Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Techno’s relationship with the raccoon was improving, slowly but surely. It didn’t seem to fully trust him yet but it wasn’t immediately running away after obtaining the food anymore, that was progress. 

The piglin hybrid sat in the snow, ignoring the wetness and because of his hybrid traits the cold barely affected him due to having the heat of the nether burning through his veins, and held a hand out to the creature which had finished gnawing on greedily. 

Wilbur had recently started teasing Techno for his encounters with the raccoon especially due to the fact that he’d supposedly had such a deep hatred for it mere days ago. Phil had simply left his warrior son to it, he was still hauled away in his room working on various projects barely showing his face but he seemed to enjoy Techno’s raccoon stories when he did. It seemed that Techno wasn’t the only person who was reminded of Tommy. 

Cautiously the piglin hybrid held his hand out to the raccoon and as expected the creature peered expectantly, obviously thinking there was going to be more food for it but instead saw an empty hand. It’s face peered up at Techno and the warrior wouldn’t be surprised if the creature was analysing him, looking for any signs of deception but perhaps he was giving the creature too much credit, all Techno knew for certain was that it had been able to avoid all his traps back when he’d been trying to kill it. 

Gingerly the raccoon placed its tiny hands onto Techno’s and titled its head forwards towards the warrior, a small sign of vulnerability and the beginnings of trust. Techno didn’t want to mess this up, he knew how easy simple actions and words could ruin a relationship especially a relationship in the process of healing. 

His relationship with Tommy, well had it been healing? Truthfully, Techno wasn’t sure. His baby brother joining the empire during his exile had been the blossoms of forgiveness from Techno’s withers at the sixteenth and his story, his attempts to kill his own brother. That had been harsh, the piglin hybrid did realise that. 

Maybe that was why the raccoon reminded him so much of his fiery, spitfire, energetic baby brother because despite the fact that he’d tried to kill it the raccoon had persisted and continued to show up just as Tommy had done, despite everything that Techno had done that could have potentially hurt his brother - even if the piglin hybrid believed it was for the best, that his actions were the best course of action, he couldn’t deny that they’d still hurt Tommy but his brother always returned. 

Tommy had always tried to see the best in everyone no matter what they’d done, it was perhaps stupid for Techno to project this all onto a raccoon but the creature truly did remind him of his brother. 

With his free hand the piglin hybrid gently stroked the top of the creatures head being as careful as possible not to come across as a threat to the animal, he didn’t want to make it run. 

The raccoon made a purring noise, or at least a noise similar enough to purring, content with the current situation. 

“Mhmm, Theseus,” Techno murmured to himself approvingly, the raccoon needed a name and although he was usually one for subtlety, he knew that his brother wasn’t. It felt fitting. It felt right. He would gain this raccoon’s full trust. 

“Quackity, I can’t do the revival without Tommy’s body,” Dream squeaked as he held his hands up in front of his face in defence, he was afraid the businessman would hurt him more because he couldn’t do what he asked but those were the rules of resurrection, he needed the body. 

The scar on Quackity’s face tensed dangerously and he leaned closer, Dream could see the reflection of his face in the axe, “Are you certain?” 

The admin understood that Quackity was attempting to threaten him and although Dream knew that Quackity’s threat came with a promise of pain that didn’t change the facts, “I am certain.” He attempted to deliver the line fully deadpan to emphasis that he definitely wasn’t lying. 

The businessman frowned however his grip on the weapon loosened and Dream almost let out a breath of relief as Quackity believed him. His relief was a poor judgement as the promise of pain was still apparent. 

“If I bring you the body then you’ll perform the revival for me?” Quackity asked casually, he asked it the same way that one would ask someone if they could have an extra scoop of ice cream but didn’t really care if the person said no. Dream knew this nonchalant method was the most dangerous because the businessman definitely did care about the answer. 

“Yes,” He answered firmly and quickly, a nod accompanied his words to really assure the businessman that he was certain in what he was saying. He’d revived Tommy once before with just his body and it had gone perfectly fine, the admin had no reason to believe that he couldn’t do it again just as easily plus he’d had some extra practice reviving Wilbur too, the book definitely worked. 

Quackity nodded and Dream wanted to relax as he figured he’d answered everything correctly but a swiftly kick to his stomach which left him momentarily winded and reminded him that he should never feel at ease around the businessman. “Then I will bring you Tommy and you’ll bring him back for me,” He continued his point as if he hadn’t kicked Dream at all, he didn’t acknowledge it in the slightest. 

Dream watched as Quackity exited the prison cell and he felt a rush of calmness because at least for now he didn’t have to deal with the businessman any longer and could seriously consider and think about what was said to him. 

Tommy was dead. 

