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Chapter Text

There was a ringing in his ears. That was the first thing Tommy realised. He licked his lips and tasted tangy copper against his teeth. He tried to open his eyes but white light seared through his head and he quickly shut them again. He slowly dragged himself off of the grass beneath him and held a hand to his throbbing head. What had happened?

He remembered he went on an errand for Wilbur and was about to come home, but then there was a flash of green and static filled his mind before it all went dark….
Now he was here. He slowly blinked a few times to allow his eyes to adjust to daylight. It seemed to be about midday - the sky was cerulean blue with the occasional cloud and the trees swayed in a slight breeze.

Tommy frowned. That was weird - he could’ve sworn it was winter. He gazed around and found himself on top of the glass covering of L’manhole. He winced as bitter memories of the past struck him as he gazed at the flag of his home far below, forever entombed but never forgotten. His eyes drifted from the flag far below up to eye-level. He froze. W-what?!

His jaw went slack as he took in a beautiful, glistening city with bustling streets, full of people he didn’t recognise. Winding roads stretched throughout the city, zigzagging and connecting all the streets as if the Labyrinth had been remade from the myths. There were vendors in stalls, shops, apothecaries, breweries, taverns - you name it, it was there. But the centrepiece of the city was where Tommy was drawn to - a giant, white-marble palace with romanesque columns and pillars, gilded with gold accents and flowers blooming and growing all over the gargantuan structure.

Tommy made his way up to the many, small, curved steps to the large, open entrance and walked inside as if in a trance. Staircases and servants in white were present galore. A few maids gave him an odd look but continued with their work instead of investigating this strange, zombie-like intruder. He looked down at himself - what? The staring was making him feel self conscious alright? He supposed he did look like a mess - his iconic red-and-white tee had a few holes and splatters of dried blood and dirt on it. His shorts weren’t much better. Oh well - he kept going because a little self doubt would never stop the great Tommyinnit!

He wandered into this large room with a high ceiling and two thrones. Two figures were sat on the two ornate, golden thrones, talking with each other. What surprised Tommy was that he recognised these two figures. “Ranboo, Tubbo?”, he exclaimed, surprised to find them here. It was weird - they both wore these fancy outfits with expensive materials, draping capes and heavy looking crowns decorating their heads. They looked like those old pictures of royalty Wilbur used to show him in history books. It was their expressions that concerned him - Tubbo wore one of confusion while Ranboo wore one of pure anger. Of course, Tommy being Tommy, ignored these social cues and walked right in.

“Oh I’m so glad I found you two! Man, what happened here? I just woke up near L’manhole and-”.
“Who”, Ranboo interrupts haughtily, “is this mortal who dares address a god in such a vulgar and common manner?”, he asked coldly and distastefully, his tail swishing in annoyance.
“Wha?”, Tommy stumbles, dumbfounded, “R-Ranboo~”, he chuckles nervously, “Bud- it’s me, Tommy, one of your best friends”, he shifts from foot to foot nervously. The icy expression on Ranboo’s face only solidifies more. “Tommy?”, Ranboo says, as if tasting the name in his mouth, “I don’t know a Tommy- do you dear?”, he turns to Tubbo who looks more upset than angry. “Ran”, Tubbo softly says, “I think the poor boy must’ve hit his head”.
Tommy goes bright red. “I DID NOT!”, he shrieks, embarrassed. Ranboo’s eyes darken and he snarls and bellows, “HOW DARE YOU!”.

Tommy freezes- he’s never heard Ranboo like this before, “You- a mortal- dare to come into our palace uninvited and insult us? We are GODS you little pest- why would we befriend an annoying, ignorant fool of a mortal, like yourself?”.

Tommy wilts. They- they don’t remember him? And what’s all this about gods? He opened his mouth to speak when loud footsteps interrupted him. Smoke billowed into the room and engulfed the clean air. Ranboo and Tubbo shot up quickly and stepped back. In fear.
Ranboo took a protective stance in front of Tubbo as Tommy tried to understand what was happening.

“I would appreciate-”, an all too familiar voice drawled, “If you didn’t smite my little brother”.
A steady hand placed itself on Tommy’s left shoulder- it was ice cold. The smoke parted for the figure as Tommy looked up into the face of one: Wilbur Soot.
“Hello Toms”, Wilbur smiled down at him.

“Y-you!”, stuttered Ranboo. Wilbur’s eyes left Tommy’s face and became empty pits of ice once more as he lifted his cigarette to his lips and blew. “Me”, he confirmed, gaze burning into Ranboo. “I’ll just take him and be on my-”.
“W-what need do you have for a mortal?”, Ranboo stuttered, “It’s highly s-suspicious of you”, he gulped, tail swishing, agitated. Wilbur paused, glasses being hit by the light so his expression was blank. Then, he laughed. A chuckle turned into a cackle. The ‘gods’ faces were white with fear. Tommy looked on, confused.

