Archive of Our Own

“Big Q, pull the lever!”

And with Tubbo’s exclamation, Phil’s heart stopped.

He could only stand on his porch frozen in time, useless, as Quackity did as he was told. As the anvil got closer and closer, his stomach lurched with the dawning horror that Techno was actually going to die growing. With a sickening crunch that sunk into his bones, Phil held a hand in front of his face in an attempt to shield his eyes from the bright white and green sparkles that filled his vision, the light practically blinding him.

Blinking the spots out of his vision, he was suddenly aware of the noise of glass pieces falling to the ground behind him. Reluctantly turning away from Techno escaping his captors (deep down, Philza knew he would laugh at the occasion if it weren’t for the situation currently in his house), he lifted his fists into a combat-ready pose when his brain caught up with what was happening.

There was a… person in his house. Who knew, maybe ‘person’ might have been a stretch, considering they were wearing a giant red hoodie that essentially covered the entire upper half of their body, they could have been a small enderman for all Philza knew. The man couldn’t even tell if they had long hair or not—hell, why focus on the length when he couldn’t even see the color!

The hooded being shook off some more glass from the top of their head and shoulders, making Phil’s eyes dart to the window with a gaping hole in the glass pane. Ah, so they jumped in through the window, but how come Phil didn’t hear it shatter when they did so?

As the muffled sound of the Butcher Army panicking filtered through his house, Phil remembered that there was a much more prevalent situation outside he should probably focus on. He had a feeling this mystery person banked on the idea that the Army would pay more attention to the Techno-Is-Escaping Problem than on the fugitive under house arrest as well.

Finally, after what felt like eons, they turned their face to look Philza in the eyes, and the man was only left more confused than before. “Dream?”

Covering his face was his familiar white mask, except it didn't contain the familiar smiley face the Admin typically wore. Instead, it had an angry frown that glistened in the candle lights of Phil’s house.

Dream took a silent step forward, holding his hand out toward Phil. Taking an apprehensive step back, Phil realised that Dream was holding an ender pearl in the other hand. Oh. Oh. He was going to get Phil out of there. While he had Punz focus on distracting people for Techno, he would be able to sneak in to take care of the Philza problem, making the already weak house arrest completely null.

Clever man.

Not wasting any more time, Phil gripped his hand with fervor and braced for teleportation when the hooded figure slowly brought his hand back to get ready to throw. Phil closed his eyes in anticipation when the pearl threaded through the broken window, grunting and falling forward onto the neighbor's roof when it landed. The avian held his arms in front of himself and thumped when he landed on his hands and knees.

He had all of two seconds to regain his bearings when Dream was grabbing his forearm and pulling him along, clearly not willing to spare any time to dawdle. As they began to run down the pathway toward the nearby forest, Phil vaguely registered Fundy’s voice from far away screaming, “HE’S GETTING AWAY TOO—”

Before they could reach the bushes and disappear into the night, a sudden and deep vwoop sounded in front of them. Dream ground his heels into the ground, stopping them in their tracks. Phil could only blink as the man held an arm in front of him while using the other to pull out an axe, gripping it tightly around the handle.

Well, Phil wondered if using the phrase small enderman earlier came back to bite him in the ass.

A rather tall monochrome kid appeared to have gotten in their way. He seemed to be trembling in his suit, a sword clutched in one hand while the vitiligo-d limb loosely held a shield. His face was in a glare, though it came across as desperate rather than angry. He seemed to want to say something, but the list of things he could choose from made it impossible to actually speak. Phil could practically read his mind.I’m sorry. I don’t want to do this. My friends and I just want to do what’s right, but we don’t really know what ‘right’ is anymore.

Dream tilted his head.

And then he moved.

Phil was suddenly left standing by himself as Dream shot forward and attacked the problem blocking their escape. The enderman-hybrid gaped his mouth for just a moment before Dream was on top of him, knocking both his shield and sword away, shoving his boot into the kid’s chest as hard as possible and winding the axe above his head with intent to, at the very least, cause as much damage as possible.

(A thought passed through Phil’s mind—the ever-so-small moral compass he somehow managed to keep throughout his many years of life—telling him to stop Dream. They’ve made their point, now they can keep escaping. But there was a reason his moral center eroded away over time, because deep down, Philza always wanted to be human, and humans were ultimately selfish.)

Philza waited for the blow to strike, but as he remembered that he should probably breathe at some point, he realized Dream wasn’t committing to it. The axe hovered in the air, a sort of shaky uncertainty in the man’s stature becoming visible as he struggled to finish the job. Which was… strange, to put it lightly. From what Phil had seen of the man, it was very out of character for him to be hesitant.

All three of them jumped when their communicators buzzed loudly, the vibrations signifying the very specific event of someone dying. Without hesitation, Philza pulled his out to read the notification before him.

Quackity was slain by Technoblade

He huffed a laugh, confident in Techno’s escape.

Pocketing the device and looking back at the scuffle before him, he raised an eyebrow when he noticed that Dream was backing off and putting the axe away. The enderman kid sat up with a hand on his chest, breathing heavily now that he was going to be able to keep doing that and watching with wide eyes as Dream kept backing away until he beside Philza again, grabbing the man’s arm and pulling out another ender pearl to teleport with before Phil could ask, What’s wrong, mate?

With a yelp and a blink, they were suddenly into the forest, Dream still pulling on him like Phil’s arm was a leash. Well, he was getting the avian free and away from L’Manberg, so Phil couldn’t be too upset at the manhandling. Though that didn’t make it any less tiring when he did it all the way to the Tundra Biome. Sheesh, Phil’s not that incapable of following someone’s lead you know.

Regardless, they took all of three steps into the snow before Phil wrenched his arm away from Dream’s tight grip to pull a better coat out from his inventory. I run hot, Phil, Techno said once, I need the chill so I don’t literally burn to the touch.

Well, not everyone can be a walking campfire now, can they?

Shivering as he adjusted his jacket, Phil looked up into Dream’s mask to see what the next plan of action was. The younger man was silent, non-visible eyes boring into Phil as if the elder would say ‘here’s what we need to do’. Instead of speaking or offering a hand again, Dream simply nodded once before pulling out a last pearl and teleporting away.

Phil watched as he disappeared over the horizon, breathing heavily as the adrenaline wore off. That was it. He was out, and Techno was too. It seemed too easy for everything that just happened.

Alas, that appeared to be the reality of the situation, and maybe Phil just needed to remember that sometimes, things just worked out. He and Techno did tend to lean toward the paranoid side of things more often than not. Afterall, you need to after all the things they’ve survived, but every once in a while things just… lined up, and they had to stop being so persnickety about the details.

Still, the ever-so-careful part of his brain whispered at him as he trudged home, a few crows above his head cawing their lungs out in tune with his heartbeats. Something was amiss about the situation, and hopefully, Techno could shed some light on what Phil couldn’t put into words. He wasn’t sure how long it took him to meander back to the cabin he had spied on mere hours prior, but when his eyes squinted in response to the lights blinding him from over the horizon, he knew he was home.

Raising a hand to block the brightness, he reached the top of the hill with a heavy sigh. The cabin might have only existed for an extremely minute amount of time, yet they still took his breath away all the same with their unspoken promises of home. Home. That was a funny word.

With quiet footsteps, he stepped inside and hung his coat on the rung he noticed next to the door, wrapping his robe tighter around himself as he walked in further. “Hey, mate? Are you here?”

With the sound of hooves clunking against wood hitting his ears, Phil turned around to find Techno rushing out of the kitchen, arms up and ready to defend himself in case the enemy had returned, but once he saw who it was, he flashed a grin and took on a much more relaxed stance. Phil sighed in relief, noticing the unfamiliar bloodied bandage around his friend’s arm but choosing not to say anything.

Techno huffed through his snout, “Wow, sneaking out already?”

Phil chuckled, the last bit of tension leaving his shoulders at the realization that they were safe and in the clear, at least for now. “Well, kind of. I got a little bit of help from someone to ward off anyone that wanted to chase after me, so I don’t think it’s ‘sneaking out’ as much as ‘I’m fucking free, hallelujah.’”

It was Techno’s turn to chuckle as he walked past Philza to grab his cape, “Glad to hear it. Now then, there’s no time like the present. I’ve got something to show you.”

Phil sighed again, but in annoyance, “Bruh, I just got my coat off though.”

Techno rolled his eyes while watching Philza put it back on anyway, “Suck it up, we’re burning daylight.”

With his coat snug around his shoulders, Philza followed the piglin back out of the house, whistling a light tune as they trekked through the snow to wherever Techno was heading.

After a few seconds of hearing Phil whistle “It’s A Small World”, Techno began, “Soooo, do you know who helped you?”

Philza immediately went silent, raising an eyebrow in Techno’s direction inquisitively. “Hmm?”

“Who helped you escape earlier?”

Philza nodded once he got what Techno was really asking. “Oh, yeah, Dream did.”

The man continued walking forward, even moving his lips into the optimal whistling shape again, before realizing Techno had stopped walking. He even froze in his tracks, staring off into space as he processed Phil’s words.

Phil turned around and squinted his eyes in confusion. “Mate, what’s wrong?”

Techno blinked, lips thinning at the uncomfortable news he was going to have to tell his friend. “Phil, I don’t mean to say your old age is getting to you, but that wasn’t Dream who helped you. It couldn’t have been when the guy was helping me at the exact same time.”

Phil’s pupils shrunk in confusion. “What? But that had to be him! Who else is known for wearing a mask with a face and a big hoodie?”

Techno shook his head as he began walking again, patting Phil on the shoulder. “Well, was there anything off about them?”

Philza stood deep in thought before noticing that Techno was walking off without him. Jogging until he caught up to the piglin, he listed off everything he noticed that was odd about ‘Dream’, “Well, his hoodie was red, not green, and his mask dawned a frowny face instead of a happy one. At the time I just figured he wanted a change of aesthetic.”

Techno shushed Phil, placing one of his hooved fingers against the blond’s mouth. “Yeah, and the Dream that was helping me had both a green hoodie and a mask that had a grin. Trust me, Philza, don’t let the old age comments get to your head. The Placebo Effect is bad for you. Besides, we’re where I want us to be, so let’s switch topics now, ‘kay?”

Swatting away Techo’s arm, Philza gruffly adjusted his bucket hat as he watched his friend walk over to a wall to place a button on it. The winged man crossed his arms indignantly. “Hey, this is kind of concerning! If there’s some Dream impersonator running around, or Gods forbid Dream had a secret twin or something, then maybe we should…”

Phil’s words died off as the sounds of pistons turning on filled the air. He blinked, the more the side of the hill fell into the ground, disappearing from view before the screeching of redstone machinery halted., Philza breathed out in awe at what stood before him.

Techno’s tusks shone brightly in the sunset as he smiled maniacally. “Welcome home, Zephyrus.”

With the sight of Wither Skulls covering every inch of the walls of Techno’s cave, Philza’s concern went away in the blink of an eye, replaced with a much more sinister, giddy emotion alongside the understanding of what Techno had planned.

Oh, this was going to be fucking sick.

---

It was merely two days later when a knock at the door interrupted Techno’s reading time and Phil’s tea time.

The cup was halfway to his lips when the wood made its rhythmic and hollow tap tap tap. With a raised eyebrow, Phil placed his teacup onto the tea plate it matched with before turning to look at his friend. Techno turned a page in the book he was holding, still reading without pause, clearly not as interested in what was causing the incessant ruckus as Phil was.

With a sigh, Phil placed his drink down with a little more force than necessary before lightly slapping his knees, dramatically groaning as he stood up. “Fine then, who cares if someone is attacking, clearly reading the same Greek myth I’ve already read five times is a much better idea.”

Techno rolled his eyes, “I mean, I was just gonna let them be. Someone knocking at this point most likely isn’t here to cause any trouble, it’s probably that villager that won’t stop begging me for buckets of milk. If no one comes to the door, he’ll leave eventually. Also, it’s not Greek, it’s actually Chinese.”

Phil twisted so he could flip Techno off while his other hand still reached for the doorknob to open it. He put on the most welcoming smile he could muster while opening the door. “Hello there—”

His words choked off at the sight of President Tubbo standing next to that enderman kid in the doorway. Tubbo’s head was turned down, bangs covering his face in some kind of indescribable emotion. Meanwhile, the hybrid was almost the exact opposite with how tautly he stood, chin raised in faux defiance to those before him.

Phil stared at them with a slack jaw, nobody moving a muscle, and not a breath to be heard until Techno curiously stood and called from where he was standing, “Geez, Philza, I know your tendency to avoid social interaction can be even worse than me, but there’s no reason to have a freeze response when the social interaction in question is just a villager that can easily be-”

When his line of sight reached the brunet boy standing on his porch, his laid-back expression turned angry, violent even. Techno pulled out an axe as he marched forward, “You dirty little tyrant. What makes you think you can just waltz back here after what you did, huh? Why I oughta-”

“Wait a second—WAIT A SECOND—” Philza was watching the kids out of the corner of his eye, and for some reason, what he noticed was concerning enough for him to grab Techno’s arm to prevent him from swinging. Not that he could do much if Techno was dead set on murdering, so he was hoping the tone of his voice would carry him the rest of the way. He ducked his head to harshly whisper into Techno’s ear, “Something’s off about this.”

The piglin was breathing heavily, staring at Philza with confusion and muffled rage, before taking a deep breath to look at the dictator to see what the old man was getting on about. Techno furrowed his brow, Techno felt his grip loosen on his weapon once he took in the scene before him.

The enderman teen was desperately gripping onto the president’s sleeve now, tugging on the fabric, desperately trying to get the brunet to at least get out of the impending attack. The efforts were fruitless, however, considering how Tubbo wasn’t moving even an inch. If anything, he was tugging back against his friend, head still turned toward the floor. It was almost as if… he were accepting whatever Techno wanted to do to him.

Not to mention the fact that he was literally standing in front of Techno and Philza, two people he considered criminals just days prior. He was so antagonistic toward them that he placed one under heavy surveillance and tried to execute the other. Now he was standing on their porch with no armor on like they all were buddy-buddy neighbors inviting each other to lunch.

It unsettled Techno to the point that he let his axe drop down to his hip, fidgeting with the handle. His breathing was still labored, the adrenaline drop from utter shock hitting rather hard, “You… what… why are you here?”

An awkward and uncomfortable silence blanketed over the crowd before Tubbo tremblingly cleared his throat to speak. His words were warbling, “It’s… I… As the President of New L’Manberg, I am here to formally invite you to… to—”

“C’mon kid,” Techno interrupted, patience running thin. “You say anymore T’s and I’m gonna have to start calling you Tweety Bird—”

“To TommyInnit’s funeral,” Tubbo choked out, words a whisper, like he almost wasn’t able to bring himself to say it.

Despite the confession being quiet, the way it felt like the world shattered around them would make you think he shouted at them with all the lung power he possessed. Techno felt his throat go dry, his tongue running against the roof of his mouth in some weird attempt at a comforting motion. What? When did this happen? Why did Techno never see a notification on his communicator about this? How could the kid just be gone?

“What…” Philza wheezed out, pupils shrunken in disbelief. “No, there’s no… that kid isn’t the one to just go and die-”

The enderman hybrid scoffed, “Yeah, well, looks like we’re all wrong about something this week.”

The four of them were left to stand in silence, their minds a tidal wave of varying emotions. Obviously, you wouldn’t call the relationship Techno and Phil had with Tommy ‘close’ in any regards, but they would be lying if they said they weren’t at least a little fond. The way he was able to brighten Wilbur’s day by just saying a word toward the brunet was worth dealing with his obnoxious laughter and ridiculous humor.

