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Life after Dream was different. At least Tommy tried to pretend it was different.
Sure it was different in some ways. He had bonded with George some, helped Tubbo with Snowchester, he was even building his own hotel!
But some things stayed the same. His ‘family’ was still very brash with him. The Eggpire hated him for being immune (or whatever Tommy could care less. It was one last thing to deal with).
And people were trying to kill him. Well, jack and Niki were trying to kill him.
More like succeeded if he were honest. He lay on the snow-covered forest floor, covered in his own blood.
The snow around him was dyed a deep crimson red. He felt lightheaded. His limbs wouldn’t move and he couldn’t call for help, his communicator only a foot away and out of his reach.
He didn’t understand. He couldn’t understand why Niki, someone who he had considered a sister, would kill him.
But there he sat, still vividly remembering.
When Niki asked him to cut some wood together this is not what he’d imagined. Cornered in the woods with Jack on his left and Niki on his right.
“Woah Woah Woah guys. I’m sure we could settle this another way!” His voice was trembling and his arms were shaking. He knew that in reality, there was no good way out of this.
Jack just snarled at him.
“You ruined our lives! You’re a monster. You can’t do anything right. All you do is cause pain and destruction, we’re doing everyone a favor.” Niki’s voice was cold.
There really was no going back from this. His ears lay flat against his hair and his tail bristled.
Jack and Niki launched at the same time, giving him no room to run away. Jack held him down as Niki carved into his skin. He fought as hard as he could until he didn’t have any energy left too.
They left him there in the snow to bleed out.
Faintly he could hear voices but they were indistinguishable. He hoped it was Jack and Niki, coming to finish him off. He was tired and everything hurt.
Suddenly there was pressure on the giant stab wound in his abdomen and pressure on his arms. It felt like fire burning through him as a scream ripped out of his throat.
“Tommy please stay awake. You’ve gotta stay awake for me spitfire,” The voice speaking to him was familiar and definitely not Jack or Niki.
He opened his eyes to peer at the figure, or three figures really. They were more blobs of color than actual figures. That was probably because of his blood loss.
Very distinguishable were the black and navy blue blobs that seemed to be applying the pressure to his wounds.
“Come on spitfire, just a little longer. Then we can take a nice nap yeah?” Tommy hummed and tried to push away the exhaustion crawling through him.
There was liquid being poured into his wounds now, making them feel warm and fuzzy. His body relaxed and let out a deep sigh. A third figure, this one purple, moved him so that his head was in the blob's lap. He listened to their conversation.
“We need to move him soon or he’s going to get hypothermia.”
“We can’t move him without the possible risk of respawn and even with infinite lives now it still hurts like a bitch and the kid has been through enough.”
“Do you have any more healing pots?”
“Hold on let me look”
There was shuffling for a minute.
“I have one healing pot, one regen, and one strength,”
“Do you think a strength pot would give his body enough stamina to make it back to Kinoko?”
“We have to hope. Whoever did this to him now has a target on their back,”
More liquid was poured over his body and he felt energy surge through his body. Suddenly he was being lifted bridal style and carried through the snow.
It was so comfortable and warm against the person carrying him. It made him tired but he knew they wanted him to stay awake.
As the figure carried him through the SMP most things stayed hazy. He couldn’t really tell where he was or where he was going. The world seemed to be moving too fast and too slow at the same time.
Finally his savior, savior, kidnapper? set him down on a soft surface. They seemed to get back to work working on his wounds.
A hand carded through his hair, “Just a little longer buddy, then you can sleep as long as you’d like,”
It was only a few more minutes before he got the okay to sleep and he did so without a second thought.
——
When he awoke later, (he wasn’t sure how much later) there was sun streaming in through a window. It was partially blinding him.
Becoming more aware of his surrounding he noticed where he was. The house he was in was a small build that consisted of dark oak, mushroom, and glass. It seemed to have a soft red theme. The bed he was laying on was pushed into a corner, opposite a small kitchen. There was a door that he was guessing lead to a bathroom and a small living space adjacent to him.
He was in someone’s house.
He ignored the panic in favor of getting out of the bed, the only thing hurting was his abdomen when he shifted. He assumed that it hadn’t healed all the way.
He walked slowly to the door, opening it and stepping out into the sun. Warmth encased him as the sun beat down a comfortable heat.
He was in what looked to be a mushroom and dark oak village. In front of his hut was a shining crystal blue lake. Tommy couldn’t hear anything so he slowly walked over to the lake and stepped in.
The water wasn’t cold but it was oddly refreshing in the warm weather. He waded a bit deeper until the water was up to his knees.
He felt so at peace. He didn’t know where he was, but he felt no danger. No need to panic or run, so he contently stood in the water.
He felt an odd sense of happiness, of being himself. Something he hadn’t had in a long time. So he took advantage of it.
