Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

During the time, where The Borders did not exist, where Gods still ruled over the land, people have gone into war with their creators.

The God's fooled all of humanity, they have cursed the one's foolish enough to accept the gods "Gift". 

This was the cause of war, it was rumored that Demi gods, angels, and other gods helped humanity during the war. Though for years now, it's considered to be a mere myth.

After 17 years of bloodshed, the war was won and mortals fully reigned on their own with an everlasting supply of magic running through the world. A true act of declaring independence.

It was said a war hero, was tasked to save all of humanity from the curse. It was to believed that it was a mere rumor, for there was no cure. There was no way to save humanities downfall. For there was no saving the Cursed Blood.

"Well this story sucks." The tall blonde boy complains. He was at the library, looking for survival books to read. He ended up reading the History of Esempi. A story told about a 100 times to young folks like him and other youths to come, and written the exact same way. It's repetitive, their history has always been so vague and it seemed like not many things have been found regarding this war, which was shocking due to it being a war that lasted for as long as Tommy has lived.

"Young man, that's History. Not some random story written by an author with poor taste." argues the librarian. Seated behind her desk, she puffs up her chest in anger. Tommy turns his attention to the fuming librarian.

"It's important information, young lads like you, should learn about to make sure you know what your ancestors have done to grant you your freedom!" The librarian seemed to be pissed, oh well, nothing Tommy can't handle.

"Sorry lady, but it's true." Tommy fixes his sitting posture and crosses his arms. The History was written by humans like him, so he knows there's bound to be some bias in it.

"How long has this book been in need of updating? A couple 100 years? Like seriously," He makes a gesture with his hands. "I mean, why haven't we found anything from such a big war? Why is it so vague?" He asks the librarian.

The librarian sighs and composes herself, "Because, most of the stories the writers have gathered contradicted each other. So no one knows which are true and which aren't, after all the war happened 100 years ago. Most of the people who fought that war are already dead or is too old to remember." The librarian finishes the conversation between the two of them. Tommy watches as the librarian goes back to reading her book.

Touché librarian, you win this time.

Tommy sighs in defeat and picks up the books on his table and stands up from his seat. He spent too much time in the library today, he just needed survival books after all. He approaches the librarian who seems to be occupied by her romance novel. Tommy thinks the librarian sleeps alone at night cuddling her pillows for warmth. Tommy sleeps cuddling his plush Henry, but he doesn't talk about that with the librarian.

Tommy clears his throat, books held close to his chest. The librarian removed her reading glasses and puts her book down and turned her attention to Tommy. He looks at her and grins, the librarian rolls her eyes in response.

"I'd like to bring these books home." He puts down the books onto the desk and the librarian looks at the books and looks up at Tommy. She gave Tommy a bewildered look, he doesn't appreciate that.

"You don't look like a kid who could read these books." The librarian gave him a mirthless smile. How dare she question his intelligence. Fucking despicable, oh if he doesn't respect women so much, he would do so many evil things to this librarian. He may have dropped out of school before but he atleast knew how to read and count.

"And you look like you sleep alone at night." He snapped, speaking out his earlier thoughts about the librarian. Tommy sees her give a rather unconvincing smile, he's hit the soft spot.

"Touché kid. Touché." The librarian murmured, Tommy only grins. Another win for the TommyInnit community.

The librarian then began stamping the books Tommy has put down in her desk. She talked about the rules and guidelines that he has to follow to make sure the book returns in mint condition. Tommy doesn't really listen to her, he just gave her a nod when she stopped talking.

He has successfully achieved his goal for today! So he grabs his books and ran out the library as fast as he could. He was greeted by sunlight and fellow townsfolk who was doing their day to day routine. Today was Tommy's break day from his work as a shoe shiner, he's suprisingly good at his job as well. He gets money from Sam, his caretaker, during his break days. He decided today, he's going to purchase something with his money instead of stealing from stores like he usually does.

Tommy walks around town, thinking of things to purchase. He stares at the clothing shop, a few new clothes wouldn't be that bad. After all, Sam gave him enough money to buy new clothes. He decided against the idea of getting new clothes, his clothes are good enough, he doesn't need to waste money on that when he's got clothes that could still fit him perfectly fine. Though it would be nice to have a cape- NO, he must resist. He needs to spend his money on something more important, like items that would come in handy in the future. He decides that going to the market would be a good place to start finding items that'll come in handy for him in the future, he should buy a weapon! He imagines himself wielding a really cool weapon, like one of those famous adventurer's weapon. He knows he can't afford one at the moment, so he'll save up for that.

He continues to walk around thinking. He looks around at each vendor and shops that were open. He debates with himself, if he should just steal or buy from them today. He sees his favorite shops open up, he could buy a muffin from Badboyhalo or buy jewelry from Skeppy, but he really needs to spend his money on something REALLY important for the future. He walks around more deciding what shop to enter, he eventually bumps into a man wearing a cloak.

"Ow! Jesus Christ, look at where you're going, prick!" Tommy shouts.

Tommy rubs his head and he looks up to see the man suddenly run away from him and enter a dark alleyway. He found that guy weird, he sighs and pats his front pockets. Yup, he knew it, that guy stole his money. Tommy silently follows the man to the dark alleyway, he looks around at the alleyway. It looked rather uninviting, it smelled like dead rats and he sees a dead rat lying on the ground nearby, great. Like all alleyways, it was just a place everyone should avoid. He remembers the time when he saw Sam almost get mugged at an alleyway, it was horrible but Sam stayed alive thanks to him being part creeper. He should find where this guy was hiding, he took his money and Tommy will bite the shit out of them once he finds them. There was a trashcan at the near end, this place had milk bottles and newspaper on the floor and a makeshift couch was nearby, hanging loosely on the walls.

Tommy slowly approaches the trashcan, he knows the guys in there since he can practically see it shaking. He slowly knocks on the lid of the trash can, until this man covered in goo with green eyes popped out of the trash can. Tommy was ready to jump on this man.

"Hello! My fellow fleshy brethren! W-what can I do for y-AAAAAAAAA FUCK" Tommy was biting the shit out of his arm, basically tackled the man to the ground, no one gets away with stealing his shit. 

"HELP ME A GREMLIN IS FUCKING EATING MY FUCKING ARM FFFFUUUUUUUU-"

A few moments later...

Things eventually calmed down, since Tommy got his wallet back from the strange man, who was currently recovering from the attack he just experienced. Tommy pockets his money and turns to look at the strange man. 

"You stole my shit. Why?" Tommy asks. He needs answers as to why this guy thought it would've been a good idea.

The strange man flinched and gulped before eventually answering, "C'mon man, I'm kinda living a really poor life at the moment. People get desperate after not being able to eat for days." Tommy understood the man's situation and his anger lessens. He can't really get angry at someone who wants to survive, he silently forgives the man. This man is lucky though, Tommy would've done much more than just bit him.

"Why are you in a trash can?" He asked, changing the subject to break the tension between them.

"I-I live in it." Answers the strange man. "This is also where I keep my products and slimes at-" He pulls out a good amount of slime and inside the slime was a Heart of the Sea. Tommy may have found himself a wandering trader, he hasn't noticed it before but now, he can see this man was dressed like one. This man definitely did not look like he belonged here.

"I'd like to buy something from you," Tommy examines the man, he sees that they actually perked up when they heard the word "buy". "You got anything good for me?"

"Well, I actually do!" He exclaims, "I sell potions and other magical items that I've came across all over the world!" The strange vendor explained. Tommy was surprised by this answer. Magic and Potions? He's only ever heard of them but never saw one up close, this merchant must've been from another region. Magic and Potions are extremely rare in this particular region and that they are very very expensive and Tommy isn't sure if he can afford it.

"Sorry big man, can't afford what you're selling." Tommy says as he begins to turn around and find a new vendor, he was immediately stopped by a hand grabbing onto his wrist. Tommy looks back at the strange vendor, who was currently stopping him.

"No, please! Buy from me, I've been trying to sell these things for weeks on end now in this region!", The vendor was practically in tears at this point.

"Just please, buy from me. I'm starving, I haven't eaten anything,due to not making any income for the past week!" He sobs.

"I've already considered eating rats! PLEASE, even 7 gold coins would do!" The man was begging, if Tommy didn't feel bad he would've just left by now, but he felt bad.

"Okay! Okay, just let go of me... uh," Tommy is trying to come up with something to call the Vendor.

"Charlie-", answers the Vendor.

"Okay, Charlie, I'll buy something from you." Tommy says, Charlie eventually let's go and grabbed a few potions for Tommy to pick.

"Pick which one you'd like to buy from me, a healing potion, fire resistance or water breathing?" Charlie asks Tommy.

"Healing-" Tommy wasn't really familiar with potions, but healing sounded like something he would need to have in the future.

"Okay!"Charlie gives Tommy the potion and Tommy reaches out in his pocket and gives 12 gold coins for it, he's pretty sure 12 gold coins wouldn't have been the original price for this kind of thing but he can't miss out on this discount.

"T-thank you so much! I have enough to eat tonight!" Charlie seemed to be really happy that he got to sell something.

"Yeah, if you don't mind me asking." Tommy pauses to look at Charlie, "How were you able to smuggle these things through the border?" His curiosity wandered all over the place, but he was only able to ask one question.

"I snuck into a train, best thing to do when you wanna get in regions with potions without having to wait for legal system to give it back to me after 29 days." Charlie answers, "I thought that selling potions here would be a great idea, but I ended up almost starving since no one wanted to buy any of it. I ran from the authorities, more than twice. I ended up living in this trash can, since I cannot risk them finding me in well known establishments!"

Well Tommy didn't expect him to spill out the beans so easily, but I guess Charlie just trusted him fairly quickly. Tommy realizes he's been around this alleyway for far too long now, people will get suspicious. 

"Well, Charlie. I'm gonna go now, also good luck with the authorities." Tommy saluted him, Charlie smiles. "Well, goodbye friend!" 

Charlie waves goodbye as Tommy turned and left after that, he looks at the potion in his hand and pockets it. He thinks he's made a great choice buying this today. He takes a calm peaceful walk through the town, he sees a few children playing and a few rushing to get to school. Tommy was relaxing, this was a nice day off.

Tommy passes by the train station, there were people coming in and out of the station. Tommy just stood there as he watched people boarding the train and the conductor yelling 'All Aboard' before the train started moving to the next location of God knows where. Ever so often when he walks by and stands here, he stares at the train and he feels as if he was in it. Charlie said that he got here by sneaking in a train, maybe he could sneak in the train station and hitch a ride. Where would he go? He wouldn't mind being somewhere else, the fun of not knowing where to go is the fun you'll have to know more about where you are.

Tommy snaps out of his day dreaming, he can't go now. He has Sam who was still at the workshop and he has to work here to help out Sam pay the bills a bit to keep the workshop running. He can't simply leave, that would be selfish of him to do, especially to Sam. He stood there a minute longer, eventually leaving.

He continues his peaceful walk, looking around the area and sees a few people chatting; a few children playing; and a few people cleaning up their homes and streets. He was so deep into his own thoughts, he didn't hear two figures approaching him rather quickly from behind. His peaceful walk was suddenly stopped when he got pushed forward, he trips and drops a few books on the ground. He whips his head around to glare at the two men standing behind him.

The Two Cunts or formally known as Sapnap and George, two grown ass men.

He hated these two, with every fiber in his body. Sapnap likes pissing him off and George is well George, they do nothing but try to provoke him into doing something dumb. Tommy does not like them poking his soft side, for they are bitches, he would rather stab them than be made fun of.

"Well if it isn't the town's shoe shiner!" Sapnap smirked, god that insult sucked ass and that stupid smirk on Sapnap's face how the hell is he proud of that fucking insult.

"Aren't you supposed to be working? I need someone to clean my boots, they're extremely muddy." That was a lie, Tommy looks down to see his shoes were perfectly clean. The insult would've been better if his shoes were actually dirty, but it was an attempt.

"Well if it isn't the two Stooges." Tommy greeted, with a sullen expression. "What do you want, I'm kinda enjoying my break.", Tommy tried to pick up his book but it was quickly snatched by George. Tommy huffs in annoyance and continues to glare holes at the two.

"Nothing much, Got bored while we're in town, needed to do something fun before we go off for a mission." Sapnap replies with a grin. These two were licensed adventurer's, and they usually go from region to region to help solve a problem. Usually the problems would be caused by Monsters, those things were huge and they were terrifying. Tommy could take one on for a fight, he'd simply tell the monster that he would win against it. "Thank god, I hope you all get eaten by some gigantic monster." Tommy mutters, he silently hoped it would happen. After all that would mean, two less bullies in the world.

George looks at the cover and snickers. "Really? Survival books? Didn't you drop out or something?" George raised the book in question. Sapnap laughs, he looked like he heard the most funniest shit ever.

"Seriously? Trying to be like us? Tired of your creeper dad raising you?" Sapnap had a shit eating smirk on his face, if Tommy wasnt raised so well he would've started stabbing shit but he'll have to suck it up, for now.

Tommy sighed, "And aren't you a bit too old to be bothering with a 17 year olds day to day life?" Like seriously he's 30, wtf is he doing being a massive dick to kids.

George wanted to say something, but it didn't come out. YeahhH that's right you pussy, Tommy snatched the book off of George's hands and kneels to pick up the rest of the books that fell on the ground, hopefully none of them are muddy, he doesn't want to be lectured by that librarian. Sapnap kneels before him and grabs one of the books, he looked at it and Tommy can fucking sense the smirk forming while looking down on a book that was on the ground.

"Y'know you'll never be anything else but a shoe shiner in this town right?" Sapnap grinned even more when Tommy didn't respond.

"This book right here? Isn't gonna change you. No matter what you do. You'll always amount to nothing."

Okay, that does it. Tommy grabbed the book out of Sapnap's hands and stood up turned his back and walked away with book and map close to his chest.

Tommyinnit will not stand for this slander, Tommy will not stand there and be ridiculed by three old men. Tommy was sure they'd die first and he'd continue living for he is young and they are old.

Tommy believed in himself, that he can be someone more and better and he will prove it and kick the old men so hard till they themselves kick the bucket. His break day will not be ruined, so he'll just head straight back home.

After that whole ordeal, Tommy entered the workshop he works at and also lived in, he pays a little for rent and that's a good fucking deal in Tommy's eyes. He also gets fed regularly and he likes it and he gets warm baths. When he opens the door to the workshop, the bell rings. The place was filled with machinery laying around, papers, broken down engines and hanging screws and bolts varying in sizes. Tommy hung strange things on the ceiling, like Sam's screwdriver and bottles around the place to give it a charming asthetic.

Sam was standing there with his back turned, working on a strange machinery of some sort. Tommy clears his throat, catching Sam's attention. Sam turned to look at Tommy, his hands was covered in soot and he had his gas mask on as usual. Sam greeted Tommy but it was muffled behind the mask, before he pulls it off and sees Tommy holding up several books.

"You've been at the library, Tommy?" Sam puts down his mask on his work bench and walked towards the boy. Sam had some green spots and his eyes were pure red, a good looking creeper is what Sam calls himself.

"Yup! Grabbed a few maps and books here and there!" Tommy layed down his items on a nearby table. Sam looks over the boys shoulder and saw multiple books and he gives Tommy a questioning look.

"Are you trying to go back to school? Since, if you are, you could always ask me to enroll you back in." He asks the 17 year old boy. The boy shook his head, "Oh hell no, teachers are shit and the students attending as well! Also their books are boring and plain, no pictures on them and shit!"

In fact, Tommy doesn't read any books that doesn't have pictures. A good book wouldn't be a good book to him if there were no pictures to look at. Instead of going to school, he chose to work to help Sam pay the bills. Instead of going to school and NOT helping Sam pay the bills, he's just awesome that way

"But- nevermind." Sam seemed to not want to start an arguement with the young lad at the moment. After all, he wouldn't win and that the boy had his reasons to hate school.

"Anyway, why do you need to read these books for anyway?" He grabs one of the books flipping it open, it was apparently a manual on how to survive in the wild for dumbies (pictures included). Not what he expected since he thought Tommy didn't read these kinds of books. It's far from the usual, Adventurer's Stories he keeps bringing back home.

"Well isn't it obvious Sam?" Tommy turned to look at the grown man who was clearly confused and who was still scanning through the book in his hands. "I'm gonna go out and become an adventurer!" Tommy shouted with pride, since thats just him in general. He's always filled with pride.

Sam looks at him and back to the book and started to understand. Tommy was always a free spirited kid, he always obsessed over Adventurer's, which to be honest was cute. He expected Tommy to have waited atleast when he turned 18, but Sam supported the idea either way. He basically prepared for this day.

"I'm gonna end up in the books,Sam!" Tommy threw his hands up in the to insinuate how big of a deal this was. "Imma escape this ol' town and be out there, making a name for myself!" He declared, his arms making gestures while he speaks.

Sam snickers, "And how exactly are you going to leave?" He asked with an amused tone. He wants to take him seriously but, Tommy was such a dramatic when he talks about himself.

"Easy, I go hitch a ride on a train, I get a fake identity and fake my age and I'm out of this region." Tommy replies.

"Are you sure that's a fool proof plan?" Sam asks with a hint of doubt on his expression. He knew how hard it is to cross The Border, he went out of the region once and going in and going out, both took a really long time.

Tommy grins and crosses his arms, "Of course, how could you ever doubt me? I'm simply too awesome!" That made Sam laugh and Tommy earned a smile from him. This boy was gonna be the end of Sam, one way or another.

"Alright, I'll be right behind you buddy." Tommy was caught off guard when he was put in a headlock by Sam who immediately ruffled his hair.

"Sam! No! My hair!" He exclaims. Tommy spent so much time fixing his hair, to get it nice and fluffy. Sam just laughs and let's go. Tommy fixes up his ruffled hair and glares at Sam who was laughing. Tommy's glare didn't last long since he joins in the laughter later on.

Sam smiles, "I think you should get those books up in your room and come back down when I call you for dinner." 

Tommy nods, he really liked Sam. Sam looked at the boy run upstairs and shook his head, he will have to cook dinner and it's going to take a while. Tommy went upstairs and stepped infront of his door and swung it open. The room looked rather normal and a bit more cleaner than usual, Sam must've cleaned it while he was out in the library.

Tommy drops off his books on his bed and he plops down on his bed and picks up a book to begin reading.

How To Not Die In the wilderness, Part 1...

__________________________________________

Sam calls for Tommy downstairs, already prepared dinner for the both of them. Tommy wakes up in a jolt, he fell asleep after reading the first page, he's not going to lie that book was way too boring of a read. He couldn't stay awake to even read the second chapter of the survival guide.

He rubs his eyes and immediately went downstairs, he didn't want to keep Sam waiting after all Tommy never liked the thought of angering the Creeper Hybrid, he could explode and Tommy isn't taking any chances with that one. Even if he knows Sam can never truly be mad at him

Tommy was greeted by a pleasant aroma when he went downstairs, he follows the scent to the kitchen. His mouth began watering, all of his favourite dishes were there layed neatly on the table ready to be consumed. He's so lucky to have this much food, his mind thinks about Charlie. He hopes he's given enough. 

Sam turns to look at Tommy, chuckling at how the boys eyes seem to glimmer while he looked at the food he's cooked for dinner. In a matter of seconds, he sees the boy take a seat  and began stacking a ridiculous amount of food on his plate. Sam sits across the table, facing Tommy who was ready to devour his entire plate.

He still has the monstrous appetite he had back then when he was still a small boy living in Sam's workshop. It wasn't that long ago that he was given a little boy to raise, after all Sam revisited the memory a lot when he spaces out during his work. It usually happens when he's stressed or has nothing else to do.

They both ate their food, talked about how their day went. Tommy eventually told Sam that he has gotten a healing potion today. Sam was taken aback by the news, since Tommy somehow managed not to get in trouble with the authorities, buying from a wandering trader who had no license was practically illegal. It's been 16 days since Tommy hasn't been caught by the authorities, Sam hopes Tommy doesn't break his own personal record. Tommy hasn't gone a month without getting told off by an officer and or been caught and put into prison. Sam lectured him about buying things from a shady man, he hoped Tommy listened. He can feel his green hair turn grey everytime Tommy gets into situations where he could seriously be in big trouble. He worries, there will come a time where he won't be there to save his ass from full consequences. He shouldn't baby him much after all, Tommy hated being babied.

They eventually finished eating. Sam smiles widely at the boy who is stuffed and close to passing out from eating so much food. Sam stands up from his seat, helps Tommy back to his room and Sam cleans up the table. Sam puts the plates down in the sink and sighs. He rubs his temple, he hopes Tommy doesn't get in trouble with the authorities again. He opens his eyes and scanned the room, his eyes eventually lead him to a box on his workshop table. He must've forgotten to sort that box while he was working on repairs on his old weapons.

He walks towards the box and opens it, he was expecting a box filled with tools to fix up but instead was greeted by some old photo albums. He must've forgotten to put this in the attic while he was cleaning Tommy's room this morning. He picks up one of the photo albums and decides to go through it, a trip down memory lane. He sees old photos of himself raising Tommy, oh the trouble he's gone through to raise this kid. He couldn't help but smile at the memory of him and Tommy first meeting.

Sam was still a rather young man when he started his workshop, he wasn't as big as he was now and not making as much but he was really proud of himself for being able to get by and keep the workshop running. He's especially lucky since he lived on his own, meaning only one mouth the feed. Though at times, where he's stuck at home due to rain, it gets lonely being on your own. Sam shrugs off the feeling of companionship, he's been alone in many of his travels before this shouldn't bother him as much. Sam was in a village filled with humans, his kind isn't exactly welcomed to these types of towns but there were laws saying that they could.

Anthromorph's and Humans, haven't been on good terms for centuries after the gods have been vanquished. 6 years ago they have finally allowed their kind to live amongst the humans, after all both sides have grown tired of fighting, but even if they are allowed to live amongst people, the years of hate and fear will remain. Sam wasn't into much of the politics, but that's what he knows.

He looks out his window holding his hot cup of cocoa while he watches the rain gets stronger. When he first came to this village everyone was jumpy around him, he can see there are some people who don't exactly mind him being around but they are wary. He hopes moving to this village to retire wasn't a mistake, since he just built his workshop here. He continues to watch the rain fall, seated on his comfy chair next to the window. He began sinking into his chair and began to fall asleep, he hears a knock on the door. He opens his eyes and grunts, he stands up and goes towards the door to answer it.

He opens he door, to be greeted by no one. He looks around the areas nd his eyes fell on a small box, he knew what this was and it caused him to panic and shut his door. He must be seeing things, this must be a prank, it's not what he think it is. It might just be his package, he hopes it was. He calms himself down and opens the door, he looks down and becomes pale. A human baby. 

Who the hell thought it was a good idea to give a creeper hybrid a fucking human baby? This is just horrifying, he can't take care of a kid. He's not built for this, he builds machines for a living he can't raise a kid. He's panicking, he brought the box inside as well as the baby and put it on the table. He stares at it for a really long time, thinking of ways to solve his dilemma. He's scared to pick it up, he doesn't trust himself enough to not hurt it.

'Don't be ridiculous Sam, you only explode when you're angry' he thought to himself, but he still can't mister enough courage to pick the kid up. It was small and fragile, blonde and had blue eyes. He was staring right at Sam, he feels his blood go cold when the child started crying. What was he supposed to do? Pick it up. No, that's crazy! Pick it up, Sam.

Fine...

Sam steadies his shaking hands and picks the baby up, he stared at it. He needs to calm the boy down, he gently cradles the baby and it slowly stopped crying and it stared at Sam again. He feels like he's going to panic, but he doesn't. He feels a small hand touch his face, he looks at the kid in his arms and sees that this baby was smiling. This baby must be laughing at Sam's panic, well atleast he calmed down. Sam's gonna bring this kid to an orphanage, but he thinks about it. People might assume he kidnapped a human child, he saw how jumpy people were around him how the hell is he supposed to explain this. This isn't normal, human babies can't be taken care of hybrids like him. He sighs, he'll have to raise this child in secret.

"Okay little one," Sam looks at him. "I'm going to take care of you." He declared. He doesn't realize, that this would be the best decision he'd ever make in his entire life. He just needed to figure out how to raise a kid, it can't be that hard.

He should tell his past self, that he is very, ABSOLUTELY, wrong. Raising a kid, especially a young one, is very hard. It cries constantly, it wakes him up at 3 am in the morning, it also causes a mess. He wished he dropped it off at an adoption center, but he's made his decision. He feels there are eyebags forming ontop of his other eyes bags, he sometimes wonders if this was a ploy to get him in trouble with humans, so they could find a way to arrest him. No, that's silly. Probably. He hopes.

The more he loses sleep, the more paranoid he becomes. He looks dead, inside and outside. He holds the baby and raises it, it was swinging its legs weakly. "You." Sam says, the baby looks at him. 

"I'm going, insane. I love you, but I'm gonna lose it." He is absolutely tired, but he needs to buy food for both of them. He needs to bring this kid along with him, but he would need to cover him up. He can't be seen walking around with a human baby, the people might run him out of town. He looks around and sees a fairly huge basket.

This was a good idea, the baby looked like a loaf of bread in a basket. Baby loaf. He was walking around town looking at fresh fruits and vegetables, he needs to eat and the baby needed to eat as well. People have him strange looks since he is absolutely out of it, too tired to think all he could do was buy about a good amount of food. This will last them a week and a half, he thinks to himself. He suddenly feels something take the basket, without thinking he hissed. It caused a few people around him to back away from him, he glares at the thief behind him.

"Steal my loaf of bread, I'm blowing you up." Sam wasn't having any of it, he might have scared a lot of people and he scared the thief shitless causing them to run as far away from Sam. He looks around and feels a slight guilt, he caused a few people to panic. Another reason for why he cant be seen with a human infant, he didn't want to threaten the man but it had to be done, no one must know about Tommy. Yes, he named the child Tommy. 

He returned home, sighing to himself. He takes the baby from the basket and sees that it's asleep, he's happy to see that the kid has been asleep the entire time outside. Once Sam got the hang of raising Tommy, it became fairly easy. He would sing songs to the boy to help him fall asleep and he would know what the baby would want when it cries, each cry had differrent tones. Different tones, mean differrent things. He's been so sleep deprived he started calling himself the baby whisperer. He's in desperate need of sleep.

Time passes...

10 years later, he raised the kid fairly well and he kept it hidden for a long while. The kids name was Tommy, he was a rascal but it Sam's rascal. He was a rather talkative and energetic kid, he would sometimes catch the kid talking to customers and stealing their things which Sam returns to the owners of because he doesn't want any trouble. The townsfolk eventually started becoming less and less afraid of Sam over the years and Sam wasn't afraid of touching Tommy anymore, it was progress.

They were having breakfast, Tommy was talking about the books he's read about adventurers. "Sam! Can I enroll to a school like that! Please!" The little blonde begged, Sam thought about it. He can't always homeschool Tommy, he's mostly busy due to the sheer amount of clients he's been having lately. Mostly big shots come to his shop, he's been commissioned to make weapons for them and fix up their old weapons as well. 

"Hmm..." Sam hummed in thought, it wouldn't be bad to enroll Tommy in a school would it?

"Sam, big man, I'm a growing boy! I need to grow smarter and stuff!" The little blonde argues, Sam nods. Alright he'll enroll Tommy to a school, probably a school he can afford the tuition for.

"Alright, I'll enroll you to a school." Sam declares, "But...promise me you won't start a fight while you're there." He knows this boy, he's seen the boy pick fights with people, Sam usually always saves Tommy from the situation. He received a black eye the last time this happened. Tommy didnt stop talking about avenging him and his eye when it happened but he assured Tommy that he's fine.

"Sam, why would I have any reason to fight people at my school?" Tommy tried his best to look offended, Sam shakes his head.

"You do that because you wanna prove that you are "The Alpha Male"." Sam explains, the boy just grinned. 

"They need a leader, a big man like me, to rule the school!" The boy exclaims, this boy would get into a fight no matter how many times Sam warns him.

"If you do that, I'll immediately drop you out of school." Sam threatens, this shocked the small boy. "Sam! No! Don't do that! I won't bite them, fight them or anything like that!" The boy seemed the be scared by the threat, that's good atleast Sam wont have to worry about the boy biting kids when he's not there to stop it.

Sam and Tommy would be going to the park today, after all he needed to go out and enroll Tommy to a school. He watches the boy rush out of the house and waves at Sam outside of the door, Sam shook his head and smiles. Sam goes outside and locks the door, Tommy looks at him and grabs his hand. 

"C'mon Sam! Let's go! Hurry up!" The boy jumped around excitedly, this caused a few people to look at their direction. Sam feels eyes staring at him and he slowly slips his hand away from the boys grasp. He'll have to keep it secret. Tommy seems to be a bit upset by the fact that Sam has to pretend he doesn't know him while they were out in public. Tommy understands it though, he can't blame Sam. People suck for judging Sam.

"O-oh! Sorry! You looked like my friend!" Tommy says pretending not to know Sam. Sam only nods, the boy nods back and walks a few feet away from him. The people who stared seemed to have stopped, which made Sam sigh in relief. He's glad that Tommy understands, even though they both know it's unfair and strange. Sam follows Tommy a few feet away, he sees that the boy kept looking back to check if Sam was there. 

They eventually reach the park, Tommy goes and plays with some random kids. Sam sat down on the park bench and looked around. Tommy was talking to a few kids, they seem to be having fun. Sam's glad, he watches a few people walk around but what caught his attention was a few kids running around playing with their parents. He stared at them for a long time, he watches as they pick their child up and laugh with them. Showing affection in public, not afraid of who watched them. Sam felt a pang of jealousy, he didn't know why he was jealous but he just felt it the longer he watched them. His attention was caught by a nearby conversation, he turns to look and see Tommy talking to a girl.

"Where are your parents?" The girl asked, Tommy scratches his neck. "Oh well- They're not here! They're busy working!" He lies, the girl looks at him confused.

"Doesn't your mom and dad love you? I'm sure they can make time! My mom and dad come here to spend time with me!" Tommy looked anywhere else than the girls eyes as he answered, "Well it's not like that with my family, we don't do the whole bonding stuff in public." 

The girls looks at him before saying, "I think they don't love you, since parents would never be afraid to show love for their kids." Kids are BRUTALLY honest these days. Tommy just stood there silently, while the girl just left due to her father calling her over. Sam felt guilty, he felt a huge amount of guilt settle in his stomach as he watched Tommy look over to the kids with parents. Sam stood up, he wanted to get close to Tommy and hold him close, but he just stood there. He just stood there.

The whole day was uneventful, Sam was able to enroll Tommy to his school. Tommy was pestering some of the vendors and was stealing to help himself feel better, that whole ordeal in the park caused Tommy to look away from Sam. He didn't look back when they walked. They eventually got home, both of them are exhausted and they both sat down in the living room. It was silent for a while.

Tommy decided to break the silence, "Sam why do we need to pretend we don't know each other in public?" He asks. Sam sighs, "...I know it's unfair. I know it's weird to do, but..." Sam couldn't say it, he didn't want to say that they weren't supposed to be seen as father and son in public. He knew this would make life for both of them hell, if everyone found out a creeper raised a human boy. They'd not only judge him but Tommy, he's afraid they'd take Tommy away from him. 

Sam was silent, he doesn't want to say it. Tommy breaks the silence again by asking another question, "Where are my parents, Sam?" That suprised Sam, he looked at Tommy who seemed to be giving him an emotionless stare. He sat up straightening himself and answers, "I don't know where they are, Tommy."

Sam expected Tommy to be angry to ask more questions, maybe even tell Sam that he hated him, but that was enough of an an answer for Tommy, since he stood up and hugged Sam. 

"Atleast, I know where you are..." Tommy buries his face onto Sam's shoulder and Sam could only hug back suprised by the answer. This kid was full of suprises, he doesn't regret raising him.

Weeks later...

Tommy was all dressed up for school, he seemed to be struggling with his tie. Sam immediately helps him and pats his head, "Looking good, little man." Sam complimented. Tommy looked really clean and tidy, more than usual. He's pretty excited to go to school. Sam took a picture of Tommy, he puts it in the album.

"Sam, hurry! I'm gonna be late! I need to go!" Tommy exclaims, Sam grabs Tommy's bag and his packed snacks and pats his head. 

"You can go now, good luck and make sure to make friends and not enemies on the first day." Sam warns, Tommy grins in response. "I'll try." Tommy grabs his bag and snacks, he immediately ran outside and wave Sam goodbye while he ran towards the direction of his school. Sam sighs, he's gonna have to work on a few things. He opens up his shop and cleans up his work station, he needs to finish up a few weapons. He picks up his tools and removed the sheets covering the weapons, he picked one up and decided to fix this one. He spent the entire day working on weapons and cleaning the house after, Sam looks at Tommy's room and sighs. It was a mess, everything was everywhere and it looked like a raccoon has been living in here. He needs to teach the boy how to clean his own room soon, this mess is too much to clean. He starts off with the windows, he opens it up and let's fresh air come in. He then continues to the boys closet, he takes all the bundled clothes and started folding them, after that he went and threw away the trash on the floor sweeping it after. He cleans the windows and mirrors as well as wiping off dust from his desk and night stand, he was about to fix the bed until he sees a box poking out from under the bed. He looks at it and kneels to get it, he inspects it and eventually opens it to find multiple books about Adventurer's. He flips through one of them, all big names from new to old. He wonders how Tommy's got a hold of this book, he looks into the box and sees a few poorly drawn artworks. He picks them up and sees that it's all Tommy, being triumphant and being praised by everyone. There was a list called bullet list containing three things:

"Become Cool,
Have books written about me,
Become an Adventurer"

Become an adventurer? Does Tommy want to leave? That's question made Sam's chest tighten. Sam looks at the bucket list and thinks to himself, Tommy isn't going to stick around in the future he'll be somewhere Sam can't follow. This upsets Sam, but he can't stop Tommy from leaving, he's going to grow up and do his own things. He can't always be a part of Tommy's life, so he'll support Tommy every step of the way. Step one, would be to show how much he cares.

Sam puts down the notes and books back into the box and puts it back to where he found it and he fixes Tommy's bed, he finishes cleaning up and looks at the time. It's close to 3, Tommy's coming home soon. Sam decides to go buy a few pastries from Bad, he quickly leaves the room and goes downstairs. He opens his front door and quickly runs to Bad's muffin house.

Tommy hates school, he's been bullied by some guys called "Sapnap" and "George". Teachers were shit as well, why did he think school would be great. He misses Sam homeschooling him, he's a way better teacher than these people who seemed to not care about their job to teach students, more worried about their own pay than anything else. He was walking home watching the other few kids be picked up by their parents, he wonders how it would be like if people just didn't judge Sam, maybe Sam doesn't have to hide the fact that he practically raised him if everyone wasn't so judging. Sam's a creeper hybrid, everyone knows the only way Sam could ever harm anyone is if he gets angry other than that Sam was a really nice person. All of this race stuff angers him, he wishes people saw hybrids as people more than just animals.

He was walking along the road, until he sees Sam huffing from exhaustion. He was sat down on the front door, with a box of pastries. Tommy gives him a confused look, he sees Sam wave. Tommy looks around him and sees no one and he points go himself, Sam nods. 
He immediately went towards Sam, he sees that the creeper hybrid was smiling.

"Welcome home, Tom's." Sam greeted as he embraces Tommy to a warm hug. Tommy processed what was happening before eventually hugging him back. The world was still, people were looking at them. Sam wasn't afraid of showing the world how much he cares for Tommy. There were people who stared at awe and some watched out of fear. Sam doesn't care and neither does Tommy. They may not be from the same race, but their bond is thicker than blood.

The photo album ends with a picture of him and Tommy having fun outside, eating muffins and having a picnic. Sam smiles at the memories, he raised the boy well. Everything was silent, Sam was holding the album on his hands before closing it.
 
"Just one more day... And then I'll let him go.", He promises to himself staring at the moon outside his window.

_____________________________________...

Tommy was awoken by the sun peaking its way in through his bedroom window.
The birds sing their morning song, the ladies of the town can already be heard gossiping so early in the morning.

Tommy grunts and pulls the covers over his head and continues to sleep. Fuck the sun and the birds, Tommy thought.

He heard a light knock on his door, he grumbles. "Kid, c'mon get up! Breakfast is ready and you're supposed to be out there shining shoes!".

Tommy groans, The thought of the amount of filthy shoes he has to polish everyday, to make an earning in the town square, pisses him off. He wasn't built to be shining shoes, he was built to be much more than a shoe shiner.

He hates the thought of having to shine more shoes. Especially since yesterday, he didn't want those two grown men in his ass for the whole day catching him shining shoes in the town square.

Breathing in and breathing out helped him get out of bed, he rubs his eyes and waits for his vision to clear while he combs his blonde locks. He stretches and puts on his shoes lazily, he opens his bedroom door to be greeted with a tall Sam outside his room. Sam gives him a warm smile, Tommy gives him a confused look.

"We're you...waiting for me to get out of the room?", He asks.

Sam doesn't reply, so Tommy took the silence as a yes.

Tommy and Sam headed their way downstairs to eat their breakfast before they go off to work. Tommy sat down and ate his breakfast at a quick pace while Sam calmly eats his. Sam appreciates the silence between the two of them, he needed this at the moment. Tommy, with his mouth filled with food, decided to break the silence.

"What have you been working on, Sam?" He asks, looking at the sheeted weapon on his work bench.

Sam looks at Tommy and replies, "A weapon, it needed some fixing." Tommy tilted his head to the side and gives Sam a questioning look, "Who's weapon is it?"

"Well...that's a secret.", Sam replies which caused Tommy to even looked more confused, before Tommy could ask any more questions Sam added, "I tend to respect the privacy of my clients."

That was enough for Tommy to give up on the subject and he eventually finishes eating, he stands up. "I'm gonna go to the townsquare. I'll be back when my shift ends.", He announces.

Sam only nods and watch as the tall blonde goes outside the doorway, clutching the bag filled with shoe polish and a rag on his way out. Tommy waves goodbye, Sam gets a small flashback of when Tommy would do this when he was a lot younger. Sam only smiles at the thought and waves back as the tall blonde eventually came out of sight.
Sam sat at the table for a moment, he suddenly got up and went upstairs. He'll need to do a few things before Tommy gets back home.

Tommy was shining someone's shoes at the town square, it was 10:50 am. He chose a different spot to avoid being spotted by Sapnap and George while he was shining someones shoes, he'd rather not be humiliated for having such a mundane job that doesn't even pay much. He didn't exactly wanted to be a shoe shiner, he just didn't want to live with Sam rent free! Even though Sam has told him it's okay if he doesn't pay him, he still feels the need to pay him for raising him atleast. After all the convincing he had to do, so Sam could let him drop out of school. It wouldn't be fair if he doesn't repay for it somehow. He puts shoe polish on the rag and began to rub it on the other shoe of his client.

His mind was beginning to drift off as he remembered Sapnap's words, 'You'll always amount to nothing', Sapnap was right. Tommy has always amounted to nothing, even since birth, he was nothing to his parents. His parents obviously didn't care since they dropped him off at an orphanage, promising to come back for him but never did. He needs to prove them all wrong, he's not useless. If he still believed in wishes coming true, He would wants his everyday, spent on traveling the world and becoming well known.

Of course, reality isn't like that. Tommy's nothing but a little boy, who shines shoes for a living and stuck in a relatively small town. He hates his reality, he wishes his reality was a lot more what he wanted it to be, A life filled with adventure and danger not this mundane, boring and unsatisfying life. He was suddenly snapped back to reality when he heard his customer cough.

He looks up at his customer and sees that he had been shining this guy's shoes for about 10 minutes. He was also reaching out his pay towards Tommy, which he gladly takes. The guy just stood up and left afterwards, this guy wasn't one for conversation. Tommy respected that, even if this guy didn't bother to say thanks for fucking shining his filthy ass shoes for almost and hour.

Tommy threw the rag near the bag on the ground and sighs loudly. He's already grown tired of his daily habits, he can't help himself but be angry about it. So that's when he decided to end shift early and decided to go home and read his books, Sam wouldn't mind that at all. He also decided to take a different route to go home, he wasn't really used to walking this path to get home,but he did it anyway. He needed to calm himself down.

While Tommy was calmly walking back home, a bit more earlier than expected, He scans the area. this part of town was rather shady and had a lot of thieves in it. A lot of people in this part of town was rather gloomy and were living rather unfulfilling lives. Usually, they resort into becoming thieves. He walks past a few beggars who were lying on the pavement out cold, he assumes they're sleeping but he couldn't help but shiver at the thought that he might end up like them. He couldn't shake the feeling off, so he just walked faster. He could hear children crying, people yelling and sees a bit of blood in the alleyway, he doesn't feel safe outside here.

He eventually entered a tavern, since the sight of that many beggars and thieves on the streets made him feel uneasy. He really thought a Tavern is any better? These twats smell of alcohol and people who were most likely criminals on the run, he hates the smell but he decided to stay in the rowdy establishment. He avoids eye contact, especially the strange looks they were giving him since he looked too young to be in a place like this, but what are they gonna do about it? He's here now.

Tommy sat down near the counter and asked for apple juice, the bartender rolled their eyes and gave Tommy his drink without pay.

He finds himself sat down awkwardly between these two big men who smelled like alcohol. Oh great, these two guys started talking to each other. Tommy tuned them out, these two boozers didn't seem to notice he's sat between them and he's grateful. He tuned back in after hearing them speak in whispers about a famous Adventurer named Dream looking for another apprentice to accompany him in his ventures to help with important mission's.

Clay or most likely known for his alias Dream, was Tommy's inspiration. Dream is one of the biggest and younger Adventurer's who is quickly rising to the ranks. He's so famous, he's imprisoned bad people and he lives the life Tommy dreams about.

"Yeah that guy... Really? Why does he need more people working for him? Is he that lazy to do his own shit?", one of the drunkards complained.

"Eh, not my problem. That kid is supposedly the newer generations representative, he works for multiple kingdoms and basically takes missions without question." The drunkard waves his glass in the air.

"An adventurer goes on his own journey and help people when needed! Not wait for fucking orders to go do so and wait until he's payed enough to care!" The man spat all over the place, while shouting his complaints. His drink almost slipping away from his grasp.

"I remember when Adventurer's didn't work for the fucking government, we were free spirits!" The drunkard stood up and almost toppled over.

"Calm down, mate." Says the drunkards friend, catching his friend before he falls.

Tommy really didn't expect to hear their opinions on what an adventurer should and shouldn't be, when really HOLY SHIT DREAM WAS LOOKING FOR AN APPRENTICE?? OH YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH HE'D DO TO GET TO BE THAT CLOSE TO HIS HERO AND HIS DREAM'S. Of course, him being an apprentice to Dream sounds stressful. He's heard stories of Dream, taking on mission after mission without rest, he also heard that Dream is rather mysterious. Tommy drank the rest of his apple juice and began day dreaming about him working for Dream.

Tommy left the noisy tavern after a while, he saw the two drunkards started crying about how their wives would kill them when they arrived home wasted and stinking of alcohol.

Tommy arrives home, he gently opens the front door and enters. He immediately went to look for Sam in his usual spot but was greeted by no one, Sam was usually here fixing of cleaning some sort of machine Tommy would never understand. It suprised Tommy but he took the opportunity to go check out what Sam has been doing lately.

Sam is great with what he does, sometimes Tommy would catch a glimpse of Sam working on weapons for big names and big people. Tommy doesn't care about most of them, but he knows one time Dream came here. Tommy was asleep during Dream's supposed visit, Tommy screamed at Sam for an hour for not waking him up at that time. Alas, he never saw Dream. He began thinking about that apprenticeship again, but decided to not worry much about it.

Sam's table was covered with tools and machine parts and what catches Tommy's attention was the same machine from last night's dinner,it was hidden under a thin cloth. Sam wouldn't mind, He never minded Tommy going through his workshop stuff anyway.

He walked towards the machine hidden under the cloth and he slowly removes it, he sees a tip of a sword poke out. Tommy's eyes glowed and he teared off the cloth completely. He was in complete awe, he sees a beautifully crafted sword and a beautiful shield accompanying it. The weapon had a name, it was called "The Warden's Will". Whoever owns this should probably be ready to say goodbye to it, since it's Tommy's sword and shield now! He grabs the sword and started swinging it around, breaking a vase or two. He wears the shield, surprised on how light it is despite its bulky look and size. He was having fun, until he hears a cough coming from behind him.

Sam stares at Tommy, the tall blonde looks back slowly with a nervous grin plastered on his face. "S-SAM! Look man- I just saw this really cool sword drop on the ground- so I picked it up!" Tommy lied, Sam doesn't believe it of course, he chuckled.

"I see that you picked up my old weapons." Sam says, which surprised Tommy.

"T-this belongs to you!?" Tommy shouted. "Holy shit- Sam! You own a weapon called Warden's Will!?", Sam could only laugh more seeing how shocked the boy was about a mere old possession of his.

"I used to be an adventurer, Tommy." Sam answers, Tommy looks even more suprised than before.

"Don't tell me you've only realized this now." Sam before he owned the workshop, was an adventurer. He usually went on his own and decided to retire early.

Shit started making sense for Tommy, no wonder Sam was so supportive of the idea of Tommy being an adventurer, Sam was a fucking Adventurer himself. This was great news for the TommyInnit community.

"Holy shit Sam- I knew you were cool, but now you're even cooler!" Tommy seems way too excited about this, Sam only ruffles his hair.

"These weapons are great, by the way!" He complimented.

"Yeah well even better news for you then," Sam places his hand on Tommy's shoulder.

"These belong to you now." Sam decided it was about time, Tommy owns his own weapons after all Sam knows he'll need it out there. Tommy was just stuck in a suprised expression, he held his weapon so tightly. Sam only smiles at the sight.

"You'll need it out there." Sam says as he pulls out a train ticket, he saved this train ticket for a really long time. He planned on giving it to Tommy in his birthday, but he knew the boy would've already left at that point.

"Sam dude, I-I..." Tommy couldn't speak at that moment, so he hugged Sam tightly. Sam returns the affection and ruffles his hair.

"I packed your bags, you should be ready to go tomorrow morning without a hitch." Sam says this while Tommy hugged him even tighter.

That night, changed everything for both Sam and Tommy. Tommy fell asleep happily in his room with a smile plastered on his face, while Sam that night stayed up with a bitter sweet expression.

It was the last dinner Sam and Tommy will have together, in a long while. So Sam treasured that night and every other night after it.

In the morning, Tommy was up earlier than expected. He was wearing the suit Sam bought for him and he was beaming with joy. Sam on the other hand, stayed up all night and he looked tired.

Breakfast was quiet as usual, but Sam felt the silence give off a warm and cold feeling in his chest while eating his breakfast but he does not comment about it. They both finished, Sam cleaned the plates and when he finishes he sees the Tall blonde outside the front door.

Sam remembered the sight of a more shorter blonde in the past, waiting outside that door wearing the same expression as the present wore on their face. Sam inhales deeply, he will have to keep it in. Sam slowly made his way to the front door, he sees Tommy holding up his bags happily. Sam closes the front door and grabs one of the bags. "Let's go, your train is already at the station." Sam states, looking at the time.

"Yeah! C'mon Sam, let's hurry up! I don't wanna miss it!" Tommy yells excitedly, this made Sam giggle and they began making their way to the train station.

Sam was walking behind the blonde with one of his bags in hand, he sees that the tall blonde wore his weapons behind his backpack. Sam smiles, he's happy Tommy likes the weapons he's given him after all, he'll need to fend for himself. When Tommy was younger, he'd always ask Sam if he could have a weapon one day, that little boys face was something Sam could never forget even if he tried to, it was just filled with innocence and his eyes filled with wonder. He of course, told Tommy when he was old enough to properly wield one.

Sam couldn't help but let the past play in his head while he walks. The voice of a small boy calling out his name, it made his heart ache. He always held those memories close to him to comfort him whenever he would feel overworked or stressed, but now it just hurts to remember.

They made it to the Train station. Tommy was looking around, completely awestruck and with child like wonder plastered all over his face as he stared at these beautiful trains, admiring every detail and every sound it made. Tommy felt the feeling of adventure calling out to him, he feels his heart beat faster and faster when he began thinking about his life up ahead. This was it, his life long childhood dream. It was here, waiting for him to enter the train that leads him to a new chapter of his life. Finally, his wishes has been answered. Finally, somewhere far from home. Somewhere far from his past life!

... Somewhere Sam couldn't follow.

