Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They wanted to take her away, those strange bears and rabbits wanted to pry them from her Pa’s hands and force her to sleep, to weaken her body and sicken her flesh. She’d known, far longer than the other eggs among her; she’d known.

They had finished their missions, it was time for them to rest, to be left behind as the world around them went on. Their parents would age and change, most never knowing what happened to them behind the federation’s control. A young man riddled with grief and unmotivated to live would be left alone with nothing to live for. Sunny wouldn’t stand for it.

—

The laboratory was dark, the lights all turned off as Leo tried to get ready in her bed, it wouldn’t be long until the worker came to deliver her last dose of medication, after that she’d be out until her family came to save her. Just like the other eggs. Leo tucked their red baseball cap at the end of their bed and readied themselves for the creaking of the door.

After a few minutes the door did creep open, Leo shuddered and turned to face the bear and its syringe only to find nothing as she looked. There was a small click and Leonarda looked down to find Sunny, standing there almost shaking. The older frowned slightly in concern, Sunny wasn’t one of the eggs allowed to give their goodbyes, why was she here now?

But there was no time to voice her question before Sunny brought her hands up to sign. ‘I need cogs and amethyst, can you get some for me?’ It’s a mixture of rushed hand movements and the sight of the brunette looking over her shoulder is what makes Leo realise Sunny had snuck in, just to ask for some materials?

At first it seems silly but as the older remembers the sight of Tubbo and his create obsession she just sighs, clutching the fabric of the red blanket in her hands. If Sunny wants something to remember their father by Leo won’t be the one to let them down, she nods her head gently and feels as Sunny wraps her up in a hug before leaving.

She’s gone all too quick and Leo sighs, already mourning the loss of who she believes to be her sister. It’s not long after that the doctors come in and send her to sleep.

—

After Leo’s united with their family again, Sunny begins her ploy. She has to be quick, the older was the last to go and the last to return, there won’t be any time to plan after she returns. They’ll just be enough to truly execute her grand plan. So she acts as normal as possible the morning after as she eats in the common room with the other eggs who weren’t allowed back to see their parents a final time.

‘Why can’t we say goodbye?’ Chunsik signed over his meal of bland oatmeal, the texture making his face morph into disgust whenever he took a new bite. His face is sad as he pulls his hands away from his food and into his lap.

The mood of the table falling with him, ‘I don’t know…’ Em mumbled sadly, seeming off put by her own meal now. There was a huff from Ramon as he put his elbow onto the table and rested his head on it. ‘There has got to be a reason!’ he signed as he huffed, biting the corner of his lip. Sunny frowned as she thought through each of them, what had they done that made Cucurucho decide they weren’t fit to say goodbye?

‘Maybe it’s not us..’ Sunny began to sign, the other children all glanced at her. ‘Maybe the federation are worried our parents won’t give us back’ she shrugged and watched as the others took in the words. They all seemed to agree, between Empanda’s fearsome mafia of Mum’s, Ramon’s veteran father and Sunny’s explosion prone Pa it seemed to check out.

Chunsik seemed to be the only odd one out.

Then again none of them had met all his parents. Who knew their capabilities?

—

Each day was the same and each day it became easier to slip out of where she was meant to be. There was a level of respect towards her. When coming back from one of her ‘I neeeddd to peeeeeeee’ adventures she oversaw two of the bears who had let her go signing to each other.

‘You just let them go!?’

‘She’s the boss's kid! What was I meant to do?’

‘WA02 is still seeing Resident Tubbo?’

‘They gotta be, there's still flowers in his office.’

Her step Pa had given her a reputation around the office, and as the queen she was Sunny had every idea to use it to her full benefit. Some part of her wished she would come across Fred and invite him into their plans but that day never came. So she used her privilege to dig out an unused storage closet, emptying its components into other rooms and sprucing the room up until it was the same polished white as the rest of the facility.

Once Leo returned she’d have the perfect escape.

The day of Leo’s return was the same day they were meant to return to the D.R.A.G.O.N. The day they would finally have their eternal rest. Sunny followed her brothers and sisters to the cheering crowd of workers, commending their effort. The arena was bright, it shined into their eyes and Sunny forced herself to pose for any cameras.

Inside she was a jumbled stature of nerves, she hadn’t been able to ask Leo for her stuff yet and time was running out as she played the part of an overwhelmed diva. She continued until they were being lined up, prepared for their final rest.

Leo was in front of her, waiting for their turn in a silly pastel shirt that they fiddled with endlessly. The workers signed to themselves as they pointed Chune into his capsule, the boy looked frightened by them but bowed and followed their orders. Sunny took in a deep breath as she tapped the elder’s shoulder.

Leo looked over at them and without a word exchanged they passed over the cogs and amethyst, there was also redstone and other create machinery included but before Sunny could call out another plea for the bathroom Leo turned to sign at them.

‘I know what you’re doing, I went back to Tub Chunk, I saw the machine.’

Sunny felt her heart drop, looking around and hoping the workers were still oblivious. They were. The brunette turned her eyes back to the older and fumbled with the poofy fabric of her yellow skirt.

‘How long ago?’

She feels her breath come in uneasy as she signs back ‘before the island.’

‘...he won’t remember you.’

It’s the truth, he won’t have ever known her back then, it would be like day one, awkward and rushed. Yet she didn’t care, her Pa was the only thing they had and Sunny was determined to keep her small family. Even if that meant starting anew with a version of her Pa that was different, because it was at least still him.

And if she played her cards right she could stop the federation from ever getting a hand on him, she could stop him from spiraling into what she knew of him today. She may be a child but she was not dumb, she might fantasie of her mother’s corpse being a mermaid but she knew, deep down that her Pa wouldn’t be living much longer.

‘I know.’ She replies and watches as Leo nods with a sad smile, ‘Well, I'll buy you time.’ Sunny blinks, confused by the statement when suddenly Leo screams, it’s a horrid grating sound, her unused vocal cords and mutilated throat making something that sounds like it’s from a horror film.

But it drags everyone’s attention to her, she screams and sobs and all of the bears pile around her as they guide her closer into the room, signing questions and fretting over her throat as they try to discover what’s wrong.

They’re distracted.

Sunny doesn’t hesitate to run, she sprints and doesn’t look back as her hands clutch around the machinery in her inventory, she jumps over corners and runs forward as fast as she can through the white looming halls. It all looks the same really but Sunny had been staying here for over a month now, they knew her way around.

Eventually she could see the closet she was looking for, almost instantly Sunny forces the door open and swings it shut behind her. All the workers are either with Leo or in a different station, it’s unguarded. The toddler gets to work quickly, pulling amethyst down onto the ground as she forms a small circular ring of it, she pulls down cogs to bridge the gap and watch as it slightly grinds against the amethyst, she lines redstone up between the cogs and watches as it sprays the white walls.

She prays that it’ll work, she prays to no higher lord in specific for this to work, for something to go right. She curses and huffs as he towers the amethyst in the middle and connects the rest of the cogs until they cover them like in a little bubble.

The gears move forward and forward as Sunny throws handfuls of redstone, heaving at the way it clogs her throat in the aftermath. She wheezes and pulls out her asthma puffer, giving herself four quick puffs before she’s breathing again and watching the gears turn. They seem to be going faster and faster as Sunny watches them.

She stares, her stomach tingling as she watches the gears in front of her spin and spin. They’re so focused in fact she doesn’t realise the gears behind her have begun to smoke, the amount of them all clogged together causing small sparks against the wood, slowly the sparks grow more and more as the gears speed up and all of a sudden there's a loud crash.

Sunny turns her head only for a whirlwind of colours to blow in her face, she screams but no sound comes out.

And then it all fades to black

Chapter Text

Life in Snowchester was a simple thing, for once there was some type of peace in Tubbo’s life, a domestic cycle of waking up to chill in his bones and a husband by his side.

Waking up today was no different, it was slow at first, dragging himself away from the foggy enclosure the chill had put in his head as Tubbo peered his eyes open. There was a tail wrapped around his left leg and a large body behind him. “Morning Boo” he mumbled, tilting his head back to overlook that half coloured face of his partner.

Ranboo’s eyes were still shut, his face smushed into their pillow and their hands wrapped around his torso. There wasn’t any response besides a small vroop out of their throat. Tubbo smiled as he gently untangled himself from his husband’s tail, cursing quietly as the thing struggled against the idea of letting go.

After his daily 5 minute tail fight Tubbo stuck his tongue out at the appendage and moved towards his closet, pulling it open. He didn’t wear much these days. Tubbo grabbed a stained white singlet that had seen better days, a desaturated green checkered shirt and a brown vest with white fur. He pulled the layers on, quick to avoid any more of the chill before slipping on a pair of brown pants and thick brown leather boots with fur on the inside.

Once he was ready Tubbo left their room and walked down the hall, finding Micheal’s door easily. The door had dents and scraps on it with Micheal’s name painted in the middle with all the art skills a toddler had. He pulled the door open slightly and smiled at the sight of the piglin wrapped up in his racecar bed, chewing tenderly on the golden teething ring they’d gotten him last week.

Tubbo shut the door again and moved down the stairs, with Boo and Micheal still asleep he could get some chores done.

He walked down the stairs of the mansion and ducked into the chest room. “Hm, we don’t have much oak left…” he mumbled to himself. He shrugged and moved to grab his axe out from his inventory and grabbed a map from one of the chests. There was a forest nearby they hadn’t touched yet.

With his things in hand Tubbo set off for his morning chore.

—

It hurt, why did everything hurt? Her body ached, why did it ache?

She was cold.

So cold.

Sunny sniffled as they forced her eyes open, sniffling as a shudder ran through her, she was… in a field of snow? There were trees all around her but it was mostly snow. There was a thick layer of snow all around her as she wasn’t dressed for the weather… She was wearing a now ripped poofy dress made of thin fabric that exposed her to the cold.

She was shaking, she couldn’t stop shaking. It felt like she was burning without any of the warmth, she sobbed as her body was wracked with violent shudders. It was so cold. Sunny couldn’t even move her hands, they ached and burned as she squeezed them into fists.

It hurt.

It hurt so much…

—

“Huh” Tubbo paused after swinging his axe into the bark of the tree in front of him. He turned his head and looked behind him, something felt wrong. He frowned as he looked over the snow and trees, nothing looked wrong at first but then he saw… gold?

He frowned, moving closer to the shining yellow amongst the snow when he finally saw what it was, a small golden crown, attached to a child. A pale, shivering, child.

A little girl with pale brown skin, dark brown curly hair tangled with snow, closed little eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses and a big poofy yellow dress that had exposed them to the cold. She had small little black horns over the top of her head and something akin to a tail.

Tubbo gaped at the sight of the girl, fumbling through his pockets to grab his communicator. He dialled Ranboo’s number as his free hand checked her pulse, it was slow but there. “Tubbo?-”

“No time to explain, i need blankets, lots of them, the fireplace in the living room warm and toasty and the Micheal’s warmest outfit out in the room okay?”

“On it.”

Tubbo ended the call as soon as he got confirmation, putting his comm away so he could scoop the kid into his arms. She was a light weight as he heaved them up into his arms, he moved her around until she was pressed tightly to his chest, he hoped to offer some of his warmth on the trip back.

He began to run across the snow, sprinting past the trees and jumping over stray sticks as he forced himself forward. “Shit- hang in there kid” Tubbo spared a glance at her and cursed at how dead they looked, they weren’t. He knew they weren’t but it still sent shivers down his neck.

As soon as the mansion came into view Tubbo let himself start to breathe, he practically bodied the door as he came rushing into the foyer, he ran past Micheal who seemed none the wiser to his reappearance and headed towards the living room. He forced open the door so hard it collided with the wood of the room, startling Ranboo who jumped back and dropped the blankets he was holding.

Tubbo didn’t bother to apologise as he laid the kid down on the bed, moving to grab at the woollen sweater and cotton pants that clearly belonged to his son. He pulled off the kid’s wet clothes and gently moved her into the new ones, they seemed a bit tight on her, then again she looked older than Micheal, maybe by a year or two but nevertheless they fit and Tubbo ran to grab the blankets from the floor and laid them over her.

When he went to grab a second Ranboo was helping to wrap her up without a word between them. They worked together until she had 5 blankets over her and started to feel a little warmer.

“Fuck-” Tubbo hissed through his teeth as he looked down at the near blue area of her skin. His heart felt like it was leaping out of his throat he flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder but before he could turn to jab the fucker in the eye there was a pale white hand grabing his wrist ‘it’s just me’ went unsaid but nevertheless the brunette relaxed slightly and took in a breath.

“So, uhm I have some questions?” Ranboo sighed as they rested his head over Tubbo’s, leaning down a little uncomfortably to do so. They moved their hands so that each was intertwined with his husband’s, rubbing gently at the palm of each in nice repetitive shapes. Tubbo nodded, his throat a little clammy at the sight of the kid, he leaned into the enderman’s touch and sighed. “I was out wood chopping but I spotted her in the snow. At first I thought it was some gold but it turned out to be her dress…”

Ranboo made the enderman equivalent to a hum in his throat, a gentle rumble that tickled slightly while they looked over to the kid. “She can’t be an orphan, her dress is much too fancy for that… does anyone else have kids on the server?” They asked, adding in their own observations.

They were right, the dress shined, even with the snow and crinkles it was clearly well made and put together, it resembled something Belle had worn in sleeping beauty but more intricate with the poofs and frills.

“Not that I know of” Tubbo answered, looking down to analyse her features, she resembled Ponk somewhat with the soft squish of her face but he’d isolated herself entirely, no way could they have a kid. Skeppy also came to mind, mostly because of the jewels and the skin tone seeming identical but the kid looked nothing like Bad so Tubbo crossed him off too.

The brunette sighed, if his hand’s weren’t occupied he might have gone to rub at the bridge of his nose. “Maybe she joined the server?” Ranboo suggested, his tail wrapping around his husband’s knee.

“No, she’s too young. Tommy was 9 and had to be accompanied by Wilbur; there's no way she joined.” Tubbo sighed. “Our best bet is to ask her ourselves when she wakes up, for now let’s get Micheal settled”

They left the room, making sure to close the door behind them and headed towards the foyer where Micheal babbled happily with his toy car. Tubbo smiled as he sat down next to him and listened to him babble in piglish, there were some bits he picked up on, thanks to Tommy’s tutoring but most of it was gibberish to his ears. “I’ll make breakfast” Ranboo said as they moved down to tap at Micheal’s head and offer a smile before taking their leave.

Chapter Text

“She’s not up yet” Ranboo said as he entered the bedroom, having done a final check on the mystery kid. They moved to take off their crown, placed it on the bedside table and began to unbutton the vest of his suit. He eased the buttons through their loops gently until the vest was able to be folded up into the closet for the next day.

He listened to the frustrated sigh that left his husband’s mouth, “That can’t be good right? Should we call someone about her?” Tubbo mumbled from where he leaned against the bedframe on his own side of the bed. He fiddled with his bed shirt, fumbling over the fraying fabric and unconsciously unravelling it more.

Tubbo felt something anxious in his gut winding up. He didn’t want some little girl to die in his house, she probably had a family to return to and even if she didn’t they deserved to survive. He tensed as the bed dipped beside him, only relaxing with a clawed hand gently tapped his shoulder. ‘It’s just me’ going unsaid as Ranboo slid into bed beside him.

“I think she’ll be alright, they seemed much warmer when I checked on her. She might just be exhausted” They reassured as they helped Tubbo lay down onto his pillows, wrapping his arms around their husband once they both settled. Tubbo sighed, feeling some of his gut unwind as he leaned into the enderman’s side.

“I hope so.”

—

‘It’s so cold’

It was the first real thought Sunny had, their mind sluggish helping the thought reach her despite nothing else in her body seeming to function. Her vision was pitch black no matter how much they blinked, her hands were close and unresponsive and her entire being felt weighed down.

She was also tired, oh so tired.

Sunny had never liked the cold.

Not a lot of people did.

But her Pa did, he loved the cold. Sunny wondered why sometimes, why his body was so cold blooded, why sometimes holding his hand felt like sticking hers in a pile of snow. They wondered what the cold meant to him, she knew about the prison, how it had been made of ice and refined her Pa’s taste in architecture.

Slowly Sunny feels her vision change, the pitch black shifting to let in a few colours, the black fading to grey as her eyes peer open slow and sluggish. One thing is clear, they’re not in the federation buildings anymore. The roof above them is wood and so are the walls and floorboards. She’s laying down on a couch. She’s in a house.

Wrapped up in over ten blankets. Somehow she’s still cold.

Sunny frowns as she looks over the room again.

She had meant to time travel, to go back to a time where she probably wasn’t born yet.

Had she?

Sunny forced her body to wake up, hissing through the fatigue that clouded her limbs while forcing themselves to sit up. The young girl blinked sluggishly for a moment before putting their feet onto the ground and shuddering. She decided to steal a blanket and wrap it around them while she looked over the room.

The couch she had been sleeping in was a white cream colour, it seemed new she could tell by the quick once over she gave it before scorching around, seeing the book shelves that lined the walls, Sunny looked through a few senseless titles before turning towards the fireplace.

And the portrait above it.

There was a half enderman.. Half ghast perhaps? Leaning over awkwardly holding an outstretched hand to coddle a… Sunny frowned, looking at the pink bubbly features and snout. She’d never seen anything of the sort before but it was clearly a child at least. They then casted a glance at the other member of the portrait and froze.

Brown curly locks covered his face but the goggles sat on his head and all too familiar vest made a shudder go through her. That was her Pa. It just had to be.. ‘But who are they?’ Sunny asked herself as she looked into the other members of the portrait. They didn’t resemble each other… they couldn’t be related.

Sunny paused, everything in them going still. Her Pa, the man trapped in romantic hell, had been married before the island. One part of them was shocked and the other… the other felt a little hurt it wasn’t her step Pa who Tubbo had been allowed to wed. She wondered maybe if Fred and their Pa met under different circumstances they could be happy… Sunny let herself imagine her Pa carrying them out of bed while step pa made her breakfast, both of them being allowed to enjoy eachothers company… The idea made her stomach churn.

‘I wonder’ her eyes flickered to the enderman hybrid ‘what happened between them…’ Sunny looked back to her Pa and shuddered, the federation was the most likely case.. But she wasn’t privy to most of their messed up crimes.

Then there were footsteps and Sunny was sprinting under the covers again, her breath coming in quick despite their sluggish movement. She cursed under her breath as a voice came closer. Sunny hadn’t made any plans- what was she meant to tell whoever came in-

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Sunny’s eyes flicked over to the person at the door, the enderman hybrid stood before her, even taller than she perceived in the portrait… She only now noticed how tall the ceiling really was now. The enderman’s tail seemed to lash back and forth, their hands fidgeting together as they parted their mouth and closed it again. The dragon girl only blinked at them nervously.

Eventually he forced their mouth, which seemed to be a dark purple colour that glowed in the dimness of the room. “Uhm, Hello there- i’m Ranboo are you feeling alright?” He asked, standing like a single whack of Sunny’s tail would send them into the wall. She blinked again, biting her lip nervously as she tried to find an appropriate response, she took in a breath before bringing her hands up ‘where.. Am i?’

Ranboo only seemed to look like they would empty their bowels right that moment, truly looking like a deer in headlights as they froze. “Oh goodness i’m so sorry i don’t speak sign language oh Lady death can you even hear me?” Sunny tried very hard not to laugh as she nodded her head and pointed to her mouth, making a slight squeak with the limited capabilities they had with vocal cords.

On one hand it really was funny but on another everyone back home had known some form of sign language, it.. Concerned her… that her ..step dad?.. From the past didn’t. ‘..what if Pa hasn’t learned yet?’ Sunny physically restrained herself from the fear that just overtook her. How would she communicate with them?

Fortunately Ranboo’s worry was more distractive than the dragon’s own. “Oh okay- you can hear me that’s good uhm, i’m so sorry about this- Tubbo’s been telling me to learn but i’ve been so busy oh Lady death i’ll be right back with someone else who signs!” Then they were gone.

Seemingly in a rush, leaving Sunny to silence the chuckles that shook her core. She was barely successful in that but by the time she had calmed down they were thankfully able to process her Pa already knew sign language which helped aid their fears. It also gave her time to think up a vague plan… They repeated it in their head a few times before she heard more footsteps and sat a bit more forward, her tail thumping by her side in the hope she’d see him again…

The door opened and he was there. Ranboo moved forward first and behind them was Pa, just slightly younger. Their hair was long, overcast his eyes and leaving just the bottom of his face, his physique was more muscular than she recalled, and he wore a simple chequered shirt and warm brown jumper with fluff. He had the same skin, same posture but he was so different.. In a weird way the boy in front of her seemed older than the Tubbo Sunny knew.

“Hey kiddo” he called out and Sunny ignored the way her gut twisted at the words, begging to be called poppet just one more time.. She gulped, hoping the foreign feeling in her body translated something like fear to the elder two while she brought her hands up, shaky. ‘Where am I..? What happened?’ she asked, watching how the brunette flickered over her hands.

Ranboo stood still, looking over the hand movements as if they were trying to see what they meant for themselves, fidgeting with the skin of their palm and shifting constantly from one foot to the other, but she focuses back on Tubbo, trying not to jump up into his arms. She missed him a lot.

“You’re in me and my husband’s house in snow chester, my name is Tubbo- do you know your parents or where you’re from?” He asked and Sunny hesitated before forcing her face into something between confusion and calm as she began to sign again. ‘My name is Sunny, SunnySideUp.. I- i don’t remember my parents or where i’m from’ she feigned fear as she continued signs and by the look the teens exchanged it worked.

“Hey it’s okay Sunny- let’s calm down, what do you remember?”

And so started the back and forth, Sunny faking amnesia as she went through questions, it worked seemingly from the concerned worry in Ranboo’s eyes and the heavy look in Tubbo’s, it was weird to cry, even if fake and receive a pat on the back instead of a hug.

It felt so wrong.

But she kept insistent on her lies, they only stopped their questions after she began to shake and the teenagers began to wrap her back up in blankets.

“It’s alright Sunny you can stay with us for a bit, we have a son a bit younger than ya, you can take the spare room next to his for a bit.”

When they shut the door behind them Sunny let herself smile and snuggle into her pillow.

Chapter Text

The first week went by with a flash, Sunny being guided to her new room in the middle of the night, given a few things to make the place her own for a time and left alone. Ranboo had asked if she wanted space and just to keep the scared little kid narrative she agreed, so she was given a quick hello and goodbye with her food dropped on her dresser and sometimes a new toy.

They made it clear she was welcome out and about, but Sunny knew she needed to sell her act, her Pa was smart, no one else could see it like she had but he was critical and cunning. He solved problems people didn’t know existed and was constantly proving his worth to anyone who would listen. If anyone had given him a moment of time maybe he hadn’t been so broken.

Maybe he wouldn’t have made that deal.

The point was he would figure out that at least something was wrong. So Sunny ignored how awful the fabric of who she learned was Micheal’s clothes felt on her skin. It was rough and scratchy and was not suited to her style at all. Thankfully her own dress had been returned but she found some mild tears in the fabric that made it unusable.

She ignored how bland and boring the room around her was and instead put down some carpet in a corner and stuffed it full of the limited toys she had been given.

It was the end of the week when Sunny’s resolve finally broke, she was bored, of the empty expanse of her room, of the charmful toys who had become a bore and of the dull itch against her skin. So, just before noon Sunny put on a nervous look and stood at the door.

Just as she expected there was a single knock and a 4 second pause before the door was being opened, just enough time for her to object if she wished. Sunny had to look up, almost straining her neck to look and see the surprised look on Ranboo’s face, her proximity a little surprising to them,

Sunny silently cursed to herself as she lowered her head again, Ranboo had picked up ‘Hello’ and ‘Hungry’ over the week. She couldn’t talk to him and couldn’t get her point across. “Good evening Sunny uhm, do you need something?” they asked as the dragon bit her lip, flicking her tail out as they looked up and pointed to themselves and then the outside from the open door.

Ranboo blinked, following the actions and looking over them as if they were some strange enchantment, “..you to leave the room..?” they suggested and Sunny nodded quickly in her agreement, there was a moment where Ranboo just seemed delighted to have gotten it right before they were opening the door and carrying the dragon’s lunch with them.

“Well none of us have eaten yet so you could join us? Only if you want of course” the enderman told her as he kept ahead, their long lanky stilts for legs carrying his body elegantly and quickly. Sunny would need to jog to keep pace with them but she wasn’t concerned with that as her eyes casted over the portraits and photos that lined the walls.

