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Chapter Text

Hermit Craft Season 8

“Alright, the moment of truth! Come on, in you come.” Grian muttered as he slowly walked backwards into his base. The magical menagerie was about to get it’s charged creeper. All he had to do was make it through the glass cylinder and trap it inside. 

“Go, go, go.” Scar cheered on from behind the thing, holding glass panes at the ready. “I’m gonna sneak up behind!” He reported.

Grian nodded as the creeper followed him through, he quickly jumped off the platform and placed down his glass panes before the thing could exit. “Okay, go!”

He braced for an explosion if it all went wrong.

“Bam!” Scar yelled as he placed down the last blocks, raising his arms up excitedly. The creeper was fully encased in its enclosure. 

“Yay!” Grian cheered, clapping his hands glad the work was over after the first failed attempt. “We’ve done it!”

“And it’s named, forever! Trapped!” Scar added, as Grian came around the shop to meet him. The two stared at their work in pride and relief. Working with creepers was never fun, and could easily end with losing your things to an explosion. 

“And it’s not going anywhere!” Grian added.

“That was so easy!” Scar exaggerated, chuckling lightly. 

Grian laughed, “what? ‘That was so easy?’” He teased, remembering their first try that ended abruptly with an explosion of his base and himself. Scar only nodded, ignoring Grian’s remarks. 

“The Swagon comes through every time.” Scar prided himself, placing his hand on his hips and nodding to himself. Grian grinned and shook his head, turning to the brunette and walking backwards again, motioning for the other to follow him. 

“Well, as per agreement, follow me. I’ve got a little something for you.” Grian said, placing his hands into his trouser’s pockets and walking up the small hill to the rest of Boatem. 

Scar gasped remembering their prior agreement, “The Jellie!”

Grian giggled and led Scar over to where he’d left the cat. His friend fawned over his cat, laughing as he tried to tame her. He and Scar talked as they walked back to the Swagon entrance, Jellie securely in Scar’s arms. By the time they were down, and Grian left Scar on his front doorstep, a cat attached to his hip, it was night time. The mobs no doubt would be coming out soon, and he reminded himself he needed to head home to his starter base. 

He walked up the path back to his small observatory home, when he noticed the blonde tufts of hair bounce along the paths ahead. The small boy was sat right in front of the Boatem hole, his legs swinging out in front of him as they dangled over the ledge. He huffed, slouching his shoulders. 

He was nowhere near angry. No, instead he was just tired. Tired of telling the blonde to stay away from the hole and him continuously ignoring him. 

He strayed from the path back home, and walked up to the boy. He stopped right  next to him, tapping his foot on the soft ground earning the boy’s attention. Blue eyes snapped up to him and widened with a guilty grin. 

“Hi Grian?” The boy strained through his grin. He knew well he was in trouble by the look on the older blonde’s face. 

“Tommy.” Grian’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at the boy who laughed lightly. Tommy had just recently turned seven and apparently that now made him invincible, according to him. “How many times have I told you not to play around the Boatem hole?”

“Well, for one, I wasn’t playing!” He declared, his chin lifting up as he shot through Grian’s reprimand. The older avian only rolled his eyes. Grian’s parrot wing unfurled and rose above the boy’s head, knocking him lightly. Tommy squawked as the wing hit his head, a motion for parent avian’s to reprimand fledglings.

“So, what were you doing then?” Grian asked, his wing staying in place above the younger’s head, hiding him from the mobs that were surely spawning. Tommy huffed, crossing his arms.

“I was sending a letter.” He mumbled, grumpily. Grian nodded, and hummed as if he understood, he did not. 

“Sending a letter to Mumbo? Or Impulse? Maybe Gem? I really need to introduce you to more hermits.” Grian mumbled the last bit to himself. He’d met Tommy with the rest of the Boatem crew a while ago; a few months to be specific. The kid had been hiding out in one of the caves underneath their bases. When they went exploring for mines and material they’d found him hiding in a mineshaft, scared out of his mind from the swarms of skeletons and creepers. 

Mumbo had spotted the kid after running into the hoard. He’d only caught a glimpse of the kid’s foot when he called for Grian’s help. The two killed off the hoard slowly, eventually making their way over to the hole. 

The boy had been dirty and muddy, his clothes ragged and torn from the sharp rocks. Mumbo was trying to coax him out with a promise of potatoes when Grian noticed the boy’s misshapen wings. The avian hybrid immediately started chirping to the fledgling to get him out of the hole. Mumbo had backed away to let Grian do the job he was failing at. 

When they finally got him out, Grian had engulfed him in a hug checking the chick over for injuries. They met up with the rest of Boatem who all fell quickly to the idea of adopting him.

Now Tommy was the shared child of all of Boatem. 

“I was sending a letter to Ranboo.” Tommy said, with that childish indifference. Grian racked his brain for the name, he couldn’t remember anyone on the server named Ranboo. He shook his head, pulling out his communicator to check for himself. He pulled up the tab list of everyone, and found that no Ranboo was listed.

“Who’s Ranboo?” Grian asked, putting the communicator away to give Tommy his full attention. Tommy looked up from the hole, his blue eyes sparkling with childish innocence and conniving. 

“He’s my friend. He lives in the void.” Tommy declared, kicking his legs out. His feet hit the rocks, as they rolled down into the hole and eventually the void. 

“He lives in the void?” Grian asked, confused. How in the world was that possible? “I’ve never met Ranboo.”

“I don’t tell you everything.” Tommy declared, puffing his chest out with a laugh. Grian rolled his eyes.

“And that’s what worries me. The stuff you say already is concerning enough, add on the fact you won’t tell me some stuff and I have reason to be panicked. Let me guess, he’s a part of Scar’s Swagon or Impulse’s Candy factory?” Grian guessed, tapping his finger on his chin. 

Tommy giggled, “Nope!” He pulled his legs up from dangling over the hole and turned to the older. He sat on his knees, patting his hands on the grass excitedly. 

“Remember when you guy’s found me?” Tommy asked. Grian was almost taken aback by the statement. Tommy never brought up anything from before he’d met the Boatem crew. Anytime they tried to ask him, he’d shut down or he’d just get confused. They’d just given up, perfectly content with keeping him around.

“Yeah?” Grian said, a little nervous at what he was getting into. 

“I had a friend!” Tommy yelled, and Grian let out a sigh of relief. “He didn’t visit often, but sometimes he’d show up. He was my age, and he said he lived in the void with his moms. He was only ever able to get away sometimes, but when he did he checked on me. He was kind of weird ‘cause he’d always get scared of water. And he was all different colors too! He had two mismatched eyes, and wore a crown.”

Grian nodded along, the more Tommy spoke the less he truly believed him. The older hummed and entertained the seven year old, assuming he was speaking of an imaginary friend. 

“You said that the Boatem hole leads down to the void. So if I threw my letter inside it would reach him!” Tommy clapped. Grian nodded finally understanding. The kid was just bored and wanted an excuse to go to the Boatem hole and see his old imaginary friend. He couldn’t see a problem in the loss of a little paper if it meant the kid wasn’t as bored during the day when they were all working. 

“But he hasn’t responded yet.” Tommy pouted, looking back to the hole.

“Well, it’ll take a bit until the letter can even get to him. He’s gotta find it, read it, and think of the perfect response. How else would he respond to such a cool letter? He needs some time to think of what he’ll say! You just gotta give him some time. Then, I’m sure, you’ll get your letter, birdy.” Grian said, standing up and holding out a hand to the seven year old. 

Tommy thought for a moment, but eventually nodded. He stood up stumbling on his feet a bit before grabbing Grian’s hand. He held the older’s hand tightly, his fingers only wrapped around the finger’s of the older. 

Tommy chirped back to the older man, his downy feathers ruffling. Grian only smiled and responded, wrapping him up in his parrot wings as they walked back to the observatory for the night. Tommy always slept at Grian’s unless the man was out working, in which he would stay at Mumbo’s or Scar’s. 

Grian led the chick inside and the two got ready for the night.

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Tommy poked the large stick he’d found into the small hole underneath a tree. The hole was the home of some animal, and he wanted to see it. He didn’t know if it was a frog or a bunny or maybe just a little mouse but he wanted to meet the animal. He poked the stick deeper, wondering when he’d hit something. 

“Tommy, you’re going to make it mad.” Mumbo said, the tall man working on his airchair/mountain/base. Tommy had chosen to bother his other dad figure instead of getting bored stuck in Grian’s alley, watching the avian fret over which build to start on next. 

So here he was sitting underneath a ‘custom’ tree Mumbo had built on the side of his base’s arm. Mumbo’s attention was latched onto the tiny houses he was busy building, but he continued to side-eye the seven year old in case he got too close to the edge of the base. 

Tommy pouted, pulling the stick out and placing it down next to him. He turned to the tall tuxedoed man, “But I want to know what it is!” 

“It’s probably just a mouse, but on the off chance it’s a snake I don’t want you getting bit and Grian chewing my ear off about it.” Mumbo said, looking over his blueprints and comparing them to the small houses in front of him. He grabbed his pick-ax and took away one of the blocks.

Tommy glared at the man, and stuck his tongue out. When Mumbo didn’t turn around he stood up. He jumped up and down trying to get the taller’s attention. Still, Mumbo didn’t move; he only climbed up his scaffolding to the roof of a larger house. 

Tommy stomped his foot down, exaggerating his pout. He rolled his blue eyes, and picked up the stick he had before. He aimed it up with Mumbo’s head and threw it. The stick flew through the air until it hit the very back of Mumbo’s black hair. 

The ravenette turned, rubbing the back of his head, until he looked back down at Tommy who was giggling. His eyes narrowed and a smirk grew on his face. He pushed it down, and shook his head.

“Did you just throw a stick at me?” Mumbo asked, pointing a long finger at the seven year old. Tommy struggled to hold back a laugh. 

“No!” He giggled, giving Mumbo the most faked innocent smile he could muster. Mumbo shook his head and turned back to his work. 

“Well, if you didn’t. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if I kept this stick up here with me.” The suited man said, holding up the stick for Tommy to see. Tommy gaped and tried to jump and grab it back.

“No, no, give it back.” Tommy grumbled, he was much too short to even reach the top of a door frame, much less the roof Mumbo stood on. Mumbo chuckled and tossed the stick back down for Tommy to grab. Tommy snatched the stick away from the ground and held it close to his chest, protectively. He shuffled away from the in progress build and sat back down next to the tree. 

The day passed slowly until the sun was setting over Impulse’s base and the moon was rising. Mumbo worked late into the night. Tommy shuffled underneath one of the trees and laid down. He yawned, as he watched the stars twinkle above him. They looked alot like the ones in Midnight Alley, but he liked the real ones better. He liked to make up stories for every constellation he found, and Grian’s were all planted by hand. It made the stories better when they were chosen by the sky above. 

Tommy stretched out his arms, his wings rubbing against the tree behind him. He ruffled them up to act as a blanket around his arms, and cover him from the night time chill. He wrapped himself up in the fuzzy white downy wings chirping when he decided he was comfortable enough. 

“Good night to you too, Tommy.” Mumbo called back, from his spot high up on a ledge of the mountain. 

Tommy hummed back, and looked up to the moon and stars. He was about to close his eyes when he noticed something off about the sky. 

“Hey, Mumbo?” Tommy whispered, like he was a little scared to speak. Mumbo immediately looked up and watched Tommy’s gaze up to the sky. 

“What’s wrong?” Mumbo asked, sliding down the scaffolding to be on the same level as the seven year old. Tommy pointed up to the sky, his finger directly matching to the moon.

“Is the moon bigger than normal?” Tommy pointed out, his head cocking to the side. Mumbo followed his gaze and saw that he was in fact right. The moon was big. 

“That-I’ve been here a lot of years and I couldn’t tell you how big the moon is.” Mumbo chuckled, but from the way his mustache was squished up, he was trying hard to remember. “I don’t- I don’t think I remember it being that big.”

“Is that bad?” Tommy asked, big blue eyes looking up to the mustached man. Mumbo looked down, confusion and a tiny flash of worry crossed his face. 

“I don’t know.” Mumbo stumbled.

“Maybe the moon just grew up!” Tommy said, excitedly. His feathers ruffled up as he looked to Mumbo for his agreement. The suited man looked down with more confusion across his face.

“What?” He chuckled, his hands finding their way in the pockets of his suit pants. 

“Yeah! Like the moon finally grew up and got bigger! LIke how I’m gonna get bigger and stronger and be taller than you one day! He just grew up. He’s big because he got older.” Tommy explained, hopping up from his spot under the tree. Even standing next to Mumbo on the same level, the seven year old barely reached past the tall man’s knees. 

Mumbo rubbed the back of his neck, and gave a strained smile, “You know what, sure. I’m sure the moon just had a birthday.”

Tommy clapped, and looked back to the moon, “Happy Birthday, moon!” He looked back at Mumbo expectantly. When Mumbo just stared back at him, tommy pouted, “You gotta say Happy Birthday, Mumbo.”

“Oh! Uh, Happy Birthday, moon?” Mumbo said, moreso to Tommy than the sky, but Tommy was content with that. Mumbo shook his head, “How about we head inside, it’s gotten late enough out here?”

Tommy nodded, and grabbed a hold of Mumbo’s hand. The older had to bend down to let the younger grip his hand, but the two walked towards the seven year old’s room. It wasn’t really a room. It was just one of the houses Mumbo had built on the mountain.

The walls were red, with white accents. There were yellow flowers planted everywhere in the front, with a nice tree for shade. The front door was a faded blue, with a white doorknob. The whole house was Tommy’s room, and he’d made it completely his own inside over time. (And with the help of the other hermits.) 

Mumbo helped Tommy up the larger steps, and they headed inside for the night, but not before Mumbo sent a message to Grian about the moon. 

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Tommy hopped along the path towards the Swagon. His red backpack hooked onto his back, inside were three full stacks of deepslate, one stack of redstone dust, and two stacks of copper blocks. He hopped up and down along the path, his wing picking up everytime he entered the air. 

He liked floating in the air, and every time he jumped his wings caught him and made him fall slower. He’d giggle when his feet didn’t touch the ground immediately. He came across the Swagon, quickly.

He jumped up high, his wings carrying him to the first platform. He jumped from platform to platform, wings carrying him up and up, until he was on Scar’s front door. He smiled at himself, proud he’d been able to get up all by himself. 

He knocked on the door of the Swagon, and waited for the certain top hat to show up. He enjoyed visiting Uncle Scar. The man always had the funniest plans and his cat was a joy to hang out with. He loved sitting in the Swagon with Jellie, and listening to Scar rant on topics. 

Scar opened the door, with a huge grin. He was wearing his normal green vest, and red long coat. Brown hair peaked out of his red top hat, and the white shirt tucked under the vest was tied at the neck with a black bow. The scar’s across his nose and cheek had slowly faded away to just small lines, and the only remnant from the accident was the wheelchair.

“Tommy!” Scar greeted happily, earning a bigger grin from the boy. 

“Hello!” Tommy waved, “I came to see Jellie! Grian said you had her.”

Scar laughed, and nodded rolling out of the doorway for Tommy to enter. He closed the door behind the seven year old. “That the only reason you came?”

Tommy nodded, before thinking and then changing his answer, “No. Grian wanted me to give you stuff, but Jellie first!”

Scar nodded, and looked around the storage room of the Swagon until he spotted the gray and white cat on top of a chest. “Ah! There you are!” 

Scar reached up and grabbed the cat, placing her in his lap. The cat purred and stretched out her paws on Scar’s lap. Tommy clapped, and sat down in one of the corners of the Swagon cart. He pulled off his backpack and pushed it away. Scar laughed as the younger held out grabby-hands for the cat. 

He placed the cat down in the boy’s lap, and grabbed the bag. He shuffled through the red bag, pulling out the deepslate, redstone and copper. He chuckled already knowing why Grian had given him this. He asked anyway. 

“So, Grian tell you why he was sending this stuff over?” Scar asked, throwing the items into his chest monster. Tommy nodded, petting the cat in his lap.

“He said you should build at his base.” Tommy answered, pointing in the direction of Midnight Alley. “Cause he can’t finish the back.”

“Of course he can’t.” Scar grumbled, fondly. He shrugged, “I guess the hermits are always trying to tell you stuff. Right, Tommy?”

“Always!” Tommy answered, quickly. He squished the cat’s face in his hands, his grin so wide it stretched to both ears. He always loved animals, and Jellie was one of the only ones that would let him get close enough to touch. (Probably because every other animal he had tried to get close to was rabid and not tamed, or just not friendly).

“I really do need to find a place to start, the Swagon can only extend so far.” Scar wondered aloud, his finger tapping on his chin. He rolled over to his desk that was filled with half finished blueprints and lists of ideas he couldn’t stick with. He just couldn’t decide what to build. 

“I don’t think you should listen to Grian.” Tommy said, surprising Scar.

“What? You think I should build near Pearl instead? Or Impulse?” Scar smiled, rolling his eyes. He pulled his top hat off, placing it on top of Tommy’s head. The hat fell down his face, only stopping once it reached his nose. Tommy giggled, pulling the hat back so he could see again, he was met with Scar’s playful grin. 

“No! You need to build where you want. Grian said that finding the place to build was special. Mumbo said it was personalized to everyone, what’ver that means. Pearl said, it’s trial and error and you gotta do it yourself. Impulse said, it inspires you. You gotta find a spot that does that! Then you wouldn’t have to spend so much time here thinking and could join everything else!” Tommy explained, as best as a seven year old could. It only made Scar coo and smile. 

“I guess you’re right Tommy. I need to find my own spot.” Scar said, and Tommy nodded. 

“Just make it close so I can hang out with Jellie.” Tommy said, petting the cat. Scar smirked seeing right through the boy’s words. 

“Oh, of course, everyone needs to have Jellie-time.” Scar laughed, and Tommy laughed. 

“She should have her own park!” Tommy said, excitedly, pulling the cat’s face to look at him, “Right, Jellie! You’d like that! A whole part devoted to you! Your face would be on every flier, there’d be a statue of you in the center! I’d visit it everyday!” Tommy ranted. Scar’s smile faltered as he looked over the blueprints across his desk. His eyes locked onto one hidden under all the others. On larger than almost everything else he’d built. A passion project he’d been thinking of for years. 

“Scar?”

Scar looked back to the blonde looking up at him with bright blue eyes. He forced his smile back onto this face, “Yeah, Tommy?”

Tommy smiled, “Do you think that would be a good idea? Jellie-land?”

Scar sighed, and grinned, “I think it would be an amazing idea.”

________________________________________

Impulse was flying back to his chocolate factory when he spotted the tufts of blonde hair shoot up into the sky in front of him. He landed with a tumble, a side effect from not sleeping as much recently. He caught himself and stared up at the boy who was bouncing up and down. 

“Woah, woah, woah.” He started, already holding his hands out in case the seven year old fell. Tommy only giggled as the block he sat on shot up into the air again, only to fall back down a second later. 

“Uncle Impulse, look! I’m flying without my wings! This block is really jumpy!” Tommy yelled down from where he was when the block shot up again. He fell back down with the block, letting out an ‘oof’. 

“Please, get off of that.” Impulse pleaded, he didn’t get enough sleep at night for the kid to make him this nervous. He really didn’t want to have to deal with Grian if the kid did fall and hurt himself. He didn’t want the kid to get hurt in the first place.

“Why? It just wants to see the moon.” Tommy explained, patting the grass block. “Right, grassy?” The block jumped again. Impulse shook his head. 

“It- It wants to what? I think we can all see the moon by now, Tommy.” Impulse said, looking back up to the sky. He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyebrows furrowing as the moon took up almost all of his vision. 

No one had found out the source of the moon just yet. And everyone was worried about it. Every district seemed to have their own way of dealing with the big moon. Boatem's just happened to be staying awake to study the moon. Meaning the whole crew was exhausted and on their last leg. But that didn’t mean Tommy was. No, while they studied the moon all night, they made sure Tommy got a full night’s rest even when he wanted to stay up with them. It was just what they needed, chasing around the seven year old while never sleeping. Brilliant idea, Mumbo, Impulse thought. 

“Maybe the moon just wants friends?” Tommy reasoned, Impulse smiled. Tommy’s ideas about the moon always brought a smile on the Boatem Crew’s faces during meetings. He was still filled with that childhood innocence no matter what he saw. 

“I’m sure that’s exactly what the moon wants.” Impulse agreed, grabbing the kid by the underarms when he was on the ground again. He pulled the blonde off of the block, earning a squawk from the younger as he was moved. Tommy pouted, when he was placed back onto solid ground. 

“And that’s what you guys are giving him, right? When you spend every night awake, you’re playing games with the moon. That’s what Mumbo said.” Tommy said, grabbing a hold of Impulse’s yellow coat. Impulse sighed, but smiled anyway.

“Absolutely.” He said, earning a grin from Tommy. “How about we head inside and get some chocolate made?”

Tommy laughed, and raced ahead of the adult man. He ran inside the factory, hopping over the stones that led up to the front door. Normally, someone would be worried about a seven year old running into a factory unsupervised. But, Impulse had designed this factory himself, and he knew it was Tommy-proof. 

______________________________________

Tommy was with Pearl when the earthquakes started. He was sitting in her little library area, reading one of the kid’s books she had recently gotten for him. The ground below him started rumbling and his chair shook. He easily fell off of the chair and looked up to see a llama in his face.

The llama licked his face, making him giggle. The earth shook again and he used the llama to help him up. He stood on both his legs and ruffled up his wings to shield himself from the falling objects. A lantern fell and hit his wing. He yelped and jumped behind the llama. 

His curiosity got the best of him and he shuffled over to the window, with the Llama’s help. It was difficult with the world shaking so much to stay on his feet. He peaked out the window and moved the curtain away. He looked down the path to see all of Boatem in a meeting down below. His face curled up in confusion, he wished he could be down there in the meeting with them. 

He always tried to join their meetings, but they always shooed him away saying he didn’t need to worry about it. Grian would always lead him back to the nest so he had to stay in the observatory until the meeting was over. Or Impulse would coax him away with the promise of chocolate. He didn’t want to spend another day stuck in the nest with Grian mother henning him. 

The world shook again, and it brought him out of his thoughts. 

Pearl was running up the steps to her base, in her arms was this clump of clothes. Tommy cocked his head to the side, the llama next to him licking his face. 

Pearl burst through the doors, panting from the run up the mountain. She immediately placed the clothes onto a table near the doorway. She looked towards the rest of her base before calling out, “Tommy! Get down here! We need to go.”

Tommy stumbled out from the little library, the llama right next to him helping him walk through the quakes. Pearl let out a breath when she saw the seven year old safe and sound. She didn’t realize how scared she’d been for the kid during the meeting. 

“What’s going on?” Tommy asked, that childhood innocence slowly leaving his voice as his fear took hold. What had Aunt Pearl so scared? What were these clothes she had? Why was the moon so big? Why was the world shaking? Why was the earth jumping? All these questions in his head, stirring up his fear and worry.

“Tommy, come here. We need to go.” Pearl said, motioning for the boy to come towards her. She grabbed one of the things on the table next to her, when the thing was unfurled Tommy recognized what it was. It was an astronaut suit, like one of the one’s Scar had pictures of. It was red and white, and just his size. 

Tommy shuffled forward looking up at the woman. “What’s this?”

“I need you to put it on quickly, okay? This is very important, Tommy. Remember how I said, it was very important for you to stay close by in the nether?” Pearl asked, hoping the boy remembered just a few days beforehand. Tommy had begged her to take him to the nether with her, as she traveled with her Llamas. She only agreed if the kid stayed right by her the entire time, and told Grian beforehand. 

Tommy nodded, his small hands wrapping around the suit. It was a weird material he hadn’t felt before; something meant to withstand space. He grimaced, but took the suit from Pearl. He’d rather wear his favorite t-shirt and sweater but if it was really important…maybe he’d make an exception.

“Good. What’s about to happen is just like that. You have to stay by me or one of the Boatem member’s at all times.” Pearl explained, unzipping the back of the boy’s suit. She held it out for him to step into, and helped Tommy into the suit. She tried to ignore the way the earth was shaking more and more as time went on. “What’s about to happen-It might be a little scary. But Scar’s built a super awesome rocket to get us out, okay? Jellie’s on it, Nugget’s on it, Mumbo, Impulse, Grian and I will be there the entire time.”

Tommy didn’t really comprehend what she was saying. But to him it sounded like they were leaving Boatem. He liked it in Boatem. He didn’t want to leave. Why did they have to go? Boatem was home.

“We’re leaving?” Tommy asked, gripping Pearl’s arm through the red glove of his suit. Pearl zipped up the back of his suit, and placed the red stained glass helmet on top of the younger. The helmet was a lot heavier than Tommy expected and he tried to take it off.

Pearl quickly grabbed his hands and shoved them away, “No, no, helmet stays on. Yes, we’re leaving, Tommy. We can’t stay here any longer. Sit tight for a second, please.” 

She grabbed her own suit, and started to unzip it. Tommy did not in fact sit tight. He did not want to leave. Boatem was his home. He narrowed his eyes up at Pearl and stomped his foot. Pearl noticed, and sighed. She quickly stepped into her own suit, zipping herself up with no trouble. 

“Tommy, I’m sorry, but I can’t compromise on this.” She apologized. Tommy stomped his foot again, he wasn’t going. He looked away from her, his chin uplifted. Pearl huffed, lifting her helmet above her head. She looked back down at the blonde in front of her, looking anywhere in the base except at her. 

She sighed and lifted the seven year old up, placing him on her hip. “It’ll be fun, we’ll build newer things and make even more friends. You’ll even get to see space, how exciting is that?” Pearl suggested trying to make the idea seem exciting to the younger. She grabbed her bag, throwing it over her shoulder. She carried the boy out of the lighthouse base, and started the trek down the mountain. 

She dodged flying blocks, and tried to keep her footing when the earth began to shake. She stole a look above her and saw the edge of the moon peeking over the horizon. She grimaced.

Tommy struggled in her grip, trying to pull himself up to look over her head at the moon.  He wanted to see what they were so scared of. Why did he have to leave because of this moon thing? He barely got any sight of it, before Pearl pushed his head down. 

She stopped her speed walk near the center of Boatem right next to the Boatem Hole. Tommy struggled even more in her grip, bouncing himself up and down to be let down, when he saw the rest of the crew. 

Grian landed next to them, his suit a shade of red a little darker than Tommy’s. His helmet was the same tint of red though. His parrot wings still stuck out from the suit and he rushed over to the chick.

“Are you two okay?” Grian asked, taking the chick from Pearl. Tommy pulled at Grian’s helmet, and tried to crawl over his shoulder. The short man leaned away from the boy, trying to keep him upright. Pearl smiled softly, her worry still etched away on her face. 

“He really doesn’t want to go.” She mumbled, crossing her arms. Grian sighed, already knowing what was coming. Tommy crawled up to the older’s shoulders and made himself comfortable. His feet dangling over the other’s shoulders as he wrapped his arms around the helmet. 

I’m not going! I’m staying here!” Tommy pouted, not looking at Pearl. Grian sighed, his wings poofing up to shield Tommy from falling. 

“Chick, we have to go. We can’t stay here anymore.” Grian explained, earning a bap to the helmet from Tommy. 

“But what’s happening that’s bad?!” Tommy exaggerated, as Mumbo flew in from his armchair mountain. He was wearing the space suit over his regular tuxedo. The tall man instinctively raised his hand to tighten his tie, only to realize it was trapped under his space suit. He whipped his hands on his suit, looking up to the trio in front of him. 

“What’s going on? Why is Tommy on top of Grian?” Mambo asked, slouching down to meet Tommy’s eyes, even though the younger was sitting on Grian’s shoulders. 

“He doesn’t want to go.” Grian answered, trying to get away from Tommy’s hands on his helmet, which was a futile battle. 

Tommy huffed, annoyed with the conversation. “I’m not going!” He shouted, using the age old child tactic of repeating phrases. 

Mambo chuckled nervously, knowing what would happen if the kid went through with his promises. “It’ll be fun, Tommy. Don’t you want to see space, mate?”

“I already tried that one.” Pearl responded, her arms crossed. Mumbo huffed, standing up straight. Impulse landed down next, his suit had a yellow tint to match his logo. He looked at the scene in front of him, and sighed.

“You know, I knew this would happen.” Impulse pointed out, walking up. “You should’ve let him in the meeting’s, G. He deserved to know.”

Grian gaped at the man, “First off, Impulse you agreed to not let him in on those meetings. Second on of our last meetings included falling out of the sky. He was not doing that.” 

Impulse sighed, and shrugged looking up to Tommy instead. “Have you tried offering chocolate as a compromise?”

Tommy scowled at the man, his eyes narrowing. “The chocolate is here, dummy. Not wherever you’re going.”

Impulse clicked his tongue, “You’re getting too smart for your own good, kiddo.”

Tommy preened at the compliment. While Tommy was focused on his conversation with Impulse, Grian used the time to grab hold of Tommy while he was looking. He pulled him up and over his helmet, and perched him on his hip. Tommy huffed and glared up at the man.

“You’re going, chick. No buts.” Grian stated firmly, tapping his foot while they waited for Scar to return. Tommy poked the man in the side, earning a warning warble. 

“You’re being mean.” Tommy chirped back, trying to ruffle his wings up to look intimidating. Grian wasn’t fazed by the tactic, and simply watched the sky for their friend. 

Scar came crashing in on his elytra, landing by Impulse. “Ah, hello, everybody!”

“Uncle Scar, they’re trying to take me somewhere!” Tommy shouted, jumping in Grian’s grip. The blonde chirped at the younger avian to settle down, earning a disagreeable chirp back.

“Well, yeah.” Scar said, rolling over to Tommy and Grian. “We’re going up to that big ‘ole rocket!”

“But why? Why can’t we stay here!” Tommy pouted. Scar looked up to Grian who could only shrug. 

“I mean, the moon’s pretty big, Tommy. Moon big is a pretty good reason to leave.” Scar tried to explain, “If you want, Jellie’s up there. You can hang out with her?”

Tommy shook his head, he gripped Grian’s suit tightly in his small fists. “But if we leave, then the moon will be sad! He won’t have any more friends to stay up all night with! We need to stay and be friends with him.”

Mumbo took a chance to step in, “We can always be friends with the moon in another place, mate. Just not here.”

“But we’d have to leave all the stuff behind. I don’t want to leave home behind. What’ll happen to the fact’ry and the alley? What ‘bout the mountains and the hole? It’ll all be here!” Tommy pouted, tears building up in his eyes. 

“We’ll build all new stuff!” Impulse spoke quickly. “Like when we moved from our starter homes to the bigger builds. We’re just getting bigger and bigger. And every build we do will be bigger and better!”

“Exactly, we’ll just make a new home and it’ll still have some of the old parts, too. You know why?” Pearl continued, bending down to reach the boy’s height on Grian’s hip. 

“Why?” Tommy asked, sniffling.

“Because we’ll all still be there. All of us will be there, and we’ll carry all the memories with us.” Pearl finished, her cheery tone earning a giggle from the blonde.

“And guess what, Tommy? I already have the best idea for mine.” Scar grinned, catching everyone’s attention. Tommy smiled, looking back at Scar with curious eyes. 

“Really? What is it?” He asked, curiosity overpowering his complaints.

“Jellie-land.”

“Jellie-land?” Grian, Mumbo, Pearl, and Impulse mumbled to themselves confused. The idea had the opposite effect on Tommy though, as the boy began jumping Grian’s arms again.

“Really? Really, really? You’re gonna build it?” Tommy asked, quickly, excitement riding over every other thought he had. 

“It’s been in the works for a while, don’t really know why I haven’t done it already.” The brunette chuckled.

“Well, we gotta go. We gotta go!” Tommy chirped out, and Grian was quick to take the escape. 

“Alright, let’s get in the rocket.” Grian jumped to finish the conversation. The moon was quickly gaining on them and they needed to get out fast. Scar nodded.

“Sure, let’s go. Let’s go.” Scar said, happily. He flared out his elytra and fired the rockets to take lift off. 

“We’re leaving?” Pearl asked, firing her own rockets to follow behind. 

Grian nodded, “We’re leaving, We’re leaving.” He tightened his grip on Tommy and flew up into the air. His parrot wings easily caught him and the boy attached to his hip. 

“This does not look like an air lock!” Mumbo said, as he entered the rocket’s sidedoor. “There’s gaps in it!”

“I-well-It’s the official Swagon Air lock.” Scar defended, and he checked every chest and drawer for the items he had stashed away. He checked over each animal sitting in its spot before turning to the rest of the boatem crew. 

Mumbo chuckled, lightly, “I’m getting more and more concerned by the second!”

“Alright, down to the cockpit everybody!” Scar announced once the last of the items were checked over and the animals were secured. Tommy whispered goodbye to Jellie and Nugget before following after the rest of them. 

The earth shook below them, and they stumbled down the ladder to the cockpit. 

“Alright, Scar. What’s going on here?” Grian asked, holding Tommy tightly. He shuffled over to one of the windows of the cockpit and looked out, allowing Tommy a view of the world below them. “Oh, look at the destruction.” Griam mumbled, as if it pained him to see so much destruction of the world they’d built. 

“Welcome aboard the Swagon Rocket!” Scar introduced, already busing himself with the mechanics of the machine. He pressed buttons and flicked levers, aligning their course. He mumbled to himself everything as he did it, assigning Mumbo with the task of helping him with the redstone. 

“Keep all hands, arms, legs and materials inside the rocket at all times. And please secure yourselves into our Swagon Official seats.” Scar instructed. Pearl was already strapped into hers, as soon as the instructions went out. She assigned herself to the buttons and levers that dealt with the lights, and sounds of the rocket.

Grian quickly placed Tommy into the back seat of the rocket, pulling the seat belt over his lap to attach at the buckle. When he was completely sure the boy wouldn’t be moving from his spot, he moved to where Scar was. Only then did he so much as take a single eye off of Tommy. 

The older avian then sat himself down at the first officer’s desk, his eyes scanning over all the buttons he could press. His fingers grazed over a button in the very center, only to earn a smack from Mumbo. He placed his hands in his lap and waited for the rest to get settled before messing with anything.

Grian continued to look back at Tommy, just to make sure he was there. He made sure the chirp every once and a while to reassure the fledgling, too. Always earning a warble or chirp in response.

Impulse sat down next, looking over the panel in front of him, one that he was now in charge of. He buckled himself in and looked towards Mumbo, who had followed suit at the maintenance table. The suited man would make sure nothing broke down during the trip. 

And Scar was the last to get into place, once ready he started their launch. 

The last thing Tommy remembers seeing of HermitCraft was pitch black darkness. He didn’t see the stars, nor the moon or anything else. He didn’t see the wonderful memories he’d made with Boatem and the rest of the hermits. 

All he saw was darkness.

___________________________

Grian didn’t remember when they landed. 

He didn’t remember when the ship turned to dust in front of him as he and his friends crawled out. 

He didn’t remember when they got together and gathered everything that remained from the slowly dusting ship.

What he did remember…

Was the crushing feeling he got when he couldn’t find something.

And not just something.

Someone.

“Scar.” Grian said, his voice void of any emotion. The Boatem Crew turned to him.

“Yeah?” Scar answered.

“Where’s Tommy?”

And like that the thin ice they’d been on cracked. The silence shattered and was replaced by shouts and hollers of the same name. 

“Tommy!”

“Tommy!”

“Tommy!”

It went on for days, searching for the kid. They got other hermits to help. Gem, False, Xi, Cub, Ren anyone and everyone who’d ever met the kid once was out screaming his name. They had no clue where he was.

Grian interrogated Xi for any information on what could have happened. He had seen Xi whitelist the kid himself. Tommy was as much a part of their server list as Grian was. There was no reason for the disappearance. 

Mumbo guessed it was a server glitch, that maybe Tommy just jumped from one server to the next. They searched that avenue as far as they could. Xi, Grian, and anyone else who had access contacted every server they could to find the kid. They all replied that they’d never heard of a Tommy. 

The season started out slow and sad with the missing person on everyone’s mind. No one wanted to start on a base, or even a home. They just wanted to find him. 

Eventually, they didn’t have a choice but to continue the season.

People started asking questions when nothing was being built on the private server. So begrudgingly, the hermits restarted. All centered together, since barely any of them could handle being apart after it all. 

None of them ever forgot him though.

They never forgot his kindness.

Or his childhood innocence.

Or his compassion of all those around him.

They couldn’t forget Tommy.

It was as easy as forgetting a limb.

They just waited until he found his way home. 

Chapter Text

Dream Smp 

Tommy stared at his hands. The burns and scars still etched on his skin from so many memories that he’d much rather forget. 

The blaring alarm was going off all around them. The prison doors already locking and shutting everything and everyone inside. They were stuck. He could feel tears bubbling up in his eyes, it’d been so long since he actually felt the water drip from his eyes. The last time he allowed himself to cry was when he died, well when he lost his third life. After that, he promised to never cry again. 

But here he was, just wishing for it to be over already. If the nuke was going to hit, it couldn't just get it over with. His tremors were still visible, even after figuring it all out, he was still afraid to stay in the same room as him . 

The tears ran down his cheeks, hitting old scars and some new ones, too. 

“We need to f*cking go!” Punz yelled, climbing up the prison walls to get to the walkway. He wouldn’t make it. Dream was right behind him, screaming curses and insults towards the younger blonde. 

Tommy shook his head, clearing his brain of the thoughts that muddled it. His knees shook from tremors and standing for too long. His one leg could only hold himself up for so long. His knees buckled, and he hit the floor. His hands scraping along the obsidian floor.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t understand.” He whispered to himself, it was never heard above the screams and curses. He didn’t even look up as the sound hit first. The alarms got louder, blaring in his ears, before suddenly it was silent. 

The world went quiet.

Then came the light. 

It was white, bright and blinding. He tried to shut his eyes but they burned open. He felt as the nuke finally hit. He was passed out before he could even comprehend the pain he felt. He could hear the muffled screams of Punz and Dream. He thought he heard more screams in the background, one’s he recognized too well. 

The thought didn’t last, as his body began to burn. 

Before long, he was gone. 

He was nothing more than dust left in a crater of an old world. 

Nothing remained.

Out of every memory that ever lived.

Every war and peace that never stayed.

No nation, no home, no power.

It was all gone.

Nothing remained.

HermitCraft Season Nine 2.0

“You’re telling me that after we blew up the first death robot, you had another one here the entire time?” Jimmy said, a slouch in his back as he stared up at Grumbot. His mouth slightly agape as he stared at the machine with a glare. 

Scar laughed from his spot next to him. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah? I mean, Grian really likes being with Grumbot. Between you and me he has a bit of a problem.”

“Is that permission to blow this one up, too?” Jimmy asked, a smirk lining his face. Scar straightened and quickly shut him down.

“No! No, that is not a good idea. I wouldn’t advise blowing up anyone’s base, but definitely not Grumbot. Not unless you're willing to deal with a very angry parrot.” Scar chuckled, pulling off his elytra and placing it away in his inventory. 

“Keep your TNT away from Grumbot, Timmy.” Grian grumbled from one of the top cement platforms above them. He looked like he’d just woken up, which was most likely true. His hair was a mess and wings even messier. His red sweater askew and there were dark rings around the base of his eyes. His mess of bed head was mixed with random parrot feathers. The tiredness leaked off of him, but didn’t stop his clear threat from choking Jimmy. 

“Fine.” Jimmy grumbled.

“Grian! I didn’t know you were working down here today!” Scar greeted, with a huge grin. Grian only rolled his eyes fondly, before hopping over the railing of the platform. He sat down on the railing and continued the conversation from there.

“I wasn’t, but then I realized I had visitors. I haven’t had visitors since the Empires Crew came through the portal, two weeks ago.” He stated, stretching out from his nap. 

“I was just showing Jimmy, here, that Grumbot wasn’t actually evil!” Scar explained, motioning to the machine in front of him. Grumbot whirled and whirred from the mention, its eyes blinking photorealistically. Jimmy cringed, taking a stiff step backwards. 

“That thing needs to be taken care of, Grian.” He pointed at the machine with a plastic finger. Grian warbled out a threat, his feathers puffing out to seem bigger. 

“Touch him and you’re dying, Jimmy.” Grian muttered, his fingers already itching towards his sword that was sheathed on his hip. Scar quickly stepped in between the two, holding his hands out between them, even though Grian was much higher than them.

“Grian, Jimmy isn’t going to mess with Grumbot. Jimmy, threatening Grumbot is not a good idea. I can’t really explain why, but you got away with it on Empire’s. You won’t be as lucky here.” Scar placated. Jimmy looked between Scar and Grian, who was still glaring down at him from his perch. 

“Alright. Just make sure it doesn’t kill us.” Jimmy agreed, looking away from the staring contest with Grian. 

The blonde spoke up quickly, “He’s not going to kill you! Grumbot is completely sane and stable.” Grian crossed his arms and huffed out air. He stood up from the railing and floated down to the top of Grumbot’s computer screen. He knelt down on the roof of the monitor and began looking over the wires and buttons that he ached to press.

As Grian began to work, Scar showed Jimmy around the cavern under the avian’s base. He explained the simple system of sheep farming in the corner to the dock where people could speak to Grumbot. Jimmy tried to speak to the computer, but the answers he got only spoke of a mayoral election that was missing. He shrugged it off and listened to Scar ramble about the many times he died in the cavern. He was talking specifically about when someone dropped an anvil right on his head, as he stood below. 

Grian stopped working after a bit, getting tired of trying to figure out redstone. The red dust coated his trousers and face. His cheeks dusted with red. He whipped off his face with the sleeve of his sweater, spreading it onto his sleeve. He grimaced and gave up on cleaning himself up. He sat atop the computer screen and watched the toy and elf-imagineer conversate. He was too tired to actually contribute. 

“And this is called the Grumbot Content Generator! Whenever a hermit gets bored or wants an idea of what to do, they just ask Grumbot. He’ll give you three pieces of paper with three prompts that tell you what to do!” Scar explained, gesturing to the three tubes full of paper. The tubes connected up to the computer screen, each different colors. 

“Sounds chaotic and illegal.” Jimmy mumbled, crossing his arms. Grian paused mid-yawn to look down at the toy. 

“How is that illegal?” Grian asked, wildly confused. 

“What if it tells you to steal something or do something bad?” Jimmy prompted.

“He’s not gonna do that. Grumbot’s generated ideas come from a database stored in the computer monitor. The database is filled with specific words that originate from Hermits. If a Hermit doesn’t prompt for stealing or ‘something bad’ to happen it won’t happen.” Grian explained, matter-o-factly. He knew in his mind that all he’d done was say that he placed the words in the database in fancy words. 

“So if I was to use this thing it would give me content?” Jimmy asked, hopping over with his stiff legs to the lever. Scar followed in much smaller steps. 

“Yeah, you pay diamonds and Grumbot gives you three words. You create content from those words and at the end you say ‘this content was generated by Grumbot’.” Scar said, looking at the three tubes. 

Jimmy was still skeptical, and looked over every inch of the pulley system for any tricks. Grian rolled his eyes, and flew down from the computer to join the other two. He landed next to Scar, scaring him lightly, so that he jumped. 

“Don’t do that, Grian.” Scar breathed out after yelping. 

“It works, Timmy. No need to be so skeptical.” Grian pointed out, leaning against the green tube. Jimmy glared at the avian, and pulled out a few diamonds. 

“Then you won’t mind if I tried it out?” Jimmy smirked and Grian only smiled. 

“Go ahead.” 

Jimmy jumped up and threw the diamonds into the slot. He moved towards the lever, jumping up to pull it. His fingers were just short of the handle as he reached his peak in the jump. He tried three times, earning a laugh from Grian and a stifled chuckle from Scar. 

“Scar.” Jimmy mumbled, and Scar quickly pulled the lever. A ding sounded and each tube dispensed a paper one by one. Jimmy shuffled over the papers and picked each one up. He placed them in order in his hands. Grian smiled, preparing for any insanity that could be dispensed by Grumbot. Whatever it was, it would be worth it to see Jimmy have to complete the task. 

Grian’s smile faltered however, when Jimmy continued to scan over the papers again and again. Scar looked over to Grian, just as concerned. Jimmy’s brow was furrowed and he reread the papers. He looked up to Grian and Scar confused. 

“This just doesn’t make sense.” He said, holding up the papers. 

Grian straightened and walked forward. “What do you mean? What does it say?”

Jimmy was silent, he reread the papers again. 

“Hermits. Help. Tommy.”

Both Scar and Grian were frozen.

Scar’s mouth still frozen open from where he’d been about to speak. His hand outstretched like he was reaching for something, but his eyes were unseeing like the thing was too far away. His brow was furrowed in concern and his mouth downturned in a small frown. 

His far away gaze matched that of Grian’s, who was looking over Jimmy towards the machine. His brow was concerned and fearful, but his mouth was a tight line showing barely any emotion. The tiredness that had leaked off of him before was completely gone and replaced with tangible fear. His fingers were clenching into the fabric of his sweater, so tight that the tips were turning white. His feathers were ruffled up and his ear-feathers outstretched in search for any sound or movements. 

Jimmy looked at the two men in front of him completely frozen in time, by the three words. 

“Uh, guys?” Jimmy asked, he hopped forward and poked Scar’s leg getting no reaction. 

“Read…read that again, Jimmy.” Scar asked, not moving. Jimmy looked down and reread the papers aloud.

“Hermits. Help. Tommy.”

“No. Grumbot shouldn’t know him. That’s not possible.” Grian spoke before Jimmy had even finished speaking. It was like the man had just restarted, and his reaction was completely delayed. He charged forward, towards the machine, his eyes calculated and angry as he looked at his invention. 

“Well, I can promise you that that is what it says.” Jimmy said, shrugging. Scar bent down, propped up on his tiptoes, and held his hand out for the papers. Jimmy handed them over without any complaints. “Here take ‘em.”

Scar read over them, before looking back to Grian with even more horror on his face. “Grian, he’s right. They say his name.”

“No. Grumbot can’t know about him. Every prompt that he generates comes from the database I set up. Tommy should be nowhere near that database. He only has the ability to choose people who are on the server. Tommy isn’t on the server. We haven’t seen him in almost two years! Wherever he is, it isn’t here, and Grumbot shouldn’t know him.” Grian ranted, although the more he yelled the more it seemed he was yelling at the machine. He pulled at his hair and feathers, worried chirps and angry warbles rose from his throat. 

“He knew about the Empire Server.” Scar pointed out, a sliver of hope growing in his chest. Could this be it? Were they finally going to get him back?

“Are either of you going to explain who Tommy is? I don’t remember him on the Empires Server.” Jimmy asked, but his question was ignored. 

“We asked every known Server if they’d seen him, everyone said they’d never heard of him.” Grian reasoned, flying up to the top of the computer again. He landed hard on his knees, red stone dust puffing up in his wake. He started pulling at wires, angrily, tearing chips from the contraption. 

“Grian! What are you doing?” Scar called up, trying to calm his friend down. 

“Fixing it.” He grumbled.

“Fixing what? What is there to fix, can you not just give yourself hope that maybe Grumbot knows something?” Scar reasoned, desperate to get his friend to listen. They couldn’t ruin this one chance that had been handed to them on a silver platter.

Grian looked up and back to Scar, stopping for only a second, “Grumbot is an invention made to make Mumbo Mayor. I don’t understand who he knows about other worlds or servers, but any knowledge he has, has to come from somewhere. If he knows something about Tommy, that means someone else knows about it too. And they just haven’t told us.” Grian explained, more anger flaring up in his voice as he did so.

“So you’re worried that someone has figured something out, and instead of learning about it yourself. You’d rather live in the unknown?” Jimmy reasoned, confused with the conversation but even more with Grian’s logic. 

Grian was silent.

Scar took the chance to reason with his friend, “If Grumbot knows about Tommy, why can’t we ask him? The content he generated was for us to help Tommy. To do that we need to find him, Grumbot could know where.” 

Grian sat back, he whipped his face with his sleeve. He wasn’t sure whether what came back damp were tears or more dust. 

Grian hated waking up every morning expecting to see a blonde child. 

He hated wondering every moment what was happening to the kid he helped raise. 

He hated how every simple thing reminded him of the boy.

He despised how he couldn’t look at the moon the same after that night. 

He despised how right after the boy went missing, no one outside the server would look for him. 

He had a hard enough time, when the boy was gone for the first half of the season.

It was even worse when Mumbo went on his break, he hadn’t seen the man in months. 