Tommy's smile slowly disappeared when he realizes, he was going to leave Sam behind. In this town, on his own. Tommy looks back at Sam, he sees that Sam has been smiling bitterly and had been staring with eyes that seemed to hold every emotion Sam has kept to himself, for so many years.

Tommy never saw Sam smile so... Pained. He felt a wave of guilt fester up in his chest, he didn't intended on hurting Sam he was never happy with himself when he makes Sam upset. Why does Sam look at him with so much emotion? Like he's never going to see him again. No, Tommy's not leaving Sam. Sam wanted this after all, why would Sam do this if he didn't want Tommy to go. Sam wanted this but he looks so pained, like a father watching his own son leave without knowing when they'll come back home. Before Tommy could speak, he was silently given a pen and small book. He looks down on the book and back up to Sam who was smiling at him.

"You're going to have to record what you see out there. Use this to keep important information or even as a diary," Sam says with a long pause.

"If you ever feel tired, you know where I am." Sam finishes. Tommy looks at him and gives him a small smile, "You got it, Sam." Tommy embraces Sam, placing his head on Sam's shoulder. Sam held back his tears, he wishes Tommy would begin clinging onto him not wanting to leave Sam, he wishes Tommy called his name again to remind him that he still needed him, he wishes that Tommy stayed. Sam hugs Tommy tightly, He wishes Tommy stayed until Sam was no longer there, for he would play the role as father for Tommy for as long as he can, until his final breath. He knew this day would come. It's Tommy's life and it will always be his own adventure. Tommy decides his own future, even if the future holds no place for Sam.

The train conductor, screamed out in the train station signaling people to board the train now or miss it. Sam forced himself to let go of the tight hug, Tommy took the bag from Sam's hand and looks at him. "Thank you, Sam. For everything." Tommy says, before boarding the train.

Sam watches as the train slowly leaves the train station, frozen in place like he stuck in time. He watches his son leave.
Tommy was sat, staring down ln the notebook and smiles. He'll make sure to keep in touch.

Sam walks back to the workshop, in complete silence. He reaches the front steps and he reaches for the door knob but he couldn't turn it, instead he let's go and sits down on the front steps. He sat there as he waits for the little blonde boy to come home any moment now.

PROMO ART

Chapter Text

Tommy wakes up, jolting out of his seat. His breathing was rapid, he was looking around frantically. He was sweating, like he ran a whole marathon. He eventually calms himself down and sat back down. He wipes the sweat out of his forehead and sighs.

"My oh my...I think I've had a nightmare." He says to himself. He wasn't a train station, he's a 24 year old man, he was also very rich, he also doesn't know anyone by the name "Sam" and he was at his luxurious mansion with his wife Clara.

Speaking of Clara, a familiar blonde woman appeared in the doorway smiling warmly at Tommy. "So you finally decided to wake up?" She giggles, walking towards Tommy. Clara's red dress made her look absolutely stunning, Tommy smiles at her and feels her sit beside him wrapping her arms around Tommy.

"I was getting worried you'd fall asleep throughout your party." She giggles, Tommy wonders to himself. He has a party? When? He thinks he's forgotten about it. Clara looks at him in disbelief, Tommy sweats a bit. 

"Have you forgotten?" She asks, Tommy shook his head.

"N-no! I obviously haven't! But if I were to forget," He looks at Clara and tries not to fumble with his words. "What is the party for?" Clara looks rather disappointed but immediately smiled and grabs his arm, pulling him out of the comfy seat and outside of the room.

He was greeted by bright light, he had to close his eyes for a bit to help adjust his vision and what he saw next was magnificent. It was a big ball room, tiles purely made of marble, walls had golden wall paper, a statue of him made of gold was in the very middle.

Tommy couldn't comprehend what he was seeing, there was so many people, like a shit ton of em. He couldn't believe a single ball room could fit this many people, his jaw drops to the fancy marble floor.

"All of them are your guests!" Clara explains, having seen the expression Tommy was wearing. He shuts his mouth and swallows, the crowd all have seemed to turn their attention to him.

He looks at them, they stare back. They immediately cheer, that caught Tommy off guard. Why were they cheering? He will never know the answer, or maybe he wouldn't have if Clara didn't butt in with another answer to his questions that he never said outloud, she was good at reading Tommy. 

"All of them? They are the people who have grown to respect you, they attended this party just for you, dear." Tommy sees faces he can't believe he was seeing, so many people he's seen from books and in real life are all here. He goes down the stairs with Clara clinging onto his arm, he approaches someone he immediately recognizes.

"D-Dream?" He asks, touching the man's head and shoulders and even face; He stretches the cheeks of the famous man infront of him, holy shit. The man laughs and nods, "Yes,it's me Tommy." 

Tommy can't fucking believe it, Dream is here because he respects him? Holy shit. This is fucking nuts. He can't believe it. His thoughts were interrupted when everyone went near him and started gawking at him, one of the people in the crowd hugged his arm. 

"So it's true! You're as muscular as the books have drawn you as!" The woman hugging his arm says, and then another and another and another kept coming till he's completely sorrounded by ladies. They were beginning to freak him out, as much as he loves the attention he has boundaries. He looks around at the women clinging onto him, and sees another face he didn't thought he would see.

"C-Captain Sparklez???" His mouth fell wide open as he was staring at the man, the legend, the myth and the man who ruled the seas all those years ago. "A-aren't you dead? Or was that just a rumor?" The man laughed, oh my god he was alive.

"Don't you remember? You saved me from the giant squid!" He exclaims.

"You fought that beast with your bear hands, ultimately saving my life." Tommy is about to fucking faint, this is just GREAT news for the TommyInnit Community.

All of the faces he sees next are from people that were supposedly dead adventurers and some retired ones, they all look so incredibly young like they haven't aged from the pictures in the books he read. He feels Clara hug his arm tighter, "Sweetie, we have a surprise prepared for you!" She exclaimed with a sweet tone. 

"What can be more of a suprise than seeing the Captain? At MY party??" He exclaims, Clara only giggles as response.

"You'll see but, you'll have to close your eyes!" She said, the Captain nods.

"Go ahead, mate." He encourages.

Tommy closes his eyes, smiling. He hears counting, he can't believe it. It's actually gonna happen, what can possibly ruin this day? Tommy has had his eyes closed for a long time now, he's beginning to wonder why everyone started sounding distant. He keeps his eyes closed either way.

Darkness. It was dark, he can't see anything. No light can be seen, he must be in a void. 

Oh wait... he's not falling in a bottomless dark pit. 

He just hasn't opened his eyes.

Tommy grunts, he opens his eyes only to be greeted by a rat on his shirt munching on cheese as it immediately scurried away after hearing Tommy grunt. He looks around, he's in alleyway lying ontop of piles upon piles of trash. Well... This suprise fucking sucked, Clara. His body hated him this morning, well that's what you get for sleeping ontop of trash again.

He sat upwards, he rubs his back and stretches and hears a few satisfying pops. He scratches that darn itch on his arm, he's trying to remember what happened last night and why is he in an alleyway with the rats again. He wasn't anywhere that was covered in pure gold or in a house that was fucking massive he's in a dirty alleyway, that's for sure. He can't believe that was all a trick, his brain has deceived him. How can one trust themselves, when their brain does this. 

He has achieved, Trust Issues Even With Yourself.

What was he doing in the alleyway? He doesn't remember laying here to sleep. Like a lightbulb lighting up, he remembers what had led him to be in the alleyway. He was fighting in the Underground last night and gotten his ass kicked in.

Now, you might be wondering, how the hell did Tommy Innit "Men of all Men", suddenly went from Train Station  to Illegal Underground Fighting? Well long story short, he went out of the train to go start a new beginning but it had to be screwed over by some shady man offering him some "Magic Fruit".

Again, I know, it's stupid to buy from shady strangers but the last shady stranger he met was named Charlie; Charlie was nicer than the guy who apparently scammed him out of his money for some apple that's just painted gold. He chased that bastard down, but alas he couldn't catch him.

He's been stuck in this town for a large amount of time now, he's also been starving in the first few days of being trapped here. It has been a month now but he's still practically starving.

Now, what does a man have to do to get by everyday? He joins an illegal fighting circle to earn money. Believe it or not, one faithful day he somehow came across the town's dirty little secret hidden in the deepest and darkest parts of their town; it was awful, so many criminals in one spot, it could almost be considered a town of itself.

Trust him when he has tried his best to stay away from more shady strangers, since that's what got him in this mess. Unfortunately, he was picked up by some brute and was thrown into an arena due to the lack of opponents (probably because most of them died or just ran away).

He can't do anything about it now, he's stuck here until he finds a way to earn enough money to leave this town. He thought it would be easy money, but apparently "Easy" was an understatement, you apparently had to win a fight to get payed.

Let's say, he doesn't get paid often. He doesn't win quite often; You can't blame him all of his opponents were either beefy jerks or had prior experience, so he would get his ass beat most of the time. He usually gets thrown into an alleyway after falling unconscious during a fight, they might have even thought he was dead. Tommy Innit simply does not die, he simply says no to death and death leaves him alone after.

Tommy looks in a puddle nearby, he doesn't look very beaten up after all he just looked dirty and that's all. It's a miracle how he didn't get a bruised eye after that fight last night, that was simply too scary.

His stomach grumbles, signifying the need to eat something. He was starving, he honestly hasn't gotten any proper meals ever since he got stuck here. His stomach kept grumbling, he's been through worse he can surely survive another month of fighting and starving, to be able to earn enough money to leave this place.

He stares at a rat who was eating a huge block of cheese, he will honestly fight that rat for that cheese.

No, Tommy Innit has standards, he will not eat rat cheese for breakfast. He has to put his survival skills (or the lack there of) and thieving expertise into action, but first let's try the legal options.

He walks out the alleyway, he sees a crowd of people going by to do their daily chores and jobs in the morning. He uses his green cape to make a makeshift Cloak, he will have to keep his identity hidden so he can steal food if it ever comes to that option. He wonders to himself, what food should he even steal? He begins to think while he walks, avoiding bumping into anyone. 

He probably won't bump into anyone, he smelled rancid and that people were avoiding him more than he was avoiding anyone. Good, these people can't stand his manly musk! 

His nose came across a wonderful smell, he almost drools on himself but caught himself before it happens. He drifts into a hungry day dreaming state, he sees himself sitting down facing a plate filled with eggs and sausages; Therefore, he scarfs it all down in one go. Sam was in his day dream, giggling and patting his head while he ate his breakfast like a beast.

Ah, The comfort of home. He would love to have a sandwich

Tommy opens his eyes, Sam's not here. It's okay! He'll steal eggs and sausages, he has decided. Whoever he is going to steal from, may they not catch him for what he's about to do. He begins walking again, he's stood there for way too long. 

He goes to the market and was greeted by a beautiful tune, he turns his head and sees a bard playing with his guitar. He sees that he's being tipped while he plays his music in the streets for strangers to come and hear. Ah, a starving artist. Respectable.

His stomach growled, oh right, he was also starving. He initiates, BeggarInnit mode. He walks around making himself appear as small as can be, he needs to earn pity points. His pride may be churning at the moment, but the hunger churns louder.

He walks up to a woman who had a basket of fresh groceries, who was currently gossiping with a female vendor. He lightly tugs on the ladies skirt, it was enough to catch the attention of the lady that she turned her attention to Tommy. Tommy hopes his pride can handle what he's about to do.

He makes a sad face with his blue puppy eyes enhancing the sad face, he makes sure he adds a bit of emotion as he shed a small tear. The lady just looks at him, already pitying Tommy, perfect. 

"Spare any food?" Tommy asks with a small voice, he is pushing back his inner turmoil further back into the depths of his mind as he initiates part one of his master plan.

"Oh dear, boy...where are your parents?" She asks with a hint of sweetness and sadness.

"I-I don't know- For you see, I've lost them f-for quite a long time now. It's been years since I last saw them, I-I was such a young boy b-back then." He stutters between words, to add onto the drama.

"Oh dear, you poor soul." She mutters as tears drop from her eyes. 

His pride is absolutely shattered, but the lady seemed to have already pitied him enough that she was reaching out for a loaf of bread in her basket, till of course, The vendor recognized who he was.

"Hey, wait a minute- that's not a kid! It's that dirty little thief who stole from me yesterday!" 

Shit. 

He knew he shouldn't have stolen that much food from them, which he didn't end up eating due to him not liking brocolli. The lady who was pitying him earlier was suddenly wearing an angry expression on her face. 

He's tried the legal way, now time to initiate Thief Innit mode.

Tommy immediately drops the 'Poor Innocent Boy' act and snatches her basket. He runs like a little thieving raccoon, of course as expected the vendor and the lady tried to stop him but they couldn't get him on time. His speed was unmatched, he simply was too fast for the ladies.

"Come back here you thief!?" Yells the lady vendor. 

The bard who was playing sweet melodies through his guitar has suddenly stopped when he saw the commotion, instead he slung his guitar to his back and quickly stood up from where he sat. He sees the green cloaked thief run and he ran after him in top speed.

Tommy pushed a lot of people while running, he dramatically trips and tumbles for fun while also causing destruction in his path. He was absolutely destroying crates while running, while also jumping and ducking to avoid getting caught by whoever was still chasing him at this point.

The bard was close behind him, seeming to have athletic abilities since the bard just jumped over 3, stacked crates that were in the way. He loses sight of the green cloak the thief wore, but simply follows the path of destruction the kid has simply left behind while running.

Tommy ran and ran, until his body screamed for him to stop. He should've done more cardio in his spare time, but now he was here at an alleyway taking deep breaths and wiping sweat off of his face. He looks at the basket that he stole and looked through it. He sees a good amount of Bread; Red Tomatoes; White Onions; Brown Sausages; Green Pickles; and Yellow Cheese.

Perfect for a sandwich, but Sam usually adds an egg to his sandwich. He will have to steal eggs, since there were no eggs in the basket. Tommy's breathing has stabled and his tiredness went away afterwards, he was about to walk out of the alleyway until he feels a hand grip his wrist tightly.

He whips around to face the hand stopping him, he didn't expect to be eye to eye with the bard who was playing music earlier. He was breathing heavily, after running so much. Tommy didn't expect to be faced to face with a bard, neither was the bard expecting to be faced to face with such a youthful face.

There was silence between them, as the bard was staring right into the bright blue eyed boy with his dark chocolate brown eyes. Tommy  wanted to speak, but was beaten to it by the Bard.

"Give back what you stole." The bard commanded. 

"Oh, so that's why you look like you ran an entire marathon." Tommy comments on the Bard's tired and sweaty look.

"Give the basket back, or I'll hand you over to the authorities nearby." The Bard, threatened.

Tommy thinks for a bit, actually considering returning said stolen goods but he stolen it fair and square. Plus, he's sure threathning a minor is illegal.

In response, he bit down hard on the man's hand; causing the man to lose his grip on Tommy. Another win for Tommy Innit, he quickly escapes the alleyway and the bard and made his way to a crowded area. After shortly recovering from the strong bite, the bard continued the chase for the thief.

The bard must've been good at cardio since he was able to keep up with Tommy; In fact, he was so good he almost caught Tommy again but immediately lost him in the crowd of people. The sea of people made it difficult to navigate especially when you're a 6'5 Bard. He desperately searches for green cloak poking out of the crowd, but wasn't successful. The bard swears under his breath, while he looked around further.

Well, that was close! Tommy relaxed after losing sight of the Bard. Nothing will stop Tommy from cooking himself a big ass breakfast, not even a speedy bard could stop him!

He reached a farm, now time for some eggs. He looks around warily, he jumps over the fence and hides in a pile of hay nearby. 

Sneak 100.

He sees a couple of sheep's and cows, then he eyes the chicken coop nearby. 

Eggs, MMMMMMMM EGGS.

He must be starving, since his thoughts have started making no sense, even to himself. He hops from hiding spot to hiding spot. Nearing the chicken coop, he looks around to make sure no farmer was nearby in the soon to be crime scene. He jumps out of his hiding spot and quickly ran towards to the chickens, he tripped a bit while doing so but quickly recovered. He enters the chicken coop, and was greeted by clicking mother hens.

He stares at the chickens and looks at the eggs, EGGS. He began to be teary eyed, those are gonna be absolutely scrumptious. He reaches to grab the eggs, but gets pecked by a mother hen. He retracts his hand quickly and stares at the chicken, how dare it peck him. He was just simply kidnapping it's unborn child and cook it!

He glares at the hen, attempting to grab hold of its eggs again; he gets pecked again. He continues to do the same thing until he got tired of being pecked; he picks up the nest hastily and leaves the hen behind. The other chickens began jumping around, panicking, and began pecking him. He screams, to assert dominance, while running away. He alerted the farmer, who was just calmly tending his pigs.

"Oy! What are ye doin'!?" A thick heavy Irish accent, screamed. Tommy wish he understood what the man said, but he isn't gonna stop and think about it.

"No one steals my chicken's and gets away with it!" The farmer picks up his shot gun and loads it. 

Fear 100

He immediately points it at Tommy, Tommy is praying to the dead gods to save him. The farmer began shooting at Tommy, a bullet landed just near his feet. For an Irish man this is the most American solution to his little thieving problem.

Tommy picks up the pace and continues to run and jump over a fence while dodging a bullet, he hears it hit the ground behind him. Tommy runs as fast as he could from the crazy farmer, he's escaped the farm and the crazy farmer.

A lucky young lad, he is.

"God dammit! Honey!" The Irish farmer, turns his heel to enter his home with his loaded gun. "Some weird looking raccoon fucking stole our eggs, again!" He yells, while closing the door behind him.

Faintly you can hear the wife scream, "God dammit, Benny!"

Tommy was celebrating his win, with a really good sandwich. He made so many sandwiches that would absolutely last 2 whole days, he was sat on the ground.

His mouth was basically tasting heaven, so many days of not eating properly really did a number on him. He should've stolen from the people of this town a long time ago; of course, not the most moral thing to do but he's a morally grey character. 

He'll happily sit here and eat his breakfast feeling the guilt of kidnapping unborn children, rather than feel his empty stomach.

He was eating in a rather fast pace, due to how much he missed good food. Which resulted with him finishing his sandwich quicker, he licks a few of the remains from his fingers and is satisfied. He took a bit of a bath from a nearby river, to clean himself up since he no longer wanted to be dirty and he took the time to wash his clothes and dress into something more casual. He places his sandwiches in his bag and wears it, covering it with his green cape and after a bit of waiting, his clothes were dry as well and he decided to take a stroll in town.
  
Tommy quietly examines his surroundings. He was nearby a park, where you could here the bells of the church ring from afar. He smiles to himself while he calmly walks past, two bustling kids chasing each other merrily and people taking and laughing nearby made the town even more livelier.

Walking around town, was Tommy's favorite pass time before he has to go and head to work, well if you can even call it work. He found the walk refreshing, especially in this new area he wasn't really familiar with. People were dressed differently, a lot more farms and a lot bigger than his home town. Every time he looks at someone, it's never a familiar face and he loves it. He loves seeing new things, even if it's just the faces of strangers passing by.

He's stared at a couple of people for more than a comfortable amount of time, since he was just simply awestruck by how he doesn't recognize them.

Honestly, despite all the hardships while he was inevitably stuck here. He definitely enjoyed the difference between his home and here, he loved every moment being here except for the times when he doesn't. 

He was having a great day, until he sees a couple of knights talking to the people he stole from. He didn't move a muscle when they turned around and suddenly pointed their fingers at him, which of course made the guards begin running towards him. Tommy sighs, here he goes again escaping the authorities; He runs like a speedy hedgehog. The Farmer loads his gun while the lady ran towards him and the Knights were in hot pursuit.

____________________________________

1 month ago...

It was a busy day in the Lion's Den.

Many Heroes, or Adventure's as they are popularly called as, are either here to finally get their legal license to go out and help the world or was there to get business settled as a professional. Here this is where most of the well known heroes would go to, to work on documents and or recieved missions from far kingdoms or towns. Amongst the many professionals, whose portraits were proudly hung on the walls of the Den; Dream's portrait was the first thing you'll see when you walk and enter this building, for good reason as well.

Dream was the new generations representative, he was the one who took on the role as Top hero, at the age of 21. His skills, his strength and success rate was simply unmatched. Many believed the man simply took no breaks, like a beast who's flames couldn't be put out and they were right.

He was the first youngest and most successful of all top heroes out there, the young aspiring heroes could only stare at the magnificent glory of Dream. While his coworkers, scoffed at the very sight of the painting. Punz didn't like how obnoxiously big the portrait was, it took over an entire wall on its own.

#1 Hero: Clay (Dream)

"The Lion/The Champion"

Lion's Den

"It's ridiculous how large they made this portrait, as if Dream's ego wasn't big enough." He says to his younger brother Purpled; who was beside him eating a Golden Apple.

Purpled, whole heartedly, agreed. Dream was a great hero but working with him has proven to be quite difficult. His ego was comparable to a lion's, it was hard to keep up with a man who took no breaks between mission after mission. 

"You know, maybe if we worked as hard enough we could get an even larger portrait." Punz suggested as Purpled only nodded in agreement. 

"You know what individual large painting of ourselves that take up the ENTIRE BUILDING ITSELF!" Punz made gestures with his hands, simply exaggerating the size of their planned portraits. 

Purpled only nodded silently.His brother wasn't one for words but for action; Which is why Punz and Purpled, took this job since it was all action more than words for them. They liked punching crooks in the face and they definitely both loved the absolute cash they were getting from this job. Plus, the fame was simply another reward.

"YEAH, LETS RUB IT IN DREAM'S FA-"

"Rub.What. Exactly on my face Punz?" A familiar voice spoke.The entire building went silent, Punz  felt someone behind him, he gulped. He slowly turned to face the porcelain mask staring right at him. Punz physically shrunk and Purpled simply jumped in shock.

"And what are you going to do next? After that." Dream asks, voice dangerously low. 

Punz held back a yelp and straightened himself up, to face the man who clearly heard everything he said and puts on a face of bravery, a handy trick to have as a hero. 

"Nothing, sir. I-I was only joking." He stutters. Purpled stared wild-eyed, switching between Dream and his brother nervously. Dream just stood there, deathly quiet.

The silence was deafening, Punz was gonna risk getting both him and his younger brother fired at this point. 

Punz felt his brave face slowly falter the longer the silent lasted between them. He clenches his eyes shut as sweat drips from his face, he feels a light punch on his shoulder which made his eyes pop open.

"I got you good, didn't I Punz?" Dream says in a teasing tone, holding back a cheeky laugh. Which made Punz ease up, sometimes Dream's jokes come off strangely threathning if you didn't knew him enough.

"Hah-hah, yeah you...you got me." Punz mutters, nervously. Purpled only looked at both of them still seeming very scared and tense at the situation.

Dream simply bursted out in a wheezy laugh, he roughly pats Punz and Purpled's shoulder.

"Lighten up you two, I was only kidding, you both seem to think I would've gotten you fired." He wasn't wrong, Punz and Purpled did think that but he didn't need to know that. Punz and Purpled only nodded nervously.

Dream eventually calms down and let's go of the two boys, he was smiling under his mask and both of them could feel it. Dream's attention was caught by a familiar assistant waving at him, he sighs and nods at the assistant. 

He turns his attention to the two boys again who immediately straightened themselves both. "I'm being called, have a good day Punz and Purpled." He simply waves them goodbye as he walks towards the assistant, who simply guided him to his next location.

There were people, who whispered amongst themselves about the Hero, in admiration and in respect. While Punz and Purpled simply stared at each other, fearing for their career in silence.

Dream looks at the door infront of him and sighs, he will have to handle this meeting quickly, he can't afford to waste any more time not being on the mission he was supposed to be in the far east by now. He straightens himself out and opens the door, the room was fairly small in width but in height it was rather tall. A desk neatly placed infront of a large mirror, that overlooked an entire kingdom, was currently occupied by one of the government officials.

Dream quickly marched forward. "Quickly, tell me what you need from me. I am needed elsewhere." He takes a seat at the opposite side of the desk. Richard simply looked at him and began, "You're far too busy for your own good." 

Dream remained oddly silent, he made no movement and nothing seemed to have changed about his posture but the air thickened in the office. "I am deeply sorry, for my poor performance as of late" He apologizes. Richard simply shook his head.

"No, that's not all." Dream listens, not making a single noise.

"You're going to need an apprentice." The Man suggested. Dream had made no response, keeping himself calm and composed for this could become much more if he acts out now.

"You work without rest, it causes inconsistencies with your performance on the field." He states. "I know, you believe you work best alone but many things says otherwise." He continues, as Dream bit his tounge.

"You failed a really important mission," Dream does not need to be reminded by his superiors about his mistakes, he does that himself.

"You also abandon your teammates, during missions. So we as a collective in the Den, remove you from all your current missions to concentrate on ONE mission only." He pauses, Dream looks up at the man tilting his head to the side.

"Sir, with all due respect." Dream complains, voice mildly raised. Straightening himself ready to argue but was shut down immediately by his superior, so Dream remains quite and devoid of emotion.

"We have already assigned Quackity, to handle all of your missions while you concentrate on one."

Dream, under the mask,looked shocked. Quackity? The very man who rivals Dream, was the one taking all of his jobs while he was busy with a more "easy" job.

"You will teach a few handpicked students, who will become your future apprentice." He finishes. Dream sighs and leans further into his seat, defeated.

"You will be teaching them at a professional environment, a training facility for young aspiring heroes and heroines." He adds as he passes Dream his license to teach at that very facility.

He looks at it and silently slips it into his satchel, he stood up from his seat and leaves quickly. Richard simply watched as the hero, turned his heel. He pushes open the door, which startled a few of the people walking past and a few who were eavesdropping. Dream snaps his fingers, servants next to him the next moment as he walks.

Purpled yanks on Punz's sleeve as Dream approaches them. "H-hey Dream! You okay dude?" Punz's question was simply ignored by the hero as they continue to walk out of the building.

Punz and Purpled watches as Dream storms out of the building, his servants following close behind him. They felt like Dream wasn't in the best of moods and it was better not to push their luck.

Quackity was climbing up the polished stairs, when he catches sight of Dream who was quickly leaving the building. Dream stopped fora brief moment seeing Quackity, both staring each other down. Waiting for one to give up the stare of dominance, Dream stood there for another moment.

Quackity simply waved, Dream did not respond but quickly walked past him brushing his shoulder agaisnt Quackity's. Dream did not waste any time getting in his carriage, sitting down and huffing in annoyance. He commands, "Take me to the port."

Quackity stared as the servants who got into their own carriage, he caught Dream staring out of his window as his carriage began to move away from the building. He stared back a little longer, before continuing his trip back up the stairs.

As the carriage got farther and farther away Dream unclips his mask and puts it down next to him, rubbing his temples together.

Present time...

Dream was inside the captain's quarters, looking through the list of students he has picked up from every region. He reading their names, mentally. Making sure he has picked the greatest of apples of the bunch, the students he has picked out came from many different waves of life, all contrasting each other heavily due to culture difference.

He can pick them out quite easily, he will test them individually to see their strengths and their weaknesses. The more weaknesses you have, the less likely you'll be chosen to become his apprentice. He simply cannot afford someone who's supposed to help him only drag him down further.

He sinks into his seat further, he grunts in annoyance. Dream was a man of his work, he always succeeded on his own until as of late. He has failed a mission, simply because of his lack of knowledge and that mission costed him and others so much. He failed so many people that day, he wishes not to repeat the mistake and so he pushes himself further into his work.

But as of late, his performance has been sloppy. It has seemed as if exhaustion has caught up to him, but the feeling of needing to teach someone who could be fit to help him; Left a sour taste in his mouth.

His human limitations have caught up.

Assistance? Are people looking down on him and his capabilities of finishing a job alone. Now he's here, teaching students instead of doing actual work. He saw the face Quackity gave him, he hated it with every single bone of his body. He knew the man loved to see his downfall, but Dream will simply not let him win this.

It was a game between him and Quackity, Quackity was a smart man but he knew he could never compare to Dream. Or so, he thought now here he is. One of his closest rivals, taking on all of his missions better than he can at the moment. He didn't knew what he was feeling, neither did he wish to acknowledge it.

It was better to stay silent, Dream cannot let anything slip from his mouth, for anyone could be listening and this will paint a bad image for him in the future. His thoughts were interrupted, by one of his servants bursting through the door.

Dream sighs to himself, he places all of the paper he has laid on the desk onto a brief case which he gave to his servant. He stood up from his seat and walks out of the captain's quarters. He stretches his limbs, not even a moment later he was already recognized by the people down the docks.

____________________________________

Tommy eventually loses the people running after him and reaches the docks. He was hiding behind one of many crates, to avoid being caught by the authorities. He's been running so much, but he pulls himself up to stand. He looks around, wonder taking over his tired expression.

He sees massive ships, pirates, fishermen and new people from different places around the world; Walking around, all doing their own thing. Tommy looks around in awe, he's never seen giant ships in real life. He usually sees it in books, but it never could never quite get the actual size of the ship itself. He looks at people working and was caught by a bright light blinding him from afar.

He saw rich people going down from their ships, their jewelry reflecting the rays of the sun onto his eyes. He stares at them, wondering why they aren't being mugged yet. He swore some of them saw him stare and scoffed thinking he was a thief, they weren't wrong but he honestly despise the cunts now.

He can smell them even from afar, their intoxicating perfume mixed with the smell of fish, made Tommy gag. 

It was simply unpleasant, after all this place had so much fish now that he's looked around properly.
His attention was caught by a man yelling for him to move out of the way. He ducks when a crate was about to hit him face first, the man holding the crate walked off pretty quick, he was about to get pissed off at whoever was carrying the crate but suddenly heard a lot of excited screaming to his left. 

It sounded like a pack banshees, he thought to himself.

He turned his head around to see a bunch of girls running towards a crowd that was currently forming in the docks. The crowd forming was getting bigger and bigger, by the second. All the commotion really interested him.

Dream sighed, seeing the crowd that he's attracted down on the docks. He needed to maneuver his way through them, he simply cannot waste any more time handling paparazzi on the way done. He simply had business to do here. He pulls up his green cloak and wears his porcelain mask.

Tommy made his way towards the group of people , he squeezes his way through the crowd wishing to see what was so interesting.

" 'scuse me sirs and madams." He excuses, pushing through a lot of people. He makes it to the front of the crowd to hear people shouting excitedly, at someone who was exiting a ship. Tommy raises his brow, in confusion. Now why are people making such a ruckus- Oh my god...

OH. MY. GOD.

The person who exited the very ship, was the well known Adventurer himself, Dream. Holy shit, Tommy feels like fainting but he sees a girl do it for him. Thank you for doing that, now he could spare some of his remaining pride, but holy shit. Tommy inspects him, very very closely.

Dream dressed in a green cloak; A sheated weapon behind his back, Wearing Dark leather pants, and dark leather boots. He looked so fucking cool up close. He was wearing the famous porcelain mask, he was so on brand.

Tommy stares in complete awe, he watches as the man walks forward passing by the fan girls and even Tommy himself completely unfazed by the number of people who just suddenly came to just fan over him. He watches as the man strode through the crowd and gets on a carriage, as the door slowly shut right after he entered. He wasn't really thinking about how much screaming there was in the crowd, since he was busy processing what he saw. Difficulty believing this was real life, he just stood there while the crowd follows the carriage as it slowly goes out of view.

He was just stood there, dumbfounded, until he sees someone exit the ship with bags upon bags, on their hands. Tommy looks at him and sees the man almost trip on his way down the ship. Tommy decided to help this man, since he wasn't a twat to just watch a man struggle carrying bags.

"Woah! Careful!" He quickly grabs one of the many bags the man was holding. Oh god, these things are ridiculously heavy. Tommy sucks in his urge to comment on the weight of these bags.

"Oh my god, THANK YOU!" The man, looked tired and thankful. Why wouldn't he be? These bags feel like they have anvils in them.

"Y-yeah, no problem for a b-big man like me can handle this with one hand!" He was already struggling to hold them, but no he cannot let his pride be crushed by bags and be insulted for his lack of arm strength.

Noticing how this man was dressed, he must be working for dream. The bright neon green gave it all away, so he did what any fan wanted to do. Tommy decided he wanted to know more about the where abouts of the famous man himself, Dream.

"So ,uh, why is Dream here?" Tommy asks, trying to hide the fanboy side of himself from the man. 

The man looks up at him, "He's  here to find  young aspiring Adventurer's!" He exclaims as he struggles to stand up.

Tommy just stood there even more suprised, he started fan boying internally. Since, he's pretty sure he's a young aspiring Adventurer.

I DONT REGRET GETTING STUCK HERE ANYMORE

"Why?" Tommy finds himself asking, since why would Dream be finding young lads like him in this region specifically.

"Well, he's here to find a fit candidate to become his apprentice- And I said too much." The Man simply looked down, lips shit tightly after sharing so much information on the business of Dream.

He is absolutely bursting of happiness. He's gonna get in that fucking program, even if it means stealing cheese from a rat or even kidnapping unborn children from their mothers.

"So- are you going to help me get these bags to a hotel?" The man asks, Tommy looks at him and realizes the struggle the man was currently facing and enthusiastically picks up the rest of the bags with ease.

"Okay!" He smiles brightly, his mood is defined better. First, a good breakfast, but now meeting his hero? It's a good day from the TommyInnit community. They made their way to the hotel, apparently Dream was staying at this hotel for the night while he was out searching. Perfect, he can sneak into the his room tonight and convince him to be part of the Adventurer Training. All he has to do is probably find a way to hypnotize the hero to let him join.

The man he helped happily gave the bag of luggage to the people who will send it up to Dream's room. He turned his attention to Tommy and shakes his hand. 

"Thank you! So, so much!" The man simply thanked Tommy for his help.

"No problem." Tommy smiles at the man. 

The man slipped money into Tommy's hands before going to the hotel to help move the other bags in. Tommy stares at the gold coins and grabs his bag that was hidden under his cape. He opens a sack of gold coins and puts the new gold coins into it, zipping his bag shut and hiding it back behind his cape. Payment! This is great, maybe he could steal the man's job and become the bag carrier for Dream.

He continued to stare at the hotel, only beginning to move when he stood there long enough. He turns his heel, wondering if he could encounter the Adventurer again. Couldn't be that hard to find someone being crowded.

He was wrong, it was hard. He didn't knew where the man went and the town was too big and too new for Tommy to just simply traverse, he'd get lost and mugged in the parts he wasn't familiar with. He spent the entire day, finding a man in a huge town. Tired as Tommy may be, he doesn't have time to complain. It was beginning to get dark, meaning he needs to be at the Underground soon.

He watches as it got darker and darker, the street lamps light by themselves and establishments closing and bars opening. There were a few out still wanting to do something outside, Tommy walks by a home. He sees children happily playing inside their home, with their parents by their side.

Lucky them, getting to sleep on a comfy bed with mother and father there to comfort them. Tommy on the other hand, has to be beaten to a pulp and sleep in a cold dark alleyway. He's written to Sam, a few times while he was here, he wanted to make sure Sam wouldn't find out about his situation since he didn't want to bother Sam further.

After staring through the window, he begins moving. Begrudgingly, he made his way to the Underground. He needs to get out of here, he can't handle any more of the beatings and the cold nights. He sucks in his sadness, since vulnerability will only make him sadder if he cries.

Tommy goes under a bridge, looks around to see if anyone was nearby. He touches the wall and rubs his finger tips agaisnt it, he presses a button hidden on the wall and it opened up the stairs to what he likes to call "His personal hell". 

He walks down the dark stair case and watches as the light illuminating from the outside, slowly slip away as the door closes behind him. The first few steps down was eerily quite, but Tommy occupies the silence with a soft hum. "I am massive... I am massive" Tommy's quietly hums to himself.

Eventually the farther he went down, a bright yellow light appeared and more and more noise started becoming audible the closer he got to the light. He emerges from the dark, entering one of the biggest crime infested area in town. All he could hear when he walked through the crowd of criminals were screaming, laughing and chaos. He usually keeps his head down low, you don't want to bring attention to yourself in these parts.

He sees a man carry a really big potato sack. Tommy shivers, but he immediately calmed down when he saw that it was actual potatoes, not anything grim. Like a dead body. Tommy hopes that tonight won't get him in a potato sack, he still has a life to live god dammit. Fights sometimes end up bloody or even someone dead in the ring, luckily he was so weak he was usually put up agaisnt weaker people most of the time. Which is quite insulting, he has big beefy arms if they haven't noticed. This is a lie, he's a twig.

"Treacherous mind." He thought to himself outloud.

He was manoeuvring his way to work, he hopes that this would be the time he wins something. He sees a couple of familiar faces, well they were all bruised familiar faces but faces nonetheless. They were either his workmates or even just people he has fought in the ring.
He decided to socialize with them before he goes to his cell, after all he was needed there.

"So, mind telling me how you got those scars?" Tommy asks, with a rather joyous tone. The man merely looked at him in disgust and annoyance. 

"Got it from the ring, some asshole thought bringing a knife to a fist fight would be funny."

"Well it is funny, you lost to a cheater of all things! Look at you, you're so beefy? How can you lose to a mere knife?" Tommy asks, he was quite curious since cheaters were usually beaten up pretty quickly. He's pretty sure that cheater met the same faith after the fight ended. Cheaters were quite frequent, since either they are greedy or desperate for money or are fearing for their life in the ring.

The man just glared at him, he held so much hate in his eyes. Tommy developed a lot of confidence during his stay here, so let's say he had the balls to piss off bigger men than him.

"I think you need therapy, so much anger isn't healthy you know," He pauses and takes another look on the man infront of him. "Plus you looking so grumpy, makes you look older." He commented.

He doesn't know what happened, the man just stood up and made himself appear bigger... but the man just started crying. 

Awkward

He doesn't know what to do here. He just awkwardly shuffles away from the big beefy man, he enters his cage. Many of the fighters are put in a cage before they go out to be chosen to fight, he asked his boss if he could design his cage and which he did. His cage was the most coolest looking cage ever, he had fake blood splatter everywhere and a dumpster fire that will never stop being on fire. He doesn't know where he got it, but it's his now.

He sits down on the middle, where he has placed hay from earlier nights. He hears people cheering and "the man running the show" speak with a booming voice, that could even reach the cells. The guy who was the announcer, didn't ran the show but some rich corrupt man was funding these things to happen in every town for some reason. Tommy wishes not to find out about it since that's not his place and it would be a fools death wish.

He rests his forehead on the cold metal and waits for his turn, his mind was running with anxiety inducing thoughts but Tommy doesn't want to believe them.

Well he would've fallen asleep, if it wasn't for someone throwing a pebble at his direction. He angrily opens his eyes and glares at the person throwing the pebbles only to be suprised by what he saw at the cell right infront of him.

Charlie!?

"Hey! Kid! You work here too?"

"Charlie? Wait- You work here as well? Wha- since when?"

"Oh, you know. I was able to save up enough money to go to another town you see and- I- kinda needed to sell the rest of these potions..." He pulls out another potion from his leather sack. 

Tommy examines the purple shining liquid before it was quickly put back in the sack from whence it came.

"...And I stopped by here, since I know there's an illegal Underground market here; However, I found out there was too many competition here selling the same thing I'm selling."

"Make's sense, but why the hell are you here in a fighting arena?"

"Well...I couldn't sell any potions for a week due to how many potion vendors there are, but I knew figured I could make money else where and today is my first day!" Charlie finished his explanation.

Tommy doesn't really know why Charlie gets himself into trouble, first he's hiding in a trashcan and now he's here in the Underground Arena, where he's just right infront of Tommy's cell.

"But, I wanted to ask..." Charlie pauses, Tommy looks at him.

"Why are you here, Tommy?"

Oh, well. It's a complicated story to tell Charlie, plus it would be embarassing to tell why. He has to initiate Liar Innit Mode.

"Well, you see- I've been stuck here for a month now and I've been trying to get out of here ever since-" 

That's too honest.

Tommy silently thinks of what to say to Charlie, "And I purposefully lost all my money, since I decided that I'm gonna work my way up like a big man! I don't need dad's money to keep me going in life anymore!"

"That sounds really stupid to do." Charlie commented, Tommy glares angrily at him. Atleast, he bought the fake story.

"But anyway, I got a plan to win my first fight!" Charlie exclaims with a glint of determination in his eyes.

Tommy tilts his head to the side and crosses his arms, "What's your plan?"

Instead of telling Tommy, Charlie began drinking a potion and as expected the effects came soon as the liquid made it's way to his system. Tommy saw a slight muscle increase and red potion effects floating around Charlie.

"I'm dapping me up!"

Charlie flexes his muscles. Tommy is just taken aback, a million questions running through his head. Is Charlie cheating? But he never saw anyone use potions in a fight- so maybe it wasn't cheating, if no one's around to see it. Man, he feels bad for whoever is going to face Charlie.

He hates how he jinxed himself, now he's up agaisnt Charlie.Who, by the way, still had the potion effect. Tommy looks around the arena, he wonders where he could escape but most importantly where to effectively save his life. Maybe he could beg Charlie to go easy on him-

"TOMATHY!" Charlie continues to flex his muscles, "ARE YOU READY?" He asks Tommy.

Tommy cannot beg for his life on this one. He gulps down his fear, he has to get out of here alive. Before he could reply to Charlie's question, he hears a booming voice from above the stage. The two turned their attention away from each other and to the man up on a podium.

"Ladies, gents, and everyone in between! Welcome to the Underground Arena!" He announces, the barbaric crowd cheered. 

"Let's get started shall we? First up, our favorite failure! Thomas Innit!" He announces, Tommy hears the crowd boo. If they wanted to humiliate Tommy further, they would've brought tomatoes and throw it at him, but luckily they didn't. He flips them off, he will not be humiliated by grown crooks.

"And our new contestant! Charlie Slimecicle!" The man practically shouts, as the crowd grows louder and louder and cheered for Charlie. The crowd was simply biased.

"Place your bids! Winner gets all the money!" The man explains, as the crowd hurriedly discuss the battle mostly about Tommy's downfall and Charlie's victory.

Charlie just continued to flex, Tommy just watches in horror. Potions are insane, maybe he should've drank that healing pot earlier.

It took a while, but eventually the announcer started to speak again.

"Oh, it seems as if most of the money is placed on Charlie! It seems like none of you have faith in young Thomas, hurry someone pity him!" If that announcer was making fun of Tommy, he would jump out of the arena to fucking kill him.

Everyone was laughing, Tommy's cheeks were glowing bright red from embarrassment. He held back nasty remarks and tears, wishing not to satisfy them with a response. 

A woman approached the announcer, who immediately stopped howling with laughter after being yanked by the war by the woman and began whispering something to him in his ear. No one could hear what the woman was whispering, due to how rowdy the crowd was being. The announcer looked shocked but composed himself and yells to catch everyone's attention, which worked.

"A MYSTERIOUS BIDDER, HAS BID 100,000 GOLD COINS TO THOMAS!" The announcer shouts. The crowd suddenly went silent and began to speculate who was stupid enough to bid that much money to THE most worst fighter in the Underground.

Tommy began to feel pressure, who was the crazy cunt that bid that much for him to win? He can't breathe, well he can, but what the actual fuck!? 100,000 gold coins??? That much made both Charlie and Tommy suddenly feel the strong urge to win, whoever the rich flaunting bastard was he's going to win this battle. No way, Charlie would just let Tommy win anymore, so much money was on the line and it could simply disappear.

The count down began,

1...

Tommy prepares to kick ass, even if said ass is hard to kick.

2...

Charlie was squaring up, hard cold gold? He can practically taste it.

3...

They both would go neck and neck on this battle.

GO!

Charlie charges quickly ready to clobber the shit out of Tommy, but if all that losing didn't teach Tommy anything, he knows he has to rely on his speed to be able to survive a fight longer than his first time here. Tommy jumps to the side as Charlie misses him and stumbles but quickly catches himself, the crowd backing away.

Tommy has to be tactical here, maybe he could use Charlie's size agaisnt him and trip him long enough to be able to come up with another plan.

Charlie did some sort of battle cry before charging again, Tommy simply dodges and trips Charlie. He sees the man fall straight on his stomach before scrambling up again, this time Tommy notices that the potion effects surrounding Charlie was slowly fading. 

Like a chick hatching from their egg, Tommy hatched another plan in his head. He has to be patient and dodge Charlie's attacks, while also placing some devastating blows on him as well.

Charlie did the same thing, charge mindlessly at Tommy. It was obvious he didn't knew how to fight, so Tommy took full advantage of that. He swiftly lands a blow to Charlie's esophagus, simply making Charlie gag for air and step backwards. He fully recovers and throws a punch, Tommy wasted no time to move out of the way and circle him not staying stationary or becoming predictable.

The waiting game had gone on for quite a bit. Tommy becomes a lot more confident in himself, dodging Charlie's attack until he sees the potion effects slowly fade away. This went on for a bit, until Tommy could feel himself hold back laughter at the pathetic attempts Charlie was currently making to just hit him.

Growing cocky, Tommy keeps risking getting knocked over by the grown man, who was failing ever so much, by standing around. Until, eventually Charlie got a hold of Tommy. He was being pressed down to the ground, struggling to get up he makes eye contact with green eyes filled with guilt.

"IM SORRY THOMAS!" He hears Charlie apologize while he sees the man raise his fist. Tommy closes his eyes tightly, preparing to feel a fist plant on his face harshly. Instead, he feels the fist but the swing was so weak he swore he heard a squeak when it landed. Tommy looks up at Charlie, who was currently surprised by the weak punch as well.

Tommy took this opportunity and punch Charlie square in the face, the crowd winces at the sound of bare fist smacking the face of the grown man.

Charlie stood up, blood trickling down his nose as he looks up to the light source from above.

"J'entre dans un état de paix totale, le combat n'est pas la réponse à nos problèmes... mais, Amour."

And just like that, Charlie was out cold. Tommy pats Charlie and whispers apologies to his good friend. So wise. Fly high, Charlie Slimecicle.

The crowd was oddly quiet, Tommy gets up from the ground and looks around. Slowly, a loud cheer replaced the silence. Tommy feels himself smile, the announcer looked rather baffled by the battle result but composes himself and spoke.

"AND OUR WINNER, THOMAS!" He announces while the cheering never fading, Tommy stretches his hands up in the sky and jump and down to celebrate. He won! He fucking won! The crowd kept cheering, as some were in complete disbelief, Tommy smiles to himself wishing nothing could ruin this moment.

Well he absolutely jinxed it, again.

Knights suddenly raided the arena,  the entire Underground was engaged by the knights who came in as hoards. The crooks took the time to collectively shout. "Oh shit! The PoPo!" The knights immediately went into action, capturing as many people as they could. The announcer jumps out of the podium only to land face first on the ground.

Many people outside of the underground tried to escape but ended up getting caught and or tricked into traps. Amongst all the chaos that was ensuing, a familiar green cloak catches Tommy's attention. It was the hero, how come when Tommy was trying to find him. He ends up showing up at the worst time possible, at his first win too. 

Unexpectedly, Dream enters the arena. The light from above properly showing the man's white porcelain mask. Tommy stares at him in awe as the man makes eye contact with him. He was about to say something but was knocked out by Dream, completely blacking out. 

Dream was only out to drink and get his mind off of his misery, but his ears caught onto a conversation between two men at a bar he currently was in. The conversation was quiet, but they mentioned something about something called an Underground. He's heard of the Underground, but he didn't knew where it was neither did he knew if it was a real place but curiosity reigned supreme as he ends up eavesdropping on the conversation. He's learnt what he can about the Underground from the two men and decided to go out of his way to go and ask the Knights from this town about it.

Dream eventually  decided to assist the knights with finding the Underground that night, and luckily came across a suspicious blonde boy. He felt like if the boy was a shifty criminal, he would surely know about the Underground. It was just evident on the boys body language, he saw how shifty he became and how he turned to look around if anyone was following him or not.

The boy ended up leading him directly to one of the many hidden entrances of the Underground. It was a shocking amount of crooks but it's not the biggest he's seen, compared to others this was a mini scale version of "The Land of Thieves". Sadly, he couldn't thank the boy for helping him find it since he acted on impulse.

The boy and the man he knocked out was being carried by the knights, apparently placing them in a prison cell. The knights thanked Dream for his assistance, after all this wasn't something he was meant to do but he happily accepted the pay they gave him afterwards. Anything to get his mind off of his problems, this served as a perfect distraction.

Many of the crooks had been caught and only a few escaped. It wasn't something Dream needed to worry about, but...

Something about that boy, did caught his attention. 

He doesn't know why he decided to bid a ridiculous amount of gold, for the boy when everyone was laughing at him, I guess you could say he knew the feeling of being humiliated for your failures. The boy did suprise him, for such a young lad he was oddly observational and tactical and worked well under pressure especially the amount of money that was placed on him.

