body, he remembers something, but it’s hard to explain, it’s like he was gonna do something he has already done. Has he already done this? Why does it feel like that?

‘Save the future!’

‘Sapnap is waiting for you two.’

‘Time-travel’

‘The first disc war.’

An audible gasp was then heard out of Tommy’s mouth, he remembered where he is, and why he should be getting up and moving quickly, “Sapnap..!” He says quickly, while shooting up to his feet, slightly stumbling as he was still disoriented.

“Yes yes, but don't fall on your face!” Deo warns him, also getting up to his feet to stand beside Tommy. He wants to ask what happened, wants to ask why he lost himself for a second too long.

Most of all, he doesn't want to be mistaken as his older sibling ever again. He can already feel his blood boiling from how Eret could even think of betraying them, especially Tommy. He bunches his hands into fists, then rids himself of those thoughts, Eret must have done it for a good reason, right?

Tommy turns his head to Deo, then asks while looking at him, “What are the coords?” Deo raises one eyebrow slightly in confusion, “He sent them to you, right? I swear if he left us and did not send us the coordinates-” Tommy tries to continue, but is cut off by Deo’s laugh, along with a long sigh, “Don't worry, he sent us the coords, I’ll lead the way.”

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

“You two must be my allies, alright?” Sapnap declares.

The three of them stand together, almost in a circular shape, Sapnap sits on a crafting table he placed down right before he spoke, Tommy, who stands in front of him while tapping his foot loudly, has Deo standing on his left side.

The courtroom is quiet and barren.

Tommy gives him a suspicious look, his eyes become much more sharp as they peered at Sapnap, his arms are crossed over his chest and beside him is Deo, who looks lost but is smiling.

“I’d like my things back, then we can talk.” Tommy says sternly, his head tilts slightly to the side.

“Will you be my ally?” Sapnap asks, he wants Tommy to join him because they are both good at PVP but their skills are overlooked because of the way they act, Tommy is literally a child but he can hold himself well despite that.

Also he’s really hoping that the Deo guy or whoever he is was telling the truth about Tommy being worried about him, if that was true he’ll definitely feel like an older brother and that just sounds super cool. Especially when he is an only child.

“Of course man. But you see here, if you want us to help we need my things back in order for us to actually be able to fight.” Tommy explains, moving his arms from around himself down to his sides.

Sapnap slightly licks his lips, looking like he’s thinking about his options, but then comes to the conclusion that if his allies are strong, and they are with him then he’s also strong. At least, that's what he thinks that means.

“Fine, here.” He says with a grin, handing over his netherite sword “Slayer of BeachBoys” into Tommy’s outstretched hand, okay, new thing to change, this sword name. Then comes the netherite chest-plate “Not Tommys”, another thing to change.

Then he hands them both over to Deo, who smiles while voicing out a “Thanks!” Deo equips the chest-plate, rolling his shoulders at the new weight, it’s unfamiliar to him but he thinks he can get used to it, same goes for the sword. 

Holding it in his hand he looks over the quality of the sword, it’s definitely much heavier than diamond that's for sure, checking the enchantments he sees that the sword has [Smite II] and [Unbreaking II]. He then starts to test it out, swinging it with one hand at first to see how fast he can swing it, each swing cuts through the air and makes a nice sound.

Sapnap watches Deo play with the sword and wonders if he’s actually good at PVP, the name “TimeDeo” sounds familiar but he can't exactly put his finger on it. Turning back to Tommy he sees that he doesn't have a weapon, “Tommy you need a weapon? I can craft a diamond sword up for you real quick.” He asks.

Tommy looks back at him away from Deo then shakes his head, “My weapon is much better than some diamond sword.” He brags, swiping his hand out, then, pulling something out of his inventory Sapnap watches the bright light be turned into an axe.

The axe shines violently, it looks powerful, like some extreme warrior made it out of the blood of their enemies, the presence of a single axe has made Sapnap gape at the sight, firing off numerous questions, but the only one Tommy can actually understand is, “HOLY- Tommy is that yours?!”

Tommy just barely avoids hesitating, he wants to brag that his brother made it, but it wouldn't make sense, not now, “Yeah bitch!” He chirps out instead, “Look at the enchants!” He yells while smiling, handing the axe to Sapnap with a wide smile on his face.

Sapnap checks with a tap of his finger onto the blade of the axe and his eyes widen so much he can feel them bulge out of his sockets, the axe is so OP. The enchants embedded into it are [Efficiency V], [Sharpness V], [Unbreaking III], and finally, [Mending] even the name sounds badass, “The Axe of Peace” it's ironic, but still super fucking cool.

With a cough he then hands it back to Tommy, he definitely made the right choice of who to befriend and cause mayhem with. Smiling as he looks at Tommy and Deo he speaks up “We can be the most powerful in the realm, alright?” With a quick breath he continues, trailing his eyes from Tommy to Deo, “I need you both to be on my side, have my back no matter what.”

Tommy keeps his eyes on Sapnap as he finishes, “Alright, why is that? You still haven't told us why we’re here.” He asks, Deo right beside him verbally agrees.

“Come- Let’s walk and talk.” Sapnap says before he turns around and proceeds to walk out of the courtroom, Tommy and Deo follow behind. The scenery changes once again and trees surround them once again.

“My house was trolled by a certain someone- My house was vandalized.” Sapnap began with, “So I vandalized said person’s house back.” He finished, glancing at Tommy, he wasn't sure if Tommy would actually agree yet, so he knew he would have to say who.

Tommy already knew, but Sapnap didn't know that, so Tommy asked, “Who was it?” While staring in the direction of where the person’s house was.

“Your arch nemesis.” Sapnap replied quickly.

Right, he did say that about Ponk didn't he? God, he can literally hear Deo trying to muffle his laughs right beside him, “Ponk?” He correctly guessed.

The latter nodded quickly, waving his free hand around that wasn't holding his shield, “And I logged back on today, and this person wants to fight me.” He detailed, “So I slay him out, and in retaliation he takes- The woman’s horse- And tries to slay me with the woman's horse.”

Tommy still doesn't know if the horse was brought in voluntarily, either way, the horse did die, if he remembers correctly-

“And then, in our battle, the horse- The horse didn't make it Tommy.” He continues, “And so- The woman in anger, was angry at me, even though I did not bring the horse into the battlefield and she burned my house down.” Sapnap explained.

He remembered correctly then, “So, are we going now or are we just gonna keep talking?” Tommy questions, while smiling, bringing up his axe so it shines in the sun.

“Kill?” Deo says, Sapnap gives a questioning look at the “statement” but with Tommy’s smile widening a bit he assumes that it’s a good thing.

Sapnap moves one foot to the side, leading his body in that direction, then starts marching ahead. With the other two following behind, walking along the path and passing through the community house once again Tommy and Deo admire the world around them, it looks so different compared to what Tommy was left with before he died and much better than Deo was shown.

Halfway up the stairs leading to “Tommy’s property” Deo quickly yells out while pushing Tommy roughly, “BEHIND YOU!” Then the sound of metal clashing against metal rings throughout their ears.

Tommy rapidly turns around and sees Deo face to face with Alyssa, both of their swords tilting against each other, Deo pushes his sword off harshly, then quickly with one hand holding the sword he swipes horizontally towards the direction of her neck.

She ducks down just in time, using the low ground of her body to her advantage, she thrusts her sword forward near his gut in retaliation, Deo blocks it with his own sword, tilted downwards, making a clunking sound and small amounts of sparks fly at the impact.

A split second after Deo blocks the attack he reaches forward for the hilt of her sword with his free hand, once it’s firmly within his grasp he pulls up and away, forcing Alyssa to follow in suit. Deo twirls and while holding onto her wrist now, he uses his other hand holding his sword to plunge the hilt of his own sword into her gut, then swiftly a blow to the nose, making her lose her balance and stumble back.

As she stumbles back Deo lets go of her and twists his body again, but now only slightly to kick her shoulder hard. Making her fall down to the floor, he holds his sword tighter, sneaking a glance at Tommy once he decides to do it.

[ItsAlyssa was slain by TimeDeo]

“Oh, free stuff, pog.” He mumbles to himself with a laugh.

They finish walking up the stairs together, at the top Sapnap keeps his eyes on Deo, who is sorting out the stuff he picked up from Alyssa, and throwing behind him the items he deems are worthless. 

Tommy watches with a smile, then turning back in front of him he sees Sapnap watching both of them with raised eyebrows and a slowly growing smile of his own, he’s about to say something before Tommy notices Ponk running up behind him with his diamond sword.

“SAPNAP-” He calls out, sprinting forward and just barely manages to make it in time with how far he was from him, and only gets a gash in the arm, his axe not being long enough like a sword to be able to cover the space as quickly.

As soon as he felt the blade cut through his skin he was engulfed in a blazing fire, he freaked out for a second, already planning on switching to his water bucket to extinguish it, but an exclamation of Ponk right in front of him who backed off as soon as he hit Tommy made him stop, “He’s not burning?!”

Tommy blinked twice, he forgot he was now immune to fire.

‘How do you forget that?’

‘Fire-proof!’

‘They know now’

'Oh crap, was I supposed to hide it?'  He thought to himself quickly after the response of the voices. Quickly covering himself in water from his bucket he calls out, “Deo! Switch!” Deo’s head flicks up at the call and sprints forward at Ponk, but is met with his shield, he grunts in annoyance.

“Tommy- Shield.” He says, another grunt bubbles from his throat as he tries to move his sword past the shield, Tommy nods and runs up beside Deo, charging forward he crashes his axe right into Ponk’s shield, shortly disabling it, Deo takes advantage quickly and launches his sword at his neck.

He just barely missed, grazing his neck slightly and gaining a single cut. Tommy once again steps in front and launches an attack toward his shield again, causing serious damage upon it with his strong axe. The break of wood in the shield is noticeably apparent.

Tommy strikes again, chipping wood and forcing the gash on the shield to increase even more. Pieces of wood fly out as he strikes again, hearing Ponk start to panic something feels like it’s wrapping itself around him.

A feeling was consuming him, a feeling that if he didn't take this fight seriously he would die, really die. Panic reaches his own body and makes his body tingle, he then strikes again, and again, and again. After each hit he gets faster, overwhelming Ponk quickly, after one of the many strikes he hears a distinctive sound of something cracking.

CRACK

He stops his continuous hits to look in front of him, he sees Ponk on the floor, looking up at him in his hand is his broken shield. His eyes are vastly widened behind his mask, Tommy lowers his weapon, but then he raises it again slightly just towards his neck. Copying what Deo was aiming for.

“You chose the wrong side-” Ponk yelled.

“I didn't choose a side, I-” He started, but cut himself off, he didn't choose a side, he chose to stand beside Sapnap, was that a side? “I didn't choose a side, dipshit.”

Pings were heard but then ultimately ignored, Tommy smiled and raised his axe, as words and voices flooded his head like he was underwater.

'Fuel?'

'Fuel for the flame!'

'Things getting heated?'

'Fuel!'

Then a ping he knew was coming rang throughout their communicators, a small fire starts in his chest and he relishes in it.

[Ponk was slain by TommyInnit]

Tommy turns around and was bodied to the ground by Sapnap, who hollers out loudly. The fire quickly resides. Then Deo sits down beside them and smacks his hand lightly on Tommy’s head, he notices the way Tommy went in a little too desperately during the fight, it was a weird sight.

Sapnap probably didn't notice due to the fact that during this time Tommy didn't fight during this time other than now, he just played pranks on others with Sapnap.

But something else that itched at Deo was the fact that Tommy was now fireproof? Like- When did that become a thing? He wanted to ask, launch questions like how people used to launch nukes at them back in SMPEarth, but watching Tommy and Sapnap cheer and smile made him wait.

Fixing his sunglasses, and pushing them up higher on the bridge of his nose, something else popped into his head, something he was prepared to deal with, but now he isn't. Thinking hard about it with his hand on his chin he remembered, and with a spark of realization he opens his mouth to call out to Tommy to tell him.

But a ping that rings through each of their communicators does the job for him, now Tommy will know. And looking at Tommy he watches as the color drains from his face, while his face is mixed between fear and excitement.

[Dream logged back in]

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

Far away across the world into another server stood someone standing incredibly still, his body tense and his breath coming to a halt, he had heard it, heard them more specifically. His voices that had been so calm were being awoken by the thrill of even more voices from afar, so loud and boisterous that they had reached his chat.

‘What’s that sound?’

‘Fuel?’

‘Blood?’

‘E’

‘Blood Blood Blood !’

‘Fuel!’

‘Technofuel!’

What was his chat talking about? Did he need to refuel one of his many furnaces? But that didn't make sense, even if his furnaces were empty that wouldn’t cause a burst of demands for blood from his chat, they haven't even wanted blood since he started growing potatoes on his own separate server away from anyone and everyone.

Looking left and right, his head turning in both directions made his long, pink hair flow beautifully in the softly flowing breeze of the wind. The new voices definitely weren't from his server, but where did they come from? And why did they demand fuel?

Standing still for a while longer, he noticed the voices that evidently raided his own had disappeared, slowly faded out as they were never there to begin with, his chat was calm again, clearly confused, but soon enough quietly murmuring to themselves of what happened.

“What..What was that chat?” He asked, the curiosity in his monotone voice was barely audible, hiding it well behind his constant facade of being stern and strong.

One of his louder voices, spoke up, hopefully to actually tell him what happened now that they were calm- Or seemingly calmer.. 

‘The Sun God has another Phoenix.’

Oh, okay.

No- No wait- What was that supposed to mean? He thought quickly, his head started to hurt with the voices now being riled up with this- Phoenix, what was a Phoenix anyways? But he quickly regretted thinking that question because his chat was quick to inform him.

God, he needed to sit down, he guesses that it’ll be a long talk that he’ll hopefully not participate in, well, technically he will take part, but not really. His head just hurt really badly and he wanted to sit down.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

The high from the battle made the three boys not realize that the sun was slowly setting, the light blue in the sky muddied with the mix of a peachy color that also dwindled into a soft orange stretched across like a canvas. The puffy clouds soared above them and watched, intrigued by what was going on below.

Their communicators kept buzzing and pinging, they ignored them for now, already slightly having an idea as to what would be written. They were still caught up in reminiscing about the fight they fought.

“TOMMY- That was amazing!” Sapnap yelled out, a bright smile was visible as it showed his pearly white teeth, then, looking at Deo he continued loudly complimenting, “Dude! Deo? That was sick! Where did you learn to fight like that?!” 

Deo chuckled, he's heard Tommy fawn over him multiple times when they were younger so he was used to the compliments, he caught the sight of Tommy practically shaking in excitement at the compliment, or what he hoped was excitement, it looked like he was trying hard to hide that fact though.

Deciding to answer Sapnap he fixed his Christmas hat that was lopsided from the fight and responded with, “I taught myself, but I trained in Bedwars and Skywars then I also fought back in SMPEarth.” Sapnap’s eyes widened a bit, “Really? Bedwars, Skywars, and SMPEarth?” He questioned, then continued again quickly, “I heard Bedwars was harsh with a bunch of good PVPers, and a good amount of people here came from SMPEarth if I recall correctly...”

With a laugh Deo added more, “Yes, a good amount of people did..Bedwars and Skywars is where almost everyone trains, either for fun or for actual training.” With small movements of his right hand swinging around in the air.

Looking closer he could see the smirk on Tommy’s face beside Sapnap, if he were to guess the smirk almost looked proud, then, turning his attention to the communicators when he thought the pinging was getting too annoying he saw multiple people typing and sending messages publicly.

<Ponk> HELP

<ItsAlyssa> Dream

<ItsAlyssa> HELP

<ItsAlyssa> ACCEPT CALL

<Ponk> TRIAL

<ItsAlyssa> TRIAL !!!!!!!

Deo’s brows flicked up slightly in surprise, a trial? It already seemed much more different compared to SMPEarth, after a fight like this and the opposing side wanted their things back they didn't hold trials, they waged war. Countries against countries.

But seeing the name Dream, makes him take it seriously, it seems now that it was going to be a three on three battle now, that is, if this Alyssa person and Ponk person would be able to get more armor and weapons in time for the next fight.

“Should we kill Dream?” He heard Sapnap shout and repeat himself twice, Tommy beside him immediately agreed, also yelling out “Yes!!” Then, quickly standing up he continued, “Let’s kill Dream!”

Following what Tommy was doing they all turned around and were swiftly met with Dream standing there, wearing full iron while holding a shield with his upper arm and aiming his enchanted crossbow towards them with the other with both hands holding on firmly. Tommy felt goosebumps crawl sporadically along his skin, he doesn't like crossbows being aimed at him now he guesses, pink fills his eyesight for a split second at the reminder.

“Tommy” Dream called out specifically, his body was relaxed.

“What Dream?” He doesn't remember talking to Dream before this fight in the past, they went straight into fighting, what was going on?

“Give Alyssa and Ponk back their items and I’ll leave you alone.” Dream responds with, almost as if he didn't want to do this.

Although it was hard to tell, unless you were Tommy and were always constantly watching Dream during exile he could see how the man actually got surprised when he saw Deo standing right beside them both, his shoulders just barely became a bit tense, the hands holding his crossbow became tighter. Tommy hid it from his face that he was also surprised, why did Dream seem to be surprised? Deo and the others were whitelisted, right?

Visibly looking at Tommy for his answer to the request, Dream sees the straight face that painted Tommy, and quickly, with no response from Tommy he fires his crossbow to take the other by surprise.

The arrow cuts through air towards Tommy, with his newly formed fast reflexes from the future he’s able to pull up his shield in time, feeling the arrow pierce the wood with a sounding snap he soon glares in Dream’s direction, his eyes become sharp like the edge of a newly polished sword.

With a familiar yell calling out beside him, it helps him decide to run forward and follow the other that ran first, “GET HIM!” The familiar voice that turns out to be Sapnap roars, sprinting out before Tommy caught up.

Be that as it may, Tommy stops a couple of feet before Dream, allowing Deo and Sapnap to charge forward. He pulls up his own crossbow, using both of his hands to hold tightly and focus on Dream's chest, watching them to lead the pack in the assault. 

But before he can even draw back the arrow and shoot it, Dream strolls back with Sapnap and Deo's assault, making him go down a few steps of the stairs. Rapidly taking care of the crossbow and putting it away into his inventory with a glimmer of bright light Tommy brings out his axe as he runs in front of them both with the speed of a projectile and attacks Dream's shield with his axe in a fast, smooth movement that felt like it had been practiced many times in the past.

Dream, barely, hinders the assault, yet somewhat thinks twice about it after he sees the harm that was delivered onto his shield. Flinging his head up to glance at Tommy and look him in the face he investigates the axe instead, as it caught his attention after the damage, seeing the dark, powerful, and familiar glow that radiates off the weapon.

Switching quickly, Deo charges forward again, like in their last fight, and attempts to use his new diamond sword (“borrowed” from Ponk) to inflict more damage with the fire and deteriorate Dreams health more efficiently. While it was a good idea he needed an attack that would ensure sword on skin contact, that was much easier to say than do.

Coincidentally, it seemed that it would actually be easier to do than say, especially with two other skilled fighters on his side and exerting pressure. Repeatedly swinging his sword at Dream, it was enough for the fight to temporarily change to a 1v1, proved true to his recent change of statement.

Deo’s sword bashed against Dream’s shield every other hit, the remaining hits were deflected by Dream’s own sword. None of the hits were cutting skin, Deo gritted his teeth, he knew how good Dream was, watching those memories really proved it. But he was confident in himself enough to make the effort to try harder.

The disgustingly heavy pressure from Sapnap on the rear, and Tommy with his shield breaking axe and this new guy “Deo” made Dream falter slightly, running out to his left, the other side of Sapnap, running to a fenced wall, once it was in sight a curse was heard from the masked man, along with another word none of them could pick up.

Quick on his tail, Deo practically threw his sword in Dream’s direction, pulling back his arm and aiming it, flicking his wrist to add precision. He watched it shoot ahead and slice through Dream’s side, quickly engulfing him in fire, burning at his armor and skin immediately.

When the sword fell after the throw, Tommy took the lead again, using the extra fire and his own permanent fire resistance to close in on Dream and attack. He committed the swings of his axe into Dream’s shield first, if he was lucky enough he could break it like he did with Ponk’s, repeatedly striking the shield, the familiar motions being duplicated.

The wood chipping, feeling it break underneath his axe, the voices that had been quietly watching, not wanting to distract him started to stir again, whispers became murmurs became yells, to ear wrenching screams ripping at his ear drums.

‘It’s him ’

‘Fuel!’

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX’

‘Don't spare him, use him as fuel’

‘Take revenge!’

‘FUEL’

The world around him slowly began to fade out, his outburst from earlier and the flame that had died down sparked once more. He raised his hand up to prepare to strike again, his mind clogged and full with the voices again, but his axe collided with Dream’s sword, the sound barely making him focus again.

Dream’s sword roughly hit back against his axe, pushing him and temporarily making him unbalanced, Dream lunged his sword forward near his head, it only slightly cut through his cheek before he brought up his own shield to deflect the end of the attack, the cut was small but deep.

The warm, dark red liquid gradually leaked out of the wound and edged down his face, gathering together and dropping off from his chin. He had tunnel vision strictly on Dream, so he didn't even notice that Sapnap was alongside the mountain to his left and was planning on jumping Dream when he backed off.

With the few warnings he heard that faded in and out between the calls for fuel from the voices they urged him to jump back, he did so and watched as Sapnap jumped down on top of Dream with a yell, his own enchanted diamond sword pierced through Dream’s armor and plunged through his stomach.

The grand attack was soon followed by multiple other attacks, Dream desperately trying to defend himself with his sword, with a harsh throw, he ditched the practically broken shield in order to defend himself more accurately.

But it wasn't enough, with Dream bleeding out it made his attacks sluggish and not as powerful, still weak from the fire that had by now been burned out, with a boisterous laugh Sapnap shouts “YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE US?!” And one more strike into Dream confirms the kill, the ping was sent to their communicators as soon as they saw the particles float out of his body, leaving his items on the floor.

[Dream was slain by Sapnap]

Deo and Sapnap cheered aloud, Deo caught up and searched through Dreams items, once again mumbling about “free stuff”. But Tommy stood in place, his voices, although they were usually calm, were not happy with the situation.

‘OUR FUEL??’

‘WHY DIDN'T WE GET THE KILL?’

‘FUEL’

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX’

‘GET FUEL’

‘Oh my..’

He kept his eyes on the two others, trying to pull through the voices' blaring volume, walking up to them both quietly he was met with a smiling Deo handing him golden apples, most likely belonging to Dream.

Then, a heavy weapon being forced into his hand was felt abruptly, looking down with raised eyebrows he saw Dream’s crossbow, it’s wooden material swirling with a glowing purple hue signifying and reminding him it was enchanted. With a steady hand reaching for the crossbow to check the enchantments showed him that the crossbow had [Piercing IV] and [Quick charge III] .

In response he whispered a “Thanks..” To Deo, growing extremely tired from the voices demands being called upon him, he loaded the crossbow unconsciously.

Deo noticed his change in attitude quickly, “Yeah, no problem..Tommy? You okay?” Deo asked back, the worry he usually hides in his somewhat monotone voice itched through.

“Mhm.”

“Okay- I’m not implying anything- I know how much of a “Big Man” you are-” Deo snorts out, as he keeps his eyes on Tommy, a soft smile spreading across his face, “But let me- Anyone know if you're not feeling well, okay?” He finishes, lightly tapping his hand on Tommy’s shoulder in reassurance.

Tommy was glad he received those words, but they didn't help or quiet down the voices that were still raging about how they didn’t get the kill on Dream. With each second his brain pounded against his skull harder and harder, causing intense pain he didn't know he could feel.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

The same man from before, who was now back in his farm, tending to his various fruits and vegetables stumbles down to ground, feeling as though he got slammed in the gut. He gasps out air, his lungs stretching out painfully, one knee deep into the soil of his plants, his hand pulsing at the grip of his other leg. 

The voices were back already? He thought to himself, he still doesn't even understand what the hell a Phoenix is, but what he does know is that the voices were angry, how were they so much louder than his own chat?

And more importantly, how did this person’s own chat reach him? Were they that much more powerful than he was- Or is? Did they both harbor voices that came from almighty gods?

‘THEY’RE BACK’

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX’

‘FUEL’

‘THEY GOT THE KILL’

‘GET THE FUEL’

‘NEED FUEL’

God, it was so much more annoying than his own chat, his chat had already been overthrown by these new voices. Even though they were shouting and yelling about getting “fuel” which he assumes is a replacement for something else much more gruesome they had a softness to them that echoed, as though this rampage wasn't what they only called for or talked about.

Pulling up one hand to massage his forehead, the only thing he was thinking of was when the voices were going to stop, or at least calm down, he already has his own and doesn't need even more. Secondly, he wasn't gonna get involved in some business of someone who was or is related to some- What did chat tell him again?

Right, some type of immortal fire bird. Great.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Going back into focus Tommy noticed them standing alongside the prime path, he was probably on autopilot. But now that he really pays attention he can feel Deo holding his sleeve tightly between his fingers, he blinked twice at the sight.

Not fully on auto pilot then. He thought to himself with a clear grimace.

In front of them stood Dream, once again. Choosing not to speak he brought up his communicator with one hand and typed into it, fingers flicking across the screen in at a fast pace, then a chime ringed throughout their own devices and Tommy quickly brought his own out and read the message with another chill down his spine.

<Dream> give me my stuff back.

Without a second to think and the voices returning at the sight of Dream he brought up both of his hands still holding the crossbow, pulling away the grip from Deo and fired the arrow that was loaded from before and shot it.

The arrow whizzing through the air made a small noise that soon faded out with its speed, Dream was most definitely surprised, especially from the low shriek he emitted from his voice right when Tommy shot at him.

If Tommy had used his own crossbow that he had from his house Dream wouldn't have died, but from the enchantments he had equipped on his weapon and the fact that Dream was completely defenseless with no armor, plus the realization that he hit a perfect head-shot he was quickly informed of his “achievement”.

And with a burst of white particles, he did it.

[Dream was shot by TommyInnit using “NOT penis” ]

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

After it happened Tommy flinched, he realized what he did and exhaled heavily, his shoulders shaking, “Whoops.” Was his first response. But he was glad he did it, even if he didn't mean to, and the voices had actually died down a lot, they decreased from yelling to soft talking.

“Dang Tommy! Nice shot! That’s what we like to see!” Sapnap laughed out, “And- That name!” He choked out between fits of giggles, clutching his stomach with both of his arms around himself.

Deo was smiling, but his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, he was still worried about Tommy, even more now that he spaced out again, then, as soon as he saw Dream he took advantage of his vulnerability instantly. He thought it must’ve been because of what he has been through already but something felt like it did not match up.

There were more messages being sent through the communicators with multiple rings, but all three of them ignored them once again, in the corner of Tommy’s peripheral view he noticed and recognized a tuft of brown hair that was trying to hide behind the side of one of the many mountains surrounding them.

Without an ounce of hesitance he ran towards the familiar brunette, the brunette took notice of him then got out from behind the mountain and met him halfway. Looking closer at the brunette he noticed his equipment and armor, the other was only wearing an iron chest-plate and iron boots, the only other piece of armor he had was a leather cap.

Tommy also noticed the shield he adorned, while in his other hand was a wooden bow that he held closely to himself. Although it wasn't as clear to see, Tommy saw the signature green messily tucked in and buttoned up shirt with somewhat loose blue denim jeans underneath the armor, it put a warm smile on his face to see those clothes and not his presidential suit.

“Tubbo. You look so incredibly poor-”

“TOMMY” Tubbo yelled out, the leather cap on his head slipping just slightly from the quick head movement.

Tommy just laughed in response, it felt like it had been years since Tommy saw Tubbo, even though it had technically been hours, but with how Tommy saw Tubbo in his last moments were enough for him to try and block it out from his memory.

From Tommy’s burst of laughter it was like a chain reaction and soon enough Tubbo joined in with quiet chuckles with the occasional huffs of air between. Deo and Sapnap watched for a few seconds before they decided to join the other two, as they both walked up, Tubbo raised his eyebrows at Deo’s presence.

“Is that-?” Tubbo began, but was then quickly interrupted by another voice.

“It’s nice to see you again Tubbo, you still doing hits?” Deo asked too casually, with a painfully glee look on his face.

“Wha- No- Tommy, what’s going on? And, Sapnap?” Tubbo responded with, averting his eyes from Deo to Tommy to Sapnap quickly, his face plainly showing that he was confused.

“Oh, that, yeah. Me, Deo, and Sapnap are a team, seeking revenge.” Tommy answered the question that wanted to be asked so clearly by Tubbo.

“Tubbo you should join us-” Sapnap said excitedly, his eyes shining just a bit more than they usually did, but he was cut off by Tommy.

“Only if you want to, I know you were the one who tried really hard on repairing Ponk’s lemon tree, even though I don't like the guy, that was nice of you, but we're fighting them so..” Tommy tried to explain, slowly losing his confidence of trying to keep his persona on, those messes of words definitely made Tubbo somewhat suspicious, right? Either way, thank Ender he remembered that he was pushy about Tubbo joining him before, he still wanted him nearby but not if he really didn't want to.

Tubbo raised his eyebrows almost comically, then scoffed lightheartedly, “That’s one of the reasons I was watching actually, I wanted to prevent any other fires..” He started with an itch to his cheek, then continued, “With the whole fighting part, I’ll leave that up to you three, just, no burning anything!”

Tommy softly smiled, remembering when they used to playfully banter back and forth in the past, or present more-so speaking. Suddenly the two other objects he gained from before that were kept and taken from the future held heavy in his inventory reminding him that they were being held there, it made him widen his eyes, he thought about it for a second, should he give it to him now?

The two small, circular cylinders that shined brightly and were most likely pointing obviously at their two counterparts with their bright red arrows made his fingers twitch, the need to give one of them to Tubbo held strong in his gut, the voices seemed to want to hand it over as well too.

‘Give it to him’

‘It’ll be a nice gift!’

‘He’ll definitely like it’

‘NiceInnit?’

Oh god, not the stupid nicknames.

No, no, he wasn't going to give a compass with his name on it that led directly to him and the same with his own randomly, and especially not in front of Deo or Sapnap, and instead of just giving it to him it'll be a better idea to keep it and give it to him when he knows they'll separate, giving it to him now will put too much risk on the chance that Tubbo might lose, break, or give it away, also, he would rather die than do that.

Well, on second thought, dying wasn't the best, he'd actually rather not. But looking at Tubbo smile and talk to Sapnap and Deo while he watched on made him miss moments like these, at least he has another chance to make more memories that are more happy than sad and traumatizing.

But a few pings that rang out aloud specifically sent to his communicator shook him out of his delusion, of course he would be the one to remind him that he can't have happy moments with the people he loved, reading out the private messages carefully he gritted his teeth at who it was first before reading the whole message, after he did so, his skin turned pale. He was stuck, so terribly stuck.

Dream whispers to you: So, Deo, huh?

Dream whispers to you: He's new, I wonder how he got here

Dream whispers to you: And more importantly how he already knows you so well...

Dream whispers to you: :)

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

This was not good, but he needed to hide the fact that his body felt like it needed to run, or even sprint to wherever Dream is and apologize. So he’ll have the chance of getting let off easier, but he wills it down, letting it burn in the pits of his stomach where the ever-lasting fire burns.

“Guys.” Tommy called out, bringing up and shaking his dominant hand that held his communicator, it was turned off, the screen black so you couldn't see the messages, but the implication was obvious.

“Right.” Deo immediately nodded his head, while also walking closer to Tommy, his steps steady and confident, Tommy was thankful that Deo either wanted to get hurrying to fighting or that he understood and saw the scare that was hidden behind his face.

But Tubbo also raised his voice slightly at the concern he saw that none of them noticed or pointed out, “Tommy, you’re not going to fight again with your injuries, right? Surely not..” He said, nervously laughing the last bit more to himself.

‘What injuries’ Tommy was about to respond with, but suddenly he was hit with a sharp pain running up his arm, making his face cringe, he had completely forgotten about them, the long slice on his arm from Ponk. And at the reminder the very much still bleeding gash on his cheek that might possibly leave a scar now felt protruding.

Tubbo saw the look on Tommy’s face that was visibly confused until he realized that yes, he did have two wounds that he was sporting and completely forgot about, he deeply sighed before swiping his right hand out quickly and dragging one of the few bandages and band aids he had stored in his inventory.

With a grumble and an incoming annoyed huff of air, Tommy reluctantly lets Tubbo walk closer in order to wrap the healing material onto him, but not without growing slightly tense, he wasn't fully used to people getting close to him that have hurt him in the past.

Even though he feels conflicted about the closeness he reluctantly turns his head to the side so Tubbo can get a better look at the wound. He feels the burning of the cotton material against the open cut, after it’s tightly secured by a sticky bandage lining the edges so it doesn't fall he turns away again. With a hand on the other's shoulder Tubbo moves Tommy’s body to the side to get the wound on his forearm that cut his long-sleeved undershirt.

He hissed at the feeling, Tubbo wouldn't have healing potions at this time so Tommy couldn't look forward to the nice buzzing of his wounds seemingly being sewed back up like he was so used to after battles.

Deo and Sapnap watched on, not needing the same attention as they both were wound free. Deo watched closely, his anxiousness leaking through, being wary of everyone he had already seen cause pain in some type of way to Tommy.

“I bet you weren't even paying attention to how many hearts you lost.” Tubbo chastised rightfully, he did forget to check, and taking a sly look at the corner of his peripheral view he sees that he lost one and a half hearts. It wasn't much, at least to him.

Tubbo wrapped the same cotton material around Tommy’s forearm tightly enough for it to be proudly sealed, the continuously flowing blood dyed the white cotton. Once he was done he had an indescribable look on his face, his eyebrows were visibly pinched, accidentally tightening the wrapping around Tommy’s arm even more, causing him to hiss louder at the contact.

Tubbo immediately apologies, pulling up both of his hands away raised high to show he wasn't touching him anymore, “Sorry big man..It’s just that I’m a bit worried- I wasn't- Well, I shouldn't be telling you but..” Tubbo tried to communicate, but quickly began to fumble over his words, soon taking in a deep breathe he continued, with more confidence, “While I was walking here, I saw Dream, Punz, Alyssa, and Ponk coming here as well.”

