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Tommyinnit had gained quite a few titles over the years. Most were simple words, like Chaos, War, Violence, or trickery. Even Justice, on occasion. Some were a bit more complicated, things along the lines of The Blood God or He who dyes the soil red. The Greeks had called him by many different names, though it didn’t really matter whether they prayed to Ares or Athena. Very few of the things mortals did mattered. Not in the long run, anyway.
So why did he feel like this? Why, standing on a pillar looming in the center of the crater he’d once called home, did he feel so empty? Had he actually been the sixteen-year-old boy he made himself out to be, odds are he would have broken at some point during the second war for L’Manburg, when he and his brother fought to get their nation back. Yet here he was, watching as that very same nation was blown to smithereens for the third and final time.
He hated it. For as much as he adored the battlefield, as much as he loved bloodshed, he despised tyrants. People who use others as nothing more than a means to an end. People who tell themselves they’re gods, that nothing can stand in their way. People who went this far just because they can.
People like Dream.
Technoblade he understood. He may not agree with the piglin, but he does understand. The voices in his head demanded blood, Tommy could hear them too. Plus, betrayal is a hard thing to deal with, especially when it’s by someone you considered a brother. But even if he did regret his choices regarding Techno he wouldn’t take it back. If he hadn’t chosen Tubbo, much worse things could have happened. After all, it’s never a good idea to pit an immortal embodiment of chaos against the true Angel of Death. Last time they’d had a proper argument, Tommy had let his frustration get the best of him and may or may not have singlehandedly started a war.
Philza he understood. Losing someone dear to you is never easy, especially if they died by your hand. Wilbur may not actually have died, but as far as Phil knows, he was gone. It would only make sense for him to be mad. Although destroying a country is a tad bit far, Tommy understands. Besides, when he was a young god he would have and did topple kingdoms for far less reason.
Dream was the only part of this he didn’t understand. He didn’t understand the man’s motives. He didn’t get how he could look at all this and laugh. Sure, he may have been an admin, but that was it. he wasn’t a god, he wasn’t an acolyte, hell he wasn’t even a demi-god. Yeah, he had been decent friends with Sapnap and Bad, but he’d thrown that away the moment he said he didn’t care about anything but power. Lucky for him, both were rather benevolent. Besides, Tommy, whenever he and Wilbur were done with their ridiculous bet of who could pretend to be a mortal the longest, was going to kill Dream himself. None of the half dozen other gods who lived on that sever were going to stop him.
Instead, they all stood in their own little group at the edge of the crater, watching as the young boy (He may be as old as Bad, Tubbo, and the goddess of life Drista and older than the rest, but he chose to appear as a teenage boy and acted like one as well) shouted at the piglin across from him. Among them was Bad, the god of peace and the night, Wilbur, the god of music madness and theatrics, Captain Puffy, the goddess of motherhood, Sapnap, the god of fire, and Fundy, who was technically a demi-god, but insisted on being part of the group anyway. Tubbo likely would have been with them, had he not been next to Tommy, doing his best to calm him down. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really getting anywhere.
They could all feel the rage practically pouring off him as Techno spewed out something about being there for each other. It almost seemed as if he was trying to anger the boy. How he hadn’t already been killed, none of them were sure.
Everyone watched in fear as the two argued, be them mortal or divine. The gods, despite knowing Tommy would never, ever lost a bet, watched in fear that they may just have to hold him back once again. The rest of them watched either because they were scared that Techno would kill the poor boy they thought Tommy to be, or because they didn’t know what else to do with themselves.
Techno made sure everyone knew his dramatic speech was over by shooting a firework at Sapnap and shouting out “Blood for the Blood God!”
This gave Tommy an idea. It would be a risk, but it might just help sort out the problem his acolyte had become.
“TECHNO!” Thunder followed his call, clearly startling some of those around the crater. He smirked slightly, but no one saw it. “What would your god think of all this?!”
There was something about the way Techno’s hands shifted that made it clear his plan would work. Not that he ever actually doubted it would. He was a god of war, and war required strategy. He let an angry expression fall back onto his face as Techno responded, “Blood is blood, Tommy.”
There was the push he needed to make him mad. He didn’t reveal himself as a god just yet, that would be losing a bet, something he did not want to do. What he did do however, was shout with a rage none of the mortals had ever seen in him. The gods had seen it before of course, but not recently enough to keep them from surprise. “No it’s not! You’re killing innocent people who had nothing to do with this! It’s wrong, Techno!”
“And who are you to tell me the difference between right and wrong?!”
Tommy hesitated for a second. As much as he wanted to tell Techno exactly who he was, he’d made a bet with Wilbur to see who could keep up a front the longest, and he didn’t like the idea of losing. He turned to face Puffy. She always knew how to calm others down, so maybe she could help him. Just like he’d expected, her reassuring smile was followed by an understanding nod as she whispered something to Bad behind her. It made him feel ten times more confident. Not that he wasn’t already confident, he was Tommyinnit, but it certainly made him feel better.