Everytime he passed through Scarland he was reminded of Tommy racing through Boatem.

He created Grumbot not only to help study the rift, but to get back a few moments he missed with his friends.

He hated when he was teleported away from his home and into somewhere new. He tried hard to get back home, recreating Grumbot the best he could.

And not here he was again, being reminded of the small boy he cared so deeply for. 

But after almost two years they finally had a chance. A clue to what could’ve happened that night. Was he really willing to just give up?

“Ask him.” Grian said, quietly, but Scar heard it perfectly.

Scar raced forward, Jimmy on his tail. Scar quickly grabbed one of the stray pieces of paper and wrote a quick question.

Where is Tommy?

He wrote in sloppy quick handwriting and shoved the paper into the slot. Grian slowly and sulkingly floated down near them. He landed quietly next to Scar, one hand wrapped around his elbow as he watched. His eyes were brimmed with tears, as he listened to the jingle play out. 

Normally Scar would hum along to the jingle, but now he couldn’t find the motivation. He was too nervous to think about it. He just awaited the paper to be dispensed. 

With bated breath they waited for the paper.

The paper fell to the ground and Jimmy picked it up. 

He frowned, and reluctantly showed it to his hopeful friends.

It was blank.

“He’s gone.” Grian shook his head, his words more so to convince himself than anyone else. He looked away from Grumbot and the others, his eyes scanning over the rift. The thing could bring two worlds together, but couldn’t help his kid come back. He huffed, disappointed but more angry than sad. The sadness had run out a long time ago, drained into anger and fuel to keep searching. “Grumbot must have had a malfunction.”

“But-But Grumbot is a super intelligent being, made with cool redstone and computery-things right? What sort of malfunction would cause him to know something like this?” Scar asked his avian friend. The parrot ruffled out his feathers but shook his head, staring at the stone ground. 

His brain was shuffling through any mistakes that could’ve happened in the system. Anything that could cause the generator to come up with Tommy’s name. His thoughts fogged his vision until he noticed the rocks jumping from the ground. 

The pebbles of the stone floor hopping from vibrations carried underneath them. Grian’s thoughts left him as he focused on the pebbles. He couldn’t feel any vibrations underneath his feet, so why were these rocks vibrating? 

Grian bent down, picking up a pebble and inspecting it. As he got closer to the ground he placed a hand on the floor, his fingers could feel light earthquakes far below. 

“Do you feel that?” Grian asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. Scar looked confused at his friend, had he really just forgotten their conversation. 

“Grian? Did you really just forget what we were talking about?” Scar asked, ignoring the blonde’s question.

“I feel it.” Jimmy sputtered out, his plastic legs wobbling from being so close to the ground. Grian nodded, still ignoring Scar, he turned back to the rift. The tremors were coming from the rift, causing mini-earthquakes to wrack the underground cave. 

The tremors were getting bigger and bigger with each passing second, until the rift started spinning. The purple and blue particles changing color, and moving faster and faster. The purple turned to blue, until the blue turned into green. 

“Grian? Grian, the portal! It’s changing color!” Scar yelled, pointing to the portal. His friend looked up, he straightened and flew quickly to be right in front of it. Jimmy and Scar were close behind him, running to catch up with his fast wings. 

“Woah, woah, woah, we can still get through that right? Like, we’re still connected to the Empires Server?” Jimmy asked, quickly. 

“Is that really the most important thing right now!” Grian yelled, staring in horror at the rift. The closer he was now, he could feel every single wave go through underneath his feet. Each tremor left him stumbling to keep his balance, as they strengthened. 

“You made the thing, fix it!” Jimmy yelled. 

“I don’t know what’s going on!” Grian yelled, as a large wave knocked them all back. 

Scar fell backwards landing on his butt. His mouth was agape, as he stared up with wide eyes filled with wonder and horror. Jimmy was right behind him, holding on to his pant leg to not get blown away more.

Grian squawked, as he was thrown back. His wings tried to catch him before he hit something, but another tremor knocked him off balance again and he crashed into the cave wall. He fell down the wall landing on his side, his wings flapping to try and get up. He looked up to see the tremors and waves getting so big that they were completely visible. The waves crashed into the test tubes.

The glass shattered and fell to the floor. Water and chemicals spilled over the floor, as papers and glass spread across the liquid. The earthquakes shattered the glass keeping the sheep in their spots. Sheep began walking around the lab, getting blown away when a tremor hit them. Grian blocked out the baa’s that screamed around him. 

He struggled to get up, the earthquakes continuing to push him back down. The sound of each earthquake was like a gunshot going off, loud and blaring in their ears. It was worse than the sound of fireworks going off at the same time. 

Boulders and rocks began falling from the ceiling of the cave, careening into computers and equipment. Stalactites fell from the roof, almost stabbing Grian in the chest. He dodged each one barely as he moved to get up. He pushed himself off the ground and ran towards the rift. 

His feet hit the ground, each step bouncing with the shakes of the rift. His wings were held out to keep his balance as he moved in front of both Jimmy and Scar. He blocked them from new debris that flew out of the rift. 

“Did this happen before?” Jimmy yelled over the earthquakes. 

“No!” Scar answered. 

“Is everything alright down there?” A new voice called out from above.

Grian stole a look up, keeping a close eye on the debris flying at them. “MUMBO!”

“Hello?” The mustached man said. He was looking down from the cavern entrance. His black hair was a little messy and his mustache was definitely bigger than he remembered. The man was still wearing his regular suit and red tie. 

“Get down here!” Grian yelled up, blocking his face with his arms from the rocks that flew out of the rift. Mumbo yelped for his friend and used his elytra to fly down. He landed next to Scar, his eyes tracing over his friend before moving to the smaller person next to him. 

“Hello, mate. Don’t think I’ve met you.” Mumbo introduced himself.

“Not the time, Mumbo!” Grian yelled, pulling on his friend's ear. Mumbo yelped as he was forced down to the others height, he met Grian’s eyes who then pointed at the rift. “That is a problem.”

Mumbo looked at the rift, his eyes widening, “Gosh, how much have I missed?”

Another earthquake knocked them all off of their feet. Mumbo tumbled over his own feet, next to him Grian was struggling to keep standing. Scar managed to grab onto a tube that was connected to Grumbot. He peeked over the tube, Jimmy right underneath him.

“Is there any way to turn it off?” Scar yelled

“The rift is separate from Grumbot, he can open it but I have no idea if he can turn it off! I don’t even know what it’s doing!” Grian yelled as another wave knocked both him and Mumbo back. Both men were thrown to the ground a few feet from Scar. 

A bright light blinded all four of them, as all sound was quiet. It was too bright to see anything and it was too silent. All they could hear was the ringing in their ears from an explosion. The light cleared away from them like fog. 

They waved their hands in front of their hands, shooing the smoke away. 

The tremors had stopped, and the rift was back to purple.

Everything was just as it had been. 

Scar peeked over the tube he was holding on to, on his shoulder was Jimmy who sneaked a peek at the same time. 

Grian pushed himself off of the ground, rubbing his face clear of pebbles and rocks. He blinked a few times before looking around.

Mumbo sat up, brushing off his suit and tightening his tie.

Jimmy looked over at a figure in front of the rift. He blinked. Was he actually seeing this?

Jimmy looked down, he picked up the piece of paper and reread it. What used to be blank was now painted with black ink. The whole page was covered in dripping ink, and in white writing was the word; Here.

Grian stumbled up and shuffled closer to the figure slowly. His head cocking to the side as he inspected the body that was laid out on the floor of his lab. He didn’t recognize the person. He was about to step forward closer, when Jimmy’s voice stopped him.

“Guys, you need to see this.” Jimmy said, his voice strained. Scar looked over his shoulder, his eyes catching on the piece of paper.

“What is it?” He asked. Jimmy held up the piece of paper for Scar to see, the brunette's eyes widened. He looked frantically from the paper to the body across the lab. His mouth slightly agape as he tried to say something. 

Mumbo looked over Scar’s shoulder to see the paper, his brow furrowed. “What does that mean?” He asked.

“Grian, you need to see this.” Scar called for his friend, but Grian was paying attention anymore.

Grian stopped once he was right next to the body of the boy. 

He looked him over, his eyes gazing down at the horrific state his body was in. He knelt down, trying to ignore the major injuries. He wanted to know who it was that had come out of the green rift. He brushed golden blonde hair out of the body’s face. 

A scarred, bruised and burned face met him. He cupped the boy’s face, barely holding it above where it’d been resting. 

It didn’t take him long to recognize the blemishes and freckles that scattered the boy’s face. He recognized the few red and yellow feathers that peeked out over the golden hair, right around his ears. 

He felt tears bubble up into his eyes as he rubbed a thumb underneath the boy’s eyes. 

Grian sat down on his knees, blocking the others from viewing the body any longer. He fluttered out his wings wrapping them around the boy.

“Tommy?”

Chapter Text

“Tommy?” Grian whispered, his eyes glanced over his beaten and burned body before the panic fully set in. The injuries that painted the boy’s body were extensive, wounds that no normal trip or fall or accident would leave. He blocked his mind from fully interpreting each single injury. All he knew was Tommy was burned, bruised and broken in his arms. “Tommy, wake up. Wake up, kid.”

Mumbo had somehow made his way next to Grian. He knelt down on one knee, looking over the blonde as well. 

Mumbo’s face slowly went from confusion to horrific understanding. 

“Grian. Is this? Is this him?” He asked lightly. Grian looked up and nodded sadly. He didn’t understand how Grumbot knew about Tommy or where he even was, but at the moment he didn’t care. 

Mumbo’s hands floated above the younger’s body, he didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t a redstone machine. He could fix it by just trying different things. He didn’t even know how to start. How could he fix this? How could he fix something that had been broken for years without their knowledge?

Scar had managed to keep himself at a distance for a moment, but as both Grian and Mumbo surrounded the boy’s body, he couldn’t seem to stop himself anymore. He knew Jimmy was still watching the trio in confusion, but the more he tried to explain it all in his head the worse it sounded. 

He ignored the guilty feeling in his stomach at leaving his friend in the dark, and joined the others. 

“This is bad. This is so much worse than bad.” Scar muttered, sitting down next to Mumbo. Grian chirped a calling for Tommy, but the boy made no movement. Grian’s feathered ears flinched searching for any sound. He found none. 

“We need to get X, and Stress, and Doc, too.” Mumbo listed off, as his eyes caught onto the boy’s back. His black eyes widened, and he sent a worried look to Grian. His friend was completely lost in trying to get Tommy to answer him back. Mumbo’s breath stuttered at the thought of being the one to break the news. 

Mumbo sent Scar a worried look before nodding to the boy’s back. The action didn’t go unnoticed and Scar’s eyes latched onto the sight. Mumbo saw as the man’s jaw locked in place and his entire body froze. 

Scar looked back to Mumbo, a horrified look on his face as he opened his mouth to ask a question. He stopped himself. His mouth clicked shut, and he looked back to where Jimmy stood; utterly confused and scared at the sight in front of him. 

Mumbo placed a hand on Grian’s knee, catching the avian’s attention. Grian chirped in response. “Grian, I need you to not freak out when I say this.”

“What?” The sudden change in tone, from careful and soft to harsh and stern caught Mumbo off guard. Grian glared into the man, his hold on Tommy never letting up. 

Mumbo sighed, he swallowed, “He’s been dewinged.”

Grian jolted and quickly moved Tommy to see his back. Sure enough, there were two stubs where there used to be wings. The feathers were molting and most of the skin was showing. The stubs looked to have healed wrong, and the skin was burnt and blistered.

Grian hugged Tommy close, angrily chirping to the other two men. Mumbo and Scar both nodded along, not understanding a single thing the avian was ranting about. 

As Grian continued to fuss over Tommy, ruffling through his hair for any injuries. Mumbo hummed and nodded along to Grian, as he pulled out his communicator with clumsy hands. Scar noticed something that made him want to throw up. As his eyes latched onto the injury, he shoved his hand over his mouth to keep himself from gagging. 

“I-Mumbo…his-look.” Scar tried to finish, catching both Grian and Mumbo’s attention. Scar pointed to where he was looking. Mumbo, who had been trying to contact X on his communicator, dropped the device to the floor. Grian inwardly winced, as he looked. 

He had no left foot.

It had been cut off right before the ankle.

Scar knew what that would mean. After his accident, he’d been bedridden for half a year. He’d then moved to a wheelchair, he spent the rest of his time in that chair. Only recently had Doc come up with a substitution. After years of sitting in a chair, he was able to stand on two legs again. Sure, he still used the chair sometimes when the prosthetic helpers seemed too difficult to manage. The thought of his nephew having to go through anything like that seemed like a nightmare. He never wanted his nephew to deal with anything even close to that, yet here he was. 

The stub of his left leg was connected to a wooden peg, like that of a pirate. However the prosthetic seemed to have been colored on with crayons and pens. It had pictures of bees and flowers doodled all over it. Scar smiled at the semblance of childhood still left. 

“I-I’m calling X.” Mumbo stated, grabbing his communicator and he began to type out a message. 

“Maybe, we should get him some place a little less damp ?” Jimmy pointed out from behind the trio. Grian turned around to the toy, and nodded.

“He can stay in Scarland.” Scar offered, immediately. He wasted no time in helping out his nephew. He needed to do something, he felt as if his bad luck had somehow rubbed off of the poor kid. “We’ve got hotel rooms still open. I can set one up.”

Grian nodded, again. His wings still wrapped around the younger avian. His ear feathers had been puffed up and then were finally settling down. However he still kept a tight grip on the fledgling. “Thank you.”

Mumbo turned back to the trio, “X is on his way. He’s contacting Doc and Stress to meet us.”

Scar nodded.

“Until Doc and Stress get here, we need to get him to Scarland and make sure he doesn’t have any fatal wounds.” Grian said, slowly standing up with Tommy in his arms. The kid was much older than he was before. It was something that confused Grian to no end.

When he had last seen his kid, Tommy had been seven. Only two years had passed, and yet the young avian looked to be in his late teens. 

“Is he even safe to travel by elytra?” Mumbo asked, standing up and looking over the boy once more. He peeled back the green bandana that was wrapped around his neck to see burn scars and blisters that were just being created. Whatever had burned him had been recent, and the blisters and charred skin covered his entire body. 

“I’ll go ahead and set up a room before you get there.” Scar said, gathering his things and holding a hand out for Jimmy. The toy hopped onto his hand and the two prepared for the flight back to the amusement park. 

Grian and Mumbo nodded to them, as they fired their rockets and took off. 

“I’m not sure, Mumbo. But it’ll be better if I carry him. I have better control with actual wings.” Grian said, at the mention of wings he seemed to stiffen. His eyes traced back down to the cut off appendages that stuck out of the fledglings back. 

“Hey, Grian.” Mumbo called, catching Grian’s attention back, “We’re going to fix this. We said we would a long time ago. We’re still going to. None of this changed anything.” Mumbo said, standing far over Grian’s head, he poked the blonde in the chest. 

Grian huffed, and nodded. “Go on. I’ll meet you there.”

Mumbo nodded, and picked out his rockets. He quickly flew up after Scar and out of the cavern. 

Grian turned around to face Grumbot. He kept his hold on Tommy tight, afraid that somehow some unseen force would steal him away again. He shook the thought out of his head. 

He sighed, “Thank you, Grumbot. I don’t know how you did it, but thank you.”

Chapter Text

Grian landed in the middle of Scarland’s mainstreet, his feet quietly hitting the road. He was carrying Tommy, as he looked around for any sign or Mumbo or Scar. Grian kept his grip on Tommy tight, as he turned to look around the amusement park. 

“Over here, Grian!” 

Grian turned around to see a large turquoise building. The front door to the building was open, and Mumbo was stood holding the glass door open. Mumbo gave an encouraging smile to his friend, urging him to get inside. 

Grian rushed over to join the much taller man, he ran underneath the archway that led to the patio. He joined Mumbo and the two entered the hotel building. 

The lobby of the hotel was halfway finished, the front desk and seating area was well and done. However there was a blocked off area where a staircase was slowly connecting the second and first floor. At the moment, there was only a ladder to both landings. 

“He’s still working on that staircase for Fwhip and Scott.” Grian explained, as Mumbo looked at the construction area in confusion. Grian heading over to the landing leaving an even more confused Mumbo.

“Who?” Mumbo asked. Grian only chuckled, before puffing up his wings. He bounded up to the second floor with ease, the ladder would have been almost impossible with Tommy in his arms. 

“I almost forgot you haven’t met the Empires fellas.” Grian said, as Mumbo clambered up the ladder. The tall man walked over to the blonde, a confused smile breaching his face.

“Yeah, I have no clue who that is.” Mumbo rubbed the back of his neck, but pointed down the hall. The hallway was in the same basic colors as the rest of the lobby and hotel. However there were some changes made to the left side, where some rocks and moss were decorating the entrance. Grian smiled, recognizing the décor as one might find underground in a cavern. The door even had a sign on it with poor orange and red writing; Fwhip. 

Grian nodded to the door, and caused Mumbo to break out into the laughter he’d missed from his good friend. “Oh! I see!”

“You get used to them after a while.” Grian shrugged. Mumbo shook the laughter off, before pointed at the door across the way. It was a newly painted red color, and was slightly askew. 

“Scar setting up in there.” Mumbo said, opening the door for Grain who had his hands full with the boy. Their entrance startled Scar, who jumped when the door opened. 

“Ah! Grian, Mumbo, you can’t do that to a man!” Scar breathed out, as he held a hand over his heart. He noticed Tommy in Grian’s arms quickly and pointed to the bed that was set up in the middle of the room. “Here. Set him down here.” 

Grian laid Tommy on the bed, quickly covering the kid in the red blanket that was tucked under the bed. He stood up, and fully took in the room, “Scar, when we said he’d stay here, I didn’t mean for you to create another base inside your base!”

Scar laughed, innocently, looking around at the work he’d done.

“How have you even managed this?” Grian asked, dumbfounded at the work his friend had done in such a short amount of time. 

The room was larger than a regular hotel room would be, probably because Scar hadn’t expected to get a lot of visitors at one time. Their server was quite private, and everyone that was on it already had their bases. 

The room they all stood in was normally meant to be a living area and kitchen. However, Scar had moved the bed out of the bedroom to allow for some space. The redesign meant that Scar had moved around the main room to be a medical suite. The bed in the center, held up against a wall covered in paintings of the amusement park and cartoon pictures of Jellie. There was a nightstand next to the bed and a comfortable chair, too. The sofa had been moved to the side and was flush with the glass wall that overlooked the park. 

The kitchen had been completely ignored. The small table that sat in the middle of the room, was pushed aside, and being used as a portable chest monster, with items strewn about it. 

“Elven magic?” Scar tried, chuckling to himself as he tried to figure out himself if that was the truth or not. 

Mumbo looked up from his communicator where he was chatting to someone. 

“X is on his way, he’s told Stress and Doc to meet us here as well.” Mumbo explained, “Although I can’t imagine their confusion when they see this mess.” 

“They’ll be in the same boat as us.” Grian muttered, plopping down into the chair next to the bed. “How have we even managed this? Somehow Grumbot can now travel between servers, and has somehow brought Tommy back? How did he even know about Tommy? And where in Minecraft did that green portal lead to?”

“I’m just as lost as you are, mate.” Mumbo said, as a figure flew by outside the hotel. Scar turned around to look out the window as he heard the wind whip by from someone’s elytra. 

“Xisuma’s here.” Scar said, “I’ll go grab him.” Scar hopped over the mess of construction work on the floor, and left the room. He happily walked through his hotel halls and hopped down to the main floor. He was met with a confused Xisuma standing in the doorway.

The man was still dressed in his turtle green armor; the helmet hiding much of his face, leaving only his eyes visible. He had yet to put away his custom insect wings, instead he was much more focused on looking around the hotel. He had yet to actually visit the amusement park only hearing about it from separate Hermits. 

Xi stood up straighter when he noticed Scar. “Hello, Scar. Is Mumbo around? I was quite surprised to get a message from him, but he asked me over here. I’m not entirely sure why.” His helmet’s voice changer created a staticky sound that was familiar to all the Hermits. 

“Oh Yeah! Yeah, he’s up on the second floor with Grian!” Scar said, urging Xi to follow him up to the second floor. Scar clambered up the ladder while Xi used his elytra. 

“Scar, I’ve got to say, this place is looking wonderful. I wasn’t expecting so much to get done in such a short time.” Xi complemented, he paused at the door dawned with the name of the emperor of Gobland. “I see I’m not the only person to recognize this.”

“Yeah,” Scar mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked around the room for something to stall with, he didn’t really think this one through. He could either just walk into the room and bomb Xi with the information or explain and then bomb him with the sight. Neither seemed likable. 

Xi noticed the man’s hesitance and crooked an eyebrow. “Scar? Something wrong, mate?” 

“Well…” Scar dragged out, “Yes. We might have a tiny tiny problem.”

Even underneath the helmet, Scar could see the others jaw lock and his eyes narrow. 

An Admins job in Servers was to protect those that joined. There were no exceptions to this. Admins were given the tools to block out glitches, work with code, fix any corruptions and create a safe environment for those around them. Admins could create the rules of the world, the vague path their friends and players would take to live. 

There were many dangerous Servers in the universe of Minecraft: anarchy servers, Hardcore, battle arenas. However most were just a large or small group of people who had a basic idea of how they wanted to spend some time; whether as rats or building. 

The Admin was there to create the world and protect it and all those inside. 

So there was a bit of fear in Xisuma’s stomach as to what this problem would be. If it was a redstone one, Mumbo could’ve handled it. If it was a building one, Grian was there to help Scar. For this problem to have escaped all three of them, and make its way to Xi so quickly there were only so many options it could be.

“What is it?” Xi asked, cutting to the chase. 

“Well…you know how Grian’s portal opened up and we got sent to Empires.” Scar asked.

“Yes, of course, I do. They are quite literally all over the server now.” Xisuma shrugged.

“His portal opened again. I mean, it was open but this time it went to another world. And instead of going into it something came out of it-well no scratch that someone. And Grumbot knew who it was, because Grumbot sent them here. So basically we have a new hermit, or well an old hermit, technically. However, he's a lot more injured than I remember him.” Scar rambled on. Xi tried to follow but as Scar’s explanation went on he got quickly lost as to what happened first and last. 

“Scar. Scar. Show me the problem.” Xi placated quickly, cutting off the long reenactment. Scar nodded and pointed to the half painted red door. Xi nodded and opened the door.

He expected to find-he didn’t know what he expected really.

But he knew it was not this.

It was definitely not a large open room that looked like a hotel converted into a hospital. It was definitely not Mumbo pacing up and down the room, as he muttered to himself. It was definitely not Grian anxiously waiting and staring at a bed that was inhabited by a vaguely familiar figure. 

He was definitely not expecting that vaguely familiar figure to turn into the kid he remembered from last season. 

“Is that-is that tommy?” Xi asked, catching both Grian and Mumbo’s attention. 

Mumbo nodded, but Grian spoke up, “We believe so. Jimmy and Scar were visiting my base. When Jimmy got generated content it said that we needed to help Tommy. Then he showed up, right through the portal. It changed from purple to green, though.” 

Xi nodded, “I’ll have to check his code to make sure it's the same kid.” Xi looked over the kid’s injuries from afar. He didn’t want to get any closer to the wounds that he’d remember in his nightmares. Just the sight of the gash on his forehead made him want to gag. 

“I’m guessing this is the reason you wanted me to contact Stress and Doc.” Xi continued. Grian nodded.

“He looks better now than he did, the flight over got rid of the soot and ash.” Grian explained. 

“Any idea where he came from?” Xi asked, already working to pull up the code of the server. He pulled up the list of people online, and caught the new name with ease. He pulled it away from everyone else on the tab list and looked into it.

“No clue.” Mumbo said, “We’d planned on asking you.”

Xi hummed, “Even if this isn’t him, we need to figure out where he came from. Those injuries, from just what I can see, are enough to have a Server looked into by Noxcrew.” He looked through the code lines and numbers that made up the boy in front of him. He ignored most of the kid’s past, trying to give him privacy. All he needed to know was if the kid had the Hermit’s ‘Ip’. A simple number code to tell him if he’d ever been on the server before. 

“You think it was an anarchy server?” Scar asked, already working on finishing the room again. He planted more Jellie themed items around the room, but also found a few things he remembered their old Tommy had liked: cows, butterflies, moths (oddly), music and others. 

Xi shrugged, “Possibly, but Anarchy Servers normally play it a lot safer than that.”

Grian huffed, puffing out his wings, “There’s no telling where he came from until he wakes up. Just-Xi is he our kid or not?”

Xisuma looked up, underneath the helmet he was biting his lip. Still searching through corrupted code and hidden numbers. He looked through a list of addresses and places eventually finding the long code he was looking for. He couldn’t help the smile that tugged on his face when he did.

“Yeah… Yeah, that’s Tommy.” Xisuma muttered.

Mumbo whipped around from pacing, “you’re joking!”

“He has the address. Either we missed a kid in our past seasons or this is Tommy.” Xi explained, staring at the blonde kid that was asleep in the bed across from him. It was odd.

He’d seen Tommy when he was just a little kid. Boatem had introduced him to the kid pretty quickly, wondering if there was something wrong. The situation actually resembled this one quite closely.

It was just odd to see that young kid who had so much wonder and joy be turned into this injured and mutilated teen. He didn’t know how it could happen. And apparently neither did the others.

“That doesn’t make sense though!” Grian threw his hands up into the air. He stood up, glaring up at Xi. He wasn’t near the same height level, but that didn’t matter. Grian still glared up at him.

“That’s not possible, Xi. Tommy was seven when he disappeared, it’s been two years! The most he could be is nine. That kid looks seventeen!” Grian shouted, pointing back at the kid unconscious. 

Mumbo seemed to think over the same facts in his head. He threw the idea around in his head, before coming to the same conclusion as Grian. It wasn’t really logical for a nine year old to have the height and build on a teenager. “He’s right, Xi. How is that possible?”

Xi shifted his weight from foot to foot. His nerves fraying. So maybe he’d been lying to the Hermits just a tiny bit. It wasn’t that big of a deal, right? Well it hadn’t been a big deal until recently. Very recently, really. 

Admins had the ability to create the worlds that people lived in. They also had the ability to make the rules and codes for said world. They could make the code change to fit the needs of the people ‘playing’ the game. 

How many times do people finish building castles and mountains in just a couple days or months? Not many. 

“Xi?” Grian asked, concern slipping into his voice.

“I may have tweaked a few things when I created the server.” Xi chuckled.

Grian’s feathers puffed up like the mother hen he was, “What kind of things?”

“Time.” Xi muttered out.

“What?” Mumbo mumbled, confused. “How did you do that?”

“Well, it was actually quite easy. I just made the days longer-”

“Xi! Focus, how did you mess with time?” Grian cut him off. 

Xisuma sighed, “I made time pass slower. I mean how often do you see people building castles and mountains in just a couple of days or months? It’s not a lot. People want to get their builds done before the season ends, and so I slowed down time. I made the minutes slower and the days longer. We all still move at the same speed as before. We still age the same way, but the world doesn’t.” Xisuma explained, waving a hand in front of his helmet as if to demonstrate.

“How have we never noticed that?” Scar asked, completely shocked at the revelation. 

“Because I never told anyone. I didn’t think about it. And I mean, they don’t call us Hermits for nothing. We don’t really care about how much time has passed.” Xi shrugged. 

Grian shook his head, turning back to the unconscious blonde. His face kept completely neutral as he looked over all the injuries. “How long, Xi?”

“What?” Xisuma questioned.

“How long has it actually been?” Grian asked, his wings raising up as if to guard himself. 

Mumbo looked between the admin and his friend. A part of him wanted to know how old Tommy would be, but the other half didn’t want to know how much time he’d actually missed out on. 

Scar looked the same way, he’d abandoned the idea of placing more decorations and items across the room. And was now just staring at the conversation, wondering what revelation would come over them.

“Ten years.”

…

“Ten years?” Scar asked, cutting the silence in half. “It’s been ten years?”

“So he’s seventeen.” Mumbo said, sadly. He couldn’t bring himself to look at his admin. 

Xisuma nodded.

Grian grumbled under his breath, he wanted nothing to do with these people. He sat back down in the chair, and watched Tommy. His kid that had grown up without him even knowing it. The kid he helped raise for only a small portion of his life, but an atom size to the kid.

“Hello? Scar, Mumbo? Guys?” Another voice called from the ground floor. 

“That’s Doc. He must be here with Stress.” Xisuma pointed out, trying to get the attention off of himself. Scar and Mumbo nodded, but Grian stayed still.

“You have to tell them, you know?” Grian muttered, not looking away from his kid. 

“I know, and I will. I should’ve known it would come back to haunt me soon. I’ll get a meeting together and tell the Hermits soon. You lot need to focus on Tommy first, though.”

“Scar are you around?” Another voice called from the hallway. 

Xisuma cleared his throat, “I’ll see if I can find out anything about other servers losing a member. I’ll leave you guys to work with Stress and Doc. Contact me if there are any other problems.”

“Alright then.” Mumbo replied, nervously straightening his tie.

Xi nodded and left the room, pointed Doc and Stress in the correct direction. His absence left the three Hermits in silence. Scar fiddled with the newer objects in the room, replacing decoration and making adjustments to the room as he went. Mumbo continued his pacing, randomly speaking a sentence to Grian.

It wasn’t long until a new knock was heard on the door. 

Scar quickly swung the door open to reveal a very stressed Stressmonster.

Stress had her hair down, as it loosely curled around her chin. Her hair was decorated with pink roses and tulips that twirled around in a slight crown. Her cardigan was rumpled up from the flight over, petals falling onto the floor from her path. She straightened when the door opened and moved to call after Doc.

“Doc, I found the room!” She called her accent filtering through the words. “You have got to get these rooms named, Scar, or at least numbered.”

Scar chuckled, and opened the door up for her to enter. She had a small pack attached to her teal skirt that was no doubt filled with potions and healing items. “What even caused such urgency? I got messages from both Mumbo and Xi. Doc said he had the same thing happen.”

“We’ve had a small incident down in Dwayne’s hole…” Scar muttered, not knowing any other way to put it. Stress burst into sharp laughter, cutting him off.

“Scar, Scar, never call it that again.” Stress laughed out, as Doc appeared behind her. 

The tri-creeper-goat-cyborg hybrid seemed a lot more serious and concerned than normal as he looked over Stress’s head. He was much taller than most of them, and had to duck in the building. 

“Is everything alright?” Doc asked, already knowing the answer. 

“Not really.” Mumbo said, from his spot near the back of the room. Doc and Stress looked over Scar's shoulder to see the suited man. 

“Mumbo? Since when did you get back?” Stress smiled. Mumbo nodded to the bed hidden behind a wall, both new Hermits strained their necks to see the bed. 

“Since I heard the ruckus over at Grian’s base, and I’m quite glad I did.” Mumbo said, Scar moved away from the door allowing Stress and Doc inside the room. The two hermits looked around the room for a moment before their eyes landed on the boy unconscious in the bed. 

Doc’s one normal eye widened, as he recognized the kid. “Is that-Is that the kid?” 

“What kid?” Stress asked, “How far out of the loop am I?” 

“It’s Tommy, Doc.” Grian answered, his voice colder than they’d heard before. Stress flinched back.

“Wait, as in that Tommy? The one that went missing?” Stress asked, moving closer to the bed. Her eyes scanned over the few injuries that were visible over on his face, and what wasn’t covered by blankets. 

“Yes.” Scar said, standing next to Mumbo as he quietly bit his fingernails. 

Stress looked between the boys in the room and reached into her pouch. She shuffled through healing pots and items, pulling out a potion. Before she could even pull it fully out, Grian grabbed her arm. 

“Wait.” Grian paused, looking back to the blonde, “Just-wait.”

“Grian, I need to help him.” Stress said, confused, she looked at Scar and Mumbo but both were avoiding her eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Grian?” Doc asked, prodding at the avian.

“Healing pots work on the most extensive injuries, right?” Grian asked.

“Most of the time, yes. You can really only take so many before you start to get sick, and they tend to focus on major injuries.” Stress explained. Grian nodded.

“Jimmy and Scar were in my base, Jimmy pulled generated content and Grumbot opened up the portal again. It opened to a new server, momentarily, and it brought Tommy out-” Grian explained, quickly. 

“Where are you going with this?” Doc asked.

“It’s worse than just this, Stress. I don’t know how much worse, but I know it is. Wherever he was-It was-how did Xi describe it?” Grian tried to continue looking at Mumbo and Scar for help. 

“It had to have been close to an anarchy server or one with no admin to protect it. His injuries are enough to get his last server to at least be inspected by Noxcrew.” Mumbo explained for Grian. Grian nodded. 

Stress bit her lip, “Give us the rundown.”

“He’s been dewinged.” Grian muttered out, catching the two’s attention. 

“What?” Doc asked, quickly, “How is that even possible? That would have caused extensive nerve damage, not to mention the amount of blood loss…and the wing bones? He wouldn’t have been able to survive that, unless it was a serious operation in a dire situation-”

“Doc! Doc! I’m sure people are interested in that, but at the moment I’d rather not hear that.” Grian stopped him, covering his feathered ears with his hands. Doc shut his mouth.

“Right, apologies.” 

“He’s also missing fingers, and a… foot.” Scar whispered, however it was loud enough for others to hear. Stress shivered at the thought.

“That-That is bad.” She muttered.

“Not to mention the burns on his skin and gashes all over his arms.” Mumbo added. Stress shook her head. 

“Alright, alright, I’m doing a full check up on him. Out,” She urged them all out of the room. She pushed Mumbo and Scar out to the hallway before either could argue. She pulled Grian out of his chair, earning a squawk from the avian. The avian puffed out his wings in an attempt to get the fairy to back off, but Stress only smacked him in the back of the head. 

“Ow.” Grian mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Stress pushed him out of the room.

“I’ll be done in a minute, just wait here. Doc, help me out.” She grinned, closing the door in the three’s faces, earning arguments from all of them. 

_____________

It wasn’t until an hour later that Stress opened the door again. Her face kept neutral as she looked to the three hermits. She closed the door behind here, leaving Doc to finish up his end of the check up. 

She opened her mouth to start, but shut it back when she realized she had no words. 

“Well?” Grian asked, voicing what all three wanted to say. 

“You weren’t wrong. It-it is a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a server member with injuries like those.” She sighed, “Xi is investigating this, correct?”

“I think we all will be at this point.” Mumbo answered. 

Stress nodded, she pulled out a folder and held it out to the three. “I recorded everything I found.”

Scar took the folder, standing in the middle of their small huddle. Grian and Mumbo looked over his shoulder to see the contents. Inside the folder were three pages. 

“The first page is an image, most of the time it’s used for an autopsy , however with this situation it was the best way to record it all. The second is a list of everything I found, and the third is a recovery plan I’ve made.” Stress listed, the three looked up with sad, concerned faces.

“He has third degree burns all over his body; including both of his hands, part of his face and shoulders, and along his legs. He was dewinged, leaving permanent scar on his back, and nerve damage to his body. However, it looks to have happened a while ago, so I’m assuming most of the imminent dangers have been dealt with. He’s missing his left foot, and from the looks of it, nothing has been done to help him. Doc is already thinking of a replacement, as well as a replacement for his three fingers. There’s bruising along his face and body, which has me worried for his ribs. I think he’s fractured at least two from the bruising marks.” Stress paused, and looked up to the three hermits. 

“What is it?” Grian asked, knowing the look she was giving them meant nothing good. 

“How old was Tommy when you lot knew him?” Stress asked.

Mumbo sighed, he believed he knew where this was going, “He was seven. We know he’s a lot older than he should be. We’ve already talked to Xi about it. So you don’t have to tell us about that.”

Stress looked at all three of them, earning nods. She would have laughed if the situation wasn’t what it was. “Oh, that is not what I was going to say, but okay.”

Grian’s eyebrows raised, “Then what were you going to say?”

She took a deep breath, “When you guys took care of him, did he ever seem sad? Like overly sad, or upset about himself?”

“No. He was a really cheerful kid, it took a lot to get him down.” Scar said, tilting his head to the side. 

“He never-never talked about wanting to hurt himself?” Stress asked, like she was about to touch a sore subject.

The three hermits stiffened. 

“W-What?” Grian chirped out at the same time as Mumbo spoke.

“Of course not!”

“Why would he want to do that?” Scar asked, quickly. 

Stress sighed, she wished she wasn’t the one to bring this on them. She shook her head, “I don’t know how long they’ve been there…but-but both of his arms are riddled with scars. Ones that could not have been caused by another person. They’re self-inflicted.”

They were silent. 

Grian chirped, worried about the fledgling in the next room, “He-He did what?”

“I think it’s better if you talk to him about it in person, when he’s awake I mean.” Stress mumbled. 

“Is-Is that everything?” Mumbo asked, quietly.

She shook her head, “Unfortunately, no. I-I’m not even sure how these injured got there. These injuries-no one should have survived them. And when I say that, I mean he should have respawned after he got them. He would’ve respawned with no scars, but somehow he retained them.” She paused and looked up at them, “ He’s got an arrow scar above his right eye, a stab wound through his heart, and a crack in the back of his head. And oddly enough, he has a white streak through his hair. I have yet to figure out what it’s from.” 

No one spoke. 

“I’ll be back tomorrow to start on his recovery plan. I think Doc will have something to give you on his ideas, too.” Stress muttered, she grabbed his bag she had abandoned on the floor. She moved to leave, before turning back to the three still too stunned to speak. 

“I’m real sorry to be the one to tell you.”

Chapter Text

If you were to tell Jimmy that there was a mini Grian roaming around, he would have told you, you were insane. A mini Grian would create total destruction to him. And yet, just five minutes ago a blonde, blue eyed, red wearing child popped out of the rift. 

He flew towards the snowy donut, circling the village. His mind was wandering, trying to process the information he had just learned. How in the world did Scar, Grian and apparently this guy named Mumbo know a kid? 

He muttered under his breath trying to find a reasoning to whatever he just witnessed. 

“Why do you sound like Stewie Griffin?” Joel called up as he spotted the other man. Joel stopped his trek up to his home and stared at the toy. Jimmy glared at the man, and landed in front of him. 

“I do not!” Jimmy complained.

“I do not!” Joel mocked, rolling his eyes. 

“Where are the other emperors anyway?” Jimmy asked, crossing his arms. Joel shrugged.

“I don’t know, I was just going to get my secret santa present ready, and I heard you muttering to yourself. Why do you need them anyway, can’t reach the highest shelf or something?” Joel chuckled. Jimmy glowered at the taller man. 

“Actually, I just found out information you don’t know.” Jimmy bragged, smirking. 

“Uh huh.” Joel nodded, bored. 

“Are you going to help me find them or not?” Jimmy asked. Joel seemed to think about the offer for a bit.

“Why?” Joel asked, just to get under the sheriff’s skin.

Jimmy huffed, “Because I know something about the Hermits you don’t, and I need to share it with the other Emperors.” 

Joel rolled his eyes, “Fine, I go grab Sausage and Lizzie, and some others. Where are we meeting?”

“Just by the tree.” Jimmy called, as he pulled his rockets out and flew away to go grab some members.

~

“What do you want, Jimmy?” Scott asked from his spot against the tree. Mythical Sausage and Shubble stood next to him. Lizzie was standing next to Joel and Fwhip. Katherine and Joey seemed to be awkwardly standing together, with Oli bouncing between them. Pixl stood a bit away just listening in. The only people missing were Gem and False, no one thought it out of the blue though. 

“I have information that could serve the empire’s well! Or at least it’s confusing and I want help with an explanation.” Jimmy grumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. 

“That makes more sense.” Scott said, raising a colored eyebrow. 

“I’ve just come from the ol’ rock face of Grian’s and that guy’s portal has spouted out a new something!” Jimmy said, over exaggerating his country accent. He flapped his hands around trying to mimic the portal disaster. His words caught the attention of the other emperors, though.

“What do you mean?” Lizzie asked.

“What is this ‘new something’, Jimmy?” Joey asked.

“Oh! Was it a new person? Are they nice? Oh, I can’t wait to meet them!” Sausage said, his pleasant appeal made people smile. 

“Yeah! It was some kid!” Jimmy exclaimed.

“A kid?” Joel asked, suspicion in his voice. A part of him wondered if Hermes had found his own way over before either him or Sausage could. 

“Yes. I was with Scar, the good man, and he was showing me ‘round Grian’s base. He has this weird thing that just generates content for you-”

“Oh! Does it do it for you too?” Oli asked.

“No. It just gives you paper with words that you have to create content with. The thing is, when I generated it I got these weird words. It said, ‘Hermits help Tommy’. Now I don’t know who Tommy is, but after that happened Grian went nuts.” Jimmy explained.

“Wait, what?” Joel said, suddenly interested in the whole ordeal. Why in the world would Grian get upset over that? Jimmy just nodded.

“He tried to tear his own Grumbot apart after that.” The stunned look crossed all the emperors, Grian had worked extremely hard to keep Grumbot alive on their server. Why in the world would a simple sentence like that make the man want to destroy it. 

“That’s not even the weirdest part! The portal started acting up! It turned green and started spewing out all sorts of debris and earthquakes.” Jimmy exaggerated again, “It only stopped when the portal spat out the kid. Just some random blonde haired kid, with scars all over and looking like he was on the verge of death-like real death.”

“What?” Katherine mumbled.

“What happened to that kid?” Fwhip asked. 

“I don’t know! But as soon as he was on the ground, Scar, Grian and some new guy named Mumbo were running toward him!” 

“Jimmy, this is sounding more and more like a lie, the longer you explain.” Joel said.

“It is not a lie!” Jimmy shouted, “There is a kid and they were very worried about him. He’s over in Scarland right now, I believe. Scar was setting up a place for him.” JImmy said, crossing his arms matter-of-factly. 

“Wait, Scarland? That’s where me and Fwhip are staying.” Scott said, suddenly. 

“Yeah, Yeah it is!” Fwhip added, “We’ll just have to see if you’re telling the truth or not, Sheriff.”

“I am telling the truth!” Jimmy yelled. 

“Yeah, sure you are. Till I hear it from Scott’s mouth, I’m not believing a thing.” Joel said, walking away from the group. Scott nodded, pulling Fwhip along as they moved to get ready to head for Scarland. Pixl, Lizzie, Joey and Katherine all headed off in their own directions. Sausage left with Oli towards his home in the donut, leaving Jimmy alone.

“Of course, no one believes me. Stupid emperors.” Jimmy grumbled. 

“I believe you.” 

Jimmy yelped, jumping in the air. He turned to see the witch still standing there, golden eyes staring directly at the toy sheriff. Jimmy held his hand over his heart,  catching his breath from the scare. 

“Don’t do that, Shelby.” 

“Sorry. But I do believe you. I kind of thought something was different. I can sort of…” She paused trying to think of the words, “feel it. I guess it’s a witchy thing.”

“Well, can you go do your witchy thing elsewhere? As you can see I was moping.” Jimmy complained. Shubble just straightened, her eyebrows furrowed, but she nodded anyway. 

“Okay, well, I do believe you.” Shelby said, before walking back to her hut. 

_________

Scar landed on the alien greenery, his elytra tucking in so he could glide carefully to a stop. He was on a secret mission. 

Well not really that secret, Grian had told him to go and grab Pearl and Impulse. The last two members of the boatem crew deserved to know just as much as they did.

So while Grian and Mumbo stayed in Scarland to keep watch over the kid, Scar had gone to pay a visit to the soup group. 

The man stumbled to a complete stop as he looked around the large alien base. He wondered where Pearl found the time in her upside down world to do such magic.

“Pearl! Cleaning lady!” Scar chuckled to himself as he called out. 

“I know that voice!” Someone called from inside an industrial looking building. Pearl walked out of the building, arms full of boxes piled above her head. “Look who it is, good old Scar. Have a new chest monster?”

Scar chuckled, “Not yet, I came to talk to the soup group!” 

“Yeah? Well, I’ve been meaning to talk to my neighbors anyway. Lemme grab some soup and we’ll head on over to the bridge.” Pearl dropped the boxes to the ground with a thud. She rubbed her hands on her overalls and turned on her heels to go back inside. “Don’t you look in those boxes, Scar!” 

Scar straightened as pearl read his mind. “I was not.”

“I know you, Scar. You and Grian can’t help a little curiosity.” Pearl called from inside. Scar tiptoed closer to the boxes, when she was far enough away. He cocked his head to the side.

“What’s inside of them anyway?” He asked as he noticed the holes in the top, like you’d put on a box holding an animal. The boxes were all around the same size, and each tapped closed. 

Pearl came out and smacked him in the back of the head, “I told you not to look.”

“I didn’t!” Scar countered, rubbing the back of his head.

“Sure, and like I said you and Grian can’t handle any suspense.” Pearl chuckled, “Always pressing buttons and opening boxes.”

“Is this code for you’re just not going to tell me?” Scar said, as he hopped down to the next level of the sharp terrain. Pearl followed closely behind him, and the two slowly made it closer to the bridge connecting all three megabases.  

“Pieces of aliens, I don’t know if they're dangerous or not. I was just moving them out of the facility and into the research plant. I think I’m going to call them Sculk. It sounds ominous but it could change.” Pearl discussed, as her feet hit the deepslate bridge. 

“What’s got you in need of talking to the soup group, ay?” Pearl questioned. Scar thought about his answer for a moment, the more he stayed quiet the more nervous Pearl got. Scar opened his mouth to answer, but he snapped it shut after a second. Pearl furrowed her brow and looked at her friend. 

“It’s nothing bad, right?” Pearl asked, stopping in the middle of the bridge. Scar quickly shut the thought down.

“No, no! It’s fine. It’s just hard to explain, I guess.” He muttered. Pearl looked him up and down, before nodding slowly.

“Hey Scar! Pearl! What are you two doing here on the bridge?” Gem asked, as he saw them on the bridge. She was flying above them, her elytra holding her up on the air. She circled around them until she finally was able to land. 

“Scar wanted to talk to the soup group.” Pearl explained. 

“Oh, cool! Impulse should be down in his area, I think. Come on, it’s been a bit since we’ve had a soup group meeting!” Gem smiled, brightly. She motioned for the two to follow her as she led them through the water door. 

Gem and Pearl headed into the Dwarven Keep with practiced ease, as Scar followed behind them.  “Impulse!”

“Impulse.” Both girls shouted, laughing to themselves. 

The entrance was huge, with greenery lining the walls and small fountains in the corners. The large ceiling seemed to be still under construction as a scaffolding floor was built to hold the dwarf. Through the entrance you could see the expanding underground base and nether portal in a picture perfect frame. 

Impulse looked down from his scaffolding floor, and grinned at the visitors. “I’ll be done in a second!” He was happy to have a distraction from the monotonous building of the ceiling. He slid down the scaffolding and landed in front of the three. 

“Oh, hey, Scar! What’s brought you here?” Impulse asked, and lined himself up with the rest of the soup group. Scar chuckled nervously, wondering how to break the news.

“Scar said he had something to talk to us about, ay? He hasn’t told me what, though.” Pearl answered, looking at Scar expecting an explanation. 

“Sorry, I just don’t really know how to explain it…” Scar muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt the pit in his stomach as he thought about what could be happening over in Scarland. It wasn’t a good feeling leaving the poor kid behind, even when he knew for a fact Grian and Mumbo were still there. Stress’s check up on him had tripled the concern for the kid’s safety.

“Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad.” Gem smiled, trying to lighten Scar’s mood. Pearl and Impulse nodded along, an idea seemed to pop in Pearl’s head. 

“Oh! How could I forget! Any soup group meeting has to start with some soup!” Pearl smiled, she pulled out a shulker box and tossed two soups to Impulse and Gem. 

“This better not make me blind again, Pearl.” Impulse said, as he sipped the soup nonetheless. Gem only shrugged and greedily ate up, not caring about the effect. 

“Oh~, jump boost.” Gem smiled, as she jumped up and down. Impulse let out a groan as he was blinded by the soup once again.

“Pearl, we really need to get you new recipe’s.” Impulse said, with no ill intent. His voice was quite the opposite, filled with laughter and he grinned. Pearl rolled her eyes, taking out her own soup. 

“My recipes are perfect, Impulse.” Pearl said, cockily, as her potion effect took action. “Night vision.” She called out. 