Tommy raised his eyebrows only slightly, he remembers this, remembers them winning once again even though it was just him and Sapnap before. He nodded curtly to the information, and Tubbo slowly nodded back, looking like he was deciding something.

“Hey.” Tubbo called out, as if he finished thinking about it and picked out the option he was considering earlier. Tommy kept his eyes on him, his head turned to the side out of curiosity, this was a new experience, and he wanted to soak up any new information or changes that can put the odds in his favor. Whether it be big or small.

“Yes?” He responded with.

“I just think that, although I don't want to be a part of..Whatever this is, I feel like I could- I could help.” He stated, his face becoming serious once he finished, it felt like Tommy was looking at future Tubbo, when they were side by side and fought against others. It made his body gain chills, not knowing what it was out of.

“What are you trying to say, Tubbo?” Deo spoke up, tilting his chin upwards and looking down at the shorter brunette.

Tubbo turned to Deo swiftly, his hair swishing at the movement, “I’m gonna help, I’ll be above with my bow.” He answered, pulling back up his bow he had before, a grin plastered on his face that made Tommy also mimic it instantly.

At the eye contact between Tubbo and Deo, he continued to talk, “Before I would have most likely just watched on the sidelines and made sure you didn't burn anything.” He said, his voice drenched with sincerity and thought, “But I feel like this might be, albeit it is you guys, it does seem a bit unfair”

Deo hummed at that, thinking it over in his head, “It would have been a bit more difficult with another fight from dream and a renowned mercenary- Punz.” He looked deep in thought, his hand instinctively going back on his chin whenever he thought seriously about something.

But Tommy shook his head slightly at that, “You sure? You could avoid all of this drama, it’d be a lot more safe I reckon.” He tried to reason, not because he felt like Tubbo was any type of liability, but more so because even if this is a past Dream. It’s still Dream.

Someone he doesn't want to know he cares about anything that’ll be used as blackmail.

“Yes , c’mon, you don't have to go all clingy on me, I can handle some sniping.” Tubbo laughed out playfully, his tone light, softly punching at Tommy’s arm that was closest to him.

“But even though you're now technically a part of this-” Deo noted, soon cut off by the loud blonde.

“We didn't agree on that yet-” Tommy tried to butt in, swatting lightly at Tubbo, who was still trying to punch his shoulder continuously, but was then also cut off.

“Now that you are a part of this I just have to say..” Deo continued, unphased by Tommy’s soon predictable outburst, and putting emphasis on the ‘are’ to tick him off more playfully, “It’s still basically a three v four, I’m not saying Tubbo doesn't count. But on the ground level where everyone else is it wouldn't help much, y’know?” He tried to explain.

“Oh, I get it.” Sapnap spoke up, taking a step closer to the small group, “Is there anyone else online that might want to help us?” He asked aloud, also laying his eyes upon Tubbo.

“Purpled!” Was the immediate response from Tubbo, he got a nod from the group, telling him to continue, “He’s great at PvP, Purpled and I were already planning on hanging out, but then I got distracted by you guys and the commotion..” Tubbo reveals, quietly laughing at the last part.

“Purpled huh?” Deo pondered, he remembers fighting Purpled on randomly generated tournaments against the other teen, so it wasn't enough for him to have a guess at what his personality might be like, he basically didn't know they guy, “Do you think he’ll agree? He seems like the type of person who would only join something like this if he were close with us or if he got paid.” Deo connected, pulling together crumbs from what he’s heard about Purpled from tournaments and his older brother, Punz, a well-known mercenary.

“Maybe if you brought a good bargain.” A voice from the nearest wall chimed in, “I’m joking, c’mon, you guys know me.” The male voice snarkily added in as a second thought with a calm laugh that didn't last too long.

ŏ̢̟̹̺̙̜͈̭̮̼̱͉̜̟͓̰͖̱̰̠̞̖̗̏̏̈́̊̈͛̍͗̈́̔̇͒̂̈̄͘͘͝͞͝͡ͅͅ=̖̘̦̼̯̰̥͍̺̲̪͎̥͊͐̑̎̉͆̅́͗͑̈́̚͜=̡̜̻̪͎̞͙͎͙̱̫̥̹͖̯͚̹̯̉̍̄͒̄̔̑́̐̂̈͐̄̌̓͂͌̕̚͟͢͡ͅ[̧̛̪̩̼̖̭͔̣̜̃̇̀̂̅͂̓̕͘͢͢͞]̢͉̘̫̟͉͔̊͌͛̀̀̊̀:͓̙̱͎̹̺̫̟͙͋̓͆͐͌͛̒͡:̡̨͖̝͍̲̦̙̝͉͎͇͓̰̬͓̤̱̹̩͎̓̎̽͋̃͑͐͑̓̃̎̀̿̽̄̅̃̀̕͟͡͞͠ͅ:̡̹̭̼͇̫̖̮̞̗̼̫̻̮̳̳͕̘͑͊͋̋̏̅̏̏̈̒͌̓̚͢͝͞͠͝:̡̘̯̫͍̻̂̿͐͒̾̚͜͠:͕̦̤̝̥̮̻̙͉͔̤̱̉̓̎̀͋̈̑̿̚͜͠͠͡͝ͅ:̨̘͔̄͊̇͒͟:̛̹̬̱͕̮͚̖͚̪̖̝͚̪͓̰̘̞͈̱̪̱͇̒̃͆̏̓̊̑͋̐̋͑͗͋̈́͗̍̇̕͘̚͜͠͝ͅ:̛̤͚̹̺̙̤͔͈̥͕̯͙̣̩͕͈̟̼̲͉͉̲̜̻̝̠͓̓̄͊̈́͗̅̉̽̌̿̔̾̎͒̑̈́̋̋̅̆̐͐̊̾͜͟͜͡͞͞͝:̡̧͇̫̥͙̤̱͚̫̔̃̿͐̋̇̒͂̄͘͝ͅ:̡̨̛̻̻̭̝̻̫̘̝̥͈̝̲̻̠̺̪̣̭̞͔͑̎͒͛̃̅͌̂́̆̍̑̃͗̎̅̋̈̕̕͢:̼͙̯̘͖̭͕̖͉̊͑͗͗̆̄̂̄̆͘͟:̧̛̛̬̪̫̟͇̙̭̗̰͎̤͕̮͎͍͓͖͎̾̌͆̐̊͑̌̓̃̾̏͐̓̀̊̋͟͞͞:̢̡͙͓̞̺̳͚̞̦̖͓̼̞̳͍̻͖̼̜̫̖̤̱̟́̊́̓͆̑̐͗͂̃́̉̎̔͒͆͋͛̑͗̑̆̚̚̕͜͝ͅ:̞̪͓͕̱̟̫͍̟̲͕͉̙͚̱̺͈͒́͐̋̉̉͒͐̂͊̑̈͞͠͝͡͞:̢̩͙̭̫̻͛͂́͌͐͛͜͠ͅ:̡̰̭͉̬̯̯͈̪̦͔̒̽̄͋̈͆͘͘͠>̢̗̤̱̳̹͉͉̩̜̥͔̇̇͋̂̋̅̋́́͘͢͞͞

C̗an̥͌ ̝̹̒͌y̭̪͊̎ò͙͙̂u͈̐ hȇ̗̰͞a̗͗̿͢r̹ m̟̒e̹̠̊?̆͟

İ͇͓̒ ͜l̛̟̺̎o̠̽s̺̿t͓͠ h̐͟i̪͊m͈͒ i̗̟͛̍n̘̾ ̫͐͌͢t̆͢h͔̆e͈͓̾ ̢̄e̦͛̇͟ṽ̜e͚͝r͂͟-̛̦̞̐c̙͉̉̈́ha̼͛ň̦͋͜g̜̕í̜̺̚ñ̲̭̓g̮̅ ̢̝́͛h̦̏ä̰͙́̄ll̏͜w͂ͅǎ̳̝̏y̮͑s͚̔ ̞̇t̞̬͗̀hã̲͉̕ṯ ͎̿͑͢ả̙̮̐i͕̣̽͛d̮̃ed ̠̍m̗̈ȇ̳̣͞ ͓̝̅͆i͉͡n̜̖̍͋ ͢͝mÿ̗́̓͢ ̂͜e̹̚s̥͓̐̽c̿͟a̟̓p̠̤͗̏e.

B̡̝̊͡ű͚̠̽ț͓̇̐ ͕͝h̢̉e ͚͙̒͒ș̨͑̏t͔̿i̡͕̋͝l̰̏l̹̓͢ ͚͌ḥ̮̏͂o͈̅ld̗̈s m͍̈́e̥̍͐ͅ ̧͉͌̚t̢͇̍͗i̠͞ģ͊h͚͌̾͟ť̮l͔̦̄̈́ỹ̧̭͗, ̳͐I͓̯̅̊ ͔͛c̢̬͛̐a̝͡n͔̹̄͝ ͋͟f͔̓e̗͉͑͠e̯͘l ṁ̦̠͑y ̯͐b̙͙͛͋od̜͛y ̹̯̈͗be̫̫̋̚ì͇ṇ̜̓̔g̰̏ t̍͜ȍ̡̩͡rn ͎̥̿̍i̗͋n̜̓ṫ̺͢͠ỏ͍̲̒ ̢̌tẁ͎o ͕͊f̫͑ròͅm͈̓ ̭̃w̦̭̒̉ĩ͔ͅtḥ͂ị̰̒̎n͓̈ a̳̓n̟d̺̎ ̧̖̏͝g̽ͅe̱̕t̬̜̍̆t͉̿i̺̾n̺̂g ̡͠m̮̔en͚̆d̫̕ed̥̈́ ̀͢ẁ͟i̥̇t͙h ̣̜̌̊a̬͖̽͡ṋ̄o̖̟͊͡t̝͙̎̌hḛ̼̊̓r.̝͌

H͍̯͛͛e̗̼̋̈ ̼̊m͈͎̄̀ị̣̒͠gh̥̯̃͐t̳̀ ͖̈́cõ̳m͙̋e̱̹̽̽ ̧͒fỏ͎r ̰͍̒̚y͓͓̆̅ó͖̫̓û͍͎̈ ͖͕͊as̥̩͊̂ ͙̊w̮̺͊͐el͇̽ļ͠,̗̯̓̾ ͉͘s̙̤͌͂o̰͠ ̨̹͌́Į̿ ̥̬̿̕w͙̖͂i͉̐l̤̓l̤̽ ͎̿l̫̐͋ͅea̢̱̋̉v͉̖̌̊e͕̫͑̒ ̹̫͗͡t͈̺̃̐o̦͔͂͂r̳̋ć̝h̼̗̐͑e̫͋s̒͢ ̢̼̌̐l͇͛e͈̅ad̛̺͓̎į̽n̤̬̄͝g͚̍ ͒͟t̖̳̃̕o ̛̰a ̬͡p̢̃o͖͖̾͝r͙͚̈́̒t͎͌åͅl̥̂̅͢.̲̦̆̒

İ̢̫̯͊̐͐͟ w̺̲̞̳̄̔͋̊en͇̙̬̽͝͡ţ̫̜͉͎̌͛̑͋͞ ̧̩̐͡ṱ͔͖̣͐̍̅͞hr̺͕͌̾͜͝o͔u̘̙̰̺̒͆̄̑̉͢ġ̫h̙͍̪̆,̦͞ ̧̛̮͉͇̉̅̿f̢̖̲̅͝͡ọ͈͒̓̎͢l̟̪̮̜̱̃͗̇̑̂l̩̓o͎̩͇͖̿̓̌͞w͎͎̎̒ ̧͍̜̤̐̀̄̈́m̨̛̰̺͐͊͐͢ē̠̺͓̌̕ ̭̲̗͛͑͠if̘̮̘̓͛̍ ̛̳̱͎̜͗͑̿y͕̱̓̎ǒ͕̱͉̙͌͋̔ù͍ ͖͛c̲̹̉͝a̯̺̿͠n͖̈́.̨̣̝̝̏͛̽͛

̛͈̹̆I̦̚ w̗̋ơ͚̇͜k̬̪̈̽e̼̬͗͛ ̼̲́͡u̫̞͐̍p ̛̩̩̿s̜̱̓̋ȍ̳ḿ̗e̼̦͊̎w̲͌h̗̔͝ͅę͉̽r̩̓e ̉͜İ͖̟̕ ̦͂͗͜ḓ̔o͚̚n͖͒͗͢'t̰̕ ̦͚͐̕k̩̓͢n̫̓ò̮̭̏w.͔

̡͈͒̽

͑͜I̮̽ ̖r͈̈́ḁ̫̀̄n͔̒, ̢̾w̥͠h͆̈́͟͜ȩ̓r̟̞͋̓e̹̽ ̞̰̇̐a̤͎̔̋m̻͞ ̝̉I̡̓?

İ̪̮̇t̛̼͕̄'̤͋s ̢͔̔͠so̞͕̾ ̧̻̎͞d͟͞ar͚̞͗̈k̥͗̚͢ ̬͑a̡ń̥͙͠d̗̋ ̓͜m̗͊is̜͊t̬̽y ̧̽̑͟Ǐ̫̳͘ ̹̠̉̕can̮̺̍̒ ̺͙͒̾b̖̐a̚͢r͍̈e̹l͎̩͛̔y͟͝ ͓͒̆͟sé͙͢ȩ̳͂̎ ̢̖̃̋ï̗͈͞ǹ̩ ḟ͜r͈̈o̰͎̓͘ņ̦̅́t̊͗͜͟ ̙͗o̰͆f͔̄ ͍̾m̹͞ȇ̼̦̅.̠̋.̡̟͛̌.͈̽

̘̓

͍̤̚T̝̍h͔͔́́ê̹ ̤͂f̝͕̏̄iȓ͖e ̔͟l͉̼̈́͝î̲n̼͆ed̻͎̉̔ ̢̋w̫̾a̤͍̐͗l̛̜̪̿kw͉̘̐͒a̝͠ÿ̪ ͓͓͆͌b͍̓e̕͜c͍̾̏͢k̨̦̎̉o̧̎̿͜ns̱͑ ̭̂m̛͙̯͆e̬͗,̢̤͑͝ ̫̗̿̎i̪̅t̘̓̚͜'̯̈́ͅŝ̟ ̜̩̃͠s͇̐o͍̓ m̩̬͛̋u͠ͅc̙͔̓̃h m̛͖̲͛ő͙̫̈́ř̨e͈̐ c̡̅̃͟o̜͠m͙̏ḟ̞ǒ̧̪rti̞̞̒̚n̜͗ğ̡ ͕̟͂͑t͍̤́̎hȧ̯͌ͅn̺͆ ͇̎t̰͡h͙̠̃͡e ̻͛͘͟I͖͡n͉͞-͖̾b͔̆ę̻͂͘t͓͚́̉w̢̼̒͒ee̡͘ñ̥.̼͖͞͞

I’ll leave a white tulip that’ll greet you at the entrance to let you know.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

The voice turns out, not surprisingly to be a person, more specifically, Purpled. Who phases from out of the mountains wall, his purple hoodie hanging comfortably over his face, shading it from the now dark blue hued sky.

“Oh, Purpled.” Deo calls out, fully remembering the other now that he has a visual of him, “I remember your tournaments.” He adds casually, turning his head slightly to the left with a small smile, one of his hands resting on his hip.

“Aw? You're a fan?” Purpled quips back instantly, a smirk apparent on his face, white teeth and sharp canines are flaunted.

Deo’s eyes narrow slightly, while scoffing out a few laughs, “I’ll ignore that, thank you.” He replies, with a forced smile, followed by a statement asked in a questioning tone, “I’m also assuming you heard what we were discussing then?”

Leaning back against the same wall he emerged from, Purpled flicks his head back, forcing the hoodie looming over his head to fall back on his shoulders, platinum blonde hair reveals itself. His hands being freed from out of his pocket are then left being crossed over his chest firmly as he responds, “Yeah, I heard you just fine.”

“So?” Deo pushes verbally, wanting an answer immediately so they don't waste time.

“I dunno, I’m kinda the most neutral guy you’ll ever meet on this server, and I’ll always be neutral.” He calmly replies with, his shoulders shrug quickly, darting his now glowing purple eyes onto the one person who steps forward after he finishes talking, “Not sure if I should do something like this this early on, especially to the admin.”

“Always neutral?” Tommy says in almost an accusing tone, not waiting for an answer he continues, “So you’ll stand for nothing?” He asks, standing in front of Purpled with the others right beside him.

Purpled just wrinkles his eyebrows at the questioning statement that proves true with what he also just announced, but with the sentence a question burns in his mind. ‘Why is he taking this so seriously? Should I be paying attention to who I associate with and my decisions?’ Staring at Tommy he remains tranquil, not knowing if what he wants to say would be what the other wants to hear.

Tommy appears to notice the way Purpled chose not to answer the question, not that he didn't know. So, with a barely noticeable exhale he speaks up again, not having any desire to make the other refuse to help them, “That’s fine. But just think over your decision to be constantly neutral, whether it be now, or in the future.” He says aloud, making a stride closer to Purpled while influencing one hand around in the air as he spoke.

Purpled keeps his eyes on him, purple eyes tracing over his figure as if he were an object to be studied. Tommy does the same, “I’m just saying, if you stand for nothing, what’ll you fall for? But maybe- I’m- I’m just spewing out my arse huh?” He says, mumbling out the last part, itching at his own hands from him falling out of his persona once again.

He’s not an all knowing “hero”, he’s just a kid. And he needs to act like it.

Purpled blinks at the sightful words, very seemingly surprised at the person who spoke them, not knowing that Tommy could be serious or deep, it sparks something within himself, looking at Tommy he sees something like an ever shining sun that constantly beams on those below. So, with a grain of salt, he obliges.

“Alright, So, what’s the plan?” He voices, his attention captured by the now not so loud blonde.

Tommy quickly nods at the question and motions him with his hands to come closer, doing the same to the three others who were around them, as they surround each other in a circle formation Tommy tells them the plan of attack.

“Okay, so I reckon that Dream is gonna be the one who tries to rush us, especially with how we killed him already, his pride wo-” He starts with, his eyes gleaming at the reminder.

“Wait- Go back, you guys killed the blob already?” Purpled questioned, his eyes wide at the thought.

“Yeah, bitch, did you not see the public announcements?” Tommy falls back into his persona, voice dripping with non-violent toxicity.

Purpled purposely rolls his eyes, enough for Tommy to see, noticing that Tommy is acting like he usually does again, maybe, just maybe he was already regretting his decision, “I was mining for netherite, bastard.” He spits out.

“Sure you were, prick.”

“I was.”

“Yeah, and I was fighting the wither.”

A pause, silence fills the air quickly, then.

“You know, acting like a dick won't make yours bi-”

“OKAY- Tommy- Please, just continue.” Tubbo groans out, his hands moving to his face to roughly pinch between his eyes at the bridge of his nose. Deo’s and Sapnap’s loud laughter were easily heard right beside them as they heard the bickering between the two “known” rivals.

“Fine, as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted.” Tommy says, stretching out the ‘Fine’ for longer than normal, then re-starting what he was asked before, “Okay, firstly, we need to take advantage of the high ground around the front of my house, the stairs are our best friend here.” He starts with, his voice becoming more older sounding and experienced.

“Tubbo’s on sniping and scouting duty when we go back, he’ll be at the top of Ponk’s lemon tree. Or somewhere in the cracks” He follows up, his voice sounding awkward at the last part, then pulling out arrows from his inventory with a flash, he splits them in half and gives them to Tubbo with a smile.

“Once Tubbo alerts us about how close they are, Deo, Sapnap, and I will be at the bottom, just in case they try going for you or try to burn anything. The tree, although they’re working with Ponk, will be the closest and easiest thing to burn nearby.” Deo and Sapnap nod accordingly to the plans laid out so far, listening intently.

“Purpled will be underground phased, and once I do the signal you ambush them from behind. Your best bet at an ambush is to target Ponk and or Alyssa, who will most likely be behind Punz and Dream.” Purpled raises his eyebrows at the analysis before he decides to agree with Tommy’s plan, “Whatever you say, boss.” He sarcastically replies with, rolling his eyes once again.

“Sounds like you were trying to insult me- Which no one can do, but it just makes me sound more cool.” Tommy countered back.

“Let’s just go.” Purpled groans out, turning around to walk in the direction of Tommy’s house.

“Wait-” Tommy calls out, making Purpled turn back to him and the others look at him expectantly. Tommy reaches his hand out somewhere and pulls out, with another flash of light that turns into golden apples. He then drops two each to them, giving away eight out of the fifteen he had from Dream’s loot that was handed to him.

They all accept in their own way, Sapnap rubs Tommy’s head harshly but with proud affection, Deo goofily smiles with a laugh and thanks him. Tubbo cheers and says something quickly about reverse gold digging but it quickly slips Tommy’s mind, Purpled inspects the apples intensely before he hides them away in his inventory with a snarky “Thanks boss.”

Then, they move back to Tommy’s house.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

They start to set up and prepare for the attack, standing at the top of the stairs in front of Tommy’s overall property. Tubbo’s hiding in the lemon tree right behind Sapnap, Deo, Purpled, and Tommy.

Although he’s technically behind them, with the higher ground he’ll be able to see their “enemies” quicker than them. Purpled is once again leaning against a wall, the wall being a make-shift light house just on the outskirts of Tommy’s original property.

They stand around, the wind blows gently, lightly kissing their faces as they tighten their grips onto their respective weapons. Tommy deeply inhales, feeling his shoulders rise instinctively and help him slow down the beat of his heart, it wasn't much, but it calmed him down from the intense heartbeat that seemed to pulse throughout his whole body.

After a few more seconds of waiting Tommy gets a ping from his communicator, he should really try and silence it later. Filing away that thought he speedily checks the message and reads it to himself, the three others watching his facial expression closely.

Tubbo whispers to you: they r coming

Tommy swiftly nods, then, turning his head in the direction of a waiting Purpled he raises his hand and points it to the stairs, the first signal to go and phase behind them. Purpled soundlessly scoffs with a smile and raises one hand in a two finger saluting motion, he then promptly falls backwards into the wall.

The three on the ground level get ready, crisp sounds of teeth biting into fresh apples were heard and the slick sounds of swords being unsheathed were soon followed. Tommy himself grabs one of his left over apples, gripping it in his hands, he digs in, his own some-what sharp teeth bite into the juicy fruit, the sweet taste lingers on his tongue as he swallows two more huge bites.

Multiple Purple minuscule particles could be seen around each of their individual body’s, out in the distance the other four people could be seen steadily approaching with their own assortment of weapons and armor, Dream leading them like expected.

Soon enough they walk forwards quickly, trying to force the opposing side to stay on the stairs, Tommy climbs the fence and locks eyes with Dream’s mask, his feet perched up on the thin but sturdy lining of the wooden fence, while grinning he smoothly loads it up within seconds and fires it.

After his arrow gets launched, another arrow from above zooms down and whizzes past Tommy’s head, he doesn't flinch. Two shots are fired in total and only one hits, Dream swiftly slices Tommy’s arrow clean in half, both pieces falling to the ground, the other that Tubbo shot penetrates Dream’s armor and skin right in his shoulder, forcing him to cry out in pain and he decides to harshly grab the arrow lodged in him out, the arrow cut through skin and the open wound slowly dripped with blood.

Tommy jumps down from the top of the fence with a heavy landing, his feet hitting against the wooden planks of the prime path make his landing much louder as Deo and Sapnap rush forward and take their targets. Sapnap goes for Dream like the cocky person he is while Deo goes for Alyssa, who was right beside Punz.

Then, the color purple flashes behind Ponk and there Purpled is, already making the motion to strike Ponk by surprise, not without shouting a, “Sorry!” Ponk quickly turns around at the volume of the voice being that it was also right behind him. But as he does so, another arrow is shot and pierces his back, making him grind his teeth together after he loudly curses.

Tommy, who notices that Punz is glaring daggers at him while somehow also smirking, forces shivers to run down his spine at the sight but his fingertips are, at the same time, positively buzzing and popping, almost as if they’re heating up. Lowering his body he sprints over and clashes his axe against Punz’s shield, hitting at an angle of an arch, reaching high then swinging down fluidly, this time specifically aiming for the top of the others shield so it cuts through the wood easier.

Once he pulls back from the swing Punz takes that split second opportunity to have their own attack, Punz’s neon blue diamond enchanted sword cuts through air as Tommy just barely dodges the forward strike near his arm.

Their large gold necklace thrashes about as they trade blows, Punz keeps attempting to move around Tommy. Looking closely for an opening in which Tommy’s shield won't cover, they don't want to risk a battle ending attack if it gets wasted on the others shield. They were actually feeling jealous at Tommy and the fact that he seemed to have such a good axe.

Tommy hears the voices slowly grow louder, most likely getting riled up once again from the fighting. He ignores it as best as he can, he’ll need to learn how to control them or ignore them completely soon.

Suddenly a shout from behind him has forced him in overdrive, “TOMMY- DREAM’S BEHIND YOU!” It was Sapnap, without taking a look back Tommy tightens his grip on his axe as he launches it backward in the same motion someone would if they were elbowing someone behind them, but instead of an elbow it's the long handle of his axe.

A loud groan is heard in response, along with a yell of “WHAT ” that sounded oddly like Dream, spinning his head around to glance behind him, his hair flowing wildly as he sees that the handle of his sword hit directly into Dream’s gut. Making the other fall down to one knee and cough out harshly, but before Tommy could take advantage and strike, Punz launches another attack, forcing Tommy to block it with his shield.

The voices groan in unison at the perfect chance being lost.

Sapnap laughs out, seeing Dream on the floor clutching his stomach and wheezing out, he runs up to him and plunges his sword in the opening of his armor near the area of his shoulder and neck, cutting through fresh flesh and watching the blood leak out of the wound before he shoves it deeper in and his eyes hungrily widen at the sight of white particles erupting from Dream’s body.

[Dream was slain by Sapnap]

Deo’s smirk widens at the public alert that flashes in the corner of his peripheral vision, he’s fighting Alyssa once again. And while he would like to complain that he’s fighting the same person, it’s overruled by the fact that he is fighting someone, which is better than not fighting. In his humble opinion.

He focuses on the amount of pressure and weight he adds to his separate swings this time rather than speed and technique like last time, he still doesn't really know this Alyssa person’s fighting style. So he zero’s in on places of her body in which she isn't able to cover quickly enough with her sword, remembering that Tommy had broken her shield earlier and that she probably didn't have another one now.

Wanting the fight to be over faster, especially when he heard the separate ambush on Tommy he holds some wooden planks he had taken from Ponk earlier in his empty hand to rapidly place it at the spot near Alyssa’s feet. As blocks fill Alyssa’s view of anything in front of her Deo speeds up more with the building, climbing up he then jumps and lands behind her and strikes.

She deflects it just in time, her newly made iron sword glides against the side of Deo’s netherite sword, making a nice slicing sound of metal against metal. But Deo uses that, seeing her arm high in the air from pushing off his sword to pierce her stomach, his netherite sword easily going through her iron armor.

White snowflake-like particles flow from her body as she evaporates.

[ItsAlyssa was slain by TimeDeo]

Purpled gets a front row seat in Deo's fight, he doesn't need to necessarily pay attention to his own fight as he already knows he’s above the scale in fight expertise compared to Ponk. He phases back down into the ground after another successful hit to Ponk’s arm, going down he immediately shoots back up behind him, half of his body still through the floor as he slices at the heel of Ponk’s feet.

Ponk yells out in anger and pain, his voice scrapes painfully against his throat, he feels so lost, having never been in an actual fight with Purpled, or a phantom hybrid in general. It’s all new to him.

With the attack making his body feel like lead and his feet feel as though they were cut off he falls to the floor and watches as Purpled comes out from the floor once again and swiftly cuts through Ponk’s neck, ensuring a clean kill.

[Ponk was slain by Purpled]

Punz clicks their tongue as another alert pings each of their communicators, their face merges into one that is ticked off but still enjoying the ride. Their lips are still curled up at their edges, ‘At least they're enjoying this’ Tommy grunts to himself, deflecting another hit from the others sword with his shield.

Punz watches the deflection and their eyes become darker, they don't like the shields, they think it's an easy scapegoat for attacks that should have been hits on someone’s body. In a split-second they think of something so clever they might have even bested Dream, they purposely plunge their sword forward, knowing that with Tommy’s reflexes it’ll be blocked.

But that’s exactly what they want.

As it gets stuck in the others shield they pulls up as hard as they can, forcing Tommy to let go or else he’ll be taken in the same direction as Punz is aiming for. The shield is forcefully taken away and Punz slams down their sword still in Tommy’s shield to make it slice through the middle, freeing their own sword from its temporary entrapment.

It breaks, and Punz’s smile is then completely wiped from their face, they're getting serious, they soon enough throw their own shield away somewhere to their left, not caring where it ends up later on. Lowering their own body just slightly as they fixate their eyes on Tommy, who does the same.

They both run to each other, Punz swipes their sword powerfully, aiming straight for Tommy’s face and with Tommy not having his shield he’s only able to dodge by tilting his head to the left, but it isn't enough, it still slices his cheek, another scar possibly.

More blood seeps from his body, but he doesn't feel tired from the loss, they both back up for space to charge again and Tommy kicks, using the new free space to spread his long leg forward to strike. But Punz just dodges, their necklaces hitting against their chest heavily.

Just as Punz dodges they notice how Tommy’s unbalanced from the strong but wild kick, so they reach out with their now empty hand and grab the front of Tommy’s face. And slams down hard, Tommy’s body hits against the wooden floor with a loud thump, and his back feels instantly bruised.

With the hand holding their sword they plunges it into the pinned down Tommy, blood immediately is seen on the younger's body. But not where they wanted it to sprout from, it wasn't an instant kill like they had hoped.

They had their sword plunged through Tommy’s forearm, the blade getting stuck between the mass amounts of muscle, blood painfully squirts out and runs down the length of Tommy’s arm, falling down enough to dye Tommy’s white shirt a deep red that’ll soon dry enough to a dull brown. Tommy thanks any kind of gods that are out there that it’s not the same arm as the gash from Ponk, but he then takes that back cause now it means that both of his arms are injured in some type of way.

Tommy’s other hand is holding his axe, which is holding Punz back from plunging deeper into his arm or into him. The dull side of the axe is resting underneath Punz’s chin, any lower and Tommy could choke them with it, but his other arm hurts too much to move the one at Punz’s throat.

He wants to scream out so badly, wants to just cry and yell out. He hasn't felt this much pain in awhile, seemingly already used to the numb state his body was in before he had traveled, and now that he’s hurt and it actually feels like his body is tearing apart he just wants out.

With all of Tommy’s might, biting down on his tongue till he feels the comfort of the blood pool in his mouth he pulls back both of his feet and positions them high into Punz’s stomach, kicking them back and behind him while doing a barrel-roll.

Scrambling into a standing position, his axe still in hand he then strikes it down into Punz’s neck, before he could even get up and out of shock from the powerful kick. The particles burst out almost instantly and the chime from his communicator allowed him to fall down to his knees and sigh really loudly.

[Punz was slain by TommyInnit]

Looking around the area you’ll be able to see how the others were watching, stuck in an awe-struck facial expression. Deo then runs to Tommy and pulls him into a side hug, shoving an excessive amount of golden apples into his hand that let go of his axe when he fell.

The others crowd around and watch quietly, the purple particles swirl around him playfully and his arm is just barely healing around the edges. Sapnap has a hard expression painting his own face, then, pulling out his customized communicator he thoughtfully types out a few words for the rest of the server to see, which is only the two sides fighting.

<Sapnap> STOP THIS NONSENSE

<Sapnap> WE ALL NEED TO TALK

He immediately gets multiple responses, ranging from person to person.

<Dream> You have made an enemy

<Sapnap> You think we are scared of you Dream?

<Tubbo> Trial?

<Dream> Fine, trial, meet at Tubbo’s place

<Punz> Tommy we should fight again

Okay, a trial it is then, they’ll have to be there quick unless they already want a bad name with their side of the story. So, one by one they get up and start heading towards Tubbo’s house.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Alyssa, Ponk, and Punz are all waiting there already, standing together as they walk up in front of them. They stood still afterwards, most likely instinctively waiting for their last member, Dream, to actually start the trial so they get all parts of the story.

Tommy hates the silence, so, remembering the thing Punz said before they left to meet here he coughs, then, catches Punz’s eyes and grins, “Punz I’d love to fight you again.” Punz’s eyes shoot up and they walk closer.

Tommy tilts his head to the side just slightly, getting confused as to why Punz is walking closer, but then Punz slaps their hand on Tommy’s shoulder once. And nods, then, they walk to their brother Purpled, and quietly has a conversation with him.

Tommy blinks twice at that, but then Deo pokes his side harshly, which makes Tommy curse his name and lightly punch his shoulder in retaliation, Tubbo watches from right beside him while smiling, his moobloom ears twitching slightly at the sound of a now yelling Tommy.

Then, Sapnap walks forwards and talks to Ponk, and soon enough they're both laughing about something Tommy didn't hear, but that’s fine with him. At least they aren't in relatively bad blood anymore, just a misunderstanding.

At least, that’s what he hopes he’ll think of this situation, Tommy zones out of the conversation now going on between Deo and Tubbo. His mind stuck on the person who told them to meet here but is now the last person to show up, his mid racks through the possibilities that would make someone like Dream late to something he planned.

Right as he thinks that, the voices he had been unconsciously ignoring scream at him, his eardrums flare at the volume and he can't hide the flinch that takes over his body at the sudden volume, they’re talking too fast and loud. He tries to listen, but only one voice comes through, it’s calm and soothing, it’s the Phoenix.

‘Your friends are in trouble’

Whipping his head around in the direction where his house lays he feels his skin crawl with anxiety, he gulps, the wet saliva soothes his instant dry throat. Before he can even move, or even tell Deo beside him he hears it.

Four beeps of his communication device happened one after another, the last one came later than the others, as if something was delayed, but the fact that they were all together made him think something terrible. Frantically shoving his hand into his pocket he pulls out the still beeping communicator, his eyes skim each word, each notification, and his heart sinks.

