Chapter Text
“I can’t believe it’s shutting down.” Luke announced in disbelief.
SMPEarth, the place you go for war and violence. It was well known among the world's how dangerous the place could get. Unlimited lives, unlimited deaths. Not as terrible as 2b2t, not even close. Nothing would ever be as horrifying as that place. Wilbur, Chip, and Josh found SMPE, deciding it was perfect.
The invites were sent out, people came pouring in, and land was claimed. Factions arose, and with it, conflict. It was unsurprising, there was only so much land and so many people. Those who came first made a name for themselves, collecting members at later dates.
Tommy was alone in the Bay for a while, having left Hypixel at Wilbur’s invite. He could look across the Ocean, and imagine he wasn’t so alone in this world. He built his faction for nothing to something, dying over and over to the Antarctic Empire and various other factions. Everytime he lost power, he gained twice as much later on. He was in charge and ready to do business.
Wisp was a light in darkness, signifying an end to Tommy’s solo reign. He had an ally, a companion, a friend. Someone to fight side-by-side with when his allied factions abandoned him. He had a friend who would decorate Business Bay. They would become presentable, intimidating, and feared.
When Luke showed up, the two faction members were overjoyed to hear the boy wanted to join their side. Their duo became a trio, power slowly rising. They began to win fights instead of losing consistently. The Bay gained buildings, and the community chests grew larger. They gained more resources and were able to step up in the world, making a name for themselves.
Then came the betrayal. Wisp destroyed everything they worked for, all in the name of power. They had finally made peace, only for disaster to strike. Luke was despondent, staring after the plane taking his friend away. Tommy hid his hurt behind disappointment and rage. War was one thing, loss was something completely different. It brought the two closer, but every faction on the smp could tell Business Bay had lost the innocent trust of others.
As glad as Luke and Tommy were to have TimeDeo and Bitzel on their side, there was still the underlying fear of betrayal from the new members. Tommy didn’t let Deo and Bitzel know of what Wisp had done right away, waiting until they had built a form of trust to let them in on Business Bay history.
Both were furious. Deo, who usually had a complicated relationship with emotions, felt anger on behalf of the two betrayed faction members. Bitzel felt guarded everytime they attacked the Antarctic Empire. He was sure Wisp was a loose canon who would betray his new faction just as fast.
It wasn’t the betrayal that made them angry, but the people it was against. When first joining Business Bay, TimeDeo and Bitzel simply wanted a place to stay for the time being. They remembered Tommy from Hypixel. It was a stepping stone to starting their own factions, Deo would easily be able to. However, on their very first day they fought against the world admins, and won. Tommy dealt the final blow. He convinced Josh to give them various commodities, just through his words. That was all that they needed, Tommy had their loyalty to the very end. Knowing someone would go against someone as great as Tommy was unacceptable. They would never let him know it though.
The four had fun while it lasted. Wars and battles were won and lost. Injuries were taken care of and property destroyed. Each of them had lives before, but the time in Business Bay had been carefree, a time for them to just exist. Now, it’s ending. People weren’t coming back, and the admins no longer were finding a use for the world.
The thing about being an admin, is anyone could do it. You would get the power, you could control the world, but there was only so much you could enjoy by yourself. You needed people to enjoy a world with. Josh, Chip, and Wilbur wouldn’t trap people here, but them not coming back lost the spark that made a world special.
“What do we do now?” Bitzel asked, looking for some sort of answer.
The four turned to Tommy, who stared deep into the fire. He was the leader, the creator of Business Bay. He should have all the solutions. His boys followed him into every battle, listening to his commands. Even when he didn’t want them to, they were a step behind him, a permanent shield from their enemies. He was the leader with answers.
“Easy,” Tommy breezed. “You leave.”
Deo shot up. “How can you just say that? What about Business Bay? You’re going to abandon everything we’ve worked for?”
Tommy glared. “Sit down Deo, I never said that.”