She glanced over the images of the.. Pink flesh creature she knew to be their son, What seemed to be his first steps by the shocked looks of Ranboo who had been holding the little kid’s hand. There were images of all sorts, each one completely different and yet having the same theme, they revolved around their son. Their little boy who had two parents, Sunny felt something sour in her gut as she looked over more and more. She had four parents, fully alive and well, three of which took no time to guide her through life. Ironically her and that pink fleshy thing shared the same Pa, Sunny wondered what kept Ranboo from the island…

By the time Sunny had snapped out of her sour trance the elder was beginning to descend the stairs, muttering something about a creak before Sunny ran to catch up. Sunny looked over the foyer the stairs led to and felt her stomach gleam as she looked over the delicately carved wood and smooth surfaces, the gold engrained with the rails.. The red velvet carpet descending her each step…

She tugged on Ranboo’s vest, maybe a bit too tightly judging by the way the ender squeaked before turning their head to look at her ‘are you rich?’ she signed, practically jumping on her toes as she looked over the details encrusted into every single aspect of the mansion. “Oh, uhm sorry Sunny what was that?..” Sunny felt her chest squeeze with annoyance again before she turned and began making gestures.

She gestured with wide hands to the entirety of the foyer before rubbing two of her fingers together in a way she hoped symbolised cash. There was a long silence of careful concentration and a few repeats before Sunny gave up with a huff and began trotting down the stairs.

“Oh Sunny i’m sorry-”

She was already stomping towards the only room in the mansion where the light was on, not caring for the apology as he looked over the open room.

It was indeed the kitchen, a nice kitchen with a few furnaces and stoves, a pan to the side and some half opened cabinets. In the corner of the room was a table sat for 3 with seats enough for 6 pressed to a wall and in the middle was Tubbo buckling his pink fleshy baby into a highchair as he ruffled the pink fur all over their head.

Sunny stomped down again and trudged right up to Tubbo, for a moment she expected him to look up from an inventory and pull his goggles over his face as he dusted his hands off and asked ‘what’s wrong poppet?’

But that didn’t happen because Tubbo turned his head to face her, slightly surprised instead. “Morning, do you want to join us for lunch?” Sunny ignored the sting in her chest as she nodded and plopped down into one of the seats. Leo warned her after all.

Sunny felt even sourer, she didn’t want to think of the girl she’d learned to see as a sister.

Tubbo tapped on the bubbling 3 year old’s snout before turning towards the kitchen and pulling out two plastic plates, one yellow and one orange, he pulled out a matching pair of cups and plastic silverware that he put down in front of Micheal and Sunny. She stares down at the plastic spoon before looking up to a grimacing brunette. “Too old?” he asks and at Sunny’s giggle ridden nod he takes it away and replaces them with an actual knife and fork.

It’s silly to think at her big age she needed plastic spoons and forks. The only kid back home who used those were Pepito since he was barely 5. Sunny casted a glance towards the pink flesh, she bit her lip and wondered if she should ask their name.. Or ask what they even were. Despite her confusion at their general existence with those tusks and rotten skin… he didn’t look as young as Pepito, Sunny herself was 8 the boy in front of her looked 7, maybe that was just the nature of his species?

Tubbo must have seen her staring because as he moved a jug of apple juice down to pour into each cup he began to talk. “Michael, this is Sunny, she’s staying with us for a bit. Sunny this is Micheal” he introduced the two. The girl looked over as Micheal glanced at her before lifting his hand in what resembled a wave with a big toothy grin.

Sunny waved back before turning towards Tubbo ‘can he understand sign language?’ she asked, tilting her head the size of Micheal compared to his highchair. “Oh Michael knows a bit, basic stuff i’ve been teaching him when i’m free, he can’t speak verbally yet and barely understands common so he’s not too good at signing.”

Sunny nods and looks at Micheal who is already focused on chewing the plastic fork. ‘What is he?’ she asks after a moment, staring into those beady little eyes. “He’s a baby piglin, we found him in the nether” Tubbo said as if the nether wasn’t highly illegal, as if it wasn’t one of the biggest secrets on the island.

Then again, she wasn’t on her island.

She was.. Wherever here was.

She just nodded her head as if she knew what a piglin was. It was a few moments of silence before her plate was piled up with a large bowl of oatmeal, she passed a glance at Micheal who seemed to be eating some strange orange mixture with fruits and berries inside. It was weird, this place was weird.

Ranboo entered the room silently and took his own seat, his throat made a strange ‘vroop’ sound when Tubbo put down eggs and toast, he gave himself the same food on his own plate as he sat down.

“So Sunny, Micheal was going to come out and play in the snow while I do some work outside if you wanted to join us?” Ranboo smiled through their words, carefully cutting his egg like a madman and chewing while his husband broke the yolk sack and slobbered it over the toast before lathering it in tomato sauce.

It was a messy thing, it reminded her of the days she’d watch Pa shove down his throat while she would be the one to eat properly. She nodded their head at the question before opening her mouth and putting a spoonful of oatmeal inside, chewing at the bland substance as she shuddered at the texture and taste. “Not to your standards?” Tubbo asked, clearly reading the disgust that swarmed the girl’s face. She huffed and put her spoon down to sign ‘it’s got no taste’ she complained, earning a delighted huff from the younger version of their father. “Sorry about that, I'll make you something different next time.”

During her stay here she’d had some very different foods each day, a silent way of gathering her tastes she presumed since when the plates were taken back there was a careful look directed at what was left over.

That was nice, she guessed.

After lunch she was led back to her room and given some warmer clothes to wear, they were better fit to her size but their style was.. Something. Sunny huffed as she pulled on the purple sweater, black leggings and white skirt. Add a purple mushroom and she was practically Tallulah at this point. Not that the style was bad, no. Her god sister just.. Still didn’t seem to like her, they had been getting better for sure but according to the workers Tallulah was gone, as was Chayanne.

The thought brought a shiver from her warm limbs.

She didn’t want to think about it, so instead she walked down to the foyer again to meet the others.

They had some more woollen clothing on now, clearly dressed for the cold outside. “Hello Sunny” Ranboo called out as they caught them in the corner of her eyes, their tail flicking behind them as they pulled Micheal’s grubby little hands into the arm holes of what looked to be a leash. She looked down to see Micheal holding a bucket filled with wooden toys.

Sunny didn’t bother signing anything as Ranboo tied rope to the harness around Micheal and walked out of the house, Micheal blabbering in their arms as Sunny followed behind. There was a nice porch that overlooked the snow that came from all directions. The dragon didn’t remember the last time she’d been in the snow.

Ranboo doesn’t hesitate to stop forward and after a moment she follows, watching as they move gracefully despite their long appendages. They moved towards a forest behind a mansion where he stuck a fence post into the ground and tied Micheal’s lead onto it. The piglin didn’t seem to mind, dumping his wooden toys down and flopping onto the snow with a happy oink.

“I’ll just be chopping down some trees I won’t go far but make sure you stay close to the post” Ranboo asked as they fumbled with their inventory before pulling out a netherite axe. Sunny ignored the fascination with netherite that panged in her chest, the idea they could access the nether these days was delightful and scary.

Netherite was such a raw and forbidden thing back on her island. It was weird to see so much of it.

The enderman left along with their axe after she nodded her head, moving into the woods, when he finally left her sight they turned back to see Micheal on his belly giggling as a wooden duck slammed into the snow.

It was weird to look at him and know he was her half brother.

That he was older than her.

‘I wonder where you went in the future…’ Sunny thought to herself as she lowered to their knees and looked down at him. She hoped that the federation had taken Pa and left Micheal alone with his dad, she hoped they had moved away to a nice clearing in a forest surrounded by sweet whispers and handmade pie.

She hoped he got to move out and live his own life.

But she knew, deep down, how unlikely that was.

Her chest ached, knowing the family Tubbo left would be in ruins. It stung to think of a kid barely younger than her left to the pain of the federation. Yet this was why she was here, to fix it. She would stop the federation’s grubby hands from laying their hands on this family.

Sunny was taken out of her thoughts by the wooden toy swinging in front of her face, they blinked as she looked down to find Micheal waving a little hand carved wood toy around. Then he suddenly pushed it into her chest, giggling and kicking his feet as she froze. With one hand Micheal signed ‘play’ and finally Sunny took the toy, smashing its face into the snow much to Micheal’s amusement.

His laugh was like a warm gurgle, warm fuzziness tugging at her heart as he oinked and squealed through the gurgled laugher and giggles.

Sunny smiled.

Micheal seemed a lot like Pepito with his big bubbly attitude. Maybe he wasn’t so weird.

—

Ranboo looked over their shoulder, nervous to have left the two kids alone. Usually he’d leave Micheal in Tubbo’s or Tommy’s care when they needed to do something. Except Tubbo had left to look around where Sunny could have come from and.. Well she seemed a little overwhelmed by everything. So he couldn’t trust that she would get along with Tommy.

He could be a bit much.

Snowchester hadn’t had any big accidents yet, they prayed the place was safe enough for the kids. The enderman felt their tail flick behind them as their axe collided with the bark of the tree, splintering the wood under the sharp blade. Ranboo sighed as the tree fell, bouncing slightly on the ground before falling still.

They moved forward bending down to collect the wood into their inventory before moving towards the next tree. Before Ranboo flew his axe into the tree they stopped. His mind suddenly lurched forward, racing alarms and ringing in their ears. They hissed at the sudden stimulation and felt the particles form around them.

Their chat screamed hundreds of sentences at them.

Do you guys feel that!?
Someone’s here!
WTF IS THIS!?
Enderman BS Duhh

But their instincts screeched only one

INTRUDER

It was painfully clear to Ranboo as they felt their tail spike up, someone was encroaching on their territory. Someone unwelcome was here.

Ranboo shook their head as they furrowed their brow and fumbled to grab their axe, forcing it to contort into their inventory. They shuddered as they began to run, forcing themself forward by the annoyance of their chat and screeching pleas from their instincts.

Hybrids had instincts that were something they just had, no real confusion about it. Endermen had some instincts of their own, the most prevalent of which was that they were territorial, very territorial. Those who were not of their haunting coming into their land would be noticed instantly.

And see Ranboo knew quite literally nothing of their second half, other than the fact it seemed just as territorial.

His body was lurching with the idea of his haunting in danger, unhelped by the fact Tubbo was locked up alone in the house and the children were alone in the snow. “Some of you go check around snowchester” Ranboo pleaded, watching as some of the particles obeyed and went out in all directions.

Ranboo finally began to see the children in the distance and heaved as he broke the treeline.

“Boo?”

Micheal was standing over the other’s, held up by the grip Sunny had on his hands. The world was mumbled, fumbled over like any would in learning a new language and usually Ranboo loved to coo over his son learning his name but now was not the time. “Something came up and we need to go see Bee alright Bubba?” Ranboo hummed as he picked Micheal up from Sunny, their tail instantly went to grab Sunny but he restrained it.

They weren’t at a level where Ranboo could do that just out of the blue. “Sunny” he said instead, catching the girls attention “can you hold onto my tail on the walk back?” they tried not to sound too urgent as they rocked a bubbling piglet. The girl didn’t bother trying to answer as her hand wrapped around the strip dyed appendage.

“Thank you” He forced out before setting a quick pace he prayed she could keep up with.

Chapter Text

Something was wrong, Sunny could tell as soon as the door to the mansion shut behind them, Micheal was pulled close to the enderman’s chest as if every atom around them were out to pry the baby from his father’s hands. Ranboo was worried as they ushered her along into Micheal's room, putting the toddler into his big race car bed before fleeing.

Sunny could hear the lock click.

She could hear a dulled ‘Tubbo!’ in the distance as Ranboo drew farther and farther away. Something was wrong.

Her first thought as she rocked Micheal in her lap was that the federation had found them, that they were under attack but no matter how much she waited there was no gunfire and no signs of an automated voice box. Eventually she calmed down a little. ‘Does.. Ranboo do this often?’ she signed, looking down as Micheal stared blankly up at her, his limited knowledge being well, very limited. Sunny groaned.

She forgot no one here could understand her.

It stings knowing she can’t talk to anyone but Tubbo here.

Sunny wondered if this was how Pa felt, trapped in a world where no one could understand him, confined to only speaking to his own daughter.

He could speak but he was alone, because no one could understand him, no one would stay around to listen. So he closed off the borders to his heart and let his daughter watch as the passage of time hit him like a tidal wave to an old statue, and she did. She watched as the waves crashed and hit, crumbling the stone he was made of until there was nothing left but the pedestal he stood on.

But right now he was yet to become a statue, his daughter still had time to save him. Even if now, she was the one alone.

Sunny sighed as she put Micheal down and moved off the racecar bed, jumping over the padded safety rails at either side and looking over the room. She didn’t just want to sit here and do nothing. She already knew the door was locked so she tried the windows; they had big long red curtains that fell to the floor that she moved aside to find a child lock made of reinforced netherite, Sunny huffed not even bothering to try.

There were no other escape routes, so that left her with looking around. She opened the drawers at the dresser, all filled with identical woollen items of clothing, they had the same texture and same stitches in each one. ‘Pa’s never sewn before’ She thought to herself, Ranboo didn't seem like the sort of person to sew.

There was nothing but clothes in the first few draws so she moved towards the photo board above it. She didn’t dare touch the pictures but let her deep brown eyes roam over thing, flickering over the coloured images in front of her. Ranboo stood, their lanky form slightly out of frame as they held Micheal in his lap, pressing a piece of bread to the piglin’s mouth. Micheal wore an adorable fluffy sweater with a pair of blue overalls with bees and flowers sewn in.

Tubbo sat next to them, their head leaning over the enderman’s shoulder as he intertwined their hands together, it was painfully domestic in a way that made her heart sting. It hurt to see her Pa so happy with a family she wasn’t a part of.

It was the same type of hurt she had with her former bodyguard and his family. Fit hadn’t seen her as the family she saw him as, she was just ‘Tubbo’s daughter.’ He looked after her when no one else could, but that was it. He only offered to do it when no one else around wanted to. She didn’t want to be left alone, she just wanted a family.

She didn’t even get a week with her Pop.

He didn’t wake up after prison, not to see her, not to know her.

Her Mama had been dead, she knew it but she was pathetic enough to pretend she wasn’t, to listen to her Pa’s awful fairytales of her being a mermaid so she wouldn’t feel so alone. She never even got to meet Pol. Sunny sniffled, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes, no one wanted her. No one loved her.

No one but Pa, but now he didn’t even know her.

She stared at the array of domestic pictures, seeing happy faces and big smiles. They were happy, Tubbo was happy.

It made Sunny wonder if he was happier back then, back now, without her.

Sunny felt her throat close up and tears began to drip down her face, quick breaths filling her throat as she stared.

She was oblivious to Micheal’s hoof reaching out to her or the now open door.

—

She was crying. It was clear as day to the brunette as he looked into the room, looking at the back of the child’s head as she cried, over their family photos. He could feel Ranboo behind him, their once alarmed aura fading to one of concern as they took their own look over Sunny. Tubbo sighed, his chest squeezing to try to make it all better as he shut the door, quietly as not to alert her.

“Is.. is she alright?” Ranboo asked, squeezing the handle of their sword as they directed their range of sight back to their husband. They watched as said husband took in a breath of air before turning to face them. “I don’t think we need to find her parents anymore” he muttered before turning down the hall and walking, causing the enderman’s instincts to flare up as they rushed to accompany their side.

“What are you doing?”

“Making us parents of two.”

Ranboo froze, their legs failing to walk another step for a moment, staring blankly at the place Tubbo had stood before shaking their head.

“TUBBO!”

—

Tubbo sighed as the doors of his workshop slammed behind him, he’d sent Ranboo back to the kids to buy himself time.

His ‘workshop’ was under the foundation of the house. The entrance of the room was made of netherite infused iron, controlled by a switch on his communicator. The inside was at least 4 chunks with white jars fused to the walls, Tubbo moved forward and spared a glance at the jars, confirming all his nukes were in their proper condition before he moved towards the large table in the middle.

There were maps and blueprints spread over the wooden decor, candles too close to the edge for comfort, a range of pencils hidden within the mess and a stack of empty letter paper. The brunette pulled up a chair, sat down and grabbed a charcoal pencil and paper parchment.

‘Dear Tommy’

He scribbled down the words as quickly as he could, the contents didn’t matter, the fake story he made played its course throughout the length of the letter. Talking was a risk, whether over letter or message or even in person. Anything could be changed or altered or misconstrued by another person.

But there were ways around that.

‘You shouldn’t come visit for a while Tommy, the floor got stained’

Tubbo signed his name without checking his spelling and wrapped the paper into an envelope. “Chat!” he called, listening to the gears in the wall churn for a moment before a robotic duck came walking up, its tail flicking behind them as the creature came up. “Give this to Tommy” he requested as he let the duck snatch the letter from his hand and waddle towards its little doggy door, which was more akin to a mechanical door the size of a dog.

With that finished up Tubbo turns his head and treked back upstairs to check on everyone else.

Chapter Text

“How’re the kids?” Tubbo asks as he slips into Micheal’s room, seeing his son and Sunny asleep in the race car bed together, Ranboo sits at the edge of the bed and it’s instantly obvious how much his instincts have gotten to their head, their tail flicks rapidly behind them and their pupils are three times the size as they lock onto him.

Ranboo stumbles from where they’re sat and pulls Tubbo onto the edge of the bed, there's a quick overview of his health before they move to the door, locking it and moving back to wrap their tail around Tubbo’s ankle.

“Good, I think? Sunny stopped crying after a few pats on the back but she wouldn’t stop staring at the photos…” They both turned to look at the array of images, each and every one was a distinctive memory that enthused the warmth they felt as a family, Tubbo was sure Sunny could feel that too, he had a pretty good idea on why they seemed so sad. “Boo” The brunette started as he glanced back at his husband, whose attention was redirected to him in an instant.

Tubbo may be ‘young’ but he had lived through a lot, he knew what it was like to stare at parents and their children in the street, he knew what it was like to feel a jealous stir in his gut when another kid got the attention he yearned for. Tubbo _Underscore knew those feelings all too well, the desperate feeling of hatred in his chest, the silent hope one day someone would come back for him. He knew what it was like to be a child without love, and to see others retrieve it.

Tubbo _Beloved was no longer a child, and now he could be the parent someone like him had needed. He could pour his love into someone else, provide for their needs and help them grow like he wanted.

“I don’t think Sunny has a family back home” He sighed, looking over to the way Ranboo thought about the subject, he could see the small furrow in their face as they thought about it, it was endlessly endearing. Yet now wasn’t the time.

“You want to adopt her?” They asked after a moment, a few particles chittering in his ear, Tubbo nodded “we’d ask her, first of course but… I don’t think she has a family and if she did, I don't feel like they’re coming back.”

Ranboo doesn’t say anything but nervously nod.

“She’s a sweet kid” is the input they put in, Tubbo smiles and leans against his platonic husband. “I invited Tommy over.”

The brunette can feel the way soft ‘vroop’ equivalent of a purr in their chest, Tubbo knows that territorial feeling won’t go away for a while and with Tommy in the house it’ll make Ran feel better. He also knows, he wants Sunny to know a bit more about the family and the love she’ll receive here. Right now things are peaceful, the most peaceful things have been for a long time.

He’s scared that something bad will happen, he always is. But for now he wants to foolishly believe things will be okay.

“Any word from your chat?”

“Mm, not yet”

“Come on Boo let’s get to bed, we’ll hear from your chat in the morning” Tubbo mumbled, already pulling his freakishly tall husband down into the bed covers, mindful not to squash the children. Thankfully the bed was big enough to accommodate the both of them and the gaggle of children.

Ranboo vrooped slightly out of surprise, landing face down into the mattress, before they could get up to protest Tubbo let his weight lay against them, holding them down onto the bed. “No protesting” he huffed, watching as Ranboo turned their head and sighed, half endeared and half annoyed.

They grumbled something about needing to make sure they stayed safe but went limp in the bed and relaxed into the sheets. Tubbo loosened his hold and went limp beside them.

—

It was dark, his hooves clicked on the floor as he stepped forward, hearing the small click of every step.

“A son like you is no son at all” a voice called out, the shape of a man appearing for only a moment before disappearing from his sight.

His steps did not falter, his hooves clicking on the black abyss that swarmed him. It clinked like two glasses toasting. A small clink at each step.

“The discs, the discs - were worth more than you EVER were!” a more familiar voice called, a wave of nausea seeping through his skin as he continued to walk, breathing heavily over the clink of the void.

The sickness never left as he continued to walk.

Nothing ever ended, when everything here just began.

“Wilbur said he wasn't going to hurt me!” He stopped.

Suddenly everything was quiet as he stopped, he shuddered before taking another step, but instead of clinks when his hooves pressed against the void there was a crackling sound similar to that of walking on thin glass, it didn’t crack so he continued to walk.

“What am I without you?” a voice whispered, a flash of white blinding him in the darkness of the void. He couldn’t breath, he couldn’t think. So he ran. The void crashed, each harsh step resulted in shattering. Glass broke around him, the sound wrenching through the void and echoing back at him.

He couldn’t breathe.

It would never end. This was the beginning of all things, the start of something never ending. He would never die, his body would never end.

He was forever,

And those around him were temporary.

His hoove got caught in the shredded glass scraps, dragging him under.

He fell. Deep into the abyss forever.

He didn’t want to be forever.
He wanted to die.

—

Tubbo’s first thought as he woke up was sluggish, dragged down by his body’s biological need for sleep as he stared up at the ceiling. ‘Huh’ he thought to himself. ‘That was a weird dream…’ he thought to himself, it was technically more akin to a nightmare but it really didn’t feel like one. It had the essence of one, the voices of the past and the pain of the present but it.. It didn’t feel right, like there was some missing piece. “I wonder what that whole never ending shit was..” he mumbled to himself as he sat up, stretching his hands over his head and yawning, mindful to keep his voice down as he glanced to his left.

Micheal was cuddled around a pillow, half a foot poking Sunny’s back as she hogged the blanket. He sighed softly before glancing over to his husband, Ranboo’s tail was wrapped around his ankle just as it always was. Their face was smushed into their pillow and their body was curled up so his feet didn’t dangle over the edge.

Tubbo smiled and let himself just enjoy the peace, taking in careful consideration of every detail. He heard the rustling of trees outside, the twitching of rabbits noses, the slight twitch of Sunny’s tail and the slightest voice in the distance.

The teen straightened his posture as he glanced around the room, palming the pocket knife in the pocket of his pajamas. He glanced around the room as the voices became closer and closer. He couldn’t really understand what they were saying…

⍾⎍⟟☊☍!

⍙⟒ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⏁⍜ ☌⟒⏁ ⏚⏃☊☍ ☌⎍⊬⌇ ☊⍜⋔⟒ ⍜⋏!

⍙⏃⟟⏁- ⊑⟒⊬ ⍙⏃⟟⏁!

Oh.

“Chat-” he huffed, relief flooding his system once he heard the high pitch ender. His hand let go of the knife pocket as he glanced around, trying to see where they were coming from. He couldn’t understand ender well much to his disappointment but according to some old books the married couple had found the language was developed to make it purposely difficult for non-endermen to learn.

Which was awful when an enderman’s goat husband wanted to speak in his partner’s native tongue.

He furrowed his brow and sat up a bit more, waiting for the particles to zoom through the door maybe.

WHACK

Orrr not.

Tubbo turned his head and slapped a hand over his mouth at the sight of his husband’s chat splattered over the window, he chuckled behind his palm as he moved forward. He unlatched the window and watched how they raced inside to Ranboo’s sleeping form.

They began to chitter instantly, awaking the other parts of chat as they spoke at a speed Tubbo found ridiculous. He could see how hard they were trying to wake Ran up however. It sent a little shot of anxiety through his stomach, he sighed as gripped the endermen, by the shoulders, shaking him.

They spluttered as they shot up, his tail tightened around Tubbo’s and his ears twitched while their eyes scanned the room with laboured breath. The chat began to screech and vroop at them almost instantly, catching all of his husband’s attention. Tubbo sighs, wincing at the volume of the chat, he prays to Prime the kids don’t wake up.

He’s had one too many wake ups in the middle of the night to Wilbur’s deranged speeches. “What…?” Ranboo says after a moment, their tail sliding into their own hands to fiddle with. Tubbo watches as his husband’s eyes shoot up before his head snaps to look at them.

“They found fur, white fur around the border, only enough to be a reasonable shedding.”

Huh, that was something.

“Yeah? We live in a snow biome.”

“No! I mean we do- but chat says it was laid out just around our borders, why would a polar bear go around our borders? Without straying once?”