“My brother is many things”, he began, a glint in his eye, “But a mortal is not one of them”.
Tommy is even more confused now. Tubbo and Ranboo are shocked. No one moves for a solid minute. Then Wilbur sighs, “Welp- as I said, gotta go!”, he yelled and grabbed Tommy’s hand just as Ranboo began yelling for guards. He threw an enderpearl as far as he could and turned around, hand held in mock salute. “See ya!”, he cackled as the enderpearl worked it’s magic.

They landed on fresh grass in a field about two kilometres from the palace- in the outskirts of the city. Wilbur urged Tommy along. “What just happened?”, Tommy asked incredulously, not understanding anything, “Gods and mortals, Ranboo and Tubbo, Wilbur- what’s happening?”. Wilbur sighs but doesn’t slow down, still looking over his shoulder to see if the two were being followed. “I’m sorry Toms- they don’t remember you or anything of the past, none of them do”, he sighs dejectedly, “Well, not everyone. I remember everything, you do as well , which is great, but also-”, he winces, “Mexican Dream and Schlatt remember too?”.

Tommy stopped. Wilbur glanced at him guiltily. “WHAT?”, Tommy screeched, grabbing Wilbur’s arms, “Wil, they’re dead, d e a d, not revived, right?”. Wilbur just shakes him off and keeps walking. “Wilbur?”, Tommy asked, growing more and more panicked.
“Tommy, look, I’ll explain what I know, okay?”, he huffed. Tommy watches, expectantly. “There was this, blast, of sorts and I woke up in this temple-castle thing with Schlatt and MD, we all agreed it was super weird with all these carvings of us in the walls and statues”, he breathed, as if trying to wrap his head around it himself, “They were all in Enchantment Language, which luckily Schlatt can read”. He hopped over a tree trunk and helped Tommy over. “It called Schlatt the god of ‘Karma, Greed and Tyranny’”, he smiled at Tommy, “Ironic right? Well MD was the god of ‘Addiction, Violence and Revenge’”.
“But MD is so nice!”, Tommy protested, still marching next to Wilbur.

The area around them was becoming more and more bleak and dark, with snow lightly falling around them as they steered clear of dead flora in their path. “I know right?”, Wilbur complained, “Anyway that was them, I was the god of ‘Madness, Betrayal and Deceit’”, Wilbur scoffed and rolled his eyes, “And yours said god of ‘Chaos, Mischief and Destruction’”. Tommy winced at the title. “That…hits a little too close to home”, he whispered.
Wilbur nodded in agreement. “Our titles and domains automatically painted us as the ‘bad guys’, so-”, Wilbur stopped as he reached a cliff and pointed to the distance, “We naturally got the ‘evil’ base and were labelled ‘Dark’ gods by everyone else”.

Tommy could only nod as he took in the large, spiraling, Dracula-like castle that was now his home. “Well Tommy”, Wilbur sarcastically smiled, “Let’s be the Bad Guys”.

Chapter Text

Wilbur’s arm on his left shoulder was a comforting weight as the two walked through the dark halls of their new ‘home’. Tommy still couldn't wrap his head around it. Some sort of sleeping curse that forced everyone to sleep and become ‘gods’? Yeah- that’s a lot to take in. Tommy glanced down at his folded arms and rubbed the hairs on them thoughtfully. He didn’t feel any different, yet Wilbur had called him a god too. As if sensing his conflicting thoughts, Wilbur gave his shoulder a reassuring rub as the cold, dark hallway of rugged, black marble ended and opened into a large circular room. He glanced back at the hallway with busts and gargoyles of scowling faces and felt oddly comforted in the fact they watched over him.

Wilbur chuckled at Tommy’s awed expression as they entered the circular room. The high ceilings of painted night skies and constellations were mixed with scenes of what appeared to be disasters: a wall of overpowering water rushing at an innocent village, a medieval kingdom swarmed by plagues, a golden city lit aflame. And in the centre were four, familiar figures. Tommy knew this was wrong, he shouldn’t find this beautiful. He should be disgusted, horrified. But as he looked at the depictions of doom, he felt giddy and breathless at the idea of chaos. His eyes zoned in the screaming figures and he felt a pang of hunger wrack his body. Wilbur glanced at Tommy and did a double take. He chuckled as the boy-god’s pupils expanded with drunken desire at the chaos above them.