And hell, if they started occasionally laughing at his jokes and quips, they would only say it was a mimic response of sorts to the foreign entity that entered their home.

To hear the kid was just… gone, blinked out of existence like a gust of wind… it felt unnatural, unsettling. The words DIE LIKE ONE scratched inside Techno’s head over and over again like a broken record.

He stared at Tubbo throughout his inner tirade, watching his shaking worsen before clearing his throat, depositing his axe into his inventory in the need to do something productive, “Why invite us? We wouldn’t have even known if you didn’t.”

He meant it as a general statement of fact, maybe a lighthearted joke even. He wasn’t really aware how it sounded like a slight against Tubbo more than anything, or that his grin came off more cheekily then it did playful, until the kid flinched as if he had been struck, that was when it hit him how it sounded.

Before he could rephrase his statement, Tubbo moved to hug himself, rocking back and forth on his heels, “I-I don’t really know anymore. I’m so lost and confused and g-guilty about so many things I can’t think straight. I was so eager to follow Quackity’s plan that I basically ignored my best friend, and by the time I realized I screwed up spectacularly we pissed you off even more and T-Tommy was dead. I keep thinking of all the what-ifs I could have done, the scenarios in which I’m not such a goddamn fuck up, and it’s making my brain a little scrambled. So I g-guess this is my olive branch. And I know it’s shitty, not close to being enough, but I got nothing else, at least, not after seeing that t-tower…” his voice drifted off.

Philza opened his mouth to reply— probably point out that they had no reason to trust the kid to be truthful, that he might be faking the sadness to have them lower their guard—but the young brunet had one last thing to say, albeit whispered, as if it was painful to admit. He slowly dropped to his knees, eventually ending with his forehead pressed against the ground as he began sobbing, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m—” A choke cut him off.

No one could really tell who he was trying to apologize to at that moment.

Philza could finally get his words in, murmuring, “Awe, mate, it’s… please don’t scratch our floors, it’s not very good for the wood. Or your fingernails.”

The older man knelt to Tubbo’s level, an arm and a wing wrapping themselves around his back in a comforting embrace. Techno elected to look away, trying to give his friend and the kid as much privacy as he was willing to give up. A tiny part of Techno told him that the government was genuine, but for the most part, his mind was screaming that that looks could be deceiving. If he weren’t careful, if he left the room, he might come back to a completely mentally stable dictator and a dead friend.

But maybe he should have turned in a different direction, because once he made eye contact with the hybrid, he found himself unable to look away. Neither could the hybrid, apparently, if the way he began nervously sweating and grinning was any indication. The kid waved at Techno very slightly, and you couldn’t begin to give the piglin enough emeralds to try and guess the emotion the hybrid was going for. Sympathy? Embarrassment? Utter confusion?

Regardless, Techno gave him a nod in an attempt to assuage his fears even if it was only a little bit. Another choked sob came from the kid curled up on the floor, and Techno glanced around the room. He eventually landed on Toothpick, which he threw in a corner and let it sit there as soon as he got home.

He told himself he would get around to cleaning and sharpening it sooner rather than later, but now, he was glad he left it in the open. The sight of it reminded him that the last time he was in the vicinity of that country, he was executed and chased down by a power-hungry Quackikty. He could only imagine how unwelcoming the reception would be if he were to go back anywhere near the civilization once more.

...

Netherite armor was dark enough for a funeral procession, right?

---

The funeral was certainly a funeral.

After lending a spare set of armor to Phil, the two of them were escorted back to New L’Manberg within the day, the procession apparently already set up so the two arctic dwellers could just get in and get out.

I know you guys wanna get in and get out, and personally speaking, I want it to be short too, the president had explained to them.

Techno could respect that.

He could also respect the way the kid jumped in front of him when Quackity stepped menacingly towards them, shoving the older man away and giving him a glare Techno was not prepared to witness being on his face. Sure, Techno had seen anger on him before (the attempted execution, for starters), but this was not that. This was pure unbridled rage.

Quackity breathing heavily, with a newly acquired diamond axe clenched tightly in his hand. “What the fuck, Tubbo, he’s right there! Our biggest target! Not to mention, the other guy we literally arrested is standing right here as well! Are you out of your mind?!”

The president sheathed the sword he used, but kept his hand on the handle as a precaution. “Yes, maybe so, but right now, they are our guests and will be given respect as such.”

Quackity licked the left side of his lips nervously, Techno noticing the new scar adorned vertically across his face, “But the plan, Tubbo, we can’t-”

“AND YOU KNOW WHAT?” Tubbo snapped. “I was so busy following this ‘masterful’ plan that I let my BEST FRIEND DIE! So maybe just fuck off for two goddamn seconds, and let your president have one fucking thing for once in his life!”

Silence rang throughout the air around them, Quackity’s eyes wide as if Tubbo slapped him instead of verbally tearing into him. Techno simply decided to look anywhere else other than the currently warring Cabinet members while Philza and Ranboo both gave each other glances that said holy shit.

With a huff, the president turned around to give Techno and Philza a warm smile, “Now then, I hope you don’t mind where I placed your seats. They’re toward the back.”

Techno nodded, leaving both Philza and the enderman kid to straggle behind, still taking in the fact that Tubbo can do stuff like that, oh my Gods as Techno spoke, “Sounds perfect, actually. I don’t know if you noticed, but my cabin is far away from civilization for a reason.”

Tubbo laughed, so Techno considered it a win.

Once they were shown their seats, Philza and Techno hastily sat down in them, giving Tubbo a grin and a nod respectively. As he walked off, the enderman stayed, and Philza realized he wanted to think with fewer syllables, “Hey, kid?”

The kid in question turned to look at him with a nervous eyebrow raise.

Philza explained, “I know we haven’t really talked all that much, but I remember hearing a few times that your name is Ranboo?”

The kid blinked, “Oh, yeah, you heard right. That is indeed my name.”

Philza slowly nodded once before leaning back in his chair, playing off his clanking armor with chill, “Got it.”

Before Ranboo could turn around to leave, Techno spoke one last time, “And mine is Techno. In case you somehow haven’t heard.”

The piglin lifted a hand to point in a random direction, but when the other two noticed that the finger was actually gesturing toward a wanted poster, they both laughed. With a grin that went from ear-to-ear (literally; what the hell), Ranboo turned back to look at the stage, pulling a shield out of his inventory. Ah, that was why he was still here: he was their bodyguard for the event.

Tubbo was on top of details, Techno could give him that.

As other guests funneled into their seats, Techno got… rather unnerved. Not because there was an overwhelming amount of people shuffling in, no, it was honestly the exact opposite. Quackity and Fundy were awkwardly standing up on the stage waiting for their president, and then the audience grew from three to… seven. Niki came in with another effeminate-looking person wearing sunglasses, and then a little bit afterward, two dudes each took a seat, one of them wearing some neon camouflage and holding a trident while the other wore a blue onesie of sorts.

This was the grand country Quackity wanted to buff up.

Technoblade had found abandoned villages with more people than this.

Before the piglin could ponder on that thought further, Tubbo walked on stage to begin the somber event, “Citizens and guests of New L’Manberg, I’ve invited you all here today…”

The funeral that proceeded to take place was certainly a funeral. Techno originally thought to think about the guy’s speech in depth, but considering he broke down crying about three-fourths of the way through, Techno figured it would be best to just simply listen and let dead dogs lie.

(Okay, poor choice of wording now that he thought about it.)

This was all roughly ten minutes ago, now they were in the forest on the outskirts of the nation, slipping off their uncomfortable armor once Tubbo and Ranboo insisted they should be okay. Techno tried to shoo them away so he and Phil could finally be left alone, but when Ranboo made a good point that the technical war criminals should be escorted as much as possible to prevent someone like Big Q attacking again, the piglin conceded to be followed for just a little bit more time.

The two L’Manbergians were chattering about random topics as they all got further and further away from the country. Techno was about to retort to a random comment Tubbo made when Philza froze in his tracks for a brief moment before booking it ahead of everybody and stopping at the edge of a short drop-off.

The rest of them watched in confusion, and Ranboo opened his mouth to ask what was up at the same time Phil gestured for Techno to come closer. “Mate, come here, it’s the guy who helped me break out!”

Ohoho, now that was a spicy revelation.

Rushing to stand on Philza’s left, Ranboo came up on Techno’s left while Tubbo went opposite to stand on Philza’s right. They all stared at the body the blond found, taking in every inch of their red hoodie and pool of red beneath them. Tubbo opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a hoof placing itself on his face, allowing Techno to speak first, “Heck yeah, any helper of Philza is a potential friend of mine. Not heck yeah on that injury though, ouch…”

Tubbo swatted the limb off his face with a huff, semi-glaring at Techno walking away to pick up the unconscious body, “Hey! That person can legally be considered a fugitive! We need to take them in!”

With the dude in a bridal carry, Techno looked back at Tubbo with a cheeky grin, “Well, maybe he is, but the truce is technically over, and we’re anarchists, so there.”

As Tubbo’s face turned pink and his cheeks puffed up, Techno temporarily threw the body over his shoulder as he looped his thumb and pointer together and placed them against his lips to whistle. Like thunder, the horses they took to get to New L’Manberg burst through the leaves to pick up Techno and Phil along with their new buddy. They had only taken two- Tubbo riding with Phil and Ranboo with Techno- so it was easy to leave the Cabinet members in the dust.

They galloped for a few minutes before slowing down to a much nicer pace for the animals. Either Tubbo and Ranboo had to chase after on foot, or go back and get their own horses, so Techno and Phil were in the clear to let their non-human friends take it easy for at least a little bit.

Philza trotted next to him on his own horse, keeping his bucket hat pressed against his head with the hand not holding onto the reins, “Uh, you do know they know where the cabin is, right? They clearly remembered its location enough to invite us in person. They can just come back.”

Ah, that could be a hiccup in the road. Techno shrugged his shoulders, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Philza shook his head in disbelief. Half of it said fair enough while the other half was blatantly how the fuck are we friends again, “Whatever you say, pard’ner.”

Not wanting to give that any kind of response, Techno gently spurred his horse into walking faster.

Philza realized what was happening a little too late because Techno was gone and behind some bushes when Phil noticed the piglin’s speed, “Wha- hey! That was funny!”

A muffled voice came through the trees, “No, it wasn’t! Cowboys aren’t even real!”

Philza gripped the reins with both hands and gently whipped them to catch up, “Yeah, they are! I’ve met a few myself! One strangely looked like that Ranboo kid, come to think of it…”

---

Bursting through their door, Phil and Techno beelined straight for the kitchen to set their injured new friend down on the counter. Both of them have bled on the surface at some point or another, getting more blood on it won’t be that big of a deal. Phil dug around for their medical kit while Techno rolled up his sleeves and immediately washed his hands in the sink. They need to be responsible when cleaning wounds.

After finding the kit they needed and standing up at the counter, Phil noticed the frowny face mask on the person’s face still there. It was the exact same mask as before, but with a long hairline fracture from the top left to the bottom right. Philza pondered on the object for a second. “Hey, mate?

Techno didn’t look up from scrubbing his hands, though he did raise an eyebrow, “Hmmm?”

Phil nodded once at the person, gesturing to who he was talking about, fully aware Techno still had his back toward them both. That didn’t stop Phil from continuing anyway. He himself was busy focusing on searching through the kit, he understood that Techno was listening. “You, uh, wanna get that mask off their face?”

Blinking, Techno looked up to think before shrugging his shoulders and looking back at his now clean hands. “Nah.”

Philza was just finished with finding everything out of the medical kit when he received Technoblade’s answer. He spun around utterly confused. “Why not? If the person isn’t Dream then we should probably figure out their identity soon.”

Satisfied with how dry his hands were, Techno turned around to head to the counter to do some medical work, “Eehhh, plot convenience prefers they stay on.”

“Wha—what on Esempi does that mea-” Phil spluttered, giving a weird look at his friend.

An elbow was pressed against his mouth by a smug Technoblade. “Hush, Philza, and get to work stitching their abdomen back together.”

Shoving the arm off his face, Philza sighed and promptly began playing doctor alongside him.

As they cleaned and stitched up what seemed to be axe wound on the dude’s abdomen, they grimaced and winced at the various-sized scars that adorned their body. Just who the hell was this guy and why was he so marked up? Not only were there your regular everyday stab scars and various scratches, they also had a few but quite large burn scars.

All Techno and Phil could do was nervously glance at one another occasionally, exchanging looks of confusion and concern at such a sight. Though, they couldn’t get too caught up in the scene; it’s not like they were in a much better physical state with all the stuff they’ve been through. (They suppose that’s the reason they got so unnerved; who else on this server could be as damaged as them?)

With a carefully bandaged body and washing their hands one more time in the sink, their new friend was looking right as rain on their counter, still unconscious. Their medical job made it look like the person was more or less taking a nice nap. Phil leaned against the fridge while Techno stood in the doorway awkwardly, unsure of where to go forward from here.

The piglin rhythmically tapped his fingers on the wooden frame. “So… now what?”

Philza hummed, crossing his arms and still staring at the new person. “Well, am I allowed to remove that mask now? And maybe fix up that hoodie? Now that I think about it, the thing looks absolutely rancid. I didn’t think it could get any redder but...”

Techno slowly turned to also stare at the dude, realizing what Phil was getting at. “Sure, why not.”

The blond rolled his eyes, making a move to do what he’d been wanting to do for the past half hour when a voice shrieked from outside their front door. “HEY! WE WEREN’T FINISHED TALKING!”

Philza blinked, but he wasn’t looking in the direction of the new voice. “Uh, mate?”

Techno sighed, more in annoyance than anything, “It’s just Tubbo. You really think he’s going to be an issue with what we’ve just seen of him? The kid’s in shambles.”

Phil opened his mouth at the same time Tubbo stomped into the room past Techno, the piglin realizing he left his front door open at the same time the brunet smushed his face into the doorway uncomfortably.

“YOU,” Tubbo growled, pointing an accusing finger in his face.

Techno huffed, peeling his cheek off the wood. “You’re very persistent.”

Tubbo was breathing heavily, as he stared up at Techno’s face, “You have NO RIGHT to steal an unconscious person when we don’t even know who they are! For all you know, they could be a citizen of L’Manberg!”

Techno raised his eyebrows. “Bruh, they literally helped Phil escape you guys. Kinda hard to think they’re on your side.”

Tubbo puffed his cheeks. “Maybe that’s just because they wanted to trick you, huh? Gain your trust and stuff!”

As Techno began raising his eyebrows above a level he wasn’t aware he physically had, Phil groaned loudly, catching both of their attentions, “GUYS! Can you TURN AROUND for just ONE SECOND?!”

Doing as they were told, they looked into the kitchen, Tubbo gasping and Techno widening his eyes. Turns out the ‘friend’ was no longer as unconscious as they were before, now sitting up and dangling their legs off the edge of the counter. Their face was turned down, and as they placed a hand against their mask to readjust it, it split in two where the crack was located, the porcelain slipping off their face to crash to the ground.

Blond bangs hung from underneath the hood, and before any of the three guys could say what they wanted to say—Are you okay? Who are you? Are you aware you might be under arrest?—he lifted his head up to stare at both Techno and Tubbo, the piglin blinked while Tubbo’s pupils shrunk in horror, even going so far as to gently lift a hand over his burn scars in horror.

Phil could only whisper, “... Tommy?”