Tubbo froze, biting his tongue to keep the terror that ran through his body. Technoblade was scouting them and bringing along his stupid Polar bear.

“Blade.” he hissed through his teeth, pulling himself out of bed and moving his body to the door, “T-tubbo!- hey!” He didn’t bother shutting the door behind him as he stomped through the halls, tossing himself over the edge of the stairs, landing on his feet and rushing down into the basement.

He slams and forces the metal doors to swing open, muttering curses to himself as he ventures into the back. He finds a collection of chests separated from the rest of the room by an iron fence with a mechanical door. Tubbo was almost shaking as he swiped his thumb print over the reader and stormed inside. He approached four double chests, each one latched and tightly locked with no room for slipping open.

They couldn’t let Micheal ever dream of touching these.

Inside were delicately crafted soul torches, lanterns and camp fires.

It was a documented fact that piglins were frightened by the blue flames and for good reason.

Tubbo thought back to the days in old L’manburg, huddled into Tommy’s side in his itchy half stitched uniform while Niki read Tommy’s request. A book all about piglins. He remembered the awe in the blond’s face that day and certainly recalled Tommy’s whispers about his big strong brother late into the night.

‘Piglins are frightened of Soul fire, it is known to cause vomiting, unease, profuse sweating, shaking in short instances, long exposure to it may cause long lasting dizziness and weaken the muscles and tendons of a Piglins body. It may be fatal in some cases.’ Tubbo shuddered, Tommy had seemed so scared, fisting the pants of his uniform as he scoffed about it being ‘shit fire.’ Niki stopped reading the book after that.

Tubbo pulled a handful out of his chest, he could move Micheal out, maybe to stay with Puffy or Tommy and he could store large quantities in each room or entry, maybe even around the perimeter.

“Tubbo.”

“Mm?”

He rummaged through the chest, counting his numbers and how much more soul sand he would need.

“You can’t put those up.”

“I can” he said unflinchingly as he dropped the torches and slammed the chest down and redid the latch. “And I will.” He had to keep them safe, he needed this.

“Tubbo no, please just- just hear me out?”

He sighed, turning to face Ranboo. Their expression was something mixed with worry and an odd type of firmness, one they only got when they were seriously talking.

“We don’t have any Idea what Technoblade wants, we have done nothing to him but we know he doesn’t like us, you guys have a bad history. Let’s say he’s scouting to make sure we don't have any secrets or are dangerous, if he finds Soul torches he’ll think we have something to hide.”

They did have something to hide, their child.. ren?

“He’ll think we have something planned and take action, and frankly we’re no match for him Tubbo, our best bet of action to pretend we don't notice and keep the soul torches as a last resort we don’t want to anger him over nothing?”

The goat grumbled under his breath, he knew his husband was right. Even if his fingers itched to lace every section of his house with blue flames. “Fine” He huffed, “come on then let’s prepare breakfast, I hope Sunny can join us again.” Ranboo hummed as they began to walk away, leaving his husband to follow.

Tubbo sighed, dropping the torches on the floor one by one back into the chest, watching as their undying flames flickered in the dark light. He didn’t want to risk it… but angering the blade would only lead to bad things. He sighed, putting away the final torch and walking to the kitchen.

—

“Okay, let’s try again.”

Tubbo put his hands slightly under his chest, palms faced to himself. He moved his hands up his body, stopping shortly before moving his hands into two thumbs up, moving away from his body.

“Uhm” Ranboo looked scattered, sat at the table scribbling over his notes as he analysed the movement. “Again?” They asked and Tubbo obliged, repeating the movements and passing a glance at the pancakes being cooked over his stove.

He goes to flip the pancake once it begins to bubble, turning back to find his husband flipping through barely legible diagrams. Ranboo’s writing was persuasive and cursive but their artistic talents were not nearly as grand. “How are you?” he asks, copying the sign with his multicoloured hands, covered in little splats of white and black.

“You got it king”

“Ugh… this is hard.” Ranboo sighed, lightly shaking his head. They continued the gesture over and over, mindful of how their limbs moved with the language. Tubbo watched, only moving away to peel off the pancake and put more batter inside the fry pan.

“Maybe when you talk to Sunny you can use the signs? Start associating them with their meanings and shit?”

“Hm, that sounds like a good idea, i’ll try it when they wake up.”

They let the atmosphere relax in the cool quiet

That was until the gurgled laughter of Micheal came through the halls, he was laughing loudly, his pyjamas a mess as he ran into the kitchen with Sunny smiling widely behind him, giggling. Tubbo smiled, seeing the kids already getting along.

“Morning Michael, morning Sunny! He called out as he watched the two scamper into their seats side by side. “Good morning” Ranboo greeted, pausing before performing the sign in BSL, earning a smile from the girl.

Tubbo smiled and turned back to the food.

‘You’re learning sign language?’ Sunny asked, delight flooding her system with a bright smile. Ranboo sighed “sorry I’m uh not sure what you said.” he mumbled, hissing through their teeth when they saw how Sunny slumped back down into her seat.

She huffed and tugged at the purple sweater she was still wearing, she missed her own gowns and dresses. She missed when Tubbo would buy her a new one each day and do her hair for her. It was all messy now, she didn’t like brushing it really, it reminded her that he wasn’t here.

Like when he died.

She shook her head and stared at the cloth of her borrowed clothes. She missed her old ones.

She stared until she heard the awkward gurgling sound that for a minute she mistook as choking but was really just Micheals laughter as a plate of pancakes were put on his plate. It was only a second before a plate was given to her as well stacked high on pancakes, she smiled and picked up her utensils, signing a quick ‘ thank you ‘ before she was digging in.

She picked up her knife and fork and cut the 3 stacked fluffy cakes into little squares for herself. The food didn’t resist as she cut them before grabbing the butter and spreading it over the pancakes. She dug in and chewed on her food, smiling at the taste in her mouth.

“Sooo” Tubbo dragged out his syllables as he sat down, smiling. “I invited an old friend over” he started and Sunny blinked, peering over her food to look into Tubbo’s eyes. She felt a little sweaty, she tightened her grip on her fork to keep her composure. Sunny had… a lot of process about that.

Micheal made a questioning grunt to which Tubbo smiled, “I invited over Mimi” he answered and Sunny could see the absolute delight in his eyes as he squealed happily, jumping up and down in his chair. His parents chuckled and Sunny joined in their laughter as Micheal smiled as bright as the summer sun.

It relaxed her a bit, if Micheal seemed so excited that must mean they were nice.

“Yeah hun, it’s been a bit since he came round hasn’t it?” Ranboo hummed as they sat up from their chair with a million sheets and diagrams in their hands. “I’ll be in my study let me know when he’s here.” Sunny watched as Ranboo waved them goodbye “gotcha boss man” Tubbo replied.

He finally sat down himself, and Sunny wasn’t surprised to see his plate devoured in less than a minute. He’d always been a very quick eater. Sunny finished half her food by the time Tubbo sat up from his chair, smiling at the two of them, “I’ll be outside awaiting our guest, Micheal you can show Sunny the playroom right?” Micheal nodded and grunted his assurances, his father chuckled, ruffling his hair before patting him on the head and leaving.

After their meals Micheal grabbed her hand and began leading her down a corridor, it was only a few doors away from the foyer, he pulled the door to it open and spread his arms out like he wanted her to take in every detail.

The room was wide, with coloured streamers hanging between the pillars of the walls from the ceiling, the floor was carpeted with a bright version of every colour known to man. The room had three little beanbags spread out in the three corners, the fourth corner had a chicken coop with a fence around it, there was a single chicken clucking inside.

There was a toy box overflowing with toys made of wood, a doll house, a plastic table with plastic chairs, a spilled box of crayons and some paper.

Micheal chuffs happily as he drags Sunny to the chicken coop, he presses his face against the fence and grunts, she can see his tail wagging and smiles as she looks down at the chicken. It’s beady eyes stare into Micheal as the boy plucks him out of his pen. He briefly nuzzles the animal before extending his arms to Sunny with the brightest smile.

She stares for a moment before smiling and taking the chicken into her arms, she didn’t know if the thing had a disease and was mindful not to hold him too close. Micheal still seemed pretty happy with that. ‘Mine’ he signed happily as he pointed to the animal and the dragon nodded before passing him back.

Micheal was more than happy to take his chicken back. ‘I like your chicken, what's his name?’ she asked to which Micheal stared at her.

She sighed once she realised he didn’t understand. ‘Cute’ she said instead and Micheal smiled as he put his chicken back and pointed over to the plastic table ‘art?’ he asked and Sunny nodded, smiling as he got out some paper and crayons for her.

What did she want to draw?

Her first thought was of home,of Fobo.

She frowned and thought of something else instead, the cave the federation found her in.

That was her first home. Her first moments were in those old ratty nests. Beside her older sister as she hatched. She grabbed the grey and black, kicking her feet as she doodled the outline of the cave. She grabbed a yellow and a pink, an orange and red, a white and a brown.

She drew some bright fairy lights over them, taking some creative liberty. She drew a splotchy version of her sister in her flour stained pink dress, brown skin and the dark brown that faded into blonde strands of long puffy hair. She drew a refined reflection of herself with short dark brown curls, brown skin and a bright shiny poofy dress, and finally her baby brother, his brown curls, brown skin, wobbly glasses, red bandana and his red and white onesie.

Pepito was holding a mushy cookie that was dripping into his lap, She was laughing and Empanada smiled tiredly at them.

It stung.

She didn’t even get to say goodbye.

She mourned for her siblings, they’d be asleep now, and if her plan worked.. Who knew if they’d even exist in the future.

Would she exist? Would she be made?

Sunny shuddered and fought back the tears that wanted to fall.

Instead she grabbed another paper and tried to push away her Panada’s wide smile and her Pepito’s stupid toothless grin. Ramon’s cocky grin with his tooth gap and Leo’s sly smirk. She shook her hand and grabbed her yellow crayon. She scribbled, a little rougher than she meant.

Some skin there, a white shirt there, her hair, her signature shades, an orange belt, layers.. And layers of white and yellow petticoats. She stared down at the outfit she’d made on a sketch of herself, it was splotchy and not inside the lines really. It was nice to look at though, Sunny smiled and looked up to find Micheal scribbling down something, he seemed really focused.

She leaned over the table, trying to catch a glimpse of his art but his head shot up, she jumped back, squeaking in surprise. Micheal looked worried for a second but puffed out his lip and cheeks ‘no peeking!’ he signed with a huff. Sunny put her hands up and kept her amusement to herself as she signed sorry.

She went back to drawing, designing more clothes for herself.

—

Tubbo sighed as he leaned against the porch of the mansion. Sword heavy in his hand and his communicator open in his other. He was waiting. Scanning the trees and snow for the colours he associated with his best friend.

And there it was, a small speck of a person walking through the tundra. He could make out yellow and blue. Tubbo grinned and waved, he swayed his hand precisely three times and at the third swing he swooped his hand down.

Tommy returned the wave just as precisely.

The message was clear to the both of them.

‘No immediate danger’

Tommy jogged up to him, and Tubbo took a moment to smile at how much better he was doing. His clothes weren’t ripped or stained, they were old and well worn with patches from being repaired but they were better. He was wearing a blue button sweater vest and his signature red and white tee. His pants were tan cargo’s, he had beat up red runners.

Around his neck was his green bandana, Lady Prime’s cross and Drista’s sigil. He looked happy.

“Ayup big man!” Tommy cheered as he crossed his arms, grinning from cheek to cheek, it wasn’t the most authentic but Tubbo understood him being called out so suddenly might’ve rattled him a bit.

“Hey, look Tommy I've got a situation, not a bad one but like a delicate one?”

“Oh.. well shoot Tubs”

Tubbo bit his lip and tried to form the words. “I was out in the woods one morning and I found a little kid submerged in the snow, she was unconscious and I phoned Ranboo and rushed home. When she woke up she didn’t remember where she came from or her family, but.. I don’t think her parents are from here.”

Tommy’s eyes went wide, his mouth parted as he blinked before shaking his head and pursuing his lips. His thinking face Tubbo liked to tease. It took him a moment before his eyes shot up again.

“You think she’s a whitelist breaker!” he whisper shouted, quickly slapping his hands over his mouth.

The white list was the walls put up by the deities of a server, or the leaders or government of them. Some servers didn’t have them, some did. They were sacred parts of the gods divinity and Tommy being as religious as he was knew interfering with them was fucking dangerous.

Risking a generational curse type of fucking dangerous.

But when there was danger, there were those who challenged it. White list breaker’s were criminal gangs, they were stupid and almost always failed and got their asses smited.

But a child broke through.

“You think they sent in a child soldier.”

“We both think so.”

Tommy huffed and took a step closer. “What’s.. What's she like?” he asked. The older took a careful breath before realising, he didn’t know all that much about her. “That’s kind of the thing, she’s polite and quiet, well she’s mute but she hasn’t shown much interest in things yet.”

“Well, let’s get to know her!” Tommy voiced as he walked to the front door and slammed it open.

“Tommy wai-”

Chapter Text

Sunny had grabbed a wooden doll and had begun making it dance in the little dollhouse when she heard a loud crash, her tail whipped against the ground as she jumped up. Nothing had fallen, nothing had changed in the room besides-

Micheal, he was laser focused on the door, his crayon had dropped and he had the happiest smile. The dragon let herself relax slightly but stopped playing. There were footsteps now, she grabbed the wooden toy she was playing with, just in case.

The door opened gently and Tubbo poked his head in, she visibly relaxed while Micheal seemed to pout. “Hey guys, remember how I said we were having a friend over?” the piglin nodded his head like a madman while sunny gave a quick one.

The door opened to reveal someone.

Someone she recognised.

Tommy. Tommy, he was one of the two strange spirits that followed her Pa around, Molly and Tommy. Apparently they were her step parents. They were her family.

Sunny stared at him, he wasn’t a spirit here.

“MIMIIII!!” Micheal screeched as he jumped out of his chair, holding his drawing and racing up into the blonde’s arms, he giggled at the older and began to ramble in a series of grunts and chuffs. Tommy seemed to understand, quickly responding with his own chuffs and excited grunts.

He could understand Micheal. She hoped he understood her too.

“Sunny” she whipped her head around to face the brunette “this is my best friend Tommy, he’s going to be staying for a bit. He speaks sign language too so he’ll understand you”

“Hell yeah I do i’m the master of every language” Tommy huffed proudly, dodging a whack from the other’s elbows and sticking his tongue out at him. Tubbo rolled his eyes “say something in french?” the blonde paused, “ehh- well uhm.. Oui ou?”

“Oh yeahh you’re totally a masterrr”

“Oh shut up bitch i’m better than you!”

Sunny starred as they yelled and shouted at each other. Watching the scene, transfixed on it, the way Tommy held Micheal, moving him enough to keep him entertained while talking, still paying attention to his chuffs and grunts. Sunny furrowed her brow and turned back to go and play.

“Oh Sunny right?” She turned her head back, realising the blonde had stuffed Micheal back into his Bee’s arms and was standing behind her. They nodded to their name. “Whatcha doing here?” he asked, plopping down beside her.

‘Miss Dolly is getting ready for her birthday party’ she put down her doll to sign, watching as he made an intrigued face. Sunny felt good that she could talk to another person. “What type of party is it?” Tommy asked, shifting his fingers so they fiddled with the wool of his cardigan. ‘A ball!’ she told him as she pried the clothes off the wooden doll, discarding them in favour of a big round poofy yellow dress that seemed a little too big for the doll house.

Tommy watched, asking a few questions while Sunny moved to set up the wooden doll sized boxes to make the border of the walls. Sunny was happy to ask them as she set it all up. “Does miss Dolly need some friends for her party?” he asked. Sunny frowned as they straightened a wooden block she misplaced. She didn’t want her doll to be lonely, so she nodded her head and turned to find Tommy holding another doll she hadn’t seen.

“This can be…. Miss Clementine?” he offered. ‘Yeah! They can be best friends!’ Sunny insisted with a smile.

—

“Oh woahh Miss clementine is a right royal bitch” Tommy huffed as he stood up and stretched, sitting down for so long had an effect on his growing bones. He peered down taking in Sunny’s dignified nod and laughed, rubbing the hair atop her head and causing her to pout at him.

She was a sweetheart, and pretty endearing.

She didn’t have the same attitude he expected from a child soldier but memory loss and a few days around the clingest sappiest fucks he knew? That could affect a kid. “I need a word with Boss man Boober right Sunny? Be back in a minute” He called out as he moved towards the door.

His eyes glanced over a.. Drawing on the floor. It was Sunny in an adorable big dress. He blinked over it before turning to see them playing again. He took notice of how the clothes fit her, almost too tight. He recognised one of Fundy’s old skirts and the size too small fitting of Micheal’s clothes.

He leaned down and grabbed the paper before he left the room.

—

“Boob boy I need money!” Tommy slams the door to the study open, sending the endermen off their chair and down on the floor. “Ah- wha- Tommy?” Ranboo squeaked as they brushed the disturbed strands of hair off of his face, staring at their friend with wide eyes. Still spooked from the scare.

The blonde scoffed as he entered the room. “Money bitch, I need money” he repeated, earning a confused look from the other. “Oh.. uhm sure, what’s it for?”

Ranboo stood up again, brushing off their suit pants before opening the statchal attached to their side and passing over a stack of diamonds. Tommy took them eagerly as he opened his mouth “I found this drawing Sunny made and thought why not sew her something? She seems like one of those all glam girls and shit.”

The endermen blinked momentairly before a soft smile broke over their features. Ranboo was no stranger to Tommy’s sewing and knitting talent, he’d made a very cute plush pillow for Tubbo’s and his wedding bands to rest while they slept along with a few of Micheal’s baby blankets and some clothes.

Hearing that he wanted to make Sunny a dress she drew sounded lovely. “That’s sounds nice” he commented as they slid in another stack “maybe make her a few?” Tommy collected the money, sliding it into his satchel with a focused nod. “Yeah I will!” he grinned brightly before turning and leaving the room “Bye boob boy!”

Ranboo sighs softly before heading back to their work.

They say in releif to find most of their work wasn’t disturbed by the heart attack Tommy provided. He sat down, pushing the end flaps of their suit out from under them before they went back to the unopened book.

‘The perfect guide to Sign language’

‘All inclusive language’

The hybrid had been.. Meaning to pick it up truthfully for quite a long time. Tommy’s hearing had been deteriorating for years, even before they had met and in their younger years Tubbo had picked it up and taught Tommy. Now with the… fireworks at the festival and the nusclar testing Tubbo’s own hearing had been steadily in decline.

He really should of picked this up sooner…

But then again.. His head just- made it so hard.. Ranboo sighed and shook their head before opening to the BSL section. They had to do this. It was important. ‘I just.. Need to learn two signs a week’ they told themself before delving into the book.

He could do this.

Ranboo sighed, pulling out their sketchbook and pencil. They presumed drawing the signs over and over while annotating them would help it stick into their head. Ran desperately hoped it would stick, he didn’t want to have someone they loved going deaf and having no way to help them…

He breathed in a long breath and began to study again.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t hard to slip out of the mansion with the money, truthfully no one would be trying to stop him. Yet he still didn’t want to be out for long so he raced around the clock. Not wanting to wait also meant Tommy had snooped through people's houses for fabric, no one really seemed to have much besides Puffy. She had quite a lot of wool, likely her own and he’d used that stuff before but Sunny seemed to want silk and not wool.

So he kept rummaging through peoples houses, until he crossed Niki’s secret city. She’d liked to sew a lot when everything was simpler. Tommy smiled as he saw a desk with a puffy mass stuffed with sewing needles and forgotten fabric placed over the desk.

It reminded him of coming back to the drug van, ripped fabric in tow and watching Niki stitch another patch into another hole. His heart stung as he grabbed some silk from the chests, careful in avoiding any wrinkles. She’d taught him well how to handle fabric. ‘You’re like my little assistant’ she’d tell him.

Tommy shook his head and fled. He had.. More important things to do than think about the past, especially one so far gone.

—

Tommy huffed, shutting the door to his room behind him and glancing at the clock. 3:00pm, he was going to get this dress done by morning. But first, he needed a proper environment. The blonde glanced over his room and hissed through his teeth.

There was a hand carved wooden bed pressed to the left corner, covered in a bright red duvet with hand stitched yellow sparkles. By his bed was a wooden nightstand containing a 2 week old stale cup of water, a few scattered snick nats and an image of Prime hanging just over it, her face and skin covered by a bright glowing yellow that showed nothing beside that of her dress.

On the opposite left corner of the room was a wardrobe with drawers opened and blankets and clothes dumped over the floor, along with a few to-do lists carved into the wood walls by his own dagger in hand.

In the right bottom corner was a small desk with a chest next to it and sewing materials scattered over it. And finally in the right top corner was a large metal box that opened up like a door, it was sealed tightly and had small iron bars to let in air circulation.

Tommy’s first move was to approach the box and open up the metal door to reveal a tiny little robot with a big TV head wearing a woolen blue sweater with pink embroidery hearts stitched on.

‘Tommy pog!’
‘Tommy’s back!!’
‘The child returns!’

Hundreds of messages rang through the screen before it switched back to the pixelated smiley face. Tommy grinned “Ayuppp chat! I’ve got things to do right now but I need you guys to clean up!” At the sound of his voice the little robot tumbled forward and began picking up old clothes and blankets with its limited motion.

With that out of the way… Tommy jumped into his desk, pressing the reference against the wall with a pin as he analysed it. He’d made the outfit Sunny had been fitting into and he could estimate her size easily. All he needed to do was modify it to accommodate her tail.

Tommy grabbed the silk fabric and a pencil and began making the bodice, using a few scrappy cardboard templates for the outline.

He was getting this done by sunrise tomorrow.

He worked all night, pricking his fingers on needles, tying off string with his teeth, arranging and rearranging fabric until it was perfect, he worked and worked. Truthfully Tommy didn’t do fancy things often, he hated most of those things and stuck to his own ratty way of making things but he knew how to make something ‘fancy’.

So there was a lot of trial and error.

Especially with the ruffle of the dress. More curses may have been spewed that night than ever before. There were also good moments of course, sewing on the sun crest was pretty easy and soothing. It didn’t long for the piece to come into itself, with a few ruffles and poofs the thing resembled a ballgown at this point.

Which didn’t exactly fit their climate…

Once everything else was assembled Tommy began working on a warm woollen layer inside, fluffed and stuffed to the brim to keep the kid warm. They’d probably need a jacket of two overtop the top part if she tried to wear it outside but Tommy could make a decent matching sweater.

“Okay.. done- it’s done!” Tommy grinned, rubbing at his eye as he looked over the dress.

The top of the dress was a white bodice with two yellow straps over the shoulders, there was a sewn in warm orange ribbon over the bottom of the shirt that folded into a princess bow at the back and divided the beginning of the dress. It was Poofy, really poofy. The thing practically resembled a ball with how many layers the thing had.

It was a warm yellow with an orange sun crest stitched inside the side.

Some of his more defined work if he was honest.

“How’s it looking chat?” He asked, tilting his head back to catch their input.

‘POG’ it seemed to shout back. Tommy grinned, and went to checking over the mannequin he had it mantelled too. All seemed in order. He looked out the window, seeing the sun was still down. He sighed and moved towards his bed, falling down on his back and watching chat pick the cut up fabric under the table before walking to their lil box. “Night chat…” he mumbled as he turned and drifted off to sleep.

—

Sunny woke up with a large grin over her face, throwing off the blankets that weren’t really hers as she squeezed back into that, not her outfit that was too small. Yesterday had been so much fun! Just playing, her mind elsewhere as she shoved dolls in Tommy’s face and was actually able to hit him. Because he was real.

Sunny came barreling out of the spare dim bedroom, spooking a few stray ducks who were in front of her door. She didn’t notice them, Pa always had ducks around so they weren’t all that new. She continued racing down the halls and rushing down the stairs towards the kitchen for breakfast.

“I found more fur this morning” Sunny stopped in her tracks as they realised Ranboo was inside, speaking to someone. They sounded.. Serious. The dragon furrowed her brow as she stood just behind the door. “Polar bear fur?” That was Tubbo’s voice now.

Ranboo sighed and shook their head slightly “No, it was black fur this time.” the goat paused over the pot of soup he was cooking. “I don't think Techno has black bears…” he mumbled, as he slowly stirred the pot “What could have left those?”

“I'm not sure, chat doesn’t seem to know either and my instincts are just..”

“Fried?”

“Yeah.. that.”