[Bitzel was slain by Dream]

[LukeOrSomething was slain by Dream]

[KarlJacobs was slain by Dream]

[Wispexe was slain by Dream]

He feels so hot, he feels his hands burn ever so slowly as the voices in his head continue to cry out and scream for him, for he is silent. Continuing to stare in the direction of his house, his body is flamed only figuratively, but he feels it, if he channels in the anger, the fiery feeling that has been boiling in his gut. He might actually catch on fire, and the idea is so tempting.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

The man on another world feels an immense pressure on his shoulders that feel like boulders as the voices invade his mind once again, ‘Someone is definitely going to die’ He muses to himself with a low chuckle, and promptly decides to sit down till when he will assume the deed is done, and hopefully, it’ll be soon. He has potatoes to harvest.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Tommy’s voices scratch and burn inside his head, the world around him is gone and is filled with the voices he harbored.

‘HOW DARE HE’

‘THEY’RE ALL DEAD’

‘USE HIM AS FUEL’

‘FUEL FUEL FUEL FUEL’

The pinging of his communicator finally stops, and he checks it, one last time. And the message re-kindles his déjà vu. It’s started, and Dream was the one who really pushed it, bringing in his close friends into their altercation. But it’s fine if he started it, cause Tommy's going to finish it, he’s gonna re-do all his past mistakes and hopefully fix everything.

<Dream> Where are the music discs

<Dream> I’m going to burn them

<Dream> unless my stuff is returned

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

They were walking around the makeshift living room, each of them were assigned their own jobs on how to make Tommy’s house better, which was a lot from how it looked inside. Luke already had an idea about what to do for them to improve the base, his mind was whirling in the possibilities.

Luke had made a stone pickaxe and was digging down into the floor to extend the amount of space they had, he told the others, specifically Wisp and Bitzel to organize the chests so they could be transported easier after being broken. So both of them were sitting down in front of Tommy’s multiple chests lining the side of his wall and moving objects around.

Karl was using another stone pickaxe to mine and grab Tommy’s furnaces, then safely keeping them in his inventory. He perked his head up at the sound of zombie growls nearby, he had noticed them earlier when they first arrived, but now they were much louder.

“Wisp?” He asked aloud in slight worry.

“Mmhm?” Wisp soon responded, closing the chest he was organizing with one hand, then turning his head to Karl who was behind him.

“It’s nothing too important, but it’s just that I keep hearing a zombie nearby- But like- it’s like it hasn't moved from the one spot it’s been at, y'know?” Karl said, his words getting jumbled up, still a bit nervous from being around new people.

“Yeah no- I get it. It might just be one zombie in a cave beside or under Tommy’s house.” He responded calmly with, getting up while groaning at the stretch that pulled his legs.

Stepping out he first checks around Tommy’s property, he sees them in the distance, but no one else, it seems as though they were getting smaller, like they were walking away. He does remember the alerts that were beeping each of their communicators and remembers vividly how each of them except Karl silently celebrated each kill, any other messages were ignored.

Maybe they were moving away from the house to not let them be involved, or maybe, they were done fighting and finally decided to talk it through. Which is what he would have done in the first place, he never did like unnecessary conflicts, hoping to always avoid them the chance he gets, even if he was better at fighting than he was his words.

The thought of avoiding conflict at all times rings some bells, he remembers the familiar cold empire that greeted him with open arms. He shivers at the thought even though he doesn't do it for the same reasons others do, he internally misses the cold, his body calls for it, his DNA begs for it.

But thinking of the people he has now, the warmth of their connections together is better than the cold. Just this once, he might prefer the sun over the cold snow. And that’s saying a lot for a Snow-Golem hybrid like himself.

His head flicks to the left when he hears the familiar low growl of a zombie right beside the house that brings him out of his head, striding towards the noise he realized that there were more than just one zombie. Picking up the pace he sees a hole in the side of the mountain, peeking in he widens his eyes and smiles at the discovery, and the familiar handwriting on a sign right in front.

It was a zombie mob spawner, and the familiar sign that was written messily made him playfully huff out hair from his nose. The sign said “Property of TommyInnit”, ‘Tommy has a mob spawner right beside his house’ Wisp confirmed in his mind with a nod to himself.

Looking around he grabbed two pieces of dirt and made a mark of where the spawner was, he knew Luke was going to freak out, it was so lucky, it’ll be a bit irritating with room designs and the zombies possibly being too close by, but free exp always beats anything else.

Walking back with a grin on his face and a pep in his step he walks on the pressure plates outside the house, letting the doors automatically open for him. Luke and Bitzel both tilt their heads up in his direction, waiting for him to reveal that he either found a cave, which is good, or that it was just a stray zombie that he killed.

If it was the zombie he most likely wouldn't say anything, being the type to not openly brag about killing a zombie, or anyone, if it was a cave he would tell them then most likely try and get the resources now and gather it for them.

“It was a spawner.” He answers the silent question that was hanging in the air.

Luke's eyes immediately widen and his eyebrows shoot up at the statement, although his eyes were completely drenched in the black abyss, if he were to have normal eyes, his irises would be blown. Then, as if he realizes that he was staring soon enough, coughs into his flexed hand, and goes back to mining, wanting the idle sound in the background to stabilize him.

Wisp laughs quietly at the sight then goes back to the chests beside Bitzel, who turns his head to the other, “What type of spawner?” Bitzel questions, “Zombie” Was the solid answer from Wisp.

“Maybe that’s why he put his house on this- Nice mountain..” Luke observes, now clearing out space below the “living room” He wanted this house to be one where they all could hang out together, like back in Business Bay, so he was mapping out the initial space before he laid out any of the rooms.

“I see you miss-typed, you meant ugly- Right?” Bitzel chirped out with a laugh.

“What..This is a verbal conversation?” Luke replies, puzzled.

Wisp laughs out loudly but soon punches Bitzel in the arm, pushing him back slightly, “Dude!” He called out, in a light scolding tone. Bitzel just squawks at the sudden movement, “What?! C’monn..!” He groans out loudly.

Wisp rolls his eyes and opens back up the chest he was working on before, afterwards he hears Bitzel speak up again from beside him, “I’m checking out the spawner, wanna come with, Luke?” He prompts, knowing Luke wants to check it out but is focusing on the house’s structure too much.

“Sure.” Was the immediate response, almost as if he had been waiting for someone to drag him out of what he assigned to himself.

They both make the motion to get up and Karl silently joins them, they don't say anything, letting him be, they don't know him either so if he’s a quiet person they don't want to force anything out of the guy.

As they both start walking outside of the house, Luke and Bitzel are having a conversation, Bitzel leads them out and Wisp sees something shiny inside the chest he was checking, reaching in he sees that it’s a diamond enchanted pickaxe. He’s too lazy to physically check the enchantments and just decides to chuck it into his inventory for Luke when he comes back.

Suddenly he hears yelling coming right outside the door, he’s on floor level sitting down so he can't see through the small opening of the wooden door before it’s too late.

He sees the body before the message can even beep. Bitzel falls to the floor and blows up into a burst of white particles, he hears the yelling more clearly now.

[Bitzel was slain by Dream]

“Where are the discs?!” A person he can only recognize as Dream yells out, his mask taunting them as it shows a deranged smiley, “I’ll kill you if you don't give me the discs, Tommy needs to learn a lesson.” He growls out.

Luke bites down on his teeth, frantically pulling up both of his empty hands and allowing them to change into the charred black remnants of his wither skeleton hybrid abilities, if he can just touch Dream, maybe even brush his fingertips on his skin it’ll be a good enough advantage for when Wisp joins the fight. Hoping that the other has noticed now.

“NO-” Luke cries out angrily, as soon as the word leaves his tongue he gets sliced right through the stomach, the sword pierces and reappears outside of Luke’s back, he also bursts into an explosion of white particles instantly from the iron sword being shoved into pure flesh without armor, not even being able to use his ability at all.

[LukeOrSomething was slain by Dream]

Wisp’s heart pounds violently inside his chest, banging against his rib-cage as he runs out, reaching his hand out into the air before the pickaxe he grabbed earlier shows itself with a bright light and launches into his tight grasp.

Karl ran away for a split second, ending up in front of Dream, raising his hands in front of him in a defensive stance, he hears Dream quietly tell him something, Wisp barely hears the ending of what Dream said, a faint “..Come back” Was all he could pick up before Dream quickly swipes his sword from left to fight to cut through Karl’s neck and force the particles to appear once again.

[KarlJacobs was slain by Dream]

Dream’s back is to him so he takes the one chance he can get, Wisp’s brows furrow drastically while rushing forward. Dream hears his heavy footsteps digging into the ground and turns around quickly, Wisp, watching the movement closely decides to dip the pickaxe he's holding low and swipes it upward towards Dream's chin, hopefully to keep going up and slice across his face. It hits, but only scratches the underside of his chin before it hits his hard porcelain mask.

‘It would have gone deeper if it wasn't for the mask’ Wisp chastised himself for forgetting and the other for wearing it, his tongue clicks furiously and loudly, he watches the mask get flown away from the blow though, so that's a plus. Dream's surprise of the lack of his mask allows Wisp to try again.

Without a second to think, twirling the pickaxe in his hand to reposition it he tries to swing it down diagonally, but Dream’s sword comes below and gets under the metal near the handle. Using the swords position he yanks away and forces Wisp to let go.

With a disgruntled groan, and sting of his palm from the wood being torn from his hand Wisp tries to launch his fist into Dream’s face out of desperation, but Dream just smirks and leans down slightly to allow himself to get hit, right in his forehead. The hard bone hits against Wisp’s knuckles and he swears he hears something crack loudly.

The pain jolts throughout his whole body and he coils back with a hiss, pulling his hand away and close to his chest he looks up at Dream, who doesn't even hesitate with swinging down his weapon towards his neck, his green eyes glowing dangerously.

[Wispexe was slain by Dream]

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Tommy stands still, he knows they’ll respawn soon enough, he saw the others come back. But this feels different, the intent of hurting his friends after an altercation that they weren't even a part of irks him to no end.

Even more so when the person who killed them had a special place in his heart. The thought of that person raises the volume of the numerous voices by tenfold, then they get even louder after remembering what happened just seconds ago.

‘HE HURT OUR FRIENDS’

‘USE HIM AS FUEL’

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX’

‘BURN HIM ALIVE’

Deo flinches at the sudden pressure growing beside him, looking at Tommy his eyes widen underneath his sunglasses. He reaches out and grabs Tommy’s shoulder tightly, grounding him and attempting to keep him in place.

“Tommy.” He says, low and quiet, watching Tommy’s facial expression after, carefully inspecting, trying to see if Tommy heard and would provide some type of sign that he had.

But Tommy stayed still, the voices were screaming and painfully yanking at his body, telling him to move, to do something. With the faintest move of his right hand he brings out his inventory, glancing at his items for a split second he notices them, two pearls he picked up from Punz’s body unconsciously.

If he were able to, he would be hearing the conversations around him turn from fun to audible confusion, ranging from, “Who are they?”, “Why did Dream kill them?” He couldn't even hear the two worried voices right beside him trying to calm him down, the only thing on his mind was revenge.

Quickly, as if to hide it, he pried out the two ender pearls and grinned, tightly holding one in his right hand, the smoothness of the pearl rubbed against his palm. Then, he pulled back his arm as far back as he could, with the painful prick that occurred after the pull of his muscles he threw it ahead, as soon as the pearl left his hand he positioned himself and lowered his body closer to the ground for the landing.

If he paid attention to what was happening he would have heard the multiple shouts of his name that were soon yelled out after he had thrown the pearl, he would have heard the low voice beside him call for his name before yelling at the people around them to check if they had pearls.

He would have heard the other voice coming from his other side that was slightly higher pitched than his, how it called out his name also, but before even checking around had burst into a sprint after his body dissipated into purple particles.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

The pearl lands, and so does he. He feels his breathing get quicker the closer he gets to his house, his heartbeat practically vibrates his whole body and his feet seem to dig into the wood heavier than usual.

Tommy decides to save one of his pearls, wanting to keep it for an escape even if the amount of lives are unlimited right now it doesn't mean he’ll give the other an easy kill. Running up to the stairs towards his property and running up each step he sees him, the man in green, he immediately stops in his tracks when his eyes meet the older's back.

His hoodie is down, and in his empty hand not holding the iron sword has his mask, with one smooth motion he clasps it back on his face, letting the band tightly hug his dirty blonde locks. When he twisted his head slightly they locked eyes, well, mask locked onto sky blue eyes.

Dream still has his back to him and he hides a gulp, he can't let him know he’s nervous. Yes, they’ve fought before, in the future, and twice today. But now he realizes that he’s alone, any other time he’s fought Dream today was with the small group they formed.

The other times they’ve fought he always ended up giving the kill away to someone or took advantage of the split-second peace. He hadn't actually won yet.

Dream moves one foot over in his direction, his body repositioning so his side is facing Tommy and his mask stares right through his body, Tommy then moves his eyes away from Dream’s mask to the floor below.

There’s nothing of too much importance there, but he can tell, the vast amount of cobblestone, the furnaces, his assortment of items hovering around at Dream’s feet. His mind supplies him a reminder of the fact that his friends were rebuilding his house, and that they were probably sorting out the contents in his house before making any big changes.

The thought makes him even angrier, they were doing nothing but were dragged into it by Dream, and for what reason? So he could get a rise out of Tommy? Maybe so he could feel better about himself after losing multiple times?

Tommy let the anger be visible in his face, let the fire bleed into his eyes, and let a scowl be flaunted at the other, he didn't have the restraint to hide it anymore.

“DREAM-” He yells out, his mouth stretching widely to accommodate for the volume, he quickly gets cut off by a snappish voice.

“Tommy.” Dream replies with, a sigh was heard soon after.

Tommy doesn't know how, but he keeps quiet, shutting his mouth harshly and quickly, a click of teeth hitting each other was heard, he was suddenly terrified about what would happen if he were to interrupt the other, he felt like his life was in danger, the presence of him and Dream alone was doing this to him. He bites his lip, wanting to tear at the skin till it bleeds badly.

“Tommy..” Dream cooes at him, it’s sickeningly sweet, while also sounding like he’s about to get told off at the same time.

Tommy just barely flinches, why did Dream talk like that? He hates it, he wants the other to shut up, he wants to shove his axe down the others throat and make him choke on it.

“Tommy.” Dream repeats, like it’s an insult, there's so many mixed feelings throughout the different times Dream called out his name, each radiating a separate tone, it confuses him so much and he doesn't know how to feel or what to do.

“Where are the discs Tommy?” He asks innocently, tilting his head to the side slightly, but keeping his face and general view stuck on Tommy.

Tommy’s fingers twitch at his sides, he’s losing feeling in them and feels them grow numb, his mouth suddenly feels dry, parched even, he can’t reply. Why does everything feel so big all of a sudden? It’s so suffocating and he can't see in front of him anymore, everything is changing too fast and he can’t keep up.

The world around him morphs into somewhere else, a place he wanted to forget, why is he here. He inhales deeply through his nose, the smell of salt and sand invades it instantly and commands him to remember where he is. But he doesn't want to, this isn't that place, and he isn't him- Isn’t him when he was there.

Opening his eyes fully he sees the deep blue sea that stretched out far and wide, just on the other side of it laid L’Manburg, his home. He turns his head to each side of him, the left first, then right. He notices his ragged tent and instinctively tries to walk to it, but his feet are stuck, he’s sinking into the painfully pale yellow dust called sand.

He struggles, throwing his arms sporadically, he reaches out with his hand and stretches his fingers apart, they sting at the pull. He tries to grab something, anything, but the sand is all he can grab onto, and when he does grab a chunk of sand it just sinks down with him, it’s so suffocating that his struggle is futile

The sand seeps into his nose and litters his air-stream, going down, it sizzles and burns his throat, trying to cough it out only makes it worse, giving more room for sand to invade his lungs.

He hears someone calling him, but it’s like they’re not really there, it slowly gets louder, but the one problem is that it’s coming from below him. Buried underneath more sand. But it sounds so eerily comforting and it’s all he’s got, the only way to escape this hell is to follow the voice, turning his head below him he closes his eyes, the voice sounds more demanding of his arrival the closer he gets.

Then someone- No- multiple voices scream his name in absolute worry, their voices cradle him with a warmth he’s only experienced once before. When did he feel like this? Flinging his head back above him from where he sunk down he opens his eyes and sees the light beaming down between each individual particle of sand, the sand burns at his eyes, flaring up alarmingly and scratching at them. But he loves it.

The voices continue to call his name, they whisper this time, now noticing that he has their attention, and they murmur sweet nothings into his ears, they tell him how important he is. How everything that happened- Things that he can't seem to remember right now, were not his fault.

And he wants them instead, he retracts his hand that was preparing to grab at the voice below, and reaches above. The voice below yells out immediately, their voice becoming an ear-splitting scream before it soon gets distorted. They yell of his mistakes, promising him a life of loneliness, how they were always there as his only friend, how he was nothing without them.

He would've believed them before, but now, he can't imagine a world where they would ever be friends.

His hand that he previously raised above soars higher before it’s met with many others, they grab his hand, one goes and intertwines their fingers, others grab his wrist gently, or just reach for him in general. Although he can't see them, he knows that they’re all trying to get him out.

The one hand that has his and their fingers intertwined soon heats up excruciatingly, burning at his flesh, but soon enough after the pain comes the soft merging, the pain of the heat has deteriorated, it no longer burns at his skin.

But then it’s over, above him where the sand still lingers, two enormous wings flare out from on top of the sand, coming down and digging through the sand towards him, the closer the wings get, the more the hand he’s holding fades into his own.

Soon enough the hand is no longer there, and the wings wrapped around him momentarily till they're on his back, pushing the sand away from his body like a shovel and safely bringing him on the surface. Before he can even turn around and see the wings, they burst into impressive flames in the same shape as wings and evaporate into ash, as the ash falls onto his shoulder blades it sends chills along his spine, he can feel each piece of ash as it hits his skin and burns like boiling water being sprinkled on him.

Even with it gone he can still feel the hand intertwined with his, he gets sent into a bit of a panic as soon as he realizes that he’s alone again. But the warmth in his hand appears again, almost to comfort him, afterwards the heat transfers and splits to his other hand.

As he spreads his fingers and remembers the warmth from the hands that merged with his, two huge, orb-shaped flames erupt from his palms. As this happens the voices from before cheer for him louder and more comforting than ever.

‘PHOENIX TOMMY’

‘YOU’RE OKAY’

‘GO BACK YOU’RE FINE’

‘KILL DREAM FOR TRAUMATIZING YOU’

Before he could ask what they mean, he gasps out air dramatically, eyes tearing up as he harshly coughs, his lungs sting at the lack of air.

He’s back, where even was he before? Wherever it was he never wants to go there again. At the same time he does, his feelings were all over the place.

Laying his eyes upon the one person who forced him into that head-space he sharpens his eyes and glares them down, if looks could kill, Dream would have lost all of his canon lives three times over already. His shoulders tense and he spreads his arms out to his sides before preparing to yell out at the other, not even noticing his hands had flown up with powerful flames like in a hallucination.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Deo yells around him to the people just standing still, “WHO HAS A PEARL?!” His voice carries volumes that could shake mountains. Purpled immediately offers up a few pearls and shoves them into the waiting hands of Deo, Deo is in too much of a rush to try and count exactly how many were actually handed to him.

His head spun around to where he thought Tubbo still was, focus on thought. His brows furrow roughly as he curses aloud when he catches the back of Tubbo, who decided to run on ahead without him.

Pulling his arm back like Tommy he hastily throws the pearl in front of him, watching it blink out of his view in seconds. Yanking the sword from Ponk out of his inventory with a bright flash of light his vision soon switches from in front of Tubbo’s house to the middle of the prime path. 

He’s close, and hopefully Tubbo isn't. If Tommy were to be “out of reach” again with Tubbo there Tubbo wouldn't be able to deal with it, or even know what event caused it. He wasn't going to put that pressure on Tubbo already, it’s his job to protect Tommy and he’ll do it.

In a panic and of distress he recklessly throws another pearl, not caring if the fall from it hurts him even more. He needs to get to Tommy, he has to.

The pearl lands again, and he face plants into the stairs leading up to Tommy’s property, he feels how humid his nose got, offhandedly he thinks to himself ‘Is that a bloody nose?’ But quickly erases that same thought with the drive to get to Tommy.

He scrambles up, only to slip on the stairs messily. He curses again under his breath, getting his footing and running up the stairs, skipping a few going up to be faster. Once he’s at the top he sees-

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

As soon as Tubbo started running there was only one thing on his mind, or, to be more exact, the one thing on his mind was actually a person. Tommy. His feet raced across the oak prime path, hearing the rhythmic pounding of his feet hitting the ground harshly, he felt his breath quicken with slight panic.

He knew how important those two discs were to Tommy, offhandedly he thinks to himself ‘How important are they truthfully...’ But he shakes that out of his head and focuses on getting to Tommy as quickly as he can, he visibly remembers leaving before Deo so he should be there before the other.

The thought of Deo puts a weird taste in his mouth, he always thought that Deo was a bit weird. Not in a rude way, he assured himself, more in a way that he doesn't remember where he came from. Or how he even got on this private server in the first place, including the rest of Business Bay. He, the most out of all of them, was the definition of a “Wildcard”. 

He was always slightly jealous of the small friend group, they all met randomly in one way or another, then they were inseparable in SMPEarth. He knew he would always be Tommy’s best friend, and the same would be the other way around, but there was no denying the fact that he kinda regrets not going and staying at Business Bay back then.

If he were to be honest to anybody who would understand, he would say that he was incredibly jealous. He never showed it though, no, ironically, it was Tommy who was more clingy over people and items than Tubbo. But seeing all the names including Deo joining earlier he felt a bit, just a tiny speck of annoyance.

He needs to stop thinking about that though, Tommy’s possibly in trouble, so he needs to hurry and help his best friend. He wasn't going to say anything before, but the lone thought comes back from when he first saw Dream and his little squad come for Tommy and the others.

When he first saw Dream walking up to the others and gathering people to fight Tommy, Tubbo felt like Dream was acting differently, he didn't know by what or how, but he just was. And now with how seriously Tommy and Deo are being he’s getting a strange feeling circulating in his gut.

Continuing to run, Tubbo feels his hair bounce at the speed, once he gets more than halfway up the stairs, he suddenly gets two notifications pinging in his communicator, still running he yanks his communicator out of his pocket and side eyes it.

Barely skimming over the yellow bolded texts he stops, re-reading the messages he runs up faster, he's never seen that message, and he might actually be..Scared? ‘What does that mean?!’ He yells in his head, and repeats it a multitude of times. Getting to the top he sees the aftermath of what happened.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Tommy snarls at Dream, his eyes shining brighter than they ever have before, and his hands are on fire, the bright light shades his face to show off the childish features he still had, even with his murderous facial expression.

“Tommy..” Dream, almost excitedly says aloud.

“What. Dickhead.” Tommy bites back, the prominent anger in his voice was as clear as water.

Dream tilts his head downwards as if pointing somewhere, Tommy’s eyebrows flinch, he doesn't think anything is behind him, and even if something was behind him he won't check on the chance that Dream would use that as a distraction.

Dream sees through the reaction and sighs again, “Tommy, do you see what you're doing?” He asks, impatiently.

“What?”

“Do you not feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“Look at your hands.”

Tommy finally decides to look at his hands, letting his eyes trace over his slender fingers he sees that they’re immersed in huge, beautiful flames. They don’t hurt, just like he thought they wouldn't.

‘YOU GOT FIRE POWERS?!’

‘I NEVER GOT THAT’

‘ME NEITHER’

‘GUYS THE BLADE-’

His eyes widen at the sight and he is so infatuated with the fire emanating from his hands that he doesn't notice the blade coming straight for his neck soon after the warning.

The sword comes dangerously close before Tommy can pull up both of his arms in a cross to block the blow, it works, but his wrists hurt like hell now, bleeding out from the blade cutting deeply. Dream jumped back just slightly, using his speed to his advantage and abusing the fact that he caught Tommy off guard so he couldn't pull out his weapon.

Dream lunges forward once again and pulls up his sword with one hand, before he can complete the swing Tommy unconsciously releases a burst of flames out of his palms. It envelopes Dream instantly and burns him quickly.

Tommy shoots out more fire in Dream’s direction, the flames stretch like cotton, smiling widely at the scenery he relishes in the fire, and the voices cheer his name like a mantra.

Quickly pulling out his axe from his inventory he positions it in front of him protectively, the fire from his hands scurry up the weapon and capture it in flames, almost as if someone put “fire aspect” on an axe. Dream runs forward again, after freeing himself from Tommy’s flames with a water bucket, he swings low, away from Tommy’s hands that are still on fire.

Tommy instinctively jumps above the blade and steps down on it, pushing it down to the dirt floor, then swings down harshly at Dreams shoulder area dangerously close to his neck. His axe cracks down on the bone, easily cutting through the iron armor and blood squirts out messily, the thick liquid immediately stains Dream’s green jacket underneath.

With the axe lodged in his shoulder, Dream summons another sword with a bright flash of light, and plunges it forward  into Tommy’s stomach, piercing it enough to where the iron chest-plate allows a gap. Straight away Tommy coughs out a vast amount of blood, it leaks out his mouth and dyes his white pearly teeth a violent red.

Time stands still, Dream and Tommy stare at each other, they’re both in dying positions. Whoever dies from blood loss will lose, and eventually respawn after the death, Tommy anxiously slows down his breathing, it being shaky at first, but trying either way to calm himself down from the sword in his gut.

Dreams body is stiff, keeping still with his hand still tightly holding the sword within Tommy. He huffs out a pocket of air.

“Didn't know you were a hybrid..” Dream muses.

Tommy couldn't respond, the blood was overflowing his mouth causing it to leak out from between his lips and drip down his chin.

“..When did that happen?” Dream interrogates, trying to keep his voice steady, even with the axe deep in his shoulder, “Whatever you’re hiding, I already know. So you can just give up the discs and we can make something out of this- Out of us.”

Tommy grinds his teeth down tightly, whispering out a small, “Fuck you.” Right at Dream.

Although he can't actually see, he can practically imagine the snarl on the other's face, “Don’t worry, you don’t have a choice.” Dream choked out, “This would be a lot easier if you were just like everyone else” He snarled, then continued, “You’ll join me soon enough. It doesn't matter” He finished in a sinister tone, as if he had already won, it terrified Tommy.

In a panic, Tommy bursts into flames, forcing the both of them to be on fire. Dream snarls at the pain, harshly forcing his second sword out of Tommy’s gut while the other is still deep into the ground, letting even more blood leak out from the teen’s body.

Dream jumps back, the axe that was lodged in his shoulder is gone, it painfully slipped out, cutting at his skin more while being removed. He puts out the fire once again, but the damage is still there, the flames Tommy emitted are definitely more powerful than any other type of fire.

Something he realizes is that the fire that is continuously surrounding Tommy is actually, little by little, healing his wounds, sewing them up like they were mere pieces of fabric. He can't do anything about it now, he's not gonna waste a bucket to pour it on Tommy and have the chance that he’ll take it away right after. If Dream loses his water bucket it’s basically a win for Tommy.

Tommy keeps his eyes steady on Dream, his hands hold his axe tightly even with his limp arms, his legs feel like noodles, or like they have 5 pound weights on them. He checks his hearts, as they continue to deteriorate, indicating that he is dying. Only three left, constantly being taken away and regenerated from the fire.

He gulps down a lump of blood, feeling the thick liquid swirl down his throat, the taste is metallic and feels almost toxic. He needs to do something that’ll kill Dream and leave him alive.

Dream suddenly straightens up from his slouched standing position, he moves his shoulders back and pushes them back slightly with an audible wince. With a heavy drop of his head he seemingly stares straight ahead, then, he calls out someone Tommy doesn't know was there.

“Deo.” Dream says, his voice is livid.

Tommy spins his head behind him, when he turns enough to see Deo, his eyes widen. It actually was Deo, his nose was bleeding and smudged harshly to the left, his Christmas hat was hanging on by the threads of his hair, holding on for dear life.

An idea pops into Tommy’s mind, and without turning his head back to Dream he stealthily grabs his last pearl and tosses it near Dreams feet. It lands within mere milliseconds and Tommy is already swinging down his axe near the older's neck, the fire from his hands consumes the weapon again and coats it with harsh flames. The voices' cheers increase ten-fold.

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX’

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX’

‘FUEL FUEL FUEL FUEL’

But Dream isn't just anybody, in the last second Dream also pulls up his sword, and slices it from the left to the right, directly into the side of Tommy’s stomach, as soon as the blade hits his chest-plate it breaks, then gets lodged into his flesh, right beside his still open wound. Under the mask, he grins maliciously.

He still bursts into white particles that quickly fade out into the atmosphere.

[Dream was burnt to a crisp by TommyInnit]

Not even a second after Dream’s death, Tommy fell forward, not even to his knees, it was a harsh fall and hit his head hard, but it didn't matter. He was going to respawn soon. But hey, what did that kill message mean?

[TommyInnit got finished off by Dream]

<͙̼̩̊̾̾̆̚͜͝ͅͅͅ:͔̣̾̐:͔͕̙͓͕͕͕͋̅͛̒͡͠͠:̬̚:̫̪̘̗̼̉̐̏̑͛:͇̭̌͌:̛̩̩͉̅̿:̛̱͎̼̭̫͒̌͞:̺̣͈̟̻̓͑̓̔̓:̩͐̎͟:̨̞̃́͂͟:̤͇̬̮̎̆̚:̤̩̰̠̣̆̈̎̀͝:̗̿:͙͈̹̯̑͘͞͞:̻̥̭̬̏̄̕͡͝ͅͅ:̩̩͍͚̝͉̈̋́̈̉͠[̪̃̓ͅ]̨͔͚̒̄̂͆ͅ=̼̈=̛̼͈̌o̠͍̤̳̽̍͂̒̚͟

̧̛̪͙̎̕

W̖̱̚͝h̻̃̃͟ò͍ ͚̱͒͝a͕̪͌̍re̛͙̗̊ ̡̤̈́y̭̫̐͞o̦͘u̲͋?̣̾

̡͗

̜̅W̘͈̿̚ḫ̏at͉̏ ̨̯̒̅i̻̇s tĥ͓i̮̓s̭͒ ͎͆p̽͟ḻ̄ả͚͚͆c̝̚e̲͂,̳̌ ̱̽͆͢di̠͒d y̺͔̿͑ou ̈́ͅma̢̱̋͝k͕̊e̱͠ ̛̦ị̙̚͝t͇̫̂?̝

̛̮̫̊

̺Ẅ̨͚͘hy̩̩̔̾ ̝̓w̙͐͠ͅo͈̽n̺͒̽ͅť̡̥̋ ̩͖́̒y̰͞o̺͔͊̕u͔̩͗͑ ̥̪́̕an̛̗͋͟s͙̃͟͠w͉̄e̟͘r̘̎ ̰̳̿͒m̙̆é̱̎͢?͔̝͆͊

̺͑

͇̑C̰̪͆͌aṉ̉ ̡͘y͖͟͞͡ou͔͙̇̌ ͓̓n̺o̙͊t̳̟̏̄ ̢̧̊̓ủ͕͛͢n̝̯̆̔d̒̽͜͜eȓ̟s̻͌ṭ͖̉̎a͆͟ṇ͙̑̊d̘͛͜͡ me̹̫̿?

̻̈́̚͢

̩̘̃̑O͈͑r ̥̓͟a̳͋r̬e̼̓ y̧͡o̮̼̓̏ṷ̢̈́͡ c͔̈ḥ̅o̔͜o̖̭͐̂š̬i͉͒n͇͞g͔̉ ͕̱̆͞ţ͆̉ͅo̮͒ ̤̍͘͟n̫̪̊̐ō̧̺͊t̐͟ ̙̩̐͡rȩś͓p̤̜͐̃oǹ̗̜̕d?̻̋

̞̈͌͟

̳̬͑͑D̰͖̿͞o͍͠ṋ'̼̓t̨̞̀̊ ͛͜i̯̳̐͠g͎̱̍͞ṇ̼̔̾oȓ̛͉̯ě̹̼̉ ̪̈́͟m̙̱͑͂ë͕̬́̕ ̲̯͂̍p̪͊l̙͗e͈̍a͚̒s̞͉͌̎e̢̳͊̄, ̙̰̕p̬̈l̳̿̒ͅe͖̹̕͠as͕̚e͔͋.̨̈́.

͖͒͟͞

̫͈̿̂Ĩ̦͟ ͖̪͛͒dò̪͍̄n̦̋'͎̆ṱ̱̿̇ k̠̈ņ̛̝̿o͚̐w̰̳̅͡ ̃͟ẅ̞̺́̓h͓̀͘ͅaṫ̻̣͞ ̠̌t̤̘̔͌o̹͖͋̅ ̡̧̕͘d̢̼͐̋o͢͝.

͇̂

̈ͅỸ̱̽ͅo̺͡u̻̦͐͘ ͇̥͒̈ň͇e̮̐ȇ̢̫̽d̢̚ t̟́ȯ͕ h̛̞̠̀e̡͍͊̈́l̰̿p͉ ̝͒m̟̝̿̇ě͉.̭͑

̲̺̿̈́

̝̅Â͓͜͡l̫͒ḻ̘̋̐ ̘̀I̱̕ ̡̔h̕͜av͕̍e ĩ̮s̤̑ ̝̏t̡̩̅̔h̜͘i̻s ̱̈́b͔̘̐͒o̖̽͢͠o̯̍k͚͖̀.̨̗̃͆ ̞̼̓͘Not̫̕h̼̥͗̒i͈̯̓͛n̖͌̍͜g̗̔ ̟͠è̠lse̮̚.

İ͈ ̱͚͒c̯͒an̠̏'t̻̜̋͛-̜͆ ̭̈́I ̛̗̦̓ca̝͛n̖͞'͓̬́̂ţ̍ ͖̀ȓ̻̞̕eme̢̻͌̑m̗̔͜b̢̒e̮̥̿͠r̯̀.̭̽͂͜.̯̽Muc̝̮̄͑h.̯̰͂̆

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Deo watched Tommy fall to the ground then burst into particles as he died, his items fell to the ground without ever touching it, they hover above and join the other items nearby. His eyes widen at the sight, and feet move before he can think, he runs towards where his best friend’s body was supposed to be.

Rushing down to his knees they skid against the floor and ripped the fabric of his pants, he stares at the items he can already recognize as Tommy’s, for safety he attempts to grab as many items he can that belong to Tommy. He grabs the axe first, then Dream’s crossbow, extra golden apples, the leftover armor he was wearing, and lastly-

He barely flinches at the sight of the two items hovering together as if they were protecting each other, or were just naturally drawn towards each other. Memories flood his mind like a tsunami, the memories are so different, some are endlessly happy while others are unforgivable and unforgettable..He..Doesn't really want to give them to Tubbo, or even let them know they exist. But before he can grab them he hears a loud yell from behind him. He instantly remembers whose voice it is. Tubbo.