Dream wonders, maybe this was the last student he needed to get. He doesn't see the harm in bailing the child out of prison after they talk, he'll take back the boy's confiscated items as well, after all the Knights owed him one for helping find the infestation that has been around for far too long.

____________________________________

Tommy couldn't have timed that any worse. He's in a cell with Charlie, who was still out cold. He didn't punch him that hard did he? If he actually threw a punch that hard, then he's gained some M A S S. He wished the celebration didn't had to be in a prison cell, but oh well what can he say? No, really what can he actually say; anything he says will be used agaisnt him in here. They also took his bag and his weapons that he kept hidden.

Who would've thought the one who bid all that money on him was actually some sort of higher up, who somehow found their way into  the Underground; it would've eventually been found out, but why in the same night he wins his biggest fight yet. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard grating, he turns around to find himself facing the once knocked out Charlie, to be fully awake; attempting a prison escape.

"Can't believe I knocked your ass hard there-"

"No time for talk! I need to break out of here!" He practically screamed, while he breaks apart a few bars off from the small window.

"How are you even going to fit?" Tommy finds himself asking, curious to see where this goes.

Charlie started becoming green and slimey, Tommy makes a look of disgust as he watches Charlie slip out the tiny hole; like he absolutely had no bone in his body at that moment. Charlie skin becomes a lot more tannish, he immediately turns around and holds his hand out through the small window.

"Escape with me, Tomathy!" He offers, Tommy looks at him in disbelief. Before he could respond, the sound of armor catches the attention of both of the males. Charlie sees a knight running after him, he looks at Tommy and says the following:

"I'm sorry kid! I need to go! I'm sure we'll see each other soon!" Charlie quickly ran away after saying his goodbyes, hearing metal footsteps following him from behind.

"CHARLIE! NO WAIT, COME BA-" 

He was cut off by the sound of keys rattling. He hears his cell gate open, he whips his head around to see a green coa- Holy shit it's Dream. The white porcelain mask was all the description Tommy needs to know it's the famous man from all over the world, he is now standing infront of Tommy who was currently looking awfully suspicious. He was frozen, like a deer in headlights. 

The man begins to unclip his mask infront of the boy, Tommy was struggling to stand up with his wobbly noodle legs. Dream continued to pull off his mask till it revealed unnaturally bright green eyes, blondish hair and freckles littered all over his face. The simple smile this man gave without his mask made Tommy fully sit down, legs no longer able to support his weight. Tommy was just staring at him; The man infront of him.

Dream began to speak.

"Hello." He greeted. A gentle smile perched on his lips, Tommy could only mutter out the next few words.

"Holy fuck, it's Dream-" Tommy blurted out, he makes the man laugh. 

Wow, he sounds like a teapot.

It was like he was dreaming again; When will Clara show up and tell him to close his eyes, and how long will it be till he eventually wakes up from the dream. Dream simply touches his shoulder, he feels his stomach drop; he actually isn't dreaming this time.

"I saw you fight, in the underground." He stated, his hand never leaving Tommy's shoulder. Tommy stiffens, he was gonna be sent into prison for being part of an illegal fighting circle; he meets his hero, only to be sent to prison by them. This is a bad day for the TommyInnit Community. Dream wasn't talking,he was waiting for Tommy's reply. Tommy realizes this and tries his best not to trip over his words the next time he opens his mouth.

"Yeah, Pretty cool wasn't it?" He says it having his confident bravado on, to mask the utter feeling of bursting out in tears. If he was going to go to prison, he will have to have an ego boost atleast from his favorite man alive.

"It was quite impressive," He admits.

"But it was lacking in discipline and proper training." He finishes, looking at Tommy in the eyes. 

Blue eyes met the unnaturally bright green eyes. Tommy could feel his confident bravado slowly falter, he shouldn't feel afraid but the look in Dream's eyes struck fear into his heart. Atleast, he heard his hero compliment him before he was sent into the slammer where barbaric criminals lie, waiting to serve him for dinner.

"That's why I want you to join me." Dream offers. He said it so plainly, Tommy had to process that in his brain a lot longer. 

Join Dream

Join Dream!

Join Dream?

Join Dream.

Join.

DRE. 

Tommy lets go of his confident facade and gave Dream a confused look, the man simply laughed again. How could he be laughing at offering a criminal a chance to join his side, it's either Dream didn't care about the government of was just a big idiot. 

"Yes." He agrees.

He didn't knew why he just said yes without thinking it further but who would pass off this opportunity. He swore he saw Dream smile before it was hidden under the mask yet again. Dream exits the cell, turning around expecting Tommy to follow him out. Tommy, like the smart boy he is, goes out of the cell and was escorted out by Dream himself.

He sees a familiar carriage and a familiar man was holding the door open for him, before he could think he watches as Dream enters the carriage; Tommy simply enters the carriage as well, catching a smile from the man holding the door open for him. Tommy sits down on the fact red cushion, he was awkwardly tense on the fancy seat; it felt like his butt did not belong on said seat. 

Tommy looks out the carriages small window, he sees people passing by  the streets in the night, as the carriage slowly moved its way to its next destination. He turns his head around, to catch Dream making tea; the man made no sound while handing out Tommy's tea, who quickly took it off his hand. Tommy quickly took a sip of the hot tea, he burns his tounge because of this. Dream simply laughs, as the boy continued to fan his tounge in a panic. 

He laughs a lot.

Dream took the time to wait for his tea to cool down. He lifts his mask a bit only enough to expose his mouth, he takes a whiff of his tea and quietly takes a sip. Tommy simply stuck his tounge out due to the burn, he looked like a dog. The silence between them at the moment was comforting yet it felt so strange. Tommy wasn't sure why he was sat drinking tea with the very man he idolizes, he was pretty sure he needed to ask something but what was it.

"We're you the one who placed for me to win?" Tommy asks out of curiosity. Dream finishes his tea and puts it down on the table, he turns his attention to the boy.

"Yes," He confirms, Tommy felt a lot more pride rising from himself knowing he won that one.

"Why, did you think I'd win?"

"No, I simply wanted to see how much you could handle under pressure." He answers with a flat tone. Now, that just raised more questions than answers.

Wait a minute-

"YOU DIDN'T THINK I'D WIN!?" He practically shouts.

Dream looked a little taken aback, but eventually relaxes his expression and laughs lightly. Tommy realized his little outburst and feels his face suddenly heat up from regret and embarrassment.

"I wanted to have fun, but I guess you surprised me." Dream answers. 

The carriage stopped moving. Before long, the door to the ride has opened up as well. Tommy couldn't believe what he has heard, he quickly drinks his tea watching as Dream exits first. He quickly got up as he puts down the tea cup on the table and went out.

He didn't expect to be at the train station, he really couldn't think when Dream walked forward and gestured him to follow. Quick on his feet, he was beside the very man he idolizes. He catches sight of the golden train, he has never seen one before but this seemed to be something special.

Tommy's mouth was hanging open at the sight while Dream simply looked at it with empty eyes but it was immediately replaced with amusement when he saw the way Tommy seemed to be impressed by the show of wealth.

"It's my own train, I use this to get through regions without having to crowded by people in a public train." Dream explains, Tommy simply nods in response.

"We're going to ride this, to bring you somewhere you're needed." He says this as he walks towards the train and enters it.

"Where are you taking me?" Tommy finds himself asking, he needed to know.

"You will see when we get there." Dream ends the conversation and gestures Tommy to board the train.Tommy does what he is told told to do.

He needs to see this.

The next day...

Tommy was at the very front gates, of the training center for young aspiring adventurer's, in a very very different region. He feels a sudden burst of new found excitement and joy, his mouth just made weird excited noises seeing the gates open up.

"Oh, my god." Is all he could mutter.

Dream offers his hand to the boy; Tommy looked at the hand as if it were made in solid gold and held everything he ever wanted, if he just held it.

He accepts the hand that Dream offers. This was the beginning, of something spectacular. 

"I welcome you, to your new beginning." Dream says gleefully.

Tommy watches as a few 'Aspiring Adventurer's' pass by and enter the gates, Dream simply tightens his grip on the boys hand as they began to walk into the training center. Tommy takes it all in, the absolute size of it all and how this school looked like a school for rich twats. It was somewhat similar to a standard school, but not enough to make Tommy completely regret joining Dream.

"Here, you will start your training to becoming my apprentice with other's who I've hand picked from different regions." Dream lightly explains.

Tommy started remembering. Oh right, he was lucky to have a chance at becoming his apprentice. A few students ran past them, some of them not even suprised at the presence of Dream. He must come here often, most likely to drop off the people he picked.

This is so pog, I'm so pog.

They were walking through a place filled with flowers and young students hanging about in random locations, having fun with their friends or simply studying. Dream continued to walk past them as they began entering the actual building.

There was a ridiculous amount of students walking around the ginormous building. He was getting a bit overwhelmed, squeezing the hand of Dream to help calm himself from the massive squeal he was holding back. The man seemed to notice and held the boy closer to him.

"These are students training under other Adventurer's," Dream explains yet again, to clear up confusion. 

"We're going to the other side of the building, where I kept my students."

Tommy was relieved to know that Dream wasn't teaching so many people, after all it would mean more competition for the spot. He's absolutely, not losing this apprenticeship so easily to others.

They began walking yet again, this time the more and more they walked, less and lesser students were seen hanging around the area. Dream has already let go of Tommy's hand, since he was already walking right beside him.

They eventually made their way to the side of the building, there were many doors and even a very big open space at the very center. Dream stops at a red door and swings it open, he enters the room Tommy follows him from behind. The room looked extremely spacious, a lone desk in the middle with ornaments, trophies and pictures hanging on the walls and ontop of bookshelves filled to the brim with written works. It smelled rather fancy, Tommy feels himself shrink a bit at the sight of a giant skinned lion chair. 

Why do rich people buy such weird shit for themselves, he wonders to himself.

Dream was sat at the very seat, making him look like he owned the entire worlds riches. Tommy feels himself stare at the man, who was currently sorting everything in his desk. Tommy sees a seat and sits on it, wishing he didn't stain the fancy white cushion of the seat.

He looks around and his eyes caught sight of a jar filled with chocolate almond nuts, all unwrapped and asking to be eaten. He looks at Dream who was busy sorting his desk. 

Dream wouldn't mind if he ate a few of those, wouldn't he?

Practically inviting himself, He quickly and quietly, he takes the jar and starts pouring it down in his gullet. He sees the jar slowly lose all of its contents and continues to feast upon the sweets.

"Thomas. Is that your name?" Dream asks with a flat tone.

Tommy froze at that very moment, he looks at Dream to see him not looking up from his desk, currently busying himself with the paper on his desk. He's glad he doesn't see that he was practically eating all of his sweets in a monstrous pace. He gently puts down the now empty jar back to where it belongs.

Tommy licks away whatever was left of the chocolate he has eaten and  shakes his head, "It's more of a nickname, my actual name is Tommy Innit." He answers.

"Tommy Innit." Dream writes it down on a piece of paper.

There was an awkward silence between them, Tommy was just really nervous and Dream was simply unreadable under the mask. He stood up from his seat, Tommy only watches as Dream approaches.

"Welcome, to the training program." He says as he gives Tommy a badge. Tommy looks at it in awe, it was made in solid gold and it was an official training bade. He quickly snatches it from the heroes hand and pins it on his cape. He smiles widely and unconsciously hugs the hero, who froze in shock.

"YOU WON'T REGRET RECRUITING ME BIG MAN." He yells with an excited tone. Dream stood there awkwardly and pats the boys head awkwardly. The boy stopped hugging him and looked at him with eyes that held so much wonder and joy, Dream could only stare and clears his throat.

"Y-you-...You will be assigned to Team C, they will occupy the same room as you while you train here and you three are going to work together." Dream stutters but immediately catches himself. Tommy only nods as response. Dream silently gives him a map, pointing at the room he needed to go to.

Tommy simply snatches the map and waves goodbye to the man, who stood there in shock and watches as the boy went out of sight. Dream held his head with his hand, this boy was something else. Dream smiles to himself.

"The boy is interesting." He says to no one but himself.

Tommy may or may have not taken a snatched a Golden Apple from Dream's satchel, after all he needed proof to send to Sam. Since Sam wouldn't believe him if he just writes in the letter that he got recruited by the Top hero himself, the strange apple will serve as proof since it looked and smelled rich. 

Now, his roommates he's not sure what to think of them. He doesn't like the idea of being in a team, after all he didn't knew these people. Tommy imagines these people he was going to be stuck with would be some spoiled brats, who dress all nicely and act all prince like and look down on the poor people like him. He will bite them if necessary, but now he's face to face with the door. He hears loud noises in the room, he raises a brow in confusion and opens the door.

Tommy could not believe his eyes, he saw a 5'4 Ram hybrid, biting a bald man with red and blue glasses who was also very short. Tommy looked at them and they looked at him after noticing his presence. These were definitely not the kind of people he imagined, they don't act princely since both of then are on the floor and one of them is literally biting the other. They also don't wear expensive clothes either, guess he was wrong with guessing.

The bald man spoke first. 

"HELP ME, THIS CRAZY BITCH WON'T STOP BITING ME!" Bald man cries for help as the ram boy continues to bite him like a rabid dog. This was going to be one weird group to be stuck with, while waiting for his turn to be trained and apparently get a license. 

"No, I don't think I will." Tommy wasnt gonna get risk getting rabies if the boy somehow had rabies, you can never be too careful. 

"OH FUCK YOU AAAAAAA" The bald man continued to scream in panic and agony as Ram Boy kept biting him.

It took a while, but eventually the ram boy stopped biting the bald man. Bald man was splayed on the ground, he looks dead; Tommy pokes the man with a stick, the man was twitching he was alive somehow. Tommy turned his attention to Ram Boy, who was currently eyeing him curiously, maybe he could become friends with the Ram Boy.

Let's be friendly Tommy, after all these are the people you're going to be stuck with for who knows how long.

"Hi, I'm Tommy. What did you do to get into this training program?" He asks the Ram Boy, the boy smiled sweetly at him which was the opposite of what he saw happened to Bald Man. Tommy stopped himself from smiling back.

"I'm Tubbo and I cooked a fucking village." He said it so sweetly and had that sweet smile still plastered on his face. Tommy could only nervously smile, not only did he lose interest in speaking to Ram Boy; he also currently feared for whatever twisted reason this boy did to whatever village he burnt down.

Okay, so maybe not with 'Tubbo'. How about Bald Man?

"How about you, Bald Man?" He pokes the bald man, he gets no response. Bald Man, was probably unconscious from all that biting and fighting for his life.

"We should call for help." Tubbo suggested, as if he wasnt the one who committed the crime. Tommy disagrees and looks around in the room. 

"Bitch is being dramatic, let's find something to wake him up." Tommy begins searching for something to wake Jack up. Tubbo simply looked at him in wonder for a moment until he was grinning deviously and helps him search. Looking through the room.

Tommy looks around at the comfy large room, it smelled like sweets maybe because outside their window was a sweet shop, and the smell was strong enough to teach the room with the window open. Tommy doesn't know why but the view was beautiful, their room had the view of the entire kingdom he was in. He feels the breeze hit his face as birds fly in the sky and he looks down to see students floundering around.

Tommy hears a hard thud from behind. He turns to look at Tubbo who apparently attempted to drop an anvil on Jack's head.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!? I COULD'VE BEEN KILLED!" He yells at Tubbo. Tubbo just simply grins, he then turned his attention to Tommy who was just there watching it happen. "AND YOU!" He yells loudly, he looks like he's turning red from anger. Like a cherry kind of red, his bald head really makes him look like a cherry.

"And what about me?" Tommy asks, hands to his hips. He feels sassy today.

"You fucking just watched me get attacked by this man!" He yells so much it's hurting Tommy's ears. Tommy rolls his eyes at him, did he think a man he just met would risk getting rabies for him? No.

"Listen here, Bald Man-"

"M' name's Jack! Not Bald Man!" 

"Alright- Jack, I don't know if Tubbo over here got rabies or not-"

"I actually do have rabies!" Tubbo butts in.

"And it would be stupid of you to assume, a man you just met, would risk getting rabies for you." Tommy simply explains his point of view of the situation, Jack just looked at him with a confused and angered expression. He recieved no other response after that, since Jack seemed to just give up at quarrelling at the moment.

Good, Tommy doesn't want to be in a screaming match. He can scream fairly loud and he's good at it.

"Alright, I'll introduce myself again." Tommy clears his throat and begins, "I'm Tommy, I'm here to become Dream's apprentice and I'm currently put on hold with you guys. So let's get along, while we wait."

"Hah! Fat chance, I'm becoming the apprentice for Dream!" Jack does this weird pose where he had one leg raised and his chest puffed up in pride, that even Tubbo had to scoff at it with Tommy.

"What makes you think you're gonna be any better than me and Tubbo here?" Tubbo nods in agreement seemingly on Tommy's side on this one.

"Easy! Since I'm older; I'm better; I have experience and I'm the smartest one out of us three!" 

Tommy and Tubbo looked at each other and laughed, which of course pissed Jack off. He swears if Jack was a match, his head would be on fire now. Tubbo wipes his tears and calms down from laughter as Tommy slowly stops laughing after a while.

"And what's so funny!?"

"Nothing- since I'm pretty sure I have a lot more experience in the field of adventuring." Tubbo looks down at Jack, even though they were the same height.

"For my Father is The Captain Sparklez." Tubbo sounded so proud while saying his father's name, Tommy just stared at him in complete shock. Captain Sparklez had a kid? That wasn't in the books at all.

"Wait, biologically?" Tommy asks, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Well, I'm kind of adopted." Tubbo answers. That made a lot of sense, which was nuts. He didn't think he'd meet the son of the Captain of all things, but really he didn't expect to see Dream and suddenly be given the chance to become his apprentice either.

"I just dreamt of your father last night!" Tommy exclaims. Tubbo looks at him surprised and Jack just rolled his eyes.

"You dreamt of my father? That's weird, not gonna lie." Tubbo looked disturb, Tommy simply punches his shoulder lightly. "It's not like that!"

"Your father is one of my heroes!" That wasn't a lie, he genuinely looks up to Captain as well. He was one of the greatest people out there, until of course he died.

Tubbo looks at him and smiles widely, Tommy didn't expect Tubbo to actually jump and hug him. It was a rather tight hug as well, the inhumane strength hybrids have is amazing but right now, he can't fucking breathe. Jack watches this strange scene with a perplexed look, slowly Tubbo let go of his grip and Tommy coughs.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT- YOU KNOW MY DAD." Tubbo jumped up and down in glee, which of course made Tommy smile. 

"Tubbo." Jack pinches his brows together seemingly annoyed and tired, "WHO wouldn't know? Your father is, literally,famous!"

"Well, either way! I want you to be my friend Tommy!" Tubbo proceeds to grab the hand of Tommy and squeezing it, Tommy could feel his hand break under the tight grip. He just nods quickly as Tubbo let's go, "But before we become friends...We need to teach you how to handle your strength." Tubbo looks at him apologetically.

"Sorry...I'll try to be more gentler!" This made Tommy smile. Tubbos a sweet kid, sure probably an arsonist, but sweet and chaotic just like a really dangerous puppy.

"I haven't had that many friends, so I guess you'll be my first!" That was sad to hear, but Tommy doesn't dwell on the fact that Tubbo has no friends. Since his heart warms up a bit, a friend? Tommy's never had any either but he would never tell that to a group of strangers.

You know, maybe spending everyday with these guys (except for Jack Manifold) wouldn't be so bad. After all, it won't be long till it's their turn, right?

Chapter Text

Sam was fast asleep, snoring lightly as the light of the moon shines through from his bedroom window. It was in the middle of December and the streets were covered in white snow.

It was a cold winter night, when he heard his door creak open slightly. Sam opens his eyes and he sees golden locks poking out behind the door. Then the door was opened silently, there stood Tommy who was shivering and was looking at Sam in the dark. The blonde stood there for a moment, but got closer and closer to Sam.

Sam made no response, he kept his eyes half opened, pretending to be asleep, as he watched the boy get into his bed and curl up comfortably, falling asleep as soon his head made contact with the cold pillow and the warm blanket swallowed his tiny body.

Sam waited until he heard light snores, he pulled the blonde closer to him and wraps him in his embrace as they both fell asleep, the boy smiled in his sleep as he huddled closer to hear the soft thumps of his father's heart and to have a bit of warmth in the cold snowy night. 

That winter night was 7 years ago. Tommy has had habits of waking up in the middle of the night and sleeping next to Sam. Of course, Sam didn't like this at first but it kept happening till he learnt to accept the strange habit. He eventually learned that young human children liked to sleep with their parents for comfort, he knew he wouldn't understand it due to Creepers usually not having such a close connection to family.

Of course, Tommy grew out of this strange habit and sleeps in his own room. No longer seeking comfort from his father who was just nearby, but when the boy thought no one could see. Sam sees him up at the middle of the night, he looked like he was stopping himself from entering and disturbing Sam's sleep. Sam would pretend to be asleep to hear the boy talk about how he shouldn't do it, Sam doesn't mind if Tommy does it or not. After all, he found it adorable.

Sam must've been day dreaming, since he almost forgot that he had a sword in the smelter. He quickly opens the smelter and whips away the black smoke with his hand as he pulls out the 100° sword, he quickly shapes it on an anvil and dips it into water where it hissed loudly as the red molten color slowly faded. 

He hears a familiar bell ring, he turns around and catches sight of a familiar mail man. He puts down the sword, removing his dirty gloves.

"Wonderful day today isn't it, Mr. Iron?" The Avian man gave him a sweet smile. Sam nodded, currently wiping his face with a clean damp cloth.

"Any mail for me today?" Sam asks, face no longer dirty from all the soot and grease.

"Why, yes sir." The mail man pulls out a parcel and hands him a letter, he slowly takes it from the mail man's hands. The mail man points to his clipboard, Sam signs his name and the mailman leaves, waving goodbye.

Sam hadn't expected a box and a letter, he doesn't remember ordering anything either. He stares curiously at the box and his eyes land on the letter, he doesn't want to raise his expectations. Tommy hasn't written him a letter for many weeks now, has something gone terribly wrong?

His only concern was that he couldn't save his son from potential dangers and threats. After all, the kid lacked self preservation skills and would pick fights and is sometimes gullible.

He doesn't want to worry, Tommy said he was fine in the last letter he sent. He hopes he's taught his son better than to lie to him, so he doesn't imagine Tommy lying about his current predicament.

He hopes.

He thinks that the letter was just another commission request from a far away client. After all, he had a lot of those. He nervously opens the letter and he finds himself staring at it.

It was a letter from Tommy.

He stares at it with wide eyes. Tommy sent a letter, after weeks of nothing he finally sent Sam a letter. This caused a weight, he didn't know was even there, to be lifted off of his shoulders. 

His mind eased, his son was still out there and was alive luckily. He opens the folded letter and quickly reads out the the contents of the said letter:

Hey Sam!

 I'm fine, if you were wondering.

Sorry if I haven't written anything for the past couple of weeks, many things have happened since I was here and one of them being, believe it or not, was me being recruited by Dream!

I know that sounds crazy and impossible, but I know you wouldn't doubt me when I show you proof that I was at the hero's office. Things are turning out pretty poggers here, I hope you're okay there big man. I gotta go to sleep now, I'm currently writing this at night and plan on sending it in the morning with a box filled with proof. 

Bye, till the next letter!

Lots of love,

Tommy Innit

Sam smiles to himself, chest rising up from happiness and pride. His boy was doing just fine out there, better even! He was out there doing everything he can to achieve his dreams, he must be the luckiest and happiest creeper hybrid father alive. He puts down the letter, grin stretching from ear to ear. 

Sam looks at the parcel he received with the letter, he gently opens it and couldn't believe his eyes. A Golden Apple, one of the most expensive things anyone can buy and mostly bought by Top Heroes. Sam pulls out the apple and stares at it in awe, Tommy just sent him something that would cost hundreds of gold coins if he sells it at the market. He didn't think about how his son even got it in the first place, he was too shocked at what was sent to him.

He's never been happier for his boy, he was out there succeeding and Sam was about to explode with the amount of joy he was feeling. He held the letter close to his chest, praying that Tommy would send another soon but this was enough to calm Sam's fears.

It's been a week, ever since Tommy's been chosen to train to become Dream's apprentice. The kingdom he was in was beautiful, it's name was Westcaster. Westcaster was the home to the famous training facility for Young Aspiring Adventurers. 

Many of the famous heroes Tommy knows of, have gone to this place and came out a new star.

Tommy expected to be trained mercilessly. Weapons in hand 24/7 until his hand could only form a shape of a fist when he graduates from here. That's what he thought when he first got here but... To be honest, Tommy didn't expect to learn about Politics and Current World Situations. 

Apparently you also need to learn about Cursed Blood Types and Laws of different regions. He shouldn't be so surprised, I mean he just recently found out so many new things about the new way of becoming an Adventurer and that alone confuses him.

 What a life he lives, he wanted to escape school yet school somehow finds a way to find him yet again. He has been in the training program for a good week now and so far he is doing fine. Sure, maybe some boring lessons every day about Cursed Bloods and all of that but nothing too problematic, until a test suddenly came up out of nowhere near the end of the week. ON A FRIDAY.

This was horrible. 

Tommy silently complains to himself, while he struggles to answer the questions in his test paper he was given in class with all the other students. They were all given an hour to complete, and whoever failed would silently be removed from Dream's Apprenticeship Training. 

That's what Tommy thinks would happen, after all he doesn't know how teachers punish their failing students. He's been homeschooled for all of his life, so he thinks failing a test would lead to public execution or even worse.

Humiliation. 

He was told the test wasn't that hard. LIES, it was hard. The test was about basic survival and it was 2 pages long and they were all quite easy, if you knew the answers of course. He scratches his head and looks around the classroom he was stuck in with the others. The other students were answering quite quickly and some had already finished. Heck! Tubbo and Jack were even done with theirs. 

These people must be geniuses, who's IQ reaches into the hundreds. No wonder they were chosen by Dream, he needs someone efficient and smart along his journey. Tommy silently cursed, how can he compare to these people?

Dream was walking around the room to catch anyone cheating, he also sometimes stayed beside students watching their every move. Luckily, he hadn't gotten onto Tommy's team desk yet. Meaning, he had time to fill in all the current blanks after all he only had 49 more answers to fill in.

Tommy's screwed, he is getting so close to his dreams and now he's about to screw it up as early as he got here as well.

Tubbo must've sensed Tommy's dilemma, since he turned to look at his friend. Tubbo looks at Tommy, who is currently glaring holes into his test paper. Tubbo's eyes started to look at the paper of his friend, his face saddened when he saw that Tommy barely had any answers and Tommy looked like he was really trying to answer it.

Tubbo, wanting to help his first friend, came up with a brilliant idea. He grinned to himself and started scribbling down on his leftover papers.

Tommy wouldn't wish death on his enemies, but he would gladly wish death on this surprise test. Tommy wished he listened during the very boring lessons, maybe that would've made life easier as a student but no it was too boring to tune back into.

Tommy was snapped out of his thoughts by a strong nudge to the side, it almost made him fall off of his seat. Instead, it caused his chair to produce a loud noise when he was supposedly "nudged". It caught the attention of the Hero, and it caused a few students to look at Tommy's direction. 

Tommy glared at Tubbo, but it immediately disappeared from his face when he saw Tubbo quietly hand him a piece of paper. He takes it and opens up the folded paper carefully; He stared at it. 

IT WAS HIS SAVING GRACE! 

The paper had all the answers he needed for the test, Tommy will owe Tubbo forever for this action and that he will hug his Ram friend after this. Tommy was about to go ahead and thank Tubbo silently, when the paper was harshly pulled away from Tommy's hands.

Tubbo looked up in fear and alarm, which wasn't very Tubbo-like since usually Tubbo was a big feral Ram Boy, so seeing him being so nervous just makes Tommy even more afraid to turn around. Jack Manifold did the same expression as Tubbo. 

Tommy was too afraid to face the man behind him, he exhaled loudly as the students began to murmur loudly. 

"Tommy." A firm voice calls out. Dream was standing behind Tommy, silently demanding Tommy to turn and look him in the eyes. Tommy gathered all of his strength and looked behind him, he was met with Dream's disappointed gaze. Tommy simply gives the man a nervous smile. 

"Hey big man, what's shaking!" He hesitated. Dream only responded by shaking his head and letting out an exasperated sigh.

"You and Your Team, meet me at my office." Dream commanded. Both hands behind his back, he clenched the paper tightly and unclenched it. 

Jack was beyond pissed after hearing that but he stayed silent not wishing to anger Dream any further, Tubbo looked even more nervous and afraid, while Tommy listened to what the other students were whispering about.

"Cheating?...Why would he cheat?"

"..Guess those three are out.."

"...-In big trouble now..."

"...I guess...-tting the spot would be easier than expected..." 

Tommy knows what the murmurs really meant. They were calling them.

"Failures"

Tommy hated that word, so much. Tommy looked up at the man with the bright green eyes, Dream stared for a brief moment before looking away and turning his attention to the other students who suddenly stopped murmuring after Dream had turned his attention to them, instead of the three.

"You all may continue." Dream commands. The students complied not wishing to piss the Hero off and ignored the three boys who wore Anger, Fear and Disappointment on their faces. 

"I can't fucking believe this!" Jack yelled, angered. Tommy, Tubbo and Jack were walking nervously to Dream's office, none of them are excited to go there at the moment. They all were walking at slow pace, probably because they were slowing down their demise even if it was quite inevitable.

Tommy looked at Tubbo, who looked quite shocked, which was a really rare sight to see from Tubbo.

"Are you okay, big man?" 

"My insides are doing inside bits..." Tubbo made this weird gesture to his stomach and he immediately looked down afterwards.

Tommy laughed nervously, not sure how to respond to the weird answer Tubbo gave him. Jack just looked pissed since Tommy had the nerve to laugh at such a dire situation for the three.

"You got us all in trouble! Now we're going to be the first to get kicked out of the program!" Jack pointed at Tommy. 

Tommy felt anger rise from his chest, how dare Jack point his fingers at him. He was about to yell at Jack, but Tubbo cut him off.

"Hey! Don't blame Tommy for this! I'm the one who gave Tommy the paper in the first place!" Tubbo raised his voice, as it alarmed a few passing students. The nervousness from Tubbos face disappeared and was replaced with a defensive expression, He was defending Tommy.

As small as it may be, Tommy smiled at his friend for defending him. 

"So don't go around pointing at him like that!" Tubbo huffed in anger, his ears flicking in annoyance as he crossed his arms. 

Jack only continued to shout in the hallway, which would've been funny in any other situation, but not right now.

"Not only that!" Jack paused, taking a second to look even more offended.

"But Dream technically called you the Leader of the group! SINCE WHEN DID YOU BECOME THE LEADER?" Jack's voice was getting louder and louder by the second, it was catching the attention of many students passing by the hall.

Tubbo threatened to knock him out if he screamed any further, which Jack did, which resulted in Tubbo pushing him harshly. Tommy mostly tuned Jack out, since he was screaming for way too long in the hallways filled with students passing by.

The group behaved afterwards, realizing people were looking at them as they passed by, some even pretending to not even be interested at what was happening. Tommy, Tubbo and Jack continued their walk, silent for a moment. Away from the crowd, Tommy spoke.

"Much better than you being the leader, Manifold." Tommy mocked, he sticks out his younger one and gave him a tight smirk. 

"After all, I am a good leader." He praises himself, after all he was a big man.

"Not sure about that, bossman." Tubbo replied, snickering.

Tommy tried his best to look offended, "Tubbo, why would you betray me like this. I am your leader after all!"

Tubbo only rolled his eyes, but it was from amusement. Jack was still fuming with rage but at least he wasn't yelling, Tommy swore his head could catch on fire if he kept getting so angry. 

Then they came face to face, with the very red door; The Lions Den.

Students called Dream's office the Lion's Den, maybe because of how intimidating the aura of this room was and how they've heard rumors of students' souls being sucked into the room once before after being sent to Dream's office. 

It was a rumor though, the kid who got sent there was fine. But it added to the reputation of the office in a way, since the man behind these doors was a man who doesn't take too kindly to flaws.

The three all silently prayed to whatever War Hero might be listening. 

Tommy pushed Tubbo, "You open it."

Tubbo stopped himself from falling into the office and pushed Jack, "No way! Jack, you open it!"

Due to the strength Tubbo possessed, he knocked Jack Manifold off of his feet and onto the floor. Jack ignored it and was sweating bullets instead, thinking about the red door.

"No way! Let's think of another way to settle this like men!"

None of them wanted to knock on the door for this might be the last time they'll ever be here. 

That's when Tommy, Tubbo and Jack decided that they should play rock, paper, scissors to see who would be the poor soul to meet the Hero's wrath first. It was rather childish, but they had to come up with something since none of them would've knocked on that door otherwise.

Tubbo lost, so reluctantly he brought himself to knock on the door weakly. The door opens and they see Dream sitting down on his seat behind his desk, playing with his porcelain mask.

He looked at the boys, he wore no expression. Which only made the boys even more nervous, they didn't know if the hero was mad or upset. Who were they kidding, it was probably both.

He calmly gestures to them, to enter the room, "Come in." 

The three all went in one by one, all tense and are waiting for their punishment. Dream stood up from his seat and walked towards the boys; Tubbo was holding his tears back; Jack was quiet and afraid; Tommy just looked up at Dream with a nervous smile to mask the pathetic whines that were begging to be let out.

Dream looked at the boys, it felt like eternity. Like they were under the mercy of a lion ready to slaughter them. All three of them averted the man's gaze by looking on the wooden floor beneath their feet. They could hear the Hero reach for something on his desk.

Tubbo could hear his own heart beat, pounding in his ears. The taste of salt on the tip of his tongue, made him panic silently.

Jack could feel his panic rise as the man kept staring at them. 

Tommy felt cold, his palms were sweaty and he was shivering from fear. 

He can't go back now, not back to the village. Everyone there would laugh at him, for sure and Sam...Sam wouldn't be too happy about his return.

"Huh? You lasted only a week, all because you failed a test? Quite pathetic."

"Why did you even have to cheat at such an easy test anyway?" 

"He probably didn't listen." A voice in his head added.

Tommy was sweating bullets and he looked up to Sam, who's eyes were completely hidden by his black goggles. Tommy didn't have a voice to speak, didn't have a chance to explain when he heard Sam say.

"You are a disappointment to me, Tommy." 

It hurt Tommy, a lot actually. He didn't want to hear that, it was in his head but maybe soon it would be reality when he comes back home. A disappointment who achieved nothing, after all the hardships he's been through for the past month and a half.

He was brought back to reality, when Dream coughed. It made the three boys look up.

He was holding two papers.

This was it, the end of the three and it's just been one week into this school as well.

Dream handed, two out of the three papers. Tubbo and Jack looked at each other and the papers they were holding, all afraid of what was inside of it. 

It could be a note saying they were expelled! Tubbo almost fainted at the thought.

Tommy wonders why he wasn't given paper, maybe he was lucky and if so he's afraid for Tubbo.  Tubbo was his only friend here, he genuinely liked him as well and it's only been one week.

Dream calmly said, "Those are your test papers, I have already graded them." 

Suddenly the tension from before disappeared and was replaced with confusion. Tubbo was the first one to react, clearly confused.

"Wait, where's the punishment?" Tubbo finds himself asking.

Apparently, Tommy wasn't the only one expecting punishment.

"Yeah, what the hell?" Jack asked, mutually confused.

All three of them expected to be humiliated and sent back to their families, but what was this? Dream was being nice to cheaters? How did this happen? 

They were being let off so easily for blatantly cheating, in front of his face even. How could cheating, not receive immediate suspension or worse getting expelled.

"You both were clearly just looking out for your teammate." Dream explains, having a small smile form on his lips. 

Jack interrupted, "Actually, we weren-". Tubbo elbowed Jack's stomach, causing Jack to hold his stomach from the painful blow.

"Yes! W-we were sir! W-we can't let one of us fall!". 

Tommy was so confused, he couldn't process what was happening. How were they let off so easily, he will never know and it's better not to question the mercy of their teacher. Tubbo was clearly panicking, it was also obvious how horrible he was at lying. He never really saw Tubbo this nervous, well it's only been a short time ever since knowing him.

Tommy's only ever seen the feral Ram Boy, not the nervous Tubbo that he was seeing right now. It was like a different person speaking through Tubbo's own body.

"It's wonderful that you three have formed a bond," Dream looked at the boys, smiling to himself as he remembered a distant memory from the past. 

Tubbo looked like he was ready to faint, Jack was still in pain, Tommy was so confused. Dream could only giggle at the sight, the children were quite odd.

"Teamwork can go a long way in the business." Dream pauses, thinking silently.

He wouldn't know about teamwork of course. He worked a lot on his own, he was more efficient that way before, but now it's a different time. Maybe his human limits were finally catching up, after all when has he taken a break? This mission was nothing like the others, this was different. 

There was no need to be on edge, after all he was here to train students not fight criminals or stop a tragedy from happening. This was a more relaxing mission but no mission with Dream assigned would be relaxing. He needed to find an accomplice, fast. These children were chosen to be his, he will have to train them all restlessly to get the best results out of them.

The boys all went silent, waiting for Dream to speak again before they do anything else in his presence. Dream finally decided to break the silence, having snapped out of his mind. He can think about it later, he needs to solve this issue first.

"I will let you three off lightly, but I suggest not doing it while you're taking a test next time." 

The boys continued to be silent, while Dream continued taking the silence as an answer from the three.

"So for now, you are all dismissed."

The three looked at each other, not even a second later, all of them ran towards the red door no longer wishing to stay in the room. Tubbo was the first one to run, Jack being second holding out their papers in hand screaming joyously at their scores in the hallways.

The hero was feeling merciful today! Hooray! So glad, Tommy won't face the consequences of his actions at the moment. Tommy can just go back to his team's room and start doing whatever he was supposed to do. He was about to follow the three, ready to spring out of the room, but he was stopped. By whom? By the masked hero himself. 

Dream was staring right at him, "You however, we need to have a talk."

He should've known, his luck wasn't that good. Tommy sighed, turning around and took a nearby seat, ready to be scolded. Tommy was used to scolding, it happened a lot in the Arena he used to work at everytime he failed his boss.

Dream took a seat on his desk and looked at the boy who looked like he was waiting for his death sentence. Dream only giggled at the boy, who sunk into his seat further.

"I am not going to kick you out of the Training program, if that's what you're thinking." 

Dream seemed to have relaxed the boy just a bit, so they won't have a tense talk in the office. Tommy was still sunk in his seat, he was also avoiding eye contact with the hero in front of him. Tommy didn't wanna look at the man at the moment, he wasn't a pussy, he just didn't want to since he could.

Dream continues, making sure his tone is soft and calm to not further distress the boy. Tommy at the moment appeared very distressed, well who wouldn't be if you were caught cheating on a test by your idol of all people.

"Are you struggling in class?" Dream asks Tommy. Dream raised his eyebrow, to see if the boy would respond.

Tommy, after trying not to make eye contact with Dream, looked at the hero nervously; Like he was ashamed he showed flaws to Dream.  Dream understood the boy's nervousness, the boy seemed to know about his reputation of working without rest. About how brutal it can be to be working with him, and how difficult it is to catch up if you cannot match Dream's skill levels. 

Dream continued to look at the boy, he had a strong incline to help him. After all this boy was charming, the first week of being here he has shown to be the most different out of the rest.

Sure, he was weak, but all the hero's Dream knows of started off that way and the boy held a lot of potential. He saw it in the arena so it would be a waste to not help polish the boy's skills. It would be a waste to let him go just because of a poor excuse as cheating on a piece of paper.

That's exactly when Dream had a brilliant idea.

"If you're struggling," Dream pauses, examining the boy closely for his reaction. The boy was all ears, Dream continued.

"I wouldn't mind being your tutor." He finishes his sentence. 

Tommy had to process that for a bit. He swore he heard Dream say he would happily tutor him, which is really funny. His fan brain must be acting up since that can't be true, he let that information soak for a bit longer. 

Dream was worried the boy hated the tutoring, after a minute of not having any sort of reaction to the suggestion. Dream was about to say something until out of nowhere the boy became wide eyed and stood up abruptly.

Tommy's mouth was wide open, but no sound came out of it. He looked like he was trying to say something but no words would match how he felt. Dream raised a brow, curious as to why the boy wasn't saying anything.

Unlocked the Achievement "Tommy.exe stopped working"

A minute passes, Tommy just silently nodded, closing his mouth slowly to not catch any bugs with it being so wide open. He remembered the time Sam warned him about catching bugs with his mouth, he didn't listen and eventually a fly flew into his mouth. Sam only shook his head and giggled at the boy, who coughed out the bug later on.

Dream smiles at him sweetly, "Meet me in my office." He claps his hands together, seemingly pleased but the boy's willingness to be tutored.

"We will start at dawn, no one must see you being tutored by me. You are dismissed, go enjoy the rest of your day, Tommy." Dream smiles at him again. 

Tommy stood up silently from his seat and headed towards the door, not sparing the man another look. So many things were happening in his head at the moment, it was hard to comprehend. He silently shuts the door behind him, and he breathes in and out.

He let it sink in. Primes, he was gonna be personally trained by one of the highest ranking heroes in the business! Tommy thanks the stars, or well star since it was noon, for giving him this chance. To be so close to his dreams and goals, he cannot afford to waste it. 

He will train himself till he tires, he will study as hard as he can to become the greatest student in the training program. After all, he was competing for the position of Apprentice wasn't he? So he's going to treat it as competition.

Tommy made a manly sounding shriek, he was popping off boys!

Tommy happily skips through the halls, wishing he was athletic enough to do a cartwheel or a backflip to express his extreme joy. Probably not, he'd probably snap a bone or two if he attempted to, but maybe soon he will be able to with the training he's about to endure.

Dream watches as the boy slowly leaves without a word, watching him from behind, until he is no longer in the room. Dream wondered to himself, was he fond of this boy? Why was he giving him a chance? After all, he saw how bad the boy performed recently. Why was he being so merciful, he doesn't know the answer. 

He has never been this merciful, nor has he ever offered to help a student. This boy was surely interesting, maybe he thought right about this boy. He cannot be so sure yet, after all they have a lot to work on for this boy to be a fit contender.

After all, next week will be the 2nd to last week for the Adventurer's Guide. Such a short time frame, can any of the students succeed? They would have to, since Dream trusted all 18 of them. He leaned into his expensive seat, closing his eyes to rest even for a short while.

The rest of the day went uneventfully, it was just Tubbo and Jack flaunting their grades at the other students to make them jealous while Tommy was backing them both up to prove he was there and that they didn't steal the papers from Dream's office. The three were all very happy, they weren't punished heavily by the Hero.

To be honest, none of them would have taken it light heartedly if it happened. They were instead grateful that the hero was at least merciful even to their flaws. Jack was honestly still pissed about the situation but it wasn't as much as before, Tubbo just went back to being feral and caused a bit of mayhem in their room.

All in their pajamas, they all were getting rid of their nervousness and anger by causing a pillow fight. Tubbo was on top of Jack smothering him with a pillow, Jack was screaming and yelling and pushed Tubbo off while running away from the chaotic Ram. 

Tommy got hit by Jack and this caused the two to mostly target each other while Tubbo would randomly choose a side, they were having fun. Probably a bit too much fun, since the other students couldn't sleep with the loud ruckus happening next door.

The three were all laughing, before they were told off by one of the older students to go to bed and stop the noise. What did the three do? 

They dragged the older student into the pillow fight as well.

The older student eventually joined and started smacking the boys with pillows, causing an even louder noise than before. Other students were already struggling to fall asleep and were screaming in their pillows.

Later on the older student left the room smiling and tuckered out, they were having fun but the three were tired from all the laughing and fighting for tonight 

The three boys ended up passing out on the floor and all of them were snoring.

The students next door were sighing in relief, it was midnight and they could finally rest. Closing their eyes, drifting into sleep, the school went quiet and the lights were all turned off.

Earlier than expected, Tommy was already up. He was way too excited, he woke up determined and had fire in his eyes. He examined the dark room, Tubbo's head was on Tommy's stomach. He will have to be careful to not wake up the hybrid, after all he becomes grumpy and kicks people if they wake him up from a good sleep. They found that out when Jack Manifold and Tommy decided to prank Tubbo while he was asleep.

Jack ended up going to the nurses office after that one, Tubbo also being fairly grumpy. Tommy just avoided that, since he doesn't want a broken collarbone.

Carefully, Tommy lifted his friend's head off of his stomach just enough for him to move out and gently place a pillow under his head. Tommy stood up and slowly made his way to the door, the floorboards creaking with every step he takes. At one point, he stepped on a floor board and it caused a huge noise. 

Tommy, clearly panicked, turned around to see if it woke up Tubbo or even Manifold. Manifold would only interrogate him if he saw Tommy suspiciously walking out of the room. 

None, it woke no one. 

He guessed the pillow fight really exhausted them, he carefully opened the door and slid through and gently closed it until he heard it click shut. He then scanned the area, he needed to make sure no one was out and when he was sure no one was there. He began to make his way to Dream's office, he was slowly making his way. 

He was sure no one was up this early, so he simply ran through the halls feet feeling the cold tiles beneath him, the hallways were so quiet you could only hear Tommy's fast footsteps. He eventually made it to the office, he grabbed the golden door knob and twisted it open. It was dark at first, but the room seemed to sense his presence and it suddenly lit up.

Tommy looked around, the hero wasn't here yet. Probably because he was here a lot earlier than planned, he looked at the grandfather clock at the very corner. Maybe he was way too excited, since he woke up at 2 am and came here. Well the hero will be impressed by how willing Tommy is at the moment, after all he thinks Dream would appreciate a student who got here on time or even far more earlier than expected.

Tommy looks at the many expensive books on the, probably, even more expensive shelves. Dream has a lot of expensive items in the office, if Tommy didn't respect him so much he would've stolen more than just a Golden Apple. 

What was he supposed to do while he waits for the hero to come around? Well, he'll start studying of course. He shouldn't waste time waiting for Dream to teach him everything, when he could be doing that himself with the time he's given himself.

Time currently on his side, Tommy picked a random book from the shelf and sat down on the expensive chair Dream usually sat on. He sets the book down on the desk and opens it, he reads the title and it was about History. 

He guessed that he could polish on his history, after all back at his home town the history book he was reading was incomplete, since some kid decided it was fun to rip out pages and return it to the damaged library. He opens the book and starts reading.

"History"

The world before the gods was simple; No one knew of magic and it only had a few sets of rules for the people who lived in it. Humanity lived a simple life and they lived peaceful lives. They had no creators, they were simply put into the planet to live and grow and help Mother Nature flourish, for her heart beneath the earth beats and gives life to all the people who lived right beside her.

Our world was not just a lump of rock and vegetation, it was also an entity that had a living beating heart. The source of life.

Until one day the gods came, they came out of nowhere. They were beings who could give and create, beings who could also take and destroy. 

They showed humanity their abilities and how they could give everything they ever wanted, if they simply do whatever the gods asked them. 

"We can make you young"

"We can bring back your beloved ones back from the  dead"

"We can even give you all the riches you desire." 

That is what they promised humanity. Of course, men and women followed what they wanted. Not knowing the gods themselves were tyrants, unbeknownst to them these gods were after control over our world itself and it's beating heart drained the life from the world.

"Gods" or Tyrants, we're attempting to steal the powers of our world itself. Humanity blinded by their greed and selfishness followed their every command.

Gods at first were kind and benevolent, but soon they became darker and unforgivable, asking more from the mortals.

If one cannot follow such orders, it resulted in torture and gruesome deaths. Soon Humanity became slaves to these beings, sweat and blood and years of unrelenting punishments.

Humanity snapped and planned to rebel, but hid it from the Gods who were almighty and began their plans.

End of Chapter 1

Tommy stopped reading after chapter one, this book was a lot more in debt than the book from his home town library. He was filled with wonder, he had a lot to learn so he picked up another book and another.

They are titled, "Cursed Bloods" and "All About Adventurer's". The hero wasn't around yet, so a few more reads wouldn't hurt while he waits. He opened the Cursed Blood's book.

"Cursed Bloods"

"Cursed Bloods'' or known as Hybrids/ Anthropomorphs, are human beings cursed by the gods before they were all vanquished. Their curse runs through generation after generation, their curses also cause them to be a major threat to society.

 Though Cursed Bloods recently have been "Tame" for the last 100 years. Past records show that 1000 years ago, "Beast" attacks were quite often and it resulted in many deaths and many executions.

