Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy felt the breeze ruffling his feathers as he sat in one of the redwood trees surrounding his home. His brother, Wilbur, soaring through the skies in celebration eventually he came down. The branch creaked a little as Will perched on it. He started strumming the anthem on his guitar as they watched the sun set, creating orange and pink hue over their country. Both of them had fought so hard for l’Manburg. But at what cost?

That question bothered them on that night. Tommy knew that Dream would have other plans. The tyrant knew when he was beaten, but he wasn’t. Dream had backed them into a corner, then allowed them to have their freedom?

It didn't make sense, but that was months ago. The flashback was nice, it created a sense of calm in Tommy as he zoned back into reality, in the courtroom, on his trial, with Dream, Tubbo, Fundy and Ranboo, just to hear his best friend, Tubbo, confirm his exile.

Tommy was to be exiled and escorted by Dream. It was a disaster. Fundy was yelling at Tubbo, Ranboo was trying to speak, and Dream was just sitting back and watching it all unfold. Dream has always been like that.

He would sit back, say nothing, then strike when everyone was at their lowest. He also only ever thought about himself. But this time it was different. Dream himself had admitted that he didn’t care about anything but the discs and power. His prized possessions. Tommy had lived through years of war for those discs. He had given them up for L’Manburg’s independence in the Revolution. He had fought alongside Tubbo in his first war for those discs. Every war he had fought included those discs somehow. Other than his wings, there was nothing more important to him than his discs.

Leaving L’manberg was the hardest thing he ever did. Tommy was led away from L’manberg while Tubbo and the other members of the country stood on the wall and watched. Tommy had stopped feeling emotions for most of his trial, he wasn’t thinking of himself. He was thinking about Ranboo, about Tubbo, about L’manberg. Tommy had lived in L'manberg for the majority of his life. He had always been a part of it. It was his home and it always would be, no matter where his exile would take place. He would return to L’manberg.

Tommy flew through the clouds like he used to with Wilbur, only coming back down when he heard Dream talking. Dream, the tyrant that had started this whole mess. Dream had stood up for George after Tommy and Ranboo had burnt down his house. They didn’t steal anything and Dream had done the same thing to Tubbo in the first L’manburg war, but for some reason, this time was different.

During his trial, Tommy knew that he couldn't let Ranboo get in trouble. Ranboo was new to the server and getting in trouble would be the death of him. Tommy knew that he could handle it, but Ranboo couldn't, so instead of placing the blame on Ranboo like he would have in the past, he took all the blame for himself. He knew if he didn't end the trial quickly, the enderman hybrid would try to take the blame back, so that's what he did. Tommy took all the blame, allowing Ranboo to walk free, and practically forcing himself into exile. That brings us up to now, with his wings tiring quickly, Tommy flew back to the boat and sat down. The boat rocked a bit at the extra weight, and Tommy tried to find a comfortable position, but with sore wings it was near impossible.

“Wings finally tired, huh, Tommy?” Dream called out to him, without turning. “You have been flying for a while.”

Tommy didn't reply.

“Oh, come on, Tommy. You’ll have to talk to me eventually.”

Again, Dream was met with silence.

“Tommy, we are going to be spending a lot of time together, Tubbo isn’t going to magically appear and whisk you back off to ‘L’manburg’.”

Nothing.

“Come on Tommy!”

Getting sick of listening to the tyrant talk, Tommy took back to the air, even though he knew it was dangerous. It’s dangerous to fly normally with sore wings, but in the ocean it's much worse. Dream stopped rowing, realising what Tommy was doing and grabbed Tommy's leg, pulling him back into the boat. Tommy fell into the boat with a thud.

“Dream what the fuck!?” Tommy shouted.

“You were going to get yourself hurt,” Dream replied coolly. “I was saving your life.”

Tommy didn’t reply to this. Even though he knew it was true, the strong winds from the ocean would have pulled him into it soaking his wings and drowning him, he didn't trust Dream. He and Dream had never been friends. They were always fighting over one thing or another. Other than that one time they teamed up, but that was for their mutual benefit. They weren't friends. They never would be.

They reached land a few hours later and Dream decided it would be a good place for Tommy’s exile.

Tommy had been around people his entire life. Growing up with three brothers meant you were never lonely, but it did mean they were more likely to stab you in the back. First Wilbur, then Techno, now Tubbo!

Realisation was setting into Tommy. He had been exiled by his best friend. By his brother. Knowing this set off a spark inside him, instead of sitting around and waiting to be rescued or begging for mercy from Dream, he would thrive here. Tubbo had given Tommy a book before Wilbur blew up L’manburg, he took the book out and started writing.

‘Log 1 Day 1:

Plans:

Get wood
Get girlfriend
Build assertive cobblestone tower
Make friends’

Make friends. Tommy had friends.

At least he thought he did. He wrote it down anyways, knowing people would be hesitant to visit him because of Dream. Everyone was scared of Dream. Whether you were on his side or if you weren’t. If Tommy came off as angry or unhinged to the first people that came to visit him, he could potentially drive other visitors away too.

He put the book away and started chopping wood. He was ignoring Dream, who had started digging a hole in the ground. He continued this until Dream called him over.

“Put your stuff in the hole, Tommy,” Dream commanded

Confused, Tommy replied, “Hell no! I just got all of this!”

Slightly removing his axe from its sheath , Dream silently threatened Tommy, who immediately put all his stuff in the hole. He kept the book hidden, tucked neatly under his wing, so Dream couldn't see it. Tommy could see from his slight frown and his tight grip on the handle of his bow Dream had noticed the book, but for some reason let Tommy keep it.

He took out a piece of TnT from his inventory and placed it on top of the hole. Tommy instinctively ducked and covered his head. He knew he should run; he knew he should have gotten out of there as fast as he could. But seeing the TnT stuck him to the ground. Time had slowed down.

He heard Dream pull back his bow, load an arrow enchanted with fire, and shoot the TnT, exploding it. Dream ran off out of the exploding range, but Tommy was frozen to the ground. He heard the explosion go off and that was all. The force of the explosion hit him first. But that wasn’t what sent him spiralling into pain. He closed his eyes because it hurt to have them open. He could feel that his feathers were singed before even looking at them. He started to feel dizzy and all of a sudden, he was tired.

He woke up a while after.

He couldn’t quite see well, but he noticed the unmistakable red of a health potion right next to him. The bottle had a smile on it.

Like the one on Dreams mask.

He swallowed it all in one gulp. Tommy immediately felt better. Using all of his strength, he pulled himself back up and inspected the damage done to him. He remembered the book. Still tucked in his wing he pulled it out to make sure it was okay. Tommy didn’t know why he was acting this way over a book. It was just some hide and paper bound by string. It wasn’t even well made. But he felt a strange attachment to it anyway.

His thought then turned to his wings, had they been damaged? He quickly looked back at them to a see slight singe on them.

“Not too bad,” he muttered.

He thought that they would have been damaged more.

That’s when his mind ran through what had happened. His attention was brought back to the bottle that held the healing potion. He ran back to where he had woken up and grabbed the bottle. The smile on it was staring straight at Tommy. Tommy, being Tommy, threw the bottle to the ground as hard as he could, smashing it into a million pieces. Hearing it smash made Tommy jump.

During Pogtopia, Wilbur would constantly smash the bottles he used to make potions. Even before Pogtopia, his brother was clumsy when making potions. Tommy’s mind was brought back to L’manberg. The first L’manberg. Not Schlatt’s Manburg. Not Tubbo’s L’manberg.

Wilbur’s L’manberg. His L’manberg. L’manberg had been started because of potions. Dream didn’t want Tommy and Wilbur selling them so they started a country and declared independence from the rest of the DreamSmp.

“Tommy?” said an echoey voice from behind him,

Tommy jumped, wondering where the voice was coming from. He turned around to see the ghostly version of Wilbur. Ghostbur.

“Hey Ghostbur,” Tommy replied sound a little bored

“You don’t sound very happy, Tommy. Aren’t people normally happy when they go on vacation?”

So that was the lie Tubbo had told Ghostbur. Tommy knew that Tubbo would lie to Ghostbur so that he wouldn’t worry. At least the ghost had brought a tent with him.

“I’m fine, Ghostbur, just tired.”

“Okay, well I'm going to build us a holiday home! Wanna help?”

“No thanks, Ghostbur. I’m just going to set up the tent and have a nap.”

Ghostbur left Tommy to start gathering wood while Tommy set up the tent. After he had set the tent up, he laid down to try and get some rest. He tossed and turned, but he just couldn’t get comfortable. He sat back up and started mindlessly preening his wings.

He looked over at Ghostbur, whose wings were not in the best condition. Ghostbur’s wings had been seriously damaged in the explosion of the 16th. Everyone knew that Ghostbur would never fly again, but of course he did not accept this and used the floating ability he got from being a ghost to make it look like he was flying.

Tommy’s whole family had wings. Techno’s were red with white highlights, Wilbur’s had been a beautiful chestnut brown. Phil's wings were silver. Tommy’s wings were a gold color that faded into red.

Tommy heard the sound of splashing against waves and lay back down. He didn’t want to deal with Dream. Not today. Not any day.

Tommy’s mind went back to that bottle. That face. That smile. So much pain was attached to that smile. He realised that he could no longer feel the presence of Ghostbur. He had left. He left without a word to Tommy. He was alone.

“Let’s be the bad guys.”

Wilburs words rang through his head.

“You want to be a hero, Tommy? Then die like one!”

The same thing.

“Wilbur said he wasn’t going to hurt me!”

Tubbo’s words. He had sounded so panicked and scared then.

“Down with the revolution boys! It was never meant to be.”

Fuck Eret.

“I suggest exile.”

Dream.

Tommy knew he couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. He tried getting up, but something stopped him. That something wasn’t physical. It had been himself.

Chapter Text

Tommy wasn’t able to do much for the first few days. He had just sat around, either crying or sleeping. Sleeping wasn't much better than being awake since he often had nightmares that he couldn’t wake up from. Sometimes, Dream had to take Tommy’s items from him since he was too tired to give them himself.

About a week after his exile began, Tommy started to think about things that he had never thought about before. He thought about things like death, about what Tubbo was thinking, what Ranboo was feeling, does Ranboo remember him, how L’Manberg was doing. From the sound of it, L’Manberg was doing pretty well. They had no new wars, trade was going well, and Tubbo was an excellent president. Dream was often Tommy’s only friend. Well... other than Ranboo. The hybrid sent him mail almost everyday. Usually, the messages were things along the lines of:

‘I was going to tell you something today but I forgot what it was. Oops! XD I hope you're doing well!
-Ranboob’

Tommy would respond to these things with:

‘Memory boi. How's Tubbo doing? Last I heard he had made peace with Dream? Is that true? Dream wouldn’t tell me anything. And I’m about as good as I can be in fucking exile.
-BigManTommyinnit

When Ranboo sent messages, the page would often be splotted with ink. Ranboo had also visited Tommy once or twice. On one of Ranboo’s visits, he gave Tommy an enderchest. Tommy knew Dream wouldn’t like it, but for as long as Dream was using his ‘I’m your friend’ act he would be able to keep it. Other than Ranboo, Ghostbur, and Dream, the only other one to see Tommy in his current state was BadBoyHalo. He had shown up out of the blue to give Tommy a pity present.

Tommy didn’t need a pity present, he was a big man! Although the present was greatly appreciated... the boy didn’t show it.

He had thought about leaving multiple times. But whenever he tried to, Dream was there. He would stop him. Tell him that if he left, he would be upset. Tommy knew Dream didn’t feel empathy, but there was something that made him stay. An attachment, if you will. He thought that the attachment was the book, but when he tried taking it with him, he still couldn’t leave.

Tommy had gotten used to Dream’s routine. But now Dream would pull him away from the TNT to stop him from getting hurt more than he already was. Tommy was surprised that no one from L’manberg had come to visit him. Whenever he was alone, Tommy would pluck a feather out of his wings. He used them as quills for his book.

‘Log 13 Day 6:
No Tubbo today, Dream left early. Ghostbur is still making me feel uncomfortable. I was thinking about throwing a party. I’m going to ask Dream when he visits tomorrow
(:’

His logs always started with ‘No Tubbo today’. Sometimes he would see hallucinations of Tubbo. He knew that they weren't real because he never heard the portal. Dream was nice to Tommy during exile, but Tommy didn't trust it. Dream wasn’t trustworthy. He never will be.

‘Although he has been nice recently,’ Tommy thought while gathering wood, ‘No. He wants you to think like that. Don’t think like that.’

He went back to chopping wood.

“Hello, Tommy!”

He dropped his axe. Now this was a voice he didn't recognise. It was female, older female.

“Puffy!” Tommy yelled as he turned around to hug her.

Puffy was Dream’s mum. He often talked about her. Also, she was the oldest woman on the server. Puffy hugged him right back.

Puffy and Tommy chatted for a while after that. Dream had left early that day. He hadn’t even had the time to take Tommy's stuff. Tommy guessed it was because Puffy was coming since they didn’t exactly have the best relationship. Puffy had played favorites with Dream and Foolish, just like Phil had with him, Wil, and Techno. At least Puffy was trying to fix her relationship with Dream.

Phil hadn’t even reached out to him after Wilbur’s death, of which the man was responsible for. They had never been close, but when he and Wilbur left home to begin L’Manberg, their relationship just kept on getting worse and worse. He’d like to think Phil stayed on the SMP for Tommy. To comfort him. But Tommy knew that was wrong. Phil was here for Techno. Only for Techno.

So hearing Puffy’s story, hearing that she was trying to fix her relationship with Dream, it broke Tommy. He burst out crying, falling into Puffy’s arms. He told her everything, about Phil, about Will, about Tubbo. He told her everything he had gone through for L’Manberg, but Tommy missed out one little detail.

Dream’s routine. He left that out. He knew that they wanted to fix their relationship and Tommy knew that if he told her, it would ruin it. Tommy no longer thought about just him. He thought about the people around him. He thought about Dream. Maybe, just maybe, they were friends.

Puffy left a while after, but she stayed with Tommy until the sun set. Tommy plucked a feather and started to write.

‘Log 14 day 6
No Tubbo today, I did see more hallucinations. Puffy came to visit today, I think she's the reason he left so early. Well I kept my stuff today so that was cool.’