“Fucking hell, don’t worry Ran we’ll get this shit sorted…”

Sunny felt something in her stomach churn as they eavesdropped, something seemed wrong.. They found polar bear and black fur around the house? It didn’t seem all that odd, yet something in her chest felt conflicted over the idea.

Her stomach growled, and for a moment she hoped that was all it was, her stomach was just hungry. She strolled into the kitchen. “Oh Hey Sunny!” Tubbo turned to her, an entire 360 from his earlier deamenor as he began to pour soup into a wooden wall, sliding it to Ranboo who then slid it to the seat next to him. “Morning” Ranboo greeted as they accommodated the verbal apart with the proper sign as well, she offered them a smile but didn’t get her hopes up as she sat up at the table.

‘Where’s Tommy?’ she asked as she sipped at her bowl, she could see the endermen watching each movement of her signs intensely before flicking down to his notebook. It was weird to feel so… watched. “Chat says he’s still a nappin’ he stayed up late I think” Tubbo answered as he watched Micheal waddling in. He picked him up with a coo before plopping him down in his seat and serving him some soup.

They continued to eat with idle talking, yet still her stomach kept churning, the food only ebbing at it.

So.. she wasn’t hungry..

Maybe she was just nervous then?

Even as she moved to the playroom, giggling and laughing, nothing but her and Micheal together, her gut still screamed at her, it began to spread to her head as she coloured, questions and concerns she couldn’t process building up in her brain. It was overwhelming.

Even when Tommy came in, bone tired saying he had a special gift for tomorrow her gut still burned, even as they played and screeched.

She couldn’t understand what was wrong.

“Princess Sunny, how dare you steal my riches! I’m the richest man in all over the kingdom!” Tommy put on a scratchy voice, playing the role of a bigoted twat for Sunny’s play. ‘You’re nothing but a greedy old snotty man! Take this!’ Sunny signed with a devious grin once her doll charged at the other, taking the male one out of the blonde's hands as she smashed them together into a fight to the death.

“Ahhh!! oh no my rich money jaw!! Ahhh” Tommy screamed, hiding his own smile behind his hand as the one he played finally went still and Sunny began parading hers around as if it was dancing on its grave. ‘I win!’ she cheered.

The dread still dinged in her gut as she jumped up and clapped as Tommy grinned and began putting away the toys. “Course ya did Sunbeam!” Sunny didn’t stop moving but she felt her heart race, it didn’t have the same feeling as poppet. But fuck, it felt like a start.

“What do you mean there's more damn fur!?” Tommy and Sunny both stopped as they heard Tubbo shouting from the other room. “Uh, one second Sunny” the blonde patted her head before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him.

Leaving her alone. It only made her gut seem more urgent. What was this feeling?

She didn’t understand why she felt this over some fur..

Fur.

White polar bear fur. The faces of a thousand workers burned through her head. Black fur.. Bunny fur- She- they were here? Sunny felt her chest squeeze around her heart as panic set in. Those pests couldn’t be here, not yet- no.. Sunny squeezed the doll in her hand as she tried to think.

She.. she could still save them.. She just- needed to think..

She needed to know what the federation was up to first- She put away the final doll and decided on her best bet. Sneaking out. To stop them.. She needed to know what they were here for.

Sunny sighed, she wasn’t going to stand by and let them take her family again. Never, again. “Alright Sunny bitch boy and Bee brat were arguing it up over some random bogus shit, thought maybe I should give you your present now?” Tommy suggested as he walked back in with Tubbo glaring at him from behind and Ranboo rolling their eyes fondly.

Sunny nodded and gave a smile.

She just needed to pretend everything was okay for the rest of the day, then she could sneak out at night.

She broke down squealing at the top of her lungs when Tommy showed her the dress, it was just her size, the perfect measurements, her own style. It was just absolutely dazzling as she thought Ranboo had to cover their ears from how screamy she was. For the rest of the day she pranced around in the dress, with Micheal holding her hand as she demanded things and called herself ‘Queen Sunny.’ She even got a crown placed upon her head, it was plastic and clearly belonged to Micheal beforehand but she let it slide.

She played the happy girl act until the sun broke and she was put to bed. Sunny dressed in the warmest pyjamas layers she had, a fluffy woolen top and scratchy pants. When 30 minutes had passed Sunny began to plan. ‘Okay… okay the window is a no go, too high up for that so I need to sneak out the front.” he murmured to herself as she grabbed another layer of clothes, this time a tight fitting black shirt and leggings.

She knew her Pa would be wide awake, probably working on some project but in all her time here she’d never seen a workshop. So she hoped it was far away. She wasn’t too sure of Ranboo and Tommy’s sleep schedules.. But as long as she avoided them she’d be fine.

With that in mind, she put a do not disturb sign on the front of her door and began shuffling down the halls, she was quick to keep to corners and listen for any sounds. She could hear the kettle in the kitchen on, but thankfully the door to the kitchen was shut. So she made her way to the front door and schmied it open just a little bit. Before slipping out in the dead of night.

The snow was cold as it nipped against her skin, burning almost as she ran forward. It was the first time she’d been outside since the forest.. She took a time to look around the area, she found trees and smaller houses, took a real long look at the mansion she’d been living in and then finally she began the search for fur.

She found white and black fur sprinkled against the snow, almost as soon as she began to look for it. The federation was here.. She could tell. “Goodness” she huffed, kicking the snow under her feet. She thought she would have more time to just.. Be with them.

It wasn’t fair…

Sunny felt her chest squeeze as she stomped her foot into the snow.. It just wasn’t fair. She had only known her Pa for less than a year and yet it felt like a lifetime of love and care, all she wanted was to know him, at least for a little longer…

Snow crunched behind her, a sickening sound of the patting of feet against the ground. Sunny ran behind a tree and climbed up into the branches. Just in time to see the blaring white fur against the snow.

Cucurucho’s bland smiley face stood under the tree, a spyglass in his hands and a look of pure nothingness on his face. Two no tie bunny workers stand behind him, charts in their hands. ‘Report on Subject 0.4?’ The bear asked, turning only to sign towards the bland rabbits who quickly look through their notes. ‘We have discovered 0.4 is married to a ‘Ranboo Beloved’ and is presumably a father at this point in time’ the rabbit to the left replied.

Sunny furrowed her brow as she realised they were talking about Tubbo. Curucucho nodded and spared a glance at the mansion behind them ‘of how many children?’ he asked and the rabbit to the right answered this time.

‘We are unsure, we at first only saw a young piglin but now we have caught a glimpse of a little girl as well.’

Sunny shuddered as she realised they were talking about her… she furrowed her brow. ‘Proceed with the assignment as planned, if the subject's family interferes, deal with them accordingly.’ Curucucho told them before he began to walk out, the dragon watched as the rabbits seemed to relax and nod with each other before they each pulled an invisibility potion from their belts, slurping it down.

Then in a flash they were gone, the only signs they were around were the paw prints left in the snow as they walked off…

Sunny felt a thousand things running through her head as she tried to process it all… they were scouting Tubbo, they were scouting her Pa… it wasn’t fair. Sunny jumped off of the tree, dusting off her sneaky pyjamas and turned to look out the way Cucurucho had left. She wasn’t going to let them take her family. Sunny took in a deep breath and ran forward.

Chapter Text

She was lost. That much was clear to her as Sunny looked around the climate around her, the sun had begun to rise at the horizon and the daylight was spreading, it made her feel like she stuck out like a sore thumb. There had been one too many times where she had needed to dive off her straight line to avoid a mob, she forgot her sword and armour were no longer with her.

Which meant she had lost that blimey bear long ago and it left Sunny alone, scared and with no directions one where to go for home. She wasn’t sure if this place had a map like at home.. How would Pa and Ranbo find her? She wasn’t sure…

Sunny shivered as she rounded the corner of another tree, she was trying to go straight but she wasn’t sure she was doing too well at that really, not when she was still in a snow biome. ‘Stupid snow! Stupid- stupid snow’ she puffed out her cheeks and scowled as she stomped through the snow, leaving oddly shaped footprints behind her.

She was sick of all this snow! If she was going to get lost she would’ve preferred somewhere a little warmer. Sunny grumbled in her head when there was suddenly a loud booming ring, she shot up, eyes going every area when suddenly her eyes spotted.. A fence. The sound was gone as Sunny parted her lips, her breath visible in her line of sight while she wandered closer towards the fence, peeking from behind a tree. There was a clearing, surrounded by this small wonky fence, and inside there was two small cottages lined up next to each other.

They were houses.

With people inside.

At home there were a lot of kinds of people, and a fair few who had tried to hurt Sunny themselves, those were bad people and these people could be bad too. Yet as she looked back to see the snow around her, her chest squeezed. She could risk being slaughtered by mobs out here, but she could risk being murdered by random people in there.

She didn’t know people here, all she knew was her Pa. He would find her.. Eventually. Sunny began to creep away from the fence when she suddenly saw the door to one side of the cottages open. A figure walked out, it was too far away to see them but they looked… Big, powerful.

It helped her decision stick as she began creeping away, keeping her eyes on the figure when-

SNAP

A branch snapped under her boot and suddenly the figure’s neck seemed to snap to her direction.

A wave of fear engulfed her as she turned and began to run.

She jumped over stray branches and heaved as the air seemed to knock out of her. Her breath strained- as she moved forward, racing against the the cold wind that nipped at her skin. She already felt like she couldn’t breath, her hands instinctively clutched her pockets but-.. She didn’t have her inhaler. It seemed like the world was crashing and burning around her, she kept running on shaky unstable legs.

Even as her head began to ache, her chest heaved and her thighs burned she kept running. Because she could hear someone closing in behind her, she could hear the gallop of a horse, just fair enough away to hear but close enough to keep her from looking back.

‘I’m going to die- i’m dead- oh my goodness- oh god- i’ll never save Pa! I’ll die and no one will care enough to find my body. I'm going to day, I tried so hard just for nothing- if this figure doesn’t catch me I'll die of an asthma attack!” she couldn’t breath, tears dripped down her face as she struggled to open her lungs. She couldn’t breath, she couldn’t run- everything hurt-

Her vision began to sway and soon it barely felt like she could see- she was dodging trees through the vague brown lump in her eyes, until- her foot snagged on a tree root and she was crashing into hard snow, unable to breath, with legs burning and tears running down her face. She didn’t move, her body shook as she just laid there and cried.

“Hey-.. hey kid-” She tensed up, she tried hard to crawl, to lift herself up- anything but she felt rock still, tumbling back down into the snow.

“Bruh.. hey okay listen i’m going to lift you up, won’t hurt you- just.. Yep there we go” strong hands gently lifted her from the ground, her body felt tense as she tried to catch a glimpse of the person.. But her eyes were still too watery. “Yep… ah man i’m not the one to deal with kids… there we go- just uh, in and out, carefully now- need you to breathe.” The hand tried to guide her- but it was hard to make out through the fear cursing through her veins and the tears clouding her head, she coughed and shocked as the voice tried its best to get her to take those deep long breaths and shallow long exhales.

Eventually she felt air gradually fall into her lungs as her breath stabilised a little.. Sunny sniffled and reached her hands up to wipe away the tears pouring down her face. “Alright kid.. Uh, let's get you inside now.. That’s what you do with kids right, chat?” he began to whisper to something under his breath as Sunny tucked her head into her knees.

She was screwed.

they couldn’t run now, she could still barely see and her legs felt like they were on fire. She was doomed.. Then again the stranger had tried to help her-... she hoped they were nice but- she couldn’t put trust in them. Not yet, this wasn’t the island, she was somewhere strange and unknown, they had to remember that.

“Right.. Come on kid, i’ll,, uh, get you some- Milo?.. Yeah that i’ll get you some milo if you come to my house” The figure seemed to shift their feet, Sunny wasn’t too sure she still couldn’t see them too well from her eyes being all blurry but she nodded and stood up. The figure sighed and then they began to walk, it seemed the man had a house he was holding by the reins as they walked back towards the clearing.

Sunny ignored the ache in her legs as she tried her best to keep pace. Eventually her eyes seemed to finally go back to normal and Sunny took her chance to finally take a look at the figure.

They were a tall, broad man with light rough fur all over his body, he had an extended snout, dark black eyes with red slits for pupils, two long sharp tusks protruding from his mouth and two pig ears over his head. He looked like a meaner version of Micheal, her baby brother’s fur was soft to the touch and brushed out, the one this man had looked like a thousand dull bladed knives dyed pink. He wore a long red cape that just dragged against the snow, it was clasped around his neck with white fur and gold.

The cape covered almost all of him besides from a little at the front, Sunny could glance and see some netherite armour hidden underneath, her mind stopped for a moment as she took that in before she shook her head and tried to focus on keeping her pace. The figure didn’t try talking to her, which was good.. She didn’t want to try and show she was mute and go through another wave of isolation.

Sunny felt like she was going to collapse once they finally reached the door, her legs begging to buckle under her weight as finally the door slid open. “So er, you can stay here I guess? I eh, kinda don’t want a random kid running about, got too many of those just- behave.” The man grumbled as he shut the door behind him, Sunny almost cried as she fell into the couch, her tendons and muscles finally resting.

“So…” The piglin walked to stand in front of the couch. “Uh, got a name?” Sunny resisted to roll her eyes as she pointed to her mouth and made an X with her finger, the man lifted a brow before he looked away, as if looking at something she couldn’t. “You mute?” she nodded “Huh, i’ll be back” and he nodded again before walking off. Sunny sighed once he left and rolled over into a ball.

She was so screwed. She didn’t want to stay here; she wanted her Pa! Sunny sighed and puffed out their cheeks. She was meant to keep him safe and now she was lost with some stranger while the federation could be taking her family apart! It wasn’t fair. “Alright kid” the man came back and passed her a notepad “..you’re old enough to write right?” he grumbled questioningly.

Sunny scoffed and scribbled down into the notepad. ‘I’m 8 of course I can write duhh’ she turned the page for him to read he rolled his eyes. “Right kid, well firstly what’s your name and who on this damn server got pregnant with you?”

‘My name is Sunny SideUp’ she began to write, hesitating on what to say about her parents. Was it safe to say Tubbo and Ranboo were her family? It- it felt too risky, she didn’t know anything about this man… ‘and i don't know’ she finished before turning the page to him.

He seemed to take a moment to read that, furrowing his brow. “You’re.. An orphan?” he asked as Sunny’s eyes went wide with the AUDACITY. ‘NO!! I’m just not allowed to tell you but I am no orphan’ she wrote down messily before turning the page with what she hoped was a repulsed look on her face.

She was not some filthy poor orphan, absolutely not.

The man sighed and shook his head “Kid I kinda need to return ya to your parents if you’re not an orphan, let me guess.. Hm, Skeppy your dad?” he asked and Sunny felt her face go blank, furrowing her brow, she didn’t know anyone with that name. “Hm guess not” the man assumed before bringing a hand to his chin, trying to think probably.

Sunny scoffed and began scritching down on the paper again ‘Well what’s YOUR name’ she turned the page, waving it around until the man’s eyes latched onto the page. “Oh, My name is Technoblade” Sunny furrowed her brow that.. sounded familiar? But she didn’t recall where she knew it from. ‘That’s a poor man's name’ she wrote down, Techno raised a brow and wanted ‘hm’ under his breath. “Kid i’m kinda the opposite of poor.”

Sunny grinned at that. ‘Prove it’ she scratched down on the paper.

“Oh hell no I am not having two raccoons stealing my crap”

Sunny gawked at him. ‘I AM NOT A RACCOON I AM A MIGHTY DRAGON!!’ she pouted and crossed her arms. Technoblade raised his brow and seemed to take a look over her “you look pretty human to me kid” he snickered, Sunny huffed and pulled the hood off her head revealing the two black sleek horns.

“You’re an enderman then?” he snickered at her outrage before walking away and leaving her on the couch. Sunny stuck her tongue out and huffed, she was too tired to go after him, in fact- she hadn’t slept all night and it was almost midday. The man seemed nice enough, she could afford a nap. Sunny yawned as and leaned down into a corner of the couch and curled up into a small ball before she slowly began to drift off.

Chapter Text

Technoblade, the blood god, the man known for fighting senseless did not quite know what he was doing, stirring potatoes in a pot as it boiled and bubbled, staining the water a yellow colour. When he had first seen that small little figure in the woods, some part of him had expected Tommy planning to rob him again.

Instead he found a little girl having an asthma attack.

He had no bloody clue where she had come from and his only guess was she was somehow Skeppy and Bad’s daughter with her skin tone, dark green eyes and the horns yet she didn’t react as if they were her parents. And last he checked Skeppy and Bad were still obsessed with this egg nonsense and really, he didn’t think the two could afford a child at a time like this.

Apparently she was 8 too, the timeline just didn’t seem to add up.

She wouldn’t tell him their parents either, so now he was just waiting on Phil, he was the goodie goodie with kids last he recalled.

‘Feed her!’ one of the voices called in his head and he scoffed his eyes, of course he’d bloody feed her he could handle a child's basic needs. He stirred the pot some more and waited for the potatoes to reach their peak blandness. She looked like a runaway and kids like that threw up anything with too much flavour or anything more than a few mouthfuls. He learned that the hard way with that rancid home invader…

“I’m home!” a voice called out and the blood god almost melted in relief as Phil came into view from the kitchen, he dusted off the snow from his attire before his eyes seemed to latch onto the couch. His eyes widened before he walked straight to Techno. “..How’d you find another kid?” he asked, rather calmly really which was to be expected. He was no stranger to picking up strays.

“Found her at the fenceline, thought she was Theuseus but wrong kid apparently, won’t tell me her parents either and claims she’s a ‘dragon’” The piglin murmured as he grabbed the potatoes out of the boiling water with his bare hands, dropping them onto the plate and grabbing some lettuce from the tupperware on the side.

Phil hummed under his breath and helped dish up his own plate more hygienically “So, what do you plan on doing with her?”

Truthfully he hadn’t thought too much about that, he really didn’t want another twerp screwing up his life and betraying him, but… she was a lot younger than Theseus had been. “I don’t think she got a place to go, too young to love the government, maybe she can stay I guess” Techno furrowed his brow and waited for a moment.

Philza sighed softly, taking off his hat and shaking his long blonde hair. “I’ll take her” he sighed with an exhausted smile and the brute almost crumbled with relief. He didn’t want to take her on, and thankfully Phil was always open to snatching up kids.

Phil whacked him on the shoulder and Techno chuckled under his breath “Thanks old man” he grumbled as he moved and sat the kids portion on the table before fetching his own, he noticed the crow switching the plate he’d grabbed with his hands out for the one he had served but didn’t take notice.

That old bird was the one who loved kids, whose little bird instincts fluttered with joy. He remembered coming to visit a few times when Wilbur was young and seeing that young little boy begging the piglin to listen to his tunes, stroking his guitar furiously, almost desperate and pleading for attention. Wilbur looked on the verge of tears when Techno said a hesitant yes. Phil always seemed so embarrassed as he pushed the kid away, telling him to go play and not bother the adults.

Some part of him remembered the grief and fear burned into those eyes.

The kid was probably so used to attention he couldn't handle not being the centre of attention.

“He never listened to me”

Wilbur had told him in Pogtopia one night, insane out of his mind. At the time Techno felt there may have been truth to those words but now he knew the insanity that had boiled inside him, Techno knew now the brunette had just been misremembering how Phil had been.

Sometimes when he mentioned Phil back then Tommy would just stare, like the name was unfathomable to him and Wilbur would curse at him that he was not to be spoken of. Looking back on it he likely posioned Phil’s name in Tommy’s mind.

On one of his last visits before Wilbur ran off with his little brother to start L’manberg the blonde had been attached to Wilbur at the hip, anytime he tried to grab onto Phil the brunette had scolded him and the old crow hadn’t seemed to notice. It was a.. Weird family dynamic but maybe with the problem children out of the way Phil could adopt some new little kid.

Techno grumbled and began munching on his serving of potatoes, they were still wet and slightly bubbling but it was nothing more than a warm ray to his tongue.

“What do you know about her?” Phil asked, casting a glance at the kid over the couch before taking a seat on the other side of the table from him. He began cutting up his food with a little more precision than Techno ripping them in two. “They’re mute, her name is Sunny, she’s 8 years old and claims she isn’t an orphan but refuses to tell me who her parents are” he mumbled around his mouthful.

Techno began to tear into the rest of his potatoes as the silence stirred on, he could tell Phil was thinking, likely about who her parents were and how likely they were to miss her. “Well that won’t be a problem, if she doesn’t tell us she can just live here.” That was that, it was decided then, Phil would probably take her in the morning and Techno could swing by to ask for a favour from the kid or two every few years till she grew up and went off with a death wish and got herself killed, easy as that.

That was a shuffling of sheets by the couch, Phil looked alert that very second, his wings fluffing up. She was young and new his bird brain was probably rampant. Techno shrugged and went back to his food as Phil wandered over to check on her.

—

Her stomach ached as she felt the last remnants of her dreams slip away, her stomach felt all tingly and weird, but she.. She knew it wasn’t a hungry type of ache, no- it.. It felt like something was wrong. Sunny peered her eyes open and froze, her tail spiked up like how Regulus’s tail would when Ramon would run around with his hammer.

“Ah, good morning mate. I’m Phil, you already met my good friend Techno-” her chest burned as she stared into those traitorous eyes, her brain short circuited as she stared up at him. She remembered those jokes, those laughs, the lack of ANY respect over her Pa’s grave. She witnessed it, endured the pain of knowing he didn’t care. Felt the way he discarded her own and his son’s feelings. She remembered each word and laugh.

She remembered the criticism, the stares, the scoffs, the way he scolded her because Em told him more about egg island, the way he looked at her in discontempt.

Of all the people she missed from home, she didn’t miss him.

Despite how her lungs still burned from her short nap Sunny jumped off the couch, she didn’t want to be near him. “Oh hey- no need to be scared” he took a step forward, his face slightly less wrinkled than what she knew. She turned, desperate to run when she realised the pink figure was yesterday sitting at the table.

He was unfamiliar but.. Anything was better than Phil.

She ran up and clung to his leg, startling him. “HEy- Phil!” he called for the crow and Sunny whimpered and hid herself between his legs under the table. She wouldn’t go with him, not again, never again. He wouldn’t take her seriously, he’d laugh at her, scold her. She wouldn’t put herself through that.

“Oh.. awww mate she likes you” There it was, that fluttery humorous tone that sent her gut whirling. “WHAT- Phil you’re the kid one- take her” hands reached under the table to grab her, for a second she felt those white medical paws stealing her away from her bed, pulling her away from her Pa. and she.. She screamed.

It burned her lung like a thousand flames, scorching at her throat, ripping away any peace the house once had, it was a loud overwhelming screech that sounded like a baby being mauled to death.

The hands let go of her and Sunny sobbed into the pants she was holding onto, wrapping her feet around it and locking her ankles together. “Correction, she doesn’t like me…” Phil mumbled as he sat under the table to look at how she was shaking and crying, heaving, coughing, desperate to make her lungs stop burning. She was doing everything in her power to stay away from him.

“How could she not like you- i’m not better really kid, come on go to Phil- shoo” Techno leaned down, he was nervous to touch her and when he tried to pry her hands off Sunny screeched again, it genuinely sounded like she was dying. It sent his piglin brain whirling, he let go and leaned far back in his chair, heaving.

It hurt to hear her scream, so high and loud- almost like a piglet.

He stared at Phil desperate for any help, assistance, advice- but the man shrugged and began to walk away. “On your own mate.”

“Huh- PHIl! W-wait PHIILL !!”

Chapter Text

Sunny hadn’t shown to breakfast, it brought Tubbo a sense of unease, he went to her room and.. She wasn’t there. Dread gripped his chest as he stormed through the room, checking the locks on each window, storming to Micheal’s room and the playpen, she wasn’t there.

He told Ranboo and Tommy as soon as he could and then.. It all went black, they searched each crevice of the house, shouting out her name and turning the mansion inside out. She wasn’t there, she.. She wasn’t there. He went through the motions of searching, as his chest rippled with fear.

What if someone took her?

The hackers grabbed her back?

The gods realised she was a wall hopper?

What.. what if Techno took her. That thought alone seemed to snap Tubbo from his fear, he dropped to his knees in the snow, gripping at the brown strands of his hair and hyperventilating. “Tubbo- hey.. Boss man.. It’ll be okay” someone was talking to him, holding their hand out in front of him, he stared. The skin was blistered and torn, a pale white war stricken hand, it was familiar.

“She- she..”

“She’ll be fine, because we’ll find her-” the voice assured and gently moved to cup his hands, Tubbo heaved and just shut down, following the movements of the hand guiding him back inside. “Techno…” he mumbled before shutting down.