It only took a second for Wilbur to shove his way to the front of the group. What he said was something the young god hadn’t expected, but it was welcome none the less. “Tommy! Bets off!”
As soon as the words were uttered, all eyes were on what most expected to be Ghostbur. Except it wasn’t Ghostbur. It was Wilbur, the old Wilbur, dressed in the kind of white silk robe one might expect an old Greek god to wear, golden jewelry dangling from his ears and neck, his already untamable hair somehow even messier then before. Silver bracelets decorated his pale arms. There were no scars, no bruises. One of the only things that still resembled the ghostly figure were the tear tracks running down his cheeks, and even those now glittered gold.
Techno stood in just as much shock as most the mortals. The only one who didn’t seem confused was Dream, his porcelain smile hiding the majority of his emotions. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t surprised, though. He and Schlat had been the only ones who even knew about the revival book, and that old goat was long dead. None of the people on this server should have been able to bring Wilbur back. Plus, having him here would most certainly put a dent in the masked man’s plans.
He silently shifted his gaze back Tommy, still stood in the center of the crater. The boy was smiling. Why was he smiling? Sure, he would probably be overjoyed to see his older brother again, but he should be just as surprised as everyone else, if not more. Then it dawned on the man. That wasn’t Tommy’s usual overconfident smirk. It was amused but hesitant, as if he expected Wilbur to pull out some crazy trick or scheme.
That was, of course, exactly what Tommy expected to happen. Wil had always been one for trickery. If any deity here were to pull something, it’d be him or Wil, and Tommy wasn’t exactly planning anything. So he once again turned to Puffy, this time with a simple question. “Really?”
She nodded. Only the gods knew why. None of the mortals were even paying attention, all too shocked by Wilbur’s sudden reanimation. Those closest had either scooted away or frozen up. Most of the small group either smiled reassuringly or gave him a ‘don’t you dare’ type glare. Not all of them were big on scaring people, after all. Tommy lived for it though. Still, he heeded the warning look he got from Bad and only let up on the mortal disguise a little. A blinding suddenly white flash encased the boy.
The white faded just as quickly as it had come, revealing a much happier looking Tommy. Unlike Wilbur, Tommy had decided to keep his scars, letting older ones appear along side them. His clothes changed from a bloody and torn t-shirt and ripped blue jeans to a white, pirate like blouse paired with black pants and brown leather boots. Wrapped around his shoulders was a long, blood red cloak, sides held together by a thin golden chain. A neatherite blade rested in a sheath on his belt. His blond hair was cleaner, less messy, though the near shoulder length remained.
To say he looked like Technoblade was an understatement. If it weren’t for the difference in hair and eyes, and the piglin like mask one wore, it would be nearly impossible to tell the two apart. So it seemed more then right that Techno was the first to voice his confusion with a surprised “Heh?!”
Tommy let out an obnoxious laugh, one of the few things that seemed to be the same about the boy.
Tubbo stood at his side, arms crossed and an amused smile on his face. The same light soon encased the brunette and left him almost as different. Black feathered wings sprouted from his back and spread out to their full length of about ten feat each. His firework induced burn scars faded. A familiar green button up and pair of jeans replaced the suit he had been wearing.
This just confused everyone more. Techno was scared. The blond teen across the crater gave him a tired smile, one that was meant to be reassuring but just ended up scaring the man more. Tommy knew why Techno was scared. He knew how loud the voices were being, how they were celebrating something other then blood and violence for the first time since Techno had gotten them. And he knew what they were saying.
‘Yoooo, big reveal!’ ‘Finally.’ ‘It’s time for chaos!’ ‘Blood for the Blood God?!’ ‘Yay, no more secrets!’ ‘Blood for Tommy!’ ‘Rip Dream, lol’ ‘Oh yeah, Dream is heckin dead.’ These were just some of the things Tommy could make out. He lifted a finger to his lips, letting out an amused “Shh” and instantly the voices were silent.
Now Techno was terrified.
To everyone else, it was certainly a strange sight. Those who weren’t still focused on Wilbur were now witnessing Tommy, the reckless teenager, cause Technoblade, the most feared warrior in the SMP, to freeze up with nothing more then a hush. To Techno, it was the one of the scariest moments of his life, only rivaled by when he’d first heard the voices. He’d tried everything to get rid of them, and nothing had worked. He’d managed to quiet them, but never silence. Yet Tommy had silenced them completely without even breaking a sweat, even if they did slowly trickle back.
Tommy, no longer deeming Techno a threat, turned toward Dream. The masked man looked completely fine, despite everything. Tommy knew better. He could sense the man’s fear. Dream jumped down from the obsidian grid onto one of the few remaining pillars of stone in the crater and looked directly at the boy, drawing his axe. “Tommy.”
“Dream, my friend!” He smirked as he heard bad sigh and Wilbur laugh. Despite their best efforts, the group of gods currently behind him were all smiling, something Dream took note of. The brunette at his side flapped his wings and flew over to join the rest, knowing his best friend could easily hold his own.