"Beasts" or "Savage" is a term used for Cursed Bloods who essentially succumb to the curse completely. Beasts are violent, murderous and unpredictable since Cursed Bloods can turn at any moment at any time. They all are different and hold different attributes, due to there being various types of Cursed Bloods. 

"Tame" is a term used for Cursed Bloods who are unlikely to turn "Savage". This was a term made recently, after the 2 out of the 3 Nations unanimously agreed to let Cursed Bloods live amongst humanity in peace, after records show that there hasn't been a single beast attack for ages.

End of Chapter 1

Tommy is starting to understand why people feared Sam, yet it was unreasonable and low-key racist for them to think Sam, the friendly Creeper Hybrid, would even attempt to hurt people just because he was Cursed Blood.

Now that he's thought about it, he's starting to understand now why some people offered him to run away when Sam was nearby. They were dickheads. 

They were even more dickheads when they saw Sam and Tommy going out to buy ice cream together, that Ice cream man was an Avian so he didn't really judge the strange bond the Human child and the Creeper had. The Avian just awed at the sight.

Now he was getting angry, he was very upset now that he's beginning to realize how but no use getting angry at the people who eventually warmed up to Sam after knowing him better, they're lucky that Tommy didn't know better or else they would've lost their stuff one by one.

Tommy opened up another book, he needed to stop getting so angry. After all, being so angry isn't good for the heart and he's a young baby boy can't be having murderous intent now, can he?

"All About Adventurer's"

"CHAPTER 1: Adventurer Ranks (Simplified)"

Adventurer's have Ranks and since the government sometimes complicates it, here's a written work where it's a lot more Simplified for students to follow along.

Types of Ranks:

S-Tier- Are called "Heroes", who are sent out to do the more dangerous of tasks and are sent out to help solve issues for kings and queens and anyone with power. They are usually the most paid and the more skillful people in the field. 

A-Tier - Are the one's called for second priority missions. They are there to assist the S-Tier heroes with business that they cannot tend to. They are also called by towns to help assist on certain problems, usually these would be either hunting down criminals or stopping second tier threats. They are the second most skilled in the field. They are paid quite fairly

B-Tier- They are usually compared to Guards. They tend to do the more mundane mission's, they usually help and assist A Tiers with even smaller jobs, like helping import or export important items and are usually hired to become bodyguards. Not much pay, but not too little pay.

C-tier- They are called "House Nannies", they do the smaller missions like walk your dog around or even walk you around. They usually are the more babysitter type Adventurer's assigned to rich families or even middle classes, to watch over their children while they are away. Pay depends on how long they have to take care of the things they are assigned to.

D-Tier- Are the lowest of the ranks. They are usually students and aspiring heroes, they are usually taught by trained individuals who took the course of Education instead of the battlefield in Adventuring. Sometimes, they are even taught by higher ranking heroes to become their Apprentice. Are not paid and are yet to have a license.

End of Chapter 1

Tommy stood up and began reading every book on the shelf even if it's just the first chapter of it, until hours passed by and he was buried under piles of and piles of books while he continued to read, studying all he could in one sitting. 

Dawn has finally arrived, Dream made his way to his office. He was holding a book with his gloved hands, this was a schedule book to help him schedule out lessons for this week before they eventually move to training with weaponry, but this month was more all about what was in the books.

He showered fairly early and made his way to the school as early as possible. He assigned all of his students to wake up at 8:30 AM sharp, to have a quick breakfast and shower before heading straight to his classrooms at 9. Meaning, he had a few hours to teach Tommy all the lessons from this week.

He slowed his pace when he saw his door wide open, his eyes widened. He then quickly rushes to the opened door, scared someone might have broken into his office and stolen important papers from him. When he made it to the door, he was shocked with what he saw. He saw a blonde boy writing intensively in his notebook, while simultaneously reading a book.

Dream looked around the office, books were scattered everywhere and books were stacked on his desk. The boy didn't seem to notice the hero standing outside the door, Dream entered the office and closed the door behind him. Tommy jumped and looked at the person at the door, it was Dream.

Dream looked, well he looked like Dream, but he looked like he was surprised that Tommy was here. Tommy looked at him confused, then he remembered he was sitting on Dream's chair, writing on Dream's blank book, on Dream's Desk and even made a mess in Dream's office.

"O-Oh, shit!" Tommy stood up quickly, ready to burst into apologies for sitting on the chair. Instead, Dream raised his hand and that made Tommy stop mid-way through all his actions.

"How...How long have you been in here?" Dream, confused, asked the boy. 

Tommy looks at the clock and his eyes widen, he was sure he was only here for a bit but he didn't know he was waiting here for hours. Tommy needed to answer Dream, after all the man looked like he needed answers.

"About a good few hours?" Tommy answers. Dream only nodded, silently standing in front of the door. 

Tommy's only way out is being blocked by the hero, maybe he could jump out the window. He could try and land on his feet, like a cat. It will end up with him having broken legs so no thank you. Dream was deep in thought and he was fairly surprised.

'Tommy's been here for a few hours? During that time he broke into my office and studied almost every book on the shelf.' Dream thought to himself.

Dream looked at him, which made Tommy stiffen. "Go ahead, sit on my chair." He gives permission. Not like permission was needed, the boy already did it without permission anyway. Tommy sits back down, trying to go back to studying and trying to ignore the Hero, who took a seat on the wooden stool, in front of him.

He puts his chin to the palm of his hand, looking at Tommy with wonder and with a smile plastered on his face. He sets the book down on the desk and watches the boy study, he also gives the boy other information he may not know about. 

They spent hours on studying just to catch Tommy up on the past week's lessons, until Dream looked at the time to find out it was almost time for breakfast. Dream closed the book with one hand, looked at the boy's blue eyes who stared back at him.

"We are done for today, you may go out and have your scheduled breakfast and shower now." Dream permits the boy to leave the office, which of course Tommy followed without question.

Dream sighed and looked around in his office, he will have to clean up for a bit. He immediately gets to work, placing all the books back to their respective shelves. Tommy was outside the office, just realizing he was wearing Pajamas while studying with the hero.

Not enough time to dwell on his embarrassment, he rushed to the canteen. Realizing, his roommates may be wondering why he wasn't there when they woke up. He didn't want to be caught, not on the first day either.

He immediately saw a crowd of drowsy students, making their way to the canteen all fairly tired and in their own pajamas. Some even leaned on the walls and fell asleep, which Tommy avoided. He enters the cafeteria, seeing it almost packed with students from different parts of the building taking a seat to have their own breakfasts.

The older student from last night's pillow fight saw him and waved at him; He was a rather friendly senior, so Tommy waved back at him to return the kind gesture.

Tommy scanned the large cafeteria and found his teammates sitting on a nearby table, Tubbo was trying to steal Jack's toast. Tommy made his way to the table, hearing Jack's angry yells already early in the morning, clearly telling Tubbo to fuck off.

"Cursing this early in the morning?" Tommy sits down on the seat in front of Tubbo and Jack.

Who were currently fighting for a piece of toast.

"Yeah- well- it wouldn't have happened if Tubbo just FUCKED OFF FROM MY FOOD." Jack cussed angrily, already in an awkward sitting position and pushing Tubbos face away at the same time.

"BUT I'M HUNGRY." Tubbo complains loudly, trying to snatch the toast with his teeth.

"YOU ATE YOUR BREAKFAST, LET ME EAT MINE- DICKHEAD." Jack yells. This caught the attention of the other students, Tommy's group was an odd bunch for sure.

Tommy was off somewhere, trying to be cool and socialize with the students in class. He was brutally honest, he caused a student to cry once and he awkwardly escaped that situation.

Tubbo would be somewhere causing arson, sometimes would be found biting Manifold for a variety of reasons. He was introverted, for such a chaotic Ram.

Jack Manifold, was simply Jack Manifold. Trying his best everyday but gets dragged into his teammates antics, he tries to distance himself from the chaos but chaos follows him. He gets angry very easily, he's older than the two but cannot control them.

These three made for a really odd team, they were also the team the class believes would fail in the first week. They were almost right about that, but haha! Luck was on their side and Tommy's getting tutored secretly by Dream himself, so they can go suck on an egg.

Jack shoves the entire toast into his mouth, crumbs are the only things remaining of the toast and it was all scattered around Jack's face. Tubbo's stomach only growled in hunger, he crossed his arms and went back to sitting normally.

Tommy looked at Tubbo and sighed, he went to grab his breakfast and took the apple and slid the rest of his breakfast to his friend. Tubbo looked up at him, unsure about the offer.

"Are you sure you don't want all of this big man?" 

"I'm fine with just an apple. You don't want it? I'll take it then-" Tommy reaches from the tray, but Tubbo immediately pulls it out of Tommy's reach.

"No!" Tubbo shouts. 

Tommy let a smirk crawl form on his face, Tubbo just shoved everything in his mouth in one go. The ram, after licking the tray clean, burped in satisfaction. Tommy laughed and Tubbo only smiled.

"Thanks boss man."

"Hey, that's what a leader does for his teammates!" Tommy jokingly says. Tubbo snickers, Jack just rolls his eyes unimpressed. Things were gonna be great.

Tommy's laughter was cut short after hearing the bell ring all over the school, that means they only have a few minutes to shower. He noticed most of the students were already rushing to the bathroom or even shoving their breakfast down their throats as quickly as they could.

The three stood up from their seats and quickly ran to their rooms to prepare their clothing. Pajamas and underwear were thrown in the air in a panic, they can't be late nor can they be the last to shower. They know that being the last to shower, usually means you would be late. 

For such a huge building, you would've thought they had a lot more showers and bathrooms. I guess the budget didn't fit. It was also strange that they showered on a specific time, since the showers were all locked until then.

"Hurry up! The lines are already forming, I can feel it!" Jack rushes as he slips on his own boxers on the ground.

Tubbo was grabbing all of their toothbrushes for some reason and already put toothpaste on them. 

"I PREPARED THE ESSENTIALS"  Tubbo declares loudly, holding all of his clothes.

Tommy was struggling to choose which shade of red shirt should he wear today, they were all the same shirt. Yet he struggles.

"HURRY IT UP!" Jack shouts. Recovering from the fall rather quickly. 

"Alright, alright- let me pick out my clothes first!" Tommy continues to think about which shade of red he should wear.

Jack takes a look over Tommy's shoulder, "The fu- THEY'RE THE SAME SHIRT!?"

"They're definitely not!" Tommy crosses his arms, "They're not the same shade of red." He tries to explain, Jack only looked annoyed.

"Hurry it up! The line is forming!" Tubbo screams. 

Tommy was about to argue but he was dragged out of the room by Tubbo himself. Tubbo has placed him on his shoulders, it was awkward since Tommy was tall and Tubbo was short. His legs were dangling over Tubbo's shoulder, it was close to touching the floor. 

"T-tubbo! PUT ME DOWN!?" Tommy shouts in surprise and embarrassment. Tubbo elected to ignore his friends complaints

"No time!" Tubbo began to run, with his tall friend on his shoulders who was screaming his lungs out. Jack was right behind them with all of their clothes, he was struggling to keep up but he was doing a great job. 

Students passing by moved aside, not risking to be run over by a wild Communist Ram. Tommy's screaming caught many of the students and teachers off guard, some thought it was someone being murdered.

Tubbo took a hard right turn, Tommy felt his soul leave his body. He felt the turn as his body followed the hard motion, almost hitting a wall and a few students. He swore his soul would've been at heaven by now but his Ram friend was forcing it back in. 

They eventually got to the bathroom before anyone could, Jack Manifold slid down the hallway and caught himself before his face planted on the bathroom door. He was coughing, sweating and was struggling to hold onto all their clothes, towels and under garments.

Tubbo let's down Tommy, Tommy only glared at Tubbo but it carried no heat. The three didn't speak, they only quickly showered and changed afterwards. They heard the bell and all immediately ran towards their class room like maniacs with wet hair.

Dream was standing in front of the class and looking at all the students, looking through his lessons and attendance. Scanning the room, he sees a few more students enter in a rush. He checked out their names, while they entered, in his attendance. He looked at the three empty seats, looking through his attendance he found three students missing.

He looks up from the book, "Where is Tommy's team?" 

And just like that, they came crashing down the entrance. Dream turned his head around to look at Tommy on the ground, who was on top of Tubbo, who was under Jack Manifold. The three boys were all struggling to get up, all the students in class were laughing at them. Eventually they all got up and awkwardly got to their seats, Tommy giving Dream the finger guns and a grin.

All three were sitting down on their seats, Dream nodded to himself and took that as an opening to start the class. He starts the class, all students willing to learn and are listening. Tommy this time was listening to the class and Tubbo and Jack were all taking down notes. Dream smiles under the mask, while he writes on the board about Potion Effects. 

As time passes by, the sun lowers and the skies become a hue of orange, morning businesses are already closing and bars are opening while bakeries remain open for students to hang out after school. The class came to an end, Dream let's the students leave. Students with friends from other teams went and grabbed their other friends from the other classes, others made their way back to their room not wanting to socialize any further.

"Another day of learning completed!" Tubbo yawned, packing his things. Jack Manifold was waiting by the door. "C'mon, hurry up! Let's go buy some cupcakes! My mum just sent me some cash!" Jack invited the two. Tubbo ears perked up from the mention of food, he grins and looks at Tommy who was currently busy packing all the notes he's accumulated from the whole day.

"C'mon! Let's go grab some cupcakes!" Tubbo exclaims, overjoyed. He was  already making his way towards the door, where Jack Manifold was. Tommy smiles at his friend, he would enjoy hanging out with the boys after school.

"Alright, I'll catch up! Still have a lot of papers to finish!" Tubbo only nodded happily, he grabbed Jack's wrist who looked at him. "C'mon Jack! Let's go, cupcakes are calling us!" 

Jack sighed and nodded, "Alright, Tubbo but you better pay as well. I'm not buying the expensive one's for you."

"Of course, I'll pay for my own cupcakes! I got money in my pocket after all!" Tubbo slaps his pants pockets and it makes a jingling noise.

Jack looked at Tommy, "Better hurry it up." Tommy rolled his eyes.

"I will, bald man." Tommy insulted. Jack looks pissed.

"STOP CALLING ME BALD MA-" Jack was cut off by Tubbo dragging him away, who was excited to eat sweets. Jack only spared Tommy a glare and Tommy sighs while he sorts out his papers.

Dream looks at Tommy and goes near the boy, Tommy was too concentrated on organizing his notes and jumps when the hero patted him on the shoulders. "Good work today Tommy." Dream complimented.

Tommy only nodded, placing a hand to his chest to calm his fast beating heart from both the jumps and the compliment.

"Thanks, Sir." He replies.

"You've been paying attention recently." Dream states, he's been observing the boy the whole class seeing if the boy would lose concentration after a while but he never did. Tommy wrote on his notes until his fingers started cramping from the amount he's written down. Dream looked at the scattered notes on the boy's desk and was impressed with how organized it was and how much information was written down.

"You wrote everything down! That's great." 

Dream complimented him yet again, Tommy is not going to get used to that at all. "I plan on reviewing these later, so you know. I won't forget it easily." Tommy didn't know why he needed to tell the hero this, maybe because he was baiting more compliments for his work.

The hero continued to stare at the notes, eventually his hand leaving Tommy's shoulder. He nods at the boy, who looked around and nodded back. Dream walked away from Tommy and grabbed his things, before exiting he said this to Tommy:

"I will make you retake the test, but it'll be much harder than the one you've failed. It'll be a test about everything we're about to learn and have already covered, I suggest you prepare yourself for it." 

Dream saw the boy's eyes widen from the news, he smirked under the mask. He will test the boys' limits and make him face them, after all he was his tutor and the tutor must do his best to teach the student everything they can. However, It's all up to the students to perform well for their teachers.

"I wish you goodluck." After that, Dream left the room. He was smiling under the mask, maybe teaching wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

Tommy swallows hard. A harder test? Maybe because Dream wanted to punish Tommy for cheating, yeah that's it. He's happy he paid attention in class this time, or he would've been cramming at the last minute. He'll have to study, forgetting about the cupcakes, Tommy made his way to his team's room and began rereading every lesson they have covered.

As he read his notes, the moon made its appearance in the sky. Students that were once outside, returned indoors and continued their chat there and waited for dinner. Tommy thought about skipping dinner, but he thought about the dessert this dinner. He was broken out of his focus when he heard the door slam open.

"We're back! And we brought you cupcakes!" Tubbo's cheery voice announced, the first person to make their presence known. Jack was behind him sighing, "We wouldn't have brought anything for you, but Tubbo insisted after eating the last couple 15 cupcakes we bought specifically for you." 

"Aww, so you care about me after all, Manifold." Tommy taunts the man. Jack only huffed in annoyance.

"As if." Jack rolled his eyes. Handing Tommy the box of cupcakes. 

The smell of freshly baked goods was emitting out of the box, Tommy carefully opened it. His eyes glimmered, as he saw the cutely made cupcakes he took one out of the box and shoved it into his mouth. The icing melts into his mouth quickly and it's sweetness spreads all over his mouth, Tommy makes a sound of content when he shoves another into his mouth.

"Tubbo- Jack- these are heavenly! Are these made by angels!?" Tommy questions his two friends about the delicious pastry. These pastries tasted like angel babies, not like he would know that since angel babies weren't even real.

Tubbo was the first to respond to Tommy's questions, "Made by a demon actually!" 

"And their blue best friend, coated in diamonds." Jack added, sitting on his bed taking off his shoes. 

They were most likely a gay couple and that's pog

Tommy was in thought, did that description trigger anything in his mind? It sounded familiar, but he couldn't lay a finger on it. Tubbo looked at his friend and Tommy caught him looking at the box he was currently holding.

"Um...Can I have… Some." Emphasis on some. Tubbo had a monstrous appetite, similar to Tommy's and so Tommy understood his friend and gave him one cup cake.

"Wait- aren't you guys going to go and eat downstairs?"

"Nah." Jack answers.

"After all, Tubbo has had enough food for today and I'm not hungry." Jack points at Tubbo, after sitting up right.

"What are you, my mom?" Tubbo jokes, which was poorly received by Jack. The two broke into a lighthearted argument, which Tubbo was winning.

Tommy only laughed at the situation, sooner or later being brought into the conversation and became part of the argument.

That night was yet another loud night. One of many loud nights, the students nearby have prepared for after a week and a half.

Days pass by, as Tommy's daily routine has changed drastically after the hero supposedly took him under his wing. Tommy would be at Dreams office at 3 in the morning, would have breakfast, have a shower, go to class and after class he would return back to his room studying. His teammates were beginning to grow suspicious, since they would sometimes wake up at night and see him getting out of bed and would only be seen in the morning already in the canteen.

Tommy also had developed a workaholic mindset, he hadn't spent a day or hour not learning, his mind not letting him due to the anxiety of a hard test somewhere in the near future. He has read the books so many times he could recite it on his own, he has also developed a 100 step plan to success and so far he's not even halfway through the steps.

Tommy in the first week of being tutored, was nervous around the hero but eventually as the second week cake around he became less and less nervous. The hero wasn't as threatening when sometimes the man would make jokes occasionally, Tommy laughs at some of them. He didn't really expect the hero to have a weird sense of humor, sometimes the hero would talk about his adventures.

Tommy didn't really understand his teacher, since he would notice how the hero would transition from this silly laid back guy to a more serious and cold version of himself in front of others. He wonders if the hero was tricking him, but he couldn't really see any of it being a trick rather than this is what the hero was like out of duty. 

It was one of those nights where Dream was talking about something unrelated, while Tommy was reading his book only half listening to what the hero was talking about. Dream laughed at his own joke and turned to look at the boy, in search of a reaction but was met with Tommy being too invested with his book and turning it into another page to continue his reading.

The hero's smile drops and he snatches the book out of Tommy's hands.

Dream had a cheeky grin spread across his face, Tommy was annoyed but he kept it under control. He looked at the hero in the eyes, his eyes were so unnaturally bright green. Was it always this green? Tommy actually thought about it. He was immediately brought out of his head when the hero snapped his fingers.

"Tommy? Earth to Tommy, are you here?" Tommy broke eye contact with Dream, looking down on the desk and murmured an apology. Dream smiles and gives back his book, "I was just asking you if you wanted to have advanced lessons this week."

"But you weren't listening." Dream mentions. Tommy goes into a panic and apologizes but before he could he was stopped by the hero.

"No need to apologize, I'm only asking." Dream clarifies. Tommy only nodded and thought about the advanced lessons. He could get a foot up on the honor students in class, plus it would be funny to see himself on the number one spot. 

Tommy flips off the honor students, he got all the medals he was Honor 1-10. 

He is massive. 

"Well...If you're asking, I want a 2 week advance on all the lessons." Tommy beams, seeing the hero think about it. 

Dream nods, he looks at the boy and reaches out his hand.

 "Deal."  Tommy shakes his hand. 

 Step 3 of 100 step plan to succeed, Complete! And is now optimized by Advanced Lessons.

The bell rang and it surprised Tommy, he looked at the clock and was shocked to find out it was already time for breakfast.

"It seems like tutoring is over, go and have breakfast." Tommy nods and runs out of the office making sure no student would catch him even near the office door. Dream sat down on his desk and smiled to himself, fixing his hair and fixing up the room.

The canteen was as loud and lively as ever in the morning. All students were getting ready for another day of learning, some weren't really that enthusiastic about it. Tommy and his team were sitting near a window all eating their breakfast happily, except Tubbo. Tubbo eyed Tommy suspiciously, Jack just stared at Tubbo silently questioning Tubbo's strange behavior. Tommy was happily eating his bacon and eggs not noticing his best friend secretly investigating him. 

Tommy was already coming up with a plan in his head for today, with what he should learn and what he should brush up on and he was also planning his future steps mentally. Those advanced lessons will get him somewhere far and he's lucky he's been offered it since Tommy would've asked Dream himself.

Tommy took a sip of his orange juice and Tubbo cleared his throat and spoke. "So...Why do you get up at 3 am every morning?"

Tommy almost spit out his orange juice, he looks at Tubbo who was waiting for an answer. Shit. He knows!? Tommy keeps himself cooled and collected, he cannot let Tubbo figure out the secret between him and Dream. Especially since this would screw with his plans.

Play it cool Tommy, just lie.

"...My bladder acts up at night." Tommy lies, Jack has already lost interest in the topic after that. Tubbo wasn't convinced, shit this will be harder than I thought it would be.

"Then why do you never return to your room? Why do we always see you in the canteen?" Tubbo pushes further. Tommy keeps his cool, Lie. Just lie.

Why does he need to lie? Isn't Tubbo your friend?

Yes, he is but-

Why keep it secret?

Well- I just can't say I've been getting private lessons from the top hero. That would ruin our friendship!

But he's Tubbo, he'd understand wouldn't he?

Tommy, in conflict with himself, decided to lie further. "Well what if I just wanted to be here more earlier, you know how ridiculously long the lines get." Tubbo couldn't argue with that, but something inside him still bothered him.

Is Tommy hiding anything from me? Tubbo only shakes his head, Tommy wouldn't be hiding everything from him after all they were friends. Tubbo was just worried for his friend, he can see Tommy growing eye bags and even though he pretends to be energetic he sees how stressed and tired his friend is. His friend was also always in their room, studying.

It worries Tubbo and maybe even Jack, since they would have to sometimes have to pry him away from the desk to come out even just a small walk around the school. His friend was practically a vampire, he would hiss at sunlight and that concerns Tubbo since he has read a novel about vampires and it was sad.

He had to help his friend! Like a good friend would, that's what his book says anyway.

Thinking of a way to get Tommy out of their room to relax, an idea popped up in his head. He stood up on the table, surprising the other students and even Jack and Tommy themselves.

"I GOT IT THE PERFECT PLAN!" Tubbo screams joyously. It's going to be a good time! He's going to make sure of it! Tommy and Jack look at each other confused with what Tubbo has planned. They tried to ask Tubbo about it but Tubbo refused to, quote on quote "Ruin the fun".

Tommy could only worry, his friend was rather destructive so whatever he had planned would involve a lot of destruction and trouble. Tommy's worrying lasted the whole morning period and he could only tap his feet nervously, while Tubbo was smiling brightly and writing on his notebook that he refuses to let Tommy see. Jack tried to take a peak but was met with a toothy bite, which he luckily evaded.

It was fourth period, until he felt Tubbo poke his side. Tommy wasn't ticklish, he didn't squirm, he was a man. He giggled a bit, but it was a manly giggle.

Tommy stares at Tubbo, who passes him an envelope. His name was written in  clumsy cursive and it had glitter and a smiley face, no wonder Tubbo looked like he just went and did arts and crafts. 

Tubbo sneezed and glitter flew everywhere, he sniffs and smiles. The student in front of him sighs.

"My hair, RUINED." He exclaims dramatically.

Tommy opens the envelope and sees a paper ticket. It was fake and poorly made, but Tommy had no skills in art and crafts so he liked it. Tommy looked at it and held in a laugh when he saw a poorly drawn him and Tubbo holding hands and Jack being really far off from the side, head was on fire.

Best friend Ticket

(One Day Of Fun With Best Friend)

Rules: 

1. We skip school today, no exeptions
2. We go have fun aroond the kingdome, no more stingy old room.
3. SCREW LISSONS BE TREE BROS :DD

4.I got this tip from a book named Wiki-How, in the library.

P.S: Page was called "How to Hang Out With Friends"

P.P.S: Yes, I don't know how to "hang out" Don't gudge :(((

Tommy looks at Tubbo, amused with the ticket he gave him. Tubbo smiles, like an evil genius. He whips out a few self made bombs from his pockets, a dangerous going in his eyes that Tubbo always had when he was ready to commit crimes for fun. He may be dyslexic but he was one smart motherfucker. 

Jack also got a ticket, but it only had a sad face saying "You can join too I guess", Jack was pissed but the two giggled. Now how do they get out of here, they looked at Dream who was currently writing on the board. Tommy was coming up with a plan but Tubbo just chucks a bomb and it causes a smile cloud to form in the classroom, students panicked thinking someone was out to kill them and Dream was caught off guard.

Tommy felt a strong hand grips his arm and Jack felt someone grab his foot and they were immediately taken out of the room. The door let the smoke go out and Tommy, Tubbo and Jack escaped the school.

Students and teachers ran to the room and saw smoke coming out Dream and was coughing out smoke and swiping away the rest from his face. Everyone went out of the room, coughing and smelling like smoke. The teachers all got the students to the nurses office to check for any injuries and to get them to clear their airway, while Dream was followed by concerned teachers ready to assist him.

Dream then notices the number of students he was missing, 3.

People were moving aside as a group of three ran through a large crowd, many people tripped and fell and some even yelled at the boys who ran and destroyed their crates. Some even tried to run after them, but stopped when they were too slippery.

Jack Manifold was running fast not wishing to be caught, "We're going to be in big trouble because of that Tubbo!" He screams in a panic.

"The smoke won't kill em anyway!" Tubbo continued to run as quick as he could, causing Tommy to speed up to not fall face first to the ground.

"Couldn't wait until the end of the school day!?" Tommy said in between breaths, almost tripping from his fast Tubbo was dragging him. 

"Not enough time, plus you'd be busy reviewing anyway!" Tubbo made a point there and the three got themselves purposefully lost in the kingdom. Tubbo eventually slowed down, while his friends were struggling to breathe and were sweating profusely. 

Tubbo let's go of Tommy's arm and turns around with a book in hand. "Now where the hell did you get that from!?" Jack exclaims, huffing and breathing heavily.

"It's a wiki-how book! I'm following it to make sure we have optimal fun while we're out here, lost!" Tubbo twirled around. Jack looked at him like he was a mad man and Tommy was only filled with excitement and this was the first time in weeks that he's been outside to ever really appreciate the kingdom. Houses and walls had the kingdom's flag hanging proudly and were dancing in the wind. Tommy was mesmerized and was amazed by it all.

 "This is what happens when you don't go out and touch grass." Jack remarked, which Tommy kindly ignored.

 "So, Tubbo." Tubbo looks at him, ears flicking curiously. Tommy breathes in and out and closes his eyes. Tubbo stares at him, worried that he might have screwed up. Did he go too far? He knew his friend had some sort of important thing to do, maybe he should've told him first. 

Tommy stood there, thinking about all the work and lessons he needs to catch up on after this; All the things he needs to do in the morning; The hard test that could happen any day now; his plans for the future.

He'll let that all go for now.

  Just for one day, it wouldn't hurt to just forget about my priorities for one day. Right? 

"What should we destroy first?" Tommy asks with a mischievous lilt. He gave a toothy grin at Tubbo's reaction.

Tubbo thought he'd never ask. Tubbo had a Cheshire cat-like grin on his face and he whips out a few bombs, "We bomb the stalls that are clearly scamming us!" Tubbo exclaims loudly in the streets of the huge kingdom. Some were scared, thinking they were some sort of poorly hidden terrorists about to do poorly hidden terrorists crimes.

Tommy, Tubbo and an uneager Jack, set off to do some mischievous acts. Tommy taught Tubbo how to act so they could get a few goods from stores. They changed characters every time, they played poor street kids, rich spoiled kids, two brothers searching for their older brother and even acted as foreign people and they all got the goods they wanted, of course Jack paid for them. They couldn't actually steal, they'd be in trouble and they didn't wanna get kicked from school, they wanted them to struggle with that decision first. 

They went and "stole" Ice cream, together which Jack payed. The rest of the hours consisted of Jack paying all of the things they bought and apologizing to people who were threatened by the two boys with bombs, they also ran away from the authorities.

They get caught by the authorities.

They "break out of their cells". (Really the royal knights just couldn't handle the chaos that was ClingyDuo)

They also tried to scale the wall of the castle after the knights only watched them knowing they weren't really a threat but they did also tell them to never come near the palace ever again.

The three of them were walking around, goody bags in hand. Jack was carrying most of them, Tubbo was holding some of them, Tommy held none. Which Manifold, loudly, complained about. Tubbo walked past a toy store but immediately ran back after seeing a bee plushy, Tommy looked at him and saw him begging Jack to buy one for him.

"No way! I paid for everything plus aren't you rich? I bet you already have like 10 of the cunts!" Jack was trying to get Tubbo off of his leg while he was holding some of the goods they "stole".

"I actually got 12 but I couldn't bring any of them here! PLEAAAASEEE!" Tubbo begged loudly. "No means, no Tubbo." Jack put his foot down. 

"THANKS FOR YOUR PURCHASE!" Screamed the toy maker, as Tommy went out of the store.

"No problem." Tommy answered back, closing the store doors behind him. 

They  both turned heads when they heard Tommy exit the store holding three bee plushies with a huge grin on his face. Jack stared at the bees while Tubbo grabbed one of them and hugged it. 

"Stole some for the three of us." 

Tommy handed one to Jack and Jack said nothing but he hugged it. 

Tommy laughed out loud, the three continued to go around the kingdom on a spending spree and eventually they came across the bakery Tubbo and Jack went to. 

"You're going to love them! They're such sweet people!" Tubbo exclaims, excited to show Tommy the owners of the place.

"I'm sure I will, after all those cupcakes are fucking great." Then the three entered the bakery, the smell of baked goods immediately entering noses. It was cozy and it was very pink. Tommy's eyes burn from the bright pink, Jack had to wear two pairs of Colored Tinted Glasses when his eyes came into contact with the bright pink.

"Just as pink as I remembered!" 

"They are burning my retinas." Tommy rubs his eyes. Then he heard a familiar voice welcome them to the bakery.

"Welcome to Bad's Muffin house! How can I help- TOMMY?" Skeppy exclaims loudly. Badboyhalo came out of the kitchen holding muffins in his hands and his eyes widened when he saw Tommy.

Tommy opened his eyes and saw Bad and Skeppy and was fairly surprised, the three greeted each other like old friends. Tubbo and Jack looked at each other. Tommy took the time to explain that Badboyhalo and Skeppy were in his town before, that they were the places he would usually go to. And steal , but that was left unsaid by both parties.

After an hour or two hanging around in the bakery, the boys got free cupcakes due to them knowing Tommy and would like to give gifts to Tommy's friends. Tommy found it embarrassing, but Tubbo and Jack just laughed it off with Bad and Skeppy.

Tommy cussed a lot after that and Bad screamed language, Skeppy only laughed harder. 

Eventually, the boys went off to follow the next step on the Wiki-How Book. They went to one of the enchanted ponds in a nearby forest and were mesmerized by the way the large pond glowed bright like it was magic. The boy all jumped in with their clothes on and threw bombs at each other, which was dumb, but no one got hurt in the end and they all played hide and seek under water. All three of them would try to drown each other for laughs and sooner or later they didn't notice the sun began to go down and when they saw the skies turning a bright hue of orange, they all got up. 

Shivering from the cold, they dried themselves on the hot grass on a hill where you could see the entire view of the kingdom. They sat there, watching as stars slowly appeared in the sky. It was silent, it was just the three relaxing under the orange sky. Only their breathing could be heard, their wet clothes pressing down on their skin making them shiver from the cold every time wind blew past.

They could almost hear the earth sing.

"You know… I thought you all were kind of cunts at first, but you guys are actually ...mildly okay." Jack broke the silence, Tommy and both Tubbo rolled their eyes but smiled.

"You know, you're mildly okay too Manifold." Tommy didn't see it, but Jack smiled and continued to stare up in the sky.

"I never had friends back then, before all of this happened…" Tubbo admitted, Jack looked at Tubbo in disbelief. "Really, the kid of the Captain himself couldn't get a friend? That sounds ridiculous." Tubbo looked at Jack. "Would you have been my friend, knowing my father was famous?"

Jack nodded, "Well of course, but knowing you now? Probably not." Tubbo laughed at that, even though Tommy took slight offense to that joke.

"... I didn't know what I was doing wrong, I tried my best to and friends but they all flat." Tubbo clutches the book tightly. 

"I read books on how to make friends, but they all avoid me. At first I didn't know why they hated me, but I realized it was because of my horns." Tubbo looked at the sky sadly. Jack and Tommy were silent, not knowing how to joke about it when it was serious

"My father was killed by a Cursed Blood...He adopted me before that happened, people around me blamed me for what happened to him, calling me a bad omen, when- I had no idea what I did."

"Tubbo, none of it was your fault." Tommy placed his hand on Tubbo's shoulder. Tubbo smiled, muttering a small thank you.

"I became an adventurer, since I looked up to my dad." Tubbo smiled and Tommy couldn't help but smile back at his friend. Jack sighs and rubs his eyes.

"Guess it's my turn to open up," Jack sat upright. Tommy looked at Jack and so did Tubbo, "What do you have to open up about?" They asked him.

"I...I'm from a poor family, from one of the poorest farming villages in the country. Me and my brothers were left on our own to run the farm for our late parents." Jack sucks in a breath and Tubbo and Tommy make their way to sit next to him.

"I-I...I wasn't really chosen by Dream." Jack admitted, "I begged him to let me in. My brother and I can't live like that anymore, I just want me and my brother...to get the best life possible." 

"I'm not skilled, I'm not special, but I train to be everyday. I don't want to become an apprentice…"

"I NEED to become an apprentice, for my brother." Jack pulled the grass from the ground and threw it as it flew in the wind. Tubbo comforted Jack and Jack nodded in appreciation.

Tommy suddenly felt horrible, guilt was churning his insides, he felt as if he had betrayed his team. His friends. He was fine knowing he could best the bitch and bitches in class but knowing he had also bested his own team. Hurt a part of him, a part of him that knows these two deserved better.

The other part of him however, reminded him that Dream can only choose one student by the end of their training and that meant…

Many will fail... and Tommy cannot fail. He has gone so far and done so much, he can't fail now. You only get one chance, 

DONT. FAIL. NOW.

"How about you, Tommy?" Tubbo asks. Tommy kept in his tears and looked Tubbo in the eyes, "About what?" Tommy asks.

"Well...what drives you to become one of the big leagues, boss man?" Tubbo looked at him innocently, Tommy looked at him and opened his mouth but nothing came out of his mouth.

 Tubbo's cheery face falters and is replaced with an upset expression. Tommy sees this and sighs, I can't tell him.

"I'm sorry, big man...Maybe another time." Tommy gave his friend a tight smile. Tubbo looked down on the ground. Why can't he tell me… Why do I feel like I barely know him? He's my best friend.

"Okay…" Tubbo quietly says. The sky was darker now, Jack Manifold was the first one to stand up. 

"C'mon...It's getting dark, bet they're already wondering where the missing trio has gone after the "mysterious gas bomb" incident." Jack Manifold joked and walked away from them. Tommy looks at Tubbo and follows Jack from behind. Joking around with him to piss him off, which worked of course

Tubbo stands there for a moment letting the wind hit his skin and it makes him shiver, he sneezes and he follows them back to the building deciding outside wasn't best for three soaked boys.

Chapter Text

The sound of a pen tapping, rhythmically on a desk, throughout the silent classroom fills the ears of the students. The soft ticking of a clock in the room made the students' heartbeat race. 10 minutes left, that's all the time they had left.

Students were slumped into their seats, itching their heads in frustration. The intense heat of the room only made it worse for the students. The test they were given was seemingly impossible to answer, almost all of their pens ceased in writing as they struggled to remember the answers for every question. Their mouths were dry and none muttered a single word for over an hour.

Chewing their own pen and nails, many felt the sweat on their back get worse and worse as if the room was beginning to feel like an oven cooking them alive, as some fanned themselves with their own test papers.

Except for one student.

Tommy's pen never stopped in movement, as if the answers were all something that came to him naturally. He turned page after page, eyes never leaving his paper as he continued to answer the questions effortlessly. Some students were baffled by his speed and some chose to ignore it.

He only continued to write, as if no one was in the room and it was only him and his tutor. His breathing was a lot shorter and his usual loud personality seemingly disappeared, in that very classroom he was a very different person.

He would answer Dream's question without fail, he wouldn't get a single mistake in even the smallest of quizzes, the picture on the wall of him under the bright bold letters of "Honor Student", served as proof of his hard work and his sleepless nights.

Tubbo scratches his head and turns to his friend, who was quite sucked into what they were doing, he looked down to his paper, he noticed that he only had a few items left to answer.

Tubbo turned his attention to Manifold who had been bouncing his leg up and down and quietly sighing while he answered. Jack's eyes were sunken and his brows furrowed, the heat seemingly getting to Jack as he read more and more questions from the piece of paper. Tubbo turned to look at their teacher, who's posture remained cool and serious.

His teacher was cold and unforgiving, this week was elimination week and as of late their teacher would not be so merciful as the first few weeks. The punishments they would go through were as horrifying as he thought it would be, it was either humiliating or something physical. He has seen countless times on how he would treat students who show flaws in their work.

Yet he never fails to surprise Tubbo, when he catches a glimpse of his best friend and their teacher speaking to each other with such friendliness in their tone and actions. The way he acted around Tommy was admittedly strange, he has never seen their Teacher smile but when he's around Tommy he seems to be trying not to break into a smile.

He wouldn't be lying, Tommy being so close to the teacher only caused rumors to spread around the school. Some say, Tommy cheats to get higher marks.

That rumor felt like an insult to Tubbo, he's seen Tommy cry because of how he overworked himself and he's heard his friend say to himself "That it's not good enough." He hates that rumor the most. He's bitten over 20 students who said that to him personally, did they think telling someone so close to Tommy was a good idea?

He refused to believe them, at first. Until he started doubting his friend, he didn't want to. He really believed Tommy achieved this all by himself, due to how hardworking he was but he can't help and think about how Tommy continuously lies. What is he hiding? Tubbo won't be mad, he'd never get mad but his friend refused to say anything and Tubbo wouldn't push further.

Dream was tapping his pen on the desk, following the beat of the clock, observing the students with a watchful eye. He felt shivers go down in his spine, had he not prepared for the test he would be utterly fucked.

Luckily, Tommy was there to help his team with studying, he would always host study groups on the weekends so all three of them could revisit old lessons. Of course, after an hour or two it becomes more of a hangout where they would always go out and eat pastries.

What seemed to be like an eternity, Dream finally announced. "2 minutes left."

Suddenly, a surge of panic overcame the students. The sound of concerned and panicked whispers began to replace the deathly silence of the room, as even more and more students fell into a more desperate state where they had finally decided to fill their papers with answers that they knew weren't right, some having already given up and accepted defeat.

Tommy kept himself composed, he only continued to answer until he filled in the last item. He sat up straight and took in a deep breath, exhaustion washing over his entire body. Dream stood up from his seat, after a minute had passed. He began walking row to row, pulling away their tests from their seats.

Some even tried to pull it away from Dream, begging with a weak voice, that they were not finished. They were only met with a cold stare from their teacher's porcelain mask, the sound of paper tearing made every student tense and gasp from shock.

The poor girl only looked at her paper, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, as it was thrown carelessly onto the floor. Dream stood there, before leaving the girl to cry on her desk as every student began to feel their heart pound harder and palms began to grow sweaty.

"When I say, this test was important, I meant it." He says in an awfully cold tone, as he went to another row of students. Hands shaking from fear, they handed their papers out to the Hero.

Dream checked each page, before ripping it apart and putting it down on the table. "This will decide whether you stay, or go back home. Do not pass me test papers with no answers."

Tubbo could only swallow dry air as his throat began to tighten. Panicked thoughts invading his mind and his breathing hitched every second. Tommy held his hand and gave him a comforting smile, reassuring Tubbo that he was fine. Tubbo smiles at Tommy, he felt another hand hold his free hand and looked at Jack. Jack's panic was evident on his face as sweat dripped down. The three boys only tightened their grip on each other as the hero came to their row, he silently picked up their tests and stared at it.

Tubbo felt the hairs of his arm raise up as his shoes tapped the floor, Jack gripped Tubbos hands tighter, shaking and sweating profusely while Tommy wore a shaky smile.

Dream smiled under the mask, he looked at the three boys, "Another job well done." He pats Tommy's shoulder and continues to walk towards the other rows.

The bell rang, all the students from every classroom rushed out of their classrooms either crying or yelling and jumping in the hallways. The hallways had been filled with so much noise that student councils were forced to send anyone causing a ruckus to detention.

It had been a rough two months and this was the anticipated test all students have been studying for, Tommy was the one who anticipated and feared it the most. Dream didn't give him the same test as the others had been given, it was a personalized test by Dream himself, all the questions were harder to answer but Tommy's hard work paid off.

The tension leaving his body, his shoulders slumped forward. Tubbo was right beside him and so was Jack, all three of them gave each other a weak high five.

"That all nighter paid off!" Tubbo jumps gleefully, a grin plastered onto his face.

Jack rubs his eyes and adjusts his tinted glasses, "Yeah and now I'm tired." He yawns, Tommy nodded in agreement.

"That fucking test...BECAME OUR BITCH BOYS!" Tommy shouts in celebration. Tubbo and Jack shouts along with him, making random noises with Tommy as they walk along the hallway.

Tommy and Jack may not agree on many things, but at this moment. He agrees. The students outside kept on celebrating their success, some launched themselves into the air, while the three boys sunk into the floor.

"We did it. We passed the test, now we can do physical training." Tommy sighs in relief. He has pulled it off, he mentally pats himself on the back.

Tommy had been a lot more advanced than his classmates, he had already been on physical training since last month.

Wait 'till Sam hears this, oh he's going to freak out! Tommy smiles at himself, he and his team were walking until he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Tubbo and Jack continued to walk without him, not noticing Tommy was no longer with them.

"Tommy! Congratulations on the test!" A smile was evident in Dream's voice.

Tommy turns around to face his tutor with a confident grin, "Of course big man! I say, I was expecting something a lot harder than that."

The man cocked his head sideways, almost surprised at the boy's confidence.

"Are you saying that it was easy?" Dream smirks under the mask. Tommy straightens up, realizing he might have screwed himself over.

"I-I mean it's not like it wasn't hard!" Tommy trips over his words, which only makes Dream chuckle further.

God dammit Tommy, you heard him chuckle before. Calm the fuck down.

He fakes a chuckle while staring at Dream with uncertainty, who only continued to try and tone his laughter down.

As the two walked, Tubbo rubbed away the trickle of sleepy tears from his eyes, "We should go celebrate and get some cupcakes from Bad!"

"Yeah! Boys, let's go and celebrate!" Jack screams enthusiastically.

"Yeah! Hey boss man, what do you want?"
Tubbo turns around and looks at- Tommy?

His smile dropped, he immediately scanned the area for his friend and saw Tommy was with Dream.

Dream was chattering Tommy at the moment and they both looked like they were having an enjoyable conversation with each other.

He looked at them from afar, Jack snapped his fingers between Tubbo's eyes but he remained unresponsive.

"Tubz, hello? Are you there?" Jack shakes Tubbo, but his gaze hasn't left Dream and Tommy. Jack sighs and pulls out a cookie, the ram boy quickly turns around and snatches the cookie from Jack's hands. He ate it as quick as he got it, the only evidence the cookie was even real was spread all over Tubbo's cheeks.

"Now, tell me what you're looking at."

Tubbo points towards Dream and Tommy talking, Jack raises his brow at Tubbo questioningly.

"What about them is so interesting? I mean I understand Dream, but what about Tommy?"

"Like it's weird isn't it? How often they speak to each other" Tubbo speculates, observing the two.

Jack sighs, "What is with you and all the rumors surrounding him? You know they're all just jealous whispers right?."

"You don't get it, Jack. There's definitely something more." Tubbo's voice raises onto an uncomfortable level.

"Tubbo, I don't think it's any of our business to barge into people's-"

"Something's going on with those two and I'm not the only one thinking that!" Tubbo says out loud. The hallways suddenly went quiet, and small whispers began to grow audible in the crowd of students.

Jack hurriedly closes Tubbos mouth and sees Dream and Tommy turn their attention to them both. Everyone in the hallway turns to look at them, Jack awkwardly shuffles away with Tubbo and goes to the janitor's closet downstairs.

Dream looks at Tommy with one brow raised, "Is your team alright?"

"Yeah...I don't know what happened though. I'll go check on them." Tommy follows the two silently as the hallways slowly begin making noise again.

Jack sighs and locks the door behind them. After doing so, he turned his attention to Tubbo who was glaring holes at him.

"I get it, Tommy's your best friend."

Even though you guys only met like 2 and a half months ago.

"But he doesn't need to tell you everything." Jack calmly explains.

"He has his own life and you have yours Tubbo." Jack tries to explain to the ram boy.

Tubbo looks down on the ground, clenching his bag tightly.

"I know that Jack, I've read that chapter in the book Wiki-How." He pulls out the book from his bag and Jack just stays silent.

"I just don't get what he's hiding from me, from us!" Tubbo sighs and gently places the book back in his bag.

"He's always tired." Tubbo pauses,

"I-I just want to help him, but I can't do that if I don't know what he's hiding." Tubbo looks up from the ground, desperate eyes locking with Jack's own.

"That's why I need your help, Jack!"

"Me?" Jack points at himself. He didn't think Tubbo would ever ask him for his help, there's a first for everything.

Tubbo rolls his eyes and sighs, "Yes, I need you for this Manifold."

Jack grinned widely at Tubbo, "Then don't worry Tubbo, the Great Manifold will do his absolute best at- what are we going to do?" Jack asks, slowly Tubbo gives the signature chaotic grin that he does when he wants to do something mischievous. Jack gulped at the mere sight. "Spy on Tommy!" Tubbo clarifies, with a toothy grin and a crazed look in his eyes.

Before Jack could even respond, they both jumped in surprise when they heard the door knock.

"Hey guys are you okay?" Tommy asks through the door, trying to pry it open from the outside. Tubbo and Jack looked at each other and nodded, "Yeah! We're fine boss man!" Tubbo replies.

"Well, come out then!"

Not long after, they went out of the closet and Tubbo struggled to hide his grin from Tommy, who looked at Jack who only repainted to him with a shrug.

Tommy's head filled with questions, elected to ignore the two's strange behavior. "Well, I'll be going now…" Tommy began walking away, only taking a quick glance back at them before heading to the library.

"Those two are acting strange." He says to himself as he only continues to walk towards his destination.

Do they know?

No. Of course not, Tommy's made sure he was careful at least that's what he thought. Hiding it from them was difficult, after all they began questioning him about his whereabouts at night, which he explains that he sometimes goes out to study in the library.

His friends did not buy that lie after a while, due to that, Tommy decides to study in their room to avoid more suspicion. Tubbo at first didn't mind it, believing Tommy. As time went on, he became more and more worried.