Tommy looked at Ranboo, they were across the room desperately trying to persuade Micheal to go down for a nap. “Shit” he muttered under his breath as he walked to stand beside the endermen. “What are we gonna do..?” he asked, she was just a kid. He.. he didn’t want her getting hurt. She was only a year younger than what Tommy had been when the wars started.

She didn’t deserve an early start to this, to this pain and agony. She didn’t deserve the scars that plagued them all.

“I.. i’ll talk to Techno, see if he has her… if he’ll give her back” Ranboo suggested and the blonde furrowed his brow, he knew well that Ranboo had replaced him not just for Tubbo but for Techno and Phil too… the do over son. He hated it, but as much as he hated it he didn’t want the endermen to go through the pain of falling out with them.

He remembered those first few nights, crying, longing for boiled potatoes and a gruff voice by his side. Not that he’d ever admit it, Hell no!

“Don’t let em know you’re looking for Sunny”

“Why not?”

“Think about it, if they picked her up from Tubbo’s place and you come frolicking in trying to claim her as your own they’ll know about you and big T”

“Oh…”

“Just visit normally, meet Sunny and tell her the plan to break her out got it, i’ll watch little boss here” he moved and took the blabbering piglin from his friends arms, shuffling piglish under his breath to make the little guy soothe a little. He looked back up and noticed the hesitant look on Ran’s face, they were nervous no doubt.

“Come on boo boy, let's get brainstorming!”

—

Kids were hard.

This one especially.

Right now Sunny was eating her lunch, sat firmly at the table like a normal person and eating her meal. Techo sat on the other side of the table, the head of it eating his own good. It was well and dandy but the second Phil came in the kid ducked under the table and hid between his legs.

She didn’t like him.

Which felt impossible! All the kids loved Philza Minecraft the legend, it was his avian birthright, and Technoblade with his ugly brutish sidekick whose job was to strike fear and was poorly regarded with fear in every region. That was his birth right, kids ran and fled from him.

It was their normal routine for kids, some few strays like Wil or Tom sometimes learned not to cry at the sight of him but the rest stayed far away and that was good.

It was almost scary how much of 180 this was from their normal.

“Phil, did one of your enemies have a kid just to ruffle your feathers?” he asked, he couldn’t tell if this fear of Phil was learned or taught, it seemed like both. Phil snorted from where he stood in the doorway, it was the closest he could get without Sunny beginning to get scared.

It felt too familiar to the way smiley faces terrified a certain traitor.

“It’s possible, but no one here would’ve had a grudge with me by the time she would’ve been born” he hummed, the black feathers ruffling over his back.

Technoblade sighed as he finished his food, staring at the tear covered cheeks of the little girl across the table. “...Just tell us your parents kid” he asked, the voices had a handful of suggestions he dared not listen as he stared at that firm face. She made no move to reach for the notepad by her plate and instead continued to delicately eat her food.

“...i hate this for the record.” he grumbled as Phil cackled, a warm birdy laugh that made Sunny freeze for a moment, beforeing glaring from the corner of her eye and eating the rest of her food almost frozen still.

She looked scared. Techno sighed again, he didn’t sign up for this but he could see the signs of fear driven through her core. It reminded him of his days in the bastion, squealing in terror over the hoglins storming his some. He’d had a mild fear of them as a piglet, one that had affected him to his late days as a shoat.

He hoped for his one sake the girl’s fear wasn’t as hard to overcome as his own had been.

Chapter Text

Sunny had been with them for two days now and Techno had learnt somewhat how to deal with her nonsense. She actually was pretty good at handling her own food, she hated phil and could be swayed with items. It was kinda like battering with a shoat though she seemed more keen on diamonds than anything.

He mostly gave her food and she did the rest of it all herself. She slept on the couch, took showers when she thought they were asleep and honestly that was okay with the both of them.

“Sunny for the love of the blood god can you please just let Phil through to sit at the table?” Techno groaned as he crossed his arms and looked down at the kid eating her breakfast, toast and avocado. She looked up and for a moment there was something vulnerable in her eyes before it faded to some strong look of questioning. He waited for her to answer and actually she shoved her mouth full scribbled down a reply as she chewed ‘only if he doesn’t touch me’ she wrote down and the piglin almost felt himself melt with relief.

“You got it kid, Phil come in!” he shouted out and as quick as a falcon he was sitting on the furthest end away from Sunny, she seemed tense with him in the room but at least she wasn’t violently squealing.

Phil served himself his own plate and they ate in silence for a moment before Phil finally spoke up “Ranboo let me know they’d be visiting tomorrow, their business opportunity ended” He let it go in one ear and out the other. He didn’t really have a good idea of where Ranboo went, something always seemed to be up, they left for long periods of time and sometimes Technoblade wondered what he even did, but no one seemed to ever see them in the main SMP.

“That’s good,” he responded gruffly.

Phil nodded and the silence seemed to stretch out, until his ears flicked up, hearing the slightest grinding of teeth, he looked up and.. Noticed how alert Sunny seemed, this wasn’t the same thing as she did with bird brain over here but it was still.. Weird.

Had it been triggered by Ranboo? They hadn’t spoken about anything else. “Any clue about where he went this time?” he continued, watching the way Sunny seemed to chew and look down at her bowl. She was being sneaky but, well they were a kid.

Phil seemed taken aback that he asked a follow up question but spoke up “I heard from Niki she overheard him walking down prime path calling out for someone but I haven’t heard much else about him, though Tubbo was also trying to find someone…”

Techno paused, he didn’t like the implications of that. “He’s working with the government again?” He asked as he felt something in his head spiral. He couldn’t believe Ranboo was still so friendly with some washed up president. The avian shrugged and took another mouthful before answering “not sure mate, Niki told me about it last night, she thought it a little odd.”

Techno furrowed his brow and shook his head, sitting up from the table “i need to think” he scoffed and walked up the stairs, maybe leaving Sunny alone with Phil wasn’t the brightest choice but he had more important things to consider.

Like a traitor.

—

“So Sunny, I know it must not be fun cooped up in here, why don’t you come out with me sometime today. I know some of the people here have kids.” He grinned and Sunny felt sick. She’d just realised that Pa and Boo were looking for her! They were probably so worried but.. Something in the pink man’s eyes told her she was right to keep quiet about her Pa.

He clearly didn’t like him.

But.. she was bored and- and despite how Phil treated her Pa and her he was never.. Dangerous. ‘..Sure..’ she wrote down, Boo would come get her in the morning… she’d be home soon. She missed how many kids were back home… she missed Leo, she missed Ramon, she missed Em.. she missed Micheal already too.

Phil smiled and seemed to finish his food. “Wonderful, I have some of my son’s old clothes you could fit into.”

He sat up and left, seemingly to go get clothes for them, Sunny looked down at herself. She was still dressed up in the pyjamas she’d chosen the last time she was at the mansion. She had been too scared to ask for new clothes, they were pretty dirty by now… So she sat there, waiting on the stool and just breathed. There was none of that excitement for new clothes that she usually had, she didn’t feel any joy in it.

Her Pa used to love machines, until machines became all he was good for… all people wanted him for. She wasn’t sure if it was the same, she wasn’t being wanted, Phil had never wanted her but she still felt like her Pa had.

Phil returned down the stairs and Sunny tensed up as he dropped something down on the table “i’ll come back down in 5 minutes alright? Then we can head off.” and like that he was gone, again. Sunny sighed and picked up the clothes. An old white shirt and.. Brown shorts that fell to her knees.

Sunny looked at the snow outside and bit her lip. Why would she wear something like that in this weather? She scoffed but.. She could make it work. She pulled the shorts over her black pyjama pants that acted like tights and took off her shirt, putting the white one on and pulling the black one over top. She wasn’t getting downed to frostbite of all things..

Even if she did look a little silly. Sunny puffed out her cheeks and grabbed the notebook from the table, soon enough Phil came down again with his own coat. He didn’t seem to notice Sunny’s modifications to the attire. “Alright now we’ll go see a friend of mine called Fundy he’s got a little kid too” he commented and opened the door for the dragon hatchling to follow him, she did, nervous and keeping her distance as she did.

‘How far away is Fundy’s house?’ she wrote down and showed him the paper, she really hadn’t seen any waystones around. Phil took a moment to read it before he answered “just 40 or so minutes by foot” he told her as he pulled out a satchel and seemed to comb through a few things.

After that she was left in silence, which for once didn’t make her feel like she’d start ugly sobbing any second now. She didn’t like talking to Phil, she didn’t so much as like being around him, but the house was boring.. And she hated being so unseen.

She wanted to go home.

Sunny sighed and took in a deep breath, Ranboo would come get her tomorrow, they’d see her and bring her right back home and she could cuddle with Micheal and his dads and even step Tommy.

“Do you think you could answer some questions for me mate?” Eventually he broke the silence and Sunny shook her head, she wouldn’t tell him crap!

“Please?” he asked and Sunny continued to shake her head, “why not?” he stopped moving now and turned to lean down to her size, she scowled. ‘I don’t want to’ she wrote down and the older man sighed and moved to continue walking.

She puffed out her cheeks, feeling the chill air around her as she walked along behind him, relief and tension filling her veins. She couldn’t afford to say too much anyway…

Chapter Text

They stood in front of a large tower, misshapen and quite.. Out of shape. Sunny twisted her face up, it looked like a dungeon from the island really…

Phil didn’t seem to care as he moved up and knocked on the door, stepping away. There was some fumbling inside, some curses and shouted apologises before the door swung open. There stood a man, he had bright red hair with two fox ears peering over the strands and a tail tucked behind him. He looked tired, Sunny frowned. She could see that tiredness from miles away. He looked a little out of breath but when his eyes locked onto Phil he seemed to straighten up, put on a more relaxed smile and looked almost robotic.

He was trying to impress the crow, Sunny furrowed her brow.

“Hey Phil, what brings you here?” His voice had a certain note of hope to it that made the dragon a little uneasy. He sounded desperate, longing. It left a sad bitter taste in her mouth as she looked up to see the strained look in the blonde’s eyes. It was clear to see they didn’t like each other, or at least Phil didn’t like him.

“I’m not here to see you, just to drop off this” he gestured over to her and she watched the stranger's face drop a little but before he could look back up to ask a question the avian was already speaking. “A playmate for that.. Kid of yours, I'll come pick her up later tonight.”

Then he walked away.

“Oh..” the fox frowned and looked at his feet “course, just wants me to watch some kid.. He doesn’t care about me” He sighed before shaking his head and taking another look over Sunny. It felt like a thousand things were happening at once, she was being left with another stranger? No- no she needed to go back, she needed Ranboo to know where she was she needed to be brought home but.. Phil said he’d pick her up later, Sunny bit her lip and hoped he meant it.

“Well, I'm Fundy.. Here I'll come settle you in.”

He showed her around a little, introduced himself and got her a juice box before telling her he’d be back with his son in tow. So Sunny was lonely again, the hybrid hadn’t understood her signs so she was left again to her stupid notepad. She hated it.

She liked using her hands, it was her tongue and it was stupid no one could understand it.

Yet there was nothing she could do about it.. So she chewed on the straw of the juice box and kept her head down. Eventually a little boy was brought up, he looked the same age as Micheal and seemed really excited to see her, but also a little nervous with how he gripped his dad’s hand.

Sunny smiled at him and hoped Phil would come back for her soon.

—

“So,,, do you live with Phil?” Fundy asked as he sat down in a chair beside her, nursing a soft drink after putting yoghurt down for a nap. She shook her head and watched the fox’s shoulders fall a little. “Hm.. so who do you live with?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. Sunny leaned down to grab her notebook she’d abandoned earlier since she found out Yoghurt hadn’t learned to read yet.

Fundy leaned forward to read it, “I can’t tell you it’s a secret” he repeated the words aloud under his breath, shrugging slightly. “Man, even a kid like you has secrets nowadays.. prime how this place has failed us..” he grumbled. She tilted her head and wrote down a question mark to show to the older of the two.

She stilled for a moment, “nothing kid, just.. Don’t trust strangers around here okay?” Sunny nodded and he smiled, a sad bitter smile before leaning back to stare up at the ceiling. It left her a moment to think, Sunny leaned down so she laid on her back, also staring at the ceiling. She had a lot to do.

‘I need to get home.. I need Ranboo to get me tomorrow, which they should do’ she told herself, pursing her lip ‘after that I need to find where the federation are hiding and.. And’ Sunny furrowed her brow, that part was really tricky to consider. She knew they wanted her Pa and somehow he’d end up in an ice prison but she didn’t know how to stop that. She wasn’t… strong.

Not in the way her hermano was.

Her stomach ached at the memory of her brother.

She felt a sour bitter feeling in her gut, worse than when empanada would make her taste test sweets that didn't turn out just right. Suddenly she didn’t feel like thinking anymore, she curled into a small ball and rested her head into her knees, letting it overtake her. She couldn’t leave, she couldn’t fix the future, all she could do was make the past better. That’s what she was here for… to keep the federation away from Tubbo, so he could have his happy ever after with his new-.. Old? Husband and his son.

In the best case scenario she could stay with them too, she wouldn’t be the same as their son but they’d keep her around. Sunny sighed and laid her head down, she was tired… and had a lot of time to spare, maybe she could use a nap…

–

Sunny stirred to movement.. She was moving.. She opened her eyes and found someone was holding her over their chest, resting her head on their shoulder as they walked. She panicked for a second before black wings drew out her attention and left an uncomfortable taste in her stomach.

She didn’t like that Phil was holding her, even if she preferred her beauty sleep. It felt wrong for him to touch her knowing what she knew. They were close to the cabin however and she was too groggy to really complain so she laid limp in his hold and just watched the world bob up and down over and over.

The world went up as Phil went up the small stairs and into the house, which made her close her eyes from how bright it all was. “I’m back mate” Phil called out as he dropped his bucket hat to a handful of crows by the door, they cawed loudly and Sunny scowled as she shut them out.

There was a gruff snarl from the couch, where the piglin was reading that seemed to act as a greeting for the two, one Sunny didn’t understand. “How was your day?” there was another gruff huff of air that Sunny didn’t understand. “Words please?” the blonde requested as he started to move Sunny, pulling her away from his and onto the couch next to Technoblade. He didn’t seem to realise she was awake and she kind of wanted it to stay that way.

The pig sighed “those are words just in my native tongue” he grumbled back as he folded his legs. “Words i don’t understand” the other pointed out and the two chuckled.

“..I thought more about the government, if Ranboo is working with that corrupted hell show of a system we need to either deduce if we can turn his loyalties back to us or remove him from our ranks.” He seemed upset with that, and Phil’s mood seemed to sour as well..

‘Huh.. government?..’ Sunny thought to herself, ‘isn’t the federation a government..?’ The conversation seemed a lot more intriguing now, it sounded like one of those ‘adult’ conversations she wasn’t allowed to listen to. Sunny squeezed her eyes shut and slowed her breath, she loosened her posture and hoped no one noticed she was awake.

“Perhaps” Phil hummed under his breath as he opened up his wings and plucked out a few quick feathers. “But we should consider not coming on too strong.” Techno grumbled and rolled his eyes, he placed his bookmark between the pages and put down the book. “He’s a traitor Phil! A government traitor and you know how I feel about the government.”

“Yes, but I also know how you feel about Ranboo.”

“...stop reading my journals Philza” He huffed before standing up and leaving, Phil chuckling alongside him as they both left the room.

Leaving Sunny alone, to register those words.

‘He hates governments…’ he said to her mind, staring over the couch. A terribly wide grin broke onto her face. Sunny spun around over the couch and grabbed the notepad and pencil. She giggled as she dangled her legs, her heart was beating fast as she began to scribble down on the parchment, she broke as quickly as she could, flipping through page after page to keep writing, she had a plan.

Finally, she could keep her family safe.

Chapter Text

“Uh...” when Techno woke up in the early morning’s of the day, before the sun had fully risen he had expected a cold, quiet house, one that wouldn’t mind him going outside to tend to his animals and prepare to retrieve a traitor into his home. Instead the fireplace was lit, books were scattered over the tables and a little girl was jumping up and down at his feet, trying to pull him towards the table.

She was bright and alive at an hour the piglin barely let himself wake up at. He was a little nervous in all honesty, the kid was full of energy sure but with how she looked he was nervous she hadn’t slept a bit and the idea of her having energy after staying up all night, well it was scary really.

“Alright kid what do you want?” he questioned as he looked over a few scattered pages, drawings. He looked down to see a small white bear with a pink dotted nose, he looked over at another, it was the same but the bear had a red smile and a cranky face on him. Techno tilted his head before his eyes caught some more pink, a small pink shape with red and yellow held what looked like a diamond sword and, and well it looked like him, and this little version of him was fighting the bear.

It looked strange. But somewhat familiar, he remembered Tommy drew something similar, though his art was more immature and pathetic. “Uh kid, who is that exactly?” he asked the girl, pointing at the small white bear. The girl had an evil grin on her face as she pulled out her notepad, rapidly flipping through it before turning it over and practically shoving it into his hands.

“Oh-” he took the notepad and stared, she was grinning as he looked down. Well there was a lot of writing for one page, and by looking at the end he saw a number, he had a feeling she had been writing this for quite some time… Technoblade sighed as he looked down and started to read.

‘Mister Technoblade, last night I overheard a conversation between you and Phil, and I have the feeling that you don’t like the government. I don’t like them either, there is a government called the federation hiding here. They took away my old family and now they’re trying to take my new one. I don’t want to be alone again, I need to keep my new family safe.’

‘But i’m a kid, and i don’t think i can do it alone, i’m not big or strong enough at all. I need you to help me, mister.’

The more Techno read the more confused he got, there was a lot to read really but the thing that caught his attention was the implication of a secret government. The man huffed under his breath as he cast a glance to Sunny, her hands were clasped together and she was looking up at him with wide pleading eyes.

“...tell me about this secret government kid” he held out her notepad and watched as she snatched it back, flipping the page and scribbling down words as quickly as she could. She practically threw it back towards him.

He caught it and read the page. ‘The federation is run by white bears and black rabbits, they’re huge and ugly and stinky, they kidnap people and take them away and force people to follow their rules.’

Techno looked down at the paper… “Well kid, if you’re telling the truth i’m always down for some government takedown, give me an address or whatnot and I'll see what damage I can do” he watched as Sunny seemed to light up, jumping up and down before doing a ballerina twirl.

‘I know they hang out around snowchester’ she wrote down, ripping out the page for Techno, who.. Stared at the parchment for a moment before shaking his head, he really hoped for the sake of everyone that Ranboo wasn’t involved in this.. But who the hell even knew these days. “Alright, thanks kid- come on let's get you.. Cleaned up, we're having guests over.”

—

“And.. and you’re sure it won’t have any immediate effects on him?” Ranboo asked as they moved the soulfire torch into their bag, feeling a little guilty about the whole ordeal but.. He sighed and held the bag closer before looking up to their husband. Tubbo was leaned against a tree, they were only a chunk away from the piglin’s residence now and they had to make sure everything was spik and span.

“Tommy knows all there is for Piglin biology, the soulfire torches upon detection enforces fear to the surrounding piglins but only long term explosure contact can cause actual harm” he grumbled, repeating the words the blonde had explained to them a thousand times over since the beginning of this plan. “Right, of course..” Ranboo shook their head, trying to wash away the guilt at the back of his throat.

“Look Boo, you got this okay? And if anything goes wrong send me a message and I'll be right in, got it?” Tubbo moved off his chair and leaned into his husbands side, it felt like there was so much, yet so little at the same time riding on this.

Ranboo sighed, “I know, i.. We’ll be okay” he promised and without another word he walked away. They could feel their hooves colliding with the snow, each step more and more tentative.. Getting harder and harder as they approached the front door. He could feel his tail flicking uncomfortably behind them as he got closer to the door, moving up the stairs and.. Knocking on the front door.

Tubbo would be in position by now.

Ranboo took in a breath and smiled as the door opened. “Hello Phil” he greeted as the avian opened the door and smiled at him, “Hello mate, come on in we have a guest over right now but i’m sure she won’t mind.”

Oh.. oh how Ranboo hoped that meant what he thought it did.

Once he walked inside relief flooded his lanky bones, there she was sat on a table with soup in front of her, she was alive- Sunny was alive and safe it looked like. She looked up when the door opened and Ranboo could see the way her mouth twitched, like she was trying not to smile. The enderman looked away and prayed she could pretend they didn’t know each other, just long enough to get the plan into action.

“Oh, I didn’t know you had a daughter Phil…” He commented, flicking his gaze back, Phil burst out laughing shaking his head as he moved Ranboo closer into the room, “Oh the kid isn’t mine she doesn’t like me one bit” he commented as he closed the door behind them. That sounded a little surprising, a gruff snort came from the couch as Techno put down his book “the kid started screaming and crying when Phil tried to talk to her” he grumbled, “wouldn’t let him in the room and hid under my legs.”

Oh.

An uneasy feeling crawled up the endermen’s gut, that didn’t exactly sound like her. “If she isn’t yours…” Ranboo started and tilted their head, earning some more amusement from Philza’s part “Techno found her in the forest, didn’t you say she wasn’t breathing?” Ranboo felt their heart drop for a second, forgetting Sunny was in the room with him.

“I mean, she was breathing, just not well- panic attack or asthma probably, then again she was running away from me and collapsed into the snow.” he grumbled unaware of the pure turmoil running through their friend’s mind. On one hand panic attacks were awful but they were familiar, asthma however, was another story he was concerned about.

“I’m going to introduce myself” he told the others before walking to Sunny, a little faster than he had planned really, but his instincts were worried as they approached her. Scanning her for injuries before noticing her big smile. They smiled back at her before taking in a big breath and praying to prime their memory doesn’t fail him. ‘Sh, i’m going to get you home. I’m going to get Technoblade and Phil alone in a different room and I need you to run to the back of the house, Tubbo is waiting for you.’

He watched as her eyes went wide, staring at his hands and for a moment they could see the joy in her eyes, the same joy she’d displayed when he first signed hello to her. Soon after that face seemed more focused, Ranboo sighed, happy she was taking this seriously at the very least.

He turned back to Phil and Techno, they were whispering together, Ranboo tried to keep his composure as he approached, he needed to keep them distracted long enough to take Sunny away.

He was frankly terrified but he'd do it for her.

Chapter Text

Ranboo walked off and Sunny was left alone again, she stared mouth slightly open as she watched the endermen lead the other two to a different room.. She stayed frozen before she discarded her things she.. Her chest felt tight, joy and fear swirling inside her. On one hand they’d come for her! They were scared but both of them came and Ranboo had signed! Actually signed to her; it felt like a thousand warm butterflies deep in her stomach. She was just, so happy at the small gesture, they were learning! actually learning. They wanted to understand what she had to say, it made her feel so warm.

Sunny shook her head from the feeling ‘come on, focus girl! You have to get outside!' they told themselves and stared at the door, it was.. Well it sounded like a stealth mission with how Ranboo put it. She had to be sneaky… The girl carefully slid off of the stool that was just a bit too high for her, she grabbed the notebook and the pencil and began to walk across the room.

The boards didn’t creak under her like the ones at Tubhouse had, they were clean and firm under her weight as they came closer to the door, she could hear foggy voices in the corner. She reached up to the handle and tugged it open, the door swung open and for a second she thought it would collide with the wall, ice plunged her heart as she reached out and grabbed it, the only sound was the sound of snow and whipping winds.

Still that was a little loud, Sunny shut the door behind her, she shuddered at the cold but prevailed and looked around.. Behind the house, yeah- she turned and began to push against the snow, looking over the house as she ran, she turned the corner and felt all the air get choked up in her throat. Tubbo turned to face her, he had a dark brown coat obscuring his face but she could tell it was him, “Sunny!” he whisper shouted across the winds and before she knew it he had ran to her and cradled her in his arms, it was warm and sweet- and tight enough to itch her skin but firm and sweet and-

She wrapped her hands around her Pa and felt how he supported her with one hand with the other unzipped his jacket, she tilted her head slightly only for him to press her to his chest and zip the jacket around the both of them.. She hadn’t even registered she was wearing only two thin layers until then.

“Oh Sunny you scared the life out of me I was so worried- Prime i’m so happy you're okay- don’t worry we’re going to get you home and it’s going to be warm and safe and those.. Bastards! Will never get their hands on you again I promise” the words tumbled from his mouth like butter, he slipped over a few words and seemed more focused on holding her than talking but.. It was so.. Familiar, Sunny choked on a breath as she rested her head on his shoulder and felt his body’s warmth..