Dream shifted, positioning the axe in his hand to rest on his shoulder. It was meant to be intimidating, and well it did scare some of the humans, it just made the gods want to laugh. If he thought he was going to beat Tommy he was sorely mistaken. With the small amount of power he was no longer putting into appearing mortal, the boy could have taken on both Dream and Techno and come out victorious, though probably fairly injured. Dream didn’t seem to realize this. “You want to explain yourself?”
If he was being honest, Tommy was impressed by the man’s ability to hide his emotions. Even the ever-unexpressive Technoblade wasn’t able to keep his fear hidden. It was something that, if he was able to survive the wrath of a chaos god, would do him well in life. That was a pretty big if, though.
“What would you do if I told you I was a demon?” The boy joked, though it was obviously not directed at the masked man. A few of the gods behind him snickered. Not because it was a funny joke, but because it was a bad one. Even though he was the god of chaos, one of the first five beings in existence, the others being Bad, Tubbo, Drista, and Prime herself, he was still Tommy.
This agitated Dream, his anger starting to overwhelm his fear just slightly. “I’d say you’re lying. I know you’re human, Tommy. I’ve read you’re code.”
“Right, my code.” Tommy nodded slightly. Deciding to take a rather large risk, he pulled up a string of the fake code Prime had made for him. She’d made a human one for each of her children and let them mess with it a bit in case they wanted to explore the mortal realms. Code was a strange thing, invisible to normal people, faint to admins and demigods, but clear as day to gods.
Sapnap, while more than happy Wilbur and Tommy were done with their bet and that the later was finally putting an end to the pain he’d let himself endure, was just about ready to smack the both of them. Tommy for taking the stupid risk of showing Dream his control over code and Wilbur for laughing at what was obviously a power move. It was one that worked, too, seeing how Dream froze up entirely.
“Tommy!” Sapnap called out. Said boy flung around in an instant, his smirk turning to a curious smile. He did his best to ignore the mix of fear and confusion pouring off the masked man behind him, wanting to hear whatever it was Sapnap had to say. “I know he put you through a lot, but please, for all our sakes,”
Tommy’s grin turned to a sort of confused look. He knew the man wasn’t mad at him. He was rarely ever mad at him. Fire and Chaos got along well, after all. Plus, he knew none of them would suggest anything stupid besides Wilbur. So instead of using one of the incredibly witty remark that he’d definitely come up and had not at all stolen from mortals over the years, he decided to be polite and let him continue.
Dream meanwhile had regained some composure. There was still a fair amount of fear running through his mind, but from the sound of it, he had Sapnap on his side. Tommy seemed to trust Sapnap, and he could use that trust. Assuming he was going to try and convince Tommy to stand down, Dream let an unseen smirk settle on his face.
Assumptions are dangerous things, though.
The next words out of Sapnap’s mouth, much to everyone’s surprise, were “Just kill him.”
Nearly everyone was taken aback by the words, spare Tommy, Wilbur, and Sapnap himself. All the gods and even a few mortals knew Dream had lost Sapnap a long while ago, but most still thought he was loyal to the masked man, and none of the mortals knew he was friends with Tommy. Most thought they were enemys.
The blond at the center of the crater naturally wanted to argue, but he wasn’t sure he had it in him. He looked to his fellow deities for any sign of what to do. Tubbo and Fundy were both looking at Sapnap as if he was crazy for not wanting to watch Dream suffer. Wilbur didn’t really seem to have an opinion, opting instead to watch it all unfold. Puffy and Bad however seemed to agree.
He was about to say ok, when despite the feeling of betrayal rolling off him, Dream managed to stutter out a panicked couple of sentences. “W-What?! Y-You can’t kill me! I’m practically a god, Tommy!”
Said boy huffed, turning to face the stupid smiling mask once again. He tried his best to put his thoughts into words but was struggling. Thankfully, an all but forgotten Technoblade did it for him. “You shouldn’t have said that.”
The sound of TNT had long since faded, making it so everyone could hear him. His voice was laced with genuine fear. He was as good at hiding his emotions as the masked man, if not better, so it made sense that those surrounding the crater were surprised they could tell how he felt. They were even more surprised the only emotion he showed that wasn’t anger was one none of them knew he could even feel.
Dream, the cocky bastard, laughed, though it came out as more of a nervous response then actual laughter. “And why not, Techno?”
Now that was just a stupid question, Tommy decided. You shouldn’t claim to be something you’re not. Techno’s reasoning was a little different, but he still agreed with it. “Listen Dream, I don’t know why he hasn’t killed me yet,” There were murmurs from the surrounding crowd, and Tommy gave the piglin a reassuring nod to carry on. “But I do know one thing, and it’s that war is not kind to those who believe themselves above it.”
Tommy smirked. Within seconds there was a bright, near blinding light that had all the mortals guarding their faces. When they looked back, Dream was gone, and a message rang through out the server.
[Dream was struck by lightning]