“We’re getting off track, Scar, it can’t be that bad. Come on, what’s the problem?” Gem said, as her potion effect wore off. Scar sighed, he didn’t feel like ruining their happy mood. They seemed to just want to have peace after the crazy crossover of servers. But here he was about to drop a bombshell on them. 

“Do you remember, Tommy?” 

And the mood was shattered.

Impulse’s effect wore off, and he looked at Scar with almost fear. No one had spoken the kid’s name in almost two years. His eyes were wide and Scar could see how his hands clenched together. 

Pearl had almost the opposite reaction, instead of fear her eyes were alight with a  burning fire. Her eyes glaring at nothing but the world around her, a bright red shining through (Something they hadn’t seen in a while). Her mouth was in a tight frown, and her fists were stuck in her overall pockets. 

Gem looked between the two. She knew Tommy, but not as well as the other two had. Tommy used to come and visit her in Season Eight. He was a bright kid, and the fact that he was missing had hurt the entire server. She knew very well how much the boy meant the boatem, and how much Pearl and Impulse missed the kid. 

“Yes-Yes, Scar. We remember, Tommy. I don’t think we could ever forget the kid.” Gem answered for both of her neighbors. Scar breathed out a heavy sigh and nodded.

“Grian’s portal…it did something, something new. It connected to another server-” 

“Are the Empire’s people still able to get home?” Gem asked, quickly. 

“It changed back rather quickly, but… not before shooting stuff out.” Scar placated.

He paused, and waited for recognition to fall on Pearl and Impulse’s faces.

“Like what? What kinds of things?” Pearl snarled.

“Tommy.” 

This time all three stared at him in disbelief. The anger in Pearl’s face was replaced with concern and fear. Impulse’s fear was suddenly replaced with urgency. And Gem’s concern was replaced with relief. 

“He’s back?” Gem confirmed.

“Like actually back?” Impulse added. 

“Yeah, a little worse for wear, but he’s back.” Scar said, with a small smile. 

“Where is he, Scar?” Pearl almost demanded. 

“Scarland. Grian and Mumbo are with him, but I was sent to see if you guys wanted to see him. Xisuma’s already been by, he checked over everything. It’s the real Tommy. Stress and Doc also came by to give him a check up, like I said, it-it doesn’t look too good-” 

“Scar, Scar, is he alive?” Pearl asked, cutting him off from his ramble. 

“Yeah.” Scar whispered. 

They were silent. 

“Well, what are you two waiting for, go on!” Gem yelled over the silence.

“What?” Impulse yelped, like he hadn’t wanted to leave the moment he knew where the kid was.

“Oh, please, you two miss that boy so much it is impossible to get you out of your base some days. Go see the boy, I’m sure he’s itching to see you two. And don’t you two worry about your bases, I’ll manage.” Gem said, in her most mother-henning voice.

“You’re not coming?” Pearl asked.

Gem shook her head, “That boy doesn’t need to be bombarded with people all at once. I’ll see him as soon as I can, but you two need to go. Right, Scar?” 

Scar straightened at the mention of his name, “yeah-Yeah! Right!”

“Alright, alright, lead the way,Scar.” Impulse said, and Scar nodded. 

Chapter Text

When they arrived back at Scarland the nightlights were illuminating the streets. The day had mostly passed and left them with a gloomy looking amusement park with no amusement found. 

Scar prompted both Impulse and Pearl to follow him as they entered a turquoise hotel; they were silent, an odd comparison to what they’d normally be doing. 

They used their elytra to hop up to the second floor and Scar led them to the room Tommy was in. 

“He’s in there. Grian and Mumbo should also be in there.” Scar said, he pointed to the door and then started walking away. Pearl raised an eyebrow.

“Are you not going in?” She asked.

“No, I-I’m gonna go work on the base some more. I just need a minute, you know?” Scar said, quietly. His head bowed as he looked anywhere but the door. Impulse nodded.

“We get it. You should go find Jellie, maybe she’ll help out?” Impulse offered, and Pearl nodded in agreement. Scar sighed, and smiled. 

“I might just do that.” Scar said, a huff of something fond in his voice. He turned and walked down the hallway, waving goodbye.

Pearl sighed and turned back to the door, she slowly turned the door knob and opened into the room. 

The first thing the two saw was Mumbo leaning against the wall of the room, foot tapping against the ground. Mumbo turned to face them, his mouth shutting from where he’d been saying something. He smiled softly at the nodding to the opposite side of the room that was hidden by a wall. 

Impulse and Pearl were too stunned to say anything as the situation fell onto their shoulders. They were possibly in the same room as that little kid that went missing two years ago. 

The two walked through the foyer of the room and looked around the corner to see Grian sitting next to a white bed. Grian smiled sadly at them and nodded to the bed next to them. 

It was then that the two saw the figure curled up in the bed, a thin blanket covering him. Sticking out of the blanket was a mess of dirty blonde curls. His face was turned away from them but they could vaguely make out the bruises that lingered on his neck and scars that painted his fingers and body. 

“Is-Is that him?” Pearl asked, walking quickly over to the bed and looking over the boy. 

“Yeah, it’s him. Xi confirmed it yesterday morning.” Grian said, tiredness leaking from his voice. Grian had dark circles around his eyes, and his parrot wings were limply hanging from his back as he sat next to the bed. It was obvious he hadn’t slept in a while, too worried about the kid next to him. 

Pearl knelt down next to the bed opposite of Grian, lightly lifting the boy’s face to look. “He looks awful-worse than awful.” Her voice was sad and slow as she traced over the scar just above his eyebrow. 

“Wherever he was, Xi says there’s enough there to have it searched and possibly shut down.” Mumbo added. Impulse looked at Mumbo with wide eyes.

“He was like this when you found him? This wasn’t like a creeper attack or a bad cave?” Impulse said quickly. Mumbo shook his head. 

“The injuries he has, they’re more than just a mob fight. According to Stress-” Grian stopped himself, trying to bite back chirps and tears, “some are self-inflicted, others could only be done by another player.” 

“Self-inflicted? You mean like-he…” Pearl stopped and looked at the boy again. She carefully pulled back the blanket that covered the boy and saw the scars that littered his body. The horror that met her was much worse though.

“Grian. Where are his wings?” Pearl asked darkly, her voice changing from sad to serious. 

“Gone. He’s been dewinged.” Grian trilled sadly.

Impulse was quick to come to Stress’s side, his gaze locked onto the boy. He opened his mouth to say something but only closed it back. He stammered over words until he could finally get something out, “Is it-is he going to-has he woken up?” He landed on asking.

Mumbo shook his head, “Not yet.”

“You said you had Stress come by, what did she say?” Pearl asked, a hand running through the kid’s hair. Mumbo nervously straightened his tie.

“The folder’s over there on the counter if you want to see it. I’d rather not go into the details aloud.” Grian muttered. Pearl nodded, and stood up from the ground, she paused for a moment considering leaving the boy’s side before heading to grab the folder. Impulse looked over the boy again his eyes catching on the features that his mind was brushing past. 

“He looks older-older than he should.” Impulse said, quietly. Grian and Mumbo nodded in unison. 

Pearl grabbed the beige folder and opened it up, skimming over the information and looking at the pictures that Stress had drawn out. It filled her with both rage and nausea. 

“That was something else we needed to tell you.” Mumbo said, quietly. 

“He’s not seven like we thought he would be.” Grian whispered, a quiet chirp still trying to wake up the chick. 

“A time jump? What age is he? Ten? Nine?” Impulse asked, still not grasping the gravity of the situation. Pearl skimmed back over the information, her ears picking up the conversation in front of her. Her eyes caught sight of the big black numbers that didn’t make sense.

“He’s seventeen.” She muttered in disbelief. Impulse looked back at her with confusion, “He’s seventeen! How in the world is he seventeen?”

“That is something that Xi needs to explain, not us.” Grian explained, his arms crossing lightly. He shook his head, he was still a little mad at the admin. 

Pearl shook her head, placing the question in the back of her mind for later, “Grian, these injuries, they’re-they’re.”

“Extensive? Ruthless? Disgusting? Horrific? Yeah. We know.” Grian muttered, his head hung low. 

“Impulse, you should look at this.” Pearl said, handing the folder over to the dwarf. Impulse took it and flipped it open quickly. He took a sharp breath when he saw the pictures and words that spread across the pages. 

“Xi is finding who did this, right?” Pearl asked, they all knew full well that if Xi wasn’t, Pearl was about to lead the search. 

“We’re working on it, but our best bet to find out will be Tommy when he wakes up.” Mumbo answered, solemnly. “It’s been about three days since we found him. He hasn’t woken up since.”

“He just needs a little bit more time. The chick has to be okay.” Grian said with finality. “He just has to.”

__________________________

It took two more days before there was any sign of Tommy waking up. It was when Grian and Stress were with him that the very first sign showed. 

Grian had been sitting next to the boy, while Stress checked his wounds for infections. She’s already found that the wound where his foot had been cut off was infected a day before. It led to a lot of worrying about the next steps in taking care of it. 

Grian had his hand wrapped around Tommy’s good hand, his other was wrapped in several layers of bandages. 

Stress had told the hermits that talking to the boy might help him wake up, and that was just what they planned to do. Each day at least one or two hermits would visit at some point. 

Grian had been talking to Tommy about his plan to surprise Pearl with a charged creeper as a secret santa, when he felt the hand in his tighten.

Grian’s heart stopped, and he cut his rant short. He looked down to where his hand was now held in the blonde’s. His eyes were wide as he squeezed his hand back to try and recreate the response. And again, the blonde’s hand squeezed back.

“Stress. Stress, he moved his hand.” Grian chirped quicker than he could speak the words. Stress looked up from where she was working and over that the two. Her eyes were slightly bigger now that she recognized what Grian had said. 

“What do you mean? Where? How did he move it?” She asked quickly, rushing over to his side. 

“He just squeezed my hand.” Grian said, not looking up from the boy. 

“Okay, okay, that’s good. That’s great! That means he’s starting to wake up. My guess is he’ll wake up in a few days so I’d be ready. You never know, you might walk in and he’s already awake.” She said, chuckling to herself at the last bit. 

Grian just grinned, happy to finally tell the others some good news. 

_____________________________

The first thing Tommy felt was the tingling in his fingers and toes. They way his body felt like it was shaking and vibrating in his own skin. He wanted to move but it seemed impossible. 

He felt something wrapped around his hand, it was warm and different that what was wrapped around the rest of his body. While something soft and fuzzy covered most of him, the thing in his hand was rough.

He tried to squeeze his own hand. He felt the tingling in his fingers close around the rough thing. A second later the thing squeezed back. It caused his heart to race in his chest, he hadn’t expected the thing to move. But the feeling wasn’t harmful and it didn’t hurt. He hesitantly squeezed his hand again, and the thing repeated. 

If he could he would have smiled, or smirked, but instead he was stuck in this dark place. Something so close to what he remembered after his latest death. He could reach out forever and there was nothing. His fear of the dark space had subsided but still left his brain and heart racing every time he looked for too long. 

He didn’t know how long it took, but it must have taken a while (because the thing wrapped around his hand left). He started to move his fingers more. His senses slowly coming back to him. He could hear things again and could feel more. 

Every time he moved his hand it was met with different responses. He could hear a thick woman's accent telling him to keep moving. He could hear a very lighthearted man grinning and shouting hooray. He could hear a very posh man asking him to do it again. He could hear another man telling him he was doing good. Or he would hear someone chirp to him, it always made him want to call back but he could never get his throat to work with him. 

Each time though he’d continue to move his hands, he’d try to move his feet or his arm, just so he could hear someone again. The fear in his brain was quieted by the sounds of someone else talking. 

Over time he gained more of his senses. He could smell and taste again. While it didn’t make much of a difference, he could taste metallic in his mouth. 

His fear came back to him when he realized what was going on. When he remembered what had already happened. 

He’d died.

Again.

The bomb had hit the prison and killed him and Dream and Punz. 

It was over.

So why was he hearing voices? 

Why could he hear anything? 

He should be in Limbo. 

All those voices.

It was Limbo all over again. 

His eyes opened slowly. 

The room started out dark, just like he’d seen for so long before. Slowly, though, the light filtered in from the wide window to his left. He turned his head to look at the bright light, it was the first light he’d seen in so long. 

He missed the sun. 

He missed it so much.

No matter how much Wilbur said he didn’t need the sun to be bright. 

As he looked out the window he saw things he’d never ever seen before. Huge bright buildings, with larger things on top that looked all mechanical. There were balloons strung on the walkways, with trimmed trees and benches. It was clean and beautiful, something that would never have survived on the SMP. 

Which is what caught him off guard. 

His brow furrowed, he opened his mouth to express his confusion, but found words still didn’t work for him. 

“Hey.” 

He turned as fast as lightning to the voice. 

They were a dirty blonde. 

And that was all Tommy needed to know. 

He knew he was in Limbo.

He had a list of every person in Limbo. 

Schlatt

Mexican Dream

Henry 

Ghostbur

Friend

Ranboo

And newly added

Dream and Punz

And only one of those was a dirty blonde.

Tommy flinched, he forced himself upwards to try and stand. He needed  to get away. He didn’t care how far, just that he needed to get away. He rocketed out of the bed, which he only now realized was there. 

“Hey, calm down. You got to calm down, okay?” Dream said. 

Tommy shook his head, he was not calming down no way no how. He’d killed Dream, they were dead, he couldn’t do anything anymore. He couldn’t bring him back to life and torment him. He could kill him over and over and over and over. He didn’t get to do that anymore. So. Why. Was. He. There.

He was hyperventilating before he knew it. His legs gave out and he fell to the floor. He tried to do what Puffy said to do in a panic attack. Which is what he thinks is what’s going on. 

‘Tommy, when you get in that situation I want you to do this for me,’ She’d said, ‘I want you to find five things you can see.’

He looked around the room. He could see a bed, unmade now, and very messy. He could see pictures of some cat. He could see the red walls that were painted his favorite shade. He could see counters over by the wall. And he could see Dream getting too close for comfort. 

“Get the f*ck away from me!” He screamed, his words finally coming back in his panicked state.

“What?” Dream stopped. He stopped walking, stopped talking, it was like he short-circuited. He just paused his steps confused, his word so short that Tommy wasn’t sure if he’d heard it or not. The reaction confused Tommy. Why was Dream acting like this?

“I-I said, ‘Get-Get the f*ck away from me!’” Tommy repeated, a little less confident. 

“Yeah, yeah I heard what you said. It’s-It’s just-sorry, no I’ll deal with that later. But you really got to calm down, bud.” Dream placated, he didn’t step forward, instead he knelt to the ground in front of Tommy. He could still get around him through a tiny spot to the left, but it would be no use. Dream had successfully closed him into the corner. 

“Do-Do you remember who I am?” Dream asked.

“Of course, I remember who you are, you psychopath! Just get away from me! You can’t- You can’t hurt me anymore! So stop-stop trying.” Tommy rambled, his hands running up to his hair and pulling down on the strands of blonde. 

Dream’s eyes widened, “No, No, no, I’m not. I’m not trying to hurt you, bud. That is not. That is nowhere near what I’m doing. I just want you to calm down. Can you-Can you count to ten?”

“NO! I’m not counting to ten! I’m not letting you shoot me in the head on the count of ten!” Tommy pulled his knees to his chest, his missing foot making it hard for him to keep balance. He pulled his head into the crook between his knees successfully shielding himself in a ball. 

Dream was silent. 

Tommy stole a look from his safe ball to see Dream was no longer looking at him. Instead the guy was looking at some black box. He pulled it up to his ear and started to quietly talk. It seemed like he hadn’t even realized Tommy was looking.

“Hey, I need some help.” He whispered, “It’s Tommy.”

Tommy tried to listen to the vibrating noise that came from the black box. It sounded like shouts and multiple people. He wasn’t too sure though. 

“No, no, he’s awake. It’s just. Well, he’s awake and it doesn’t seem like I’m the best person to talk to him right now. I need someone else to try.”

The box vibrated again as voices came through it. 

“Yeah, yeah, bring Scar too.” Dream waited, “I don’t know. Maybe just three, I don’t want to overwhelm him.”

Tommy didn’t know what Scar was, there was no Scar on the SMP so, why would he be in Limbo. Unless, Dream was talking about Schlatt? Schlatt started with an S, maybe he got the names mixed up. Oh no, what if it was Schlatt.

Tommy tunneled back into his ball again.

“Hey, Tommy. Come on, can you look at me, kid? Just so I know you're listening a little bit?” Dream said, Tommy didn’t move. He shook his head. He wasn’t obeying Dream. He wasn’t falling for a trap. 

“Okay, at least you're still with me a tiny bit or you wouldn’t have shaken your head.” Tommy could almost hear the small smile on his face.  “Mumbo and Scar are on their way. Do you want to get back on the bed, or stay there?”

Tommy tightened the ball, and said nothing. Dream didn’t do anything so he guessed his choice got across. 

The swung open and he could hear someone rushing in. He couldn’t tell who they were by the steps which only worried him more. 

“Where is he?” The new person asked.

“He’s over there. He got scared out of his wits when he woke up. He’s still not entirely here. I think he’s seeing something that isn’t actually here.” Dream said. Tommy huffed under his breath, he wasn’t seeing things, the liar. 

“Where’s Mumbo?” Dream asked, while the other person took a few steps closer. Tommy still didn’t look up.

“He’s on his way. Should be here soon, I was just closer.” The guy said. Tommy heard him sit down in front of him, right next to Dream. 

“Hello Tommy!” The guy shouted, happily. 

Tommy looked up at that. His eyes peeking over his knees to see the man. The first and only thing he saw was the bright smile that was splattered across his face. 

Ghostbur.

Tommy suppressed a whimper. 

He missed his brother. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He repeated over and over again. He felt tears billowing up from his eyes. He was crying before he knew it. “I’m sorry.”

“Woah, why are you sorry, kiddo?” Ghostbur asked, in that same voice Tommy always remembered.

“You died! You died! You died! Because of him!” Tommy shouted, pointed at Dream.

“Hey!” Dream said, his voice holding nothing but fake offense.

Ghostbur chuckled, “Tommy, I die a lot because of Grian. It’s okay. You should see our Last Life season. Yeesh.” Dream elbowed him in the gut.

“What?” Tommy muttered, through tears. “But-but… he killed you. He killed you and brought him back.”

“I don’t think I understand?” Ghostbur said. 

“Now you know how I feel. Most of what he’s said doesn’t make sense.” Dream said, “He just keeps panicking.”

Tommy tried to ignore them, but they kept talking. Talking like he wasn’t even there. It pissed him off. Why was Ghotbur talking to Dream? They should not be friends! Dream killed Ghostbur and brought him back. 

The door swung open again, and closed more sharply than the first time. Tommy looked up, peeking over his knees. He strained to see over the bed and the two people in front of him. 

He saw the suit first and knew exactly who it was.

“Ranboo!” He shouted. 

All eyes turned to him. 

Ranboo turned to him with confusion in his eyes. His mouth was turned into a thin line that was trying to smile but couldn’t. Dream and Ghostbur turned to Ranboo and both let out a sigh of relief. 

“Ran, what’s going on? Where am I? They-They’re acting like friends! I don’t-I don’t understand! We- we need to get out of here.” Tommy rambled, his hands pulling strands of blonde hair again to try and bring him back down to earth. 

“Uh…what’s going on?” Ranboo asked, his voice directed at the two people sitting across from Tommy. 

“I don’t know, but you’re the first person he’s had a decent reaction to, so go ahead, redstone man.” Dream said, standing up and walking over the Ranboo. Ghostbur stood up too and walked with Dream behind Ranboo. The two stood closer to the far wall than anywhere else. 

“Grian, do not leave me here.” Ranboo muttered, sharply. 

“I’m not. Me and Scar will be right here, but I can’t get near him without him being hysterical. And Scar can’t get near him without him crying.” Dream explained, leaning against the far wall. 

Tommy took a deep breath, at the fact Dream was no longer in front of him. 

Ranboo took a hesitant step forward, before settling down near the side of him. He had a clear shot for the door, and nothing blocking his way. Ranboo was pretty lanky so it was difficult for him to sit criss crossed in the corner. 

“Hey?” 

“Hi.” Tommy replied, breathlessly.

“I-uh-I don’t know who Ranboo is, but I’m-I’m not them.” Ranboo said- or well not Ranboo? Why is Ranboo saying he’s not Ranboo?

“Ghostboo?” Tommy tried, his head tilting to the side in confusion. Ghostboo shook his head. 

“Do you think I’m that person?” They asked. Tommy nodded, “Why?”

“Because you’re wearing the suit, Ranboo always wears a suit. And you're tall. Ran’s like 8 feet tall.” Tommy described, pushing his hand up in the air to mimic how tall he was. Ghostboo-Ranboo-Someone nodded their head. 

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I’m only 6 feet tall.” They said, chuckling to themself. 

“So you’re not Ranboo? Are you Schlatt?” Tommy asked, simultaneously urging forward and flinching back. 

“No, no, I’m not them either. It’s-It’s just Mumbo.” Schlatt-no wait-Mumbo introduced. Tommy squinted at the man in front of him, slowly the fog in his brain faded away. He could see better the proportions of the man’s face. He could see that he was not half enderman nor was he half goat. He was simply a very tall man. “Do you think those two are going to hurt you?”

“Yeah…It’s-it’s him.” Tommy tried, pointing at Dream. For some reason the accusation made Dream frown and something sad crossed his face. 

Mumbo looked between his two very confused friends and the panicked teenager who was slowly starting to calm down. “Tommy, they are not going to hurt you. Who do you think they are?”

“It’s him. I don’t-I don’t want to say his name.” Tommy mumbled the last part, he subconsciously lifted his hand to his neck. He felt underneath his old bandana and traced the smiley scar that painted his neck. 

“Okay, but I need you to release that, that is just Scar and Grian. It’s just the three of us in here. And whoever you’re seeing isn’t actually here. Grian, I and Scar are not going to hurt you. Okay?” Mumbo explained. 

Tommy squinted at the two people that were staying far away from him. He ignored the part of his brain that told him to only look at the grin on one of them. Instead he printed them into his mind. 

Ghostbur no longer was just a floating smile and lighthearted laugh, but instead a slightly shorter than Mumbo man. He had brown hair and scars that littered his face and arms. He wore a very bright yellow vest over a normal tan shirt. And atop his head was a hard hat. Oddly though he had wires running up his legs and an odd belt like thing attached to his hips. He looked concerned and very nervous, he was wringing his hands together and looking between Mumbo and this new Grian person. Something about him was vaguely familiar and not in the way he’d thought before. 

Dream was no longer just the dirty blonde haired man, Tommy thought he was. Instead was a much shorter man, with bright blonde hair and almost matched Tommy’s. He wore a very soft looking red sweater and some jeans that looked a bit ripped at the edges. What caught him for longer were the bright colorful parrot wings that stuck out from his back. Tommy didn’t know how he missed them. He looked more like Phil than Dream. 

However, Tommy only knew of one person who had parrot wings like that. Only one person who had the same mischievous smile as him and wore the same shade of red. 

Tommy’s eyes darted to the window again and he relooked at the huge expansive buildings. He was right, buildings like those would never have survived on the SMP.

He looked back at the three people in the room, suddenly they each looked much more familiar than before. His eyes latched onto the parrot hybrid and he couldn't suppress the chirp that bubbled up from his throat. 

Grian smiled, knowing exactly what the chirp meant.

Home-question-parent

Grian grinned, a sigh of relief escaping him as it drove out the fear that had plagued him since the boy had woken up. He trilled back in response.

Home-answer-fledgling

Tommy felt his entire body slump at the answer. The relief that poured over him. 

It was over.

He wasn’t in the SMP anymore.

He wouldn’t fight in a war.

He wouldn’t have to watch another person die in front of him.

He could finally relax again.

See the sun.

See plants that weren’t destroyed by bombs and nukes, wars and angry members.

Have a home that wouldn’t be destroyed every day.

Have a life that wasn’t constantly at the chance of ending, painfully and abruptly.

It all hit him so fast he couldn’t help but let out a reaction, because he could! He could finally react again! He could finally be able to just be himself!

And he laughed. 

He laughed.

And that laughter turned into tears.

And those tears turned into screams.

Because while he’d gained so much.

He couldn’t help but feel like he’d lost everything at the same time.

Chapter Text

Season 8 Hermitcraft

“Scar!” Pearl shouted, pulling out her sword and swinging it in front of her. Scar turned around and let out a lowercase scream. The creeper started to blink, warming up to explode. 

Grian laughed and hit the creeper away before it exploded. The monster turned into gunpowder before it had a chance. “You alright, Scar?”

“Oh, yeah, perfectly fine.” Scar said, smiling and giving Grian a thumbs up.

Mumbo peeked around the corner of the mineshaft, “Everything all right down there?”

“Just fine, Scar just almost blew himself up again.” Pearl explained, taking the gunpowder before it despawned. Mumbo chuckled, and nodded towards where he came from. “It's a dead end down there, I say we try another tunnel.” 

“I found diamonds!” Impulse’s voice called from a tunnel. It wasn’t long before the candy-maker was running down a tunnel with a skeleton on his tail. 

“Watch the skelly, Impulse!” Grian called out, shooting the skeleton with his bow. The skeleton fell a few steps away from Impulse. The man sighed in relief, turning around and seeing the remains of the monster. 

“Phew, that was a close one.” Impulse muttered, after Pearl tossed him some steak to eat.  “But I did manage to grab a bit more copper and iron. So I would say it was worth it.”

Scar perked up at the mention of copper, “Oh! Impulse could I interest you in trading some of that copper?”

“Scar, I’m sure we’ll find more copper in this cave. You don’t have to keep trying to trade your soul for the stuff.” Grian said. Pearl nodded peeking her head around the corner to see another branch of the mine they hadn't been down yet. 

“I found a new branch!” Pearl shouted, already starting to walk towards it. Scar was quick to follow behind her, followed by Mumbo, Grian and Impulse. 

They traveled down the branch for a bit, Impulse catching up to Pearl to talk about some project or another. The group mined in relative calm silence, until there was a small sizzle from behind Scar. Scar turned around, jumping out of his skin as a creeper blinked in front of him. 

He didn’t get a scream out before the creeper had blown up. The sound funneling down the mineshaft. 

“Scar?” Pearl asked into the explosion. The four boatem members turned around to see where they had just left their friend. Instead they found Scar’s items strewn on the floor of the mineshaft in front of them. Grian let out a quick chuckle, before walking over and grabbing some of the brunette’s items. 

“Did he walk into another Creeper?” Impulse asked, smirking. Pearl nodded, but her eyes were tracing up the cave walls. The explosion had blown away part of the rocks that held up the ceiling. A crack was slowly climbing up the wall, pebbles falling from the cracking ceiling onto the floor. 

“Grian, maybe be a little careful over there.” Pearl said, quietly trying to keep her voice from causing more cracks. 

“What? What’s wrong?” Grian asked, chuckling to himself as he stepped over another cracking rock. Mumbo joined Grian helping him gather Scar’s things. It was Impulse’s pickaxe that brought the whole thing down. The candy-man threw his pickaxe forward at a piece of redstone ore, the crack moving all the way up to the broken ceiling. Pebbles fell down onto their faces, until the entire cave was falling down. 

“What the? Move. Move!” Mumbo yelled, pushing Grian away from a falling rock. Grian squawked, as he landed on his butt. Pearl covered her face, and Impulse took a few steps backwards. The rocks kept falling, kicking dust and stones up into their faces, until the entire entire cavern was separated in two. 

Mumbo coughed, brushing the dust away. “Guys?”

“Over here!” Pearl called through a hole in the blockade of rocks. “That creeper explosion weakened this entire mineshaft. Something must have broken more of that crack for the ceiling to cave in!”

“My bad!” Impulse called over, Pearl’s shoulder, “I got some redstone, though!”

Pearl rolled her eyes.

“Are you guys all right over there?” She asked.

“Just peachy!” Grian muttered, grumbling to himself as he stood up dusting himself off. He turned so he could reach his wings and started preening himself, straightening out the feathers and pulling broken ones out. Mumbo chuckled, and gave Pearl and Impulse a thumbs up through the small hole. 

“Think there’s another way out?” Mumbo asked.

“Me and Impulse can go back the way we came. You guys are gonna have to find a new way.” Pearl grimaced. 

Mumbo shook his head, sighing. 

“I’d rather get up as high in this mineshaft before starting that monotony.” Grian added. 

Pearl nodded, “We’ll meet you guys up there, and we’ll grab Scar on the way. Meet up at the Boatem Pole when you’re out.”

“Got it!” Mumbo called, as Pearl and Impulse started to make their way out. The potato man turned around to face the avian, who had a mischievous grin. 

“Looks like you're stuck with me, potato boy.” He grinned wider.

Mumbo rolled his eyes, “Yeah, Yeah, you can preen yourself when we get out. Come on, we need to find a way to get higher.” 

The two started walking down the long hallway until it took a sharp turn down another tunnel. Mumbo holding the torch in his hand, while Grian held the sword for both of them. They followed that tunnel until they reached a small ravine. Grian looked up the ravine, seeing how high up it went. There were a few caves that entered above them, but the bottom was far enough down that they could see the deepslate. Trying to climb up the ravine would either end in mob death or falling. 

“Think we can make it?” Grian asked. 

“I don’t know about you, mate, but I’d rather keep the stuff I found.” Mumbo said, with wide eyes, looking down at the mobs spawning below them. 

“I mean we can also dig our way out? It’d take a while.” Grian muttered. Mumbo sighed, resigning to the fate they would have to face anyway.

“Fine, start climbing.” Mumbo said, putting the torch on the wall of the cavern. Grian chuckled, “Uh, Mumbo. I don’t know if you know this, but I have these two things called wings. Have fun climbing!” 

The avian hopped off the cavern floor and down the ravine. His wings caught him before he fell too far and he met the potato man at eye level flying his way up. Mumbo glared at him, but it only made the avian laugh harder.

“Pesky bird.” Mumbo muttered under his breath as he started climbing. Grian was kind enough to stay with the taller the whole way up, and helped the man whenever he almost fell. When Mumbo was back on solid earth, he huffed out his grievances. “Never again.”

Grain smiled, and landed next to him. “Sure, just wait until the next boatem meeting: Rock climbing!”

“No!” Mumbo laughed, yelling. Grian grinned, but his smile faded after a second. Mumbo raised an eyebrow, but the avian said nothing. Grian turned around, the feathers next to his ear perking up with sound. “What’s wrong?” 

“Do you hear that?” Grian asked, quietly. His voice no louder than a whisper. 

“What? Hear what?”

“Shh! Listen.” Grian snapped, he pointing the direction he was looking. Mumbo stepped closer and listened. There was a snap, and then the fizz of an arrow. There was a groan of a zombie and the rustle of bones, more than one, too. 

“It sounds like mobs?” Mumbo said, not seeing the problem. 

“It’s mobs fighting. Mobs only fight when players are nearby. There shouldn’t be any players nearby, except us two.” Grian said, “And there’s something else. Something that’s not -not a mob. I don’t know what it is. It’s like crying.”

Mumbo tilted his head, “You think someone is crying? It’s probably just Scar.”

“No-no, it’s different.” Grian muttered, he took a few fast paces forward. He let his ear lead him down the cave until they came across a tiny opening into a large clearing in the rocks. Mumbo was right behind him, although he had trouble keeping up with the avian. 

“It looks like a mob farm up there.” Grian grimaced, at the amount of them. There were too many to take on by yourself. It looked like a hoard. 

Mumbo snuck a look and backed away, “Nope, No. We are not going in there. Grian, I will remind you about this number, here. It is very important to me. I will not be going anywhere near that hoard.” Mumbo pointed to his communicator where the number of kills each player had was on display. 

“But someone could be in there?” 

Mumbo took a step closer, “Grian, if anyone is in there, they bit off way more than they could chew. Leave it.” Mumbo looked into the small cave again, at the hoard of zombies, skeletons and spiders that surrounded it. The odd thing was they were all surrounding one section of the cave, like they had cornered somebody in. “They’ve cornered someone.” Mumbo muttered.

Grian nodded, standing on his toes to get a better look. They looked on for a few more seconds till a bright red flash passed by them. All the mobs chased after the flash of color, “Someone’s in there!” 

“Grian!” Mumbo shouted after his friend, who was already climbing up to get into the cave. 

Grian already had his sword out and was slashing at a zombie while another came up behind him. Mumbo climbed into the cavern and rushed over to his friend, he pushed the zombie that was getting a little too close. 

He turned to face the blonde avian, “You are so lucky that didn’t kill it.”

Grian smirked, and cut through another mob. Mumbo jumped when he turned around and was met with the face of three creepers. “Light the cave! Light the cave!”

“I’m working on it!” Grian shouted, placing torches haphazardly trying to light the cavern so no more would spawn. Mumbo ran away from the creepers allowing the to blow up and kill themselves. “Do you see them?”

“I’m a little busy running away!” Mumbo shouted back, holding up his shield to a skeleton. 

Grian huffed and looked around, most of the mobs were still circling another exit. He raised his bow and shot one of the mobs, the zombie turned and started for him instead. The space between the mobs gave Grian a good look, it wasn’t an exit it was a hole. It was just a small hole that he couldn’t even fit into, he wasn’t even sure if BDubs could fit in it. It was only one block high, probably a little smaller. 

Confusion crossed his face, how could anyone fit in that hole? He fought off the zombie that had come after him, calling for Mumbo. “Mumbo, clear out that hole.”

Mumbo paused in his running, from a group of spiders, to shout back at the avian, “How in the world am I supposed to do that?! And why?!” 

Grian killed one of the spiders he was running from and looked up at the potato man, “Figure it out! How do you normally get out of these situations?”

“Uhhh…” Mumbo pulled out an ender crystal and watched Grian’s eyes widen.

“No.” Grian spoke fast and firm, “We have no idea who’s in that hole. It could seriously hurt them.”

“You wanted a solution!” Mumbo said, already placing the obsidian farther away from the hole but close to the mobs. “Just trust me on this, G.” 

Grian was silent, “You better know what you’re doing.”

“Course! I’m a redstone genius.” Mumbo placed the ender crystal on top, most of the mobs getting closer and closer now. Grian dug down to save himself most of the damage. Mumbo backed a bit away, “Then again, this isn’t redstone.”

And he punched. 

The crystal blew up, killing the rest of the mobs.

Mumbo waved the dust of the cave away, looking back to the hole Grian had talked about. It was small; too small for his liking.

Grian climbed back up and huffed out a breath. After the avian had caught his breath he started to walk closer to the hole, slowly. 

Mumbo followed behind him, keeping a feet feet distance. 

Grian knelt down in front of the hole, his hand resting on the top and he looked in. It was dark, almost too dark to see but he could make out a small figure. It looked too small to be a hermit. It couldn’t be a mob. Grian looked back to Mumbo motioning for him to hand over a torch. 

Mumbo handed over the item, quickly. Grian lit it and held it in front of the hole. 

There was a boy. 

Grian took a sharp breath in.

The boy was tiny. He couldn’t be older than six. He had dirty, muddy, and bloody blonde hair that was caked to his head. He had two bright blue eyes, with tiny cuts and scrapes on his face and neck. He wore nothing but a too small red shirt, and some shorts. He had no shoes, and the scrapes and cuts and bruises had marked up his arms, hands, and legs. There was even a bit of glass stuck in his feet. Grian had no doubt his feet had splinters too from the mineshaft floor.

The boy was staring right at him with wide, fearful eyes.  

Grian’s brow furrowed, he raised his hand to wave at the kid. The boy only shuffled backwards more as he raised his hand. 

“Hello?” Grian whispered. A blue eye peeked up over the boy’s knees. 

“What’s in there?” Mumbo asked. Grian turned back to face the potato man. 

“It’s a kid.” He said, quietly and confused.

“What?” Mumbo sputtered out. He knelt down to get a better look, he looked into the hole and saw exactly what Grian saw. “Why is there a kid down here? How is there a kid! Did X add someone?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” Grian said, before looking back to the blonde boy. He’d never really talked to kids before. This was most likely going to be awkward. “Do you think we should get him out?”

“Uhh…yeah? I’m not comfortable leaving a kid inside a non-mob-proof cave-cave in general.” Mumbo muttered, changing his sentence when he thought it through more. 

Grian shrugged and turned back to the kid again, “Hey, there’s no more mobs up here. You want to get out of the hole?”

The boy shook his head, a hissing sound erupting from somewhere that neither man could find. Fluffy golden feathers puffed out of the boy’s blonde hair, the feathers sticking up to make him seem bigger. 

“Oh no.” Mumbo muttered, already seeing the twitch in Grian’s hands and the way the man bit back a chirp. 

“Mumbo, he’s an avian. He’s just a little fledgling!” Grian almost yelled. Mumbo sighed, and sat down up against the cave wall. His suit brushed up against the rocks. 

“We’re not leaving till he’s out of the hole, are we?” Mumbo asked, a chuckle leaving his lips. 

Grian’s head snapped to Mumbo, his brows furrowed and his hands on his hips, “Mumbo! We can’t leave a fledgling in the middle of a cave!”

“Kid, I’d just come out now, he’s not gonna let this go.” Mumbo chuckled, he heard the kid shuffle. Grian rolled his eyes, which Mumbo could see were dilated, two seconds later a rock came flying out of the hole and hit Grian in the face. 

Mumbo laughed, while Grian looked at the kid with a scolding expression. Mumbo heard the younger avian blow a raspberry, and he threw a pebble at Grian again. 

“How are we going to get him out?” Grian wondered aloud. Mumbo shrugged and shuffled closer to the entrance of the hole the kid was stuck in-well not stuck. 

Mumbo sat in front of the entrance, while Grian looked around the cave for something. “You want a potato, kid?” 

The boy looked up at Mumbo in confusion, his head tilted like a small bird. The boy’s brow lifted, and his eyes caught onto the sight of food. Mumbo heard the way the boy’s stomach grumbled, and he smiled. He tossed the potato down to the kid, who caught it in shaky hands. 

The boy held the potato in his hand and turned it different ways, inspecting it thoroughly. “Yeah, it’s a little weird just eating a potato. Here,” Mumbo took out another and took a bit of it himself showing the kid. “See? Harmless.”

The boy watched him, before following his lead and eating the potato. The boy chewed on the potato all while glaring at the ravenette. Mumbo only chuckled, “You’ve got one glare on you, kid.”

The kid stuck out his chin at the praise, he finished the potato and looked down at his hands when it was all gone. The boy stuck out a hand stiffly, and held it open. 

Mumbo looked confused for a moment, trying to understand what the kid wanted. 

The boy huffed through his nose and chirped. 

Grian stopped dead in his tracks at the sound, his back straightened and his wings stiffened. He turned towards his friend and tilted his head in confusion. “Are you feeding him?” He asked, walking closer to the ravenette. 

Mumbo nodded, “Yeah? Should I not? He looked hungry.”

Grian sputtered a laugh, settling down next to the ravenette but his back faced the cave wall. “Have you never heard of the rule not to feed strays?”

Mumbo rolled his eyes, “says the guy who looks like he’s about to adopt the kid.”

Grian shifted in his seat, but didn’t deny it. 

“Can you understand him?” Mumbo asked, as he looked at the still glaring boy who had his hand still outstretched. 

“Yeah,” Grian nodded, “He’s asking for more food.”

“Oh!” Mumbo said, like it all made sense. He shuffled through his inventory and pulled out some loaves of bread, “Here, this is probably a little better for you. It’s just some bread.”

He tossed the bread down, and the boy greedily took it and held it protectively to his chest. The boy rubbed his nose, which was red most likely with sickness. He took a bite out of the bread and settled back down. 

“He looks sick.” Mumbo muttered.

Grian nodded, his head resting against the rocks. “It’s probably just a cold, but if we get him out of here, we’ll need to get him to Stress or Doc. If not for that sickness, for those injuries.”

“How do you think we can get him out?” Mumbo asked.

Grian was quiet. “I wonder…” He turned towards the entrance of the hole, “Scoot over. Scoot over.”

“Okay! Okay!” 

Grian looked down in the hole and let his wings fully unfurl. The red feathers blended into purple, and blocked out the rest of the cave. He tilted his head to the side, feathered ears pricked up to hear better. 

He chirped.

Hello! Name-question?

Mumbo watched confused, and the boy perked up and watched the other avian with wide amazed eyes. 

The boy chirped back, Hi? Tommy.

“He says his name is Tommy.” Grian whispered.

“How did you do that?” Mumbo asked.

“He’s a fledgling. Fledglings don’t normally know common until their parents teach them. Sometimes they learn by themselves, small words and such but the harder stuff has to be taught. So they speak in what you call ‘bird language’.” Grian explained.

“So you’re just talking to him?” 

“Well, I guess it’s also likely he’s never seen another avian before, from the way he’s looking at me.” Grian said, watching as the six year old waved his tiny hand up at him. He chuckled and waved back. 

The six year old smiled, and two wings puffed up from their hiding place behind his back. They were tiny downy wings, colored yellow to match his hair. He tried to spread his wings out more, but the small wings only went so far. 

Grian chirped, Help-question? Out? 

The boy paused and looked up, he seemed to consider it for a bit before holding both arms up. He chirped back up, Yes.

Grian grinned and helped pull the kid out of the hole. He was a lot lighter than he expected and placed him down next to him. The blonde boy smiled up at the other avian and started fussing about. He chirped and warbled and trilled about as he tried to stand up. 

“What’s he doing now?” Mumbo asked, an eyebrow raised. Grian laughed. 

“I don’t even know.” Grian said, watching the kid fuss about. Grian hummed in thought before chirping in response. The boy’s head snapped to attention immediately, and stopped his fussing to watch the older avian. 

Grian paused, recognizing what had just happened, “well would you look at that.”

“What?” Mumbo asked.

“He listened to me.” 

“What’s so special about that?” Mumbo asked, standing up. 

“Mumbo, think about this. A six-year-old just listened to me, a guy he’s never met before.” Grian explained.

“How do you know he’s six?” Mumbo asked, confusion on his face.

“I caught it in his little rant a second ago. But that’s not the point.” Grian said, quickly rising as well. “There is only one person a six year old is going to listen to, who is that Mumbo?”

Mumbo thought for a second, “Their p-” He paused, “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Yup.” Grian said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“How in the world are you going to explain this to Boatem?” Mumbo asked, as the six year old, Tommy, pulled at Grian’s pant leg. 

“I'm more concerned about how I’m going to explain this to Xisuma.” Grian muttered.

Mumbo scoffed, “yeah, you’re on your own with that one, bud.” 

“MUMBO!”

________________________________________

“So you’re telling me that in the five minutes we left you two. You somehow ended up with a child.” Impulse said, as he stood with Pearl and Scar at the boatem pole. 

Tommy had run up and was fussing to Scar about the large hat atop the man’s head. Scar was just as happy to share the wonders of his hat with the kid and laughed even harder when the hat almost swallowed the boy’s head. 

“Don’t phrase it like that!” Grian shouted, standing next to Mumbo who had straightened at the phrasing. 

“Well, how do you want me to phrase it? That’s what happened!” Impulse said.

“Can we keep him here?!” Scar asked, as he continued to play with the kid. 

“Scar, we have no idea where his parents are.” Pearl said. This time it was Grian who straightened, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from the group. Impulse caught the look though.

“Grian, why do you look like that?” He asked suspiciously. 

“What do you mean?” He asked nervously. 

Pearl watched him carefully, “What did you do?”

“Nothing!”

“Dad!” 

They all froze.

Tommy ran up to Grian and tugged on his pant leg again, pointed at Scar who was frozen with wide eyes holding his large hat outward. 

“I might have been the first avian he’s ever seen.” 

“This is going to be a long season.” Impulse said for the group.

____________________________________________________

“So you’re telling me that you somehow found a child in a cave. A child who I have not whitelisted. A child who is also an avian. And has clocked you, Grian, as a parental figure.” Xisuma said, as he sat inside Grian’s starter base. His face underneath the mask was a mixture of confusion, panic, and amusement. 

“Yes.” Grian said, looking anywhere but his admin. 

Xisuma bursted into laughter. 

Grian glared at his admin.

“You have no idea how funny this is.” Xisuma laughed out. Tommy was messing around the inside of the base, he was running around the first floor, jumping on the green glass that covered the sheep farm. 

It was honestly a funny picture to the admin. Grian, the server prankster and war starter, was exhausted and stressed from the likes of a six year old child that was rummaging through his base like a playground. 

“Seriously!” Grian called out, “You’re like the third person to react like this! It can’t be that funny!”

“Sorry, mate, but it kind of is.” Xisuma said. Grian huffed and turned around to watch the kid run up the stars and jump onto the banister. Grian was quick to shout up when the boy stood on the railing, his wings spread out.

“Don’t you dare start flying, yet!” Grian yelled, stopping the kid from jumping off the banister when his wings would be able to catch him. The kid hopped off the railing safely back onto the second floor and huffed. He hadn’t said much since Xisuma got there, then again Grian had just started to teach the kid common. 

Grian turned back to his admin and saw how the masked man was watching him. The admin had an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed but Grian could see the sly smile. 

“I’ll get him whitelisted. What’s his name?”

“Tommy, innit?” Grian turned back around trying to check with the kid to make sure he got the right name. This went unknown to Xisuma and he wrote down the name TommyInnit. 

Chapter Text

Tommy’s screams made all three of the other men jump. For a moment none of them moved, Tommy’s fat tears rolling down his face made all three of them freeze. They hadn’t seen the kid in years and they hadn’t seen him cry in longer. 

Tommy just latched onto himself and tightened his grip on his shoulders until his fingers turned white. He ducked his head down away from them and covered himself until he was in a tight ball. His fingers traveled up his shoulders and landed in his hair pulling at the already thin strands. 

Mumbo was the first to actually react. He took hold of the blonde’s shoulders and tried to get him to focus. “Hey, hey. Calm down.”

Tommy’s head snapped up when he felt the foreign force on his shoulders. He stared with wide eyes at something in front of him, the tears pausing and being replaced with fear. 

Tommy started hitting. He fisted his hands and pushed forward, hitting lightly and yet still forcefully at Mumbo. 

Grian rushed forward, trying to get in between the two. He took one of Tommy’s hands to stop him from fighting, but as soon as one weapon was deemed immobile he used another. 

He kicked his legs out still using his other free hand to pry Grian’s hands away. He wasn’t looking at them again, just staring forward. 

“Tommy, calm down.” 

“Get off of me! Leave me alone! Let go! Let go! I’ll f*cking kill you! I’ll kill you! Let go of me! Get away!” Tommy screamed at the top of his lungs, tears were running down his face now. Nothing in the room was moving faster than his heart. His breathing was erratic. 

Grian kept his grip on his hand and took hold of the other one when it tried to pry away. He now held both of the younger avian’s wrists tightly so he couldn’t move but no more. 

Tommy shook his head violently, before slamming it into the wall behind him. He hit his head against the wall again and again and again. He brought his knee up so that his torso was more protected, and stopped kicking so much. His head still puncturing the wall every few seconds.

“Scar, grab that pillow!” Grian ordered his friend that was still staring in shock. Scar nodded and moved quickly, grabbing the pillow and placing it between Tommy and the wall before he could hurt himself anymore. He didn’t move his hands from the pillow, just held it in place as the kid continued to bash his head against the wall. 

“Tommy, you have got to calm down.” Grian said, he felt the kid’s hands tense and watched as he still tried to claw away. The older blonde noticed how his fingernails had been ripped away to an astounding shortness. The skin torn away from the actual nail and split. 

“Get off of me! Leave me alone! Let go, let go! Just stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it!” He screamed, pulling away.

“I can’t let you go until you calm down. You have to calm down. You’re hurting yourself. So once you calm down, I’ll let you go. Understand?” Grian asked.

Tommy, still hyperventilating, looked around the room. He looked each one of them in the eye before looking back at Grian. “Okay.”

“Okay, good. Good.” Grian let out a breath, glad the kid agreed. “Can you take some deep breaths?”

Tommy nodded. He started to try and take a deep breath, but ended up coughing instead. He coughed out air and looked back up with a terrified look. He flinched, shutting his eyes tightly. 

“That’s okay. Try again. Keep trying until you get it.” Grian said, and started leading him through it. He mimicked taking a deep breath and holding it, before letting it out. Tommy copied him, staring directly at him. The few feathers near his ears perking up to listen to the other two men. 

Scar still hadn’t dropped the pillow just in case the kid decided to revert and start over again. And Mumbo just watched trying to figure out what to do next. 