Huh… He was.. Warm?

For as long as she could remember her Pa had been cold, his body had never once been warm. Sunny soaked up as much of the warmth as she could, for once but.. She felt like she liked the cold more.

“I’m so sorry all of this happened” he held her tighter and she felt him crouch down to grab something, she couldn’t tell what. He kept talking, tumbling over his words again and again.

“We’re just going to wait for Ran to give us the go to alright, I sent him my message we just gott-” there was a loud crash from inside the house, Tubbo tensed and Sunny tried to bury her body in his jacket, trying to hide away. “..shit-” Tubbo used one hand to open his comm, no message from Boo, a second ticked by before a voice could be heard from inside, loud but not comprehensible. Sunny whimpered and the teen held her tighter.

“It’s okay Suns,.. It’s okay, look we’ll just wait another second and if Ran doesn’t tell us to run I'll go in and look for him alright?” Sunny didn’t know whether to shake or nod her head.. She didn’t want her Pa or Boo hurt. She just shut her eyes and squeezed in right tight. Another moment went by before a door slammed open, it hit against the wall and Tubbo could hear two footsteps crunching down on the snow, those didn’t belong to his husband..

Tubbo moved back and dunked his hand into his bag, glaring at the area the sound had come from, he couldn’t run, he knew that well. He was quick but he wouldn’t leave his husband behind. He glared as the bright red fabric cape came into view, along with a person in his hands. Ranboo was hissing out enderian words that fell on deaf ears, they were held up by the scruff of their neck and followed by a flightless bird.

They stared at each other, the only sound was the violent winds and Ran’s distress.

“..give us that kid.” The piglin grunted, holding out the hand that held his blade pointing it towards Tubbo who felt his blood boil, Sunny whimpered harder as Tubbo took a step back. “No.” he hissed between gritted teeth and rummaged through his bag before his hands finally felt against the wooden handle. Technoblade growled and Phil glared between the both of them.

“Now, Tubbo understand we mean you and your.. acompliance no harm, return the girl to us and we will.. Continue to leave you to your government” the old man stated, the flavourful lie dripping from his mouth like water down a cliff. Techno nodded his head harshly and tightened his grip on Ranboo, who screeched loud.

Tubbo felt his heart race, staring at his troubled husband and feeling the weight of a little girl laid upon his chest. She was young, so young, younger than they had been- she, she deserved to be more than some soldier for fire wall hackers, she was sweet and kind and had such a sweet personality. Sunny deserved more than he could give them.

Tubbo glared at Phil, he knew what he’d done to his last two sons, the way he barely acknowledged them outside of keeping them alive, how he barely spoke to Tommy. How he left Wilbur to fend for himself and Tommy emotionally. Phil took a step forward and Tubbo pulled his hand out of his bag, taking the soul fire torch with him.

Techno visibly flinched and growled, he stayed where he was but seemed hesitant to move forward too.

“Tub-”

“No! Shut up- shut up, you’re not taking her- you’re not taking my daughter! She’s mine not yours, she’s not your right!” he screamed and bared his teeth. Phil stopped and there was a moment where neither of them spoke before the avian looked to his friend and with a nod Techno threw Ranboo across the snow, landing beside the soul fire torch. “Boo!” He turned and leaned over them. Their chat was crowding around them in angry bursts of purple particles, the endermen hissed through his teeth as they sat up.

“I’m- im fine!” They waved the goat off and stood up and rubbed their neck with a low growl. They turned their attention back to the crow and piglin in front of them. “So you’re her parents?” The piglin grumbled and looked over the two of them. It dawned on Tubbo he’d never discussed this with Sunny.. But despite that he nodded. “Yes.”

There was another long look between the other two. “So you’re getting hunted by a bunch of animals then?” The blade asked sceptically.

“What..?” Tubbo asked before Sunny suddenly sprang out of his jacket and began rapidly shaking her head to Techno, who looked even more confused. She pulled up her hands and turned back to him, ‘Don’t listen to them, it's not important!!’ she signed rapidly, and despite Ranboo looking over his shoulder Tubbo could tell he was the only one to have understood it.

“...Sunny…?” She buried her head into his shoulder again.

“Bruhhh, okay look she told us there was some weird government she knew of that went after her ‘old’ family and were coming after her new one, I assume you’re her new one?” Techno asked, with a glare and Tubbo and Ranboo stared at Sunny.

“I.. i thought she had memory loss when we found her- Sunny what is going on..?”

…Oh she was screwed.

Chapter Text

Sunny sat on the seat inside the cabin, staring down at the bigger notepad Tubbo had found for her inside some old drawer that belonged to step dad Tommy. He’d flipped her to a page not covered in drawings and told her to write down what the heck she’d been on about.

She could tell they were upset with her, especially after she told them she remembered everything. It was the only thing she’d explained so far. It had seemed urgent at the moment and, well, she had planned to use sign language to explain it all. Though Technoblade hadn’t trusted her Pa’s translations since he and Phil didn’t know sign language. So now she was gripping her pencil and staring at the page.

She had to explain it all.. Sunny felt so conflicted about that, she didn’t want her Pa to worry, she didn’t want him to leave again. Then again right now, Sunny didn’t think she had a choice about telling them. She flicked her head up slightly and noticed the intense look Tubbo was using on her from the couch.

She huffed and looked back down at the page, she started writing.

Her hands ached after the first paragraph but she kept moving, writing letters and explanations she hoped would be best, she wasn’t going to lie this time. She was going to tell them everything. She had to.

Her arms ached as her pencil met the page, pressing against the skin and bones as time passed, Sunny took her time finding her words, even as the clock ticks back and forth. Even as her mind wanders…

“you’re not taking my daughter! She’s mine not yours, she’s not your right!”

..Sunny shuddered. Tubbo had called her his daughter.. It was in the spur of the moment but- still it had to count right? He was her dad now- her Pa, he had to be- it.. She refused to believe it was a mistake, it was real- and genuine and sweet and it was real! The thought kept distracting Sunny from her writing.. She shook it out of her head and continued pressing her pen against the paper.

—

Tubbo was pressed against the couch, glaring at either his lap or casting a softer glare over the couch to check on Sunny. He hated it here, it was unfamiliar and just wrong. He was like prey sitting in a lion’s den, sitting on a silver platter. Ranboo was pressed against him, holding his hand and trying his best to reassure him without using their words. It was working, a little but despite that everything around him still felt wrong.

“Sunny has so much more going on than we realised… doesn't she?” Tubbo muttered under his breath, shaking his head and leaning into the buzzing particles of chat that tickled his neck. Boo made a hum next to him, their voice tingling him even more. “I suppose, but at least now we’ll get some answers.”

The goat huffed and threw his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I’m just, worried about her- she.. I meant what i said back with the blade, she’s my daughter…”

“I know, I know. She feels like mine too” Ranboo sighed along with his husband and they both let a small slither of a smile peek into their faces. “She’ll be fine, we’ll make sure of it.” The endermen flushed their cheeks purple as they grabbed Tubbo’s hand and promised him he’d protect their new daughter. It made his chest a little lighter.

Tubbo turned again to look at Sunny only to find her coming out of her chair and waving some papers at them both. The brunette sighed and sent Ranboo to collect the adults while he waited with Sunny, soon the three came into the room and took their seats by the couch, besides Phil who had volunteered to read the paper aloud. Tubbo sighed and picked Sunny up into his lap without thinking, just to keep her close.

The air felt stiff, no one spoke as Sunny passed the papers over. Phil coughs, clearing his throat and finally he speaks.

“My name is SunnySideUp Underscore_. I am the daughter of Tubbo Underscore, Pol, Lenay and Charlie Slimecicle. I’m not who I told you I was, I'm from the future. In the future I am made by an evil organisation called the federation. They control islands and trap people on them. Phil here was one of the first to come to my island. I, and the other eggs were made to cause trouble for the islanders, to make their lives worse, but we.. we didn’t want to do that, the islanders adopted us, they loved us. Phil has two children, my god brother Chayanne and my god sister Tallulah.”

“We were loved, my parents weren’t around often, but I always had Tubbo, he was my Pa and he was the one who took care of me every day. I was really happy, but things kept getting bad, bad things happened, and.. We were taken, taken away from our parents and they.. They were going to put me to sleep. I wouldn’t wake up, I didn't want to do that, I wanted my Pa back, so.. I made a time machine, just like Pa taught me, I knew the federation had grabbed Pa a different way from most. So I time travelled to this time, and I want to stop the federation from ruining my Pa’s life again. I never had memory loss, I heard Tubbo and Ranboo talking about the fur and I knew it was the federation and ended up here.”

There was a long, lengthy stretch of silence where Sunny had buried her head into Tubbo’s shoulder. No one said a word, not a single one of them did.

“Alright, I think this is.. A hard pill to swallow, Sunny, do you have any proof of the future?” Phil asked, his voice doubtful as he looked her over. Her face still hidden in Tubbo’s shoulder, they stayed still before turning around to face the room and beginning to sign “Tubbo loves to invent things, he makes factories in the future, Phil you have lots of birds in your house who follow you all the time and you love avocado toast.”

“Sunny… that’s not exactly what i meant mate” Phil sighed, “do you have any physical proof?” he asked again and the girl screwed up her face, ‘Not.. right now, but if you find where the federation is hiding they could have something!’

Phil pursed his lips and opened his mouth to say something but Tubbo stood up, still holding his daughter “I reckon we hear her out, she hasn’t lied to me or Boo here yet and some of her story matches up.” He was pretty sure now that Techno hadn’t been loitering around his house planning an attack on his family, and Sunny was giving him an alternative answer to it, a couple hybrids shedding around his house seemed feasible.

“Say we believe her, where do we find this hiding spot?” the piglin grumbled and tilted his head, Sunny watched her Pa send him a look before she tugged at his sleeve and signed. “Sunny says you can do a stake out or be on the lookout for anything too clean, she says the offices were always too clean.” Techo sighed and sat up to walk towards the chest, grabbing some invisibility potions, he threw some out and on reflex all but Sunny caught one of the bottles.

He moved back to the couch with a more stern expression on his face. “I’ll take watch over your house then, since most of the sightings have been close by to be there, on Sunny’s account, the potions are if I find anything for an urgent meetup, brew more while we wait” Technoblade seemed to change from against to for in moments notice.

“We need to consider security measures within these hideouts” Phil pointed out “The place could be booby trapped or stacked with guards and crazy gear, we never see anyone unusual logging in or out so they might be interfering with the firewall.”

Everyone seemed to get a little stiffer at the mention of the fire wall, some in this very room had witnessed the wrath of their main god. They were not spared his mercy and there was an inkling of worry, how powerful is this organisation if they slipped right through without a hitch? Most of the time at least a notification would pop through their comm when someone woke up, but these guys had seemingly beaten that system and overridden it.

They were hidden, and hidden good.

There was a certain level of danger that came with that, one that radiated through all of them no doubt. “I’m sure Sunny can give us some extra information regarding all that, but for now i think we both need to go our separate ways, she’s certainly exhausted” Tubbo huffed and Ranboo stood up beside them

Phil and Technoblade make no comments at that. “Will we see that you will return to discuss this further?” the brute asks, half a snarl on the corner of his lip and well, the brunette hesitates. Tubbo is holding a child in his arms, a sweet little girl, a precious thing made of every jewel and gem embedded within the earth's core, and standing before him is a threat, a sickening threat, a beast known to hurt and harm a creature who has harmed him in the past.

There is nothing to tie them together more than a common goal, but for that Tubbo that goal is to save Sunny and supposedly himself but for Techno it’s just an excuse for a blood bath. There is no sympathy in his eyes, only firm finality. Yet despite all that, Tubbo nods his head, “we’ll see you soon, within the week at least” he says and ignores a quick goodbye from the avian as he darts out the door with his husband and daughter in tow.

They don’t look back as the snow swallows them in each step. “Will we actually do that?” Ranboo asks as they catch up they open their hands to take Sunny, to give their husband a rest but the other shakes his head, squeezing her slightly, something just told him he needed to hold her, more than he had already.

“Yeah.. I guess, I mean we’ve got no way to deal with this stuff, right Sunny?” he tilts his head down as he directs his eye to his little girl. And isn’t that a thought, his little girl huh? A small smile breaks in over Tubbo’s face despite the displeased mood in the air. Tubbo loosens his grip so Sunny can sign “She’s saying the fed are dangerous, that we’re not going to topple their reign here, just keep us out of their plans, she says if we’re too much effort they won’t try.” he reads aloud for Ranboo who gives a nervous nod.

They’re all nervous, they're worried. Tubbo was still reeling from the fact some evil organisation was after them now, it seemed ludacrisp, a complete joke and yet here he was. He didn’t know why they wanted him, but he didn’t dare ask. “Today has been a lot.. We’ll talk more in the morning,” he tells them both as they walk into the distance.

Tommy is asleep when they get back, and if his insomnia wasn’t so bad Tubbo would be tempted to wake him up, to share their plan of success but he needed this rest, even if some part of the goat knew he was only sleeping to avoid the suspense. To avoid the idea they mightn’t come home.

But he doesn’t dwell on that because they’re all okay, unharmed besides the bruises on Ranboo’s throat and the cut on their arm. Which Tubbo puts a mental reminder in his head to clean up after they put Sunny to bed. They’re all safe and sound. They climb the stairs and help Sunny change out of her dirty clothes before helping to tuck her in, smiling as her tiny form slipped into unconsciousness.

The air feels tense after that, they check on Micheal, who is fast asleep and clutching one of his chickens from the pen and the two of them move to their own room. The air is tense, their bodies are stiff as they settle into their sleep wear and crawl into bed together, it’s silent as Ranboo’s tail wraps around the brunette’s calf. Neither of them speak, not a word to each other, they know they have to, but they can’t. Not tonight, they get comfortable and fall asleep.

Chapter Text

The next few days are weird, really weird. There’s always this tension in the air, this strange feeling that wisps around them all. Uncle Tommy and Micheal seem the most unaffected there, still cherry and kind but there's a certain strain in the blonde’s smile as he lifts her up into her chair or plays house with her. There’s a small strain, like he’s upset about something. Micheal just seems happy that she’s back if the chicken he keeps shoving into her arms says anything.

Tubbo and Ranboo are more obvious, the way the purple chat particles vroop and woop make their tail flick about like crazy, the way Tubbo smiles at her more, brushes her hand, he just seems softer, like he's standing on ice and struggling not to fall in. they’re all nervous, and so is she. There's no hiding it as she lays in bed late one night, she’s tired just oh so tired but sleep doesn’t come easy to her tonight.

There's a new blanket, a nice hand knitted orange blanket with rough spots at the corners. Tommy had made it for her. It was warm and cosy and made her senses a little kinder to her mind as she laid there and pawed at the ceiling, holding her hands over her face. She wondered distantly how her Pa was, in the future or, her present before she’d gone back here. Had he been working in his factory? Finally getting around to being rich again? Had he spent all his time with Foolish, or Pac or even Fit?

Was he able to be happy without her?

She hoped so, she hoped he’d found new happiness without her, wherever he was now.

Technically if all went to plan, he wouldn’t would he? He wouldn’t be in Fobo or Tubhouse, he’d be here, in this mansion. Sunny whined, all this time travel stuff made her head hurt, and the emotional weight just made everything worse. She sighed and put her hands down. She turned again and again, she couldn’t sleep. No matter how hard she tried.

Usually.. She’d crawl into her Pa’s or Leo’s bed by now and she’d be out by a light. But no, Sunny had to remind herself, Tubbo wasn’t her father and Micheal wasn’t her brother. She didn’t have a Pa or a Leo here. Sunny ignored the painful ache in her stomach she’d begun and laid back down in bed. She didn’t have a Pa here, they were different, there were years of difference behind them. Sunny rested her head into her pillow and closed her eyes.

She didn’t sleep.

—

“Good morning Sunny!” Ranboo called out, a full fledged week after they returned fromTechno’s cabin. Their hands drift between the words as they sign and offer her a smile. They were sitting on the kitchen table with an empty plate before them. Sunny smiled back ‘Morning!’ she signed, ignoring a yawn at the back of her throat as she sat up on the table, Micheal giggled a grunt at her and waved clumsily from his highchair.

Sunny’s eyes drifted over the room, Tubbo and Tommy weren’t there. She furrowed a brow and sent a look to Ranboo. ‘Where are the others?’ she asked and watched as the endermans face morphed into a thousand different expressions all at once. She tried not to get annoyed as the endermen asked her to repeat it, and then looked throughouly through their notes.

She knew the guy was trying but still, it was really annoying.

After what seemed like a hundread years they finally seemed to catch up to what she was saying “Oh Tubbo and Tommy are out doing some, last minute preperations, they won’t be back till dusk.” they responded and sat up, grabbing two plates off of the counter and placing them in front of her. Sunny thanked them as they put it down and they ate in relative silence.

It’s not like they didn’t want to talk. Sunny had a lot of questions for Ranboo, they didn’t look all that normal honestly but that wasn’t the worst part of it all. They just, couldn’t talk all that much and writing on a notepad took forever and made her feel isolated when she’d endured it with Techno and Phil.

It was triring and her hands would ache at the end. It just wasn’t that fun. The worst part in it all was probably the fact she didn’t KNOW them. She knew they and Tubbo were married, that he was Micheal’s father and that they couldn’t sign. That was kind of all, and really she didn’t know much about them.

“I was thinking” Ranboo started, startling her out of her head as they poked the food on his plate, the egg yolk trizzled out as the sac was punctuated, dripping from the egg white onto the plate. Sunny tilted her head, waiting for them to continue but Ranboo seemed a little tied up with their tongue, looking away as if their request would ruin any peace and mutual friendliness they had for each other. “Maybe you would want to maybe, uh go for a walk later this evening?” He suggested, Micheal babbled excitedly. Sunny took a glance at him and smiled.

She still couldn’t wrap her head around Micheal talking like an infant yet acting like her age. It was a weird mix. Sunny shook the thought out of her head to think about something else. A walk sounded okay, she still hadn’t got out a bunch so it seemed like a half decent idea, she smiled. ‘Sure!’ she signed, watching the slightest twitch in the enderman's eyes before they grinned bright.

“Wonderful, we’ll leave just before lunch and get something on the road okay?” she nodded and they went back to eating, listening to Ranboo coaching Micheal on how to hold his work while they did. She scarfed down her eggs rather quickly and licked her lips as she pushed out her chair and waved back to the other members of the house before setting off.

Sunny giggled as she rushed up the stairs and practically raced to her closet. Tommy had done more than just a blanket while she was gone and even when she was back he’d made her some extra things. Sunny giggled as she pulled the doors of her closet open and glanced at the clothes inside.

They were all made of fleece and yarn, there were a lot of different colours, all fall ish like she’d requested of course, some were better than others, none of them seemed perfect or practically expensive but she was THE Sunnysideup and she could make anything a fashion statement.

Sunny grabbed a orange brown puffy knitted jumper that resembled a puffer jacket and threw it to the side, she pulled out a ginger orange dress with straps over the shoulders and grabbed a brown belt with encrusted diamonds, her signature sunnies and some white tights and brown snow boots.

She took a bit to get ready, prettying herself up for the outside world to adore, she was beyond fabulous in her own opinion as she twirled in the window, giggling all the while. She dashed out of her room after she was certain her outfit was amazing and finished throwing on some jewellery as well she dashed out to the bathroom.

Sunny took careful consideration of her hair, still experiencing the effects of no longer owning a bonnett. She hummed, looking over her rich brown curls that needed some serious styling, she grabbed a brush, two brown hair ties and got to work. She brushed through the hair gently, being kind to every strand of beauty upon her head, spraying the tangles with water when needed and letting her hands do the rest.

When she was done her hair was tied into two pigtail puffs over her head,she patted them and adjusted their position slightly before grinning and stepping down the stool she’d used to reach the mirror in the first place. Sunny looked up at the clock and winced, she’d spend a long time getting ready but to her credit it's been forever! Since she’d been out on a little trip like this.

The trip with Phil didn’t count since she certainly hadn’t been on her own terms at the time and he’d given her some peculiar attire. Sunny couldn’t help but be excited now as she turned off the light and closed the door behind her, she hadn’t met any of the neighbours, or any of the other kids, she hoped they liked her. She didn’t need another Tallulah situation.

When she came down the large stairs Ranboo was standing, dressed in their typical suit but Sunny noticed the slight changes from this morning with a more fancy white undershirt that had frills poking out of the black suit and some silver embroidery on the ends of the pants and arms. They were holding Micheal in their arms, who was a giggly mess.

Micheal was dressed in a yellow and brown sweater made of warm fluffy wool with jean overalls over them. The overalls had a stuffed chicken stuffed into the front pouch. And small little booties attached to the overalls.

“Oh, all ready to go, Sunny?” Ranboo asked as they leaned to a cupboard up high and rummaged around inside for a few moments. She nodded and walked up to where Ranboo was standing so she could reach her hand up to prod at a waving Micheal before waving back. The endermen took a moment searching for something in the cupboard so Micheal shifted and tried to poke Sunny back, hitting her hair, she scoffed and poked his cheek.

They poked and prodded at each other until Ranboo found a dozen vials of what looked like splash potions, he shoved them in their bag before turning back to the two of them. “Okay, now we gotta be careful when we go outside okay? Tell me if you see anyone and stay very close to you two” Ranboo explained as they led Sunny out of the house, opening the door from her as she nodded along to his directions.

The sun shining bright in the sky does little to dwindle the raining flakes of snow that chill the air. It’s almost nostalgic, the slight twinge of cold breaking the air as she walks beside Ranboo. Ranboo points out some houses as they walk, mentioning residents of ‘snowchester’ Sunny hadn’t realised this place had a name in the first place. The older one mentions a kind sheep-like lady named Puffy who lives with her daughter Michelle. Micheal signs ‘friend!’ clumsily to her at the mention of her name, chuffling happily.

Sunny giggles as she kicks up snow with her boot and they walk. It’s nice. He leads them to a bridge eventually, and Sunny can feel how the air gets warmer, and that nostalgic feeling fades easily. The girl looks over the wide expanse of the ocean, a beautiful view with vague land on the other side but there's something interrupting her view. A box, a big fat black box. Sunny tilts her head as they walk.

She’s never seen anything like it, it feels creepy, it sends a shudder down her spine but she can’t help but be curious as she turns to the endermen and tugs on his sleeve, they stop “What’s up?” they ask, leaning down slightly to look at her hands. Sunny’s hands make the sign for question and point towards the black box. In real time she can see the way Ranboo’s face stops, just stops. There's this, look in their eyes. The same look as when Tubbo had been cornered by Technoblade.

“That’s.. The prison” they say after the longest moment and Sunny pouts, tilting her head. “There’s a bad man in there, someone we don’t like to talk about.” The girl frowns, nodding gently as they keep walking, she can see the way Ranboo’s chat chitters in their ear, their tail flicks about anxiously and their breath seems shorter as they walk with a more hunched back and with slower steps.

When they finally finish crossing the bridge Ranboo steers them clear from the prison and points out a large nice white and red hotel. “Tommy built that as a hotel” they tell her before pointing to another building nearby “me and Tubbo built that together as well.” They walk on a wooden path as Ranboo points to things, he points out Tommy’s little shack as well, and Sunny can’t hide her disdain for that.. State of it.

The walls are worse for wear and certainly it lives up to the description of a shack. It looks similar to the small dirt hut her Pop owned that she found one time. She tries to hide her disgust but by Ranboo’s hidden chuckles she supposes she didn’t do too well. They keep walking but Sunny sees a flash of colour, she turns her head and, oh.

A creature is walking over the bridge on the other side of Tommy’s house, they’re green and lengthy, their skin has a fuzz on fur but their face is obscured by a gas mask and his armour. Sunny gasps and tugs Ranboo’s sleeve again, this time Sunny doesn’t get the chance to point them out before she’s being tucked behind a wall and Micheal is suddenly in her arms.

“Stay close” Ranboo hisses as they grab a vial of potion from their bag and the glass collides with the ground.

Sunny gasps and closes her eyes. She hears the glass shattering on the ground and winces, there's a moment before she opens her eyes. But, she can barely see herself, there's only a single white outline on what should be her hand. She can see an outline of where Micheal should be too, Ranboo is still visible and by the slightest twitch of their tail Sunny can tell they can’t see her.

“Ranboo?” a voice calls out and the girl feels her blood sour. Ranboo had splashed them with invis, that had to mean something bad right? “Not now Sam” they responded to the voice and Sunny turned to take a peak.. The green man.

