Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Okay, why don’t you go see him.”

Tommy didn’t know what he thought the afterlife was going to be like, hell he didn’t even know if it was a real thing. Maybe he’d see Wilbur, possibly Schlatt, but he didn’t expect to see a white castle and Karl.

He woke up with a gasp, his body still throbbing from being beat to death. Where the hell was he?

“Tommy?” A voice asked, causing him to look up.

Someone was kneeled in front of him. They had short, brown hair and wore a white hoodie with a-

“What the fuck!”

Karl jumped back a little.

“Really world? Instead of being with my brother you have to project a version of Karl to be in my afterlife?”

Tommy didn’t know who the sentence was aimed for, but oh was he pissed.

“Tommy?”

The teen ignored him, instead he let out a scream.

“Fuck! Are you kidding me, Dream had to fucking murder me! After everything's he’s caused he also gets the satisfaction of taking all my lives.”

He swallowed down a sob. This wasn’t fair. He was supposed to be done with Dream, he wasn’t supposed to die in that prison cell. Tommy didn’t care if that was selfish either, he’d been through enough. Hell, he was just a kid. Tubbo was just a kid, Ranboo was just a kid, Purpled was just a-

“Tommy!”

The kid shrunk under the man's outburst unconsciously.

“God who knew death could be such a bitch.”

Karl couldn't help but snort at that. Tommy stared at him curiously.

“How do you do that?”

“What?”

Tommy vaguely motioned towards him. “That. You look like him, you certainly sound like him. How do you do it?”

“Uh-I am Karl.”

He laughed. “Well no shit, but like-is it a death thing? Like I’m assuming that's who you are, or some form of it, I am dead after all.”

Karl cocked an eyebrow. He certainly wasn’t dead if he was here.

“What?”

Oh shoot had he said that out loud?

“Uh…”

“But-I am dead. Dream killed me.” Tommy stated, what did he mean by he wasn’t dead if he was here? What even is ‘here’.

“I know and I’m sorry I couldn’t stop tha-”

Tommy cut him off. “Don’t blame yourself. There's no way anyone could’ve done anything about it, I mean maybe Sam. Son of a bitch could’ve let me out…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about but yes, I could’ve stopped it.”

Tommy tilted his head. “I mean yeah but isn’t this ‘my fate’ or whatever bullshit. I was meant to die in that prison all along.” He said the last part jokingly, but was it really a joke? What would’ve happened if Punz hadn’t come that day? Would Tommy be the one in the prison instead, or would he be long dead like Tubbo could’ve been?

Karl sighed. “Follow me.”

The man didn’t wait for Tommy to respond, instead taking off down one of the white corridors.

The teen quickly got up, following after him. To say he was in awe was an understatement, this place was huge.

Karl led them through many hallways and staircases, ending up in a courtyard with a swing set placed under a white tree. He took a seat on the right swing, so Tommy took the left one.

Neither of them talked for a while, instead Tommy took this time to take in his surroundings. The place was obviously a castle, and it was huge. It looked like it was taken right out of a fantasy book.

“You know every time I sit here I think about what I could’ve done differently.” Karl suddenly said. “I think about how I could’ve saved someone, how I should’ve known the others intentions.”

Tommy stared at the man he barely knew. He’d only ever had a handful of conversations with Karl, and all of them ended in the two bickering. He never understood how he could act so secretive yet knowledgeable, and that thought alone pissed him off. Information gave you power on the SMP, especially if only you knew it.

“I go through all these different stories, but I can’t seem to remember enough to understand the lesson it was meant to teach me.”

“What’re you getting at?”

Karl looked at him.

“Do you understand the lesson the universe was trying to teach you?”

Tommy's first instinct was to say he was a big man, that he didn't need to be taught a lesson. He knew what was right and what was wrong, and he’d never been the sole cause of a big conflict. But as cryptic as the other was being, he knew that he had learned a lot.

He shouldn't have cared about the disks as much as he did, shouldn’t of put so much value into something that held memories while those he shared them with were still alive.

He shouldn't have blindly trusted people.

He should’ve put other people's feelings into perspective more. Should’ve handled a lot of things differently.

Guilt weighed heavily on Tommy's mind.

“Yes.” He muttered gravely.

Karl sighed, placing a hand on the teens shoulders.
“Don’t feel bad, you have to understand you’re not the sole purpose of all conflict. The others made mistakes as well, but the difference is you recognize yours.”

“But I-”

“You can’t control the way others react to things. You're just a kid, Tommy. You’re supposed to make mistakes, that's how we learn things.”

Tommy smiled weakly. “I don’t think I’ve been a kid for a while, big man.”

Karl frowned sorrowfully.

“You’re the youngest on the server, and no one recognized that unless it gave them power. A lot of things that happened shouldn’t of, and for that I’m sorry.”

The teen didn’t want Karl to apologize, though he didn’t voice the thought.

“So...what do I do now?" Is this heaven, or maybe it's hell.

“I guess time will decide.”

Chapter Text

Karl didn’t know what was going on, Tommy was never supposed to die. It truly wouldn’t make sense, a certain underwater city proved that much.

Of course he didn't know what to do, he didn't even know if he could explain what this place was. 

"I guess time will decide." 

Tommy's face scrunched up in such a way that reminded Karl of Quackity.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged wordlessly and ignored the buzzing of his communicator. Which timeline did this Tommy come from anyway?

"Can I ask you what happened? You said Dream took your last life?" 

The buzz of energy that usually surrounds Tommy is gone, Karl noticed. What did that Admin do to this kid?

"You don't have to if you-"

"He beat me to death."

The time traveler sucked in a sharp breath. 

"What-"

Tommy turned to face Karl.

"I was visiting Dream in the prison, it was supposed to be my last time there. Closure and all that, you know?" He let out a humorless laugh. "Of course something had to go wrong. Explosions or something went off not long after I got in. Per the contract I signed I could be stuck in that cell for up to a week...or until Sam found the security breach." 

"What the honk? No no that's never-that's the current timeline."

"Current-what're you on about?"

Karl frantically pulled out his communicator that hadn't stopped buzzing.

<TommyInnit was slain by Dream>

<Ranboo> What?!

<ItsFundy> Canon?

<Ranboo> How many lives did he have?

<Ranboo> Guys?

<Tubbo_> …

<JackManifoldTV> RIP

<CaptainPuffy> Oh my god

< Quackity whispers to you > where r u

< Quackity whispers to you > Karl please

< Quackity whispers to you > something's happened 

< Sapnap whispers to you > Karl, Quackity needs you

< Sapnap whispers to you> Please where are you?

< Sapnap whispers to you> Tommy's dead, Dream killed him. Please come back home, I don't know what to do.

<Niahchu> Tommy?

<The_Eret> No no, he can't be dead

"What're you doing?" Tommy says, leaning over to see Karl's communicator screen. Does he not have his?

"Communicator." He says, deciding not to lie. 

Tommy quite literally snatched it from the man's hands and ran.

"Tommy!"

"Ohh what do we have here-" he abruptly cuts himself off. 

Karl sighs before standing up and walking to where Tommy was. 

"You could've just asked for it, I would've given it to you."

The teen looks up at Karl, his eyes holding the most heartbroken look.

"I-they think I'm dead. I mean I guess I am but…"

"I don't think you are." 

Tommy cocked his head. “Yeah, you said that before. You’re not exactly making any sense here, big man.”

Before Karl could respond a familiar tugging entered his gut. No, not right n- a scream cut off the train of thought.

“Tommy?” He asked, alarmed.

The teen was hunched over, wrist clutched firmly.

“Ka-Karl!” 

He stepped towards the kid, but stopped when the world went fuzzy.

“No. Tommy!” 

The world went black.

Chapter Text

Tommy bent over, clutching his wrist firmly as white hot pain shot through it. 

“Tommy?” 

He clenched his jaw. “Ka-Karl!” 

He didn’t know much of what happened next, only able to focus on the burning as a weird feeling entered his gut. 

“No. Tommy!” The man suddenly yelled.

The world went fuzzy, and he fought off unconsciousness.

“Karl?”

Tommy looked up to see Karl...gone?

“Karl!” 

What the fuck?

The burning in his wrist slowly lessened, only for the weird feeling to take its place. 

A rush of air surrounded him, and it felt as if he was in the middle of a tornado. As Tommy's vision grew blurry he desperately tried to find the source of the burning. Before he could get a good look everything went black.

Chapter Text

Tommy knew he didn’t pass out, albeit the feeling of it still lingered. The black surrounding him seemed to be lightening up, his senses slowly starting to come back from whatever weird abyss he was in.

“Tommy?” He could faintly hear. 

“Karl, thank god.” He didn’t know what just happened but the man seemed to know some things.

The teen couldn’t fully see where he was yet, but he could hear fine. There was fire crackling faintly, torches, Tommy noted. He could also hear the breathing of Karl and...pistons?

“Tommy?” Karl asked again, but something didn’t seem right. It almost sounded like he had an accent, but Karl didn’t-

His vision cleared enough for Tommy to make out the persons face-

“Get the fuck away from me!” He shrieked, stumbling into a wall. 

Too much, it was all too much. 

“Okay,” the person put their hands out, “I won’t come near you.”

Tommy let out a humorless laugh. 

“You’re not Karl.”

Eret cocked her head to the side. 

“Look I know we’re not on the best of terms but I was serious about wanting to help you two.”

The boy stared, dumbfounded.

“What?”

“I have supplies, and my palace isn’t technically in L’Manberg. Plus there’s more than enough room for you-“

Tommy put a hand out. “Hold on, big man.”

“Sorry. Look, I just want you to know that I didn’t know what Dream was going to do.”

His body ached.

Tommy ignored the part of his brain screaming. 

Dream caused that.

“What he was going to do?”

“In the final control room.”

Screaming…

“Down with the revolution-“

He shook his head.

“Right, yeah. What about it?”

“I didn’t know Dream was going to actually kill you. The plan was to make you guys surrender...I didn’t know he had a literal kill squad ready.”

He studied the King. They seemed to be telling the truth, well obviously they were. The two had already had this conversation-

Wait.

“I know, you’ve already apologized.”

Eret coked his head. “No?”

Tommy's breath stuttered. 

“Haven’t we had this conversation before?”

“No. Tommy are you okay?”

He tried to take a step back, only to be met with the wall again. 

It was all too much. His body ached, his wrist burned, and the events of the past day weighed heavily on his mind. 

Eret took a slow, cautious step towards the panicking boy. He looked to be in pain, and held his wrist firmly. 

Where his lives should be displayed was a- what the heck was that?

“What's that on your wrist?”

Tommy groaned before pulling his wrist into his line of sight. 

Lives were a weird thing. Some servers had unlimited where others, like the Dream SMP, had a certain amount. Other people were granted more or less and couldn’t be changed. Phil was an example of this. The man only had one life, but it was an extremely long one. Some would say he was unlucky for having only one, and for living this long. Others would say he was lucky, he didn’t need to go through the painful process that was respawn.

The lives were represented by hearts, most commonly displayed on your wrist. When you lost one a heart would turn black, and it burned. The teen had seen a lot, most of his friends losing a life or two, but he’d never seen this.

Instead of there being three blacked out hearts like he expected, there was a swoopy symbol. It almost looked like-

No it was.

“Holy shit.”

“Is that an infinity symbol?” Eret asked, scared. “Tommy, what the fuck is going on?”

Tommy was officially panicking. “Does it look like I know!”

An infinity symbol meant many things, but it was mostly just folklore. When he was younger Phil would tell him stories of immortals, about friends he’d met through his many travels who didn’t have lives, only an infinity symbol. It was said that people who had these were blessed with a purpose, one that required them to be able to die without consequences. 

Their family would joke about Techno being blessed with this, as the kid had dubbed himself “The Blood God'' and would say things like “Technoblade never dies”. Of course most did take the whole being immortal thing as you could never die, but it really didn’t mean that. 

“Okay, hey it's alright.”

He pulled his hair. 

“No it's not, none of this is! I was just-” he cut himself off. No one could know, but Karl knew. Karl…

“You don’t have to tell me anything, but I’m worried. A lot of people are. No ones seen you this past week and-”

“What’re you talking about?”

Eret sighed. 

“How about instead of asking questions you tell me what you remember and I’ll fill in the blanks.”

Tommy nodded. 

“Well,” he gulped, “I was in the prison…”

“Prison?” 

“Uh yeah-I don’t want to talk about it.”

They took a step forward. “Tommy, there isn’t a prison on this server.”

He couldn’t help the humorless laugh that escaped his mouth.

“What? Of course there is.”

“Okay. When was it built?” Maybe Eret just hadn't seen it yet.

“I don’t know, I think Sam finished it at the beginning of January.”

The descendent stumbled back. “What?”

“Uh-he finished it at the beginning of January?”

“But… Tommy it’s October.”

The teen practically collapsed, Eret narrowly caught him.

“No no, Eret. No, it’s March.”

“It’s not.”

Tommy held back a sob. What was happening?

“But I...no. Where’s Karl? Eret I need Karl!”

Karl would know what to do, he’s the one who was in his weird afterlife that wasn’t really the afterlife. 

“Shh Tommy, we’ll figure it out. Okay? I need you to calm down for me though, you’re going to wind up in a panic attack if you don’t. Here.”

The King draped his cape over the boy, the weight feeling almost like a hug to Tommy.

“It might help talking about it. You don’t have too but I’d like to know what’s going on...you-did something happen?”

He let out a watery laugh.

“Oh did something happen alright.”

Eret didn’t ask, letting the other take his time. 

“I-I’ll be honest big man, I have no idea what’s going on. I died and then woke up in this really weird castle thing and Karl was there and then my wrist hurt and Karl was gone and next thing I know I wake up here and I don’t even know where here is-“

“You died? Are you talking about the duel?”

Tommy looked up, “Duel?”

“Yeah. You know, for L’Manbergs independence?” 

“You mean the one that caused this?”

He tugged his shirt down slightly revealing a white scar. Eret took a sharp breath in, that wound is too healed over to be from two months ago. 

“What the- how is it that healed?”

“What do you mean? It's been like seven months.”

“But that happened under two months ago?”

Things slowly started clicking together in Erets mind, things that logically aren’t possibly but somehow made sense. 

“I can help you find Karl.”

Tommy smiles at the king thankfully before they helped him up off the ground. 

“Okay, where to first?”

The teen honestly has no idea where the man lives now, since Kinoko Kingdom isn’t in existence yet.

“How about we start at the community house and branch out from there?”

Tommy almost forgot how good Eret was at strategies, he always seemed to think things out logically. 

“Sure.”

The two set off, the younger making sure to tie his bandana around his wrist, successfully hiding the infinity mark. He gripped the cape tighter around himself, ignoring how even though the sun was shining he was freezing. 

“Tommy?” Eret asked suddenly, the tone of his voice making him feel uneasy.

“Uh yeah?”

“What's up with the streaks?”

He stopped walking.

“Streaks? Like snapchat streaks?” He laughed awkwardly.

“No," they chuckled, " the ones in your hair.”

Tommy's heart dropped.

“Huh?”

“You have white streaks in your hair.”

He stopped breathing. 

“Don’t worry about it.”

He turned and continued walking, ignoring how the other only stared at him. He should’ve known this was going to happen.

The white streaks first became a trend after Wilbur came back as Ghostbur. No one knew why the phantom had some white in his hair, but no one really questioned it until Jack came back. After getting his third life taken, he too had this new feature. Now that he thinks about it, Karl had some too. 

He subtly scanned his reflection in a puddle, holding back the gasp upon seeing the actual amount of white in his hair. How the hell was he going to explain this? 

Tommy took a deep breath, he couldn’t afford to have a panic attack now. Karl, he just needed to get to Karl and then he could freak out.

It was weird, walking on the prime path. He didn’t know what happened but a lot of builds weren't here, and older structures that had been destroyed still stood. If Eret noticed he wasn’t walking as fast as usual, he didn’t say anything. 

“So…”

He turned towards the man.

“Look Eret, I know we’ve had-“

“No. Please, I just need you to know that I’m sorry.”

Tommy smiled weakly at him. 

Eret was confused, the teen that stood in front of him was not the Tommy he knew. The one he knew was a loud, obnoxious kid who didn’t seem to have a calm bone in his body. The boy he knew wasn’t this quiet, almost fearful-

Oh.

Eret wasn’t stupid, they knew that whatever Tommy went through wasn’t good. He knew that something happened from just studying his body language. Throughout the wars Wilbur taught the kids to hold themselves high and proud, show no fear. Of course this was easy for them. Tommy, Tubbo, and Fundy are all naturally charismatic, often confusing the enemies when they were outgunned. The three would stand tall, biting remarks flying faster than any weapon. 

Eret knew when they were faking it and when it was real. He knew when Tubbos jokes got a hint too depressing, or Fundys stories got a bit too sad to smile along to. Tommy on the other hand seemed to always radiate energy, something that you could tell from his bouncing feet to the pranks he’d pull. Sure the five knew that his anger was rarely ever true, only ever playful and distracting than hurtful and sharp. 

Of course the king hadn’t seen the worst of it, hasn’t seen the anger turn into a mask or the insults turn into apologies and blown up items. They haven’t seen the pranks turn into jail cells and broken relationships. 

Though she didn’t need to know all of this to see the change in the kid. The teen who stood too slouched over and broken down, almost like he was physically carrying the world on his shoulders (Eret wouldn’t put it past him).

“I know.”

She stared at Tommy.

“What?”

“I forgave you a long time ago, Eret.”

She swallowed roughly, too many things were falling into place. Too many that confirmed her unrealistic suspicion.

They were about halfway to the community house when a loud boom echoed, stopping the two in their tracks.

Tommy stood, frozen as the resounding sound of tnt went off. Too many times had something happened with that noise, too many events caused by that simple block.

He stared at the wood underneath his feet, ignoring the way Eret started to take off before realizing he wasn’t following.

“Come on, we have to go see what happened and make sure no one got hurt.”

The teen nodded numbly, his thoughts a thousand miles away. He reluctantly took off after the young adult, feeling more nauseous as he realized where they were going. 

It didn’t take the two long to get to the site, and Tommy almost threw up then and there. In front of him stood a very blown up community house. 

Chapter Text

Tommy stared at the scene in front of him blankly, ears ringing as if he had been in the center of the explosion. 

It looked almost identical to the one that had transpired only months ago. Who had blown it up again? Especially after all the hard work Ranboo and Puffy had put into it.

Eret pulled them towards the center of the house, and Tommy could already feel the eyes set on them. 

“What happened? Is everyone okay?” Eret, ever the worrier, asked.

Fundy scoffed, “Like you’d care.” 

Ouch.

“I have some healing pots if anyone-”

“Please Eret, just...don’t”

Tommy turned towards the person to see Niki standing on some of the remaining floor of the second story. 

“Niki…” He said. The teen couldn’t help but hunch into himself a little more, not forgetting the encounter the two had had a couple weeks ago. Instead of the hatred filled expression though, he got a kind smile and worried eyes.

“Tommy, where have you been? Wils been so worried ever since the election. What are you doing with Eret?”

If she’d said anything else he would’ve defended the king, but there was only one thing on Tommy's mind.

Wils been so worried ever since the election.

What is she talking about? Did she mean Ghostbur? But everyone knew he didn’t like being referred to as his alive self. Even then what did she mean by election? They hadn’t had one of those since Schlatt…

“Uh-”

“Ah there you are! Was wondering where you’d scurried off to.” An all too familiar voice said.

Tommy's world crashed around him.

The man just killed him and they decided to let him out of prison?

The teen couldn’t make out the response, only able to stare at the water in fear. 

Dream was in front of him, and oh god he was going to kill him again and again to try and figure out what happened and why he ended up-

“Tommy?” A voice asked, way too close to his ear. He jumped, letting out a yelp and reaching for his sword (the one he didn’t have).

“Hey it's okay, only me.” Eret said softly. 

He nodded wordlessly.

“Anyways…” The admin drawled out, “Was wondering where you were. Surprised you’ve been with the traitor .”

The king crossed their arms. 

“What do you want, Dream?”

Said man smirked. “Tommy fucked up.” 

It took everything in the teen to not drop all of his items right then and there. To not cower behind Eret, or run back to the pride palace and act like none of this had ever happened.

The man's voice didn’t hold as much malice as it did the first time he blew up the house, maybe he felt bad for killing him...

No don’t think like that, don’t fall into his manipulation again.

He looked up at the admin, avoiding “eye contact” as much as he could. He expected yelling, punches thrown or tnt threatened, but what he didn’t expect was the shock.

Dream gasped and took a step back.

“Tommy...what?”

If Tommy knew better he would’ve said that the man sounded...worried? But he did know better, and he knew that the person in front of him wasn’t worried in the slightest. 

“Yes?” He said with as much strength as he could muster.

“You-your hair…”

Oh, of course he would know what the streaks meant.

“Yea-”

Someone clapped their hands, interrupting him.

“While that's interesting, that's not why we’re here.”

Wait, he knew that voice...

“Then why are we here, Schlatt.” Eret asked.

No, that's not possible. Schlatts-

-right in front of him?

Okay, what the actual fuck?

"Isn't it obvious, or do I need to spell it out for you, King Eret ." The man spread his arms. "Tommy blew up this house-not like it really matters to me-but it's the principle of the thing!"

Anger stirred in his gut from months of resentment. How dare this man try to frame him, how dare he act all high and mighty after everything he's done. 

"Don't know what you're on about, but I didn't do this."

Schlatt chuckled. 

"I'm sure you don't, kid."

Tommy held back a growl.

“I saw him sneaking around here the last couple of days. I didn’t think anything of it, he was probably taking supplies from the chests, but then this happens.” The masked man shakes his head. “It's not a coincidence.”

“Oh I’m sure it wasn’t.” He couldn’t help but bite out. Tommy didn’t know what was going on, why Eret didn’t remember things and why Niki didn’t seem to hate him. Hell, no one was even concerned that the man who was supposed to be in prison was suddenly out. 

No one had ever heard the true anger that was in TommyInnits voice. 

Dream had the audacity to actually look surprised. “What-”

Hands, fists, kicking, blood dripping down-

The teens hands shook, his whole body was probably shaking actually. 

There were multiple people talking around them, most of the server coming to see what happened.

Just like last time.

“I mean it does seem like a very Tommy thing to do.” A voice that sounded like Jack said. Words of agreement were thrown around.

“Tommy I know you don't like L'Ma-Manberg, but this is too far.” Dream agreed, stepping beside the 'president'. If Tommy knew any better he could’ve sworn the man's voice trembled. 

“I-I didn't though!”

“Come on, Toms-” he said, “just admit it.”

He had to stop himself from snarling at the nickname. “Just because I’m defending myself doesn’t mean I’m guilty!”

“Oh co-”

He didn’t know what was said, everything suddenly seemed like it was underwater. 

A pounding entered his head, it felt as if a hammer was being hit against his head while simultaneously being drowned. Everything around him seemed fuzzy, and he swore his ears would start bleeding from the pressure he felt in his head.

Oh god he was dying, he was being killed again. He was going to be beat to death, be hit and kicked and thrown into the wall and ground until he finally-

Destruction

POG

Child

Protect string bean

What the fuck.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, Theseus.”

No, oh god no. 

“Now could you all step away from my brother or am I going to have to make you.”

Chapter Text

"I-they think I'm dead. I mean I guess I am but…"

"I don't think you are."

Tommy cocked his head. “Yeah, you said that before. You’re not exactly making any sense here, big man.”

Before Karl could respond a familiar tugging entered his gut. No, not right n- a scream cut off the train of thought.

“Tommy?” He asked, alarmed.

The teen was hunched over, wrist clutched firmly.

“Ka-Karl!” 

He stepped towards the kid, but stopped when everything went fuzzy.

“No. Tommy!” 

The world went black.

Karl hadn’t been sure where he was teleported, nothing was different or unusual about this time. Everything had gone fuzzy and weird before settling on black. As he came to, he could feel wood on his back and voices around him.

The question was quickly torn from his mind.

“My first decree as president, emperor of L’Manberg, is to revoke the citizenship of Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit!”

Everything from then on was a blur, just as it had been the first time around. No matter how much he tried though, Karl couldn’t track Tommy down. He’d painstakingly looked through the whole server twice, and even then found nothing.

The time traveler didn't know what happened to his timelines Tommy, but this one was gone. 

He briefly noticed Technoblade joining the server in all the chaos, which was strange. Wasn't Tommy the one who asked him to come? And if he was nowhere to be found then why had the anarchist joined?

Wilbur was nowhere to be found, which was to be expected as he was exiled. Techno was most likely with him, possibly planning the demise of the country his brother founded.

Karl couldn’t remember the exact time it happened, so he spent every night going and checking to make sure no mysterious button showed up in Manberg. 

It was around the seventh night since he traveled, and Karl had just returned to the prime path after looking behind the election podium, when his communicator buzzed.

< Sapnap whispers to you > Where are you? We haven’t seen you since the election.

Karl sighs, he hasn’t been necessarily avoiding his fiances...he's just been busy. The travler wasn’t stupid, he knew his appearence had changed drastically compared to what he’d looked like in this time originally. 

“Karl?” A voice asked.

James?

He bit back the name.

“Hey Sapnap.” He answered instead, not yet turning around.

“Where have you been?”

Come on Karl, think of something.

“Uh…”

“Come on man, you could at least look at me.”

Oh fudge. Come on just do it, coward, it's not that bad. 

Sapnaps footsteps made an almost hollow sound on the wood planks. 

He turned, “Hey…”

“What the fuck?” 

Sapnap stared at their partner, who he hasn't seen in who knows how long. The man had been disappearing a lot recently, and no one knew where he kept going.

But standing in front of him was not the same person he got engaged to. No, this Karl was different. In place of the hoodie he always wore was a trenchcoat. He had goggles on top of his head and wore a pendant around his neck. Sapnap could faintly make out a watch on his left wrist and a thick bracelet on the other. 

But that's not the main thing that stood out. Karl had white streaks in his hair, barely hidden by his brown. There was a long, slash like scar, running from his left eyebrow down his shirt (that looked fatal, but when had he lost another life?). Smaller scars littered the exposed skin he could see. 

Karl sucked in a breath.

He aimed his crossbow-

“What the hell happened to you Karl?”

Said man held back a sob, he couldn’t tell him but it’d been so long and so much has happened and he doesn’t know what he's doing-

The sob came out and he had to stop himself from collapsing.

“Oh hon-” his fiancé brought him into a hug. 

They stood there for who knows how long, Sapnap occasionally shushing the other whenever Karl would try to say something. 

Karl stood there, accepting the comfort. He couldn’t think of the last time the two had been able to just hug each other. There was always too much going on, whether it being the wars or his travels. 

Kinoko Kingdom had been a good break away from the main part of the SMP and its problems. Karl could just hang out with Sapnap, and occasionally Quackity, without having to deal with other things. It was also far enough away for it to be a safe relocation site for his library. He resisted the urge to go check the place, but none of his travels had been as major as this one. Especially with its new addition. 

Karl realized something then.

He needs help.

“Sapnap…”

The two pulled away from the embrace.

“I need to tell you something.”

Part of Karl was tempted to show him the library, but he couldn’t reveal that part of himself. He couldn’t show him his books, the proof of the things he’d been through...things he's done. 

“Okay. Do you want to go somewhere else or-”

No, he needs to be searching for Tommy. 

“No!” He cleared his throat, “Sorry um...here's fine.”

The other cocked an eyebrow.

What would he say, how could he tell Sapnap this? 

Show him the book.

Without another word Karl reached into his inventory, and pulled out a leather-bound journal. It had tears and scratches from use. The cover itself had his signature green swirl, with purple around it. There was a strap that secured it shut, which was a thin strip of leather with swirls carved into it. 

Did he really want to do this?

“Here,” He handed Sapnap the book. “Just...you can’t tell anyone about this, okay? You have to promise me, Nick.”

His fiancé startled at the use of his other name, Karl never called him Nick. The Blaze hybrid noticed Karl's hands were shaking as he handed him the book, what was this?

“I-Karl…”

“Please, I need you to promise me this okay? Only one other person knows, and I don’t even know what will happen if I give you this...but I’m trusting you. 

Sapnap sighed. “I promise.”

Karl nodded, and he took that as an invitation to open the book.

Entry 1

I’m back home, finally. I don’t know how many more travels I can deal with, how many more deaths I can go through. Ever since the Masquerade my hair has been turning white...I’m not even going to mention the other thing. 

Things have been...strange. Ranboo seems to be forgetting more and more, Tommy is dealing with Dream, Tubbo is doing whatever the honk in Snowchester. I wish I could say Purpled hasn’t been affected, but Ponk has recruited him as their mercenary. I wish I could do something to change this, so they could just be kids. 

I try to be discreet, like dropping off small amounts of supplies in their chests, checking their houses when they're not there, indirectly leading others with bad intentions away. 

Sometimes it's hard to keep track of how progressed a relationship is. In the few futures I’ve been in, ones that my friends are alive in, we are closer. I never want to say something that someone hasn't told me yet. 

Sapnap furrowed his eyebrows, what the hell was this? He rapidly flipped a couple pages, skimming over the next couple entries.

Entry 8

Lethe, where's Lethe. He was ri

                                                 next me, he was right next to me! 

No no I have to fi 

                                              Zephyrus, he’ll kno

            It was supposed to b

Protesilaus was i

                       Nether enchantme

Nemesi

      No-

                                        Niki

What the hell? 

Entry 10

Tommy-

He skipped another page.

Entry 11

Ranboo is acting weird, he didn’t seem to really know who I was. I know he has memory problems but it hurt, I welcomed him-

He flipped the page until something caught his eye.

Entry 19

The blood vines are getting out of hand, and I just narrowly avoided Quackity getting infected. That time line wasn’t...lets just say it ended horribly. I know Puffy is working as a double agent, and trying to get rid of as much of the parasite as she can, but there's only so much one can do. It keeps spreading, many buildings already completely covered. I’ve been trying to find the soulfire enchantment in the nether, but it's hard without Protesilaus’s Techno's help.

I keep forgetting that we never got to know each other, not like we truly did in that timeline, it's weird acting like I don’t know him. 

He skipped reading the rest of the entry. 

Entry 23

Kinoko Kingdom is thriving, Sapnap and I can finally relax. Quackity hasn’t been coming around as much, I don’t really know what he's doing. He's been really distant lately, last I hear he was building a casino with Sam. 

George lives here too, which is strange, since both him and Sap were closest to Dream. I don’t even want to talk about him, I’ve written about that man enough in my lifeline. He's in prison now, of course, but everything he did lingers. You can see it everywhere, from the community house to what used to be L’Manberg-

Sapnap slammed the book shut.

“Karl, what the hell is this?” He hissed.

The other man stood there, frozen. He knew he would react bad, but he seemed ready-to-murder pissed. Karl didn’t know how far he read, but he thought it’d only be around the first five. Based on his reaction though, he read more than that.

“Karl-”

“I kind of sorta time travel randomly into different versions and timelines of the SMP, and basically any time that is remotely connected or influenced by it. I’m somehow supposed to change whatever before I can get back to my present time and it can get really bad. Then Tommy showed up in the In-Between, which is a world where I go after travels, and he died in our timeline which wasn’t supposed to happen, and next thing I know I’m back at the election and Tommy's nowhere to be found. I don’t know what happened to my timelines Tommy or this one and I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I’m forgetting more stuff and I keep dying. Sapnap, I need help.”

Karl watched as all the fight drained out of Sapnap, quickly being replaced with confusion and worry. His fists unclenched, and the heat around him slowly faded. 

“I-”

“Sorry I know it's really unbelievable and-”

Sapnap cut him off with a laugh. “Dude my dads a literal demon, I’m a Blaze hybrid and used to hunt Dreamons. Eret has some sort of connection to Herobrine, and we aren’t even going to get into Fundy's family tree-”

Karl let out a watery laugh. “Okay, I get it.”

“I’m not going to act like the things I read made any sense, or why you look the way you do. I’m obviously missing big chunks of information, but I don’t expect you to fill in those blanks unless you want to.”

He let out a sigh of relief, thank god. He doesn't think that he’d be able to tell his fiancé everything, okay he probably won’t tell him much, but this was a start. He's grateful for Sapnaps respect for privacy too, he has a rough estimate of what the other had actually read, most of it being pretty vital. This journal was meant for Karl's present time, so he could keep track of what was currently happening. Things would go wrong if he let different timelines information bleed into his.

For example, Karl's never met Technoblade in his timeline, but he has in another. The two weren't too close, but close enough where he knew things he shouldn’t. 

“Okay, thank you.”

Sapnap smiled at him.

“So what do you need help with?”

Everything. I’m forgetting things, I somehow became responsible for a 16 year old and instantly lost him, I’ve lost people and seen my friends die, my hairs turning white and don’t even get me started on my liv-

“Well first I need to find someone.”

When the two started their search, they decided to go to the community house first. They were close enough, and it seemed like someone was always there. So even if Tommy wasn’t, someone who's seen him might be. 

Karl wasn’t expecting a very familiar scene to be playing out though.

No, it's too early.

They rushed toward the building, only stopping when they noticed the amount of people standing around. 

A sinking feeling entered Karl’s gut, and his wrist burned slightly.

What the honk?

He ignored the feeling and pushed towards the center. If you went from past events this was where he’d find-

Bingo.

“Tommy.” Karl sighed, quiet enough for only Sapnap to hear.

He pushed past Puffy and Sam to see Dream, Tommy, and Techno. Techno stood protectively in front of Tommy, a sword drawn and ready.

What? Don’t they hate each other?

It took him a second for things to click.

Right, he’s in the past.

“Come on Techno, you can’t say that this isn’t a Tommy thing to do.”

“He might lie to you, but Tommy wouldn’t lie to me.”

Too familiar, this is too familiar.

He put the pieces together. 

Schlatt let out a laugh. “Sure, cause you’re family right?”

Techno tensed.

“Your little group of broken people who somehow get along, somehow fit together and you can work through all your problems together.” The president's voice was condescending. “Trust me Techno, that died a long time ago. You haven’t been around, god knows Phil left a long time ago.”

“Don’t bring this up now, Schlatt.” Tommy hissed.

The man smiled creepily. “Why not Toms ? You know it’s true.”

“Shut up.” Techno practically barked.

Karl took this as his chance to get closer, firmly latching onto the teens arm. Surprisingly he didn’t jump at the contact, in fact he practically melted into it.

His wrist stopped burning.

“Or what?” Schlatt grinned.

Karl stepped in front of Tommy a little.

“Cut it out.” 

He could feel people’s stares, but didn’t let it get to him.

“Oh how fun,” Dream said, “You’re here too.”

He took in a deep breath.

“He didn’t do it.”

The admin cocked his head. “Oh really? How would you know, didn’t think you two even knew each other.”

He ignored the comment. “Has anyone even seen Tommy this past week? How could he have done it if he wasn’t here.”

Dream seemed to expect this response, if his cold chuckle was anything to go by.