“Good. Just like that one. Do that one again.” Grian said, once Tommy had finally gotten it down. Tommy nodded and did it again and again and again. 

“Okay, before I let you go. You have to talk to me. Just so I know your really okay.” Grian finished. Tommy nodded. “Are you going to hit, kick, punch anyone in this room if I let you go-that includes yourself?”

Tommy was silent for a moment, “No.”

“Do you want to hurt yourself?”

“No.” A lie.

“Is there anyone in this room besides you, me-Grian-,Scar, and Mumbo?” Grian asked, including his own name to make sure Tommy wasn’t confusing himself for anyone else. Tommy’s eyes scanned the room before he shook his head.

“No.”

“If Scar lowers that pillow, are you going to hit your head against the wall?” Grian asked. 

Tommy tilted his head up to look at Scar, whose wide eyes had not moved at all. Tommy felt a pit in his stomach at how scared the man looked. “No.”

Grian nodded and looked to Scar. The brunette lowered the pillow just a tad, before fully letting go of it. Tommy looked back to Grian, and Scar fell to the bed sitting down. 

“Okay, I’m going to let you go now. Remember what we just said.” Grian said, and let go of the kid’s wrists. They immediately fell to his lap, and he ducked his head to look away from them. 

“Do you want to talk about what just happened?” Mumbo asked. 

“No.” Tommy muttered. 

“Are-Are you sure? It can help!” Scar added.

“I’m positive.”

They were silent. 

“Mumbo, Scar, how about you guys go wait outside.” Grian said. They both looked at him like he was crazy. 

“What? Why?” Scar asked, already pouting. Mumbo just looked on confused. Grian just shook his head, and nodded towards the door. Grian mouthed ‘I’ve got this’ and nodded towards the door again. 

Both men sighed, and stood up. They slowly walked out the room, Tommy watching them both as they left. As soon as the door was closed his head snapped to Grian, a glare prominent on his face. 

Grian smirked, “You don’t have to look at me like I’m going to eat your chicken nuggets.” 

Tommy grimaced and tucked his head back into the crook between his knees. Grian sighed, he waited a second for the kid to say something. Tommy was quiet, something Grian wasn’t used to. 

“Hey, talk to me.” He whispered, keeping his voice low. 

“If you’re going to yell, scream, hit, just do it. I don’t care.” Tommy muttered, his head not even poking up above his knees. He hugged his knees a bit tighter.

“What? No. I’m not going to do any of that.” Grian said, quickly. He spoke as if the thought genuinely repulsed him. He shook his head, holding his hands out to show he meant no harm.

Tommy was silent, but shook his head like he was disagreeing with himself. “You made them leave.” He said, his voice still so quiet. 

Grian nodded,“So I could talk to you.”

“You should be mad.” Tommy muttered, waiting for the pin to drop and the whole conversation to shift. 

“But I’m not.” Grian said, calmly but firmly. He was a stubborn person. 

“Why?” Tommy was always more stubborn, though.

Grian sighed,“Why should I be mad?” He asked. He leaned back from his spot on the floor and crossed his arms challenging the younger blonde. 

“I left.” Tommy said, ignoring Grian’s cocky smile.

“Did you mean to?” Grian raised a brow, “Not that it would even matter.”

“No.” Tommy whispered.

“Then why should I be mad?” Grian smirked, knowing he’d won the conversation. 

Tommy was quiet. He didn’t look at Grian, he just stared out the window of the room over the mainstreet of Scarland. His head of blonde curls rested on his bruised knees. 

Grian turned his head to watch whatever had Tommy’s attention now. The only thing outside the window was the bright colorful buildings, and the rare gust of wind that blew through the trees. 

“Did you even want to come back?” Grian asked, still looking outside the window. 

“I did.” Tommy answered on instinct, he swallowed hard finishing his sentence quickly. “But I never knew if you wanted me back.”

Grian’s head snapped back to the kid, who hadn’t moved. 

“Tommy, of course we wanted you back.” He said, as if it was common knowledge. 

“That’s good.” Tommy yawned, “I think.”

They were quiet again. Tommy’s silence felt like a suffocating presence around Grian. He shouldn’t be that quiet. He never was a silent kid. Never. So how did such a crazed seven year old turn into such deathly silence. 

“How did I even get here?” Tommy asked, picking at the floor with his uninjured hand. His other was protectively held close to his chest where nothing could hurt it more. 

“I can only tell you want half of it, I know. I have no idea what you did on your end to get you here.” Grian said. Tommy nodded and looked for Grian to continue. 

“Well, I guess it started with me building my base. It was just a bunch of rocks at first, but then Mumbo decided to build across from me. So I built a basement underneath his base. Inside it is Grumbot, a content generator and the Rift.”

“The Rift?” Tommy asked, a tiny light laugh in his voice.

“I’m getting there.” Grian smirked, playfully batting at Tommy, causing the kid to laugh. 

“Okay, okay.”

“It’s just a big ol’ rift.” Grian said, confidently.

“Wow, that’s such a good description.” Tommy poked, sarcastically. Grian rolled his eyes. 

“Do you want me to tell you or not?” Grian asked.

“Tell me. Tell me.” And for a second Grian saw the seven year old he remembered. 

He laughed, “Okay, okay. Eventually, a button ended up next to the Rift, and you know, being me I pressed it. After that, Grumbot gave me a load of compasses that led to the Rift and said to go there at 8. We ended up going and landed ourselves on another server. When we came back here, those server members followed us.”

“And this means?” Tommy asked, trying to get to the point.

“It means, that when Scar was showing Timmy around-”

“Timmy?” Tommy asked, confusion lacing his face.

“He’s from the other server. I’m sure you’ll see him around, but imagine a tiny wooden toy.” Grian explained. Tommy was only more confused by the description. 

“They generated some content from Grumbot and it gave them the words ‘Hermits help Tommy’. Which didn’t make any sense, because Grumbot couldn’t have your files. You weren’t on the server, but right after that the portal turned green-”

“Green?” Tommy muttered.

“Does that mean something to you?” Grian asked.

“No. No, it doesn’t.” Tommy lied, knowing well the right answer. 

“The world started shaking and the portal threw debris out, but you came out of it too. When it all stopped, we brought you to Scarland since it’s the only livable base out of the three of us right now. We had Stress look you over and she-well, I’d assume you know what all she found?” Grian asked, quietly. His mind thought back to the picture of every scar and burn. 

Tommy nodded, he knew off every piece of him that was broken. He remembered the pain from each, and he still felt the phantom pain everyday.

“She and Doc helped us out.” Grian finished.

“Who all knows I’m here?” Tommy asked, watching Grian with cold blue eyes. 

“Me, Scar, Mumbo, Stress, Doc, Xisuma, Pearl and Impulse.” Grian listed off.

“Pearl and Impulse?” Tommy asked, Grian could hear the excitement in his voice. Grian smiled. 

“I’m sure they’ll be here soon, once they hear you’re awake.” He said.

There was a knock at the door, as well as some hushed voices. Tommy locked eyes with the door, glaring at it. Grian almost laughed at the way he looked at everything like it offended him. But there was something unsettling about how he looked at it too, as if he could scare it into leaving him alone. 

Grian sighed, “Do you want me to let them back in?”

Tommy glared at the door for a moment longer, before burying his head back into his knees. “Yeah, they can come back.”

Grian nodded. He stood up, leaving the kid to his corner. Before he walked over to the door, he paused. “Do you want to at least get on the bed again? It’ll be more comfortable than the floor.”

Tommy peeked up, before looking down at his missing foot. He said nothing but the message was there. ‘How am I supposed to do that?’

“I can help you, if you want?” Grian added, quickly. 

Tommy bit his lip, but sighed and nodded anyway. Grian knelt down, and wrapped an arm around the kid. Tommy gripped his sweater with an iron grip, one that left his fingers white. “Count of three, okay?”

Tommy nodded. “One, two, three.” Grian helped lift him up, and stand on one foot. His leg was lifted slightly in the air, but he hobbled over to the bed. Grian helped him sit back down, and stepped away. He knew the kid had tensed up the second he touched him, knew he’d flinched away. 

“I’m gonna let them in now.” Grian siad, quietly. He walked over to the door and opened it slowly. He barely got the door open before a ball of white flew past him. Grian was just about knocked off his feet, but managed to stay upright. The door knocked open, and he saw two very embarrassed hermits. 

“Hi.” Scar squeaked out. Mumbo just rubbed the back of his neck with a thin smile. 

“What was that?!” Grian asked, a bit too loudly. 

Scar was about to answer, when someone else’s voice caught their attention. 

“Oh, hello? I haven’t seen you in a while.” Tommy muttered to the ball of fur in his lap. There was a tiny smile on his face as he petted the cat’s fur. 

“I have no idea how, but she knew you were here and awake. I’ve never seen her run that fast.” Scar giggled, walking forward and sitting on the edge of the bed. Tommy continued to scratch behind the cat's ears. 

“Did you miss me?” He asked Jellie. The cat mewled in response, causing Tommy to chuckle very quietly. “I’m very glad, too, but I’m sure you’ve been very busy.”

The cat meowed back, purring indifferently in his lap. Tommy shook his head, “If you only wanted me back for the head scratches, maybe I shouldn’t give them to you. I'm sure you’ve had plenty of people to get behind those ears.” 

“I never understood your ability to talk to animals.” Mumbo said, hands in his pockets as he walked up behind Scar. Tommy smirked. 

The scene that followed was quiet and calm. A nice silence that followed the chaos. 

Mumbo sighed, “I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, we really should have Stress look him over again now he’s awake.”

Grian nodded, “I know.”

“Does it really have to be now, though?” Scar pouted. 

“The sooner the better.” Mumbo muttered, and Grian nodded. The older avian looked at the kid still sitting silently on the bed. 

“Are you okay with another visitor?” He asked. Tommy sat in silence, thinking. 

“Yeah-Yeah,” He said, his voice cracking. “I’ll be fine. She’s not like-mean or anything?”

All three hermits straightened. “No, absolutely not.” Mumbo answered, quickly. 

“Then I’ll be fine.” Tommy whispered, more to himself than the others. 

_________________________________

“Lay back down.” Stress said, her back turned to the boy as she worked on something to her right. Tommy was sitting up in the bed, with crossed legs. He didn’t want to lay down, he was perfectly fine. It was nothing he couldn’t handle. 

“You sound like Niki-old Niki.” Tommy grumbled, not moving. He hadn’t stopped glaring at her since she walked in. Stress may have never met the kid when he lived with the hermits in season eight, but she heard enough stories to know he wasn’t normally like this. 

“Well maybe you should listen to Niki.” Stress said, pouring a bottle of liquid into a potion brewer. Tommy rolled his eyes, he still made no move to lay back down. 

“Do you want me to go get Grian?” Stress asked, turning around to face him. She had her hands on her hips and held a look that truly reminded Tommy of Niki. He grumbled. 

“No.”

“Then, lay back down.” 

Tommy sighed, and did in fact lay down. He hated laying down. It was like he was giving up; letting his guard down. He shouldn’t do that. He picked at the cotton of his old shirt, and watched as Stress worked. 

“I don’t need to lay down, I’m perfectly fine.” Tommy complained. Stress shook her head. 

“Everything about you says otherwise.” She muttered, taking the pot from the brewer and pouring just a little onto a rag. “Give me your arm.”

Tommy stuck out his arm, and watched as she carefully undid the bandages and dabbed the rag onto the burns and cuts. He hissed in pain as the rag dragged across old wounds. 

“When can I get up?” Tommy asked.

“When I think it’s safe for you to sit up for long periods of time. Right now, that is not happening.” Stress answered, without a second thought. She rewrapped new bandages around the burns and held out a hand. “Show me your hand.”

Tommy placed his hand in hers, his two fingers curling and shaking. “How is it not safe for me to sit up? I don’t want to lay down!” 

“Move your fingers.” She said, watching as Tommy glared at his fingers until they moved. “You have two broken ribs. Until those are healed and you gain some strength back, I’m not going to have you sit up. Is it difficult to move these two fingers?”

“I have plenty of strength!” Tommy declared.

“Then move your fingers more.” Stress smirked. 

Tommy huffed, and tried to move his fingers again. He could move his other hand normally, but ever since he lost three of his fingers he’d had a hard time gaining motor skills in his hand again. He tried to curl his fingers around Stress’s hand but the most he could do was a single twitch. He groaned and sank into the bed. “It’s too hard.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid off. I’ll talk to Doc about getting you those replacements-”

“Replacements?” Tommy asked.

Stress nodded, “For your fingers-and your foot. It’d be like a prosthetic, it’d help you move more freely, and you could get better motor skills with your hand. How long have you been…missing those things.” Stress whispered carefully. 

Tommy shrugged, “A while, I guess. I never had any pro-test-ic. I had a cane that helped me walk. That was about it.”

Stress sighed, “You’d have to learn how to walk again.”

Tommy nodded, he knew one day he’d have to come up with something else. He couldn’t use the old wood cane for much longer before it rotted. Tubbo had offered to make him something once, but Tommy never made him nor asked him to. Sam had also offered, but Tommy barely trusted himself to be within ten feet of the man anymore. 

There was a knock at the door, and his head snapped in that direction. Stress looked to the door and back to the kid in the bed next to her. “Come in.”

The door opened, and revealed Grian and Scar. Both of them had a colorful box in their hands that Tommy had never seen before. Scar smiled, and placed the box on the floor, and Grian followed. 

“We brought the stuff you wanted!” Scar said, happily. 

“Yep! All nether and inventory sourced.” Grian said, wings puffing up at the sight of Tommy. Stress rolled her eyes. 

“And none of this ‘lagged’ into your inventories?” She asked, like she already knew the answer. 

“Nope!” They both said way too quickly together. 

Tommy cocked his head to the side in confusion but let it go. Stress opened the boxes, and surprisingly it opened like two pieces coming apart. Tommy leaned forward still trying to find out what type of chests these were. 

She picked out a bunch nether wart and glistering watermelon, and walked back over to her potion brewer. 

“How are you feeling?” Grian asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. Tommy huffed, his arms slightly crossed. 

“I feel fine. The exact same way I did before.” Tommy complained loudly. 

“Which is a surprise to me considering…well, everything.” Stress pointed out. 

“I have a high pain tolerance.” Tommy prided. 

“That much is obvious.” Stress rolled her eyes, stirring the ingredients together in the brewer. She capped the bottle of health potion and handed it off to the blonde boy. “Drink that and stop complaining.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, taking the bottle in his good hand and lifted it to his mouth. He almost gagged at the taste, he didn’t remember the potion tasting like that. He wrinkled his nose. Then again, he was the one to make the health potions in the van. He thought about the taste, analyzing the ingredient Stress had put in. 

“You need more watermelon.” Tommy muttered, handing the bottle back to her. “It’ll barely do anything without it.”

“What?” Grian laughed, not taking the boy seriously. Stress raised an eyebrow. 

“I know my recipes, kid.” She said, but Tommy didn’t listen. He shook his head. 

“The ratio is off, though. You put in too much Nether Wart in comparison with the watermelon. The melon is what actually helps you regenerate. The nether wart just enhances whatever properties that magic fruit has. If you put in too much nether wart there’s nothing for it to enhance, so it overpowers whatever health it should bring. It’ll do nothing more than make you super full.” Tommy explained like it was common knowledge. 

Scar and Grian looked between the two of them with wide eyes. Stress looked like she was biting back words in her mouth, but only let out a harsh breath. Tommy just stared blankly at her, an eyebrow raised. He pointed to the brewer, “Let me try.”

“Absolutely not, you are on bed rest.” Stress pointed out again, “if this is some ploy to get me to let you up, it won’t work. I worked with Scar, I know the tricks.”

“It’s not a trick.” Tommy shook his head, “At least, let me tell you what to do? I won’t get up, and if it doesn’t work or do anything different then I’ll let you take over. But I know what I’m talking about.”

Stress looked him over, before sighing. “Fine.” She walked over to the boxes and pulled out everything that was in them. She laid them across the table that was close by, making sure everything was within eyesight of the younger avian. “What do I add first?”

“3 glistering water melon slices. Chop them up into small pieces, don’t leave out the green stuff.” Tommy explained.

“You mean the brine?” Grian asked, watching from the edge of the bed. 

“Yeah, that, whatever.” Tommy grumbled. Stress did exactly that, and looked back to the blonde. “Put all of it in the brewer, then grab three nether wart. Cut off the stems. It does nothing but make the potion gummy.”

“Three?!” Stress gaped, “No, that is way too much for one potion.” 

“It’s a one to one ratio. You added three water melons now add three nether warts. Stir it.” Tommy explained. Stress rolled her eyes and did as she was told. She them picked up the bottle and was about to hand it over, when Tommy spoke again. “We’re not done.”

“That’s all that goes into a health potion.” Stress said, confused. Tommy shook his head. 

“Yeah, a regular one, that’ll barely do anything for major injuries. Where’s your cornflower?” He asked, looking around the room for the blue flower. 

“Cornflower! Alright, now I know you’re pulling my leg, kid.” She said, irritaed. Tommy almost smiled at the familiar anger, everyone always said he was annoying at first. 

Even Scar and Grian looked confused. “Are you sure, Tommy? What’s a flower going to do?” 

“I know what I’m talking about. Every flower has a certain type of ability to it; I mean if a nether mushroom can help enhance the properties of something, why can’t a flower do something? Glistering watermelon is nothing but a plant either. You’re forgetting that most things in the world that are ‘magical’ come from what I just said-the world, the ground-. While the watermelon helps heal the base level injuries, and the nether wart increases that to major injuries, the cornflower seals it. Makes it so that you’re not left with that one bruise that won’t go away ever after twenty.” Tommy said. “If you don’t have a cornflower, a dandelion will do as well. There’s one over there.”

He pointed to a pot where a singular dandelion was sitting above the table. The three adults were stunned at his explanation. Stress rolled over the explanation in her head three times, before she gave in. She grabbed the dandelion from the pot and crushed it into the bottle, shaking it. She handed it over to the boy, and Tommy took it with a nod. 

“How did you know any of that? Why haven’t you used it?” Grian asked, trying to beat around the question of why the boy still had so many injuries if he knew all about that.

Tommy grabbed a rag from the table next to him and dunked a bit of the potion onto it. He didn’t look up when he spoke, “I learned it when I was younger. A friend of mine had us experiment on a few things. Flowers just interested me. I accidentally dropped a few into a potion on time and it completely changed the effects. And I do still use that knowledge sometimes, but nether wart and glistering watermelon are hard to find. Not exactly the cobblestone of the universe.”

Grian nodded and watched as Tommy scrubbed his arm where he had a nasty cut ranging from his elbow to his wrist. He scrubbed without mercy and barely so much as winced. His nose was only slightly wrinkled. When he lifted the rag, the cut was barely visible. The skin was scabbing over, and leaving a dark scar were the blood used to be. 

“It’ll still leave a scar most of the time, but it’s better than anything else.” Tommy said, and showed Stress the scar. 

Stress’s eyes were blown wide and she grabbed the boy’s arm to look closer. “I’m impressed. But you're still on bed rest, and I’m double checking your injuries after these potions to make sure it's working.”

“Fair enough.” Tommy muttered. 

_________________________________________________________

“I’m answering any questions he has.” Tommy grumbled, his leg bouncing up and down nervously. 

Grian was sat in the chair next to the bed, his head in his hands as he desperately tried to argue with the teen. “Why not?”

“You said he was your admin.” Tommy said, as if that answered everything.

“Yes, he’s the admin, but he’s concerned about what’s going on. You disappeared years ago and now you’re back. That could mean a lot of things that are not good. There good be a glitch in server set ups. There could be an underground server, which is illegal. Wherever you were, it was a seriously dangerous place for you to come back with this many major injuries. He just has questions. We all do.” Grian explained for what felt like the fifth time that day. 

“I don’t care. I’m fine. It doesn’t matter.” Tommy argued, pulling his legs up. He curled his arms around his knees and tucked his head into them. 

“It really does, actually.” Grian muttered, running a hand through his hair. “What happens if you get stuck there again? What happens if whatever is keeping you here leaves and you're somewhere else again?”

“That won’t happen. I’d be fine.” Tommy grumbled, not looking at the other blonde. Grian sighed. 

“Fine. If you can’t think about yourself, what happens if someone else gets stuck? What happens then?” Grian asked, he hated to ask it like that. But he knew Tommy wasn’t in the right mind to think about himself. 

“That won’t happen.” Tommy said after a moment. 

“Why not?” Grian asked.

“Because it’s gone. It can’t hurt anyone else anymore. It’s already been dealt with. Okay? I don’t have to talk to any admin about it. No one needs to know about it.” Tommy argued. 

Grian sighed, “Fine. You don’t have to say where you were. You don’t have to tell us what happened, on the condition, you still have to talk to X. And you promise that it can’t hurt you nor anyone else to keep that information hidden.”

Tommy was silent for a moment before nodding, “Okay. Fine. I promise.”

• -   -   -   -   -

“He’s not going to tell you where he was.” Grian said, as he leaned up against the wall of Scar’s hotel. He was standing near Xisuma who had shown up tot talk to Tommy. They were standing outside the boy’s room.

“I’ve heard.” Xisuma said, staring at the door to the room. 

“I’d be surprised if he answered any questions.” Grian said, “I don’t know why he’s trying to hide so much. He says that wherever he was is gone now, so I don’t understand why he would keep it a secret.” Grian’s leg was bouncing up and down with nerves, his wings clamped to his back. 

“You wanted things to be a secret, too, Grian.” Xisuma said, with a slight smile hidden by his helmet, “I thought he agreed to this?”

“Agreed is a strong word.” Grian muttered, rolling his shoulders back, as he looked away from his admin. 

“Really?” Xisuma sighed, his voice leaked disappointed parent. “If he hasn’t agreed to this on his own accord, I’m not going to get any truth from him.”

“If he agreed to this on his own accord you’d never talk to him. He was extremely adamant about never meeting you.” Grian pointed out, “I just made a deal saying that he didn’t have to tell us where he was, if and only if, it posed no threat to anyone including himself.”

Xisuma sighed, he let his head fall to the door, “Grian, the main reason for me to talk to him was to figure out where he was.”

“Oh.” Grian muttered with wide eyes and a nervous smile. 

Xisuma took a deep breath and took hold of the doorknob. Before he opened the door he looked back to Grian, “You coming?”

Grian looked between the doorknob and X, he shook his head. 

“And why not?” Xisuma asked, lifting his hand off the doorknob and crossing his arms. 

“Fear.” was all Grian said. 

“What?” Xisuma asked, mouth gaping and eyebrows raised high. He looked shocked and like the fear Grian was feeling had just entered him. “You’re afraid? What exactly am I walking into?” Xisuma said, pointed to the door and taking a few steps away. 

“No. Not like that. I’m not afraid of him. It’s just-what happens when-if…” Grian started but his words were lost at the tip of his tongue. Xisuma’s wide eyes lower and his shocked face turned into something almost soft. He almost laughed.  

Xisuma smiled, “You think you’re going to mess up.” Xisuma declared, already knowing he was right. Grian didn’t look up at him,the blonde avian just stared at the ground. 

Grian nodded, “It’s been years, X. I hate to say it, but I don’t know that kid. I missed ten years of his life. How can I go in there and act like everything is fine when it obviously is not?”

“You don’t.” Xisuma said, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Grian looked up at him with furrowed brows. “Yeah, you missed ten years of his life and he missed ten years of you, and Mumbo, and Scar, and Pearl and Impulse. But that kid in there, is still the same kid. You don’t need to go in there and act like everything is fine, because you’re right it’s not. You act like it’s fine and he’ll believe it is. Let me ask you this, is it fine that he’s hurt, that he was on the brink of death when we found him?”

“No! Absolutely not.” Grian said, fast to respond. Xisuma nodded.

“Then things aren’t fine, Grian. Don’t act like it is. Show the kid that you care about his well-being, because it doesn’t matter how long ago you two saw each other. It doesn’t matter that it's been ten years. That’s still Tommy. And you’re still his dad.” Xisuma ranted. “Now. Am I still going in there alone?”

Grian was silent, he took a step away from the door, “I think it’s better if there’s less people in there. I-I need to go plan out the next part of my base.”

Xisuma nodded, he didn’t refute or say anything as Grian slowly shuffled away until he was out of view. Xisuma knocked on the door and opened it up to the room Scar had set up. 

It was a lot messier than he remembered it being. The floor was littered in trash and scattered blocks from Grian, Scar and Mumbo. He knew as soon as Pearl came by she’d have a field day about it. The counter tops were scattered with papers and potion brewers, there were a few of Stress’s other tools and things she’d left behind. Bloody, old bandages were thrown into a small garbage can that sat near a chair which was pushed away from the bed. 

The bed itself was unmade and empty. 

Xi didn’t worry too much though, seeing as the blonde boy was only a few steps away from it. Someone the kid had managed to get out of the bed and stand up near the windows. He was leaned up against the glass to support his weight. He couldn’t exactly use his feet, seeing as one was missing. 

He saw how the boy’s breathing picked up as soon as he entered, the kid’s whole demeanor changing. He watched as the kid dug into his pocket for something, but also knew that they had the foresight to unarm the kid of any weapon after some of Stress’s discoveries. 

The boy was shaking terribly and his panicked state only worsened the more he couldn’t find whatever it was he wanted. 

“Hello.” Xisuma greeted, he’d taken no steps forward from the foyer. He’d only closed the door. Tommy nodded in greeting, his eyes scanning X for any threat. 

“Hi.” He muttered softly. He looked him up and down again, “You’re the admin.”

“I am.” Xisuma said, although something told him it wasn’t a question.  “But I’m first a player, just like everyone else. I was here on the server when you were. I doubt you’d remember that, though. You were really young.” 

Tommy snarled, his grip on the glass slipping and he stumbled a little. Xisuma was about to rush forward and help him, but the boy flinched the second the admin moved. Xisuma stopped, raising his hands to show he meant no harm. Tommy grabbed hold of the table next to him to keep steady. 

“Why aren’t you in the bed?” Xisuma asked, his hands still raised. Tommy glared up at him. 

“I’m fine. I don’t need to lay down anymore.” Tommy grumbled, “It’s boring.”

Xisuma laughed, catching the blonde’s attention. Tommy’s eyes were blown wide and fear plagued his face, “Sorry. Sorry, you just really sound like Grian whenever he gets hurt. He gets so bored, same with Scar. We normally have a lot of pranks to deal with the week afterwards.”

Xisuma composed himself, and sighed when his attempt to lighten the mood was met with no response. Tommy only stared at him. “Kid, you’re standing on one foot. How you got out of bed is a mystery to me.  How you believe you’re going to be able to walk like that is even more unbelievable. So just make it easier on both of us and at least sit down.”

“Or what?” Tommy’s voice had a bit of anger to it, like he was challenging him. Xisuma raised an eyebrow. 

“Honestly, I have no idea. I’m not going to come any closer to you until you say I’m okay to, you obviously don’t like me being here. But I will say, if you keep standing, you’re wobbling too much to stay stable. You will fall. And then I’d have to come near you to help you up. You’ll end up on that bed either way, kid.” Xisuma explained. 

Tommy looked between the bed and the admin. He really did want to sit down. His foot was killing him. All he wanted to do was prove he could stand and move on his own. Prove he didn’t have to be coddled anymore. He was fine. 

But he really didn’t want this guy any closer. 

If he sat down on the bed he’d have to get closer to the guy, that was not happening. “You have to move away.”

Xisuma nodded, his agreement was so fast it shocked Tommy. “You take a step forward and I take a step back. I won’t move faster or slower than you. Fair?”

Tommy nodded, he began to use his weight on the table to push himself closer to the bed. He moved slowly, but Xisuma moved at the same pace. Tommy was so focused on actually moving towards the bed, he forgot to keep watch on the admin. But it didn’t matter, because Xisuma followed through with everything he said. 

Tommy fell back onto the messy bed and took deep breaths to catch himself up. He felt like hyperventilating. He laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He ran a hand through his hair. It was sticky and muddy. His fingers were shaky as he pulled at the knots. 

“You okay?” Ximsua asked. 

Tommy nodded, not looking up. He sighed, and shut his eyes tightly. “I’m not answering any of your stupid questions.”

Xisuma nodded, “Grian told me you weren’t exactly excited to.” Tommy rolled his eyes. “At least answer a few, and then I’ll leave.”

Tommy nodded, he just wanted him gone. “Okay.”

“Do you remember where you were, from the time you went missing to when you came back?”

“I said, I wasn’t going to tell anyone where I was. It doesn’t matter.” Tommy growled out. Xisuma shook his head. 

“I didn’t ask where you went, just if you remembered.” Xisuma said, kindly. Tommy grumbled, muttering something about a ‘Wilbur’ and ‘stupid twisty words’.  Tommy huffed, he sat back up and pulled his knees to his chest. 

“Yeah, I remember.” He muttered, quietly.

“How much?” Xisuma asked.

Tommy was quiet. He stared straight ahead looking through the walls and everything in its path. His eyes were glazed over, until he shook his head. “All of it.”

Xisuma nodded, although a bit sadly, “What about from before? Before you left the season eight server, do you remember any of that?” 

Tommy hummed, “Bits and pieces. The major things. I remember Grian. And Mumbo, Scar, Pearl and Impulse. I know there were more names, I just don’t remember them all. I remember the moon and Boatem.” Tommy reminisced. He whispered it all out, sadly like they were sacred things. “I remember it being a lot more simple.”

Xisuma ran through a few more random questions. He interminggled them with simple ones. He asked what the kids favorite color was, or what he enjoyed doing now, or have you seen Pearl and Impulse again; mixed with ‘are you in danger?’,’Do you know about other servers?’, ‘is someone else looking for you?’.

Each time he got short answers: Red and yellow, nothing, no, no, yes, no.

“Do you know of any glitches of viruses that could be in your system?” Xisuma asked, it was his last question. 

Tommy looked at the man with blank confusion. His brow furrowed, “What?”

“Are you carrying any glitches? It’s fine if you are, I just need to know.” Xisuma said, arms out to show he meant no harm. His explanation seemed to do nothing, “You don’t know what glitches are?”

“No, I don’t know want f*cking glitches are, man! What the hell are you talking about!” Tommy shouted. Xisuma straightened, not having gotten this reaction out of the kid. 

“Woah, woah, okay, okay. It’s fine. Also, language, how has Grian not gotten onto you for that?” Xisuma paused, and Tommy only shrugged. “Look, it’s fine. Just check your communicator. It’ll tell you if something’s wrong.”

Again, that blank expression pooled across the boy’s face. “What’s a communicator?”

Xisuma stared at the kid for a moment, wondering if he was joking. But he didn’t smile or laugh, he just stared in confusion. 

“Small, black box with a small screen. Lets you talk to your servermates?” Xisuma explained. 

Tommy shook his head, “I don’t have one of those.” 

“You don’t-you get them when you join a server. You should have one. Did I never give you one? Wait-no, you didn’t join this server. You just appeared. You never got a communicator…” 

Tommy shook his head.

“How did you contact your servermates?” Xisuma asked.

“Chat.” Tommy answered, shortly. Xisuma stuttered. 

“What-What is chat? Describe to me what Chat is. Do you have it on you, it might work the same way.”

Tommy shook his head, “I don’t have them with me.”

“Them?” Xisuma wondered aloud. Tommy nodded. 

“They were about yay-high.” Holding out his hand to show how talk they were, “They were a tiny little robot that followed me around. They talked to me and you’d talk back. They’d send messages to other chats.”

“So everyone had a chat?” Xisuma clarified. 

“Yes. Only mine was a robot, though. Some were crows, ducklings, particles, or voices. There were all different types. They’d just allow you to send messages.” Tommy explained. “You don’t have a chat?”

“Afraid not.” Xisuma said, writing it all down in a tiny notepad. “I’ll get you a communicator, and we’ll set it up so you have access to speak to other players. It was nice to meet you again, Tommy.”

Xisuma nodded his head to him and turned around to leave the room. He missed the way Tommy watched him leave with fearful eyes and shaking hands. 

“Yeah. sure.”

Chapter Text

Tommy had been bedridden for not even a week and he was already bored. He was so used to causing chaos and havoc that staying in bed for the past three days felt like prison-well, not prison. Prison felt way different. It was more like…limbo? No, Limbo was way worse. 

He was just bored!

To be fair Grian, Scar and Mumbo had been coming in regularly to just ramble on about whatever was on their mind at the moment. Scar would come in and talk about the next major project in Scarland from the castle to the stores on Mainstreet. At one point, he’d even brought balloons and tied them to the bedpost with a wide grin on his face. 

“Why do you have balloons?” Tommy had asked as soon as the man walked through the door with three balloons in hand. Scar only grinned as Jellie sauntered in behind him. The three balloons were made up of one red, one Jellie themed, and one cheesy ‘get well soon’. That one was Tommy’s least favorite. 

“They’re a new theme park amenity I’m thinking about selling! I’ve set up a stall and everything on Mainstreet, already!” He said, tying the balloons to the bedpost. 

“But why bring them in here? Wouldn’t it be better to have them where people can see them?” Tommy asked, as Jellie jumped up onto the bed to sit in his lap.  He patted the cat's head as she started to purr. 

“But if they’re in here you get to see them!” Scar said. They were silent for a moment, as Scar sat down in a chair next to the bed. 

Tommy let the silence take over, for some reason it didn’t bother him as much as it used to on the Dream Smp. He used to hate the silence, never knowing what anyone was thinking. So he’d fill the void with anything and everything-even insults and wars. 

But here, the silence felt less constricting and more just calming. He didn’t need to know what everyone was thinking because none of those thoughts were against him. 

“Do you think I’ll have you outnumbered in scars?” Tommy asked out of the blue. Scar looked up from his blueprints he was looking over. The man stared straight ahead, not looking at anything except the wall. 

“That’s not something you should be proud of, kiddo.” Scar said, quietly. His pencil tapping anxiously on the paper. Tommy shrugged, he looked down at the cat in his lap.

“Well, then you’d have to give me your name. And then I’d be the next Good Times with Scar!” Tommy smirked, with that same old sh*t eating grin. Scar laughed, even though his mind told him not to laugh at such a thing. 

“I’m not giving up my name that easily.” Scar challenged.

“Jellie’s already accepted me as the new Scar! You should, too.” Tommy declared, patting Jellie’s head gently. Scar rolled his eyes. 

“Jellie’s just coddling you because you’re hurt.” Scar said back, pointing his pencil at the kid. 

“And you aren’t?” Tommy asked, with a sad smile. Scar paused, his pencil dropped back down to the anxious tapping on his paper. Silence followed and they both stared straight ahead. 

“I was wrong, you know.” Scar said, sadly. Tommy looked back at the brunette.

“About what?” He asked.

“To say you shouldn’t be proud of them. I was wrong. Whatever you got those scars from, it means you survived it. You didn’t survive unscathed, but you’re still here. You should be proud of that. You shouldn’t hide it or ignore it because it’s there for a reason. To show everybody that you’re a lot tougher than they think you are.” Scar said, still staring straight ahead. He looked back to Tommy with a tiny smile, the blonde was staring back at him with wider blue eyes. “Now, that isn’t to say you should go out in search of danger or instigate fights-because I swear Grian will have my head if he knew I led you to that-but it does mean that you shouldn’t be ashamed of any of it.” 

Scar stopped his rambling and looked down. “I know I was for a little while, but I don’t want you to be.”

“Thanks, Scar.” Tommy mumbled, smiling underneath. 

Scar wasn’t the only one to come by in the days of Tommy’s boredom. Mumbo visited, too.

Mumbo was rambling on about some new type of redstone contraption that Tommy was only partly understanding. It didn’t matter though, it’s been a long time since he’d heard his-somewhat dad?parental figure? Very familial friend? He wasn’t sure what to call him-speak.

All he cared about was taking it in as much as possible. 

“-but I was thinking if I was able to make this wireless redstone sound machine with seven different frequencies, why can’t I do it with all fifteen? I mean if I do then, would the machine still be able to decode each one at the end of its wireless path? Would the sound get lost in transmission? How would I even keep the sound looping until I need it to be sent?”

“Was there a lot I missed when I was gone?” Tommy interrupted, normally he’d be terrified to interrupt someone but he cared less and less about certain rules as he stayed on the server longer. Mumbo stopped his rambling and looked at the blonde with a questioning look. 

“Huh?” He sat down in the chair next to the bed, forgetting all about his pacing thoughts. 

“Do you think I missed a lot? When I wasn’t here, did a lot of stuff happen?” Tommy asked, his head resting in the palm of his good hand. Mumbo sighed.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged.

“You don’t know?” Tommy repeated, “Why don’t you know? Weren’t you here?”

Mumbo chuckled, “No, no I wasn’t here.”

“What? Why weren’t you here? Where’d you go? Were you missing too?” Tommy rambled on questioning, inching forward. Mumbo only laughed a bit more. 

“No, I wasn’t missing. I took a break.” Mumbo said, as if it was that simple. Tommy just looked at him with more confusion. Mumbo sighed, “After you disappeared, and we started a new season everyone was a bit on edge. We didn’t understand what had happened, so we all stayed together near spawn. Everyone’s starter bases were pretty close together. I built a little vault, claimed to be the richest hermit and basically dipped from there. I guess it was a little hard being around everything acting like it was fine, when it wasn’t.”  

“Why weren’t things okay? I thought no one fought on this server.” Tommy muttered, his brow furrowed. 

“No, not like that. I meant-acting like everything was fine when you weren’t there. Everything felt a lot more forced. I know Grian was having a rough time and it probably didn’t help when I left. I know losing two people he really cares about was hard on him.” Mumbo stated, like it was a fact. 

“Did Scar stop talking to him as well?” Tommy asked, confused. Mumbo looked at him with the same confusion, trying to understand what the kid meant before it clicked. 

“I was talking about you, kid.” Mumbo smirked under the mustache. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh’.” Mumbo chuckled. 

“So why did you come back?” Tommy asked, picking at the bandages wrapped around his arm. While Mumbo probably should have told him to stop, he elected to say nothing. 

“I didn’t plan on it being such a long break. I thought maybe two weeks, but two weeks turned into months and two months turned into four and so on. I came back because I wanted to see Grian and Scar and everyone again just for a visit. Then I heard the ruckus down in Grian’s basement and things went from there.” Mumbo explained. They were silent for a moment until Mumbo spoke again, “How about we figure out what happened together?”

Tommy nodded, “Okay.”

And they did-even though most of the tiny bits of information they had were from short pieces of conversations. A mention of Ren the King here or some Hot Guy there, maybe a piece of a magic portal, or some new card game. To Tommy it all seemed so random, but to Mumbo it made perfect sense. 

Tommy just chose to ignore it, if only Grian made things make more sense, but that wasn’t his expertise.

 Tommy was laying on the bed, a thin blanket covering his torso. He liked to watch the mainstreet below of Scarland, eventually he’d see Scar fly by with boxes or chests with items. His only entertainment was the window wall and whoever decided to pass by for a visit. 

He watched as a flash of red and purple wings landed below his view out the window. He waited only a few more minutes before the door to the room was opened. 

Grian stumbled inside, his arms filled with boxes that stacked above his face. He couldn’t see in front of him but groped his way around the room. He peeked his head behind the boxes and smiled at the other blonde. 

“Hey Tom!” 

Tommy turned to face the older and smiled confused. “Hi. What is all that?”

Grian only smiled wider, “Gifts!”

“Gifts? Why are there gifts? Who are they even for?” Tommy kept asking, as Grian rounded the corner from the foyer of the room to where the chair next to the bed was. Grian sat down, plopping the boxes down in front of him. 

“They’re for you, bud.” Grian said. He didn’t look up and started to file through the boxes and pull out a small one. It was wrapped up in blue and white paper and had a red bow on top. 

Tommy tilted his head to the side, “What? Why?”

Grian smiled, “I guess, word got around that you’re back. I’ve been getting boxes and chests left on my doorstep left and right from every hermit on the server. I thought now was a good time to bring them over before they get lost in my big ‘ol chest monster.” 

Grian handed the small present over to Tommy, who tried to wrap his fingers around it. His bandaged hand with three missing fingers fumbling to keep hold. He laid the box down in his lap and used his good hand to tear into the wrapping. 

Tommy pulled the object out of its hiding spot and inspected it. It was in more wrapping, black and grey this time with the letters TCG on it. Tommy flipped it around trying to figure out what it was, before Grian laughed. 

“Of course, he sends his own card game.” Grian laughed. 

“What do you mean?” Tommy asked, his eyes squinted. 

Grian gently took the packet from Tommy’s hands and opened the flap at the very top. He pulled out the cards inside and handed them over to the boy, “Beef’s been working on this card game for the whole season. He’s made cards for just about everyone on the server and everything on the server. He’s gotten everyone into this TCG fever.”

“It’s a card game?” Tommy asked, flipping through the cards. He saw a few familiar faces and items others he felt were new and he couldn’t place. 

“Yup.” Grian said, and pulled out the next box. This one was wrapped in red and brown, it had a white tag on it. He placed the box in Tommy’s lap, knowing the boy wouldn’t be able to hold it up. “Here, open this one.”

Tommy looked away from the cards and down to the box in his lap. He looked between Grian and the box, before taking the tag in hand and reading it. 

‘To the Kid

Heard you weren’t feeling the best! So I thought a few pies were in order! Get well soon, Kiddo! Glad to have you back!

-Ren’

Tommy opened the lid to the box and was immediately bombarded with the smell of fresh pies. Three pies were stacked on top of one another. The pastry at the top of the very first one was formed into loopy letters to say ‘Get Better’. The ‘soon’ part was left out from the lack of space. 

Tommy tilted his head to the side, “That’s passive aggressive.” He muttered. 

Grian looked up from his search and peeked over the box. He smirked and let a little chuckle escape him, “Giga Pies, of course, but yeah, that’s Ren for you.”

“They know I’m…hurt?” Tommy asked, like the word was foreign to him and he wasn’t saying it right. Grian looked at him, eyeing him up and down.

“Yeah.” He sighed, “It’s kind of hard to keep it a secret. Once Stress knew she told Iskall, once Iskall knew he told some others. When Pearl and Impulse heard about it all, they talked to Gemini about it, which spread it even more. We hermits are not very good at keeping secrets.”

“But why do they care? I’m just a kid you guys picked up off the street one time.” Tommy muttered.

Grian clenched his jaw, “Don’t say it like that. We do care about you. We always did. I’m pretty sure everyone on this server knew who you were even if they hadn’t met you. And each one of them cared, because we found you in a cave . With no one.” 

“So it was pity.” Tommy spat.

“It was not pity.” Grian said, just as fast and with just as much force. “We were scared. You really think that finding a six year old in a cave isn’t scary? It was terrifying. You could’ve been hurt or sick, neglected or abused and we would’ve had no idea even though it was happening right underneath us. So me and Mumbo got you out, it was not because of pity, it was because we were scared for you. And afterwards we made a deal to find someone to care for you, in the end we just didn’t end up looking. And if you see that as pity-if you think that caring for you and helping you when you were in a terrifying situation as pity-then yes. We did, but it was never a bad thing. It was always for your own health and safety.”

“Okay.” Tommy whispered. 

“Okay.” Grian repeated. The older avian sighed, he picked up another box and placed it down next to the blonde. “Here, open this.”

“Are you sure?” Tommy asked, shifting in his spot. Grian nodded.

“I’m sure, Tommy, they’re for you.” 

Tommy tried to lift the pies off of his lap, but was unsuccessful. Grian helped him and replaced it with the newer box. Tommy noticed this one was wrapped in orange and green. He opened the box and lifted out the item inside. 

His brow furrowed as he pulled out a stuffed toy. “Uh, Grian, what is this?”

He showed the toy to Grian and the man only laughed loudly. “Who gave that to you?” He asked, through giggles.

“I don’t know!” Tommy yelled back, he looked over the toy again. It had a cowboy hat on, a brown vest and a blue bandana. Other than that it had on a simple white shirt and jeans. “Why did they give me a stuffed toy?”

When Grian’s laughter died down he said, “Probably because the last time anyone saw you was when you were seven. To us, only two years have passed.”

“I’m not a child.” Tommy grumbled.

Grian raised an eyebrow, “You’re still only seventeen, that counts as a child to me. You used to love stuffed animals. They probably thought you might want a new one.”

“I did not.” Tommy disagreed in true TommyInnit fashion. 

“Yeah? And what about Henry the cow?” Grian asked, “Look, I get it if you don’t want stuffed toys anymore, you’re right you’re not a child-child. But you’re not really an adult either. So don’t give up on the things you like just ‘cause you think you have to. Because you don’t, I know a ton of people on the server have one of those right now. So I’d hold on to it.” 

“Why?” Tommy wondered aloud, “Why is it so special?” 

Grian smiled, “You’ll see why soon.”

Tommy was silent for a moment before he sighed. “Do you still have Henry?”

Grian smiled, “You really think I could get rid of him? I’ll bring him tomorrow.”

Tommy nodded.

It was when Pearl and Impulse came to visit that Tommy realized he wasn’t the only one to change. Grian had come back early that day and handed over the old stuffed toy. Grian explained that the toy had been sitting on the windowsill of his starter house for a while until he moved to his mega-base. Then the toy had been placed in the cathedral section of his megabase. 

The toy was dusty and torn but it was just as Tommy remembered it. 

It was later that day when Tommy noticed a different flash of color fly across the window. It was a few more minutes until the sounds of footsteps came down the hallway. From what he could tell it was two pairs of footsteps. 

Tommy ignored it for the most part and went back to the cat in his lap. It wasn’t until the door opened and those footsteps walked in that he paid any mind to it. 

“Tommy!” 

Tommy lifted his head up quickly at the sound of his name being called. His wide eyes were met with Pearl’s smile and Impulse’s nod. 

“Oh, hi, Pearl. Hi, Impulse.” Tommy greeted, petting Jellie’s fur. Pearl rushed forward holding Tommy’s face in her hands.

“Oh, you’ve gotten so big!” She exclaimed, much like a proud mother.

“Good to see you awake, kiddo.” Impulse supplied as he sank into the chair next to the bed. Tommy gave a tiny smile. Pearl let go off his face, patting him on the cheek once. 

“Have you been eating well? Getting enough sleep? I brought some soup just in case. Are you taking enough health potions? You still have some lingering bruises and cuts, and those burns look nasty.” Pearl rambled on.

“I’m fine. Grian hasn’t let me go a day without taking a health pot, and Scar won’t let me go a day without three meals.” Tommy replied, like it was an annoyance. 

“And the sleeping?” Pearl asked.

“Mumbo.” Tommy said, earning a chuckle from Impulse.

“Need he say more.” Impulse laughed, “I wouldn’t be surprised if those three don’t let you out of their sight for the next month.”

Pearl rolled her eyes, “You say that like, I’m letting him out of my sight. You best not disappear into thin air again, mister.” 

Tommy smirked, “I’ll try not to.” He rolled his eyes, hiding his laughter. He turned back to Impulse, who he realized had a lot more hair than he remembered. The man had a full grown beard and full head of brown hair. He had big black boots and dwarfish clothes. Pearl also looked different, rather than the normal white t-shirt and shorts, she wore overalls. She had a black undershirt with little moons and stars covering the sleeve. Her overalls were a dark green and a little messy. Plus her normal wings that would match that of Grian’s were traded for a moth’s. “You guys changed a lot.”

Pearl smiled, “Yeah, different bases but still the same person. Even if Impulse looks like he should only reach for the lowest shelf-”

“I am not that short!” Impulse argued back. 

“Do you think I can see your bases sometime?” Tommy asked, patting Jellie’s head. Pearl nodded. 

“Of course!”

“When Grian lets you off bedrest, that is.” Impulse added. Tommy groaned.

“Do you really think it’ll be a month? It’s already so boring in here.” Tommy complained.

“That’s exactly how Grian and Scar act whenever they’re in this situation, but, Toms, you gotta understand you can’t rush this stuff.” Pearl explained, placing her hand on his knee and offering a comforting squeeze. 

“It’s just so weird.” Tommy muttered. 

“What is?” Impulse asked, his hand in his beard. 

“It’s just been a really long time since anyone’s done anything like this.” Tommy whispered, staring at the fur of the cat in front of him. 

“You mean care about your wellbeing?” Pearl asked, her nose wrinkling up like the thought of it smelled awful. Impulse looked between Pearl and Tommy a questioning glint in his eye.