There was no way. This had to be some kind of cruel joke. The kid was dead, they had all just been to his funeral. There was no way THE Tommy Innit was just patched up on Techno’s counter, covered in various scars alongside a nice matching burn scar on the side of his face to go with Tubbo.

What further led Techno to believe that this couldn’t be the real Tommy was how he looked around the room quietly before making eye contact with Tubbo. He stared at the older teen for all of two seconds before his look got even angrier, followed by him jumping off the counter and tackling Tubbo to the ground, the two of them scuffling and pulling at each other’s hair.

First of all, Tommy was never quiet. The day Tommy shut up was the day Techno had actually died for real. Secondly… Techno would never have to pull Tommy off of Tubbo and hold him back from continuing to maim the brunet like he was right now. The kid was too fond of that bee boy to ever truly be angry with him, not to mention how Tuboo was always the better fighter out of the two of them. Granted, he might not be fighting at his full capacity for a multitude of reasons, but the previous ‘there’s no way this can be Tommy’ examples were enough for it to not matter anyway.

Lord, the kid was practically snarling in Techno’s arms, “Tommy, c’mon, this is highly out of character for you-”

With an elbow to the face and a grunt later, Techno had enough. Turning to look at Phil directly, he gave the man a look that screamed please help me before I murder like I always do.

Nodding, Phil ran over to the medkit still open on the counter to grab a Potion of Slowness V. You had to be careful with these. You couldn’t really overdose on them, but Phil remembered coming across a man that got knocked out for half a month because he didn’t realize he grabbed the wrong bottle before downing half of it.

Popping the cork out, he was careful to avoid Tommy’s swinging arms as he grabbed the kid’s chin and poured about a teaspoon into his mouth. As the older blond screwed the stopper back into the bottle and Tubbo walked over to be standing next to him, Tommy slowly got more and more subdued before his eyes fell closed and he slumped in Techno’s arms, paralyzed so much he was practically asleep.

The piglin was quick to walk back to the counter with Tubbo and Phil hot on his heels, placing Tommy down gently on his back like he was when he was bleeding out. With all of them collectively taking a step away still facing forward, they all continued to stare at the teen in utter silence, breathing heavily as they pondered the last few minutes.

The only person to make a noise was someone from the doorway. They all slowly turned to see Ranboo clearing his throat and nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “So, uh, what happened there?”

None of them answered.

---

The tea Phil made for them was getting cold.

But they couldn’t bring themselves to do anything other than sit in the living room with their hands in their laps, staring off into space as they attempted to comprehend just what they bore witness to. They had moved Tommy upstairs and tied him down to a bed—Tubbo wasn’t the biggest fan, but when Phil reasoned it was better than having him potentially escape while they’re not watching, the kid relented to the idea–with the dawning horror that was oh my Gods, it really is Tommy.

Now they were all together in silence with a million things to say but unable to speak. Where did they even start? Tommy somehow being Dream 2.0? Tommy going against L’Manberg and helping who was to be considered a criminal escape? Tommy deliberating attacking Tubbo in genuine anger? He’s been doing all of this? They had so much to unpack and none of them were willing to even touch the zipper on the suitcase.

As expected, Tubbo was the one to break the silence with a sob, “This is all my fault.”

Techno watched as the brunet pushed his wrists into his eyes as he began to cry. Twiddling his thumbs, Techno was unsure of how to respond to that. “Well, I mean…”

Hitting him in the face was a balled-up tissue thrown by Philza, the winged man giving Techno a look that stated I don’t disagree, but not right now. “We can throw blame around to anyone we want but that doesn’t change the fact we don’t know how Tommy got from point A to point B.”

Playing nice, Techno nodded his head. “Right, as far as I know, Tommy isn’t exactly the biggest Dream fan, so what in the server could make him want to emulate the guy?”

Ranboo and Tubbo awkwardly glanced at one another, which led to Phil and Techno glancing at each other as well, though, they had more disappointed parent vibes than the teens, who definitely had our parents caught us energy. Phil squinted his eyes. “Hang on, mate, what do you know that we don’t?”

Tubbo looked down at the floorboards in shame while Ranboo answered surely but shakily, “Aha, as far as we’re concerned, Dream was one of the only people to visit Tommy out in exile. Outside of you and Phil, that is.”

Techno blinked. “Wait, how do you know I visited him?”

Ranboo opened his mouth but froze with wide eyes, suddenly realizing what he may have just confessed to. “I, um, well, you see, maybe visited him myself a few times? Potentially? And so he possibly may have told me stuff?”

Tubbo slowly turned to his friend with a blank look. “You… visited him?”

Ranboo’s hands were fidgeting a mile a minute. “I mean yeah, kind of. Occasionally. I felt bad for his situation once I heard about it, and since you were really busy with New L’Manberg, I figured I could check up on him!”

Tubbo blinked slowly, as if his body were absorbing the information like a plant would water, “I really am the worst friend, aren’t I.”

Ranboo grimaced, really hating how he just couldn’t word anything to make the situation better, “Hey now, from what I’ve also heard, you were put in between a rock and a hard place. It was either just Tommy gets put in danger or everyone gets put in danger, including Tommy. Dream wasn’t being fair and you know it. Tommy does too.”

“That doesn’t mean shit!” Tubbo’s subdued demeanor melted away as he rose to his feet, shouting at the enderman hybrid who defensively raised his hands over his head. “Tommy doesn’t know his head from his ass! He might be a little shit but when it comes down to it, he’d say an arrow to his shoulder isn’t anything to worry about! Everyone was fighting for him except me, his best friend, and look what that led to? A tower that breached the clouds and him hating me so much he ended up copying the guy that was vying for the situation to happen in the first place.”

“Well, let’s ask Tommy, shall we?” Phil interrupted gently, noticing Techno was about to burst from the impending Feelings™ sesh happening in his living room without his permission. “He’s the one that helped Dream, he’s the one that put on that second mask, surely he’d be willing to explain why he did so.”

Tubbo made a noise of uncertainty. “Well, normally I’d agree to a plan like that, but considering his first response to seeing us was to scratch our eyes out like a feral cat, I don’t think he’d be happy to wake up to see us again, much less while tied down.”

Awkward silence filled the room yet again, but only briefly as Techno came up with an idea. “How about having Ranboo be the one to ask then?” When everyone turned to him confused, he elaborated, “You mentioned being the only other person to visit him in exile, right? He might be more willing to answer some stuff if it’s from a person who wasn’t as, er, ‘harsh’ to him.”

Philza nodded before a conflicting thought hit his mind. “Hey, can you tell us what you know already? You said you visited him more than once, you must have seen more of the details. Unless there’s something you’re avoiding telling us?”

A purple blush spread across Ranboo’s face as he began to hug himself lightly, “It—It’s all super fuzzy. I don’t wanna say anything out of fear of my shoddy memory remembering it wrong. All that comes to me is Tommy getting worse and worse every time I saw him. Oh, and strangely enough, I also don’t think he ever collected anything? Each time involved him having little to no armor, which is weird…”

Techno sighed. “Alright, Twenty Questions it is, then. I’ll take you to where he’s currently being held hostage. You go in the room to talk and I’ll stand outside to catch everything as well. Might as well get a second pair of ears on it for more than one perspective.”

Tubbo followed Techno’s face as the piglin stood up, “Uh, wow…”

Techno was too tired for this. “What now?”

Tubbo then sputtered, realizing how that came across, “I mean, thank you! You don’t have to do all of this, especially after, well, everything I’ve done, but you are. So, thank you, Technoblade.”

Techno pursed his lips, unsure of what to say to that. I’m only doing this because it sounds like Dream is up to some wacky stuff and as a self-proclaimed Anarchist™ I need to look into it? I’m too invested in mystery novels for my liking and this is ending up like one so I need to solve it? Deep down I’m fond of the kid and his sudden change in character is a little scary so I want to get to the bottom of it?

Instead of saying any of that, he just went with, “I just want you losers out of my house already and I’m not above helping my mortal enemies to get you to leave faster. Now then, Ranboo, let’s move.”

With a jump in shock as the much larger hybrid stomped by, Ranboo was quick to follow him up the stairs, looking around at the walls and appreciating the decorations. Pictures, weapons, heck, even the wallpaper was so nice that Ranboo didn’t notice that Techno had stopped until he ran into the guy’s back with an oof.

Techno paid no mind as he stared at a closed door. “We’re here.”

Rubbing his nose, Ranboo looked up to stare at the same door, “Yes we are… so are you going to open it or?”

With a sigh, Techno placed one of his hands on Ranboo’s back before grabbing the doorknob with his other, twisting it and opening the door only slightly. He gently pushed on Ranboo’s back briefly before leaning over and whispering, “Good luck. If you end up getting maimed I’m not owing you any financial compensation, okay?”

Ranboo got out a meager “Wha-” before the door was fully flung open and he was fully shoved inside. As he regained his footing and stood ramrod straight, he heard the door slam behind him and the light scratching of hooves as someone leaned against it. Seemed like Techno was serious about catching every single word of whatever conversation Ranboo was about to have.

That is, if Tommy would be willing to have one in the first place.

Stepping further into the candle-lit room, Ranboo nervously pressed his fingers together in an attempt to calm down. Before he could think over the blood rushing to his ears, he was at the edge of the bed and looking down at an unimpressed Tommy. The movement caught the boy’s attention, his head flicking over to make eye contact in the most deadpan way possible.

That, alongside the sight of ropes connecting his wrists and ankles to the corners of the bed frame, made Ranboo’s tail swish faster and his pointer fingers press together even harder. He cleared his throat, “H-Hey, Tommy, it’s been a while, huh?”

The blond only continued staring.

Thinning his lips, Ranboo gently sat down on the side of the bed, careful to have neither his waist nor his hand that he set on the covers next to him making contact with Tommy. He didn’t want to do anything to potentially freak him out. “Yeah, I feel that.”

Glancing away and looking around the room instead as he quickly tried coming up with something more subtle to break the ice. The longer it took his brain to come up with something, the faster and faster his tail swished back and forth. He was only brought out of his panic when he felt the bushy end of his tail smack into something at the same time Tommy breathed out heavily from his nose and mouth, like he was trying to blow something out of his face.

Turning around, Ranboo gulped at the sight of his tail right on top of Tommy’s cheeks and nose. As he opened his mouth to apologize, he kept it open as he silently watched Tommy turn into the hair, bringing his left hand over as much as he could to run his fingers through the tangled locks.

Clicking his mouth shut, a memory hit Ranboo due to the familiar feelings of movement.

“Holy shit, Ranboob,” Tommy breathed out. “Why the fuck is your tail so soft? This should be illegal.”

It was a visit that originally should have lasted an hour at most, but after conversing in front of the campfire about random things until the sun went down, Ranboo figured going off plan wasn’t too much of a bad thing.

Which is what led to the current topic. Ranboo thought his tail accidentally brushing against Tommy’s hand wouldn’t lead to anything. But now he was here, watching stars practically form in the blond’s eyes, being proven wrong. Tommy proceeded to gently grab the appendage and brought it up to rub against his cheek, a grin forming from ear to ear as he played with the hair.

Ranboo felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. “Really? I mean, you do you. I probably haven’t washed that thing in like forever, so I’m surprised it isn’t greasy and sticky.”

Tommy froze for a second, letting his hands and the tail drop into his lap. He was still petting it, albeit more lethargically. He was also slightly staring off into space, and Ranboo was going to say sorry—seriously, if Tommy liked it then that was okay—but Tommy interrupted before he could, “Yeah, I suppose, I just really haven’t had the opportunity to feel anything this soft in a while, which is made sadder if your gross tail fits that criteria, innit?”

Ah, well, that was incredibly depressing. Ranboo cleared his throat, “O-Oh, um, sorry to hear that.”

Tommy shrugged, now leaning back on the log they were on with one hand behind him for support while the other one continued it’s calming petting, “Eh, deal with the hand you’re given, or whatever.”

Ranboo thinned his lips in defiance to that statement, but ultimately let it go when Tommy immediately jumped into the topic of which mobs would create more fun hybrids if it was made scientifically possible for them to crossbreed.

Ranboo also may or may not have taken notice when Tommy didn’t argue against Ranboo’s obvious enderman bias as much he probably could have.

Ranboo felt his shoulders sag at the scene before him. “I’m sorry, Tommy. Sorry you’ve been through so much that you ended up like… this.”

Tommy froze at Ranboo’s confession, letting go of the tail and slightly sitting up with his elbows and forearms to get a better angle for making eye contact. His scarred face was lit up by the candles better, the dead skin stretching as the blond squinted his eyes. “You’re… sorry?”

Ranboo blinked, both because Tommy finally said something and because the words sounded relatively okay, meaning Tommy hadn’t been mute for a long enough time to damage his vocal cords. Gah, Ranboo, stick to the important stuff. “I mean, yeah? I guess you could say I wasn’t the direct cause for your current predicament, but I was complicit. I saw signs and ignored them even when I probably shouldn’t have.”

If anything, that explanation made Tommy’s eyes squint even more. “But… why be sorry when there’s nothing wrong?”

Ranboo felt his hands clench on reflex and his ears tilt toward the door as the wood made a sort of scratching sound like someone scraped their fingernails down it. Techno’s probably regretting listening now. Ranboo swallowed “Aha, can you tell me why you think that way?”

Tommy flopped back down, shoulders still tense but his face more lax. He stared at the ceiling as he spoke “Aren’t things better this way? I’m more reliant, more subservient… no one liked me causing all the problems so Master took them away. Doesn’t mean I can’t be pissed at my so-called ‘friend’ though.”

Cool, awesome, this is getting worse! Ranboo felt the blood rush to his ears again, but now it was out of horror, not anxiety, “Who’s… ‘Master’?”

Ranboo had a hunch, and even though that hunch was the only logical answer, when Tommy answered him, he couldn’t stop his gut from feeling like it turned into a block of ice.

“Dream, of course.”

Breathing out slowly but shakily, Ranboo brought his hands together to roll his fingers together rhythmically. How did one respond to that? Sorry? Congrats? Holy Church Prime?

Taking a deep breath, Ranboo began again. Was his throat always this dry? “And why is he deserving of this title?”

Tommy opened his mouth, and for a brief second, Ranboo saw every possible emotion on his face: fear, adoration, resignation, glee, everything and nothing merged into pure unfiltered anger on Tommy’s face, and that anger was directed at Ranboo himself. A sudden chill went down the enderman’s spine as Tommy spoke, voice cold and calculated, “Wait, why do you want to know. Where are these questions coming from?”

Oh frick, oh schnitzel. Ranboo nervously chuckled, “Weeellllll, we’re just a little concerned about you, buddy. You’re kinda different than you used to be, and we all agree that it’s not in a good way. Of course, you can do whatever you want. Long hair on you doesn’t look that bad even, but the fact that this is all because of Dream, someone you—”

Ranboo had to jump off the bed when Tommy shot forward with dangerous intent. The way the blond tugged on the ropes made the bed crack like a whip, and before Ranboo could blink, he found himself about two feet away and clutching his tail in front of his body in a sad attempt at protection. Sad because it wouldn’t be able to do anything if Tommy wasn’t tied up, and also sad because Tommy was tied and couldn’t actually attack anyone.

But that didn’t stop him from returning to his earlier position, squinting because of a mighty glare he was sporting, “Whatever you’re trying to get me to say, I won’t. Dream was one of the only people that regularly talked to me outside of you and Ghostbur. Everything he did was either because he was helping me or because it was necessary. Now fuck off like everyone else is so good at doing.”