“Oh? Where have you been then Karl, haven't seen you since the election. Who knows, this could’ve been you.”

“Is that the only evidence you have to go by? That no ones seen him, heck I could use that excuse for you too. Who's to say this wasn't you Dream?”

He didn’t miss the tense reaction from Tommy that sentence got, the two travelers knew that it had more meaning than anyone here knew. 

The man let out another laugh.

“I know more than you think, Karl.” 

Oh isn't that just ominous.

He took another protective step forward. Karl wasn’t stupid, he knew the long lasting effect Dream had on this kid. 

The admin eyed the action. 

“Do any of your friends know what you’ve been up to, why you keep disappearing...what clearly happened to both of yo-”

“Shut up Dream.”

Karl wasn’t one to get angry easily, or to take that anger out on others, but he’d dealt with too much in a short period of time. He tried to avoid conflict, but the situation has gone too far.

He can’t deal with this stuff anymore. 

He tugged on Tommy's arm, and pulled him to the exit. He passed his friends, most of them looking concerned and confused, but ignored it. Karl just wanted to get Tommy out of here, cause if he is who he thinks he is, this won’t end well. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A certain palace stood floating in the sky, welcoming its newest guest.

“Hello?”

“Welcome Ranboo,” An ominous voice said, “We’ve been expecting you.”

Chapter Text

Schlatt had known the family of four for a while now. No one really knew this, as Wilbur was the one who introduced the man. Wilbur wasn’t very open about his past. Tommy guesses he isn’t either.

The teen didn’t know exactly what happened between his brothers and the ram hybrid, only that it hadn’t been good. Tubbo showed up not long after, and if Tommy had a little bit more information he would be able to put the pieces together. 

He didn’t know what happened after Karl walked in the community house, it all became a blur, too much had happened in such a short amount of time. It was only a matter of time until the dam broke. He could feel the water pushing against it, threatening to damage the structure. It wouldn’t be long until it started to crack, and eventually flood everything around it. 

Tommy desperately tried to piece everything together. What was happening, what kind of sick joke was this all?

“Do you understand the lesson the universe was trying to teach you?”

“Is that an infinity symbol?”

“Haven’t we had this conversation before?”

“There isn’t a prison on this server.”

“But… it’s October.”

“That happened under two months ago?”

“Tommy, where have you been? Wils been so worried ever since the election.”

“Tommy fucked up.”

“Then why are we here, Schlatt.”

“I mean it does seem like a very Tommy thing to do.”

He had to stop himself from leaning over and throwing up right then and there.

Fuck, fuck. Okay, he just had to talk to Karl. Yeah, he’ll know what to do, he was in that weird white castle too, and seemed to know what he was talking about (even if it was extremely cryptic).

Tommy's wrist started to tingle lightly, almost being on the verge of pain but never fully crossing that line.

“Tommy?” Someone asked from behind him.

He turned to see Karl.

“Karl? Karl I-what's going on?”

The man's eyes softened. “Hey, it's okay. Where have you been this past week?”

Tommy vaguely remembers someone mentioning that in the community house.

“What do you mean? I was in that weird castle-”

Another round of pain, not unlike the one that happened minutes ago, entered his head again. He had to stop himself from throwing his arms over his head, covering his eyes, ears, anything to make the pounding stop.

As soon as it started it stopped, but just like last time came the onslaught of weird voices.

Matching white streaks!

Blood blood blood-

Time travel pog

Child

Protect tiny person

BrotherInnit 

Technobro 

Someone cleared their throat, and Tommy didn’t know how he didn’t notice the man approaching behind Karl before. He had to stop himself from panicking, had to stop the cracks threatening to let the water escape the dam. 

“Technoblade.”

Ooo sassy

Someone’s mad

E

Blood blood-

If the hybrid noticed the tone (which he totally did) he didn’t say anything.

“Come on, Wilbur’s been worried.”

Tommy blanched.

“I…”

He stared at the ruins of the first building of the server. Water encased it, just like the first time it’d been blown up...wait that wasn’t right. When it had been rebuilt there was no water involved. The only water near it had been below it’s foundation. 

He briefly noticed Eret walking up, face set in a careful mask. If the teen didn’t know any better he would’ve said the king was fine, like the current events weren’t getting to him. But he did know better, and could see the barley concealed worry lines, twitching hands, and bitten lips. 

The former L’Manbergian stood tall behind Techno, hand braced on his swords hilt firmly, fingers itching towards their inventory.

“I think we should let Tommy decide what he wants to do.” 

The anarchist waved them off. “Aren’t you a traitor or something? Plus it’s not like the kid has anywhere to go. Last I checked he’s still exiled, and Dream isn’t letting him stay anywhere near L’Manberg.”

Eret just chuckled, not seeming offended by the words.

“Tommy you can stay in my castle if you’d like.” The king sent a knowing look to Karl. “You can too, Karl. There's plenty of room.”

“Yes.” Tommy agreed a little too quickly. 

Techno sent him a look, and eyed Karl. The traveler glanced at him with an expression Tommy couldn't place.

“Uh-guess I can too. Thanks.”

Eret looked at Techno with triumph.

“Whatever, not my problem. Wilbur can deal with this, he wants to see you.”

His heart dropped. 

“You mean Ghostbur wants to see me?”

His brother’s Technos face twitched, the only indicator to what he was feeling.

“Ghostbur? What the heck are you talking about?”

Ghosty

Ghostbusters!

That's weird-champ

Time travel!

Oop, not a ghost yet

Tommy ignored the weird voices bouncing around his head (it wasn’t the strangest thing he’d experienced). He missed the confused look that passed over Technoblades face.

Karl nudged Tommy's arm, a silent message of don’t say anything stupid.

“Uh never mind, where are we going anyways?”

He didn’t want himself to believe what was happening, didn’t want to have hope. He wasn’t dumb, he’d put the pieces together, and he knew what was happening…

He knew what was going to happen.

“Hidden base, east of here. Wilbur calls it Pogtopia, but I’m not callin’ it that.”

Shit.

If Karl saw the fear on his face...well let's be honest he clearly didn’t. 

“Yeah, lets go.” The traveler said with way too much enthusiasm. 

Techno grumbled. “Yeah no, Wilbur's a little...untrusting right now. Don’t think he’d want any strangers coming in.”

Karl looked almost offended. 

Tommy's fingers itched for a sword. 

“Either he's coming with us or I’m not going at all. Wilbur can come drag me there for all I care, but I’m not going to that stupid ravine unless Karls there.”

The man cocked an eyebrow, something flashing through his eyes. 

“Sure whatever.” He started walking towards L’Manberg before turning around. “Oh and Tommy?”

Tommy looked over.

“I never said it was in a ravine.”

After they’d said their goodbyes to Eret, and Karl talked to Sapnap, they left. Tommy had unintentionally taken the lead, guiding the other two to the stupid hideout. He made sure to keep a wide berth from L’Manberg-

And holy shit it was actually standing, not destroyed and blown to bedrock only to be covered in glass. There wasn’t even any smoke, and the sky above was still a bright blue.

Tommy's ears rang quietly, and he ignored the growing burn in his chest as they made their way farther from the main SMP. 

Karl kept giving him awkward glances, but no one attempted to make small talk (Tommy ignores the voices in his head).

He was tempted to start up a conversation, to annoy Technoblade, bug and tease him for anything, but he just couldn't bring himself to. Whoever this man was, no matter what version of his old brother stood behind him, he still held a grudge. 

Tommy remembers the brothers he grew up with. 

He remembers Technoblade, “The Blade”, the merciless anarchist who caused destruction, the one that worked with his father Philza and Dream the admin to destroy L’Manberg. He remembers the ruthless, blood thirsty man who shot down everyone and laughed about being a hero. The man who murdered his best friend, leaving the poor teen with irreversible scarring, even after respawn. He remembers Technoblade, who came during the Pogtopia days, who aided them with supplies. The young adult who built a dumb potato farm and lived with them. The one who had a freakishly smart horse and got distracted by dogs. The one who didn’t stop Wilbur’s plans, and left their brother to fall deeper into insanity. The man who insisted violence was the only universal language.  He remembers Techno, his cool older brother who won Hypixel tournaments and taught him how to wield a sword. The young adult who, although distant, was there when he needed him. The one who would wrap scraped knees and protect him from mobs, who would retell stories of Greek heroes and wars won. But most importantly Tommy remembers Tech. The teen who always seemed so closed off to him, but showed kindness in small actions. He remembers the boy who would leave warm soup at his door, and would make him hot chocolate on stormy nights. 

He remembers Wilbur that wasn’t riddled with paranoia and trust issues. The Wilbur that would scream about mistrust and traitors, the one who would stare down at Tommy like he was a mere speck of dirt on his shoe. He remembers his older brother who took him out of their home server to explore new worlds, and promised adventure. The adult who provided him with necessities and more, the one who would wrap his bandages and treat wounds. The Wil that practically raised him, who told him to stay strong, and taught him how to use his words to get out of tough situations. The one who found him at that awful server and took him in as his own. Who begged Phil to raise him, even though the moment the avian had set eyes on the blond he was instantly sold. The brother who sat with him during bad dreams, and helped him get through stupid childhood fears. The young adult who protected him from bullies and mobs, who taught him how to read and play the guitar. He remembers the Wilby that would sing to him. Who brought him out of his shell and finally accept the family. The teen who made him toys, sewed him clothes and blankets. The boy who got a job way too young, and became the father figure Philza never would.

Tommy wanted to help his brother, he really did, but in the end it wasn’t his responsibility. 

Sure, he was given whatever chance this was, but he only really needs to stop L’Manberg from being blown up. He’d already dealt with insane Wilbur once, and Tommy doesn’t think he can handle it a second time. 

He was brought out of his thoughts as a deep, hoarse cough made its way up his throat.

Karl took a step forward, face filled with concern.

“Tom-“

The teen waves him off, only focusing on taking in gulps of air.

“S’okay.”

More voices echo in his head, but he’s too focused on not throwing up to make out what they're saying.

“Fuck.” He groans as another round forces its way up. 

In the midst of it he notices something being pressed into his hand, but doesn’t have the ability to see what it was. It wasn’t until the object was taken from him and carefully guided towards his face did he get the idea.

“I’m going to need you to breath out all the way and breathe this in, okay?” Karl says. Tommy nods slightly, and breaths out, holding back the coughs that try to get out.

When Karl places the inhaler in his mouth and presses down, he breathes in the medicated air. 

“Hold your breath for ten seconds.” The man rushes out, as if he could tell Tommy was going to desperately gulp in fresh air. He only nods and watches as Karl counts on his fingers, making sure his hands are in the boys line of sight.

Once the ten seconds are over (and oh god did it feel like the longest ten second of Tommy’s life) he takes in deep breaths, coughing slightly.

The two sit there for a minute, promptly ignoring Techno, as Karl counts down 60 Mississippi’s in his head. He hands Tommy the inhaler this time.

“You should take a second puff, do you want to do it? I’ll tell you how.”

“Ye-“ He clears his throat, “Yeah.”

Karl straightens up, causing the teen to do so as well.

“So what you’re going to do is shake the inhaler a bit and then place it in your mouth. Make sure your teeth are around it and your tongues not in the way.”

He nodded along and did as the other said.

“Okay good. Let a breath out, and then push down on the metal canister part at the top. I would use your pointer finger and thumb, there’s a little groove at the bottom for your thumb.”

Tommy does so, and breaths in.

“Yep just breathe in, it might taste a little weird by the way. After that, hold your breath for ten seconds and then you’re good!” Karl finishes explaining, as if he’s done this a thousand times.

Tommy taps his fingers lightly against his thigh to count, ignoring how he was now on the ground, before letting out a breath. He doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting there for, only that there was now an ache in his diaphragm and nausea curling in his gut.

“You better now?” Technoblade asks.

He has to hold back a flinch. 

Karl clears his throat and helps him up off the ground.

“Yeah I’m just fuckin’ peachy.” Tommy grumbles before taking the lead again.

Karl falls into step beside him while Technoblade trails behind.

“Was it the air?” 

He stops himself from looking over.

“What do you mean?”

“Quackity has the same problems, it’s actually why I have a inhaler on me. He had a lot of lung issues from smoke inhalation and such. I think a lot of people around L’Manberg did. All that pollution can’t be go-“

He looks at Karl.

“No no, go ahead, continue acting like everything’s normal.”

Something flashed through the man's expression.

“I know, sorry. It’s just-now's not the time, okay?”

Tommy had to stop himself from yelling, from throwing his arms up and screaming at him. 

“I’m not as dumb as everyone’s think I am, Karl.”

“Wha-of course you’re not. I mean, you’re not dumb.” He stutters. 

The teen hums.

“You’re not either.”

Karl sends him a bewildered look. “Thank you?”

Tommy snorts. “I just mean that...look you’re a skeevy guy alright? Everyone on the SMP noticed you were hiding something, and you did always seem to just disappear. Not that it’s any of my business, just-you’re a pretty vague man and it’s no secret you know a lot.

“So you should know that information has a hot price, and some people will do a lot to get it. I don’t want you getting hurt, but you must know that I don’t want to be dragged down with you.”

To anyone else, Tommy’s words would just mean what he was saying, but Karl had been through many different lives and knew when to read between the lines. 

“Okay.”

Dream can’t know, I don’t want him to hurt me again.

“Okay.”

Karl steps a little closer to Tommy and puts his hand out.

“Here, keep this for now. I don’t really need it right now...plus it’s good for you to have.”

He takes the inhaler from Karl and pockets it.

“If you want we can go see Ponk, he had a doctor's office in our time. He’s actually the one who gave Quackity the inhaler.”

‘Our time’ Tommy notes.

“No. I mean thanks, but no. Don’t really do the whole ‘doctor’ thing, plus isn’t that shit expensive?”

“If you guys are done chatting we’re almost there.” Technoblade suddenly says, cutting between the two and walking faster ahead.

Tommy couldn’t stop the “Oi dick’ed!” that came out of his mouth.

The man snorts lightly and turns to face him.

“I don’t recall you having asthma when we were kids.”

Tommy chuckles. “Oh yeah cause you were around so much, weren’t you?”

The man ignored the chide.

“Meh,” He continues walking backwards, “How did you know it was in a ravine anyways?”

Tommy rang his hands. “Well I figured Wilbur would want to go farther, build some sort of base underground as to not be found easily. You could’ve mined it out or used an already formed cave, but either would take too long. So ravine was my best guess.”

Technoblade cocked an eyebrow, and if Tommy knew any better he would have said the man looked proud (although it was quickly masked as surprise and a little bit of horror).

“Since when have you been this observant?”

The teen smiled brokenly. “War will do that to ya.” 

The piglin hybrid hummed and turned back around, leading them to a hill. He dug two blocks, just big enough to fit through, and entered the base. 

Karl and Tommy followed him in, the latter filling the hole back in. 

“Don’t touch anything. I’m lookin’ at you Tommy.”

The teen put his arms up in surrender, Technoblade just grunted. 

He looked around at the small room. The same orange bed was placed by the entrance, along with the stupid chest Wilbur had placed dirt over. Furnaces, chests, and a single crafting table, which had all been crafted quickly, lined the walls. A painfully familiar staircase was carved out at the back of the small room, and Tommy couldn’t help but expect the whole thing to be covered in buttons. 

“Uh-nice place you have here.” Karl said awkwardly.

The anarchist snorted. “Don’t flatter me.”

Karl smiled warmly, as if Technoblade hadn't just practically insulted him.

Tommy just stood frozen by the entrance.

“Mind heading down? I’d like to chat with Tommy for a second.”

Karl sent him a look, the teen just nodded.

He waited until he was out of hearing range before turning back to the teen.

“Look I don’t know what’s going on with you, or where you ran off to, but you’re going to have to step up your game if you want to fool Wilbur.”

Tommy crosses his arms and wills the childish anger that used to come so easily. “I don’t know-“

Technoblade put up a hand. “Don’t care about your excuse, Okay? I’m not going to tell Wilbur, or whatever."

"Oh."

"Like I said, he's a little untrusting right now. I don't really know why he called me, guess he was really worried about you."

Tommy raised his eyebrows.

"Aren't you guys twins or something? Think that he would trust you with that whole-" he waved his hands for the right words, "twin feeling, telepathy thing?"

"No, we're not. That's just something he came up with when we were like, ten. Dont thinks he's trusted me for a while, either."

He snorted. 

"Oh the great Techno-Technoblade," he corrects himself, he hadn't been Techno in a while. "Couldn't possibly be untrustworthy. No it's not like you bl-" 

He stopped himself.

"What?"

He stared at the stairs, acting like he spaced out, before shaking his head.

"Sorry, spaced out."

"Okay...you've been doing that a lot recently."

"What, in the past hour that you've seen me? How much could you possibly know?"

"Meh, a lot."

Tommy motioned for him to explain. 

"You're hunched over more than usual and you're favoring your left leg. You wince whenever something touches your torso or arms, so you must be bruised. You wheeze when you walk, and that, along with your hairs burnt ends, makes me assume you were around tnt a lot."

"Okay, I get it-"

"This also shows from the burn scars on your lower legs and wrists, which look pretty red, meaning they're a couple months old rather than years, and it didn't kill you. If it had killed you they'd be healed more from respawn."

"Stop-"

"You don't have any weapons on you, but you keep reaching for one. You hold yourself like you're years older than you actually are, and whenever I talk you start breathing heavier. There's white in your hair, but it's unnaturally bright, and it's oddly natural since you can see it in your roots."

Tommy put his hands over his ears,  "Tech-"

"You're covering your lives, which I know are on your wrist, so I can assume you lost one or two. You also have an absurd amount of scars-"

"Shut the fuck up!"

Technoblade stopped talking, and Tommy felt as if he had just been dissected. This felt like every look Dream sent him, every challenging glance after he emptied his inventory.

It felt like Wilbur was staring down at him, mentally tracking all his actions for any hint of betrayal.

It felt like he was in the middle of the community house again, and everyone's eyes were on him.

He shook his head. "Just...stop talking."

Of course he didn't listen. "You're quieter, but you try to make it up with fake anger-"

"The anger was always fake. Leave me alone Technoblade. You're not allowed to just come here and start picking me apart, then try to put me back together like a messed up puzzle."

He preferred his version of Pogtopia Technoblade. 

"You asked me to."

"Not like that! I thought you'd just say I'm more annoying, or some shit."

Technoblade huffed. "You're clearly not yourself, Tommy."

He scoffed. "And how would you know what I'm like?"

With that he turned around, and went down the stairs, barely managing to avoid hitting his head down every step.

As Tommy made his way down two voices became apparent, bouncing off the tall walls of the ravine.

“Wilbur, I can’t find him.”

“What do you mean-”

“No one can, we’re not the only ones looking for him.”

Someone sighed. 

"Hey Tommy." Karl said, startling him.

"Jesus dude, warn a person, would ya?"

The man smiles, but it seemed more sad than anything.

"They've just been talking, most of it I couldn't hear. Where's Techno?"

Tommy shrugged.

“Well where the hell did he go? He couldn't have just left Tubbo!”

"I think we should let them know you're okay."

He nodded.

It was silent as they made their way towards the two people.

“I mean Dream doesn’t have a lock on the server, he could’ve left…”

The possibility hung in the air, well until a certain someone rounded the corner.

Tommy stood there awkwardly, it was very apparent about who they were talking about. The teen stared at his brother and best friend. He couldn’t help but think of all the things that have gone wrong, how many mistakes everyone in this place had made.

Wilbur distrusting everyone, even his own family. 

The responsibility that he put into kids even before he was going insane. The crazy glint in his eye every time he talked about blowing up L’Manberg, often followed by crazed laughs and mumbling. The amount of yelling and threats that had bounced off the ravines walls. Tommy couldn’t help but feel like Eret was the one who started the spiral of mistrust. Although he knew that the isolation and loss of a country, the loss of something he’d put so much into, had a big impact as well. 

Tubbo exiling someone who was practically his brother.

Tommy knew that there were certain things he couldn’t control, some things that no one can control, but the deep hurt still sat in his chest. He spent a little too much time thinking in exile, and knew that Dream had threatened Tubbo. He was logical, and knew that it was one person over a dozen or so. Even if Tommy says he would’ve chosen Tubbo over L’Manberg, he wasn’t the one in that position. He also knew what Dream threatened, and would rather be exiled thousands of blocks away then have the country become a prison. 

There were a lot more problems between the two than that though, and throughout Tommy's “vacation” he thought through every perspective he could think of (even Dreams). Of course more happened after that, but he tried to keep an open mind. They both said stuff they regretted at the community house, and although they never fully talked it through he knew Tubbo enough to know it was a mistake. 

Tommy tried to put on his usually, cocky grin. “Hello fellas, heard you were looking for me?”

His brother and Tubbo brothers looked up quickly, before running over and knockinging him to the ground. 

Dream pushed him to the ground and starting kicking him before he could even try to get back up-

“Tommy!”

He chuckled. “Hi Tubbo.”

They stayed like that for a minute, but if anyone asks Tommy would say Tubbo was the one clinging to him. He couldn't help it, he hadn’t seen his best friend in forever, the last time being at doomsday. 

“Uh Tommy, we should probably get up off the floor.”

He hadn’t even realized he’d closed his eyes, and was practically burying his face in Tubbos hair. He cleared his throat.

“Right.”

Tommy quickly got up, reaching out a hand and pulling Tubbo up too. The boy let out a squeak as he easily got him off the ground.

“Wow.”

He looked at the ground, “Sorry.”

Tubbo looked up at him, cocking his head slightly.

“Either I got shorter or you grew.”

He snorted, same old Tubbo. He ignored the part of his brain saying that his Tubbo hadn’t got to feel this carefree in a while. Even during Schlatt's rule he’d still been able to be mostly a kid (and wow wasn’t that ridiculous, because Schlatt had been anything but good to the cabinet).

“Tubbo you stole my brother.” A deep voice said causing Tommy to flinch. 

The boy just laughed.

"And where have you been?"

Tommy looks over at his brother, a little fear in his eyes.

"Uh…"

He tried not to look at Karl, like that would solve anything. If he was being quite honest, he didn't even know if Wilbur knew him.

"Hey, I'm not mad at you." 

That's what he always said.

"Uh-I was with Eret."

He saw something flash through his brother's eyes, and braced himself.

"You were with-" Wilbur took a deep breath, "You were with Eret."

Tommy looked down. "Yes."

"And why were you with them?"

He doesn't trust you, he doesn't trust you. Don't make this harder than it has to be-lie lie lie lie…

"Erets a good person."

Well that was clearly the wrong thing to say. 

Wilbur looked red in the face and on the verge of yelling. Tubbo just stood there, looking between them and not knowing what to do. 

"Okay, okay…"

"Its fine-"

"It's not fine! It's not fucking fine Tommy!" 

Karl took a step closer to Tommy.

"Am I the only one who remembers what that bastard did! Am I the only one who remembers the massacre that he led us into!"

"Of course I do." Tommy replied, trying to stay calm. 

Wilbur looked at him, he had tears in his eyes.

"Then why did you go to him?"

He sighed. 

"I'm sick of picking sides. I didn't want to follow you down here, only to stew in my guilt and everything that's gone wrong."

"What do you mean you're sick of picking sides?" Tubbo asked, and Tommy smiled, because he remembers someone who said the same thing.

"I love L'Manberg, but we have to realize when the cost outweighs the benefit."

Wilbur stayed quiet.

"I went to Eret because he apologized to me a long time ago." He sent Karl a look. "He didn't know what was going to happen."

Tommy would rather Eret apologize on his own terms, but from how stubborn Wilbur was through all of this he knew he wouldn't want to hear it from them.

"What do you mean he didn't know? She literally led us into a trap."

"Dre-" he coughed, "Dream said that we would be fine. Told Eret that no harm was going to be done. The chests were for our items, after we surrendered."

Wilbur stood frozen. "But why did he have to do it all? It was just for some dumb title…"

Tommy knew what he was doing, he was trying to justify the anger he'd held towards Eret this entire time. He didn't want to admit that his feelings were misplaced, that he was going for the wrong person.

"Said that he could have some control over the server, over Dream. He is technically the King of the SMP, and has partial say in what happens. But he did that to protect L'Manberg, in the long run it could've worked." He mumbled the last part.

"Oh." 

Something flashed through his eyes, Tommy didn't like what he saw.

"Don't blow it up." He rushes out.

Shit. Messed that up real fast.

Wilbur sucked in a breath. "What?"

Tommy ignored the voices entering his head once again.

"Don't blow up L'Manberg."

The man shook his head.

"I-Tommy…"

Tubbo looked between them. "Wil?"

"How-how did you know that?"

Plan plan, he needs a plan.

"I uh-"

"Wilbur what is he talking about?" Technoblade said, walking towards them. 

"Techno-I…"

"Wilbur, why did you really call me here?"

Chapter Text

“Wilbur, why did you really call me here?”

The man in question shuffled back a bit, hands coming up to tug his hair.

“Shut up, you have no right to judge me.”

“Wil-”

He whips his head up.

“No! You can’t just expect things to go back to normal! You’ve been out of our lives for years Techno, and you stopped being a part of it years before you even left. You were always so resigned, and didn’t let either of us help you. So don’t try to help us now. I called you for a favor, not to become all buddy-buddy.”

Tommy's heart was beating out of his chest. “Wilbur, you can’t just-”

“No Tommy! You don’t know what you're talking about.” He laughed, a broken sound coming from him.

The teen stared in horror at his brother, he didn’t realize how deep-rooted this problem had been. He thought that it only really spiraled after the exile, but it’d clearly been going on way longer. He’d been struggling, and Tommy didn’t even notice until it was too late.

But it's not too late now, he's not completely gone.

“You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re not thinking right!”

Wilbur faced him, and Tommy flinched. He took a step closer to Tubbo, angling himself to protect if things went south. Karl did the same for Tommy. 

Wilbur seemed to deflate as he watched them do this. His eyes softened, now holding pain and barely hid tears.

“You-I…”

Tommy cringed.

“I’m not going to hurt you, I would never hurt you Toms.”

“I know.” He couldn’t hide the quiver in his voice. 

Something flashed through Wilbur's eyes. “Yo-you don’t trust me.”

“I don’t trust you, you're working for Schlatt aren’t you? How could you do this to me Tommy!”

“You don’t trust me.” He repeats. 

Lie lie lie lie-

“Of course I do.”

Wilbur shook his head. “You don’t, just leave.”

Technoblade stepped forward. “Wilbur-”

“Just leave! All of you!”

Tubbo started to protest, but Tommy just tugged his arm. They made their way back to the staircase, and climbed slowly. He knew Karl was following, and briefly heard him say something to Technoblade before going to leave.

“Watch out for Tommy, okay?”

Karl smiled softly.

“That's the plan, thanks Tech.”

Tommy ignored the nickname. 

“Wil-”

“What-”

“You-Phi-hel-”

Tommy barely made it out, but yelling followed it. He pushed them through the mess that the dirt room was, and sped walked out the door. They’re lucky this place was so far away, since you could still hear their yelling faintly from outside. 

He didn’t realize how tight he was holding Tubbo's arm, only anxiously waiting for Karl to exit the base.

“Tommy-”

“What?” He asked without turning towards him.

“Can you let go?”

The question didn’t process in his brain. “Hm.”

“Tommy.”

“Yeah?”

He bounced on his feet a little.

“You’re hurting me.”

The teen quickly let go and took two big steps away from Tubbo.

“What, where? Are you okay?”

He scanned the boy, stopping when spotting his wrist, which Tubbo was clutching. 

“Yeah I’m fine, you just started to hold my wrist too tight.”

Stupid, stupid…

“Oh right, sorry.” He rubbed his neck anxiously.

Tubbo smiled. “It’s fine.”

Tommy studied his face.

“No you’re not.”

“Wel-”

He shook his head. “I know you, don’t lie. You have that look on your face.”

“A look?”

Tommy chuckled lightly “Yeah, eyebrows scrunched a little, kind of look constipated-”

“Hey!”

He laughed, but the sound quickly died in his throat.

“He-Wilbur's going to be fine.”

That was a lie, Tommy knew how this was meant to play out.

“Really? He's kind of-”

“Lost it?” He finished.

Tubbo sighed. “I wouldn’t say lost it, but…”

“He’ll...he’ll be fine. Technoblade's here, guy always seems to know what he's doing.”

Now that might be right, but he knew deep down that it didn’t mean anything. Just because he might have a plan, doesn’t mean it's a good one. 

“Yeah…”

Tommy looked up, and was quickly reminded that this Tubbo hadn’t experienced Technoblade's doings. It wasn’t a bad thing, just meant he had to make sure those events wouldn’t happen. 

A crunch interrupted his thoughts, making him look toward the sound. 

Karl exited the hill and filled in the gap of the entrance. 

“Karl,” Tommy said.

The man looked up and sighed.

“You two okay?”

Tubbo glanced at Tommy. ““Yeah, we’re good.”

Karl smiled. “Good, we should get going before it gets dark.”

“Tubbo where are you staying?”

The boy looked over to his friend.

Tommy didn’t know how much had changed between his version of the election, and this Tubbo's version.

“The White House?”

“Are you,” he cleared his throat, “are you safe there?”

Tubbo gave him a look, Tommy sent one back.

“Schlatt...Schlatt’s not that bad. I mean sure he drinks, and him and Quackity fight a lot…”

Tommy was painfully reminded of a certain event, one where he’d watched Quackity get screamed at and hit by Schlatt. He remembers the man screaming at his fiancé about how he built the White House, and not to destroy it. Then, Quackity had thrown his ring at the man, and shot him with a bow. The poor 18 year old had screamed once more, before wandering off and mumbling about ‘being done’.

Tommy would be lying if he said that scene didn’t scare him. Quite honestly, he didn’t know what Quackity had meant by being done. He made the offer for him to join Pogtopia, in hopes of preventing him from doing anything...rash. 

He knew now that his suspicions had been wrong, thankfully. But he also knew how to tell when someone was done...the way that he had been done at Logsetdshire. He remembers the pleading look in Wilbur's eyes, as Phil stabbed him. He remembers watching the fight leave him, even before he died. How he wouldn’t wear armor, though Tommy never knew if that was from the insanity or his death wish. 

Karl intervened. “We’ll be staying at Eret's castle, I’m sure she would welcome you with open arms if needed. You might be fine now, but if it ever gets too much don’t hesitate to stop by.”

“Okay, thanks.”

They took off towards the main SMP.

Tommy stared at the horizon awkwardly, he really didn’t want to get caught up in his thoughts, but what could they even talk about. He didn’t want to admit that he didn’t know how to interact with Tubbo anymore, didn’t know how to stop himself from yelling at the boy (even if he hadn’t done anything yet).

“Tell me something I don’t know about you, Tubbo.”

Yeah, this would be good. 

Or maybe not.

Tubbo looked over to him. “Something you don’t know about me?”

He swallowed. “Yeah.”

“Hmm, I don’t know big man, you seem to know a lot about me already.”

Tommy could tell he was lying. “Doesn’t have to be some big secret. It could be something stupid like your favorite color, or food.”

It was silent for a minute.

“I’m a hybrid.”

Now obviously Tommy knew this, if the horns Tubbo had grown said anything, but that clearly hadn’t happened yet.

“Oh? No offence big man, but you don’t look like a hybrid.”

Tubbo laughed nervously, okay that's definitely suspicious. 

“Uh-yeah, Phil said I probably am.” Tommy winced at the name. “Said he could feel it, guess it's some hybrid instinct thing.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“Quackity's told me about that, actually said he had a feeling about me.”

Tommy looked over. “You don’t have any physical features of a hybrid, and aren’t you past the age those would grow in?”

Karl chuckled, a knowing look on his face. “Yeah, I know. I’m not a hybrid, but my family's bloodline is...weird.”

“Ooo scary. Have some sort of ancient ancestral secret hidden?” Tubbo asked.

The man just laughed again, Tommy filed away the information for later.

“What about you Tommy?”

He looked over to his friend. 

“What?”

“What's something I don’t know about you?”

Tommy huffed. What could he even tell him?

“I can play the guitar.”

Tubbo eyed him with disbelief. “Really?”

“Yeah, Wilbur taught me.”

He stopped himself from saying in Pogtopia. When they’d first been exiled Wilbur had asked Tubbo to grab his guitar, along with some other items from their houses. They’d sit by the campfires and sing songs, Wilbur trying to find the right notes that went along with it. Tommy had always admired his brother's music, so he’d finally caved and asked him how to play. The man had been very patient, never getting angry when he messed up or asked the same questions a thousand times, even when they neared the war.

“That's cool, you'll have to show me sometime.”

Tommy swallowed hard, “Yeah.”

That was a lie.

“Did you know that I don’t actually have a middle name, actually now that I think about it I don’t even know if I have a last one.”

Karl snorted, Tommy grinned. He remembered having this conversation a month or two before his second exile. Tubbo had said he wanted his middle name to be Bee, and Tommy had just laughed. He’d called him Tubee for about a week after. Later on they’d had a more serious talk, regarding last names. Tommy had said Underscore, and Tubbo suggested Soot or Innit. They both ignored the obvious choice. Watson had long since been crossed off the list.

“Oh?” He teased.

“Yeah. I mean I guess it’d be Watson.”

“Watson?” Karl questioned.

“Uh yeah, Phil took me in when I was pretty young so…”

“So you, Tommy, Wilbur, and Techno all grew up together?”

Tommy laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, and look where we are now.”

“But Wilbur's last name is Soot?”

“Yeah, he is actually Phil's biological son. Honestly don’t know if that was from his moms side, or maybe it's his middle name.”

Tommy knew the truth.

“It was his middle name, but after Phil left…”

The obvious explanation hung in the air.

“Right, so we’re not going with Watson. What would it be then?”

“I mean you could use Soot, but it's up to you.”

“Innit?”

“What?”

“It could be Innit, Tubbo Innit?”

Tommy smiled, a little brokenly. 

“That's not my last name though.”

Tubbo raised an eyebrow. “It isn't?”

He shrugged. “I mean it could be. It's kind of just a nickname, like how you use the name Tubbo Underscore.”

“Well Underscore could be it then.” Karl inputs.

“Eh.”

Tommy laughed. “Last names are underrated anyways, Karl what's yours?”

“Uh-Jacobs.”

The two teens laughed.

“What?”

“It's just so-”

“Basic.”

They fell into silence once again, only their footsteps being heard. 

Tommy sighed. “You know…”

He didn’t finish his sentence.

“What?”

“Sorry, it's just-”

“Hey you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.” Karl says, Tubbo nods along.

He takes a deep breath in. “Uh no, it's okay. I want to.”

Tommy didn’t talk for a minute, trying to find the courage to say this. No one said anything, letting him get his thoughts collected.

“My names actually not Tommy.”

Tubbo stops walking, and turns to face him. “What?”

Karl stops too, but just stares at him. He has a sinking suspicion of where this is going.