Deo returned to his chair, grumbling about being told off. Tommy looked around the circle, choosing his words carefully. “I want to say I knew this server would go on forever, but I’d be lying. We’ve all seen less and less people come back after leaving, they’re forgetting about this place. The admins don’t see any point in keeping this place alive when they have no power to gain from it. It hurts, but we have to accept it. This isn’t the end of the world though. Well, it is, but not the end of us. Deo and Bitzel.”
The two swiveled their heads at the sound of their name. “You’re going back to Hypixel. You have your own island, you can get back to training with bedwars and skyblock. Do some PvP. Luke.”
“That’s me.” Luke answered.
“You’re our builder, our socializer. You need people almost as much as I do. Go off and meet some people, join SMPs and show everyone how useful you really are. In all honesty, you could do a lot more somewhere peaceful, just living life.” Tommy stopped his protest. “I’m right and you know it. You’ll find somewhere creative, and show people what you're made of. Wisp?”
Wisp raised his head, not wanting to listen, but knowing he had to hear the tough truth. “You’re an adventurer, you can’t resist the call of a new mission. I know that’s why you left. You saw a new chance, and you took it. I’ve forgiven you, so you can stop blaming yourself.”
“Tommy I-”
Tommy held up his hand. “It’s leader talk right now. I want you to find those worlds where it’s upside down and nothing makes sense. Fix it if you can, make it worse if you want. Find something amazing, don’t let anything hold you down, especially me.”
“That’s not true!” Wisp shot up. “I regret my choice, every single day I wish I stayed. None of you are a burden, don’t think that.”
They couldn’t help but smile at Wisp’s outburst. Luke still held a bit of resentment against the man, but they would always be friends. Mistakes were made and acknowledged.
“What are you gonna do? You can’t just go by yourself without a plan.” Deo insisted.
He was right. Tommy had given each of them a future, but said nothing for himself. This world was all they had at the moment, and they were about to lose it. They had memories, but the ores and farms would be erased. They would move worlds as Tommy said, but where would he go?
Tommy shrugged. “I might find a world for myself. I heard about an SMP that’s starting up, might get in on that.”
“What if you get hurt?” Deo pointed out. “We’re all too far away, we won’t know. We can’t protect you.”
Tommy scoffed. “Come on now, what protection do I need? You guys would be lost without my badass leadership. Calm down, you think I’d ever leave you guys behind? I always have a play, they call me Tommy Trusty after all. I just need some nature shit, hold on.” Tommy felt around the ground, picking up five small rocks. They were an ordinary brown, misshapen and covered with bits of dirt. “This is how we’ll find each other.”
“With rocks?” Wisp asked in disbelief.
Tommy rolled his eyes. “No, just watch. It’s something Wilbur showed me. He learned it from Phil. Just trust the business.”
“Sometimes I forget we’re literally at war with your family.” Deo murmured.
The boys watched Tommy grab a knife, holding it over the rock. Very carefully, he engraved circles and lines on each stone. One by one, the stones were chiseled and set in a line. After the last stone was finished, Tommy held the knife to his finger and slid across the sharp metal. The action elicited gasps from the other boys, though confusing quickly overpowered concern. Tommy rubbed his bleeding thumb over the rocks, letting the red liquid seep in.
“You wanna give us an explanation or are you just gonna leave us thinking you're into some blood magic shit?” Luke laughed, equal parts confused and annoyed.
“I want each of you to take one. It’ll never break or damage, and no one will ever use it. Keep it with you no matter what. Never let it leave your sight. As long as you have it near you, you’ll know when one of us is in danger. Take it with you to a portal, you’ll go right to the person. Even if you somehow don’t have it with you when you’re in peril, the others will know. This is safety, it connects us.”
Bitzel picked up the stone, now completely smooth and white from the finished spell. “Safety, huh? You hear that Luke, don’t lose this.”