With one final and more intense flop, Tommy was laying fully on his back and was twisted to face in the opposite direction to Ranboo as much as possible. The enderman opened and closed his mouth like a fish on land before sighing and turning around to leave. “Okay, Tommy. For what it’s worth, I’m still sorry.”

If Tommy made any kind of response to that, Ranboo didn’t see it.

Getting out of the room and shutting the door behind him, Ranboo leaned until his back was laid flat against it, followed by lightly knocking his head against the wood in exasperation. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds as he let all his conflicting emotions wash over him. Once he opened them, the first thing he did was make eye contact with Techno, who seemed to be going through the same myriad of emotions Ranboo just finished.

It was completely silent until Techno let out a big huff through his nose. “Well.”

Ranboo had nothing to say; the piglin essentially summarized the whole thing for him.

Once they clambered back down the stairs and were on the first floor, Tubbo stood up rapidly, clearly on the verge of vibrating, wanting to hear anything about the current Tommy situation, “Did he say anything? What was it? Do we know who did this to him?”

Techno held out a hoof in a placating gesture, one that said wait one second, “Yes, we know who did it, but we’re still not entirely sure how he achieved it. Tommy shut up the second he realized Ranboo was in there to get answers.”

Phil tilted an eyebrow, “And this ‘he’ is…?”

Ranboo sat down next to Tubbo, though the brunet was still standing and looked down at the enderman, who lightly slapped his knees when he was fully seated. “Dream.” Tubbo sharply inhaled, but Ranboo wasn’t done, “It was… awful. Tommy first called him ‘Master’ before I had to relent and ask who ‘Master’ was. Apparently he thinks that he’s now ‘better’ and ‘more reliable’ or something. He prefers this subdued version of himself so much that he never tried breaking out of the ropes at all. Tommy isn’t the kind to just do that, right?”

Techno nodded his head, confirming Ranboo’s assumption, while Phil brought a hand to his mouth in horror. His words slightly muffled as he left it there. “Sweet Primes, that explains the whole aesthetic and ‘Dream 2.0’ vibes. Fucker brainwashed the kid.”

Techno proceeded to also sit down in his own chair, lightly scratching his arms over previous marks that he left when doing something similar in the past. Nothing to break the fabric, but enough to feel it bending underneath his touch. Strong, but not dangerous. “Like I mentioned, he got reaaaaal tight-lipped once it hit him that Ranboo thought of his situation as ‘wrong’ or ‘incorrect’. He didn’t like him insinuating that what Dream did was ‘bad’. He was very insistent it was the exact opposite even.”

Now it was Tubbo’s turn to flop, mirroring Phil’s movement of bringing one’s hand over their mouth like they’re on the verge of vomiting. His eyes were wide, yet they still had those empathy vibes in them. “God, no wonder the first thing he did when he woke up was attack me. If I was conditioned to be that way, I would be pissed at the person who helped put me in that position too.”

Ranboo placed a comforting but awkward hand on the president’s shoulders. “I mean, hey! Minor brightside to this might be that Tommy doesn’t actually hate you! That might be something Dream told him to feel!”

Tubbo brought his hand down to the other one, bringing them together and placing his chin on top of them in a thinking pose. “Sure, I guess.”

Ranboo grimaced as Phil sat forward, waving his hands around for dramatic effect. “But that doesn’t explain how Tommy got the way he is now. The child is persistent to the point of being annoying. What the hell did Dream do that got Tommy of all people to break?”

Techno let out a lethargic hum, copying Tubbo’s thinking pose as his brain went over Ranboo’s and Tommy’s conversation. He was about to call it a day and say that there probably wasn’t a way to find out when something came back to him, “Wait a minute… Ranboo, didn’t Tommy mention something about Ghostbur being there as well?”

Tubbo practically snapped his neck with how he turned his head to look at Ranboo, beady eyes and all. Ranboo, for once, wasn’t perturbed by it, as he became the third person to mold his body into the head-on-hands thinking pose, and the second to let out an inquisitive hmmm. He, however, remembered quicker than Technobalde, ironically enough, “Oh yeah! When he was talking about who hung out with him regularly, he said Ghostbur was the only other one outside of Dream and I who visited him. He will probably know at least something about what happened.”

Techno noticed Tubbo attempting—and failing—to hide a flinch out of the corner of his eye, but he was more focused on this new information, “Perfect. Last time I saw him he was telling me about his new pet sheep while I was in a cage. Did you see him after that at all Mr. Dicta–I mean, President?”

Sighing, Tubbo leaned further back into the cushions he was sitting in front of, “Kind of. He was hanging around for the first day before we came out to see you guys. He was…” The kid drifted off, but before anyone could prompt him to continue, he sat up with a gasp, “He was talking to Dream! Holy fuck how could I almost forget! I tried explaining to him that, er, at the time Tommy was gone but he didn’t really seem to register it? So he must have gone to Dream to get more of an answer since the three of them were all out together in exile so much! Now that I think about it, that was the very last time I saw him, which is concerning since we didn’t leave New L’Manberg until a day and a half later. Unless something happened to him we definitely should have seen him at least one more time.”

Ranboo was excitedly nodding his head along to Tubbo’s theory, “Since that was the last time you saw him, plus taking into consideration Tommy’s predicament, Dream probably wouldn’t want anyone to potentially find out about whatever he was doing out there, so I think we have reason to believe Dream might have done something to keep him quiet!”

Techno was only slightly nodding his head, making faces that all embodied different forms of mhm, yep, that makes sense. “So we gotta go searching for Ghostbur, who could be anywhere in the entire server, and only maybe can tell us what happened?”

Tubbo turned to the piglin and nodded his head so fast you would think he was a broken bobblehead. Jeez, what was with these kids and their neck dexterity? Tubbo had his fists clenched in determination, and it was sad to note this was the most ‘alive’ he had seemed to be the entire time he’d been here, “Basically! It’s not like we really have anything else to go off of.”

Techno sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Maybe he should have kicked them all out earlier, certainly wouldn’t be having to deal with a wild goose chase if he did.

Philza stood up, clapping his hands together once before rubbing them back and forth, creating some temporary warmth. “Alrighty, all we have to do is make sure Tommy doesn’t break out or go even more feral, find my dead son—or potentially catch that green bastard to ask him directly—and hopefully, that second thing can help explain why the first thing is a thing we even have to consider in the first place!”

Plan they indeed had, but the real problem was whether or not they had the brain cells to pull it off.

---

It had come to their attention that the only reason Tommy was able to get the jump on Tubbo (outside of the aforementioned and established ‘Tubbo has low self-worth at the moment’ fact) was because of a mixture of sudden adrenaline and pure shock.

Because that kid was a fucking twig and a half of a human being.

It was a miracle they didn’t snap a joint or shatter his jaw with how they roughly handled him. Techno and Tubbo were the ones to get him out of his raggedy hoodie and into something better while Philza went and found the rope, so Phil never really got the full picture until he was put on babysitting duty and had to stand outside the bathroom.

Right before heading out, Ranboo (rightfully) pointed out that leaving Tommy by himself would not only give him an easier time of escaping them, but it was kind of rude leaving the kid to wander around the house without knowing where anything was. Phil decided to take the first watch since Techno wanted to be anywhere else, Tubbo did too but for different reasons, and Ranboo… would probably let Phil spill hot coffee on him. The kid seemed to bend easily, even when the person ‘bending’ him in question wasn’t really trying to do so. All Phil said was you can join them if you want and he sprang out the door like a rabbit high on a Swiftness potion.

A peculiar one that Ranboo was. Phil wanted to get to know him more.

All of that led to Phil’s current predicament. He was currently leaning against the wall next to the door, recounting a time where he single handedly replenished a rabbit population in a forest some few hundred years ago, when the bathroom opened just a crack, allowing Tommy to peer out of it. “I don’t know where the towels are.”

After taking a second to register the statement, Phil made a noise in the back of his throat before rushing to say, “Oh right, shit, my bad. They should be in the cabinet right next to the loo. Do you see it?”

The door was left open, so Phil was able to hear as Tommy walked back in and opened the squeaky door, responding with, “Yes.”

Nodding, Philza went back to leaning against the wall, “Sounds good, let me know if you need anything else.”

He would proceed to stand there for all of a few minutes before hearing Tommy mutter no, no, no, no, shit- before the sound of shattering glass followed shortly. Blinking out of his stupor, Phil forwent the compromise of constantly standing outside (the kid might have hurt himself), he shoved the door open with wide eyes to see Tommy on the ground, frantically picking up pieces of glass with his bare hands.

Earlier, Techno halfheartedly questioned if they should remove the decorative vase out off the counter for now, mainly out of worry the kid would use it as a weapon.

Well, at least Techno was correct about the ‘they should have moved it temporarily’ part.

“Mate!” Phil exclaimed, running forward and landing on his knees to have an easier time grabbing Tommy’s hands to stop the teen from further cutting them open.

Phil faltered a little bit when the kid flinched away from the gesture, and when Tommy realized his hands were already grabbed, he began muttering in full force, “No no I’m sorry- I can fix it I promise—I can be good. I’m good-”

Phil stared concerned and horrified for a few seconds before realizing that he probably should do something to calm the dude on the verge of a breakdown in front of him. Right, right, how could Tommy be brought back down to the World? Would he like what Phil normally does for Techno?

Well, it wasn’t like Phil had anything under his belt, so lightly squeezing the kid’s hands (Techno always liked real things— items, touch, tangible stuff to link onto) and seeing how the increased pressure made Tommy pause for a second, Philza took it as a momentary victory. “Hey, can you hear me? You’re okay. You’re safe…”

Alongside reminding Tommy to breathe occasionally, Phil repeated his grounding words as both of their heartbeats slowed to acceptable levels. Staying still for just a little bit more time to let the adrenaline fully die off, the adult eventually turned Tommy’s hands around to look at the palms, slowing down when the kid slightly flinched once more.

Phil hissed at the sight. It wasn’t awful or life-threatening by any means, but it was still scratched to hell and back, “We should probably treat these.”

Tommy made no response outside of one terse nod. With a level of care Phil only ever finds himself using with Technoblade nowadays, he pulled Tommy up to be standing and gently dragged him out of the bathroom and down to the kitchen where the first aid kit was stored. As they trekked to it, Philza noticed a couple of details.

First of all, the clothes Tommy was wearing was a set of casual wear Phil had remembered seeing on Tubbo at one point in New L’Manberg. Considering the height difference between the boys, that was concerning enough on its own, but when Phil glanced down to take a closer look at the wrist between his fingers, his concern was validated and amplified tenfold.

It was almost as if Phil was dragging a skeleton.

Skin tugged tightly on every inch of Tommy’s body, the bones of his hands and arms protruding more than Phil had realized, now that he’s finally paying attention to it. Swallowing the spit in his mouth, Phil noticed they were finally in the kitchen. Pushing Tommy over to a chair and placing his hands on the kid’s shoulders to nonverbally suggest to him to sit down, he nodded to himself in satisfaction as he did just that. Tommy then proceeded to look in the opposite direction to Phil as the older man dug around the cabinets to find the kit.

“Aha!” He proclaimed while standing up and kicking the cabinet shut with his foot. Walking back over to Tommy and treating the kid’s obvious attempt at ignoring him as normal: just letting Tommy do whatever he needed to do so he didn’t suddenly feel the need to bolt. He only finally turned to acknowledge Phil when the man pulled out a chair next to him and sat down in it.

Phil then flipped open the kit, sifting through it to pull out a rag and a Potion of Health III. Tommy watched with a tilted head as Phil wet the rag with the substance before re-corking the bottle, setting it down, moving to grasp Tommy’s hands, and softly rubbing the rag on all his cuts and scars. The younger blond winced when the medicine hit, but made no other noise or movement. As if he were used to the pain…

Quickly shaking those thoughts from his head, Phil eventually was finished and set the rag back on the table, methodically rotating Tommy’s hands to watch as the cuts healed up perfectly. Just as intended, once the potion was finished, the limbs looked like nothing ever happened to them at all.

Phil sighed with a grin, “Alrighty, that should be good to go then.” Phil stood up, stretching his arms above his head before realizing Tommy made no move to do the same, raising an eyebrow at the perplexed look on Tommy’s face, “You, uh, okay there, buddy?”

Tommy blinked, suddenly looking away with such an anxious face you would think you were looking at Ranboo. “Aren’t you… why aren’t you upset?”

Phil nervously chuckled, completely missing the plot by what he can only guess to be thousands of miles probably. “I’m not sure what that means.”

Tommy seemed to be short circuiting, lost from the fact he can’t get a straight answer. “... but I broke your thing. I messed up. I need to be corrected for that.”

Sweet fucking Primes, what the hell did Dream do to this kid? “Eh, you broke some glass, got a little scared and cut up your hands. Techno tends to not be much better when he gets sent into panic attacks so it’d be a little rude of me to treat you any differently, you know?”

Tommy continued staring up at Phil as if the man grew a second head.

Sighing, Phil reached forward to gently place his hands on each of Tommy’s shoulders, catching the younger blond’s full attention and giving him one of his most serious looks yet. “Listen, I don’t know what happened to you out there, but I promise you that being here will be nothing like it. You could march upstairs and tear off all the paintings off the walls and I still wouldn’t ‘correct’ you or whatever. We’re not Dream and don’t plan to be.”

Tommy jumped up so forcefully that his chair fell backwards, loudly banging against the ground. Phil held his hands up in a surrender position as he noticed the boy’s clenched fists out of the corners of his eyes. Tommy huffed with a glare, “Maybe you should be. He was one of the only people who cared after all.”

Man, Phil was sighing a lot today, huh? This time was sadder, however, “Yeah, you’re not wrong. Kinda depressing that green blob of a dude was somehow better than us, huh? Not his fault we set the bar so low.”

The statement worked as intended, Tommy’s now-dulled eyes blown wide in shock. Phil could tell his mind was racing a mile a minute, not prepared to be hit with an idea like that. He stood completely still until he let out a ‘tch’, aggressively turning to walk out of the kitchen and to stomp up the stairs to his room, slamming the door shut like a child throwing a tantrum. All the windows were preemptively barred and cursed to not be able to be broken, so if Tommy tried leaving he would be leaving in a way that Phil could spot him easily, aka out the front door.

With one last sigh for the day, Phil leaned over to pick up the chair and straighten it. As he stood up to uncork the healing potion, he thought back to when Wilbur was a wee baby. Reminiscing on the brunet’s toddler tantrums, he grabbed the rag to try and squeeze out as much potion as he could back into the bottle. He and Techno never wasted any little bit of their potions, and thus tried saving as much of it as they could.

Phil huffed a laugh at the realization that the way Tommy slammed the door was very similar to how Wilbur did it. The tired father thought back to some conversations with his wife, back when Wilbur was getting very adventurous with his childish demands. Phil knew he couldn’t just brute force a solution out of a literal child, so he went to Kristin for some much more gentler advice.

Take a little bit of wisdom from Death herself: mix a little bit of patience with mercy and you can get mortals to do whatever you want. Take baby steps just like our kid and you will find sooner rather than later how much he’ll be willing to listen to you.

Mercy, patience, baby steps… it was all they had for right now, and Phil was going to wring those things just like he was wringing the rag in his hands

Down to the last drop.

---

A few days and a near collapse later, it was finally Techno’s turn to watchover their guest-but-also-sort-of-hostage.