Between Dream and Tommy’s routines, Tommy’s wings weren’t in the best condition. They were beginning to look like Phil and Wilbur’s had looked after the explosion. Tommy knew that Wilbur's had been destroyed completely, but wasn’t sure what Phil’s looked like. Phil had avoided Tommy since the 16th. Phil had always ignored Tommy, no matter what he was doing. One of Tommy’s biggest memories of Phil was the lecture he gave him after Tommy had dyed his hair blonde, to match Phil. His hair was naturally brown like his brothers.

Techno had dyed his hair before, but he hadn’t gotten in trouble. His brother had dyed it a pink colour. In fact, Phil had laughed at Techno and said it suited him. Tommy only wished for something like that to happen between them.

Fuck, Phil was nicer to Tubbo, of whom he had found on the side of a road as a child, than he was to Tommy. When Techno attacked Tommy under the influence of the voices, Phil stepped in and made sure Techno was okay. Tommy had blood all over his face. He had bruises and burns all over his body, but Phil checked on Techno. Wilbur had to step in and make sure Tommy was okay. For a long time, Wilbur had been the one that looked after Tommy. It had been like that since Tommy was five or six. Tommy had always thought that it was his fault. That he had done something wrong. But after he moved to the Dream SMP nation, he realised it wasn’t his fault. Phil was the one in the wrong here.

Right?

Tommy had also started to notice strange animal tracks on the sand. There were pig tracks, but they appeared to only have two legs. Tommy brushed it off. He also noticed burnt silver feathers all around Logstedshire. He blamed the chickens. The bottles that held his health potions no longer had smiles on them. He wrote it all down in the book. Tommy noticed that the book’s leather case had started peeling, so he added to the to do list:

‘Fix cover’

A mysterious book cover appeared in his tent the day after he had written that down. Tommy was confused, but he brushed it off, thinking that it was Ghostbur since he often watched Tommy as he wrote in the book sometimes. It was perfectly made and beautiful. What Tommy didn’t notice was the small smile imprinted on the inside. Dream’s smile. He took the cover and replaced the old one with this one. Tommy placed the old one into the enderchest Ranboo had gotten for him. Inside it, there were three other things. A couple of photos, his bandana, and a compass.

The compass was given to Tommy by Ghostbur. It supposedly pointed to Tubbo. Or, more specifically, Tubbo’s whitehouse. The compass was named ‘Your Tubbo’ and Tubbo had the same compass, but it pointed to Logstedshire instead of the white house. Although it meant a lot to Tommy, the fact that Ghostbur had tried establishing some connection between the two boys, the book still meant more to him.

Tubbo had made it. It had direct connection with the now president. There were still marks from the times Tommy had seen Tubbo trying to write in it with no ink. Tubbo had taken most of the pages he had used out before he gave the book to Tommy. But he left a couple. Pages that were from the L’Manberg Revolution, or from before Wilbur. Back when it was just him and Tubbo. The good days.

The day after Puffy’s visit, Dream came early to apologize for leaving so soon. To make up for it, he let Tommy keep his items. Tommy told Dream about his idea and he got surprisingly excited and agreed to help with the decorations immediately. Dream left to get some lights from his base while Tommy started writing invitations.

‘Dear Ranboob,
You are invited to my party on the beach on the 9th of December! Don’t forget to bring friends!
-Big Man Tommy’

‘Dear Furry,
You are invited to TommyInnit’s big man beach party on the 9th of December! Bring a friend!
-TommyInnit’

‘Dear Niki,
Have some fun at Tommy’s beach party! It's on the 9th! Bring a friend!
-BigManTommy’

‘Dear..’

Tommy wanted to write Tubbo. He really did. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it yet. He needed more time. Maybe after he had stopped seeing hallucinations. No... that could take forever. His hand had subconsciously reached for his compass. He heard the portal activate and jumped up. Dream fell out in a tangle of lights, Tommy laughed and ran over to help him.

After helping Dream get untangled, they started putting up the lights. Dream got tangled again about seven times and eventually Tommy just pushed Dream away from the lights to stop him from ‘helping’ (he had not been helpful). As Tommy set up the lights, Dream wrote the invites. Ghostbur arrived a few hours after Dream was kicked off light duty and helped Dream with invites.

Setting up for his party was the best thing that had happened to Tommy for a while, including pre-exile. Ghostbur, Dream, and Tommy all had fun together, laughing, putting up lights, and trying to stop Dream from setting up lights.

After a while, Ranboo showed up to visit Tommy, but saw Dream in a tangle of lights again and fell to the ground with laughter. Dream threw the lights at Ranboo and the hybrid got himself tangled while trying to give them back to Tommy. It was a disaster! Luckily, nothing set on fire. Ok. I thought I could trick you with that. Well… Ranboo most definitely, somehow, set himself on fire.

After getting rid of the fire, Ranboo joined Tommy in stopping Dream from getting tangled in lights. They were an unstoppable team, until Ghostbur got tangled. Eventually, they did end up finishing the decorations and Dream finished writing the invites. Ghostbur went to L’manburg to hand them out and Dream went with him. Ranboo and Tommy were alone.

They set off on an adventure north, to see if there was a village or something. They found a village, but it had already been looted. That didn’t make sense... there was no one else out here. Ranboo figured there had to be someone, so after a while of searching, they stumbled across a cottage. It was small, but not too small. After inspecting the inside, they found multiple pictures of Techno fan art, and a lot of potions. That amount of potions could only be made by two people on the server. One of those people is dead, and the other one….

Chapter Text

Technoblade. The only person that could have made those potions is Technoblade. Wilbur was dead, and Ghostbur is terrible at making potions. Phil knows how to make them, but could never have the patience to make this many. Tommy dragged Ranboo out of there as fast as he could. Both of them realized whose house it was and both of them wanted to get back to Logstedshire as quickly as possible.

They reached Logstedshire about ten minutes before Ghostbur and Dream got back. Dream seemed to notice that both Ranboo and Tommy were flustered but didn’t say anything. Tommy was writing and Ranboo was playing chicken with the waves on the beach. As soon as Tommy realised Dream was there, he tried to hide the book by sitting on it.

“I’m not stupid, Tommy. I know you have a book,” Dream said to Tommy as he was walking up to him. “I've known since day one.”

“Oh.”

“I’m not mad. I know it was a gift from Tubbo. I was there when he gave it to you.”

This time Dream was met with silence.

“You know that doesn’t work ,Tommy. You’ve always failed at giving me the silent treatment.”

This time, however, Tommy could walk off. Well... fly off technically. He flew up to the tallest tree he could find and perched there until sunset.

Ranboo and Dream left soon after the sun had set so it was just Tommy and Ghostbur. The weather was quite still. It wasn’t cloudy at the moment, but he could see clouds gathering in the distance. He hoped it wouldn’t ruin the party. It was the kind of day that you could tell that there would be an amazing sunset. Sadly, the clouds were ruining it. Leaving his perch, the boy sat down within the wooden walls of Logstedshire and began writing in the book.

‘Log 15 day 7
I had a great day today up until the end.
I set up for my party with Dream, Ghostbur, and Ranboo. Then while Dream and Ghostbur were handing out invites, I stumbled across Techno’s house with Ranboo. We got out of there as fast as possible. When we got back, Dream found out about this book. He said he’s known since day 1 of exile. I already knew that. I’m a big man! Even with his stupid mask I can tell if somone notices somthing. I’ll have to talk to him tomorrow. Oh! Did I mention he got tangled in christmas lights about ten times? It was so funny!’

This was Tommy’s largest entry, even Ghostbur looked a bit surprised when he saw how much the boy had written.

After writing, Tommy stood up and ran his hand across the splintering stripped logs as he left Logstedshire and headed towards his tent. The white material of the tent was ripping a bit at the sides and the sign Tommy had placed on the entrance that read ‘Tenret’ was splintering, yet it had been Tommy’s home for about a week now.

That was it! That was what was stopping him from leaving! This was his home. Sure, it was never going to be L’Manburg, but it had been built by Wilbur and Tommy. Even if it was Wilbur’s ghost. He was still Tommy’s brother..... he was still Wilbur.

Tommy ducked through the entrance of Tenret and placed the book into his enderchest. He ran back outside to Ghostbur and immediately hugged him. Behind that ghostly presence, behind Ghostbur... the real Wilbur watching. He watched as Tommy hugged his ghost, even after growing up with and raising Tommy, he never expected that. The boy had never shown any sort of affection towards the ghost, yet here he was hugging him. Like a brother.

When Tommy let go of Ghostbur, he immediately started crying, as if he had been keeping it in until he could let go, because he knew the tears would burn the ghost. Ghostbur was completely thrown off guard by Tommy. Their conversation from that point onwards was somewhat of an awkward one.

“Tommy... are you okay?” Ghostbur’s echoey voice whispered. ”Do you want some blue?”

“No thanks, Ghostbur. I’m fine,” Tommy replied to the ghost between sniffs.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure, Ghostbur.” Tommy smiled at the ghost’s innocence

“Oh... in that case, I can show you what I learnt on the guitar today!”

“I’d love to hear it, Ghostbur.”

Tommy quickly headed back to Logstedshire to get himself and Ghostbur a campfire. They set themselves up in front of Tenret and spent the rest of the evening and far into the night singing and playing, quite terribly, on a guitar Ghostbur had brought with him.

The night reminded him of Christmas back in the L’Manburg revolution.They were celebrating simply out of spite. They were celebrating to rub it in the Dream Team’s faces. Eventually though, they forgot that was why they were doing it; they just got lost in the moment and simply had a good time. So Tommy forgot about L’Manburg, he forgot about Tubbo, he forgot about Dream. He just sat there singing and dancing with the ghost of his brother.

Around midnight, Ghostbur yawned and told Tommy to go to bed. There were sometimes when Ghostbur actually seemed like his big brother. Tommy was about to whine and complain until he realised that his party was tomorrow. After that, he promptly went to bed.

Tommy had the best night’s sleep he had in a while. Back in L’Manburg, there was always something going on that was on his mind, or he could hear the clanking of Quackity’s blacksmith. But out here, in the middle of nowhere, with only his party on his mind... he finally could get a good night’s sleep.

Tommy slept in the next day, so he expected to see Dream already there, but he wasn’t. Neither was Ghostbur, he expected them both to come early to add finishing touches to the party set up. Judging from where the sun was in the sky, Tommy knew it was around midday. Guests wouldn’t be here for another few hours.

“Hang on... I never put a time on my invites!” Tommy said in a sudden panic.

He then remembered the vague conversation he had with Dream while setting up for the party yesterday.

“So, Tommy, should people start coming at sunset or a bit earlier?”

“A bit earlier. That way we can turn on these lights and it will be really cool! You will not be tangled in them, Dream.”

Tommy felt revelived and let out a sigh.

Phew, Dream put a time on them.

There was a slight breeze and Tommy squinted into the distance, noticing the large, brewing rainclouds. He hoped the rain would hold back until at least midnight. Since Dream wasn’t there, Tommy realised he could work on his secret project.

Tommy had been working on something for a while. It was something that he hadn’t even told Ranboo. Tommy had gotten tired of Dream’s routine on day three, so he started secretly stocking up items in a room underneath the old caravan in Logstedshire. It was originally made to stop the boy from getting cold in the colder months. But Tommy repurposed it, making it a place to conspire against Dream. After what had happened the previous day, Tommy wasn’t sure that he still wanted to kill Dream. He wasn’t sure about anything these days.

For a while, he just sat in the bunker on the brink of tears for no particular reason. After he couldn’t stay still any longer, he got up and went outside. He was bored so he started chopping down trees. His mind flickered to Ghostbur’s guitar. He decided that he would make the ghost a new one. Taking the logs from the trees he had just cut down, he sat in Logstedshire and began carving out the shape of the guitar.

It must have been hours until he looked back up. He had cuts all over his hands and there was less light. It was nearly sunset, so his guests should be arriving soon. Noticing the cuts on his hands for the first time, Tommy dropped the guitar and ran to Tenret to bandage himself up before his friends arrived.

Tommy headed to the party area to check on his decorations. He made sure that the lights were all connected, he made sure that the umbrellas didn’t have any holes in them, and by the time he finished, it was just before sunset. Tommy headed to the portal to see if he could see his friends parading through the nether portal to see him. No one. No one was there.

“That's fine,” Tommy said to himself, “They're probably just late!”

An hour passed, then two hours, and by two and a half hours... Tommy fell asleep.

Dream arrived about an hour after Tommy fell asleep. He moved quietly, not wanting to wake the boy. Although Dream failed at this almost immediately by stepping on a twig.

“D-Dream?”

“Hey, Tommy.”

“Dream, where are my friends?”

“Well, Tommy... they’re not here.”

Tommy was awake now, as the rain started pattering around them.

“Your kidding, right?”

“Tommy, is this something I would joke about?”

“Well... maybe, I don’t really know you that well.”

“Seriously, Tommy? I'm the only one that has been here.”

“Well, Ghostbur and Ranboo come sometimes!”

“Ranboo can’t remember anything and Ghostbur is only here because no one wants him anywhere else!”

“That's not true! Everyone loves Ghostbur! He chooses to be here. And Ranboo remembers ME at least!”

“Tommy, if those statements were true, wouldn’t they be here? Just admit it, Tommy. They left you. I’m your only friend now. I’m the only one who never left you.”

“I guess.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds, apparently something clicked in Tommy's brain because he started dropping his items on the floor.

“What are you doing, Tommy?” Dream asked the boy, sounding confused.

“The routine?” Tommy replied to the tyrant, “You always take my items at the start of the day.”

“Why would I do that today? It’s a party!”

Tommy was quite confused by the man's answer. He only ever didn’t take the boy’s things when he had something to apologize for. Dream didn't have a reason to apologize. That’s when it clicked. Dream never apologized to anyone. No one except Tommy. A 16 year old avian boy with an addiction to coke and a swearing problem. That boy was making Dream apologize. That’s what broke him. As soon as Tommy realized this, he broke down. He broke down in front of his worst enemy. He was pouring his heart out infront of his rival. Dream was his enemy... right?

Leaving Logstedshire, the two moved to the area where the party was supposed to be.

“A storm’s coming,” Dream said. “I wouldn't want to be in the snow biome. It’ll be a blizzard there.”

“Hmm.”

They sat down at the table they had made the previous day. Both Tommy and Dream were lost in thought. After about an hour of failed conversation, Tommy sat up a bit to look over at the clouds. They were bigger and darker then they had been beforehand.

“Dream? The clouds?”

“Oh, they don’t look good. It'll be a big storm then. We should head inside. Where's the sturdiest place here?”

