Chapter Text
The next morning they were up early. They packed their things away, making sure they were all safe. Tommy carefully wrapped up his discs and placed them in his pack. They were a lucky spoil that he had gotten out of this whole trip. He couldn’t wait to go back home.
He bet his carrots are overgrown now. He hopes his cows didn’t escape into the wheat field again and hoped that the river didn’t flood and mess up Tubbo’s redstone contraptions. He wonders if the village girl they were paying to care for their farm was doing a good job. And he hoped and prayed the rats didn’t get back into their attic. They were such a nuisance to get rid of.
Finally he strapped his elytra on his back and went to help Tubbo’s with his. He wasn’t sure how the nearly twenty-one year old managed to put them on upside down. At least Tubbo could smile about it. Tommy was just glad that he was smiling.
Last night, after the scare they had in the street, Tubbo had slept with Tommy in his bed that night. Nightmares had plagued him all through the night and he was surprised that he got any sleep. He even offered to let the boy sleep for an extra couple hours but he was so hell bent on getting home that he just wanted to leave. Tommy couldn't blame him. The longer he stayed here the more uncomfortable he got.
Avoiding the main portal hub the two instead walked to where the former Pogtopia lands were. It had been converted into farmland for L’Manburg and was a quiet peaceful place. It still unsettled Tommy a bit, but he felt better than he did in the center of L’Manburg. Tubbo seemed to feel the same.
They walked through the thigh-high wheat fields. Tommy knew that Techno’s old portal was around here. Of course there was the portal in the Pogtopia ravine, but he didn’t feel comfortable going back down there.
They mingled about for a bit, trying to listen for the sound of the portal. Tubbo’s hearing wasn’t like it used to be, after being shot with fireworks up close, and Tommy wasn’t a great listener in general.
“I swear there was one here!” Tommy grumbled as he walked about. Tubbo gave him a small smile.
“It’ll be fine, we can go to the portal hub if we need too,” Tubbo said. Tommy just shook his head, shaking his hair out of his face. He scowled and kicked at the ground and Tubbo just sighed and stood besides him.
“Hello?”
The two boys jumped at the sound of the voice from behind them. They quickly adjusted the masks on their faces and turned to the person that stood behind them. Tommy was glad there was a mask covering his face, hiding his eyes that widened in shock.
There, holding a bundle of wheat in hand and the other pushed back a sunhat on her head, was Niki. She looked older, no longer the young woman she was before. Well, she was still young, but the softness of her face had disappeared reminding the boys that she was no longer a teenager. She was wearing a worn pair of overalls, a garden trowel in one of her large pockets, and was also wearing a warm sweater and scarf.
“Can I help you two?” she asked, her soft voice speaking up again. Tommy relaxed and so did Tubbo. She didn’t recognize them.
“We were looking for a portal that we were told was here,” Tubbo said quickly. Niki raised a brow.
“Why not use the portal hub?” she asked.
“We don’t like crowds,” Tommy said, deadpan. He crossed his arms and stood up taller. He stood a little over six feet tall, a few inches taller than Tubbo. And he was definitely taller than Niki.
“That’s understandable,” Niki said, holding her bundle of wheat closer. “The war shook a lot of people up.”
“Of course it fucking did,” Tommy grumbled. Tubbo elbowed him and he elbowed him back. The two of them glared at one another, forgetting for a moment that they weren’t alone. Niki watched them curiously. They faintly looked familiar to her but she couldn’t place why they did.
“Anyway, the portal is over here,” Niki said. She walked down a short slope, turning back once to make sure the boys were following her. She led them to a small slip of a cave that was under the hillside. There, carved inside the wall, was a glowing purple portal.
“Finally,” Tommy groaned. Tubbo smiled and visibly relaxed. Niki watched the two with a careful eye but a small smile was evident on her face.
“Glad I could help,” she said. The two boys looked over at her and even with their masks she could see they were grateful.
“Time to get out of here and never come back again,” Tommy mumbled. He checked the elytra on his back for the last time. He made sure the bag of fireworks strapped at his waist would be easily accessible. He did not want to die in a pool of lava.
“Thank you for your help, Miss,” Tommy said. Niki nodded. Tommy then took a cautious step forward and glanced back at Tubbo. “Your ass better be through this portal right after mine,” he said. Tubbo rolled his eyes and Tommy chuckled before stepping through, disappearing in the purple mist.
Tubbo turned to Niki, who seemed to be waiting for the two to finish using the portal before she left. Tubbo’s mind was whirling and he hoped Tommy wouldn’t be upset about what he was going to do. But after seeing Niki after so many years Tubbo couldn’t help but want to say something to his old friend.