“Yeah, Ran-a...friend gave me the nickname.”

He looked down, not liking the memories this brought. Even if he were to say his name, Tubbo wouldn’t know who he was talking about. Karl would though, and he didn’t want to bring up that part of his past.

“So, what's your real name then? I mean you don’t have to-”

“Its uh- it’s Theseus.”

Chapter Text

Ranboo had felt off all day, actually he’d been feeling like this for the past month. His brain felt all weird, almost twisted, as if it was tied in a knot he couldn’t undo.

“What's up with you Boo?” 

The ender-hybrid looked over to his husband.

“What?”

“You keep spacing out, do you even remember what we were talking about?” If it’d come from anyone else, Ranboo would’ve thought the question to be hostile, but it was different with Tubbo. Instead of an angry expression, the other only held care.

“Uh no, sorry I don’t.” He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. 

“Oh that's okay! Anything on your mind?”

Ranboo looked down. “Actually there is…”

“Oh? Do you want to talk about it? I mean of course you don’t have to if you don’t want-”

He laughed, “No it's okay. Uh-I do want to. Talk about it that is.”

Tubbo smiled, and patted the space next to him. Ranboo walked over and sat next to him, resulting in Tubbo leaning his head against Ranboo's shoulder.

“I-I’ve just been remembering more…”

“Oh! Well that's a good thing, right?”

Ranboo sighed. 

“I don’t know, they're not...they’re not good memories Bee.”

He reaches into his inventory and pulls out his memory book, flipping to the most recent page.

I was limping through a town, snatching food when I could, and trying to find some shelter for the night. 

It happened so quickly that no one saw, no one but the poor kid who experienced it. 

One second I was searching through my pockets, looking for any spare change, and the next there was pain at the back of my head before darkness covered my vision. I think that the person taking me meant to knock me out, but he didn’t. 

There was a faint buzzing under my skin, but I buried it down. 

Little Ran didn’t know what it meant, only that it felt weird.  

I tried to keep track of where the person was taking me, but it seemed to be all over the place. There was a distinct path in the village, but the person had obviously taken me out of its borders. 

Huh, Ranboo doesn’t remember writing that.

“Oh. I’m sorry. Do you feel comfortable sharing some, or we can just talk about whatever else is going on.” Tubbo rushes out.

“I-I get pieces here and there, mostly in dreams. I got taken somewhere? That sounds right, I got taken somewhere. It wasn’t a good place. I didn’t know English back then, but someone taught me?” God, his thoughts were all over the place.

Tubbo rubbed his back soothingly.

“Yeah, I think someone there taught me. But it wouldn’t make sense because when I first got there they were all so...mean.”

“What do you mean?”

“I-I don’t know exactly, but I know that it hurt.”

I could hear people talking, but didn’t understand the language. 

Something touched my arm, something that felt weird and foreign.

Ḯ̵̧͍̦͇̠͎̮̹͉̥̿t̵̜͕̯̰́̾͌̔͒͛̀͛͝ ̴̺̪̮̦͙̙̬̪̉͆̓̿͒͛̐̾̈́̐͠b̷̡̮̝͉̫̽̒̄̾̑͋͋͝ų̸̩̺͕̲̬͑̽̈́̓̃̀͗̉͠͝r̷̛̘̽͐̈́̑̍̊̾͜͠n̵̨̡̜̘̞̬͓̘̣͇̪̉̒̾̇͝ĕ̸̛̘̫̤̫̼̱̤̇̒̿͊͘d̷̛͕̳̳͖̫͓̀͌̾̉̿̈́̽̍͜͠

I let out a screech, jaw partially unlatching as white hot pain filled my body.

If I could understand English at that time, I would’ve known what the man carrying me said.

“That will be useful.”

The cloth covering me was adjusted, the person opening it more to allow more rain on my body.

I’d cried out again, more inhuman noises crawling out of my throat. I could feel my jaw unlatching more, more than it has in the past, causing blood to drip down my neck. I could feel the skin around my mouth stretching, practically ripping itself apart as I unconsciously opened my mouth wider. Tears fell down my cheeks, only adding to the pain. 

My vision started to darken around the edges, but never fully took over. 

The poor boy felt his skin practically melting around, no doubt staying as scars for years to come (and oh did it scar alright).

I don’t know how long we were walking for, only that I stopped feeling pain, even though the rain was still falling hard. 

I think I finally passed out, because next thing I know I’m waking up in the middle of a crowd.

Unfamiliar words were thrown at me, and before I could even get up a kick was sent to my ribs. 

The boy curled into a ball as he kept getting hit. All he could focus on was the blooming pain and laughing around him. Why wasn’t anyone helping?

“You said he’d be better.”

Someone scoffed. “Didn’t say anything bout’ that, just that this thing wasn’t human. Do what you will, I’d like my payment now.”

There were suddenly weird noises, a lot of shuffling and thumps. I paid them no mind, I didn’t understand what they were saying anyway.

Someone was still kicking me, and darkness started to form around the edges of my vision. 

“Wait! No, this wasn’t the deal!”

The man spit at the other on the ground. “Shut up, you shoulda known better than to do business to an anarchy server.”

Another thump, and the person stopped talking. I looked over to see someone on the ground, red surrounding them. Were they getting attacked like he was? He looked older, maybe he could do something.

“I remember waking up with people around me, someone kept kicking me.”

He thinks that’s where his memory problems first started, he couldn’t handle the trauma of that place, so his brain blocked it out (though the faint images of a ring and people surrounding him never fully left). It makes more sense now, but the pieces falling together only left him with an uneasy feeling.

“Geez, I’m sorry. That's awful.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they killed the person that kidnapped me.”

“Hey I mean that's one less person we have to kill now.”

They both laughed, but it died quickly.

Ranboo looked down, hands resting on his open book. “I think they-I think they were ‘buying’ me.”

Tubbo gasped. “Jesus Christ…”

“Yeah, I only really remembered a couple things after that. I don’t think I want to remember anything else. Although…”

Running, hiding, and most importantly mining-

I struggled to survive on the server, barely avoiding getting captured again. I tried to cover most of my skin, as that’s the thing that most people yell at me for (though he didn’t understand the words).

“Although what?”

Blond hair, blue-grey eyes, small hands-

“There was this person, someone weirdly familiar.”

Tubbo looked up. “Oh? Well maybe we can find them! I can probably contact some people from SMPEarth, see if they know anyone-”

Ranboo laughs. “It was an anarchy server, I doubt they could find anyone.”

The other boy froze. “What?”

He looked over, surprised to see his husband's frightened face. “Wait, what? What did I say?” 

“You said that it was an anarchy server.”

“Oh, so like how Techno and Phil are? That doesn’t seem too bad…”

Tubbo shook his head. “No anarchy servers are-there just terrible okay? They’re rare and awful, surly you couldn't have grown up on one. Jesus Ranboo.”

Ranboo stared at him. He's never heard of anarchy servers, only anarchists.

“I’m sure whoever you're talking about is long gone. Those places don't usually have a cap on respawns, but the people there aren’t the type you want to hang around with.”

He shook his head. “No, Tubbo I-the person looked a lot like Tommy.”

Blonde hair, blue eyes, explosive personality.

“Ran-boo, Ran-boo.”

“Ranboo.”

“Ayyy you did it!”

“Wh-who is Ran-boo?”

The kid laughed. “You are silly. Ranboo, or Ran? I’ll call you Ran.”

“Ran.” He repeats.

“Ran it is!”

“What you…”

“What's my name? Also it's your, not you.”

He nodded. “Name?”

The boy claps his hands. “Oh right! Name is what someone goes by, like what we call them or know them as. So I know you as Ranboo, or Ran.”

Ran nods his head. “Your name?”

“Oh, um.” He laughs awkwardly. “Don’t know, people at the orphanage called me Theseus, like after the Greek dude.”

“Do you like it?”

The boy shrugs. “Don’t know, it's a name I guess.”

Ranboo ponders, what's something short for Theseus, or close to it?

Theseus

Thesus

Thes...no that doesn’t sound right.

He went down the alphabet.

Thea? Nah that's too feminine, and Theseus was too much of a ‘big man’ (whatever that meant).

B, C, D...

Thed? Like Ted?

“Ted?”

The kid looked up at Ran. “What?”

“Ted? It's a T name.”

Theseus laughs. “No. Do I look like a Ted?”

Ranboo snorts.

E, F…

Thef?

He almost laughs, it fits but not as a name.

G, H, I, J, K, L, M…

Them? No, that's what Theseus says is a ‘pronoun’.

Tem? No that's not right either.

N, O…

“Theo!”

The boy looks at him. 

“Hm, Theo’s fine.” He snorts, “Better than Ted.”

Theo…

Tho

To

Ted, Them, Tem ...

“Tom?”

Theo smiles. “Tom is okay, what about Tommy?”

Ranboo gasps.

“Tommy! It's perfect.”

Tommy smiles. “Right it is, Ranboo.”

Ranboo walked through the portal, the weather now a stark opposite of the nether. He sighed, shivering lightly and wrapping a cape around his shoulders. He grips the soft cloth tightly, remembering the day Phil gave it to him.

The walk was a relatively short one, Ranboo's long legs carrying him farther than any humans would. His wings were pressed firmly into his back, but not uncomfortably so. The cape did well to hide them, as it almost reached his ankles and was thick enough to conceal any weird bumps.

He quickened his pace as the small cottage came into view, along with his ugly house carved out inside a hill. Ranboo laughs lightly at it, it was too easy to pick on Techno. The man always complained about how the thing ‘brought down his property value.’ All the more reason to keep making it uglier. 

The teen walked up to the house's porch, shuffling awkwardly to duck underneath the awning above it. His fist was ghosting over the door, what was he even going to say?

Hey, it's your neighbor, Ranboo! Just coming to make sure you don’t kidnap kids and throw them into fighting rings. That's all, thanks!

Yeah that definitely wouldn’t work.

He knocked on the wood. There was shuffling behind it, before it opened to reveal Phil.

“Oh hey Ranboo, I was wondering where you were.”

He rubbed his neck. “I was in Snowchester.”

The avian stiffened. 

“Got it.”

Ranboo sighed. “Can I come in?”

“Oh yeah of course.” They walked in, allowing Ranboo to take off his cape and spread his wings. “Sorry about that, mate. You’re probably cold, the fireplace is lit so you can go warm up. I’ll get Techno.”

He smiled at the man kindly. “Okay, thanks Phil.”

“No problem.”

Ranboo walked over to the fireplace and sat down on the floor. He practically folded into himself, becoming anything but the tall, lanky, teen he was.

What was he going to say? Was he overstepping, crossing a boundary? No of course not, he was in their little anarchist group…

He suddenly felt sick. He was in an anarchy group, and he’d apparently grown up on an anarchy server. Was he becoming a bad person? I mean they haven’t done anything bad, they just wanted peace. Techno and Phil did blow up L’Manberg, but that's all. They weren't bad, they were good people, nothing like the monsters he grew up with.

“Mate?”

Ranboo jumped, arms involuntarily moving in front of him. He couldn't help the vwoop noise that escaped his mouth, followed by quieter warbles.

Phil raised an eyebrow, but there was no judgement on his face. 

“You okay?”

He shrunk back into himself. “Yup, I’m so....”

Oh and of course he had to blank on the word now. What would Tommy say the word was?

Ranboo almost laughed. The teen had gone from a distant person to a close friend in mere hours. An ache blooms in his chest, had Tommy always seen him this way and Ranboo just hadn’t remembered him? Is this why the boy was always so distant, and blatantly hateful toward him? He always assumed it was a mask, a joke (which it was), but there did seem to be some sort of underlying grudge. 

“Yeah I don’t think he's good. What's up kid?”

Ranboo looked up to Techno, though he quickly averted his gaze back to the fire. 

“Uh- can you come sit down, please. I mean it's okay if you don’t want to-you can stand…”

The two didn’t respond, only sat on the floor against the couches by him.

“Are you okay?” Techno asked with his usual deadpanned tone, though Ranboo could tell he was actually worried.

“Uh- no…”

They don’t respond, only wait for him to continue. His hands itch for his memory book, to feel the hard leather cover and wrinkled pages, to reassure himself that the people in front of him are his friends. He wants to make sure he’s never had this conversation before, that he isn’t diving into something too deep or personal.

Ranboo kneeled down, plucking some short and singed grass in attempts to get seeds. Tommy always told him it was useless, but he had to try.

“Hello?” Someone asks, causing the Endearean to jump. He grabs a sword from his inventory, and swings it in front of him.

“Woah hey, I’m not here to cause any harm.”

Ranboo eyes the man. He was wearing enchanted netherite armor; there were multiple weapons, potions, and shrunken down shulker boxes strapped on a utility-belt-type thing slung diagonally across his chest. On his back sat a green elytra.

“Sure…” he draws.

The person raises an eyebrow, though not unkindly. “How old are you? You don’t look to be over thirteen. Jesus kid, how did you get on 2b2t?”

Ranboo doesn’t respond. 

“Right, don't talk to strangers. Smart. Umm…” he seems to ponder something before reaching and grabbing a shulker box. Ranboo resists the urge to take a step back, don’t show anyone weakness, they’ll only take advantage.

“Here.” 

Something was thrown on the ground, a little ways from Ranboo's feet. He stared at the thing, trying to figure out what it was. It almost looked like a tiny person, covered in gold and green.

“It’s a totem of undying. Treat it as sort of a peace treaty.”

Ranboo hesitantly picks up the thing, inspecting it.

“To-toe tem of un-dying?” Tommy’s never mentioned those words before, or any item that looked like this. Heck, Ranboo's never seen an item that looks like this. 

“Yeah, basically saves you from death. Regenerates some hearts when you lose all of them, as long as you’re holding it. Good for fighting or when you don’t want to lose your stuff. Doesn’t matter here as much, but on other servers with limited respawns it can come in handy.”

Ranboo looked down at his lap. “What-uh…”

Why was he here again?

“Calm down, you look like you’re going to teleport any second there.”

“Sorry.”

He shakes his wings out nervously. Now that Techno points it out he can feel the small buzzing under his skin, and there are some purple particles floating around him. 

“You’re good, now what were you trying to get at?”

“Do you ever think of leaving?” Ranboo asks suddenly, causing Tommy to look at him.

The two were currently sat on a huge cobblestone casted building, feet dangling over the edge and studying the destruction of the server.

“Of course.”

He looks over to his friend. “Why haven’t you?”

Ranboo didn’t mean it in a rude way, he really hadn’t, but Tommy reacted as if he’d just tried to stab him.

“Wh- Why haven’t I!” The boy leaped up, anger clear in his stance. “Oh gee, I haven’t thought of that Ranboo! No, I just chose to stay in a place that is pretty much the definition of hell!”

Tommy teetered dangerously on the edge, and if not for the mechanical wings on his back Ranboo would’ve grabbed him.

“So- sorry I didn’t me-“

“Haven’t we had this conversation before, I mean when we first ran into each other didn’t I tell you that I’m trapped here? I can’t get out, I’m stuck!”

Ranboo did not in fact remember that conversation. Now that he thought about it he couldn’t quite remember how he got into this server in the first place. Surely his parents hadn’t left him here, right? 

“Tom- Tommy I don’t-“

The boy turned back around to face Ranboo, and his anger immediately simmered down.

“You- wait. You actually don't remember?”

“I uh- I don’t know how to really put it into words.”

Phil shifts forward a little. 

“That’s okay. Why don’t you start from the beginning?” 

Ranboo nods, that makes sense. 

“Do you guys know a server called 2b2t?”

The two inhaled sharply.

“Why do you want to know about that place?”

“Here.” Tommy says, and hands Ranboo a feather.

“Oh, thanks…”

The boy laughs.

“Don’t act like that, be grateful for this amazing gift. You know chickens are very hard to come by?”

Ranboo snorts. “Yeah...but why did you give me a feather?”

Tommy huffs. “Wow, so ungrateful…”

He smiles, not commenting on the fact that they never get anything other than necessities. Every item they own is owned purely for survival; food, potions, and amour taking up a big part of their inventory. 

“Right right…”

The other boy sighs. “I was thinking we could make you a book and quill, for memories.”

Ranboo stiffens. It wasn’t an unknown fact anymore, but they rarely mentioned it. 

“Don’t we need leather? And sugarcane for paper...and an ink sack?”

All of those materials were very hard to come by. Animals were almost always picked off, most just murdered for the fun of it and not the resources. It was hard to find any good land for farming, and even then water was never in a stable spot, so planting sugarcane was off the table. Ranboo doesn’t even think he's ever seen a squid, and they weren't going to even try trading with someone (he ignores the faint memory of having to kill someone last time they tried that).

Tommy looked at him, mischief in his eyes.

“Oh no-”

“Fittttttt!” 

“Theo.” He scowled, the boy only smirked at him. “You know he's not going to come just like that, right? You’re going to have to message him.”

“Ugh fine, you take the dramatics out of everything. Memory boy.”

Ranboo sputtered, that was new.

“What did you call me?”

Tommy laughed. “Memory boy! You know...cause you can’t-”

He groaned, and ran a hand down his face. “No- no I get it.”

Did Ranboo want to tell them the truth? I mean they were anarchists, maybe they’d be happy, but Phil didn’t seem happy. 

“Oh- so you guys don’t like it?”

The avians face quickly shifted to disgust, oh shoot that was the wrong thing to ask. Ranboo looked over to Techno for reassurance, but he only seemed pissed, and Ranboo really didn’t want to deal with an angry Technoblade.

“Why the hell would we?” The man's voice rose slightly causing the teen to shrink into himself more.

“It’s an anarchy server, isn’t it?”

Realization crossed Techno’s face.

“It is, but there’s a difference between what we do and how that place is run.”

Ranboo cocked his head, he didn’t get it.

The man sighed. “We used to actually run an empire, practically took over the whole server too, though later we realized how government corrupts. Everyone was always fighting for territory, for rule and tyranny, it only ended in death and war.” Phil hummed in agreement. “The same thing happened here, you know this, but 2b2t is not the type of anarchy we strive for. We want people to be free of the restraints from governments, but that doesn’t mean you completely disregard folkways and mores.”

Ranboo nodded. “Folkways and more- morays?”

“Yeah. Folkways are norms or informal rules people are expected to follow, but there aren’t really any consequences when someone does one of these. Uh- you could say a folkway on this server is you don’t run on the prime path. Mores are similar, but often have repercussions, not by laws but more of how other people or society view and treat you.”

He nodded again.

“And 2b2t?”

Phil scoffed. “That server has none of that. They have no rules, no laws, folkways, mores, nothing. Whatever goes goes, and no one gets punished or held accountable for their actions.”

“Tommy!” He screams, voice hoarse and slightly garbled. Ranboo knows it’s irrational, irrational to automatically assume something terrible had happened to his friend, but this was a horrible place.

“Tommy!”

Ranboo's heart was pounding in his chest, where could he have gone? 

Mining? No they always went together, and rarely ever now that they’d stocked up on ores.

Hunting? Definitely not, there was little livestock here and in the desperate moments when they went out to loot people it was always done together. 

He was getting desperate.

“Theo!”

Should he message him? This place didn’t have very reliable private messaging. He could ask in the chat, but they’d both turned it off long ago due to the other members' crudeness.

“Theo!”

Ranboo imagines that if he could sweat, his hands would be soaked by now.

Could he have gone to see Fit? They always called him to their base, never the other way around. Apparently the man lived pretty far, and insisted he visit them since they were more vulnerable. “Kids, you’re kids” he’d say. ‘Targets, easy targets’ Ranboo's mind whispered.

He sighed, calling for the boy was only giving him a sore throat.

~To TommyInnit: Theo?

Message failed to send

“Dammit!” Ranboo wasn’t one to swear, quite frankly he never understood why curse words were considered ‘bad’, but now seemed like a pretty good time to do it.

~To TommyInnit: Tom

Message failed to send

~To TommyInnit: Tommy

Message failed to send

~To TommyInnit: Tommy, please, where are you?

Message failed to send

~To TommyInnit: Where r u

Ranboo sighed in relief, thank gods it sent.

~From TommyInnit: help

~From TommyInnit: help

~From TommyInnit: hel

Ranboo couldn’t help the angered noise that arose in his throat, a familiar buzzing entered his veins like when...well he couldn’t remember when but it wasn’t a new feeling. 

Small vwoops and chirps came out, building until a constant stream of noise was leaving his mouth. It only grew louder and more aggressive, and his jaw unhinged instinctively. The feeling under his skin grew as well, just enough for it to feel slightly painful, but never reaching the level of pain water caused.

His whole body seemed to be shaking, and purple particles started to surround him. They came off his body in flakes, slowly surrounding his vision. He could feel something in his gut start pulling, almost like a rubber band, though he didn’t know what. Ranboo didn’t have time to worry, to wonder if he was dying, because next thing he knows the band snaps and he’s getting pulled somewhere.

When he lands he stumbles, and the purple flakes come back to his body leaving an itchy feeling. The weird pull in his gut disappears, and the almost-burning pain is completely gone.

“Ran?”

His head snaps up, only to be met with the site of a bloody Tommy.

“Holy shit Tom.” There he goes swearing again, gods he’s really been around the other boy too much.

“Wha’ the fuck! How did you just- just appear here?”

Ranboo pushes the panicking part of him to the side.

“Doesn’t matter right now, you’re hurt.”

The boy seems to deflate. “Mm’ fine.”

He sighs, Tommy was anything but fine. The clothes he could see through his armor was torn and singed, along with his hair being burnt at the ends. There was blood coming from multiple areas on him, and he was missing his shoes. The usual full utility belt was practically empty, and his elytra was gone. It was very clear what had happened.

“Someone loot you?”

“Nah-“

“You’re lucky you got away with your life.”

Tommy snorted. “Woulda been easier than dealing with the pain n’ shit. Honestly you should just kill me, not like we’ll lose my things now. It’ll save us a lot of medical supplies- like potions and…” he trails off, like how Ranboo does whenever he forgets words. 

“No! No, I’m not killing you.”

The boy laughs. “Okay…”

That’s not good.

Ranboo kneels down next to him, grabbing his face lightly and holding a finger up.

“Follow my finger with your eyes.”

He moves his hand right, only for the other to move his head the same direction.

“No Tommy, move your eyes only.”

“M’kay.” He slurs.

He moves his hand left, only for Tommy to move his head again.

“Okay yeah you have a concussion. Don’t know much about head wounds but the way you’re acting isn’t right.”

Tommy laughs, like he’d just told the world's most hilarious joke. “Guy did get me pretty hard on me ed’.”

Ranboo couldn’t help but chuckle, even though Tommy was clearly severely concussed his laugh was always contagious. “Seems like it, bud.”

The boy pouted. “Don’t call me bud, makes me feel like a stupid kid.”

“Well we are kids.”

“Exactly.”

What?

“Okay… how about we get back to the base.”

Tommy hummed. Now was the hard part, getting a stubbornly injured kid back to a place with no idea how to actually get back to said place.

“Tom, do you know where we are?”

He groaned. “Don’ call me that, and uh- we’re probably a couple thousand blocks away from the base.”

Ranboo groans. Of course they were, Tommy had had his elytra after all. He sighs, brushing off that problem for later. Now how were they going to get back? Even if they both had elytra's Tommy couldn’t fly, and Ranboo couldn’t carry him. Horses were as rare, if not rarer, than any other animal and wouldn’t even do much with the harsh terrain. 

“Fittt.” Tommy wined, as he did whenever they were stuck in a situation. 

Ranboo didn’t chastise him for this now though. He wasn’t going to message Fit in the slim chance it’d go through. Plus it wasn’t even close to the next scheduled date they’d set for the man to visit, so he wouldn’t know something was wrong for a while.

The only real option left was walking and boat. Oh god this was going to be a long trip.

He shivered.

“Ranboo?” The teen looked up at Techno, “Why’re you asking about this?”

He looked down, a smile trying to force its way onto his face even though he was in no way happy. But it was kind of funny, in a way. The anarchists (though Ranboo guesses that’s really just a loose label for what they actually believe in) were asking why he was wondering about an anarchy server, when he literally lives with anarchists. Not to even mention the Syndicate, which he was obviously also a part of too.

“Uh, just curious.”

The two looked at him with incredulous expressions, he’d always been a bad liar.

“I’ve been remembering some stuff.”

“Oh?”

He could practically see the gears turning in Techno's head.

“Yeah. I- dreams and stuff, ya know?”

The two walked, well Ranboo more walked and Tommy leaned on Ranboo. The health potion seemed to clear some of the boy's haze in favor of his more physical wounds.

“So… enderman?”

He pauses.

“What?”

Tommy shrugs . “You teleported and were practically covered in those purple particle-type things endermen cause when they travel. Plus part of your skin does resemble an enderman, and water hurts you. You also make noises similar to one-“

“Okay I get it.”

They continued walking, occasionally taking breaks and collecting materials.

“So you are an enderman hybrid?”

It was Ranboo's turn to shrug now. “Don’t know, guess I am.”

Tommy looked at him.

“What about the other half of you? I mean no offense Ran, but you don’t exactly look a hundred percent ‘human’.” He suddenly gasps. “Can you unlatch your jaw?”

He sighs but does as asked. With not much effort Ranboo unlatches his jaw and opens his mouth slightly to show Tommy.

“Oh that’s cool. Kinda creepy, but cool. Almost looks like a messed up smiley face.”

Ranboo scrunches up his face. “That sounds so disturbing.”

Tommy laughs, a boisterous sound that makes Ranboo laugh as well.

“Kind of is, big man.”

“Oh.”

Techno could guess where this was going, and that scared him. The kid obviously had some sort of connection to the anarchy server, and was now worried that the two men he’d practically moved in with were similar to the monsters on 2b2t. 

Phil looked over at him, confused. “Oh?”

The piglin hybrid shook his head.  

“Sorry,” Ranboo takes a deep breath, “I should tell you.”

Surprisingly Techno was the one to reassure him. “You don’t have to.”

He looked up and sent him a strained smile. 

“I grew up there, on 2b2t.”

Phil didn’t know what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t this. He’d been alive a long time, and only ever heard horror stories about that place, never wanting to visit himself. Fighting rings, gangs, black markets and pure destruction being the core principles of it. There were rarely any kids ever there, thankfully, but when there was it was awful. No one there cared about whoever they were fighting, whoever they were killing and traumatizing. Items went through thousands of players, more of a bargaining chip than useful. Phil knows the types of fighting there, the items being used, unheard of in combat or how people even obtained them. He's seen videos, pictures, and met others who had been there. The ones scarred and bodies broken, most having long lasting effects that left them unable to ever fight again. 

He couldn't even imagine fighting with that much lung damage. Usually players there didn't care enough to wear any sort of protection outside of armor, and masks were very rare. Respawn only fixed so much, but permanent damage often stayed, whether it be scars or smoke inhalation.

“You grew up on that server?”

“Jesus, how old were you?” Techno asked, not able to hide the horror in his voice. “How did you even get there? I mean I’m assuming you didn’t choose to go there...”

Ranboo looked down again. It was pretty obvious if you asked him. Hybrids used to be hated, and some people still wanted them gone. Others were confused and curious, though not in a good way.

He just shook his head.

Technoblade and Phil looked at each other, they were able to read between the lines. 

“How did you survive?”

He shrugged. “I had a friend, it wasn't that bad. We survived.”

Technoblade had never visited the place either, and he never planned to. He enjoyed going through different servers, seeing where people's loyalty lied and who had power. This could be anything from a democracy to anarchy, but he refused to go to that destruction filled place. He’d heard about the awful spawn that went on for miles and miles, cobblestone and obsidian covered buildings, lava and water and fire covering acres of land.

“Ranboo we don’t even go there.”

“We survived.” He repeated, almost desperately.

Phil sighed. “How old were you two?”

Ranboo tilted his head in thought. 

“Not sure, anywhere from seven to ten?”

“Fuck.”

Did they not know about Tommy's past? 

“So I’m… glitched?”

Fit nodded. “Basically. A lot of the code and programming written for the hub, and to you know make it a server, is old. It clashes with the newer player code causing these glitches. I’m assuming it’s happened before, I mean these commands are really outdated.”

Tommy grumbled. “Just my luck.” 

Ranboo patted his back.

“Is there any way to fix it? I mean we can’t possibly be stuck here indefinitely, right?”

“I can try, it’ll take a long time and I might need to get help. Ideally I’d talk to the admins, that’s who you usually contact in these situations, but they’ve long since left.”

Tommy groans. “Of course they have.”

Fit smiles, an almost grim look rather than actually happy.

“Do you…” He trails off, is it even his place to tell them?

Phil frowns. “Do we what?”

It isn't really his place, is it? But surely Tommy had told them, or at least Wilbur.

A part of him knows that’s not true.

Techno clears his throat. 

“Ranboo,” He looks over, “You know we’re not like the people on 2b2t, right?”

Ranboo froze. Of course they realized why he brought up the server in the first place.

“It was stupid-”

“Not really, mate.”

He looks up at Phil, and can’t help but notice how similar Tommy's features are to his, even though they aren’t biologically related. 

“We came up with each other’s names, my friend and I.”

The two looked at each other, but didn’t comment on the sudden topic change.

“I don’t think I ever actually had a name before. If I did I certainly don’t remember it.” He smiled fondly. “He was teaching me English, though half the time I pronounced stuff wrong because I’d never talked in anything other than Enderean. I was trying to say ‘rainbow’ but kept saying ran-boo. He wouldn’t let me live it down, don’t know why that was so funny to him, out of all the words I’d mispronounced… Anyways, it kind of stuck after that.”

Techno, surprisingly, laughs. “Sounds like something Tommy would say.”

Ranboo chuckles, words falling out of his mouth before he realizes.

“It was.”

Oh shoot, why did he say that?

No one spoke for a minute, and he’s sure you could hear a pin drop.

“What?”

Ranboo looks over to Phil, surprised to see the man shaking. His wings were pulled against his back, but he could still see the small shivers running through them. A couple feathers fell to the floor, and it's only then that he realized there was a pile starting to form on the ground.

“Tommy was the friend.”

“Wilbur,” Phil took a deep breath in, “Wilbur never told us.”

Ranboo sighs, of course he never told anyone. 

“I don’t even think he told Wilbur.”

Techno chuffed suddenly, a strange noise, but not uncommon.

“And you’re positive that it was Tommy?”

He almost laughed. It wasn’t the Tommy they knew, in fact he hadn’t been that boy in a long time. When they lived together in a cramped, carved out area underground they had a lot of room for conversation. Of course a lot of the things Ranboo now knew hadn’t happened yet, but the person Tommy was on 2b2t versus the Tommy on the Dream SMP were almost two different people. Of course the awful language he’d learned on the anarchy server never left him, but he wasn’t as hopeful, or happy. And that's the sad thing, isn’t it? Because the Tommy on 2b2t had been so much happier than the one on here. Even when the boy was stuck on a horrible server, he seemed so free . 

“Yeah.” He smiled. “You should’ve seen him with an elytra. He was really jealous after I got my wings, sad that he couldn’t fly without the mechanical things. He actually started designing his own, ones that he didn’t have to constantly repair. But you know, we were like eight, so there was only so much knowledge he had.”

Phil chuckles softly. “He was always interested in my wings. Wanted to know everything there was to know about them. He’d watch me fly a lot too.”

Techno brings his legs up to his chest, positioning himself in an almost vulnerable way, something Ranboo had never seen before.

“Remember when Wil brought him home? Kid was tense, kept looking at me like I was going to attack him. He looked at you the same way Phil. The only one he really trusted was Wil.”

“Well yeah, but that's normal. He didn’t know us.”

“True,” Techno looked off in thought. “Do you remember that phase he went through?”

Phil laughed. “Which one?”

“He was obsessed with weapons and enchantments. Carried a sword everywhere, kept asking me about things I didn’t know.”

Ranboo chuckled, and words flowed out of his mouth before he even realized what he was saying. “We always carried weapons, it was kind of second nature. Most of the armor we had was pre-enchanted, and I didn’t know English well enough to understand half of them.”

Why did it feel like he was grieving Tommy? Ranboo knew the teen was fine, but he was talking about him as if he was dead. A sinking feeling entered his gut, one he tried to brush off.

He doesn’t even know why he was talking about this, but it seemed easier than talking to Tubbo about it. After telling him the person he met on 2b2t looked like Tommy he’d practically folded into himself. He’d kept mumbling, asking why Tommy would keep something like that from him. The proposition of memory loss only got so far, though it wasn’t exactly unrealistic. Trauma did wonders, and Ranboo suspects that the server is what triggered his memory loss in the first place. 

Techno chuckled. “Ah, makes sense. Tommy used to take my armor, though the kid was too small to actually wear it.”

There were obviously many questions left unanswered, ones that they’d have to address eventually, but Ranboo wasn’t ready for that yet (heck he didn’t even have half the answer to his own questions).

He pulled out his memory book, hand hovering over the cover reassuringly. These were his memories. He had to believe something, and if a book kept the distrust of his mind under wraps then he’d use it. 

The three moved onto lighter topics. Stories and thoughts shared between them, but never ones to do with their server. No, that subject was avoided. He watched as the two reminisced of forgotten events, most involving the other three family members. Ranboo pushes away the angry feelings that come from that, because they talked about them with such love when he’d only ever seen hatred and betrayal between the family.

He ended up on the couch, curled up in blankets and head on Techno's lap.

The bad feeling returned, only growing as the sun set and stars appeared. He pushed it away, wanting to savor these moments. Good things seemed so rare, and he didn’t want to waste it.

Laughs filled the small cabin, and Ranboo fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Instead of waking up slowly, wrapped in the comfort of Techno's house, Ranboo woke up abruptly. Alarm bells went off in his head, and the bad feeling in his gut made sense now.

He got up quickly, scanning his surroundings and trying to find an exit.

“Welcome Ranboo,” An ominous voice said, “We’ve been expecting you.”

What the heck?

“Hello?”

Ranboo didn’t remember much about his past, but he thinks he would’ve remembered a weird room with a spooky voice.

“Hello, who are you?” He looked around. “Where am I?”

The voice sighed, and it's as if the structure sighed with it. 

The walls were black and grey, surrounding him in a brilliant way and pattern unlike anything he’d ever seen before. What was this place, and how did he get here?

“You’re destined for more than the fate given to you.”

“Heh?”

It didn’t respond.

He sighed, great.

Ranboo started to walk around, his surroundings only growing as he went. 

How the heck did he even get here? I mean surely he couldn’t have been teleported, that was a rare occurrence only done by admins, usually in desperate times.

The blackstone-brick lined hall unsettled him, and the lanterns hung sparsely around didn’t help anything. The walls were lined with carved out spots, fire blazing in the spaces. Pillars ran from the floor to the high ceilings, supporting the huge structures’ tall walkways. 

“Okay okay, this is fine- this is completely fine…”

He could feel his heart beating, and had to stop his breathing from speeding up with it.

“Creepy building, this is fine. I’m sleeping right? This is some sort of memory, just a really vivid one… yeah. That's what this is.”