“Logstedshire.”

“Okay then, we’ll stay there.”

Both of them got up and started heading to Logstedshire when it started spitting, it got heavier and heavier until it was bucketing down.

“Run!” Tommy shouted at Dream who had already started running.

Tommy and Dream fell into the caravan, both laughing their heads off. Grabbing the little food supplies Dream had on him, and the bucket of milk Tommy always had on him. The two of them surprisingly had enough supplies to bake a cake. So that's what they did! After about an hour, the cake was ready and the two of them were still laughing.

Neither Tommy or Dream were hungry at that moment, so they both ran around the caravan to put their hunger down. Each of them had a little slice, it was pretty good, but it never would be able to live up to Niki and Fundy’s standards. Dream agreed with Tommy on this, until they realised that they had done the recipe wrong and both of them took everything back.

“This time, last year, I had just won L’manburg Independence.”

“This time, last year, I had just given in to a sixteen year old child.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot you were there.”

“I was the one you fought against!?”

“You are easily forgettable.”

“You take that back!”

Chapter Text

The day after his failed party, Tommy was waiting in Logstedshire for Dream to come. He wanted help taking down the party decorations. He didn’t want to face that alone because facing that alone meant he was giving into reality. And reality sucked.

It was about lunch time and he had just sealed up his secret room, after coming to the decision that he wouldn’t kill Dream. The boy saw the clouds from the previous day’s storm brewing over the snow biome next door to his plains home.

Tommy was sitting on the stone stairs that led up to the caravan, eating a very terribly made sandwich when Dream walked through the entrance of Logstedshire. He wasn’t wearing his mask. Tommy had never seen Dream without his mask. It was weird seeing him for real. Dream had freckles all over his face and beautiful brown eyes, much like Wilbur’s... before Pogtopia.

“Hello, Dream!”

“Hello, Tommy.”

“Where's your mask?”

“I decided not to wear it today. Is that okay?”

“Hah! You’re a poet and ya didn’t even know it!”

“Oh shut up, Tommy,” Dream said with a smile.

“Hey! I’m awesome! You're the one that needs to shut up! Also, I cleaned my wings this morning! Don’t they look so much better?!”

“Someone’s in a happy mood, What have you done?”

“Hey! I'm allowed to be happy, right?”

“Of course you are... but it makes you in particular seem extremely suspicious.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, bitch?”

“My point is proven.”

“Heh? What point?”

Dream tried to contain a laugh while sighing.

“Well... you know the drill.”

The man began to dig a hole but abruptly stopped as if he had found something he wasn’t supposed to.

“Tommy? What fuck is this?”

Tommy began to walk over to where Dream was, but before he reached there Dream had jumped into the hole and disappeared. Tommy then realised the place the man had dug was right above his secret room.

“Oh fuck. Dream that isn’t what it looks like!”

Tommy jumped into the hole, only to come face to face with the tyrant.

“Then what is it?” Dream responded angrily while moving towards the avian. ”There are signs on how to kill me everywhere and you expect me to just let it slide?!”

Dream pulled out his sword and held it tightly in his right hand, Tommy could see his left one twitching to open his inventory. Likely to grab out TNT or his bow.

“Well... no! But this is from ages ago! I don’t come in here anymore!”

“Sure you don’t!”

The man’s hand stopped twitching and from the flicker in his eyes, Tommy could tell he had gone into his inventory. A block appeared in his hand, flashing white for a second before coming into focus. The block was TNT.

TNT.

The thing that had ruined his life from the start.

The thing that had blown up L’Manberg twice.

The thing that he was terrified of.

Dream knew this.

Dream was fully aware of his phobia.

And still he used TNT in his torments.

Dream wasn’t his friend.

He never was.

The man began to place it around the room, then he started ranting on about something. Tommy wasn’t listening though. Just the sight of the TNT was enough to send him into a panic attack and there was a lot of it. Not nearly as much as Dream had given Wilbur to destroy L’Manburg. Well... it was Manburg back then. It was Schlatt’s. Schlatt. Schlatt was the reason this all happened. Schlatt was the reason Tubbo was president. Schlatt was the reason Wilbur is dead. That fucking goat!

And that was the last thought Tommy had before the explosion.

The blinding light came first. Then the force of the explosion. Then the pieces of rock, wood, and more rock.

Tommy was on the ground. Bleeding in more places than one and most likely blind. Tommy sat there on the brink of death. That’s when it hit him. Quite literally. Dream had thrown a splash potion of healing at him. His vision began to focus, but the bleeding didn’t stop. Dream took hold of Tommy’s wings, holding his axe against them.

“You have pissed me off for the last time, Tommy.”

That's when it happened. His wings, gone. The one thing in his life that mattered at that moment... gone.

He remembered all the times that his wings had mattered, before and after L’Manberg, during Pogtopia. He remembered how much the cramped ravine annoyed him. Often he would fly over L’Manberg, getting in trouble with Schlatt. Niki would laugh at him, often he would swoop down and Niki would give him a cake or a piece of bread. On those days, Wilbur would be happiest. He would see the cake and he would smile. A real smile. Not those fake ones he gave off whenever he saw TNT.

TNT, smiles, wings, discs, Wilbur, family, Tubbo, L’Manberg. They had all been important to Tommy at some point in particular, but not anymore.

Not right now.

Right now... nothing was important to him.

Except...

He remembered the book. Still in his enderchest. Dream left. Tommy reached tenret before Dream realised he would have to blow that up too. Tommy grabbed himself some bandages and wrapped himself in them. He decided against taking his book since it was in his ender chest and he could get it later.

He had just left his tent when the next explosion happened. Tommy had just gotten out of the explosion range, but it still had a rather large impact on him. He knew he had to leave before Dream would do something worse.

He stood there, watching his tent burn to the ground. It hurt more than he thought it would. It was just a tent, right? But to Tommy... it was now more than that. It was his home. His safe haven. It was his.

Without thinking, he ran in the direction of Techno’s house. Constantly tripping and grazing himself, the boy was covered in blood and dirt. What he didn’t realise was that he was running directly into a storm. Not just any storm. In snow biomes, storms were blizzards. Extremely cold blizzards. Tommy was wearing nothing but his signature red and white top, which had holes all through it, and his beige pants, so running straight into a blizzard was not the best idea Tommy ever had.

The rush of snowflakes slowed him down, but he kept persisting. Tommy never gave up. Not to anyone or anything. He never had and never would.

Right?

-----

Ghostbur arrived at Logstedshire for his daily visit about 3 hours after the explosions. Looking at the caravan broke him down, his tears burning his translucent skin.

“T-Tommy? Tommy, please tell me this is a joke...”

The ghost’s hollow voice trembled as he spoke. Dream sensed the fact the ghost was truly worried about the child. Emerging from the trees surrounding Logstedshire, Dream walked up to the ghost.

“Hello, Ghostbur.”

“Oh! Hello, Dream! Have you seen Tommy? I’m worried about him.”

“Oh, yeah, Tommy. He walked off in that direction,” Dream pointed in the opposite direction from where Tommy had actually gone. “He got a little angry. Can you tell?”

“Oh, Tommy. I’ll go find him! Here, have some blue! Bye, Dream!”

Ghostbur walked off into the forest as Dream started patching up Logstedshire with random blocks in his inventory.

“The boy will be back soon,” Dream thought. “He won’t be able survive the blizzard. He’s not stupid.”

-----

Tommy began to slow down as he was getting tired. The usually soft snowflakes were hitting him hard. He sat down underneath a tree to block the wispy flakes and wished that he could fly up to the top. He saw a brown and green thing fly above him. The way the thing was flying was weird, it was flying quite far up and looked like it was looking for something. It’s wings seemed to have metal all throughout them. Tommy stuck himself to the side of the tree he was leaning on, wishing the thing would go away.

Eventually, it did, and Tommy let out a relieved sigh. He got back up, picking a couple of berries that withstood the blizzard's strong winds before leaving his hiding spot. Tommy continued on his path, he covered his face with his hands but still the snow hurt him. Especially on the parts of his body that were still burnt from the explosion.

His vision began to go blurry.

It was a bit dark.

He kept walking.

He reached the village he had found with Ranboo just in time. He quickly took shelter in one of the now-empty houses. The thin walls didn’t provide much protection. Snow villagers are often born with thicker skin so they could withstand the cold. Avains, on the other hand, were born with thinner skin to make them lighter so they could fly with ease. Exploring the house a little more, the avian boy found some potatoes.

He chuckled a little to himself, remembering his eldest brother. Why was he going there anyway? It’s not like his brother wanted him. It’s not like Phil ever cared about him. Techno cared for him... up until the 16th. His eldest brother chose his morals over his family and it broke Tommy. Both Tommy and Techno had been put into war since they were seven years old. The one thing he could rely on was his family... up until the 16th. Wilbur would always be there... up until the 16th. Tubbo and him were always close... up until the 16th. It was all because of the 16th. It was all because of Techno. Then Tommy remembered the voices. It wasn’t Techno’s fault. He understood how his eldest brother felt now. With the hallucinations, and Dream’s manipulation, Tommy understood his brother. Tommy forgave Techno.

Those were the thoughts that allowed Tommy to get sleep.

-----

Dream was angry.

He was more than angry.

When Dream arrived at Logstedshire the next day, he expected to see a beaten avian boy. He came back to nothing.

His bird had escaped the cage.

-----

The boy had good dreams that night, dreams of running, playing, flying, dreams of Techno, Wilbur, Tubbo, he had dreams of L’Manberg. He had dreams of his home, although he wasn’t sure that it was still his home. After everything that had happened, Tommy began to drift away from the country. Both figuratively and literally.

Tommy continued his journey to his brother’s house late the next day. In the places he had been bleeding the previous day, there were now huge scars. It was likely they would never go away. He reached back to feel his wings, only to realise the hard truth. They were gone. The last things attaching him to his father were gone.

The blizzard was still raging when he set off. After hours of walking, Tommy saw the thing again. Ducking for shelter behind a fallen log, Tommy hoped the thing hadn’t seen him. It circled down and landed somewhere near Tommy. He panicked and ran without turning to look at it. Its wings were covered in snow and it seemed to still be looking for something.

Tommy kept running, he made it to a clearing and kept running. The snow stung against his pale skin, but he kept running. His vision was hazy and he was tired, but he kept running. Eventually, he stopped. He sat down in the snow and stopped. His fingers were blue and he was sure his nose was too. He crawled into a small ball, like he used to with Wilbur, and quietly sang himself the L’Manberg National Anthem.

“I heard there was a special place...”

“Where men could go and emancipate...”

“The brutality and tyranny of their rulers...”

“Well this place is real you needn’t fret...”

“With Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, fuck Eret!”

“It’s a very big and not blown up L’Manberg...”

“My L’Manberg...”

“My L’Manberg...”

“My L’Manberg...”

“My L’Maaanber-”

He was out. It was dark. There was nothing.

Chapter Text

The man felt the cold wind against his now metallic wings. His wings had been destroyed beyond repair on the 16th. One of the worst days of his life. He had lost his wings, he lost his son, and he lost his pride.

The man continued flying even in the harsh winds, his eyes caught on a flash of red below. This wasn't unusual, berries often caught the man’s eye. He ignored it and continued flying. But he just couldn't take his mind off of the red object. He flew down a little lower to see if it would catch his eye again. After about ten minutes of looking, he gave up and continued flying.

About half an hour after he first saw the red thing, he saw it again. This time though he ignored it as he flew over the village he and a friend had raided a while back. He wasn’t far from this same friend’s house.

When he reached his friend’s house he was greeted by a very angry enderman.

“Hey, Edward.”

The enderman replied with something enderish that the man couldn’t decipher.

“I guess Techno’s in his enchantment room.”

Again, the man was only met by an angry screech. Ignoring the enderman’s bad attitude, the man went into the basement. He had built this for Techno so that he could do enchanting in peace. The man didn’t find Techno, instead he found a couple of enchantment books lying around in a mess. The hybrid had obviously been in a rush to enchant things but didn’t have time to pack up, exploring the house a little more he found potions lying around, and looking out the window he saw Techno’s precious horse, Carl, wandering outside. Confused, the man took Carl back to his pen to keep him safe and near.

Looking up at the sky, the man realised it was getting dark. It was starting to snow and if he waited any longer, it would be too dark to fly safely.. As he was flying back to L’Manberg, he thought that he saw a light in one of the houses at the village. That didn’t make sense. The village was abandoned. He ignored it, blaming the snow.

He mumbled something along the lines of, “The sunset reflected on the snowflakes surely. That village is abandoned.”

The man continued flying.

When he reached L’Manberg, there was a lot more activity on its wooden decks than usual.

“Ah, Phil! Just the bird I need,” Tubbo said approaching the man

“President Tubbo! What's going on?” Phil replied.

“Ah nothing. Just go back to your house, Phil. I’ll talk to you later.”

Confused, the man returned to his house and decided to sketch something, like he always did if something was bothering him. He began to sketch L’Manberg, L’Manberg before the 16th and L’Manberg after it. He remembered Tommy. His son. The man had been giving the boy some space after Will’s death. He knew that the two of them had been close. Closer than he was ever with his youngest son. He knew that the avian boy saw Wilbur as a father figure. Which was better than the man ever would be to Tommy.

He knew he was never the best dad. Far from it. His adventures with Techno forced him to travel for days, weeks, even months on end. But he didn’t have to travel now. He and Techno had retired from that life.

From the life of a god.

Although the voices in his own head stopped when he left SMP earth, he knew that Techno’s continued. He knew that the drive the voices created was enough to turn anyone against their friends... or their family it turns out.

The L’Manberg government wasn’t perfect. It never was. From the dictatorship that Will had founded it on, to the promoted kid now in power. Tubbo was a good kid. He was definitely the best president the country had seen in a while. But he hadn’t been elected by the people. Not everyone agreed with the things he was doing. One of the most controversial things he had done was exiling his best friend.

He exiled Tommy.

After getting a good night's sleep, Phil returned to the skies to visit Techno. Hopefully this time he was home. The harsh winds felt like bullets on his wings, but the rest of his body was covered by Antarctic gear and couldn’t feel a thing. He saw red again. Just past the village. In the field. Not moving. Acting quickly, the man flew down, scooped it up and continued flying. Holding it close to his body, he hoped that he could warm it up. It was freezing cold.