Tommy would not have enough energy for them to hang out at times, sometimes Tommy would snap at them because of how tired he was. Gladly, It only seemed to bother Tubbo, Jack didn't show any signs of worry. Tommy was happy to know Jack didn't care yet he frowned at the thought of Jack not caring.

Sometimes, Tommy would pretend to be energetic just for Tubbo but that doesn't work as much since Tubbo would sometimes stop to stare at him from time to time, even if he tries. Tubbo will find out sooner or later.

He feels his stomach churn at the amount of lies he's told to try and worry them less while also keeping his secret, he feels the guilt spread throughout his entire body like venom poisoning his entire being.

They weren't buying any of his excuses anymore, after a month. Tubbo looked tired almost as if he knew. Of course he knew, he's way too smart. Yet, Tubbo accepts the poorly crafted lie, as if he knew searching for the truth wouldn't be a viable option.

His heart tightened at the thought, he shakes his head pushing the image of his friend, looking almost disappointed, to the very back of his head. He has other matters to attend to, he will tell them when the time is right.

Right?

Jack regrets helping Tubbo, They followed Tommy the whole day and nothing excruciatingly suspicious happened. All Jack felt was the feeling of regret and questioning why he even hangs out with Tubbo.

Tommy the whole day felt like he was being followed and watched but he never saw who, he must have fans. Unbeknownst to him, A matchstick and a wild animal was following him around, they hissed at students who dared question their sanity. They were just worried for their leader, their friend to see if he was okay.

Both of them were hiding in a bush, spying on their friend who was reading a book near the fountain. It has been one hour and Tommy hasn't done anything else, Tubbo had been intensely staring at Tommy the entire time while Jack was annoyed by this whole ordeal.

"Tubbo, he's not hiding anything from you. He hasn't done anything suspicious the whole day!" Jack loudly whispers, who was only shushed by Tubbo.

"Tubbo, this is borderline illegal, we can't just spy on him the whole day." Jack argues.

"Yes we can, since I say so." Tubbo replies, Jack was about to complain until the crunching of leaves beneath multiple people's feet made him close his mouth.

"Hey, Tommy!" An unfamiliar male voice greeted Tommy. Tubbo and Jack looked over the bush and saw multiple students standing over Tommy, who looked up from his book and smiled.

"Hey Eryn, what are you all up to?" Tommy asks the group in front of him, smiling softly at the sight of all of them. Tubbo continued to stare, looking up to 'Eryn'.

"Oh you know, the usual, we were wondering if you're available to hang with us for a bit." Eryn offers.

Tommy puts down his book to his side and thinks.

Who are they?

Tommy's new friends?

Tommy knows them?

Am I being replaced?

That's ridiculous, don't think like that Tubbo. He shook his head, Tommy wouldn't do that, Tommy and him always hang out.

Tubbo continues to watch, he clutches the grass beneath his feet. Jack continues to watch the scenario.

Please say no.

Hang out with us instead.

Please, Tommy.

Please Stay.

"I guess, I am at the moment." Tommy smiles at Eryn. Tubbo stopped watching the interaction and notices he's been pulling out grass patches from the ground he was sitting on.

"That's great, come on let's go! There's this ice cream shop I've been dying to go to!" He offers out his hand, Tommy accepts and let's Eryn and the group of other students drag him there.

"Ice cream? Holy shit! I'll fucking eat the entire store's supply then!" Tommy laughed as distant laughter soon came after. Tubbo slowly stood up from the bush and Jack followed the motion.

"Huh, guess Tommy was hiding something...sort of?" Jack says with uncertainty in his voice.

Jack dusts himself as he begins to walk away from the bush. He crosses his arm and huffs.

"Well since that's over, let's go and-..." Jack stops on his tracks, he looks at Tubbo who looked almost frozen in place, staring blankly on the ground.

Jack held Tubbo's shoulder, "Hey…" He spoke softly. Tubbo looks up at him, a frown replacing his chaotic grin. Jack sighs and holds Tubbo close, "Let's go celebrate." Tubbo gave a small nod, having lost the peppy energy he had moments ago.

They make their way towards the Bad's Muffin House. A soft bell chimes as they enter the establishment, their nose makes contact with the freshly baked smell that the bakery usually

They quietly ordered and Bad went to go bake them, Jack paying for the desserts while Tubbo laid his head down on the table, looking outside the window. The only sound that could be heard was breathing and the warm aura of Bad's bakery wasn't enough to help Tubbo feel warm.

Jack looks troubled, not knowing how to help the Ram Boy. Moments ago he was smiling and now he was awfully silent and cold, Jack curses under his breath.

"So… What,uh, happened back there?"

"Nothing." Tubbo crosses his arms, looking out the window. Jack stopped there, silence washing over the both of them again. Tubbo shivered and tears pricked his eyes he wrapped his arms around his legs, hugging himself. He looked at himself in the reflection of the glass.

He was only 5 when he was adopted by the Captain, his father, known as the hero of the seas and the skies. His father was a kind man, his heart was filled with kindness and generosity, he loved his father like all of his adoring fans. The difference between his adoring fans and him was that he was the Captain's pride and joy. Mother thought otherwise, but the warmth of his father's love never ceased to make him forget that the world was cruel.

That the world his father was saving him from was a cruel unforgiving mistress to people like him. Even as a young child, he knew his kind was feared and looked down upon and he was surely to be ridiculed by society, or worse, killed by the law.

One faithful day, his father was off to another mission. He was crying in front of his father. Tubbo sniffled, as his father wiped away his tears and chuckled softly.

"C-come b-back home okay…" He manages to say between sobs. His father held out his pinky and Tubbo placed his small pinky next to his father's. His hands were small and soft compared to his father's, which was calloused and rough.

"I promise, I'll come back." His father says in the tone that Tubbo so vaguely remembers, that voice always helped Tubbo calm down.

He lost that voice.

At the age of 8, he cried in front of his father's grave, the cold rain soaking him wet from head to toe. He screamed at the grave, "You promised!"

The mud stains his clothes and face, his tears rushing down his cheeks as anguished screams left his mouth. He was pulled away from his father's grave, he kicked and screamed refusing to be apart from his father.

Millions upon millions of people grieved his father's death. Yet none can ever compare to his grief, for he was the son of the Captain. At the age of 8, the world he knew fell apart and the cruel world his father desperately shielded him from had come sooner than expected.

The cause of his father's death was unknown. No traces of his ship, no survivors, all they ever recovered was the Captain's hat. Some speculate it was a cursed blood attack, and others clung onto that reason with no hesitation.

The mission he was sent on was shrouded in mystery and Lion's Den refused to talk about his father and the mission he was sent on.

Sooner or later, the people who grieved the death of his father began blaming him for the Captain's death. His mother was the first one to do so, she shouted and ridiculed him and never failed to make his life miserable. He struggled to make friends back at his place, everyone who saw him was disgusted, angry and or afraid.

To the point where he kept himself company. Alone in the Library, his father has given him.

Alone, That feeling...Tubbo is haunted by it.

"Your orders are ready!" Bad's gentle voice, announces. Tubbo is snapped out of his trance, he watches as the demon places down their cupcakes. A cute pink bear and bee themed cupcakes were placed down in front of them.

"Oh fucking finally, I'm fucking starving." Jack takes a bite and melts from the taste.

Badboyhalo calmly said, "Language"

Tubbo stared at his cupcake, not having any appetite to eat it. This caught Bad's attention and he looked at the boy's eyes filled with concern. "Is the cupcake not good?"

Tubbo shook his head, "Oh! No no! It's good, I just-"

"He's just jealous that Tommy went and hung out with a couple of new friends." Jack says in between bites. Tubbo's cheek flushes red and he slams his hand on the table, "I-I am not jealous!"

Bad laughs and Tubbo buries himself in his sweater. "I mean, it's kind of obvious Tubbo." Jack licks off the rest of the frosting away from his fingertips.

"You just don't like the idea of Tommy having more than one friend."

"You're his friend too!" Tubbo yells at Jack.

"Friend?" Jack scoffs, "I'm his rival, we're not friends."

Everyone in class were practically rivals, they all hung around with each other to exploit their weaknesses to get into the top to impress Dream and be more likely chosen. Jack saw Tommy as competition, ever since Jack got second honor.

He swears, he doesn't enjoy a single moment with these people. He totally doesn't give a crap about them, he totally doesn't like hanging out with them in their free time.

HE DOESN'T.

Tubbo sinks into his seat. He seemed so small at the moment, he shrunk and continued to hide his reddened face.

"What's his name?" Bad asks, his curiosity peaked.

"Eryn? Tommy seems to know him." Jack replies. Bad looked happy at the response and smiled, "Oh, Eryn! He came from the same town Tommy lives, he comes by here often with Tommy recently."

Often? Tubbo buried his thoughts deep into his mind, he cannot let himself spiral not in the middle of a conversation. Yet the question lingers in the back of his mind.

When did he start?

How long has it been?

How come I never knew about Eryn?

I'm Tommy's best friend, Aren't I?

Is Eryn better than me?

"You know, if you're jealous, which I'm sure you're not." Bad quickly adds, before Tubbo could argue. Tubbo shut his mouth, he poked his head out of his sweater and stared into the man's eyes.

"Maybe you should get to know Eryn. That might help you, or you could talk this out with Tommy." Bad advice.

Tubbo thought about it. He can try and get to know Eryn, telling Tommy is a big NO OPTION.

Tubbo cannot lose him because of this. Tommy, out of everyone in Tubbo's life who turned him away, was the closest he'll ever get to feeling the love of his father again.

Tommy's one of a kind, in the ocean of best friend's for Tubbo and he's never risking that over a petty argument.

Leaving Tubbo with only one option, He shoves aside the cupcake and puts down his WikiHow book on the table. The clattering of plates soon follows and a line of curses are heard in the kitchen. "Kindly, excuse me." Bad does a small bow, before turning his heel and leaving the two boys to check on what was happening in the kitchen.

Tubbo sets aside some of the papers he had about Jack and Tommy on the table, Jack takes it from the table and reads through the paper. "What the hell...Tubbo what the fuck is this?" Jack turns the paper to Tubbo, who only looked at him with false innocence.

"Notes on my friend's!" Tubbo quickly snatches the paper out of his hands, returning it back to the pile of paper he has settled down on the table.

"That's so fucking creepy." Jack commented, which Tubbo ignored. He wrote on a piece of paper, while eating the cupcake he was given. The frosting melted into his mouth and he could taste the filling, covering his entire tongue. Drawing a portrait of Eryn, he wrote down his name above the clumsily drawn picture and left a few other pieces of information blank. Jack looked and felt rather perturbed by the sight. Tubbo only continued to write

Tommy came back to an empty and quiet room. He looks around the room, their beds were still the same mess they left it as this morning, meaning no one's been here as of late. He sets down his books on his desk, wondering where his teammates went. He took the liberty of fixing up their room while the two were nowhere to be found, it didn't take very long since they had very little things in their room.

Looking at the clock on their wall, Tommy sighs. He takes a seat near the window of their room, the sight of the streets outside their room served as entertainment for Tommy. He watches as a few people pass by the school, some being students.

He settles his head down the cold glass pane, his breath fogging the glass. He wipes it with his sleeves, he stares blankly at the outside world. Slowly getting lost in the own crevices of his mind, he has very few moments where he felt his studies were light enough to ignore for a brief moment. The reflection showed the bags under his eyes, Tommy stared at it for a long time. When did they start forming? He doesn't know.

How long had he been worrying about everything, about his friends and about his studies.

His friends worried him most. What will happen when the time comes, where Dream chooses.

Will they still be friends? Will they ever have contact with each other ever again after it? Will they all hate him, as soon as they figure out what he's been hiding from them?

Most likely. Tommy knows the way his teacher treats him compared to others was unfair. Was he cheating? Yes, Why else would he lie to his friends if he wasn't.

Other's would've done the exact same thing as you did, if given the opportunity.

Tommy tries to convince himself, since he was right wasn't he? Tubbo and Jack would've done the exact same thing if their teacher offered help.

Tommy glares at his reflection, clutching the wooden stool beneath him. He gritted his teeth, the help Tommy was getting though, was way too much and at many moments, unnecessary.

He felt as if he exploited his Teacher's kindness. He was getting all of these items from his teacher, all because of his hard work.

I don't deserve any of this.

Yes I do.

He's worked for it, done everything, read every book, sacrificed his sleep, left his father and even made his friends worry.

He deserved this.

Then why does he feel like he's drowning everytime he remembers. He never really keeps them around either, he always sends it to Sam to sell so he would never see them. They only serve to make him feel guilt. No one in his class is ever treated like this by their teacher.

This isn't fair.

Nothing's fair.

You don't deserve this.

I worked for this.

Other's deserve this better than you.

Dream can only choose one, it's either you take the fall or they do.

Tommy holds himself as he feels his body drop in temperature, his eyelids no longer wanting to stay open. He shivers, who knew the chase for success would be this hard. He laughs at himself, head pressing further into the glass.

I'm pathetic.

The door slams open, a cheery ram boy skips his way into the room with a half asleep Jack walking from behind. Tommy jolts from his seat, he turns to look at his teammates and his shoulders drop.

"Where were you guys? I haven't seen you guys all day." Tommy asks. He's been searching for them around famous places in the school and found no trace of them until now.

"Oh, you know...around." Tubbo answers, quite vaguely. Jack took off his shoes and landed face first into his pillows, his bed warm and he sank further into the cushions. "Yeah, we were practically everywhere because of Tubbo." Jack sighs exasperation in his voice.

"How about you, where have you been?" Tubbo kindly asks his friend, he wanted to know if Tommy would lie about Eryn after all it was one of the things he kept hidden from him for a while now. Tommy looks at him and smiles.

"Oh I've been hanging out with Eryn, maybe I should introduce you both soon. He's very cool, bought me ice cream and shit."

Tubbo looked shocked, Tommy didn't understand why but Tubbos shocked expression changed to something Tommy can't quite figure out. Tubbo doesn't get it, isn't this what Tommy was hiding from them? Why is he saying it so easily, or was there even a secret at all? Was Tubbo...

Was he being a bad friend?

Tubbo needed to know.

"Did you...have a lot of fun with him?" He asks slowly, unsure and because he needed to know. He doesn't know why he needed to know, his mind has been eating him alive, was Erin better?

He silently hoped that Tommy would say that he had a horrible experience with him, that he would rather prefer him and Jack's company. That they were enough for him.

That he was enough for Tommy.

Tommy nods cheerfully, "Yeah, me and him? Practically brothers." Tubbo didn't respond, Tommy expected one but nothing came from the hybrid's mouth.

It was like everyone's gone mute and that the world made no sound, it was cold and it felt like an anvil was placed upon everyone's shoulder.

He stares at Tubbo, who looked like he was shot and was bleeding out. Tubbo wore an expression Tommy has never seen him wear before. It made Tommy's hair stand up, like he said something wrong but Tommy doesn't know what.
Tubbo felt as if he were stabbed, like someone twisting the sharp edge on the back of Tubbo's mind. He didn't know, nor did he understand what he was feeling. Tommy's clueless expression only made Tubbo feel worse about what he was feeling.

Am I being a bad friend? Good friends don't feel jealous; they're not supposed to be. Jealous.

Tubbo grits his teeth as both of them continue to stare each other down. Jack immediately shot up from his bed which made Tommy jump, he looked away from Tubbo's eyes and looked at Jack who approached both of them.

"Okay, let's just head to bed already." Jack grabs Tubbo by the shoulders, Tubbo blankly stares at Tommy. Tommy found this odd, Tubbo had never let Manifold assist him to bed in fact he expected him to bite or disagree or even cause an explosion. Yet, Tubbo didn't do any of that; instead he followed Jack's orders and immediately went to bed.

Tommy felt something off about Tubbo, yet he didn't speak out his thoughts. Instead he quietly and slowly makes his way to his comforting bed, he lays there looking at Tubbo for a moment before turning to his side to face the wall and pulling the blankets closer to him.

"Good night Tubbo." Tommy receives no reply, he sighs and closes his eyes shut until he finally drifts into sleep. Jack soon followed after, while Tubbo remained awake. An hour had passed by and all the students were already asleep. Tubbo,after what seemed to be like eternity, he turned to look at Tommy. His back was turned and his breathing was steady and relaxed. He was asleep. He slowly turns to lay on his back and proceeds to blankly stare at the ceiling, he feels cold even with the warm blankets.

Am I losing Tommy? Is all he wonders, before drifting into sleep like the others. His eyes are no longer capable of keeping themselves wide open.

Chapter Text

In the woods, at dawn, the clashing of swords can be heard echoing throughout. Birds sang their morning song, the animals of the forest emerged from their holes and began their day of scavenging.

A pair of voices were echoing deep into the forest. One of the voices belonged to Dream, his voice stern and steady. He held a sword on his right hand and kept the other hidden behind his back, dodging and blocking the attacks of his student. He moved with ease, shifting his feet and dodging deadly blows that could kill an untrained individual.

"Aim higher." Dream advised, which in return, Tommy followed and aimed for his teacher's throat with the sharp edge of the sword.

Dream quickly parry's it and moves away, he manages to hit his student on the chest with the end of the sword. He sent the boy to the ground, coughing. Tommy gasps for air, feeling the hit form a bruise on his chest. 

His eyes were tightly shut, as he took the time to register the amount of pain he's gone through for the past hour. Bruises were forming all around his body and it was becoming difficult to perform very well when he barely slept at all, most of the time he didn't. 

It's been 2 weeks into physical training for the whole class but Tommy got a 2 week advancement on all the lessons. Everyday it gets harder and he asked his Tutor to not hold back in those days. He felt the strain of his muscles and knew if he stood up his knees would belt.

Dream struggled to keep himself in character as he saw the boy's face scrunch up, cringing at the areas of where Dream had hit him. He drops down his sword and hesitantly reaches out his hand, before pulling back and putting it back to his side. Tommy coughed violently and he quickly drank the water he kept nearby, the water went down his throat refreshing it sending a soothing feeling throughout his body.

The boy laid there on the ground, breathing heavily. Tommy laid there for a moment longer before turning to face the sky above him, birds flew in the sky as the sky became more and more blue and the sun peeked through the leaves of the trees from above. Dream sat on a stump of an old fallen tree and looked at the boy who  continued to relax on the ground, a comforting silence washed over them. As they say there for what seemed like ages, Dream began.

"You've progressed a lot,"  Dream complimented. Tommy sat up, using his arms to support himself carefully and turned to look at his teacher. 

"Well, not much of a surprise when you're being taught by the man himself." He sat up straight, fixing his posture and stretching, feeling a few bones pop and jolting in pain and hissing.

Dream looks at him with warmth in his eyes and smiles, "I've seen you practice with your team as of late, how is it?" He questions, though the smile on his face dropped when he saw the boy frown at the question.

"It's been... Tubbo hasn't talked to me lately and is avoiding me." Tommy vented, his eyes turning to look at the ground. He wanted to know what's upsetting Tubbo, but Tubbo won't speak to him or sometimes would just stare at him with pained eyes.

Does Tubbo hate me? He thought to himself quietly, he sighs heavily. "...aside from that, they're actually doing quite well! I'm glad I can at least help my team a bit." 

Dream mutters a small "oh", feeling guilty  that the training has been leaving bruises on his student and is forced to hide it. "I could ease up the training, I forget that not everyone can work as much as I can." He laughed, scratching his head.

"I'm… different." Dream hesitated to answer. 

Tommy only nods, managing a small smile to form on his lips, "Yeah, not many can work like you." 

"I think they're finding out about this whole Tutoring thing." He answers to his teacher. Dream looked at him with a raised brow.

"It's just getting more and more difficult to hide the bruises from them."

"Have you not told them?" Dream asks, his voice having mild disbelief. His student merely shrunk at the words, he looked at the ground beneath him.

"I haven't. I mean if I do, then the entire class will disregard all my achievements and say that you've just been giving me passing grades for free." He sighs and pinches his temple.

"No one would hang around someone who's... a failure ." Tommy whispers, silently. Cheeks turning red from embarrassment, he bit his tongue and cursed at himself. Because he was right, no one would like him if he wasn't the successful person people saw him as.

Dream hums and nods, he looks at his student in the eyes and smiles, sympathetically. "I understand your struggle." Dream admits. Tommy forgot all of his pain at that moment, he sat up completely ignoring the pain that came with it after.

"Wait. What?" Tommy baffled, looking at his teacher with wide eyes. Dream looked back at his student with a tight smile. "I actually went to this school, and obviously I had a team." He explains, pausing only to see his student sitting down in front of him and looking at him with genuine curiosity.

"I performed very well and so did my team. I was disciplined, I met every requirement. Me and my team graduated together and went to find a job and travel together" He continues. Dream vaguely hears the old laughter of his old teammates, he breathed in the fresh morning air before releasing it.

"Well if you had them, where are they now?" Tommy asks, innocently and so childlike. Tommy did not realize the weight that question holds for his Teacher, for a moment Dream hesitated to answer.

Dream closes his eyes and exhales loudly, "Not here with me anymore." He replied, eyes remaining closed. Tommy's curiosity flared, what were their names, what happened, why did it happen and how? Yet he kept his mouth tightly shut. 

He did not want to upset his teacher, after all Dream looked like he had revisited an old battlefield where he lost everything and everyone he ever knew. Like his teacher was staring down a huge dark pit.

"For a while, we were friends." He added. Smiling at distant memories of the past, he often revisited them to find peace within his own mind. When work became his only purpose, he found rest in those memories.

We're going to be together, right?

Dream thought about what he was going to say, looking at his student and to somewhere distant. "Due to me having… an advantage in the team; I left to pursue my goals. 6 months of hard work and I rose to success quite easily after." He explains.

Tommy wonders what his teacher meant about him having the advantage, did Dream find himself a teacher who taught him things that couldn't be taught in school? He wouldn't know. Dream looked like he was wording himself carefully, not wanting to slip up one bit.

"They weren't too happy with my achievements, they claimed I abandoned them." He opens his eyes to glare at the sky, they are sour and painful memories. The word abandoned, tasted bitter in his mouth as he spat the word with such anger.

"Do you... regret it?" Tommy nervously inquired. Dream felt the playful jabs on his shoulder, he heard their laughter in the woods somewhere running around happily waving makeshift swords and felt his heart tighten at the memory of them being there, altogether, and smiling .

"No." Dream answers.

Tommy musters out a small "okay", wishing he hadn't asked that question. Dream quickly moved on, changing the subject quickly.

"You don't need to tell them, if you don't want to. After all," Dream stood from the stump and grabbed his sword. Tommy watches him as he offers his hand to help Tommy up.

"It's best to not destroy such a tight bond over this." He finishes, with a sad smile plastered on his face. Tommy looks at his hand and takes it, Dream pulls him up and dusts him.

Tommy stood there holding the man's hand, Dream looked at him and smirked. "Do you plan on letting go?" The boy immediately pulls his hand away, Dream chuckles and pats Tommy's head. "Go and get breakfast. We are done for today." 

Tommy grinned and pats the man's back. "Aight big man, thanks for the help!" After that, he quickly ran off. Dream shook his head fondly, he picked up their swords and made his way to the school. 

As Tommy ran, he thought about what Dream said. I don't need to tell them, he repeats it in his head like a broken record. He slowed down for a moment feeling the pain on his entire body, he shouldn't have ran. His body was screaming, he doesn't know if he'll last a whole day without his body giving out. He walks out of the forest, trying to recover as quickly as he can.

He slowly reached the school gates and quickly ran through them, he saw students walking around and made his way to the cafeteria. He quickly grabbed his tray, french toast and eggs were today's breakfast with bacon on the side. He took a quick scan of the area and saw the familiar bald head and pair of horns nearby, he relaxed himself and walked towards the table with a fake grin on his face. 

Pretend you're not hurting, they don't need

to know. He reminds himself as he got closer, he sat nearby Jack.

"Heya fellas!" He greeted them. Jack looked up from his plate and nodded while Tubbo made no reaction and poked his breakfast. Tommy felt his confidence smile falter but pulled it back up after noticing, he smiled sadly at Tubbo who didn't even bother to look up at him.

"Morning,Tubbo. Slept well?" He asks his friend. Tubbo had no energy to respond and poked his breakfast. Tommy sighs and eats his breakfast.

Tubbo doesn't want to talk to you anymore , his mind thought which he tries to shake off. 

You're being a bad friend, Tommy

I just don't want to ruin my friendship with them, I can't tell them.

I can't tell them.

No matter how much I want to, I can't. 

I'm afraid of losing what I have with them all because I "cheated".

Tommy has buried himself in lies, he's afraid of losing his friends he doesn't want to lose them. He can't lose them, he loves and cares about them. Yes, he cares about Manifold, too. He doesn't want them to worry about him, so he doesn't tell them about the bruises all around his body and he doesn't need to tell them the reason why there are bags under his eyes.

He doesn't want to show them the weaker side of himself to them, they'd laugh at him for it . They'd be ashamed to know the Tommy they know, was just a failure trying not to fail yet again.

They'd stop being my friends if I'm not successful.

No they won't.

Yes they will.

His mind was like a battlefield, not knowing what to believe and what to do. He took a huge bite from his breakfast, feeling the crunch to take his mind off of his problems and into something less emotionally draining.

"Where were you at?" Jack asks, trying to lighten the mood. Tommy smiles at the question, before he could answer Tubbo beat him to it.

"Probably with his new team." Tubbo's tone sounded bitter, screaming at himself internally for answering. Tommy looks at him, Tubbo only looks down on his tray not wishing to see his friend's expression.

Come on, deny it.

Please.

Tubbo silently begged, but Tommy did not answer. Tommy stayed silent looking at Tubbo, with eyes that hurt Tubbo's soul. 

He waited for a reply but he got nothing, Tubbo felt his heart break then and there but he stayed silent about it. Jack looked between the two of them and finished his breakfast without making any more noise.

The three went to practice silently, they met up with their fellow classmates and watched as Dream started the lesson. Tommy stood and watched in the crowd, Tubbo sat down on the grass and plucked out small strands of grass from the ground. Jack Manifold observed closely.

The sound of swords against each other filled the ears of the students, some of them covered their ears at the awful sound and some silently cheered for the two training in the very middle of a very open area in the school.

The two students currently training were Eryn and Bitzel, Tommy smiles as he watches them train. "WOOH! POP OFF!" Tommy screams encouragement. Eryn and Bitzel both cracked a smile at each other and continued to fight until one of them fell to the ground.

The training continued as well as Tommy's cheering, Tubbo looked up to see his best friend smiling and cheering. Tubbo felt like if he stared any longer, his horns would grow sharper and longer. As the match ends, Eryn wins and Dream looks at the crowd of students. 

"Who would like to train next?" 

Many hands shot up in the air, wishing to face Eryn. Everyone except Tubbo, who was too concentrated on Tommy. Dream notices this, he walks near the boy and taps his shoulder lightly. Tubbo snaps his head up making eye contact with the masked man in front of him, he swallows a small yell. Not wishing to panic in front of their teacher, "Tubbo, you'll be up against Eryn." Dream announces.

Tubbo looked up at his teacher and then to Eryn who waved at him with a smile on his face. Tubbo glared at Eryn which catches Eryn off guard, Eryn looks around nervously as if he wasn't sure if Tubbo was glaring at someone behind him. Tubbo's done his research on Eryn, he knew almost everything about him without talking to him all thanks to Tommy. Tommy talked about Eryn, fondly and that fueled Tubbo's anger.

He stood up from the ground, Tommy glanced at him and Eryn. He happily cheers on Eryn and his Teammate, "Kick each other's asses!" He screams loudly.

Tubbo will be the one who'll enjoy this the most, he cracks his neck and knuckles shifting his feet with the sword in hand. Eryn simply stretches and gives Tubbo a friendly smile, which Tubbo returns with a toothy scowl. 

Dream looks at his two students, he raises his arm. "You may begin." He drops his arm down to his side, before anyone knew it Tubbo lunged at Eryn with his sword with the intent to stab him. Eryn quickly parry's, he pushes Tubbo to the side and fixes his grip on the sword.

Tubbo circled around him, careful and calculated. Tommy watches as he cheers Eryn on, "C'mon, Eryn do better!" Eryn rolls his eyes. "Will do, Tom." He sarcastically replies. As Tubbo discovered, Eryn gave Tommy a nickname and he doesn't know why this pushed him to be even more angered.

Tubbo began attacking ferociously, while Eryn was forced to defend from the attacks Tubbo was sent his way. Dodging Tubbos attacks quite easily, he finds an opening and knees Tubbos stomach. The boy stumbled back before quickly recovering and planting his foot into the ground his eyes were looking straight at Eryn's direction.

He didn't hear the nervous whispers and conversations and Tommy's cheering suddenly disappearing. Tubbo quickly lunged again, but aiming for his feet. Eryn jumps high and Tubbo grabs Eryn's foot, Eryn struggles to get his foot off but Tubbo grips tighter.

Is this the person Tommy was replacing him for? He's pathetically weak, not like me. I'm better than him, he doesn't need Eryn. 

He only needs me.

Tubbo uses all of his strength and slams Eryn to the ground. A small dent on the dirt was made and Eryn received a bit of whiplash after, he took in a sharp intake of breath and barely dodged a sword plunging down to his side. He was immediately pinned down by the neck by Tubbo, who had a crazed look in his eyes. He raises his claw and Eryn tries to pry Tubbos hands off. 

Tubbo was about to attack before, a strong grip held his hand back. Before he knew it, he was immediately pinned down by Dream who wore his usual calm demeanor, "I suggest not trying to attempt murder during training, Tubbo." 

Tubbo swallows, feeling sweat drip from his forehead. He manages to say Sorry in a hushed tone, he was immediately on his feet once he felt the weight off of his back. He looked around to see a few students look afraid and nervous, Jack just looked at him with disbelief. That's when he heard Eryn coughing violently, he turned around to see Tommy worrying about Eryn's injuries.

Tubbo felt guilt build up in his body, his palms were sweaty and his eyes darted all around. He was hearing them, the voices of his classmates terrified conversations, he looked down to stare at his hands. Dream held his shoulder, he jolted and looked up to see the man looking deathly serious.

He stays still as the man whispers in his ear, " Do that again, and you're going back home ." He felt a hard pat on his shoulder and Tubbos entire body froze at the words, feeling all of his hair stand up. He went too far and now his teacher threatened him. But that wasn't all that Tubbo was afraid of, he saw Tommy's eyes meet his. Tommy's eyes were filled with confusion and pain, Tubbo looked away shamefully and stood there.

Eryn was quickly sent to the infirmary. Everyone's practice was cut short after Tubbo was sent to Dream's office. Dream threatened to put him back home, back to where his mother awaits who would look angry at his return. 

Tommy anxiously walks around the room, while Jack looks at him pacing back and forth. His mind wandered everywhere, What was Tubbo thinking!? Why is he so strange lately!? He thought to himself while Jack stayed relatively silent the entire time, until the door creaked open. 

Tommy turned his head to meet the Ram Boy looking down. Tommy opened up his arms to Tubbo as Tubbo began walking towards him, but was quickly denied when Tubbo walked past him and quickly went back to his bed without muttering a single word. Tommy stares at his friend for a long time, Tubbo whispers into Jack's ear.

Tommy looks at both of them strangely, before Jack turns his head to Tommy. "He said he's been suspended for a week."

"A week!?" Tommy gawked. Tubbo looked down on the ground, while Jack nodded, sighing and putting down his tinted glasses. "I mean, that's kinda expected when you try to kill someone-"

"Don't say that Jack! I'm sure- I'm sure Tubbo didn't have control over his strength like usual. Right, Tubbo?" He looked over to Tubbo, who did not reply. He just hid his face in his hands. Tommy looked at him with disbelief, "Y-You wouldn't do that right, Tubbo?" He received no response.

Tommy couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe it. Tubbo wasn't usually like this, why is he acting so hostile. He questions himself further, before coming to full stop when Tubbo speaks again.

"I wanna sleep."

Tommy understood what he meant and that he excuses himself out of the room. "Alright, call me when you need anything." Is all he says before going out of the room not wanting to take a glance at Tubbo. He immediately went to the infirmary, where Eryn was recovering. His leg was hanging on a cloth and covered in cement. He looked rather relaxed after breaking a bone or two.

He sees Tommy come over and smiles brightly, he waves at Tommy. "Eyyyy, Tom's how are you doing?" He asks with a cheery tone. Tommy face palms and laughs after that stupid question, "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He took a seat on the bed. 

"Eh, you can kinda already see I'm kind of in a tough spot but nothing I can't handle." He says with a smirk. Tommy smacks his broken cemented leg and Eryn howls in pain while Tommy laughs loudly, "You don't look like you can handle it."

"...Okay, what's up. You're not just here to check up on me aren't you?" 

"What?" 

"Don't worry about me, you usually don't look this tired and sad, even though you look like a walking zombie most of the time." Eryn whispers the last part, but Tommy still hears it. 

"I swear you'll end up with another broken leg. I look poggers all the time!" Tommy was offended. How dare Eryn insult him, does he not realize that Tommy can literally drop kick him right now even if he was feeling a bit down.

"Not with those eye bags your not, but let's get to the point here." He suddenly changes his tone from joking to serious. "Why are you here?" Eryn asks. Tommy looks at him and sighs heavily.

"Tubbo didn't want me in the room. So I'm here." He answers. Eryn exchanged him an unconvinced look.

"That's not it, tell me what's really bothering you." Tommy tries to argue but was immediately shut down by Eryn, he eventually gives up the act and his bright expression that he wore during this conversation.

"It's…I've been dishonest with my team." He admits, "And for a while now they've been growing more and more suspicious of me. They tried to ask but...I'm just afraid to answer." 

"I don't want them to hate me." He breathes in sharply, holding back tears. "I think Tubbo's acting out because of me...I-Im so sorry Eryn, Tubbo wouldn't have done that if I just told him." He lets tears fall from his face, how many years has it been? Since he last cried. Since he trusted someone enough to let them see who he was? 

"I'm just a fucking co-"

"Stop with the shit talking about yourself." Eryn cuts him off. Tommy looks up at Eryn and saw Eryn smiling at him, "You're beating yourself up too much, you're only human." Tommy felt the tears start up again.

"And stop with the crying, you can't solve your problems through tears." Tommy immediately stopped himself from trying to burst into tears. 

Eryn sighs exasperated, "Tommy, if it's really bothering you...maybe you should go and talk to Tubbo about it." Eryn suggest. Tommy looks at him wiping his tears away, "You think that would work?" He asks stuttering between words.

"Yeah, you should go and try to make up with your friend before the situation gets worse."

"Okay...I'll try, but if this goes horribly-"

"It won't. Trust me, I know." Eryn says with a smirk. Tommy looks at him and he smiles, "Thanks Eryn. I'll talk to you soon." Eryn gave him a pat on the back.

"Have a lucky back pat." 

"That was not funny."

"I know, now get out of here! I need to flirt with the nurse." Tommy laughed at that one and he left.

He goes to the library and sits down with a piece of paper and pen; Thinking of ways to cheer up Tubbo. He sighs and looks at the clock, "I guess another night without sleep, but this is for Tubbo so screw me." Tommy gets to writing down ideas.

Minutes became hour's, hour's became a whole night. Tommy was up all night planning, his head panged and his eyes barely kept themselves open. He had the perfect plan for the day, of course he had to sacrifice his perfect attendance and his tutoring hours but he'll skip that. He stood up from his seat, but immediately felt light headed so he sat down and shut his eyes tightly.

He looked at the clock, it looked like he missed breakfast. Screw breakfast, Tubbo comes first in priorities. He made his way to their room, looking dishevelled and his hair went in all directions. He puts on his character and plasters a smile on his face, Tubbo was just inside the room. He hoped he didn't look like shit, since he is not taking the time to manage his looks.

He opens the door and loudly introduces himself, there was Tubbo who was extremely startled by the loud entrance. He looks at Tommy, like he's seen a ghost and Tommy glances at the mirror. Holy shit, he looked AWFUL. He coughs and excuses himself for a moment, he comes back looking a lot more fresh than last time.

"Tubbo, dear old friend! I have planned a whole list of things to do while you're suspended." He grabs the list and it rolls down to reveal a lot of options. He rolls it back in, while Tubbo gives him a confused look.

"Don't you have classes?" He asks. Tommy scoffs and grabs Tubbo by the shoulder. "Screw that, let's go hang out for once. Just you and me." 

Tubbo hesitantly nodded, Tommy beamed and grabbed him by the hand and walked towards their classroom. Before Tubbo could ask, Tommy gave him a smoke bomb. "You know, we're skipping classes today might as well cause a bit of mayhem while we're at it."

Tubbo glances at the bomb and Tommy and he shoves it back into Tommy's hands. "No...just, let's go do whatever you have in that list." Tommy frowns, he puts it back into Tubbos hands. "Well this one is definitely on the list, so go ahead and do it."

"How about you do it?" Tubbo shoves it back. Tommy laughs nervously and shoves it back, the two go on and on for a minute but Tommy grunts and takes the bomb.

"Okay, you know what- let's just go do something else." Tommy buries it into his pocket. "There's other fun things to do anyway!" He grabs Tubbo's hands and drags him out of school. They went to the center of the kingdom and entered Bad's Muffin House. Bad sat behind the counter talking to Skeppy before they heard their door open, they turned to look at two familiar faces.

"Hey, Bad!" Tommy greets, smiling at the tall man. Bad smiles at Tommy happily and Skeppy eyed the two curiously, "Don't you two have classes?" He asks.

Tommy laughs nervously, "Well- you see me and Tubzo here, decided we didn't any to attend today so ye-"

"I was suspended for a week and Tommy dragged me here." Tubbo said bluntly. His expression neutral, Tommy didn't let his smile falter. Skeppy and Bad looked at Tubbo sympathetically, "I'm so sorry to hear that...but if it makes you feel any better," Bad pulls out a tray of sweets and lays them on the counter.

"We could offer you some sweets!" Bad grins sweetly. Tommy smiles at the thought of free food and Skeppy rolled his eyes, but it carried no heat.

"No thank you. I'm not hungry." Tubbo answers. This takes Tommy aback, he looked at his friend who stared back up at him. Skeppy and Bad looked at each other nervously, Skeppy laughed trying to mask the uneasy feeling of the situation.

"Well that's a shame, I guess I'll put these back-"

"No Bad," Bad stops and looks at Tommy, who kept strong eye contact with Tubbo. "I want them." Badboyhalo nodded slowly, before getting a small paper bag and dumping all the sweets inside of it. Skeppy grabs the bag and hands it to Tommy, Tommy breaks eye contact with Tubbo and smiles happily at Skeppy and Bad.

Tubbo exited the bakery. "Thank you for the sweets Bad...I really appreciate it." Tommy thanks them, bowing a bit before exiting and catching up with Tubbo. Bad nodded, smiling but once they were both out of sight Skeppy and Bad looked at each other, worryingly. 

"Hey, wait up!" Tommy runs after Tubbo, he comes up to the side of the boy and huffs. "You're pretty excited about doing everything on the list huh? Are you speedrunning?" Tommy jokes lightly. 

"I guess you can say it like that." Tubbo responded. Tommy looked at Tubbo and kept his smile up, even if it proved difficult he held his friend's hand. "Hey, maybe let's go to that Ice cream parlor nearby. My treat!" Tommy offers.

"...I guess." 

"Good enough answer!" Tommy continues to drag Tubbo to the Ice Cream Parlour. They eventually made it and went inside, the cool air hit the both of them first and they both experienced the change of temperature. The man with orange hair and fox ears behind the counter looked at them both and smiled, "Welcome! The name's Fundy!" 

Tommy waves at Fundy, "Hey Fundy!" Fundy's ear fell flat and he looked at the boy with fear. 

"Miss me?" Tommy gave him a toothy grin. Fundy swallowed a yelp and straightened himself , "No. N-not really." He stutters. Tommy laughed loudly, a bit more louder than usual. "Oh, come on. I swear I won't bite you...again." 

Fundy instinctively rubs his hand at the mere mention of the incident. "W-what do you want?" Tommy looks at the flavours displayed on the front of the counter. He turned to look at Tubbo and smiled, Tubbo only gave him a blank stare but Tommy never met his eyes.

"Two rocky roads!" Tommy slams his pay on the glass, Fundy with shaking hands takes them and begins scooping. Fundy curses at himself as he messes up a scoop, he quickly recovers and returns to scooping with shaky hands.

Tommy whistles and waits patiently, he tries to initiate conversation but receives no replies from his friend which only makes Tommy try harder. Before they both knew it, their orders were already done. Fundy handed it to both of them and snapped his hand back when they both took it, "N-now, scram!" Tommy turns to him licking his ice cream.

"No way to treat your customers, I want to speak to your manager." 

"I am quite literally the owner of this establishment." 

"Well I rate this place a 3/10." Tommy continues to lick his ice cream. Fundy only rolled his eyes and sighs deeply, Tommy grins and Tubbo looks at his ice cream.

"How did you find this place?" Tubbo asks, watching as the ice cream melts. Tommy looks at him happy that Tubbo spoke, he of course answers his best friend.

"Eryn took me here." 

That's when they heard a crunch, Fundy looked around wondering where the sound was and Tommy looked at Tubbo's hands which used to hold a perfectly fine ice cream cone, now crushed and all of it on the floor. Tubbo drops the entire thing and wipes away the rest of the icey dessert, Tommy for the second time of the day looked at his friend with confusion.

"What the fu- Tubbo, that was a perfectly good Ice Cream!" Tommy screams. Tubbo only looked at him blankly, Tommy kept himself calm and composed. "Okay. You don't like Ice Cream. Let's go do something else." He said between his teeth, grabbing Tubbos hand and walking out.

"Wait! You better clean that up!" The yells were muffled, Tommy was angry but he kept it under control. They walked quite quickly and spent the rest of the day, attempting to enjoy their break. It wasn't going as planned, Tommy's almost done with the list and Tubbo still isn't happy. This is frustrating, his tired self couldn't handle this failing. 

So he tries harder and harder, but to no avail, Tubbo did not enjoy any of it. They were at the same hill, the sun was almost down and Tommy was becoming so tired. He looks at the list in his hands and he shakes violently.

"I don't fucking get it. Why aren't you enjoying any of this? I spent the entire day trying to get us both to hang out again. Both of us have a day to talk" He glares at the paper and violently rips it apart. He breathed heavily and his entire body screamed at him, he was so tired. So fucking tired. He completely dropped his happy carefree character, he wore a tired expression mixed with anger instead.

Tubbo was silent, Tommy was losing his patience. "You can't keep silent forever, Tubbo." He turns to his friend, who only stared at him blankly.

"I'm really, fucking, trying my best. I don't fucking get what you want from me!" He screams, he hears his voice crack. He grabs Tubbo's shoulder and violently shakes him.

 "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?" 

He was tired, so tired. He wanted to help but Tubbo wouldn't budge. So, Tommy cried in front of him. He cursed at himself, he didn't want to cry in front of Tubbo, he didn't want to seem weak in front of him. He was a big man. He should be a big man. A top student, who never grew tired, who wouldn't complain, a person who wouldn't cry. Why can't he be like that.

Tommy hears sniffles, he slowly looks up and sees Tubbo. Tubbo was crying, his eyes carried a lot of pain and it made Tommy stay still for just a moment. 

"I-Im s-s-sorry T-Tommy...I a-am so sorry." Tubbo stutters between sobs, snot dripping down from his face. Tommy hugs him, "Hey, hey...it's okay...it's okay, Tubbo." He rubs circles behind Tubbo's back.

"I-its not!" Tubbo screams, gripping Tommy's uniform and soaking it with tears. "I-I hurt Eryn...I-I hurt you...I-I hurt everybody I c-care about…" Tubbo wipes his nose, as he continued to sob.

"... all because I w-was fucking angry at myself for not knowing how to help you, I'm such a terrible friend." Tubbo continues to hiccup and sob, while Tommy continues to comfort him.

"No...you don't, you're a good friend Tubbo. You're not like me." Tommy tears up and let's a few drop onto the brunette's hair. The hybrid hiccuped and hugged his friend tighter, "No...You're not bad, you're great, you've always been great." 

Tommy lets out a pained laugh, "I've not been great...I've been hiding things from you Tubbo...I'm so sorry." He pets the hybrid's hair. His curls wrapping itself around Tommy's fingertips as he continues to caress it gently.

"Just please..let me help you, you don't need to say your secret." Tubbo sniffled. Tommy wipes away his tears with his gloved hand and looks at the boys eyes.

"You don't want to hear it?" Tommy asks, unsure about Tubbo's decision. Tubbo nodded.

"I won't push you to say it...Just don't hide anything more from me…" 

"...I-I promise." Tommy hesitated, yet he answered. Tubbo seemed to be comforted by it, he hugged Tommy tighter and they stayed like that until the sun went down and the two boys walked home, closer than before.

Jack entered the room and saw the two asleep together, tears pricking their eyes and both were at peace. Jack sighs and smiles to himself, he joins the sleeping group and falls asleep then and there.

"Tommy's Design"

Chapter Text

At that moment, at that time, he felt like death was calling his name. A simple touch, it was just a simple touch . He was wrong. He underestimated his enemy.

He was fine, for only a second, before his legs gave way. He dropped to the ground with a loud thud and soon his left hand no longer moved, he watched as his fingertips began to rot.

His lungs suddenly tightened and his vision was hazy. He looked up at the man, who was staring down on him.

He will NEVER forget the look that monster gave him. The monster raised its arm, sword in hand. 

It brought it down to strike for Dream's neck. A loud crack soon came after and red blood soon pooled and it clogged his nose and mouth. He choked on his own blood and he let out a bloody scream that wounded his already wounded throat.

Dream jolted awake, his breathing was fast and his heart felt like it would burst out of his chest. The paper's on his desk were all splayed on the ground, he was tightly gripping the pen in his hand and the ink rolled off of the table and onto the silk carpet. His eyes darted around the room, searching for an enemy that wasn't there. 

He slowly put down the pen on his table, breathing slowly going back to normal, and he sat on his seat. He grumbles as he holds his head in his hands, the headache is beginning to grow worse and the heat in his chest grows unbearable. He slams his fist on the table in frustration. 

Dream begins to realize where he was, he was at his office located in his summer home. The room was dark, lit only by a single candle and the moonlight shining through the large windows. The room was covered in medallions and trophies from wall to wall and Dream's desk was filled with papers and old pictures of Dream and his friends and family.

Dream opened the window and let the cool night breeze hit his face, he closed his eyes and breathed in and out. Letting the cool air enter his lungs, he let it back out feeling the cool air in his body made him relax. He wondered how he fell asleep, he has gone weeks without it but now he can't seem to last 6 days without suddenly passing out.

His pathetic body, he complained to himself. He sighed and opened his eyes, he stared at the view of the kingdom that looked as beautiful as it is at night, the moon being covered by the palace and it's lights peaking through the corners made it almost a gem to see.

Dream smiled at himself, he picked the right spot for his summer home. The view was beautiful and it wasn't far from his favorite shops and the school, it was also a fair distance to get to the forests. The people of this kingdom slept peacefully unbothered and safe, they all slept properly knowing the top hero was here to keep them from harm's way.

He felt a small tug in his heart, knowing he made the people feel safe with his mere presence but at the cost of his own well being. Dream hears fast footsteps stop at the front of his door as the doorknob begins to twist and turn, the door swung open, there stood the multiple servants and guards Dream has hired, all having the face of worry plastered on their faces.

"Are you alright, Master?" Asked a maid. The others looked around the room and began cleaning. Dream looked at them and gave a curt nod, "Just a rude awakening, no need to worry. No one is  out of my head tonight." He assures as the other's begin to calm down at the reassurance.

"We can assist you back to your room, Master." They requested, before giving a slight bow. Dream shook his head firmly, "No need, I have business underground." They all bowed, the maids fixing all of the mess from earlier and left with the others after, closing the door gently.

Dream stood there next to the window before closing it and walking towards his desk, he looked through the papers on his desk and picked up one with a drawing of an Avian and fixed himself before going into town.

Tommy drank his orange juice, while Tubbo and Jack coordinated a plan with each other about overpowering another group from another class. These two were starting out mini wars in classes, with all the best students facing off each other. Tommy stood there to watch the massacre and it wasn't nice when they were all punished and had to prepare for the upcoming festival in just a few weeks.

Where each class fought each other and gained points during the festival, a fun team builder but also the day where Dream's class graduates so individual challenges would be the only thing Dream's class will be participating in. Dream was going to choose and it was terrifyingly near, Tommy felt himself sweating bullets at the thought and so did other students.