He turns left and is met with an open balcony.

Ranboo couldn’t form any words as he stepped outside. The horizon was full of dark clouds, and it was raining. The ground surrounding the structure was covered in nether rack, and dark red tentacle-like shapes seemed to be growing from it. 

He looked left and right, not surprised to see the building expanding miles from where he stood. It was a castle, that much was obvious, but it seemed almost...alive. The ground moved slightly as if someone was breathing, and rain pelted down like tears. It felt normal, but it didn’t burn him like usual.

“You deserve more than what the server has caused, what Dream has caused.”

There goes the voice again, was this his subconscious, like the Dream voice? Ranboo ignores the part of his brain that rejects the thought, knowing deep down that both of these things were not a part of him.

“What Dream has- what are you talking about?”

“Soon, my little ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔⍜⋏.”

Ranboo's body went weak and his legs collapsed under him. It felt as if there were weights on his shoulders, stopping him from getting back up. 

“Wh- what’s happenin? Wh- why did ya’ call me that?” He slurred.

The voice didn’t respond.

He tried to fight unconsciousness, staring at a single white rose perched on the railing. He can’t help but think how it weirdly contrasts the surroundings, just like Ranboo's own dual-toned skin.

His eyes closed, and his limbs went numb. 

Instead of the black he expected to surround his vision, there were only colors.

And then came the memories. 

Conversations long forgotten float around his head, late night talks with his husband, building plans with Foolish, yelling matches between him and Fundy, brief reassurances from Sam, and even Karl’s greeting from his first day on the server. Plans between Tubbo for the election, the one that never technically occurred. His funny ‘first impression’ with Tommy, the one Ranboo now realizes was his last talk before the boy figured out who he was. The first time he realized that this server might not be what it was made out to be, when he learned of history and truths. Water and music and a familiar voice bouncing off obsidian walls. Fights between L’Manbergs residents about sides and countries, words trying to convince them of what Dream was doing. Demands of penance and revenge. Accusations of betrayal and lost trust. Threats of violence. 

Images of Snowchester at night, all lit up came back to him, glowing against the commune's environment. Playing with Michael in the snow while Tubbo smiled fondly, taking pictures as they made small snow animals. Hot chocolate and baking. Stories and trauma shared over drinks and pastries. Promises made and friendships broken. Nights plagued by nightmares, bodies littered with scars and wounds from ignored causes. Quiet conversations between Ranboo and Tubbo held over mugs filled with what was definitely not hot chocolate. Fights between the two about Technoblade and Philza, about Tommy and discs and grudges. Arguments surrounding nukes and power and protection, for unexplained voices and directions given. For rooms built, rooms similar to one built by a former revolutionist. 

Brief flashes of another server crossed his vision, one filled with killing and games, but not anarchy. Tommy was there, but only briefly as Ranboo exceeded in torment's, rising in the ranks. Bows drawn, weapons chosen, blood shed. Floating islands that shouldn’t be possible stood out the most, high glass boxes in the sky defying laws of gravity. Meeting the dark abyss that was the void many times. Bloody swords and arrows, some aimed at him and some meant for others. Meeting many people, but two standing out the most: a teen in purple and a man in red. 

Then came the horrid memories of 2b2t, a server full of death and destruction. Being taken and thrown into fighting at such a young age, only to be killed again and again and again. Learning only from his mistakes, no one taking the time to tell him what he was doing wrong, what was getting him fatally injured. 

Meeting a boy, Tommy. The same teen he watched deteriorate, so much different from the boy he met on his first day. The same one who, time and time again, challenged Dream. The only other one besides Tubbo who seemed to understand the severity of the admins Dream's actions.

Travels to a faraway island, reports of every letter and visit, mind too cloudy to remember anything specific. The lingering smell of gunpowder stood out the most, along with unsteady bridges and dull eyes, eyes that once held such hope. A thin tower, built high into the sky.

Grinding for sand and gunpowder. Spending hours delicately crafting tnt, fingers scarred and singed from wrong placements. A dark night, fuses placed and lit around an important house. More gunpowder and smoke.

Eavesdropping, spying, chests searched. Reports of a group, ideas and plans discussed over a forbidden table, a portal that will never be lit, one that caused Ranboo's heart to ache every time. Secrets spilled, an unknown member ruined.

Lessons given, visits to the prison, plans of escape made. Meetings with Punz, payments given and ideas confirmed. Smiles flashed through a bright purple haze, contracts signed and a Warden tricked.

Dozens of other things flashed by, only bringing realization and horror.

Ranboo knew he was missing some things, knew that the books only did so much, but the difference was greater than he could have imagined. Although it didn’t feel like he was rewatching his life, only that huge gaps in his memory were being filled, creating connections that explained so many things.

“I’m glad you understand now, Ranboo.” The creepy voice said.

Everything went black.

Chapter Text

Tommy sat perched on the island in the castle's kitchen. He watched as Karl searched the cabinets and drawers for ingredients, pulling out some as he went. The teen flipped a dagger in his hands expertly, one he totally hadn't snatched from Eret's collection. Karl glanced at him every couple of minutes, checking to make sure he hadn’t accidentally stabbed himself. The blade gave him comfort though, made him feel safe. Now if something happened he had a weapon, and he would use it if needed.

“Have either of you seen Callahan?” Eret asked.

Tommy looked up. 

After dropping Tubbo off, him and Karl had come back to the Pride Palace. He bothered Karl around every five minutes about that weird white palace and where they were, but the man just kept insisting they’d talk about it over dinner (he knew it was really because Eret was here).

“No.” Karl said without looking up.

Tommy shrugs. “I’ll be honest, I don’t really know who that is.”

Eret furrowed his eyebrows.

“You’ve met him before.”

“Uh-no?”

The man turned to Karl.

“Karl?”

“Yeah I don’t know who that is.” Upon seeing their expression he stutters. “I mean I’m not the best person to ask here. You know, memory problems and all…”

Eret let out a huff. 

“Chill out, big man. I’m sure they're around here somewhere. Why don’t you just message them?”

They shook their head. “I tried, but the messages aren’t going through. Tommy  I swear you’ve met him before… no I know you have. We talked to him together one time, right before Dream blew up L’Manberg.”

Tommy bit back the ‘ which time?’ question. He tried to think back to when that happened, but all he remembered was talking to his friends and getting materials.

“No?”

“Callahan. He's around Karl's height, has brown hair, wears a mask over his eyes, has reindeer horns, slightly red nose, is sarcastic, doesn’t talk?”

Why was this bothering Eret so much? Tommy doesn’t remember the guy, and he's never even seen a reindeer hybrid. 

He shook his head causing Eret to huff again.

“Hey don’t worry,” Karl said. “I’m sure he’ll show up.”

“Thanks. Sorry I’m just...worried. Anyways I’m going to be training my knight on the other side of the palace, so feel free to do whatever. I won’t be back before dark-umm you guys can take any of the rooms on the second floor. There should be everything you need already in them, but in case there isn’t just go into the closet at the end of the hall.”

“Thanks Eret.”

The King smiled at the teen, only frowning slightly upon seeing the weapon.

“Where’d you get that?”

“Oh sorry I can put it back-” he stammers.

“No it's okay, just want to know so I can replace it. Actually if you want I can make you a better one.”

Tommy scans him. He looks relaxed, and his fingers aren’t itching for a sword. 

He could use his fists.

“Ah, I can make my own. Ya know I should be able to do that by now…” He sets down the blade, and inches away from it. 

Eret doesn't make a move to grab it.

“Nah it's okay, you keep it. Don’t use those stupid display weapons anyway.”

“Oh-kay…”

Tommy doesn't grab back the weapon, but the other still leaves it there. 

“Have fun Eret, and be safe!” Karl says like a protective parent, but there's a joking tone in his voice.

The man just laughs and waves them off, walking out of the room.

It was silent for a minute, the only noise heard being Karl rummaging around the kitchen.

“You know you can ask me for supplies. When you travel you only bring the things in your inventory.”

The obvious you were in the prison before and didn’t have your items on you was left unspoken. 

“Ah, okay.” He rubs his neck nervously. Tommy wants to bring up the elephant in the room, and although he’d been bothering Karl about it, he couldn’t help the growing pit in his gut.

Karl sighs and puts down the measuring cup in his hand. Tommy watches as he makes his way over and sits next to him.

“Look I’m sorry we got separated. I’m sure you’re really confused, and have probably already started to put the pieces together. I’ve never...I’ve never had to actually tell another person, or I guess have another person experience the same thing as me. I was thrown into this, quite literally, and had to learn as I went; but I don’t want you to have to go through the same thing I did.”

Tommy sighs, he wasn’t panicking, he totally wasn’t. “Okay.”

“Uh-where should I start?”

“You don’t have to tell me everything, just why did I wake up in that weird castle? And what is this place? I mean I know where we are, but it must be a weird version of the SMP or something.” He laughed, “I mean if I didn’t know any better I’d say we’re in the past.”

Karl didn’t say anything.

“Karl?”

The man looked down.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. No…” Tommy stood up. “Goddammit, I knew it. I knew it but I didn’t want to believe it!”

The teen turned to Karl.

“You’re-you are shitting me, right? I mean so much happened, I can’t go through all this-this bullshit again!”

“Hey, hey it’ll be okay. Usually with these types of things there's a goal, something we have to accomplish before we can go back.”

Tommy looked up. “But there's hints and stuff right, like you know what we have to fix.”

Karl stayed silent. 

“Right?”

“I’m sorry, it's not that simple. But don’t worry! We know what happens here, so I can only guess what we’re supposed to stop.”

“L’Manberg from being blown up.”

“Bingo!”

“But won’t this interfere with the future, or I guess our present?” 

Karl rubbed his neck. ‘Um…”

“You don't know?” Tommy asks, exasperated.

“Well no, not exactly. I’ve gotten teleported to the past before, just-it was always before the Dream SMP. Or after.”

Tommy stared at him, eyes wide. “You mean you’ve-this-what?”

Karl sighed and summoned a book from his inventory. 

“I write all my travels, keep it in a library under Kinoko Kingdom, although this book is just what happens in our current time. It tends to get...difficult to keep track of everything.”

“Why?”

“I-uh...I’ve traveled to the future quite a few times, tried changing things. Never really worked.”

“Wh-what?” Tommy stuttered. 

“Uh you remember when Wilbur had originally planned to blow up L’Manberg, as a last resort type thing during the festival?”

“Yeah, but he couldn’t find the button...oh.”

Karl smiled, but it looked more like a grimace. “Yeah.”

“Wait so that was a future you went to to change? So my present isn’t yours?”

“No it is, but in one of the futures I went to Wilbur had blown up L’Manberg during that festival-“ he cut himself off, Tommy shouldn’t be hearing this. The man knew of the horror that was the future, of what could be the future, he didn’t want Tommy to know (or experience) the same. 

“What-what happened in them?” The teen asked timidly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but at the same he did. A part of Tommy needed to know what could have gone wrong, how he was lucky compared to other times (he ignores the part of his brain that will use that against him). He needed to be reassured that his friends didn’t experience the worst case scenario, needed to make sure that what Karl was doing actually changed something, needed to know if he’d be able to do the same.

“I don’t think I should tell you.” Karl shook his head. “You don’t need to know of all the timelines I’ve failed.”

A sort of desperation clawed at Tommy.

“No, I-I want to.”

The man looked down. “It was awful. Everyone died…”

“Even Tubbo?”

“Yeah.”

Tommy just stared at him, “What-but I-”

“Techno killed him just like he did to our Tubbo, but then Wilbur blew everything up.” Tommy’s heart sank. Tubbo had lost his first life in the final control room, he’d only had two left at that festival. “You died too, but it wasn’t your final life. Are you sure you want-“

“I-I want to hear this.”

Karl sighed, “Phil didn’t come and Wilbur fell farther than ours ever did. H-he asked you to kill him, but you said no. After that he lost it, kept trying to reach for your sword, to kill himself with…” he trailed off.

“Then? Then what?”

“Then he accidentally hurt you, but there was nothing anyone could do about it.”

Tommy swallowed dryly. 

“Y-you said,” A tear slid down Karl's face, “You said it was okay, that you would’ve followed Tubbo anyways.”

Tears welled up in his eyes, he willed them not to fall. Surely he and Tubbo hadn’t fully died, hadn’t lost all three lives at sixteen, but with the way Karl was talking…

The desperation came back tenfold. 

“I-what happened to Wilbur after that? What about Techno?”

“I don’t know, I think he kill-” He took a deep breath, “I think he killed himself, but I was taken back before I could be a hundred percent sure.”

His tears fell, he didn’t wipe them away. “Fuck.”

Karl let out a watery laugh. “Yeah...I’m sorry. I should’ve stopped talking.” He forgot a lot of things from travels, but he can never seem to forget the ones where his friends die.

“No, it's fine. I wanted to know.”

The other shuffled awkwardly. “There-there are more futures I’ve been to, our futures I mean.”

Tommy stared, what happened in those alternatives? Did it ever go the way they wanted it too, did they ever get any sort of happy ending? He didn't want to think about this. He didn’t experience it, so why was he getting so worked up about it?

Because it could’ve happened to you.

“Fuck Karl, how many versions of that damn festival have you even seen?”

“I-I don’t think I could tell you honestly. I don’t remember it all, and some of them I didn’t want to remember, so I didn’t write those down.” 

Something occurred to Tommy then, and he was painfully reminded of his own dilemma, one that was displayed on his inner wrist.

“Did you ever die in them? I mean surely not…”

It was silent for a minute. Karl fidgeted and looked away from Tommy before opening and closing his mouth multiple times.

“Yes.”

Tommy blanched. Fuck.

“Ho-how many times? I only remember you losing one life in our time, so you still have- had two…”

He looked down.

“Karl?”

“I- I died a couple times when trying to stop the festival from happening, before determining what had to be fixed.” He summoned a book from his inventory, and flipped a couple pages. “When the other festival happened, the one where Wilbur actually blew up L’Manberg, I couldn’t find a way to stop it. I’ve also got killed a couple times...during other travels, outside of the SMP.”

Tommy's breathing sped up, what the fuck?

A conversation from earlier popped into his head.

“Yeah, I know. I’m not a hybrid, but my family's bloodline is...weird.”

“Are you- are you even human?”

It seemed like a stupid question, but he was freaking out. Dream had always gone on about being a god, how his bloodline has ancient admin blood. Technoblade has always said ‘Blood for the Blood God,’ and Tommy never knew if the man was a god, or if he was some sort of descendent (or just straight up lying...or crazy). He wasn’t naïve to Phil's title either, ‘The Angel of Death’ did have a ring to it, and only one person had ever had such wings as his. He wasn’t a clear hybrid, and his apertures differed from any winged creature (he ignored the wings Ranboo had, big, black and purple things that he’d never seen before). 

Karl surprisingly just laughed. 

“Yes I’m human, just a very unlucky and cursed one.”

He seemed to know the oncoming question, so he answered it before Tommy could ask. Karl put out his arm, palm up, and pushed back a bracelet. Where his lives should’ve been was an infinity symbol, one matching the one on Tommy's wrist.

He jumped up, knocking over his chair in the process. “Holy shit!”

The man laughed again, clearly not seeing the panic in Tommy's eyes.

His heart was practically beating out of his chest. Was that his fate? To die dozens of times? He’d already had to three times, and those were enough for his lifetime (well it was supposed to be the only in his lifetime). Maybe this was why Dream had set it to three..it was too much. No one could actually deal with all that death, so how did Karl?

Tommy brought up a hand to his wrist, clutching it firmly in frustration. Why did this have to happen to him? He wanted to get rid of it, he’d rather be dead.

The teen started to scratch at the mark, and a dark thought crossed his head. Would burning it off do anything? 

“Tommy?”

Karl stood up, rushing over to where the teen was standing. A small whine escaped the boy's lips, and he didn’t seem to realize he was doing it. 

“Hey hey, it's okay.”

The noise only got louder, and it was only then that he noticed the vice grip Tommy had on his wrist. 

“Tommy what's going on?”

Tommy looked up at him. 

“What's going to happen to me Karl? Am I supposed to just keep dying, over and over and over again? I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to go through what you went through, what you’ve had to go through.”

Karl's eyebrows furrowed.

“What, no of course you won’t have to.”

The time-traveler wanted to tell him that it was unrealistic, that there was no reason, but he knew it wasn’t true. Tommy had been to the In-Between, he’d been sent to the past, who knows what this could lead to. The first time Karl traveled he was stuck in an abandoned server, one that was thoroughly blown up. There wasn’t much he could do, though he wasn’t there for long. At first he thought it’d been a glitch, but then it happened again, and again.

He desperately wanted this to be the teens only travel, gods know he’d been through enough, but both of them were extremely unlucky. Enough had happened in their present to prove that.

“Hey it's okay, this might be your only travel. Who knows you might wake up back in our time after this, or maybe even the afterlife. Maybe this is your ‘unfinished business,’ you know like maybe you have to fix this before you can move on.” 

Tommy shook his head. “We both know that's bullshit.”

His throat ached, and he was reminded of all that his body had gone through. Tommy's chest was tight again, almost in achy way, and his throat burned. He could blame it on his panic, but that pain had been there for a long time. The same thing applied to the ringing in his ears, and the faint smell of smoke lingering in his nose. His senses had all been fucked since the wars. He couldn’t smell stuff as well, not since he’d breathed in so much smoke and practically fried his nasal passages. He could also hear a faint ringing in his ears, and has long lost the ability to hear quiet noises.

“I'm sorry.”

“Karl-” he coughed, “I need to tell you something. Well I guess I can show you but…”

Wordlessly he pulled up his sleeve and stuck his arm out to Karl, inviting him to undo the green bandana tied securely around his wrist. 

The man stepped closer, and reached for his arm slowly, as to not startle Tommy. He looked up at the teen, then back down at his extended arm. A feeling of dread pooled in his stomach. With careful hands, Karl untied the bandana. 

“Oh honk.”

Tommy laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m going back to the present anytime soon.”

Karl swallowed dryly. He never wanted this. Quite frankly he didn’t know why Tommy woke up in the In-Between to begin with, only that he’d died. When he traveled he didn’t know if the teen would follow, even when he couldn’t find this times Tommy it didn’t mean anything. For all he knows he could’ve run away, but of course it couldn’t be that simple. He wishes that was the case, and his times Tommy could’ve lived happily in whatever afterlife he had. Instead he got dragged down into more stuff, only this time he had to follow an amnesic guy who didn’t know what he was doing. 

Telling Sapnap had been a good idea, but he could only do so much. 

Someone sucked in a breath, but it wasn’t Tommy or Karl. They both froze. 

Tommy quickly grabbed the dagger from the island and turned around, holding the weapon out in front of him protectively.

In the doorway stood a woman with white fluffy hair that held a rainbow streak, armor was strapped on but you could still see the hints of a captain's uniform between the gaps.

“Puffy.” He sighed in relief.

Wait Puffy?

“Hey guys…” Eret said, “We were just coming for some food.”

Puffy stood next to him awkwardly.

“Hi?”

Chapter Text

Eret frowned at Tommy. “Are you okay Tommy?”

The teen looked down, trying to discreetly wipe away his tears. 

“Yep, I’m great! Never better.”

They raised an eyebrow in disbelief but didn’t push, probably because of the knight stood at his side.

“Well this is Puffy, my new knight, but you seem to already know her.”

Tommy rubs his neck, sending a panicked look to Karl. Did he mess up more, what would even happen if someone knew about this time-travel stuff. 

“Sorry, I don’t remember you.”

He waves the sheep hybrid off. “It's okay.” 

Puffy's eyes trailed to his wrist that was still semi-extended out, knife in hand. Tommy quickly pulled back, but she clearly saw the mark. Her eyes widened but she surprisingly didn't comment.

“Uh, how much of that did you hear?” He asked timidly. 

“Just the-” She cleared her throat. “Just the last part, didn’t really make any sense though…”

He sighed in relief. “Okay.”

Eret clapped their hands before an awkward silence could surround them. 

“Well like I said, we were just coming to get food.”

“Oh!” Karl exclaims. “I was just making spaghetti, you guys should join us!”

Tommy wanted to curse out the man, did he not notice that he was clearly panicking. I mean here stood Puffy, someone who wasn’t supposed to join until November. Wasn’t that a tad bit concerning?

Maybe he never met her, or he forgot.

“Oh that's okay, we wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“Nonsense! It’ll take me twenty minutes, tops. Plus training can be draining, you should eat something besides sandwiches.”

Puffy smiled at him, and something told Tommy that the two were going to be good friends someday, even if they’ve never met in Karl and Tommy's present. 

Eret smiled gratefully and put a hand on Puffy's shoulder. “Thank you Karl, that means a lot.”

“Of course. Now go relax.” He turned to Tommy, pointing a spatula at the teen accusingly. “That means you too, Tommy.”

The three walked over to the dining room, Tommy only grumbled along the way. 

He sat a couple seats down from the head of the table, assuming that’s where Eret's sits (and he didn’t want to sit next to them or their knight). Instead, Puffy and them took a seat by him. Of course.

“So, where are you from Tommy?”

The question made him freeze. He doesn’t think anybody’s ever asked him that before, at least not on this server. 

“Well I obviously didn’t grow up here, actually grew up in a place way worse than here, if you can believe it.” He laughs humorlessly. “Spent a while there, a friend and I lived together, but we were able to leave after a couple of years. We went to Hypixel after that.” 

Tommy's mouth went dry. He didn’t want to think about this, didn’t want to remember how distant Ranboo had become after they left 2b2t. He knew it was because they were spending more and more time apart, the other taking on tournament after tournament. Ranboo never came to him about it, but Tommy knows he was slowly forgetting who the teen was. 

“We split after that, and Wilbur took me in. Lived on a private server with him, until we got the invites to come here.”

Eret cocked her head. “You and Wilbur lived together? I thought you were always kidding when you guys made those brother jokes.”

“No, um actually his family adopted me and Tubbo.”

“Wait really?”

“Yeah. Great big happy family.” He said sarcastically, and they seemed to take the hint that he didn’t want to talk about this anymore. “How about you two?”

Eret shrugged. “Grew up here, little ways out, but nothing fancy.”

“What?” 

That just didn’t make sense. Tommy knows the history of this place, it's something Wilbur made him learn after starting L’Manberg, and the server has barely been running for a year. 

“Uh- I grew up here? A friend and I lived together on the outskirts of the server border, pretty far from the main SMP.”

“Who-“ Tommy swallowed. “Who was your friend?”

“You probably don’t know him, uh his name is Foolish.”

“Foolish… why does that name sound familiar?” Puffy asks, and Tommy can’t help but think the same thing. He thinks he remembers someone with that name joining the server a month or two ago, but he couldn’t be sure (it's not like it mattered anymore).

Eret sighs. “We split up a while ago, maybe you’ve heard of him from a server rank or something.”

No one talked for a minute, only delving into an awkward silence as the three thought to themselves. 

“Eret…” The king looked up at Tommy. “You- there’s no way you grew up here.”

His voice was filled with such certainty, it made Eret shudder. What does Tommy mean he couldn’t have grown up on here?

“What- of course I did. Just like…”

“Just like who? Who else grew up here?”

She blanched, which no, this wasn’t right. They know for a fact that they’ve lived here they’re whole life, so have the others, but they couldn’t name a specific person.

“I don’t know, probably Dream? I mean it is his server.”

Tommy shuddered at the phrase, but continued on.

“No, no he hasn’t lived here that long.”

Eret laughed, though it was more nervous than anything. “What’re you on about, Tommy?”

“Eret this place has only been running for under a year. Trust me, you can check the coding, it’s not an old server. You couldn’t have grown up here.”

“Tommy, I think he’d know where he grew up. Are you sure you’re not thinking of how long you’ve been on here?” Puffy chimed .

“I’m sure!” He sighed. “Fine, tell me one memory, one solid memory you have of your childhood.”

They laughed again. “Of course, I…” the smile slid off his face.

“Eret?”

“I- Foolish and I were...we lived in a camp together? Yeah we lived at a camp with a bunch of others, mostly others like us…”

“Like us?”

“Yeah- well I’m connected to Herobrine, you know, with my eyes and everything. Foolish, he was- he is.” What was he? What was his friend, what made his brother similar to him, why were they being hunted? Wait, they were being hunted? When had they been hunted? “He was kind of like me, don’t remember exactly. Uh-“

Tommy sighed again. “Tell me an exact memory, like something you two did together, where you actually grew up, how you met, your parents, anything?”

Eret looked down. He- he couldn’t remember, why the hell couldn’t he even remember his parents? No, he was an orphan, of course, him and Foolish must have met at the orphanage. He knows they have a long history together. He knows that they were closer, like brothers rather than friends, but what was the name of the town they grew up in? What was the orphanage, where was it? Did he even actually have a solid memory of something the two did? Maybe this was normal, maybe everyone forgot every single bit of their childhood.

Eret looked up at Tommy. “Where did you grow up, what was the name of the server? How about your first pet, or friend, what were their names? What’s a specific memory you have with them?” He asks, almost desperately.

Tommy knows what she’s doing. 

“2b2t. First pet was named Clementine. The first friend's name was Ranboo. He's the one I was talking about earlier.” He smiles. “When we were around seven Ranboo decided it was a good idea to test out enchantments. Where we grew up you basically just stole and looted, so there was no real reason for actual enchanting. The guy found every article he could on that stupid, cheap ass communicator he owned. Made an enchantment table, took him a couple months, but he did it. I can still remember the stupid smile he worse as he showed it off to me and Fit, Fit was a guy who helped us out a lot. 

“The man looked so genuinely confused as to why Ranboo had practically sold his soul for a stupid ‘magic box’ we didn’t really need, but he praised him nonetheless. Course we couldn’t really make books, and we didn’t have nearly enough ores to combine a bunch of tools for multiple enchantments, but it kept us occupied. We learned a lot too.”

Tommy smiles, looking down at the small crown tattoo Ranboo had given him with lapis, placed between his thumb and pointer finger. He briefly remembers a conversation Ranboo and he had one day, more specifically one about objects. They couldn’t really carry much, other than essentials, but they liked to imagine what they’d want. Ranboo, for some reason, wanted a crown. He said that they looked cool, but their gold was used for things like gapples, and the rare piglin trade. They didn’t really have enough to make a full on crown, nor did they know how to. Tommy, on the other hand, wanted a music disc.

They used to make a bunch of temporary marks with lapis, since they didn’t really have any other uses for it, but this one had been done with the intent of permanence. He assumes the magic infused dye is what made it stay in such a spot this long. Sometimes he swears he can still see the faint shimmer of old marks up and down his arms, legs, basically everywhere. 

Ranboo had offhandly mentioned how he thought since the blue was magic, it had to do with the user's intent. When you use it for enchanting, you’re using it with the intention of enchanting, but when the two were messing around it was more for fun than anything. He guesses it makes sense now, how when he thinks about it he can see the shimmers. Maybe the ore had settled into his skin, never really leaving and just kind of becoming a part of him. It was probably the same with Ghostbur's dye. He gave away the blue with the intention of taking away sadness, and Tommy swears that it actually worked.

He looks up, only now realizing that Eret had been staring at him.

“What?”

“I can’t pinpoint anything specific like that, I can only assume things based on the little amount I remember. Even then, it’s not nearly enough.”

“Maybe it was your brain's way of dealing with trauma?” Puff suggests. 

“Yeah, maybe…”

Now Tommy knew some things about memory loss, but nothing about this kind. Have an amnesic friend who forgets his roommate? Sure, just simply remind said friend of who he is, and tell him to check his memory book. A ghost of a brother who only remembers good memories? Go along and hope he doesn’t forget too much of the present, as it's full of horrors. A time traveler who seems to have lived too many lifetimes? Well, he’s still figuring that one out.

The three of them know that’s not the reason, though they sit in the false hope and pray it to be true.

As Eret and Puffy move onto lighter subjects, Tommy went back to flipping the dagger, not caring anymore if Eret wanted it back. They could take it back for all he cares, he just needs something to keep his hands moving.

“Dinners ready!”

Chapter Text

Tommy woke up with a start, breath catching in his throat as he quickly got up.

Sword, sword, he needs his sword, needs to protect Tubbo, needs to kill Dream-

“This is checkmate, I suggest you resign.”

He desperately searches around the unfamiliar room. Goddammit where's his sword.

The events of the past day suddenly catch up to him. Right, he was in past Eret's castle, not his corrupted present. 

Tommy sighs, running a hand through his unkempt hair. Tubbo is safe, he’s in Manberg- with Schlatt…

“Fuck!”

No no, he said he was fine, though his times Tubbo would suggest differently. Tommy felt like pulling his hair, felt like punching a wall, felt like stabbing someone. Who is he kidding? Schlatt didn’t change, if anything he got worse, a certain blown up house proves this.

Something hits him then. How much was Dream dragging the man along? Because if Tommy remembers correctly (which he knows he does) the admin had been a big part of Wilbur’s downfall. Which means how much worse was Schlatt going to end up being compared to his times?

The walls suddenly felt entrapping, feeling all too similar to the prison that he’d die-

Before Tommy realizes it he’s pushing open the bedroom door and practically running out into the hallway. His heart is practically pounding out of his chest and he doesn’t know what to do. 

What will happen to Tubbo, what’s going to happen to everyone else in the cabinet. Are they all going to end up losing a life, or maybe even more? Karl had said things about other timelines, events playing out much worse than Tommy experienced. Oh god was Tubbo going to die? Was he going to-

Tommy’s legs practically collapsed under him, and his chest felt like it was burning. A feeling he could only describe as utter dread welled up in his chest, and he wanted to stop the ache, stop the impending doom lingering at the back of his head. 

Phantom pains licked at his limbs, albeit not too painful but acting as a steady reminder of things he’d rather forget. It only added to the flame, making the teens hands shake and arms feel weird. Tommy’s had panic attacks before, has dealt with the hyperventilating and sky-rocketing pulse, has felt dread and anxiety, but never this weird sense of doom.

Oh god is he dying? It didn’t feel like this the first three times but maybe his body is finally succumbing from all it's been through. Fuck he’s dying, he’s going to die-

In his panic, Tommy didn’t notice the quiet creak of a door, nor the man stepping out from the room.

“Tommy?”

The teen looked up, eyes meeting Karl’s tired ones. He wrapped his arms around himself, hands gripping them tightly while simultaneously trying not to scratch at them.

Tommy couldn’t find it in himself to talk, only humming as a response.

“Are you okay- you know what, stupid question.”

He nodded, vision blurring slightly as he stared at Karl. Tommy should blink, but the wall seemed so appealing, and the haze he was slipping into was comfortable. Heck his eyes didn’t even feel dry, which only added to his focus on the stone bricks. 

Someone snapped their fingers near his ear, but it was quiet, probably too quiet compared to how close it was. Tommy didn’t look away from his gaze, not having the energy to do so. He realizes he should care, should probably get off the floor and stop making a fool of himself, but there was no other reason to move. 

“Hey Tommy, you need to snap out of it.”

Karl walked into his line of sight, successfully cutting off his view of the wall. Tommy sighed, and had to stop any other noise of annoyance from coming out.

The man moved slightly, crouching down further in front of the boy. Tommy couldn’t help but feel as if he was watching from afar, brain registering the others movements but not fully comprehending them. 

Another snap sounded next to his ear, this time louder. He shook his head a bit, as if it would do anything to remove the haze.

“Karl- what’s wrong…”

“I think you’re dissociating.”

Tommy only nodded, not knowing what that word meant.

Karl seemed to sense his confusion. “Okay, we can talk more about it later. Can you get up? This’ll be easier if you’re sitting somewhere else, or if we’re in a different spot.”

He stood up wordlessly, following Karl into a room a few doors down from the one Tommy was staying in.

As the two entered, Karl quickly ushered him into a chair, moving the pillow previously on it into Tommy’s lap. 

The teen unconsciously played with the small tassels at the corner of the object, not really feeling any texture between his fingers. That thought alone disturbed him, why couldn’t he feel it?

He tried to focus on it more, tried to feel the softness of the decorative accents-

“Here.” Something was suddenly shoved into his hands, replacing the pillow.

Tommy looked down, surprised to see an awkward looking duck plushie. I mean the thing looked pretty stupid, and a little roughed up. It wore a white headband, and had a fancy looking jacket on, both made kind of poorly. Clearly the person who made its accessories wasn’t very skilled at sewing.

“Tell me about the stuffed animal.”

Tommy looked up, almost forgetting about the other person in the room.

“What?”

“Explain the duck, what it looks like, how it feels, anything really.”

He cocked his head, staring at the small freaky creation. 

He ran his hands over its fabric, feeling the soft body compared to the harsh material of the blazer. The weird haze threatened to return tenfold, he could practically feel himself slipping as his eyes rested comfortably on the duck. 

“Uh- it’s soft?” 

Karl nodded approvingly. Tommy looked back down at the plush, deciding to push his embarrassment out of the way. He semi-trusted the man, and he seemed to know what he was doing.

“The clothes are a little rough,” he ran his fingers to the headband. “The headband too, feels almost like a karate belt.”

“It is.”

He looked up at Karl, surprised to see the man holding a look of fondness.

“There’s small bumps across it, it feels like extra thread-“ he looked down closely, inspecting the thing. “It is thread, kind of an off color to the main fabric. Someone probably repaired it.”

“Okay good, does it smell like anything.”

Tommy scrunched up his nose, hesitantly smelling the duck.

“Kind of like cologne and a little- is that weed? It smells like weed, Karl.”

He only laughs.

“Yep. Uh-” Karl stands up, going over to the corner and digging around a bag. Tommy doesn’t pay him any attention, only trying to keep his focus on reality. The traveler comes back into his line of sight soon enough, this time with a couple of items.

“Here,” He says, offering a blanket. Tommy grabs it, surprised by the weight. “It's a weighted blanket.” Ah that makes sense, he briefly remembers Ranboo having one of those on Hypixel.

He quickly drapes the fabric over his legs, only panicking at the added weight. He has to stop himself from standing up abruptly, Karl gave it to him to help and he didn’t want the man to feel bad. 

“Sometimes if you wrap it around yourself it works better.”

Tommy nods and wordlessly adjusts the blanket, now wearing it sort of like a cape. 

“Are you feeling a little better now?”

“Yeah…” he says, technically not lying. He doesn’t feel as weird, but could still feel the haziness clawing at his chest, threatening to take over. He places his hand back on the stuffed animal, focusing on the different textures. “What was that?”

“Uh Puffy called it dissociation. Quackity went to her in a couple different timelines, to deal with stuff from Schlatt…”

Tommy swallowed hard, thinking back to earlier.

“Do you think Tubbo's safe?”

Karl smiles sadly.

“I hope so, we just have to trust that he’ll come here if need be.”