They approached slowly, as if hesitant. Sunny pushed herself against the wall holding Micheal tight as he started to wiggle.

“Look kid, if you could hear me out again-”

“I’m not going to. Because there's nothing to hear, and I'm a busy person.” They respond, it’s almost stern. It feels wrong to hear that tone out of his voice, it just feels odd. Like it’s something said in an alternate universe never meant to be unearthed by them.

The green man, Sam she assumes shakes his head. “You’re taking a walk.” he points out as Ranboo’s tail flicks off to the side. “And it was such a great walk before you showed up” he snapped and turned on his heel, Sunny rushed to catch up with their long strides as they tried to create as much distance with the strange man as possible.

They turn the first corner they came and Sunny watches as Ranboo’s face falls completely “Sunny? Micheal?” he whispers, their eyes flicking about almost desperately. Sunny reaches up to grab his pant leg and tugs gently at the fabric, ushering a relieved sigh from the adult.

“Thank goodness, I'm sorry about that you two.. Me and Sam aren’t on good terms.. I uhm, i think once the coast is clear we should go” he tells her. Sunny pouts and she wants to protest but.. Her hands can’t sign when she’s invisible, so as Ranboo walks she follows they sit on the side of the wall for a moment before Ranboo fiddles with their pockets and slips out two bottles of milk.

He holds them out and watches as the little girl takes them into her hands and quickly drinks it down, and then Micheal. The little piglin appears first, his body being smaller and needing less milk to be effective. Then right after Sunny reappears. “Again guys i’m so sorry I just.. I wanted to show you around Sunny but.. I forget how many people have it out for me and Tubbo. It’s just not safe for you, either of ya” Ranboo sighs and shakes their head.

They duck it low and Sunny stares as their tail wraps around their leg, they take Micheal from her arms, likely to keep their hands busy as he starts to fiddle with a pink hair atop his head.

Sunny stands there, confused. Why?

‘Why don’t people like you?’ she asks and she hates the confusion that litters over Ranboo’s eyes, they try, they try so hard but from the scrunch of their nose and the low dip of their head Sunny can see the shame that recoils off of them. “I’m sorry kid..” he mumbles. But Sunny is done being unheard, going quiet and left without her words. She stomps closer to Ranboo and in a swift movement of her hand in their bag she grabs the notebook.

“HEY-” he calls out but Sunny has already opened the pages, sitting down angrily but turning the book so it faces Ranboo, she copies the sign from the book to them, over and over. Then it finally clicks into the endermen’s head what she’s saying.

Then it just clicks and Ranboo hesitantly sits down across from her, casting a glance at their surroundings; he sits Ranboo in their lap before the process begins. Sunny finds a page, copies a sign, Ranboo repeats the word it’s conveying before repeating the sign as well, they repeat it at least five times before moving on, repeating the steps and then repeating the other sign they’d learned.

They stayed like that longer than expected, sitting and signing, Micheal even joined in as much as he could. And finally after practising Sunny opened her hands again ‘why don’t people like you’ she asked again, and watched Ranboo seemed to instantly have it click in their head, it sent some pride to Sunny’s chest that she was such a good teacher.

“Well, there's a lot of conflict Sunny, lots of bad people who don’t like Tubbo or Tommy, Tommy especially Tommy and because of that they don’t like me either” They explained softly as they held Micheal and stood up. “We shouldn’t stay much longer, I think Sam is gone, let's go” he held out their hand and Sunny took it as they began to move.

They moved quickly, almost as if Ranboo was ushering them along to get home quicker. He followed them down the path and turned to begin walking across the bridge again within their rushed steps.

They were quiet, Sunny could tell Ranboo was listening from the way their ears twitched and how their chat chittered softly to them as if ushering a thousand snippets of information to them at once. It was confusing and dizzying. So she turned her head away from Ranboo and, well her eyes couldn’t help but glance at the prison.

It was so.. Imposing. So in your face at all times, like the thing was haunting all who had ever stepped near. Ranboo had said a bad person was inside… Sunny couldn’t help but be a little nervous. What if the person inside hurt her family? What if the federation wasn’t the only thing that could hurt them?

What if they got rid of the federation.. There would just be another threat wouldn’t there? One she didn’t understand.

It was unfamiliar and wrong, and it scared her. Sunny’s steps paused as she stared at the block box, feeling her stomach churn. “Sunny?”

She startled and looked up at Ranboo, they were looking down at her with a concerned look as they crouched down to her height, there was a second of silence before they glanced at the prison. “Are you.. Scared?” they asked.

She nodded.

She was scared, scared something was going to come after her, after the family she had found herself, coming to take her away just like last time. “Oh, it’s okay” Ranboo whispered as they leaned down to her height, Micheal huffing in his arms.

“Nothing bad can happen okay? Me and Tubbo are gonna keep you safe, you’re our kid now, nothing bad will happen to you” He assured her, reaching out their hand to pull a stray curl around her ear. Sunny gasped before her mouth curved into a sweet smile.

It felt really nice to be considered their daughter, it seemed to out shine the fear in her tiny heart as they smiled down at her “I promise” they said, and despite not knowing them for more then two months Sunny smiled and reached her hand out for them. Because she believed it. They crossed the rest of the bridge in silence, calm radiating silence.

Chapter Text

“Sunny! Yesterday my life was filled with rain” Her Pa sang as he cranked his wrench, turning a few cogs so they aligned with where he wanted them. “Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain!” Tubbo turned to point at where she was sitting with a cheeky grin that sent Sunny giggling as she stroked her turtle’s head.

“The dark days are gone” he called out as he turned back to face the cogs. Sunny smiled while sitting back to enjoy her Pa’s voice, she was sitting on a stool in the avocado factory, sometimes she passed him tools but mostly she was just listening to his jokes as he repaired the machine.

Usually this place was pretty warm but Sunny could feel a small chill settling into her bones. She huffed as pulled her pet closer to keep them warm. She can feel a chill in her bones like a blowing wind wheezing past her.

“And the bright days are here!” her Pa keeps singing, as if he didnt notice, but Sunny can guess why, but.. The wind kept getting worse and worse. Sunny shudders, trembling at the cool breeze. She’s wearing a yellow sun dress with an embroidered orange sun on the front, it’s most certainly not fit for this weather.

“My sunny one shines so sincere” as the words tumble out of her pa’s mouth Sunny feels a sudden whoosh of cold that sends her teeth chattering, as she looks down she gasps. Her feet are enclosed in ice.

She whines at the back of her throat as the ice starts to grow, enclosing onto her. She tries to move her legs but it doesn’t move, it doesn't move an inch. She turns to try and catch her attention but he- he’s covered in ice up to his waist but it’s crawling up him so much quicker. But he doesn’t scream or screech or reach for his comm or even combat log, no. He stands there his hands still free to tug at the belts. she tries to reach out but she can’t move, she could never speak and she has nothing to throw, to hit, no sound makers or comm.

He’s going to die, he’s going to die again and leave her. Leave her alone. The only person who had ever loved her. Sunny starts to choke on a sob, whining in the back of her throat as he watches the ice ride up to his neck

“Sunny, one so true, I love you” he turned, making eye contact with her. Tubbo smiled before the ice swallowed him whole.

And just like that. He was gone.

He had left her, all over again.

Tears seeped down her cheeks as she reached out.

But no one reached for her.

—

Sunny startled awake, a scream falling dead on her tongue as she kicked off her blankets in her startle. She was breathing heavily, clawing at her night gown as she pushed her back to the backboard of her bed. Her room is dark, she can’t see anything, she can’t help but feel like things are moving, shifting, changing, morphing. Watching, watching, watching. They’re always watching, they never let them find peace.

Sunny works her way into a panic, as she tumbles out of bed, she doesn’t want to be watched, no no, not anymore. She doesn't want a stage, she.. She wants her Pa. Sunny sobs at the reminding sting. Because he isn’t here. They don’t want her, she’s not theres, they're not hers- they-

“Nothing bad can happen okay? Me and Tubbo are gonna keep you safe, you’re our kid now, nothing bad will happen to you”

Sunny startles as the memory poofs into her head. Ranboo leaning down, promising her she’d be okay.. Calling.. Calling her their kid.. She.. had to be theirs right? They had to want her.. With the revelation in mind Sunny hesitantly kept her breath, trying to calm down as she.. Reached for the door. With the normal level of precision for a nightmare brain frightened 8 year old Sunny sniffed and tumbled out into the hall, moving down the hall until.. She reached their room.

She.. hesitated slightly before creaking the door open, it was oddly squeaky and made her squirm as she opened it. Just after she’d opened it enough to get into the room she saw Tubbo practically jolt in the bed, glancing around rapidly before his eyes landed on her.

She jumped back in surprise from the sudden awakening, he’d NEVER woken up like that before in front of her, at least in the future he hadn’t.

His shoulders dipped and a smile took the place of his panicked face. “Mm.. hey Sunny what’s wrong?” he asked, his voice showing he was still half asleep as he sat up rubbing at his eyes. Sunny froze as a horrible thought crossed her little head. What if he didn’t share the sentiment Ranboo did? She wondered to herself as she squirmed on the spot.

The longer she didn’t answer the more worried Tubbo got, with a quick sigh he leaned further out of bed and tapped the spot next to him “come on poppet” he called out.

And Sunny, for all her worry couldn’t hold back how much she had yearned for that nickname, quickly shuffling over, Tubbo helped her up onto the bed and sat her beside him on the bed, right next to Ranboo’s sleeping form. “Now what’s wrong?” he asked her again, leaning over Sunny as he pulled the covers over her and tucked a curl behind her ear.

‘..nightmare’ she signed hesitantly and Tubbo frowned. “Oh poppet.. I'm sorry boss, those aren’t fun, do you need anything?” he asked as he rested his hand on his back, rubbing circles into her to try and calm her a little. She leaned into the touch and bit her lip.

‘Can you.. Call me Poppet again?’ she asked and watched Tubbo blink in surprise before smiling “Course i can, anything else you need Poppet?” he asked as he poked at her stomach causing a small squiggly giggle from the little girl. She smiled, a little more confident in her words now “can i sleep with you two tonight?” she asked.

The brunette nodded and booped her nose “of course Poppet, Ran and me don’t mind” he hummed as he helped her situate herself. By the time Tubbo had fixed his own position Sunny was out for a light, he gave it a moment before pumping his fist.

He was careful not to disturb the blankets covering her as he grinned and did a small little celebration. He was so fucking happy to see her liking the nickname, it made his stomach tumble all funny.

But still, he couldn’t go and have a party right now to express how fucking happy he was so instead he turned over and pulled the sheet over himself. Before he fell asleep he noticed his husbands clawed hands tug Sunny into his arms with a delighted purr. He smiled at the show before drifting off himself.

Chapter Text

Sunny had practically jumped on the adults to get their attention the second the words hit her ears, they all froze the second she’d began shaking Ranboo. The teens had all sat on the couch, aside from Technoblade who was standing in front of them all as the only adult.

Sunny had squeezed herself on top of Ranboo and Tubbo’s laps, Micheal squeezed onto Tommy’s as their eyes all turned to face the only adult in the room. They wait with baited breath for Techno to speak.

“I was out around your place last night, invis. I saw the guys Sunny mentioned, they’re real and I followed them. They were moving towards my cabin before they turned into a cave. There were some weird false blocks you could go through and inside of that was a little.. Pad? The rabbits stepped on it and disappeared I can only assume it's some tech they smuggled through the fire wall”

Sunny gasped and quickly tugged on Tubbo’s arm, the male looked down as her hands quickly began to sign away “Oh, Sunny says the pad was a warp plate, they teleport you to a proper location she says they had them in abundance at her old home” Tubbo translated for the rest of the group who nodded.

“Does she know any side effects or potential traps they could make?” Techno inquired and Tubbo turned back to the girl who was already signing away. “Sunny says warp plates may make first time users very dizzy but they’re not harmful” the brunette transcribed as Technoblade nodded.

Silence fell on them for a moment. “Are we going to break in and kick their asses or what?” Tommy asked, to which Techno shook his head “from everything Sunny has said I don't think they realise we’re on to them, there's an element of surprise here, we can take advantage of it, plan an attack. We can’t rush it” he explained.

“How long until that surprise element wears off? They’re watching our every move at night” Tubbo grumbled, crossing his arms with a frown. Techno sighed but nodded at Tubbo’s input, despite how his face formed a slight scowl.

“Give me three days to prepare, then we’ll charge in there like the impatient animals you three are” he huffed, ignoring the annoyed grumbles from Tommy. Tubbo and Ranboo seemed satisfied with that although Sunny felt a little nervous, she tugged at Tubbo’s sleeve again.

Tubbo listened to her before turning to Techno “Sunny says the federation are strong and that we should focus on making us seem like too much trouble”

“Hm, we can work with that.”

“Does that mean you have a plan?” Tommy inquired, stretching his feet out over Ranboo’s lap.

Techno grinned.

“Of course I do.”

—

‘This is ugly’ Sunny huffed as Tommy held the armour up to her face, it was small, fit to a child’s frame but was pure netherite with a gold trim down the middle. She could tell Tommy had tried to make it look appealing to her, but it just wasn't. The armour was not pretty in the slightest.

Tommy rolled his eyes and looked down at the armour in his hands “Sunbeam you gotta wear it” he huffed, poking at her side. Sunny squeaked and her tail swatted Tommy’s hand. The blonde gasped at the audacity “young lady how dare you, i’ll be having a word with your fathers.”

Sunny giggled and shook her head ‘nuh uh’! She signed with a fuss, watching as Tommy sighed, beginning to stand up before in a quick second he longed at her. She shrieked again as the teenager wrestled her so she was against his chest, from which she began squirming and struggling.

“Pipe down Sunny! Come on-”

With too much effort on Tommy’s part he finally wrestled her into netherite armour. Sunny huffed as she was plopped back down onto the ground, the netherite was heavy and uncomfortable on her skin.

She hadn’t worn armour at all in the months she’d been in the house, honestly she hadn’t expected to ever wear it again, she’d forgotten the weight and heave it took to lull it around. She gave Tommy a very grumpy pout to show her displeasure as the teen ruffled her hair.

“Come on kid, downstairs we go!” Tommy held out his hand, and hesitantly, emphasis on hesitantly Sunny took his hand into her own as he led her downstairs. She knew the rest of the adults were revisiting the plan again but they’d sent Tommy up to help her get into armour so she hadn’t heard much of what they were doing.

She’d been there 3 days ago when the plan first went through but she didn’t recall the exact details. Just that she was allowed to come, despite all the teens protesting in the name of being an insider and familiar with the federation. Micheal was staying with Phil, who was staying behind for backup and the rest of them were gonna go in.

When she came down the stairs with Tommy everyone else was armoured up and seemed to be looking over a map she couldn’t see from where she was standing all that well.

“Welcome back Poppet!” Tub-.., Pa waved to her and Sunny waved back with a shy little grin, Tommy let go of her hand and she walked to hide behind his leg with a smile.

“Now then, we’ll leave soon, everyone got their potions?” Technoblade asked, receiving a lot of different ways to say yes as he strapped in the last piece of his armour. “Alright.. Then, let’s go.” he huffed.

“Stick to the plan” he huffed before chugging his potion and disappearing almost instantly. Tubbo helped her drink down her own before chugging his like a mad man, she watched Ranboo take quick sips while Tommy slammed it down his throat before throwing the glass to the floor.

Just like that she felt herself be picked up like an invisible force and carried off…

Sunny trembled and held her breath as her stomach churned… it was now or never.

—---

They took slow steps, forward, careful of how their feet left marks in the snow. Each step was practised and careful, not a single branch snapped under their feet as they walked almost in sync to hide the crunch of snow.

Techno had always needed stealth to survive in the endless hell that had become of the nether, a single uneasy step was death. Tubbo had known for their entire life how to be quiet, to keep his head down and listen. Ranboo unlike the other two knew to be quiet only for the benefit of others.

Despite their different reasoning, all three of them walked with ease, almost in sync as they followed where they’d memorised the map Techno had shown them all.

Before long they came across the cave he’d mentioned and in sync they drifted inside, and for the first time since they’d left Sunny could hear them speak. “..how do these things work, Sunny?” Ranboo asked, clearly referring to the pad.

There was a small issue…

“Ranboo she’s fucking mute how the hell would she respond to you when you can’t see her damn hands?” Tommy hissed through his teeth, you could almost hear the eye roll.

“...ah.” Ranboo replied.

Tubbo was clearly grumbling something under his breath as Sunny felt his hand poke to her arm. “Sunny squeeze my finger if we just use it like a pressure plate” he grumbled and after a second of fumbling the dragon squeezed his finger.

“The child has spoken” Tubbo huffed before walking over to the pad, presuming the rest would follow.

Sunny felt like the air was sucked out of her as she glanced over once the particles wore off.

A long white borish hallway stood before her, it was squeaky clean but not in the same way she was used to, it was more of a clean shining silver then the pure blinding white. She wasn’t sure if it was more or less comforting then the white as he clinged tighter to her Pa.

She heard the warp pad go off again, three times as each time no one came into view. There was another stretch of nothing until a small grunt sounded off, vaguely piglin. Almost instantly she felt arms tighten around her as Tubbo began walking, she could hear the quietest of steps and clicks from the others as they went into different directions.

Sunny sucked in a deep breath, they just.. Needed to keep them away.

—

The hallways were wide, winding, turning and coiling around like a bloody maze, Tommy kept his quiet even if he couldn’t see a soul around. He wasn’t sure how anyone could have built something like this alone, or even with a handful of people.

The scariest part was the idea there were more than a handful. How the hell did those guys get past Prime and Drista? Sure Drista loved chaos but she’d never let people bypass the firewall! So Tommy was a little upset, honestly who would even want to come here?

This place was an absolute hell hole of a piece of shit and Tommy, after all the work he did to get accepted in here, he just wanted to leave!

So Tommy was pissed, especially at the fact they were going after his best friend, and his niece and nephew! It was outrageous.. And Ranboo too, he supposed. Point was this was his damn family and NO ONE was going to take them from him this time.

So, being given the job of ‘destroying all of their high security technology and files’ was a pretty fun job to have. He didn’t pass anyone in the halls as he looked around, trying to find a door or something.

Eventually, he did find something. An iron door with a censor. He gave the sensor a look over before he decided on smashing the thing. He pulled his pickaxe out of his inventory, holding it just over his shoulder and then with full force throttling the pickaxe into the wall.

There was a nice clump of destroyed technology once he had, Tommy grinned sinisterly as the door slid open with a dysfunctional hitch. He looked inside the room, marking it as clear as he tumbled in.

The room was full of filing cabinets from head to toe, Tommy grinned and he felt the flint and steel heavy in his pocket. The blonde grinned as he began pushing down cabinets, sending papers and files and folders flying every which and way.

Once a majority were on the ground Tommy leaned down to light the papers ablaze…

One paper turned to two, to 6, to 18, until the whole room started filling with the blazes of burning paper. Tommy hissed through his teeth and rushed out- still invisible just in time to see the weird… creature gaping at the fire.

Well they would be gaping, if it wasn’t for their faceless nature. The freakishly white sprinkle of fur and weird little orange suit was… strange looking. Honestly their appearance was practically just a polar hybrid, but… his face. Tommy couldn’t help but gawk at its fracelsss nature. As if its features had been nothing more than paint and had been rubbed off. Tommy couldn’t help but he frightened of the dude

But the guy? Maybe, a person rushed into the room just as Tommy chose to book it down the hall, holding his breath as he tried to get as far away as he could. ‘Fuck- shit, what the hell was that thing!?’ he asked himself as he sprinted down the hallway.

It was fucking creepy for one, the almost doll like way it’s face was formed and shaped was just- like gross? Tommy heaved but shook the ideas out of his head, he needed to focus on the task Techno had given him.

It was too early to get caught…. He grinned as he ducked down the hall, finding another room with filing cabinets to his left.

Oh, this was gonna be fun.

—

Ranboo gulped as they snuck through the silver halls, it was crazy reflective, almost blindingly so. Like a huge mirror on every side, but not at the same time. It left them a little confused and.. Watched as they slipped through the halls.

Ranboo had seen a few… faceless figures descend down the hall, there didn’t seem to be many but it still creeped them out, he made sure to hold their breath when they passed them.

This entire place was making them nauseous but it’s not like he could give up, his husband and kids were depending on this place being destroyed. Even if he still didn’t understand exactly what had happened in the future they knew it had come down to something bad.

Ranboo sucked in another breath as another.. White creature walked past them, once they were out of sight he sighed, shuddering. ‘Those guys are creepy’ they thought to themselves as they turned a corner..

He’d been tasked to destroy any storage rooms, but they couldn’t see much of those yet.

Ranboo kept walking, their eyes anxiously going back and forth on where to look, unfortunately for him when turning a corner he heard footsteps close to them. They turned, there was a worker behind themm, quickly Ranboo jumped back, just in time-

When their foot hit the ground next to them, Ranboo seemed to realise that their tail hadn’t been accounted for, and the worker stepped down, causing a sharp intake of air that must have given them away and if that wasn’t bad enough they tripped. If his breath hadn’t given him away THAT certainly had.

Ranboo rushed forward ducking past the worker in their confusion and rushed down the hall. He could hear sounds behind them and rushed to turn corners, struggling to conceal themself as they sucked in sharp breaths.

And, really as if that wasn’t bad enough. The entire building glowed a vibrant red as an ear screeching alarm sounded off. Ranboo’s breath hitched as their hands rushed to cover their ears, they whined as the noise sent sparks of pain through his ears, whining.

He curled up in a ball in the corner struggling to regain their breath as faceless creature after faceless creature rushed past his spot on the floor, heading to wherever the alarm was sending them. Ranboo hissed through their teeth, trying to be quiet despite the noises blaring down on them..

It was loud- he couldn’t hear themself think, huffing out air and staggering to think..

Fuck, he hoped the others were having a better go.

—

Techno’s ear twitched as the alarms screeched in the halls. He wasn’t surprised, if anything they were good news. He’d sent Tommy and Ranboo out to destroy parts of the building, that just meant they were doing it.

This wasn’t a stealth mission, far from it really. The brute huffed, a single step alerted them to something behind him, he turned in a quick turn and slashed his blade at the opponent's chest. The faceless bear backed up in alarm but before another sound could leave their throat they were gone, a single hit to the throat pinning them down.

He huffed before hiding his weapon back into his inventory. The worker… thing was dead already, So he moved in. Silent as a piglin could be.

Each hall revealed a new foe, each one was taken out before they had much of a chance to so much as squirm, he learned along the way even when presented with the chance Technoblade noticed no beeps of sound ever left their lips.

It was strange, but he wouldn’t get much out of asking the bears he slaughtered. Sunny would be the one to go with for that if he ever got too curious. Techo jolted down the silver halls, staining them red at every corner.

Everything was quiet, too quiet, each sound almost echoed off of the walls, sometimes Techno wondered if it was intentional, some kind of silent alarm, a give away when a single thing was out of place.

Technoblade spent a moment, eyeing up the area, there were what looked like cameras at every corner, and there were a lot of those. Techo turned to his belt, lifting an invisibility potion from where he remembered putting it on his belt and chugging the item. Even if this wasn’t stealth he didn’t want his identity attached to this

“What are you doing?” the voice echoed through the hall. Techno whipped around, dropping the bottle so as to not give his position out as he turned to face the person standing at the opposite edge of the hall.

They were identical to the faceless workers, in all but its face. This thing had one. A fake pair of two button eyes stitched into his skin, his smile had a similar story, a thin black line of thread sewn into its skin to replicate the effect of a mouth. The stitches crossed with each other, giving the impression there was a mouth sewn shut enough all despite not having one underneath to begin with.

Techno felt intrigued by the messages behind that. Even those not permitted to speak were still silenced in their own way. But right now was not that time, he took notice of the bear’s familiarity to the drawing Sunny had shown him and he readied himself for a fight as he did.

He didn’t do a thing as the bear’s paw clicked onto a button on its vest “what are you doing?” it replied without moving the non existent face stitched onto its face.

It wanted a reply that was as clear as it could ever be. The bear had seen him, it wanted a reply.

Technoblade did not give it one as they watched their foot begin tapping on the floor almost impatiently, It’s fake eye twitching as it pulled out a boot and began to scribble between the pages. It threw the book at the ground, Techno frowned at the book.

Picking it up would be a dead give away to where he was, and he’d need to move to to grab it, that just wasn’t in his best interest.

The bear seemed to scowl as the time went past, a minute turning into two, turning into three and by the fourth he could feel the bear’s anger as it leaned down to pick up the book. With a grip so hard it looked like the pages were going to fall out.