Just go and cut up some fucking firewood, mate, he heard Phil’s voice in his mind. We’re running low and it gives both you and Tommy an activity to do that DOESN’T involve nearly burning horseshoe marks into the ground from how much you’re searching for Ghostbur.

Jokes on Phil, maybe passing out was his goal. After all, he would be too busy being out cold to have to deal with… whatever Tommy had going on.

Staring at the dude was unnerving. His perfect posture, his silent but deadly vibes… everything about him screamed ‘not Tommy’, and while Techno wasn’t exactly the kid’s biggest fan before he sure as hell preferred the child screaming in his ear everytime they said hi to each other over… this.

If Tommy could break, then who couldn’t?

Shaking out of those thoughts, Techno looked around the clearing they were in. “Alrighty, we at our designated wood gathering spot. You got all the things I told you to bring?”

Tommy shrugged his shoulder, bringing the empty lumber bag around to hold it in front of him to show it off to Techno, and already being held in his hand is an old iron axe Techno hadn't used in forever. They’ve been careful to not let the kid have anything other than food and the occasional potion on his body, and Techno was glad they did so. When he gave Tommy the iron weapon he looked unsure whether to use it to break out or break down. Crying. The kid was genuinely surprised Techno trusted him with it.

Aaaaaand Techno was going back to those uncomfortable realizations that he in no way shape or form was equipped to handle. If you’ve seen any of his entire life you would know that not only would not help, he might just make it worse.

Welp, thank goodness they were out here to chop wood and not have a therapy session at least. Techno began walking over to a tree that was already partially chopped down, one Techno would have finished if he wasn’t preoccupied with that fox to the point he had to quit before getting caught in a blizzard. Listen, the fox was cute, “I was thinking we both swing at the same tree simultaneously. Sure, there are benefits to going at two trees at a time, but the faster we knock ‘em down, we can make up for the disadvantage. Does that make sense?”

Tommy huffed as he refused to make eye contact. “I think I’m aware of how to properly chop down a tree, dickhead.”

Techno sighed, more disappointed that he didn’t expect a response like that more than anything else, “Great, then prove it.”

The teen rolled his eyes, but for the next few minutes, he proceeded to do just that, and with perfect form even. Techno couldn’t complain about how much wood they collected within 20 minutes, he really couldn’t…

But the kid was dead silent. Normally, when Phil joined Techno on these excursions, the piglin enjoyed the silence. It was nice to bask in the beautiful nature with his friend, and he would also be lying if he said he didn’t think the kid needed to shut up every once in a while. If not for everyone’s hearing levels, but also for the kid himself, surely that level of volume was detrimental to his vocal chords.

This though… It was a constant reminder that something was off about Tommy, something was forcibly changed. Techno knew first hand what it took to tear down someone as strong willed as Tommy, and the fact remained that… it wasn’t anything pretty.

If Tommy could break, then who couldn’t?

C’mon Techno, think, what would Tommy’s go-to thing be to be annoying around here. Being loud? That was already out of the question. Steal something? That kid was a twig, if he tried Techno would snap him in half. Surprise roughhousing? Again, the kid was more brittle than an old piece of bark, what could he possibly do that didn’t involve shattering…

As they walked, Techno ran into a small upturned pile of snow, the flakes fluttering around his boot once he stood still. Tommy kept going to the tree they were going to chop down next while Staring down at the snow that crumbled with every step, he shuffled his feet around, listening intently to the crunch of the snow as a wonderful idea hit him.

Tommy was about two feet away from the tree when he realized Techno was silent. Turning around in a panic—was Techno finally going to take him out or something?—he spun on his heel just in time for a snowball to smack him right in the nose with enough force to make him gracefully fall onto his butt.

“HAHA!” A laugh broke the solemn air, and after wiping the residue snow off of his face, Tommy looked up to see Techno pointing at him with a wild grin. “Get rekt, nerd!”

Tommy stood with a scowl, brushing snow off of his pants before the stuff could melt and make him even more damp. “For someone who prefers things be done effectively, you sure aren’t acting that way.”

The grin abruptly fell off Techno's face. Yeesh, this was bad. “Well, maybe I just needed an excuse to laugh at you.”

Tommy started chopping at the tree, “Surely couldn’t have been that hard coming up with something, not like it was before.”

Okay, ouch. Techno grimaced as he began swinging as well. The two fell back into uncomfortable silence, Techno too anxious to try something else. This situation was something spectacularly unique, something Techno only thought about in dreams. But dreams were idealistic and not creepy as all heck like Tommy was right now, so Techno kept his mouth shut and thought about what he would do when he got back to the house.

Thunder gently rolled above them in the sky, making them both stop and look up at the storm clouds slowly approaching. Thankfully, they were picking up wood from a tree they just finished, so they wouldn’t have to leave anything incomplete. Techno sighed and rubbed sweat off his brow. “Welp, sounds like Mother Nature says it’s time to be done. You got the rest of this wood or would you like me to get some?”

Without hesitation, Tommy bent over to gather the leftover lumber on the ground. “I got it.”

Techno watched as the blond carried the pile with ease, not feeling the need to respond in any other way. The two of them silently walked side-by-side back to the cabin, the only noise filling the air being the whistling of the wind and the crunch, crunch, crunch under their boots.

Techno was content with it staying that way, but just like everything else, Tommy managed to surprise him, and how did he do so? By speaking for once. “Sorry, I guess.”

Techno blinked, carefully to only look over at Tommy by flicking his eyes, but soon flicking them back to be staring straight ahead, “Uh, apology accepted, I guess.” Tommy let out a snort, which, wooo. Finally, a win for Techno, but he wasn’t done, “But for once, I’m unsure of what you’re exactly apologizing for.”

Now it was Tommy’s turn to blink in confusion, genuinely caught off guard by the idea that Techno wouldn’t know what he was talking about. “I’ve been nothing but snippy and off putting, and my behaviour is usually better than that, so I apologize for letting it slip through.”

Yes, are behaving differently, but I think we have a vastly different understanding of what is wrong in this current situation, Techno grimaced to himself. He played it off with a chuckle, “Eh, we all have bad days. Don’t think too much about it.”

Tommy nodded, surprisingly accepting the words at face value. Techno thought the kid would leave it at that, but it turned out the kid wasn’t done throwing curveballs, “Also… I guess I’m sorry in general, for how our relationship turned out.”

Techno lifted an ear in Tommy’s direction, “Hmm, how so?”

Tommy shrugged, pulling the bag of lumber on his back higher, “You say I treated you like a weapon, and even if I wasn’t trying to, you still felt that way. I have more experience now, so I can say you didn’t deserve it.”

Aha.

Ahahahaha, there was a pile of things to unpack in that. There were so many things, in fact, that the weight of the sentence was so heavy it stopped Techno in his tracks. The piglin was horrified, and it took Tommy a few seconds to realize he froze. The blond turned around inquisitively, raising an eyebrow in Techno’s direction.

Techno swallowed the spit in his mouth, carefully moving closer to Tommy as if he needed to attempt to not scare the kid. “Okay, play devil’s advocate with me for a second, Tommy… If you were treated like a weapon, would you say you deserved it?”

Tommy rhythmically tapped his fingers against the wood in his arms, genuinely thinking about that question when the answer should be an immediate no. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what he responded with. “I mean, maybe not deserve it, but something needed to put things into perspective for me. Heh, consider that another issue rectified, the fact it took so much for me to see what was wrong.”

Techno was going to go through some self-reflection after this. For once in his life, he was going to sit down and contemplate what he did wrong. He might not ever stop standing by his feelings toward the Pogtopians and how they hurt him, but he will recontextualize the severity of it. He will never, in his entire longevity, want people to feel used or less-than human.

Part of the reason he got so entwined with Phil was because the man was one of the first and only people to listen to him, to understand where Techno was coming from. Sure, the piglin will happily break an arm of an enemy, but to emotionally destroy them? To bring them down to the point that they’re just a husk of their former self? That ain’t it, chief.

It stung knowing he partially contributed, that’s for sure. Regardless, he was never eloquent in the mental health department, even if Tommy was willing to listen. Shaking his head, Techno sped up his steps, leaving the conversation behind and Tommy to catch up, “Yeah yeah, sure, sounds good.”

For the rest of the walk, neither of them spoke. They got back to the cabin, and Techno shucked off his lumber bag to hold in front of himself. “Here, put that wood in your arms into my bag. I’ll take your stuff to put away properly and you go in and see what Ranboo is up to.”

Tommy could only stand still as Techno eagerly swiped the free wood into the bag just as stated before going around and taking Tommy’s, leaving the blond in the dust as he walked off to his shed to store away whatever wood could be considered extra. With a blink, Tommy sighed before turning around and heading to the cabin.

Ranboo was sweeping the floor in the living area when Tommy walked in, and noticing the human’s face, he raised his eyebrows in concern, “Um, is anything wrong?”

Tommy shook his head as he walked up the stairs to his room, “Nothing. Technoblade is a weird motherfucker as usual.”

---

It was a unique moment of all of them being in the house together when the unbelievable happened.

Phil was getting bored of reading, so he closed his book and stood up from his chair, catching the attention of the others in the room. Techno, who looked up from his own book, Ranboo and Tubbo, who were playing a card game on the ground, and even Tommy, who was off in his own little corner and knitting something with dark blue wool. Phil sighed, “My wings are getting stiff, I’m heading outside to stretch them out for a few minutes.”

Everyone else made some kind of noise in confirmation. Philza made it all the way to the door, partially stretching his arms about his head already, when he saw something that made it feel like his heart dropped to his gut. He had his hand on the doorknob while looking out the door’s window, so it gave him ample opportunity to squeeze it for all it’s metallic worth. “Shit… shit, Techno, why is Dream outside your house?!”

The piglin found himself jutting his head straight up, staring forward for a second before turning and bolting out of his seat. Once he got to his door, he nudged Phil out of the way so he could place his hooves on either side of the window to peer out of it, “Well crap, that definitely is the teletubby. What is he doing here? Does he even have one of his own?”

Suddenly, a large crash sounded out behind the adults, causing them to quickly rotate to see what was up. Tubbo and Ranboo were pinning down Tommy to the ground, the blond trying to crawl his way out from underneath them, “D-Dream… gotta go back. He’s- He’s gonna be s-so mad…”

And that kids is a totally normal and healthy response you should have when talking about someone.

Techno looked over to Phil, the man adorning a similar look of that ain’t right. Techno sighed, “Take the kids and dig a hole in my basement or something. Knock Tommy out, that way he can’t bang on the walls or yell to catch Dream’s attention.”

Tommy visibly started struggling more, and Tubbo’s face morphed into pure pain. Clearly, he still wasn’t a fan of how much restriction they were using, but he knew that unless he wanted Dream to catch on, they needed to use that and more. With the help of Ranboo, the two older teens were able to pick Tommy up by the arms while holding said limbs behind his back. As they corralled him down the ladder, Philza followed with a tired look on his face, grabbing the Slowness V from his pocket to get ready to administer it as soon as they were set up.

Right as the familiar bucket hat disappeared below the floor, aggressive knocking came from behind Techno, causing the piglin to briefly jump. Jeez, good thing I told them to hide, wasn’t aware Mr. Wastaken could teleport. Seriously, the guy was by the forest just a minute ago. Showing off his tusks in the most fake smile he could muster, Techno opened the door, “Well, hullooooo there Dream. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Dream’s mask was covering his face as usual, but there was a definite eyebrow tilt contained behind it, “How did you know it was me on the other side of the door?”

Cool, off to a fantastic start. Techno let out a singular nervous laugh, “Don’t you know? I have a teletubby sense. It tells me when homeless people are nearby.”

Dream shook his head slightly, no doubt that his face was adorning a what the fuck are you talking about look, “Whatever, I’m here to ask you about something.”

Techno draped himself on the doorframe, placing his other hand on his hip with a cheeky grin. “Oh? And what that may be?”

Dream huffed, “I’m here to ask if you’ve seen Tommy recently.”

Techno really hoped the way the tips of his hoof scratched into the wooden frame wasn’t as loud as he thought it was. “Ha, well, if we want to get technical, not really. Did see the kid’s grave though, it’s pretty pog, am I right?”

Dream stood absolutely still and absolutely silent for a good few seconds, “... Oh my Primes, you actually believe that?”

Techno was surprised to find sweat dripping down his brow. It was so not cool how nervous this experience was making him. “I mean, sure, Mr. Dictator told me they never found a body, but this isn’t some weird soap opera where a guy can get decapitated on screen and come back two seasons later. This is reality. If my life has taught me anything, no body means no life.”

The porcelain of Dream’s mask just bore into Techno’s soul as the hoodie-wearing man began belly laughing. He was going so hard at it that he even lightly slapped his knees.

With an exasperated sigh, Techno began to shut the door over the cackling, “Welp, if that’s all you wanted to know, I was glad to help. Let me know if you need a house or some-”

With a large thud, Techno blinked before looking down to see a boot caught in his doorway, preventing him from shutting it. The spit he swallowed felt like a rock, and the muffled voice from the other side didn’t help whatsoever. “If that’s the case, then you wouldn’t mind me searching your cabin for a sec’, right?”

Uuuuuggghhhh, “Got a warrant for that?”

Dream huffed again, this time louder, more visibly angry, “My warrant is that you are currently seated on the lands I own, so let me in before I kick you out of them.”

Man, when Techno was first hearing about the actions of Dream from Tubbo, his Anarchist Mind Bells were already sounding, but this… this was definitely something fishy, “I mean, if you wanna spend an hour or two sifting through all my Greek Myth books then I won’t stop you. They are very interesting after all.”

Techno opened the door fully again to let Dream in and promptly rolled his eyes when the human stomped past him without a care. Standing in place, Techno used one arm to shove the door and watched as it swung shut. Giving it a few more seconds, Techno sighed before going to catch up to Dream to make sure the guy didn’t over turn every facet of his house.

He eventually found the guy rummaging through some chests on the floor above where his friends were hanging out, which, fantastic, that would do wonders for his already skyrocketing blood pressure. Techno continued to watch Dream from near the ladder, leaning against it with his shoulder as he crossed his arms.

He was practically about to fall asleep when Dream made an inquisitive noise, items jostling around as he pulled something out of the chest he was extensively searching through, “Hey Technoblade, what’s this you have in your chest?”

Techno blinked as Dream proceeded to pull out a long, red piece of fabric, and before the piglin could wonder why the man was so interested in the random object, he watched as the hood connected to it popped out from underneath the other items. Ah, they really should have just burned it like Tubbo suggested. Point one for government, Techno relented.

Dream stood up, gently running the sleeves through his fingers and palms as if he were holding onto the finest silk in the land, not just a stitched up hoodie treated with practically magical stain remover (seriously, there isn’t a single drop of blood left, Techno needed to ask Phil about his old man tricks and where he gets his stuff).

“Very curious as to where you got this and why you have it in the first place? I don’t mean to assume, but this doesn’t exactly seem to fit you.” To prove his point, Dream held the hoodie up by its shoulders in front of himself, still able to see a large portion of the piglin despite the barrier.

Techno stood like a statue, the only part of his body moving his blinking eyelids, before grinning nervously and letting out a chuckle. “Aaaaah well, you see, Philza had a brief rebellious phase of sorts. Got tired of being the green one in our relationship and wanted a change of pace. He realized how stupid he was being as soon as he saw himself in the mirror with that on, and me, being the super awesome friend that I am, buried it as far away from him as possible to prevent any extra horror from affecting his already brittle and old heart.”