When he reached Techno’s, he immediately placed it down so that he could get a good look at it. To his surprise it wasn't a hurt animal, but it was his son. It was Tommy. Panicking, the man grabbed blankets and one of Techno’s spare robes. He placed it on the boy and ran into the storage compartment to get a health potion. He got back to his son and gently tipped the potion down his throat.

“Phil, is that you? What are you- Tommy!?” Techno said entering the room with much confusion

“Techno! Do you have anything for frostbite?!”

“Uhm... yeah... let me grab it.”

The man held his son close to his chest. Then he realised that something was missing. His wings. The man held him closer. The boy would explain when he woke up. Right now, all he cared about was keeping him close.

He found his baby bird, and this time, he wouldn’t let him go.

-----

“Here. Give him this,” Techno said, returning from the basement, “it should help.”

“Thanks Techno,” the man said, still holding the boy tightly. “I found him in the field just outside the village.”

Techno looked worried. Phil knew that the man felt terrible after the 16th. He had rode off with his horse and promised never to use violence ever again. When Techno realised Dream and Tommy were close, he had started doing things to help the pair, giving them health potions, stopping fires (why was Dream so bad at using Christmas Lights?), and watching Tommy. Like a guardian angel.

“Yesterday was the first day I didn't visit him. This is my fault, I shouldn't have given into the Butcher Army. I should've been there to protect him from whatever did this.”

“Techno, what are you talking about? The Butcher Army?”

“Quackity, Ranboo, Tubbo, and Fundy. They came to kill me. I was winning but Quackity threatened Carl. I had to go with them.”

“So that’s why Tubbo was so twitchy...”

“Heh?”

“Forget it, Techno. The past doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are here now. We can still protect him.”

Sighing, the piglin hybrid started gathering items to make the boy a bed.

“He’s gonna need wings like yours, Phil.”

“I know.”

Phil had recreated his own wings using metal and redstone, so that he could fly. Tommy’s wings would be much harder to fix since they had been sliced off by an axe, not damaged in an explosion. Phil realised it was an axe by the way the wings had been cut. If it was a sword it would have been a quick and fast blow, but an axe is heavier. It doesn't leave a clean finish. Phil reached up to grab a bandage, the ones Tommy had placed on the previous day were loose so he wanted to replace them.

The man ran through situations in his head. What could have done this to him? It couldn't have been a mob, the cut was too clean. Surely it wasn’t anyone from L’manberg. Tommy and Dream had been on good terms.

Besides, Dream would never cut wings off. Being an avian himself, surely the man wouldn’t have the heart to slice them off. There hadn’t been any hesitation with the cut. So surely, it wasn’t Dream.

Dream is an avian, only a few people know and one of them is Phil. His wings stopped growing when he was seven and he was embarrassed by them. He wears baggy clothes to cover them up and never preens them. On the few occasions when Puffy and her family came over to Phil’s house, Phil would often watch young Dream and Tommy chase each other around, fluttering their tiny wings in each other’s face. It was nice seeing the two of them getting along. Tommy’s wings grew in late, and everyone thought that his wings weren’t gonna grow in, like Dream’s. But when his wings grew in, Dream became cold towards the boy. The two of them grew apart, and eventually became rivals.

But now, they looked like they were becoming friends again.

The question still remained. What did this to him?

Techno had always disliked Dream. So, it no wonder was it that it was Dream he blamed first.

“Dream was the only one there. There is no way it could have been anyone but him.” Techno remarked

“Dream is an avian. He wouldn’t have done something like that to Tommy.” Phil replied calmly

“So what?! We know he’s jealous of Tommy’s wings and the two of them are rivals!”

“It’s against his moral code! Besides, the two of them were getting along!”

“Dream was being manipulative!”

“How so?”

Techno continued to tell Phil everything that he had seen the tyrant do to his brother. It was quite a long list and by the end of it, Phil was stunned.

Techno ran his fingers between his pink hair, worried about his younger brother. Phil had left an hour beforehand and the hybrid was supposed to be looking after the boy. Covering Tommy with his robe the man sat down, just beside him. He started telling stories of his adventures with Phil, he started recounting memories he and Tommy had together, he told the unconscious boy what was going through his mind on the 16th, he explained the voices. After a while, the man began to doze off.

Phil was out hunting. At least that’s what he told himself. Really, the man knew that deep down he was out in the forest to clear his mind. The man often did that. He had brought his sketchbook with him this time. Flying to the top of one of the trees, he began sketching the treetops and the birds flying around. Often, the crows around the area would come and sit on his shoulders when he did this. The man thought he heard the whisper of voices when they did this, but he wasn’t sure.

He hadn’t heard those voices in what felt like centuries. Or maybe it was. Who knew at this point. The man had meddled with time so much in his life he wasn’t sure how long ago he left that life.

Right now, he didn’t want the voices. Even though they provided company and the man often missed their chatty ways, right now all he wanted was his sons. He already lost one by his own hands, and he couldn’t let himself deal with the guilt of both Tommy and Will's death on him. The man began sketching pictures of his sons.

Although Techno was never officially adopted, the boys saw him as an older brother, while Phil saw him as a friend. Tubbo was officially adopted after he had been given to Phil by Schlatt. The two men had been good friends, but when Schlatt began drinking, the two grew apart. After a while, the man was in debt and couldn’t look after his son anymore. He left the boy in a box in front of Phil’s house in hope that his old friend would look after him.

What a mismatched group. An angel of death, the blood god, a dead tyrant, a bee boy, and a child with a swearing problem. But eh, what could he say? They were family.

They are family.

The man walked into Techno’s cottage to be confronted with a very confused avian boy.

“Dadza?”

“Tommy?”

Crying, Phil burst into the house and hugged the boy. Tommy also began crying. The two hugged each other until Tommy became hazy again and fell over. The man caught the boy and placed him back into bed. Gently waking Techno, Phil began to tuck Tommy in and he gave the boy another health potion. The boy was back asleep now.

“I'm going to Logstedshire,” Techno remarked after gathering his crown and one of his spare robes. “I need to know what did this to him.”

“Be careful, Techno.”

And with that the man was out the door and was headed towards the camp. When he arrived, he was surprised to see a floor of random blocks. Investigating further he found a large crater where Logstedshire used to be. There was also a hole where Tommy’s tent was. The craters had been made by TNT. Dream’s signature block.

The Nether portal activated and out stepped a man dressed almost fully in green.

Dream.

“Ah, Techno, my friend.”

“Dream.”

“I’m guessing you’re here about Tommy?”

“What happened, Dream.”

“Ah nothing, just another one of his temper tantrums. You know... hormones.”

“Mhm.”

Dream sat down on the side of the portal. He looked around and saw his patchwork had been torn up. He also noticed the strain in his old friend's face. The hybrid was obviously trying as best as he could not to slice his head off there and then. But what the avian didn’t realise was that it was not because of the voices. It was because that avian had committed something against their moral code. To take someone’s wings was like taking someone's life to avians.

Though Techno himself was not a full avian, he had traces of avian blood in himself and was born with wings. His wings were red with white highlights, Phil’s wings were silver, Wilbur, who was fully avian, had chestnut brown wings. The piglin hybrid had always thought Will’s wings were beautiful. But nothing could match the sight that was his youngest brother's wings. Tommy had breathtaking gold and red wings. They would glimmer at dawn, shine during the day, and glow in the sunset. Tommy was a boy of pride, his wings had given him confidence he never had before. Not that he wasn’t confident before, but his wings gave him the push to be himself.

Suddenly, he couldn’t stop himself. Reaching into his inventory he grabbed his axe. Techno held the axe against Dream’s neck. The tyrant looked as calm as ever.

“Give me one good reason not to kill you right now,” Techno said in his regular calm demeanor. “Before? You were toeing the line. This time? You’ve leapt over it.”

“Sure, kill me. If you can.”

Dream reached into his inventory, grabbing his sword.

“Don’t try anything, Dream.”

After the smallest twitch from Dream, Techno had slain the avian. Surprising himself, his voices, and Dream. After killing the tyrant, he returned to his home. He silently walked over to his younger brother, hugged him, and left for his room. He let his long pink hair out of it’s braid, then pulled it into a low ponytail. Setting his crown down next to his bed, the piglin walked out and sat down next to Phil, who had fallen asleep next to Tommy. As the sun began to set on the little cottage, everyone was calm. Even Edward seemed a little less angry.

For once, the world seemed to be at peace.

Chapter Text

All Tommy could remember was waking up in a house. Not just any house though. This house belonged to someone he was not on the best of terms with. Technoblade. But when he woke up, the piglin hybrid was asleep next to him. Still a bit hazy he didn’t question why he was there, he just wanted to know how he got there. Extremely confused, the boy racked his brain for any memories. He remembered Dream cutting his wings off, the thought still brought tears to his eyes, he pushed the memory away for now. But from that onwards, there was nothing.

The boy stood up, wobbling a bit without the balance of his wings, and walked over to one of the windows in the cottage.

He watched the snow softly falling down, a contrast to the blizzard a few nights ago. Memories started slowly coming back to him. After maybe ten minutes of watching the snow fall, Tommy noticed a winged figure approaching the cottage. Once the figure reached the cottage and opened the door, Tommy had moved himself to near the middle of the room. The person stopped in the middle of the doorway, and looked like they had seen a ghost. Tommy recognised this person immediately.

“...Dadza?”

“...Tommy?”

Phil burst into the house and hugged the boy as tight as he could. The pair began crying as they held onto each other. Tommy’s vision began to go hazy again, before he knew what was happening, he had fainted again.

Phil gently woke Techno.

About ten minutes later Techno was wide awake. And angry.

“I’m going to Logstedshire. I need to know what did this to him,” The piglin remarked, leaving the house with one of his spare robes.

By the time the hybrid was back, it was already sunset. He sat down next to Phil who had fallen asleep. He took the crown off the top of his head and placed it next to his own bed before walking out of his room to the main room, where Tommy’s bed was.

His younger brother meant the world to him. The thought of losing another brother rattled Techno to his core. As a piglin, he was attached to his family more than anything else. He only just got over Wilbur's death, and now the prospect of losing Tommy was emerging.

The next morning, Tommy still wasn’t quite his normal bubbly, annoying self yet.

He was still weak, so Techno helped the boy out of bed and onto a chair nearby while Phil was getting up. Techno forced Tommy to have at least one piece of toast as he hadn’t seen the teenager eat much during his time in exile.

All while this was happening, Tommy was just staring out a window, watching a sheep run around in the forest, seemingly running away from something. That's when the ghostly presence of his other brother caught his eye. Laughing, Tommy watched Ghostbur as he tried to wrestle the sheep to the ground. Techno smiled at seeing his brother happy. Tommy turned back to Techno before getting up and hugging him.

“Thanks, Tech,” Tommy said, his voice muffled a bit as his face was buried into Techno, “for being the best big brother ever.” He stepped back a little then pointed outside and said, “Also Ghostbur is trying to dye a sheep blue. It’s very funny.”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. When Phil opened it, a ghost and a large blue sheep fell inside.

“Look!” Ghostbur said, still a little out of breath. “I named him Friend!”

Laughing, Phil closed the door and left to get a lead and a nametag for ‘Friend’. Tommy laughed as the sheep slowly moved towards him, then buried its head into Tommy's hand. Tommy hugged the sheep tightly, getting blue all over his clothes. Ghostbur laughed and patted Friend as Phil came back with a lead and nametag.

Not even five minutes later, the four of them had descended into chaos; Tommy was trying to ride Friend like a horse, Phil was trying to stop him, Techno was watching, and Ghostbur was trying to name the poor sheep. After a while, Phil successfully stopped Tommy from likely injuring himself, Techno helped Ghostbur name Friend, and everyone was a little more calm.

Except Edward. Someone had looked at him in all the rioting, and he was now angrier than usual.

Finally, something clicked in Tommy’s brain.

His book.

Where was his book?

He leapt across the room towards the enderchest that was tucked between regular chests and a crafting table. He flung it open, and pulled out the book. The boy held the book close to himself as he closed the enderchest, and went to lie down on his bed, still holding the book. The other three watched and tried to help him while this was happening. Ghostbur tucked Tommy into the bed, getting blue all over the red sheets, dying it a reddish purple.

To Techno, it looked like Tommy felt more comfortable writing about what happened, instead of talking about it. So Phil gave the boy a piece of paper, and told him to write down what happened. The answer was shocking. Phil had been certain that it couldn’t have been Dream that did this to him, he thought it might have been a member of the Badlands, or something like that. But not Dream.

-----

Dream had lost Tommy.

This was bad.

Just as long as the boy didn’t go back to L’Manberg, it would be fine. Right? Wrong.

If Tommy got any allies right now, everything Dream was trying to do would be ruined. Everything he had been doing to Tommy would have been for nothing. If Tommy had run out to Techno, to his older brother, the server could be in danger. Dream was sure that he had, because he was now down a canon life, but in order to keep his server safe, Dream had to prove that Tommy was with Techno, Tubbo wouldn’t believe him otherwise.

If he failed the server could fall into chaos.

-----

Although Tommy knew he was safe now, he was still on high alert. At least as high alert as someone on sleeping drugs can be.

For most of the time, Tommy either played with Friend, or painted Edwards nails. Yes, somehow Tommy, out of all people, managed to befriend Edward. Tommy simply doesn’t look the enderman in the eyes, in fact, he doesn't look anyone in the eyes anymore.

The reason for this was something Tommy was embarrassed about.

His eyesight had been slightly damaged in the explosion, and he couldn’t see properly. He could see, but everything was a bit blurry. He had been taught to fight blindfolded since a young age, so it didn’t affect his movement very much. That's probably why Phil, Techno, and Ghostbur haven’t noticed yet.

It’s not like they would have noticed anyway.

Chapter Text

When Tommy started living with Techno, he continued asking for health potions- as many as he could get ahold of.

He had grown dependent on them during his time in exile, because they made him feel safe after what dream put him through. As time went on, however, Tommy found that the sleeping pills Techno was giving him made him forget about the potions. When the hybrid wasn’t looking, the boy would take a couple behind his back.

After a couple of days of fussing over Tommy, Techno and Phil left him with Ghostbur.

The pair disappeared into the basement during the day, and well into the night, working on a new pair of prosthetic wings for Tommy. Since Tommy’s wings had been cut clean off- not damaged in an explosion like Phil and Ghostbur’s- it was much harder to get them to work.