“But that’s the thing, I know he won’t.” He stood up, blanket sliding off his shoulders. “In our time he didn’t, and he paid the price-“

“Hey it’ll be okay. He has a place to go now, he can come here.” The man pulled out his book and flipped through a couple pages. “Last time he just had Manberg and Pogtopia, not any third option.”

Tommy looked down.

“We- we talked about running away.” He looked back up, meeting Karl’s eyes with his own tear-filled ones. “We could’ve run away Karl! Everything would’ve been fine! Gods why didn’t we just- why didn’t I just convince him!”

He didn’t realize he was scratching his arms until hands pulled his away. Tommy met Karl’s eyes, ones full of emotion and grief. 

“I know, I know.” He soothes. “It’s going to be hard to get past the what if’s, but that’s okay. It’s difficult, and God’s it’s rough. I won’t lie to you there, but you can’t keep blaming yourself for everything. You are not the sole decision maker on this server, and if Tubbo wanted to run then you guys would’ve, but tell me this. What would happen if you were caught, or one of you was severely injured?”

Tommy didn’t say anything, he knew Karl was right. Who knows what would’ve happened if Schlatt and Wilbur had caught them. The latter would’ve probably spiraled further, leading them to darker places and deeper messes. The ram hybrid might’ve added Tubbo to the exile, or he would’ve made Technoblade kill him until he was dead.

“You’re decisions are your own, don’t make anyone else choose for you. I’m not going to stop you from doing anything in this time, if you think something is a good idea then go for it. If you decide you want nothing to do with this time stuff, then I will do my very best to keep you from having to go through it. I can’t promise anything, and I know you don’t trust me, but I will have your back.”

The teen studied Karl. He had no reason not to trust him- that was a lie, he knew nothing about him- and his body language didn’t contradict his promise. Tommy wasn’t stupid though, and knew one could easily alter such thing, but he also knew that he couldn’t live his whole life alone. 

As much as he wanted to admit, he couldn’t go much further without relying on someone, because no matter how hard Tommy tries to convince himself he knows he's struggling. He knows there's many irrational fears set in place, too many things that cause him to go numb and feel spacey. He knows it's not normal to feel unreal, or unattached to his body. He knows the chest pains and sinking feeling in his gut is too frequent, knows that his heart shouldn’t race upon seeing a simple button. He tries to ignore the lingering smell of smoke in his nose, the phantom pains that linger over his body, a crude reminder of the past. 

Tommy needed to trust someone, because he has a suspicion that if he continues living in this pattern of mistrust he’ll surely lose his mind. Now this doesn’t mean he should throw his whole life into the man's hands, no, he wasn’t stupid. He’d blindly trusted too much in his lifetime, and he wouldn’t do it in his second one.

“Okay. Thank you.” He said sincerely, not bothering with an explanation. He knew that the other understood. 

Tommy was willing to trust Karl.

Chapter Text

Tommy sighed and rubbed his eyes. 

Him and Karl had spent the last couple of nights brainstorming ways to stop Wilbur while also keeping the timeline as similar as possible. 

“Well yeah, but what if we just remove the button a second time. Or hey, better yet just get rid of all the tnt underneath L’Manberg!” Tommy yells, throwing his arms up.

Karl rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“We do need to make sure to remove the button the first time, but the second time it's not as simple. Sure we could get rid of the tnt, but Schlatt did that before and the place still got blown up.”

They didn’t know how much they did influenced their present (or if they’d ever actually return to said present). Karl tried to reassure the teen that all his past attempts at fixing their timeline had been more of a test, a way to find the best possible outcome, even though it's done little to actually prevent other catastrophes.

“Why are we even here? I thought this was what you tried to prevent before.”

“It was, and I did, but it clearly didn’t stop him from trying again.”

Tommy couldn’t stop his thoughts from running rampant. None of this made sense, I mean this happened a while ago, and Karl had already been to this time.

“Then why come to this time? Why not after the first festival? Or before any other horrible things happened?”

Karl scoffed, he couldn’t help the anger that was welling up inside of him. 

“Tommy I don’t know. The first time I was here it almost took me two years to fix it. None of you told us it was Wilbur who blew it up so I had to gain his trust, which was near impossible.”

“Did you even try to talk him out of it?”

“Yes I tried talking him out of it!” The teen reeled at the man's tone. “You and I both know that it didn’t do anything, not in the end at least.”

Tommy had to stop himself from shutting up then. No, he had to voice his thoughts, he needed to help with this. 

“What about getting him help? Mentally, I mean.” 

Karl sighed.

“Look it might sound bad but by that point I was too worried about everyone dying over helping him.”

He shook his head. “I mean now. We have the time. Technoblade seemed pretty concerned after what I told Wilbur.”

They were lucky they were sent so far back, now having around two months before Wilbur even originally proposed the idea of Plan B. Tommy knew he’d triggered something though, almost like a domino effect. He knew that by bringing up the thought he’d somehow changed a part of time. Technoblade wasn’t naïve either, and it was only a matter of time before he did something. 

They weren’t as distanced like the first time around, and no matter what ‘The Blade’ said he did care for his twin (Tommy would never be able to look at them and not see the strange similarities, even if they weren’t biologically related). During Pogtopia Wilbur had withdrawn himself from everyone, which only resulted in the others doing the same. At that point Technoblade was too caught up in the promise of war and bloodshed, too excited for the destruction of a country his brothers brother clearly hated to see how far the other three had fallen. He would do anything for his family, even if he never noticed doing so cost them their lives. Of course later on the man masked his pain with hatred and revenge, too caught up in grief to notice how much he’d hurt the ones he was grieving for.

Tommy had said as much to Karl, told him he didn’t understand how someone who prided themselves so much with family could do such a thing. He knew a lot about his past-brothers, whether it be from when they were young to when violence was the only solution, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what drove someone to that point. What had he done wrong? How could he fix it this time around? 

Tubbo was a completely different story. Instead of an insanity or blood-thirsty route, the boy got scars and trauma. Now Tommy shouldn’t be complaining, all things considered, but at this point he knew where he’d gone wrong. He knew why Tubbo did what he did, he knew where the other teens screw-ups stopped and his own started. Tommy knew where his failures lie, what caused them, and their results. Gods know he’d make them right this time around, if not for his sake then his brothers.

Karl deflated, he shouldn’t direct his anger towards the teen. “Who?”

“I don’t know. It can’t be Phil because last time he just killed him instead of helping…”

“Maybe, but he is your guys father-“

“That man is not my father.” He couldn’t help but snap. “Wilbur was. He was the one who raised me, he was the one who did everything Phil was supposed to do. He cared for three kids all on his own at fourteen while Phil fucked off gods know where with Technoblade.”

Karl sighed, he knew this, it was written in one of his books after all.

“Right, sorry.”

Tommy ran a hand through his hair. “No I-I shouldn’t of snapped like that.”

“It’s fine, I shouldn’t of either.”

“So…”

“Yeah, any other ideas?”

He looked down. “I think I have one…”

He shakes himself out of his thoughts, zoning back into a conversation between Karl and Puffy. Tommy was met with a sudden feeling of dread, not unlike the one that caused him to panic the other day. Puffy was staring at her hands and wore a confused expression, causing concern to seep into the teen. Was something wrong? He knows she wasn’t supposed to be here yet, did joining too soon have a bad effect on her? Tommy doesn’t know much about timelines and such, but he figures his presence (or lack thereof) had caused some sort of domino effect after the election. God had he messed up her life too? 

“Puffy?” He asked, causing the woman to look up at him. She instantly adorned a smile, though Tommy could see the cracks in it.

“Sorry what? I spaced out.”

He knew it was a lie, Puffy knew he knew too, but the teen brushed it off. He didn’t know her here (did he really ever know her?), he had no business snooping around her thoughts and emotions. 

“Yeah you looked a little out of it, wanted to make sure you were alright.”

The cracks seemed to fill a little as genuine happiness seeped through her façade.

“Aw thanks but I’m okay.”

Tommy didn’t blush, he didn’t. 

“Sorry Karl, what were you saying?”

“Oh that’s okay! I was just talking about that one time-“ he blocks out Karl’s voice once again.

So yeah, not much work has actually been done to fix the upcoming events. Tommy was just trying to avoid Eret and Puffy as much as possible, since they’d  both seen his infinity mark. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if they actually confront him about it, so instead he’s spent the days hiding in his guest room and nights planning in Karl’s. 

The two were very smart, and Eret had whatever knowledge granted from his past (even if he doesn’t one hundred percent remember it). Tommy knew the king would put the pieces together eventually, he had said a little too much after waking up in the castle. 

“-and then he just gets absolutely bombarded by all these dogs. Not like they were attacking or anything just hopping on him and licking.”

Puffy laughs.

“Before we knew it they were all crowded around the living room, just chilling there. It was hilarious, I mean there were at least twenty wolves just sitting all over the place, fully trained in combat just sleeping by the fireplace.”

Tommy furrows his eyebrows, the story seems a little too familiar. 

“Who was this?”

Karl freezes like a deer caught in headlights. 

“Uh- just a friend.”

Oh great he was going that route.

“What was their name?”

Puffy looked between them, clearly noticing the change in atmosphere.

“Protesilaus?”

What the fuck.

Tommy knows what Technoblade was doing, he lived with the man for weeks, he was bound to find something. Even after he left he’d sneak around, go looting every once a while for gear or some spare gapples. 

It was one particular trip that he found some papers, all written in Greek. He guesses it was supposed to throw intruders off, not many knew the old language, but Tommy guessed he was lucky. Growing up Phil insisted Technoblade teach him, for what he doesn’t know, but he was taught nonetheless. 

He knew what their little group was going to be called, who they planned to recruit and what their stupid code names were, but Karl was never in those plans. He ignores the part of him saying that it was still painfully obvious, the way Karl acted around Technoblade was clear enough. He treated him like an old friend, pulling out nicknames and care filled glances. 

Tommy wrings his hands, a nervous habit he got off Ranboo a while ago. He thinks he should be more concerned about this than he is, but it wasn’t like it was currently happening. He had some questions, but he didn’t want Karl to have to think about it. It’s obvious the man’s still affected by his travels despite the memory issues, and how ever long ago it happened. He wouldn’t want someone picking around his brain, wanting him to explain all his trauma, but he thinks he deserves a couple answers. After all, Technoblade and Philza had only ever hurt him, he thinks it’s justified.

Tommy wonders if Ranboo ever joined before kicking himself for the thought. It was so obvious that it was almost painful, of course he did. He wasn’t blind to the Enderean living by Technoblade and Phil, or how his memory problems often left his trust misplaced. He knew how his brain worked, where his loyalties stood, and how he was always so adamant about not picking sides- he has to stop himself from laughing at that, because it was just the other day that Tommy had repeated the same sentiment to his brother in a certain ravine.

Gods did Tubbo even know? Did he know that his husband was teaming up with the man who took his second life, the man who scarred him both physically and mentally?

He shakes his head, because deep down he knows that Ranboo wouldn’t do that to Tubbo. Oh gods he didn’t know did he? Ranboo didn’t know what Technoblade did, he probably doesn’t even know what Phil did. I mean Niki was on the recruitment list too, and she tried to kill him. He bets no one knows that though.

“You-“ He takes a deep breath in, ready to yell, but stops upon seeing the look on Karl’s face. 

A part of him wonders what Ranboo would do if he remembers. It was stupid, only a fantasy, but he still thinks. Would he yell? Would he shout at the group, say how disappointed he was in them and how they could do that to his friends? Would he chide them for being dumb, for being so utterly heartless and unforgiving?

“Never mind.”

He ignores Karl’s sigh of relief.

“Hey Eret?” Tommy shouts walking into the courtyard. “Eret-“

“Tommy?”

He looks over to see two people standing in a pavilion.

“Uh- Hi?”

She motioned for him to walk over, and it isn’t until he does that he notices the strangers features. Twisty antlers, blue mask with light brown hair poking out, slight blush covering an absurd amount of freckles. 

Something curls in Tommy’s gut as he’s hit with sudden recognition, yet no memories pop up to accompany the feeling. He knows this person. He knows this person but doesn’t remember them.

They start moving their hands, fast motions that he can’t really make out.

“Oh right sorry. Tommy this is Callahan, Callahan this is Tommy.”

Oh, so this is Callahan.

The man waves, Tommy waves back. He doesn’t know if he’s deaf or not, though he does remember Eret mentioning that he doesn’t talk.

“Ello’.”

Callahan positions his thumb between his pointer and middle finger, then moves it to an o shape, two gestures with his thumb between his ring finger and pinky are made before finally stopping at a fist, only with the thumb and pinky out. He glances up at him, surprised to see confusion.

‘T-o-m-m-y?’ he thinks is what he was asking. 

“Yeah?”

Callahan’s hands are suddenly at motion, and Tommy doesn’t even try to decipher their meaning.

“Sorry I don’t really know sign…” he says awkwardly. The other doesn’t seem to be bothered by this though as he brings out his communicator, but Tommy still curses himself for not paying more attention when Technoblade was teaching him ASL.

Callahan whispers to you: Do you know me?

“Should I?”

He shakes his head before typing again.

Callahan whispers to you: Don’t worry about it.

The conversation pretty much ends there, only leaving Tommy thoroughly confused and disturbed. Callahan looks familiar, strangely familiar, and seems to have the same recognition for Tommy. Hell even Eret said he should know who he is, but he doesn’t.

“What do you need Tommy?”

He turns back to them, waving the dagger he stole in front of him.

“Where’s your enchanting table?”

Tommy sighs as he pulls out more lapis and enchantment levels, bottles stored securely in the special portion of his inventory. 

~Unbreaking I~

~Bane of Arthropods I~

~Smite I~

“Fuck.”

“You know if you wanted enchantments you could’ve just gone to the trading hall.”

The teen jumps, quickly turning around, dagger positioned out in front of him.

There Puffy stands, hands raised.

“Sorry, didn’t think you were one to be jumpy…”

“Been in wars n’ shit, don’t know what you expected.”

Puffy shrugged, and Tommy’s hit with a sudden realization.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” She asks innocently.

“You know I’m jumpy, you just said that to get me to say something .”

“I-“

“Cut the bullshit alright? You know I reacted this way when we first met, don’t take me for a fool.”

He ignores the part of his brain telling him that that’s exactly what she should do, that he should let her underestimate him. It’s easier to defeat someone when they underestimate you.

“Sorry.”

Tommy shrugs.

“What’re you trying to get?” She motions towards his weapon.

“Sharpness right now.”

Puffy raises an eyebrow. “No way you're getting a good level with just a dagger, do you have any books?”

He shakes his head. Tommy doesn’t think he’ll ever get out of the mindset from 2b2t, at least not fully. It doesn’t help that he’s been exiled twice, as well as being in literal wars. It wasn’t unusual for materials to be sparse.

He shakes his head. “No…”

“Emeralds?”

“No-“ Tommy cuts himself off, a smirk forming. Before he went to visit Dream the prison, Ranboo had asked for his blessing. It was a really weird conversation overall, A) because he knew Ranboo before everything and he wasn’t one for commitment, and B) since when had him and Tubbo been dating?

He’d gone on to explain it was platonic, for tax purposes more than anything, but it seemed too real . They were both seventeen, and they were getting married. Tommy doesn’t even know why the guy asked him, I mean he guesses it was sort of illegal since they were minors and all, and out of anyone why Tommy? It was unknown knowledge that Tubbo and Tommy were actually brothers, everyone just labeled them as best friends, but he guesses if the two were getting married then Tubbo would’ve told him.

Of course Tommy had given him a hard time, it ended with Ranboo giving him a bunch of emeralds in thanks (or was it a bribe?). 

“Actually I do, do you happen to have an enderchest?”

He stares wide eyed at the sheer amount of villagers.

“What the fuck?”

Puffy laughs. “Cool, Huh?”

“What the hell! Isn’t this like, illegal?”

He can’t help the fear in his voice. He knows for a fact that Dream had made this one of the few rules of the server, it was too OP. What would happen if he found out?

She waved her hand. “It’s fine. I think Eret was given permission anyway, you know with being king and all.”

He knows it a lie, a clear one at that. She was clearly only saying it to comfort Tommy, but he knew it from the way her voice wavered just a tiny bit. He pushes it away, takes it in stride and convinces himself that it’s the truth while also keeping the attempt at Puffy's comfort in mind.

Tommy grinned, albeit a broken smile, but a smile.

“Let’s get enchanting.”

“Aim a smidge higher.” 

His dagger soared through the air, landing in the middle of the target.

“Fuck yeah!”

Someone started clapping behind him. Tommy turned, a large smile plastered on his face.

“Good job Toms, I didn’t know you could do that.” Eret said, approaching the teen.

His grin faltered a little causing the man to stop clapping.

“Sorry- did I… what’s wrong?”

He shook his head, trying to get the level of happiness back on his face.

“Nothing big man!”

Eret cocked their head.

“You know you get louder when you’re nervous? And you use big man a lot more too.”

“Oh.”

They smiled.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me-“

Tommy shook his head. “Uh- can you not call me Toms?”

Their expression fell. “Sure.”

“It’s not anything against you, just other people have called me that a lot-“ he rushes out.

“It’s okay Toms-Tommy, sorry.”

He waved them off before walking back to retrieve his dagger. 

“You’re good.”

“Anything else you’re okay with me calling you?”

Tommy pauses. He was okay with Tom he guesses, that was the original name Ranboo had come up with afterall. Theseus was definitely off the table, but Theo was nice, familiar. It brought happy memories, ones full of old friends and simpler times. Although it was a nickname off of Theseus he didn’t find that he minded.

“Tom is okay, but I like Theo. It’s a nickname off of my birth name.”

Eret raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “Okay, Theo.”

He smiled up at the king, a warm feeling in his chest.

Tommy sat across from Karl, silverware long forgotten as he stared down at his plate. Chatter filled the dining room, but none of it registered.

“Tommy?” The teen hummed in response. “Tom-“

“What?”

He looked up to see the three looking at him, concern clear on their faces.

“You spaced out.”

He looked around, taking his surroundings back in. Right, dinner.

“Oh.”

“You okay there? You’ve barely touched your food.”

“Sorry, bodies not used to eating ever since exile.” He doesn’t even realize what he’s saying until it’s out of his mouth. “I mean-“

“It’s okay.” He doesn’t miss the look Karl shoots Puffy. “We can work on that, maybe you should try some protein shakes or something, might be easier.”

Tommy nods. 

“Can I be excused?” 

“Yeah, you don’t have to ask Theo.”

He nods again, wordlessly picking up his plate and setting it on the kitchen counter. He doesn’t realize where he’s going until he’s halfway to his house, the small dirt shack already in his vision.

“Shouldn’t you be with Wilbur?”

Tommy freezes.

“Isn’t your house the embassy, you know it’s technically Manberg territory.”

“No it’s L’Manberg territory, and that clearly doesn’t exist anymore.” Gods why does he have to run his mouth?

Dream doesn’t respond, only starting at the teen.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Please-“

Something cracks in the limited man’s expression. 

“What happened to you Tommy?”

Tommy stared at the admin, his mask is positioned to cover half his face and he’s not used to actually seeing his emotions. It was always the tensing of his body, or twitch of his hand, never a smirk or angered look. He quickly eyes his inventory belt, not surprised to see an axe hanging from it. Dream notices the glance, but doesn’t comment, only taking a step back and positioning his hands away from the weapon.

“What do you mean?”

“You look… rough.”

Tommy laughs humorlessly. “Just leave me alone man.” 

“Tom-“

“No, just shut up! You act as if you haven’t done anything, like we can just be friends. News flash Dream, we’re not friends, and we’ll never be friends again.”

Something like hurt flashes through his eyes, before turning to anger.

“You should leave before Schlatt sees you-“

“Is that a threat?” He spits out, Dream raises his hands in surrender but it only makes Tommy flinch. “Just leave, I can handle myself.”

He ignores the part of his brain screaming at him, saying that he’s making Dream out to be a villain, that Tommy’s the one antagonizing the man and making him lash out, that Dreams his friend and he shouldn’t treat him like that. Tommy pushes it away, it’d surely come to bite him in the ass sooner or later, he can already feel the oncoming panic.

“Fine, but don’t be surprised if you end up in a jail cell.”

“Fuck you.” He practically growls, though Dream ignores him.

As soon as the man’s out of sight Tommy collapses against the side of his house, hands trembling and dread making his heart sink. He was so fucked, Dreams probably on his way to Pogtopia right now, going to encourage Wilbur to blow up his country. His mind blanks on the timeline, he can’t remember when the admins manipulation started. Who knows he might’ve been doing it from the beginning and Tommy never knew.

He abandoned his brothers didn’t he? Wilbur’s stuck in some ravine thinking everyone he loves abandoned or betrayed him. How could Tommy do that? He knows how this story goes, knows how his brother's mind deteriorates, and he’s doing nothing. Sure he wasn’t good during this time, he’d been borderline abusive, but it wasn’t his fault. I mean he genuinely believed the things he’d been telling Tommy, why couldn’t he just convince him otherwise?

Technoblade was there too, and he knows how much the blood god egged Wilbur on. He was probably feeding into the violence, encouraging him to blow up L’Manberg. He was an anarchist afterall, and what had the country ever done for him? All he’s seen is the bad parts, the horrible spewing from Wilbur of betrayal and corruption, who’s to say he’s not speeding up their brothers insanity?

Tubbo was stuck in an awful place of said corruption, because Tommy would be lying if he said that place wasn’t. The mess of a government that was barely making it by, practically torturing its cabinet members, and Tubbo was in the middle of it. He worked almost directly under Schlatt, who was an alcoholic by default. Tubbo always underplayed how bad it was, how the small scars littered across his skin were from explosions and not broken glass. How his own alcohol problem was from stupid teenager shenanigans and the drug van- even though everyone knew they never had actual drugs.

He's startled out of his spiraling thoughts by a voice.

“Tommy?”

“Purpled?” He asks, shock clear in his voice. He can’t remember the last time he saw the teen. 

“What're you doing here?”

He shrugs. “Don’t know, you?”

The other boy smiles, sharp teeth flashing. Tommy could never figure out what type of hybrid Purpled was, but he doesn’t think he wants to know. If he were to guess he would say wolf, he has the characteristic: sharp teeth, white-ish hair, speed, ‘hunting’ ability. He ignores the thought saying he’d do good on 2b2t.

“You know, this and that.”

Tommy nods. “Killing or scamming?”

He laughs. “Little bit of both.”

“Only way to go. You know…” He looks around dramatically, making it obvious that he’s making sure they’re alone. “The best tactic is to lure them in, you know, flash some valuables or wear good armor. Using your youth is good too, make it seem like you’re weak until boom! Now you got their gear.” He taps the side of his head. “Now that’s what we call reverse psychology.”

“I- I’m not sure that’s what I’d call it but you have the right idea. Where’d you learn that anyways?”

“Didn’t always live here now did I?”

“Guess not.” 

He has to stop himself from sighing in relief, glad to see Purpled doesn’t think he grew up here like Eret did.

“What’s been happening anyway? Last time I was here was...well I’m not entirely sure when, but Wilbur was still in charge of L’Manberg.” He says, sliding down against Tommy’s house.

Tommy sighs. “Don’t think I’m the best person to be asking, big man.”

“Why?”

“I’m sort of exiled at the moment.”

Purpled’s eyes widen. “What?”

“Yeah…”

“Geez, didn’t you guys found the place?”

He winces. “Yeah but I guess that’s what people do to the losing party, they exile them.”

The other chuckles lightly, and Tommy can’t help but join.

“That’s so stupid.”

“Tell me about it.”

Tommy glances over to the prime path, the one leading to L’Manberg Manberg. Fond memories arise. Hot summer days when Tubbo and Fundy would race him to the country's walls (though Tommy always let them win). Cool nights filled with songs and campfires, silly stories passed around. Oh how he wishes he could go back to the times of sitting atop the camarvan, swinging his legs over the edge and staring up at the blue sky. Now only the grey, damaged atmosphere remains, serving as a reminder of power-hunger filled greed. 

He shakes himself from the thoughts. It’s not like that though, not yet at least. He wonders what would’ve happened if he were sent back sooner, before the elections, maybe even before the first disc war.

“I want to hire you.”

“Huh?”

Tommy turns to face Purpled.

“I want to hire you. That’s what you do, right?”

“Uh- I don’t think you know what I ‘do’.”

He shrugs. “I just want you to find someone.” 

“Yeah exactly, I don’t do that.”

“Sure you do.”

“To-“

“Is it a money issue, because you know I’m stacked right?”

Purpled ignores his try at humor. “No. Listen, I don’t look for people. I find them sure, but then I kill them, or hurt them enough to send a message.”

Tommy shrugs again. 

“Well can’t you just I don’t know, find them and not send a message?”

“Still not what I do.”

“Okay, then send them one, just without the whole violence part. You know violence is never the answer.” He mocks. 

“Fuck off.” The mercenary bites, before sighing. “Who.”

Tommy perks up. “What?”

“Who do you want me to find?”

The teen practically jumps out of his seat, instead opting to hit his knees a couple times in excitement. “So you’ll do it.” He practically yells.

Purpled winces. “Depends.”

“So that’s a yes, I’m hearing a yes Purpled…” he drags out.

“Don’t make me regret this.”

“Okay okay fine. Uh- his name is Ranboo. He has dual toned skin and hair, black and white. He likes crowns, fucker probably owns one now,” Tommy briefly glances at his tattoo, “has a strange fascination with suits-oh, he’s really tall too! Has wings-“

“Okay all I really needed was the name. I know who you’re talking about.”

“Wait really?”

“Yeah, he’s on the skyward leaderboard. We’ve played together a few times.”

Tommy has to stop himself from physically deflating. Will Ranboo even remember that? He surely won’t follow a total stranger to find a person he doesn’t remember either. 

The more he thinks the more he realizes how unrealistic this will be. Even if he does follow Purpled how is he going to get onto the server? Will he even know how to help Wilbur? I mean the only reason he even thought of him is because Tommy trusts him, and that’s hard to find these days. 

No, he can’t lose hope. This is the only option he can think of if they’re going the route Tommy mentioned (which they are). He refuses to lose Wilbur again, and if it takes dragging the teen here then so be it. Teen , his heart aches; do you really want to drag him into all of this? 

“Theo I want you to promise me something.”

“What?” He asks, concerned by his brother's tone.

“If you’re ever in trouble I want you to get me-“ Tommy opens his mouth to protest, Ranboo shushes him.

“I don’t care where I am, or how far apart we are, I will help you. And in case I forget…” Ranboo motions for Tommy’s hand, pointing towards the lapis crown tattoo before holding up his own hand, showing off his two disks- one for Theo, one for Ran. “In case I forget, just show me this.”

“Tommy?”

He smiles. “How much?”

“Not killing the guy, right?” Tommy nods. “Then nothing, consider it a friends and family discount.”

Chapter Text

Eret swings their sword down, clashing with Tommy’s.

“Come on Theo, gotta do better than that.” They taunt.

Tommy grits his teeth and pushes away the man’s weapon, causing him to stumble. He has to stop himself from laughing.

“And you have to stop letting your guard down.”

They circle each other, both waiting for an opening in the others stance. 

Tommy lunges first, sword nicking the king's arm, causing blood to quickly well up. Neither of them pay it any mind. Eret is quick to strike back, though the teen narrowly avoids it before bringing down his weapon, twisting away while also successfully deflecting the blade. He quickly turns back, slashing his sword out causing Eret to step back with each swing, before they stand firm and stop his weapon. 

If it had been a duel or any other type of fight they would have shields, and Tommy’s sword would be stuck in Erets right about now, but they don’t. Instead Tommy grits his teeth as Eret easily uses their strength against him, but it’s not the first time this has happened. He was trained by Technoblade after all, and that man was anything but lean.

Tommy favors his left leg, quickly kicking Eret back before they could take advantage of the stance, and he freaks out for a second. They hadn't really discussed the rules of sparring, only saying the obvious like aim to injure not kill and only use a sword. Just as an apology is about to slip out, Eret looks up, a grin on their face and glasses discarded; though Tommy has long since been affected by their white eyes.

They steady their stance, but Tommy gives her no time to do so before he’s attacking again. This time he uses more of his body, twisting in a way to use his limbs as an advantage. Elbows digging into ribs and legs kicking out, Eret only matches his roughness. Tommy’s hit with the hilt of their blade, but they don’t falter, not until a fist comes down.

He drops his sword, arms quickly coming up to cover his head. It’s more out of reflex than anything, but he still can’t help the deep rooted fear that curls in his gut. 

“Theo?”

Tommy takes fast breaths in and out, hands shaking as he wills himself to bring his arms down. It’s not Dream, not Dream, not Dream…

He clears his throat, quickly adjusting his stance to seem nonchalant.

“Yeah big man?”

Tommy stares up into Erets white eyes, ones scrunched in concern.

“Are you okay? You sort of just...stopped.” He looks him up and down. “You’re shaking.”

He laughs, but it’s watery and nervous. “Uh- I’m fine.” 

They give him a look, one that screams ‘I don’t believe you.’

Tommy looks away, eyes trailing over to Karl who’d been watching them, writing in a book while sat on a bench. Instead of the man having his nose in the book though he was staring at the scene unfolding. 

“Tom?” He asks, nickname slipping out without realizing it. 

Tommy scowls. “Don’t call me that.”

“Sorry. What-“ he cuts himself off. “Do you need me to get something for you?”

The teen shakes his head. He knows what Karl is thinking, and appreciates the gesture, but he really doesn’t want to be wrapped up in a weighted blanket clutching some old duck plushie in front of Eret. 

“Are you alright?” Eret repeated. “You don’t have to talk about it… do you want to stop sparring for now?”

Tommy goes to protest. “It’s okay, I was getting tired anyways.” He knows they weren’t, but appreciates the excuse.

“Oh- okay, yeah that’s fine.”

They walk over and pick up their glasses, grabbing Tommy’s sparring sword along the way.

“Here.” They say, holding out the weapon.

Tommy swallows hard. “Thanks.”

They nod their head, a kind smile on their face. “If you want to talk about anything, my door’s always open.”

He nods, matching the king's smile. He might just have to take them up on that offer sometime.

“Hey do you guys know about this festival?” Puffy asked, walking into the living room. 

Karl whipped his head up, quickly putting the book he was writing in away.

“What?” He whisper yells causing Tommy to groan. The teen shifts his body, causing the weighted blanket to slide off a bit. Karl readjusts it, careful not to wake him up. Gods know he hasn’t been getting nearly enough sleep.

“Yeah- it’s set for the 16th, in Manberg.”

In any other situation Karl would be up by now, swiftly making his way to Manberg and checking behind the podium, but with the sleeping teen on him he’s kind of preoccupied.

“Ah. That’s cool, didn’t know you were a citizen there.”

“I’m not.” Puffy looks back down at the paper. “Guess they want more people to join.”

“Yeah, better than Dream.” He can’t help but murmur, though she seems to hear him.

“What?”

“Sorry, he’s just… not that great of a person.”

“Isn’t he the admin.”

Karl sighs. “I guess, doesn’t really change anything though, does it?”

Puffy cocks her head.

“Sorry, keep forgetting you’re new.”

“What makes him so bad?”

Karl can’t help the anger building in his chest. He knows it’s not her fault, she doesn’t know of the past or really any history of this place, so how would she know about Dream?

“Do you know about the cannon lives rule?” Puffy nods. “It’s illegal, but he’s somehow gotten away with it, and a lot of other stuff.”

“That’s illegal?” She practically shouts, causing Tommy to stir more. 

The two look down at him, his face is twisted and he looks like he’s almost in pain. 

“Dang it.” Karl shakes the teen lightly. “Hey Tommy, wake up.”

Tommy flinches, eyes opening and hand reaching for a dagger. Karl’s suddenly thankful for Eret telling him not to let Tommy sleep with it on him. 

“Sorry, you seemed to be having a bad dream.”

He shakes his head. “S’okay.” He looks around, only now really taking in his surroundings. When he realizes that he’s in fact laying on Karl he shoots up, cheeks burning red with embarrassment. Karl can’t help but chuckle, though doesn’t comment.

“Why don’t you go take a shower or something?”

Tommy groans, rewrapping the blanket around him. 

“Come on, it’s been a couple days, you need to take care of yourself.”

He groans again, but gets up without a word of complaint, dragging the blanket with him as he leaves towards the bathroom. 

“Karl-“

The traveler turns to her. “Yes it’s illegal. It’s against admin rules, they can’t cause permadeath, but with this implemented it does just that. Once all three lives are up then you’re a goner.”

“Shit…”

He rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah. I don’t even know how he's gotten away with it. I mean admins are trusted with a server because they were deemed responsible and strong enough to handle one. Think about it, these are worlds resting in a person's hand, they have to know what they're doing.”

“Shouldn’t we do something about it?”

Karl shrugs. “One thing at a time I guess.” 

Puffy nods. Eret told her about Wilbur, and she can only imagine what that family is going through. She wishes she could do something, but at the end of the day she barely knows them, and it’s not her place. 

Karl knocks on the bedroom's open door, waiting for Tommy to tell him to come in. He ignores how the teen is staring in the mirror, the white part of his hair twisted around his fingers. 

He flinches, quickly turning around to look at Karl.

“Oh, hey.”

Karl tried to put on his usual smile, but it falls short. 

“Hi. Can I come in?”

Tommy nods and shuffles around the room. He only watches as the teen folds his weighted blanket and puts some clothes away. He halfheartedly searches through an enderchest before carefully placing a banged up compass in it. Karl ignores it, looking away briefly. He knows what the compass is and who it’s linked to.

“What’s up?”

Karl motions for him to sit down. Tommy just shakes his head.

“Okay well,” He wrings his hands, “the festival is in five days.”

The blond freezes. “Wait what? Did you get rid of the button- oh gods we have to stop Tubbo from going. What about Technoblade, we need to keep him away too-“

Karl desperately wants to tell him not to worry, that everything will work out, but he knows he can’t. There’s no guarantee that this’ll go according to plan, or that they’ve already changed too much to know what's going to happen.

“I couldn’t get rid of the button.”

And okay, that was probably the wrong thing to say, but Karl’s panicking too.

“What do you mean? We have five days, right? We can go now-“

Karl shakes his head. “Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I meant that there was no button to get rid of.”

Tommy pauses in the pacing he’d started. “What?”

“I-I don’t know. It just wasn’t there. Maybe Techno stopped him?”

“Or he’s placed it in a different spot and we don’t know.”

Karl swallows dryly. “Or that.”

“Fuck!”

“You can say that again-“

“Fuck.” He sighs. “Okay, we need a plan. Yeah- yeah that’s what we need.”

“What about-“

Tommy shakes his head. “Purpled hasn’t gotten back to me yet.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“Right, you’re right, we need a plan.”

He nods.

“Umm, no one else is in Pogtopia besides Wilbur and Techno, right?”

“Right. Tubbo shouldn’t be there since I’m not there. He was a spy for Schlatt, but this time it was originally to find me, he mentioned that to Wilbur before we showed up…”

“Yeah. And everyone else came later?” Tommy hums. “Shouldn’t Tubbo be okay then? I mean he’s not a spy so Schlatt has no reason to execute him.”

