Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Two cobblestone walls cast their dark shadows down on the two disputing groups, one built in the fashion of a castle and the other nothing more than an imposing and hastily built barricade.

“I gotta put my foot down Tubbo,” Quackity said.

Tubbo subtly shifted his weight, maintaining eye contact with Quackity. He could hear Ranboo uneasily shuffle behind him. “Ok, well what’s to say I can’t put my foot down? Big Q, I gotta say, bottom line is this place is not going to be an embassy and it's not going anywhere.”

“We are not going to allow this Tubbo. If you don’t want to come to peace terms with this cookie outpost, then we are going to get rid of it.” Barely concealed anger hung behind Quackitys eyes as he argued with the former president.

Tubbo crossed his arms and sighed. “Just keep building your wall Big Q, this agreement has gone nowhere. You’re digging your heels in, I’m digging my heels in. We won’t get anywhere.

“Tubbo, you don’t understand.” Quackity warned, “I am going to get rid of this outpost.”

Tubbo leveled Quackity with an even glare, holding his hands behind his back to hide the shaking, before replying with a neutral tone. “Best of luck.”

As Tubbo began to walk off, Quackity followed and threatened again, “Tubbo, I will destroy this outpost.”

Tubbo quickly spun around and pulled Quackity in close before lowering his voice. “You remember that book, Civilization V , that we read, yeah? Remember the leader Gandhi, ‘kay? I’m not as war-mongering as him, but I’ve learned a bit from him. Don’t test me.” 

Tubbo stalked off, leaving Purpled, Foolish and Ranboo with their discussion as Quackity stared and the back of his former president, the thought of Tubbos’ nuke now swirling in his mind. 

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After what felt like an eternity, Ranboo arrived back at the cookie outpost and Tubbo immediately threw himself into Ranboos arms, too relieved and tired to bother asking about his discussion with Foolish and Purpled. Finally Tubbo looked up to see Ranboo’s concerned face looking down at him.

“You alright, Bee? You doing okay?”

“I’ll be honest Boo, I’m feeling a little worn out. I’ve got that same feeling in my stomach that I had when I had to give that improv speech when I was made president and before Wilbur…. did everything.” Tubbo sighed and huddled closer into Ranboo’s hug, trying to regain a sense of safety. “I don’t deal well with conflict. I feel out of breath and nauseous. I don’t like all this arguing. Talking to Quackity felt like trying to speak to Wilbur during Pogtopia, boss man. I don’t know what happened to him and I don’t know what's gonna happen.” As Tubbo continued, his words came faster and faster, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes.

Tubbos mind flashed through the discussion he’d privately had with Quackity. 

“I’ll allow you to keep…. “

“Let you stay…” 

“It's not your right…” 

“I’ll let you keep.”

 All words meant to confuse him, to make him feel like Quackity held power over him. 

“I can trust Tubbo”

“I trust you”

“You’re not understanding my point of view, look at it from my perspective.”  

All meant to make him feel guilty for refusing Quackity. It was a small point after all right? He was making a fuss, he was going out of line. Wilbur was being understanding, Tubbo was being fussy over a small thing… no not Wilbur, Quackity... Wilbur was gone, no he’s back, but Tubbo could make his own opinions, have his own feelings, but they would be mad.

Tubbo knew he was spiraling, but Quackity’s face was merging into his nightmares of Schlatt and Wilbur. He had worked hard for his Outpost and Schlatt was... no Quackity was going to take it all away just like that. Distantly, he heard Ranboo and tried to focus on his voice, tightening his grip on Ranboo’s shirt, as the enderman continued to rub calming circles on his back.

“Breathe, Tubbo, breathe. You did good, you did good. It’s gonna turn out okay, It’ll all be okay.” Ranboo said, trying to soothe Tubbo down from his increasing panic. “It will all be alright.”

Tubbo, focusing on Ranboo’s voice, eventually managed to calm down, trying to inhale and exhale with Ranboo’s steady breaths. Another wave of drowsiness washed over him, his energy drained from the physical work on expanding his outpost, the strain of talking to the Las Nevadas trio and the emotional duress of his panic attack. The thought of his lingering warning to Quackity hung in his mind. “If everything goes south, boss man, you gotta remember we’ve got a deterrent.”

Ranboo frowned, eyebrows drawn together. “We’ve got a deterrent?”

Yeah, let's not worry about it right now. We’re not ever gonna have to use it. I’ll tell you about it some other time, yeah?