There continued to be more challenges as they realized they couldn’t test the wings, since the boy was normally asleep (thanks to Techno’s sleeping pills), writing in his book, or playing with Edward and Friend.

At about lunch time the following day, Tommy climbed down into the basement- where Phil and Techno were working- with two cups of tea and some sandwiches. He knew the pair was building him prosthetics but he wasn’t sure if they would work or not.

“Thanks, mate!” Phil said, noticing Tommy and the platter of sandwiches.

Techno had a few bites of a sandwich and a few sips of the tea before returning to the pair of wings. Tommy walked over to Techno and saw the wings. He gasped and with a huge smile on his face, he hugged Techno. He immediately pushed himself away from the hybrid, going completely red with embarrassment.

About an hour later, Tommy was learning to fly again.

This time, he knew the basics, he just needed to get a feel for the wings. After about three hours, Tommy could lift off and glide back down safely with little incident. He couldn’t fly yet, but lifting off and gliding were a step in the right direction.

“Tommy, mate, listen to me closely,” Phil said while they were taking a break from flying lessons. “You cannot fly, or glide, or use these wings in any way while in the nether. The heat will break them and you will get hurt.”

Tommy nodded his head, but also rolled his eyes, thinking that Phil was getting extremely overprotective again.

Over the next few days, the Minecraft family became close again. Techno taught Tommy more fighting skills, although Tommy insisted that he didn’t need any help. Phil taught Tommy how to fly again, as the man had had to relearn the skill himself a while back.

By the 15th of December, Tommy could fly for short distances and was amazing at gliding.

However, Tommy knew that this couldn’t last.

Phil never cared about him- he always wanted something. He cared about Wilbur and Techno, he even cared about Tubbo. But never Tommy. If he was acting like he cared, then he expected something from him. That was how their relationship had always been. That’s how Tommy thought it would always be.

Meanwhile, Tommy’s vision wasn’t getting better, in fact quite the opposite. Things seemed to become blurrier as days went on. He wasn’t used to flying with low vision, so he had yet another thing to adjust to.

Phil was beginning to get worried about his son. The boy would never look him in the eyes anymore, even though he used to do so without fear. He was also considerably calmer. He wasn’t exploding every five seconds, he would often mumble to himself, and there was a constant ringing in his left ear.

He also complained about dizziness and tingling in his hands and feet. Part of the problem was that Tommy wouldn’t talk to the man. He wouldn’t tell him anything about exile. Techno only knew about exile because he was watching the boy.

But he was the only one.

The only one that knew about the trauma the boy had gone through. The pain. The routines that both Dream and Tommy had gotten used to. Techno was the only one who knew. Techno, who was the worst at comfort in the household.

Of course, Phil had some idea of what happened, but the reality was worse than anything Techno could describe. Like the drugs that were hidden within the health potions that Dream left out for Tommy, or the fact that Tommy cried himself to sleep every night, or the constant TNT tormenting that Dream put the boy through, every single morning.

Techno noticed more.

The boy’s appetite had changed significantly, he wasn’t eating as much as he used to, and when he did eat it would just be some plain toast. He would only have a piece before he started training with Phil.

Tommy took to the skies, wobbling a bit in the take off. He felt light headed and dizzy, but he couldn’t tell Phil. He was scared that Phil would be upset with him, for not eating enough, or angry that he was stealing pills, or disappointed that he couldn't even do a proper take off after over a week of practice.

As he flew, he knew that he was being stupid. He knew he was doing the wrong thing. He knew Phil wouldn’t be upset with him, but that trust was gone.

His trust for Phil, for Techno, for adults in general was gone.

He had been let down by them too many times, and everytime he went to someone for help, they usually make the situation worse. When he leant on someone for help, they fell down, and of course, it was up to Tommy to help that person back up.

It happened with Tubbo, it happened with Wilbur. He failed to help Dream, he failed to help Techno. And it was those failures that haunted him. The fact he failed to help Dream when he was struggling with his father and his wings, the fact he failed to help Techno when he was being broken down to tears by the voices.

That's when he fell.

He felt the wind rushing past his face, causing his messy blonde hair to fly in front of him. He saw the clouds getting smaller by the second, he heard the rush of air and the screams of Phil from the ground. Tommy tried to expand his wings, but the pressure on them was too much and he failed.

He could hear his own heartbeat and he could hear it stop for a second before it went black.

-----
(Tw: bl00d)
-----

When Phil saw his son plummeting from the sky, he screamed at Techno to get health potions as he ran to where his son had fallen.

He saw blood around the boy and he was sure he had lost him. Techno reached the boy just in time to give the potion that saved his life on that day.

Phil couldn't let another son die in his arms- he wouldn't be able to live with the guilt.

Tommy opened his eyes a little as he sat up slightly. Before he could fall down again, Phil grabbed onto the boy. The young avian coughed up a little blood and blacked out once more. Phil carried the boy back to the cottage while Techno inspected something that had fallen out of Tommy’s pockets.

-----
No more bl00d
-----

Techno heard Phil scream, although he wasn’t sure what about. He heard the words ‘Tommy’ and ‘health potions’. Never a good combination. The piglin hybrid grabbed health potions from his chests, and ran out to see the young avian falling from through the clouds and Phil running to where he would land.

Techno sprinted out to where Phil and his younger brother were. He fell down to his knees, and gently tipped the health potions down the young avian's throat. Techno’s attention was immediately brought to white capsules scattered around them. Picking them up for closer inspection, he realised they were pills.

Sleeping pills.

Tommy woke up feeling dizzy. His mouth felt dry and his vision was blurrier than usual. He couldn’t remember anything from that morning. His eyes began to adjust to the light of the room and he realised he was still in Techno’s cottage.

He felt around in his pockets for his pills, then realised he was missing something.

He immediately became jittery and began fumbling around the room for the pills. He reached for the door handle and tried to open the door to get to the main room, but as he tried to turn it, he realised it was locked. Things began coming back to him, like the thoughts he had while he was flying, and the fall that occurred because of them.

It was because of those thoughts right? That's why he lost his concentration.

As his memory of the fall came back to him, he slumped onto the floor with tears in his eyes.

He wasn’t stupid.

He realised that Techno must have the pills now. He knew that the piglin hybrid would likely take away his supply of them. He found one still in his pocket and he ran toward the cauldron in the corner, he put the pill in his mouth and then used his hands as a cup to scoop water out of the cauldron. The water was warm, and it tasted disgusting, but feeling the pill go down his throat made him forget about his worries and allowed him to calm down.

Water dripped down his face, wetting his shirt as he drank more. He opened the only window in the room and climbed out, sitting on the window sill. He couldn’t jump down because that would make himself more hurt, and he was too tired to try and glide or climb, so he just sat there.

-----

Techno realised that the boy must have been taking the pills more often then he should have, as soon as he saw them lying on the ground.

He picked them up and placed them in a bag, then walked inside to tell Phil what had actually happened.

Phil knew that Tommy would try and take them back if he could, so the best option they had was locking him in his room, so that he couldn’t reach the pills. The man took the rest of the pills out of Tommy’s pocket and gave them to Techno. Techno then placed the bag into his enderchest, so that it would be impossible for Tommy to take any. The pair placed the young avain onto his bed, and then tip-toed out of the room leaving the boy, then they locked the door.

-----

Tommy watched as the sun set over his new home. It reminded him of the night that he and Wilbur spent in a tree, right after the L’Manberg Revolution. It was just colder, and he didn’t have Wilbur, or L’manberg, or the prospect of Dream coming back to kill him.

Okay, wait, he still has that last one.

It reminded him of the night before his party. With Ghostbur, both of them laughing at Dream, remembering what he had gotten himself into earlier that day. He remembered all the good times he had with his friends. The disc saga he had with Tubbo, L’Manberg, which he had with Wilbur. He remembered everything that had led up to this moment.

Did he regret any of it? Maybe, but he told himself he didn't.

Tommyinnit isn't scared of anything and he certainly doesn’t regret anything. It’s part of his personality. But when Dream held an axe against his wings, only two weeks ago, he was scared. He was terrified he was going to lose the one thing that made him who he was, but since then, he realised that his wings weren’t what made him.

It was the people he surrounded himself with. It was his friends and family that allowed him to be, well, him. Not the confidence that his wings once gave him. He didn’t need that. He needed to be with people. That’s why he wasn't himself when he was in exile. That's why he can’t be alone.

He would never be alone again.

And this time? He's making sure of it.

Chapter Text

Tommy’s recovery from his drug addiction was hard. He knew it would be, and so did everyone ,lse. Yet he persisted, with the help of Techno. The piglin hybrid created a sort of piidn’toesn’t actually do anything, but it was pill shaped and tasted like the sleeping pills. He kept them in his pocket so when he saw Tommy struggling, he could give them to the boy. Techno was the main reason Tommy eased out of the drugs. He wanted to do it for Techno. He wanted to make his older brother proud.

Tommy wished he could tell Techno how much he meant to him, but he didn’t want to seem weak. Techno meant so much to the boy- he was his role model, his brother, and his protector. Admitting that would mean he was admitting he needed the help. Admitting that he was weaker because of his exile.

After his fall, Tommy spent a lot more time with Friend and Ghostbur, often tagging along when the pair went exploring in forests. This was against Phil’s advice. Phil was a lot more protective after the fall, and the first few times Ghostbur and Tommy went exploring, the older avian would follow them in the sky. Eventually, Tommy caught on, and didn't speak to Phil for a couple hours.

To help Tommy with his recovery, Phil suggested that he start sketching. It helped him after Wilbur’s death, and it seemed to help the boy. He often sketched Friend, sometimes Edward, but mostly, he sketched plants. The giant redwoods that had surrounded L’Manberg, a field of alliums, and sometimes, he would draw Ponk’s lemon tree. It reminded him of the times that he and Tubbo once spent together, fighting alongside each other.

Ghostbur helped him remove the pages in his book that Tubbo had written in, making a poster board of the pages to hang up in Tommy’s room- of which was a small room Phil and Techno had built off the side of the main house. They had decorated it a few days before Tommy’s fall and It was filled with things the colour blue (Ghostbur helped with decorating), branches of random trees for Tommy to sketch, and an assortment of stuffed toys from Tommy’s childhood.

Wilbur had brought them with him when he moved to the Dream SMP, though Tommy never knew where he had kept them. Turns out, they had been stuffed into his enderchest. So, when Ghostbur went looking for things to decorate Tommy’s room with, he found them. Tommy told Ghostbur they were stupid. He still kept them around though. Tommy said that he kept them around for Ghostbur’s sake, but that wasn’t the whole truth.

Two days after Tommy’s fall, he had gotten much better. He was still relying on Techno for the faux pills but he didn’t need them as often.Techno thought it would be a good idea for him and Tommy to visit L’Manberg in secret. Techno was now having conflicting feelings about blowing up the country, and he thought that going there with Tommy would help him decide. They planned to leave the next day.

Phil was out sketching with his crows, Ghostbur and Friend were out somewhere, while Techno and Tommy were practicing pvp. Techno didn’t trust himself to practice pvp with proper swords, especially with Tommy. He was scared he would be pressured into hurting his training partner.

Like the incident.

When he and Tommy were kids, about 12 and 7, they were sparring out front of Tommy’s childhood home. Techno had been taking pvp lessons with Phil, so the pair knew each other well. His voices had been much worse back then, and he didn’t know how to ignore them. He gave into the voices and attacked Tommy. Tommy was seriously hurt, and nearly lost his first canon life. Phil came into help, but instead of helping the hatchling, Phil ran up to Techno to help him get over the voices. Wilbur had helped Tommy so he wasn’t scarred physically- though the mental scars were another situation. While helping Tommy, Wilbur had given death stares to Techno.

Wilbur was the oldest out of the three brothers. It went: Wilbur, Tubbo, then Tommy. Techno was never adopted by Phil, so he didn’t count. People often think that the youngest is a parent's favorite, but that's untrue. It’s the one that makes the parent the proudest, after the youngest is born, or in Tommy’s case, adopted. He and Tubbo were adopted. Which is why he had dyed his hair blond all those years ago. He kept it blond because Wilbur said it suited him.

Techno constantly impressed Phil, and by the time Tommy was officially adopted, it was too late for him. Wilbur sat back quietly, but Tommy was not as complacent. He accidentally disappointed Phil more times than he could count, because it was always his fault. He got beat up by Dream? It’s his fault for not being good at pvp. Everyone hates him? It’s his fault for being so annoying. He dies in a duel? His fault for not having good aim.

Do you see the pattern? It’s Phil’s fault for not teaching him pvp. It’s Phil’s fault for not giving him the attention he needed as a child, so now being annoying is the only thing that gives him that attention. It's Phil’s fault for not teaching him how to use a bow. Everything that Phil had seen in Tommy as disappointing, had been his own fault. And he was starting to realise that.

Phil flew to the tops of the trees as he usually did. Ducking under and over branches while his crows began to follow him. When he flew up to the top, the birds swarmed around him. He perched onto a branch, and the crows followed. Without taking out his sketchbook, the man began talking to the birds.

Their usual chatty voices were quiet. Not a word. It was never good when that happened. When he first joined the Dream SMP, it happened the day he was pressured into killing his own son. So, no, it was not a good omen. Being worried, the man tried to ignite conversation about things he and his chat often talked about, but when that failed, he simply took out his sketchbook, and started to sketch them, something that would always make them start chatting along. Not today apparently. They were as silent as a dead mouse.

Ghostbur and Friend were exploring the forests surrounding the snow biome, and they entered the place where Tommy’s exile had taken place. He thought it was a good thing that the boy hadn’t come with them this time. Visiting the place of his exile could bring back some horrifying memories for the young boy. Exploring the area, something glinted off the sunset and caught his eye, a piece of wood was laying on a crafting table near Logstedshire. Ghostbur floated over to the bench and picked up the piece. He quickly recognised it as a guitar. Four pieces of spider string were laid next to the guitar. Ghostbur secured them to the guitar and started tuning it. It was much better crafted than his guitar. The ghost placed it into his inventory and left Logstedshire.

When Phil got home, he expected to see Tommy and Techno sparring, but instead it was completely quiet around the cottage... and dark. Suspiciously dark. He was already on edge because of the incident with the crows, but a dark and quiet cottage was never a good thing.

Ever.