With the way Quackity had been acting the admin hadn’t actually had time to take that in, Tommy had committed suicide. He truthfully couldn’t say he was shocked, Dream knew too well that Tommy had deeply considered it during exile, he’d been part of the reason for the teenager’s attempts too. 

Should he feel guilty? Maybe but instead all the admin felt was annoyance (mixed with some fear from his encounter with Quackity) because Tommy should’ve known that Dream was going to be made to revive him, that he would be once again clawed away from his limbo. Perhaps Dream was envious that Tommy was getting an escape even if it was only a minor one. 

Sam hadn’t come to see him since when the supposed funeral was, he gave Quackity the food to give the prisoner and Quackity told him it was because, ‘He couldn’t bear to see Dream’s face’ and honestly the prisoner couldn’t even bring it on himself to blame the prison warden. 

There was one interesting thing that came with being able to revival people is because, yes, Dream hadn’t been lying when he told Quackity that he needed the body to revive someone - he was too scared of lying to the businessman - that didn’t mean that he couldn’t ‘check in’ on someone in limbo. 

He wouldn’t be able to see them nor would he really be able to see their limbo unless pulling them out of it but he’d be able to feel their presence, their lack of life and their emotions. It wasn’t as if Dream needed to see Tommy’s limbo anyways, he already had, an empty black void. 

The admin twisted his hand outwards and a small grin of satisfaction played on his lips as flickers of green and black danced from his fingertips, he groped around at the air, opening a small rip into what should be Tommy’s own personal limbo. 

His expression distorted at what he found, the grin disappearing entirely, Quackity wasn’t going to be happy. 

“This is so fucked up,” Quackity murmured to himself as his eyes darted side to side making sure that no one was watching him, it was a necessary action but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel bad about it. The businessman rather liked Tommy and the fact that his old close friend was dead genuinely hurt a lot, that being said he was currently at Tommy’s grave with a shovel. 

Nobody appeared to be around, he made sure to look extra hard for the particles or signs that someone was using an invisibility potion. His breath was caught in his throat, Quackity despite his plans did have a genuine soft spot for Tommy and that was why he had lost it at Techno during the funeral. It was no mystery why the old citizens believed that the Craft family was to blame, Phil had left, Techno had told him to die and Wilbur… well Quackity didn’t even want to try and go through all of that. 

He gritted his teeth in anger and distaste for the newly revived man, his eyes landed on the disregarded trench coat. “The void is cold.” He heard Wilbur’s reasoning echo through his head and he wanted to laugh, how fucking pitful was it? He was pretending to give a shit and for what reason? If Wilbur truly had cared then he would never have done any of this. 

Maybe he was thinking too much into this, maybe he simply wanted an excuse to act on vengeance, it would be a lie if he said that he didn’t enjoy it a little but there was a part in the back of his head screaming at him that he shouldn’t use the suicide of his friend as a way to excuse that. He couldn’t scoop to that level. Then again, he was digging up a grave.

He dug his shovel into the mud, he wished there had been rain, that would make this process so much easier but it had been a sunny day. The world hadn’t stopped to mourn Tommy, the world hadn’t stopped to weep for him, it had simply continued. 

Sweat dripped down his back causing his shirt to stick to his back uncomfortably, the businessman was tired. He wished that he’d asked Sam or Slime to help him. This was exhausting and this wasn’t even accounting for the fact that he would have to also carry the teenager’s body back to the prison as well. 

Truthfully Quackity wasn’t even sure if Tommy would thank him, would the blond grow to resent him too? 

A shake of the head yanked the businessman out of the unwelcome thoughts. Quackity had already accepted that he wasn’t playing the role of a good guy which meant he couldn’t suddenly have a moral dilemma. Anyways he could offer Tommy residence in Las Nevadas, barely anyone would need to know he’d been revived. 

Staring back at the businessman was Tommy’s coffin, a cow engraved on the front of it and Quackity felt a small smile quirk up onto his lips, he hadn’t noticed that at the funeral. He’d heard the stories of Tommy’s beloved pet cow Henry and he had to admit he was somewhat grateful they hadn’t engraved the discs on the front despite how meaningful they were to Tommy. 

He ran his hands over his own face and a shallow shaky breath escaped him, it hit him all at once just how fucked up this was. That didn’t matter though, right? That is what he kept telling himself and just to keep himself sane, he had to keep repeating it. 

This was it. He’d gotten his far, he’d dug up the grave, he wasn’t going to stop now. He couldn’t stop now. With another and final deep breath he used the shovel to get the coffin open, wanting desperately to rip his eyes away, he settled for closing them. He didn’t know what he was going to see, nobody had seen the body and he knew Tommy had jumped from quite the height. He wasn’t ready, he wasn’t ready, he wasn’t ready. 

A few long seconds passed and finally Quackity pried to find… nothing . 

The coffin was empty.