“I know right?”, Wilbur grinned, “Very ecclesiastical”, he giggled. “Eclecs- ekleese-”, Tommy stumbled over the word, frowning. “Ecclesiastical”, Wilbur pointedly said, “means holy, religious- this place is like a cathedral- isn’t it?”. “Ohhhhhh”, Tommy nodded in understanding. After a moment of consideration, he looked up at Wilbur. “You’re a right theatre kid ya know?”. Wilbur screeched in indignation which only fueled Tommy’s chaotic grin. “A right Tory, innit?”, he smiled, his cheshire grin beaming.

“I think Loverboy is simply over poetic”, an all-too familiar voice interrupted. In the middle of the hauntingly beautiful, ornate room stood J.Schlatt. Tommy froze. The last time he saw this man he was fast asleep in limbo- completely dishevelled and broken, but now Tommy had to do a double-take. His curled ram horns polished and shining, no sign of any cracks, were decorated with golden bands, clasps and rings. His hands were bejewelled with the wealth of nations and naive souls long gone. His hair was slicked back and his signature mutton chops groomed to perfection, except for the streak of stark white in his chocolate curls, a reminder all revived had of what waited beyond the veil. His three-piece, black suit was finished off with a blood red tie to match the new changes to his appearance- his new crimson eyes and vermillion horns.

Tommy stood, gaping like a goldfish for a good two minutes. Wilbur just laughed and looked Schlatt up and down. “So”, he began, “You changed into the clothes?”, he asked with a smirk. Schlatt just grinned, “Hey! I’ve been awake three days longer than you- I couldn’t keep on the same clothes for that long! And besides-”, he leaned in and whispered, “Comfiest thing ever”. Tommy, still gaping, made a small noise of confusion and muttered, “clothes?”.

“Yes sunshine”, Wilbur started, Tommy blushing madly at he childhood nickname his brother had given him, “We each have our own rooms and part of the castle but-”, he waved his hands unenthusiastically, jazz-hands style, “magically the wardrobes only had really specific outfits for each of us”, he explained, “So of course we're doing a bet to see who can last the longest without giving in and changing”. “Oh-kay”, Tommy mumbled, “Not the weirdest thing that's happened today”.

Whereas but a moment before Tommy was grinning and joking, he now seemed meek, quiet and unsure of himself. There was quite the elephant in the room, sure, Schlatt and Wilbur had made amends with each other in limbo, but the last time Tommy spoke to Schlatt was when he exiled them to Pogtopia. Sensing his discomfort, Schlatt began conversation again. “Hey Tommy”, he whispered, Tommy’s eyes quickly flicking to Schlatt, “Ya know what kind of outfits your brother was given?”, he smiled chaotically. Tommy smiled back, conspiratorially, “What?”, he asked excitedly.

“C’mon man”, Wilbur groaned. Schlatt just huffed and whispered, “You ever see 'Dracula' kid?’. Tommy couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing, cackling like a madman as he clutched his stomach. “Really?!”, he hiccuped out, imagining his brother as a brooding vampire.
“The cape with the collar and everything”, Schlatt said solemnly. Tommy wheezed and doubled over- the mood of the entire castle lifted. WIlbur looked over to Schlatt and mouthed a ‘thank you’. Schlatt just nodded, ruffled Tommy’s hair, and excused himself, informing them that MD was out for the day and dinner was at seven. Wilbur took this as an opportunity to show Tommy around.

Even though the palace at L’manburg, or what was L’manburg, was grand and beautiful with bright colours and wealth flashing everywhere- Tommy couldn’t help but be comforted by the cool, dark tones of the castle. Their castle. There was anything he could possibly want- a library, training area, a cinema- anything! Even the gothic castle itself wasn’t too bold or bright or over-the-top like the one in L’manburg. After a few dark, stone hallways and a very cool spiral staircase with vines and dark-coloured flowers intertwined on the bannister, the two reached the highest floor of the castle, Tommy’s floor, which held his room.

A beautiful observatory awaited them. Large, dark-oak trees spiralled around the oval room, their branches holding up the glass roof as if they held up the sky itself. A grand, circular bed, large enough to fit five was in the middle, a mountain of pillows and blankets piled on top. Gossamer swaths of materials in deep blues and purples hung all around the room, swaying in the cool, nighttime breeze that blew in from the open balcony that gave Tommy a view of vast, majestic mountain ranges, plunging waterfalls in the distance and a perfect view of the horizon for the sun to rise and fall. Thick vines of wither roses snaked over the bedposts and six, ancient, greek-style marble columns were around the circumference of the room. The scent of fresh, night air hung calmly in the room as the constellations gleamed soothingly down onto the two gods. Blue, soul-lantern lights flickered lazily in and out of existence, like will ‘o the wisps from Tommy’s old bedtime stories, casting a sleepy glow over the room.