“DEO!” He hears the short brunette yell out his name.

Pushing his lips to a line, before he decides to answer the other he hastily reaches forward and yanks both of the compasses from their hovering before Tubbo can see them as he runs closer to Deo.

Deo turns his head around to look Tubbo in the face, the compasses hidden in his inventory, he finally chooses to respond, “Tubbo.” It’s simple, and so straight to the point it might sound aggressive to some.

Tubbo seems to ignore that in favor of what he saw before that he needs to share, “Deo- Deo did you see that notification?” He rushed out, the panic in his voice was evident.

“What notification?” Deo responded with anxiety itching its way into his tone.

“Check the death message- Hurry.” Tubbo commanded Deo, then sitting beside him he began to copy what Deo stopped doing temporarily, picking up items that were hovering over the ground. He was picking up Dream’s items first, then the others that were around.

Deo almost says no because Tubbo just told him to do something and they don't really know each other, but he still pulls out his communication device, it's about Tommy, so he'll doi it.

The device slips out of his back pocket, he didn't get the notification sound due to the fact that he had silenced it earlier during the small meetup with the other people.

Looking closely at the messages, one of his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What message?” Deo asked Tubbo, turning his head to the shorter who was still putting things into his inventory. What was he supposed to be seeing?

“What do you mean what message?” Tubbo asked, sounding exasperated, “Dreams kill message on Tommy of course! I haven't seen a message like that ever!” Tubbo slightly yelled out, which made Deo’s brows twitch, instincts told him to do something because of the loud voice yelling at him but he wouldn't.

One last time Deo read the two messages that came one after the other.

[Dream was burnt to a crisp TommyInnit]

[TommyInnit was slain by Dream]

“And?” Deo replied with, his tone was full of irritation.

Tubbo sighed, sounding frustrated, “Did you even see it?” He asks in a tone that Deo didn't appreciate, it makes both of Deo’s brows furrow more.

“I did.” Deo snapped back.

Tubbo blinked twice, then pulled out his own communication device, after a beat he yelled, “WHAT” Then a second later he continued, “Right there- The kill notification was- It was different!” He tried explaining.

Deo kept his eyes on the other, he purposely kept his own sigh quiet, then looking away he said something under his breath that only Tubbo could hear, “Just pick the stuff up and put them in Tommy’s house, I need to get the others.” A brief pause, like he was thinking of what to say next, “Tommy’ll respawn soon, once you're done putting the stuff away just stay.”

For a brief moment he wondered if he was being too harsh on Tubbo, he thinks that he is. But he’ll apologize later, to him, Tommy and the others mean more than an apology to Tubbo about his own attitude.

So, with his own and the combined items of Tommy and the rest of the bay were held safely in his inventory he patted his hand on Tubbo’s shoulder like a slap, but it wasn't meant to be harmful in any way, he hopes that it didn't come off as aggressive.

Fixing his sunglasses so their higher up on the bridge of his nose he stands up straight and swiftly turns his body away from Tubbo, and away from Tommy’s house. His footsteps seem heavier for some reason, his hands tighten into fists the longer he walks.

Already he’s thinking about what he could've done differently, is he doing any of this correctly? ‘I just want Tommy to be safe..’ He thinks idly, he doesn't know how the other members of Business Bay were able to not go on full rampages after seeing what happened to Tommy in the future.

He feels, even with him not needed yet, completely useless. What was the point of him even accepting and following Tommy here, following Tommy like he always has, just for him to not do his job?

Tommy died! Already! Honestly, he wants to do what he did back in SMPEarth, he wants to thrash out, to fight, to- To be merciless and follow Tommy’s orders, to have something to do, to know what to do next. Tommy was one of the few that could actually tell him what to do and he'd listen.

His reasoning for letting someone like Tommy possibly be in any type of control of him is that, although he can be reckless and oddly confident in things he doesn't fully understand he is extremely loyal to those he thinks of his friends. And the fact that his stubbornness has saved their day multiple times proves that he's more tgan just a child, but one day, Deo thinks to himself. ‘Stubbornness might be his doom’.

Of course, not his last doom, he has already fallen to the pits of yielding, of painfully giving up, but something scratches at his brain ruthlessly, that because Tommy has a lot more to live for, he might die in a very different way.

But that doesn't matter now, he needs to get to the others and bring them back safely, at least let him do that.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Tommy wakes up with a gasp, he immediately feels his body, his hands travel over his limbs, of where his wounds were. There’s nothing, and he happily sighs, wrapping his arms around himself closely to feel his own warmth radiate back onto him.

But in the corner of his eyes, he sees something. He sees the color green. Why, why the hell is green the first thing that greets him after respawn? But then it fills his eyesight, why can’t he see anything else now?

It’s just green, why is it just green? He doesn't want to see this color anymore. He’s closing and opening his eyes but it’s only green. It’s only green.

Why is he alone?

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

Deo finally made it to the spawn once again, he looked over the area, his eyes capturing every meaningless detail, finally the face of Wisp, who he realized wasn't wearing his signature mask. But a feeling in his gut reminded him that masks were a bit taboo because of a certain person.

Jumping down, letting his feet plummet the ground harshly and causing sound to echo around the trees he made his appearance to the four others who were just standing around and having somewhat casual conversations. Walking closer he kept his eyes on Wisp, a silent asking of attention to be on him.

Wisp understood without hesitation and started walking towards Deo, his own footsteps steady as he made his way to the other. Once they’re close enough to each other they stop, then stand, keeping quiet, waiting for one to speak, it’s Deo who makes the silence disappear, “Did you see?” He simply asks, Wisp nods without a word.

“Okay, less explanation then, did they see as well?” He questions, raising up one hand and pointing it in the direction of the three others with his index finger.

“Yeah, they were a bit shaken up, seeing that he died, now they’re just tired.” Wisp answers, soon after adds, a bit quieter, “I’ll be honest, I am too.” He finishes with a small chuckle that Deo soon joins.

“Well, that’s why I’m here.” Deo says, tone slightly lighter than before.

“Oh?” Wisp calls out, his voice becoming more velvety and playful.

“Yeah, so let’s go, hopefully we can make it back before Tommy respawns.” He states, remembering something from the past, his voice now becoming more serious than before, already turning his body away from the other to go back to Tommy’s house. Wisp sadly smiles and turns around to the others, cupping his hands around his mouth, then, without warning yells out, “WE’RE GOING BACK TO TOMMY’S!” He hopes the yell would be able to hide his mood.

The others whip their heads around, looking at who was yelling, soon after noticing who, stumbling and pushing the ones beside them behind, as if they just got a sudden random burst of energy, finally caught up to the two who were waiting for them. Bitzel and Luke immediately started lightheartedly arguing because of the push that came from Bitzel onto Luke who almost fell from the weight.

Deo and Wisp are walking ahead, silently watching while trying to hide their own laughter at the scene behind them, but quickly fail as Deo literally explodes into laughter when Bitzel smacks Luke upon the head harshly, causing the blonde to jerk forward.

Luke let’s his hands get as black as coal, then slowly makes eye contact with Bitzel, “Run.” He voiced out in a dangerously low but playful tone, Bitzel screams and runs ahead.

Deo, Wisp, and Karl are left behind. They follow, but not as quickly, going up the steps once again up Tommy’s property,the only sound that could be heard were the few birds chirping and the whispers of the wind as it blew through the trees, the three walking together not up to make any type of conversation after the exhausting day.

Deo looks up at the sky, the sunset that showed there before has faded away and is now overshadowed by the dark navy blue that currently resides. Clouds were ever so slowly moving away, going back to wherever they were originally from, and stars were dimly being revealed like small fires in a dark cave.

As they made it up the stairs and onto Tommy’s front lawn they then were met with the quiet house in the mountain. Luke and Bitzel were right in front of the door, seemingly waiting for the three of them to catch up and go in together.

Deo smiled at the sight and got closer to the two, Wisp and Karl following behind closely. He chuckles at them waiting, and voices his opinion fluently, “You guys look like kids waiting for their parents to unlock the door.”

Karl giggles loudly and highly pitched, quickly trying to hide it with both of his hands slapped over his mouth. Wisp watches on with a mischievous smile that masks his inner thought of joining in on the teasing while Luke yells at Deo, Bitzel’s just laughing out loud and pointing at Luke wildly.

Out of nowhere they all consecutively hear a loud thud come from Tommy’s house, along with an oddly familiar yell, they all hear the words and freeze.

“GET OFF OF ME!-”

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Tommy woke up, his body, once again was brand new, he had died to Dream. But not before he could do the same to the other, a surge of pride and confidence flooded his body at the memory, the feeling of finally putting a dent on Dream’s ego felt amazing.

And now not just the memory of killing Dream, but everything before as well was being remembered.

‘O...y’

‘..ke...p’

‘B...e’

He was..In sand, in exile. Then he just started sinking into the beach as if it were quicksand, and got rescued by the Phoenix, or Phoenix’s more so. But he almost went deeper into the sand, why did he think that was a good idea?

What made him want to possibly suffocate himself? He remembers the voice that called for him, the familiar but distorted sound ran throughout his head endlessly in circles.

Opening his eyes, the sound stops and all he sees is green, the color just surrounds his vision. His heartbeat increases rapidly, along with his breathing, becoming short and quick at the painfully recognizable color and who always possesses it.

Regaining full consciousness, with the color still filling his eyesight he panics and tries to flail his arms around, the movement makes him remember the sand and he’s even more terrified at the thought. But for some reason only the tips of his fingers twitch. His eyes widen drastically but he still only sees green, that damn color and everything it’s done to him.

Flicking the only body part he can move, his head, up harshly he’s met with something hard, and the thoughts of who it might be overflow the rationality of his surroundings and actions. His mind is clouded with a mask and the color green, and green and green and Dream.

‘Dream, this is Dream, it has to be’ He thinks to himself, extremely confident and petrified at the thought that Dream is this close to him, especially after the man just killed him. His thoughts soon become quick and short, straight to the point.

‘..mmy..!’

‘..Away...’

‘You..O..y’

‘Listen..!’

‘Away’, ‘Don’t hurt me’, ‘Don’t kill me’, ‘Stop’, ‘Please', he tries to move around more, tightening his hands into fists, he then feels Dream’s body hover on top of his suddenly, and his claustrophobia kicks in at just the right time.

Everything closes in on him and he can't think straight, he just wants Dream off of him, he tries to scream out for someone, anyone. But his tongue feels too big for his mouth, clogging his throat and refusing him to actually speak.

Why isn't anyone here for him? He’s alone, nobody is there for him, just like always. He stretches out his mouth to scream and a shrill sound escapes the confinement of his mouth.

“GET OFF OF ME!-”

It’s all he can scream out before he thrashes out again, his limbs now flailing as if he were a chicken without its head. This time, he hits something with his hand, after he feels his fist connect to something everything is clear again, and with only seconds to figure out what's going on, he sees the body on the ground right in front of him.

They lay on their back, elbows behind them holding them up so that they are able to see him, and as Tommy darts his eyes to the others clothes he sees the color green again. Fear of his own safety is masked by boiling hot anger, his teeth clench and he jumps on the other.

In a flash he’s on top of the other, with a snarl on his face that bares his teeth like an animal asserting fear into its prey, and a growl creeps up his throat. One hand grabs and squeezes a clump of fabric that surrounds the other's collar while he reels back his right fist and aims to hit.

But then he feels something collide with him, it knocks him off of the person he was about to hit and forces him to be farther away. He plans to launch another fist but then arms are on his body, holding down his wrists, his eyesight gets foggy again.

The hands holding him down feel so heavy, and they sting excruciatingly against his skin. He’s feeling like a bird caged up, unable to ever truly fly, he's trapped again. His breathing once again becomes unsteady and desperate, going back to its state of panic. He twists his head left and right violently, his blonde hair swishes around and gets damp from the amount he's sweating, as his body makes wild movements to get away from the heavy hold.

Why is this person holding him down? Why aren't his attempts of escape helping? Where are his friends?

He feels his own tears dribble down his cheeks, the hot liquid quickly makes work of his face and dusts it with a pink color that stains his under eyes. Meekly, as a last ditch effort he calls out to someone, the way he says their name is like a painful scratch on a chalkboard.

“DEO HELP-”

Then the hands were suddenly off of him with a harsh yank, and things started to clear up again ever so slightly. Strong hands were wrapped around his shoulders bringing him to a sitting position, he got tense instantly, his shoulders became rigid and hard, scared that it’s someone else who wants to isolate him in a cage, but recognizing the Christmas hat that now tickled his forehead he pulled up his own arms weakly, still shaking like leaves.

He was too tired to bring his arms up all the way so he just laid them at the bottom of Deo's hip, his tears were still pouring out of his eyes though. Wetting his dry eyes made them sting, not being able to wipe them away he just fell limp and left his face in the crook of Deo’s neck.

The feeling of Deo’s body hugging him felt like sparks were being made, his body tinged at the contact the longer on it went. It sounded like there was a small voice at the back of his mind that was screaming at him to run away, to not allow anyone to see him this weak and vulnerable, it sounded like him, but older and panicked. He ignored it because of how wonderful it felt for someone to touch him without trying to hurt him.

He soon fell asleep afterward, unknown to the gasp he was supposed to hear of a certain mooshroom hybrid.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Tubbo’s eyes were left wide open, he was still in a state of shock after Tommy tried attacking him, the thought that Tommy would ever do something that could hurt him was beyond him. He was left standing up and staring at the two boys hugging on the floor, a seed was planted in his stomach as he gained a disgusting feeling from not being the one that was called out to from Tommy.

But he willed away that thought with a long gathering of air into his lungs, then smoothly let it out, allowing him to calm down just a bit. But his eyes were still trained on his best friend, he doesn't get it, why? Why would Tommy try and attack him?

While his brain racks for answers on the strange behavior, a new voice chimes out from seemingly nowhere, it is familiar and oddly cool, as if they were just passing through.

“Huh..” The voice wondered aloud, then continued in a casual tone, “That didn't look too good, is he okay?” Tubbo twists his head to the voice, and there he sees Purpled in all his glory, looking tired and unimpressed.

But Tubbo can see it, behind those uninterested eyes lies concern, concern for who Tubbo can only guess is for Tommy, who is fast asleep. He decides to reply, but is cut off before he even opens his mouth by another voice.

“Ye- Well, no..He needs to sleep-” Karl finally speaks up, fiddling with the cuff of his multicolored sweatshirt, he looks at Purpled with his hazel colored eyes brimming with worry and an unknown type of tiredness.

“That means you all need to leave.” Deo says right after, seeing the confliction of Tubbo’s face, and the skeptical expression that made its way onto Purpled’s.

Purpled’s eyes slit just slightly, then he just shrugs and turns around, his body twisting away before his feet move, opening the door he waves in front of him, but it’s clear that it’s for them. 

The dark of the night along with Purpled's natural transparency hides him and coats his body with a dark midnight blue. A moment before he disappears from their sight they see him quickly sink himself into the ground floor, his body phases through and he’s gone.

Deo nods to himself after watching Purpled leave without a fight, then moving his eyesight onto the other two, he calls them out, “Tubbo, Karl.” Karl raises his eyes, but then falls back down to it’s normal place right after, as if his eyebrows just twitched. He nods and turns around, walking out of the house, and shutting the door as silently as he can.

Tubbo watches the two leave in silence, but he stays still, Deo notices this swiftly. Tubbo’s eyes roam on Deo’s figure, still holding Tommy like he were a piece of glass, protecting him from shattering into thousands of clear pieces.

Deo’s brows furrow at the sight, he understands Tubbo's resistance to leaving Tommy after witnessing something like that, but the memories that belong to his best friend plague his mind. He’s reluctant on leaving the two alone, he doesn't say this though, but he does say something. 

“Tubbo.” He starts with, a brief pause is soon after, “That includes you.” He finishes, his voice sharp as he looks up at Tubbo, his pure white eyes leaking out from the top of his sunglasses.

“What?” Tubbo responds with, so shocked that his accent was more noticeable than usual, he takes a half step forward.

“Leave.” Deo plainly states, tone sounding more dangerous, keeping his own white eyes on the younger, and unconsciously tightening his grip on Tommy.

“Listen to me- I need to be here with him! I just want to make sure he’s okay!” Tubbo exclaimed, “I’m his best friend, okay?!” He shouts aloud, his voice hits against the dirt walls of the hut heavily and echo.

The members of the bay all lift their eyebrows out of shock, Luke then looks at Deo, still holding Tommy, and he catches a glimpse of the others eyes, filled with pure rage. He reaches out his hands to stop the other from doing something he might regret, “Deo-”

But Deo can’t hear him, the memories fog his usual calmness that constantly surrounds him, he remembers what Tubbo did to Tommy. The tears he saw Tommy shed over and over alone so that no one could see him be weak.

Without thinking he pulls out [The Axe of Peace] from his inventory with a flash of light, it falls from the sky centimetres above his waiting hand and down into his calloused palm, his grip tightens on the rough wood.

Swiftly moving his arm in the direction of Tubbo, the axe’s sharp edge is pointed at Tubbo’s neck. He moves his head higher up to get a better look at Tubbo, he sees the other's color drain from his skin, but Tubbo still has a stubborn look on his face.

“Leave.” Deo repeats, it comes out like a growl, his hold on the axe is still, it’s pointed expectantly at Tubbo’s unprotected and vulnerable neck.

“Deo, c’mon mate-” Wisp mutters, but is cut off by Tubbo.

“It’s fine- It’s- No, it’s fine, I’ll leave, but you better tell me when he wakes up.” Tubbo says, his eyes darkened by obvious feelings he won’t act upon.

Deo looks down slightly, away from Tubbo’s sight. Slowly bringing back the axe into his inventory with another flash of light he sighs deeply, “Yeah okay.” He agrees, “..Sorry.”

Everything is quiet for a few minutes until Tubbo finally decides to leave, he’s quiet on his way out and doesn't say goodbye to any of them as he closes the door behind him, his footsteps were light until they faded out the farther away he got from their hearing.

Bitzel, looks at Wisp, who shrugs his shoulders and promptly coughs to bring the attention back to something else, as they look at him, Deo being the last one. He talks of a plan, “Okay everybody, we need to sleep, especially you Deo.” He playfully quips.

Deo rolls his nonexistent pupils, but the head motion is still there and obvious, he wobbly stands up and walks to the pink bed as Wisp continues talking, “Make sure that we actually set our spawn here too.” He says with a laugh.

“Ughh, don’t remind me.” Bitzel groans out, placing down another bed right beside Tommy’s pink one.

“He just did.” Luke retorts, placing his own bed and falling back on it with an audible plunge.

“Shut up and go to sleep, losers.” Wisp emphasizes the losers, a voice booms in the small hut once more.

Deo lays Tommy on the bed softly, careful to not be rough and risk the chance of the younger waking up again, he makes work of Tommy’s shoes and throws them on the floor without care. Afterwards he pulls the blanket over Tommy’s body and smoothly places it on top of him, the pink fabric hugging Tommy’s sleeping figure.

He decides to put his spawn in the same spot as Tommy’s, but he wont sleep in the same bed, no, he instead sleeps right beside the edge of his bed, on the cold cobblestone floor.

The others watch, but don’t make any verbal moves towards the other, it’s something they're used to, it reminds them of when they were in the SMPEarth, when they were each other's only home, coddling their leader like he was their only light.

And he is, they knew though, that they weren't Tommy’s only home, he had an actual family, had other friends. Tommy had Technoblade, Wilbur, Philza, the three of them who were a real family and leaders of their own nation in SMPEarth, they were close like peas in a pod, as family should be. The Antarctic Empire was their respected faction.

They never fought harshly, no surprise nukes, or battles to the deaths, just laughable failed traps, pranks, and the sort. That was, until the incident happened and things became rocky, and hard to move around.

But even so, he’s the reason they never did anything too stupid, they still did questionable things, especially Tommy, but they were held back a lot by Tommy’s wishes of being “Gentlemen” and “‘Business’ partners to all”.

Wisp soon turns off the light from the torch that was illuminating the living room, then darkness soon swallows them all whole, and sleep takes over.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

He opened his eyes, his eyelids were heavy and tried covering his oceanic blue eyes once more to lull him back to sleep. Looking around he notices that it’s still relatively dark outside, with a quiet groan he pulls off the blanket that held his body down, it wrinkles at the motion and lays on the bottom of his bed.

Swinging his feet over the side of his bed he sees the others inhabiting his home, each of them are sleeping, cuddled up in their own blankets. It was dead silent, the only sound he could pick up was the meek snores that bubbled from one of his friends.

Letting his feet hit the floor, he feels the coldness through his white socks, standing up he glances at the door, then wanders towards it. He hears quiet voices that become louder.

‘Where are you going?’

“Outside..” He replies quietly, hoping that no one will hear him talk to himself.

‘Adventure?’

‘You need shoes for adventuring’

“I’m not going on a fucking adventure” He mumbles out with a hint of anger, his feet continuously hit against the dirt floor of his front yard.

‘Bench?’

‘Listen to a disc!’

‘We’ll calm you down’

Tommy stops his mindless walk, turning his head towards the infamous bench, he makes his way over. Along the way he continued responding to the voices, “I don’t need calming down-” He stands beside the bench, lifting one hand onto the oak and feeling it with his fingertips.

‘We can’t listen to a disc whoever said that’

‘Oh, I forgot’

‘Sit down and talk to us’

He sighs, reluctantly settling down on the bench alone. He stares straight ahead, his leg bouncing repeatedly for no reason, “Okay, let’s talk, what about?” He asks aloud, his voice careful but impatient as he swishes his eyes left and right to look out for anyone.

‘The future’

‘Yes, the future!’

‘Get preparing!’

‘The future..’ Tommy thinks to himself, his eyes harden at the memories. Getting comfortable on the bench he questions the voices, “Okay, so how and what should we prepare?”

‘Better house!’

‘Netherite!’

‘Get rich!’

“That sounds like a lot of work though..” He groans out, thinking about how long it’ll take to be “rich” on a server like this one.

‘You have the bay to help!’

‘Luke is good with the building’

‘You, Deo, and Bitzel can do the mining’

‘Take the mansions no one has been to yet’

‘Mansions?’ Tommy thinks briefly, trying to remember what mansions did, then like a snap it hits him, “Totems!” He shouted at the discovery, sitting up straighter than before.

‘Shhh!’ Came a chorus of voices, making Tommy immediately apologize.

‘He might not need them though, remember?’

‘That’s IF he gets them’

‘Yeah, better to be safe than sorry’

‘Never bet on a chance!’

“The fuck are you guys talking about?” He asks, “You're literally in my head, don’t talk about me like I’m not here.” He growls out the last part.

‘The wings I talked about earlier’ A familiar silky voice echoes throughout his mind.

“What about them?” He mumbles out, clearly sounding confused.

‘If you grow them you’re immediately immortal, and the feathers, when held by someone else, heal their wounds like I did to you. And if needed, when someone is holding one of your feathers and dies it’s like a totem of undying, they will survive.’ The same voice explains.

“Wouldn’t that hurt?”

‘At first, but your feathers would grow back quickly if you engulfed yourself in lava or flames, lava would make them grow back faster, but it’ll probably be easier to use fire.’

“...Okay.”

‘We got plans then!’

‘Go sleep child’

He clicks his tongue angrily at the chide that was directed at him, he’s always hated that insult, even when it was a playful nickname. He very clearly always vocalized his distaste in said nickname, becoming aggressive after someone would utter the word.

It’s one of the reasons why he was always so happy when the bay formed and they all agreed to call him “Boss” even though he never asked them to. As they also, being young, hated the jab, easily attacking anyone who pulled the “Age card”.

“Don’t call me that.” He snarls out to the air, voice vibrating as his breath comes out as a white gust of air, “Just because you’re all in my head doesn't mean you can patronize me.” He declares louder to the air.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

As soon as his eyes opened from their confinement of his eyelids and thick lashes he checked the bed he slept against. Eyes instinctively searching for the familiar blonde haired boy who was supposed to be sleeping comfortably in his bed.

Rubbing his eyes underneath his sunglasses with a closed hand helped him realize that the familiar blonde was in fact, not where he should be.

He jolted up from his sitting position, his Christmas hat falling off of his head from the sudden movement. Letting his two feet steady his body as he stood in the hut, whirling his head around he still can’t see the younger, his body tenses at the implications.

But it also makes him remember times when this was normal, right after SMPEarth ended and he was alone for two months before he was transported here. Remembering the days when he called out to Tommy, or Bitzel, or Luke, but soon being hit with the realization that they wouldn't reply.

He can’t remember the last time he called out for Wisp though.

It made him anxious, but not too much, he knows that Tommy can defend himself, he almost has a drive to protect him. It was something he was so used to, and he liked it that way, he hates change, it’s why when they separated it hit him harder than the others.

They were a type of family to him he never had, the type that understood him and his tendencies, whether it be violent or completely private. Taking the time from their day to get to know his struggles and what he went through.

They are the reason why he puts so much effort into getting better at fighting and combat in general, so that he could protect them all in return for all they’ve done for him.

A known fact between each of the members of Business Bay was that out of all of them combined, Tommy was their anchor. The person who could lead them without batting an eye, the person who could talk them down from doing things he may think were dangerous.

He was their sun, and they were the planets revolving around him, needing him in order to function fully. Their mistake was forgetting that even after millions, billions of years the sun would eventually die out. They forgot that could happen.

He rushes out of the hut, placing both of his hands on each of the two individual doors, then, after a quick thought, decides to open them slowly. In case Tommy was just trying to relax outside, letting the doors open and walking out just a few steps out the hut he sees Tommy on the bench, sitting down.

But he immediately stops, as his eyes catch the familiar green-hooded man standing right behind Tommy with a gloved hand rested on his shoulder. The sight gives him disgusting chills that feel like spiders crawling on his skin.

‘What. The. Hell?’

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

The hand that planted itself on his shoulder was suffocating, like vines were growing and slowly trapping him on the bench he sat on. He froze in place, his breath stuttering as he shakily inhaled, feeling his lungs cautiously expanding, he wouldn't dare move his head yet. Too afraid to see the person he already knew was there.

“Hello.” The unnerving voice greeted him.

He couldn't respond. When he didn't the grip on his shoulder tightened as if it were a warning.

“‘Ello.” He choked out, feeling like the clothes on him were turning him into a makeshift sauna. Cold sweat traveled down the top of his nape to the bottom of his back, the feeling giving him even more shivers.

“I’m..here!” The male voice behind him said, voice light as he spaced out the words.

Tommy gave a dismissive hum that agreed with the older, it seems that he didn't appreciate that though. Obvious from the way the older man behind him gave a frustrated huff of air that tickled the top of his head, his blonde hair flinching from the breeze.

Tommy wondered minutely how he felt the breeze on his head so easily, but dismissed the thought once he heard the voice behind him speak up once more to him.

“Do you know what I’m here for?” The older questioned, Tommy knew what the answer was, but he didn't want to give it to the man on a silver platter.

“No.”

The grip on his shoulder was now painfully tight, almost to the point where it was numbing, Tommy could feel the bruise forming there already. The hand on his shoulder then shook him, he jostled side to side, it was sudden and forced him to turn his head to the older one in a sense of panic.

When he looked the other in the face, the menacing mask was nowhere to see, he gasped. The bright green eyes the other possessed stared into his own blue ones, Tommy took notice of every small detail on the others face, from his freckles to the long scar that starts between his two eyebrows and ends at his jawline.

“I’m here for an apology, and something else as an apology gift.” Dream says, keeping his eyes locked onto Tommy, who stares back out of fear.

“An apology gift..?” Tommy questions.

“Yes.”

Tommy gulps down a thick amount of saliva, his adam's apple bobbing at the action. For a split second he looks away, but brings back his attention to Dream, “..I’m- Sorry.” He says, sounding like it’s a confession he’s been trying to keep secret.

“Don’t worry, I forgive you already.” Dream reassures the younger, the grip on his shoulder loosen just slightly, which makes him exhale in relief.

“..What do you want as an apology gift?” He asks slowly, having an idea of what the other might want in return.

He hears Dream’s low voice exhale while quietly humming, his voice rumbles in his throat. The noise sounds dangerously close to his ears even though they’re only looking at each other, after Dream contemplates about the idea of what he wants he looks straight ahead.

Tommy can’t tell what he’s looking at, the only thing he can see in front of the both of them is a mountain overgrown with trees and too big of bushes.

“I was thinking maybe your music discs.” Dream utters, voice not so surprisingly calm.

Tommy almost just says yes, just to get rid of them, but they’re already in an enderchest, and they could be used for a different purpose. They mean nothing to him now, but it seems like it means much more to Dream, the music discs and what they “could'' do.

“How about my netherite chest-plate?” He immediately offers up, remembering that Dream wanted it before in the past when they were making a similar trade during this time. He makes sure to not turn his head to look at the other.

“Oh?”

“Yes, it’s my only and final offer.”

“Interesting...Alright.” Dream agrees without hesitation, no hesitation makes Tommy’s skin itch in an annoying way. He shifts slightly on the bench.

Silence takes over for a few minutes, and Tommy is wondering why the hand is still stuck on his shoulder, making him twist his head towards the hand in question. Suddenly the hand speedily snakes up and Dream’s whole palm is engrossed in the back of his neck.

He feels it twist and how the older’s fingers wrap around, they aren't long enough to reach the front of his neck, but the thought is there and it’s terrifying. The skin that isn't covered in a leather glove sting painfully against his own hot skin.

“One more thing..” Dream says, his voice going down an octave, “About your friends..”

Tommy’s eyes widened drastically, if he could he would have whipped his head at Dream and started cursing him out for even bringing them up. But he wont, too much is on the line, not his life, he could die and it wouldn't mean much in his opinion, his friends safety was on the line, and that was what made Tommy actually panic.

“If you lay your dirty hands on the-!” He snarls loudly, his nose bridge wrinkles slightly.

The fingers around his neck tighten and he flinches harshly, shutting his mouth in the process.

"I'm not gonna do anything..! Yet." Dream drawls out, letting the pause add unnecessary dramatic effect.

"The hell do you mean 'yet'?" Tommy bit out, his frustration evident in his voice and volume.

"They aren't white-listed Tommy" He says matter-of-factly, like he’s trying to explain something to a child who doesn't know any better.

Tommy doesn't say anything, letting the calm wind flow by speak for him, his mouth is sealed shut.

“What I’m trying to say is that I could ban them all right now, and force them out and no one would bat an eye.”

Tommy doesn't like where this is going, he forcefully tries to nip it at the bud, “Spit it out.” He hisses, the sound quick and harsh against the quiet atmosphere.

“I won’t ban any of them if you promise that you owe me a favor."

“...Why would I do that?”

“Oh come on Tommy, you’re lucky I haven't banned them already! Or even said a different favor for each of them to stay!” Dream says, his voice projecting out louder towards him, “You should be grateful for what I offered you already.”

“Thank you..?” He reluctantly says, voice quiet as if someone else would hear him say it to someone like Dream.

“You're so very welcome” He hears as a response, the hand on the back of his neck still remains though, the feeling is intoxicating and excruciating, “So..I take it that means you agree?”

Tommy’s brows furrow heavily, his eyes narrow as he stares as a piece of grass below them as if it personally offended him, “I don’t-” The hand that lays behind his neck tightens exponentially, the fingers dig into his skin deeply.

“..Tommy.” Dream sing-songs, slowly sounding more harsh as he continues, “Don’t be selfish- Not everything is about you, you can do this one thing, can’t you?!”

Tommy doesn't know how to respond, but he knows he needs to, so he just agrees, it’s all he knows how to do, apparently, “I can.” He whispers out, “I- I can.”

“Good. See, I knew you were good for something.”

Tommy blinks multiple times, he feels his eyes water and he doesn't know why, ‘Why did he say it like that..?’ He thinks to himself, the question goes unanswered.

“...And if you tell your friends about this arrangement or this deal...I will permanently ban them, don’t think I won't.”

Tommy shudders at the words, he can’t lose his friends right after he just got them, it’ll all be for nothing, he’ll be alone in an entirely different way. He hears his voices in the background ever so slowly regain their usual volume.

As the voices become more audible, he becomes hyper aware of the hand that still lies on the back of his neck, now the feeling is drowning him. The vines he thought were figuratively growing on him have turned into heavy chains that tie him down, tie him down to Dream.

‘Calm down, you need to calm down.’

‘Run away!!’

‘Make him go away!’

‘Calm down!’

He stays silent, well, as silent as a slowly hyperventilating teen can be, he hopes that Dream can’t hear him. He can. That much is apparent when Dream starts laughing uncontrollably, wheezing like there was no air for him to breathe, the hand at the back of his neck is then gone, and it felt like a huge weight was lifted.

As soon as it’s gone, Tommy immediately starts coughing, to the point where he starts dry heaving to the ground covered snugly with healthy grass. He falls off the bench and lands on all fours, his body unable to stand or sit up straight, his heartbeat beats loudly in his ears, and a loud ringing accompanies the noise.

Dream takes a swift step back, fluidly putting back on his mask with a snap of the leather clasp he lays his hidden eyes upon Tommy. The mask hides his expression, but it’s clear in the way he tries but fails to muffle his chuckles.

Tommy looks up, his neck screams at the movement but he forces himself to gaze upon the man who stands before him. His blue eyes smudge and blur at the sight of the man, everything flickers for a moment.

He’s on a beach, as soon as he’s laying on the beach looking up at the other, he’s back. The realization of what’s going on, and what Dreams trying to do hits him like a heavily enchanted sword, he soon enough snarls at the other. The only sound he can produce without effectively throwing up the golden apples he ate earlier.

Dream’s head turns down to peer at Tommy, but before Tommy can do anything else Dream twists his head to his right faster than Tommy has ever seen since coming here. Dream stares for a bit, then turns around, and walks away, a bit quicker on his feet than usual.

Tommy is left there alone, and he feels too cold, and too hot.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Deo watches the whole conversation in the background, he can’t hear anything, all he does pick up are the parts where Dream gets agitated and raises his voice at Tommy. That in itself makes him want to run up to them and throw Dream’s disgusting hand off of Tommy’s shoulder, but then Dream’s hand reaches for Tommy’s neck.