Luke threw his hands up in protest, rock flying away in the process. The four lost it, doubling over laughing as he scrambled to collect his new valuable.
Tommy shook his head. “You’ll lose it in a week, I bet 20 diamonds!”
“Alright Tommy, put everything in the chest and keep the book in your enderchest.”
Tommy hated this part of the prison visitation process. The worst part was Dream himself, that was no competition. But the loss of his belongings always hit him like a truck. He would get flashbacks to exile, Dream telling him to drop his armor and weapons to be destroyed.
He opened his enderchest, two open spots left. He put the key inside as sam instructed, and hesitated a moment longer.
His stone was still in his inventory, but he could keep it in his enderchest or locker. He had grown used to keeping his emergency beacon in his chest, never knowing who would show up to kill him and destroy or steal his things. It was a rock and a hard place. Risk missing his boys’ call of danger, or keeping his only way of communication safe. The enderchest it was, better safe than sorry.
“It’s all in Sam, I’m ready to go.” Tommy followed Sam through the instructions, not bothering to read his already signed books. Past him never let him down, well, not usually.
“Stay on the platform as it moves forward.”
Tommy hated the platform. It was only a few blocks and some honey keeping him from plummeting straight into lava. The platorm over air reminded him of another platform he once made, though at that point he had been attempting animal murder. Now, he was simply visiting a murderer.
The green bastard was standing there, waiting. Tommy felt disgusted to even have Dream look at him. Every time he saw the admin, he was reminded of his failures. All of them led to one victory he would have lost if not for the entire server coming to save him and Tubbo.
The visit went great. He insulted Dream. Dream almost caused him to have a panic attack multiple times. He told Dream it was his last visit, and everything went to shit. TNT went off and Sam refused to get him out. He was trapped, scared, and alone with Dream for who knew how long. He didn’t have any weapons, no water bucket, and no hope. He lost track of how long he was in there, screaming for Sam and insulting Dream. It was only a matter of time before Dream had the last straw. There was only so much time one child could live.
On Hypixel, a boy was waiting in line for a skyblock tournament. The line was long that day, and he longed for the controlled temperature of the realm. He took a bite of bread, glaring at the sky from behind his glasses. A glow caught his attention. He hadn’t brought any enchanted armor with him, he never did when joining lobbies. His eyes widened when he realized the change in his inventory. His top right corner never changed, the same white stone having sat dormant for many months. He sprinted to the nearest portal, declining the game invite.
One boy was on his island, adding corrections to the minions on his farm. He wiped sweat from his brow, wondering how the hell he messed up so badly. Every minion had broken, all because of his placements. He wasn’t the best farmer, not by a longshot, but there was no way he was that bad. He was debating whether he should restart the whole farm from scratch when a glow caught his eye. Which was weird, because of all the rocks surrounding him, it was this particular one that was now pulsating red. He snatched it back into his inventory, making a break for his main island.
In his own world, a boy was on fire. He had been traveling single worlds, finding ones whose code was broken beyond repair. Currently, he was gaining increasingly rare items through being on fire. There were many times he thought he could fix the code of a world, make it livable. He wasn’t so sure about this one. His inventory was full of enchanted drops and he almost missed the red glow mixed in. His eye caught the old item, shocked at the change. He quickly emptied any unnecessary supplies, only keeping the best weapons and armor for himself. He ran through the nether, determined to make it back to his portal in time.
A boy waved to the crowd of people, branching off towards his house. They had just gotten back from a wither fight, the dangerous mob holding its own against the group. He would take a few days to rest, though he would only need a few hours to be back on his feet. In reality, he needed some alone time. This server was nice, but they were adamant about knowing every little thing about him. He flopped on his bed, looking at the damage his armor had been dealt. There, along with his sword, a stone shone red. He held it in his hand, amazed at the change and fearful for what it meant. He shot towards the community portal, ready to face whatever challenge he was going to encounter.