“Wil…”, Tommy whispered, eyes sparkling in the starlight, “How is it night? We were just at L’manburg and it was midday?”. Wilbur hummed, the calming atmosphere of the room soothing him, “The world itself changed Toms”, he replied softly, “Over here with us ‘Dark’ gods, we have eternal night and winter”, he explained, “While they have eternal day and the rest of the seasons over there”. Tommy frowned, “But if it’s eternal winter- how come we’re warm and not freezing?”. “Magic”, Wilbur replied sleepily, “Our domains make sure others suffer while we’re comfortable”. Tommy walked closer to the bed and ran his hand over it. It was the softest thing he had ever touched. He glanced up and caught sight of golden apples at the top of the branches of his trees. He hummed, “Is it just me or is there a ‘Greek’ theme to my room?”, he asked.

“Yeah”, WIlbur blinked, tired, “We all have a theme of sorts. Schlatt’s is a modern day successful businessman, MD’s is like from those old hispanic myths- Day of the Dead style, and mine? Well, the whole ‘Dracula’ thing carried over”, he hummed sleepily, “Your style is probably Greek”, he said. “Toms, your room is definitely the most relaxing”, he said, getting comfortable on the bed. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, relaxing. “Well, what do you think?”,Tommy asked, coming out of the bathroom, old clothes in hand.

Wilbur looked up and cooed. “Awwww Toms! You look like a little Greek god!”, he awed.
A blush rose to Tommy’s cheeks. He wore a Greek chiton in a midnight black colour, silver, delicate, metal chains were used as straps over the shoulders. A pair of knee-high sandals were on his feet and a thin, silver circlet cast an ethereal glow over his face. Wilbur, of course, fussed over him as an adoring big brother would and was pleased when Tommy said it was the comfiest thing he ever wore- it just felt right.

“Wil”, Tommy prompted, “Will you teach me about this whole ‘God’ stuff?”, he asked. Wilbur looked at him, pride glowed in his eyes and he gave a promise that he would.
“Tomorrow though”, he insisted, “I’ve seen you rub your eyes about fifteen times now- bed first”, he said as he pushed his little godling into the bed and went to leave the room.

“G’night Wil, love you” Tommy mumbled, blearily. Wilbur smiled, his little brother was by his side once more, “Love you too Sunshine”, he whispered and closed the door.

That night, Tommy fell asleep to starlight.

Chapter Text

Tommy gazed at the rippling water above him. The occasional lily pad would float across his field of vision. His hair swayed as the water held him close - floating as if in the depths of space, eternal darkness enveloping him as the stars twinkled  their shy “hello’s” to the golden boy in their midst. He felt unnoticed. It was heavenly.

Today he had chosen the lilac, twilight waters of the glistening lavender pool - one of many in his new bath house area on his floor of the dark castle. The large, white marble columns were one of the few bright places in the entirety of the palace. But not the harsh, gleaming bright of L’manburg, no, a soft, gentle bright, akin to moonlight on a summer’s night- soft, silvery, cool but not freezing. A welcoming cold touch to soothe the skin after a day of blistering heat. A relief.

 It seemed that Tommy’s whole floor was full of these bright, silvery places, the only bright places in their castle. Wilbur often teases Tommy about it by calling him nicknames like, “the light of their lives”, or, “Their Sun”. Of course, Tommy would protest and splutter insults at the man for hours afterwards. But if any of the others noticed Tommy turning a bright red or smiling to himself for the rest of the day, no they didn’t- shut up.

His gaze went cross-eyed as he followed the small lily that floated past above him. The steam from the ten different baths, all with a unique scent and colour, was causing small beads of sweat to form on his forehead and a sleepy haze to descend over his mind, dragging him into a daydream and giving him a moment to reflect on yesterday’s events.

Seeing Schlatt had scared him. The man truly was alive and seeing it with his own eyes had cemented that reality for Tommy. Whatever this “Great Sleep”, as Tommy had taken to calling the event, had actually resurrected the goatman and turned everyone into gods on top of that! The way Ranboo and Tubbo reacted….they really didn’t remember did they?

Tommy sighed. And not only did they not remember, they were now, supposedly, scared of him. 

He grabbed his legs and held them close to his chest, the warm water a feeble attempt to soothe his anxious mind. He held his hand out and opened his palm to stare at it. He looked normal- but he knew that deep down, something that made him fundamentally him , had changed. The way he felt when he thought of-. He shook his head to clear the hunger and want he felt. When he thought of chaos.

He had changed- he wasn’t that naive. He knew that he shouldn’t feel gleeful at the thought of distress and fear on others, but it was a part of him now. He knew the others felt the same. That when Wilbur thinks of people who have lost their sanity and all their humanity, he laughs like it’s the funniest thing in the world. That when Schlatt thinks of dictators and people who use others for their own selfish desires, he smiles like a proud parent. That MD probably thinks of fighting pits and gets an adrenaline rush. They’ve changed- and not for the better.