“I guess. It’s different. The last time someone made me take a break because of an injury was-well it was years ago. And that’s not to say I wasn’t injured, because I was. It was just that I had to keep going. The last time some bandaged me besides myself was when I was eight. And now, everyone is doing it and acting like its normal-like its normal to be taken care of.” Tommy rambled.

“In a situation like this, yeah, it is normal, Tommy. We’re not going to expect you to walk around like you’re fine when you’re missing a foot. You have serious injuries that you have to have someone to help.” Impulse said like it was the easiest thing in the world. 

“That being said,” Pearl added, “That doesn’t mean we won’t help with anything else big or mall. It’s different, yeah, but I think it’s a good different.” 

Tommy nodded before his brow furrowed again and he looked back up to Impulse. “A month, though? Really?”

Impulse laughed, “Kid, I’m starting to question if even I  should let you out of my sight.”

___________________________________________________

Doc may not have known the kid very well back in season 8 but he knew enough. He and Ren had lived pretty close to the boatem crew and he had no capability to avoid the shouts for a kid not to do something or confusion and laughter as the kid proceeded to do exactly that. 

Tommy from what he’d heard many times was a very mischievous and hyper kid. So much so that it caused even Grian, Scar and Mumbo to get worn out from him. 

He’d probably met the kid once during the season. Grian had come over to talk to him about something or another he can’t remember. He expected to see the birdman land near their octagon and begin to rant about something. 

What he hadn’t expected was to see the birdman struggle to land as he had a six year old in his arms trying to get down. 

“Tommy, stop it.” Grian said, as the kid climbed onto his back and his shoulders covering his eyes with tiny hands. 

“Noooo! I wanna see the goat man! You said we see the goatman.” The kid said, looking around from the top of Grian’s head. 

Grian huffed, “Tommy, I need to see.” Grian pried the boy's hands away from his eyes and was met with the sight of a very shocked Doc. “Oh, thank gods. Tommy we’re here-Don’t you laugh, Doc!”

Doc was already laughing, “Since when did you have a kid?”

Grian huffed, “It’s a recent discovery.”

“Really?” Doc chuckled. The boy on top of Grian’s head was pried away. Grian had a firm grip on the kid now that he wasn’t focused on flying. He held the hid on his hip and sighed.

“Goat man! Hello! ‘M Tommy!” The kid yelled. 

Doc nodded to the kid with a smile, “You needed something, Grian?”

Grian nodded, as Tommy shifted in his spot trying to get down. “Okay, so did you guys do something to reset the chunk in the boatem hole?”

“No, haven’t reset any chunks lately.” Doc answered with a shrug. Grian nodded, he turned to the kid in his arms.

“If I let you go, you have to stay nearby and not mess with any redstone stuff, okay?” Grian offered. The boy nodded enthusiastically. Grain set the boy down on the ground, and Doc watched as the boy started to look around and wander aimlessly. 

So, yes, Doc did remember Tommy. But he wasn’t expecting the kid to grow up so fast. How was the kid seventeen already, if just yesterday he was seven. Doc ignored the thought and kept working on his new creation. 

After helping Stress look over the kid, he promised her, Grian and the others he’d make a prosthetic for his foot and fingers. He didn’t understand how the kid had managed to lose them, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. He knew how painful it could be to lose a limb and he didn’t want the kid to go through that. 

So he’d spent the last few days working on something for him. He’d already finished the foot and was currently working on the finishing touching of the fingers. 

The kid had lost three fingers: his pinky, ring and middle finger. Doc had wanted to make something that would give him mobility back and ease some of the lingering nerve damage in his other fingers and hand. 

When he finished the last test, he nodded to himself. He boxed up both the foot and the hand prosthetic and headed over to Scarland. 

_____________________________________________

Doc landed in front of the hotel in Scarland. He hand rounded the area near the amusement park in hopes of finding Scar or Grian, however, the guys were nowhere to be found. 

So, now he was walking into the hotel himself. 

He climbed the ladder and walked down the hallway to the doorway. He knocked on the door, wondering if the kid would even answer. 

He’d heard from Stress that he’d woken up a while ago, but he hadn’t visited the kid since the initial one with Stress. 

“You can come in.” A tiny voice called from inside. 

It was one he didn’t recognize. He opened the door, he expected to see at least one of the old boatem crew members with the kid, but the blonde was alone. 

The blonde wasn’t facing the door, instead he was watching the window with intense curiosity. One leg was propped up and he’d wrapped his arms around his knee in a sort of hug. His head rested on his knee as he watched. 

Doc saw as the kid’s eyes widened when they saw him in the reflection of the window. 

“Sam!” The boy called quickly, and panicky like he didn’t want whoever Sam was around. The boy turned so fast, it gave Doc whiplash. The boy relaxed when he fully took in the creeper hybrid. “Oh…you’re not Sam.” 

And yet, while the kid sounded so afraid for ‘Sam’ to be around, he also sounded disappointed.

“Hullo?” Doc greeted, nervously. 

“Hi.” The blonde avian whispered, “Sorry, I thought you were someone else.”

“Don’t worry about it. Did you know another creeper hybrid?” Doc asked, from the doorway. He made no movement to enter the room. The blonde nodded.

“Yeah, but you don’t look much like him.” The boy said, shifting in his spot to sit up more. 

“You make it sound like that’s a good thing.” Doc chuckled, he expected the kid to continue the conversation but he stayed quiet. The boy just stared at him, no emotion blatant on his face. 

“Who are you?” He asked after a moment. 

“I’m Docm. Just call me Doc.” 

“So you’re a doctor.” The boy asked, confusion in his eyes and furrowed brow. Doc shook his head. 

“More like a scientist. You’re Tommy, correct?” 

Tommy nodded, “So what are you doing here?” 

The question jolted Doc back to what he had come to do. He’d gotten to caught up in the oddity that was this kid. He was nothing like how he remembered the six year old being. 

The six year old Tommy caused Grian to pass out from chasing him around the server for three days straight. The six year old Tommy would curse up a storm in front of Scar no matter how many times the man asked him to stop. The six year old Tommy would ramble on and one to Impulse and Mumbo as they worked on redstone. The six year old Tommy would keep Pearl up all night to play games. 

This kid was so timid and quiet; sat alone in this room glaring at the world like it was ruined him in a way unimaginable. 

“I was working on those prosthetics for you. I’ve got them done, ‘thought it better to get them to you sooner than later.” Doc explained, pulling the small box from his side and walking into the room more. 

The boy sighed, “You didn’t need to do that. I could’ve just used another stick. I’m sure there’s plenty around.”

Doc paused, “You’ve been using a stick? How? Why?”

“I mean it wasn’t really a stick, it was more of a log. There wasn’t really another option.” Tommy muttered, embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Well, good thing you have a new option,” Doc smirked, opening the box, “If I used just some sticks for my arm, I’d never get anything done.”

Tommy opened his mouth to retaliate, but he stopped as he looked at the creeper hybrid's arm. Just as the man had said, there was a mechanical arm attached to his shoulder. Little blinking lights were placed randomly along the mechanic being as it traveled up to his shoulder. Tommy’s eyes widened, “How did you do that? What-What even happened?”

Doc chuckled as pulled out the prosthetic fingers first. “Are you going to tell me what happened to you?” He asked, motioned for Tommy to show him his hand.

Tommy flinched at the question, “Sorry. That’s fair. I didn’t mean to pry. Sorry.”

Doc frowned, “You’re fine, kid. I didn’t mean to freak you out. It was really nothing, on one of the other servers I was a part of, an upper admin decided I was pretty op. To make my time on the server a little bit more difficult my arm was sacrificed.” Doc explained. 

Tommy’s eyes widened exceptionally, he looked terrified at the idea. He stumbled over his next words, stuttering his words out. He shifted uncomfortable, “You-You mean to make it harder on you, they-they cut your arm off! W-Why? That-That’s h-horrible! Why is everyone so f*cked up in the head!” 

Doc was stood still, he looked over the panicking kid. “No. No, I don’t think you understood that right.”

Tommy stared up at him in horror, “What do you mean, you said they cut your arm off!”

“No. It was a mutual agreement. Look, on a different server I was getting a little bored. It was pretty easy, so I got into an agreement with an upper admin named Dinnerbone. He helped me out, we agreed that for a bit I would try to live without my arm. It wasn’t supposed to be permanent and it definitely never hurt me. I just created this mechanical arm as a replacement and from there I enjoyed it too much to go back.”

Tommy’s horrified look didn’t leave, “You choose…to lose a limb.” 

Doc bit his lip, “When you put it like that, I guess I did. But I think in the end it worked out. I started making more of these things, I was able to help a lot more people who didn’t have that option of choice. What better way to help, than to fully understand the problems.”

“You’re insane.” Tommy muttered, holding his hand out for the man. Doc shrugged, he unbuckled the bottom latch of the prosthetic. He pulled out a cloth like glove as well, as he sat down on the side of the bed. 

“I guess I am, but insanity can bring genius.” Doc said, he lightly took Tommy’s hand and showed him how to pull the cloth glove over his hand. “So, first just pull this over your hand. It’ll help with any irritation or unsmooth motions.”

Tommy cringed at Doc’s declaration, making the creeper hybrid raise an eyebrow. 

“Don’t say that.” Tommy grumbled, trying to pull the cloth glove farther down with his other hand. 

“Do you disagree?” Doc asked, as he brought up the actual prosthetic. 

“Yes. Very much.” Tommy said, as the many set the prosthetic on his hand wrapping the buckle latch around his wrist. Tommy could feel tiny sensors on the palm of his hand as the wires and steel moved when he contracted his muscles. 

“Okay.” Doc shrugged, as he pulled on the hand to make sure the thing was staying on correctly. 

Tommy was so entranced by his new ability to move his hand more he didn’t notice Doc’s words at first. The boy just stared at his hand as he closed and opened it multiple times. When the man’s word finally reached his ears he looked up. 

“You’re not going to disagree with me?” Tommy asked, looking up at Doc almost as if he was challenging him to disagree to argue. Doc shook his head. 

“What good would that do? You don’t have to agree with me. Does it work well?” Doc asked, fully ignoring the challenge. Tommy opened his mouth to argue but shut it quickly, he sighed giving up. 

“Yeah, it’s cool. How’s it know what I want it to do?” He asked, he moved his fingers more until they were all clasped in a fist except for his middle finger. He laughed as he gave the floor the middle finger. 

Doc shook his head, “How are you Grian’s kid, again?” 

“Oi! F*ck you!” Tommy shouted, still laughing lightly. “How’s it work?”

Doc sighed, “It can sense your contractions in the parts of your hand that still work. However for the pieces that were attacked by nerve damage it connects them through the wires and redstone. That way you can still use your hand even though your neurons are having to go through multiple runways to tell your fingers what to do.”

Tommy was silent.

“What?”

Doc opened his mouth to re explain, but saw the confusion in the boy’s face too much to understand anything of what he just said. “It reads your mind.”

“Oh! Cool!” Tommy shouted. “I’d ask how it does that, but I don’t think I’ll understand.”

Doc laughed, giving the kid a so-so motion of his own hand. “You ready for the new foot, too?”

Tommy nodded, looking over the man’s shoulder to see into the box he had to the side of him. 

Doc messed around in the box he carried with him for a bit, putting pieces together and connecting wire. He worked, while Tommy investigated his new fingers and their abilities. 

During their little quiet session the door opened once again and another blonde avian walked in. 

“Oh, hello, Doc.” Grian grinned, as he walked in. He ruffled Tommy’s hair as he walked past the kid at sat on the chair next to the bed. 

Doc looked up to the other avian, “Hallo, Grian. I was just showing the kid how to use the new stuff. I’ve already got him set up with the hand, I’m fixing the foot right now.”

The notion of Tommy having his hand back got Grian’s attention quickly, the man straightened and relooked over the kid, his eyes latching onto his hand. Grian held out his hand, hoping Tommy would show him. 

Tommy held out his hand out to Grian wiggling the fingers, making Grian smile. “You can move your hand alright?”

“Yeah! I haven’t been able to do this in years.” Tommy muttered the last bit under his breath. Grian’s brow furrowed and he tilted his head. 

“How long ago did you…lose them.” He asked, the question catching Doc’s attention too. Tommy was quiet, his brian running to count the years. 

“It was five years ago.” Tommy mumbled, “There were a lot of explosions and I couldn’t get out of the way quick enough.”

Grian nodded, he didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure if he knew what to say. He looked over to Doc for any help but the man was just as lost. The creeper hybrid cleared his throat and held out the prosthetic foot instead offering a change in the subject.

“This one isn’t as fancy. It’ll just help with some balance issues and get you on your feet again. It’ll take some getting used to, though. Especially, if you’re just used to using a…you said log?” Doc explained, he handed the kid another sock-like cloth. 

Grian sank against the chair he sat in, running a hand down his face. Tommy chuckled nervously and nodded. 

Tommy slowly pulled the sock liner over his limb and looked back up for more instructions from the creeper-hybrid. “Okay, now slip your leg into this.”

Tommy did exactly that, and then slowly rolled the rest of the prosthetic up so it would stay on his leg. Once they were sure it wouldn’t come loose if he stood up, the actual challenge arose of standing. 

“You ready to stand up?” Doc asked. Tommy nodded. “Alright, just know it won’t be easy at first and you might fall.”

“It can’t be that hard.” Tommy scoffed. He was excited to finally get off the bed. He was tired of being bedridden for so long. He needed to move. He took a deep breath and pushed up on the bed. 

His good foot landed on the ground and then the prosthetic did. His weight fell forward and he yelped as the floor came crashing closer. Grian jumped up and grabbed the boy’s shoulders before he hit the ground. 

Grian held the boy up by the under part of his arm. Tommy was staring at his new foot with wide eyes as he took in the odd feeling of having something there again after so long. 

“Are you sure about this, Doc?” Grian asked. 

“I’m positive, G.” Doc said, nodding. “It takes practice. You need to trust it’ll hold your weight, Tom. It’s not going to come off.”

Tommy nodded, he shifted a bit away from Grian a bit. Grian held the kid’s arms out as he stood in front of him. Tommy stared at his new foot, placing it on the ground before lifting his knee up, scared to let it hit the ground. 

“Put it fully on the ground, kid.” Doc said. Tommy nodded, and pressed down onto the floor, his grip on Grian’s arms tightening. 

And he was standing on two feet again. 

It was like a lightbulb went off from Tommy’s head. 

He hadn’t stood on two legs in years. 

Grian saw the relieved, scared and happy look that crossed the blonde’s face. It was such an odd mix of emotion, as he stared off into space. 

“Does it feel even? Do you feel balanced?” Doc was asking, “I can change the settings a bit to back it a bit taller or shorter if need be. Try to keep your torso in the middle of your body. Don’t sway from side to side, if you sway you’ll fall.”

“Okay, okay, yeah. That makes sense.” Tommy mumbled, as he tried to keep himself centered. 

When Doc was sure the kid was fully centered, he told the kid to sit back down. Tommy sat, and they tried it again. Tommy standing back up, this time with a little less falling and more wobbling.

Then they tried again. Tommy sat back down and stood up again. Each time Grian was there in case the kid was about to fall over. Eventually, the kid started to get the hang of standing on his own. 

They moved on to the next part: walking. 

After a minimal amount of practice walking, with Tommy tripping here or there or kicking his foot too close to the ground, they took a break. Mainly, because Tommy had completely worn himself out just from the minimal exercise. 

It had been a while since the kid had really used his other leg and it had definitely been a bit from him being on his own. He had been bedridden on HermitCraft for what felt like ages and he was finally getting at least some of his mobility back. 

He missed being able to hold himself up. 

He hadn’t been able to do it in four years. 

___________________________________________

“Okay, couple more steps then we can take a break at one of the park benches.” Scar said, excited to finally show Tommy around the park. 

Today was the first day the kid was officially off of bedrest. Stress had already come by earlier and done her last check over, and deemed him healthy enough to have his mobility back. 

So they spent the first part of the day walking around the hotel, or at least trying to. They even ate lunch at the hotel’s cafe area, which was run by a few villagers. Grian and Scar had joined him and were reciting stories of what happened on Hermitcraft while he was away. 

Between Grian talking about his base and all the oddities that came with it and Scar talking about his hot guy bow addiction and elven tree there was never a dull moment in conversation. 

Now, Scar had asked if Tommy wanted a tour off the amusement park, to which Grian was a bit skeptical if the kid could manage to walk for so long. Scar land was a big base and the tour would last a while, if Scar wanted to go into detail. 

Tommy, of course, accepted right away. Meaning Grian had to be the voice of reason, which was as usual ignored. 

So, that led them to where they were now, halfway through mainstreet and Tommy was wobbling on his feet. Grian stayed by his side in case worse came to worse and he fell. Scar was getting nervous when he pointed out the bench in the distance. 

“Maybe I should add more benches? Or rest stops?” Scar asked, nervously pulling his yellow working vest close. Grian shook his head, helping Tommy take shake steps closer. 

“It’s fine, Scar. We’ll just take a break for a bit-watch your step-it takes practice.” Grian added, pointing out when Tommy dug his prosthetic foot into the ground too much. 

“Which sucks by the way! Why does walking take practice! I’ve been walking all my life! But now I can’t!” Tommy complained, losing focus on his feet and tripping himself up again. Grian caught him quickly and helped him straighten himself again. 

“Careful.” The older avian warned, batting a wing on the younger’s head. “And you know why, Tommy. Yes, you could walk. But now you have to learn how to walk with one real leg and another fake one, one you don’t have as much control over. So take it easy, the more you do it the better it will get. It’s a skill.”

Grian helped the kid settle down onto the bench. Tommy huffed. Grian sat down next to the kid and looked him over before asking, “Do you need some water?”

“No, you mother-hen. I don’t need water. I just need a second and I’ll be good to go again. It looks great by the way, Scar. Absolutely poggers.” Tommy said, distracting himself from the subtle pain in his amputated foot. 

Scar smiled, giggling to himself, “You can’t call him a mother-hen. We didn’t really get to teach you to walk when you were six! It’s like a second chance for ‘em!”

Tommy snapped his head back over to Grian, “That is not what this is.” He said, firmly his eye glaring at the other avian. Grian only smirked. 

“I know. I know.” He said, the smirk not falling off his face. When Tommy looked away again, Grian winked at Scar, knowing full well what both of them were thinking. 

“So how exactly-” Tommy began, but Scar stopped listening to the question when he heard his name being called off in the distance. 

“Hey! Scar!” Scar turned around, knowing that Grian and Tommy were talking behind him. Something about Tommy complaining about Grian being an overprotective parent and Grian trying his best to defend himself. 

Scar turned and saw two players walking down mainstreet to meet them. As the two got closer, Scar recognized the colorful patchwork overcoat of one and the green skin and large ears of the other. 

Scott and Fwhip.

Now, don’t get him wrong, he was overjoyed to have people staying at Scarland. However, there was the slight problem that these two people were from the Empire server and while the Hermits all knew of Tommy. The Empire's members certainly did not.

And until Tommy was okay with it, they had all planned to keep the kid out of whatever crossover hijinks anyone had planned. Knowing fully well the kid was going through enough at the moment. 

“Yo Scar, did you know where one might be able to get his hands on some tnt minecarts?” Fwhip asked as soon as the man was close enough. 

The quite short man was jumping around on his feet, his red coat flapping in the wind of his jumps. The one next to him was a bit taller, even taller than Scar. 

“We want to trap Jimmy at the Christmas tree and blow him up with minecarts…for fun.” Scott said, shrugging his shoulders. 

Scar nodded, normally he would argue on behalf of Jimmy but he was a bit preoccupied making sure he blocked the view of Grian and Tommy.

“Oh, yeah! I’m sure there’s somewhere around here to get that stuff….but it’s not here! So, you should probably look somewhere else! Yeah! Like the shopping district! Or Impulse,yes, Impulse I’m sure he has plenty!” Scar said, trying to laugh through his nervousness. 

Fwhip nodded, tapping his chin in thought. He completely missed the nervous look on Scar’s face or the way the man was dancing from foot to foot. Unfortunately for Scar, Scott was not so easily distracted. 

“What are you hiding, Scar?” Scott asked, a colored eyebrow raised. Scar straightened.

“Absolutely nothing! Here at Scarland there is nothing to hide! Except the industrial magic!” Scar laughed, although it was a hollow laugh. 

Scott nodded, “Who’s behind you?”

“No one!” Scar said, loudly. 

“Yeah, see now I know you’re lying, because normally you’d freak out and jump to see who’s behind you. So who’s behind you?” Scott asked again, this time he got Fwhip intrigued. The goblin man hopped onto Scott’s shoulder to get a better look over Scar. 

Before either Emperor could get a good look their attention was brought back to the front where Grian had just appeared. 

“Oh, Hey Scott, Fwhip. Sorry, I didn’t see you guys were here at first. I was just making my way through Scarland.” Grian said, his lying smirk prominent on his face. Fwhip hopped off of Scott’s shoulder expecting Grian to have been the person behind Scar, but Scott wasn’t convinced. 

“You were just ‘making your way through Scarland’? Why? What’s here in Scarland that’s caught your interest, Grian?” Scott asked, the colored eyebrow still raised. 

Grian swallowed, “uh…I came to…uh…give Scar some Copper! Yep, that’s the reason I’m here. Scar needed some copper to finish up his build.”

Scott nodded, “Yeah, what build Scar?”

“Uh…that one…”Scar pointed off into a random direction. Scott turned around to look for the building but was cut off by his friend's shout. 

“Oh! Hello!” Fwhip called, sticking his hand out for a greeting in front of Tommy, who looked like he was having an internal panic attack. 

“Why do you have a kid?” Scott said, numbly as he stared at the boy sitting on the bench. Grian and Scar both ignored him and rushed over to where Fwhip had gotten past them. 

Grian was rambling on to Fwhip about something while Scar was trying to do the same thing, however their conversations just melded together so that nothing was coherent. 

“Is someone going to answer me! Why do you have a kid!” Scott yelled in confusion, motioning to the blonde. 

Grian took a deep breath before, “Scott, Fwhip this is Tommy.”

“Wait! Jimmy was telling the truth!” Fwhip yelled, confusion prominent on his face. 

“Jimmy knew about this?” Scar asked, loudly. 

“Of course Timmy knew about this! He was there! How did we forget about Timmy!” Grian shouted, he ran a hand down his face. 

“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” Tommy asked, his voice quiet compared to their confused shouting. Everyone snapped back to the kid sitting on the bench. 

“Tommy, this is-” Grian began to introduce.

“Fwhip! I’m Fwhip! Emperor of Gobland!” Fwhip introduced himself, again sticking out his hand in an effort for a handshake. Tommy stared at his hand before reaching out his own, his own fake fingers feeling stiff as he shook the man’s hand. “Woah! Cool fingers, kid!”

The reaction had Tommy shocked, he took his hand back quickly. “Oh, um, thanks.”

“I’m Scott. Emperor of Chromia.” Scott said, he stood still, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot. 

“Emperor? So you run a country?” Tommy asked. Scott made a so-so motion with his hands while Fwhip nodded enthusiastically. “Do you like it? Are your-are your people happy?”

Fwhip tilted his head to the side, confused by the kid's question but he shrugged it off, “Well, yeah, I’d hope so! I built it after all.”

“Just because you created something doesn’t mean those who live there accept it as it is.” Tommy said with the wisdom of an old man, which took Scott and Fwhip a moment to come back from. 

“I guess so. I don’t really see the people that live in Gobland that much, really. We’re pretty reclusive people, just like hiding out in our cave houses and such.” Fwhip explained, running a hand through his red hair.

“What about your people?” Tommy asked, expectantly. He looked at Scott, eying him up and down. Scott shifted. 

“Llamas.” He said. 

“What?” Tommy wondered aloud, confused. 

Scott coughed, “Sorry, sorry, Chromia is mainly home to Llamas-and the occasional weird llama-person.” He pocketed his hands into his multicolored coat. 

“Are you alright, Scott?” Grian asked, a slight smile on his face, “I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“I’m not good with kids, Grian.” Scott pointedly whispered to the older avian. It was a poor whisper seeing as all five of them heard it. It only made Tommy scoff and laugh a bit at the blue haired man. 

“I knew someone like that.” Tommy said, staring at the path below his feet. “Best friends were animals and had a hard time talking to people. So we’re cool, big man, just so long as you don’t stick your llamas on anybody.” Tommy said, the statement sounded so absurd that it just made sense coming from him.

“You know, I never really had that idea before, I’ll keep it in the back of my mind for now.” Scott said, a slight smile creeping on his face. 

“So where exactly did you come from, kid? Last we heard, you flew out of some portal and these guys knew you somehow.” Fwhip asked.

“Tommy was a part of Season Eight here on HermitCraft, well sort of. We kind of found him in a cave underneath our bases.” Scar explained, lightheartedly. “He just kind of stuck around from then on.”

“When we transferred seasons he got lost somehow, we couldn’t get him back. We asked any and every server if they saw him or heard about him but no one knew. When he came out of the rift was the first time we’d seen him since Season Eight.” Grian finished explaining. 

“So where were you?” Fwhip asked, intrigued. 

Tommy was silent.

“He hasn’t exactly told us.” Grian muttered, like the thought was bugging him. 

“It’s gone, anyway. There’s nothing left.” Tommy muttered and that left the whole mood sour. Such a hollow sentence that was filled with pain and fear. 

“How old were you, when you went missing?” Scott asked. 

Tommy shrugged, “Around six.”

“What?! Wait. Grian, you basically had a child.” Fwhip said, with a startling laughter. “This is great! Wait, till Joel and Jimmy hear about this! You are not living this down, Grian.”

“It was a group effort.” Grian huffed out, rolling his eyes with a smile on his face. 

“Yeah! It was all of boatem! Grian, me, Mumbo, Pearl, Impulse.” Scar listed off his fingers, which made Fwhip laugh even more. 

“So how old are you now?” Scot asked, ignoring the laughter from his fellow Emperor.

“I’m seventeen.” Tommy shrugged. 

Fwhip’s laughter fell silent. “Wait, but that would mean you were missing for…” The goblin counted on his fingers, “eleven years.”

Tommy nodded.

“Oh..man, I didn’t realize. Wait so..this entire time..Grian and Scar you two haven’t seen him.” Fwhip said, like he was finally piecing the puzzle together, and he didn't like where it was going. Scar and Grian both nodded. “How did you two…how did you all…you basically lost your kid! How did you just act like everything was fine!”

“We didn’t.” Grain said, as if it was that simple. 

“I built Scarland, because it was something I promised Tom. Back in Season Eight we were talking and he thought a Jellie amusement park would be fun. I had been working on the idea for a while, but Tommy sold it to me. When he came to the season with us, I was going to build it for him so the kid could mess around, in the end it sort of ended up being the last thing I promised him.” Scar said, with a sad smile plastered on his face as he spoke the sad story. 

Grian nodded, “Mumbo took his break because of it. He needed it. Pearl and Impulse decided to just get back to work. They didn’t take a moment to really think. I know if they did they never would’ve gone back to building their bases. They stuck together pretty tightly too. They decided to base together this season just in case something else happened. And…well, I built Grumbot.”

“Wait, your way of coping for the loss of your son-” Scott started.

“Don’t say it like that.” Tommy butted in.

“-Was to build grumbot?” Scott finished. Grian nodded, “Grian! We blew that up!”

“I know.” Grian said, shrugging his shoulders. 

“You let us blow it up!!” Scott shouted, like it was the most horrific thing on earth. 

“Scott. I know. It’s fine.” Grian placated, “I’m pretty sure that Grumbot was evil anyway.”

“You made an evil grumbot?” Tommy asked, looking up at Grian from his spot on the bench. 

“Not on purpose.” Grian batted Tommy in the head with a wing, causing the younger avian to chirp in anger. Grian chirped back, causing both Scott and Fwhip to pause.

“You’re an avian?” Fwhip asked, the younger blonde.

Tommy shifted in his spot on the park bench. “Yeah.”

“Where are your wings?” Scott asked.

Tommy was silent. He felt his mouth go dry. The pictures flying through his mind like a slideshow. He remembered what happened, he remembered it too well. It was painful. There was so much blood staining the sand. The beach was turned red with his blood. The water a murky maroon and in the distance slowly walking away was the flash of green. 

Tommy hated that color of green. The neon, nuclear color that turned his mind sick and twisted. Pulled him a part till he was only pieces of himself put together all wrong like a child’s puzzle; because it was fun. 

He didn’t realize when his breathing had picked up or he’d stopped listening to the real world. He just remembered the cackling laugh of green. He lifted his hand to his heart, trying to get it to slow down. He twisted his shirt, pulling at his heart, if he pulled it out it would stop. 

“To-”

He couldn’t hear. All he could see was sand, blood, green, feathers. 

“Tomm-”

His hand felt fake. It wasn’t real. The fingers were gone, so why were they still there? They’d gone with the explosions. The crashes and booms of a country that doesn’t exist anymore. 

“Tommy, come on.”

His heart was in his lungs and the air was in his heart. Everything was wrong-wrong wrong.

“Breathe, kid. Come on, do it again.”

Tommy opened his eyes. 

He hadn’t realized they were closed. 

He wasn’t on the bench anymore. He was sitting on the ground. Grian was in front of him holding his hands. 

Tommy looked around trying to get his bearings again. He saw in the distance Scar was talking to Fwhip and Scott. He vaguely noted that every now and then one would look over and he could see a frown on their faces as they looked at him. 

He looked back at Grian who was still holding his hands. Tommy looked down and saw little knicks and scratches on his arms from where his fingers had dug into skin. 

“If I let your hands go, promise me you won’t hurt yourself.” Grian asked, quietly. 

“Promise.” Was all Tommy could pull out. 

Grian nodded, he let go of his hands and Tommy dropped them to his side. 

“What is that? Why does it keep happening, I don’t get it!” Tommy grumbled.

“What is what?” Grian asked.

“That! When everything goes upside down and inside out. When everything is moving too fast and too slow. When I can’t keep up with my brain or my heart or my breathing-”

“That’s a panic attack, Toms.”

“What?”

“That’s called a panic attack.” Grian said again, “It happens when you get triggered by something, your mind starts to respond in a fight or flight mechanism. And when it gets really bad it results in a panic attack. At least, that’s what happens from what I know.”

Tommy shook his head, “No. no, I don’t have panic attacks.” Grain gave him a look, “okay, so I have panic attacks.”

“I’ve noticed.” Grian smirked. “It triggered when someone mentioned your wings. You don’t have to tell me anything, right now, but I want you to know you can tell me whenever you want what happened. I’m gonna be here, for whatever happened.” 

Tommy nodded. He heard the extra footsteps coming nearby and saw Scar, Fwhip, and Scott coming back over. 

“Hey, kid.” Fwhip said, his voice now lacking the same hyperness it had had before. He looked a lot sadder. “Sorry we brought up…that.”

Scott nodded, trying his best not to look at the blonde. 

“It’s fine.” Tommy said, shrugging. Grian was still knelt down in front of him, eyeing both Emperors and warning them to watch what they say. Tommy’s words seemed to strike a nerve of Scott’s though.

“No, it’s not! It’s not okay. No one should have done that-” Scott complained.

“Scott, watch it.” Grian warned. 

“It’s not okay, Grian! And you know that!” Scott yelled back, Grian let out a warning warble, his feather ruffling up behind him. “Whoever did that is a psychopath!”

“I know that, Scott, but I’m not going to go announcing it to a kid who most certainly also knows that!” Grain yelled back, glaring at the blue haired man. Scott flinched backward, as the back feathers of Grian’s parrot wings turned a weak purple instead of the usual red. 

Scott cleared his throat, “Apologies.”

Grian settled back down, his feathers returning to normal. “I’m sorry as well.” Grian said, standing up. He turned to Scar and Tommy who both stood shell shocked. “Scar, how about you finish up the tour with Tommy.”

Scar nodded, and helped Tommy stand up. When the two were out of ear shot, Grian turned back to the two Emperors. 

“No other Emperors will be told about this.” Grian declared, shocking both of the others. 

“What? Why?” Fwhip asked, quickly. 

“Because, I’m trying to get him at least back to something normal! Wherever he was wasn’t good! You saw those scars on him. Wherever he was, just him being here and looking like that is enough to get that server inspected and most likely shut down for good. I don’t want him to be thrown into multi-serverwide shenanigans, yet.” Grian explained.

“But what if that’s what he needs?” Scott asked. Grian looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “The more people you can get that kid to trust the better off he is. He needs to see that there are other people who aren’t like that or whatever. You don’t want to overwhelm him, then don’t; but don’t hide him from the rest of the server. That’s not going to help anyone.”

Grian nodded, “So what do you want me to do?”

“Let the kid meet them as they come across. We’ll make sure no emperors stick their noses where they don’t belong, but when the time comes just let the kid enjoy himself and meet people. Let him be a kid.” Scott shrugged. 

“Okay, I think we can do that.”

Chapter Text

“Joel, Jimmy was telling the truth!” Scott yelled, walking into the man’s dining room. “Joel-oh.”

Scott paused as he stood in the doorway. Joel was sitting at his small dining table, with a red cover and single candle lighting it. He sat in a wicker chair across from him on the other side of the table was a makeshift person. The table was filled with glasses of drinks and plates of food. 

Joel shrieked as Scott walked in on him “Do you people ever knock!”

“Uh…Joel-what-what are you doing?” Scott asked, pointing between him and the makeshift person. It was basically a bunch of pillows with a pink wig on it. 

“Can’t a man miss his wife in peace!” Joel yelled.

“Yea, but this…is weird.” Scott said.

Joel grumbled, standing up and pushing Scott out of his dining room, “Leave. Shoo. I’ll meet you outside. You never saw any of this-at all. You tell anyone about this, I will kill your llamas.” 

Scott was pushed outside and Joel slammed the door in his face. Scott huffed, leaned up against the wall and waited for the god to come outside. Scott’s foot tapped the ground as he waited an absurd amount of time for the god. 

When the door opened, Joel walked out like nothing had happened inside the house at all. His toga freshly pressed and his one strand of dyed hair hung long in front of his face. 

He turned slowly, and dramatically to Scott before pretending to be shocked by his presence. “Oh my! Scott I didn’t see you there! What can I, the best god here, do for you?” Joel said, with a wave of his hand for dramatic flair. 

Scott glared at him, waving his hand away, “Stop with the dramatics, you’re hurting yourself, it’s embarrassing.”

Joel’s hands fell to his side as he visibly gave up. His frown smacked onto his face as his sh*t eating smirk left. 

“What do you want, Scott?” Joel asked, monotone. 

“I came to tell you that Jimmy was telling the truth.” Scott said, shrugging, “But it seems you’re too busy missing a certain empress.” Scott turned on his heels to walk away but was stopped by Joel rushing in front of him. 

“Wait. Jimmy was telling the truth? About what? When has Jimmy ever told the truth, if not to get me in his little jail cells?” Joel said, crossing his arms. 

“Well, apparently, he is now. Grian does in fact have a kid. In fact, he’s the child of all of boatem. It’s sort of like a joint-parentship, I think, I’m not sure on the specifics. But the kid was missing for years and now he’s back.” Scott said.

“Grian has a kid?!” Joel yelled in shock and confusion catching the attention of the rest of the emperors that were out. 

Shelby and Katherine paused in their walk to look at the two’s conversation. Sausage was building his tavern’s roof when he looked down, almost falling off the scaffolding as he did so. The princess of Dawn was gathering bees near the treeline, when she paused looking over. 

“Wait, how did that happen?” Katherine asked, his brow raised. 

Scott shrunk, knowing his promise to Grian was about to be unkept. Sausage was traveling down the scaffolding and running over to them. 

“Are you serious? Jimmy was telling the truth, Grian has a kid?” Sausage asked. 

“Yes, I just saw him. He has a kid.” Scott said, running a hand down his face. 

Dawn’s princess had slowly walked up to all them, her face shown a mixture of worry and nerves. “Maybe we should just leave this subject behind us. It’s probably none of our business.”

“Gem, there’s a new Hermit! We need to meet them!” Shelby said, happily, clapping her hands. 

“I just don’t know if that’s a good idea, Scott just said he’s been missing for a while. It’s probably best if we just leave it be.” Gem tried. 

“Yeah, I agree. Grian asked me to make sure we didn’t just jump on the kid. He seems to be in pretty bad shape. I don’t think he needs to be bombarded with more people.” Scott said.

“Of course, he did. Grian has to keep everything to himself.” Joel mumbled, frustrated. 

Scott gaped at the god, “It’s his kid, Joel.”

“And I wanna meet him.” Joel said with finality. 

“Joel, you’re acting like a five year old.” Katherine pointed out, “We can all wait. If we come across him, then we meet him but we won’t go out in search, agreed?”

“Agreed.” Shelby finished. 

“Fine.” Joel muttered, “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have someone to get back to.” Joel turned on his heels and walked back into his house, shutting the door sharply behind him. 

“Does anyone know who he’s talking about?” Shelby asked, an eyebrow raised in question. 

“A pillow version of Lizzie.” Scott said, shrugging his shoulders before walking away. 

“What?” Both Katherine and Shelby said with open mouths and wide eyes. 

“Is he cheating on me?” Sausage gasped, faking his offense. He turned around and walked back to his build. Leaving two very uncomfortable girls on their walk. 

Gem had disappeared from the conversation. No one seemed to mind her disappearance, they all believed it just to be a part of her charm. Her mysterious appearances and disappearance had everyone on their toes for when the princess would show up. 

Gem was walking out of the mountainous valley the emperors had chosen to build in. She hadn’t built her own base there, only arriving to visit the animals and other emperors. She had another base a bit far off that she was able to live in. 

Along her walk she thought about what the emperors now knew. She remembered that it was only a little while ago that Pearl and Impulse had found out about Tommy. She couldn’t be too surprised, rumors and stories ran in long lines with so many people on the server. 

She let her feet take her along her hidden path back to her elven base, as she let her mind wander. 

The emperors were known not to wait on things, they got what they wanted when they wanted it. She remembered the actions that led the emperors to their server in the first place. 

Even with the thought of the hermits leaving, the emperors got together pushing their grievances aside to try and keep them there. Even resorting to killing Grian’s Grumbot. She felt her stomach churn with the idea of something like that happening on the server just for them to meet Tommy. 

In all honesty, she hadn’t even seen the boy. 

She pulled on her pink dress, preparing to change into her more ‘Gemini’ clothes. She nervously tied and untied the brown ribbon that held the pink robe in place. Her eyes danced around as she walked through the starter village. 

She hoped she wouldn’t run into anybody as she walked. As she entered a more deserted section of the server, she undid the tie completely. 

She robe was turned inside out as she pulled it off, leaving her in a white shirt and skirt. As she walked, she pulled her hair into a braid. 

She entered her base with a sigh as she fought with her robe to fix it. 

She had specially made her dress to be flexible for both servers. The robe could easily turn into a green skirt when turned inside out and tied correctly. However it was always a hassle when she worked too quickly trying to get back. 

She grumbled, as the robe returned to its pinkish side. She walked up the hill towards her castle where she could relax. 

What she wasn’t expecting was to hear the mumblings of another person as she began to enter her home. 

She paused her fiddling, and looked around for the culprit of the voice. Her heart stopped as she imagined running into a hermit or emperor while trying to change into either the Princess or Gem. 

She couldn’t find them. 

She was frozen as she tried to think of what to do next. She pulled out a slim box from the entrance of her castle and opened it to find the rest of her outfit. 

She pulled the brown corset over her head as she continued to search for where the noise was coming from. She could hear footsteps stepping through grass and bushes, before falling into something and shouting. 

She fought back a laugh as she continued to hear their mumbling. 

She pulled the pink robe back over as a fog covered her thinking, too focused on trying to be prepared for someone to see her. 

Believing she was fully prepared she stepped out of the entrance and began walking around her castle to see the visitor. 

She searched the front of the base, where she expecting Pearl or Impulse to be looking for her. Only she didn’t find them. She walked to the back, maybe Impulse was merging their base through that tunnel they’d accidentally created. 

However what she found was not what she expected. 

There was a boy, a teen, who was climbing out of a hole that had been hidden by some bushes. 

What she noticed first was the way the boy looked. 

He was blonde, with sticks and leaves poking out of his curls. He had scars covering his face and arms and legs. He had a prosthetic leg and fingers. He was wearing a t-shirt and some cargo shorts. He had bandages covering him. There was a white streak in his blonde curls.

“Oh, hold on!” Gem called, running up to the teen before helping pull him up. She grabbed onto the boy’s good hand and pulled him up to the flat ground. 

The boy was huffing out air as he sat down on the ground. He rubbed off the grass from his aged cardigan. The thing had holes in it almost everywhere. 

“Are you okay? I hadn’t realized there was a hole there.” Gem mumbled. The boy shook his head.

“It’s fine. I’m sorry for intruding.” The boy apologized, numbly. The boy looked up to the older, and Gem almost flinched. She had not seen the kid’s face fully, yet, and now as she looked at the blue eyes and furrowed blonde eyebrows; she recognized him. 

“Tommy?” 

If it was possible the boy’s face dropped even more, and his frown was prominent.

“Should I remember you?” His eyes wide, as he looked over Gem. 

Gem wasn’t phased by the question, though, she only knelt down to the ground. She carefully picked the leaves and sticks that were stuck in the boy’s hair out, throwing them to the side.  

As she did, her eyes met the boy’s and she laughed, “You’re so big, now!” She smiled brightly, making Tommy tilt his head in confusion at her reaction. 

“What?” Tommy mumbled.

Gem only laughed, “I mean, the last time I saw you, you were just a little kid!” She laughed, using her hand to show how short the boy used to be. As she looked back over the boy, her smile dropped and confusion pulled at her face. “Wait…the last time I saw you, you were a little kid!” She said, as if it was a horror. “ What happened? How old are you?”

“I’m seventeen.” Tommy said, quietly. “I was told there was a time jump or something like that.”

Gem nodded, “that makes sense I guess. Now, come on, you don’t want to be getting so much mud on you this early in the morning.” Gem pulled the boy to his feet. The boy tumbled a little with the new leg but managed to steady himself. 

Gem motioned for Tommy to follow her, but the boy stood still. “Should I know you?” And out of all the things said, that was possibly what broke her the most. Gem turned, a stiff smile on her face.

“I’d hope so. I used to babysit you after all.” Gem said, hands on her hips. 

Tommy paused, “Sorry, it’s been hard to try and remember everybody.”

Gem nodded, “It’s alright. Well, I’m…” Gemini looked down to her mismatched outfit. She could say she was Gemini or the Princess of Dawn; either one would confuse the kill. “It’s complicated.”

“Oh” Tommy whispered, he tugged on his shirt. Gem bit her lip with nerves trying to decide what to say. “Sorry.”

“No, no. It’s okay. Just… call me Gem, Gemini.” She placated. “I’ll-I’ll explain in a second.”

Tommy nodded, shortly and began to follow her to the front of her base. 

“I think I have a shower you can use if you want to get that stuff off of you. It’s sure to be in this place somewhere.” Gem said, muttering the last bit to herself as they walked to the entrance of her castle. 

Tommy paused at the front entrance, gazing upwards at it with wide eyes. His pause didn’t go unnoticed by Gem who stopped and let the kid look around for a moment. 

She watched as the boy looked from tower to tower. After a few moments, she let her voice enter the quiet wind. “How does that sound?”

Tommy snapped his attention back to Gem, his head tilting as if to ask her to repeat. 

“I asked if you wanted to get cleaned up, you can get a shower or something if it’d make you feel better.” Gem offered.

Tommy shook his head, “It’s okay, I’m-I’m good. This-This is normal. I don’t want to waste your resources.” 

Gem raised an eyebrow. “You wouldn't waste anything. If you use it, you’re not wasting it. And it shouldn’t be normal, kiddo, you could get sick.” 

Tommy shrugged, he looked down to his sneakers that were covered in mud and grass. He’d track dirt into the pristine castle and that was the last thing he wanted to do was leave a mark on this place that looked wonderful. He’d just ruin it. 

“I’d just track mud inside. I don’t want to ruin your home.” Tommy whispered, rubbing his arms with his tired hands. 

Gem looked down at the boy’s shoes, before looking at her own boots. She giggled to herself, causing Tommy to look up. 

“Tommy, please, look at my boot tracks.” She said, and sure enough she’d tracked mud in already and was still as she continued to walk in circles.  “See, It’s fine, I don’t care. Now, come on and get cleaned up please. I’m not going to feel good about letting you go off somewhere all dirty like that. We can talk once you’ve gotten cleaned up.”

Gem started walking into the castle, and Tommy slowly and carefully followed. He made sure his footprints only fell onto Gem’s already made one’s. Eventually, Gem noticed and she started walking next to the boy instead of in front of him, forcing the kid to make his own tracks. 

When she did this, she was ment with a worried , scared face as Tommy realized.  But nothing changed and she led him down a few hallways to a bathroom. 

“Here we are!” She said, happily. She opened the door to the bathroom and saw the boy’s eyes widen. 

“Wow.” He whispered in awe. It truly wasn’t anything extravagant. It was only a small shower in the corner with a toilet and sink. It was actually quite small for such a large castle. 

Gemini’s worry only increased as the boy looked around it with the same awe he’d seen the whole castle with. 

“I’ll leave you to it, do you have clothes to change into when you’re done?” Gem asked. 

The boy looked back at her with confusion, his face changed as he tried to answer. It was like Gem had asked him a trick question and he was trying to solve it. He opened his mouth to answer a few times but only shut it after. 

He huffed, and looked down at himself for a moment, before nodding. 

“Okay.” Gemini left it, “When you’re done I’ll be down the hall, first door on the left.”

Tommy nodded, and Gemini closed the door. 

__________

Tommy finished about ten minutes later, having to figure out how to use the shower. He’d redressed in the same clothes, but felt so out of place in his own clothes. 

His skin felt itchy as he felt the fabric fall on him. He tugged on the collar of his shirt, and pulled on his pant legs. He washed the mud off his shoes, pulling them on letting his socks get unfortunately wet. 

His old sneakers were always old and falling apart. The water only made them heavier and the mud was still stuck onto the bottom. His sole of the shoe was falling off as he walked and on the other his toe stuck out. 

Tommy followed Gem’s instructions and walked down the hallway. His shoes squeaking uncomfortably as he walked. He cringed as he felt his wet hair soak his shoulders. 

His hair was stuck to his head and wouldn’t dry. 

He opened the left door and was met with bright sunshine. He walked out and saw the large balcony that stretched before him. The balcony held a  large cherry tree  that filtered flowers onto the grass below. 

“Ah! There you are!” Gemini said, what Tommy had thought was a weird mismatched outfit was now switched out for something different. 

Her hair was still braided, and she still had the white poet top on with the brown corset, but now she wore a green skirt that fell to her knees. Her brown boots were still muddy and she didn’t even seem to care. Plus Tommy could now see two deer antlers sticking out of her ginger hair. 

Tommy shuffled uncomfortably, as Gem walked up to him from where she’d been sitting at a tiny table.

Gem gave him a look over, before a soft smile planted on her face, “When I said a change of clothes I wasn’t expecting the same thing.”

Tommy looked down and then back up, “Oh.”

Gem shook her head with a smile, “It’s okay, although we do need to get you new shoes.” She said, pointing to the broken down sneakers. 

Tommy winced, biting his lip, “I dunno, I’ve had them for a while.”

“Yeah, I know,” Gem said, “I gave them to you. How you still managed  to wear them after all these years I don’t know.” 

Tommy was frozen as the sentence was recognized in his mind. “You-you gave them to me?”

Gemini nodded, “Look at the back of them.” Tommy did exactly that and saw the fancy lettering of a GT. He’d never been able to figure out who GT was but now it was starting to make sense. 

“GeminiTay…” Tommy whispered, finally remembering who he was talking to.

“Guilty as charged.” Gemini laughed. “Now, come over here and sit down. I already have your favorite drink set out. You still like diet coke, right?” 

Tommy nodded. They walked over to a small table where two chairs were set out as well as two drinks. 

They both sat down, Gem passing a drink over to the younger. 

“So care to tell me what you’re doing over here?” Gemini asked.

“Pearl and Impulse were showing me around their bases.” Tommy said, “They were letting me look around their bases myself till I found my way over here. I was just following the flowers.” Tommy whispered. 

“The flowers?” Gem asked, looked down and sure enough she could see the trail of flowers that led across her base to Impulses. He wondered how they could have gotten there. 

“They can lead you places. They led me here. It just depends on which flowers you follow.” Tommy said, looking up at the cherry tree. 