“No- no he’s not safe. I still wouldn’t put it past him, fuckin’ bastard.” 

Karl knew the boy was safe, but he wasn’t going to stop Tommy from worrying. The two were close, anyone could tell you that, so he’ll let Tommy do what he thinks is right.

“Okay that leaves the obvious left.”

“I’d say the best bet is we just stop them from going. Technoblade knows Wilbur was thinking of blowing up the place now, I think all we can do is hope that he doesn’t indulge in it like last time.”

Karl nods his head. “Why don’t you just message him?”

“Oh please.” He lets out a laugh. “If I learned anything it’s that the great ‘blade’ won’t listen to anyone, especially me.”

Karl winces. 

“He um, he told me not to tell you this but…”

“What is it?”

“He told me he was going to call Phil.”

Tommy sucked in a breath. “He what?”

“I don’t know if he actually did-“

“Kar-“

“-he didn’t know what else to do, but he didn’t want you knowing because your relationship is rocky.”

He chuffs. “Oh please, how would he possibly know that. He was always so busy, never home-“

“Wilbur told him.”

“Fucks sake…”

“Sorry- I should’ve told you but-“

“When did he even tell you this? Thought you barely knew each other.” Tommy mocked, because the teen knew more than he let on. Karl knew this too, but they don’t have time to bring up problems that haven’t technically happened.

“When we were leaving Pogtopia he told me to look out for you,” Tommy scoffed, “He told me he was going to call Phil, and not to tell you after that. You and Tubbo were too far away by then.”

Tommy remembers the first part, and that stupid nickname Karl had called Technoblade-

“Watch out for Tommy, Okay?”

“That’s the plan, thanks Tech.”

-of course it makes more sense now, but it still stung. Tech was the older brother Tommy longed for, the teen that would give him food and brought Tommy out of his shell through small, kind actions. But that version of Technoblade was long gone, same with Wilby, the tween that would sing him to bed and made him things. A small part of Tommy wants to have that family back, and although Philza was never apart of that fantasy he still wanted a father, not the ‘Angel of Death’ or the absent guardian. No, he wanted the Phil that had adopted Tubbo, who sat with the two kids and protected them from made up monsters. Now he only wanted that man to ward off real monsters, even if that included the family themselves.

“Then you message him.”

“Oh no no don’t put this on me-“

“Why not? Weren’t you guys pals, you were in the Syndicate.”

They both froze, Tommy because he realized what he said and Karl because he had no idea how Tommy knew that.

“What?”

“What?” The teen repeats back, voice wavering. 

“You- how do you know that?”

“Know what?”

Karl narrows his eyes. 

“You know what.”

“No I don’t, what even is the Syndicate-”

“I’m not going to let this one slide, Tommy.”

“Fine.” He huffs, feigning annoyance when he's actually scared. “I stayed with Technoblade after exile, ran away after shit went down.”

He tries to hide the shiver that goes down his spine.

“Of course I snooped around, stole some of his things, you know, the usual. I um- found some plans for the Syndicate. Philza and Technoblades code names were written too, along with some possible recruits.”

Karl nodded. “But I was never one of those recruits.”

“You weren’t, but I put two and two together when you were talking about ‘Protesilaus’ the other day.”

“Oh.”

“Were you- did you join them in our time?”

“No, this was a year or two in the future.”

Tommy knows he shouldn’t be curious, but at the same time he almost needed to know. It was like the alternative festivals all over again, a sort of desperation pooling in his gut.

“What happened?”

Karl eyes him, clearly hesitant about what he was about to say.

“The egg was taking over, people wanted us to destroy it. Let’s just say it didn’t work out that way.”

Tommy can guess what that means, but that doesn’t stop him from asking. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He winces slightly, because he isn’t entitled to know any of the man’s travels. 

“I don’t think-“ he starts to protest.

“No Karl!” Tommy yells, shaking off the uneasiness pooling in his gut. He instantly feels bad for it, but it always feels like the man is giving him some half-assed answers. He doesn’t want to fail this time again, and if that means he needs to yell at someone he barely knows about information then so be it. A part of his heart aches at this, because Karl isn’t a stranger- Tommy shoves the thought away. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled. I just- I feel like from the moment I woke up in that castle you’ve barely given me any answers, and even when you do you’re always hesitant.” 

Karl looks down because he knows Tommy’s right, though it’s hard to tell stories you barely remember. It’s like putting together a puzzle, only the pieces are from different boxes and you hardly find the right match. 

“No, you’re right. I have been, I just don’t want you going through what I went through…” he shakes his head. “What do you want to know?” 

He can practically see the gears turning in the teens head, he's quick to intervene.

“Don’t think I can tell you much off the top of my head,” He motions towards his temple, “not many memories here from that time besides a summary. Even that is mostly from what I’ve re-read in that time's book.”

“Then tell me that, anything you can remember I mean.”

Karl nods. “Right. Well the time was focused on the egg, from what I could tell that’s what I was there for, what I needed to fix. I ended up at the Syndicate, couldn’t tell you how I got there though. I’m not sure how they didn’t kill me right then and there, that parts fuzzy too, but I remember the base and people. By this point they were less focused on anarchy and more on saving the server from the egg. A lot of people were corrupted, possessed, whatever you want to call it. The red vines had taken over a lot, and it was destroying vital resources. We had a huge automated underground farm, Sam had built it before… well before he eventually got taken by the egg.

“I failed that timeline. I mean royalty screwed it up. I couldn’t stop anything, and I think I actually made it worse. We had this secret member no one was supposed to know about, Dream had some sort of personal vendetta against them. Once Sam was corrupted he somehow got out of the prison, I don’t know if he let him out or he somehow escaped but it doesn’t really matter. He came to the Syndicate, trashed the place, destroyed all our farms, and killed Harpocrates. I got sent back to our time after that.”

Tommy can’t help but gape. If this is just from what Karl remembers, how bad was the actual time? How much of it had he forgotten and not know?

“Well good to know that we need to keep an eye out for the egg.” Is the only thing he can find himself saying. Sure there’s the obvious hurt of thinking about the anarchist group members, but he pushes it off. He’s the one who asked, practically begged Karl to tell him about this, he shouldn’t be feeling bad for himself over the broken mess you’d call his family.

Karl laughs. “Guess so, but I wouldn’t worry about that in this time, we’ll be gone before it shows up.”

“Right...” he drawled. “So you can message Technoblade-“

“Nope, I wasn’t telling you this only for you to use it against me.” Tommy crossed his arms, though Karl said it without infliction.

“Really? Because from what I can tell you just proved my point.”

“Maybe, but you need to deal with him on your own. He is your brother, and yes before you cut me off I know in our time he did some bad things but here that hasn’t happened yet. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to in order to fix things, especially when it has to do with time.” 

Tommy doesn't miss Karls shudder.

“Fine,” he crosses his arms. “But I’m not going to talk to him.”

“A message is all I ask for.”

The teen grumbles but pulls out his communicator anyway.

TommyInnit Whispers to Technoblade: There's a festival on the 16th in Manberg, keep Wilbur away.

He turns the screen to show Karl who smiles in return.

Technoblade Whispers to TommyInnit: I’ll do my best.

Tommy groans. “Course, fuckin’-”

“What?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing, he just said he’ll try his best.”

Karl shrugs. “It's really all we can hope for.”

“Guess so…”

Tommy paces in front of his dirt shack, the place he stood only days ago when he yelled at Dream. 

“Tommy?”

The blond jumps, hurriedly spinning around, a hand reaching for his dagger.

“Oh hey Tubbo.”

His brother furrows his eyebrows. “What's up? I don’t think you should be this close to L’Manberg, Schlatt could see you.”

He shrugs. “My house is L’Manberg territory, not Manberg.”

This does nothing to alleviate Tubbos concern. Tommy ignores it.

“Are you still going to Pogtopia?”

“No- well I talked to Techno the other day but I haven’t been there since we were together.”

“Okay good, that's good…”

“Tommy what's going on?”

He shakes his head. “I need you to stay away from the festival.”

“The festival- what? How do you even know about that?”

“Puffy got an invite, it doesn’t matter anyway, I mean I can see the decorations from here.”

Tubbo glances behind him to look at said decorations. 

“Yeah... “ he turns back around, “Wait why do I need to stay away?”

“You just- you need to, okay?”

“What- Tommy I don’t get it.”

“Was Technoblade invited, or Wilbur?”

Tubbo stares at him.

“What?”

“What?”

“Can you just answer the question! Please…”

He sighs. “Technoblade was, but you know Wibur wouldn’t be.”

“Yeah, just wanted to check.”

Neither of them said anything for a minute.

“You know he's probably going to sneak in, right?”

Tubbo shrugs. “Maybe, but Phi-” he abruptly cuts himself off.

Tommy stares at him. 

“Finish that sentence.”

He shakes his head. “Its nothing-”

“Bullshit!”

His times Tubbo would’ve flinched back, would’ve yelled right back at him, and fought as if he needed to prove himself (he ignores how thats all they’ve ever been doing, just proving themselves, trying desperately to make things right and not fuck everything up more). Instead Tubbo just stares, more concern than he's seen in years adorning his expression.

“Tommy, are you okay?” His tone makes him want to cry, to curl up in a ball and sob on Tubbos shoulder, but he can’t do that.

“What?”

“You-” he steps forward, “Since when do you have all those scars? Gods Toms, your eye is almost white, can you even see out of it?”

Tommy looks down causing hair to fall in front of his eyes. He stares as Tubbos feet get closer to him.

Something touches his head, but he doesn’t move it away.

“Is this white? Why do you- did you dye your hair?”

He looks up. “No.”

Tubbo stares into his eyes, and Tommy can’t find it in himself to feel anything but numbness.

“Your eyes are duller.”

He nods, only flinching slightly when the other teen pulls him into a sudden hug. He can’t help but melt, not being able to remember the last time Tubbo had hugged him like this. It was always fast embraces, a sort of goodbye right before battles, but never a promise. No, a promise is long embraces, whispers of false reassurances that you both know are lies but desperately try to believe. 

The last time Tubbo hugged him like this was before they walked into Dreams bunker.

He pushes Tubbo away, hands still on his shoulders as he looks at his brother.

“Please, just promise me you won't go to the festival.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t, Schlatt will be suspicious.”

Something clicks in his head. “Do you have a speech?”

“What? No I don’t, why would I?”

He sighs.

“Nothing- just… Can you at least promise me that you’ll stay by someone the whole time, just anyone besides Schlatt, Quackity, or Technoblade.”

Tubbo still looks confused, but nods slowly. “Yeah, yeah I think I can do that. I think Fundy was going to be there, I’ll sit by him.”

Tommy deflates. “Good, good…”

“You don’t have to talk to me about it, but please- you just-” Tubbo groans, not able to get the words out. “Just take care of yourself okay?”

“You too, Tubso.”

He smiles and Tommy lets go of his shoulders. “I have to get back, but I’ll see you soon, alright?”

He swallows dryly and nods. “Alright.”

They both ignore the way his voice wavers.

Tommy watches as Tubbo walks away and grabs something from his pocket. Pulling out the roughed up compass he watches how the needle follows his brother, somehow still connected to him even in this time. 

He sighs before running his hands through his hair, he guesses he should do something about the white in it. Dream seemed to know what it meant, Eret was probably figuring it out too; that and Tommy's infinity mark. 

The teen makes his way over to the bench, ignoring the way the image of it tugs at his heart. The quiet is almost defenning, but he can’t bring it in himself to get out a disk. After all the problems they’ve caused he decided he doesn’t care, or at least not the amount he did before in this time. Maybe that way he’d at least avoid some conflict.

Something starts ringing and it takes a little too long for Tommy to figure out it's his communicator. 

“Hello?” He asks into the device, voice hesitant. 

“Tommy.”

“Purpled?” 

“Yeah, it's me. Listen, we have a problem.”

Tommys heart drops.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I’ve asked all over Hypixel, and no one has seen a person of your friends description.”

“Oh- well it's only been a couple days-”

“No, Tommy. He's not on the skyward leaderboard, or any other for that matter. He hasn't been on one for months, I checked.”

“It's only been a couple days.” He repeats, trying to reassure himself that it’ll be ok. He doesn’t want to believe his friend may really be lost, who knows where he went after Hypixel, or how he even got onto the SMP. Tommy doesn’t want to admit that he wants him back, the real Ranboo back, and not just to help Wilbur.

“Look,” Purpled sighs, “I’ll keep asking around, but you need to know something.”

“Wha-what?”

“Dreams threatening to lock the server borders, meaning no one can come in or out. I don’t know if he's serious or not, it might just be a bluff, but I’m going to be outta there before he can stop me. I’m giving this a week, okay? And then I’m out, with or without Ranboo.” Tommy tries to stutter out a response, but all he can think is what the fuck. This never happened before, Dream never even threatened it before, so why the hell now? Tommy knows that it's against admin rules, just like giving players three lives, but surely someone would notice this. Right? 

“I won’t- anything, but-” The teens voice cuts in and out.

“Purpled?”

“Wh-at, Tom-”

The line cuts off.

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

Tommy stood, arms crossed as he watched Tubbo set up last minute preparations. He will admit that the place looks amazing, just as it did during his first experience of this festival. He was perched similarly to when he and Wilbur had been, but made sure to be more hidden this time. Last time his brother had been reckless, not even trying to hide like Tommy. No, instead he’d stood tall on top of the building, armuor less as ever and watching Technoblade. 

The anarchist wasn’t here yet, if he was even coming. Tubbo had said he invited him but maybe he'd actually taken Tommy's request seriously. He really hopes so.

“Tommy?”

He whips around to see Fundy.

“Oh, hi.”

The fox-hybrid cocks his head. “What’re you doing here?”

Tommy shrugs. “Just watching.”

He eyes the multiple weapons strapped to his person.

“Sure…”

“Look-”

“I think you should leave.”

“I’m okay.”

“Tommy.” He warns.

“Are you going to tell Schlatt?”

Fundy looks from him to the stage.

“No- I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

He almost laughs, because the only reason he's here is to make sure no one gets hurt.

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Schlatt-”

“Schlatt can go suck a-”

“Tommy.”

The teen chuckles.

“Look, as you’re family I want you to be safe.”

Tommy softens. “Thank you, but truly I’m good. I promise I won't get hurt.”

“You don't know that.”

“True, but I won’t die at least. I know that much.” 

Fundy raises an eyebrow, but leaves it.

“Techno was invited.”

“I know.” He sighs. “You know Wils-Wilbur is going to show up, right?”

The other sighs before running a hand through his hair.

“Probably. Lets just hope he's not as stupid as usual.”

Tommy barks out a laugh, quickly covering his mouth after. Fundy smiles.

“How's the decorating going?”

“Pretty good, Tubbos been doing most of it though.”

“I can tell.” He eyes the banner above the stage, some words spelt wrong. 

Fundy looks over to it. “Yeah, lets just hope Schlatt doesn't care about that.”

Something churns in Tommy's gut, and he's suddenly reminded that Tubbo is not the only member in the cabinet that dealt with Schlatts abuse.

“Look,” he looks at Tommy, “I told Tubbo this and I’ll tell you the same thing. If you need a place to stay, Erets castle is open. I know Schlatt can get-”

“He doesn't do anything bad!”

Tommy gives his nephew a look. Tubbo had said the same thing in his time until Tommy found out by accident. He knew his brother had some unhealthy coping mechanisms, but it was nothing he thought it was. Not that Tommy could fault him for picking up bad habits, but he wishes they weren't so damaging (not that he was one to speak). 

“I can smell the smoke on your clothes.” He eyes Fundys arm, the one that was exposed from his suit sleeve being rolled up. “You should put some burn ointment on those.” 

The teen hurriedly pushes down his sleeve, looking at Tommy with a startled expression.

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

Tommy sighs.

“Eret would never turn you away. Just think about it, okay?”

Fundy nods hesitantly, a hand over his arm and eyes turned downward. Tommy is quick in bringing him into a hug, an action he knows is really unlike him. It reminds him of old times, of game nights and campfires.

After Phil and Technoblade had left, Wilbur had to take up an extra job to support the household. Phil sent money but it wasn't nearly enough, he had to provide for his other son and their travels after all. The nearest town was about a half hour out, so Wilbur was hesitant about taking a job there. He didn't want to leave his little brothers alone all day in the middle of nowhere. The teen was the one who did their schooling, something that was relatively difficult due to Tubbos dyslexia and Tommy's lack of interest. He never faulted the two, but it just took longer than normal. They had chores around the house too, and not all of them were children-friendly, yet the two youngest didn't complain. They had an extensive first aid kit, and they knew basic first aid.

So Wilbur took a job in town as a baker's assistant. Tubbo and Tommy had teased him about it, but after he started to bring home baked goods and his cooking improved greatly they stopped. He would bring them into work, helping them with their school when he could and completing chores together later. It worked for a bit, and Wilbur was able to meet who he claimed was the love of his life. Sally was a godsend, and none of them complained about her little brother tagging along. Fundy was merely six years old, but started aging faster once he turned seven. The two had a long history of shapeshifting in their family, but since it was so random there was really no pattern into what. Sally was a ‘salmon’ shifter (in reality she was more of a mermaid, but upon Tommy claiming her colors were similar to the fish the joke stuck). Fundy was a fox shifter, and more often than not enjoyed fully shifting into the animal. He often curled up and slept by the fireplace while his sister homeschooled Tommy and Tubbo.

Wilbur couldn't of got so much done without his girlfriends help, and he was able to take up extra shifts because of her. He brought home dinner or treats, and on the weekend they would all do the household chores. Having an extensive farm and livestock saved them a lot of money in food, so they either spent the leftovers from that towards less-necessity type things. Wilbur picked up crafting as a hobby, and would spend hours upon hours sewing toys and clothes. That year was probably one of Tommy's favorites, but it all went to shit after Sally got sick. Wilbur spent a lot of their savings trying to heal her, but in the end it was a lost cause. He was different after that, and Fundy spent more time shifted into a fox than human. Tommy and Tubbo constantly got into fights, and their crops started dying. Their house was always a mess, not because Sally was the one who cleaned but because they were all grieving too much to care. 

In desperation Wilbur sent letters and messages to Phil and Techno, practically begging them to tell him what to do. He was lost, and without Sally he fell into a depression, one his three brothers barely saved him from. It took Tommys own problems to snap him out of it. He was by no way ‘cured’ and the depression still lingered, but he needed to help his brother. So he pulled himself out of bed, and went back to work. The family who owned the bakery he worked at was very understanding, and even went as far as sending their daughter to help out. 

Niki filled a different role, more of a sister than a mother like Sally had been. She helped Tommy with his panic attacks, the ones left from trauma he refused to share. She aided Tubbo in schoolwork when needed, always patient when he got frustrated with his own brain. She cut Fundys hair, and made sure to assure him he was her little brother no matter what.

Tommy doesn’t know when that sibling bond was lost, he guesses it was when Wilbur died, but it could've been ever since the four left. She couldn't join them since it was a white-listed server, though she was sent an invitation eventually, but she had changed long before that. Unknown to the others, pillagers had raided her village, practically destroying everything. Her mother was caught in the crossfire, and her father had passed before that. She barely made it out with her life before running to a family friend, who took care of her before she was old enough to leave legally. Not soon after her eighteenth birthday she left for the Dream SMP.

“Wha-”

Tommy pulled out of the hug, ignoring the confusion on Fundys face. 

The other swallowed dryly. “I’ll- I’ll think about it.”

He nodded.

“I should get back to the decorations…”

“Okay.”

Fundy didn't move, Tommy raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry, I just…”

“Take your time.”

He nodded.

“Just- thanks.”

Neither of them actually said goodbye, instead Tommy waved his nephew off with a sad smile, only watching as he staggered off the roof.

“Oh, Fundy?” 

He turned back around. “Huh?”

“Can you watch out for Tubbo today? I told him to stay by you, just in case anything happens.”

The hybrid grinned. “Was planning on it.”

Tommy laughed and then Fundy was gone, shifting into his fox form and gracefully hopping off the building. 

Gods he sure hopes today goes well.

To say Karl slept poorly would be an understatement, only because he didn't actually sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, images flashed through, past mistakes of festivals burned on the inside of his eyelids. All the different possibilities raced through his head. He couldn’t even say they were impossible because he had lived them.

He wanted Sapnap and Quackity.

Instead of sulking there he got up, needing to do something; and that's how he got to where he was now, watching Callahan and Dream argue from the shadows of the community house. He couldn't tell what they were fighting about as they're talking through their communicators, but he could tell it was bad. Callahan was throwing his arms around, a sword in one and a weird holographic thing in the other. 

It only seemed to be escalating, and soon Dream had his axe out. He doesn't know how many lives Callahan is on, but he wasn't willing to risk it. So he shuffled over to one of the many broken walls of the house, and stepped through, making sure to be loud.

“What the hell Karl?” Dream asked as Callahan quickly put away the translucent panel-type thing he'd been holding.

“What?” He said, trying to sound as confused as possible (which wasn't hard, he was genuinely confused).

“Just,” the admin motions in the general direction of him, “never mind.”

Karl shrugged and Dream left.

A pinging noise went through the room causing him to bring out his communicator.

Callahan Whispers to You: Thanks

He looks up and brings his hand to his chin before extending it out. The reindeer hybrid looks startled at this.

‘ You know sign?’

Karl nods before moving his hands in a way he hadn't in a long time.

‘ I had a friend who was mute, he taught me.’

Callahan smiles before quite literally bouncing over to him. He sheathed his sword before bringing out his hands, almost too fast. 

‘ No one here knows it, and none of them were willing to learn. Of course they say they were but… ’ Karl frowns. ‘ I mean sure I can message people but it's so much easier to sign instead of the constant back and forth.’

He brings his hand up before moving it as if he were knocking on a door while nodding. While in the Syndicate, Harpocrates taught everyone sign. It was a good thing to know for missions, since the people the egg had possessed didn't know it. Karl had picked it up the quickest, Ranboo coming in second. The three would often sit around the bases table and sign all night, hands sore but none of them complained. Callahan was right, it was easier than talking through communicators, and it gave them good practice. 

‘ Your expressions are really good, must have taken a long time to learn that.’

He shrugged. ‘ I pick up things fast. ’

Callahan smiles, bouncing on his feet lightly before pointing at Karl. He makes a hook with his index and middle finger, moving his hand in an s shape while doing so.

‘ Traveler. ’

Karl stares at him, eyes wide. Did he know about the time traveling?

Unfamiliar memories threatened to surface. Maybe he just called him that because he has so many houses? Yeah, that's it.

He decides a sign for Callahan then, and it just so happened to be the same one he used for Harpocrates. Phil and Techno had given them all names based on mythology, something Karl found rather interesting. Harpocrates was the god of silence, secrets, and confidentiality; but he was also seen as an embodiment of hope.

Karl put his hand in the sign for ‘a’ and taps the back of his thumb to his lips twice. Then he brings up both hands at an uneven level before bending his fingers down two times.

‘ Silent hope.’

Tommy flinched as a firework went off, soaring high into the sky before exploding in a flurry of colors. He pushed down nausea, Tubbo was fine, he could see him showing Schlatt around from here and he was fine. 

It hasn't been too long since the ram hybrid got here. Tubbo has been showing him and Quackity the stadium along with the speaker system he’d set up. Tommy couldn’t help but marvel at his brother's red stone skills. It by no means matched Sam’s but it was still far better than Tommy could ever do.

Sam, Sam was here, he’d greeted him on the prime path and Tommy had to physically stop himself from doing something stupid. He was mad at him. It wasn’t fair but he couldn’t stop the anger. Sam had let him die, had let Dream kill him. He had so many chances to let him out, contract be damned. He promised to protect him and he’d failed, failed just like he failed Tubbo, failed Wilbur and Ranboo. 

But Sam hadn’t really failed him. He was doing his job as warden, and Tommy would spend eternity in the prison if it meant his friends never had to deal with Dream again. 

Another firework went off. This was going to be a long day.

Karl stood by the prime path, hand clasped in Sapnaps as the two headed towards Manberg.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

He nodded wordlessly.

“Hey,” his fiancé pulled them to a stop. “It’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

Sapnap shook his head. “I do, I trust you so I know it’ll be fine.”

Karl swallowed hard. “You don’t know-“

The other shushed him. “I don’t need to know.”

“No you don’t get it.” He stepped away from his partner. “You hear me say time travel and you think hey it’s okay. It’s like those cool movies where I meet my parents but when they were really young and-“

“Are you talking about Back to the Future?”

He groaned. 

“Not the point. I’m saying you don’t want to think of all the bad timelines. I’ve failed a lot of people, Sap.” He looked at the sky in an attempt to keep the tears at bay. A small town in the middle of a desert flashed through his mind, a certain brown haired man and a gun- “I’ve failed you too.”

Hands grabbed his face, gently bringing his head down. Sapnap stares into his eyes, raw concern and a sincere expression covering his face.

“I saw some things in your book, I know it’s not all sunshine and rainbows but I don’t care. You did your best, okay? No one can fault you for making mistakes, you’re only human-“ Karl chuckled, “-and you’re only one person. Being thrown into this huge responsibility is beyond what I can even imagine, and I won’t make you talk about it, but I’m here for you. Whatever you need me to do and I’ll help you, no questions asked.”

“I know you have questions.”

“I do.” He sighs. “I really do. I mean I don’t know why your hair’s white or you have all these scars. I’m not even going to try and make sense of what ‘red vines’ are or who these mythology-named people are, but again I’m not going to push.”

Karl can’t stop the tears from flowing now, all he can do is launch himself into Sapnaps arms and cry. He didn’t complain, only squeezing him close and whispering sweet words into Karl’s ear. 

It took around ten minutes for him to calm down, but boy did he feel better after. He can’t remember the last time he actually let himself cry like that. He wipes his tears and slowly untangles himself from Sapnaps arms.

“Anything you say?” 

“Karl!”

“Hey I didn’t mean it like that, you just have a dirty mind.”

Karl smirked only causing the two to delve into a fit of laughter.

“Okay but seriously.”

Sapnap sobered up.

“I’m serious, super serious. Seriously-“

Karl snorted.

“-what do you need?”

“I’m going to go check something one last time, I think Tommy’s already somewhere in Manberg… can you go find him? I just don’t want him to be alone during this and I might be a minute-“

“Yeah sure, you don’t have to explain yourself.”

“I know but I want to.”

Sapnap smiles. “I’ll be honest I kind of forgot he traveled too.”

Karl rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah Dream-'' He cut himself off, that wasn’t his story to tell. “I wish he didn’t have to deal with this. Kids been through enough.”

“So he’s from your time? Like the same present, or whatever.”

He hums. “Yeah, we weren’t too close but if anything’s going to bring two people together it’s massive amounts of trauma and time travel.”

Sapnap winced. Okay maybe that was too far.

“Sorry.”

“You’re good.”

Something hit Karl, shoot what time was it? He pulled the pendulum out from under his shirt and checked.

“Oh honk.”

“What?” Sapnap leans over to look at the necklace. “Ooo is that some sort of magic clock?”

“It’s just a watch.” Karl deadpans, only breaking into a smirk upon seeing his fiancés face. “But seriously I should go, the festivals supposed to start soon.”

He really needs to check for the button, at least one last time. He’d promised Tommy.

“Right, well time to go deal with a hyperactive teenager.”

Karl winces.

“You only really saw him briefly at the community house but just- he’s not the Tommy you know, okay?” Sapnap furrows his eyebrows but doesn’t comment. “I mean he still has the same humor, swears a lot too, but…”

Sapnap puts a hand on Karl's shoulder. “It’ll be okay. I mean no matter what shit he’s dealt with I was usually able to put a smile on his face.”

Karl smiles sadly. “Just announce yourself before you walk up to him, oh and don’t touch him. Uh keep your weapons in your inventory-“

“Why would I even have those on me? I mean it’s a festival.”

He shrugs. “People usually do nowadays.”

“Okay, anything else?”

“Nothing that you’d do.”

Sapnap cocks his head, Karl shakes his.

“Okay well better get a move on.”

“Tommy?”

“Fundy I told you-“

“Uh, not Fundy.”

The teen turns around, surprised to see Sapnap. The two hadn’t necessarily been close ever since the pet wars, and especially after exile.

Without a word he turns back to stare at Manberg.

Tubbo's sat next to Schlatt on stage wringing his hands. Almost everyone who was invited sat in the audience, save for Technoblade and Karl. 

He flinches again as someone lets off fireworks, only staring at Tubbo as they do so. He’s fine, his brothers fine. He’s right there and smiling, no bursting particles around him and face rid of pain.

“Tubbo you didn’t turn the mic-“

“Oh I got it.”

He gets up and quickly flips the switch, allowing everyone to hear the man’s voice.

“Quiet!” Schlatt shouts, successfully cutting the audience's conversations short. “Uh, welcome to the festival!” He claps, everyone following him.

Tommy wants to punch that stupid grin off his face.

“I’ve invited all the citizens of Manberg-“

“Tubbo did.” Tommy grunts, ignoring the presence behind him.

“Tommy.” The hybrid mutters, and he can feel the man walk up beside him, staring down at the scene unfolding. 

Tommy doesn’t really want to talk to him. He doesn’t hold anything against Sapnap, he’s just not in the mood. He knows Karl told him about what was happening, the time travel and such. He’s bound to have questions, ones that Tommy doesn’t have the answers to. 

He trusted Karl, he was willing to test that out, but he was iffy with everyone else. Even Tubbo made him simmer with rage sometimes, but it wasn’t fair. A lot of people he could fault no matter what, but his brother had been put in a tough situation. He tells himself he doesn’t hold it against the teen but it doesn’t change his feelings. Anyways, he’s not willing to extend the trust other than those two, even if it’s someone they trusted. Sapnap would have to show it, give him a reason to trust him.

He knows he and Karl are engaged, and that Quackity was later on (he’s not sure when it happened though). Q and Schlatt were never really together, but he’d heard them joking about being married, maybe it wasn’t a joke. A part of his heart soars at the thought, because even if he doesn’t really trust him or Sapnap it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want them to be happy. Schlatt was not a good person, and Quackity deserved people who treated him right (the duck plush Karl had lended him proved that).

“-very close friends of mine to enjoy the festivities that have- that this, uh, nation something. I don't know. Uh basically I just wanted to throw a party.”

Tommy scoffs. “Prick.”

“Let me get a democracy on three. One, two, three-”

“Democracy!”

Sapnap laughs. “Some democracy this is.”

Tommy turned around, knowing that this is the point where everyone branches off to play the mini games Tubbo had set up.

“What're you doing here?”

The man shuffles on his feet. 

“Karl-”

“Ah, babysitting duty I see.” He laughs. “Listen, I'm perfectly capable of being on my own and taking care of myself.”

“You might be, but you don't have to do everything by yourself. You're only sixteen-”

“Seventeen.”

“What?”

“What about time travel do you not understand?” He deadpans.

Sapnap, surprisingly, smiles. “Everything.”

Tommy can't help the laugh that slips past his façade. 

“Me too…”

He turns back around but moves over, feet now dangling over the ledge. Sapnap takes the invitation and sits next to him, though leaves a foot or two of space in between them.

The two watch as the Manberg citizens dance on the Pokemain island. He can't hear whatever they're saying so Tommy just observes as Sam and Ponk flow from one end of the colorful floor to the other. 

“Dream lost it.” 

Sapnap whips his head to look at him and oh gods Tommy did not mean to say that.

“Wh-what?”

Tommy can't help the laugh that bubbles up from his throat, but it's humorless and the mood swiftly changes.

“How can you not even see it now? I mean he's heavily influencing Wilbur's insanity-”

He should stop talking, he really should, but he can't.

“Wilbur-”

“Goes batshit too, blows this place up.” 

“He does what!”

They're lucky everyone's so far away or someone was for sure going to hear them.

“Technoblade and him blow it up.” He turns to the man, a broken smile on his face. “Great family, innit?”

Sapnap just stares at him.

“Family?”

Tommy shrugs. “Right, you weren't there when Technoblade said that. They're my brothers, so is Tubbo.”

He opened and closed his mouth several times before settling on a simple “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Something suddenly occurred to Sapnap.

Schlatt let out a laugh. “Sure, cause you’re family right?”

Techno tensed.

“Your little group of broken people who somehow get along, somehow fit together and you can work through all your problems together.” The president's voice was condescending. “Trust me Techno, that died a long time ago. You haven’t been around, god knows Phil left a long time ago.”

“Don’t bring this up now, Schlatt.” Tommy hissed.

The man smiled creepily. “Why not Toms ? You know it’s true.”

“Shut up.” Techno practically barked.

“Is Schlatt?”

“Is Schlatt what?”

“You know, family.”

“Oh gods no. I mean him, Technoblade, and Wilbur were close when I was younger but…’

Something clicked in Tommy's head. Tubbo had shown up not too long after Phil told him Schlatt would no longer be coming over. Schlatt had ram horns, Tubbo had goat ones.

“Oh shit.”

“What?”

Schlatt was Tubbos father and Tommy never realized it. All he knew was that he showed up one day and the two had been close ever since. He didn't think twice when he started growing horns because it wasn't entirely uncommon for people to be hybrids. He guesses the difference in species kind of stopped the connection, everyone just assumed you would be the same type of hybrid as your parents, but it was usually similar, not the same. So they both had horns, just not the same type. He guesses it makes sense, I mean Bad was a demon-type hybrid and Sapnap was a Blaze Hybrid. He wasn't sure if he was his biological son but that was still a good example, since a demon-hybrid is similar to Nether fortress type mobs.

“Nothing, just realized something.” He didn't elaborate further and Sapnap didn't ask. 

“So Dream…”

Tommy has to suppress a flinch.

“Is he some sort of hybrid?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “I mean Fundy, Tubbo and I ‘exorcised’ him because we thought he was possessed by what we called a Dreamon. It kind of backfired and if I'm being honest I don't think it did anything, he said he felt better but he could've been lying.”

Tommy blinked rapidly. Had Dream actually been possessed? He pushes the thought away, all they needed to do was stop L’Manberg from being blown up and then he’d be out of here.

“You know,” Sapnap starts, “You and Karl both have that weird white in your hair.”

Tommy almost growls. Fucking universe and making them deal with this, first it was the hair then it was the infinity mark, what was going to be next? 

“Dream seemed to know what it meant-”

“It's none of your business.” He snaps. 

“Right, sorry.”

Tommy sent him a perplexed look.

“What?”

“Just-” He shakes his head, “It's nothing.”

To be honest Tommy expected him to yell, but Sapnap only raised his hands in surrender and apologized.

“Was he- how bad is it?”

“I- he, uh, was really obsessed with power, didn’t care how he got it. Tubbo and I- we found this bunker, well Dream led us there, but there was this long hallway filled with spots for people’s possessions.” He looked over to Sapnap, who held a horrified expression. “There was even a cage for Skeppy, guess that was the only thing he could find to control Bad.”