Tommy furrows his brows. But then why is he happier than he has been in years ? Why does he feel a sense of family, of belonging like he never has before? Schlatt didn’t seem to want to cause any harm, instead ruffling Tommy’s hair and acting like a second older brother. He gave Tommy a feeling of comfort, similar to when he was a child, when Wilbur would read him stories and sword fight with him and-. Tommy stopped. His eyes widened with realisation. This power may have caused everyone to forget and changed all of his relationships.

But he didn’t miss them.

I mean yeah, he missed the memories of those relationships, but after his resurrection, things were different. No one treated him like Tommy anymore. Like the kid he is. They treated him like he was still dead- a ghost that rambled about his murderer and smiled when you gave him attention. An empty shell of the boy who once was there. But that boy died. He died. Tommy only noticed he was crying when his tears fell on his open palm in front of him.

It was raining outside of his sheltered, open-aired bathhouse now. The rain created a soothing symphony for him.

He had a family now. People who would love him unconditionally . He heard a loud sound that interrupted the rain and gave it new meaning. It was a sorrowful sound- one of loss and love and grief for a life he never got to live. Oh. He was making the noise. The sobs tore through him painfully but they felt good . He was shedding his old skin and becoming more than just ‘Wilbur’s little brother’ or ‘the dead kid’, or even just ‘the hero’. He was more .

He is more. An ‘evil creature’, or maybe just, ‘ a horrible monster’ is what they might call him. And they won’t be wrong. He is that. But he is also one thing he never was as a ‘hero’ or ‘toy’. Tommy smiles to the ceiling. 

He is loved.

He wiped his tears and uncurled from his foetal position at the bottom of the pool. After last night’s sleep, the best he’d had in years , he woke up feeling refreshed with a strong desire to explore his floor of the castle. One thing he found during his expedition was that Wilbur’s assumptions about the whole ‘Greek’ theme were correct, with large open-aired areas and pavilions full of meadows and statues of figures from myths, but not statues of the heroes or gods. No- the statues were of the Greek “villains” such as Kronos or Gaea, and yet Tommy thought they were just as beautiful as any hero or god.

Nature was intertwined with his floor- trees reaching up to the heavens, akin to Yggdrasil and its world branches reaching out into infinity, and vines crawling over every exposed space, protecting the beautiful, ancient architecture as they thrived and bloomed. Tommy found the entire floor peaceful and refreshing, especially when he found these baths two hours ago and slipped in.

He knew instinctively that no one could interrupt him here- in this particular room, unless he allowed them. He felt a presence at the door as the voices in his head whispered of a visitor approaching. He sighed internally and mentaly prepared himself for the day ahead. His head rose from under the glass, mirror-like surface and he felt a rush zap through his body.

His eyes widened as he stumbled out of the pool, grinning as his entire being sung. He felt glorious - like all his energy had been replenished. He had found that being a god came with perks such as: breathing underwater and suddenly feeling slightly buffer than before. Yup- Tommy got a shock this morning when he went to get changed and found his biceps, that had been lacking since he hadn’t fought in so long, had toned overnight. Well? He wasn’t gonna complain!

His feet landed on the hot, tiled steps of the bath house as he wrung the water out of swimming trunks. 

“Come in!”, he called to whoever was outside the door. The door burst open and a familiar figure yelled in a Mexican accent, “TOMÁS!”. Tommy’s face split into a grin.

“MD!”, he screeched and leapt into the older’s arms.

He had been told that MD was now one of them - “Dark” gods. But to actually see him? Tommy was overjoyed. They embraced each other for a moment longer before MD spoke.

“Oh Tomás- mi hermano menor! I’ve missed you so much man!”, he grinned, glad to have his friend back with him. Tommy beamed back at his friend, glad to have more company.

But his thoughts began to spiral out of control as he remembered his breakdown earlier. His grin faded into a frown and he hummed, apprehensive.

“Hey, MD. All this stuff about gods and powers and domains and, well, you , that’s eh”, Tommy stuttered, “I-I’m not d-dreaming, right?”, he nervously chuckled. MD looked on with a concerned gaze and opened his mouth to respond before Tommy interrupted quickly.

“It’s just that, I’d, eh”, he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, “I’d hate to lose all of this again”, he quietly confessed, his nervous rambling picking up pace now, “I mean, I know we’re ‘Dark’ gods and it’s not necessarily a good thing but-” . 

“Tomás”, Mexican Dream interrupted with a comforting smile, “It’s okay man, breathe . You’re alive mi sol , I’m alive, this is all real.”, he comforted, knowing the distress the boy is going through.