“What do you mean?” Gemini asked. 

“I’ve followed red poppies, I’ve followed alyssums, petunias and roses.” Tommy listed, “They rarely led me down good paths but I trust them more than I trust myself.”

“War, insanity, healing and death, am I correct?” Gemini asked. Tommy nodded. 

“So what led you here?” Gemini asked. 

“Daisies.” 

“New beginnings?” 

Tommy nodded. 

Gemini looked back at the blonde, “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“I do, too.” Tommy whispered. 

They were silent, until Gem brought the conversation back up, “I told you it was complicated who I was.”

“Yeah.” Tommy shrugged, drinking his coke. 

“It really isn’t. Have you been told about the crossover between the two servers?” Gem asked, and Tommy nodded, “Well, I’m a part of both and no one knows.  Here on HermitCraft I’m GeminiTay, over there on the Empires Server I’m the Princess of Dawn. Neither server knows, it's been a secret I’ve had to keep.” Gem explained. 

“Why?” Tommy asked.

“You were always good at asking the ‘why’ questions. I wasn’t expecting the crossover to be the two servers I was a part of. I just hadn’t planned it, and before long the secret just rolled into a snowball. And I’ve kept it ever since.”

Tommy nodded, his brow furrowed in thought.

“How did you keep it a secret, where you were from?” Tommy asked. 

Gemini paused, “Why are you asking?”

Tommy shrunk into his seat, “I don’t want people to know where I was.” 

Gemini took a deep breath, she knew that they needed to know where he was. “Why?”

“Because it doesn’t matter anymore! No one’s there anyway. There is no one to save! No one to help!” Tommy shouted, jumping out of his seat. 

Gem stood up slowly, setting her tea down. She stood in front of the boy.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Tommy. You might have left there physically but you still haven’t left it mentally. There’s still you to save. And if that’s not enough, then I don’t know what would be, because that seems like plenty to me.” Gemini spoke, firmly. Tommy didn’t say anything, he just stared at his mucky, wet shoes. “ And I’ll give you a pro tip, I don’t like keeping it a secret; where I’m from or where I’ve been.”

Tommy nodded, but didn’t look up. 

“Come on,” Gemini sighed, “I’m sure Pearl and Impulse are looking for you.” 

Gemini led Tommy down the stairs and towards the entrance of the castle. When they were at the very front large doors, Gemini paused. 

Tommy kept walking, until his feet hit the soil instead of the castle floors. He was going to continue walking, following the flowers until someone cleared their throat from behind him. 

He turned to see Gemini still standing there, her soft eyes watching with a kind smile. She held out her hands and in them was a pair of red boots. 

Tommy’s eyes widened as he stared between the boots and Gemini. 

“It’s about time you changed those shoes. Decorate them how you want, but please if they start getting worn down come back and get another pair. And do me a favor, burn your old ones.” Gemini said, as he handed over the boots. 

Tommy laughed, as he took them slipping off the wet shoes and replacing them with the dark red boots. 

“Thanks, Gemini.” 

“No worries, kiddo.” Gem said, as she ruffled the kids wet hair. “Go have fun, and come back anytime.”

______________________________________________

Tommy ruffled his hair trying to get it to stop sticking to his forehead. HIs soaked shower hair was something new to him and he was concerned it was permanent. He huffed, as he tugged on his sweater as it stuck to his elbows. 

At this point he was truly considering never taking another one of those shower things again. Then as he thought about it, that didn’t seem like an option for him. 

As he tried to ignore the squelching of his new red boots he couldn’t help but notice the holes that were showing through his sweater. He knew his clothes were old, he hadn’t made new ones in months. 

He was pretty sure this was the same thing he wore before he died the third time. Meaning it had definitely seen some harsh days. Tommy sighed, he didn’t have anything he used to have. 

He would’ve gone home to his small dirt hut and pulled out his boxes of fabrics and supplies. But here, he had none of that. He had nothing to use to fix his shirts or pants. 

Tommy walked past Pearl’s large expanding terrain, prompting himself to continue exploring. While Gem was worried about Pearl and Impulse getting worried, Tommy was sure they wouldn’t even notice his disappearance. 

No one used to after all, why would this be any different?

Remeeting Gem had his head reeling for memories of other old Hermits. As he walked along some path that looked at least a little used. He counting off the Hermits he’d ‘remeet’. 

“Grian, Mumbo, Pearl, Scar, Impulse, Doc, Stress, Gem, Xisuma…right? Chat, can I get a little…” Tommy turned around expecting to find the little robot following him around. He paused, “Oh, right. Forgot about that.”

Tommy turned back around on his heels, kicking up dirt. “Guess I’ll do this on my own.” He mumbled, his hand instinctively moving upwards to where his neck was. He felt the same cloth that was always there. 

A green bandanna that never left him. 

Tommy could feel the holes that still decorated the bandanna and the patches of fabric that had desperately been added to fix it. 

Tommy sighed, “I guess that’s a good place to start.”

The boy let his mind wander trying to think of a way to fix his clothes. He had somehow wandered his way over to the starter village, where apparently everyone started out together. 

To Tommy the place seemed way too crowded,  how everyone got along so well when they were so close seemed improbable.  He shook the thoughts out of his head. 

He looked up to see a few printed signs up on a board. The corkboard had posters up for different services. Tommy noticed ones for some Cleaning Lady service Pearl was offering and Velocity lessons from Scar. 

But he also noticed one that caught his eye out of all of them:

Cleo’s Amazing Armor Stands

“That could work…” Tommy muttered, rubbing his elbow through a hole in his sweater. 

Tommy followed the instructions on the poster that led him to the nether hub. He walked through the nearest nether portal, expecting to get transported to some slim bridge and dangerous lava lake. 

He was instead met with a large flat floor that was made of crimson wood and tinted black glass. Tommy carefully took a step onto the glass expecting it to fall from under him as a sick prank, but the glass held him steady. 

His shock was shown on his face as he looked at the rest of the hub. The large tree in the middle with different hallways going out to different sides. Tommy stumbled around the hallways looking for the name that would pop out to him. 

When he finally found the name he was looking for he started walking  down the hallway in search of the next portal to exit through. 

The hallway was long and he wondered how far away the woman’s base was. 

Tommy found the nether portal far out along the hallway and he carefully and gracefully fell through it. 

When he came out the other side, and the sickening feeling of shifting realities was gone, he was on the ground. 

However the floor was harsh and didn’t hurt completely to land on. 

Tommy pushed up on the floor that was most definitely not grass. He looked down at the floor to see a polished black stone that spanned the small room he was in. The room had a large opening that went out into some sort of courtyard. The opening was surrounded by leaves and moss that made it look overgrown and unused. 

Tommy rolled onto his back to look at the rest of the room, not having enough energy to get up just yet. He saw the nether portal that had spat him out like he left a bad taste. He saw a vaguely decorated room of dark materials moving up into a white concrete. 

Tommy huffed, his arm limply laid across his chest. He urged himself to get up taking a moment to gain the motive. He pushed himself up and started walking out of the little room. 

He exited into a courtyard that was surrounded by a spiraling castle. 

What’s with hermits and castles this season, he thought to himself.

Tommy sighed, before he called out, “Cleo?”

Tommy walked around the little courtyard, he entered what seemed to be a storage area in the tallest building. It was nicely decorated, but he found no Cleo inside. 

Tommy turned around and shuffled over to the next doorway. This one was the bigger of the two, and he didn’t feel right being near such an ornate door. 

“Cleo?” Tommy asked out, his voice dying on his tongue as he whispered it. He  wasn’t sure if he wanted her to hear it or not. 

Tommy peeked around the doorway, his eyes scanning the large walls that were decorated in artifacts encased in glass. 

Tommy looked over the wall and saw Cleo looking over one of the walls seeming to contemplate something. From what he remembered, she hadn’t changed much. Of course she looked a lot fancier than the blue top and shorts he remembered her wearing. 

She was staring at some key that was held up on the wall by some invisible force. 

Tommy shuffled his feet into the hallway, his feet barely making any sound. He kept his head down making sure not to track single spec of dirt into the ornate castle 

He quietly cleared his throat hoping to catch her attention before he spoke, spooking the woman. “Cleo?”

“Sh*t!” She gasped, before catching herself, “I mean ugh..which one of you is that?” She turned around, huffing as the snakes in her hair perked up at the scare. 

If Tommy wasn’t feeling so out of place he would’ve laughed at the woman's slip up. At the moment he only smirked. 

Once Cleo calmed herself and took in the boy’s face and features completely, her demeanor changed. “Wait, Tommy? How-How are you here?”

She came forward inspecting the boy’s scars that littered his face. Tommy looked away from her, keeping his focus on anything else. 

“Rift, I think.” He shrugged, answering. 

Cleo flinched back, “As in Grian’s Rift?”

Tommy nodded.

“Does-Oh god-do they know you’re here? Does -Pearl, Impulse, Scar -do any of them know you’re here?” Cleo rambled, the snakes in her hair moving to look over the boy themselves. 

“Yeah they know.” Tommy shrugged, and Cleo let out a sigh, “I mean they know I’m around, I don’t think they know I’m  here , specifically.”

“What? Okay, I’m telling Grian you’re here.” Cleo said, pulling out her communicator. Her eyes wandered away from the boy to her communicator before drawing back to the boy when she noticed the way his clothes were soaked and the way his hair drooped. “Did you swim here?!”

“No!” Tommy defended himself quickly. “I had a shower.” He crossed his arms, brushing his hair back. “Don’t tell Grian. Technically, I’m supposed to be at Pearl’s base, but I wandered my way here. You tell him I’m here and they really won’t let me out of their sight.”

Cleo raised an eyebrow and she lowered the communicator the message typed but not sent. “You think they’re going to be fine with it if they don’t know where you are? You know you don’t really have a good track record with leaving and showing back up.”

“You go missing once.” Tommy grumbled, “Look I came with an actual reason, just help me out here, Cleo.”

Cleo looked him up and down with her scrutinizing gaze. “What?”

Tommy let out a breath, “When I was a kid, you used to make me clothes right?”

Cleo nodded.

“Do-Do you still have that stuff?” Tommy finished, wincing as he asked it. He expected her to laugh at him but she just looked at him confused. 

“You’re old clothes?” She asked, confusion painting her face. Tommy shook his head, quickly. 

“No, no. The fabric, and the sewing stuff. You know, needles and thread?” Tommy asked, hating as he had to list the things out loud. “Do-do you have that?”

Cleo was silent, contemplating the way Tommy froze after asking and squinted his eyes shut. Tommy slowly opened one eye trying to rate Cleo’s reaction. 

“Yeah. I-yeah, I still have that. I still do armor stands so it’s needed. You need something specific?” She asked, carefully watching the boy’s movements.  Tommy swiftly relaxed, his shoulders slouching and posture caving in. 

“Um, well…” Tommy mumbled, his fingers fiddling with his sweater that caught Cleo’s attention. Cleo looked at the deteriorating sweater, and old t-shirt that looked one light wind from falling apart. She cringed at the clothes that seemed  to be poorly kept. “Ijustneedsomenewclothes.” Tommy spoke quickly. 

Cleo straightened as she tried to understand the sentence. When she finally comprehended what he had said she nodded. “Okay, come on. Let’s see what we can do.”

Cleo motioned for him to follow her through another doorway. Tommy followed her through hallways and rooms that all seemed  to be the opposite of somewhere Tommy should be. 

They finally entered a small room with tall walls that held rolls and rolls of fabrics. The corners were filled to the roof with barrels and chests filled with things.  In the middle of the room was a long table with a nice sewing machine and chair. 

Tommy stopped at the entrance of the room, expecting Cleo to start going through the room and giving him the remnants of things she wouldn’t need. He knew there was no point in giving him something she could use. 

Instead Cleo walked behind him and lightly tugged his sweater off his shoulders when he wasn’t paying attention. Tommy tried to grab his sweater back as Cleo walked away with the blue cloth in her hands. He huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Go sit down.” Cleo pointed to the chair, when Tommy hadn’t moved. Tommy opened his mouth to protest but Cleo beat him, “Sit, Tommy.”

Tommy reluctantly moved to the table and sat down in the chair, his face a perpetual pout. 

Cleo pulled out rolled out blue fabric that matched the sweater almost perfectly.  She worked quietly, cutting the fabric and grabbing different threads to help. Tommy watched her work, sometimes butting in  trying to sway her one way or another. 

“I can do that, you know?”

“You don’t have to use the exact colors.”

“I can just use some leftover fabric.”

“Do you need help?” 

Normally, Cleo would only give him a look and he would sit quietly before gaining more courage to speak up again. But eventually she broke and responded. 

“I know how to make my own clothes, you know.” Tommy mumbled. 

“Why?” Cleo asked, dropping the sweater she was sewing patches onto the elbows. He looked at Tommy, every eye of her snakes and herself watching him for a response. 

Tommy gasped a tiny bit, “I just do. I can make my own clothes.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” She said, eyes not leaving him. 

Tommy crumbled, “No one else was going to do it. I just learned how to do it.”

Cleo nodded, silently, picking the sweater back up and finishing the last patch up. “Did you make this one?” 

“Yeah.” Tommy sighed, “It was getting colder. I didn’t have anything else.”

Cleo nodded, worry etching into her stomach, “You did a good job. It’s impressive, really.”

Tommy shook his head, “I still wore down.”

“Things wear down over time, that’s why there are people to patch it up.” Cleo said, setting the sweater down and pushing it over to the blonde boy. “And that’s why you have people to make new things when old things are too much to recover.”

Tommy looked up confused, but Cleo was already moving. She was searching through barrels that lined the fourth wall of the room. Tommy slipped the sweater back over his shirt, feeling better once the soft cloth was wrapped around him again. 

He stood up and walked over to the woman who was funneling through what looked to be clothes in the barrels. She slowly pulled out different clothes, stacking them on a chair. When she was confident in her work, she picked up the stack and handed them off to the blonde boy who had wide eyes as he tried to catch the clothes in his hands. 

“What? What is this?” Tommy asked.

“I told you, some things are too far gone to savage.  I want you to go through those and find what fits and you like and keep it. If you don’t like it or it doesn’t fit, you bring it back. For now, take it all and go through them when you get back.”  Cleo explained. 

“How do you have so much?” Tommy asked.

“I tend to have a surplus of outfits in case one of the hermits needs some armor stand work done.” Cleo explained. 

Tommy nodded. The two  slowly made their way back to the entrance of the room before Tommy stopped. “Oh wait! Can-Can you do me one more favor?”

Cleo tilted her head, the snakes mimicking her as they slithered around above them. “Sure.”

Tommy quickly handed off the stack of clothes to Cleo, before unwrapping the the bandanna around his neck. Cleo’s eyes widened at the burn scars that flowed down the boy’s face to his neck and possibly onwards. The green bandanna was laid out in the boy’s hands as he stared at it. 

“Can you patch this one up the same way you did my sweater?” Tommy asked, quietly and solemnly like it meant so much more to him. “Please, it’s- it’s important to me.”

Cleo looked the bandanna over and quickly nodded, not leaving any time for the boy to think she would decline. They traded off once again, and as she held the green cloth she could feel its weight. 

Cleo’s mind fired as she remembered something. “Hold on, let me give you one more thing before you go.”

Tommy paused, but nodded anyway. Cleo quickly walked off back into the room, pulling out one of the drawers of the large table in the center and inside was  a small rectangular red box with a yellow ribbon. She walked back to the boy and slowly unwrapped the gift in front of him. 

Tommy watched as he was shown the box, “I was going to give this to you when you were younger. It was going to be a gift at the beginning of the new season. I didn’t exactly get the chance to give it to you.”

Tommy tilted his head as he waited to see what was inside. 

“This seems like an appropriate time to make that moment up.” Cleo finished. 

In the box was a scarf, it was knitted with yellow, orange and red yarn that melted in together. At the very bottom where the red yarn sat, was Tommy’s name embroidered in yellow. 

Cleo pulled out the scarf and wrapped it around the boy’s neck.  Tommy couldn’t help but smile. 

“A temporary replacement.” Cleo specified, “I’ll get that bandanna fixed up for you as soon as possible.” 

Tommy smiled, “Thanks, Cleo.”

Chapter Text

“Why are you moping?” Grian asked. He was dejectedly placing blocks on the back of his base. He was stood on a tower of about five blocks, he was working on the back of the medieval castle, although his attention was more on the inside.

“I am not moping.” Tommy said, turning his head to glare at Grian. Tommy was sat on the more finished side of the castle, sitting on a ledge that looked out a window. He’d been sitting there all morning as Grian placed blocks randomly with little thought. Grian wasn’t actually sure how long he’d been sitting there, since the kid was already there when he’d come by to work.

“Well, from the looks of it the only thing missing is the rain pattering on the window and you’d be the perfect picture of a moping teenager.” Grian said, happily aggravating the kid.

Tommy leaned his head against the glass of the window, though he kept his body turned towards the older blonde. He had his knees pulled up to his chest, his hands lightly wrapped around them.

“What are you even doing up there?” Tommy asked.

“Changing the subject now?” Grian asked, a smirk on his face. One so similar to Tommy’s that many people thought it had been passed down.

“You can’t change the subject when there is no subject to talk about first.” Tommy said, reciting what he believed Wilbur had said multiple times to him to get him to shut up.

Grian paused in his ‘building’ and looked down at the kid on the windowsill. A million thoughts running through his head of what to say next, but none made it to his mouth as he sighed.

“Alright, I’ll play along. I’m building the back of my base. Gem, Impulse and Scar keep getting on to me for never finishing it.” Grian shrugged.

“They can do that?” Tommy asked, an eyebrow raised. Grian paused, and looked around.

“I’m not really sure, but here I am…so…” Grian muttered, placing another block down.

“I mean Impulse built this whole tnt block above this place and said if I touched it it’d blow up the base until I finished the back of the base.” Grian explained, nonchalantly.

Tommy straightened at that, his eyes blowing wide. “What? He can do that? But I thought… Just because you won’t do the back he’s going to blow up your home?” HIs voice cracked as he asked.

Grian paused and looked down at the boy, his brow furrowing as he saw the way the boy was looking around.

“Well, I’m not sure. He could just be bluffing but at the same time I have no way of testing that theory without risking it.” Grian said. “It’s probably just a prank. Nothing to worry about, Toms.” He grinned.

“Are you sure, what if it blows up?” Tommy asked, hands moving to grasp his hair. “And we’re inside. It could kill us!”

Grian stopped completely, watching as Tommy pulled on his faded blonde hair. Grian already knew there were tufts of hair that were missing. What he remembered as golden blonde hair that was bright as the sun was faded thin and unkept blonde.

Grian hopped down off his little block tower that helped him get up higher and landed on the wooden floor with a thud. He slowly came into Tommy’s view, tilting his head like the bird he was.

“It could kill us.” Tommy muttered.

“We’ll just respawn.” Grian said with finality, like there was no other option.

“But I don’t know how many lives I have left.” Tommy said, his blue eyes begging for some other option. His brow furrowed in worried lines.

Grian's face hardened into something serious as he looked over the younger. He only knew of a few servers that had limited lives, he was the admin of a few of them. But even as the admin, he made sure it never made any lasting effects on the players. He made sure of it. He’d pause the game before something like that could happen.

That simple sentence gave him insight into where his son was and he didn’t like it one bit.

“What do you mean ‘how many lives’, Tommy?” Grian asked, his eyes burning as he remembered the scars Stress had mentioned about it being almost impossible for him to survive. He clenched his hands realizing what that could possibly mean.

“You only have so many lives. I think it’s like three, it changes for different people. And I’m not even sure how many I have left, it’s gotten too confusing to keep track of.” Tommy tried to explain, his hands moving to trace over his left forearm.

“Tommy.” Grian said, firmly, “I need you to listen to me when I say this, you have unlimited lives here. You will always respawn, there are no if, ands or buts to that. You will respawn.” Grian said, punctuating his sentences.

“But…that’s not…possible. There has to be consequences to your actions.” Tommy said, trying his best to get Grian to understand he was being unreasonable. Of course there were limited lives, there always had been. Dream always said the Smp wouldn’t function without it.

Grian huffed, pulling off his circular glasses and stuffing them into his pocket. “Dying to a creeper is not ‘your actions’ the consequences you should get is the possibility of losing a few items.” Grian said, firmly.

He wondered inside his head, where the kid who once thought he was invincible went.

“But if you make someone mad and they kill you-” Tommy started.

“No one on the server is going to kill you because you made them mad, and if they do they have me to worry about, alright?” Grian said, pointing to himself as he finished. Tommy was so focused on trying to understand what Grian spouted off that he missed the way the man’s red feathers turned purple at the tips. He missed the way his wings changed colors to violet in the light.

Grian sighed, the red color returning to his feathers. He took a few moments to catch his breath before he looked back at Tommy with a sad smile.

“Come on, I’ve got something else we can do. I’m bored of the back anyway.” Grian shrugged, turning and started to walk away.

“But what about-” Tommy started, still standing there.

Grian turned around and his smile faded a bit, “What did I just say, Toms?”

Tommy huffed, “I’m not going to die.”

Grian nodded, closing his eyes. “Come on. We can mess with Mumbo a bit.”
___

Grian was rustling through a chest at the entrance of the cathedral base. Tommy was sat across from him sitting criss crossed on the floor. He watched as the parrot hybrid pulled out random items but never deciding on one.

Tommy looked out the airy windows, looking over to Mumbo’s base wondering what the man was doing at that moment.

Confusion crossed his face as he was a pig tied to a post at the very front of his base.

“Found it!” Grian said, calling Tommy’s attention back. Tommy looked up to see a round black, yet silvery, item in Grian’s hands. There was a hole in the middle of the circle, the hole was surrounded in a design of stripes of purple and white. Tommy recognized it immediately.

“What-What are you doing?” He asked, the words falling out of his mouth too fast.

Grian wasn’t fazed by the concern hanging in the air left by Tommy’s words, “Me and Mumbo have been playing this game or well it's more of a gamble. You see we’ve been tossing this target to each other and each time we’re trying to freak out the other. Last time he set up a random redstone machine that just moved a few blocks when I shot it. This time though! This time, I wanna mimic TNT, I going to make him jump thinking his base it going to get blown up.” Grian explained. He wasn’t looking at Tommy, too focused on the disk and moving over to a grindstone and jukebox.

“What? What if you actually blow it up! You could accidentally blow it up!” Tommy yelled, standing up quickly. His feet tumbled beneath him and he couldn’t get his prosthetic leg to work with him in such a quick moment.

Grian chuckled, “Nah, That’s why I’m making a music disk, I’m going to mimic it. I won’t actually place the TNT.” Grian placed the disk on the grindstone for a moment preparing to change the ripples and record something else onto it.

“You-You’re going to change a music disk-that music disk!” Tommy almost yelled, his breath picking up.

“Yeah?” Grian said, finally catching on to Tommy's confusion and concern. He turned around, tools in hand, and was able to watch as Tommy in one quick moment snatched up the disk.

“No!” Tommy held the disk close to his chest. Grian could see the kid’s chest moving as he took harsh breaths way too fast. Grian’s eyes widened, and his feathers ruffled as the sound of Tommy’s shout.

Grian placed the tools back down, holding out his hands so the blonde could see them. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“You can’t- You can’t destroy them. You can’t-you shouldn’t change them.” Tommy said, voice sharp as he shut his eyes tightly. “How-how do you even have this?”

“Tommy, it's just a disk.” Grian said, although it sounded more like a question.

“It is not just a disk!” Tommy shouted. “It is the disk! How do you have this? Who-Who has the other one?” Tommy asked, his voice going quiet as he asked.

“The other what? I’m pretty sure everyone on the server has at least one disk, Tommy. They aren’t rare.” Grian explained, calmly. He hadn’t moved forward towards the kid, he was only standing trying to understand the kid’s jumbled thoughts.

“Rare? Of course they aren’t rare! They’re powerful! Has-Has Xisuma not tried to take them from you?” Tommy asked, letting up on his grip of the disk to look at the disk himself.

“Take them? I’m pretty sure X has his own collection, he’s got no need for mine.” Grian said, crossing his arms with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t think they’re exceptionally ‘powerful’, Tommy.”

“Are you kidding? You just had this in a chest in the middle of your base! Someone could’ve come and taken without any problems and then they’d have power over you.” Tommy spurted out.

“What?” Grian mumbled, eyebrows raised and eyes wide in confused concern. “I don’t think anyone has control over me…or you, Tommy. So how about, you just put it down and tell me what’s going on, because I am quite confused.”

Tommy grumbled, tapping his foot anxiously on the ground.

“You have to protect it. You have to fight for it, because if you don’t he’ll take it. And use it against you, to make you do what he wants. To keep you fighting for entertainment, to keep you fighting so everyone knows to never fight back.” Tommy said, slowly and quietly. It was mumbled under his breath as he let his legs almost melt beneath him, till he was sitting again.

Grian moved slowly, as he knelt down in front of the kid before fully sitting. He was sitting criss cross in front of the boy who was curled into a ball, knees to his chest.

“So let me get this straight, you had that-music- but someone took it and used it against you because you cared about it.” Grian clarified.

Tommy nodded, “I retaliated against someone, they’d messed with my home. I guess I went too far, and he took it as punishment. I fought to get them back but he never settled-never gave up. I guess I didn’t either.”

Grian was silent, calculating his next words. Tommy didn’t mind the silence as he waited for whatever Grian would say, he knew it would be the opposite of whatever he’d expected.

“What was it like?” He finally asked.

“What do you mean?” Tommy asked, letting the disk drop into his lap, as he let go of it. He had no need since Grian didn’t seem interested in taking it.

“The music.”

“I-I found Mellohi and Cat close to my home a few feet away-but it wasn’t all I had. I also had this little walkman. I think that’s what it was called, and I had other tapes to play on it: Sans, Able Sisters, Fortress, Staff Roll, 1:00pm.” Tommy shrugged, “Why do you ask?”

“Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s do something that shouldn’t bring up any bad memories.” Grain said, lightly, chuckling through it but Tommy could sense the uneasiness that was hidden underneath. Grian gracefully pulled Tommy up from his curled position, which had the kid almost falling over.

Grian chuckled, and Tommy tried to gain his balance back. The parrot hybrid nodded to the exit of the base, “There’s still some more of the server to show you around to.”

____

“Mumbo! Mumbo!” Grian yelled as he hopped across the rock bridge that connected his and the ravenette’s base. He slowly floated down to the next rock as he shouted out. He hoped up again, letting his wings catch the air again as he touched the ground.

“Mumbo!” He shouted, hoping to get the man’s attention. As the birdman reached the base’s front entrance and still had no sight of the taller, he decided to go to drastic measures.

Grian flew up to the top of the man’s base, which really wasn’t that tall compared to his. Instead, he landed on the man’s roof, the glass almost making him slip on the landing.

Grian looked over the edge of one of the window roofs. It wasn’t hard to make out the figure of a very tall man in a gray suit and black mustache.

Grian grinned, knocking twice on the window, catching the man’s attention from the chests he was searching.

“Can I help you?” Mumbo asked, loudly, looking up to his friend.

“Yes, you can actually. Thank you for offering!” Grian smiled, pulling out his pick-ax and breaking through the roof’s glass.

Mumbo squawked in protest, “Grian!”

Grian landed in front of the ravenette with a thump. “Yeah?”

“Could you not have used the door?!” Mumbo shouted, but his voice was laced with a laugh.

“You know I don’t do well with redstone.” Grian shrugged, hopping up onto one of the stairs to match the height of the taller.

“It’s just a button!” Mumbo argued, exasperated with the parrot.

“So was Doc’s Tunnel Bore and we all know how that ended up.” Grian shuddered, “I’m still waiting on that…”

Mumbo raised an eyebrow, “I’m not getting involved in the you, Scar and Doc thing. So if that’s what you need, you might as well-”

“It’s not what I need.” Grian cut him off.

“Oh, good.” Mumbo sighed, “Because I’m quite bored.”

Grian rolled his eyes, “I need some help with something for Tommy.” His smile propped back onto his face, as his hands fell into his pockets.

Mumbo straightened a bit, but seemed happy, “Oh, yeah, sure, what is it?”

“Do you think you can whip up a redstone machine that can play music? Not just a jukebox, but smaller, more portable and private. I think he called it a walkman.” Grian explained, pacing back and forth on the steps. His brain wandering with too many ideas. “I’m going to need to find some of those songs he was talking about, I hadn’t ever heard of some of them. But I bet I can find them in the Hub. So what do you think?”

Normally, people wouldn’t understand Grian’s constant ramblings. They have to take notes and have a pencil and pen at the ready to understand him. His ideas would seem too crazy and out of the ordinary to make real. His building plans seemed to be impossible in their limited world, to match his building he needed someone to match his insanity on the redstone level.

That position had always been Mumbo’s.

And with that title, Mumbo was always able to understand the new plans for something that used to be impossible.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea. Might be a bit difficult to get the redstone on such a small level but it’s a challenge.” Mumbo grinned, “You get the music, I’ll get you the walkman.”

“Perfect.” Grian grinned back, both with a matching glint in their eyes.

___

The two decided to give Tommy their gift when the boy came back from his visit with Pearl and Impulse at the Soup Group’s base.

They were surprised to see the boy looked different when he arrived then when he left.

When he left he still had dirt clung to his face, hands and all his limbs. His hair was muddy and still had a tinge of red from blood soaked into it. He had blood smeared along his neck and a few small cuts on his hands. But when he arrived back he was spotless-or more or less.

His face didn’t have the same dirt ridden look and the blood from his hair was gone. Instead his hair was the same golden blonde they remembered it being. His hands still had a bit of dirt and mud latched on to them but mostly they were tidy.

Other than that, his old shoes that had been falling apart of his feet had been replaced with red boots. The boots were well-made and even had little drawing already on them that had to have been crafted by the boy himself.

His sweater was nicely sewn back together, with color matched patches instead of the purple, red and green once that fell all over the place. It also seemed to fit a bit better, rather than saggy off his shoulders.

And instead of a green bandanna his neck was covered in a red ombre scarf, that both hermits remembered being made.

The boy was facing Grian’s base as he walked closer to the entrance.

It was Grian’s shout that alerted him to the two others.

“Tommy!” Grian chirped loudly, making Tommy snap his head towards the other avain. His eyes were a slight bit bigger than before, before he dialed it back.

“Oh, hello.” He greeted, politely. He walked slowly to meet the other two, who were standing in the middle of the rocky bridge. Grian was jumping happily from foot to foot, while Mumbo stood still, a nervous smile plastered on his face. He held a wrapped box, colored in red and blue.

“We have a gift for you!” Grian said, like he couldn’t wait to get the words out of his mouth from the excitement. His grin came right back once he was done talking.

“Grian came up with the idea, I’m not sure how, but he did.” Mumbo said, a soft smile covering up the nervous one. Tommy looked up at the ravenette who was still taller than him, and nodded.

“A gift? Like a present? For me? Are you sure?” Tommy asked, tilting his head.

Grian stopped his hopping, “Yes, we’re sure, Toms. It’s for you.”

“Okay, okay, that just-doesn’t happen a lot-or ever.” Tommy mumbled, he sighed, resigning to the embarrassment he was about to face. He just knew it.

Mumbo held out the box for him to take. Tommy raised his arms shakily preparing for the weight of the box to fall on him. When his fingers wrapped around it, he suddenly felt the childish urge to guess what it was.

“Is it a bomb?”

“What?!” Grian flinched, as he shouted in concern. “Of course not! Why in the world would we give you a bomb, Tommy?”

Mumbo had flinched back to, but had kept his mouth shut in quiet shock of the question.

“Oh, a detonator, then?” Tommy guessed again, his head tilted to the side. This time Mumbo jumped in.

“N-No. No it’s not a detonator.” He muttered, a little worriedly.

Tommy hummed and lifted the box to his nose, sniffing it lightly, “It doesn’t smell like poison…it’s not poison is it?”

Both hermits reacted then.

“How do you know what poison smells like?” Mumbo asked in quiet concern.

“Why are you so set on someone killing you?” Grian sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Tommy shrugged at both questions.

“Tommy, it-just open it, please. Before you give me a heart attack.” Grian muttered.

“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Tommy laughed, to the joke only he understood. He coughed it off, before opening the box. He was a bit of an amiteur at it. He wasn’t sure where to start. He’d never opened up anything like it before, so it was a bit confusing.

When he finally did get it open he was met with a small surprise.

Inside was something so similar to his old walkman it was creepy. Along with a stack of tapes he could play and at the bottom two music disks: Mellohi and Cat.

Tommy looked up, then back down, then up again, confused. “How? How did you get this?”

“It was more like build it, rather than get it.” Mumbo said, kindly, pointing to the walkman. “Grian asked me to make you one, I wasn’t really sure what I was making, but it works so I think that makes up for it.”

Tommy laughed, lightly, it could’ve been passed off as a breath.

“It even has its own Mumbo Flair-by that I mean it was a mustache on the back of it.” Grian pointed out. Tommy turned the thing around and found that it did, indeed, have a mustache on the back.

“Do you like it?” Grian asked, a tad nervous.

“Like it? It’s amazing!” Tommy said, a smile growing on his face as a few tears bubbled up in his eyes. “Thank-Thank you.”

“No worries, kiddo.” Mumbo said. “If it ever gets broken just come find me and I’ll fix it.”

“You told me about having your music wherever you were. You said that it wasn’t really yours, I thought it would be good to give you something that you remembered from where you were that wasn’t tainted by something horrid.” Grian explained, he lightly picked up the walkman and cassettes and placed them in Tommy’s open hand, letting the box fall to the ground. “I thought it would be good for you to have something that was yours and no one else's. No one is going to take that from you, Tommy. It’s yours, completely and utterly yours, no one can take it. And no one will take it, I swear.”

Tommy felt as the tears actually started to fall down his face. “You know, you guys have promised a lot of things since I got here.” Tommy chose to ignore the way his voice cracked.

“We don’t plan on breaking any of them.” Mumbo said, ruffling the kid’s hair. Tommy laughed, wetly and wiped his eyes. It was then that he realized that, that was the first time someone had ruffled his hair in a long long time. And all he could do was smile.

“Thanks.” He muttered, holding the present. “It’s so much better than a bomb.”

__________________

“-and then the rest of the emperors just set up shot ‘round here.” Grian finished his long spiel as he showed Tommy around the Snowy Donut. He looked behind his shoulder to see if Tommy was still following to see him staring at some icicles that were protruding from a cliffside. “Tommy?”

Tommy paid no attention to the call, still looking at the cliffside as it edged over where they stood. They had barely even made it to the center of the donut where everyone was.

“Tommy!” Grian said a little louder, this time Tommy’s head snapped towards him.

“Yeah? Sorry. Got distracted.” Tommy apologized.

Grian laughed a little, “It’s fine, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t falling too far behind. We’re almost there.”

“Why are we going here anyway?” Tommy asked, shoving his hands, which were covered with newly given red gloves, into his pockets. He still had the orangeish-red scarf wrapped around his neck, which was puffed up to cover his chin a bit too. A blue beanie had also been added to his wardrobe to match his blue sweater.

“I need to visit a friend, they asked for some help on a new building.” Grian shrugged, he wasn’t as bothered by the cold as Tommy seemingly was. He still had on his red iconic sweater and black pants. Although he now had fuzzy boots and his wings were lightly wrapped around him like a blanket.

“And I needed to come for…?” Tommy pried, jogging to catch up to the older.

“To get you out. Seemed like a good time for you to meet some new people.” Grian shrugged, smiling.

“But-like-you said these were the Emperors. I don’t know any of them.” Tommy said, as if he was afraid to remind Grian.

Grian gave a confused smile, “Yeah? Sounds like the perfect time for you to meet them. They are plenty nice…if not a bit crazy.” Grian mumbled the last part, before he quickly got his words and finished, “But in a good way!”

They walked up a path until they had a good view of the whole place. Tommy let out a long breath as he looked around at all the different buildings, all intact.

“Alright,” Grian clapped his hands together, before pointing up to one building. “I’ll be up there talking to a friend if you need me. Which you won’t, but in case. Go explore while I do boring stuff.” Grian pushed the boy lightly towards the path away. He had been pointed to a building with quartz and big spires and sandstone.

“But-” Tommy protested.

“You’ll have fun!” Grian grinned, although Tommy could see the tightness in his smile. “Just don’t leave the donut, please, and I’ll come find you before I leave-”

“Grian!” A gravelly voice yelled from the top of one of the hills. Tommy saw a man in a white toga standing outside the spired building Grian had pointed to. He looked happy, but there was something about him that made Tommy uneasy.

Grian sighed, “Alright, I’ve got to go. Bye.” Grian squeezed his shoulder, before turning and flying over to the slightly average sized man.

Tommy sighed, as he watched the two fall into the man’s house. He wasn’t sure what they were going to do, but Grian had said it was going to be boring so he wasn’t too worried.

He turned around, digging into his pocket he pulled out the walkman. He had been hiding it recently. He never took it out when someone else was around, and kept it on him at all times.

He pulled out Able Sisters and placed the tape into its proper spot. He silently placed the earbuds into his ears and hit the play button. Suddenly, he felt every weight fall off of him as he listened to the next few notes.

He finally felt the courage to take the next few steps by himself as he started walking along the path.

He had expected to find someone along the path, but it was oddly quiet. He walked past multiple randomly built homes, he wasn’t sure how they were all tied together.

It was as he passed one place that seemed to be some sort of tavern that he heard music other than the blaring notes in his ears. And the other reason he heard it was because it was so off key from normal.

He cringed, as he had to take out his earbuds to fully hear the monstrosity. He stuffed the walkman back into his pocket, looking around for the source of the sound. It was when he was lead back to the tavern that he decided to walk in.

He knew for a fact, that if he’d ever tried to walk into a tavern when he was younger Wilbur would have had his head, but Wilbur wasn’t there to tell him off.

He took the first few steps up the stairs onto the porch and listened as the sound got louder and louder.

He was about to knock on the door, when he remembered that the place was a public tavern.

He opened the dark oak door to an open room full of chairs and tables. The walls were decorated with Aztec type artwork. There were cool blue and yellow lights hung above the tables on arches that reach across the walls. There were balconies above that wrapped around the whole tavern. The banisters had ropes and decorative flowers hung on them.

There was a stage at the very back, the stage was above the level floor. The stage was filled with musical instruments. There was a grand piano in the back, decorated the same way as the banisters. There was a guitar still in a stand, as well as a few wind instruments hung on the wall.

At the center of the stage was a blonde with cut hair above his ears. He was wearing a fancy looking outfit that Tommy wasn’t sure he’d ever had the ability to see before. He had very high top pants that were striped red and gold. His button up was covered by a short velvety jacket with puffy sleeves that slimmed into tight blue fabric.

Although the man seemed to be in this fancy suit and well cared for, he had this air about him that he wasn’t too sure of himself. His face was sandy and half shaven with nicks and cuts in some places. His hair was a mess, dirt and sand cluttered it, it looked like he’d run his hand through it a million times. The bottom of his pant legs were torn and ragged like they’d been bitten off by something.

He was holding a lute in his hands and playing music, although Tommy wasn’t sure he’d count it as such. The strings he plucked were out of tune and Tommy was pretty sure he saw one of them break.

Tommy was silent when he walked in not wanting to be heard or seen, which wasn’t difficult since the man on the stage had his eyes closed and was speaking too loudly for anything else to be heard.

“Hello!”

Tommy jumped at the sound of someone else beside him. He thought he was the only other person in the room. He yelped when he jumped, turning to see the dark oa bar that spread across an indent in the wall.

The man at the bar was wiping down a glass and smiling at him.

The man had brown hair with a few strands falling down into his face. He had a scar that ran past his eyebrow and down his eye. He had a rough brown beard that clutched near his face. He wore a lot of armor over his body and shoulders, and had a red bandanna around his neck that reminded Tommy of the red bandanna he was used to seeing on someone else. He had an aqua green shirt underneath with brown gloves over his hands.

“Hello! Welcome to the miniature version of the Sanctuary tavern for a limited time here on the HermitCraft Server! How can I help you, Hermit!” The bearded one said in a high pitched voice. He had his eyes closed while he smiled greatly.

“Oh, I’m-I’m not a hermit. I don’t-I don’t think I am, at least.” Tommy said, quietly.

The man opened his eyes in confusion and looked Tommy up and down.

“Oh! You're the boy! You’re that boy of Pearl’s!” He said, and it seemed like his smile grew even more. His excitement shot through his arms and he threw the cup he was holding on accident, as he flung his arm out to be exaggerated. The cup landed across the indented area and hit the wall of cupboards. It cracked and glass landed on the floor. “Oh well, I'll pick that up later!” The man didn’t take a pause in his excitement, he completely ignored the accident.

“You know Aunt Pearl?” Tommy asked, a little confused himself.

“Of course, I know Sainta Pearla. Even if she continues to deny she’s Sainta Pearla. Anyway, you’re her boy, Tommy, correct?” He continued quickly.

Tommy nodded. “And-uh-who are you?”

“I’m Mythical J. Sausage, but you can call me Sausage. I’m the Emperor of Sanctuary, or more like the protector. Can I offer you a drink?” Sausage asked, he pulled out another glass cup.

Tommy took an involuntary step back as he remembered watching someone meet a bitter end to their addiction to the substance. He shivered at the memory, holding that crossbow at their head as he watched them suffer in their last moments. He shook his head.

“No. No, I don’t-I don’t drink…alcohol.” He muttered, wondering if he’d disappoint the tavern owner. He wondered if he’d get kicked out for not buying anything. He’d only wanted to see the cause of the music.

Sausage tilted his head to the side, a look of concern crossing his face. “Course not, I wouldn't expect you to. But we do have other options, how about water? Apple juice?” He offered a little too excited for Tommy’s liking about Apple Juice.

“No, really, I’m fine.” Tommy said, he looked more around the room and saw the man on the stage had not moved. He was still playing the lute loudly, and hadn’t seemed to hear them at all.

Sausage raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. He placed the cup back down on the counter and leaned forward on the bar.

“What brought you in here, if not for the drinks?” Sausage asked, politely.

Tommy sighed, “I heard the sound.” He pointed to the stage.

“Ah! Can’t stay away from it can you!” Sausage laughed, “Hold on.” He said, and started moving around behind the counter. Tommy nodded, unsure about what he was doing. He still proceeded to sit down at one of the barstools.

Sausage popped back up from behind the counter, and placed a bottle of water on the counter in front of Tommy. Before Tommy could protest, Sausage was walking away from the bar and speaking to the performer on the stage. Or more like yelling at him.

“Oli! Oli! The boy’s here!” Sausage yelled, trying to catch the musician's attention. ‘Oli’ apparently stopped playing with a bit of an ‘oof’ , almost dropping his lute.

“What?” Oli said, once he’d fully stopped playing. “Oh, Hello!”

Tommy’s eyebrows were raised, as he was suddenly met with both men’s attention. He waved shyly, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

“You’re Grian and Mumbo’s kid, right?” Oli asked, as he jumped down the stage, a lute hanging on his back.

“In a way, yeah.” Tommy answered, nodding. “You’re Oli?”

“You’ve heard of me! My fame is growing on the server more than I thought!” Oli said, he sounded like how Tommy remembered Wilbur sounding when someone complimented his songs.

“No. I mean, I’ve heard of you now, but only now. I just heard of you…now.” Tommy tried to break the news nicely, hoping they wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

“Oh well, greatness can only be seen at so many points.” Oli sighed.

“I’m not sure what that means but okay!” Sausage said, happily as ever.

Tommy nodded along with the bearded man in agreement. But the young blonde still had questions for the musician. “Do you know how to play anything else? Or only the lute?”

Oli shrugged, “I can play almost anything.”

“I believe he meant are you good at playing anything else.” Sausage clarified, laughing. And Tommy nodded with a sheepish smile.

“Oh, well, I guess the lute is my main purpose!” Oli smiled. “Sausage, can I get another drink?”

“If you promise to pay your tap, then sure.” The bearded man said, motioning for the musician to follow him off the stage. The two walked back over to the bar, leaving Tommy in the staged area by himself.

For some reason he found himself drawn to the piano. He knew why. Wilbur had taught him how to play when he was younger, probably around ten or eleven. He never got a lot of chances to play before Pogtopia happened, but he remembered staying up late in the white house to practice. If only to get a pat on the back from Wilbur in the morning.

He missed feeling the keys beneath his fingers. He loved accompanying Wilbur when he would sing or play guitar. Although he was sure that as time went on, Wilbur was less and less happy for him to join in. Wilbur never did like to share the spotlight.

Tommy took a few steps forward and brushed his fingers across the keys, hitting a few. The sound caught the attention of the two men at the bar. Tommy paid no mind and neither did they, they only watched to see what he’d do.

When he found the key he wanted he pressed down on it, letting the sound reverberate through the whole tavern.

“Do you know how to play?” Oli asked, as Sausage handed the man a drink in a glass.

Tommy looked up as if he’d just remembered they were there. He nodded, before remembering how to talk, “Yes. Yeah, I do, I did. It’s been a long time.”

Oli looked back to Sausage as if he expected the man to say something. Sausage seemed to get the idea after a few seconds and turned back to the kid, “You can play if you want! I’m sure the emperor would like to hear something new!”

“Hey!” Oli gasped, in fake offense.

“Sorry. I don’t- I haven’t played in a while, it wouldn’t be very good.” Tommy tried to excuse himself from the situation.

“Nonsense. Come on, kid. You could be the worst pianist on the server, wouldn’t matter though! The stage is yours, just give it a try, let us hear you!” Sausage encouraged.

Tommy sighed, his fingers itched to hit more keys. And his knees ached from standing for so long, surely taking a seat and just playing a few notes wouldn’t do any harm.

“Alright.” Tommy sighed, and sat down on the little bench. He pulled himself closer to the keys and prepped himself.

He wondered what he should play.

The anthem? No, that was…too much, too far away for right now.

Wilbur’s songs? That just felt wrong.

That song no one ever forgot he did? No, he’d rather leave that in the past.

That only left the songs he remembered from his walkman. He let out a sigh and started to play. His fingers danced over the keys, hitting everything in perfect time.

Eventually he forgot where he was and he was back in L’manberg playing Wilbur. Wilbur was smiling at him, nodding along as he strummed his guitar. Wilbur would praise him in between verses as he sang. Tubbo was bounding up the path, jumping to catch the bugs as he hummed along. Niki was dancing with Fundy who was still the short young fox. Jack was brushed up against a tree watching but still a smile formed on his face through his glare.

Yet that was years ago and the piano he had been at no longer existed, it was abandoned in the center of L’manberg. Probably covered in moss, with bis missing from the explosion. It had most likely sunk beneath the water that was slowly filling the hole of L’manberg, just like the rest of the town.

When Tommy opened his eyes, he was not in L’manberg. He was in a tavern in the middle of HermitCraft.

He paused in his playing, his fingers hovering over the keys. He didn’t feel like playing anymore.

He took his hands fully away from the piano and let the two men believe he’d finished.

He stuffed his fingers back into his pocket and stood up. He awkwardly stepped away from the bench and jumped down the stage.

“Woohoo! That was great! Where did you learn?” Sausage said, his excitement bleeding into his voice.

Tommy was surprised by that reaction, that his eyes blew wide as he wondered what he could say. He couldn’t exactly say Wilbur taught him, no one knew about the Smp and they certainly didn’t know about Wilbur. But he also couldn’t tell him that someone they knew had taught him, because they’d know he’d lied.

“Self-taught.” He said quickly off of impulse.

“You’re quite good for being self-taught.” Oli said, nicely.

“You seemed to enjoy it! Why did you ever stop?” Sausage asked, passing Tommy the water bottle back. Tommy sighed, knowing he wouldn’t be able to avoid drinking something much longer.

“Didn’t have any option. My old piano-it broke.” Tommy lied. They both nodded.

“Well, you can always play here, if you want. I’d be happy to have another performer here!” Sausage offered.

“No. No, I couldn’t do that.” Tommy shook his head, quickly.

“Why not?” Oli asked at the same time Sausage said, “What if I paid you?”

“What? No. Absolutely not.” Tommy disagreed, looking anywhere but the bearded man.

“Oh come on! It’d be like a trade, kid. I pay you to show up and play, what once a week? You get paid and people get to listen to something other than the bard. Plus, you get to do something you enjoy. What’s bad about that?” Sausage said, with a laugh.