It had been 2 months since physical training started. Tommy and his team have been regularly training and hanging out during them. Tommy knew this was the only way to make it feel fair for himself, and it's to teach his team some of the things he's learnt during Dream's tutoring. They don't question it at all, they all seemed really happy knowing all of these other things that Dream had no time to discuss during their training.

It has also been a couple of weeks since Tommy hasn't shown up to any of them, to say the least Tommy is worried Dream noticed it. Dream's always busy anyway, he wouldn't have noticed a little student not coming into his Tutoring for a while. The man's got a lot on his plate and so far, faith has been kind. He can totally get away with this.

Tubbo has been whacking Tommy with a spoon during Tommy's whole mental spiel. Tubbo looked over to Jack who only shrugged and his only answer was that the strange behavior was about the war plan they had on the table, completely drawn with ketchup and other food items representing every class. Tubbo continued to whack it gently on Tommy's head.

"Quit with the fucking spoon!" Tommy snatches the spoon away and whacks it on Tubbo's head out of irritation but it quickly breaks after a second of contact. Tubbo laughed loudly while Tommy looked at the spoon with disbelief.

"I'VE BEEN RIGGED TO LOSE." Tubbo raises an L shaped hand to his forehead, he sticks his tongue out and poked fun at Tommy.

"Don't try me bee boy, I'm going to ruin you." Tommy threatened, with no real heat behind it. 

Tubbo rolled his eyes in amusement and laughed, Tommy only grumbled further. Jack only watched curiously from the sidelines. 

These were the weekends, where every class gets a two day break and two days of fun before another round of relentless training. The sun had only risen an hour ago and the sun rays were entering the cafeterias windows as it removes all the restlessness from many people's body's as the sun hits their skin. Tommy loved the feeling.

One of the teachers entered the cafeteria, the students didn't seem to notice as the chattering never died down despite the serious look on their face. She coughed to get the students' attention, some turned their heads to face them and some even nudged others to look. The usually loud cafeteria went eerily quiet, students hid behind trash bins and other's forced their eyes to only concentrate on their food, even many of the usual trouble makers were silenced and sat properly. Fast footsteps on the cold white tiles echoed the entire cafeteria.

Teacher's don't usually enter the cafeteria, and many of the students were nervous since servants were behind her dressed in their usual maid attires. It felt like a student caused trouble and is now in need to be sent to the office, which is why so many students were terrified and began hiding away. The argument between Tommy and Tubbo died down as they went near their table, they looked at each other.

"The fuck you do?"  Jack stares intensely at Tommy and Tubbo.

"I don't fucking know"  Tommy looks at Tubbo filled with urgency.

"I committed several crimes, but I'm pretty sure they don't know about that." Tubbo simply shrugs.

Suddenly the teacher and the servants all stopped and faced the three. The teacher handed a piece of paper to Tommy silently and the servants gave him boxes, then as silent as they entered they left making no noise and all the students were on the edge of their seats. Tommy eyes the box nervously, as if this was Pandora's Box and once he opens it, it would be the end of the world. Other students seem to believe that too, breathing in and out Tommy opens up the box and he looks away immediately. Nothing jumped on him, good. 

Tommy takes a peak and it was a single letter. He raises a single brow and looks at his friends who only looked as confused as him, he takes it out of the box and opens it to take out the letter. It was an invitation to Dream's birthday and it was sent and signed by Dream himself, everyone got closer to take a look and all of them guffawed. He didn't know how to react, whether he should be excited or frightened since he has no fancy clothes to wear to go to this occasion. He only had his father's sword, his school uniform and a few red shirts.

His friends looked at him happily and quickly grabbed him, they quickly got to their room and both started searching for clothes for Tommy to wear. Tubbo pulled out his expensive clothing from the bag and gave it to Tommy, while Jack styled his hair. "Wait- hold on- what are you doing?" Tommy asks, as Tubbo kept launching neat clothes onto the floor continuing his search.

"You're going to a birthday party this weekend, you gotta enjoy yourself!" Tubbo looks at the red and green suit and gives Tommy the red suit. Jack pats his shoulders, he puts a mirror in front of Tommy and his hair is slick back and neatly done. Very good hair treatment from a bald man. 

"Dream's inviting you, you gotta present yourself properly for this kind of shit do you know how many rich and well known people will be there?" 

Tommy hasn't thought about that one, so many rich people he'd shrink at that kind of place but he'll fake the confidence if he has too. After all he was the great Tommy Innit, no rich bastard would make him feel small. He wore the clothes Tubbo had thrown over to him and looked at the mirror, he looked like he'd fit right in with all the millionaires in that party.

Tubbo grinned widely as Jack was giving a thumbs up, "Alrighty, you're ready to go boss man." Tommy smiled at him, he was about to exit the door before it was closed shut by Manifold. "Hold on there!"

Jack pushes Tommy to the center of the room. Tommy looks at Jack confused, "Do you know any table manners?" He looked at Tommy. 

"Of course I know table manners." Tommy scoffed. That didn't convince Jack at the slightest. "Then tell me, what is this fork for?" He showed a picture of a fork. Tubbo rolled his eyes, he held Jack's shoulder and Jack turned to look at him.

"He'll be fine, after all it's just a birthday." 

"Tubbo, you don't get it, if he's going to be eating at Dream's house he at least needs to know a few table manners to not make a fool of our team! He's the team leader after all, he reflects our team as much as we do." Jack explains.

"Now, help me teach him how to sip his tea- Where the hell did he go?" Once Jack turned around the boy was already gone, the window was also wide open and blowing in cool wind into the room. "You scared him off with that thick ass book about table manners." Tubbo snickers. Jack fell onto the bed screaming into his pillow, Tubbo only laughed louder. 

Tommy was running around the small kingdom, following the map that came with the letter. He jumped and hopped around town as he made it to the large threatening gates of his teachers' home, he looked at the house from the outside and it was huge. He saw a few people tending to the gardens and the insides and outsides of the house, he stood there watching not knowing if he should knock or not.

The thought of being the only student invited to the party, gave him mixed signals. He felt a twinge of fear and regret for the rest of his team, but no worries he'll go grab them some food from this place. Sweaty palms and heart beating, he formed his hand into a fist and began to knock on the cold gate. It opened by itself, making a noise that alerted the people working. He saw the guards waiting from far away, he wiped his sweaty palms on the black leather pants and began to walk in. Purple small flowers were blooming from their vase and ivy was reaching the floor, the sound of birds chirping from a nearby nest settled on a tree caught Tommy's attention. 

They were small blue birds, they were chirping happily in their nest as Tommy continued to walk by them mesmerized by other things like the water fountain at the center pouring down clean water and Tommy jumped back feeling the cold little droplets hit his face as he went near to look at it.

This place had gold statues and even a statue of the War Heroine, Kristin Abigail. She wore a large hat and a black veil to hide her face, she fought in the war from many years ago and was deemed the protector of the South Kingdom. She was one of the bravest, caring and most beautiful women to have ever fought in war. Tommy saw a bouquet of purple flowers placed down beneath the statue to honor her. Tommy picks a single flower and places it down next to the statue and bowed to it, he respected her.

He heard a cough behind him, he turned around to face a guard who was standing behind him the entire time. Tommy laughed awkwardly as the guard spoke, "Dream requests your presence in his office." And with that, the guard leads Tommy into the large house. The house had paintings on the walls of all these old guys and sometimes landscapes and random paintings, he even saw a few people working and walking around the place. His footsteps echoed in the long hallway, the floors were white and he could see his reflection and from the outside he could see what seemed to be a training ground.

The guards had stopped in front of a door and Tommy watched as they knocked, there was rustling in the other room until the door opened. Tommy's eyes widened at the sight of the hero, in all of his glory. He looked like shit. 

Tommy has never seen Dream look exhausted before. He never thought the man would be exhausted at all, due to how he would go on rough missions but still return looking like he has slept a good night's rest even though he never slept throughout the trip. This Dream, however, looked like what a person would be if they haven't slept at all. He had dark bags under his eyes, he looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open and his posture was slack and his clothes were a mess.

He looked at the guards and looked at Tommy who unconsciously hid behind the guards once Dream looked at him, Dream's eyes widened and he closed his door. Muttering could be heard behind the doors and a frustrated sigh, suddenly the door opened again to Dream with cleaner clothes and a stronger posture yet the dark bags remained. The guards moved aside and revealed Tommy, he waved awkwardly and the man nodded and gestured to him to come in.

"Thanks for uh-..." He couldn't finish as the guards already left, Tommy shrugged and entered the office. It looked messy and Dream was currently cleaning it up himself, "I-Im sorry for the mess, I wasn't expecting a visitor." He continued to clean up the mess and threw out the papers into a bin. Tommy was confused, what does he mean by that?

"Didn't you invite me here?" 

Dream looked at him and Tommy shrunk, but the man wasn't angry; he looked like he was trying to remember. He walked closer to Tommy, he was now in front of him. Dream looked as confused as Tommy was, which confused Tommy even more.

"What did I invite you over for?" 

"A birthday party." Tommy answers. The man face palmed and let out an exasperated grunt "I can't believe I forgot.'' 

Tommy stood there awkwardly, watching the man age 20 more years and cursing at himself. Tommy would've found this hilarious, he would've laughed but he held it in.

Dream held the boy's shoulders and smiled weakly. "...Yes, it's my birthday. I'm sorry, I wasn't prepared for this today. I had business to attend to and I completely forgot I ever sent that." 

Dream looks at Tommy and observes him from head to toe.

"You look rather well dressed." Dream weakly complimented, yawning.

"Thanks! And you look...uh- Good as you can be at this state!" Tommy attempted.

"I apologize again..."

Tommy simply shook his head.

"Hey it's okay, there's obviously no birthday and you're clearly tired. I can just go now if you want-" 

The man frowned, he stopped Tommy from leaving and shook his head. "No, no- no need to leave, I'll go ahead and remove... some things in my schedule to go celebrate my birthday. I don't want to waste your time, so please let me make up for it." 

Tommy only stared, who was this person? Is this really Dream? He's not even sure anymore, but this Dream was a lot nicer than what he's used to. It's really weird. Maybe because they aren't training and it was the weekends, but it's still very strange to see Dream be very apologetic about a mere slip up. Tommy only nodded, he could stay here and enjoy food. Who would ever say no to free food? 

"Yeah, okay. Sounds like a good idea." 

Dream gave another weak smile, he scratched off a few things on the book in his hand. Tommy wanted to take a peak but Dream quickly closed it. "Please, do not invade my personal affairs. I may be kind to you now, but I do not take too kindly to people who don't respect me and my boundaries."

"Oh! Okay, sorry big man, just get curious with how much work you even do in a single day." Tommy scratches his head, as he grins nervously at the man.

Dream looked at him and sighed. "Sadly, not enough." 

This guy looks so tired, yet he's always in search of more work. He's nuts. Tommy thought to himself.

Dream pressed a nearby button and not even a second later, maids were already in the room. "Begin baking and cooking, we are celebrating with a guest tonight." He puts his hand on Tommy's shoulder and Tommy looks at maids who bowed and went out. Tommy was fairly impressed with how fast everyone moves around this house, no time to waste. 

"You can wander around the house if you'd like, I will be quite busy with my office at the moment but I will be at the dining room when it is time. So go-ahead and view the place." Dream pushes Tommy out of his office and closes his door and locks it.

Tommy looked around the big house, he grinned. He began walking around, peeking through the doors of every room, he saw people cooking in the kitchen and some were still cleaning the house. Tommy wanders outside the house and finds the training grounds, he grinned and looked at all the dummy's. He found them interesting, they all looked a bit charred and some were wet and some were in trees and he saw small craters around the ground. He picked up a fake sword and started swinging it, ripping through the wind causing a whooshing sound as he continued to swing it faster and faster.

He hit the dummy so many times, he saw it bend backwards and spring upwards again, even causing a few small rips on it's already ruined form . It was entertaining, he liked the sound it makes every time he hits it and all of its stuffing falls out as he whacks it one more time feathers going into his mouth as he spits it out. He had enough training for today, so he heads back in the house searching for other rooms to go into.

As he was walking down the halls there was a door slightly ajar, he peeked his head in and saw no one as the sunlight shone on a green sheet that was covering something. He took another look in the room, painting water that looked like it hadn't been thrown out for a long time as its water was murky and stained with paint, a few brushes still in it as a few canvases collecting dust were in the side of the rooms. There were many unfinished paintings, when he checked a whole group of canvases. Many were of landscapes, some were of people, and some were of animals. 

A painting of a cat named Patches, was hanging on the walls with other finished paintings. Tommy made his way to the green sheets and raised it to reveal a painting of a woman smiling. It looked unfinished as it had sketches of what seems to be roses, she had strands of white hair and a face that of an old woman. Her eyes were gentle, and splotches of color were on the canvas. Tommy took the time to stare at it, until he heard the door creak open. Tommy, out of reflex, hid behind the canvas but was lured out when his name was called by a familiar voice, he slowly made his way to face his teacher.

Whose face was wrinkled into a frown, Tommy laughed nervously for what seemed to be like the second time now. Before an excuse made its way into Tommy's mouth, Dream looked at him with a smile. "This was where the woman in this painting, used to sit and work." 

Tommy looked at the painting and back at Dream. "She's very pretty." Tommy completed as Dream looked flattered by it. "She was." Is all Dream could say as he continued to stare at the painting sadly, he eventually looked around the room and found the painting of a cat. His eyes widened as he went near it, as if it was familiar to him. Tommy only stared at his teacher, as tears form from his face but he quickly wiped it away realizing his student was behind him.

"So...do you...know the woman and cat in the paintings?" Tommy curiously asked. 

Dream looked at him and nodded, "Patches was my old cat." He answered, "And the woman-" he paused, as if an old wound was reopened and someone placed salt on top of it.

"My mother, before she passed away." 

Tommy stood there in awkward silence, not knowing how to respond or to shift the topic. Dream also looked like he struggled to try and shift it, "She used to paint...she loved painting, but she couldn't finish her own self portrait." He explains further, giving up on trying to avoid the topic.

"I tried to finish it, but as you can see...I couldn't quite match the artistic style of my mother." 

The splotches of paint around Dream's mother made it look obvious as he was attempting to start but had no courage to continue the next strokes to complete the painting.

"It wouldn't be right to finish the painting. So I gave up and I left this room untouched for so many years now, since I want it to look as if she never really passed away." 

Dream could hear the soft humming, and his head felt a familiar hand on his back as it rubs circles to coo him to sleep. 

"As if she never left." He finishes.

"Your mother...she was a good mom yeah?" Tommy questioned.

"The greatest." Dream smiles bitterly at the memory and looks at his student. Who stared back, Tommy patted his back in an attempt to comfort him. Dream smiles and sighs, "Let's go, I went searching for you since you were beginning to grow late for the party." 

Tommy jumped and looked at him, "Oh shit, the foods getting cold! Let's go!" Tommy runs towards where the scent of food smells strongest and Dream slowly follows, closing the door behind him gently as he takes one last look and locking it for good. Leaving the painting on its own, no longer covered and hidden as the sun shines on it.

"A Self Portrait Of A Beautiful Woman"

"Dearly Beloved and Dearly Missed"

Mom

After a heavy meal, Tommy felt great and  Dream sat looking terrified at how fast paced Tommy was at eating. "You eat- you are quite hungry aren't you?" Is all he could ask. Tommy grins at him.

"I'm not really hungry, just the thought of being offered free food made me really really wanna eat it." 

This really confuses the pro hero, he just looked at the boy and his food. Tommy looked around the large table, and saw many empty seats. "Where are the other guests? Aren't they going to arrive soon or…" 

Dream shook his head as he pushed away his plate that was filled with the remains of his food.

"It'll take them a while before they come,but before that-"

"Let's go out and celebrate more of your birthday!" Tommy cuts in, seemingly already knowing where the conversation was going and steered it away. 

Dream looks at him, surprised at the sudden outburst. "E-excuse me?" 

"I mean, birthdays are more than just eating food. It's about going out of your way and having fun!" Tommy stood up from his seat and grabbed his teacher's arm, he pulled him out of his seat. Both of them are now standing up, one of them looking rather surprised by the sudden pull. 

"Let's go!" Tommy began to pull Dream away and Dream couldn't stop the boy from pulling him. "Go where?" 

He received no answer, only a cheeky smile and before he knew it, he was in his carriage with the kid who kidnapped him from his daily schedule. Tommy pointed out directions to a carnival that had opened up a few days ago for the upcoming festival.

 They both exited the carriage and Dream was met with colorful lights and colorful decorations, he looked at his student nervously. Dream was not in a state where he could handle carnivals, but his student didn't really know that and why wasn't Dream saying anything and letting this boy drag him around. He must be too tired to fight against him, before he knew it the boy was jumping around the place. 

"Hey! Dream! Hey!" The boy called out his name. People turned their attention and Dream quickly ran towards Tommy, hearing a child gasp in awe while he lengthened his stride to catch up to his student. Tommy grinned as the man got near, Dream wasn't wearing his mask at that time and he already heard the fan girls forming slowly in the crowd.

"So, what do you wanna play first? There's so many things to try out here!" Tommy looked around and pointed at a bunch of stuffed goldfish. "Let's try out that one!" He held the man's arm and pulled him to the stand. Dream stood there as he watched the child give away his money to try and win a stuffed goldfish, he listened to the whispers and to the voices surrounding them as people walked by.

The music coming from the band was loud and cheery, something anyone would know about when in a carnival. The music was nostalgic, Dream wonders how long it has been since he's been here. The voice of excited children and the scent of sweets was something he never thought he'd miss. 

" HEY ! THATS FUCKING CHEAP!" 

He turned his attention back to his student who was pointing an accusatory finger at the man who runs the game. Dream looked at his student and looked back at the man who held a smug grin. 

The man shook his head, "Sorry, but you don't get shit for only hitting down one of the targets." Tommy's nostrils flared. 

"I shot all three and only one of 'em went down, this is bullshit!" The man continued to grin, "Try again?" Tommy's blood begins to boil, he pulls up his sleeves. 

"Why you mother fu-"

"I will give it a go."

Tommy looks at Dream, stopping himself from continuing any further as Dream brought more darts and the man gave him  them. "Dream- let's not waste more money on this guy, let's go!" He tries to drag the hero away but the man suddenly becomes as heavy as stone. Tommy stared up at the man.

"Dream?" He asks, unsure.

Dream looked at Tommy and smiled "Don't worry I'll get you that prize for my birthday." The man rolled his eyes and watched as the hero prepared to throw the darts, the man pressed down on a button beneath his feet to keep all the targets to remain standing even if Dream shot all three. 

"Good luck.'' the man cackled to himself. Tommy rolled his eyes at him and watched his teacher, he could've sworn he saw his bright green eyes flash blue for a split second. The next second, there was a strong gust of wind and the second there wasn't. Tommy brushed away his hair from his eyes, he saw his teacher wear a sly grin and he looked at the man who wore the expression of fear. 

The targets were all down, the darts all hitting the middle and they were dug in deep within them. Dream stumbled, but he subtly leaned against the wooden table to support himself.

"Hand it over." Dream still kept his sly grin, but his eyes grew a bit duller. The man begrudgingly gave the prize away, though his hands were shaky and he refused to look at the man. Tommy was suddenly holding the stuffed animal, he hopped around and his eyes shone like stars. Dream smiled, he felt sweat drip down his face but couldn't help but smile at the boy who acted like a mere child but quickly stopped as soon as the boy made eye contact with him.

"Thank you." The boy bowed. Dream laughed and patted the boy's shoulder "Let's go play more games, my birthday is not over yet." Tommy smiled brightly and dragged the man yet again to other attractions and rides in the carnival. Dream hid away his schedule book, crossing out his schedule as he wrote in.

"A Break Day."

Dream wanted it to last only an hour, but it began to grow longer and longer the more he started enjoying Tommy's company and what he had to offer. Dream further and further began to let himself feel as if he was a child once again, free to do anything he wanted. Dream used his position as hero around town to gain a few items, even food that both Tommy and him ate as both went around town to cause a bit of ruckus. Eventually they were cornered by Dream's fans until they both escaped, on top of buildings they jumped and climbed down.

Tommy discovers that his teachers' sense of humor was quite...immature. Dream would attempt to make Tommy laugh, but he always ends up making Tommy look at him judgingly even letting Tommy push him and make fun of him. Dream was a different person, he laughed a lot more, he wasn't at all serious about anything, he was even willing to steal if Tommy suggested it. 

It raised questions in his mind, the man acted so differently that it's hard to not just stare at the man who was laughing loudly clutching his stomach due to how much it hurt. He's made this man laugh many times but they were always hushed or held in, so this kind of laugh was something new. Like a rare event every 100 years.

He also discovered, the man loved cats. He and Dream went by a flower shop, but Tommy soon noticed his teacher was currently kneeling in front of a cat on the other side of the glass door. Dream wouldn't shut up about the cat, Tommy had to listen to him babble about it for hours until Tommy steered it to another topic.

Now that the day was close to over, both of them went and bought cake from Bad's Muffin House. Tommy decided he'd bring home some for Tubbo and Jack as well as other foods that Dream had been able to get from adoring fans. 

After a long day, they both stood at the front of Dream's house. Dream leaned over the door frame, he had his arms crossed as he watched as the boy packed the food into the carriage.

"That was a fun day!" Tommy exclaims as he faces his teacher. Dream nods in agreement, a smile still plastered on his face. Tommy broke into a smirk. "You know, if you just wanted to hang out. You could've just said so." He waves around the invitation.

Dream looks down on the ground, cheeks reddening from embarrassment. "So...you saw through it." He looks up at his student who rolled his eyes with a smile still plastered on his face.

"Your birthday isn't even today! Plus I figured it out, since the hero wouldn't invite his student to his home if he didn't want to discuss something with them." Tommy crossed his arms and looked at the man who continued to look down.

"Also because you lacked visitors. If it was your birthday, this house would've been filled with guests the moment I entered it." Tommy adds as he finishes. Dream applauds him, "Great detective work. Where did you learn that from?" 

"From you." Tommy answered bluntly. 

"I guess- I did want you to come over- " Dream admitted, muttering in a low voice rather embarrassed. Tommy smiled to himself patting his teacher on the shoulder as he boarded the carriage quickly.

"Thanks for inviting me to your birthday!" Tommy began to close the carriage doors.

"I, thank you for coming...but before you go, I have a question to ask of you." Dream wore the more familiar expression that Tommy was used to seeing. Which triggered signs inside of Tommy's head.

Oh no…  

Welp, even after a whole day, Dream didn't seem to have forgotten about the subject Tommy evaded the whole day. Tommy sighs, he should've known his teacher was way too smart to just not bring this up again after. He prepares for a lecture, he's been skipping training so he's in deep trouble. He hopes Dream has mercy on his poor soul.

There was a long silence between the both of them, Tommy was about to burst out in apologies.

"Am I being too harsh during practice?" Dream asks, his eyes filled with concern. "I'm sorry if my teachings are hard on you. Is that why you've been avoiding practice these past few weeks?"

Tommy didn't see that one coming, that's so strange. Where's the lecture? Where's the scolding? Where's the strict teacher? Why is Dream apologizing? Isn't Tommy supposed to be the one apologizing?

"If so, I could make it much easier. I forget that not everyone is like me." Dream sounded, worried. He never thought he'd see the day where Dream is actually concerned about his well being.

"No it's fine...it's just...it's worrying my friends. You know, all the bruises and all the sleepless nights and late nighters, they were just concerned about me." Tommy explains.

"Your teammates?" Dream sounded surprised with the answer. Tommy nodded, "Yeah, they just wanna look out for me you know and in exchange I look out for them." 

Tommy begins to muster up the courage. This was his chance.

"I wanna ask you something." Tommy held in his breath, feeling butterflies in his stomach as he looked down on the ground. 

"What is it?" 

There it was. His chance. 

He sucked in a deep breath and tightened his shaking fists, his hands were sweaty. He looked Dream in the eyes with confidence, the hero looked at him with anticipation.

"Can there be two more spots open for the Apprenticeship!" He practically screamed out of his lungs. He's been thinking about this for weeks now, he needs to help his team. 

He's discovered recently that students who get kicked out of Dream's class, also meant Lions Den stops paying for your education as well. Meaning, you have to pay the tuition yourself or you completely stop and go home. That's what happened to so many students in his class during the Test, so many couldn't afford to go back that they completely stopped attending. The tuition was over 54k gold and he knew Jack couldn't afford it and he knew Tubbo's mother wouldn't be supportive enough to pay for Tubbos education, if they were not chosen for the spot of Dream's Apprenticeship.

There was an uncomfortable silence, Tommy couldn't keep eye contact with his teacher anymore. He felt like tearing his eyes away from the man, who stared him down. He doesn't know what's going through Dream's head, they both stood there looking at each other. Dream's stare was comparable to the unforgiving sun, stare too long you go blind.

Tommy tore away his eyes from the man and pointed his gaze to the statue of The War Heroine. The man suddenly spoke afterwards. "...It is not possible, but-" Dream pauses, as Tommy looks back at the man. The expression he wore was unreadable, it made Tommy's blood go cold and he began to shake.

"I will think about it." 

A spark of light in the dark, Tommy grinned. Dream's serious expression soon faded as it was replaced with a warm smile. "Okay! So you'll think about it! Just think about it, okay? Promise me!" 

Promise me we'll be together!

Dream looked at Tommy with wide eyes, he saw familiar faces smile at him. Faces he has not seen for years. He blinked, until he only saw one face. It was Tommy's face, one that is filled with hope and filled with joy. Like a diamond found in the rough, something about it tugged Dream's heart. 

As if it was something he couldn't risk losing.

Dream nods, silently. The boy makes noises that he could only guess were made out of pure joy. 

Precious

"...I will."

Dream saw something from this boy, something he couldn't quite explain. The smile his student gave was a feeling he's lacked for years. The warmth of having a friend smile at you, with such fondness. The memories were so distant, but Dream felt as if he was in them. At that very moment, he felt as if he could relive it.

Dream could only stare as the boy smiled. 

He's the one.  

He thought to himself, as he felt the feeling of joy overcome his soul. He felt it mend a broken soul, that was left broken for so long. A broken soul left destined to work alone as everyone else, falls behind.

He's what I'm looking for.

That was his decision.

"Thank you, Dream!"  Tommy thanked the hero, for what seemed to be the millionth time over the span of many months in training.

"Please," Dream pauses.

A heart beat passes,

As a bond was mended,

And the words make their way out of his mouth. Like honey, he smiled sweetly as the words came out with no hesitation. 

As soft as he can, he spoke the following...

"Call me, Clay." 

Chapter Text

4 weeks ago…

A wolf howls in the forest at the dead of night. The moon shines brightly from above, the cold breeze blows the signs of shops and taverns; it is always silent at night. The lamps all around the streets helped lighten the dark corners of the alleyways. The tavern was rather warm and loud from the inside, contrasting the calm night from the outside. A dark hooded man was sitting at the very corners of a loud tavern.The scent of alcohol came from the many people who have spent their nights drinking away as the festival grew nearer.

The Festival of The War Heroine, Kristin of the South. A well beloved and well known war hero, who has slain 5 gods and goddesses to keep her home safe from harm. The celebration does not last one day but a whole month, for people of the South are known for their world shocking Festivals to commemorate moments of history. People have small statues of Kristin, and they lay down purple flowers for the heroine as a sign of respect and love for the hero. 

They would all dress in purple and black, for the occasion and they would dance and sing till the month of celebration goes by. The South was by far the most lively continent at this time of year.

So before the festival even begins, the people of the small kingdom have grown accustomed to celebrating it for a whole month before the actual festival and going all out on the very day. So here, the men and women of the tavern were all intoxicated as they began to slur their words the moment they made an effort to speak. Two men made their way out of the tavern, seemingly having enough of drinking.

The dark hooded man stood up from his seat and silently followed, hiding in alleyways to avoid being caught. The men stumbled as they walked, vomiting on the streets. They went farther and farther as the man continued to follow, eventually the men stopped under a bridge and the dark hooded man took out a syringe. It's needle glinted, as the liquid drips down the sharp object. He stepped on a twig, causing a small break to echo down the bridge. The two men turned around, but before they knew it. They were both knocked out.

Upon awakening, one of the drunk men grunted as the light shone brightly into his eyes. Forcing it shut as he readjusted his vision, everywhere smelt like death and bodily wastes. His face scrunched up from the distressing smell, then he heard dripping echoing from afar. He must be in the sewers, he looked around and that's when he noticed the pile of bodies right next to him. He wanted to gag, he wanted to scream, he felt salty tears prick his eyes.

They were all horribly deformed and mutilated and rotting, one of the corpses had their eye hanging loosely as it was filled to the brim with maggots wriggling and feasting. He could've sworn some of them were alive, but that made him panic. Someone was here and they were about to kill him.

His breaths became faster as panic overcame his mind, he moved his hands but immediately regretted it as he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder. 

He looked and saw a knife plunged into his shoulder and even digging into the table he was laid upon and his hands were restrained by cold metal. He tried to pull, whilst ignoring the pain while trying to escape but it only causes blood to trickle down from his wrists from the attempts. He stopped and breathed as he ran out of breath. The smell was nauseating, and the sound of flies buzzing and flying around did not help ease his nerves. He felt lightheaded. 

Not even a second later, footsteps echoed throughout the darkness. Shaky breaths and tears began to form in his eyes as he continued to struggle from the binds, he twisted and turned. Screaming in pain as the knife tore a bigger hole on his shoulder as they continued, he began to grow more desperate as his movements became more violent and panicked, wanting to escape and wanting to play this all off as a bad dream. Then he paused, as he caught sight of a mask poking out of the shadows. 

It was made of leather and it was shaped like a beak as red broken goggles glared in the darkness, the more he stared the clearer it was. It was a tall man, dressed in all black wearing a plague doctor's mask. It stood there, silent and observing. The Angel of Death, people have been going missing and the people of the South believed it to be the infamous Angel of Death.

His stomach dropped and his heart raced, he felt the salty tears and sweat pour down from his face as the tall imposing figure circled the table. The bleeding on his shoulder soaked the white fabric he wore and soaked his white wings red.

"I must rid you of your sins." The man mutters in a deep voice, the mask made it sound more deeper than it should be. Sins? What does he mean by tha-

That's when he realized. His friend was nowhere to be seen. He frantically looked around while his eyes always darted back to the man. Not wanting to lose his life, when he wasn't looking at the man who had just trapped him.

"W-WHERE IS MY FRIEND!?" He screamed. The man gave no answer, which only frustrated him more.

"WHERE IS HE!?" 

Nothing. No response.

He could only stare at those red goggles, the man didn't even look alive. He felt his skin grow cold as the man moved.

The man then disappeared back into the shadows, his footsteps echoed in the dungeons and it stopped for a brief moment. The man looked around the dark, not knowing where the man was, scared he would lunge at any moment. The silence was deafening and he let himself cry. He was going to lose his life. He already lost his friend.

It felt like an eternity, he was just staring at the direction the man went. He continued to stare, feeling as if the darkness was staring back at him. He felt tears drop and his breath hitched as the footsteps started again, the sound of wheels accompanying him. That's when he saw it.

Naked and half-skinned on the other side of his face. A bloody display. He noticed the wings that his friends possessed were no longer attached to his back. There were two gaping holes behind his back and it was hanging loosely by the neck, like sagging meat. He could've sworn, he saw its lung expand as it took slow and subtle breaths.

"It is ugly ." That made his skin crawl as he stared at the man, who stood beside what used to be his friend.

"Your friend will be useful to understanding your type of curse. I must help you and your kind, I'm sorry it had to be this way, but they say this is the only way to truly help rid you of your curse ."

He then realized what he meant by curse,  he felt his wings bristle, his wings were folded behind his back and he gulped dryly. Panicked thoughts entered his mind.

He will rip my wings out… 

He shuddered at the thought and sobbed as it was the only reason why the man kept him alive, he cried tears that he hoped someone could hear. But only the man in all black could hear his pathetic attempts. He can't escape. 

Then he heard humming, coming from his captor. Who was busying his hands with tools, he gulped as he saw a sharp needle on the table.

The man was humming a familiar lullaby, a lullaby about cursed bloods, while  cleaning his tools and white feathers fell to the ground. The man could only watch in horror as he watched the man grab the needle filled with blood and turn his head slowly to him on the table.

"This will hurt...and you might die, but let us hope you will be the last one ."

He tried to move away, feet sweaty and kicking, palms shaking and bloody as the man approached quickly with the needle in hand. 

"I do not enjoy this, but to help you. I'll have to hurt you."

Leather gloves grabbed hold of the knife and twisted it, a sharp pain shot through the man's body as he flailed around the table. The man took off the knife and let it fall on the ground, blood staining the hard and wet cobble floor and noise of metal falling echoing throughout. The man soon laid back down crying for dear life.

"P-please- H-have m-mercy on me-..." He begged, begging for his life with tears overflowing from his eyes. His plea for mercy echoed throughout the dark room, but the man need not respond. He then pulls out the medical kits hidden under a sheath of blood stained cloth, and looks at the man who shook his head wildly. 

The man got nearer, his goggles reflecting the fear of his victim as he plunged the needle into the man's neck. The bloody screams made his ears bleed as his victims head trashed around and he struggled even with the binds. The screams echoed through the sewer below. People from above could not hear the man's begging and screams for help. No one was there to save him.

Present Day ...

The man sat down on a nearby chair as he let the blood drip down from his mask, months of work. Has finally come together, restless nights and countless experiments have all led to this very moment. He stared at the cage from above as the being inside it gave an ear piercing screech and it clawed the sheets covering it, agitated and hungry. He did not feed it, he had studied it and so far he has learnt so much yet so little about them. It keeps trying to escape as it scrapes the metal from beneath its feet, an irritating noise that he had gotten used to.

The countless papers on his desk and all the drawings of that beast and his studies, the countless experiments. He could've done it in a more pacifist way, but who was dumb enough to willingly die.

The man looked over to all the bodies that he had to burn later on, they were beginning to irritate his nose. The purple flowers inside of his mask, helps mask the smell of decaying bodies. 

He looked at the mold of clay that he had shaped into people, he had done all he could do this without spilling blood but here he was. He wanted to save them from their misery, the experiments he conducted were cruel but he did it all for them. No one will understand.

15.

15 lives were wasted, and only 1 of the test subjects survived. And they were up there, searching for blood and trying to escape its cage, in all of its glory. The voice in his head echoed happily telling him how well he was doing, but he ignored it as he took off his mask letting the foul stench enter his lungs as he scrunched his face in disgust. Setting down his mask on a table filled with papers about his months of research to find the cure. Bits and pieces of all the clay he had molded into shapes of people, have dried and became difficult to remove.

" It's almost time… " He whispered to himself. Spreading his arms in victory as he laughed, it was almost time and he was so close to discovering it.

" You are almost ready !" He spoke to the Beast as it continued to screech loudly as it was attracted to the voice of the man. He knows the beast is already thinking of ways to slice his neck as he speaks even louder.

"If you succeed...I don't have to keep doing this anymore and I would have helped millions upon millions of people...15 lives over a million…" He stood up, the light shining from above reflected on the red goggles the man in all black wore.

"I would gladly take those odds."

Ting …

A coin was tossed in the air as a gloved hand caught it. The hand belonged to the second ranking hero, Quackity. The man wore a carefree smile and a scar that started from his brow and ended on his chin, he owned one golden tooth. He was staring at the missions on his list and was accompanied by his team. His team consisted of 3 people.

Karl Jacobs, he was a tad forgetful, he was also mischievous and his laugh is rather infectious. He's a new addition to the team, he picked up Karl to help with keeping things on track and put someone with a bad memory with the task to keep things on track...well it ended up doing the opposite. 

George was even worse, he would sleep during missions because of his curse. He's 24 yet he acts as if he's 10, which Quackity likes but it's not really useful around missions. He knows George is skilled, and can be serious when he needs to be.

Sapnap is a Wild Card, he seems to hate Quackity and simultaneously like him. He's an asshole, but he has a good heart even if his mouth says otherwise. He's a blazeborn, he's born from fire and from the Nether. He also knew his father quite well. Sapnap is destructive and chaotic but is the only one useful in missions.

With his team, he wonders how the ship even managed to hold up with them in it. Sailing the skies at night was beautiful, the stars were out and they could practically touch the clouds. A perfect opportunity to hit the hay and or go drinking or go to a casino, but this night's cold wind was wasted due to their roles as peacekeepers and heroes.

The Southern Festival is soon and it's the most enjoyable place to be at this time of year. None of them could enjoy it, they were all sent to do missions instead of celebrating. Ever since Dream hadn't been around, Quackity handles all the tough work for him. So he was assigned to the West, to handle some thieves with Karl while Sapnap and George head down South to investigate all the missing Cursed Bloods and their mysterious kidnapper.

There was no clear photo of said criminal, but a vague Description of a 6'1 man, dressed in a plague doctor's costume. People rumored that it was the infamous Angel of Death, which is a famous myth in the South. A myth about an Avian with dark wings, as he would kill his victims mercilessly and leave No Trace. Some believed if you caught sight of a crow, that was either him or his victims.

The description of the Angel of Death fits perfectly with the description of the kidnapper in the files. Dressed in all black, has bird-like features and is quite the enigma. Quackity didn't believe in the myths, he scoffed at it. He understood the people for believing it, they needed to know what they were up against since the thought of not knowing what's lurking around scared them. It's scared Cursed Bloods the most.

Quackity knew a thing or two about criminals, for he was one himself before Lion's Den picked him up. It was either these fools messed with a powerful criminal and was assassinated by some powerful mafia boss. Though it didn't feel like it was the answer, something just didn't sit well with him.

Quackity stared at the pictures of everyone missing, they were all Cursed Blood with criminal records...doesn't mean anything good. Someone was out there hand picking their kind and possibly putting them in danger or worse. They could be forming a huge band of criminals to take down the entire South.

If the criminal wasn't caught, everyone would be in danger and that would mean paperwork. God, Quackity hates that part of the job. Fighting causes property damage, meaning shit tons of paperwork afterwards. Not even a chance to swim in their victory, for even a moment.

 He was brought out of his thoughts by a rush of wind entering his office and causing all the papers to fly around the room and one caught itself on his face. The wind was blowing strong and things from his desk either flew away or rolled off the edge.

"OH!" Karl immediately closed the door, the cool wind no longer blowing an entire mess in Quackity's office. He kneeled to pick up all the paper on the floor. Quackity blew away the paper that attached itself to his face and looked at Karl, who was panicking and rushing to pick all the papers up.

"God I'm so sorry- didn't realize the wind would blow- I'm so sorry." Karl apologized profusely, as if he would be beheaded.

"Don't worry. I'm not Dream." Quackity laughed at his own joke while Karl stayed silent. Quackity slowly realizes he was the only one laughing and simmered down. He clears his throat, to ignore the embarrassment burning his cheeks.

He watches as Karl stops to look at the papers he was picking up and the panic was replaced with a frown after he seemingly read through it all. He looked like a kicked puppy.

 Quackity sighed, "Aight, Karl. Hand 'em over!" He gave his hand forward. Karl took one last look and handed it over. Quackity quickly placed it in a suitcase, and pushed it aside on his desk.

"So...that's the mission Sapnap and George are taking…" Karl asked, uncertainty filled his voice as he looked up at Quackity, who nodded in response. 

"Isn't Dream there? Like, why does Lions Den need Sap and Gogy there, if "The Champion" is there?" Karl asked. Quackity held in a laugh at the dumb nicknames Karl had given them. He only smirked and Karl titled his head like a confused puppy. 

"Because, Dream's not assigned with this mission. He's too busy teaching some random kids how to be his servant." 

"Did you think Dream willingly gave his missions to me? No! Lion's Den pried it from his grasp and gave it to me. And it fucking blows." He loudly complains as he looks back at the pile of paperwork he had thrown into the cabinets.

Karl let's out a small elongated oh , blushing from not realizing how he failed to remember that slight detail.

Quackity put his feet up the table and leaned on his chair as it slightly leaned backwards. He let out a satisfied sigh and stared into the purple eyes of his assistant.

"Well, go get Sap and 'Gogy' ." He mimics, which received him getting a friendly punch on the shoulder from Karl who was laughing. 

The door slammed open and strong wind blew inside the room, which caused Quackity to lose balance and fall backwards. Sapnap and George were at the doorway, Karl ran up to them and attempted to hug them. Sapnap dodged while George was tackled to the ground by an affectionate Karl, Sapnap rolled his eyes. Quackity stood up slowly, glaring at Sapnap who returned it.

"Do you know how to knock!?" Quackity exclaims as he fixes his hair, huffing in annoyance. 

"I do. I just didn't feel like it." Sapnap retorted, crossing his arms and continued to glare at Quackity. 

Quackity only smirked and tossed the suitcase to Sapnap. Sapnap made a small ' oof ' when the case was tossed to him, with a strange amount of force. Sapnap growled and looked at Quackity who was smugly smiling at Sapnap's annoyance. 

"Do you know how to hand out things without throwing it at them?" Sapnap questioned, venom in his tone.

"I do. I just don't feel like it."  

Sapnap clenched his jaw as he averted his gaze, Quackity only smiled. Sapnap opened the case and looked through the papers and saw the location, George peeked behind him and gasped. "Hey that's where we graduated! Our home kingdom!" George exclaimed, he hasn't been there for so long so it was nice.

"You wouldn't be too happy if you knew we're going back there to find missing people." Sapnap stared at it a bit longer and closed the case and left the room without another word. George remained in the office, while Karl looked at Quackity who was staring at the door.

"Why does Sapnap hate Quackity so much?" Karl wondered, placing a finger to his chin, in thought.

"He doesn't." George answered. Karl looked at him and Quackity raised a brow, waiting for George to elaborate.

"It's just that...Dream hates you." 

"Now Wait- how the hell does that make any sense?" Quackity asked, bewildered by such an answer. Sapnap hated him because Dream hated him? Does the man have any sort of opinion that isn't somehow tied back to the Champion.

"Well…" George shrunk, as he itched his head. "He and I used to be Dream's friends but...after some time… We weren't anymore." He elaborated.

"No matter how much Sapnap hates Dream. He still cares and I do too, just the thought of being sided with Dream's archenemy...well you can see why it bothers Sapnap so much."

Karl seemed to understand what Geroge was trying to say but Quackity was only confused, he didn't bother to ask since Geroge was obviously bad at answering questions and that only Sapnap can really explain why. 

Quackity shrugs and stretches. "You two, get ready." 

Karl stopped hugging George and George looked at Quackity. Quackity yawned and relaxes into his seat 

"Tomorrow is another day, and stay safe both of you while you're there." Quackity looked at George and George nodded.

"We will be." George said, confidence in his words. Quackity smiled at his confidence, but something didn't sit well with him but he doesn't bother to vocalize this.

"You better! You sleep on missions, George so you better keep an eye on yourself. I can't spill water on you to wake you up this time, so you better-"

"Alright, alright! I will." George cuts Karl's scolding off and is immediately hugged again by Karl. Who gave him a small kiss on the cheek and went out of the room waving them goodnight, Quackity laughs.

"Goodnight, Gogy ." Quackity turns off the light in his office as George goes out, wiping the kiss from his cheek talking about cooties to himself and all that.

Tommy and Tubbo were huddled in a corner with Jack and Eryn, they had a jar of pure melted chocolate and all of them had donuts. They stole the jar from Dream's office when he wasn't there, Tommy made his way in there and stole it for the boys. They were in their room, all holding their favorite donuts in hand.

"One at a time. This chocolate is hella expensive." Eryn says, excited to dunk his entire bagel into the chocolate delight. The smell of chocolate was intoxicating these children, they are absolute sugar fans and it shows at this very moment.

Jack dipped his donut onto the chocolate, once he raised it from the sweet pool of brown. He immediately ate it, the sweetness made his cheeks hurt and he smiled and laughed happily. 

"This is so fucking good." He rejoiced as he licked off the remaining chocolate from his fingertips. Eryn was next and he dipped his bagel into it, he wasted no time scarfing it down and crying in tears of joy.

"This is the best chocolate I've ever fucking had." He sobbed, crying tears of joy as he watched Tubbo and Tommy dunk their donuts and eat it. 

Now all of them were satisfied, they quickly hid the chocolate under their bed to save for another time. They all agreed they would pull it out everyday to celebrate whatever they achieved that day and end it with sweet chocolate donut dipping.

"Thanks for coming by, Eryn." Tommy hugged Eryn. Eryn patted his back and hugged Tubbo, who happily hoisted him from the floor. The four laughed out loud as Tubbo settled him back down to the ground and roughly patted his back.

Eryn almost trips but quickly saves himself and turns to face the three, he does a small two finger salute.

"Yeah, you guys are fun to hang out with! I'll see you all later, me and my team need to practice." Eryn waved goodbye as he ran downstairs. Leaving Tommy, Jack and Tubbo alone. The three talked about the festival and all the activities they could do. Every student was excited but Dream's class students were anticipating it the most. 

2 weeks before their graduation, Tommy smiled to himself. They've all worked hard to get here and he's happy he's able to make friends even though the position is something all of them fought for.

"2 weeks left? Man. That's crazy." Tommy smiled at himself. He has gotten so far, this was his dream, he was so close to it now and all that's left is the test. Tommy was confident in the test, he's sure he can pass and he's confident his team can as well.

"...2 weeks left…" Tubbo's eyes widened. Jack and Tommy glanced at each other and looked at Tubbo. Tubbo didn't look up, seemingly at a stand still. Before either of them could ask, Dream appeared out of nowhere. He spooked all three of them as they screamed and held each other close.

They were men, and men are allowed to clutch each other when scared. Normalize being scared with the homies.  

That's what Tommy thought.

All three straightened their posture and Tubbo saluted like a soldier, while Jack did the same thing while Tommy stared at both of them. They looked at Tommy, expecting him to do the same thing. 

"At ease, boys." Dream chuckled.

And so they did, Dream didn't wear his mask and it was apparent that he was smiling. He was in a really good mood which is rare, Tommy also found it peculiar. It's rare to see their teacher not be so serious or busy, but recently he's been having more free time than usual.

Dream was unusually happy this morning and he smiled even more when he made eye contact with Tommy, for a while now Tommy and Dream have been hanging out quite often and that Dream had grown into a habit of pulling Tommy away from his Team to hang out or practice. Dream would always come up with things to do and would drag Tommy along, even giving him first hand experience on jobs he shouldn't be on until he graduated.

"In a good mood today, Clay?" Tommy asks as he crosses his arms, a smile spread across his face. Tubbo and Jack looked at Tommy as if he committed several crimes against humanity, but Dream simply laughed and nodded.

"Things have been going well and I'm rather happy about it. I'm also really happy to see you!" That's when he pulled Tommy to a warm friendly embrace. Though it felt a little possessive. The world seemed to have frozen and that Tommy began to question his luck and existence. Tubbo, Jack and everyone else in the hallway seemed to have ceased in movement as they could only stare in shock.

What timeline are we fucking on!? Jack thought, as he stood there frozen and mouth wide open. A fly made its way in and it caused him to choke, while Jack was busy coughing out a fly; Tubbo stood there watching them with a blank stare.

Tubbo pulled Tommy away and hugged him, which surprised Tommy. Tubbo pushes him behind him, blocking the way for Dream. Despite Tubbo being shorter than the two of them, he still tried to be a wall that separated Tommy and Dream at that moment.

"Aww... Tubbo." Tommy pats his friend's head, Tubbo leans into it and it makes Tommy laugh more as Tubbo was on his toes now.  

Dream stares at them, shocked about the sudden course of action. Tubbo had the look in his eyes, he was shaking but he stood his ground. He stared into the eyes of his teacher and gulped. "Me and the team need to discuss something. S-so I'm not letting you drag him away this time!" He stuttered, it would've been a lot more intimidating but Tubbo had an irrational fear for Dream. 

Dream stared at him and Tommy with amusement, he had a smirk resting on his face as he continued to stare into the students soul. Tubbo shook even more, the fear he had for Dream was something Tommy never understood. Maybe because his teacher would usually be cold and strict that many of them grew to be scared of, Tommy no longer had that fear. He rubbed his best friend's head, which caused Tubbo to snap his eyes back up to Tommy.

"Don't be jealous, you're my best friend Tubzo."

"I am not jealous!" Tubbo yelled at his friend.

"You totally are," Tommy teased, as he pokes his friend's head. Tubbo only grumbled.

"I hate you… so so much."

Tommy laughed at that and Tubbo rolled his eyes, he turned back to stare into the teachers eyes. He suddenly jumped backwards which surprised Tommy and Jack. Tubbo was shaking and he was gripping Tommy's shirt tightly but he immediately relaxed after, placing his hand to his chest breathing quite heavily. 