Tommy took a breath and smiled. He didn’t notice the wetness in his eyes until MD was wiping his tears away. “ ¡Oh mi pollito pequeño!”, cried MD as he wrapped his arms around Tommy in an adoring embrace.

As he was being crushed by the Mexican man and drowned in affection, Tommy took the time to notice MD’s new appearance. He hadn’t noticed before, as he was too caught up in the moment, but his friend was still wearing his signature Mexican mask but he now had a black and neon-green poncho that seemed to fade and become mist near the ends, flowing behind him like living shadows that curled around the two of them. On top of that, if Tommy squinted hard enough, he thought he saw MD’s mask flicker for a moment, becoming completely black with a grinning skull that seemed to grin even wider when it noticed Tommy staring. Tommy laughed when it seemed to wink at him and the two turned to leave the bathhouse.

Apparently Schlatt was making lunch. It was only when Mexican Dream had told him that, Tommy realised that Schlatt had told them to come to dinner last night too. Huh, he hadn’t known Schlatt as a cook. “It’s a thing we do conejito ”, MD shrugged when he asked, “Like a family meeting or some bonding thing”.

So here Tommy was, sat in Schlatt’s floor of the castle, in a modern, expensive looking kitchen. The seat was a cold metal one that twirled around and Tommy leaned on the kitchen island top, black marble gleaming with specks of gems inside. If Tommy were to describe Schlatt’s floor, ‘humble’ would not be one of the words he would use.

Shows of wealth draped across every surface, sleek, modern couches, gilded with gold and hard, polished marble pieces made the place feel like a fortress. There were some touches of the floor’s true nature, with a throne or two, a few crowns and swords, and five suits of armour all screaming, “This is the home of a tyrant”. One thing Tommy did not understand was the view. A huge city skyline with people walking around and going about their lives. Last time Tommy checked, the castle was in the deepest darkest parts of the server, with mountains and dark ravines and valleys creating a natural shield around the area.

When Tommy pointed it out Schlatt tried to explain it to him.

“This place is designed to be whatever we want, kid”, he described, hand on Tommy’s shoulder, gazing out the windows, “I like people watching, so this appeared”. He shrugged.

Lunch consisted of freshly toasted sandwiches of every kind and light laughter as each member of the found-family shared stories from their own lives. Tommy looked at his new family, laughing and joking together. He smiled. He really was home, wasn’t he?

“OH!”, MD exclaimed, “ Rey Carnero , Tramposo, you gotta know!”, he screeched excitedly. Schlatt and WIlbur huffed, already used to MD’s incessant need to give them nicknames. 

“Tomás has this huge bathhouse thing all to himself!”

The two eldest looked at each other and shared a teasing glance.

“Awwwww Toms~”, Wilbur whined like a child, “You didn’t invite me? Do you know how much stress your big brother is under?”, he huffed. Schlatt barked out a laugh at that.

“What stress Wil? We literally live in paradise!”, he extended his arms out wide and lounged back.

“Oh”, Wilbur hummed, “Well I have a few things planned and-”. 

“Plans? What plans?”, Tommy interrupted, too used to hearing ‘plans’ and ‘Wilbur’ put together. “Well”, WIlbur started, “I have to teach you about being a god, now don’t I?”, he sighed, then smirked. “And, drumroll please”, Wilbur paused as MD rapped his fingers against the table. “We’re going to throw a party!”, he stood up suddenly, arms stretched into the air in joy. The others gave him confused looks. “A party?”, Tommy questioned, a single eyebrow raised.

“And everyone is invited”, Wilbur grinned wolfishly.

Chapter Text

Tommy groaned as he and Wilbur climbed higher into the mountain range across from their castle. “ Wilbur !”, Tommy moaned petulantly, “My feet hurt! Are we nearly there?”.

“Shush child-”, said Wilbur, a squawk of indignation from Tommy interrupts him until he continues, “We are nearly there for your matter of fact, but also, you have been stuck in that castle for three whole days-”, Wilbur gives Tommy a challenging look from over his shoulder, “You’ve gotten lazy and soft ”, he accused.

“WHA?!”, screeched the offended God Of Chaos, “First you call me child- ”, he hissed out the word venomously, “And now you call me lazy and soft on top of that?!”. He glared at Wilbur ferociously. “I’ll show you lazy, you pompous piece of-!”.

BANG

Tommy screeched and jumped out of skin as Wilbur sidestepped a lighting strike that aimed for him with deadly accuracy. Wilbur looked at the burning spot of foliage only a step to right- exactly where he stood just moments ago. Tommy was gasping for breath and wheezily asked, :w-wha was- what just?”, stumbling over his words.