He swished his tail, causing it to brush against water and create a splash. He let out a small laugh and spun in the water.
There were soft footsteps behind him that stopped a few feet from the lake. Tommy turned.
Leaning against a tree was Sapnap, with Quackity and Karl not far behind. Sapnap had a large grin on his face.
“Hey Spitfire,” His smile was bright and welcoming. Tommy made a break for it in his direction, “See I told you he could make it. Strongest kid I kn-Oof”
Tommy tackled Sapnap into a hug. Landing on the soft grass Sapnap took the brunt of the fall but still wrapped one arm around Tommy’s waist and the other around his shoulders, hand in his hair.
Tommy pushed his palms into the ground to get a height advantage on Sapnap, though the man kept scratching his ears which made it hard to concentrate.
“First of all, I am not a kid. Secondly-“
Sapnap cut him off, “Guys he’s purring. This is the best day of my life,”
“I am not!” (He was).
Sapnap, Karl, and Quackity showed Tommy around their new home which they called Kinoko Kingdom. (Tommy quite liked the name). His little hut was deep within a Dark Oak grove beside a big building to hide it. He figured that it was for safety reasons.
Walking into what he could only assume was a small castle, a big building made out of Dark oak, spruce, and mushroom blocks, built into the side of a mountain.
Inside the building stood four people that made Tommy’s heart race with joy.
Purpled, George, Tubbo, and Ranboo turned at their entrance.
George looked different. Happier and healthier than he had when they found him down in the vault. He had started to adorn himself with different mushroom items, to distract from the blue of his past.
Tommy hadn’t seen Purpled in a long time but he knew the elder cared for him. He still wore the same purple hoodie from back before L’manberg. He also stood significantly taller than Tommy (when had that happened?)
Ranboo and Tubbo stood close together towards the back of the group, laughing at something one of them said.
Tommy launched himself at the boy he hadn’t seen in a long while, accidentally rubbing their cheeks together as he wrapped his arms around Purpled. A tingling sensation spread across his brain.
Purpled had him effectively off the ground (How on earth did he shrink. What the fuck) with a tight grip on him.
“Why’s my brain all fucking fuzzy. And when did you get so tall?” The room broke out into laughter.
“I didn’t grow Tom’s. You shrunk. You’re all tiny now,” Tommy made a noise of protest before Purpled rubbed their cheeks together again, sending another wave of fuzz over his brain.
“What the fuck is that?” He asked a bit more calmly and now on the ground.
George stepped up, “That's scenting. You scented him and he scented you back. Depending on what you read it’s like claiming or welcoming into a pack. A lot of animals and hybrids to it,”
Oh. That's embarrassing. Why did he not know that?
Wait a second. Purpled said he was ‘all tiny now’
“Did I shrink?” It was almost inaudible, more like he was asking himself
He heard laughter throughout the room.
“Yeah, Tommy. I think your raccoon genetics made you shrink but all the stress had stunted that from happening. It happened to me during Pogtopia,”
Tommy cringed slightly at Tubbo’s words, not wanting to remember the dank ravine that brought along bad memories.
“So what does it mean exactly?” He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do next, with the newfound information of forming a pack.
“Well, you can do whatever you want with that information really. If you want to make a pack with people then go for it, but just make sure to ask first,” George smiled at him.
By the end of the day, he had scented Purpled, George, Sapnap, Karl, Quackity, Ranboo, and Tubbo.
All in all, it was a pretty good day.
——
Tommy awoke to a heavy weight on his chest about two weeks later. He opened his eyes to see a raccoon peacefully sleeping on his chest, as well as a head of blonde hair.
The raccoon had been following him around for a few days. He named it wobbles, after seeing it constantly wobble around. Around him were the sleeping forms of Ranboo, Tubbo, and Purpled (Who had decided to spend the night).
He carefully maneuvered his way out of the dogpile and stepped outside into the fresh air, Wobbles following his every step. He sat in the grass and threw a stick, the raccoon chased after it before bringing it back.
He kept throwing the stick as he thought. He had been staying in Kinoko Kingdom to let his wounds heal (Karl had insisted) but he didn’t know where he was going to go now that he was healed, at least physically. Mentally he blocked out as much as he could. It was like zipping a too-stuffed bag up and barely getting it to close.
Niki and Jack's words still rang in his ears, bouncing off the walls of his brain. He kept the bandages wrapped around his arms to try and block out the physicality of his attack but he knew it was going to be there for a long time.
He liked it here with Karl, Quackity, Sapnap, and George. He liked it when his friends came to visit. He liked his little mushroom-themed house (no matter how many times he would adamantly deny it). He liked helping cool food, or gather resources, or play games, just being a kid again.
He hadn’t noticed Wobbles nudging him until the raccoon practically pushed him into a laying position, taking its rightful place on his chest. The weight and warmth of the animal calmed his breathing and heart rate significantly.