He almost jumps out then and there, but he doesn't want to risk it, he’s not sure of Dream’s motives for reaching out to Tommy so late at night. 

But he guesses, and please let him be right , that Dream isn't planning on hurting Tommy, he just wants to force Tommy into his dirty little web, and leave him there trapped until he deems him good enough to eat and throw away.

As he listens to the bits of conversation he can actually pick up, he hears Dream ridicule Tommy, for some unknown reason, and it makes his blood boil hearing what he says. 

But his mind lingers on the words longer than he actually heard them “You can do this one thing, can’t you!?” What does he mean? Is Tommy in danger?’ He thinks to himself quickly, fighting himself on whether he should rush out there or not.

He doesn't know, his legs scream at him to move, but his mind is calculating the probability of his own survival over Tommy’s and that thought makes his stomach turn rapidly. He bites down on the inner side of his lower lip, why is he so worried about himself when Tommy is right there and is clearly in danger?

It’s his instincts, he was born into the harsh world of 2B2T, constantly surviving on his own, he thought living with Business Bay for a year helped him not think like this anymore. It must be stress, right? Right.

And now Dream’s laughing again for some reason, and that shakes him out of his own head. Dream’s laughter echoes out into the open air, fading away as quickly as it comes back, suddenly Tommy’s distinct voice chokes out a multitude of coughs, and he steps out closer to them.

His mind is yelling at him to go faster, but he has to be careful, Dream is a type of person who knows what he’s doing. Deo makes the smart move that if he is going to jump in he needs to be quiet and quick, but slow and steady on the approach.

Deo still continues to watch, his eyes observing the interaction between Dream and Tommy from afar, but after trying to steadily approach them both he stops abruptly, the sight makes his soul leave his body momentarily.

Dream turns his head towards him so fast, he is barely able to duck away from his view thanks to his own fast reflexes. He sucks in a breath of air, trying to make himself as quiet as possible, holding his breath to make himself practically disappear.

Straining his ears to hear the admin clearer he hears the faint sound of feet hitting the ground, how they stomp against the damp dirt in a rush. He peers back out from his spot and sees the back of Dream walking away, with no armor on at all.

What the hell, how did he not see that? Was he really that panicked about himself and Tommy that he just put armor on Dream in his mind?

He ignores that painfully truthful thought and focuses all of his attention on Tommy, who seems to be having trouble breathing, which puts Deo instantly on edge and protection mode. His hands reach and softly embrace Tommy’s back, Tommy flinches at the touch, his blue eyes lock onto Deo, once they take notice of who it is, he exhales shakily.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Tommy still feels his lungs tighten at any type of movement, the sharp jolts of pain he gets in his chest make him wonder if he possibly punctured his lung on something, but he shakes off that thought with how dramatic and stupid it was, Deo is here, it makes the pain a bit more bearable.

The pain is still there though, and it makes his muscles jolt in his shoulders, like someone stabbed his back. He had to force himself from flinching at the sudden pain and bite down a groan, it happened once, but in identical places, where his shoulder blades are, the voices grow louder after the pain in his back appeared. He can't figure out why the pain felt familiar in a way, like it was meant to happen.

He continues to try and calm himself down, but he can’t for some reason, he chokes again, feeling something build up in his throat, something thick and hard to swallow. It makes him panic slightly, but other than that he feels completely fine, he’s breathing a bit heavier than before because of his throat, but he could get up if he wanted to.

...The ground is good too, he begrudgingly decides to not get up. He really wants to though.

Tears started pricking at his eyes, he doesn't know why, but the motion of crying makes his throat close up more. The clear grass from before fogs up, why is he like this?

"Tommy..?"

'It's not your fault!'

"..Shut up" He groaned out quietly to the voice in his head, Deo had to strain his ears to even hear the two words that came out of his friend. He knows this is his fault, he walked out in the middle of the night even though he knew Dream was on this server.

"Tomm-"

'You're okay, calm down!'

"Shut up." He says aloud into the air, the noise is slightly louder than before. He can’t just ‘calm down’ immediately after one of his voices wishes for it. Deo doesn't need to strain his ears to hear. 

"..."

'It's okay to accept the deal from Dream'

"It's not- How could you?" Tommy frantically says, "..How could you say that? Do you want me to be like him?" He whispers, voice cracking near the end from the fragility of his own voice.

"I don't want to be like him, please- I can't-" He stutters out, lips moving incredibly fast, his own hands rush to his golden hair that somehow still glowed even during the night, he grabbed a chunk of his own hair and yanked harshly, "I didn't want to accept it, you have to believe me-"

The action was painful but also agonizingly familiar, in the future- Or back in the past he had quickly gained the same coping mechanism as Wilbur. For Wilbur it started off with his own hand on his head that would ruffle his hair, but as Pogtopia dragged on, it worsened.

"Tommy!" An audible, and scared voice beckons him to reply eagerly.

"Deo-" He chokes out with a desperate gasp, out of breath from the continuous crying, the liquid pours out from his eyes at a constant rate, he didn't know he was still emitting.

"Are you okay?!" Deo almost yells out, right after seeing the flinch be forced out of Tommy after he had said 'Are' he quickly lowered his voice. Tommy can’t really respond yet, the best he can do is place a hand on the other’s knee, signaling he can hear the older.

“What happened? What deal?” Deo questions as soon as he feels the shaking hand fall on his knee.

“I don’t want to talk about it-”

“Tommy, he had his hands on you! I can’t just- Just ignore that like it didn't happen!” Deo yells out, uncaring of the way that Tommy seems to be getting angrier and angrier after each word is spoken from his mouth. He’s worried, what do you expect?

“Yes you can! And you will, it was nothing. Okay?!” Tommy shouts out, his eyes scrunch tightly, it causes a weird pulsing feeling to reverb back into his head. He feels his hands tighten into fists, and opening his eyes with such vigor, he reels back his fist and slams it into Deo’s face.

Deo’s head jerks back so much he falls back onto the grass from his sitting position, his back hits against the cold grass. He blinks twice, he feels a bit dizzy.

Tommy sees Deo fall back and instantly regrets what he did, reaching forward he grabs Deo’s collar, yanking him back up. Tommy watches as Deo's Christmas hat falls off his head, checking Deo’s face, and he sees a dark liquid leak out from his right nostril in a thick line.

Tommy stares with wide eyes, Deo stares back, and starts laughing loudly, it’s a sweet sound, so different to the malicious laughs he’s heard over the course of his stay at the SMP. Deo’s whole body vibrates with the noise of his own laughter, as it continues on, Tommy joins in, unable to control it with Deo’s contagious laugh.

The moon shined on the two boys nicely, the light complemented both of their faces as the shadows shaped each of them. The grass beneath them practically glowed at the light, the two boys then slowly calmed down, and sat in silence.

It was comfortable, Tommy felt safe, he let a smile creep onto his lips, Deo notices and snickers, it catches Tommy’s attention and he glares at the other, forcing out a harsh scoff while turning his head away to glare at the grass.

“Look, Tommy.” Deo begins with, and Tommy looks back at the other, Deo’s holding his Christmas hat, Tommy raises an eyebrow in question, and Deo answers him by slamming the cotton hat on his head, not enough that it would though, its oddly light, the force he uses to slam the hat onto the younger. It’s different compared to what people know him as.

Tommy squawks at the action, as the hat now covers his eyes, Deo forced the hat lower to blind him, “The hell was that for you dickhead-”

Suddenly Tommy feels something hard hit him, then he feels arms wrap around his upper body, near his shoulder blades softly, “..What?” He mumbles out, the Christmas hat still blocking his vision.

He slowly pulls his arms up to push back the Christmas hat, after he does so he opens his eyes, all he sees is Deo’s collar. He twists his head to the side, letting his cheek lay against the other's chest, moving a bit more; he positions his ear against his chest instead, allowing him to hear the other's heartbeat; it's quick but Tommy can tell that it’s slowing down.

Before he can say anything it’s Deo who speaks up, “Sorry.” He mumbles into Tommy’s hair, the sound muffled. Deo’s hands grab at the back of his shirt tightly, “For just watching..” He finishes quieter, it’s barely audible.

Tommy thinks over the words before he realizes what he means, quickly bringing up his own arms to Deo’s back to hug him as well out of fear for his safety he hesitantly asks, “..How did- How much did you hear?”

“Almost nothing- But I still should ha-”

Tommy exhales out of relief, “Good, you didn't need to hear it. It was nothing.” Deo’s brows furrow at the words, he wants to know if Tommy’s in need of help, Ender knows that he won't actually ask for it.

“Tommy..” He says, his voice holds Tommy with such care, it almost makes him cry again.

“I’m being serious.” Tommy answers, his tone low and sharp like a warning. He doesn't like when his voice sounds like this, but if it gets Deo off his back to protect him he’ll do it.

“Ok..” Deo sighs, “But if you do need any help- And I mean any, even the dirty work, I’m right here for you.” He confirms, for himself and Tommy together, “You know I’d never refuse.”

Tommy’s silent, the silence let’s the chickens' noises be accentuated and shame everything else. Tommy takes a deep breath before he says something, “I’d be using you.” He states, it’s the truth.

“And I’d let you.” Deo immediately responds with.

“...Really?”

“Of course.”

Tommy’s silent again, it drags on longer this time, and Deo focuses on both of their breathing patterns, they keep going off and on sync. It's insignificant but it catches his attention.

“I owe everything to you, Tommy. For saving me even though you think you didn’t.”

“Well- Just because I saved you it doesn't mean that you can’t be your own person and do things you want to do.”

Deo quietly laughs, he can’t believe he has to explain something like this to Tommy, of all people, “Tommy- I- I wouldn't be anyone without you. I never thought about life out of 2B2T, I was ruthless, killing others to survive, I never thought I’d be a good person. Ever.”

“..Then you came, and you looked at me with your huge, dumb blue eyes and told me I was so cool.” He giggles again, recalling the memory.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

“You stood so confidently, against me, who had killed hundreds in just a few months. You didn't look at me with fear, the fear I was so used to seeing I thought it was natural that you would too.”

Tommy’s bright eyes looked with amazement at a younger Deo, who stood with a coldness that could freeze you if you were too close. Deo looked down at the boy, he blinked his slightly glowing white eyes, his lashes flicked.

He reached his right hand forward, he could crush this kid's skull, they were so fragile. They were what? Maybe 15 or 14? He didn't know how to guess ages, but it’d be a piece of cake. When was the last time he had cake? He couldn't remember.

But this kid, this annoying, stupid, small, adorable kid, decided to slap his hand. Palm to palm, it was so different and light that it startled him, “Thanks for the high-five!” The boy cheered out, his teeth sparkling as he smiled widely.

‘What is a high five?’ He thought to himself, he didn't get the answer as the kid continued to talk and talk aimlessly about things Deo didn't understand.

“God, you were so annoying, like a little brother trying to impress an older sibling..”

Tommy came the next day, and made a beeline towards Deo, older men and women and people watched with horror as the boy ran closer to a killing machine. The child yelled out a greeting to the older, who nodded back as a response. Without noticing, Deo had turned his body to cover the boy as they spoke, blocking him from the view of others.

Deo was showered in compliments from the younger day after day, something he never experienced at the ring he was forced to stay in, ever since they found out about his descendant they only expected the best from him. And after he showed promise from hours and hours of fighting stronger fighters they never felt it necessary to.

It was different, everything about this boy was different, he was a sun after a long rain shower, a light in a dark cave, any type of nice in this evil of a world he found himself in. This boy was it.

He also found himself trying harder, finishing fights in record time just to put a smile on the boy's face, to see someone unconditionally proud of him.

“It’s still weird to me how you changed everything in just a few months..”

One day, after a harsh fight Deo was left with bruises and a bloody nose and Tommy was there to wrap bandages around his wounds sloppily. His body was screaming at the pain, and honestly, he just wanted to cry, but he wouldn't in front of Tommy, he needed to make sure that Tommy knew he could be relied on.

Sitting there with Tommy as he continues to be in pain he finally says what has been on his mind, to say the one thing he has been keeping quiet about so no one would hurt him more.

“I just want to leave this place..”

“And you- Being you, just cleared away all of my worries and fears as if it were nothing, like dust on an old book you just blew it away.”

“Then why don’t you?”

Deo’s eyes widened at the younger, he looked at him as if he had grown two heads suddenly, “What?” He says, “You- I can’t just leave. ”

“Well sure you can, the doors right there, I reckon you could leave.” Tommy responds, with a grin, as if he proved something, but also sounding as if they were having a conversation about what they had for lunch, and not the idea of Deo running away from a very illegal and dangerous place that had him tied down like a dog to a chain.

“Tommy..” He sighs, “Okay- Okay, let’s say, I- Just leave .” He articulates, “Where would I even go? No one would want someone as violent as me.” He says, it’s his biggest flaw, people know who he is, why would they want him even after knowing?

“I would.”

“...What?”

“Mhmm, you heard me correctly, no need to try and ask if you did like a fucking wanker.”

Deo just stares at the younger, and for the first time in almost forever, he smiles.

“I think I’d like that..If you’d allow me to stay with you.”

“Of course, how’d you like to do business?”

“..Oh Ender, I don’t know anything about business.”

“Me neither!”

“You even found my family, something I thought I would never have.”

Eret looked at Deo, the staring was obvious. Deo was shifting around anxiously, Tommy wasn't around and he didn't know what to do when someone came to Business bay just a few days after it was founded- For what? Pictures?

The person took a step forward, and with a low voice that took Deo off guard spoke eloquently, “Hello there, my name is Eret, my pronouns are he, she, and they” He spoke with a smile that could soothe crying babies.

Deo had no idea what a “pronoun” was, but he nodded anyway, he didn't know why but this person seemed... Familiar, in a way where it was on the tip of your tongue.

“I’m..TimeDeo. But you can call me Deo. And- Uh, He..?” He responded back with, he looked away briefly, instinctively looking for a blonde-headed boy to get him out of this conversation.

“Alright, well, it seems as though we’re matching, aren't we?” Eret points out, her right hand extended with a pointed index finger towards their dark sunglasses.

Deo nods, fixing up his sunglasses at the reminder that he wore them.

“If it’s alright with you, could I see what’s underneath?” Eret asks, “I know very few people other than myself who always wear sunglasses, as it’s hard to see with them on.” He finishes, with a low chuckle thanks to their already deep voice.

Deo checks around again, he still doesn't see Tommy, he might be busy with that new boy they found, Wisp, he thinks his name was.

“Sure- If you leave right after.” He agrees, then without much hesitation, he pulls up his sunglasses, letting them push back his hair to reveal two, pure white glowing eyes.

Eret gasps, and immediately lifts their own sunglasses up, showing the same thing. They both stare at each other before Eret visibly gulps, breathlessly, he whispers out a word Deo didn't think he’d hear from anyone other than Tommy.

“..Brother?”

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

“And do you remember the promise I made to you? That day we finally got our business suits?” Deo prompts, digging his cheek into Tommy’s hair more.

“Hmm..?” Tommy groans out, “Not really..” Deo can hear the tiredness leak from Tommy’s voice, it makes him smile.

“I promised you that I would protect you with my life, as a thanks for getting me out of that place, even if you think you did nothing and just pointed out the obvious.” Deo mutters, “I promised you that my life was yours, and that I would listen to any request you had and follow through.”

He feels Tommy’s breath start to slow and steady, indicating that he’s falling asleep in his arms. He continues, and lowers his voice, the sound rumbles his throat, “And that still holds true to this day.”

Deo slowly blinks, feeling the need to sleep slowly creep up on him as well, “If you asked, I’d make it so that what you see, I see, and where you go, I go.” He whispers into the silence that comforts them, “And I won’t breathe unless you breathe, won’t bleed unless you bleed, won't be unless you be..”

“I’d give it all just to have your eternity..” A yawn, quiet, and soft as it makes tears sprout at the corners of his eyes, “Cause it’s all that assures me, it's worth all that hurts me.”

His body slumps down against Tommy’s, and he falls asleep. Unknown to the three boys who woke up from the noise that were watching with smiles on each of their faces, the oldest of the three moves forward and speaks calmly.

“C’mon, we can’t just let them sleep outside can we?”

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

The next day came with an artistic sunrise and the sounds of birds chirping in the distance. As the sun was still barely rising the group of five boys had already awakened, preparing for things they would need to get ready in order to survive the future.

The group had split and were tasked with different jobs throughout the day, Luke was working on the exterior of Tommy’s house, it would still be in the mountain, but he needed to get rid of the smooth stone. Anymore time spent looking at it would probably make him throw up.

Bitzel was spending his time mining out the layout of their base, with the in-depth layout made by Luke himself, mining out the ground beneath the house with multiple stone pickaxes.

Wisp was working on the zombie spawner right beside their house, it was going well so far, already mapping out the way the zombie would fall into the pit after being pushed by water. He would have to wait to make an actual in and out of the spawner though, because Luke had an idea with the exterior to make hidden doors behind the front walls.

Luke’s plan with the house was to have the smooth stone be replaced with dark oak, or normal oak; then he would grab wool in the colors of cat and mellohi, and make two disc sized monuments that would be embedded into the wall, and in between the two would be the official door to get in the house.

The center of the discs, where the color was, was where he decided a hidden door would be great to implement. And it would really tie in Tommy’s whole thing with the discs. The image he had in his head would hopefully be good enough as he did it.

Deo and Tommy were together and were mining, no one had any actual preferences for what they should get, so they decided anything that could count as valuable would be grabbed. Like iron, gold, redstone, diamonds, coal, and if they were able to, obsidian would be amazing to have for a private enderchest so they wouldn't have to go back and forth to the community house to their own home.

The day was quiet, almost peaceful. Now that the sun was held up high in the sky rather than shyly coming out from behind the mountains the day was really starting.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Tubbo woke up the next day in a rush, leaving his house in record time ready to see Tommy and check on him to really find out if he was okay or not, not noticing Purpled in the distance who was watching him run by while breaking tons of gravel. To Tubbo’s utter disappointment, when he checked Tommy’s house, he wasn't even there. 

He had specifically told Deo, with the others around and clearly able to hear at the time that he had wanted to- No- Needed to check up on Tommy as soon as the next morning. But here he is walking away from his bestfriends house infested with the Business bay. Without Tommy.

The only thing he was left with of Tommy’s was an inventory filled with other people’s things he had picked up from the fight, he was now holding Punz’s sword, a few of their ender pearls, mismatched pieces of iron armor, and Ponk’s diamond armor and sword.

He had made his way to Punz’s house first, as it was on the way back from Tommy’s house to his, once he knocked on the door he saw Punz holding a bunch of iron stacked up in both of their arms. Tubbo guessed that their inventory was full or something for them to hold it with their arms.

As he walked closer to the older, he called out to them. And they side-eyed him before turning to face him, their blue eyes piercing through his body like daggers, and with a nervous chuckle, he swiped out his hand to look through his inventory.

He hastily pulls out their sword with one hand while the other pulls out a pair of iron armor, and rambles out words before the other tries to attack him for intruding, “Wait- Wait! Punz, I got your stuff back from Tommy!” Punz quirks an eyebrow.

“Willingly?” They asked, and Tubbo nodded quickly.

“Yeah yeah! I didn't even have to ask him!”

“That’s..New.”

“Now that you mention it- Yeah, it is a bit weird, maybe it’s because he didn't want bad blood between the two of you?”

“Maybe. Thank you for bringing it to me Tubbo, I dont gotta waste my iron now-”

“You're welcome Punz! Make sure to thank Tommy as well!”

“Mmhm, will do.”

"Yup! Well, I gotta go now, see you later then?"

"Yeah, bye Tubbo."

"Bye Punz!"

Punz then looked at their sword intensely, and Tubbo didn't wait long till he decided he could go back to his house. As he walked out of Punz’s house, he thought about what he could do now that he wasn't going to hang out with Tommy. He remembers what the boys at his house had told him about the whereabouts of Tommy.

Apparently, according to Luke, Deo and Tommy were together in a cave system on the server and were mining for any material they could get their hands on. It made him jealous at first, already knowing that if Tommy wanted something like iron or diamonds, he would have asked or stolen them from him.

Not that he wants the younger to steal or to constantly use his resources, it does get a bit annoying sometimes, but now he was just surprised that he was getting them on his own, and had left with Deo. Without telling him.

Then the thought got soaked in his brain, and he was just left confused. Tommy would usually ask other people for things he was too lazy or too preoccupied to get, but now he was mining ever since the sun rose?

He was almost tempted to pull out his communicator to check in on Tommy himself, but then a hand slapped itself onto his back, causing him to fall forward slightly. He turned around swiftly with a pocket of coughs coming out of his throat.

“Hey!” A voice cheerfully chimed out, Tubbo faced the other behind him fully to see the dark orange hair with splotches of white mixed in and two large appendixes on a familiar head.

“Hello Fundy-” He replied, watching the others' ears perk up with his voice, “How are ya? Wasn't Wilbur supposed to watch over you?” Fundy’s ears flattened slightly, “I don’t need him to watch over me- I’m literally older than you now.” He smugly replied.

Tubbo rolled his eyes playfully, “Fundy- That’s only because you age quickly because of your Hybrid traits!”

“Still counts!” Fundy countered, and with a sly smirk, he sneakily opened his inventory with a flick of his wrist. Unknown to Tubbo, who was only able to guess what would happen next when he saw the grin on his face that reminded him of when Tommy was prepared to do some type of prank.

“Hey!” Fundy started, “Look at this potato I got!” And right after he shoved a rotten potato into the hands of Tubbo. Tubbo’s eyebrows furrow greatly but he holds the potato in his hand; it was covered in dirt and grime, he could even see the coats of green that decorated the vegetable in random spots, then, out of curiosity, he clicks on the potato. A name pops up, signifying that the potato was named, reading as much as he can, he can see the words “This potato is property of Fundy.”

Tubbo’s eyes widen and he looks at Fundy once again, and Fundy, while giggling, equips his armor and shield with great speed. With an innocent tone tinting his voice he asks “What are you doing with my property?”

“Wha- Fundy!”

“What are you doing with my property?” Fundy repeats twice more, his voice becoming more giddy and childish.

Suddenly, something else pops out from Fundy’s hands, a glass bottle. It floats out in the air before it lands on the floor in front of Tubbo’s feet, and Tubbo instantly feels like he isn't as fluid as he was before. He instinctively charges his sword forward towards Fundy’s shield, it hits, but it chips the wood only a little, and Tubbo swears that he put more force into the swing than what was shown.

‘Weakness’ His mind supplies him, he already knows that he won't make it out of this tussle, the potion’s duration is unknown to him so he might not be able to wait it out like he hopes. But he still tries to, he swings his arm again, he still has his regular speed so he just needs to hit in the more vital places.

His blade hits against Fundy’s shoulder, the fox-hybrid was never good at fighting, so that did give Tubbo an extra advantage; You’d think that being Wilbur’s son and Technoblade’s nephew that he’d have more experience in fighting like Tommy, but he didn't.

Fundy grits his teeth at the pain, but then counters the hit with two more that scrape Tubbo’s sides, his own iron axe cuts at Tubbo’s arm and hip, blood sprays out like a popped balloon. But then a whizzing sound comes out of nowhere and lodges itself into Fundy's neck, the pain was instant and shocking, forcing him to jolt.

Whipping his head in the direction of where the arrow came from, on the Prime path he sees Punz in the distance, one hand is holding a crossbow steadily while the other holds a baby blue flower that a bee is staring at.

The bee has no clue what’s going on, it happily buzzes around the flower that Punz has, crushing the bottom of the stem in an iron tight grip. Fundy squawks at Punz, but shuts his mouth quickly as his neck is bleeding out, he pouts and mumbles something Tubbo can’t hear, his tail flicks and twitches.

Tubbo doesn’t understand why though, he doesn't know fox body-language, and he didn't really try to learn, knowing that Fundy was as expressive as Tommy was, “Learning from the best!” He remembers Tommy shouting once.

But Tubbo takes that opportunity to cleanly and quickly kill him so he wouldn't bleed out, as his sword swiped across Fundy’s neck, ensuring a quick death he watched the other fall to the floor quickly. And as white particles burst out of the fox hybrid's body he waved wildy at Punz, who was walking closer.

[ItsFundy was slain by Tubbo_]

Punz, once they got close enough, stood still in front of Tubbo. Tubbo in return turned his head to the side in confusion, Punz then brought out the flower in their hand and pulled it up and out to Tubbo. He blinks twice before gasping and looking at the bee who instantly followed the flower, “Punz!” He said with a wide smile, “Oh my god you didn't!”

“It's thanks for bringing my things back to me.” Punz replied, their voice had a lighter tone to it, until it switched, “Now I don’t owe you anything.”

Tubbo laughs loudly, gently prying the flower out of Punz’s hand, “Yeah yeah Boss man. Oh! Don't forget about getting something for Tommy as well- It’s him who gave them up in the first place.” He reminds the older.

Punz lightheartedly sighs with a tiny smile creeping its way onto their mouth, “Yeah- About that.” They say, and then suddenly a disc with accented neon red and a maroon red appeared in their hand, Tubbo instantly recognizes it as [Chirp]. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out from shock and excitement, he can't wait to see Tommy’s reaction.

“Are you going to give it to him?” He asks cheerily, walking back to his house, lifting the blue flower in the air so that the bee continues to follow him. Punz follows him closely, they look over the disc with contemplation, most likely thinking about how they should give the disc to Tommy.

“I was probably going to let you give it to him- But I’ve been thinking about doing a 1v1 with him, if I’m the one to give it to him it’d be easier to ask for it. Last time wasn't an actual 1v1- Y'know, cause Dream kinda forced his way in.” Punz explained, cracking their knuckles on one hand, each finger resounding with an audible pop. It was oddly casual.

Tubbo agrees with a hum and multiple quick nods, walking up to his house he opens his door and runs up the stairs, leaving Punz on the bottom floor right beside Tubbo’s small potato farm. They hear Tubbo’s feet tap against the wooden floor above them, deciding that it was time for him to go. They cup their hands around their mouth and shout up to the younger on the floor above, “I’m gonna go now! I’ll give the disc to Tommy later!” 

They hear Tubbo shout back something, they couldn't really understand it but still left his house anyway.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Purpled is inside of his UFO, he is sitting on the floor solely due to the fact that his house doesn't have any interior yet. It was obviously empty, but he didn't feel too alone, twisting his head to the right revealed a tiny phantom, it’s dulled blue and slightly torn wings were fluttering under the sight of Purpled.

Purpled reached out towards the small mob, it was able to show itself due to Purpled’s house being encased completely in the dark with no outside sunlight beaming in at all. Purpled rubbed the top of it's head lightly, he heard it emitte a quiet high pitched purr that seemed to vibrate the phantom's throat.

Suddenly, the phantom jumped up and started to anxiously fly around, zooming towards the machine that allowed Purpled in and out of his house. Purpled, watching in confusion finally figured out what it was trying to do, as he heard someone go up the water elevator with audible bubbles he frantically grabbed his closest block, which were his light blocks.

Placing the blocks down with such speed he layers the blocks on each other. After he does so, he then hears the distinguished sounds of someone yelling underwater, he can’t really tell who it is yet due to the muffled sounds from the blocks and the fact that the person is technically getting drowned.

Unbreaking the block right directly on top of the water escape he sees Fundy, who immediately coughs out a bit of water. While stretching out his arms to try and keep him afloat, his hair was drenched in water and his cheeks puffed out with an apparent frown on his face.

“Fundy.” He greets the other calmly and cautiously.

“HE-!” Fundy yells out right after, his voice cuts out briefly, most likely one of his many voice cracks.

Purpled looks at the chat for a split second as Fundy coughs out once more, and he sees that Tubbo killed Fundy earlier, his eyebrows furrow slightly in confusion. What does it mean that Fundy is here now after Tubbo just finished killing him?

He doesn't want to waste any time, his UFO needs to be finished and he can't be hanging around "Fur-Guy" as Tommy so graciously calls the questionably older fox hybrid.

"Fundy." He calls out again, not waiting any longer to give out what's going on, "What are you doing at my house." He asks, but it sounds more like a statement.

"I was.." Fundy starts, and pauses briefly, while hiding a grin that comes with an idea, "I was talking to Tubbo, showing him my crops, and I handed him a potato-" He explains, his tail whipping back and forth stealthy in the water.

"But he wouldn't give it back! So then I tried fighting him- Like a good person, to stop this thief, who is Tubbo." He finishes, and after he stares at Purpled for a few minutes, he tries to crawl up between the spaced gap that would then let him in Purpled's actual house.

Purpled quickly brings his sword back up, pointing it at Fundy he repositions himself, his body twists into an altered version of his usual fighting stance.

"Woah woah woah there-" Purpled stammers out, his sword is then pointed closer to Fundy's neck, which makes the fox visibly gulp.

"Purpled, you gotta trust me man!" Fundy cries out loudly, annoyance subtly leaking into his tone.

Purpled stares at him for a bit, and with an unapologetic sigh, seemingly done with the conversation, he charges his sword forwards. But as soon as he makes the attempt, a murky blue potion fly's it's way out of Fundy's hand and onto his purple sweatshirt.

He feels the familiar effects forced onto him, and out of veteran instincts, he swiftly lodges his sword into Fundy's chest without any hesitation. It sticks itself into his flesh with an audible swelch before he takes it out to forcefully put it back in. But a cleverly placed block stops and slows his attack, accidently plunging the sword into the block.

Breaking the cobblestone block with one of his many iron pickaxes, he frees his sword from it's quick entrapment and once again strikes Fundy. Finally confirming the kill onto the older.

[ItsFundy was slain by Purpled]

<Punz>: LMAO

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

A certain blonde hears the three public pings spread out between a time period, looking at the three of them as soon as the sounds come out.

Him and his companion were endlessly mining in one of the many cave systems they came across. It was basically silent other than the few drops of water that would fall from the ceiling indicating some type of small water pocket located above them. Or the sounds of rattling bones chirping in the distance, the low growls of the undead, and the soft but prickly sounds of spiders crawling in the dark.

The brunette beside him eyed him curiously, not that most could tell. As his two endless white abyss' he calls eyes were hidden by dark shades. Adjusting his christmas hat more onto his head he faces the younger, who had temporarily stopped his mining to watch over the chat intensely.

"Tommy?" Deo calls out, his voice makes the other finally pry his eyes away from the device.

"Yeah?"

"You've been staring at your communicator for a bit, what's going on man." He says slowly, hoping that he doesn't sound too concerned, but it sounds like an open question; he does this so that the other doesn't think they're in danger or in trouble.

"..Oh, it's nothing, just Fundy pulling pranks and getting the short end of the stick" He replies casually, a smirk being sketched onto the corner of his mouth, which makes Deo smile lightly.

"Hope they're not being too mean though." He hears the blonde say to himself quietly as an afterthought, he finds himself agreeing.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Fundy grumbles as he wakes up back at his cave house hidden in a small hill, he's a bit agitated because he lost his items in Purpled's house-

Wait, he lost his items in Purpled's house.

'That was easier than I thought, now I have a real and perfectly logical reason to kill him.'

He hastily grabs another almost broken set of iron armor, slipping it on like melted ice. His slightly pointed fingers and sharp nails click against the smooth material with small 'taps'. A grin could be seen on his face as sharp teeth are flaunted, his tail wags slowly as he leaves his base.

Running out, his feat hit the damp grass underneath him with great weight. Feeling the wind push against his white and orange hair, his fox ears atop his head fold down because of the harsh air.

He slips into the shadows of trees, the light from the sun drips through and causes his hair to practically glow, it looks like the vibrant glow that radiates off of fire.

His animalistic eyes zoom in on the teen covered head to toe in the color purple. The teen is standing outside of his UFO, looking up at his house with hard eyes.

Pulling out his iron axe from his inventory with a flash of bright light he prepares to charge. His feet tap against the ground once more, and thanks to his DNA it decreases the volume of his footsteps, it's from his ancestors that needed to hunt for their food and hide in the shadows for their prey, much like him right now.

Except for the fact that he isn't an actual fox, so he isn't exactly an expert at sneaking up behind someone.

Purpled turns around quickly after hearing almost silent footsteps charge in his direction. As he looks behind him he sees Fundy with raised arms holding an iron axe in a swinging motion, and he barely has enough time to bring up his own weapon, and the two quickly clash, causing a loud noise to sound out in the air.

"Fundy?!" Purpled shouts out in surprise,his body tenses up slightly.

"Hello Purpled!" Fundy tries casually, "I wanna have a talk with you!"

Purpled pulls away his sword by pushing it away from under Fundy's heavy iron axe, it makes a high slicing sound that itches his ears. "What are you doing?" He quickly interrogates the older.

"Checking out your house! It's very lovely, Purpled." Fundy tries to change the subject, after the compliment he jumps back after Purpled fully brought back his sword.

Purpled pauses for a moment, "It is nice." He confirms, with a stoic nod.

"Right." Fundy agrees, "Why don't you take off your armor?" He asks right after.

Purpled stares at him, his face practically saying what he isn't, 'Seriously?'.

Fundy ignores the look and charges forward again, not letting Purpled try and pull back up his sword, he isn't far enough so he decides to turn around and stay running.

Purpled retreats, now sprinting off to the side of Tubbo's house; Fundy doesn't think much, just letting his feet take the lead to catch up on Purpled. Purpled rounds the corner and Fundy cuts close on it and is able to just barely slice his axe against the fabric of his Purpled sweatshirt.

They round the corner once more, and now they're both running alongside Tubbo's orchid.

"C'mon Purpled! Let's talk- Let's meet and greet-" He tries to call out to the one he's chasing, his voice coming out slightly staggered due to him still running.

Out in the corner of Fundy's peripheral view he sees a flash of green, it wasn't bright like Dream's usual attire. Then he realizes it's Tubbo at the last second.

It happens too quickly that he can't block the heavy attack that lands itself right into his side, pushing him back harshly against the bushes that lay beside Tubbo's orchid.

Tubbo doesn't give him any time to get out from the clutches of the bush before he's already striking again, confirming another kill onto the fox hybrid.

[ItsFundy was slain by Tubbo_]

"You just died-" Purpled observes, his voice isn't heard by the one he said it to though, so it flows by in the wind.

Tubbo just sighs, he's already a bit ticked off by the fact that he hasn't seen Tommy when he was supposed to- Which makes him antsy and worried about the younger.