Tommy and Jack were looking at each other, until Tommy felt two pairs of hands lay themselves down onto his shoulders. Tommy felt the grip tighten slightly, but he didn't think much of it. "I suppose you could discuss it later, I need Tommy at the moment." Dream smiled sweetly at Tubbo, who was sweating bullets.

Tubbo looked at Tommy as if he wanted to say something, but his voice was lost. Tommy was concerned but he was immediately pulled away by his teacher. Tubbo looked panicked and tried to reach him but stopped halfway, he only gave Tommy a shaky smile before Tommy and Dream were completely out of sight. Jack turned to look at Tubbo, who looked back at him with worry in his eyes.

"What happened back there?" Jack questions, as Tubbo fixes himself and breathes in and out to relax his nerves.

"Didn't you see the look on Dream's face?" 

Jack only shook his head, not knowing where this was going. Tubbo breathed in and out and slowly relaxed himself as Jack rubbed comforting circles on his back.

"Nevermind...must've been the sugar getting into my head." Tubbo itched his head, not knowing if it really was just something his mind came up with. He doesn't know why he tried to pull Tommy away. Tommy was in no danger at all, after all the boss man and their teacher have been bonding well. Tubbo couldn't shake away the feeling. He turned to look at his teacher and even though it lasted only a split second, the look on his teacher's face.

His eyes were dark, almost lifeless, he was staring into Tubbo's soul. His stare was something that would be compared to a lion looking down on their prey. The look, it was a look of someone who would kill you without hesitation if he didn't move aside, that only made Tubbo anxious as he brushed it aside. After all, it could've been a trick of the eye. He does have an irrational fear of Dream, even if he doesn't know why, so it must've been his head playing tricks on him.

The gentle wind blew the leaves from the tree as white birds flew by, Tommy watched them while eating his sandwich. Dream had planned a picnic this weekend, all the food that he had brought were Tommy's favorites. Dream had asked him of his favorite foods beforehand, but he would tell him why he asked. He was happy he answered the question, since he was currently eating all of them. Munching on all of them, he heard Dream laugh and caught sight of the man staring at him instead of eating.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Tommy asks his Teacher. Dream shook his head and continued to stare at Tommy eating.

"This is all for you, so go ahead and dig in." Tommy stared at his teacher and felt a twinge of guilt, but the taste of the food just made him forget about all of it.

"Man, these taste good but I miss my dad's cooking." He spoke between bites. He really fucking loved the food, but Sam's cooking was something else. He remembered how Sam would always add honey to his roast, even if they couldn't afford honey Sam would find a way to make sure he'd always have honey for his roast.

"Your...father cooks for you?"

"Yeah! He's great! How about you?"

"Well, to be honest, I have only ever eaten what my father's culinary chefs would serve."

Tommy turned to look at his teacher, who laughed nervously. Glancing his head away, gritting his teeth as his cheeks bloomed bright red. Tommy looked around awkwardly and then came up with an idea.

"What if...My dad cooks us something!" Tommy suggests. No harm in suggesting.

Dream beamed at the suggestion, he lifted his gaze from the ground to look at the boy

"Your father would do that?" Dreams' eyes flashed with joy and excitement giving a dimpled smile.

"Yeah! I've already asked when I was writing letters! He said he'd love to cook Tubbo, Jack and You some food. Let me tell you he's fucking good." Tommy proudly says as he takes pride and joy with his father's cooking abilities.

Dream's smile drops with the mention of the two. Tommy's voice was muffled in his head, he couldn't hear a word of what the boy was saying. Tommy didn't seem to notice as he went on and on about his father until he started talking about Tubbo and Jack.

"I'm really happy you decided to think about what I said! I swear my team? They will not disappoint you!" Tommy had a very bright smile on his face. Dream wore an unreadable expression.

"Your team...Have they been dragging you down on your studies?" Dream asks, while he silently pulls all the grass blades from the ground.

Tommy was quite surprised with that question, his bright smile soon dropped as he faced his teacher who wore a smile similar to his, but Tommy felt something off about it. 

"No, they haven't really done anything to ruin my training or studies." He hesitated.

Dream hummed as he continued to stare into the boy's eyes. They looked almost dead, Tommy didn't want to comment on that as the man looked like he was holding something back.

"But they've been stopping you from letting me teach you." He cocked his head to the side. Tommy sighed and rubbed his nape, he hesitated for a moment. He needed to be honest to make a good lasting impression on his teacher, so he decided to tell Dream.

"Tubbo, he was worried. I didn't want him to worry. Plus I was in desperate need of sleep as well." He didn't look back at his teacher. Ashamed he had to admit that he was in fact tired from all of the restless teaching, but he appreciated it.

Dream didn't seem to push on with that question, something really felt off. Tommy felt like he was walking on eggshells while answering, maybe this was Dream, his hero persona, talking and not Clay. Clay's a lot less intimidating than this. Dream is the person who wears the I famous mask, the one everyone respects and loves and looks up to.

 It felt off to see Clay play Dream without the mask, since you could see the emotions he would usually never let anyone see.

"How about Jack? Is he dragging the team down? I know Jack can be a bit… unreliable." Dream stared at the boy, waiting for his response.

Tommy really didn't like these questions, he laughed nervously while Dream stared at him blankly. He gulped before he spoke again.

"He's absolutely not, he's doing rather great with everything! I'm sure with my knowledge, I could help him be a lot more polished." Tommy answers with our confidence in his voice.

Dream seemed to stop asking questions as he smiled softly at the boy, "That's good."

Tommy looked around nervously as he scratched his head. "So uh… have you thought about your decision yet?" Tommy put his fingers together and awaited an answer.

Dream was awfully silent for a long moment, until he smiled again. "I will have to think about it some more." Tommy grinned, he felt like the luckiest kid in the world! He gets to work with the hero and his friends in the foreseeable future!

"Thanks, Clay!" Tommy gave the hero a friendly punch on the shoulder. It eased up the mood as Dream no longer had that heavy aura weighing down on them, Tommy mentally sighed in relief as he was able to steer from any bad possibilities. Like pissing the Hero off, afterall Dream was in a good mood which of itself is quite rare. He didn't wish to smother it.

After finishing, the two of them made their way back to the school. Tommy and Dream were having a nice idle conversation until Tommy hears a familiar voice, one he hasn't heard ever since he left his hometown.

"Oh...nooooo…." Tommy grunts as he holds his head in his hands. He messes his hair, in annoyance already knowing that this wasn't going to be a pleasurable interaction. He thought he could escape those assholes yet here they were, well time to face them. They were absolutely blocking the way to the gates, talking to both Tubbo and Jack. Great, those assholes better not be bothering his teammates or that's another can of worms Tommy has to deal with.

Tommy began to walk towards them but felt a hand quickly grab him by the arm, stopping him from getting any further. He looked back, seeing that the arm preventing him from walking any further was Dream himself. He was about to ask him to let him go, but he felt the grip tighten as Dream was staring right at the two. 

They had not seen Tommy or Dream yet, but Tubbo caught sight of them both and waved frantically calling out their names. Tommy looked at Tubbo, Jack popping his head out of the gate. This caused the two to look back, they caught sight of Tommy first. An insult was already forming in Sapnap's mouth but was immediately shut down by the other person right beside Tommy. They stood there frozen as if they had seen a ghost. Tommy didn't know what to think of it, but he stared at Tubbo, who only shrugged, and went back to his teacher. 

His teacher wore an expression, something between the line of Hurt and Happiness. Though the other two, Sapnap and George, wore the expression of pure anger and betrayal. They all stood there silently staring each other down, Dream was in a staring contest with the two. Tommy, Tubbo and Jack could only watch until all of them went into the school silent and the walk to the office felt like they all ran short of breath as the situation felt like an anvil was pressing them down to the floor and causing them to breathe ever so slightly.

Sapnap gritted his teeth, Tommy could hear him grind it as they continued to walk. George wore a blank expression, the glasses he wore made it difficult to see how he felt but the curled fist gave it all away. They all ignored the students staring at aww at their presence as Sapnap would push away students who even got near them. They eventually make it to the office, Dream unlocks the door and steps aside as he lets the guest enter the room. Dream looked at Tommy and gave a tight smile.

"Stay here. I'll be back shortly." Then Dream slammed the door shut. Tommy, Tubbo and Jack glanced at each other and stayed exactly where they were told to. What followed was a series of screaming and things being thrown in the room, which made Tubbo jump at the loud sounds inside the office. Tommy was trying to eavesdrop, his ear pressed on the door barely understanding what was being said. It was all muffled screaming and it didn't seem like it was pleasant.

Jack only sat there in silence, not knowing what to do about this situation. None of the three knew what to do, but stayed there and waited until it was over. Then the door slammed open, Tommy was taken aback and dropped to the ground hard as he slowly sat up and rubbed his head. Sapnap looked down on him but said not a single word, he dragged George out of the room and Tubbo and Jack took a peak of the office. Everything, and anything that used to be not broken we're all on the floor, from expensive items to even valuable items were screwed about and were beyond repair. 

Dream wasn't looking at them, instead he was staring at his desk, in silence and looked like he was somewhere far. Tommy took a look and found the situation horrible. He took a step into the room and felt glass shatter beneath his feet, Tommy moved his foot away and crouched down. Then he saw a picture of Sapnap George and Dream, they all looked happy and youthful, dressed in the same uniforms they wore and were holding each other closely.

Tommy stared at the picture and picked it up. Dream looked up from his desk, then he glared at the photo Tommy tried to put back. "Get that photo, out of my sight. " He hissed as his hands formed into fists. Tommy looked back at his teacher and the photo.

" NOW!" He commanded, his voice booming and threatening. Tommy immediately takes it out of the frame and puts it into his pocket. Quickly leaving the room, shutting the door behind him as gently as he could. Tubbo hugged Tommy, then they pulled away and Tommy saw the concern in Tubbo's eyes. Tommy could only smile and pat his friend's head. 

"What's the photo about?" Tubbo pointed at his friend's pocket. Tommy pulled the picture out of his pocket and showed it to Tubbo. Tubbo looked at it with Jack and they both gasped. 

"Is that-"

"Dream and the Two other guys?" Tubbo couldn't believe it. No one could at the moment, they just continued to stare at the photo. "They look like they used to be friends." Jack stated the obvious.

"I wonder what happened." 

That's what they all wondered. What happened? Tommy has heard vague stories about them but he never thought it would've been Sapnap and George .

That's when Tommy had a brilliant idea, Tommy usually doesn't have those, but it's about time they find out. Tommy pockets the picture and looks at his friends.

"I need to do a little bit of Sherlock Holmes." Is all he informed of them before he ran off. Tommy could hear them calling his name, but he needed to find Sapnap and George. He wanted answers, so he could avoid further repercussions in the future. He ran and stopped, at every nook and cranny, and in every alleyway, every establishment and other public places. He didn't find them, he had no clue where they were and he was running out of breath running everywhere trying to find them. He took a break near Bad's Muffin House and took a breather, he looked up at the sky above him and sighed.

They could've left by now, he shook his head in frustration.

"How the hell is it so hard to find the most standout motherfuckers in this small kingdom." He growled and he looked at his reflection on the glass. He looked great, but he also looked angry. He glared at the glass, then he saw them. They were inside the Muffin house, looking at him through the window and they both stood there staring at each other for a moment.

Tommy entered the bakery and pointed a finger at them. "Finally, found you fuckers!" Then he heard Bad yell 'Language' from the counter. Sapnap looked unimpressed and annoyed.

"Get the hell out of here." 

"Sappy Nappy! Me and your father did not raise you to be rude!" Badboyhalo scolded, waving his spatula around. Sapnap blushed at the nickname as George held in a laugh, earning an elbow to the stomach. Tommy could only stare, he looked at Bad then Sapnap. 

Bad and Sapnap .

Sapnap and Bad . 

Skeppy was there too, I guess. 

Tommy's remaining brain cells eventually connected the dots. It was a few seconds of silence, then he bursted out in laughter as he wheezed and coughed violently. The nickname broke him and Sapnap's embarrassment made it all better. Sapnap's cheeks grew redder and he glared at Tommy. 

"Don't laugh, child."  

Okay, Tommy got pissed off at that one. He stopped laughing and shot a glare at Sapnap. George looked like he didn't want to be there, covering his face with the menu. 

"Not a child. I'm a big man! Destined for big things! Sappy Nappy " Tommy felt a victorious smirk on his face as Sapnap her redder by the second.

Sapnap growled, like a wild dog. Sapnap is very comparable to a wild dog at the moment, which Tommy found quite hilarious. 

"Now be nice, you two. After all, Tommy is your friend Sapnap." Skeppy jokes, which none of the two found funny. Sapnap looked disgusted at the fact that Skeppy would even dare to assume him and Tommy were friends. Tommy was offended, but the feeling was mutual between them.

"Tommy, go take a seat with our son and his best friend. We'll prepare something for you three." Skeppy was being nice. Tommy hoped he wasn't trolling and placed a whoopee cushion under the seat, he slowly made his way to their seat and sat down slowly. Sapnap rolled his eyes and George didn't even poke his head out from the menu.

"Nothing's there."

"Can't be too sure. Your father is a troll and you are literally a hell spawn. Anything could've been put here to prank or hurt me." 

"Seems like you do know a little bit about me and my father." That's when the conversation stopped and the awkward silence arrived. Tommy basically swims in awkward silences, so this wasn't his first rodeo. Tommy pulled out the picture and Sapnap raised his brow.

"Well...I wanna know all about this." Tommy points at the photo of the Three. George peaked his head out and caught sight of the picture and dropped the entire menu down onto the table, trying to reach for it but Tommy pulled away immediately.

"No touchy." Tommy wagged his finger at George.

"So, Dream sent ya' huh? Well tell him, I don't wanna hear his stupid apology-"

He points to the photo Tommy held in his hand.

"...Through some dumb kid, who's just Dream's servant-!"

"You think Dream sent me here to talk to you? Hell no!" Tommy cuts him off, crossing his arms defensively. "He barely even wanted to see the damn picture." He rolled his eyes at Sapnap, who looked confused.

"So he really doesn't…" Sapnap paused, he looked down on the table. George frowned as he watched his friend's fist shake with rage, but it immediately dissipated. Sapnap breathed in and out slowly, he didn't dare open his eyes or the ears would come falling down. Tommy sat there in awkward silence, fiddling with the picture.

"You know what? I don't care if he doesn't! Why the hell are you even here then!?" Sapnap screamed, which earned another 'Language' from Bad in the kitchen. Sapnap grumbles as he lowered his voice, to where only the three could hear. 

"Well, I wanted to know why you three suddenly broke apart." Tommy smiled as he crossed his legs.

"You think just because you grabbed some photo of the past. I'm just going to tell you why? Hell no." Sapnap scoffed. 

"It's none of your business, kid. So stay away from it."

"Dream left us." George answered.  

Sapnap snapped his attention to George, his eyes filled with disbelief. Questions were forming between his lips, but he didn't know which one to ask first. Tommy cocked a brow. "Go ahead, continue." Tommy permits.

"Just...promise me, you'll hand that picture to us after." George stared him in the eyes, Tommy stared back. He saw George's desperation, he also understood why so he didn't question it. Instead, he nodded, crossing his heart.

"I'll give it, in exchange for answers."

George nodded, sitting up straight as Sapnap could only stare as he grunted in defeat. Crossing his arms and looking away from them, this time Sapnap didn't want to be part of the conversation. Tommy grinned, he knows he shouldn't butt in personal problems but he just needed to know why it had gotten so bad back there.

"It was so many years ago."

Dream, Sapnap and George were out in the field playing with each other, their youth apparent. Their laughs were one's filled with joy and happiness, a laugh only children could wield such innocence to. They would wrestle, they would hide and they would run for hours on end. Never growing tired of each other's company, as all three anticipated each other's presence.

"We... were all happy back then, so was Dream."

Dream was always the talented one out of the three, even when he was seven, he proved to be outstanding. Anything and Everything, he was good at. So many of the children in their school would grow jealous of Dream. That they would attempt to ruin his reputation, but it wouldn't work as long as he had Sapnap and George by his side.

Sapnap was the more brute of all the three, raised by a kind hearted demon and a diamond being. He was rough when he played with other children, sometimes resulting in injury. He had flame abilities, which made him a bit of the arsonist in the group. Constantly after chaos and creating chaos, wherever he went. He has a kind heart even if his mouth contradicts him.

Fat chance. Tommy thought, but didn't say it aloud as he let George continue.

And there was George. He was the pretty One, he was also the lazy one out of the three. He cannot fail to impress anyone around him with his looks and charm, but George has the tendency to easily grow tired if he does anything physical. A minute into cardio, you'd already see him on the ground asleep. It got better over the years, he could last longer now but he will still feel extremely tired.

They all stuck together, as they grew up.

"Well...that's kinda the opposite now." Sapnap butted in, laughing just a bit. None laughed, Sapnap decided to shut his mouth.

These three were the infamous trio, when they entered the training program. They called themselves the Dream Team, they were all 16 years of age. They were luckily teamed up with each other, they have fought countless students and rose to the top together. 

Eventually they all graduated and earned themselves a job position at Lions Den. Something the three all dreamed about all their lives. It was all finally coming true. Now all three of them could rise to the A Ranks soon enough. They just had to stick to the plan.

" Then… something happened."

Tommy stared up at George, as Sapnap seemed to pay attention now. However, George went quiet and stayed silent for a moment. Tommy coughed, catching George's attention. "What happened?" He questioned.

George sighed sadly. 

"He went on a mission one day, something Lion's Den couldn't quite expose. He was with an S Rank Hero, so he would've been fine." A long pause,

"Then he came back...changed. The Dream we knew? He was completely gone when he came back from that mission, without the S Rank Hero as well." 

That was very important information, Tommy scooted forward even further. Interested at the topic, as questions rose from his mind but he couldn't quite ask any of it as he needed to have to hear more.

"He suddenly became so much more… efficient with his work. He was close to perfection, but the only thing really holding him back from that was that he would sometimes fall down and pass out. He was enhanced, somewhat." George speculated.

Remembering how shockingly well Dream performed while they were on missions. Sometimes taking on missions on his own, without them. Even though they were supposed to be together. Dream did it all on his own, before anyone could realize he was gone.

"He wouldn't tell us, his best friends, about what happened. Then after a year, he rose to the top quickly and ever since then he never spoke to us." 

"Believe us, we tried to get him to talk to us. So many, fucking, times. Yet his only excuse was that 'He was busy' . He wouldn't be fucking busy if he let us help him!" Sapnap stated angrily, as his eyes pricked with tears and his knuckles were white. He was trying so hard to not cry. 

He felt George's hand, holding his own. He felt a warmth in his chest as he laid his head on George's shoulder. He lets himself sob quietly, like what he did when Dream cut them out of his life. He just sobbed into George's shoulder as he felt the betrayal both pierce their hearts and soured all their happy memories.

Tommy stared down at the picture, he felt bad. Bad for Sapnap and George, he also felt bad for Dream. Something happened during that mission and it must've been traumatizing. He sighed and quietly pocketed the picture and waited. Bad and Skeppy were eavesdropping and felt guilt for not being able to be there for their son. 

Bad remembered the pained look in Sapnap's eyes, how his son changed after Dream left them. He didn't like seeing his son revisit those times in his life, but it's part of life. He needed to let his son grow on his own. Bad and Skeppy agreed to come out of the kitchen and bring the baked goods out. It's about time they lighten up the mood, after that.

After that, the tree ate their baked goods and didn't speak a word whilst eating. Not after that. They went out of the bakery, Sapnap carrying George on his back. George was fast asleep and Tommy quietly reached for the picture and handed it to Sapnap. Who stared at it for a moment, but grabbed a hold of it and hid it in his pocket. 

Tommy and Sapnap stared at each other, then they both parted ways. Tommy learning something new about his teacher and his past, was heavy and even the sweets couldn't quite simmer down the very deep wound that was reopened. 

Sapnap walked slowly, while carrying George on his back. The afternoon sun hitting his face as it warmed his cold body from the topic and memories they have revisited. He was silent, he watched as birds flew by and a crow perched itself on a tree branch staring at him with their red eyes. He stared at them, for a while he just wanted to stand there and never move and wishing time would stop if he did too, but he kept moving and so did time.

The crow eventually flew away, cawing and falling its wings as a black feather fell on the ground. While he walked, he and his mind left alone, he revisited the argument in the office.

Things flew above their heads, as Sapnap continued to wreck the place. Breaking one of the cabinets and toppling all of the books over and even breaking vases, in a fit of anger. Sapnap was blinded by rage as he threw things at Dream, which he dodged or caught. He was screaming, at the top of his lungs. He didn't know what he was screaming, he just wanted to scream. George was desperately stopping him, before anyone got hurt. 

Then it happened, he hit Dream with something he had thrown into his direction. It felt great at the moment, but he immediately grimaced at the face of his friend. A face that screamed murde r. He backed away slowly, he has never seen Dream this angry. He felt his throat tighten and sweat drip from his face.

"D-dream I-I'm sorry- I didn't mean to-"

Crack.

Dream threw it. The picture from his desk, it was now on the ground broken and glass was cracked and shattered. Sapnap stared in disbelief, he looked at Dream. Dream glared at Sapnap, he felt small and he didn't like that. So he glared back. Even though, he felt as if his life was being threatened.

"This." Dream gestures to Sapnap and George.

"This is why, Tommy's much better company than you two will ever be" Dream whispered to himself, but Sapnap heard it. He felt his heart shatter like glass, as tears pricked his eyes. Dream really chose some kid he met only months ago, over him and George, who's he's known for far longer. He didn't want to believe, he doesn't want to think about being replaced by some. Kid. Who used to shine his shoes.

So he stormed out if the room, stepping on the photo and dragging George. Then he saw Tommy, on the ground running his head. Oh, how much he wanted to spit on the kid at that moment, how much he wanted to scream at him and insult him for being pathetic. Yet, he left dragging George away.

Sapnap grit his teeth, his fire sparked dangerously. His eyes became wild with anger, he kept it dangerously inside of him. The entire time, Tommy was there. He felt it became more and more difficult to handle his anger.

He hated Tommy . 

Tommy told Tubbo and Jack about what he's learnt and that all three of them became concerned.

"You don't think... we'll end up like them when we graduate?...right?"

Tubbo looked worried, he looked at his friends who looked back at him with matching concern.

"We wouldn't be like them, when we're separated right?"

"Of course, we won't." Tommy pats Tubbos head. Tubbo leaned closer and pulled Jack in as well, who did very little to try and complain.

"We will be sticking together!" Tommy promised, holding out his pinky finger. The other two followed his lead and they clung onto each other.

"We will be together 'till we graduate." 

Tubbo smiled and hugged Tommy, he patted his back and he opened his arms to Jack. Who happily hugged him back, the three hugged each other. They stayed there, not wanting to let each other go, as they realized they only had 2 weeks left. 

I'll make sure of it, Tommy thought as he closed his eyes and held his team close.

He's not going to lose them.

Chapter Text

Heyo! I would like to tell you all that the upcoming chapters will be posted on the same day. Part 7 and 8, originally was supposed to be one chapter but I had too many ideas that jamming it all in one chapter would be far too much. After all, these are the last parts for Chapter 2.

We're closing in on "Chapter 3: So Here We Are Now". I need to warn you all, that the story may contain a lot of dark elements in the future, but will still hold the lighthearted nature throughout the story. I will be travelling onto new Characters from time to time, but this story centers mostly towards Tommy. 

The upcoming chapters will travel the past of each Important character, that is related to the story. Also to explain a bit about the world, their world is called Esempi. It's alive and creates life out of nothing, some prefer to call her Mother Nature. The world is dying very very slowly, the gods that had been defeated drained away most of its life span. 

The War Heroes in this world are praised and respected. They are people who have slain gods and goddesses alike, they are also called Blessed Bloods. However, Blessed Bloods are believed to be extinct after the war, since only The War Heroes possessed such powers to slay gods and the others Blessings turned into Curses, which created Cursed Bloods.

The War between Gods and Mortals, will also be explored a lot more. 

And yes, War Hero of The South, Kristin. Is a Character you will see much more about. 

Well that's all, if you have any questions. Please comment them below!

Edit: Okay so change of plans, I'm going to post Chapter 7 since I think giving you the questions and both answer on the same day would be too much

Chapter Text

It was cold and dark, the night sky was littered with stars shining brightly. The beauty of the night sky would not be appreciated by the folk from below, people of the kingdom grew fearful of the nights. They locked their doors, shut their windows and hid away their children. In fear of Death himself.

The Angel Of Death has grown quite infamous for the past couple weeks. The number of people he had claimed victim had not grown ever since the two assigned Heroes have come along, it made Cursed Bloods feel at ease knowing there were people out and about at night to make sure no one falls victim to the hands of such a criminal. It was their first night, it was foggy and hard to see which made patrolling harder for both royal guards and heroes. The king and queen of this small kingdom, sent out their guards to assist Sapnap and George. 

But unbeknownst to them, the surface was not the place to seek out their criminal. Deep underground, the old sewer system which used to be the castle dungeon was where their criminals lurked at night. They were undetected, out of sight of the guards for he could simply walk through them from beneath. To anyone who came across the sewers will become lost, for the sewers were like a large maze with multiple hidden exits and entrances if you know where to look. 

The walls were covered with paper from head to toe, the floor had ancient ruins written all over as candles and lanterns proved to be the only light source in the sewers. There the man with broken red goggles sat, his breathing was audible and loud. The caged Beast was asleep, the man continued to write in his journal. He had been studying the creature from afar, not wishing to be put into harm's way while conducting his research. 

The Beast needed to feed off of raw flesh and blood almost everyday and their behavior towards living would always be aggressive. He cocked his head to the side while he wrote, he tapped his pen on the desk. He found the guards and these Heroes on the surface, a burden and a hindrance to his plans. The beast was going hungry and it's growing weaker, he cannot let it die. So much work has been done, and the death of this vile creature would only stop the process of finding the cure.

You should kill them … the voice in his head beckoned. He shook his head violently as he clutched his pen tightly, he wanted this voice to stay shut and not bother him while he was planning. 

If you don't, the Beast will die out sooner or later... it's not supposed to be sleeping

"And you think, I don't know that?" He shouts, echoing throughout the sewers, aggravated by the voice. The voice simply laughed at him and he held his head to keep his cool.

If you kill them, it'll be much easier to do your job. To find the cure. 

"I do not agree with harming the heroes." He calmly said, after regaining his cool. 

The voice scoffed at him. Then the candle lights and lanterns around the room, all went out after a strong gust of wind blew past him. Leaving the man in the dark for a brief moment until all the candles and lanterns lit up, he sighed as he felt the presence of someone else in the room. He knew who it was, so he was not alarmed.

"You are hard to convince, Champion." The disembodied voice was annoyed, they spoke in the darkest corner, where light could not reach. 

"I used criminals for a reason, they have harmed others and feel no remorse for it. No one would miss them." The man turned around and stared at the darkness, where he heard the voice. The voice hissed, but it was quickly replaced with loud cackling. 

"You speak of them as if they're dirt, when you yourself have harmed far more. Which makes you-"

" Do not- finish that sentence." He abruptly cuts off the disembodied voice. The voice laughed and he scowled.

"Do not compare me to those scums. My duty is to save everyone from the curse before it's too late. " His tone was laced with venom.

"Why, I dare not compare the Champion to the scums you speak of. You are more, that's why I trusted you to save all of humanity." The voice calmly reminded him, the soft tone was deceptive yet he let himself fall for such manipulation.

"There's another way to feed the Beast." 

He looked at the dark corner, he stared at it and nodded. It all went dark for a moment, then something cold and sharp dragged itself into his skin, he hissed as he felt the blood leak. The Beast's eye shot open and it smelled the scent of blood, he felt a force push him forward to the Beast until they were only inches away. The only thing keeping him from death was the damaged cage, then he raised his hand and squeezed. The blood dripped down the beak of the Beast, it licked his hand hungrily.

He pulled away immediately, holding his hand as the voice cackled. The Beast was more lively, it started scratching and attempted to get out once more. The voice cheered, while he stood there holding his right hand. 

"While those pesky Heroes are up there, the best substitute for now is your blood." 

He sighed as he washed his hand and wrapped it with a bandage. The voice returned to his head as he took off his mask, the sweat dripping down his face as he felt his skin grow cold. He looked at his reflection on the broken mirror, he refused to look at himself. He slowly placed it down and took a single breath.

The sun was unforgiving that day, students felt the heat on their skin. They were burning under the scorching sun. Their skin became red and irritated, sweat pouring down their pores and breathing through their mouths from exhaustion.

Jack had it worse than all of them, he forgot to apply sunscreen. This was the endurance test, one of the things they needed to prepare before the upcoming week. They had to endure tough conditions, since this will be something that'll be quite common in the business. Not only that, but they had to knock out Dream to be able to go into the shade. None had succeeded.

Eryn was in the shade due to medical reasons, he wore a smug grin on his face and he sat down with the crowd of students who were watching the entire thing. Sapnap was leaning against a pillar, giving a sideways glance towards Dream who had not looked at him since what happened yesterday. Dream did not welcome them to the South, instead Dream wanted them both to leave and let him handle their work.

No fucking chance your taking our job . 

That's what he had said when they argued in the office, before things escalated further.

Sapnap rolled his eyes at the thought, as he continued to observe. George was next to him, earlier he was making fun of students for failing but after a kid fainted from heat stroke he stopped and started worrying for them. 

"He should really go easy on these kids and let them get a bit of shade already." 

Students behind George seemed to agree, they whispered amongst themselves but Sapnap overheard a few things from their conversations, how Dream was way too unforgiving and how he was a horrible teacher. Sapnap snarled, as he continued to hear their conversation drag on for too long.

"He's a Top Hero, he can't go easy on his students, since the spot he needs to be filled is very important and a high risk job when they're out in the field. So no he's not a bad teacher, he's preparing them for the hardships that come with the position." Sapnap argued, loud enough for the students to move away and shut their mouths. George sighed as he stared on, a frown on his lips.

Jack barely could move due to the pain of touching his own skin. It was red on his arms and legs, head and neck. Inside his shirt was purely unaffected as it was white as snow, he stood next to Tubbo who was soaked from head to toe. It was a mix of sweat and water he had poured on himself, the heat was unbearable that he asked Tommy for a ponytail to tie his hair up.

Tommy stood there completely unphased by the heat, he remembered the first time he went through this and it wasn't pleasant. It still wasn't, but he grew resistance to it.

He understood the pain of his classmates and teammates, the first time sucks and it hurts and it's going to test your patience and endurance to pain. So when another student fails to bring down Dream, they stand there longer exposed under the sun. Tubbo sighed as the next student failed after a desperate attempt, the Hero was also a very difficult obstacle to face in all of the lessons. Jack was in misery, he felt a shockwave send all over his body as Tubbo accidentally brushed his arm against him.

Jack wasn't feeling it today, he was the weakest one in their group when it came to physical training. He was good at the books but he dropped from second honor the moment Physical training started, to say he was ashamed would be an understatement. He didn't want to be useless as much as he had already been since he came here, he wanted to be excellent. He found that to be a difficult task. He needed to be better, for his brother, for a better life they both dreamed of together.

He fell to the ground in pain after standing in the heat for far too long, his vision was getting hazy as Tubbo kneeled next to him. Dream turned his head to look at them, his mask covering his face as he looked like he barely sweated in the heat. He was dressed in his infamous getup, cape included. 

"Get up, Manifold. Or else, you risk getting your entire team eliminated before the last test even begins." Dream advised, with a blasé tone to his voice. 

"I-Im tryi-" 

"Excuses. Get up." Dream callously commanded, his temper was all over the place due to yesterday and Jack felt that he was only adding onto more reasons why he is a burden. 

"No Jack, just stay down." Tubbo tried to argue but Jack pushed him away.

"I can do this." Jack told himself and Tubbo. Tubbo pursed his lips as he stood up and continued to look down on Jack worryingly.

Jack forces himself to stand. His entire body felt heavy and his legs were shaky. He felt like he was lifting an entire anvil on his back, sweat dripping down on his face as it dropped to the dusty ground and immediately dried up the moment it touched the dry sand. He was halfway up.

Come on...I can do this… 

He desperately thought to himself.

He stumbled but caught himself before he could fall any further, Tubbo was right beside ready to catch him. 

Fuck...It's too-

" FUCK." He groaned.

His legs gave out and he met the sandy ground face first, he heard Tubbo gasp beside him. He was barely conscious, he couldn't make out Tubbo's worried expression and he caught a glimpse of Tommy's face, he wore the expression of worry.

"If you want to become my apprentice. I expect all of you to be better than this."

Jack tries to stand back up, he grunts in pain as his vision becomes even more blurred. He felt the world spin around, he felt like passing out and so his body fell but this time he was caught by Tubbo.

Eryn winced as he looked at Jack, he shook his head and sighed. The heat was getting to Jack's head, it's already been an hour under the blazing sun. It was by far, the worst practice to go through yet.

"Someone beat down Dream, already." Eryn blurted out. 

George agreed. 

Everyone watching agreed.

Loud conversations were had in the crowd, most of them were talking about the treatment of his students and how it was unfair of Dream to put his students through this kind of practice.

Dream sighs, he fixes his hair and stares at his students who were all a hot sweaty mess. Some were drenched of sweat and some received sun burns, some looked like they were about ready to pass out.

"Alright. Whoever beats me, everyone gets the whole day off." Dream challenges, all the students suddenly felt a spike of hope but it immediately died down when they realized that the challenge was basically impossible. So they only whined as they mentally prepared themselves for another hour of burning under the sun until they were all passed out.

Except for maybe, one student. 

Tommy, after hearing the challenge, took a step forward out of the horizontal line. Suddenly, all the attention was on Tommy. Jack looked up at Tommy as Tubbo grinned at their friend. Tommy wore one of the most confident grins anyone has ever seen in Dream's class, the students who were watching began whispering loudly as if the Challenger was a fool or the heat had gotten into his head.

Dream smiled under the mask, he pointed a weapon at the boy. 

"Win and you all go under the shade."

"Deal." Tommy agreed, drowning in confidence. 

Tubbo felt a spark of hope as he looked up at his best friend, he too felt his friend's confidence.

"Good luck!" 

Tubbo throws Tommy a weapon and Tommy catches it. Waving it around, he smiles at his friends and gives them the thumbs up. It was dorky, Sapnap rolled his eyes while George laughed at the motion. 

The challenge began, the two of them were on opposite sides of each other. Tommy and both Dream stood there for a moment, both silent and observing each other. Sizing each other up, before they attacked.

People grew impatient, as whispers began. 

"Are they gonna move or what?"

Sapnap could only watch, he looked at Dream who was using his left hand rather than his right. He gave Tommy the upper hand since Dream was significantly weaker on the left hand side, while Tommy was a beginner. Sapnap was sure the boy would not last 3 seconds against Dream. 

He was silently wishing for Tommy's failure. So he could laugh at him, make Dream feel hatred towards Tommy for being so weak. Then before anyone knew it, Tommy lunged forward.

Beginner's mistake. Sapnap thought as he watched, smirking. Dream's going to side step and knock him out.

Dream prepares to do exactly what Sapnap thought he would do and anticipated Tommy's attack, waiting for Tommy to get close enough and strike. Sapnap was just waiting for it now, for Tommy to be struck to the ground. To wipe that confidence off of his face. 

To put him back into his place, the shoe shiner boy who used to shine his shoes. He smirked at the very thought, he was ready to cheer for Tommy's loss as Tommy was only meters away from Dream.

Dream,  as anticipated, swung his sword forward where his student would surely meet the tip of the blade before he could even get a chance to strike Dream.

Then, Tommy jumped over Dream. Dream didn't expect it and neither did Sapnap as both their eyes widened. Sapnap was speechless, while George was cheering so loudly it caused the other to follow along with him. Having felt the hype of the battle.

It was like time slowed down as Tubbo cheered like crazy and Jack watched in awe. The others around the area were shocked as well, Tommy immediately dropped down and swiped Dream off his feet.

Dream lost his balance, but quickly caught himself with his right hand. He hissed and jumped away from Tommy violently swinging his sword at him, he quickly blocked it with his own.

Dream's grip trembled under the amount of strength his student was sending with every swing, but he quickly tossed his student's sword in the air. Digging into the earth as it landed, Tommy looked back and Dream saw his opening.

He swung his sword, which Tommy leaned back enough to dodge the sword as he ran to grab his sword. The hero ran after him, sending blow after blow while his student dodges them, a few strands of gold hair flew as the sword cut the tip of Tommy's hair.

Tommy slid under as he barely Doge's a life threatening swing. He luckily retrieves his sword, he stands up and quickly parries Dream's sword that was about to hit him straight on the head.

Swords clashed and the two fought each other.  and as the two almost looked like they were dancing while they fought. Sapnap was at a loss for words, while George and the others cheered on. Jack could only stare, he saw Tommy grinning while he fought their teacher.

Jack could barely keep up with the fast movements and quick change of strategy from the both of them. He doesn't understand why Tommy's that good, he was in awe. He was amazed, he had seen Tommy practice before but it was never like this. Where it was almost effortless, he made it look easy.

Tommy was making mistakes while he fought and he barely dodged most attacks Dream had sent his way. Dream was fast, but Tommy was faster. So when saw the opening, he was striking fast and hard, pushing back Dream. He forces Dream into a defense role as he gives no opening for the hero.

 Dream stumbled back as he held his sword tightly with his left hand, he was forced to go on defense as his student sent strike after strike. He waited for Tommy to give him an opening and there it was, the opportunity he searched for. 

As Tommy was mid swing, Dream head butted him,  causing Tommy to hold his head and back away as it gave Dream more time to recover and change the way he held his sword. The porcelain mask made the blow more painful, as Tommy was still recovering from it.

Before he realized, Tommy was grabbed by the collar and he was up in the air. Tommy's eyes widened as he soon saw the ground approaching faster and faster, wind blowing on his face as he got nearer. 

Then a cloud of dust soon came after the impact. It blocked most of everyone's view and the cheering died down and it turned into worried chattering. Tubbo's eyes widened as he searched for his friend and Jack backed away from the dust.

"YES!" Sapnap screamed at the top of his lungs as he raised his fist to the sky. He cheered and laughed, which made many people look at him.

"NO!" Tubbo screamed, worried for his friend as the cloud of dust did not disappear just yet to give a clear view of his friend.

Dream huffed, he used all of his strength to knock out his student even under his current state. He stumbled a bit but kept his ground. As the dust settled, he looked down on his hand and saw Tommy's shirt, but no Tommy. 

Then before he realized his mistake, he lost balance and plummeted to the ground. He met the ground with a loud thud, he pushed himself up but immediately got pinned back down.. He felt someone sitting on his back, preventing him from getting up. 

He looked up and saw Tommy in his tank top huffing as sweat dripped down his face. He managed to pin Dream, which shocked everyone who was watching as the cheering slowly came back up as everyone screamed joyously, they chanted Tommy's name. 

Tommy got off his teacher, as Dream stood up his eyes were wide open as he stared at his student. Tommy grabbed his shirt on the ground and dusted it, he wore his shirt and looked around the crowd who was chanting his name. He had difficulty understanding the situation, then he realized that he managed to topple Dream. For the first time in months, he finally managed to beat his teacher. He jumped in the air as his excitement kept him energized enough to yell at the top of his lungs, he immediately fell to the ground as Tubbo rammed him at high speeds.

"You did it!" He punches Tommy's shoulder. Tommy held the part Tubbo had hit and looked at him in disbelief. 

"Fucking- Ow!" 

He was pulled into a bear hug as Tubbo lifted him off the ground and jumped up and down. "You did it! You fucking mad lad!" Tubbo screams joyously.

Tommy smiles and pats his head. "Alright, now put me the fuck down." He laughed as his friend immediately dropped him. Tommy was immediately crowded by students and his classmates. The smell of perfume and sweat made him nauseous, a group of sweaty students hugged him as he drowned in the sour smell. Tubbo helped Jack up, Jack was amazed. He wouldn't tell Tommy that though, the kids are already getting an ego boost. 

Someone younger than him, could do so much better than him.  

"Alright, big guy let's get you to the infirmary." 

Jack was broken out of his thoughts and he tore his eyes away from Tommy, who was busy handling all of his new adoring fans. Tubbo smiled at him brightly, that made Jack feel a little bit better. 

"Alright. Ride like the wind, BEE BOY!" Tubbo carries Jack on his back. Jack held on tight, as Tubbo ran at full speed to the infirmary. 

Dream stood far away from Tommy and the crowd, he looked down on his right hand and clutched it. He glared at the boy from behind, but his eyes softened as he saw the Boy's smile. He realized that Tommy had beaten him and that…

He was okay with it.

This was something rare. He thought he could win, but it seems like the odds weren't in his favor that day. He smiled as he got near Tommy, he held the boy by the shoulders and smiled as young teens took photos of them with their small metal cameras with golden carvings on them. Dream stood up straight, as Tommy followed his lead and gave a big toothy grin. Dream took off his mask and smiled at the camera as they took the picture.

Sapnap was standing there frozen in place, he stared at the duo for a long moment. Dream was smiling, he willingly took off his mask in front of others, he was holding that kid. He felt his chest burn with anger, he slammed his fist onto the pillar.

Why...why is Dream smiling. Did he not at least feel angry when he lost. 

Dream was supposed to hate it, even when they were younger, he hated losing . 

Why is he not looking at me or George, the entire fucking time we were here. He knew we were here, does he feel guilty for what happened? 

No...no he wasn't. He's smiling right now. Why is he acting as if we're not here?

Sapnap scowls, clenching his fists tightly.

Why am I invisible to you?

He felt a hand hold his bawled fists, he sighed and unclenched his fists and felt the hand hold his tightly. George gave a small smile. "Let's go..we have work to do." He tugged Sapnap's arm. Blocking the view of Dream from afar, he gave a small smile. George and Sapnap began walking to the palace, they were needed there for the King and Queen needed to discuss the kidnappings. Sapnap is not hoping to see Dream there.

"And I was all like- In your face Dream!" Tommy retold the events from earlier to Dream, who happily listened to the never ending chatter of the boy. The boy happily ate his cookies while he spoke, crumbs flew out of his mouth as he bantered about his victory.

"You caught me on my off day." Dream rolled his eyes. He may enjoy the fact his student has won against him but the fact he lost still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Whatever gets you to sleep at night." Tommy lifted his foot and placed it on top of the table and leaned backwards. Hands behind his head, he was finding himself comfortable with the position.

"Put your foot down." Dream commanded.

"Sorry, too far." Tommy puts his foot down and sips on his drink loudly. Dream shakes his head and giggles as he stirs his tea, the sugar cubes float and swirled around with the tea. He took a sip and his shoulders slumped. Tommy and Dream sat in comfortable silence, the sound of a bell occasionally ringing and people quietly chatting, the smell of coffee and tea filled their noses as it eased their mind.

Tommy took a sip of his coffee. It tasted bitter and it left a weird aftertaste, his face scrunched up as he bore the taste in his mouth. The hero looked over to him, noticing his sudden discomfort. He only smiled at the man, he wouldn't tell Dream that he hates the drink since he was curious enough that Dream ended up buying the drink for him. 

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, definitely I am." 

Dream notices the lie quite quickly. Tommy was not good at lying to this man, after all he saw through Tommy. He quickly swapped their drinks, Tommy gets the more sweeter smelling drinks while Dream drank the bitter black bean water without complaint. 

Tommy wiped the tip of the mug with a clean cloth and drank a bit of it, he fell in love immediately after. The smell of the tea really was sweet and enticing, the taste however he loved every bit of it.

Tommy wonders why Sam always drank coffee so much, those things are horrible tasting. Maybe, just maybe, once he gets back home he can throw It all in the trash and replace it with sweet tea instead.

Dream chuckled, seeing the boy's reaction to the tea he had been given. Tommy couldn't help but drink it all like a caveman who discovered sweets for the first time, cheeks turning red when he realized maybe he liked it a little too much since he did not waste a single drop of it.

"I'll get you more." 

Dream called to the waiter, he asked for another cup of sweet tea and another cup of hot coffee. It was a short wait, the waiter came back with their orders and they both sat there and thanked the man before he left to tend to more customers. Most of the customers anyway we're Dream's fans who just wanted to look at him without interacting with him. Try hard as they can to conceal it, they can never fool Tommy when he can see right through their fan behavior.

Since he himself did that quite often with Dream the first time. He slowly sipped his tea this time, wanting to savour it longer or he'll end up digging a hole into the hero's wallet. After all, this tea must cost a fortune if it tasted this good. He turned his attention to the hero, he saw Dream staring at him yet again with the same casual smile on his face.

Dream hid it behind the cup, but it was obvious he was smiling through his eyes. Everytime they have hung out, he has been a lot happier than the other times he's around anyone else. It was just an observation but he didn't really know what that meant. All he knew about it is that Dream's personality changes infront of people he talks to, he noticed that quite early on. 

When it's with Tommy he's talking to Clay but to others they are all talking to his persona, Dream. It's easy to distinguish them from one another, one is a lot more open, friendly and childish while the other is professional, cold and unforgiving.

"Oh, Before I forget."

Dream reached for something behind him, then he gently set it down onto the table. He pushes it towards Tommy, it was a neatly wrapped box. Tommy eyed it closely, he slowly pulled the ribbon until it completely undoes itself. He opened the lid and his eyes widened, Dream smile widened.

It was an apprentices uniform, it even had the Lion's Den insignia stitched onto the left sleeve. The colors were black and red, it even had the custom cape, the way that he knew this was specifically tailored for him, it felt like he was really living inside his dreams. It had a hat accompanying the suit, he was astonished. He stared at his teacher, wide eyed.

"W-wait! This is-"

"Your uniform for the job." Dream chuckled as the boy grabbed hold of his new uniform. Tommy adored the details and gasped as he saw his golden name tag, a smile etched his face.

"D-does that mean I'm- I'm…"

"You're officially hired." Dream confirms.

"You don't have to participate in the festival. You could just watch your classmates take the test."

Tommy was in complete shell shock, he had no words for what he was feeling at the moment. He felt his heart scream in pure joy as it jumped around and ran in his chest, he felt the beating of his heart and it felt like it was running a mile per hour.

He wanted to jump out of his seat; Thank the universe for the luck he had obtained; Scream at the top of his lungs until he lost breath and fainted. Yet, he couldn't feel that nor could he find himself rejoicing in his victory.

His brain was the exact opposite of his heart, when he wanted to jump out of his seat he wanted to sink into it further. He wanted to ask the universe " Why him ?" Others deserved this better than he did. He knew that all of his classmates had the potential to become apprentices.

Yet, he feels like he's only playing a part in fooling them that they even had a chance to begin with. Dream was going to let the whole class do the test, when he knew he had already chosen before it even began.

This was unfair.

He wanted to scream all his heart out, until his throat bled. His mind and his heart, in a constant war with each other. He did not react, he could not react, he felt a sickening feeling seeing his uniform so early on. He was supposed to earn this, and he did but...not this way.

"But...I'm supposed to earn this."

"You did earn this."

"I know but- this isn't fair ...for anybody except me." 

He stared at his nametag and the clothes in his hand, he shook his head and shoved it in the box. The neatly done clothes were now undone as he threw the bow in the box before concealing it, he shoved it into the hero's hands. 

"I can't accept that. I need to take the test."

Dream shook his head and pushed it into the hands of his student, forcing Tommy to hold it and he stared directly into the blue irises of the young man.

"You deserve this."

"What about my team , you said-"

"Tommy...I know why you're doing this." Dream started, with a pronounced sigh.

Tommy felt sweat drip down his back, as Dream looked up at him with darkened eyes and a frown etching his lips. Tommy gulped, his throat dry as sand in the Eastern Country.

"Without you, your team would've already been kicked out of the program."

Tommy's eyes widened as his mouth hangs open. "W-what?"

"There were many instances where I wanted to kick them out, but because of you. I didn't go through with it." Dream explained. 

Tommy wanted to disagree, he wanted to defend his friend's for this slander but he said nothing. He knew at the very back of his mind, that what Dream was saying was practically the truth. After all, he's seen the anger in Dream's eyes when they got in trouble. Even with the smile, Tommy knew he was mad but he hid it well and that scared him.

The hero took Tommy's lack of response, to be a permission to continue.

"Don't you see. You... you're special, you're far more superior than any of your classmates. Yet, you ask me to open up two more spots." Dream pauses, he unclenched his fist and took a breath.