“I’m sorry about him,” he said. Niki shrugged.
“There’s no trouble,” she said in response. Tubbo took a deep breath and approached the portal. He turned back to Niki and fiddled with the mask on his face.
“Hey Niki?” Tubbo asked, speaking up before he chickened out. “Say hi to the others for Tommy and me.”
Then he ran through the portal, not wanting to look back at Niki’s stricken face.
Niki dropped the bundle of wheat to the floor once the words registered in her mind.
“Tubbo,” she breathed, her voice barely a whisper. She ran through the portal after the boys, but all she could see was the faint trails of firework sparkles. They were gone. Tommy and Tubbo had slipped away through her fingers once again.
˙.・↞ ✴ ↠・.˙
Holding the note from the embassy Niki ran through the woods towards the small cabin that she knew Wilbur inhabited. Techno and Phil were also likely to be there, since the three were practically inseparable at times. She was breathing heavily but didn’t pause for a second after she kicked open the door.
Three pairs of eyes stared at her as she burst into the room, clutching the note tightly in her fist. She breathed heavily, catching her breath. She had ran all the way here from Pogtopia, then to the embassy, then the cabin to her credit.
“Tubbo, Tommy,” she said through breaths. She bent over and held the note out. Tentatively Wilbur stood and took the note from her hands. He unfolded it and his eyes widened.
“Niki, surely not,” he said, looking at his friend. The girl just smiled back up at him.
“I saw them Wil,” she said, grinning. “They were in disguises but it was them.”
“You’re sure?” Techno asked, standing up from the chair he was seated in. Phil was silent, watching the three of them with curious eyes.
Niki nodded confirming it.
“They’re all grown up now,” she said. “They’re both much taller than me now. Tubbo has to be around your height Phil.”
Phil smiled. “I miss those boys,” he said. “It’s too bad I haven’t seen them since they were kids. Before all of the DreamSMP wars.”
“I wonder why they were back,” Wilbur said, thinking aloud. Niki’s smile dropped.
“Either way, they weren’t staying for long,” she said. “I heard Tommy grumble something about leaving and never coming back.”
The three men stared sadly at her. Just when they think they got the boys back they had left again. Wilbur clenched the note in his fist.
“Do you think we could track them?” he asked. Niki shrugged as she felt tears come to her eyes.
“I don’t know,” she said. “They were flying through the Nether with elytras. It’s hard to track those.”
“Do you think they’ll be back?” Phil asked, collapsing his hands together as he leaned back in his seat. Niki looked at him with sad eyes.
“I don’t know.”
˙.・↞ ✴ ↠・.˙
“I don’t understand why we are doing this.”
“Closure?”
The two boys sat precariously on the balcony edge of the tower built in the Holy Lands. The balcony didn’t have railing and if they weren’t wearing elytra one wrong move would mean they would be falling to their deaths.
Yesterday, after seeing Niki, both the boys couldn’t stop themselves from returning. Although these lands and the people who lived in them were the source of all their trauma they couldn’t help but wish to have one last conversation with their old friends. Like Tubbo said, for closure.
So they had left a note in the embassy saying that they would be in the Holy Lands the next morning. They didn’t want to fight, just wanted to talk. So they sat perched on the tower like birds, waiting to see their friends come through the gates to meet them.
It didn’t take too long for them to arrive. If Tommy would've guessed it was around ten in the morning when he watched a small group walk through the gates. Niki, Wilbur, Techno and Dream came in first. Following behind at more of a distance was Quackity, Fundy, Phil, and surprisingly Sapnap and Eret.
Tubbo nudged Tommy and the two made eye contact before nodding to one another. Pulling on their masks and face covering the two stood up and stretched. Then they jumped off the tower, their elytras’ wings spreading out behind them as they glided to the ground, landing a few feet away from the group. They swiftly stood back up to their full heights and stood close to each other, studying the groups of people who were here to see them
At first no one said anything to one another. Niki stared at the two boys expectantly, ready for them to give away a sign about who they really were. With a sigh Tommy took his mask of his face and pulled his bandana down, Tubbo following suit.
“Hello Niki,” he said. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Niki smiled. “I saw you yesterday.”
“You know what I mean.”
Tubbo shifted uncomfortably besides him. Tommy glanced down at him and looked back at the group that was closest to them. Techno was staring at Tubbo’s face, likely at the scar that ran across his check, one of the ones that he had given him. Wilbur was quiet, his hands in his pockets. Tommy couldn’t read Dream, not with his mask covering his face. It reminded him all too much of the times Dream hunted him down during the first half of the war.