Ranboo hummed his agreement as he helped Tubbo to his feet. The two of them quietly started making their way back to Snowchester for the night, Ranboo half carrying Tubbo from how much he was leaning on the enderman. As the pair left Las Nevadas and the Outpost behind, one thought stood out boldly in Tubbo’s mind.

Nothing good can come from this.

Chapter Text

The smell of burnt wheat and cookies hung softly in the air, alongside the harsh smells of gunpowder and ash. Looking around at the ruined stone walls that Tubbo had known wouldn’t be enough, he couldn’t help but feel a sick sense of vindication that all of his worry and paranoia had been confirmed. The crumbled remains of the Outpost looked just as devastated as Tubbo felt.

Originally, the base had just been to keep an eye on Las Nevadas, but the more Tubbo worked on it, the more he had grown attached to his fun cookie shop. Tubbo loved Snowchester dearly, it had provided him refuge after L’manberg was blown up for the last time and it held one of the things most precious to him, but ever since Jack and… Foolish… had moved away, it had been feeling a little lonely. Tubbo had poured his heart out in his castle of a cookie shop and it was much closer to the hustle and bustle of spawn. Tubbo had even begun to consider bringing Micheal to the Outpost to stay for a little while. He’ll thank Ender every day that he left Micheal in the relative safety of Snowchester. 

The loss of the Outpost and yet another of his builds (his first home, the jungle base, and New L’manberg all flitting through his thoughts), left Tubbo swinging between vengefully angry and wildly apathetic. In his mind's eye, he could see Purpled firing the TNT cannons with quick precision, while Foolish, slightly apologetic but completely unashamed, continued to swiftly load the cannons. Tubbo hadn’t been particularly close to Foolish, but he had offered him a home in Snowchester and it hurt more than he expected to see the totem’s quick turnabout. 

However, Tubbo couldn’t decide if seeing Quackity or Fundy was worse. Tubbo had been close to Fundy and Quackity, bonding with them over the shared time and trauma under Schlatt’s administration. They’d all been hurt in different ways throughout that time and they all ended up isolating after everything was said and done to try and cope with all of the hurt and loss. In the end, though, Tubbo had thought he could count on the two to understand him and maybe even work with him at some point. But the smug look of satisfaction Quackity wore as all of Tubbos hard work went up in flames dashed those hopes. Tubbo was sure Quackity would join his routine of nightmares as well as haunt him during his waking hours. Fundy too, as his expression constantly shifted between guilt, pride, and even glee at his actions. 

Tubbo felt sick at heart and wondered where he had gone wrong, wondered what he had done to deserve this hand in life. He was left with nothing but ashes, ruins, and an impossibly difficult choice.

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Tubbo entered the lab hidden on the side of one of Snowchesters’ buildings. Once again, he had been taken for a fool. It took brains to make a weapon of mass destruction and Tubbo wasn't stupid. Yet Las Nevadas chose to underestimate him. What a Tubbo moment , they would think,  to leave the nuke in the lab where Foolish knew they were stored. They’d probably laughed at how easy it was for them to stop Tubbo’s counterattack, his deterrent, leaving them free to ruin his outpost. How wrong they were.

Tubbo had hoped Foolish might keep the secret of the nuclear lab in Snowchester, but he knew the chances were next to none. It only made sense for him to move the nuke elsewhere in the village, leaving a weighted shell behind for the people from Las Nevadas to steal. As soon as Tubbo had entered the lab, he could see the bits of slime left on the floor on walls from the thief. And sure enough, the fake was gone. Tubbo turned and left the facility, heading to the new secret vault. 

Within the next two hours, Tubbo had managed to prep the nuke for launch and was now simply sitting there staring at his creation, launch codes in hand, coordinates locked onto Las Nevadas. This was the eventuality he had always prepared for, but he had honestly hoped the day would never come. Ranboo was at their mansion with Micheal unaware of the momentous decision his husband was grappling with. Ranboo too had been grieved at the destruction of the Outpost, but Tubbo knew it was more on his behalf than anything else. There had been nothing the two of them could do to stop Las Nevadas from their ramage, not without dying at least and that wasn’t an option. They’d had no choice but to leave the smoldering remains and return to Snowchester.

Tubbo reached his hand out briefly touching the nuke before quickly standing up and running to the mansion. He ran up Micheal’s room, a brief smile crossing his face as he encountered Ranboo and Micheal playing and laughing together. The smile lasted less than a second, as his thoughts turned again to his decision. Tubbo gave Micheal a quick hello and kiss on the head, before pulling Ranboo out of the room. As soon, as they had left Micheal’s sight and earshot, Ranboo’s happy demeanor fell a bit, especially as he noted the look on Tubbo’s face.

“Hey, what’s wrong Bee?”