If that dumb mask wasn’t in the way, Techno would probably see an eyebrow tilt that screamed you really expect me to believe that?

Techno was going to let out another laugh, possibly even try and redirect Dream to the outside to get him to leave again, when a very muffled kitten-like sneeze sounded out from underneath them. Dream lifted his chin a little bit in a gesturing way, practically begging Techno to try and explain that one off.

Techno rapidly waved his hoof in front of his face back and forth in an attempt to tell Dream please ignore that, “Allergy season is rough, am I right?”

And then finally, whatever God that didn’t exist was on his side of once, because that hoof he was waving in front of himself was right in front of his nose and mouth at the same he needed to yawn (watching Dream lethargically look around a chest was enough to put anyone to sleep), so when whoever it was that was sneezing did it again, Techno was able to fake it as if he were making the noise. Sure, his movements were behind the noise by half a second, but an attempt was made, and it was the best luck he had for this entire visit, so cut him some slack.

Dream certainly didn’t, as noted by the pickaxe he pulled from his inventory and him bending over to go at the floor, “Sounds like you have a cat problem in your walls, I think I can help you out with-”

Suddenly, a pair of rough hands grabbed Dream, making him stand up straight while Techno’s voice filled his ear. “Dream, Dream, Dream…” An arm wrapped its way around Dream’s shoulders, Techno practically patting him on the back as the piglin spoke in a comforting tone of voice. “Is this, like, a cry for help? I’m here for you, buddy, you just need to talk to me.”

Dream blinked. “Wha-”

Techno made a noise as if he finally understood what was really happening. “Oh my gosh, do you need a place to live? Are you actually homeless? Not gonna lie, kinda sad the literal owner of the server doesn’t have a house, but I know when to bite my tongue when someone is in hard times.”

Dream shoved the arm off of him indignantly, “I am not homeless! I just-”

“Dreaaaaam, Dream, my pal, my homie…” Techno held his hands out in a placating gesture, like he were cornering a wild animal to console it. “I know it may be hard to admit when you need help, but if you’re old there in the cold with no place to go, you can just ask. I have plenty of rooms for you to use, honestly, those bed sheets are collecting dust.”

Dream stomped his foot, squawking like a child throwing a tantrum. “I HAVE A HOUSE! I have maybe one of the biggest houses on the server!”

Techno drew out a skeptical hmm, placing his chin in one of his hands in a thinking pose while the other was placed on his hip. “Do you, though? I mean, I’ve never seen it, and it’s not like I’ve heard other people talk about it. If you have such an amazing and wondrous house, then surely it should be the talk of the town?”

Dream put away his pickaxe and pulled out a regular axe, trampling past Techno and back up the ladder, muttering, “I’ll show you a fucking house…”

Techno watched with an uninterested face as Dream clambered out of the basement, and then proceeded to listen as the front door aggressively swung open before just as aggressively swinging shut, the BANG of the wood vibrating the house so hard that Techno could hear picture frames hung upstairs shaking against the walls.

Techno huffed, still looking up out of the ladder gap as the noise of someone breaking stone began behind him. He started turning just in time to look into the eyes of Ranboo right as the block broke, the enderman giving him an anxious grin, “Heh, sorry about the sniffles. Didn’t think they would be that bad.”

Techno shrugged, “Understandable, just next time, please bring a bandana. I don’t want my dogs mauling you thinking you’re an unassuming kitten or something.”

Ranboo let out a genuine laugh as he yanked Tubbo out of the hole, Philza carefully holding Tommy for the kids to grab. “Duly noted.”

Techno stepped out of the way so the teens could get the younger one up the ladder without any extra obstacles. As Tubbo and Ranboo carried the still-unconscious Tommy to his bedroom, Phil walked over to stand next to Techno and held out a fistbump for him to finish. “Now that, my friend, is what I call fucking sick.”

The piglin returned the fistbump without hesitation.

---

Tubbo couldn’t sleep.

Would they mind if he used their tea maker? Philza mentioned how it was his own and Techno hadn’t been allowed to touch it for two weeks straight, but that didn’t change the fact that both of them could angrily pull an axe against the brunet for overstepping rules. They were already doing a lot even after the whole execution situation...

Gah, Tubbo was a man! Who cares what Techno thought? If Tubbo wanted some calming tea after a stressful week then he was allowed some!

However, he would promptly rethink that affirmation when he quietly stomped his way downstairs to pop his head into the kitchen to see Tommy already at the maker, holding and tilting it as he tried figuring out what to do with it. As Tubbo tried slowly backing away so as to not draw attention, he failed miserably when his elbow bumped into a lamp. It didn’t fall to the ground and shatter, but with Tommy’s heightened senses, the blond was able to pick up the noises of someone frantically preventing something from breaking.

The two maybe-friends-maybe-enemies stared at one another, Tommy with wide eyes and Tubbo with even wider ones, clutching the lamp to his chest as if the physical object could protect him from the feelings onslaught that would definitely commence in a few minutes.

Still, Tubbo was trying his best to own up to mistakes, so gently setting the lamp back down, he cleared his throat and walked over to stand next to the maker that Tommy was messing with. “Heya, Tommy, I came to make some tea as well. Do you want a little bit of help? Phil mentioned the maker was a little finicky.”

Tommy blinked silently at the older teen.

So it was going to be that way tonight, oh boy. Tubbo felt tension increase in his shoulders, “Here, first you gotta-”

Right before his hand could grace the maker, Tommy tightly grabbed his wrist, preventing the brunet from moving further. Well, shit, here Tubbo was hoping for a dramatic build up that would give him time to come up with what to say and how to say it properly, not jump to the big emotional explosion right away. Techno would probably have some kind of witty one-liner to say, something eloquent, take me out to dinner first, but all that could come out of Tubbo’s mouth was, “Um.”

Tommy’s grip on his wrist tightened, “You always think you know what’s best, huh?”

Yep, that one’s been building up for a while. Tubbo wrenched his wrist away and used his other hand to gently rub it, soothing the irritated skin. “That depends on what you mean by that.”

Tommy’s angry faced turned into an outright scowl, “You know what I fucking mean, dickhead. First you agree to the exile, and now you’re all guilty and shit! Convincing Phil and Technoblade that it was actually bad!”

Did Tubbo mention he was tired earlier? “It fucking was, Tommy! It still is! And there was no ‘convincing’ involved, they took one look at you and thought that yeah! Something funky happened with you, and it wasn’t the good kind either!”

Tommy growled, fists clenching as he took a step forward, “Bullshit! You think they really care? They both visited me once! And all Techno did was laugh at me!”

Well, Tubbo suddenly lost some of his regret for the Butcher Army, that’s for sure. “Yes, okay, that was shitty, and they can be somewhat tunnel-visioned, but believe me when I say that if they think something is up then that’s fucking concerning!

With an ‘oof’, Tubbo was suddenly tackled to the ground and looking up into the eyes of Tommy, his hands fisting the front of his shirt and his face scar illuminated by the moonlight coming from the window, “And now you’re back on your bullshit, deciding the end all be all whenever you want! You were so happy to have me gone that you never visited! You don’t get to regret this just because I’m a little different!”

Tubbo heard muffled footsteps come from upstairs, probably either Techno or Phil waking up to get the other to help him check out what the large noise was. That meant Tubbo had very little time before they came down to pull Tommy off of him and get him to bed. “I was never happy about having to kick you out, you moron! I got backed into a corner! Even so, it was the worst decision of my life, and if I could take it back I would!”

Tommy tightened his fists in the fabric, but there was no real malice behind it, just confusion and annoyance. “I would have put you above them! I would have fought them all!”

Tubbo shoved Tommy off of him, feeling genuine anger for the first time since those fateful days of arguing back and forth with his Cabinet. “WHY DID IT HAVE TO INCLUDE ME, HUH? I was trying to help you and all I got for it was everyone saying I was exactly like that abusive shithead!"

Tommy flopped onto the ground as if he had been shot, his eyes wide in brutal horror as he took in his supposedly ex-friend’s words. That’s what they all said back then when the exile discussions were going on. You’re acting just like Schlatt. This is something Schlatt would have done. Why are you becoming Schlatt? Deep down, Tommy didn’t really mean it. He was just stressed, grasping at straws, feeling like nothing was going his way. But did Tubbo know that? Especially when everyone else probably did mean the comparison?

Tommy’s breathing got heavy and laboured, and if someone (namely Tubbo) didn’t step in, he would probably start hyperventilating and pass out.

Wiping off his pants, Tubbo got up onto his knees so that when he leaned forward to place his hands on Tommy’s shoulders it was easier to do. The blond seemed to be on the verge of tears, but Tubbo didn’t let that phase him.

“Tommy, you are not a bad person, you have never been so. You are a little brash, a little obnoxious, and somewhat of a prick, but you are also loyal, selfless to an unhealthy degree, and you love so so much. Whatever Dream’s goal was out in exile was to get rid of all of you, not just your so-called ‘bad’ parts. And deep down, you know why. If Dream could snuff you out, that meant his biggest opposition to his power would be gone as well.”

Talking his hands off Tommy’s shoulders, Tubbo placed them back into his lap as he watched his friend go through what could only be described as the seven stages of grief (yes, seven, it was so severe it seemed as if Tommy were creating two emotions out of thin air). Tommy kept his deer-in-the-headlights as Techno appeared out of nowhere to grab him from under the arms, muttering, “Alrighty kids, it’s past your bedtime.”

With a nod, Tubbo stood up by using his knees for support, giving Tommy one last sad look and a few encouraging words, “Tommy, I love you, I miss you, and seeing you stuck in this cycle of self-hate sucks. Just… please take my words into consideration, okay? That’s all I ask.”

As Tommy was dragged away, Tubbo could barely hear him whisper to himself, “Couldn't he have visited me to tell me this earlier?”

Tubbo flinched, not disagreeing for the briefest of seconds as Tommy had a point. It didn’t matter what Dream was spouting in his ear, Tubbo was a person of logic, never fully making a decision until he saw things with his own two eyes. It was so idiodic of him to take Dream’s words… at face value—

Fuck.

Fuck.

It always linked back to Dream, didn’t it? Dream calling for the exile most out of anyone, possibly the only one, Dream keeping a constant stream of conversation of Tubbo and Tommy but only to himself, doing something to Tommy to make him the way he was currently and telling Tubbo lies to keep the president away from seeing it himself.

How did he know it was lies? Well, if Tommy truly didn’t want to see Tubbo out in exile, then why was he so mad about the fact that Tubbo never made the effort to do so? If anything, Tommy should be indifferent about Tubbo’s presence, not constantly bringing up the fact the brunet never supposedly lifted a finger to visit him.

As his fists clenched at his hips, Tubbo knew there would be at least one certain thing for him in his future.

That green boi was going to suck it so hard when Tubbo saw him again.

---

Tommy and Ranboo went off to gather apples, so Philza was alone in the house when an ear-piercing shriek filled the air.

“PHIL!” Tubbo yelled, causing the man to rapidly stand up from his chair in time to watch Techno burst through the front door and run past him.

If that wasn’t enough to freak Philza out, seeing Tubbo run in right after, holding a bucket tightly in his hands and nearly drawn to tears over it was certainly enough, “Holy shit, why are we sounding the alarms?!”

As Techno loudly rummaged around their storage area, Tubbo ran up to Phil to tell- no, show him the news, “We found Ghostbur but he’s- we’re- here!”

Tubbo practically snapped his neck as he looked away from Phil to jut out the bucket in his grasp. Blinking, it took the older man all of two seconds before gasping. In the bucket was a weird mixture of swirled liquids, mostly grey and yellow with a little bit of brown, but once he noticed the speckles of blue, there was no denying that the panic surrounding him was valid. As he placed his hands over Tubbo’s on the bucket, he noticed a faint pair of glowing dots above a darker one which was sort of molded into a frown.

This is my son, he thought to himself shakily. Why do I only realize this when he’s on the verge of death?

Causing the two humans to look away was Techno storming back into the room holding onto some oddly colored potions. He spoke with no room for argument, “Get him into the kitchen, pour him into one of our cookie pans. We need as much surface area as possible.”

Both Phil and Tubbo nodded at the same time and only once, doing just as told. Tubbo went over to the counter they fixed Tommy up on to set the bucket down on it while Phil went and found the pan. Techno stood on the opposite side of Tubbo laying out all his potions and opening a book to a specific page.

They both jumped when Philza slammed the metal sheet down between them, but quickly recovered. Techno pointed at the bucket. “Pour him in there.”

Tubbo tilted the pail carefully, Philza stepping in to offer a little more support so nothing sloshed out and not in the pan. Eventually, all of Ghostbur was laying in the sheet, and Tubbo and Phil stepped back to let Techno do what he needed to do. Phil got so far away that he was even able to set the bucket down on the kitchen table a few feet away.

Techno was muttering to himself as he read his book, somehow able to reach for the two potions he needed without looking at them. Using his thumbs, he popped the corks out of the bottles and immediately dumped all of their contents into the sheet with Ghostbur. Once the last drop hit, a large red and blue puff of smoke expunged itself from the mixture, making Techno back away just as much as the two others in the room, joining them to watch the magic work (as for whether it would work ‘good’ or work ‘bad’, well).

They all stood back, apprehension littered throughout their postures. The liquid in the pan rose, melting together like a burning candle in reverse. Before they could blink, there was a yellow sweater-wearing ghost floating above the counter, curled up like a newborn baby. He stayed that way for all of two seconds before yawning and stretching his arms above his head, bringing his legs out to be below himself as he came closer to the ground. He was still lethargically blinking before noticing the people in the room.

“Oh, hello everyone!” He said with a grin. “I was worried we wouldn’t be able to hang out again like last time, but it seems that concern was unfounded! Now then, what are we going to do first? Are we going back to L’Manberg at some point?”

The three alive people all awkwardly glanced at one another before Techno cleared his throat. “Aha, well, there’s something else we need to do first.”

Ghostbur tilted his head. “Hmm, what’s that?”

Tubbo coughed, rotating his wrist nervously as his brain whipped up the easiest way to explain ‘your closest friend and technical little brother has been abused to the point of suicidal tendencies, self-hatred, and brainwashing we still haven’t gotten him free of’, “Soooo, we heard you hung out with Tommy out in his exile.”

Ghostbur floated still as Tubbo’s words washed over him, “Oh, right! ‘Lads On Tour’! We went out to that cool little beach and- ooh, I made him such a nice tent; we had fun together!”

Philza thinned his lips. “I’m sure you two had a blast, but was there anything… I don’t know, weird about it? Something that struck you as not as fun as it could have been?”

Ghostbur hummed, sitting on the counter to sit on his. He lightly knocked his feet against the wood rhythmically, deep in thought. “I mean… the first day wasn’t all that exciting.”

Techno opened his mouth to prod the ghost further, but Tubbo beat him to it, “Really? Mind telling me- er, us all about it?”

Ghostbur’s shoulders sagged as he worked his mind as hard as he could to get the memories back, “Mmmmm if I remembered correctly, Dream dug a pit and told us to throw everything we had in it. I did as told, wanting to know where the game was going, but Tommy wasn’t as for it as I was. Dream had to smack him a few times with his axe before he joined us, and then we both watched as Dream set off a pretty explosion over the hole! Which… Why do you all look upset?”

Scared was putting it mildly, they were all downright horrified. Ghostbur was describing the first day Tommy was out there, the first day of isolation that lasted for weeks.

Tubbo brought his hand over his mouth, his pupils shrunken in unholy terror, “Primes… Ranboo mentioned that every time he came to see Tommy he never had armor on. Did Dream… destroy it? Everyday?”