When Ghostbur got back to the cottage, he was excited to show Tommy what he had found, but he immediately knew something was off about the place. When he tried to take Friend inside, the ram wasn't as complacent as he usually was. Ghostbur expected it was just because the cottage was warm. As an arctic sheep, Friend had an extra layer of fluff, which kept him warm, and inside the already-warm cottage he would feel like he was boiling. Ghotbur tied the sheep up outside, and entered the cottage quietly. The sun had just set, and because it was quiet, he expected that everyone had gone to bed early. Instead of slight snores coming from Technos room, and the occasional ruffle of feathers from Phil’s, he heard broken sobbing from downstairs.

Phil read it over and over, hoping and wishing that it wasn't true. No- if they had left for L’manberg they would be back by now, his mind tried to tell him. But he wouldn’t listen. They were just stuck there because they were having too much fun, right? He repeated this in his head over and over, tears flooding his eyes until he felt a ghostly presence entering the basement.

“Tommy?!” he shouted as he turned around to face them,

That confused Ghostbur. He wasn’t Tommy. Tommy was alive.

“Oh, Ghostbur. It's just you,” Philza mumbled, wiping his tears and turning away from the ghost. “Thank Kristin.”

His tears dampened the piece of paper he was clutching, it wrote:

‘Gone to L’manberg early, taking the nether route
-Toms and Tech’

They should have been back by now, so why aren’t they here? Ghosbur floated over to the older avian and put his hand on his shoulder. When he read over it, he was confused as to why the man was so sad. Ghostbur put some blue next to the main and gave him a hug.

“What's wrong, Phil?” he whispered to the man. “They’ll be back soon!”

Phil nodded through his tears and gently pushed the ghost away. Standing up, he grabbed his coat and told Ghostbur to look after the cottage. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, he was preparing for the worst, but, of course, hoping for the best. He took a step outside, and his feet felt heavy as stones as he walked down the steps out of his home. He had left L’Manberg after what he had heard from Techno.

The entire Butcher Army scenario was a bit much, even by Quackity’s standards. Correction, it was a lot much, the only reason they had hunted him down was because Techno was a threat to the country. Which he wasn’t. If he had been a threat, they would have known it. He had left that life behind. Quite literally ran off, to stop himself from being a threat. Phil knew that the man saw himself as a monster. As a freak of nature. It's something Phil hated. Something that he had tried to help Techno with. He was better now, and Phil thought that he wouldn’t do anything like running off again.

When he was only 12, he had run away from Phil in fear he would hurt them more. He had been living with the avian, Tommy, and Wilbur at the time. He and Wilbur were training partners. Phil was their mentor. Being half piglin, quarter human, and quarter avian, he was extremely politically divided. As well as being different to Tommy and Wilbur physically, he was different mentally too,- things that would lead him to doing things against his own will.

Voices.

They would render him defenseless or defenseful, dangerous or calm, quiet or loud. The pressure they gave, forced the man into doing anything they asked. As Techno got older, Phil thought he could keep them at bay. The night after the incident with Tommy, when he was 12, he ran off. Leaving everyone behind, scared he might hurt them too. Phil spent the next day packing to leave and go after him. Wilbur and Tommy knew to stay out of his way when he was like this, but they thought he would come back. He didn’t. They didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Phil didn’t want to let that happen again. So, he burst through the nether portal into the hellish dimension, scared to death he was going to lose his only son without saying goodbye and his best friend with him. He stumbled down the path and stopped in his tracks as he saw Techno fall to his knees and Tommy was nowhere to be seen.

He was crying.

Techno.

He was crying.

Chapter Text

He fell.

Techno watched his younger brother fall.

He watched for what felt like infinity.

Tommyinnit. He never dies, he never seems to die. Because no matter what happens, Tommy always survives. He always gets out in the end.

The hero always wins.

Right?

Phil burst through the nether portal and sprinted along the path until Techno came into view. Phil stopped. Techno fell. His knees scraped across the cobblestone and obsidian floor. He was bleeding but he didn't seem to care. He just stared down at the pit of lava below the path. He pulled himself up as Phil walked slowly towards him. Techno walked toward the pit of lava and not hearing Phil there proceeded to try and fall into it. Phil sprinted towards the man and pulled him up just in time. His eyes were full of tears and he buried his head into the older avian's shoulder, just like he did when he was twelve.

It was at that moment when Phil realised he had lost him, he had lost Tommy.

And this time he wasn’t coming back.

-----

Tommy woke up in a void.

No end in sight.

He heard a few murmuring whispers behind him. But as he tried to turn around there was nothing there either. He felt like he was falling. Painful memories were coming back to him. Dream taking his wings. His fall. And his death.

He was trying to show Techno how cool he was. He was trying to prove to him that he was a big man. But he forgot about what Phil had told him when he first got his wings back.

“Tommy, mate, listen to me closely, you cannot fly, or glide, or use these wings in any way while in the nether. The heat will break them and you will get hurt.”

But now his voice echoed in his head. Was he dead? Was this the afterlife? Where was wilbur? Schlatt? He turned around again, facing where the sound of murmuring voices was coming from.

Someone was there. Dressed fully in black. She was familiar. She fell to her knees. The lady dressed in black looked up at Tommy. Her eyes were full of tears. She gestured for him to come to her. Tommy sprinted towards her.

Tommy knew who she was.

She was death.

She was his mother.

-----

Techno felt guilt.

In his infinite being he had never been so attached to a mortal then tommy. How could Tommy even be mortal? He was the biological son of two gods, and Techno lost him. The piglin’s eyes were still red from crying as Phil led him back into the cottage. Ghostbur was already gone. Phil was holding back tears as he sat Techo down on his bed. He undid Techno’s braid and ran his fingers through the man's long pink hair. Techno was completely silent still. He was in shock. He had just lost his younger brother, and he watched it happen.

He watched him fall.

And he was powerless. All he could do was stand there.

And watch.

-----

Kristin held her son in her arms and wept.

“I didn’t want to see you here,” she whispered to him, “Even with how much I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Mumza.”

Kristin let go of Tommy and held his hands. He had a choice to make. He could stay here with his mother, or he could join Wilbur, and give his soul to the world. Leaving his body in hell. In the void. With whispers all around him.

Tommy knew what he needed to do.

A single tear ran down his face as he took his mothers hands. Looking her in her eyes he nodded slightly.

Tommy felt part of his soul leave his body, and Kristin faded into Wilbur. Tommy grabbed onto Wilbur and held him as close as he could. He was all that was left.

-----

Ghostbur floated down the path that led to Techno’s cottage. As he got closer to the portal he felt a similar ghostly presence. He slowed down to see a young boy.

A young ghost.

A tear ran down his cheek, burning his skin but he didn’t care. The ghost was tommy.

It didn’t quite look like Tommy, but ghosts never do. They never look quite right.

That's when it occurred to him that ghosts spawn where the living version of them died.

Ghost Tommy was staring into the lava. That’s where Tommy would have died then.

Ghost slowly approached the ghost and gently took his hand. The ghost flinched back but quickly calmed down.

“What’s your name?” Ghostbur whispered, knowing that ghosts don’t like to use their name from when they were alive.

“Ghostinnit.”

“Do you know why you're here?” Gostbur asked, he knew that Ghostinnit’s memories would be altered.

“No.”

Ghostbur squeezed Ghostinnit’s hand.

“That's ok, I’m ghostbur by the way.”

“I know.”

Since he didn’t know what killed him, but he knew Ghostbur's name, Ghostbur collected that he had only good memories, like he did. Ghostbur led Ghostinnit into the portal leading to phil and Techno’s house.

It was two days after Tommy’s death. Techno stopped crying after the first day. Phil still cried when he was alone, but never in front of Techno. The pair hadn’t left their cottage in the two days after the death. Phil was almost certain Techno was in denial, but they didn’t talk much to each other. So when Ghostbur turned up at their door with ghostinnit, Techno froze and Phil fainted.

No I’m not kidding he actually fainted.

Ghostbur and Ghostinnit ignored the body on the floor, floated over their father and reached the enderchest.

Now before I continue with this, you must know that Phil is ok, Techno helped him. After he became unfrozen.

Ghostbur got Tommy to open the enderchest, and inside was his book.

Tommy’s book.

Ghostinnit took the book out and Ghostbur gestured for him to open it. He told him that reading it will help with the memory problems.

GhostInnit was a little confused, because as far as he knew he had no memory issues. He remembered everything that was written in here, until he reached puffy’s visit. He didn’t remember breaking down. But he obviously had since there were tear stains all over the page.He also didn’t remember the hallucinations, or any of the terrible stuff that apparently Tommy had written.

Ranboo burst through the door. Yelling to Techno about something that Techno didn’t quite catch. Maybe something about Tommy, letters and something else.

Ranboo’s voice trailed off when he caught sight of ghostinnit. The enderman hybrid grabbed out his sword and pushed it against Techno’s' throat.

“What did you do?” Ranboo asked, straying from his usual happy demeanour into an honestly scary one.

“Woah, there mate. Techno did nothing wrong. It was Dream.” Phil stammered, pushing down Ranboo’s sword gently.

Techno gasped for air when the sword was lowered. He then rested his head in his hands and sighed, a single tear streamed down his face before he turned to Ghostinnit then to ranboo and explained everything. From the start of exile.

Tears were streaming down Ranboo’s face, then evaporating, he was obviously in pain. He sank to his knees knowing that he had to break the news to Tubbo. He had to break the news that his best friend had died, and it was his fault.

Techno stood up. He placed all his items in his chests. He then walked towards ranboo and held out his hands.

“Take me to L’manberg,” Techno muttered. “Tommy was under my authority, I should be the one to break it to Tubbo.”

Ranboo was confused as to why Techno was holding his hands out. Then it hit him.

“L’manburg wont trust me unless I’m unarmed and restrained.” Techno continued. “You know what I want you to do.”

Rambo wiped his eyes and took some rope from his inventory and tied Techno’s hands together. Phil knew there was a chance that Techno wouldn't return from L’manberg so his face was full of tears. He could lose everyone. He already lost Wilbur and Tommy. Now he could lose Techno too.

With the rope in his hands, ranboo said goodbye to Phil, and glanced at Ghostinnit one last time. Techno Looked at Phil and smiled. A soft smile. Not a I’m gonna blow up a country because it has a government smile. Phil smiled back, and with tears in his eyes he waved goodbye to his oldest friend.

Ranboo rambled to Techno all the way to the main portal. Ranboo looked to Techno. Techno nodded and stepped into the portal.

The soft dizziness of the portal swirled in Technos mind; he was tired and he hadn’t eaten much. He felt sick. Not in a way that you would throw up, but in a way that was worrying.

Ranboo led him to L’manberg, every now and then checking the rope to make sure it was tight enough but not too tight. He thought this plan was stupid. What if they immediately killed him, what if they didn’t let him go. There were so many ways this could end, and only a few of them were good.

As Techno and ranboo entered L’manberg the city went silent, all you could hear were the planks of wood creaking, or the water below splashing against the pillars and rocks.

Techno hung his head low and stepped closer to ranboo. If he made eye contact with anyone here they would most likely kill him. He needed to talk to Tubbo, alone. And not in pieces.

They entered Ranboo’s house and he tied the rope to a pole.

“You can sit there” ranboo muttered as he pointed to a seat near his chests. “I still think this is a dumb idea. He could easily order your execution, and you don’t have a totem to save you this time.”

Techno didn’t say anything but he stared out the window. The citizens of L’manberg had mostly gotten back to what they were doing. It looked almost peaceful, in a busy sort of way. He knew it was likely he wouldn’t come out of this alive. But the citizens of L’manberg deserve the truth. And he would do anything for his youngest brother.

Ranboo left his house and locked the door so no one could get to Techno. He walked up to Tubbo’s office. Tubbo was sitting in his chair signing some papers. Ranboo opened the door and Tubbo looked up.

“I have someone in my house,” Ranboo started, tubbo sat up in his chair in anticipation. “His name is Technoblade. Don’t worry he’s restrained and completely unarmed.”

“Techno? You single handedly caught Technoblade!? This is great! I'll schedule the execution.”

Tubbo goes to pick up his phone but ranboo slams it back down.

“He wants to speak to you. It’s about Tommy. He wanted to come and knew he couldn’t if he wasn’t restrained and unarmed.”

After a bit of arguing they agreed that he would not be executed, Ranboo would be in the office as they talked, and Ranboo would escort him back out of L’manberg. No charges filed.

Ranboo returned to his house to get Techno, where he told him about the deal. Ranboo then led Techno.

As techno walked up the wooden steps that reached President Tubbo’s office. He focused on the little things. He counted every creak the floor made, every splash he heard below him. He made note of the intricate carvings in some of the houses, each one tailored to the owner. He saw every crack in the cobblestone, every cloud in the sky. His world seemed to move slower. He was more aware, it was more…… quiet.

The hum of the voices dimmed and he heard the screech of birds in the sky, he heard everything he previously hadn’t been able to. At least not able to enjoy or process them. And although it was quiet, it was loud. The hustle and bustle of the people below him, just getting on with their lives, the laughing of the children playing in the bay, the shouting of soldiers practicing. Although they no longer had to worry about war, L’manberg put that behind them.

They entered Tubbos office, Techno with his head down and only a step behind ranboo, he made a note of the creaking door. Once they were inside Techno looked up and stepped infront of Ranboo.

Then he saw him

Quackity.

Chapter Text

Techno always thought fireworks were pretty.

To him, they were his release- his break from the world. A way to get away from the voices in his head. Most people think fireworks are loud, some are scared of them, but to Techno, they were quiet… peaceful. They were important to him. They were special.

He also knew that they were dangerous. His youngest brother, Tommy, was terrified of them, so their father never let him set off fireworks.

He never wanted to harm Tubbo, but he believed that because the voices were quiet during firework displays, he wouldn’t succumb to their violent demands. He was wrong.

Techno didn’t think that Tubbo would forgive him, but that's not why he was here. He was here for Tommy.

“Why is Quackity here?” Techno questioned.

Tubbo leaned forward with a scowl on his face.

“Protection,” he answered.

“I can’t hurt you, Tubbo. I have nothing and my hands are restrained. Why is he really here?” Techno pushed.

“What did you want to tell me about Tommy?” Tubbo asked.

“I won’t tell you until he leaves.”

Tubbo nodded at Quackity. He frowned before leaving the office.

“Now will you tell me?” Tubbo said with a softer tone, and gestured to the two chairs on the other side of his desk.

Techno sat in one and Ranboo in the other.

“Tommy is dead,” Techno said softly.

Tubbo’s eyes filled with tears.

The world started spinning as Techno vaguely explained what had happened.