Tubbo bit his lip before blurting out, “Would you run away with me?”

Ranboo smiled a bit as he replied “We’re already married, Bee. Can’t elope anymore, unless you want to divorce again first.”

Tubbo flashed him a look, too concerned to laugh at the joke. “Boo, I want to show Las Nevadas that they can't mess with me, mess with us, yeah? But if I do, they’ll come for us again. The only things holding me here are you and Micheal, so if you’ll come with me, we can leave. Maybe after a while, we can come back, see if things are better, but I don’t want to stay here.”

Ranboo nervously nodded his head, thinking back to the knowledge that it had been Technoblade who’d executed Tubbo and still thought of Tubbo as government. Maybe it hadn’t entirely been his fault and it was long ago, but he’d still done it. Finally, Ranboo came to his decision, resolving to have the endermen leave Techno and Phil a note. “Alright Bee, alright. When are we leaving?”

Tubbo’s face, while still showing concern, brightened at Ranboo’s answer. “Within the hour. Get Micheal ready and then we’re gone, boss man.”

Ranboo quickly got over his shock, giving Tubbo a hug and whispering a quick “it's okay” before heading off to pack the essentials for his small family. Ranboo didn’t make it out of the room before turning around, a troubled look on his face. “What about Tommy?”

Tubbo stiffened before replying, “Tommy’s got Wilbur and honestly Wilbur doesn’t want either of us around. Tommy’s already picked Wilbur and neither of them will let the other go.”

Tubbo thought back to the half-lie he had told Foolish.

“Wait Tubbo, how are you with Tommy? Like on what terms?”

“I dunno, he’s gone off and done his own thing.”

Tommy had gone off and done his own thing. He’d gotten Tubbo and Ranboo to mine him out stone, only to turn around and hang off of Wilburs’ every word. Tubbo could see how Wilbur disliked Ranboo and he’d eye Tubbo like he was nothing more than a piece in whatever game Wilbur was playing. Confiding his concerns to Tommy had only led to Tommy insisting that Wilbur had changed, that he was just a little rough from the recent revival, that Tubbo didn’t need to worry about Wilbur.

“It’s okay boss man. I want to help him too, but Tommy is in too deep. He’s picked Wilbur over us and that’s that.”

Once again, Ranboo did nothing more than nod, the troubled expression becoming even deeper, as Ranboo left to complete his task.

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Finally, it was time to show Las Nevadas that they shouldn’t have messed with him. He wouldn’t stick around to see the aftermath, but he could imagine it from his memories of the testing site. Launch codes clutched tightly in his hand, Tubbo took a deep breath before taking out his communicator and sending a universal message on the urgent wavelength.

<Tubbo_> [PSA] Anyone within the range of Las Nevadas is advised to evacuate immediately. T--7 MINS TILL LAUNCH

Just enough time for them to escape Las Nevadas, but not enough time for them to reach Snowchester, especially with the hyper bridge dismantled in preparation. Immediately, the chat filled up with messages in varying degrees of panic.

<Quackity> what are you talking about tubbo? what do you mean

<ItsFundy> no way no wya. he doesn’t hvae it we took it no way

<TheEret> Guys, what’s going one here? What’s happening?

<Purpled> No shot this is real. No shot

<FoolishG> don’t do this Tubbo

<Quackity> Tubbo STOP right now STOP

Tubbo watched the members of Las Nevadas spam their panic before sending the next message.

<Tubbo_> [PSA] T--5 MINS TILL LAUNCH

At this message, the replies of those from Las Nevadas tapered off, as they hopefully started evacuating. 

Tubbo caught one final message before putting his communicator down.

<Purpled> Screw you, Tubbo

“You already have,” Tubbo thought bitterly, “ you already have.”

His communicator continued to buzz with messages from other members of the SMP, but Tubbo ignored them in favor of counting the time. In both an eternity and a split second, he sent his final message in chat, before counting aloud to himself.

<Tubbo_> [PSA] T--30 SECONDS TILL LAUNCH

“3, 2, 1, 0”

Tubbo entered the codes and slammed on the final button before he could overthink anything. He heard the whirl of machinery before he turned and ran to where Ranboo and Micheal were waiting for him. Ranboo gave him a sad smile, before hoisting Micheal up onto his hip. Tubbo grabbed his pack, and brushed the unwanted tears from his eyes, before the three of them turned and started their journey into uncharted territory. Tubbo glanced over his shoulder towards Las Nevadas and whispered his final goodbye into the wind to both the people and the place, leaving behind one more fragment of his past.

Goodbye… It was never meant to be.