"What the hell Fundy." He also says to the silence that encases him like a big in a jar, hoping that his words will be able to reach the person it's directed at.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Fundy wakes up once more, his body feeling strained of its last energy after those three deaths. His tail swishes side to side before he gets the energy to stand again, his feet lightly Grace the floor before he releases the pressure of his weight onto the cold cobblestone.

Sharp eyes caught his brewing stand, he had two more potions he could bring and use when it was needed, he debated bringing them more a few minutes, then with a solid nod he decided. Wrapping his fingers around the glass containers with a gentle but firm grip.

He makes his way out jacket tied around his waist tightly, letting the camouflaged door open and close with an audible clunk noise that reverbs to the outside.

Finally back at Tubbo's house he can't help but feel the two pairs of eyes that watch him cautiously, picking apart every move he makes. His ears twitch involuntarily at that notion.

He picks up the few items he has lying on the floor of where he died, the blood on the floor was already gone and faded, like it never happened; it was definitely an inconvenience, but he could live with it.

He locked eyes with Tubbo, who stood just a few feet away from him.

Purpled takes a step to stand beside Tubbo, his eyes hardening slightly his voice goes down an octave lower "Tubbo- I don't trust this guy." He hears, and he's not sure if it was supposed to be a whisper, he didn't seem to be trying to be quiet.

Tubbo seemingly took some sort of hint, as soon as he heard that he agreed "He's a sly fox!"

Fundy's eyes widen ever so slightly, and his hands twitched at his side, he could use the probs now and try to get a few cheeky kills on the both of them; His shoulders slumped at that thought, he wasn't that dumb, going up against Purpled and Tubbo without armor, fully relying on the potion of invisibility and weakness.

He knows it won't work, so he decides not to.

And maybe in another timeline- He had decided the opposite.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Still, Fundy decided that it would be a good idea to resolve their.. Issues. So with a few materials of his own and from a place he found them in he started constructing a building for resolving conflicts, lined with cobblestone, while the walls were a sturdy oak and the roof was made from blackstone.

Finishing small details, like a totally not suspicious hole behind where his two guests were going to be sitting, and two signs above the entrance door. He nodded once to himself and made his way back to the two teens.

Making his way down the prime path, he sees the two of them standing close, their hushed voices keeping him from trying to understand what they were saying, even with his slightly enhanced hearing. He grinned at the two, his teeth shined, to some it may look a bit threatening, but they knew that it was friendly.

"Hello, gentleman." Fundy greeted them, and they greeted him back in a similar matter. "I made a room for us to resolve our problems and talk about it." He said, holding his hands together, Tubbo and Purpled take a look at each other before looking back at him.

"A room?" Purpled questions, leaning his body heavily on one foot to be more comfortable, "Yes!" Fundy answers immediately.

"So- Follow me, la- Er, chaps." Fundy stutters, then he leads them down the popular oak walkway, their feet tap rhythmically, almost in a tempo. As they continue to walk down the path a small square building slowly fades into view but two other things also fade into view as well, more specifically two people.

Before Tubbo could notice the oddly..Familiar looking blackstone slabs decorating the building's roof, Tubbo recognizes the two people instantly and picks up his pace, now speed walking towards the blonde and brunette.

ó̡̼̰̮̲̖̖̆̒̚͡͠͞=̨̖̺͚̼̽̑̚̚͞=̢̰̘͎̈́̒̽̃[̼̦̗̘̯̬̱̬̖̎̉̅̊̽̃̕̚͜͝͞]̭̲̩̓̔͘:͙̥͆͘:̨̬͕̘̩̫̳̾̃̈̂͛͡͡:͈̰̈́̈͟͠:̥̠̊:̳̦͔͉̩͍͔̏̽͊̈̂͒͘:̖̊:̗̯̙̘̰͈̞̗͔͛̃̇̑͑̃̾̒̒̕͢:̣̖͛̀:̘͘:͈̱͊̽::̼̝̱̟̟͍̜͋̉̓̔̂̂̚͟:̺̙̼̜͔̝̖̘̇̀͊̆̎̅̅͘͢͞:̫̓:̜͕̪͇̖̥͕̭͈́̔̓͊͛͆͘͟͞͝͠:̲̺̣̤̒̎̏͠>͍͉͎͈̣͎̅́͒͐͝͝

I̪̔'m̼͡ ͎̕š̘or͇̍ȓ̘y͖̽.

̫͌Y̹̔ọ͊u̫̾ ̫̑w̡͆ê͎r̩̆en̳̅'̻͘t ̟̒m̡̔ę̉a͉̅nṭ̎ to ̯͑be ̜͝h̬̚e̝͗re̫̚.̧

̗͐

̯̏This̨̓ i͚̍s͉͊n͎̋'̹͂t̫̂ ͙̓a̮͒ ͈̊s̳͂a͈̐f͎̾e ͙͗plac͙̊e̺͞ ̪̇a̭͗n̪ymo̻̐re̝̽,̩̅ ͙̓h̆͟e k̦͗no̮̍w̟͊ș;̙͞ but ̫̒I̠̋'̫̈lľ̟ prǒ͈t̖̃e̗̐ct y͎͋ou̗̓.͍̆

Wh̟e͓͐ǹ͎ ț̄ḥ̍e ͇tim͕̿ė̺ ͓͘c̦̑omes̍͟ ̩̑t͓̀hà̩ț̆ ̻̾ȳ̗ou ̙̋d̐ͅo̯͘n̞͊'̤̚t̯ ̡̊w̥͋ȁ̲n͍̎ṱ̐ to ̹̒re̯̽m͔ē̥m͎̅b̳̓ę̌ȑ͖,͓̃ ̫̓ḣ͜e'̻͝ll̘͗ ̪̈́m̘̋â͟k̺̍e yoū̳.͕̾ ̯Do̝̍n͕̿'̪͑t̖̄.͔̕

̱̋

̻͒F̮̅ǒ͢rget͖̓ ̘̓ṁ͍e, f͚͂org̫͊et̩̾ ṫ̟h͓̒i̪̽s p͘͢l̺͂ac̰̋e͕͠,̩̄ ̬̍f̫͋oŕ̜g̠͒ȩ̓t͍̓ a͚͛bou͑͜t͇̐ u̬͠s̨̀ b̞̆e̪͋ȋ̺n͇̚g̱͑ ͙̒two̗̿,͔̀ ͎͠a̬͆b͉̈́o̝͐u͒͟ṯ͘ ͚̃be̝͑ĩ͈ng̓͢ ̙̄se̖͆p̙ǎ͎ṛat̟͐e̐͟.̰͗

̭͛Foř͍ ̜̈́w̔ͅe̲̋ w͕̄i͙͡l̨͘l ͇̌b͎͊e̘͐ ̜̍o̭͊n͈e,̲̐ ͋͟w̦̐e͕̒ ̨̂ä̜́r̦e͕͂ ͙͘oņ̑e.̥̉

̹̔To̫͂ ̩͗es̥̈́ca͕͒p͖͞e we͍͆ ͍̾m͔͠ṵ̕sţ̒ ̰̒b͖̂e̜͑com̰͂e̟͌ ̨̈ó̜n̤͘e,̚͟ ̬͐tḩ̃ḙ̉n ̫̉w̻̕e̡̔ ̯̏m͕͛ust͔͋ ̻̀l̰̀eå̮v̧͞ë̻́ wiẗ͙h͕͌ ̢̇n̲̐o knowle̠͘dg̬̚ē͈ o̞͠f̭̀ ö̭́u̮͑r̩̂ l̺̀i̒͜v͂͜e̼͗s ̡͝f̱̈́ṟ̇o̯̔m̰̄ ̤͒be̱͆f̙̒o̗̚r̥̂e̙͠.

̢͐

̖I'm̡̒ ̜̾th́ͅe f̮͂aŕ͔ ̙̚away̜̅,̜̃ ̞̏y͐͢ô̢ǔ̱ ả̺r̳͒é̞ t͉̆he ͑͜eṅ̙d̹͡.

̋͟A̦͞ṋ̓d̠̀ ̅͟we ā̺r̡͡e ō̟nȅ̮.̲͗

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Tubbo gains ground and finally stops right in front of Deo and Tommy, they're both standing in front of the building Fundy was leading them to. It's Deo who notices Tubbo getting closer to them at the corner of his eye and moves his body accordingly to greet the shorter; Tubbo smiles at Tommy but it quickly becomes strained at the sight of Deo.

"Hey Tubso!" Tommy greets with his own cheery voice, and Deo subtly side-eyes him.

Tubbo replicates the tone and responds, with Purpled soon by his side, "What're you doing here Tommy?" He questions, an eyebrow quirks up.

"Oh- I was giving him a tour of the server!" Tommy answers, moving his arm so it's like he's presenting Deo to them.

Tubbo tilts his head to the side, "But Luke told me you were out mining?" It sounds accusatory, something that Deo, Tommy, and Purpled notice.

"Yeah we were, but then our inventories got full so we went back to my house and dropped everything off before heading out." Tommy explains, and briefly looks at Deo.

"Well what are you going to do after?"

"Probably just gonna go to the nether and mine for ancient debris, y'know, going on the grind."

"Oh."

Fundy quickly senses the tense mood that soon captures the five of them and decides to speak up, "You must be busy with that huh? Wouldn't want to hold you up for much longer!" His animalistic eyes darted to the new face, Deo.

With haste he places both of his hands on Tubbo's shoulders and leads him into the building that had a noticeable sign at the front that says "The socializing club".

Tubbo reluctantly allows the guidance into the building, feeling a bit mixed about how he was being left out. Purpled follows closely behind, his eyes slit at the sight of Deo, Deo's eyebrows flinch upwards at the obvious stare; lifting his head slightly up, he lets the ghost of a grin show.

Tommy only waves goodbye and grabs Deo by the back of his collar, practically choking him in the process, and starts to drag him away in the direction of the community house. Deo jokingly cries out about being kidnapped and stranger danger, weakly flailing his arms out while Tommy rolls his eyes with a huff. Once they're in the large building Tommy finally let's go, but he stops walking.

Deo turns to him and says the other's name, "Tommy-?" He cuts himself off, studying Tommy's posture, it's stiff and his shoulders look as hard as rocks.

He shifts and gets a good look at Tommy's face, "You okay Toms?" He asks softly, being cautious of what's going to happen next.

"Yeah- I just, I felt weird while we were walking away." Tommy confesses, silently gripping his hand into the cotton of his shirt.

"Okay, in what way, can you tell me?" Deo tries to interrogate the younger, taking a step closer.

"It just felt like- Like something heavy just got on my shoulders, or maybe my back.."

"Something heavy?"

"Yeah, as soon as I stepped away from them."

Distantly he asks the voices, as the only other time he's felt this specific feeling was when he met the Phoenix who gave him his powers; he waited briefly, then a bit longer.

It was the first time the voices didn't have something to say.

Deo bites the inside of his cheek and slowly reaches out his hand to the other in an attempt to comfort him, but all he gets is an abrupt flinch from the blonde.

Tommy realizes what he did and stares at the older, wide eyes calculating something Deo almost doesn't understand, if not for his own history he might not have fully known.

It doesn't make his blood not boil though, remembering the people who made Tommy this way, and for the people that made Deo this way. So, with a deep and smooth motion, he inhales and exhales; His hands reach to his eyes and grab his sunglasses, he pulls them off and let's his glowing white eyes be shown to the world. His world.

"Let's sit down, okay?" Deo proposes, "Let's sit- And- And we'll just relax." He stutters out, and internally cringes at his own voice.

With a hovering hand, he brings Tommy to the closest thing they could find to a chair, which are the spiral stairs; Deo offers the stairs as a seat for Tommy, but the blonde refuses with a shake of his head.

Deep decides that he won't use them either then, he sits on the floor, using the stairs as a walk of some sort to lean back against. Tommy sits down beside him, Deo keeps his hands tightly to his sides, and slowly, Tommy curls into his side.

Deo, with steady hands, reaches for the younger's hair, and with the lightest amount of pressure, he drops it onto his hair; After a few seconds of making sure the blonde hasn't hit him away yet he allows himself to let his hand lay limp on the other's head.

With his other hand he puts back on his sunglasses, and they rest on his nose bridge pathetically close to falling off with the way his head sways with sleep creeping onto him.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

It's hours later when Tommy wakes up, his mind is foggy and his body feels as though his organs are replaced with stones.

'Goodmorning!'

'It's not the morning though?'

'We're awake.'

'Go home!'

It wasn't a good idea for the both of them to sleep during the middle of the day, because now he's woken up and it's now nighttime; the darkened sky leaked into the windows of the community house, he positions himself up more so he isn't leaning too heavily against Deo.

'What is that noise?'

He looks at the older one and once he hears the distinct sound of snoring accompanied by the voice distinctly asking about it, he huffs out a laugh, his head falls back slightly due to it.

"He always snores, get used to it chat." He reveals, letting a smile appear on his face, and blue eyes grow evermore glossy.

'That'll be annoying.'

'I think it's funny'

'How is it funny?'

'Someone's walking towards us.'

Tommy's eyes widen as his head flicks to one of the four entrances of the community house, he sees their feet first; his gaze quickly shifts to their face, or mask.

"You-" He chokes out before he grimaces at the other, his anger clearly shown on his face. Tommy then crowds over Deo's sleeping body, an overprotective feeling boils in his gut and bubbles; Deo is vulnerable, and even if Tommy knows that if Deo were to wake up he would be the one protected and he wouldn't feel as though he's walking on eggshells.

'It's him'

'Run away?'

'Burn him?'

'Act normal'

"Calm down Tommy, I'm just here for the thing you promised" Dream casually reminds the younger, his hands from behind his back are now limp by his sides.

"The favor?" Tommy hopes, and Dream allows himself to laugh at him, like he was stupid.

"No, I'm saving that for something special." Dream begins, his voice giving off a snarky and all-knowing tone. "I was talking about the netherite chest-plate you kindly offered to me" He finishes with a breath of air and a hand presenting itself on his chest, it seemed that it was there for the theatrics.

'Netherite chest-plate?'

'You did say you would'

"Oh." Tommy's body slightly slumped at the thought, he was definitely more relaxed then before, but he was still holding his ground over and in front of Deo. "Yeah- Here, make sure to leave me alone after this." He warns the older before reaching into his inventory the flash of light turns into a shining chest-plate, he wants to throw it at Dream but Deo is still sleeping, so he decides to lightly place it on the floor made of crafting tables.

Dream takes his time in picking up and examining the chest-plate, he flips it over once, twice, three total times before he hums in approval and puts the chest-plate on himself. It quickly morphs into a shape that'll fit him better, and Tommy continues to scowl, the chest plate is insignificant to him now, it's more the thought of wasted netherite on this sad sack of lard called 'Dream.'

"And for the question from earlier-" Dream recalls with a hand making quote gestures, "I won't be leaving you alone, you're useful." Dream's mask stares him down, the same smile that never changes keeps it's dotted eyes steady on him, "And your fun." He adds as an afterthought.

Tommy doesn't say anything, he won't give Dream the reaction he expects. He stays quiet.

Dream stands still for a few minutes, making sure his eye contact hasn't moved onto anything other than Tommy. He says nothing as he turns his body to the side and finally leaves the community house, Tommy keeps track of his footsteps without the need to look up past the others' ankles.

'Left, right, left, right.'

'Left, right, left, right.'

'Left, right, left..'

He shifts down back beside Deo, going back to sleep; he's honestly surprised that Deo's even still asleep, he's always been a light sleeper while Tommy is the heavy sleeper, well, was the heavy sleeper.

What he doesn't know is that the brunette was awake that whole time, ready to pounce on the green man terrorizing his best friend. But then decided to stay "asleep" in order to get a few answers, he feels bad that he didn't get the answers from Tommy himself, but it'll do in order to protect the sun.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

It wakes up, and with a killer headache it whines, eyes open and darting across the scenery. It's different and unfamiliar, but at the same time, it doesn't feel familiar, it's body is so weirdly not theirs but at the same time no one else has had its body, so why does it feel this way?

"Oh you poor thing, did you think that's what you needed in order to escape?"

It locks eyes with this new being, it doesn't know what to do.

"Follow me, I'll show you everything you'll need to know, but first." The voice finishes in a condescending tone that it doesn't pick up on.

[̢̝̜͈̠̺͖̲̻͙̯̜͓̳̟̟̞͈͌͐̊́̆̓͌͐̃̽̄͑̉͊̽͜͝͝ͅ-̢̨̗͇͙̹̣̺̩͔̳̯̙̆̔̂̄̉̑̈̈̿̅̏̇̉̚ͅͅ-͕͉̙͕̪̗̜͇̭͈̰̜̥͔̜̦̰͇̥̏̍̌̉̈́̈́̍͌̋̏̍̊͐̿̒̕͘̕͟͡ͅ-̧̧͓͎̺͋̈̑͟͞͝-̡̡̛̛̭̱̝̩̩̰͔̪̬̲̘͋̔̄̆̔̈͛͆̄̋͟͟͞͠-̨̡̨̲̥̗̻͚͚̲͔͎̮̙͎̤̮̩̙̼̬̳̦̗̒̈̏́̐̅͊͊̊̇̿͌̓̂̊̍̉̽͛́̕͘͜͠͡-̧͉̲̗̻̿̋̎̾͒͗͢͟͡ ̡̨̨̛̛̜̼̯͕̠̹͔̤͈͓̠͙̯͈̜̣̲̥͇͚̣͉͉̖͈̹͔͇̺̮͕̫͕̻͖̭̄͒͋̿̊̋͐͌͆̏̃́͐̌̀͆̄̃̀̏̍̆͂͌͆̌̅̓́́̀̎̕̕͘͢͟͠͝͞͝͡ͅj̧͗ơ̡̨̧̥͎͕͔̣̮̬̲̪͉̬͉̜͙̟̙̻̯̼̘̣̲͍̤̙̙̙̦̈͌͌̂̾̎̐̂͋͐͐̿̽̓͗̽̔͌̂͊̃̋͘̚̚͟͟͝͞͞i͙͍͖̱̥͓͎̪͚̣̦͙̖̾̔̉́͋̈̎̌̓͒̒̍͜͞͠n̨̢͎̯̭̤̞̺̦͕̖̲͕̓͋̇̽̎̅̈́͂͑̈́͌͞͠ę̹̘͉̞̟͕͓̱̤̩̮̟̜̙̭̺̭̙̏͆̅͋̓̿͛̍͑̏̾̃̆͐͗̔̑̚̕d̨̡̨̨̡̛̩̲͍̣̖̖͎̺̙̱̜͉͉̩̭̜̙̗̩̦̝̦͚̬͇͙̤̤̣̠̻̑̍̓̈́͆͑̓̎̒͂͗͂̈̓̍͌̉̌̍̽͐̉͆̈́̌̃̽̍̄̇̕͢͢͢͡͞͞͡͞͝ ̢̞̩͙̭̱͚͔̦̳̟̻͈̥̝̙̝̒̐̅͌̏̇̓̓͋̽͒͊̽̚̚͢͜͠͠ţ̫̗͉̣͍̹̹̥̰̺͇̘̲̝͎̮̮̞̺̫̗̟͉͖͖̪͙̤̻̺̙̫̖̯̮̮̼̟͙̱̯͌̐̌̑͛̾̒͒͋̉̄̽̓̋̔̿̎͗͂͌̍͊̂͒̓̉̏̊̐̊̑̀̽̂͑̅̚̕͢͢͜͠͝͞͞͝͝ḣ̢̭̯͕̮̱̜̬͉͗̅̍̏͑͗̉͡ͅẽ̢̦̯̱̰̭̯͍͍̌̔͒̓͘̕͘͘ ̛̯̼̤͔͈̘̳̄̆́̑̂̑͜͠ǵ̡̢̟͚͈̥̲̿̆̂̎̀͊ḁ̡̧̨̻͎̫̟̩͖̞̝̘͈̩̜̥̬̻͈̙̗͓̲̼͉̹̟̬̻̱̝̠̩̹͈̉͋͗̒̏̊̃̃͑̎̾̓͆͋̿̋̏͂͂̆̊̇̈̀̎̑̆͐͛̿̔̎̀̚͟͝͠ͅm̢̧̧̨̡̛͔̙͓̠̟̦̫̠͉̱̰̙̱̻̰̹͚̮̠͓̩̐̿̿́͋̽̌̒͆͋̀̿̌͒̇̐͐̽͋̎̏̊̆͂͢͞͠è̙̦̻̺̲̊̓͌͒̌̕͟ͅͅ]̠͔̣̭̈̊̌̓̕͟

o=͔̭͚̂̏͊=[̢̛͍̥̦͇͒̏̿͋͡ͅ]̨̡̛̻̺͑͆̓̕ͅ:̭̩̒̕:̧̛͉̬̠͎̦̮̤͉̈́̑̐͆̓̂͡͠::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

It's been a week since the "end" of the disc war, it's also been a week since he's heard of anything relating to Dream. 

He talked to Tubbo yesterday, and thankfully it wasn't as awkward as it was the day after he had the mini confrontation; something Deo informed him that he believed that's what had happened. It was actually calming, being with Tubbo, it'd been awhile since he felt that way while being alone with the older due to exile just ruining (almost) all the trust he had in the brunette.

They hung around the forest in front of the bench that hadn't been chopped down yet in the timeline, they sat in the grass while the wind gently brushed against their hair. He caught himself twice trying to follow the flow of the wind, he also caught himself relating to the birds a little too much. He got excited watching a small family of birds carefully instructing a baby bird to jump out of its nest and fly out, when it successfully did, he felt something rumble in his throat that made him cough. While continuing to bird watch he also felt some type of unexplainable urge watching some fly, maybe he was jealous of their freedom, or maybe it was something else.

Tommy blamed it on the Phoenix mixing with him; he remembers cursing them out in his head and accusing them of lying for not telling him he would get "bird brains".

He remembers them not responding.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Tommy hastily tried to move his body away, but the dirt still found its way into his sensitive eyes; he groaned at the pain and cursed, "Fucking hell Punz-" He jumps back, hopefully distancing himself from the older, lowering his stance into a more defending and comforting stance that would make him feel more solid. He feels the ground ripple as Punz rushes forward, his feet plummeting into the dirt below. Tommy pulls up both of his hands in a protective state, stuck together and hovering over his face. Waiting for any sort of impact, he gets it, in the form of a punch hit against his arms. Briefly, he thinks that it might bruise before he separates his hands to purposefully leave an opening, he decides to guess and reach out for Punz's wrist, his eyes still disastrously blurry from the assault.

'There!'

'Win!'

Thankfully he grabs what he thinks it's a wrist, fingers curling around tightly, indenting skin, he pulls. He hears a surprised squawk coming from in front of him as he yanks. Once he knows that Punz is in close range, coming to that conclusion from how close the abrupt squawk sounded, he plunges his knee into what he knows is the other's gut, he smirks as chat excitedly yells out. He's happy to know that they're excited to see him fight for practice and not trying to force him to fight till he gets the kill.

Punz falls down to the ground onto their right knee as if they were kneeling to Tommy, and Tommy, with the help of chat, decides to put the finishing touches on their duel and grabs the other's platinum blonde hair tightly in both of his hands, feeling the hair tickle the gaps between his fingers. In a split second, Tommy slightly raises Punz’s head just so it can slam into Tommy's knee. "FUCK-" Punz yells out harshly as they fall back after the attack, Tommy sees them cradle their nose in one of their hands, and Tommy can just barely make out the blood slowly seeping out, hidden by the olders fingers, like a sly animal hiding in plain sight.

'We won!'

‘Help their bloody nose.’

'Good job!'

‘Oh, they're bleeding’

'Finally'

Tommy scrubs at his eyes for a bit using his hands molded into balls. They sting and he feels how tears start to pool and gather together, he huffs in half frustration and half pain. Because of his attention focused on his lack of sight he didn't notice how Punz got back up onto their feet and reached into their inventory; once they had what they needed they grabbed Tommy's chin harshly with their left hand.

Tommy yells out non-committedly at the sudden movement but follows, Punz bites off the cork of their glass bottle, it pops out with a small noise. "Lean down, look up, and open your eyes." They order, if Tommy could, he would've rolled his eyes.

But Tommy leans down and tilts his head up instead. Painfully, he lets his eyes open and they instantly burn from the exposure to air. Then, they're cool, he registers the ice cold water being poured onto his eyes, he blinks rapidly trying to wash out any dirt that's still there; feeling the water drop onto his shirt he gets annoyed.

Stretching his fingers out and pulling his hand up he lightly pushes away the older who easily backs away. Tommy does a few final blinks before he shakes his head wildly, letting small droplets of water spring out from his blonde hair, quickly disappearing into the dirt below. His eyes open once more and he doesn't feel the sting he did moments before, locking his eyes with Punz he thanks the older, "Thanks, and fuck you for that." He finishes with a pointed finger.

Punz answers with a quiet huff complimented by a small smile, "You did much better than I thought you would." They said surprisingly softly, but suddenly, as if they realized what they were doing, then coughed and crossed their arms as they looked away "You gotta expect anything from a fight." They continue in a harsher tone.

Tommy rolls his eyes and shakes his hand in a dismissive manner, "Yeah yeah, okay." Punz looks at him for a second, fiddling with their golden chain before letting it fall against their chest. Tommy then remembers and reminds the older about their own predicament, “Punz.” He calls out, the other clocks their head and looks at him with an air of questioning. 

“What?” They ask, and Tommy points at his own nose, Punz doesn't get it at first, that is, until he feels a droplet fall onto his chest. Punz turns their head towards their chest and sees the small circle of blood that stained his sweatshirt. Their face quickly turns into one filled with disgust and they check their face with their hands that were already coated in blood from before when they had initially tried to block the leakage.

They sigh and scrunch up their sleeve to their fist, forcing it into a bundle and covers their nose, the white fabric quickly becoming a wine red. 

With their empty hand they reach into their inventory with a bright light. Tommy cocks his head in confusion, he watches them closely, something crawls in his stomach as he waits, he feels as though he swallowed rocks and that they were weighing him down, pulling him closer to the ground below.

'Sabotage?'

'A gift?'

'A new weapon?'

'Food wouldn't be terrible.'

Punz then brings out something that makes Tommy gasp almost instantly, it's a dark red and neon red disc; shivers sprint down Tommy's spine like an electrocuted shock and his body is left completely still. Slowly, Punz let's the disc in their grasp inch closer towards Tommy, Tommy gulps and reaches out to grab it, not before eyeing them warily. Once his hand has it tightly in his grip he lets himself graze his fingers against the lined material, a smile makes its way onto his lips as he continues to stare at the disc.

Punz awkwardly laughs out, grabbing their chain once more to fiddle with now that the hand is left open again, edging their thumb on the side slowly, "I thought that with the whole disc thing you got going on that you'd like it." Punz explains, voice muffled due to the fabric still planted against their nose, they then decide that the grass and dirt beneath them is suddenly very interesting.

Tommy wheezes abruptly and slaps his knee, "Nah man this is amazing!" He genuinely replies, but it's a bit buried under the laughter, "But why did you decide to finally give the gift now?" He asks, wiping a tear from his eye, "This had been- What, our sixth fight session?"

Punz scrunches their face at the reminder, coiling back as if they ate something particularly gross, "Yeah well, I wanted to give it to you when you finally won." They answer, finally letting go of the golden chain, something Tommy notices quickly.

"WHAT- I've won against you half of those six times! FUCK YOU- Actually, take your fucking disc back." He yells out, silently hoping that his usual loudness would continue to calm the older.

"Okay."

"NO- It was just a fucking joke!...I love the gift." Tommy shouts out while holding the red disc close to his chest, he whispers the last part, and if Punz didn't know any better they would've thought that they were trying to take something precious from a wild animal; watching it cautiously follow their movements and preparing to either bolt or attack.

‘Don't use this against me.’ Tommy idly hopes, still running his now slightly callused fingers against the black disc. 

Punz then dusts off their sweatshirt with both of their hands. Deeming it good enough that their nose wasn't actively bleeding out, they take a final look at Tommy before they speak again, "Thanks for this." Tommy curls an eyebrow at them and he continues, "Dream has been- Gone I guess, and I haven't had good training lately."

Tommy seems to just stop. It feels as though he just shoved glass into his mouth, painfully aware of the risk that'll happen if he were to move his mouth wrong. He can't really do anything other than stare at him with wide eyes, "You haven't seen Dream?" He cautiously asks, forcing his voice not to waver; glass is very fragile y'know.

Punz shakes their head mutely and looks in the direction of the community house, but to Tommy, it looked as though they were looking beyond just where the community house is. "Nope, ever since the whole big fight a week ago." Punz flicks their eyes towards Tommy before looking away again, their head doesn't move, "I'm sure he's just grinding for gear, but I've been bored- So yeah, thanks Tommy."

Tommy nods as he responds, mouth full of anxiety. "Of course." Tommy slyly scratches his hand rhythmically, his skin slowly grows irradiated and pink. Punz stretches their arms out to the sky and straightens their posture before regarding Tommy once more, finally choosing to look Tommy in the eyes once more. "Well, I'll be leaving now, I'm sure Purpled will want to talk to you soon."

Tommy makes a questioning noise that Punz picks up, answering his future question, "He's interested in what I've been up to and I told him about our sparring sessions." Punz runs a hand through their hair, ruffling up the platinum blonde mess on their head. "He might not come today but he will ask soon- That is, if he's not a pussy."

Tommy snorts, "Okay, make sure that he at least tells me before he comes to try and fight me." Punz shrugs with one shoulder before they start to speedily walk away. Tommy squeaks, "TELL HIM TO WARN ME." He calls out with his hands cupped around his mouth.

He watches Punz’s silhouette slowly fade away as the trees around swallow his figure till they're completely out of his sight. Tommy's face hardens once he knows the older isn't in hearing range, turning around he makes his way out of the forest they were both training in. His feet hit against the lush grass below him, his exterior is a deep calmness, but in his head he's wondering about why the root of all evil is “missing".

The glass seems to find its way back into his mouth, along with thick honey. An odd combo, but it does the trick to convince his mind into thinking he's about to die. ‘Okay, okay. Think, thinking is easy.’

‘Where would he be?’

‘Think!’

‘Does he have a house at all yet?’

Wait, Dream’s missing. And it's around early disc war right? Where did Dream go around that time? Where would he hide- No, where did he hide.

‘The tunnels.’

Tommy's eyes widen and panic immediately floods his mind, he breaks out into a wild sprint, his feet hitting the ground harshly with each step. His arms are shoved in front of him as he blocks incoming tree branches that zoom into view; a few scratch at his arms and he grits his teeth at the pain, but he continues to run. His stomach flips, feeling as though it's eating its own insides and he feels it shrink back into his body, like a bubble slowly forming, it tightens and he recoils at the pain.

He's at the bottom of the hill that leads to his house, looking up he could see a tree that Luke grew a few days ago. Lifting a foot and positioning it on a sturdy piece of land he pulls himself up, reaching forward as well to climb higher, fingers digging into grass and stone. His body slumps momentarily against the ground as he reaches the top, only to hurriedly force himself back onto his feet, his right foot slips slightly but he ignores it and marches forward.

Tommy's eyes scattered around his front lawn, his chickens were moved inside, his carrot farm got improved; but there was no sign of his friends nearby. He speedily walks to his front door, letting the pressure plates open the door for him. The first thing that he sees is his living room, or more so, the room that used to be his only room. Replacing the furnaces, smokers, crafting tables and bed was now an oak table with five chairs two on each side with one at the end; behind it was a leather couch with a smaller oak table that was closer to the floor than the couch.

Licking his lips anxiously he cautiously walks down the foot of stairs, his hand traces the wall by his side as he makes his way down. Once he's made it down his eyes look left and right, carefully inspecting every inch of the room.

Grabbing a left over chair nearby he looks up at the ceiling, squinting his eyes slightly, trying to estimate the right place. ‘His tunnels were near my jukebox.’ He recalls, moving the chair with a low screech of it scraping against the tiled floor he then stands on the chair, holding a random pickaxe he had in his inventory he carves a hole; chipping at the ceiling and narrowly avoiding the debris that falls down. Once it's the size of his head he peeks through, it's underneath his private room with his jukebox. ‘I guessed right about where the room was.’ He then jumps down off of the chair to check the floor beneath, his body starts to tingle as his hand slowly creeps towards the ground.

He suck's in a hot breath as he notices that the floor of where a tunnel would be is already slightly dented, in a state of panic, his breathing becomes uncontrollable and rapid. Eyes wide and wild with fear, his body instinctively shrinks in tightly, shoulders tense and pushed into his sides; his view hinders greatly with their sudden blurry effect.

Whipping his head around side to side, he looks for eyes, eyes that might be watching. Green calculating and obsessive eyes could be staring at him right this second and he doesn't know; ‘Find them, he must be watching.’ He worriedly tells himself, ‘He's in the walls, he's in the walls.’

Still trying to look for the non-existent eyes, Tommy continues to spiral, how could he have let Dream be able to already make the tunnels? How long had they been there? How long has he been listening?

His body seems to not go into overdrive, but instead just completely shuts down. Sitting on the floor, he curled up into a small ball, like he was a fetus; his cheek resting against the cold floor. He tried to use it as a way to calm himself down, it worked exceptionally well for his ever growing heat that started to quickly kindle. He felt like his body was surrendering to something greater, he felt as though he was bracing for something, like he was preparing for some type of pain to shoot him. ‘Why am I like this?’ He thought duly, blinking slowly as his vision continued to blur and smudge.

‘Fuel!’

‘You haven't gotten into fire or lava since last week’

‘Yeah and your own fire isn't good enough to meet your body's needs of heat, so you're running on fumes.’

‘We were honestly surprised how you won against Punz with nothing in the tank.’

Tommy grimaced at the truth, he had basically forgotten about doing his “annual” heating sessions, because who would willingly go out to get burned?

‘Your body is forcing you to heat up!’

Tommy slowly blinked, exhaustion still holding him tightly within a firm grasp. Idly, he thinks, ‘If my body's heating up on it's own then should I just stay still and let it?’

‘NO.’

‘This is emergency heating, it'll be temporary and afterwards if you aren't able to get warmed up you'll be exposing yourself to the high possibility of getting hypothermia.’

He groans, and his body flinches as he feels something poke at his back. Rolling his shoulders back he feels his muscles underneath move around agonizingly, a sharp jolt in his shoulder blade makes him gasp desperately.