Tubbo looked at Ranboo and gestured to the ropes on Techno’s hands. Ranboo undid the knots and left the room, locking the door behind him.

“Tell me everything you know,” Tubbo stammered, “p-please.”

Techno’s vision was blurry as tears formed in his eyes, he quickly wiped them away. He then went into details about exile, about Dream, about Tommy, about the pills, about his first fall.

About his last fall.

Tubbo asked if Techno could form a copy of his journal and have it sent to L’Manberg. Techno declined. It seemed invasive, even if he was dead.

Tubbo made a call saying he was getting Ranboo so that Techno could be escorted back out of L’Manberg.

The door was forced open, slamming against the wall.

Quackity entered with a smirk on his face.

Techno looked to Tubbo for help, but the president was looking away guiltily.

Techno was scared.

He knew this was likely to happen, but he didn’t want it to.

Technoblade never dies…

Right?

Quackity brought down his pickaxe, puncturing Techno’s skin, over and over. Techno’s screams could be heard throughout L’Manberg. When he was on his last heart, Tubbo and Quackity left.

“I hope I broke more than your teeth,” Quackity remarked with a smirk as he left.

The pickaxe had broken many of Technos bones. It had taken chunks of skin out of his body, and his blood was gushing onto the tiled floor. He felt faint, but he was calm. He knew this would happen, he knew he would die here. And he was ready.

Obviously, they wanted him to suffer. To be in pain until his death. He didn’t deserve a quick death. He deserved a long one. He deserved to bleed out in an office that wasn’t his own, in a country that had a bounty over his head, in a world that hated him.

He blacked out.

—----

Ranboo and Dream burst into the office, seeing the state that Techno was in. Dream rushed to him, gently holding up his head and tipping a health potion down his throat. Ranboo gagged at the sight of him and ran off to get bandages. Dream also used some cloth to wrap around some of the really bad wounds.

Dream held Techno close, he was the closest thing that he had to a friend. His breath quickened. He kept checking Techno’s pulse and breath. He eventually got up and started to pace around the room. Ranboo burst into the room, holding bandages and crutches.

The health potion had healed most of the internal injuries, the broken bones were semi-fixed, and the places where he had been hit were less deep.

Techno flickered in and out of consciousness. Every bone in his body hurt. He was being carried somewhere by two people, though he couldn’t make out who they were. He noticed that his wounds were bandaged up. He was tired. Scared.

Dream and Ranboo carried Techno back to his base in silence. Dream tried and failed to start a conversation, but he was met with a scowl each time. Obviously, Ranboo had heard about what had happened. Being a hybrid himself, Ranboo would understand the gravity of the situation. Taking an avian's wings, taking their ability to fly, is like taking an enderman’s ability to teleport. It’s their defining factor.

Phil reached for his sword as he saw a green figure approaching in the snow. He then saw that the green figure was with someone. Ranboo. What were Dream and Ranboo doing here? They were carrying something. Someone.

Someone with pink hair and a red cloak.

Technoblade.

Phil rushed outside and took to the air. He landed in front of Ranboo and took hold of Techno. Phil flew him back to the cottage and Ranboo teleported there. Which left Dream in an awkward situation.

“I guess I’ll just walk, then. You're welcome,” He muttered with a huff as he picked up the crutches that Ranboo had dropped.

He started walking towards the cottage, but as he reached the door, he was hesitant. He eventually built up the courage to go inside the cottage. He entered quietly and placed the crutches on a chair. Ranboo spun around and gave him a death-stare.

-long awkward silence-

“Heh- I think I’ll go, I’m clearly not welcome. Just tell me when Techno’s okay,” Dream said as he started to leave.

Ghostinnit poked his head out of his room, Ranboo tried to usher him back, but it was too late. Ghostinnit had seen Dream.

“Dream!” Ghostinnit yelled in excitement as he ran to him.

Colour drained from his face. Tommy is a ghost?

“Toms- you, Tommy you’re a-“

“A ghost? Yep! I know. Look how cool it is! Anyway, Phil scared me when he said that Techno was injured, but now you're here so it’s probably fine.”

Dream looked at Phil, Phil glared back. Dream looked at Ranboo and Ranboo looked away sheepishly. Dream put his hands over Tommy’s ears.

“Will someone tell me what is going on?!” Dream shouted while still covering Ghostinnit’s ears.

Dream then told Tommy to go to his room, because he needed to talk to Phil and Ranboo alone. Ghostinnit happily obliged. Phil’s look softened as he looked back at Techno, who was lying unconscious on a bed next to him.

“You saved him, didn’t you? Both of them.”

Dream was confused, as far as he was aware he had only saved Techno. Tommy was dead.

“I tried to save Tommy, but I couldn’t.”

“No,” Phil responded, “I couldn’t. I knew there had to be a reason for everything you did. The sleeping pill laced potions, the TNT, and the wings. I shouldn't have made him new ones. I knew it was dangerous. And he ended up getting himself killed- Honestly, in a very Tommy like fashion.”

“May I ask how?” Dream questioned

“He was trying to show off for Techno,” Phil chuckled as he leant back in his chair a bit. “And what about you? May I ask the reasoning behind everything.”

Dream sighed and started explaining how he had seen Quackity changing a lot recently, he had started talking about executions and blood, and death and things like that. Not normal Quackity stuff. He had become worried for Tommy’s safety after Quackity was promoted. And so, Dream had Tubbo exile Tommy. He also saw a change in Tubbo, he was very compliant to Quackity, and being the president that made the entire of L’Manberg more compliant to Quackity.

“The TNT was an honest mistake on my part. My brain slipped up and forgot it was a trigger for Tommy. By the time I realised it, it was too late.”

Dream continued, explaining that he had never put drugs into the potions that he left out for Tommy. And that, he cut off Tommy's wings so that if Tommy wanted to return to L’manberg, he could return to civilian life, and not have to worry about the Quackity situation. Dream was going to stop Tommy’s exile, as soon as Quackity was dealt with.

He was trying to protect Tommy.

Not harm him.

Ranboo believed Dream because he had seen the changes in Quackity and Tubbo’s behaviour with his own eyes. Phil believed Dream because he had saved Techno, and Ghostinnit liked Dream. A lot.

Techno would need some convincing.

By the time Techno woke up, it was about 3 hours since they had talked. Dream was asleep on Tommy’s head, and Tommy was asleep on Dream’s lap. Phil was sketching them, and Ranboo was keeping him company. Mainly by making comments about how clingy Dream can be. Techno awoke with a start and it woke Dream and Tommy. Tommy with a little shriek and Dream burst out laughing. Techno sat up and stared at Dream.

Everyone went silent.

“You.”

Techno tried to stand, but in his condition that made it difficult. Dream backed away and grabbed the crutches before handing them to Techno.

“There, now feel free to yell and storm towards me angrily. I deserve it.”

Techno then spent about 10 minutes yelling at Dream. Phil ushered Ghostinnit into his room and Ranboo kept trying to butt into what Techno was saying, but Dream stopped him.

After 10 minutes, Techno was out of breath.

“Okay, I know you won’t forgive me. The things that I’ve done are unforgivable, but I know your moral compass. And I do believe you owe me two favours now.”

Techno sighed and sat back down.

“What do you want?”

“I want to destroy L’Manberg.”

Chapter Text

“I want to destroy L’Manberg”

Techno was hesitant. He didn’t trust Dream. He probably never would again. After everything he had done to Tommy.

“Wings.” Techno said calmly. “Show me your wings.”

Dream sighed and took off his jumper. His small wings fluttered a bit. They were in bad condition. Dream looked to the floor. Techno sighed.

“You haven't been looking after them.”

Dream shook his head. He was embarrassed of his wings, and hid them from everyone. Only his family knew. Phil sighed, and looked at Techno. The piglin hybrid nodded.

“Come on Dream, I'll help fix them.” Phil softly said as he gestured for Dream to follow him.

Dream tossed his jumper to Techno and followed Phil.

Ranboo had teleported outside, mumbling something about wanting to get some flowers.

Techno was conflicted. On one hand he could help Dream, redeeming a favour, but doing that means that Ghostinnit and Ghosbur would pass on. He would lose Tommy again. But if he didn’t help Dream, L’manberg would still stand. And Quackity would remain. Not to mention his moral compass. He owed Dream a great debt. Dream has saved his life twice now. Techno picked up his jumper, and scissors. He cut two slits in the back of the jumper.

He had an idea.

He would only help Dream if dream stopped hiding his wings.

Techno picked up a needle and thread and started sewing patterns into Dream’s jumper. Spirals and clouds. All in a white thread. Dream re entered the room and saw his jumper.

Tears formed in his eyes and Techno’s heart jumped. Had he done something wrong? But instead Dream smiled and grabbed it. He slipped it over his head and fluttered his wings again.

Tommy poked his head out of his room.

“Can I come out now?”

Oh shit, Techno forgot he put Tommy there.

“Yes, Ghostinnit you can come out now.” Dream said, rolling his eyes in the process.

Techno then went on to list his conditions of destroying L’manberg. That Dream can’t hide his wings anymore, and no TNT is involved. Dream agreed to the terms, and then left, as Ghostbur entered.

At the same time as ghostbur entered ranboo teleported back inside the house with his hands full of yellow flowers. Techno immediately face palmed.

“What?” Ranboo asked annoyedly, “Tommy’s room needs a colour other than blue.”

This made Techno roll his eyes, as Ghostbur started arguing that the room is fine the way it is. Meanwhile ghostinnit has made quick friends with, you guessed it! Friend! Tommy was rambling to Friend when he finally realised what Ghostbur and Ranboo were arguing about.

“It’s my room!” He said as he grabbed the flowers and stormed into the room.

He then popped his head, and said the Ranboo was right. Everyone in the room burst out laughing.

The next day Techno organised some people to help with the destruction of L’manberg. Ranboo knew a few people in L’manberg who didn’t like Quackity and Tubbo. After a small planning session, Techno and Ranboo went for a walk.

They entered the forest surrounding the cottage, every now and then spotting a bit of blood from Tommy’s escape. The snow was soft underneath their footsteps, pristine and delicate. The giant spruce trees that surrounded them blocked the sun from melting the snow, but the small rays of sunlight that do enter through the layers of leaves, reflect off of the snow creating a sense of magic in the forest.

In Kristin’s forest.

“When we destroy L’manberg, what’s gonna happen to Wilbur and Tommy?” Ranboo asked Techno

Techno stopped. He looked at ranboo.

“Ghosts have unfinished business.” Techno said calmly, “Wilbur and Tommy’s unfinished business is L’manberg.”

Ranboo knew what that meant. Tommy and Wilbur would pass on once more. But this time, to lay in peace.

A single tear rolled down Techno’s face, because he knew he would lose his brothers. All over again.

Ranboo took a few steps back to be back in-line with Techno. Ranboo put his hand on the piglin’s shoulder. Techno embraced ranboo tears now streaming down his face. He fell into the snow underneath his feet, and Ranboo went down with him. The pair stayed like that for a while. It was peaceful.

Techno picked himself up and pushed himself away from Ranboo. He wiped his eyes and continued walking. Ranboo sighed, knowing very well that Techno bottles his feelings. Ranboo continued on with his rambling, and slowly Techno worked himself back to talking regularly. As they reached the edge of the forest, ranboo saw buildings coming up.

They looked like ruins, but it was definitely player built. Techno stopped at the edge of the forest. Ranboo took a few steps into the plains biome before realising where they were.

Logstedshire.

Techno grabbed ranboo’s hand and dragged him behind a tree, just as the nether portal activated. Out stepped quackity, tubbo, and two soldiers of L’manberg. The soldiers took out flint and steel, and started trying to burn the ruins, Techno sprinted out after them. He attacked the one holding the flint and steel. He warned them to not burn the ruins, or they would have to answer to him. Quackity scoffed, and took out his sword. Ranboo ran out from his hiding place, and stepped in between them.

“We attack L’manberg at dawn in five days,” Ranboo calmly stated, ignoring the shocked look on both tubbo and Quackity, “until then, peace. Understand”

Quackity and tubbo nodded and backed away back into the portal taking the soldiers with them.

Techno and Ranboo re-entered the cottage, and Ranboo immediately went to go find Phil to tell him everything that had happened. They now had a date for L’manberg’s destruction.

The 6th of December

Dream hid himself until the day of L’manberg’s destruction. He wanted to make a big reveal to everyone on the day itself. He’s the group's drama queen. He was gathering resources most of the time, grinding in the nether for wither skulls, while Phil collected soul sand, Techno was breeding his dog army, and Ranboo was collecting allies.

Ghostinnit and Ghostbur spent most of the time “helping” people.
P.s. they were not being helpful

Eventually Ranboo was given the job of keeping them busy, because having one less person was gonna be better then having two ghosts. They sorted through all the letters Tommy and Ranboo had sent each other, they laughed over ranboo’s terrible handwriting while Ranboo pouted.

Then it was the 5th.

Dream never sleeps, so he woke everyone up at midnight to conduct the plan.

They would set up half finished withers, around L’manberg in hidden spots. A member of the rebellion would be at each wither, to add the final touch. They would do this at dawn. Not a second later. As they set up these withers, Ranboo and Techno sat on the hill looking over L’manberg.

“Have you said goodbye to Ghostinnit?” Ranboo asked Techno.

“No,” Techno replied, looking away from his friend, “Not yet.”

Ghostinnit and Ghostbur didn’t even know that L’manberg was to be destroyed. They were still asleep.

“We should go get them,” Ranboo sighed, standing up. “It seems stupid for them to be asleep during this.”

The sun was starting to rise. As soon as a little sliver of it was above the horizon the withers would be unleashed.

“Yeah, we should,” Techno mumbled, “I also need to get the dog army.”

Ranboo laughed and helped Techno up, he was still walking with a limp, from the incident. Ranboo’s nervous but friendly rambling was calming for Techo, it reminded him of his younger brother. He had to protect Ranboo at all costs. No matter what happens, Ranboo will be safe. Even at his own expense.

Ranboo woke Ghostinnit and Ghostbur up, and told them what was going to happen. They were surprisingly calm about it. Sure they were a little surprised but they weren’t angry, they just weren’t expecting it.

Dream was supervising the creation of the withers, and everyone that was siding with the Antarctic Empire already knew that he was an avian. At the crack of dawn, he would send a signal and stand on the hill that the sun rises on, blocking the light, and spreading his wings. Like I said before, drama queen. While everyone was distracted by Dream, the withers would be released. The ghosts would stand with Dream so that they were out of the way.