“Fuck…”

“Yeah.”

“There’s more to it though, isn’t there?” Tommy nods. “What- he did something to you, didn’t he? I mean at the community house you looked so… scared.”

The teen swallows hard. “That event happened before, but not this soon. I don’t know what he’s playing at, but Schlatt wasn’t involved this much in my time.”

“What happened the first time?”

“Dream uh, he framed me for it, just like now. I wasn’t supposed to be there, but I showed up after he told Tubbo to give him one of my disks.” He laughed humorlessly. “I don’t know why I ever cared for those fucking things so much, it only gave him power over me in the end, and I let him do it. He had me twisted in his stupid fucking strings, and I didn’t realize it until it was too late.”

“You’re allowed to have possessions you care for, everyone does. I have some important things to me, I’m just past the point of showing them off- not that that’s a bad thing, but I’ve already done that. You’re a teenager and those disks make you happy, so you want to share that with others to make them feel the same.”

Tommy stares at his hands. “But I’ve let them control me.”

Sapnap shakes his head. 

“They’re a constant in your life, and from what I can tell you don’t have many of those.”

“I-I think that I was so used to just going after Dream, Tubbo and I against him, that’s how it’s always been, but sometime along the road it got out of hand…”

“It didn’t, not on your end at least. You said he was obsessed with power?” Tommy nods wordlessly. “That’s probably when he realized what items meant to people, and that he was able to get you guys to fight over them. He enjoyed it, but at some point it became more than a friendly game between.” 

“It- it’s just not worth it anymore.”

Sapnap smiles sadly. “It’s okay though.”

“But I spent so long going after those damn things! I can’t just give them up, act like they don’t matter anymore when I’ve gone through so much just to get them back!”

“I think you need to realize that it was never really about the disks for Dream. He wanted control, and he used that as an excuse.”

“Everyone thinks it’s stupid, that I’ve gone after them for so long.”

“They’re stupid to not realize what was really going on.”

Tommy sighs, his thoughts were spinning around in his head. It didn’t make sense, did it? I mean he spent so long, so much energy and effort into it and it almost cost Tubbo his life. He used the disks to get L’Manbergs freedom, which is kind of strange when you think of it. I mean what use were those disks to him? They didn’t have any value cost wise, he couldn’t sell them for a huge amount, so why was it such a great bargain to Dream?

“How do you know so much about this?”

Sapnap shrugs. “I read a lot, antagonists tend to have a common theme of power, it leads to obsession with things a lot.”

Tommy chuckles.

“It’s not really my place to ask-“

“You have a free one here, big man. I haven’t been able to put words to that for so long, and no one has actually tried to understand all this before so…”

He smiles, though it quickly dims and Tommy’s not so sure about his decision anymore.

“You said that the community house was blown up in your time but not this soon, yet you weren’t supposed to be there. Why’s that?”

“Uh-“ his mouth goes dry, “I was exiled.”

Sapnap furrows his eyebrows. “I don’t get it?”

“I was exiled again, but away from everything. No going to the Main SMP, and especially not L’Manberg.”

“Oh-“

“That’s all I’m explaining about that.”

He nods and Tommy goes back to watching everyone, panicking slightly until he spots Tubbo.

“Something bad happened here, didn’t it?” Sapnap asked.

“Yeah…”

“Is it-”

Tommy's suddenly leaned over, hand clutching his wrist in pain.

“-ommy?”

He grits his teeth. “Fuck.”

A hand touches his shoulder, and when he doesn't lean away from it Sapnap tightens his grip.

“Jesus Christ you’re going to fall off the building.” He lightly guides the teen away, Tommy lets him.

“What's wrong?”

Tommy doesn't want him to see but he doesn't really have a choice. The only other time this happened was right before he woke up here, oh shit was he going to be teleported again?

“-you need to breathe, everything's okay.”

He shook his head before kneeling over more, arm hugging his chest.

“You need to tell me what's wrong so I can help you.”

Is he even allowed to? Does he know about Karl, does anyone know about Karl besides him?

“I don't think I should.”

“Come on, you need to give me something to work with here. I’m sure you can tell me if it's hurting you so bad.”

He sticks out his arm wordlessly, similar to how he showed Karl.

Sapnap sucked in a breath but surprisingly doesn't ask about it.

“Whose is it connected to?”

“What? What’re you talking about?”

“Shit... It burns, right? Like you’re in physical pain right now?”

Tommy looks up, trying to keep any tears from flowing down his cheeks.

“Yeah.”

“Um okay. Are you close to anyone, like past the normal amount- I mean do you know if your soul is connected to someone?”

“What the fuck, no my soul isn't connected to someone.”

“Well the mark and the pain sure seem like you are.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!”

He takes a deep breath. “Does anyone you know have a similar mark?”

Oh shit, should he tell him about Karl? I mean he probably knows right? They are engaged...

Who would it be? Everyone else is pretty much in his line of sight except Karl, Wilbur, and Technoblade. His wrist continues to burn, only growing in pain like the sinking in his gut. It was almost like an extra signal to say ‘hey somethings wrong,’ and while he appreciates it it was also extremely concerning.

“Look Tommy, this means they're in danger alright, so I need to know who it is if you know.”

Fuck. He’d asked Karl to double check for the button, and he's the only one he knows who has a similar mark.

“Karl, it's Karl.”

Karl was having a bad day. First it was the sleep issue, then it was walking into whatever Dream and Callahan were fighting about before breaking down in front of Sapnap, and now its standing behind the podium, hands raised as his future fiance held a crossbow at him. This doesn't even touch the delicate situation and possible ending of this stupid festival-

“What the hell are you doing Karl?”

“What do you mean? I was just coming to check out the festival.” He answers, faking exasperation.

Quackity grips the weapon tighter.

“Don’t bullshit me, I’ve seen you sneaking around here before. Now tell me this. What. Are. You. Doing?”

Karl sighs before putting his hands down and crossing them. He leans against the hill, trying to act casual. 

“What’re you going to do, kill me?”

“Don’t try me-”

“Then do it.” 

He wasn't bluffing, he really wasn't, because he knows it won't really matter. Considering other events this is barely the stupidest thing he's ever done.

Quackity raises his eyebrows and lowers the bow slightly.

“What the fuck Karl, do you have a death wish?”

He shrugs. “You’re a long ways away from taking my last life, Q.”

“The hell is that- you know what, doesn't matter. Why’re you sneaking behind here?”

“I told you-”

“And I told you to stop bullshitting me.”

Karl sighs. “Just making sure nothing’s out of place, you know, you can't be too careful with these events.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?”

His heart skips a beat, honk. What was he doing? He wasn't alone anymore, he had to take care of Tommy; and even if he can respawn infinitely it doesn't mean he should use it. Respawning was still painful, if not more, and he didn't have time to go through that. Tommy was waiting for him, and he'd just got himself stuck in a position he very well may not make out alive. He wasn't decorating the festival this time around, there was no reason he should be ‘making sure nothing’s out of place.’ Tubbo didn't know what was going on either, so if he played it off as the kid asking him to check something it might end worse than this.

“No- shit!” He couldn't bite down the swear as a bolt was shot into his leg. 

“What’re you really doing here, Jacobs?”

“I told you-” Quackity raised the crossbow threateningly. “Look, you haven't been to Pogtopia, have you?”

“What the hell is a Pogtopia?”

He shakes his head. “It's what Wilbur calls where he's staying.”

“You've talked to him?” He sneers, and oh shoot that was the wrong thing to say.

“No-”

He quickly moved as Quackity let go of another arrow, only to scream as it lodged itself in his side, and oh honk that definitely hit something vital. Just as Quackity went to launch another bolt, someone hit the back of his knees, causing him to fall and drop the weapon. A sword was raised to the vice-presidents throat.

“I would recommend you step away from my partner, Quackity.” Sapnap spit his name, and Karl's heart ached. These two were supposed to be his fiancés, and now they were fighting, one of them probably just killed him.

Someone pressed something to his side, causing him to cry out, and something flashed through Quackitys eyes.

“Shit-”

Karl coughed, and he realized it was Tommy at his side. 

“Karl…”

He waved the teen off, stumbling up, a hand pressed to his side. He vaguely noticed blood dripping out of his mouth.

“Go Tommy, I don't want you to see this.”

His eyes softened. “I have health pots-”

Karl shook his head only to lean against the wall as it made the world spin.

“Hit-” he coughed, “it hit my lung, potion wont fix it.”

Quackity let out a whine. “Karl-”

“Shut up.” Sapnap ordered.

He ignored the blaze hybrid. “Shit, Karl. I thought- how many lives are you on?”

“I- I’m not affected by Dreams cap on respawns.” He lied, but it wasn't really a lie. He was affected by it, but he guesses whoever gave him the infinity mark just found a loophole. 

Tommy froze beside him and Sapnap gave him a look. Karl shakes his head causing him to pull back his sword, leaving Quackity kneeling on the ground.

Tommy suddenly walks up to him, dagger out and in his face. Sapnap just looks amused.

“If you ever even think of telling Schlatt about this I will sneak into your house at night and cut off your-”

“Tommy, that's enough.” Sapnap says, a smirk on his face revealing his real emotions.

The teen looks back to Quackity. “Got it?”

He nods, hair flopping. Tommy sucked in a breath.

“Jesus first Fundy now you, I’m going to kill that motherfucker.”

Quackity quickly stands up, placing a gentle hand on Tommy's arm, who flinches slightly at the contact but doesn't pull away.

“It's not what it looks like-”

“Don't pull that bullshit on me, Big Q.”

The man sighs. “Wait, what do you mean Fundy?”

Tommy freezes.

“You mean you don’t know?”

Quackity tilts his head. “Know what?”

“He has cigarette burns all over his arms, I’m not sure how much of it was Schlatt-”

Sapnap and Karl gasp, resulting in the latter coughing.

“Fuck. What do you mean, wait no, he told me he was fine. Oh gods, what about Tubbo?”

He looks at Tommy with desperation, but all he can do is shrug. He doesn't know how much has happened yet.

“I’m not sure, he won't talk to me.”

“Fuck, fuck. Okay, okay.” He runs his hands through his hair, only exposing more bruises. “That's it, I’m done with this, fuck this.”

Tommy's heart sinks, and he has to stop himself from reaching out and hugging the man. He knows he didn't mean it in the way he thought, but it was too familiar to how he'd acted after Schlatt destroyed the white house, only for Quackity to shoot him and storm off.

“Q-”

“I’m taking those kids and we’re leaving.”

“Where will you go?”

“I-I don’t know, anywhere but here.”

Karl walked up, placing a hand on Tommy's shoulder. 

“Shit, Karl-”

More blood dripped down his mouth, and tears followed as the pain started shining through the adrenaline. He smiled though, teeth no doubt red. 

“Er-Eret’s-“ he coughed, “castle.”

Tommy picked up what he was saying. “You guys can stay with us at Erets castle, we already offered Tubbo before, but you know how he is. I’m sure Eret won't mind.”

Karl nodded, hand sliding off the teens shoulder as his legs collapsed under him.

“Karl!”

Everything went black.

<KarlJacobs was shot by Quackity>

Tommy stared down at the blood on his hands, breathing heavily. Karl was fine, he wasn't going to die permanently.

“Shit- I’m so sorry…”

Sapnap brought Quackity into a side hug. “It's alright, let's get you back to the castle.”

“But Fundy and Tubbo-”

“I’ll stay here, bring them back.” Sapnap gave him a look. “I’ll be fine, just send Karl back when he can.”

He nodded, and steered Quackity away. Tommy smiles sadly, he really hopes those three work stuff out, they deserve to be happy together.

He ignores the obvious that he and Karl will be out of here by the end of the day.

Karl groans, sitting up. He can still taste the blood in his mouth, and his limbs feel heavy, almost staticky (a result of the respawn).

Someone knocks on the door, and it takes him a minute to realize he's back in his guest room at Erets castle.

“Karl, can I come in? I saw the death message.”

He nods before realizing Puffy can't see him.

“Yeah!” He calls out.

She walks in, a glass in hand and a bottle in the other.

“Here.” She hands him the two things. “For the pain.”

He stares at the bottle. “It's fine, I don't want you to waste a potion on me.”

She waves him off. “Nonsense, besides, we have a trading center.”

“You what?” He laughs.

Puffy holds a finger up to her lips, he nods, smiling.

“So, what happened?”

He winced.

“Sorry, you don’t-”

“It's fine, just some complications.”

“So I take it the festival went bad.”

“Don’t they always?” He mutters, she gives him a confused look, he shakes his head. “It's still going on, things just got… It's fine, misunderstanding really.”

“Ah. So how many lives are you on now?” There's an emotion in her voice, one that screams ‘I know something I shouldn’t.’

“Uh- I’m not affected by Dreams cap on respawns.” He repeats, just like he told Quackity. He probably shouldn't be telling people this, but does it really matter if he's going to be gone by the end of the day?

“Is Tommy the same way?”

“What? Why would you ask that?”  He snaps without meaning to, but she doesn't seem bothered.

“I-I saw the other day that he had an infinity mark where my lives are.” She raised her arm, the inside of wrist turned outward to show three red hearts.

“Oh, uh yeah…”

“Cool, I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry.”

He looks at her. “Not even Eret?”

She smiles and nods. 

“Not even Eret.”

Tommy stares into the crowd, who’re once again sitting below the stage, more specifically at Fundy and Tubbo. They seemed to huddle together, hands intertwined. 

“Goddammit, has anyone seen Quackity?” Schlatt asked, voice bouncing through the speakers. 

Tommy snickered.

“Dammit, there goes that speech- uhm, anyways. I- I don’t really have a speech planned.” He laughed. “I guess long live democracy- and uh, thank you all for coming to my party. You’re all free from the confines of those ugly black walls -besides my laws of course- because of me.”

It was silent.

“Clap, yes this is where you clap.”

An awkward applause went through the area.

“Yeah! Now go enjoy yourselves, there's more partying to go around.”

People were quick to disperse, most clearly going back home and not to whatever partying Schlatt was talking about. Tubbo and Fundy stayed seated, looking like they were in a heated conversation.

“Aw, did I miss the speech?”

Tommy turns around, not able to keep the big smile off his face.

“Karl!” He shouts and runs over, pulling the man into a hug.

He chuckles and brings his arms around him to return the gesture.

The teen pulls away. “You’re okay, right?”

“Yep, still have infinite lives and everything.”

Tommy winces. “I actually wanted to talk to you about that-”

“It's okay, I’m okay.”

He doesn't have it in him to press. Karl brings him into another hug, and Tommy realizes that he'd actually just hugged the man. He tries not to blush, but the red still covers his face.

They both pull away and Karl doesn't comment on the boys embarrassment.

“Come on, let's go get Fundy and Tubbo and leave.”

He smiles. “Sounds good to me.”

As they make their way off the NASA building Tommy can’t help but sigh in relief. Nothing bad had happened, they stopped it, and now he could-

He froze, what was he going to do now? Would he be sent back to his time, somehow alive again and cursed to never die, or would he go to whatever afterlife there was? Would he continue to travel with Karl?

A sudden pounding entered his head, the familiar one that was usually followed by-

“Tommy?” Someone asked, and oh shit that wasn’t Karl.

“Technoblade.” He deadpans causing the other to stiffen. 

Ooo he’s mad

Technobro

SassyInnit

Wilbur is standing behind him, almost as if he was hiding but Technoblade was so tall it probably just seemed like he was. Tommy took in his appearance, dark under-eyes, usual trench coat, black fingerless gloves, no armor or weapons visible; all in all he looked just like his Wilbur had, if not a little more rough.

“I told you to keep him away.” He seethed.

Stab him

Blood for the blood god

Blood

Is he good?

Ooooo sis snapped

“And I told you I’d try my best.”

“Techno this isn't some game,” The nickname slips out unintentionally, “This is an actual life or death situation. Who knows what Schlatt would’ve done to him if he showed up, and who knows maybe he was on his way to blow up this whole place. What then, huh? Have everyone die, their deaths be on your hands-”

Oh he’ll see death

Don’t kill anyone

Boom boom

Bye bye country

L’Manhole

“Alright that's enough.” Karl cuts in.

Wilbur steps out from behind Technoblade.

“Tom-”

He puts a hand up. 

“Look, I don't want to talk to you right now.”

He probably shouldn't talk to him like that, this Wilbur hasn't done much besides threaten to blow up their country- okay maybe that's a valid reason but that's not what he was mad about. His Wilbur had done so much more than that, and he couldn't look at him or Technoblade the same, let alone Phil.

“You should've let me blow up the place.” He mumbles causing the other three to give him a look.

Villainbur

Villain arc

Boom

Vilbur

“Wil?”

Tommy whipped around to see Fundy and Tubbo, the latter gripping onto his nephew like he was his lifeline. 

“Tubbo, are you okay?”

He shakes his head, but doesn't say anything.

“Wil, what do you mean by that?”

Wilbur smirked, but there was panic laced in his expression.

“Exactly what it sounds like.”

“Wh-what? Why?” Tubbo asks.

“Why not! What has this place done for me besides betray me!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He snorted. “We got kicked out of our own goddamn country and you’re asking what the hell I’m talking about?”

“You got kicked out because of Schlatt, it's no more than that.”

“None of you did anything about it though! You put that man in power and then cower behind your nonexistent walls, pretending everything is all fine and dandy. He won fair and square, sure, but you’re all so loyal to him when he's clearly a bad leader. You go on about democracy when this is clearly a dictatorship, the sole thing we wanted to avoid, that's why we had an election in the first place! You ask me why I want to get rid of a country that has let me down countless times, and I’m painted as the bad guy simply because I oppose Schlatts beliefs; but you know what, maybe I want to be the bad guy-”

A loud crack bounces off the buildings surrounding the six people, and Wilbur's head snaps to the side.

Oh damn

You get him!

Bamf Tommy

Tommy goes to hit him again but someone holds him back, he doesn't care though, he's furious and about one more bad event away from yelling at whoever was talking in his head.

“Never ever say that again-”

“Oh did I hit a soft spot-”

“Both of you, shut up.” Technoblade barks out.

Tommy flinches causing the person holding him back to let go. 

“Karl can you please,” he motions towards the other three.

“Yeah, of course. Tommy-”

“I want to talk to him, actually.”

Karl sends the teen a look, who in return shakes his head.

“Okay. Wilbur, Tubbo, Fundy lets go look at the decorations…”

The four walk off, leaving the awkward brothers.

Tommy suddenly snorts. “Didn’t think you ever said please, Mr. Blade.”

“Didn’t think you had it in you to break Wil’s nose.”

“I did not-”

“I heard it crack, it's definitely broken.”

He sighs, looking down.

“Why did you punch him anyway?”

“Does it matter?”

He shrugs. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you that upset, well besides the whole event at the community house. Did you actually blow it up- I mean nice job if you did, but-”

“Shut up.” He seethes. “And no, I did not blow up the fucking community house. Anarchy’s your job, not mine, innit?”

Anarchy pog

Feral Tommy

Pop off

Blood for the blood god

E

Punch him

Revenge Wilbur!

Evil Wil

Did we teach him that?

E

E

E

E

E

E

E

One of us

One of us

E

Blood for the blood god

That’s it. 

“Will you shut the fuck up?” He seethes, keeping his voice quiet.

It doesn’t seem quiet enough though, screw Technoblade and his stupid enhanced hearing.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Tommy waves him off.

Technoblade sends him an incredulous expression, but does not comment. 

“I called Phil.”

He scoffs.

“Wow, thanks for telling me.” He says sarcastically, voice deprived of his usual teasing, only leaving malice in its wake. “Couldn't handle your own battle, Blade . Have to call daddy dearest to come help-”

“What do you guys have against Phil.”

Tommy stares at him before laughing humorlessly.

“Let me tell you something, he won’t come help Wilbur, trust me on this one.”

“He's our dad-”

“Just shut up.” He snaps.

“Wow Theseus, so mature.” He drawls.

He grips his hands into fists, nails digging into his palms.

“Why do you always call me that?”

Technoblade looks surprised. “What do you mean-”

“You always call me Theseus.”

“It's your name, isn't it?”

Tommy freezes.

“The fuck are you on about?”

“Don't act so surprised, it wasn't hard to figure out. All I had to do was pull some strings with a mod at Hypixel-”

He can’t help but bring out his dagger, the blade materializing from his inventory. He hadn’t kept it on his belt, not wanting someone to think he was there with ill intent if he were to be spotted.

“There's no reason you need to know that.”

The man shrugs. “Sure there was, Wilbur shows up with you one day and expects none of us to question it. I’m surprised Wil let you in so fast, especially without wanting to know about your background.”

“You could've just asked me like a normal person.”

He puts his hands up. “If it helps all I found out was your name, the mod wouldn't tell me anything else, something about it being illegal -”

Tommy lets out another humorless laugh. “Wow if it isn't the great blade respecting the law.”

He chuffs. “Not really, governments meh-”

“Says the one who ruled a literal empire.”

“-and they tend to be entrapping.”

“Yeah because laws are such a bad thing.”

He shrugs. Tommy snorts.

“You just don't want to have to deal with the consequences of your actions.”

Technoblades scrunches up his nose. “Woah, that's not what I said.”

Tommy raises an eyebrow, because that's all he ever proved in the future. Destroy peoples homes only to run off claiming to be retired and saying he shouldn't face punishment. 

“Sure…”

“People should be held accountable for wrong-doings, but there are other ways besides throwing them in a jail cell.”

“Let me guess, violence is the answer.”

“I mean violence works, but-”

Tommy chuckles. 

“Only universal language is violence.” He mumbles. 

Technoblade froze.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing-”

“No Tommy, that wasn’t nothing. Where did you hear that?” If Tommy didn't know any better he'd say that there was concern in his voice, but that wasn't right.

He chuckles. “You.”

“What? There's no reason for me to have said that to you.”

Tommy waved him off. “You said it once when we were kids. It's no big deal.”

Technoblade ran his fingers through his hair.

“No Tommy, you don’t get it-I-I’ve never said that out loud before. Only ever heard it.”

Pog

Universal language!

Violence

Blood

“No, I did hear it from you.”

It was silent for a minute.

“Did I...do something when we were kids?”

He looks up and is surprised to see the other scared. Tommy doesn’t think he's ever seen Technoblade scared (well besides that one time when they were kids and Phil had been shot).

“No? What do you mean?”

The hybrid sighs. 

"I have these...voices.”

“Oh.” 

He briefly remembers him talking to ‘chat’ when they were kids, and during his exile. He always brushed it off, never commenting or questioning when Technoblade would talk to seemingly nothing.

What does he mean ‘oh’

You’ve done it now

Theseus!

How dare he?

Technolie

L

L

L

Show him this ‘universal language’

Stab

Take his weapon

Pretty dagger

Shiny

E

Tommy puts his dagger away making Technoblade raise an eyebrow.

“Yeah…”

Something clicks in Tommy's mind.

“ Oh .”

“You okay there Theseus?”

He looks up.

“I-”

One of us

One of us

One of us

Blood for the blood god

One of us

The two wince as chat practically screams, and Tommy covers his ears as if it would do anything. 

“Toms?”

He slowly brings his hands away, looking at Technoblade and the red swirling in his eyes.

“One of us.” He whispers involuntarily.

Techno freezes once again, hand stopped halfway from reaching out to Tommy.

“Toms?” He asks again quietly.

“I-”

“When did you start hearing them? Oh god have you heard them since you’ve lived with us? Did you just not say anything, I could've helped.”

Tommy doesn't think he's ever seen Techno so worked up about something.

“Community house.”

“What?”

He straightens, trying to appear more confident. “I've heard them since you walked into the community house, but I- I think I only hear them when you’re around…”

“Shit.”

Tommy shakes his head. 

“It doesn't matter, I thought it was-” he cuts himself off, “It's nothing.”

“It's not.”

“Leave it.”

Technoblade just stares at him.

“Why did you even want to talk to me?”

He clears his throat. “Uh- just the Phil thing. Once he gets here we’re going to figure out how to help Wil.”

Tommy wants to laugh because it's so clear that he needs help too yet they do nothing. Even if he wasn't from the future he still needed help. At this point in time he’d still lost two of his lives, been through a war, was exiled by his own country, and dealt with Wilbur. 

“Yeah, and? Karl and Tubbo told me. I don’t care.” He crosses his arms.

“Look we’ll just… Phil and I will come by to talk about it once he gets here.”

“Let's hope he can get in.”

“What do you mean?”

Tommy shakes his head, he shouldn't tell anyone what Purpled told him. It never happened in his time, so he guessed there was a small chance Dream would actually lock the servers borders. He doesn't even bother to mention how he won’t be here when Phil gets here, and he ignores the part of him that wonders what will happen to this timeline after.

Oh shit he'd asked Purpled to get Ranboo and he was leaving soon. What happens when he gets here and Tommy’s gone? Will the Enderian be stuck in the server to deal with Dreams bullshit, only for the person who asked for him to be gone.

“It's nothing.”

He shrugs. “If you say so.”

“What the hell Wilbur!” Fundy shouts, startling Karl. He’d just led the three away from Techno and Theo, letting them talk. He really hopes they figure some things out, he knows Tommy can’t forgive Techno, but if he kept coming along with Karl during these travels he’d have to get used to the different versions of people. Of course it wasn’t something you could totally get over, but you couldn't fault them for events that haven't happened yet.

“What?” The man asks, tone filled with false confusion. 

Tubbo let go of the fox hybrid. “You- you can't just blow up L’Manberg!”

Wilbur scrunched up his face. “I-”

“You can't seriously think those things, right?” Fundy starts. “I mean we haven't betrayed you…”

An unknown expression passed through the ex-presidents face, before falling into something hard, almost determined.

“I said what I said.”

“Dad- please, you can’t do this. Not now.” 

Karl put a hand on his shoulder, none of them deserved this. He wasn't aware of what Schlatt had been doing, only remembering little of what Quackity had told him. He thought he’d been protecting the kids, trying to have Schlatt direct his emotions towards him. Karl wanted to shake him for it, he didn't deserve it either. 

People said Tubbo was a kid, used it as a defense to protect him and Tommy, but it wasn't much different for some others. Quackity had been eighteen when he was vice, Fundy had been a teen during the wars, Jack had just barely been considered an adult at the time. Sure, Tommy, Purpled, Tubbo, and Ranboo were still minors, they don’t deserve anything that's happened to them; but neither does anyone else. Growing up in war messes with you, and this whole server was affected no matter their age. No one knows how to resolve conflicts peacefully, often they get to the extreme because it's all they’ve ever known. 

Not that this is an excuse for people's actions, most of the adults should know better, shouldn't blame kids for their problems and try to kill them, but there's a lot more to it. 

“Why not? Fundy they exiled me, and Tommy. He- he didn't deserve that, he shouldn't of been dragged down. Why was he dragged down for it!”

“Do you not see it!”

There were tears falling down both of their faces.

“See what? A country that's gone to shit, that is corrupted by whatever the fuck kind of leader you have!”

“Do you not care about your citizens anymore? Do you not care about me anymore!”

Wilbur froze and he looked as if he'd just been punched again.

“What- Fundy no. No, hon- what gave you that impression?”

He sputtered. “What do you mean what gave me that impression? You’re going on about how you’ve been betrayed, how Schlatts a bad leader, but not once have you stopped to think about what we’re going through! You're acting like you’re the only one affected, but what about us! What about your son and your other goddamn brother! We might not have been exiled but we’re still dealing with shit!”

Wilbur stepped forward, hands cupping Fundys face.

“I- I’m sorry,” he looks down. “I don’t know... “

Fundy stepped away. “Don’t know what? That not everything revolves around you.”

Tubbo gasped. “Fundy-”

Wilbur put a hand up to stop him. “No, no he’s right. I-I haven't been there for you guys, and- I don’t know, okay! My brains all over the place, and I- fuck.” By now the tears were steadily flowing down his face.

“I don’t know what's wrong with me, or why I feel this way, and I can’t- Tommy's scared of me.” He looked up at Karl, teary eyed. “Why is he scared of me? I’d never hurt him- Wait, have I? Oh god I hurt him didn’t I? That's why he left, I did something bad, didn't I?”

Karl couldn't help but bring the man into a hug. Wilbur gripped onto the back of his shirt and sobbed. 

“I- I think I need help.”

Fundy put a hand on his shoulder.

“Wi- Dad, it’ll be ok. I’m sorry for what I said too.”

Wilbur pulled away from Karl, only to bring Fundy into a hug.

“You have nothing to apologize for. I haven’t been here for you, and I want to change that.”

“Uncle Techno called grandpa, h-he can help.”

They pulled out of the hug and Wilbur wiped his eyes.

“No, I’ve been lying to him Funds. He probably doesn’t even want to see me, I mean he was never there for us as kids, and he’s never actually responded to my letters, so who’s to say it’ll be different now.”

“Me.”

The four turned around to see Technoblade.

Wilbur snorted. “Always have to have a dramatic entrance, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t really want to deal with emotions, I’ve been listening for a bit.”

“Oh, so you mean eavesdropping?”

“Eh, call it what you will.”

Karl watched the two bicker, an almost fond smile on his face before he realized what was wrong with this picture.

“Where’s The-Tommy?”

Techno looked over. “Oh, the kid went off, said something about Quackity.”

He had to stop himself from sighing with relief. 

“Okay, good. You guys should come back with me to Erets castle.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Wilbur says.

Fundy turns to him. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll probably end up losing it on Eret, and I don’t think Tommy’ll want to see me.”

“Me either, seemed pretty pissed with me.” Techno said.

“But where will you go?”

The two shared a look. “We have an idea.”

“It’ll be fine, Phil should be here any day now. Well let you know the plan when he arrives.”

“Can I come with you?”

Tubbo puts a hand on Fundys shoulder, and the two have a silent conversation.

“It’s fine Fundy.” Wilbur says, as if he knows whatever the two are thinking about.

He turns to look at his father. “Are you sure?”

Wilbur nods and opens his arms, and without a second thought Fundy runs into them, hugging tight as tears threaten to once again flow.

“Shh, everything will work out in the end my little champion.”

Karl looked over to Tubbo, who held a sad smile on his face.

“I think Tommy wants to see you.” In reality he knows Tommy does, the poor teen had been freaking out all day, just waiting for his brother to die.

“Okay, yeah. I want to see him too.”

Tommy sits on a couch in the castle's living room, wringing his hands as he waits for Karl to come talk to him. He doesn’t think he wants to actually leave this timeline, everything seemed to be working out. Wilbur was getting help, Technoblade didn’t kill Tubbo, Phil was arriving any day now, and Fundy was finally reconnecting with his dad. L’Manberg didn’t blow up and there was a small chance it ever would, even though Schlatts still in office everyone would probably turn on him eventually, leading either to his death or resignation (maybe even assasination). 

“Geez, I can practically hear you thinking from over here, boss man.”

Tommy looks up, eyes trailing to the three people standing in the doorway.

“Tubbo!” He yells, shooting up and running over to his brother.

He lets out an oof as Tommy’s body collides with him, the two barely staying upright.

“Hey big man.” He says, voice strained with how tight Tommy’s hugging him.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Tubbo pulls away, surprised to see the terrified yet relieved look on the others face.

“Of course I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?”

Tommy’s eyes soften. “You don’t have to do that, okay? You’re allowed to feel shitty, or have bad days, or just not be okay.” 

He doesn’t seem to realize the impact those words have since he goes and gives Fundy a quick hug before turning to Karl. 

Tubbo grabs his hand. “Tom-“ 

“We'll talk tomorrow, okay?” He feels bad saying that as he won’t wake up in this time, but he really needs to talk to Karl, and he doesn’t feel like having a heart to heart with Tubbo at the moment.

Tubbo nods. “Okay. Fundy and I will go talk to Eret, figure out which room we can stay in.”

“Sounds good, Tubso.”

Tubbo grins before shouting as his hair is messed up. Tommy doesn’t mention the tiny stumps he can feel from his horns growing in.

He waits until the two are long gone before beginning to talk.

“So that’s it right? We did what we were supposed to do?”

Karl rubs the back of his neck. “Think so, I mean I don’t think Wilbur is going to blow L’Manberg up anytime soon, and we kind of avoided the whole Technoblade issue. Only thing I can think of left is Dream, but that should work itself out with time.”

“Okay, cool cool.” He says nervously.

Karl cocks his head to the side. “What is it?”

“It’s just- is it bad I want to stay here? I mean everything seems to be going good, great even. It’s…”

“Unfair.”

He swallows. “Yeah.”

Karl places a hand on his shoulder. “It is unfair, I’m sorry but it is. You don’t deserve this.”

Tommy can’t help but cry. He just nods, looking down in hopes of hiding his tears.

“When are we leaving?”

“I’m not sure, usually it happens pretty quick but since there’s two of us maybe it’ll take longer.”

He nods. “Okay, can you- never mind.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing- it’s stupid.”

Karl sends him a look. “I’m sure it isn’t.”

Tommy doesn’t reply, instead he sits back on the couch, wrapping the weighted blanket back around him. Wordlessly he pats the space next to him, Karl smiles.

That’s how Eret finds them, curled up on the couch, Tommy’s head on Karl’s lap and both asleep. He smiles at the duo, warmth filling his chest as he covers them with another blanket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He looks around, surprised to find he’s spawned in the middle of the community house. Except it wasn’t, not really. The ruins around him stood out stark against the night sky.

“What the hell?”

His communicator buzzed.

<Dream> wtf

<Dream> I didn’t whitelist you

Dream whispers to you: Who are you?

He ignored the admins' question. He’d dealt with the man enough in his own time, he didn’t want that to happen again.

He walks into Erets castle, trying to find anyone he mildly trusts.

“Hello!” His voice echoes. 

He walks further into the building, scanning everything. The rainbow windows, gold throne, swords perched on display, armour stands and riches against the walls. 

“Hi?” A deep voice says causing him to jump. 

“Oh hi Eret.”

Stupid, stupid…

The king raised an eyebrow. “Sorry but do I know you?”

He took a step back.

“Uh yeah, maybe? Not yet I guess-”

Stop talking.

“Right um, do you happen to know where TommyInnit is? Or Karl Jacobs, heck I’d even settle for Tubbo…”

That was a lie, he couldn’t tell Tubbo anything, but he desperately wanted to see him. He twists his wedding ring anxiously.

Instead of being open (which come on, what did he expect?) Eret took a threatening step closer, hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Who are you?”

“Right right, you don’t know me.” He sticks his hand out. “I’m Ranboo, nice to meet you.”

Chapter Text

Tommy was very surprised when he woke up and was 1. Still in Erets living room, and 2. Being shaken awake by Ranboo.

“Ranboo?” He slurs, voice heavy with sleep.

The teen looks at him with tired, sad eyes, and it takes a little too long for Tommy's thoughts to catch up to him.

“What the fuck.”