He kept his gaze to the soft blue sky as he heard footsteps approach. The grass crunched under whoever’s footsteps, morning dew still very evident with the ever-rising sun.
“You didn’t sleep out here, did you? I really don’t want you catching a cold,” Karl sat in the grass next to him. Wobbles inspected the stranger before deem-big Karl worthy of their presence.
“No, I’m just more of an early riser than you’d think, ya know, wars and all.” Karl frowned at that, at least from what Tommy could see out of the corner of his eye.
“So when do you want your shack back Big K?” Karl looked even more baffled at that.
“Tommy that shack is for you. Funnily enough, the day we found you we were coming to ask if you wanted to join Kinoko. We built that little shack for you in hopes that you’d stay,” Tommy sat up shocked, knocking Wobbles down in the process.
“But why?” Tommy turned his gaze to look at Karl before looking back out across the pond in front of the shack, “I don’t do anything except cause trouble for everyone. I’m nothing but a pain,”
“You are not a pain,” came a voice from behind. A very warm person came and sat directly behind him, hugging Tommy to their chest. If the heat was anything to go by, it was Sapnap.
“And sure, you cause trouble but it’s nothing we can’t handle,” Quackity sat on his other side, “besides, you’re a kid. Kids get to cause trouble. It’s part of being a kid.”
“Our point is Toms,” Sapnap rested his chin on Tommy's head. The man's warmth made him start to involuntarily purr (though he still wouldn’t admit it), “You should be able to be a kid and you can be a kid here. We want to help you be a kid again.”
Tommy didn’t know what to say, he hoped the stunned look on his face conveyed what he was feeling. Quackity gave him a kind smile and ruffled his hair.
He didn’t deserve this. He cared for them too much to be put in his path of destruction.
“I can’t do that to you guys,” he watched two out of three of them frown (Sapnap was still basically holding him like a child), “everywhere I go destruction follows and this place is so nice. I don’t want it to become another L’manberg because of me,”
Tommy couldn’t tell what emotion Sapnap was feeling but he knew it wasn’t a happy one because the blaze hybrid got warmer to the touch.
“We aren’t going to let that happen, Tommy,” Sapnap puffed, Tommy could see some smoke float around his head before it disappeared, “We won’t make you a child soldier again. It wasn’t fair to you the first time and it wouldn’t be fair again. You were put in a place where you didn’t have a choice and now we are going to give you one because no one else will,”
A choice? They were giving him a choice?
Prime, Tommy liked it here. A lot.
He had his own house, which was way nicer than anything he would have built. They were far away from everything that was happening. Far away from any danger.
He had Wobbles, who was currently splashing around in the shallow end of the pond. He had Tubbo and Ranboo and Purpled who were practically his brothers, if not platonic soulmates.
He had George, who he had decided not to put a label on yet. Nothing quite seemed to fit the man quite right, brother, friend, father-figure. Tommy guessed it was up to interpretation.
And he had Sapnap, Karl, and Quackity. Sapnap who had been there when he first joined the server and first fought Dream. Quackity who had been there when Wilbur started to go insane and helped Tommy heal. Karl, who had always been so kind and caring despite Tommy’s destructive nature.
“Can I stay please?” He was so quiet he was almost sure they didn’t hear him.
“‘Course you can stay Spitfire. What fun would we have without you?” Sapnap radiated a different kind of warmth now, one of comfort and home. Karl and Quackity were quick to join the awkward-shaped hug.
Yeah, Tommy was going to like it here he thinks.
——
Bonus:
Sapnaps voice was loud across the open field near Kinoko Kingdom, “Run Tommy!”
Tommy felt like his lungs were about to give out. He couldn’t keep running forever but he couldn’t lose.
He notched his arrow as he ran up a small hill. The hill ended on a small cliff overseeing a small lake.
“Nowhere to run now?” Tommy spun to meet red and green eyes that towered over him. A bow and arrow of its own pointed at him.
Tommy looked between the lake below and his attacker.
“Maybe. But somewhere to jump is always an option,” With that Tommy backed himself off the cliff and fell. Pulling back and releasing his arrow and he plummeted into the water.
The drop hadn’t been that far so when Tommy surfaced he could see Ranboo’s chest painted with blue paint.
“Yes! Holy fuck we won!” Tommy could hear Purpled shouting as he swam to shore, only to be tackled back into the water by his teammates, Purpled and Sapnap when he eventually made it to land.
“That’s unfair. There is no way that’s legal,” Tubbo complained and he walked over.
“Sorry Tubs, that’s how paintball works,” Karl put a comforting hand on the losing boy's shoulder.
Sapnap Ruffled Tommy’s wet hair and pulled both boys in for a hug. George and Karl (the two non-participants) came over and placed a plastic crown on each of their heads.
Tommy looked around at the people he considered family and for once in a long time, he found himself genuinely content to be where he was.
He wouldn’t give up them for anything.