Laying his elbows on the floor to push himself onto his knees his head spirals as he tries to look around again, sweat slowly cascades down his temple and it feels cool against his hot skin. Gulping thickly, then biting down on his teeth harshly with a click he attempts to get up, but he staggers and falls onto his shoulder, not quick enough to brace himself for the fall with either of his hands.

Another jolt of pain hits his back even though he fell onto his shoulder, he starts hyperventilating from panic of not knowing what will happen next if he were to not get warm, and the fact that even though he's trying, he can't seem to move. The chests are across the large room, and he can only now reach out with his hand, stuck on the floor while trying to muffle any sounds of struggle, his hair sticking to his skin disgustingly.

'I'm fine.’ He tries to convince himself, 'I'm- I've been alone long enough to not need to rely on everyone every time I'm hurt.’ He reasons.

He slaps his hand against the smooth floor, trying to summon his own fire, to just get the slight boost. But his vision momentarily becomes splotched with black spots when the attempt is made, even if he was able to just summon his fire whenever, (which he hasn't been able to do since the first time when he was fighting Dream) he wasn't not in the right physical or mental mindset to do so.

His eyebrows wrinkle, ‘Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!’ With a shaky intake of air, his lungs quiver, another too deep of breath, it feels as though the most oxygen he can intake isn't enough.

With the small amount of energy he had he tries to finally call out to his friends, but his voice is weak and quiet. “Help..” He gasps out, he bites down on his tongue, ‘Work dammit.’ Hoping that the pain would make his tongue actually do its job. He feels his skin grow goosebumps, but if he were to touch himself he would probably get burned. “Luke- Bitzel? Deo..” A pause, “Wisp..?”

Then there's soft thumps, he doesn't know where from, but his body fills and overflows with hope, something scratches at the back of his throat, like he swallowed a thorn bush, but he bites it down deep back into his gut, he calls out again to ignore the weird feeling, “Hello..!” It's barely louder than before, but the thumps stop, then pick up again quickly, rushing towards him.

“Help me..”

He then felt rough and scarred hands place themselves onto his jaw, he tried to lean closer to the touch, hungry for physical attention as he felt vulnerable. The hands lean his head back, and he makes a questioning noise of complaint; he feels a thumb prod at his lips, he scowls and closes his mouth.

‘Not him!’

Tommy blinks as quickly as a snail can move, and everything is still blurry. He wants the hands off of him, he weekly reaches forward to try and pull away the hands from his face but he feels the person's elbow push away his hand. The thumb aggressively tries to pry his mouth open, a finger makes its way in, but before he could bite down, his mouth is forced wide open.

‘St..!’

He gasps out of fear and is then met with a bubbly liquid being poured into his mouth, trying to reject it, he attempts to close his throat. The same hand from before harshly closes his nose between their two fingers, he chokes briefly before letting the liquid flow down and into his stomach. His feet lightly kick wildly, rubbing and scraping against the floor while also stomping as a means of struggle.

‘...!’

A hand forces his mouth close after the liquid is inside his mouth, while still clogging his nose. A single drop softly rolls down his neck as he struggles, his hands scratch at the one closing his mouth, his nails get caught on cotton so in the end it was futile; the hand was large and felt like it captured his whole face in the other's palm.

Eventually, he swallowed the mysterious liquid, he didn't feel different at all, but he definitely did feel very tired after struggling so desperately.

In his last few seconds his hands that were struggling drop down limply. Needy for comfort, his throat rumbles slightly as his head lays against the person beside him.

‘...’

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

“You've been asleep for a while.” A distorted voice slowly says, the sound cracks and breaks, making him wince. His eyelids slip open, and his head jerks slightly, still groggy from his nap, his hair swishes as he turns to the voice; as he makes contact, he licks his lips and sighs in a sort of defeated tone.

“Where are we?” He calmly asks, running a hand through his hair, pulling through a tough knot.

“We're back, just do what you're good at.” It replies, a hand majestically makes its way to his cheek. Furrowing his brows, he allows the touch; “I still don't get what's happening-” He starts, but the same distorted voice from before cuts him off.

“That's fine, even if you never understand, I'm here. Isn't that what friends are for?” It prompts, but with no response, it hums with a deep undertone.

Silence.

The same hand lightly pushes his face over to look at it, his eyes meet the white mask with an ‘XD’ signed on, it was sideways as if it were typed. With its mask, the ‘D’ was carved out so you could see its face underneath, but all that was there were three eyes, three glowing, green eyes that each produced a soft light. Atop of its head floats a thin, pure white halo with three circles that each have an identical smiley emoticon; he could see the blonde hair behind the mask, so similar but so eerily different, fluffy but stiff.

The eyes regard him with extreme interest, and he can't find himself looking away, “Yes.” He gives in, “That's what friends are for.”

‘Too bad we're not friends. I'm just using you.’

“Thank you George.” XD replies, and it's four snow colored wings flur out and widen around both of them. “I'm so glad you could help me.” George inhales sharply, launching his hands forward towards XD, tightly holding onto its lime green robe. George grits his teeth before speaking, “Don't- Don't use his voice.”

‘You don't get to use his voice when I can go to him myself now.’

All of XD’s eyes blink and George tightens his grip painfully, barely noticing how white his fingers are turning. “I'm sorry George.” XD’s voice reverts back, and George immediately pulls his hand away from the godly figure in front of him; his hands revert back to their natural color.

George doesn't respond to the apology, instead deciding to ask a question “What are you doing here?” His arms wrap around himself, tightly grabbing his skin with his fingers, causing marks under his shirt to paint his pale skin. “You're not supposed to be here yet.”

“..I have discovered a new being in- Hmm..” XD stops, George's eyes narrow, but then he realizes that XD is actually looking around; it makes George curious and he decides to also look around, his heart sinks down to his gut when all he sees is a large ocean around the both of them that stretches out for miles, while they're both still sitting on George's bed, just barely hovering above the large body of salt water.

‘I should've known.’ George scolds himself, his hands now find themselves interlocked with his blanket out of frustration. He swears that he was just in his room, “My my, even I was fooled for a second.” XD observes thoughtfully, “It seems as though you're sleeping at this time, George.” XD’s hand reaches towards the ocean's water, dipping the tips of its fingers into the cool salt water.

“When will I wake up?”

‘When will I be able to help him?’

“Soon, George.” XD answers him, “ Very soon.”

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Tommy jolts and wakes up, heavily panting; he leans forward, legs bent at his knees while sitting on a soft cushion. His mind swirls as he looks around, eyes squinted from the intense brightness, shutting his eyes tightly till they bulge against his lids, he tries to call out to his chat.

‘GET OUT’

‘RUN’

‘GET OUT OF THERE’

Tommy swiftly holds his forehead, attempting to soothe the migraine he just obtained from the barrage of voices that were screaming for him. Pulling away his hand he realizes that he's no longer boiling hot, but deathly cold; Deciding to stand up, he drags his feet off of the cushion he's on, but as soon as he puts pressure on his foot onto the floor he falls down. It felt as though his feet were asleep, they were numb and he couldn't feel any type of movement, weight, or pain being inflicted into either of them.

As he fell, his chin slammed onto what he notices to be a wooden floor. His face rubs against the floor roughly as he looks up, and the color drains from his skin as he finally notices the other occupant. Dream is sitting there, a hand resting on his chin as he sits elegantly, a leg crossed over the other, his mask is nowhere to be seen.

“I'm surprised.” Dream mutters, “I just finished the tunnels today and there's already a wild animal poking around.” He says with a slight snarl, sounding disappointed in a way.

Tommy's body twitches, but his face is still in Dream's direction, without help, he can't look away. Dream seems to notice this quickly, and he's even quicker to spill out his thoughts to Tommy “You're so interesting, while making these tunnels I've been thinking..” He pauses, taking a closer look at Tommy, green eyes locked onto blue ones, “We're really one in the same, like two different sides of the same coin.” He reveals, with a crazed smile.

Tommy bares his teeth and shakes his head, Dream's smile falls instantly and he swipes his hand into his inventory. He soon pulls out a potion, and the specific potion makes Tommy start shaking, leaving his body in tremors; it was fire resistance. How does Dream know that that's what could be his doom?

Dream idly swirls the liquid in its glass container, the orange color dyes the glass slightly as it moves around. “If only I could harness you- Your power, you really do have a gift Tommy..” Dream oddly brings up, the disappointment from before is now masked by pure amazement, a sort of sick giddy sound.

“If only we were able to communicate more, so I could teach you how to use it in a more efficient way, just us, without the others in the way.” Dream contemplates aloud, “It was really a shame that I had to force you here prematurely, I wanted to use these tunnels longer. What a shame.” Dream articulates his immeasurable amount of dissatisfaction at what he's left with.

Meanwhile, Tommy was silently coming up with a plan on how to escape, his chat being his biggest help.

‘Deo’s looking for you now!’

‘It's the same as before, but the first part of the tunnel is different due to your renovations.’

‘You need to get burned or into lava immediately.’

‘That fire resistance is most likely at its max time.’

‘Save energy and surprise him with an attack.’

Tommy stays still, continuing to watch Dream's many different facial expressions. He needs the other to keep talking, he needs to keep the conversation but it's like the honey from before has come back tenfold.

He's only able to articulate singular words and hope that the other will understand. “..Gift?” He bellows out, gut clenched tightly solely due to the fact that he's conversing with the enemy. Not just any enemy- The enemy.

Something clicks in Dream, he understands Tommy and decides to answer him swiftly, “Yes, Tommy. You may not know it- or maybe you do,” Dream starts, “But you have this uncanny ability to make people rally around you.”

Tommy stays quiet, trying to figure out where this conversation is going, “I only truly noticed it when you just allowed yourself to let these people join my SMP.” Tommy winces at that reminder, it would've been better if they were able to join silently without anyone knowing.

He also winces at the claim of the SMP, ‘Not for long.’ Tommy promises.

“You unionize them, really.” Dream specifies, letting his eyes dance around Tommy's figure still somewhat limp on the floor. He swirls the fire resistance in its glass bottle once more, relishing in the flinch it forces out of Tommy. “I still can't figure out what you do for it to happen, but I'll figure it out.” Dream says, uncrossing his legs, his cargo pants swish as the fabric unravels itself.

Dream looks at the potion one more time before he puts it away into his inventory, “I wouldn't hurt you, Tommy,” He (un)apologetically tries to soothe the younger, “But I couldn't just let you be at your normal strength in my own home.” He explained, as if he were the victim, like he needed to protect himself.

‘Make him pour it out.’

‘We have an idea.’

‘Pour.’

Tommy hesitates, but follows what his chat says. He takes a deep breath and gulps, “Pour.” He single wordedly asks, Dream cocks an eyebrow.

“The fire resistance?” Dream clarifies, “You want me to pour out the potion that keeps you down like a dog?” Dream confirmed with a grin, Tommy grits his teeth before he nods rapidly.

“Of course, we're friends aren't we?” Dream says, but he dissects the phrase like he's prompting Tommy to either disagree or agree as he brings out the potion once more and slowly lets the liquid escape its cage of the glass bottle. “Friends don't hurt each other, and they don't lie to each other, right Tommy?”

Tommy smells sand.

He nods his head once more, just once. And Dream continues, “So, if friends don't lie to each other how come I found out that you're a strider hybrid from Sapnap and not you?” Tommy flinches, and he feels like he should apologize- No, he needs to apologize, he's so sorry, he didn't mean to, really. He was going to tell him, he swears-

‘TOMMY.’

The screaming of his name makes him jolt out of his thoughts. He continues to stare at Dream again, nothing has changed, he's not on a beach, he's okay. But why is it so hard for him to believe it?

“I knew striders needed to be near lava to be warm- But I didn't think the shivering would actually transfer onto a human body,” Tommy blinks twice, realizing that Dream started talking again. And he then has to check himself briefly for the shivering that Dream was pointing out, he inches his hand over his arm and he feels it. Eyes scanning over his arm showed that it was shaking like a leaf in the wind, was this hypothermia kicking in possibly? “I definitely didn't think it would cause such great fear to be present in your eyes.” Dream finishes with a surprisingly somber sound. Tommy whips his head back up to glare into Dream's bright green eyes, a snarl is present on his face but Dream doesn't seem to care, or maybe he was expecting it.

Tommy knew better though, he knew it was an act; maybe not the ones about him being important, Dream always inadvertently showed him that. The part that was an act was the fact that Dream was showing sympathy.

But what was he supposed to do?

Think. Listen.

‘We're ready.’

‘Listen to our plan!’

‘When we say, you let everything burst! Deo is in the house looking around.’

‘Make sure to try and think back to what you were thinking about the last time you burst into flames!’

Tommy furrows his brows, what was he thinking about at that time? He tries to think back on what has happened.

He closes his eyes, and slowly, he remembers; he tries to feel the phantom touch of the hands holding his, he tries to think about the heat that came with the touch. ‘More, more.’ He tells himself, ‘What else happened?’

<::::::::::::::::[]=o

‘HELP’

‘HELP!’

‘HE HAS HIM’

The farmer suddenly gasps when the barrage of voices crashes into his head like an arrow piercing his skull. Immediately he growls at the instant knowledge that these voices aren't his chat, slowly remembering, he puts together that these voices probably belong to the one that harbors the flame of the sun god, or more so the Phoenix.

“Slow down.” He commands, shutting his pulsing eyes to try and quell the pain, “One at a time, tell me what happened.” He reluctantly asks, only doing it to try and make the overly worried voices calm down, he wasn't actually going to do anything; what, did the new voices think he would just run to the rescue for some random person who just so happened to also share a chat?

‘SECRET TUNNELS’

‘KIDNAP’

‘MANIPULATE’

‘SCARED’

‘BABY BIRD’

‘Ah, it seems that asking the voices what happened actually made them worse, good to know.’ The farmer thinks with a dejected hand in his hair, pulling back a loose piece and placing it behind his ear.

The farmer’s brows twitch when the voices continue to call out towards “their baby bird” He crosses his arms and sighs, then he walks away from his garden slowly; trying to ignore the voices the best he can, he doesn't have time to listen to these voices complain to him when they should be busy trying to help whoever they need to be helping.

As he continues to walk away, in the corner of his peripheral view, he sees something alarmingly bright and red, flicking his head in that direction he swears that he saw something like a body’s figure; but what didn't make sense was that in the split second that the farmer saw the figure he could've sworn that they were on fire with wings, or that maybe they were fire, completely.

The farmer smells sand for a second before the scent fades away and he turns around to continue walking away to go back to his old cabin.

o=[]::::::::::::::::>

Tommy inhales through his nose deeply, the smell of salt water and sand invades his nostrils and he shakily breathes out. "I'm, I'm here.." He says, sounding more amazed than anything.

Tommy whips his head around, his eyes search for the familiar flaming wings, the warm hands, the comfort. And luckily, he doesn't need to look for too long, because soon enough he sees a figure in the distance; one that's made entirely of flames, with two wings protruding out of its back, also made purely out of beautiful flames.

“Hello..?” Tommy warily calls out, trying to take a step forward; but like before he's stuck in the sand, the sand tightly holding down Tommy by his foot, he chokes on a sound as he remembers the same thing happening before. Reaching out towards the figure, desperately trying to ask for its help; its head quickly looks in his direction and then lowers its body for a split second before it spreads its flamed wings out, changing from flames to regular feathers. Within two seconds it launches forward with a burst of wind from its wings, quickly planting itself by Tommy's side.

It sits down by his side, and Tommy stares at it, it has a human physique but there's no clear facial or bodily features. It's wings go back to being wing shaped flames and it calmly speaks, “How are you here, chick?”

Tommy slightly scowls, but he doesn't find himself really hating the nickname. He gulps largely before deciding to speak, “My chat wanted me back here- Can you help me?” He asks, and his voice slowly becomes more timid, like he's worried that they might refuse.

“Of course I'll help you my little birdie,” It says in a soothing tone, “We should try to meet in better circumstances though.” It points out, looking around, as the waves violently crash against the shore.

“How?” He asks, but is cut off by the fire person, “I can't tell you now, we must hurry.” It stands up and reaches out its hand to Tommy, waiting for him to reach out and grab it; but he narrows his eyes as his face becomes hard and calculating, “Who are you.” He sternly asks.

The humanoid flame stares at him, and he hears quiet giggles, “You don't recognize me?” It says, unbelievably.

Tommy stares at it for another few seconds, “No?” It seems to sigh in a light hearted manner, he feels a bit embarrassed. Suddenly the figure then changes again, and it then becomes a flame shaped bird, then, it clicks. It's the original Phoenix that had given him this opportunity in the first place; “I wouldn't recognize me either, don't be alarmed,” It calmly tells the blue eyed child, “Like I said earlier, we must hurry and leave.” It now hurriedly says, morphing back into its humanoid form it then hugs Tommy and slowly merges with him; as the hug merges them together, he faintly sees something pink in the distance, but it shrinks as it goes further away. He decides to forget about about, thinking that it was just his imagination.

Tommy gasps slightly at the sudden warmth, but something else seems to catch his attention in the corner of his eyes; the same two flared limbs protruding out off his back, there's no weight, but the flames from his featherless wings burn the cotton off his shirt. Then, he's back in the underground room with Dream; once again, his weird dissociation barely even took a second.

Without really thinking, the only sound he could instantly count on was chat screaming in his ear.

‘BURN!’

‘FUEL!!’

‘FIRE WINGS!’

‘BURN THIS PLACE TO THE GROUND’

Tommy hears Dream suddenly squawk out a surprised sound. Tommy then looks behind him and like before, the flames are still there; on his hands and up until they reach his shoulders, and on his back are two enormous wing shaped flames that then unfurl and widen out vastly. As they widen out even more it catches Dream's house on fire due to his wooden walls and floor, Tommy grins and as the fire spreads, it’s like a painting, the wild colors clashing together and blending beautifully.

Dream scowls and reaches for his mask, he briefly looks at the floor of where the potion drenched the unburnt wooden floor. He scoffs out a laugh at the realization, looking behind to where his exit was he saw how it would be near impossible to escape there alive; so then he looked at Tommy for one final time before launching himself towards him.

Tommy, who barely got back on his feet, felt the sudden push against his chest that made him unsteady and fall back. The air left his lungs for a second and he coughed harshly, looking up through bleary eyes he saw Dream there, the one who pushed him back to the floor. Tommy’s grin, although slightly faltered, still stayed, he then grabbed Dream’s shoulders in a tight grip, fabric ingrained between each finger, already well aware that grabbing his mask would be unneeded. And with Dream in his grasp, he let the fire on his hands grow in heat and size, certain in his need for burning Dream alive.

But even as he burned Dream’s shoulders and, in result, the rest of his body when the fire spread, he didn't utter a single word; only staring at Tommy. The flames engulfing Dream’s house continued to spread while his chat roared and Tommy let them.

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX’

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX!’

‘FUEL FOR THE PHOENIX’

Ever so slowly, Dream started to die; and Tommy felt ecstatic, he felt the bubbling in his chest of adrenaline and glee. And when Dream’s body started to disintegrate he finally decided to speak his final words, “You’re not a strider then.”

[Dream was burnt to a crisp]

At that moment, Tommy should’ve felt the words crawl up his back and put him in a chokehold, he should’ve felt as though he needed to hide and hold his breath till he turned purple so that no one would find him, but truthfully, he didn't care at that moment. Too engrossed in the flames that surrounded his body and kept him warm; he didn't realize that he would feel this way with the flames snuggling his body so tightly.

‘More!’

‘Not enough!’

The victorious grin from before turned manic, looking around the burned room with smoke increasingly getting further up, seeping out of the tunnels Dream had idiotically left. Someone would know soon, but that didn't matter to Tommy.

‘Need more fuel.’

‘Fuel for the Phoenix!’

‘More.’

Unsteadily, he walked through the underground room, inching towards the exit. Feet tripping over themselves as he made his way out, his body was buzzing with adrenaline and chaotic nerves; but at the same time if he stopped moving he would fall down and not be able to get up. So keep moving he did.

<::::::::::::::::[]=o

Deo’s eyes widen underneath his sunglasses as he sees the death notification, typically, everyone would look at it briefly then turn away, maybe even have a quick laugh at it. But then Deo sees a gray smoke come out from downstairs, slightly transparent. He was looking for Tommy, and something tells him that if he investigates what’s going on downstairs that it would also answer his question about where the blonde is.

Deo noticed the smoke seeping out from below their floor, he was instantly confused; unknowing of the tunnels and house that were hidden underneath. Running to where the smoke seemed to come out of the most was a large hole, his nose twitches as he smells the burning wood. Hurriedly running to one of the chests nearby in their home he searches for a fire resistance potion, seeing the glass concoction he grabs it harshly and bites off the cork, throwing the liquid on his body he rushes back to the smoke encased hole.

Slapping both of his cheeks with both of his hands, he then decides to jump down. Instantly emptying his water bucket he had in his inventory he hears the sizzle of flames being put out, his eyes searching around for a specific blonde, but there was no sight of him anywhere. Something he did notice was that this underground room seemed as though it was inhabited by someone, he couldn't really tell how long with the charred chests and bed, but someone definitely lived under their home.

Putting it together, Deo realized that this could have belonged to Dream, possibly a secret base. Does that mean he accidentally killed himself? It doesn't make sense, there must be something else to this that really makes the pieces click into place.

But most importantly, where is Tommy?

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

Embers sparked and jumped up wildly onto the dark red netherrack and sizzled as it seeped in, he finally made it to the portal and here he was; in the nether.

The ceiling above was lower than he remembered, that might've been because of how few people had fully explored the nether other than him and the members of business bay. There was a light smoke that dusted the ceiling, making it look blurred; a few untouched platforms were nearby and he decided to hurry and get to them.

Chat then grew in volume the closer he got to the bubbling lava below, they each had an excited tone to their words. His feet trudged along, shoes partially burned from the onset of flames that were still burning off of his body but had slowly dimmed. His clothes were probably more classified as charcoal than the cotton they were made with.

‘Get in!’

‘Fuel!’

‘Fuel!’

He saw the heat waves flowing off of the lava and felt it touch against his skin, a grin still present on his face. His feet then steadily increased in speed, until he broke out into a run; he couldn't be bothered with any specifics or any dangers nearby. And either way, none of the mobs nearby were even paying attention, that or they were intently watching, their instincts calling to protect and to not disobey from the calling of the sun god.

Once he was close enough his feet planted onto the ground as he then stared at the lava just a few inches away from him. For a split second he remembered another time where he wanted to fall into the warmth of lava to try and mimic the warmth he felt with his family; with that sudden memory coming back he hesitated, flinching back slightly.

‘Its fine, it'll help’

‘Closer’

‘A couple more steps’

With a few more steps that felt more like he was being led rather than him leading himself, his feet delicately dipped into the lava, his first thought was that it felt like a warm bath, nothing like the boiling liquid it was supposed to be; walking till he was waist-deep into the thick magma he felt the fire licking at his skin completely diminish. Sadly, that included the wings made entirely of beautiful flames that were now no longer protruding from his back.

Tommy stared at the lava, he knew he wouldn't see his reflection; but still, even without the proof he knew that he looked much different than he did when he died. It made his face harden as he remembers; thinking about it seemed to only sullen his mood.

He let his hands then slowly descend into the lava as well, once again, it felt like comforting warm water. A pleasant sigh escaped his mouth, ‘This is much better than I thought it would be.’ He thought to himself as he continued to relish in the warmth, soaking it up like a sponge.

‘Fuel!’

‘This is much better!’

Tommy then lifts his hands out of the lava, he watches the liquid slowly slip out of his grasp. Squinting his eyes slightly, while focusing on the palms of his hands, he tried to will them to catch a flame once more. A few sparks pop out of one palm before a small ember is formulating. Twitching his hand slightly, the ember grows and becomes a small flame, steadily, he moves his other hand towards the other; then plastering them together in a clapping motion, he shares the fire.

Now with two flames out of both of his palms, he then gently ghosts his hands over his arms, trying to mimic what happened not too long ago. His shirt was already in rubbish state, all that was left was his long sleeved undershirt, now being just slightly lit. The fire barely makes it up to his wrists either way, but it's more than nothing; he doesn't even try to get back the flame wings, knowing that he couldn't do it.

A sudden thump was heard behind him and he whipped his head around, throwing his hands out defensively, the fire in his hands increasing greatly for protection. His brows raise up high as he realizes who it is.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Sapnap was destroying the iron golem farm he and Tubbo had built by himself, until suddenly he felt as though someone pulled him into a tight clutch, along with the sensation of shivers crawling along his spine like feral spiders.

His body twitched at the sensation, and mentally he was confused; he looked around, but nothing seemed to be overly different, that was, until he saw a familiar blonde-headed child walking in the distance. As he looks closer, straining his eyes, he then notices that the blonde haired child; Tommy, was actually on fire .

Jolting up, he quickly jumps off of the iron golem farm, landing on the floor with his trusty water bucket. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he hastily picks up the water and proceeds to sprint to where Tommy was; but with how far Tommy was it took him longer to actually catch up to him, never actually being able to see what he was following after that first glimpse.

He was hard to catch up to, but not hard to follow with how Tommy’s feet were on fire, leaving a smoldering footprint that burned into the ground every time he took a single step. But Sapnap was not deterred in any way, as he himself does the same things, but what really confused Sapnap was the way that even if he wasn’t already following Tommy right now, he had this urge to follow. Like he thought that something deep within would tell him to check on the child if he wasn't already.

Sapnap quickly got that thought out of his head and decided to think about the reasons why Tommy might be walking around endlessly like this, he already concluded that he was netherian and a strider; with how unbothered by the fire he’s caught up in.

But why would- Oh . He’s going to get warm, he’s heard about this before, not with any hybrids here since he’s never seen a strider hybrid, but he has heard about it, he himself needs to do so as well sometimes. He sprints off to his house, just in case Tommy doesn't have any fire-proof clothes like he does.

Grabbing a simple white shirt and black pants with black shoes he runs back to the direction of the community nether portal. His feet slamming against the floor, causing a sound to pound out to the air; finally making it through the portal, done following the burnt footprints, he warps through to the scalding dimension.

Feeling the warmth greet him lovingly like a warm welcome he searches for the blonde, no longer having the footprints to help guide him; his ear twitches as he hears a splash in the distance. Jumping down on a lower platform he catches the sight of Tommy waist deep in the lava, fully enraptured in the way that the lava seems to try and swallow him whole.

He continues to walk closer, and when he steps wrong, chipping the edges of the platform beside the lava; Tommy notices him and suddenly seems to erupt into flames, something that striders definitely don't do.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Tommy’s mouth gapes open as he looks at almond eyes with hints of a vibrant red, the flames surrounding his arms flicker in the other's presence. Sapnap raises his eyebrows at the sight, before he speaks, he pulls up his hand holding the clothes, and motions with a shake for Tommy to grab them while looking away.

Tommy quickly grabs the clothes, extinguishing the flames that were continuously burning out of his two limbs; he holds the soft material and changes without much struggle, other than the fact that the clothes were a bit too small.

Fully changed and fully out of the flames and lava he taps the other on his shoulder, “Sapnap,” He regards, taking in a deep breath, Sapnap turns around and looks at him with interest, “About that-” He tries to explain, but it's cut off by the older.

“You're not a strider, are you?” Sapnap asks, it's an unusually calm question, but it still makes Tommy hesitate to answer; blinking harshly he answers, “No- I'm-” He stutters, then sighs audibly, holding his hands together tightly, “I'm something much more .” He confesses, not taking his eyes off of Sapnaps face.

‘I think he knows’

‘Does he know specifically what, though?’

Sapnap hums, his hand finds his chin as he thinks silently, “I guess my hunches were correct in some way then,” He tells Tommy, and the other has to allow himself to show the confusion that he is so strongly feeling, “ Hunches ?” Tommy questions, and Sapnap easily nods, “Yeah, I can't really explain it cause it's more of a feeling than anything,” Sapnap explains, removing the hand from his chin to instead be crossed over his chest, “But whenever I was near you I had this type of urge to not harm you, but to instead protect you.” Sapnap finishes, and a smile is present on his face, “Kinda weird right?” He rhetorically asks.

‘I reside within the Nether, and they all worship me there, they wouldn't think of hurting me or someone connected to me.’

Tommy bites his lower lip slightly, not wanting to indirectly control Sapnap’s feelings towards him. He opens his mouth, “Actually Sapnap-'' He says, and gets choked up slightly, worried if he should really be telling Sapnap something like this, something he hasn't even told the business bay boys.

Sapnap tilts his head to the side, curious as to what Tommy is trying to tell him.

Should he tell him? Should he not? Sapnap already had his hunches, he could just confirm, get it out of the way so that he doesn't have to worry; but he's too close to Dream , he already told him of his “strider” attributes, who's to say he won't also tell him about this as well?

‘What do I do?’ He thinks desperately, hoping that the voices would aid him in his time of need.

‘You can make him swear to not tell?’

‘Swears can be broken as easily as they are made.’

‘How would it affect the future if we do tell him?’

Tommy takes another glance at Sapnap, he stares for a bit, trying to think of something to do; something to say.

Breathing in deeply, he opens his mouth, preparing to speak to the other; as he does so the other notices quickly and then also looks at him as well.

“Sapnap-”

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Deo swallows a lump of saliva as checks over the charred remains of Dream's underground home. Looking through the chests he sees a few items that could be of use to them, just a few diamonds, gold, and lots of idle blocks. ‘He must've put his actual important items into the enderchest’ He concludes, holding the diamonds tightly in his arms till he shoved them into his inventory.

Walking out, he looked over the ice covered floor, he was surprised at the amount of time it must've taken to actually build this; but what was most surprising was the fact that it melted .

Footprints a few inches deep had melted through the thick ice, leaving holes behind at each step. He furrowed his brows in confusion, but didn't hesitate in following the burnt footprints; he didn't know who it could've belonged to, but he thought that wherever this park was leading him to would hopefully also lead him to Tommy.

Stepping out of the walkway that turned out to be right around the corner of Tommy's mountain that essentially made up his house. ‘Creepy’. Looking around he noticed that the footprints didn't stop at just the ice blocks, as he saw much more lining the floor towards the direction of the community house.

But whoever had walked this way decided to walk probably the longest way they could have; taking a wild detour around the forest that grew around them.

The footprints seemed to stretch on across a large distance. They then led him to the community nether portal, standing in front of the glowing purple portal he holds his hands into fists, still unknown to what person or mob that could be lying in wait for him.

But technically he didn't have to worry too much , right? This thing came out from Dream's home, so it must be something he had beforehand that either escaped or had been released accidentally.

Stepping through the portal, the same tingly feeling overcame his body momentarily as he phased through, quickly finding himself where fire replaced water and the dirt below was instead a deeply rooted red color.

Straining his ears, he hears talking in the distance, ‘Two voices, one conversation.’ He swiftly deduces, and with careful steps, he approaches the two people. Looking over a corner he could see Tommy fully coated in lava, standing deep into a lava pool; fear instantly rushed through his body.

But then he also noticed Sapnap right beside him, well, more so in front of him than beside him; Sapnap handed Tommy a pair of clothes, assuming he was going to change, Deo looked away.

After a minute or two he looked back, and they were both talking once again. Deo strains his ears to try and hear in the conversation, but it's futile, they seem to be very cautious about what they're talking about; their hushed voices being the biggest contribution to that thought.

Should he walk to them? But that'd be revealing that he was secretly listening in on their conversation; brow's are scrunched down as he mulls it over.

In the end he prioritizes Tommy's safety over everything else; jumping down to the platform Tommy and Sapnap are on, his feet plummeting against the netherrack harshly, making them buzz from inside his shoes.

“Deo?!” He hears from the distance, he quickly makes his way beside Tommy, standing tall in front of the blonde; seemingly producing a protective aura, at least that’s what Sapnap thinks, which makes him place his hands up once again to show he wasn't a threat.

“Deo.” Tommy calls out, making him turn around to look him in the eyes, he nods, and Tommy continues. “Deo I’m fine-” Tommy says, “We were just talking about something important.” Tommy tries to reassure him, but it just makes him more worried, ‘Something important that you feel the need to secretly seek out others to talk about?’ His mind traitorously thinks.

He has to ask, “..Can you tell me ?” ‘Can you trust me?’ Is left unsaid. His eyes still locked onto Tommy’s, Tommy bites his bottom lip, looking unsure, and Deo is prepared to take it back, that is, until Tommy places his hand onto his shoulder lightly; Deo swiftly feels that the hand is hot, not even hot as in what you feel from being in a hot environment, no, it was like the heat was focused on his palm now touching his shoulder.

Tommy then pries his eyes away from Deo, palm still resting on his shoulder, “Of course I’ll tell you, it’s just that it was a secret I feel I was supposed to keep hidden,” Tommy says, then looks at Sapnap, “Then mister Sapitynapity followed me and figured it out- Kinda .” He finishes with a small chuckle, Sapnap has to itch the back of his neck to not fall into the pit of awkwardness that he found something personal about Tommy when he was trying to keep it secret.

“Does that mean you’ll tell me exactly what you are then?” Sapnap asks, his head tilted to the side in a questioning manner. Tommy breathes in deeply, “Yeah, but you have to promise- Or fucking swear on your life that you won’t tell anyone .” Deo immediately nods, Sapnap is a bit slower to agree, but he does.

“I’m a Phoenix hybrid.” Tommy quickly announces, like ripping off a bandaid. Sapnap’s eyes widen drastically, and it looks as though he finally put together all the pieces; with his face contorting into one of understanding, but only in the sense that they now know the ‘whole’ story.

Deo’s expression turns into one of pure shock mixed with slight confusion, “How did- When did this happen?” He worriedly asks, shifting his body slightly, watching Tommy’s hand leave his shoulder slowly; his brows twitch once he realizes where the heat actually came from, and he found himself already missing it.

“That’s something I need to tell you alone with business bay.” Tommy reveals, and Deo understands the importance of Tommy’s newfound hybridness, already trying to make connections with the time traveling. “But Sapnap,” Tommy calls out, and Sapnap is already nodding, “I need to tell you specifically that with me being a Phoenix hybrid you’ll continue to feel the way you told me you were feeling.” He says somberly.

Sapnap’s shoulders surprisingly lower, he didn't even notice that he tensed up, “What do you mean?” He wants to get a clarification, a pure and raw reason. Tommy turns to the lava briefly, then back to Sapnap, “Being a Phoenix hybrid, and therefore a direct apprentice to the Sun God, those who reside in the nether or are born from the pits of its lava will obey me. Either from protecting me, or completely ignoring me to stay out of my way.” He explains, looking guilty as he lightly scratches his wrist.