"They are not like you." Dream argued, his tone was deceptively calm. He wore his smile, but Tommy saw through his smile and found himself staring at a demon who was caged in the very deepest parts of the man's mind. Tommy felt something he had not felt in a long time around Dream. It made him want to agree with Dream, to end the conversation then and there. But he couldn't, not after what he said about his team. 

With a clenched fist, and brave facade. Tommy took the risk and defended his team, even if it would not end well for him.

"Dream, it's not that big of a deal. You're just going to hire more help! Which is good." Tommy argued, his tone defensive.

He promised Tubbo, Jack and to himself; that he would not leave them behind. His feet trembled under the table, while his upper half showed only confidence.

"Tommy, listen-"

"No! You listen! My friends can and will become your apprentices!"

He shouts, loud enough to catch the attention of the people sitting nearby. Dream did not let his smile drop, he kept himself calm and composed.

"Tommy-"

"No!" Tommy, childishly interrupted.

Dream was cut off by his student yet again. His smile twitched slightly, as his student gave him no space to argue his point.

"You either take me and my team, or choose somebody else."  

"I am not taking No for an answer."

It was silent, Tommy's hand shook as he felt the bravado  fall off, his hairs all stood as he felt the cold silence overcome them. He slowly looked up, his breath hitched, when he caught sight of the man's face.

Dream's smile disappeared and was replaced with sneer forming on his lips, his eyes locked with Tommy's. Dream was staring daggers into Tommy's heart. He felt his chest tighten making his breath short and painfully sharp. He felt cold as sweat dripped down his back and head as his shoulders raised in tension, Tommy had never felt so much fear in his life.

"Are you threatening me, Tommy? " Dream croaked, his voice dangerously low as Dream bawled his fists. Tommy saw the motion and felt pins poking his back as it sent waves of shocks through his back. 

"Don't you dare speak to me like we're on equal footing. We're not. I get to decide who comes and doesn't come with me."

"But-"

Dream slammed his fist on the table, causing the drinks to spill and the plates to fall down to the floor and shatter into pieces. The nice ambience of the cafe had ceased, as everyone's attention had been caught by the outburst.

Tommy instinctively jumped and covered his head, blocking a hit that would never come. When the hit didn't come he slowly peaked, the first thing he saw was the mortified look on Dream's face. Dream's once angry expression, replaced with a look of guilt. 

"I…" Dream looked at the boy and the damage on the table, it had cracked and the plates and drinks were all on the floor. Broken shards of glass dangerously displayed on the floor.

Tommy didn't realize tears were pricking his eyes, he only realized they were there when he felt it trace down his cheeks. Dream looked around the cafe, once lively and calming was now an uncomfortable cold silence. People were looking at them, eyes judging at every corner. Tommy quickly wiped away his tears and looked at the hero. Who was muttering to himself, but quickly snaps out of it feeling his students stare.

"I'm… I'm so sorry." It came out as a whisper, not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Tommy didn't really know what to think of it. He felt like he wouldn't be safe to speak in this situation, so he stayed silent. Dream only took his silence as rejection and he sighed, his eyes meeting Tommy's own. Tommy froze, like a deer catching sight of a hunter's weapon pointed straight at them.

Another long silence went by.

"Okay. I'll consider them." Dream broke the silence, he sighed in defeat. 

It came out of nowhere. It was sudden, Tommy needed time to process everything that had happened so far. So when he came to the conclusion eventually, Tommy's mood instantly brightened. He wanted to scream in joy and jump in the air to celebrate the unexpected turn of events, but the hero raised his hand and Tommy stopped himself.

Listening with all ears, Tommy stayed silent, Dream continued.

" If ...they earn my respect at the Festival. Train them as hard as you can, make them like you. If you fail even once in that festival. None of you are coming with me…" His tone, cold as ice.

" And you will never set foot in this school ever again ." Dream threatened, a stern look on his face. 

It felt like Tommy was stabbed, with a cold icicle going through his stomach. Tommy's eyes widened, he wanted to laugh this off like some kind of joke. But no, it was the real deal. If any of them lose once at anything, none of them are coming. All of his hard work and everything that had led him here, will be disregarded. He pushed his fear aside, he needed to be confident in himself and his team. 

He looked his teacher in the eyes, with the same confident spark as before, he smirked and nodded firmly.

"Deal."  

He sealed his fate, in the very hands of the man who runs the Lion's den. Tommy kept his eyes on his teacher, as the man only nodded and stood up from his seat. Picking up his mask from the table and looking down on the boy.

"For the meantime," He pulls the box away from the boy who clutched it momentarily, before letting go.

"I keep this until you earn it back."

"I'll see you later. I have business to attend to." Dream informed, his usual smile appearing once again.

"Oh and Tommy… don't ever speak up to me like that ever again. " 

Tommy gulped.

Dream wore his mask and exited the Café. Thinking as he walked, he bit his tongue, the smile on his mask had hid his fear quite well. Dream was shocked to hear his favorite student threaten him, even if Dream knew he was scared he still went on and defended his team.

The boy was something special to him, he had never felt like heever needed to have another companion until Tommy came into his life. Tommy was the only companion he could ever wish for, he was everything he was looking for, something not even Sapnap or George could ever compete with. The thought of him not being by his side when the time comes, made his heart rip into two. He can't be separated from this boy, he can't.

It's all because of his team . He's risking everything for them, but what have they ever done to earn such loyalty?  

He hated that thought, his student shouldn't care for the other competitors. He knew he should've torn them away from each other before they grew closer, before Tommy had to do something this irrational. 

His friends were always a hindrance to Tommy's progress in school. A hindrance to Dream, for the most part. Tommy shouldn't be wasting his time on pointless matters, when he could've spent all of his time with Dream. Someone who was more willing to help than prevent him from his path to success. 

That's why he left Sapnap and George, they were his hindrance. The chains that kept him from doing something greater with his life. 

The thought of pulling Tommy away from them and his father came to his mind more than once. He felt like he could take care of Tommy, while he was out on adventures. A crooked smile came to his face while he walked.

What a wonderful thought.

Tommy was slumped into his seat, people had cleaned up the mess and he felt his fingertips grow cold, he desperately tried to keep them warm with his breath but it was no use. He held his head as he silently panicked, he was breathing heavily. He felt like he couldn't breathe the entire interaction, but now he could. The people of the café, no longer looking at him, went back to their business.

" What have I done… " Tommy whispers to himself.

Dream was still on edge about what happened yesterday, so bringing up the topic of teams so early on didn't seem like a good move. Yet, Tommy and him were in such a good mood, so he thought it would've been safe to bring it up. After all, it didn't seem like a dangerous question to ask.

Doubts and worries festered inside of him, as the deadline was near. It took him months to get to where he is now, he found it impossible for his team to catch up in just two weeks, but he pushed it in the back of his mind. He needed to train them now, no time can or should be wasted. He stood up and headed back to school, he pushed his legs to the limit, running as fast he could.

Inside the beautiful palace, there stood Sapnap and George. They were looking up to the elderly King and Queen of the small kingdom, both of them were adorned by pearly white jewelry and wore purple and green. The palace echoed every footstep they took, the Queen wore her gentle smile while the King wore a more urgent expression. 

The Queen looked around and was surprised to see someone missing from the two. She turned to look at the two Heroes below, they looked back up at her.

"Oh, Sapnap and George...where is my grandson?" She asked with a mellow tone.

"We're not sure where he is, Your Majesty." George replied, scratching the back of his head as he laughed nervously. The Queen frowned, her expression made George feel even more guilty.

Palace guards soon entered, seemingly with a new guest. Sapnap and George turned their heads around to look at whoever came, Sapnap immediately looked away as he controlled his temper in front of the king and queen. George didn't look happy either, he looked away as soon as the stranger came to view. He was wearing a black hood that covered most of his face. The king and queen felt hope rise in their chest as they recognized the cloak and insignia. 

The stranger removed their cloak and bowed to the King and Queen, who wore a smile on their face.  

"It's nice to be of service to you, your Highness." He greeted them.

The Queen went down the stairs as fast as she could. The King behind her, slowly but surely making his way down the stairs.

For an old lady, she sure does have speed. George thought as he watched the Queen practically jumped and tackled and hugged the stranger. "You finally came to visit!" She cheered. The king made it beside her, huffing for air as he hadn't run for quite a long time.

"You needed me here, of course I had to attend." Dream chuckled and embraced his grandmother. The old perfume she wore, itched a part of his brain and it made him smile.

"Cancel everything! We need to celebrate your return!" The Queen snapped her fingers and the maids were already there, ready to take Dream to his old room. The King held her shoulder and shook his head, the Queen pouted and looked at her grandson one last time and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, pinching it after. 

Dream rubbed his cheek and wincing, George barely tried to hide his laughter. 

The King looked at the three and nodded to himself, they all bowed and none made a sound. Leaving the stage all for the King.

"Heroes, I called upon your help today for there have been recent kidnappings." 

"Yeah, we know." Sapnap replies, which earned George nudging his shoulder. He glared at George and brought back his attention to the King.

"So, you know about The Angel Of Death?" 

"Well, sort of...We don't exactly know about "The Angel Of Death", all we know is that there's been kidnappings." George answered. They barely knew what "The Angel Of Death" and what it meant, so they tried their best to gather information about it.

"Well, The Angel of Death was simply an old folklore in the South." The King started. He turned his back and continued to speak, as he stared at the statue of Kristin.

"The Angel of Death was said to be a Cursed Avian with black wings that signified death. A simple touch could kill you in an instant, it turns you into a mindless crow forever in depth to him. It was also rumored to be the cause of death of the almighty, Kristin." He told the three men, he turned to face them.

Their reactions to the story were different. George was intrigued and scared for what that meant of their mission; Sapnap did not even try to pretend he even cared or believed the old Kings story; Dream giggled until it progressively grew into a fit of laughter.

This caught the King's attention, he turned to look at his grandson. His brows raised, as he looked at him questioningly. "And what is so funny, young man?"

"Your Highness, this is ridiculous. Are you saying we are facing a being based on an old folk tale?" Dream cocked his head sideways as his smile never let out. 

"I'm afraid so, there's been multiple sightings of the man at night. His description fits the description of the old folk lore, crow-like features and red eyes." 

The king kindly explains to the heroes. 

He sighs. "It's ridiculous I know...but that's all we have on the man."

Even he himself couldn't believe it, the kingdom's people believed wholeheartedly that it was, in fact, The Angel of Death . For they claimed to have seen the man himself with their naked eyes. 

"The festival to honor Kristin is soon, you need to find this fiend. Immediately !" 

" But, before that, how about you boys come and have a bite. You all must be famished." The queen had pushed the King aside, as the king barely made any sound of complaints about his wife's strange behavior.

"Your Highness, I think capturing a criminal is top priority at the moment." He was already writing in his book, not even looking while he spoke to the Queen.

The queen shook her head and stared into the eyes of the hero, she looked up at him sadly. He stopped writing and stared down at the Queen, they both stared into each other's souls. 

It seemed like hours had gone by, as the silence between them only grew. Sapnap, George and the King didn't know what to do.

Dream's brow twitched, as the Queen's expression grew even sadder. Dream looked away and grunted in defeat. The Queen clapped and held his hand and the other two as well, causing them to collide with each other.

Dream sighed, he put back his small book into his pockets. 

He only sighed and shook his head, he stared fondly at the three slowly disappearing out of sight. The three men were dragged to the garden by the smiling old queen. The melody of birds singing in the garden and the exotic plants growing all around, made the place look like it came out of a picture book.

They immediately came across a table and three seats. As they observed the area even more, there were toys scattered around. Seemingly untouched for years, the place felt ancient and it triggered old memories in their heads. The queen let the three men sit around the white table, as she held her grandson close.

"This was the place where the three of you used to play." The queen starts. Sapnap stared at a wooden train that was dirtied and covered in plants, it had a tad bit of old burnt wood on the edges. It was his toy train, he used to set it on fire since at the time he found the wooden train toy lacking a bit of danger. He remembers the times where George and Dream would put it out by spilling cold water on him and his train.

George gasped as he grabbed hold of a rubber ducky that he quickly drew hair and a scar on its right eye before he showed it off to them.

"Hey look, it's Quackity!" He laughed at his own joke. Sapnap rolled his eyes and so did Dream. The queen giggled at the pure childlike behavior George had somehow maintained even though he was 24 years of age.

Dream saw his old wooden sword on the ground. He stared at it but looked away, he had no good memories with that sword.

"I told the maids to leave all your toys here, just the way they are. After all, you three never liked it when your toys weren't where they were." 

Dream nodded, he was writing in his book and it was a coordinated plan on how to capture this criminal. 

"So if we start our search early we'll find the criminal in no time. With my help, this criminal will be caught in one night." Dream explained his plans to capture the criminal, No one was listening. 

"So if we start at-"

"You know, it's been like 8 years since your grandma saw you. It's a little bit shitty of you to be working while you're here." Sapnap butted in.

He stared at Dream, who stared back at him. Dream was silent and holding his book, the other holding the pen. They both sat in silence for a moment longer.

Sapnap smirked, as Dream closed his book and sighed deeply. He felt a shit eating grin spread across his features as he stared at Dream. He heard Dream mutter curses under his breath, while Dream shoved the book in his satchel forcefully. 

"Just wait a moment, the maids will be here soon enough." 

Dream was tapping his foot impatiently on the cobble tiles. He huffed in annoyance and crossed his arms, The queen kissed Dream's head and the maids soon came after, they set down sweets and poured them tea.

It was steaming hot, it fogged up George's goggles as he blew on his tea. He quickly wiped it with his shirt and put it back on, as he blew again and his glasses fogged yet again. 

Sapnap sniffed the sweets and took a single bite out of the bon bon, his eyes immediately dilated as he grabbed a handful of it. He was about to put it all in his mouth before realizing the Queen was there. He shyly looks at her, asking for permission with his eyes.

The Queen looked surprised but she nodded. "Go ahead, after all it's what you all used to eat back then." She giggled.

Sapnap shrugged and shoved it all in his mouth, his cheeks began to hurt as he struggled to swallow it all down. He began to choke on the bonbons as the Queen began to panic, George quickly handed over his tea and Sapnap drank it immediately. 

His tongue burnt and his throat did too, he coughed violently as his air pipes were no longer blocked by bonbons and from the amount of pain from drinking hot tea.

"The hell George!? That shit was piping hot!?" Sapnap screamed as he was sent into another series of coughs. He held his throat, feeling the pain as the Queen poured him cool water.

He did not hesitate to drink it all, he put the cup down and the Queen poured more water into it. 

"Well- don't blame me! You shoved all the bonbons down into your gullet!"

Sapnap felt refreshed after drinking the second cup of water, he clears his throat before he speaks again.

"Yeah but you don't fucking give me hot tea to wash it all down, dumbass!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that your insides aren't fireproof!?"

They bickered loudly, pointing fingers at each other as the screaming got louder and the argument became more and more ridiculous as it went on. Dream chuckled, after being so silent for so long.

They turned their heads when they heard it, George and both Sapnap were surprised to see and hear Dream chuckle. It had been so long since they last heard him laugh, he never sounded so happy around them until now.

Dream's chucking made Sapnap feel like he was staring at his best friend from the past, before everything happened. He never thought he'd ever hear or see it ever again, after Dream pushed them away.

George smiled as he soon joined Dream's laughter, they both grew louder and louder as both looked each other in the eyes. The old happiness they both shared seemingly returned to each other, as they continued to laugh at their silly antics. Like they were kids again.

Dream and George stared at each other, the sound of birds singing and the wind blowing as it moved the leaves beneath them and the trees above them. 

Sapnap found himself stuck in the middle of it, when Dream and George were laughing happily. Sapnap felt as if he didn't belong at that moment, after all George and Dream used to love each other, so it made sense that both would be happy to be with each other. The stare they had on each other was similar to the past. Something, Sapnap couldn't ruin.

Dream had never been happy around Sapnap, all their interactions ended up in arguments and that the two of them aren't really happy to see each other again. So he stayed silent, like what he used to do when they were kids and Dream and George laughed along with each other.

He closed his eyes, as if to really feel the moment he was in. He didn't want to ruin this with his sharp tongue and his sharper words.

The queen smiled at the three. "You all used to be so happy, sitting here eating sweats and drinking tea, playing and fighting with each other playfully." 

She saw all the young smiling faces and  heard their joyful laughter, she smiled to herself but it dropped as she had come to realize. 

"It was all here, all your happy memories...Where happened to those boys?"

The three turned to look at each other. Sapnap and Dream locked eyes for a moment before Sapnap looked away from Dream, as Dream did the same. George frowned and looked down at his cup, he saw his reflection and he sighed.

" Business… happened, Your Highness." Dream answered, standing up from his seat. "And speaking of business, we have a criminal to catch."

"Leaving so soon?" The queen asked, distraught by her grandson's urgency to leave immediately.

"I'm sorry, your highness. A criminal is our top priority." He apologizes, placing his hand to his chest. 

He bowed to the Queen, head facing downwards. She frowned, but she understood that his job must be done before the festival. She gently lifted his head and kissed his forehead. She gently caressed his cheek, as she sadly stared into his green eyes. She forced herself to let him go, as she took a step back and gave a tight smile.

"Come visit us after all of this is settled."

Dream did not respond, he had already turned his back, heading towards the exit as the maids bowed as he got near them. He turned left from the doorway and soon enough, he was out of sight.

The three of them sat there in silence, staring at the door where Dream left. As if, waiting for his return even though they all knew he wouldn't come back. Once his mind was set on a job, that's all he could ever think about.

"I am so sorry for my grandson, Sapnap…" 

The queen apologized, looking down on the ground as she felt shame for letting Dream go so early. She could have forced him to stay longer, but what good will come from stopping him?

Sapnap shook his head, disagreeing with the Queen.. Looking down on the ground as he swallowed his pride. "No...I'm sorry...I caused this." He apologized.

He blamed himself for pissing off Dream, he shouldn't have but he did and that has caused both of them to be on bad footing with each other.

He stared at his hands, where flames sparked as he held his head with his hands. He shook his head as he let out a sigh.

"It's all my fault."

The queen held his cheek and lifted his gaze from the ground to face her. She caressed his cheek and patted George's head, Sapnap let's tears fall as he sniffled. 

He shouldn't be crying in front of royalty, after all it was embarrassing. He stubbornly rubbed his eyes while George hugged him tightly.

"Please, understand that Dream...ever since he was disowned by his father, he never was the same...the same goes for when he lost his mother." 

He remembers those times all too well. When Dream came to him, his friend did not cry, but he knew that his friend was suffering. He was cold and wet from the rain, mud all over his clothing, seemingly running all the way to Sapnap's house in the rain.

Bad welcomed Dream into their home, gave him clean clothes and let him dry at the fireplace. George and Sapnap both embraced Dream, as his friend stared into the fire as small embers would fly out. They stayed there the entire night until the fire eventually ran out and the three were fast asleep.

He wishes he hadn't welcomed Dream into his home. He wished he would have left him in that rain, until he caught hypothermia and died.

"He was raised under the Beast's sun." Her voice was hoarse and tired as she spoke. 

She and the King still felt pain bringing up their dead daughter. The day she died, had changed so many things for so many people and Dream was the one who was most affected, who had no time to grieve as he was left to the care of an unforgiving father. She felt guilt for not pulling him away from his father's arms, but it was too late when she had found this out. 

Catching on too late, as he was disowned. He no longer called her or the King, grandfather or grandmother for he believed he no longer belonged in the family. Which caused visits to be rare, so when he did visit it was always because of a job he was called in to do.

"I hope you find it in your heart… to forgive him." She begged, her tears proved to be real and genuine as she cried and mourned for the death of her daughter yet again and her failures as a grandmother. 

Sapnap sadly nodded and brought her closer to him. The Queen cried on his shoulders as he rubbed comforting circles on her back. She soaked his clothes with tears but that didn't matter at all to him at the moment.

"You two are the only ones who could save my grandson…" 

Sapnap wiped the Queen's tears and George gave her his handkerchief. She wiped her tears away and she took a step back, she laughed weakly as she handed back the cloth to George.

"You two come here so often, why don't you call me Grandma instead. After all, I treat  you both like you're part of the family.

"Are you sure, your Highness?" 

She pinches their cheeks hard and hugs them both, as George and Sapnap rubbed their cheeks.

"Of course! You two are practically my other grandson's!"

"Your high-...Grandma." George corrected himself.

"...Can you please, uh, give us more bonbons?" George politely asks, his stomach rumbles loudly. The Queen and Sapnap had heard his hunger. He felt his ears turn red from embarrassment with how perfectly timed that was.

She giggled and nodded, "Of course. I'll go get some more." She snaps her fingers, then automatically leaves to go grab more sweets for them to enjoy.

"WOOH! Free food!" George cheered as he was elbowed by Sapnap when the Queen turned to look the other way. Sapnap snickered, while George attempted to hurt Sapnap.

The king met Dream on his way out of the castle, the hero was walking quite fast towards the exit. He smiled at his grandson who smiled back at him but did not stop walking. The king was going to leave him alone with his business, but then he saw blood staining Dream's right hand.

He quickly ran after his grandson before he made it into his carriage and left. He grabbed the shoulder of the boy and Dream looked back at him, holding his grandfather's stare.

"What is the matter your Highness?" Dream gave him a quizzical smile. 

"What happened?" He pointed with his eyes, Dream looked at where he was pointing and his blood ran cold. He felt the smile wear off after the realization, he shook his head.

"Nothing. Nothing happened."

"Did you get into a fight?" He questioned, wrinkling his nose.

He raises Dream's hand and Dream avoids eye contact with his grandfather. His old wrinkly hands grabbed the stained glove. He peeled the glove off slowly, exposing the source of the bleeding. He saw that it was wrapped with a bandage soaking red and was no longer absorbing the blood, it needed to be replaced soon.

"I slammed a table too hard." Dream answered, avoiding the gaze of the old man. He pulled his hand away harshly and wore his glove back on. 

The king could only stare as his brows knitted together. He watched his grandson enter his carriage without saying a single word, nor did he look back. The carriage then quickly carried him home, Dream took a deep breath. 

He looked at his right hand and hisses as he squeezed tightly, he gently pressed his head against the cold window as he sighed and watched people pass by as the carriage kept on moving.

The king stood outside, frozen in place as he let the air escape his lungs, shaking his head as he turned. From the corner of his eye, he saw something gently fall down from the sky. He turns around to catch a sight of it, he watches a single black feather fall from the sky, he picks it up slowly from the ground it had rested on and he hears a flock of crows fly away immediately after. He jumped and looked up in the sky. The crows flew away, cawing loudly as their wings caught the wind.

The King stared at what he had in his hands and his eyes widened. He held the feather close to his chest as tightly as he could, as he silently prayed to the war heroes from above. 

Somewhere in the distance, a lone man  with black wings, was sitting on the edge of a cliff. Cool air blowing his long pale blonde hair, dead grass brushing against his cold white hands. His green and white patterned bucket hat covered his eyes while he looked beyond.

He raised his arm, letting a crow perch on it as he stared into its red eyes. He smiled and the crow flew off afterwards, he stood up from where he sat and spoke the following:

"So they have found you… Hero. " 

He let himself fall from the cliff, he felt the rush of wind on his skin as he spread out his wings pulling him upwards as he launched himself into the sky.

He broke into the clouds and he was met with a beautiful sky from the horizon as he looked down from the sky. He had a bird's eye view of a beautiful small kingdom, he let himself fall a little to catch sight of all of its people. Landing on a nearby roof of one of the tallest buildings there was, he stared down at all the people working and walking around the kingdom. The wind blowing through his entire body, he hummed while he observed many of the people from below. He caught sight of a girl who was looking up at him from below, she was standing still in the middle of a crowd who passed her by with a strange look.

He raised his finger to his lips, gesturing to her to stay quiet. She was astonished by his wings as she stared at her own brown wings, she nodded never looking away from the man's obsidian like wings.

He smiled at her, before he quickly launched himself up in the sky once more, flying away from the kingdom. The strong save of wind that  he had caused, blew away all the decorations from nearby homes. The girl's hair was all frizzled from the wave of wind, the dust soon settled and the people all looked around wondering why there was suddenly a strong draft on such a hot day.

" Wow ." The girl gasped, her eyes shone like stars. She smiled brightly and jumped up and down. She jumped and glided down with grace and continued as she pretended to launch herself into the sky.

Chapter Text

Dear Josh,

How are things holding up at the barn? Are you eating, sleeping and working well? Have you made sure to tell the corrupt business fuckers to wait until I get a job?

If so, tell them I'm gonna pay them the full amount after I get this job. I know you still think it's a job I can't get, but this is the only job that would accept me and pay large enough that we don't need to worry about what we need to eat tomorrow. This is the only chance we got to finally pay off all the debt our parents left us with our inheritance. I know it's tempting to just sell the barn to those cunts, they must be willing to pay a fortune for the land,  but this is what's left of mom and dad. 

To make you feel better; Our team leader, Tommy, decided to train us before graduation. It's not easy, I've been put through so much these past few days and I can already feel my body give up on me. 

I'm not used to waking up in the middle of the night, standing in the sun for hours on end, doing exercises till our bodies give up on us, purposely drowning ourselves to work up stamina. If this is what Tommy does to stay in first honor, this is horrifying. The kid is built different.

But, I'm doing this for you Josh, for our family ( What's left of it anyway ). I can't let our barn just be toppled over, I'm going to get this job and just you wait until I come back home with the big cash.

That's all the time I got, I'll make sure to write more often.

Take care,

From: Jack Manifold

To: Josh Manifold.

"Come on Jack!" Tubbo screamed into Jack's ear, as he continued to drag him after he passed out.

Jack was beginning to realize where he was, he remembered that he passed out from the intense heat while running. It had been a couple of hours since they last started, he was covered in dust and dirt and Tubbo was more than tired. 

A dagger almost hit Jack's foot as it landed itself on the ground, Jack quickly shot up after seeing it. Feeling his whole body tremble, he forces it to run as more dagger comes their way. A dagger whizzed past their heads as it digs deeper into a tree that had multiple daggers stuck into it.

"JACK!"

Jack turned to look, but was too late and he was immediately kicked down and pinned to the ground. He was facing someone who he couldn't quite make out as his shadow casted over him, the glaring sun behind them. He saw it raised their dagger, he yelped and covered his face, eyes tight shut. He expected the dagger to dig straight into his throat, but it did not come.

"Alright, we've made a bit of progress." Tommy sighed, he got up and pulled a terrified Manifold off the ground.  

Jack places a hand on his neck, trying to feel the dagger. It wasn't there. He sighed in relief as he sat down under the tree, where Tubbo was sitting panting heavily. He gave Jack a small smile, his eyes were drooping shut but he bit his tongue to keep himself awake. Tommy stood in the sun, writing down on a piece of paper.

"Okay guys, enough rest. Come on, we have a strength test to practice for." 

Tubbo groaned but he stood up as he offered his hand to Jack, who happily accepted and stood up as they walked to the targets nearby. The sun was almost blinding, their clothes soaking wet from sweat and their tired bodies wanting to give out any second now. Jack forces his body to keep itself up as he leans over to Tubbo for support, Tubbo had quickly recovered and was ready for anything Tommy had to throw.

These kids are built differently.

Jack brushes aside the thought as Tommy whistles. Tubbo made his way to the punching dummy, he waited for Tommy's command. Tommy gave him a permitting no and that's when he started beating the stuffing out of the dummy. His brute strength, thanks to being cursed blood, had given him an advantage in multiple things. Enough for him to pass the graduation tests, but his body screamed for sleep but he didn't listen to it as he continued to make the feathers and stuffings from the dummy fly into the sky.

Tommy stopped his watch, clicking his pen he wrote on his piece of paper. Tubbo laid on the ground exhausted, as Tommy replaced the dummy yet again. 

"Good shit, Tubbo."

"Thanks, big man!" He manages to say between huffs.

Tubbo closes his eyes as the cool wind brushes against his wet skin. He sighed in relief, the sweating soon ceased as he relaxed into the ground. A break Tommy allows Tubbo to have.

Tommy repositioned his whistle onto his mouth as Jack positioned himself in front of the dummy. He raises his fists, he stares into the button eyed dummy. His sight doubled as he kept his fists raised to his chest.  Tommy blew his whistle, that's when Jack struck as hard as he could his whole weight into one singular punch.

He misses .

He fell to the ground with a hollow thud, completely missing the target. He grunts as he picks himself. He hears laughter from afar, Jack and the other two look up to see a couple of his classmates and other students watching them from afar. His ears flushed red as he quickly got up, dusting himself from his embarrassment and from the dirt covering his skin from head to toe.

" Great fucking aim, Manifold." 

The group laughed. Jack scowled, turning his head away from them, feeling his face rise in heat. They continued to laugh as Eryn walked up to Tommy, causing the group to grow silent.

"Hey guys!" He greeted all three of them and nudged Tommy.  "Gotta talk to your leader at the moment, excuse me!"

He dragged Tommy far away from both groups' ears, as they spoke to each other about an unknown subject that none of them could hear. Tommy and Eryn spoke in a hushed tone, occasionally glancing back at Tubbo and Jack.

"What do you think they're talking about?"

Tubbo looks at Jack, who tore his eyes away from the ground to look up at Tommy and then Tubbo.

"Got no idea."

They continued to stare at them speaking to each other until the conversation seemed to have met its end. Eryn had patted Tommy's shoulder and gave him a friendly wink.

"See ya tonight man!" Eryn waved goodbye at all of them, running back to where he was supposed to be. Tommy slowly made his way back to where he was. He was looking down on his paper, not making eye contact with both of his friends.

"Well let's get back to practice. Jack, let's keep trying-"

"What was that?" Tubbo cuts in. 

Tommy stared at him with tired eyes, he let out a long sigh as he shook his head. 

"Nothing important, we should get back to work."

"I mean, we've been working our butts off for days now...After all, you promised to not keep anything from us. Remember? " 

Tommy looked at Tubbo, he looked disappointed that Tubbo had to pull that card out of his sleeves but to get an answer out of Tommy, it was necessary. 

"Eryn invited us to a party." Tommy responded, reluctantly.

"Party? Oh yeah! Let's attend-"

"No." 

Tubbo was taken aback by Tommy's answer, out of all the answers he would've expected Tommy to even say. No to one of the biggest parties, before the school year ends, was something he didn't expect from his rather sociable friend who had quite a big reputation around school.

Clearing his throat and straightening himself, he prepared himself for a debate.

"But it's Eryn! And a little party wouldn't hurt-"

"We have a few days and a week to prepare for our test."

"I know the test is important, but-"

"We need to prepare for it. A party would only stop us from progressing , no matter how little that progress even is. " Tommy whispers the last part to himself. He looked up to his friend, who looked eager to argue his point.

"We've trained, we've done everything you've asked of us, at least...give us this one break! We promise you, we'll train harder after this!" Tubbo promises.

The spark of chaos and passion in his eyes was something Tommy could not smother nor could he convince Tubbo otherwise. 

Telling Tubbo and Jack that he had single handedly sealed their fate to possible doom, without them knowing of the consequences if they were unequipped and unprepared for the last test, would only cause them to hate him. He had not intended for their fate to be like this, so the only thing he could do was desperately train them without saying why.

"Tubbo, I wouldn't say we should train harder...I mean it's hard enough as it already i-"

"Okay. A break would be nice...for all of us."

Tommy agreed, he knows the consequences of overworking. So he would sometimes go light on training, even if it irked him that every minute could have been spent perfecting imperfections. 

"But once this party is over, we go back to training but this time we get no breaks."

Tubbo was brought into a long thought as Jack looked like he wanted to drop dead then and there. 

"Deal!" 

He shook Tommy's hand and patted his back. Tommy laughed and patted Tubbo's head, Jack dropped down dead as Tubbo picked him back up. 

"We're gonna go prepare our clothes!"

Tubbo screamed as he ran with Jack riding on his back, students moved aside as the hybrid ran fast and leaped over the school gates and landed gracefully. They ran until Tommy couldn't see them anymore, standing there alone Tommy sighed and looked at his paper.

A list of all their weaknesses and strengths, he couldn't help but look at their progress so far. 

Tommy was good at speed, and needed to work a bit more on his strength and precision and his reflexes.

Tubbo was already to go, but needed to work on his speed and his accuracy.

While Jack…

Jack was lacking in everything .

The progress they made so far was laughable, he could already hear the verdict of Dream. Tommy thought about it, he had been trained for months for this and he was given days and a week to prepare his team. No matter how much hard work he puts into this, they'd still end up failing all because of… 

No. Don't think like that. There's still hope .

Tommy realized he had crushed the paper in his hands, he stared at it and clutched it in his hands. He needed to find hope, he needed to believe and he needed to prepare.

That night...

Standing outside of a fairly big house, in the middle of a cold night, was Tommy and his team. They heard classical music playing and even people chattering inside.

Tommy wore his most expensive outfit, the red suit and black tie, which made him look rather professional. Tubbo had bought new clothes for Jack and him that are their favorite colors. Tommy kept his green cape on, the green cape his father gave him months ago, it felt like he was wrapped in a warm hug that he could faintly remember. 

The door swung open and it was Eryn, who wore a nice dark blue suit. He saw them standing outside and a bright smile etched onto his face.

"Welcome to the party boys! Come on in!" He invited them inside. 

Tubbo glances at Tommy, who happily took the lead as the other two followed close behind. As they entered, the smell of perfume and the music from outside became clearer . The staircase was filled with students talking with each other as the room below was where the musicians were playing. Tommy took three steps in and immediately the crowd was looking at them.

All silent, staring at all three at the doorway. Tubbo and Jack hid behind their leader, as Tommy gave an awkward wave. Immediately the room bursted into excited screams as people were delighted by his presence, the three stood there awkwardly until a group of students went near the other two.

"Tubbo?" A girl asked, seemingly unsure if she even got the right person.

"Y-yeah?" 

The girl beamed as she grabbed his hand and looked up at him with such joy. "You are so strong! I've seen you and  your team train and I must say...I'm quite impressed."

"O-Oh, yeah? Well, good to hear."

Tubbo nervously glances at Tommy who only shrugged, unsure about the entire interaction. He swore he saw Tubbo mouth "Help" when he was dragged away by the girl, as another girl came to gush over Tubbo. 

"You Jack Manifold, yeah?" Asked a blonde headed student, with a British lilt.

Jack stood there, as if not expecting to have been noticed by them. 

"Well c'mon, mate. Ain't got all day now."

"O-oh! Yes, I am Jack Manifold." Jack stutters, fixing his posture to seem confident and unsurprised.

"Heard lots about you, would like to talk more about it over there. You wouldn't mind, yeah?"

The man pointed at his team, who looked like they could turn Jack into a pulp at any minute. Jack gulped as he nodded, "Sure mate, let's talk." 

He shot Tommy a worried look while Tommy shot him a grin. Leaving Jack to sort out his business with his team, Tommy stood there in the doorway almost frozen in place as he leaned over on the door frame and watched the party. His mind wouldn't let him enjoy this break, it was plagued by worry about the test they should've been working on.

As others tried to speak to him, he pretended he had not noticed their presence. They eventually lose interest as they soon find out that Tommy was in no mood to speak, his mind was making plan after plan. Like a man in war, he was strategizing how they can make good use of their time while Dream was not here to help the class as he was busy with investigating.

A solid 10 minutes passed, Tubbo was dancing with the girls from earlier,  having grown quite comfortable in the party. He was dancing like he had never danced before. The music wasn't it's usual classy and elegant melody, instead it was a more upbeat tune as others happily danced to it or tapped their feet to the music.

Tommy was still at the doorway, letting the cool night air in the house. His attention was caught by Eryn who placed his hand into his shoulder.

"Heya! You don't look like you're quite enjoying the party."

"Oh no, I am."

"Then why aren't you on the dance floor?" 

Tommy was caught red handed, he simply sighed and didn't answer as Eryn seemed to understand what was going through his head. 

"Hey, relax! I invited you here to clear your mind off of the test. You and your team work harder than anyone else I've seen, I'm sure you'll be fine in the end."

Tommy smiles as he sighed in defeat. "Alright, I'll take a break." Eryn smirked as he dragged Tommy into the dance floor, where there were students who were ready to try and speak to him again. Eventually, Eryn came to a full stop in front of two people who were brought out of their conversation.

"Aight! This is Bitzel! They've been dying to come into contact with you!" Eryn introduced his team to Tommy. Bitzel's eyes widened, almost spat out his drink. 

Eryn laughed at his friend who was trying to compose himself while coughing. "An honor to be in your presence!" Bitzel bows down to Tommy, who looks at Eryn who shrugged.

"TimeDeo would like to speak with you, but he's not here at the moment...Wanna go eat? Waiting for your arrival really made me hungry"

"I guess we could eat something while we wait." Tommy nodded, his stomach growled and he felt like he could eat an entire whale.

"Come on, the food here is fucking good." 

Bitzel proceeds to drag the two to the dining area where all the delicious food  was displayed and ready to be shoved into their gullets. Tommy looked over to Tubbo and to where Jack was supposed to be, but a crowd covered his view as he was dragged away by Eryn's team mate.

Jack had walked away from the rich chavs, they started getting overbearing for they would have made every type of communication so uncomfortable. They were students who were "high on life" and Jack had no business whatsoever with what they do to themselves to have a good time. He expected to talk more about himself rather than hear other people yammer on and on about how they were rich and were spoiled brats who lack self awareness.

Money 

Was always a trouble for Jack and his family, so seeing these clearly undeserving and spoiled brats get everything they want without breaking a sweat in their life was mildly infuriating. 

Money in their pockets, while their pockets were holed and carried nothing but air; Food in their mouths three times a day or even more, when they had almost nothing to eat; Houses reaching the clouds while theirs were close to falling apart. He hated them, because of their greed for more.

Their greed caused their family to go to bankruptcy and they're forced to pay them back to keep a fraction of what they had left, forced to survive while they live high above everyone else. 

He sighed as he wandered around the home, it was filled to the brim with decor that would be considered expensive. He would like to burn this place to the ground and leave nothing but the ashes as the only evidence of it ever being here, but that would only cause him more trouble than good. Plus adding onto the bills he needed to pay.

Something caught his eye, as a door creaked slightly open. Jack saw a half opened door and he decided to investigate what was in it. The room seemed to have noticed his presence and candles started lighting by themselves, he looked around and gasped. He found many trophies and medals inside glass boxes, it looked like it was well kept, and they were placed in front of paintings of people. Jack assumes these medals and trophies belonged to these people in the paintings, he looks around and sees his reflection on the trophy. 

He stares at himself for a moment, before his eyes look at the trophy itself. He reads the trophy's name. "Most Beloved Hero of the Year XXX, Deo."

Deo Corporation , the same people who wanted to tear down the dream home of his parents. These people were like the rich people, but ten times worse, their children are even worse. 

He will never forget how his father would come home tired and in tears, how his mother slaved away while she tried to help pay that damned debt. These are the people who ruined his life.

He felt his hands itch, his mind whispered thoughts. Thoughts that poisoned his mind.

Come on...Steal it... These pigs don't deserve it...

Jack was a poor boy, the thought of stealing had never come across his mind, no matter how much his stomach ached as they desperately needed food the thought of stealing would never come to mind. He'd rather starve than steal food, but this time it felt like he needed to exact revenge on these very people.

They wouldn't miss this trophy anyway, they most likely bought it.

Jack swallowed as he slowly lifted the glass box, he held it in his hands until he slowly put it down on the ground. His hands twitched as it got closer to touching the trophy, the shiny surface of pure gold reflected and the thought of selling it came. Using their own money to pay for their debt, sounded almost funny to him as he held the trophy.

He stared into it, never having held such a thing in his life. The weight was heavy and he struggled to keep it up, it was pure gold, something he'd never see in his lifetime. 

"What are you doing?"

Jack jumps, almost dropping the trophy but quickly places it back, and whips his head around to see a boy wearing a fancy black suit holding a glass of a black bubbly drink. 

"What- oh , you got grime all over the fucking thing." The boy said in disgust, as he pulled out a clean white cloth from his suit pocket and approached. Jack looked to the ground, as if it had killed his friends

He avoided looking straight into the eyes of the boy, who walked towards him slowly with a raised brow. The boy stopped and observed him from head to toe, then he wiped the trophy clean. Awkward silences were shared between the two, as the boy finished and placed back in the glass box.

"Hah...good as new. Now, you."

The boy turned his heel to face Jack, a scowl on his face.

"Were you trying to steal a trophy from my family?" An angered voice asked, laced with venom. 

Jack's eyes remained on the floor as his lips were tightly shut, refusing to answer nor entertain the boy. The boy rolled his eyes, "I knew you were poor, but I didn't know you were that poor, Manifold."

Jack's eyes widened as he looked up at the boy who spoke, he felt like he had dug his grave further by meeting the eyes of the boy who looked all too similar to the man on the painting.

"Your- you're that pig's son. You're Time Deo." Jack hissed, the name slid off his tongue in disgust. He felt his blood boil seeing one of the other rich men's son's.

The boy seemed to only be amused at his annoyance. Jack had the guts to be the one angry at  Deo, who he had tried to steal from not moments ago.

"You mean the very pig you tried to steal from? You know I could tell father this and we'll get your land quicker." TimeDeo threatened, taking a sip from his drink while maintaining eye contact with Jack.

"After all, we're all just waiting for you to fail on this little plan you have."

He continued to sip on his drink, hiding his smile as he felt Jack's anger rise. Jack snarled, feeling his head catch on fire as he continued to let the bitter burning hell build up in his chest.

"You all point and laugh now, but just you wait! I'll get your filthy father all the money he needs to leave us alone and for you and the other's to leave me and my brother be."

" If you get chosen." Deo finishes his drink and he places it on a nearby table.

"I don't think your teacher would fall for your begging twice , Manifold."

Jack's eyes were comparable to the size of golf balls. Deo was shocked to be right, but his lips curled as Jack had suddenly lost the anger he had earlier and it was replaced with a , he laughed at Jack who quickly looked offended. 

"So you did beg !" He cackled, having difficulty in breathing. Finding Jack's way of getting into Lions Den is rather humorous. Jack bit his tongue, his cheeks burning bright red.

" Oh … you begged to be let in and you let a child out best you? Carry you around like dead weight?"

"Don't call me dead we-"

"Oh, please...Open your damn eyes, Manifold." 

"You're dead weight, to your own team."

Jack took a deep breath and shook his head. He wasn't dead weight, he was getting better, with every mistake he was getting closer and closer to perfecting his moves.

"I'm not."

"Manifold, denial gets you nowhere."

"I'm not in denial, because I'm not dead weight." 

Jack swings his arm as he gestures, tipping the glass off the table and the shards of glass scatter all around the floor. Time Deo sighed and rubbed his temples, muttering in annoyance.

"Well, I'll be heading off to find a maid…"

He sighed, he headed towards the door as Jack was huffing in anger. Knuckles turned white as he glared at Time Deo, who looked at him with disinterest.

"If you're going to sell trophies...I suggest getting your own, instead of leeching onto others. I'll see you around, Manifold."

Deo left the room, closing the door gently until it clicked and closed. Leaving Jack in the room, to stare into the broken shards of glass. Alone with his poisonous thoughts.

"Thanks for having us over, Eryn." 

Eryn shook his head. "No need! I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!!" Tubbo exclaimed, waving his hand at him. Jack has not spoken a single word, mouth shut like someone had glued it.

Eryn nodded, he took a step back and closed the front door. The hired musicians had already left, as the music no longer can be heard from the outside. Students were leaving, carrying their passed out colleagues. Tommy, Tubbo and Jack soon followed the crowd of students, heading back to their sleeping quarters.

They made it back to their room, they took off the fancy clothing and switched to their pajamas. Tommy threw his tie onto the ground and face planted into his pillow, he completely deflated into his bed as a tired grunt escaped his lips.Tubbo gently sat on his bed, looking at his friend who was currently falling into sleep rather quickly.

"Well...that party was nice." Tubbo stated.

"Yeah." Jack replied, face turned away from the others.

No one spoke, they only sat there in silence as Tommy prepared his clothes for tomorrow.

"Alright, let's get to bed. We will practice tomorrow with no breaks." Tommy didn't even look at his friends, his eyes already shut as he needed much sleep for tomorrow. 

None spoke a word, feeling the pain of tomorrow already on their bodies.

Tubbo sighed, clapping his hands together the light in their room soon dimmed and was replaced with darkness. 

The sound of crickets and the sound of wolves, made up for the silence of the night. The wind blew and the fog of the night grew, the guards were out again searching for their criminal.

Inside the school however, Tommy and Tubbo were both lightly snoring, comfortably enveloped in the warmth of their beds. Jack was wide awake, a weight on his chest that made it hurt to breathe.  He stared at the roof as he tried to remove this feeling, but nothing could put him to rest as his thoughts ran rampant in his mind.

The sun was out and the weather was fair, the birds were singing and the flowers were blooming. Jack and Josh were only 10, both throwing rocks and hurling towards each other as they gained scrapes and bruises, they were wearing grins that would reach ear to ear as they would try to get the other as dirty as possible.

Their mother was watching them from the kitchen's dusty old window, she was cooking carrot stew. Carrot stew was one of their favorite foods to ever eat and their mother would always try her best to cook it every Saturday. Their mothers eyes were concentrated on them, while her hands were cutting the carrots. 

Their Father was in the fields, his back bent over as he harvested the crops for this month. Their Father worked very hard to keep them afloat in the ever changing world around them. When there was a problem, father would never make it obvious. He would always make sure to solve it, fooling both Jack and Josh.

Mother and Father have worked their hardest, to be able to start a life with each other. After years of painstaking sacrifice, they have finally bought their own land. The land which they call home, the land where their barn was.

Their family was happy and complete, for Jack it felt like nothing could go wrong for them. It felt like life was only ever up, but that when he started to realize everything would go down.

His parents owed money to very powerful people. The type of people, who wouldn't even blink if you were murdered in front of them. Father eventually started working two jobs, At a factory and the farm. The factory belonged to the Deo family, they made his father work tirelessly, day and night until his father gained multiple health issues. He refused to get treated, saying it would only add to the expenses. As expected, his father's body soon couldn't take the stress, he later died of a heart attack. Jack was only 13 when that happened, he couldn't forget how his mother wailed and sobbed at the death of father. How his eyes were red and sore, how his brother's nose was filled with snot from how much crying they had both down.

That's when they started starving, without a father; They had no way of paying for bills and food. They were forced to beg, beg for food and money, anything to get by such a cruel terrible faith. Their mother soon died from hunger, refusing to eat anything after father's death and because she did not want to starve her two children.

Jack and Josh were the only ones left, once two happy children now just a mere memory they hoped to return to. Jack and Josh tried to pay these men, through anything they could scrap up from their work, it still wasn't enough to pay for everything. Their family has given everything to these men, yet they are not satisfied.

Jack had learnt that day, how money was valuable; How money could solve all of his problems in life. The long nights without food, the nights where they would have to cry themselves to sleep, how they would force themselves to eat what wasn't already edible.

How are these people who force them to stay poor, eating food that's fresh everyday, and wearing clothes that weren't taken from the trash, without feeling a twinge of pity for the ones they put through hell and back for. 

So one day, when the hero came into town, searching for his apprentice, he begged to be given a chance. He hated begging, but he knew the only way to get out of their situation was to beg. He saw the look on his brother's eyes as Jack knelt on the muddy ground, hissing as the wounds on his knees got irritated from the mud staining his legs.

He didn't look at his brother that day, when he left to attend this school. He didn't look back either.

Jack inhaled deeply, tearing his eyes from the roof to the wall beside him. He shut his eyes forcefully, wanting to sleep off the restlessness he felt. He slowly drifted into sleep, his body can already feel the pain of tomorrow. 

Chapter Text

I'm sorry.

I can't keep writing this story anymore sadly.

I'm no longer part of the fandom, just the amount of negativity drove me away from the fandom and the Fanfic. Its just sad—I know some of you want a continuation, but I just can't write it anymore.

I'll happily spoil the rest of any of you want to, of course. Right now, I just can't.

If you wanna know what would've happened, I'll put down a summary page if the comments ask for it.

See y'all!

Chapter Text

Hello, it's been a while, DSMP is pretty fucking dead but I'm not. I'm still kicking about, good thing too because I have actually been thinking about this story for four years now. So guess what?

An update, very important. First off, it'll be rewritten but it will no longer be DSMP people or its content creators, but the characters are inspired off of the characters from the story of DSMP. A lot has be reworked, a lot has been thought about, a lot of characters reworked and removed.

This story has become one with my own OC Lore, if anyone is interested, I'll write the story down and place the link here when the first Chapter releases.

From, VividHeritage04

Mwah.