Techno and Ranboo got into their positions, and so did everyone else. Dream readied himself on the hill. Techno knew this was dangerous, he knew many people would die, but this was important. Before sunrise, he visited what was Tommy’s house. His house in L’manberg not his dirt shack. He removed the plank of wood above the door. He had seen it on his way into Tubbo’s office, on that fateful day. He remembered the carving on the plank, carvings of the flag, of his discs, books, even TNT. There were carvings of his wings, and there were carvings of hands.

Hands held.

Whoever carved it knew Tommy well, they knew that he didn’t want war, that he wanted peace, and harmony. They embodied that into the carving. But still managed to capture Tommy’s chaotic energy.

He carried it out of the way of L’manberg and buried it somewhere he would remember, underneath a giant redwood tree. He then returned to position and waited for Dream’s signal.

Dream stood on top of the hill, and got ready for sunrise. He saw a sliver of light, and he turned around to face L’manberg. The man took a deep breath in and out again. He set off the red firework. The light it carried shon onto L’manberg’s army. They were readied on the docks. The city had obviously been evacuated. The sun rose quickly, shining the light of L’manberg.

Dream spread his wings.

He fluttered them a bit, they were small. They weren’t the size of a full grown avian's wings. They had stopped growing when he was only 7. His father had always been a bit touchy, since they lived at sea, but when his wings stopped growing she grew abusive. His father had dropped him on the island, where he met his best friends, Sapnap and George. He hid his wings from there on out.

He grew reclusive when his cousins arrived, and he was angry when his father returned.

But none of that matters anymore. All that matters is Ghostinnit and Ghostbur, he needed to let his cousins pass on properly. He looked at the ghosts of his cousins, he needed for them to be happy, for them to be truly at peace.

He was proud of himself.

And his wings.

Techno saw the signal, and so did everyone else. They all placed the last wither skull on their wither, releasing them. Everyone went to their second positions, they were stationed on the outside edges of L’manberg to stop the withers from destroying anything outside of the country, techno, Phil and Ranboo, were to fight the army, and when everyone was safe Dream would join them. Techno threw a splash potion of invisibility on his dog army, and drank a potion of strength himself. Ranboo ate a god apple, and put his totem of undying into his other hand. Phil took to the skies.

L’manberg’s army was wiped out easily. Quackity was a different issue. He stood in the centre of the docks, locking eyes with techno. Withers thrashed around him, destroying planks, and killing anyone in their paths. Black smoke filled the air around L'manberg, clouding Techno’s vision. Quackity attacked him with a sword. Techno flew to the ground, Quackity’s sword at his throat. Techno took a breath in and coughed out, the smoke was not helping.

He looked up to the hill where Dream was supposed to be, he saw Tubbo attacking Dream, but Dream was fighting back. Better than what techno was doing. He knew Dream would win, then Dream could protect Ranboo. Ranboo will be fine, Phil can protect himself, and Techno can be with Tommy. He can be at peace.

Dream saw Tubbo running at him with tears in his eyes. Tubbo attacked him. After some fighting tubbo stopped, he lay down his sword and stopped. He stared at something behind Dream.

Ghostinnit.

The ghost was fading. Both of them were. Tears flooded dreams face, as he embraced Ghostinnit. The fell to the ground, grazing their knees. Phil ran up after them and grabbed Ghostbur.

Ranboo attacked Quackity, he grabbed him by the shirt, and threw the man into the water below. The enderman hybrid grabbed Techno’s hand and pulled him up. Pulling Techno behind him, Ranboo sprinted across the burning planks. Once they were on top of the hill, Techno saw why Ranboo had pulled him here.

Tommy was fading.

Dream got up, to let Techno get to Tommy. Techno ran to his younger brother and embraced him, tears streaming down their faces. But techno had to let go.

“Goodbye Tech.”

“Goodbye Toms.”

Chapter Text

He shouldn’t be sitting around doing nothing, he should be up and helping, but he can’t, something stopped him. It wasn’t physical. It was himself.

“No matter what happens, it’s you and me, versus Dream.”

Tommy had said that, before all of this.

“Do whatever your heart says you should do.”

Wilbur’s advice before Tommy’s duel.. that ended up going well.

“What- You’re my son!”

Phil.. before Wilbur.. y’a know..

“It’s never my time to die..”

Tommy’s words rang through Techno’s head

Techno’s mind went back to the L’manberg flag. That design. That country. So much peace and harmony was attached to that flag. From the colour meanings, to the attachment it’s citizens had made to it. The flag signifies freedom and hope. Had he just destroyed the hope that it’s citizens held. He hoped that they still had hope. That they still had freedom.

Techno heard footsteps of someone coming up the hill. He lay down, not wanting to deal with whoever was there. Not today. Not now.

Everyone in his family were hybrids or avians, not a single human. Well Tubbo was half human half goat, but that's still a hybrid. Techno himself was a mix of three, piglin, human, and avian. His massive red wings put others to shame.

But not Tommy's.

Techno missed Tommy's loud yelling, his childish actions, he missed the reserved young boy that his ghost took the form of. He missed Wilbur's extravagant plans, and ghostburs positive attitude. The little things that they both did. Ghostbur fluttering his wings whenever he went anywhere, Tommy smiling at Techno when he didn't think that the piglin was watching.

"Techno?" Asked a small voice next to him

Techno jumped a bit but as he sat up he saw the only Enderman hybrid in town. Ranboo.

"Hey Ranboo." Techno said sounding a little tired

"Mind if I sit, I don't want to intrude."

"You're not intruding," Techno replied to the Enderman, "I want you here."

The pair looked down upon L'Manberg, it was no longer Wilbur's, it hadn't been for a while, Wilbur's L'Manberg was the one everyone loved, everyone missed. But that's gone now. L'Manberg is gone now.

Ghostbur and Ghostinnit had left around this time a week ago. Techno remembered the clumsiness of his brothers, when brewing potions, Wilbur always smashed at least one potion bottle on the floor. During pogtopia, Techno saw how clumsy his brother actually was. It brought his mind back to L’manberg. Wilbur’s L’manberg.

That's when his mind ran through what had happened. His attention was brought back to the crater that was once a great country. He stood up and looked over the massive hole in the ground. He walked back to the edge of the crater and took the burnt flag on the edge of the crater. The flag gave pain to Techno. Techno, being Techno, put it in his ender chest.

He thought it would have been damaged more.

“Not too bad,” he had muttered.

His thought then turned to his wings, had they been damaged? He quickly looked back and on seeing they had been badly damaged, he cried.

His vision was blurred a little, so he took out an unmistakable red potion from his ender chest. The bottle had a smile on it.

Like Dream’s bottles.

He swallowed it in a single gulp. Techno immediately felt better. But he didn't feel strong, he peered at the bottle, his vision now clearing, and inspected the smile on the glass. He remembered his cousin. No longer underneath his wings, but now flying high. Techno didn't know why he cared so much about the man. He was just a relative that he barely knew before the SMP. They had barely even interacted. But he felt a strange attachment to him anyway.

He never woke up.

He remembered seeing Dream pull back his bow, load an arrow enchanted with fire, and shoot Quackity, killing him. Dream was left exposed, frozen to the ground. He heard an explosion go off and that was all. Tubbo had rigged L’manberg to explode. Techno got out of there grabbing Ranboo, Dream pushed Phil away but didn't make it. He closed his eyes because it hurt to have them open. He could feel his cousin leaving before looking back. The avian had started to feel dizzy, and all of a sudden, Dream was tired.

Techno had taken out a piece of TNT from his inventory and attempted to throw it at Tubbo, Phil instinctively grabbed the TNT hiding it from the piglin. Techno knew he should’ve gotten out of there as fast as he could. But seeing Dream in trouble stuck him to the ground. Time had slowed down.

Slightly removing his sword from its sheath, Tubbo had silently threatened Phil, who immediately reacted and started tugging at Techno’s sleeve. He kept the book hidden, tightly under his wing so Tubbo wouldn’t see it. Phil could tell from the never wavering expression on Tubbos face, that he didn’t notice the book, and probably didn’t care.

“We need to get out of here Techno.” Phil commanded

Confused, Techno replied, “Hell no! Dreams in trouble!”

Phil put the book away and grabbed Techno. He was trying to ignore the screams in the smoke.He continued this until he reached safety.

He knew he had. He reached out and grabbed the book, knowing Techno would want it because of Dream. Dream was important to everyone. Whether they like him or not. Techno and Dream had that connection. They were cousins after all, but they were close in a different way, they were both outcasts. They understood each other in a way no one else could, yet Techno couldn't save him. He couldn’t save his only friend.

His only friend. Techno had friends.

He had family. But Dream was more than that. Techno opened the book to the last page Tommy had written on.

‘Log 53 Day 26:

Plans:

Get wood (I have a lot of wood now)
Get girlfriend (working on that one)
Build assertive cobblestone tower (Outside Techno base)
Make friends (i did that! Techno is so cool!)
Stand up to dream (I ran away from him!)
Don’t blow up L’manberg

I’ve completed most of my plans! Except for the girlfriend one, I’m so lonely.. I’m hanging out with Edward right now, Techno is practising PVP, Phil is off doing who knows what. Techno said that we’re gonna visit L’manberg, i hope i can convince him not to blow it up. I care about everyone there, but I also care about Tech. I'll add don’t blow up L’manberg to the list.’

Realisation was setting into Techno. He had lost his youngest brother. His best friend. Knowing this broke him. He needed to mourn, not be productive, mourn the loss of his brothers. He wouldn't thrive otherwise. Phil had given Techno the book knowing it would calm him. He gave the book back and with a tear in his eye he said goodbye to Phil.

Techno had been without people most of his life, running away from your family meant you were almost always alone, but it did mean your people skills are very lacking. He had lost the people he was closest to. First Wilbur, then Tommy, now Dream.

He reached the spot where he had buried the plank of wood. He decided to dig it up when he was ready. Ready to let go.

That brings us up to now, holding the bottle made by his cousin. Techno sat back down next to Ranboo. The uneven ground was uncomfortable but he didn't care. He was here with one of the last mortals that Techno cared about.

“Aren’t you tired Ranboo?” Techno asked, turning to look at him, “Of all of this. All this war.”

Ranboo didn’t reply.

“I’m sorry Ranboo.”

This time Ranboo responded.

“I know.”

“I care about you alot Ranboo, you're one of the last mortals I will ever care about. After this.”

Nothing

“I’m really sorry Ranboo.”

Tears were forming in the hybrid's eyes, Ranboo leapt towards Techno, and hugged him. They hugged tightly and closely. Techno hugged him back, realising this meant Ranboo felt the same way.

“Techno, I’m sorry too.” Ranboo whimpered

“They’re in a better place now, their souls now whole.” Techno replied calmly, with a hint of a smile “We saved their lives”

Ranboo nodded because he knew it was true, a soul is split in two when they enter the afterlife, one half is sent to limbo, one half is sent to the overworld. Some souls get the chance to stay in the inbetween. But if they choose to split their soul, the split soul in the overworld has to get people to finish any unfinished business that the whole soul had. Only then could the soul be whole again and the soul can properly pass on to a better place.

During his execution, Techno knew he couldn’t rat Ranboo out. He was new to the country and getting in trouble could be the death of him. Ranboo had given the piglin hybrid heads up about the butcher army coming after him. Techno figured he could handle the execution, without endangering Ranboo. So instead of only looking out for himself like he would have in the past, he protected the enderman, much like Tommy had done during his trial. Techno had gotten out of the area as fast as he could after surviving the execution, knowing the hybrid would try to help him even more, likely endangering himself. So Techno left in a flash, grabbing his horse and running.

Techno, his wings healed more than they were a couple days ago, took to the skies like he used to do with his younger brothers only coming down every now and then to show Ranboo something. Ranboo, the kind soil who helped others before himself. Ranboo had tried to protect Tommy in his trial, even though they weren't close, he did the same thing for Techno. Protecting everyone, because people come first. It should never be different.

Coming back to L’manberg was the hardest thing Techno ever did. He stood above the country, as he imagined the members of L’manbergs gevernment exiling his youngest brother. Techno had stopped feeling emotional during the destruction of the country, he no longer thought about himself. He was thinking about Wilbur and Tommy’s ghosts, about Ranboo, about The Antarctic Empire. Techno had lived with the members of The Antarctic Empire for the majority of his life. He had founded it. It was his home and it always would be, no matter where his life would take him. He would return to his family.

Techno was extremely protective of his family. It often ended in disaster. As he blew up L’manberg, he had flashbacks of watching Tommy be exiled, Fundy’s screaming, Ranboo’s stutter, Tubbo’s refusal for sympathy, and Dream’s watching. Techno has always been like that.

Watching over his family, never letting them out of his sight, and then striking at those who got them to their lowest. But this time it was different. He couldn’t admit to Ranboo that he cared about him, until now. The last mortal he would ever care about. Techno lived through hundreds of years of war for his family. He had started the Antarctic Empire for them. He had fought alongside them in their first wars. He fought for their right to L’manberg. Every war he had fought was for his family. But he could never show it.

But his last war was weeks ago. They had been nice, fighting for freedom and pride, it gave Techno closure, but as he zoned back into reality, he remembered the promise he made, he wouldn’t do that any more. For himself, for Phil, for Dream, for Ranboo.

For Tommy..

Just to keep them safe. He can’t lose them. Never again.

Ranboo sat up, walked over to where Techno had buried the plaque. He took some tools out of his inventory and dug it up, he picked it up and nailed it to the tree above. The redwood tree looking over L’manberg. Over their freedom.

Techno felt the breeze ruffling his feathers as he stood underneath one of the redwood trees surrounding his brother’s home. He saw the spirits of Wilbur and Tommy sinking to the ground, floating. They perched on the branch above him. Ranboo joined the man standing under the redwood. The rising sun created an orange and pink hue over the top of what used to be L’manberg. Ranboo hummed the national anthem of the country and techno joined.

Techno pulled Ranboo towards him with his wing, shielding him and hiding him. He looked up seeing Wilbur floating away, his soul now at peace. Tommy looked back at Techno and smiled. He faded one last time, and the boy was gone.

Techno smiled, looked at the young enderman shielded under his wing, and sighed.

A single tear rolled down his face, but he smiled.

His story was coming to a close.

Others would carry his legacy.

He knew who he wanted that to be.