“ That -”, Wilbur replied coolly, “Was why we are up here today”. He whirled around to face Tommy with apathy in his eyes. “If I was a lesser being or even just a ‘Good’ god-”, he leaned close to Tommy’s face and whispered accusingly, “I would be dead”.

Tommy’s face paled at the truth. “W-wha? No, wait, Wil that wasn’t me!”, he argued.

“Oh yeah?”,Wilbur shot back, clearly trying to get his point across, “Then why was it that when one of the only two people up here got mad- it struck exactly where I was standing”.

“Uh- coincidence!”,Tommy blurted, looking more and more flustered, “Yeah”, he shakily said.

Wilbur looked at the shaking boy with pity. “Tommy”, he said sympathetically, “I know what it’s like- look, I- I nearly killed Schlatt when we first woke up”, he confessed.

“Y-you did?”, asked Tommy wearily.

“Yeah bud- I know what it’s like, it’s one of the reasons why the ‘Good’ gods are scared of us”, he explained, “ We are far more powerful than them ”.

Tommy’s eyes widened in realisation. “One strong emotion from us”, Wilbur continued, “And we could bring down their cities to nothing but ash and rubble”.

Wilbur stood up tall, the moon high above giving him an ethereal halo of silver night around his head and stated, “ That is why we are here today- so you can learn how to tame your power so that you don’t cause mass destruction”.

Tommy just fidgeted with his hands. “But Wil- I’m the god of chaos and destruction, shouldn’t I- ya know? Try to blow stuff up?”, he said self consciously.

Wilbur just smiled a sad smile, “Oh Tommy”, he sighed fondly, “I’m not gonna let you become that”.

Tommy just gaped.

“... what? ”.

Wilbur just gave a small smile and continued on the steep path before them. Tommy spluttered as he tried to wrap his head around the bombshell of information that his brother dumped on him.

 “What do you mean you won’t let me become that?”, Tommy asked wearily.

Wilbur just chuckled. “You really think I’m going to force you to live a life of misery?”, he chuckled over his shoulder, gazing at his poor innocent little brother. Wilbur’s eyes softened as he thought about it, his brother looked up at him with such big, sad, doe eyes. Then Wilbur’s gaze hardened as he reminisced on the past.

“I know what being the villain is like”, he sighed, seeming to grow older with just that admission, “It’s not a good experience- being hunted down, hated -”, he growled as the shadows of Pogtopia enveloped his mind. 

He paused and looked down at his sibling, baby blue met hazel brown, “but what you need to help you out of the dark-”, he explained, eyes softening once again, “is a shining beacon of hope in your life- your own Sun that you will forever revolve around”, he confessed.

“ Ew Wil! That’s so cringe ! So sappy -”, the chaos deity gagged, “and you call me soft”, he scoffed. WIlbur just laughed and wrapped his arms around his brother, the two play fighting up the mountain. And yet a stray thought caught Wilbur’s attention as his little brother bounced, raced and laughed under the moonlight, ‘Anything for you- my little Sun ’.

The two brothers continued on their way up the path. They had left the shrouded, shadowed forest section with strange squawks and gleaming yellow eyes watching them from past the treeline and were now on a crumbling and unsteady stone, slowly making their way up the gargantuan behemoth of a mountain. 

“ Wilbur please! ”, Tommy groaned as he panted his way up the trails, a small cloud of dust rising with each step he took, “We’ve been walking forever !”. Wilbur merely chuckled and paused from his hike as he took a few steps back towards his exhausted brother and gently clasped his hand around Tommy’s. It was cool, Tommy noted as Wilbur looked at him with a gentle smile. That was all Tommy could do before Wilbur easily swung his tired little brother around his shoulders and placed his steady hands underneath Tommy’s knees, but not before guiding his brother’s hands around his neck.

“WILBUR!”, Tommy shrieked, as he was hoisted into a piggyback, blushing from being treated like a kid, “I AM NOT FIVE YEARS OLD- PLEASE PUT ME D OWN !- ”, he screeched the last part as his brother snorted and rose to his full height. Now for Tommy, already being six foot one, the ground was far away, but now? Being on his six foot five brother's back? 

The ground was even further away .

The screeching and laughter could be heard for miles as Wilbur, with his newfound godly strength, easily carried his brother up the stone path, some loose rubble giving way underneath his feet as he sped up the steep incline. 

It seemed to Tommy that not only had players been affected by the “flash” that had changed them all- but the animals too. He saw strange wispy, ethereal hounds and felines dancing and racing each other through the trees, a ghostly, glowing white stag stared at the two gods with large, doe eyes. Rabbits with branches woven into their fur raced along with the laughing boys and moths and butterflies with luminescent and shadowy wings fluttered through the fresh, cool, night sky. Fireflies blinked in and out of existence as a misty haze began to gather underneath the boys’ feet.