Tommy grumbled under his breath, shifting his feet back and forth as he thought.

Grian wanted him to do something other than ‘mope around’ apparently. And he knew he’d eventually get bored and he’d hate to see what was going to happen when he got bored. Plus, it had been a while since he’d been able to do something he actually liked doing.

“Fine. Once a week, and please don’t pay me.” Tommy said. He knew there was a deep down gut feeling that did want to get paid. There was that selfish part of him that said he deserved it. But he knew not to be selfish, he didn’t need that money. He didn’t deserve it.

“Nonsense! Here.” Sausage pulled out a bag, presumably filled with coins. Tommy could hear the metal hit the counter as it was pushed near him.

“I can’t take that.” Tommy said, stuffing his hands further into his pockets so he didn’t feel that itch to steal. He bit the inside of his cheek as the itch started to come.

“Sure you can, I’m paying you to play here, aren’t I?” Sausage said, a calm smirk on his face. Oli didn’t seem to mind the conversation at all, he was simply watching it all unfold with wide, interested eyes.

“We made the deal after I played.” Tommy said, still trying to convince the man of his side.

“So you agree to the deal of me paying you then? Great! Enjoy it.” Sausage smiled, and Oli laughed as the kid was caught in a negotiated corner.

Tommy gaped like a goldfish as he tried to let his mind catch up. He grumbled under his breath again, a small curse. “Fine.” He took the coins from the counter but then sat them back down again.

“What are you doing, kid?” Sausage asked, his arms crossed playfully, with an eyebrow raised.

“I’m paying for the water you gave me.” Tommy shrugged, taking the water bottle from the counter and stuffing it into a belt pocket he kept in case he got a drink.

Sausage nodded, “Alright, but that water was on the house. And even if it wasn’t this is too much to pay for water.” Arms still crossed.

“Then take it as a tip for the hospitality.” Tommy said, pointedly. He was walking towards the door preparing to go find Grian and leave this weird tavern.

Tommy almost was able to open the door to leave when the doorknob turned on its own and the door opened.

Tommy yelped from surprise and jumped back into the section of the tavern with all the tables. The blonde boy stood completely still in the section watching as three people entered. Sausage and Oli both raised eyebrows as the boy seemed to turn to stone as the new people entered.

Sausage and Oli recognized the first person to come through the door as Katherine. She was wearing a pink dress with low sleeves that started at her mid arm. Her brown hair was curled and fell over his shoulders with pink ribbon bows tying different pieces together. A small delicate crown was placed upon her brown hair. She walked in with a curious look on her face, her first action being to look around the tavern before even acknowledging the two emperors.

Behind her were Shubble and Joey who walked in glaring at each other, but Shubble’s attention immediately was deferred to the tavern as they entered.

Shubble was wearing her regular green overalls covering her purple sweater. Her overalls were coated in mushrooms, flowers and sticks. Her large hat fell over her face and she had to push it up every now and then. Her hat was just as badly covered with nature as her clothes, if not worse. She looked like she had recently run through the woods. Her brown hair fell down to her shoulders. She also had high boots with green buckles.

Joey didn’t seem to be too interested in being there. His arms crossed as he looked around, begrudgingly.

He had his blonde hair tied back by a black bandanna with the signature skull and crossbones of a pirate. He wore an open red shirt that was tattered by the ends. His brown pants were tied with a black ribbon, and he still wore no shoes.

“Oli?” Katherine questions after looking around the tavern. “Were you the one playing just a second ago? I didn’t know you played the piano?”

“Nope, wasn’t me.” Oli said, shrugging.

“But we heard the piano, we were walking by and heard it.” Shubble said.

“Yeah! But it wasn’t Oli.” Sausage joined in, pointing to the blonde boy who had been concerningly quiet.

The three new people looked over to where he pointed to see the blonde boy in the blue sweater and red and white baseball Tee. He was shifting his weight on his feet.

“Oh, hello.” Shubble said, taking a step forward and holding out a hand to the boy.

Katherine also stepped forward a little quicker than Shubble had, a little more eager to meet the boy. “You’re wonderful at piano!”

Joey also stepped forward, his eyes scrutinizingly watching the blonde. “Are you a hermit? I haven’t seen you before.”

“Oh, are you one of those hermits who didn’t come to the Empires Server?” Katherine asked, hands clapping together.

“Oh, I’m not-I’m not a-” Tommy tried to finish.

“What’s your name?” Shubble asked, “Do you have a base nearby?”

“Are you that Mumbo Jumbo lad, those hermits kept talking about?” Joey asked, leaning forward to inspect him more. Tommy shook his head.

“That, my good friends, is the child of Sainta Pearla. Or, I guess, the child of all of the great Boatem. So that includes Mumbo, I believe.” Sausage explained, tapping his chin.

The three new Emperors paused and relooked at the boy in front of them. They backed away from him and awkwardly stood there waiting for the boy to say something.

“Sorry. We didn’t know it was you.” Shubble apologized. “You’re still very good, though.”

Tommy was staring at his feet, “Thank-” Tommy coughed, “Thank you. Who-Who are you?”

Shubble smiled, “I’m Shubble, call me Shelby, the good witch.”

“Pirate Joe.” Joey said, nodding at the boy.

“And I’m Princess Katherine of GlimmerGrove!” Katherine introduced, with a little curtsey.

Tommy raised an eyebrow, “You’re a Princess?”

Katherine nodded, “I am.”

A sudden shiver ran down Tommy’s spine as the three introduced themselves. It’d been a long time since he’s had this many people’s attention on him. He looked between all of them.

And in that moment it was like two of his brain cells connected and he remembered the servers name that they were from; Empires. These were emperors, princesses, witches too apparently.

He swallowed, he could barely get alone with his own admin. How in the ever loving f*ck was he going to get along with Emperors! They get annoyed with him by the time he opens his mouth.

Tommy didn’t take any more time to wait, he shot out the door before they could stop him.

He didn’t mean to slam the door behind him, but he didn’t stay long enough to apologize. He just ran down the path hoping to get far away from them all.

He paused at the edge of a path. He wasn’t near any of the houses, so he was sure that no one would bother him. The spot even had a good view of that house Grian had disappeared to.

The blonde flopped onto the ground, sitting down to finally take a moment for himself. He didn’t feel like he'd had one in a while.

Normally, it would be an odd sight to see TommyInnit sitting somewhere completely still, completely silent. If someone had seen him like that, they’d be more likely to think they were hallucinating than seeing the truth. And when they tried to tell someone else, they would never be believed.

But that didn’t mean it wasn’t the truth. Everyone needed a break at some point.

Tommy actually enjoyed these moments. He didn’t get them alot, always interrupted by Wilbur, Dream or someone else trying to start something. The best moments were when the wind would intertwine with his music and he could completely forget the rest of the world. His entire world becoming music, birds, wind, water, and the creaking of a nice bench.

It was almost a spot the difference picture here.

Tommy took a deep breath, taking in the calm nature instead of the calm before the storm type.

He pulled up his sweater sleeve till it reached just above his elbow.

The sight was exactly what he expected. His right arm was littered with tiny scars, some in little lines other in the form of burns. The oldest were faded to almost blend into his skin, just a tiny bit lighter in color. While the newer ones were red and puffed up in ripples.

His arm was also scattered with drawings. Each one covering a different scar, some didn’t even cover the scar and were made to extend off of them. Tommy could make out some old drawings, they were smudged into his skin. There were circles with sad faces in them, flowers, stick figures, animals and flags of places he remembered.

As he waited, he pulled out a small ink pen. It sat in his pocket right next to his walkman, almost forgotten. The pen was an old fountain type, with a dark maroon cap and handle. The tip was gold and silver with an engraving with his initials.

He held the pen delicately and pressed the tip down into his skin, drawing out in a new uncovered spot.

He didn’t hear the steps coming up behind him, although the person was desperately trying to make their footsteps louder than normal.

“Tommy.” They greeted, politely.

Tommy turned around quickly, as he heard them. He looked the person up and down, before sighing.

“Hello. You’re the color guy, right?” Tommy said, pointing at him. The blue haired man nodded.

“Yeah, although my actual name is Scott.” Scott said, shrugging as though it didn’t bother him.

“I thought you lived in Scar’s f*cking place.” Tommy cursed, forgetting that he was supposed to be PG. He snapped his mouth shut and tossed an uneasy smile at the man.

Scott raised an eyebrow, his face not moving at all.

When he got no reaction out of Scott, Tommy went into clean up mode. “Sorry. Forgot. I’m trying not to swear, it’s just sorta ingrained in me at this point.”

It was then that Scott let out a laugh, “What? You think I don’t swear when these guys have their backs turned. Please.” Scott waved the comment off.

“You don’t get in trouble?” Tommy wondered aloud.

“Nope, why would I? It’s my choice, anyway.” Scott shrugged, “You gonna scoot over so I can sit?”

Tommy sighed, and shuffled over a bit. He laid his fountain pen down as he moved but kept it within his reach. Scott sat down next to the kid, letting his legs fall over the edge of the cliff while Tommy sat criss crossed.

They were silent for a moment, Tommy oddly shuffling around trying to get comfortable.

Scott sighed, leaning back and bringing his hands up to prop his head above the ground as his back hit the ground. Since Scott now seemed to be comfortable lying on the ground, Tommy couldn’t help but steal a confused glance at the man who had his eyes closed.

“You’re sweater sleeve is still up, just so you know.” Scott said, not opening his eyes.

Tommy’s eyes snapped to his arm that was still visible. Tommy quickly tried to grab his sleeve and pull it down, but Scott just kept talking.

“You don’t got to hide it if you don’t want to.” Scott finished, opening one eye.

“What do you mean?” Tommy asked, his voice suspecting.

“I mean the drawings. You’ve got a lot of them. They got a meaning behind some of them?” Scott asked.

Tommy rubbed a hand over his arm. “No. They’re just mindless. Don’t know why I f*cking do them anyway. It’s stupid.”

“Not stupid, kid. What’s the flower drawing of?” Scott asked, pointing to a flower drawing with a purple pen on the boy’s wrist.

“It’s an allium.” Tommy muttered.

“Good flower, why’d you draw that one specifically though. I have a feeling someone like you doesn’t just draw flowers without reasons.” Scott said, with a smirk.

“It reminds me of a friend.” Tommy said, flatly. Scott nodded.

“Is that friend one of the stick figures then?” Scott pointed out. Tommy nodded, shyly. “So they do have stories behind them.”

“They’re personal.” Tommy growled.

Scott raised his hands up, in a way to show he was backing off. “Alright, alright. I’ll lay off. Just don’t go giving yourself ink poisoning. Not fun, I can say from experience.” Scott laughed.

Tommy furrowed his brow, looking the blue haired man over again. “Did-did you do this?”

Scott looked up, “hm? No. No, not that. Where I come from my main export is dye. That includes ink. Imagine my surprise when I go down one morning to see an ink spillage and ink poisoning ruining my factories. It’s not fun to take care of thirty llamas all sick in their stables instead of their pens. Then add yourself on top of that, nope, I’d rather not do that again.”

“Oh.” Tommy muttered, in the back of his mind he wondered if the man misunderstood him. Scott laid back down on the grass.

“And for the record, I think you should tell someone.” He whispered, his eyes closing again.

Tommy froze and looked back at the man. “Tell them what?”

“About those scars.”

___________

Grian carried chests of new 1.20 items up to the second floor of his base. He could barely see in front of him as he had towered the chests and shulker boxes on top of one another.

As his feet felt the flat floor of the next level he didn’t expect to run into any more obstacles, but that was wrong when his foot hit something on the floor.

Curious, Grian tried again to continue walking forward but his foot continued to be blocked by something on the floor.

“Ow.” The blob said when Grian hit it again. Grian startled back, jumping up and letting go of some of the chests. Grian let out a long breath when he realized that the blob was just Tommy laying on the floor.

“Why are you on the floor?” Grian asked, exasperated. He picked up what little he’d dropped, moving them to line the walls and decorate the room a bit.

Tommy didn’t move from the floor, his arms splayed out and head against the wood.

“It’s comfortable.” Tommy muttered.

“It certainly isn’t.” Grian said, sending the younger a look. Tommy glared back at him.

“You don’t know if it’s comfortable or not. You’re not on the floor.” Tommy argued, sticking his tongue out.

Grian turned around, leaning against the wall, his arms loosely crossed. “Because I already know it isn’t comfortable. Come on, kid, get up.” Grian stepped forward, nudging the kid’s shoulder with his foot.

Tommy didn’t move, only continued to glare. “No.”

Grian raised an eyebrow, “Ok then.”

“Really?” Tommy asked, quickly confused on how easy it was to get Grian to cave.

Grian shrugged, walking back to the steps “Sure, you’ll just miss out on naming the Sniffer.” Grian smirked as he disappeared down the stairs.

Tommy sat up, immediately, looking back to where Grian had just left. “Sniffer?” He mumbled under his breath, before standing up slowly and quickly catching up with his dad.

Grian was waiting by the entrance to his base when Tommy saw him next. The man smiled at him, knowing his plan worked full well, he also had a name tag in hand.

Tommy stuffed his hands into his pocket, and looked out of the base to where Grian was looking.

All he saw was a bunch of moss blocks and this one weird red and green colored cylinder.

“What’s a Sniffer?” Tommy asked, starting to walk down the back to where the odd thing was. Grian followed behind him.

“A new mob, just added. It’ll hatch from that egg. I think they’re like dinosaurs or something.” Grian guessed.

“So why’s it called a Sniffer?” Tommy asked, hopping down to where the egg was. “‘S a weird f*cking name.”

“First, language. Second, I mean they sniff a lot.” Grian said, “Kind of on the nose.” He chuckled. “Want to name ‘em?” Grian tossed the name tag to the blonde, who clumsily caught it.

Tommy looked at the egg for a while, thinking about the perfect name when he couldn’t even see who the animal was. He wasn’t too sure. After a moment, he started writing on the name tag. He handed the tag back to Grian who looked at the name.

“Schnoot?” Grian smiled, although a bit of him felt bad at the sloppy handwriting it was written with. It was the same handwriting he remembered the seven year old using to write letters. “Good choice.” He chuckled, quietly.

It was then that the egg cracked open and a small dinosaur-creature popped out.

Grian jumped, yelping as the animal scared him. It took him a moment to calm himself, only to find Tommy laughing at his reaction and already petting the animal.

“You scare too easily.” Tommy laughed, patting the Sniffers head.

Grian rolled his eyes, “Oh hush.”

Tommy rolled his own eyes and looked off into the distance. HIs eyes catching on to the same scenery he was always looking at through one of the windows of Grian’s base.

Grian turned, matching his eyeline, to see what had the kid’s attention but all he saw were trees and plants and the forest yet to be cut down for another project.

“What’s got your attention?” Grian asked, as he securely placed the name tag on the Sniffer.

“Nothing. It’s just a good view. It’s probably the best view.” Tommy grinned.

“Oh, how rude.” Grian said in mock-offense. “What makes it so great?” He asked, sincerely.

“Well, all your bases are great don’t get me wrong. But the forest is what all things come from and later become. I could very well watch every base grow and slowly be completed, no matter how much life gets put into it it’ll always be that: it’ll always be hand created. The forest was created by itself over time. It’s the place where puzzle pieces come together and work together to survive and thrive. That life can’t be recreated, but it changes every second.” Tommy explained, softly, his gaze never diverging.

Grian had stopped looking at the forest and now was fully watching Tommy as he explained that. When the younger blonde was done, he looked over to see Grian’s furrowed brow.

“When did you get so smart?” He asked, a smile growing.

Tommy scoffed, “I’ve always been this smart!” Grian rolled his eyes and started walking back up the path, leaving the Sniffer tied up on a fence post. He’d build a nice pen later. Tommy quickly followed him, continuing to defend his intelligence. “I have always been this smart, Grian. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Grian scoffed, “Okay, baby bird.”

Grian was ahead of the kid when Tommy paused in his steps. And it was only when Grian was at the bridge that he realized Tommy had stopped following him.

“Hey, you okay?” Grian asked, quietly.

Tommy’s brow was furrowed, his fingers clenched at his sides-even the fake ones. He stood very straight and he was staring at the ground. Grian could see the way he twitched, as if he was trying to move appendages that didn’t exist any more, and that made Grian wince at what he’d just said.

“Can you…not call me that?” Tommy asked, slowly and carefully.

“The baby bird thing?” Grian asked, carefully. Tommy nodded, awkwardly. “Okay. I won’t.”

Tommy nodded again, a little less awkwardly. He shifted in his spot before walking the rest of the way up to the bridge.

When the two stood in front of each other, they were about the same height. Of course, that was only if Tommy was standing up straight which he rarely did. Most of the time, the kid had his head down staring at his feet and his shoulders slouched as if to cover himself. Grian knew that if the kid still had his wings he’d probably wrap himself in them most of the time.

Tommy was standing like that now, hunched over and shrouded in his air of fear, sadness and doubt.

“Tommy,” Grian muttered, catching the kid’s attention. The boy looked up. “You know you can talk to me-us-anyone about what happened. You don’t have to hide it.”

Tommy shook his head, “You wouldn't understand.”

“Try me.” Grian said, sternly.

Tommy huffed, “it’s just a little difficult to explain to someone who’s not had to act like everything is okay and fine after being told the things they experienced for ten years was wrong? Okay? You wouldn’t get it! I’ve spent the past ten years of my life somewhere that f*cking sucked, but I thought it was normal. I thought that that was life, what was supposed to happen. And guess what! Now I’m getting told that I was wrong that everyone was f*cking wrong. I’m just supposed to believe everything is rainbows and daisies here?” Tommy ranted, glare hardening and softening as tears pricked his eyes.

Tommy expected Grian to get mad, for the man to give up and turn away.

But instead, the older avian just stood there. He made no movement. He waited until Tommy was finished, and the kid was catching his breath from his rant. When Tommy finally did see the avian’s face it was coated in concern and worry.

“You really think I don’t get it, kid?” Grian asked, softly.

“Yeah?” Tommy mumbled, wiping his face off. Grian smiled a tiny bit, before turning around and walking towards the inside of his base.

“Come here. I want to show you something.” He said, walking to the very back of his base.

Tommy followed him quickly, as the older walked up stairs after stairs after stairs.

“Where are we going?” Tommy asked, as they reached the very ceiling of the highest tower of the medieval castle.

“We’re going up.” Grian said, his voice light and happy. The complete opposite to Tommy’s worried, croaking strained voice.

“Up?” Tommy asked, as he watched Grian point to the very top rock floating high up in the sky. “How do you plan on getting up the-”

Tommy was cut off when he was pulled up into the air by Grian. Tommy screamed as he felt air rush across his face as they went up higher and higher. Grian laughed from above him as he softly landed them on the entrance to the rock.

Tommy held his hands out to balance himself as he felt his feet return to the ground. His eyes were blown wide as he looked around, and latched onto the closest thing, being Grian’s sweater.

“Who’s easily scared now?” Grian chuckled, ruffling the younger’s hair.

“I never want to do that again.” Tommy spat, eyes wide.

Grian huffed, “Unfortunately, you gotta do it again to get back down, bud.” Grian carefully unlatched Tommy’s extremely small fingernails from his sweater. He patted the kid’s cardigan down from its very ruffled state.

“F*ck you.” Tommy cursed.

“Language, and come on. If you’re gonna see, you’re gonna see it.” Grian said, keeping the mystery of what they were about to see.

The rock or boulder seemed to have no entrance. Grian walked backwards till his back was pressed against the rocks. Tommy stared at him waiting for the man to reveal whatever it was he was showing off.

Grian just slid back into what became a fake wall. He fully disappeared into the rocks that Tommy was now realizing was a painting covering a hole.

“What?” Tommy muttered as he walked up to the fake wall. He ran a hand down the fake rocks only to get pulled through himself.

Tommy landed with a thud on the ground of the rock. He looked up to see the inside was decorated almost like a museum of sorts.

The walls oddly were not the rocky texture they were on the outside, instead the room was coated in dark purple wallpaper with white drawn eyes that scattered the walls. The eyes made Tommy’s skin crawl like there were bugs running over him.

On the far was a large black banner with a purple rectangular symbol on it. The symbol was broken up into two L’s and two dots in the corners. Cases and tables lined the walls, and in the corners old boxes were cluttered. The cases were filled with odd trinkets and artifacts.

Tommy hadn’t seen some of them before, others just seemed like old things to collect. In one case there was a white mask, the top of the mask was rectangular until it fell into two tusks at the bottom. The same symbol was printed in purple in the center. It seemed to be the most protected item in the room, the case locked up in three different padlocks.

In another case there were more odd things like purple feathers, a pin that resembled that symbol again, and white hat that was knitted with bunny ears. In another longer case that was up on a small pedestal was a gold sabre with a purple hilt.

In the middle of the room were two much bigger cases that held two different outfits. One outfit had a blue shirt and black suspenders, with black pants and shoes. The other made Tommy grimace and take a step back. It was a green hoodie and white pants, and also had a green hat.

“What is all this?” Tommy asked, as he looked around. He eyes having trouble finding one thing to stay on.

He looked for Grian who was leaning against one of the walls.

“This is where I keep everything I don’t want to look at. Stuff I don’t want to be reminded of.” Grian said.

“What do you mean?” Tommy asked, walking over to where Grian was. Grian sighed and motioned for Tommy to stand next to him. From that position they could see just about the entire room.

Tommy stood next to the older avian and watched him in case he started to talk.

“Lots of people have a past they like to hide. Not everyone, but there are enough for me to say you are not the only person.” Grian said.

“But what past would there be to hide? I thought Hermitcraft was nice” Tommy asked.

“It is.” Grian said without a beat. “I’m not talking about Hermitcraft, kiddo. I wasn’t always on Hermitcraft.”

“What? Yes you were.” Tommy said, defensively.

Grian shook his head, “I joined during their sixth season, before that I was at a lot of different places.” Grian looked back at Tommy, Tommy was staring at him expecting him to continue to talk. Grian caved and continued, “I first joined a high school server when I was-I’m not even sure- seventeen maybe? Doesn’t matter. Point is, I didn’t like it. When I left that server, I took a few things with me, some not by choice. I did a lot of stuff on that server that was not by my choice. Stuff I will not be telling you so don’t ask.”

Tommy wilted, disappointed. “What? Why?”

“Because you don’t need to know, and shouldn’t know. Alright?” Grian grinned, moving on quickly.

“I started my own server after that.” He said.

“Really? You were an admin?” Tommy asked.

“Yup. Still am, technically, but that doesn’t change anything, right?” Grian said, nudging the younger. Tommy nodded after a moment. “Anyway, I created a server that would go through every version of Minecraft, slowly upgrading. I got a few friends on and it was fun.”

“What changed?” Tommy mumbled, unsure if he should ask or not.

Grian huffed, “There was something different about that server, it caught some things attention rather quickly. They’d give us riddles and puzzles to make the game harder, but overall they just watched. They just wanted to be entertained. When things went well we were rewarded, if they went wrong there were… repercussions. And for a while, and I mean a while, everything was fine. But things changed drastically, we went to fight the dragon and I was separated. When I won, I thought I’d won, I’d get reunited with my friends.” Grian glared at the case that held the odd mask inside. He was tight lipped about most of it, but Tommy could see the way his fingers were clenched up and his eyes were watery.

“But you didn’t?” He asked, quietly.

“No. I was chosen to join the Watchers. It didn’t matter if I wanted to or not. I had no choice. There are things I wish I had done sooner and there are things I wish I’d never done. But I can’t change any of that.” Grian muttered, he sighed and Tommy saw as he relaxed his shoulders.

Grian shook his head, and planted a small smile on his face, “I show you this, because I didn’t come on hermitcraft unscathed and perfect. I came flawed and angry and so much more. But I could finally leave it in the past, that’s what I thought. I thought I could forget it all.”

“Did they come back?” Tommy asked, worriedly. Grian bounced off the wall and walked over to the middle of the room. He stood in front of the two outfits on the armor stands in the cases.

“No. They did not come after me.” Grian shook his head, “But I realized that I couldn’t just forget what happened. I have to live with it. But I could talk about it. I could be angry. Sometimes you have to leave the past behind, but the past doesn’t leave you. You have to learn to live with it.” Grian turned around to face Tommy, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Tommy, I don’t know what happened to you. And I won’t until you tell me, but I know something happened and I know it was bad. And I want you to tell someone. I want to help you the same way someone helped me, but you have to let me first.” Grian said. He watched as Tommy’s face fell from something of a shocked goldfish to a frown and contemplative eyes.

“But I also realize that leaving something behind like that is difficult. It took me 4 and a half seasons to get this all just down to this room. So I want you to tell me one good thing you remember from where you were.” Grian said, kindly.

Tommy sighed, “I guess my house.”

“What was it like?” Grian asked.

“I’d built it into the side of this hill. It really was just a dirt house, I had a little path that went up to the wooden path that lined the whole server. I had a good view over the mountain from this bench that I’d sit on. I had my wheat farm and that was about it.” Tommy said, “I didn’t have a lot.”

“Okay.” Grian said, walking out of the rock.

“What are you planning?” Tommy asked.

“You’ll see! Come on! I wanna make hot chocolate!” Grain called back.

Later that night when Tommy was heading back to Scar’s hotel, Grian pulled out his communicator. He quickly sent a message to everyone, before grabbing supplies in his shulker boxes and heading out of his base.

Grian: Can anyone that’s available make their way to my base? I got something I could use some help with!

He didn’t pay attention to the buzzing in his pocket as people replied.

Xisumavoid: What are you planning

GeminiTay: On my way

BdoubleO100: Something with tnt

MumboJumbo: Do not blow up my vault

GoodTimesWithScar: Coming!

PearlescentMoon: Do I get something out of it?

ImpulseSV: Is this another rift thing?

TangoTek: More emperors?

ZombieCleo: did they not all come through?

It was only when Grian landed that he decided to reply to the other hermits.

Grian: Bring build supplies

Grian put his communicator back in his pocket and started laying out his shulker boxes. He got a basic layout when other hermits started showing up.

“What are you doing, Grian?” Mumbo asked, when he landed from his flight over. “This is kind of away from your base?”

“Is this a new shop or something?” Scar asked as he stumbled to keep his balance as he landed on a tree.

“It’s not a shop. Did you bring building stuff?” Grian asked.

“Yes, but it’s a lot of copper, crimson and deepslate.” Mumbo said, setting down his things. Scar followed suit.

“I was working on the roof of my castle, I have a ton of packed ice.”

“You’re building a roof out of ice? Won’t that get a little…wet?” Mumbo asked, as he looked at the load of ice his friend had.

Scar shook his head, “It’s up in the sky, it’ll be fine.”

“Do you know if anyone else is coming?” Grian asked, changing the shape of the cotton layout a bit.

“I think the soup group should be here.” Scar said, with a grin as three more fireworks sounded off in the distance. There was an oddly Australian shout for the avian’s name. “We’re over here!” Scar called, waving the three over.

“What are you three doing over here?” Pearl asked, going straight over to mess with Grian who was focusing on the build. She stood right in front of him, but he only walked around her.

“I thought you would be in the basement of your base. Wasn’t expecting to travel between you and Scar’s theme park.” Gem said, as she sat down on top of one of the shulker boxes.

“Yeah, what do you need all our help with anyway, G?” Impulse asked, setting down his own building supplies.

“Something important.” Grian said, still working, never taking a moment to look away from what he was doing. At this point he was digging out half of a hillside. Pearl was still trying to grab the other avian’s attention by flying above him and hovering.

“What’s so important you need all our help? You don’t tend to ask for help, Grian.” Gem said, pointing at the blonde.

“Hello, everyone.” Xisuma said, appearing out of nowhere. Next to him were Bdubs, Tango, Cleo. Mumbo, Scar, Gem and Impulse all waved and greeted them.

“What’s going on, now?” Tango asked.

“I’m just glad it doesn’t seem to involve blowing up anything again.” Xisuma sighed.

“I was kind of hoping for it actually.” Bdubs grumbled.

“It was an accident, Xi!” Scar said, laughing awkwardly.

“Yeah, I know, but you still have a goat’s wrath to face.” Xisuma said, “What’s the problem, Grian?”

Grian finally stopped and turned around to face them, Pearl dropping disappointedly behind him.

“I need some help building Tommy a house.”

They were silent for a moment.

“As in Tommy-Tommy?” Gemini asked, her leg propped up on the shulker box.

“And you need help building it?” Mumbo asked, scratching the back of his head.

“Yes, and yes.” Grian nodded, crossing his arms.

“I thought he was staying at Scarland?” Pearl asked, walking around to the other side of Grian.

“He is, he’s over there right now.” Scar said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to his theme park.

“I know. I know.” Grian said, trying to get the group to listen to him. “But I was talking to him and I think this is a good idea.” The silence in front of him made him shift on his feet a bit.

“Talked to him about what?” Impulse asked, an eyebrow raised as he asked the question on all their minds.

Grian ran a hand through his waffle-like hair, “Just about stuff. I thought he might want to know-you know-like how it was when I first joined the server. You-you all know how I was when I first joined.” Grian stuttered out.

“Stand-ofish.” Gem said.

“Panicky?” Xisuma added.

“A menace?” Mumbo muttered.

“A delight!” Scar said, cheerier than the others.

“Well, when you say it like that…” Grian muttered, “Either way, we talked and while it’s wonderful that he's here. He spent ten years in some other place, he needs something to have at least a bit of ‘normalcy’. So I asked him what he actually liked from there, and he mentioned having a house.” Grian explained.

“So you think him having his own space would be good?” Tango asked.

Grian sighed, “It can’t really get worse than what it is right now.”

They all looked at each other wondering what the others were thinking. A silent conversation was heard between all of them. Their thoughts running as they thought it over.

“Okay.” Mumbo finished the conversation. “How are we building this?”

With all nine of them working on the home it didn’t take very long to build at all. Each of them picking a spot to work on by themself. They all had brought blocks and supplies from their own major bases, meaning the house would come out to be a confusing mismatched base including all of their seasonal styles.

And in true Grian fashion the back of the house was covered up by the hillside, so there was no need to build.

When they were all finished the moon had disappeared and the sun was rising high over Scarland’s castle; meaning it was already past noon. Slowly the group had died out, Cleo, Bdubs, Tango and Xisuma all had to leave to finish whatever they had been doing. Which left Mumbo, Grian, Scar, Pearl, Impulse and Gem to finish the interior of the small house rather quickly. It worked out quite well seeing as they were the ones who knew Tommy the best.

Scar had even been able to sneakily get some of Tommy’s things from the room in the hotel, while he was being distracted by Scott and Fwhip who were more than happy to help.

The soup group left after the last of the interior was finished to work out some sort of cheese touch thing.

Grian was sitting on the new bed that had been placed on the third level of the house. The house had been made to be completely accessible to Tommy in case he was having a hard time walking with his prosthetic, which meant that building different floors had been difficult. But Tango, Impulse and Mumbo had made a small pulley system that functioned with the help of some redstone to work as a small elevator.

“Think he’ll like it?” Grian asked, Mumbo was still testing out the pulley system to make sure it worked.

“I hate to say it, but I think he’ll like anything he's given. Just because he’s given it and doesn’t have to work for it. I mean the kid cried when we gave him a present.” Mumbo said, sadly.

Grian huffed, “I know! That’s the problem! I want him to actually like it, not just be so shocked that he’s given something that he won’t actually express his opinion.”

Mumbo laughed a bit, “I don’t think you have to worry about that, He is still quite opinionated.” There was a lull in the conversation before Mumbo asked, “How much did you actually tell him?”

Grian sighed, knowing exactly what his friend was talking about, “Everything, vaguely at least. I didn’t say anything too in depth, he does need to hear about that junk. But he knows about the Watchers now, and the school. I’m sure he’ll have questions later.”

“You gonna be okay telling him?” Mumbo asked, messing about with the candles and small items that were scattered on a desk in the corner of the bedroom.

“So long as he doesn’t ask something gruesome. I’m not telling him anything that’s going to mess with him.” Grian said, running a hand down his face. There was a clambering downstairs, as someone came up the ladder to the third floor.

The two saw the brown hair first and the Scar later.

Scar had his hands full of boxes filled with Tommy’s things from the hotel room. Well, more they were things Scar had decorated the hotel room with.

“What are we talking about?” Scar asked, as he set down the boxes.

“Grian’s conversation with the kid.” Mumbo answered.

“Oh! Did you learn anything?” Scar asked Grian, happily.

Mumbo chuckled, “No, but Tommy did.”

Scar tossed Mumbo a confused look before turning back to Grian who was glaring at the ravenette.

“I told Tommy about everything. He deserved to know.” Grian said, arms crossed.

“And you two are okay?” Scar asked, nervously.

“Yes, we’re fine.” Grian said, standing up and walking over to the two of them. He started to shoo the two out. “Now, out; both of you. I need to show this to Tommy.”

Scar huffed, pouting, “What? We don’t get to show him two?”

“Yeah, we helped out.” Mumbo said, crossing his arms.

“Well, he doesn’t exactly know I did this, does he? And he definitely doesn’t know I asked you lot for help, so go. I’m sure he’ll run by you later today. Go on!” Grian said, politely kicking the two out of the house, and closing the front door.

Grian turned around, checking to make sure everything was perfect in the home. He let out a sigh before going off to find Tommy.

Grian led Tommy down the path from Scarland to the house. The path was lined with podzol and mushroom, as per Pearl’s addition. Grian helped Tommy along, seeing as Tommy had on a blindfold and was tripping unable to see where his fake foot was going.

“Almost there.” Grian said, as the house came into vision. He grinned seeing it from far away. He should get the Hermits together for builds more often, he thought.

“Where are you taking me? What’s going on?” Tommy asked.

“You’ll see in a second, watch your step, there’s a branch.” Grian pointed out, helping the blonde over the large branch. “Alright, stand right there.”

Tommy stood still. He was directly in front of the house.

“Take off the blindfold.” Grian grinned.

Tommy pulled the blindfold off, blinking to let his eyes adjust. When he finally gained his vision back he was struck with a shocking sight.

The path led straight up to the front door. The door and the area around it was designed by Gemini and had her high eleven flair about it. The spruce columns holding up a quartz ledge that created a porch area. The the right of that was a large window the overlooked a garden. The corner window was encased in an Impulse designed wall. The deepslate and yellow concrete fell into the hill below while also leading up to the second floor wall designed by Tango. Tango’s design resembled Decked out with its crimson inside and deepslate and basalt rim.

The roof of the tower-like section was created by Pearl via a giant alien mushroom that dipped downwards. The teal-blue mushroom covered the garden where a nice bench was with a jukebox right next to it. Pearl’s mushroom blended into Mumbo’s section, that was right above Gem’s, where he created a nonfunctioning vault door, with plants popping up from Gem’s roof. And to top Mumbo’s vault was Cleo’s Atlantis styled roof with prismarine and crimson colors.

The other side tower was made by Bdubs, Scar and Grian. The bottom level was Grian’s quartz cathedral style, which mimicked his base's front. His color scheme blended into Bdub’s diorite tower. The tower was capped with Scar’s ice triangular roof. And to add symmetry with Pearl’s drooping mushroom, Grian added a boulder leaning against the tower of their side. Scar had even added a flag to the top of the tower roof, like those in Scar land.

Tommy’s eyes were wide as disks as he stared up at the place. His mouth was agape, and his body was frozen.

“Well? What do you think?” Grian smirked, nervously.

Tommy snapped to look at the man who was standing in front of the place.

“You did this?” Tommy asked, pointing at the house like it wasn’t real.

Grian chuckled, “I had a little help. Cleo, Mumbo, Scar, Pearl, Impulse, Xisuma, Bdubs, and Gem.”

“Why?” Tommy asked, with a smile on his face. “I mean- Why build it?”

“Well, you told me you liked your house. I know it’s not exactly like it, I have no idea what it looked like. But-” Grian started.

“No, no. I mean, it looked awesome. It’s probably better than anything I could’ve thought of. I just-why would you go through all this.” Tommy said, walking up to the home. He acted like a kid seeing something new for the first time. As he walked closer to the build he continued to strain his neck to keep seeing the top. He tried looking around the sides for a hidden thing.

“You deserve to have your own place. I don’t think you’ll want to spend the whole season in a hotel room.” Grian said.

“You have got to stop using that word.” Tommy laughed wetly. He wiped his eyes although there were no tears on his cheeks.

“What word?” Grian chirped.

“Deserved.” Tommy said, plainly. “I don’t deserve any of this. I didn’t earn any of it.”

Grian was quiet. “You didn’t have to earn it.” When Grian looked back at the younger avain he had tears rolling down his cheeks. “Come on, I wanna show you the inside!”

“There’s an inside?” Tommy gasped, laughing.

Grian pulled the kid inside to see the rest of the place.

Chapter Text

“Who even told you where this kid lives?” Joey asked, walking behind Katherine who was leading them to some place she claimed was where the kid was living now. 

“Gem told me.” Katherine said, shrugging. “She was there when the hermits built it apparently.”

“And we’re going, why?” Joey asked, huffing as they walked into yet another untamed forest. Untamed wasn’t the right word. The forest had a path that traveled through it, but it was unused with the amount of elytra users on the server. 

“We scared the poor kid half to death when we first met him, I don’t want that to be the impression I make on him. As the princess of Glimmer Grove I can not let him believe he would be unwelcome in my kingdom.” Katherine explained, her walk not slowing. 

“So you’re going to apologize?” Joey said, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yes, and so are you.” Katherine stated.

“What?” Joey stopped in his tracks. “Oh no I am not. A pirate does not apologize. I did nothing wrong.” Joey crossed his arms, stopping his trek forward. Katherine paused as well, although she did not turn around. 

“Joey. Let’s go.” She said, venom slipping into her voice. 

Joey flinched slightly, “You can’t tell me what to do.”

Katherine snapped her head towards the pirate, “move.”

Joey snapped up from where he was leaning against a tree. “Fine! Fine! But I’m not apologizing. Shelby isn’t even here! She was there too, you know!”

“Shelby was going to talk to him on her own time.” Katherine stated, starting to walk forward again. Joey huffed but followed along, anyway. They followed the path, partly knowing that the path had to lead them at least close to the boy’s new house. 

They stopped in front of the oddly made house. The place was created by so many creative minds coming together it looked like builder’s word vomit. 

The path led right up to the front door of the house and was lined with flowers and mushrooms. A little garden was growing near a large window and a halfway built fenced pen was close by, too. There was even a little bench that overlooked the garden. 

“Oh, it looks homey!” Katherine cooed.

“It looks like a mess.” Joey grumbled, earning an elbow to the ribs and a ‘shut up’ from Katherine. 

Katherine shook her head and bounded up the path to the door. She politely knocked on the door expecting to hear some ruckus as someone came to open it. She heard nothing. 

She knocked again, wondering if the boy hadn’t heard her. 

Nothing.

“I don’t think he’s home.” Joey said, shrugging. He walked over to the garden and looked into the window. Just as he suspected all the candles were blown out and lights were off. There was nothing to show any life inside that house. 

“We must have missed him.” Katherine said. She seemed to think for a moment before noticing some sugarcane near a lake. “I’ll just leave a note.”

Katherine started toward the lake to gather the sugarcane, while Joey stayed behind. 

The man looked around the house, wondering if there was a back entrance. Don’t get him wrong he didn’t mean to be rude to the kid, but there was only so much niceness a pirate can handle. He never held any bias to any player before and he didn’t plan on changing that. Everyone was free game that was part of being a pirate, right?

Katherine came over a piece of paper in her hand as she wrote down a short note with her feather pen. “Dear Tommy, I, Princess of Glimmer Grove, hereby formally apologize for the unfortunate meeting we had. I seem to have missed you when I came by to personally apologize so this letter will have to do for now. I still hope to meet you and introduce you to my kingdom.’ How does that sound? Hm? Joey?”

Joey wasn’t paying any attention, instead he was focused on finding a way inside the house. There was an itch he wanted to scratch that meant for him to get inside. He felt like there was something that he should do. It wouldn’t be that hard to get in, he thought. Just a simple lock pick would do the job. 

Joey was called back to Katherine as she snapped fingers in front of him. “Joey, come on. You need to sign your name as well, possibly add an apology, too.”

Joey huffed, “Fine, hand it over.” He took the paper and pen, quickly scribbling a single word and his name. He gave it back to the Princess and looked back at the house. That itch wasn’t leaving. 

“Now, I’ll just leave it in his mail-he doesn’t have a mailbox.” Katherine sighed, she looked like she wanted to facepalm herself for not realizing it sooner. 

“‘Could just leave it in his house. He’ll see it then for sure.” Joey said, before realizing what he’d just suggested. 

“That would mean breaking into his home, we are not doing that.” Katherine shot down the idea quickly. 

“We’d only be leaving a letter. We just go in place it down then leave, no harm done.” Joey assured, turning back to the spruce door. 

“No. Absolutely not. You remember what Scott said!” Katherine stated, firmly. Joey only shrugged, he was so close to scratching that itch. 

“It was built by the Hermits anyway! The stuff they built is meant to be explored, remember? They’ve been showing us around their houses and bases since we arrived. They never cared when we barged in on them.” Joey reasoned, digging into his pockets for something. 

“He isn’t a hermit, Joey!” Katherine shouted, stomping a foot on the ground. Joey rolled his eyes, shrugging. 

“Then what is he? If he’s not a hermit? He’s not an Emperor. Is he a mob?” Joey asked, a bit snidely. He pulled out his lock pick and started fiddling around with the lock on the door. 

Katherine gasped, huffing angrily, “God, no, Joey. That is not what I meant and you know it.”

She stomped over to him and grabbed the lock pick from his hands before he could break into the door. Joey glared up at her, as his hands fell back into his pockets. “You realize I just have more, right?”

“Joey, this is completely wrong, how do you not see that?” Katherine huffed.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m a pirate and it’s literally kind of my thing?” Joey grumbled. He broke the lock open and the door swung open as if inviting them inside. “See, even the house wants us to go inside, it opened for us!”

Katherine shook her head, “I’m done. I’m not going in there. I tried to stop you, Joey.” She turned away with a shift of her dress and started the trek back. Joey huffed, shaking his own head. He turned around, a small bit of him was about to shut the door and forget it all happened. The other part of him wanted to finish what he started. 

He followed through enough to take a few steps inside. 

The first floor was separated into two levels. The area he walked into was a sitting room. There was a fireplace on one side and in front of it was a couch. There was an armor stand next to the fireplace, it was unadorned. On the back wall that also functioned as a stairwell, was a table and shelf. There were candles and plants and a few random items spread around. 

The sitting area was open to a kitchen that was up a single step higher. The kitchen was small and had a large window overlooking the garden. There was a small table for two people next to it. The end of the stairs to the second floor were open to the kitchen and cut off from the sitting area. One odd thing was the fact that every surface of the place was curved without any sharp edges. It was like the build had been child proofed.

Joey suddenly got an uneasy feeling as he looked around the room. There was something off about it. Something that made him want to close the door and leave. He took another step forward. 

The itch was gone, but it was replaced with this sickening feeling that he shouldn’t be there. 

He shook his head, turning around about to leave and forget it ever happened, when his eyes caught on something on a small barrel near the door. He looked around the room again and found this was the only thing that seemed to have a sign of someone living there. 

He picked it up out of curiosity.

It was a small black box connected to a long wire that ended off in two ear pieces. It was barely bigger than a communicator. There were a few buttons on one side and the whole thing seemed to open up to this smaller black box. 

Joey hummed, flipping it around to continue to inspect it. He’d never seen such a thing before. It certainly was unique. 

“So Scar just has a bow that can one-shot people while in the air?” 

Joey jumped, there were voices outside. He snapped his head towards the door that was still wide open. He shoved the thing into his pocket out of habit and raced out the door.

He wasn’t too sure where the people were, whoever they were, but he needed to get out of there quickly. He bounded down the pathway trying to catch up to Katherine who no doubt was much too far ahead of him. 

Either way, he fled the scene leaving the door open for who ever was coming back. 

“Yup. Out of nowhere and he’ll just shout ‘hot guy’ and boom gone.” Grian explained, as they walked from behind the new house. Tommy had gone to visit Scar that morning and ran into Grian on the way back. 

“And Xi-eye-zuma…how do you say his name, again?” Tommy asked as his tongue got mixed up with the syllables. Grian only laughed, a large grin on his face as Tommy turned bright red. 

“X-eye-suma, call him that to annoy him, then Xisuma if you actually want something.” Grian said, gladly explaining the best ways to mess with their admin. 

Tommy nodded, “But did he not stop him?” They walked around the house to the front. 

“Nope.” Grian said, offering no further explanation making Tommy even more confused. When they could see the front of the little home, Grian paused. “Toms, did you leave your door open?”

Tommy was stopped in his tracks as he stared at the open door. “No.” He said rather small. 

Grian hummed, but walked a little faster towards the open door and looked inside before Tommy could. He didn’t see anything at first, but he didn’t want to risk anything. Grian stepped into the home first and started looking around in case any mob made its way into the home.

Tommy peeked around the doorway, watching as Grian looked around first. The young blonde stepped into the home rather carefully, worried to step on a pressure plate or tripwire. 

Nothing seemed to have been touched at first glance. Grian was making his way up the stairs, when Tommy finally felt okay with being on the first floor. 

The blonde could feel uneasiness creeping into his chest. With Grian upstairs, Tommy still felt like something was watching him. He turned around in case there was someone behind him, but found no one. 

He swallowed hard trying to quiet his racing thoughts. He couldn’t help but think about the fact that someone might have broken into the house in the first moments of him having his own space. It wouldn’t be the first time. 

He couldn’t suppress a chirp from escaping him.

“Safe?” Tommy chirped up, hoping Grian would hear him even though he was quiet. 

It took a moment but Grian replied, “Yeah, we’re good, Tommy.” Grian was walking down the steps still inspecting everywhere he went with a glaring eye. Tommy nodded, trying to stop himself from the shakes he felt coming on. 

Tommy let out a breath and he turned to the barrel next to him. If he remembered correctly, he’d set his walkman down there before he left. He was finally getting used to leaving it for a few short moments. When Grian and Mumbo had found out they were ecstatic. 

When he looked over he felt the hole in his chest open wider. His breath was cut off as he choked on an inhale. 

It was gone.

“Grian.” Tommy gasped out. “Grian, it’s gone. It’s gone.”

Grian snapped over to the kid next to him when he heard his name. He looked between the barrel Tommy was staring at and the crumbling form of Tommy himself. 

Tommy was crumbling to the floor as his panicked breaths got shorter and faster then before. Tommy’s hand grabbed hold of his shirt trying to get his breath back in order. The boy was leaning against the spruce column and was slowly falling to the floor. 

Grian knelt down next to the blonde, “Tommy, breathe. Breathe, kid.” Tommy fingers had a knelt knuckle grip on whatever they could reach; being the floor and his own sweater. It wasn’t two seconds later when the first tears actually started falling down his face. 

“I can’t-I can’t. It’s gone. He took it. He took it, again. He’s back. I-” Tommy rambled, his eyes unseeing in front of him as he stared at the floor instead of Grian.

“What’s gone? Tommy, take a minute and breathe. Just breathe for a second.” Grian said, hands ghosting the boy’s shoulders. Tommy shook his head, inhaling too quickly, he continued to sob. 

“-music. I-he took it-again.” Tommy sobbed, a hand going up to rub his eye a bit too hard. Grian carefully took the hand away from the kid’s face, remembering the last time the kid had a panic attack he’d started punching. Grian looked up to the barrel, and started to understand. 

“You said you’d started leaving the walkman for short periods.” Grian recounted. Tommy nodded, his hand that Grian was holding started to grip tightly. Grian didn’t seem to mind as he continued, “You left it here didn’t you?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Tommy repeated over and over again, tears staining his face as he tried to apologize. Grian shook his head, he took the kid’s head in his hands to keep the kid from shaking so much. With Grian now cupping the kid’s face in his hands, Tommy was forced to focus on him, “You did nothing wrong. Don’t apologize. I just- who would- did anyone even…” Grian rambled off. 

Grian didn’t entertain the thought, “It’s fine.”

“He’s here, Grian. He’s here.” Tommy gasped out in raspy breaths, his whole body shaking and trying to move. “I need to hide.” Tommy whispered out, “He’s watching.”

Grian flinched as Tommy kept talking, there was something about the fear in his face when he talked. Grian was frozen for a moment as Tommy just crumbled in his hands, crying and talking in ramblings that only halfway made sense. 