A loud robotic laugh seeped through the walls as its neck cracked.

Techno resisted the urge to huff as he stayed still. He wasn’t built for stealth, and with hoofs a single clip or clop against the tiles could give him away, especially with the glass.

He kept his eyes trained on the bear as its snout twitched, ‘enhanced smell?’ he questioned to himself, he had a few heavy scents in his inventory if need be required but grabbing them would reveal his position so he stayed dormant.

They stayed like that, silent, observing each other with piercing eyes.

It stayed like that for a long moment, the two of them glaring at each other, well, the bear was glaring at his general direction, he was close too. Even if his eyes kept flickering around the wall nearby.

‘Blood’ a voice hissed in his ear, begging for the blood, a crowd full of screeching ringing through his brain.

He huffed at the headache forming as more voices joined the chant. Begging for the bloodshed they all knew was coming, urging him on.

Usually, lately he’d just wanted to ignore them.. But now? He felt no choice but to honour them

Just as the choice solidified in his head Techno felt the invisibility potion wear off again.

Show time.

—

Tubbo scurries down the hall, his feet clacking down the halls, he does not make use of stealth, he does not take care. He is not spying, he is destroying, there is no need for information.

He has no one to collect it for, no one to promise safety in return for papers he knows will be of no use. With no promise of safety there will be no betrayal.

The only reason he isn’t screaming at the top of his lungs is for the daughter in his arms, he can feel her hand gripping onto his jacket.

That and her weight are the only signs of her that he holds in his bad arm. His good one was too busy throwing out explosives and watching them stick to the top of the ceiling, blending in almost with the building's smooth silver surface matching that.

He knows he’s making noise, but after the alarm started going off it seemed enough to cloak his own noises. He raced against the imaginary clock in his head, throwing bombs up and watching them latch onto the ceiling.

It might be overkill, it could easily be in all honesty.

But this government had threatened his family.

In this time, and in the future. They had taken his family from him, they had stripped the people he loved away. They hadn’t been the first to do that to him.

He remembers, he can still feel the pain of watching Schlatt exile his brother by pack, he still feels the betrayal in himself as he exiled the same boy years later.

His family had been taken from him, by inaction of his own part or being a puppet on a string. He was too scared to fight, to rebel against the oppressors that laid over him, that buried his voice.

This time he was going to fight, he was going to fight, he wouldn't let another hand tear away his family from him. Never again would he lose someone to another’s hand,

Tubbo turned a hall, tossing up another bomb, not even giving it a second look as he heard the sound of feet against the tiled floor. He froze and pressed his back against the wall, holding his daughter tight, he could feel Sunny’s heartbeat as a stampede of faceless walking polar bears rushed past him.

He sucked in a breath as he watched them all run past, he knew he had a drink a invis soon, he prayed it lasted, just a little longer, just-

No-.. no.. no-

Tubbo’s eyes go wide, his hands hold tighter on Sunny as when the crowd starts to disperse, bears still run through the hall but with the small gap Tubbo could look through he could see half of a foot.

It was distorted, wavy, almost transparent, something that had made the invisibility of the potion wear off and force whatever it was hiding to reappear.

He knew those polished black shoes.

Tubbo felt his heart leap in his chest as he watched slowly as more of his frame was revealed, he couldn’t get through the crowd, there were less of them sure but they were still there!

A single bump into one of them would send confusion through them all, they’d know whatever was hiding from them was in here. He’d doom Sunny and him.

But if he didn’t act now he’d doom his husband.

He wasn’t letting them take his family, ANY of them.

Tubbo saw an opening just a small one and he ran, he could feel as he bumped into people could feel the growing confusion but he didn’t dare say a peep as he rushed to the other side, colliding with something he knew to be his husband.

“Ranboo run!” he hissed as he used one hand to grip onto him, he wasn’t sure what part of their body he’d latched on to but he rushed forward, dragging his husband behind him as he heard the bears finally lock in on them.

A bullet whizzed past his head as he ran, sprinting as fast as he could.

They rushed down the halls, Ranboo eventually finding their footing as they raced together, bears chasing after them, barely missing as they ducked through corners.

By the time they’d put in a decent distance half of Ranboo’s body was visible and his own feet were becoming visible too. He could see the very bottom of Sunny’s boots in his arms.

Tubbo felt his lungs burn, his legs screaming at him as he turned another corner, only this time to come face to face with two bears on the other side of them. Before a bullet could hit them Ranboo covered the three of them with a shield, Tubbo copied the method on the other side of them where two bears raised their gun from the other side of the wall.

Each shot wore on their shields mercilessly.

Tubbo could hear Ranboo’s panicked squeaks, the alarms, the gun shots all of it sent his mind spiralling. The shield was wobbling in his hand, not taking the shots well with one hand supporting it.

He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t.. He couldn’t figure it out.

He had no idea how to protect his family and it stung.

“Tubbo-” Ranboo glanced back at them, their face completely visible now, the brunette spared him a glance, feeling his heart break harder.

He could see the bottom of Sunny’s chestplate now. It stung, feeling her grip on his armour, the weight in his arms and pain in his chest.

“Tubbo how many- hng, how many bombs!!?” Ranboo asked in a panic.

Maybe, maybe if they were far enough, it wouldn’t matter they could distract the bears, keep themselves safe.

They could get the upper hand.

Tubbo wished he didn’t see the hope in Ranboo’s eyes, he hated how it faded the moment Tubbo spoke.

“Too many…”

He watched the light leave their eyes.

There were too many bombs, even if they were far off they’d never be able to withstand the blast. They were fucked. The durability of their shields were waning. They didn’t have much time.

“I love you, both of you” Tubbo whispered, tears streaming down his cheeks he could see the tension, the only sound he could hear against the chaos was the sound of a Ranboo’s nervous chitter and Sunny’s breathing.

He had never had the chance to speak up before it was too late.

He always stalled, got scared.

But now, there was nothing scarier than not saying anything at all.

“I’m sorry, i'm sorry i can't keep you both safe” he hissed under his breath, he could see Sunny’s invisibility had completely worn off now, and it stung to see the tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

Tubbo felt his breath stutter and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I couldn’t save you in the future.. I can't save you now. I’m sorry poppet” he whispered feeling how she shook her head even harder in her chest. “Tubbo…” Ranboo chittered, their voice strained from holding the shield as it cracked and splintered, wood and debris falling off.

They were going to die. And there was nothing either of them could do. If the bombs went off there was no clue if Technoblade and Tommy would die in the hit, and even then they were much too close to survive. There was no running to safety, no fleeing. If they did a gun bullet would slam into their heads before they got the chance.

Tubbo laughed, a cold miserable laugh.. He could feel Ranboo’s free hand embracing him, if he wasn’t holding Sunny he’d hug them back.

‘At least I'm not alone’.. He told himself, smiling as he sobbed.

—

The sound of burning paper filled his noise as he charged down the hall, running down the corridors, he could hear the noises, the commotion, the shouting, He knew the voice of them, he knew the distress.

He knew his family.

As he came running down the hall, blindingly silver. He could see two bears shooting at something.. At someone.

And without thinking he equipped his shield and before they could turn to attack he barreled into them, knocking the two of them over.

“Tommy!?” he saw Ranboo’s head peek out for a moment before ducking as a bullet from the other side whizzed by. “In the flesh! Some on bitch we got bears to kill!” he shouted and grabbed his bow, firing a shot before ducking behind the wall.

The bears dodged the shot but all too quickly Ranboo took advantage of the situation and slid on the floor, knocking one bear over and smashing his shield on the other’s head.

Tubbo followed swiftly with his sword, plunging it into one while Ranboo did the other.

And for a moment everything was quiet.

“..fuck” Tubbo laughed under his breath clearing the tears from his eyes before Ranboo wrapped their arms around him. Worried chitters whispered into his ear.

“I thought we were gonna die..” Ranboo whispered, holding them tighter, crushing Sunny in the process. “I think you’re killing your daughter right now..” Tubbo pointed out, watching Rannbo step back, taking Sunny from her Pa’s arms and whispering a thousand tiny apologies to her.

She began signing a storm, but Tubbo could barely breathe, his eyes flocking across the hallway as Tommy rushed over, coated in red shiny blood.

Except the bears didn’t have blood.

“Tommy you got shot!?”

All eyes sprang to him. “Hey- im fine im fine, it's a graze” he huffed, his hand moving to cover his left shoulder.

“Getting grazed by a gun is still big fucking news bossman” Tubbo hissed, “Shit, we need to bandage that quick-” Tubbo looked around but the only thing they had on them were bombs, an extra invis and a flint and steel.

“It’s fine Tubs- we don’t have time”

“But-”

“But nothing! Come on we’ll fix it later, we gotta find Technoblade and bounce this joint” Tommy, grabbed his extra potion, chugging it and disappearing from view. Tubbo sighed, tossing Ranboo Sunny’s spare potion before chugging his own and rushing off after him.

“...alright sunbeam.. Let’s get this over with” Ranboo sighed as he helped her drink her potion before downing his own. They hoped this would be over soon.

Their poor heart couldn’t take much more.

—

Techno lunged, dodging another shot, spinning around, bouncing from side to side.

Each shot missed by an inch, was reflected by his sword or blade. And the rare shot that landed only made a small dent in his armour as he fought. He was getting closer, rushing forward, bouncing to the side just to rush forward and side step again.

He continued that dance, the steps coming naturally as he finally got close enough for a blow. His sword connected with a plate, one he hadn't seen the bear equip.

The voices screeched, chanting for blood begging to spell his rotted corpse around. They screamed for the blood.

And he planned to deliver.

His sword swung at his face, feeling the bear’s own blade come up to block it, he sidestepped and swung again, landing a hit to their stomach, no blood escaping as he ripped his suit jacket.

The voices screeched in outrage, fury searing through him as they begged for blood.

His head burned as he lunged again, connecting his sword once more to a block on the sword's part, only for Technoblade to raise his leg and kick as hard as he could into the bear's knee.

A sickening crack ran out as the bear tumbled down their sword grazing Techno’s side as it did.

The brutes eyes widened in surprise as a terrifying grin covered his safe. He slammed his sword down again, and again. Each hit that was blocked was countered by a punch, a kick, a knee.

Eventually his foot slammed on the bear’s hand, earning a sickening crackle before the pop as the unliving being below him dropped its weapon.

Techno grinned, a morbid revolting look as he leaned down. He had won, and it was easy.

His sword collided with the bear’s throat and finally, a small slither of blood slipped out.

It stained the body like it was red food colouring on a doll. As morbid as that sounds.

Technoblade softened his expression as the voices sung of their pleasure, his hands gripping his communicator as he sent a message.

Technoblade whispers to you ‘we’re done. Regroup at ̡̳͍͙͕͇͈͛͢͢͢͢͟͡͡͡͡͡͠͠͠uԽՑh̶̴̹͌͞͞ֆջfկ’

—

“We.. we did it?” Tubbo whispered, his hands holding onto Sunny as she stared with wide eyes. She seemed like she was in shock. Tommy and Ranboo were close by, they alternated between holding Sunny while the others got nervous.

Tommy had taken her out of her armour, Ranboo had fed her, Tubbo had given her a toy.

But for right now they were just holding her.

“Yepp, denote your bombs and we’re done” the man huffed, from where he was looming over a chest, grabbing a roll of bandages he tossed at the teens. Ranboo fumbled, barely managing to catch it as he did, earning a snort from Tommy before Tommy was being dragged off to get bandaged up

Tubbo stood still, smiling in relief as he pressed down on the big red button.

He couldn’t hear the explosion, but if he tried hard enough he could imagine it.

For once the sound of bombs didn’t remind me of the accident.

He smiled. “You’re free Sunny..” he whispered, seeing her eyes finally seem to zone in again as she stared at him. “Those bears won’t touch you ever again” he whispered.

If he had it his way, no one would ever touch his family again.

In Sunny’s mind, it was different, finally she could have her Pa stay, he wouldn’t leave her. It felt like a dream as she smiled up at him, a warm fuzzy feeling tingling on her insides.

Finally, she felt at home.

Chapter Text

The sky was warm, a nice fuzzy warm that sent tingles down on those under it, the summer sky glistening as the world spun around it. The wildlife was few and far between, still suffering from the Nuke launched down on the prison.

But life prevailed. Nature was unending, and what remains of the destruction is only regrown by nature. Craters were filled with gorgeous blue lakes, ruins were shrouded by bright green vines, with flourishing flowers spiralling off.

Nature would return, the mortals who had stolen its beauty had left the world it ruined and most were now no more. The wars were over, the greed of mankind had been stalled. The people who remained held no threat to nature, for they just like mother earth had yearned for man to be gone.

Yet, they knew they were not welcome on the soiled earth. Too many memories of what had been laid deep upon that soil. That place, it wasn’t for them, it had never been for them. When people lived and when people died, no matter what changes were made to call that place home, it was never solid.

They learned soon this place was not for them, no matter how they tried. The memories of the explosions, of the pain, of the agony rippling through their skin, the years of constant paranoia had rotted at their brains.

They just couldn’t stay and they knew it. So they didn’t.

Far away, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of blocks away, thousands some might say were two houses. One a two story spruce cabin with a nice land of potted flowers outside, a few bee nests resting in the trees nearby. There was a small porch outside the door, there was a nice oak swinge. It was painted in a nice yellow colour with small pink pigs and orange suns.

If you’d walk inside you’d be greeted by low hanging pots, two scurrying cats darting across the floor, one white and one black, a chicken or two locked up in a child’s play area and a billion portraits and paintings, photos and art lining the walls.

There were torn photos of a blond and brunette in matching war torn uniforms pinned to a cork board in the kitchen, a photo of a baby piglin on top of a chicken in torn clothes hiding in the nether in the playroom. There was a photo of an endermen training in hand to hand combat with a brute and an avian on the fridge, along with drawings galore of childish doodles.

But most importantly decorating the walls of the entrance was a portrait, a family portrait. A portrait of a brown haired goat with a wide eyed grin, of a sheepish endermen smiling as they ducked down to fit into frame, of a tired blond grinning brighter than anyone had seen in a while with a black spider the size of his head on his shoulder. And finally of a young piglin runt laughing mid portrait with a slightly older girl beside him, black horns and a black tail poking out from her glamorous dress.

They looked.. Happy.

Only 30 blocks away there was a small cottage settled into a hill, it was small and wasn’t the best built but it had space for what it needed, a small spiderling had space to crawl over the walls, and the resident blond had enough to live.

Outside of the cottage there was a small carrot farm to feed the small inhabitants. And next to the house was a small, securely built pen. With oak fence, and oak gates covered in flora with bushes of rich green green and flowers inside and out. There was an oak hanging sign over the pen that read ‘Mareep’ with a nice pink sheep drifting off to sleep inside.

The home spoke of sanctuary. A warm, fuzzy sanctuary.

—

The sun seeped through the window, engulfing a girl’s room in a warm summer glow. Sunny whined as the light woke her up, yawning as she sat up in her bed. She had a sleek white bed frame with golden orange bed covers, a white desk shoved into a corner with a white seat fitted with golden cushions. There was a shelf in the corner holding an array of knick knacks, a wardrobe next to the door and a plush orange carpet on the floor.

Sunny yawned, stretching as she sat up. She huffed as she walked to her wardrobe, pulling open the door. The wooden door had a window embedded on one side, showing a full view of her spectator face.

She had warm brown skin rich as the earth’s soil. Her eyes were a deep brown that almost passed as black. She had rich brown curly coiled hair that ran just under her shoulders with two blocks horning poking out. She was dressed in her nightwear that included a yellow pyjama shirt with white polka dot long sleeve satin shirt and long white pyjama pants with yellow polka dots.

Sunny furrowed her brow, looking through her large array of outfits trying to pick something. Most of her clothes were knitted or made of wool but there were a few outliers in that. Some stain and silk outfits were in her possession.

Sunny leaned into her closet and grabbed a white t-shirt with a yellow ring around the collar to match her Uncle Tommy’s, it still felt a little wrong to call him that, even after the 4 years she’d been in this ‘time’. Next she grabbed the orange ballerina tutu that faded into a golden summer yellow and shimmered if the light hit it right.

She also grabbed a pair of light blue jean shorts, white socks with one orange and one yellow stripe at the top, a star sapped yellow pag, a fluffy yellow knitted cardigan with her name embroidered into the back and finally a pair of black sunglasses. Sunny pulled the clothes on, dumping her pyjamas in the hamper as she took a quick spin as she looked at herself.

Her hair still wasn’t brushed, so she rushed to her bedside table, grabbing her hair comb before turning around and rushing out of her room and down the hall. She ran past the room with the hoof print on it and the one with a paw and human hand, not giving either a second thought as she swiftly trotted down the stairs and rushed down another hall before finally finding her way into the kitchen.

Tubbo was inside, leaning over the counter from where he was frying a dozen eggs. His hair was shorter, his multi-colored eye focused hard on the food, the other one was mutated and unusable with the scars that ran through that side of his face. It was more visible than they had been when Sunny first got here. He wore a black undershirt without sleeves that covered up to his neck, showing the scars over his arms.

Over his undershirt Tubbo wore a pair of overalls with a small embroidered bee hastily sewn onto the main pocket. There were some honey and oil stains over his attire but it was mostly clean for the most part.

Sunny knocked on the entrance and Tubbo spun around with a smile “Morning poppet!” He called out, waving before returning to the food he was making. “Breakfast will be ready soon” he called out and focused on his food. Sunny smiled and shimmied into a seat, putting her hair brush down beside her already set plate.

She sat on her hands, taking a moment to take in the silence before Tubbo hissed through his teeth and turned to her “Sorry poppet do you think you could help make some bread?” he asked as he emptied the pan of its contents, replacing it with more eggs as he cracked them over.

‘I got it Pa!’ she smiled and sat up from her chair, standing on her tippy toes to reach up high for the bread box, she pushed back the opening and grabbed a bit of fresh bread. She pulled it down and moved to unwrap the bag from its plastic before plopping two into the toaster.

Sunny then grabbed the butter out of the fridge along with some tomato sauce.

The 12 year old grinned as she watched the toaster until the bread was a nice fuzzy warm brown before she pulled them out and put in some more. By the time she had enough, every Sunny turned to see her Pa turning off the stove and plopping the dozen of eggs onto the plate.

She followed similarly and put all the toast on one big plate next to the eggs before sitting down again. “Thanks poppet” Tubbo smiled as he walked to the side of where she was sitting and kissed the top of his daughter's head, earning a gleeful giggle before she brought her hands up to sign.

‘Can you brush my hair?’ she asked, picking up her brush after signing the words and holding it up for her Pa with a bright smile, as warm as a flourishing sunbeam. “Course I can,” her father grinned as he grabbed the brush and directed Sunny to look forward as he started working on her brown curls.

He was careful with his hands as he brushed her hair out gently, following her curls carefully as the sound of hoof against the floor sounded down the steps.

“Morning Micheal!” Tubbo called out as his son walked into the room. His mind rosy fur was cleanly brushed, fresh and almost sparkly, his mangled skin and nonfunctional eye on full display. He had pink hair a shade darker than his fur, it fuzzed like a busy bee over his face, held back over his injured eye by a yellow hair clip.

He grinned, tusks poking out of his top lip. They were small, just beginning to settle into his mouth tusks but despite that they were still tusks. “M’orning!” the pigling chorted happily, his tail wagging behind them as they waved to the family proudly.

Micheal was finally getting his grasp on the human language and he was beyond delighted whenever he made a sound similar to a word, Sunny knew for a fact the rest of the family felt the exact same. Sunny waved back, ‘Morning’ she signed.

Micheal grinned happily as he walked in to sit beside Sunny with a happy chuff. He fiddled with the fabric of his yellow sweater with his white pyjamas shorts with one hand while his other reached to snatch up a piece of bread and egg. He quickly buttered the bread, slathered tomato sauce over the top and slapped an egg down.

Sunny rolled her eyes as her brother chowed down.

There was a small pitter of steps and the sound of a language she didn't understand as Ranboo walked into the kitchen with a yawn. Their hair was bushy and had grown long over the years,it made the stark, bright white engulfing their hair all the more obvious. It wasn’t half white and half black anymore. Sunny shuddered at the memories of the prison break.

She wasn’t there but.. She could hear the sirens, the fear as Tubbo grabbed her hand so hard it hurt, how they ducked down the stairs into some tunnel, they wouldn't stop running and none of Micheals sobs or Sunny’s tugs could get a word out of him.

She remembered sitting curled up in her Pa’s side gripping Micheal’s hand like he was going to disappear, confused and scared as Tommy and a little boy she’d never met came rushing through another tunnel.

It was all so loud, so confusing, so scary.

And both Pa and Tommy seemed… out of their minds.

She only learned a few weeks later what had happened when Tommy came to stay with them with his son, Shroud. Scared out of his mind, sleeping in a sleeping bag in her Pa’s room.

She only learned what happened to Ranboo when she overheard Tubbo’s breakdown about not being able to find Micheal early one morning.

Sunny didn’t like to think about those days.

They scared her still.

She stared at their hair for a moment longer. There was still some black over their hair, reminiscent of their past appearance. Ranboo’s tear scar had faded to green and red, their eyes a slightly duller colour melted into a white at the edges with white pupils. They wore a long sleeping gown that surprisingly reached their ankles, the stitch work in the middle showing it was two night gowns attached to one another.

They waved to everyone as they entered the room.

“Morning sexy!” Tubbo called out as he got a hair tie from his wrist and pushed Sunny’s hair into two curly fluffy buns. “Orning Boo!” Micheal chortled, ‘morning Pops!’ Sunny signed.

The endermen smiled, greeting them all before they served their own food, helping Micheal cut his and then forcing Tubbo to sit down with them for food.

And just like that.

It was peaceful.

Two fathers, a son and a daughter ate their meals in peace, chewing on their food happily and talking amongst each other.

Not too far away, past the bee garden in the yard, lived a man.

His hair is as golden as the summer sun, blinding with its white lock of shame. Beside him, his own son lived, the anarcid that cling to its carers arms. And things were good.

There was no one to bother them, no one to hurt them. Everyone was happy, everything was near perfect.

They farmed, they harvested, they cooked and ate. No one starved, no one lived in fear. No one had anything to fear.

Those two families lived together, happily. And nothing would ever hurt them again.

It was late… the moon shone bright in the sky, shining through the windows of a sleeping couple and their son, but their daughter was not in bed.

She had crept out in her fluffy light brown sleeping gown, the fluff and fur tickling at her skin as she stepped out of the front door, walking across the glass with her bare feet and making her way to the back of the home.

There was a swing set, a sand pit, and a little picnic table. But that wasn’t what she was looking for. No, Sunny kept walking even as the cold breeze caused shivers down her spine.

She walked until she stood behind a tree and she sat down, her eyes turning to look down as she finally saw what she was looking for, a small sign covered in paint, purple, a light brown, white and a light pink.

She stared at the sign, staring at the words carved into them.

‘To the family I lost, but will always remember’

Sunny smiled as he looked at the sign, seeing the drawing pinned to the side.

A messy drawing of herself, her sisters, and her brothers.

Sunny sat there, silent as she paid her respects.

They weren’t born yet, and they wouldn’t even remember her, at least, she didn’t think they would. But that didn’t matter to her, they were still her family, her siblings.

They still mattered.

—

Many, many years later, enough years to watch the rise and fall of numerous dynasties, a group of English and Spanish speakers were given a ticket to a vacation. Where they would be paired up, where they would have a family to make their own. And they would be happy. There would be a boy, a small boy named Ramon.

To him at first, nothing was wrong, but as months passed and life got harder, and harder… his life turned to turmoil as he protected his siblings.

He realised, something was missing.

‘I feel like I'm.. Forgetting something’ he told Empanada, the girl turned her head to look at him as they sat on the front of her house. ‘Me too, I feel like I've lost someone?’ She claimed. a firm pout on her face as she swung her legs back and forth. Ramon nodded in agreement.

‘Yeah.. sometimes it feels like more than one…’ he sighed and shook his head.

‘Hm, maybe the federation did something?’ She suggested.

Ramon blinked, huh. That did make sense.

Those guys were always messing with them, always terrorising them, always hurting them. Who were to say they’d wouldn't mess with their memories on.. People? The thought was scary, but not impossible.

Ramon frowned as he got an idea, he’d sneak into that fed office and see if he could find anything… he wasn’t going to let the federation take someone from him!

The young boy barely thought of the consequences as he proposed the idea to Empanada. She agreed quickly and suggested that they invite Pepito. Together, they’d see who the federation was trying to erase.