Techno leaned back against the surface he was near, using most of his energy to keep his breathing calm and his racing thoughts at a manageable level, “Why are you so… joyful about this, Ghostbur? Didn’t Dream also try and kill you?”

Ghostbur tensed, his expression dimming in the process, “What? Dream just said he would take me to my friends. Sure, I fell asleep for a second, and I forgot to bring Friend along, but that’s what happened, right?”

Philza also leaned against the table he was near, but he leaned forward, placing his hands on the edge of the surface as a brace, “Holy hell. I… What do we even say to that? To this?”

Tubbo slowly breathed out, blinking tears out of his eyes before realizing Ghostbur was no longer seated at the counter and instead over at the kitchen window. He had his face splayed against the glass in an attempt to see whatever he was watching as much as possible. Tubbo tilted his eyebrows in confusion, “Ghostbur? What are you looking at?”

Ghostbur kept staring outside. “Tommy and Ranboo are talking with Dream! I wanna see if I can tell what they’re saying!”

Record fucking scratch?!

Everyone else shot up from their existential crisis to the other window, Tubbo in the front with the two other older men watching from over his shoulders. They all gasped seeing what Ghostbur was saying was true, only with a little more spice to it. After all, he never mentioned the fact that Ranboo was holding Tommy’s arms behind his back, as if the enderman were holding the human hostage.

As Techno and Phil grabbed their weapons to rush outside, Tubbo watched in sickening fear as Dream lightly caressed Tommy’s face before roughly grabbing his chin, clearly saying something to the teen considering his rapid nods and shakes. As the cabin dwellers entered Tubbo’s peripheral vision, Dream pulled a new frowny face mask out of his satchel to place on Tommy’s face before turning to stare at the window Tubbo was in.

The brunet would sadly admit to flinching at the movement; he even began trembling when Dream waved at him, the older man slightly tilting his head in that familiar playfully way (when did it make Tubbo want to throw up instead of laugh?). Dream turned the hand he was waving into a snap of his fingers, and right before Techno could bring his axe down on his stupid face, Ranboo was stirring up a bunch of particles and they were teleported out of there.

Tubbo fell to his knees, his hands still on the window ledge. He pressed his forehead into the wood below it before feeling a cold misty pressure on his shoulder. He turned to look at the cause in the blink of an eye, feeling both shocked yet unsurprised at it being Ghostbur. The ghost had a forlorn look in his eyes as he held a hand out, “You look sad again; do you need some blue?”

Tubbo felt a tear drip down his chin before he roughly wiped at his eyes, shaking his head and murmuring, “W-We’re going to need a lot more blue than that to handle this, Ghostbur.”

As for Techno and Phil, they stood breathing heavily in the snowy field, their weapons clenched tightly in their respective hands. Phil wiped his brow with his free hand, jumping when Techno loudly groaned and turning on his heel to stomp back to their house. Phil chased after him, catching up only when they were halfway back to the cabin. “Woah, hey, hey, what’s happening, mate? Tell me what’s in that big head of yours.”

Techno shook his head, pulling out a clock from his inventory to briefly check the time, the air being huffed from his nose fogging from how steamed he was, “We are gathering all of our good stuff, we our getting our best horses, and we are making sure that homeless teletubby gets the smackdown of his life. Absolutely no one uses cheat codes against Technoblade and gets away with it.”

Phil blinked before laughing. His chuckles had a hint of mania behind them, partially because he agreed with his friend and partially because he was mad as fuck too.

They slammed the door open, pausing when they noticed Tubbo, who was already decked out in some of their stocked away armor, holding a variety of potions and weapons (some of which were almost as big as him) with a look of determined fury adorning his face, “I’m done letting Dream boss my country around. It’s time to finish this fucking war once and for all. And also maybe sorry for not telling you Ranboo can teleport, that’s on me.”

Techno felt a grin form on his face, “You know what, kid? Maybe you’re not so bad for a government after all.”

Ghostbur watched as they divided out the items toward each other, cheering as they did so, “You guys are doing wonderful! That armor looks amazing on you guys!... Why are we putting on armor?”

Phil laughed as he stared at his reflection in a sword, “Welp, your wish of going to New L’Manberg is happening sooner rather than later, it seems.”

---

Even with the lavish use of ender pearls as if they were snowballs, it still took them about half a day to get back to the country.

The four of them landed on top of a sort of mountainous hill nearby and gasped at the sight. Above New L’Manberg flew a giant obsidian grid, and both Phil and Techno recognized the machines connected to it as TNT generators.

Dream wanted to blow this popsicle stand, and not in the cool movie way either.

Phil breathed heavily as he readjusted his helmet. “Holy fuck, he’s going to create a crater down to bedrock with that. There’s at least five generators attached.”

Techno glanced over at Tubbo to see if he could gage the brunet’s current emotions. As expected, the kid was horrified, but he didn’t seem to care too much about the grid. He seemed to be focusing on the ground below, placing a hand on his eyebrows to extend his vision further, “Has Big Q evacuated everyone yet? Ghostbur, can you fly down there and tell anyone you see to leave immediately?”

As the ghost did as told with a smile, Techno raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Aren’t you worried about the country getting caught in it too? You’re the president.”

Tubbo turned to the piglin, giving him a look as if he were nuts. “What? Of course not! I mean… a little, obviously, but the people come first!”

Techno hummed, satisfied with the answer, before turning back and noticing movement on the grid. It took him a few seconds, but he eventually noticed the three abnormally tall figures. One in green, one in red, and one monochrome, “Up there! They’re on that structure!”

Phil and Tubbo turned to look in the direction of where Techno was pointing and saw exactly what he was talking about. No other words were spoken as they all pulled out the rest of their ender pearls and jumped up to join their adversaries. It was pretty cool when they landed, each of them on a knee and fist in that superhero pose, but now was not the time to revel in how awesome they were, now was the time to kick some butt (and save some of those butts at the same time).

The clunk of their armor caught the attention of Dream and his lackeys, Tommy, who was back in a new red hoodie along with his frowny face mask, and now Ranboo, who’s eyes were a glowing purple. Ah, so there was more than one brainwashed teen, good to know.

“Technoblade!” Dream cheered, throwing his arms out and holding them up at his sides for dramatic effect. “My, I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon!”

Techno stood up straight, the cold air around them making the huff he forced out of his snout fog up. “Neither did I. I thought you would be too busy tidying up that house you totally have to impress me with.”

Dream’s cocky demeanor dropped a little, though he still stood strong. Phil held out his sword, pointing it toward Dream. “Let those kids go, mate. Otherwise, it won’t be pretty.”

Dream stood still, absorbing Phil’s demand before letting out a giant cackle. Yes, the supervillain kind even, “Oh, you think I’m controlling them or something, right? If it makes you feel any better, I’m really not. Sure, I’m influencing their thoughts a little bit, but trust me, they’re making their own decisions.”

Tubbo was practically grinding his jaw into dust and wringing the handle of his sword into liquid, “Bullshit! You did something to them, we know it!”

Dream held a hand against his chest, feigning offence. “Tubbo, how dare you? I’ve done nothing but help your country grow and you accuse me of this?”

Tubbo growled, mirroring Philza’s pose, “Cut the shit, I know you’ve been keeping me and Tommy apart on purpose so it would be easier to get into his head. I’ve let you trick me with your lies for long enough, tonight, I’m saving Tommy AND Ranboo and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”

Tommy jumped at Tubbo’s declaration, meanwhile, Dream’s fists clenched down near his hips, anger filling every inch of his body, “Whatever, it’s not like you’ll be able to do anything anyway. Tommy, you’re with me. Ranboo? Attack.”

Before Tubbo could blink, an enderman swinging an axe was on top of him, forcing him to block and only be able to watch as Tommy followed Dream like a lost puppy. He was about to shout at his friend, but suddenly, Ranboo was pulled off of him by a determined Technoblade.

The piglin looked at Phil and jerked his chin in the direction of the masked duo, “Phil, keep those two distracted while I handle this.”

Phil nodded his head once before running off to go battle the two younger blonds. Techno watched his friend sprint away until he felt a sharp pain in his forearm. With a yelp of pain, he dropped the enderman in his arms, letting the kid teleport out of sight to look at his new wound. Two bleeding indents were now in his arm, forming a line with a bunch of smaller ones.

Techno forgot that endermen liked to bite. He didn’t have a lot of time to focus on that though when the kid came back in full swing and tried attacking once more. Expertly blocking it with a shield he pulled out just in time, Techno looked around the blockade to see an emotion on Ranboo’s face that was a mixture of anger and frustration, but whether or not he was directing it at Techno or himself the piglin couldn’t tell.

What the piglin could tell, however, was that Ranboo wasn’t all with it. Sure, his eyes might be glowing orbs with no discernable pupil in them at the moment, but Techno knew that look personally. He’d seen it too many times on himself to forget it.

It was the face you made when your thoughts got too loud to handle, and Techno was going to use that to his advantage, “Ranboo, Ranboo, Ranboo. Listen to me, I bet your head is kinda screaming at ya right now, correct? The voices in your head yelling at you nonstop?”

When he said that final sentence, Ranboo held back a little bit. He was still trying to push the shield out of the way to get to Techno and Tubbo, but it was less forceful, more willing to hear out what Techno was getting at.

He’ll take it anyway he can. Techno swallowed some spit in his mouth, “They’re probably pretty loud, huh? I know how it feels, how heavy they can weigh down on you, but no matter what, they’re not the one in control, you are.”

Ranboo started pushing a little bit more softly, even muttered a few words, “Tub… Tech…”

Welf, half of them, but still, it was progress. “See? There you go, just listen to yourself and nothing else. Come back down, that’s it. Take it easy…”

Ranboo slowly calmed down, Techno lowering him to the obsidian grid more and more, placing him down once the enderman looked to be completely back. Tubbo was standing directly behind Technoblade, almost holding onto the piglin like a small child would their mother, waiting to see what Ranboo was doing.

When Ranboo blinked and his eyes turned red and green once more, well, even Techno would be willing to admit he felt pure relief at the sight. Ranboo looked around in a panic, wondering where the hell he was and how he got there in the first place, when his eyes eventually found themselves on Techno and Tubbo huddled together. “Uh, guys? What happened?”

Tubbo jumped out from the otherside of Technoblade and onto Ranboo in a giant hug. “RANBOO OH MY GOD I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE BACK AND OKAY AND—”

As the brunet blubbered into Ranboo’s shoulder, the enderman looked up at Techno with a face that screamed please help? Techno shrugged back, giving his most just comfort him will ya expression of all time. With a sigh, Ranboo wrapped his lanky arms back around Tubbo with a grin.

The happiness was short-lived, however, when they heard a grunt of pain come from afar and turned to see Phil getting flung across the grid. Well, at least he did his job of keeping Tommy and Dream occupied, but Techno couldn’t help but feel a slight amount of disappointment. “Come on, Phil! I’ve seen you take down armies! You’re telling me you couldn’t handle a child and a homeless teletubby?!"

Philza rolled over to his stomach with an eye roll and a grin. “Sorry, mate, guess I’m not as limber as I used to be.”

With a hop, skip, and a jump, Phil was back to standing at Techno’s side as everyone stared down a smiley face and a frowny face. The two faces were back to back, Dream standing a little bit in front of Tommy just to make sure everyone knew where the power dynamic truly lay. “It seems we’ve reached an impasse of sorts, here.”

Techno rolled his shoulders and kept his face neutral. “It does appear to be that way.”

Dream started walking forward, but held an arm out to stop Tommy from following. Once it looked like the teen would comply, he kept marching forward. “You know, I had such a streamlined plan that you just had to come and fuck up, huh? Tommy was perfectly fine sticking by me, then you picked him up out of my grasp and ruined it!”

Tubbo was standing up again, now using his whole body to support Ranboo and prevent the enderman from falling over. “We found Tommy bleeding out in the forest and alone! Who else could have or even wanted to do that other than you? You’ve kept him hostage for the past month practically!”

Dream let out a ‘pssh’ noise, waving Tubbo’s point off, “Please, I never would do anything like that.” Techno snorted, but Dream paid no mind. “Idiot got himself mauled by a mob and had to deal with the consequences.”

Phil watched Tommy flinch out of the corner of his eye before focusing fully on Dream. “Well, I highly doubt that, but even if it was true, not exactly fair of you to leave someone to deal with an arguably fatal wound and call it ‘consequences’.”

As Dream got closer and closer to the group, no one saw or heard the ender pearl from below and landing on the grid away from them. It didn’t help that Dream wouldn’t shut up, “Please, kids have got to learn some day that they won’t be coddled forever!” The man slowly pulled out a lead and tied it into a lasso. “If kids aren’t prepared to handle life, then maybe they don’t deserve it.”

Dream was close enough to throw the rope and latch it around Tubbo, yanking the brunet away from his group. Phil and Techno rushed over to make sure Ranboo didn’t fall off, but even if they didn’t, they wouldn’t have had enough time to jump in between the sword Dream immediately pulled out with intent to kill.

Another ender pearl was thrown, but the noise was drowned out by Tommy’s scream, “TUBBO!”

A flash of particles. Dream brought the weapon down and Tubbo brought his arms over his face. It was kind of sad the last words he would come up with before death were ones he’d been saying constantly for the past few weeks.

I’m sorry.

Everyone stood still, the only noise around them the air whipping in the wind.

It took them all far too long to realize the person that was stabbed was not Tubbo. The brunet was the first to point it out, his face turning from fear to shock as he recognized the person above him. “Big Q!”

With a sword running through his abdomen, Quackity gave his president a shaky thumbs up, “H-Hey buddy, glad to see you s-still alive.”

Tubbo cried in horror when Dream shoved the vice president off his sword, his body making an awful thumping noise when it collided with the obsidian grid. Crawling over, it was almost comical the size difference as Tubbo cradled the bleeding-out Q in his arms, “Q-Quackity… where the hell did you come from? Why?!”

The man could only laugh, his chuckles getting choked off by some blood coming up his throat, “S-Saw Ghostbur rushing through the pla-place yelling at those who hadn’t left t-to leave, realized you had to have come ba-back and noticed you up here. Ender pearled as quickly as-quickly as I could. Don’t worry, as soon as that grid appeared I got everyone out. Consider it my-” more coughing filled with blood. “Consider it my apology for being somewhat of a dick…”

Before Tubbo could say anything to that, Quackity dissipated out of his arms, leaving behind a pile of items including a communicator that beeped once, followed by more urgent beeping.

Quackity was slain by Dream

ItsFundy: NO WAY WHAT

Nihachu: No D:

Sapnap: YOU IDIOT YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD BE SAFE YOU FUCK

Phil and Techno rushed over to pull Tubbo out of the corpse’s remains, Ranboo standing still in absolute shock. Tommy, meanwhile, truly felt something for the first time in a while. Before, his anger was superfluous. He felt it, sure, but it was more about the idea of how he should be acting, whereas now he was legitimately furious. He shoved Dream by the man’s shoulders, shouting furiously, “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

Dream only stared at his protègè before wiping off the front of his hoodie nonchalantly. “Really, Tommy? You’re going to act up now?”

Tommy threw out his arm in the direction of what used to be Big Q. “YOU PROMISED NO KILLING! That doesn’t fucking seem like no killing to me! That seems like you were going to kill Tubbo but someone got in the way!”

Dream stomped a little bit closer to Tommy, the teen full bodily flinching in response. “You brat, understand that the plan sometimes goes off its intended course, alright?! Things can’t always be fair!”