Ranboo laughs, but there's a clear edge of nervousness to it.

“Ranboo I-” He looked over to Eret, who stood awkwardly in the doorway. “When the hell did this happen?”

The king crossed their arms. “Uh he just sort of showed up asking for you and Karl or Tubbo.”

Tommy sucks in a breath and makes it a point to study Ranboo.

Big, black and dark purple wings were folded tightly against his back. He wore his usual suit, but there was a familiar cape wrapped around his shoulders. Jewelry hangs from his small horns, and he has to stop himself from laughing like a maniac when he spots the wedding ring.

“Of fucking course.” He flops back down on the couch with an oof, forgetting Karl was there. The man startles awake with a scream, but Tommy pays it no attention. 

“Uh- Theo?”

That wasn't Karl or Eret, meaning-

Tommy shoots up, running and encasing his brother into a hug.

“Oh-oh my gods. Oh my god!” He shouts, because this was not only Ranboo from his timeline. 

“Yo-you remember,” He hiccups as tears start to trail down his face. “You remember!”

Ranboo tightens the hug, wrapping his wings around him. Tommy sobs more, because he hadn't done that since 2b2t and it'd been too long.

“I do, I do- Theo I’m so sorry.”

Tommy pulls away and pokes the other's chest.

“No- no you don’t get to do that.”

Ranboo furrows his eyebrows, clearly taking his tone the wrong way.

“It's not your fault,” he shakes his head, “It is not your fault Ran.”

He knows he shouldn't say that, because Ranboo is too much of a sap not to cry at those words, and the teen doesn’t need more scars. 

The enderian looks up at the ceiling, trying to keep his tears from falling.

Eret clears her throat, and Tommy looks over. They have a questioning look on their face.

“Eret this is Ranboo.”

“Yeah, they told me.”

Tommy raises an eyebrow, giving them a pointed look.

“Oh, oh . He's that Ranboo.”

“Yeah…” He says sarcastically.

“Well, I’ll leave you three to talk.” Tommy's confused for a second before he remembers, oh yeah, Karl is in fact waking up behind him. “Should I send Tubbo down or-”

“No.” Ranboo speaks up.

Eret nods before leaving.

“Ranboo?” Karl asks, rubbing his eyes.

“Hey Karl…”

“Oh boy do you have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Oh please!” Tommy shouts, a smile on his face as he falses anger. 

Ranboo stares him down, heavy eye contact forced. Tommy can't help but shudder and look away as it's clearly an action he did for intimidation. He curses that trait of his. Ranboo didn't like eye contact, but when he was angry expect him to stare right into yours. 

“What's that supposed to mean?”

Karl sighs. “What he means is I’ve never seen a place like that, can you describe it more?”

“I-I don’t know what else to say about it.” He looks down. “It was a really weird castle, dark, eerie vibe. Pretty creepy. Oh there was this voice-”

“Voice?” Tommy asks. When he and Karl were in the In-Between he hadn't heard a voice, maybe it was like Techno's? Or was this weird, almost upside down version of the In-Between just haunted?

“Not-not like that. It welcomed me, said some really cryptic things and wouldn't answer my questions. Then I…”

Tommy puts a gentle hand on his arm. “Then you what?”

“I-I passed out, and it's like this wall came crashing down. I don’t- there were so many.”

Karl tilted his head. “So many what?”

Ranboo looks up, and there's tears dripping down his face, sizzling as it hits his skin. 

“Memories. I- I knew there was a lot, knew I didn’t write down nearly enough in my memory book, but- it was so much.” He practically whispers the last part, and Tommy has to strain his damaged hearing to catch it. 

“Hey, it's okay.”

Ranboo abruptly stands up. “No, no it isn't! I did so much shit! So many bad things! Gods Theo I forgot you, how did I do that? I joined the server, looked you right in the eyes, and didn’t recognize the person I grew up with! You’re basically my brother and I forgot who you were, I didn’t even notice when you left Hypixel with Wilbur, I thought I lived on my own!”

Karl gets up, and grabs one of Ranboos hands. 

“It's not your fault, okay? You can’t control your memory, your mind probably blocked those things out for a reason.”

“That's what Theo said, on 2b2t. I guess back then it made sense, but how did it get to the extreme that it did? I forgot who I was Karl, I didn't know anything, but I just went along with those stupid tournaments. Why didn't I go look for answers or something?”

Karl furrows his eyebrows, he’d briefly overheard the conversation Tommy had with Eret and Puffy while he’d been making dinner all those nights ago, but he’d never addressed it. He of course knows what 2b2t is, but he still can’t wrap his head around the fact that these two practically grew up there.

“You couldn't have known, you probably felt alone and scared, but pushed it away. You were in a semi-safe situation, you had no real reason to flee, so you stayed where you were.”

Ranboo wiped at his eyes. 

“But-”

“What if Tommy told you he forgot something? Would you fault him for that, would you get angry and yell at him?”

“No, he can’t control…” The teen trailed off as he looked at Karl. “Oh.”

Tommy snorted, pushing away the guilt from anger that had filled him when he realized Ranboo had forgotten him. 

“See?”

“Shut up, like you’re any better.” Ranboo said. Tommy just stuck his tongue out at him. 

“I- I hate to bring this up now,” Tommy said after a minute of silence, “but why’re we still here?”

Karl sighs “I don’t know.”

Ranboo looks between the two, surprised to see Tommy's eyes light up while Karl looks torn.

“Hey, maybe it's a good thing.”

“Tommy…”

“No Karl, think about it. I mean we talked about this last night-”

“Tommy.” The two teens are shocked at the harshness in the man's voice, though he deflates once he sees them tense. “I’m sorry, but you need to know that this probably won’t be permanent.”

Tommy waves him off. “Well Ranboo here must have been sent for a reason. I mean why would he show up just as we supposedly fixed the problem?”

“Wait I’m lost, how long have you been here?”

Karl shrugs. “A week or so, not sure. We stopped Wilbur from blowing up the festival, the first time, though I already stopped that in our time.”

“Oh!” Tommy shouts. “We stopped Tubbo from being executed too!”

Ranboo sucked in a breath, right...that happened. He ignores the ache in his heart at the memory of Tubbo telling him, only because he knew he’d forget (and Ranboo had).

“Well then I guess there's another issue.”

The two travelers stared at him.

“I mean you resolved that issue, but that's hardly the only one. What about the next festival, or Wilbur's death, or any of the explosions? What about,” He sucks in a breath, “Dream.”

Tommy tenses.

“Well Technoblade called Phil, he’s hopefully actually going to help this time instead of putting a sword through Wilburs heart. That pretty much stops any of the altercation between Manberg and Pogtopia since, you know, it was never really a concrete ‘nation’.”

“And Dream?” Karl pushes. Ranboo shudders.

“Lets- let's just ignore him for now, yeah?”

“But-”

“Rans rights. We should just lay low for now, let things play out.”

Ranboo nods. “We’ll deal with issues when they arrive.”

Karl sighs, he's really not suited to deal with two heavily traumatized teenagers in denial who want to stay in what's basically a false reality of their lives. “Okay, but I’m still going to try and figure things out.”

“Karl-” The man shakes his head. “You two have fun, I’ll be in the library.”

Tommy practically jumps over to Ranboo, and the latter ignores the tremor in his friend's hand. 

Tubbo leans against the wall adjacent from the room's doorway, hidden in the shadows of the dark spot as Karl walks out. 

Chapter Text

Karl stood over the desk, paper rolled out and a pen clutched in his hand. He’d pretty much written down the whole timeline, including his own present and this one.

 There were so many events prevented from what happened here, leaving only a couple possible ones that could still occur. They were starting to get to a point where they wouldn’t know what was going to happen, which left them in dangerous territory. Here he was trapped in the past with two teenagers in a version of their lives they haven't lived, and one that they could very well mess up again. 

Karl shook his head, as if it would do anything, but stopped when the room started spinning. Okay so maybe he’d been up too long.

“Jesus man you look like you’re about ready to fall over.”

The traveler wasn't much of a fighter, but he'd been through enough conflicts to have war instincts burned into him. This is what he blames as he unconsciously pulled out a sword from his inventory, even as he recognized the voice.

Quackity put his hands up. “Woah there Karlos, we don’t want someone dying here.”

He sighs and summons the weapon back into his inventory.

“Again.”

“Right.” The other man laughs awkwardly. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

The vice president walks in, head held low and cheeks wet, Sapnap trailing after him. Karl can’t help but want to comfort him, this is his future fiancé after all. He almost laughs because no matter the timeline, the three of them always end up together, whether it ended in tragedy or not. 

“Look you have no reason to forgive me but I'm really sorry that that escalated to that degree. I didn't mean to kill you-”

“I know.”

Quackity pauses and looks up. “You do?”

“Yeah, I moved.”

“Uh- Yeah, it was meant for your arm, not your chest…”

Karl nods. 

“I- I didn't even realize what Schlatt was doing, I should’ve left the moment-”

“It’s not your fault.” Sapnap cuts in.

“What, no- it is. I didn't know about Fundy or Tubbo-”

“Exactly.” Karl says.

“What?”

“You didn't know what he was doing, you thought it was only you, that he left the other two alone. That's why you stayed, you were worried that if you left Schlatt would start doing it to them.”

Quackity raises an eyebrow. “Jesus Jacobs, since when were you this intuitive?”

He only laughs.

“I forgive you, you know? Did the moment you shot me.”

“I take it back, he's lost it.” The hybrid says to Sapnap.

“Hey!”

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

“You know I can hear you?”

Quackity shakes his head. “Way too trusting.”

“Agreed.”

Karl snorts. 

The three sit in silence for a moment before Quackity clears his throat.

“Thank you for inviting us here. I didn't know where I would've taken them-”

“Hey it's okay, you don’t have to be in this alone. I mean Tommy wouldn't of let that happen, let alone us.”

“You’re right.” He snorts. “Stubborn bastard.”

The traveler clears his throat.

“So how’re the kids?”

“Wha- oh, you mean Tubbo and Fundy. Well they’re…” He looks down, “Tubbo insists nothings wrong, keeps denying everything. Fundys just been- well I would say resting but I think shock is the term, even if he tells me he's fine.”

“Did you-” Karl grasps for the right words. “Tommy told me he was injured. More than scars I mean.”

“I figured, I just don’t want to touch him while he's like this. It’ll probably send him into a panic attack.”

He nods. “Or he’ll dissociate.”

“Or that. Honestly, I don't know which one is worse.”

Karl sighs. He should've known displacing them like this would cause issues, but what else was he supposed to do? Let them continue to live under that tyrant, inevitably get executed or severely injured? 

They clearly needed support, but he’s not very close with either of the teens (was Fundy even a teenager?) Tommy was out of the question seeing as he was in as much denial as Tubbo and wasn’t that close with his nephew, Ranboo “didn't know” either of them. Well if those three were out of the question and Quackity needed help then who else could they turn to?

Eret wasn't trusted. He knew Tommy trusted them but this was after months upon months of thinking, months that the other two lacked. They were still obviously tense around the king, and seemed anxious to even be in the castle. Puffy was too new, and although she had a sort of motherly vibe Tubbo and Fundy weren't very open or trusting at the moment. They would either ignore her, or in Tubbos case be so openly kind that it deflected whatever the intended conversation was.

Sapnap wasn't very close with either of them. There was the whole pet wars incident and the fact that he openly sided with Dream against L’Manberg. Being Karls fiancé wouldn't mean anything either, and by this point in time neither of them were that close with Quackity.

That only leaves…

“I have an idea.” Quackity looks up. “But you’re probably not going to like it.”

“-and I just keep adding these posters everywhere. I know Phil and Techno see them when they visit, but they never ask anything. Gods you should’ve seen their faces when they found the one I put in the cabin.”

Tommy snorts. “Ah yes, nothing like self-promoting propaganda.”

Ranboo shrugs. “Better than the penises Tubbo and I made out of honey blocks in front of the place.”

“You did what!”

“In my defense it was Tubbos idea, I was just sort of there. Though I might’ve suggested using the honey from Techno’s bee farm…”

“Oh god that’s priceless! I wish I could’ve seen their faces.”

Ranboo chuckles. “They thought it was you, though I’m pretty sure they suspected I was an accomplice.”

Just like exile. Tommy suppresses a shudder. 

“Of course they did, fuckin’ pricks.”

The two delve into a comfortable silence.

Tommy knows that they’re avoiding the obvious, that this would all come crashing down, just like everything else; but goddammit he just wanted to enjoy this moment while it lasted. 

There’s so many things they could be talking about, like what happened after he left Hypixel, and how he’d even been added to the SMP. That’s not even mentioning the current events, like what was going on (because something was clearly wrong), what he did while Tommy was in exile, or when he died-

His mind blanched and his vision went blurry. He’s aware he is dissociating (he ignores it).

Tommy stares at his hands, more specifically at the crown tattoo. He has to stop himself from laughing, because it felt like he was floating and this wasn’t real and he must be high or something because this just doesn’t feel right. Why was his vision blurry? He can't refocus it. Is he even trying? 

He couldn’t bring himself to care.

Instead of grounding himself- because oh god he can’t feel the grass beneath him and why is the texture so wrong he can’t feel it and the breeze doesn’t make him shiver like it should - he just stares and thinks more. 

What did Ranboo do? There was so much he didn’t know about him, which was sad to think about because he used to be the only person who knew anything about him, even before Tubbo and Wilbur (he was also aware that Ranboo shared this feeling). 

He knew he was a part of L’Manberg while Tommy was in exile- and oh that’s weird, he’s not panicking at thinking about it - he was even in the cabinet at some point, but that didn’t mean much. He also knew that after doomsday he went to live in the arctic with Phil and Technoblade- oh gods why did he have to be neighbors with them - but there was a lot of grey in between those two events, not to mention everything that occurred after. 

Ranboo and Tubbo made a hotel.

Ranboo asked for Tommy’s blessing, Tommy agreed and called them idiots. 

Ranboo and Tubbo started expanding Snowchester.

Ranboo and Tubbo started building a mansion.

Ranboo and Tubbo-

He’s not jealous. He’s not.

There was more to it though, it was painfully obvious yet he was so unaware of the events in his best friend's lives- and then he got trapped in the prison and Dream was hitting him and - what were they even planning? To grow old in this dumb server, to live peacefully in their ‘commune’ and build nuclear weapons just to feel a sliver of safety.

“Tommy?”

He knows Ranboos been calling him for a while. It’s rude to ignore someone, but he’s gotten such little sleep- and maybe if he hadn’t he would care more but he also doubts that - he’s just so tired of dealing with everything, maybe he deserves a little break because sleep certainly doesn’t grant that anymore. 

“Tommy.”

His heart pulls, because here Ranboo is after dealing with who knows what after Tommy died- he didn’t die he didn’t die he didn’t die - and he’s just ignoring him, maybe this is why Tubbo left.

Something snaps in his head and his vision clears without his will. There’s panic flooding through his veins, pumping his heart and making it beat out of his chest because he’d been doing better- why was he thinking these things again~

“Theo.” Ranboo says, and Tommy’s aware the enderians about a minute away from pulling out his full name (he’s the only one he’ll really let get away with it anymore). 

“Yeah?”

He doesn’t look up, and his voice doesn’t crack like in the movies because it hasn’t really been too long, it just felt like it. He clears his throat anyway. 

It’s so painfully obvious that Ranboo knows he’s not okay, but the two don’t want to break this false veil of safety, not yet, not when they just got each other back and for once neither of them are in immediate danger. 

“Did anyone ever ask you about that?”

Tommy’s heart stutters in his chest because no, he’s not supposed to ruin this, they were both fine, they didn’t need to talk about the whole emotions thing.

“The tattoo, I mean.” Ranboo clarifies, causing him to let out a silent sigh of relief. 

“Oh- uh a couple times.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Wilbur was the only person I ever told the truth to. He was practically adopting me, he deserved to know, even if it wasn’t a big deal.”

“But it was to you.” It wasn’t a question but Tommy hums in confirmation anyway.

“It’s a part of me…” One of the few he’s still proud of.

Ranboo nods. “Whenever Tubbo asked I’d just tell him I didn’t know.”

Tommy can’t help the snort that comes out, it’s probably insensitive but-

The teen laughs, a boisterous noise that he’d clearly taken after Tommy with.

“Is that why you wore fingerless gloves?”

Ranboo only laughs again, though there’s an edge to it that he can’t help but notice.

A thought occurs to Tommy, a traitorous one that he wants to bury down and ignore forever, yet it’s coming out of his mouth before he can stop it.

“What about Phil, or Techno? I- I mean they’re very observant I’ve people, are they not?” He can’t help but ask. 

It’s sad, because he swears the two have paid more attention to Ranboo than they ever cared to give Tommy. Maybe he was wrong in his thoughts, he didn’t know them very well after all. He was probably wrong- 

“I…”

“No, sorry, ignore it. Forget I asked.”

Ranboo softened. 

“It’s fine.” Tommy ignored the bile that threatened to rise. “You’re allowed to care for them.”

He looks down. The enderian takes this as his cue to stop, something the younger is grateful for.

“They never saw it, so no, they didn’t ask. I didn’t remember a lot, and what I did I kept close to my heart. I might not have been on the server long, but it’d been long enough to know I needed to keep personal things pretty secret.”

Tommy laughs humorlessly. “Right. Dream, fuckin’ bastard.”

Not like he couldn’t have found out, Ranboo thinks.

“Yeah…”

Neither comment on the panic rising in each other.

“Did you know that they keep villagers under their house?” Ranboo suddenly asks, wanting more than anything to break the tense silence. This seems to do the trick.

Tommy breaks out laughing.

“Wh- really?” 

Ranboo smiles. “Yeah. Man didn’t even try to hide it.”

“I mean it was so obvious. Dude had them just sitting around in boats, they just ended up getting killed.”

“Probably why they moved them to the basement, if you can even call it that.”

Tommy snorts.

“Man, what is it with the people here and illegally trading?”

“Gotta get that money somehow.” Ranboo deadpans.

“We don’t even have a solid currency!”

“Meh. Family used to use shulker shells.”

He clearly doesn’t think anything of it but Tommy freezes. He could ask the obvious ‘oh my god you remember your family?’ But that’ll probably just end up being more awkward than anything.

“The hell is a shulker shell?”

Instead of freaking out like Tommy thought he would, Ranboo just smiles.

“Oh right, the End is banned here. It’s like these almost square, purple type box things. You can use them to make shulker boxes.”

Tommy mouths ‘shulker boxes.’

“Uh- shulker boxes are like chests but you can put them in your inventory with items still in it.”

“What the fuck? That’s so o-p.”

“Yeah. I would say I’m surprised you haven’t seen them but 2b2t had a pretty corrupted End.” Ranboo shudders upon thinking of the server.

Tommy ignored it, he’s not blind to how that place treated hybrids. He doesn’t need to be told how Ranboo got there to know it was bad.

“Phil never let us even go to the nether. Even when he left Wilbur kept that rule in place.”

“Probably a good thing.”

“Yeah. I can’t even imagine what the End looks like. Phil would never tell me, and books were all about the stupid history behind it.”

Ranboo shrugs. “It looks exactly what it sounds like.”

“Huh? The End, is it just the end… I don’t get it.”

“It’s like the void, you know how skyblock and bedwars are right?” Tommy nods. “Yeah, well the void is the sort of sky that expands below the floating islands.”

“So it’s nothing?”

“Well there are islands. They’re just spaced very far. The main one has the ender dragon, but…” he shakes his head. “Guess even with a normal memory I can’t remember that far back.”

Tommy chuckles. “If it’s any consolation I don’t remember my parents, barely even remember running away from that orphanage.”

“I remember…”

He was limping through a town, snatching food when he could, and trying to find some shelter for the night. 

It happened so quickly that no one saw, no one but the poor kid who experienced it. 

One second Ranboo was searching through his pockets, looking for any spare change, and the next there was pain at the back of his head before darkness covered his vision. 

He shakes his head.

“Did you know that I’ve actually met Techno before?”

Tommy snaps his head up. “What?”

“Yeah, fought him on Hypixel once.” He laughs. “He obliterated me.”

“Oh… oh I remember that. You didn’t tell me his name but you came home one day looking like you went through a fuckin’ war.” They both winced at the analogy.

“Yeah, guess that’s what I get for accepting a duel.”

They were silent for a minute.

“You know he trained me?”

Ranboo tilted his head. “What?”

“While I was in exile, after I ran away I mean.”

“Oh…”

Tommy played with his thumbs. “Swear the man bruised me more than Dream.”

Ranboo froze.

“Gods, sorry. That was- yeah that was a bad joke.”

“No- no I’m sorry-“

“No.” Tommy snapped, voice hard. Ranboo tensed. “Sorry, just- don’t apologize. Remember what Karl said, it wasn’t- it’s not your fault. Even if you ignore the memory issues, you can only do so much for something you can’t control. And let's be honest big man, no one was in control of that situation except Dream. No matter how much he manipulated people into thinking it was my fault, or Tubbos fault, it was no one but him.” His tone left no room for argument.

“Okay.”

Tommy smiled. “Good.”

It was silent for a moment,

“He trained me too.”

The teen knew this was coming up, he honestly hoped it would. 

“Oh?”

“Yeah. When I lived near them, I joined this group called-“

“The Syndicate.”

Ranboo looked at him. “What-“

Tommy shrugs before raising his hands and wiggling his fingers, reminding the other that he was in fact the one that instigated robbing George’s house.

“Right. Little raccoon.”

“Hey, I am not a raccoon. I like to call it thievery. Thie-ver-ry.” He exaggerates every syllable.

Ranboo laughs. “Right.”

It's silent for a moment before the hybrid sighs.

“Sorry I-” he looks down. “I know how you feel about them.”

He could’ve said “It's okay,” or “It’s your life, do what you want” but in reality he was also a part of Ranboos life. Those two had caused so much hurt to not only Tommy, but Tubbo as well. It's petty, and he really doesn't have a say in what the other teen does, but he thinks he should allow himself to be selfish for once.

“You’re right.” Ranboo startled.”I mean there’s no real reason you should apologize, but you’re right. They just… they never cared to see my side of things. It was always Wilbur this, Technoblade that. Phil didn’t care about me, he just wanted me to ‘learn a lesson.’ It’s not fair, and in the past I probably would’ve agreed on what they were saying, but I- I’ve been through so much man. I just want to be happy.”

Tommy felt like he should be crying, yet no tears came. The last sentence meant more than those six words, and they both knew it. He wanted to be happy. He wanted to stay here, where everything was going well. He had a feeling Ranboo felt the same, he knew he felt the same, yet neither could bring themselves to talk about it.

He thinks Ranboo should be mad, angry that he’s dissing his neighbors, even if the enderians the one who apologized. Everyone always got mad when he spoke the truth. Instead the teen moved over and placed a careful arm around his shoulders.

“I know-

“Hello?” A familiar voice calls out causing the two to look over.

Tommy's isn’t very surprised to see Purpled, though he’s ashamed to admit he forgot about the favor, and that he didn’t hear him coming,

“Purpled!” He shouts, running over and pulling the teen into a hug. He seems very taken aback by this and awkwardly returns the gesture.

“Hey Toms…”

His somber tone snaps Tommy out of it.

“What’s wrong?” 

Purpled scratches the back of his neck. “Well I couldn’t find your friend. I don’t know what’s going on with the chat servers but after our call disconnected I couldn’t get back in touch with you. I looked for a bit more but nothing.”

Tommy has to stop himself from breaking down in a fit of laughter. 

“Oh- uh, about that…”

The other raises an eyebrow and his eyes quickly dart to somewhere behind Tommy. 

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

He can’t help the laughter that bubbles up.

“Sorry Purp, didn’t mean to waste your time.”

He narrows his eyes at the blonde but Tommy can see the glint of humor in them, and the tense atmosphere flips.

“Whatever.” He grumbles.

It's quiet for a moment.

“Suppose you won’t be staying ‘round, will you?” 

The hybrid shrugs.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just be hanging around my housing at Hypixel til’ this all settles down.” He smirks. “You know I could’ve sworn Tubbo was the clingy one-“

Tommy lets out a string of curses, Purpled just laughs. 

He goes to leave before turning around.

“Oh by the way there are two men hiding over there.” He points towards some shadows casted by some foliage. “Been there ever since I showed up, probably before that too.”

Tommy looks over and is just able to make out the glint of a crown and a handful of feathers. He grinds his teeth and forces himself to take a deep breath. “Thanks.”

Purpled hums and leaves, making sure to bump into the two on his way out, causing one of them to be exposed in the light.

“We know you’re there.” Ranboo surprisingly says.

Tommy sighs before pinching the bridge of his nose. He's not ready for this inevitable conversation, especially since they most definitely heard some of their conversation before the mercenary showed up.

“Come on out Technobalde, Philza.”

Chapter Text

Tommy stared at the two, anger clear on his face. They stared right back, as if he was the one who’d been eavesdropping. He ignored the memories coming back-

Obsidian grid-

He swears he can smell gunpowder.

Fireworks-

“What do you want?” He seethes, tone too harsh for the situation.

Pink hair, a striped bucket hat… that stupid smiley mask-

Tommy wants to hit his head, wants to scream and break something; anything to just make his brain stop .

“Tommy.” A hand is placed on his shoulder. He flinches and looks up, surprised to see Ranboo and not the others. The enderian squeezes his hand before letting go, a gesture that says I’m right here .

“What do you want?” Tommy repeats, albeit softer this time. He ignores the look Philza and Technoblade share.

“Uh- hi, mate.” 

“Hullo.”

He only raised an eyebrow.

“How's everything?”

“You-you’re kidding right?” They only sent him a credulous look. “My brother is losing his mind to the point of wanting to blow up the country he founded and you're asking me how everything is?”

Phil scowled. “That's incredibly insensitive.”

Tommy sputtered. 

“He destroyed the thing many of us put our lives into, literally, and you’re calling me insensitive?” Before either of them could retaliate he continued. “What’re you doing here?”

“Techno called me.”

He scoffed. “I know that, but why’re you here and not in whatever cabin you’ve popped up over in the arctic?”

“How did you-” Technoblade held up a hand, stopping Phil.

“Someone named Karl messaged us, said some kid needed Wilbur.”

The avian laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, imagine my surprise when I find out that ‘kid’ is my grandson.”

Tommy scoffed, “There's no way that's true.”

“I know I was surprised too-”

“No you idiot, I knew he had a son, I just figured you’d know.” He pointed towards Technoblade, ignoring some of the falsity in his statement. “I mean he knew.”

Phil turned to look between the two, shocked. “What? Techno, is this true?” The piglin-hybrid didn't respond.

Tommy didn't even try to hide his snort.

“Tommy.” Phil scolded.

“What?”

“Why did you think this was okay to hide from me? I mean I know Wils not well, but you? You could’ve told me, or you, Techno.”

The teen grits his teeth, as if he’s in any better of a mindset than Wil. “I thought Wilbur told you!”

“Wasn’t my business-”

Tommy turned toward him.

“He’s your brother! Fundy came a year before we left, yet you didn't visit the whole time!” Ranboo put a careful hand on his shoulder while the other two just stared at them. They seemed surprised with his reaction, but why? Ranboo never quite understood humans and their… well, stupidity. “He was the one who sent the letters, not me.”

“He didn't tell me Fundy was his son!”

Tommy froze. Why wouldn’t Wilbur- “But he did mention him, right?”

Philza furrowed his eyebrows. “Well yeah.”

By technicality Fundy wasn't his biological son, but just like Tommy and Tubbo he grew up being raised by Wilbur. Fundy fell more into the ‘hey that's my kid’ category, while they were more brothers than anything. Sure Wilbur was a parental figure, but the two boys didn't see him as their dad. No, Phil was supposed to fill that role.

The man sighed. “Tommy-”

“What else did Wilbur say?”

“What do you mean?”

“The letters. He lied about Fundy so he probably lied about something else.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “He said you were having some fun with your friends, making a country of your own. Said it was so much fun he wanted to do it again.”

Tommy's heart dropped. “Do it again?”

“Yeah- Pogtopia, was it?”

“Phil I- that wasn't…”

“Wasn't what? Explain it to me Tommy.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Theseus.” Technoblade said, voice low.

Tommy took a step back, and something in his head screamed danger .

“ You do not get to call me that.” He summoned his dagger from his inventory. “I swear to any gods that exist Technoblade-”

Phil steps in between them.

“I don’t know what's going on but this is not you, Tommy.”

He scoffs. “Yeah well a lot has changed.”

“Then tell me about it, make me understand!”

It was rare that Phil ever shouted. Sure you could tell when he was pissed, and his silent anger was always scarier than yelling, but nothing good had ever come with either. Dream shouted, he yelled with just the right emotions and intent.  Wilbur was strict, his emotions brewing until they exploded into carefully crafted words, each hitting painfully.

“Tommy…” He looked up at Phil, “What happened to you?”

Tommy's heart skips a beat.

“I- I don’t…”

“Fundy.” 

Tommy looks up. “What?”

“Fundy. That's his name, Wils son, I mean. Start there.”

He buries the part of him screaming that he doesn't deserve to know, but his nephew has been through so much (will be through so much), doesn't he at least deserve a chance at a semi-reliant family?

He sighs. “Yeah, great kid. Too bad he grew up faster than me, bastard barley got a childhood.”

Phil raised an eyebrow. 

“Shapeshifter-fox.”

“Ah, so how old is he in human years?”

Tommy frowned. How long has it been? When did he actually leave for the SMP in the first place?

“Uh-”

Technoblade raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”

“I don’t know, man. He's not my kid.”

“Might as well be.” Ranboo muttered, though everyone heard him.

Tommy spun to look at him. “You, shut it.”

The enderian just smirked.

“Oh sure-”

“You know what-”

“-you just don’t want to admit-”

“-I’m starting to regret-”

“-you’re actually good with kids.”

Tommy paused. 

“Never.”

“You know....”

“Nope.”

“Well I remember that one time…”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure.”

Someone coughed awkwardly reminding them that they were in fact not alone.

“Right.” He clears his throat. “Fundy isn't his biological kid. Wilbur met his sister at work, the two hit it off and she started to help out. You know, tutor us, take care of us while he was working, help around the house. We sort of became each other's family, you know, after both of ours left.” He couldn't help the gab.

“And?”

Tommy groaned. 

“Fundy was the first official citizen of L’Manberg, Wilbur built the walls to protect us, though Schlatt tore them down. He helped out a lot, sort of became everyone in L’Manbergs little brother.” He allowed himself a small smile. “Kid bounced around everyone's house, though he stayed with us the most. Sneaky little fox.” He whispered the last part.

“So everything was going fine? I don’t understand how it got to this point though.”

The teen laughed humorlessly. “Don’t you get it Phil? Wilbur has lied, he's lied to all of us. He never made another country because it was fun. We were exiled. I was exiled.”

Phil froze. “Pardon?”

“Seriously? You’ve been alive a long time man, I think you’d know what starting a country entails. It's not all sunshine and rainbows like Wilbur made it out to be.” He looked down.

Phil made a noise between a gasp and a sob.

“You.” He cleared his throat. “I mean I know you guys have been in some fights but I didn't think it was bad enough- Toms, you’re hair…”

Of course he’d know what that meant.

“Yeah.” He deadpans.

“What do you mean, yeah?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say to that Phil.”

The man looked at Technoblade and then back at him.

“Why’re you calling me Phil all of a sudden? Why- I don’t…” He takes a deep breath. “Have I really missed this much of your guys' lives?”

Tommy snorted. “Why’re you sad all of a sudden? You and Techno left us, you don’t get to be upset, it was your decision!”

“Tom-”

“You chose to stop showing up. You chose to leave Wil to raise two kids before Fundy showed up. You chose to come back and act as if nothing happened!”

“That's not fair. You know I had to help Techno-”

“What about me! What about Tubbo and Wilbur! You knew Tubbos backstory, knew he was abandoned at a young age so you took him in, only to do the exact same thing Schlatt did!”

Phil stared at him. “How do you know about Schlatt? Toby doesn't even-

“No, he doesn't know, and I’d like to keep it that way. Why do you think him and Fundy are here? Why do you think they’re injured and clearly in shock?”

“What- you’re not implying what I think you are, right? I mean Schlatt was bad-”

“What makes you any better?” He ignored how Philza was shaking. “You abandoned your kids, you left us to the wolves. You think this is Wilbur's first struggle with mental illness? I mean where were you when he could barely get out of bed, or when Tubbo almost died from sickness? Where were you when Fundy needed a more stable parental figure because his sister died and his pseudo-father was this close to offing himself? 

“Where were you when I would cry myself to sleep because ‘Dad doesn't love me anymore, what did I do wrong?’ Where were you when we were robbed and barely survived the winter because we didn't have any food and Wilbur was working so much, just trying to provide for three children. Goddamit Phil, where were you when I fucking died! When your favorite child murdered his poor little brother and almost killed the other one? Where was my fucking dad when I was manipulated and tortured, when my own brother was forced to turn against me while my two other ones were fuck knows where and dead!”

His knees wobbled, and it felt like he was going to fall. His heart was practically beating out of his chest. 

“Tom-“ Ranboo started. Technoblade cut him off.

“What’re you talking about? What do you mean- you died?”

Everything went blurry for a second and suddenly he was on the floor, in someone's arms. Tommy was half-aware that it was Phil, that he was asking question after question while Technoblade and Ranboo started to yell. 

Tommy pounded onto Phil's chest, tears streaming down his face.

“Where were you- whe-where we-were you-” He sobbed.

“I’m so sorry- I’m so sorry.” Phil repeats.

This is Tommy’s breaking point. He thought that it’d be when he died, lost his last life and woke up in that weird white palace. He thought it was getting sent to the past, realizing he could stop things but not knowing how. He thought it was having to go through Wilbur’s decline again, or possibly having to rewatch his brother’s execution. He thought it was finding out how bad Schlatt had been, or even having Phil come to help, where last time that only resulted in Tommy losing his brother. Maybe it was going to be when he finally accepted that the festival wasn’t the thing they needed to stop, that this was actually a bigger problem than he imagined. But no, because here he was crying in his fathers Phil's arms, not knowing what else to do because everything became too much.

Technoblade turned towards Tommy, an angry look on his face that dissolved upon seeing the scene in front of him.

“Why didn’t you message me, gods know I’ll kill whatever bastard-“

Tommy sniffs and looks up. “What? You’ll get rid of them for me, revenge me, give them what they deserve? Why not start with yourself then, blade .”

“Heh-“

“I don’t know what you don’t understand, we were at war .”

Phil took a sharp breath in. “But Wilbur should’ve- why didn’t he protect you?”

Tommy buries his face back into the man’s chest. 

“There’s only so much he can do,” He ignores how defeated his own voice sounds, “And you’ve seen him, he’s not exactly in the right mindset to protect someone, let alone his own family. I mean take Tubbo-“ he cuts himself off, tears fall down his cheeks. He ignores it.

“What happened to Tubbo?” Phil questions.