Tommy glanced behind the group, looking at the others who were watching quietly with curious eyes. He smirked when he made eye contact with Quackity, but didn’t express any other emotions when he looked at anyone else. Besides Sapnap, he glared at him. He was still upset over all the times he had killed his pets just to spite him. Compared to the other grudges he held it was practically nothing, but it still upset him.
“Why,” Wilbur said, finally breaking the silence. Tommy’s eyes returned to look at him, his expression blank. “Why did you leave?”
Tommy laughed and even Tubbo cracked a cruel grin.
“That’s very rich coming from you Wilbur,” Tommy said. “God you are such a bitch.”
Wilbur’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“You went fucking insane!” Tommy exclaimed. “You scared the ever living shit outta me!”
“Tommy calm down,” Tubbo said, putting a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy bit his lip. He wanted nothing more than to shout more at Wilbur, but if he had learned anything over these past few years it was how to control his temper. For Tubbo.
“Why did you leave Tommy?” Tommy looked up, surprised that it was Dream asking the question. “You were the one that wanted these wars the most.” Tommy clenched his fist, biting back another shout.
“He left for me,” Tubbo said. His hand slipped off his friend’s shoulder to reach down and grab his hand. “I wanted to leave and we went together.”
“I lost sight of what I was fighting for anyway,” Tommy said. “If getting L’Manburg back meant the loss of more innocent lives and Tubbo’s near death,” he said, glaring at Techno as he spoke. “Then I would have gladly thrown L’Manburg away. For everyone’s safety.”
“I’m sorry Tommy,” Techno spoke in a soft tone. “I never wanted to hurt Tubbo.”
“But you did!” Tommy shouted. Tubbo squeezed his hand and looked at him with pleading eyes, but all Tommy could see was red.
“But he’s fine now!” Techno said, gesturing to Tubbo who was standing close besides Tommy, seemingly perfectly fine in front of them.
“No he’s not!” Tommy shouted. He was so enraged and the others likely could see it even if they didn’t know to the full extent of why .
“He’s right,” Tubbo said softly, looking up at Techno with cold eyes. Techno recoiled and looked away.
“How are you two not fine?” Wilbur asked. Niki glared at him and elbowed him like the answer was obvious. Tommy just shook his head. He really didn’t want to deal with this right now.
“It’s a little something called trauma ,” Tubbo said blankly. “And the things that stem off from it.”
“We all went through post-war trauma,” Dream said, crossing his arms.
“But do you have extreme claustrophobia?” Tubbo asked. “A fear of fireworks that send you into a panic attack even at the mere mention of them sometimes. Nightmares that keep you up for weeks? Scars from wounds that didn’t heal right that trigger bad memories?”
The group fell silent. Niki looked like she was about to cry and Tommy and Tubbo felt slightly guilty about that. It wasn’t their purpose to guilt-trip everyone, or even to begin this dumb fight. Both of them now wished they had just gone home instead of having this awkward meet up.
“I think it’s better if we go home,” Tubbo said quietly. He put his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. “I wanna be home at a decent time.”
“H-how far out do you guys live?” Niki asked, hesitant. She didn’t meet the boys’ eyes when they turned to look at her. Maybe it was the guilt that was eating at her. None of this was her fault, she was such a sweet soul, but it was easy to blame yourself when people who you were close to were hurting.
“Far,” Tommy said, not offering up much information. “It takes about a month to travel here on foot, even with horses.”
“Oh,” Niki said, sounding disappointed. “Is there any way we can stay in contact?”
“Wynncraft,” Tubbo said. Niki looked at him confused. “We have a mailbox in a city in the south, Wynncraft,” he explained. “We check it every month or so, and it’s where we get supplies that aren't imported to other towns nearby. It’s still a small city though.”
Niki smiled. “I’ll make sure to send you letters every now and then.”
Tubbo smiled. “I’d like that. We’d like that.”
Tommy continued to frown. He didn’t want to express any more emotions in front of everyone. He was feeling very drained and just wanted to start their long journey back home. He squeezed Tubbo’s hand, which was still holding onto his, and glanced over the group one last time.
“We’re going home now,” he said. “Don’t come looking for us.”
With that he took a firework out of his satchel at his side and launched himself into the air. Tubbo followed shortly, catching up to him quickly. Tommy glanced back once at the group of people in the Holy Lands. Something inside him ached.
He’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss them.
But he wouldn’t deny the fact that the grudges he held against them still stopped him from reconnecting with them. Maybe, after some more closure, they could make up. But for now they still needed space and time to put their differences aside.