Dream said he would be fucking fair though, said out of all the things that might happen tonight, he wouldn’t go back on promising not to kill anyone. Plus, bringing Ranboo into it fucking sucked as well! Dream promised him that Tommy was the only one…

Dream promised a lot of things that he never followed through with, actually...

All of it started hitting Tommy one after the other.

They all think you deserve it. “For what it’s worth, I’m still sorry.”

Can’t you handle one simple task?! “Eh, you broke some glass, got a little scared and cut up your hands.”

You know you deserve it. “Okay, play devil’s advocate with me for a second Tommy…”

Tubbo hates you, Tommy. “Tommy, I love you.”

Holy shit, Dream wasn’t his fucking friend, he was only keeping an eye Tommy.

Oh, that absolute dick.

Dream was caught unaware enough to the point that Tommy could come up on him and shove him, hard. As Tommy pulled out the weapon Dream oh so generously loaned him, he harkened back to a memory before all of this shit happened. When he became ‘Dream 2.0’.

The side of his face stung.

The cold-ass wind blowing into it surely didn’t help either, but that’s what he got for making this stupid tower in the first place. Sue him for wanting to look out over the wreckage of what had been his home for the past…

God, sometimes it was hard to know how long exile had been so far. When every little thing you worked toward got destroyed on the daily, time blurred together. That’s why the secret items were so nice. Not only did he have things, Tommy could remind himself how much time had passed based on how much of a certain thing he had...

Why did he hide them, though? Dream was his friend, surely he would have understood where Tommy was coming from, the teen would have even just settled for a clock or something!

As Tommy dangled his feet off the tower, he shuffled through the pictures that used to be inside his enderchest. One of him and Tubbo play fighting with wooden swords, one of him picking Wilbur’s guitar for the first time, another of him rocking baby Fundy to sleep…

Great for him to go and fuck it all up, huh? Couldn’t prevent his brother from pushing that fateful button, forced his best friend to exile him and hate him, and now the only friend he had left probably wasn’t even coming back! Why was he so awful? Was he just that broken?

Then again, even when Tubbo was outrageously angry with him, the brunet never hit him, or took away his food, or- or blew up everything he owned! Sometimes the way Dream acted around Tommy was weird, and it hurt a lot. There was no reason Dream had to destroy all his things, right? It was almost as if… as if Dream-

Suddenly, the noise of someone building something came from below, and before Tommy could blink, Dream was next to him on a tower that was the exact same height as his.

With a sigh, Dream sat down next to Tommy and threw an arm around the boy’s shoulders, gazing out at the world around them with a relaxed stature. “Isn’t it beautiful up here, Toms? I’ve always thought the prettiest views came from up near the clouds.”

Tommy could only stare at Dream’s face, however, even though it was masked. “You- You came back?”

Dream let out a humorous noise, turning his head to have his mask look directly at Tommy’s face. “Of course! I wouldn’t just leave my friend after something like that. Super sorry I did it in the first place, but you already know about the rules and went and disobeyed them so thoroughly! At least you know now to not do it anymore, right? A one-and-done type deal?”

Tommy nodded readily. “N-No, never again Dream, I promise. I know better.”

Dream kept looking at the teen as he used his free arm to pull something out of his inventory. He hummed as he gently placed it into Tommy’s eager hands. “Glad to hear it, Tommy. Sure is a shame Logsted isn’t really habitable anymore, but if you come with me, I can give you a place that’s even better. The rules are a little more strict, but don’t worry, I’m confident you’ll follow them perfectly just like you always do.”

As Tommy stared at the new mask in his hands, he only had one thought on his mind.

He was going to be perfect. He would at least try.

Anything for Dream.

Tommy wished he could breathe fire. That would be the only way to convey the level of anger he was feeling, “You BASTARD! YOU WERE ONLY WATCHING ME!”

Dream stumbled backward, fumbling out his axe from his inventory as he did so, “Woah- hey, HEY! Tommy we can talk about this, we’re FRIENDS, RIGHT?!”

Tommy swung at the man, forcing him to dodge and roll away even more, “You have a ridiculously skewed view of what friendship is, dickhole!”

The teen kept going at Dream, keeping the man on the defensive with no room to change. Everyone else could only watch as the big scary admin was practically on the verge of cowering due to one kid’s unbelievable anger.

Philza began to chuckle, “Heh, what a fucking dweeb.”

It was a few minutes of Tommy chasing Dream cathartically before the man tripped, turning around rapidly to hold his sword in front of him in one last attempt at a blockade, “Tommy, WAIT! You won’t do it! I know you won’t!”

Tommy was breathing heavily, using his free hand to rip off his mask and chuck it straight to the ground underneath the grid. The scars on his face no longer felt like a failure, they felt like proof he was alive, they felt like a victory earned after a long fought battle. “Yeah? What makes you say that you bitch?”

Dream started giggling beneath all of his labored breathing. “Because you’re too good to stoop to my level. Do you really want to go that far? Truly understand your full potential?”

Tommy froze briefly, unfortunately seeing the merit in Dream’s words. Even if the green bastard deserved it, would Tommy truly be able to handle killing someone? Going through the rest of his life knowing he had the power to just end someone’s life in the blink of an eye?

At least he didn’t have to decide that himself, considering a voice interrupted their big hero vs. villain scene.

“Well, Tommy might have morals,” Techno deadpanned out, currently holding the rope Dream used to tether Tubbo. “But I sure don’t!”

Before Dream could properly react, Techno was lassoing him away from Tommy. Dream slid against the obsidian only to stop underneath the piglin’s boot. He squawked, only able to make noises of panic before Techno brought it down with a sickening crunch.

It wasn’t enough to kill the man, just knock him out, which Tubbo pointed out, “Hey! Why aren’t you finishing him off?”

Techno shrugged, “I mean, with him knocked out, we can take him somewhere away from everyone. If we kill him, he’ll just respawn in a place we don’t know about and have to deal with him when he comes back.”

Tubbo nodded his head to that, agreeing with the explanation. Philza was standing next to Techno as he did his whole Dream Finisher move, so it was easy for the older man to bend over and completely tie the younger one up. Ranboo- yes, he was still here, thank you- was standing off to the side watching this all happen when the noise of someone flying on a trident popped up and placed a new person on the grid along with everyone else.

Ranboo watched as a man clad in neon camouflage and wearing a gas mask appeared, giving the teen a gentle nod that spoke don’t worry, I’m here to help. He looked around before spotting Techno and Philza and heading over. “Hey, do you guys need any help?”

The two arctic dwellers snapped their heads to look at the voice, pulling out their weapons and pointing them at the newcomer to stop him in his tracks. Before Techno could threaten him, the piglin recognized who the dude was, “Hey, weren’t you at Tommy’s funeral?”

The newcomer nodded his head with his hands still in a surrender pose, doing everything possible to come across as a friend, not a foe, “Yeah, I was. My name is Sam. I offered the kid a place to go when he was first exiled, but didn’t really do much else. When news of his funeral came around, I felt pretty bad about not doing more.”

Techno lowered his weapon, “Why are you here to help us?”

Sam gently jutted the tip of his trident in the direction of Dream, “It’s kind of a long story, but I’ll be brief. Dream commissioned me to build a prison of sorts, and I was going to offer to help chase him down to lock him away. I saw Quackity’s death message and armoured up before coming back to help, but it seems like you are all one step ahead of me. I thought you’d kill him, but I’m not complaining when it makes our job easier.”

Philza clapped his hands before mirroring Techno in stepping away from the unconscious body, “Well, that makes everything much more smooth lined in the long run, thank you.”

Sam nodded his head, walking over to pick up Dream and throw him around his shoulder while looking at Techno. “Do you mind coming with me? It would be nice to have an extra hand in case he wakes up.”

Techno blinked for a few seconds before agreeing, “Sure. I got more ender pearls from Quackity’s pile of items so I should be good. Let me pass them around to the others and then we can get going.”

Silence filled the air as Techno went around doing just that. Once he got to Tubbo, he had to shove the orbs pretty hard at the kid before the brunet would take them. He wanted to get the teletubby locked away before anything else, so before he could notice the look on Tubbo’s face, he was pearling away with Sam to make sure Dream never bothered them again.

For once, Tubbo wasn’t concerned with Dream, or anything else for that matter. All he could do was stare at Tommy, who hadn’t moved since Techno yanked Dream away. The blond stared at the grid, his eyes blank yet wide. Tubbo took a step forward, “Tommy…?”

The blond snapped his head up to stare at his friend(?), his eyes now fearful and so, so young. He honestly looked like he was on the verge of tears, “Um, ‘ello there, lovely weather we’re having, innit?”

Tommy didn’t need to cry because Tubbo promptly did just that, and plenty enough for the both of them. Big, gloppy tears streamed down his face as he leaped forward to tackle Tommy in a hug, “TOMMY!”

Tommy let out an ‘oof’ as the teens collapsed to the ground, Tubbo proceeding to squeeze the life out of his friend. He trembled as if he had hypothermia, and Tommy while Tommy tried playing it off with an air of being collected, be too, eventually started crying, gripping Tubbo in his arms just as tight.

Tubbo blubbered into his friend’s shoulder, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Gods, I’m so sorry-”

Tommy felt his hand snake through the brunet’s hair, “Me too, I’m so fucking sorry, Tubbo, I’m so fucking sorry, I-”

Ranboo watched as an arm slipped around his shoulders, causing him to momentarily jump before realizing it was just Philza. Once he knew, he gladly slumped into the older man’s hold, accepting the comfort for what it was. They all stayed there on that grid, letting out all their emotions and adrenaline out in the ways they saw fit.

Eventually, Tubbo and Tommy split apart, Tubbo moving to grab Tommy’s hand as they sat on their knees. The blond stared at the affection, not sure how to process it before scoffing, “You were always a clingy bitch.”

Tubbo, instead of rolling his eyes, just grinned wider and let a few more tears slip down his face, “Yeah, I really am.”

“Sooooo…” Philza practically whistled out, catching their attention. “Now what?”

As the teens stayed sitting, they glanced at one another before grinning with smiles that were the most genuine they felt in a while. Tubbo looked back at Ranboo and Phil with something he didn’t realize he still had in himself: hope. “We heal.”

---

“So I guess that’s it then, huh,” Ranboo stated plainly, leaning forward with his hands placed on the top of a bench.

But it wasn’t just any bench, it was THE Bench. The one Tommy and Tubbo had found themselves on numerous times throughout the past few months of their lives. It had many emotions associated with it: joy, sadness, vindication, anger, the whole nine yards, but as Tommy stared at it right now, all he could feel was guilt and shame. Did he really deserve to even look at it after everything he’d just done?

Tubbo, as sharp as ever, noticed this with an eyeroll, before moving to grab his best friend’s hand and tug him forward roughly. Tommy nearly fell flat on his face from the force, but was able to catch himself and walk alongside the brunet. Before he could blink, Tubbo was pushing him down onto his original place on the Bench. He then proceeded to walk over to the nearby jukebox to put in Cat, the serene music filling the air as he walked back and plopped down into his own spot.

The sun was setting over the horizon. It never looked prettier.

Tommy felt tears well up in his eyes, quickly bringing a fist up to try and rub them away before either of his friends could notice.

When he felt two separate hands get placed on each of his shoulders, the tears became streams with the realization he failed. He clenched his eyes shut, a mantra of it’s over holy fucking shit it’s really over repeating in his head. He probably looked half-crazed to the two people surrounding him.

Tubbo and Ranboo didn’t mind, however. They were just glad Tommy was here with them. He would probably never be the same ‘Tommy’ ever again, but that was okay. Deep down, he was still Tommy. Loud, obnoxious, disc-lover, loyal friend Tommy, and they wouldn’t even trade him for the world.

Once Tommy opened his eyes again, he noticed Tubbo on his right like usual, looking at him fondly and a hint of sadness, while Ranboo stood at his left, bending over awkwardly so he could reach the blond’s shoulder to comfort him.

With a ‘tch’, Tommy reached up and fisted the front of Ranboo’s shirt, yanking him down. The enderman let out a surprised oooh-kay before blinking and realizing he too was seated down on the bench like the other teens were.

Ranboo thinned his lips, staring into Tommy’s eyes with uncertainty. “Um, are you sure? This seemed like a you guys only thing, and-”

When Tommy threw his left arm around Ranboo’s shoulders, his right one going around Tubbo, Ranboo shut his mouth and enjoyed the scene for what it was.

It was a few moments of silent bliss before their communicators beeped, the three of them simultaneously unlinking from one another to pull their personal device out to read whatever message was sent to everyone.

They all grinned when they took in what it said.

Sapnap: quackity respawned safely and should be good to go by tomorrow

Nihachu: Thank goodness!

Punz: pog

ItsFundy: thank gods

Tubbo_: woohoo!!!!

Ranboo: Yay :D

The_Eret: Glad to hear it =]

TommyInnit: hell yeaaaaaah

Technoblade: darn

The trio on the Bench all rolled their eyes with a smile before bringing their sights back to their devices when the things beeped again.

Technoblade: good to hear tho

The teens all cheekily grinned when their brain cell clicked together with a mischievously fantastic idea.

TommyInnit: <3

Tubbo_: <3

Ranboo: <3

Technoblade: i hate all of you
Technoblade: screw retirement i wanna be evil again

The three teens laughed, gleeful at their mission accomplished before leaning back on the Bench and focusing on the sunset once more. It was indeed the prettiest one they had ever yet to witness.

Meanwhile, a war-torn piglin pocketed his own communicator as he sped up his strides to catch up to an old-as-time friend with wings and a playful ghost with his sheep named Friend.

He reached them in time to see Phil finish looking at his own and pocket it, turning up with a confused look, “Wait, since when were you in retirement again? What happened to using what was in your super secret cave?”

Techno shrugged, his hands now in his pockets and shoulders relaxed, “Eh, had some time to ruminate over the details. Sure, if noise about New L’Manberg being crappy makes its way up to me then I’ll be more than willing to bust out those skulls to teach them right from wrong, but…”

He died off as he stared at Ghostbur, a cloak and hood adorning his back and head that was a similar blue to the sheep’s wool he was currently petting. He was smiling so wide his mouth was open in pure happiness. A day and a half ago they found him melted in a bucket, almost wiped from the face of the entire server because of self-centered goals from one, tyrannical and selfish man.

Techno let out a huff of air through his snout, grinning. “I realized there was bigger fish to fry. Besides, I think there’s something more important to focus on for once.”

Phil crossed his arms as he bounded back up to be walking next to his friend, the crunch crunch crunch of the snow directly entering his ears and his breath fogging up as they entered the outer part of the Tundra, “And what would that be exactly?”

Techno hummed, still watching Ghostbur. He swirled around Friend in a lax sort of dance, his entire body carefully protected by his new cape, humming a tune Techno couldn’t recognize. Alongside him, Techno pictured a blond boy aggressively telling the ghost to stop singing before relenting with a grunt and joining in too. Behind the imagined blond is a brunet kid aggressively yanking on another, less-human teen’s arm, speaking so fast about all the things he wanted to do that day that the one getting tugged on could only nervously grin and nod his head occasionally, hoping that they got to the place they needed to be soon lest he wanted to be down one arm before sunset.

Techno sighed, wondering if he still had that totem god’s penpal address, “I think we should focus a little more on building things up, bringing things back instead of getting rid of them.” Techno’s tusks glew brilliantly in the pink of the sunset, “I think we should focus on family.”