It took a moment but Grian eventually gathered himself back up again to recognize what was happening. 

Someone had come into the boy’s home and taken what he’d promised was his. Something that he’d told the boy was only his and no one else could touch. Which is what he’d needed after what had been explained to him. He’d promised that no one would even dare think about taking it away from him. And yet, someone had. 

Grian grinded his teeth, “Tommy, Tommy, could you have just misplaced it?” Grian asked, as kindly and softly as he could while the anger boiled in him. He knew that there was no way Tommy would ever misplace that walkman, but he needed to get the kid to do something while he dealt with this. And there was no way he was letting the kid wallow in the corner while he did. 

Tommy looked up at him from his ball on the floor, eyes only looking at him through his eyelids. “I-misplaced?”

Grian nodded, “I promised you, no one was going to take it. We can look for it here. If it’s not here I’ll ask around, okay? But we will find it and it will be given back to you.”

“But if he took it then you can’t-we won’t.” Tommy tried to continue. 

“Tommy, trust me on this. We are going to find it.” Grian punctuated, earning a slow nod from the blonde. “Okay, can you stand up?”

Grian helped the younger avian slowly stand up, and walked him over to the couch that was placed in the sitting area. Tommy sat down at the edge of the couch and Grian walked back over to the kitchen.

With Tommy sitting rather impatiently and nervously on the couch, Grian focused on making a quick batch of tea. He moved a mixture of quickly and slowly trying to catch his breath from the fast pace morning that he’d just had. 

He poured two cups of tea, not as good as hot chocolate in his personal opinion, but it was what Pearl had stocked in Tommy’s kitchen. He placed the two cups on a tray and walked back to the sitting area. 

When he walked up to the blonde, the younger started to move and stand up. “Sit down, Tommy.” Grian said, placing the tray down on a little table. Tommy anxiously sat back down, biting his lip and looking around the room. Grian picked up one of the cups and handed it to Tommy, whose hands were shaking so bad Grian was afraid he’d spill it. 

“Tommy, it’s just the two of us in here. No one else. I already checked, remember. There’s no one upstairs or in the attic. No mod or player.” Grian assured, taking a sip of his own drink. Tommy nodded, he’d gone relatively silent now. 

The two sat there while Grian finished his drink. Tommy had taken about a sip of his before deciding he couldn’t stomach anymore. They sat in silence, outside of Grian’s odd reassurance to the sunshine blonde who continued to look around for someone not there. 

When Grian was finished, he placed it back down on the tray, picking it up and taking it back to the kitchen. He grabbed a few crackers and laid them next to the blonde before talking. 

“I’m going to go see if I can find out if anyone knows where your walkman might be, alright? While I’m gone, I need you to eat something and drink some, too. Then if you feel up to it, look around here in case it just got misplaced. Can you do that, toms? Do I need to get Scar or Mumbo down here?” Grian asked, placing a hand on the kid’s knee who was shaking still. 

Tommy shook his head, “I’m okay.”

Grian sighed, but nodded, “I’ll be back in a bit. I won’t be long.” He squeezed the kid’s knee before walking out of the house, closing the door lightly behind him. 

When he was outside, he took a long breath out. His head knocked back onto the door, quietly. He was going to have a long conversation with whoever he was about to catch. 

He debated messaging Mumbo and Scar to either help him or watch Tommy, but decided against it. The less people who know about this the better, he thought, no need in making a big scene of this.

He stalked down the path a little bit, until he noticed something he hadn’t seen before. 

While, yes, they had built the house for Tommy, they had left the outside mostly alone. Xisuma did a bit of the garden, but that only went out so far. And he certainly didn’t remember making a mailbox for the kid. 

And oddly enough there was something inside it.

Grian took a look at the letter that was more-or-less sticking out of the mailbox. He took a moment to look it over before deciding where he was heading to first. 

He felt like he needed to facepalm, because of course it was the Empires crew.

Grian sighed, before flying straight up into the air and towards the snowy donut. 

__

The Christmas village was unfortunately bustling with people when Grian flew by. A few of the Emperors were talking with different Hermits, while others seemed to be making time to prank or work with others. 

Joel, Jimmy and False were talking with Xisuma near Joel’s home. Sausage was listening to Cub rant about sculk, with Oli and Gem nearby. Cleo was sitting on a cliffside Bdubs and Etho rambling off to her about something. 

Grian ignored it all, landing a bit away from the ruckus to give himself a moment to compose himself. On the fly over, he’d slowly been boiling his anger inside. He couldn’t understand why someone would think in their right mind to take something from the kid. Especially, when he’d specifically told Scott to inform the Emperors to not mess with Tommy under any circumstances. 

It bothered him to no end. 

He just wanted to find Katherine and Joey, ask them what they knew and leave. If for some reason one of them had taken the walkman, then he’d deal with that then. He tried to make his brian understand that they were innocent until proven guilty, but that did little to soften his glare as he walked up the path. 

“Grian! Didn’t know you’d be joining us.” Xisuma said, his smile easily seen even if the mask he wore hid it. Grian didn’t say anything in response, his wings tense and jaw tensed. Xisuma paused when he relooked at Grian, he’d never seen the normally happy gremlin look like this. “You alright, G?”

At this point, the conversation with Jimmy, False and Joel had been stopped and the three were staring at him in confusion. 

“Do you know where Katherine is?” Grian asked, crossing his arms. 

Xisuma raised an eyebrow under his green helmet, “Not exactly. I’m sure she’s around here somewhere, but maybe you should calm down a bit first?”

“I’m perfectly calm, Xisuma.” Grian said, his fingers tapping on his elbow. 

Xisuma nodded slowly, “Yes, I’m sure. You definitely are calm, seeing as you just said my name correctly. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just need to talk to Katherine or Joey, either one.” Grian shrugged. 

“Yes, because you don’t look like you want to punch someone in the face.” Cleo said, from her spot on the cliffside, both Bdubs and Etho were also listening in. It wasn’t a regular sight to Grian mad. They’d probably only seen it once or twice before.

Grian huffed, “I just need to talk to them, that’s it.” He grumbled, “So if anyone knows where they are if you would kindly point me in that direction.”

“I’m right here, Grian.” Katherine mumbled, from the porch of one of the temporary residential homes for the emperors. She walked up to the blonde, although a tiny bit of her was nervous that he knew what had happened that morning, the other part was hoping it had nothing to do with it. 

“Katherine.” Grian greeted with a nod. 

“Grian.” Katherine offered back with a smile.

“You went by Tom’s place this morning, right?” Grian asked, the crowd going silent to hear the conversation. 

Katherine sighed, “Yes.”

“Was the door open?” Grian asked, working his way up to the question. He had yet to uncross his arms. 

“Not when I arrived.” Katherine said, her words specifically calculated, still she couldn’t help but swallow. 

“What about when you left?” Grian asked, his face showed no emotion other than apathy. His mouth formed in a thin line. 

“I’m not sure.” Katherine said, unsure. 

“Did you go inside?” Grian asked, unsure what to think. 

“No. Of course I didn’t! I wouldn’t do that!” Katherine shouted, cutting the air with his hand. Grian nodded in understanding. 

“But Joey would.” He said, sure of himself now. 

Katherine took in a sharp breath, “And if he did?” She whispered. 

“Grian, Katherine, what’s going on?” Xisuma asked, not likely the way things were going in the conversation. He knew Grian would only be mad if there was genuinely a reason for it, but at the same time he wanted to be welcoming to their server guests. He wasn’t sure where he should side. 

“Then I want to talk to him.” Grian stated, ignoring Xisuma, something he never did. 

“Whatever happened, I’m sure he didn’t mean it.” Katherine explained, trying to sound calm. 

“I’m sure he didn’t think he meant anything by it, but that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Grian said, shrugging. “He didn’t think.” Grian spat the words out, before sighing. He knew deep down somewhere that his anger would get him nowhere. He knew truthfully that everyone on the server were nice people, and none of them wanted to cause any harm to anyone. It didn’t stop himself from feeling hidden feathers under his sweater from turning purple. He shook his head, “I’m sorry, Katherine, you’re right. He probably didn’t mean anything by it, but I still need to talk to him.”

“I know.” Katherine sighed, “But I truly don’t know where Joey is.” 

“Oh, me? I’m right here.” Joey called from the roof of Joel’s home. He of course wanted to make a dramatic entrance into the scene. 

“Get off of my roof, you flipping sea junkie!” Joel yelled over the group at the pirate. 

The pirate rolled his eyes before hopping off the roof to where Grian and Katherine were standing. He grinned at the blonde avian before talking, “Hello, Grian! What did you want to talk about?”

“You went into his house, didn’t you?” Grian asked right off the bat. Joey didn’t say anything at first, he looked around to the people watching the scene unfold. 

“So what if I did? You hermits have let roam around for a while, didn’t think it’d drive you mad.” Joey smirked.

“Yeah, I get that. Then again if something is behind a locked door they probably don’t want you going in there, then do they?” Grian asked, “But that’s only half of what you did, if I’ve got this right.” Grian said, his hands falling into his pockets. 

“What else would I have done? What could I possibly want?” Joey asked, his smirk grimacing. 

“Oh, I don’t know, how about the one major thing people do when they get into a locked place, they take something.” Grian exaggerated, rolling his eyes. 

“You took something?” Katherine seethed, glaring at the pirate. When her eyes were not met by the pirate who was nervously avoiding her, she grumbled, “You took something!”

Before Katherine could yell anything else Grian cut her off, “I just want it back, Joey. Just give it back and never tell Tommy you took it.” Grian said, holding out his hand for the device. 

Joey sighed, shoving a hand into his jacket pocket and pulling out the walkman. He laid it in Grian’s hand, shoving his own back into his pockets. 

“Oh, I can’t believe you! You-You!” Katherine groaned, “Grian, we are so so sorry. I just wanted to apologize for making such a bad impression with him the other day. I don’t know what Joey was thinking.” Katherine explained, kindly.

Grian smiled, slightly, “It’s fine, Katherine. Just, please, don’t do it again. Kid’s been through enough already. He had a full on panic attack before I came here to get it back.”

And if that sentence didn’t set them off…

“Is he alright, Grian?” Xisuma asked, quickly.

“Is he with Scar or Mumbo, right now?” Gem asked, already knowing Impulse and Pearl were still at their base. 

“What do you mean by a panic attack?” Joel asked, confused having never even seen the kid, yet. 

“What set him off?” Cleo asked, both Bdubs and Etho also listening. 

“The same thing I came here for, Cleo.” Grian said, holding the walkman up for them to see, before putting it in his inventory. 

“What is that?” Bdubs asked, “Is it a clock?”

“Nope, just a thing Mumbo whipped up for him a while ago after I asked him to. It plays music for him.” Grian explained, he turned back to Joey. 

“I didn’t know it would cause that. I’ve just never seen anything like that before. Thought he might have more or know how to make more. I didn’t realize…” Joey didn’t finish. 

Grian shook his head, “It’s alright, mate. Don’t worry about it, but also don’t do it again. You didn’t take any of the tapes did you?” Joey shook his head and Grian let out a sigh of relief, “Wonderful.”

“Is he alright now, G?” Xisuma asked, coming up behind them. 

Grian turned and thought for a moment, “He will be. I told him to look around the place for it while I came here. I told him he probably just misplaced it, which is why I say don’t tell him you took it, Joey. Kid has a history of things getting taken away from him and it sent him into that panic when he thought it’d been stolen.”

Xisuma sighed and nodded, backing away.

Grian turned back to Katherine, the last bit of anger he had had slipped away. “By the way, where’s Shelby? I thought she was always with you two?”

“Oh, she went by to go to see Tommy herself.” Katherine said, “She left only a few minutes before you arrived.”

Grian felt the color drain from his face, “Oh no.”

____

Shelby had used a teleportation spell to get her to the boy’s home a bit faster rather than flying. Plus, she didn’t really have her broom and she wasn’t too adept at flying with those bulky elytras. 

She stumbled a bit once she arrived on the grassy ground of the forest rather than the snowy biome she was just in. 

“Woah, I really need to work on that landing.” She muttered to herself, readjusting her overalls. When she looked up she was met with the odd looking home, causing her to smile knowing she’d teleported to the right spot. 

She picked up her basket that had falling from her hands, inside it was a couple of things she thought the kid might like. She had a couple of regular potions like night vision, water breathing, and a few more, but she also had a few of her special potions, too. One’s like frog transformation, size changing, and freezing. 

She straightened the potions making sure none were cracked as she walked up to the door. When she knocked on the door she expected it to swing open, instead there was a clatter from inside as things fell. 

The door cracked open and a small face peeked through. Two faded blue eyes covered in scarred skin glared at her. Shelby tried to smile in a kind way but there was something about those two eyes that told her that they weren’t really seeing. 

The door didn’t open anymore and the boy just whispered, “Who are you?”

His voice was shaky and broken. 

“Oh, I’m Shelby! I met you the other day, down at Sausage’s tavern? I only really got the chance to introduce myself.” Shelby explained, she shifted the basket in his arms. 

“Why are you here?” He asked, suddenly. 

“I brought a gift! I don’t think we had a good first meeting, so I thought I’d come by with some goodies. So I brought some potions I brewed up! You see I’m a witch-a good one don’t worry!” Shelby rambled. 

The two eyes looked her up and down, “Gifts? Why would you…did he send you? Is he here?” Was asked rapidly. 

Shelby had no idea who he was, “I don’t-I don’t know who you’re talking about. I-I came alone. Are you alright?” She asked, a hand reaching out on instinct to help. Although her outstretched hand seemed to cause more problems as the boy flinched away from the door. 

The boy stumbled back from the door falling down onto the floor as the door swung fully open. The boy was breathing quickly as his eyes darted between himself, the open door and Shelby. 

“Oh shoot, I’m so sorry.” Shelby muttered as the boy scooted back so his back was pressed against the couch. She barely made another move, before the boy was darting around again. When the blonde stood up a bit too quickly, Shelby took a step forward worried he’d fall. The blonde however rushed around her and slammed the door closed with a shout. 

“Don’t let him in!” The boy yelled as he shut the door tightly, holding the door in place as if someone was about to break in when there was no one else outside. 

Shelby spun around trying to keep the boy in the frame of her vision. The boy slid down the door a bit letting out a breath. His eyes saw through Shelby for a moment before he picked up his foot a bit. He carefully stuck a hand into his boot taking out a tiny pocket knife. 

The knife was barely bigger than his hand, the handle looked well worn and engraved. The blade was too dull to cut anything badly though. Still he held it out like it was his only protection. 

“Why-Why did you come in here?” Tommy asked, pointing the knife at the witch. The witch however wasn’t phased at all, only concerned. 

“You looked like you might’ve fallen, I’ll just set this down.” Shelby placed the basket down on a little table, keeping her hands in sight. Tommy went from pointing his knife at her to the basket like he expected the basket to come alive and hurt him. 

“What’s in there?” He asked, staring wide eyes at all the potions. Shelby smiled slightly. 

“Well, there’s some normal ones like levitation, night vision but I also added some of my own! I once turned a llama into a person, he didn’t really enjoy it, in either state. But there’s some like frog transformation or size changing…” Shelby listed off. 

“Is-Is this a trap? Did he set you up for this? Is he watching?” Tommy asked, looking around the room desperately. His eyes searching for something but never finding it, he decided to just go back to the person he knew was in the room. “I know he’s here, so- so don’t lie to me.” 

Tommy gripped the knife with both hands, his fingers shaking in their grip. 

“I truly don’t know what you're talking about.” Shelby said, her hands held out in front of her so the boy, because that’s what he was really, could see them. 

A slight crinkle in the trees outside had Tommy swiveling around to try and see an intruder. “Did you hear that? Was that him? He’s here, isn’t he? You’re just the distraction!”

“I didn’t hear anything.” Shelby said, truthfully, looking around. But her words did little to ease the boy’s fears. 

“I know he’s here, that green m*therf*cker! I know! I know, I’m not stupid!” He screamed up at the ceiling, “I might not know where you are exactly, but I know you’re around here.”

Shelby shook her head, “Hey, maybe you should sit down?” She took a step forward but the second her foot landed on the floor the boy’s knife and attention was back towards her. 

The boy looked at her with wide blue eyes that she felt peer into her with fear. He looked down at her foot that was only an itch closer to him, he flinched backwards like it was too much. 

“Floorboards. He’s under the floorboards. The tunnels.” He muttered under his breath. The boy fell onto the floors with a thud, paying no mind to his knees that took the brunt of his fall. His fingers slipped towards the end of the boards and started pulling. 

Shelby quickly moved forward, “Woah, woah, woah, hey, don’t do that! You’re going to get splinters. There’s no one underneath your house, I swear!” She grabbed the boy’s hands before he did any real damage, and with her fingers touching his, the boy screamed. 

“Gah!” He snatched his hand out from under hers and held them close to his chest. He grabbed his knife back, yielding it in front of himself. “Stop. Doing that.”

“Doing what? I don’t understand!” Shelby said, moving back, shoving her hands at her sides in fists. 

“That! Stop acting like you don’t understand what’s going on! You’re supposed to be the distraction!” Tommy yelled, anger seeping into his voice rather than the fear that had been there. 

“But I don’t! I don’t get it! There is no one here, except the two of us! And you’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t calm down.” Shelby huffed out. 

“Like you would care, d*ckhead!” Tommy shouted, sticking out his tongue.

“You are a child!” Shelby grumbled out. The boy lifted the knife higher, but Shelby was nowhere near afraid of that metal stick.

“Do not call me a child.” Tommy seethed, his lip quivering as he shook. 

Shelby sighed, “Okay, I’m sorry.” She raised her hands like she was giving up. Tommy paused, his shaking stopped for a split moment. He just stared at the brunette.

“You what?” Tommy whispered, the knife fumbling in his hands. 

Shelby raised a brow, “I said I was sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled, you’re obviously not in the right state of might right now and it’s not helpful for me to yell.” She explained as if it was as simple as that. 

That explanation only made the blonde more confused, “You apologized? Why would you apologize? That doesn’t-that shouldn’t have happened. You- you really don’t know who he is?” Tommy asked, once again. 

“No, I don’t!” Shelby was exhausted of this conversation, she was getting nowhere. The boy just kept referring to this person as him and that was not helping. 

The blonde seemed to hear another noise that Shelby doubted existed, only this time he turned towards the stairwell in his home. He raced over to the little platform that held the kitchen area and pointed his knife at the stairs. “Are you up there? You’re in the walls aren’t you? Tired of digging tunnels you sick freak!” 

Shelby watched as the boy spun around pointing his knife at the walls. Even knowing Shelby was not a part of whatever this was, he was still stuck on the idea there was someone there.

Tommy shook his head when he got no reply, he turned back to the witch and stared with a fearful expression only this time he was no longer afraid of her. “He is watching us. He’s always watching. Waiting for the best time…then he’ll show up. I just have to be ready.”

The boy was so kept on this idea he was being watched that Shelby was starting to believe it. But what weirdo would watch a kid in his home?

That was when a few rockets went off in the distance. It even startled Shelby a bit, but she calmed after a second realizing what it was. The blonde however was stricken frozen. 

Shelby turned about to make a joke about the firework-rockets when she saw the boy was shaking more now. 

The boy was holding the knife in a white knuckle grip pointed at the front door. “He’s here.” He whispered, Shelby could barely hear it. More rockets went off, slowly getting closer and more were heard too in quick succession. “No. No. Not again. No more explosions! Please!” 

Tommy was crying at this point, having kept the tears in for as long as he could. He couldn’t hold back his shouts and screams anymore. He didn’t want this place to be one of the many to fall under Dream’s hands. How many times had his home been destroyed by that man? Just when he thought he found something safe. He knew he’d never really be safe.

“Please, I swear I’ll be good!” Tommy yelled, running to the other side of the room, he wasn’t sure what he was doing anymore. All he knew was he needed an exit. He needed to get out. The explosions were getting closer, he realized. 

He gripped the bricks of the little fireplace in the sitting area. Maybe there was a secret exit, yeah, there had to be. He hit at the bricks and pulled, he even tried to pry one off with his knife. Nothing worked. 

Then the door was open. 

Tommy spun around, knife in hand to protect himself if someone got to close. He knew it was dull from use, but if he put enough force into it, it could do some damage. 

He could see Shelby, that witch, looking between him and the person who’d just walked in-well more like barged in. 

Grian hadn’t exactly made the most calm entrances. 

Shelby was watching Tommy hurry around the little house, desperately screaming about being good and needing to leave. She tried to stop him but he wasn’t hearing her anymore. 

Then the fireworks had stopped and rushing footsteps could be heard, before the door slammed open. Grian looked like he’d been through a tornado from the way his hair was ruffled and sweater was askew. He’d most likely flown much too fast from the use of his own wings and rockets.  

“Tommy!” He shouted getting both of their attention. The older blonde looked between Tommy’s face and the knife in his hands, if his heart was beating fast it just went up ten notches. 

Grian let out a tiny breath as he tried to act calm. That’s what he needed to do. He needed to deescalate whatever situation was going on, and to do that he needed to be calm-act calm. 

He held out one hand in front of him trying to keep Tommy’s attention on him, which was working, judging by the fact that the kid was pointing the knife at him. 

“Why are you here!” Tommy shouted, Grian realized then he didn’t exactly recognize him just yet. He turned his attention back to Shelby, letting the knife wander between the two of them. “Did-Did you bring him? You were a distraction! What are you going to do? What did you blow up?”

Tommy was asking too many questions and Grian didn’t have time to answer every last one, “Tommy, Tommy listen to me.”

Tommy pointed the knife back at him, good, he thought. 

“Eyes on me, kid. Right here.” Grian pointed to his own eyes, “You’ve got to calm down, okay? Just put the knife down.” Grian said, calmly even though on the inside he was freaking out.

Tommy shook his head, making a sound of disagreement. Grian only smiled, “Okay, Shelby, what happened? Explain everything.”

Shelby’s wide eyes looked at Grian whose back was to her. “Okay, well, I came here with some potions as a gift. He was already like this. He kept asking me questions about if I was distracting for someone. He’s been freaking out about noises that don’t exist. He thinks there’s someone in his floors-or ceiling-or walls, or all of it. He won’t believe me when I say I’m alone. And when the rockets went off he started talking about ‘being good’.” Shelby explained, quickly in a ramble. 

Grian nodded, “Okay, alright, thank you, Shelby.”

“Do-Do you want me to go?” She asked, carefully. 

Grian shook his head, “No, no, don’t move.” He said, slowly moving closer, approaching like Tommy was a wild animal. “Tommy, there is no one and I mean no one else here, except the three of us. No one is here to hurt you or anyone else.”

“He also kept saying someone was watching.” Shelby pointed out in a lull in the conversation. 

“Watching?” Grian muttered, he looked at the floor for a moment but ignored it. 

“Just go away! Go away!” Tommy yelled, tears slipping down his cheeks. 

Grian shook his head, “I can’t do that, bird.” Grian said, letting the name slip. More rockets went off closer before multiple landings were heard outside. 

“What was that!” Tommy shouted out, pointed the knife towards the door. Grian grumbled under his breath, already knowing who all it was. 

“It’s fine. It’s just some other hermits and emperors, Tommy. None of them are going to come in here though.” Grian said, hoping that those outside would hear. He wasn’t that lucky. 

“Grian, is everything alright?” Xisuma asked as he slowly came around the open door. When the admin saw the scene his eyes widened behind the visor. “Grian?”

“X, I need you to leave.” Grian said in his best sweet voice he could manage. 

Tommy was staring at the green admin with the widest eyes yet. “No. No. Stay away. I knew you were lying! I knew it! I’ll-I’ll stab you! I will! I’ll kill you if I have to!” Tommy was saying loudly. 

Xisuma from, “Grian, where did he get a knife? I thought we proofed this place.” The admin said, speaking about how the group had proofed the whole house after building it in case of emergencies like these when they needed to keep this kid safe. 

“I don’t know, Xisuma.” Grian huffed out sweetly, again. “But I’ll find out, but I need you to get out before he puts a knife into something.” Grian said, a stiff smile splat on his face. 

Xisuma nodded, the admin slowly backed away. 

“And make sure no one else comes in here. Get everyone out of here, I have it under control. Do not use rockets to leave. Walk, at least until you’re a hundred blocks away.” Grian said to the leaving admin. Xisuma nodded again before starting to inform the others that had followed him. 

Tommy was still pointing his knife towards where Xisuma was, “Where’d he go? What’s going on?”

“I told him to leave, Tommy. He’s leaving, okay? So you can calm down. No one is watching you. No one is hiding in your house, you’re okay. Right, Shelby?” Grian asked. 

Shelby nodded, aggressively. “Yes, yes, absolutely.”

Grian nodded, a bit calmer, “See? So just put the knife down. Neither of us are going to hurt you and I know you don’t want to hurt us.”

Tommy shuddered through a sob, and his hands dropped from exhaustion. The knife fell with them. 

Grian let out a large sigh when he heard the knife clatter to the ground. He didn’t let the break in the tension stop him though. 

“Tommy, hey, I got something I need to show you.” Grian said, taking a step forward slowly, in case Tommy showed any signs he didn’t want him any closer. The boy didn’t move so he took that as a good sign. Tommy looked up at him, with concerned eyes, tears still bubbling down his cheeks. 

Grian pulled the walkman out of his inventory and held it out in front of him. Tommy’s eyes widened a bit, though this time in a good way, as he let his fingers take hold of it. 

“Found it?” Tommy asked, not looking up.

“Yup, you left it in my base yesterday. So no one took it. Everything’s fine. I promise.” Grian lied, but the lie was for the better. He didn’t feel like ruining Tommy’s chance of making friends with anyone, even the pirate. 

Tommy nodded, and let the weight of his exhaustion take hold. The younger avian’s knees fell out from under him, and in seconds the older had caught him. 

“Woah, woah, careful.” Grian chided, carefully. Grian helped him sit down on the wooden floors. Tommy leaned against the older, still watching the walkman as he calmed down a bit more. 

Shelby carefully sat down in front of them, with a nod from Grian. 

“Not exactly the best introduction, huh?” Grian joked with the witch, earning a small smile. 

“Better than a few others, honestly.” Shelby shrugged. “The first time I met Fwhip I made his ears huge.”

Grian let out a breathy laugh. Tommy let his head drop onto the older avian’s shoulder as he studied over the brunette witch. Grian was rubbing a hand over the boy’s shoulder, trying to keep the boy from crying anymore. 

“I know it sounds odd, but I guess I understand what he was meaning…to an extent, I mean.” Shelby shrugged. Tommy looked up at her.

“You do?” Tommy asked, quietly words still shaken by his voice that was recovering from yelling and crying. 

Shelby nodded, “I haven’t talked to a lot of people about it, but when I was in the Mangrove I always thought I was being watched. The Mangrove being my empire on our server. I came from a little witching school, but I was kicked out for one too many messes.” Shelby explained, she was more so talking to Tommy rather than Grian, which was fine by the older. 

“Messes?” Tommy wondered, his brain firing off at the thought of someone being kicked out for a mess.

“Yeah, I’m not the best at what I do but I do try. I might’ve caused a couple of explosions or fires, but they were all accidents. I guess I just caused too much trouble.” Shelby said, she couldn’t ignore the way the younger’s eyes looked her over in a new light. “I went to the Mangrove a bit afterwards, I didn’t like it there to begin with but it’s become my home. I have friends and safety that I couldn’t have asked for anywhere else.”

She paused, “But, my witching school isn’t the biggest fan of my usage of magic. They’ve been sending me notes and letters trying to get me to stop, they basically marked me as a rogue witch. I can’t help but be a little scared by all the fog that makes my base hard to see, anyone could be watching me and I wouldn’t know.” She quickly moved on to a different topic, “But I have friends who are more than willing to help me if something happens.” Shelby tossed a glance at Grian who smiled. 

“And so do you.” Shelby finished, “Got it?”

Tommy looked her over once more, before nodding. She smiled, turning back to Grian. 

“Thanks.” He said, glancing at Tommy who was cowering into his shoulder again. 

“No problem. The potions are over there on the counter, I should be going now. I’ll see you around, Grian. Bye Tommy!” Shelby said, before pulling out her magic wand. She muttered a spell, tapping herself on the head with her wand and she disappeared. 

She quickly reappeared a few feet away, stumbling as she was now standing. She giggled a bit looking over to the two who were watching her. “Heh, wrong way.”

She disappeared again and this time didn’t reappear. 

Grian assumed she made it back to the Christmas Village. The older let out a sigh as all the tension in the room left, leaving him and Tommy in a dimly lit room with the door wide open and a lot of unanswered questions. 

He’d barely let his eyes closed before he heard his name being called out. 

“Grian!”

Grian huffed. “In here!” He called back out. 

A second or two later a very tall mustached man came around the corner and not far behind him was a slightly short brunette.

“Is everything alright?” Mumbo asked as he came closer. 

“We heard a bit of what happened from Xisuma.” Scar explained, leaning down on one of his canes. 

Grian nodded, “Yup, we’re all good.”

Mumbo hummed a bit, unbelieving, “Yeah, sure. Doesn’t look like things were entirely pleasant here.” He gestured to the only halfway conscious Tommy. Scar frowned. “You know X wants you to talk to him about what happened, right?”

“Yeah, I know. I just needed to get them all out of here. It wasn’t going to help being surrounded on all sides.” Grian sighed.

“So I guess we’re adding paranoia to our list?” Mumbo asked, settling down onto the couch but leaning forward so he was on the very edge.

“Along with a few other things, I’m starting to think about.” Grian said, “But I’ll explain that in a second. Just need a minute.” 

“Well, I’m making tea!” Scar said, even though the other two were British, Scar really was the main tea-person between the three of them. Grian opting for hot chocolate and Mumbo always going for coffee. Grian rolled his eyes knowing where this was heading. 

“At least pick up the knife when you go over there.” Grian asked. Both Mumbo and Scar were startled at that. 

“Knife?” Mumbo asked, turning to see where Scar was. There right in front of the brunette was that dull knife. 

“Where did he get this?” Scar asked, picking it up sadly. 

“Had it on him, I think.” Grian said, he caught the two looks Scar and Mumbo gave him and finished quickly, “He didn’t get a chance to use it, don’t worry. Got him to drop it after a bit. Scar just hide it? I’m not really sure.” 

Scar nodded, putting it into his inventory and making his way to the kitchen to make that tea. 

___

The empires arena was built outside of the donut and spread across over two chunks. 

The arena was surrounded like an old coliseum with tall quartz pillars and light blue ascents. The inside of the area was a flat dirt patch with random rocks and boulders that acted as cover. On either side there was a room for fighters to prepare themselves before the fight actually began. 

The walls surrounding the coliseum were set up above the dirt patch so that people could sit and watch whatever was happening. The seats circled around the whole place and was pretty much too big for no reason. 

Joel had wanted to mimic the arena he had in their server over on the Hermits side so he could still fight. Grian had ended up helping the god-ish man build it. 

And since its completion, Joel had been challenging just about anyone he could. He even had a tent sent up where people could sign up for such pvp fights. 

A referee platform looked over the whole arena and on either side there were two banners. One had every winner while the other had the losers, the banners were reset everyday.

So far no one had been able to beat Joel, not False, not Iskall, not Gem, no one.

And to be honest, Grian was getting a bit tired of it. 

The parrot-hybrid in question was watching the morning rounds in the stands above. He was leaned back in his seat, his legs kicked up onto the backs of the seats in front of him. 

Next to him was Tommy who had joined him this morning, watching the fighting intently. 

It didn’t take a lot to notice the way Grian continued to glance over to the younger who was leaned forward on the edge of his seat glaring at the arena. 

A few others were also watching. Gem who had just finished another round with the brunette was being patched up by Zedaph. Rendog and Bdubs were watching a bit closer to the fence that separated them from falling into the arena, Bdubs sometimes shouting something to encourage the opponent to Joel. Etho was watching, a few seats away from them. 

Some emperors were also in the area. Sausage was cheering Joel on from the opposite side of the coliseum. Lizzie was right beside him, deciding to join them on the Hermit side for the day at least. And then there was Pixl and Scott acting as the referees, or well, Scott was the referee and Pixl was there to commentate the whole game.

“And next up we have Fwhip from Gobland stepping up!” Pixl commentated out to the arena. 

Fwhip came out from the opposite side of the arena, he donned the same iron armor that Joel had and the same set of iron tools. He held his shield in one had and a sword in the other. 

The goblin grinned up at the taller brunette who had met him in the middle of the field. 

Scott called their attention up to him so he could repeat the rules of the game. 

“Alright, good clean fight, think we all know the rules by now: No enchantments, no potions, nothing above iron and no outside forces, boys.” Scott instructed. “You get five arrows, an axe, a bow, and a sword. Set our spawns in the rooms provided and stand at your door when you’re ready. When I say go you go.”

Both of them nodded before turning around back to where they came from and set their spawns. 

When Joel and Fwhip were prepped and ready at the edge of the rooms, Scott raised his hands up. He looked between them for any last minute questions, and let his hands fall with a shout, “Go!”

And the fight commenced. 

“Come on, Fwhip!” Bdubs yelled, standing up at the edge.

Other than that there was a silence as they fought. 

“Looks like Fwhip has used his third arrow, none of it hit, yet. Joel is staking it out near his side, we’ll have to see what he comes up with to get himself out of this situation. Fwhip seems to have him cornered behind this rock.” Pixl stated, recording the whole thing with a voice recording. 

Grian rolled his eyes knowing he’d be using this for a recap later on. 

“He’s hiding.” Tommy muttered, the first thing he’d said, yet. He’d been completely silent through out the first two fights, studying the whole thing. 

Grian looked over, “Well, he doesn’t have a lot of room to move. Honestly if Fwhip gets him, I’ll be right chuffed. Joel’s got a lot of ego in that head of his.” Grian said. 

Tommy hummed in response. 

“Joel’s managed to get himself out with a swift side swipe at Fwhip’s armor. It was a risky move earning him a good hit with Fwhip’s axe, but he’ll be able to get more coverage now.” Pixl described.

“He should’ve cut him off.” Tommy whispered under his breath. 

Grian looked over confused at what the other blonde was talking about. 

Fwhip took a leap at Joel, only for him to step out of the way, but the goblin slid enough to get a good shot at the other’s ankle. 

“Joel’s been hit with an arrow in the ankle, but now Fwhips on the ground. An easy target.” Pixl said. 

Joel took his chance using his ax to get at Fwhip easily. The fight ended not much after that. Fwhip’s things splattering onto the ground as Joel raised his hands in victory again. 

Lizzie and Sausage cheered on as Scott announced the winner. Pixl said a few more words after that but was drowned out by Ren and Gem’s polite clapping and Bdubs and Zedaph’s slight groan. 

Tommy flopped back into his seat, crossing his arms as he huffed. 

Grian chuckled a bit at Tommy’s reaction. 

When the small crowd silenced a bit Scott spoke again, “That’s the last game for today everyone!”

“Aw, come on Scott! I’m sure someone else wants to? We can do a last minute entry.” Joel said, knowing full well about the smirk on his face when he spoke. Scott only sighed. 

“I don’t think anyone else here has the energy.” Scott muttered.

Joel rolled his eyes, “What about you Grian?” Joel shouted up at the parrot hybrid.

Grian who’d been trying to keep his appearance to a minimum was not happy about being shouted out as eyes snapped to him. Still he plaster on a smile for them. 

“Nope. Not today.” Grian called down, shrugging like he didn’t really care. Everyone went back to their own conversations after that. Bdubs and Ren moved to talking to Zedaph and Gem, while Joel was walking over to Sausage and Lizzie still staying in the pit. 

“Why don’t you want to fight him?” Tommy asked. 

“I have no reason to.” Grian said.

“He asked you to though? Isn’t that enough?” Tommy asked back.

“With anyone else, maybe. With Joel, no. Joel has a flair for the dramatics that I don’t have. His only reason for fighting is to prove he can, to show everyone that he really is whatever god he claims to be.” Grian explained, nonchalantly.

Tommy straightened a bit, confusion lacing his brow, “He claims to be a god?”

“Yeah, his whole thing for their season of Empires is that he is a God.” Grian said, like he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell onto the other. 

“Does he truly believe he is one?” Tommy asked, before changing his sentence, “Is he one? Is that why no one’s beat him?”

“I’m not sure.” Grian wondered, “I don’t really think he is a god, but maybe? Their server is different from Hermitcraft so I can never be too sure.”

“Either way,” Tommy grumbled, “wouldn’t whatever god he imitates be angry?”

Grian looked over Tommy again, who was studying the battlefield again. “Tommy, where are you going with this?”

Tommy huffed and bit his lip. You see, deep down he was getting bored. He was getting so so bored. He was a trained soldier for f*ck’s sake! He had had nothing to fight, he couldn’t even keep his skills up with out to much suspicion. 

And now, here was the perfect opportunity! This guy truly believed he was a god! He could see it. He could see it in the way the man looked at the world, the little glint in his eyes. 

Now, Tommy had once thought he was quite religious. He’d even created the Church of Prime. But there was something about people claiming to be gods and then betting the sh*t out of him that turned him off of the idea. He still enjoyed going to the Prime Lands they were really the only sense of calm he could ever get, knowing the no violence rules that applied to them, but it had lost its magic a long time ago. 

He had no problem with others believing in what they wanted though, he only believed people crossed the line when they claimed themself to be a god. No good ever came from that in Tommy’s book. 

If you were going to make such a claim you better be able to prove it. 

Back to his initial thinking though, he had been studying each of the rounds as they commenced. He noted so many flaws in each of them that he knew would have Wilbur or Techno shouting at him for hours. 

Why had Fwhip slid when he should have know that would put himself in a vulnerable position?

Why did Gem aim so far out, she needed to keep her knees bent in case of emergencies.

Etho needed to plan in movements, they were to sporadic.

But overall, he knew how they played this ‘game’. 

And he wanted a chance. 

“I want to try.” Tommy whispered, but Grian heard it all too well. 

The man tensed up, “Excuse me?” 

“I want to fight him.” Tommy said again, this time he looked Grian dead in the eyes. The same way he looked at Wilbur when he was about to fight Dream in the duel. His shoulders back, chin held out proudly, and feet shoulder width apart. 

“Are-are you crazy? No. No, I’m not letting you do that.” Grian argued, shaking his head rapidly. 

“Mumbo said this server has unlimited lives, right?” Tommy pointed out. 

“Yes. Yes, it does, but that doesn’t mean-”

“Then let me try.” Tommy interrupted. 

“No.” Grian stopped him.

“Why?” Tommy asked, not expecting this much resistance. 

“Because-because you…you’re…” Grian tried, but no reason came to his mind.

“I’m not weak, you know?” Tommy said, shortly. 

“I never said that.” Grian defended, “But I don’t like the idea of my friend fighting my kid.” 

Tommy crossed his arms, his eyes almost looked sad if not for a tiny fire still burning in them. “If you don’t let me, I’ll just do it by myself. You won’t be able to stop me.”

“Don’t say that.” Grian grumbled under his breath. He sighed. 

“You know it’s the truth, though.” Tommy pointed out, his voice quieter. 

Grian sighed, “You-pesky bird.” He grumbled under his breath. He did know Tommy would just go behind his back and do it anyway. There was no way of stopping a stubborn Tommy. “Why do you even want to?” 

“I need to.” Tommy answered, easily, shrugging. 

“That’s not a reason.” Grian said, pointing a finger at the younger. 

“Well, it’s enough for me.” Tommy said. 

Grian ran a hand down his face, “And if you get hurt?”

Tommy only chuckled, “I’ll be fine.”

Grian huffed, “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.”

Tommy grinned, something large and cocky. “Too late for it now, old man.” He turned and started walking towards the little isle to head to where the rest of the people were. He waited a moment for Grian who was muttering something under his breath as he walked up. 

“But we do this by my rules. Got it? I can cut it off whenever I think I should.” Grian said, quickly. 

Tommy nodded, “Deal.” 

Grian nodded, part of him sighing in relief while another was still a bit upset with this whole idea. The two walked over to where Scott was leaning against a pillar near the referee platform. He was speaking to Pixl when the two noticed the pair coming closer. 

Scott turned first with a smile, while Pixl looked a bit confused at the new ‘hermit’ he’d never heard about. 

“Hey, Grian, wasn’t expecting to see you in the crowd.” Scott said, nodding at Tommy as a greeting. Pixl however was just more confused. 

“I’m sorry, but did I miss something?” Pixl asked, pointing between the two, “Was there some sort of weird hermit cloning system I’m not aware off?”

Grian only laughed, “Nope, Pix this is Tommy. Tommy, Pixlriffs. Toms not really a hermit, not entirely, he just kind of showed up during Season eight in Boatem. We just took care of him till he disappeared and reappeared.”

“Oh, you’re that Tommy. Got it.” Pixl nodded, still looking a bit confused. 

“What can we help you with, Grian?” Scott asked, with a smile.

Grian sighed about to explain when Tommy cut in. “I want to fight him.” Tommy said, quickly and shortly. 

Both Pixl and Scott’s eyes widened a bit, “You- want to fight Joel?” Scott asked, a colored eyebrow raised. 

Tommy nodded. “And you’re okay with this?” Scott asked Grian, who sighed but nodded. 

Scott looked over Tommy once again before nodding and calling over the bearded fighter. 

“Joel! Get over here!” Scott yelled. Suddenly Grian could feels eyes back on him as everyone watched Joel make his way over to the four. 

When Joel was close by he placed his arms up on the floor of the seating area. The man looked up at them in confusion. 

“Yeah? What’s up?” He asked, “Hey G.” He greeted the hermit, before noticing the smaller one. Joel was about to say something when Grian cut him off. 

“This is my son, Joel, so watch what you say.” Grian said, an unimpressed look on his face. Joel wilted back a bit before relooking over the two in shock. 

“I thought it was a joke. You actually have a kid? Since when? How is that even possible?” Joel asked, looking the kid up and down in confusion. 

“It is not a joke, Joel.” Grian repeated. 

Joel nodded, before looking Tommy in the eye and asking, “So how were you conceived?”

Tommy burst out laughing as Grian flushed red like a beetroot. “JOEL! He’s adopted!” Grian shouted over Tommy loud laughter.

“Oh, that makes more sense.” Joel gaped, nodding. “Anyway, what’d you want?”

“It’s not what I want.” Grian muttered, running a hand down his face before gesturing to Tommy. Joel turned back to the kid, tilting his head to the side in question. 

“You up for another fight, Joel?” Scott asked, looking over to the bearded one. Joel’s eyes widened. 

“What? With who? Him?” Joel pointed to Tommy, who smiled one that some people liked to call his devil smile. Scott only nodded. Joel shook his head, “Nope, no way. I am not fighting his kid.” Joel said, pointing to Grian. 

“Hey!” Grian said, offended. 

“Oh don’t act innocent! I am not getting on your bad side, I already saw what happens a couple days ago.” Joel defended himself. 

Tommy scoffed, catching all of their attention. “Oh, please. I wouldn’t go up against you unless I knew I could beat you. And judging by the past performances you’re not used to that. So I’ll give you an offer, you can either go on living your life pretending to beat everyone and everything that comes across you and feed your ego but never get better than how you are right now while everyone else slowly makes their way to your standards. Or you can fight me. And I know which one I would pick.” Tommy smiled. He hadn’t said anything for the entire transaction and this was his first impression. 

He had left them stunned. 

“He really is your kid, Grian.” Scott muttered. 

“I-I didn’t teach him that.” Grian stuttered, but it only made Tommy smile more. No, Grian had not taught him that level of sarcasm and intimidation that honor could only go to the two people he’d at one point called brothers. 

“Well, what do you say? What to test your strength, god ?” Tommy said, although when the name came out it sounded more like an insult. It made Joel bristle a little. 

“Alright, then. I’m up to it.” He smirked. 

“This won’t go well, will it?” Pixl said. 

“No, no it won’t.” Scott answered, but resigned to it, “There’s a path over there you can use to get to the room with all the st-” Scott tried to explain but was cut off by Tommy just climbing over the railings and jumping into the pit. 

Tommy landed on his feet as if he’d done it a million times. 

Now that the two were standing next to each other it was easy to see that Tommy was much much shorter than Joel. In fact the kid barely came up to his elbow. 

The height difference caused a small pit to grow in Joel’s stomach but he ignored it. 

The addition of a new person to the arena made a lot of heads turn and a lot of rockets fell back into pockets as people started taking their seats again.

Scott sighed and made his way back up  to the platform to inform the audience. Pixl went with him and neither of them stopped Grian from following. 

“Um, So everyone, we have a last minute entry: Tommy.” Scott called out, earning multiple concerned objections. 

“What?” Gem asked, out loud although not expecting an answer. 

“What’s the kid doing in there?” Bdubs yelled, leaning over the railing to watch. 

“Are we sure about this?” Ren said, moving to stand next to Bdubs. 

“This is your last chance to call this off, Grian.” Scott said, he hadn’t yelled it but it was easily heard over the arena. 

Grian looked down at Tommy who just stared up at him waiting for a response with no emotion on his face. 

“Let him do it.” Grian mumbled, and Scott nodded. 

“This is going to be a clean fight, I mean it. Absolutely no funny business. Iron armor only, iron tools only, no potions and no enchantments. And no and I mean no outside forces. And if we call it off that’s it, you stop immediately.” Scott said, adding the last bit on himself. “Go get equipt and set your spawn.”

Tommy nodded no longer caring about anything else but this fight. This was where he was meant to be. This was normal.

 This was home.

He walked into the tiny room, gathering up the things he’d need. He equipt the armor on with ease. He remembered how to do it fast with years of practice. 

He moved to place the sword into a holster only to find that there was no holster, he sighed, slinging the sword through a belt loop. He stuck the axe into the special pocket of his cardigan that let the axe hang on his back. His arrows were stuck into a quiver at his side. He was unfortunately quite bulky. 

It was best to stay slim during fights, no reason in having too much on you. It only made you more of a target. 

Tommy shook his head, taking off the quiver and putting it back. He decided he wouldn’t use it anyway. 

He held the shield in his off hand and shifted to make sure he had everything. 

He stood at the door prepped and ready for the shout and battle to begin.

He couldn’t see where Joel was on the other side, the rocks blocking his view. So he used the next best thing, his surroundings. 

There were a few puddles nearby that he could see a slight reflection in. It wasn’t much but he could see Joel was still preparing. 

When Scott gave a nod to the other side of the arena, Tommy knew they were about to begin. 

He let his hand fall onto the hilt of his sword and his other held up the shield to guard his face and main body. 

“Go!” 

Tommy was off, he ran straight for the closest rock. He used momentum to jump up onto the top of the rock. He could get a good view from here. He could see Joel prepping an arrow to shoot him down. 

Tommy just smiled, he stayed for a moment before the arrow was just about shot then jumped and rolled to the ground. He kicked up dirt and dust as he rolled over his shoulder. 

When he got up he pulled his sword out, just in time to block a swipe from Joel’s sword. 

The criss cross swords pushed into each other, and Tommy recognized his position as weak. Use it to your advantage, a tiny voice told him.

He ducked down, letting the sword hit the ground as he quickly righted himself. He managed to get a swift kick in the back at the older and pushed him down. Tommy pointed his sword at the man’s neck, the tip barely touching the skin. 

He wasn’t cruel though, he took his sword back and sliced at the man’s arm dealing damage. 

Joel looked at the cut on his arm then back at the child in front of him. The boy nodded, backing up only a bit, and Joel was up again. 

Joel jumped up, pulling out his axe. He swung at it, always missing by an inch as the boy dodged each attempt. 

Tommy however, was landing each hit. He managed to get a hit on the man’s leg, side, and shoulder. Sure he hit the shield a couple times, but it wasn’t too much in his book. 

Tommy was getting bored again. 

Something wasn’t right. 

He’d seen this guy fight the others, he’d studied his movements, but these were not his movements. These were slow, sluggish and light. There was no power behind it. 

Tommy’s blood boiled the moment he recognized what was happening. 

He was getting pitied.

He was going easy on him.

Tommy huffed, decided to ramp it up a bit. He kicked his leg into the other man’s,  making him fall to the ground. 

Tommy stabbed his sword into the man’s shoulder and his items splatter onto the ground. 

He huffed all the sound of the world suddenly coming back. He hadn’t realized that everything that drowned out that there was only static in his ears. 

He took a step back and looked up at the rest of the coliseum. 

Wide eyes looked down at him. 

“Did-did he win?” Bdubs asked, being the first to even whisper words.