“WIL DON’T YOU DARE LET GO- !”, cried Tommy as his brother ran through these mystical pathways. “Don’t worry Tommy-”. Wilbur laughed as he felt the rush of freedom that running through nature always gave him, “I’ve got you- I’m not letting go”. Wilbur caught Tommy’s eye. Still haloed by the moon and shrouded in its moonlight, Wilbur’s eyes held a promise of safety and love that Tommy hadn’t felt, or more so, hadn’t been able to feel since, since-.

Tommy frowned. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt safe and loved. It was probably-  just before he came to the server . Late summer nights filled with laughter and racing through fields with Wilbur, long grass coming up to their hips and catching fireflies, nights spent around a warm campfire and Wilbur singing lullabies. As Tommy looked back at Wilbur’s hopeful eyes, giving a promise of all he missed of his childhood since he came to this server, Tommy accepted the love and safety with open arms, smiled a wide, childish smile, and held his brother close.

The animals around them all felt the bright, burning love the brothers had for each other. Once nothing more than cinders from betrayal, madness, and death, it now burned a little brighter.

When the summit of the mountain came into view, Wilbur sighed in relief. He looked up to see Tommy dozing off on top of his head. He smiled. Then dropped the boy onto the ground.

“Ow!”, Tommy woke with a jolt, rubbing his head, “That hurt Wilbur! Why did you even-”, he trailed off as he took in the mountain with wide eyes. A beautiful jagged peak of stone rose up from the depths of the valley below, mist swirling around the bottom like an intangible sea, the moon outlining the shrap apex in silver light.

“Wow”, whispered Tommy, eyes sparkling. 

“I know”, said Wilbur, “She’s a beaut”.

It was then Tommy realised the two were on a flat piece of mountain, overlooking the whole valley below, shrouded in darkness the whole way along like a scar in the earth, until their castle rose from the void like a knife through paper. Tommy jumped when Wilbur’s hand rested on his shoulder as the two stood side by side.

“The power within our viens comes from an unknown source”, Wilbur spoke softly. “None of us are sure of its origins or limits-”, he said, the brothers silhouetted by the moon, “But we are learning to control it”. Strange winged, wispy creatures glided over the gap, barely beating their wings as the brothers inhaled the cold, damp air. “You got a taste of what happens when we don’t learn to control that power tonight”, Wilbur stated, Tommy wincing at the reminder he had nearly killed his brother.

“It won’t happen again though”, Wilbur said, “You will learn to control your power and you will use it responsibly”, Wilbur declared warningly, “Or we will have no choice but to subdue you in isolation until you can control your abilities without causing anyone harm”. Tommy gulped and wide eyed looked up at his brother in fear. “Wil, you’ll, you’ll imprison me ?”, he asked, scared. “Not if we don’t have to Tommy, and I assure you-”, Wilbur spoke quickly and truthfully, “We don’t want to imprison you - but for yours and others’ safety-”, he knelt down to Tommy’s level and looked at him with cold, unforgiving eyes, “ We will do what we have to ”.

Those damning words graced Tommy’s ears and a cold sweat swept over his body. His brother looked down at him with a dark look in his eyes, the grip on his shoulder a little too tight. “Okay Wil”, Tommy accepted, “Okay”. At once the dark look was gone, replaced with his brother’s normally kind eyes once more.

 “Good”, he said, “Now- each God has a different ‘skill’ set depending on their domain”, he explained, all previous threats forgotten, “I can easily influence the minds of others, Schlatt is similar but it’s more so complete mind and impulse control and MD? He is also very similar-”, Wilbur said with a frown, “Wow- I didn’t realise how similar we all are, huh?”. Tommy just giggled and asked, “But what about me?”.

Wilbur smiled, “Well all Gods have a lot of the same ‘base’ powers- teleportation, creation of objects and so on”, he explained, “But you’re the God of Chaos, Mischief and Destruction-”, he said with a thoughtful look on his face. “I’m going to assume the Chaos part gives you a lot to work with”, he said with a laugh, “The Mischief would probably be like shape-shifting or something along those lines”, he hummed, “And Destruction? Pretty self explanatory I’d say”, he shrugged.

“Cool!”, shrieked Tommy, “C’mon, C’mon! I want my cool superpowers now!”, he jumped up and down in a circle as Wilbur laughed and pulled him in for a tight hug. Tommy leaned into it. It was warm and safe. “Okay- but remember, we have to be back by seven, or Schlatt will kill us for missing dinner”, he laughed.

Flashes could be seen all night as the two brothers flung spells and fought together playfully. A loud yelling could be heard later as a goat-man chased the two through the valley for missing family dinner.