“Oh..” Sapnap says, “That’s fine, Tommy.” Tommy has to do a double take, ‘Did he really accept it like that?!’ “What?!” Tommy shouts out, completely baffled by the others' okay-ness with the situation, he tries to elaborate, ‘Maybe Sapnap doesn't really understand.’ “Are you really okay with this? Your DNA is telling you to listen to me no matter what you think, telling you to protect me, to- Y’know what I’m trying to say!” He erratically spells out to the other.

“I already feel like protecting you, Tommy.” Sapnap vocalizes, a smile is on his face. Tommy returns the smile instinctually, but it’s significantly more strained than Sapnap’s.

“Thanks..” Tommy finally decides to let the other be okay with it, the smile then widens further slightly; he quickly turns around and leaves with Deo, with Sapnap still in the nether waving to their backs.

As Tommy and Deo walk out together, Tommy’s smile is wiped from his face, now replaced with one of cold stone. ‘He’s most likely going to think back to this day and regret it.’ Tommy thinks sadly, knowing it’ll eventually happen with the events that are going to transpire in the future where he and Sapnap aren’t friends like they are now.

Deo seemingly reads his mind, and with a swift hit to the back of his head, he barks out, “Stop being so sad, if you wanna change your relationship with him do it now, and in the future. Remember, it’s under our control now, we are here to prevent exactly what you're afraid is going to happen.”

Tommy looks at him in his eyes covered by sunglasses, and he smiles; a real smile that pushes up his cheeks and shows off his teeth. Deo can’t help but to smile back, admiring the way the sun seems to pay any attention to the moon.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

“That’s new, that’s new that’s new that’s new .” They repeat in a mantra, biting their thumbnail harshly, bending it back painfully as they relish in the look of something broken to the other who just watches. “You- This was never accounted for, did you even do your job correctly?” They hiss out, breaking off the bent nail and spitting it away onto the ground as they pace around, walking in wide circles.

Ï̤͔̭͇̠͂̈̓͞ ̹͓̥͚̌̅͛͟d̨̲̻̠͊̈ḭ̷̦̞̙̰̠̝ͬ̓ͭ̇ͅḍ͓̥̙̞͇̽̆͢n̹̘̞͙̻͎̳͎̰̉͐̀̎̍͞͝ͅ'̫͇̣̻̙͓̳͉̿̏̔͒t͔͓̻͙͍ͨ̉͌ ̻̘̫͍̱̻͖̥̾͜k̹̣̑͛͛̔͢n̝̻͍̥̥̳͎̈́͢ŏ̸̪̥̥̖̻̭̲̩͐ͥ̚w̴̘̭͚̬͐ͣ͋.͔̩̜̤̬̮̎̂̕

“Of course you didn't, it’s not like that’s your whole use , to know things and tell me .” They mock, spreading out their arms to the open air dramatically, as they send a burning glare to the other they heavily sigh while flopping down into a chair. “It doesn't matter now, we’ll work around it. Now continue from where you left off.” They dismiss with a wave of their hand.

.̘͖̘͍͇̜̦̖̾ͯ̈͡.̴̙̩̲ͯ̿Â̯͚̘̬̠̤̳̜̈̀ͮ͢l̵̼̭̦̆͌ȑ̷̰̖̦̮̼̹ͤ̄̂i̧̬̗͇̫̚g̱̖̓͊͋͢h̟͖̹̫̩̤̦̯ͧ͛̇͒̕t̯͇̺̩͓̮̣̎̓͡

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

Tommy sits at their large table, his hands holding each other, fingers intertwined and squeeze tightly as he looks at the faces of his friends, staring at him worriedly. They wait patiently for him to say something, but he isn't sure if he is able to actually say it with his own mouth. His breathing became a bit haggard thinking about what could happen if they were to figure out and were then hurt because of it; he wouldn't forgive himself if something like that happened.

A heavy hand prods his back, and he looks behind him warily, half expecting Dream to be there, but he isn’t; Deo is. He nods at the significance of that singular touch, one to ground him and help him be honest with the rest of the bay. Taking another careful breath he begins to explain his newfound origins.

“As we all know,” He says finally, “We are time travelers, and we are here to change the future.” He stops for a brief second, checking everyone’s expressions, they each give an understanding nod, so he continues in an extremely serious voice, “I would first like to say that as we continue to progress back towards the future, I’m going to be changing myself drastically.” Luke makes a question look appear on his face, as does Bitzel.

“I’m not going to be the annoying and loud child that everyone just pushes away and pulls back as they please, I’m tired of it.” He undoes his interlocked hands to then place them underneath the table, tightening them into hard fists, feeling the way his nails pierce into his skin calms him down slightly. “We know every move they’re going to make, we are on the top now.” He points out, and he gets excited grins in return, he grins back and feels the tell tale heating in his fingertips.

Tommy’s brows furrow at the feeling, he must tell them before something happens that exposes his secret involuntarily and he has no time to explain. “Another thing I wanted to bring light upon is the fact that I am no longer human.” His eyes bore into his friends, and instantly shock paints their face like splattered paint.

“What do you mean you’re not human?!” Luke says aloud, leaning forward heavily against the table, he looks like he’s trying to examine Tommy’s body for any irregularities, anything that might have changed; but with the sight of him then slumping back into his chair means that he found nothing of importance. 

“When we were at that white palace I was met with the being that was able to allow us to do the time traveling,” He begins, as he does so he tries to will the heart away and out of his hands.

‘Spill the secret!’

‘Tell them!’

“I was given the choice to gain a vast amount of power, one from a mythical creature that lived in the pits of lava and rested.” He then takes a look behind him, grasping for a single look from Deo, immediately Deo sees and gives him a reassuring nod that encourages him to continue further. “I'm now a Phoenix hybrid.” He finally tells them, and they are quick to ask questions after he tells them what he is.

“WHAAAT-” Luke yells out, sounding astonished with the new information, “What does that mean? What's different about you now?” Wisp pipes out, a single brow furrows in confusion. “Do you like sunflower seeds more than the average person now?” Bitzel cautiously asks.

Tommy breathes in as he brings his hands back up, laying them on the surface of their wooden table. “My attributes are that I can form flames out of my hands that could travel up my arms and to my back; they could also be formed into the shapes of wings on my back without me even trying to make them that way.” He tells them slowly, letting them absorb the information carefully, “And because of that I'm resistant against flames and lava.”

Their brows raise, and he waits a few seconds before he starts once more, “Mobs in the nether don't attack me and any hybrids that are related to netherian mobs feel some sort of drive to protect me?” He finishes with an air of hesitance, like he was unsure if the last part of the statement was true. The three boys sitting at their respective seats slump slightly and Bitzel is the one to speak up this time, “Dude how are you so overpowered!?” He whines out, Tommy gives him an apologetic smile, remembering that it was only him and Bitzel that were purely humans in Business Bay.

The others laugh, Tommy joins slightly before he exclaims, “You tell me!” As the laughter quiets down he coughs into his closed hand before he gets serious again, “The last thing that’s important for everyone in this room to know is that there is a chance that I might grow wings,” He hears some gasps of them being surprised, “And with those wings I can basically become a beacon of life, with my feathers having insane regeneration powers and those same feathers have the power to revive those dead as soon as they die.”

Tommy's finally done explaining his powers and he looks at his friends, their faces are completely surprised, but thankfully it's not the disgusted surprise, it's the genuinely happy and surprised look.

“Now that that's over with, we need to discuss plans regarding the future.” He sternly brings up, and his friends are instantly plunged out of their shock into a much more serious state of mind, so much so that Deo retreats away from behind Tommy to at his side in his registered seat. “Today there might possibly be a visit from Schlatt.” He says, bringing out a worn looking notebook with a squared swirl and flipping through a few pages.

He gets silence in return, which he nods at, knowing that that was the response he was expecting; either from their rage or their usual antics during business meetings. “If I recall correctly it was mostly me that pushed the meeting-” He grimaces at the memory now knowing what happens in the future, “-but Wilbur is his friend and Wilbur still thinks I admire the Ram so he might just bring him in like I did, that thought of me admiring him is something we need to fix.”

Deo crosses his arms stoutly, “What do we do if Wilbur invites him then?”

‘Burn’

‘Ignore!’

‘Watch over them, see if they say anything that could be useful if you weren't there.’

Tommy hums, leaning back slightly against his chair, “Don't engage unless they do first, worst case scenario is that I'm personally called by Wilbur to join-” Deo huffs while the others tense ever so slightly, “If that happens just stay wherever you are and continue what you're doing, don't attract attention on yourselves yet.”

“So none of us are allowed to watch over you if they call you?” Wisp says, with lowered brows, Tommy looks at him carefully. “I'll be fine, nothing bad happened last time,” He clarifies, “Other then falling into lava, but that's whatever”

Bitzel sputters, “Wha- That's not whatever!?” Deo hastily nods right beside him, “What if that happens again and they instantly find out you're resistant?” He asks, staring at Tommy with uncertainty.

Tommy grimaces at the look, “Look-” He starts, voice turned cold, “I got this under control, I'm glad you are all here to protect me or whatever but I'm not some piece of glass that you gotta constantly keep in check, got that?” He hisses out the last part, they straighten up at his voice and nod.

‘Say sorry’

‘This is a lot to take in’

‘He’s scared give him a break’

Tommy watches and he quickly feels guilty, “Sorry I-” He chokes out, ‘You're supposed to be leading them, calm down.’ “I'll have my communicator on me, if I need you at all I won't hesitate to call you.” He breathes out, hoping that'll be enough for them.

Deo beside him smiles softly, Bitzel then sighs loudly, “Lovely, now I'm going to be all anxious while expanding!” He playfully whines, lightening up the mood, Wisp and Luke start to giggle after hearing him.

“Shut up dickhead,” Tommy says, with no bite, never with any bite actually, “Moving on to while I'm gone,” He continues, slowly closing the notebook, its leather cover now being flaunted atop, the square-looking swirl stares back at him and he idly wonders if he should contact Karl again.

He hasn't spoken to him in a week. The break was enforced by Tommy to Karl, he had told Karl after giving him the book with more specifics on the future that the older needed a break; of course, Karl was quick to deny, but Tommy was quicker to convince him to take a break by suggesting nice places to hangout at with a certain Sapnap.

“Has the space been cleared?” He asks briefly, taking a look at them, Luke, their appointed main builder takes initiative and rolls back his shoulders ever so slightly, “We're basically done, there’s now just the problem of filling up certain.. holes .” Luke answers, his eyes don't leave Tommy's as he does so.

‘..Holes’ Tommy repeats in his mind, he knows what it really means, he knows that they're not just holes. Did anybody really expect just “holes” to be underneath Tommy's house? Where Dream “coincidentally” lived? Of course not, Luke really means the tunnels that were meticulously carved out underneath Tommy's estate, forming an almost maze-like area.

‘Where would Dream go now?’

‘Doesn't matter, at least he’s not underneath his home.’

‘Gross’

“Right.” Is all he says, he then rubs at his chin anxiously, the panic barely bubbling underneath his careful disguise. “Where we have it at the y-level is perfect, but I'm gonna need it to be a bit deeper for villagers,” He tells them, Bitzel quickly raises his brows, “Isn't that not allowed?” He asks.

Tommy grins, “I'm pretty sure manipulating minors is also not allowed, but y'know.” He replies, the same hand on his chin from before now painfully grips his skin. ‘Lead them, no one wants a weak leader, keep it in, you are not the same Tommy as before.’

They grins in response and bursts into loud yelling out the green bastard, Tommy joins in as quickly as it starts; he's so involved that he doesn't notice the worried look Wisp is giving him.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

The meeting ended soon after that, it ending with Tommy going over the building plans for removing Dream’s house and then replacing it with their underground base, him and Wisp left together to mine, trying to get enough diamonds for each of them to get a full set of armor; for now, it was just him and Deo who had a full set.

Deo was alone in the nether, trying to get more ancient debris, Luke and Bitzel were still at their house, cleaning up the “holes” and lining the walls and floors with wood and cobblestone.

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

They were both in a dark cave, illuminated by the torches hanging on the walls around them. Tommy and Wisp were both standing, backs facing each other as they mined whatever they saw, inventories being filled up with a multitude of different ores and building materials.

The silence they are both in was almost suffocating, both of them were stuck in this weird awkward, and almost scarily close to becoming a hurtful relationship, Wisp being left on thin ice ever since the incident so long ago. Wisp needed to apologize correctly, he kept telling himself, he needed to make it up to Tommy.

As Tommy was chipping at some iron, Wisp breathes in deeply, “Hey Tommy,” He calls out, Tommy in response makes a noise, a quiet hum. “I know that I’m probably one of the last people you would want to hear this from, but-” He stops for a second as he finally breaks a piece of gold beside the blonde. “Are you lying to us?” He says quietly, and suddenly the only thing he can hear is his own breathing as Tommy stops mining.

“Lying?” Tommy repeats, and his voice sounds oddly empty, Wisp frowns and continues, “I’m just saying- I thought- With what we saw I thought you’d be more..” He trails off, voice becoming quieter, “Affected ?”

“Huh.” Tommy breathes out, ‘Keep calm.’ “Well, you’d be wrong.” He answers, but doesn't think to spare a glance at Wisp, which only makes him more suspicious. “You’re lying.” He states, pulling up his pickaxe onto his shoulder with a huff, Tommy still doesn't look behind.

“I’m not.” Tommy stubbornly tells him, and Wisp sighs.

‘You are’

‘Don’t lie’

‘He’s trying to help!’

With careful steps Wisp approaches Tommy, and he lightly places his gloved hand on Tommy’s shoulder; Tommy finally looks behind him and at Wisp, “It’s okay to lean on us, Tommy.” Wisp murmurs, his eyes softening as Tommy stares at him. “I already figured out that you were going to spiral with that brain of yours.” He calls him out and Tommy swiftly looks away, embarrassed that Wisp had already caught him in such a state.

“How did you even figure it out so quickly?” Tommy grumbles out, picking up his pickaxe and preparing to mine at the piece of iron he was chipping at before the conversation. Wisp moves his own pickaxe off of his shoulder and replies, “Because we lived together for a year, Tommy.” Tommy freezes, the memories of them in Business Bay were all joyful, except one.

Without meaning to, Tommy just has to comment, “It could've been longer..” In a hushed whisper, Wisp also freezes after hearing Tommy say that, ‘Of course he would still have that on his mind.’ “Tommy-” He tries to say, but gets cut off, “No- It’s fine.” Tommy says.

His brows furrow greatly, “I regret it.” He whispers, and Tommy shuts his eyes tightly while he takes a shaky breath, he opens his mouth slightly, “Stop.” He practically whimpers out, and it makes Wisp frown deeper, he needs Tommy to know that he’s sorry, he needs to let him know that Tommy deserves an apology.

“Tommy please-” Wisp says, “I know that what I did was bad and-” Tommy whips his head around to look at Wisp, a snarl is prominent on his face, "Bad?” He repeats while laughing, “Wisp what you did was- Was much more than just bad.”

“I didn’t mean-” Wisp starts, taking a half step forward and he feels himself grow nervous greatly, sweat pooling up on his forehead just barely. “I know.” Tommy cuts him off, “I know you didn’t mean it..Not now, and not before.” He whispers, shoulders slumping as he lets go of the pickaxe, hearing it clunk onto the floor.

“What..?” Wisp asks.

“You were young, and so were we, I was stupid- So so stupid.” Tommy recalls, and his voice shakes, Wisp finds himself realizing that their roles have been reversed, Tommy is trying to apologize to him.

“Now wait-” He tries to say.

“I thought I could rule the world back in SMPEarth, but we were just kids and I put you guys in harm's way.” Tommy continues, not listening to Wisp right beside him, “You- left, but only because you were scared, and that’s perfectly fine Wisp.” Wisp places his hands on Tommy’s arms, trying to get his attention that way, “I probably wouldn’t have done the same but-” A sniff erupts out of him, and that’s when he notices that he’s crying, hot tears slowly cascade their way down his cheeks.

“But now-” Tommy chokes out, now furiously wiping at his eyes to rid them of his tears, “Now I’ll make sure of it that you won’t ever feel that scared and worried of your safety while being with us.” He finishes, looking straight into Wisp’s eyes, Wisps’s brows raise up abruptly, he then sighs.

“..Okay” Wisp responds, and he then wraps his arms around Tommy tightly, at first, Tommy struggles wildly, making a loud fuss about how he’s getting babied, but after a minute he finally wraps his arms around Wisp also, finally accepting the hug.

“I’m sorry.” Wisp mumbles into the bonde’s shoulder, and Tommy smiles so wide you would think that this was the first time he’s ever heard someone apologize to him.

“I forgive you.” Tommy tells him, and Wisp is now the one to start crying, remembering one of the first times he talked to Tommy and what he had said so long ago.

‘I don’t betray others, I'm the one who gets betrayed.’

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

Chapter Text

It’s about half an hour later when Tommy sees the notification, big, bright, and yellow as it tells the server of the newest recruit. Well- Only temporarily. Tommy instantly pauses his mining and stares at his messages, waiting for someone to inevitably call him to come and “welcome” the new person.

 [Jschlatt has joined the game]

Thankfully, no one immediately calls him over like he expected; well, not until another 20 minutes where he gets a message sent to him in the middle of him relaxing, laying on his back on the edge of the prime path where there’s uncharted land waiting to be claimed by someone. Surprisingly, it’s not who he expected to message him that did.

GeorgeNotFound whispers to you: where are you

‘What the hell, why- Out of all the people, George is the one who calls me over while Schlatt visits?’ He thinks to himself for a second, his brows furrow at the message, he pushes himself up onto a sitting position, holding his communicator to his face as he reads the message once more, ‘Should I tell him..?’

‘No.’

‘Lie’

‘He is with him, I can sense it.’

‘Who is with him?’ He asks the voices briefly, eyeing the grass that flows gracefully. His voices are silent for a second, that is, until they seemingly come to an agreement, to tell him who is with George.

‘XD’

“..XD” Tommy whispers, he then takes in a deep breath, his hand raises to his blonde hair, and as he scratches his head softly he thinks over what XD could possibly be doing; he only ever heard of the god briefly from Dream himself, never anything that revealed what XD really is. Any other possible time was when he prayed in the cathedral of Church prime. Tommy hasn’t even seen XD at all, just whispers of the night if he listened close enough. He supposes that XD is probably related to Drista though, right?

They're both gods, or at least, Tommy knows XD is a god; but in comparison to Drista, he’s pretty sure Drista is only a Demi-God. He stands up silently, continuing to think about what XD looks like, he remembers Drista taking on his face with more feminine features, making them look like siblings, but maybe that was only because she was a Demi-God? Would it be different for XD? An actual God?

He types a message to George, just a few words that are simple and straight to the point. He wanted to skip this whole meeting, but he did say earlier that if he was called in any way he would make an appearance, now here he is, walking to wherever George is.

TommyInnit whispers to GeorgeNotFound: I’ll go to you, where are you

GeorgeNotFound whispers to you: about to go to the nether, i’m standing with the others in front of the portal

TommyInnit whispers to GeorgeNotFound: okay i’ll be there in a few

Tommy makes his way to the community house, the direction of the Nether portal; and as he approaches the darkened stairs, he hears the tell-tale sound of multiple people talking. His head is barely above the view of the highest stair and he already hears the volume increase, especially the one voice that practically shouts his name.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>

“Tommy!” Wilbur shouts while waving his dominant hand around wildly, as he makes his way closer to Tommy. Tommy forces his face to show a bright smile towards Wilbur; he feels a coil in his stomach tighten when he really lays his eyes upon his older brother.

His eyes gaze upon the small group of people for a few seconds, but in the end, it’s Wilbur who has his full attention, like always. They hug briefly, and Wilbur runs his left hand through Tommy’s hair, ruffling it and making it poof up, Tommy immediately retaliates with a few lighthearted insults and swats of his hands.

When they both calm down, Wilbur’s eyes soften as he looks at the blonde, Tommy notices, and it makes his stomach flutter, the coil tightens. Tommy’s face flushes at the look, and he grits his teeth and harshly looks away. He didn’t think about it much, but the Wilbur right now was leagues above the Wilbur from Pogtopia, it was almost whiplash, how the Wilbur from the future was so different compared to this one it makes him feel all giddy.

‘George is over there-’

‘Big brother Wilbur actually acts like a brother?’

Wilbur speaks to him, but Tommy zones him out, deciding to instead scope the people surrounding them; there are five others, George, Sapnap, Fundy, Schlatt, and Tubbo. Tommy’s eyes scan over George, the one who actually called him here, who apparently has XD around him in some type of way.

They lock eyes for a split second before George realizes and nods in his direction. Tommy’s face hardens; but he schools his expression quickly, trying to convince himself that it was a greeting, and well, maybe it was. Beside George is Sapnap, who enthusiastically waves at him, Tommy’s lips twitch in a smile as he waves back, Tubbo finally notices him and swiftly makes his way over to Tommy’s side; once they’re side by side Tubbo locks their arms together, forcing them into a side hug.

Wilbur sees the interaction and stops talking, instead he smiles and watches them, glad to be near them.

“Tommy! Tommy!” Tubbo says, tugging at his arm slightly, and Tommy looks down at Tubbo, a teasing glint in his eye, “What Tubbo?” He asks, and even though he knows he’s in Tubbo’s arms right now, where he’s always wanted to be, he feels out of place. Should he be more like his original self? But that’s what made people hate him, right?

‘It’s fine if you're both.’

‘Bring everybody into a false sense of security!’

‘Then pounce at your enemies when they think you're weak!’

‘That..Seems fine I guess, but-’ His inner turmoil gets pushed to the side as Tubbo tugs on his arm harder, and then points in the direction of Schlatt, who is too busy smoothing down his tuxedo to bother anyone. His horns reflect and shine in the sun. Tommy doesn’t think he’s seen them shine ever, which is weird, he’s seen Schlatt in the sun many times, why didn’t they shine then?

Maybe, as he started and continued to go through his presidency, he retired taking care of his horns healthily, no longer caring to polish and shine them; which then left them to be hard and rigid, losing their shine in the process.

“It’s Schlatt! It’s Schlatt Tommy!” Tubbo says excitedly, and Tommy, even with the history of knowing the future, feels that pool of excitement that came with meeting Schlatt the first time, and it grows ever so slightly with how Tubbo is practically buzzing at the site of Schlatt.

‘But it’s not enough’, Tommy thinks bitterly, eyes unconsciously slitting as he stares down Schlatt. He then looks at Tubbo, who’s smiling widely, and he tightens his hold on Tubbo slightly, enough for him to quell the hatred that’s seeping out of every pore on his body, but not enough for Tubbo to say anything.

“Yeah man!” He replies, “You wanna talk to him Tubs?” He asks, inside he’s hoping he’ll say no, but he knows Tubbo, especially around this time, so naturally he gets ready for him to say- “Of course Boss man!” Tommy smiles at the predictability, smiles at the familiar.

They both make their way to Schlatt, Wilbur follows behind them like a babysitter. When they are in front of the man, Schlatt regards them with an odd look, then, looking at Wilbur, he says, “Why did you bring this kid- What is he- Five? ” With a pointed finger aimed at Tommy. Tommy immediately scrunches his face, brows furrowing till they practically cover his eyes.

“Not a kid old man.” He retorts, and Schlatt raises his brows surprisingly, he lets out a quick huff that could count as a laugh. Tubbo decides to speak up, “Hello Schlatt!” He greets the other, and Schlatt looks at him for a second before he replies, “Hey Tubbo.” With the greeting not containing a ridiculing nickname he pumps his fist at his side, holding his own victory.

Schlatt focuses his eyes on Tubbo’s hair and ears; Tommy notices this quickly, and places his hand protectively on Tubbo’s head. He lets his fingers rub into Tubbo’s head, and as he feels around he could feel the slightest indication of bumps, his own brows raise for a split second before he adds a small amount of pressure around the edges and starts to rub, hoping to relieve any possible pain.

‘How does he know?’

‘He hurt Tubbo, I don’t trust him.’

‘He needs to pay!’

It seems to help, because Tubbo’s shoulders slack and lower; Tommy didn’t even see that they were pulled up. Tommy looks back at Schlatt, his eyes narrow at the older instinctively, but as he looks at the older he sees a pinched look on Schlatt’s face. He has the urge to just scream at him till he runs, and to then chase him till he’s exhausted and laying on the floor gasping for breath, then-

Tommy blinks. ‘What the hell.’ He yanks his hand away from Tubbo’s hair like he was burned, and with a frightened look on his face. Tubbo turns around to him quickly, wondering what happened, he sees Tommy’s face contort weirdly, eyes slightly glazed over. He grabs his hand and interlocks their fingers together, then slightly pulls them away from Schlatt and Wilbur.

‘He’s right there.’

‘He wouldn’t be losing a life.’

‘We have to protect Tubbo!’

“Let’s just keep going, right Wilbur?” Schlatt says, giving Wilbur a closed eye grin, “You gotta show me the nether.” Wilbur half-heartedly listens, his attention on Tommy, as he saw how his demeanor changed suddenly from what it was before, but he guesses that he can’t take the time right now to check on him because he’s the one who’s secretly showing Schlatt around the server under Dream’s nose.

He hopes that Tubbo has it under control, though, and frankly, he believes he does; if anyone can really pull Tommy out of any slump it’d be Tubbo. So with that thought, he finally regards Schlatt with his full attention, “Yeah, let’s go Schlatt-”

<::::::::::::::::[]==o

Tommy can barely hear what is going on around him, the voices for some reason deciding that the thought of Schlatt knowing something before him or them is something to rise alert to.

‘Tubbo-’

‘Hide Tubbo!’

‘Is he cold? Ask if he’s cold!’

‘Where is he-’

‘Oh my fucking god-’ Tommy then groans, finally regaining some consciousness, he looks around slightly before the pull on his hand returns, he flicks his head down and sees Tubbo staring at him expectantly; he starts to stare back, then Tubbo just silently pulls him to the nether portal, which he then notices that no one else is out side of. Everyone around it probably headed in, well, except for George, who is looking at him with some sort of anticipation.

“Thanks for waiting for us George!” Tubbo calls out to George with a smile, who only responds quietly with a yawn and a wave of his hand, urging them to hurry and walk through the portal. Tommy nods his appreciation, George leans in as he walks to the portal, “We’ll need to talk later.” The words spark something deep in his chest and his chat is sent into a flurry.

‘XD?’

‘Are we in trouble with XD?’

‘Of course we are, we aren't supposed to be here!’

Tommy just follows George and Tubbo through the portal; when he does, he feels the familiar pull on his body from the heat radiating off the lava pools below. He audibly gulps, and sticks close to Tubbo, hoping that nothing too bad will happen.

Maybe he should’ve asked one of the boys to accompany him after all.

He looks forward to where the small group is and sees that Wilbur is leaning over the ledge beside Schlatt, the both of them talking wondrously about some type of mob in the lava; Tommy actually remembers this, he also remembers being one of the people beside Wilbur as he peered over the ledge.

Then, he remembers that something else happened when they looked over the ledge, and as he watches George creep up behind Wilbur his eyes widen.

‘WILBUR’

‘WILL’

Prying Tubbo’s hand out of his, nails scraping against flesh slightly, he sprints forward. George’s hand taps against the back of Wilbur’s back just barely, and that’s all it takes for him to lose balance and fall forward with his face paling beyond reasoning. Tommy sees red, and whatever was happening with Tubbo before with the voices has now spread to Wilbur, them screaming for him to save the older and calling out to Wilbur; his foot stomps down on the ground, gripping it so that he could leap down.

He jumps down and with one hand reaching down for Wilbur’s, at the same time, the other pulls out a blindingly bright axe, [The Axe of Peace], then he lets the axe rip into the hard and dark deepslate; his hand holds Wilbur’s and they're both hanging, the lava below continues to gurgle and pop out bubbles to only then instantly be popped from the exposure to the air.

Tommy grits his teeth harshly, feeling the way his jaw tenses from the pressure he holds Wilbur’s hand with a bruising grip; but only because he’s planning on getting him back up to the platform, with a deep breath, Tommy pulls up Wilbur’s hand, and Wilbur desperately grabs the ledge with his empty hand and pulls his way up until he’s safely sitting on the platform.

‘He’s safe!’

‘Check on him though!’

Tommy glares at the ledge, ‘If I had wings this would be so incredibly easy.’ He angrily thinks, fluidly wiggling his fingers on his free hand he prepares to bring himself up. With quick thinking as his hand holding the axe is slowly becoming tired, he pulls out his pickaxe from before, it glows when it’s brought out, and like the axe, he plunges it into the material above.

The veins in his arms practically pop out as he lifts his body up, he basically does a pull up till he yanks out his axe from the floor of the platform and quickly shoves it back in, only higher this time so he’s not in too much danger of falling into the lava below, even though it would make no difference to him.

It’s like mountain climbing, if anyone were to ask him to try and compare it to anything else.

Once he’s made it onto the platform in a relatively safe manner, he zeros in on George, eager to make an expression that what he did was something that was not going to be just pushed to the side. His face turns into an aggressive scowl as his shoulders tense, before he can take a full step forward though, there’s a familiar pull on his wrist that stops him.

He turns behind him like a flick of a whip, and Tubbo is there, eyes filled to the brink with worry as he looks to his eyes, to the weapons still glowing in his hands, and back to his eyes where they then stay.

Tommy’s brows furrow as he realizes what he was going to do. And he’s prepared to leave in an instant, not without giving a knowing look at George, who was standing not so surprisingly close to Sapnap- Who was giving him a questioning look, his arm hovering in front of George in protection twitches slightly as he fought the urge to run to Tommy.

His hands stop twitching when Tommy glances at him with hardened eyes, his face is void of any emotion and Sapnap feels like he’s done something wrong.

Tommy returns the gesture from Tubbo, moving the older boy’s hand away from his wrist and into the palm of his hand. He notices instantly that his hand isn’t scarred like how it should be; it’s a painful reminder that this isn’t really his Tubbo. Not now.

But that’s the goal though, right? To not let Tubbo get hurt, which means that he won’t become the Tubbo he had before.

He has to protect him, that’s his job. Using any means necessary; so he quickly morphs his face into one that’s utterly pissed off, “You try something like that on Tubbo and I’ll make sure that losing your items will be the least of your concerns George,” He tells him, but raises his voice so that the others standing around will hear it as well.

“C’mon Tommy, I’m fine, you caught me, but I would’ve been fine if I just fell in the lava y’know?” Wilbur tries to console him, but it oddly makes it worse; as Tommy looks at Wilbur with a tint of desperation that to Wilbur, seems to be misplaced, ‘Why is he looking at me like that?’ He thinks to himself out of morbid curiosity.

Tommy clicks his tongue loudly, “You don’t deserve-'' He cuts himself off, before he quickly starts back up again, “It’s annoying to lose your things, I don’t want you to continuously get more and more of shit you already had.” When he’s finished speaking he sees the other’s expression in his peripheral view, each of them have varying similarities but he can tell that they think he’s being incredibly weird.

“Just-” He tries again, but just decides in the end that the best option is for him to leave, so he does just that, while taking Tubbo with him, not allowing any of them to harm him if he weren't there.

After they leave the Nether, Tommy was quick to pull out his communicator out of his back pocket to text someone very angrily.

Tommyinnit whispers to GeorgeNotFound: do anything like that again and I’ll show you why you shouldnt fuck with the peple I care about

Tommyinnit whispers to GeorgeNotFound: I dont care what XD has to say to me, don’t contact me if its not an emergency

GeorgeNotFound whispers to you: what the hell?

GeorgeNotFound whispers to you: I was just doing what I did last time, also, you can’t avoid a conversation with XD, he’s literally a god, YOUR GOD

Tommyinnit whispers to GeorgeNotFound: I dont have to listen to him

GeorgeNotFound whispers to you: yes you do, just stop being a child and talk to us

Tommy feels himself growing more and more agitated with each new text that George sends him, so agitated that he deosn’t remember what happens when he gets angry enough, or who he’s still holding hands with.

Tommyinnit whispers to GeorgeNotFound: i’ll come to you when I want to

After he sends that text, he internally ends the conversation; and although he knows he’s not going to respond to George anymore, he still feels that anger boiling in his gut at George really thinking that Tommy’ll just easily cooperate with him after he pulled that on his brother.

He’s pulled out of that thought when he hears a hiss at his side, he looks to where the sound came from and is horrified when it was Tubbo who made the noise; he, without noticing, was burning Tubbo’s hand that he was holding due to his demeanor literally making him heat up with anger.

With a harsh yank, he pulls away his hand and his eyes catch the puffy remains of Tubbo’s hand, looking that way due to the agitation of the heat colliding with his sensitive palms.

“Shit- Shit!” Tommy says with an unfiltered hysteria lacing his tone, “Oh my- Tubbo are you okay?” He reaches out, but stops himself with a slap from his free hand that had already put away the communicator moments before.

‘What the hell, you can’t go a few seconds without hurting your best friend?’ He criticizes himself harshly, feeling the anger boil up again along with shame. ‘You can’t do anything right, what made you think you could fix the future and Tubbo if your already hurting him?’ He feels his eyes start to water, but there’s suddenly a mist that covers his eyesight when he feels the sensation of flowing tears.

He’s causing his tears to immediately evaporate once they touch his skin.

With quick horror, he takes a step away from Tubbo, who was watching the scene closely, trying to come up with the right solution to what was going on with Tommy.

“Tom-” He calls the blonde’s name like a plea, he’s so lost but he wants to comfort his friend, his non burnt hand inches dangerously close to Tommy’s forearm while the other was cradled close against the fabric of his green shirt. The blonde notices this in an instant and cries out, “Dont- Don’t touch me!” And the mist in front of his eyes intensifies a great amount, almost causing a cloud to form around his head completely.

“I-” Tommy chokes out, “I need to go-” Tommy starts to run, and stumbles only slightly on the way before he disappears into the forest. Tubbo’s body feels like it’s being pulled apart at the sight of Tommy thinking that running away from him was the best or possibly the only decision he could make.

Luckily or unluckily, Tommy, from his swiftly heating body, leaves burning footprints as he makes his hasty escape into the forest.

Tubbo clenches his burned hand tightly, shaking it for a few seconds for him to try and ignore the pain before he makes his way into the forest after Tommy, no ounce of regret in his body as he makes his way in.

o==[]::::::::::::::::>